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First Lutheran Classical School, 2808 South Ave. W., is hosting the fifth annual Arts & Craft Fair from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5. The fair will feature gift items from local artists and crafters and a pie sale. A light lunch is planned from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Admission is free with plenty of parking. The school is located at First Lutheran Church right across from Community Medical Center. All proceeds support the educational opportunities at our school.

For more information about First Lutheran Classical School, visit flcschool.org.
A court hearing Friday made little progress to determine if the conviction of Cody Marble should be overturned, but instead devolved into former county attorney Fred Van Valkenburg airing grievances about his successor Kirsten Pabsts handling of the case.

Marble was sent to prison in 2003 for the rape of a then-13-year-old boy while the two were in juvenile detention in Missoula County. He has since made several efforts to overturn his conviction, the most recent of which went to the Montana Supreme Court, which in August 2015 sent the case back to Missoula County District Court.

The high court instructed the lower court to re-examine a decision to deny Marble a new trial, and to use a broader interpretation of evidence that had come to light since his initial conviction, including recantation by witnesses.

After the case was remanded, Pabst personally reviewed the case against Marble, examined new evidence, and in April filed a motion that his conviction be dismissed, saying it lacked integrity.

The criminal justice system is not a perfect system. It is only as reliable as people who are sworn to uphold the law, Pabst said Friday after the hearing. We can only engage in real reform of the criminal justice system when we are able to take an honest look at the past, consider new information, and admit when we've made a mistake. I can do that. It is never too late to do the right thing.

Marble, now 32, was subsequently released from custody while retired District Court Judge Ed McLean, who is presiding over the case, considered Pabsts request. As part of his process, McLean invited former county attorney Fred Van Valkenburg  who has been vocal in his belief that Marbles conviction should stand  to provide his opinion on the matter as a friend of the court.

In September, Pabst and Marbles attorney Colin Stephens filed a joint stipulation informing McLean that both felt the conviction should be overturned and Marble should be granted a new trial, leading the judge to set Fridays court appearance.

Pabst, who was not present at Fridays hearing because another attorney in her office is in charge of the case now, said afterward the amount of leeway Van Valkenburg has been granted is highly unusual.

It is historically unprecedented for any court in this country to give a retired county attorney standing to take an adversarial position against a current county attorney on a case where there is no dispute between the actual parties, she said.

Larry Mansch, the legal director of the Montana Innocence Project which has supported Marbles efforts to get a new trial, said he didnt know of another case where a third party like Van Valkenburg was allowed to play such a central role. He said that despite the mans former role as county attorney, he was now a citizen.

If he can intervene in this, whats to stop him or anyone else from being able to interfere with any other plea agreement or motion made in a criminal case? he said.

***

At the start of the hearing McLean asked deputy county attorney Matt Jennings if his office had ever been in contact with the family of Marbles now-deceased accuser, Robert Thomas, for their opinion on a new trial. Jennings said he didn't know.

Van Valkenburg said that in the spring, when this process began, he reached out to the mans aunt, and received permission to essentially speak for the estate.

He said not to consult with the family of Marbles accuser ran contrary to Pabsts public statements about the importance of victims playing a central role in cases of sexual assault and rape, saying those comments were utterly disingenuous.

This stipulation is not good public policy, he said. Theres something really wrong with whats going on here.

After several comments about Pabsts decisions as county attorney at the hearing, McLean reined in the former prosecutor, saying Pabst was not the subject of this hearing, Marble was.

Pabst said Thomas  who killed himself at the age of 25 during a police standoff in Havre in 2014  would have been encouraged to participate in the process and would have been extended all of the support services for victims had he been alive. Before he killed himself, Thomas recanted his accusation against Marble, and then in a later interview with Van Valkenburg, went back to his original accusation.

The family Van Valkenburg spoke to, Pabst said, werent close with Thomas, did not necessarily share Roberts views of the case and were not legally situated to speak on his behalf.

Van Valkenburg said Marbles situation was similar to what would have happened if John Wilkes Booth was allowed to continually make court petitions after a trial for the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

His point was that  if years went by and Booth was given continued opportunities to appeal  evidence, victims and witnesses would likely be lost, die or disappear and that at some point, the finality of conviction needed to stand.

Booth was shot and killed after soldiers set fire to the Virginia barn where he hid after the assassination, and never went to trial.

***

After a little more than a half-hour of discussion, McLean indicated he wanted to have an evidentiary hearing so Marbles defense could present what new information they would be able to bring to another trial, if it was granted.

Van Valkenburg interjected, saying the stipulation between the prosecution and Marble had been an attempt to undermine the court." In a previous court briefing, he alleged that Pabst only wanted to have a new trial granted so she could unilaterally dismiss the charge against Marble. Van Valkenburg  who doesn't represent either side in the court case  claimed there was no new evidence to present to the court.

McLean disagreed.

I think you totally misread the (Supreme Court's) Marble decision by saying there isnt, he said.

Stephens said he was happy to have such a hearing, but likely wouldnt be ready until January or February. Van Valkenburg responded that he would be out of town at that time. McLean told all sides he wanted the hearing sooner, and they agreed to confer and pick a date.

Before the judge ended the hearing, Van Valkenburg made another request that, in light of both the prosecution and Marbles defense team being in agreement about the resolution they wanted, that the Montana Attorney Generals office be brought in to provide an adversary opinion during the hearing.

McLean said no, adding that Pabst was elected by the people to be the county attorney.

***

Marble, whose travels have been limited by the court for the past six months since his release this spring, received permission to attend the Missoula hearing, and sat in the front row next to representatives from the Montana Innocence Project.

Its not the result I was hoping for, but I did get to take a nice drive, he said.
From his first job out of law school, Montanas current governor has been a government bureaucrat. Even his brief stint in private practice was for a Washington, D.C., firm. Making a living off our hard-earned tax dollars is all he knows. Not surprising that under his reign, government has become Montanas No. ! employer.

It does not require high level math to figure out government jobs are always a net financial loss. The more government jobs, the more taxes required from private sector individuals to pay those government employees wages. And as government bureaucracy grows, so does corruption.

Furthermore, Gov. Steve Bullock vetoed multiple bills that passed with bipartisan support designed to promote the sanctity of human life and our right to keep and bear arms.

Contrast big government pro- abortion bureaucrat Bullock with Greg Gianforte: Gianforte has worked hard and been highly successful in the private sector, has created jobs, strongly supports the Second Amendment and the right to life from conception to natural death. To me the choice is obvious: Greg Gianforte as our next governor, to mitigate Montanas decay championed by the current administration.

Annie Bukacek,

Kalispell
HAMILTON  In Montana, reactions to Thursdays acquittal of seven defendants involved in the armed takeover of a federally owned wildlife refuge in Oregon were a mixture of glee and disgust.

The antigovernment protesters led by Ammon and Ryan Bundy were found not guilty by a jury in federal court in Portland of conspiracy and weapons charges that sprang from a six-week occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters.

Rep. Theresa Manzella, R-Darby, responded to the news with a Facebook post that read: BEST NEWS IN A LONG TIME!!! Doin a happy dance! Didnt expect the verdict today!!! Hurray!

Retired Bitterroot National Forest ranger Dave Campbell said he believes the decision could put anyone working for the federal government at more risk from people who believe that they have more rights than they really do have.

In a statement sent to the Oregonian Friday, an anonymous juror acknowledged the jury understood the decision could inspire similar actions in the future, but called the rulings a statement that prosecutors had failed to prove the conspiracy charge against the defendants.

It should be known that all 12 jurors felt that this verdict was a statement regarding the various failures of the prosecution to prove conspiracy in the count itself  and not any form of affirmation of the defenses various beliefs, actions or aspirations, the juror said in a lengthy email to the Oregonian.

The juror also said he was baffled by the flippant sentiments of people following the decision, the Oregonian reported.

Dont they know that not guilty does not mean innocent, he wrote. It was not lost on us that our verdict(s) might inspire future actions that are regrettable, but that sort of thinking was not permitted when considering the charges before us.

In an interview, Manzella said Friday that she felt the decision was a victory for the citizens of America and, in particular, rural America.

The decision affirmed the rights of citizens to judge a case based on its merits, she said.

If they deem that a law or a situation is unjust, they can nullify the law through a verdict, she said. I believe it represents a glimmer of hope. There are a lot of people extremely concerned with federal overreach.

I think this will become a wind beneath the wings of people who have felt somewhat helpless, Manzella said. I think it will be very empowering. It indicates that American citizens are waking up and we dont want to be kept under the thumb of the federal government.

Manzella said she supported the original protest.

From everything I could see, they were true to their word, she said. They were there in support of freedom, not force. They did everything they could to make it a peaceful protestevidently, the jury agreed with that according to their decision.

Sen. Jennifer Fielder, R-Trout Creek, is an outspoken critic of federal control of public lands. She now works for the American Land Council that seeks the transfer of federal lands back to the states.

Fielder said she was disappointed the issue got as far as it did, especially considering that one of the protesters was shot and killed.

I would have preferred a more peaceful settlement early on, Fielder said. I was hoping that presidential leadership would have seen the light and understood the injustice these people were trying to show.

Fielder was pleased to see the acquittals.

This case certainly didnt seem to warrant prison, she said. It was a peaceful protest from citizens requesting a redress of grievances.

She hopes the decision wont embolden others to try similar protests.

I think there are a lot of lessons that can be learned from both sides to avoid this kind of conflict, Fielder said. There are problems with federal land management that are impacting peoples lives in a profound wayIf the government doesnt resolve them, people will. Thats just the way things will happen.

Backcountry Hunters and Anglers President and CEO Land Tawney said the jurys decision flies in the face of the basic principle that Americas national refuges and other public lands belong to all Americans.

We, the rightful owners of these lands can  and should  debate their management, Tawney said. But threatening public servants, hijacking public lands and damaging our shared natural resources serve no beneficial purpose and have no place in a democracy like ours.

Longtime Bitterroot sportsman Tony Jones hopes the protesters will be held accountable for the damage they did to the headquarters site.

How anyone who uses public lands could celebrate their acquittal after all the damage they did to lands that we all own is beyond me, Jones said. Its just going to get uglier and uglier. With the political climate in our country right now, we sure dont need that.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said she was profoundly disappointed in the verdict. Jewell had visited the refuge after the occupation and was disheartened by the damage to the facility.

In a message Friday to all Interior Department employees, Jewell said she was concerned about the verdicts potential effect on workers and on management of public lands. She urged employees to watch out for each other, stay vigilant and report any suspicious activity to supervisors or law enforcement.

During his career as a forest ranger, Campbell said he was often reminded that he was working for all the citizens of the country, not just those hammering on his countertop or those who reside in the district.

When those folks took over the refuge, they took away every American citizens right to enjoy those public lands, Campbell said. Certainly, throughout the federal agencies, this decision must have been met with a huge amount of disgust. It would seem like the decision declares open season on any federal employee or facility that someone might have a disagreement with.

Campbell said its the vast majority of ranchers who work within the law, pay their fees on time and are good citizens who should be most frustrated.

Here you have these guys who have avoided paying grazing fees for over a decade and owe the American taxpayer millions of dollars, Campbell said. You would think that law-abiding ranchers would be the most upset over these scofflaws. Its a stain on them that damages their reputation.

Its a terrible decision, he said. Quite frankly, I hope that it can be appealed and overturned.

The Associated Press contributed to this article
HELENA  The interim director of VA Montana Health Care System is now the permanent director, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced last week.

Kathy Berger, who has headed the agency on an interim basis for about four months, was named the permanent director on Friday. VA Montana manages the health care, in whole or in part, of more than 47,000 actively enrolled veterans.

Berger was not available for comment Friday, but Ralph Gigliotti, Veterans Integrated Service Network 19 director, praised her leadership and experience.

We are excited to bring Dr. Berger on board in a permanent capacity as director of VA Montana Health Care System, he said in a statement. She has served exceptionally well as acting director for the past four months and we look forward to great things for Montana in the future under her direction.

Berger took the interim role following the resignation of former director John Ginnity and amid calls from Montanas congressional delegation and many veterans to improve access to health care in the state.

Across the country, the VA has suffered a series of agency-rocking scandals surrounding wait times and false record-keeping.

In Montana, wait times, workforce shortages and difficulties accessing alternative providers for rural patients have frustrated veterans and elected officials. In September, a judge ruled a senior Montana VA official retaliated against an employee who filed a patient safety report over an operating room error.

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., a vocal advocate for veterans issues and the top Democrat on the subcommittee that funds the VA, said in a statement that VA leadership vacancies have served as a barrier for veterans seeking care.

I have met with Kathy, and I believe she has the tools necessary to meet the responsibility of taking care of our veterans. Kathy has a lot of work ahead of her, and I will continue to work with her and the staff at VA Montana to ensure the folks who served this nation are able to access the care they have earned," he said.

Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., has also been outspoken on veterans issues and issued a statement Friday.

The appointment of a new VA Montana Director is welcome news for Montanas veterans and I wish Dr. Berger the best, he said. Now that our veterans have a new director I look forward to seeing a commitment and change to ensure their needs are not only being met, but that Montanas veterans receive the best possible care.

Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., praised the hiring as he had earlier advocated for a woman to be appointed to the position. Veterans deserve a system supporting them and their families rather than additional burdens, he said in an email.

(Berger) has my congratulations along with my sincerest commitment to do all I can to help address the issues facing Montana's veterans, Zinke said. I'm happy to see the Administration heard my call to appoint a woman to the leadership position. I'm confident she will shake things up for the better.

Along with her interim role in Montana, Berger has directed the Sheridan VAHCS in Sheridan, Wyoming, since 2015. She previously served as chief of Quality, Performance and Patient Safety at the Lexington, Kentucky VAMC.

Berger served in the Air Force for nine years, stationed at three bases stateside, and was the officer in charge while on deployment to Saudi Arabia.

She holds associate's and bachelor's degrees from Northern Kentucky University, a master's in health care administration from California College of Health Sciences and a doctor of nursing practice from the University of Kentucky, according to a biography provided by the VA Montana Health Care System.
KALISPELL  Turns out Lone Coyote Lake, the name a Kalispell couple has proposed for a small lake near their home, may not be a shoo-in.

Two people have come forward to say they believe the 10-acre lake already has a name, even if none has appeared on U.S. Geological Survey maps for some six decades.

One says its Mohn Lake.

The other says no, its Moon Lake.

The responses came after Gerry Daumiller, Montanas geographic names adviser, sought public comment on a proposal by John and Sharon Ramsey to give the lake, a portion of which sits on their property, a name.

Their suggestion, Lone Coyote Lake, would match the name of the road they live on, Lone Coyote Trail. Neither the Ramseys, nor Daumiller, could find evidence that the lake already had a name.

The Ramseys were interested in stocking what they had always called the pond with fish, but said they had been told by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks that couldnt happen if the body of water didnt have a name.

The Missoulian published a story about the suggestion, and the process for naming or re-naming geographic features in Montana, on Oct. 23.

Since then, Daumiller has heard from two other area residents who say they think the lake already has a name.

One believes it was named for Mathis Mohn, who owned land around the lake from 1898 to 1937, and donated the property south of the lake in 1911 where the Stillwater Free Lutheran Church is located.

The other person pointed out that another road that juts off Lone Coyote Trail near the lake is named Moon Lake Trail. They believe that road was named after the lake, as opposed to the current proposal to name the lake after another road.

So Daumiller, a geographer with the Montana State Library, is seeking more input. Anyone with knowledge of the Moon Lake or Mohn Lake names, or with knowledge of documents showing either name, is asked to contact him at 406-444-5358, at gdaumiller@mt.gov, or at P.O. Box 201800, Helena, MT 59620.

It is Daumillers job to give the states official recommendation on such name proposals to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, which has the final say.

And, on another matter, FWP has clarified its requirements for stocking an unnamed lake.

Jannice Richardson, an administrative supervisor with the agency, says a one-time stocking permit is available. FWP would then assign a name to the lake, just so it can track the results in its system.

Richardson says the Ramseys were informed of this in August, but that was after they had begun the process to propose Lone Coyote as the name for the lake.
"He wants to say the church is for the poor, and that's how he sees it in his mind and wants to show it now in practice, not only through the traditional places, but also reaching out to small places," he said about his nomination as the first-ever cardinal from the South Pacific country, which has 853 registered languages and a mostly rural population.

"He's been very true to his word that he's not looking at the traditional places where cardinals have been appointed in the past, but going beyond that and wanting a fairer representation," said Cardinal-elect John Ribat, 59, archbishop of Port Moresby.

PAPUA New Guinea's first cardinal John Ribat believes his appointment highlights Pope Franciss wish for Catholics to be treated equally from all parts of the world.

Cardinal-elect Ribat told Radio New Zealand that climate change had caused rising sea levels and the "slow disappearance" of islands in the region, where many inhabitants were now unable to eat harvested food because of salt contamination.

"The church is in the midst of all these things and we are preparing ourselves to meet the challenges," he said.

"And what we are doing here is not only for the church -- for those who are Catholic -- but for everyone. We go out and help all of them, and encourage them to feel we're doing it for them."

Born at Volavolo in the Gazelle Peninsula in 1957, John Ribat made his first profession with the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in February 1979. He was ordained a priest in December 1985 and worked in parishes in Bereina Diocese. After studies in Manila, Philippines, he served as master of novices for the order at Suva.

He was appointed auxiliary bishop of Bereina in October 2000 and then bishop in February 2002. He became archbishop of Port Moresby in March 2008, a year after Pope Benedict XVI appointed him coadjutor archbishop.

After heading the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands from 2011 to 2014, he was elected president of the Federation of Catholic Bishops' Conferences of Oceania in 2014.

In a Facebook message, Bishop Rochus Tatamai of Bereina said the country had succumbed to "contagious cardinal fever" after hearing the news of Cardinal-elect Ribat's elevation, which looked set to impel Papua New Guinea "toward the global centre stage."

The Catholic Church's four archdioceses and 15 dioceses comprise about 27% of Papua New Guinea's 7.3 million people, 70% of whom are Protestants.

The new cardinal has vigorously opposed parliamentary calls to reinstate the death penalty in PNG after a 50-year moratorium, and appealed to politicians during a constitutional crisis in July to "work together and unite for the good of the nation."

A church source said his concerns about poverty, the environment and climate change made him "the pope's sort of bishop."

Prime Minister Peter O'Neill described Cardinal-elect Ribat's nomination as an honour for the country and the Vatican's newly appointed nuncio, Archbishop Kurian Matthew Vayalunkal, added that it exemplified "what can be achieved through commitment and dedication."

The prime minister said he had invited the pope to visit PNG, which hosted Pope St John Paul II twice in 1984 and 1995, and hoped the country would "unite in prayer" during Cardinal-elect Ribats installation in Rome on 19 November.

"For many decades, the government did not do much in rural and remote areas, and it was the church that stepped in to help our people," O'Neill said.

"Ours is a deeply Christian nation, and regardless of our denomination, all Papua New Guinean Christians can be proud of our first cardinal."
Everything was looking up for Hillary Clinton. She was riding high in the polls, even seeing an improvement on trustworthiness. She was sitting on $153 million in cash. At 12:37 p.m. Friday, her aides announced that she planned to campaign in Arizona, a state that a Democratic presidential candidate has carried only once since 1948.

Twenty minutes later, October delivered its latest big surprise.

The F.B.I. directors disclosure to Congress that agents would be reviewing a new trove of emails that appeared pertinent to its investigation into Mrs. Clintons private email server  an investigation that had been declared closed  set off a frantic and alarmed scramble inside Mrs. Clintons campaign and among her Democratic allies, while Republicans raced to seize the advantage.

In the kind of potential turnabout rarely if ever seen at this late stage of a presidential race, Donald J. Trump exulted in his good fortune. I think its the biggest story since Watergate, he said in a brief interview, adding, I think this changes everything.

He promised to batter Mrs. Clinton as a criminal in the races final week and a half. And Republican House and Senate candidates gleefully demanded to know whether their Democratic opponents were sticking by Mrs. Clinton.
A former inmate received three years in prison with another five suspended in Missoula federal court this week for his role in an interstate drug smuggling ring at the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge.

Cordero Robert Metzker, 28, of Billings served as an intermediary between a prison laundry worker who traded drugs for money and two drug suppliers in Tennessee who mailed meth and Suboxone  an opioid addiction manager  back to the laundry worker to smuggle in for cash, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The smuggling ring ran from April to September last year, court documents show.

Deer Lodge inmates would send Metzker money which he would forward to Tennessee residents Rachel Ross and Lauren Hoskins, the DOJ reported. Those women would buy drugs which they mailed to Erin Bernhardt, a laundry worker at the prison. In exchange for cash, Bernhardt would then smuggle the drugs to Ian Barclay, a prisoner serving eight years for drug possession and escape, who distributed the drugs to other inmates.

All the involved parties reached plea agreements with the prosecution earlier this year to reduce sentencing and drop charges in exchange for guilty pleas and cooperation. Metzker was the first of the five conspirators to plead guilty and is the first to be sentenced.

Bernhardt, the prison laundry worker, pleaded guilty on Aug. 17 to conspiracy to distribute drugs and accepting bribes and will be sentenced Dec. 1.

Ross, one of the Tennessee women who bought and mailed drugs to Bernhardt, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute drugs on Aug. 17 and will also be sentenced Dec. 1.

The other Tennessean, Hoskins, pleaded guilty on Sept. 6. to aiding in the distribution of drugs with sentencing set for Dec. 16.

Barclay, the inmate who paid Bernhardt for drugs, pleaded guilty on Aug. 23 to conspiracy to distribute drugs and giving bribes with sentencing set for Dec. 21.

This type of abuse within a public prison system cannot be tolerated, and the effective prosecution of these defendants demonstrates that it will not be, said U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana Michael Cotter.

Metzker was originally imprisoned after being found guilty of drug possession with intent to distribute in Missoula County  violating his probation from an earlier Gallatin County drug charge  with some of the 8-year-total prison sentence suspended.

The drug-smuggling ring was busted by an inter-agency investigation by the state prison, Montana Department of Corrections, FBI, U.S. Postal Inspector, and the Montana Division of Criminal Investigations.

On Oct. 17, prison guard Martin Reap was found guilty in federal court of smuggling marijuana and cigarettes to prisoners in the state prison, in what Cotter has called an unconnected case.
It is at least ironic that a Lutheran pastor asked a Catholic priest to do the Insights column for Reformation Sunday weekend. However, it is an honor, since with the grace and power of the Holy Spirit, the Church must be always reforming (semper reformanda) to apply the truths of the Gospel to changing times without losing the essence of Christian truth.

Pope Francis, according to recent news, will be traveling to Sweden, a mainly Lutheran Country, to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the October 1517 Lutheran Reformation. This is a joint celebration of the Vatican Office for Christian Unity and the Lutheran World Federation that have done 50 years of dialogue. The celebration includes prayers for unity including followers of other reformers in the Zwingli, Calvin, Moravian, Methodist, and Anglican traditions.

The original Lutheran conflicts with Rome included disagreements about indulgences, papal authority, justification by faith, use of the vernacular in worship, and translation of Sacred Scripture made possible by the invention of the printing press.

There have been wonderful strides in the ecumenical movement begun by the World Council of Churches and the renewal of Vatican II. There have been joint statements of agreement signed by different churches. The conflict about Justification has been resolved. Previous mutual condemnations are no longer valid, and there have been efforts made to develop mutual goals. All differences have not been resolved, such as intercommunion by some of the traditions, but more progress has been made than not in this wonderful work.

The mendicant efforts of the Franciscan and Dominican communities have attempted to renew the Church from within and serve as a reminder that all worthwhile efforts at unity must begin by personal spiritual renewal within the hearts of all involved before imposing it on others from without.

The churches of the Butte Ministerial Association have fostered the work of Christian Unity in their monthly shared prayer and service with the helping communities of Butte, and this has been a great local expression of ecumenical blessings. We all pray in this season then for forgiveness for our divisions and the help of the Holy Spirit in mutual efforts for social justice and Christian Unity.
Donations needed for diaper drive

Donations are needed for a diaper drive in Butte.

Diapers and wipes will be accepted Saturday, Nov. 5, at the Butte Hampton Inn, 3499 Harrison Ave., where people can also tour a FedEx truck.

Also, donations will be accepted Nov. 7 through Dec. 15 at the United Way of Butte and Anaconda, 1880 Harrison Ave. (lower level); FedEx Express, 125 Basin Creek Rd.; and Butte Hampton Inn.

Proceeds benefit Safe Space, the Butte Rescue Mission, 4-C's, Project Care (Anaconda Food Bank), and the Butte Emergency Food Bank. Details: Juliann Crnich, United Way, 406-782-1255.

$15,000 donated to Farm in the Dell

Farm in the Dell International has received a $15,000 gift from Evan Smalley from Helena, said Mark Bartels, the organization's resource development officer.

Smalley originally contributed the 91 acres for the Farm in the Dell, Butte, Bartels said. The Butte farm is near Buxton.

"I want to continue supporting people with disabilities with places to live and work," said Smalley.

The Farm in the Dell International is working in partnership with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder communities to open a farm in Wisconsin, said Bartels, "as well as meeting the challenges of caring for and meeting the needs of all people with disabilities."

The organization plans to open two more farms in Montana  in Lewistown and Fairfield, he said.

Democrats to rally in Butte Nov. 5

The Democrats' Victory Rally on Saturday, Nov. 5, from 6 to 9 p.m. in the Finlen Hotel's Copper Bowl, Broadway and Wyoming, will attract the entire party ticket from U.S. House candidate Denise Juneau and Gov. Steve Bullock on down to local candidates for the Montana Legislature, according to a news release.

U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Montana, also will attend the rally, which is open to the public. A donation of $25 per person at the door is suggested by the sponsors, the Butte-Silver Bow Burros Club and the BSB Democrat Central Committee.

The rally will also feature catered snacks, a cash bar, a silent auction, and 50-50. For info: 498-1678 or 491-0796.

Service to honor military personnel

DILLON  A service honoring military personnel starts at noon Wednesday, Nov. 2, at the St. James Episcopal Church, 203 E. Glendale, Dillon.

All are welcome; families, friends, military personnel, and anyone who would like to thank and pray for all of the Armed Forces of the United States. Details: 406-683-2735.

Emma Park center plans Halloween event

The Emma Park Neighborhood citizens group will give out treats at the Emma Park Neighborhood Center, 25 W. Silver St., from 4 to 8 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 31, Halloween. Kids and parents are welcome to stop by and get a treat. Details: Action Inc. at 406-533-6855.

Cats topic at the Butte library

Story time at the Butte Public Library, 226 W. Broadway St., starts at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 1, in the children's room. The subject is "cats," and kids will listen to books, sing songs, and do an activity. All ages are welcome. Details: Cathy, 406-723-3361.

Toastmasters groups list winners

This week's competition winners for the Uptown Toasters, Toastmaster Club 9765, include Jodi Peretti, best speaker; Nikole Evankovich, best evaluator; and Mandi Kambic, best table topic respondent. The next meeting is noon Tuesday, Nov. 1, at the Butte Archives. Details: 406-782-3280.

Top O' the Mornin' Toastmasters announces its weekly winners: best speaker, Northey Tretheway; best evaluator, Sherry Flamand; best topic respondent, Northey Tretheway. Next meeting is at Perkins at 6:30 a.m. Monday, Oct. 31.
THOMPSON FALLS  Theres been a problem with the general election ballots in Sanders County, and Clerk and Recorder Nichol Scribner wants the public to know what it is, and how its being handled.

Theres been so much media on a rigged election, and why some people say we shouldnt trust election results, Scribner said. I feel its so important to get this out to the public. If we intended to intentionally do harm, wed keep it secret. I want people to know our goal is 100 percent accuracy.

The problem was discovered last week, as Scribners office prepared for its first public testing of ballot-counting machines.

When a test deck of ballots that had already been hand-counted was run through tabulators, the results did not match the hand count, and some of the ballots were rejected.

Scribner called Election Systems and Software, the Omaha, Nebraska, company that provides the county with everything from tabulators, and maintenance for them, to the stock that ballots are printed on.

The trouble didnt stay a mystery for long.

At least, thats what they thought.

The ES&S programmer that Sanders County works with noticed that, from photographs of the ballots provided by Scribner, the paper ballots appeared to have not been cut properly.

There are cut lines that should be the width of a fingernail, Scribner said. But instead, they were entire block squares.

They thought they had gotten to the bottom of the problem, although that certainly didnt solve it. Sanders County had already provided more than 3,600 of the improperly cut ballots to absentee voter and people who have registered to vote since Oct. 11.

Heres how Sanders County election officials will deal with that, Scribner said: Every absentee and late-registration ballot will be counted by hand after polls open on Nov. 8. Machines will not count any of them.

The county also ordered 7,899 new ballots to be distributed to Sanders County precincts on election day. They were due back Friday, Scribner said, and will be tested several times before, and on, Nov. 8.

If the tests are not 100 percent accurate, Scribner said, well hand-count all the ballots on Nov. 8.

But by late Wednesday, there was a new rub.

ES&S rushed a test deck for the new, properly cut, replacement ballots to the county. The clerk and recorders office put them through the tabulator.

And once again, the results didnt match the hand count.

ES&S had insisted it wasnt a problem with the software, Scribner said. I called them back and said, Please check the software. 

The company then downloaded new software for the Sanders County tabulators, Scribner said. When the test-deck was re-run, the numbers matched the hand count.

That will hardly be the end of it.

Election officials will not only run more tests with test ballots provided by ES&S, Scribner said. They also ordered another 225 unnumbered ballots that county employees will mark, hand-count, and run through the tabulators.

The person that runs them through doesnt get the information on what the ballot totals should look like, Scribner said. Theyll just print off the reports. Well test every candidate in every race.

Not only is the public welcome to observe the tests, the clerk and recorder said the county will try to have a member of the public there to watch, even if we have to grab somebody whos standing in line at the Treasurers Office.

Its so important, Scribner said. Thats why we test and re-test. If any of the tests are not 100 percent, well hand-count. Well be testing, testing, testing 'til the day of the election.

Election Systems and Software provides services, tabulators and ballots to at least 44 of Montanas 56 counties, according to the Montana Secretary of State's Office. Sanders County is the only one that received improperly cut ballots, or has had issues with ES&S software, said Emily Dean, director of communications for the Montana Secretary of States Office.

ES&S is the vendor for a lot of states, Dean said. This is the only case they can find where ballots were not cut correctly so that tabulating machines could read them. No other Montana counties have had problems with the software, she added.

A dozen Montana counties do not use ES&S tabulators, and therefore may not use ES&S, Dean said.

The unexpected problem in Sanders County is why we require all counties to do exceptions testing, pre-election public testing, Election Day testing and post-election audits, Dean said.

In post-election audits, random precincts from random counties are hand-counted and the numbers compared to vote totals to see if they match.

Weve never had an incident where it didnt, Dean said.

ES&S also prints ballots for some of the counties, but normally only provides the stock to Sanders County, which then hires a local business to print the ballots.

However, ES&S is providing the stock, and doing the printing as well, for the replacement ballots, at no charge to the county. Taxpayers will be on the hook for paying extra people to hand count all the absentee and late-registrant ballots, Scribner said.

The clerk and recorder has lined up 21 people  seven three-person teams  to deal with the hand count. Most are courthouse employees who would normally have the day off  its a holiday for state and county employees  and who will be paid time-and-a-half.

I dont have enough election judges to pull in to do a hand count, Scribner said. It will probably be a minimum of 12 hours to hand-count just the absentee and late-registrant ballots.

If ballots cast on Nov. 8 also need to be counted by hand, It will take us into the next day, she added.

I believe we have to be open and transparent about all this, Scribner said. I dont want anyone to have the perception that theres been anything about it thats secretive. Its so important.

Scribner said anyone with questions, or who would like to observe any of the testing that will be done in the coming days, can contact her at 827-6922, or by email at nscribner@co.sanders.mt.us.

And anyone is welcome to walk in, and watch our daily activities at any time, she said.
Three of the four losing primary competitors for Butte-Silver Bows top job are endorsing Dave Palmer for chief executive.

Butte-Silver Bow commissioners Cindy Perdue-Dolan and Jim Fisher as well as architect Mark Reavis publicly threw their support behind Palmer Thursday, when their radio ads began running on Butte radio stations KOPR-FM and KBOW-AM. Both stations are owned by longtime broadcaster Ron Davis.

With less than two weeks to go before the election, the ads speak to Palmer and his qualities. None of the ads mention the incumbent, Butte-Silver Bow Chief Executive Matt Vincent.

The ads are scheduled to run until the election, Davis said. Palmer paid for the spots.

Ron Sarge Rowling, who also ran in the primary, said he is not endorsing anyone. Rowling is a longtime laborer with the countys Public Works department.

Reavis declined to answer any questions about his endorsement. Reavis, who once served as Butte-Silver Bow's historic preservation officer, said he wanted his ad, which mentions Palmers decades of public service, to speak for itself.

Similarly, Fisher and Perdue-Dolan stressed what they consider Palmers positive qualities when talking to The Montana Standard. Fishers ad points to Palmers experience and knowledge, and he repeated that when speaking with the Standard Wednesday. Perdue-Dolan stresses Palmers experience, listening skills, and inclusiveness in her ad. She also emphasized those qualities when speaking with the Standard Wednesday.

But Perdue-Dolan also suggested Vincents top-down management style as a concern, though she didnt elaborate. Perdue-Dolan has frequently clashed with Vincent since being elected as District 1 commissioner in late 2014, including over spending matters.

In a Thursday evening interview, Vincent said he couldn't speak toward the opinions of others, but he feels he's acted within the confines of the chief-executive position.

"I follow the charter when I do my job," said Vincent. "Every citizen in Butte has a voice, an opinion, and a vote...and I'm thankful for all of the citizens that have voted for and supported me and helped move Butte forward in the last four years."

He added that, even though he's had disagreements with some commissioners, he and the council have been able to work together.

"We've worked productively over the last four years," he said.

Regardless of what Vincent's management style may be, what remains certain is there's a hefty chunk of votes up for grabs for both candidates.

Vincent got 3,292 votes in the primary. Palmer came in second, capturing 2,889 votes  a difference of 402 votes. Both advanced to November while the four others did not. Fisher and Perdue-Dolan got 4,090 votes combined. Because they didnt move on, those votes are up for grabs.

Reavis got 697 votes, and Rowling came in with 685 in the primary. Thats another 1,382 votes that could go to either Palmer or Vincent in the general election.

Vincent, meanwhile, said he's not worried about whether the endorsements will cause supporters of the other candidates to turn toward Palmer.

"I think it's a stretch to do that kind of math," he said.
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Civil #: 16-002009

Special Execution

Bank Of America, N.A., Successor By Merger To BAC Home Loans Servicing, L.P,

VS.

John Justin Ford A/K/A John J. Ford; Parties In Possession; Unknown Spouse, If Any, Of John Justin Ford, ET AL.

As a result of the judgment rendered in the above referenced court case, an execution was issued by the court to the Sheriff of this county. The execution ordered the sale of defendant(s) Real Estate Described Below. To satisfy the judgment. The property to be sold is

Lot 89 and 90 of Island View Addition to the City of Muscatine, in Muscatine County, Iowa, escept the West 2 feet of the South 75 feet of said Lot 90 Street Address: 1605 Hershey Avenue, Muscatine, IA 527761.

Property Address: 1605 Hershey Ave., Muscatine, IA 52761

The described property will be offered for sale at public auction for cash only as follows:

Sale Date: 12/13/2016

Sale Time: 9:30 am

Place of Sale: Muscatine County Jail Lobby, 400 Walnut Street, Muscatine

This sale not subject to redemption.

Property exemption: Certain money or property may be exempt. Contact your attorney promptly to review specific provisions of the law and file appropriate notice, if applicable.

Judgment Amount: $83,463.03

Costs: $17,154.41

Accruing Costs: Plus

Interest: $23,356.21

Sheriffs Fees: Pending

Date: 10/25/2016

Attorney:

Halley Ryherd

1401 50th St., Ste. 100

West Des Moines, IA 50266

(515)223-7325

C.J. Ryan

Muscatine County Sheriff

Melissa Hurlbut

Civil Deputy
The New York Times endorsed Democrats in three of the state's most competitive House races. But in the 24th Congressional District, the newspaper's editorial board said U.S. Rep. John Katko, a Republican, deserves another term in Congress.

The endorsement, which was published online and in the Times' Saturday print edition, refers to Katko, R-Camillus, as an "independent thinker" and a "rare breed of Republican."

The paper also acknowledged his voting record in Congress, which Congressional Quarterly said makes him the eighth-most independent member of the House GOP conference.

"He opposed (the Republican Party's) efforts to undo President Obama's administrative actions protecting young immigrants from deportation and its reckless campaign to destroy the Affordable Care Act," the Times' editorial board wrote. "He acknowledges that climate change is real and caused by humans."

The Times is critical of his stance on some issues, including his votes to temporarily defund Planned Parenthood and his opposition to the Iran nuclear deal.

But what separated from other Republicans the Times didn't endorse is that "he passes the Trump test."

Following the release of a video showing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump making lewd comments about women, Katko said he wouldn't vote for his party's standard bearer. The decision, which was made earlier this month, came after months of consideration. The GOP congressman long had concerns about Trump. The video, though, was the tipping point.

The Times' editorial board cited Katko's comments to the Syracuse.com editorial board about appearing on the Republican line with Trump and U.S. Senate candidate Wendy Long, who has aligned herself with the GOP presidential nominee in hopes of unseating U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer.

When asked about his party's nominees for president and U.S. Senate, Katko said, "That's why God made Scotch."

Members of the Times' editorial board were impressed with that response.

"Washington needs more Republicans like him," they wrote.

Katko is running for re-election against Democratic challenger Colleen Deacon. The most recent independent poll showed him leading the race by 23 points.

The 24th Congressional District is comprised of Cayuga, Onondaga and Wayne counties, plus the western portion of Oswego County.
I was going to rant about how to succeed in college and give you all the secrets for getting straight As for this semester, but nuts to that. This year new rules go into effect for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid program, the FAFSA, so time to talk about scholarships. What I like to call, How to make thousands of dollars, without committing a felony. So before you tune me out just stick with me for a moment.

Every year thousands of dollars are awarded to students currently in college and those students just starting their education. You dont even have to sell your soul to the devil to get your hands on that cash. Just fill out your FAFSA online. I know some of you would rather spend time on Instagram taking pictures of your lunch, but with the new rules things are easier than ever. You can now file your FAFSA this month in October, instead of waiting until January. Better still you can use the tax return you filed earlier this year, instead of stressing to get your tax return done in January so you can file your FAFSA.

Why is FAFSA so important? Filing one allows you to send your financial information to up to ten different colleges. Schools are searching for students just like you, just like you would search the internet for which schools have the strangest mascots. (JUST FYI  My vote is for the Fighting Banana Slugs of University of California  Santa Cruz). These same colleges use this data to award scholarships, grants and loans. Some of these monies are awarded based on merit, others on needs, and even some are just based on what town you grew up in or high school you went to.

Granted, some of you might not get a thing, but you cant win the lottery if you dont buy a ticket. Instead of spending a Saturday afternoon grinding for that epic mount to drop in some MMORPG, you could spend that same afternoon that potentially gets you real money in the real world.

Muscatine Community College has something many other large colleges possess. MCC has a foundation. Whats a foundation? A foundation is kind of like a big bag of money. Where does this money come from? Well, some of the money comes from local businesses, past teachers, or former students who have fallen asleep in my classes and have repressed guilt. Out of this big bag of money, the MCC Foundation awards scholarships, donates money for equipment the college needs, supplies, grants for teaching programs, and many other things.

Last year the MCC Foundation gave away over $300,000 in scholarships. What happens to the money the foundation doesnt use? The money continues to grow and becomes MORE MONEY to be used for even MORE SCHOLARSHIPS. How do you get some of this sweet cash? FILL out your FAFSA and fill out the MCC Scholarship form. Where do you get such a form? You can ask Student Services for a paper copy or YOU CAN FIND THE FORM ONLINE HERE: http://web2.eicc.edu/forms/scholar/scholar.php .

This form can be filled out anytime; however, the scholarship season for Muscatine really gets going around Thanksgiving. The deadline for application is March 1st, but why wait. After stuffing yourself with turkey to the point you cant move, take the time to move your computer mouse around instead and score some cash. Even if you havent filled out your FAFSA, please take the time to look into the scholarships available. However, if you have finished your FAFSA that can help increase the total of some of the scholarship awards being offered.

Still interested in getting money for school? Great! There is even more money lining the streets of Muscatine and other towns in Eastern Iowa. Most towns have one or more of the following groups, societies, social club, or religious orders: Kiwanis, Rotary International, Lions Club, Optimist, 4H, churches, and a whole alphabet soup of others: REC, NOW, ACLU, LWV, PTA, NRA, etc. Most of these organizations have some sort of scholarship available. Some you may not qualify for but you can always ask. Although the actual scholarship amount might be low, maybe between $50 to $100, the money can be used for purchasing things you might need for school: textbooks, calculators, room and board. Every dollar you dont spend on school related items, is another dollar you have for pizza, nachos, jellybeans and ice cream to fuel those late night study sessions.

Someplace else you should look into are scholarships specifically geared toward your major. (Males you may want to plug your ears and quietly hum to yourself. Go think about Rocket League or something). Ladies, if you plan on studying a STEM field (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math), here is a secret. YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE TO PAY A DIME FOR YOUR COLLEGE EDUCATION. Let me say this again. YOU CAN EARN A FREE COLLEGE EDUCATION FOR A STEM MAJOR. Now, this may require some work on your part, but if you do some digging, you should be able to find a plethora of scholarships geared toward women in science, math, and engineering.

Here is a start: http://www.scholarshipsforwomen.net/science/

You can also look into the four-year school you want to attend. Many schools have scholarships depending on your major. Some colleges and universities even have special programs to help you through college and even grad school! You may have to do some searching but the programs are there. The University of Iowa has a Women in Science and Engineering Program as an example. You can find out about the WiSE program here: https://uiowa.edu/wise/mission-and-goals

(Guys you can take your fingers out of your ears now.)

Another way for finding money for college is looking into your ancestors. Maybe your great grandmother grew up in a tiny Czech village near the Polish border, or your grandfather is from the Yukon. Everyone is from somewhere. A little research can lead you to the gold mine of your ethnic heritage. There are many organizations based on ethnic background and historical ties. Usually most of these groups have scholarships available for members of their particular historical group or ethnic heritage.

Once again, my point is this, you can spend a Saturday afternoon sharing VINE videos of cute cats, or you can find money for college. Work all summer for one semesters worth of tuition or spend a couple of weekends funding your entire college career. So what are you waiting for? Get online and fill out those forms!

-(Article was originally published in the MCC student newspaper, The Calumet)
DeWitt, Iowa - Clay Geise and Andrew Eichelberger have been awarded a $1,000 scholarship to continue agricultural coursework at Muscatine Community College in Muscatine, Iowa. The scholarship is from Farm Credit Services of America (FCSAmerica), a customer-owned financial cooperative.

Geise, whose parents are Brad and Lisa Geise of DeWitt, Iowa, is majoring in farm management. Eichelberger, who is the son of Daryl Eichelberger of Muscatine, Iowa, is also majoring in farm management.

FCSAmerica provides $1,000 scholarships to 44 students studying agriculture at 22 vocational-technical schools and community colleges in Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming. Geise and Eichelberger are the two students to receive a scholarship for the 2016-17 school year at Muscatine Community College. This is the 19th year that FCSAmerica has awarded community college scholarships.

We value the opportunity to support the education of future producers and agribusiness leaders in the communities that we serve, said Dawn Foster, vice president of retail operations, FCSAmerica.

Eligible students for FCSAmerica community college and vocational-technical scholarships must be full-time students between the ages of 18 and 22 and enrolled in agricultural coursework with a 3.0 grade-point average or higher, and permanent residents of Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota or Wyoming.

The scholarship program is part of FCSAmericas community involvement program. In 2015, FCSAmerica employees contributed more than 7,100 volunteer hours through the community involvement program and FCSAmerica donated more than $3.2 million to an array of programs, projects and causes aimed at supporting agriculture and rural America in Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming.
MUSCATINE, Iowa  More than 350 children attended Halloween at the Y 2016 Friday night, and collected candy, played games, and enjoyed snacks.

Holly Brugman, the assistant director for family programming services at the Muscatine Y, said the event was started in 2001, shortly after the 9/11 attacks when some people did not feel safe trick-or-treating outside.

"The Y of the USA started Halloween at the Y as a safe indoor trick-or-treat opportunity for kids, and it just has really taken off in Muscatine. Some Y's don't do it still, but ours is still going strong," she said.

Tickets, which were $1 per child, helps offset the costs of the event, Brugman said. Businesses from all over Muscatine set up booths, gave out candy, and had games for children to play.

"There's a lot of community support for Halloween at the Y," she said.

The event was held this year at the Muscatine Center for Social Action (MCSA), due to the expansion project currently underway at the Muscatine Y. Visitors filled the gymnasium at MCSA, and a Preschool Kiddie Carnival was held in the basement for children under the age of five.

Diana Broderson, the director of family program services at the Y, said they were grateful for the use of the space.

"We're very pleased that MCSA opened their doors to us to have our event here this year. It's such a great collaboration between them and us and it gives us an opportunity to continue to serve the public while we're expanding the Y," she said.

Children had their faces painted, played games, and between door prizes and candy, filled their trick-or-treat bags before they left.
MUSCATINE, Iowa - The Annual Harvest Soup Festival will be held at Shepherd of the Cross Lutheran Church, 3300 Hwy. 38 N. Muscatine, from 4:00-7:00 p.m., on Sunday, Nov. 6. Enjoy homemade soups, bread, and pie. Meal prices are $7.00 for adults, $5.00 for youth five and older, and under five is free. Handmade items from the church's Products of the Flock will also be on sale. The event supports the Lutheran Chaplaincy Outreach at the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics.
MUSCATINE, Iowa - The Muscatine High School Class of 1947 will meet at 11 a.m., Wednesday, Nov. 2, for lunch at the Farmers Diner, 2224 Park Ave., Muscatine. All class members, spouses, and friends are invited.
Empire State Development's tourism office is posting weekly fall foliage reports. Below is the report posted Oct. 26, 2016:

Vibrant Peak Foliage Expected this Weekend in Finger Lakes, Greater Niagara and Hudson Valley Regions

Albany, NY  This is the seventh 2016 Fall Foliage Report for New York State. Reports are obtained from field observers and reflect expected color conditions for the coming weekend. Fall Foliage Reports are issued every Wednesday afternoon and are available at www.iloveny.com/foliage.

Beautiful peak foliage continues to progress throughout the Finger Lakes region and into its final destinations in the Greater Niagara, Hudson Valley, Central New York, Thousand Islands-Seaway and Chautauqua Allegheny regions, while Long Island will see near peak foliage this weekend, according to spotters for Empire State Developments I LOVE NEW YORK program.

Syracuse area over the past week. Near peak to peak conditions will remain through the weekend. Spotters reporting from Syracuse University campus expect just about 60 percent color change for the weekend, with a considerable amount of green leaves remaining. The brilliance of the leaves is average and the predominating colors include touches of yellows and oranges. Peak foliage will arrive in Schuyler County this weekend. Spotters in Watkins Glen expect 95-100 percent color change and yellow, orange and red leaves of mixed brilliance. In Wayne County, spotters reporting from Lyons expect near peak conditions and 75 percent color change. Look for shades of yellow, along with touches of red and orange, and some remaining green leaves. In the Finger Lakes region, color progression was slower than expected in thearea over the past week. Near peak to peak conditions will remain through the weekend. Spotters reporting from Syracuse University campus expect just about 60 percent color change for the weekend, with a considerable amount of green leaves remaining. The brilliance of the leaves is average and the predominating colors include touches of yellows and oranges. Peak foliage will arrive in Schuyler County this weekend. Spotters inexpect 95-100 percent color change and yellow, orange and red leaves of mixed brilliance. In Wayne County, spotters reporting fromexpect near peak conditions and 75 percent color change. Look for shades of yellow, along with touches of red and orange, and some remaining green leaves.

Spotters reporting from Rochester in Monroe County predict 70-80 percent color change this weekend with near peak conditions. There was considerable leaf droppage due to heavy wind and rain over the weekend. Yellow is the predominate color, along with some orange, red and brown leaves of average brilliance. Spotters reporting from the Brighton area of the city predict 70-75 percent color transition and peak to just past peak foliage for the weekend. The brilliance of the leaves is average and the predominating colors are yellow, yellow-green, dark red, and orange. About 25-30 percent of the foliage is still green or has dropped.Near peak foliage is expected this weekend in Seneca County, with 75 percent color change and a bright mixture of yellows, oranges and reds, with small hints of purple in some spots. Cayuga County spotters reporting from Auburn predict near peak foliage with 50 percent change, and leaves of yellow and green with touches of gold and orange of average brilliance. In Yates County, foliage will be at the midpoint stage with about 60 percent change this weekend. Lots of green leaves remain along with orange, red and yellow leaves of exceptional brilliance, and some patches of muted brown.

Foliage spotters in Steuben County predict nearly complete color change with bright to very brilliant shades of red, orange, gold and yellow and a mix of peak to past peak conditions for the weekend. In Livingston County expect just past peak foliage with 60-70 percent color change. Spotters reporting from Geneseo note that the brilliance is starting to fade, but the colors, including shades of red, yellow, orange, burgundy and green, are still vibrant in sunlight.

In Ontario County, spotters reporting from Canandaigua expect nearly 100 percent color change and past peak conditions this weekend. Wind and rain have taken a lot of the leaves from the trees, however some muted to average shades of yellow, orange and tan remain, with occasional bright reds and deep, dark reds. Expect about 90 percent color change and past peak conditions in Cortland County. Leaves are still bright and the predominating colors are shades of red, green and orange.

Dutchess County. Look for 80 percent change in the higher elevations and northern part of the county and 60 percent change along the river. Predominating colors are very rich oranges, many shades of gold and yellow leaves, and some deep shades of gold, along with some red and a little deep purple. Peak foliage will arrive in Westchester County. Spotters in White Plains predict 80 percent color change with bright yellow, red, orange and green leaves. Rockland County spotters reporting from the New City area expect peak foliage this weekend with 80 percent color change and very brilliant red, purple, yellow and orange leaves, along with some remaining green. Spotters at Bear Mountain State Park expect past peak conditions this weekend with 90 percent color change and dull orange, yellow and brown leaves. Foliage is past peak in Columbia County. Spotters reporting from Hudson expect golden yellows and oranges highlighted by deep reds, all of average brilliance. Orange County spotters reporting from Goshen expect past peak conditions with nearly 100 percent change and yellow, wine, orange and some red leaves of average brilliance. In the Hudson Valley , leaves will be peak this weekend in. Look for 80 percent change in the higher elevations and northern part of the county and 60 percent change along the river. Predominating colors are very rich oranges, many shades of gold and yellow leaves, and some deep shades of gold, along with some red and a little deep purple. Peak foliage will arrive in Westchester County. Spotters inpredict 80 percent color change with bright yellow, red, orange and green leaves. Rockland County spotters reporting from thearea expect peak foliage this weekend with 80 percent color change and very brilliant red, purple, yellow and orange leaves, along with some remaining green. Spotters atexpect past peak conditions this weekend with 90 percent color change and dull orange, yellow and brown leaves. Foliage is past peak in Columbia County. Spotters reporting fromexpect golden yellows and oranges highlighted by deep reds, all of average brilliance. Orange County spotters reporting fromexpect past peak conditions with nearly 100 percent change and yellow, wine, orange and some red leaves of average brilliance.

Orleans County will be peak this weekend with nearly complete color change and leaves of shades of gold and orange. Peak foliage will arrive in Erie County this weekend. Buffalo area observers predict 65-75 percent color change. The colors will be closer to 75 percent changed in the south towns of Buffalo approaching ski country, while the city center will be closer to 65 percent along the Lake Erie shore where it is a bit warmer. Leaves are bright and include gold-yellow, red, orange and purples and some touches of remaining green. In the Greater Niagara region,will be peak this weekend with nearly complete color change and leaves of shades of gold and orange. Peak foliage will arrive in Erie County this weekend.area observers predict 65-75 percent color change. The colors will be closer to 75 percent changed in the south towns of Buffalo approaching ski country, while the city center will be closer to 65 percent along the Lake Erie shore where it is a bit warmer. Leaves are bright and include gold-yellow, red, orange and purples and some touches of remaining green.

Chautauqua County can expect peak to just past peak conditions this weekend with nearly 100 percent color change and brilliant shades of orange and red. Niagara County is also expecting peak to just past peak conditions with 80 percent change and a bright mix of all fall colors. Foliage is mostly past peak in the Chautauqua-Allegheny region.can expect peak to just past peak conditions this weekend with nearly 100 percent color change and brilliant shades of orange and red.is also expecting peak to just past peak conditions with 80 percent change and a bright mix of all fall colors.

Nassau County with 80 percent change and orange, red, purple and green leaves of average brilliance. Suffolk County foliage spotters expect near peak foliage with up to 70 percent color change depending on the area of the county. Leaves are average in brilliance and include colors of yellow, orange, red, purple and green. Foliage in Long Island will see near peak leaves this weekend. Look for near peak foliage inwith 80 percent change and orange, red, purple and green leaves of average brilliance.foliage spotters expect near peak foliage with up to 70 percent color change depending on the area of the county. Leaves are average in brilliance and include colors of yellow, orange, red, purple and green. Foliage in New York City will be midpoint to near peak over the coming week, with yellow, orange and red leaves of average brilliance.

Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site expect 90 percent color change with bright yellow and orange leaves, and some shades of red and pink mixed in. Sections of the Towpath trail are really brilliant. With nearly complete leaf transition, Chenango County will be past peak this weekend, with muted yellow, red and orange leaves, according to spotters in Norwich. Look for muted yellow, red and orange leaves. Madison County spotters reporting from Cazenovia expect past peak foliage this weekend with 80 percent leaf transition and bright but slightly fading orange, yellow and red leaves. One of the best leaf peeping opportunities in the county will be at Chittenango Falls State Park. In Oneida County, Utica spotters report that the leaves are now past peak with nearly 100 percent color change. Some muted shades of dark gold and rust remain. Schoharie County is now past peak. Foliage reporters from Howes Cave note 70 percent color change and mostly muted colors of orange, yellow and dark purple, plus a few pockets of shades of red. Spotters reporting from Cooperstown in Otsego County project past peak foliage with 95 percent color change and some pockets muted yellow and brown leaves. In Central New York , travelers should be able to find some peak foliage in Montgomery County this weekend. Spotters atexpect 90 percent color change with bright yellow and orange leaves, and some shades of red and pink mixed in. Sections of the Towpath trail are really brilliant. With nearly complete leaf transition,will be past peak this weekend, with muted yellow, red and orange leaves, according to spotters in Norwich. Look for muted yellow, red and orange leaves. Madison County spotters reporting fromexpect past peak foliage this weekend with 80 percent leaf transition and bright but slightly fading orange, yellow and red leaves. One of the best leaf peeping opportunities in the county will be at Chittenango Falls State Park. In Oneida County,spotters report that the leaves are now past peak with nearly 100 percent color change. Some muted shades of dark gold and rust remain. Schoharie County is now past peak. Foliage reporters fromnote 70 percent color change and mostly muted colors of orange, yellow and dark purple, plus a few pockets of shades of red. Spotters reporting fromin Otsego County project past peak foliage with 95 percent color change and some pockets muted yellow and brown leaves.

Oswego. Look for nearly 100 percent change with warm shades of purple, red, orange and yellow. Foliage in Jefferson County is now past peak, according to spotters in Alexandria Bay. Color change is complete and leaves are orange and red. In the Thousand Islands-Seaway region, peak foliage should hold on in Oswego County through the weekend according to spotters in. Look for nearly 100 percent change with warm shades of purple, red, orange and yellow. Foliage in Jefferson County is now past peak, according to spotters in. Color change is complete and leaves are orange and red.

Warren County, foliage is past peak, although some nice color, including shades of orange, yellow and rust, remains. Leaves are now past peak in Franklin County. Spotters reporting from Saranac Lake note nearly complete color change and some remaining leaves of mildly brilliant yellow and gold. Spotters checking in from Malone predict nearly complete color change and past peak color. Leaves are mostly yellow and gold of average brilliance. Most trees in the Adirondacks are now past peak. In, foliage is past peak, although some nice color, including shades of orange, yellow and rust, remains. Leaves are now past peak in Franklin County. Spotters reporting fromnote nearly complete color change and some remaining leaves of mildly brilliant yellow and gold. Spotters checking in from Malone predict nearly complete color change and past peak color. Leaves are mostly yellow and gold of average brilliance.

Leeds note that the county will be past peak on the mountain this weekend with just some hints of red and orange left, and the valley and river regions will be just past peak with vibrant colors of red, orange and yellow. In the Catskills region, Greene County reporters checking in fromnote that the county will be past peak on the mountain this weekend with just some hints of red and orange left, and the valley and river regions will be just past peak with vibrant colors of red, orange and yellow.

Foliage is now past peak in the Capital-Saratoga region.

Volunteer Leaf Peepers

The I LOVE NY team of volunteer Leaf Peepers, located throughout the states 11 vacation regions, are tasked with keeping track of the color change in their area as leaves progress each week. The information is then used for fall foliage reports, which are posted online each week, featuring a detailed map of color change throughout New York State, vantage points for viewing spectacular foliage, suggested autumn getaways and weekly event listings in each region.

About Fall Foliage

The weekly foliage report, a detailed map charting fall color progress, vantage points for viewing spectacular foliage, suggested autumn getaways and weekly event listings are available by visiting the I LOVE NEW YORK web site at www.iloveny.com/foliage . Reports are also available by dialing, toll-free, 800/CALL-NYS (800/225-5697) from anywhere in the U.S., its territories and Canada. To learn how to become a volunteer Leaf Peeper, e-mail your name, address and phone number to foliage@esd.ny.gov . Fall foliage reports are also available by dialing, toll-free, 800-CALL-NYS.
Important stuff you won't get from the liberal media! We do the surfing so you can be informed AND have a life!
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 []


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Two women who say they have a passion for education are running to represent a swath of the Napa Valley from Napa to St. Helena on the Napa Valley College Board of Trustees.

Debbie Alter-Starr and Rosaura Segura are competing for the District 6 seat, which is being vacated by JoAnn Busenbark. The district includes the area surrounding Highway 29 from north Napa to St. Helena, including Yountville, Oakville and Rutherford.

Segura

Segura, an immigration consultant and grapegrower who lives in St. Helena, said she wants to see something good and very productive happen at the colleges Upvalley campus in St. Helena.

The beautiful culinary program is a good opportunity to explore, she said. A lot of the students have gone on to do great things. The valley is all about wine, food and hospitality, so theres a lot to be gained there.

The college is well-positioned to improve its wine and food programs in collaboration with the local wine industry, she said.

The college also needs to explore housing on land it owns northwest of the main campus in Napa, Segura said. Housing could serve students, professors and the community, she said.

Sure, its a long-term project, but in the valley everything is a long-term project, she said.

The races for other seats, as well as the colleges failed bond measure in 2014, have generated discussion about the boards transparency in governance. Segura said she doesnt see any major problems, since information is easily available on the colleges website and from individual trustees, who operate under a shared governance model.

Its my perception that they all have an open-door policy, she said. The opportunitys always there. If the college has been named the number one community college in California for two consecutive years, theres something being done right.

As for the bond measure itself, the college needs to look at why it failed, decide how exactly the funds would be used, and explore who we need to get behind us.

Segura added that happy professors and teachers are the key to a successful educational institution, and need to have a voice in the colleges decision-making process.

Segura described herself as bilingual and bicultural, and has advocated for farmworker housing. She said she has deep roots in the community and enjoys collaborating with people.

This is Seguras second attempt to win a District 6 seat. In 2012 she ran unsuccessfully against Busenbark, the outgoing incumbent, who is now endorsing Segura.

I believe in education, so I decided to give it another try, Segura said.

Alter-Starr

Alter-Starr is a licensed clinical social worker who lives in Yountville. She has served as a district-level volunteer in the Napa Valley Unified School District, where she has served on various committees. She has also worked with the Napa Valley Education Foundation and the St. Helena Cooperative Nursery School.

She said she likes the colleges shared governance model, in which students serve on committees and are given input into how the college is run. She wants to make sure that model is being run as effectively as possible, especially for students who dont have any leadership experience.

Like Segura, Alter-Starr said she wants to make better use of the Upvalley campus. She said she has talked to St. Helena Unified School Trustee Jeannie Kerr about increasing dual enrollment programs for St. Helena High School students.

When you give students college class experience, they come into college more prepared, she said.

Alter-Starr said she also wants to explore whether the college should be offering more vocational education programs.

After the failed bond measure in 2014, a study found that voters wanted to see more transparency from the colleges leadership. Alter-Starr said that after studying the situation, she believes that might be more perception than reality, and pointed to steps the college has taken including increasing its financial reserves.

However, the college could always improve its communication. Alter-Starr said she believes in best practices, which includes transparency and communication.

If theres a perception that the college isnt strong in those areas, Id like to see that addressed, she said.

Her career as a social worker has given her strong communication skills, she added.

Alter-Starr pointed to her experience with Napa Valley Unified, which has taught her how educational administration works, and her relationships with the Napa Valley Unified and St. Helena school districts.

Having that experience and those relationships are very helpful for a trustee, she said.

Alter-Starr said she has a passion for serving the Latino community. She speaks Spanish, although not fluently, founded Somos Napa, a bilingual parents network, and co-founded the Napa Valley Latino Heritage Committee, which organized Dia de los Muertos celebrations.
OAKVILLE  Louisiana residents Kerry and Barbara Klein drove along Highway 29, suddenly saw the iconic Welcome  Napa Valley sign near Oakville and faced a not-uncommon challenge  how to reach it safely.

I said, Oh, wait, a sign. Picture time,  Barbara Klein said.

It came up really quickly, Kerry Klein said.

They made a snap decision and parked on the shoulder of northbound Highway 29. But the sign is on the southbound side, so they walked cross the busy, two-lane road, with one impatient motorist honking.

If the sign was on the other side, it definitely would make it easier to stop and get a picture, Barbara Klein said.

The two Welcome  Napa Valley signs  one near Oakville, one near Calistoga  are Napas versions of the Hollywood sign. They are decades-old, beloved, slightly kitschy landmarks that attract souvenir-seeking photographers by the droves.

But county Supervisor Diane Dillon is particularly concerned about safety at the Oakville sign. Shes seen people flipping U-turns on Highway 29 and making other maneuvers to reach it.

Shes pondered whether the sign could be relocated, though she has yet to figure out where. Still, its an idea she thinks is worth pondering and perhaps acting on.

We have to really seriously think about what other location we could find and would it be safer, Dillon said.

The Welcome  Napa Valley sign sits along southbound Highway 29 south of Oakville Grade Road at a vineyard owned by Robert Mondavi Winery, though more than a mile south of the winery itself.

What a picture-taking siteand sightit is. The wooden sign reads Welcome to this world famous wine growing region ... Napa Valley. It is decorated with a depiction of a grape cluster and a panel with the Robert Louis Stevenson quote  and the wine is bottled poetry... from The Silverado Squatters.

Behind the sign is a postcard-perfect backdrop of vineyards and the forested hills of the Mayacamas Mountains.

Most people who stop for photos are heading north up the valley. They cant easily see the sign from a distance, since oak trees along the road shield the long-range view.

A dirt turnout along southbound Highway 29 provides a parking area. Once drivers have safely parked, they must walk across the Napa Valley Wine Train tracks to reach the sign for their Kodak moment.

The rise of phone cameras and the peoples ability to instantly send photos and show their friends they are in the world-famous Napa Valley  this very moment!  might be increasing visitor numbers at the sign, Dillon believes. Even a solo visitor can snap a selfie.

Statistically, this stretch of Highway 29 doesnt appear to have a big traffic accident problem. Two injury accidents took place there between 2001 and 2013  one at 3 a.m.  and no fatal accidents, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Commissions Vital Signs website. The site doesnt track non-injury accidents.

I would not consider it a collision hot spot, California Highway Patrol Officer Marc Renspurger said. We have many more areas where we have a great deal more collisions than we do at that particular location.

But that doesnt mean the sign with all of its allure isnt a traffic-changer.

It can be a visual hazard, especially during the tourist season, Renspurger said. People see it, they slow down even to look at it. Weve had instances where people have slowed down and tried to make a U-turn there.

Alan and Chris Cherry and Ken and Sandy Kosiorek on a recent morning set out on northbound Highway 29 to find the sign while touring wine country. The Michigan residents like to take photos of welcome signs wherever they go.

They saw the Napa Valley sign too late to make a quick stop.

We just passed it, so we turned around, Chris Cherry said.

They missed the Napa sign again after doubling back. All of this took place while navigating traffic, giving them some opinions on the sign relocation idea.

I would say, Move it,  Chris Cherry said.

Alex Morales and Romy Veizaga of Miami visited the Napa Valley for the first time while on their recent honeymoon. Their unfamiliarity with the area posed no problem to finding the sign and stopping for a photo.

I knew there would be a Welcome to Napa Valley sign, so I just Googled it, Veizaga said.

Given this advance knowledge of its location, they drove on northbound Highway 29 and easily made a left turn across the highway into the turnout. Morales noted the highway has a center turn lane.

Both of them felt safe about driving into the dirt turnout. But Morales noted that they then had to walk across the railroad tracks. He wondered if the tracks are active.

The answer came a half-hour later when a couple of train cars rumbled down the track. Two photo-seeking tourists smiled as they watched from the turnout, then crossed the tracks to reach the sign.

Clay Gregory, CEO of Visit Napa Valley, sees a reason to move the sign that goes beyond safety. Visitors heading north on Highway 29 have already passed acres of vineyards and more than a dozen wineries when they reach the Welcome ... Napa Valley sign.

When it was put there, there was nothing in the southern part of the valley that visitors were going to, Gregory said. Thats changed dramatically over the decades.

Gregory isnt certain where to put the sign, but would like to see it farther south.

But that presents its own challenges. A logical spot might be between Napa and Yountville, but vineyards there are separated from Highway 29 by frontage roads.

Napa Valley Vintners is in charge of the signs. Rex Stults of the group has heard of the move-the-sign idea.

We havent had a serious discussion about that, Stults said. I think on the topics were working on right now, thats probably around (number) 150. Its probably easier thought of than accomplished.

For one thing, since the welcome signs were erected decades ago Napa County has come up with sign laws that could create red tape. Stults expressed doubt the Welcome  Napa Valley sign could be installed elsewhere.

Napa Valley Vintners had the two Welcome to this famous wine-growing region signs built in 1949, when Napa Valley wasnt quite as famous as it is today. The Napa Sunday Journal ran a photograph of one of them probably the Calistoga sign  in July 1950.

Roland Hauck designed the signs out of carved redwood, according to an article in the Jan. 5, 1967 Weekly Calistogan. Hauck had lived in Wooden Valley since 1935 on land settled by his wifes grandfather in 1863.

One thing Dillon doesnt want to do, if no new location can be found for the Oakville sign, is get rid of it. Haucks handiwork is safe.

That is not the idea at all, Dillon said.

Stults agreed. A sign designed before the heyday of marketing consultants by a man with no widespread, artistic fame is photographed daily by people from all over the United States and the worldand that wont change.

It has become a must-visit landmark for people coming to Napa Valley, Stults said.
Margaret Boemer first sensed something was wrong when her ultrasound technician stayed unusually quiet during a routine 16-week prenatal checkup.

It had already been an arduous road to get to that point. Months earlier, Boemer had suffered a miscarriage. When she conceived again, she and her husband were delighted to discover it was with twins - but they lost one of the babies about six weeks into the pregnancy.

Soon, doctors would approach Boemer with more grim news: The child she was carrying had sacrococcygeal teratoma, a rare tumor that appeared at the base of baby's tailbone. It is estimated these types of tumors occur in about one of 40,000 pregnancies. If left unchecked, the tumor could continue taking her baby's blood supply and eventually cause heart failure.

Boemer and her husband were crushed. Only two weeks ago, they had learned the baby would be a girl, and were excited about the possibility of naming her Lynlee, after both of her grandmothers.

Now doctors were advising the couple from Lewisville, Texas, about 25 miles northwest of Dallas, to visit two more specialized hospitals in Houston for additional opinions.

"[My prenatal doctor] was very concerned about it because of the size of the tumor being that early along," Boemer said. "She felt like that there was a strong possibility that Lynlee would not make it to term."

In Houston, one hospital "strongly recommended" the Boemers terminate the pregnancy. Performing open fetal surgery - essentially removing the baby before term in order to operate on the fetus - was too risky, doctors there said. But without such a surgery, Lynlee would likely die.

Meanwhile, doctors at Texas Children's Hospital examined the tumor with cautious optimism. They agreed that in utero surgery would be required, and as it happened, two doctors there, Darrell Cass and Oluyinka Olutoye, had successfully done such a procedure seven years before.

They explained to Boemer that it would indeed be extremely risky. But at 20 weeks into the pregnancy, the tumor was already almost as big as the fetus -- and about four times larger than what would be considered the threshold for surgical intervention, Olutoye said.

"[The tumor] was putting such strain on Lynlee's heart," Boemer said. According to Cass and Olutoye, "it wasn't really a matter of if I needed in utero surgery. It was kind of a matter of when. The goal was to get me to 24 weeks."

Boemer returned to her Dallas-area home and waited. Day by day, the tumor increased in size, until it appeared that Lynlee was sitting on a large balloon inside the womb. Unlike Boemer's first two pregnancies, she hardly felt Lynlee kicking or moving inside her, and she knew it was because the tumor was encroaching on her daughter's space.

At 23 weeks, the tumor had grown large enough that doctors sent Boemer back to Texas Children's Hospital in Houston.

"I went down there thinking: 'I'll be here for checkups all week,' " Boemer said. Instead, doctors told her Lynlee might not survive two more days without intervention. "I went into surgery that night."

Before the procedure, Boemer and her husband met in a boardroom with more than a dozen doctors. They outlined the options, risks and possible outcomes of the surgery.

Boemer was 23 weeks and 5 days into her pregnancy - if the surgery failed and Lynlee needed to be delivered, the baby would be just on the edge of viability, doctors said.

They handed the Boemers a form.

"If she's born, do you want us to do resuscitate if needed?" Boemer remembers them asking. "If she's not doing well, do you want us to allow her to pass?"

Boemer had been doing okay up until that point, but it was then that she burst into tears.

"To think we had come so far, to try to save her," she said. "I was very nervous and scared. . . . but my husband and I were focused on whatever we needed to do to try to save our baby."

It took Cass, Olutoye and a team of about 20 others to perform the surgery itself. The majority of the time was spent making meticulous incisions into the uterus, then carefully pulling out the lower half of Lynlee's body.

In the middle of the procedure, Lynlee's heart stopped and needed to be restarted; she required a blood transfusion, as well.

"These are babies that are essentially dying," Olutoye said. "You have a child who's already sick, and the operation itself can make her sicker."

After removing about 90 percent of the tumor, surgeons placed Lynlee back into the womb. Closing the uterus proved tricky, as well. The doctors needed to seal the membrane to the uterus, doing it in a watertight fashion that - even after 23 weeks - would continue stretching as the pregnancy progressed.

After about five hours, the surgery was complete.

"And then the real work really starts," Olutoye said, referring to the challenge of carrying the baby to term with a now-increased risk of the uterus rupturing.

Boemer was ordered to stay in Houston, on bed rest, for the remainder of her pregnancy. To doctors' relief and surprise, Lynlee continued to grow.

"Her heart got much better, now that it didn't have to work as hard pumping through this huge tumor," Olutoye noted.

On June 6 - nearly 36 weeks into her pregnancy - Boemer underwent a C-section. The newborn infant who emerged "singing," weighing 5 pounds and 5 ounces, was nothing like the "small, little gelatinous baby" Olutoye had operated on weeks earlier, he said.

"Watching Lynlee come out crying and kicking . . . was really very exciting to see," he said. "Her whole leg [during the surgery] was barely the size of my finger. They grow so much over such a short period of time."

"You can say she's seen the world twice," he added.

Filling out her birth certificate, the Boemers officially gave Lynlee her middle name: Hope.

At eight days old, Lynlee underwent another surgery to remove the rest of the tumor from her tailbone. She may require an operation in the future to reconstruct some pelvic muscles but is otherwise recovering well.

Lynlee will need to continue to return to Texas Children's Hospital for regular checkups. "We're going to get very close," Olutoye tells all his patients, whom he says he often knows from "before they are born . . . all the way up into adulthood."

The baby is nearing her five-month birthday and "hitting all her milestones," Boemer said. She giggles easily and enjoys being near her older sisters, she said.

"It's been kind of overwhelming, how much attention her story's gotten, but we're very thankful," Boemer said. "I can tell you when we were told this very long name, we were scared and didn't know what that was and had never heard of it. So I'm glad that it's getting attention so that others who are diagnosed can know that they're not alone."
After more than a year of campaigning, voting in the 2016 presidential campaign has begun  citizens around the country are submitting absentee ballots and lining up at their local courthouses to cast early votes. The leading contenders are Hillary Clinton, the Democrat, and Donald Trump, the GOP nominee. Third-party candidates like Jill Stein, Gary Johnson and Evan McMullin are also on the ballot.

Who deserves your vote? Joel Mathis and Ben Boychuk, the RedBlueAmerica columnists, debate the issue.

JOEL MATHIS

Hillary Clinton isnt my favorite presidential candidate ever.

Her Senate vote in favor of the invasion of Iraq still rankles. Her cozying up to Wall Street leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Her reflexive defensiveness against GOP criticism leads to unforced errors like the email scandal.

Then again, I felt the same way about her husband way back in the late 1990s. As a result? In 2000, I cast my presidential vote for Ralph Nader. And I wasnt the only one. There are a lot of reasons George W. Bush entered the White House after that election, and liberal disillusionment with centrist Democratic politicians was one of them.

Turns out, we were wrong. Or, at least, not entirely right.

The Bush years ended up being much worse. A budget surplus became a deficit again. America responded to 9/11, in part, by abandoning the countrys laws and values in favor of embracing torture and warrant-less surveillance. We got bogged down in an endless war with a country that had nothing to do with the attacks. At the end, the economy was in tatters. Republican governance was devastating for the country.

If youre a liberal, this is why you should vote for Clinton: Because she alone among the presidential candidates is prepared to defend and advance the achievements of the Obama years  everything from expanded health insurance to higher taxes on the rich to executive action on climate change. Its a long list of accomplishments. It deserves defense.

If youre on the fence, heres why you should vote for Clinton: Because Donald Trump is, quite simply, awful. He might be appealing in some of his stances, such as his refusal to simply accept orthodoxy on trade and foreign policy, but his temperament renders him unfit for office. He is consumed with personal grievances instead of the business of the American people.

There is plenty of that business to be done. Clinton may be imperfect, but this years field doesnt offer a better option. Shes the best candidate to represent and lead the American people.

BEN BOYCHUK

A vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote for at least four years of triangulation and permanent campaigning  the seamless interweaving of policy and polling that made her husbands political career so successful. Its also a vote to undermine the Constitution. No, that isnt an exaggeration.

After her stint as secretary of state, Clinton delivered 45-minute speeches to big banks for around $225,000 a pop. Nice work if you can get it. (Sorry, you cant.)

In 2013, she told a group of Brazilian bankers that her dream is a hemispheric common market with open trade and open borders. At the third and final presidential debate, she claimed she had been talking about green energy. She wasnt.

Then again, truth has always been the first casualty of Clintons ambitions. In another speech, she told her audience that as a politician, (Y)ou need both a public and a private position. Her private position, when shes paid handsomely to offer it, is quite a bit different from what shes willing to say publicly to U.S. voters.

Shes somewhat less coy about her contempt for the First Amendment and free speech. Clinton has been open about her vow to appoint judges who will overturn the Supreme Courts Citizens United ruling, which liberals have made out to be the worst decision since Dred Scott.

Only once in awhile will she mention that the case had to do with a private organization broadcasting a movie critical of her. And she never mentions that the federal government argued that it could ban movies, and even books,under the 2002 law that the Supreme Court quite rightly found in conflict with the First Amendments protections against censorship of speech and the press.

Imperfect? No. Shes corrupt. And shes made violating her oath of office  to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States  central to her campaign.

Republicans agonizing over their votes say they want to be true to their consciences. But Republicans who cast their ballots for Clinton have no recourse to moral rectitude or sound ethics.

Dont like Trump? Fine. Vote for anybody you like. Or vote for no one. Just dont vote for her.

Joel Mathis is an award-winning writer in Kansas. Ben Boychuk is managing editor of American Greatness.
BEIRUT -- In 2014, it would have been difficult to overstate the anxiety and confusion in the Middle East, as Islamic militants hordes swept through Iraq and Syria.

Across the region, people were asking: Where did the Islamic State come from, and where would it stop? For a while, agitated talk of fading borders and new maps became standard. It was the only time my Lebanese father ever wavered in his stubborn attachment to our fragile and failing country. Perhaps, he mused, buying a refuge in Europe made more sense than renovating our old family house in northern Lebanon, close to places where Islamic State sympathizers might be waiting in hiding.

Today, as the Islamic State weakens, the sense of relief is unmistakable. The terrorist organization has not turned out to be the Godzilla many feared. Fears about Arab youth being seduced en masse have not materialized. The Iraqi state is in no worse shape than it was before (though that's no reason for contentment). Jordan has remained largely immune, thanks to sustained international patronage and a mighty security apparatus. Lebanon's Sunni mainstream and hardened Islamists both firmly rejected the Islamic State's entreaties.

Yet, even as eyes are riveted on reports from Mosul, Iraq, and elsewhere, there is little optimism - and certainly no euphoria - to be found here. Everyone knows that the weakening of the Islamic State is accompanied by the resurfacing, often in more potent ways, of past fault lines. The hyped and simplistic Sunni-Shia divide obscures complex ethnic, intertribal, regional and political dynamics that have been catalyzed by the U.S. invasion of Iraq and aggravated by state collapse.

Beyond the massive human and physical destruction, damage has been done in perverse, insidious and lasting ways. The Islamic State has embedded itself in the individual and collective Arab psyche. Many Shias, Christians and others now believe that there is a small dose of the Islamic State - vengefulness, takfirism and hegemonic ambitions - in almost every Sunni. And many Sunnis, having rationalized the rise of the Islamic State as essentially driven by legitimate grievances, either condemn their extreme expression or denounce the Islamic State as un-Islamic rather than question its very foundations.

In 2014, the Obama administration harbored hope that the fight against the Islamic State would rally all local governments and actors. After all, the group was the perfect villain: It was everyone's enemy, and everyone was its enemy. Perhaps the common threat could get everyone to work together, or at least to pause their destructive competition. Iran and Saudi Arabia, and Syrian rebels and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were all targets of the organization: Cartesian logic demanded that they tone it down and redirect their firepower.

But that's not how Middle Eastern politics function in this age of disorder. Unless the barbarians were at your gates, fighting the Islamic State was not necessarily the priority, especially if the United States was going to carry so much of the military burden; and when it became so (often thanks to Western pleading and pressure), it was motivated by other, more important calculations.

If anything, the fight has become a vehicle and a guise for all actors to pursue their competing interests. Instead of facing the reality of what their ambitions and rivalries produce, then rethink and compromise, governments and militias have raced to fill whatever space could be recaptured from the terrorist organization. Competition over grievances and for glory is as important: who collaborated with the Islamic State, who suffered more, who fought more, and ultimately who deserves more will be at the heart of the coming struggles.

Regional tensions and sectarian passions are considerably greater today than they were in 2014. Iran has adopted an ever-greater sectarian rhetoric to mobilize Shiite fighters even as it fights primarily non-Islamic State groups in its bid for regional power. Worried about its right flank, Saudi Arabia has needed to 'out-Sunni' the militants domestically and regionally to discredit its terrorist claims and rally Sunni constituencies. Its war in Yemen since 2015 was partly a response to the domestic perception that the kingdom endorsed in 2014 the campaign against a Sunni insurgency just as the loosely-defined Shiite Houthi militia overtook the capital Sanaa. This instrumentalization of sectarianism has a cumulative effect that sips into societies and feeds escalation: today, both countries question each other's very legitimacy, polarizing the region and aggravating fears and conflicts.

Intra-Shia rivalries are set to worsen in Baghdad, as Iran-backed militias compete for glory and political power with the government and mainstream factions loyal to the traditional clerical establishment. Visitors to Iraqi Kurdistan are equally awed by Peshmerga dedication, inter-Kurdish dysfunctions and rivalries and distrust of Baghdad, its politicians and Shiite militias. Often overlooked is the internal retribution and political competition that risk battering the Sunni community even more. Mosul may be liberated in coming months, but political foresight, inclusiveness and magnanimity remain hard to be found.

Nowhere is the situation as dire as in northern Syria. Kurdish militias, Syrian rebels (some supported by Ankara, others by Washington), Turkey and the United States are competing to seize Islamic State territory before figuring out the right apportionment. Nearby, Russia and Assad are mounting a savage siege of eastern Aleppo, wondering if the Turkish-backed rebels will soon move south to relieve the city or if Turkey will satisfy itself with a zone of influence and restrain them.

Today, many Arabs instinctively understand the obvious: the Islamic State is the product of our societies' enduring woes and of our governments' failures as well as an enabler of further turmoil. It is a monster produced by the collective sleep of reason. Even so, that reality has not served us well. Save for the courageous Syrian demonstrators of 2011, the Iraqi anti-corruption movement of last year and brave Lebanese civil activists, talk of citizenship and good governance has faded. Most people seek refuge and purpose in their narrowest, most profound identities.

The scene is now set for multiple low- and high-intensity sub-conflicts. This won't be the Islamic State's promised apocalypse, but for the average Middle Easterner, it will be bad enough, just enough to allow the Islamic State's next incarnation to lurk in the back.

Emile Hokayem is a Middle East analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He wrote this for The Washington Post.
In her letter to the editor dated Oct. 25, Dr. Barbara Reisman urges us to, Vote no on legalizing marijuana. 

In support of her opinion, Dr. Reisman writes: Despite strong and conclusive scientific research, the public perception of marijuana does not match the well established medical risks.

That heavy and early substance use may result in significant negative outcomes upon a teen's developing brain is not in dispute. Notably, the research with the declines in functioning that Dr. Reisman seems to be referring to is based upon teens who heavily use marijuana in fairly large amounts and for extended periods (defined as multiple times daily, up to 25 times per month in some research). It should also be stressed that similar studies have found alcohol use to have a far more deleterious and neurotoxic effect upon the developing brain than marijuana.

The more salient issue, however, is whether or not legalization of marijuana will result in an increase in teen marijuana use. Thus far, the information at hand does not suggest this to be the case. In the two years since Colorado legalized marijuana, the use of cannabis among teens in Colorado has actually dipped slightly (in fact, marijuana use among teens in Colorado is now below the national average). In the four years that marijuana has been legalized in Washington state, the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics reflects that teens there report no increased availability of the drug, and elsewhere its been established that the overall rate of marijuana use among teens in Washington has remained unchanged since legalization.

Globally, results of outcome research similarly support legalization. In Portugal, all drugs have been legal since 2001; subsequently, overall drug use has declined among the 15-to 24-year-old population. The Netherlands, as many know, has a long history of having essentially legalized marijuana. Compared to their peers in the United Status, fewer Dutch teens engage in marijuana use, and when Dutch teens do use marijuana, they begin at a later age. Despite its legal availability, the majority of Dutch citizens never even try marijuana.

It should also be emphasized that the risk factors for early substance use among teens follow a fairly predictable trajectory (and include such things as a youths response to her or his family dynamics, poor parental supervision, emotional problems, poverty, peer rejection or a teen's association with deviant peer groups), but have little to do with legalization. We would do better diverting resources focusing upon these risk factors rather than unduly interfering with the personal choice of Californians.

In addition, in her letter Dr. Reisman may be overstating the medical risks for marijuana use among the remaining general adult population. Most studies have not found significant impairments in memory, mood, or cognition in adult users of marijuana who engage in an episodic/occasional to moderate pattern of use. In the few studies that have suggested impairment from moderate use, the results appear to have not been reliably replicated, and therefore there seems to be no clear evidence that marijuana use inherently comes with significant medical risks.

Not only do the statistics say that criminalizing marijuana does virtually nothing to prevent early substance use, it is well-established how our national war on drugs has been an abysmal failure. It's time we recognize these facts and in return implement sensible drug policy; a Yes on 64, is a step in the right direction.

Corey Hahn

Napa
Iran expands sanctions on U.S.

European gas price falls to $1,246 per 1,000 cubic meters in October

Flight restrictions extended at 11 airports in south and center of Russia until November 9

Storm Nalgae in the Philippines leaves 110 people killed

Lukashenko on Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict: Why did they engage EU? Why are they engaging CSTO there?

Ambassador: Russia justifies itself as Armenias ally

Kopirkin: September battles between Armenia, Azerbaijan were stopped by Russia militarys efforts

Gold price remains stable

Death toll in Seoul stampede rises to 156

Armenian PM and Iranian President hold talks in Tehran

Kopirkin: Karabakh status issue should be left to next generations

14 people injured in Chicago Halloween night shooting

Armenias Pashinyan arrives in Iran

Armenia economy minister: Government predicts 7% economic growth in 2023

Turkish and Ukraine defense ministers discuss situation with grain deal

Copper prices are rising

Russia envoy to Armenia: Many common paradigms being broken in South Caucasus

Israel holds fifth parliamentary elections since 2019

Lavrov: Over past decades we managed to lay solid foundations for strategic partnership, alliance with Armenia

Oil goes up in price

Primakov Readings international forum kicks off in Yerevan

One person killed in Toronto shooting

Armenias Pashinyan heads for Iran

Newspaper: Armenia premier sends intelligence to Artsakh on day of rally

Putin on choosing Turkey as Russia natural gas supply junction: Erdogan is man of his word

Russia, Turkey FMs discuss South Caucasus

Kremlin: Armenia, Azerbaijan confirmed their interest in Russia mediation

Armenia PM concludes visit to Russias Sochi

Putin: Europe will not be able to exclude Russia from Yerevan-Baku relations normalization process

Putin on extending mandate of Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh: It will depend on other matters

Putin: No Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty yet

IMF forecasts $1 trillion unforeseen profit for oil exporter

Lavrov and Cavusoglu discuss recent developments in Caucasus

Seoul and Warsaw sign key agreements on nuclear energy development in Poland

Statement by leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan on results of meeting in Sochi

Saudi Arabia and UAE defend OPEC decision

Putin: Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan agree on joint statement

U.S. wants EU to impose export restrictions against China

Thunberg calls UN conference place for lies and fraud

Putin, Pashinyan and Aliyev hold trilateral talks

Russian businessman Artem Aslanyan commits suicide in Moscow

Head of the Ministry of Finance: Sweden's economic outlook is gloomy and we're heading for a tough winter

Norway to raise level of army combat readiness in response to Ukraine war

Putin and Aliyev talks in Sochi are over

Moldova expels Russian embassy employee after incident with falling rocket parts

Estonia to expand by 30 times protected zone on border with Russia

Serzh Sargsyan receives Garo Paylan

Inflation hits new record in 19 eurozone countries

Shoigu and Akar discuss Russia's decision to suspend participation in grain deal

Head of Armenian Armed Forces General Staff: Azerbaijan refuses to allow evacuation of Armenian soldiers' bodies

Inflation in Poland breaks the record of 25 years ago

Head of General Staff of Armenian Armed Forces explains why Azerbaijanis 'trapped' were not captured

Chief of General Staff of Armenian Armed Forces confirms loss of positions as result of Azerbaijani aggression

Central Bank: Inflation in Armenia reaches 9.9%

Edvard Asryan: The operational situation in the eastern and southeastern directions is relatively stable

Iran arrests 6 suspects in attack on Shiraz mausoleum

Aliyev: Baku put forward five main principles to normalize relations with Yerevan

Putin: The goal of the trilateral talks is the implementation of all agreements of 2020 and 2021

Talks between presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan start in Sochi

Six people detained in Belarus for hanging Ukrainian flag

NBC News: Biden lost his temper on the phone with Zelenskyy

European Parliament lawmakers arriving in Armenia on fact-finding mission

Cavusoglu: Europe weakening runs counter to Ankara's economic interests

Non-resident organizations providing online services in Armenia declare 1bn drams of VAT in 3 quarters

October oil production in Russia falls

Storm warning issued in Sochi due to tornadoes

Putin and Pashinyan hold 1-hour talks in Sochi

Pashinyan to visit Tehran on November 1

Over AMD 76 billion will be assigned to Armenian police in 2023

Provincial governor of Armenias Tavush, France envoy discuss future cooperation (PHOTOS)

South Korea and the U.S. begin large-scale air force exercise

Dollar, euro continue falling in Armenia

Pashinyan says issue of Armenian captives is unresolved, despite discussions with Putin

Iranian parliament chair to visit Azerbaijan

Pashinyan: Communications passing through Armenia should be under Yerevan's full control

Pashinyan: Russia's clear position on moving Azerbaijani soldiers to their initial positions is important

World wheat prices up

Putin urges to ensure peace in Karabakh and unblock transport infrastructure

Pashinyan calls Russia's approaches to establishing Armenia-Azerbaijan relations acceptable

State budget spending on Armenia emergency ministry needs to increase considerably in 2023

Pashinyan says he wants to discuss regional security issues with Putin

Putin hopes for progress in Karabakh settlement during summit

Putin: We have to end the Karabakh conflict

80% of Kyiv remains without water supply after morning strikes, mayor claims

China accuses US of violating trade rules

Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan meets Russian President Vladimir Putin

Peskov: We will inform if documents are agreed as result of Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan leaders meeting

Kremlin says Russia continues contacts with Turkey and UN on 'grain deal'

Masis Abrahamyan, head of ANC - Netherlands office, files lawsuit against Armenian National Security Service

Bloomberg names world's richest families

Central Bank: About 86% of banks' profits in Armenia come from currency sale/purchase, exchange fees

Head of Central Bank of Armenia: Economic growth in 2023 will be lower than 7% forecasted by government

Armenia civil servants salaries to increase but bonuses to reduce

Armenia finance minister: Salaries to increase almost twice as much more than bonuses have become salaries

Finance ministry: Armenia inflation would have been higher if national currency had not increased in value

Alen Simonyan to Erin Elizabeth McKee: Armenia is interested in deeper engagement by US

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
The Amaras Monastery, which is located in Martuni Region of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (Artsakh), is one of the best preserved monuments that were built during the early Christianity.

And as a result of archaeological excavations in the area of this monastery, the eastern entrance to the tomb of St. Grigoriswho was ordained as bishop of the Eastern Lands of Armenia, which included Artsakhwas discovered in the St. Grigoris Church, which was built in the early 4th century.

Of course, the Azerbaijanis had conducted excavations [here] before us [i.e. Armenians], said archeologist Hamlet Petrosyan. We also found the 1959 bottle, where it was written that they [i.e. the Azerbaijanis] conducted excavations and found nothing. But we achieved the desired result. (PHOTOS)

Petrosyan also noted that the discovered eastern entrance to this tomb has a slab floor, which is not seen in any other Christian structures.

The NKR Ministry of Economy has informed that the museumification of this newly-discovered tomb was conducted in the year past, and by way of installing a glass cover, which is a new phenomenon for post-Soviet Armenia and Karabakh.

The Amaras Monastery is among the sites of early period Armenian architecture in Artsakh.
During nine months of the current year, 1305 citizens have applied to the State Migration Service of Armenia regarding their ban to enter Russia. They asked the service representatives to submit a relevant application to the Russian side to remove the ban.

1265 out of the received applications were sent to the Russian side, only 311 of them receiving positive response.

The number of citizens applying with the request to remove the ban on entering Russia has reduced. During the six months of 2014, 3720 people applied to the State Migration Service of Armenia with such a request, their number amounting to 7843 last year.

As a result of toughening migration legislation of Russia, the 10-year ban to enter the country has begun to be applied in regard to numerous foreign citizens.
YEREVAN.  At the ruling Republican Party of Armenia Executive Board (RPA EB) meeting on Friday, President and RPA Chairman Serzh Sargsyan reflected also on a matter raised by the board members, and with respect to the likelihood of opposition Prosperous Armenia Party former Chairmanand tycoonGagik Tsarukyans returning to active politics, reported Zhamanak newspaper.

The President expressed positively about the possibility of Tsarukyans returning to politics, [but] at the same time noting that he will express a view about it in the coming days.

The Zhamanak sources at the [RPA] EB inform, however, that it became clear from Serzh Sargsyans word that, by and large, the authorities will not be against Tsarukyans return, and [therefore] the problem can be considered resolved, wrote Zhamanak.
YEREVAN. - Nation-army is an army, which will never allow itself enter into a deal with a dishonest supplier, who has an unrealistic dream of making his family happy at the expense of a soldier.

Armenian Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan said the aforementioned in his speech during the session of the board by the Armenia Defense Ministry.

Below is the Ministers entire speech, in short:

Military security is a fatal and direct, but also a long-term challenge. We didnt made this choice: we were demanded to make it. Awakening from centuries-old doze, we came to once again find our national identity and were able to not only declare our independence but also defend ourselves in a cruel and unequal, and thereby only more heroic war.

25 years ago history provided us a surprise, which we were long waiting for, long preparing for and dreaming of without guessing that it would happen that fast. And as a child, who has just received what he dreamt about, we rushed forward without noticing the power of the wind blowing in our face. Before our eyes, or more precisely, right around us a superpower was collapsing, taking with it our illusionary prosperity, calmness, insight and confidence in tomorrow.

At lightning speed the life taught us things which seemed impossible: digging trenches, connecting with self-made radio stations, obtaining weapons, burying friends, queuing for bread with talons and lighting fire in wooden stoves in apartments. The entire world seemed to have collapsed. It also seemed life would never be the same.

The Armenian army is indeed an army born from the bosom of the nation. It is an army which has struggled for the security of our people for 25 years, an army which has brought joy of victories and pride to its society. It is a national army, since it has always served its nation and national ideas.

But the nation-army is incomparably more than a national army, since a national army serves its nation, whereas a nation-army is exactly the nation itself. Considering that our armed forces are incomparable large in comparison with the territory, population and country, they cannot be separated from that population. Our society cannot be isolated from the army. Nor can the army shut down, shrink into itself and move away from the people.

Nation-army is a society, which acts as one unity: This doesnt mean militarization of a society or state. Conversely, it means democratization of the army, its fully-fledged integration in the areas of society, economy, culture, education, science, environmental protection and sports. That means putting what the army created and formed to the service of the entire society and state, as well as strengthening the countrys armed forces through all the achievements of civil life.

Nation-army is an army, the inseparable tie with which neither begins nor ends with conscription.

It is the army, which has a potential to educate and breed, transferring this to its people.

Nation-army is the society and armed forces, the movement between which goes unnoticed and where the innovative science and military industrial complex are separated by one step. Where economy grows and strengthens through the orders of its army, investments, creative capacities without bending under the load of carrying all this on its shoulders.

Nation-army is the confidence, which the society has towards its armed forces and its officer staff.

It is the society, where the military officer is the most respected and honored citizen. It is also the officer who is the embodiment of education, leadership and self-confidence but never self-satisfaction.

Nation-army is the school and the military unit, which are each others logical continuation, where the teacher, parent and commander jointly work towards the education of the future generation.

It is the army, which is the countrys absolute leader in efficient governance, elimination of corruption, integrity, modernization and creation of the elite of the generations to come.

Nation-army is a defense system, where everyone is ready for mobilization, knowing precisely their actions, tasks and means.

Nation-army is the country, where there are no soldiers and civilians, but a citizen in uniform and defender of the homeland in civilian clothing.

[] Nation-army is also the society, which is constantly stands by his soldier who has gained disabilities and - if an irreversible has occurred - also by the family of the killed soldier.

Nation-army is a family, where the father tempers his son since his birthday, and the mother  with the unavoidable feeling of sadness  accompanies her son to the army.

But it is also the army which maintains strong connection between a soldier, and especially contract soldier, with his family without turning into a penitentiary institution which isolated a child from his family.

Nation-army is a military educational institution, whose graduates are horned to be such, since the education given to them is on demand and guarantees work: the professors are educated and skillful, students are happy and the environment is friendly and disposing.

It is also the military officer, whose son doesnt hesitate to respond that he wishes to become an officer like his father or mother.

Nation-army is the businessman, who considers rendering services to the army as an honor and responsibility. One who bakes a few grams more bread than ordered so that the soldier is satisfied.[]

Nation-army is the army which will never allow itself enter into a deal with a dishonest supplier who has an unrealistic dream of making his family happy at the expense of a soldier.

[] The greatest paradox is that we cant chose or not chosethe nation-army doctrine. We can only adopt it exactly today and approach the implementation of that idea with a new vision and self-confident steps. I am sure that we will be able to carry out that idea together.

We have everything for this: right people, established state governance system, necessary resources and public need. Most importantly, we have the confidence and expectation of the head of state and the supreme commander-in-chief of the armed forces in regard to reliably maintaining the army positions and taking speedy steps in that direction in the area of nation-army.

Thus, lets move on towards new victories!"
Taking note of Pakistan's tit for tat declaration of sending Indian High Commission official Surjeet Singh back home, Congress party leader Mallikarjun Kharge said Islamabad is conspiring to spoil India's image globally. The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha alleged that while India was successful in providing incriminating evidence against the Pakistan embassy staffer's espionage activities against India, Islamabad on the other hand has failed to do so. "We nabbed him only after acquiring proper evidence against him. But Pakistan, just to get back at India, declared him (Singh) persona non grata without providing incriminating our official. The Pakistan government has always instigated its people, spreading the message that they are not mute spectators and are responding appropriately to every action. They are working to spoil the image of India in the international community and will do so in the future as well," Kharge told ANI. Pakistan on Friday officially announced Surjeet Singh, Assistant Personnel and Welfare Officer in the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, to be persona non grata for his "activities that were not in the interest of the national security of Pakistan" and accused India of being involved in "terror financing" and "terrorist activities" in the state. "His activities were not in the interest of the national security of Pakistan. And secondly, we are all aware of Indian state-sponsored activities, state involvement in terrorism in Pakistan. Unlike India which does not have any proof, but they just level the baseless allegations against Pakistan, Pakistan has irrefutable proof of Indian involvement in terror financing and also terrorist activities in Pakistan," Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said in a press briefing. The development came a day after Indian authorities detained Mehmood Akhtar, an official of the Pakistan High Commission, on charges of espionage and later asked him to leave India within 48 hours. According to Indian officials, Akhtar was caught in possession of sensitive documents. (ANI)
BSF jawan Niten Subash, who was injured in the militant attack on patrol party at Tangdhar on October 27, has succumbed this morning. A jawan was earlier killed in the encounter though militants managed to escape under the cover of darkness. A defence ministry spokesman told UNI last night that an encounter took place on the LoC in Machil sector in north Kashmir.

A soldier was killed, he said adding a militant also has been gunned down.

He said the militants later mutilated the body of the soldier before fleeing back into Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) supported by covering fire from Pak Army.

He said the incident reflected the barbarism pervading in official and unofficial organisations across the border and this act will invite an appropriate response.UNI BAS ADG 1011

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During the discussion yesterday, the Governor suggested that there should be pre-marital counselling facility made available in Sikh communities.

She also informed that special suggestion would be sent to the government of Goa to start pre-marital counselling centres for couples before marriage, belonging to all communities, in order to prevail harmony in the family life.

In the meeting, women from Sikh community lauded the provisions of equality made in the Uniform Civil Code, which is practiced in Goa, since Portuguese times.

It is high time that new generation be made aware about the cultural, social and emotional responsibilities of marriage and be guided accordingly, to nurture a good family atmosphere, Ms Sinha added.

During course of discussion, the Goa Governor was informed by women about various initiatives undertaken to contribute towards the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

Prior to this meeting, the Governor had a dialogue with women from Hindu, Catholic, Muslim and Tribal communities on UCC and learnt their opinions.

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Ruling Samajwadi Party MLC and former Advisor, NRI and Externally Aided Projects Department to Uttar Pradesh government Madhukar Jetley has been appointed as the UP's Ambassador for the Indian Diaspora Council (IDC). This would be for the first time, that any person from UP has been appointed as the Ambassador of IDC, which is an organisation of Indian workers, who have migrated to other countries during British period and were now the natives of the respective countries. Some of these workers and their family members even went to become President and Prime Minister of the countries they have migrated.According to a statement by IDC released here today, the appointment has been made with immediate effect and the term is for three year period, with extension on approval of IDC board of directors.The Indian Diaspora Council's Ambassador, Uttar Pradesh Diaspora will report directly to the President of Indian Diaspora Council, the statement further said. Mr Jetley told UNI here today that this new engagement will be useful for UP to bring in NRI voters to vote in the coming Assembly polls next year after the Election Commission (EC) and the Supreme Court coming to a common ground to allow NRI voters to vote in Indian elections.Mr Jetley was involved with various infrastructure initiatives of the states such as the first ever Metro Rail project in Lucknow, which has now been conceived by him in four other cities: Agra, Kanpur, Meerut and Varanasi which are tourist destinations and business hub. He had also been single handedly instrumental in the conceptualisation and creation of a dedicated UP-NRI Department for UP NRI's.The portfolio of IDC's Ambassador, Uttar Pradesh Diaspora will include,engagement on behalf of Indian Diaspora Council of non-resident Indians (NRIs) and persons of Indian origin (PIOs) who are originally from Uttar Pradesh or having ancestral roots in Uttar Pradesh, liaison with State Government of UP on behalf of Indian Diaspora Council for on-going and planned projects, events and programs in globally and in UP , promote and advance the interest of IDC in UP and otherstates in India and even in the Central Government and countries.IDC recognises that, while migration from UP continues at an increasing rate, a significant number of Indian indentured labourers were from the state and many have traced their roots to UP. March 20, 2017 marks the 100th anniversary of the official abolition of Indian Indentureship, an era spanning 1834-1917. The history and consequences of Indian Indenturedship are deeply embedded with importance, meaningful history and reflections to millions of descendants living in many countries which were the recipients of Indian Indentured labourers. The IDC, in collaboration with several organisations and institutions in various countries, is coordinating a series of high profile global events to mark the centennial of abolition of Indian indentureship. The global convention will be held in March 2017, while there will be a series of global events, leading up to the March 2017 convention.UNI MB RJ ADG 1206 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0196-999799.Xml
Over 200 shops were gutted when a major fire broke out at a Diwali cracker market in zilla parishad grounds at Aurangpura locality this morning, fire department officials said. The FIR said that, around 1100 hrs this morning over 200 cracker shops in which approximately worth of Rs 2-crores crackers were destroyed in a major fire. Thick smoke was seen in the areas. Fire department spokesman said several fire tenders were engaged in dousing the flames. The cracker market is organised every in this locality every year during Diwali season. Several parked vehicles were also destroyed in the fire. There was no immediate report of any casualty. Some of the shop owners blamed that the authorities failed to control the fire in time.UNI VKB NV SM SNU 1418 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-1000022.Xml
Nagaland Governor PB Acharya today said Deepawali, known as the festival of lights, is one of the most significant and famous festivals in India and it is a sacred Hindu festival, which symbolises the triumph of good over evil. In a statement issued by the PRO of Raj Bhavan in Kohima, Mr Acharya said the festival is celebrated very enthusiastically to commemorate the returning of Lord Rama to his kingdom, Ayodhya after defeating the demon king Ravana. This is victory over evil. On this occasion, people clean their houses, wear new clothes and at night, illuminate their houses with rows of small earthen lamps called Diya. ''As we celebrate the festival of lights, let us also look into our own self and do away with all the evil practices that are all around us and in our own life and let goodness prevail in all spheres of life." Mr Acharya appealed to all to come together on this occasion of victory of good over evil, to do away ''injustice and corruption that is plaguing our society''. ''Let the Diwali festival bring peace, unity and harmony amongst the different communities in the state. Let us make our state Nagaland peaceful and prosperous. We only can make Nagaland Golden Nagaland. Let us strive to work together for a strong, prosperous peaceful India," the release added. UNI AS KK RJ SNU 1511 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0212-1000051.Xml
Dacoits shot dead a woman, looted valuables worth lakhs of rupees from two houses and made good escape at Dumrasan village under Tekari Police Station in the Gaya district late last night. Police said here today that outlaws shot dead Siya Devi (32) when she resisted to their attempt. An FIR had been lodged at the police station concerned in this connection and massive manhunt is on to nab the culprits, police added. UNI XC-DH KK PS SNU 1517 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0212-1000064.Xml
Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki and Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today extended their greetings to the people of the state on the eve of 'Festival of Lights', Diwali. In a message here today, the Governor urged the people to celebrate this festival joyfully, thus further strengthening the bonds of love, amity, communal harmony and goodwill. He said that the festival of lights symbolises the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and peace over conflict. Conveying his best wishes for all-round prosperity and bright future of the people, Prof Solanki wished that the festival may usher more prosperity to the people. In a separate message, the Chief Minister said that the festival of Diwali reminds us about the high ideals of Lord Rama, who returned to Ayodhya on this day after 14 years of banishment and victory over Lanka. "On this day, we should resolve to follow the morals and principles of Lord Rama", he added. He exhorted the people to celebrate Diwali in the true tradition of our composite culture and in an atmosphere of peace and harmony, rising above narrow considerations of caste, creed and religion.He also urged them to make Diwali noise and pollution-free.UNI DB PS SNU 1719 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0292-1000214.Xml
Official sources said here this evening that Pakistani Rangers resorted to heavy shelling targeting civilians and Border Security Force (BSF) posts along the LoC in Keran sector of Kupwara.

They said one woman was injured in the shelling, adding she was immediately taken to a hospital, where her condition is stated to be stable.

"The shelling from across the border was still going on," they said, adding BSF has started retaliating effectively.

Meanwhile, a soldier was martyred yesterday after Pakistan violated ceasefire and resorted to unprovoked firing on forward posts in Machil sector in Kupwara.

They said the militants later mutilated the body of the soldier before fleeing back into Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) under the covering fire from Pak Army. A militant was also killed in an encounter in Machil sector yesterday. A soldier was killed and another was injured in Tangdhar sector on Thursday. Militants later managed to escape. UNI ABS YSS SHK 1730

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According to police, the couple --Abhinave Kumar and Kushbu -- travelled in the flight from Dubai to Kolkata via Hyderabad when the incident occurred. The woman was missing after she went for shopping as soon as the flight was landed at RGIA.

Police registered a case and investigation is on, police added.UNI VV CS 1926

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A software engineer has committed suicide by hanging herself at her hostel in Madhya Pradesh's commercial capital, police said. Nisha Kumari (25) last night committed suicide. The hostel owner went to provide breakfast to Nisha this morning when he found her body hanging. A suicide note was found from Nisha in which she expressed her wish that her photographs and God's picture should be burnt along with her body.UNI XC-PS SHS SNU 1928 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0044-1000378.Xml
Punjab Revenue and Information and Public Relations Minister Bikram Singh Majithia today said that BJP president Amit Shah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley would attend the function being organised at Amritsar on Nov 1 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Punjabi Suba. The Minister said those who have contributed for the formation of Punjabi Suba as well as their families would be honoured by the Punjab government in this function. While taking stock of arrangements regarding these functions, the Minister today issued necessary instructions to the organisers. Speaking to the mediapersons on the occasion, Mr Majithia said there is nothing political about this function. While calling upon all political parties to attend the function, he said such functions should be organised by all and all should join hands to pay tributes and respect to all the martyrs who have laid down their lives for Punjabi suba. He said despite the fact that Congress Governments at Centre meted step motherly treatment towards Punjab during last 50 years, Punjab still developed a lot. He said that Punjabis have not only reached new heights on their motherland, but have also made Punjab proud by succeeding on foreign soils. While giving details about the functions to be held at Amritsar, Mr Majithia said a grand function is being organised at Ranjit Avenue during day time and a light and sound programme would be held near Sri Darbar Sahib in the evening. Terming the surgical strike as a befitting reply to Pakistan by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the minister said our Army has done the right thing. He said, "if Pakistan does not mend its ways even now, we should snap all ties with them and oppose them on all international forums." Commenting on the misleading election manifesto of Congress and Arvind Kejriwal, he said that both Capt Amarinder Singh and Kejriwal should both give it in writing to the farmers that if they failed to waive off all their debt within one week, they would auction all their property and give that amount to the farmers. He said that such people would never do it because they are just trying to gain their lost ground and credibility. He questioned that Congress should first explain whether the promises made by them here, are implemented in other states being rules by them? He said when the Congress led UPA remained in power for 10 years at Centre, why did they not take all these measures then? Same is the case with Arvind Kejriwal, who have done nothing for the farmers of Delhi state. He said that only Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has stood by the farmers on all fronts. On a question related to former MP Navjot Singh Sidhu, Mr Majithia said that due to his political opportunism and ongoing "bargaining deals" with both Congress and Kejriwal, people now know his real face. He said that Sidhu is a businessman and he is not into politics for the sake of social service.UNI DB SHS SNU 1842 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0292-1000532.Xml
Even though curfew and restriction on assembly of people have been lifted from entire Kashmir Valley, life remained crippled for the 113th consecutive day today due to strike called by separatists, demanding right to self determination. Police said there is no curfew or restriction on assembly of people in any part of Kashmir Valley though deployment on ground will continue to maintain law and order. Curfew, which were imposed in Shehar-e-Khas (SeK) and downtown Srinagar yesterday to foil Jamia Masjid call by separatists, were lifted today while restrictions imposed to stop protests after Friday prayers in many parts of the valley were relaxed. But, a report from Bandipora said that restrictions were imposed in Kaloosa in north Kashmir after people hit the streets, alleging that security forces ransacked their houses, damaged window panes and other property. Meanwhile, all gates leading to historic Jamia Masjid, where no Friday prayers could be offered for the past 16 weeks, remained closed and large number of security forces remained deployed to prevent people from entering the area. Additional paramilitary forces, rushed from different parts of the country in view of the unrest since July 9, a day after the death of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) commander Burhan Wani and two other militants in an encounter in Anantnag, remained deployed across the valley to maintain peace. Both the factions of the Hurriyat Conference (HC) and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), spearheading the agitation since July 9, in its latest calendar have extended the general strike till November 3. Though there was no curfew or restriction in the down town and SeK, business and other activities remained paralysed for the 113 days. Public transport remained off the roads though private vehicles, mostly two wheelers and some three wheelers could be seen plying on some routes. All educational institutes also remained closed in Kashmir including, Srinagar, where some government schools remained occupied by security force rushed from different parts of the country to curtail the unrest. The situation in and around historic Jamia Masjid, stronghold of chairman of moderate Hurriyat Conference (HC) Mirwaiz Moulvi Omar Farooq, remained unchanged with roads leading to the worship place remained closed since July 9.MORE UNI ABS SHSSNU 1924 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0433-1000228.Xml
Himachal Pradesh Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur accompanied by Transport and Technical Education Minister G S Bali inaugurated Eye Bank, Cardiac Cath Lab and facility of Fibroscan in Dr Rajinder Prasad Govt Medical College at Tanda, near here, today. On the occasion, Mr Thakur said the State government was committed to provide accessible, effective and affordable health care to the people of this hill state. He said the Cardiac Cathlab is installed in the super speciality wing of the DRPGMC Tanda on turnkey basis by HLL and added that the trial run of the Cathlab was successfully done and insertion of pacemaker was done on three patients and coronary angiography was performed on three patients successfully in this month by the cardiologists posted here. He said the cardiology Out Patient Department was started in the DRPGMC Tanda in October 2013 besides this non invasive testing in the form of ECHO and TMT were started. He said that thousands of patients were treated here in cardiology OPD and added that there were two cardiologists, one senior resident, six staff nurses and one technician posted in the department. He said that Rs 5.54 crores were spent on this project. Mr Thakur said that cardiology wing has six bedded Cardiac Care Unit (CCU) five bedded post cath room, 30 beds in general ward cathlab and OPD wing with ECHO, TMT and Holter lab. The Health Minister and Transport Minister also inaugurated an Eye bank established at the cost of Rs 44.9 lakhs in DRPGMC Tanda. Both the Ministers had signed pledge to donate their eyes to this eye bank for the needy people. The Health Minister said that corneal blindness is the fourth leading cause of global blindness after cataract, glaucoma and age related mascular degeneration. Corneal blindness is a significant problem, treated primarily by corneal transplants and to meet this requirement an eye bank was set up here for the preservation of the donated eye. DRPGMC Tanda has attained a mile stone to have an 'Eye Bank'. He said required medical equipment which include slit lamp Biomicroscope, Eye Bank Specular microscope, Biological safety cabinet, portable high pressure rapid sterilizer has been set up. He said that this eye bank is registered with Eye Bank Association of India and now it was registered with appropriate authority of Himachal Pradesh. He said that now desired people can donate eyes here to give sight to needy people. Thakur said that there are 45 million blind people across the world and 68 lakh people suffer with corneal blindness in India. The 75 per cent of these cases are of avoidable blindness, but due to the nation's acute shortage of donors, most of the cases either go untreated or inadequately treated. He said that nearly 5000 are suffering in this hill state. He gave call to people to donate eyes in the service of humanity. He also inaugurated the Fibro scan facilities for the early diagnosis of the Liver disease. The project costs Rs 1.75 crores. DRPGMC Tanda is the first state government medical college in thenorthern India to have this facility. UNI XC DB SHS 2040 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0292-1000692.Xml
Air India (AI) General Manager Meenakshi Mallik today tendered an unconditional apology to the people of Odisha on behalf of the national carrier Chairman Ashwani Lohani for an error in an article on Jagannath Temple published in the October issue of its in house magazine Subha Yatra. The AI General Manager Revenue Management and Pricing who air dashed from Delhi told the mediapersons here that the AI has put a ban on the author of the article Madhulika Das for hurting the sentiments of lakhs of Jagannath devotees by writing that veg and non-veg items were prepared in Jagannath Temple and served to the people every day. Ms Mallik said AI will not accept any article form the author in future. The editor of the Magazine was also cautioned, she said, adding that "we will ensure that that such type of mistake will never happen again." The Author of the article also tendered her apology for the error, she said and remarked that since the sentiments of the whole state is attached with the Jagannath Temple such error should not have happened. She said the article has been removed from the all social media including face book, twitter, web page and the net.Officials in all the Airport were asked to offload the magazine from all domestic and international flights and see that it was not circulated to the passengers. In an article in the current month issue of the Subh Yatra the author has written that about 500 cooks prepare 285 varieties of veg and non-veg items and serve people every day in the Jagannath temple. A statewide hue and cry was made over the article after one passenger Rudra Prasad Rath who boarded the AIR India flight from New Delhi to Bhubaneswar on October 27 last read the article and brought it to the notice of the crew members and the media. Later Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik strongly reacted to the writings and described it as most unfortunate. He said the government will take up the matter with the appropriate authority. Odisha Tourism and Culture Minister Ashok Panda condemned the article and said he would take up the matter with the Air India authority and Civil Aviation Department . Mr Panda said the article on the Jagannath temple in the magazine was not based on fact and it had hurt the sentiments of the lakhs of Jagannath devotees. The Minister said the editorial team of the Magazine should have examined the article before publishing it. The activists of the Jagannath Sena, a local outfit in the pilgrim town Puri held a demonstration in front of the Lions gate of the Jagannath Temple in protest against the article and threatened to move the court if the Air India did not tender apology and withdraw the copies of the magazine. The Odisha unit of the BJP also strongly condemned the article and demanded its immediate withdrawal and case against the. The Air India in its tweeter tendered an apology for the error in the magazine and said "our intention was not to hurt the sentiments of the people."UNI BD DP RNSNU 1935 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0311-1000591.Xml
The Indian Army has destroyed four Pakistani Posts in massive fire assault on the Line of Control (LoC) in Keran sector in the frontier district of Kupwara in Jammu and Kashmir, a defence ministry spokeperson said tonight. He told UNI here that Indian troops in a massive fire assault destroyed four Pakistani posts today. He said heavy causalities have been inflicted.MORE UNI BAS JW2239 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-1000889.Xml
The fire broke out in a printing unit situated in the premises of Indian Corporation shortly before noon and it was put out at around 1700 hours, Bhiwandi-Nizampur City Municipal Corporation Chief Fire Officer Datta Salvi told UNI.

He said that two workers received burns in the blaze and they have been admitted to and getting treatment at a local hospital.

He said that drums filled with chemical were strored in the printing unit, which aggravated the fire, and the entire area was engulfed in thick smoke as well as foul odour due to the burning of chemicals.

The printing unit was destroyed in the fire.

Eight fire engines from Bhiwandi, Thane and Kalyan rushed to the spot and extinguished the blaze, he said, adding, the cause of fire is being probed.UNI XR SS SHS2244

-- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-1000727.Xml
The other elected members are Tunisia, South Africa, Rwanda, Japan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Hungary, Croatia, Cuba, Brazil, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Human Rights Council is the main UN intergovernmental body responsible for promoting and protecting all human rights and fundamental freedom.

It was established by the General Assembly in 2006 to replace the 60-year-old UN Commission on Human Rights.

The UN council addresses human rights violations and makes corresponding recommendations. It responds to human rights emergencies, works to prevent abuses.

The council's 47 members are elected individually through secret ballot, by the majority of the 193 members of the General Assembly. They serve for a three-year renewable term and cannot seek immediate re-election after two consecutive terms.

The council membership is based on equitable geographical distribution.

Thirteen seats each are devoted to the Group of African States and the Group of Asia-Pacific States, eight to the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States, seven to the Group of Western European and other States and six to the Group of Eastern European States.

--IANS vgu/

( 219 Words)

2016-10-29-04:48:03 (IANS)
The US State Department said today it had voiced concern to Myanmar's foreign minister about the reported rape of Rohingya Muslim women by soldiers during a recent upsurge in violence against the persecuted minority.State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the United States wanted Myanmar to investigate the reported rapes and hold those responsible accountable.REUTERS RSD 0003 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0435-999711.Xml
The minister is allegedly supposed to be responsible for the security leaks from a high level civil-military huddle and subsequent publication of a story in a national daily newspaper, reports Express Tribune.

This came after a news report was published in a national English daily, which had been immediately rejected by the civilian government.

A committee was formed to probe into the matter as it had caused harm to the 'national security' and the writer who had written the report was briefly put on the Exit Control List (ECL).

The controversial report had quoted a source as saying that the civilian government told the military officials "to either act against all militants or face international isolation" during a high-level meeting. (ANI)
Photo taken on Feb. 18, 2016 shows the five-star Hilton Athens. Greece's Alpha Bank SA has launched a process to sell Athens-listed Ionian Hotel Enterprises, owner of the five-star Hilton Athens. Alpha Bank, which holds 97.3 percent of IHE, wants to receive expressions of interest by a deadline of March 11.According to information, the value of the hotel is estimated about 180 millions euro Athens. Hilton Athens which completed this year 53 years of operation, is located in the capital's commercial district and has a total capacity of 506 rooms, 22 equipped meeting rooms, and many other facilities and services. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos)

NEW YORK, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- China's HNA Group announced Monday that it will acquire about 25 percent stake in Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. from Blackstone Group LP for 6.5 billion U.S. dollars.

HNA Group, a Chinese conglomerate headquartered in Haikou in south China's Hainan province, will buy the stake for 26.25 U.S. dollars per share in cash, a 15 percent premium to Hilton's closing price of 22.91 U.S. dollars on Friday. The deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017, will reduce Blackstone's interest in Hilton to roughly 21 percent.

The move comes when Hilton's planned spin-offs of Park Hotels & Resorts and Hilton Grand Vacations are under way. According to the terms, HNA will own approximately 25 percent of all three companies when the spin-offs are completed at the end of this year.

The agreement also allows HNA to appoint two directors to Hilton's Board of Directors, bringing the total to ten members.

"We believe this mutually beneficial relationship will open new opportunities for our brands and guests around the world, particularly in light of HNA's strong position in the fast-growing Chinese travel and tourism market, the largest outbound travel and tourism market in the world," said Christopher J. Nassetta, president and CEO of Hilton, in a statement on Monday.

Hilton's shares gained 0.09 percent at 22.94 U.S. dollars after Monday' s closing bell, while Blackstone inched up 0.72 percent at 24.79 U.S. dollars.
ANKARA, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- The presidents of Turkey and the United States had a telephone conversation late Wednesday on next steps in the fight against Islamic State (IS) militants, the Turkish presidential office said on Thursday.

Turkish President Recep Erdogan and his U.S. counterpart, Barack Obama, underscored the need for continuing the ongoing successful process to eliminate threats against Syrian people, Turkey, the U.S. and other countries, the office said in a statement.

Obama expressed the appreciation for Turkey's contributions to the anti-IS fight, particularly for supporting the Free Syrian Army, which cleared the IS from the Turkey-Syria border region, the statement said.

The U.S. president said Washington welcomes the ongoing dialogue between Turkey and Iraq on Ankara's participation in the anti-IS coalition in a proper form and at a proper level, the statement added.

Pointing to the need for clearing all terrorist organizations, including the IS and the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), from the region, Erdogan underlined the importance of conducting the operation on Mosul with sensitivity, the statement said.

Erdogan and Obama also agreed on not allowing any PKK presence in northern Iraq, reiterating their support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq.
The Committee for a Greater Buffalo Park asks for your YES vote on Proposition 413, a unique opportunity for Flagstaff voters to express a vision for city-owned park-quality land with stunning views, expansive grassy meadows, and a host of trails in the heart of Flagstaff adjacent to Buffalo Park.

Flagstaff has become one of the nations most desirable places to live and run a business, in part because of our fabulous growing urban trail system and easy access to a wide variety of outdoor recreational activities. In fact, the Arizona Daily Sun just reported Flagstaffs explosive growth with nearly 6,000 housing units under construction or coming soon.

In the face of worsening traffic congestion on some major roads that wont be relieved any time soon, and the dramatic increase in new commercial and residential construction, Proposition 413 will ensure that 47 acres of city-owned undeveloped land south of McPherson and Buffalo Parks and 253 acres of city-owned undeveloped land on McMillan Mesa remain as open space for the public to enjoy. This land is the last significant contiguous city-owned open space in Flagstaff, yet a simple majority of four members of the city council can vote to sell or lease it to a developer.

On a drive around McMillan Mesa youll see a lot of development on private land, including the charter school, Basis Flagstaff, Flagstaff Senior Meadows apartments and Guardian Medical Transport. Several more large projects are being built on private land, including 24 market rental cottages on Pinecliff, the 48,300 square foot Rehabilitation Hospital of Northern Arizona and the 34,500 Wellbrook Senior Living skilled nursing facility. Up to 437 new residential units may also be built. Proposition 413 wont impact any of this privately owned land.

The ballot question is straightforward  it simply asks the voter whether certain land owned by the city taxpayer should remain as open space and ensures that 10 acres on McMillan Mesa can be donated by the city for a veterans services facility. Theres no cost to the taxpayers.

Proposition 413 is a citizen initiative, which was put on the ballot by a citizen committee that collected over 4,000 signatures of Flagstaff voters from throughout the city. Because its a citizen initiative, if the city council wants to use all or part of this land in the future for other purposes, including affordable housing, it must first seek voter approval.

The Arizona Daily Sun recently reported that city council candidates Adam Shimoni, Jamie Whelan, Jim McCarthy and Charlie Odegaard support Proposition 413 while Councilmember Jeff Oravits said he was leaning toward a yes but wanted to reread the proposition before voting. Both mayoral candidates support the measure. Only council candidate Karla Brewster opposes it.

Vote yes on Proposition 413 to help achieve the vision of a balance between economic growth and protecting this valuable open space that belongs to city residents and that so many love.
A US Airways jet passes an American Airlines jet with the company's new tail logo at O'Hare Airport on December 9, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. (Scott Olson/Getty Images/AFP)

CHICAGO, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- An American Airlines plane caught fire Friday afternoon on a runway at O'Hare Airport in Chicago, the United States, local officials said.

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) spokesman Tony Molinaro said American Airlines Flight 383 departed Chicago for Miami on Friday afternoon when it blew a tire and damaged an engine, adding Molinaro said the pilot aborted takeoff and everyone evacuated.

Several people were injured, the severity of those injuries is not clear at this time, according to local news channel ABC7.
Democrat Hillary Clinton attends the first presidential debate in Hempstead of New York, the United States, Sept. 26, 2016. Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump on Monday held their first presidential debate in Hempstead. (Xinhua/Qin Lang)

WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- U.S. House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz said on Friday the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has reopened Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's email investigation.

"The FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation. Case reopened," Chaffetz tweeted Friday.

According to a copy of an letter by FBI Director James Comey to Chaffetz cited by CNN, new emails had emerged recently that appeared to be linked to the FBI's Clinton email probe completed in July.

"I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation," said Comey in the letter.

However, Comey said the FBI "cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be significant", adding that he could not predict how long it would take investigators to complete the "additional work".

The Clinton campaign on Friday afternoon issued a statement urging the FBI to provide the public more information than is contained in the letter sent to the Congress.

"Already, we have seen characterizations that the FBI is 'reopening' an investigation but Comey's words do not match that characterization," said John Podesta, chairman of the Clinton campaign in a statement.

After a yearlong investigation, the FBI in July recommended no criminal charges against Clinton in its email probe, and the Justice Department then closed the investigation.

At a press conference in March 2015, Clinton acknowledged that she had exchanged about 60,000 emails from her private email account during her stint in the Obama administration, among which about half were personal and thus deleted.

All emails were sent and received via a private email server based at Clinton's home.

In response to requests from the State Department, the Clinton camp turned over the other half, roughly 30,000 emails in total, to the State Department in December 2014.

The controversy surrounding Clinton's email practices again burst into public view in August 2015 after the inspector general for the intelligence community revealed that two of the thousands of emails held by Clinton contained top-secret information. The revelation then trigged a federal investigation into whether Clinton had mishandled sensitive information.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Friday in a campaign rally that the FBI will "right the horrible mistake that they made".
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang speaks during the general debate of the UN General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York, Sept. 21, 2016. Premier Li called for joint efforts to address sustainable development and global challenges. (Xinhua/Zhang Duo)

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- The UN General Assembly on Friday elected China and other 13 countries to the UN Human Rights Council for a three-year term of office starting from Jan. 1, 2017.

China, a current member of the council whose term ends at the end of 2016, was re-elected to the council by winning 180 votes for another three-year term.

The other elected members are Tunisia, South Africa, Rwanda, Japan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Hungary, Croatia, Cuba, Brazil, the United States and the United Kingdom.

The Human Rights Council is the main United Nations intergovernmental body responsible for promoting and protecting all human rights and fundamental freedom. It was established by the General Assembly in 2006 to replace the 60-year-old UN Commission on Human Rights.

The UN council addresses human rights violations and makes corresponding recommendations. It responds to human rights emergencies, works to prevent abuses.

The council's 47 members are elected directly and individually by secret ballot by the majority of the 193 members of the General Assembly. They serve for a three-year renewable term and cannot seek immediate re-election after two consecutive terms.

Apart from the current term from 2014 to 2016, China also served as a council member from 2006 to 2012.

The council membership is based on equitable geographical distribution. Thirteen seats each are devoted to the Group of African States and the Group of Asia-Pacific States, eight to the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States, seven to the Group of Western European and other States and six to the Group of Eastern European States.
HAVANA, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- Five Cuban volleyball players, convicted for the rape of a woman in the Finnish city of Tampere, have appealed the sentence, the country's volleyball federation announced on Friday.

"They have submitted an appeal to the prosecutor and the victim, who have 30 days to provide their evidence," said Ariel Sainz, president of the federation, in remarks published by the official daily Granma.

On Sept. 20, a judge handed down a guilty verdict against the five players for the aggravated rape of a Finnish citizen, after a close-door trial that ended on Aug. 31.

Four of the defendants were sentenced to a term of five years in prison, and the fifth to three and a half years. They were also condemned to pay a compensation of 24,000 euros to the victim.

The players denied all the charges and stated that they had sex with the woman consensually.

"Expectations are that the new ruling will occur between January and March 2017," said Sainz, adding that he had been in contact with the players and their attorneys.

The incident represented a serious reverse for the Cuban team. It was forced to replace half of its members a month before the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, where it finished in a disappointing 11th place.
BEIJING, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- The team of a Chinese sailor Guo Chuan who went missing during the trans-Pacific sailing said on Friday they were saddened by the U.S. Coast Guard's decision to suspend the search for him.

Guo Chuan preparing for his trans-Pacific sailing on Oct. 19, 2016. (Xinhua/Xu Yong)

The team said Guo, suspected to have fallen overboard his trimaran between 15:15 and 15:30 on Oct. 25 Beijing time, might wear life jacket and still stands a chance of surviving since he has been in the water for only three days.

"The waters off Hawaii was not so cold and he has a chance to survive," said the team, who had written a letter to the Coast Guard, asking resumption of search.

"We are deeply saddened by the decision to suspend the search and beg you to continue searching until there is confirmation that he has lost his last chance for survival," the group wrote in the letter.

"Guo Chuan's crew will assist regardless of cost, if you could just tell us what to do."

The team said a travel company in Hawaii has offered to provide five to 10 helicopters to search the missing sailor, but they need larger ships with helipads.

"These helicopters can fly 500 kilometers without stopping but the site of the accident is 900 kilometers off Hawaii. We need large ships which have helicopter platforms and equipment to refuel the choppers.

Guo Chuan in San Francisco on Oct. 19, 2016. (Xinhua/Xu Yong)

The 51-year-old Chinese sailor was attempting to sail from San Fransico to Shanghai in 20 days or less for a new solo trans-Pacific world record.

The U.S. Coast Guard have suspended the active search for the missing mariner following the boarding of the trimaran. The boatcrew confirmed Guo was not on the vessel although his life jacket remains aboard.

Marine and navigation experts on Guo's team blamed Guo's disappearance on the jib, a triangular staysail that sets ahead of the foremast of a sailing vessel, which was seen broken from the ship and floating on the water.

Following a research of videos, photos and phone transcripts from rescuers, the experts agreed on two scenarios that led to Guo's disappearance.

When Guo tried to lower the jib against high winds, a difficult task for a solo sailor, the jib suddenly fell. Guo tried to prevent the sail from dropping into the water while standing at the narrow head of the ship. The ship rocked and Guo fell.

The second scenario could happen when Guo dealt with an accidental fall of the jib. Guo unknotted the harness for wider movement on the ship to drag the jib onboard, which got heavier after getting wet. A heavy wave could have thrown the sailor overboard.
VIENNA, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Austrian economy has grown 0.4 percent in the third quarter, compared to the second quarter, on the back of continued improvement in consumer demand, a leading research institute said Friday.

In a flash calculation, the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO) said the positive growth dynamics of the first two quarters, that saw growth of 0.4 percent and 0.3 percent respectively, have thus continued.

Year-on-year, the third quarter saw unadjusted growth of 1.3 percent.

The WIFO said private consumption increased 0.4 percent over the quarter, following two consecutive quarters of a 0.3-percent increase.

"In light of the increasing disposable income of private households in 2016 the willingness to purchase consumer durables has increased," the institute said.

Public consumption, investments and trade also saw continued growth, albeit slightly down from levels seen over the first two quarters.

In its most recent prognosis for the entire year made at the end of September, the WIFO said it expected 1.7-percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth.
CARTAGENA, Colombia, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin on Friday delivered the results of Colombia's two-year administration to a meeting of foreign ministers during the 25th Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government, being held in Colombia on Oct. 28-29.

"Today, two years after taking over the rotating secretariat, we feel proud to deliver tomorrow to our heads of state and government, as well as to our people, concrete results linked to the topics chosen as being of great relevance to the Ibero-American region: youth, entrepreneurship and education," said Holguin.

She said in its time as secretary of the group, Colombia focused on how to meet challenges linked to these three topics in the region.

One major accomplishment was the creation of an observatory to offer opportunities for young people in entrepreneurship and employment.

"On one side, we have the most educated youth ever seen in the history of our region, but on the other side, one in five young people is out of the educational system and the labor market. We also have two-thirds of our young university graduates who are the first generation in their families to make it to university," she said.

"We have doubled the university population in the region, but we also have to face the highest rate of university drop-outs in the world. Young people are entering university but are not finishing their studies. Many of their aspirations to enter the labor pool and find social mobility are being cut off," Holguin said.

On Saturday, the Ibero-American members will sign the Pact for Youth in an effort to commit the summit to making more efforts for its young people. The delegations will also appoint a new country to succeed Colombia.
UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Security Council on Friday "condemned in the strongest terms" another mortar shelling earlier in the day on the Russian embassy in the Syrian capital of Damascus, which caused significant material damage.
BEIJING, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Communist Party of China (CPC) has been a tower of strength in leading the country's steady and sound economic and social development since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, foreign scholars and media have said.

In an interview with Xinhua in the wake of the Sixth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee this week, Jose Luis Leon-Manriquez, a professor of International and East Asian Studies at the Metropolitan Autonomous University in Mexico, praised the CPC's leading role in China's reform and opening-up, as well as the combination of macro-control and market economy system carried out since 1978.

The CPC's choice of socialism with Chinese characteristics has awakened the Asian giant, as China has now become the world's second-largest economy, Leon-Manriquez said.

By creating China's own model for socialism, the CPC has led the world's most populous country toward a unique path which ensures a better quality of life for its people. Other countries could learn from this model, he said.

"The CPC has been most helpful in bringing China to the world economic and political center," he said.

Ignacio Martinez Cortes, a researcher on Chinese Affairs at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, also spoke highly of the Sixth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee held from Monday to Thursday.

The session is very important for the party, as self-discipline and stricter governance will standardize the CPC's political life and strengthen intra-party supervision, Cortes said.

He also praised the CPC's increasing efforts in the anti-corruption campaign over the past several years. The zero-tolerance policy applied by the party has ensured a positive and healthy political life, he said.

"China is now building a new path of development based on an inclusive and green economy as well as a harmonious society, which says no to corruption," he said.

"Chinese President Xi Jinping has a strong will and has been playing the leading role in the anti-corruption campaign," he noted.

Chen Gang, senior research fellow at the East Asian Institute of the National University of Singapore, also highlighted the importance of strengthening the CPC's governance, which is the topic of the session.

"To strengthen governance of the party means to normalize anti-corruption policies. Standardizing political life and fighting against corruption will be a long-term policy in intra-party governance," Chen said.

Chen believed that more detailed documents on norms of intra-party political life under current conditions are on the way, which will further strengthen the CPC as a steady leading power of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

The Japanese daily newspaper the Mainichi said the documents approved by the session helped institutionalize the CPC's anti-corruption efforts, and the zero-tolerance policy carried out by the party serves as the guiding principle for the anti-corruption campaign in the future.

Yazaki Mitsuharu, head of the secretariat of the Japan-China Friendship Association, spoke highly of the documents approved by the session on standardizing political life and strengthening intra-party governance.

These documents can help fight against corruption and wipe out people's distrust of the government. They are crucial to the institutionalization of anti-corruption and the improvement of the rule of law, and also a key step toward a comprehensive suppression of corruption in the future, Mitsuharu said.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Brazilian government released an official statement Friday celebrating the country's election to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

Brazil was elected earlier in the day to a temporary seat on the council for the 2017-2019 term with 137 votes. It is the fourth time Brazil is elected to a seat on the UNHRC, which was formed in 2006. The new mandate will start on Jan. 1, 2017.

"The Brazilian government thanks the members of the United Nations for the support received. During the new mandate, our country will work hard to increase the council's effectiveness in the promotion and protection of human rights," said the communique released by Brazil's Foreign Ministry.

Brazil was one of two countries elected to the council, which has a fixed number of members from each region of the globe. Cuba was the other elected country from Latin America and the Caribbean.

The council has a total of 14 members. The other nations elected for the 2017-2019 period are South Africa, Rwanda, Egypt, Tunisia, United States, Britain, Hungary, Croatia, Saudi Arabia, China, Japan and Iraq.
Due to the devastation caused from Hurricane Matthew in Haiti, the nonprofit Northern Arizona Volunteer Medical Corp. has put together an emergency GoFundMe account in order to help those suffering in the hardest hit areas.

NAVMC has been working in Haiti since 2010 and responded to this latest tragedy by sending volunteers and money. NAVMC's Dr. John Durham and Peter Brainard traveled to Haiti to work with Dr. Jean Hippolyte, an orthopedic surgeon treating people at this time in Haiti. Another aid trip is planned in December. The money raised through the GoFundMe account will all go to Haiti; there will be no administrative costs taken out by NAVMC.

The money will be spent on whatever is needed most in the hardest hit areas in Haiti, working from a list of needed supplies provided by medical professionals working in Haiti. Funds will be used primarily to purchase antibiotics and IV supplies including IVs, tubing, and solution.

To make a donation or for more information, visit https://www.gofundme.com/navmc. To make a tax deductible donation, go to navmc.org/support-us.html. If donating through Paypal,note the Add special instructions to NAVMC box on the Paypal site which appears when it asks you to review your donation. Type in hurricane relief. NAVMC will have no administrative costs with these gifts.
UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Friday "condemned in the strongest terms" another mortar shelling earlier in the day on the Russian embassy in the Syrian capital of Damascus, which caused significant material damage.

The 15-nation UN body, in a press statement issued Friday night, recalled the fundamental principle of the inviolability of diplomatic and consular premises as well as the obligations of host governments to take all appropriate steps to protect diplomatic and consular premises against any intrusion or damage, and to prevent any disturbance of the peace of these missions or impairment of their dignity.

The fundamental principle and obligations were provided by international conventions including the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, the statement said.

Two mortar shells coming from the Jobar district in Damascus, an area controlled by anti-government forces, hit the embassy compound located in the central al-Mazra area of the Syrian capital, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

"It was a lucky coincidence that casualties were avoided," a statement from the ministry said.

The embassy building suffered "material damage" in the attack, with four of the Russian diplomats' cars being hit, the statement added.

This was the third time in October that the Russian embassy was shelled from militant-controlled areas. Both previous attacks, which took place on Oct. 4 and 13, damaged the embassy building but caused no casualties, reports said.
BUCHAREST, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Romanian Health Ministry on Friday confirmed a total of 935 cases of measles and six deaths from the disease, a press release from the ministry said.

Measles cases have been recorded in 29 of Romania's 41 counties, as well as in the capital city, said the release.

In 2015, there were only seven cases of measles in the country.

"Most cases represent outbreaks in communities with low vaccination coverage," said the ministry, adding that "the recommendation in the current epidemiological context is to intensify activities for the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination of children incompletely vaccinated or not immunized at all."

As many as 3,049 children aged from one to 15 have been included in a catch-up vaccination schedule, according to the ministry.

Measles is a highly contagious infection. Initial signs and symptoms typically include fever -- often greater than 40 degrees Celcius -- cough, runny nose, and inflamed eyes. Complications occur in about 30 percent of cases and may include diarrhea, blindness, inflammation of the brain, and pneumonia, among others.

Measles affects about 20 million people worldwide per year,and the MMR vaccine is effective at preventing the disease.
CAIRO, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- Around 15 people were killed and 47 others injured as heavy rain and thunder hit Egypt, official Ahram Online reported Friday.

The report said that seven people were killed and 23 others injured in the town of Ras Gharib in the Red Sea Governorate, some 450 km southeast of Cairo.

Schools in the coastal town were indefinitely suspended due to the flooding caused by the rain.

Meanwhile, six were killed and 24 others wounded early Friday when two buses and three other vehicles overturned in floods on a highway in the governorate of Sohag, 500 km south of Cairo.

Authorities closed the road in both directions as many vehicles were trapped in the floods.

Ambulances were rushed to the scene.

Another two people were killed by electric shocks resulting from thunder in Fayed in the Suez Canal governorate of Ismailiya, north of Cairo.

Heavy rain caused flooding in several towns in Upper Egypt and along the Red Sea coast on Wednesday and Thursday. Impoverished areas with poor infrastructure have been worse hit.
NEW DELHI, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Indian President Pranab Mukherjee will embark on a three-day state visit to Nepal next week, aimed at bolstering bilateral relations, an official from the Indian External Affairs Ministry has said.

His "special goodwill visit", begining November 2, will be the first by an Indian President to the Himalayan country in 18 years and the first after Nepal adopted a democratic constitution, Sudhakar Dalela, spokesman from the Indian External Affairs Ministry said here Friday evening in a press briefing.

During his visit, the Indian President will hold talks with his Nepalese counterpart, President Bidhya Devi Bhandari, and Vice President Nanda Kishor Pun and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal.

"... discussions will cover all range of issues covering all aspects of bilateral issues, regional issues, international issues," Dalela said.

Mukherjee will be accompanied by junior Indian Defense Minister Subhash Bhamre, and some Members of the Indian Parliament, he said.

"We are in a phase of very intensive engagement at a political level and functional level. We are trying to work with Nepal in different areas," the official said.

He added that "There have been, in the field of trade or economics, cases where we have concerns about our people working there but we are working with Nepal."
BEIJING, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Sun Luwei, former head of Beijing Products Quality Supervision and Inspection Institute, was sentenced by a local court on Friday to 46 months in prison for taking bribes.

The People's Court of Shunyi District in Beijing heard that Sun became head of the institute in 2005. In 2009, when the institute was about to acquire some testing equipment, he allegedly disclosed privileged information to Wang, the businessman who won the contract the next year.

In January 2013, Sun was found to have asked for 500,000 yuan (about 74,000 U.S. dollars) from Wang to buy an apartment. He was also convicted for taking two sums of money totalling 8,000 yuan from Wang as gifts.

The court sentenced Sun to three years and ten months and fined him 200,000 yuan.

More than 300 people, including reporters and ordinary residents, attended the trial.
KUNMING, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- People living 3,400 years ago in southwest China's Yunnan province ate snails and lived in different houses in winter and summer, latest findings from a historical site showed.

The site in Xingyi village of Yuxi city was discovered in July 2015 during construction of a primary school. Houses, tombs, coffins, ash pits, roads, ditches, pottery, stoneware and bronzeware were all found there.

A Xinhua reporter saw piles of snail shells at the site. Zhu Zhonghua, an archaeologist with Yunnan cultural relics and archaeological research institute, said the snails were of two types.

"One was unique to lakes in Yunnan and they are hard to find today. The other is known to have been used by people in prehistoric times for food and decoration," he said.

"The amount of shells is quite large," he continued. "They have the top broken and there is a large amount of pots around. We concluded that the shells were discarded by humans after the snails inside were eaten."

Examination of bones found at the site revealed them to be 3,400 years old.

"Most of them were fishermen, living off snails, fish, crabs and clams," Zhu said. "They also grew rice, raised cattle and pigs, and hunted birds, deer and elephant. They lived in square houses in the summer and semi-subterranean dwellings in winter."

Excavation of the site is almost complete.
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) said Wednesday evening that they have suspended the active search for Chinese mariner Guo Chuan, who went missing during a solo trans-Pacific voyage.

In a statement announcing the suspension of the search for Guo, Capt. Robert Hendrickson, chief of response for the USCG 14th District, expressed condolences "not only to his (Guo's) family and friends but also to his racing team and the sailing community."

The suspension of the search came after the USCG crew boarded Guo's boat "Qingdao China" Wednesday afternoon and found only his life jacket.

However, Guo's racing team, deeply saddened by the suspension, said on their official social media page that the team and Guo's family were desperate upon hearing of the USCG's decision to suspend the search because Guo still stands a chance of surviving since he has been in the water for less than three days.

According to the USCG, Coast Guard HC-130 crew conducted six search patterns and the USS Makin Island and a Navy MH-60 Seahawk helicopter were also involved in the search.

Tuesday morning, watchstanders at the USCG Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Honolulu, Hawaii were notified by the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center China (MRCC China) personnel that the vessel, "Qingdao China," with one person aboard, had not been heard from for over 24 hours.

The Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles then confirmed that the vessel was missing. "Since being informed on Tuesday evening, we have been in close contact with U.S. authorities and rescue teams both in the United States and China, urging greater search and rescue efforts," a spokesman for the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles told Xinhua.

Guo was attempting to set a non-stop solo trans-Pacific sailing record from San Francisco to Shanghai when he went missing. He departed San Francisco on Oct.18 and had been in constant contact with MRCC China and his family during the voyage so he is not likely to miss scheduled calls, the USCG said.

According to the USCG's statement, "the Qingdao China is actively transmitting on an automatic identification system which showed the vessel's position at the time 620 miles northwest of Oahu."

The 51-year-old Chinese mariner is regarded as a very experienced sailor and is reportedly in good health. He has set a world record for a 138-day solo non-stop circumnavigation. His solo sailing is about 7,000 nautical miles in length and normally expected to be completed within 20 days.

While the cause of the incident has not been identified, marine and navigation experts in Guo's racing team estimated that he fell off his boat into the water between 15:15 (0715 GMT) and 15:30 (0730 GMT) on Tuesday Beijing time because his boat was shaking violently.

In an earlier interview with Xinhua, Guo said that the greatest fear as a sailor was to fall into the water.

The current trans-Pacific speed record is 21 days, set by crew on board the Italian "Maserati."
UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Friday condemned "in the strongest terms" the recent attacks on schools in Syria.

Earlier on Friday, an attack hit a school in Syria's northern city of Aleppo which reportedly killed a number of children.

The attack came just two days after another attack on a school complex in Syria's rebel-held town of Haas in Idlib governorate, which killed at least 22 children and teachers.

In a press statement, the 15-nation council expressed outrage at all attacks against civilians and civilian objects throughout Syria, and meanwhile called on all parties to avoid harm to civilians.

The council members reiterated in a statement that "parties to the armed conflict may not make civilians the object of attack or use them as human shields."

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said such attacks, if deliberate, may amount to war crimes. He also called on the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court.

In recent months, the Syrian army has laid siege to rebel-held areas in the northern city of Aleppo, urging the rebels to surrender themselves or leave eastern Aleppo to other rebel-held areas in Idlib.

The rebels did not comply with the military's repeated requests. Last week, a three-day truce, aiming to facilitate the evacuation of civilians and rebels who want to surrender in exchange for pardon, expired with few civilians and rebels leaving.

The Syrian government accused the rebels of preventing civilians, around 250,000, from leaving.

Observers believe that Aleppo is going to be the decisive battle ground among the fighting groups, and the winner will be the one dictating its conditions to resolve the crisis, as the province contains all the groups that are supported by regional and international powers, with civilians paying the price for this proxy war.
YANGON, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar State Counselor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi will visit Japan in the near future, an official statement said Saturday without specifying the date.

Other sources said Suu Kyi will pay the five-day visit to the East Asian country on Nov. 1-5, aimed at enhancing the existing relations between the two countries.

It will be Suu Kyi's first Japan trip after the new government took office in April.

During her stay in Japan, Suu Kyi is expected to have talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and meet Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko.

Suu Kyi, in her capacity as chairwoman of the National League for Democracy (NLD), visited Japan in 2013.

In May, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida came to Myanmar and had discussions with Suu Kyi on bilateral cooperation in implementing democracy and economic development in the country.

The two countries also vowed to continue cooperation as development partners.
BEIJING, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Scores of visitors have appreciated a wooden model of a pagoda based on Chinese architect Liang Sicheng's sketches in the Art Museum at Tsinghua University, where visitors may see Liang's original sketches of many historical sites.

"It is exquisite," said Lai Fei, an art teacher visiting the exhibit.

In 1937, Liang, a pioneer in the preservation of historical monuments, visited the pagoda in northern China's Shanxi Province. Nearly 80 years later, the model was made from his drawings.

The "Build China" exhibition, which runs until March, highlights the work of the China Society for the Study of Chinese Architecture, and pays tribute to Liang and his peers in the work they did to preserve China's past.

Zhang Yue of Tsinghua University school of architecture believes that the work done by the society represented the beginning of a fundamentally different approach to restoration and preservation of China's antiquities.

Founded in 1930, the society continued with its field work, regardless of the various conflicts which plagued the nation, for the next 16 years. Members of the society visited 11 provinces and cataloged almost 3,000buildings of historical interest. They collected and curated architectural plans, drawings, contracts and other materials, all the while focused on protecting China's architectural heritage.

When a lack of funds led to the collapse of the society in 1946, Liang, together with some colleagues from the defunct organization, set up the Tsinghua architecture school.

OUR PAST IS OUR PRIORITY

Although the society itself is now a thing of the past, protection of architectural treasures remains one of the most important strands of China's work to maintain the country's collective memory.

Scholars, including Chen Zhihua, Wang Guixiang and Lyu Zhou, study traditional buildings and building techniques alongside Chinese architectural theory. They have made the preservation of what remains of the architectural past their top priority.

"Lots of architects want to design building in a traditional Chinese style. That was what drove me to study the oldest buildings I could find," Zhang Yichi, a doctoral student majoring in the field.

Last year, the central government made appeals to retain unique local cultural traits, including architecture. In April this year, protection of sites of interest was proposed at a national conference and now, some private enterprises invest in protecting these monuments as part of their commitment to society at large.

ARCHITECTURAL FOLLIES

Despite the hard work of many committed individuals, unprofessional or incompetent restoration remains a serious problem.

In September this year, a 700-year-old section of the Great Wall in northeastern China's Liaoning Province was "restored," bringing a barrage of criticism from the Internet.

Zhang Yichi and her fellows attempted to survey one building this summer, but discovered that the walls were completely rendered in cement.

"All historical information was lost. There is nothing worse than to find a once-beautiful building over-restored," she said.

Zhang Yue wants to continue her research, identify the most prominent values in traditional Chinese architecture, recognize those buildings most worthy of protection and then find the best way to protect them. Enditem
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP)  The countries that decide the fate of Antarctica's waters reached an historic agreement on Friday to create the world's largest marine protected area in the ocean next to the frozen continent.

The agreement comes after years of diplomatic wrangling and high-level talks between the U.S. and Russia, which has rejected the idea in the past.

Proponents of the reserve say it sets a precedent for multiple countries working together to protect a large swath of ocean, which falls outside any single nation's jurisdiction.

The agreement covers an area about twice the size of Texas in the Ross Sea.

The deal was clinched after 24 countries and the European Union met in Hobart, Australia, this week. Decisions on Antarctic fishing require a consensus among the 25 members, a hurdle which has confounded past efforts.

The U.S. and New Zealand have been pushing for a marine reserve for years. They first submitted a joint proposal in 2012, but it was rejected five times before Friday's agreement. Ukraine, China and Russia had expressed concerns in the past, with Russia becoming the final holdout before the deal was made.

The marine protected area covers 1.6 million square kilometers (617,000 square miles). There will be a blanket ban on commercial fishing across about three-quarters of that area. In the remaining ocean zones, some commercial fishing will be allowed.

A small amount of fishing for research purposes will be allowed throughout the protected area.

Several countries fish in the waters surrounding Antarctica for lucrative toothfish, which are often marketed in North America as Chilean sea bass.

Evan Bloom, who led the U.S. delegation in Hobart, said that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has been a passionate advocate for the reserve and has been pushing for it in high-level talks with Russian leaders, including President Vladimir Putin.

Bloom said he was "thrilled" with the result.

"We've been working on this for so many years and had so many disappointments trying to get here," he said. "This is a real win for marine conservation."

In a statement, Kerry said the agreement "will safeguard one of the last unspoiled ocean wilderness areas on the planet  home to unparalleled marine biodiversity and thriving communities of penguins, seals, whales, seabirds, and fish."

New Zealand's Foreign Minister Murray McCully said the final agreement included some concessions to Russia, including adjusting the reserve's boundaries and allowing a little more commercial fishing outside the no-take zone.

Nevertheless, he said, he was pleasantly surprised that Russia and the U.S. had managed to reach any kind of agreement, given the current tensions over Syria.

"It goes to demonstrate that you can never jump to conclusions," he said. "Every now and then you get lucky."

Andrea Kavanagh, who directs Antarctic and Southern Ocean work for The Pew Charitable Trusts, said the environment had become a passion project for Putin's former chief of staff, Sergei Ivanov.

"We couldn't be happier about this result," she said. "This is history. This has never been done before."

She said she hoped the agreement represented the first step in what would become a worldwide network of marine reserves that would help protect the Earth's oceans.

The nations are already considering proposals for marine protected areas in East Antarctic waters and the Weddell Sea.

"We are confident that these areas will be protected in the coming years," said Mike Walker, the Project Director of the Antarctic Ocean Alliance.

The agreement will take effect from December 2017 and, for most of the reserve, will last an initial 35 years.
SEOUL, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Over the past week pressure has been mounting on South Korean President Park Geun-hye, who has been suspected of letting her longtime friend to intervene in state affairs.

Park's approval rating has fallen to 17 percent, the lowest since her inauguration in 2013, from 25 percent a week ago, according to a pollster survey by Gallup Korea.

The scandal involves Park's longtime confidante Choi Soon-sil, who is without any official title in public office. Citing a former coworker of Choi, Hankyoreh newspaper reported that Choi meddled in government affairs, including Seoul's decision to shut down the Kaesong industrial complex in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the last remaining symbol of inter-Korean economic cooperation.

According to local media reports, Choi also meddled in the appointment of ministers and the editing of presidential speeches.

Supporters of Park were outraged even though the country's first female president made an unusual public apology on Tuesday to admit Choi's involvement in the editing of her speeches only during an initial period of her presidency.

Late Friday, Park ordered 10 of her senior secretaries to resign ahead of a reshuffle of her presidential office, according to media reports.

According to the Gallup Korea survey, 80 percent of respondents believed the scandal was true while only 6 percent had doubts.
SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- An Indian border guard was killed in an exchange of fire on Line of Control (LoC) dividing Kashmir, while a trooper belonging to Indian army was killed in a militant attack, officials said on Saturday.

Both the killings have taken place in Machil sector of frontier Kupwara district, about 165 km northwest of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

While the member of the Border Security Force (BSP) was killed in fresh skirmishes between troops of India and Pakistan on Saturday, the trooper according to army officials was killed in a militant attack on Friday evening.

"BSF constable Koli Nitin Subhash was killed today while retaliating to firing from Pakistan in Machil sector," the BSF said in a statement.

Indian army says the body of its soldier killed by militants was "mutilated" by militants, who fled under "cover of Pakistani fire."

Indian army spokesperson Col Rajesh Kalia told Xinhua "This act will invite an appropriate response."

Kalia said one militant was also killed in the gunfight.

Pakistan however rejects Indian claims about killing its troops.

Meanwhile, a heavy exchange of fire was going on in Hiranagar and R.S. Pora sectors of Kathua and Jammu districts since early Saturday. Indian officials said their troops were giving a befitting reply to Pakistan.

The past several weeks have seen a surge in skirmishes on LoC and IB between the two countries. The firing has claimed civilian lives on both sides, besides prompting migrations of residents from frontier areas.

Both New Delhi and Islamabad accuse each other of resorting to unprovoked firings and violating cease-fire agreements. The troops of India and Pakistan intermittently exchange fire on 720-km-long LoC and 198-km IB in Kashmir, despite an agreement in 2003 to observe a cease-fire.

LoC is a de facto border that divides Kashmir into India and Pakistan controlled parts. Though some violations have been reported on both sides, the cease-fire however remains in effect.

New Delhi blames Islamabad for fanning Kashmir protests and accuses it of sending armed militants into Indian-controlled Kashmir, an accusation Islamabad strongly rejects. However, Islamabad says it only provides moral and political support to Kashmiris.

Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan, is claimed by both in full. Since their independence from Britain, the two countries have fought three wars, two exclusively over Kashmir.
SEOUL, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- A South Korean man was shot dead in the Philippines, the fifth South Korean killed in the Southeast Asian country this year, the Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

The South Korean national was driving in a small town when he was attacked by an unidentified gunman early Saturday. He died at a hospital in Baguio, 200 km north of the capital city of Manila, Yonhap news agency quoted the ministry as saying.

The South Korean Embassy in the Philippines is closely cooperating with the police to help investigate the shooting, the ministry said.
CAIRO, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- At least two soldiers were killed and other four wounded Saturday in a bomb explosion in the Egyptian restive North Sinai province, an official security source said.

A military armored vehicle has been hit by an explosive device in North Sinai city of Sheikh Zuweid, the source told Xinhua.

The attack took place while the security forces were combing the suspected strongholds of Islamist militants in the two cities of Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah, he added.

The death toll may increase as the wounded soldiers are in serious conditions.

Egypt witnessed growing wave of attacks by militants, based mainly in North Sinai, in revenge to the security crackdown of the supporters of the army-led ouster of Islamist leader Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

Anti-security attacks have left hundreds of police and army men killed, with a Sinai-based Islamic State affiliate group claiming responsibility for most of them.

The armed forces in coordination of the police have intensified lately wide-scale operations to uproot the militants' hideouts, killing nearly 100 jihadists on Oct. 15, in retaliation to the killing of 20 soldiers in the same day.
CAIRO, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- At least two soldiers were killed and other four were wounded Saturday in a bomb explosion in the Egyptian restive North Sinai province, an official security source said.

A military armored vehicle has been hit by an explosive device in North Sinai city of Sheikh Zuweid, the source told Xinhua.

The attack took place while the security forces were combing the suspected strongholds of Islamist militants in the two cities of Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah, he added.

The death toll may increase as the wounded soldiers are in serious conditions.

Egypt witnessed growing wave of attacks by militants, based mainly in North Sinai, in revenge to the security crackdown of the supporters of the army-led ouster of Islamist leader Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

Anti-security attacks have left hundreds of police and army men killed, with a Sinai-based Islamic State affiliate group claiming responsibility for most of them.

The armed forces in coordination of the police have intensified lately wide-scale operations to uproot the militants' hideouts, killing nearly 100 Jihadist on October 15, in retaliation to the killing of 20 soldiers in the same day.
(Source: Xinhua)

BAGHDAD, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- At least two people were killed and eight others wounded Saturday in a suicide bomb attack targeting a Shiite mourning tent in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, a police source said.

The attack occurred before noon as a suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest within the vicinity of a mourning tent in the Shiite neighborhood of Tobchi in the area of Eskan in central Baghdad, said the source on condition of anonymity.

The tent was prepared for the annual Shiite Muslim commemoration of the death of Imam Hussein, one of the Shiites' twelve most revered Imams, killed in 680 AD and buried in Karbala, 110 km south of Baghdad.

Shiite Muslims already commemorated the date of death of the Imam on Oct. 12, through a ritual called Ashura Day, however, they typically continue mourning untill the al-Arbaeen ritual, or 40 days after the Imam's death, which will be on Nov. 21.

The death toll may rise as ambulances and civilian vehicles evacuated the dead and wounded people to several nearby hospitals and medical centers, the source said.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Islamic State (IS) militant group, in most cases, is responsible for similar suicide attacks against Shiite mourners observing their communal rituals in Iraq, in order to provoke sectarian strife in the violence-fraught country.

Terrorist acts and armed violent conflict killed 1,003 Iraqis and wounded 1,159 others in Sept. throughout Iraq, said the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq.

Many blame the current chronic instability in Iraq as well as the cycle of violence and the emergence of extremist groups, such as the IS, on the U.S., since it invaded and occupied Iraq in March 2003.
HANGZHOU, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Six people are missing after a Chinese fishing boat collided with a Greek oil tanker in the sea off east China's Zhejiang Province, maritime authorities said on Saturday.

The Taizhou City maritime rescue center said they received report of the accident around 10 p.m. Friday that the Greek oil tanker Australis, had hit a Zhejiang fishing boat off the coast of Taizhou.

Six people on board the fishing boat fell overboard and have been missing since then. A rescue operation is being hampered by strong winds.

Cause of the collision is being investigated.
OSLO, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Icelanders are heading to the polls on Saturday in snap parliamentary elections after a global tax evasion scandal led to the fall of government in April.

About 246,500 voters are eligible to vote in the elections. Voting began at 9 a.m. (0900 GMT) and is due to close at 10 p.m. (2200 GMT).

The last Gallup poll before the elections showed that the conservative Independence Party, one of two current ruling parties, was leading with 27 percent of the vote.

The anti-establishment Pirate Party, which had taken the lead in many other polls over the months, finished second with 17.9 percent.

Another opposition group, the Left-Green Movement, trailed with 16.5 percent, while the centrist Progressive Party, the other ruling party, was the fourth with just 9.3 percent.

The elections were prompted by the resignation of Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson on April 5 after the so-called Panama Papers suggested Gunnlaugsson and other two Cabinet members had ties with offshore companies.

But for the scandal, general elections would not come until April 2017.
Huawei signs deals at the Huawei Southern Africa Partner Summit in Johannesburg on Oct. 27. (Photo provided by Huawei)

JOHANNESBURG, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese telecom giant Huawei is venturing into Africa's digital music service, after its smartphones and broadband service made initial success on the continent.

On Thursday, the company signed cooperation contracts with global and local music vendors in South Africa, including Spice Music, Mtech, CCA, to accelerate digitalization of African music.

The deals were inked at the Huawei Southern Africa Partner Summit held in Johannesburg. The summit, aimed at creating a sharing platform to promote digital collaboration in Africa, has attracted over 40 industry partners.

Africa has shown a great demand for digital services, like music, game and video. According to Huawei's analysis, in five years, digital services' year-on-year growth here will be about 40 percent. However, there remains a big gap between the growing demands and the digital productions.

Wilson Feng, President of Huawei's Carrier Business in Southern Africa Region, said at the summit that Huawei is willing to work hand-in-hand with Africa partners to create a better industry ecosystem.

"We will leverage our innovative technologies of digital services, and our global resources to improve African consumers' digital experience, and accelerate African's digital economy development," Feng said.

Through the cooperation, Huawei's digital business cloud will also help their partners in monetization, which means it's a win-win solution for all parties in the ecosystem, he said.

The cooperation with content providers means Huawei will have the copyrights of millions of latest music from the international and local vendors. This is Huawei's first breakthrough into the global music space.

Huawei will then be able to provide the music to telecom operators in South Africa, like Vodacom, MTN, Cell C, etc, which offer music to their end users through their music apps.

The summit also witnessed Huawei's efforts in leveraging its Digital inCloud, a software platform, to integrate content across music, video, gaming and other digital service genres.

Siphumelele Zondi, senior producer and anchor of South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), said there would be a great need for local South African artists to venture into the digital space.

Often local content is on demand but not available on digital platforms, which then promotes piracy, he said.
BAGHDAD, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- The paramilitary units of Hashd Shaabi launched a large-scale operation against the Islamic State (IS) group in the west of Iraqi's Mosul on Saturday, security sources said.

The predominantly Shiite groups advanced in the morning in three routes through the vast rugged land toward the town of Tal-Afar, some 70 km west of Mosul, the Hashd Shaabi's media office said in a statement.

Tal Afar, which used to have majority of both Sunni and Shiite Turkoman villagers, as well as other minorities of Kurds and Arabs, fell to IS in 2014.

During their advance toward Tal Afar, the paramilitary units backed by Iraqi aircraft recaptured many villages scattered in the open land in southwest of Mosul, including the villages of Wadi al-Ayn, al-Msaara and Msherfa within the ancient ruin site of Hatra, according to the statement.

It said the Hashd Shaabi units fought sporadic clashes with IS militants in the villages, destroying four booby-trapped vehicles and killed at least three suicide bombers, while dozens of IS suspects were detained for interrogation.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi security forces and allied Hashd Shaabi units started in the morning to enter the IS-held town of Shoura, some 30 km south of Mosul, amid fierce clashes with the extremist militants inside the town, a source from the Operations Command of Nineveh Liberation told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

During the past few days, the troops were fighting to clear a cluster of villages around Shoura in order to impose siege on the IS militants in town, the source said.

On Oct. 17, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who is also the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi forces, announced the start of a major offensive to retake Mosul, the country's second largest city.

So far, the Iraqi security forces have inched to the eastern fringes of Mosul, and made progress on other routes around the city preparing for the major battle to storm the city and drive out the IS militants.

Mosul, some 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, has been under IS control since June 2014, when Iraqi government forces abandoned their weapons and fled.
Susan Joy Jacobson wept Friday morning as a Coconino County Superior Court judge sentenced her to natural life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of her common-law husband  a conviction she is determined to appeal.

Last month, a jury found Jacobson guilty of first-degree murder and three counts of tampering with physical evidence after she fatally shot Marvin Neal James, 54, in the pre-dawn hours of Feb. 26, 2015, inside their Doney Park home. Jacobson, who had a 3-year-old son in common with James, gave birth to the couple's second child just days after her arrest.

"When one person takes the life of another human being, that loss is irreplaceable," said Judge Cathleen Brown Nichols. "It is clear that these boys have lost their father and now their mother. (Marvin James' father) and Marvin's mother have lost their son forever. There's a lot of damage that's been done by your conduct."

During the trial, the jury heard testimony about how Jacobson retrieved James .22 caliber revolver in the middle of the night and shot him once in the head while he was in their bed. At the sentencing, a representative from Victim Witness Services for Coconino County read a statement by James mother. In it, she said life in prison without the possibility of parole was the right sentence for Jacobson.

She took the life of our son, she said. Who is to say she would not to the same to another human being? We can never see or hold Marvin again, so I feel she should not have the chance of life outside of prison.

James father also spoke.

Ive had numerous calls from Marvins friends and my friends to congratulate me on the outcome of the trial, he said. Unfortunately, there are no winners here.

James father said the man only stayed with Jacobson because he loved their 3-year-old son. He then accused Jacobson of abusive and neglectful behavior, which he said caused health problems for the boy. He also said the child has made comments indicating he saw James dead body.

Probably the saddest one of all is, Daddy didnt tell me goodbye, James father said, in tears.

When it was her turn to speak Friday, Jacobson vehemently denied ever abusing her son or letting him see his fathers dead body.

(He) was asleep, Jacobson said, crying. He never saw anything. No lights were ever on in the house. I always did my very, very best and he always came first among everything in my life. I protected him as much as I could.

Both children were placed out of state with Jacobsons sister, who listened to the sentencing over the phone.

At trial, Jacobsons attorney claimed she shot James in self-defense after he kicked the pillow she was using to protect her pregnant stomach and threatened her life. She said she believed she was racing James to retrieve the gun, got to it first, turned back to the bed and fired.

Instead of calling 911, she wrapped up the dying man's body. She moved it onto a makeshift ramp she had created and, according to prosecutors, tried to push it out the window. She cleaned the crime scene, then threw away the bedding and buried the gun.

Jacobson was stoic when the jury delivered the verdict in September. At her sentencing Friday, she wept.

So much information has not come forward in this case and at the appropriate time it will, she said.

During and after the trial, Jacobsons supporters questioned why the judge would not allow the defense to bring in psychologists who were expected to testify that Jacobson had post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of chronic domestic violence. The judge also would not allow a pregnancy expert to testify on behalf of the defense.

On Friday, Jacobsons family posted signs outside the Coconino County Courthouse protesting her conviction. They said things like PTSD is real and Domestic violence must stop. Jacobsons mother, Joyce Canepa, said her daughter did not get a fair trial.

Susan was a battered woman but that was not able to be told to the jurors, Canepa said. They didnt have the awareness  and I think theres a lot of people here in town that dont have the awareness  about what a battered woman is. The whole truth did not get out.

Jacobsons attorney, Bruce Griffen, told the judge he will appeal the conviction and said people from all over the country have contacted him in support of his client. He maintained Friday that Jacobson was a good person who was justified in shooting James in self-defense.

It has been privilege to try to help Susan, Griffen said, his voice catching in his throat.

He also talked about compassion for Jacobson's family and children, as well as James loved ones, a sentiment Jacobson echoed.

I will never be able to describe the pain and the concern that I have for everyone, the many prayers that I will continue to pray for healing for everyone, she said. I just pray with all my heart that my boys can be surrounded in a positive environment. Thats all everyone has wanted for them, to be filled with love in a positive environment. This hate has to go.

For most criminal convictions, the law gives the trial judge the discretion to choose a sentence within a defined sentencing range based on the aggravating and mitigating factors of the case. With a first-degree murder conviction, however, Arizona law requires the judge to sentence the defendant to natural life in prison without the possibility of parole unless the prosecutor has indicated ahead of trial that they intend to seek the death penalty, which did not happen in Jacobson's case.

That means Jacobson must remain behind bars until she dies unless her appeal is successful.

What Miss Jacobson did on that night did not just affect Marvin. It created a ripple of pain throughout the lives of his family, his children, his friends and this community, said prosecutor Ammon Barker. Because of that, she has to be punished. Thats the law.

The judge also sentenced Jacobson to one year in prison for each evidence tampering conviction. However, those sentences are irrelevant because of the murder sentence.
Top Communist Party of China (CPC) and state leaders Xi Jinping (C), Li Keqiang (3rd R), Zhang Dejiang (3rd L), Yu Zhengsheng (2nd R), Liu Yunshan (2nd L), Wang Qishan (1st R) and Zhang Gaoli (1st L) attend the Sixth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, in Beijing. The meeting was held from Oct. 24 to 27 in Beijing. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

BEIJING, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- The leaders of the Communist Party of China (CPC) approved two documents on discipline of the Party at a meeting which concluded on Thursday.

According to a communique following the four-day meeting, the documents approved at the sixth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee include:

- the norms of political life within the Party in a new situation

- a regulation on intra-Party supervision

The communique also include many other outcomes of the plenum. Here are 10 things you need to know about the communique.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, speaks at the Sixth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, in Beijing. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

1. Strict governance of the Party

Party members were told to resolutely push forward the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party.

Each plenary session during the five-year tenure of Central Committee members has a specific agenda. Deepening reform, advancing rule of law, and building an all-around moderately prosperous society were the focus of the third, fourth and fifth plenary sessions of the 18th Central Committee.

Strict governance of the Party was the focus of the sixth plenary session, which means the "Four Comprehensives," the strategic outline and key thoughts of CPC Central Committee members, will be gradually perfected, said Xie Chuntao, a professor with the Party School of the CPC Central Committee.

The "Four Comprehensives" strategy refers to comprehensively completing the building of a moderately prosperous society, deepening reform, advancing the rule of law and strictly governing the CPC.

2. Core leadership

Party members were called on to "closely unite around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core."

It urged party members to resolutely safeguard the authority of the CPC Central Committee and its central, unified leadership.

"The call is conducive to establishing the authority of the CPC Central Committee, increasing solidarity within the Party, and enhancing cohesion and fighting capacity," said Xin Ming, a professor with the Party School of the CPC Central Committee.

The CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core reflects the common aspiration of people from all ethnic groups in China, he said.

Since Xi took charge of the CPC in late 2012, the Party has made profound achievements in reform, development, stability, internal and foreign affairs, national defense, Party governance and state administration.

The reason the CPC has always been endorsed by the public and won victory in revolutionary struggles lies in its core of strong leadership, which leads the Party and people, Xin said.

3. Political life within the Party

An overhaul of intra-Party political life was a pressing task for the CPC if it was to weather the storm of challenges -- ruling status, reform and opening up, market economy and other external factors -- it had to address the dangers of rocking the boat, including slacking officials, incompetence, isolation from the people and corruption.

Professor Xin Ming said standardized intra-Party political life is fundamental to comprehensive and strict Party governance.

In 1980, the CPC introduced a document outlining the norms of intra-Party political life, targeting serious events in the Party's history, such as the poor implementation of collective leadership, democratic centralism and intra-Party criticism.

However, Xin said that the world, the country and the Party have changed during the past three decades, bringing a need for new criteria.

The changes highlight principles such as maintaining close ties with the people, criticism and self-criticism, democratic centralism, and intra-Party democracy.

These norms set criteria to address problems in Party political life, such as not taking political life seriously and attempting to form cliques, Xin said.

4. Intra-Party supervision

The CPC needs to be empowered to purify, perfect, reform and upgrade itself, resist corruption and withstand risks, thus, safeguarding the authority of the CPC Central Committee and the Party's unity, advancement and purity.

Supervision was one of the keywords at the session, appearing in the communique over 40 times.

Li Yongzhong, former deputy head of the Chinese Discipline Inspection Institute, said the new regulation was a tool for intra-Party supervision, and the inspection of Party committees, as well as encouraging the public to take part in the anti-graft drive.

5. Strict Party discipline

Unrestricted power or unsupervised Party members are not allowed to exist within the CPC: "No prohibited zone or exception will be allowed in intra-Party supervision."

"To forge iron, one must be strong," said Dai Yanjun, a professor with the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, citing a Chinese proverb to underline the importance of Party discipline.

The CPC Central Committee has been stressing discipline to prevent slackness in Party building and governance, he said.

Top CPC and state leaders Xi Jinping (C rear), Li Keqiang (3rd R, rear), Zhang Dejiang (3rd L, rear), Yu Zhengsheng (2nd R, rear), Liu Yunshan (2nd L, rear), Wang Qishan (1st R, rear ) and Zhang Gaoli (1st L, rear) attend the Sixth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, in Beijing. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)

6. Intra-Party democracy

Intra-Party democracy is vital to the Party, and is fundamental to a positive, healthy internal political environment, according to the communique.

Professor Xin Ming said that intra-Party democracy is weak in some areas, for example, when certain individuals impose their will in recruitment, investment decisions and the use of funds.

In order to maintain long-term rule, the CPC must ensure the democratic rights of all members and make sure their voices are heard, he added.

7. Anti-corruption

There will no longer be any place for corrupt officials to hide in the Party, said the communique. The Party will stick to the policy of "no restricted zones, full coverage and zero tolerance" in its fight against corruption, it added.

It shows the Party's resolve to combat corruption and there will be no stopping it, said Professor Xie Chuntao.

The anti-graft campaign has seen remarkable results, and now we must maintain the momentum to guarantee that officials dare not, cannot and do not want to be corrupt, he added.

8. Leading officials

In efforts to clean up Party politics, leading officials are banned from using their positions to seek benefits for friends and family. Family members and friends of leading officials will be banned from interfering in the work of leading officials, including personnel arrangements, the communique said.

Leading officials are the key when regulating intra-Party political life, said Professor Xie. This group should always remain vigilant, and restrain themselves, their family members and their friends, he added.

9. Supervision of power

The communique also noted that supervision is fundamental in the correct operation of political power, and important in strengthening and regulating political life. It said that power without restrictions should never exist in the Party.

Li Yongzhong said that excessive centralized power and power abuse would lead to privilege and corruption. Therefore, keeping power under control and improving the supervision of power is a must for the Party.

10. Selection of officials

The CPC promised to address electoral malpractice, putting an end to the buying and selling of official posts and vote rigging, while stressing integrity in promotions.

"The crux of the quest for a clean and healthy intra-Party political environment is selecting officials," said Wang Yukai, a professor with the Chinese Academy of Governance.

On the one hand, misbehavior must be curbed and seriously dealt with; on the other hand, officials who take on challenges and responsibilities that others evade should be encouraged, Wang said.

A system should be created that tolerate mistakes made by officials who pursue reform and innovation, Wang added.
TEHRAN, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- The visiting EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Saturday discussed latest developments on Syria as well as mutual ties between European Union and the Islamic republic, semi-official Mehr news agency reported.

Mogherini, who arrived here on Friday night, met with Iran's President Hassan Rouhani and the Foreign Minister Mohmmad Javad Zarif on Saturday.

In the meeting with Rouhani, the political cooperation as well as relations in the fields of economy, energy and communications comprised the topics of the discussions.

Both sides also stressed the stability of Middle East region and joint cooperation in the fight against terrorism and extremism in Syria, Hamid Aboutalebi, deputy chief of staff of president for political affairs, was quoted as saying.

On Saturday, Zarif also hailed EU's constructive role toward Syrian crisis and voiced Iran's readiness for closer cooperation with the European block.

Mogherini will leave Tehran to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday for talks on Syria.

Her visit to the Middle East followed the trilateral meeting of Russian, Syrian and Iranian foreign ministers in Moscow on Friday.

Russian Sergei Lavrov and his Iranian and Syrian counterparts vowed Friday to defend the revival of intra-Syria talks in order to facilitate a political solution to the protracted crisis in the war-torn Middle East country.
ISLAMABAD, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan Information Minister Pervez Rashid has resigned over leakage of top security meeting information, local media reported Saturday.
Protesters rally in front of the European Union (EU) headquarters during a demonstration against the EU-U.S. Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada, in Brussels, capital of Belgium, Sept. 20, 2016. A total of 9,000 protesters paraded in the heart of Brussels around the EU institutions to demonstrate against the bloc's trade deals with the United States and Canada late Tuesday, fearing those agreements would harm Europe's industries and social benefits. (Xinhua/Ye Pingfan)

BRUSSELS, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- A landmark trade deal between the European Union (EU) and Canada was drawn back from the brink after weeks-long Belgian drama concluded on Friday, leaving doubts about the bloc's capability to steer trade deals.

The parliament of Belgium's French-speaking region of Wallonia voted in favor of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA, on Friday, clearing the way for signing of the deal.

Wallonia's lawmakers, who previously concerned that the deal would jeopardize European farmers' interest and grant too much power to multinationals, voted in favor of the deal after Belgian politicians agreed to add an addendum to the deal on Thursday.

Under the addendum, the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) of the deal, which would allow enterprises to sue European governments, would be determined by the European Court of Justice whether compatible with European treaties.

Meanwhile, CETA would be assessed regularly in regard of its social, economic and environmental impacts.

Wallonia, with a population of 3.5 million, has been the biggest obstacle of CETA signing as Belgium's backing asked for unanimity from all regional parliaments under the country's complex federal legislative rule.

Meanwhile, the EU, a bloc with 500 million people, can only sign the deal with consent of all member states.

Wallonia's former resistance led to the cancellation of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's scheduled visit to Brussels on Thursday, during which the EU and Canada were expected to sign the deal after seven years of negotiations.

The EU and Canada now were on track of setting a new date for the signing and more work is needed as all EU member states have to approve Belgium's addendum and any other changes to the deal.

The Belgian drama was viewed as another scenery generated by anti-globalization after Britain's shock referendum vote to leave the EU in June, adding uncertainty to the bloc's standing on its unity and solidarity as well as the capability to steer international negotiations.

The EU was further embarrassed and questioned, especially after it had hoped the CETA with such a like-minded country as Canada would lay the ground for the bloc's other trades deals with global powers including the United States and Japan.

Only cautious optimism was expressed from both Brussels and Toronto after the Belgian drama. European Council President Donald Tusk said he would only contact the Canadian prime minister after all procedures were finalized.

"Once bitten, twice shy," Trudeau was reported to comment on Thursday.
(L-R) Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng, Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Hiroshige Seko and South Korean Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Joo Hyung Hwan pose for a photo before the 11th Economic and Trade Ministers' Meeting among China-Japan-South Korea in Tokyo, Japan, Oct. 29, 2016. Trade ministers from China, Japan and South Korea agreed on Saturday to strengthen trade and economic cooperation between the three neighbors. (Xinhua/Hua Yi)

TOKYO, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Trade ministers from China, Japan and South Korea agreed on Saturday to strengthen trade and economic cooperation between the three neighbors.

The meeting, held ahead of a China-Japan-South Korea trilateral summit, saw the ministers discussing a number of issues, including implementing the G20 Summit outcome and conducting practical economic cooperation.

As the world economic recovery remained fragile and anemic, the three major economies in East Asia should implement the consensus reached between their leaders, give full play to their industrial complementarity, and further promote investment and trade, so as to contribute to the steady economic growth in Asia, said Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng.

Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Hiroshige Seko, for his part, said the three countries reached consensus on jointly advancing economic structural reform. He believed the meeting's outcome will promote regional and global economic growth.

South Korean Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Joo Hyung Hwan said the three sides reached consensus on establishing a trilateral cooperation framework as well as speeding up the negotiations on a trilateral free trade deal and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

The three sides also reiterated in a joint statement their commitment to implement the outcome at the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, and emphasized the importance of the G20 Strategy for Global Trade Growth and the G20 Guiding Principles for Global Investment Policymaking.

China has proposed to conduct industrial capacity cooperation in a third-party country under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and the Eurasia Initiative, jointly explore a fourth-party market, and collectively promote sub-regional cooperation and development.

The three sides also approved a joint research report on solidifying their supply chain connectivity, and agreed to develop an open world economy, improve the multilateral trade system and promote regional economic integration.

Related:

China's foreign service trade continues to grow

BEIJING, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- China's foreign service trade maintained rapid growth in the first eight months of the year, with an expanding deficit, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Tuesday.
BEIJING, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- A Communist Party of China (CPC) official has briefed non-Communist party leaders on the recently concluded CPC meeting, according to an official statement on Saturday.

It is an important political task for the united front to study and implement decisions made at the sixth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, especially the speech by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, according to Sun Chunlan, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the CPC Central Committee United Front Work Department.

Sun gave the briefing to the central committees of democratic Parties, heads of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, and personages without party affiliation.

Sun called on non-Communist parties to keep their thoughts, politics and acts in line with the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core.

Sun expressed her hope that non-Communist parties would perform their function of democratic supervision, and watch over CPC agencies, officials and members in implementing the two key documents approved at the meeting, namely the norms of political life within the Party in a new situation and a regulation on intra-Party supervision.

Non-Communist parties were encouraged to carry out theoretical research in the field of democratic supervision.
MOSUL, Iraq, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi security forces on Saturday freed a town from Islamic State (IS) group in south of the group's stronghold of Mosul, as major anti-IS offensive continued to seize more ground around the city, a security source told Xinhua.

The federal police and paramilitary Hashd Shaabi units managed to liberate the central part of the town of Shoura, some 30 km south of Mosul, and raised the Iraqi flag on the local government building after fierce clashes with IS militants since the early morning hours, a source from the Operations Command of Nineveh Liberation told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The troops backed by the Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition aircraft participated in the battle, destroying at least ten booby-trapped vehicles and killing dozens of the extremist militants, the source said without giving further details.

Earlier in the day, the source told Xinhua that the troops started in the morning to enter the town of Shoura amid fierce clashes with the extremist militants inside the town.

During the past few days, the troops were fighting to clear a cluster of villages around Shoura in order to impose siege on the IS militants in town, according to the source.

Also on Saturday, the paramilitary units of Hashd Shaabi in the morning launched a large-scale operation and advanced in three routes through the vast rugged land toward the town of Tal-Afar, some 70 km west of Mosul, according to a statement by the Hashd Shaabi's media office.

Tal Afar, which used to have majority of both Sunni and Shiite Turkoman villagers, as well as other minorities of Kurds and Arabs, fell to IS in 2014.

During their advance toward Tal Afar, the paramilitary units backed by Iraqi aircraft recaptured many villages scattered in the open land in southwest of Mosul, including the villages of Wadi al-Ayn, al-Msaara and Msherfa within the ancient ruin site of Hatra, according to the statement.

It said the Hashd Shaabi units fought sporadic clashes with IS militants in the villages, destroying four booby-trapped vehicles and killed at least three suicide bombers, while dozens of IS suspects were detained for interrogation.

On Oct. 17, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who is also the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi forces, announced the start of a major offensive to retake Mosul, the country's second largest city.

So far, the Iraqi security forces have inched to the eastern fringes of Mosul, and made progress on other routes around the city preparing for the major battle to storm the city and drive out the IS militants.

Mosul, some 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, has been under IS control since June 2014, when Iraqi government forces abandoned their weapons and fled.
PHNOM PENH, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia celebrated the 12th anniversary of King Norodom Sihamoni's coronation on Saturday with blessing messages and fireworks show.

The monarch's portraits have been displayed in front of all state's ministries and institutions on the occasion, as blessing messages from the heads of the senate, the national assembly, and the government have been broadcast on television channels and radios, and published on newspapers or posted on online media.

Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen expressed his profound gratitude to the king for his great contribution to the nation's socio-economic development and foreign affairs.

"On this auspicious occasion, I'd like to bless Your Majesty the King with good health, strength, wisdom, and longevity in order to stay as the cold shade for the Cambodian people," he said in a blessing message.

To mark the day, there was also a fireworks show over Tonle Sap River in front of the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh on Saturday night.

Sihamoni, 63, ascended the throne as the King of Cambodia on Oct. 29, 2004 after his father late King Norodom Sihanouk abdicated due to health problem.
OSLO, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Icelanders cast ballots in the country's parliamentary election on Saturday, months after a global tax evasion scandal forced the prime minister to resign and prompted the snap vote.

About 246,500 voters are eligible to vote in the election. Voting began at 9 a.m. (0900 GMT) and is due to close at 10 p.m. (2200 GMT).

Three major polls published on the eve of the election showed the competition would be tough and it would be difficult for the current centre-right ruling coalition to get enough votes to remain in power.

The conservative Independence Party, one of the two current ruling parties, was leading with 22.5 to 27 percent of the vote in the polls.

The anti-establishment Pirate Party, which had taken the lead in many other polls over the months, finished second with 17.9 to 21.2 percent.

Another opposition group, the Left-Green Movement, trailed with between 16.2 and 16.8 percent, while the centrist Progressive Party, the other ruling party, was the fourth with just 9.3 to 11.4 percent.

The newly-formed Vidreisn (Revival), the Bright Future and the Social Democratic Alliance also crossed the 5 percent electoral threshold needed to gain seats in the parliament.

The election was prompted by the resignation of Iceland's then prime minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson on April 5 after the so-called Panama Papers suggested Gunnlaugsson and other two cabinet members had ties with offshore companies.

Iceland's ruling center-right coalition on April 6 decided to appoint Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson as new prime minister and hold early general election in the autumn.

The center-right camp Independence Party and the Progressive Party won the last parliamentary election in April 2013. But for the scandal, a general election would not come until April 2017.
ISLAMABAD, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan Information Minister Pervez Rashid has resigned over leakage of details of a top security meeting in section of the media, local officials said Saturday.

Musadaq Malik, spokesman for the Prime Minister, confirmed that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had sought resignation from the information minister.

The Interior Ministry had started investigation as to who shared sensitive information of a meeting that was presided over by the prime minister and was attended by the top military leadership and key ministers.

An English daily had published details of the meeting which given an impression that there are "differences over policies between the political and military leaders."

Later the government and the military had taken a serious note of the reports and the government had initially banned the reporter from leaving the country. The order was later withdrawn.

A statement from the prime minister said the planned story related to the National Security Council and the National Action Plan meetings published in an English daily on Oct. 6 was a "breach of national security."

"Evidence available so far points to a lapse on part of the Information Minister who has been directed to step down from office to enable holding of an independent and detailed inquiry," the statement said.

The Prime Minister's Office said that an inquiry committee, including senior officers of the Inter-Services Intelligence, Military Intelligence and Intelligence Bureau, is being formed by the government to clearly apportion blame, identify interests and motives and expose all those responsible for this episode for stern action in national interest.

Malik said that the former Information Minister cannot be held responsible for the leakage of the information unless the investigation is completed.

"The investigation is underway and will be completed soon. Results of the investigation would be made public," he said, adding that the Interior Minister will announce details of the matter at a press conference.
The Cold Case Unit at the Coconino County Sheriffs Office has solved a 22-year-old missing person case from Flagstaff by finally identifying a pedestrian killed by a car in Navajo County in 1994.

According to the Sheriffs Office, Brian Nez, a 19-year-old Native American man from Flagstaff, was last seen by his family July 11, 1994. After about three months without hearing from the young man, his parents report him missing to the Sheriffs Office on Oct. 25, 1994.

Meanwhile, the Arizona Department of Public Safety was trying, unsuccessfully, to identify a pedestrian who had been struck and killed by a vehicle in Navajo County in August 1994. The collision happened about 2 miles north of Winslow.

They took pictures and walked Winslow and put out some information attempting to identify him in Navajo County. Thats what we did in those years, said Coconino County cold case volunteer Jana White. They had no luck.

The deceased, a Native American male, became a John Doe.

Nez was reported missing two months later. The initial Sheriffs Office investigation revealed he may have been seen at a party in Winslow in August or September 1994, but investigators were unable to generate any leads about his whereabouts after that despite interviewing multiple people.

No one made the connection between the two cases.

By the time we took the missing person report in October, we put flyers out but we did it in Coconino County because of the way that the information-gathering processes were, White said. Basically, we just didnt have the kind of integration we have today to match those things up.

The Sheriffs Office investigators entered Nez into the national computer database used by law enforcement and his case went cold for decades.

We didnt have the kind of databases that we have today in those years, White said. We didnt have something where we had integrated information and you could take one piece of information and match it up to another piece of information. We were still handwriting a lot of things or typing them on a typewriter in those years.

White, who retired after working for the Flagstaff and Northern Arizona University police departments, joined the Coconino County Sheriffs Cold Case Unit in 2015 to review unsolved missing person cases. She reopened Nezs case this past March.

White entered Nez into an online database called the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System. It was developed largely over the past 10 years to improve information sharing on missing and unidentified persons between law enforcement agencies nationwide.

The database showed that the description of the unidentified pedestrian killed in Navajo County in August 1994 was similar to Coconino Countys description of Nez. The Cold Case Unit also learned the Coconino County Medical Examiners Office had performed the autopsy on the unidentified man on behalf of Navajo County.

When the Cold Case volunteers and DPS investigators met to share information this year, they realized they might be working on the same case. They just needed to confirm John Does identity.

Nez had been fingerprinted at age 7 as part of a nationwide Operation Child ID program. His mother had given the fingerprint card to the Sheriffs detective who worked the original case when her son went missing.

The DPS Public Safety Crime Lab compared Nezs fingerprint card to the prints from the accident victim.

They were a match.

While this is a sad outcome for the family to know that their loved one is deceased, they are able to bring their loved one to rest, said Sheriffs Office Chief Deputy Jim Driscoll.

Driscoll went on to talk about the mission of the Cold Case Unit.

The new technologies that have developed over time in terms of fingerprint analyses and data sharing have given us tools to re-analyze these cold cases, he said. And we are dedicated to continuing to solve as many as we can.

DPS will continue to investigate the traffic crash that killed Nez.
BEIJING, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- China's mainland residents have been barred from using China UnionPay cards to buy overseas insurance products with investment functions as concern rises over capital outflow rise.

Mainland residents can only use UnionPay cards to buy overseas insurance products related to tourism, including those covering accident and illness, said UnionPay International, a subsidiary of the national bank card association China UnionPay Co., on Saturday.

Card payment will no longer be allowed for investment products, including some life insurance policies, according to UnionPay, which has published a guidance for overseas insurance merchants in handling UnionPay cards. The guidance is being implented on a trial basis in Hong Kong.

The company statement said that recent monitoring had found "a surge in multiple transactions on a single card with a single overseas insurance merchant," but did not elaborate on the phenomenon.

The move comes as slow economic growth and a weak yuan raise concerns of a capital flight. To circumvent restrictions on outbound investment, some mainlanders have turned to purchases of overseas insurance policies that have investment functions.

China caps the value of a single overseas insurance transaction at 5,000 U.S. dollars. The UnionPay statement said that the policy must be strictly observed.

China UnionPay Co. is the only company approved to provide clearing services for bank card transactions in China. Its network covers 160 countries and regions. Enditem
A girl poses for photos with Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump posters at Hofstra University in New York, the United States on Sept. 26, 2016. (Xinhua/Qin Lang)

by Victoria Arguello

CARACAS, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- Electoral rhetoric has shown that Washington is not likely to change its interventionist attitude toward Latin America after the Nov. 8 presidential elections, Venezuelan analysts have said.

"Historically, the U.S. elections do not have much importance in terms of Latin America. Democratic and Republican presidents alike have maintained an interventionist attitude in the region," said Sergio Rodriguez, former director of international relations for the Venezuelan presidency, in an interview with Xinhua.

Rodriguez called both Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her Republican rival Donald Trump's campaigns mediocre for putting personal attacks above policy proposals.

Emiro Romero Navas, a Venezuelan political campaign expert, observed that the United States would maintain its "hegemonic policy of imposition" on Latin America through economic agreements.

"The co-existence between Latin America and the United States is defined by Washington. The major topics of these economic agreements are determined based on the interests of corporations and economic groups which run the global economy," Navas told Xinhua.

For both analysts, whoever wins the White House will have little impact on its current policies toward Latin America.

However, they highlighted that international media are exploiting Trump's anti-immigration rhetoric and anti-free trade stance.

For Rodriguez, "Trump is threatening to do what the Democrats have already done," pointing to the "numerous aggressions" carried out against Latin American countries.

He added that when Clinton was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, the cabinet legitimized a parliamentary coup against Paraguay's former President Fernando Lugo in 2012.

"In her role as secretary of state, she directly participated in all sorts of aggressive campaigns against Latin American countries," Rodriguez said.

Meanwhile, Navas said that these "attempts at parliamentary coups" threaten the legitimacy of certain countries.

In terms of Clinton distancing herself from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), one of the most contested policy aims of President Barack Obama, both analysts commented she was only showing "an image of distance" and seeking to gain credibility among left-leaning voters.
ISLAMABAD, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- At least five people were killed and six others injured on Saturday evening in a shooting incident in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi, police said.

Police chief of Pakistan's southern Sindh province, A. D. Khawja, said that the incident took place when four unknown gunmen riding on two motorcycles opened fire at a group of Shia Muslims who were making arrangements for a religious gathering in a street in Nazim Abad area of Karachi.

A women and four men were among the deceased persons, who died on spot after the attack, while injured people include three women and two children.

Police said the assailants used 9mm pistols in the attack and managed to escape from the site.

Police, paramilitary forces and rescue team rushed to the site and shifted the bodies to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital in the city.

Security personnel have cordoned off the area and started a process of snap-checking in the city to arrest the culprits.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.
YAOUNDE, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- A new round of violence has killed dozens of people in Central African Republic (CAR), according to the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the country.

Approximately "six gendarmes and four civilians were killed Friday morning in an ambush between Grimari to Bambari," UN peacekeeping force MINUSCA said in a communique that reached Xinhua on Saturday. The communique did not provide the identity of the attackers and motive of the attack.

This attack came a day after a bloody raid by suspected ex-rebel force Seleka killed at least 10 habitants and injured a dozen others on Thursday morning in Grimari.

The communique also said the confrontation on Friday between anti-Balaka forces and Seleka in Mbriki and Belima, which are closer to Bambari, left 15 people killed and a number of others wounded.

"MINUSCA also condemns an armed attack conducted Friday afternoon by anti-Balaka against 8 officials," said the communique.

Security situation is deteriorating in CAR, despite expectations for violence to go down after the election in Feb. 14 elected Faustin-Archange Touadera as president to end the 2-year political crisis since Seleka took power in 2013.
WARSAW, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Chengdu, the capital city of southwest China's Sichuan Province, initiated a three-day giant panda-related promotional campaign here on Friday.

Activities in the campaign include interactive programs featuring virtual reality(VR) devices and people dressed in panda costumes, a selfie contest on the social networking site Facebook, as well as dancing, martial arts and food shows.

Shen Yulin, director of the External Activities Bureau of the Chengdu Association for Cultural Exchange with Foreign Countries, said the campaign would enhance Chengdu's reputation as the hometown of the giant pandas, which is a symbol of China and enjoys global popularity.

Under the theme of "Panda RailVR Chengdu", the campaign also emphasized the city's direct link to Europe via a rail cargo service between itself and Poland's Lodz. The rail has become a popular logistics route for Chinese trade with Europe.

Giant pandas are one of the world's most endangered species. Fewer than 2,000 pandas live in the wild, mostly in the Chinese provinces of Sichuan and Shaanxi.

Warsaw is the second stop of the Chinese city's promotional campaign. Earlier this month, similar activities were held in Frankfurt, Germany.
"The Syrian issue has no military solution and must be resolved through diplomatic means," Rouhani said. (Reuters photo)

TEHRAN, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Iran's President Hassan Rouhani called for political solution to Syrian crisis here on Saturday in a meeting with the European Union's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, Press TV reported.

"The Syrian issue has no military solution and must be resolved through diplomatic means," Rouhani said.

He described EU's role in promoting diplomatic efforts on Syrian issue as "effective" and called for its political influence to this end.

Rouhani warned that the Middle East region and North Africa would witness the formation of several terrorist groups in the future "if the terrorists are not seriously confronted."

Iran supports territorial integrity and sovereignty of Syria in the face of divisive threats, the president stressed.

Both sides highlighted the regional stability and joint cooperation in the fight against terrorism and extremism in Syria, said Hamid Aboutalebi, a political deputy in the president's office, quoted semi-official Mehr news agency.

Rouhani and Mogherini also reviewed political cooperation as well as relations in the fields of economy, energy and communications between the two sides in the meeting.

Mogherini also underlined the importance of diplomatic solution to the Syrian issue.

She met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif Saturday and discussed issues of mutual interest including Syria.

Zarif hailed EU's constructive role on Syrian crisis and voiced Iran's readiness for closer cooperation with the European block.

Mogherini will leave Tehran for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia later Saturday for talks on Syria.

Her visit to the Middle East followed the trilateral meeting of Russian, Syrian and Iranian foreign ministers in Moscow on Friday.

Russia's Sergei Lavrov and his Iranian and Syrian counterparts vowed Friday to defend the revival of intra-Syria talks in order to facilitate a political solution to the protracted crisis.
Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng (R) meets with Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Hiroshige Seko in Tokyo, Japan, Oct. 29, 2016. Trade ministers of China and Japan, meeting on the sidelines of the 11th China-Japan-South Korea economic and trade ministers' meeting Saturday, exchanged views on a number of trade issues.(Xinhua/Hua Yi)

TOKYO, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Trade ministers of China and Japan, meeting on the sidelines of the 11th China-Japan-South Korea economic and trade ministers' meeting Saturday, exchanged views on a number of trade issues.

Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng, noting that China and Japan are close neighbors and trade partners and have made significant achievements in economic cooperation since normalization of bilateral ties, called for bringing into full play the constructive role of economic cooperation to improve bilateral relations.

He said that Chinese and Japanese economies are deeply complementary, and the two countries should explore new cooperation areas and expand practical cooperation as China has entered a "new normal" of medium-to-high-speed growth.

He also said that the two nations should enhance communication on regional and multilateral trade issues and work together to promote the implementation of the G20 Hangzhou Summit outcomes, and to push for reaching an early agreement on China-Japan-South Korea free trade zone and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Hiroshige Seko, for his part, said that Japan, attaching great importance to Sino-Japanese economic relations, is willing to help Japanese enterprises to adapt to the new economic situation in China and to expand investment and cooperation in service sectors and other areas.

He also said the Japanese side thinks highly of China's effective role in promoting trade and investment as the G20 chair and Japan is willing to enhance communication and coordination with China to make contribution to regional and world economic development.
President Hadi "has officially informed the UN envoy about his full rejection," said the government source, adding that the president denounced the plan as "far from solving the crisis." (AFP photo)

ADEN, Yemen, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi on Saturday refused to take the peace plan by the UN Special Envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed to solve the country's crisis, a government official told Xinhua.

President Hadi "has officially informed the UN envoy about his full rejection," said the government source on condition of anonymity, adding that the president denounced the plan as "far from solving the crisis," and said its contents "bare seeds of war in the country."

Meanwhile, a Yemeni military official called the plan "only a gateway towards more suffering and war instead of peace."

The official said that "peace in Yemen won't happen without ending the coup by the Shiite Houthi group which overran the capital Sanaa and other provinces in 2014."

The UN envoy arrived Saturday in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh to submit the plan to Hadi, but faced strong rejection, said political observers.

The envoy had also handed over a copy to the Shiite Houthis and their allies during his latest visit to Sanaa.

Pro-government Yemeni sources said that the peace plan was rejected by President Hadi because of its inconsistency with the GCC initiative, National Dialogue outcomes and the UNSC 2216 resolution.

Leaks of the new plan suggest a new government from the two-warring sides that would not be led by Hadi.

The situation in Yemen has deteriorated economically and politically since March 2015, when a war broke out between the Shiite Houthi group, supported by former President Ali Abdullash Saleh, and the government, backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition.

Houthis and Saleh's forces hold most of Yemen's northern regions while government forces share control of the rest of the country including seven southern provinces.

The civil war, ground battles and airstrikes have taken more than 10,000 lives, half of them civilians, injured more than 35,000 people and displaced over two million, according to humanitarian agencies.
SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Five people were killed Saturday after a car they were travelling in skidded off road and fell into deep gorge in Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said.

The accident took place on Mughal Road near Peer Ki Gali, about 85 km south of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

"Five persons including driver of a car were killed," a police official said.

Following the accident, police officials and locals rushed to the spot to retrieve bodies from the mangled vehicle.

Police officials said three bodies were identified to be of locals, while as two others were said to be of non-locals hailing from Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

The cause of accident was being ascertained, police officials said. Reports said the car was on way to Rajouri district from Kulgam town.

Last week at least 22 people were killed and 40 others injured after a bus they were travelling in skidded off the mountainous road in Reasi district of the region.

Deadly road accidents are common in India often caused due to overloading, bad condition of roads and reckless driving.

Last year 146,133 people were killed and 500,279 others injured in 501,423 road accidents across India, a latest report released by India's ministry of road transport said.

Global Road Safety Report 2015 released by WHO last year however said India accounts for more than 200,000 deaths annually due to road accidents.
GAZA, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Dozens of Palestinian businessmen and contractors demonstrated in Gaza city on Saturday, calling on Israel to ease tightened measures imposed on the borders that have damaged their businesses.

The protest was organized by the Council to Coordinate with Gaza Private Sector.

The participants called on Israel to ease its recent tightened measures imposed on the import and shipping of materials, mainly construction raw materials.

Israel, which imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip in 2007 after the Islamic Hamas movement violently took over the coastal enclave, has recently tightened the measures on the shipment of goods to the territory.

Faisal al-Shawa, Secretary General of the council, told the protest that the private sector rejects the recent mechanism of the construction plan in Gaza.

"We condemn the strange silence towards the new Israeli measures," he said, warning of neglecting the suffering of the private sector.

Walid al-Husari, chairman of the Gaza Chamber of Commerce, told the rally that "this protest was organized against the endless unfair Israeli measures that are practiced against the populations in the Gaza Strip."

Israel had recently reduced the numbers of trucks loaded with various kinds of products from 500 to 340 per day, according to Raed Fattouh, the Palestinian official in charge of goods coordination.

Ali Al-Hayek, chairman of Gaza Businessmen Association, warned that the Israeli measures "will certainly lead to a complete stop to the entire process."

He called for exercising Arab and international pressure on Israel to ease these measures, end more than 10 years of the blockade and lift the ban on hundreds of various kinds of goods.
PHOENIX -- Saying there was no proof of racial discrimination, a federal appeals court late Friday upheld the state's new law against "ballot harvesting.''

Judge Sandra Ikuta, writing for the divided three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, acknowledged there was evidence that the law which took effect in August could make it more difficult for residents of rural communities, particularly those with limited or no mail service. The same is true, she said, of voters who are homebound and the elderly.

But Ikuta said there was "no evidence that these categories of voters were more likely to be minorities than non-minorities.''

That failure is significant: Federal courts can void state laws for violating the Voting Rights Act only if judges conclude that the statute has a disparate effect on minorities. Without that, Ikuta said, this challenge fails.

The majority ruling drew a stinging dissent from Chief Justice Sidney Thomas.

"Arizona has criminalized one of the most popular and effective methods by which minority voters cast their ballots,'' he wrote. And Thomas disputed Ikuta's conclusions, saying he believes that the impact on minorities is enough to declare the law unconstitutional.

Friday's ruling is not necessarily the last word.

All the decision did was deny a bid by challengers to enjoin the state from enforcing the new law at this election. It is now likely too late to pursue further appeals.

Technically speaking, foes can still pursue their arguments at a full-blown trial -- months or years from now -- that the law should be voided. But in denying the injunction, the majority had to conclude that foes were unlikely to prevail in the long run.

The law approved earlier this year by the Republican-controlled Legislature is linked to the ability of anyone to request an early ballot in the mail. Until now, voters could mark it up and return it by mail, bring it in person to a polling place, or give it to someone else to drop off.

It now is a felony, punishable by a year in prison, for any person to collect the voted or unvoted ballot of anyone else. The only exceptions are for family members, those living in the same household and certain caregivers.

Both parties have engaged in some form of ballot harvesting. But the Democrats and allied groups have been far more effective at going door-to-door to collect the early ballots sent to voters which they had failed to return.

Proponents argued that the ability of any person to handle anyone else's ballot provides an opportunity for fraud. Ikuta, in her 58-page opinion, said that concern is legitimate.

``A state indisputably has a compelling interest in preserving the integrity of its election process,'' she wrote. And Ikuta said while the best method of doing that may be debatable, ``the propriety of doing so is perfectly clear.''

That argument drew derision from Thomas.

``The sponsors of the legislation could not identify a single example of voter fraud cause by ballot collection,'' he wrote in his own 29-page dissent. ``Not one.''

Instead, Thomas said, the law was ``based on the speculative theory that fraud could occur.'' And he said there was testimony showing that there are various safeguards in place to deal with potential problems, like signs that someone may have tampered with someone else's ballot.

``In short, the specter of voter fraud by ballot collection is much like the vaunted opening of Al Capone's vault there is simply nothing there.''

Ikuta, for her part, said laws like this can strengthen public confidence in the integrity of the electoral process which ``encourages citizen participation in the democratic process.'' And she said there is no requirement for the state to wait for a problem to develop.

``Legislatures are permitted to respond to potential deficiencies in the electoral process with foresight rather than reactivity,'' Ikuta wrote.
OSLO, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Norway's largest bank DNB is alleged to financially support companies that are building the Dakota Access Pipeline in the United States, a project that are accused by both indigenous groups and environmental organizations of violating human rights, newspaper Aftenposten reported on Saturday.

The bank said it would now look seriously at the accusations and get into a dialogue with the companies behind the 1,825-km-long underground U.S. oil pipeline project for crude oil, according to the report.

The pipeline, estimated to be finished in January next year, would cross the Missouri River, which is the main drinking water source for the Standing Rock Sioux Indians.

DNB is among the international banks that contribute with their capital. The partly state-owned Norwegian bank finances approximately 10 percent of the project, which is estimated to cost around 30 billion kroner (3.63 billion U.S. dollars).

According to Aftenposten, DNB's funding activity consists of three parts: the subsidiary bank in New York, DNB Capital LLC, has lent 100 million dollars to Sunoco Logistics, the company that would operate the pipeline once it is finished; DNB Capital has lent 175 million dollars to Energy Transfers Partners; DNB's branch on the Cayman Islands has lent 65.6 million dollars to Energy Transfer Equity, the parent company of the above-mentioned.

These three lines of credit from DNB are equivalent to 2.8 billion kroner. Aftenposten mentioned the DNB's guidelines that say the bank should not contribute to infringement of human rights.

Even Westerveld, DNB's director of information, told Aftenposten that the bank so far had not gotten confirmed information that the project violated human rights.

"However, we regard seriously the allegations that have recently occurred. Therefore we inquire more about the project in order to make sure that it is in line with the current rules and our own policy. We ask, among other things, how the dialogue with the affected groups prior to the building work went and whether the indigenous people's rights were safeguarded in a satisfactory manner," he said.

It is "more environmentally friendly and safer to transfer oil by pipes than by trains or tankers," he added.

Norwegian non-profit organization "The future in our hands," which works currently with the Norwegian Consumer Council on developing an ethical consumer guide for financial sector, has also looked at DNB's involvement in the pipeline project.

"What is surprising is the amount that DNB has given and the way it has been done. Loan via tax havens such as the Cayman Islands and Delaware makes the funding hidden from the public and also means lost tax income," said Arild Hermstad, leader of the organization.

He emphasized that DNB is a partly state-owned bank and that the bank should stop the funding of projects that violate international climate deals.

"The bank funds an infrastructure that is against the international goal to prevent more than two degrees (Celsius) of global warming. This oil pipeline will make the United States depend on fossil in many years to come. When the project in addition seems to violate indigenous people's rights, it is clear that DNB should not participate in this," Hermstad said.
KHARTOUM, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta arrived in Khartoum on Saturday for a two-day visit at the invitation of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

Sudanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Gariballa Al-Khadir said earlier that the two presidents would hold talks on regional and international issues, development of bilateral relations and reactivation of joint working mechanisms.

According to the spokesman, they would also discuss the regional situation within the framework of joint efforts to resolve the conflicts in relevant countries.

The two countries are expected to sign a number of memorandums of understanding and cooperation agreements covering media, culture, higher education, technology, housing reconstruction, agriculture and husbandry.

In December 2015, Sudan and Kenya held ministerial meetings in Khartoum and signed a series of agreements.
ADDIS ABABA, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia and China have been expanding their overall win-win cooperation based on mutual benefit, said Ahmed Shide, Ethiopian State Minister of Finance and Economic Cooperation.

Speaking at a reception on late Friday in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa in connection with the Chinese Government Training Program Fellowship, Ahmed said the comprehensive Sino-Ethiopia cooperation including capacity building has been growing in scope and size.

The reception marked China's contribution to Ethiopia's human resource development by providing short and long-term training to Ethiopians.

Thousands of Ethiopians have benefited from the fellowship by attending short and long-term training programs in China.

"On behalf of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Cooperation and on behalf of the government of Ethiopia, and on behalf of those participants in this fellowship program, I would like to thank the People's Republic of China," said the state minister.

Ahmed called for continued and increased support from China in the area.

According to the state minister, the comprehensive cooperation Ethiopia has forged with China has brought about a lot of results in the East African country.

"Development cooperation between Ethiopia and China is very comprehensive; in recent times, it has been growing in scope and size, and also in result," he said.

"We have a comprehensive development framework agreement with China, what we call production capacity cooperation which involves cooperation in infrastructure development; cooperation in industrialization; cooperation in capacity building; and cooperation on natural resource development, and many more areas," he said.

"As a result of that cooperation which is based on win-win and mutually beneficial cooperation, a lot of results have happened in Ethiopia," noted the state minister.

Reiterating that the two countries have been enjoying fruitful partnership and cooperation in various fields, La Yifan, Chinese Ambassador to Ethiopia, said the Chinese government training program has benefited thousands of Ethiopians.

"Well over 4,000 Ethiopian nationals have had this privilege to be trained either in long-term or short-term in China," said the ambassador.

Some of the beneficiaries of the fellowship shared their experiences in China, whereby they have also hailed the training program.
A launching ceremony of Huawei P9 smartphone. (Xinhua File Photo)

KIEV, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- China's technology giant Huawei has signed a memorandum on enhancing cooperation in education, science and innovation with Kiev Taras Shevchenko National University -- one of the leading educational establishments of Ukraine.

The agreement was signed by Zhou Haojie, general manager of Huawei Ukraine, and Leonid Guberskiy, the rector of Taras Shevchenko National University.



Speaking during the ceremony, Guberskiy said that the cooperation between the two sides, which started four years ago at the faculty of physics, electronics and computer systems, was very fruitful. He appreciated the Chinese company for the reliability and consistency, voicing the hope for further enhancement of the collaboration.



For his part, Zhou expressed his satisfaction with the cooperation with the Ukrainian university, voicing the willingness of beefing up collaboration.



As a part of the ceremony, the Confucius Institute at the Kiev Taras Shevchenko National University hosted "A Day of China" to better acquaint the students with the Chinese culture. During the event, a tea ceremony and a series of workshops on Chinese calligraphy, painting, Chinese knotting and cutting patterns, were held.



At the end of the ceremony, Taras Shevchenko National University received a certificate for development from Huawei worth about 7,700 U.S. dollars.



Since the two sides established their cooperation in 2012, the Chinese company has provided the Ukrainian university with equipped computer lab, a set of network equipment and multimedia software.
ANKARA, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- At least three soldiers were killed and five others injured in a terror attack in eastern Turkey on Saturday, Anadolu Agency reported.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorists attacked security forces with mortar shelling in the Cukurca district of Hakkari province.

One soldier is in critical condition. An operation was launched in the region to search the attackers, said the report.

On Saturday, one soldier was injured after three mortar shells from Syria landed in the southern province of Hatay.

Turkish troops responded to the attack by shelling the area the shells from.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and EU, resumed its armed campaign in July last year.
DAR ES SALAAM, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Saturday directed a special anti-poaching unit to go after ivory kingpins, saying no one was untouchable.

The kingpins are accused of financing criminal networks behind elephant poaching activities in the east African nation.

Magufuli issued the directive after making a surprise visit to the headquarters of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam.

"I am behind you ... arrest all those involved in this illicit trade, no one should be spared regardless of his position, age, religion ... popularity," said a statement from the president's office quoting him.

Magufuli added: "Go after all of them ... so that we protect our elephants from being slaughtered."

Magufuli was shown 50 tusks that were seized by authorities over the weekend, plus vehicles impounded for involvement in ivory smuggling.

Officials said eight suspects were arrested in connection with the latest ivory haul.

"These 50 tusks that have been seized means that some 25 elephants were killed," said Magufuli.

He added: "This is unacceptable ... we cannot allow our natural resources to be lost because of the greed of a few people."

Magufuli applauded the work of the inter-governemntal National and Transnational Serious Crimes Investigation Unit (NTSCIU) in the fight against elephant poaching and ivory smuggling.

The NTSCIU anti-poaching team is comprised of officials from the Tanzania Intelligence and Security Service (TISS), police, army, immigration, judiciary and the national wildlife service.

The team has thus been able to help with the arrest of more than 870 poachers and illegal ivory traders, the seizure of over 300 firearms and 20 motor vehicles used in wildlife crime and the successful prosecution of more than 240 people engaged in these activities.

Sentences for these crimes have included several perpetrators being given prison terms of 20 years and a few of even longer.

Africa's elephant population fell around 20 percent between 2006 and 2015 because of a surge in ivory poaching, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said in a report last month

Switzerland-based IUCN is regarded as one of the most authoritative source on wild fauna populations and the report's release at a United Nations conference on the global wildlife trade will lend a sense of urgency as some countries seek to keep the global ivory trade shut while others want to reopen it.

Tanzania, which relies heavily on wildlife tourism, has seen a 60 percent decline in its elephant population.

Elephant poaching has risen to meet red-hot demand among fast-growing consumer markets in Asian economies, where ivory is a coveted commodity used in carving and ornamental accessories.

Another recent report from the World Wildlife Fund revealed that more than two thirds of the world's wildlife could be gone by the end of the decade if action is not taken soon.

Since 1970, there has already been a 58 percent overall decline in the numbers of fish, mammals, birds and reptiles worldwide, according to the WWF's latest bi-annual Living Planet Index.

In the report, the rapid extinction is blamed on habitat loss, over exploitation of resources, pollution and climate change.
ANKARA, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- The deputy chairman of Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Bulent Tezcan was shot injured on Saturday, local broadcaster CNN Turk reported.

Tezcan was shot on his foot while he was in a restaurant in the Aegean province of Aydin.

The deputy chairman was taken to a hospital in the province and his condition reportedly is not life-threatening.

CNN Turk said the assailants left the restaurant after shouting a slogan.

CHP Deputy Parliamentary Group Chair Ozgur Ozel said CHP will bring the ones responsible of the attack to account.
CAIRO, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Al-Azhar Institute, a world top body for Sunni Islamic learning in Egypt, condemned on Saturday an alleged Houthi missile attack targeting Saudi Arabia's holy Muslim city of Mecca.

"This is a blatant criminal act, an unprecedented serious offense and an outrageous challenge by those of sectarian agendas who seek to dominate the Arab world," said Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed al-Tayyib in a statement.

He described firing a ballistic missile towards Mecca, the holiest city for Muslims, as transgression against all religious, moral and human principles.

The Saudi-led coalition claimed Thursday that its forces intercepted a ballistic missile flying towards Mecca from Yemen, and accused the Houthis of firing it.

However, a Houthi military spokesman denied the allegation on Friday, saying the missile targeted a Saudi airport in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.

The situation in Yemen has been worsening since March 2015, when the war broke out between the Shiite Houthi group supported by former President Ali Abdullash Saleh and the government backed by a Saudi-led military Arab coalition.

Houthis' and Saleh's forces hold most of Yemen's northern regions while the government forces take control of the rest of the country, including seven southern provinces.

Humanitarian agencies said the civil war has so far left more than 10,000 dead, 35,000 wounded and two million displaced.

A UN-brokered 72-hour truce between the Houthis and Saudi-led coalition came into effect last week, but the coalition accused the Houthis of violating it shortly after its implementation.
WARSAW, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- A draft law aiming to change the armed forces command system in Poland will be submitted to parliament by the end of this year, Polish Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz told Polish public television TVP on Saturday.

One of the defence ministry's current priorities is to change the command system that was implemented by the previous government in 2014. The reform introduced two separate command centers, one for the time of war and the other for the time of peace, and took away the commanding role from the General Staff, which instead was tasked with strategic planning.

The present system is ambiguous with regard to the division of competences between the commanding bodies and prevents uniformity of command, according to Macierewicz.

Asked about the reform plans, Macierewicz said that the "draft law on the command system change will reach the Polish Sejm (lower house of parliament) by the end of the year".

Polish President Andrzej Duda on Friday discussed with Macierewicz the planned command changes with the staff of the Armed Forces Operational Command, one of the two supreme command bodies.
NAU took a stand this past week against rape culture by educating students on sexual consent, supportive resources and how to put an end to sexual assault.

This is the third year Northern Arizona Universitys student government, ASNAU, organized a weeks worth of events, training and informational sessions to promote sexual assault awareness and prevention on campus, said ASNAUs president Vanessa Pomeroy. Its On Us week is a campaign started by the White House in an effort to assure that sex on college campuses is consensual.

The event is held against the backdrop of FBI statistics cited by the White House that have one in four female students being sexually assaulted during their college careers. Most of those assaults, though, dont show up in police reports or campus crime stats, and Pomeroy said the event is as much about educating victims on how to file and pursue complaints as it is about consent and assault prevention.

The week of events included a coffee and consent talk on Monday, then a solo play called The Haze Tuesday night, a performance of one womans sexual assault experience and harsh aftermath of trying to press charges. Wednesday night was a screening of the documentary The Hunting Ground, followed by a panel discussion where audience members could ask questions regarding sexual assault on NAUs campus and resources for students. A poetry slam was coordinated on Thursday night and a bystander training class was held on Friday.

Heather Marlowe of San Francisco gave an emotionally moving performance in her one-woman play, The Haze. The story recounts the day Marlowe was drugged and raped at the Bay to Breakers race and festival. Afterwards Marlowe called the police, who took her to two different hospitals, where Marlowe had to wait hours because there was only one doctor in five counties who could perform a rape exam. Marlowe said she was treated almost like a lab animal: she was swabbed, poked and probed, and shown no sensitivity from police officers, doctors and investigators.

In the documentary The Hunting Ground, many of the sexual assault survivors tell similar stories. Sexual assault victims are often discouraged to press charges or told it is not even possible due to lack of evidence. The film talks about how universities will protect perpetrators in order to protect the brand of the university.

In Marlowes case, she was told it inactive in a storage facility because the lab was backed up, even though she had obtained a DNA sample from her alleged attacker. Two years go by and Marlowe commemorates the anniversary of the day she was raped and still no results. Then it is discovered Marlowes rape kit along with hundreds of others were compromised and could no longer be tested.

Marlowe currently has an civil suit against the city of San Francisco. Who knows how many assailants became repeat offenders because they did not get caught the first time, she asked.

Marlowe tours the country performing her play on college campuses and said, I cant emphasize enough believing the victim.

ASNAU had been providing resources for students, including a consent card, which explains all the ways in which one can and cannot give consent. For example, if someone is intoxicated they cannot give valid consent. John Bower is the vice president for ASNAU and said, What I have been drilling into peoples heads all week is, consent is the presence of a yes and not the absence of a no.

Angela Kay Garvey, also with ASNAU said the week was personally important.

As a survivor of assault I know how lonely and harrowing you can feel after it happens and to help even one individual with that is so meaningful to me, said Garvey.

If an NAU student needs to report a sexual assault they can do so through one of five resources: student life, counseling services, victim witness services, NAUPD or Title IX federal offices. Bower also said, Every administrator on campus is a mandatory reporter.
Syrian government forces walk in the strategic area of the Bazo hilltop, north of Khan Tuman on the southern outskirts of the northern embattled Syrian city of Aleppo as they advance in the ongoing offensive to seize the rebel-held eastern part of the city on October 25, 2016. (AFP/Xinhua)

DAMASCUS, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Intense battles raged Saturday in an area infiltrated by the rebels during their wide-scale offensive in Syria's northern city of Aleppo, a military source told Xinhua.

The "violent" confrontations between the Syrian army and an array of rebel groups, including extremest ones, flared in the Assad Suburb area, which was infiltrated by the rebels in western Aleppo on Friday, the source said on condition of anonymity.

The rebels infiltrated the Assad suburb as part of a major offensive they unleashed a day earlier with the aim of breaking the government forces' siege on the rebel-held areas in eastern Aleppo city.

Military sources said the rebels' wide-scale offensive was foiled, in terms of achieving a breakthrough, but the rebels succeeded to infiltrate the Assad Suburb, which enables them to impose a siege on a nearby military academy, as a prelude to storm it.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said intense battles raged in the Jamiyet al-Zahra suburb in western Aleppo, saying the clashes were the most violent since the beginning of the military operations in Aleppo.

The UK-based watchdog group said rebels advanced into the areas of Menyan and Masken Mahana and other areas in Jamiyet al-Zahra.

The Observatory said the Russian warplanes were carrying out intense airstrikes against the rebels in support for the government forces.

It's worth mentioning that the Russian airstrikes were had been halted in Aleppo since Oct. 18, before resuming on Saturday.

The Russian leadership halted the airstrikes to give the United States time to separate the terrorist groups from the "moderate rebels," as part of a Russian-U.S. agreement.

A day earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin turned down a request by his defense ministry for resuming the airstrikes.

But on Saturday, activists reported heavy Russian airstrikes, in what appeared to be another Russian decision to aid the Syrian army.

Observers said the halted Russia airstrikes were a main reason behind the rebels brazen offensive in Aleppo.

The Observatory said at least 30 Syrian soldiers and fighters with the Lebanese Hezbollah group were killed during the two-day long battles in Aleppo, which were described as the most violent in the history of the Syrian war in Aleppo.

The Syrian army has laid a siege on rebel-held areas in Aleppo in recent months, urging the rebels to surrender themselves or leave eastern Aleppo to other rebel-held areas in the northwestern province of Idlib.

The rebels didn't comply with the military repeated requests. Last week, a three-day truce, aiming to ease the evacuation of civilians and rebels who want to surrender in exchange for pardon, expired with a few civilians and rebels evacuating.

The Syrian government accused the rebels of preventing the civilians, around 250,000, from leaving.

Observers believe that Aleppo is going to be the decisive battle ground among the fighting groups, and the winner will be the one dictating its conditions to resolve the crisis, as the province contain all the groups that are supported by regional and international powers, with the civilians paying the price for this proxy war.
RABAT, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Morocco on Saturday "strongly condemned" an alleged Houthi missile attack targeting Saudi Arabia's holy Muslim city of Mecca, deeming it an "abject and unacceptable criminal act."

The Saudi-led coalition forces in support for the legitimacy in Yemen announced on Thursday the interception of a ballistic missile launched by Houthi militias from Saada province toward Mecca area.

The coalition said the missile was destroyed 65 km away from Mecca, causing no damage to the holiest city for Muslims.

This "criminal act violates the sacredness of the holy sites of Islam and irritates millions of Muslims around the world, and is an attempt to destabilize and undermine the security of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia", the Moroccan Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"While reaffirming its full solidarity with the brotherly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to face whatever could undermine its sovereignty and tranquility, Morocco expresses its full readiness to support the Saudi government to counter all evil which would target Mecca," the statement said.
Displaced girls stand outside their tent at an internally displaced camp at Amran province, north Sanaa, Yemen on Oct. 29, 2016. According to UN, 14.1 million people in Yemen are food insecure, of whom 7.6 million are one step from famine due to the civil war and Saudi-led bombing campaign. (Xinhua/Mohammed Mohammed)

SANAA, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- At least 27 civilians, mostly children and women, were killed on Saturday in three Yemeni provinces by airstrikes from a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia, officials and residents said.

Early Saturday morning, the Saudi-led air strikes hit residents' homes in two villages of al-Sharaf and Mabaran in al-Salo district of the southwestern province of Taiz, killing 10 villagers on the spot and flattering several mud-brick houses to the ground, according to the local officials and the residents.

The death tool later the day rose rapidly up to 17, mostly children and women, and seven others were fatally injured, said the officials and residents.

"The hospital receiving the injured lacked medicine and necessary equipment, so the death toll is more likely to increase in the next hours," a local official told Xinhua by phone.

In the far north province of Saada, officials and residents witnessed an airstrike targeting a car driving on a public road in Bani al-Sayyah area of Razih district on Saturday, killing a family of five members, including their infant.

The witnesses said the family was trying to flee the heavy air raids on the province, which is the stronghold of dominant Shiite Houthi movement.

In the central province of Marib, another family of five were all killed when the Saudi-led airstrike targeted their car in Habbab valley in east of the province on Saturday afternoon, local officials, residents and witnesses.

An official told Xinhua that the family was escaping the intensified air strikes on the villages and farms of Marib.

Local officials and residents also reported dozens of other air attacks on several regions across northern Yemeni provinces, most of the strikes burned farms and destroyed villagers' houses.

Dozens of cows and livestock of the villagers were also killed in the Saturday air strikes according to local authorities' reports to the agriculture ministry, a ministry official told Xinhua.

Saturday's air strikes against civilians were the latest in a series of raids carried out by the U.S.-backed Saudi-led coalition.

Earlier this month, the airstrikes hit a funeral hall in the capital Sanaa, killing 140 mourners, including children, and wounded over 600 others.

Saudi coalition spokesman general Ahmed Asiri said the strikes were based on wrong information, apologizing to the families' victims.

Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen conflict in March last year to restore its ally President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his government to power, after Houthis and forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh fought a revolution against "Hadi government corruption" and drove Hadi with his cabinet to flee into exile.

The Saudi-led coalition has ever since failed to restore Hadi or recapture northern provinces from the allied Houthi and Saleh forces which also control the capital Sanaa.

The Saudi-led airstrikes and ground combat have killed over 10,000 Yemenis, mostly children and women, and forced more than two million to flee their homes.

The latest round of peace efforts by the United Nations appeared to fail to end the 19-month long war in Yemen after apparently both rival, Houthis and their foe Hadi, rejected latest UN peace plan presented by UN Yemen envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed last week.
ANKARA, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- A new high speed train station in Ankara was inaugurated on Saturday, Turkey's National Day, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim were present at the opening ceremony.

The station will provide service to 50,000 people per day, including large commercial spaces for shops, department stores, an array of restaurants, cafes, cinema and a five-star hotel with 134 rooms, local Daily Sabah reported.

Locating close to the city center, the new station can be accessed through underground and ground lines and also has a parking area with a capacity of more than 900 vehicles.

The facility has an area of 194,460 square meters and consists of eight floors, including the basements, three platforms and six high-speed lines.

The station will be operated by the newly established Ankara Train Station Company for over 19 years, and will later be handed over to the Turkish State Railways.

The 235-million-U.S.-dollar train station, which was built in two years, is among a set of leading infrastructure projects planned as part of a series of objectives for the country's centennial in 2023, according to Anadolu news agency.
ABUJA, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- At least nine people were killed and 24 injured following twin blasts which rocked the city of Maiduguri, capital of Nigeria's northeastern state of Borno on Saturday.

Officials said two female suicide bombers wreaked the havoc.

The first blast occurred at the entrance of Bakassi camp housing Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the Borno State capital, killing five men and injuring 11 women, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said.

The second suicide blast occurred at a state-run gas station located on Damboa road, also in the state capital, according to a statement by the rescue agency.

"The NEMA rescue team had evacuated victims. More updates on the incidents and rescue details will come later," the agency said.

Deputy Spokesman of the Nigerian Army, Mustapha Anka, told Xinhua troops and security agencies had been mobilized to the areas affected.

He said more troops have been mobilized to comb the general area as well as entries and exits of Maiduguri.

Terror group Boko Haram is suspected to be responsible for the blasts.

The Nigerian government has launched several military operations over the past months to eliminate the terror group, which emerged in northeast Nigeria's Borno region.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump participates in the third and final presidential debate at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) in Las Vegas, Nevada, the United States, Oct. 19, 2016.(Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Saturday accused the U.S. Justice Department of protecting his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in her email probe.

"The Department of Justice (DOJ) is trying so hard to protect Hillary," said Trump at a rally in Colorado over media reports that DOJ had warned the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) against announcing less than two weeks before the Election Day the finding of new emails that appeared to be linked to the FBI's Clinton email probe completed in July.

According to the U.S. daily The Hill which cited U.S. government sources, the DOJ did not agree with FBI Director James Comey's decision to inform the Congress of the existence of possibly new emails linked to Clinton's email probe at the moment.

"The AG's (attorney general) position is consistent with the department's position not to take investigative steps that would influence an election so close to an election and to not comment on ongoing investigations," the official told The Hill.

"Director Comey decided to operate independently of that guidance by sending that letter to the Hill," the official added.

Comey said in a letter sent to the U.S. Congress on Friday that new emails had emerged recently that appeared to be linked to the FBI's Clinton email probe completed in July.

"I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation," said Comey in the letter.

However, Comey said the FBI "cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be significant", adding that he could not predict how long it would take investigators to complete the "additional work".

The Clinton campaign on Friday afternoon issued a statement urging the FBI to provide the public more information than is contained in the letter sent to the Congress.

"Already, we have seen characterizations that the FBI is 'reopening' an investigation but Comey's words do not match that characterization," said John Podesta, chairman of the Clinton campaign in a statement.

After a yearlong investigation, the FBI in July recommended no criminal charges against Clinton in its email probe, and the Justice Department then closed the investigation.

At a press conference in March 2015, Clinton acknowledged that she had exchanged about 60,000 emails from her private email account during her stint in the Obama administration, among which about half were personal and thus deleted.

All emails were sent and received via a private email server based at Clinton's home.

In response to requests from the State Department, the Clinton camp turned over the other half, roughly 30,000 emails in total, to the State Department in December 2014.

The controversy surrounding Clinton's email practices again burst into public view in August 2015 after the inspector general for the intelligence community revealed that two of the thousands of emails held by Clinton contained top-secret information. The revelation then trigged a federal investigation into whether Clinton had mishandled sensitive information.
A man sells decorative lightings ahead of the Diwali festival in Kolkata, capital of eastern Indian state West Bengal, Oct. 28, 2016. Diwali, or the festival of lights, will be celebrated on Oct. 30 this year. (Xinhua/Tumpa Mondal)
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Chinese Americans in More than 20 Cities to Launch Aerial Campaign for Donald Trump

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  October 19, 2016  Phoenix, Arizona  Beginning Saturday, October 222016 and in the coming two weeks, in more than 20 cities across USA, airplanes will carry Chinese Americans for Trump messages to show Chinese Americans support for Donald J. Trumps campaign for the United States President. This is after their first successful aerial campaign for Trump which took place in Phoenix, Arizona on October 15. 2016. On that day an airplane that carried AZ Chinese Americans for Trump message flew across the sky of Greater Phoenix for 4 hours. On October 18, Chinese Americans for Trump in Denver, CO organized another successful aerial campaign.

The cities that Chinese Americans for Trump movement will launch aerial campaign include:

Daytona Beach, FL: 10/22 1-3pm Miami, FL: 10/23 11am-3pm Fort LauderdaleFL: 10/23 11am-3pm Tampa, FL: 10/23 12-3pm and 10/24 4-6pm Orlando, FL: 10/23 2-4 pm Philadelphia, PA: 10/23 10am-2pm Dallas, TX: 10/22. 10am-1pm Houston, TX: 10/22. 12-3pm Austin, TX: 10/22. 3:30-5:30pm Ann Arbor, MI: 10/22 1-3pm Detroit, MI: 10/22 3:15-3:45pm Troy, MI: 10/22 4:15-4:55pm San Francisco, CA: 10/22 1-4pm Cincinnati, OH: 10/23 10am-12pm Las Vegas, NV: 10/19 Atlanta, GA: Fri 10/28 3:30-6:30pm

Sat 10/29 11am-1pm

Sun 10/30 2-5pm Columbus, OH: 10/29 3:30pm Cleveland, OH: 10/30 New York City, NY: 10/29 2pm Chicago, IL: 10/29 1-4pm Milwaukee, WI: 10/29, 10am-1pm Madison, WI: 10/29, 2-5pm RTP, NC: 10/29 9:30am-1:30pm Charlotte NC: 10/30 10:30am-3pm NFL game Boston, MA: 10/29 11am-3pm Manchester, NH:10/29 11am-3pm MinneapolisSaint Paul, MN: 10/29 1-4 pm Seattle, WA: 10/28 8:30-11:30am Los Angeles, CA: 10/30 11:45am-2:45pm

10/31 12-2pm

11/8

More than half of the cities are in battleground states. A number of other US cities are on their list of expansion of this campaign.

......
Ex-soldier found dead on NY flight

How they handled this situation was in poor taste, said Alicia Charles Smith, one of Garys four children.

No one came forward and told us anything about what happened, save for a few officers that were at the airport. Newsday was told that Charles who lived in New York for 11 years, left the JFK Airport on Thursday morning on a fourhour flight to Trinidad, hoping to pay his family a surprise visit. However, when the plane touched down at Piarco Airport at about 3.38 pm, flight attendants noticed that he was not getting up from his seat. When they checked on him, he was unresponsive. He was, moments later, pronounced dead by a district medical officer and his body removed to the Forensic Science Centre, St James where an autopsy was conducted.

Relatives told Newsday Charles was an ex-soldier, and a father of four. Charles was considered by his family to be a fit man, however, three years ago, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

After a battle, the cancer went into remission, but came back even more aggressively.

An autopsy confirmed that he died from natural causes linked to his ailment.

Newsday understands Charles was buried under Muslim rites.
Man killed in explosion

According to police, EDASCO officials told them that the worker, identified only by the name Danny, was welding on one of the companys trucks at about 10am yesterday. While walking behind the truck after completing his task, the back of the truck exploded, throwing Danny into the air and knocking him unconscious. Danny was then taken to the hospital.

However, police arrived on the scene about 3.15pm, but not to investigate an explosion.

According to one of the investigating officers, they were not called by the company, but by the hospital reporting Dannys death as the result of a chopping.

Company officials said they attempted calling the police since the incident occurred but to no avail.

Police said that EDASCO officials washed away Dannys blood and moved the truck that exploded to another yard owned by the same company further down the Longdenville main road.

EDASCO officials asked Newsday to leave the companys compound when attempts were made to speak with the owner.

Shocked workers on the scene, who said they were not there when the incident occurred, said Danny was a Guyanese national.

Longdenville police are investigating.
Woman committed in $.2 M fraud charge

Shavanie Indira Maharaj, 33, of Centenary Street, Princes Town, had been before Senior Magistrate Nanette Forde-John, in a Preliminary Inquiry hearing at the San Fernando Magistrates Court. In July, she was charged with the offence which alleged that between April 29 and 30, 2014, at Tropical Plaza, Marabella, she took the money from Lutchme Baldeo, for the purpose of conducting a wire transfer.

Sgt Bryan Popan of the Fraud Squad, San Fernando, laid the charge and testified at the inquiry.

Luchme, 57, who is a financial executive at Maritime Insurance, testified and was cross-examined by Maharajs attorney Shaun Teekasingh.

The allegation arising out of the charge contends that Baldeo had advertised the property for sale in the sum of $13 million.

The charge alleged that he gave the $226,000 to Maharaj to conduct a wire transfer.

Maharaj was not called upon to enter a plea and it was left up to the prosecution to make out a prima facie case against her.

Yesterday, Teekasingh made a legal submission to Forde-John, that the prosecution witnesses were unbelievable. The court police prosecutor, attorney Cleyon Seedan, replied that the States case had been established, if the court accepted that the money transaction took place and that the defendant did not made good on her promise.

Forde-John told Maharaj that a prima facie case had been made out which a jury, properly directed, could secure a conviction.

The magistrate ordered that the $100,000 bail which Maharaj had been on, be posted afresh. She was ordered to stand trial at the next sitting of the Assizes.

Maharaj was handcuffed and taken to the holding bay downstairs the courthouse where her mother signed as surety for the bail.
Partap appeals $5,000 fine

Hearing of the appeal came up for hearing before Justices of Appeal Alice Yorke-Soo Hon and Mark Mohammed yesterday.

At yesterdays hearing, Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) George Busby indicated that the State was seeking to adduce fresh evidence in Partaps challenge.

Yorke-Soo Hon said given that the matter is one of high public interest, the court was willing to entertain the prosecutions application for an adjournment. The matter will again come up for hearing on January 27. Busby has until mid-December to file the application to adduce additional evidence, while defence attorney Ravi Rajcoomar has until mid-January to reply to the application.

Partap was charged in August 2012 for refusing to submit himself to the test outside the Zen Nightclub at Keate Street, Port-of-Spain.

On July 29, 2013, Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar, presiding in the Port-of-Spain Eighth Court, imposed the $5,000 fine on Partap after rejecting a no-case submission made by defence attorney Israel Khan, SC. In delivering her ruling, Ayers-Caesar had said she believed the evidence presented by Busby and State attorney Simone Jaggernauth was credible, reliable and compelling.
Schoolgirl, 8, stabbed in eye

Honestly I dont feel comfortable leaving the children in the school because there has been too much bullying at the school, and when you talk for your rights, nothing is being done, said Candice Waldron, Aaliyahs mother.

Candice told Newsday this was the second time her child had to be hospitalised within the space of a year. The mother explained that Aaliyah who is now a standard one student at the school, was injured in similar fashion about a year ago.

On Wednesday, the girls father called Candice and explained that she had been stuck in the eye with a pencil which another student was playing with, and that he had taken her to the Woodbrook Health Centre.

Doctors treated her and advised further treatment at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EW MSC) in Mt Hope. This is not the first time something like this has happened to my child at that school, the woman said. Last year, around September or October, a teacher called and said my daughter was stabbed in the eye with a pencil by another student. They did not call an ambulance or anything.

I had to come and take her to Mt Hope, because the eye was oozing. The doctors gave us antibiotics but since then she has been complaining about having eye problems. The mother of four said she sought assistance from the Education Ministry to have her daughter transferred but to no avail.

After the schools management brought in counsellors from the TT Police Service to speak to the students, incidences of bullying died down and Candice allowed her daughter to resume classes.

All of that changed on Wednesday last when her daughter was again stabbed in the eye. If a parent comes to the principal or one of the teachers in this school, they should take more heed to what the parent is saying. It is not me alone who has been complaining about children being damaged at the school. Attempts to reach officials at the Ministry of Education and the school for comment proved futile.
Look out for Type III Dengue

said the Zika virus of which there were 704 confirmed cases.

seemed to be slowing down because once bitten by the Aedes Egypti mosquito and contracted the virus, the body built up an immunity against it. So we would take a huge hit in 2016 with thousands of people getting Zika and who would now be immunised. The same thing with dengue, the dengue numbers are dropping. However.

there are three types of dengue.

Type I, Type II and Type III. We have to be on the lookout next year for dengue Type III because we have not had an explosion in dengue Type III in about seven to eight years, and that type tends to come on a seven or eight year cycle, he said. He added: After having dealt with Zika this year, we will have to deal with dengue Type III next year. Dengue Type III is a haemorrhagic type dengue and you could end up in the hospital bleeding and end up needing a blood transfusion. That is why I am not going to let up on the ridding of the Aedes Egypti mosquito.

and we are going to intensify and charge more people for unkempt lots. This is not a fight against Zika, it is a fight against the Aedes Egypti mosquito which carries yellow fever, ChikV and three types of dengue. Of the 704 cases of Zika, 451 were pregnant women. Deyalsingh said the reason why that number was skewed was because they targeted different groups. When Zika exploded no country in the world had the capability to test everyone who presented with Zika. We are not going to run a US$500 test on everyone who presence with Zika because the pregnant women are the most susceptible group because of microcephaly. That is why the number of pregnant women were such a high number of confirmed cases, Deyalsingh said. On the issue of introducing genetically modified mosquitoes such as those to be released in Brazil and Colombia to combat the Aedes Egypti to TT, the minister said this was something that he would have to work through with Pan American Health Organisation. A lot of research is out there that talked about the ineffectiveness and latent danger bringing genetically modified mosquitoes into our environment. It is terribly expensive and there are unknown risks in bringing in a genetically modified.

altered mutant that could possible create a greater problem than the one we are trying to solve. That is one band wagon I am not going to jump on unless I was absolutely convinced that it is cost effective and that it is safe, Deyalsingh said. The minister also stated that he has not received the results from PAHO on whether the baby born with microcephaly just over one month ago had contracted because of the Zika virus, or another medical reason.
Prakash: Kamla can do what she wants

He said politicians must always advance the principles of integrity, honour, confidence and trustworthiness in their words and actions.

While he declined to make any comment about the ruling of Justice Mira Dean-Armorer on the 2014 Life Sport audit on Monday and all of the events which occurred subsequent to that, Ramadhar said his focus at this time is to ensure his constituents are returned to government.

In this regard, Ramadhar reiterated that whatever is done to achieve this goal, must engender the trust of the population and adhere to the highest standards of integrity in public affairs.

Roberts unsuccessfully challenged Ramadhar for the leadership of the COP in July 2011.

Roberts was suspended from the party in June 2014, after he failed to respond to a request by the COP to co-operate and clear the air on a video of someone resembling a government minister rolling a joint. At a UNC meeting in Diego Martin on Monday, Persad-Bissessar hinted at Roberts becoming an Opposition Senator. At the meeting, Roberts claimed he was vindicated since the findings of the Life Sport audit were null and void. At the post-Cabinet news conference at the Office of the Prime Minister in St Clair on Thursday, Finance Minister Colm Imbert and Minister in the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs Stuart Young said former Sport Ministry permanent secretary Ashwin Creed and several LifeSport directors who were not given a chance to be heard before an audit report into the controversial programme was laid in Parliament by Persad- Bissessar on July 25, 2014, will now get their chance to speak.

Imbert and Young reiterated that the ruling last Monday by Dean-Armorer meant the findings of the 2014 LifeSport audit by the Finance Ministrys central audit committee have not been quashed.
Nurses are TTs unsung heroes

As midwives go above and beyond the call of duty, who speaks for you? With your permission, I would like to be your voice. Lean on me as your voice and advocate, Deyalsingh told members of the TT Association of Midwives at their annual conference held yesterday at the Hyatt Regency, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain.

The minister was critical of this countrys high rate of maternal and infant mortality rates saying they were too high. When you look at our record for and maternal death and infant mortality, TT should hang its head in shame. We have not done that because even though we admit we have a problem, we have not solved the problem. I have challenged obstetricians and gynaecologists to tell me what they need, he said.

Deyalsingh said by the year 2020 TT should have joined the developed world as far as statistics into maternal mortality and infant mortality were concerned. He said the developed world had statistics of about 13 deaths per 100,000 for maternal mortality. He said no more than three or four women should die in TT every year while delivering a baby. That is the goal, that is the aim, that is the challenge.

As far as infant mortality is concerned we should be in the single digits, right now we are in the double digits, he said.

The minister said to reach that vision and obtain these objectives, they first had to appoint a director of oversight. So far yours truly has to take up that mantle and we have had a positive impact in terms of maternal deaths so far this year.

Until I have that position staffed by a competent professional I have to continue to fill that position, he said. Deyalsingh said their policy should be getting more women to take responsibility for their health.
KHAZER, Iraq  Iraqi special forces east of Mosul probed a network of underground tunnels and uncovered a bomb-making facility on Thursday in a village recently retaken from the Islamic State group as their allies battled the militants in a push toward the city from the south.

Special forces commanders said the operation was proceeding as planned, but that they were waiting for forces in the south to advance further before resuming their push toward the country's second largest city, which fell to IS in 2014.

"The operation has not been stopped and is proceeding as planned," special forces Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil said.

Iraqi army Maj. Gen. Najim al-Jabori said forces south of Mosul retook the town of Staff al-Tut in the Tigris River valley the day before, and are now 20 miles (35 kilometers) from the city. He said local tribal and militia forces have been deployed to protect the gains while his troops regroup for their next push toward the city.

The special forces, who are 5 1/2 miles (9 kilometers) east of the city, continued cleanup operations in the village of Tob Zawa. They found a tire shop that had been converted into a factory for making roadside bombs and attaching armor to vehicles.

They also found a tunnel equipped with fans and lights that ran from beneath a mosque out to a road. Iraqi forces have found extensive tunneling networks in areas retaken from IS, which the militants used to elude U.S.-led coalition warplanes. IS has also rigged homes and other buildings with explosives to slow the troops' advance.

Many fear IS may resort to more brutal tactics as the forces converge on the city, which is still home to more than a million people.

The U.N.'s public health agency said Thursday it has trained 90 Iraqi medics in "mass casualty management," with a special focus on chemical attacks. The extremist group is believed to have crude chemical weapons capabilities, and Iraqi forces say they are prepared to encounter them on the battlefield.

The World Health Organization said that of the 700,000 people expected to flee Mosul, some 200,000 will require emergency health services, including more than 90,000 children needing vaccinations and 8,000 pregnant women.

The International Organization for Migration says around 9,000 people have fled so far. Until now, the battles have taken place in a belt of sparsely populated farming communities around the city.

The United Nations' refugee agency is shipping tents, blankets and other aid from the United Arab Emirates to northern Iraq to help those affected by the military campaign. Soliman Mohamed Daud, a senior UNHCR supply officer, told The Associated Press that 7,000 units of the relief aid will be sent to northern Iraq starting Thursday.

The Mosul offensive is the largest Iraqi military operation since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, and involves more than 25,000 Iraqi soldiers, Federal Police, Kurdish forces, Sunni tribal fighters and state-sanctioned Shiite militias.

It marks the first time that Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdish region has allowed federal forces to operate in its territory since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, but the two sides remain deeply divided over the boundaries of the Kurdish region and the sharing of the country's oil wealth.

Ammar al-Hakim, the Shiite cleric who leads Iraq's largest parliamentary bloc, visited a staging area near Mosul on Thursday and held a joint press conference with Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani, hailing their alliance against IS.

"There's no doubt that this great security and military cooperation will be an important beginning and a window to address all the pending issues," al-Hakim said. "The liberation of Mosul will be the beginning of a new Iraqi reality, with more cooperation."
Miss Canada is Nagar Queen

Motilal said she was surprised to have taken the title as the other delegates were equally educated and also very beautiful. Motilal also won the Miss Photogenic and Peoples Choice awards. She won $20,000 from Maritime Insurance.

First runner-up was Trinidad and Tobagos Kimlyn Boodram who also won Best Hairstyle.

Second runner up was Shanique Singh of Jamaica with the third runner-up position going to Asia Gilharry of Belize.

Gilharry also won the Best Sari award. Representatives from TT, Canada, United States, Jamaica, Belize and Suriname were entered for the pageant. Public Relations Officer of the National Council for Indian Culture (NCIC) Surujdeo Mangaroo, said that there will a wider participation in 2017, as he will be inviting other countries to send a representative for the pageant. This will take the shape of an international Divali Queen contest with delegates from many more countries, he said.
Resignations leave staff insecure Gibbs: Whither CNMG?

Current developments at taxpayer- owned CNMG are of major concern to me as a former director. A number of workers are openly voicing concerns about job security in light of six-month employment contracts. Added to these fears are the exits of a top human resource official; former chairman Helen Drayton, and former acting CEO Julian Rogers within months of taking office.

In the politically charged environment that is Trinidad and Tobago, one can only wonder if all of the above is a result of political-bullying at what is supposed to be an independent media organisation, said Gibbs.

All of that is taking place while there are on-going announcements of divestment of the State media and revelations of budget cuts during the current fiscal year. He asked if the companys debts were due to the Governments alleged non-payment to CNMG of a $600,000 bill for adverts from the 2010 general election (incurred under the Peoples Partnership government), despite repeated attempts by the former board to collect the amount due over a five-year period.

Gibbs added that CNMG is also saddled with lawsuits for alleged unjust termination of employees in recent months. Taxpayers have invested heavily in State media, he said, and the country sorely needs an enlightening and non-partisan public service television station.
Steel workers deliver letter

Speaking with reporters outside the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) in Clair, union president Christopher Henry, said SWUTT was concerned that Government did not appear to be interested in the investor who it was able to source to buy the plant. He said the idea is for the plant to be restarted when it is sold.

Henry said the investor sourced by the union is an American company which is involved with the construction and airline industries.

Saying the retrenched steel workers got no separation package from Arcelor Mittal and are yet to receive their pension, Henry said the workers were upset about recent statements by Labour Minister Jennifer Baptiste-Primus about Canadian recruitment agency Hire Pro Driver offering TT nationals the opportunity to become long haul drivers in Canada and possibly gain permanent residency there.
Handrails installed on bridge

The bridge located at Fitz Lane, is used as a short cut by residents on the other side of the river to get to Mc- Carthy Street which is in the main village.

While on his way to school last week Wednesday, the youngster slipped on the bridge and fell into the oil slicked river below.

At the time he was in the company of his stepfather Junior Jerome who quickly dragged him out but not before his school uniform, hands and feet and knapsack became soaked in the heavy oil.

The incident sparked a fiery protest last week Friday as Kaleb was not the first child to fall in.

In September, his neighbour seven year old Jabari Antonio also slipped and fell.

They had to receive medical attention.

Petrotrin has since responded and clean up operations have begun.

A medical camp has also been set up at the Vance River RC School and it runs from 3 pm to 6 pm daily.

Since the oil leak, several residents have complained about feeling unwell which they say is a result of the inhalation of the fumes emanating from the river. Yesterday, Petrotrin officials met with members of the village council and affected residents at the Vance River Pavilion.
Agri Ministry creating online farmers/traders forum

Rambarath shared this development with Indias Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Shri Ram Vilas Paswan and a delegation during a one-hour meeting the two held on Tuesday at the Ministry of Agriculture, St Clair.

A release from the ministry said that Paswan and his team shared two novel initiatives being implemented in Indias agriculture sector. The first is its Electronic National Agricultural Market (e-NAM) - an electronic platform that allows for farmers and traders to access information on produce and prices, similar to what the ministry is in the process of doing, and the second, Indias recent efforts in e-Procurement.

Rambharat noted TTs good diplomatic relationships over the years and long history of working with India, particularly through technical cooperation in the rice and coconut sectors. Both ministers exchanged ideas on agricultural systems in TT and India and committed themselves to continue sharing experiences. Indian High Commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago, Bishwadip Dey, who was also present said that India was happy to share its experience and to learn from TT.

India is oftentimes described as an agricultural country with a population of 1.5 billion that enjoys a significant measure of food security.
BEIRUT  The UN's children's agency on Thursday raised the death toll from a brutal attack the previous day on a school in Syria's rebel-held Idlib province to 28, including 22 children and six teachers, and suggested it may have been the deadliest attack on a school in the country's civil war.

The airstrikes struck the village of Hass around midday Wednesday, hitting a residential compound that houses a school complex. The Syrian Civil Defense first responder team and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Thursday that the airstrikes killed at least 35 people, mostly children.

The Observatory said 15 students were killed, as well as four teachers and three other women. It was not immediately possible to reconcile the separate figures, but divergent death tolls are not uncommon in a conflict-torn Syria that has been largely inaccessible to international media for over two years.

UNICEF and the Syrian Civil Defense said the death toll is likely to rise as rescue efforts continue. They said that two schools in the area were hit with 11 airstrikes around midday.

UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake called the airstrikes an "outrage," adding that if found to be deliberate the attacks would be considered a war crime.

"This latest atrocity may be the deadliest attack on a school since the war began," Lake said in a statement. "When will the world's revulsion at such barbarity be matched by insistence that this must stop?"

Idlib is the main Syrian opposition stronghold, though radical militant groups also have a large presence there. It has regularly been hit by Syrian and Russian warplanes as well as the U.S.-led coalition targeting Islamic State militants. An activist at the scene said as many as 10 airstrikes were believed to have hit Hass on Wednesday.

Juliette Touma, regional UNICEF chief of communication, said Wednesday's attack was the deadliest attack on a school in 2016, bring the overall death toll of children killed in such attacks in 2016 to 54.

According to Touma, 591 children were killed in 2015 in Syria.

Prior to Wednesday's attack, the deadliest assault on a school was reported in April 2014 when 30 children were killed in airstrikes that hit a school in the rebel-held part of Aleppo city, according to UNICEF.

UNICEF said it has verified at least 38 attacks on schools this year across Syria, whether in government-held areas or rebel-controlled territory, compared to 60 attacks last year.

"In general there are one in three schools in Syria that can't be used anymore because they were damaged or destroyed or used for military purposes or sheltering the displaced," Touma told The Associated Press, speaking from Amman, Jordan.

On Thursday, Syria's state TV said two students were killed and 13 others were wounded by projectiles fired by rebel fighters at a school in the government-held western part of Aleppo.

Elsewhere, at least eight people were killed in government shelling of Doumas, a rebel-held suburb east of the capital Damascus, according to the Syrian Civil Defense team and the Observatory. The first responders said that there was a child among the eight who died.

UNICEF says over 1.7 million Syrian children remain out of school in 2016, a staggering figure but a drop from 2014 when 2.1 million were recorded as not attending classes. The U.N. agency says another 1.3 million are at risk of dropping out this year. In the rebel-held part of Aleppo, teachers and volunteers have set up underground schools to ensure some classes continue amid a punishing bombing campaign and a siege that has tightened since July.

In other developments Thursday, U.N. official Jan Egeland, speaking in Geneva, said efforts will be renewed to secure the evacuation of nearly 200 wounded from eastern Aleppo districts, and allow medical and food supplies into the besieged part of the city.

Airstrikes by Russian and Syrian government planes on Aleppo have been halted for nine days now in expectations of the evacuations, but efforts have failed because Syrian rebels say there have been no safety guarantees for the evacuees. The rebels also say Russia and the government are not allowing aid into the besieged, eastern rebel-held districts of Aleppo that are home to some 275,000 people.

A government ground offensive attempting to push into the rebel-held part of the city, and airstrikes in rural Aleppo have continued.

Egeland said a lack of trust, fear, and misunderstandings, as well as unacceptable preconditions, have prevented evacuations.

"We are not giving up," Egeland said.

However, he said the Syrian government has denied humanitarian access to eastern Aleppo as part of a monthly U.N. plan to access 25 besieged and remote areas in Syria.

"We need to overturn that decision because east Aleppo needs humanitarian supplies, they need it urgently," Egeland said. "If not ... it will be the worst winter in now the six winters we have had in the conflict."
I dream about being in love: Suki Waterhouse

United Kingdom,Cinema/Showbiz,Hollywood, Fri, 28 Oct 2016 IANS

London, Oct 29 (IANS) Model-actress Suki Waterhouse says she dreams about being in love.

The 24-year-old is signed up to celebrity dating app Raya, but says she uses it to chat to her sister rather than any potential boyfriends, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

"I'm on Raya. Me and my sister are on it. We just talk to each other instead of potential dates. I know that in the future I want to be in a committed, loving relationship and have kids," Waterhouse told Glamour magazine.

"Even though I'm happy being single, I spend a lot of time dreaming about being in love. But right now, I'm building ... I'm doing all these things for me. I don't know if I have the tools to be in a relationship right now," she added.

Waterhouse was earlier in a relationship with actor Bradley Cooper.

--IANS

sas/nn/
BSF trooper killed, three civilians injured in Pakistan firing on LoC

Jammu And Kashmir,National,Kashmir,Defence/Security, Sat, 29 Oct 2016 IANS

Srinagar, Oct 29 (IANS) A Border Security Force (BSF) trooper was killed and three civilians injured on Saturday in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district as Pakistan troops again violated the LoC ceasefire, police said.

Police said Pakistan army resorted to unprovoked firing at Indian positions in Keran sector of the Line of Control (LoC) in Kupwara.

"A BSF trooper was killed and three civilians injured in Pakistan army's unprovoked violation of bilateral ceasefire in Keran sector today (Saturday).

"The army has retaliated effectively and intermittent firing exchanges were going on in the area when last reports came," police said here.

The injured civilians have been shifted to hospital for treatment, they said, while identifying the killed BSF trooper as constable Nitin Subhash of Maharashtra.

Though the LoC, which divides Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan ss predominantly manned by the army, there are also some BSF posts on it.

--IANS

sq/vd
Iraqi forces free town from IS

Burkina Faso,Terrorism, Sat, 29 Oct 2016 IANS

Mosul, Oct 29 (IANS) Iraqi security forces on Saturday freed a town from the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in the south of the group's stronghold of Mosul, as a major anti-IS offensive continued to seize more ground around the city, a security source said.

The federal police and paramilitary Hashd Shaabi units managed to liberate the central part of the town of Shoura and raised the Iraqi flag on the local government building after fierce clashes with IS militants since the early morning hours, a source from the Operations Command of Nineveh Liberation told Xinhua news agency on condition of anonymity.

The troops backed by Iraqi and US-led coalition aircraft destroyed at least ten booby-trapped vehicles and killed dozens of militants, the source said.

Also on Saturday, the paramilitary units of Hashd Shaabi in the morning launched a large-scale operation and advanced on three routes toward the town of Tal-Afar, some 70 km west of Mosul, according to a statement by the Hashd Shaabi's media office.

Tal Afar, which used to have both Sunni and Shiite Turkoman villagers, as well as other minorities of Kurds and Arabs, fell to the IS in 2014.

On October 17, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Iraqi forces, announced the start of a major offensive to retake Mosul, the country's second largest city.

So far, the Iraqi security forces have inched to the eastern fringes of Mosul, and made progress on other routes around the city, preparing to storm the city and drive out the IS militants.

--IANS

lok/bg
When Vajpayee pulled India back from the brink on Iraq (Comment: Special to IANS)

India,Opinion/Commentary,Diplomacy, Sat, 29 Oct 2016 IANS

Hard to believe, but Mosul, currently in the news, would have been ours today had Atal Bihari Vajpayee not played spoilsport.

After their invasion of Iraq in April 2003, Americans realized fairly early that a full- fledged occupation for an unspecified period was not possible without allies taking responsibility to administer large swathes of the ancient land.

Seldom has a US ambassador been more effective than David Mulford was. It took very little persuasion for External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, Defence Minister George Fernandez and Army Chief N.C. Vij to fall in line.

Ships were readied, battalions shortlisted, Generals chosen for India's first imperialist adventure since the Cholas. We were going to rule a part of that country which alone of all the 52 Muslim nations had stood by us at the UN, Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) and elsewhere on the Kashmir issue.

I suppose it must have been self-interest which caused us to turn turtle on Iraq as soon as the Americans were in occupation of the country.

Our ambassador to Baghdad, B.B. Tyagi, even risked his life. Iraqi resistance had identified him as a diplomat who was supportive of the occupation. No wonder I was once ushered into his presence while he sat in bed, his legs outstretched, eyes wide open as in a daze, his hands on automatic weapons by both his sides. It was a frame for a possible Woody Allen war film.

Just as the first US representative, Paul Bremer, was convinced that the occupation would be a cakewalk, so was South Block and, indeed, Tyagi.

Bremer, a devout Roman Catholic, had turned up with a batch of priests who smacked their lips at the prospect of saving souls in a post Saddam Iraq. It turned out that antique smugglers did rather better, cleaning out the Baghdad museum on America's watch.

South Block, like Bremer, had assumed that once Saddam's yoke was lifted from their necks, Iraqis would turn up in droves to hug the Americans.

In anticipation of Iraq's immediate future in American hands, South Block parked Tyagi in a three-star hotel in Amman where he spent mornings, afternoons, evenings watching CNN and BBC for the American progress in Iraq. The irony was that Lyse Ducet of the BBC was herself in occupation of the terrace of Amman's Intercontinental Hotel watching her Arab staff count their worry beads, waiting for the American flag to be fluttering over all of Iraq.

Were this to happen, Tyagi would helicopter into Baghdad's Green Zone and offer his credentials to Bremer or his Iraqi nominee.

Just imagine, New Delhi was all but ready to open its embassy with the American occupiers of a country which had given unstinted support to India always, particularly against Pakistani machinations at the UN.

This being the state of affairs, who could blame the US for being so confident of India's enthusiastic willingness to partner them and take charge of Kurdish Iraq. It had very nearly happened, had Vajpayee not decided to show spine - just in the nick of time.

He kept his head while those around him were losing theirs. On April 9, American marines brought down Saddam Hussain's statue and exactly the media which is lined up behind Hillary Clinton attributed the statue's fall to popular rage.

Vajpayee kept his counsel. On April 18, he turned up in Srinagar. Remember, the armies of India and Pakistan were in an eye-ball to eye-ball confrontation after the December 13, 2001 terror attack on Indian Parliament.

The fall of Saddam's statue had registered differently with Vajpayee - this scale of Western triumphalism was a source of anxiety for him. An "awesome" power has arisen. In the new situation, regional quarrels had to be composed, he said. Dramatically, he extended his hand of peace to Pakistan.

This was the beginning of the process which led to India and Pakistan signing an agreement in Islamabad on January 4, 2004 that forbids the use of a country's territory for cross-border terrorism. The word was not kept by Pakistan, but that is another story.

The "Shining India" campaign mounted by the BJP recoiled on it during the May 2004 elections. But for India-Pakistan relations, it was an unfortunate turn. When Vajpayee became the External Affairs Minister in the 1977 Janata government, he had made up his mind on Pakistan: "We cannot change our neighbours."

Among his first foreign visits was to Pakistan in February 1978. The bus journey to Lahore in February 1999, and the January 2004 visit which resulted in the agreement against cross-border terrorism, were audacious. But there were reverses.

He was able to cushion the reverses because of his cross-party stature nationally and his standing with the RSS. But he persisted because he had grasped the triangle in which the country had trapped itself since 1947 - Srinagar-New Delhi, India-Pakistan, Hindu-Muslim are one complex of issues. Unless a holistic view is taken of this triangle to outline suitable policy, eternal social strife would remain the nation's lot.

Vajpayee had the vision to pull India back from the brink on Iraq. Just imagine, what would have been our fate had ships carrying Indian troops actually set sail.

The troop build-up against Pakistan after the Parliament attack was also a calculated move. The sole superpower was in place to pull the protagonists back from the brink. It is just as well that neither Russia and China (nor the US) paid much credence to the "surgical strikes". In the absence of an overarching superpower, real "surgical strikes" may cause the situation to spiral out of control.

(Saeed Naqvi is a senior commentator on political and diplomatic affairs.The views expressed are personal. Hecan be reached on saeednaqvi@hotmail.com)

--IANS

naqvi/mr/tb
White House race: Diwali Dhamaka on campaign trail (Washington Diary)

United States,Politics, Sat, 29 Oct 2016 IANS

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Washington, Oct 29 (IANS) Hillary Clinton thought she had the White House race all sewn up with rival Donald Trump still struggling to recover from his "Pussy Gate" trash talk about groping women.

Then came the October surprise everyone was waiting for with FBI reopening its probe of the Democratic nominee's use of a private email server as America's top diplomat just 11 days before the November 8 poll.

The probe was prompted by emails found on a computer jointly used by her desi "second daughter" as top Clinton aide Huma Abedin is often called, and her estranged husband Anthony Weiner embroiled in a sexting scandal with a minor.

After a second sexting incident, Abedin, daughter of an Indian father and a Pakistani mother, had announced in August that she was separating from Weiner whom she married in 2010, with former president Bill Clinton officiating.

A fuming Clinton took issue with FBI director James Comey, who had found her "extremely careless" in handling classified emails back in July but not found enough evidence to prosecute her, for announcing the renewed probe.

"We are calling the FBI to release all the information that it has," she told a three minute press conference. "Let's get it out."

But a reenergised Trump cheered calling the FBI bombshell "bigger than Watergate." The "system might not be as rigged as I thought!" he told supporters at a New Hampshire rally hoping "perhaps, finally, justice will be done."

Out campaigning for Clinton, President Barack Obama kept silent. But White House spokesman Eric Schultz did not "think anything has surfaced to change the president's opinion and views" of his former secretary of state.

Even before the new bombshell, Clintonites had questioned her decision to have a private server with Neera Tanden, another top desi aide calling it "insane."

"Do we actually know who told Hillary she could use a private email? And has that person been drawn and quartered?" she asked in a July 2015 email to campaign chairman John Podesta, "Like whole thing is fucking insane."

Another "stolen" Podesta email revealed a memo by top Bill Clinton aide Doug Band detailing how he ran what he called "Clinton Inc.," raising $66million from ventures, including speaking fees, for the former president.

Earlier supporters of both Clinton and Trump embraced the insults hurled at them by the rival presidential contenders wearing them on their chests with pride.

"Get this, Donald, nasty women are tough," senator Elizabeth Warren thundered at a Clinton rally adopting the billionaire's comments about his rival as a battle cry.

"Nasty women are smart and nasty women vote and on November 8th we nasty women are going to march our nasty feet to cast our nasty votes to get you out of our lives forever."

But a would-be early voter for Trump had to spend some time in jail for wearing a hat supporting Trump and a T-shirt bearing the words "Basket of Deplorables."

Even before the Comey bomb sent the Clinton campaign scrambling, Trump had an interesting idea amid his rival's unfolding scandals.

"I'm just thinking to myself right now: We should just cancel the election and just give it to Trump," he told thousands of cheering supporters at a rally in Ohio.

With the billionaire closing the gap in polls, many Republicans who had abandoned Trump after the leak of "Trump tapes" started returning to the fold.

Among them Nikki Haley, the Desi governor of South Carolina, who drew the ire of Trump during the party primaries after endorsing Marco Rubio.

"I'm not a fan of either one," she said but "the best person based on the policies, and dealing with things like Obamacare, still is Donald Trump."

On his part Trump too is trying to woo the 3.5 million strong Indian-American community with a recent survey indicating that only 7 percent of likely Desi voters intended to back him, as opposed to 70 percent favouring Clinton.

An ad airing on Indian-American channels 20 times a day ahead of the Indian festival of lights on Sunday opens on traditional Indian music playing over a "Happy Diwali" message.

Then Trump speaks in Hindi "Ab ki baar Trump sarkar," -- This time, a Trump government - echoing a slogan Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi used during his own 2014 campaign.

A pipedream or prophetic? Comey's Diwali Dhamaka may well make thedifference!

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)

--IANS

ak/tb

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SP imbroglio makes it Advantage Modi in UP (Column: Political Circus)

Delhi,National,Politics,Opinion/Commentary, Sat, 29 Oct 2016 IANS

The fallout from the Samajwadi Party's infighting is clear in Uttar Pradesh.

Till the fratricidal strife broke out, the party had a fair chance, largely because of the relatively clean and forward-looking image of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

Then, two things happened. First, the SP's national president, Mulayam Singh Yadav, decided to cut the branch on which he was sitting by favouring his brother, Shivpal, who has a dubious reputation, over his son, Akhilesh, in the party hierarchy.

Secondly, as the SP's fortunes plummeted because of the internecine feud, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's stars began to shine more brightly than before because of the army's punitive action against terrorist camps in Pakistan.

Although the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) tried to delink the party from the army's surgical strikes, posters depicting Modi as Lord Ram the warrior were put up by the party's enthusiasts.

Since then, the BJP has also tried indirectly to revive the Ram temple issue by talking about establishing a museum on the Ramayana.

But it needn't have turned to the temple plank since the party's abandonment of the Congress's policy of "strategic restraint" vis-a-vis Pakistan has done enough to boost the BJP's electoral prospects.

There is little doubt that the party will gain from the Modi government's proactive foreign policy not only in UP but also in Punjab, Gujarat and Goa which also go to the polls next year although the party does face problems in these states.

If the SP hadn't shot itself in the foot and if there hadn't been any surgical strikes, the main contest in UP would have been between the SP and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) with the latter hoping to gain from the anti-incumbency factor despite the chief minister's personal popularity.

Confident of faring well, BSP czarina Mayawati promised not to repeat the mistake of building statues of herself and of Dalit icons, which contributed to her downfall in the last elections.

Her confidence springs from her image of being a "strong" leader who will not tolerate lawlessness, which is the SP's Achilles heel. But, now, the BSP will have to content itself with the No.2 position, ahead of the SP and the Congress.

However, the party which is likely to suffer the most is the Congress. As it is, its campaign has been spluttering along with Rahul Gandhi's various forays evoking ridicule as when his audience at a "khaat pe charcha" was more interested in running away with the cots than in what he said.

To make matters worse, his "khoon ki dalali" charge, accusing Modi of exploiting the blood of soldiers, has shown the Congress vice president as crass and abusive.

The Congress has also been hurt by Sonia Gandhi's inability to campaign. Otherwise, she would have made an impact, as the large crowd which attended her first appearance showed.

The party is also patently unwilling to play what many regard as its trump card -- Priyanka Gandhi -- in case she overshadows her brother.

Providence, therefore, can be said to be helping Modi.

After a brief sign of life when the SP won eight out of 11 seats in assembly by-elections only four months after the 2014 general elections and followed it up with further successes in Bilari, Jangipur, Bikapur and Pharenda, the squabbling party is now on a downhill slide.

As for the BJP, the success in Assam in the country's far corner was not enough to erase the ignominy of its resounding defeats in Delhi and Bihar.

The party needs to win in UP, therefore, to recover its elan and set the tone for the next general election in 2019.

A good show in UP is required all the more because the BJP cannot be too sure of running ahead of its rivals in Punjab and Goa.

In Punjab, the BJP's partner, the Shiromani Akali Dal, is living up to its acronym of SAD because of its failures on several fronts, of which the most damaging is its inability to check the drug habit among the youth.

The Aam Admi Party hasn't quite been the force it once appeared to be because of its internal problems in both Delhi and Punjab.

The Congress, therefore, can hope to gain from the anti-incumbency feelings against the SAD-BJP combine if it doesn't make the mistake of admitting the maverick, Navjot Singh Sidhu, to the party.

In Goa, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), known for its iron cohesion in the saffron camp, has split and vowed to work against the BJP.

Only Gujarat can be considered to be more or less safely in the BJP's bag while the outcome in Manipur will be only of marginal importance.

Therefore, as always, UP holds the key to a party's national prospects. For the moment, Modi has the advantage despite the sluggishness of the economic reforms, which is evident in the country's lowly position where a business-friendly atmosphere is concerned, as noted by the World Bank.

If Modi still has his nose ahead in the electoral race, it is because of the SP's hara kiri and his policy of "strategic offence" against Pakistan. But if Akhilesh retains his clean image and pro-development attitude, he will remain a potent threat.

(Amulya Ganguli is a political analyst. The views expressed are personal. He can be reached at amulyaganguli@gmail.com)

--IANS

amulya/vm
Aide to Samajwadi Party MP arrested in spy racket

Delhi,National,Politics,Crime/Disaster/Accident,Diplomacy, Sat, 29 Oct 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Oct 29 (IANS) An aide to a Samajawadi Party MP has been arrested in connection with an espionage case that led to the expulsion of a Pakistan High Commission staffer from India.

The Crime Branch of Delhi Police detained Farhat, Personal Assistant to Rajya Sabha member Munavvar Saleem, from Uttar Pradesh on Friday night.

According to police sources, Farhat used to hand over official documents to Akhtar for money. He had come into contact with the Pakistan High Commission some years ago.

On Saturday, the MP sacked Akhtar and said he regretted employing him.

Three Indians from Rajasthan have been arrested in connection with the spy ring. They are Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangir, who were trapped along with the Pakistani official here, and Shoaib.

--IANS

sp-spk/mr
A year on, Paris rises Phoenix-like to continue its love story (Travelogue)

France,Cinema/Showbiz,Lifestyle/Fashion, Sat, 29 Oct 2016 IANS

Paris, Oct 29 (IANS) With love and symbols of love at almost every nook and corner of the French capital, it's hard to imagine that Paris, a romantic-at-heart city, was hit by a dastardly attack -- one of the worst on a European target -- just about a year ago.

It was November 13, 2015 when simultaneous shootings and explosions at multiple locations -- bars, a concert hall and the Stade de France -- killed at least 130 people and injured over 250 in Paris. This gave a blow to tourism in this top global tourist destination.

Cut to October 2016, Paris -- in breathtaking colours of the fall adding to the romanticism in the air -- is buzzing with people from all nationalities. Indians, especially honeymooners, can be spotted aplenty.

India's Ambassador Mohan Kumar, in a conversation with IANS here, said: "For us, the biggest vote of confidence in France that we could give was that after the attacks, half a million people from India have come here."

Last year, the French embassy had announced that an estimated 300,000 Indians visit Paris every year, adding to the vibrancy of the city of light.

Whether you are at the foot of the towering 324-metre Eiffel Tower -- one of the most frequented seven wonders of the world -- or at the busy cafes and restaurants, or even taking a boat ride on the Seine, you will spot Indians in hordes -- buying ice creams and souvenirs, snuggling and cuddling, taking dramatic selfies and soaking in the architectural marvels of the city.

Even on an official trip that went a tad awry, Paris ended up leaving me with a smile on my face with its little wonders.

A spot on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower was encircled as "Place to kiss" and couples -- old and young -- seemed to be making the most of it. The cherry on the top is a cafe right there -- get two flutes of champagne and packets of chips for 20 euros, and take in the stunning view of Paris.

There are traces of romance even in little colourful locks that find place on grills and chains at bridges and walkways of Paris. Look closely and you would see they are like a promise sealed with names of the lovers written across them with the date when the lock was placed. Such locks have become a trend in many major capitals.

Sweet!

Oh well, the sweet reminds me of the variety of delights that you can savour all through Paris. The hot waffles, crepes, hot chocolate and coffee are a bliss in the chill and rain. There's also hot mulled wine and smoking hot paninis and bread savouries that you can settle for while on the move.

And then there are the ice cream and sorbets -- definitely notches better than the India Gate routine a Delhiite is used to.

With not enough time to say a Hello to dear Monalisa at The Louvre or to explore the interiors of the majestic medieval Notre-Dame Cathedral, I came back satiated with experiences small, but significant.

A boat ride on Seine under the night sky proved why the 'city of light' tag goes well with Paris. Also enjoyable were walks around the Champ de Mars -- which took my breath away with its green stretch dotted with trees of fall-coloured yellow, green, red and orange trees -- the famous Avenue des Champs-Elysees and a view of the Arc de Triomphe.

Watching the triumphal arch from the busy Champs-Elysees street where people were thronging shops and dining al fresco despite the rain, was almost symbolic of how Paris has moved on from the deadly terror attacks. A salute to the city. It deserves it.

As a memory from Paris, I picked a leaf off the street.

It looks like one right out of a scene from Aditya Chopra's "Mohabbatein". And while the filmmaker is getting ready to release his "Befikre" -- widely shot in Paris -- it doesn't hurt to say what a truly 'befikre' (carefree) city Paris is -- in every which way.

(Radhika Bhirani's trip was at the invitation of the French European India Fashion Week. She can be reached at radhika.b@ians.in)

--IANS

rb/hs/vm
Blaze destroys firecrackers market, 50 vehicles in Maharashtra, two missing

Bihar,National,Crime/Disaster/Accident,Business/Economy, Sat, 29 Oct 2016 IANS

Aurangabad (Maharashtra), Oct 29 (IANS) A major fire broke out in a temporary firecrackers market in this Maharashtra city on Saturday morning, destroying over 200 big and small shops and over 50 vehicles, officials said.

Barring minor burns to a dozen persons, no casualties were initiallu reported in the incident as almost shopkeepers and customers managed to escape to safety. However, several hours later, at least two persons are reported missing and efforts are on to trace them, officials said.

At least a dozen four-wheelers, around 10 three-wheelers (autorickshaws) and more than two dozen two-wheelers parked in the vicinity were engulfed in the blaze and destroyed.

The blaze occurred in the Aurangpura annual Diwali firecrackers market at the Zilla Parishad ground, due to a suspected short circuit in a couple of stalls in the centre, as per preliminary investigations, said officials.

With loud booming sounds, rockets taking off in all directions and other fireworks getting lit, the fire quickly spread and engulfed the entire market where the stalls were erected close to each other.

Eyewitnesses said thick black, toxic smoke billowed in the skies which could be seen several kms away while the panicky shopkeepers and customers ran helter-skelter to safety.

Hundreds of scared people living in the vicinity of the ground ran out of their homes to safety even as firemen battled the blaze.

Locals estimate the losses to firecrackers stocks and other materials in excess of several crores of rupees.

Shiv Sena MP from Aurangabad Chandrakant Khaire, who visited the site, announced that compensation would be paid to the traders who sustained losses.

Aurangabad in Marathwada region is world-renowned for its UNESCO heritage sites like Ajanta and Ellora cave temples and other historic buildings like the Bibi Ka Maqbara, which is termed a mini-Taj Mahal and other tourist spots.

--IANS

qn/vd
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."
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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Gavin Grimm, 17, sued the Gloucester County School Board after it barred him from the boys bathroom. Photo: Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post/Getty Images

The Supreme Court will wade into the issue of transgender rights and review an Obama administration directive that says public schools must let transgender students use the bathroom that best fits with their gender identity.

The Court said Friday it would take up the suit. The case in question involves a 17-year-old transgender teenage boy, Gavin Grimm, who sued the school board of his Virginia high school. The principal of Gloucester High School had at first allowed Grimm to use the mens room, but the school board reversed that policy and mandated that students use the restroom that corresponds to their biological genders. Transgender students such as Grimm could use private, single-stall bathrooms instead.

Grimm sued, saying the schools position violated his civil rights. A federal appeals court ruled in favor of Grimm, saying the school boards policy violated a Title IX provision that bars discrimination based on sex in institutions that receive federal money. The Obama administration, in its guidance to public schools, had said that provision extends to transgender rights  logic with which the appeals court agreed.

The Supreme Court granted a stay on that case in August  which meant the school board didnt have to comply with the lower courts ruling  while it decided whether to take up the case. Now that it is, the court, which still has only eight justices, will rule on the issue this term.
Photo: Getty Images

During the first few years of my career, I had a fantasy. It involved meeting a woman, probably about 15 years older than I was, who wanted to mentor me. Wed have long lunches, during which shed impart industry wisdom. Id tell her about my struggles with a boss or a decision to apply for a new role; shed offer real-talk advice. Shed gently suggest that I go for the promotion that scared me. In the dreamiest version of this dream, shed actually help me secure that promotion.

Ten years later, this remains the stuff of fantasy: I made it up the ladder from intern to boss, and my dream older-woman mentor never materialized. In many industries, the ranks of women start to thin out as they have children and hit the glass ceiling, and so there simply arent enough women at the top to mentor those coming up behind them. Sure, older men can fill this gap. But when I look back at the people who have most shaped my career  those Ive turned to in moments of crisis or at major decision points  most of them are my peers. Ive never lacked for mentors. Its just that theyve always been women close to my own age.

The research says Im not alone. Women are already pretty good at networking horizontally, among our peers, and finding people to offer us advice. But we struggle to find sponsors  people who are higher up in our organization who can advocate for us behind closed doors and pull us up through the ranks. Women are 54 percent less likely than men to have a sponsor. The experts say we should all be keeping an eye out for a sponsor, and even asking for one directly. But in the meantime, we have to work with what we have. And what we definitely have is our peers.

Any entry-level worker knows that its hard to squeeze yourself onto the calendar of someone at the top. Its much easier to forge alliances among people who are at your level. And while most of us do this in the absence of other options, Ive found that turning to my peers has led to many of the professional payoffs Id hoped to get from an older mentor. If I could go back in time, Id tell my younger self: Stop waiting for a magical, accomplished older woman to take you under her Eileen Fisherclad wing. Start looking to the people on your level. Heres how.

Get vulnerable. In the earliest days of my career, whenever I was around older co-workers, I was worried about projecting an air of I got this. But its hard to seek help in solving your problems when youre pretending you dont have any. Its only when you can be real about your insecurities and shortcomings that youll get good advice on how to overcome them. I think Ive gotten such good advice from women my own age because Ive let myself be more vulnerable with them. I could admit when I didnt feel confident enough to speak up and ask for more money, even though I knew I should. I could confess that I was unsure I was even on the right career path. Were going through many of the same things at the same time, so we can talk through them together.

Recognize that some problems are generation-specific. Sometimes its your peers who can best understand certain pressures youre under. People who grew up online tend to experience the digital world quite differently than those who adopted it as established adults. A lot of modern work dilemmas arent related to your actual job description, but how to present yourself professionally  especially online. And while great advice can come from people of all ages, sometimes you need a gut-check from someone who has experienced the world the way you have. As I try to figure out whether something is too personal to post on a public account, or which platforms I should be using more professionally than socially, I turn to my peers to help me muddle through.

Amplify each other. In meetings and on email chains, repeat what your peers say and make sure they get credit for their ideas. Even if you dont work together, you can help them amplify themselves. If you see them not posting about a new job or achievement, give them the push they need to brag a little. Its a total lie that if you keep your head down and just do your work, higher-ups will recognize and reward you. You need to make noise about it. Peers can help.

Find your peers in other fields. Some of the best work advice Ive ever gotten has come from friends who are familiar with my industry but work outside of it. Theyre not gunning for the exact same jobs I am. Theyve usually had different experiences and can therefore offer a fresh perspective. I learned about setting my writing rates from my friend Sarah, a special-effects animator who also works on a contract basis. I learned to listen to myself and take time off when things got too stressful from my friend Leigh, a yoga instructor. I learned to set boundaries and deadlines and deliverables from my friend Amina, who works in tech. Plus, crossing industry lines helps to keep jealousy at bay: Youre not comparing yourself quite so directly.

Recommend each other. Even at some of my earliest jobs, I was hired by someone close to my own age. Often there was an older boss signing off, but the initial contact and interview were with a peer. I took my biggest step up ever  an executive editor role  because a friend my own age recommended me for the position. And when I took a huge career leap and decided to freelance after I was laid-off from that big-step-up executive job, most of the early assignments I got were from friends Id known a long time.

Play a long game. Its true that, unlike sponsorship, peer mentoring rarely leads to a big leap in salary or title in a short time  its about mutual investment in the long term. The benefits of peer mentoring may seem small at first, but over the years Ive realized that most of my opportunities have come from people roughly my age or slightly older. Those people become the bosses as time passes. Or theyve come as a result of side projects Ive worked on with my peers, which Id argue is one of the best ways to mentor each other. With a little shine theory, the opportunities for all of us started to multiply as we rose through our careers together.

I might be reaping the peak benefits of peer mentorship right now, in my early 30s  a time when the women I turn to for advice are only just starting to have kids and deal with the pressure that puts on their careers. But Im hopeful that maybe, together, we can figure out a way through some of the problems that have plagued generations of professional women before us. Maybe we can keep those mentoring relationships strong, even as some of us change our schedules and career tracks and priorities.

Even though I can see how much of my career I owe to my peers, I havent stopped looking for that dream older-lady mentor. She might still be out there. But a more likely story is that Im simply aging into that role myself. I cant wait until Im part of an old girls club and can become the older-lady sponsor I looked for and never found.
NBC Planning Live Bye Bye, Birdie Starring Jennifer Lopez For Holidays 2017https://t.co/V2gDdI89j2  Deadline Hollywood (@Deadline) October 28, 2016

Joachim Rnning Attached To Direct David Heymans Methuselah With Tom Cruise https://t.co/8mq23kF1Ql pic.twitter.com/0RSFa0L594  Deadline Hollywood (@Deadline) October 28, 2016

Sharon Tate Biopic In The Works With Kate Bosworth To Star https://t.co/EKLUArJBZi pic.twitter.com/XgbFi5p076  Deadline Hollywood (@Deadline) October 28, 2016

Casey Affleck Writes & Stars In Villain, Directed By Swedish Helmer Mikael Marcimain https://t.co/kLdLEtNEZx pic.twitter.com/ExQXvE80Kt  Deadline Hollywood (@Deadline) October 28, 2016

Rebecca Ferguson Set To Star In The Lady And The Panda  AFM https://t.co/1tu8a6DGMv pic.twitter.com/qShf9zpAyj  Deadline Hollywood (@Deadline) October 28, 2016

JLo will star in NBC's next live musical as Rosie, whom was played by Chita Rivera originally. The musical is about an Elvis-like musician who causes a frenzy in a small town right before he's drafted. Will this be a Peter Pan or will it be a Grease, let's wait and see.Tom Cruise will play the biblical title role (huh), a man who lived for almost 1,000 years without ageing. So, The Tom Cruise Story. And ol' Methu has an "unparalleled set of survival skills." The script has gotten good buzz.Kate Bosworth will star as Sharon Tate in the first biopic on the beautiful up and coming actress (and Roman Polanski's wife), who was murdered by the Manson family while nine months pregnant in 1969. It will be based on the book Sharon Tate And The Manson Murders, and will surely do no justice to Sharon.This shady individual has been cast in the thriller Villain, about a vigilante with the power to see the past, present and future. He becomes a local hero until his revenge killings become more violent and the city turns on him.Rebecca Ferguson will star as Ruth Harkness, the first person to bring a live giant panda out of China. This is rich people problems because she soon realizes "the animals are best preserved in their natural habitat." Sources: 1
The 25-year-old rapper told Access Hollywood on Thursday that she was humiliated by the episode in which many of Crowe's party guests contradicted her version of events from that night.Azealia was overcome with emotion as she said:On Saturday, October 15, Banks attended a dinner party at the 52-year-old Gladiator stars suite as a guest of rapper-actor RZA. According to the 212 rapper, the night went sour after Crowe allegedly made disparaging comments about her and her music career. Russell Crowes just like, Oh, you havent done anything with your career, she claimed to Access Hollywood. And Im just like, Well, nobodys checkin for you right now, so lets just settle down.' And then when I said that, the whole table was like, Oh my god, how dare you!Banks told Access Hollywood that the most disappointing part of the night, however, was that RZA didnt stand up for her. (The Wu-Tang Clan leader shared his version of events to Facebook on Thursday, October 20, claiming that Banks was insulting half the room by the end of the night.)The 212 hitmaker hinted
Nearly six months after massive wildfires close to Canadas oil sands forced one of the largest evacuations in the countrys history, affecting production, Leonardo DiCaprios new climate-change documentary threatens to bring unwanted, negative attention to the industry.

Critics are already referring to the scenes shown in the film, particularly an aerial of the oil sands, as terrifying.

Fisher Stevens, director of Before The Flood, which has been in the works since 2014, recently told Canadian Press he was "really horrified" by how the landscape looked in north-eastern Alberta.

"It does employ a lot of people," Stevens acknowledged. Look, we all want work, we all need jobs  God knows. And it would be great if it was like: Now, we take all of these people and we replant all of that forest. Wouldnt that be amazing?, he said.

Last year, the Church of England threatened to dump about 3m ($3.7 million) in oil shares after the release of Virunga, DiCaprios documentary that shows alleged SOCO International representatives taking bribes to rangers to access the park of the same name.

In Before The Flood, to be screened this weekend in 171 countries, in 45 languages, DiCaprio (in a producer role) travels to several continents and the Arctic, meeting with political and religious leaders, scientists and activists.

The Oscar-winning actor, a leading figure in Hollywoods environmental movement, has said he doesnt want to point fingers at anyone, but some movie critics are already referring to the scenes shown in the film, particularly an aerial of the oil sands, as terrifying.

"My hope is that this film provides a global wakeup call about our inevitable fate should we fail to act," Stevens said in a statement.

By Cecilia Jamasmie via Mining.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Tanker diplomacy

In conjunction with the Dutch oil firm Trafigura and Russian fund United Capital Partners (UCP), the Russian state oil firm Rosneft closed a $12.9 billion deal with Indian firm Essar Oil for a combined 98 percent stake in its Vadinar refinery, oil terminal, and many filling stations. The refinery has a capacity of 405,000 barrels per day (bpd) and gives Rosneft  Russias leading oil producer  an open door into the Indian market. A year of back and forth produced a deal for Rosneft that reduces dependence on both Chinese consumption and capital and cements Russian-Indian ties as Russia seeks to realize its pivot to Asia.

Rosneft goes east

China has led demand growth in oil for years, again posting record highs for imports in 2016 as low prices affected Chinas domestic production and proved to be attractive for importers such as the smaller teapot refiners. Russia has fought hard for market share, reaching exports of 1.1 million bpd this year. Rosneft did reach an investment decision with CNPC this year, agreeing to build a refinery in Tianjin by 2019 in order to secure its position in China. Further, China is expected to account for over half of Russias oil export growth in its Far East for the near-term. However, economic trends, Russias trade goals, and a lack of trust between Russia and China make India the real prize.

The International Energy Agency predicts Indian oil demand will increase from 4.2 million bpd to 5.1 million by 2021. India is now the worlds third-largest oil importer and widely considered the new driver for demand growth. Demographics and economics are on its side. Chinas population isnt growing much, is aging, and its economy is now shifting towards services to correct over-investment and overcapacity in the manufacturing sector. Indias growing population is younger and Prime Minister Modis manufacturing initiative Make in India aims to significantly expand the nations manufacturing base, with India now the worlds fastest growing major economy. Indian manufacturers will need oil and Indian oil firms are seeking overseas investments accordingly.

Down for the upstream

Rosnefts decision to allow Indian firms to buy large stakes of its subsidiary Vankorneft is just as significant as the refinery deal. The state places a premium on the strategic value of Russias resource wealth. As Rosnefts oil fields in Western Siberia and the Urals decline, the company has shifted towards fields in Eastern Siberia and the Far East. The Vankor field is a crown jewel and Tass-Yuriakh is likewise vital in this shift in Russias reserve base. Related: Chevron Q3 Earnings Trounce Analyst Estimates

Vankor  Russias second-largest field  accounts for 421,000 bpd while Taas-Yuriakh is expected to account for 100,000 bpd by next year. Last September, Rosneft sold a 15 percent stake in Vankor to Indian state-firm ONGC. A further 11 percent of Vankor was sold to ONGC along with 23.9 percent to a consortium of Oil India Ltd., Indian Oil Corp. and Bharat PetroResources Ltd. All four companies are state-owned and their roughly $4.1 billion stake in the project is now equal to 49.9 percent. The three in the consortium also bought a $1.3 billion, 29.9 percent stake of Taas-Yuriakh. India seems to have gotten past Russias instinctual distrust of significant foreign ownership of strategic oil and gas upstream assets by using its state-owned firms. Thats big news.

How to trust a bear

Chinas energy firms dont trust Rosneft. In 2013, Rosneft took tens of billions from CNPC and other firms to pay off its debts after the acquisition of TNK-B. Rosneft offered stakes in both Vankor and Taas-Yuriakh to CNPC but Chinese negotiators ran a hardline on pricing, felt the investments were too risky, and no agreements were reached. Rosneft likely had little intention of selling as it maneuvered for leverage. While Chinese banks still lend to Russian firms to keep projects alive, theyve been exceptionally careful not to offend trading partners in the West by completely forgoing the sanctions regime. Chinas interests limit its ability to jump into energy projects. India has been slower to move but faces fewer constraints. Related: OPEC Meeting In A Deadlock: Two Of The Top-Four Producers Say No Deal

Back in March, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin called the refinery deal and prospective agreements to sell stakes of subsidiaries for the Vankor and Tass-Yuriakh fields an energy bridge to broader cooperation. The latest energy deals paired with defense deals to sell India S-400 missiles, form a joint venture to produce military helicopters, and a deal for jointly built stealth frigates. The defense deals were partially a palliative for recent military exercises in Pakistan but fit into a broader pattern. Russias resourcesnotably diamonds and coalcomplement Indian industries well and these deals breathe new life into stalled talks for a free trade agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union and India. They also underscore increasing alignment between Russia and Indias regional interests.

Push and pull

In buying the stake in Vadinar and the filling stations, Rosneft and its corporate ally Trafigura, a leading seller of Russian crude, box out Iranian crude supplies market share in India. At the same time, agreements to ship large numbers of diamonds, large amounts of coal, more oil, and industrial products pertinent to defense deals will encourage transit through the Indian-Iranian port at Chabahar.

All of these states have interests in ChinaRussia seeks better terms for energy projects, India wants to ensure sustained growth to catch up, and Iran needs to diversify its export markets with the end of sanctions. By claiming a leading role in Indian energy security, Russia has formalized a new means of influencing the Indian Ocean region and promoting regional trade. Defense deals will also allow Russia to counterbalance China by aiding Indias military. As always, success is hampered by Russias domestic constraints but in geopolitical terms, the Essar Oil deal is a coup.

By Nicholas Trickett via Global Risk Insights

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
For 10 straight years, we've had this best of dining poll. And for 10 straight years, Maharaja has come out on top of the Best Indian/Pakistani category  with no competition in sight for this latest win, scoring over 200 more votes than the next closest finisher, Cafe India.

Even after a decade of ruling this category, it seems Milwaukee still just can't get enough of Maharaja's delicious dishes, inspired by northern and southern Indian cuisine. Whether going for one of the restaurant's popular lunchtime buffets or for one of its signature plates  including the Seekh Kabab (minced lamb with onions and spices) and Reshmi Kabab Lahsooni (chicken breast with cream, yogurt and spices), both cooked in the clay tandoor oven  the flavors clearly keep Milwaukeeans coming back for more.

Cafe India, Taj Mahal, Shah Jee's and Tandoor wrapped up the rest of this very flavorful top five.

Will Maharaja be able to make it another decade on top? We'll have to wait and find out, but in the meantime, we'll just keep eating.

Runners up:

2. Cafe India

3. Taj Mahal

4. Shah Jee's

5. Tandoor

Lori Fredrich's pick: Anmol

Ive been a pretty big fan of Anmol for years now, and they seldom disappoint. You cant go wrong with the pakora or chicken makhani, and dont be afraid to order the goat or mutton curries; theyre delicious. A bonus is that the naan bread is some of the best in the city.

This year we also asked a variety of prominent Milwaukeeans to weigh in on their pick for specific categories. For this category, we consulted Ami Bedi, former owner of Dancing Ganesha.

Bedi's pick: Indian Village

People often ask me where to go for good Indian food in the Milwaukee area, and I haven't always had a good answer other than my mother's kitchen table. In the past decade, the number of options has exploded, but it has become very clear that all of them are not created equal.

Indian Village, however, is a standout, and I finally can tell people with confidence that the food there is fantastic. It's not a fancy place, but it doesn't need to be when the food is the star and the staff is warm and attentive. Dishes are not floating in oil, overly sweet or overly heavy, so you can eat a feast and not leave feeling like you have to take a nap. The vegetarian options are bright, complex and subtly nuanced  especially the sarson ka saag (mustard greens). You can taste the care that went into layering the flavors and creating a balance. There are several seafood and meat options, including lamb and goat, and the goat vindaloo is a standout. The deep fried appetizers are not greasy, and the homemade condiments (standouts are pickled chilis and cilantro chutney) and flatbreads remind me of the flavors of childhood.

If I have a hankering for Indian food  and I don't want to cook or my mom isn't available  Indian Village will definitely do the trick.
Milwaukee was recently focused on the Goll House, 1550 N. Prospect Ave., built in 1898 for Fred T. Goll by Ferry & Clas, which a developer proposed moving 30 feet away to accommodate a new residential tower.

But, Milwaukees Department of City Development has been keeping an eye on another Goll House in Milwaukee, this one dating to 1900, designed by architect Carl Ringer, and located at 3005 W. Kilbourn Ave., adjacent to a row of gorgeous turn of the 20th century houses in the near West Side Concordia neighborhood.

While Fred Goll was heir to the founder of the successful Goll & Frank wholesale dry goods company, Henry G. Goll  who hired Ringer to design his west side house  was an assistant cashier at First National Bank.

It is unclear how and if these Golls were related, but considering that Fred was a director of First National, it would seem quite possible that they were kin.

The house seems a rather lavish one for an assistant cashier, but it seems that Henry Goll was also an investor, having funded and owned, along with bank president Frank Bigelow and a Samuel Watkins, Christiansen Engineering Co.  run by inventor Niels Christensen  on a site along the Milwaukee River that is now home to the Rotary Centennial Arboretum run by the Urban Ecology Center.

And perhaps Goll  who had previously lived on Cambridge Avenue on the East Side  had over-extended himself when he built this more than 4,000-square foot Tudor Revival gem in buff brown brick.

That might explain why in 1905, after Bigelow was caught with his hands in the bank till, Goll was also implicated and quickly disappeared.

In the meantime, panicked Milwaukeeans flooded the bank demanding their money, leading Mayor David Rose to take one of his typically flamboyant measures.

"One of the most spectacular happenings of the day was the action of Mayor Rose in walking down Wisconsin Street, in full view of the crowd, with $500,000 in currency and gold in canvas bags," wrote The New York Times.

"He was surrounded by policemen and detectives, and walked into the bank with the treasure. This money was part of the shipment from Chicago banks and some from other Milwaukee banks."

On the lam since Bigelow threw him under the bus on April 25, a $1,000 reward was offered for information leading to Golls whereabouts. On May 4, the "absconding cashier" was arrested at Chicagos Dakota Hotel, where hed checked in as A.C. Smith.

Turns out detectives had been hot on his trail as he wended his way around Illinois and Indiana before landing at the Dakota. According to a report in the Pittsburgh Press  the details of the Milwaukee embezzlement case made newspapers around the country  noted that "Goll had only $26 on his person. He refused to answer any questions and would not tell his age on being booked" at the central police station on Broadway and Wells.

Charged with 34 counts, Goll was convicted of 19 of them in May 1906 and sentenced to 10 years at Leavenworth. President Taft refused a 1910 request for a pardon, and Goll was released in October 1911.

"It is not known what he will be employed at after he reaches Milwaukee," wrote the Milwaukee Journal.

What is known is that the house at 3005 W. Kilbourn Ave. (3015 Cedar Street in those days) had already become the property of a T. S. Smith. By the 1920s, the home belonged to Dr. Frederick H. Emmerling.

A 1930 permit to install a fire escape lists C. Hennecke as the owner, though by 1932, the building was occupied by the Bethany Home for Girls, which soon became Lutheran Welfare Society of Wisconsin. In 1941, the building was converted to offices and the second floor was converted into a one-family apartment, occupied in those days by caretaker Alf Hartung and his wife Elisa.

Meanwhile, Goll appears to have returned to and stayed in Milwaukee at least for a while, working as a clerk, bookkeeper and accountant and renting apartments at 170 Chambers Street and 1193 2nd St. (later 2943 N. 2nd St.) until he passed away in 1940.

According to FindAGrave.com, "After serving his sentence Henry Goll returned to his family and help cared for them. He never married again and his sister Lily who was a widow helped care for his children and then his grandchildren. Henry Goll worked as a manager and then as a bookkeeper in a restaurant. He died on 19 July 1940 and was laid to rest in Forest Home Cemetery."

In 1951, Marquette's Alpha Kappa Psi Fraternity  nicknamed Da Zoo  moved into the old Goll house with room for about 18 students, and they seem to be the ones who got the most fun out of the basement. The frat's Greek letters are still painted in a mural on a wall down there.

Former frat brother Vince DiPaolo remembers roughly 12-15 guys living in the house's second and third floor, with a kitchen in the basement and a billiards room on the first floor. They'd roast pigs at parties in the backyard, but downstairs is where the fun really was, according to DiPaolo.

"The room with that painting (above) was where the band was, and we had a dance floor and a bar," he recalls. "We were allowed to have one party a week at the house. Every Friday night. We'd order five half-barrels every week. We'd party until the beer ran out."

DiPaolo estimates the parties were attended by 30-40 active members and their dates.

"Every year we had a beach party and we had this big truckload of sand and the pledges had to bring it all down into the basement. We had a little pond with water in it and a little iguana running around. And of course the pledges had to take all that sand back out. I remember when I was a pledge, that was one of the hardest things cleaning that place up."

DiPaolo, who graduated in 1971 and now lives in Arizona, says that the basement was up and running by the time he got there and some of the paintings on the wall  which are still there now  pre-date his years living in the house.

The fraternity lost its charter soon after DiPaolo's time there and, by 1973, John Langmesser was the owner. That year a city permit called for, "general renovation of the building three floors ... per department orders," which suggests the house  described in the document as a one-family home  had fallen into disrepair.

In the late 1990s, the garage  added in 1911 and designed by Kirchhoff & Rose  fell victim to fire and the building has undergone a string of sales over the past six years, ending up in the DCD's portfolio last year.

Nowadays, Goll's name lives on in the home he built at 3005 W. Kilbourn Ave. and you could add your name to the saga because the eight-bedroom house with three full bathrooms and two half baths, is owned by the city, which is in the process  as always  of liquidating its seemingly endless influx of real estate, which come to the city, typically, via tax foreclosure.

Last year, the Department of City Development, which handles these properties  historic or otherwise  sold 511 homes, 245 vacant lots and 19 commercial properties.

"We are delighted by the inspiring and successful rehab stories from our buyers, each of whom took a once blighted property and breathed new life into it," reads a DCD flyer.

The H.G. Goll house was listed by the city at $58,000, with an estimated rehab cost at $86,500, though, frankly, that seems a little optimistic (indeed, in October 2016, the DCD updated that renovation estimate to $138,850). Thats because, DCDs Tina Klose tells me, thats the estimated amount it would take to get the property up to code. The price has now been lowered to $38,000.

Amazingly, while the City's assessment is $111,700, Zillow lists the home's value as $222,979.

Certainly, the bones of a $223,000 house are here. The exterior with its brown brick and quoins is beautiful. Inside there is some remaining wood paneling and a gorgeous built-in buffet.

A regal staircase connects the first and second floors and there are nice little details, like a curved molding and tile bathroom floor, throughout.

The attic is tall enough to serve as bedroom or other spaces, and there are a couple fireplaces.

But most of the finishes are gone and most rooms are stripped down to the studs. The attic floor feels risky and, indeed, there are some gaps that allow you to look down to the floor below.

On the flip side, the city has done some major repairs, including not only a new roof, but new roof rafters, too. There are also new galvanized gutters and downspouts, to help keep the house water-tight while a buyer is found.

For someone with the skills and/or means, there is serious potential here to build out a stunning modern home inside a vintage Milwaukee mansion. One need look at the trio of houses standing just to the west to get a sense of the possibilities.

But, let Henry Golls story be a lesson. Dont over-extend yourself.
Milwaukees got a knack for putting waste to good use. Consider Milorganite or, less obviously to those of us up here on the surface, the city's steam system.

What was once a byproduct of energy production has been parlayed into a money-making venture that more than a century after its introduction is still a major service offered to Downtown Milwaukee by We Energies.

Currently, the system -- fueled by the Valley Power Plant on Canal Street in the Menomonee Valley -- serves more than 400 customers via about 215,000 linear feet -- nearly 39 miles -- of high-pressure and low-pressure steam piping that runs through 18,379 linear feet of walkable tunnels that criss cross the city, from 19th Street to the lake, from Vliet Street to the north to Mitchell Street to the south.

Recently, I got to go down into those tunnels to see how the system works. But first, a little background, on a system that is similar to many around the country.

According to John Gurdas history of We Energies, "Path of a Pioneer," Milwaukees steam system has its roots in the 1897 Milwaukee Electric Rail and Light Co. purchase of the Milwaukee and Wauwatosa Motor Railway Co. That deal brought an old Pabst powerhouse on Broadway into the system.

"Waste steam from the Broadway plants boilers was piped underground to provide heat as well as light to The Pabst Theater, the Pabst-owned St. Charles Hotel and other buildings on the east side of the river," Gurda wrote.

By the 1910s, steam was a valuable part of the business, wrote Gurda.

"(The company) did not overlook the commercial market for steam heat. Once a waste product of the systems power plants, steam became a small but important business line, particularly on Downtown Milwaukee. In 1917, the company installed a steam tunnel connecting the Commerce and East Wells (Oneida Street, pictured below) Power Plants. The tunnel extended the steam systems reach and ensured its continuity of supply."

Before these plants went online, there was a more scattered scattershot network fed by small boilers around the system, says Steam Services Manager Bob Jones.

A lot of times a lot of the customers back then had their own heating systems in their buildings and they were tying them together. And once we put in Oneida and Commerce Street thats when, at the time, Wisconsin Electric began to grow its own system.

The system was further expanded with additions to the Commerce and Wells Street plants in 1939 and 1941 and in 1968 and 69 the two units of the Valley Power Plant came online, "just in time," wrote Gurda, "to serve the steam systems newest and largest customer: Marquette University."

Among the other steam customers are Northwestern Mutual, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Rockwell Automation, Milwaukee Art Museum and the City of Milwaukee.

The steam is currently created by coal-burning boilers, but soon that will change as one unit of the Valley Power Plant is currently being converted to natural gas and the second unit will be converted by early next year.

The 480-degree steam has many uses, from heating buildings in the winter to heating water and myriad industrial purposes. Its food grade so its used to wash dishes, process laundry and for sterilization.

"The system that we have now is not a return system," says Jones in the steam services headquarters, located in an unassuming building in Merrill Park, "so, its up to the customer to drain every bit of heat out of the steam that they can. To make it as efficient as possible.

"We have some customers who put a radiator on the back end to suck out more heat or a heat exchanger to heat water coming in and it sucks all the heat out and the water goes to the drain."

Steam is pumped through two systems. One is low pressure, in larger pipes, operating at around 12 pounds per square inch, and the other, in smaller pipes, but moving a larger mass, is high pressure, which typically runs at 150 psi.

"Low pressure, even though it sounds like you dont get as much out of it, a lot of the customers can get a lot of heat out of that low pressure steam," says Jones. "Both quantities of steam still have basically the same amount of BTUs. But the thing is with the high pressure you can use smaller pipes and send more mass through.

"We use more of the high pressure system so that we dont have such big pipes going all throughout the system. So we send high pressure steam to a pressure reducing station and that changes the steam from high pressure to low pressure."

Steam leaves the Valley Power Plant in two large pipes that cross Canal Street via a steel archway, then travels up over the Menomonee River on its way toward Downtown.

These days, thanks to a new pipe, the system -- which is still growing, a building on Greenfield Avenue recently connected to it -- also goes to the south side.

"We had to excavate and put in what we call direct bury piping," says Jones of the south leg, which was installed in the late 1990s. "Thats the carrier pipe with the steam, insulation and an exterior pipe for protection. Its coated chemically so it doesnt rust."

The oldest part of the system is to the northeast, up near Knapp and Prospect. The western and northwestern portions were added in the late 1960s when the Valley Power Plant opened.

Accessing the tunnel that runs below the river requires a long descent on a series of ladders that reach beneath the river bed. Then, you can either crouch and walk through, bent over, or you can lay flat on your back on a tram system and make your way under the river that way.

Alas, I didnt get to experience that. Instead, a We Energies crew took me in an old tunnel and a new one.
Filing claims Easley's 2000 hog-waste agreement is unconstitutional



A sign on the Edgecombe Community College campus explains a stormwater management project grant that has nothing to do with hog waste, and was funded by a grant from Attorney General Roy Cooper to ameliorate the effects of hog waste on the environment. (CJ photo by Don Carrington)



Edgecombe Community College Vice President Charlie Harrell says the environmental grant it receive from the Smithfield Agreement on hog waste remediation helped with drainage problems on the campus. (CJ photo by Don Carrington)

$193,650 to the Town of Wake Forest for stream restoration on Smith Creek.

$195,361 to the N.C. Coastal Federation to buy 24.8 acres on the White Oak River.

$270,000 to the Piedmont Conservation Council to buy property in the Loves Creek watershed in Siler City.

$110,209 to East Carolina University to develop a plan to restore Town Creek in Greenville.

$37,000 for N.C. State University to evaluate stormwater best practices.

$32,000 for Carolina Land and Lakes Resource Conservation & Development to improve wetlands in the Rocky Face Mountain Recreational Area in Alexander County.

$150,000 for The Nature Conservancy to purchase 300 acres along the Black River in Bladen County.

$245,000 to the N.C. Coastal Land Trust to support the purchase of 3,000 acres along the Waccamaw River.

$338,00 to the Tar River Land Conservancy to purchase 260 acres on Fishing and Possumquarter creeks.

$250,000 to Ducks Unlimited to restore wetlands in Pasquotank and Tar-Pamlico River basins.

A lawsuit filed by the president of a conservative policy organization says the North Carolina Constitution requires payments from a 2000 agreement between pork producer Smithfield Foods Inc. and the North Carolina Department of Justice go to public schools instead of being used by the attorney general to award discretionary grants.Civitas Institute President Francis De Luca, claiming standing as a state taxpayer, filed a lawsuit Oct. 18 against Roy Cooper in his capacity as the attorney general of North Carolina. De Luca is seeking to have Cooper recover the awards made within the last three years, redirect those funds for the benefit of public schools, and direct all future payments from Smithfield Foods to public schools. De Luca told Carolina Journal that Cooper is operating a "slush fund."De Luca said.De Luca's attorney, Paul "Skip" Stam, told CJ that since the suit is against Cooper in his official capacity, the rules of civil procedure mandate that his successor automatically will become the defendant. Since Cooper is not seeking another term and instead is running for governor against incumbent Republican Pat McCrory, the winner of the Nov. 8 general election for attorney general - either Republican Buck Newton or Democrat Josh Stein - will become the defendant.The Smithfield Agreement was the result of then-Attorney General Mike Easley's concern about environmental pollution related to hog farming. After hog waste lagoons overflowed into North Carolina rivers in 1999 as a result of Hurricane Floyd, Easley began discussions with Smithfield, Va.-based Smithfield Foods, the nation's largest hog processor. The company has slaughterhouses in North Carolina processing its own hogs and those raised by contract producers. Easley also was running for governor in 2000. The agreement was signed in July 2000 by Easley, Smithfield Foods, and five of its subsidiaries.It called for Smithfield to pay $15 million to North Carolina State University to identify and develop waste-handling technologies that were better than the common practice of directing waste to lagoons and spraying it on fields after the waste is deemed safe and weather conditions are favorable.The agreement also called for Smithfield to pay up to $2 million annually for 25 years to "Environmental Enhancement Projects" designated by the attorney general without defining how projects would qualify for funding or which projects were considered high priorities. Cooper was elected attorney general in 2000. He took office in 2001 and has been awarding the grants every year since the program began.Even though the agreement states,the threat of a lawsuit always was looming, and at times news organizations reported that the state had filed a lawsuit. For instance, ABC television affiliate WLOS in Asheville opened a report about the settlement stating,According to Cooper's office, he has awarded more than $27 million to more than 100 recipients through the Environmental Enhancement Grants Program. The Smithfield Agreement states:The lawsuit contends that the North Carolina Constitution requires that settlement funds go to the state's public schools, and that a 2005 North Carolina Supreme Court decision clarified the issue. That Supreme Court decision set a three-year statute of limitations for seeking recovery of funds. The De Luca lawsuit asks the court to require Cooper to recover the grant funds awarded in 2014, 2015, and 2016.Cooper's office disputes the claims made in the lawsuit.Cooper's spokeswoman, Noelle Talley, told CJ.The Smithfield Agreement does not address exactly who receives the annual $2 million payments from Smithfield. Documents supplied by Talley to CJ indicate that PNC Bank is the trustee; the bank presumably collects and deposits the money from Smithfield and writes checks to the grantees when Cooper says so.Article IX, Section 7 of the North Carolina Constitution provides that theIn 1998, the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources issued a policy allowing a party that violates environmental law to direct a portion of a civil or criminal fine to a "Supplemental Environmental Project."That same year the North Carolina School Boards Association and several individual local school boards filed an action in Wake County Superior Court. They asked the court to require DENR fines and other payments imposed by various state agencies be paid to the public schools.The case eventually made it to the state Supreme Court, and in 2005 the court agreed that money paid to fund a Supplemental Environmental Project was subject to Article IX, Section 7 of the state constitution and those funds must go to the public schools.De Luca's suit states:De Luca told CJ that the Environmental Enhancement Grant program, developed by Easley and administered by Cooper, is similar to the Supplemental Environmental Project program and therefore unconstitutional.One of Cooper's grants went to an organization that earlier this year helped underwrite issue ads critical of McCrory.In August 2014, Cooper announced the 12th cycle of Environmental Enhancement Grants. Eight organizations received a total of $1.9 million. The Pamlico Tar River Foundation was awarded $129,309Edgecombe Community College Vice President Charlie Harrell told CJ that the college was very appreciative of the stormwater work that was done as a result of the grant. He noted that the college did not handle any of the funds.In April 2015, the Pamlico Tar River Foundation merged with the Neuse River Foundation to form a new organization named Sound Rivers. Sound Rivers is a member organization of the N.C. Environmental Partnership.In October 2015, WRAL of Raleigh reported that the N.C. Environmental Partnership began airing a television ad critical of McCrory's support for hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking."According to a July story in the Raleigh News & Observer, the N.C. Environmental Partnership had spent $1.6 million on ads critical of McCrory.CJ sought clarification from Sound Rivers about a possible conflict as a Cooper grant recipient that also was paying for ads critical of Cooper's opponent in the race for governor. A spokesman for Sound Rivers told CJ the organization had no comment at this time.Each year, Cooper's office issues a press release listing the most recent grant recipients and the amount of the award, along with a description of the project the grant is supposed to fund. It also invites parties to apply for the next round of grants.While over time, some of the grants have had a direct connection to improving water quality associated with hog farms, the most recent ones have not.In August Cooper announced a total of $2 million would go to the following projects:
GOP presidential contender Donald Trump giddily and predictably wasted no time when FBI Director James Comey announced that the agency was looking at more Clinton emails. For the umpteenth time, Trump branded her a criminal and demanded that Americans not let her "criminal enterprise" into the Oval Office. No matter that Comey made it clear that there is no evidence at the moment that there was anything improper, let alone illegal, in the emails. But the revelation that the Feds were looking at them coming in the stretch run to the White House was more than enough to set off talk of the perennially mentioned October surprise that could derail a presidential candidate's presidential bid; in this case the candidate being Clinton.

Even if there is something amiss in the emails, it won't change the race's outcome. Trump's path to an electoral vote win was always dicey at best, but more likely, impossible. The big electoral states such as California, New York, Illinois, Maryland, Washington, and a handful of other less electoral rich states are solid lock down Democratic states. The six or seven key swing states that are crucial, either trend Democratic. In nearly all cases, they voted for President Obama in his election and re-election bids, and are almost certain to stay that way through Election Day.

Having said that, the email flap just won't go away. This does pose something else that could be problematic for Clinton in the White House. That's turning the GOP into an even more ferocious, obstructionist, take-no-prisoners party that will wage open war against her administration. Trump and the GOP have hammered home the line that Clinton is shady, untrustworthy and, less charitably, a serial liar. It's had an effect. Her approval and popularity ratings have hovered just slightly above those of Trump. In some pithy polls, voters vote "neither" for and not for either her or Trump. The race to the bottom in the presidential campaign has been fed by the near fetish focus by much of the mainstream media and far too many pundits on the sex and corruption allegations against respectively Trump and Clinton.

The FBI's announcement of more email probes means that Clinton will have to take precious time out from her campaign focus on the issues that should and do really matter to again answer questions about what she did and why she did it with her emails. Reporters will shout this at her no matter what point she's trying to make about jobs, health care, or a foreign policy matter.

Once in the Oval office, this fetish isn't likely to end, Trump and the GOP will see to that. The opening salvo came from Arizona Senator John McCain when he saber rattled Clinton by calling for the rejection of any Clinton SCOTUS pick. Even if the Democrats take back the Senate, that threat is still not just hot air. The GOP will still have enough Senate votes to delay, foot drag, obstruct, harass, pick and probe endlessly at, and ultimately filibuster a Clinton pick. The hope being that this will force Clinton to withdraw the pick, and send the message that the choice for the High Court must pass the hard-nosed conservative ideological litmus test that's the GOP set piece for a SCOTUS judge.

The warfare will be even worse in the House which the GOP almost certainly will control. House Speaker Paul Ryan gave a huge signal just how fierce that warfare against her will be. He was barely a step behind Trump in climbing all over the Comey announcement about the emails to lambaste Clinton.

If Clinton moves quickly as she's promised with her plan to ramp up spending on jobs and economic reconstruction to the tune of $300 billion, this will send the GOP scurrying even faster to the barricades. It will try and toss every barrier it can in her way, making all kinds of wild charges that the spending is nothing more than a pork barrel, gravy leaden, pay out to the urban poor, and disadvantaged, at the expense of the long suffering, high tax paying white middle-class.

Clinton takes office with the GOP manufactured and Trump fed cloud of suspicion hanging heavily over her. The great danger is that this will plant the seed even deeper in the public that the Clintons are the personification of sleaze. This in turn would blur, ignore and flat out dodge any real talk about tax reform job growth and the economy, health care, wealth and income inequality, civil rights, environmental concerns and criminal justice reforms.

Clinton's continuing email problems can't make Trump into what he isn't and never was. And that's a credible, qualified choice to occupy the Oval Office. It just makes it that much easier for the GOP to do even more to make it harder for Clinton who is that choice to do the job that she will be elected to do.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His latest book is "What We Can Expect from President Clinton" (Amazon Kindle) He is an associate editor of New America Media. He is a weekly co-host of the Al Sharpton Show on Radio One. He is the host of the weekly Hutchinson Report on KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles and the Pacifica Network.
Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121

"In his groundbreaking new book Bottom Up: Tapping the Power of the Connection Revolution, Rob Kall invites and eases us into in a much-needed meta-level shift -- a truly basic paradigmatic shift from top-down to bottom-up. He capably and imaginatively explores the differences between these ways of approaching life, clearly demonstrating that bottom-up allows us to flourish. His vision and his book are enriched by telling references to interviews which he has engaged in over the years with bottom-up researchers, theorists, activists, and dreamers in a variety of areas. Think about Rob's interviews. Read this revolutionary book. And take one step further into the bottom-up universe yourself. You will not regret it."



Bonnie Burstow, MD, author of Psychiatry and the Business of Madness and Radical Feminist Therapy, associate professor at the University of Toronto
What the heck was FBI Director James Comey thinking?

Three emails found with the name "Clinton" in them on disgraced, serial genitals photographer, Anthony Weiner's computer, amounts to an investigation tantamount to and obliquely suggestive of criminal behavior. Not satisfied to insert himself and the FBI into the political maelstrom of the 2106 presidential campaign, FBI Director, James B. Comey, a lifelong Republican, has now made himself and the agency a complete laughing stock in its dealings with Hillary Rodham Clinton. He should do the right thing and resign over this monumental fumble that reeks of political Republican bias. I find it very hard to see just how he's going to continue effectively running the FBI when he's done so much to undermine its legendary independency and penchant for secrecy that has made it one of the most feared and respected law enforcement agencies in the world.

Now Comey's action has rendered this proud and efficient agency as a dopey version of the Keystone Kops. A kind of Uncle Gadget-like approach to anything Clinton perhaps a reaction by political osmosis contaminated by his brethren in the Congress. The unprecedented FBI press conference before his congressional hearing led by his witch-hunting party, turned out to be an expensive joke as the so-called secret information gleaned from a private email server in Hillary Clinton's basement could only yield a few lines of "confidential" classification. This forced Comey and his angry Republican kin in Congress to express outrage that he did not have HRC charged, well, for "something." Never mind the EVIDENCE of deliberate criminal action was a scarce as a Dodo bird.

Comey, perhaps smarting at the stinging rebuke from his cohorts in Congress who thought that he was letting her off the hook or that he was "a sell out," might have wanted to get back in their good books by sending a letter so immature and, well, stupid, as to draw peals of uncontrolled fits of laughter if this was not the end of a unique presidential election. It is serious when the head of the FBI writes Congress and hints of something nefarious. Eleven days out and Comey springs his "October Surprise" perhaps trying to send a subtle dog whistle to Republican voters that HRC "might, perhaps, could be" dragged up on unnamed and unspecified criminal charged so, by default, vote for Donald Trump.

How else is this to be interpreted? The timing, the vagueness, "draw your own conclusioness" of the letter, and the careful use of language that was not definitive or direct but with enough spin to suggest that there MIGHT BE SOMETHING AMISS THERE -- at last! But the Comey revelation and clumsy letter writing immediately backfired when it was revealed that the computer was NOT HRC's own, and had all to do with the silly little twit named one Anthony Weiner, whose penchant for making himself an utter ass is without parallel. Poor HRC had NOTHING to do with this.

Almost immediately the Republican amen chorus that was singing the demise of HRC and the praises of the Orange-haired One, gulped air like a fish stranded on dry land. The self-righteous, chest thumping, and the gleeful orgasmic teetering that welcomed this new HRC "email revelation" and fumble ended as immediately as it started. Nah, that was definitely not the political manna from heaven that these bozos were desperately praying for. That and a bolt of God-fearing, Bible-brimstone-and-fire lightening to strike the Demon HRC!

Within two hours the semi-hard doo-doo struck the proverbial fan scattering its stench on the faces of Comey, Trump, Paul Ryan and all of the mainstream media pundits and anchors who rushed so quickly to judgment and pulled out their lariats to hang HRC from the nearest tree. With stinky egg on their goofy faces and sheepish grins all around, HRC marched (the Rasta men would say "trod") to the microphones and demanded that Comey and the Keystone Kops release the emails. Show and tell the American people she demanded -- ladylike.

That's called "calling your bluff." And, by crickey! She's an old hand at that! Again she demonstrated and proved --once more (how many times does she have to freakin' prove it?) that she is as fit as a fiddle to be president of the United States. The bunch of childish, clownish clumsy boys that she's had to fend off all of her life looked sullen and morose. Chest-fallen -- I like that word! I could hear them crying: Bummer! We sure thought that we had her this time! And just as immediately the calls came for Comey to explain and resign. He's the fall guy, the patsy, the one who wrote the letter. Serves him right!

The feisty, petite dynamo showed just how big her cajones are and just how tough she is by COMPLETELY IGNORING Donald Trump's Twitter tantrums, Paul Ryan's hot-and-cold silliness, Mitch McConnell's growing senility, and the rest of the GOP's sorry-brigade pouting and mammy bellowing and wailing. What a gal! She does not have to yell, scream, and get the FBI director to do something foolish to win this election. Madame, you have withstood this unnecessary, unfair, unjust, unprincipled and undemocratic attacks, targeted maligning and political obsession with you and then some. If you were a man subjected to the same level of attacks you would have certainly cracked already. You make these guys look as so many wimps and wusses.

But you're made of sterner stuff. We who have watched and followed your stellar and outstanding career know that only too well. Comey by his really, really poor lack of judgment and bad political calculations has just strengthened your position. The thing backfired and has now blown up in their collective faces. You should laugh out loud -- but not now. Wait until November 8 and then have a big, hearty Hillary Clinton laugh from you feet on up. For now it's the home stretch and you're almost there.
As an old SDS-er, I found it hard to see Tom Hayden go. However meandering his path, he was at the heart of radical history in the 60s, an erstwhile companion, if not always a comrade, on the route of every boomer lefty.

One of his finer moments for me, which I've never seen mentioned (including among this week's encomia) since he wrote it, was his 2006 article, published on CounterPunch with an introduction by Alexander Cockburn, in which he apologized for a "descent into moral ambiguity and realpolitick that still haunts me today." It would be respectful of Hayden's admirers and critics, on the occasion of his passing, to remember which of his actions "haunted" him the most.

The title of the article says it clearly: "I Was Israel's Dupe." In the essay, Hayden apologizes for his support of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, which was for him that "descent into moral ambiguity" More importantly, he explains why he did it, in a detailed narrative that everyone should read.

Hayden sold out, as he tells it, because, in order to run as a Democratic candidate for the California State Assembly, he had to get the approval of the influential Democratic congressman Howard Berman. Berman is a guy who, when he became Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was proud to tell the Forward that he took the job because of his "interest in the Jewish state" and that: "Even before I was a Democrat, I was a Zionist."

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Conventional,unconventional military build-up disturbing the balance of power in south Asia: FO

ISLAMABAD: Indian conventional and unconventional military build-up is disturbing the balance of power in south Asia. It is also a threat to regional peace, Foreign Office Spokesman Nafess Zakaria said on Friday.



He was addressing the weekly media briefing at the Foreign Office.



"Pakistan has long maintained that India rapidly expanding military nuclear programme posed a grave threat to peace and stability in the region and beyond. These concerns have been fully validated by publicly available reports on significant upcoming fissile material facilities and build-up of un-safeguarded fissile material in India," he said.



Zakaria said that the buildup had been facilitated by the 2008 Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) waiver granted to India, which had not only dented the credibility of the non-proliferation regime and undermined its efficacy, but also negatively affected the strategic balance in South Asia.



"It is unfortunate that the NSG did not require India to make any worthwhile non-proliferation commitments at the time. Another country-specific exemption by the NSG on the membership question will only further exacerbate the ill effects of the 2008 exemption. It remains our hope that the NSG member states will make a well-considered decision this time keeping in view its long-term implications for the global non-proliferation regime as well as strategic stability in our region," he said.



The spokesman expressed "immense concern" over the deliberate Indian act of creating shortage of basic amenities and continued detention of Hurriyat leaders in the Indian Occupied Kashmir. He invited international community's attention and action against India's "despicable acts".



"The food crisis and deliberate act of Indians to create shortage of basic amenities, continued detention of Hurriyat leaders Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik in precarious and torturous conditions are issues of immense concern," he said.



Zakaria said that Kashmir Black Day had been observed nationwide in Pakistan and also across the globe on October 27.



"The state terrorism that India unleashed on unarmed defenseless Kashmiris, ever since, has caused more hardships for Kashmiris," he said.



"There are trails of numerous massacres, extra-judicial killings, killings in staged encounters, organised dishonoring of Kashmiri women, including girls as young as three-year old, and arbitrary arrests of tens of thousands committed by the Indian forces," he said.



The spokesman strongly condemned the continued unprovoked ceasefire violations from the Indian side across the Line of Control (LoC) and the Working Boundary.



"India has violated the ceasefire agreement of 2003. The Indian Army is targeting Pakistani civilians across the Working Boundary and LoC," he said. Referring to the issue of the expulsion of an Indian diplomatic official, he foreign secretary had summoned the Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale on October 27 and conveyed the decision of the government of Pakistan to declare Surjeet Singh as persona non grata. The foreign secretary expressed deep concern over the activities of the Indian official that were in violation of the Vienna Convention and the established diplomatic norms, he said. The spokesperson said that the Indian High Commission had been asked to make necessary arrangements for Surjeet Singh and his family to leave Pakistan by October 29, 2016. The foreign secretary hoped that other members of the high commission would not indulge in the activities detrimental to Pakistan's national security, he said. Zakaria said the official was involved in activities that were directly against the national security interests of Pakistan. He said that a Pakistani diplomat had been kept under detention in India in contravention of the Vienna Convention. "Pakistan has protested against this with the Indian side," he said.



The spokesman said that India was supporting terrorism activities in Pakistan. "We have irrefutable proof of Indian state involvement in activities against Pakistan's territorial integrity and national security" he said.
Opposition politics of dharnas will meet its end in 2018 elections: Nawaz Sharif

KOHAT: Oppositions politics of dharnas will meet its end in the 2018 general elections, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Friday.



He was addressing a public gathering at the Qila Ground, Kohat. If the governments successful journey continues uninterrupted till 2018, the oppositions politics of protests and sit-ins will meet its end. The governments efforts to bring economic stability and start mega development projects has made the opposition realise they face defeat in 2018, he said.



The prime minister said that Pakistan was destined to become a developed state. The fact that their political careers will end by 2018 worries them. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) should be changed for the better. We will bring that change, he said.



They have not done anything in KP over the past three years. The PML-N government will come to power in KP as well in 2018, the prime minister said.



The PM said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) would once again emerge victorious in the upcoming general elections.



The PM said that the KP government had deceived the masses by raising the slogan of change. This never happened and the provincial government did not focus on the uplift of the province, he said.



The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor will bring prosperity and progress to Pakistan, Nawaz said, adding that load-shedding would end by 2018.



The PM announced a development package, including gas provision, a new road, hospital, railway service and a university campus for Kohat.



The gas project will cost Rs 3.9 billion and will benefit people of Kohat, Khushal Garh, Shairkot, Alizai, Nusrat Pur, Dhoda and Chorluki.



He said that a highway would link Kohat, Jand and Pindi Gaib. The road will be linked to the Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway, he said. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said orders for the construction of the road had already been issued to the National Highways Authority.



The PM announced to establish a state-of-the-art hospital and a campus of the Kohat University for women in the city. The prime minister said a rail service would also be started from Rawalpindi to Kohat.



He announced a grant of Rs200 million for district and Rs100 million for tehsil councils.



Earlier while addressing the gathering, PML-N leader Abbas Khan Afridi said the people of KP strongly supported the development agenda of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.



The opponents are scared of the PML-N government and its development agenda. They know that if the development process continues at such a fast pace, their politics will be buried forever, he said.



He said the federal government was bringing a positive change in KP. Top officials of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have endorsed the rapid progress and stability of Pakistans economy. This is a great achievement of the present government, Afridi said.



He said people of KP had been deprived of development and their problems had increased manifold due to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government. People of KP are not interested in politics of agitation. They only want a solution of their problems, he said.



He said that the Kohat Tunnel and highway projects were a gift of prime minister for the people of Kohat.



He thanked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for announcing the development package for Kohat. It will bring a positive socio-economic change in the lives of the local people. The gas project inaugurated today by the PM will address a long-standing problem of the people of Kohat, he said.



Protest: PTI activists staged a protest rally on the arrival of the PM in Kohat on Friday. They chanted anti-government slogans outside the public meeting. PML-N activists also gathered there and started raising slogans against Imran Khan. Members of both groups then pelted each other with stones. Police fired teargas shells and baton-charged the activists to bring the situation under control.
As we get closer to the Championship, see how the action will take place!
A constituency debate for parliamentary candidates, scheduled for the Weija/Gbawe Constituency was disrupted following a disagreement on the banner to be used for the programme.



The debate, which was initially supposed to be collaboration between the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO), the Centre for Development (CDD-Ghana Democratic) and the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), came to a halt even before the function could start.



The programme was therefore cancelled after a misunderstanding between CODEO and the NCCE Greater Accra Regional Chair over who the organiser was, forcing the CODEO officials to pack their equipment and set out from the venue.



Mr Angel Carbonu, Advisory Board Member for CODEO, explained to the media that the programme could not come on as a result of what he described as the misbehaviour of the NCCE Regional Chairperson.



Mr Carbonu, who was scheduled to be the lead moderator for the debate however noted that CODEO has been organising such events successfully without partnership with other organisations and added that the Coalition was going to re-organise and restructure to hold the debates in other constituencies.



He said Mrs Lucille Annan, the NCCE Regional Chairperson, had not been properly informed of the arrangements for the programme which was originally to be held by the CODEO and the CDD-Ghana. The NCCE was then per an arrangement invited to collaborate due the official mandate.



We are supposed to collaborate, you cannot superimpose yourself and claim ownership of the programme,, he said, adding that her behaviour was unacceptable.



According to him, the programme was being organised by CODEO and CDD-Ghana with NCCE as the third party.



He said the prior understanding was that the debate was a collaboration between CODEO, CDD and NCCE at the Head of the Commission but perhaps communication failed to reach the Regional Chairperson.



Mrs Annan however explained that, the programme was being organised by the NCCE and not CODEO or any other.



She said CODEO wanted to ride on our back, so the Commission agreed, however, on arrival, she found that CODEO had used its banner on the set and demanded an explanation.



Consequently, she went ahead to mount NCCEs banner over that of CODEOs which led to a confrontation between the two parties with CODEO pulling out of the programme.



Mrs Annan stated that, the NCCE was holding parliamentary debates in all constituencies, and that all districts have been resourced by the Commission with support from the European Union.



Only the candidate of the National Democratic Congress, Obuobia Opoku Darko, turned up before the rumpus though the aspirants of the New Patriotic Party, Tina Mensah and that of the Convention Peoples Party had been invited.



The constituency debate forum for parliamentary candidates is intended to give constituents the avenue to interact with their candidates and express their concerns to them.

Source: GNA









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Featured Video
Larvae of mosquito Aedes aegypti OX513A, infected with the Wolbachia bacteria which alters the reproductive capability of its host, seen at Oxitec facility in Piracicaba, Brazil, on October 26, 2016

Scientists in Brazil are preparing to release millions of factory-bred mosquitoes in an attempt to wipe out their distant cousins that carry tropical diseases. The insects' method: have sex and then die.

British firm Oxitec says its genetically modified mosquitoes will swarm in among ordinary species such as Aedes aegypti, the insect that carries feared diseases such as Zika, dengue, yellow fever and chikungunya.

They will mate with the females of the ordinary mosquitoes, spawning babies with a genetically inbuilt flaw that causes them to die quickly.

With their work done, the modified father mosquitoes will then give up the ghost themselvesas they are genetically programmed to do.

Oxitec says its factory in the town of Piracicaba, northwest of Sao Paulo, can produce 60 million mutant mosquitoes a week.

Piracicaba is the world's "first and biggest factory" of genetically modified mosquitos, said Oxitec president Hadyn Parry.

"This is the only place where we have a factory like this. We can use this as a hub for Brazil," said Parry, who traveled to Piracicaba for the plant opening.

Currently their only Brazilian customer is the city of Piracicaba, "but we are having conversations with several municipalities and states," Parry said.

Oxitec CEO, Hadyn Parry

Mosquitoes by the millions

According to the firm, five field tests that they conducted between 2011 and 2014in Panama and the Cayman Islands, as well as the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahiashowed the population of wild Aedes aegypti insects dropped by 90 percent after the mutant mosquitoes were released.

Oxitec does not yet have a sales permit from Brazil's Anvisa health authorities, and there are no epidemiological studies showing whether mosquito-carried diseases drop after the factory-bred insects are released.

Parry is not concerned. "We are still waiting for Anvisa approvalwe have no date for it, but we expect it for 2017," he said.

And none of this has stopped the mayor of Piracicaba from signing a four-year, $1.1 million deal with Oxitec.

In its first wave, the company will release 10 million factory-bred mosquitos each week into this city of 360,000 people.

The need for insect control is pressing, as the summer in the southern hemisphere approaches and the mosquito populationand cases of the diseases that they carryis likely to boom.

Oxitec says its factory in the town of Piracicaba, northwest of Sao Paulo, can produce 60 million mutant mosquitoes a week

As of July nearly 1.4 million cases of dengue were recorded in Brazil, following the record 1.6 million cases in 2015, according to health ministry figures.

In the same period 174,000 cases of Zika were reported.

The Zika virus outbreak began in late 2015 in Brazil and has since spread across the Americas.

Zika is particularly dangerous to pregnant women because it can cause birth defects such as microcephaly, in which babies are born with unusually small heads and brain deformities.

Zika infection has also been linked to a nerve and immune disorder called Guillain-Barre syndrome.

Sex and death

Scientists keep the spacious rooms at the Piracicaba factory at temperature and humidity levels ideal for mosquito breeding.

An Aedes aegypti OX513A mosquito, created by Oxitec, seen at the British firm's facility in Piracicaba, north-west of Sao Paulo

While female mosquitoes are kept for breeding, male mosquitoes of the OX513A breedespecially developed by Oxitec in 2002are released to mate with females in the wild, produce short-lived offspring, then die.

Oxitec biologist Karla Tepedino dismisses environmentalists' concerns about the lack of long-term impact studies.

"There are three essential factors for the transmission of these diseases: the mosquitoes, the virus and humans. What we do here is eliminate the mosquitoes, which transmit the virus," Tepedino told AFP.

"Eliminating the vector, we eliminate the disease," she said.

The Aedes aegypti mosquito is well-adapted to city life as it can breed in even tiny amounts of water, such as a puddle of rainwater or water pooled in flowerpots.

Experts have pointed to poor sanitation and the practice of storing open water containers in poor neighborhoods as contributing factors in the explosive growth of the mosquito population.

Separately, Rio de Janeiro authorities are attempting to control their mosquito population by releasing insects inoculated with the Wolbachia bacteria, which makes them resistant to Zika, dengue and other viruses.

 2016 AFP
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This is the latest in a series of posts about general election 48 hour notice reports in the 21st Congressional District race.

The campaign is in the period when contributions of $1,000 or more must be reported within 48 hours of receipt.

U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro, reported $5,400 in new 48 hour notice contributions on Friday -- $2,700 each from two New York City contributors.

This brings Stefanik's total 48 hour notice contributions reported to $20,900, as of Friday evening.

Democratic congressional candidate Mike Derrick had reported $8,400 in the 48 hour notice contributions, as of Friday evening.

Green Party candidate Matt Funiciello had not reported any 48 hour notice contributions, as of Friday evening.
GLENS FALLS  Every October for the past 10 years, Bev Saunders has given victims of violence a voice through art.

And an effort that began as a way to help a friend who needed a gallery to show her work turned into such a profound and heart-wrenching endeavor, she has continued the annual show, providing a place for victims of violence to connect with the art.

Ive had some really awesome exhibitions from regional artists, she said late one October evening at her gallery. I have a public space I can share. Its about making sure domestic violence is in the news. For me, it is about connecting with the people who are in it, perhaps suffering behind closed doors.

Since 2007, Saunders has listened to those who have the courage to momentarily unmask their shame, telling her tales of bad relationships, bad boys and bad beatings. The players may be different, but the stories bear resemblance. There are those who leave, only to return to their abuser sometimes three, four or even five times. There are those who see themselves in the art, realizing for the first time that they are being abused. And there are those, no matter how dire the violence, who are afraid to leave. He loves me, right? Where will I go? Hes changing, getting better, dont you think?

Still, never betraying her own grief, Saunders listens quietly. And anyone who spends any time at her Shirt Factory fine art gallery knows she always acts like her time is your time. If its going to be more than a quick hello, she gestures to one of the elegant Queen Anne chairs always sitting in the middle of her gallery. And once the caller is seated, she quietly eases into the other.

Sometimes Saunders just nods her head. Sometimes she offers a bit of affirmation or a smile. And sometimes, if you look closely, you can see the tears beginning to fill her eyes, sometimes spilling onto her cheek, a well too powerful to hold back.

Perhaps its the silenced tears, the passage of time or just that she wants people to know, but Saunders is finally giving voice to her own story  the story of her friend and the mother of her grandchildren.

It is the story of her daughter, Kimberly Ann Long, who at age 31, almost eight years ago, was killed by Longs boyfriends father, Edward Preciado-Nuno.

He killed her in Nevada after striking her 36 times with a hammer at her home.

He killed her in the early morning hours, the day after she told her mother she was leaving.

He killed her while she was carrying a bag of groceries for her children, who were sleeping inside.

He killed her before she really had a chance to figure out life.

Kimberly was a beautiful mom with a loving heart and gentle smile. Her four children were left motherless, Saunders said in an impact statement after Preciado-Nuno came up for parole. She was a daughter, a sister and a friend to many who knew her. Many, many lives were torn apart that day, never to be the same again. This man selfishly and brutally took Kimberlys life with no consideration for anyone but himself and his son. There will never be justice in this horrific death.

Preciado-Nuno was convicted by a jury of voluntary manslaughter with the use of a deadly weapon. He was sentenced to a maximum of four to 10 years in prison.

On Nov. 12, 2008, Saunders said her daughter called to say she was taking the children and leaving the relationship. In tears, she assured me that she had a place to go and was planning to leave that very weekend, Saunders said. The next day, she was intentionally, brutally, maliciously enticed into a confrontation that would ultimately end her life.

Experts say that just before a woman leaves a violent situation is the most dangerous time. Last Feb. 13, the day before Valentines Day, the same date Kimberly Ann Long was born, a Vermont woman told her sister she intended to leave her partner of nearly three decades. But two days later, just before midnight, Frank Weir allegedly shot Donna Marzilli to death. Weir, charged with second-degree homicide, sits in the Rutland jail, awaiting his trial.

According to the Centers for Disease Controls National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, about one in four women and one in seven men have experienced severe physical violence by an intimate partner.

Karen Gisondi, the founder and CEO of Stop the Violence Inc. said, Never reveal your plan.

Gisondi, who was left for dead by her partner, vowed to never let another person experience what happened to her. And what started as a website several years ago is now a large organization that helps women and men get free from violent situations.

To this day, Gisondi does not reveal where she lives, but she has helped 700 women and men in Warren, Washington and Saratoga counties. And in dangerous situations such as Saunders daughters or Donna Marzillis, Gisondi moves the person out of state.

There is a window when he is not home, maybe at work, and we go in and move them out. Wherever you are, we will come, she said by phone late Wednesday night after just finishing a hotline shift. We show up with a truck and four men and we move you out. I have advocates in every state.

Gisondi said Warren County Sheriffs Department Patrol Officer Joshua Fish is excellent with women who have been abused. He is amazing, she said.

All Stop the Violence services are free and there are currently 85 people in support groups held at various churches in the area.

Just call us. Someone will answer and well even give you a ride if you need one, Gisondi said, adding that they only use first names in the support groups and the abusers name is never used. We never refer to the abuser by a name. Hes not worthy of it. And every time you have to say the name it is like a wound.

The support groups are generally set up for six months, but some go longer. And anyone  even if youre not sure about your situation  is welcome, Gisondi said.

Stop the Violence helps those in violent situations with employment, housing, support and access to financial resources.

Starting in mid-November, Zonta of Glens Falls, a service organization dedicated to empowering women through service and advocacy, has taken on the task of bringing awareness to violence against women. And they are kicking off their Zonta Says No to Violence Against Women campaign.

We need to change the conversation, said Karen Guiseppe, club president. The lens we use is that the victim is somehow at fault. We need to ask instead, Why is he battering her? This is a learned behavior.

With generous support from the community, Zontas campaign is already noted on the Glens Falls Civic Center marquis, and this month, city buses will be wrapped with their Say No message.

The incidence of gender-based violence against women and girls is rising, said Lorraine Abess, vice president of the local club. We need to get men involved to help change the conversation.

Abess and Guiseppe have known Saunders for many years and they know her story. The stories are hidden and a lot can be learned from Bevs story, Guiseppe said. Others will know they are not alone.

And Saunders hopes that by coming forward and talking about her daughter, others may get out of a bad situation.

Being able to celebrate Kimmies life at this point is really important, Saunders said. Here is this woman, a mom who worked, who loved her children. She thought she had found love and then something went very bad, Saunders said. She didnt have a chance to get out of a bad situation and move forward in life. She didnt get a chance to grow into maturity, and thats unfair. She deserved a chance to have her life and be the great woman, mother, sister, friend she aspired to be.
QUEENSBURY  A two-time felon from Hudson Falls is headed back to prison after his guilty plea in Warren County Court to a drug charge.

Anthony J. Osborne, 32, pleaded guilty to third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, a felony, in connection with a May cocaine sale in Queensbury. He was arrested in May by State Police.

Warren County Judge John Hall sentenced him to 5 years in state prison and 3 years on parole.

Osborne has two prior felony convictions, and also faces a related felony drug charge in Washington County.
QUEENSBURY  The active shooter call came into emergency dispatch at 11:10 a.m. Saturday, triggering a series of emergency responses from law enforcement, emergency first responders and a new emergency alert system set up for students and faculty at SUNY Adirondack.

Active shooter, respond to Dearlove Hall, SUNY Adirondack. This is a drill, a drill only

This time it was only a drill. But this extensive active shooter training exercise helped responders and the university test systems, human reactions and launch the maiden voyage of Warren Countys mobile command unit. And because the emergency response must be spot on in the event of a real shooter on campus, the main goal of Saturdays event was to iron out any glitches in the system, according to Warren County Sheriff Bud York.

The challenge in a real event is making sure no one gets killed, York said. We want to bring everybody home safely.

According to York, they have been holding similar active shooter training at area schools, but this was the first time they completed the exercise with the new mobile command unit. Weve done this at every school in the county with the exception of Glens Falls and Bolton Landing, York said. The university contacted us and said they have these new emergency systems and sirens and would like to test them.

The command unit  equipped with a cache of radios programmed to different frequencies, a weather station, maps of the campus on a large screen, Wi-Fi  was the busiest hub of the day with law enforcement and other emergency crew coming and going. There were representatives, officers and agents from the Warren and Washington County sheriffs offices, the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, Homeland Security, SUNY Adirondack Public Safety and area emergency services to name a few. Glens Falls Police Department also assisted on scene, especially helping with victims transported to Glens Falls Hospital.

Nineteen SUNY Adirondack students volunteered to act as victims for the drill and each had a list of symptoms pinned to their chest. Emergency response units from Ford Edward, Moreau and Glens Falls were among those participating.

If you have a drill and everything goes well, it wasnt a good drill, Brian LaFlure, director of the office of emergency services said from the mobile command unit parked at the Queensbury Town Offices on Bay Road. We expected to find things to do differently. The whole idea is to identify issues. To find out what we need, whats working and what isnt working.

The universitys new emergency alert system kicked into place when the dispatch call was launched and 4,200 faculty, staff and students were flashed with text, email and phone messages that warned of the shooter in Dearlove Hall.

You never know, and you have to be prepared, said Richard Conine, deputy director of public safety at the university. We are getting to work with local agencies and test new emergency alert systems. 

Also present in the command unit were Warrensburg Supervisor Kevin Geraghty and Queensbury Supervisor John Strough. In the past we had to use a fixed facility, Strough said. This mobile unit solves that problem.

Anthony Palangi, director of public safety at the university, said that the new exterior siren was loud, but the interior siren needs adjusting. We are looking at how to make the interior siren louder, he said, adding that their new system is directly connected to 911.
One of the most significant challenges facing the U.S. military, says U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro, is the uncertain future of the nations defense budget.

Stefanik, who is running for re-election to the 21st Congressional District seat, said the threat of federal sequestration budget cuts always looms, as they are expected to return in the 2018 fiscal year. Because of this, Stefanik said, its difficult to devise a long-term strategy.

Sequestration has had a negative impact on our military readiness and it hasnt allowed the department of defense to plan on the long term, she said.

Last summer, Fort Drum avoided substantial troop cuts, which were part of an Army move to reduce 490,000 active soldiers to 450,000 by the 2017 fiscal year, while other military bases across the nation lost several hundred troops. Stefanik had worked with members of the New York delegation to keep Fort Drum cuts at bay. In the end, it lost only 28 troops.

But it doesnt mean the base is out of the woods yet. Stefanik said she is focused on ensuring a new round of Base Realignment and Closure does not come to fruition. The Department of Defense said in an April report that it has approximately 22 percent excess infrastructure, primarily within the Army and the Air Force. Plattsburgh Air Force Base was closed in the previous BRAC round, in 2005.

A member of the House Armed Services Committee, Stefanik has remained close to defense policy in her first term. She incorporated language in the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act that requires the U.S. Department of Defense to develop strategies to prevent social media use in the recruitment of violent extremists. The act also contained a provision she sponsored in March that will increase joint research efforts by the United States and Israel to detect and destroy ballistic missiles. Within that realm, a missile defense site for the North Country has been high on her wish list, as Fort Drum remains a highly considered site for an East Coast missile defense system.

According to military research, the creation of a missile site at Fort Drum would provide approximately 650 to 850 jobs and an estimated sales tax boost of $1.65 million annually. The region would see a $27 million increase in economic value annually and about 340 jobs would be indirectly created. Overall, construction would increase the regions value by $190 million and create 1,836 indirect jobs.

Retired Army Col. William Mike Derrick, the Democratic candidate for the seat, also has his eyes on that plan.

He said he would support a missile defense site at Fort Drum, citing his familiarity with the topic  he worked in missile defense for the last five years of his military career, working with allies in the Pacific and in the Middle East.

He noted that while the missile defense technology is, in essence, still in its research and development phase, Fort Drum would be an ideal site because it already has the infrastructure to reduce costs and make it sustainable over time.

If elected, Derrick said he would want to serve on the House Armed Services Committee, like Stefanik. Asked how he would be able to top her first term on the committee, he said his military career could give him a leg up.

I think anyone who takes a seat on a congressional committee should bring value to that seat, should bring expertise, something to make this nation better, Derrick said.

Stefanik recently told North Country Public Radio that regardless of who becomes the next commander in chief, whether its Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, the Armed Services Committee can ensure executive decisions are sound. When asked to expand on this, Stefanik said the Armed Services Committees charge in writing and overseeing national defense policy can keep presidential decisions within the bounds of the law.

In stark contrast to Stefaniks concerns about the nations military, Green Party candidate Matthew Funiciello, a Glens Falls baker, wants to eliminate half of the nations military and repurpose soldiers at home.

Funiciello said U.S. military engagement in other countries has contributed to the growth of terrorism overseas and at home, adding that the 9/11 terrorist attacks should have been properly investigated to justify military intervention in the Middle East.

To curb terrorism, Funiciello said, the United State should decrease military spending substantially and put more money toward domestic projects. He proposed a 50 percent cut in military spending, which would drastically reduce the number of military bases abroad.

Its a lot cheaper to give people blankets and food than it is to kill them, Funiciello said.

But with half of the countrys military jobs cut, Funiciello said, employment for soldiers can be found elsewhere, adding that a Green New Deal seeking to create 18 million jobs to combat climate change through sustainability projects would be an adequate alternative to military service.

If that solider is done carrying a gun, we bring them home and employ them with renewable energy projects, he said. Well make every effort to help them stick around.
Steve Griffin picked a good day to retire.

Road complaints and tree and electrical wire problems abounded, but Griffin had only Friday to deal with it on his last day on the job as a Washington County emergency services dispatcher.

He has worked as a county dispatcher for more than 29 years, rising to the position of communications supervisor, and figured that getting out before a busy winter full of snow and ice storms and early morning commutes from Cambridge to Fort Edward was best.

Of course, then Thursdays early season snowstorm made things interesting, resulting in dozens of accidents and trees downed all over the place and another crazy day in the dispatch center.

I said those weather forecasters got me one last time, he said.

He still works part-time as a Cambridge-Greenwich Police officer and said he plans to continue those duties.

 Don Lehman

Challenging businesses

If its almost November, then its time for local businessman Peter Brock to reach out to other small businesses for Operation Santa Claus.

Brock, who runs Sams Diner on Dix Avenue in Glens Falls, has launched his annual Small Business Challenge.

His goal this year is $22,000. Last year, the drive raised $21,000.

For further information, contact Brock at 792-8222.

Operation Santa Claus benefits underprivileged children throughout the region.

 Bill Toscano
Juliana Chris looked up with a bleary-eyed, jet-lagged look of wonder at the two nieces she had only ever seen on Skype.

There it is, she said. Thats my home now.

She came a long way, more than 8,000 miles over 40 hours, the same journey that thousands of others have made from refugee camps in Thailand. And like many others, she arrived to the waiting embrace of an extended family.

Juliana Chris was born and raised in Mae La Oo, the most remote of the 10 refugee camps in Thailand where escapees from Burmas ethnic wars find safety and sustenance. She learned English in school, and became so fluent that she landed a job in the refugee camp, writing reports for a human rights group.

In the camp, she harbored a dream: to join her two brothers and sister, who had settled in Buffalo, found work and started families, and to bring her mother and younger sister with her.

For me, the main reason to come is to continue my study, she said in Thailand.

First, though, came the celebration of her arrival in Buffalo. Juliana Chris entered her new home last summer to find a sweet scent of curry coming from the kitchen, a Karen flag on the living room wall and a crowd of nine adults and five children who took turns hugging her.

Before long, the adults sat on the barren floor with a 12-pack of Budweiser tall boys as the children rushed all around. The adults sipped their beer and laughed heartily at stories told in Karen, the language everybody knew, as lilting Karen folk songs played.

Juliana Chris spent the next weeks getting settled, quickly landing work as an interpreter.
















Chinas Peoples Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) will be unveiling several new aircraft next week at the 11th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, among them the new J-20 stealth fighter jet. PLAAF spokesman Shen Jinke said that production of the J20 is on schedule and its deployment will "safeguard sovereignty and national security." Shen added, "This is the first public appearance of China's indigenously manufactured new generation stealth fighter jet."





Beefing up Beijings air combat capabilities will be central to Chinas plans to take a more aggressive stance in the region, especially in the disputed East and South China Sea areas. Chinas research into submarines and other new military technology has concerned some in Washington, but the country downplays concerns by claiming that it is engaging in the sensible development of its own defense.





Chinese Defence Ministry spokesman, Col. Wu Qian, said that three JF-17s from the Pakistan Air Force will also take part in the airshow.









A "secret combat aircraft," advertised by organizers as part of the flying display, was thought to be the Chengdu J-20 stealth fighter, but the craft did not originally appear on line-up lists.





Fueling speculation were two J-20s, complete with new paint, that were seen flying formations and executing maneuvers over the facilities at the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation.





























The media has failed to address the confrontation between the U.S. State Department and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Francis Dunford (image right) has warned both the US Senate as well Secretary of State John Kerry in no uncertain terms that a No Fly Zone over Syria would lead to war with both Syria and Russia, intimating a dangerous process of military escalation. In a Senate Arms Services Committee hearing, Dunford said, responding to questions from Republican Senator Roger Whicker (Mississippi)









Right now, Senator, for us to control all of the airspace in Syria it would require us to go to war, against Syria and Russia, Thats a pretty fundamental decision that certainly Im not going to make. ( Senate Armed Services Committee, September 22, 2016, emphasis added)





At the third presidential debate, Hillary Clinton reasserted her commitment that if elected president, she would implement a no-fly-zone, intimating that the objective was to save lives:









At present, under the Obama administration, the joint chiefs of staff are opposed to the No Fly zone. The Joint Chiefs of Staff are appointed by the Secretary of Defense. Under a Clinton presidency, a new Secretary of Defense as well as a new Chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, firmly committed to A No fly Zone over Syria would be appointed.

Michele Angelique Flournoy, a former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy is Hillarys choice for the position of Secretary of Defense, who favors the No Fly Zone option. direct U.S. troops to push President Bashar al-Assads forces out of southern Syria and would send more American boots to fight the Islamic State in the region. According to Defense One : The woman expected to run the Pentagon under Hillary Clinton said she wouldand would send





Confirmed by the Leaked Emails Michele Flournoy is a crony of the Clintons. She has called for limited military coercion to help remove Assad from power in Syria, including a no bombing zone over parts of Syria held by U.S.-backed rebels. This is tantamount to a no fly zone to protect the terrorists including ISIS Daesh from actions by Syrian and Russian forces.

































The media paid little attention when Hillary Clinton advocated killing civilians and starting a war with Russia during Sundays presidential debate  probably because the U.S. media is actively cheering on these very actions. In fact, the only real news coverage generated from the mention of a no-fly zone in Syria was when the media slammed Donald Trump for saying he doesnt advocate using military aggression against Syria (and by default, Russia) despite Republican Vice Presidential candidate Mike Pences opinion to the contrary.





What the Washington Post wont tell you is that its fully backing Hillary Clintons campaign for the presidency  and that if she follows through on the promises she made in the debate, America will be facing two new major wars if Hillary becomes president. Judging by the fact that mainstream media has literally not covered or critiqued Clintons no-fly zone debate comments, they must really, really want America involved in a couple more wars.









Creating a no-fly zone in Syria is particularly harmful to Syrian civilians because many of Syrias air defenses are located in densely populated areas. Hillary Clinton acknowledged as much in a (formerly) secret speech to Goldman Sachs recently leaked by WikiLeaks: To have a no-fly zone you have to take out all of the air defense, many of which are located in populated areas. 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.

So there you have it: by calling for a no-fly zone in Syria, Hillary Clinton, in her own words, is knowingly advocating killing a lot of civilians. But nobody is brazen enough to start a war with nuclear-armed Russia, right? I mean, thats some terrifyingly apocalyptic absurdity that surely, the media would take seriously. Well, if were to take Hillary Clintons, Russias, and the Obama administrations policies and statements at face value, thats exactly what a no-fly zone in Syria would trigger.





maintains the right to self-defense against advanced anti-aircraft systems sent to Syria by Moscow. Amid souring relations between the United States and Russia over the Syrian conflict, diplomatic ties have been all but severed. Russia has now moved advanced anti-aircraft weaponry into Syria that it claims will be used to protect its personnel on the ground from air attacks. Russia says it will not hesitate to shoot down American aircraft if it feels its troops in Syria are threatened. In response, the United States has said it If Hillary Clinton wants to successfully establish a no-fly zone in Syria, she will have to bomb Russian air defenses. In turn, as Russia has promised, it will shoot down American aircraft that threaten its military presence in Syria.

And there you have it, folks: Hillary Clintons war with Russia. But dont take my word for it  heres U.S. Marine General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaking in September of this year about the implications of controlling Syrian airspace:









































Fresh attempts at containing Russia and continuing the empire have been met with countermoves. Russia appears to be building strength in every way. Putin and his country have no intention of being under the American thumb, and are developing rapid resistance as the U.S. petrodollar loses its grip and China, Russia and the East shift into new currencies and shifting world order.

What lies ahead? It will be a strong hand for the countries that have the most significant backing in gold and hard assets; and China and Russia have positioned themselves very well. Prepare for a changing economic landscape, and one in which self-reliance might be all we have.









As The Free Thought Project's Jay Syrmopoulos warns, Russia is Hoarding Gold at an Alarming Rate  The Next World War Will Be Fought with Currencies Moscows most potent weapon may be something drastically different. With all eyes on Russias unveiling their latest nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which NATO has dubbed the SATAN missile , as tensions with the U.S. increase, The rapidly evolving geopolitical weapon brandished by Russia is an ever increasing stockpile of gold, as well as Russias native currency, the ruble. Take a look at the symbol below, as it could soon come to change the entire hierarchy of the international order  potentially ushering in a complete international paradigm shift  and much sooner than you might think.
















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Lt. Governor Dan Forest (center) provides an update on Hurricane Matthew recovery efforts on a section of Highway 12 that was damaged by both Hurricane Matthew and Tropical Storm Hermine in Kitty Hawk. Other officials present (left to right): Kitty Hawk Mayor Gary Perry, Dare County Board of Commissioners Wally Overman, Margarette Umphlett, Beverly Boswell, Senator Bill Cook, Lt. Governor Forest, Dare County Board of Commissioners Chairman Bob Woodard, Secretary of N.C. Dept. of Administration Kathryn Johnston and N.C. Dept. of Transportation Board Member Malcolm Fearing.

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Kitty Hawk, N.C. State and local leaders held a press conference Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2016 in Kitty Hawk near the Black Pelican Restaurant, where crews are working to repair a section of the roadway that was damaged by both Hurricane Matthew and Tropical Storm Hermine. Governor Pat McCrory's Secretary of Administration, Kathryn Johnston, Lt. Governor Dan Forest, Senator Bill Cook, Dare County Board of Commissioners Chairman Bob Woodard, Kitty Hawk Mayor Gary Perry, and officials from the N.C. Department of Transportation provided an update on recovery efforts.Secretary Johnston said.The Hurricane Matthew Recovery Committee will help meet five objectives: to raise money for those in need through the North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund for Hurricane Matthew, particularly in regards to providing permanent housing; reopen and rebuild critical infrastructure as fast and as safe as possible; implement a comprehensive strategy for how to rebuild towns and communities in a sustainable way; assess the storm's financial impact on agriculture, small businesses, commercial fishermen and other industries, and develop an economic recovery plan of action; and implement a plan for any needed legislative action for any additional relief funding.Lt. Governor Forest said.Working with federal partners, Governor McCrory announced that $21.9 million in federal funding has been approved for individual assistance. The state has also taken measures to provide disaster food stamp benefits in impacted counties to those who receive SNAP benefits and those who are not normally eligible.Senator Cook said.The governor has also approved disaster unemployment assistance for those who lost their jobs as a result of Hurricane Matthew, and extended the tax filing deadline and waived the late penalty for any taxpayer in impacted counties.said Chairman Woodard, Dare County Board of Commissioners.Additionally, in an effort to provide relief to residents impacted by Hurricane Matthew, Governor McCrory has directed the Division of Motor Vehicles to temporarily waive certain fees for customers in counties affected by Hurricane Matthew. While motor vehicle property taxes will still be due during an annual registration renewal, DMV will waive the following fees in the above-listed counties until December 1, 2016:As of October 10, 2016, a major disaster declaration was given for several counties affected by Hurricane Matthew. FEMA said that damage surveys are continuing in other areas, and more counties and additional forms of assistance may be designated after the assessments are fully completed.You can apply for assistance online here or by calling toll-free 1-800-621-FEMA (3362). Those with a speech or hearing impairment should call TTY 1-800-462-7585. The toll-free telephone numbers will operate from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. seven days a week until further notice.In addition, several counties are eligible for Small Business Administration (SBA) assistance. Small businesses wishing to apply for assistance will need to fill out an assistance application by clicking here or by calling 1-800-659-2955. If you have any trouble with your SBA assistance application, please call one of our offices so we can assist with your efforts.Those who have farms and need assistance can call the Agriculture Disaster Hotline at 1-866-645-9403.For a comprehensive list of assistance programs available to businesses and individuals, please click here The Red Cross currently has shelters open throughout the state of North Carolina to provide lodging, food and other assistance. For more information, call 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or click here For real-time road closure and traffic conditions in your area, drivers are urged to visit ReadyNC.org or call 5-1-1.The Department of Health and Human Services has set up a 24 hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week Disaster Distress Helpline for people seeking crisis counseling. Residents can call 1-800-985-5990 or text TalkWithUs to 66746 to connect with a trained crisis counselor.
He made this call during a live interview conducted by Serge Michel, Editor-in-Chief at Le Monde Afrique, to an audience of high level political and business leaders, including the French Development Agency, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, representatives of international organisations, such as the World Bank, and the IMF, as well as representatives of civil society and selected journalists. This is coming a few days before the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Forum, the largest annual gathering of African entrepreneurs, scheduled to take place on October 28-29th in Lagos, Nigeria, to celebrate the 2016 cohort of Elumelu Entrepreneurs, selected from over 45,000 applicants in 54 African countries.

In what has become a formidable gathering featuring a series of talks on business and economic issues, this special edition of Le Club de lEconomie was dedicated to the influence of global philanthropy on business, politics and culture, featuring the worlds most influential philanthropists, including the worlds richest man, Bill Gates. Prior to his participation at Le Monde, Mr. Elumelu paid a courtesy call to the French Development Agency (AFD), where he met with CEO Mr. Remy Rioux to discuss concrete ways in which AFD can be supported by local partners ahead of plans to increase its annual financing commitment to Africa. Mr. Elumelu was joined by Bill Gates, his co-panelist at the Le Monde Philanthropy Forum.

He proffered solutions to some of the obstacles saying: It is important that Africans increasingly embrace structured giving because it helps us, assist worthy individuals who are not part of our families, or neighbourhoods, but who have great need and potential.

Further expounding on the benefits of Africapitalism, Elumelu cited the achievements of the Tony Elumelu Foundations Entrepreneurship Programme as a valid example of how Africans can solve their own problems via entrepreneurship and better governance.

Better governance will solve our problems. We cant afford to ignore entrepreneurship. We need to do both. We need government to realize that the success of entrepreneurs will lead to more success for government. Government cant create all the employment opportunities needed in the economy. Only the private sector can do this. Government must create an enabling environment to allow businesses to thrive.

Bill Gates also a panelist at the event buttressed this point during his session,

States can no longer fund themselves their development, by giving back, we tap into the best part of ourselves. Everything significant weve done was through partnerships.

Elumelu concluded by encouraging French investors to connect with local partners, while also calling on both the public and private sector to invest back into the continent by focusing on entrepreneurship.

Le Club de LEconomie is organised by leading French newspaper, Le Monde. Other participants at the event included Bill Gates, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Jean-Marc Ayrault, Minister of Foreign Affairs, France;
ALSO READ: Police arrest 2 suspected militants in Lagos

Muturu's lawyer, Mr. Omemiroro Maxwell Ogedegbe, received the evidence through a released suspect identified simply as Musa, Daily Post reports.

Mr Ogedengbe shared the information via his Facebook page a day after Musa was released and compensated with N100,000 by the Nigerian Army.

The lawyer claimed that Musa came to his office at Okoribi, in Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta State with the torn boxer the previous day.

Aboy Francis gave the said Musa his torn underwear (boxer) to give to his lawyer as a proof of the fact he is alive and in the DIA cell, he said.

Mr Ogedegbe stated that he invited Muturu's wife to confirm that the boxer was for her husband, noting that, Musa is willing and ready to act as a witness for Aboy Muturu.

According to the reports, Muturu and others are reportedly being held in an underground cell of the Army over allegations that he is one of the members of the Niger Delta Avengers, NDA.
Additionally, the commission said 28,992 polling stations will be opened across the country on Election Day.

The Ashanti Region has the highest polling stations ( with 5,190 polling stations) while the Upper West region has the least ( with 991 polling stations).

The regional breakdown of the polling stations are as follow:

ASHANTI 5,190

BRONG AHAFO 2,963

CENTRAL 2,482

EASTERN 3,243

GREATER ACCRA 4,762

NORTHERN 2,688

UPPER EAST 1,226

UPPER WEST 991

VOLTA 2,506

WESTERN 2,941

Total 28,992

The Director of Election for New Patriotic Party has however raised concerns with what he says are discrepancies in the total number of registered voters.

He told Citi FM Friday shortly after the IPAC meeting that: "In fact the Chairperson said a number of days back that the total registered voters were 15.8 million but today we got a different figure from the Commission."

"The Commission is now saying the total registered voters are 15.712,552 so that is a huge difference from the 15.8 but the particulars of this figure still has to be received."

The Director of Election for the National Democratic Congress on his part said they are waiting for the final register to verify if the numbers "reflects reality."
He blasted President John Mahamas handling of the Savanna Development Authority (SADA) which was meant to bring development in the Savanna regions of the country in the area of Agric, research and infrastructure.

Speaking in Mion at the last leg of his campaign, the NPP vice leader said: I am ending this first leg of my tour with a lot of sadness. I have seen so much poverty, so much underdevelopment, basic infrastructure in many of our villages is non-existent, and the levels of poverty are so high. President Mahama, with the SADA, could have done something major. The resources of SADA could have reduced the poverty of the people of northern Ghana but the corruption of this government in the management of the SADA programme, the mismanagement and incompetence of this government, has led to our people being poorer after eight years of this NDC administration.

He appealed to voters to reject the NDC in the upcoming election, promising to reorganize SADA by creating the Northern Development Authority (NoDA).

This is the reason why we need change. We are going to reorganise SADA. We are going to create a Northern Development Authority. We will appoint people of competence and integrity to handle this Authority, and people who are incorruptible to handle these resources, he said.

READ MORE:President Mahama denounces independent candidatesSpeaking to hundreds of party supporters in the Mion Constituency, Dr Bawumia indicated that the NDA would focus on developing basic infrastructure to support agriculture and industry.We will bring in a major focus on agriculture, a major focus on irrigation and the roads in the Northern Region to improve agriculture, he assured.

Dr Bawumia said that the flagship infrastructural project for the North under a Nana Akufo-Addo government will be the construction of the Accra-Paga railway line, which will open up the North for industries and support agricultural production and processing.Nana Akufo-Addos running mate also touched on the Northern section of the Eastern Corridor road, which he noted had become a death trap despite the propaganda from the NDC and promised that the NPP, when elected, would construct that section of the corridor.

Our flagship infrastructural project will be the Accra-Paga Railway line and it will be accomplished in the lifetime of a Nana Akufo-Addo government. The Eastern corridor road has been used for propaganda by the NDC government. It is in a very bad shape and is now a death trap but I can assure you that a Nana Akufo-Addo government will fix this road, he promised.
Considering that Hillary Clinton, from the recently concluded email investigation, is charged with gross negligence, dereliction of duty, was recommended that she lose her security clearance, while pathologically lying to congress, the press and the American People; and even though she was not referred for indictment because she is a Clinton: Will you? 11.84% Vote for Hillary 78.78% Vote for The Donald 9.39% Vote for none of the above 245 total vote(s) Voting has Ended!

And now for your additional voting pleasure:

What should be the priority of the Federal Government after the "Pulse" massacre: Should we turn our attention toward destroying, earadicating ISIS as Candidate Trump suggests, or, as Democrats' President Obama suggests, broaden our efforts to effect stricter Gun Control laws to limit "Gun Violence?" 88.24% After many years of trying to degrade and contain the murderous ISIS, we should make it the nation's policy to destroy ISIS immediately. 3.68% Gun Violence in America can be eliminated by limiting access to guns for all American citizens. 8.09% I don't care either way; I just live here. 136 total vote(s) Voting has Ended!

Should Americans be thankful for North Carolinians setting precedent in taking a stand for their state's right to manage the safety of their public facilities, where separation of the sexes remains, or should they follow Bruce Springsteen's lead and boycott the state as bigots since they will not allow grown Transgender men to use the same bathrooms /locker rooms as pre-pubescent girls? North Carolina is right to control the separation of the sexes as a matter of decorum and safety. North Carolina is a bigoted state to not require that children of opposite sexes share the same public facilities with adults of the opposite sex, although misidentified - the Transgender. I generally prefer the natural environs of the vacant, although rather public, large tree. 236 total vote(s) What's your Opinion?



Breaking News: FBI Director Comey is reopening the Lying Hillary Clinton investigation on new "unrelated" email evidence of vast impropriety and illegal behavior of Hillary the Felon in her handling of the People's server that she hijacked, destroyed; but only after it was hacked by our enemies.I hope it is not too late to save our Republic from the Evil Bitch.Oh, is that statement worse, in the mind of the Socialist Liberal or the RINO, than Trump's remark in the last debate, when he used the descriptor 'nasty woman'?Still, I have a question for the Socialist Liberal or the RINO: Do you understand that if your darling Hillary the Felon is elected, she can, and should be summarily Impeached, and if not by the non patriot Democrats and RINOs in congress, there may be a new, more credible cast who will do so?Do you understand that these sorry politicians can lose their sorry seats when the going gets rough enough for most Americans; a time that is surely not too far down the road?Socialist Liberals and RINOs are apoplectic that the FBI should release Lying Hillary's emails originating from the "Weiner Probe" (now, that's funny) here just 11 days before the election.I have a suggestion for Hillary the Felon, a point of negotiation: Release all your emails from your Illegal Server (I'm sure they are somewhere - maybe "the Russian's" have them) and then Director Comey could release the "Carlos Danger" (Anthony Weiner's sexting handle) emails. Then we could all know the whole truth, and we could see how they line up with the business of the Clinton Foundation..You could continue on and be elected, maybe exonerated; or, you could continued on, be elected, and then be possibly Impeached. Who knows you may even go to jail, and Philandering Bill with you.This could be a win/win here. As a an American citizen, and a patriot, I'm on board for this negotiation to be a success.You see, I still want to know what is in the 33,000 supposedly destroyed emails. As an American citizen, I own them just as much as L. Hillary, and I have a right to see them. Other American citizens, many of them patriots like myself, have that right as well.
The Supreme Court further directed the commission to create a portion on the sheet where both the agents of the aspirants and the presiding officer will sign, to authenticate the document.

The National Coordinator of CODEO, Albert Arhin said the ruling was good for Ghanas democracy in an interview with Citi FM.

It is something we initially took part and were part of that decision and so now it has come to fruition, I think we all should be happy and the parties themselves should also be happy because it is going to lay bare everything  the parliamentary, the presidential, Mr Arhin said.

Background

The 2012 presidential election was challenged by the NPP in 2013 after the party claimed that a list of unsigned collation sheets constituted an infraction of the law.
Lawmakers have been considering some loan agreements forwarded to them through an executive instrument by the president.

The loans under consideration are to finance Accra urban transport project, Volivo bridge, UMaT, kommenda sugar factory, railway line, Kumasi Airport, Tamale Airport and audit service among others.

But the Minority leader, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu says the timing of the credit facility agreement raises "eyebrows."

He told Citi FM that many of the loan agreements are informed by the government's own policy and promises it has made to Ghanaians which a succeeding administration may not necessarily buy into.

Ghana heads to the polls in December and president John Mahama is facing a re-election bid with veteran politician Nana Akufo-Addo.

The minority leader makes the point that there could be a change of government following which some of these loan agreements will be binding on the next administration.

"It is not for nothing that government who have six months to go do not introduce any major decision that will bind the succeeding administration," he underscored.

New Juaben North MP Dr Mark Assibey Yeboah also slammed the move as being unfair to the House.

"I'm surprised all of these have come by executive approval, this means the president failed to even engage his team of experts in cabinet," he said.

READ MORE: Female ministers outperforming male counterparts

"Most of these loans were signed by the president on Monday, brought to parliament on Tuesday and was referred to the committee on Wednesday and we are expected to approve them, can a thorough job be done?" The MP questioned.
Special voting, also called early voting, is an arrangement instituted to get the security personnel who will be on duty on Election Day to vote.

This was announced by the Chairperson of the commission at an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting on Friday, October 28 in Accra.

She also announced that 15 million voters will cast their votes in 28,992 polling stations across the country.Meanwhile, the commission has been dragged to court over the rules governing special voting by Dr Kwame Amoako Tuffuor, a retired lecturer; Benjamin Arthur, an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Practitioner, and Adreba Abrefa Damoa, a pensioner.

They argue that Constitutional Instrument (C.I.) 94, which states that special voting ballot boxes will be sealed to be opened on the close of poll on election day for counting were unconstitutional.

To brazenly let any provision of C.I. 94 regarding special voting override Article 49 of the 1992 Constitution and Section 13 of PNDCL 284 in the name of an unprovable fear of victimisation of special voters is to assert that in spite of the strides made in over 20 years of constitutionalism, we still creep at the repercussions of our legitimate democratic choices. Security officers vote for and against governments or opposition parties during elections. No fetish should be made about this fact, the statement of case accompanying the writ seeking to invoke the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court has said.

They are therefore praying the court that upon a true and proper interpretation of Article 49 of the 1992 Constitution, special voting as provided for by Regulation 23 of the Public Elections Regulations, 2016; CI.94 is a part of public elections.
I am aware the number of years she has practiced . In these matters, which can affect the rights of others, she needs to do more consultation before proceeding to court, he told the media after the court ruling.

"So having misbehaved, she cannot benefit from her wrong doing Did she act in a rational manner? Was she fair? These are the issues. She breached all the laws which also amount to illegality. The errors are all there, apparent on the face of CI 94Everybody has understood this position and I dont expect the judge to go any other way, he observed.

An Accra High Court Friday instructed the Electoral Commission (EC) to give an opportunity to the PPP to correct errors on their nomination papers.

According to the judge, His Lordship George Kyei Baffour the EC did not adhere to their own regulations spelt in the Constitutional Instrument (CI 44).

"I will proceed after quashing the decision of the Respondents disqualifying the Applicant as a candidate and order that the Respondents afford opportunity to the Applicant to make the necessary alteration or amendment to its nomination paper for it to receive same and then proceed to determine whether the Applicant had met all the criteria laid down by the laws of the Republic, in line with its duty laid down by C.I. 94. EC has no basis to complain that nomination period has closed when they did not set one. They only set nomination day under regulation 7 but not nomination period under regulation 9(2) as I have already found. The time frame to afford the Applicant is entirely within the discretion of the Respondents being mindful of the limited time available for the elections on December 7, 2016," Justice Eric K. Baffour ruled.

Dr. Nduom was disqualified by the EC because one of his 432 subscribers, Richard Aseda, endorsed the nomination papers in two separate districts in the Central and Volta Regions.
While, the country is yet to produce the next Zuckerberg, some innovators have not done too badly for themselves. The next application hoping to join this growing list is AF Radio.

According to the National Communications Authority, there are 412 licenced radio stations in the country. Research also shows that unlike in previous decades when people listened to a particular station all the time, contemporary audiences (especially young people) listen to shows instead and shuffle radio stations based on the shows.

As radios influence continues to reign strong in Ghana, there are many more exciting programmes on offer; from talk to variety shows.

The aim of AF Radio is to bring convenience to the Ghanaian audience so that they can catch up with their favourite radio programmes when they cant listen live.

There is a lot of great content on the radio but people are not listening due to the convenience. From WhatsApp to Uber to Amazon, convenience is [at the heart of these creations], says Bubunyo Nyavor, founder of AF Radio.

There is a saying that radio doesnt repeat itself and we are breaking that rule. When people realise this simple fact they can make radio repeat itself, the feeling is unreal.

The app has a simple but colourful interface with the various shows on offer. For now, majority of the shows on the app are produced by Accra-based radio stations. The app launched with over 60 shows and over 40 radio stations. They already have a deal with 3FM (92.7).

But is this not essentially just like TuneIn, the US based platform that allows you to stream radio broadcasts anywhere in the world.

Yes we provide the same functionality but what matters is how we do it. With a show, you get a notification when it starts if you subscribe and you also get a live social feed for a show to know what other people on social media are also saying about the show. AF Radio is your one stop shop for all you audio content needs. Both past and the present  Nyavor says.
The hard drug was found in a shipping container at the port of Cotonou on Thursday, October 27, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

Boris Tchilao who is the head of the countrys maritime military police disclosed that the shipment belongs to Ajavon.

According to NAN, Ajavon who was a former presidential candidate in the last election held in the country, has denied the allegations.

The suspect claimed that the discovery was politically motivated and designed to tarnish his image and destroy his business.
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The suspect identified as Odele Tosin was taken into police custody after the victim, Eniola Oyekanmi, was rescued.

Eniola was reportedly abducted on Friday, October 21, at the Orimerunmu area of Ketu, Lagos, Daily Post reports.

Speaking with journalists, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Abimbola Oyeyemi, explained that the victim was kidnapped by a gang while she was on an errand for her parents.

She was taken to a hotel in Mowe where the kidnappers kept her and started demanding a ransom.

They ran out of luck when the anti-robbery team from Mowe Division, led by the Divisional Police Officer, Francis Ebohuwa, got a tip-off and stormed the hotel. One of the suspects was arrested while others escaped. The victim was rescued unhurt.

The Mowe Division policemen reportedly rescued Eniola early on Friday, October 28 at a hotel at Mowe, Obafemi-Owode Local Government Area of the state, where she was kept while the gang demanded ransom for her release.

According to Oyeyemi, the state Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Iliyasu, has ordered that the remaining members of the gang who escaped, be found and brought into custody.

ALSO READ: Police rescue abducted corps member
The suspect identified as Nurudeen Ali, 32, and his accomplice, Mohammed Garba, 26, reportedly stabbed the victim multiple times at his home at College Road, Amejiogbe area of Oyo town, Daily Post reports.

While parading the suspects at the command's headquarters in Ibadan, the state Commissioner of Police, Samuel Adegbuyi, said an investigation into the case showed that Ali was dismissed from the commission for licence touting offence.

Adegbuyi stated that the victim had been very supportive of the suspect financially after he was dismissed from FRSC.

The victim and Ali were friends and after Ali was dismissed, he got a lot of financial help from Fakai.

On October 14 this year, Ali and an accomplice, Garba, went to Fakais house and stabbed him to death.

The Atiba police division was mandated to unravel the murder, leading to the arrest of the suspects. The weapon, a knife, was recovered from them, he said.

Daily Post reports that Ali confessed to the crime during interrogations, saying that the deceased had promised to help him with some money but delayed which provoked him and prompted the attack.

Fakai was my friend because we worked together at FRSC before I was dismissed. He had been helping me until I killed him.

A day before he was killed, he called me and gave me some money. He also said that I should see him again for more money. I went to his house with Garba but when we got there, I needed to receive a call and stepped out, by the time I returned to the house, Garba had stabbed him in the neck.

He handed the knife to me and I also stabbed him. We left him dead. I was later arrested in my house by the police, Ali said.

ALSO READ: Police probe 4 officers over man murdered for forced confession

Stating his involvement in the crime, Garba said that the deceased promised to assist Ali but delayed after learning that the suspect was largely indebted.

Our aim was to threaten him with the knife so that he could release the money but after stabbing him in the neck, I realised that the injury was life threatening, so I left the scene because I was afraid.

Ali stabbed him more leading to his death. I had never met the deceased before that day.
ABCNews.com(GOLDEN, Colo.) -- Donald Trump took advantage of the revelation that the FBI is again reviewing emails related to Hillary Clinton's personal server, after possibly pertinent communications were found on devices used by a top Clinton aide, to mount a new attack on one of his longtime targets -- Anthony Weiner.



"If you check out the tweets or if you check out whatever it is I wrote about him, it was so perfect," Trump said. "They found, by looking at Anthony Weiner -- a major, major, major sleaze -- they found what may be some of the 33,000 missing and deleted emails."



Investigators came across the emails while looking into a completely separate criminal matter -- former Rep. Anthony Weiner's, alleged "sext" messages to an underage girl in North Carolina. Weiner, a Democrat from New York, is married to Huma Abedin, one of Clinton's most trusted aides, and investigators found what Comey described as "emails that appear to be pertinent" to the Clinton probe on at least one electronic device used by both Weiner and Abedin.



Trump went on to speculate about whether Clinton would fire Abedin, who is separated from Weiner.



"I wonder, is she going to keep Huma. Does everybody agree. I wonder if Huma is going to stay there?" he asked. "And I hope they havent given Huma immunity."



Trump has long feuded with Weiner. During a news conference in July, Trump said that Weiner's marriage to Abedin made him uncomfortable.



"I mean, her number one person, Huma abbadin, is married to Anthony Weiner, who's a sleazeball and a pervert. And I'm not saying that -- I mean, that's regarded history, right? I don't like Huma going home at night and telling Anthony Weiner all of those secrets, OK?"

Trump has feuded with Weiner on Twitter for years.

Danger-Weiner is a free man at 12:01AM. He will be back sexting with a vengeance. All women remain on alert.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 10, 2013

Trump criticized Clinton on Saturday for what he called "willful" actions.



"It's everybody's deepest hope that justice at last can be properly delivered. Hillary has nobody to blame but herself for her mounting legal troubles. Her criminal action was willful, deliberate, intentional and purposeful," he said.



The FBI, in its initial assessment of Clinton's handling of emails during her tenure as secretary of state, declined to prosecute. Trump had long derided the FBI for its decision, and Saturday he speculated that the recent decision occurred because of a "revolt" within the organization.



"These are great, great people, great men and women, people that love our country. I want to tell you, I'll bet you, without any knowledge, there was a revolt in the FBI, there was a revolt in the FBI with what they let happen with respect to Hillary Clinton," he said. "There was a revolt. I can be pretty sure of it."

Copyright  2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
At the heart of Christopher Yuans story is a prodigal son who found his way home.

He was joined on the journey by his mother, Angela Yuan, who discovered her own faith and along the way helped guide her son and her husband, Leon, toward God.

Christopher and Angela Yuan collaborated on a memoir, Out of a Far Country, that described that journey. All three will be in Billings for a series of talks Nov. 4-6.

The family lives in Chicago, where Christopher Yuan teaches at the Moody Bible Institute. They also travel around the United States and to other countries to tell their story.

Christopher Yuan, who earned a doctorate of ministry from Bethel Seminary in Minneapolis, also addresses sexual identity and its connection to Christian identity. He speaks about it from a very personal place.

I had a secret that I kept hidden through high school, through college and even into when I was in the Marine Corps Reserves, he said Tuesday in a telephone interview. I didnt come out of the closet until my early 20s.

In May 1993, he traveled home to Chicago from Louisville, Ky., where he was in dental school, to tell his parents he was gay. When his mother told him to choose his family or his gay lifestyle, Christopher Yuan told his parents he had no choice. He returned to Louisville.

Angela Yuan, living in an empty marriage and feeling rejected by her son, contemplated suicide. But through a series of circumstances, she chose Christianity instead.

Before my mother was a Christian, she couldnt find it in herself to love me, Christopher Yuan said. Once she became a Christian, she realized she could do nothing other than love her son.

It wasnt that she could embrace his sexuality, Christopher Yuan explained. She came to understand that she was imperfect, a sinner whose behavior missed the mark, which she found liberating.

She realized just as God can love her in spite of her sin, she could love me, her gay son, he said.

For his part, Christopher Yuan wanted nothing to do with his mothers newfound faith. He got involved in drugs, both using and selling them, and in the gay club scene. His focus shifted away from his studies, and three months shy of graduation he was expelled from dental school.

Christopher Yuan moved to Atlanta and continued selling drugs, supplying dealers in more than a dozen states. He also became well-known in circuit party circles, traveling around the country to huge parties filled with gay men.

I had money, fame, drugs and sex. What else was there? he said. My parents prayed for me, for a miracle.

His mother prayed that God would do whatever it took to bring this prodigal son home to him.

The answer to that prayer came in the form of a drug bust in January 1998. DEA agents and Atlanta police arrived at Christopher Yuan's apartment not long after he had gotten a large drug shipment.

Methamphetamine and ecstasy in clear sight on the counter gave officers the right to enter without a warrant. He was charged with possessing and distributing the street value equivalent of 9.1 million tons of marijuana, which left him facing 10 years to life in federal prison.

Christopher Yuan initially was taken to the Atlanta City Detention Center. He made a collect call to his parents, fearing their reaction.

My mothers first words were, are you OK?  he said. There was no condemnation, just words of unconditional love and grace.

Soon after, he was diagnosed with HIV. He called it the deepest, darkest moment of my life.

One night in his cell, he looked up and saw something scribbled on the wall: If youre bored, read Jeremiah 29:11. The verse gave him a glimmer of light that God had a plan for his life, regardless of what he had done.

Christopher Yuan and his parents will relate the rest of their faith journey during their presentations in Billings. But Christopher Yuan will also speak about how he came to realize that his identity was not grounded in his sexuality.

My identity isnt gay, it is not ex-gay and it is not heterosexual or straight, he said. My identity as a child of God must be in Jesus Christ alone.

For him, choosing God and the Bible meant viewing homosexuality as a sin. But he was quick to say that God condemned the act, not the person.

I had gotten the message from Christian protesters at gay-pride parades that the God of the Bible hated people like me because we were abominations, he said.

In truth, God opposes any type of sin but he loves the person, he said. Christopher Yuan developed a new paradigm for his sexuality, saying he could choose faithfulness in marriage to a woman or chastity in singleness, calling that holy sexuality.

He added that a tension exists regarding how Christians approach homosexuality. Those on the conservative side "have not done a good job of sharing Christ and the Gospel" with friends and family in the gay community in a loving way.

"We have really created an us/them mentality and almost treat others as our enemies," he said.

But other Christians err on the side of grace rather than truth.

"To be completely full of grace and truth, 100 percent of each, that is very difficult," he said. "That's what we need to pursue."
ALSO READ: Agency parade 3 suspects found with human head

The call was made by the NSCDC commandant in the state, Mrs Helen Amakiri, on Thursday, October 27, while handing over three victims of kidnap to their organisation, Jofad Global Services.

The victims identified as Okelezo Wilfred, Roland Ukojevo, and Israel Isawoele, who are staffs of the organisation, were reportedly kidnapped after showing up in Ahoada, Rivers State for a contract job which never existed, Punch reports.

The victims were held in the kidnapper's den for several days before operatives of the NSCDC rescued them.

They were reportedly admitted for treatment at the command's medical unit after spending 12 days in captivity.

Speaking in an interview with Southern City News on Thursday, Mrs Amakiri said that the kidnappers have developed a new method of kidnapping by luring victims with text messages or phone calls, inviting them for contract jobs.

Amakiri stated that although times are hard, job seekers should avoid answering to such unsolicited invites as it could be kidnappers attempting to lead them into a trap.

They are contractors from Warri, in Delta State. Someone called them from Rivers State that they had a contract for them in Rivers and so, the manager, site engineer and two others were mandated by their company to come down to Rivers State to see and negotiate how the job would be done.

Unfortunately, they did not know that it was a set up by the kidnappers. There was no contract; it was just a scam to get them out of Delta State and get them kidnapped.

My advice to members of the public is that they should not just depend on calls. There should be a form of documentation. Yes, it is good to look for jobs, dont just engage in transactions based on phone calls alone, especially when you dont know the person that made the phone call, she said.

ALSO READ: NSCDC arrest 2 fake money launderers
Buharis administration has come under fire since the the countrys economy took a nose dive.

The party said PMB is determined to build a nation that will develop its agriculture & exploit all its mineral resources rather than solely depend on oil.

The APC also said We have a president committed to ensuring that the country will not go back to this economic crunch again. He needs our collective support!

Yes, president Buhari inherited a comatose economy, but doing his best to steer the nation out of recession, and APC is solidly behind him!
Abubakar also called on the media to celebrate and promote positive things that will make Nigeria great.

He said Today, I am pleased to inform you that we have defeated Boko Haram. It is not an easy feat. Yes, you may hear that an inaccessible village has been attack or that there was an attack somewhere. But, that is the last kicking of a dying group, he said.

Check at the history of insurgency in the world, there is no country that has defeated insurgency under six to seven years like Nigeria. Is it Sri Lanka, Mali, Columbia or Somalia? Boko Haram is gone. It does not matter whether its so-called leader, Shekau is alive or dead, he said.

The war is not about him as a person, it is about his group and they have been defeated. There is no inch of soil in Nigeria, where Boko Harams flag is hoisted. No more! Boko Haram has been totally degraded, decimated and 100 per cent defeated, and may God never allow such kind of evil to re-appear in Nigeria again.

Our success was noticed by Mali which has been battling with its own problem. One of Malis defence chief had to come to Nigeria to ask us how we did it. So, that is to tell you that Boko Haram is gone.

Abubakar also revealed that the Army will soon launch out an operation that will deal with the menace of Fulani herdsmen.

He said Lets celebrate our success in the news, not the propaganda of terrorists and their sympathisers. Yes, we have also had casualties, but its like all conflicts.

But, you can see that even developed and well secured countries such as France and Britain are not even totally immune from terrorism.

I will appreciate if the press can focus on the good and positive things that make our country great. What do have to gain as a country when we promote headlines that will cause division and plant hatred and violence? This is the only country that we have. If anything happens and you leave this country, no matter where you find yourself, you are a refugee.
Gbadamosi, who is also the ex-Chairman of Petroleum Products Prices Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), said past governments did not plan for the recession.

He said I was not surprised. It had to happen but it was a question of when it would happen. It was meant to have come a long time ago.

I was not surprised because before Buharis regime, we had anticipated that the recession would come. It was something that was anticipated but what did we do?

Adding that There was a feeling that somehow it would not happen and we would be able to weather the storm but that was not the case. Poor mother Africa was hopeful that the cross would pass over us but it did not seem to be so.

There was a feeling that Olusegun Obasanjo could have averted such a situation if it happened during his time.

Nigeria was not prepared It is not just a question of Nigeria saving, we were not totally prepared. I think we threw caution to the wind.

Look at what happened to some other nations of the world, they had been through this but they weathered the storm. I think Nigerians thought the world owed us a meal, they believed the world owed us a living.
A statement by Mr Adebiyi Bolaji, Director of Press in the SGF office, in Abuja on Friday said the workshop would hold between Oct. 31 and Nov. 4.

Bolaji said the workshop was organised by the Political and Economic Affairs Department, in the SGF office in conjunction with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Netherlands.

According to him, a team of experts from OPCW will participate at the workshop as resource persons.

The workshop will focus on issues that seek to identify toxic threats and hazards; as well as support the development of national chemical risk assessment reports.

It will also identify gaps based on the audit of countrys current capabilities and standards to be achieved in assistance and protection.

It will finally assist in the development of a counter chemical threats capability as basis for a National Protection Programme, he said.
The herdsmen, who wore military uniforms, attacked Ungwar Missi village in Jemaa Local Government Area in the evening.

The Kaduna police commands Public Relations Officer, Aliyu Usman, confirmed the attacks and added that officers have commenced investigation into the matter.

According to reports, the attackers who came in military uniforms, pretended that they wanted to brief the village elders on some security issues.

John Zango, an 85 year-old village head and an 80-year-old man, Yakubu Abuja, reportedly lost their lives during the clash.

The Kaduna state police command also dismissed reports that seven people died, adding that only four people lost their lives.
He said, We are all aware that running a government media is no longer profitable and that was what affected the newspaper.

The outfit was established by our late political icon and a former Governor in Kano State,

So, we will do whatever it takes to bring the newspaper back to the streets in his honour.

This is also to help us in further enlightening the people on the people-oriented policies and programmes of this administration, The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quotes Ganduje as saying.

The governor underscored the importance of the media in the society.

The governor lamented that, in Nigeria, political parties usually go into exile after elections.

This is not supposed to be so and this is what we want to change in Kano.

The political parties are the backbone of democracy; just as internal democracy and party supremacy are also crucial, Ganduje said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the unknown gunmen numbering about eight, invaded the Peace Community, Road 3, Ganaja road, Lokoja residence of Abubakar at about 2:05 Saturday morning to carry out the dastardly act.

Residents of the area, who spoke with newsmen, said they were gripped with fear when they started hearing gunshots from the residence of the chairman of Fulani socio-cultural group in the operation that lasted over an hour.

They said that the gunmen passed through unfamiliar routes to gain access to the deceaseds residence beating the C Division Police Station route where they could have been spotted and questioned.

A neighbour who identified himself simply as Musa, said there were some strange faces in the vicinity much earlier before the incident, not knowing they had a sinister motive.

Musa said the gunmen shot at the door to the room of one of the deceaseds two wives and gained access into the house, cut the deceased on the neck and other parts of the body and later shot him severally.

A medical practitioner with the Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja, Dr Sam Alhassan, who lives a stone throw from the victims residence said: I was in my room which is just steps away to his house and I started hearing gunshots.

Then I rose up from my bed and looked through the window. I saw a group of bandits in two lines. At least I saw eight people, and they started shooting, shooting and shooting.

The next thing that I saw was that a bullet hit the overhead tank and water started running down. Later I and my family went quiet for a while; then the wife of the deceased came out shouting, they have killed my husband.

Alhassan said he later came out with his landlord and went into the deceaseds house to ascertain the truth; only to find him lying in the pool of his blood with machete cuts and bullet holes in his lifeless body.

He however called on security agencies to be proactive in crime prevention and detection mandate to avoid loss of innocent lives.

Also, the Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Williams Aya told NAN that the command received the report, adding that the incident was a clear case of assassination.
Following the suit, the Abuja Federal High Court, has ordered President Buhari and the Director-General of the DSS, Lawal Daura to appear before it.

According to reports, the court on Friday, October 28, 2016, issued the order asking the government officials to appear before it on November 15, 2016.

The purpose of the summons is for the respondents to explain why the judges should be prosecuted.

The President is not expected to appear, but will have to nominate a lawyer to appear before the court.

Also summoned are the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, and the National Judicial Council (NJC).
As a child, my favorite holiday was Christmas. I still love it, of course, but for different reasons.

At some point my favorite holiday shifted to All Saints Day. The change has something to do with being a pastor who is tired of secular Christianity. And it has something to do with age, as an increasing number of people I love move on to the next life.

To me, Christmas feels too secular, commercialism having hijacked the holiday for sales and profit. I suppose theres some justice in that, since the church originally stole the day from pagans. Other holidays, too, have been co-opted by society for all kinds of things.

But All Saints belongs almost solely to the church. There is no secular observance or mention on television. We celebrate the day with liturgy and prayer. We read the names of those who have died, remembering their lives and that they now live on in Gods eternal embrace.

Historically, the observance of All Saints Day evolved out of the practice of remembering the martyrs of the church. Each martyr would be remembered on the day they had died for the faith. Following numerous persecutions, when the number of martyrs grew larger than the numbers of days in a year, the church picked a day to remember all of them together, thus All Saints.

Central American churches in the 1970s restored the practice by reading the names of those who had been killed by the death squads, and the worshipers responded presente  Spanish for present  after every name. Many congregations observe All Saints on the Sunday following Nov. 1, calling it All Saints Sunday. Today we remember not only martyrs, but our loved ones who have died in the faith.

In one church I served, we expanded the reading of names by inviting worshipers to write the names of loved ones who had died on a slip of paper. Those names were read while Communion was served. Many of the people named had sat in the pews only a few months earlier.

As each of us made our way to the Communion table, the names of family and friends who had died were being read. Hearing them named brought a flood of memories, not of long ago and far away, but of now, a very real presence.

The first time my fathers name was read, I felt a catch in my throat as a mix of memories flowed in the tears that welled. For a moment it is almost as if they are here with us again and we wonder, are they really gone? It seems only a minute ago they were here with us.

They continue to be deeply loved and never forgotten, present again for a fleeting moment, a sweet memory, a reminder that death does not separate us forever, but only for a time. In my memory, my mother comes to the table alongside me and I can smell the wine on my fathers breath like I did when I was 5, waiting at my seat for them to return from Communion.

For a fleeting moment God closes the gap between this life and the next. We never forget their presence in us, around us, among us, mysteriously, in a way that only God knows.
Col. Mustapha Anka, the Deputy Director, Army Public Relations Department, stated this in Maiduguri.

Anka said that the blast occurred at the Bakassi Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp and the NNPC fuel station along Damboa road.

 At about 7.05 a.m. this morning, there were twin simultaneous suicide bomb explosions at the entrance of Bakassi Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp and NNPC Mega Filling Station, Damboa Road, Maiduguri.

At the Bakassi IDPs camp, a suspected female suicide bomber ran into a group of men and women at the entrance while they were coming out of the camp, killing 5 men and injuring 11 women.

The bodies of the dead men and the injured women have been evacuated.

At the NNPC, a female suicide bomber followed a fuel tanker in Keke NAPEP tricycle with the sole aim of gaining entry to cause maximum damage and casualty but was prevented from gaining access to the station by another vehicle.

According to him, the suicide bomber exploded killing the three occupants of the tricycle with no report of injuries.

He said that the Acting General Officer Commanding (GOC), Brig.-Gen. Victor Ezugwu, had already visited the scene to get first class information.

The Acting GOC 7 Division has already visited the place and appealed to the people to be calm as concerted efforts were on to ensure the safety of lives and property.

Troops and security agencies have been mobilised and the injured have been evacuated while efforts are ongoing to comb the general area as well as entries and exits of Maiduguri.

While we commiserate with the families of the late victims of this cruel act and wish those injured speedy recovery, we would like to assure the public that efforts are ongoing to track those behind the dastardly acts.

However, it is equally important to reiterate the need for more vigilance and security consciousness among all. Citizens are enjoined to report any suspicious persons or movements to the security agencies, he said.

Meanwhile, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), in a statement, has also confirmed the killing of nine persons in the blasts.
Abubakar made the disclosure at an interactive media session in Kaduna on the role of the media in national security.

We are coming out with another operation code named Operation Accord to address the issue of herdsmen clashes, Abubakar said.

He disclosed that the military had carried out 13 operations to ensure peace and order across the country.

The defence spokesman assured that the military would not allow any individual or group to destabilise Nigeria.

We will not spare any security threat in any part of the country, we will contain it; national security will not be compromised.

Today, no Nigerian territory is under the control Boko Haram, no illegal flag foisted on our land.

We will synergise with other security agencies to secure the remaining Chibok school girls, and everyone who is under Boko Haram custody.

He urged the media to support the military in the course of its duties in protecting Nigerias territorial integrity and its people.

Abubakar stressed that the media remained a veritable tool of mass mobilization and enlightenment of the populaces on what the military was doing to secure the country

Media is an important organ that we cannot ignore especially during security operations.

The essence is to collaborate and synergise to make citizens understand what the Armed Forces is doing to keep Nigeria one as a nation.

National security is not about guns and uniforms, it is beyond that, our concern is the safety of our citizens and their property, so that one can move freely without any security threat.
According to Daily Post, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) might let the former minister go, for refunding N100m.

The money which the former minister refunded is a fulfillment of his earlier promise to refund N785m.

Obanikoro had earlier revealed that N785m out of the N4.7b, was used to print souvenirs for anti-Boko Haram campaign in Lagos.

The former minister allegedly received N4.7b from the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki.
He said the non clearance of Eyitayo Jegede by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) according to court orders was generating protest.

He also urged the INEC not to take side and to correct any mistake they might have made.

The judiciary should also intervene and make sure that all parties get justice because we dont want any injustice in Ondo State, he said.

Mr Clement Faboyede, PDP Chairman in the state, speaking on behalf of the protesters, called on the president to prevail on INEC to look into the issue.

We dont want Ondo State to be on fire because our state is peaceful.

Some cabals in All Progressives Congress (APC) are using Jimoh Ibrahim against the candidacy of Jegede, Jimoh is not a PDP member but rather a card carrying member of Accord party, he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that earlier, the PDP members brought traffic to a standstill at the popular Oba Adesida road while market women closed their shops.

NAN also reports that the supporters carried placards with inscriptions like Return Jegede to us, Buhari should not interfere in Ondo politics and Remember 1983.
The Chairman, Coalition of Political Parties in Kaduna State, Muhammadu Sani-Ahmed, blamed some people in the Presidents cabinet for the trouble between Tinubu and Buhari.

According to Punch, Sani-Ahmed said the duo should bury the hatchet, bearing in mind Tinubus contribution during the 2015 election.

He said On the pages of newspapers, the two leaders have consistently denied any feud; but somebody close to them has told me there is a crisis between them.

Sani-Ahmed also said Nigerians are not stupid. Even the blind knows that the relationship between the President and the National Leader of APC is not cordial.

This feud is being fuelled by those close to the President. They are telling the President the wrong things. The President and Tinubu must come together regardless of their differences to settle their rift before the 2019 elections because if it continues like this till that time, it will certainly affect the chances of the APC.

Also, the convener of the Coalition of Northern Intellectuals, Politicians and Businessmen, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, said Given the tenuous nature of this administration, the party (APC) and of course, the powerful enemies undoubtedly which Tinubu has, he (Buhari) should do well to please take it easy. Some of us believe that he (Tinubu) certainly has done some good for the party, (Muhammadu) Buhari as a person, and for the country; we would not want him to fall by the wayside as a result of lack of tact.

I also believe that he (Tinubu), Buhari and leading members of the party must all rush back to the drawing board because rightly or wrongly, their making Buhari as the presidential candidate and his arrogance and megalomania may in fact, sooner than later, destroy the party.

And to make matters worse, Buhari does not have a clue about forming a party or running one. If care is not taken, he will throw the party into complete disarray and by the time most of them in the party realise it, it would have been too late.
According to Sahara Reporters, violence erupted in Akure on Friday, October 28, 2016,as Ibrahim was announced the PDP candidate by INEC.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday, October 28, 2016, named the businessman as the candidate of the PDP for the November 26 governorship election.

Ibrahim, in a statement, accused Governor Olusegun Mimiko of sponsoring youths to burn tyres at various spots across Ondo state.

His statement reads: "My attention has been drawn to the ongoing burning of tyres under the pretense of disruption of activities orchestrated by Governor Segun Mimiko. In 2009 Governor Mimiko forged security reports of the SSS and the Police to deceive the court and tribunal of Justice Nabaruma that there were security issues in the state, leading to cancellation of results in 8 out of 18 Local Governments of the State

"This is how Governor Mimiko schemed himself into power and became the Governor of Ondo State, but when the late President Umaru Musa Yardua realized that the forgery story was true, Mimiko was already enjoying constitutional protection as Governor.

"Yesterday, Mimiko called on the drivers union in the state, whose chairman is his relative, to gather disposed tyres across the state and burn them so as to show that there are security challenges in Akure town. While the tyres were burning, school children were attending their classes , Banks were opened ,market women and traders were carrying on their economic activities, courts were sitting and more tyres were burning by the side of the road.

"Regrettably, Mimikos orthodoxy has played out to be fake, empty and unbecoming of a person that occupies the position of the Governor of a state.

"Am happy to note that Mimiko eventually met with President Mohammed Buhari, a president that Governor Mimiko had described, in a meeting with the former President Goodluck Jonathan, as unfit to govern Nigeria and according to Governor Mimiko, the president does not have a school certificate

"Mimikos trajectory of movement lately includes visit to Senator Buruji Kashamu and his offer of title to choice properties in Abuja but the senator declined, Mimiko filed action at the State High Court Akure, Federal High Court Abuja and secured a Saturday opening of door for hearing at the Court of Appeal Abuja all simultaneously, burning billions of naira which ought to have been used to pay salaries of workers in Ondo State.

"Regrettably, this tyre burning for sympathy will not work as Ondo State remains peaceful."
The PDP National Caretaker Committee, in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, in Abuja on Friday said that PDP had appealed the decision.

Adeyeye stated that the clearance of Ibrahim by INEC completely disregarded the Order of Justice Olamide of the Ondo State High Court.

The court had restrained INEC from substituting the name of its candidate, Mr Eyitayo Jegede.

Adeyeye said it was surprised that INEC chose instead, to pay heed to the order given by Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja.

He said such actions had resulted in massive protests in many parts of Ondo State.

Adeyeye stated that the people of Ondo had taken to the streets to express displeasure at the schemes to deny their preferred candidate, Jegede, from contesting.

It is worrisome that INEC and Justice Abang have insisted on towing a path of illegality by ignoring our validly convened primaries.

They ignored the primary and the candidate produced thereafter in favour of a candidate who emerged from an illegal primary election exercise, he said.

He described the current event as part of a ploy by external forces, to deprive Jegede and PDP of the chance of winning the election.

We wish to urge our teeming members and supporters in Ondo State to resist the temptation to take law into their hands.

We are aware of the plan of our political opponents to create chaos as a cover to achieve their dastardly objectives.

We have filed the requisite appeals at the Court of Appeal. We believe that within the shortest possible time, these illegal actions will be reversed.

We have faith in the judiciary that the illegalities will be reversed, Adeyeye said.
Frank also accused Odigie-Oyegun of trying to intimidate him out of the APC due to his constant criticism of the partys leadership.

He made the comments on Thursday, October 27, while speaking to journalists in Abuja about a five-man disciplinary committee created to investigate a petition written against him by a member of the Akwa Ibom APC.

I am not aware of any committee. Up till now, I have not been served any notice or any letter at all. And again, if that is true, I am still waiting to receive any invitation from any panel, he said.

I do not know who set up that committee whether it was a committee that was approved by the entire party structure or by Oyegun alone, but the names of the committee members are not known to me.

The name of the petitioner is also not known to me; it is obvious he is working for his sponsors. And who are his sponsors? It is the handiwork of my national chairman, Oyegun. And this is happening because of my consistent calls for him to do the right thing or resign.

I will not be intimidated by anyone in this party. I am a Nigerian. I am a loyal party member. I believe in this party, I have hope in this party and I will do everything I can to save this party because as at today, the party under Oyegun is under a total mess.

There are so many party members who know the truth. There are so many NWC members that disagree with the chairman not because they love Timi Frank but because they know the truth because in an unjust society, silence is a crime," he added.
Wike said The fact that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) can successfully conduct elections in Sambisa forest, but not in Rivers State is an indication of the negative plot against the state.

The Governor also alleged that the continued postponement of the rerun election by INEC shows that the elections body is plotting to rig the polls.

According to Daily Post, the Governor said Because people want to illegally seize power in Rivers State that is why you are hearing all this. All this plot is to take Rivers State. Why do you want to take Rivers State when it is not your own?

Between March 19th and now, they planned to do elections so that they can get the number of seats to impeach me and put their own man. Since March, everyday they postpone the elections. From May to June to July, August then September. They said October ending, still no election. Now, they say 10th of December and when we get to 10th of December, they may shift it to next year.

Adding that Election took place in Borno , election took place in Yobe, election took place in Adamawa where you have deadly insurgency. They were able to conduct elections and votes were counted. They were able to conduct election in Sambisa forest and votes were counted, but they cannot conduct election here in Rivers State.
Wike noted that ADR would reduce bickering, time and funds spent on cases at the election tribunals, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

We as politicians have been discussing on how we can introduce Alternative Dispute Resolution in the settlement of election matters without going to the tribunals .

The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators can play a role in the introduction of ADR to election dispute.

It will reduce bickering , it will reduce cost and time spent at the tribunal, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. In other words, there will be more time for governance, the governor said.

According to Wike, it is a major issue that we should put our heads together to see how it will be possible to introduce election matters as issues to be resolved through ADR.

The state in the last four months has played host to Nigerian Guild of Editors, Nigerian Bar Association , Rotary International and the West African Architects Fair.

Check the crime index in the country, that of Rivers state is quite low. It is lower than other major states, he said.

Wike commended the Nigeria Institute of Arbitrators for bringing its conference to Rivers State .

Earlier, the Chairman of the Local Organising Committee of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators ,Mrs Mmainnaya Essien (SAN), said that the institute chose the state because it was safe and had modern amenities to host international events.

Essien said that Rivers state would be promoted as a major destination for Alternative Dispute Resolution in the country on the same standing with Lagos and Abuja.
MISSOULA  A Missoula man accused of entering a couples apartment and recording them having sex made an initial appearance Friday in Missoula County Justice Court.

Jack Daniel Stilger, 32, was arrested Wednesday after police were sent to an apartment for a report of an active burglary. On their way, they were told one of the residents had chased the man out of the house and to a nearby gas station, where Stilger allegedly locked himself in the bathroom.

The apartment resident said he and his girlfriend were at their home when they noticed a light, according to court papers. The man said they looked around and saw a stranger holding what appeared to be a smartphone. When he was spotted, the man allegedly backed out of the door and ran, chased by the man, to the gas station.

Sgt. J.C. Denton found Stilger in the store's bathroom area, according to the affidavit. A search found a pair of brass knuckles in his pocket, as well as an iPhone. Stilger allegedly said he had consumed a single beer.

He was arrested and charged with felony burglary, as well as misdemeanors for carrying a concealed weapon while intoxicated and surreptitious observation or recording.

In court Friday, Deputy County Attorney Selene Koepke asked for a $10,000 bail for Stilger, as well as monitoring for alcohol and methamphetamine if he is released. She also asked that he be forbidden from contacting the couple, or going to their home or workplaces.

Acting Justice of the Peace Travis Dye said the conditions she requested should satisfy the potential community safety risk, and released Stilger on his own recognizance pending further court proceedings.
Salutes all nonprofit organizations that help support, grow, anchor and promote the Muscatine area. Support MuScatine nonprofit eventS MuScaTiNe iNDepeNDeNT FilM FeSTival NoveMbeR 3RD - 5Th Muscatine Community College Strahan hall Theater 152 Colorado St., Muscatine More information at: www.dreampostonline.com/MIFF.html Trivia NighT Support the YMCA where we believe that all kids deserve the opportunity to discover who they are and what they can achieve! Friday, November 4th, 7:00pm (Doors open at 6:30pm) The Rendezvous, 3127 Lucas St., Muscatine, IA Teams of 8 - $10 per person Register your table with Amy at (563) 263-9996 or ahessel@muscatiney.org Save The DaTe! holiDay STroll Friday, December 2nd Downtown Muscatine If your non-profit group or business would like to participate, contact Jaime Limoges at (563) 262-0552, jaime.limoges@muscatinejournal.com TheThe Muscatine Journal history of supporting this community andyears, local non-profits. annually to a Quad-City Timeshas hasover beena a175-year leader and advocate for the community for 160 including a We richinvest history of number of localnonprofits. organizations. addition, employees also donate to numerous organizations aimedand at supporting the supporting We In invest moreour than $250,000 each yeartheir in a time number of Quad-City organizations our community wedonate proudlytheir serve, such the Muscatine Community YMCA. employees time to as numerous organizations. Quad-City Times is proud to offer to charitable nonprofit organizations TheThe Muscatine Journal is proud to offer this this pagepage to charitable non-profit organizations 501(c)(3) for promoting events or services. 501(c)(3) for promoting events or services. ForFor moremore information on this page, contact Jaime at 563.262.0552 Jaime.Limoges@MuscatineJournal.com information on this page, contact Jennifer oratemail 563.383.2296 or email spotlight@qctimes.com
CEDAR RAPIDS  Eighteen months after her first listening post visit of the 2016 campaign to eastern Iowa, Hillary Clinton closed the loop Friday as she invited Iowans to join her in voting for a stronger, fairer America.

Whatever the results of the election, change is coming, the Democratic presidential nominees said. The choice is yours as to what kind of country we will have.

But its not clear what kind of change Americans will choose. Despite what the polls say, despite all the work that has been done to register voters, all the phone calls made, doors knocked, weve got work to do, Clinton said at an outdoor rally at Cedar Rapids NewBo City Market.

Its still possible Trump, who she called the poster boy of bad business behavior, could win the election.

Were not going to let that happen by turning out more voters than in any previous election, Clinton said.

I tell you, once again, Iowa can make the difference, she said. If all of you vote  we will make history on Nov. 8.

Making history by electing the first woman president as well as other female candidates who shared the stage with Clinton was the theme of the Women Win rally that the campaign said drew about 2,000 people.

When women vote, women win, retired Cedar Rapids teacher Cindy Garlock said in her introduction of Clinton. Were going to vote, were going to win and were going to elect the first woman president of the United States.

Clinton put in a plug for her female ballot colleagues, congressional candidates Monica Vernon and Patty Judge.

Judge sure would bring a lot of would bring a lot of commonsense and hard work and experience to the U.S. Senate if she defeats Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, Clinton said.

I need some reinforcements, she said. Vernon, who is challenging GOP 1st District Rep. Rod Blum, and Judge would be just that  in making the case why this part of our country is so essential to the agriculture industry, to food production industry.

Iowa has been essential to her campaign, Clinton said, thanking Iowa Democrats for their support  even though she won the Iowa caucuses by just 49.9 percent to 49.6 percent.

Not all Democrats have moved on from the caucus fight. Kim Holder, 36, and her daughter, Larkin, 10, of Marion, came to rally while still carrying a torch for Bernie Sanders. Larkins T-shirt declared Bernie. They had attended several Sanders rallies, and noted the crowd on Friday was much quieter and had less enthusiasm. Kim Holder noted she felt less connected to the people and the ambiance.

I dont necessarily love Hillary, but she is the Democratic nominee and Im probably going to support her, Holder said, gauging her commitment at 80 percent. Sometimes I think about not voting, or voting for a (third party candidate). She is very clearly paid for in my opinion.

Her opinion was shared by pro-Trump demonstrators outside the rally.

Dorsey Bents, 57, of Cedar Rapids, stood in quiet protest just outside the cordoned off rally area, holding up a sign saying The Silent Majority Stands with Trump.

Im just here because I want people to change their vote and come to Trump, Bents said. Bents said a few heading into the event called him a loser or taunted him, but generally people were civil. A second more boisterous protestor joined in, although he wouldnt give his name.

He chanted lock her up and taunted people trickling out of the rally before the event ended.

Are you bored? Boring, boring, he said.

Those inside the courtyard didnt seem bored. Several times Hillary, Hillary, Hillary chants stared.

She has a long list of policies, Dick Mundy of Cedar Rapids said. She talks about substance. People at the Trump rally wont hear anything about policy.

Trump was scheduled to rally supporters later Friday, also in Cedar Rapids.

Clinton joked about her lengthy list of policy plans. The list started back in April 2015 when she visited Iowa to hear what was on peoples minds, she said.

Boy, did I hear a lot about college cost, the epidemic of opioid abuse, mental health issues, the challenges of balancing family and work, Clinton said. All of those conversations in coffee shops and college campuses really put me on the path to understanding what your next president should do.

Admitting defeat on her signature policy achievement would be a good start, Republican National Committee spokeswoman Lindsay Jancek said.

Affordable Care Act insurance premiums next year are expected to increase by almost 30 percent, Jancek said.

Clinton claims that Obamacare is based on Hillarycare and now Iowans can thank her for this latest double-digit rate hike and skyrocketing healthcare costs on Election Day. she said.

However, Clinton told her audience to vote for an agenda that will become a list to improve your lives and make country stronger and better.

She encouraged voters to think about whatever issue is most important to them.

Visualize that on the ballot and then compare, compare and contrast what Ive done the last 30 years with what he has done, she said referring to GOP nominee Donald Trump. What I will do as your president if given the chance to serve and what he will do. Think about every single concern youve got  because I want you to join me in voting for a better America.

Later Friday, Clinton addressed about 1,100 supporters at Theodore Roosevelt High School in Des Moines, telling them the Nov. 8 election will produce change but the question they face is what they want that change to look like given Trump's divisive approach versus her positive plans for America's future.

"We've got to keep our foot on the gas," she told a boisterous crowd, asking them to vote for her and to encourage others they know to do the same  either using an early, absentee or Election Day option. "Donald Trump says he can win and he's right."

Andy McGuire, Iowa Democratic Party chairwoman told the crowd  many from key youth, female and minority voting blocs  the final days of the campaign are critical to delivering Iowa six electoral votes to Clinton in a swing state currently rated a toss up. "Every vote is so important," she said. We cannot afford to leave one vote on the table."
With the sound of the Crooked Cactus Band in the background, Stella Schneekloth strolled along Molines 5th Avenue on Friday night enjoying the final Mercado on Fifth by chatting with many of the vendors and buying their products.

Schneekloth, whose maiden name is Granado, grew up in the Floreciente neighborhood and knew many of the people enjoying the unseasonably warm weather, as well as an early celebration of Noche de los Muertos, or Night of the Dead.

The Mercado, or street market, has been a blessing to the neighborhood, she said, as well as a trip down memory lane. Its like a homecoming for me, Schneekloth said. I see so many of the children who went to Ericsson School, and now theyre all grown up.

Hundreds turned out for the final Friday night Mercado, which began Aug. 26, and has occurred each Friday night since.

Its a tasty combination of community and commerce, said Zenaida Lenderos, of Moline, as she enjoyed the sounds and sensations of the market that has featured scores of vendors over the past several weeks.

Bob Ontiveros, the founder of Milan-based Group O, has been hailed as the visionary for the Mercado. He said Friday that he has wanted a farmers market of sorts in the area since 2007. Ontiveros has helped to establish a Community Health Care faciity for the area, as well as The Club, a teen center associated with the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Mississippi Valley. There also is green space along 5th Avenue that he has kept open.

We wanted a farmers market similar to what Davenport has, but we couldnt hold it on Saturday, he said. My granddaughter who has been teaching in Thailand, said that night markets are a big hit in that country.

But with the recession of 2008, the Mercado was put on hold until this year when Ontiveros granddaughter, Maria Ontiveros, was home from Thailand where she had been teaching English.

As you know, Hispanics are big on food so we wanted local food vendors as well as craft venders from the neighborhood, Bob Ontiveros said.

Work continues nearby on The Q, a multi-modal station to eventually serve passenger rail service between Chicago and the Quad-Cities, and he hopes the market can become a destination for travelers from Chicago.

The Mercado has been a hit in the neighborhood.

Luz Ramirez and Josefina Lopez made a booth for Friday night with photos of family members and Floreciente residents who have passed away. The booth was complete with candles and, especially for the Day of the Dead, a large La Calavera Catrina who is Mexicos Grand Dame of Death.

The Mercado has been great for the neighborhood, Ramirez said. It has really brought the Floreciente neighborhood together. As for her stand, In Mexico, we all go to the cemetery, and often there are food and mariachis.

Josefina Ortega, who owns the candy shop Dulceria La Michoacana on 4th Avenue in Moline, said the Mercado, has been very good for business, as well as a lot of fun.

Ontiveros said the event would not have been possible without a whole lot of people and companies coming together to make it happen. He said he could not have done it himself.

2017 will really be great, Ontiveros said. Well be having it only one Friday a month and well make it a huge night.

On Sundays, there will be a farmers market from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at St. Marys Catholic Church at 4th Avenue and 10th Street.

Were going to build on the success we had this year, Ontiveros said.
Reformation service and three Lutheran churches

Three Lutheran congregations will join for a special service in Moline to mark the 499th anniversary of Martin Luther's actions to make public the 95 theses, which scholars said led to the Protestant Reformation.

The event is 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 30, and includes Gethsemane Lutheran, Davenport; Our Savior's Lutheran, Burlington, and St. Paul's Lutheran, 153 19th Ave., Moline.

St. Paul's hosts the event and the service will feature special music and preaching, and it is followed by a potluck lunch. For information call 309-762-5927.

Celtic music and vespers featured at Gloria Dei

The monthly series of Celtic music and vespers continues at Gloria Dei Presbyterian Church, 4200 12th St., Rock Island. This month reflects the Reformation, and celebrating all saints. It is 4:30 p.m. for music, and 5 p.m. for vespers at the church on Sunday, Oct. 30.

For information call the Rev. Drew Nagle at 309-788-8986 or online: gloriadeipresbyter@att.net

Trunk or Treat at Second Baptist open to public

The youth committee at Second Baptist Church, Rock Island, will host its fifth "Trunk or Treat" event 5:30-8:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 31, at the church, 919 6th Ave.

Activities include free food, candy, games and crafts. Organizers expect up to 300 children to participate. For information, call the church, 309-788-0677.

Author Tony Jones to speak in series at St. Paul

Author and theologian Tony Jones, whose most recent work is "Did God Kill Jesus?" will speak twice during the Faith & Life series at St. Paul Lutheran Church, 2136 Brady St., Davenport.

Both presentations are free and open to the public: 10:45 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 13, during the church's morning learning hour, and 4 p.m. on Nov. 13, a community lecture is planned on the topic, "Jesus' Crucifixion  the Ultimate Political Act."

Gethsemane celebrates 50th year in Davenport

Gethsemane Lutheran Church, 2410 E. 32nd St., Davenport, will host its 50th anniversary event at 10:15 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 13. The public is invited. The service features the Rev. Thomas Schultz, who served at the church in 1993-97, and Connie Krueger, a former member from 1997-2002 and guest organist.

Reservations are appreciated; call 563-359-0144.

Weekend meditation retreat planned Nov. 19-20

A retreat to focus on cultivating wisdom in life will be Nov. 19-20 at Lamrim Kadampa Buddhist Center, 502 W. 3rd St., Davenport.

With wisdom, it is believed that people can clearly see how to create a life of happiness and contentment and avoid the causes of problems and miseries.

A light vegetarian lunch is included in the registration price. For more information or to sign up, call 563-322-1600 or check online: meditateiniowa.org

New Theisen's store gives shelter $2,500 grant

The new Theisen's store in Davenport has granted Churches United of the Quad-City Area $2,500 for its shelter, Winnie's Place. The emergency shelter for women and children celebrates its 10th anniversary.

"We are very thankful to Theisen's for its support of this shelter, and its care and concern for this community," Churches United director Anne Wachal said. The grant is from Theisen's More for Your Community grant program.
Ken Krumwiedes service in the military instilled in him a deep sense of integrity, honor and leadership. He served in the United States Army from 1968-1970 during the Vietnam War. During his time in the military, Ken served as a chaplains assistant to the Army post chaplain.

Ken comes from a line of family members who have served their country. Having three brothers, the two oldest brothers served in World War II, his next oldest brother served during the Korean War and Ken served during the Vietnam War.

Stationed at Sharpe Army Depot, Ken worked with military men going to and returning from Vietnam. His primary job as a chaplain assistant was to support his chaplain in all religious activities. This included the planning of religious activities on and off base, clerical support and counseling.

During this difficult time he also provided support for military funerals, assisting soldiers with mental health and drug issues and finding the support they needed. Kens first chaplain received orders for Vietnam and Ken ran the operation of the chaplain for several months on his own. He received a Department of the Army Achievement recognition for his leadership during this time.

At the present time, we do not have any active duty, inactive duty or veterans elected to the Iowa House or Senate representing us from Scott County. We need Kens representation for our many veterans and local military installation. Vote for a vet - Ken Krumwiede in Iowa House District 92.

Mike Matson

Davenport
U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., raised the issue Friday of a secret plan to shut down Colstrips oldest units in 2017, much earlier than has been disclosed to the public.

In a letter to Talen Energy CEO Paul Farr, the Republican senator said hes heard from constituents that the decision has already been made to shut down Colstrip Units 1 and 2 next year, but that the company is delaying the announcement.

Daines asked Farr to disclose whether the state of Montana is also in the loop on quiet plans to close the units.

"It's imperative for Units 1 and 2 to stay open as long as possible, Daines said. It's also important for those who will be impacted by the closure of Colstrip to have the most up-to-date information about closure plans."

Daines staff confirmed that by Friday evening, Farr hadnt replied to the senator. Talen did respond to The Gazette late Friday.

"There has been no decision on a shutdown date for Colstrip Units 1 and 2, nor have any agreements been reached with any parties," said George Lewis, Talen spokesman. "We will respond more fully to Sen. Daines in an appropriate time frame. Until the response is prepared we will have no further comment about the letter."

State Sen. Duane Ankney, R-Colstrip, said his community doesnt want to be blindsided by an early closure. Whats publicly known is that the southeast Montana power plants oldest units will close on or before 2022, a concession made last summer in a pollution lawsuit settlement between Talen, the Sierra Club and the Montana Environmental Information Center.

If the units closed next year, more than 100 families dependent on power plant jobs would be caught flat-footed, he said.

I definitely believe that there has been a date set and theyre going to get the election out of the way and all this and then theres going to be a date announced, Ankney said. One way or another, its absolutely essential that they come up with a date. These people in Colstrip need to know so they can have a plan.

Ankney said he didnt know if state government officials were aware of an undisclosed 2017 closure date.

Daines sent a copy of his Farr letter the Montana Public Service Commission, the states utility regulator. PSC Chairman Brad Johnson called for disclosure from Talen. The PSC denied having any discussions with Colstrip owners about a 2017 closure.

If a backroom deal has been made to shut down Colstrip units 1 & 2 sooner than the 2022 date previously agreed upon, then we must know as soon as possible, Johnson said in a press release. An unexpected, early shuttering of Colstrip Units 1 and 2 could affect the utility lines servicing the power plants other two units.

In a public records request filed Friday, The Gazette asked Gov. Steve Bullocks office to disclose any correspondence concerning Colstrip between the governor, his staff and members of Talen Energy or its major shareholder Riverstone Holdings of New York City.

Bullock, in a written statement, accused Daines of playing political games in support of Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte.

"It is unfortunate Sen. Daines is waiting until now, days before an election where his former boss is on the ballot, to engage on the issue of Colstrip," Bullock wrote. "Unlike the senator, I've been working closely with PSE and Talen Energy to keep Colstrip open and operating, and called both CEOs to my office for a public meeting. That's where we learned that Talen is losing millions of dollars on Units 1 and 2. We asked them to continue to operate as long as possible while we work with all stakeholders to look for solutions. To politicize this now, as Sen. Daines is doing, is offensive to the workers and families of Colstrip."

The governor did not say whether hes aware of plans to close Colstrips oldest units next year, or whether he requested any announcement of the closure be delayed.

Monday, Any Huff, chief legal council to the Governor's Office, said he would respond to The Gazette's record request by Nov. 29.
The advice former U.S. Rep. Jim Leach, R-Iowa gives us in a recent Quad-City Times article about how we should vote is dead wrong. After listing the qualities required, he states Donald Trump fails on each of these measures and has proven himself manifestly unqualified to be president, but then finds the other candidate imperfect and give the example to vote for a smaller party candidate. To not support Trump is not enough; it is our duty to challenge him in the only way possible: Supporting Hillary Clinton.

She is not perfect, but no candidate is. She can provide the safe and steady course to which you refer. She is better prepared than Trump, but years of Republican attacks, one serious mistake, and the media and Democratic Party failures to publicize her achievements as first lady of Arkansas and the U.S., as well as senator and secretary of state, have obscured this fact for far too many voters.

No newly elected president since the civil war has faced the kind of opposition Trump would confront; most loathe and despise him. Even his followers will turn against him when he cannot deliver on his promises.

We are accustomed to friendly relations and receiving respect from many nations and our security is linked to theirs by treaties and agreements, yet recent polls show virtually every country is against Trump. The only exceptions were Russia and China, our two great rivals.

The only way we can avoid falling into the abyss is to elect Hillary Clinton.

Donald C. Hawley

Eldridge
Hillary Clinton is an extremely qualified leader. The first, first lady to hold a post-graduate degree, she graduated with honors from Wellesley College and Yale Law School. She helped establish Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and led the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Conference on Women in Beijing, declaring in a trailblazing speech, human rights are womens rights, and womens rights are human rights, once and for all.

Current polling indicates Clinton has an excellent chance of winning the election. However, without strong voter turnout this simply will not be the case. According to politico.com, Scott County is one of 25 counties out of 3,007 counties in the U.S. that will determine the outcome of the election. Since Iowa is a swing state, Scott County has an excellent chance of flipping the vote in Iowa for Clinton. President Obama carried Iowa partially because Scott County residents who do not always vote, chose to vote, and went to the polls in large numbers. African-American and millennial support was especially pivotal for Obama.

If you want Hillary Clinton to win, be sure to vote. The stakes are too high for complacency. Early voting is already underway at the Scott County Auditors Office, 600 W. 4th St., Davenport, and at Bettendorf, Eldridge, Davenport/Fairmount and Eastern libraries, and St. Ambrose Universitys Rogalski Center. Or, vote on Election Day, Nov. 8. Be sure to vote. Your vote does in fact count.

Rowen Schussheim-Anderson

Davenport
NATION

Investigators look over burned plane

Officials say National Transportation Safety Board investigators have arrived at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, where a cargo plane caught fire upon landing.

Broward County Aviation Department spokesman Greg Meyer told The Miami Herald the airport's north runway would remain closed while investigators assess the FedEx plane.

The airport's south runway has reopened. Officials said there were 43 delayed flights and six cancelled flights Saturday morning.

The plane's left wing and fuel tank caught fire Friday evening as it landed. Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue spokesman Mike Jachles said the fire didn't spread to the 46,000 pieces of mail and other cargo the plane carried from Memphis, Tennessee.

Man charged in babys death

Wyoming authorities on Friday announced a manslaughter charge has been filed against a man suspected in the death of a 13-month old baby. A search for the baby's body is set to begin Monday in a northern Colorado landfill.

The baby was identified as Silas Anthony Ojeda of Cheyenne, said Capt. Linda Gesell of the Laramie County Sheriff's Office.

The suspect, 23-year-old Logan Hunter Rogers of Cheyenne, was scheduled to appear in court Friday on charges of manslaughter and reckless child endangerment, the sheriff's office said in a statement.

But the hearing was abruptly canceled after Rogers asked to speak with detectives, Gesell said.

The sheriff's office did not disclose details about Rogers' relationship to the baby.

The boy's grandfather reported the child missing on Wednesday after the boy's mother told him she had not seen her son since Saturday, the sheriff's office has said.

Investigators interviewed an unidentified person at the boy's home on Thursday who confirmed the boy was dead and that his body had been dumped into a trash container at a local community college.

Investigators working with a sanitation company determined that trash from the container is taken to a landfill in Ault, Colorado.

They plan to start searching for the boy's body at the landfill on Monday, Gesell said.

WORLD

OPEC reps have fruitful meeting

Senior representatives of OPEC and six other oil producing nations ended "fruitful and constructive discussions" Saturday on coordinated actions aimed at cutting production, a statement issued by the cartel said.

The meeting, which preceded a conference of the 14-nation cartel's oil ministers scheduled for Nov. 30, was called to discuss methods for driving up the cost of oil by limiting output. For that, though, individual members may have to cut back on the barrels they sell, something they have refused to do for years.

Another possibility would be for Saudi Arabia to be the only nation to reduce production. The desert kingdom now accounts for nearly a third of the Organization of the Petroleum Producing Countries' output of over 33 million barrels a day and has focused on increasing instead of decreasing production in hopes of cutting into the U.S. shale oil market.

Egypt rocked by militant attacks

In five separate militant attacks, two Egyptian military officers and a soldier were killed and eight others were wounded Saturday in the restive northeastern region of the Sinai Peninsula, security officials said.

The officials said that a roadside bomb struck an armored vehicle carrying soldiers to Sheikh Zuwaid near the city of el-Arish, killing one army officer and one soldier and injuring four others. A second armored vehicle also came under attack in southern Sheikh Zuwaid, injuring two others, they said.

A sniper fire killed one officer and injured a second in a checkpoint in a district called Beir Lahfan, south of el-Arish. In two separate shooting incidents, two other soldiers were wounded after militants opened fire on their checkpoints in Rafah.

Dylan says he accepts Nobel Prize

Bob Dylan has accepted the 2016 Nobel Prize for literature, the Swedish Academy said, adding that getting the prestigious award left him "speechless."

The academy's permanent secretary, Sara Danius, said Dylan himself contacted them and said "of course" he would accept the prize. Danius told Sweden's TT news agency that Dylan called her Tuesday evening and they spoke for about 15 minutes.

"The news about the Nobel Prize left me speechless," Dylan told Danius, according to a statement posted Friday on the academy's website. "I appreciate the honor so much."
STURGIS | The auction of 270 acres of land near Bear Butte State Park on Sunday is arousing interest from afar, with representatives of three Native American tribes reportedly touring the site over the past three weeks.

A source with knowledge of the property, who wished to remain anonymous, said representatives of three Native American tribes had recently toured the parcels, which are near the butte that has cultural significance to many Natives.

The Northern Cheyenne Tribe already owns more than 500 acres around the mountain, while the Rosebud Sioux Tribe owns ground at the northwest corner of Bear Butte.

The absolute real estate auction set for 5 p.m. Sunday at the Boulder Canyon Station Convention Center off Interstate 90 Exit 30 in Sturgis will witness the sale of the parcel in six tracts, according to auctioneer Lonnie Arneson.

The propertys main neighbor is Bear Butte State Park, Arneson said Thursday afternoon from his ranch on the Belle Fourche River near Elm Springs. The land up for auction is just south of Bear Butte and east of Bear Butte Lake along state Highway 79.

Arneson said the property had been owned by the Millen family for nearly 75 years, and that three generations of the Coe family had rented it as pasture land. The property carries a great deal of Western history, as Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and his Black Hills Expedition camped near it in 1874, and the Pierre-Deadwood Trail passed nearby.

Theres lots of stories about the history of that area, and its kind of exciting if youre a history buff, Arneson said.

In addition to tribal interest, prospective buyers had retrieved more than 200 sales fliers in recent weeks from boxes posted along the propertys frontage, the auctioneer said.

Located along Highway 79 to the west of Bear Butte and near Bear Butte Lake, the tracts feature outstanding home sites, nearby horse trails, corrals and camping, he noted.

I would say interest is tremendous, Arneson said. People have left a road down there where theyve been looking at it. We know theres interest from the hits on our website and the fliers that have gone out.

The six tracts range in size from 19.38 acres to 95.53 acres, according to information from the auctioneers staging the sale, Piroutek Auction Service and Arneson Auction Service. Purchased individually or in total, all six tracts will be sold on Sunday, Arneson said.

The same property created some controversy in 2008, when then-Gov. Mike Rounds sought a conservation easement for the parcel to protect it from development.

That winter, Rounds proposed spending $25,000 in state money to help fund the protective easement that would have prevented development on the land near Bear Butte. According to news accounts, legislators rejected the proposal.

On Thursday, a spokesman for the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish & Parks said the state would not be among the bidders for the property on Sunday.

We are not going to be at the auction, said Paul Coughlin, a program administrator. The Department of Game, Fish & Parks does not acquire land at public auction.

Coughlin acknowledged that the state continued to have an interest in protecting the property from development because any commercial or residential improvements would have an adverse impact on the viewshed from Bear Butte State Park. He said he hoped the new owners might consider a conservation easement similar to that which was rejected nearly a decade ago.

If the new owners showed an interest at all in that sort of thing, we as an agency would be willing to work with them and see if funding options would be available, Coughlin said. So many places like that exist across our state, some next to our parks or the Missouri River, and we, as South Dakotans, all have a high regard for that type of property. Its why we live here. And we hope the new owners do the right thing.
PIERRE | The two interstates that cross South Dakota, and possibly some of the other major highways throughout the states roads system, are about to be changed into corridors that will accommodate remote-controlled vehicles alongside traditional traffic.

Technology companies are preparing to install thousands of antennas, small as a toasters or pizza ovens, along the rights of way in South Dakota and throughout the nation. The first might be in place within the next two or three years.

What is coming and what it means isnt absolutely clear yet to the state Department of Transportation. Secretary Darin Bergquist plans to assemble a work group of people from the telecommunications industry to chart how South Dakota would proceed.

The first taste of the challenge ahead came Thursday with a rare sighting at the state Transportation Commissions monthly meeting.

Several lawyers and other lobbyists representing telecommunications interests came to speak against proposed new rules that sought to restrict the equipment that could be placed in highway rights of way in South Dakota.

They opposed restrictions on wireless technology along interstates and other state highway corridors in South Dakota.

They had already sent an inch-thick stack of written comments. Before they could testify in person at the public hearing, however, Bergquist asked the commissioners to reject the rules proposals.

Bergquist explained the original intention for the proposed restrictions was to put a pause on what could be placed in the rights of way.

He said the state Department of Transportation received more written comments than on any other rules proposal he could remember.

The goal was to protect safety, he said. He looked at a moratorium and decided that wasnt the best approach.

Bergquist said he didnt think he could simply withdraw the proposal at this point. He said he would like to form a work group.

We dont want to impede things that are going on today that arent a problem, Bergquist said.

Bergquist said Friday he doesn't know which roads the companies have in mind at this point.

"Personally, I havent gotten a real good sense on which highways might be deployed first, although it is my impression that higher volume routes would be the most likely," he said.

"It seems there is somewhat a race to be first so to speak, so they may not want to share that information with their competitors."

Benjamin Aron representing the wireless communications industrys association known as CTIA, testified against the rules proposals. He said the industry wants to invest in South Dakota including along highway rights of way.

He said reasonable rules are the correct approach but a blanket ban is not.

For 5G to work were going to need a lot of antennas, he said. He said theyll be smaller and would need to be much closer to the ground. What theyll enable is absolutely tremendous, he said.

Driverless vehicles are one example of what they would enable, he said. The antennas could be on light poles and sides of buildings as well.

Commission member Ralph Marquard of Yankton said hes not ready to ask questions yet. He called the scenario exciting.

Aron said the idea is to build a much more dense network. The number of antennas would double or triple, he said. The current towers wont go away, he said.

The spacing would vary, he said. Current cell towers are two to three miles apart, but the new antennas would be measured in feet and need to be located quite densely, he said.

At 60 miles per hour, a device using a 4G-speed wireless network would travel 4.5 feet before needing to stop or pick up the next signal, while the new technology would cover just one inch, he said.

The companies are looking to get this technology out today, Aron said.

He said ATT is ready to roll out a pre-5G network in 2017 or 2018 and commercial roll-out of 5G could be in 2020.

Bill Van Camp, a Pierre lawyer who represents ATT, said the company filed comments regarding DO Ts proposed restrictions. The company is willing to work with DOT on requirements, he said.

The proposal stirred up a hornets nest, Van Camp said. You have people in the room who usually arent here, he said.

Jeff Carmen, representing CenturyLink, said his company and rural telephone companies connect to the wireless infrastructure. Were concerned with how the rules get stated, Carmen said. He volunteered CenturyLink would participate in a DOT work group.

The commission voted 8-0 to reject the proposed rules.

Its not a short project. Its a big project, Marquardt said.

Commission member Ron Rosenboom of Sturgis said its good to hear the telecom industry wants to invest in rural South Dakota.

Its an economic development issue, is what it is, commission member Don Roby of Watertown said.
The Billings Traffic Control Board wants the City Council to lobby the Montana Legislature to change the law to make seat belt law a primary offense.

In Montana and 14 other states, police can write tickets for drivers and passengers failing to buckle up only if another traffic offense has taken place.

More than 55 percent of people killed in Montana crashes from 2006-2015 were not belted in, the board told the council in a letter.

Vehicle crashes continue to be one of the top five causes of death in Montana.

From 2005-2014 in the Billings area, at least 314 unrestrained people involved in crashes were seriously injured or killed, the letter states.

The letter is signed by all five board members: Chair Todd Cormier, Vice-Chair Eugene Wade and members Jerry Dunning, Pierre Jomini and Ron Alles.

Montanas secondary seat belt law requires both the driver and passengers, even those passengers in the back seat, to be buckled, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association. The maximum fine for the first offense under Montanas secondary seat belt law is $20.

In 1985, New York enacted the first law requiring seat belt use. By 2014, about 87 percent of American motorists were complying with state laws requiring seat belts.

Since 1998, driver and passenger air bags have been mandatory equipment in all passenger cars. Requirements for light trucks and vans followed in 1999.

The first child seats were invented in 1921, following the introduction of Fords Model T. The earliest versions were essentially sacks with a drawstring attached to the back seat.

In 1971, the federal government established minimum standards for child safety seats and restraint systems to reduce the number of children killed or injured in crashes. Today all states and U.S. territories have child passenger safety laws.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety report that air bags, when combined with lap-shoulder safety belts, reduce driver and passenger fatalities by nearly 50 percent.

Montana's 2017 legislative session begins Jan. 2.
WASHINGTON | Last week, the U.N.'s premier cultural agency, UNESCO, approved a resolution viciously condemning Israel (referred to as "the Occupying Power") for various alleged trespasses and violations of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Except that the resolution never uses that term for Judaism's holiest shrine. It refers to and treats it as an exclusively Muslim site, a deliberate attempt to eradicate its connection  let alone its centrality  to the Jewish people and Jewish history.

This Orwellian absurdity is an insult not just to Judaism but to Christianity. It makes a mockery of the Gospels, which chronicle the story of a Galilean Jew whose life and ministry unfolded throughout the Holy Land, most especially in Jerusalem and the Temple. If this is nothing but a Muslim site, what happens to the very foundation of Christianity, which occurred 600 years before Islam even came into being?

This UNESCO resolution is merely the surreal extreme of the worldwide campaign to delegitimize Israel. It features the BDS movement (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions), now growing on Western university campuses and some mainline Protestant churches.

Bernie Sanders tried to introduce into the Democratic Party platform a plank more unfavorable to Israel. He failed, but when a couple of Clinton campaign consultants questioned why she should be mentioning Israel in her speeches, campaign manager Robby Mook concurred, "We shouldn't have Israel at public events. Especially dem activists." For whom the very mention of Israel is toxic.

And what to make of the White House's correction to a press release about last month's funeral of Shimon Peres? The original release identified the location as "Mount Herzl, Jerusalem, Israel." The correction crossed out the country identifier "Israel."

Well, where else is Jerusalem? Sri Lanka? Moreover, Mount Herzl isn't even in disputed East Jerusalem. It's in West Jerusalem, within the boundaries of pre-1967 Israel. If that's not Israel, what is?

But such cowardly gestures are mere pinpricks compared to the damage Israel faces in the final days of the Obama presidency. As John Hannah of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies recently wrote (in Foreign Policy), there have been indications for months that President Obama might go to the U.N. and unveil his own final status parameters of a two-state solution. These would then be enshrined in a new Security Council resolution officially recognizing a Palestinian state on the territory Israel came into possession of during the 1967 Six-Day War.

There is a reason such a move has been resisted by eight previous U.S. administrations: It overthrows the central premise of Middle East peacemaking  land for peace. Under which the Palestinians get their state after negotiations in which the parties agree on recognized boundaries, exchange mutual recognition and declare a permanent end to the conflict.

Land for peace would be replaced by land for nothing. Granting the Palestinians an officially recognized state in advance makes peace all the more unachievable  it removes any Palestinian incentive to negotiate and strips Israel of territorial bargaining chips of the kind it used, for example, to achieve peace with Egypt.

The result would be not just perpetual war but incalculable damage to Israel. Consider but one example: the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, destroyed and ethnically cleansed of Jews by its Arab conquerors in the war of 1948-1949. It was rebuilt by Israel after 1967. It would now be open to the absurd judicial charge that the Jewish state's possession of the Jewish Quarter constitutes a criminal occupation of another country.

Israel would be hauled endlessly into courts to face sanctions, boycotts and arrest of its leaders. All this for violating a U.N. mandate to which no Israeli government, left or right, could possibly accede.

Before the election, Obama dare not attempt this final legacy item, to go along with the Iran deal and the Castro conciliation, for fear of damaging Hillary Clinton. His last opportunity comes after Election Day. The one person who might deter him, points out Hannah, is Clinton herself, by committing Obama to do nothing before he leaves office that would tie her hands should she become president.

Clinton's supporters who care about Israel and about peace need to urge her to do that now. Soon Obama will be free to deliver a devastating parting shot to Israel and to the prime minister he detests
The Pentagon has inflicted unnecessary financial upheaval upon thousands of California National Guard veterans who sacrificed years of their lives to serve their country in wartime. Congress needs to take quick action to permanently halt an aggressive debt collection program aimed at recouping bonus payments for troops who re-enlisted during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Amid growing outcry from Capitol Hill, Defense Secretary Ash Carter acknowledged Wednesday that the debt collection program was unacceptable and ordered it suspended.

A 2010 Sacramento Bee report first exposed irregularities in the re-enlistment incentive program. A Pentagon audit confirmed massive overpayments, which federal law requires the recipients to repay. The incentive program came at a time when the military was under recruitment duress while fighting two costly and debilitating wars.

To avoid losing valuable expertise and encourage soldiers to re-enlist, recruiters began offering substantial financial incentives, but some recruiters overstepped their legal limits. One recruitment chief, former Master Sgt. Toni Jaffe, was sentenced to 30 months in prison for making $15 million in false claims related to the re-enlistment program.

The Los Angeles Times reported last week that around 10,000 former National Guard troops are being required to repay bonuses and government tuition payments. Some were forced to take out second mortgages on their houses to meet rigorous federal schedules. Some had their paychecks garnished. Others face repayment schedules that effectively cut their household incomes by a quarter or more.

Perhaps more to the point, the financial-aid recipients did nothing wrong, even though Carter said some of them should have known they didnt qualify for the amounts of money they were given.

The soldiers agreed to an up-front deal: Stay in service and receive extra compensation. They lived up to their end of the bargain, which included serving out re-enlistment periods of three to six years each. It wasnt their fault that the government didnt check the legality of the promises military recruiters were making.

California wasnt the only state where such incentives were being offered, so its important that troops in other states arent put through the same ordeal if audits reveal additional financial abnormalities.

Carters decision to suspend the debt-collection program doesnt necessarily let the affected soldiers off the hook for good. Canceling the debt would take legislation from Congress; House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., already is suggesting ways to address it.

The bottom line here is the governments trustworthiness. You dont make an agreement that requires people to put their lives on the line in service to their country and then, after theyve held up their end of the bargain, tell them that the deal is off. It doesnt get any more unfair than this. The real harm comes to the nations reputation if we renege on our promises.
Hamilton Christian Academy is in the third and final year of candidacy for a dual accreditation from AdvancEd and the Association of Christian Schools International. There are new course offerings for students, dual credit options and a new school bell to ring them in from recess.

Stephanie Beck, administrator and principal, said the school has been gearing up for the AdvancEd and ACSI accreditation visit that will happen this spring.

This will accredit us for primary through high school grades for the first time in our schools 53 year history, Beck said. Not only will we undergo the rigorous process of AdvancEds regional, national and international standards, but also those of ACSI.

Beck said ACSI has accredited Christian schools throughout the world for decades and helps schools analyze the quality of education, Biblical training and application. She said they have additional standards above the requirements of the Montana Office of Public Education and AdvancED.

They take into account the rural area and size of the school, Beck said. Our expected student outcomes focus on character and achievement for the child as a whole: academically, spiritually and vocationally. The accreditation process causes us to bring together all of our effective methods and communicate them well with our constituents as well as design a continuous improvement plan.

Beck said staff members, board members and parents have been working on the process and are grateful to have guidance from retired Christian school principal Karen Fields.

She has had years of experience in evaluating accreditation candidates, Beck said. HCA has been greatly blessed to have her and our amazing staff working on this process.

This year the Hamilton Christian Academy has an expanded arts program, with art, choir and band classes. Choir students are learning from Matthew Zwicker, high school student Abigail Beck teaches the primary age music class and retired Hamilton music educator Celeste Pogachar teaches the band classes. Many community volunteers complete the staff roster including Terry Ulrich teaching science, Sue Ulrich assisting with math and Pastor Jim Smith teaching Bible class.

We have a high level of educators and master degree teachers, Beck said.

HCA students are earning dual credits from the Bitterroot College by attending classes at the college campus.

The dual credit option allows us to truly personalize student education while keeping it student-centric and teacher-led, Beck said. It is one of our values because you can do a lot of online things and theres good place for that but we try to do teacher-led classes. We want our students to have the school experience.

Beck said students learn about life and perseverance when they maneuvered the college registration process.

HCA has students in Kindergarten through grade 11 and one student will graduate early this year. The junior high class is full with no space available to add more students, with 16 in seventh and eighth grades.

Junior High is such an important age for kids to get security and feel confidence, Beck said. With the small school and the family surrounding it helps kids that are struggling with confidence. They feel that they are at home.

The Hamilton Christian Academy is a nonprofit and funded by tuition, donations and sponsorships. Beck is watching the governor race to see if there will be funding changes for private Christian schools.

The school also has a new bell. The old bell rang over the century-old Grantsdale School and was retired to the Ravalli County Museum when the school closed three years ago.

One of the neighbors brought a bell to us and said, I miss the sound of the bell being rung in the neighborhood. I had this in the barn. Would you like it? Beck said. We had it in the storage shed for a while and one of our supporters in the building industry made the pergola over the summer and installed the bell.

Beck said the Hamilton Christian Academy is pleased to be part of the Grantsdale neighborhood.

We love having many neighborhood volunteers, I think that is a testimony of the community, Beck said. It is an important part of their lives to come be part of what is going on.
SAUGATUCK TOWNSHIP, MI - As the sun grew low on a recent evening, sand hill cranes came gliding into the Pottawatomie Marsh by the dozens, calling to each other as they sought refuge from predators after a day of feeding in nearby fields.

From the glass walls of the house overlooking the Kalamazoo River and 1,400-acre marsh, the unfolding scene demonstrates why its architects and builders went to great lengths to build and expand this modern house on a steep bluff some 40 feet above the river bank.

"It is a spectacularly peaceful and unique place that we are only leaving because my job is pushing us back to the East Coast.," says owner Rob Moroni, who has listed the property for $1.195 million with Realtor Dave Hulst of Coldwell Bankers Woodland Schmidt Saugatuck.

The home's floor-to-ceiling windows and French doors also allow for watching eagles, migrating waterfowl, fox, deer and other wildlife that feed and seek refuge in the marsh and along the Kalamazoo River upstream from Saugatuck, says Moroni.

Blending its natural setting and metropolitan style, Moroni has updated the decor in keeping with its original "rustic modern" style since he purchased the home in 2006.

The home's clean modern lines and open spaces are contrasted by the cedar shake roof and plank flooring with outdoorsy touches such as barn wood closet doors. A chandelier made of antlers hangs over the sleek European cabinetry on the kitchen island.

Then there's the mounted elk head that looms over the bed in the master suite Moroni notes the imposing elk, which comes with the home, could be moved over the fireplace in the great room if it causes a sleep disorder.

Originally built in 1972, subsequent owners have added two complementary additions that are connected by bridges to the main house and peer over the riverfront on long concrete pillars.

Set on 2.33 acres with 600 feet of riverfront, the property includes a trail leading down to a riverfront boathouse and floating dock that allows for boating access to Saugatuck harbor and Lake Michigan.

The main house features an updated gourmet kitchen that features sleek German-made Leicht cabinets with tip-up doors, quartz counter tops, two dishwashers and a glass-doored. The flooring is a rough-hewn oak that has been given a dark stain finish.

Step down to a living room whose full bank of floor-to-ceiling windows look out over the river and marsh. A jukebox and fireplace add to the interior warmth.

For parties, most of the socializing will occur in the "grand gathering room," a rustic addition with a vaulted ceiling that can opened into a screened-in porch with balconies for summer parties.

The gathering room also can serve as a cozy winter retreat for holiday entertaining with its wood-burning fireplace and a 1920s-vintage Venini glass chandelier over the dining area.

At the other end of the house, a glass enclosed bridge leads to the master suite, which was designed to complement the gathering room with a knotty pine vaulted ceiling and floor-to-ceiling windows on three sides.

The ensuite bathroom offers a manly touch with a urinal in addition to the more conventional facilities, which includes heated floors made of Travertine marble and a roomy steam shower.

In the main house, a winding staircase leads to a roomy loft-style area that serves as a guest suite, office and den.

The three bedrooms on the lower level each offer panoramic views of the river and marsh. One of the rooms has been converted to an office while a second room features an auto racing-themed mural. The third room, which served as a master suite for the original layout, includes its own full bathroom.

Located on a dead-end road populated by other riverfront homes, the house includes a natural gas-powered emergency generator and a two-stall garage.

This is one in a series of articles we have published about High-End Homes in West Michigan. Here are similar articles we have published recently:



 Vacant for 22 years after fatal fire, Heritage Hill home finally brought back to life

 101-year-old farmhouse is restored, avoids date with wrecking ball

 Parade of Homes builder spent months creating dry basement for this lakefront luxury home

 East Grand Rapids couple retains mid-century modern style in major updating

 Log home on Grand River has bald eagle nesting next door

 For $2M, 102-year-old Leonard House has 10 bedrooms, 14 bathrooms

 $1.2M cube-shaped house in secluded setting inspired by Mies van der Rohe
Guwahati, October 29 : Reiterating that the government has fulfilled its commitment given in the budget speech for making higher education free for economically underprivileged students, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said that this is just the beginning of a new era in education sector of the state.

Acting on the government's commitment to make higher education accessible to poorest of poor students of the state, the Assam CM on Saturday distributed cheques to colleges for giving free admission in HigherSecondary and Degree 1st year to students with annual income of below one lakh rupees at a function held at Rabindra Bhawan in the city.

Terming that education gives knowledge and knowledge is power, Sonowal said that creating a generation of students with strong ideals is the prime objective this government and for that purpose teachers must play a proactive role.

'Economic barriers have always pushed many poor but meritorious students away from the higher education system and the government has acted strongly to remove this barrier,'A Sonowal said.

Saying that this step of the government to make higher education accessible to the underprivileged students would go a long way in revolutionizing the higher education scenario in the state, Sonowal said that people's faith on the governmentas capability to deliver on its promises would be bolstered further.

As there is a huge gap in number of students registering for Matriculation and Higher Secondary Examinations due to economic reasons, Sonowal said that the government is mulling abolishing all fees for registration for both the examinations.

Minister for Education, Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma said that government is committed to the people of the state to deliver on its promises and it would act tough against those government officials found neglecting their duties.

Informing that a total of 1, 38, 085 students could take free admission in 301 colleges during the current year because of exemption of admission fees under this prorgamme, Sarma said that a total amount of Rs 43,97,13,324 has been released to the colleges as refund for giving free admission.

Saying that those students who have income above 1 lakh rupees annually should not try to take advantage of this free admission programme meant for genuine underprivileged students, Sarma said from next year government would take strict measures against such students.

He also informed that from next year even Degree 2nd year admission would be made free and from 2017 students of 9th and 10th standards would get free text books along with the current system of providing free text books upto only 8th standard.

The Assam Education minister informed that in the coming years the free text book scheme would be extended to Higher Secondary and Degree levels.

He also asked the college principals to make their offices and libraries Wi-Fi zones within 45 days, incurred cost of which would be refunded by the government.

MP Kmakhya Prasad Tasa, Press Advisor to Chief Minister Hrishikesh Goswami, Principal Secretary Education Pawan Borthakur, Commissioner and Secretary Higher Education Ajay Tiwari, Higher Education Director Babulal Sarma were present on the occasion among others.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
An Indian army soldier stands guard on a road on the outskirts of Srinagar, on October 3, 2016. Photo: Reuters

MUZAFFARABAD: India and Pakistan traded accusations that each had killed civilians in cross-border shelling on Friday, as tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours continued to fester.

Three civilians, including a young girl, were killed as Indian troops shelled villages along the Line of Control in Pakistan-administered Kashmir on Friday, a Pakistani official said. Indian officials, meanwhile, said two civilians died when Pakistani shells hit Indias side of the contested border.

In addition, a statement released by the Indian army on Friday evening said that militants at the Line of Control mutilated the body of an Indian soldier theyd killed before crossing back into Pakistan.

They did so supported by covering fire from Pakistan Army posts, the statement said. This act will invite an appropriate response.

The reports of bloodshed came just a day after New Delhi and Islamabad announced on Thursday that each is expelling a diplomat from the other country. India accused the Pakistani diplomat of running a spy ring and Pakistan cited deep concern about the activities of the Indian diplomat.

Shelling by both sides in the divided and disputed Himalayan regions has been going on since gunmen killed 19 Indian soldiers in September at an army camp in Kashmir, an attack India blamed on Pakistan-based militants.

India-administered Kashmir has also been rocked by street protests which began after the July killing of a militant leader there. Indian officials have blamed Pakistan for fanning that unrest.

The facts on the ground are often difficult to ascertain, with accusations and statements from India or Pakistan quickly rebutted by the other.

For instance, Additional Director General Arun Kumar of Indias Border Security Force (BSF) said on Friday that the barrages unleashed by his troops in the past week in response to Pakistan aggression had been effective.

Fifteen Pakistani soldiers have been killed in retaliatory firing and shelling by BSF. We have destroyed their OP (outposts) and damaged a few, Kumar said.

A statement released by the Pakistani militarys press wing denied that was the case: Indian claim of killing any Pakistani soldier at working boundary is absolutely baseless and untrue. Indian claim is part of their propaganda campaign aimed to hide their losses at working boundary and also divert world attention from Kashmir issue.
KATHMANDU, Oct 29: A special security plan has been prepared for the forthcoming state visit by Indian President, Pranab Mukherjee, from November 2 to 4.

Home Ministry's Spokesperson, Bal Krishna Panthi, said that all necessary security preparations have been completed for the Indian President's visit. The extensive security plan spans President Mukherjee's arrival and departure, to the hotel where he will be accommodated and to the programme venues.

The authorities have started stricter monitoring at the Nepal  India border and checking of the passengers travelling to the Kathmandu Valley at prime entrance points.

"We have completed a special security plan for the visit, and its implementation has already started," Panthi added. He said all the four security organs will be mobilized under unified security plan.

The security circle will include Nepal Army, Armed Police Force (APF) and Nepal Police while National Investigation Department (NID) will also be mobilized during the visit. Special security sensitivity is being adopted for the visiting Indian President in view of the soured India  Pakistan relations and open Nepal  India border.

Preparations are being made to mobilize necessary security personnel to Pokhara and Janakpur, where the Indian President will visit in course of his stay.

Indian President Mukherjee will arrive on November 2 and hold talks with President Bidya Devi Bhandari, Vice President Nanda Bahadur Pun, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, leaders of the various political parties and attend the Kathmandu University's convocation ceremony and also pay homage to the Lord Pashupatinath.

He will leave for Janakpur on November 4 and pay homage to Janaki temple and attend a civic reception. The President will then head to Pokhara where he will address a gathering of former Gurkha army personnel taking retirement from the Indian Army and return to Kathmandu on the same day and head back to India. RSS
CANNON BALL, N.D.  After an all-night showdown with police, protesters against the Dakota Access Pipeline were by midday Friday beginning to dismantle their highway barricade of burned trucks and plywood scraps.

Facing them was a phalanx of police in armored personnel carriers, behind a hastily erected wall of concrete Jersey barriers.

A tribal elder who intervened in the escalating conflict defused tension, counseling demonstrators to follow police demands to move back from the bridge on the highway where they built the barricade and to remove the barrier. More elders continued to arrive to assist in calming the situation.

Demonstrators, who call themselves Water Protectors, set multiple fires on the bridge overnight. They still had not dispersed as of late Friday afternoon, but tribal members were working with law enforcement in an attempt to disperse them.

Police are trying to move all demonstrators to a camp farther south on the highway, where opponents of the Dakota Access Pipeline have been gathering since last spring. That camp is on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land, where police told protesters they were free to return to and remain.

The Morton County Sheriff's Office issued a news release Friday afternoon thanking tribal members of the Standing Rock Sioux for helping to calm the situation, as well as elders from other tribes encamped at the Sacred Stone Camp.

Tribal members were also allowed Friday to return to a camp they were pushed out of Thursday. It's on private land belonging to the developers of the pipeline, in the path of construction. Demonstrators were allowed under police escort to return to the former camp to retrieve their teepees and other property. In all, they were there less than a week, after taking the land back under eminent domain under the treaty of 1851.

Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier in a news conference Friday afternoon said another arrest of demonstrators had been made, bringing the total over the two days to 142 people. In all, a total of 411 demonstrators have been arrested since Aug. 10 in connection with protests against the pipeline.

Police used pepper spray, rifles that shot bean bags and sponges, concussive grenades (a device that generates an ear-piercing noise) and Tasers. The sheriff reported the latter was used in one instance when a protester threw pepper in an officer's face Thursday.

Demonstrators burned at least nine vehicles and construction equipment, the sheriff reported. No serious injuries were reported.

The chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, Dave Archambault II, has called for intervention by the Department of Justice to keep the peace.

"By deploying law enforcement to support the Dakota Access Pipeline construction, the State of North Dakota is collaborating with Energy Transfer Partners in escalating tensions," he said in a prepared statement of the pipeline developer, based in Dallas.

"We need our state and federal government to bring justice and peace to our lands, not the force of armored vehicles."

Archambault also called on demonstrators to be peaceful as they stay tried to stop the pipeline, which the tribe and thousands of opponents who have joined them say threatens clean water, because of the developer's proposed pipeline crossing under the Missouri River.

"We won't step down from this fight," Archambault said.
The clash between China and Japan over five small islets in the East China Sea has gone into hyper drive over the last month with China's declaration of a new Air Defense Identification Zone, the immediate defiance of that zone by both Japanese and U.S. military aircraft, and a visit by the American vice president to both countries to try and smooth things over.

As the probability of a military clash continues to increase, the big question is whether such a clash could bubble over into a full-fledged war with major casualties and considerable harm to the global economy. The answer to this pressing question may be found in analyzing five additional questions -- and the conclusion is unsettling.

#1: Are the Islands Worth Fighting Over?

Japan calls them the Senkakus, China the Diaoyus. These five small islets with less than three square miles of territory are located about 120 miles northeast of Taiwan; and the 1986 Law of the Sea Treaty has given them immense economic value.

This United Nations treaty provides for a 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone that conveys all resource rights both beneath the sea and underneath the sea bed. While the waters around the islets have been fertile fishing grounds for centuries, the real prize is in potentially huge oil and gas reserves.

Strategically, these islets lay in the middle of an important gateway through which Chinese merchant and military ships must pass through to access the relatively deeper waters of the Pacific Ocean. These islets also fit well into China's broader "string of pearls" forward basing strategy.

Across the East and South China Seas to the western end of the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf, China is aggressively developing a network of installations; and China has already perfected the art of building useful military garrisons on islets far smaller than the Senkaku/Diaoyus.

Just consider Mischief Reef in the South China Sea. A bullying China took this reef by force from the Philippines in 1994 -- not coincidentally right after the U.S. navy withdrew its forces from the Philippines.

Today, tiny Mischief Reef is now home to a full-fledged military outpost built right on stilts and its radar systems are capable of guiding cruise missiles aimed at Japan or Vietnam -- or American aircraft carriers in the Pacific.

#2: Does China or Japan Have the Stronger Territorial Claim?

China claims it discovered and used the islets centuries before Japan annexed them in 1895; but such historical claims are not generally recognized in modern international case law. China also claims Japan stole the islets and was legally bound to return them as a condition of its WWII surrender. However, the 1943 Cairo Declaration, 1945 Potsdam Declaration, 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty, and 1952 Treaty of Taipei never mentioned the islets.

In contrast, Japan meets every criterion of international case law. It annexed the islands as terra nullius -- territory belonging to nobody. Its citizens have conducted business on the islets under Japanese administrative and regulatory control. Japanese ships have regularly patrolled the islands, and it has enjoyed continuous occupation of the islands for more than 100 years.

China's relatively weaker legal hand makes it unlikely it will ever press a claim in the international courts so that route for dispute resolution is a dead end.

#3: Is War Between China and Japan Over the Islands Likely?

War seems almost inevitable given the arc of inexorable escalation that began in 1992 when China broke an unspoken truce by publishing a law specifically declaring the islets sovereign Chinese territory. Since that time, China has progressively escalated its military confrontations; and both its military vessels and heavily armed civilian vessels now regularly patrol the waters of the islands in clear breach of Japanese sovereignty.

The latest escalation: China has declared the islet's air space to be part of it Air Defense Identification Zone. That the United States immediately defied this zone with a B-52 bomber fly-over underscores the situation's seriousness.

#4: Will The United States Be Drawn Into a War With China?

America is committed by treaty to defend Japan in the event of an attack on any territory within its administration. Declared Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2010: "The United States has never taken a position on sovereignty, but we have made it very clear that the [Senkaku] islands are part of our mutual treaty obligations."

Secretary of State Chuck Hagel has reiterated this pledge in 2013; and the clear danger is that some type of incident -- or accident -- may lead to a skirmish that, through a chain reaction, leads to a broader war. Think "Sarajevo" if you doubt this could happen.

#5: What Can Be Done To Stop This Madness?

An "appeasing" Japan could simply turn the islands over to China -- or at least share the resource wealth. However, the growing power of nationalists within Japan makes that a non-starter.

The U.S. could walk away from its commitments to Japan. However, that would mean sailing away from Asia as Japan would surely evict the U.S. military and other countries now housing U.S. installations like South Korea, Singapore and the Philippines would likely quickly follow suit.

That leaves any real solution up to China. Rationally, it makes little sense for it to risk its economic growth over a conflict in the East China Sea. However, China's bullying bid for the Senkaku Islands is part of a much broader strategy. Its modern day Communist Party emperors seek nothing less than to drive the U.S. military out of Asia, gain control of both the East and South China Seas, and assert China's historical hegemony over a new middle kingdom that stretches from the Indian Ocean in the West to the Kurile Islands in the East.

China's military ambitions are well worth remembering the next time you buy a product Made in China -- and thereby help finance the Chinese war machine.
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Is China extending an olive branch to the Philippines ahead of bilateral talks?

On Friday, following initial reports by Philippine fishermen that they had been able to access Scarborough Shoal  the primary South China Sea flashpoint between China and Japan  Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said that Chinese vessels had left the area

Effectively, for the first time since 2012, when China seized the shoal from the Philippines, Philippine fishermen appear to have some access to fisheries near the shoal. Its unclear if fishermen can access the Scarborough lagoon unimpeded.

Since three days ago there are no longer Chinese ships, coastguard or navy, in the Scarborough area, Lorenzana told reporters, according to Reuters.

If the Chinese ships have left then it means our fishermen can resume fishing in the area.

The Chinese foreign and defense ministries, asked about Scarborough Shoal at various press conferences in the aftermath, did not suggest that the Shoal would be immediately available to Filipino fishermen.

One expert told The Diplomat that fishermen from the Philippines were unable to access the Shoal as recently as this Monday , but have been able to fish there from Tuesday onward.

This is a positive sign, but its too early to say there has been a deal. Reports are that China wants a deal under which it allows access to the Shoal, which is unacceptable language to Manila, Greg Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies told The Diplomat.

Its also unclear whether any eventual deal would involve access to the lagoon itself, which Chinese sources and Duterte himself have suggested would remain closed, or just the outside of the reef, Poling adds.

For China, the decision to open up Scarborough Shoal to Philippine fishermen may have both bilateral and broader diplomatic value.

This seems to be a very smart move from Beijing. On the surface, they are demonstrating the rewards of bilateral talks while at a more substantial level they are actually bringing themselves into compliance with the Arbitration Tribunal ruling, Bill Hayton, associate fellow at Chatham House, told The Diplomat.

Hayton adds that theres little to stop the China Coastguard from coming back to the Shoal should diplomacy with the Philippines encounter difficulties.

This could pose difficulties for the government of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, which could be seen as losing Scarborough Shoal one again should Beijing decide that bilateralism is bearing little fruit.

The big question must be whether Manila has promised anything in exchange  such as a recognition of Chinas territorial claim, Hayton cautions.

That would be deeply problematic for the region.

Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping have resolved to carry bilateral talks on the South China Sea forward over the next year

Scarborough Shoal has sat as the centerpiece of broader China-Philippine maritime disputes in the South China Sea since a stand-off between the two countries in 2012.

Chinas seizing of the shoal after the conclusion of that standoff prompted the previous Philippine government of President Benigno Aquino III to file a case before a five-judge tribunal at The Hague, sharply strained China-Philippines ties.

For the United States, a treaty ally to the Philippines, concerns had grown earlier this year that Beijing would look to bring its artificial island construction activities to the Shoal
Saudi aggression warplanes resume strikes on several governorates





SANAA, Oct. 25 (Saba)  A number of citizens were killed and others wounded in a series of air strikes by US-backed Saudi aggression warplanes on several governorates overnight, a military official told Saba on Tuesday.



In the capital, Sanaa, the aggression fighter jets launched six strikes targeting al-Sobahah and Prophet Shuaib Mount in Bani Matar district west of the capital, while the other strike targeted Bani Hushish district and further two raids targeted al-Batnah and Bani Bariq areas in Nehm district northeast of Sanaa.



In al-Hudaydah Red Sea governorate, the enemy warplanes targeted citizens` houses and oil station in Haise district and five other strikes several areas in al- Khawkhah district.



Furthermore, the warplanes launched three strikes on the al-Hudaydah international air port and other raid on al-Salife area, where they destroyed telecom networks.



In Jawf province, the planes struck the main road in al-Yatamah area of Khabu and Sha`af district.



In Marib, the warplanes launched three strikes targeting Serwah district. Meanwhile, the Saudi-paid mercenaries fired missiles on citizens` houses in the same district.



In Saada, the aggression warplanes waged two strikes on Takhyah area and al-Zamah in Bakim district, while other strikes hit Ghamer area in Razih district in the same province, killing six citizens and wounding several others.



Meanwhile, two raids targeted Malahidh market in al-Dhaher district and another raid hit Tawailq area in Shada district, as well as the Saudi forces fired missiles on several border districts in Saada province, the official said.



In Shabwa, the fighter jets launched a strike on Hajr Kuhlan area of Usylan district and another strike on Mablaqah area of Baihan district.



In Dhamar province, the aggression warplanes launched 11 air strikes on Samah area and two strikes on Dhawran Anas district, setting many farms of fire as the Saudi Arabia seek to push Yemenis into starvation.



In the province of Ibb, the war jets launched a strike on Muthalth Badan area, damaging resident's properties and houses.



In Jizan region, the enemy jets launched two strikes on al-Dawd military Mount, the official added.







AA/ZaK



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[25/October/2016]
Dawn, October 22, 2016

SINCE Pakistan and India agreed on a need to address each otheras concern for territorial integrity and protection against covert operations, it shouldnat be hard for them to define a framework in which a process for resolution of all pending disputes, in particular Kashmir, will be agreed on.

This can be accomplished by efforts to conclude a no-war pact. A long history reveals why those efforts failed but can well succeed now.

On Dec 22, 1949, prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru handed over to Pakistanas high commissioner to India the draft of a joint declaration renouncing aresort to war for the settlement of any existing or future disputes between thema . Prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan countered on Sept 26, 1950, by accepting it almost verbatim but providing for aarbitration of all points of differencea in their disputes. Nehru sought to freeze the status quo on Kashmir. It is, however, a political dispute which is not susceptible to arbitration or adjudication.

In 1981, Pakistan offered a no-war pact in a statement announcing acceptance of US military aid. A formal note followed proposing talks on the pact. India responded in December that year, proposing that the Shimla Agreement be athe basisa for relations between them.

aThe key lies in stopping violencea.

Pakistanas aide-memoire of Jan 12, 1982, spelt out elements of the pact giving primacy to the UN Charter over the Shimla pact. One of Pakistanas ablest diplomats, Agha Shahi, arrived in New Delhi with a draft non-aggression deal.

K. Natwar Singh went to Islamabad as special envoy, in May 1982 to resume talks. He was presented with a draft of a non-war treaty. M.K. Rasgotra, Indiaas foreign secretary, arrived in Islamabad in June to present Indiaas draft treaty of peace, friendship and cooperation.

It introduced two contentious elements a no alliances and no bases on their soil ato any Great Powera . It also went beyond the Shimla pact by qualifying bilateral talks with the word aexclusivelya which had been dropped at Shimla.

In Murree in May 1984, however, foreign secretaries M.K. Rasgotra and Niaz A. Naik achieved a near breakthrough. Differences were narrowed to two points a bilateralism and bases and alliances.

These two issues have become irrelevant after the Cold War.

Interestingly, the minutes of consultation agreed in the talks between Abdul Sattar and Alfred Gonsalves in February 1987 simply said aBoth sides agree not to attack each othera . It resolved the impasse following Indiaas Operation Brasstacks which nearly brought the two countries to war.

There matters remained in deep freeze. Rasgotraas recent memoir A Life in Diplomacy contains a record of his talks with athe Chief Executive (CE) General Pervez Musharrafa in Islamabad on Aug 7, 2000.

He says: aI asked CE whether his most recent offer, through the Pak press, a no-war pact, as in the case of past such offers, was conditional upon a prior solution of Kashmir. (Foreign Minister Sattar had told me on the 1st of August that the matter had not been thought through). I mentioned for his information that as foreign secretary I had myself negotiated a no-war pact/ friendship treaty with Pakistan between 1982 and 1984, which Pakistan for some reason chose not to sign at the end. The CE might, I said, have the matter looked into, and if he so felt fresh negotiations could be undertaken on the subject separately from other issues.a

Even more relevant to our times is this exchange: aI added: aYou sure have some problems in your part of Kashmir, we are not adding to your difficulties. (He did not cavil at or contest this). We have problems on our side, which Pakistan-sponsored violence has aggravated. Political wisdom demands that you handle your problems peacefully and leave us alone to handle ours peacefully. When the situation is calmed, India and Pakistan, as sovereign entities, should sit together and address the issue and amicably resolve it to mutual satisfaction or mutual dissatisfaction. The key lies in stopping violence and creating a proper environment for the dialogue.a

aCE: aRasgotra Sahib, as for violence I know what we are doing; and I also know what you are doing. Iall say no morea. I tried to draw him out a bit, but he simply repeated the sentence and asked me not to press him, for elaboration.

aThis was the most enigmatic (and pregnant) sentence of this conversion. We should carefully consider its implications. Are we doing anything in Pakistan similar to what Pak is doing in the Valley?a

This is the heart of the matter in 2016. Preparatory work, as diplomats call it, can help a accept the territorial integrity of each side; abjure covert or overt operations against each other; and recognise that the future of Jammu and Kashmir is yet to be settled as Para 6 of the Shimla Pact mandates.

The talks must begin soon.

The writer is an author and a lawyer based in Mumbai
The Times of India - 25 October 2016

by Arshia Malik

There is a huge controversy surrounding the triple talaq raging in India these days. It has brought people to their feet with political parties taking positions and even individual victims of this draconian practice brought on various national TV debates to make points.

One can also see a robust democracy in progress with the Law Commission of India putting out a questionnaire online and asking for the opinions of the citizens. The questions cover all religions and are wide-ranging.

As usual, the clerics have started their usual stubborn tricks even down to threatening politicians of the ruling party with a subtle athings going bada (read riots) if they persist with what theyare calling a interference in their personal religious laws which they insist guarantee them the right to practice their religion under the Constitution of India.

It is sad and pathetic to see the Muslim Personal Law Board being adamant about a practice which has been banned by 22 countries, including Pakistan. One can only conclude that the clerics want to keep the Muslim women under their patriarchal power with a draconian, regressive practice and at the same time hold the entire country hostage by bringing up the spectre of communal riots and the right-wing nature of BJP.

Muslim women having faith in the secular Constitution of India have knocked on the doors of the highest court of the land and demanded that it protects them from this exploitative and oppressive practice.

At this crux of history, the clerics, with their hold over the Muslim community by imprisoning and poisoning the minds of the Ummah have even started manufacturing consent in favour of the triple talaq by galvanising local mosques to get signatures on pamphlets that are shifty and donat give the full picture as was evident by the investigative reporting by Alok Bhatt.

When the victims of this barbaric, Damocles sword over all Muslim women are brought face to face with the likes of Kamal Farooqui of the AIMPLB on National TV, all they do is sympathize with them and go into obfuscating the whole issue. When told that the practice has no Quranic sanction or that it predates pre-Islamic Arabia they either do a melodrama of walking off the air or donat listen or shout down the women lawyers and experts with ad hominem attacks.

The road to change is long and the bravery and courage of women who have taken on the clerics-politician nexus, a remnant of the dynastic rule of the 70s, 80s and 90s by the Indian National Congress, is commendable. The triple talaq abolition could pave the way for the Uniform Civil Code eventually which is about one law for one country, unifying Indians in the fight against misogyny and injustice with a vision of a truly secular country leading in gender equality.

It is very important to understand why the clerics and especially the Muslim Personal Law Board is opposed to it. It comprises mostly of men and hence the need to bring in the devious optics of women supporting what keeps them in the medieval age.

The Holy Quran was sent to a pious and steadfast man who brought out a savage (jahalat) culture from darkness to light with the spiritual message. In his last sermon, the Prophet (PBUH) reiterated the need to uphold the rights and dignity of women. But considering the fledgling Muslim Ummah started bickering even when his body was being washed by his favorite companion after his demise, one can see how much the testosterone-powered ambition of the clerics poisoned that beautiful divine message.

With their own interpretations and iron hold over the custody of the text, jurisprudence, and its meanings, they have found a perfect way to keep the Muslim community enslaved. Add to that already fragile relationship of the Indian Muslims with the state since partition and you get a self-perpetuating oppressive system feeding itself of the vote bank politics of the dynastic political party.

In 2016, there is not much room to hide all the obfuscating efforts or the trickery being applied to manipulate the public into believing all is hunky dory in the Muslim world. With social media and the medium of television and radio, nuanced discussions can be held about the future of the Indian Muslims and their status in a country that continues to disprove the two- nation theory that tore it into three states and continues to hammer at its integrity.

The Sachar Report (2005), a truly comprehensive report on the status of Muslims is a very revealing report and is often cited, quoted, used as a prop to show how much the state has lagged behind in uplifting the Indian Muslims. But let it also be drilled into the Indian Muslimsa minds that along with asking what the country has done for them, they also need to introspect and reflect what all they could do for the country and eventually their own communities. Pushing the clerics-politician mafia back, supporting the abolishing of regressive practices like the triple talaq, and participating in the discussion of the Uniform Civil Code is a start.

Letas free ourselves of the poison of the clerics!
It's time to step up and vote.

This isn't a political plea. It's a chance to help Red Lodge teacher Kate Belinda and her students move up in the standings to earn a $100,000 educational grant.

Belinda is one of 15 finalists in the nationwide "Dream Big Teacher Challenge"  the only teacher in Montana  in the month-long contest sponsored by Farmers Insurance. The top six vote-getters will be awarded the grants, and as of Tuesday, Belinda was in 10th place.

Supporters can vote for as many of the finalists as they choose, but they can only cast one vote per teacher per day. That means lots of Montanans (and anyone else) can cast votes up through Monday for Belinda.

She and the 15 student members of her Green Team have developed a "Harvesting the Wind" project that would bring a wind turbine to campus. The turbine would not only produce electricity and reduce the school's carbon footprint, it would cut annual energy costs by at least $15,000.

To vote, go online to farmers.com/thank-americas-teachers and click on the "Vote" button under the $100,000 grant finalists. Then people can watch videos from the finalists and vote.
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Roderic Schmidts book, Agnes of Harris Grade, can be found on Amazon.com and at some area book shops, including The Bookstore in Lompoc. And like Agnes, Schmidt says he takes a lot of the inspiration for his books from his life and experiences and the people around him.

Schmidt is currently working on a book about a soldiers return from Iraq and his battle with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He expects that book to be released sometime next year. Since embarking on his writing path, he has written six books. Walked to him about his path and how his stories make their way to bookshelves.
Thank you for reading!

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When we learned earlier this year that Facebook allows advertisers to target users based on their race, it appeared to simply be just another attempt by the social media giant to allow for ads targeted with the most granular of parameters. However, a new report from ProPublica reveals another  possibly illegal  side to that story. In addition to, say, allowing a company to request that their ad be shown to a specific group of people, Facebook permits advertisers to select what "ethnic affinity" they would like to exclude. Some of those options include "African American," "Asian American," and "Hispanic."

This is horrifying," civil rights lawyer John Relman told ProPublica. "This is massively illegal. This is about as blatant a violation of the federal Fair Housing Act as one can find.

The Fair Housing Act of 1968 states that it is illegal to "make, print, or publish, or cause to be made, printed, or published any notice, statement, or advertisement, with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation, or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin.

A theoretical ad for housing on Facebook that excluded any of the above groups might run afoul of the law.

Facebook, for its part, denies that it's doing anything wrong and says that it doesn't even know the race of its users. The company doesn't directly ask users that information, and Facebook's privacy and public policy manager, Steve Satterfield, claimed that Ethnic Affinity, as Facebook calls it, is something other than a user's race  although that it is included in the Demographics category of the ad tool seems to suggest otherwise. And anyway, Satterfield told ProPublica, the company would pull any ads that were in violation of the law.

We take a strong stand against advertisers misusing our platform: Our policies prohibit using our targeting options to discriminate, and they require compliance with the law, he said. We take prompt enforcement action when we determine that ads violate our policies."

However, as a test, ProPublica purchased a housing ad that excluded various minority groups. It was approved by Facebook within 15 minutes. When asked about that ad, a Facebook spokesperson reportedly declined to comment.

Previously: Facebook Knows Your Race, Sends You Targeted Ads
In a lawsuit filed in Napa County on September 26 against The French Laundry, the Thomas Keller Restaurant Group, Thomas Keller, and his New York Restaurant Per Se, a woman named Vanessa Scott-Allen claims she was dropped from a promised post at the French Laundry, an act she alleges was due to discrimination against her because she was pregnant. The Napa Valley Register reported on the lawsuit, adding that restaurant spokesperson Samantha Shuman did not provide comment on the litigation.

As the Napa Valley Register recounts the lawsuit, on a trip to the Bay Area with her husband this January, Scott-Allen, who was at the time a Per Se server of five years, visited the French Laundry in Yountville. There, general manager Michael Minnillo, who is named as a defendant in the case, expressed interest in having her transfer to work at his restaurant, at least according to Scott-Allen. Following through, Scott-Allen emailed Per Se manager Antonio Begonja, who allegedly agreed to the swap. She also notified Begonja she was pregnant, according to the lawsuit.

Approved to start working on April 1 at the French Laundry, Scott-Allen and her husband began making travel preparations: Terminating their NY lease, buying a car, and shipping their things. On March 7, Scott-Allen says she was told to sign resignation documentation to make the change, and on March 8, she encountered Keller himself at Per Se, where she told him of the news, which she says he told her was "wonderful," even hugging her. The lawsuit claims that the hug, in the form of a photograph, eventually made its way onto the restaurant's daily bulletin, along with a note that read Thank you Vanessa! May your warmth, grace and impact shine just as brightly at TFL as it has here.

Scott-Allen's start date in Yountville was pushed back to April 4, and when she arrived there, transplanted to California, Minnillo, the general manager with whom she had originally spoken, was not there. Olivia Wallace, another manager, asked her questions about her pregnancy according to the lawsuit: When was her due date, how long would her leave be, and so forth. According to the suit, Wallace told Scott-Allen that she would have her training scheduled after Wallace and Minnillo spoke. That training never took place: Minnillo contacted Scott-Allen to tell her there were no positions available, though Scott-Alllen claims there were actually three open slots. After filing a complaint with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, she got the go ahead to sue.

Scott-Allen is seeking an estimated $5 million in damages on charges including sex discrimination and violation of pregnancy disability leave law. A case management conference has been scheduled for March 7 and a jury trial is being demanded by Scott-Allen.

Related: Thomas Keller Opens Up About Terrible NYT Review, And His Upcoming New Project

Celebrity Chef Michael Chiarello Accused Of Sexually Harassing Female And Gay Employees In SF
The New York Post once described Gaetan Dugas, a French Canadian flight attendant, under the incendiary headline "The Man Who Gave Us AIDS." Known colloquially as "Patient Zero," Dugas figured prominently in Chronicle journalist Randy Shilts's 1987 And the Band Played On. Shilts invented the term in that volume, misreading "Patient O" as in the letter, as zero, as in the number. The letter merely signified that he was from "Outside" of the country  other letters like "NY" might have meant New York, to give one example.

At the time, the term "Patient Zero" wasn't even established to mean the first case of a disease or virus  but it soon came to signify just that, and with it, Dugas (who died in 1984) has long carried blame for the spread of the deadly virus. But a new study published in the journal Nature and picked up by the Times this week debunks that thinking, folklore that is itself symptomatic of a culture that created and trafficked in pariahs. Strains of HIV arrived in New York in 1971 and SF in 1976 according to the new research, and analysis shows that Dugas's blood, which was sampled in 1983, had a viral strain of HIV that predated his arrival in New York.

Its a great example of the latest science technology being applied to answer questions from so long ago, Dr. Paul Volberding, director of the AIDS Research Institute at UCSF and an early treater of HIV positive and AIDS patients told the Chronicle, who also covered the study. "We're still gaining insight into how this epidemic spread  how rapidly it spread, where it spread  even now, 35 and apparently a whole lot more years later.

The Nature study was co-authored by Michael Worobey, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona at Tucson, and Richard McKay, a historian at the University of Cambridge. To conduct it, scientists used blood samples taken from New York men and San Francisco men who had participated in a hepatitis B vaccine study in the late '70s. Six percent of the NY samples and 3 percent of the SF samples were found to have HIV at the time. After so many years, new lab techniques were needed to gather information about the time-degraded blood samples. But using mathematical models and parsing different strains, You can really come up with a rich model of how a virus moves through space and time, says UCSF scientist Satish Pillai, who spoke to the Chronicle. It's that timeline that essentially exonerates Dugas.

The Times recalls that Dugas became a central figure in part because he was candid about his prodigious sex life, keeping a diary and providing names of sex partners to investigators. Shilts himself died of AIDS a decade later in 1994, and was initially reluctant to characterize Dugas as he eventually did  demonizing him partly through a publicity campaign for his 1987 book. Of course, fans of the 1993 Canadian musical film Zero Patience will have little time for a reexamination of the urban legend.





Related: In Long Road To HIV Vaccine, Local Clincal Trials Begin With New Approach
The shooting of four high-school students outside the Excelsior's June Jordan School for Equity on October 18 shocked students and faculty alike. An arrest of two individuals believed to be involved was announced shortly thereafter, and we learn today via CBS 5 that one of the two suspects, a 17-year-old, has been charged with attempted murder.

According to the District Attorney, the teenager is the only person so far who has been charged in the case, although as of last week police believed four people to have been involved. The second individual who was arrested has not been charged. Students were struck by gunfire, both BB's and bullets from a handgun, as they stood outside in the parking lot after school. One student was critically injured, and officials today report that while her condition has been upgraded to "serious," it is still life-threatening.

Little information has been released about the two individuals arrested, and it is unknown at this time if they are students at June Jordan. The Examiner reported shortly after the incident that a specific student appeared to have been targeted.

In addition to the obvious tragedy, the Examiner reports that the attack has brought to light the fact that there is no requirement for San Francisco Unified School District staff to receive active-shooter training from police. "This needs to be like a fire drill where kids know what to do, retired San Francisco police lieutenant Colleen Fatooh, who has worked with schools in the past, told the paper. Weve done run, hide and fight with a couple of schools, but as far as going out and having like a schedule, as far as the comprehensive piece, I dont think thats happened.

This lack of staff training was perhaps exemplified by the faculty's response to police officers when they arrived at the school. As per protocol, officers reportedly began going through the school, with guns drawn, to check for an active shooter. School staff, perhaps unaware of this protocol, assured them that the culprits were outside of the school. Knowing that there was no active shooter on campus, our staff asked officers to lower their weapons, June Jordan Principal Matt Alexander said in a statement picked up by the paper. SFPD continued to follow their active shooter protocol to ensure the safety of the students.

Officials, both with the SFPD and SFUSD, hope to soon be on the same page. Regardless, SFPD spokesperson Officer Carlos Manfredi said officers are going to do their job should the worst happen. Its important that the public and the parents understand that when the officers are responding to a school shooting, those officers have a job to do, he told the Ex. If anybody gets in the way then that officer has every right to arrest that teacher or that person or that student.

Previously: 4 Students Shot, 1 Critically Outside June Jordan High School In The Excelsior

Arrests Made In Connection To Tuesday's School Shooting
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STORM LAKE, Iowa | Tom Prchal hadnt been overseas four days before he found himself on the frontlines in Incheon, Korea with the Armys First Calvary Division, 7th Calvary Regiment.

I found the horrors of war in a big hurry, said Prchal, who was 21 at the time.

Prchal took engineering training, along with basic training, at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri. He trained for combat engineering, but Prchal soon learned it didnt matter what training an individual received.

Two-thousand of us came off the ship and we all went right up to the front lines no matter who we were, he said.

Between the time he left Seattle, landed in Japan and then traveled to Korea, Prchal wasnt exactly sure what to expect or what his duties would be. But sure enough, he found out quickly.

I went to Incheon, Korea, and three days later, Im up on the front lines with a heavy mortar company, he said. I had never seen a mortar in my life, I never trained at all for any combat, but there I am in the middle of the night, scared to death.

The conditions didnt allow for calls home. Sending a letter home took two weeks, but stationary consisted of scraps or sacks and whatever writing utensil was available.

That was the reality for Prchal and his fellow soldiers for the next four months, fighting Chinese and North Korean forces. The unpredictable and unknown became normal for him.

We never knew where we were at over there, said Prchal, of Storm Lake. You were just up there and had no idea where you were at.

Prchal said he didnt have a mindset or approach to surviving the front lines. He said there was no time or circumstance to be overly scared or worried.

As a 21-year-old, I was macho, he said. I guess you just didnt think that much of it. You dont at that age. All the troops were in the same position.

After four months on the front lines were up, he went to Hokkaido, Japan, where he trained to protect Japan from Russian and Chinese forces. There, he served in the motor pool taking care of vehicles.

He didnt see any battle in Japan, but thats not to say danger didnt present itself. An 8.1 magnitude earthquake struck Hokkaido in March of 1952, killing 33 citizens.

I was in the mess hall filling salt shakers and the generals were around drinking coffee and all of a sudden, the salts going all directions, he said. We all jumped out for safety.

Prchal said no U.S. troops were killed, but they helped citizens in the areas most impacted. He said the earthquake was a bit unnerving, but almost preferable to what he had seen.

It wasnt near as bad as being in Korea, he said.

After Japan came another stint in Korea, this time in Busan. His duty on this trip was to provide security work for the United Nations Camp. He drove around high ranking generals and dignitaries that visited the UN during that time.

On this trip to Korea, he was informed what was going on, which eased any nervousness he may have had about a return.

Four months later, in April of 1953, Prchal went home to Omaha. For the next 40 years, he worked as a hardware wholesaler around Northwest Iowa and retired in 1995.

Now 86, Prchal said he doesnt dwell on his service much. He said hes just happy to be home.

In hindsight, I came out of there safe with a lot of experience and a lot of knowledge of how our government works.
ST. LOUIS  Kerry Soracis recent tattoo client did not come to Iron Age Studios to get trendy body art. No Bible verse scrolled across the rib cage or Japanese symbol inked on the ankle.

In fact, until a few weeks ago, the 66-year-old grandmother never thought she would get a tattoo, much less one that stretched across her breast. But the cancer survivor decided four years after her diagnosis and two years after breast reconstruction that she was ready to quit undressing in the dark.

Soraci, 49, first tattooed a mastectomy patient more than 20 years ago. Several years ago, the demand started to grow. Now she works with three or four survivors a month.

That increase is due, in part, to cancer patients doing their own research and becoming better informed about post-surgery options, said Dr. Theresa Schwartz, a breast surgeon who works out of St. Louis University Hospital.

And though the incidences of invasive breast cancer have stabilized in the past few years  about 247,000 new cases are expected to be diagnosed in the United States in 2016  mastectomies are on the rise.

According to the American Cancer Society, more than a third of women with early-stage breast cancer opt to have a mastectomy. And the number of women who choose to have a healthy breast removed as a preventive measure has tripled in the past decade.

After a patient has healed from the surgery, Schwartz said, she can remain flat-chested or undergo breast reconstruction. Then, if the nipple and areola have been removed, the woman can decide whether she wants to get a tattoo to mimic the look. Or she may prefer something artistic to create a new appearance.

Its the one thing they have control over after 18 months of treatment, Schwartz said. Knowing about the possibility of post-op tattoos helps relieve a patients anxiety, she said.

Some plastic surgeons offer a skin coloring procedure, but their tools and pigments are limited. The nipple area can turn out looking like a flat, monochromatic disk. And the color may fade over time.

Soraci can blend an infinite combination of pinks and browns to complement skin tone, and use shading and highlights to create a three-dimensional illusion.

Plastic surgeons are not graphic artists, Schwartz said. And they cant do anything different, like a cascade of ivy or a blooming sunflower. The tattoos are a means of self-expression. Its realizing you have a new beginning once youre done with treatment.

So Schwartz sends her patients to Soraci, whom the doctor found out about a couple years ago from a patient who had previously been tattooed by the artist.

A nurturing hand

Soraci, who has a degree in fine arts from Washington University, finds fulfillment helping women figure out how they want to look and feel in their new bodies.

After all the medical treatment, she said, a nurturing hand is nice.

She makes appointments for her mastectomy patients in the morning, before the Delmar Loop studio is officially open. Its quiet and private. The tattoo stalls are empty.

Soraci takes her time with the women, describing what she is doing and why, asking them about preferences, and explaining how the tattoo will soften their scars, and maybe, the constant reminder of their disease.

The grandmother who met with Soraci on a recent morning was intrigued about changing her appearance. You dont want to see your (scarred) chest. You certainly dont look like you used to, she said of the removal and reconstruction of her left breast. Nothing matches. I was really shocked that it looked pretty bad.

Even as she did some online research, however, she thought, Im 66. Who cares what I look like? But then I finally decided, I care. I want to like the way I look.

Still, second thoughts had almost spurred her to cancel her appointment. But after the breast cancer, this seems like minor stuff, said the Collinsville, Illinois, resident, who did not want her name used because she hadnt told her children of her foray into body art. The pain is typically less than with other tattoos; after surgery, the breast area usually has diminished sensitivity.

At the front counter of the tattoo parlor in the Delmar Loop, she pulls out her phone and shows Soraci a picture of a cluster of flowers with a butterfly hovering on the side.

Soraci takes her into a small room and examines her. Then Soraci disappears into a back office where she will draw the image, sizing it to fit a template that has been shaped and folded to match the womans curves.

A long journey

Post-mastectomy tattoos encompass the true nature of tattooing, said Soraci. They mark a real rite of passage, a celebration to an end of a very traumatic journey.

Linda Leah of St. Peters, Missouri, has been on this journey twice. Leah, 51, was first diagnosed with cancer 30 years ago, in her thyroid.

Last fall, a routine mammogram led to a biopsy that found two types of cancer. She underwent a double mastectomy in February. In the prep room, her doctor talked about her nipples for the first time.

If a tumor is found within 2 centimeters of a womans nipples, removal is recommended; 4 centimeters away is considered a safe zone. Leahs was within 3.

I had them removed, she said. I didnt want to go through this again. I didnt want any breast tissue left, didnt want it at the back of my mind.

After reconstruction in February, she found the way she looked unsettling. Her surgeon said he could tattoo her breasts and her insurance would cover it, but he recommended Soraci, even though it meant paying out of pocket.

For Leah, it was worth the $250. Before her breasts had healed enough to get nipples inked on, she opted for a design of black curlicues encircling the sides of her chest. In May, she returned to Soraci to finalize her transformation.

I was amazed at how good the nipples looked, Leah said. At least when I look in the mirror, they are more normal. The scars are still there, but it doesnt make you look at them so much.
CASPER, Wyo.  In a sign of improving coal conditions, Gillette-based coal company Cloud Peak Energy will soon resume exports to Asia despite suffering losses in the third quarter.

After a year of bankruptcies, falling production and the lowest prices in three decades, the coal market has experienced signs of revival.

A warm summer helped draw down the overstock of coal, increasing shipments and lowering costs, the company said in a statement. Meanwhile, an uptick in international demand and higher prices offer better margins than before.

The last few months has been very positive for Cloud Peak Energy and certainly a big improvement from the first half of the year, said President Colin Marshall in a call with analysts. At the same time, the recent dramatic improvement in international thermal coal prices has allowed us to contract to export approximately one million tons between November and February next year.

Cloud Peak operates the Cordero Rojo and Antelope mines south of Gillette and the Spring Creek mine in Montana. It posted a $1.6 million loss in the third quarter, compared with an almost $9 million gain in the third quarter of 2015.

The total volume of third quarter mining was down 21 percent compared with last year, said Chief Financial Officer Heath Hill in the earnings call.

However, the company ended the third quarter with $90.3 million in cash, a $26 million increase from the end of the second quarter.

Income before taxes and depreciation was $40.6 million.

The gains are reflective of a strengthening market, and hopes are high for continued growth and a cold enough winter to burn more coal.

Internationally the outlook is positive, Marshall told analysts Thursday.

Demand growth in South Korea, Vietnam, and Taiwan continues its forecast, giving an overall positive outlook, he said. At the same time supply from Indonesia and Australia appears to be constrained due to low capital spending in recent years.

In addition to the news of resumed exports and an uptick in Asian demand, the company has $45 million tons in fixed price contracts next year, at an average price of $12.34 per ton.

Health and safety reports were also noted in the earnings call Thursday.

Out of 1,200 workers, there were no reportable injuries at Cloud Peak mines in the third quarter, Marshall said.

There were four federal inspections on site during the quarter, with no significant citations, he added.

There were no environmental citations at any of our sites during the quarter, he said. It is now over two years since our last environmental citation.

Cloud Peak has weathered the last year better than some of its competitors.

Coal giants Peabody Energy, Arch Coal and Alpha Natural Resources filed for Chapter 11 during coals staggering losses in the last year.

What saved Cloud Peak from the same fate was its lack of investment in what had been a booming metallurgical coal market. Cloud Peak is purely a Powder River Basin player, focused on thermal coal. When the metallurgical market tanked, it left Peabody, Arch and Alpha saddled with billions of dollars in debt.

However, Cloud Peak was not invincible in the face of the storm. The thermal market slumped under the pressure of cheap natural gas competition and decreased investment in coal due to anticipated federal environmental regulations.

The second quarter of 2016 would have been a loss for Cloud Peak, but the company posted modest gains thanks to customer buyouts of contracts amounting to $18.8 million, or 97 percent of its adjusted earnings. It was a dire reflection of the market conditions  that in a take-or-pay contract, it was cheaper for utilities to pay Cloud Peak not to give them coal.
SIOUX CITY | Nearly 80 businesses and other organizations joined The Siouxland Initiative in the last year, boosting membership in the private tri-state economic development group by 55 percent.

The number of "investors' in The Siouxland Initiative, or TSI, now stands at 123, up 44 from the 79 individual investors last year, TSI President Chris McGowan said.

McGowan announced the rapid growth rate during TSI's annual luncheon Friday at Country Celebrations in Sioux City. He attributed the increase to the efforts of the organization's board of directors and past chairman Jim Jensen, who last year challenged more employers to invest in the organization.

The tri-state area's robust economy also played a role in the expanded membership rolls, he said.

"I think people have recognized our efforts to grow the economy and our contributions to the overall region," McGowan said in an interview after the meeting,

Founded in 1988, the organization receives 100 percent of its budget from voluntary donations. About 75 percent of its funding comes from the private sector, while the remaining 25 percent is generated from contributions from local governments and other public sector bodies.

Skip Perley, the new chair of the TSI board, highlighted the region's economic successes. The $2 billion expansion of CF Industries Port Neal fertilizer complex has given a huge boost to scores of area businesses. With the thousands of temporary construction workers assigned to the project gradually leaving town, the level of business activity is returning to a more normal level.

"But it will be a new normal, better than when they came,'' he told the audience. Perley, CEO of Sioux City-based Tec Corp., cited a number of big-ticket projects that remain to be completed, such as the new Seaboard Triumph Foods pork plant in Sioux City and a major expansion of the Royal Canin pet food plant in North Sioux City.

More than 100 business leaders attended Thursday's luncheon, which was sponsored by Western Iowa Tech Community College. TSI's annual meeting rotates among sites in Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota.

The keynote speaker for the TSI was Gene McNaughton, president of Elite Concepts Business Growth Consulting. McNaughton's 20-year career included over a decade at North Sioux City-based Gateway Computers.
SIOUX CITY | The city will hold a public meeting on Nov. 15 to discuss the proposed splash pad at Cook Park.

The meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. in the City Council chambers on the fifth floor of City Hall, 405 Sixth St., will encourage input from the public on whether the city should move forward with the project.

City staff will present preliminary plans for the splash pad and ask the public's opinion on the best way to develop the park after the pool's demolition.

Cook Pool shuttered permanently at the end of the 2016 pool season. At the July 11 City Council meeting, Girls Inc. had requested the city postpone demolition of the pool to allow the organization to research ways to sustain Cook Pool.

The city granted the request, but Girls Inc. recently notified the city they could not come up with a workable operation model for the pool.

The city plans to proceed with demolition of the pool.
SIOUX CITY | U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, continues to pull away from his Iowa 4th District opponent in the race for campaign cash.

King brought in $56,270 over a nearly three-week period, compared to $25,084 for Democrat Kim Weaver of Sheldon.

Combined over the two-year election cycle, King's contributions total $890,710, while Weaver's combine for $146,340.

New reports were due Thursday with the Federal Election Commission. The report covers the period from Oct. 1-19, in what the FEC calls the pre-general election filing. Those are the last reports required of all federal candidates prior to the Nov. 8 election.

Heading into the final days of the campaign, King had $194,463 in cash available to spend. Weaver had $44,346 in campaign cash on hand. Those amounts are determined after campaign expenses paid have been deducted from all receipts.

Looking back at the last full three-month reporting period from reports covering July 1 to Sept. 30, King raised $114,755 in revenues in the quarter. Weaver had receipts of $65,095 for the quarter.

Compared to other federal candidates, King has rarely raised large amounts of money for his re-election victories. The notable exception was in 2012, when King boosted fundraising in contending with the challenge from Democrat Christie Vilsack, a former Iowa first lady.

King, of Kiron, was first elected to the U.S. House in 2002. Weaver is in her first run for elective office.
SIOUX CITY | Two people are facing charges after police say they crashed a stolen car into a house on 25th Street, then fled from the scene on foot as police arrived.

Sgt. Jim Cunningham with the Sioux City Police Department said Skylar William Taylor, 24, and Tiffani Amber Taylor, 20, both of Sioux City, were booked into the Woodbury County Jail at 11 p.m. Thursday after a police officer located them on 18th Street.

Around 9:30 p.m. Thursday, an officer had attempted to stop the car as it was traveling on Court Street. The officer followed the car as it turned onto 25th Street, at which time the car crashed into the corner of a house. No one was in the house at the time.

Both Skylar Taylor and Tiffani Taylor fled the scene on foot. Upon investigation, police found the car had been stolen out of Sioux City.

Cunningham said both were located on 18th Street later in the evening.

Both were booked into the Woodbury County Jail and charged with possession of drug paraphernalia. Skylar Taylor has also been charged with second-degree theft and leaving the scene of an accident.
Over the last two years, we have witnessed what we believe are positive, long-needed improvements within the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors related to transparency, accountability, accessibility, long-range planning and relations with Sioux City government. The result is a stronger foundation for county government moving forward.

We do not wish to see momentum stalled or, worse, reversed.

Today, The Journal editorial board endorses the three candidates for supervisor - Republican Brian Miller over Democrat Marty Pottebaum and incumbent Independent Mark Monson, Republican Keith Radig over incumbent Democrat Jackie Smith, and Independent Gary Niles over Democrat Bruce Garbe and Republican Rocky De Witt - who, in our view, are best positioned, by virtue of background, experience, and views on issues, to keep Woodbury County government on the right track.

Brian Miller

As retired commander of the Air National Guard 185th Air Refueling Wing, Brian Miller offers residents of Woodbury County a strong resume filled with leadership experience.

As unit commander, Miller was responsible for hundreds of men and women in uniform, annual budgets in the tens of millions of dollars and some 30 buildings on the unit base.

"Ive had experience with budget cuts, union negotiations, disaster response (2008 eastern Iowa floods, Mapleton and Little Sioux tornadoes, Hurricane Katrina), and have deployed around the world," Miller says on his website, millerforsupervisor.com. "I spent seven months in Afghanistan as second in charge of all Air Force operations. This entailed 8,500 airmen and over 100 combat aircraft during the deadliest year of fighting in the Afghan war. For 28 days I was the leader of U.S. Air Force operations while my boss temporarily deployed to the United States. I was awarded the Bronze Star for Exceptionally Meritorious Service in a combat zone."

Miller lists economic development as his number-one priority. He understands economic progress within Sioux City benefits all of Woodbury County (he supports, for example, county funding for the proposed ag center in the former stockyards area), but he appreciates the unique advantages offered by rural areas of the county, too. In our meeting with Miller, he talked about his admiration for the scenic natural beauty of the county's 5,500 acres of parks and preserves and for creation of rural economic development by exploring opportunities for enhancement of these public lands. To his credit, he planned to meet with each rural Woodbury County mayor during the campaign for supervisor.

He will be a voice for openness and efficiency in government, a reduced property tax burden and strong city-county relations. He supports the idea of hiring a county administrator, as do we.

Personable, articulate and inquisitive, Miller possesses personal characteristics and communication skills we believe suit him well for service on the county board.

We endorsed Mark Monson in the Democratic primary against Marty Pottebaum because we felt he was the stronger of those two choices (again today, we commend Monson for his role in helping a new board majority chart a better course for Woodbury County government), but we believe Miller's unique package of strengths trumps even Monson's praiseworthy board service and make him the best choice in the general election.

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Keith Radig

We have endorsed Keith Radig in both of his campaigns for City Council and we endorse him today for supervisor. We have watched Radig grow in his position as a council member into a watchdog for taxpayers of government spending and a public servant who works hard, does his homework and listens to constituents. These qualities will serve him well in service on the Woodbury County board.

Because of his work on the council, Radig possesses an understanding of issues faced by the county board, including taxes, budgets, economic development, infrastructure and labor negotiations. He will hit the ground running when budget discussions begin early in 2017.

Finally, as a councilman respected by his fellow council members, Supervisor Radig will be in a strong position to positively affect county-city government relations in the future - something of benefit to all residents of Woodbury County.

As for Jackie Smith, she was part of a former board majority we have criticized in this space on many occasions. Our criticisms included lack of transparency, lack of accountability, poor relations with the sheriff's department and with other government and community entities, lack of long-range planning, an inability to anticipate and get ahead of problems before they became crises, lack of creative strategies for budget challenges necessary to achieve property tax relief and lack of progress on a mega site for economic development. Too often, in our view, the old, entrenched board majority demonstrated an unwillingness to listen to anyone who offered a suggestion for a different approach to a problem or challenge.

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Gary Niles

Possessed of a breadth and depth of experience and knowledge on a variety of issues faced by county government, including criminal justice and mental illness, as well as executive experience in managing a budget and personnel - all of this by virtue of his position as chief juvenile officer for the 3rd Judicial District - Gary Niles represents the best choice in this race for Woodbury County supervisor, we believe.

Niles was, in fact, the leading vote-getter among seven candidates in the June 7 Republican primary election, but he lost his bid to be his party's general election nominee at a county GOP convention several weeks later. (Niles received 23 percent of the vote in the primary, but he needed to get the state-required 35 percent to win outright; the convention nominated Rocky De Witt, who finished second to Niles in primary voting with 21 percent support.)

As a result, Niles mounted an independent candidacy for outgoing Supervisor Larry Clausen's seat.

In our view, Niles will be a strong voice for continued progress in improving county government transparency, accountability, and efficiency (he supports, as do we, formation of an independent committee of citizens to undertake a comprehensive review of how local governments could save taxpayer dollars by sharing some services), and in strengthening county-city government relations. We believe De Witt would, largely, support the same direction and see in him many qualities we admire in a candidate for county board, but Niles gets the nod from us due to what we believe is a deeper understanding of key county issues.

Articulate, informed, reasoned and accomplished, Niles told us he believes he is the "most qualified" candidate in this race.

We agree with him.
"Other years, I'd go out front and see license plates from dozens of different states. Now, there's maybe six or seven cars. It's not crazy like it used to be. It's not very good."

 Jerry Sprecher, owner of Scorpion's Bar and restaurant in Mott, on how the state is getting fewer pheasant hunters.

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"We try to keep this a secret. It's exceptional  the accommodations, the food, the people  you can't compare it to anything. For us, it's not about just killing birds; that's almost secondary. It's a great value."

 Mike Allegretti, from California, on his 19th year of returning to the Cannonball Co. for fall pheasant hunting. The pheasant fee-hunting company in Regent continues to enjoy success.

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"We're very tribal in the country still. The power is not in the politics; it's in the tribal structures."

 Sami Sadat, of Afghanistan, a member of a Central Asian delegation visiting United Tribes Technical College. The group learned about tribal sovereignty in the U.S.

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"Having her booked all the way through jail, having to go through (that) ... it's undignified what happened (to her) ... that's not how we would treat our relatives, our elders. I don't think that the Morton County jail really understands that strip-searching somebody and subjecting them, because modesty is a huge part of being a Lakota Dakota woman, and the cultural sensitivities in what our relatives and our allies are having to undergo in the jail is a huge offense to us."

 Angela Bibens, an attorney for Dakota Access Pipeline protesters, saying she feels elder Theresa Black Owl of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota was mistreated in the Morton County jail.

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If theres a confrontation, theyve chosen to have it because weve tried everything we can over the last 2 months not to have it.

 Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney, after talks with Dakota Access Pipeline protesters broke down.

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"She was very, very tough and just had a heart of gold all at the same time."

 Carlotta McCleary, describing Myrtle "Myrt" Armstrong, the former executive director of Mental Health America of North Dakota. Armstrong died Monday at 85.

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"We are so busy now, so having the time to stop, to get out in nature, to plant your feet on the earth  I don't know if many people get a chance to do that.

 Brenna Daugherty Gerhardt, executive director of the North Dakota Humanities Council, on plans to combine hiking and mountain biking on the Maah Daah Hey trail with nighttime philosophical discussions about the importance of place.

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"That's our goal, to tell the story of the people who created Bismarck."

 Annette Willis, founder of the Bismarck Tour Co., who plans to offer guided tours of Bismarck.

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"A lot of lawyers don't know the rules for lawyer discipline unless and until they get in trouble. Often members of the public don't understand that they can complain against their attorney."

 Disciplinary Counsel Kara Erickson, expressing the hope that lawyers and the public will take the time to look at new rules on how lawyers are investigated and punished for professional misconduct.

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"To remind the community just what we are standing for and what we're fighting for. We just want people to know that the water protectors are truly nonviolent."

 Capitol rally organizer Kirsten Kelsch, explaining the purpose of a rally planned today at the Capitol by Dakota Access Pipeline opponents.

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"I think what we are seeing regarding election interest is typical for a presidential year general election."

 Kevin Glatt, Burleigh County auditor, on early voting turnout.
ABCNews.com(WASHINGTON) -- After the FBI rebuffed his informal request for a briefing Friday, Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee chairman Ron Johnson sent a letter to FBI Director James Comey requesting that his staff brief committee staff on the agencys latest review of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server.



He is requesting a briefing by Nov. 4, the Friday before Election Day, and also well before Congress returns from recess.



"There are important questions about the nature and source of these new emails, when and how the FBI learned of them, what investigative steps the FBI is taking to obtain these emails, and the role of the Justice Department in the process," Johnson said in the letter, first obtained by ABC News.



"Most importantly, if the FBI determines that any additional classified information has been put at risk of exposure to our enemies, it is vital that the intelligence community take all appropriate steps to mitigate the potential damage to our national security."

Copyright  2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
MORTON COUNTY  A day of calm followed in the aftermath of a Thursday altercation, in which militarized police forced hundreds of protesters to retreat from their barricades and a camp they had set up on Highway 1806 on the easement of a Dakota Access Pipeline construction site.

Protesters were sent back to the main camp, which was relatively quiet on Friday afternoon. However, demonstrators and police faced off against each other on the Backwater Bridge  a site where tense interactions had occurred overnight between them.

Multiple fires had been set to debris on the bridge, and people were throwing Molotov cocktails at police. Two officers received minor injuries after being hit by logs and other debris, according to the Morton County Sheriff's Department.

The bridge standoff remained Friday, but protesters had thinned out in the early afternoon.

Lelani Running Bear, of Standing Rock, sat on a hill next to the bridge, watching the protesters and police. She eyed a group of demonstrators who were revving their trucks and blasting loud music.

Theres no need for that," said Running Bear, who has been at the main camp since August. But I dont blame them. They dont know how to handle their anger and frustration."

People at the main camp reported injuries among protesters who were at the scene of the clash on Thursday. Police used pepper spray, bean bag and sponge rounds, as well as a Taser. One person was left with rib cage bruises from bean bag bullets, and another young woman apparently had a bone in her arm rebroken.

A horse was reportedly shot and killed by police, according to several protesters. However, no remains were recovered.

At Backwater Bridge, people set numerous fires to vehicles and other debris, including nine vehicles and construction equipment. The burnt-out vehicles remained there Friday. Morton County Sheriff's Office indicated 69 vehicles were towed from the scene.

Joye Braun, a protest organizer, said Friday leaders at the camp  including elders  are talking with those who had started the fires.

Were working with our elders, and were working with the young people who are hugely traumatized," Braun said.

During altercations on Thursday, some protesters urged people to remain peaceful and prayerful, while others threw logs, water bottles and rocks at officers.

That triggered a lot of trauma," Braun said of police actions against protesters. Because weve been attacked by dogs. Weve been attacked with pepper spray.

Braun said many elders at the camp are calling for the youth to stand down.

Johanna Holy Elk Face, who lives in Denver but is originally from Standing Rock, was among the protesters arrested Thursday. She was taken to Morton County jail, but released after a couple of hours.

Holy Elk Face said police wrote numbers on both of her arms after she was arrested. One number was used to identify her belongings, she said.

Authorities also reported two incidents of shots fired Thursday afternoon, but one may have been a flare gun used to set a vehicle on fire, according to Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier.

One woman allegedly fired a handgun three times toward police and was arrested.

An armed man, who was allegedly run off the road by protesters, was not shot in the hand as initially indicated by the Morton County Sheriff's Department. Protesters have alleged that the man was a Dakota Access Pipeline security contractor and pointed to insurance documents they say were found in the truck he was driving.

A majority of the 142 people arrested were charged with conspiracy to endanger by fire/explosion, engaging in a riot and maintaining a public nuisance. Many, who were housed Thursday night in various county jails, including Burleigh, Morton, Cass, McLean and Mercer, were processed at the Morton County Courthouse throughout Friday.

While every protester taking part in the raucous demonstration of the Dakota Access Pipeline on Thursday could have been arrested, Capt. Bryan Niewind, of the North Dakota Highway Patrol, said that only 142 were taken into custody.

"We could have arrested everyone yesterday," Niewind said during a late afternoon press conference held Friday.

"Not everybody is violent in this. There are people who are very prayerful and peaceful," Niewind said of some protesters who were helpful in pushing demonstrators away from a camp set up on the easement of the pipeline.

As of 4:40 p.m. Friday, about 108 people had been charged. Of those, 11 are residents of North Dakota and the remainder are from out of state. More serious charges were issued against Sydney Nicole Johnson, of Chillicothe, Ohio, who was charged with reckless endangerment. Alexander Briggs, of Troy, N.Y., was charged with criminal trespass.

Us elderly women were trying to talk to the younger generation to let them know that they dont need to be here for that. Its not a violent one, you dont need to be angry and mad, you need to go back to the camp," Holy Elk Face said.

Holy Elk Face said some protesters started fighting with each other, and she got pushed.

I went out there for my support of our water, for my children and grandchildren and future families, she said. Instead of that, the younger generation just really let it get to them where they were angry and mad because the military people were intimidating.

Holy Elk Face was arrested Thursday afternoon.

Criminal trespassing and engaging in a riot? she said at the main camp on Friday while sitting on a cooler reading papers that showed her charges. Me and two other elderly women were just sitting in a ditch on logs, praying.

Those at the encampment indicated that Thursday's altercation with police would not force them to waver.

The pipeline will not cross this river, Braun said. Thats all I can say about that.
Canada  October 29, 2016  Leo Panitch

Canadas Trade Minister Chrystia Freelands sense of amour propre was clearly dented last week when the latest talks to salvage the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the European Union and Canada appeared to fall apart in face of the refusal of the Belgian regional parliament in Wallonia to accede to the Belgian governments support for it. The story is by no means over, but it would be quite wrong to think that what really threw this spanner in the works was that the EU was incapable of reaching an agreement, as she put it, even with a country with European values such as Canada, even with a country as nice and patient as Canada.

First of all, Canadians might be expected to understand why Belgiums failure to secure the consent of the Walloons mattered so much. The Canadian federal experience has often required securing inter-governmental unanimity, and lent an effective veto not only to Quebec, but even to the tiny province of Prince Edward Island. If Manitoba, with a population of around one million, could write finis to Canadas last attempt at a Constitutional accord, why should Wallonia, with well over three million inhabitants, not be able to stop a trade agreement?

Moreover, Canadians know well enough that the opposition being registered by one provincial government usually resonates with a substantial body of opinion in other regions. And that is certainly the case with CETA, which has aroused very considerable concern right across Europe. It was only by a hairs breadth that CETA secured the approval last month of the German Social Democratic Party, the junior partners in Europes most powerful government. The disquiet over CETA in fact followed on directly from what disturbed so many Europeans about the U.S.-EU free trade agreement that bore the acronym TTIP.

So-Called Free Trade Agreements

All free trade agreements since the U.S.-Canada FTA (over which the 1988 Canadian election was fought, with the Liberal Party then strongly opposing the deal) have created the illusion that they have primarily been about reneging on the old political economy of tariff protectionism. But this was already accomplished by the progressive reduction in tariffs that took place in the post-war decades under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and in Europe itself by the Treaty of Rome and the Common Market it spawned. The so-called free trade agreements kicked off by the FTA have been much more about dismantling so-called non-tariff barriers which establish rights for multinational corporations, deploying the talent and resources of the foremost international law firms, to escape and undermine domestic economic regulation.

What is especially worrying to a great many Europeans, now that they believe they have managed to render TTIP a dead letter, is that CETA will bring it in via the back door. A U.S. company with a subsidiary that does business in Canada will qualify as a Canadian investor under CETA, so it is not just a matter of Canadian resource and finance companies posing a real threat of claims against Europe. Under CETAs investor-state dispute provisions, to be implemented through a new investment court system, individual companies could sue states for alleged discriminatory practices in their regulations, and if successful thereby allow domestic investors to escape regulation as well. Yet despite allowing special claims and access to public money by foreign investors, CETA sets out no actionable investor responsibilities, domestic or foreign, alongside these rights.

Moreover, no one else affected by such a dispute, e.g. a local municipality or a province or a First Nation, is given a right of standing in the juridical process  making it fundamentally unfair as well as undemocratic.

That Canada under the former Conservative government of Stephen Harper should have conceived and promoted CETA was perhaps not surprising, but it must surprise many Europeans that the Trudeau Liberals who came to office last year with such progressive fanfare should now, with only minor edits, be on the same page. And it is by no means clear that most Canadians are really so eager to be the conduit for foreign investors to escape economic, labour and environmental regulation, and thereby help domestic investors escape regulation as well. Indeed, under CETA, Canadas own exposure to foreign investor claims would roughly double because Western European companies invest about as much in the Canadian economy as do U.S. investors. Under NAFTA, the decisions of the Canadian judiciary on the constitutionality of many laws and regulations cannot be taken as final until all foreign investors eligible to bring claims have not done so or have run out of time to do so. Moreover, no one else affected by such a dispute, e.g. a local municipality or a province or a First Nation, is given a right of standing in the juridical process  making it fundamentally unfair as well as undemocratic.

Under enormous pressure to back down, the Walloons appear to have managed to at least secure the concession from the Belgian government not only to assess the economic and environmental impact of CETA, but also to insist on the right to go to the European Court of Justice to determine whether the decisions of the new investment court system were compatible with EU law. But even as the Belgian government joins the other 27 European governments in signing CETA, its ratification by all their parliaments is far from assured, since the broad coalition in Wallonia that stood up to CETA  encompassing Christian Democrats and Socialists as well as Marxists  is reflective of the breadth of the opposition across Europe.

The social attitudes of those opposing CETA are quite different from those of the xenophobic far right parties which have made such gains in Europe. The rejection of CETA as well as the TTIP would not have anything to do with rejecting the values of diversity and democracy, as Ms. Freelands comments implied. If anything, it has been the failure of the mainstream parties to articulate in a progressive manner the discontent with what has come with state promotion of free trade over the last three decades that has opened so much political space for the Le Pens, on one side of the Atlantic, and for the Trumps, on the other. 
In this photo, the Aedes albopictus mosquito, better known as the Asian tiger mosquito, bites a human host. The Asian tiger mosquito is found in Maryland and can carry the Zika virus. (James Gathany/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention via AP).

ANNAPOLIS

(Oct. 28, 2016)Mosquito season may be waning in Maryland, but Zika research here is in full force.Although Maryland accounts for fewer than 3 percent of the Zika cases nationwide, there are at least five sites in Maryland researching the virus: The Johns Hopkins Hospital, U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, and the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda."There is a lot of research going on in biomedical sciences located in the Baltimore-Washington corridor," said Dr. Matt Laurens, a pediatrician and the director of international clinical trials for the University of Maryland School of Medicine. "It is a magnet for biomedical research."Being a leader in medical research is a natural fit for Maryland, said Chris Garrett, a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene."(It) is characteristic of Maryland, given our proximity to the nation's capital, as well our stature in public health, preparedness and response," Garrett said. "Maryland was one of the principal states leading the response to the Ebola virus in 2014 and 2015, as well."The hospital-based Johns Hopkins Zika Center opened in Baltimore this summer to help patients and infants with Zika. According to Johns Hopkins' website, the center has specialists from epidemiology, infectious diseases, maternal-fetal medicine, orthopedics, pediatrics, physiotherapy, psychiatry and social work to treat patients with Zika.Patients from around the world are welcome at the center, which is integrated into the hospital. Patients with similar symptoms are treated in rooms near each other for convenience, although there is not a separate wing of the hospital for the Zika Center.Dr. William May, associate professor of ophthalmology at the Wilmer Eye Institute and co-director of the Johns Hopkins Zika Center, said he has seen two patients from Maryland, including one baby.The most common symptoms of Zika in adults are fevers, rashes, joint pain and conjunctivitis, as well as muscle pain and headaches.According to the Centers for Disease Control, Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre Syndrome, an autoimmune reaction where the immune system attacks the nerves and can cause severe paralysis. Patients usually recover, but it is fatal in 1 percent of victims.However, the virus can have much more serious effects on babies.Typically contracted in the womb when their mothers are bitten by a mosquito carrying the virus, babies with Zika can have severe fetal birth defects, including eye problems, hearing loss and impaired growth. According to the CDC, it can also cause microcephaly, a birth defect that causes a baby's head to to be smaller and the brain to not fully develop or grow.Microcephaly can lead to seizures, developmental and intellectual delays, hearing loss, and vision and feeding problems. In severe situations, it can also lead to death, according to the CDC.There have been more than 100 cases of locally acquired Zika cases in the United States, all in Florida. Of the more than 4,000 cases of Zika confirmed in the states, about 3,900 have been travel-related, or contracted when people were travelling outside the country.Maryland has had 105 confirmed cases of Zika as of Oct. 27, none locally contracted.Yet with the mosquito population dwindling in the fall and winter months, the Zika focus shifts, said Garrett."There is a danger with people associating Zika solely with mosquito transmission," Garrett said.Besides being transmitted through the bite of an infected mosquito, Zika can be contracted through sex, blood transfusions, or laboratory exposure, according to the CDC.There has been one documented case in Maryland of Zika being contracted through sexual activity. A woman contracted the virus after having sex with an asymptomatic man less than two weeks after he returned from the Dominican Republic.About 80 percent of people who get Zika are asymptomatic, said Laurens, making it difficult to track and contain the virus.May said he believes the virus will spread throughout the United States in a matter of years."It has taken about a year and a half for it to go through Central and South America into the United States," he told the University of Maryland's Capital News Service. "If it keeps up that rate it will take over the U.S."The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research has been working with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston on a vaccine for Zika. According to Debra Yourick, a representative for Walter Reed, researchers completed the second round of preclinical studies in August.The researchers found a vaccine that completely protected rhesus monkeys from experimental infection with the Zika virus, according to an Aug. 4 news release.Yourick also said clinical trials are scheduled to begin next week at Walter Reed's Clinical Trials Center, as well as at other, unannounced locations.The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a part of the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, is working with the University of Maryland School of Medicine and Emory University to develop a vaccine as well.At least 80 volunteers, ages 18-35, are enrolled in the study among the three sites. According to a report from the NIH, the study began in July and will continue until December 2018.Unlike the flu shot or other vaccines, the immunization the NIH is developing for Zika does not contain the virus. Instead, Laurens said, it is DNA-based.The vaccine instructs the body to make a small amount of Zika virus protein, which may build an immune response, according to the NIH."That is what we are evaluating in this phase 1 study," Laurens said. "We hope that the vaccine will produce a robust immune response, capable of preventing Zika infection in persons vaccinated."The CDC is still researching how long Zika can stay in genital fluids, how common it is for Zika to be passed during sex and whether Zika passed to a pregnant women during sex has different risks for birth defects than Zika transmitted by a mosquito bite, according to the CDC website.To combat Zika, the Maryland Department of Agriculture has been using prevention techniques."The best way to prevent (mosquitoes) from carrying anything is to not allow them to breed," said Brian Prendergast, the program manager of mosquito control for the Maryland Department of Agriculture.The Maryland Department of Agriculture has 15 state inspectors who go to Maryland homes, checking for still water. The inspectors generally work during mosquito season, which is May to August, said Prendergast.But due to the unseasonably warm weather this year, the inspectors were still working into late October, he said.After the inspectors receive permission from the homeowner, they search the front and back yards for any water vessels. The Aedes species of mosquitoes that can carry Zika breeds in objects that hold rainwater, Prendergast said."They do not breed in swamps or ditches or puddles," he added.These mosquitoes cannot travel far, often less than 50 yards. Because they are not flying long distances, finding their rafts (mosquitoes' nests) is essential."If we eliminate their breeding, we eliminate the skeeters," Prendergast said.When examining the yard, the inspector dumps out any item that holds water. They then place it in a way that will hold no water in the future, before notifying the homeowner about what they found."We expend a lot of energy because people do not take the simple step of dumping anything that can hold rainwater," Prendergast said.The inspectors from the Maryland Department of Agriculture use three pesticides to kill mosquito larvae and a different pesticide on adult mosquitoes, Prendergast said. The inspectors can treat "any type of standing water that can't be dumped with pesticides," he said.The three pesticides the inspectors use against the larvae include two chemicals and a bacterium. The tools "have no toxicity to anything other than mosquito larvae and midge larvae," Prendergast said. "It all is environmentally friendly."To control adult mosquitoes, the inspectors use a pesticide called Bifenthrin, and the Department of Agriculture also uses trucks spraying Permanone 30-30 pesticide.Prendergast stressed all the pesticides used are "biorational," or non-toxic.Preventing mosquitoes from reproducing is a big step for preventing Zika transmission, but, Garrett said, his focus is still on people."Marylanders need to make sure they follow the CDC guidance on prevention," he said. "Particularly if they or their partners have occasion to travel to areas with ongoing Zika transmission."Zika is not common in Maryland, and Garrett sees the collaboration of different groups as a good way to maintain that, and potentially defeat the virus."We all want to see an end to the scourge of Zika and to the birth defects it has been proven to cause."
WASHINGTON

(Oct. 28, 2016)The U.S. Department of Defense recently announced the following contract awards that pertain to local Navy activities., is being awarded amodification (P00013) to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost reimbursable contract (N00421-15-C-0008) to exercise an option for research, development, design, integration, testing, installation, training, and certification of shipboard C4I electronic communication systems in support of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division's Ship and Air Integrated Warfare Division (Air 4.11.3). Work will be performed in St. Inigoes, Maryland (75 percent); and California, Maryland (25 percent), and is expected to be completed in June 2024. Fiscal 2016 working capital funds (Navy) in the amount of $12,149,950 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The, is the contracting activity., is being issued amodification (P00001) to a previously awarded fixed-price-incentive-firm target contract (N00019-16-C-0055) for production of one MQ-8C Fire Scout unmanned air system. Work will be performed in San Diego, California (33 percent); Ozark, Alabama (27 percent); Fort Worth, Texas (18 percent); Moss Point, Mississippi (16 percent); and various locations within the U.S. (6 percent), and is expected to be completed in August 2019. Fiscal 2017 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $10,362,211 are being obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The, is the contracting activity., is being awarded amodification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-13-C-0021) to exercise two options (0301 and 0302) for four V-22 Block A to B (50/60 series) upgrade retrofit kit installs, including technical support in support of the V-22 aircraft. Work will be performed in Cherry Point, North Carolina, and is expected to be completed in September 2018. Fiscal 2017 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $9,770,874 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The, is the contracting activity.
Le Collectif Cheikh Yassine a organise un certain nombre dactivites et de festivites pour les enfants de Gaza sous le theme  La joie des enfants de Gaza pour lAid . Ces activites ont commence le premier jour de lAid et continue jusquau 4eme jour de lAid dans la bande de Gaza.



Plusieurs activites, ont ete organisees parmi lesquelles : des competitions recompensees par des prix, des jeux, des animations et des chants presentes par un groupe ainsi que des distributions de cadeaux et daides financieres.




This Week at NASA: Cygnus Arrives at the Space Station and More. NASA

On Oct. 23, Orbital ATKs Cygnus cargo spacecraft safely arrived at the International Space Station  six days after being launched on an Antares rocket from NASAs Wallops Flight Facility, in Virginia.

The successful trip to orbit is the return of rocket launches to the space station from Virginia, following the loss of an Antares and a Cygnus spacecraft during a launch mishap in October 2014. The Cygnus delivered more than 5,100 pounds of science investigations, food and supplies to the crew onboard the station. Also, Next Space Station Crew Trains in Russia, Solar Hazards in Exploration, Preparing for Orion Water Recovery Test and more.
A state memorial was held on Friday for Jim Prentice, the former premier of Alberta and federal cabinet minister who passed away in a plane crash on Thursday, October 13.

Prentice, 60, was on board a twin-engine Cessna aircraft along with pilot Jim Kruk, Dr. Ken Gallatly -- the father-in-law of his daughter Cassia -- and retired businessman Sheldon Reid. That plane crashed shortly after its takeoff from Kelowna, B.C. for its Calgary destination.

Funeral services for Kruk, Reid and Gallatly were held earlier this month. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

The service was hosted at the 2,500-seat Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium in Calgary with a number of notable Canadians in attendance, including former Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Prentice served as a valued member of Harper's cabinet during his time in federal politics.

"We gave the hardest assignments to the people best able to handle them and Jim was always one of those people," said Harper. "Jim served Canadians in vital and difficult ministries where his principles, his pragmatism and his sense of decency made a difference."

Harper considered Prentice a "dedicated, knowledgeable and respected" politician but more importantly a man that loved his family.

"We've lost a colleague and a friend, you've lost so much more," he said, speaking to Prentice's widow Karen and three daughters Christina, Cassia and Kate.

"I could see how deeply he loved his family. I could tell you his whole being would literally just light up when he talked about the strong, successful and loving women in his life."

Prentice was born on July 20, 1956, in South Porcupine, Ontario. When he was 13, his family moved to Grande Cache, then a new mining town in Alberta's Rocky Mountains. Prentice put himself through university working "under the bins" in the coal mines of the Crowsnest Pass. He received a bachelor of commerce from the University of Alberta and a bachelor of laws from Dalhousie University. He was designated as a Queen's Counsel in 1992 and a member of the Privy Council in 2006.

As a young lawyer, Mr. Prentice built a strong reputation for his expertise on property rights, co-founding a law firm in Calgary that specialized in landowner cases, and became known for his ability to resolve First Nation negotiations.

Prentice was sworn in as Alberta's 16th Premier on September 15, 2014. He served until May 24, 2015. During his time as Premier, he was in attendance for the opening of Century Downs Racetrack and Casino on April 25, 2015.

"This is a very significant investment in our province," Prentice said at Century Downs' opening. "Karen and I wanted to be here to share this beginning with you. Thank you very much and god bless."

Horse Racing Alberta's Chief Executive Officer Shirley McClellan was a longtime friend of Jim Prentice.

"Alberta and Canada has lost a good man who devoted years of service to Canada and his Province, Alberta," said McClellan.

In lieu of flowers, the Prentice family asks that donations be directed to the Children's Cottage Society. Donations can be made online or by mailing cheques to Unit 204, 2120 Kensington Road N.W., Calgary T2N 3R7.

Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of Jim Prentice.
Returning to Canada for the first time since February, Rock N Roll Xample pulled off a 10-1 upset with her late-mile heroics in the featured $30,000 Fillies & Mares Preferred Pace at Mohawk Racetrack on Friday night (October 28).

Waasmula (Trevor Henry) established the early lead off the gate before Wrangler Magic (Mario Baillargeon) gained the upper hand at the :28 quarter and cleared to command. Waasmula then retook the lead on the way to the half in :56.3 and proceeded to three-quarters in 1:25 while Sayitall BB (Travis Cullen) began to advance first over with Storm Point (Randy Waples) tracking her cover. Meanwhile, Rock N Roll Xample was shuffled back to eighth along the pylons and was nowhere on the radar turning for home as Waasmula continued to lead the field down the stretch. However, James MacDonald was able to maneuver Rock N Roll Xample to the far outside of fellow late-closer Storm Point and made it up in time to score by a nose over that mare in 1:53 flat. Waasmula finished half a length behind in third.

Rock N Roll Xample paid $22.50 for the 10-1 upset.

Robert Hamather's homebred distaffer by Rocknroll Hanover out of the Camluck mare R Xample now boasts 11 wins from 32 seasonal starts and $156,650 in earnings racing mostly stateside this year at Scioto Downs, Saratoga Raceway and Yonkers Raceway. Rene Allard trains the five-year-old mare, who last raced in Canada at Woodbine Racetrack in February.

Rock N Roll Xample is now a 27-time career winner with a bankroll totalling $364,955.

To view Friday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Friday Results - Mohawk Racetrack
HETTINGER -- Terry Laufer was killed in a farming accident Oct. 13 at age 56. He left behind not only his wife, Donna, and two children, Jennifer and Devan, but also crops that needed to be harvested.

Local farmers took time away from their own operations to lend a hand and harvest Laufer's last crop.

He was the best, Scott Matthis said of his brother-in-law. I know if it was any of the other neighbors, he would have been there. Well do the same for him.

Devan knows that to be true of his dad, too.

My dad was the kind of guy, if this would have happened to someone else he would have had all of his equipment here doing the same thing, he said. Hed have been the first guy. He wouldnt have even called. Hed have just shown up at the field with everything, the whole farm if needed.

Farming runs in the veins of the Laufer family, and relatives are out on the 1,000 acres this week to lend a hand.

My cousin died in a farm accident just a year and four months ago, said Lisa Messmer, Terrys sister. When that happened, we were all there helping them. Their family has all been here helping every day.

Matthis said farmers in the community offer help like this as often as they need to.

When another local farmer, Roger Wilson, had a farming accident at the beginning of harvest, Matthis said there were 18 combines in his fields just a few days later.

Messmer said she thinks that kindness and willingness is built into farmers.

I think its a heart of a farmer, she said. I dont think it matters where youre from as far as that goes. They stick together. If something happens to one, the others are just right there to help.

Messmer said when the local farmers were offered fuel for the tractors they used to help, they wouldn't take it.

The only thing they would accept was food and drinks. Messmer said they provided three meals a day for the farmers, with most of the food being donated by local families and Wilbur-Ellis Co. in Mott.

Butler Cat in Dickinson and West Plains Inc. in Hettinger also donated equipment for the two-day harvest.

Devan said his family hasnt even been able to deal with Terry's death yet.

We wanted to get this season done with, he said. We were ready to get the year done and over with and maybe finally relax and think about everything that has happened in the past two weeks. Weve been moving so fast, I think a lot of it hasnt hit us yet. Now well have some time to slow down and actually think about all thats happened.

Even though the family will mourn the death, the farm will still keep going. Norman Laufer, Terrys father, and Devan will continue the work of Laufer Farms.

Im going to continue the farm, Devan said. Its what he would have wanted. Hed come back and kill me if I didnt try.

Chuck Miller, a neighbor, said he came out to help because Terry was a lifelong friend, and was even the best man in his wedding.

Miller said he knew that it meant a lot to the family to have so much help.

You could see that they really appreciate it, he said. They were happy to see us.
Former racehorse owner David Brooks has reportedly passed away in Connecticut at the age of 61.

Brooks, who was serving a 17-year prison sentence for securities fraud, had just been moved from a federal prison in Florida days prior. He requested a transfer in order to be closer to his family situated in the New York area.

According to his appeals attorney Richard Klugh, Brooks took ill on Thursday and was transported to hospital. There were no pre-existing health conditions that appeared to be at the root of the illness, and a cause of death has yet to be released but the prison is expected to issue a report.

It was sudden and unexpected, Klugh told Newsday. I do have some concerns that his medications were changed and whether that precipitated what happened.

Brooks was connected to a number of prominent horses that raced under the Perfect World Enterprises stable, including 2004 Breeders Crown winner Western Terror.

Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of David H. Brooks.
The essential component of totalitarian propaganda is artifice (het toepassen van kunstgrepen. svh) . The ruling elites, like celebritie...
Astronomers have identified an increasing number of asteroids which pose a threat to Earth.

The so-called Near-Earth Objects, or NEOs, are asteroids or comets whose orbits are close to ours, meaning there is a risk they could hit Earth.

Ranging in size from meters to tens of kilometres, astronomers are discovering more and more asteroids that could threaten our planet. Since 2010, an additional 5,000 have been discovered, bringing the total known number of NEOs to 15,000.

The rate of discovery has been high in the past few years, and teams worldwide have been discovering on average 30 new ones per week. A few decades back, 30 were found in a typical year.

via GIPHY

Astronomers believe that 90% of objects larger than 1000 m have been discovered, but only 10% of the 100 m NEOs and less than 1% of the 40 m ones have been identified.

via GIPHY

Arizonas Catalina Sky Survey and Hawaiis Pan-STARRS project account for 90 percent of the new discoveries made. The ESA center in Italy maintains the European Risk List of any objects which could possibly hit earth.

Lucky for us, theres only a tiny impact probability for any known space object in the next 40 years. But all NEOs bear close watching to refine and understand their orbits.

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Incumbent Gov. Jay Inslee, D-Seattle, says hes used his time in office to focus on job creation, and hes not done yet.

I want to focus on a stronger economy and a better future, Inslee said in an interview with The Daily News on Thursday.

But Inslee is facing tough competition from Republican challenger Bill Bryant, a former Port of Seattle commissioner who holds a strong support base in the region. In Southwest Washington, Inslee battles the perception that the states stringent environmental regulations have held back economic growth, especially with projects like Millennium Bulk Terminals proposed Longview coal dock.

Inslee has said he would sign off on the project as long as it follows the process that includes a robust comment period and thorough analysis.

Were going to follow that law, wherever it leads, Inslee said, adding that he has pushed for a decision about the facility much more quickly than initially planned for. The permitting process has been a very extensive process.

But Inslee defended the state regulations and said its important to value the states natural resources, adding that a large part of Southwest Washingtons quality of life also depends on protecting its environment.

One of the things that I do think is both the law and good public policy is that we do look at the environmental consequences of these projects, he said. I think that includes carbon pollution. Inslee said he believes the process can be improved without statutory decisions, such as urging agencies to make decisions earlier in the process.

Thats a different tune than Bryants, who would like to enact a temporary moratorium on all new regulations if elected.

While Cowlitz County typically votes conservatively on many key issues, citizens also tend to vote for Democratic candidates. That trend so far has not held true for the governors race this year.

In the countys Aug. 2 primary, Bryant won by more than a 1,000-vote margin with 43 percent of the votes, compared to Inslees 36.9 percent. Bryant grew up in Morton, in Lewis County, and is married to Longview native Barbara Feasey. Statewide however, Inslee received 49.3 percent of the votes compared to Bryants 38.3 percent.

Inslee on Thursday said he opposes a state income tax. Four years ago, Inslee made a promise not to create any new taxes, which he broke in 2014. He is making no promises this time around, saying the state must fulfill the McCleary decision  whatever that may entail.

The state Supreme Court ruled that the state is violating its constitution by underfunding K-12 public education, and could require the state to invest billions of dollars in education in the next two years to comply.

Weve got a constitutional obligation to finance schools and thats what Im focused on, Inslee said Thursday. We dont know exactly what will be required to do that. ... Theres no pulling rabbits out of hats.

He said if new state revenue from economic growth, a statewide levy and addressing corporate exemptions arent enough to fund basic education, he would consider a small capital gains tax that excludes tax on retirement income. While Inslee suggested closing a tax loophole on the gas industry to help fund education, Bryant has said he would favor increasing the amount of tax revenue dedicated to education.

The two rivals also differ on homelessness; Bryant has said he would have a zero tolerance policy for camping on public property and would withhold homeless funds from cities that allow tent camps.

To relegate people to the margins of society by enabling them to live in tents is not progressive, Bryant said in a previous interview with The Daily News. Its cruel.

In the final Oct. 19 debate between the two candidates, Inslee said, They dont have an addictive problem. They dont have a mental health problem. What they have is a wage problem.

The states minimum wage is another key issue where the two differ; Bryant opposes Initiative 1433, which would raise the states minimum wage to $13.50 by 2020, saying a one size fits all wage is the wrong approach and would hurt small business owners.

Inslee touted the transportation package, which brought $110 million into Cowlitz County for improvements to the Oregon Way  Industrial Way intersection and Kelso rail crossings.

Inslee has outraised Bryant by nearly threefold statewide, having spent $7 million of a total of $9.5 million raised. Bryant has raised a total of $3.6 million and spent all but $400,000, according to the states Public Disclosure Commission on Friday.

Bryant has received more financial support from Cowlitz County. From Longview donors alone, Inslee received $8,750 while Bryant received more than $15,000  $4,000 from local Republican parties.
The chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe criticized the local and state government response to Dakota Access Pipeline protests Saturday, saying he is considering a class action lawsuit over use of force.

Dave Archambault II said over 40 people were injured as police used pepper spray and bean-bag guns Thursday to clear a protest camp built on Dakota Access property in Morton County, which the chairman claims rightfully belongs to the Sioux people under an 1851 treaty.

"It's wrong to use that kind of force on our people," he said at a press conference with Cheyenne River Sioux Chairman Harold Frazier on Saturday morning outside the Morton County Sheriff's Department in Mandan. Archambault said injuries included welts from bean-bag rounds and rubber bullets, as well as broken bones.

North Dakota Highway Patrol Capt. Brian Niewand said at a press conference Friday that injuries he knew of were minor and limited to a few people during the Thursday confrontation, where some protesters prayed while others started fires and threw objects at officers. Authorities arrested 141 people that day and have alleged one person fired a .38 caliber gun toward officers.

Niewand said his officers tried to avoid using force and made special efforts to respect people who were praying -- including allowing people to stay in a sweat lodge instead of immediately moving them, and permitting a prayer circle behind the police line -- making arrests only after the people allegedly refused to move.

"Showing that respect for all the people that are out there, whether they are white, black, Native American, it doesn't matter, we respect everybody. That was our goal (Thursday)," he said. "The actions of some caused us to have to use force in certain circumstances, which was very, very unfortunate."

Frazier called it "ridiculous" that someone was arrested from a sweat lodge and said he was calling in his tribe's police to monitor the local law enforcement response.

Archambault said the suitable vehicle for challenging the use of force against the protesters is a class action lawsuit against the state and law enforcement.

"The best way for success is to go after every individual law enforcement who fired a weapon at innocent people. We have to get badge numbers. We have to get facial recognition. We have to get these law enforcement that are from other states, whoever it is. And individuals who are harmed have to report what has happened," he said.

Archambault said he met Friday with a civil rights attorney from the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin about the potential suit. The tribe brought recording devices to protesters this weekend so they could document future police action, according to a release from the Oneida tribe.

Morton County spokesman Rob Keller said he did not have a comment on possible litigation.

Call to governor

Archambault also said he tried to avert the forcible removal of protesters during a phone conversation with Gov. Jack Dalrymple on Wednesday. He said the governor told him to ask the protesters to leave the land. In response, Archambault said he asked the governor to stop construction near the Missouri River, where the federal government has also asked the pipeline company to pause work pending an easement under the river.

"Why are you allowing this company to continue to construct when people's safety is at risk?" he recalled asking Dalrymple.

Dalrymple referenced the call during a Thursday press conference, saying he asked Archambault to send people back to the main camp on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land, and the chairman refused. Dalrymple said it was important to keep asking the tribal council to encourage peaceful protest. His spokesman did not return a call for further comment Saturday afternoon.

Dalrymple has praised the law enforcement action on Thursday, calling it "well-handled from start to finish."

We support the county in their mission, which is we cannot allow our state highways and our county highways to be taken over by agitators from other areas of the county. We cannot allow large numbers of people to trespass on private property," Dalrymple said.

Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier likewise has said officers "responded with patience and professionalism and showed continuous restraint throughout the entire event."

Frazier said he was also concerned about the way protesters have been treated in the jails after mass arrests. He said numbers were written on people's arms to keep track of them, and some were placed in "dog kennels."

"It's really sad," he said. "Their rights obviously have been violated."

Keller said what Frazier called "dog kennels" are actually temporary holding cells within the Morton County Detention Center, where people must wait to be booked. He said detainees have access to bathrooms, food and water, and the cells are approved by the state Department of Corrections.

He said the numbering was used to ensure that people's property was accounted for when booked as evidence or returned.

Requesting reroute

Archambault called on Dakota Access LLC to shift the pipeline route away from the Lake Oahe crossing, and said pipelines under the river should be made safer.

"Let's reroute the pipeline," he said. "This pipeline doesn't have to put our water at risk. ... Everybody can still benefit."

A Dakota Access spokeswoman said in an email Saturday the route was chosen because "it was the safest route with the least environmental impact."

Asked his suggestion for a new route, Archambault said the company should make that decision.

"Keep it away from water," he said. "Get it out of our land."

Archambault and Frazier also expressed disappointment with the federal government. Though meetings have taken place between the tribes and government agents since three federal agencies halted construction of the pipeline under the Missouri River in September, the chairmen said they worried the consultations would not lead to meaningful reform.

Archambault said he wanted the standard for consultation over this type of infrastructure project to be "consent" with tribal input reflected in the end project.

Frazier said the meetings to date have focused on taking comments, but he wants to see draft legislation that would include penalties for companies or entities that did not adequately consult affected tribes.

Frazier also said he was "a little disappointed" by his meeting this week with President Barack Obama.

"They have their game of politics," he said.
An early morning fire destroyed a Winlock doctors office Saturday. It is not clear when the clinic will be able to reopen.

A passerby reported the Valley View Health Center fire at 615 Cemetery Road at about 2 a.m. Saturday. By the time fire crews arrived minutes later, half of the roof was collapsing in, said Lt. Patrick Jacobson of Lewis County Fire District 15.

Crews from Winlock, Toledo, Napavine and Vader together worked for about 40 minutes to put out the blaze, and another three hours checking for hot spots and mopping out the building.

The building is considered a total loss. There were no injuries.

Although fire fighters saved the reception and waiting room areas, the whole roof is burned out and everything inside basically burned, Jacobson said.

The cause of the fire is still unknown, and the Toledo Police Department will investigate the case.

The busy medical clinic was one of just a few doctors offices in the small town, Jacobson said.

I know theres a lot of community members that utilize their services, so thats obviously going to hamper things now that (Valley View is) unable to operate until they rebuild, he said.

Steve Clark, executive director of Valley View Health Center, told Town Crier News that the clinic will be rebuilding. In the interim, patients are being directed to the Valley View location in Toledo. The company has multiple other locations in Washington, including clinics in Onalaska, Raymond, Chehalis and Centralia.
NASA Astronaut Kate Rubins aboard International Space Station (ISS) is all set to return back to Earth today. She will unlock her Soyuz spacecraft at 8:37 p.m. EDT and land in Kazakhstan at 11:59 p.m. (9:59 a.m. Oct. 30, Kazakhstan time).

Kate Rubins is pictured inside of the Soyuz MS-01 spacecraft while conducting routine spacesuit checks. Rubins, suited up in a Russian Sokol Launch and Entry suit, was conducting leak checks in advance of her upcoming landing along with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Takuya Onishi and cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos.

Their return will wrap up 115 days in space for the crew since their launch in July. Together, the Expedition 49 crew members pursued hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Kathleen Hallisey Kate Rubins (born October 14, 1978) is a NASA astronaut. She became the 60th woman to fly in space when she launched on a Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station on July 6, 2016. Rubins is currently serving onboard the ISS as Flight Engineer for Expeditions 48 and 49.

She was selected by NASA back in 2009. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology from the University of California and a Ph.D. in Cancer Biology from Stanford University Medical School Biochemistry Department and Microbiology and Immunology Department. Dr. Rubins conducted her undergraduate research on HIV-1 integration in the Infectious Diseases Laboratory at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. She worked as a Fellow/Principal Investigator at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and headed 14 researchers studying viral diseases that primarily affect Central and West Africa.
5 `robbers` killed in Chittagong, Kushtia `gunfights`

Five suspected robbers were killed in separate 'gunfights' with members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and police in Chittagong and Kushtia districts early Saturday.



Identities of the deceased were not confirmed yet.



In Chittagong, three suspected robbers were killed in a 'gunfight' with members of Rab at Nijampur on Dhaka-Chittagong highway in Mirersorai upazila early in the morning.



Assistant superintendent of police Chandan Debnath, who is also the assistant director of Rab-7, said on a tip-off that a gang of robbers was taking preparation to commit robbery in the area by placing logs on the highway, a team of the elite force launched a drive there at about 3.00am.



Sensing the presence of the Rab members, the robbers opened fire at them, prompting the elite force to retaliate that triggered a gunfight.



Three members of the robber gang were caught in the line of fire and injured while other members of the gang managed to flee from the scene.



The injured were taken to the upazila health complex where doctors declared them dead.



Two Rab members were also injured during the gunfight.



The Rab members also recovered two shooter guns and three foreign pistols from the scene.



In Kushtia, two suspected robbers were killed in a 'gunfight' with police at Gobindagunia in Mirpur upazila early in the morning.



Officer-in-charge of Mirpur Police Station Kazi Jalal Uddin said on a tip-off that a gang of robbers was taking preparation to commit robbery on Mirpur-Bheramara road in the area by placing logs, a team of police launched a drive there at about 12:30 am.



Sensing the presence of the law enforcers, the gang members opened fire at them, prompting the police personnel to retaliate that triggered a gunfight.



Two members of the robber gang were caught in the line of fire and died on the spot while other members of the gang managed to flee from the scene.



Three policemen were also injured during the gunfight.



Police also recovered one pistol, one crude bomb and several sharp weapons from the scene. -- Dhaka, Oct 29 (UNB)




Global migrant deaths up 20 per cent: IOM

In total, 5,238 people have perished since January 1, or 951 more than at the same point in 2015, the International Organisation for Migration says.

AFP, Geneva :

Migrant deaths worldwide this year have surged above 5,200 -- a 20 percent increase on 2015 -- driven by record fatalities in the Mediterranean, the International Organisation for Migration said Friday.

In total, 5,238 people have perished since January 1, or 951 more than at the same point in 2015, the Geneva-based IOM said in a statement.

The Mediterranean Sea route, used by nearly 330,000 people in 2016 seeking a new life in Europe, remains the world's deadliest.

The UN refugee agency said this week that Mediterranean migrant fatalities had hit a record 3,800.

IOM put the number of dead and missing on that route at 3,930 for the year, but the two partner agencies often have different figures.

Migrant deaths also rose to 500 this year in Latin America, with people on the move killed by a range of causes including dehydration, vehicle accidents and murder.

IOM noted that in 60 percent of cases the bodies of migrants who perish are never recovered.

Meanwhile, the foreign ministers of countries in the western Mediterranean Sea region met Friday to discuss migration and the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria and elsewhere.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault chaired the one-day meeting in the French port city of Marseille along with his Moroccan counterpart, Salaheddine Mezouar.

The leaders grappled with the fight against human and arms traffickers who exploit migrants crossing by sea from Libya to Europe.

Salaheddine Mezouar, foreign minister of Morocco, said that a political agreement signed in December 2015 between Libya's rival parties must be fully enforced otherwise this "would be a catastrophe for this country."

Libya has been mired in conflict since the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, with rival parliaments and governments emerging in the east and west, each backed by an array of militias and tribes.

The meeting brought together ministers from France, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Malta, as well as Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia and Mauritania in North Africa.
Philippines says Chinese vessels have left disputed shoal

Reuters, Manila :

Chinese ships are no longer at the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea and Philippine boats can resume fishing, the Philippine defence minister said on Friday, calling the Chinese departure a "welcome development". Philippine fishermen can access the shoal unimpeded for the first time in four years, Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said, capping off a startling turnaround in ties since his country rattled China by challenging its maritime claims at an international tribunal.

The departure of the Chinese coast guard ships comes after President Rodrigo Duterte's high-profile visit to Beijing and his repeated requests for China to end its blockade of the shoal, a tranquil lagoon rich in fish stocks.

"Since three days ago there are no longer Chinese ships, coast guard or navy, in the Scarborough area," Lorenzana told reporters. "If the Chinese ships have left, then it means our fishermen can resume fishing in the area."

Though the Scarborough Shoal is comprised of only a few rocks poking above the sea some 124 nautical miles off the Philippine mainland, it is symbolic of Manila's efforts to assert its maritime sovereignty claims.

Lorenzana did not explain the circumstances of the Chinese pullout from the shoal, the centrepiece of a case Manila filed in 2013 at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague that was decided in Manila's favour on July 12.

And there was some confusion about the situation at sea, with a Philippine military spokesman earlier saying Chinese vessels were "still there". Some fishermen familiar with the area said the same. China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang made no mention of a coast guard withdrawal when asked about the return of Philippine fishermen to the shoal.

The two countries "were able to work together on issues regarding the South China Sea and appropriately resolve disputes," Lu told a regular briefing.

The United States backed Manila's arbitration case as part of its effort to stand up to what it sees as China's "excessive" maritime claims, only to come under repeated verbal attack from Duterte recently. Washington said it was still assessing Lorenzana's comments on the Chinese moves. "We hope it's certainly not a temporary measure," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told a regular news briefing.

"We'd like it to be a sign that China and the Philippines are moving towards an agreement on fishing access at Scarborough reef that would be in accordance with the July 12 arbitral decision."

Greg Poling, a South China Sea expert at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, said a Chinese pullout from Scarborough Shoal would be "a big deal, if it's true and if it's sustained."

"But there is a lot that is still unclear," he said.

"Is this a sign of a new status quo, whereby China will effectively comply with the arbitral award by allowing Filipino fishermen access to Scarborough?

"Or is it just an olive branch while the two sides haggle over language for a long-term deal, which might prove impossible to reach if Beijing insists on language suggesting it is 'permitting' or 'allowing' the Philippines access?'"

The Hague court declared that despite Scarborough Shoal being located within the Philippines' 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone, no one country had sovereign rights to it, so all claimants may fish there.




Environmental influences on young children's behaviour

T.J. Zirpoli :

More than 24 million children in the United States are aged five and below (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000). And for all those children, no variable regarding their well-being and overall social behavior is more important than the environment in which they develop and grow.f

All children misbehave at times-this, of course, is normal. A caregiver's response to inappropriate behaviors, however, will frequently determine the future course for both the misbehavior and the child. When a caregiver provides attention to a child during a temper tantrum, for example, the child is likely to exhibit tantrum behavior in the future as a means of getting adult attention and having demands met. In fact, the frequency and intensity of tantrums will increase over time as the child learns how to use tantrums to manipulate adult behavior. On the other hand, when a caregiver refuses to give in to a child/s demands during and immediately following a temper tantrum, the child is unlikely to demonstrate tantrum behavior in the future. Thus, the relationship is clear between the rate of children's misbehavior and the response they receive from significant caregivers in their environment.

When children misbehave, parents and caregivers frequently focus on assessing and identifying what may be wrong with the child, what treatment or intervention might be best for the child, and so on. This focus-on-the-child approach, while appropriate for children with specific emotional disorders, fails to recognize the significant role of the child's environment and the people in that environment in shaping the child's behavior. In our fast-paced, busy world, parents seem to have less time to devote to the needs of their children than in previous times. Frequently, both teachers and parents look for quick and easy answers to questions regarding children's inappropriate behavior. We believe that the blame-the-victim syndrome places too great an emphasis on how to "fix" children; instead, we need greater emphasis on improving the quality of children's environments.

Young children are exposed to a variety of environmental variables that place them at risk for antisocial behavior. Understanding these variables will help caregivers understand the influences affecting children and their behavior. Specific factors that place children at risk are discussed next.

Poverty

Poverty will be discussed first because it has the most significant impact on children's overall well-being, academic success, and social behavior. Unfortunately, children suffer the highest poverty rates of any age group in America (Lynch, 2004). In 1974, children replaced the elderly as the poorest subgroup of our nation's population. By 1980, the rate of poverty among children was six times that of the elderly (Schorr & Schorr, 1989). And today, 18% American children live in poverty (Casey Foundation, 2005).

A family's income plays a significant role in the type of basic care a child receives. For example, children in low-income families have less access (44%) to important early intervention programs than children from higher-income families (65%) (Children's Defense Fund, 2003). Yet, they are the children who need early intervention the most!

According to a study by the Illinois State Board of Education (2001), poverty is the single greatest predictor of academic and social failure in U.s. schools. An analysis of state data in Illinois and Kentucky found that income level alone accounted for 71 % of the variance in standardized achievement scores. It may surprise some educators to note that additional variables such as English proficiency, student race, class size, and several teacher-related variables accounted for only an additional 7% to the predictability of student performance. And, as Kauffman (2001) points out, academic failure in school is directly related to challenging classroom behaviour.

Children raised within impoverished environments are at risk for challenging behavior problems because they are frequently living in neighbourhoods where there are limited positive role models for appropriate social behaviours. Frequently, the only adults children see who are making a "decent" living are making it in illegal activities. These children are more likely to be exposed to community violence, and this exposure is positively related to teachers' ratings of children's aggression within the classroom (Farver, Xu, Eppe, Fernandez, & Schwartz, 2005). "As neighborhood conditions worsened, the positive relationship between emotional support and mothers' nurturant parenting was weakened" (Ceballo & McLoyd, 2002, p. 160). As outlined by Walker and Sprague (1999), poverty sets the foundation for a variety of negative outcomes including school failure, delinquency, and violence.

Persistent Parental Unemployment

Poverty among children is directly related to adult unemployment. Indeed, 24 million America children in 2003 had no parent in their household who worked a full-time job, year-round. Almost 4 million of those children lived in families where neither their parents nor any other adult worked in the past year (Casey Foundation,2005).

The Casey Foundation (2005, p. 6) list several "obstacles that impede parents from steady employment" and, thus, keep their children in poverty. These include

an inability to secure affordable and accessible child care,

low parental literacy levels,

limited transportation options that make if difficult for parents to commute to available jobs,

disincentives that strip government benefits from families when they become employed and earn wages,

parental substance abuse,

domestic violence,

a parental history of incarceration preventing them from securing a job, and

a parental history of mental health disabilities-especially depression.

Single-Parent Families

Second only to poverty, "children in single-parent families are at increased risk for academic failure; increased likelihood of dropping out of high school or becoming a teen parent; and increased levels of depression, stress, anxiety, and aggression" (Casey Foundation, 2005, p. 52). Thirty percent of American children live in single-parent households. Forty-two percent of children in female-headed households live in poverty compared to 9% of children living with married parents (Casey Foundation, 2005).

Single-parent homes are not just made up of unmarried mothers. Single fathers make up almost one in five single parents living with their children (U.S. Census Bureau, 2005). Research suggests that boys are less aggressive when a strong father or dominant male is in the home (Vaden-Kiernan, Ialongo, Pearson, & Kellam, 1995). But other factors such as the strength and consistency of parenting provided by the remaining adult, and a variety of other environmental and economic factors, can significantly lower the risk.

In addition, an increasing number of fathers (3.6 million in 2003) are staying home with the kids while Mom goes to work (U.S. Census Bureau, 2005). This is a 54% increase from 1986, and it reflects a new generation of dads who, unlike many of their fathers, believe it is important to play a primary role in the parenting of their children. Thus, teachers are seeing more and more dads at school and parent-teacher conferences.

Regardless of who is providing the parenting, strong parenting and a supportive environment, including the support offered by a child's school, is the key to positive academic and social outcomes for children.

Babies born premature and/or dysmature

A full-term pregnancy is between 37 and 41 weeks. Babies born 37 weeks or less after conception are considered preterm or premature. Those born between 35 and 37 weeks generally do well. Those born before 32 weeks are at risk for a variety of medical and developmental disabilities (Brown, 2004). According to Brown (2004), about 12% of all live births in the United States were born preterm in 2003 and represented a 13% increase from 1993. An additional variable for the increase in preterm births, according to Brown, was the increasing age of new mothers and the increased use of in vitro fertilization.

Also, 7.8% of babies born in the United States were classified as dysmature or low birthweight (less than 2,500 grams or 5.5 pounds) in 2002 (Casey Foundation, 2005). Infants born premature and/or dysmature are likely to be especially challenging for parents because of frequent crying, poor sleeping patterns, difficult to feed and, in general, to comfort. Crying behavior may be constant and irritating due to the high-pitched nature of the premature child's cry. It is no wonder that these infants are at high risk for maltreatment by caregivers, especially inexperienced, young parents.

Early childhood teachers need to understand that challenging behaviors associated with prematurity and dysmaturity will decrease as the infant develops beyond the normal 9th month of gestation. Patience, support from others, and a sense of humor will get most caregivers through this difficult time. The behavior of most children born prematurely will be consistent with their peers before their second birthday.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

First introduced in 1973 by Kenneth Jones and David Smith at the School of Medicine, University of Washington, the term fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) refers to the consumption of too much alcohol by the mother during pregnancy. It is one of the leading preventable causes of disabilities in young children (Fritz, 2000). May and Gossage (2005) estimate a prevalence rate of FAS of 5 to 20 cases per 10,000 births in the United States during the 1980s and 1990s. According to Chavez, Cordero, & Becerra (1989), incidences of FAS per 10,000 total births for different ethnic groups were as follows: Asians, 0.3; Hispanics, 0.8; whites, 0.9; blacks, 6.0; and Native Americans, 29.9.

The long-term detrimental consequences on these children may include permanent neurobehavioral and affective disorders and many other developmental disabilities (Randall, 2001). Fritz (2000) lists the following problems associated with children exposed to excessive alcohol in utero:

central nervous system abnormalities,

impaired motor skills,

behavior and cognitive abnormalities, and

various physical problems, including heart abnormalities, scoliosis, and hearing impairments.

Schonfeld, Mattson, Lang, Delis, and Riley (2001) documented significant deficits in verbal and nonverbal fluency among children with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure.

Lead poisoning

Although the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2002) reports that lead in the US. population has decreased by 68% between 1991 and 2002, lead poisoning is still "the most common environmental health problem affecting children in the United States" (Enders, Montgomery, & Welch, 2002, p. 20). Lead is a neurotoxic substance that is absorbed through the lungs and stomach. Lead poisoning is the accumulation of too much lead in the body after repeated exposure.

The most common sources of lead poisoning today include lead-based paint found in older homes; lead-laden dust and soil found around old buildings; and lead-based materials such as old plumbing systems, which affect water supplies (Enders et al., 2002). Interestingly, children absorb about half the lead they ingest, while adults absorb only 10%. In addition to their greater absorption rate, young children are at greatest risk from lead poisoning "because of the impact on (their) developing central nervous system" (Enders et al., 2002, p. 20). Children who have elevated lead levels demonstrate a variety of problems, including developmental disabilities and behavioral difficulties.

Child maltreatment

Child maltreatment, a generic term, may be used to describe physical abuse (20% of child maltreatment), sexual abuse (10%), neglect (60%), and emotional or psychological abuse (5%) (National Association of Counsel for Children (2005). More than 3 million cases of child maltreatment are reported in the United States each year. This figure compares to 1 million cases reported in 1980 (National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information, 2004).

Clearly, child maltreatment is the ultimate example of a dysfunctional interaction between caregivers and the children in their care. The study of child maltreatment allows researchers to understand the many and interacting variables associated with caregiver-child relationships and interaction patterns. These variables include social and cultural factors, environmental factors, characteristics of the caregiver (parent or early educator), and the characteristics of the child or victim (see Zirpoli, 1990, for a complete review of each of these factors).

Breaking the cycle of child maltreatment

Given the variables associated with child maltreatment, how can teachers and other caregivers help break the cycle? Some solutions require significant changes in national priorities and attitudes. Early educators, however, are in the best position to advocate for these changes.

First, we must put an end to the widespread tolerance of physical punishment of children. As professional educators, we can start in our own educational settings. Second, we must advocate a highest-priority status for children and the issues related to their protection and enrichment (physical, mental, and emotional). This stance means full funding for Head Start; the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program; and other effective programs that serve impoverished children. Third, we must ensure that all caregivers, regardless of background or income, have the appropriate, necessary community support to provide their children with a protecting, healthy, and enriching environment. Such support means that appropriate prenatal care for all women, appropriate medical care for all children, and quality early educational settings for all children are available, regardless of family income or ability to pay. These are sound investments for the future of our nation's children and for the future of our nation.
SBL achieves 1st position as best corporate in the Banking Sector

Economic Reporter :

Southeast Bank Limited has been awarded the First Position as the best Corporate in the Banking Sector (Private Bank-Traditional Operation) by "ICMAB Best Corporate Award-2015", said a press release.

The Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh (ICMAB) exhaustively analyzed the Bank's Annual Report -2015 and bestowed the prestigious award of the "First Position" for Bank's outstanding performance, encouraging financial results and indicators , sufficient disclosures for all stockholders and its commitment to quality Corporate Governance, and compliance of legal and regulatory requirements. Managing Director Shahid Hossain of Southeast Bank Limited received the award from Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith MP in a ceremony held on October 26, 2016 at a city hotel in Dhaka.

The Bank's operations are built upon unequivocal emphasis on effective corporate governance and its objective is to create, promote and build long-term company value.

The first and the highest priority of SEBL is to provide efficient services and maximum satisfaction to the customers. The Annual Report of the Bank contained enough disclosures and published Financial Statements complying with all applicable Accounting Standards. A team of efficient professionals manages the Bank, according to the press release.


Supreme Court reopens today



The Supreme Court (SC) will resume its regular function from today after 51-day vacation.

The apex court went to the vacation on September 9, leaving High Court vacation benches and one Appellate Division Chamber Judge court to deal with the emergency matters during the period.

Meanwhile, Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha has reconstituted 28 benches of the High Court, which will hear different cases from today.

The Chief Justice will also hold a courtesy meeting with the judges of the Supreme Court, Attorney General, leaders of Supreme Court Bar Counsel and lawyers today.

Supreme Court authority in an official release signed by its Registrar General Syed Aminul Islam urged all the people concerned to be present at the programme to be held from 10.30 am to 12 noon on the lawn inside the court building.
No need of dialogue over polls: Minister



Information Minister Hasanul Hug Inu on Saturday said there is no need of holding dialogues over the next polls.

"Dialogues are required when a crisis is created. At this moment, there is no crisis in Bangladesh over election," he said speaking as the chief guest at a prize giving ceremony and discussion meeting at Mirpur Women's Degree College.

Inu said currently Bangladesh is facing the problem of militancy in politics.

Now the issue is whether patron of militancy BNP chief Begum Khaleza Zia will do politics or not, he added.

The Information Minister blamed Begum Zia for taking the side of war criminals and militant activities of Hefazat-e-Islam.

Though she is wearing the mask of democracy, Begum Zia has proved herself as the chief patron of militants, he said and added that the BNP is a militant producing factory.

Presided over by Mirpur Women's Degree College Principal Maznur Rahman, the function also attended by Municipality Mayor Enamul Haq and Mirpur Upazila Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal President Almad Ali, among others.

Later, the minister inaugurated a new road from Mirpur Karimhat School crossing to Tilikkanda and another road beside the house of Bari Mandol.

He also inaugurated power connections to more than 200 families in Sriram village of Halsha union.
Murray to face Tsonga in Erste Bank Open final

World number two Andy Murray is through to the final of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna after Spain's David Ferrer pulled out with a leg injury.

The Briton, 29, will face France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who beat Croatian Ivo Karlovic 5-7 7-5 7-6 (8-6), on Sunday.Murray will usurp Novak Djokovic as number one with titles in Vienna and at next week's Paris Masters, if Djokovic does not reach the final in Paris.

The Scot has never been top of the world rankings.

Murray has won 13 of his 15 matches against Tsonga, including a last-16 victory in their most recent meeting at Wimbledon in July.

Tsonga came from a set and 4-2 down in the second set to beat Karlovic, saving a match point in the tie-break as he reached his first World Tour final of the year.




RANGPUR: CCC Mayor Sarfuddin Ahmed Jhantu addressing the launching ceremony of 13 schools for disabled and autistic children in Rangput as Chief Guest on Thursday.
Muktijuddher Bijoy Mela begins Dec 1

Chittagong Bureau :

A month-long 'Muktijuddher Bijoy Mela' (Victory Fair of Liberation War), commemorating the historical victory on December 16 of 1971, will begin from December 01 at Outer Stadium and MA Aziz Stadium premises in the port city.

The meeting of Muktijuddher Bijoy Mela Porishad was held at its chairman ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury's house on Friday evening. Addressing the meeting, former mayor of Chittagong City Corporation and president of Chittagong City Awami League Alhaj A B M Mohiuddin Chowdhury said, "it is the 28th Muktijuddher Bijoy Mela in Chittagong. We have to try maker the Muktijuddher Bijoy Mela colourful in the current year." He said, "the sprit of Muktijuddher Bijoy Mela which started from Chittagong in 1989 and spread in the country and united the people for the sprit of liberation war in the country. As a result, the pro-liberation forces led by Awami League are ruling the country."

Chairman of Mela Porishad A B M Mohiuddin Chowdhury said, "we are arranging the Bijoy Mela since 1989. We are arranging the mela in the current year for being united with the sprit of victory of liberation war of 1971. In the current year, we call upon the people to be united for the trial of war criminals. "

The leaders of the Muktijuddher Bijoy Mela Porishad including its secretary general Mohammed Younus also addressed the meeting. It may be mentioned that 'Muktijuddher Bijoy Mela' Parishad headed by former Chittagong City Mayor Alhaj A B M Mohiuddin Chowdhury had been organizing the fair in the Chittagong Stadium area for the last 27 years.
Bill Gates says his children are 'proud' of his pledge to leave $70b

International Business Times :

Bill Gates has revealed that his children are entirely supportive of his plans to leave his $70bn fortune to charity when he dies.

The Microsoft founder said that contrary to speculation that his three children might be put out at his decision, they are in fact very "proud" of their father's commitment to

eradicating poverty through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Appearing on ITV's This Morning with Holly Willoughby and guest presenter Ben Shepherd, in a rare TV interview he opened up about his family's reaction to his pledge to leave his fortune to the world's poorest communities.

He explained that his children have seen the work that is done by the foundation first-hand and are fully supportive of their father's noble philanthropic ambitions. "This money is dedicated to helping the poorest," he explained. "They know that, they are proud of that, they go on trips with us to see the work that's being done."
Scandal-hit S Korean President Geun-hye urged to quit

BBC Online :

Thousands of people have rallied in Seoul, demanding the resignation of South Korean President Park Geun-hye. The protest comes after Ms Park ordered 10 of her

senior advisers to quit after admitting she had allowed an old friend to edit political speeches.

Choi Soon-sil, who holds no government job, is also suspected of meddling in policy-making and exploiting her links with the president for financial gain.

On Saturday, prosecutors raided the homes of several presidential aides.

They seized computers and files belonging to the officials who are suspected of being Ms Choi's accomplices.

Police said about 8,000 protesters took to the streets on Saturday evening. Organisers said some 20,000 people turned out. Many held posters reading "Step down, Park Geun-hye". "Park has lost her authority as president and showed she doesn't have the basic qualities to govern a country," position politician Jae-myung Lee was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.

Ms Park's televised apology over the scandal last week failed to defuse the situation, only sparking widespread accusations of mismanagement.

The scandal has badly eroded her popularity before next year's elections, with some opposition parties calling on her to resign.
5 `robbers` killed in `gunfights`

UNB, Dhaka :

Five suspected robbers were killed in separate 'gunfights' with members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and police in Chittagong and Kushtia districts early Saturday.

Identities of the deceased were not confirmed yet.

In Chittagong, three suspected robbers were killed in a 'gunfight' with members of Rab at Nijampur on Dhaka-Chittagong

highway in Mirersorai upazila early in the morning.

Assistant superintendent of police Chandan Debnath, who is also the assistant director of Rab-7, said on a tip-off that a gang of robbers was taking preparation to commit robbery in the area by placing logs on the highway, a team of the elite force launched a drive there at about 3.00am.

Sensing the presence of the Rab members, the robbers opened fire at them, prompting the elite force to retaliate that triggered a gunfight.

Three members of the robber gang were caught in the line of fire and injured while other members of the gang managed to flee from the scene.

The injured were taken to the upazila health complex where doctors declared them dead.

Two Rab members were also injured during the gunfight.

The Rab members also recovered two shooter guns and three foreign pistols from the scene.

In Kushtia, two suspected robbers were killed in a 'gunfight' with police at Gobindagunia in Mirpur upazila early in the morning.
Govt to purchase Chevron`s stakes

Anisul Islam Noor :

The government has decided to purchase Chevron Bangladesh's stakes after an independent assessment on it, sources of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources said.

The executives of Chevron recently informed the ministry that they want to leave Bangladesh by selling it.

Getting government's direction the sate owned Petrobangla decided to assess independently the assets and liabilities of Chevron Bangladesh before making any decision over buying its local stakes, sources said.

Petrobangla has decided to appoint an international consultant to assess the actual strength of Chevron Bangladesh in terms of its assets and liabilities, said Istiaque Ahmad, Petrobangla chairman.

A number of global firms, including Indian Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Hong Kong-listed United Energy Group Ltd, are in talks to purchase Chevron Bangladesh's natural gas assets, industry insiders said.

The US oil producer has been divesting assets to counter an energy-price slump. Chevron has been seeking around $2 billion from sale of natural gas assets in Bangladesh, they added.

Another Petrobangla official said the organisation intends to carry out an independent review of Chevron Bangladesh's assets, as it has 'little' faith on the IOC's asset review, which it submits to Petrobangla periodically under contract terms.

Chevron Bangladesh might have exaggerated asset evaluation in its reports submitted to Petrobangla, he added.

Officials said the US energy giant was initially eyeing to sell majority of its stakes in Bangladesh operations by retaining the operatorship of all three onshore gas-fields.

The company is already in talks with several potential buyers over its planned sale of Bangladesh stakes, but is yet to reach any deal in this regard. Petrobangla is the supervising authority of Chevron's operations in Bangladesh's oil and gas sector. According to the existing agreements between Chevron Bangladesh and Petrobangla, the company will not be able to sell or hand over its stakes to any company without prior approval of Petrobangla.

Chevron is currently the largest producer of natural gas in the country, delivering around 1,538 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of natural gas.

It accounts for over 56.50 per cent of the country's total supply of 2,684 mmcfd from three of its onshore gas-fields Bibiyana, Jalalabad and Moulvi Bazar located in blocks 12, 13 and 14 respectively in Sylhet region, according to Petrobangla's recent data.

The company has separate production-sharing contracts (PSCs) with Petrobangla for three of its gas-fields and none of these will expire before 2028. Chevron started supplying natural gas commercially from Bibiyana gas-field from March 2007 with an initial production capacity of 250 mmcfd after an initial investment of $200 million.

Chevron Bangladesh is currently getting around $2.76 per mcf (1,000 cubic feet) for gas from Bibiyana.
Bodies of mom, minor girl found in same place

Police still clueless

Staff Reporter :

Police are still in dark to unearth the clue of the two sensational murders within a week in Gouripur upazila under Mymensingh district.

Even they have failed to ascertain identities of the victims who believed to be mother and daughter, police sources said.

Bodies of the victims were found in a beel of the area.

Police on Friday recovered a decomposed body of a woman from Baleshwar Beel (water body) under the Ramgopalpur Union of Gouripur upazila in the district.

On October 21, they also recovered an unknown body of a minor girl from the same beel.

According to police and locals, the woman was violated and burned to death by unidentified miscreants who later dumped the body into the beel.

Locals also believed the deceased were mother and daughter.

Confirming the incidents, Delwar Ahmed, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Gouripuir Police Station told The New Nation on Saturday that both the incidents have created panic among the people in the area.

"We are yet to find any clue behind the murders and also could not confirm identities of the deceased," he said.

"We are yet to ascertain the relationship between the two. But a rumor has been spread in the area they could be mother and daughter," the OC said.

When asked, Delwar Ahmed said the miscreants might have burned of the body of the woman so that nobody could identify her. "Autopsies of the bodies have already been completed. Samples were also collected for DNA and forensic tests to ascertain the relationship of the two recovered bodies and whether the woman was violated before the murder," he added. The OC, however, said that they were investigating into the incidents with utmost sincerity to unearth the motive behind the killings.


Gulistan clash centering extortion

2,506 hawkers to be rehabilitated soon

Staff Reporter :

The city Corporations authorities have failed to evict hawkers from the city's footpaths despite repeated attempts in recent days, because the vendors continue their trade paying money.



There are around 3.5 lakh shops on the city's footpaths, and they pay Tk three crore as subscription per day, say leaders of different hawkers' associations in the capital.



The money goes into the pockets of a section of police officials, and some leaders of the ruling party and its front organisations through 'linemen, they alleged.



Of the shops, 3,500 are in Gulistan, Baitul Mukarram and Paltan areas, and they pay Tk 28 lakh "extortion money" per day, claimed Kamal Siddiqui, president of Bangladesh Chhinnamul Hawkers Samity (BCHS).



The hawkers have to pay between Tk 50 to Tk 500 every day depending on the size and location of their stalls.



"Our income would have gone away if we had not given them extortion money, the BCHS president said.



Contacted, Md Masudur Rahman, Deputy Commissioner (media) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said it is not fair to hold police fully responsible.



"If we get any specific accusation, we will take action against those officials who will be found involved in such illegal practice," he said.



Asked about the allegation that ruling party men are involved in extorting money from hawkers, Shah Alam Murad, General Secretary of Dhaka City South Awami League, said he didn't know anything about it.



He said some of the party men might have been involved in it, but none from his unit.



Meanwhile, Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Mayor Sayeed Khokon on Saturday said around 2,506 listed street hawkers of Gulistan area will be rehabilitated in a vacant place adjacent to Mohanagar Natya Mancha.



"Illegal structures, shops and street hawkers will be evicted from footpaths and roads of the area soon," said the DSCC mayor.



The decision of the rehabilitation has been taken at a meeting with councillors at Nagar Bhaban, he said.



The mayor also sought help from the Dhaka Metropolitan Police for the eviction and rehabilitation process. "We'll fix a time soon for their rehabilitation after discussions with the police administration," said Khokon.



Terming Thursday's clash between street hawkers and DSCC staff unexpected, he said no mismanagement in this regard will be tolerated and strict actions will be taken if such incident takes place again.



On Thursday, a clash between hawkers and staff of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) broke out during an eviction drive in Gulistan area.



Wielding firearms, some ruling party men joined the clash that began when a Dhaka South City corporation (DSCC) team went to the underpass market in Gulistan to remove illegal makeshift shops from its pavements.



The ruling party men fired blank shots during the clash. Around 300 shops on footpaths were vandalised.



During a visit to Gulistan area yesterday, hawkers were seen repairing their shops on footpaths.



Some of them said the DSCC team went there to evict shops from the pavements of the underpass market, not their stalls on footpaths. Their stalls were damaged though they were not involved in the clash.



Seeking anonymity, a DSCC official said the city corporation evicted hawkers from footpaths in several drives in Gulistan area over the last six months. But most of them returned and occupied footpaths and roads again with the help of a section of police officers and some local political leaders.
TIB can`t be so wrongly and so baselessly biased against World Bank

WORLD Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim, concluding a two-day trip to Bangladesh on October 18 pledged $2 billion over the next three years in new funding to help the country become less vulnerable to climate change.



Executive Director of TIB Bangladesh Chapter went out of his way to justify his claim not to accept the World Bank loan because the developed countries should give us compensation for the damage they are doing to the climate.



It is common sense that everyone wants to do business with another country, tries to be friendly and find something to praise. Mr Kim also praised the country's success in reducing extreme poverty. Although, the fact remains that various private bodies, including some international ones, are playing an important role in fighting extreme poverty in Bangladesh.



Kim made the pledge after touring schools that double as cyclone shelters during major storms. He also visited rural communities in more remote locations that are enjoying the benefits of electricity in their homes and shops through solar systems as part of the country's green-growth agenda. Kim met with rural residents who told him that electricity has helped transform their lives, improved their livelihoods and built infrastructure for the entire community.



The World Bank is essentially giving us money as loan, not a grant, and it has to be repaid with interest like any other loan from any country or agency. The developed countries are contributing much more carbon emissions than developing countries. But that does not mean we do not add to downgrading the environment.

Like any loan from any country including China, the WB pledged loan is also repayable with interest. It is nothing new. Mr Iftekharuzzaman, however, agreed that the interest the World Bank charge is lower compared to others giving us loan. Connecting compensation from rich countries cannot be the reason why Bangladesh government will take help from World Bank for doing our part in improving climate condition. Let TIB, as promised, fight for us in collecting compensation for climate damage if it can.






Allegation of crimes against police rising alarmingly

Sagar Biswas :

Anyone can be victimized anytime - from student to businessman - in false narcotics or arms cases. Sometimes they appear in the guise of law enforcers, sometimes as police sources while sometimes the genuine members of police force come out for the showoff! Their motto is the same -- looting money from general people's pocket by implicating them in various false cases, especially arms possessing and drug dealing.



Recently, a news clip of a private television channel went viral in the social media where it was seen that a corrupt police official along with his accomplice brought false charge of drug dealing against a businessman by putting a pack of Yaba in the shop. The whole episode was recorded in a secret camera and so, it becomes talk of the town.



It sent red signal to the administrative circle when the teen-aged son of a senior assistant secretary was caught by the police for carrying drugs [forcibly putting Yaba in his pocket] in the city's Kafrul area on January 17. Police reportedly had demanded a large sum of money for his release. Just within a week, the police demanded Taka 2.5 lakh from a businessman applying same technique at Uttara.



Not long ago, a Dhaka University Professor was harassed by police spreading some Yaba pills in his room saying that we have found `drugs' in your possession.



This is just a tip of the iceberg. This is nothing new. There are several identical incidents. The police have been running 'arrest business' implicating general people in different drug cases putting Yaba, phensidyl, marijuana and others in their pockets. And all are these going on allegedly under direct patronization of a section of police officials for many days. Several fake policemen, sources and professional criminals have been arrested in the meantime. Series of reports have been published in the newspapers while television channels aired dozens of footages revealing the crimes. But nothing has changed.



The allegations are not new that often to hold one as offender of serious crime, weapons are shown to have been found in his body or where he resides.



The alarming thing is that, these types of crimes are not only occurring in the capital city Dhaka, but also taking place in different districts, even in the remote areas. Sometimes, the police were found involved in snatching, robbery and dacoity. Police in the recent times arrested several gangs of fake policemen and recovered arms, walkie-talkie, uniforms, jackets of detective branch and identity cards from their possession.



It seems the situation went beyond the control of police high-ups. We haven't heard of taking any tough action against the criminal activities. It is certainly tarnishing the image of law enforcement agencies. No doubt, the police officials, who have been discharging their duties in high reputation, are now afraid of image crisis.

Some persons have been arrested by police who committed crimes of extorting mostly by pretending to be police or police officials.



In such situation, a symbiotic mutually beneficial relationship develops between the three: that is politicians, police and criminal elements. Criminalization of police becomes essential due to criminalization of politics. In course of time, the bonds become stronger. It becomes difficult for them to survive without the help of the other. Here, the politicians reach a particular stature and develop a clout. The corrupt politicians dictate terms to police where the criminal elements remain highly protected.



The conduct of police killing in crossfire and power to arresting anybody on mere suspicion of being terrorists are abused extensively. Trust in police must be maintained by rigorously dealing with each crime. Strict discipline must be followed. Police are law enforcers, not users of arbitrary power.


The Undead Archives

I have finally salvaged my pre-Blogger TDR archives and added them into Blogger. They are almost totally in the form of one giant post for each month. And the formatting strayed from the originals. Sorry. But historians everywhere can rejoice that this treasure trove of my thoughts is restored to the world.
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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.
OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi -- Enthusiastic and better-than-expected crowds greeted Ocean Springs' first Veterans Day Parade in 89 years.

Some 80 units, including veterans of every major U.S. conflict since World War II, rode through the downtown area on the city's traditional parade route. American flags were everywhere -- in front of shops, on the floats and cars, and waved by the spectators.

Sponsored by American Legion Post 42 in Ocean Springs, the parade featured floats, marching units, active duty personnel, motorcycles and an array of other entries. The parade stopped briefly in front of the Mary C. O'Keefe Cultural Arts Center, where flowers were placed at the memorial for Emile Ladnier -- Ocean Springs' only resident killed during World War I.

Residents lined the streets, with calls of "thank you" ringing out as both retired and active duty veterans passed.

Post 42 Chaplain and Vice Commander Ivan McAllister served as Grand Marshal. Also riding at the front of the parade were Cmdr. Ronald Jenkins, Executive Officer of the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport, and Ocean Springs Mayor Connie Moran.
Edward Snowden videoconferenced with a journalism roundtable at Editors Lab participants at Suddeutsche Zeitung (home of the Panama Papers) about the effect of state surveillance on a free press.

The whistleblowing ex-NSA contractor told the journalists that while cryptographic tools are excellent at preventing mass surveillance, people who are personally targeted by state surveillance  like investigative journalists hoping to hold their governments to account  are in "an arms race you simply cannot win."

Rather than relying exclusively on technical countermeasures, Snowden says journalists must "be as adversarial as possible" in lobbying for strong curbs on surveillance with democratic accountability for spy agencies.



In order to control the risk he was taking, Snowden explains, "I set out to devise a system in which I could mitigate those risks to the maximum extent possible by imitating the model of checks and balances that was supposed to exist in the United States government." In order for Snowden to grant journalists access to the documents he believed would "demonstrate criminal activities that had occurred within government" two essential conditions needed to be met in his ad-hoc check-and-balance system. First, every story needed to serve the public interest "in a democratic context"  "that is wasn't just newsy".

Second, news organisations needed to approach the government in advance of publication, not for a veto, but to explain what they were planning to write, why they were planning to write it and to see if they understood the story fully. The journalists also needed to ask if they were going too far and putting individuals at risk, i.e. revealing an agent behind enemy lines.

Snowden: Journalists can't win surveillance arms race against NSA; they

have to lobby for privacy-protecting policies [Sarah Toporoff/Medium]
Looking at the world through the eyes of the Web
ABCNews.com(ORLANDO, Fla.) -- President Obama made no direct mention in an Orlando rally Friday night about the October surprise roiling Hillary Clintons campaign, instead he cautioned voters to not kick back and think that we got this thing won.



This has been a volatile race. It's been a volatile election. Folks are in a volatile mood, Obama said. And you know the media stories go up and down, and there's a lot of noise and sometimes it's hard for folks to sort out what's right and wrong, what's true, what's false, which is why the other guy can just say what he wants.



Obama said while it looks like Clinton is currently holding a lead in the polls, voters shouldnt turn into Usain Bolt.



I want you to run through the tape, Obama said. I don't want you to do an Usain Bolt and look back, all smiling, because politics isn't like track and field.



A White House aide told ABC News on Thursday that the president will spend almost every day on the campaign trail in the final week leading up to Election Day, campaigning both for Clinton and down-ballot Democrats.



Obama used the rally to voice his support for Florida Senate candidate Patrick Murphy, who is in a tight race with Sen. Marco Rubio in the state. The president took direct aim at Rubio over his continued support for Donald Trump.



You cant support somebody who brags about assaulting women," Obama said.



Hitting a theme common in many of his rallies and interviews, Obama again hit Trump for what he says is his lack of willingness to "do the homework" required to be president.



You dont want the slacker as your president," Obama said. "You want somebody who works hard and is actually gonna do the job.

Copyright  2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
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.
MARION  Its a week and a half before Election Day, and Williamson County Clerk and Recorder Amanda Barnes is feeding ballots into machines called ES&S M100s  precinct scanners that tabulate votes.

County polling officials are required by law to hold public tests of voting system hardware ahead of every election. Barnes is making sure the machines catch mistakes on the ballots.

If you undervote a certain office  the state offices  the machine will beep, alerting the voters that theyve undervoted, Barnes explains. Were testing for undervotes, overvotes  everything.

Once all the ballots are tabulated, the machines print out receipts with vote totals for each race. Next, staff members remove the memory cards from the machines.

These are what the judges bring back on Election Night, Barnes said, holding up one of the memory cards. They pop them out of their machine, bring them to the courthouse, and then we upload them to our system.

The clerks office has already conducted this test several times in the run-up to Election Day, and there are other safeguards in place to ensure that the scanners are working correctly, including randomized state testing and testing by the software manufacturer.

We dont want any last-minute stuff. We test everything.  And then, you always have the paper ballot at the end of the day, if theres any question, Barnes says.

For federal elections, the county clerks office retains paper ballots through two federal elections in case theres a request for a recount. After that, the clerk must get permission from the state to dispose of them.

Allegations of voter fraud

In recent weeks, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has repeatedly alleged that the U.S. election is rigged and has refused to say whether he will accept the results on Nov. 8. But experts say voter fraud is extremely rare.

Ken Menzel, general counsel for the Illinois State Board of Elections, said his office has received a number of calls from voters expressing concerns about the possibility of a rigged election.

He said he cant speak to the medias treatment of candidates, but the states vote tabulation equipment is thoroughly tested to meet federal standards, and theres almost no chance its faulty.

Through the years, each election in the state has generated some small number of individual contests for offices that have generated recount requests, but none has ever revealed any problem with the tabulation equipment in Illinois, Menzel said.

Touchscreen machines do sometimes need to be recalibrated after theyre shipped. If a touchscreen doesnt seem to be properly reflecting your choices in the voting booth, you should report it to an election official, Menzel said.

Trump has also publicly called on supporters to sign up as poll observers in order to stop Crooked Hillary from rigging this election.

Menzel said that candidates in political parties have long had the ability to enlist the help of poll watchers, but he hopes that Trumps supporters undergo proper training.

I dont think anyone in the election administration business has a problem with poll watchers in general, but they should be trained as to watch they should be looking for, what they need to be looking for. They should be familiar with their rights as poll watchers  and they should behave in a way that adds to the credibility of poll watching, he said.

Poll watchers shouldnt target certain groups in order to suppress their votes or otherwise try to prevent registered, eligible voters from voting, Menzel said.
News / Africa

by Stephen Jakes

Newly elected Norton Legislator Temba Mliswa has described 92-year-old President Robert Mugabe as being a bad leader.This was after the nonagenarian leader started playing a blame game when Zanu-PF lost an election in Norton for the first time after independence.Mliswa beat Zanu PF candidate Ronald Chindedza by 8 927 votes to 6 192 votes.President Robert Mugabe lamented the lose and blamed the leaders for the failure instead of congratulating Mliswa."Mugabe is such a bad leader, complaining after an election loss that his party's candidate is a thief and was imposed," Mliswa tweeted.
News / Africa

by Stephen Jakes

Residents in Glen Norah C Extension have reportedly gone for four days without electricity amid fears of the possible muggings and robberies.Harare Residents Trust indicated that residents of Glen Norah C Extension have gone for four days without electricity since Monday 24 October 2016."ZESA has responded that, We have a cable fault affecting Glen Norah C Extension this would require location, digging up and the works to join the cable, hence restoration will take a bit longer than an ordinary fault," said the trust.
Local lawmakers say South Carolinas challenges arent a secret, but the state doesnt have the leadership it needs to address them.

The issues basically are education, jobs and infrastructure, said Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg. You can boil them down to those three things and theyre all interconnected.

You cant have good, quality jobs if you dont have the workforce to work those jobs. Youre not going to recruit the industries coming here if you dont have the infrastructure, he said.

Hutto and other lawmakers spoke Friday at the Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerces Legislative Delegation Breakfast.

He said leadership in state has been absent in addressing the issues.

We go there every session knowing what the issues are, knowing what the needs are and we cannot convince our leadership, Hutto said.

Rep. Jerry Govan, D-Orangeburg, agreed that the state has not addressed education issues.

What it boils down to is a lack of vision and a lack of leadership, Govan said. We really dont have an overarching plan to address the key issues.

Its sad in my mind  when it takes a tragedy, or a storm or other things of that nature to draw our attention to critical needs of the community, he said.

Roads

Sen. John Matthews, D-Bowman, said The size of our roads issue exceeds the capacity of the revenue coming in to fix them and keep it up.

The only way to do that on a sustained basis where you can do a long-term plan is to do a gas tax, he said.

Rep. Russell Ott, D-St. Matthews, agreed. He noted, We havent raised the gas tax in South Carolina since 1987.

Hutto said the state does not have a gas tax or road system that matches surrounding states.

Theres no way around it, he said.

Ott added that 33 percent of the gas purchased in South Carolina is purchased by out-of-state drivers.

Increasing the gas tax is not going to be the long-term solution to fixing the roads, he said.

I believe that it is going to have to be a combination of things that we would have to look at doing to have a sustainable funding source, Ott said.

I dont want to see us rely too heavily on that gas tax like I think we currently do, he said. If we do, I think well be in the same fix that we currently are somewhere else down the road.

Hutto suggested placing a toll on I-95.

We cant solve all of the problems with that, but we can at least solve I-95, he said.

Hutto said the interstate sees travelers between New York and Florida every day.

I can recall at one time that South Carolina had one of the loveliest and bragged-about interstate systems, Govan added.

He said it comes down to what people are willing to pay for because theres no such thing as a free lunch.

We have heard in the past that people are able to support an increase in the gas tax as long as there is an offsetting tax decrease somewhere else, Ott said. It has to come from somewhere.

Studying taxes

Lawmakers are expected to re-examine 2006s property tax-relief package.

We as a state said the number one priority for us is property tax relief, said Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg.

We decided we wanted to give property tax relief to people who owned $100,000 homes, she said.

She said it became a tax shift instead of a tax relief, with the tax burden passed to small businesses.

It pretty much didnt affect much of the area we represent because much of the area we represent doesnt live in $100,000 houses, Hutto said. Were not really impacting the vast majority of the people we represent.

Cobb-Hunter said the act will have to be reviewed to make changes.

Hutto said money is available to lawmakers without increasing taxes. In particular, he mentioned sales tax exemptions.

There are other things that we need to do, Ott said. We have the opportunity considering that tourism is such a large industry in the state of South Carolina.

Ott said the state is holding itself back by not allowing casinos.

I understand the argument. I understand that there are a lot of folks out there that have a moral issue with it, he said. I dont understand how you can have a moral issue with that but not a moral issue with the lottery in the state of South Carolina.

I dont see the difference in that and a casino in Myrtle Beach, he said.

Healthcare and education

Were about to enter what I call a healthcare desert between Charleston and Columbia, Matthews said. Hospitals have closed in Bamberg and Barnwell, and could in other counties.

Lawmakers are attempting to change the Regional Medical Centers designation from an urban to rural hospital, Matthews said.

Rural hospitals get 100 percent reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid while urban hospitals only see around 40 to 47 percent, he said.

Matthews said college access and affordability is becoming a problem.

There is a squeeze on middle-class families, he said.

When you look at the long-term trends and needs of our economy  by 2030, we need to have 30 percent of our adult population between 18 and 45 to have at least a four-year degree, he said.

Matthews said 52 percent of the workforce also needs at least some type of post-high school training or a two-year technical degree.

If were going to grow this economy, an efficient, well-trained workforce is key, Matthews said. Were a long way from that.

Fridays event was sponsored by Cox Industries and presented by AT&T. Cox President and CEO Mikee Johnson moderated the event.
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

Mthwakazi Republic Party leader Mqondisi Moyo has said all the policies which have been implemented by the ruling Zanu PF in Zimbabwe have never benefited Mthwakazi people."All these so called policies by the government of Zimbabwe have not benefited our Mthwakazi people instead they all continued to relegate our people to poverty and continued suffering," said Moyo."We can briefly look at them one by one starting with ESAP, this was the first step by Zanu PF government to de-industrialize Bulawayo which used to be the industrial hub. It was further neccessiated by the recent relocation of industries from Bulawayo to Harare thereby killing the set up put by the whites who had realised that Bulawayo was the industrial and production City yet Harare was for the administrative."Moyo said Indeginisation and black empowerment was a policy largely misunderstood by Mthwakazi people for it meant to be a Shona empowering program not Ndebele."At this stage we see the Zanu PF government plundering and looting Mthwakazi resources and infrastructure in the name of Indeginisation and black empowerment. Land grabs and resettlement, it was a second moment of madness where Zanu PF made it sure that the arrangement will leave shonas better settled than Ndebele," he said."This whereby the land is continuously taken from the Ndebeles and given to Shonas under the disguise of a clause in the new constitution which says Zimbabwe is a Unitary state yet we know Mthwakazi people are not benefiting from it in anyway. Instead the clause was created following Shona contributions during the constitutional making process to further penetrate Mthwakazi."He said Mthwakazi people contributed and brought in a clause on Devolution of power, and the parties from Mashonaland have failed to recognize it starting with their mentor party Zanu PF, MDC T, Mavambo Kusile, PDP, Zimbabwe People First and other Shona small parties."All these Harare led parties sing from the same hymn book which says Devolution of Power will further divide the country," said Moyo."The million dollar question is ,was Zimbabwe not divided by Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF being assisted by British? Unleashing Gukurahundi genocide on our people on disguise that they were looking for dissidents. The dissidents who were a creation of Zanu PF government to justify a war against unarmed citizens of mthwakazi. This is further justified by the fact that the Gukurahundi atrocities started right in the border of Mthwakazi and Zimbabwe that is Midlands.""Back to the policy of land invasion and resettlement, I quote Joshua Nkomo on his letter he wrote to Robert Mugabe whilst in exile in London on 7 June 1983 -Page 11 of the letter Point no 69 Reads" All these schemes were in the spirit of what I had discussed with you in December, 1981.""I had made it plain to you Prime Minister, when I met you in your official residence; that your resettlement policy was a national disaster, and you agreed with me. These schemes were meant to represent practical approach models, to both rural and peri-urban resettlement, that would embrace everybody and not just a few who are said to ' qualify'.""What baffles me even more, is that , you said all the above when you knew that less than two months prior to your Marondera meeting, I had offered my self to take over your Ministry of Lands and Resettlement in an effort to assist you and through you, the country to make a success of its most vital development programme. You turned down my offer, saying I was too old to handle that Ministry, however you said you would invite me to be one of the members of a resettlement Ministerial Committee you were about to institute. To you all this meant plotting," Nkomo wrote in his letter to Mugabe.Moyo said these words by Nkomo clearly indicate that Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF party had no clear land policy hence stammered in Britain when he was asked about his policies instead said he wanted to rule and that is what has been doing since 1980."There is a difference between Ruling and Governance. It also reflects the inconsistencies of Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF whom I have regarded as always indicating Right whenever turning Left. On the issue of Home link, we know that Gideon Gono failed dismally during his tenure as the Governor of Reserve Bank," he said."Latter it came the more disastrous current Zim Asset named Blue Print Policy of 2013 before July 31 election. it is in this policy document where Zanu PF had promised 2000 000 jobs but alas thousands and thousands of people have lost their jobs countrywide with the government failing to provide even a tenth of the Promised 2000 000 jobs."He said instead we have seen Robert Mugabe creating jobs for his son in law, his daughter and as well his close family members and associates."One of the few policies that the Zanu PF government had successfully implemented since 1980, is the 1979 Grandplan. A Satanic policy. The 1982-1987 Gukurahundi Policy which yielded its intended results of masacrering more than 20 000 of our innocent souls. The grand plan is still being implemented to this period but now it is in another form of Economic Genocide and continued displacement of our people," he said."The recent case being Khezi-Maphisa Arda Saga where 26 parents were arrested for defending their forefather's land. Fear is continuously being instilled on our people not to raise their heads to fight and defend their territories which have been invaded by shonas. Another reference case being the Mlamuli case in Lupane where four parents are still to be tried for exercising their constitutional right, to defend the rights and the education of their children."He said Zanu PF government has also managed to successfully implement the selective application rule of law policy against our Mthwakazi people."This dates back to early days of Zimbabwe independence when Dr Dumiso Dabengwa and Lookout Khalisabantu Qaphela Masuku were incarcerated for the treason charge they did not commit until Masuku died in Prison," Moyo said."This selective application rule of law policy has continued up to this day to our people. Sithi kubancindezeli bethu lilibambe lingatshoni, kude lapho esivela khona lani, kodwa sokuseduze ukuthi siyefika lapho esiyakhona singasahambi lani."
A blog for students in my introductory classes in government, and any interested passersby. You'll find news items and random stories that illustrate any of the topics we cover in class. Special attention will be paid to the constitutional issues associated with contemporary issues and disputes. Feel free to send me stories you find important. Please note that due to spam, I'm limiting the ability of people to comment on these pages. My apologies.
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Djibouti intends to send its pilots and engineers for trainings in Azerbaijan, Aboubaker Omar Hadi, chairman of Djibouti Ports and Free Zone Authority (DGZ), said in an interview with Trend October 28.

He said Djibouti intends to develop relations with Azerbaijan in the field of transport and establish cooperation between Air Djibouti and Azerbaijan Airlines CJSC (AZAL).

A meeting was held with AZAL management in the Baku Heydar Aliyev International Airport, he added. We intend to send our pilots and engineers to train and attend various courses in the Azerbaijani Aviation Academy. Azerbaijan has a very good Aviation Academy, training the world-class specialists.

He added that Azerbaijan and Djibouti have also agreed to develop other areas of cooperation.

Our cooperation is very multifaceted, however, it is too early to talk about opening of a direct flight, he said.
Azerbaijan's Minister of Economy Shahin Mustafayev, who is on a visit in Tbilisi, has met with Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili.





President Margvelashvili hailed good bilateral relations between the two countries, pointing to strategic partnership of Azerbaijan and Georgia. He expressed his confidence that such meetings will contribute to the development of bilateral relations in all fields and the further strengthening of both countries' strategic partnership. President Giorgi Margvelashvili noted that his country attaches great importance to cooperation with Azerbaijan.





Shahin Mustafayev conveyed greetings of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister Artur Rasizade to the Georgian head of state.





The Azerbaijani Minister congratulated the Georgian President as the country successfully held parliamentary elections. Mustafayev expressed his confidence that these elections will contribute to the improvement of welfare of the people and further development of democracy in the country.





They also discussed cooperation between the two countries in political, economic and defense fields.





Azerbaijani Ambassador to Georgia Azer Huseyn and other officials were present at the meeting.
Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev congratulated his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Turkeys Republic Day.

On behalf of the people of Azerbaijan and on my own behalf, I am honored to extend my sincere congratulations to you and through you to friendly people of Turkey on the occasion of the national holiday  Republic Day, President Aliyev said in a congratulatory message.

The Republic of Turkey courageously overcame a military coup attempt directed against its constitution, statehood and democracy on July 15, President Aliyev said. Turkey once again clearly demonstrated its commitment to the democratic path and added one of the most glorious pages to its history.

Azerbaijan, which is always close to Turkey, lived through all the pains of that terrible night and experienced the fraternal peoples victory along with you, President Aliyev said. I am confident that the constantly growing alliance and partnership between Azerbaijan and Turkey, our fraternal relations will continue to contribute to the progress of our countries and the welfare of our peoples, establishing peace and stability in our region.

On this remarkable occasion, I congratulate and wish you robust health, success in your activity, and peace and prosperity to fraternal Turkish people, the president said.
Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou has described Azerbaijan as an important country in the South Caucasus.





Speaking at a reception organized by the Azerbaijani Embassy in Beijing to mark the 25th anniversary of the restoration of Azerbaijan`s state independence, he said Azerbaijan made great strides under the leadership of outstanding statesman Heydar Aliyev and President Ilham Aliyev. Azerbaijan has attracted world attention, he said, adding that as a true friend, China is happy for Azerbaijans achievements.





Xuanyou hailed bilateral and multilateral cooperation between Azerbaijan and China. He said presidents Ilham Aliyev and Xi Jinping defined strategic plans for the development of relations between the two countries when the Azerbaijani leader visited China last year.





He also said Azerbaijan was an important country on the Silk Road, expressing China`s readiness for all-round cooperation with Azerbaijan under The Silk Road Economic Belt initiative.





Azerbaijani ambassador Latif Qandilov highlighted the independence history of Azerbaijan.





Chairman of Azerbaijan Railways Javid Gurbanov stressed the importance of the restoration of independence to the people of Azerbaijan. He said Azerbaijan has become the regional leader and earned big influence on the international scale under President Ilham Aliyev.





The reception was attended by Chinese government officials, representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in Beijing, Azerbaijanis residing in China, as well as Chinese local public.
Over the past 24 hours, Armenias armed forces have 31 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, said Azerbaijans Defense Ministry Oct. 29.

The Azerbaijani army positions located in Bala Jafarli village of the Gazakh district and Kokhanabi village of the Tovuz district of Azerbaijan underwent fire from the Armenian army positions located in the Vazashen village of the Ijevan district and on nameless heights of the Berd district of Armenia.

The Azerbaijani army positions also underwent fire from the Armenian positions located near the Armenian-occupied Chilaburt, Goyarkh villages of Azerbaijans Tartar district, Sarijali village of the Aghdam district, Gorgan, Garakhanbayli villages of the Fuzuli district, Mehdili village of the Jabrayil district, as well as from the positions located on nameless heights of the Goranboy 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.
Uzbekistans Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov received US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon, Jr., who arrived in Tashkent, the Uzbek Foreign Ministrys press service said in a message.

The sides discussed current state and prospects of bilateral relations in political, trade and economic, cultural and humanitarian and other spheres, according to the message.

Kamilov and Shannon also exchanged views on cooperation in the C5+1 format, specific issues of the international and regional agenda.

US Ambassador Pamela Leora Spratlen also took part in the discussions.

As it was reported earlier, Shannon arrived in Tashkent as part of his visit to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan Oct. 24-29.

The purpose of the trip is to strengthen the partnership between the Central Asian countries and the US government through C5+1 format, as well as discuss joint regional actions on the issues of mutual interest.

The C5+1 format was created in 2015. The US Secretary of State John Kerry had a meeting with foreign ministers of all five Central Asian countries in New York in September 2015.
Irans president Hassan Rouhani asked EU to put political pressure on supporters of terrorists in the Middle East.

Rouhani made the remarks during a meeting with visiting European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Oct. 29, IRNA news agency reported.

If the European Union, for any reason, does not want to use its military presence to fight terrorists in the region, it can use its political power to exert pressure against the terrorists regional supporters, Rouhani said.

This will have a significant effect in the fight against terrorism, he added.

Rouhani said that terrorists activities in Syria and Iraq should be considered as a big threat against the entire world.

Fighting against terrorism is the main priority in Syria and Iraq, he said, adding that the Syrian situation has no military solution, and can only be resolved through political means.

The EU can undertake a more active role in creating security and peace in Syria through cooperation with the regional countries, Rouhani underlined.

Mogherini for her part, said that the EU needs Irans cooperation as a key power in the region to settle the regional issues.

She further said that terrorist groups such as IS(Islamic State) and al-Nusra Front pose a threat to the whole world.

She also said that delivery of humanitarian aids to people of Syria and Yemen should be facilitated.

Mogherini arrived in Tehran on Oct. 28 night to hold talks with the Iranian officials about the ongoing crisis in Syria.

Earlier the day, Mogherini met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and discussed bilateral ties between Tehran and the EU as well as the latest developments in Syria.

Mogherinis visit to Tehran comes following Zarifs intensive talks with his Russian and Syrian counterparts, Sergey Lavrov and Walid Muallem.

The EU official left Tehran for Saudi capital, Riyadh this evening, where she is expected to hold similar talks with Saudi officials.








Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), the government authority on trade, has signed three significant commodity partnerships with China during the Dubai Week in China, a major event that aims to boost bilateral ties.



It announced the first yuan-denominated gold future product to be offered outside of China, obtaining a license from the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) to list Shanghai Gold Futures in Dubai using the Shanghai Gold Benchmark Price.



It also announced that Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) has become the first market maker for the Shanghai Gold Futures contract to be listed on the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX).



DMCC signed an agreement with Mega Capital Halal (MCH), a Hong Kong-based holding company, to import coffee annually from Chinas Yunnan State Farms Group to Dubai for world distribution. The agreement will see MCH export up to 140,000 tonnes of Chinese Arabica beans from the Yunnan State Farms Group to Dubai, UAE.



Gautam Sashittal, chief executive officer at DMCC, said: The DMCC partnership agreements we announced at Dubai Week in China, Shanghai, today, is evidence of the deep links between China and Dubai, and the growing role the Dubai trade has in bringing our worlds closer. China is Dubais number one trading partner.



The relationships that we have cemented here with the Shanghai Gold Exchange, Agricultural Bank of China, Mega Capital and Yunnan State Farms Group will further underpin the role that DMCC is playing in boosting the commodities trade along the West to East corridor  connecting directly into Chinas Belt and Road Initiative, he added.



DMCC will also develop a Coffee Centre. Based on the highly successful DMCC Tea Centre, which has enabled the UAE to become the largest re-exporter of tea in the world, the DMCC Coffee Centre will offer storage and warehousing facilities, offices and co-location space within a 4,500-sq-m temperature controlled facility.



DMCC also launched the latest in a series of reports on The Future of Trade, hosting a roundtable of experts to discuss the ways that trade is changing the world. The report focus heavily on the potential for digitalisation to impact trade, stating that as many as 350 million businesses would begin exporting goods for the first time if they were to adopt an end-to-end digital strategy.



There was also considerable interest in DMCCs Free Zone, named the Global Free Zone of the Year 2016 by The Financial Times fDi Magazine for the second year running, and its Business Panel debate Making Business Happen in Dubai. Together.  TradeArabia News Service
Jordanian government is set to award the contract for the first phase of the Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance Project (Red-Dead) early next month, said a report citing a government official.



A total of 17 international alliances are in the race for the coveted project, which will see up to 2 billion cu m of seawater getting transferred from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea annually, reported The Jordan Times.

Construction is planned to start during the first quarter of next year, it stated.



The scope of work includes a seawater intake structure; an intake pump station; a seawater pipeline; a desalination plant with a capacity of 65-85 million cu m per year; a desalination brine conveyance pipeline; two lifting pump stations; hydropower plants; and discharge facilities at the Dead Sea, said the report.



The Water Ministry is studying the pre-qualification proposals and a technical committee is now in the final process of studying and evaluating the proposals, he stated.



Jordan had in 2013 signed a MoU with Israel and Palestine for the implementation of the first phase of the Red-Dead project, a mammoth development estimated to cost around $10 billion.



As per the agreement, Palestine will receive 30 million cu m of freshwater to cover its water deficit, while Israel will buy its share of 50 million cu m of desalinated water from the project at cost value and sell Jordan the same amount of water in the northern Jordan Valley at a cost of JD0.27 per cu m.



Jordan will receive an additional 50 million cu m of water from the Lake Tiberias Reservoir annually to be added to its share from the desalination station to provide Aqaba with water.



Under Phase One, a total of 300 million cu m of water will be pumped each year, said the report.



A total of 85-100 million cu m of water will be desalinated every year, while the seawater will be pumped out from an intake located in the north of the Gulf of Aqaba, it added.
Saudi-based Artar Real Estate Development is set to offer a 'virtual reality' trip of its 36-storey Dubai luxury apartment project, Mada Residences, at the Cityscape property expo in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.



Artar, the real estate development arm of Abdul Rahman Saad Al Rashid & Sons Company, said the state-of-the-art technology being used at the exhibition for the first time will help the company present unique interior views of the tower to Saudi investors at the upcoming event.



Cityscape Jeddah takes place from November 2 to 4 at Jeddah Centre for Forums and Events under the patronage of Prince Misha'al bin Majed bin Abdulaziz, governor of Jeddah.



Visitors to Cityscape Jeddah this week will be able to take a virtual reality trip forward in time to inspect luxury apartments in Dubai that have already attracted Saudi investors, said a top official.



The 193 larger than average one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom luxury apartments are scheduled for early delivery in Downtown Dubai in the second quarter of 2018.



The beauty of the Mada Residences apartments is that theyve been designed with a big emphasis on liveability, which means a higher level of space and comfort than normal, explained Artars chief executive, Sulaiman Abdulrahman Al Rashid.



"But visitors to the Artar stand at Cityscape Jeddah wont have to wait that long to see what the finished homes will look like," stated Al Rashid.



"By slipping on virtual reality headsets, theyll be taken on a revealing tour of the apartments, thanks to a newly designed mobile app which Artar spent six months developing," he said.



You cant capture that in one dimensional images, so were using the latest technology to effectively take investors into the apartments and show them what makes these homes special, he added.



Available to download on both iOS and Android devices, the Mada Residences app means anyone interested in the development can take the property home in their pocket and experience it at a touch of a button.



Artar said it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Arab Bank to offer finance solutions for buyers of apartments at Mada Residences, which is a one-minute walk from Dubai Mall, the worlds biggest shopping destination.



A 30-70 payment plan means buyers can delay the bulk of the investment until their new home is completed, it stated.



"On the one hand, were committed to giving investors and end users the best value for money in terms of the quality and size of homes that we build, in delivering them on time, and in offering payment plans which ease their financial burden," remarked Al Rashid.



"But we are also constantly looking towards new technology for better ways to showcase what we have to offer as a developer. Im sure other leading developers will be doing the same at Jeddah expo, just as they did at Cityscape Global in Dubai last month," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Bahrain MPs will discuss a decree law introducing an infrastructure cess on private developers, during their weekly meeting on Tuesday, reported the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication.



For further details visit http://www.gdnonline.com
Dubais Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) will increase the number of Metro trips on the Red & Green lines to meet the growing demand for the services especially from the metro riders in early morning and during various peak hours.



In total, 276 new trips are added on weekly basis, 154 on Red Line and 122 on Green Line. The Winter Timetable will be operational as of today, October 23, a statement said.



To address the early morning passengers, three additional short trips would operate each day from Saturday to Thursday and five additional trips on Friday on the Red line, said Abdul Mohsin Ibrahim Younes, CEO of RTAs Rail Agency.  TradeArabia News Service
Global air cargo traffic will grow at an annual rate of 4.2 per cent over the next 20 years, with 930 new and 1,440 converted freighters needed to meet market demand by 2035, according to a new report released by Boeing.



The company released its biennial World Air Cargo Forecast at TIACA (The International Air Cargo Association) Air Cargo Forum and Exhibition in Paris, France.



"The air cargo market has faced several years of below trend growth," said Randy Tinseth, vice president, Marketing, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "As trade continues to recover, we're confident the air cargo market will see growth over the long-term."



Boeing projects the e-commerce market will be one of the primary factors driving that growth, reaching $3.6 trillion by 2020. Additionally, China's express market keeps expanding, with a five-year growth rate of 55 per cent in volume and 39 per cent in revenue.



The forecast shows markets linked to Asia will lead all other international markets in average air cargo growth. Dedicated freighters still carry more than half of air cargo traffic and remain the leading cargo capacity provider.



Boeing forecasts that the world air cargo fleet will expand by 70 per cent by 2035, adding a total of 2,370 freighters to the market. The forecast sees demand for 550 large production freighters, 380 production medium widebody freighters, 400 widebody conversion freighters and 1,040 medium conversion freighters.



Boeing products make up more than 90 per cent of the world's dedicated freighter capacity. Boeing offers integrated solution for freighter operators, whether they carry express cargo or industrial goods.



"Air cargo is critical to global trade, and Boeing offers the most comprehensive product line-up in the industry," said Tinseth. "Our airplanes provide capacity and reliability advantages that will help our customers adapt and succeed in the evolving air cargo marketplace."



From standard-body freighters to large freighters, the Boeing Freighter Family has an unmatched selection of capacity and capability with superior economics. Boeing offers a complete family of production freighters  the 767-300, 777 and 747-8 Freighters  as well as the 737BCF and 767-300BCF conversion freighters.  TradeArabia News Service
The Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority (BTEA) recently hosted a reception for representatives from the tourism offices located around the globe at the Capital Club Bahrain.



The reception was held under the patronage of the chief executive of the Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority, HE Shaikh Khalid Bin Humood Al Khalifa, and also included the British Ambassador Simon Martin, the Chinese Ambassador Qi Zhenhong, and the Indian Ambassador, Alok Kumar Sinha.



The reception was held as a part of the activities held by the Authority to further introduce the representative offices to the various elements of the kingdom in order to better understand the tourism sector.



We are pleased to meet with representatives of the tourism offices. We will soon launch offices in seven countries. The aim is to develop the bilateral tourism ties and increase the number of travelers visiting the Kingdom, said the CEO of the Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority, Shaikh Khalid Bin Humood Al Khalifa.



Our strategy primarily focuses on positioning the tourism sector as an important economic driver to achieve sustainable growth and development for the kingdom, he added.



The reception was held with the imminent opening of seven representative offices in Saudi Arabia, UK, Germany, France, India, China, and Russia.



Members of the representative offices also held meetings with hotels, travel agencies, and the national carrier Gulf Air, in order to develop integrated travel packages which fit the requirements and needs of tourists from their respective countries.



The launch of the offices is in line with the BETAs marketing campaign held under the identity of (Ours.Yours) which was developed in collaboration with the Economic Development Board and other government entities. The aim of the marketing campaign is to further promote Bahrains tourism offering on a regional and global scale and positively contribute to GDP in line with the kingdoms economic vision 2030. - TradeArabia News Service
Less than a month after OPEC announced a plan to collectively reduce oil production to boost prices, it appears that the deal may be falling apart. Originally, all 14 member nations and Russia had agreed to work together to reduce production, but now nations are asking for exemptions from the pact. Iraq, Nigeria, Iran and Libya have all suggested that they should be able to produce at current levels while the other nations cut back, which could lead to squabbling among member nations.

Markets are now believing that the deal will ultimately fall apart, which would continue the global oil glut. These expectations knocked oil prices near the lowest price of the month, trading Friday for $49 per barrel.

Soggy oats market

boils higher

Oat prices have exploded this week, gaining over 10 percent in just three days on concerns about the quality and availability of Canadas crop.

Canada is the worlds largest exporter of the grain, but cold, wet weather in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan has essentially halted harvest. A quarter of the crop is still in the field, and some fear that it may not be harvested until next spring.

Furthermore, wet conditions are hurting the quality of the oats, which could render them unsuitable for human consumption. Fears of limited supplies boosted prices to a three-month high at $2.40 on Friday.

While sometimes ignored by traders, oats are thought to be a harbinger of future moves in the corn market by the old adage corn follows oats. Should that prove true again this year, a rally in corn would be a welcome relief to U.S. farmers who are finishing this years harvest.

Strong economy

bolsters copper

The U.S. economy is growing at a rate of 2.9 percent, the highest figure in two years, according to the U.S. governments third-quarter estimate on Friday. This sign of strength helped cement coppers 10-cent gain this week, trading Friday near $2.20 per pound.

Copper is an essential component in cars, houses and electronics, making it extremely sensitive to economic growth. Globally, inventories of copper are shrinking, especially in China, a further sign of demand for the red metal.

For consumers, this weeks price rally shouldnt be a major concern. Even after the rise, copper prices are still less than half of their 2011 peak over $4.60 per pound.
Its seemingly impossible to accurately describe the week.

But Id love to try, if only to give you a glimpse inside the walls.

On Monday, we were notified that our workplace has won the Wyoming Council on Womens Issues Employer of Choice Award. This award has nothing to do with journalism and everything to do with how the Star-Tribune treats its employees, especially in the area of family issues.

I was asked to nominate my employer, and I was delighted to do so. The application process was extensive, and I leaned on coworkers Nicole Ott, Laura Hancock and Christine Peterson to contribute portions of it.

It is not lost on any of us that four hard-working, dedicated, motivated, professional women did this. We are thrilled.

Nicole is our digital and marketing director and also serves as our in-house human resources liaison to our corporate HR person.

Laura, as you all know, is our absolutely stellar political reporter. If you see her after she wakes up in the middle of November, buy her a martini because she so deserves it.

And Christine, whom I first hired as an intern when she was a student at Natrona County High School, is a managing editor, national award-winning outdoor writer and brand-new mother of marvelous Miriam.

All of these pieces, in one form or another, were included in the application.

Sure, there are other companies with family and maternity and paternity leave policies. But few have energetic 4-year-olds cruising when their daycare is closed, granddaughters grabbing everything in sight and newborns enjoying taco tailgate lunch. All of this happened in the last week or so, and is honestly happily kind of routine.

The publisher occasionally jokes that hes not running a daycare, but he is the first to admit that happy, as opposed to stressed, employees are much, much better employees.

Next came a truly fabulous all-girl birthday cocktail hour for one of our communitys smartest and most dynamic women. As I tried to memorize who was there, I realized that education, nonprofit, civic, professional and service sectors were among those represented.

The birthday girl actually gave her guests an unforgettable gift as we were able to celebrate one another, as well as be with her.

And then, I had a small gathering with the regulars, and invited a new kind of home party to my tiny homestead. And in doing so, gained another new friend, another Michigan transplant, another fun and fabulous, intelligent and professional woman. And when the presentation was over, she asked if she could stay and relax with us, and it was so much fun.

This life thing just keeps getting better, and no one and no single thoughtless, rude, hurtful comment made loudly and publicly can possibly even make a tiny blip on that.
A legislative committee is recommending tapping the states $1.5 billion rainy day account for some $80 million in school building projects this coming year.

The Select Committee on School Facilities voted 8 to 1 to approve a supplemental appropriations bill, which will be used predominately for two school construction projects  a $29 million elementary school in Teton County and a $42 million junior high school in Laramie County  along with a host of smaller projects, including some immediate funding for Big Horn County.

The recommendation comes as the state is facing $400 million less in revenue than was forecast for the current two-year general operating budget, along with a $100 million shortfall in school operations funding.

The school construction and maintenance budgets have long had a separate funding stream financed almost exclusively through Wyomings share of federal coal lease bonus money. But that source is in decline and is expected to run dry in 2018.

Due to a drop in coal lease income, the school construction and maintenance budget of $148 million was already short of covering the major maintenance needs of schools across the state, much less the $212 million in building projects that are next in line under the school capital construction formula.

The supplemental appropriations bill also contains funding for associated facility costs, such as $3.4 million for unanticipated design and construction expenses, $660,000 for land acquisition, $1.2 million in emergency school funding and $800,000 for charter school leases.

To offset some of the new expenditures, the committee used $1 million in recent investment income that came in above projections, along with $4.6 million recouped by lower construction costs and project changes.

Senate President Phil Nicholas, R-Laramie, who was the lone vote against the bill, emphasized the long-term school funding issue remained unresolved.

Were marching toward a $350 million a year deficit Nicholas said of school operations. Its fine to move monies around, but the gorilla is still in the room.

The other committee members acknowledged it was only a short-term fix.

This does not solve the revenue problem with regard to capital construction  I certainly dont claim it does. But it really addresses the needs that we heard today, the high-priority needs, said Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie.

I think we need to move it forward, said committee co-chairman Sen. Bill Landen, R-Casper. Just keep in mind we have a few months that, if need be, we still have time to question the bill, we may change it if we have to.
BILLINGS, Mont.  The state of Montana and U.S. Department of Interior have notified a Wyoming company that theyll seek compensation for damages caused by more than 30,000 gallons of oil that spilled into the Yellowstone River from a broken pipeline.

More than 90 percent of the crude was never recovered following the Bridger Pipeline Company accident in January 2015 near Glendive. The river was frozen when the break occurred and the spill temporarily contaminated water supplies for 6,000 people living downstream of the break.

Montana Attorney General Tim Fox said its too early to say how much money will be sought from Bridger. However, he said the company has so far been cooperative as state and federal officials embark on a lengthy assessment of the damages.

Exxon Mobil recently agreed to pay $12 million in environmental damages for a 2011 spill into the Yellowstone near Laurel, Montana.

In both cases, the broken lines had been installed just a few feet beneath the riverbed. The companies subsequently spent millions of dollars re-installing the lines more deeply beneath the Yellowstone and other river crossings in the state.

You cant quantify the damage to our wildlife in a situation like this. That resource is precious and, I would argue, irreplaceable, Fox said. We need to do better and I think were headed in that direction and learning.

Federal regulators have rejected proposals to impose an industry-wide mandate for companies to bury pipelines more deeply. However, many pipeline operators in the region have taken such actions voluntarily in the years since the Exxon spill.

Earlier this month, the state land board approved a proposal by the Yellowstone Pipeline Company to re-bury two sections of 10-inch oil pipeline that cross beneath the Clark Fork River at locations in Granite and Missoula counties.

The crossings were originally installed in 1954 and 2005 and had become potential safety risks.
I was proud to be in the hall for the congressional candidates' debate. They laid out a veritable candy box of philosophies and qualifications. If this were a job interview, I would hire them all for different positions.

Daniel Cummings (C) should run our worker safety enforcement force. He sticks to his interpretation of the letter of the law. If he were in charge, we could be confident that, if a worker died on the job, everything legally mandated had been done to prevent it.

Lawrence Streumpf (L) should manage a new Wyoming Department of Mediation and Reconciliation. He made the case for the possibility of cherry-picking the most productive ideas from both left and right to come up with something at least different.

Liz Cheney (R) would be the perfect lobbyist for the state of Wyoming. I was struck by her tightly disciplined execution of research-driven communication methods; she is already comfortable in DC and doubtless has a Washington Rolodex that would be the envy of many. These are valuable assets, part of the stock in trade of a good lobbyist. Add her sentimental-favorite name and she could be a top lobbyist. This position requires skills in which she clearly has been quite well trained and polished to a sharp, hard edge. Skilled workers can be hired from anywhere.

Ryan Greene (D) should be in the U.S. House of Representatives. I profoundly disagree with some of his policy stances, but he has had a hand in creating the Wyoming we know. Genuine, open people and the opportunity to connect with them on a regular basis are a big chunk of why I live here, and in this sense, he is literally representative of us. This position requires identity, which must be lived and cannot be hired.

Some of us may think that Cheney would advantage Wyoming by being oriented to the federal culture and possibly able to influence it. I say we win friends and fair treatment for Wyoming by being as Wyoming as we can be. Let's hire Greene, a true son of Wyoming, to represent us.
Editor:

Wyomings tourism economy, fueled primarily by record-setting visitation to Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks, serves as a shining light amidst an otherwise grim economic report for the state. With more than $560 million generated in 2015 by visitors to Grand Teton and nearly $500 million from Yellowstone visitors, the importance of national parks in bolstering the states economy is clear.

Gov. Matt Mead recognizes the value that our national parks bring and recently announced a new task force, focused on investing in our public lands and bridging the next generation of outdoor enthusiasts to them. However, as we connect visitors to our national parks, we must ensure that these treasures are fully funded and able to adequately support tourism. Standing in the way of this goal is a $12 billion maintenance backlog affecting all of Americas national parks.

Grand Teton and Yellowstone are in need of serious repairs, with more than $200 million and $630 million in deferred maintenance, respectively. These repair needs include crumbling roads, eroding trails, and decades-old visitor centers in need of updating, yet the Park Service has not been able to keep up with that maintenance due to Congresss underfunding of our parks.

In fact, National Park Service still received less than 60 cents of every dollar it needed last year, just to keep the backlog from growing. This makes it more difficult for parks to welcome increasing numbers of visitors and provide them with top-notch services. Even though these treasures provide Wyoming with a multitude of benefits, Congress has done a disservice by not making funding the National Parks Service a priority.

It is my hope that Congress will make park funding a higher priority and make a more concerted effort to address the maintenance backlog. We must ensure that park managers have the resources and support they need to protect Americas favorite places. The future of Wyomings tourism economy depends on it.
Liz Cheney, from Virginia, supports the transfer of federal lands to the states. At least 67 percent of Wyomingites, at last report, oppose this view. How then is she fighting for Wyoming values? No person that enjoys outdoor recreation nor any sportsman should support her position. Thanks to Charlie Scott, if the land is transferred, you will lose your favorite camping, fishing and hunting locations. Thanks to Charlie Scotts legislation, you can no longer camp on state land  you cant even drive to your favorite hunting location and sleep in your truck until dawn as that is considered camping. Liz supports this yet most Wyomingites oppose it. Liz Cheney, from Virginia, also just put out a new campaign ad put together by her consulting firm from  you guessed it  Virginia. How is that Wyoming values? She has a good chance of winning because she has an R by her name and a pile of cash from out of state. Is that really reason enough to support her? Vote for your own best interests and Wyomings  vote Greene for Wyoming.
ALBUQUERQUE (AP)  A mother and son team is facing charges after Albuquerque detectives they tried to cover up an elaborate heist of bras and panties.

The Albuquerque Journal reports (https://goo.gl/DTEyf8) 38-year-old April Romero and her 23-year-old son Pedro Coronel were arrested this week for lining shopping bags with foil to stymie shoplifting sensors from Victoria's Secret stores. Also arrested in connected with the alleged scheme was 26-year-old Valerie Coronel.

Albuquerque police detectives say the three made off with more than $17,000 in merchandise after stealing from the stores multiple times this summer.

Police confiscated hundreds of clothing items from Romero's home, including nearly 100 blouses from Express and more than 100 items of children's clothing.

All were charged with a fourth-degree felony of shoplifting.

It was not known if they had attorneys.

___

Information from: Albuquerque Journal, http://www.abqjournal.com
MEXICO CITY  Mexico wants its future entrepreneurs to speak English, and its looking to Tucson to help teach them.

In the next two years, Mexico plans to send more than 30,000 more students to study in the U.S. And Mexican leaders may do more to recruit professors and students from the United States.

Representatives from Tucson met with federal officials in Mexico City last week to ensure the University of Arizona and Pima Community College are on their radar.

Martha Navarro Albo, deputy director of academic cooperation for the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the country has sent about 70,000 students to U.S. schools in the past two years as part of the national 100,000 Strong Educational Exchange Initiative, of which she is the coordinator. The most pressing issue, she said, is for the students to become bicultural and bilingual.

Less than 1 percent of the youth in Mexico speaks English, Navarro said. That is a concern.

Exposure to the growing tech startup models in the U.S. could encourage students to think beyond jobs assembling widgets or components for foreign manufacturers operating in Mexico, such as the automobile and aerospace industries.

The socializing is an important component to sending students to the U.S., Navarro said. Our goal is to promote new ideas in them.

If finances are a barrier to students living abroad, officials proposed that PCC and UA bring professors to Mexico to help with English skills.

Salvador Jara Guerrero, Mexicos undersecretary of higher education, said the two countries should explore a dual-degree program, where students could get 60 percent of their academics in Mexico and 40 percent in the U.S. He also suggested U.S. students studying in Mexico could have the positive effect of introducing the language to peers.

We are exploring interest in such a partnership, PCC Chancellor Lee Lambert said. He said the college has received about 150 students from Mexico in the past three years and hopes to increase that number each semester.

In a meeting with Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild, Mexicos undersecretary for North America, Paulo Carreno King, said internships and twin workforce programs need to be implemented between Tucson and Mexico. He noted that Texas and California both have cross-border education initiatives.

Rothschild told him the university is conducting a search for a new president and that expanding south will be a priority for the new person.

That is good, Carreno said. Tucson is in my heart; it was the first U.S. city I ever visited.

His fathers family is from Hermosillo, and his grandparents have a home in Tucson.

I am quite familiar, Carreno said. Tucson and Mexico share a long relationship, and theres still room to grow and improve.

Mexico has made increasing the number of engineering graduates a national priority, but officials say they need to have a reason to stay in Mexico and not seek employment abroad.

Between 2006 and 2012, Mexico built 140 new universities with 120 of them dedicated to the science of engineering, according to the report, Engineering and Economic Growth: A Global View.
In last weeks column, I tried to squeeze in as many answers as possible to some of the most commonly asked questions I get. But even keeping my replies short, I still ran out of room. So today, more of the most frequently asked questions and more quick and dirty ... make that quick and clean ... answers.

Q: For reasons I dont want to see you publish in the newspaper, we are raising our 3-year-old granddaughter. I am 66, and my husband is 71. We each get our own Social Security. Because we have a court order granting us full custody of this child, can she get Social Security benefits on one or both of our accounts?

A: Probably not. Although there are exceptions, generally the law says that both of this childs parents must be disabled or deceased before she would be able to claim benefits on grandmas or grandpas Social Security record. Having court-ordered custody doesnt change the law. However, if you were to adopt the child, then she might be eligible for some of your Social Security benefits.

Q: I turn 66 next month. When I called to make an appointment to file for benefits at my local Social Security office, I was told the first available appointment was in January. Thats ridiculous. What should I do?

A: I am surprised the Social Security representative you talked to didnt offer you the option of filing your claim over the phone. You can call back and do that. Or, better yet, why not file online at socialsecurity.gov? If you have a relatively straightforward claim, in other words, if you dont want to employ one of the complicated maximizing strategies discussed many times in this column, then the online process is for you.

By the way, I asked one of my former colleagues who still works for the Social Security Administration why there is such a long lead time to set up an in-office appointment. She told me that the baby-boom retirement wave is turning into a tsunami. Something like 10,000 people per day are signing up for Social Security benefits.

Q: I am 85. My wife is 82. I get $1,750 per month from Social Security. My wife gets $1,220. I wonder what my wife will start getting when I die. I talked to two different Social Security reps. One told me she will get the difference between my rate and hers  in other words, an extra $530 per month added to her own benefit. But the other rep told me she would get an extra $690 per month. Who is right?

A: I obviously dont have all the facts about your case to be fully sure of the answer. But if you started your Social Security when you were 62 years old, then the second (higher) quote you got was probably the right one. If you took benefits at 62, then you are getting about 75 percent of your full benefit rate. But there is a law that guarantees a widow cant get less than 82 percent of your full rate. If you did take benefits at 62, my little desktop calculator tells me your full rate is about $2,330. And 82 percent of that is around $1,910. So your wifes retirement benefit of $1,220 plus an additional $690 (the higher quote) would take her total benefits up to $1,910. If you did not start your Social Security at 62, then I cant explain the discrepancy in the quotes you received, and you will have to talk to someone at your local Social Security office.

Q: I was at lunch with a friend the other day. We are both in our late 60s. When he pulled out his wallet to pay for our meal, I noticed he was carrying his Social Security card in the wallet. I asked him why. He said he was sure everyone was required to carry their Social Security card with them at all times. I told him I havent had my card with me in maybe 20 or 30 years. In fact, Im not even sure I know where my card is. This friend insisted we are supposed to carry our SSN card wherever we go. Is he right?

A: Of course, your friend can carry anything he wants to in his wallet, including his Social Security card. But it certainly isnt necessary, or even advisable, to do so. I can only think of a few situations where you may need to show someone your Social Security card. For example, if you are trying to get a job, many employers ask to see it. And you may need to show the card if you are trying to get government benefits. For example, my granddaughter recently started college, and she needed to show her card to various school and student loan officials. On a related note, I know that many senior citizens think they need to carry their Medicare card with them at all times. But you really only need that card if you are going to a doctors office or seeking medical treatment.

Q: I am about to turn age 65. I am still working and am covered by my employers health plan. I was told I will be forced to apply and pay for Medicare at 65.

A: You will not be forced to do anything. You should sign up for Medicare Part A hospital coverage because it is free. You may not need it. But it is free. So why not take it?

The other main part of Medicare is Part B doctors coverage. It costs about $130 per month. But as long as you are working and covered by your employers insurance, you dont need Part B. When you retire, you can apply for Part B and you wont pay any late enrollment penalties.

By the way, I know it is a different story for people who have Health Savings Accounts. Im not a Medicare expert. HSA people need to talk to a professional Medicare counselor. They are known as SHIPs in most states (State Health Insurance Advisory Program) or HICAP in others (Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program). To find the SHIP or HICAP counselor nearest you, go to medicare.gov and click on the Find someone to talk to link.
Desert Skies United Methodist Church, 3255 N. Houghton Road, will host its annual flea market 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 3 and Friday, Nov. 4 and 7 a.m. to noon Saturday, Nov. 5.

Sale items include furniture, electronics and even vehicles, among others. Proceed help local charities, along with mission projects elsewhere, according to press materials.

For more information, visit desertskiesumc.org or call 749-0521.

St. John on the Desert Presbyterian Church, 2695 N. Houghton Road, will also bring back its annual craft fair 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 4 and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5.

This sale will showcase the work of area craftsmen.
The Arizona Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Arizona is hosting the next in its Sally and Ralph Duchin Campus Lecture Series.

University of Arizona professor Gil Ribak will give a talk titled "Innocent Until Proven Guilty: Jewish Responses to Accusations of Jewish Criminality in Early Twentieth-Century America" 4 p.m. Monday, Oct. 31.

The UA Hillel Foundation will host the free talk at 1245 E. Second St.
A standoff between a man who shot at U.S. marshals at a south-side hotel ended after he surrendered Friday night, authorities said.

The man was taken into custody after the more than five-hour incident at the Quality Inn & Suites Airport North, 5251 S. Julian Drive, said Deputy Ryan Inglett, a Pima County Sheriff's spokesman.

He did not appear to have injuries, and was being questioned by investigators, Inglett said.

The incident began in the afternoon when marshals went to serve an arrest warrant at the hotel and were shot at by a man inside one of the rooms, said Chris de Rosa, a U.S. Marshals Service spokesman.

The man then barricaded himself in a room, De Rosa said. De Rosa said he could not elaborate about what led to the arrest warrant.

Rooms were evacuated and sheriff's deputies took over the scene as the county regional Special Weapons and Tactics team was called in to contain the situation, Inglett said.

Meanwhile, roads in the area of East Irvington Road and South Palo Verde Road, near Interstate 10, were closed. So were the ramps for Palo Verde Road at I-10. Traffic on the interstate was not affected, said Quentin Mehr, an Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman.

The roads were expected to re-open late Friday night, Inglett said.
A man who fired at two officers and was wounded in a shootout was released from the hospital Friday and is facing attempted first-degree murder, police said.

Marcus de la Torre, 33, was released from Banner-University Medical Center Tucson and was booked into the Pima County jail.

De la Torre is also facing aggravated assault on a peace officer with a deadly weapon and misconduct involving weapons as a prohibited possessor, police said in a news release.

Officer Robert Miranda suffered a grazing bullet wound to the side of his head during the shooting Monday night on the city's south side.

Miranda, a 12-year veteran of the force, who served in the Marines before joining the department, has been released from the hospital.

At about 8 p.m. in the area of East 34th Street and South Park Avenue, Officers Miranda and Robert Orduno, a 10-year veteran of the force, were working a special assignment with gangs and narcotics enforcement.

Miranda and Orduno saw a man on a motorized bicycle commit traffic violations and attempted to stop the bicyclist, who later was identified as De la Torre, police said.

The suspect refused to pull over and eventually jumped off the bicycle and ran from the officers. During the chase, shots were exchanged between the man and Miranda, who was wounded and lying in the street still shooting, as seen on dashcam video footage released by police.

Orduno drove the patrol car and parked it near Miranda, and then ran after the suspect and gunfire also was exchanged between the two.

De la Torre was wounded multiple times and underwent surgery at the hospital. Police said a Glock 9mm handgun and narcotics in De la Torre's possession were recovered.

Police said De la Torre has an "extensive criminal history" including aggravated assault on a peace officer, resisting arrest, probation violation, unlawful flight from a law enforcement vehicle, burglary and drug possession.
Candidates for Pima Community Colleges only contested board seat fielded questions this week about transparency, tuition rates and textbook costs.

A standing-room-only crowd turned out for a student-run forum for candidates seeking the District 5 seat on PCCs Governing Board.

Martha Durkin, retired deputy manager for the city of Tucson and former attorney for the citys largest school district, is making her first run for public office after filling the board seat on a temporary basis, and shes being backed by the rest of the board.

Luis A. Gonzales, a former state senator who spent eight years on the Legislatures education committee, is being backed by a citizens group whose past complaints about problems led to accreditation sanctions against PCC.

A third candidate, former PCC instructor Francis Saitta, is on the ballot but chose not to participate in the forum.

Durkin, a supporter of the colleges current administration, cited her passion for PCC and said the decades she spent as a public employee gave her the skills needed to oversee the school.

Gonzales called the college the single most important educational institution in Southern Arizona, and said his years in public life taught him how to figure out where the skeletons are buried.

The hour-long forum, held Thursday at El Rio Learning Center on West Speedway, centered mainly on written questions submitted by students and members of the audience.

On the question of transparency  whether PCC complies with laws and practices that protect the publics right to know  Gonzales said lack of disclosure is one of the biggest problems facing the school. Durkin agreed there are weaknesses but said improvements she pushed for are already underway.

Asked about the PCC boards decision this year to raise tuition for local students while reducing it for international students, Durkin defended the change as one that would help the college financially and said even with the changes, PCC still is in the bottom third statewide for in-state cost of attendance among community colleges.

Gonzales criticized the tuition plan, saying he wouldnt have voted for it. PCC should not be raising local tuition while giving discounts to wealthy students from China and the Middle East, he said to a smattering of applause.

Candidates also were asked what they would do to protect PCC students from a common snafu, in which they register and buy a nonreturnable textbook for a course the college ends up canceling.

Gonzales said the college needs to negotiate a better return policy with its bookstore, and said students should be warned not to purchase textbooks in advance. Durkin said she favors expanding the use of free online textbooks.

The forum, attended by an estimated crowd of 100, covered a range of other topics from employee rights to federal student aid regulations. It was run by PCCs Inter-Campus Council, in conjunction with the colleges Adult Basic Education civics and student leadership program.
A federal appeals court upheld Arizonas new law against ballot harvesting late Friday, with the judges saying there was no proof it discriminates against minorities.

The law, which took effect in August, makes it a crime to take someone elses ballot to the polls.

Judge Sandra Ikuta, writing for the divided three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, acknowledged there was evidence that the law could make it more difficult for residents of rural communities, particularly those with limited or no mail service, to vote. The same is true, she said, of voters who are elderly or homebound.

But Ikuta said there was no evidence that these categories of voters were more likely to be minorities than non-minorities.

That failure is significant: Federal courts can void state laws for violating the Voting Rights Act only if judges conclude that the statute has a disparate effect on minorities. Without that, Ikuta said, this challenge fails.

The majority ruling drew a stinging dissent from Chief Justice Sidney Thomas of the 9th Circuit.

Arizona has criminalized one of the most popular and effective methods by which minority voters cast their ballots, he wrote.

Thomas disputed Ikutas conclusions, saying he believes that the impact on minorities is enough to declare the law unconstitutional.

Fridays ruling is not necessarily the last word.

All the decision did was deny a bid by challengers to bar the state from enforcing the new law at this election. It is now likely too late to pursue further appeals.

Technically speaking, foes can still pursue their arguments at a full-blown trial  months or years from now  that the law should be voided. But in denying the injunction, the 9th Circuit majority had to conclude that foes were unlikely to prevail in the long run.

The law approved earlier this year by the Republican-controlled Legislature is linked to the ability of anyone to request an early ballot in the mail. Until now, voters could mark it up and return it by mail, bring it in person to a polling place, or give it to someone else to drop off.

It now is a felony, punishable by a year in prison, for any person to collect the voted or unvoted ballot of anyone else. The only exceptions are for family members, those living in the same household, and certain caregivers.

Both parties have engaged in some form of ballot harvesting. But Democrats and their allied groups have been far more effective at going door-to-door to collect the early but unreturned ballots sent to voters.

Proponents of the new law argued that the ability of any person to handle anothers ballot provides an opportunity for fraud. Ikuta, in her 58-page opinion, said that concern is legitimate.

A state indisputably has a compelling interest in preserving the integrity of its election process, she wrote. While the best method of doing that may be debatable, the propriety of doing so is perfectly clear, she added.

That argument drew derision from Thomas.

The sponsors of the legislation could not identify a single example of voter fraud caused by ballot collection, he wrote in his own 29-page dissent. Not one.

Instead, Thomas said, the law was based on the speculative theory that fraud could occur. There was testimony, he said, showing that there are various safeguards in place to deal with potential problems, such as signs that someone may have tampered with someone elses ballot.

In short, the specter of voter fraud by ballot collection is much like the vaunted opening of Al Capones vault  there is simply nothing there, he wrote.

Ikuta, however, said laws like this can strengthen public confidence in the integrity of the electoral process, which encourages citizen participation in the democratic process. There is no requirement for the state to wait for a problem to develop, she said.

Legislatures are permitted to respond to potential deficiencies in the electoral process with foresight rather than reactivity, Ikuta wrote.
On art, music, books, movies, politics, life - sometimes with astrology thrown in.
Help India!

By TwoCicrles.net, Staff Reporter

Delhi: The 96th Foundation Day Celebrations of Jamia Millia Islamia started with much fanfare in the Jamia campus on Thursday, October 27 with a three-day cultural and literary extravaganza.

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Inaugurating the Talimi Mela as part of the celebrations, UGC Chairman, Professor Ved Prakash who was chief guest for the event said, 96 years ago when the foundation of Jamia Millia Islamia was laid, its founders would have aspired to create the best institution in the world. Its time to analyse where we want to see ourselves 10-15 years from now and strategise for mid-course corrections, if needed.

Universities and colleges are the most enduring institutions on which society pins its highest hopes especially when it is faced with a problem of any kind, a Talimi Mela like this, illustrates the power of Taleem, he added.

Professor Prakash flagged the importance of introspection by institutions to know where they stood vis-a-vis other higher educational institutions in India and globally. Addressing the students, he said that there were three essentials for attaining progress. Staying put as a life-long learner, dreaming inspiring dreams and that if dreams were not realised we should change our path not principles we need to learn the act of transforming failures into success, learn from mistakes of others and need to play the curved ball.

He observed that we were increasingly becoming a reactionary society with little patience to listen to contrarian views and that it was important to treat every individual with dignity.

He urged the students to emulate those in search of wisdom but cautioned them to be wary of those who claimed to know the truth which he likened to a well-chiselled diamond. He underscored the importance of having a library at home instead of spending on clothes, cars and housing.

The Guest of Honour, Dr. S.Y. Quraishi, former Chief Election Commissioner, said that he was happy to participate in the Talimi Mela that he had been hearing of since his childhood but only now got an opportunity to attend it.

An alumnus of Jamia, Dr Quraishi asked the students to concentrate on education and learning. He said that Islam which was a pioneer in education and granted equal rights to women 1,400 years ago had now strayed away from both. Islam was a religion that made it mandatory for both boys and girls to attain an education but now girls were unable to pursue it.

Referring to the ongoing debate on Muslim Personal Law, Dr Quraishi said, Personal law reform should come from within the community and not be imposed. At the same time the community must introspect and be open to change with time.

He also gave a power-point presentation on the functioning of the Election Commission and conduct of elections in the worlds largest democracy which has been hailed as an outstanding model by countries across the world.

He presented copies of his book, An Undocumented Wonder: The Making of the Great Indian Election, to Professor Ved Prakash and Vice Chancellor, Professor Talat Ahmad.

Ahmad said that he was happy to inform that the university was fulfilling its mandate to make education accessible to children from marginalised and weaker sections of society. He cited the bridge course under which school and madrassa drop-outs were being given intensive one year teaching and training at JMI under the aegis of Nai Manzil Scheme.

He further said that as part of its social responsibility, the university has empowered 40 women from the community who are now successfully running a canteen on campus called Dastarkhan. Prof Ahmad said that in another 4 years Jamia Millia Islamia will be celebrating its 100 years and he was hopeful that university will continue to get full support from the UGC and the government.

Earlier, both Professor Prakash and Dr Quraishi along with the Vice Chancellor, JMI were presented with a guard of honour following which the dignitaries inaugurated the three-day Talimi Mela in which students and faculty have set-up close to 50 stalls displaying their latest innovations and creativity.

Cultural programmes that included singing competitions, screening of films, mushaira were organised as part of the ongoing festivities.
Help India!

By Amulya Ganguli

The fallout from the Samajwadi Partys infighting is clear in Uttar Pradesh.

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Till the fratricidal strife broke out, the party had a fair chance, largely because of the relatively clean and forward-looking image of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

Then, two things happened. First, the SPs national president, Mulayam Singh Yadav, decided to cut the branch on which he was sitting by favouring his brother, Shivpal, who has a dubious reputation, over his son, Akhilesh, in the party hierarchy.

Secondly, as the SPs fortunes plummeted because of the internecine feud, Prime Minister Narendra Modis stars began to shine more brightly than before because of the armys punitive action against terrorist camps in Pakistan.

Although the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) tried to delink the party from the armys surgical strikes, posters depicting Modi as Lord Ram the warrior were put up by the partys enthusiasts.

Since then, the BJP has also tried indirectly to revive the Ram temple issue by talking about establishing a museum on the Ramayana.

But it neednt have turned to the temple plank since the partys abandonment of the Congresss policy of strategic restraint vis-a-vis Pakistan has done enough to boost the BJPs electoral prospects.

There is little doubt that the party will gain from the Modi governments proactive foreign policy not only in UP but also in Punjab, Gujarat and Goa which also go to the polls next year although the party does face problems in these states.

If the SP hadnt shot itself in the foot and if there hadnt been any surgical strikes, the main contest in UP would have been between the SP and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) with the latter hoping to gain from the anti-incumbency factor despite the chief ministers personal popularity.

Confident of faring well, BSP czarina Mayawati promised not to repeat the mistake of building statues of herself and of Dalit icons, which contributed to her downfall in the last elections.

Her confidence springs from her image of being a strong leader who will not tolerate lawlessness, which is the SPs Achilles heel. But, now, the BSP will have to content itself with the No.2 position, ahead of the SP and the Congress.

However, the party which is likely to suffer the most is the Congress. As it is, its campaign has been spluttering along with Rahul Gandhis various forays evoking ridicule as when his audience at a khaat pe charcha was more interested in running away with the cots than in what he said.

To make matters worse, his khoon ki dalali charge, accusing Modi of exploiting the blood of soldiers, has shown the Congress vice president as crass and abusive.

The Congress has also been hurt by Sonia Gandhis inability to campaign. Otherwise, she would have made an impact, as the large crowd which attended her first appearance showed.

The party is also patently unwilling to play what many regard as its trump card  Priyanka Gandhi  in case she overshadows her brother.

Providence, therefore, can be said to be helping Modi.

After a brief sign of life when the SP won eight out of 11 seats in assembly by-elections only four months after the 2014 general elections and followed it up with further successes in Bilari, Jangipur, Bikapur and Pharenda, the squabbling party is now on a downhill slide.

As for the BJP, the success in Assam in the countrys far corner was not enough to erase the ignominy of its resounding defeats in Delhi and Bihar.

The party needs to win in UP, therefore, to recover its elan and set the tone for the next general election in 2019.

A good show in UP is required all the more because the BJP cannot be too sure of running ahead of its rivals in Punjab and Goa.

In Punjab, the BJPs partner, the Shiromani Akali Dal, is living up to its acronym of SAD because of its failures on several fronts, of which the most damaging is its inability to check the drug habit among the youth.

The Aam Admi Party hasnt quite been the force it once appeared to be because of its internal problems in both Delhi and Punjab.

The Congress, therefore, can hope to gain from the anti-incumbency feelings against the SAD-BJP combine if it doesnt make the mistake of admitting the maverick, Navjot Singh Sidhu, to the party.

In Goa, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), known for its iron cohesion in the saffron camp, has split and vowed to work against the BJP.

Only Gujarat can be considered to be more or less safely in the BJPs bag while the outcome in Manipur will be only of marginal importance.

Therefore, as always, UP holds the key to a partys national prospects. For the moment, Modi has the advantage despite the sluggishness of the economic reforms, which is evident in the countrys lowly position where a business-friendly atmosphere is concerned, as noted by the World Bank.

If Modi still has his nose ahead in the electoral race, it is because of the SPs hara kiri and his policy of strategic offence against Pakistan. But if Akhilesh retains his clean image and pro-development attitude, he will remain a potent threat.


Black Lives Matter UK and the United Family and Friends Campaign (UFFC) gathered in central London to march against the deaths and abuse of those in police custody in the UK.

Fighting for justice

The activist groups were joined by supporters as they called for an end to the deaths of people who are taken in by the authorities, immigration centres and psychiatric facilities.

The UFFC, who were established in 1997 and have been marching against this since 1999, commissioned a number of fake Home Office posters across London and Manchester in the lead up to todays procession to gain awareness for the cause.

With the posters suggesting the police and immigration services have got away with the abuse and deaths of many in their custody, it was implied that the police officer featured in the poster was urging anyone reading it to not attend the demonstration.

Beginning their procession at midday in Trafalgar Square, UFFC and BLM UK ended their silent procession outside Downing Street with what they described as a noisy protest.

The rise of BLM UK

The increased knowledge of those who die at the hands of the police has been brought to the forefront in recent years through the movement in America. The deaths of African American citizens as a result of police interaction sparked a reaction in the UK, and earlier this year, BLM UK was formed and there were a number of protests in this country in support of those here and in America.

The history of the UFFC

According to the UFFC website, some of the campaigners goals are to see officers suspended until custody deaths are fully investigated, police forces to be held accountable for the communities they serve, and police officers to face criminal charges if they are found to be responsible for the death of someone in custody.

With this being the 18th year of the UFFCs annual rally, the campaign which started off focusing on the disproportionate number of BAME people being killed in police custody, has now grown to include those of all races who have been affected by the problem.
A passenger aircraft travelling towards the city of Misrata in Libyacrashed in a huge Explosionearlier this morning, killing all five passengers on board.

Witnesses said they saw the "plane rise before banking to the right and going straight into the ground."

The plane was a twin-propeller Metroliner, according to the Times of Malta, that can carry up to10 passengers.

Videos recorded by citizens shows the plane plummeting to the ground on its side, scarcelymissing nearby houses and buildings, before going up into flames and causing two huge explosions in pit of thick, black smoke.

Confirmation from Malta International Airport

Malta International Airport has confirmed that all five passengers on board are deceased. In a statement on its website, the airport says the plane crashed at 7.20 am local time Monday morning:

"Our thoughts are with the families of the people involved in the accident today.An investigation is currently ongoing and we are working with all the authorities to provide them with any assistance necessary."

Earlier reports claimed that EU officials were on board the plane but the EU Foreign Affairs Chief, Federica Mogherini tweeted to confirmno EU officials were involved in the Crash. The identity of the victims is yet to be established.

Witness accounts

Edward De Gaetano, an actor, was on the flight waiting to take off for London when he first hand witnessedthe crash.

He told The Independent: We were about to take off, moments before we did from our windows we could see a massive explosion - at first we had no idea what caused it.We quickly realised an aircraft had crash landed. That is when everyone got a bit anxious.

Mr De Gaetano added: There was a second explosion and I thought 'oh my god this is not just a fire'.

We are all a bit stunned.

Airport announces reopening

Malta International Airporthas confirmedthat the aerodrome has beenreopened, albeit on 'operational slowdown,' to allow flights to land and take off:

"Whileweapologizefor the inconvenience caused, we would like to advise passengers that while operations have been resumed, it will take some time for today's schedule to come back tonormalsince many flights have been delayed / diverted,"itstated onitswebsite.
Mats Karlsson Leads Final 6 of EPT13 Malta Main Event

October 28 2016 Yori Epskamp

The curtain has been pulled up and the stage is set. The final six players of the 2016 PokerStars.com EPT Malta Main Event are known. They'll duke it out on Saturday in Casino Portomaso for one of the last chances to capture EPT glory and will play for a massive first prize of 355,700.

Seating and Chip Counts Final Table

Seat Player Country Chip Count BB 1 Aliaksei Boika Belarus 960,000 19 2 Mats Karlsson Sweden 3,795,000 78 3 Peter Ockenden United Kingdom 2,300,000 46 4 Dmitry Yurasov Russia 2,890,000 58 5 Elie Saad Lebanon 2,065,000 41 6 Tomas Macnamara United Kingdom 1,835,000 37

It took slightly more than three levels of play to get down from 14 to six. Sweden's Mats Karlsson, who started the day as chipleader, kept ruling with an iron fist and extended his chip lead to a massive 3,795,000 (78 big blinds). Karlsson instantly got on the phone with loved ones to tell them the good news.

Behind Karlsson, Russia's Dmitry Yurasov sits in second place with 2,845,000 (58 big blinds). Among others, Yurasov eliminated 2014 PCA champion Dominik Panka on the penultimate day of the Main Event.

Britain's Peter Ockenden, who qualified via a $27 qualifier on PokerStars, rounds out the top three with 2,300,000 (46 big blinds) after a late-day surge. Ockenden eliminated Xixiang Luo with pocket aces versus ace-king to take a big jump up the leaderboard.

Lebanon's Elie Saad is in fourth with 2,065,000 (41 big blinds). Saad survived a crucial coin flip with ace-king versus pocket jacks in the later stages to get to the final six. Britain's Tomas Macnamara has the fifth stack with 1,835,000 (37 big blinds). Macnamara tripled up in the final hand of the day, winning jack-eight suited versus ace-king and pocket sevens.

Aliaksei Boika of Belarus will return tomorrow as the short stack (960,000 - 19 big blinds). Boika held ace-king in the hand versus Macnamara, which dropped him to the bottom of the barrel. All six remaining players are guaranteed at least 76,790 for surviving five grueling days of play.

The day started off with 14 players, but the field was quickly whittled down to 10. Benjamin Pollak was the first one to go. The Frenchman was left crippled when he doubled up Luo in the first hand of the day. Pollak's pocket eights failed to hold against Luo's ace-king. The next hand, he lost his last chips with king-seven against Luo's ace-ten.

Start-of-the-day short stack Ole Schemion found his much-needed double up in the second hand of the day, when he rivered a flush with ace-four against Boika's pocket nines. The German got it in again moments later, this time against Karlsson. The Swede, who earned the moniker "Schemion Slayer" on the live stream, finished what he began yesterday and eliminated the German with king-ten versus ace-king when he rivered a straight.

Daniele Colautti moved all in with pocket nines and was up against Yurasov's pocket sixes. The Russian flopped a set and Colautti hit the rail in 12th place. Shortly after, Marco Bartolini followed the same route. He ran his tens into Luo's queens and became the 11th-place finisher.

The second level of the day had just one player hit the rail. It was the level of the short stacks surviving with the worst of it. Both Macnamara and Ockenden survived all-in situations. Someone had to go eventually. It was Germany's Louis Cartarius who fell in 10th place. Cartarius shoved pocket sevens into Boika's pocket aces and couldn't catch up.

With nine players left, the unofficial final table was set. One more player needed to go before the final table was official, and it was 2014 PCA winner and EPT11 Malta finalist Panka who finished in the dreaded ninth place. Panka reshoved pocket sixes all in after Yurasov had opened. Yurasov called with pocket kings and held up to send Panka to the rail.

In the last hand of the third level of the day, Luo ran his ace-king into Ockenden's pocket aces. It was a cooler for the Chinese pro and he failed to improve, sending him packing in eighth place.

Directly after the break, short stack Bastian Dohler got involved in a three-way all in. Dohler held pocket sevens against Boika's ace-king and Macnamara's jack-eight suited. The sevens weren't lucky for Dohler, as Macnamara found both a jack and an eight to send the German 10 Spin & Go qualifier to the rail in seventh place.

With one hour and twenty minutes left in the level 25,000/50,000 with a 5,000-chip ante, play was suspended for the day. Saturday at 1:00 p.m. CEST, the six remaining players will resume their quest to capture the EPT gold. The final table will be streamed with hole cards and will be on an hour delay. Follow hand-for-hand coverage live on PokerNews.com as we play down to a winner.

Sharelines The Stage Is Set: Karlsson leads the Final 6 of the EPT13 Malta Main Event.
Donald Trump says that the 2016 election is rigged. Bernie Sanders said the primary was rigged. President Obama has in the past said that elections were rigged, just as Hillary Clinton has. Al Gore went as far as to file a lawsuit claiming the Presidency was stolen from him in 2000. Normally when you get that many people from different positions at different times complaining about the same thing, it does exist.

America the envy of the world

America was built on a democratic system where every vote cast was sacred having to be counted to ensure the validity and value of all the others.

The lives of Americans have in the past been the envy of the world. We had security, prosperity, and personal items that people in other countries envied but could not obtain for whatever reason.

Our vote was what they wanted most, to be able to have a say in what happened inside their countries borders. Those same borders are being essentially ignored by our current administration along with Sanctuary Cities all over the country. People the world over want to come here, some for freedom, some to do us harm, and some who should not, actually cast votes.

No greater value than a vote

Absolutely nothing is more valuable than our votes. We should attack voter fraud, election fraud with the same vigor that we launched a war on drugs that has resulted in billions of dollars being spent, and much of that money spent unwisely.

We should be just as outraged that a vote was stolen as we were with the things Donald Trump said, or the things Hillary Clinton did, but cannot remember.

Somewhere along the way we have allowed these election manipulating politicians to devalue our votes much like monopolizing companies do completion to eliminate them. The risk has been worth the reward to these people, whatever they gained far out valued the small fines, or short-time before people just lost interest and it just goes away.

Few have ever been severely punished, and that maybe the problem.

Democrats rigged the electronic voting machines in battleground states. Paper ballots being discarded. Massive early voting fraud. pic.twitter.com/Yg0TQRIgc9  Totally Deplorable (@farmagoo) October 27, 2016

Votes, the foundation of freedom

Our vote is the foundation that America rests on, without we crumble.

We should hold anyone found guilty of election violations to very severe consequences. One single violation and that person should be banned from all political activities of any kind for life. Their vote would be their only input in the future.

I would not be opposed to holding election crimes to the same standards as treason. In reality, election crime should be treason as it takes from each and every American by reducing the importance of their votes. Anyone that would be a part of election crime is not only a criminal, they are a traitor of the worst kind. Many have died to give each of us the right and privilege to vote todetermine our future.
Liberated From ISIS, Iraqi Assyrians Look to Rebuild Ancient Heartlands

As the coalition battling the Islamic State (IS) group pushes towards Mosul, Christian towns and villages in the surrounding region are being liberated. But the future is still unclear for those returning to Qaraqosh, Iraq's largest Christian town. Father Cherbel is returning to Qaraqosh, Iraq's largest Christian-majority town, which lies around 20 miles east of Mosul. Wearing a white soutane and a cross around his neck, the priest is all smiles as he greets an Iraqi army commander and his soldiers at the church gates. But the cheery grin is deceiving. "It's the first time I'm returning to Qaraqosh. I don't feel very free -- not yet anyway," Father Cherbel admits. More than two years after he fled Qaraqosh following its fall to IS group militants, Father Cherbel is returning to a shattered town. Bullet holes pockmark some buildings, others have collapsed, and sporadic gunfire can still be heard as Iraqi troops conduct a house-to-house operation, flushing out hiding jihadists and detonating explosives left behind by IS fighters. Qaraqosh is the oldest Christian town in Iraq, home to a number of ancient churches, chapels and monasteries. The Christian population, mostly from the Assyrian Christian Church which has close links to the Vatican, still use Aramaic -- the language that Jesus of Nazareth is believed to have spoken -- during their services. Iraq's Christian community has survived battles and conquests throughout the centuries and many members are determined not to abandon their ancient homeland. But the latest wars are seeing their numbers dwindle. Before the fall of former dictator Saddam Hussein, there were an estimated 1.5 million Iraqi Christians, primarily in the north. Their numbers have since dwindled to around 500,000, but probably even less. In Qaraqosh itself, there were around 50,000 Christians living in the city before the IS group seized control. Nobody knows how many will return. Iraqi Christians take up arms At an ancient monastery in Qaraqosh, sculptures of the Virgin Mary and Christian saints have been defaced. In the chapel, Christian texts have been replaced by the Koran and tracts put out by the IS group's propaganda unit. An Iraqi soldier points to an IS group message scrawled on the chapel walls, picks up a jihadist booklet and flings it down in disgust. "Their behaviour dishonours Islam," he says sadly, shaking his head in despair. Qaraqosh was liberated earlier this month by the Iraqi army's 9th Armoured Division and a Christian militia known as the Nineveh Protection Unit. Following the June 2014 fall of Mosul and subsequent collapse of the Iraqi army, a number of Christians answered calls to oust the IS group from the region. Iraqi Christians who fled to Kurdish areas formed militias under the control of the Kurdish Peshmerga Ministry, while other Christian militias operate under the Hashd al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization Units, a loose alliance of militias -- primarily Shiite -- that are also part of the anti-IS coalition. Weeks after the launch of the military operation to retake Mosul, the coalition -- united by the offensive against a common enemy -- is holding together. But in a divided country such as Iraq, different groups are already making their post-war plans. Old tensions -- such as competing territorial claims by Iraq's Kurds and Arabs as well as power-sharing disputes between Shiites and Sunnis -- are simmering under the surface. In this mix of competing interests, the ultimate goal of Iraq's tiny Christian community, now armed, is still unclear. For now, community leaders such as Father Cherbel are happy just to return to their churches and start the slow process of rebuilding their desecrated sites.
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Vo Tuan Nhan, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, spoke to the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) about the countrys efforts to adapt to climate change.

What are your assessments on the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) achievements and Viet Nam actions on climate change?

The whole world, particularly developing countries, has felt strong impacts of climate change However, Its impacts are becoming stronger, more complicated and more unpredictable. Fortunately, the world community is joining hands to respond to these negative impacts. This unity is reflected through the adaptation of the Climate Change Act adopted at the 21st Paris Climate Change Conference by 196 countries and territories. All countries involved are actively preparing further steps to ratify COP 21 documents and to start implementing the agreement from 2021 onward.

In addition, the IPCCs 6th Assessment report will help the world further understand the impacts of climate change. On the other hand, the reports will help countries determine how to access climate change (CC) impacts and come up with adaptable technology to cope with CC and cut down the greenhouse gas emission in the global scale.

The IPCCs proposals offer precious information for policy makers in all countries to come up with adaptable policies against climate change in their own countries. At the same time, the IPCCs report has provided a firm background for scientists to come up with adaptable measures to cope with CC impacts, including those in Viet Nam.

Do you have any comments on Viet Nams climate change scenarios and the sea level rise discussed at the conference?

Viet Nam is one of the many developing countries vulnerable to climate change. We are well aware of the importance and great significance of responding to climate change and against natural calamities in the course of sustainable development of the nation. Viet Nam has adopted many policies, strategies and programmes in response to climate change, natural calamity and green growth. Were confident that these documents will help to protect the countrys sustainable development while joining hands with international friends near and far in protecting the Earths climate system.

Regarding our country, developing detailed CC scenarios for all localities is the most important task. Were basing these on climate change and sea level rise in 2009 and 2012, and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment will try to update those scenarios based on the latest information that has been collected, including the information contained in the AR5 of the IPCC. Im confident that these updated scenarios will help localities come up with workable measures in the course of restructuring their economy to make it adaptable to the impacts of climate change and greenhouse gas emissions.

Whats the significance of the workshop in the present context of the nation?

The workshop was an occasion for Vietnamese managers, scientists and experts in the field of climate change to exchange their experiences in this field and to discuss how to expand their co-operation during the implementation of Paris Agreement in Viet Nam. Im confident that the strong co-operation between Vietnamese and foreign scientists will help the Vietnamese government come up good and workable socio-economic development strategies for all domains.  VNS
The 18th International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties (IMCWP) started in Ha Noi yesterday with more than 100 representatives participating. VNA/VNS Photo Doan Tan

HA NOI  The 18th International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties (IMCWP) started in Ha Noi yesterday with more than 100 representatives participating.

This is the first time the Communist Party of Viet Nam (CPV) has hosted the event.

Hoang Binh Quan, Head of the Party Central Committees Commission for External Relations, underlined the significance of promoting fights for peace, independence and sovereignty as well as workers benefits.

He stressed the need to observe the UN Charters fundamental principles and international law, especially respecting independence and sovereignty of countries, and settling disputes via peaceful means, without intervening in nations internal affairs and use or threat to use force.

The official confirmed that the CPV attaches importance on national independence and building socialism as well as having an external affairs policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, co-operation and development.

The country pays attention to reinforcing and enhancing relations with socialist countries, traditional friends, communist parties, and workers around the world, he said.

He took the occasion to thank global communist parties, workers and peace-loving people for their solidarity and support to Viet Nam.

Established in 1998, the IMCWP gathers more than 120 communist and workers parties from 85 countries.

The event will run until Sunday.  VNS
Party Central Committees Secretariat inh The Huynh meets with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in New York on Thursday.  VNA/VNS Photo

NEW YORK  Politburo member and permanent member of the Party Central Committees Secretariat inh The Huynh called on the UN to continue co-operating with Viet Nam in maintaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and implementing the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development and climate change response.

The official made the appeal during a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in New York on Thursday as part of his ongoing US visit.

Huynh lauded the UNs assistance to Viet Nam in dealing with post-war consequences and national development, and enhancing its collaboration with the organisation.

He thanked the Secretary General for his agencys assistance to Vietnamese citizens affected by drought and saltwater intrusion.

He stressed that Viet Nam attaches importance to the UNs contributions to security in Asia-Pacific.

The official praised the statements made by the UN and the Secretary General expressing concern over developments in the East Sea as well as their stance on handling disputes by peaceful measures in line with international law in order to maintain peace and stability, and ensuring freedom, security and safety of navigation in the area.

Huynh urged the UN to continue leading in observing international law, promoting the peaceful settlement of disputes and supporting countries and regions in keeping a peaceful and stable climate.

Ban Ki-moon spoke highly of Viet Nams achievements in realising the MDGs and the countrys efforts to prove itself a responsible member of the international community.

He urged the country to continue partnering with the UN in peace-keeping operations, while contributing to actualising other UN initiatives and programmes.

The UN will grant more support to Vietnam, helping the country maintain its MDG achievements and translate the 2030 Agenda into deeds, the Secretary General said.

Regarding regional issues, Ban Ki-moon hoped that relevant parties will engage in dialogue to address disputes peacefully in accordance with the UN Charter and international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea towards reaching a Code of Conduct in the East Sea.

Countries should not use force or threaten to use force, nor unilaterally expand the disputes and militarise, he said.  VNS
Deputy Nguyen Tien Sinh from northern Hoa Binh province suggested completing the legal system, particularly regulations like the Penal Code, the Law on Anti-corruption and the Law on Officials and Public Servants.  Photo nld.com.vn

HA NOI  Tackling corruption and crime topped the agenda for National Assembly deputies yesterday, with most of them concerned that the tasks were not being fulfilled to required standards.

Reporting on anti-corruption work in 2016, Chief Government Inspector Phan Van Sau said corruption prevention work has seen positive results and generated visible change in State management, contributing to building an open, transparent and democratic society.

Earlier this year, the Government issued a directive on stepping up the detection and handling of corruption cases. The Central Steering Committee for Corruption Prevention and Combat monitored investigations, legal proceedings, prosecution and trials of important corruption cases, he said.

Through inspections and the settlement of petitions and denunciations, inspection agencies uncovered 49 corruption cases and 95 individuals associated with corrupt behaviour. Between October 1, 2015 and September 30, 2016, police launched investigations into 257 cases with 710 people involved in corruption.

However, he admitted that the menace was growing in a complex fashion, as anti-corruption work was not taken seriously by all ministries, sectors and localities.

In 2016, corruption cases triggered economic losses of over VN240 billion (US$10.8 million), he reported.

Sau vowed that agencies will work harder to stamp out corruption. The whole political system is responsible for combating corruption, with Party committees, administrations and heads of offices front and centre in the effort.

Discussing the report, most deputies agreed with the report but said more measures were needed to increase the efficiency of anti-corruption work. Current anti-corruption measures were not strict enough to serve as effective deterrents, they said.

Deputy Nguyen Tien Sinh from northern Hoa Binh province suggested completing the legal system, particularly regulations like the Penal Code, the Law on Anti-corruption and the Law on Officials and Public Servants.

Every public official should have their assets closely supervised like other countries have done successfully, he said. For example, China asked public officials to declare assets twice a year while Singapore allows courts to seize assets that public officials could not declare the origin of.

Deputy Truong Trong Nghia from HCM City pointed to the need to clarify the responsibility of heads of agencies and localities where corruption was found.

Other deputies proposed more measures to promote the role of the public in detecting corruption and to protect whistleblowers.

Reporting on crime prevention, Minister of Public Security To Lam said the Government issued drastic instructions and ministries, sectors, localities and society made concerted efforts to combat crime in 2016.

Police smashed 4,172 criminal rings disturbing social order, tackled cases of serious crime and helped bring to light big corruption cases.

Despite these efforts, complicated crimes were still reported, mostly in traffic law, fire prevention, environmental protection, food hygiene, finance, taxation, land, trade and insurance, he said.

He added that hostile forces incited mass gatherings causing social disturbances.

He said that economic difficulties and unemployment put huge pressure on society and State management was weak, especially in finance, taxation, transport, and food hygiene. Party committees and authorities of several localities lacked a hard-line attitude in preventing and combating crimes.

Examining the report, many deputies said the Government needed stronger measures to combat crime, particularly juvenile delinquency, such as raising awareness of youths to abide by law and the consequences of crime, increasing co-operation between families, schools and society in educating youths and completing the legal system to prevent loopholes.

Deputies also listened to reports presented by Chief of the Supreme Peoples Procuracy Le Minh Tri, Chief Justice of the Supreme Peoples Court Nguyen Hoa Binh, and Justice Minister Le Thanh Long on criminal and civil cases.  VNS
HA NOI  Thousands of billion of ong invested in vocational training for residents of northern mountainous provinces have produced little effectiveness, according to the General Department of Vocational Training.

It is estimated that about VN 1.5 trillion (US$67.1 million) in State budget funds and about $1.3 million in development assistance have been used to help rural labourers raise their income and improve their living standards through vocational training. The department estimates that about 140,000 people in the northern provinces participate in vocational training courses each year, reported Tin tuc (News) newspaper.

However, only a small part of the graduates were recruited as short-term labourers in local firms, the department said.

According to experts, many vocational training courses do not take into account the demands of the labour market and that is one of the reasons for their ineffectiveness.

A representative of the Peoples Committee in Phu Tho Provinces Lai ong Commune said nearly 200 villagers attended vocational training courses in the last five years. After the courses, most of them continued farming.

Ha Thi Lan Huong of Phat 1 Village in the commune said she and 100 other villagers learned how to embroider during three months.

At first days, all of us hoped we could earn a better living by embriodering, she said. But things do not always turn out the way we plan.

They failed to find buyers for products they made and all quit and went back to farming, she said.

Experts also said a shortage of in-depth training due to short-term courses added to the problem.

Bui Van Nam of Hoa Binh Provinces Tan Lac District said training courses often provide initial skills for a career. But he had to study and practice more before he could make a living in the skill he learned - mechanics.

Vu Van Thinh of the Quang Ninh Provinces Coal and Mineral Vocational Training School said many vocational training centres failed to provide clear orientation on how to choose a suitable career.

Many people therefore signed up for courses unsuitable for their locality, he said.

Solutions outlined

Truong Xuan Cu, deputy head of the Northwest Region Steering Committee, said people in the region now pay more attention to vocational training given that university graduates are failing to get jobs.

Therefore, building a high-quality vocational training school to meet the demand of both learners and the market was necessary, he said.

Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs, Huynh Van Ty, said to attract students vocational training schools should reach a commitment by local firms to hire graduates. In the future, he added, training schools or centres would only be allowed to open if they could ensure jobs for students.

In a related move, the General Department of Vocational Training submitted a request to build two high-quality vocational training schools.  VNS
HCM CITY  RMIT Vietnam has launched the universitys first international-standard PhD programme with three degree options: Business, Management, or Electrical and Electronics Engineering.

PhD candidates can choose to base themselves in Viet Nam, with a co-supervisor also based here, but still be counted as an RMIT Melbourne Higher Degree Research student, said Professor Gael McDonald, president of the university.

We will provide doctoral candidates support from a group of experienced and trained research supervisors who will help them develop research skills and knowledge needed to maximise their potential.

A PhD signifies a unique contribution to knowledge, whether its developing new economic models that save time and increase efficiency or developing innovations that save our environment, McDonald said.

Two scholarships that will be fully funded by RMIT Vietnam will be specifically for women, in engineering, where womens participation in the labour force is low, and in business, where senior leadership is predominantly men.  VNS
01:54 RBA lifts cash rate by 25 basis points to 2.85 per cent Sky News Business Editor Ross Greenwood says the Reserve Bank of Australia has lifted the cash rate by 25 basis points to 2.85 per cent.

03:30 Democrats distance from stammering and stuttering Joe Biden ahead of midterms Democrat candidates are running further away from US President Joe Biden and are turning to his former boss Barack Obama to get them across the...

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08:51 No perfect solution to fix gas prices Assistant Minister for Treasury Andrew Leigh says there is no perfect solution to fix rising gas prices.
CHARLES CITY  A man accused of stealing a police badge from a plaque in the lobby of the Charles City Police Department has pleaded guilty and will be sentenced Nov. 7.

Isaia Weber, 33, of Charles City, pleaded guilty Friday to misdemeanor charges of fifth-degree theft and fifth-degree criminal mischief. The state is recommending two days in jail plus a $125 surcharge and restitution on each charge, according to Floyd County District Court records.

Charles City Police Chief Hugh Anderson said Weber is suspected of taking the badge from the Shelley Trefz Award plaque sometime last week.

Officers recovered the badge Wednesday afternoon while searching a home in the 200 block of First Avenue. Weber was arrested earlier that day at a residence on 10th Avenue.

Police served four search warrants at the two residences as a result of the case. In addition to the badge, police say they also recovered guns, drugs and drug-related items.

Multiple people are expected to face charges as a result of the search warrants.

Additional charges had not been filed against Weber as of late Friday afternoon, according to Iowa Courts Online.
WATERLOO  A grand jury has indicted to men on weapons charges in connection with a July traffic stop.

Officers found a loaded 9mm Taurus handgun in Daytoviane Dapree McLemores shorts when they stopped a BMW 300 on July 1 on East Mullan Avenue. McLemore, 18, was a passenger, and Joshua Adam Rode, 19, was the driver. Officers also found a plastic bag with marijuana residue in the vehicle. Police allege Rode had handled the weapon and gave it to McLemore before the traffic stop.

They were arrested in August on state weapons charges, and on Oct. 18, a grand jury indicted Rode and McLemore on charges of possession of a firearm by a drug user.

McLemore was detained on Monday, and a magistrate ruled on Wednesday that he remain in jail until trial. Rode was detained on Wednesday.
LA PORTE CITY -- Three people were injured when an automobile hit a tree in the 600 block of Commercial Street here Friday.

Black Hawk County sheriff's deputies said Dean DeMoss, 42, of Hiawatha, received "critical life-threatening injuries" and was initially taken to Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo and subsequently airlifted to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City.

A second individual, Sylvia McVay, 38, of Cedar Rapids, received minor arm injury and was taken to Covenant.

Both were rear-seat passengers in a vehicle driven by Maria Motto, 49, of Vinton, who also was taken to Covenant with serious injuries. Deputies said she was northbound on Commercial, lost control of the vehicle and it left the road and struck a tree.

Deputies and La Porte City police at the scene were assisted by La Porte firefighters and Covenant paramedics.
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The story of Tyrs binding of the wolf Fenrir is the only surviving myth of a god who must have once been a major figure in Germanic religion. Today, there are two popular readings of the role of the wolf that place twenty-first century identity politics over a deep understanding of the mythic figure itself. After examining the myth and the variant interpretations, maybe we can agree on a reading that is both historical and contemporary.

A Myth of Threat and Sacrifice

The very name of the god Tyr provides the strongest evidence for his former greatness; the word tyr is used in Old Norse as a synonym for god. Parallel names appear in related Indo-European religions as designations for major gods of the sky. By the time the Norse myths were written down in Iceland, this great god had been reduced to a minor figure with only one attached myth.

He appears in the Edda when Snorri Sturluson tells the tale of the gods attempting to neutralize the existential threats of Lokis three monstrous children: the half-corpse Hel, the gigantic World Serpent, and the monstrous wolf Fenrir.

At first, the gods keep and raise Fenrir, and only Tyr is brave enough to feed the growing wolf. However, Fenrirs rapidly increasing size and the prophecy that he is destined to attack the gods leads the gods to attempt his binding for their own safety. The wolf manages to break out of the various fetters placed on him under the guise of a game, so the deities ask the clever dwarfs to make an unbreakable band.

The gods the take Fenrir to an island overgrown with heather and tell him that, if he is too weak to break the new fetter, they will know he is no threat  and he will then roam free. Understandably suspicious that they will leave him in bonds, he asks to hold a gods hand in his mouth as a guarantee of the gods good faith.

Tyr volunteers his own right hand. When the gods see that the wolf is unable to break free from the dwarf-forged fetter, they all laughed except for Tyr. He lost his hand. Thanks to Tyrs sacrifice, the wolf is now bound for the coming ages and will be a captive until the arrival of Ragnarok.

Be silent, Tyr, you could never

deal straight between two people;

your right hand, I must point out,

is the one which Fenrir tore from you.

What meaning is behind this myth? The poem Lokasenna (Lokis Quarrel) provides a clue. Loki insults the gods and goddesses one by one, but each taunt also serves to bring out a quality or attribute of the deity being targeted. When he turns to Tyr, Loki says:

This can be seen in the context of the mutilated gods  figures who have given up a part of their physicality in order to gain a higher power that defines their religious role.

Odin sacrifices one of his eyes and gains mystic insight as the god who seeks wisdom. Heimdall casts away one of his ears and gains the ability to hear all that happens in the nine worlds as the guardian of reality. Freyja gives her body for the sexual pleasure of the dwarfs in order to gain her necklace, an ancient symbol of female fertility power. Both Freyr and Thor have compromised phallic weapons  Freyr gives away his sword, Thor has a hammer with a shortened shaft  and are associated with human and earthly fertility, respectively. Baldr gives up his life so that he can return from Hel after Ragnarok as a bright god of the next world.

This interpretation can be argued against, as can all such systems. However, in this context, it seems that Tyr has given up his hand so that he can do exactly what Loki claims he cannot  bring the hands of men together in honest compact. Tyr is invoked in the inscription to Mars Thingsus on the third-century altar on Hadrians Wall in England; as the god of the Thing (assembly), Tyr would indeed see to it that that there were straight dealings between people as they negotiated legal and business cases. As with the other mutilated gods, Tyr has given up a physical part that gives him spiritual power  in this case, as the god who oversees contracts and compacts between men.

So Tyrs sacrifice in the myth has dual functions of immediacy and implication. Tyr protects the community from the immediate threat by binding the wolf, and he protects it from future threat by becoming a god who insures straight dealings between individuals.

Both threats threaten the safety of the community. The wolf will attack the community of which Tyr is a part, and violations of the social contract lead to chaotic violence  as is so often illustrated in the escalating conflicts of the Icelandic sagas.

Siding with the Wolf

There is a subset of modern Heathenry that seems to valorize the wolfs violent threat over Tyrs protection of the community. The image of the snarling wolf appears on Heathen jewelry, logos, avatars, websites, and memes.

Common to the many variations of this theme is the embrace of the attacking wolf as role model set in opposition not to the one who guards the community, but to sheep who are portrayed purely as prey for the wolf. This brackets the fact that sheep are herded and raised for the benefits they provide to the human community, and it instead posits the outer beast who attacks the inner world of men as the ideal.

This disdain for symbolic sheep is sometimes coupled with an attack on supposedly passive Christians, as in the various iterations of the slogan Better to be a wolf of Odin than a lamb of God. This imagery sits uneasily with Heathen assertions that Christians have a violent history of converting past pagans by the sword. If the use of force against the weak is something to be celebrated, wouldnt the Christians who bloodily converted the northern world be heroes to macho Heathens today?

This somewhat self-contradictory valorization of wolfish violence as a specifically Heathen ideal is problematic for other reasons, as well. Those who promote the concept of the wolf-model can push back against the above points by turning to the ulfenar (wolf-skins) of the sagas as examples of strong men who took on the qualities of wolves. The problem is that the best-known examples of ulfenar are harmful to their communities and to themselves.

In the Icelandic saga of Egill Skallagrimsson, Kveldulfr (Night-Wolf) is a Norwegian landowner who is a purported shape-shifter. He is kind to his farmhands and workers during the day, but towards evening he would grow so bad-tempered that few people dared even address him. His wolfish tendencies drive away human contact, even from those within his closest community. This antisocial behavior is not portrayed as something to be emulated.

In the Volsunga saga, the hero Sigmundr and his son Sinfjotli don the wolfskins they find beside bewitched men. They howl like wolves and break their companionship to individually assault groups of men who venture into the forest. Sinfotli betrays his promise to his father to only attack small groups and to call on him for help when facing greater opposition  a breach of trust that Sigmundr answers by assaulting him and biting him in the windpipe. The right relationship between father and son is not repaired until they are able to take off and burn the wolfskins, therefore turning their back on animalistic behavior.

In both cases, the closest bonds of kinship and community are broken by the assumption of wolf-like character. Is this something to be celebrated? If so, it goes directly against the example of the god Tyr as binder of the wolf that threatens the community.

Defenders of the attacking wolf as a Heathen symbol can also point to berserkir (bear-shirts) as examples of men inspired by Odin who fight with the assumed ferocity of wild animals. In the sagas that purport to tell of historic times (as opposed to ones dealing with fantastic and legendary subjects), these figures are portrayed as out-of-control threats to farming communities who wander in from outside of inhabited areas to demand hard-working people fight them or give up their wives and daughters for their own pleasure. These wolfish figures are portrayed as outside the pale of human society and directly threatening to it, not as anything to be celebrated.

What of the two mythic wolves who are portrayed as the loyal hounds of Odin? They appear in the poem Grimnismal (Sayings of the Masked One):

Geri and Freki he satiates,

the glorious Father of Hosts, trained in battle;

but on wine alone the weapon-magnificent

Odin always lives.

The names of the wolves both translate as greedy. Odin appears here in his role as a bloodthirsty god of war, as he does at other points in the lore. We know that Old Norse literature regularly refers to warriors as those who feed the wolf and the raven with corpses they slay on the battlefield, and that seems to be the image that invoked in this stanza. To take poetry literally is usually a mistake. The idea here seems to be that Odin-as-warlord is feeding his wolves with dead bodies by causing war in the world while he himself glories in the shed blood which he metaphorically drinks as wine.

I would ask those creating and forwarding memes of the Heathen wolf: who celebrates the destruction and death caused by war? Over the long centuries of human history, we have repeatedly learned the lesson that mass killing is not a glorious and heroic thing.

This is not some sort of postmodern revisionist rewriting of Heathen history. Even in the oldest sources, images of the glorious and victorious warrior are countered by portraits of men made so miserable by their war wounds that they beg to die, of wives who watch their husbands bleed to death on the battlefield, of women violated and enslaved as plunder, of children living among strangers who never know their parents. The Heathens of the elder era lived with their eyes wide open to the realities of the world.

Today, only a true monster would look at the photos of Alan Kurdi and Omran Daqneesh and gleefully or wolfishly howl that war is magnificent. To demand that the international community stands up for the human rights of those whose lives are upended by war is to invoke the power of Tyr; to deride these young people as passive sheep is to celebrate and embody the threat that Fenrir brings to the world community.

The Wolf as Victim

Another subset of modern Heathenry reads the binding of Fenrir as a tale of cruelty perpetuated by the gods, with Tyr as the willing deceiver who enables the abuse. Those who promote this idea tend to be of kind heart, and that should be respected. However, this reading makes the common error of reading mythology literally, of mistaking the surface imagery for the metaphorical core of the myth.

The interpretation in question goes something like this. Loki is a sympathetic and misunderstood fellow who is treated poorly by the gods, a group of ingrates who dont appreciate all that he does for them. When he fathers three innocent young children, Odin and his tribe abuse them by throwing the girl into the underworld, tossing the young snake into the ocean, and abusing the wolf pup.

In this interpretation, Fenrir is a gentle creature who is bound and tortured by the evil gods. The fact that he later kills Odin and aids the destruction of the world at Ragnarok is a fair and just retribution for his cruel and unusual treatment as a pup. Tyr is a deceitful cad who betrays the creature he had once fed, gaining its trust only to wickedly trick it into allowing its own painful binding. The gods are the villains of the story, and the myth is really about the unjustified and unjustifiable violation of the innocent.

Leaving aside the question of Lokis role in Norse mythology, this reading seems to be a willful inversion of the symbolism inherent in the myth of Tyr and the wolf. Like the Heathens who embrace the wolf as an ideal of thrilling violence to be emulated, the promoters of this view pull the wolf out of the context of ancient myth and rewrite him as something entirely postmodern.

Wolf-pups are gentle creatures, says the pro-Fenrir faction, and to bind them is an act of wickedness. Wolves are beautiful and intelligent creatures of the wild, and they form wonderful and close-knit communities that care for their members in a way that humans would do well to emulate. Such assertions are often accompanied by high-definition nature photographs of smiling wolves cavorting with their offspring.

This may all be true, but such a portrayal goes directly against the worldview of the peoples that created the myths and handed them down through the generations. The ancient Norse and Germanic peoples were largely dependent on farming and animal husbandry for their livelihood. In such societies, the wolf was no kindly creature to be cuddled, but a dark and dangerous threat that lurked on the edges of human habitation, always ready to strike and terrorize.

In the 1930s, my father grew up in a German farming village in what was then Hungary. The towns name was Karavukovo (the place of the black wolf). In no way were wolves celebrated by the hardworking rural community as beautiful and wonderful creatures to be marveled at and feted. They were terrifying predators who prowled the edges of what the Icelanders of long ago would have called the innangar, the enclosed world of humans.

Due to the very real threat they posed in life, wolves serve as the great symbol of that which threatens human communities. They are found playing this role throughout Germanic folklore, from the earliest surviving examples through the so-called fairy tales collected in the nineteenth century.

In the era described in the Icelandic sagas, the wolf is the symbol par excellence for that which endangers society. Prof. Jesse L. Byock writes of the Old Norse term for one man killing another in stealth and hiding his action: The killer was then referred to as a mor-vargr, murderer (literally, killer wolf), and was beyond the pale of the law. He goes on to explain the use of the term vargr (wolf) in Icelandic law codes to refer to outlaws, who could be hunted down like wolves. A human who commits an inhuman act of violence is then treated like a wolf, is beyond the protection of the laws, and can be cut down in cold blood like a wolf. There is no sympathy in this hard culture for the beast that kills men.

In the poem Hakonarmal (Sayings of Hakon), Odin speaks ominously of The grey wolf watch[ing] the abodes of the gods. The mythic image of Fenrir connects to the legal concept of the murderer and to the real threat of the actual animal. In light of this context, it seems willfully contrarian to assert that Fenrir is the hero and Tyr the villain.

Finding Common Ground



Myths can be read in many ways. We can both strive to understand the meaning of the mythic image in the parent culture and assert our human right to reinterpret it in light of our own life experiences. However, problems creep in when we choose to forward readings that go directly against everything we know about the religio-cultural worldview from which the myths emanated.

Is it possible to examine the myths from our own cultural vantage point while still being honest about the source material? Both positions of identification with the wolf discussed above  whether as violent predator or gentle victim  toss aside the deeper meanings inherent in the mythic symbol and superimpose concepts from todays hyper-divisive personal politics.

The core problem here really seems to be an insistence on emphasizing the surface symbol over the metaphorical referent. The modern use of memes  of visual markers to assert meaning  underscores this approach to myth. The photo of the snarling wolf expresses the rugged individuals constructed self-image as a tough-guy who always stands up for himself. The images of joyous wolf-parents and loving pups suggests that the individual is someone who feels misunderstood and outside of the social mainstream  and therefore seeks alternative images of non-mainstream belonging.

Both projections of self-identity can be deeply meaningful to those who deploy them, and they are completely understandable as social-media creations that seek to assert an image of self within a given community. However, both also go directly against what the wolf represents in the myths themselves.

The tale of Tyr and the wolf neither valorizes the violence of the wolf nor portrays the animal as a sympathetic figure. This is not a literal tale of tying up a struggling young wolf. It is part of a mythology of deities with names like god, thunder, fury, and lady  and of a monstrous creature whose name Fenrir means fen-dweller, a threat from the uninhabited outer lands who comes to destroy the cultivated worlds of gods and men.

Maybe we can agree on a reading of the myth that is both true to the text and to what we believe today. Here is a simple suggestion that focuses on the symbolism of Tyr and fully accepts that that the wolf is a metaphor rather than a real-world animal.

Out of an entire community, only one individual is willing to offer great personal sacrifice in order to protect his fellows from a dire threat that has grown up within the community. Rather than turning to violence against others, he nobly stands up and takes the resulting damage to himself. As a result, he gains the ability to join the hands of other people in agreement and harmony.

This uncomplicated reading makes sense in terms of the worldviews of then and now. It is up to the individual to fill in the blanks of what they consider sacrifice, threat, community, and harmony.

Will you stand up against the threat to American society posed by the alt-right, knowing that they will target you for retribution? Will you cross the fault-lines in our racially-divided society to work for change, even if people on every side deride you for it? Will you take the risk of standing up for your community, be it Heathen, immigrant, or LGBTQ+? Will you face the harmful elements within your own family, faith, city, and country?

If you are brave enough to stick your hand in the mouth of the beast, maybe you will help your community to bind the forces that threaten it and move forwards toward future reconciliation.

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The views and opinions expressed by our diverse panel of columnists and guest writers represent the many diverging perspectives held within the global Pagan, Heathen and polytheist communities, but do not necessarily reflect the views of The Wild Hunt Inc. or its management.
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Costa Rica is situated right between two oceans. To the north of this mountainous isthmus, we have the Atlantic. In the other direction, the Pacific. The pair of seas are close enough for the occasional adventurous frigatebird to just soar way up and right over to the other salty basin. The proximity of both slopes also facilitates seeing a lot of different species in a short span because the montane barrier has resulted in differences in terms of species and habitats. Over there on the Caribbean (thats what we call the Atlantic Ocean in Costa Rica), the lowlands are supposed to be blanketed in lush, over-vegetated rainforests. They used to be but a burgeoning population in need of more living room and land for cattle and crops destroyed a fair portion of those rainforests during the 20th century. Fortunately, nowadays, there are protected areas and efforts to establish biological corridors that provide more hope for the endangered Great Green Macaw, and other species.

Three Great Greens in flight at a site in the Caribbean slope foothills.

I dont see many long-term benefits to a landscape where large areas have been converted to monocultures of banana, pineapples (real eco-deserts full of poison), and cow, but its at least worthwhile to know that such habitats are pretty worthless for birding. Yeah, you might see some edge and open country species but since you can see those same birds at the edge of forests along with toucans, parrots, puffbirds, and antbirds, I strongly suggest skipping the open areas and heading to the largest areas of rainforest that you can find ASAP. In Costa Rica, that would mean the Sarapiqui area because this is where we find the closest Caribbean lowland forests to San Jose. This is where we also find frequently visited sites like the La Selva biological station, Tirimbina, and lodges like Selva Verde, and is where you have a fair chance of seeing the Great Green Macaw, Snowy Cotinga, and lots of other lowland species. But, if you want to go further afield, fear not, there is some wonderful lowland forest birding up near Nicaragua and down south by Panama as well.

I try to get down that way at least once a year preferably in the fall because the coastal forests south of Limon also act as one of the best areas in the country for migration (Tortuguero being the other top migration spot). Pay a visit during October and you will probably see aerial streams of swallows, Purple Martins, and Chimney Swifts, the classic River of Raptors, and other migrants on their way to South America. If you dont feel like watching migration in action (if not, you probably arent a birder), you can also see lots of fun, local lowland rainforest species because theres a fair bit of forest and old second growth around Cahuita and Puerto Viejo. Since these are tourist destinations, theres also plenty of places to stay and a pretty good variety of dining options as well (including one of the best Italian restaurants in Costa Rica- check out the Pecora Nera).

Nothing like watching kettle after kettle of Turkey Vultures, and Broad-winged and Swainsons Hawks pass overhead for hours.

A couple weeks ago, while guiding a trip to the area, we stayed at a rural tourism initiative known as Casa Calateas. When you see rural tourism in Costa Rica, that usually means a small, basic lodge owned and run by a local community so they can benefit from tourism. Those places are often located in good habitat, the food is tasty, local fare, and its a great way to support the economies of communities trying to make a living from tourism instead of cutting down the forest. Dont expect posh rooms or many amenities but you can expect good service, clean rooms, appreciative local people, and pretty good birding for a great price.

At least thats how it was at Casa Calateas. I hadnt been there before so I wasnt sure what to expect other than the satellite glimpse via Google Earth, what other guests had said, and one or two eBird lists. It all looked good though, so we did the trip, and thankfully, it was birdalicious. Although I dipped once again on Black-chested Jay for Costa Rica, I did add my other main target for the trip, Spot-crowned Antvireo. This small antbird species is common in Panama to Ecuador but rare in Costa Rica. It was satisfying to finally add that to my country and year list but if you really want to see it, I suggest birding elsewhere. Nevertheless, its still worth looking for it at Casa Calateas just because you can expect lots of other cool species in the process.

Black-crowned Antshrike is one of those cool species- common at Calateas and other lowland forest sites in Costa Rica.

We watched from the viewing platform and I suggest you do the same. We had looks at Semiplumbeous Hawk, White-necked Puffbird, toucans, parrots, hundreds of migrating Mississippi Kites, and several other birdies. It was kind of like a canopy tower although most trees were pretty far off.

We had several sightings of the uncommon Semiplumbeous Hawk!

I also suggest checking the trees near the platform to see if one of the resident Great Potoos is around. At least two gave their growling, frightening calls all night long and were joined by the low rumbling call of the Crested Owl. Although we never saw the owl, we almost bumped into the potoo as it roosted on a tree near the platform.

The looks at the potoo were almost too close!

You can also expect solid birding right around the lodge and on the entrance road. Although the habitat is more like old second growth with some primary trees, its apparently old enough to support forest species like Bicolored, Spotted, and Chestnut-backed Antbirds, woodcreepers, and Purple-throated Fruitcrows. Sunbittern is also regular on the entrance road and who knows what else might show up in this underbirded area. I hope to go back to do some surveys.

Dancing Red-capped Manakins were fairly common too!

Visit in October, and you can also expect several migrants. On our first morning, I had close looks at a Chuck-wills-Widow, and we had several Bay-breasted Warblers, Scarlet Tanagers, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Swainsons Thrushes, and Red-eyed Vireos over the course of the weekend.

The Scarlet Tanagers in fall have shed their scarlet appearance.

It takes about four or four and a half hours to drive to Casa Calateas from the San Jose area. If you dont mind the drive and feel like good lowland birding while supporting local tourism, I suggest that you pay a visit. If you feel like going to the beach, thats possible too, there are several beaches anywhere from 10 minutes to an hours drive from the lodge.

Check the eBird list from a Saturday at Casa Calateas.

A nearby beach at Cahuita National Park.
MANASSAS, VA, October 29, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Judith "Judy" Welch, National Security Policy Analyst, has been recognized as a Distinguished Professional in her field through Women of Distinction Magazine. Judith "Judy" Welch will soon be featured in an upcoming edition of Women of Distinction and Top 2016 Edition.



Born in Pittsburgh and raised on a farm in western Pennsylvania, Judith "Judy" Welch went on to graduate second in her class and write the alma mater from Evans City High School before turning down an opportunity to attend Chatham College for Women on a full scholarship to instead accept a job with the Navy Department at the Pentagon. Forty-one years later, in 2000, Welch finally retired from her career with the Federal Government, only to begin a new venture at the WJLA-TV newsroom, the ABC affiliate station in Washington, DC, and News Channel 8, WJLA's co-located sister station, reporting around-the-clock local news. Spending four glorious years in the newsroom, she was then picked up as a Contractor supporting the Intelligence Community (IC).



"I've been blessed with so many wonderful career opportunities, by both serving my country as a civilian and as a contractor in an effort to help make a difference in our country's national security," Welch said.



Welch's time as a Contractor ended in 2013 after being laid off. In her role, she served as a Technical Writer, Security Policy Analyst, and Classification Specialist, evaluating and developing IC policy in the Director of National Intelligence Special Security Center, assessing program plans and reporting on program statuses while assigned to a Central Intelligence Agency project office, and serving as an SAIC Team Lead assigned to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency office responsible for implementing and overseeing the execution of the new Sensitive Compartmented Information Geospatial Intelligence control system across the newly-designated National System for Geospatial Intelligence.



During Welch's four-decade-long career with the Federal Government, she held numerous administrative roles for senior military and civilian officials in the Pentagon, quickly advancing through the ranks. She served as a Staff Officer/Deputy Executive Secretary to the Director of Volunteers in Service to America, aka VISTA, in the Executive Office of the President. VISTA was, at that time, considered to be the domestic version of the Peace Corps. She also volunteered for an oversees assignment as Executive Secretary to the US Military Representative in the US Delegation at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, was promoted two years later to Deputy Director of Administration at Nahbollenbach Army Deport in Idar-Oberstein, Germany, and was promoted yet again one year later to serve as Director of Administration at Kaiserslautern Army Depot Complex. Soon after, Welch became the voice of the Depot Complex as she began delivering news spots over the American Forces Network-Europe. By 1974 she had returned to the US and was assigned to work at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey as a Program Analyst before relocating to Alexandria, Virginia to work for the Army Materiel Command Inspector General. Finally, in 1987, Welch was promoted to Senior GAO Report Analyst/Staff Officer in the Office of the Department of Defense GI, which she held for the remaining 13 years of her career.



Notably, Welch attended college at night pursing a BS in Social Psychology, graduated from the Defense Systems Management College and Department of the Army IG School, and attended the Naval Postgraduate School, National Defense University and Brookings Institution.



About Women of Distinction Magazine:

Women of Distinction Magazine strives to continually bring the very best out in each article published and highlight Women of Distinction. Women of Distinction Magazine's mission is to have a platform where women can grow, inspire, empower, educate and encourage professionals from any industry by sharing stories of courage and success.



Contact:

Women of Distinction Magazine, Melville, NY

631-465-9024

[email protected]



# # #
Oct 28, 2016 | By Tess

NASAs Future Engineers program has just launched its fifth space innovation challenge: the Mars Medical Challenge. Like its pervious challenges, the online education platform is asking students K-12 to put their minds to work to create innovative 3D printable models that could be used by astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS). This time around, however, Future Engineers is calling for 3D printable models of medical or dental objects that could help astronauts to maintain their physical health while they are on long three-year missions to Mars.

More specifically, the Mars Medical Challenge is seeking 3D models which could help with a range of medical applications, such as diagnostic, preventative, first aid, emergency, surgical and/or dental uses. The contest, which launched October 27th, is accepting applications from students until January 25, 2017.

As one can imagine, being in space for extended periods of time has a toll on astronauts bodies, and raises many health questions. Being in no or very low gravity environments, for instance, has resulted in the decrease of mass and density of astronauts bones, which makes exercise and resistance training all the more important in space.

As Deanne Bell, CEO and founder of Future Engineers explains, As NASA continues to investigate how the human body adjusts to weightlessness, radiation and stress that occur on long duration spaceflight, Future Engineers is eager to engage students with a real-world space exploration challenge that focuses on health-related hardware and how a 3D printer can assist astronauts facing a medical scenario during a Mars mission.

Like Future Engineers previous four challenges, it is free for students across the U.S. to participate in the Mars Medical Challenge. Additionally, participants will not have to send in an actual 3D printed model of their object, only a 3D file, which can be assessed by the judges. In terms of criteria, the model must stay within size constraints of 6in x 6in x 6in, must take into account Mars gravity (1/3 of ours), and must be 100% 3D printable. More in depth guidelines can be found here.

At the end of the contest, two winners will be selected, one from the junior age group (5 to 12) and one from the teen age group (12 to 19). They will be the recipients of a trip to Houston, Texas for a tour of NASAs Johnson Space Flight Center where they will learn about Mars exploration and space medicine. The top four finalists from each age group will also be able to donate a Replicator Mini+ 3D printer to their school, local library, or other educational organization of choice, thanks to a partnership with MakerBot. Winners of the Mars Medical Challenge will be announced on March 28, 2017.

The Future Engineers contest series, which has so far generated a useful 3D printed multi-tool, many ideas for 3D printed expandable objects, and more, is promoting NASAs make it, dont take it philosophy. 3D printing technology has been a crucial part of this more economical approach, as NASA is seeking to develop and establish a 3D printing Fabrication Laboratory (aka Fab Lab) in space. So far, NASA has made headlines for having sent two 3D printers to the ISS, one of which has already 3D printed its first parts.

Posted in 3D Printing Events

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Oct 28, 2016 | By Nick

Korean designer Se Yoon Park has created a spectacular art installation of 3D printed trees called: Light, Darkness and the Tree.

The designer has worked on this one installation for the last three years and now, finally, he has presented his work to the public in his art gallery in Brooklyn, New York.

A qualified architect who studied at Columbia University, Park has studied 3D printing extensively for his professional work as a designer and as a means of expressing his artistic vision. Additive manufacturing has proved invaluable to architects that want to bring their 3D designs to life and now architectural scale models have become an integral part of the design and sales process.

It has also converted a whole generation of creative designers and now the 3D printing world is feeling the benefit. Park is an ideal case in point. He loves designing buildings, but something was missing. He felt removed from the final product and he decided to explore the relationship between light, darkness and form with a more personal sideline project. Here he can indulge his creative side without worrying about the technical requirements or a clients specification.

He can just let his mind run free and that led him down this unique path to a series of 3D printed trees. Inevitably theres a geometric and sculptured look to Parks trees. They are organic in their own way, yet theres a real architectural feel that reflects the Koreans background in construction.

While I work with traditional casting and fabrication methods, I am thankful for the contributions 3D printing has made to my design and process, and believe the combination of these methods is the way forward, he said. Through 3D printing, I was able to manifest my ideas tangibly, and i.materialise has aided me on my journey to capture light and darkness.

With the help of i.materialise, I am now able to communicate my message to the people through my sculptures.

The shadow that a solid object creates is just as important as the piece itself in Parks world, so he spent years perfecting the final shapes that are made up of multiple 3D printed components. Internal lighting can change the whole look and feel of the structure in a second and it also interacts with the natural environmental light to create an ever-changing and evolving gradation of the shadows.

Of course, Park is a draughtsman at heart and like any artistic architect he started out by sketching his designs. He then moved on to handmade models before moving to Rhino to create the 3D design that would go to the printer. The biggest challenge was catering for the necessary margin of error while retaining a shape precision that was essential to the structural integrity of the overall sculpture, he said.

He started out with PLA and ABS prototypes, but he wanted a perfect finish and soon progressed to i.materalises Polyamide and a laser sintering process that makes use of granular nylon powder.

That gave him options when it came to the porosity, which affected the structure, allowed him to employ a series of dyes to carefully control the color and it also afforded him more opportunities to play with artificial lighting.

Polyamide has a unique translucent quality that reacts to the environmental sunlight and the bulbs that Park placed strategically throughout the sculpture to give his trees an ethereal quality that he felt he just couldnt achieve with a simple desktop FDM printer.

The partnership with i.materialise clearly helped his cause. The Belgian company offers an online service that covers everything from Polyamide models and prototypes through to finished titanium parts for planes. You can send your product and choose from 100 different materials and finishes, which allows you to just get on with the artistic process.

So what started out as a vision in a US-based Korean designers mind is now on display in a New York art gallery thanks to the input of a Belgian 3D printing company. Its a truly international meeting of minds and a great demonstration of the wonders of 3D printing.

You can see more pictures and read all about the artistic process on Park website and if youre in New York then drop by his gallery in Red Hook, Brooklyn and see just what a true artist with classical architectural training can achieve with Rhino 3D and a 3D printer.

All images credit: Se Yoon Park

Source: [i.Materialise]

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Oct 29, 2016 | By Benedict

Students from the Technical University of Munich have hacked an Ultimaker 2+ 3D printer and developed a special 3D printable bio-ink called biotINK. The students have entered their project into the iGEM challenge, an annual biology contest.

3D bioprinting is one of todays most exciting areas of scientific research. Using special 3D printers, experts have been able to fabricate precisely shaped tissue from real human cells, and could soon be able to make 3D printed human organs for transplantation and other uses. To print cells, however, extra substances are needed. Cells themselves do not have the printer-friendly material properties of, say, PLA, so cannot simply be extruded from a nozzle. Instead, scientists tend to use something called a bio-ink, a substance with which cells can be mixed in order to make them printable.

A group of students from Germanys Technical University of Munich has developed its own unique bio-ink for 3D bioprinting, entering their research into the iGEM challenge, an annual contest for biologists, biochemists, and bioengineers. The students bio-ink contains biotin, commonly known as vitamin B7, as well as streptavidin, a protein with a high affinity for biotin that works like a glue. Because the bio-ink contains biotin, the team decided to call it biotINK.

The researchers believe that their new 3D bioprinting ink eliminates some of the problems associated with other bioprinting techniques, which typically require temporary scaffolds to support the organic structures. By using biotin and streptavidin, the researchers biotINK functions as a kind of molecular superglue, binding the biotin to the receptors and allowing scientists to precisely 3D print cells while locking them in position. This much faster bioprinting method enables the formation of three-dimensional intercellular contacts and physiological microenvironments.

All of these things cross-link with each other because streptavidin has binding sites for biotin, and is capable of binding biotin to our receptor, said team member Luisa Krumwiede. They should then polymerize and form a 3D structure.

Another important advantage of the biotINK is its compatibility with regular FDM 3D printers such as the Ultimaker 2+, a machine which is far less expensive than a dedicated 3D bioprinter. Although some modifications were made to the Ultimaker to enable it to print cells, the TU Munich students believe that any lab in the world could adapt a 3D printer in the same way. Enabling more laboratories to experiment with 3D bioprinting will no doubt accelerate developments in the field, contributing to better future healthcare for everyone.

In addition to developing biotINK and its 3D printing system, the students also developed several ways to functionalize 3D printed tissue. In an effort to create synthetic organs, the students modified cells to secrete insulin in response to infrared light, and have also attempted to induce vascularization in the 3D printed tissue.

The grand finale of the iGEM challenge takes place in Boston, and the German students believe they have every chance of winning. If I didnt think that we had a chance, then I wouldnt go, said Krumwiede.

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ChevyChaser wrote at 10/31/2016 5:02:08 PM:This is one great way to invalidate a warranty on that 3D printer. Good luck.




Shahryar Fazli in the Los Angeles Review of Books:

When I was frist exposed to Edward Albees Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? as a college student, I knew that something at some point had gone seriously wrong in the United States. George and Marthas fun and games  indeed, their very existence  meant that, sometime in the early 1960s, the social consensus must have broken down more violently than I had initially thought. This is the only play to have been selected by the Pulitzer jury as the years best, only to have the prize stripped away by the advisory board (the trustees of Columbia University), on the basis of the texts profanity. This was the annus mirabilis of 1963, Between the end of the Chatterley ban / And the Beatles first LP, as Philip Larkin argued, which was the year sexual intercourse began. Our threshold for impiety has risen dramatically since then, but Woolf retains its power to disturb. If anything, the modern viewer, no longer shocked by the plays sexual candor, may be all the more sensitive to the other bugs circulating within.

I came to the play through Mike Nicholss 1966 movie version, and then  forgive the pun  wolfed down most of the Albee inventory. His work transformed my view of what theaters ambition should be: it should disturb us, change us, drain us. In Woolfs climactic scene, as George prepares to kill his and Marthas fictional son, he responds to Honeys admission that she peels labels (shes been drunkenly peeling the label off a brandy bottle for a while), by saying, We all peel labels, sweetie; and when you get through the skin, all three layers, through the muscle, slosh aside the organs [] and get down to bone  you know what you do then? Honey doesnt. When you get down to the bone, you havent got all the way, yet. Theres something inside the bone  the marrow  and thats what you gotta get at. The stage directions call for a strange smile at Martha. As a novelist, I find it difficult to write dialogue without Georges soliloquy in my ears. It summarizes what Albee brought to theater. Every one of George and Marthas lines, or those of Agnes, Julia, and Claire in the equally brilliant A Delicate Balance (1966), goes straight for the marrow, each exchange flaying the antagonist, layer by layer. This, I realized, was the essence of dramatic dialogue.

More here.
Summit Carbon files lawsuits against Brown, Edmunds counties

Two South Dakota counties are facing federal lawsuits from one of the companies planning a carbon capture and sequestration pipeline.
DOHA, Qatar, October 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Dr Joao Luiz Pippi Salle, Division Chief of Paediatric Urology at Sidra Medical and Research Center (Sidra), recently performed life changing surgery on two children born with severe birth defects, exemplifying Qatar Foundation's (QF) spirit of collaboration and cross cultural support.

Utilising his extensive clinical expertise to set new standards in patient care for those suffering from the rare urological condition, bladder exstrophy, Dr Salle operated on a 19-month old from Central Asia and a 17-month old from Ghana last week, carrying out one of the most complicated medical procedures practiced today.

Dr Salle explained: "I'm very fortunate to be part of Sidra's growing team of world-leading specialists who now have a unique opportunity to harness the latest research innovations and technologies available in the medical field. It was certainly the case five or ten years ago, that this region perhaps lacked facilities to treat conditions such as bladder exstrophy. Instead, parents had to make the difficult, and expensive choice, to seek treatment in the US or Europe. Thanks to our collaboration with HMC, and support from Qatar Foundation, we've been able to position Qatar as one of the few countries that can provide complex urological surgeries. I believe this will prove a game-changer and will highlight Qatar's ambition to be at the vanguard of medical innovation in the region and globally."

Dr Salle personifies Sidra's commitment to innovation and specialist medical research. He is a member of the distinguished 'Bladder Exstrophy Global Care Team', a joint collaboration between the Association for Bladder Exstrophy Community (A-BE-C) and a small international team of dedicated paediatric surgeons committed to treating the condition.

"Many children born with bladder exstrophy live in places where there are no local urologists trained to properly treat conditions like this. There are, in fact, very few medical centres in Africa equipped to correct this rare condition. In an attempt to address this gap in global services, Sidra teamed up with the A-BE-C and Qatar Foundation to help children in these situations."

Bladder exstrophy affects 1 in 50,000 babies, and depending on the type of exstrophy, sufferers can be born with complex urological structures including a malformation of the bladder and improperly formed pelvic bones. Repair of the bladder requires highly complex surgical reconstruction. A child with exstrophy may undergo multiple procedures, lengthy hospitalisations and many repeated outpatient visits and treatments.

Dr Salle reinforced the importance of forming strategic partnerships and collaborations with organisations such as A-BE-C in providing meaningful solutions to global medical challenges. "It's vital we seek out and embrace collaborations with people like Pamela Block, Executive Director of A-BE-C, who has made it her life's mission to help those suffering with bladder exstrophy. Through mutual co-operation we can achieve so much at Sidra. We have some of the finest facilities and medical professionals in the world and by simply opening our arms and hearts to those who need our help, we can create an unrivalled, international medical legacy right here in Qatar," he continued.

Apart from his medical prowess, Dr Salle has been recognised internationally for his humanitarian contributions, receiving the Herbie Fund Doctor of Year in 2011 for his treatment of under-privileged children around the world.

As an enthusiastic educator, Dr Salle revealed: "One of my life's greatest ambitions is to pass on everything I know to the upcoming generation of doctors and surgeons, so that we can continue to advance discoveries in bladder exstrophy to treat patients around the world. Not only does this have global humanitarian value, but it augments and positions Qatar as a beacon of learning, discovery and exceptional care, and I'm immensely proud to be part of that endeavour."

Dr Salle's ambition reflects Sidra and QF's dynamic research and education environment, which aspires to diffuse knowledge and inspire innovation around the world with the aim of providing the highest quality healthcare and pioneering medical research for the benefit of generations to come.
Lolita is from Nigeria and at only 26 years of age her testimony seems almost unbelievable. Her story perfectly illustrates some of the hardships thousands of African women go through. Prostitution has reduced her to a drug addict and an alcoholic with aids pulling her into the doomed path of the grim reaper.








PATNA: Rakesh Ranjan alias Rocky Yadav, who is accused of fatally shooting a class 12 student for overtaking his car, has surrendered in a Bihar court on Saturday.

Rocky, who arrived in Patna from Delhi on Saturday morning, surrendered in the Gaya Civil Court, a district police official said. Rockys parents were also present in the court.

Rocky was untraceable since yesterday after Supreme Court cancelled his bail which was granted by the by Patna High Court on October 19.

He was later arrested on May 11 after the incident was highlighted by the media.

The charge sheet has named Rocky and another man as co-accused in the murder case.

Seeking cancellation of Rockys bail, the Bihar governments petition contended that he has shot dead a young boy on the highway because he could not tolerate a small Swift car overtaking his big and imported Land Rover.
SRINAGAR: A BSF jawan was killed accidentally while he was retaliating to ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops in Macchil sector along the Line of Control in Kashmir.

BSF constable Nitin Subhash sustained grievous injuries last evening when an explosion inside the chamber of the long range weapon led to a recoil while he was firing in retaliation to ceasefire violation from across the LoC, BSF IG (Kashmir) Vikash Chandra said.

Subhash was injured due to recoil and was admitted to a medical facility where he succumbed late last night, the official said.

Earlier, a top BSF official had said that the jawan was killed today in firing by Pakistani troops.

28-year-old Subhash, hailing from Sangli in Maharashtra, had joined BSF in 2008 and is survived by his wife and two sons aged four years and two years.

Pakistan Rangers also violate ceasefire in RS Pura and Kathua sectors along International Border today.

In Macchil sector, terrorists, aided by the cover fire by Pakistani Army, had last night crossed the Line of Control in the sector. They killed an Indian army jawan and mutilated his body prompting the Indian army to warn that the incident will be responded to appropriately.

Four army and three BSF personnel have died in the latest escalation along the boundary with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir.

In last nights attack, one militant was also killed.

In an encounter close to the Line of Control this evening, one solider was martyred and one terrorist was killed. The terrorists mutilated the body of the jawan before fleeing back into Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir under the cover of firing by Pakistan Army, an army spokesman had said.

He said the incident reflected the barbarism pervading in official and unofficial organisations in Pakistan.

Two civilians were also killed and as many injured yesterday after Pakistani troops pounded civilian areas and forward India posts with 120 mm mortar shells and automatic weapons in Jammu, Kathua, Poonch and Rajouri districts.

BSF yesterday said that it had killed 15 Pakistani soldiers in retaliatory firing along IB so far after the flare up started.
[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n the recent past, Jihad or service to Allah is taken as violence. The term jihad has accrued both violent and non-violent meanings. According to John Esposito, it can simply mean striving to live a moral and virtuous life, spreading and defending Islam as well as fighting injustice and oppression, among other things. The relative importance of these two forms of jihad is a matter of controversy. According to scholar of Islam and Islamic history Rudolph Peters, in the contemporary Muslim world,Traditionalist Muslims look to classical works on fiqh in their writings on jihad, and copy phrases from those; Islamic Modernists emphasize the defensive aspect of jihad, regarding it as tantamount to bellum justum in modern international law; and Islamist/revivalists/fundamentalists view it as a struggle for the expansion of Islam and the realization of Islamic ideals. Anyways, now the question is that, whatever Osama has left for the service of Allah, would be used for the betterment of Muslims or for the violence?

Bin Laden was born to the family of billionaire Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden in Saudi Arabia. He studied at university in the country until 1979, when he joined mujahideen forces in Pakistan fighting against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. He helped to fund the mujahideen by funneling arms, money and fighters from the Arab world into Afghanistan, and gained popularity among many Arabs. In 1988, he formed al-Qaeda, He was banished from Saudi Arabia in 1992, and shifted his base to Sudan, until U.S. pressure forced him to leave Sudan in 1996. After establishing a new base in Afghanistan, he declared a war against the United States, initiating a series of bombings and related attacks. Bin Laden was on the American Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) lists of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives and Most Wanted Terrorists for his involvement in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings.

Al Qaedas leaders were increasingly worried about spies in their midst, drones in the air and secret tracking devices reporting their movements as the US-led war against them ground on, documents seized in the 2011 raid on Osama bin Ladens Pakistani hideout and reviewed some news agencies revealed earlier. The cache of 113 documents, translated and declassified by US intelligence agencies, are mostly dated between 2009 and 2011, the documents  the second tranche from the raid to have been declassified since May 2015  depict an al Qaeda that was unwavering in its commitment to global jihad, but with its core leadership in Pakistan and Afghanistan under pressure on multiple fronts. In one document, bin Laden issues instructions to al Qaeda members holding an Afghan hostage to be wary of possible tracking technology attached to the ransom payment. In one of the declassified documents, Bin Laden outlines how at least $29 million stashed in Sudan should be apportioned after his death, requesting that most of it be used to continue global jihad. He sets down specific amounts in Saudi riyals and gold that should be apportioned between his mother, a son, a daughter, an uncle, and his uncles children and maternal aunts. He then writes: I hope for my brothers, sisters and maternal aunts to obey my will and to spend all the money that I have left in Sudan on jihad, for the sake of Allah.

From 2001 to 2011, bin Laden was a major target of the War on Terror, as the FBI placed a $25 million bounty on him in their search for him. On May 2, 2011, bin Laden was shot and killed inside a private residential compound in Abbottabad, where he lived with a local family from Waziristan, during a covert operation conducted by members of the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group and Central Intelligence Agency SAD/SOG operators on the orders of U.S. President Barack Obama.

After leaving college in 1979, bin Laden went to Pakistan, joined Abdullah Azzam and used money and machinery from his own construction company to help the mujahideen resistance in the Soviet war in Afghanistan. Under CIAs Operation Cyclone from 1979 to 1989, the United States and Saudi Arabia provided $40 billion worth of financial aid and weapons to almost 100,000 mujahideen and Afghan Arabs from forty Muslim countries through Pakistans ISI. Bin Laden met and built relations with Hamid Gul, who was a three-star general in the Pakistani army and head of the ISI agency. Although the United States provided the money and weapons, the training of militant groups was entirely done by the Pakistani Armed Forces and the ISI. By 1984, bin Laden and Azzam established Maktab al-Khidamat, which funneled money, arms and fighters from around the Arab world into Afghanistan. Through al-Khadamat, bin Ladens inherited family fortune paid for air tickets and accommodation, paid for paperwork with Pakistani authorities and provided other such services for the jihadi fighters. Bin Laden established camps inside Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan and trained volunteers from across the Muslim world to fight against the Soviet puppet regime, the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan; he would also participate in some combat activity, such as the Battle of Jaji. It was during this time that he became idolised by many Arabs.

al-Qaeda was formed at an August 11, 1988, meeting between several senior leaders of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Abdullah Azzam, and bin Laden, where it was agreed to join bin Ladens money with the expertise of the Islamic Jihad organization and take up the jihadist cause elsewhere after the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan. Following the Soviet Unions withdrawal from Afghanistan in February 1989, Osama bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia in 1990 as a hero of jihad. Along with his Arab legion, he was thought to have brought down the mighty superpower of the Soviet Union. He was angered by the internecine tribal fighting among the Afghans. He took charge over many issues that were bothering followers of Islam. Osama the jihadist become threat to America.

One fine day the operation, code-named Operation Neptune Spear, was ordered by United States President Barack Obama and carried out in a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operation by a team of United States Navy SEALs from the United States Naval Special Warfare Development, with support from CIA operatives on the ground. The raid on bin Ladens compound in Abbottabad was launched from Afghanistan. After the raid, reports at the time stated that U.S. forces had taken bin Ladens body to Afghanistan for identification, then buried it at sea within 24 hours of his death. Even after his death many stories surfaced but there was no authentic report about those claims. When Osama was alive he was the threat to America even after his death he made his organization financially strong to deal with Americans. Present scenario says, if Donald Trump wins American elections, Muslims at large would be much more sufferer.

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@afternoonvoice.com)








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Date: 25 October 2016.

Place: Aguadilla, Municipality of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico.

On 25 April 2013, the small city of Aguadilla, in the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico, was the scene of a very strange event.

According to an article published on 25 October 2016 on British online news site Mirror, a security video recently released by the local Department of Security shows and alleged unidentified flying object that splits in two parts before plunging into the ocean.

The clip was allegedly recording in Aguadillia in Puerto Rico on April 25, 2013 but the footage has only recently been released by the Department of Homeland Security by a whistle blower, says the article.

The object, which was described as a strange metallic sphere, would move at a very high speed before dropping down and plunging into the ocean.

According to the information collected, the unknown craft travelled between 40mph and 120mph, before disappearing under the ocean for approximately half a mile.

When it re-emerges, it appears to have split in two, stated the news.

Nick Pope, a UFO investigator consulted by the British news site, expressed: assuming the video isn't a clever hoax - which is always a possibility these days - it's a fascinating piece of footage.

The expert is of the opinion that the unidentified object could actually be a drone. However, he is not completely convinced of it. About the only conventional explanation that might fit the bill is that this is some new drone, he said, but the entry and the apparent splitting in two of the object makes even this explanation seem unlikely, he added.

Other ufologists are also trying to figure out the unusual event. The Scientific Coalition for Ufology believes that there is no a reasonable explanation for the UFOs bizarre behaviour. There is no explanation for an object of travelling under water at over 90mph with minimal impact as it enters the water, through the air at 120mph at low altitude through a residential area without navigational lights and finally to be capable of splitting into two separate objects., declared one of the organisations spokesman.

Draw your own conclusions

For further information: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/leaked-security-footage-shows-ufo-9121845

Leaked' security footage shows UFO flying over ocean before 'splitting in two'

The bizarre object appears to separate in mid-air after plunging into the ocean in the clip that has only recently been released by a 'whistleblower'

Bizarre footage appears to show the moment conspiracy theorists believe a UFO plunges into the ocean - before splitting in two.

The clip was allegedly recording in Aguadillia in Puerto Rico on April 25, 2013 but the footage has only recently been released by the Department of Homeland Security by a whistleblower.

In the video, the strange metallic sphere hurtles through the sky before dropping down and plunging into the ocean.

When it re-emerges, it appears to have split in two.

The object was being monitored by US Customs and Border Protection, according to Headlines & Global News .

Nick Pope, a UFO expert, said: "Assuming the video isn't a clever hoax - which is always a possibility these days - it's a fascinating piece of footage.

"About the only conventional explanation that might fit the bill is that this is some new drone, but the entry and the apparent splitting in two of the object makes even this explanation seem unlikely."

It is believed that the object was travelling between 40mph and 120mph, before disappearing under the ocean for approximately half a mile.

A spokesman for the Scientific Coalition for Ufology said: "There is no explanation for an object of travelling under water at over 90mph with minimal impact as it enters the water, through the air at 120mph at low altitude through a residential area without navigational lights and finally to be capable of splitting into two separate objects.

SCU said they have six scientists investigating the video in a bid to confirm its authenticity.








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Date: 21 October, 2016.

Place: Monclova, State of Coahuila, Mexico.

On 21 October, during a road accident near the city of Monclova, in the State of Coahuila, Mexico, a very strange phenomenon occurred.

According to a reportage published by prestigious Mexican newspaper Zocalo, an alleged unidentified flying object was seen hovering above the scene of the accident.

Employees from a company in Monclova inadvertently caught one unidentified flying object (UFO) while attending a report on the stretch of Highway 53 that leads to Espinazo, Nuevo Leon, stated the news. The sighting took place last Friday, around 5:00 pm.

The report affirms that the workers had not been aware of the strange event until they left the place. It was not until after retiring from the site that they [the workers] realised they had taken part of an unusual event.

The news informed that they looked at the photos they had taken to establish the causes of the accident and then were left astounded as in the images appeared a series of objects flying over a truck load of soft drinks, very similar to what people describe as UFOs, Zocalo said.

We never noticed anything until the night, when someone saw the photos and, impressed by what appeared in them, related what had happened, expressed one of the witnesses, who preferred to remain anonymous.

In order to verify the authenticity of the images, one of the witnesses who had caught the objects decided to compare his photos with the ones taken by other colleagues from different positions, but to the surprise of everyone in each picture there appeared the UFO, the news related.

The anonymous witness interviewed by Zocalo also mentioned another rare phenomenon that occurred soon after the sighting. According to him, when they arrived to the scene of the accident, the car stereo stopped functioning for no reason.

Another strange fact is that we wanted to turn on the music, but it never worked, then, when we got to our homes the radio began to work, he affirmed. Something had happened, but we did not realise until now that we saw the pictures, he continued.

UFO investigator and writer Scott C Waring, of UFO Sightings Daily, is of the opinion that the driver may have been distracted by the UFO, which could have caused the accident. He also added: the UFO apparently stuck around and got caught in the photos of the accident. Aliens are curious creatures just like us.

Draw your own conclusions

For further information: http://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/2016/10/ufo-causes-coca-cola-truck-to-flips.html

UFO Causes Coca Cola Truck to Flips Over In Mexico In Oct 21, 2016, Photos, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: Oct 21, 2016 (Friday)

Location of sighting: Monclova, Coahuila, Mexico

News source: http://www.zocalo.com.mx/seccion/articulo/captan-ovni-monclovenses

This was just sent to me by French UFO Researcher Christian Mace of http://ovniparanormal.over-blog.com

When a Coca Cola Truck tipped over and spilt out its empty boxes on the side of the road, a UFO appeared. Another truck and two other cars were also traveling with them. Its uncertain why the lead truck turned off the road and flipped on its side, but the driver may have been distracted by the UFO, but afraid to say it. The UFO apparently stuck around and got caught in the photos of the accident. Aliens are curious creatures just like us. Thanks to Christian Mace for this news update.

Scott C. Waring

News states:

Monclova, Mexico. Like an amazing coincidence of science fiction film were, employees of a company Monclova inadvertently caught one unidentified flying object (UFO) while attending a report on the stretch of Highway 53 leads to Backbone, Nuevo Leon.

The incident took place last Friday, around 5:00 pm, when several co-workers were in an incident in this place; however, it was not until after retiring from the site realized that not knowing was part of an unusual event, as in the graphs they took to verify the accident appears a series of objects flying over a truck load of soft drinks, very similar what people describe as UFOs.

"We never noticed anything until the night someone saw the photos and impressed told us to tell us what had happened," said one of the people who were present at that time, who preferred to omit his generals.
THIS AND THAT: Checking off the London bucket list
This undated photo provided by Charlie Simokaitis shows the Rev. Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows. The Episcopal Church has elected the first black woman to lead one of its dioceses. The Rev. Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows was elected Friday, Oct. 28, to head the Diocese of Indianapolis.
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Kurdish Forces in Syria Arrest Assyrian, Kurdish Parents in School

Hasaka, Syria (AINA) -- Kurdish forces in north-east Syria attempted to remove Kurdish students from an Assyrian church school, persuant to a law passed by the Kurdish authorities that forbids new Kurdish students from attending Assyrian schools. Two Kurdish parents and two Assyrian parents were arrested on Tuesday by Kurdish Asayish (internal security) at the Dijleh Assyrian school in the Assyrian town of Derik (Malikiyeh) for protesting the removal of the students and filming it.

The parents were released two days later.

The Dijleh school is hosted by the church of St. Mary and has 256 Assyrian, 163 Kurdish, 10 Arab and a few Armenians students.

Kurdish and Arab parents prefer Assyrian schools because of their higher quality of education. But the Assyrian school management agreed not to register any new Kurdish students in order to avoid the Kurdish curriculum (AINA 2016-05-24, 2015-10-21).

Some leading Kurds within the self proclaimed Kurdish authority still register their children in Assyrian schools, despite the new law.

Based on reporting by AssyriaTV.
Here are the top stories in Alabama business for Friday, Oct. 28, 2016:

The Marble Ring, a new speakeasy-inspired bar in Avondale, is named for one of Zelda Fitzgerald's more eccentric sayings: "I hope you die in the Marble Ring."

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After the news broke that Wells Fargo illegally opened a couple million bank accounts without their customers' knowledge or consent, other banks are trying to learn from it.

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Lewis Communications is growing its digital services segment with the purchase of Caddis, a Nashville digital agency.

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If there are any nearby chain restaurants you currently enjoy, then you better visit them soon before they vanish.

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Ninja Obstacle Academy is open to customers of all experience levels and focuses primarily on obstacle course training, strengthening, conditioning, technique and safety.

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Jay Grinney, who led HealthSouth from legal troubles and near-bankruptcy to a thriving healthcare company, is retiring after 12 years. But the new guy knows Grinney's direction well: he's been the second in command for nearly a decade.

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One of Huntsville's longest-running businesses is among the best hardware stores in America in Popular Mechanics.

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A variety of Oreo Fudge Creme cookies have been recalled due to an undeclared ingredient that may cause an allergic reaction in some consumers.

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Follow all of Alabama's business news here anytime.
A robbery at a Vestavia Hills hotel turned into a car chase that went through multiple cities in the Birmingham area on Friday night.

Vestavia Hills Capt. Kevin York said officers received a call at 7:15 p.m. about a person being robbed at the Red Roof Inn on Highway 31 by two males driving a green Chevrolet Tahoe. One of the units responding to the call spotted the vehicle while the suspects were getting on Interstate 65 North. The suspects sped off when the officer tried to conduct a traffic stop, York said.

The police chase went through Homewood, Birmingham and Midfield before the suspects' vehicle wrecked on Bessemer Super Highway at Woodward Avenue. Shots were fired at one of the officers, but there were no injuries.

Authorities arrested two males and a female at the scene. Their identities and charges will be released on Monday. There are two female victims at the Red Roof, but they were not injured.

The incident remains under investigation.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange says Birmingham's airport can ban guns in a break room used by taxi drivers.

A letter released by the state this week shows that someone affiliated with a cab company complained that authorities posted a "no guns" sign on the door to an airport break room used by drivers.

Strange's office investigated and determined the sign is legal since the cab company voluntarily agreed to follow rules at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport.

Strange's office often reviews complaints about gun prohibitions in public places. A state law which took effect three years ago prompted many businesses and other public to put up signs saying that firearms were not allowed.
The Respite Care Ministry at First United Methodist Church opened in January with two participants. As word of the program spread, more participants signed up. And not even a year after it opened, the program has received recognition for its efforts to help people with dementia and their caregivers.

"I knew what we were doing here was pretty exceptional, but I just didn't know if anybody else knew," Director Katie Holland said. "I knew what happened inside these walls and what we were doing and how excited the volunteers were, but I just didn't know if anybody else out there knew really what was happening."

They did.

The Southeastern Association of Area Agencies on Aging, which covers eight states, recently recognized the Respite Care Ministry for its work with older people. Terri Francis, director of community resources at the local Southern Regional Council on Aging, nominated the program for recognition. The award acknowledges outstanding contributions by religious institutions or service agencies and organizations.

The Respite Care Ministry at First United Methodist Church in Dothan is designed for people with dementia, whether it's dementia caused by Alzheimer's disease, vascular disease or Parkinson's disease. Volunteers are trained to work with participants for four hours a few days a week. The goal is to give caregivers a break while also keeping people with dementia active and engaged. There are activities such as mind teasers, crafts, puzzles, animal therapy, music and exercise.

The program recently expanded from two days a week to four days a week.

"It's very exciting and it's very scary," Holland said

The Respite Care Ministry currently has 11 participants enrolled for the Tuesday and Thursday programs. Adding Monday and Wednesday programs will allow the Respite Care Ministry to take in new participants while allowing the current participants to come more than twice a week if they choose.

Holland said it's been hard to tell people they have to go on a waiting list because the current two days were full.

"We're just full, that's all there is to it," she said.

While Holland has a roster of more than 60 volunteers who rotate working, she needs more to accommodate the expanded schedule. Some volunteers don't work every day and some can only work certain days or only every so often.

"We have a lot of volunteers for Tuesdays and Thursdays, but we're really going to need some more for Mondays and Wednesdays," Holland said.

The Respite Care Ministry's growth is on target with what was expected but has been faster than similar programs elsewhere that have been running longer. Holland said those established programs -- such as one in Montgomery -- helped pave the way for newer programs to open more smoothly.

"That wheel had been invented, and they kind of helped us with a lot of the getting-up-and-getting-going part," Holland said. "Some of that troubleshooting was done for us so we could hit the ground running."

PEGGY USSERY, Dothan Eagle
Plane Fire Fort Lauderdale

This photo provided by Mike Jachles/Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue shows a FedEx plane that caught fire while landing at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, in Fla., Friday evening, Oct. 28, 2016. The plane was arriving from Memphis shortly before 6 p.m. when the fire broke out, said Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue spokesman Mike Jachles. The pilots, who escaped without injury, told authorities they believe the left landing gear collapsed on the runway. (Mike Jachles/Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue)

(Mike Jachles)

Two pilots made it out safe when a FedEx cargo plane carrying mail caught fire Friday afternoon just after landing from Memphis at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

The Sun-Sentinel reported the main landing gear of the FedEx 910, a DC-10, collapsed shortly after the 5:52 p.m. landing and began leaking fuel on the runway. The fuel leak then caught fire.

Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue spokesman Mike Jachles told the newspaper that heavy fire and smoke wafted from the plant's left wing and engine, and there was a trail of flames on the runaway.

The pilots escaped by climbing down a rope ladder.

According to the report, the fire was quickly extinguished and the 46,000 pounds of U.S. Postal Service mail inside the plane wasn't destroyed.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.
Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby is calling on the FBI to conduct an "expeditious and thorough" investigation into recently discovered emails linked to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

Shelby, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies, sent a letter today to FBI Director James Comey. On Friday, Comey announced the bureau is reviewing new emails tied to Clinton's use of a personal server while secretary of state. The emails, according to multiple sources, are part of an investigation into former Congressman Anthony Weiner and allegations he sexted a 15-year-old girl. Weiner is separated from Clinton's chief aide Huma Abedin.

Comey's announcement comes less than two weeks before the general election and three months after he told Congress the initial FBI investigation should not result in Justice Department charges against Clinton.

The FBI chief's letter was sent to eight key senators, including Shelby in his role of subcommittee chairman. Alabama's senior senator said the latest revelations are an indication of an "incomplete investigation" by the FBI.

"In July, you held a press conference where you explained to the American people that Secretary Clinton was "extremely careless" with classified information while using a private e-mail server," Shelby wrote to Comey. "Unfortunately, it has now become apparent that the FBI, with all its extensive resources and highly-trained personnel, closed an incomplete investigation that resulted in only partial findings.

"I firmly believe that the American people deserve to know the facts - all of them."

Shelby said the investigation is "critical to the integrity of the FBI and the American people's ability to place their trust in government" adding Comey's earlier decision "set a dangerous precedent for the way we hold our public officials accountable."

Comey has not indicated the exact nature of the investigation or how long it will take. Shelby called on him to conclude it by Nov. 8 when Americans go to the polls to decide between Clinton and GOP nominee Donald Trump.

"The American people are electing their next Commander-in-Chief only days from now, and they deserve to know the conclusion of your review prior to Election Day. Let me be clear: This should be your utmost priority," he wrote.

Clinton herself addressed the developments briefly while campaigning in Iowa this evening.

She called on the FBI to provide the American people with "full and complete facts immediately," adding she did not know what the emails in question contained.

"Right now, your guess is as good as mine, and I don't think that's good enough," she added.
Much to the frustration of many European tourists, its not uncommon to be turned down by a taxi driver in Bangkok. But this time, what the driver said next was unexpected.

You can get a free ride over there, he said, gesturing towards MBK, the Byzantine shopping maze that was once the largest mall in Asia.

True enough, a line of motorcycles, tuk-tuks and vans waited near the mall, their drivers clad in black, ready to take all-comers to the Grand Palace.

IN PICTURES: Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej

The occasion: the first full day for mourners to be allowed into the Grand Palace to pay their respect to King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

The late king was widely revered in Thailand, and enormous crowds were expected as people from across the country made the journey to Bangkok to see his coffin.

A quota of 10,000 people every day for two weeks are allowed to enter the throne hall, where the kings body lay in state.

For many who saw the king as a divine figure, this was no ordinary trip, but a pilgrimage.

The journey to pay respects holds a sacred element in many Thais hearts  so much so that the driver of my free ride to the palace refused to accept any tip.

The motorcycles and tuk-tuks at MBK were just a small part of the system that had swung into action to handle the influx.

Free buses were arranged from all over Bangkok, and extra trains from around the country had also been organised, some free as well.

To provide space for those congregating here, cars werent allowed any further than Sanam Luang, the public square in front of the palace. On disembarking here, long queues of mourners were guided by officials towards a group of tents forming a perimeter around the field.

Inside the perimeter, the queues were even longer, snaking back and forth across the massive field. It quickly became clear that the number of people here far exceeded the 10,000 a day quota, and many would be turned back.

READ MORE: Remembering Thailands beloved King Bhumibol

The huge turnout led Thai authorities to scrap an opening time of 8am, letting people in from 5am instead.

With about 70 people allowed to enter the throne hall at a time, the waiting time to enter was greater than five hours for most.

On a rainy day, this seemed to deter few  many had camped overnight, braving the stormy weather, and continued to picnic on the field as they waited their turn, swapping stories about the man who had been the only king most of them had known during their lifetimes.

After the king died my friends and I just sat around the whole weekend and cried and cried, said Kamolpat Pisek, a building manager. Theres so many great things he did that I am learning about only now. I wish I had known these stories while he was still alive.
Richmond, Virginia  Approximately 18 women die every day of a prescription painkiller overdose in America, according to statistics from the US Department of Health.

It is an epidemic spreading across the country and while men are still more likely to suffer from opioid addiction than women, the gap continues to close. Overdoses caused by prescription pain medication increased more than 400 percent among women from 1999 to 2010, compared to 237 percent among men.

The United States is in the midst of the worst drug epidemic in its history, Dr Andrew Kolodny, executive director of the advocacy group Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing, told Al Jazeera. It is an epidemic from which American women are suffering at higher rates than ever.

Opioids are a type of highly addictive class of drugs commonly used to relieve pain. Medications such as oxycodone, codeine and morphine are all types of opioids. They work by reducing the strength with which pain signals reach the brain  giving their consumer an immense sense of both physical and emotional relief. Heroin is also an opioid.

Consequences and recovery

At the McShin Foundation, a drug treatment facility in Richmond, Virginia, Lauren Allison, 28, shared her story of years-long drug dependence and abuse.

Dressed in blue jeans and a checkered shirt  above which the top her of bright blue chest tattoo can just be seen  Allison looks no different to many women her age. An introduction to prescription pain relievers in her teen years led to a spiral of drug abuse that would carry on into her late 20s.

I started out using pills when I was 17, just with a friend, then I figured out how to get them from doctors, then that moved to heroin, she said.

At 22, working a minimum wage job at a fast-food restaurant and struggling to keep up with daycare costs for her kids and eviction notices, only exacerbated Allisons addiction.

I lost two children, not by death but financial reasons as I had been evicted. My boyfriend at the time had heroin in his pocket and I used it  I loved how it made me feel, she said.

I was in an abusive relationship and I kept putting my children in a situation where they were witnessing the abuse, which led to me losing them. That trauma  of losing two of four of my children  definitely had an effect on my addiction.

In 2015, after five years of heroin abuse, things came to a climax for Allison when she overdosed in front of her youngest daughter. The incident landed her in jail, but this is where she was set on a road to recovery.

Im nearly seven months clean now and reunited with three out of my four children  and Im happy, she said. In January, Allison plans to attend a local community college, where she hopes one day to become a counsellor for victims of domestic violence.

Roots of an epidemic

While opioids for medicinal use have existed in the United States since before the 1900s, the current epidemic has its roots in the 1990s. According to a study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, this is when drastic increases in the number of prescriptions dispensed and aggressive marketing by pharmaceutical companies led to an environmental availability of prescription medications.

The number of prescriptions for opioids grew from 76 million in 1991 to nearly 207 million in 2013, making America the worlds biggest consumer of opioids globally.

According to the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), this increase particularly affected women as they are more likely to have chronic pain than men and therefore, receive prescriptions for this medication. Women are also more likely to be given higher doses of medication and use it for longer periods of time  making many susceptible to addiction.

When highly-addictive prescription opioids are no longer available, many women turn to heroin  a drug that provides the same feeling of relief but is far cheaper and more accessible, says Kolodny. According to latest figures from ASAM, four in five new heroin users started out by misusing prescription painkillers.

Brittany Stigall, 26, is another resident of Virginias McShin Foundation. Wearing a bright orange T-shirt that reads blessed girl, she explained that a serious neck injury caused by an accident at work led to her first use of prescription pain medication, from which the progression to heroin was relatively quick.

If you run out of your prescription before you can get a refill, you find other ways to get that same feeling, which is where heroin comes in  Its cheaper, it has a stronger effect and its way easier to get, Stigall said.

The mother of two says that a lack of any support system during her youth made her particularly susceptible to addiction.

I have had so many other things happen to me, I felt like it was inevitable that I was going to find something because I wasnt getting the actual care that I needed. Whether it was the doctor who gave it to me or some random person on the street, drugs were going to come into my life, she says.

Unfortunately, after months of recovery, a recent relapse brought Stigall back behind McShins doors. Im still in recovery, but I have a relationship with my family and my kids. I see them a lot more than I had in the last four years  and I have goals, I want to be a nurse one day and help other people.

Destined to become an addict

Erin Mayberry is the director of female programmes at the McShin Foundation. A former addict herself, Mayberry was given prescription painkillers when she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.

I remember the first [pill] I took made me sick as hell, but it did something to my mind that felt good, so I continued to take them. I graduated from one dosage to a higher dosage, and then that wasnt enough. Before long, I was looking on the street and started with heroin as a filler.

Mayberry told Al Jazeera that she would use heroin in between pills to make her prescription last longer but that ultimately, it just got to the point where the heroin took over and the pills were not as much  Once I was given that opioid, I was destined to become an addict.

The US government has come under criticism for not enforcing stricter rules on medical practitioners who continue to prescribe opioids all too easily.

In September, President Barack Obama held the first Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic Awareness Week, calling for increased funding from Congress to tackle addiction and proposing that medical professionals seek training on responsible prescription practices.

The issue has reached the current election cycle too.

Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, has proposed a $7.5bn fund to tackle the crisis, part of which would involve further training for doctors on safely administering prescriptions.

Conversely, Republican nominee, Donald Trump, says that border control is the key to tackling the drug crisis.

According to Mayberry, there is still a stereotype and immense shame culture when it comes to female addicts.

The reality is when you think of a female addict  you think of the typical junkie w**** with no teeth, a needle in her arm, thats selling herself in a bad neighbourhood. But the fact of the matter is even as bad as my addiction got, my two kids still got to school, I had a home, I held down a job, she said. Addiction knows no socioeconomic boundaries.

Allison agreed: Women are so stereotyped, especially stay-at-home mums, as always keeping things together, but its not reality when youre an addict.

Everyone in society has a role to play in tackling opioid addiction, Mayberry said. Medical professionals need to have a far greater understanding of addiction. Doctors cant just hand out pills without thought, everyone who prescribes medicine should be schooled in addiction.
Like in the Spanish Civil War, the foreign legions are complicating the resolution of the conflict in Syria.

Ibrahim al-Marashi is an associate professor at the Department of History, California State University, San Marcos.

Media reports have recently focused on the role of Iraqi Shia militias in the battle for Aleppo, essentially foreign legions fighting on behalf of the Syrian state.

Despite their differences, both the Spanish and Syrian civil wars witnessed the intervention of foreign legions, entire units of regular armies, militias, and air forces from other states, opposed to foreign fighters, independent individuals who chose to fight for an ideological cause.





In commemoration of the 80-year anniversary of the Spanish Civil War which began in July 1936, this article compares the role of foreign legions in that conflict to the Syrian civil war.

The significance of foreign legions in both conflicts is that they pushed the military momentum in favour of both Francisco Franco and Bashar al-Assad.

Assads dependence on foreign legions

Franco depended on foreign legions from fascist Italy, the Corpo Truppe Volontarie, Nazi Germany, the Condor Legion, and an entire contingent of Moroccans, the Regulares.

Assads foreign legions come from Russia, Iran, the Lebanese Hezbollah, Iraqi Shia militias, and brigades of Afghan Shia, Liwa Fatimiyyun and Pakistani Shia, Liwa Zaynibiyyun.

OPINION: What the Spanish Civil War can reveal about Syria

The question is why did Franco and Assad need these foreign legions, and what do they mean for why the Syrian civil war continues to endure?

My previous article compared the overall dynamics of both civil wars. While the Nationalists were the rebels in the Spanish Civil War, for analytical purposes I equate General Francos army and his faction, the Nationalists, with Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian state.

I only equate the Republican government of Spain with the Syrian rebels because of one glaring similarity. Their fighting capabilities were crippled by infighting, ultimately weakening their forces.

On the other hand, Franco and Assads forces did not suffer from continued military infighting, even though there were sharp political differences and rivalries in each of their coalitions.

Franco and Assad also inherited the advanced weaponry of the regular military. Yet this advantage was still insufficient to achieve an outright victory. Both needed foreign states to provide more weapons and the expertise on how to use them.

Manpower problems

Franco and Assad also inherited the advanced weaponry of the regular military. Yet this advantage was still insufficient to achieve an outright victory. by

Finally, both depended on foreign legions from other states owing to their manpower problems.

While the officers stayed loyal to Franco, the lower ranks defected to the Republican side, similar to the patterns of defections of the lower rank-in-file of the Syrian military to the rebels.

Franco and Assad had to replenish the rank of their militaries from their respective populations, and then later from abroad.

The population demographics of each conflict is entirely different. Spains population was relatively homogenous religiously, albeit with differences among religiosity among its Catholics and cultural differences among Catalans, Basques, and Castilians.

Franco could draw upon a military base in Spain that represented conservative trends, particularly strong in the north of Spain, but he would also need foreign military units to augment his ranks.

While the Syrian civil war cannot solely be attributed to just a sectarian conflict, the core military and security units the regime depends upon, such as the Republican Guard, the 4th Division, the paramilitary Shabiha (later rebranded as the National Defence Forces), do draw disproportionately upon an Alawite base.

OPINION: Searching for Garcia Lorca

There was a limit as to how long the Syria regime could defend itself in objective terms when the numbers of loyal fighters it can draw upon, a minority within Syria, dwindled due to attrition on the battlefield.

Assad on the offensive

There was also a limit as to how long both Franco and Assad could maintain the morale of a core of a fighters witnessing continuous combat.

Ideally, this factor works towards a resolution of civil war. Reduced manpower forces a regime to recognise that the conflict has reached a stalemate and compels them to negotiate.

With the fall of Idlib to rebel factions and Palmyra to ISIL (also known as ISIS) in May 2015, the debate on the tenuous future of Syrias regime emerged, with commentators such as Marwan Bashara asking: Is it truly the beginning of the end for Assad and his decades old regime?

The headline of a Guardian article asked, Amid the Ruins of Syria, Is Bashar Al-Assad Now Finally Facing the End?

An April 2015 Agence France Press article alluded to the growing rates of desertion among the Syrian military. Even Assad admitted publicly that the military had suffered setbacks after losing Idlib to the rebels and their gains outside Daraa and Qalamoun. Assad faced a stalemate at this point, and would have felt the pressure to negotiate a settlement to the Syrian civil war.

A few months later, in September 2015, the Russian air force intervened, breaking the stalemate. In this instance the decisive role of foreign air power is reminiscent of how Franco had complete control over the air, owing to the participation of the German and Italian air forces, where the infamous bombing of the Basque town of Guernica can stand in for any Syrian city today.

Combined with ramped-up support from Iran and its various foreign legions, the Syrian state was able to go back on the offensive. This is perhaps why Assad feels no need to invest in the current peace talks.

Old warriors in new conflicts

The use of foreign legions, in addition to foreign fighters, is not just a dynamic in the Syrian civil war, but in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

The Spanish civil war demonstrates that this dynamic is not ahistorical, but common to civil wars.

The comparison I make is not to argue that history is repeating itself, but to highlight a destructive aspect of both wars. Foreign legions have no stake in the land they fight in, as they are not connected to local communities that bear the brunt of the violence.

This disconnect between the foreign combatant and the local makes the task of resolution of the Syrian civil war that more elusive.

Ibrahim al-Marashi is an assistant professor at the Department of History, California State University, San Marcos. He is the co-author of Iraqs Armed Forces: An Analytical History.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Suspected cases of potentially fatal disease skyrocket as civilians continue to suffer impact of 18-month war.

The number of suspected cholera cases in Yemen has skyrocketed to 1,410 within three weeks of an outbreak being declared, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Eighteen months of war between Houthi rebels and a Saudi Arabia-led coalition backing the Yemeni government has destroyed the majority of health facilities and clean water supplies in the country.





Yemens health ministry announced the outbreak in early October, when WHO officials said there were 24 suspected cases and the disease was not spreading.

On Friday, though, WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told a news conference that, as of Thursday, there were 1,410 suspected cholera cases in 10 out of Yemens 23 governorates, mostly in Taiz, Aden, Lahj, Hodeida and Sanaa.

The conflict has destroyed much of the countrys infrastructure, killed more than 10,000 people and displaced millions.

Cholera is only one of several risks to civilians in the war-battered country, but a rapid advance of the disease would add a new dimension to an unfolding humanitarian disaster.

The war has left 7.4 million children in need of medical help, about 1.5 million malnourished, and 370,000 at risk of severe acute malnutrition, according to the UN childrens agency (UNICEF).

WHO said on Wednesday that 47 of the suspected cases had so far tested positive for cholera.

READ MORE: United Nations says humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Yemen

Cholera is a disease that is transmitted through contaminated drinking water that causes acute diarrhoea. It can be fatal in up to 15 percent of untreated cases, according to UNICEF.

Children under 10 make up half of the cases, with six deaths from cholera and 36 associated deaths from acute watery diarrhoea, WHO said.

Although most sufferers have no symptoms or mild symptoms that can be treated with oral rehydration solution, in more severe cases, the disease can kill within hours if not treated with intravenous fluids and antibiotics.
Two days of violence erupted between Muslim Seleka rebels and Christian vigilante groups in Bambari town.

At least 25 people have been killed, six of them police, in two days of violence around the town of Bambari in the troubled Central African Republic, the UN force MINUSCA has said.

Six police and four civilians were killed in an ambush by armed men on Friday morning, while on Thursday, 15 people died in fighting on the towns outskirts between former Muslim Seleka rebels and Christian vigilante groups known as anti-balaka (anti-machete), MINUSCA said in a statement on Saturday.

MINUSCA condemned the violence around the central town of Bambari and appealed to the two militia groups behind the clashes to respond to an invitation by President Faustin-Archange Touadera for talks.

There was no immediate comment from the government or the militias.

The latest fighting comes after the mostly Muslim Seleka rebels killed more than 40 people during two attacks in the same region earlier this month.

OPINION: Religious war in Central African Republic

Thousands of people have been killed in the wake of violence that erupted after the Seleka rebels seized power in the Christian-majority country in 2013. In nearly two years of civil war that ensued, about a quarter of CARs 4.7m population has been displaced.

A United Nations inquiry commission published last year said that Christian groups carried out ethnic cleansing of the Muslim population during the countrys civil war.

Since a new government was elected in February, with President Faustin Touadera at the helm, the landlocked country has seen a reduction in violence between rebel groups.
The Russian president told his military to hold the ceasefire over rebel-held eastern Aleppo for the time being.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected a request by his military to resume air raids over Syrias rebel-held eastern Aleppo.

The Russian army said on Friday that it had asked the president for authorisation to resume its bombing campaign, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin considers it inappropriate at the current moment, adding the president thought it necessary to continue the humanitarian pause in the war-battered city.

The request was made after Syrian opposition fighters launched an assault against the government-held western part of the city, firing rockets and detonating car bombs in a counter assault.

Opposition activists say 15 civilians, including children, were killed in those attacks on government-held western Aleppo. Rebels also targeted a military airbase.

OPINION: Aleppo and the myth of Syrias sovereignty

The rebel assault comes more than three months into a government siege of eastern Aleppo, where more than 250,000 people live, and several weeks after the Syrian army began an operation to retake it.

Meeting in Moscow

Separately, the Iranian and Syrian foreign ministers were meeting in Moscow with their Russian counterpart to discuss the war.





Though the three parties have been held responsible for the bombing of eastern Aleppo by other several other nations, Al Jazeeras Rory Challands, reporting from Moscow, said that the diplomats didnt want to give the impression that Aleppos recent humanitarian pauses are finished for good.

We are still ready to resume this truce, but on the assumption that we will receive a message from those who are the patrons of terrorism with the guarantees that the civilians will have an opportunity to take advantage of this truce, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said.

Moscow says it has not bombed Aleppo since October 18, when it implemented a three-day humanitarian truce intended to allow civilians and surrendering rebels to leave the east.

But few did so, and a UN plan to evacuate the wounded failed because security could not be guaranteed.





Despite this apparent extension of the halt in Russian raids, many people think its only a matter of time before Russia and its allies launch the final assault on Aleppo, Challands said.

Some analysts think the period between now and January, when a new United States president will take office, is a time when raids on east Aleppo may intensify, believing US President Barack Obama will be reluctant to confront Russia militarily before he steps down.





On Friday, though, the US rejected the idea that the pause in the air assault on eastern Aleppo has provided much relief to civilians, accusing the Syrian government of using starvation as a weapon of war.

The AFP news agency, quoting a US official, said that the [Syrian] regime has rejected UN requests to deliver aid to eastern Aleppo  using starvation as a weapon of war.

Close shave for Russian and US jets

A Russian fighter jet flew dangerously close to a US fighter jet over eastern Syria, US defence officials said on Friday, highlighting the risks of a serious mishap in the increasingly crowded airspace.

The near miss occurred late on October 17, when a Russian jet that was escorting a larger spy plane manoeuvred near an American plane, Air Force Lieutenant General Jeff Harrigian said.

The Russian jet came to inside of half a mile of the US jet, he added.

Another US military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the American pilot was buffeted by the turbulence from the Russian jets engines.

It appeared the Russian pilot had simply not seen the US jet, either on radar or visually. It was dark and the planes were flying without lights.

I would attribute it to not having the necessary situational awareness given all those [planes] operating together, Harrigian said.

The incident raises serious questions about the extent to which pilots can track the complex airspace they operate in.
Residents say picturesque tourist valley in Pakistan-administered Kashmir under fire as tensions with India soar.

For the first time in 13 years, the Neelum Valley in Pakistan-administered Kashmir has come under fire.

As tensions along the Line of Control between India and Pakistan escalate, residents of the picturesque tourist hub believed the noises they heard early on Saturday were the usual potshots between Pakistani and Indian posts.

Artillery shelling by both sides in the disputed Himalayan region has increased since September, when gunmen killed 19 Indian soldiers at an army camp in Kashmir. India said those gunmen were Pakistani.

Tensions were already high before that attack, with deadly violence over the death on July 8 of a popular Kashmir rebel leader, 22-year-old Burhan Wani.

Neelum Valley runs along a 200-kilometre stretch and is home to an entire generation born inside bunkers during the fighting of the conflict in the 1990s. In the years since the 2003 ceasefire, Neelum Valley residents became increasingly intolerant of rebel-led activities.

READ MORE: Tensions soar along frontier in disputed Kashmir region

Up until now, firing had been limited to sparsely populated areas in the mountainous region.

At least three people were wounded in the Neelum Valley violence on Saturday. Also on the Pakistani side, at least two were injured in Bhimber sector.

Adnan Khursheed, police deputy commissioner of Kotli district, told Al Jazeera at least six people had been killed and seven wounded in Nakyal sector since Wednesday.

Abdul Waheed, police deputy commissioner of Neelum, told Al Jazeera that tourists were asked to leave the area and sent back to Muzaffarabad, the regional capital. Schools and government offices have been closed.

Al Jazeera spoke to some residents about the recent attacks.

Khawaja Bilal, 20, Neelum Valley

We were sleeping and woke up to sounds like blasts at 4am. We did not realise it could be cross-border shelling and slept again.

When we woke up in the morning, we came to know that Indian and Pakistani soldiers were engaged in an artillery duel in Keran sector near Athmuqam.

This was the first time since the 2003 ceasefire that Indian soldiers targeted the civil population in Neelum Valley.

There is immense fear among the local population.

Many were forced to live in bunkers built during times of heightened tension from the 1990s onwards. But others dont have bunkers, and they dont have enough money to build them.

Awais Ahmed, 40, hotel owner, Neelum Valley

There were about 30 tourists in the guesthouse last night. On Saturday morning, we had wanted to organise a discussion about hydropower generation in the area in collaboration with a daily newspaper.

We were arranging chairs for the guest speakers and almost 200 local people were due to attend this event. Suddenly, Indian forces resorted to shelling  nearly a dozen mortar and artillery shells.

Most of them landed around the building but one shell hit and devastated the guesthouse. As a result, three people, including two tourists from Lahore and a local person, were wounded.

The shelling also caused damage to other guesthouses here.

Rukhsana Kouser, 28, Kotli

I was attending a wedding ceremony of a local villager when a mortar shell landed.

As a result of this, I was wounded and lost consciousness. When I woke up, I was in the hospital.
Thousands rally in capital Seoul calling for president Park Geun-hye to resign over alleged leaked documents scandal.

Thousands of South Koreans have taken to the streets of the capital, Seoul, calling for President Park Geun-hye to step down over a leaked documents scandal.

The Saturday evening protest came after Park ordered 10 of her senior secretaries to resign over the scandal, which is likely to deepen the presidents lame-duck status ahead of next years election.

The increasingly unpopular president has been accused of letting her old friend, the daughter of a religious cult leader, interfere in important state affairs.

Holding candles and signs reading Whos the real president? and Park Geun-hye step down, the protesters marched through downtown Seoul after holding a candlelight vigil near City Hall.





Police estimated that about 9,000 people turned out for the biggest anti-government demonstration in Seoul in months.

Park has lost her authority as president and showed she doesnt have the basic qualities to govern a country, Jae-myung Lee, from the opposition Minjoo Party and the mayor of the city of Seongnam, told the protesters from a stage.

Park has been facing calls to reshuffle her office and cabinet after acknowledging on Tuesday that she provided longtime friend Choi Soon-sil with drafts of her speeches for editing.

Her televised apology sparked intense criticism about her mismanagement of national information and a heavy-handed leadership style that many see as lacking in transparency.

Theres also media speculation that Choi, who holds no government job, meddled in government decisions on personnel and policy and exploited her ties with Park to misappropriate funds from nonprofit organisations.

READ MORE: War games  US and South Korea stage exercises

Prosecutors on Saturday widened their investigation by searching the homes of presidential officials suspected of interacting with Choi and receiving their office files from the Blue House  the presidential office and residence.

Prosecutors had previously summoned some of Chois key associates and raided their homes and workplaces, as well as the offices of two nonprofit foundations Choi supposedly controlled.

The saga, triggered by weeks of media reports, has sent Parks approval ratings to record lows, and the minority opposition Justice Party has called for her to resign.

Al Jazeeras Harry Fawcett, reporting from Seoul, said the scandal has taken South Koreans by complete surprise.

The sheer extent of this scandal is one they really havent come across before. Certainly there have been a number of scandals involving presidents in the past, often to do with corruption in terms of money. This one is to do with the influence apparently being wielded over President Park Geun-hye by a longtime friend and associate.

Choi reportedly masterminded the creation of the two non-profits, which managed to gather about $70m in corporate donations over a short period of time, and is suspected of misappropriating some of the funds for personal use.

OPINION: Chinas failed South Korea embrace

Chois lawyer, Lee Gyeong-jae, said she was currently in Germany, but would return to South Korea if prosecutors summon her.

In an interview with a South Korean newspaper earlier in the week, Choi acknowledged receiving presidential documents in advance, but denied intervening in state affairs or pressuring companies into donating to the foundations.

Choi and Park reportedly became friends in the 1970s, when Chois late father, Choi Tae-min, a shadowy religious figure who was a Buddhist monk, cult leader and Christian pastor at different points in his life, emerged as Parks mentor.
Relatives of victims say they will not drop cases against Israeli officers despite $20m deal between Israel and Turkey.

The families of Turkish citizens killed in a 2010 Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship have vowed to pursue criminal cases against those accused despite a deal between Turkey and the Jewish state.

We have no intention to drop the lawsuits, Cigdem Topcuoglu, whose husband was killed as the couple embarked on the ship, told the AFP news agency on Friday. We are certainly not accepting the compensation.

Nine Turks died when Israeli marines stormed the Mavi Marmara vessel, which was part of a six-ship aid flotilla trying to break an Israeli navy blockade of the Gaza Strip. A tenth Turk died in hospital in 2014.

OPINION: Womens flotilla to Gaza is more than mere symbolism

They will come and kill your husband next to you and say take this money, keep your mouth shut and give up on the case. Would you accept that? Topcuoglu, an academic, said.

Bulent Yildirim, head of the Turkish Islamic charity that organised the flotilla, IHH, said the case would never end.

Those who believe the case would drop will be disappointed, he said.

Ties between Israel and Turkey crumbled after the raid, but in June this year, they announced a deal after months of secret talks.

Under the deal, Israel agreed to apologise for the raid, grant permission for Turkish aid to reach the Palestinian territory through Israeli ports, and make a payment of $20 million to the families of those killed.

Both sides agreed that individual Israeli citizens, or those acting on behalf of the government, would not be held liable.

Turkish officials confirmed the money was transferred to the justice ministry account last month.

But relatives of the victims insist they will continue their fight until the alleged perpetrators are brought to justice. Some say they were not informed of the deal with Israel and they have not received any money.

Case must continue

Ismail Songur, whose father was killed in the raid, said: Nobody from the Turkish government asked our opinion before they struck a deal. Unfortunately, the Turkish government is becoming a part of the lawlessness carried out by Israel.

Human rights lawyer Rodney Dixon said the criminal case against the accused must go on at all costs.



Whats behind the new deal between Turkey and Israel?

We are strongly supporting the case here in Turkey and our very firm plea to the court has been that they must continue with the case, he said.

OPINION: No more flotillas

The so-called agreement between Israel and Turkey is not a treaty that is enforceable. It is unlawful under international law, under the convention on human rights and Turkish law.

After the deal with Israel was agreed, an Istanbul court on October 19 held another hearing in the trial in absentia of four former Israeli military commanders, though it was later adjourned to December 2.

Turkish prosecutors are seeking life sentences for former military chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi, former navy chief Eliezer Marom, former military intelligence head Amos Yadlin and former air force intelligence chief Avishai Levy, who went on trial in absentia in 2012.

Even if families of the victims accept the money, that would not affect the case, said Gulden Sonmez, one of the lawyers in the trial and also a passenger on the ship.

That is a criminal suit, not a suit for compensation. The $20m is an ex gratia payment. Its a donation and cannot be accepted as compensation.
Under $35bn investment plan, government plans to attract more than five million international visitors a year by 2040.

Salalah, Oman  Outside the tomb of Prophet Ayoub, or Job, on the misty summit of Jabal Atin, tourists have besieged Ahmeds kiosk to buy corn on the cob, while others swarm around adjacent karak tea and coffee stalls.

Ahmeds friend Mohammad Yusuf, a Bangladeshi tailor who works as a driver during southern Omans monsoon season, offers taxi rides to pilgrims and travellers from Salalah city to the mountain peak. The rains have transformed the otherwise arid terrain into a verdant landscape, with waterfalls and bursting springs.

This time of the year is important  the monsoon pumps wealth into Salalah, said Ahmed, who is from Pakistan and works as a tailor outside the monsoon season, which lasts from July to early September.

The rest of the year nobody comes here. We also move back to stitching and laundry, Yusuf told Al Jazeera.

Salalah, the capital of Dhofar governorate, is at the core of Omans tourism industry. Major hotels along the Indian Ocean coast here are filled with Gulf nationals and holidaymakers from Europe and Asia.

Also known for its coconut plantations, palm orchards, serene beaches and frankincense market, Dhofar is a crowd-puller for its religious sites, including the tomb of Ayoubs wife Rahima in central Salalah and the 40ft-long grave of Prophet Umran nearby. Adventure-seekers can also enjoy hiking, and humpback whale and dolphin watching.

Omans economy was powered by agriculture, fishing, camel and goat herding, and handicrafts, until oil was discovered, propelling the sultanates dramatic development over the past four decades. But when oil prices plunged in 2015, Oman ran a budget deficit of $8.57bn, forcing the government to raise corporate taxes, fuel prices and visa fees, and to cut subsidies. Many private companies started downsizing and suspended bonuses, and some expatriates sent their families home to cut back on living costs.

Since then, property owners have slashed rents and the government has delayed several infrastructure projects, including a planned rail network connecting the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

But Oman plans to replace its heavy reliance on hydrocarbons by diversifying its economy, and transforming the tourism industry into a major revenue generator.

Tourism certainly can and is playing a major role in Omans economy, James Wilson, CEO of the state-run developer Omran, told Al Jazeera. The government is now focused on five key economic sectors: tourism, logistics, manufacturing, mining and fisheries, all of which will help Oman advance from its current dependency on oil.

Earlier this year, Omans tourism ministry announced plans to attract more than five million international visitors a year by 2040, up from 2.6 million visitors in 2015. Tourism currently contributes just 2.5 percent to the sultanates economy, and the government aims to raise that figure to 6 percent.

Under the new, $35bn investment plan, the government predicts the tourism sector will employ more than 500,000 people, with a large number of them predicted to be Omanis.

Despite harsh economic conditions hitting all sectors, officials say that Omran has not stopped work on its projects. In fact, we have at least OMR 300m ($779m) worth of tourism projects under construction across Oman, Wilson said.

Yet Omans dream of becoming a tourist hub in the region is strewn with difficulties. Tourist visa regulations are one issue. A lack of transportation for tourists may also be a difficulty: Although Oman is dotted by a string of valleys with lush date plantations and emerald-green waters, they are far from the capital Muscat, where much of the accommodation lies.

Oman ranks top in the GCC when it comes to slowest and most expensive Internet service. At many places, you wont get it at all, a senior official at a major private tourism group told Al Jazeera, on condition of anonymity. Also, Oman is still drafting its environmental policy and waste management law. These are musts for tourism projects.

Many also fear job losses amid efforts to Omanise the tourism industry. Omanisation restricts companies to hire skilled expatriates. Instead, theyre forced to hire local Omanis with no language skills or interest in the tourism trade, Imtiyaz Ahmed, a south Asian expatriate, told Al Jazeera.

Ahmad, who supervises bookings in his Muscat hotel, said that the hotel recently downsized staff after oil prices dropped, but now the sword of Omanisation hangs over our heads.

But Graham Stewart Leslie, the CEO of Muscat-based Al Siraj Hospitality, said that Omanisation in the industry is important since engagement with the people of a country is an important part of tourism. However, he warned: This cannot just be a dictate which is where most of the difficulties are encountered, and I dont feel forced Omanisation is the solution.

Despite bordering war-torn Yemen, Oman is peaceful and stable. The sultanate, which helped to broker the Iran nuclear deal and is currently engaged in peace efforts in Yemen, takes pride in being a terrorism-free country  it scored a 0 on the 2015 Global Terrorism Index.

Oman seeks to attract more travellers, especially amid developments in Europe and Middle Eastern countries, including a rise in anti-migrant violence, bombings and political disturbances.

The CEO of Omran told Al Jazeera: The new visa system [which has yet to be adopted]  looks at producing a joint visa with neighbouring countries, allowing tourists to obtain visa entry to Oman and its surrounding countries. This aims to ease the travel experience within the GCC.

However, Oman will have to expand accommodation options if tourism does surge. Currently there are only 16,691 hotel rooms in Oman, according to data from Omran. The government expects to add 2,000 new rooms by December.

By 2040, the government aims for a total of 33,373 hotel rooms, 29,287 holiday home rooms and 17,262 rooms in integrated tourism complexes, according to Omran. These clusters will be developed over the next 10 to 15 years, with an aim to become destinations in their own right.

Meanwhile, back in Salalah, Yusuf is happy: His earnings have doubled. This years monsoon has drawn more than 650,000 tourists, mostly Arabs  around 20 percent more than the same period in 2015.

Oman is a land of generous people, he said. Its a beautiful corner of the world culled from paradise.
Pervaiz Rashid has been suspended over explosive story alleging the military is secretly supporting armed groups.

Pakistans Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid has been removed from office over a newspaper leak that sparked a rift between the army and government earlier this month.

Evidence available so far points to a lapse on the part of the information minister, who has been directed to step down from office to enable holding of an independent and detailed inquiry, a statement from the prime ministers office said on Saturday.

Sources from the Information Ministry said Rashid stepped down until the inquiry confirms whether he was the source for an explosive story detailing a top-level meeting at which security services were accused of assisting armed groups in Pakistan.

WATCH: India-Pakistan  Media on fire

The inquiry is seeking to identify the source of an article by the English-language Dawn newspaper, published on October 6. It gave an account of a tense meeting between military and civilian officials on tackling militancy.

The article, written by investigative journalist Cyril Almeida, reported that some people in the government had complained at the meeting that they were being asked to do more to crack down on armed groups  yet whenever law enforcement agencies took action, the security establishment  worked behind the scenes to set the arrested free.

Government and diplomatic sources say the article soured relations between Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs ruling PML-N party and the military, with army officials blaming PML-N for the leak and demanding that the source be punished.

Relations between the civilian government and military have often been strained in a country where several prime ministers, including Sharif himself, have been ousted in coups.

Quoting anonymous sources, the Dawn story said civilian officials called for the military not to interfere if authorities tried to arrest members of anti-India groups, such as Jaish-e Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba.

India has long accused Pakistans military of sponsoring these groups to foment unrest in Indian-administered Kashmir and elsewhere, a charge that Pakistan denies.

The prime ministers office has repeatedly rejected the article as inaccurate and the journalist who wrote it was at one point temporarily barred from leaving the country.

On Saturday, the prime ministers office said the article was planted and termed it a breach of national security.

Dawn newspaper editors have stood by the story and its author.

The committee being set up to investigate the leak includes senior officers from the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the most powerful intelligence agency in Pakistan.

The military on Friday said top PML-N leaders  including the finance minister, interior minister, and Sharifs brother  met army chief Raheel Sharif, unrelated to the prime minister, to discuss the newspaper leak. The head of ISI was also present.
Spain has turned the page on a 10-month political crisis after politicians voted the conservatives back into power.

Aided by divisions among his rivals and the Socialist Partys decision to abstain from the vote in order to avoid going to the polls one more time, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy won a crunch parliamentary confidence vote on Saturday that will see him officially re-appointed as Spains leader.

After winning the confidence vote, Rajoy said he will announce his new cabinet on Thursday.

READ MORE: Spains Socialists lift veto on minority government

In a sign of how deep the divisions run, former Socialist chief Pedro Sanchez, a staunch opponent of Rajoy who was ousted in a party rebellion this month, announced he was quitting parliament just hours before the vote in a tearful media appearance.

Before the vote, hundreds of protesters unhappy about corruption and sweeping spending cuts during Rajoys first term took to the streets under a strong police watch in Madrid, shouting: They dont represent us.





There is a lot of anger here also at the way that the Socialist Party has decided to abstain from this vote and, therefore, allow Rajoy to be able to form a minority government, said Al Jazeeras Sonia Gallego, reporting from a protest rally near the parliament in Madrid.

A lot of socialist grassroots activists feel that the soul of their party has disappeared and sort of got lost in this political fracas.

Rajoys policy choices during his first term also caused a lot of public anger.

There is a lot of anger at the fact that under his government there was a $35bn bailout to the banks. And all this time, while the banks were being bailed, social security services have taken hits.

So there is a lot of anger about how Spanish society has developed under Rajoy.

Socialists torn apart

Party leaders this week appeared far from conciliatory as the confidence vote neared.

They came out fighting, criticising Rajoy and each other just as they had over the past 10 months as the country went through two inconclusive elections.

OPINION: Spain  Is this the end of the Socialists?

This unstable period saw Spain go from jubilation and hope after polls last December ended the two-party system, as millions voted for two upstart parties, to disillusion following repeat polls in June that yielded similarly inconclusive results.





Rajoys Popular Party (PP) won both elections, but without enough parliamentary seats to govern alone. As no political grouping was able to agree on a viable coalition, Spain looked set for an unprecedented third election in less than a year.

This all changed last weekend when the Socialists swallowed a bitter pill and opted to abstain in Saturdays confidence vote to avoid more polls, after weeks of bitter in-fighting that saw Sanchez ousted as leader.

This gave Rajoy enough traction to see him through the vote.

In retaliation, Sanchez announced on Saturday that he had resigned as a politician, unable to choose between going against his principles and abstaining, or going against his party and voting no to Rajoy.

In an announcement just hours before the vote, the 44-year-old emphasised how painful the decision was before breaking down and choking back tears.

Turbulent term

Unlike when he came to power in 2011 with an absolute majority, Rajoys party will only have 137 out of 350 seats in parliament and will face huge opposition, forcing him to negotiate every bill.

First on his list will be a 2017 budget, which may need at least five billion euros ($5.5bn) in spending cuts to reduce the deficit under EU pressure.

OPINION: Spanish leftists join fight against ISIL

But this is likely to face stiff opposition both in parliament and on the street, and already Rajoys rivals have pledged to vote against it.





Rajoy, meanwhile, has called on the opposition to let him govern effectively, pointing to the return of economic growth and a drop in unemployment on his watch after a devastating financial crisis.

Political analyst Pablo Simon said there was no doubt his term in office would be the most turbulent ever in Spain, and could prompt Rajoy to call early elections if he keeps hitting brick walls.

But he predicted Rajoy would not find it as difficult as expected.

The Socialists, for one, will need time to rebuild in the opposition and will not want early elections, knowing they would fare badly after their public breakdown.

The PP also has a majority in the Senate, and may be able to form pacts with smaller parties in the lower house to see laws through, Simon added.
Air strike by Arab coalition in third-largest city comes as President Hadi balked at the latest peace plan by UN envoy.

At least 18 civilians were killed in Yemens southwestern province of Taiz on Saturday by air strikes that struck several homes, local officials and residents said.

The raid targeted the al-Salw district where Houthi rebels and government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition are fighting for control. Taiz is Yemens third-largest city with an estimated pre-war population of 300,000.

Security officials told the Associated Press news agency that one air strike hit the house of a citizen named Abdullah Abdo, killing 11 family members.

Taiz, the cultural centre of Yemen, has been torn between coalition forces and the Shia rebels. The district that came under attack is close to the frontline of fighting, and officials said it is often difficult to distinguish rebels from government forces.





There was no immediate comment from the coalition, which launched a military campaign against the Iran-backed Houthi fighters and their allies in March last year to support President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadis government.

The rebels seized the capital, Sanaa, in 2014 and eventually forced Hadi out of Yemen.

A Yemeni official loyal to Hadis government said two coalition air strikes hit three adjacent homes by mistake.

All those in the houses were killed, he told AFP news agency, adding that a child and seven women were among the dead.

The air strikes came as Hadi rejected the latest peace proposal submitted by UN envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed on Saturday, even refusing to receive it as he met a mediator in Riyadh.

The contents of the plan that the UN envoy already presented to the rebels on Tuesday have not been made public.

According to a copy of the proposal seen by Reuters news agency, the plan would sideline Hadi and set up a government of less divisive figures.

The proposed deal reportedly gives the Houthis a share in the future government in exchange for a rebel withdrawal from major cities.

The ideas presented  carry the seeds of war, a statement by the presidency quoted Hadi as saying. It rewards the coup leaders and punishes the Yemeni people at the same time.

October 8 strike

The Arab coalition has come under mounting international criticism for the high civilian death toll from its bombing campaign.

An October 8 strike that killed more than 140 people attending a funeral ceremony for the father of a rebel leader in Sanaa drew widespread condemnation, even from close Western allies.

READ MORE: More than 1,400 suspected cholera cases in Yemen

The coalition launched an investigation into that attack and acknowledged one of its warplanes had wrongly targeted the funeral based on incorrect information.

It announced disciplinary measures, compensation for the families of victims, and allowed the most seriously wounded to be evacuated on board an Omani flight.

The Saudi-led coalition has been fighting Houthi rebels and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who hold much of the north of Yemen, including Sanaa, since March 2015 to try to restore the internationally recognised Hadi to power.

The war has killed nearly 7,000 people, mostly civilians, and displaced three million others.

The Arab worlds poorest nation had already been suffering from high rates of malnutrition, but the fighting and a blockade has pushed the country deeper into starvation and turmoil.
We take a look at the dire financial situation in Mozambique and ongoing student violence in South Africa.

The discovery of gas fields off the Mozambique coast in 2011 was meant to transform the economy, but five years later, its an economy in trouble.

This past week, the Ministry of Finance said Mozambiques debt is now more than double its gross domestic product, and talks with creditors must take place in order to restructure the debt mountain.

So what went wrong? And how has a country, which has seen massive improvements in its economy since the end of its civil war back in 1992, now landed with potentially uncontrollable debts?

A lot of it is down to what is known as the tuna bond.

In 2013, Mozambique raised funds for a tuna fishing fleet by creating a government-backed investment vehicle. However, the funds were redirected into defence purchases such as patrol boats, instead of the tuna fishing fleet.

The scandal meant that Mozambique would need to restructure the loans as government debt. By then, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had uncovered secret loans and suspended all aid to Mozambique.

In the short term, what it [Mozambique] has is a huge debt overhang, almost 125 percent of GDP of debt, and a very high debt service cost as well, oscillating in the coming years between 20 and 40 percent of GDP  a massive strain on the budget, says Peter Montalto, executive director at Nomura International Bank in London, specialising in European, African, and Middle East emerging markets.

Student protests in South Africa

Political by Peter

growth from pre-crisis averages.]

South Africa has been suffering months of low growth, political turmoil and violent student protests, and this week, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan cut the countrys growth forecast down to just 0.5 percent.

Nearly one million students enrolled in state-run education institutions last year  the government says that is too many and that the facilities can only cope with around 600,000. Resources are already stretched to capacity and not everybody can get government support.

There has been an increase in subsidies for South Africas poorest students, but that has not made any dents in the needs of the majority.

EU-Canada trade deal

A free trade pact between the European Union and Canada  known as CETA  has been agreed but not without a fight. The tiny Belgian state of Wallonia nearly tripped up the transatlantic deal with concerns for the agriculture industry and the environment.

Siegfried Muresan, an MEP and spokesperson for the European Peoples Party, credits the deal with the ability to lift people out of poverty and create growth, saying: The deal is good for Canada, good for the EU and is the most modern trade deal which the EU has ever negotiated.

Trade is, of course, a key growth engine in Europe, continues Muresan. We are exporting a lot, which means more trade and more jobs are being secured here.

Connected Cars

Counting the Cost also looks at the largest deal in the history of the semiconductor industry. US-based Qualcomm, which makes the electronic chips that run most of the worlds smartphones, is buying up NXP in a $47bn deal.

We speak with David Green, chief digital officer at Lynk and Co, about the evolving nature of the automotive industry and the future of connected cars.








Twenty-four countries and the European Union signed a historic agreement to protect ocean life near Antarctic.

It has taken years of negotiations but countries from around the world have finally reached an agreement to preserve marine life near Antarctica.

It will be in the Ross Sea  which is considered to be one of the most pristine marine environments in the world.

And the agreement covers more than 1.5 million square kilometres of ocean.

But the world has seen numerous deals to tackle and prevent climate change and its impact on wildlife.

Will this deal be any different? And how feasible is it?

Presenter: Dareen Abughaida

Guests:

Lewis Pugh  UNEP Patron of the Oceans, maritime lawyer and ocean advocate.

Rod Downie  Polar Program Manager, World Wildlife Fund  UK.
We examine the difference in the coverage of Mosul and Aleppo. Plus, the Lebanese media mosaic.

On The Listening Post this week: How does coverage of Mosul and Aleppo differ? Plus, the Lebanese media mosaic.

Mosul and Aleppo: Two cities under siege

With conflicts in the Middle East ongoing, its up to the media to inform us about what is happening on the battlefield. Both, Mosul in Iraq and Aleppo in Syria are cities held by armed groups, surrounded by avenging armies and bombarded by international air power. But with all the geopolitics in play, reporting from the field is seldom black and white.

Talking us through the story are: Dmitry Babich, journalist, Sputnik International; Howard Amos, independent journalist, Russia; Lina Khatib, head of the MENA programme, Chatham House; and Kim Sengupta, defence editor, The Independent (UK).

On our radar:

Hungarys largest-selling opposition newspaper, Nepszabadsag, has landed in the hands of an oligarch with ties to Prime Minister Viktor Orbans ruling party.

After the recent passing of the king, the Thai government is making sure that its lese majeste laws remain effective in the digital age  by asking Google to remove any content that defames the royal family.

To avoid an alleged media bias, US presidential candidate Donald Trumps campaign has decided to start reporting on itself  the daily Trump Tower Live looks a bit like a 24-hour news channel with budget issues.

Lebanons media and the politicisation of a rubbish crisis

Lebanons media is crowded, diverse and highly politicised. We analyse the impact of the medias politics on its output.

Our case study: Last years protests over the rubbish crisis. Its a story of how a deeply divided media fractured the consensus on a civic issue  and the activists who are pushing for alternative narratives ever since.

Talking us through the story are: Karma Khayat, vice chairwoman, Al Jadeed TV; Nabil Dajani, professor of communication and media studies, American University Beirut; Jad Melki, associate professor of journalism and media studies, Lebanese American University; and Habib Battah, editor, BeirutReport.com
The war in Darfur is the conflict the world seems to have forgotten, but it hasnt gone away.



And neither has the leader of Sudan, President Omar Hassan alBashir, the man the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for back in 2009 for alleged war crimes in the region. He also was the first person to be charged by the ICC for the crime of genocide.

Bashir, who took power in 1989, is leading a nation that has been grappling with ethnic and religious conflict for more than 50 years  not just in the Darfur region but also in the south, which eventually led to the division of the country and the establishment of South Sudan.



We know ICC is a political organ of the European Union. Everybody knows that this is a court that has been in fact formed and built to indict Africans, this is why you'll find all those leaders who have been accused or indicted are African leaders. by Ibrahim Ghandour, Sudan's foreign minister

A provisional peace agreement was signed with the non-Arab rebels in Darfur in 2006, and there are talks going on between them and the government to move towards a final deal.

But there are still allegations of serious ongoing violence. Recent attacks, including one in September, left hundreds of civilians dead  many of them children  in the Jebel Marra region in central Darfur. This time, the seriousness of the attacks was compounded by allegations that the government went further than any previous time by employing chemical weapons.

We discuss these allegations, the prospects for real peace and the role of Sudans President Bashir as the countrys Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour talks to Al Jazeera.

Critics say the ongoing national dialogue announced by Bashir is being controlled by the government and that the security service is keeping participants in check. Ghandour disputes this, saying it has been a free and fair interactive dialogue.

In that dialogue, a number of political parties, rebel groups or ex-rebel groups who participated are many, and that has been witnessed by many visitors to Sudan, he says, adding that political activists have not faced any crackdown or been jailed solely for their political activity.

But human rights organisations maintain that the country has an appalling human rights record.

Asked about the allegations of ongoing violence in Darfur and Bashirs indictment for war crimes and genocide by the ICC, Ghandour says: We know ICC is a political organ of the EU. Everybody knows that this is a court that has been in fact formed and built to indict Africans, this is why youll find all those leaders who have been accused or indicted are African leaders.

We discuss how Bashir is now travelling more widely and whether or not he fears being arrested on an ICC warrant.

Ghandour says Bashir will never appear in court. Because we are not party to the Rome treaty, he says.

Not a single Sudanese will go to the ICC court.

The ICC has said its suspending its Darfur work due to frustrations with investigations. We ask Ghandour what he makes of the ICCs decision:

It tells me that now they are quite sure that the indictment was not a correct one, he says.

Ghandour also speaks about the conflict in Sudans Two Areas, Blue Nile and South Kordofan, and what the government plans to do about continuing talks as a four-month ceasefire comes to an end. He also discusses the bloodshed in South Sudan and whether the splitting off from Sudan was a mistake.

We are very much worried because we believe that there is no peace in Sudan without peace in South Sudan and vice versa, he says.

You can talk to Al Jazeera too. Join our Twitter conversation as we talk to world leaders and alternative voices shaping our times. You can also share your views and keep up to date with our latest interviews on Facebook.
Dr Marc Lamont Hill is an award-winning journalist and author and is the Steve Charles Professor of Media, Cities, and Solutions at Temple University. Hill is known for his work addressing the intersections of race, justice, politics and culture. His latest best-selling book is We Still Here: Pandemics, Policing, Protest and Possibility which follows on the success of Nobody: Casualties of Americas War on the Vulnerable from Flint to Ferguson. Hill has received numerous prestigious awards from the US National Association of Black Journalists, GLAAD, and the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.
With Election Day two weeks away, most polls show that Hillary Clinton will surpass the 270 electoral votes needed to beat Donald Trump and win the general election, making her the 45th president of the United States. What does this mean? It's easy to talk about the candidates and their impacts on the contest, but what stories will the results tell about who we are as a nation and where we're headed?

Hillary Clinton isn't a name that America is unfamiliar with, especially in recent years as a Democrat presidential candidate and secretary of state. From a 30,000-foot level, she really isn't notable one way or another. She's a liberal Democrat; her record and platform up to this point reflect as much, and her presidency would be viewed as Obama's third term. Zoom in, however, and some significant negatives come into focus. Her extremely careless handling of classified information, the private email server, the Benghazi debacle, and to a lesser degree her health are working against her. The landscape is relatively barren when looking for any standout positives. Despite her status as the first major-party female presidential candidate, she generates virtually no enthusiasm among Democrat voters, a stark contrast to the rock star candidacy of Barack Obama.

Enter Donald Trump.

The most unconventional and polarizing presidential candidate in history prevailed over a crowded field to take the Republican nomination, pulling no punches as he vanquished opponent after opponent. A significant bloc of Republican primary voters grew tired of the Republican establishment and what they saw as acquiescence to Democrats at every turn, and these voters were drawn to Trump and his brash, plain-spoken, direct, and decidedly anti-establishment style and platform. They saw Trump as a breath of fresh air compared to the stuffy, politically correct politician-speak from the rest of the mostly establishment Republican primary field. That, paired with his positions on immigration, the borders, refugees, trade, and other issues important to Republican voters, resulted in his nomination.

Unfortunately, his style cut two ways and alienated many Republicans and undecided voters. Even worse for Trump, it mobilized many on the left who may have just stayed home, given the "meh" candidate they were left with after the rigged Democrat primary election.

If Hillary Clinton Wins

This is the likely scenario. Many pundits believe that any one of the other Republican primary candidates would beat Clinton in the general election without breaking a sweat, but that's irrelevant now. Whether Hillary Clinton wins a close race or by a landslide is equally irrelevant. Simply put, a disturbingly large chunk of the American electorate is ignorant and/or apathetic, and this ignorance and apathy plays a bigger role in our elections than both of the candidates put together.

This general election features two candidates with favorability ratings in the toilet, which increases the apathy factor. After all, who wants to choose between horrible and terrible (or is it "crooked" and "deplorable")? Then you have the media perpetuating ignorance by censoring or downplaying stories that may have a negative impact to Clinton. They take it a step farther by amplifying negative stories about Trump, ad nauseam, while variety shows like Saturday Night Live and celebrities are all too happy to join in the excoriation of Donald Trump.

Given all of this, the ignorant who pay only passing attention to politics but decide to vote will vote for Clinton.

Honestly, I can't blame those who are willfully ignorant. It's no fun paying attention to the Dumpster fire that is American politics. But this is the fate of our nation we're talking about, and this election cycle is more important than any in recent memory, with the future of the Supreme Court  and, indeed, the entire country's cultural makeup  at stake.

A Hillary Clinton win is a story of ignorance and apathy to be sure, but the bigger story is one of American sentiment toward the bedrock principles our country was founded upon. The ideas of freedom and liberty lose out to the firm hand of big government guiding and "caring for" us through life as it deems appropriate. Who needs the Bill of Rights anyway? Personal responsibility gives way to a mass entitlement mentality. "Justice for all" is discarded in favor of "social justice," perpetuating the deeply divisive identity politics of the last eight years, where feelings trump reality. Our borders and sovereignty are replaced with more uncontrolled immigration and the diktats of the United Nations. The elusive and mysterious "greater good" as secretly defined by globalists is deemed by The People to be more important than the rule of law and what's best for America and Americansthe productive who are forced to bankroll these grand progressive designs even as the national debt continues its unabated rise into the stratosphere.

Maybe someone else will have the answer to that problem, someday. Anyway, heydid you see The Walking Dead last night?

If Donald Trump Wins

Who knows? Maybe those grassroots conservative NeverTrumps are right, and Donald Trump won't be a good Republican. After all, as a private citizen, he hobnobbed with and donated to his share of liberal politicians, and there's his uncouth behavior and the questionable things he's said. It's understandable that hardcore conservatives would have a hard time supporting someone like Trump, and it's never any fun choosing the lesser of two evils. An analogy I've used is a choice between stage 3 liver cancer (Clinton) and b) an unknown malady (Trump). The latter could be anything from a mosquito bite to stage 4 lung cancer. Which would you choose?

The point is, of course, that the "unknown malady" that is Donald Trump would be an obviously far better choice than the certain "stage 3 liver cancer" that is Clinton. Even if Trump doesn't toe the conservative line most of the time, how is that at all different from the vast majority of most Republicans today? Some conservatism is better than none, and none is what we'd have with Hillary Clinton.

A Donald Trump win would tell the story of a nation determined to once again put the interests of its own people first, including a clear rejection of the corruption and dishonesty found with disturbing frequency at all levels of government.

Perhaps another great story is that Americans aren't really asleep at the wheel, and not ready to end the great American Experiment just yet. Maybe we're not so ignorant after all! Maybe we would rather focus on what unites us rather than our differences. Maybe we do have the ability to think critically and parse the fire hose of bias, dishonesty, and chaff that has been a hallmark of the political and media establishment this election season. We really are a people that cherishes freedom and liberty and rejects the notion that our Constitution and Bill of Rights are either outdated or too dangerous for us all to exercise. A people that will hold government representatives accountable for their actions and is determined to ensure the United States remains united, as a unique, distinct, and strong sovereign nation that is not perfect but is indeed a force for good in the world.

What an awesome story that would be.

America is at a critical crossroads, and the choices that the electorate makes in 2016  either by voting or sitting out  will determine our path into the future. While Trump can be summed up as a question mark of sorts, it's not hard to imagine the United States being unrecognizable after 12 or 16 years of liberal Democrats in our wheelhouse. That would be a disaster from which there is no turning back in our lifetimes. And that's not a good story at all.
More than two months after Turkey withstood a bloody coup attempt, the Turkish people are still feeling the reverberations.

The carnage came on the heels of a difficult year for Turkey. A string of bombings killed hundreds across the country, while relations with its oldest and most vital ally, the United States, became increasingly strained.

During this fragile time in a bilateral relationship that stretches back decades, we need more than ever to strengthen  not weaken  the ties that bind us together. This includes building upon the academic exchange programs that for decades have served as a critical tool of public diplomacy.

After the coup attempt in July, the Fulbright program in Turkey received some difficult news: the 2016-2017 English Teaching Assistant program would be suspended. While scholars and researchers will still be able to carry out their grant periods in Turkey, nearly 80 ETA awardees will not be so lucky.

Since 1951, Turkey has been sending its top scholars and students to the U.S. each year as part of the Fulbright program. In the 2000s, the program began taking on American students as ETAs. It quickly took off, and by 2011, Turkey was offering the fourth largest number of ETA positions to potential Fulbrighters, and it received the sixth largest number of applications.

While the importance of academic exchange in fostering positive interactions between countries is a constant, it becomes more acute in times of tension between governments. Since the start of the Cold War, the U.S. and Turkey have been strong allies. Turkey joined NATO in 1952, and since that time it has been a crucial security partner. While it was once a bulwark against communism, in the present day it serves as the front line against the conflicts in Syria and Iraq and as one of the most important players in remedying the refugee crisis.

However, in recent years, the U.S.-Turkey relationship has experienced greater tension over security concerns. When government-to-government relations founder, the connections between the people of each country keep the relationship humming. At the heart of people-to-people relations are the various exchange programs that allow American and Turkish citizens to improve upon their education while building strong bonds with newfound friends and colleagues.

The Fulbright program is just one way thousands of American and Turkish students and scholars can engage in U.S.-Turkey academic exchange each year. The impact of these programs is significant: in the 2014-2015 academic year, 10,724 Turkish students studied in the U.S.  the second highest number among European countries and the 13th highest among countries worldwide. In 2014, the economic impact of Turkish students studying in the U.S. was 368 million USD.

It is undoubtable that Turkey is experiencing considerable instability, and it is understandable that government programs and academic institutions are erring on the side of caution when considering sending students to Turkey. Yet there are students  including some of those who had received the now suspended Fulbright ETA grants  who may still like the opportunity to travel to and live in Turkey.

Academic exchange remains one of the best vehicles for Americans to experience Turkey in an immersive experience. Some programs  such as SUNY Binghamton's Dual Diploma Program  remain open, but the vast majority are closed for the time being. In the coming year, the lack of academic exchange opportunities may prevent as many as 2,000 American students from experiencing the unique benefits of studying abroad in Turkey.

The first priority of government agencies and academic institutions with exchange programs to Turkey should be to get these programs back online as soon as possible. This means evaluating the security situation honestly and understanding its true projected impact on American students abroad. Universities should consider the possibility of allowing students to study abroad in Turkey in exceptional cases  perhaps, for example, requiring that students wishing to study abroad in Turkey attain a certain level of Turkish before they do so, or implementing an orientation that prepares students for the political and security situation in the country.

In the absence of exchange opportunities in Turkey, the U.S. government, academic institutions, and even the private sector should consider investing in programs that will allow for immersive Turkish language study on U.S. soil. The Turkish Flagship Center at Indiana University is one such program that can be expanded and replicated, while the Middlebury Language Schools can serve as additional inspiration. Additionally, a greater number of dedicated Turkey studies programs should be established or expanded in political science, history, and international relations departments across the country. Such U.S.-based programs will not only serve as a fallback when exchange programs to Turkey are suspended, but will also increase the number of American students with the knowledge necessary to strengthening the U.S.-Turkey partnership in the years to come.

Audrey Williams is a former Fulbright scholar and program coordinator at the Turkish Heritage Organization, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit.
Congress wants to know what role Attorney General Loretta Lynch played in the transfer of $1.7 billion to Iran in exchange for our hostages but the AG, in effect, is taking the fifth.

Senator Marco Rubio and Rep. Mike Pompeo sent a series of questions to Lynch that a spokeman summarily dismissed, saying pretty much that it was none of Congress's business.

Washington Free Beacon:

In an Oct. 24 response, Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik responded on Lynchs behalf, refusing to answer the questions and informing the lawmakers that they are barred from publicly disclosing any details about the cash payment, which was bound up in a ransom deal aimed at freeing several American hostages from Iran. The response from the attorney generals office is unacceptable and provides evidence that Lynch has chosen to essentially plead the fifth and refuse to respond to inquiries regarding [her] role in providing cash to the worlds foremost state sponsor of terrorism, Rubio and Pompeo wrote on Friday in a follow-up letter to Lynch, according to a copy obtained by the Free Beacon. The inquiry launched by the lawmakers is just one of several concurrent ongoing congressional probes aimed at unearthing a full accounting of the administrations secret negotiations with Iran. It is frankly unacceptable that your department refuses to answer straightforward questions from the peoples elected representatives in Congress about an important national security issue, the lawmakers wrote. Your staff failed to address any of our questions, and instead provided a copy of public testimony and a lecture about the sensitivity of information associated with this issue. As the United States chief law enforcement officer, it is outrageous that you would essentially plead the fifth and refuse to respond to inquiries, they stated. The actions of your department come at time when Iran continues to hold Americans hostage and unjustly sentence them to prison. The lawmakers included a copy of their previous 13 questions and are requesting that Lynch provide answers by Nov. 4. When asked about Lynchs efforts to avoid answering questions about the cash payment, Pompeo told the Free Beacon that the Obama administration has blocked Congress at every turn as lawmakers attempt to investigate the payments to Iran. Who knew that simple questions regarding Attorney General Lynchs approval of billions of dollars in payments to Iran could be so controversial that she would refuse to answer them? Pompeo said. This has become the Obama administrations coping mechanism for anything related to the Islamic Republic of Iranhide information, obfuscate details, and deny answers to Congress and the American people. They know this isnt a sustainable strategy, however, and I trust they will start to take their professional, and moral, obligations seriously, the lawmaker added.

Information about the ransom deal is unclassified, but in order to view, lawmakers must treat the details as if they were nuclear secrets:

Details about the deal are unclassified, but are being kept under lock and key in a secure facility on Capitol Hill, the Free Beacon first disclosed. Lawmakers and staffers who have clearance to view the documents are forced to relinquish their cellular devices and are barred from taking any notes about what they see. Please note that these documents contain sensitive information that is not appropriate for public release, Kadzik wrote to the lawmakers. Disclosure of this information beyond members of the House and Senate and staff who are able to view them could adversely affect the diplomatic relations of the United States, including with key allies, as well as the State Departments ability to defend [legal] claims against the United States [by Iran] that are still being litigated at the Hague Tribunal.

Get that? Unclassified information is "not appropriate for public release." Perhaps the administration thinks releasing details of the transaction will outrage our allies - not to mention the American people, who continue to be kept in the dark about the administration's negotiations with a terrorist state to free our hostages.

Since the details are not classified, the AG cannot claim a national security exemption. This is politics pure and simple as the administration tries to avoid the embarrassment of information coming to light about our humiliation at the hands of Iran.
Ancient legends tell of the Temple of Fire  a temple fueled by the rich resources of oil and gas that still flow through an ancient land, under its ground and in its sea. Located near Baku, the capitol of Azerbaijan, it was once a place for religious worship by Hindus and Zoroastrians.

However, to talk of Azerbaijan only in terms of its energy resources is to do a disservice to the nation and its people. While those energy resources are critical to the future energy security of Europe and much of the region, it is only one aspect of this multidimensional country.

The recent 5th Baku Humanitarian Forum showcased that which Azerbaijan most valuably has to offer the world -- a model of a secular and modern Muslim-majority nation, where Shia, Sunni, Jew, Catholic, etc., live together absent the discord of much of the rest of the world.

In Azerbaijan, its citizens worry not about what ethnic or religious group has more power, but about the economic downturn, education, life insurance, jobs, and juggling family with profession. Each distinct group has one commonality -- they are all Azerbaijani.

As with most societies, Azerbaijan is a product of its history, in this case, one that left it with a varying array of peoples living together and not particularly caring about anothers heritage. Notably and importantly, it is a society that can be replicated should others have the courage to do so. It is also a society that should be actively supported by the West, despite the inevitable blemishes all nations and societies possess.

Exploring Baku is taking a journey from a grand past to a cutting-edge future. Each street corner reveals grand buildings, their architecture harkening back to the eras of the famed Silk Road to Imperial Russia to todays staunchly independent Azerbaijan. Towering behind them stand futuristic buildings that seem to leap from the ground, molded from the minds of artists and dreamers. Yet just a bit of the bland Soviet era remains, where functionality reigned supreme over style and where elegance gave way to insipidity.

Over a millennium, perhaps this constant confluence of old and new/ancient and modern is what drives this quietness amongst its people. Throughout its history, Azerbaijanis have learned to adapt to numerous different worlds, peoples, and circumstances. Walking among them, one can see a few in religious garb, those wearing clothing evocative of the fashion capitals of New York and Paris and those wearing modern gear suited to any suburban mall. And the pride of its citizens and their love for their nation and society is clear.

While Azerbaijan is a Muslim-majority country, it is the polar opposite of the many Islamic and Muslim-majority nations of the neighboring Middle East. Azerbaijan is a fierce defender of its state policy of secularism, yet also a vivacious proponent of religious freedom. In Azerbaijan, Jewish leaders do not tell their members to avoid wearing identifiably Jewish clothing as they do in Paris. While there are laws that ban the hijab from being worn in schools, this does not extend to the public domain, as in some European countries, where the government bans Islamic clothing in public in a futile attempt to stop radicalism. Here, it is infused in society, due to both the natural inclinations of Azerbaijani people, as well as the consistent promotion and sustained government policies to promote a tolerant society.

Somehow, despite the many ethnic tensions around the world, Azerbaijan has made pluralism a reality in ways the traditional western European countries can only dream about.

Its an attitude that should be emulated by the West, where too often we think we have much to teach instead of accepting that we too have much to learn.

In this multifaceted country, it can be difficult to describe just where it fits into the cultural sphere of the world. It can feel like a classical European city straight out of a history book, a modern city on the cutting edge of innovation. There are even places where you might think youre in a Middle Eastern bazaar surrounded by music and small shops in long underground passageways.

Western capitals would do well to study the fabric of Azerbaijani society, lest we improve our own. Blessed with vast and critical energy resources, governed by stability and tolerance, driven by a modern and progressive outlook, embracing both a proud past and an exciting future, Azerbaijan may not always be easily found on a map, but its definitely leaving its mark on the world.

Justin Amler is an Australian writer and commentator on international issues.
On Friday, October 28, FBI director James Comey announced by letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee that the FBI will conduct another investigation of a new batch of Hillary's emails. It is not re-opening the prior investigation, where Comey concluded Hillary acted with extreme negligence but declined to recommend indictment because he believes that Hillary did not have the intent to violate the laws.

There must be something important in these emails for Comey to investigate ten days before the election. Assuming that it is important, a special prosecutor should be appointed immediately to investigate. But given the time constraints before the election, we are left with Comey, who has a chance to redeem the FBI and himself by conduction a real investigation within the next ten days and immediately releasing the emails.

Comey's letter states:

In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation," I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation.

According to the New York Times report of October 28:

Federal law enforcement officials said Friday that the new emails uncovered in the closed investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server were discovered after the F.B.I. seized electronic devices belonging to Huma Abedin, a top aide to Mrs. Clinton, and her husband, Anthony Weiner.

According to the Times, the FBI discovered these emails in its investigation of Anthony Weiner because he sent "illicit text messages to a 15 year old girl in North Carolina."

Only Hillary can cause a situation to have the FBI investigate her with the election less than two weeks away. Unless Bill Clinton can arrange another accidental meeting with Attorney General Lynch within the next two weeks, this investigation will continue past the election and into Hillary's first term if, God forbid, she wins. But Comey needs to act quickly to interview Hillary under oath, and more importantly to release these emails immediately. Whether Hillary violates laws is not the issue ten days before the election. The more important issue is that we must have the emails so we can decide whether to vote for Hillary or Trump.

The question now is whether Comey will conduct a real investigation in the next ten days by issuing subpoenas and questioning Hillary under oath, and request the U.S. attorney to empanel a grand jury to take testimony, and whether Comey will release the emails. The Senate Judiciary Committee, and Republican congressional leaders such as McConnell and Ryan, should man up to demand a thorough investigation and immediate release of these emails. If Comey says the cannot release the emails because they contain classified information, then he must release these to the appropriate congressional committees. But if he says they contain classified information, then Hillary has violated the laws by having classified emails on the computers and phones of Huma and Weiner. At this point, as Hillary would say, "What difference does it make?," since every foreign spy agency has probably hacked Hillary's emails.

Maybe the quisling Republicans such as Romney, McCain, Kasich, Flake, Chaffetz, and the rest running for Congress should suspend attacking Trump and focus on attacking Hillary and demand release of the emails. They do not have to endorse or even like Trump  just point out that people can't be expected to vote for Hillary when she is under an FBI investigation. Who knows? Maybe the MSM and some of the conservative media will cover this if they get tired of attacking Trump. And maybe the NeverTrumps will wake up to realize that Hillary must be defeated to save our country.

Some suggestions for Comey: see if any of the investigators or their families and friends have received campaign contributions from Terry McCauliffe. If so, remove them from the investigation suspend them pending an investigation into their activities, and notify Congress. Also instruct the investigators not to trade overseas slots for doctoring Hillary's emails.

The bottom line is that Comey must release the emails so Hillary is judged in the court of public opinion by the voters.

Vladimir Putin was unavailable for comment. Look for Hillary to blame him.
In a memo sent to FBI employees on Friday, Director James Comey tried to explain why he went public with the bureau's reopening of the Clinton email case at this point in time.

Fox News:

In an internal memo obtained by Fox News, the beleaguered director noted that the FBI typically would not communicate with the public when reopening a case, according to a Department of Justice source. But Comey said he had to in this case because Clinton is seeking the White House in an election on Nov. 8. Of course we dont ordinarily tell Congress about ongoing investigations, but here I feel an obligation to do so given that I testified repeatedly in recent months that our investigation was completed, Comey wrote. "I also think it would be misleading to the American people were we not to supplement the record. At the same time, however, given that we do not know the significance of this newly discovered collection of emails, I dont want to create a misleading impression, Comeys letter continued. "In trying to strike that balance, in a brief letter, and in the middle of an election season, there is significant risk of being misunderstood, but I wanted you to hear directy from me about it." The bombshell revelation that newly discovered emails had prompted a new look into whether Clinton or those around her had broken the law my mishandling sensitive information rocked the race for the White House Friday. Comey informed eight Republican lawmakers that new emails had surfaced that were relevant to the investigation, and warranted a new look.

With both sides clamoring for the FBI to release specifics about the emails, it appears certain that at least some of the documents - or parts of them - will be published before the election.

There will be a review by several intelligence agencies to make sure anything made public is not classified. That will take time - certainly more than two weeks. So Comey - damned if he did and damned if he didn't - tried to choose a middle road by letting Congress know of the new evidence while cautioning both sides that the emails may be nothing new.

Who are the emails addressed to? If they were sent to Weiner's email account, that would be strong evidence that Clinton and Abedin were trying to hide something. Using a third party to exchange messages is right out of the coverup playbook.

We just don't know, and won't know for a while.
Government can force people to be equal, or it can allow people to be free. Government cannot do both.

America's founders understood this simple truth. Today's Americans seem not to. We the People are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights  life, liberty (aka, freedom), and the pursuit of happiness. Life and the pursuit of happiness flow directly from freedom, as does equality  equality under the law, not equality of our individual life experiences and accomplishments.

The left constantly bombards us with a growing list of inequalities, which generally relate to unequal wealth among our three hundred million Americans. The right typically responds by caving  in small amounts, to be sure. But this forward "progress" toward collectivism, socialism, and whatever evil lies beyond them accumulates and produces today's America.

When state and local governments force equality with rent control and low-income housing, it may not be sound governance, but at least it generally passes the constitutionality test. But when the national government forces equality with welfare, minimum wage, Social Security, and subsidized health insurance, it not only is unwise and dangerous, but also flies directly in the face of America's founding principles as recited in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution for the United States of America, and the many ratification debates and documents for that constitution.

If we allow the left to dominate our conversation about the direction of American society, we will continue our progress toward socialism. The right must counter those leftist demands for equality with clear statements about the fundamental value of freedom. Thus far, I have heard very little from the right in defense of freedom.

The history of America demonstrates clearly that freedom is the best friend of the poor and minorities. For centuries, America has been the principal magnet for people worldwide to escape the chains of despotism and build a free life of value for their families. Government redistribution programs have not performed this miracle. Freedom has.

Freedom has allowed entrepreneurs to form businesses that serve the needs of people and are the only sustainable source of wealth accumulation for the American people. Government "equality programs" serve only to stand in the way of small business development and ultimately hurt the very people the left claims to care about.

Instead of trying to moderate the degree of government transfer programs, the right should be relentlessly contrasting freedom with equality as the way to move toward a more prosperous and just society. Every proposed government program must be measured against whether it increases or decreases the sum of individual freedoms of Americans. We learned this from our founders, who learned it from the Age of Enlightenment. In the last half century, we have forgotten that lesson.

Only when We the People once more appreciate that freedom, not equality, in the fundamental defining element of American society will we regain our position of moral leader of the Free World.
David Baldacci wrote his fine thriller Absolute Power in 1996. It was the ultimate page-turner. The 1997 film was a terrific slimmed-down adaptation of the book with an improved ending. It starred Clint Eastwood and he directed. Like the current series, House of Cards, one can still justifiably assume it was loosely based on the Clintons and all their sleazy, underhanded machinations during their two terms in the White House. Even all those years ago, Clinton sycophants, like Bill Press, were apoplectic that Gene Hackman agreed to play the role of a cheating, corrupt President; it was way too close to the truth. In their view no good Hollywood liberal should be a part of the revelation of who Bill Clinton really was.

In the film, the President is a philanderer. He is also physically abusive. While he is cheating with the young wife of his mentor and most generous financial benefactor (his George Soros), she is shot by his Secret Service contingent, defending herself from his sexual assault. But she of course has been an agent of her own death. She is not a sympathetic character for the brief time she is part of the story.

The President is the evil one; he is a narcissistic psychopath without a shred of moral character. He is a repulsive man. How on earth was he elected? Well, the American people elected Bill Clinton twice. They would not see what was true about him: that he and his wife were and are absolutely disordered personalities who care for nothing but gaining and retaining their own power and amassing more wealth. Neither of them cares one bit about the American people, the economy they have ruined, or the lives that their policies have destroyed. (That is a long list, beginning with the Community Reinvestment Act of 1971, strengthened by Clinton, which forced banks to give home loans to unqualified buyers, that led to the economic crisis of 2008.)

The point of the book and film is that American voters are not always good judges of character. That is what Baldacci and Eastwood were hammering home. The bad ones do incalculable damage, micro and macro. One would think that after LBJ we would know better but we do not. We twice elected Clinton who was, by the time he ran for his second term, clearly a jerk in his personal life.

Those who seek power and then abuse it, wielding it absolutely as if it is theirs alone, are tyrants, soft or hard. Neither type believes their nations' laws apply to them. Cuba, South and Central America, Africa and the former Soviet Union have long suffered the catastrophe of hard tyrants. Obama has been a soft tyrant. He has ignored the Constitution and we know Hillary is on the same page as he is regarding our founding document. They both hate it. Hillary made that clear in the last debate when asked about the Supreme Court. Her SCOTUS would not be about upholding the Constitution, it would be an activist court, chosen to impose her leftist agenda by fiat. Like Obama, Hillary has an absolutist sense of "correct" thinking that she means to impose on the rest of us. She must not become our President. If she does win the election, she will most likely be impeached within two years. Her crimes are that legion and absolute.
If Hillary Clinton becomes president, there is little doubt she will continue unabated the policies of President Obama. This will include Obamas heavy-handiness towards dissenting religious organizations like the Little Sisters of the Poor when it comes to abortion decrees, as well as pastors who preach sermons considered out of bounds, and individual Christians whose conscience dictates they refrain from baking cakes or taking photos for gay weddings.

So, with this in mind, just how long will it take for the church that you currently attend to either knuckle under to the new way of conducting church business or face punishment in Hillarys America?

That all depends on the type of church you now attend. The way I see it, there are presently two types of Christian churches in our country: a church where Jesus Christ is in the denominator or one where Christ is in the numerator.

As in mathematics, the denominator and the numerator have two very different meanings. The denominator affects every number above the line. For purposes of this demonstration, the numerator can be a lot of different numbers, but the denominator is a constant. However, if that denominator changes, all the different numbers above the line in the numerator are affected.

A Christ-denominator church preaches that Jesus is Lord and what He says through Holy Scripture dictates how you and the church conducts itself privately and in public. Your personal feelings are trumped by Bible doctrines. Cultural fashions may change but whats written in the Bible doesnt. A Christ-denominator church preaches biblical principles in season and out of season  it does not matter which way the cultural wind is blowing.

A Christ-numerator church may also preach that Jesus is Lord. But whats going on in the world is given full consideration as to how the message of the Bible is delivered. In other words, the world is in the denominator. A Christ-numerator church will talk about social justice and saving the planet from man-made climate change, for example.

In a Christ-denominator church, everything in a persons life is affected by following Christ: how he thinks, who he dates or marries, what job he will take, and on and on. All these things are part of that persons numerator, since following Jesus is in his denominator.

However, in a Christ-numerator church, making the world a better place is in the denominator. That means, faith in Christ (even personal salvation) is just one of a number of other important things that are in the numerator. All things that a person believes are affected by the foundational question: How can I make the world a better place?

To people on the outside of the Christian religion altogether, members of a Christ-denominator church might appear narrow-minded, exclusive, self-righteous, and uncaring about the world and its problems. That certainly can be a pitfall of a Christ-denominator believer. However, since Christ came to set the captives free and make all things new again, Christ-denominator believers follow His lead. They dont make things up because it feels right or to go along to get along.

Under a Clinton presidency, as under the Obama administration, believers in Christ-denominator churches will continue to be pressured and punished  with an acceleration and intensity not yet experienced. By the end of Hillarys first four years, Christ-denominators may very well be completely marginalized and silenced.

And what about the Christ-numerator churches? Right now, theyre playing Hillary and Obamas game. In fact, if it wasnt for these kind of churches, Obama would never have been elected. Christians, whether Protestant or Catholic, make a formidable, even overwhelming, voting bloc. And Christ-numerators are about to hand Clinton the presidency, as they did Obama in 2008 and 2012.

But, the tide will eventually turn against Christ-numerators -- it has to. The state will not tolerate dissenters; the Christ-numerator churches will become dissenters by default simply because Christ has at least a fraction of influence. In eight years, when Hillarys second term grinds to an end, Christ-numerators will either join the already vilified Christ-denominators in retreat, or drop out of the ranks of church membership altogether.

Either way, Hillary and the state win.

By the election of 2024 when the Democrats choose again who will win (perhaps they will want to make history a third time with the first transgender president?), those who live by any remnant of Christian faith will have zero influence.

And those who had Christ in the numerator may finally realize that they only have themselves to blame for the fall of Christianity in America.
President Obama told activists on a conference call that it was negative coverage of Obamacare premium spikes that has dampened the enthusiasm of the public to sign up for health insurance.

The president's own Department of Health and Human Services informed the public this week that Obamacare premiums were set to skyrocket 22% on average with some states seeing up to 116% increase.

Washington Examiner:

"We're not going to get that much help from the media," Obama told the more than 25,000 volunteers who joined a White House call with Obama Thursday afternoon. "This is going to be a ground game." Obama said volunteers will have to help "clear the mud off the windshield" to get people to sign up. "There is a faction of people who are continually trying to root for failure, despite the fact that we keep on insuring people and folks continue to get help," Obama said. "The bottom line is, most people are going to be pleasantly surprised at how affordable their choices are if they look for themselves, despite the headlines that don't always explain that premiums going up doesn't necessarily translate into" higher premiums for those who qualify for tax credits, he said. The Obama administration was hit by news this week that average premiums for Obamacare plans brought on the federal exchanges will rise 25 percent in 2017. However, officials have noted that subsidies will help keep the plans affordable for most people. Most people can find a plan "for less than $75 a month," Obama said on the call that was closed to media. Most people re-enrolling will see their premiums drop 20 percent, the president claimed. Obama said there is "incredibly fierce political resistance against giving people health insurance, something I have never fully understood," Obama said about the political atmosphere leading up to the fourth open enrollment period. He said he doesn't understand people running for office on a platform of stopping people from getting coverage, and said he would help the effort by doing radio interviews and penning opinion editorials in favor of getting people signed up. "We're not letting up," Obama pledged.

Note that the president is incredulous that anyone would not want to be coerced into buying high deductible health insurance plans with sub-par coverage and paying for coverages they don't need and don't want.

What the president forgot to mention is that with those massive increases in premiums comes a massive increase in the amount of subsidies the government gives out. But what's a couple of hundred billion dollars added to the deficit when the government is already running nearly a half trillion dollar deficit as it is?

Next year, one in five Americans will have only one choice - or no choices - for insurance plans on the Obamacare exchange. Does the fact that the media is reporting this and the massive increases in premiums mean they oppose Obamacare? When the law was passed, there were no bigger cheerleaders for Obamacare than the press. The president didn't seem to mind back then that the media was overselling health insurance reform.

Now that they are reporting facts coming from his own administration, they are apparently to blame for Obamacare's coming collapse.
The FBI has reopened the Hillary email investigation, so it's interesting to briefly review what has already taken place:



This is the Reason Magazine five-minute video of Hillary's statements and Comey's contradictions. OK, so she lies. We knew that before, and it doesn't make any difference, since every politician lies. No big deal.



Here's FBI director Comey testifying before the congressional committee on why Hillary was not charged with a crime. I wasn't aware this existed, and it's quite devastating. Comey stays calm under pressure.



The following video is interesting too, but quite long:

Bryan Pagliano refused to appear before the committee and did not produce his subpoenaed immunity agreement. He had installed the larger email server requested by Huma Abedin.



Paul Combetta and William Thornton, Platt River Networks employees, both refused to answer any questions, including the question "Do you intend to assert your Fifth Amendment right to every question asked?" They are excused.



Justin Cooper, an aide to Bill Clinton, set up the computers in several private residences and maintained the applications on them for many years. He said the high-level tech support came from Pagliano. Both of them were phased out in May 2013 when the server contract went to Platt River in Colorado. Cooper said he didn't remember when the SCIF* rooms were constructed in the homes. He had no security clearance and had administrative access to all servers.



Here's a detailed timeline.



WikiLeaks has revealed how the Democrat nominating process was rigged. Here's an audio tape of Hillary in 2006 discussing rigging an election in the Palestinian Authority. No big deal. She knows how to get things done.



* Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF, pronounced "skiff"), in United States military, security, and intelligence parlance, is an enclosed area within a building that is used to process Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) types of classified information. SCI is usually briefed, discussed, and stored only in an accredited SCIF.
This week, the Obama administration did not show up for the UN vote against the Cuba embargo. It went like this as reported by the New York Times:

Making a bit of history, the United States on Wednesday abstained for the first time in an annual General Assembly condemnation of the half-century-old American trade embargo against Cuba. The abstention  a break from the no vote the United States delegation has always cast  was another important signal by the Obama administration of its intention to fully repair relations with Cuba, including an end to the embargo. The reconciliation began two years ago when President Obama abandoned the policy of his predecessors to isolate the Castro government in Cuba and moved to restore diplomatic ties with the island nation of 11 million. The United States and Cuba formally re-established embassies in each others capitals in July 2015, ending more than more than five decades of Cold War-era enmity. But the embargo, which can only be rescinded by Congress, remains in force.

Yes, the embargo remains in force because it is the law of the land. This is why only Congress can rescind it!

Let's recall a bit of history about the embargo:

Following the events of 196162, economic and diplomatic isolation became the major prongs of U.S. policy toward Cuba.

This continued even after the Soviet Union's collapse. Washington strengthened the embargo with the 1992 Cuba Democracy Act and 1996 Helms-Burton Act (PDF), which state that the embargo may not be lifted until Cuba holds free and fair elections and transitions to a democratic government that excludes the Castros. (Raul has said he will leave office in 2018.)

To be fair, honest people can disagree about the embargo. I've had disagreements with other Cubans or Cuban Americans. The disagreements are not generational. In other words, some Cubans of my parents generation believe that the embargo should end and some Cuban Americans like me believe it should stay.

The bottom line is that the Obama administration is mocking U.S. law and the Congress in front of the world.

Why doesn't President Obama call on Congress to end the embargo? At the same time, why didn't he demand reforms from Cuba, or the prerequisites required by law to end the embargo? Most of all, why didn't he call on the Cuban government to settle the claims of U.S. citizens for property stolen years ago?

As a U.S. citizen, I find this astonishing. I find it remarkable that the U.S. government would pander to governments at the UN over Cuba.

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.
Look far and wide and you'll find that nearly every major newspaper in the country has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president.

But surprise! The ongoing Wikileaks dumps, coupled with the re-opening of the FBI's investigation regarding Clinton's reckless use of emails, shows the unbelievable and indisputable corruption of Mrs. Clinton's during her tenure as Secretary of State and that of the Clinton Foundation. The sordid behavior of the Clintons as they wormed their way to massive wealth is finally breaking into the consciousness of the general public, and it stinks to high heaven.

In light of what is now known, how can these newspaper endorsements stand? If these news outlets hope to retain even a fig leaf of credibility for their often-made claims that they stand for good government, they need to immediately retract these endorsements. This does not mean the papers have to come out for Donald Trump, but continuing to stand by Hillary Clinton is truly beyond the pale. To do so would make the media complicit with the Clinton corruption machine and guilty after the fact of their acts.

If these newspapers don't have the courage to do the right thing here, they will rightfully be indicted for willful blindness and add to the growing realization that the mainstream media is in the tank for the Clintons, come hell or high water.

Write to any local or regional newspaper in your area that has endorsed Hillary Clinton and demand they retract it.
Hilary Clinton may think voters have "already factored in" her email scandal into their election day plans, but the decision by FBI director James Comey to reopen the investigation he had said earlier did not warrant further legal action is, as Donald Trump might say, "yuge."

Hillary and the rest of Team Clinton may bleat that the FBI should show the cards it is holding to be fair to the American electorate, but the issue is not that the FBI is refusing to release any emails and any other evidence it may have, but that it is Hillary Clinton herself who refused to release her emails, some of which may have caused the FBI to renew its investigation. She is the one who used sophisticated technology to delete emails, who lied about sending and receiving classified material and lied about turning all her material over. It is she who conspired to delete and hide material from the American electorate. It is she who displayed, as Comey so delicately put it, "extreme carelessness" with American national secrets and security.

The mystery is not why now, but why her only accomplishment as senator, secretary of state, and Bill Clinton's wife has been to escape prosecution. We do not know what the FBI has, but it must be more damning than just recovering some missing emails to warrant reopening her investigation. Director Comey risked condemnation for playing politics before the election, but he chose to risk that rather than be damned forever for participating in a cover-up.

The evidence apparently came from devices used by aide and confidante Huma Abedin and her estranged husband Anthony Weiner, he of the sexting scandal. This only shows how extreme Hillary's carelessness was if she transmitted classified material to Huma and Weiner. Exposing national secrets in this way should disqualify her from the presidency and even from running for it.

In this sense, Donald Trump is right when he claims that the system is rigged. It is rigged by a media obsessed with his dirty talk and alleged groping rather than Hillary's career of lies and deception now manifest in endangering American security and exposing a future president to blackmail.

Donald Trump tried to warn us that the link among Hillary, Huma, and Anthony Weiner might be dangerous. In an August 31, 2015 tweet, Trump said Huma Abedin was wise to separate from her husband and that her marriage to Weiner posed a national security risk. In a later statement, he warned:

Huma is making a very wise decision. I know Anthony Weiner well, and she will be far better off without him. I only worry for the country in that Hillary Clinton was careless and negligent in allowing Weiner to have such close proximity to highly classified information. Who knows what he learned and who he told? It's just another example of Hillary Clinton's bad judgment. It is possible that our country and its security have been greatly compromised by this.

As for Huma Abedin, her association with Hillary Clinton has proven personally profitable but damaging to America's national security interests. As Investor's Business daily notes:

Abedin made $135,000 a year as Clinton's deputy, a period in which she is reported to have raked in as much as $355,000 from consulting contracts. Having a pipeline into the Clinton inner circle is invaluable to some. This reminds us of Johnny Chung's famous comparison of the Clinton White House to a subway turn style  you had to put money in to gain entry[.] Abedin also has some interesting family connections. Her father is said to be close with the Saudi government's Muslim World League, and her mother is said to be a member of the Muslim Sisterhood. World Trade Center bombing prosecutor Andrew McCarthy wrote in National Review: "The ties of Ms. Abedin's father, mother and brother to the Muslim Brotherhood are both specific and substantiated." The Muslim Brotherhood took power in Egypt with the Obama administration's approval after it had all but abandoned the government of Hosni Mubarak, a long-time ally and friend. It was while Abedin was advising Hillary that State dropped its long-standing policy of having no dealings with the Muslim Brotherhood.

As Andrew McCarthy wrote in National Review, Huma Abedin's family and work history suggests a devotion to Islamic supremacist ideology that may go a long way to explaining our imploding Middle East policy from Baghdad to Egypt:

Ms. Abedin worked for many years at a journal that promotes Islamic-supremacist ideology that was founded by a top al-Qaeda financier, Abdullah Omar Naseef. Naseef ran the Rabita Trust, a formally designated foreign terrorist organization under American law. Ms. Abedin and Naseef overlapped at the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs (JMMA) for at least seven years. Throughout that time (19962003), Ms. Abdein worked for Hillary Clinton in various capacities.

The consulting firm Abedin worked for was Tenco Strategies, founded by longtime Bill Clinton aide Douglas Band, with the former president initially serving on its board. Abedin allegedly sent some 7,000 emails on her government account that involved Band, now famous for his recently unearthed memo about "Clinton, Inc." That memo showed how Bill Clinton enriched himself as part of the Clinton Foundation's "pay to play" schemes.

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) had a particular interest in Abedin's 2013 designation as an SGE, or "special government employee," which is a government designation for those who fill "an unmet government need for rare or unique expertise, while allowing individuals to retain their private-sector positions." As we have seen, Abedin's expertise is indeed unique, and her simultaneous employment by three employers allowed her a unique position to influence and to peddle influence. As the Washington Examiner reported:

"The Committee has learned of allegations that, during your simultaneous employment by the Department of State, Teneo, and the Clinton Foundation, you were solicited for and delivered favors for preferred individuals," Grassley wrote to Abedin. Abedin was reportedly among several key aides to Hillary Clinton that hosted email accounts on a private server in the presidential candidate's New York home in violation of federal records laws.

Hillary Clinton may indeed make political history, but not because of her gender. Her activities and personal ambition may yet result in a criminal referral from the FBI, and even should she run the gauntlet through the nomination and election process, she may wind up being the first president to pardon herself.

Daniel John Sobieski is a freelance writer whose pieces have appeared in Investor's Business Daily, Human Events, Reason Magazine, and the Chicago Sun-Times among other publications.
Americas carriers have already invested billions of dollars into developing their LTE networks, which for the three largest regional carriers of AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile US, now claim to cover 300 million Americans. The wireless tower industry is expecting this investment to continue and according to James Taiclet Jr, the Chief Executive office of American Tower Corporation, is set to involve the large, macro cell sites: further 4G equipment installations will still be largely on macro towers. American Tower Corporation operate many of the Americas cell towers and have been a beneficiary of the three largest carriers work to densify their network through building new wide area macro sites as well as using small cells, especially in urban environments. The fourth carrier, Sprint, has concentrated on deploying larger numbers of smaller sites instead of macro sites and there are structural reasons for this.

Taiclet goes on to explain in American Towers quarterly conference call that in the last five years, the American government has made almost 300 MHz of new spectrum available to wireless operators, typically via an auction. Looking forwards, the new 700 MHz spectrum committed for the public safety build out is likely to require new antenna and control infrastructure being placed onto American Towers cell sites and this should support healthy levels of growth for the domestic market. Taiclet does not expect the 5G network standard to be formalised until 2019 and almost all development over the next three years will be 4G LTE equipment. American Towers is expecting mobile data use will grow at an annualised growth rate of between 30% to 40% and modern, high performance LTE networks are necessary to carry this level of data.

As for the levels of investment into their networks, the four domestic carriers are investing considerable sums of money. Each carrier discussed in some way their capex (capital expenditure) over the year with Verizon explaining they were going to be spending over $17 billion. According to Walt Piecyk from BTIG, Verizons third quarter wireless capex was $24 per subscriber. Meanwhile, Sprint had originally committed to spending $3 billion in 2016 but they will be spending less than this: according to Piecyk, Sprints investment amounts to only $8 per customer on upgrading the wireless network. T-Mobile US Chief Financial Officer said in a quarterly update that the carrier will continue to spend money on the network and that there will not be any slowdown to our overall capital intensity. BTIGs data points to T-Mobile US network expenditure at $22 per customer. AT&T, however, has been discussing its acquisition of the Time Warner business, leaving some in the industry to believe that the carrier will reduce 2017 network upgrade expenditure compared with 2016 as it stabilises its costs following the acquisition. However, another school of thought is that AT&T will need to maintain if not increase its network upgrade plans in order to ensure that their mobile video platform  which will be using Time Warner  performs as customers expect.
Those that may have already used Allo will likely be able to tell you all about it. What they love, and what they hate, if there are things in both or either camp to begin with. Googles new chat app has all but lit a fire under the collective of users who are searching for the best possible app to use for all their chat needs, but despite its lack of reaching critical acclaim from the start, Allo has loads of potential and there are numerous ways to improve the app. One of those ways seems to be with themes, and Google plans to release a bunch of them to the app in the near future it looks like.

Thanks to 9To5Googles Stephen Hall who was able to get the latest version of Allo working on a rooted device, the upcoming themes are available to view so you can start thinking about which one you want to apply the most. It is worth noting that this may be a feature that Google turns on server side, instead of loading it in through the 2.0 update to the Allo app.

In addition to loading in some new themes, Google will also be adding in a nice little theme picker that looks just as good as it appears to function, and seems to be fairly interactive, as youll be able to drag your finger side to side to choose one of the themes, all while the app loads up a preview for you right then and there so you can see what it looks like without having to actually pick it first. Theres no clear indication of exactly how many themes there will be, but judging by the screenshots there will be at least 9 or 10 of them, including one called watermelon. Other theme names which were recently discovered are Moon, Sorbet, and Clouds, all of them with styles and designs that match up with the name. Each theme will also have its own color scheme, as one would expect, and users can also expect to see matching chat bubbles inside of the conversation, or at the very least colors that go along with the theme style. Although they arent there now, when the themes are turned on they will be accessible from the apps settings menu, with the theme category being listed under the notification sound option. While the themes will certainly be a fun element of the app, Google has brought some other fun things to Allo recently, as they just added in a Stranger Things sticker pack, and for those who live in or around New York City, you can even use Allo to participate in a Stranger Things themed scavenger hunt. Allo also recently got the quick replies feature added in, which should make responding to messages a whole lot easier.
November 8th, the United States of America will be voting for the next president, as well as a few other races. The ballot, on November 8th, will be slightly different in each State of the country, and even many of the cities throughout the country. Google has already put out information about ballots for every section of the United States, where you can search to see what youd be voting for. Now Facebook is doing something similar with their Voting Guide.

Not only is the Voting Guide showing what races youll be voting on, but it also shows where the candidates stand on the issues, in case you havent been paying attention to the political races in the past few months. Youll also be able to see the endorsements that the candidate has received, and there is a shortcut to their recent posts on Facebook and their website. Effectively giving you all of the details you may need, to make an informed decision about who will get your vote. You can favorite the candidates you plan to vote for, and whats even better is the fact that you can keep that all private, so that you dont start arguments with your friends and family on Facebook. As that is something that will inevitably happen on Facebook anyways.

What is interesting about this Voting Guide is that you can Favorite everyone you plan to vote for, then email the results to yourself to take with you to the polls on November 8th. This can be especially helpful, especially if you are in a district that is voting for a ton of different offices and proposals (like those in California are). You can check out the Voting Guide using the source link below, keep in mind itll be different for most people, especially those that live in different areas. Also keep in mind that some States are already doing early voting, so theres a possibility that you can go out and vote right now and make your vote count. Whenever you go out to vote, just make sure you vote. As its always important that everyone that is eligible to vote, gets out to vote.
Well, it seems those rumors that surfaced in South Korea earlier this week were true. During an extraordinary shareholders meeting held at Samsungs headquarters in Seoul on Thursday, a vote of hands decided that Lee Jae-yong is to be awarded a seat on the companys board of directors. Lee was originally nominated for the position last month and wasnt present during the voting process, but his official statement is expected to follow early next week.

This appointment marks an important landmark for Samsung seeing how its been eight years since a member of the Lee family held a position in the companys boardroom. For the uninitiated, Lee Jae-yongs grandfather Lee Byung-chull was the person who originally founded Samsung back in 1938. Since then, the Lee family was slowly losing their ownership stake in the company, but it remains heavily involved in day-to-day dealings at Samsung to this day. While Samsung is the nations most valuable conglomerate and the largest smartphone and semiconductor maker in the world, the companys currently going through some turbulent times following the aftermath of the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco. Lee Jae-yong is now facing a difficult task as shareholders are expecting him to help guide Samsung through these difficulties.

In addition to managing all civil and criminal cases related to Samsung, the 48-year-old will also supervise critical strategic decisions and management restructurings which are expected to take place soon as latest reports suggest Samsung may lay off as much as 200 executives following the latest annual employee performance review.

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Other than Lees appointment, Samsungs shareholders and investors also voted for separating the conglomerates printing business division and subsequently selling it to HP Inc., one of the two successors of Hewlett-Packard. Samsung will officially spin off the unit on Tuesday, November 1st, while the transaction with HP is expected to be completed shortly after. As the conglomerates CEO Oh-Hyun Kwon explained it, this decision was made in an effort to reorganize Samsung Electronics business units so that the tech giant can better concentrate on what it does best.

As for Lee Jae-yong, his appointment makes sense given his high qualifications and experience in several different management positions at Samsung which he held since 1991. Whether he manages to increase the companys competitiveness or not remains to be seen, but one thing is sure  big changes are on the horizon for the largest smartphone manufacturer on the planet.
Live broadcasting to YouTube is one of the many features that the official YouTube app is now capable of, but this wasnt always the case, and this is where apps and services such as Sonys Live On YouTube application came in handy, as it allowed users of the app to live stream their content straight to YouTube. It was a nifty feature for all intents and purposes, but its only caveat is that it was limited to Sony devices. As of today, Live On YouTube is no longer live. Sony mentioned yesterday that the app would be pulled offline and that they would be shutting it down, and they made good on their promise.

While this seems like an unfortunate event, and it may be, slightly, whats important to remember is that there is such a thing as YouTube Live now, where you can live broadcast with the official YouTube app, so there is really very little reason for Sony to keep their own app going for such a purpose. In addition to YouTube having live streaming baked in, Live On YouTube will reportedly not support Android Nougat and above, so even if YouTube didnt support live streaming from the app just yet, Sony devices would eventually not support the app anyway.

Sonys short message was just that, a very short message, and gave no reasons as to why they were shutting the app down, but the reasons explained above would pretty much sum up Sonys decision. If you use a Sony Xperia device and have opened the Live On YouTube app recently, then you may have already been greeted with the message. Of course, its also possible that Sony will be sending out a small update which proactively removes the app from the phone as there is no point in leaving it there if it wont operate. Having said that, there is no indication of an update to uninstall the app, but it would make sense for Sony to initiate something like that. Users can also choose to disable or uninstall the app on their own as well, and if live streaming was a feature that you actively engaged in, then YouTube will now be your new home for those kinds of tasks.
Here's your spooky video of the day: A snake catching cave bats. Enjoy.

A Burger King in Queens, NY dressed their entire building as the "ghost of McDonald's."

Edward Snowden tells journalists to become more "adversarial" when lobbying against state-sponsored surveillance. Technological countermeasures are not enough.

A woman from Alabama was arrested after police received calls of a partially or fully nude female wearing clown make-up and chasing cars.

The mayor of a French town refuses to lift their ban on flying saucers. If any are found, they will be impounded. And don't let the sun set on your green ass, either.

Artist Chris Locke has made a sweet how-to-draw book that looks pretty promising. Check it out.
Hillary Clinton: they found more emails on the Weiners laptop

So the FBI has found more emails from Hillary Clintons secret server. Apparently 1,000-odd emails were found as part of the Anthony Weiner investigation.

Emails, eh. You can accidentally (on purpose) wipe your own emails but the trouble is if they were sent, then they sit on the recipients server; if you received them, theyre on the senders electronic log book. These emails were on Weiners laptop.

Mrs Weiner, Huma Abedin, works for Hillary. She and Anthony are estranged.

What have the FBI found? Mrs Clinton was supposed to have handed over all evidence relating to her use of a private email server  something she instigated in 2009, when she was appointed secretary of state. The Weiner investigation shows she did not. Career politician misspeaks the truth. Read all about it! The NY Times notes: In a letter to Congress, the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, said the emails had surfaced in an unrelated case, which law enforcement officials said was an F.B.I. investigation into illicit text messages from Mr. Weiner to a 15-year-old girl in North Carolina. Mr. Weiner, a former Democratic congressman from New York, is married to Huma Abedin, the top aide. The Guardian says the emails have nothing to do with Clinton: Anthony Weiner takes center stage in presidential race about mens sex lives About mens sex lives? Or about a woman who wants to be President lying? Zero Hedge adds: It remains to be seen just what is in the emails, although whether Hillary sent emails with confidential content herself, or directed, or simply allowed her closest aide, Huma Abedin to forward such emails to her outside unsecured email address (where they subsequently ended up on Anthony Weiners notebook), is what this latest case will be all about and how it will be defended and prosecuted in the media, by the water coolers and perhaps, in court. Howie Carr considers the (lack of) evidence in the Boston Herald: Before he toppled over from the vapors, Paul Krugman called to cancel his nomination of FBI Director James Comey for next springs Profiles in Courage award for having the courage to broom the obstruction-of-justice rap against Hillary Clinton. Im not a big James Comey fan, to say the least. My feeling is, if you want to hide something real good, just stick it in one of his law books. Hes proven hell leave no stone unturned, except the one Hillary Clinton is hiding under. But lets be real. A bottom feeder like Comey would never have taken this high-stakes gamble if there were any way he could have kept sweeping the dirty laundry under the rug. What theyve already turned up from Carlos Dangers cellphones obviously aint about yoga schedules and Chelseas wedding plans. Of all people, Comey knows what happens if you take a shot at these people and miss. Ken Starr, anyone? Anyone?

As he says: I Did Not Have Classified Relations With That Woman, Mrs Clinton.

Even a fool like Trump can milk this.

Expect to hear more of Trumps words two months ago:

I only worry for the country in that Hillary Clinton was careless and negligent in allowing Weiner to have such close proximity to highly classified information. Who knows what he learned and who he told?

Why did the Democrats go with Clinton? It looks like a massive error.

Paul Sorene

Posted: 29th, October 2016 | In: Key Posts, Politicians, Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
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The Tibetan Buddhist leader was invited by the chief minister Pema Khandu. In March 2017 he is due to go to Tawang, where there is a Buddhist monastery. Beijing raises the dangerous tones and threatens consequences in terms of peace and stability in the region. Indian territory is disputed since 1962.

Beijing (AsiaNews) - The bilateral relations between India and China could suffer disastrous consequences and peace and stability in border areas could be at risk if New Delhi allows the visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh, scheduled for 2017.

This was the warning issued yesterday by Lu Kang, a spokesman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, commenting on the invitation that the chief minister of the Indian state delivered to the leader of Tibetan Buddhism. For its part, Delhi has responded with a statement issued by Vikas Swarup, spokesman of the Indian counterpart, who said that the Dalai Lama "is a guest of India and therefore he is free to travel anywhere in the country."

Lu Kang was peremptory: "The invitation to the Dalai Lama to disputed areas will damage our mutual relations. His presence could stir up separatist activities against China. " The official raised the tone after learning that the Dalai Lama had received an official proposal from the chief minister Pema Khandu and should visit Tawang, home to a Buddhist monastery.

For years China has laid claim to more than 90 thousand square kilometers of territory on the border with India, in the eastern sector of the Himalayan range. Most of these territories form Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing considers "southern Tibet". This is why the Chinese dragon continually opposes visits of foreign leaders in that region.

For his part, Tenzin Taklha, personal secretary of the Buddhist leader, said that the "Dalai Lama is looking forward to visiting the Indian state" and added that the trip is expected by mid-March 2017.

The fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is considered a dangerous "separatist" by Beijing, who would like to retake the lands of Tibet "peacefully liberated" by Chinese troops in 1950. Opposition to him has often taken a harsh tones such as when China described him as a "monk in wolfs clothes, with his gang of separatists and terrorists seeking to destabilize China and Tibet.

The Indian spokesman replied that the Dalai Lama "is a spiritual figure worthy of veneration and India considers him a guest of honor and thus will not pose limits to his movement in the disputed territories.

The territorial dispute between the two Asian giants dates back to the brief conflict in 1962, during which China gained territorial control of Aksai Chin (a vast salt desert in the Valley of Kashmir that belonged to India), while the "North East Frontier Agency "- current Arunachal Pradesh - remained under the government of India.
by Nina Achmatova

The Muslim religious leader gives his support to the campaign of the Orthodox Church to ban abortion. In September, Patriarch Kirill signed a petition calling for the total ban of the practice, raising numerous controversies. But for most Russians it is a woman's right to be protected.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - Kamil Samigullin, the mufti of the Russian Muslim majority autonomous republic of Tatarstan, has given his support to the idea of banning abortion, which has sparked debate in Russia. The religious leaders wanted to emphasize that the right to life is sacred in Islam and has thus given his backing to a campaign launched by the Orthodox Church and Moscow Patriarch Kirill, stirring much controversy.

"The right to life is a grace of Allah and we must protect it," said Samigullin, as reported by Interfax. In June this year, the inter-religious council of Russia - which brings together the representatives of the 'traditional religions' of the country (Orthodoxy, Islam, Buddhism and Judaism) - called for the withdrawal of abortion practices from the national health system.

Last September Kirill signed a petition launched by the activists of the "Pro Life" movement and "Orthodox Volunteers", calling for the total ban of abortion in the country. The signing of the appeal is a hardening of the previous position of the Church, which until now was limited to demanding the cancellation of abortion from the list of treatments covered by the public health system, in the absence of serious medical reasons.

On its website, the Moscow Patriarchate said that the wording of 'appeal - which advocates "an end to the legal killing of children before birth" - was agreed with the Synodal Commission for family and maternity protection. With the petition, the signatories called for amendments to the current legislation and the prohibition of abortions induced by drugs as well as surgical procedures. The document also advocates the need to "recognize the embryo as a human being, whose life and health must be protected by law" and therefore prohibit family planning methods that "humiliate human dignity and kill children in the early stages of embryonic development.

The Patriarchs support of the petition, also signed by some deputies, has sparked a chorus of online controversy, which the spokesman for the Patriarch, Vladimir Legoida, then tried to retract. He stated that, "the fundamental position of the Russian Orthodox Church does not change and that is to seek the elimination of abortion from the list of practices covered by the public health system," he said. "The people opposed to abortion should not pay for this procedure with their money, "he added Legoida.

Sor far, the petition has collected 300,000 signatures and the idea is to reach a million and then present the document to the Duma and President Vladimir Putin. The initiative is also supported by the new children's ombudsman, Anna Kuznetosva, an ultra-conservative close to the Orthodox Patriarchate.

For years the State has been preaching for a return to "traditional values", which also include those of the family and of the Orthodox religion. Despite this the practice of abortion is widespread in Russia: according to the latest official estimates, in 2014 there were close to one million and the figure does not account for those practiced in private clinics.

For some time now Russia is in what has been described as a 'demographic coma', but in 2014, the situation improved somewhat. The State has implemented a series of measures that stimulate parents to have more than one child. In its policy for demographic recovery, the government relies heavily on the support of the Orthodox Church, which operates 29 crisis centers for pregnant women and single mothers with children.

A recent survey, however, showed that the removal of abortion from the practices covered by the public health system is not supported by the population and the majority of Russians believes that a woman should be given the right to abortion.
Masked gunmen on a motorbike opened fire on Nazar Elias, killing him in cold blood. Two years ago, he had fled from Qaraqosh ahead of the Islamic State. In the south, he opened a grocery store that also sold alcohol. In Baghdad, a liquor store is blown up. For Chaldean Patriarchate, the new law hurts "national unity."

Baghdad (AsiaNews)  Iraqs new law against the sale, importation and production of alcohol has produced its first victim, a Christian man.

Sources with the Chaldean Patriarchate told AsiaNews that the victim is Nazar Elias Jaji Al Kas Putrus, who owned a store that sold alcoholic beverages in Basra, southern Iraq.

The Syriac Catholic man came from Qaraqosh, an ancient Assyrian city near Mosul, in the Nineveh Plains, northern Iraq. Born in 1969, Nazar Elias (pictured) was married and the father of five children.

Two years ago, when the Islamic State (IS) overran Mosul and the Christian villages in the Nineveh Plains, he fled seeking refuge (and safety) in Basra, southern Iraqs main Shia city.

Unlike most Assyrian-Chaldean families who fled to Iraqi Kurdistan, he decided to move to the south, where he opened a shop selling foodstuffs, including spirits.

Only Christians and members of other religious minorities sell alcohol since Islam bans Muslims from buying, selling, and consuming it, a rule that is not rigorously enforced in the country.

According to Patriarchate sources, he "was killed Wednesday evening at 11.30", just three days after Iraqs parliament approved an anti-alcohol law under pressure from the countrys right-wing forces.

"Armed men on a motorcycle wearing masks" approached him and "opened fire" killing him "in cold blood near a restaurant on a public highway. The mans trade appears to be the cause.

"Nazar Eliass murder is not the only case of violence caused by the anti-alcohol law, the sources told AsiaNews. In Karrada, Baghdad, someone blew up a shop selling alcohol."

For the Chaldean Patriarchate, the anti-alcohol law is a "restriction on freedom" and "at a critical time like this," when there is an offensive in the north against Daesh (Islamic State), it "hurts everyone, in particular national unity."

"It is a crazy law like the one on identity card for minors" whereby when one parent becomes Muslim, his or her children automatically become Muslim.

Iraqs Kurdish President Fuad Masum also slammed the ban. Some lawmakers have already started a process to repeal it, led by Yonadam Kanna, a Christian member of Iraqs National Assembly. (DS)
by Christopher Sharma

The Hindu tradition says that a female married before she is fully developed will be holy and destined for paradise. Member of Caritas: "The girls that are given away in marriage at 7-8 years of age are victims of domestic violence, rapes and abuses. They cannot go to school and are likely to be infected with HIV.

Kathmandu (AsiaNews) - The girls who marry too early, "cannot go to school, are very often victims of domestic violence, abuse and rapes. They become pregnant while they are still children themselves and even risk contracting sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV, warns from Arpana Thapa, member of Caritas Nepal. She was reacting to data on the "child brides" in Nepal published on the occasion of the International Day of the Girl Child (October 11, which was celebrated in Nepal on 22).

According to the "Every Last Girl" published by Save the Children because of this anniversary, every seven seconds a girl child under 15 years of age is forced to marry a man much older than her. A survey carried out by UNICEF reports that to date women who were married in childhood are 700 million, in 2030 that number will be 950 million.

Nepal is one of the countries where this phenomenon is more widespread. The reason lies in the Hindu tradition according to which a female married before she is fully developed will be holy and destined for paradise. Thus many girls are given in marriage at 8 or 9 years of age with the rite of Bell Bibaha, through which they are linked to the Hindu god Shiva.

Anuradha Koirala, elected activist "Hero of the Year" by CNN in 2010, has been fighting against this practice for a long time: "In Nepal the Hindu tradition that considers their daughters a burden of which parents should be free is very deep. Many girls are victims of human trafficking, they are tortured and rejected by their husbands as adults. I met a girl of 13 years, married for one year and already pregnant. She told me that her misery began when she was given in marriage, and that little girl must now raise a child".

In addition, the social stigma affects young people who fall in love before they get married, humiliating the whole family. For this reason they are given in marriage before they meet other people. The poverty of the Nepalese society is another factor that pushes families to rid themselves of the economic cost of a daughter as soon as possible.

According to the Ministry of Women and Children, at least 37% of girls are married before age 18 (the legal age to take a husband).
In an interview, Francis says that "one cannot be Catholic and sectarian, you must attempt to get along with others." The importance of "coming together" to avoid being locked into rigid perspectives, because in these there is no possibility of reform."

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - "You cannot be Catholic and sectarian, we must attempt to get along with others, says Pope Francis. He was outlining his vision of relations with the Protestant Reformation on the eve of his trip to Sweden, October 31-November 1) to participate in the ecumenical commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation in an interview with Father Ulf Jonsson, director of the Swedish Jesuit magazine Signum and Father Antonio Spadaro, director of Civilta Cattolica.

The theme of this papal journey is "From conflict to communion. Together in hope "and it aims also to commemorate the fifty years of official dialogue between Lutherans and Catholics. The trip was defined by Card. Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State, as "a historic moment". "You can really talk about a milestone in the path of reconciliation and unity - he told Vatican Radio  in the common search between the Churches and ecclesial communities. And this moment so important, it is the fruit of dialogue that has developed in these 50 years, starting from Vatican Council II".

In his interview, Francis emphasized the importance of "coming together" to avoid "being locked into rigid perspectives, because there is no possibility of reform in these." The hope and the expectation for this trip is to "be able to make a step forward in closer relations " with our brothers and sisters of Sweden.

When asked what we can learn from the Lutheran tradition, Francis responds indicating two words: Scripture, because "Luther made great strides in putting the Word of God in the hands of the people", translating the Bible into the language of the people and "reform ".

"Luthers was a gesture of reform at a difficult time for the Church". "Luther wanted to remedy a complex situation. Then this gesture, also because of political situations - we also think the cuius regio eius religio - has become a 'state' separation, and not a 'process' of reform of the whole Church, which instead is critical, because the Church must semper reformanda ", must always be reformed. And the demand for reform was "alive and well" even in discussions of the general congregations before the conclave that elected him Pope.

Noting that he is the second Pope to go to Sweden, after John Paul II, who went there in 1989, Francis recognizes that there are difficulties related to theological questions, but that the dialogue must continue. He also pointed to the "great ecumenical document on justification". And in common prayer and works of mercy done together, in favor of the poor and sick prisoners, there is a "high and effective form of dialogue." The important thing is "to work together and not in a sectarian way," keeping in mind that "proselytizing is a sinful behavior" and pointing out that there is "a blood ecumenism".

On the eve of the trip, it should be noted that the Pope's relations with the Protestant world are all excellent. In the interview he recalls the 2015 visit of the Archbishop Primate of the Church of Sweden, Antije Jeckelen (pictured) to the Vatican who made "a great speech." They were "beautiful and profound" questions posed to the intercommunion during the visit he made last year to the Lutheran Church of Rome. Again, in June this year returning from the trip to Armenia he said that Luther was a "medicine" for the Catholic Church and a couple of weeks ago he received a group of Lutherans pilgrims at the Vatican. On the occasion, talking about the trip to Sweden, he argued that "an essential part of this commemoration will turn our gaze towards the future, in view of a common Christian witness in the world today, which so thirsts for God and his mercy. The witness that the world expects from us is mainly to make visible the mercy that God has toward us through service to the poor, the sick, those who have left their homeland to seek a better future for themselves and for loved ones. In placing ourselves at the service of the most needy we are already united: it is the mercy of God that unites us. "
Extremists and radical imams attack a leading Egyptian intellectual who argues t that the veil is not mandatory. According to his critics this is contrary to the Koran and encourages "indecency and sedition". A TV debate over the veil leads to a brawl. Intellectuals and academics call for a greater role in politics and in institutions for women in the Arab countries.

Cairo (AsiaNews) - Extremists and radical imams are protesting against the claims of a Muslim intellectual, Egyptian professor at Al Azhar University who says the hijab (Islamic veil) "is not mandatory" for women. During a televised debate broadcast on the private TV, Saad Al Deen Al Hilali, a professor of Islamic law, pointed out that there is no "clear" and "final" position in the verses of the Koran on the question of the female headdress.

"The Koran - said Al Hilali  does not state a certain thing on this issue". These words sparked the ire of the most radical factions of Islam, who accuse the Egyptian intellectual - an expert on issues related to sharia and international law - of fomenting "indecency and sedition".

Chief among his opponents is a fellow university professor of Islamic theology Fouad Abdul Moneim who states that "the Koran is not open to personal interpretations" and can not be manipulated by anyone to answer their "own will." Even the "biased orientalists", he adds, "did not say what Al Hilali did". The veil, he commented, is obligatory and women "are not allowed to interpret" the verses of the Koran "as they want."

Imams and radical leaders are appealing to leaders of Al Azhar to intervene with an exemplary punishment against the mufti. Al Sayed Al Beshbeesh, an ultra-conservative Salafist condemns the words of Al Hilali calling them "poisoned". His position, he adds, is a "distortion" of the texts of the Koran and the Sunnah and the University must intervene to prevent riots among Muslims.

In Egypt, the majority of Muslim women wear the veil in public. However, the issue of hijab had already raised controversy and fierce clashes. In a TV debate, the Egyptian lawyer Nabih al-Wahs took off his shoe and beat the Australian-born imam Mostafa Rashid in a gesture of contempt in Islam - because the latter described the Islamic veil "as a cultural tradition "and not a" religious obligation.

The initial exchange of views degenerated into an open confrontation, then aggression. Only the intervention of studio assistants quelled the fight and separated the two contenders. In the days following the Muslim lawyer then accused the "imam of converting to Christianity".

Meanwhile, if a part of Islam fights for the compulsory veil, the voices of intellectuals and writers who want an ever-increasing role of women in society are emerging.

Citing European and Western leaders woman (Angela Merkel, Hillary Clinton, Theresa May), but also eastern leaders such as Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar and Sheikh Hasina in Bangladesh they hope that even among the Gulf countries conditions for female leadership can be created.

Muhammad Al-Rumaihi, journalist and professor of Kuwait, in an article points out that this is the age in which women "command", while in Arab countries are still "opposed" to women's participation in politics. And in some, such as Saudi Arabia, women are not even allowed to drive or learn a musical instrument without the presence of a guardian.

The Egyptian journalist Amr 'Abd Al-Sami stressed that women are "qualified" to perform "higher functions" in policies and institutional and wonders in amazement because this "has not yet happened" in Arab nations. We had ministers, counselors, vice-premiers, but there has not yet been a female president or head of government.

Jihad Al-Khazen, a Lebanese journalist of Palestinian origin also recalls that "there is only a small number of Arabs" on the list published by Forbes on the 100 most influential women in the world. Radhia Jerbi, head of the Union of Tunisian Women, calls on the newly appointed premier Chahed Youssef to include "more and more women in the government team."
Hello everyone.

Glad to see a forum that covers a wide variety of topics when information can be hard to come by or be quiet costly. I look forward to reading about a variety of things and offering any help or advice that I may give.
Hi everyone,



Does anyone know if immigration call off a 'private number' for phone interviews?



I've had a few missed calls off private numbers and just got me thinking. Bit worried on missing them if it can stuff up the application for my fiance.



Thanks
Hello , there, I am getting an sponsor from Australia to apply for visa 457, now I am in America, 5 years ago I did domestic violence, my sentence was for 30 days jail, 3 years probation and a fine for 2500 USD, I read online about character requirements, and my doubt is if probation will affect me, I dont want to waste time and money , the fine I paid it 2 years ago, I want to explain all the truth, since that never been in trouble, thats my only crime in my life.
hello everyone. I was living in sydney australia with student visa for about 3 and half years. i had my dream job and i was doing very well. my boss was ready to start the paperwork for sponsorship. by mistake i thought that my student visa would expired on the 6th of april 2016. so when i went to renew my student visa on the 5th i found ou that my visa expired on the 4th of march and i had exceed the 28 days by 3 days. i went straight away the day after and got a bridging visa E for a month to leave the country . i left before the new visa expired. i asked everyone in every office plus the border officers in the airport if i have a re-entry bann and noone could give me a clear answer. everyone was saying "you might have a re-entry bann but i cant tell you for sure". now my problem is that i need to know a clear answer whether i have a bann or not so i can see what my options are.. my boss is still waiting for me and i dont want to lose this oportunity. any help would be highly appriciated because i dont know what to do or who to ask. thanks for reading.
The problems involve not being able to pair with a vehicles multimedia unit, or intermittent connectivity . The latter means that the phone will connect to a car via Bluetooth, and will then disconnect without the user doing anything in particular.Some users have managed to stream audio, but cannot make calls, while others have difficulty with connecting in the first place, and then the link goes bad.The situation was first reported when the Android 7.1 operating system was in its preview form, which is tech-industry speak for a beta or developer version.The latest operating system designed by Google for mobile devices is called Nougat, but its predecessor, the Marshmallow, used to have problems like these when it first came out.As you can imagine, this can be extremely upsetting, especially when most users expect seamless connectivity these days. After all, we do live in the 21st Century, and you can connect your refrigerator to the Internet, so making it pair with your car seems natural.The iPhone 7 has been reported to suffer similar issues with some multimedia systems , so this is not something that happens to the latest Android handset.In the case of the Bluetooth connectivity problems reported by Apple users, they happened with BMW cars, but also with Hyundai and Kia models. The phones were running iOS 10, but the situation happened a few years ago, back when the iPhone 6 was launched with iOS 8.It is worth noting that Googles phone is not the only Android device that has suffered from connectivity issues when Bluetooth is concerned, because users have reported similar problems with other Android 7.1 devices.According to Android Police , Google is already aware of the matter, and the Mountain View giant is already investigating the situation. We expect the problems to be fixed through an update of the Android software, which should come in a few weeks time, if not sooner.
EV

Assisted in Hertford with a male who lost control of his Tesla, got airborne & landed on top of another car. He was arrested for d/drive.181 pic.twitter.com/yYYniao4k3  BCH Road Policing (@roadpoliceBCH) October 27, 2016

That's the only conclusion you can come to after seeing the Model S accident that took place in the UK earlier this week. A Model S flew about 30 feet through the air, crashing... on top of a Mercedes-Benz E-Class and into the brand's dealership that accommodated the sedan.Yes, the Tesla actually crashed into the Smart, not the Mercedes-Benz part of the dealership, but the E-Class-involving part of the accident had a special low-emission flavor to it, since it included a 2017 E220d.We're not sure which part of the Mercedes-Benz accident is weirder - the way in which the 4,608 lbs (2,090 kg) electric machine hit the upper side of the E-Class as if it were a block of ice falling from the roof of a building or the ruined facade of the dealership.The Tesla Model S in question, a P70 model, crashed close to Hertford's Foxholes roundabout, with the piece of footage below, which shows the aftermath of the accident, revealing plenty of details, right down to the bushes through which the electric sedan "entered" the dealership. As you can imagine, the corporate architecture does involve certain protection measures, but it seems these didn't take flying cars into consideration.Judging by the airborne trajectory of the car and the damages seen in the clip, the driver wasn't exactly working to preserve his range at the time when the accident took place.However, we don't know the exact speed of the. And while there's no info on what happened to the occupant(s) of the vehicle, we can see the car held its shape well, while the airbags were deployed.Let the automated driving debate continue...As hvi mentions in the comment below, the guy behind the wheel of the said Tesla was arrested for drunk driving.Here's a tweet from the local police assuring us the driver was taken into custody. So, as much as we love driving our cars, we have to admit cases such as this one stand as arguments in favor of letting computers handle the driving.
Image courtesy of Enterprise Holdings.

The Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation has announced its donation to fight hunger through its Fill Your Tank program.

This program has been designed to celebrate Enterprise Rent-A-Cars 60th anniversary by providing $60 million to address food insecurity around the globe.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car is woven into the fabric of the thousands of towns and neighborhoods where we do business, and food insecurity is an issue in all of those communities, said Carolyn Kindle Betz, Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundations vice president and executive director. Many times, hunger is invisible to us. We often dont see the signs that someone might be food-insecure or think about the ripple effects of hunger.

Globally, one in nine people dont get enough food to be healthy and lead an active life, according to the World Food Programme.

Our employees have long supported food banks in the cities and neighborhoods we serve, added Kindle Betz. The Fill Your Tank program is a natural extension of the good work our employees are already doing. Its also particularly poignant as addressing hunger was one of the last wishes of my grandfather and our founder, Jack Taylor, who passed away earlier this year.

Over the next six years, Enterprise will distribute $10 million annually as follows:

 $1 million to The Global FoodBanking Network to expand the work of food banks around the world, especially food banks in the U.K., Ireland, France, Germany, and Spain on behalf of company-owned operations in these countries.

 $2.5 million to Feeding America, a U.S. domestic hunger-relief and food rescue charity. These funds will help fight hunger among seniors and children.

 $1.5 million to Food Banks Canada to support operations and infrastructure in food banks across Canada.

 $5 million to local food banks in North America to support communities served by Enterprise.

Through the Global FoodBanking Network and its partner the Federation of European Food Banks, Enterprise Rent-A-Car is partnering with FareShare in the U.K., Bundesverband Deutsche Tafel e.V. in Germany, Federation Francaise des Banques Alimentaires in France, Federacion Espanola de Bancos de Alimentos in Spain, and Crosscare Food Bank in Ireland.

This extraordinary gift will make a tremendous difference in alleviating hunger around the world in a meaningful way, said Lisa Moon, president and CEO of The Global FoodBanking Network. This donation will help expand efforts to support social inclusion while reducing food waste and its harmful effects on our environment. It will help break barriers that keep people from achieving their full potential and leading healthy, productive lives.
By 2020, Singapore drivers will be able to share 1,000 electric vehicles with 2,000 charging points across the country, according to a report by Wards Auto. The carsharing program will start in the middle of 2017 with a fleet of 125 electric vehicles and 250 charging stations.

The Singapore Economic Development Board and the Land Transport Authority signed an agreement with BlueSG, a unit of Bollore Group, to operate the electric carsharing program, says the report.

Bollore currently operates carsharing services in France (Paris, Bordeaux, Lyon), Italy (Torino), and the U.S. (Indianapolis).

The cost for Singapores new carsharing service will be less than $7.30 ($10 Singapore Dollars) for a 15-minute drive, according to the report.

The future of transport in Singapore will look very different from today, Yeoh Keat Chuan, managing director of the Economic Development Board, told Wards Auto. Most people will not see the need to own a car. Today, we have a total fleet of only 300 shared cars and 10,000 users. We hope to see carsharing usage rise through collaborations.

BlueSG will operate the program for 10 years and install an electric-vehicle charging infrastructure with 2,000 charging stations, up to 20% of them available for public use, according to the report. Bollore says its investment will total $73 million ($100 million Singapore Dollars).

Click here for the full Wards Auto report.
United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. JEFFREY CHARLES ZANDER, Defendant - Appellant. No. 16-4138 Decided: October 28, 2016

Before TYMKOVICH, Chief Judge, LUCERO and HARTZ, Circuit Judges.

ORDER AND JUDGMENT*

Jeffrey Charles Zander, proceeding pro se, appeals the district court's denial of his motion for release pending the district court's decision on the merits of his 28 U.S.C.  2255 motion to vacate, set aside or correct his sentence. We exercise jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C.  1291 and affirm.

I. Background

Mr. Zander was convicted of two counts of mail fraud, two counts of wire fraud, one count of money laundering, and three counts of willful failure to file federal tax returns. He was sentenced to sixty-eight months in prison and ordered to pay $202,543.92 in restitution to the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah.

On appeal, we affirmed Mr. Zander's convictions. We concluded, however, that there were errors in the loss calculation and the amount of restitution that required a remand to the district court for resentencing. The district court resentenced Mr. Zander to the same term of imprisonment, but decreased the amount of restitution to $176,698.00. Subsequently, the government filed a motion pursuant to Rule 35 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure to correct an error in the district court's sentence. The district court granted the motion and reduced Mr. Zander's term of imprisonment to sixty-three months. Mr. Zander has appealed from his new sentence and restitution amount (Appeal No. 16-4162).

While Mr. Zander was awaiting resentencing, he filed a pro se  2255 motion, raising a number of grounds related to trial testimony by two of the government's witnesses and statements the government made in its closing argument. The district court ordered the government to respond to the motion. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Zander filed a motion for release pending a decision on the merits of his  2255 motion. The government filed a response to the  2255 motion, but did not file a response to the motion for release. The district court denied the motion for release. Mr. Zander now appeals from that decision.

II. Discussion

In order to obtain release pending a determination on a  2255 motion, an inmate must make a showing of exceptional circumstances or a demonstration of a clear case on the merits of the habeas petition. Pfaff v. Wells, 648 F.2d 689, 693 (10th Cir. 1981); see also United States v. Mett, 41 F.3d 1281, 1282 (9th Cir. 1994) (In the habeas context, this court has reserved bail for extraordinary cases involving special circumstances or a high probability of success. (internal quotation marks omitted)).

Mr. Zander asserts that he has shown exceptional circumstances justifying his release because the case files and legal materials he needs to pursue his rights under  2255 have allegedly been seized and lost by the Bureau of Prisons. Even if these allegations are true, Mr. Zander has not shown this situation constitutes an exceptional circumstance justifying his release. He has not explained what specific documents he needs or why he needs to be released in order to obtain them. Moreover, he has cited to a number of documents in his appellate brief in support of his arguments, which suggests he still has access to materials relevant to his case. See, e.g., Aplt. Br. at 7-10, 14 (citing sentencing and trial transcripts). We agree with the district court that Mr. Zander has failed to show exceptional circumstances justifying his release during the pendency of his  2255 proceedings.

Likewise, we agree with the district court that Mr. Zander has failed to demonstrate a clear case on the merits of his  2255 motion. Mr. Zander admits that none of the claims he seeks to raise in his  2255 motion were raised on direct appeal. See Aplee. Br., Attach. A at 4, 6, 8-12. It therefore appears that Mr. Zander faces a procedural hurdle before the district court can even reach the merits of his claims. As we have explained:

Section 2255 motions are not available to test the legality of matters which should have been raised on direct appeal. A defendant's failure to present an issue on direct appeal bars him from raising the issue in his  2255 motion, unless he can show cause excusing his procedural default and actual prejudice resulting from the errors of which he complains, or can show that a fundamental miscarriage of justice will occur if his claim is not addressed.

United States v. Warner, 23 F.3d 287, 291 (10th Cir. 1994) (citations omitted).

III. Conclusion

For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the district court's denial of Mr. Zander's motion for release.

Entered for the Court

Per Curiam
The 2020 concept car from Volkswagen breaks all electric car stereotypes. The exteriors reflect a truly compact car that is perfect for the city. However, this doesn't compromise its interiors at all. It is even considered the next threat to the Tesla Model 3.

It has an extremely spacious interior and boot space. There are also a few noticeable features that make the Volkswagen electric car truly stand out. It will truly make the Tesla Model 3 run for its money.

What to expect from this electric car?

It is based on a modular electric floor plan. This was according to Thomas Tetzlaff from Volkswagen Canada. The car is designed from ground-up to be fully electric. The car has a very compact feature. It will definitely leave a small footprint. It is a surprise, however, that the EV has very generous interior space.

Enter, The Volkswagen I.D Concept

It is similar to the "Apple ID" concept. However, the Volkswagen ID concept is meant to ID or identify its drivers. Autogehful's correspondent during the 2016 Paris Auto Show has explained it further, watch the video.

How long does it take to fully charge this EV?

Tetzlaff disclosed that the EV can also reach 80 percent of energy capacity in just thirty minutes. It is expected to charge 100 percent in less than an hour. On the other hand, Tesla's "Supercharge" system claims it can fully charge their EVs in less than half an hour at around 20 minutes.

How much is the Volkswagen Electric Car?

Volkswagen has announced that the target selling price will start at $30,000. A few bucks cheaper than Tesla Model 3's price. It will be hard to determine if Nissan's Leaf next edition will be cheaper. However, it's base model the Leaf S cost around $29,860.

What is the range of the Volkswagen Electric Car?

In just one charge the EV can reach from 400 to 600 kilometers or 248 to 372 miles. It is twice the range yield of its Tesla name. The range of the Tesla Mode 3 is estimated to be around 215 miles per charge.

The Tesla Model 3 has set the standard in the production of mass-produced EVs. Volkswagen's ID car concept is just less than a half-decade of being release. Tesla Model 3 must do something to maintain its lead. Its competitors are obviously catching up and learning from their mistakes.
Atieva might have undergone a change in its name - now rebranded as Lucid Motors - but its focus remains just the same, that of launching a Model S beating luxury all-electric sedan.

The company has also made available a few spy shots of the upcoming sedan which no doubt points to something lip-smacking coming our way. Looks apart, the sedan codenamed Atvus also boasts of substance in almost equal measure with a Motor1 report claiming the sedan to have a class leading 900 hp at its disposal.

What is also known is that the sedan will have a range in the vicinity of 300 miles from its 87 kWh battery source. A larger battery option with range enhanced to up to 400 miles is also in the pipeline but will be launched later.

The company is projecting a 0 - 60 mph sprint time of fewer than three seconds, with 2.7 seconds being the most likely timing. Tesla has already gone on record with its 2.5 seconds timing for the same distance thanks to its ludicrous mode. Worth mentioning, a Mercedes-Benz Vito electric van with Atieva's EV tech under its body shot to instant limelight after it had outrun several of its more illustrious competitors such as the Model S, Ferrari, BMW i8 or the Dodge Viper.

Further, that the Lucid sedan draws on the expertise of an ex-Tesla VP and a Model S Chief Engineer at that further adds credence to the developments. Former Oracle employee to is part of the California-based start-up with Beijing Auto from China, Japan-based Mitsui, and Chinese technology magnate Jia Yueting lending financial support.

With the final production model expected to be revealed around the end of the year, the company stated it is eyeing an initial production run of 20,000 units in 2018. This will be followed by a more expansive production phase where 130,000 units are expected to be built. However, as Left Lane News stated, it is not known where cars would be produced,

Meanwhile, the company also stated they would be launching an SUV next to take on the Model Y as well as a clutch of other electric SUVs expected to be launched towards the end of the decade.
Mercedes-Benz Pickup Truck is coming ready to offer a world class quality in the growing pickup market in the US and Europe. The new Class X Concept that brings the future pickup as scheduled was revealed last Oct. 25, wherein the prototype model that was shown in the presentation is said to look very similar to the production model and is set to arrive in dealerships on 2017.

Two Mercedes-Benz Pickup Truck Revealed

Mercedes-Benz has chosen to show two distinct proposals of the Class X Concept during its presentation. A clearly oriented move to a supermini environment to places far from the big city version where countryside and mountains and harsh environment will be its main target, according to Autoblog.

In the first Mercedes-Benz Pickup Truck model, known as Stylish Explorer, one can see a pick-up whose exterior is painted in a fresh white tone metallic finish. It offers a contrast between its true personality and some details that seek to show a more sophisticated and technical side. A design that seeks to mimic the big cities while offering a lot of power. Looking at the front, it draws attention to its familiar SUV look of the German firm add up a bonnet so bulky and piercing headlights. The flared wheel arches provide certain spunk too

The Mercedes-Benz Pickup Truck model known as the Powerful Adventurer focused more on the adventurous driver and will get all off-road capabilities. It has a more rustic image thanks to the huge tires, fenders and wheel arches coated carbon fiber, metal hook and the front and back protection. At the rear, both models show the typical chrome molding of the SUV from Mercedes.

Looking around the interior of Mercedes Class X Concept, the first model combines warm and cool tones. Mercedes-Benz seeks to convey all his elegance and craftsmanship with finishes that are sure to impress. Nubuck leather upholstery brushed aluminum detailing as well as a multifunctional touchpad can be seen. The second more adventurous model opt for a design in which carbon fiber matte and metallic surfaces are the key materials. For the upholstery, it has opted for a napa leather shiny black, according to Cnet.

Equipment and powertrains

Despite being a Mercedes-Benz pickup truck, the brand has stressed the importance of the equipment in the Class X Concept therefore one can expect standard equipment to the latest in Infotainment and comfort, highlighting the possibility of hosting space for up to 5 occupants, multimedia system with remote connection via the internet and multiple driving assistance and safety systems with a great display of ultrasonic sensors, cameras, and radar.

On the mechanical side, it will use a 4.0-liter engine and six cylinder V6, all of which are associated with a system of all - wheel drive 4Matic, automatic transmission and two differential locks (center and rear). The Mercedes pickup truck is capable of supporting up to 1.1 tons of payload, while can tow up to 3.5 tons.

The new Mercedes Class X is ready for distributions late next year. It will be manufactured at the plant that Nissan has in Barcelona Spain and is expected to sell out great. Watch the class X presentation below:
The 2017 Ferrari F12 M, the replacement for Ferrari's popular F12 Berlinetta, has finally been spotted for the first time testing on public roads near the factory of the brand looking like it's in the last stages of development. The F12 M, which M stands for Maranello, is said to have 786hp and a possible hybrid version will come in 2020. The official debut is set to be at the 2017 Geneva motor show in March.

2017 Ferrari F12 M Spy Photos and Videos

The test car still wears an extensive amount of camouflage. However, it still revealed facelifted changes compared to the F12 Berlinetta. From what can be seen in the video, according to Autocar, the changes will focus on the nose, where a new style on the front, as well as behind, is found. The optical groups, both rear, and front seem to also differ from the F12 Berlinetta.

The F12 was born in 2012 Geneva as the successor to the 599 GTB Fiorano, respecting the architecture V12 engine front atmospheric riding the Gran Turismo brand since the arrival of the 456 GT in 1992. It was then transferred to the 550 Maranello in 1996.

2017 Ferrari F12 M Changes

It is expected that this new version will have small technological changes and could take the active steering rear of the F12 PTO and improvements in the electronic section, the screen will be from the screen of the GTC4Lusso showing various parameters of the instrument panel, according to Carscoops.

A probable mechanical leap over the current model is also expected. Under the bonnet there will be an updated version of the existing, naturally aspirated V12 engine which will offer more power than the current 730hp and closer to the F12 TdFs 769hp. Some evidence also pointed that Ferrari could implement some type of electrical system into the 2017 F12 M, similar to that used by the LaFerrari, but this will not happen at least until the end of this decade.

As with tradition, Ferrari fans would need to wait a few months after the debut at Geneva before the first units of the 2017 F12 M reached delivery. Watch its awesome performance at the video below:
Initially deemed as the best rival for the Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 model with only one second behind during the Lightning Lap 2016 event, the company has recently announced that the Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 models are bound for a recall due to oil leaks. What went wrong for the muscle car? Which models are affected?

In recent reports, it was revealed that 2015-2017 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 models, about 6,523 of such, would be recalled due to defects of its make and model. In fact, it was labeled to be hazardous to drivers as it could light up at any second.

The Defects

The problem was said to be related to engine oil cooler tube assemblies of the Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 models manufactured during 2015-2017. The said defect was deemed to result in engine failure or could possibly light the vehicle on fire because of a hose separation and an oil leak, according to Motor Trend.

Which Cars Are Covered?

As was revealed by Ford, the U.S. vehicles would be covered by the said recall and that all other vehicles located in Mexico, Canada, and federalized territories would also be included. In fact, the announcement revealed that Ford would replace the engine oil cooler tube assembly to remedy the problem of the make and model.

Despite the negative feedback about the defects, Ford claimed that they were unaware of any fire of accidents related to the issue. With this, the company urged the purchasers of the vehicles to go to the nearest Ford dealership if they own a Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 or Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R model that were made from Feb. 24, 2015, until Aug. 30, 2016, according to Auto Evolution.

Recall History Of The Company

The said recall remedy was deemed to be not the company's first. 2010-2012 Ford Escape models along with 2010-2011 Ford Mercury Mariner were also reported to have engine issues as well. In fact, 400,00 units were recalled when the problem was recognized by the company.

With the Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 recall, will the muscle car still be able to defeat the Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 model in sales?
The Toyota Prius Recall is happening once again as recent reports revealed the models have park-brake defects. Almost 100,000 units would be affected by such, particularly those sold in the United States.

Per National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Toyota Prius vehicles would be bound for theToyota Prius Recall because of defective features. In fact, the said defects of the models stopped the selling of the brand's prevailing hybrid best-seller.

Which Models Are Affected?

Per recent reports, 2016 and 2017 Toyota Prius models would be affected by the recall because of their foot-operated parking brake that was installed with a tension cable. The said cable was found to detach from the rear brake calipers, which would serve it incessantly and could possibly harm the driver and passengers, according to Car and Driver.

The Toyota Prius C, Prius V, plug-in Prius Prime, including the Toyota and Lexus models was also deemed to have distinct cable assembly whereby only 340,000 of these vehicles would be included in the recall, according to CNN.

When Did The Problem Surface?

Toyota Motor Company first saw the problem last May of this year when a U.S. dealer received several reports of the brake failure. Since then, there were 67 reports about the issue but, luckily, there were no casualties when the problem was found.

The company claimed that the cable was already seen to be prone to loosening when the driver would come across bumps in the road.

What Will Toyota Offer?

For those who would surrender their vehicles to Toyota Dealerships, the company would install a clip into one end of the defective parking brake cable to stop it from slipping off the rear calipers.

The said Toyota Prius Recall would commence by early November of this year. On top of which, Toyota Highlander SUVs in the U.S. would also receive a recall due to wiring defects as well.
At least eight people suffered minor injuries when a Boeing 767 caught fire during takeoff roll at Chicago OHare Friday afternoon. A couple of hours later, a FedEx MD-11 also caught fire atFort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida afterits left gear collapsed. The two pilots escaped unharmed. The jet had just flown from Memphis, WSVN reported. In Chicago, the American Airlines crew aborted takeoff from OHares Runway 28R about 2:35 p.m., according to a Chicago Tribune report. Flight 383 was headed for Miami with 161 passengers and nine crew members, who were seen on video as they escaped via emergency slides on the left side of the jet as the right wing burned.

One flight attendant and seven passengers were injured and were taken to local hospitals, the airline said in the Tribune report, although news outlets were reporting that EMS crews assisted as many as 20 people who were hurt. An engine problem was blamed for the incident, the airline said. Preliminary investigation points to an uncontained engine failure but the cause of the failure has not been determined. A piece of the engine reportedly hit the roof of a building. The Tribune reported that controllers immediately spotted the aborted takeoff and fire as the pilot said were evacuating. Fire and rescue crews were called and quickly contained the fire. The incident closed at least three runways at OHare.
The two pilots of the business jet that crashed at Aspen-Pitkin County Airport in 2014, killing one, appeared to have lost control during an attempted landing in gusty, variable tailwinds as the tower implored the crew to go around. The NTSBs factual report from the Jan. 5, 2014, crash, released this week, said the Bombardier CL-600-2B16 initially flew a missed approach. When asked for intentions, one of the pilots said, we turn back and do another approach. We got a tailwind of 30 knots. Surveillance video shows the jet, with one passenger, was in its second landing attempt when it touched down briefly, bounced and then smashed into the runway, flipping over and catching on fire. The copilot was killed while the pilot and passenger were seriously injured.

The jet, which arrived from Tucson, was cleared to land on Runway 15 for its first attempt as ATC reported winds from 290 degrees at 19 knots, with a one-minute average wind from 320 at 12 knots gusting to 25, according to transcripts.At 12:20 p.m. local time, after the missed approach and two minutes before the crash, the cockpit recorder indicated a strained dialogue between the pilots. There seemed to be concern from at least one about the second approach,with remarks about tailwinds exceeding 30 knots and one pilot saying, careful, careful after the ground proximity warning sounded. After the second landing clearance and what appears to be a continued discussion about the approach, the controller transmitted, go around four times before one of the pilots said, lets go, lets go, followed by screams and yells just before impact.
29 October 2016 10:20 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Tehran has said it will turn on the flow of natural gas to Turkey by October 31 after an explosion in the Turkish territory halted the supplies on October 27 evening.

Necessary coordination is being carried out with the Turkish Botas company to resume Iran's exports , Director of Gas Exports Measurement Facilities at Iran-Turkey Border Sadeq Akbarpour told the YJC October 28.

Turkey-Iran gas pipeline was blown up in Agri province of Turkey in what Iranian sources called an act of opposition groups.

Akbarpour underlined that Tehran is ready to supply Turkey with its required gas whenever it voices its readiness.

Iran is Turkeys second supplier of gas after Russia, providing one-fifth of the countrys consumption. The current volume of natural gas that Iran is piping to its northwestern neighbor is 30 million cubic meters per day.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
29 October 2016 10:06 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Azerbaijan intends to strengthen partnership with the regions of Kazakhstan.

The Azerbaijani side will try to find common interests regarding the supply of certain goods and raw materials, boost the export of fruits and vegetables to the Kazakh market, including the Atyrau region, Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Kazakhstan Rashad Mammadov said.

He made the remarks on October 28 in a meeting with governor of the countrys Atyrau region Nurlan Nogayev.

Azerbaijani enterprises need raw materials and markets need consumer products manufactured in Kazakhstan, the ambassador said.

An Azerbaijani delegation is on a visit to Kazakhstans Atyrau region in order to strengthen cooperation and increase the trade turnover.

The ambassador noted that in accordance with the instruction of Azerbaijans leadership, the delegation is visiting the regions of Kazakhstan for the development of trade and economic ties between individuals and regions of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.

Trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstans Atyrau region amounted to $9.4 million for the eight months of 2016. This region exports processed fish, ferrous metal scrap, pipes for gas pipelines, gas oil and fuel oil.

The day before the meeting in the Atyrau region, on October 27, the Azerbaijani delegation visited the neighboring West Kazakhstan region, where a presentation of Azerbaijans export potential took place in a meeting with leadership of the region and local entrepreneurs.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. FRANCISCO PICHARDO, Defendant-Appellant. No. 14-12829 Decided: October 28, 2016

Before MARTIN, JORDAN and JULIE CARNES, Circuit Judges.

Francisco Pichardo appeals his convictions after a jury trial and 130-month sentence for conspiracy to import cocaine, conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, and possession with the intent to distribute cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C.  963, 846, and 841(a)(1). Pichardo raises three arguments on appeal. First, Pichardo contends that the district court erred in finding that he voluntarily waived his Miranda rights and admitting his post-arrest confession. Second, he argues that the evidence presented was not sufficient to support his convictions. Third, Pichardo asserts that the court erred in failing to award him a minor-participant role reduction based on his limited involvement in the conspiracy. After careful review of the record and consideration of the parties' briefs, we affirm.

I.

Pichardo first argues that the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress statements that he made after his arrest, which the court admitted after finding that Pichardo voluntarily waived his Miranda rights. A district court's denial of a motion to suppress involves mixed questions of law and fact, and we review its findings of fact for clear error and its application of the law to those facts de novo. United States v. Bervaldi, 226 F.3d 1256, 1262 (11th Cir. 2000). When considering a ruling on a motion to suppress, we construe the facts in the light most favorable to the party who prevailed below. Id. We give substantial deference to the district court's credibility determinations with respect to witness testimony. United States v. McPhee, 336 F.3d 1269, 1275 (11th Cir. 2003).

In deciding whether a post-arrest statement can be admitted into evidence, courts first decide whether the law enforcement officer complied with the Miranda requirements by informing the defendant of his rights. United States v. Bernal-Benitez, 594 F.3d 1303, 131718 (11th Cir. 2010). If so, we determine whether any post-Miranda confession was voluntary. Id. at 1318.

Miranda requires that law enforcement officers advise a person who is subject to custodial interrogation about certain rights. Id. A defendant may waive his Miranda rights, but only if the waiver is made voluntarily, knowingly and intelligently. Id. (quotation omitted). Based on the totality of the circumstances surrounding the interrogation, the court must conclude that the Miranda waiver was the result of a free and deliberate choice rather than intimidation, coercion, or deception, and was made with a full awareness of both the nature of the right being abandoned and the consequences of th[at] decision. Id. (quotation omitted). The government bears the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that a defendant effectively waived his Miranda rights. Id.

The district court did not err in denying Pichardo's motion to suppress his post-arrest statements. At Pichardo's arrest, the officers gave both oral and written statements to inform Pichardo of his rights. There is sufficient evidence to show that Pichardo knowingly and voluntarily waived his Miranda rights. An arresting officer testified that Pichardo waived his Miranda rights after he had time to review a waiver form that explained his rights in detail. The district court was free to find the officer's testimony credible and rely on it in reaching its ultimate decision. See McPhee, 336 F.3d at 1275.

There was also no evidence that Pichardo was coerced into waiving his rights. Pichardo argues on appeal (as he did at the suppression hearing) that he was under stress to waive his rights because his children were home during his arrest. But the district court did not err when it concluded that the totality of the circumstances surrounding the waiver indicated that his waiver was knowing and voluntary. For example, the arresting officer had Pichardo call his children's mother to join the children in the house, the arresting officer told Pichardo that he did not need to sign the Miranda waiver or talk to the officers, and Pichardo was not handcuffed when he reviewed and signed the form. On this record, the district court did not err in concluding that Pichardo's post-arrest statements were admissible.

II.

Pichardo next argues that the evidence presented at trial was not sufficient to support his convictions and that the district court erred in denying his motion for judgment of acquittal. We review de novo the sufficiency of the evidence and the district court's denial of a motion for judgment of acquittal. United States v. Bowman, 302 F.3d 1228, 1237 (11th Cir. 2002) (per curiam). In evaluating the sufficiency of the evidence, we view the facts and draw all reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the government. United States v. Hansen, 262 F.3d 1217, 1236 (11th Cir. 2001) (per curiam). We also accept all of a jury's inferences and determinations of witness credibility. United States v. Glinton, 154 F.3d 1245, 1258 (11th Cir. 1998). We will not overturn a jury's verdict if a reasonable factfinder could have concluded that the evidence established the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Hansen, 262 F.3d at 1236.

To sustain a conviction for conspiracy to import cocaine under 21 U.S.C.  963 the government must prove that the [defendant] agreed to import narcotics into the United States and knowingly and voluntarily participated in the agreement. United States v. Obregon, 893 F.2d 1307, 1311 (11th Cir. 1990). The government does not need to prove that each alleged conspirator knew every detail of the conspiracy, and it may establish sufficient proof of knowledge by showing that the defendant knew of the essential purpose of the conspiracy. Id.

To sustain a conviction for conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute in violation of 18 U.S.C.  846, the government must prove that: (1) a conspiracy existed; (2) the defendant knew about the conspiracy; (3) the defendant knowingly and voluntarily joined it. United States v. Lopez-Ramirez, 68 F.3d 438, 440 (11th Cir. 1995).

To sustain a conviction for possession with intent to distribute cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C.  841(a)(1), the government must establish: (1) knowledge; (2) possession; and (3) intent to distribute. United States v. Mercer, 541 F.3d 1070, 1076 (11th Cir. 2008) (per curiam). Possession can be actual or constructive. A person constructively possesses a controlled substance if he exercise[s] some measure of dominion or control over the substance. United States v. Battle, 892 F.2d 992, 999 (11th Cir. 1990) (per curiam) (quotation omitted).

The evidence at trial was sufficient to support Pichardo's conviction on all three counts. As for conspiracy to import cocaine, the evidence established that Pichardo worked with the leader of a group importing cocaine into the United States from the Dominican Republic. The arresting officer testified that Pichardo admitted at the time of arrest that he was involved in the conspiracy and admitted his actions in relation to the conspiracy. Pichardo also placed a phone call to the leader of the conspiracy in the presence of officers, during which Pichardo and his co-conspirator discussed a future shipment of cocaine to the United States. This evidence is sufficient for a reasonable jury to conclude that Pichardo was aware of the conspiracy to import narcotics into the United States and knowingly and voluntarily acted to further the conspiracy.

The trial evidence was also sufficient to support Pichardo's conviction for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine. The arresting officer testified that Pichardo admitted to involvement in a conspiracy that included his picking up narcotics that had been shipped into the United States; delivering the narcotics to a designated person; and receiving money for that delivery. A co-conspirator also testified that he gave cocaine to Pichardo and that approximately two days later Pichardo returned cash proceeds to the co-conspirator. This evidence is sufficient for a reasonable jury to conclude that Pichardo had conspired to possess cocaine with intent to distribute it.

Finally, the trial evidence was sufficient to support Pichardo's conviction for possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute it. A co-conspirator testified at trial that Pichardo took possession of four bags of cocaine and that Pichardo returned money to the co-conspirator approximately two days later. Pichardo asserts that this testimony was not reliable and that it was unreasonable for the jury to rely on it. However, [t]estimony of a co-conspirator, even if uncorroborated, is sufficient to support a conviction. United States v. Broadwell, 870 F.2d 594, 601 (11th Cir. 1989). The jury was free to accept the co-conspirator's testimony as credible. See Glinton, 154 F.3d at 1258. This evidence is sufficient for a reasonable jury to conclude that Pichardo possessed cocaine with the intent to distribute it. The district court did not err in denying Pichardo's motion for a judgment of acquittal on the three counts of conviction.

III.

Pichardo finally argues that the district court erred in failing to grant him a minor-participant role reduction during sentencing based on his limited involvement in the conspiracy. We review for clear error a district court's determination of a defendant's role in the offense. United States v. Rodriguez De Varon, 175 F.3d 930, 937 (11th Cir. 1999) (en banc). The defendant seeking the downward adjustment bears the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that he had a minor role in the offense. Rodriguez De Varon, 175 F.3d at 939.

A district court may decrease a defendant's offense by two levels if it finds the defendant was a minor participant in the criminal activity. USSG  3B1.2(b). This two-level reduction applies to defendants less culpable than most other participants in the criminal activity, but whose role could not be described as minimal. USSG  3B1.2 cmt. n.5. In deciding whether a minor-participant role reduction is appropriate, the district court must consider both the defendant's role in the relevant conduct for which [he] has been held accountable at sentencing and [his] role as compared to that of other participants in [his] relevant conduct. Rodriguez De Varon, 175 F.3d at 940. A downward adjustment for a minor role in the offense is appropriate [o]nly if the defendant can establish that [he] played a relatively minor role in the conduct for which [he] has already been held accountablenot a minor role in any larger criminal conspiracy. Id. at 944.

The district court did not clearly err in denying Pichardo a minor-participant role reduction. The record supports that Pichardo played a substantial role in the relevant conduct for which he was sentenced, including exchanging the imported cocaine for cash and sharing those proceeds with his co-conspirators. The evidence also demonstrated Pichardo's role in coordinating the arrival of the cocaine shipments insofar as he called his co-conspirator when the arresting officers present and discussed the logistics of receiving cocaine from an upcoming shipment. The district court was within its discretion to infer from the totality of the circumstances that Pichardo played a substantial role in the conspiracy.

AFFIRMED.

PER CURIAM:
29 October 2016 11:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Azerbaijans Azertexnolayn LLC supplied 47 million manats worth of pipes to Turkmenistan (1.6381 AZN/USD on Oct. 28) since early 2016, Nazim Talibov, director of the Sumgayit Chemical Industrial Park, said.

Talibov made remarks at a meeting with Azerbaijani MPs in Baku.

Azertexnolayn, a resident of the Sumgayit Chemical Industrial Park, signed a contract for the supply of pile pipes to Turkmenistan in January 2016 for construction of the Turkmenbashi sea port. The cost of the contract is $40 million.

Another contract worth $20 million envisages the supply of pipes for the replacement of water pipes.

The company also exports its products to Georgia and Russia, Talibov added. Seven cars carrying pipes will be sent to Kazakhstan in the near future.

Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have already agreed on a price, but first, the Kazakh side wants to check the quality of the pipes, he said. We hope this agreement will be successful."

Talibov added that currently, Azertexnolayns three enterprises operate in the territory of the Sumgayit Chemical Industrial Park, namely, a plant for production of steel pipes, a plant for production of polyethylene items and a plant for production of hydraulic equipment.

The Sumgayit Chemical Industrial Park was established in 2011. Currently, nine residents operate in the park. The total amount of investments to be made in the park by the residents will reach $1.1 billion.

Residents of industrial parks in Azerbaijan have a number of preferences, including exemption from income tax, land tax and property tax for seven years.

The equipment imported by the residents is not subject to value added tax and customs duties.

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By Nigar Abbasova

The transportation sector is a strong factor in terms of economic and regional economic development, while Azerbaijan puts a huge emphasis on development of the marine transportation.

The country aims to turn into of the major commercial and transportation hubs in the region and keep the development of the marine port in focus. Currently, the Baku International Sea Trade Port of Azerbaijan is developing its in cooperation with various parties.

The Port of Baku, the oldest and largest port on the Caspian Sea, has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Djibouti Ports & Free Zones Authority.

The document was signed by Director-General of the Port of Baku Taleh Ziyadov and Chairman of Djibouti Ports & Free Zones Authority Aboubaker Omar Hadi. The MoU aims to expand relations between the ports of Azerbaijan and Djibouti.

Under the document, the two ports will exchange experience, and conduct joint training programs on port staff capacity development and port management.

Djibouti Ports & Free Zones operates such facilities as Port of Djibouti, Doraleh Container Terminal, Djibouti Horizon Terminal, and Djibouti Free Zone.

Port of Baku was previously located in the middle of the city. Taking into account the bid of the country to become one of the major hubs in the region and facilitate regional transformation, the state decided to move it to a new location, 70 km south of the capital Baku, near a small town called Alat, which is located at the strategic crossroads of the regional railroads and highways.

The new Port of Baku is located on an area of 400 hectares (ha) of land, of which about 100-115 ha cover the area for the development of the international Logistics and Trade Zone. The northern areas around the port are reserved for future expansion of logistics, industrial, and manufacturing activity.

Port of Baku earlier signed MoUs with Bulgarian Ports Infrastructure Company, Antwerp, Panama, Aktau and Poti ports. Moreover, the Port maintains close cooperation with Qatar and Singapore ports.

The cooperation with the world leading ports is expected to contribute to the improvement of the quality of services and related management activities of the port infrastructure, as well as ensure optimum performance efficiency, providing value-for-money and high-quality services.

--

Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova

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By Trend

Adoption of a road map on Algiers agreements, reached after OPEC and non-OPEC meeting, will depend on positions of Iraq and Iran, which earlier rejected to cut oil output, Azerbaijans Energy Minister Natig Aliyev told reporters October 29.

Everything hinges on positions of countries, firstly, OPEC members, in particular, such countries as Iran and Iraq, said Aliyev, RIA Novosti reported October 29.

Even if the majority of the OPEC countries commit to some extent to the existing mood, to the hopes of all the producing countries in the soonest stabilization of prices in the market and an increase in prices, countries such as Iran and Iraq are more interested today in increasing their oil production, increasing volumes, reaching the positions they have always had at the OPEC, he added.

Therefore, it is very important for us to have their point of view today, considering what can happen until the end of the year, said Natig Aliyev.

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29 October 2016 09:55 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Humanitarian issues, such as the issue of missing persons, should not be treated as a political tool or a bargaining chip, and, consequently, should not depend on the political settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Azerbaijani delegation to the OSCE said.

The delegation made this statement at a session of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna in response to President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Peter Maurers focus on the conflict due to lack of its resolution and continued occupation of Azerbaijani territories, the Permanent Mission of Azerbaijan to the OSCE told Trend.

We attach greatimportance to cooperation with ICRC and highly value the noble humanitarian mission of the ICRC with regard to alleviating dire humanitarian consequences of the conflict, said the statement.

We call on Armenia to constructively engage on clarifying whereabouts of those missing, said the statement. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict led to the deaths and wounding of thousands of people, hundreds of thousands of people were forced to leave their homes, thousands of people are reported missing in connection with the conflict, and one fifth of Azerbaijans territory is still under occupation.

The conflict was accompanied by the notorious practice of ethnic cleansing and other flagrant violations of the peremptory norms of international law, Azerbaijani Delegation said in the statement.

Promoting and strengthening compliance with international humanitarian law, especially Armenias compliance with international humanitarian law as an occupying power, is a key component of ICRCs declared mission, said the statement.

We expect that ICRC will ensure that the fundamental norms of international humanitarian law, laid down in the Hague Regulations (1907), the Geneva Convention IV and Additional Protocol I are duly respected and adhered to by Armenia and its armed forces, the statement noted.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. 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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29 October 2016 10:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

October 29 marks the 23rd anniversary of the occupation of Azerbaijans Zangilan region by Armenian armed forces.

Like other occupied regions of Azerbaijan, Zangilan fell victim to betrayal during these tragic years for Azerbaijan. Zangilan, which was the last region of Azerbaijan to be occupied by Armenian invasion troops, didn't bow down to the enemy from 1988 until November 1993 and resisted attacks, losing hundreds of residents in the fierce fighting.

Zangilan, having a 157 mile border with Armenia, had a significant place in the gradual increase in tensions in the region from 1988 at the start of Armenias open hostile actions aimed at claiming Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region.

After the occupation of the neighboring Jabrayil and Gubadli regions, Zangilan was in complete blockade. The supply of electricity and water to the region stopped. On the last week, Zangilan was completely surrounded by the enemy forces.

Armenian Armed Forces surrounded the region from three sides and exposed all settlements of the region to continuous shelling, inflicting new destruction and casualties.



There was no strength to resist it longer and people of Zangilan including elderly, women and men gathered at the Araz River to flee to the Iranian territory. They found a way out by crossing the Araz River to get to Iranian territory. Otherwise, they could have been subjected to horrors similar to those that the residents of Khojaly suffered in February 1992.

In the unequal armed struggle against the Armenian aggressors, Zangilan lost 188 martyrs. So far, the region's 44 residents are among those missing in the aftermath of the bitter conflict with Armenia. Moreover, 110 residents of the region have become disabled and about 200 children have become orphaned.

Apart from being a territory with enormous amounts of natural beauty, Zangilan is considered one of the most ancient settlements in Azerbaijan.

Prior to the invasion 35,000 people lived in the Zangilan region, which covers an area of 707 sq. km. The region's economy was based on agriculture, including winegrowing, tobacco growing and livestock breeding.

The region, which included a city, a settlement and 83 villages, had 9 preschool institutions, 19 primary and 15 secondary schools, one vocational school, one music school, 35 libraries, eight cultural centers, 23 club-houses and 22 film projector facilities.

The largest plane forest in Europe was also located in the region. Unfortunately, the Armenians are now cutting down these plane trees and selling them to foreign countries. Molybdenum, marble, gold, granite and other mineral resources are also being plundered by the Armenians from the region.

There are reports that the Basitcay State Nature Reserve, established in 1974 in Zangilan, is in a deplorable state. The Armenians were reported to have cut down its valuable trees and use them in the furniture industry. As a result of the arsons committed by the Armenians, a great part of the region's territory has burnt down, and valuable trees and preserves have been destroyed.

Zangilan's territory is also rich in archaeological and architectural monuments, the largest of which is the ruins of a medieval city known as Shahri Sharifam. Unfortunately, after the occupation, the Armenians plundered or falsified the samples of the region's ancient historical monuments.

After Zangilan's occupation, more than 35,000 local residents had to be settled in 52 settlements across the country.

Zangilan's residents, who were ousted from their homes, are looking forward to liberation of their native lands from the Armenian occupation.

--

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



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29 October 2016 10:25 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Criteria for placement of merchandise storage racks under the Made in Azerbaijan brand have been approved by the Ministry of Economy in Azerbaijan.



According to the criteria, in identifying the retail shops where the racks will be placed, including duty free shops, economic and trade ties between Azerbaijan and the countries, in which the racks will be installed, will be taken into account.



Also, the export potential and saleability of these goods in the countries with such shops will be considered.



The shop selection in a particular country will be based on the size of its retail chain. When it comes to duty free shops, the passenger flow of the airport where it is located will be taken into account.

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29 October 2016 10:12 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni will visit Azerbaijan on November 7-9, a diplomatic source told Trend October 28.

According to the source, Gentiloni will hold several bilateral meetings at the highest level.

Strengthening of political and economic ties will be discussed during the meetings, the source said.

According to the Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee, trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Italy amounted to $1.444 billion in January-September 2016.

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29 October 2016 10:05 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev congratulated Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.

I am honored to extend my sincere congratulations to you and Turkish people on the occasion of the national holiday of fraternal Turkey - Republic Day, President Aliyev said in a congratulatory message. Turkey has gained great prestige in the world by its economic upturn and strengthening of positions on international arena.

Turkey courageously overcame the military coup attempt directed against its statehood, which once again clearly demonstrated Turkeys power as a country, as well as the unshakable unity of the country and Turkish people, the president said.

Azerbaijan and Turkey are bound by unbreakable ties of friendship and fraternity, common spiritual values and solidarity, the president said. I believe the unity and partnership between Azerbaijan and Turkey will continue to serve the welfare of our peoples, solving the set tasks and strengthening mutual support in international affairs.

On this remarkable occasion, I wish you robust health, success in your activity, and peace and prosperity to fraternal Turkish people, President Aliyev said.

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29 October 2016 13:15 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Creation of a free trade zone (FTZ) in Azerbaijan around the Baku International Sea Trade Port in Alat settlement is a project with a great future, Aboubaker Omar Hadi, chairman of Djibouti Ports and Free Zone Authority (DGZ), said October 28 in an exclusive interview with Trend in Baku.

He said the creation of an FTZ is a veryimportant factor for attracting cargo traffic and investments to Azerbaijan.

Djibouti has an extensive experience in the FTZ creation, Hadi said, adding the first FTZ was established back in 1954, more than 60 years ago.

The FTZ will create economic revival in the port and attract business operations to Azerbaijan, he added.

Products are received, processed, re-exported in this zone, and it is very comfortable and good for the parties involved, Hadi noted.

Many countries integrate the work of their customs services into the FTZs, he said.

In Djibouti, the FTZ covers not only a port, but also an airport, which greatly facilitates the work, Hadi noted.

He thinks that at least the sea port and the FTZ should be under a single management.

He added that a delegation from Djibouti arrived in Azerbaijan to share its experience and gave some recommendations for the establishment of the FTZ.

Hadi said the delegation told about the mistakes Djibouti made when creating the FTZ, so that Azerbaijan would not repeat them.

He believes that the mostimportant part of creating an FTZ is the development of a legal framework, adding that it must necessarily exist.

Some countries that didnt have free market traditions, free trade zones, cannot understand why they have to change the laws, he noted. But if the state wants to create an FTZ, it must begin with the legal framework in order to attract businessmen and large companies, simplify the customs procedures, Hadi added.

He said Djibouti issues visas and work permits directly at the port in the FTZ.

It is a common practice, he added. Visas are issued only for the businessmen working in the FTZ, Hadi said, adding that this is a veryimportant point, and everything works on the principle of a single window.

This is something that Djibouti recommends Azerbaijan to create in Baku, he noted.

A specific law on the FTZ is also needed, he said.

The concept is very simple, Hadi said, explaining that the FTZ territory shouldnt be considered as a territory of Azerbaijan.

All this is needed in order to attract companies, and that will create jobs for local youth, he added.

In addition, these companies shouldnt pay taxes, Hadi said.

They will bring profit through their investments, he noted.

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree March 17, 2016, on measures to create a free trade zone type special economic area in the Alat township of Bakus Garadagh district.

A draft law on the free trade zone will be discussed during the fall session of the countrys parliament.

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By Trend

The Chairman of the Azerbaijani State Committee on Property Issues Kerem Hasanov participated in the event organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in Azerbaijan (AmCham) and delivered a speech on the current stage of privatization process in the Republic and its future prospective.

Such kind of events in luncheon format are organized monthly by the Chamber with participation of ministers of the Azerbaijan Republic, chairmen of Committees, members of the Azerbaijani Parliament, directors of various governmental institutions and other people holding high positions.

Invited guests and speakers deliver presentations and insights on issues actual for Azerbaijani society and business and Chamber members, answer questions and exchange opinions.

In the frame of the official part of the meeting dedicated to privatization of state property, Hasanov made a presentation on economic reforms in the country, progress in privatization process, innovations and online services in management and registration of real estate, as well as future prospects.

History of privatization process in Azerbaijan, difference in specifications of local legislative acts from the programs in other countries, the role of the nationwide leader of the Azerbaijan Republic Heydar Aliyev in the commencement and sustainability of privatization process, key achievements, current problems and future perspectives were presented in details.

Moreover, Hasanov provided comprehensive information on the decrees of President of Azerbaijan Republic Ilham Aliyev on commencement of new strategical stage of privatization, new fields and enterprises opened for privatization, involvement of foreign investors, supporting of non-oil sector by this way, as well as cooperation opportunities with consulting companies.

Participants demonstrated great interest to the presentation of Hasanov and answered questions on legal procedures of participation of foreign investors in privatization, guarantee for investments, concessions and privileges applied for foreign investors, and the role of influential consulting companies. Meetings of this kind with local and international businessmen are planned to be organized continuously.

Following the speech of Hasanov, the Chairman of AmCham Ilqar Veliyev expressed his gratitude to him for participating in business luncheon and in-depth comprehensive presentation on privatization issues. He also noted that implementation of the current projects and events has been planned for the near future by the State Committee on Property Issues and will always be in attention of AmCham members. At the end, Valiyev again thanked the Chairman of Committee for effective cooperation.

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United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit. WREAL, LLC, a Florida limited liability company, Plaintiff - Appellant, v. AMAZON.COM, INC., a Delaware corporation, Defendant - Appellee. No. 15-14390 Decided: October 28, 2016

Before JORDAN, ROSENBAUM, and SILER,* Circuit Judges.

This is an interlocutory appeal from a district court's denial of a preliminary injunction in a reverse-confusion trademark dispute concerning the mark FyreTV. The district court denied the injunction because, among other reasons, the plaintiff pursued its preliminary-injunction motion with the urgency of someone out on a meandering evening stroll rather than someone in a race against time. Because the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying the injunction, we affirm.

I.

Plaintiff-Appellant Wreal, LLC, is a Miami-based technology company that was formed in 2006 with the goal of developing a platform for streaming video content over the internet. In connection with its business of supplying telecommunications access to video and audio content provided via a video on demand service via the internet, Wreal registered the marks FyreTV and FyreTV.com with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on October 14, 2008, and has used those marks in commerce continuously since 2007. Through FyreTV, Wreal exclusively streams adult content, the majority of which is hardcore pornography. In fact, Wreal describes its own FyreTV service as the Netflix of Porn.

Wreal's streaming service was initially available over its website, FyreTV.com, and through a proprietary set-top box. The set-top box, known alternatively as the FyreTV box and the FyreBoXXX, has been available to only those customers who sign up for a FyreTV account on Wreal's website; the device has not been sold in any other venue or on any other website. Wreal subsequently developed a FyreTV application to enable streaming over third-party devices and has shifted its business model away from selling its own boxes and towards streaming over the internet and third-party devices.

In 2011, Amazon started using the mark Fire in connection with its Kindle tabletsthe Kindle Fireto highlight the new model's ability to stream video over the internet. In 2012 and 2013, Amazon was developing several new products, including a new generation of tablets, a phone, and a set-top box, and it decided to use the Fire brand, along with its house brand of Amazon, with all of these products. On April 2, 2014, Amazon launched its set-top box, dubbed the Amazon Fire TV. Amazon Fire TV is a hardware device used for streaming mainstream general interest video via Amazon's own streaming service, Instant Video, or third-party streaming services such as Netflix. Amazon was aware of Wreal's FyreTV mark when it launched Fire TV but did not contact Wreal before launching Fire TV.

Just about two weeks after the launch of Fire TV, Wreal filed a complaint against Amazon in federal court on April 17, 2014, seeking treble damages and injunctive relief under the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C.  1114(1)(a), 1125(a). Wreal also sought relief under Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, Fla. Stat.  501.204, and Florida common law.

Despite the alacrity with which Wreal filed its complaint, for months, Wreal conducted no discovery and made just routine, case-management filings in the district court. Then, on September 22, 2014over five months after filing its complaintWreal moved for a preliminary injunction. After conducting an evidentiary hearing, the magistrate judge recommended that the district court deny Wreal's injunction request, finding that Wreal failed to establish any of the prerequisites for a preliminary injunction. Wreal filed objections, and, after a de novo review, the district court overruled those objections and denied Wreal's preliminary-injunction motion. This interlocutory appeal ensued.

II.

To obtain a preliminary injunction, Wreal must make the following four showings:

(1) it has a substantial likelihood of success on the merits; (2) irreparable injury will be suffered unless the injunction issues; (3) the threatened injury to the movant outweighs whatever damage the proposed injunction may cause the opposing party; and (4) if issued, the injunction would not be adverse to the public interest.

Siegel v. LePore, 234 F.3d 1163, 1176 (11th Cir. 2000) (en banc); accord Levi Strauss & Co. v. Sunrise Int'l Trading Inc., 51 F.3d 982, 985 (11th Cir. 1995). A preliminary injunction is an extraordinary and drastic remedy, and Wreal bears the burden of persuasion to clearly establish all four of these prerequisites. See Siegel, 234 F.3d at 1176 (citing McDonald's Corp. v. Robertson, 147 F.3d 1301, 1306 (11th Cir. 1998)).

We review a district court's denial of a preliminary injunction for abuse of discretion. Robertson, 147 F.3d at 1306. A district court abuses its discretion when its factual findings are clearly erroneous, when it follows improper procedures, when it applies the incorrect legal standard, or when it applies the law in an unreasonable or incorrect manner. See Klay v. United Healthgroup, Inc., 376 F.3d 1092, 1096 (11th Cir. 2004). But as its name implies, the abuse-of-discretion standard allows a range of choices for the district court, so long as any choice made by the court does not constitute a clear error of judgment. Collegiate Licensing Co. v. Am. Cas. Co. of Reading, Pa., 713 F.3d 71, 77 (11th Cir. 2013).

Appellate review of a preliminary-injunction decision in particular is exceedingly narrow because of the expedited nature of the proceedings in the district court. See BellSouth Telecomms., Inc. v. MCIMetro Access Transmission Servs., LLC, 425 F.3d 964, 968 (11th Cir. 2005). Our review is deferential since a district court often must make difficult judgments about the viability of a plaintiff's claims based on a limited record and without the luxury of abundant time for reflection. Cumulus Media, Inc. v. Clear Channel Commc'ns, Inc., 304 F.3d 1167, 1171-72 (11th Cir. 2002). So a plaintiff faces not only a tough road in establishing four prerequisites to obtain a preliminary injunction in the first instance, but, on appeal, must also overcome the steep hurdles of showing that the district court clearly abused its discretion in its consideration of each of the four prerequisites. See BellSouth, 425 F.3d at 968.

III.

Because Wreal must meet all four prerequisites to obtain a preliminary injunction, failure to meet even one dooms its appeal. See Siegel, 234 F.3d at 1176. In this case, the district court concluded that Wreal's unexplained five-month delay in seeking a preliminary injunction, by itself, fatally undermined any showing of irreparable injury. The district court did not abuse its discretion in reaching this conclusion.

A delay in seeking a preliminary injunction of even only a few monthsthough not necessarily fatalmilitates against a finding of irreparable harm. A preliminary injunction requires showing imminent irreparable harm. Siegel, 234 F.3d at 1176-77 (quoting Ne. Fla. Chapter of Ass'n of Gen. Contractors of Am. v. City of Jacksonville, 896 F.2d 1283, 1285 (11th Cir. 1990)). Indeed, the very idea of a preliminary injunction is premised on the need for speedy and urgent action to protect a plaintiff's rights before a case can be resolved on its merits. Cf. Univ. of Tex. v. Camenisch, 451 U.S. 390, 395, 101 S. Ct. 1830, 1834 (1981); All Care Nursing Serv., Inc. v. Bethesda Mem'l Hosp., Inc., 887 F.2d 1535, 1539 (11th Cir. 1989). For this reason, our sister circuits and district courts within this Circuit and elsewhere have found that a party's failure to act with speed or urgency in moving for a preliminary injunction necessarily undermines a finding of irreparable harm. See, e.g., Citibank, N.A. v. Citytrust, 756 F.2d 273, 276 (2d Cir. 1985); Taylor v. Biglari, 971 F. Supp. 2d 847, 853 (S.D. Ind. 2013) (citing Shaffer v. Globe Protection, Inc., 721 F.2d 1121, 1123 (7th Cir. 1983)); Silber v. Barbara's Bakery, Inc., 950 F. Supp. 2d 432, 439-40 (E.D.N.Y. 2013); Hi-Tech Pharm., Inc. v. Herbal Health Prods., Inc., 311 F. Supp. 2d 1353, 1357-58 (N.D. Ga. 2004); Seiko Kabushiki Kaisha v. Swiss Watch Int'l, Inc., 188 F. Supp. 2d 1350, 1355-56 (S.D. Fla. 2002).

Both in the district court and on appeal, Wreal has failed to offer any explanation for its five-month delay. Nor can we discern from the record any justification for the delay that would suggest that the district court made an error in judgment by pointing to the delay to find a lack of imminent irreparable harm. In fact, as the district court observed, the preliminary-injunction motion relied exclusively on evidence that was available to Wreal at the time it filed its complaint in April 2014. Simply put, the district court did not abuse its discretion when it concluded that Wreal failed to demonstrate an imminent injury that would warrant the extraordinary and drastic remedy of a preliminary injunction. See Siegel, 234 F.3d at 1176; cf. Yakus v. United States, 321 U.S. 414, 440, 64 S. Ct. 660, 674 (1944) (The award of an interlocutory injunction by courts of equity has never been regarded as strictly a matter of right, even though irreparable injury may otherwise result to the plaintiff.).

Because Wreal cannot establish reversible error with respect to the injury prong, we need not consider whether the district court correctly analyzed the likelihood of success, the balance of harms, or the public interest. Accordingly, the district court's denial of the preliminary injunction is AFFIRMED.

ROSENBAUM, Circuit Judge:
29 October 2016 15:00 (UTC+04:00)

Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou has described Azerbaijan as important  country in the South Caucasus, Azertac reported.

Speaking at a reception organized by the Azerbaijani Embassy in Beijing to mark the 25th anniversary of the restoration of Azerbaijan`s state independence, he said Azerbaijan made great strides under the leadership of outstanding statesman Heydar Aliyev and President Ilham Aliyev. Azerbaijan has attracted world attention, he said, adding that as a true friend, China is happy for Azerbaijans achievements.

Xuanyou hailed bilateral and multilateral cooperation between Azerbaijan and China. He said presidents Ilham Aliyev and Xi Jinping defined strategic plans for the development of relations between the two countries when the Azerbaijani leader visited China last year.

He also said Azerbaijan was an important country on the Silk Road, expressing China`s readiness for all-round cooperation with Azerbaijan under The Silk Road Economic Belt initiative.

Azerbaijani ambassador Latif Qandilov highlighted the independence history of Azerbaijan.

Chairman of Azerbaijan Railways Javid Gurbanov stressed the importance of the restoration of independence to the people of Azerbaijan. He said Azerbaijan has become the regional leader and earned big influence on the international scale under President Ilham Aliyev.

The reception was attended by Chinese government officials, representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in Beijing, Azerbaijanis residing in China, as well as Chinese local public.
31 October 2016 13:20 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

The cotton growing, the full restoration of which is planned in the near future, has brought the country $29 million profit in 2015.



Eldar Ibrahimov, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Agrarian Policy made the statement on October 29, commenting on importance of the agriculture in the new policy of the country.



In 2015, the export of agricultural products amounted to approximately 47 percent (about $ 700 million) of all non-oil exports. Only due to cotton, we earned $29 million. This is very important, because if we give up the oil economy, then one of the most important spheres of the non-oil sector should be the agriculture," he said.



Ibrahimov emphasized that agriculture should be actively developed, adding that the president also pays special attention to this issue.

The government allocated loans and grants for the development of the agricultural sector, and keep the issue in focus," he said.

The parliamentarian further added that Azerbaijan will be able to meet the needs of its entire population in the agricultural products in the future.

"Currently, about 200,000 hectares of land are not used in the country and our goal is to use them," Ibrahimov said.

In the 1970-1980s, cotton production was of crucial importance for the national economy, accounting for approximately 25 percent of agricultural revenue. Then, Azerbaijan harvested a million tons of cotton per year.



Now, the country is still trying to compete for its place in the sun.

2016 is expected to be a period of development of cotton growing in the country, as the government is keen to support cotton production to give a new life to this industry.

Cotton is regarded as a strategic product and it is not by chance that it is called white gold. The country has big plans for next year and the preparations for 2017 have already begun.

Meanwhile, the recent presidential order envisages the state support of cotton production, awarding producers of cotton with grants in the amount of 0.1 manat ($0.06) for each kg of seed-cotton sold to processing enterprises.

--

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
By Trend

OPEC officials meeting in Vienna on Friday to work out the details of their plan to reduce oil production had yet to reach agreement after hours of talks, amid objections by Iran which has been reluctant to even freeze its output, OPEC sources said, Reuters reported.

The meeting of the High Level Committee is comprised mainly of OPEC governors and national representatives - officials who report to their respective ministers.

Talks were continuing 11 hours after they started at 10 a.m. local time but while there was still no agreement, progress was being made, one source said.

"There is no agreement yet, all agree except Iran," one OPEC source said, adding Iran was asking for an exemption.

Last month in Algiers, the Organization of the PetroleumExporting Countries agreed to reduce production of crude oil to a range of 32.50 million to 33 million barrels per day, its first output cut since 2008, to prop up prices.

The proposed plan faces potential setbacks from Iraq's call for it to be exempt and from countries including Iran, Libya and Nigeria whose output has been hit by sanctions or conflict and want to raise their output.

"It is getting complicated," an OPEC delegate said before the meeting began on Friday. "Every day there is a new issue coming up."

However, other OPEC officials including Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo have said they are optimistic a final deal will be reached.

"Our deliberations today, and tomorrow with some non-OPEC producers, could very well have fundamental ramifications for the market, as well as for the medium to long term of the industry," Barkindo said in a speech on the opening day of the two-day meeting, according to a text provided by OPEC.

The committee does not decide policy and will instead make recommendations to the next OPEC ministerial meeting on Nov. 30, also in Vienna.

How much each of the 14 OPEC members will produce is one of the matters the committee is examining.

Iraq, OPEC's second-biggest producer, said this week that it would not cut output and should be exempted from any curbs as it needs funds to fight Islamic State.

Meanwhile Iran has insisted on its right to recover market share after Western sanctions were lifted in January.

Baghdad's stance is likely to face opposition from other OPEC members, an OPEC source said on Friday.

The meeting is scheduled to continue for a second day on Saturday when representatives from non-OPEC nations, which OPEC wants to curb supplies as well, will also attend.

Non-OPEC nations sending representatives to Saturday's talks are Russia, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Oman, Azerbaijan, Brazil and Bolivia.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Bakersfield, CA (93308)

Today

Mostly sunny skies this morning will give way to occasional showers during the afternoon. High 71F. Winds NNW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Rain ending early. Remaining cloudy. Low near 50F. Winds NNW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
A documentary about the last wild bison followed by a question and answer session with the director.

Film screening of a newly released documentary from award-winning filmmaker Elke Duerr.

Enjoy this unique film experience while taking in the view of the Sandia Mountains on our outdoor patio!

Please bring your own lawn chairs / blankets.

WHERE: Open Space Visitor Center | 6500 Coors Blvd NW at the end of Bosque Meadows Rd. between Montano and Paseo del Norte.

October 29th, 2016 | 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Films runs 1 hour, ten minutes

Admission is a suggested pay what you can donation. All proceeds will benefit the Open Space Alliance and the Web of Life Foundation.

From the Award-winning director Elke Duerr, comes Bison Nation: Walking Sacred Sites. The first opportunity to view this film in New Mexico will be outdoors, under the stars at the stunning Open Space Visitor Center in celebration of its tenth anniversary.

Introduction and Blessing by Peggy Wellknownbuffalo from the Crow Nation & Director Elke Duerr

Buffalo Dance by Jim Red Eagle of the Nakota/Dakota/Lakota Nation

Screening of Bison Nation, 70 minutes

Q & A with the director, book signing

We are still here. This is our story, the story of the bison, who inhabit the Northern Hemisphere. You might also know us as buffalo, tatanka, zubr, wisent, basha, Inii, ethanon, tatanga, It is a comical story, because sometimes we are caught in politics, colonialism or religion. It is a story of disconnection and destruction as well as a story of hope, resilience, beauty, interconnectedness, return and reunion. We are walking sacred sites because we take care of our biggest sacred site: The Earth.

Elke is a filmmaker, conservationist and teacher and the founder and director of the nonprofit Web of Life Foundation W.O.L.F. Her favorite classes are with children as she loves to debunk myths and preconceived notions about our animals and natural world and revolutionize the way we see and experience nature.

Her full-length documentary Stories of Wolves-The Lobo returns premiered in Santa Fe, New Mexico in October of 2011. She is the recent recipient of four awards for this film: Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards Stories of Wolves Documentary Feature Jury Mention, Hollywood Independent Documentary Awards Stories of Wolves Feature Winner, Hollywood Independent Documentary Awards Woman Filmmaker Feature Winner, and International Independent Film Awards Documentary Feature Silver Winner 2016.

The Open Space Visitor Center is located at 6500 Coors Blvd. NW between Montano Rd. and Paseo del Norte at the end of Bosque Meadows Rd. The Center is open Tuesday through Sunday, 9:00 AM  5:00 PM and closed Mondays. Call 897-8831 for more information or visit www.cabq.gov/openspace.
United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. STEVE LAVON BIGGINS, Defendant-Appellant. No. 14-12545 Decided: October 28, 2016

Before MARCUS, JORDAN and JULIE CARNES, Circuit Judges.

Steve Lavon Biggins appeals his special condition of supervised release prohibiting him from possessing or viewing depictions of adults in the nude and/ or engaged in sexual activity, imposed after being found guilty at trial of one count of interstate transportation of a minor for prohibited sexual activity, in violation of 18 U.S.C.  2423(a); one count of production of child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C.  2251(a), (e); and one count of transportation of child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C.  2252(a)(1), (b). On appeal, Biggins argues that the condition as a whole as well as the specific ban on adult nudity are not reasonably related to the 18 U.S.C.  3553(a) factors and entail a greater deprivation of liberty than reasonably required for deterrence, protection, and rehabilitation. After careful review, we affirm in part, and vacate and remand in part.

We review the imposition of special conditions of supervised release for abuse of discretion. United States v. Taylor, 338 F.3d 1280, 1283 (11th Cir. 2003). We will not reverse unless we have a definite and firm conviction that the district court committed a clear error of judgment in the conclusion it reached. Id.

A district court may order special conditions of supervised release so long as each condition: (1) is reasonably related to the nature and circumstances of the offense, history and characteristics of the defendant, the need for adequate deterrence, the need to protect the public, and the need to provide the defendant with needed training, medical care, or correctional treatment in an effective manner; (2) involves no greater deprivation of liberty than is reasonably necessary to accomplish the goals of deterrence, protecting the public, and rehabilitation; and (3) is consistent with any pertinent policy statements issued by the Sentencing Commission. 18 U.S.C.  3583(d)(1)-(3); see 18 U.S.C.  3553(a)(1), (2)(B)-(D). It is not necessary for a special condition to be supported by each relevant  3553(a) factor; rather, each factor is an independent consideration to be weighed. United States v. Tome, 611 F.3d 1371, 1376 (11th Cir. 2010). While a condition of supervised release should not unduly restrict a defendant's liberty, a condition is not invalid simply because it affects a probationer's ability to exercise constitutionally protected rights. Id. (quotation omitted).

We will vacate a condition of supervised release if it is so vague and broad that a court could not determine if it meets the statutory requirements. See United States v. Ridgeway, 319 F.3d 1313, 1316-17 (11th Cir. 2003). In Ridgeway, a defendant convicted of possessing an unregistered firearm was ordered as a condition of supervised release to refrain from conduct or activities which would give reasonable cause to believe [he has] violated any criminal law. Id. at 1314. We vacated the condition because it proscribed a range of behavior so broad as to be inherently vague, such that a court could not reasonably determine if it met the requirements of being reasonably related to the sentencing factors or entailing no greater deprivation of liberty than necessary. Id. at 1316-17.

However, we will uphold conditions that relate to the sentencing factors where the prohibited activity is central to the defendant's offense. See Taylor, 338 F.3d at 1284-85. In Taylor, we upheld a special condition prohibiting a defendant, who was convicted of using the internet to transmit information about a minor with the intent to encourage others to engage in criminal sexual activity with the minor, from using or possessing a computer with internet access. Id. at 1285-86. The defendant argued the special condition was unreasonable and overbroad, impinging on his right to use computers for legitimate purposes. Id. at 1285. We concluded that the district court did not abuse its discretion in imposing the condition because the defendant's crime was not merely enabled by the internet, but rather the internet was the very tool he used to commit the crime, capitalizing on its effectiveness as a means of reaching pedophiles. Id.

Moreover, whether the defendant's offense or history involves pornography is a relevant consideration in imposing conditions that bar access to sexually explicit material. See Carpenter, 803 F.3d 1224, 1240 (11th Cir. 2015). In Carpenter, a possession of child pornography case, we held that the district court did not plainly err by imposing as a supervised release condition that the defendant not access depictions of  adults engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Id. at 1230, 1239-40. In so doing, we cited cases from other circuits where similar conditions had been upheld. See id. at 1240 (citing United States v. Rearden, 349 F.3d 608, 620 (9th Cir. 2003) (holding that a ban on a defendant's possession of materials depicting sexually explicit conduct was not plain error because the condition furthered the goals of rehabilitation and protecting the public, and the phrase sexually explicit conduct was neither vague nor overbroad); United States v. Ristine, 335 F.3d 692, 694-95 (8th Cir. 2003) (upholding a pornography ban that was appropriately tailored to serve its dual purposes of promoting [the defendant's] rehabilitation and protecting children from exploitation.)).

However, several circuits have disapproved of conditions of supervised release that prohibited the viewing of all depictions of adult nudity. See, e.g., United States v. Gnirke, 775 F.3d 1155, 1163-65 (9th Cir. 2015) (limiting a condition that barred viewing non-pornographic depictions of adults, as well as patronizing places where those depictions were available because the breadth of the condition made it more likely the defendant would unwittingly violate it by carrying on everyday activities); United States v. Siegel, 753 F.3d 705, 712-13 (7th Cir. 2014) (striking down a condition barring material containing nudity as overbroad and suggesting the condition be rephrased as material that depicts nudity in a prurient or sexually arousing manner); United States v. Simons, 614 F.3d 475, 483, 485 (8th Cir. 2010) (vacating a condition barring material containing nudity because it involved a greater deprivation of liberty than reasonably necessary and would prohibit the defendant from viewing a biology textbook or works of art, instead of simply limiting access to pornography if that was the court's intent).

First, we are unpersuaded by Biggins's challenge to the special condition of supervised release prohibiting him from possessing or viewing depictions of adults engaged in sexual activity. Biggins was convicted of producing and transporting child pornography; far from being devoid of mentions of using or abusing pornography, the record here revolves around its production and use. In other words, the use of pornography was not merely incidental to Biggins's crimes but central to them. See Carpenter, 803 F.3d at 1240; Taylor, 338 F.3d at 1284-85. Thus, as the record makes clear, the ban is reasonably related to the nature and circumstances of the offense, the need to protect the public, and the need to rehabilitate the defendant. See 18 U.S.C.  3583(d)(1), 3553(a)(1), (2)(C)-(D).

Nor does the condition deprive Biggins of more liberty than is reasonably necessary to accomplish the goals of deterrence, protecting the public, and rehabilitation. See 18 U.S.C.  3583(d)(2), 3553(a)(2)(B)-(D). This portion of the supervised release condition is limited to prohibiting Biggins's possession or viewing of adults engaged in sexual activity and it is not so vague that a court could not determine if it meets the statutory requirements. See Ridgeway, 319 F.3d at 1316-17. Therefore, the district court did not abuse its discretion in imposing this portion of the condition.

We are persuaded, however, by Biggins's challenge to the special condition prohibiting him from possessing or viewing depictions of adults in the nude. The government says that the specific restriction on adult nudity is reasonably related to the  3553(a) factors here, because he used two nude pictures of himself to entice the minor victim into an illegal sexual relationship. The government also relies on two child pornography cases where different kinds of conditions were upheld. In United States v. Zinn, 321 F.3d 1084 (11th Cir. 2003), we upheld limited restrictions on internet use by a defendant convicted of possessing child pornography, in light of the strong link between child pornography and the Internet, and the need to protect the public, particularly children, from sex offenders. Id. at 1092. Similarly, in United States v. Moran, 573 F.3d 1132, 1139-40 (11th Cir. 2009), we held that typical conditions for sex offenders -- like internet restrictions, imposed mental health treatment, and child pornography bans -- were directly related to the defendant's history as a convicted sex offender.

The conditions in both of those cases, however, were more closely related to the sentencing factors than the all-nudity ban that was imposed here. Indeed, we see little connection between a ban on viewing all depictions of adult nudity and the fact that Biggins sent two nude photos of himself months before the events of his offense. Thus, we cannot say that the broad condition reasonably relates to the pertinent sentencing factors, as required by the supervised release statute. See 18 U.S.C.  3583(d)(1).

What's more, the nudity condition appears to involve a greater deprivation of liberty than is reasonably necessary for the purposes of deterrence, protection, and rehabilitation. See id.  3583(d)(2), 3553(a)(2)(B)-(D). Unlike the portion of the condition banning depictions of adults engaged in sexual activity, the ban on all depictions of adults in the nude is overbroad and overly restrictive. As our sister circuits have recognized, given the ubiquity of nudity in marketing and media, the breadth of the prohibition makes it more likely that Biggins will unwittingly violate the condition by carrying on everyday activities like shopping, watching television, visiting a museum, seeing a mainstream movie, or reading a mainstream magazine, biology textbook or art book. See, e.g., Gnirke, 775 F.3d at 1163, 1165; Simons, 614 F.3d at 483. As a result, the special condition may impinge on Biggins's constitutionally protected right to view non-obscene materials that, taken as a whole, have serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. See Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, 24 (1973). And while the government is correct that a condition of supervised release is not invalid simply because it affects a defendant's ability to exercise constitutionally protected rights, it is also true that the condition may not unduly restrict a defendant's liberty, which we believe the condition does in this instance. Tome, 611 F.3d at 1376.

For these reasons, we are constrained to conclude that the district court abused its discretion in imposing the portion of the special condition banning all depictions of adults in the nude. On remand, we leave it to the sound discretion of the district court to determine whether it should strike this portion of the condition, or whether it should modify it so that it is more closely related to the sentencing factors at issue here and involves a lesser deprivation of liberty. See, e.g., Siegel, 753 F.3d at 712-13 (suggesting that the phrase contains nudity be rephrased as material that depicts nudity in a prurient or sexually arousing manner).

Accordingly, we affirm the portion of Biggins's special condition barring depictions of adults engaged in sexual activity, vacate the portion prohibiting depictions of adults in the nude, and remand for resentencing consistent with this opinion.

AFFIRMED in part and VACATED and REMANDED in part.

FOOTNOTES

. As for the claim that plain error applies here, we disagree. In United States v. Carpenter, 803 F.3d 1224, 1238 (11th Cir. 2015), we applied plain error review to a challenge to a special condition prohibiting depictions of adults engaged in sexually explicit conduct because the defendant had never once expressly objected to the condition, either in objections to the PSI, in a sentencing memorandum, or at the sentencing hearing. Here, however, Biggins expressly objected in his sentencing memorandum to the special condition concerning legal adult nude photography or pornography as excessive and beyond necessary to accomplish the sentencing goals. While it is true that Biggins did not argue this issue at the sentencing hearing, the transcript suggests that his counsel did not have an opportunity to do so because the hearing abruptly ended after counsel raised his first concern about the sentence. On this record, we think the issue was sufficiently preserved for appeal. See, e.g., United States v. Candelario, 240 F.3d 1300, 130405 (11th Cir. 2001) (citing, with approval, a circuit court decision reviewing the defendant's sentence under preserved error review where the defendant argued in his sentencing memorandum that the amount of drugs for which he was to be sentenced had to be pleaded in the indictment and found by the jury beyond a reasonable doubt (quotation omitted)).

PER CURIAM:
United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Appellee, v. OMAR FIGUEROA-RIVERA, Defendant, Appellant. No. 15-1481 Decided: October 28, 2016

Before Thompson, Dyk,* and Kayatta, Circuit Judges. Robert Millan on brief for appellant. Rosa Emilia RodriguezVelez, United States Attorney, Mariana E. Bauza-Almonte, Assistant United States Attorney, Chief, Appellate Division, and Julia M. Meconiates, Assistant United States Attorney, on brief for appellee.

Set Up

As part of a nonbinding plea agreement, Omar Figueroa-Rivera pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime, in violation of 18 U.S.C.  924(c)(1)(A). The parties jointly recommended a sentence of 60 months in prison, the mandatory minimum sentence  and also the guideline sentence. See United States v. BermudezMelendez, 827 F.3d 160, 164 (1st Cir. 2016). But the district judge gave Figueroa-Rivera a 72-month term instead.

Figueroa-Rivera thinks his sentence is both procedurally and substantively unreasonable. But reviewing his preserved challenges for abuse of discretion, see United States v. Razo, 782 F.3d 31, 36 (1st Cir. 2015), we think the opposite is true.

Procedural Reasonableness

Figueroa-Rivera first accuses the judge of not adequately explaining why a sentence 12 months above the statutory minimum was called for. The record shows otherwise, however. Before imposing sentence, the judge heard and considered the defense's leniency plea  e.g., that Figueroa-Rivera was not a hardened outlaw but rather a tenth-grade-educated father of three who had a good job as a butcher, and who had no prior criminal convictions, had cooperated truthfully with the police, and had expressed genuine remorse for his misdoings. And referencing the local crime rate  guns like the one Figueroa-Rivera possessed are present everywhere, the judge said  the judge hit on the relevant sentencing factors, see 18 U.S.C.  3553(a), emphasizing that any selected prison term had to advance certain objectives, like respect for the law, just punishment, deterrence, and public protection. And he concluded that a 72-month prison stint better served these sentencing objectives than a 60-month stint. A judge must say enough for us to meaningfully review the sentence's reasonableness. See United States v. FernandezCabrera, 625 F.3d 48, 53 (1st Cir. 2010) (noting that a judge's explanation need not be precise to the point of pedantry). And the judge did that here.

Next Figueroa-Rivera says the judge placed too much weight on local-crime-rate concerns and too little weight on his individual characteristics. We think not. As we just said, the judge discussed Figueroa-Rivera's personal background and traits, as well a number of  3553(a) factors. True, the judge did mention the local crime rate. But he did so in talking about the need for deterrence  an indisputably legitimate sentencing goal. See, e.g., United States v. Flores-Machicote, 706 F.3d 16, 23 (1st Cir. 2013). Our review of the entire record convinces us that the judge sentenced Figueroa-Rivera after taking in the totality of the circumstances, with community-based concerns just a part of that mix  and Figueroa-Rivera points us to nothing showing that the judge gave those concerns undue weight. See id. So this facet of his procedural-unreasonableness argument fails too. See generally United States v. SuarezGonzalez, 760 F.3d 96, 101-02 (1st Cir. 2014) (explaining that balancing the relevant sentencing factors is precisely the function that a sentencing court is expected to perform); United States v. CarrascodeJesus, 589 F.3d 22, 29 (1st Cir. 2009) (holding that [a] criminal defendant is entitled to a weighing of relevant factors, not to a particular result).

Substantive Reasonableness

Finding no procedural error, we turn to Figueroa-Rivera's substantive-unreasonableness claim. His primary argument is that because the judge put undue weight on the local crime rate, the 72-month sentence is not supported by a plausible rationale. Cf. generally United States v. Martin, 520 F.3d 87, 96 (1st Cir. 2008) (emphasizing that a sentence is substantively reasonable if it reflects a plausible rationale and a defensible result). But our rejection of his undue-weight theory above throws cold water on this theory too.

As a fallback, Figueroa-Rivera says that we must factor three cases  United States v. Rivera-Gonzalez, 776 F.3d 45 (1st Cir. 2015); United States v. Vargas-Garcia, 794 F.3d 162 (1st Cir. 2015); and United States v. Oquendo-Garcia, 783 F.3d 54 (1st Cir. 2015)  into our assessment of the appropriate[ness] of the upward variance imposed. The defendants there  who got upward variances of 24, 30, and 24 months over the 60-month guideline sentence  had serious criminal histories, Figueroa-Rivera notes. See respectively Rivera-Gonzalez, 776 F.3d at 48, 52; Vargas-Garcia, 794 F.3d at 165; Oquendo-Garcia, 783 F.3d at 55-56. And, the argument continues, because his criminal history was less serious than theirs, the judge could only have whacked him with a 12-month variance by relying too much on the local crime rate and not enough on his individual characteristics. We are unpersuaded. True, Figueroa-Rivera's criminal history did not match those of the defendants in his trio of cases. But as we just said, the judge did consider his personal characteristics  without giving unreasonable weight to the local crime rate  and offered a plausible rationale and reached a defensible result. That means that this aspect of his substantive-reasonableness claim is a no-go.

Wrap Up

Having found Figueroa-Rivera's arguments wanting, we affirm his sentence.

FOOTNOTES

. We pull the background facts from the plea agreement and the transcripts from the relevant court hearings, as is customary in cases like this. See, e.g., United States v. RomeroGalindez, 782 F.3d 63, 65 n.1 (1st Cir. 2015).

. Because the judge's sentence exceeded the parties' recommendation, the waiver-of-appeal clause Figueroa-Rivera had agreed to is a dead letter. SeeBermudezMelendez, 827 F.3d at 163.

. Before ending we deal with one last issue. Figueroa-Rivera argues in his reply brief that the plea agreement bars the government from defending the reasonableness of the upwardly variant sentence on appeal. If he is right, that would leave us without the benefit of full briefing on both sides of this sentencing dispute. He is not right, though. Yes, as Figueroa-Rivera notes, the plea agreement  by its very terms  required the government to recommend that the judge sentence him to a 60-month term, a requirement the government lived up to. But critically, he highlights no language banning the government from contesting any appeal he might pursue. So this argument is a nonstarter.

THOMPSON, Circuit Judge.
United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit. LUIS ESTUARDO ORDONEZ-SANTAY, Petitioner, v. LORETTA E. LYNCH, Attorney General of the United States,* Respondent. No. 15-1067 Decided: October 28, 2016

Before Howard, Chief Judge, Lynch and Kayatta, Circuit Judges. Hans J. Bremer and Bremer Law & Associates, LLC on brief for petitioner. Michele Y. F. Sarko, Office of Immigration Litigation, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, Benjamin C. Mizer, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, and Cindy S. Ferrier, Assistant Director, on brief for respondent.

Petitioner Luis Estuardo Ordonez-Santay (Ordonez), a native and citizen of Guatemala, asks us to review a Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) order denying his motion to reconsider. After careful review of the briefs and the record, we deny the petition.

I.

Ordonez came to the United States in 2008 and was subsequently served with a Notice to Appear charging him as removable pursuant to Immigration and Nationality Act  212(a)(6)(A)(i). In response, Ordonez sought asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT).

In support of these claims, Ordonez testified that, in 2006, members of a vigilante group in his community coerced him to join them. Ordonez explained that he participated in the group's activities for two years and left Guatemala because [he] did not feel like [he] was free there anymore. Though Ordonez was never harmed in Guatemala, he expressed fear that members of the vigilante group might kill him if he returned.

The Immigration Judge (IJ) pretermitted Ordonez's application for asylum and denied his applications for withholding of removal and protection under the CAT. The BIA summarily affirmed the IJ's decision. Ordonez eschewed the opportunity to seek judicial review at that time and instead moved for reconsideration. The BIA denied the motion to reconsider on the grounds that there was no error of fact or law in [its] prior order  to warrant  reconsideration.

Ordonez filed this timely petition for review. The only decision before us is the BIA's denial of the motion to reconsider; the original order denying relief is not implicated. See Liu v. Mukasey, 553 F.3d 37, 39 (1st Cir. 2009); see also Abdullah v. Gonzales, 461 F.3d 92, 99 (1st Cir. 2006).

II.

We review the BIA's denial of a motion to reconsider solely for abuse of discretion. Onwuamaegbu v. Gonzales, 470 F.3d 405, 407 (1st Cir. 2006). Under this highly deferential standard, we must uphold the BIA's decision unless it was made without a rational explanation, inexplicably departed from established policies, or rested on an impermissible basis. Zhang v. INS 348 F.3d 289, 293 (1st Cir. 2003) (quoting Nascimento v. INS, 274 F.3d 26, 28 (1st Cir. 2001)) (internal quotation marks omitted). Ordonez has advanced no argument that would warrant overturning the BIA's denial of his motion under the abuse of discretion standard; in fact, his brief is notably silent on this point. See Mana v. Gonzales, 128 F. App'x 167, 170 (1st Cir. 2005).

The record bears out the BIA's conclusion that Ordonez's motion for reconsideration was deficient because it failed to identify any material error of law or fact in the earlier decisions. See Liu, 553 F.3d at 39. When, as here, a movant simply rehashes contentions previously made and rejected, he has no legal basis to insist upon reconsideration. See id.; see also Ahmed v. Ashcroft, 388 F.3d 247, 249 (7th Cir. 2004).

Finally, we note that Ordonez's appellate brief focuses entirely on showing that he satisfied his burden of demonstrating that he will more likely than not face persecution [based on a protected ground]  if he returns to Guatemala, thus qualifying him for withholding of removal. Ordonez cannot use the motion for reconsideration as a vehicle for a belated appeal from the order of removal. See Mana, 128 F. App'x at 169170.

III.

For the reasons stated, the petition is DENIED.

FOOTNOTES

. We may, however, review the underlying decision to the extent necessary to determine whether the BIA abused its discretion in denying the motion to reconsider. Liu v. Mukasey, 553 F.3d 37, 39 n.1 (1st Cir. 2009)

Per curiam.
United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit. PLAMEN IVKOV AYVAZOV, a/k/a REKIP AYVAZOV, Petitioner v. ATTORNEY GENERAL UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondent Nos. 14-4151 Decided: October 27, 2016

BEFORE: FUENTES,*CHAGARES, and RESTREPO, Circuit Judges Raymond G. Lahoud, Esq. [ARGUED], Baurkot & Baurkot, 227 South 7th Street, Easton, PA 18042, Counsel for Petitioner Eric H. Holder, Jr., Esq., Thomas W. Hussey, Esq., Jenny C. Lee, Esq. [ARGUED], John M. McAdams, Jr., Esq., United States Department of Justice, Office of Immigration Litigation, P.O. Box 878, Ben Franklin Station, Washington, DC 20044, Counsel for Respondent

OPINION**

Plamen Ayvazov, a citizen of Bulgaria, petitions for review of three orders of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). The first order denied his applications for asylum and related relief, while the second and third denied motions to reopen. As explained further below, we will 1) grant in part and deny in part the first petition, 2) grant the second, 3) deny the third, and 4) remand this matter to the BIA for further proceedings.

I.

Ayvazov entered the United States from Mexico in March 2006, along with his brother and his brother's wife (Ayvazov's own wife had earlier entered the United States). He was detained and charged with being inadmissible under 8 U.S.C.  1182(a)(7)(A)(i)(I) for lacking proper entry papers.

Ayvazov applied for asylum and related relief on the basis of his race, nationality, political opinion, and membership in a particular social group. Identifying his ethnicity as Roma Gypsy, he claimed that he and his family had been severely mistreated by Bulgarian agencies and the country's police force. This mistreatment included ghettoization, beatings, arrests, and denials of employment and access to social services.

In an attached affidavit, Ayvazov identified again as a Roma Gypsy, explaining that Roma Gypsies  have been historically discriminated against and severely persecuted in our native Bulgaria and describing both his historical and recent mistreatment in greater detail. For instance, Ayvazov claimed membership in a Roma rights organization, Euroroma, which had been the flashpoint for several of the antagonistic encounters with police. In one 2005 incident, a Euroroma meeting was raided by police officers who dragged Ayvazov to the local police station, beat him, attempted to elicit false confessions to unrelated crimes, and called him a dirty Gypsy  not worthy to live on Earth. After, he was hospitalized, covered with blood.

Although Ayvazov's applications for relief from removal were filed in 2006, his immigration proceedings did not really begin in earnest until the matter was transferred from California to Philadelphia a few years later. The first hearing of significance took place in July 2010, and was mostly dedicated to sorting out the evidence, which included his Euroroma membership card, pictures showing the scars from the injuries he sustained in his police encounters, and the affidavit that had accompanied his asylum application. Due in part to issues with the form of Ayvazov's evidence packet, the presiding Immigration Judge (IJ) explained to Ayvazov and his attorney that the matter would need to be put over to the next available hearing date, which she anticipated would be in about a year's time.

But before that July 2010 date drew to a close, the IJ flagged an issue: Ayvazov's ethnicity. Noting that anyone can walk in and say  I'm a Roma, the IJ said that she would really like to make sure that Ayvazov was in fact Roma, alluding to one or more previous cases she had heard involving dubious claims of Roma ethnicity. At this time, the IJ did not comment extensively on how Ayvazov might go about establishing his Roma ethnicity, although she did appear to accept that his name might reflect a Roma background.

The IJ's scheduling prediction turned out to be optimistic: the next hearing date was more than two years later, in November 2012. And as it began, the IJ remarked, incorrectly, that the prior hearing had ended early because there was no evidence of [Ayvazov's] ethnicity. Returning to the issue of ethnicity a few moments later, the IJ said she would bet if [she] were to replay the tape [of the July 2010 hearing], the tape would reveal the same thing I'm saying today[: Ayvazov] has not submitted any evidence that he's a member of the persecuted group. The IJ asked if Ayvazov could find some kind of expert  to tell us  what his ethnicity is because that would certainly  help his case. The participation of an expert arose again a few minutes later, when the IJ proposed taking Ayvazov's testimony right away so that there would be ample time to get the expert's testimony at the next hearing [date].

Before the start of Ayvazov's testimony, the IJ again admitted evidence into the record. Addressing Ayvazov's attorney, the IJ characterized the proffer as overwhelming evidence that Romas are targeted, Romas have a problem in Bulgaria  but not one iota of evidence that the respondent is in fact a Roma.  We have sufficient evidence to show that  Romas are not a group that's welcomed in Bulgaria.

Ayvazov's hearing testimony focused on many of the same incidents addressed in his earlier affidavit. He again spoke about his Roma ethnicity and his participation in Euroroma, explaining that he was identifiable as Roma in Bulgaria by his manner of dress, skin tone, and home address in a Roma ghetto. On cross, the government probed inconsistencies in his story, pertaining to the extent of his injuriesAyvazov blamed discrepancies between his oral testimony and a medical report on corruption whether he had completed his schooling in Bulgaria, and so on.

After Ayvazov finished testifying, the IJ informed the parties that she was scheduling an additional hearing date for December 18, a month and a half later. The IJ described this date as Ayvazov's deadline to find an expert on Roma and provide details of the expert's availability to testify and his or her CV. Ayvazov was advised to start [his search] with universities that have area studies. There appears to have been no discussion of any alternative means by which Ayvazov could satisfactorily corroborate his ethnicity.

When the parties reconvened on December 18, Ayvazov's counsel explained to the IJ that he and his client had been unable to find an expert witness; leads at Philadelphia's La Salle University and a school in Texas had not panned out or had otherwise not appeared helpful, and other potential experts were nervous about testifying. The IJ interpreted this to mean that there was no one available to testify about Ayvazov's ethnicity.

In a March 2013 oral decision, the IJ denied Ayvazov's applications for relief from removal. The IJ's analysis focused on Ayvazov's ethnicity, to the exclusion of those parts of his claim that were based on political opinion and social group membership. To that end, while the IJ explicitly found overwhelming evidence of Bulgarian persecution of Roma that would qualify many Roma  for asylum, she concluded that Ayvazov had failed to corroborate his ethnicity, affording the Euroroma card diminished weight because it had not been authenticated. The IJ separately decided that the inconsistencies in his testimony, in tandem with the lack of evidence regarding his ethnicity, merited an adverse credibility determination. Somewhat significantly, the IJ's opinion suggested for the first time that written or oral testimony from Ayvazov's wife and brother might have sufficed to corroborate his ethnicity.

The BIA dismissed Ayvazov's appeal, deciding that he had not testified credibly to establish his Roma ethnicity and had not met his burden to show persecution on that or any other ground. In so concluding, the BIA upheld the IJ's adverse credibility determination, which it characterized as being based on specific and cogent reasonschiefly, the inconsistencies between Ayvazov's hearing testimony and the medical exhibits. Turning to corroboration, the BIA held both that Ayvazov did not submit [or] adequately explain  the absence of  statements from his wife or brother  in order to corroborate [his] ethnicity or the alleged past harm and that affording limited weight to the Euroroma card was proper (because it had not been authenticated). Although Ayvazov had been given an opportunity to present an expert, the BIA noted that he had not done so. With the assistance of new counsel, Ayvazov timely petitioned for review of the BIA's decision (C.A. No. 14-4151).

Ayvazov then timely moved to reopen proceedings before the BIA on the basis of two new exhibits. The first was a report from one Dr. Eiden Perushko, an expert who resides in England. Dr. Perushko both commented on conditions for Roma in Bulgaria and corroborated Ayvazov's claim of Roma ethnicity. The second exhibit was an affidavit from Ayvazov's wife, who also corroborated his Roma ethnicity while claiming that his attorney had advised her not to testify because she lacked immigration status.

The BIA denied reopening on two grounds. First, the BIA decided that the mistreatment discussed in Dr. Perushko's report did not rise to the level of persecution. Second, the BIA held that information on country conditions in Bulgaria did not amount to newly available evidence, as it could have been obtained prior to the 2013 hearing. Animating both parts of the BIA's decision was a suggestion that Dr. Perushko's report contained only background information showing the generally adverse conditions faced by the Roma population in Bulgaria. The BIA made no mention of the report's discussion of Ayvazov's ethnicity, or otherwise of his wife's separate affidavit. Ayvazov petitioned for review of this decision (C.A. No. 15-1658).

Finally, Ayvazov filed another motion to reopen predicated on ineffective assistance of prior counsel. The motion set forth, in part, previous counsel's efforts to find documents or witnesses to corroborate Ayvazov's ethnicityefforts that switched to finding an expert witness after the November 2012 hearing. The BIA denied reopening as time- and number-barred and otherwise without merit. A third petition for review followed (C.A. No. 15-3069).

We consolidated the three petitions for review. They have been fully briefed and are ready to be decided.

II.25

Because they present related issues, we address the first and second petitions for review together. Bearing in mind that our task is to review the rationale actually provided by the agency, we conclude that the first petition should be granted in part and the second granted in its entirety.

We begin by observing that the IJ explicitly found overwhelming evidence that Roma are indeed targeted for persecution in Bulgaria. This finding, which has never been disturbed, is of no small importance, as it suggests that even if the IJ did not fully credit Ayvazov's story of past persecution, she might yet have granted his asylum claim based on a well-founded fear of future persecution. She also found, however, that Ayvazov had not adequately corroborated his Roma ethnicitya finding upheld by the BIA.

While an alien, regardless of credibility, can be required to corroborate elements of his or her story, we agree with Ayvazov that the process went awry here. The BIA suggested that it was within Ayvazov's power to corroborate using statements from his wife or his brother, but as shown in the recitation above, he was told by the IJ that expert testimony would be required; the possibility of satisfying the IJ's request for corroboration using his wife or brother did not arise until after the IJ had rendered her decision. This does not substantially conform with the three-step process for corroboration that we have articulated in cases like Abdulai v. Ashcroft.

We further think it improper as an independent matter, even outside of the Abdulai framework, to require an alien to corroborate his or her ethnicity using expert testimony, except in truly extraordinary circumstances. Acquiring the services of an expert, especially on short notice (arguably the case here, given the month that passed between the two 2012 hearing dates) or for clients of limited means, is not a minor undertaking. Instructing counsel to blanket the local university campuses during the holiday season is far from guaranteed to yield reliable sources willing and able to testify.

In moving to reopen, Ayvazov tried to remediate the lack of corroboration by providing Dr. Perushko's expert report and an affidavit from his wife. While the BIA's decision on reopening is entitled to extensive deference, we think it missed the mark. The agency held that the information in these exhibits was previously available, yet did so entirely on the basis of the background country conditions in the report. The BIA did not comment on the report's discussion of Ayvazov's Roma ethnicity or otherwise determine, in light of the procedural problems affecting the earlier corroboration process, that this information should or should not have been previously available.

The BIA offered another ground for denying reopening: the new evidence would not have made any difference, because Ayvazov had failed to establish a prima facie case for the relief sought. As discussed above, the agency failed to reach the truly material part of the new submissions. In fact, it went further, deciding that the report failed to show persecution of the Roma in Bulgaria. But as the BIA never had reason to reach, much less repudiate, the IJ's previous decision that country conditions in Bulgaria did appear to show persecution of those of Roma ethnicity, we agree with Ayvazov that this factfinding was improper. Since we are limited to reviewing the agency's explanation of its decision, this counsels in favor of granting the petition.

In sum, we conclude that the BIA's original merits decision was flawed inasmuch as it both independently and by incorporation reflected an erroneous corroboration determination, and that the BIA's decision on reopening missed the actual claim that Ayvazov was attempting to advance. Accordingly, the first petition will be granted in part, and the second granted in its entirety.

III.

Ayvazov's second motion to reopen was premised on ineffective assistance of counsel. His petition for review from the BIA's decision denying it, however, appears to rehash many of the same arguments from his second petition for review. We see no reason to disturb the BIA's order denying the second motion to reopen, and will accordingly deny the third petition for review.

IV.

For the reasons set forth above, we will grant the petitions in part. The matter will be remanded to the BIA for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

FOOTNOTES

. As Ayvazov has explicitly abandoned his withholding of removal and Convention Against Torture claims, see Ayvazov Br., C.A. No. 14-4151, at 24, we will discuss only his application for asylum.

. Administrative Record (A.R.) 959. All record citations are to the administrative record in C.A. No. 15-3069, as it is the most comprehensive of the three.

. A.R. 960.

. A.R. 960.

. See A.R. 608.

. A.R. 603.

. See A.R. 604.

. A.R. 619.

. A.R. 625.

. A.R. 62526.

. A.R. 62829.

. A.R. 634.

. A.R. 704.

. A.R. 71619.

. A.R. 719.

. A.R. 72325.

. A.R. 727.

. A.R. 525.

. A.R. 527.

. A.R. 450.

. A.R. 451.

. A.R. 452.

. A.R. 452.

. A.R. 367.

. We have jurisdiction to review the BIA's orders under 8 U.S.C.  1252(a)(1). Factual findings, including adverse credibility determinations, are reviewed for substantial evidence. Shardar v. Ashcroft, 382 F.3d 318, 323 (3d Cir. 2004). We review the BIA's written decisions except to the extent that they defer to or adopt the IJ's analysis. Calla-Collado v. Att'y Gen., 663 F.3d 680, 683 (3d Cir. 2011) (per curiam). Petitions arising from motions to reopen are reviewed under a deferential abuse-of-discretion standard. Filja v. Gonzales, 447 F.3d 241, 251 (3d Cir. 2006).

. Konan v. Att'y Gen., 432 F.3d 497, 501 (3d Cir. 2005).

. A.R. 525.

. See Valdiviezo-Galdamez v. Att'y Gen., 663 F.3d 582, 590 (3d Cir. 2011).

. We note that the agency's decisions on credibility and corroboration are somewhat entangled, see Toure v. Att'y Gen., 443 F.3d 310, 323 (3d Cir. 2006), but we endeavor to keep them distinct; however, this should be addressed on remand.

. See 8 U.S.C.  1158(b)(1)(B)(ii).

. A.R. 452.

. 239 F.3d 542, 55152 (3d Cir. 2001). As a related matter, the BIA upheld the IJ's decision to give the Euroroma card little weight because it was not authenticated. The BIA's citation of our decision in Chen v. Gonzalez, 434 F.3d 212, 218 n.6 (3d Cir. 2005), suggests that the agency thought that the card needed to be authenticated pursuant to 8 C.F.R.  287.6 or  1287.6. However, those regulations apply only to official records. Lin v. Att'y Gen., 700 F.3d 683, 68687 (3d Cir. 2012). It is unclear whether a card showing membership in a political organization, see A.R. 656, would need to be so authenticated. The BIA may make such an initial determination or clarification on remand.

. See Lin, 700 F.3d at 686.

. See Ayvazov Br., C.A. No. 15-1658, at 1516; see also 8 C.F.R.  1003.1(d)(3)(iv) (prohibiting the BIA from engaging in factfinding on appeal); Kaplun v. Att'y Gen., 602 F.3d 260, 272 (3d Cir. 2010) (noting that BIA must review IJ findings of fact under a clearly erroneous standard). We observe that the IJ incorrectly advised Ayvazov that he could present expert testimony for the first time on appeal.

. Because it was intertwined with corroboration, we do not reach Ayvazov's credibility at this time, although the agency can freely reexamine the matter on remand. The agency's ultimate decision regarding credibility can be raised in a future petition for review to this Court, if it is necessary to do so.

FUENTES, Circuit Judge:
A senior community was found to be in violation of the Fair Housing Act after failing to allow a disabled person to live in the park, even though the person was under the set age limit.

Nikole Haase, 27, not allowed to live with mother Linda at Skyview Estates

Nikole is wheelchair-bound, requires constant care

Case will set precedent, change the way senior communities operate in Florida

Linda Haase, 55, wanted to move into Skyview Estates in Lakeland to be closer to her family, who also live in the community.



The park, however only allows people 55 and older to live in homes inside the gated property. It does make exceptions for people over 45, if they are also living with a 55 year old.



Haase was allowed to move in, but board members voted to not allow her 27-year-old daughter Nikole to live there because she is too young.



Nikole is wheelchair bound, with cerebral palsy, and requires constant care. As Nikole's primary caregiver, Linda petitioned the park to allow them to live together there due to her disability.



When the park refused, Haase filed a complaint with the Florida Commission on Human Relations, which sided with her. The commission found the park was in violation of the Fair Housing Act, and forced Skyview Estates to allow Nikole to move in.



We are not discriminating against a handicapped person," said Bonnie Powell, President of Skyview Estates in Lakeland. "We are discriminating against a 27 year old,



Powell says this case will set a precedent and change the way senior living communities in Florida operate.



Our next move will have to be to talk to an attorney and ask him if we have any grounds , or if we, The Villages, any retirement community is now going to have to allow any disabled person of any age into our communities, said Powell.



Linda couldnt understand why the park wouldnt make an accommodation for her daughter. Nikole enjoys painting, reading, and being with her grandparents.



It is the law -- reasonable accommodation for a disabled child whose parent is the age that can live here," said Linda. "Its huge because I am her primary caregiver and she has to live with me."



The commissions investigation into the case revealed there were other younger members living in the park without any repercussions. Powell said she has documents to prove that is not the case, and plans to fight the decision.



It will change every retirement community in Florida," Powell said. This isnt just us, its going to set a precedent.



Its a precedent the Haase family believes is necessary to protect the rights of people with disabilities.



The park board members will meet in the next few weeks to decide how to move forward with the case.



Linda Haase may have a civil case too, according to the Florida Commission on Human Relations.








The Beaumont Enterprise/Cat5 Magazine/Tokyo Japanese Steakhouse

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United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit. TYRONE PATRICK, Petitioner  Appellant, v. WARDEN PERRY CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION, Respondent - Appellee. No. 16-6581 Decided: October 28, 2016

Before AGEE and KEENAN, Circuit Judges, and DAVIS, Senior Circuit Judge. Tyrone Patrick, Appellant Pro Se. Melody Jane Brown, Assistant Attorney General, Donald John Zelenka, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Columbia, South Carolina, for Appellee.

Tyrone Patrick seeks to appeal the district court's orders accepting the recommendation of the magistrate judge, denying relief on his 28 U.S.C.  2254 (2012) petition and denying his motion to reconsider. The orders are not appealable unless a circuit justice or judge issues a certificate of appealability. 28 U.S.C.  2253(c)(1)(A) (2012). A certificate of appealability will not issue absent a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right. 28 U.S.C.  2253(c)(2) (2012). When the district court denies relief on the merits, a prisoner satisfies this standard by demonstrating that reasonable jurists would find that the district court's assessment of the constitutional claims is debatable or wrong. Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 484 (2000); see Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322, 336-38 (2003). When the district court denies relief on procedural grounds, the prisoner must demonstrate both that the dispositive procedural ruling is debatable, and that the petition states a debatable claim of the denial of a constitutional right. Slack, 529 U.S. at 484-85.

We have independently reviewed the record and conclude that Patrick has not made the requisite showing. Accordingly, we deny a certificate of appealability and dismiss the appeal. We deny Patrick's motion for a transcript at government expense and 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.

DISMISSED

PER CURIAM:
Growing evidence suggests using battlefield language to galvanize terminally ill patients to meet their treatments with enthusiasm may be doing more harm than good, according to Seema Marwaha, MD, clinician investigator at Trillium Health Partners Institute for Better Health in Ontario.

In a recent article for VICE, Dr. Marwaha states phrases like "we can beat this" or "you are a fighter" are ubiquitous in cancer care, but questions how beneficial this language is.

Research from the University of Lancaster in the United Kingdom has previously shown the use of militaristic metaphors in the care process can lead to feelings of failure and guilt among terminally ill patients.

Linguistics professor and lead researcher of the Lancaster study, Elena Semino, PhD, told Dr. Marwaha, "When the metaphor is used in situations where the disease is incurable, that makes the person who is dying a loser and responsible for not getting better."

In Dr. Semino's latest study, scheduled for publication next year, evidence shows North Americans use higher levels of aggressive language when describing end-of-life care than other regions. This finding suggests North Americans view death as failure, something most people are not comfortable discussing.

James Downar, MD, palliative and intensive care specialist at Toronto's University Health Network, told Dr. Marwaha that while the language of warfare can be empowering to some patients, sometimes such nomenclature can influence patients into taking futile, potentially harmful treatments so they are not viewed as "quitters."

"If you are going to call it a battle or fight, you have to understand you are calling a large proportion of patients losers," said Dr. Downar.

To read Dr. Marwaha's complete article in VICE, click here.

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11 hospitals in Florida with top nurse-patient communication scores
The research and development landscape in the spine industry is full of barriers to entry, fraught with red tape and littered with failed ideas that never make it past the concept phase. The common thread among companies able to navigate this environment and develop breakthrough innovations is agility. Agility enables innovators to adapt to a rapidly shifting market, to work around barriers, and to pull together the right resources at the right time with the right concept.

Innovation is costly and time-consuming, but the results of innovation lead to dramatically improved patient outcomes. Innovation is also risky. Some companies prefer to either acquire improved technologies, or worse, to avoid the risks associated with transformation, preserving the status quo. At TranS1, the opposite is true. Our mission is to identify, develop, and market breakthroughs in spine.

A carefully designed mix of product development capabilities, business partnerships, and culture have enabled our team to develop innovative technologies that will drastically improve patient lives. At the Annual NASS Conference this week in Boston, TranS1 will unveil two new technologies that will launch in 2017 (BOOTH 1232):

 Capital Bone Graft Harvester features a saw-tooth profile and shaft fenestration for consistent and reproducible bone grafting. The Capital Harvester is patent pending and will be available in January.

 Pylon Graft Delivery enables MIS bone graft placement along the transverse processes by using the same incisions as those used for posterior instrumentation. The technology is patent pending and will be available in 2017.

Innovation Blueprint

When it comes to innovation in spine, TranS1 is a speedboat in an industry of steamships. Here is our blueprint for bringing concepts to market.

Culture of Innovation  We have found that developing a customized product development process based on our company strengths leads to a culture of innovation. TranS1 uses the following pillars to maintain that culture throughout our company:

1. Flexible structure where the team is cross-trained and has the agility to respond to rapidly changing market needs and surgeon demands

2. Supportive leadership that encourages the team to fearlessly iterate until reaching a transformative solution

3. Open development process where the best ideas win

4. Inclusive ideation where solutions can come from anyone, anywhere, and at any time  from an intern to the CEO

Define & Amplify Our Strengths & Those of Our Partners  As a smaller company, a critical factor in maintaining agility is the cultivating the right business relationships to augment our core aptitudes. This necessitates defining how we can put our unique advantages to work for our partners. Rather than sinking money into costly and rapidly changing technological capital, we develop mutually beneficial relationships with best-in-class partners who can be engaged rapidly when needed. This enables TranS1 to invest wisely.

Protect Your Ideas  Without guarding intellectual property, innovation is wasted. As a patent lawyer, I can uniquely appreciate that idea. Defining the unique benefits of a transformative concept at the onset of the development process is pivotal to establishing intellectual property protection. TranS1 is built on a foundation of strong patents and led with a mission of IP enforcement.

TranS1 proceeds on its mission to advance technologies that minimize tissue trauma related to the approach to the spine, while maximizing patient outcomes. Our blueprint for success in innovation continues to define us as one of the most innovative companies in the medical device market.

Jeff Schell is President & CEO of TranS1
The North American Spine Society awarded research grants and traveling fellowships for 2016.

This year, the society awarded $136,479 based on scientific merit, project significance, approach and feasibility. The research grant winners are:

1. Clinical grant ($47,748): Richard Skolasky, ScD, "Comparative Effectiveness of Multi-Modal Pain Management versus Standard Postoperative Analgesia: Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial to Reduce Postoperative Pain and Opioid Among Patients Undergoing Lumbar Spine Surgery."

2. Clinical grant ($25,000 partial funding): Tomoko Tanakia, MD, "The Severity of Preoperative A1c and Predicting Postoperative Complications in Spine Surgery."

3. Young Investigator  Basic Great ($25,000 partial funding for year one of a two-year project): Aaron J. Fields, PhD, "Does Cartilage Endplate Permeability Impact Nucleus Pulposus Cell Function?"

4. Young Investigator  Clinical ($27,931): Shari Cui, MD, "Effects of Telemedicine Triage on Efficiency and Cost-Effective in Spinal Care."

The traveling fellowships were awarded to:

 Pallav Bhatia, MBBS, MS: 2016 Clinical Traveling Fellowship (Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York; Rush University in Chicago; NY Presbyterian Hospital)  $5,800

 Nicholas Van Halm Lutterodt, MD: 2016 Research Traveling Fellowship (Keck Medical Center of USC)  $5,000

NASS awarded $136,000 in research grants and traveling fellowships all together.
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Well-known consultant and public figure Eva Grosman has been declared bankrupt over a 21,000 debt to a printing company, the Belfast Telegraph can reveal.

Ms Grosman, who is Polish, told the Belfast Telegraph that it was "unfortunate" her debtor had taken action against her but that she would be continuing in her many public roles.

She is the founder of consultancy Connect NI, which provides services such as strategic planning, project management, marketing and PR.

The 41-year-old is also a member of a think-tank called the Centre for Democracy and Peacebuilding, as well as the organiser of the high-profile TEDxStormont Women.

The petition making her bankrupt was brought by GPS Colour Graphics in Belfast and related to the printing of a magazine for the Polish community in Northern Ireland.

It's understood the debts accrued between 2007 - when the magazine was launched as Glosik - and 2009.

The company said it had issued Ms Grosman with a statutory demand for 21,137 though Ms Grosman argued that the debt was not owed by her but by a company called Link Polska Ltd.

GPS director David Bell said a legal settlement in December 2013 was later reached for Eva Grosman to repay 8,200 but that the amount was not paid.

The company then issued proceedings to recover the original sum of 21,000, leading to the bankruptcy petition.

Ms Grosman said: "It's an unfortunate situation due to business debts from back a few years ago.

"I will now have to consult with my accountant but it's a very unfortunate situation and there's very little I can do.

"I regret that it's got to this point."

She added: "I don't think it will affect any of my current roles... At this stage I'm just very, very disappointed that they (the company) decided to take this action."

The latest TEDxStormont Women talk took place on Thursday night and featured speeches by high-profile women talking about their lives and work.

The line-up included Justice Minister and independent MLA Claire Sugden, transvestite Lady Portia di Monte and perinatal mental health advocate Lindsey Robinson, who's married to DUP MP Gavin Robinson.

Ms Grosman is also to attend the All-Island Civic Dialogue on Brexit in Dublin next week.
Someone somewhere in Siberia, on the other side of the Urals mountain range, probably still has my Clash T-shirt secreted in their home. In an act of Irish-Soviet friendship I swopped it for a Red Army tunic with a Siberian in the dormitory of a third-level college in Weimar, East Germany, in the summer of 1981.

Looking back, the exchange was not just an instance of late Cold War East-West barter. It was also a means to ward off the sexual advances of an older USSR soldier in his mid-20s who was three sheets to the wind thanks to East German schnapps and Polish vodka; a noxious concoction that smelt and tasted like it should be fuelling the engine of a Mig fighter jet.

As the big Siberian waved my T-shirt triumphantly in front of his friends from Irkutsk, I realised the reach and influence of a punk rock band fronted by the son of a former British diplomat and whose bass player was a poor white kid who grew up among the south London black community of Brixton.

Four years earlier the group came to a European city which had its own mini-set of Berlin Walls  Belfast. One of the locations they visited on their brief, controversial and now myth-laden tour of the war-torn city was the Henry Taggart police and Army base in west Belfast.

It was a photograph taken outside the heavily fortified, rocket-protected station on the Springfield Road that later found its way on to that T-shirt, the one that ended up stretched over a Siberian's torso.

Joe Strummer, Paul Simonon, Mick Jones and Nicky 'Topper' Headon also posed for photographs at the top of Royal Avenue, which at the time was secured at both ends by the so-called "ring of steel", where civilian searchers flanked by armed troops and police checked the clothing and handbags of shoppers for firebombs.

One image of the four of them in biker jackets and zipped bondage trousers, an Army Saracen just to their right, is still a powerful visual reminder of actually how grimly suffocating Belfast was in the mid to late 1970s.

It was out of this stifling atmosphere that a generation of the fed-up and the angry emerged just as punk rock was exploding across the Irish Sea, outraging a nation and prompting London dockers to threaten to put their boots through TV screens over the sight of these spiky-haired, foul-mouthed alien creatures who saw no future in England's dreaming.

This brief but creative flowering of protest, DIY musical innovation and emergence of some genuine talent is captured poignantly in the critically acclaimed Terri Hooley movie biopic Good Vibrations.

One of the most important scenes in the film is at the end, which recreates Hooley's punk and new wave music festival in the Ulster Hall in 1980. I can still remember the actual night he stormed up on to the stage to proclaim why the local punk and new wave scene had more substance to it than England or America. "New York has the bands, London has the clothes, but Belfast has the reason," Hooley proclaimed.

One band who failed to make it on to that stage during this period were The Clash. They were scheduled to play a concert at the Ulster Hall in October 1977, but never appeared.

And like old saloon bar republicans you used to meet on day trips with your parents to Dublin in the 1970s bragging that they had been "out in 1916", a myth grew up about the concert-that-never-was and the riot that broke out in Bedford Street as hundreds of young punks and other Clash fans turned their anger on the police.

I was there partly because I only lived around the corner, and also, even though I was just 13, had a guarantee that I could sneak into any concert. My family knew several of the bouncers who worked the door and who later let me in for free to see the likes of Siouxsie And The Banshees (backed up by The Cure) and The Stranglers.

Yet 'that' gig still exercises more power over the memories of the early Ulster punk generation. This was  and is  in part due to the myth that grew up that the '77 riot was the only one during the Troubles that saw Protestant and Catholic kids unite against common enemies.

In fact, The Clash myth is so enduring that the University of Ulster at the Art College is hosting an academic conference this weekend discussing the band's relationship with Northern Ireland and its youth.

To declare a dog in the fight, this writer is chairing one of the sessions at the symposium, although his mind will at times be far away, soaring back in space and time towards the east, wondering where is that T-shirt gathering dust, tucked away somewhere in a wardrobe or drawers in post-communist Irkutsk.
United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff  Appellee, v. DARRIAN JARRELL ABBOTT, Defendant - Appellant. No. 16-4104 Decided: October 28, 2016

Before MOTZ, THACKER, and HARRIS, Circuit Judges. Louis C. Allen, Federal Public Defender, Mireille P. Clough, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for Appellant. Ripley Rand, United States Attorney, Robert A.J. Lang, Assistant United States Attorney, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for Appellee.

Darrian Jarrell Abbott appeals from his 84-month sentence imposed after a remand for resentencing. Abbott had originally been sentenced to 15 years in prison, after a finding that he qualified as an armed career criminal. The sentence was imposed to run partially concurrently with his state sentence. In Abbott's prior appeal, we vacated his sentence based on the finding that one of the predicates used to support the armed career criminal enhancement was no longer a proper predicate after Johnson v. United States, 135 S. Ct. 2551 (2015). On remand, the district court recalculated Abbott's Guidelines range without the armed career criminal enhancement and imposed an 84-month sentence consecutive to his state sentence. Abbott timely appealed.

Abbott now contends that his new sentence is procedurally and substantively unreasonable. We review a sentence imposed by a district court under a deferential abuse of discretion standard. Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 51 (2007). In reviewing a sentence, we must first ensure that the district court committed no procedural error, such as failing to calculate or improperly calculating the Guidelines range, treating the Guidelines as mandatory, failing to consider the 18 U.S.C.  3553(a) (2012) factors, selecting a sentence based on clearly erroneous facts, or failing to adequately explain the chosen sentence. Gall, 551 U.S. at 51. If there are no procedural errors, we then consider the substantive reasonableness of the sentence. Id. A substantive reasonableness review entails taking into account the totality of the circumstances. United States v. Pauley, 511 F.3d 468, 473 (4th Cir. 2007) (quotations and citation omitted). A sentence within the correctly calculated Guidelines range is presumptively reasonable. United States v. Louthian, 756 F.3d 295, 306 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 135 S. Ct. 421 (2014). Such a presumption can only be rebutted by a showing that the sentence is unreasonable when measured against the  3553(a) factors. Id.

When rendering a sentence, the district court must make an individualized assessment based on the facts presented. United States v. Carter, 564 F.3d 325, 328 (4th Cir. 2009) (internal quotation marks omitted). Accordingly, a sentencing court must apply the relevant  3553(a) factors to the particular facts presented and must state in open court the particular reasons that support its chosen sentence. Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). Stating in open court the particular reasons for a chosen sentence requires the district court to set forth enough to satisfy this court that the district court has a reasoned basis for its decision and has considered the parties' arguments. Id. Carter, though, does not require a sentencing court to robotically tick through otherwise irrelevant subsections of  3553(a). Id. at 329 (quoting United States v. Johnson, 445 F.3d 339, 345 (4th Cir. 2006)).

Under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual  5G1.3(c) (2013), in any case involving an undischarged term of imprisonment, the sentence for the instant offense may be imposed to run concurrently, partially concurrently, or consecutively to the prior undischarged term of imprisonment to achieve a reasonable punishment for the instant offense. In reaching its decision, the court should consider the  3553(a) sentencing factors, the type and length of the undischarged sentences, the time served and the time likely to be served on the undischarged sentences, whether the undischarged sentence was imposed in state court or federal court, and any other circumstances relevant to the determination. See USSG  5G1.3 (comment. n.3(A)).

Abbott first contends that the district court provided an insufficient explanation for running the sentence consecutively to his state sentence. However, the court noted the reduced length of Abbott's Guidelines range on resentencing, the unrelated nature of the state conviction, and Abbott's lengthy and violent criminal history. The court also considered Abbott's previous lengthy incarceration and the failure of that sentence to deter him from the instant conduct. The court further heard from Abbott regarding certain potentially mitigating factors and explicitly stated that it considered the fact that Abbott pled only to possession of ammunition and that that no other illegal conduct was happening at the time. We find that the court set forth sufficient reasoning supporting the within-Guidelines sentence and the decision to run the sentence consecutively to Abbott's state sentence.

Turning to the substantive reasonableness of Abbott's sentence, he argues that his mitigating arguments sufficiently rebutted the presumptive reasonableness of the within-Guidelines sentence. We conclude there was no abuse of discretion because the district court considered the arguments by both parties and rationally found that a consecutive sentence was appropriate. While the court might have imposed a lower or concurrent sentence given the mitigating circumstances cited by Abbott, the mere fact that the court did not consider the mitigating circumstances worthy of a reduction does not render a sentence unreasonable. Because there is a range of permissible outcomes for any given case, we must resist the temptation to pick and choose among possible sentences and rather must defer to the district court's judgment so long as it falls within the realm of these rationally available choices. United States v. McComb, 519 F.3d 1049, 1053 (10th Cir. 2007); see also United States v. Carter, 538 F.3d 784, 790 (7th Cir. 2008) (noting substantive reasonableness contemplates a range, not a point (internal quotation marks omitted)).

Accordingly, we affirm Abbott'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

PER CURIAM:
One cold, rainy night last autumn, Ilkka Salo faced a dilemma. Should she venture out to Tesco to pick up the groceries she'd need to cook dinner from scratch, or resort, for the umpteenth time, to takeaway?

Determined not to succumb to the lazy option, she set out for the supermarket, but on the way bumped into the mother of an Indian family who lived in the same building.

They got chatting and, when Salo explained her culinary quandary, the lady offered some of the vegetable curry she'd made for supper.

"I hesitated a little bit, as I really didn't know the family that well," Salo says, "then looked out of the door, and the rain was getting quite heavy. I turned back to the lady and said, 'Okay, I would really love to accept your offer, but only if you allow me to pay for the curry'.

"She at first refused, but I pulled a 5 note from my pocket and she silently accepted it. She went upstairs and brought me a plate of curry. That happened to be the best curry I have had in my entire life."

In that moment, the idea for Trybe (visit eat.try.be), which has just launched in London, was born. The app provides a platform on which amateur cooks can sell their wares, via either a delivery service, or pick-up, and allows hungry Londoners to sample a variety of cuisines and support their neighbours' entrepreneurial efforts (plans are under way to expand across the UK early next year).

The average order size is 12, which includes two mains, making this a cost-effective way to experience risotto made by an actual Italian, or try authentic home-cooked Thai.

Trybe is just the latest in a growing number of techie food-sharing services to crop up in the UK.

In June, Too Good To Go (too goodtogo.co.uk) started offering cut-price meals from restaurants, cafes and bakeries that would otherwise have gone to waste.

Available in Brighton, Leeds and London (with Belfast, Edinburgh and Glasgow coming on board soon), you can choose from more than 170 eateries, with prices ranging from just 2 to 3.80 per portion - you just have to be able to go and pick up your chow an hour before closing. And for groceries - Olio (olioex.com) is like FreeCycle, but for leftovers.

Got a cupboard full of sundries you know you're never going to use?

Open the app, add a photo, description and price (if you want) and wait for someone in your neighbourhood to claim that kilo of spelt flour you bought during your short-lived bread-baking phase.

The service uses geolocation, so you can see what grub is on offer near you, and donors (who include local business, too) can opt to use drop boxes for pick-up instead of their home.

With food waste costing the average family 700 a year, according to the Waste and Resources Action Programme, these kind of apps are a genius way of using technology to solve a global problem on a local scale.

Satisfying diners, cooks and businesses alike, this is a very tasty next step in the war on waste.
On a recent visit to Holland a colleague and I had a little free time on the Monday morning prior to getting our flights for Belfast. Our host suggested that we visit the village of Putten which was only a short drive away from where we were staying. I have to confess to never having heard of Putten but I think, having now visited it, I will never forget it.

On 30th September 1944 an attack on a German Wehrmacht car by a resistance group gave the German occupier cause to take reprisals against the village of Putten.

Six hundred and sixty one men from the village were rounded up and sent to a concentration camp at Amersfoort and from there were transported to the camp at Neuengamme. Everyone who remained was told to evacuate the village which was then set on fire by German troops. Over a hundred building were destroyed, while 540 men died in the concentration camp. Only 49 returned home after the liberation.

One of the most poignant stories to emerge from this horrible event concerns the local Reformed minister - a Rev Holland to name. Becoming aware of how the crisis was developing and sensing there was going to be huge loss of life he stepped forward and suggested to the German authorities that the men ought to be released and he, instead, could be taken and killed in their place.

By this remarkable offer one is powerfully reminded of the words of Jesus which we find in John 15:13 'Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends'. Rev Holland's offer was rejected by the occupying power.

However, as we look at Jesus we realise that he laid down his life for his people - his friends. He died in our place. He took the punishment we deserve. We deserve to experience the wrath of God because of our sin but he died 'the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.' (1 Peter3:18). Isn't it good to have faith in him? Isn't it good to know that our sin has been dealt with? These blessings can be yours when you turn from your sin and trust in him by faith.
A man awaiting trial accused of murdering Chinese restaurant owner Nelson Cheung has been refused compassionate bail to visit a seriously ill relative.

Portuguese national Virgilio Augusto Fernando Correia (35), whose address was given as c/o HMP Maghaberry, denies murdering Mr Cheung, robbing his wife Winnie Cheung and wounding her with intent to cause her grievous bodily harm.

The offences are alleged to have taken place on dates between January 6 and January 9, 2015 in Co Antrim.

A previous bail application by Correira to attend his 18-month-old daughter's christening had been refused.

During that hearing in April, the prosecution told the court the couple were heading home from their Chinese restaurant in Randalstown on the night of January 7, 2015 when their car was "rammed'' by another vehicle.

Mr Cheung got out of the passenger seat and was confronted by two males from the other car and stabbed 18 times. He was hit with such force, said the prosecutor, that one stab wound "went straight through his body and out his back''.

Mrs Cheung was stabbed in the hand and robbed of a handbag, phone, cash and bank cards.

Before the bail application yesterday, Mr Justice Treacy told Correia's defence QC Alan Kane: "These are absolutely horrific crimes that are alleged against your client and he has been refused bail on a number of occasions he has applied for it.''

Mr Kane said that Correia wanted compassionate bail to visit his sister's mother-in-law who was "quite severely ill'' after undergoing a kidney operation.

"There is some concern on the part of the defendant for her future on this earth. She also finds it difficult to access the prison to visit him.''

David McDowell QC, for the prosecution, said the relative had not "visited the defendant at all ever before that surgery or since his incarceration''.

Mr Justice Treacy said: "The application is refused.''

Correia will stand trial in Belfast next January along with three co-accused. Christopher Menaul (27), whose address was given as c/o HMP Maghaberry denies murder, robbery and wounding with intent to do GBH.

Gary Thompson (34) formerly of Cunningham Way, Antrim, is accused of six counts including murder, wounding Mrs Cheung, robbing her handbag, handling stolen goods and perverting the course of justice. His wife Lisa (34) denies assisting offenders, handling stolen goods and intent to pervert the course of justice.
Fiona Cassidy of Jones Cassidy Brett Solicitors who represented a cross-party group of politicians speaks outside the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UKs first legal challenges to Brexit

A High Court judge in Belfast has dismissed landmark legal bids to halt the United Kingdom's planned departure from the European Union.

The father of a loyalist paramilitary murder victim and a cross-party group of MLAs mounted separate cases aimed at having the Brexit process declared unlawful.

But Mr Justice Maguire rejected claims by lawyers for Raymond McCord and the Stormont politicians that the British Government cannot use royal prerogative powers to begin EU withdrawal without an Act of Parliament.

Throwing out all grounds of challenge, he said: "The court is not persuaded, for the purpose with which this judicial review is concerned, prerogative power has been chased from the field."

With similar litigation taking place in London, the judge was only ruling on issues specific to Northern Ireland at this stage.

Prime Minister Theresa May is set to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, the formal process for confirming the UK is to leave, by the end of March 2017.

During a three-day hearing at the High Court in Belfast it was contended that the move is illegal without first securing Parliamentary authorisation.

In a 45-page judgment issued yesterday, however, Mr Justice Maguire identified no limits to the use of prerogative power for announcing intentions to quit the EU.

He held that notification in itself does not alter the law of the UK, but only the beginning of a process which will ultimately probably lead to changes.

"On the day after the notice has been given, the law will in fact be the same as it was on the day before it was given," the judge said.

"The rights of individual citizens will not have been changed - though it is, of course, true that in due course the body of EU law as it applies in the UK will, very likely, become the subject of change.

"But at the point when this occurs the process necessarily will be one controlled by parliamentary legislation, as this is the mechanism for changing law in the UK."

Even though the June 23 referendum backed Brexit, a 56% majority of voters in Northern Ireland wanted to remain.

Mr McCord, a victims campaigner whose son Raymond Jr was beaten to death by the UVF in 1997, claimed they have a legal right to resist being forced out.

His lawyers argued that the 1998 Good Friday Agreement has given the Northern Irish public sole sovereignty to decide on their future.

They also predicted Brexit would have a "catastrophic effect" on the peace process.

Outside court Mr McCord vowed to take his challenge to the Supreme Court.

With his lawyers due to seek formal permission to appeal at a further hearing next month, he said: "This is not the end of the matter.

"The judge left the door open when he said it could go to a higher court, and more than likely that is going to be the Supreme Court in London."
A man remains in hospital after being struck by a firework a week ago

A man remains in hospital after being struck by a firework a week ago.

It happened last Friday evening at a fast food outlet on Alliance Avenue in north Belfast.

A firework rocket was dropped through the doorway by an unknown man at around 9.15pm.

The victim was taken to hospital with burn injuries.

The PSNI have appealed for information.

Detective Sergeant Michael Hawthorne said: "The firework has been identified as one from the Heroes and Villains series, made by Bright Star.

"The manufacturer has not supplied this particular firework to any Northern Ireland outlets, so I would ask anyone who knows anything about this type of firework in the local community to make contact with us and assist us in this investigation."

He added: "I would also continue to appeal to anyone who knows anything else about this incident to contact detectives at Musgrave Police Station on the non-emergency number 101."
A young man who stabbed a fellow resident in a south Belfast hostel, has been handed a five-and-a-half year sentence

A young man who stabbed a fellow resident in a south Belfast hostel, has been handed a five-and-a-half year sentence.

Darren Mulvenna, from McDonnell Street in the city, was informed yesterday that he will serve half the sentence in custody, whilst the remaining two years and nine months will be served on licence upon his release.

Belfast Crown Court heard the knife attack - during which the victim sustained a potentially life-threatening wound - occurred in the reception area of the Belfast Foyer hostel, after the pair had been fighting outside.

The injured party was rushed to hospital and required surgery.

Following the stabbing, which occurred on the Malone Road on March 28 last year, Mulvenna initially apologised and offered assistance before fleeing the scene.

He was apprehended at a later date, and during police interview, he minimised his role and didn't initially accept his culpability.

A Crown prosecutor told the court, that prior to the incident, Mulvenna had a criminal record, which includes offences for violence - but that the stabbing represented "a significant escalation in the severity of his offending".

Defence barrister Richard Greene QC, said his client "remains at something of a loss to explain why he did what he did" and also spoke of a "very confused picture" prior to the stabbing, which included "conflict" between Mulvenna and the injured party.

Mr Greene also said that Mulvenna accepted both the wounding with intent charge, and also the charge of possessing an bladed article in a public place.
PSNI is appealing for witnesses following an altercation in the Main Street area of Toome during the early hours of Monday morning.

Police are investigating reports of two masked men at a woman's house in the Ballysillan Crescent area of north Belfast on Friday.

The female occupant of the house reported seeing the two masked men approach her front door and kick it a number of times at around 8.20pm.

Police say the woman looked out through a window and saw that one of the men was carrying what appeared to be a firearm.

The men then left the property and got into a waiting car, with another person inside, and made off from the area in the direction of Silverstream.

Detective Sergeant Keith Wilson appealed for anyone who witnessed this incident or who has any information which could be of assistance to police to contact detectives at Musgrave on 101 quoting reference number 1263 28/10/16 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
A Co Down man who stole thousands of pounds from road racing legend Phillip McCallen while working as a manager at his motorcycle store has escaped a jail sentence.

William Robert Henry Williamson, a former salesman and senior manager at Phillip McCallen Motorcycles shop in Lisburn, admitted stealing over 3,600 while planning for his wedding.

The 32-year-old, of Milebush Manor in Dromore, submitted a series of false invoices and stole motorcycle parts which he sold on eBay under a fake account name.

Craigavon Crown Court heard that his fraudulent activities were uncovered after another staff member spotted him flogging the shop's stock on eBay.

Williamson - who arrived to court yesterday with a holdall - was handed a 12-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months.

He previously pleaded guilty to two fraud charges.

A prosecutor told the court that Williamson started working for Mr McCallen in June 2009 as a salesman.

In November 2013, the staff member told Mr McCallen that Williamson was selling motorcycle parts on eBay.

Mr McCallen checked the shop's stock and discovered a number of items were missing.

The 52-year-old racing legend compared the missing items to those that were being sold on the eBay account and found this reflected the results of the missing stock.

The court heard that Williamson sold eight of the items for significantly less than its retail value making some 2,653 for himself.

After Mr McCallen spent thousands of pounds installing CCTV in the shop, Williamson turned to other means to steal money.

He was later discovered to have altered invoices on the sale of two motorbikes amounting to hundreds of pounds.

The total loss to the business was 3,648. Williamson was interviewed by police four times over the offences during which he admitted altering the invoices but claimed it was a mistake.

When asked about the eBay account, he claimed he owned the items which he had bought and was selling on.

During yesterday's proceedings, Williamson sat in the dock with his head bowed. Defence barrister Peter Coiley QC described it as a "gross breach of trust".

He said the defendant's wife's father helped get money together to pay Mr McCallen back.

"He embarked on an enterprise for some time and succumbed to temptation," he said.

"At the time he was planning for a wedding and was living beyond his means. The matter just went on and on.

"This has brought a great deal of shame on him and to his wife and all those associated with him. He is deeply ashamed."

In sentencing the accused, Judge Donna McColgan QC said: "This was a very serious breach of trust that lasted over three years."

Mr McCallen, who retired from road racing in 1999, said his former employee should have been jailed.

"While the prosecution did a good job I would like to have seen him get a custodial sentence," he said.

"I feel a crime that serious should have been a jail sentence but the court felt differently. When you find out an employee you trusted has been stealing from you for four years, it's a big knock to your own trust.

"It's been two years full of stress and sleepless nights wandering what was going to happen and what the punishment will be and how to prove what happened.

"We spent thousands on a CCTV system to protect the stock and he then turned to a very devious way to steal money through false invoices.

"He has never apologised for his crime."
A Northern Ireland property firm has refused to confirm whether former First Minister Peter Robinson is working for it as a consultant.

Despite repeated requests yesterday, Kilmona Property Ltd - owned by developer Paddy Kearney - did not make any comment.

And Mr Robinson, who has maintained a low public profile since he left office in January, could not be contacted for an immediate response.

There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing or impropriety in relation to the speculation in the News Letter. But a spokesperson said: "Kilmona will be making no comment."

The paper said Mr Robinson was believed to have represented Kilmona at several meetings in relation to major developments.

Until 2014, Mr Kearney had reportedly been one of Nama's biggest borrowers in Northern Ireland. But when he appeared before Stormont's finance committee last year, he said he had been subjected to unfounded and unsubstantiated allegations.

He said the so-called 'bad bank' involved in the sale of assets "did in three years without firing a shot, what the terrorists could not achieve in 50 years".

Mr Kearney also told MLAs: "I believe the political leaders of Northern Ireland did the right thing by lobbying investors to buy the Northern Ireland portfolio from Nama.

"I did not receive any preferential treatment from Nama in any shape or form in the course of negotiations, or indeed in the execution of the transaction."
United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff  Appellee, v. JOHNNIE BUTLER, a/k/a JR, Defendant - Appellant. No. 16-6561 Decided: October 28, 2016

Before SHEDD, KEENAN, and HARRIS, Circuit Judges. Johnnie Butler, Appellant Pro Se. Christine Marie Celeste, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Joshua Thomas Ferrentino, Assistant United States Attorney, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellee.

Johnnie Butler seeks to appeal the district court's orders denying relief on his 28 U.S.C.  2255 (2012) motion. The orders are not appealable unless a circuit justice or judge issues a certificate of appealability. 28 U.S.C.  2253(c)(1)(B) (2012). A certificate of appealability will not issue absent a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right. 28 U.S.C.  2253(c)(2) (2012). When the district court denies relief on the merits, a prisoner satisfies this standard by demonstrating that reasonable jurists would find that the district court's assessment of the constitutional claims is debatable or wrong. Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 484 (2000); see Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322, 336-38 (2003). When the district court denies relief on procedural grounds, the prisoner must demonstrate both that the dispositive procedural ruling is debatable, and that the motion states a debatable claim of the denial of a constitutional right. Slack, 529 U.S. at 484-85.

We have independently reviewed the record and conclude that Butler has not made the requisite showing. Accordingly, we deny a certificate of appealability and dismiss the appeal. 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.

DISMISSED

PER CURIAM:
IRA informer Raymond Gilmour has been found dead in his flat in Kent, where he had been lying abandoned and alone, for up to a week. His body was so badly decomposed, he had to be identified from photographs.

An autopsy is being carried out but friends believe that Gilmour (55), who was an alcoholic with serious psychological problems, died from natural causes.

He was on disability benefit at the time of his death.

His funeral will take place next week. It is not known whether he will be buried under his real name, or the pseudonym under which he has lived in Britain since he fled his native Derry over 30 years ago.

His friend and fellow agent, Martin McGartland, last night said: "It is disgraceful that Ray died in these circumstances. He spent years begging MI5 for financial and psychological help. Instead, they turned their back on him. He was a broken man, a wreck of a human being, and they left him to die in the gutter.

"As far as I'm concerned, the security services have Ray's blood on their hands. They had plenty of opportunities to save him but they turned their back on him.

"He gave his all to them to help defeat the IRA but, when they had no use for him, they discarded him. He was treated like a third-class citizen."

Gilmour gave evidence against 31 men and women in one of Northern Ireland's best known republican supergrass trials. After the case collapsed in 1984, he was resettled in England by MI5 and given a new identity.

But he never got over leaving his family in Derry, most of whom disowned him.

He had no contact with his wife Lorraine nor their two children. He suffered from alcoholism and serious psychological problems. He married twice again in England, but both relationships broke down.

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He increasingly cut a lonely figure in the small seaside town where he lived. Sometimes, he ended up in a police cell, after becoming involved in fights with local men. Other times, he lived like a hermit, spending weeks drinking in his flat, refusing to go out or talk to anybody.

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His body was found by his 18-year-old son from his second marriage, whom the Belfast Telegraph is not naming.

"'A' had been ringing his dad for about a week but he didn't answer. At the start, he wasn't overly worried because that was normal behaviour for Ray. He would drink and shut himself off from the world," Martin McGartland explained.

"But as the days went on, his son grew concerned and called in on Ray on Friday. The moment he entered the flat, he knew something was wrong. He was hit by an overpowering smell. His daddy's body had lain so long, it had started to decompose.

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"Ray was unrecognisable. His son rang 999 and the paramedics who arrived wouldn't let other relatives see Ray because they said it would be too disturbing. They also advised against seeing him in the morgue."

McGartland said he feared that Gilmour would be given a pauper's funeral.

"Ray was living on peanuts when I met him. At times I had to put money into his bank account. Given the lives that he saved for the British state, he should be buried like a serviceman. I'll pay for a decent funeral for him myself if need be," the former agent said.

McGartland said he hadn't spoken to Gilmour in recent times.

"Ray was very hard work. I've my own problems and dealing with him was just too much. During phone conversations, he would threaten to take his own life.

"He wasn't getting the treatment he needed for his psychological problems. He was referred to his local NHS, but they wrote to Andrew Parker, the head of MI5, saying they couldn't deal with such big issues from Ray's Northern Ireland days. I also asked MI5 to help him many times but got nowhere," he said.

McGartland described how Gilmour went on a downward spiral. "On a good day, he was a lovely bloke with a heart of gold. But things took their toll on him. He wasn't as resilient as I am in dealing with problems. I hope his death is a wake-up call to the security services to start treating their former agents as human beings," he added.

Gilmour never regretted becoming an informer, his friend claimed. "He was immensely proud of what he did and believed it was the right thing to do," he said.

"But I would caution any young men and women in Northern Ireland thinking of becoming agents for the security services. They should look at how Ray Gilmour ended up, before they make their decision."
A former police officer who stole 22,000 from the Churchtown Presbyterian Church in Tamlaght, Co Londonderry, when he was the church treasurer, has been jailed for 14 months

A former police officer who stole 22,000 from the Churchtown Presbyterian Church in Tamlaght, Co Londonderry, when he was the church treasurer, has been jailed for 14 months.

Derek Carson (55), who spent 30 years as a police officer, stole the money on various dates between January 2007 and June 2013 after he'd retired from the PSNI.

His offences were uncovered when an accountant received the church accounts from Carson in 2011.

The accountant reported his concerns to the presbytery and following an internal inquiry the matter was reported to the PSNI in 2013.

Carson, from Orchard Way in Portglenone, was appointed the church treasurer in 2006. He was unanimously convicted last month by a jury of three charges linked to the thefts - the theft of 22,000, fraud by abuse of his position and converting criminal property, namely 22,000. He did not give evidence at his trial and Londonderry Crown Court was told yesterday that Carson still did not accept the jury's findings.

Judge Philip Babington said Carson had invented a fantasy story in a bid to conceal his offending and he described Carson's case as hopeless.

When the church accountant examined the books presented to him by Carson, he discovered one bank account did not have sufficient money lodged in it and a second account was overstretched. In his police interviews Carson denied taking the money. He told the officers the money had been stolen from either his car or house, but he never reported the thefts to the police.

Evidence of his own financial situation was put before the jury. They were told that when Carson retired from the PSNI he received a lump sum of 147,000 but that his monthly pension of 1,300 was less than half his normal wage. Carson and his wife invested 50,000 and spent the remainder on two cars, a caravan and on holidays. His bank accounts were examined by the police and some of them contained unexplained lodgements.

When asked about them Carson replied "no comment". During his police interviews Carson said he wanted to pay the money back to the church, but nothing was done until after his conviction last month.

Judge Babington said Carson had no previous criminal convictions and he accepted that Carson, with help from family members, was in a position to make restitution to the church, but he said the court had no alternative but to impose an immediate custodial sentence.

He told Carson: "It is clear that you abused your position as treasurer, a trusted role in charge of the congregation's money, and that you carried on in this way for a number of years, perhaps five at most. Your conduct was highly culpable and dishonest."

As well as jailing Carson for 14 months, half of which will be spent in jail and half on licence, Judge Babington also made a compensation order in favour of Churchtown Presbyterian Church in the sum of 22,000.
Stadium of light: how new Casement Park will look

Angry west Belfast residents opposed to the GAA's redevelopment plans for Casement Park, have slammed revised proposals revealed by the sporting body, describing them as "not acceptable".

The plans were presented by Ulster GAA at Conway Mill earlier this week as part of the second phase of a community consultation for the west Belfast stadium.

The unveiling came almost two years after the original design was thrown out by the High Court following objections from local residents.

At the launch, Tom Daly, chairman of the Casement Park Project Board, said the plans demonstrated Ulster GAA's "willingness to engage, listen and evolve our plan for a new Casement Park stadium".

But local residents remain unimpressed.

Mooreland and Owenvarragh Residents' Association (MORA), say that the revised GAA plans still envisage a new stadium which they feel is much too large to be squeezed onto the tightly-constrained area.

And they claim the new plans - which reduce the stadium's capacity from 38,000 to 34,500 - still far exceed the safe capacity of 18,264 suggested by the PSNI, the NI Ambulance Service and the NI Fire and Rescue Service.

Residents are also concerned about GAA plans to hold five major concerts per year at the proposed new venue.

It argues that the need to host such events demonstrates that the planned venue is not financially viable as a sporting venue alone.

A Mooreland and Owenvarragh Residents' Association spokesman commented last night.

"While the revised proposals are not acceptable in their current form, MORA will nonetheless continue to engage in the consultation process," he said.

"We have attended the events that the GAA have organised in the Andersonstown area and will make a more detailed submission to the GAA within the consultation deadline of December 5, 2016.

"Ultimately, however, we believe that the GAA should acknowledge the very constrained nature of the Casement Park site and propose a redevelopment that is in keeping with its surroundings, ie, a county ground for Antrim with an appropriate and safe capacity.

"Enough time, money and energy has already been expended in the pursuit of an over-sized development that exceeds the capacity of the site."

Responding, a GAA spokesman said the organisation was "disappointed" at the tenor of their reaction.

"Over the last four days, we have had very positive engagement and feedback with the public and a wide range of stakeholders regarding our proposals for a provincial stadium at Casement Park.

"Our proposed design reduces height, scale, capacity, with the stadium envelope being further restricted. We are therefore very disappointed with MORA's response but encouraged by the significant positive feedback we have received from the community, including many local residents.

"We look forward to consulting with MORA as well as all stakeholders across west Belfast, Belfast and throughout Ulster, during stage two of our consultation."

The GAA will have been cheered by remarks from another residents' group, backing the new plans.

Andersonstown Regeneration Committee (ARC) welcomed the proposals.

"The new Casement Park on completion will regenerate west Belfast and the surrounding areas. It will help attract further investment to this area and will assist local businesses," the ARC statement said.
First Minister Arlene Foster has insisted she will not join the Irish Government's Brexit forum at any point in the future.

But it has also emerged the DUP leader intends to meet Taoiseach Enda Kenny for talks on the UK withdrawal from the European Union in the next few weeks.

But, addressing her party's annual conference on Saturday, Mrs Foster set out her strategy for obtaining the best possible deal for Northern Ireland in Brexit negotiations.

The DUP leader argues her party being in control of the Agriculture, Education and the Economy Ministries, will give it a pivotal role in the forthcoming talks.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph ahead of the gathering, she said it was "nonsense" to suggest she could not represent Northern Ireland, where a majority (56%) voted to remain in the EU.

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"This was a UK-wide, one nation vote. Areas in the east of the province voted to leave - where does that sub-division stop?"

Mrs Foster said taking part in the Dublin-lead forum would only give others the opportunity to make clear they did not agree with the Referendum result.

"To be a lone voice amongst a whole lot of remoaners? No thank you - I have better things to do with my time," she said.

"It will be full of people who quite frankly haven't accepted the referendum result going down to talk about how dreadful it is. Mark my words, that's exactly what will happen at the grandstanding forum that will come about. I'm not going to be a part of that. I am in this to do real business and to have outcomes not to sit around talking about how dreadful it is."

Her keynote speech also set out the next steps in implementing the DUP's 'five-point plan', which she devised as the centrepiece of its election campaign in May.
Birgitta Jonsdottir of the Pirate Party casts her vote at a polling station in Reykjavik, Iceland (AP)

Crisis-weary Icelanders are voting in a national election, with the radical Pirate Party seeking to unseat the centre-right government.

Founded four years ago by an assortment of hackers, political activists and internet freedom advocates, the party has made big gains among Icelanders fed up with established parties after years of financial turmoil and political scandal.

Polls suggest the Pirates are vying with the centre-right Independence Party to become the biggest group in the volcanic island nation's parliament, the Althingi.

They currently hold just three of the 63 seats, and Pirate politician Birgitta Jonsdottir said she could "never have fantasised or dreamed" about its current poll numbers.

"If people are ready, we are ready," Ms Jonsdottir said after casting her vote at a Reykjavik school on a blustery day.

The election was called after prime minister Sigmunder David Gunnlaugsson resigned in April amid public protests over his offshore holdings, revealed in the Panama Papers leak.

The tax avoidance scandal outraged many Icelanders, who suffered years of economic upheaval after the country's banks collapsed within a week of one another during the 2008 global financial crisis.

"If people are sick of living in this turmoil that we have been having here in Iceland, where you never know what tomorrow is going to bring, they should put their trust in the Pirates," Ms Jonsdottir said.

"Change is beautiful. There's nothing to worry about," she said. "We are ready to do whatever people trust us to do."

Individual parties rarely win outright in Iceland's multi-party system.

Saturday's vote is likely to produce either a centre-right coalition involving the Independence and Progressive parties that have governed since 2013, or a left-of-centre coalition involving the Pirates, the Left Green Movement and others.

Another unpredictable factor is Vidreisn, or Revival, a new centre-right party founded by former Independence Party members which advocates Iceland joining the European Union.

It is performing strongly among conservative voters seeking a change from the old parties.

"We want to improve things in Iceland," said party leader Benedikt Johannesson. "We are a free trade party, a pro-Western party, an open society party."

Paul Fontaine, news editor of news magazine Reykjavik Grapevine, said the 2008 crisis and the wave of popular protest that followed "broke the mould" of Icelandic politics.

"Icelanders, like many Europeans and North Americans, have grown pretty weary of establishment politics, whether they're on the left or the right," he said.

"I think that explains a large share of the Pirate Party's support."

The election debate has focused on the economy and voters' desire for political reform.

The Pirates promise to introduce direct democracy, subject the workings of government to more scrutiny and place the country's natural resources under public ownership.

The party also seeks tough rules to protect individuals from online intrusion.

Ms Jonsdottir, the Pirates' most prominent voice, is a former ally of WikiLeaks who has called on Iceland to offer citizenship to National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden.

Opponents claim the inexperienced Pirates could scare off investors and destabilise an economy that is now recovering, with low unemployment and high growth.

"We'd rather be naive than corrupt," Ms Jonsdottir said.

The Pirates have no experience of government, and some voters seeking change say they are sticking with established parties such as the Left Greens or the Social Democrats.

Gunnar Andresson, a teacher, said he sympathised with the Pirates but voted Social Democrat.

He said the Pirates "believe in a good cause, but I don't think they are ready yet".

Youth worker Birkir Vidarsson and his partner, Johanna Jonsdottir, decided to gamble on the Pirates.

"We are brought up with being afraid of new things," Mr Vidarsson said. "That's very Icelandic.

"But with the Pirates being the second-biggest right now (in opinion polls) ... I think strategically it's the right move."

About 245,000 people are eligible to vote in the sparsely populated North Atlantic nation.

Polls close at 10pm local time (2200GMT), with partial results due early on Sunday.

AP
French president Francois Hollande said the republic 'admits its responsibility is large'

President Francois Hollande has acknowledged the French state's role in the Nazi persecution of gypsies held in internment camps during the Second World War.

France's collaborationist Vichy regime helped deport Jews to death camps and send gypsies to internment camps.

Former president Jacques Chirac acknowledged France's role in the Holocaust in 1997, and on Saturday Mr Hollande drew attention to the gypsies' plight.

"The republic recognises the suffering of the nomads who were interned, and admits its responsibility is large," Mr Hollande said at a former internment camp in western France.

France has historically been home to hundreds of thousands of "gens du voyage", who move from town to town and are French citizens.

They consider themselves distinct from Roma who have arrived more recently from Romania or Bulgaria.

Both face discrimination.

AP
An Iraqi Federal Police at a checkpoint in Qayara, some 30 miles south of Mosul (AP)

Iraqi forces have pushed into a town south of Mosul after Islamic State fighters fled with civilians used as human shields, officials said.

State-sanctioned Shiite militias joined the offensive by opening up a new front to the west.

Iraqi troops approaching Mosul from the south advanced into Shura after a wave of US-led air strikes and artillery shelling against militant positions inside the town.

Commanders said most of the IS fighters withdrew earlier this week with civilians, but that US air strikes had disrupted the forced march, allowing some civilians to escape.

"After all this shelling, I don't think we will face much resistance," Iraqi army Major General Najim al-Jabouri said.

"This is easy, because there are no civilians left," he added. "The big challenge for us is always the civilians."

Lieutenant Colonel Hussein Nazim, of the militarised Federal Police, which is leading the advance from the south, said some civilians, mainly the elderly and infirm, might still be in the city, but that the use of heavy artillery and air strikes was a standard tactic.

"We must strike like this before we move in or else we will be easy prey for Daesh," he said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

Iraqi forces launched a massive operation to retake militant-held Mosul last week.

The offensive to retake Iraq's second largest city, which is still home to more than one million people, is expected to take weeks, if not months.

State-sanctioned Shiite militias, meanwhile, launched an assault to the west of Mosul aimed at driving IS from the town of Tel Afar, which had a majority Shiite population before it fell to the militants in the summer of 2014.

They will also try to secure the western border with Syria, where IS shuttles fighters, weapons and supplies between Mosul and the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of its self-styled caliphate.

The involvement of the Iranian-backed Shiite militias has raised concern that the battle for Mosul, a Sunni-majority city, could aggravate sectarian tensions.

The militias say they will not enter the city itself.

Jaafar al-Husseini, a spokesman for the Hezbollah Brigades, said his group and the other militias were advancing with the aid of Iranian advisers and Iraqi aircraft.

He said the US-led coalition, which is providing air strikes and ground support to the Iraqi military and Kurdish forces known as the peshmerga, is not playing any role in the Shiite militias' advance.

In Baghdad, meanwhile, a suicide bomber targeting an aid station for Shiite pilgrims killed at least seven people and wounded more than 20, police and hospital officials said.

No-one immediately claimed the attack, but IS often targets Iraq's Shiite majority, which the Sunni extremists view as apostates deserving of death.

The Mosul offensive involves more than 25,000 soldiers, Federal Police, Kurdish fighters, Sunni tribesmen and the Shiite militias, which operate under an umbrella organisation known as the Popular Mobilisation Units.

Many of the militias were originally formed after the 2003 US-led invasion to battle American forces and Sunni insurgents.

They were mobilised again and endorsed by the state when IS swept through northern and central Iraq in 2014, capturing Mosul and other towns and cities.

Iraqi forces moving towards Mosul from several directions have made uneven progress since the offensive began on October 17.

They are six kilometres (four miles) from the edge of Mosul on the eastern front, where Iraq's special forces are leading the charge.

But progress has been slower in the south, with Iraqi forces still 35 kilometres (20 miles) from the city.

The UN human rights office said on Friday that IS has rounded up tens of thousands of civilians in and around Mosul to use as human shields, and has massacred more than 200 Iraqis in recent days, mainly former members of the security forces.

The militants have carried out mass killings of perceived opponents in the past and boasted about them in grisly photos and videos circulated online.

The extremist group is now believed to be cracking down on anyone who could rise up against it, focusing on men with military training or past links to the security forces.

There have been no major advances over the past two days, as Iraqi forces have sought to consolidate their gains by clearing explosive booby traps left by the extremists and uncovering tunnels they dug to elude air strikes.

AP
Spiritual journey: the Belfast Telegraphs late political editor, Liam Clarke, was a Zen Buddhist, and wrote inspiringly about facing up to his terminal illness

Right on cue for Halloween and the eve of All Saints' Day, when traditionally people remembered the Saints and their own dear departed, the Vatican has produced a ruling about human ashes.

In a decree authorised by Pope Francis, the Roman Catholic Church has decided that if your loved ones are cremated, you must not keep their ashes at home, or preserve them in jewellery or other objects, or spread them in an area that was dear to their hearts.

Instead, the ashes should be kept in a proper place in a church or part of a cemetery "which has been set aside for this purpose."

The Catholic Church has also warned that if people disobey these rules, then "a Christian funeral must be denied to that person."

The decree also states that "the Church continues to prefer the practice of burying the bodies of the deceased, because this shows a greater esteem towards the deceased."

All of this sounds like a high-handed clerical intrusion into the very private and intimate subject as to how a person or a family decide upon the funeral arrangements of a loved one.

Indeed, as a non-Roman Catholic, this sounds to me outrageous. How can the cremation of a human being in any way show "less esteem towards the deceased."?

No doubt many of the faithful Roman Catholic will obey these ridiculous new restrictions, but I have long sat lightly on-the man-made rules which claim to reflect the wishes of God.

Take, for example, the unofficial Catholic teaching on 'limbo', which must have broken the hearts of millions of parents whose child died before being baptised.

This teaching has been now declared "false" by the Catholic Church, but what about the hurt it caused families for centuries?

So I hope that Catholics will make up their own minds about whether they want to be buried, or cremated, or where their ashes should be kept or scattered.

However, I fear that the Catholic Church's threat of not giving a Christian burial to those who break the rules, will deter many people from following their own wishes.

Much is made of human rights today, but I believe that dying and dead people have their own rights too, and that they should be recognised.

All of which reminds me of my former colleague, the distinguished journalist Liam Clarke, who was a Zen Buddhist and whose ashes were scattered on the ocean in Donegal.

This symbolised the free spirit of Liam, who was his own man.

He chose the spiritual path which suited him in his life, and he faced his death with courage and insight.

The BBC transmitted, in its excellent True North series, a most intimate television programme about his last days and his funeral. It was a searing portrayal of the grief at the heart of a family in the midst of bereavement.

For some people it may have been almost too difficult to watch, while for others it may have been deeply inspiring.

Either way, it was one of the most remarkable programmes I have seen on the too-often "taboo" subject of death.

Yet perhaps even more revealing was an article by Liam for this newspaper, some time after he received the news that his rare cancer was terminal.

It was thoughtful, inspiring and deeply spiritual, and he exhorted all of us to appreciate and enjoy every moment and experience, in the knowledge that all our lives will end some day.

Part of his philosophy was close to some of the deep insights of Christianity, and in a period where we have been embroiled in various church-secular-gay issues, it is important to remember that Christianity is not the only great world religion.

We could learn from others as well, if only we had the heart and head to listen to the wisdom and experience of others on the life's journey which we all share.

Sadly, for too many of us here, that would be a step too far.
United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee v. FRANCISCO JAVIER CASTRO-ALFONSO, Defendant - Appellant No. 15-41597 Decided: October 27, 2016

Before JOLLY, BARKSDALE, and SOUTHWICK, Circuit Judges.

Francisco Javier Castro-Alfonso (Castro-Alfonso) challenges the district court's application of a 16-level sentencing enhancement that was based on his previous conviction of aggravated burglary under Tennessee law. We affirm, because the Tennessee conviction, like the Texas offense at issue in United States v. Garcia-Mendez, 420 F.3d 454 (5th Cir. 2005), is equivalent to burglary of a dwelling and is a crime of violence for the purposes of  2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(ii) of the United States Sentencing Guidelines.

I.

Castro-Alfonso pleaded guilty to unlawful reentry into the United States in violation of 8 U.S.C.  1326(a) and (b). He had been deported in 2006 following a conviction for aggravated burglary under Tennessee Code  39-14-403. His Presentence Investigation Report (PSR) recommended a 16-level enhancement because his Tennessee aggravated burglary conviction equated to a crime of violence within the meaning of  2L1.2 of the Sentencing Guidelines. Castro-Alfonso objected to the 16-level enhancement. He argued that the prior felony offense was categorically broader than the generic burglary of a dwelling component of the crime of violence definition and, further, that the offense did not contain an element of force. Before sentencing in this case, the Government filed a transcript of the guilty plea colloquy in the earlier burglary conviction, in which Castro-Alfonso admitted to breaking into the home of a resident of Nashville.

The district court, relying upon this court's decision in Garcia-Mendez, 420 F.3d at 454, and the guilty plea colloquy, denied Castro-Alfonso's objection and applied the recommended enhancement. Castro-Alfonso's total offense level was 21, including the enhancement and accounting for the three-point reduction for acceptance of responsibility. This offense level yielded a Guidelines range of 46 to 57 months of imprisonment. Castro-Alfonso was sentenced to a prison term of 46 months. The district judge, in announcing his decision, expressed that he had considered the sentencing factors in 18 U.S.C.  3553(a) and the guilty plea transcript in arriving at his conclusion, and that even if the court were committing error in calculating the sentencing range, he would nonetheless have delivered the same sentence. Castro-Alfonso appeals.

II.

The question presented is whether  39-14-403 of the Tennessee Code constitutes a crime of violence under U.S.S.G.  2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(ii). We review a district court's interpretation of the Sentencing Guidelines de novo. United States v. Hernandez-Galvan, 632 F.3d 192, 196 (5th Cir. 2011). Furthermore, [w]here a defendant preserves error by objecting at sentencing, [this court] review[s] the sentencing court's factual findings for clear error  United States v. Gomez-Alvarez, 781 F.3d 787, 791 (5th Cir. 2015). We find no clear error if the district court's finding is plausible in light of the record as a whole. United States v. Cisneros-Gutierrez, 517 F.3d 751, 764 (5th Cir. 2008). Procedural errors at sentencing receive harmless error review. United States v. Robinson, 741 F.3d 588, 598 (5th Cir. 2014).

III.

The Sentencing Guidelines advise a 16-level enhancement for the sentence of an individual convicted of illegal reentry when the individual also has been convicted of a crime of violence as defined in the Guidelines. The application notes define crime of violence as follows:

Crime of violence means any of the following offenses under federal, state, or local law: [m]urder, manslaughter, kidnapping, aggravated assault, forcible sex offenses  , statutory rape, sexual abuse of a minor, robbery, arson, extortion, extortionate extension of credit, burglary of a dwelling, or any other offense under federal, state, or local law that has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another.

U.S.S.G.  2L1.2 cmt. n.1(B)(iii) (emphasis added). To qualify as a crime of violence, an offense must either fit the generic definition of one of the enumerated offenses or include as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against another. Id.

Courts generally apply a categorical, common-sense approach when determining whether an offense constitutes a crime of violence under the Guidelines. United States v. Albornoz-Albornoz, 770 F.3d 1139, 1141 (5th Cir. 2014) (citing Taylor v. United States, 495 U.S. 575, 599600 (1990)). Rather than considering the specific conduct of the defendant, courts using the categorical approach consider the reach of the statute of conviction. Id. If the court finds  a realistic probability, not a theoretical possibility, that the State would apply the statute of conviction to conduct that falls outside the generic definition of the crime, then it cannot use the state conviction to enhance. Id. (quoting Gonzales v. Duenas-Alvarez, 549 U.S. 183, 193 (2007)).

A.

Here, Castro-Alfonso's 2006 crime of conviction was a violation of Tennessee Code  39-14-403. This statute defines aggravated burglary as burglary of a habitation as defined in  39-14-401 and 39-14-402. TENN. CODE ANN.  39-14-403 (2014). Accordingly,  39-14-401 states the definition of habitation:

(1) Habitation:

(A) Means any structure, including buildings, module units, mobile homes, trailers, and tents, which is designed or adapted for the overnight accommodation of persons;

(B) Includes a self-propelled vehicle that is designed or adapted for the overnight accommodation of persons and is actually occupied at the time of initial entry by the defendant; and

(C) Includes each separately secured or occupied portion of the structure or vehicle and each structure appurtenant to or connected with the structure or vehicle 

TENN. CODE ANN.  39-14-401. Burglary, in turn, is defined in subsection 402:

(a) A person commits burglary who, without the effective consent of the property owner:

(1) Enters a building other than a habitation[1] (or any portion thereof) not open to the public, with intent to commit a felony, theft or assault;

(2) Remains concealed, with the intent to commit a felony, theft or assault, in a building;

(3) Enters a building and commits or attempts to commit a felony, theft or assault; or

(4) Enters any freight or passenger car, automobile, truck, trailer, boat, airplane or other motor vehicle with intent to commit a felony, theft or assault or commits or attempts to commit a felony, theft or assault. 

TENN. CODE ANN.  39-14-402. The Supreme Court in Taylor defined the generic, contemporary meaning of burglary as an unlawful or unprivileged entry into, or remaining in, a building or other structure, with intent to commit a crime. Taylor, 495 U.S. at 598. The categorical approach commands that we analyze the statute of conviction to determine whether the statute is equivalent to or narrower than the generic definition of the offense.

B.

Castro-Alfonso contends that the Tennessee aggravated burglary offense should not be considered a crime of violence because it is too capacious and proscribes a broader range of conduct than does the generic burglary of a dwelling offense. His argument relies on an unpublished case from a sister circuit that addresses the same statute. In United States v. Lara, 590 F. App'x 574 (6th Cir. 2014), the Sixth Circuit held that  39-14-403 did not qualify as a crime of violence under the Sentencing Guidelines because it sweeps more broadly than does the generic definition and encompasses the burglary of structures other than dwellings, including a tool shed, outhouse, bathhouse, smokehouse, [and] other uninhabited outbuildings that belong to or serve the principal structure. Id. at 582. Castro-Alfonso argues that a similar analysis should be applied to his conviction.

Notwithstanding Lara's factual similarity to the instant case, our decision in Garcia-Mendez controls the outcome here. The defendant in Garcia-Mendez received a sentencing enhancement under  2L1.2 of the Sentencing Guidelines based on a previous conviction of burglary of a habitation under Texas law. This court disagreed with Garcia-Mendez's argument that his previous conviction under the Texas statute should not be deemed a crime of violence to warrant a sentence enhancement because the statute criminalized the burglary of structures appurtenant to or connected with the dwelling. Garcia-Mendez, 420 F.3d at 456. The court instead drew from this circuit's observation in United States v. Hornsby, 88 F.3d 336, 339 (5th Cir. 1996), that burglary of a habitation is considered a crime of violence, to conclude that burglary of a habitation under Texas law is equivalent to burglary of a dwelling under  2L1.2.

Castro-Alfonso disputes the application of Garcia-Mendez in the instant case. First, he contends that this court in Garcia-Mendez did not address the Tennessee statute at issue here. Second, he echoes the Sixth Circuit's observation in Lara that Garcia-Mendez has little to no persuasive value because our court in that case did not rigorously analyze the scope of the appurtenant-to clause of the Texas statute. Lara, 590 F. App'x at 584.

1.

Castro-Alfonso's first argument overlooks the similarities between the Texas Code statutes at issue in Garcia-Mendez and Tennessee's aggravated burglary statute. Garcia-Mendez's burglary of a habitation conviction fell under  30.01(1) and 30.02(a)(1) of the Texas Code. The statutory language, in pertinent part, is as follows:

(1) Habitation means a structure or vehicle that is adapted for the overnight accommodation of persons, and includes:

(A) each separately secured or occupied portion of the structure or vehicle; and

(B) each structure appurtenant to or connected with the structure or vehicle.

TEX. PENAL CODE ANN.  30.01(1) (West 2015).

(a) A person commits [a burglary] offense if, without the effective consent of the owner, the person:

(1) enters a habitation, or a building (or any portion of a building) not then open to the public, with intent to commit a felony, theft, or an assault 

TEX. PENAL CODE ANN.  30.02(a)(1).

The language describing habitation as a structure adapted for the overnight accommodation of persons and as including each structure appurtenant to or connected with the structure is identical in both states' statutes. See TENN. CODE ANN.  39-14-401. Furthermore, the two states' respective statutes equate in their definition of burglary as including the entry of a building not open to the public, without the consent of the property owner, with the intent to commit a felony, theft, or assault therein. See TENN. CODE ANN.  39-14-402. Because of the clear similarities between the two states' statutes, our holding in Garcia-Mendez that burglary of a habitation under Texas law is a crime of violence for sentencing enhancement purposes requires that we reach the same conclusion here.

2.

We also find Castro-Alfonso's second argument unpersuasive. Irrespective of the Garcia-Mendez panel's cursory treatment of the appurtenant-to issue, we are bound by the rule of orderliness to refrain from overturning our previous decision in Garcia-Mendez. The Fifth Circuit rule of orderliness dictates that absent an intervening change in the law, such as by a statutory amendment, or the Supreme Court, or our en banc court, a panel cannot overrule another panel's decision. United States v. Quiroga-Hernandez, 698 F.3d 227, 229 (5th Cir. 2012). No such catalysts are present here. Thus, Garcia-Mendez controls.

Furthermore, this circuit has already defined a dwelling as including structures connected with the main dwelling. In Albornoz-Albornoz, 770 F.3d at 1143, the defendant challenged his 16-level crime of violence enhancement resulting from a previous conviction of second-degree burglary under New York law. The relevant statute characterized this offense as knowingly enter[ing] or remain[ing] unlawfully in a building with intent to commit a crime therein, and  [t]he building is a dwelling. N.Y. PENAL LAW  140.25 (McKinney 2014) (emphasis added). Albornoz-Albornoz claimed that the New York law's definition of dwelling was broader than the generic definition. In its analysis, the court turned to legal dictionaries and treatises to determine that the ordinary, contemporary definition of dwelling includes connected structures. Albornoz-Albornoz, 770 F.3d at 1142 (quoting United States v. Guerrero-Navarro, 737 F.3d 976, 979 (5th Cir. 2013)). The Albornoz-Albornoz decision bolsters our holding in Garcia-Mendez that burglary of a habitation is a crime of violence for the purposes of  2L1.2 of the Sentencing Guidelines.

C.

Because we hold that Castro-Alfonso's previous offense of aggravated burglary under Tennessee law constitutes an enumerated crime of violence subjecting him to the sentencing enhancement, we need not consider whether the crime includes as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force. U.S.S.G.  2L1.2 cmt. n.1(B)(iii). The district court's reliance on the guilty plea transcript and Garcia-Mendez supports its application of the 16-level sentencing enhancement under both the clear error and de novo standards of review. Thus, the court's judgment is AFFIRMED.

IV.

Alternatively, we hold that the practical result of the case is the same under the harmless error standard of review. Under this standard, the proponent of harmless error, here the Government, must first demonstrate that the district court would have imposed the same sentence outside of the appropriate Sentencing Guidelines range for the same reasons, and second, the proponent must show that the district court was not influenced by an erroneous Guidelines calculation. United States v. Ibarra-Luna, 628 F.3d 712, 718 (5th Cir. 2010).

In the instant case, the district judge did not beat around the bush or equivocate in delivering the court's decision at the sentencing hearing. On the contrary, he elaborated upon the court's reasoning and stated plainly that the court would have imposed the same sentence regardless of whether the court was in error:

In imposing [the 46-month] sentence the Court has considered all the 3553(a) factors. The Court believes that its ruling on the objection is correct. But if the Court is in error, the Court, nonetheless, would impose the same sentence noting that it's reflected in the transcript itself, the offense was one that involved burglary of a dwelling. So the Court would impose the same sentence even if it is in error as to the enhancement here.

We take the district court at its clear and plain word. In some instances, we have considered whether the court was improperly influenced by an erroneous Sentencing Guidelines range. See United States v. Martinez-Romero, 817 F.3d 917, 92526 (5th Cir. 2016); Ibarra-Luna, 628 F.3d at 718. That is not the case here. The district judge was firm, plain, and clear in expressing the court's reasoning, and we take him at his word. Consequently, we hold, alternatively, that to the extent that error may have occurred, it was harmless.

V.

In sum, we hold that the district court's designation of Castro-Alfonso's previous Tennessee aggravated burglary conviction as a crime of violence is consistent with and controlled by our decision in Garcia-Mendez. Thus, the district court's application of a 16-level sentence enhancement under the Guidelines is AFFIRMED.

FOOTNOTES

. Under  39-14-402 of the Tennessee Code, one may commit burglary of a building other than a habitation. Castro-Alfonso was convicted under  39-14-403, however, which defines aggravated burglary as burglary of a habitation. TENN. CODE ANN.  39-14-403 (emphasis added).

. Our analysis under the categorical approach does not entail a consideration of the indictment language. Even so, Castro-Alfonso's Tennessee indictment charged him with intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly enter[ing] [a] habitation  with the intent to commit theft in violation of Tennessee Code Annotated  39-14-403. Although Tennessee Code  39-14-403the statute of Castro-Alfonso's 2006 convictionencompasses all manners in which burglary can be committed in  39-14-402, the language of Castro-Alfonso's indictment tracked that of  39-14-402(a)(1), stating that he was charged with entering a habitation with intent to commit a theft. Thus, Castro-Alfonso's Tennessee conviction under  39-14-403 is even more closely akin to Garcia-Mendez's Texas conviction under  30.02(a)(1) than our analysis may permit us to consider.Moreover, because we are applying the categorical approach, we do not consider whether  39-14-403 of the Tennessee Code is a divisible statute sufficient to warrant a modified categorical approach. See Mathis v. United States, 136 S. Ct. 2243, 2253 (2016) (distinguishing between means of committing an offense and the elements of the offense and holding that the modified categorical approach may only be applied when a disjunctively phrased statute renders one (or more) of [the elements of a crime] opaque). Under the modified categorical approach, we would consider the language of the indictment to narrow our understanding of the specific statute of conviction before comparing it to the generic definition of the offense. The outcome, in any event, would remain the same because of our reliance on the panel's decision in Garcia-Mendez.

E. GRADY JOLLY, Circuit Judge:
The media, especially newspapers, have to follow strict guidelines when it comes to reporting suicide. The Independent Press Standards Organisation and the Samaritans have both issued advice to editors, calling on them to ensure that their outlets report suicide as sensitively as possible, and with as few details as possible, to avoid copy-cat deaths or instilling the idea in someone at a time of crisis that this could be the solution to their problems.

Obviously producers of dramas are not under the same instruction, as last night's finale of The Fall demonstrated. It concluded with the graphic and somewhat disturbing suicide of the main character played by Jamie Dornan.

There were other explicit scenes of violence in the episode, but those were more understandable given that Dornan's character is a serial killer.

The BBC defended the suicide scene, citing that audience expectations had been managed carefully, that warnings had been given before the episode began and that it was broadcast after the watershed.

None of those would have diminished the impact of the graphic scenes on impressionable viewers. And this newspaper, for example, would have been roundly lambasted if it carried graphic details of a suicide.

Of course, dramatists have to be given a certain artistic licence and a drama by definition must include drama. It is also right to point out that The Fall, which included Hollywood star Gillian Anderson among its cast, is one of the most successful dramas to be shot in Northern Ireland and set in the province. It has won widespread praise and high audiences and has been a terrific showcase for the province's film and television industry.

Yet there must be some concern at how the lead character's death was depicted. Suicide, particularly among young men, is a big problem in Northern Ireland and it is right that it is handled as sensitively as possible. Suicide, by definition, is always a tragedy, but that message may have got lost last night in The Fall.
Dangerous precedent: Daniel McArthur, managing director of Ashers Bakery and his wife Amy at court this week to hear the verdict

The Appeal Court in Belfast this week ruled that a local, Christian-run business, Ashers Baking Company, acted unlawfully when it refused to decorate a cake with a political pro-gay marriage message. This verdict is a defeat for freedom of expression.

As well as meaning that Ashers can be legally forced to aid the promotion of same-sex marriage against their wishes, it also implies that gay bakers could be forced by law to decorate cakes with homophobic slogans.

It seems the judges have decided that businesses cannot lawfully refuse a customer's request to propagate a message - even if it is sexist, xenophobic, or anti-gay and even if the business owners have a conscientious objection to it.

Although I strongly disagree with Ashers' opposition to marriage equality, in a free society neither they, nor anyone else, should be compelled to facilitate a political idea they oppose.

Ashers did not discriminate against the customer, Gareth Lee, because he was gay. They objected to the message he wanted on the cake: 'Support gay marriage'.

Discrimination against LGBT people is wrong and is rightly unlawful. But in a democratic society, people should be able to discriminate against ideas they disagree with. I am saddened that the court did not reach the same conclusion.

This judgment opens a can of worms. It means that a Muslim printer could be obliged to publish cartoons of Mohammed and a Jewish printer could be required to publish a book that propagates Holocaust denial.

It could also encourage far-Right extremists to demand that bakers and other service-providers facilitate the promotion of anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim opinions.

What the court has decided sets a dangerous, authoritarian precedent that is open to serious abuse.

Discrimination against people should be illegal, but not discrimination against ideas and opinions.

Like most gay and equality campaigners, I initially condemned Ashers over its refusal to produce a cake with a pro-gay marriage slogan for Gareth Lee.

I supported his legal claim against Ashers and the subsequent verdict, which last year found the bakery guilty of discrimination.

First, Ashers had falsely advertised their services, saying they were willing to decorate their cakes with any message that a customer wanted. They did not say there were any limits on the designs, or wording. Second, I feared that Ashers' actions could open the floodgates to a revival of sectarian loyalist-republican discrimination and discrimination against women, LGBTs and other minorities - and their points of view.

But I later changed my mind. Much as I wish to defend the LGBT community, I also want to defend other important human rights, such as freedom of conscience, expression and religion.

While Christian bed and breakfast owners and civil partnership registrars were clearly wrong to deny service to gay people, this case is different. It is about the refusal to facilitate an idea - namely, support for same-sex marriage.

The equality laws are intended to protect people against discrimination. A business providing a public service has a legal duty to do so without discrimination based on race, gender, faith, sexuality and so on.

The court has erred by ruling that Gareth was discriminated against because of his sexual orientation.

It argued that Ashers "would not have objected to a cake carrying the message 'Support heterosexual marriage', or, indeed, 'Support marriage'".

The judges determined that, by refusing to provide a cake with different, pro-gay marriage wording, Ashers had treated the customer differently and less favourably, contrary to the law.

They went on to say: "We accept that it was the use of the word 'gay' in the context of the message which prevented the order from being fulfilled. The reason the order was cancelled was that the appellants (Ashers) would not provide a cake with a message supporting a right to marry for those of a particular sexual orientation.

"This was a case of association with the gay and bisexual community and the protected personal characteristic was the sexual orientation of that community. Accordingly, this was direct discrimination."

However, Gareth's cake request was not turned down because he was gay, but because of the message he wanted on the cake. There is no evidence that his sexuality was the reason Ashers declined his order.

The judges concluded that service-providers are required by law to facilitate any lawful message. This begs the question: will gay bakers have to accept orders for cakes with homophobic slurs? I don't think LGBT people should be forced to promote anti-gay messages. It is an infringement of freedom to require businesses to aid the promotion of ideas to which they conscientiously object.

Discrimination against people should be always unlawful, but not discrimination against ideas and opinions.

Peter Tatchell is director of human rights organisation the Peter Tatchell Foundation
United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, PlaintiffAppellee, v. ISRAEL GARZA, DefendantAppellant. No. 15-41599 Decided: October 27, 2016

Before SMITH, CLEMENT, and GRAVES, Circuit Judges.

Israel Garza contests his 240-month prison term for possession with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine. He contends that the district court could sentence him to only a ten-year maximum because the information filed under 21 U.S.C.  851 indicated that the enhancement was being sought under 21 U.S.C.  841(b)(1)(b). The government moves to dismiss the appeal on the basis that Garza failed to file a timely notice of appeal.

The record supports the government's contention. Garza filed his notice of appeal almost eighteen months after entry of judgment, well beyond the fourteen days that is permitted and also well beyond the time during which the district court could have granted an extension on a showing of either excusable neglect or good cause. See FED. R. APP. P. 4(b)(1)(A)(i), (b)(4); United States v. Alvarez, 210 F.3d 309, 310 (5th Cir. 2000). Although the untimely filing of an appeal in a criminal case is not jurisdictional, see United States v. Martinez, 496 F.3d 387, 38889 (5th Cir. 2007), this court will not disregard untimeliness where the government raises the issue, see Eberhart v. United States, 546 U.S. 12, 18 (2005).

The motion to dismiss is GRANTED, and the appeal is DISMISSED as untimely.

PER CURIAM:*
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United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit. United States of America, PlaintiffAppellee, v. Oscar Rash, DefendantAppellant. No. 16-1672 Decided: October 27, 2016

Before Bauer, Flaum, and Kanne, Circuit Judges. Matthew L. Jacobs, Jonathan H. Koenig, Benjamin Taibleson, Office of the United States Attorney, Milwaukee, WI, for PlaintiffAppellee. Daniel W. Stiller, Milwaukee, WI, DefendantAppellant.

Oscar Rash, who was convicted of possessing a firearm as a felon, see 18 U.S.C.  922(g)(1), challenges the district court's decision to apply a two-level upward adjustment for obstruction of justice. At his trial Rash had conceded to possessing the gun, but the district court found at sentencing that he had also deceptively downplayed his involvement with the gun. Rash argues that, because he conceded possession, his false testimony about his connection to the gun was immaterial to his conviction. But because the district court reasonably concluded that Rash's lie could have misled the jury to acquit him, the lie was material and the adjustment for obstruction was proper. Therefore we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

In 2007, police caught Rash, a felon, with a gun. They caught him after they responded to a report of a man with a gun and encountered Rash. They then saw him take something, which turned out to be a gun, from his waistband and drop it. Rash was arrested, and during his interview with one of the officers he said that the gun belonged to his girlfriend, Monica. He explained that after he saw that she had left her gun in his house, he went to return it to her since he knew that he could not have a gun in his house.

Criminal proceedings followed. At trial Rash repeated what he had told the police officersthat he was merely returning the gun to Monica, the owner. But the government introduced video footage from a gun store showing that Rash had a deeper connection to the gunhe had twice accompanied Monica to the store to help purchase it. Rash denied any role in purchasing the gun; he testified that he was just in the store with her, and just walked around and was looking. At closing, Rash's attorney urged the jury to acquit Rash in part because he did not purchase the gun.

At sentencing, the court applied a two-level upward adjustment for obstruction of justice, see U.S.S.G.  3C1.1. The court found that the store's videotape footage showed clearly that [he was] engaged in assisting in the purchase of that gun and that he was not just a disinterested man in the store. The court concluded that the statements Rash made denying helping [his] girlfriend pick up the gun and that [he was] not paying attention to her and [was] just walking around were clearly false, and therefore provided a basis for points for obstructing in this case. The court noted, however, that the obstruction enhancement did not essentially change the Guidelines range since Rash was subject to a 15year mandatory minimum sentence as an armed career criminal, see 18 U.S.C.  924(e).

Rash's sentence later was vacated under 28 U.S.C.  2255 after Johnson v. United States, 135 S. Ct. 2551 (2015), invalidated the part of the Armed Career Criminal Act that determined Rash's sentence. During his resentencing hearing in 2016, Rash's attorney argued against the proposed enhancement for obstruction of justice. When, as here, the enhancement is based on perjury, it has three elements: (1) providing false testimony; (2) concerning a material matter; (3) with the willful intent to provide such false testimony. United States v. Arambula, 238 F.3d 865, 868 (7th Cir. 2001). Without disputing the first and third elements, counsel contended only that Rash's statements regarding his role in the gun store were not material because Rash had admitted at trial that he possessed a gun.

The district court disagreed and applied the enhancement. Initially it ruled that Rash's testimony was material simply because it was sworn: What a witness has to say under oath in a determination byin a hearing where the finder of fact needs to assess the credibility of all the proof is material. The government then argued that Rash's testimony was material because it minimized his connection to the gun and therefore could have encourage[d] the jury to nullify and not convict him of possession The court agreed with that logic as well. It then applied the two-level adjustment, producing a guideline range of 92 to 115 months. Without the enhancement, the guidelines would have called for a sentence between 77 and 96 months. See U.S.S.G. Ch. 5, Pt. A. The court imposed a mid-range sentence of 100 months.

II. DISCUSSION

We start with a brief word about mootness. Although Rash was released from prison on September 9, 2016, his appeal is not moot because he is currently serving a term of supervised release (a form of custody), and a resentencing can still provide him some relief by shortening that term. See United States v. Laguna, 693 F.3d 727, 729 (7th Cir. 2012); United States v. GarciaGarcia, 633 F.3d 608, 612 (7th Cir. 2011); United States v. Larson, 417 F.3d 741, 747 (7th Cir. 2005). Consequently we proceed to the merits.

Rash argues on appeal that the district court erroneously ruled that his testimony was material and therefore improperly applied the upward adjustment for obstruction. Under  3C1.1, testimony is material if it is information that, if believed, would tend to influence or affect the issue under determination. U.S.S.G.  3C1.1, cmt. n.6. The parties focus on Rash's testimony about his role in the gun store, and the government proposes two ways in which that testimony was material: First, it could have encouraged the jury to acquit through nullification. Second, it could have influenced the sentence. After considering both contentions, we agree with the first but not the second.

We begin with the nullification argument. Rash maintains that his false testimony was not material because, after he admitted to possessing the firearm, his lie about his role in its purchase was not crucial to the question of guilt or innocence. Arambula, 238 F.3d at 868. See United States v. Senn, 129 F.3d 886, 899 (7th Cir. 1997) (defendant's admission that he accepted marijuana proved the offense; false testimony about what he did with it was immaterial, rendering the obstruction enhancement clear error), abrogated on other grounds by United States v. Vizcarra, 668 F.3d 516 (7th Cir. 2012); United States v. Parker, 25 F.3d 442, 448449 (7th Cir. 1994) (vacating an obstruction enhancement for a defendant who admitted his guilt, but falsely stated that he stole $200 rather than $1252 from a bank); United States v. Stenson, 741 F.3d 827, 831 (7th Cir. 2014) (adjustment upheld in firearm possession because defendant falsely testified that it was his cell phone, not a firearm, that the police officers saw in his possession when they arrived); United States v. Saunders, 359 F.3d 874, 879 (7th Cir. 2004) (adjustment upheld because defendant lied about possessing a gun, the central issue at his trial); United States v. Sheikh, 367 F.3d 683, 687 (7th Cir. 2004) (upholding an adjustment because each defendant lied about knowingly redeeming illegally obtained food stamps, a matter that was certainly crucial to guilt).

But even if his false testimony was not material to whether he possessed the gun unlawfully, it was nonetheless material to his conviction for that crime. When Rash lied that he had no role in buying the gun, he sanitized his connection to it and bolstered his exculpatory claim that he possessed the gun only to return it to its owner after he found it in his house. That spin on his conduct might have swayed the jury to decide that, despite his admitted unlawful possession, it should disregard the law and acquit him. A jury has the unreviewable power to nullify the law by acquitting a defendant even when the facts and law compel conviction. See United States v. Sorich, 709 F.3d 670, 678 (7th Cir. 2013); United States v. Kerley, 838 F.2d 932, 938 (7th Cir. 1988). Jury nullification is a material risk when, as in this case, the jury receives information that invites it to ignore the law. See Laguna, 693 F.3d at 731. For that reason, the government may punish advocacy of jury nullification as obstruction of justice. See Braun v. Baldwin, 346 F.3d 761, 763 (7th Cir. 2003). Rash's lie that he played no role in the gun's purchase might not have risked influencing the jury quite as much as the government fears. But because Rash's (false) testimony potentially invited the jury to ignore the law, his testimony created a material risk of nullification. It therefore warranted the enhancement for obstruction of justice.

We note that the district court initially made an incorrect, but ultimately harmless, overstatement when it suggested that material testimony includes anything a witness says under oath. Not all sworn testimony, even if false, is material. See, e.g., Senn, 129 F.3d at 899; Parker, 25 F.3d at 448449. But the court later adopted the government's more limited rationale for the obstruction enhancement: Rash's lie put his illegal behavior in a favorable light, and that lie, if believed, would tend to influence or affect, U.S.S.G.  3C1.1, cmt. n.6, the jury to use its nullification power. So the district court's earlier misstatement was harmless. See United States v. Hill, 645 F.3d 900, 906 (7th Cir. 2011).

For completeness, we explain why Rash's false testimony was not material to his sentencing. False testimony is material if it could affect a defendant's sentence. See United States v. Sapoznik, 161 F.3d 1117, 1121 (7th Cir. 1998) (holding that a defendant obstructs justice not only when he makes it more difficult for the government convict him, but also when he makes it more difficult for the court to give him the sentence that is his just desert). But Rash's false testimony deflecting his role in purchasing the gun did not have a realistic possibility of affecting his sentence. Once he was convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm in 2008, he necessarily faced a mandatory minimum of 15 years under 18 U.S.C.  924(e) as an armed career criminal. The prospect that  924(e) was unconstitutional, rendering his testimony at trial material to sentencing, was too remotethe Supreme Court would not decide Johnson for another seven years.

Finally we observe that in imposing its obstruction adjustment, the district court did not find that Rash specifically intended to obstruct justice through his lie, a finding that this court has previously required. See United States v. Gage, 183 F.3d 711, 717 (7th Cir. 1999) (remanding a case for resentencing when the district court's obstruction enhancement did not include a specific factual finding that [the defendant] told the lie intending to obstruct justice). But because Rash limited his argument on appeal to the materiality of this testimony, we have addressed only that one contested issue.

III. CONCLUSION

Because Rash's false testimony was material to the risk of jury nullification for the purposes of a  3C1.1 obstruction adjustment, we affirm.

Bauer, Circuit Judge.
United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit. United States of America Plaintiff - Appellee v. Dennis Augustus Keith Mobley Defendant - Appellant No. 15-3711 Decided: October 28, 2016

Before RILEY, Chief Judge, WOLLMAN and BENTON, Circuit Judges.

Dennis Augustus Keith Mobley pleaded guilty to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C.  922(g)(1) and 924(a)(2). The district court sentenced him to 60 months' imprisonment. Mobley appeals, arguing that the district court failed to adequately explain its reasons for imposing an upward departure. We affirm.

In early 2014, a joint task force began investigating a gang known as the 10z gang, which had been involved in illegal firearms possession and other crimes in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and was engaged in a violent feud with a rival gang. On March 6, 2015, during the course of the investigation, officers received information that Mobley was in possession of a firearm. At the time, Mobley was a felon prohibited from possessing firearms and was awaiting sentencing on a state felony conviction for aiding an offender. Specifically, Mobley had driven the get-away vehicle for an individual who had fired six rounds into two vehicles occupied by both adults and children and who later pleaded guilty to attempted murder. Officers found five individually wrapped bags of cocaine in the get-away vehicle.

On March 6, officers located Mobley while he was driving a vehicle. The officers initiated a traffic stop, pursued Mobley on foot when he fled the vehicle, and eventually apprehended him. Mobley told the officers that gang members were upset with him for a shooting incident. The officers found in Mobley's vehicle a loaded .40 caliber, semiautomatic pistol with a round in the chamber and rounds in the magazine.

Mobley's presentence report (PSR) set forth his lengthy criminal history, which included several juvenile adjudications, numerous misdemeanors, and the following four adult felony convictions: first-degree property damage, being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm, third-degree drug possession, and the aiding-an-offender offense set forth above. The first offense occurred in December 2010, when Mobley pointed a gun at his brother (whose daughter was nearby) and broke the side windows of his brother's two cars. The second offense occurred a few months later. An officer tried to initiate a traffic stop after Mobley drove through a red light. Mobley sped away and later fled on foot, discarding a loaded .25 caliber handgun as he ran. After being apprehended, Mobley admitted that he was a member of the 10z gang and said that he was being chased by members of a rival gang. While the first two cases were pending, Mobley was arrested for possession of cocaine and ecstasy. Mobley pleaded guilty to the three felonies and served concurrent sentences. He was released from prison in December 2013, following which he committed the aiding-an-offender offense in August 2014.

The PSR determined that Mobley's total offense level was 12, that his criminal history category was VI, and that his advisory sentencing range under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual (U.S.S.G. or Guidelines) was 30 to 37 months' imprisonment. The government's sentencing memorandum argued that a criminal history category of VI substantially under-represented Mobley's criminal history, primarily because it failed to take into account the violent and dangerous nature of Mobley's offense conduct for aiding an offender. The government requested an upward departure under U.S.S.G.  4A1.3(a), suggesting that Mobley's offense level be increased by 5 and that the district court impose a sentence at the top of the adjusted advisory Guidelines range of 51 to 63 months' imprisonment. Alternatively, the government argued that the district court should vary upward to a 63-month sentence.

Before imposing sentence, the district court discussed Mobley's extensive criminal history, noting that [t]he basic themes are guns  and drugs. The district court did not state that it was applying an upward departure under U.S.S.G.  4A1.3(a), but indicated that a sentence within the advisory Guidelines range would be a real understatement  of what the right sentence is here and thereafter imposed a 60-month sentence. The district court indicated in its post-sentencing statement of reasons that it had departed from the advisory Guidelines range on the basis of  4A1.3(a), criminal history inadequacy.

Mobley argues that the district court failed to explain its reasons for imposing an upward departure. Because Mobley did not object to the district court's explanation, we review for plain error. See United States v. Walking Eagle, 553 F.3d 654, 657 (8th Cir. 2009) (reviewing the adequacy of a district court's explanation of its reasons for imposing an upward departure for plain error because defendant had failed to object and thus the district court had no opportunity to clarify its comments or to correct any potential error in the first instance (quoting United States v. M.R.M., 513 F.3d 866, 870 (8th Cir. 2008))).

Guidelines  4A1.3(a)(1) permits an upward departure [i]f reliable information indicates that the defendant's criminal history category substantially under-represents the seriousness of [his] criminal history or the likelihood that [he] will commit other crimes. We have said that when a district court imposes an upward departure under  4A1.3(a)(1), it first must proceed along the criminal history axis of the sentencing matrix, comparing the defendant's criminal history with the criminal histories of other offenders in each higher category. United States v. Johnson, 648 F.3d 940, 943 (8th Cir. 2011) (quoting Walking Eagle, 553 F.3d at 657). In cases like this one, in which the defendant's criminal history places him in category VI, a district court may nevertheless impose an upward departure under  4A1.3(a) if a departure is warranted by the extent and nature of the defendant's criminal history. See U.S.S.G.  4A1.3(a)(4)(B). In such cases, the court should structure the departure by moving incrementally down the sentencing table to the next higher offense level in Criminal History Category VI until it finds a guideline range appropriate to the case. Id. Although the procedure set forth in our case law and the Guidelines might suggest otherwise, [t]his process does not require a ritualistic exercise in which the sentencing court mechanically discusses each criminal history category [or offense level] it rejects en route to the category [or offense level] that it selects.  Walking Eagle, 553 F.3d at 657 (quoting United States v. Azure, 536 F.3d 922, 931 (8th Cir. 2008)).

We find no plain error in the district court's explanation of its decision to depart upward. The district court noted that Mobley had taken a very difficult road with respect to the criminal justice system, with all of his adult felony offenses involving guns and drugs. The district court discussed each those offenses, finding special significance in the circumstances of Mobley's aiding-an-offender offense. After taking into account Mobley's extensive criminal history, the repeated nature of his drug- and firearm-related offenses, and the fact that Mobley committed the federal offense while awaiting sentencing on a state offense that involved aiding an offender who committed attempted murder, the district court ultimately departed upward, because [t]he guidelines [we]re not quite right and because the guidelines [we]re a real understatement of  what the right sentence is here.

We conclude that the district court's otherwise adequate explanation of departing upward was not undercut by its lack of mention that it had moved incrementally down the sentencing table to find the appropriate advisory Guidelines range. See Walking Eagle, 553 F.3d at 658 (Although the district court did not specifically mention that it had considered each intermediate criminal history category, its findings were adequate to explain and support the departure in this particular case. (quoting United States v. Collins, 104 F.3d 143, 145 (8th Cir. 1997))).

Mobley also argues that the district court failed to justify the imposition of a 5-offense-level upward departure. Mobley relies on several of our cases that were decided at a time when we reversed district courts for imposing sentences outside the advisory Guidelines range in the absence of what we considered to be a justification for the extent of deviation. For example, we required that any extraordinary reduction  be supported by extraordinary circumstances. See, e.g., United States v. Likens, 464 F.3d 823, 825 (8th Cir. 2006) (citing United States v. Dalton, 404 F.3d 1029, 1033 (8th Cir. 2005)). We were then told by the Supreme Court that the rule requiring proportional justifications for departures from the Guidelines range is not consistent with [the Court's] remedial opinion in United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220 (2005). Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 46 (2007). In the present case, the district court provided sufficient justification for the upward departure and imposed a substantively reasonable sentence. See Johnson, 648 F.3d at 944 (holding that the district court's explanation of its decision to impose an upward departure provided sufficient indicia of why the intermediary categories [were] inappropriate (quoting Azure, 536 F.3d at 932)).

The sentence is affirmed.

FOOTNOTES

. The Honorable Joan N. Ericksen, United States District Judge for the District of Minnesota.

. Mobley also argued that the district court improperly relied on his criminal history when it varied above the advisory Guidelines range and that his sentence is substantively unreasonable because the district court gave significant weight to the improper factor of Mobley's criminal history. The district court applied an upward departure based on U.S.S.G.  4A1.3(a), however; it did not impose a variance.

PER CURIAM.


For Immediate Release, October 28, 2016 Contacts: Jim McCarthy, WaterWatch of Oregon, (541)708-0731, jim@waterwatch.org

Noah Greenwald, Center for Biological Diversity, (503)484-7495, ngreenwald@biologicaldiversity.org

Janette Brimmer, Earthjustice, (206)343-7340 x 1029, jbrimmer@earthjustice.org

Laurie Rule, Advocates for the West, (503)914-6388, lrule@advocateswest.org Agreement Reached to Protect Upper Deschutes River Deal Provides Modest Near-term Flow Boost and Sets Timeline for Science-based

Improvements to Benefit Water Quality, Threatened Oregon Spotted Frogs PORTLAND, Ore. The Center for Biological Diversity, WaterWatch of Oregon, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and several irrigation districts today reached an interim agreement to temporarily boost flows in the Upper Deschutes River to reduce harm to the Oregon spotted frog, a threatened species protected by the federal Endangered Species Act. The deal also requires the Bureau of Reclamation and the water districts to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to create a long-term plan on a set timeline that will further reduce harm to the frogs. The agreement stems from lawsuits brought by the two conservation groups arguing that management of Crane Prairie and Wickiup dams on the river is driving the struggling frogs toward extinction. The groups also argued that the Bureau of Reclamation had failed to follow the law and consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service in a timely manner to reduce the harm from its river management operations. This agreement is an important first step toward ensuring that the Deschutes River dams don't drive the Oregon spotted frog to extinction, said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center. This is the first of many steps to restore a natural flow regime in the Deschutes, which will benefit not only the Oregon spotted frog but the fish and people dependent on the health of the river. The 2-inch- to 4-inch-long, black-spotted frog, now known to inhabit fewer than 100 sites, lives on the margins of both reservoirs and along the river below the dams. Large fluctuations in both the size of the reservoirs and the rivers flows alternately flood and dry out the frogs habitat, in violation of the Endangered Species Act. The flow regime also damages water quality, harming fish and wildlife. One of the most visible recent examples of this harm occurred in October 2013, when a rapid flow reduction due to irrigation management killed nearly 3,000 fish and sparked outrage throughout the state. Our goal has always been a science-based water management plan that benefits frogs as well as fish, other wildlife and the people of Central Oregon who cherish and rely on the Upper Deschutes, said John DeVoe, executive director of WaterWatch of Oregon. The interim flow measures are a step in the right direction while parties work toward the main objective: establishing substantive flow improvements in the river. We will be holding parties to achievement of this goal under the timeline defined by the settlement. The frog, which was protected last year under the Endangered Species Act, was once common from British Columbia to Northern California along numerous rivers and lakes, including the Deschutes and Willamette rivers. But the frog, known for the unique clicking sound it makes, has suffered massive declines because of loss of its wetland habitats, largely caused by dam-building, urban and agricultural development and livestock grazing. This agreement will result in timely completion of consultation with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other spotted-frog experts to provide long-term protections for the frog, as well as interim changes to river flows that benefit frogs immediately, without having to resort to further litigation, said Laurie Rule, an attorney from Advocates for the West representing the Center. "The bottom line of this settlement is moving off of the status quo that has been harming frogs and fish," said Janette Brimmer, the Earthjustice attorney representing WaterWatch. "This deal mandates consultation to improve Upper Deschutes River flows management by a certain date, and we fully intend to keep the parties on schedule and to monitor future developments very closely in order to ensure that adequate protections are put in place quickly." The Center is represented in litigation by Laurie Rule and Elizabeth Zultoski of Advocates for the West. WaterWatch of Oregon is represented by Janette Brimmer and Anna Sewell of Earthjustice. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with

more than 1.1 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of

endangered species and wild places. For 30 years, WaterWatch has protected and restored water to Oregons rivers, streams

and lakes for fish, wildlife and people.
United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit. United States of America Plaintiff - Appellee v. Richard William Melanson Defendant - Appellant No. 16-1227 Decided: October 28, 2016

Before RILEY, Chief Judge, WOLLMAN and BENTON, Circuit Judges.

Richard William Melanson pleaded guilty to travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual contact, in violation of 18 U.S.C.  2423(b). He appeals from the 360-month sentence of imprisonment and lifetime supervised release imposed by the district court, arguing that the sentence is substantively unreasonable. We affirm.

Melanson was serving a ten-year sentence imposed in January 2012 by a South Dakota state court judge on a charge of possessing, manufacturing, and distributing child pornography. It was discovered during the investigation of that charge that Melanson had made three trips to Guatemala between 2007 and 2010.

The evidence introduced at the federal sentencing hearing established that Melanson had engaged in sexual contact with three under-age boys during his trips to Guatemala. The evidence also established that Melanson had whipped one of the victims with a belt.

Melanson testified at length about his trips to Guatemala and his interactions with the victims. He acknowledged that during his 2008 trip he had paid one of the victims and an of-age boy money to submit themselves to being beaten with a belt and to being touched in a sexual manner. He testified that he met with another of the victims during his 2010 trip, who indicated that everything that Melanson proposed to do with him was okay.

The district court questioned Melanson about the seventeen-minute video that he had made that showed him beating one of the victims with a belt. Melanson acknowledged that the video showed the victim convulse and recoil in pain with each strike of the belt, only to have Melanson push the victim's head back down so that he was completely prone on the bed. Melanson also acknowledged that on one of the beating occasions the victim appeared to be biting down on a blanket in anticipation of the next strike of the belt. Melanson also acknowledged that after the beatings he would have the victims stand up against the wall so that Melanson could take still photos of the red striations across their buttocks. The video also showed the minor victim performing oral sex on Melanson following one of the beatings. Finally, Melanson acknowledged that he had agreed in his factual basis statement that his travels to Guatemala were for the purpose of engaging in illicit sex with minors.

After considering the parties' positions regarding the calculations of the appropriate sentencing guidelines range, the district court determined that Melanson's total offense level was 43 and his criminal history category was II, resulting in a guidelines range of life imprisonment. Because the statutorily authorized thirty-year maximum sentence provided by 18 U.S.C.  2423(b) was less than the minimum of the applicable guideline range, the guideline term of imprisonment was 360 months. U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual  5G1.1(a).

After hearing Melanson's expression of remorse for his conduct, his need for therapy, and his plea for leniency, the district court heard testimony from the two victims who had traveled from Guatemala, in which they described the adverse impacts that Melanson's conduct was having in their lives, including loss of self-esteem, feelings of shame and of fear of being found out by others.

Pointing to the fact that Melanson was 53 years of age, defense counsel requested a sentence of ten years' imprisonment and five years of supervised release. He stated that Melanson's expert witness's psychosexual evaluation in the state criminal proceedings placed Melanson in the lower half of offenders. He also argued that a thirty-year sentence would result in too great a disparity with the twenty-five-year sentence that the district court had recently imposed in a pornography possession case.

The district court rejected defense counsel's disparity argument, pointing out the differences in the two cases. It stated that it had found the report regarding Melanson's psychosexual evaluation to be the least helpful evaluation I have seen from [the expert]. The district court then discussed at length that Congress had enacted the statute to protect minors from the predatory behavior of sexual tourists with the intention of making it clear that such conduct carries with it serious consequences. It pointed to Melanson's repeated travel to a country in which he knew there were teenagers who were desperate for money and who yearned for the material possessions displayed by visiting tourists. The court described Melanson as a highly intelligent, high-functioning individual whose behavior focused on the target group of vulnerable young males, upon one of whom he had inflicted extraordinary pain and whom he had photographed for his sexual gratification. It noted the need to protect the public, both in this country and in the international community, from the conduct that Melanson had engaged in.

The district court concluded by recognizing that Melanson was capable of benefitting from sex offender treatment, saying that it would recommend that he be placed in a prison facility that provided such treatment. It stated further that Prison is punishment; that's what it is. Congress says it's not rehabilitation. But to the extent the Bureau of Prisons has sex offender treatment, the judgment will say I recommend that you be placed in a facility where you can undertake that. It concluded by ordering that the sentence be served concurrent with the undischarged portion of the sentence that Melanson was serving on the state charge.

Melanson argues that his sentence is substantively unreasonable, imposed as it was upon a 53-year-old offender whose prior criminal history was unrelated to the conduct that resulted in the federal charges, rendering (in Melanson's eyes, at least) him a first-time offender. He asserts that the district court abused its discretion because it fundamentally sentenced him on the basis of [its] personal outrage at Melanson's offense conduct, that it did not take into account Melanson's age and uncontested low risk of recidivism, that it ignored the disparity with the sentence in a comparable case, and that it improperly considered Melanson's need for rehabilitation and treatment as a factor in determining the length of the sentence.

We review the substantive reasonableness of a sentence under a deferential abuse-of-discretion standard. Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 41 (2007). A district court abuses its discretion when it fails to consider a relevant factor, gives significant weight to an irrelevant or improper factor, or considers only appropriate factors but nevertheless commits a clear error of judgment by arriving at a sentence that lies outside the limited range of choice dictated by the facts of the case. United States v. San-Miguel, 634 F.3d 471, 475 (8th Cir. 2011) (quoting United States v. Jones, 509 F.3d 911, 913 (8th Cir. 2007)); see also Gall, 552 U.S. at 59 (noting that the range of choice dictated by the facts of a case was significantly broadened after the guidelines became advisory).

We conclude that our above-set-forth recitation of the district court's sentencing explanation carries with it a refutation of Melanson's disparity and recidivism arguments. As for the alleged outrage-based sentencing determination allegation, we agree that the sentencing transcript reflects the district court's deeply felt thoughts regarding Melanson's repeated travels to Guatemala to prey upon his vulnerable victims in that poverty-stricken place. While a sentence must not be imposed out of unrestrained emotion, a sentencing court should not be required to view with dispassionate aplomb that which all would consider to be repellent, predatory conduct. Accordingly, we reject the argument that the district court's sentence in this case was other than the result of a careful, systematic analysis of that which was needed and appropriate in light of the sentencing factors set forth in 18 U.S.C.  3553(a).

Likewise, we conclude that the district court's discussion of Melanson's need for and amenability to sex offender treatment did not result in a sentence that was imposed or lengthened to promote Melanson's rehabilitation, but rather reflected its desire that Melanson be placed in a facility that would provide him with such treatment. As the United States Supreme Court said in Tapia v. United States, 564 U.S. 319, 333 (2011), a court may urge the BOP to place an offender in a prison treatment program, which is what the district court did in United States v. Rickert, 685 F. 3d 760, 769 (8th Cir. 2012), and what the district court did here.

The sentence is not unreasonable, and it is therefore affirmed.

FOOTNOTES

. The Honorable Jeffrey L. Viken, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the District of South Dakota.

. Electing to decide the appeal on its merits, we deny the government's objected-to motion to dismiss the appeal based upon Melanson's appeal waiver.

PER CURIAM.
The Legends Of Narak Chaturdashi Faith Mysticism oi-Sanchita

After Dhanteras, the second day of Diwali is known as Narak Chaturdashi or more popularly as 'Choti Diwali'. Narak Chaturdashi is the 14th day of the Hindu month of Kartik. This festival is observed to commemorate the victory of Lord Krishna over the demon king, Narakasur. It is believed that on the day of Narak Chaturdashi, Lord Hanuman reached Ayodhya with the news of Lord Ram's return from exile after 14 long years.

This day is celebrated differently in various regions of India. It is quite clear that even the rituals and legends of Narak Chaturdashi differ from region to region. In Southern India, people wake up before sunrise to prepare a paste by mixing kumkum in oil. They apply this paste called 'Ubtan' on their foreheads and then take a bath.

A white pumpkin is broken and smeared with kumkum. The breaking of the fruit represents the head of the demon king, Narakasur, and the kumkum-oil paste symbolises the blood that Lord Krishna smeared His forehead with.

In Bengal, people prepare 14 different kinds of 'saag' (leafy green vegetables) and light 14 oil lamps in the evening, signifying the Chaturdashi (14th day of the Hindu month of Kartik ). On the next day, Kali Puja commences as Amavasya sets in. Thus, Narak Chaturdashi is an important festival celebrated throughout India.

Let us take a look into the legends and stories of Narak Chaturdashi.

Story Of Narak Chaturdashi

The story goes that the demon king Narakasur, ruler of Pragjyotishpur (the province to the south of Nepal), after defeating Lord Indra, snatched away the magnificent earrings of Aditi (the mother of all the Gods). He also imprisoned the 16,000 daughters of the gods and saints in his harem.

On the day previous to Narak Chaturdashi, Lord Krishna killed the demon and liberated the imprisoned damsels and also recovered those precious earrings of Aditi. Thus, the day of Narak Chaturdashi came to be celebrated as the day of victory of good over evil.

Story Of King Bali

Another legend is about King Bali who became very powerful and a threat to the Gods. In order to curb his powers, Lord Vishnu took the guise of a Batu Vaman and begged King Bali to give him only so much land which he could cover with his three steps.

Known for his generosity, King Bali proudly granted him his wish. That very moment that small boy transformed himself into the all-powerful Lord Vishnu. With his first step, Lord Vishnu covered the entire heaven and with the second step the earth and asked Bali where to keep his third step.

Bali offered his head. Putting his foot on his head, Vishnu pushed him down to the underworld. At the same time, for Bali's generosity, Lord Vishnu gave him the lamp of knowledge and allowed him to return to earth once a year to light millions of lamps. This would dispel the darkness of ignorance and spread the radiance of love and wisdom.

Hence, Narak Chaturdashi is a celebration of good over evil, light over darkness and wisdom over ignorance.

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United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. PETER ELVIK, Petitioner-Appellee, v. RENEE BAKER, Warden and ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, Respondents-Appellants. No. 13-17530, No. 14-15126 Decided: October 26, 2016

Before: SCHROEDER and N.R. SMITH, Circuit Judges, and KRONSTADT, * District Judge. Before: SCHROEDER and N.R. SMITH, Circuit Judges, and KRONSTADT, ** District Judge.

ORDER

The prior memorandum disposition and dissent filed on June 28, 2016, are hereby amended concurrent with the filing of the amended disposition today. With these amendments, Judge N.R. Smith has voted to deny the petition for rehearing en banc, and Judges Schroeder and Kronstadt have so recommended.

The full court was advised of the petition for rehearing en banc and no judge has requested a vote on whether to rehear the matter en banc. Fed. R. App. P. 35.

The petition for rehearing en banc is DENIED. No further petitions for rehearing or rehearing en banc may be filed in response to the amended disposition.

AMENDED MEMORANDUM *

On Remand From the United States Supreme Court

The Nevada Attorney General appeals the district court's order conditionally granting Peter Elvik's 28 U.S.C.  2254 habeas corpus petition, arguing that (1) the district court was obligated to develop alternative theories to support the Nevada Supreme Court's decision, and (2) the district court erred by concluding that the trial court's failure to provide a jury instruction was not a harmless error. We affirm.

1. The district court was not obligated to develop alternative theories to support the Nevada Supreme Court's decision. The Nevada Supreme Court did not provide a summary decision without reasoning, as in Harrington v. Richter, 562 U.S. 86, 96 (2011), or a decision that failed to address one of petitioner's claims, as in Johnson v. Williams, 133 S. Ct. 1088, 109697 (2013). Instead, the Nevada Supreme Court provided a reasoned decision that addressed all of the key issues in Elvik's petition. Therefore, the district court did not err by analyzing the rationale of the Nevada Supreme Court as presented in its reasoned opinion.

2. In Davis v. Ayala, the Supreme Court clarified that the Nevada Supreme Court's harmless error determination must be analyzed under the framework set out in 28 U.S.C.  2254(d). 135 S. Ct. 2187, 2198 (2015). Here, the Nevada Supreme Court provided a reasoned decision on whether the error was harmless. But the court analyzed the error under a more deferential state law standard rather than Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 24 (1967), which is the required standard for determining whether federal constitutional errors are harmless. This was contrary to  clearly established federal law, and when a state court applies the incorrect legal standard, we afford it no deference. See Shirley v. Yates, 807 F.3d 1090, 1101 (9th Cir. 2015). Instead, we proceed to analyze whether the error was harmless de novo.

3. The trial court's failure to provide the jury with an instruction regarding Nevada Revised Statute section 194.010 was not a harmless error. On collateral review, an error is not harmless if it had [a] substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the jury's verdict. Brecht v. Abrahamson, 507 U.S. 619, 637 (1993) (quoting Kotteakos v. United States, 328 U.S. 750, 776 (1946)). Under this standard, petitioners are not entitled to habeas relief unless they can establish that [the trial court's error] resulted in actual prejudice.  Id. The Supreme Court has explained:

[I]f one cannot say, with fair assurance, after pondering all that happened without stripping the erroneous action from the whole, that the judgment was not substantially swayed by the error, it is impossible to conclude that substantial rights were not affected. The inquiry cannot be merely whether there was enough [evidence] to support the result, apart from  the error. It is rather  whether the error itself had substantial influence. If so, or if one is left in grave doubt, the conviction cannot stand.

Kotteakos, 328 U.S. at 765. Additionally, [w]here the record is so evenly balanced that a judge feels himself in virtual equipoise as to the harmlessness of the error and has  grave doubt about whether an error affected a jury [substantially and injuriously], the judge must treat the error as if it did so.  Merolillo v. Yates, 663 F.3d 444, 454 (9th Cir. 2011) (second alteration in original) (quoting O'Neal v. McAninch, 513 U.S. 432, 435, 43738 (1995)).

Nevada Revised Statute section 194.010 creates a presumption that children (between the ages of eight years and fourteen years) lack the capacity to distinguish right from wrong. See Winnerford Frank H. v. State, 915 P.2d 291, 293 (Nev. 1996). Accordingly, the prosecution bears the burden of rebutting this presumption by establishing, through clear proof, that at the time of committing the act  [the child] knew its wrongfulness. Nev. Rev. Stat.  194.010. Elvik's proposed instruction (based on section 194.010) stated:

All persons are liable to punishment except those belonging to the following class as it applies to this case:

Children between the ages of eight years and fourteen years, in the absence of clear proof that at the time of committing the act charged against them they knew its wrongfulness. Peter Elvik was fourteen years old on August 31, 1995.

The trial court rejected the instruction. Accordingly, the trial court did not instruct the jury as to the applicability of section 194.010.

We have grave doubts as to whether the trial court's error was harmless. See Garcia v. Long, 808 F.3d 771, 781 (9th Cir. 2015) ([The Brecht] standard is satisfied if the record raises grave doubts' about whether the error influenced the jury's decision.). Juries are presumed to follow the instructions given to them by the trial court. Vitello v. United States, 425 F.2d 416, 422 (9th Cir. 1970). Thus, had the trial court given the instruction, the jury would have been required to presume that Elvik was not liable for his actions, unless the government proved by clear evidence that Elvik knew (at the time he committed the crimes) that his conduct was wrong. The trial court's failure to give the instruction relieved the government of its burden of proving an element of the crime.

The government contends that, even without the instruction, the record contains sufficient evidence indicating that Elvik understood the wrongfulness of his actions, and that he cannot meet the standard that there was much more than a reasonable possibility that the result of the [trial] would have been different. Davis, 135 S. Ct. at 2203 (citing Brecht, 507 U.S. at 637). The evidence in the record, however, is mixed. Some evidence suggests that Elvik may have known that what he did was wrong. He fled from a motel when informed the police were coming, he hid the victim's handgun and money clip, he gave the police a false name, and he testified at trial that he didn't want some little kid to find the [handgun], or shoot, you know, or anything like that. Other evidence, however, suggests that Elvik was immature and childish, and did not understand the wrongfulness of his actions. He remarked that he might not live long because of some big earthquake, he referred to his mother with a crude expletive, he believed he would be sent to juvenile detention, and he testified at trial that he was scared and did not think anyone would believe him. Still more evidence could be viewed by the jury to support either contention, such as Elvik's made up story of being under the influence of LSD. On the basis of the full record and given the state's burden of proof we are persuaded that had the jury been properly instructed, there was a reasonable probability the jury would have acquitted him, not merely a reasonable possibility that they could have. We agree with the district court and conclude that the trial court's failure to provide a jury instruction regarding section 194.010 was not harmless.

Because we affirm the district court's conditional grant of Elvik's habeas petition, we do not reach the issues raised in Elvik's cross appeal.

AFFIRMED.

I concur with the conclusion of the majority that [t]he district court was not obligated to develop alternative theories to support the Nevada Supreme Court's decision. I also agree with its statements that Nevada Revised Statute section 194.010 creates a presumption that children (between the ages of eight years and fourteen years) lack the capacity to distinguish right from wrong and that as a result, the prosecution bears the burden of rebutting this presumption by establishing, through clear proof, that at the time of committing the act  [the child] knew its wrongfulness.  (quoting Nev. Rev. Stat.  194.010). Finally, I agree with the majority's description of the Brecht standard, which on collateral review governs the determination of whether an error is harmless, as clarified in Davis v. Ayala, 135 S. Ct. 2187 (2015). I disagree, however, with the application of the Brecht standard by the majority to the record evidence. Therefore, I respectfully dissent from its conclusion that [t]he trial court's failure to provide the jury with an instruction regarding Nevada Revised Statute section 194.010 was not a harmless error.

As the majority observes, [t]he government contends that, even without the instruction, the record contains sufficient evidence indicating that Elvik understood the wrongfulness of his actions. The majority then states that the evidence in the record is mixed and concludes that [o]n the basis of the full record and given the state's burden of proof we are persuaded that had the jury been properly instructed, there was a reasonable probability the jury would have acquitted him, not merely a reasonable possibility that they could have. It is with these conclusions that I respectfully disagree.

In my view, the record evidence is not so evenly balanced that a judge could feel in virtual equipoise as to the harmlessness of the error or have grave doubt about whether an error affected a jury [substantially and injuriously]   Merolillo v. Yates, 663 F.3d 444, 454 (9th Cir. 2011) (alteration in original)(internal quotation marks omitted) (citing O'Neal v. McAninch, 513 U.S. 432, 435, 43738 (1995)). Instead, a consideration of the record evidence as a whole supports the conclusion that the error did not have a substantial and injurious effect or influence on the verdict. For these reasons, on the record in this case, [defendant] cannot establish actual prejudice  Davis, 135 S. Ct. at 2203.

The following record evidence, some of which is cited by the majority, in my view shows that Elvik had a level of sophistication and understanding that would cause any reasonable jury to conclude that, when he shot and killed the victim, Elvik knew the difference between right and wrong:

1. Elvik previously had been arrested for stealing a motor vehicle.

2. After the shooting, Elvik took the victim's briefcase and handgun. The briefcase contained the victim's money clip and the keys to his vehicle. Elvik then drove the victim's vehicle nearly five hundred miles from Carson City, Nevada to Costa Mesa, California.

3. After arriving in California, Elvik contacted his 13-year-old girlfriend, picked her up in the victim's vehicle, and checked into a motel with her for the night. He took the victim's handgun and money clip into the motel room.

4. The day after the shooting, at approximately 3:00 a.m., California law enforcement personnel, who had become aware of the events in Nevada, identified the vehicle outside the motel as the one that belonged to the victim of the shooting. They contacted the person working at the front desk of the motel from whom they learned that Elvik was the guest associated with that vehicle. Shortly thereafter, the person at the front desk called the room in which Elvik and his girlfriend were staying and told him to flee. Elvik and his girlfriend left the room. Elvik jumped from the balcony. Although his girlfriend was promptly apprehended, Elvik evaded law enforcement personnel for the next 14 hours. During that time, he hid the victim's handgun and money clip.

5. Elvik testified at trial that he later went back and retrieved the handgun because he didn't want nobody to find it. I didn't want some little kid to find it, or shoot, you know, or anything like that.

6. Upon being detained, but prior to his arrest, Elvik gave a false name to the police. He later told them his actual name.

7. After being held, and given a Miranda warning, Elvik initially denied any recollection of the shooting. He stated that he had taken LSD and that this likely clouded his memory. Later in that interrogation, Elvik admitted to shooting the victim. At trial, Elvik stipulated that a blood test showed that he was not under the influence of LSD, and he testified that he had lied when he told the police otherwise.

8. During the same interrogation, Elvik asked whether his actions in Nevada would result in his confinement in a juvenile hall in Nevada or California. This showed sophistication about the link between where a crime is committed and the place of any resulting confinement.

9. During the same interrogation, Elvik stated that he had considered leaving the victim's handgun with Elvik's friend Stephen. He stated, I didn't want to give it to [Stephen] because I guess he's like on probation for doing drugs or something. So I didn't want him to get in trouble for it but, you know? He stated that he then decided to give the gun to Stephen with the expectation that Stephen would take it over to [Elvik's] mom's office or whatever or the police station or whatever he's going to do with it.

10. At the time of the shooting, Elvik was 14 years and 11 months old. Thus, within a month he no longer would have qualified for the instruction under Nev.Rev.Stat.  194.010(2).

In my view, a consideration of the other evidence in the record, some of which is also mentioned by the majority, does not show that the totality of the evidence was equally balanced such that a judge could be in equipoise as to the issue of harmless error. Elvik relies on the following evidence to support his contrary position:

1. During his interrogation, he referred to his mother, who had disowned him and denied his request to return to her in California, by using a crude expletive;

2. He stated that he might not have a long life ahead of him because there might be some big earthquake and he might fall in the crack and then [ ]die;

3. He answered some questions with ah huh instead of yes during his interrogation;

4. He did not surrender to the police because he was scared and did not think anyone would believe him, something consistent with the recognition that he knew that his conduct was wrongful;

5. During the interrogation, after being told that everybody's going to know exactly what happened and that this was Elvik's chance to fill in, maybe, a couple of little minor details, Elvik asked why does it matter, whatever I tell you? However, in context, these words demonstrate that Elvik was asking why he needed to state what he had done given the evidence the police already had collected 1; and

6. At the conclusion of the initial interrogation, Elvik asked if he would be sent to juvenile hall in Nevada or California. As stated above, this reflects sophistication. Moreover, even if this implied that Elvik misunderstood the seriousness of the punishment that might be imposed for killing the victim, it did not imply that he did not know that his conduct was wrongful.

To make the determination of whether a trial error of federal law had substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the jury's verdict Davis, 135 S. Ct. at 2198 (internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting O'Neal, 513 U.S. at 436), it is necessary to consider the effect of the error in light of all the evidence presented to the jury. The question is not whether the jury was right in their judgment but is, instead, what effect the error had or reasonably may be taken to have had upon the jury's decision. Kotteakos v. United States, 328 U.S. 750, 764 (1946). This analysis must take account of what the error meant to [the jury], not singled out and standing alone, but in relation to all else that happened. Id. A conviction may not be overturned on mere speculation that the defendant was prejudiced by trial error; actual prejudice must be suffered. Calderon v. Coleman, 525 U.S. 141, 146 (1998); see also Fry v. Pliler, 551 U.S. 112, 119 (2007); Brecht v. Abrahamson, 507 U.S. 619, 637 (1993). Thus, [t]here must be more than a reasonable possibility that the error was harmful. Davis, 135 S. Ct. at 2198 (quoting Brecht, 507 U.S. at 637). In assessing actual prejudice to the defendant, all relevant record evidence should be considered.

For these reasons, which are based on a review of the relevant record, I am not persuaded that Elvik suffered actual prejudice because the instruction that he requested was not read to the jury. Given the evidence at trial, I respectfully disagree that a reasonable jury could have concluded that Elvik did not understand the wrongfulness of his actions. That killing another person is wrongful is among the oldest and best established rules of civilization. As such, [t]here is no basis for finding that [defendant] suffered actual prejudice  Davis, 135 S. Ct. at 2208.

FOOTNOTES

. This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.

. After being asked to fill in the little details because the police d[id]n't know exactly, you know, step by step what happened, Elvik asked, Well, what does it matter anyway[?] After being told that what happened was not going to be a real big mystery, Elvik asked, Yeah, I know, so why  why does it matter, whatever I tell you? Elvik later stated, Well  well, you obviously already know what happened, so what does it matter what I say? Subsequently, after being told that his girlfriend had stated that Elvik told her that he shot the victim, Elvik responded, It doesn't matter anyways. Later, after being asked whether the victim fell on his back or on his stomach after being shot, Elvik stated, So, even if I do know, what is it  who cares? After being told that things were f* * * * * right now and that they were going to stay that way for awhile, Elvik asked, So what's the difference if they're going to stay like that?
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This article was published 29/10/2016 (2194 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba Justice says it will investigate how an inmate  at the jail in relation to violent offences  managed to escape on Friday before he was caught later in the afternoon.

Brandon Correctional Centre staff notified police of the escape at 2:47 p.m. Members of the Brandon Police Service patrol, traffic and canine units took part in the search.

The inmate was seen fleeing through the Assiniboine Community College grounds. The college and nearby Kirkcaldy Heights School implemented emergency procedures, although police didnt specify what those procedures were.

Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun Brandon Police Service vehicles block a portion of Kirkham Crescent at First Street North after an escapee from the Brandon Correctional Centre was apprehended by BPS officers on Friday afternoon.

After an extensive search, the inmate  who had escaped without pants and shoes  was found but ran.

There was a brief chase, but he was caught near the intersection of First Street North and Kirkham Crescent after a police dog tracked him to the area.

Police said that  76 minutes after they were notified of the inmates escape  he was returned to BCC.

Several police cars and an ambulance could be seen at the jail shortly after 4 p.m. Forensic officers were also seen examining a car, but its not clear what the vehicles connection was.

The 28-year-old unidentified escapee was taken to the Brandon hospital for treatment of unspecified injuries he sustained during his bid for freedom.

He will make a court appearance today on a charge of escaping lawful custody.

Questions about how the inmate managed to get out were referred by police to the Brandon jail.

A spokesperson for Manitoba Justice said an internal review will examine the factors in the escape and how they can be prevented. As of Friday evening, the spokesperson said the department couldnt provide more information about the inmate or the escape, including how it happened.

Police say they were informed that the inmate was being held at the jail in relation to violent offences.

Other notable escapes, or attempted escapes, from the Brandon Correctional Centre in recent years:

Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun Brandon Police Service members photograph a vehicle surrounded by BPS on Kirkham Crescent near First Street North after an escapee from the Brandon Correctional Centre was apprehended by BPS officers on Friday afternoon.

Dec. 17, 2015  Brandon police respond to a report that 13 inmates were trying to break out of the east side of the jail. Police were told that Unit B had been broken out, but jail staff secured inmates as police prepared to respond. One inmate had held a shank to the neck of another willing inmate as a ruse to get jail staff to comply with demands. No one was injured.

 Aug. 18, 2014  Kevin Olney walked out of a propped-open door, climbed a fence, squeezed through the hole between the razor wire and the building, climbed onto the roof and then jumped to the ground and freedom. He had stolen a key to a Manitoba government pickup truck which he drove to Saskatchewan. He was caught when he went to hospital for treatment for the injuries sustained in his jump. Five hours after the escape, RCMP contacted the jail where staff were unaware Olney was missing.

 Sept. 11, 2011  Accused killer Robert Ray Patrick Morand and another inmate escaped from the fenced bullpen enclosure used to give inmates fresh air and exercise. They climbed the chain-link and escaped through a hole that had been made near the roof. They used a jacket to cover razor wire and climbed onto the roof of the bullpen, then used the jacket to get over another fence. The second inmate swam across the Assiniboine River but was caught after three hours. Morand was on the loose for 24 hours and made his way to Winnipeg where he was arrested. He was later sentenced to life in prison for the shooting death of Brent Michael David Bialkoski.

 October 2008  Two inmates, pending on charges related to a Winnipeg home invasion, escaped. Those escapes came shortly after 50 inmates were transferred to the Brandon jail due to crowding at the Winnipeg Remand Centre and Headingley jail. The escapees said they missed their families.

 ihitchen@brandonsun.com, with files from Charles Tweed

 Twitter: @IanHitchen
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This article was published 29/10/2016 (2194 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Sharon Ellerington has been living in the corner bed of a hospital room, decorated only with a red paper lantern and the pastel patterns on the dividing curtain, for 33 days.

She also hasnt eaten so much as an ice chip since being admitted to the Brandon Regional Health Centre on Sept. 25.

Its been a heck of a battle trying to keep (my) spirits up. You kind of start losing hope, Ellerington said.

Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun Sharon Ellerington still has her sense of humour despite having spent the last month in the Brandon Regional Health Centre, not able to eat solid food and waiting for surgery to repair a ligament in her abdomen. Ellerington suffers from celiac artery compression syndrome, an extremely rare condition that has caused a ligament to strangle an artery supplying blood to her stomach. There are only 11 other known cases in the world, she said.

Ellerington suffers from celiac artery compression syndrome, an extremely rare condition that has caused a ligament to strangle an artery supplying blood to her stomach. There are only 11 other known cases in the world, she said.

The pain was excruciating  It causes a lot of problems within the digestive system, Ellerington said.

Doctors hooked up Ellerington with intravenous fluids and informed her that surgery was the only option.

I assumed I would have surgery very quickly, but nothing seemed to be happening. There were really no wheels in motion, Ellerington said.

After more than a month, Elleringtons daughter, Brittany Hunkin, made a desperate plea on Facebook.

No one is willing to take her case and help her get the medical care she desperately needs. So, Im writing this to try and shed some light on her situation so that maybe someone, anyone, can help her become healthy again, Hunkin wrote in the Facebook post. Every time I walk into her hospital room and I see all the tubes and IVs coming out of her face and arms, my heart breaks a little more  Please help my mother get the care and attention she not only needs, but immensely deserves.

By the next day, the post was shared more than 1,500 times, and Ellerington said she received a call from a surgeon in Saskatoon who told her he was going to line something up. In less than a day, she was scheduled for surgery.

I never expected the Facebook (post) to take off like it did  there was a glimmer of hope, Ellerington said. We couldnt keep up  Id go to send a text and switch back to see 58 more (shares) and it was just unbelievable, it was overwhelming.

Although Ellerington is overjoyed to finally be getting the surgery she needs, she said it shouldnt have taken so long.

In my eyes, there are definitely communication barriers, Ellerington said. I know how busy the medical field is, but they still need to focus on the importance of the issue. Whether its a rare or a common (condition), they still need to find a way to search things out in a timely fashion before it ends up getting lost in the shuffle.

Ellerington feels as though she fell through the cracks.

Youre in (the hospital) and youre sick, but you have to be your own advocate and try to get something done  and I waited a long time to do that, Ellerington said. Its been a very, very long road of frustrations, pain and tubes. I can understand to a point that youre going to have a hard time finding a surgeon who does this type of surgery, but thats where they need to reach out and come together to be more effective in searching and finding the answers, for the sake of the patient.

A Prairie Mountain Health official said he could not comment on this case due to patient confidentiality and privacy obligations.

Ellerington credits the support of family, friends and the nursing staff for helping her get through the days.

Sharon Ellerington, right, visits with her mother Betty Ann Ellerington, centre, and her sister Karen Powell at the Brandon Regional Health Centre on Friday. Sharon has been in the hospital for a month, not able to eat solid food, as she waits for surgery to repair a ligament in her abdomen.

My family have been really supportive, and the nursing staff here have been incredible. Without them, I dont know where my head and my thoughts would be after 30 days of being in a hospital bed, Ellerington said.

Elleringtons mother, Betty Ann Ellerington, sister, Karen Powell, and daughter will be travelling to Winnipeg early to make sure they are there for when Ellerington arrives at Health Sciences Centre for surgery on Tuesday morning.

Theres been a lot of sleepless nights, said Betty Ann, holding her daughters hand.

So its wonderful (shell be getting surgery).

Its just unfortunate that it had to take a whole month before it got to this point, Powell said. We shouldnt be having this conversation on whether it was the social media (that prompted the surgery) or wasnt, it should have happened three weeks ago.

Even though shell be spending her birthday in the hospital next week, Ellerington said at least it will be in recovery and not in waiting. Shes eager to get rid of the machine that feeds her through tubes  which she has affectionately nicknamed her big boyfriend and be able to eat her sisters homemade fettuccine alfredo.

Most of all, shes eager to get back home with her family and hug her grandson.

Im a very active person  this has been very stressful on everyone (in my family), Ellerington said. Im just so thankful that this is finally getting done.

 edebooy@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @erindebooy
Opinion

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This article was published 29/10/2016 (2194 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was far from a week to remember for Justin Trudeau.

His Liberal candidate, Stan Sakamoto, was trounced by Conservative rival Glen Motz in an Alberta byelection in the riding of Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner. Motz even took the opportunity to use his victory to take a jab at the prime minister for visiting the Gas City in support of Sakamoto.

I would like to thank Justin Trudeau for visiting the region. The activity in our campaign absolutely spiked when he arrived, Motz quipped during his somewhat smug victory speech.

The Conservatives have long held the Medicine Hat area and not since the early 1970s has another party come close to unseating a Tory. Sakamoto gave a valiant effort, but only garnered just over 25 per cent of the vote compared to just under 70 per cent for Motz.

The following day, the prime minister was in the nations capital to attend the Canadian Labour Congress National Young Workers Summit. The event became a national spectacle as young protesters jeered the PM as he began to speak to the crowd.

Young people of this country have been the bread and butter of Trudeaus time as leader, but all that took a sharp turn on Tuesday as he took to the stage.

During the town hall-style forum, he was booed by the crowd with a small contingent turning their back on the PM. They did so as a symbolic gesture of their belief that the Liberals are turning their backs on the youth of this nation. Their belief is that the government has not followed through on campaign promises for a dramatic increase of available jobs, commitment to electoral reform and more encompassing dialogue on pipeline projects.

Tuesday was uncharted waters for Trudeau, and he was clearly uncomfortable fielding the backlash from protesters. A couple of times he called for a return to civility and etiquette from the crowd. Admittedly, it sounds rather upper class of the prime minister to ask for etiquette when the youth gathered feel trapped by a constant churn of joblessness, underemployment and unemployment that is nearly double the national average.

Trudeau must now tread carefully as he needs young voters. He and his party see them as the linchpin to a re-election bid in 2019. Inevitably, the prime minister is likely to split the votes in the baby boom generation, but when it comes to the tail end of Generation X voters and with the millennial generation, Trudeau was king in the 2015 election.

The Liberals committed $1.5 billion toward a youth job strategy during their bid for office, but they continue to fall well below their benchmarks for the creation of new opportunities for youth. The unemployment rate in Canada hovers around seven per cent, but youth face double-digit unemployment coming in closer to 14 per cent. It is a challenging time for young people in this country, and their frustration is beginning to show with actions like they undertook at the Canadian Labour Congress conference.

Education is key to closing that gap and this government must work with its provincial counterparts to ensure that investment continues to flow toward creating new and out-of-the-box opportunities for post-secondary study. Coupling that with innovation is a must as well as the Liberals look to expand opportunities for a large population working their way through the system.

To the prime ministers credit, he did stay at the summit, asking for the gathering to engage in discussion. But this does point to a troubling trend for the Liberals. In the last number of weeks, they have faced a backlash from a couple of demographic groups on what is perceived to be a failure to follow through on campaign promises, albeit only a year into their mandate.

Much like United States President Barack Obama in 2008, the Liberals took office with almost messiah-like qualities, and at the time it seemed as if Justin Trudeau could walk on water. In reality, though, governing is a much more challenging undertaking and the prime minister is reeling a bit from the sophomore jinx. Governing is more than slogans, and like Obama, slogans of hope, change and optimism can become problematic when the electorate have such high expectation.

Thats not to say we as Canadians should lower our standards for our elected officials. If we expect little, then we will be forced to accept even less. And although not productive all the time, protests like last Tuesdays ruckus can turn into a positive. They show us that youth are engaged, and governments should listen before that hope and optimism slip into challenge and despair.
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 29/10/2016 (2194 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The scandalous news out of Ottawa in recent weeks is the apparent pay-for-play occurring between the federal Liberals and so-called big donors who have been paying as much as $1,500 to attend private events with cabinet ministers, with the proceeds going to the party.

While this smells to high heaven, is it really an important issue?

Why is this potentially scandalous? Obviously, being able to buy time with cabinet ministers provides the well-heeled with an opportunity to lobby for their cases, whatever those may be. To have the ear of a minister in a relatively private setting would be valuable, particularly if one had an important issuing pending in front of that minister or, for that matter, the government itself.

In other words, this presents one hell of a conflict-of-interest opportunity, or so some might suggest.

Meanwhile, the Liberal government has indicated in its own guidelines that ministers ought to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest and situations that have the potential to involve conflicts of interest.

Everyday people, of course, lack this access as they dont have the ability to write cheques to their local Liberal cabinet minister for a private meeting.

More importantly, evidently, is the appearance of such obvious conflicts of interest and that, my friends, is exactly what the self-same Liberals have been trying to avoid.

Let us take a moment of sober reflection and, perhaps, throw a little cold water on the scandal-mongers out there. This matter is, for lack of a better term, a tempest in a teapot. In my experience, having spent a number of years on the fringes of politics, I would daresay that a $1,500 contribution here or there is probably insufficient to swing a federal ministers intervention one way or the other.

Canada, thanks to successive governments that focused on eliminating scandals, has a very robust and largely pristine electoral system. While our electoral system is far from perfect, and we occasionally experience mischievous abuses, they are largely minor in nature.

In simple terms, unlike the United States, Canadian politicians are highly regulated in what they can spend in an election bid.

Elections Canada actually sets the limits on what can be spent in a federal election. In most cases, federal ridings typically feature candidates spending between $75,000 and $115,000 per election, linked to the length of the election campaign and the number of voters in a riding.

Given that, imagine how easy it would be for any cabinet ministers team to raise sufficient funds for an election, or even in an off-year. It is, in real terms, a simple task. Hence, to think some tycoon owns a politician for a measly $1,500 doesnt pass the smell test.

There are no Sheldon Adelsons or other super contributors in Canada who are funding political parties with $25 million of their own money. Those people, with respect, have huge access in a U.S. political system that revolves around cash. We simply dont have a similar situation in Canada. Our politicians dont have necessity to access this type of money.

Donors are also limited in what they can contribute. Even the wealthiest amongst us was legally permitted to contribute a maximum of $1,525 to each registered federal party in 2016. Thats not exactly the kind of money that would make elected officials risk their livelihood.

It looks awful, but it is important to understand the difference between how something looks and what something actually is. Appearance is important, but reality is more important.

Do I believe federal cabinet ministers are available for purchase at $1,500 each? I certainly hope not, nor do I think this is the case. This is a symbolic issue about wealth, privilege and access, but not particularly relevant.
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 29/10/2016 (2194 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

This past Sunday, Quebec MP Steven Blaney, a former public safety minister in the Stephen Harper government, became the latest candidate to throw his hat into the federal Conservative leadership race.

This brings the total number of declared candidates to 10, with a few others  including Ontario MP Lisa Raitt and former immigration minister Chris Alexander  expected to follow suit. Missing from this list are many high-profile cabinet ministers from the past  people like Peter MacKay, Jason Kenney, James Moore and John Baird.

That these kinds of big names are not interested in the job speaks to the challenge facing the Conservative party as it looks to its post-Harper future. Speaking on the leadership race, Moore recently told the Globe and Mail that Conservatives are at a point where they are still seen as Stephen Harpers party  he was the leader and the centre pole of the tent. The party is doing some soul-searching right now in terms of what we are and where we want to go.

Moores comments sum up one of the main themes my students and I talk about in my Canadian Political Parties course. As the ties that used to bind voters to certain parties  if you were a union worker you voted NDP; if you were Catholic, chances are you voted Liberal  have weakened over the years. Ideology and the old left/right divide that was so critical in decades past has become less relevant in the modern era.

Today, voters are more volatile than ever, willing to shop around for the leader/party/candidate that best reflects their issues and to change their vote from election to election. When brand loyalty means less than ever, leadership becomes the golden goose that parties rush to as they compete for power. Find the right leader, build the party in his or her image, and the votes will follow. Yet what happens when that leader departs suddenly due to electoral defeat or scandal, or finds him/herself on the losing end of shifting public opinion? This is exactly the dilemma confronting the Conservative party today.

It is easy to understand why the Conservative party was branded in the image of Stephen Harper. Not only was Harpers influence a reflection of the fact that he was the partys first elected leader  in 2004, after the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada  he also had an internally consistent set of ideological beliefs under which the new party could take shape.

That Harpers stamp on the party proved to be the winning formula was evident in the electoral successes the Conservatives were able to rack up under his command, capped off by their majority win in 2011.

In the aftermath of Harpers departure, the Conservatives now find themselves searching for that new, magical leader who will define where the party goes from here. And, from the numerous  and seemingly conflicting  ideas put forth by the various leadership contenders, it appears that there is not much consensus on this question.

Instead, the idea seems to be, lets pick a leader first and then figure out what conservatism in Canada means today. This is the wrong approach. Parties need to first do the heavy lifting of figuring out what their beliefs and values are and how these translate into the business of governing before they search for the leader who best captures this vision. In the absence of this kind of soul-searching, as painful and difficult of a process as it can be, parties can easily find themselves relegated to the sidelines for considerable periods of time.

Indeed, we only have to look to the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba to find evidence of this. After Gary Filmon resigned on election night in 1999 after losing power, the provincial Tories wandered in the wilderness for more than 15 years, suffering a string of election defeats (2003, 2007 and again in 2011) before finally returning to power in 2016.

Central to the Manitoba PCs dilemma was that the party had shrunk to a mere shell under Filmon; indeed, it had become The Filmon Team throughout the 1990s (with an emphasis on the former rather than the latter). So thoroughly had the party been revamped as the Filmon machine that after his departure, Tories jumped at the first leader that came along  and then the second  before realizing they could not escape from doing the work of figuring out what exactly it was they were trying to present to Manitobans, and how these ideas distinguished them from their competitors.

Certainly not all is lost for the federal Conservatives; in the last federal election they still managed to win just less than 32 per cent of the vote.

Yet, in the absence of their former leader, Conservatives today find themselves at a crossroads. Just what are conservative principles post-Harper? Where does the party stand on issues related to Canadian values, for example, or on reproductive rights? On climate change or indigenous issues?

Before rushing head-first into choosing their next leader, Conservative party members would be wise to think long and hard about what kind of Canada they believe in. Or else they might just find themselves wandering in the wilderness for years to come.

 Kelly Saunders is an associate professor with the Department of Political Science at Brandon University.
Opinion

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This article was published 29/10/2016 (2194 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Here we go again

Within one week of the city approving the overpaid firemen almost three per cent a year over the next six years, the staff at the Keystone want the same  and why shouldnt they? My guess is that the firemen are a higher-paid group than the Keystone Centre employees are, thus the gap between the firemen and the Keystone gets greater and greater. I can tell you the seniors CPP and OAS will not increase anywhere near the same amount over the next six years and minimum wage will not increase that much. Yet this group of people will be expected to come up with the money to pay the higher-paid city employees. I would suggest that over half of people in the city are either seniors or minimum wage earners. One of the aldermen actually wondered how the city was going to maintain that huge increase from their tax base. The only way I can see this happening is to simply freeze wages for maybe five years. If the firemen and police want the same wages as Winnipeg, let them move there and accept the higher costs of living. I guess another option would be to start a city-based loan on the taxes for people lucky enough to own their homes!

Quit putting drug dealers back on the street

It is no wonder that Brandon has such a huge drug problem when you have judges in the courtroom throwing out information regarding drug evidence  saying there was not enough information. But man, lets just get these guys off the streets and dont be putting them back out there so they can sell some more drugs.

So much for customer service

Having just returned from a bus trip with a local bus company, I was shocked and very disheartened to have to load and unload my own suitcase on and off the bus  even the underpart of the bus. The bus driver sat on the bus and didnt even attempt to help any of us. He even had the audacity to tell us how they should be put in the bus. I did pay a decent price for this trip and still cannot believe this experience.

I take offence to your editorial

Regarding the editorial in the Oct. 27 Brandon Sun: Offensive Team Names Have To Go. I find this offensive. The editorial is stirring up thoughts that are not properly explained. If you were to read the Sound Off on the same day regarding the Cleveland Indians you would understand the name was to honour a native American and I find the editorial offensive and it just stirs up things that are not right at all.

Sentence them in dog years

With regards to the beating of dogs, when these poor excuses for humans are caught, they should be sentenced in dog years. Seven years for one.
The North's first minister Arlene Foster has accused the Government here of trying to poach foreign direct investment from Northern Ireland.

In her first speech to the DUP annual conference as party leader, she also accused the Republic of trying to talk down the North's economy.

Ms Foster said Brexit was Britain's biggest economic opportunity in decades, and again indicated she's opposed to the return of a "hard border" when the UK leaves the EU.

However, the North's first minister claimed the Irish Government was trying to take advantage of the situation.

She said relations with the Irish administration were as good as they ever had been and she would continue to work with the southern neighbours.

But she told delegates at the DUP annual conference near Belfast that relations with the EU were much less important than the benefits derived from being within the UK.

"The reality is that political instability in Dublin, and fears for their own future, are driving their decision-making at present as much as any concern about Northern Ireland.

"And while they seek to take the views of people of Northern Ireland on the issue of Brexit at home, their representatives are sent out around the world to talk down our economy and to attempt to poach our investors.

"It is clear, conference, that the one place that a hard border does exist is in the mind of the Irish Government.

"Well, I don't believe in a hard border and am happy to welcome shoppers looking for a bargain from across the border any time they want to come.

"And I am quite confident that the investment offer that will be available, both now and in the future, will mean our reputations as a place to invest will continue to grow."

Mrs Foster was addressing her first party conference as leader. She replaced Peter Robinson in December.

The DUP retained its position as Northern Ireland's largest party in the May Assembly poll. The party campaigned for Brexit in the June referendum.
Tonight has seen another breakthrough in the Garda dispute.

The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) and the Justice Department have issued a joint statement agreeing to use the State's industrial relations mechanisms to help avoid threatened strike action by the union.

Earlier, the Department and the Garda Representative Association

Read More:

Both agreements are seen as a major step forward.

Former general secretary of the CPSU, Blair Horan, said while the Government does not want a strike, it won't just give in.

"The other public sector unions will be watching very closely," he said.

"If there's any suggestion of the guards getting pay increases that are interfering with the Lansdowne... it'll have to be compatible with the Lansdowne Road Agreement.

"And that's a fine line the Government will have to walk - otherwise everyone's going to say: 'Well, you know, there's no special case here - we want the same'."
A Polish national has been charged in connection with a human trafficking investigation.

The man appeared before Dublin District Court today following his arrest at Dublin Airport.

38-year-old Wojciech Gendarz was charged in connection with an investigation into the trafficking of Polish nationals into the state by organised criminal groups for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

The Polish national, who was born in September 1978, was arrested in connection with an offence which occurred in November 2011.

He was remanded in custody with consent to bail on strict conditions and is due to appear before Cloverhill District Court next Thursday morning.
As events move toward Israel's 50 years of occupation of Palestine next year, confidence in the Palestinian Authority is crumbling and the peace process is on a knife-edge, threatening to create a new generation of radicals unwilling to live through the current malaise and political vacuum, writes Juno McEnroe, Political Correspondent.

There are questions about Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas' ability to keep his people united going forward and a leadership race is already underway to succeed him.

But there is also frustration among the Palestinians themselves about why record number of illegal Israeli settlements shooting up are allowed continue and why the international community, particularly Europe, will not apply some type of sanctions on Israel.

Movement is growing to boycott Israeli goods and institutions. But EU members will not go there.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny's minority coalition has pledged to recognise Palestine as an independent state during its term, as pledged in the programme for government.

There is no timeline for this. Moreover, all this is playing out while the world awaits the outcome of the US elections, while postponed elections in the Palestinian territories remain in the air and as the so-called 'two-state solution' hangs on on life-support.

The eyes of the internationally community currently watch Syria and developments there. The Israeli-Palestinian peace process though is a tinderbox waiting to explode, which has witnessed increased violence on either side last year and early this year.

Random attacks on Israeli soldiers coupled with unprecedented Israeli settler encroachment have escalated tensions.

There is even talk of a more radical group than Hamas, who control Gaza, emerging if political progress is not made.

Palestinians want fresh talks, in a multi-lateral process that would not necessarily include the US, especially after failed efforts under former secretary of state John Kerry and given Washington's ties with Israel.

They don't want to be pushed into the prison room along with the prison guard, EU sources in Jerusalem said this week.

President Abbas' credibility though is on the line. This week, fresh clashes broke out across the West Bank over different factions in Fatah, his party, vying to succeed him.

International funding for the Palestinians has also halved from $1.2bn last year to around $450m this year, mainly due to a decrease in US contributions.

There is criticism about Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and increased commitment to helping settlers. This is particularly so in the West Bank, where settlements in what is known as Area C threaten to push Palestinian families out and create townships or what are being referred to as 'Bantustans', which were forced on black communities in South Africa during apartheid.

Over 600,000 settlers now live in the West Bank and Jerusalem. Palestinians argue this could be higher and possibly over 730,000. The Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem, which receives EU funding, estimates that Israel has over 47,000 new settlement units ready to build. Furthermore, at this rate, settler numbers could reach over 1 million by 2020, it says.

EU sources say the 'polarisation' of Israelis and Palestinians around the old holy city in Jerusalem is worse than ever because of Israeli segregation and settlement activity. Whole tracts of the West Bank, including Bethlehem, could be cut off from Jerusalem because of new settlements. Furthermore, only five permits to build were granted to Palestinians in the West Bank last year.

Officially, EU officials support President Abbas and the two state solution. Privately though, officials acknowledge Mr Abbas' credibility "is in doubt" among Palestinians themselves.

EU funds though continue to play a crucial part, in the development in the West Bank, the funding of the Palestinian Authority, while money also goes towards governance and civil society improvements. Over 300m is allocated this year. It increases to 1.2bn when contributions from individual member states are taken into account.

Some reconciliation though is needed before delayed elections can go ahead between Fatah and Hamas, the more radical Palestinians currently in control of Gaza.

Ireland currently funds around 10m towards the Palestinians annually and backs the two state solution. Ireland's representative to the Palestinian Authority, Jonathan Conlon, took up his post in Ramallah in September and says the situation at the moment is probably more difficult than since the 1990s.

Patience is running out here. Palestinians have waited for progress on the political track which has been a long time coming.

What you see on the ground is an increasing level of frustration as a result of this.

The frustration and lack of political progress, the frustration at the creation of new settlements on the ground, through confiscations, evictions and demolitions of Palestinian property which are taking place at record levels. This year already, the numbers exceed those for the full year last year and higher than any recent years.

Mr Conlan says support is still strong for President Abbas.

But he also added:The voices are questioning if a two state solution can be achieved if the current trends continue or at least asking how Israel's support for a two-state solution is reconcilable with their actions on the ground."

Much could change before next June, which will mark 50 years since Israel's occupation of Palestine. Maybe nothing will. But Palestinians need a new beacon of hope and more importantly action to take them forward.
Accordions with a value of 130,000 (145,000) have been stolen in a burglary at a music shop.

Thames Valley Police have released CCTV images of a man wanted in connection with the break-in, which happened at The Piano and Accordion Shop in London Road, Sunningdale, Berkshire, between 4pm on August 7 and 9.40am the following day.
As events move toward Israels 50 years of occupation of Palestine next year, confidence in the Palestinian Authority is crumbling and the peace process is on a knife-edge, threatening to create a new generation of radicals unwilling to live through the current malaise and political vacuum, writes Political Correspondent Juno McEnroe in the West Bank, writes Political Correspondent Juno McEnroe in the West Bank

There are questions about Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas ability to keep his people united going forward and a leadership race is already underway to succeed him. But there is also frustration among the Palestinians themselves about why record number of illegal Israeli settlements shooting up are allowed continue and why the international community, particularly Europe, will not apply some type of sanctions on Israel.

Movement is growing to boycott Israeli goods and institutions. But EU members will not go there.

Taoiseach Enda Kennys minority coalition has pledged to recognise Palestine as an independent state during its term, as pledged in the programme for government. There is no timeline for this. Moreover, all this is playing out while the world awaits the outcome of the US elections, while postponed elections in the Palestinian territories remain in the air and as the so-called two-state solution hangs on on life-support.

The eyes of the internationally community currently watch Syria and developments there. The Israeli-Palestinian peace process though is a tinderbox waiting to explode, which has witnessed increased violence on either side last year and early this year. Random attacks on Israeli soldiers coupled with unprecedented Israeli settler encroachment have escalated tensions.

There is even talk of a more radical group than Hamas, who control Gaza, emerging if political progress is not made.

Palestinians want fresh talks, in a multi-lateral process that would not necessarily include the US, especially after failed efforts under secretary of state John Kerry and given Washingtons ties with Israel.

They dont want to be pushed into the prison room along with the prison guard, EU sources in Jerusalem said this week.

President Abbas credibility though is on the line. This week, fresh clashes broke out across the West Bank over different factions in Fatah, his party, vying to succeed him.

International funding for the Palestinians has also halved from $1.2bn in 2011 to around $450m this year, mainly due to a decrease in US contributions.

There is criticism about Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahus government and increased commitment to helping settlers. This is particularly so in the West Bank, where settlements in what is known as Area C threaten to push Palestinian families out and create townships or what are being referred to as Bantustans, which were forced on black communities in South Africa during apartheid.

Over 600,000 settlers now live in the West Bank and Jerusalem. Palestinians argue this could be higher and possibly over 730,000. The Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem, which receives EU funding, estimates that Israel has over 47,000 new settlement units ready to build. Furthermore, at this rate, settler numbers could reach over 1 million by 2020, it says.

EU sources say the polarisation of Israelis and Palestinians around the old holy city in Jerusalem is worse than ever because of Israeli segregation and settlement activity. Whole tracts of the West Bank, including Bethlehem, could be cut off from Jerusalem because of new settlements. Furthermore, only five permits to build were granted to Palestinians in the West Bank last year.

Officially, EU officials support President Abbas and the two state solution. Privately though, officials acknowledge Mr Abbas credibility "is in doubt" among Palestinians themselves.

EU funds though continue to play a crucial part, in the development in the West Bank, the funding of the Palestinian Authority, while money also goes towards governance and civil society improvements. Over 300m is allocated this year. It increases to 1.2bn when contributions from individual member states are taken into account.

Some reconciliation though is needed before delayed elections can go ahead between Fatah and Hamas, the more radical Palestinians currently in control of Gaza.

Ireland currently funds around 10m towards the Palestinians annually and backs the two state solution. Irelands representative to the Palestinian Authority, Jonathan Conlon, took up his post in Ramallah in September and says the situation at the moment is probably more difficult than since the 1990s.

Patience is running out here. Palestinians have waited for progress on the political track which has been a long time coming.

What you see on the ground is an increasing level of frustration as a result of this.

The frustration and lack of political progress, the frustration at the creation of new settlements on the ground, through confiscations, evictions and demolitions of Palestinian property which are taking place at record levels. This year already, the numbers exceed those for the full year last year and higher than any recent years.

Mr Conlon says support is still strong for President Abbas.

But he also added: The voices are questioning if a two state solution can be achieved if the current trends continue or at least asking how Israels support for a two-state solution is reconcilable with their actions on the ground."

Much could change before next June, which will mark 50 years since Israels occupation of Palestine. Maybe nothing will. But Palestinians need a new beacon of hope and more importantly action to take them forward.
LONDON: OPEC is likely to maintain its view world oil demand will rise for another decade, longer than many other...
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Russia have reportedly failed to reach any agreement for import of wheat from the latter on...
The Tennessee Highway Safety Office, Tennessee Highway Patrol, Polk County Sheriffs Office, Georgia State Patrol, and North Carolina State Highway Patrol will partner for a press event at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday at Copper Basin High School, 300 Cougar Dr. in Copperhill, Tn., to kick off Hands Across the Border, a multi-jurisdictional sobriety checkpoint held that evening. The checkpoint will take place from 8-10 p.m. on Highway 64 to crack down on alcohol-impaired driving during the Halloween weekend.



During the press event, Polk County residents Ronald and Shirley Singleton will tell the story of their three-year-old son, Brady, who was killed on April 29, 2008, from a hit-and-run incident in Cherokee County, NC.

Speakers at the event will include: Fred Sherrill, Cumberland Law Enforcement Liaison for THSO; Lieutenant Carey Hixson, Tennessee Highway Patrol; Sheriff Steve Ross, Polk County Sheriffs Office; and Sergeant Chris Wood, North Carolina State Highway Patrol.




WASHINGTON: The United States said Tuesday it was raising with Saudi Arabia a prison sentence handed to a US citizen...
Hundreds of people poured through the doors of the Canberra Islamic Centre on Saturday as part of a national open day for the country's mosques.

The event, now in its third year, was set up as a way for the general public to gain an insight into the religion as well as debunk misconceptions or stereotypes about Islam.

Bec Horridge of Yarralumla gets a henna tattoo by Shafeen Mastaq of Turner at The Canberra Islamic Centre mosque annual open day. Credit:Elesa Kurtz

The Islamic Centre's president Azra Khan said more than 500 people visited the site, although the only one personally invited to the open day failed to make an appearance: Pauline Hanson.

"We invited her here so she can come and meet the community so she could be better informed about Islam," Mrs Khan said.
They hauled the skeletons back to the university during that winter, while locals covered over the object, fearful it might lead to a stampede of prospectors and tourists. And there it remained until 1941 when trucks arrived to spirit it away to a high security hangar at the Richmond air base. Seccord's work on the find was seized from the university archives, along with the skeletons, and no one  apart from the government  to this day truly knows where they are kept.

There, half sticking out of the lush, fertile grazing land, was a metallic object local settlers had known ever since arriving 40 years earlier as "that thing". Seccord and Prentice began digging. Within days they had uncovered most of the object  more than 80 metres round  and inside the metal structure they found the skeletal remains of two creatures  the likes of which the pair had never seen.

In March 1907, Dr Frank Seccord and third-year student Andrew Prentice from the Sydney University history department set out on a horse and cart and headed west through the Blue Mountains. It took them seven brutal weeks travelling through harsh terrain before they finally settled camp at Capertee, a small farming village north of Lithgow.

Never heard this story? That's because I made it up. It's about time we had a new conspiracy theory floating around the Internet, isn't it? After all, we can't seem to get enough of fraudulent claims and downright hoaxes these days. The great irony of our times is that in an age of information overload the preposterous has become the mundane. We are growing dumber by the day.

Take Donald Trump. Pundits maintain his popularity is due to his "outsider" status  a lone voice prepared to rise up and challenge the staid political orthodoxy of the Establishment and its vice-like grip on society's neck. But really, he's just a man for his times, a marketing phenomenon who instinctively knows how to milk the gullible and prey on their insecurities.

A large part of Trump's appeal has been his ability to tap into Conspiracy Land, a fertile world where true believers latch on to anything that provides a simple explanation for these upside-down times. A black man becomes president  cue the Birther movement, which still maintains Barack Obama is not a US citizen. Many of the claims from Trump and his supporters come courtesy of Alex Jones, a self-promoting public broadcaster from Austin, Texas, who has written a book claiming Lyndon Johnson was behind the assassination of JFK. He's up there with the loons who not only believe the moon is hollow and possibly an alien spaceship parked in orbit around the Earth, but that humanity never walked on its surface in the first place ("Hollywood Director Staged Moon Landings in Secret Hollywood Studio!").

But it's not just the US suffering from this growing belief in the irrational. Just perform a quick search on the number of conspiracy theories circulating on the web about the Port Arthur massacre, a possible second shooter and even the involvement of the Australian government in its never-ending quest to take guns off our hands. You think we're smarter and wiser than the Americans? Most of us might joke about Harold Holt being picked up by a Chinese submarine after his infamous swim at Cheviot Beach. But there is still a bloc of true believers, despite the theory being completely debunked by his widow, who stated it could never have happened because Harold, after all, didn't like Chinese food.

Easy to dismiss, maybe. But we're not talking small numbers here. Surveys have shown up to a third of Americans believe the CIA may have had a hand in September 11. And what about the greatest modern conspiracy theory  that claims by an overwhelming majority of scientists that mankind is contributing to the warming of the planet are not just wrong, but part of a plot by environmentalists and those who stand to make a profit by pushing sustainable technology?
The tragedy at Dreamworld this week is just the reason I've been looking for to stay away from amusement parks. I hate theme parks although my thrill-seeking son loves them.

Just take a look at the photo of us riding Luna Park's Wild Mouse. It says it all. I've squeezed my eyes shut and am gripping on with white-knuckled terror silently proclaiming "get me out of here". While my son is screaming with wide-eyed joy and is so pumped at the end of the ride he begs, "can we do that again?" It's a metaphor for how we both approach life, though it wasn't always this way.

I can be an adrenalin junkie with the best of them. I've jumped out of planes. I've swung from harnesses in trees in the Daintree rainforest and in the California redwoods. I've skied in Aspen and broken a leg as an exchange student while tobogganing in the Swedish snow. I've even done a few hair raising laps at "Mt Pany" in Bathurst. So I'm not exactly a 'fraidy cat.

It's just theme parks are not my thing  and surely I am not the only mother who can admit this.
I can identify the exact moment last week when I realised that humanity has reached its End Times.

It wasn't the moment when a Sydney court solemnly interacted with a teenager who is suing several media outlets for defamation on the grounds that they published accurate photographs of his elaborate mullet.

It was not the moment when Donald Trump released a campaign advertisement wishing US voters of Indian extraction a happy Diwali, and incorporating a brief but hallucinogenically weird interlude of the Donald speaking in Hindi.

(On one level, this may signify a hitherto-undetected Donaldic interest in the subcontinent. Alternatively, it may be because Miss India is just about the only remaining Miss World contestant whose caboose remains ungrabbed by the Republican nominee.)
Family First senator Bob Day wrote a book about sales in which he emphasised the importance of keeping promises to customers, delivering products on time and avoiding the distractions of a second job.

Families brought to the brink of financial ruin by Senator Day's failed Home Australia building company have labelled him a "total hypocrite" for practising the opposite of what he preaches in The Sales Doctor.

The little-read 2014 book was billed as a how-to manual to become a great salesman. Senator Day published it after he first entered Parliament, even as his national building empire began to wobble.

He wrote that the salesman-customer relationship should be based on trust, mirroring that of the doctor-patient relationship.
If Derby Day were a chocolate bar it would be the Top Deck of the spring racing carnival thanks to the black-and-white theme, but unlike Cadbury's plebeian snack, the fashions at Flemington on Saturday were anything but basic.

Despite such a regimented dress code the fashion was high, the headgear higher and hemlines were (relatively) low inside The Birdcage on Melbourne Cup Eve, eve, eve.

Jodi Gordon and Nicole Trunfio: fashion's version of Top Deck chocolate. Credit:Daniel Pockett

If there were odds for a style race, they would have been short for Melbourne designer Toni Maticevski, who created some of the best and most creative dresses seen off the track.

Former AFL WAGs turned Melbourne's first ladies of fashion, Rebecca Judd and Nadia Bartel, kept it classic with quirky twists on their monochrome ensembles.
Migaloo the white whale is at risk of being "mugged" by tourist boats and drones in NSW after the Baird government declined to offer the same protection given to the humpback by the Queensland and federal governments, experts say.

Migaloo has special status in Queensland, including a 500-metre exclusion zone. He even got a police escort to the Great Barrier Reef after whale watchers got too close in July.

But when he's back in NSW on the return journey of his migration, only a 100-metre exclusion applies for whales, or 300 metres if a calf is present, and Environment Minister Mark Speakman has chosen not to declare Migaloo under wildlife regulations.
The lawyer for the man accused of killing a Brisbane bus driver on Friday morning has described his client as 'numb' during his appearance in court on Saturday morning.

Anthony O'Donohue, 48, did not apply for bail when he briefly appeared in the Brisbane Arrest Court.

Defence lawyer Adam Magill said he held concerns for his client's mental health.

"He's numb, I don't think he's feeling anything at this point in time," Mr Magill said.
The man charged with the killing of a Brisbane bus driver was "numb" as he sat in court on Saturday, as a community continues to mourn the loss of a well-loved man.

Manmeet Sharma (who is also known Manmeet Alisher ) was driving the 125 bus along Beaudesert Road about 9am when he pulled up to a stop in Moorooka, in Brisbane's south.

He let on three passengers, one of them 48-year-old Anthony O'Donohue.

What followed next was a tragedy that no one in Queensland will soon forget.
A traffic 'debacle' on the Bruce Highway has cleared after a motorbike crash closed two southbound lanes on Saturday morning.

All lanes reopened just before midday and by 1.30pm all traffic delays delays had cleared.

A motorbike crash on the Bruce Highway caused heavy traffic delays southbound on Saturday. Credit:File

A matter of hours earlier, conditions on the highway were much different with southbound delays back more than 10 kilometres to the Pumicestone Road exit and northbound traffic about 15 kilometres back to North Lakes.

Police said about 9.45am a motorcyclist came off their bike heading south, between the Buchanan Road exit and the twin BP service stations.
Police have enlisted the help of SES volunteers as they continue to investigate the murder of a woman in Brisbane.

The 54-year-old woman's body was found at a house in Jillinda Place, The Gap about 7am on Friday after police responded to reports of a disturbance.

Police outside a residence at The Gap, where a 54-year-old woman's body was found on Friday morning. Credit:Seven News

Police Commissioner Ian Stewart described the police operation as a murder investigation on Friday.

"That will be rigorously and continuously looked at to identify those responsible for the death of a woman at The Gap," he said.
On this famous weekend way back in 1930, in one of Australian racing's many golden eras, Phar Lap was shot at near Caulfield racecourse early in the morning, returning to his stable. Handler Tommy Woodcock was riding alongside; the shots missed.

Not to worry. Off to Derby day they went at Flemington 86 years ago, the same Saturday that today can still, weather permitting, brilliantly herald in the genuine beginning of Melbourne's spring. Phar Lap won a race called The Melbourne Stakes that afternoon, unconcerned by the gangsters trying to pop him in a drive-by. A few days later he won the Melbourne Cup.

Derby day crowds enjoying a perfect day at the track. Winners in the first race. Credit:Justin McManus

The populace flocked to Flemington then as they do now. A nudge over 90,000 (90,136) were spread throughout the racing arena for 2016's Derby day in what can only be described as perfect weather. "How good is this," said Henrietta Walton, 26, of Malvern, languishing with six friends (four girls and two guys) down between the winning post and the roses on the grass as the races kicked off just before noon. She was not asking, she was telling  'How good is this.'

As far as we know  and we probably would  no horses were shot at on the way to Flemington. But then again there can only ever be one Phar Lap, a horse which ruled Melbourne's buoyant spring like no other. However some wonderful stories unfolded, the best with the familiar surname of Cummings. James Cummings, Bart's grandson, became the fourth generation in his family to win the day's feature race, the Victoria Derby, with his colt Prized Icon. He paid a bit over $17 to the punters.
Child welfare watchdogs, former judges and human rights advocates have slammed a proposal by both major parties to send teenage criminals to adult jails as a way of cracking down on youth crime.

As reported by The Saturday Age, the Andrews government is considering dealing with Victoria's alarming rates of youth reoffending by adopting a similar hardline approach to the Coalition, which could result in more teenagers being locked up in the adult prison system.

There is a proposal to send some teenage criminals to adult jails.

Police Minister Lisa Neville told Fairfax Media that while this should not be "a first step" in sentencing, there were some cases where recidivists under the age of 18 might be better off away from juvenile detention, particularly if it meant protecting other impressionable youth.

"I think there are probably some 16 and 17-year-olds who are very high and very violent offenders, where nothing is making a difference, and where maybe their impact will be so significant on other younger ones at Parkville or Malmsbury [youth detention centres] that you might want to move them," Ms Neville said.
Chairman Jim Lewis announced the monthly meeting of the Marion County Democratic Party will be held at 10 a.m. Central on Saturday at the Marion County Commission Building, 5520 Highway 41, Jasper, Tn. 37347.

The agenda will include last preparations before election day. Everyone is welcome.

Light refreshments will be served beginning at 9:30 a.m.

For more information, email jim.lewis.217@gmail.com or call 423 903-9724.
Democrats saw a surge in new voters in Pennsylvania as midterms near
Thirty Hamilton County elementary schools that do not have full time visual arts teachers were invited to receive bags of art supplies at ArtsBuild on Saturday. The art supplies, to be used for classroom art projects and art instruction, were collected during Ushers social media plea for donations in early September.

During the art supply drive on Sept. 8, hosted by Power 94 and Groove 93 at the First Tennessee Pavilion, the markers, colored pencils, glue, crayons, water color paints, construction paper and sketch pads collected filled a cargo van provided by the City of Chattanoogas Youth and Family Development Department. The supplies have been stored at ArtsBuild and were sorted by two youth groups: ReGenerate, a high school arts leadership organization and Urban Young Life, a high school faith-based program.

The art supply drive was also organized and supported by StateFarm. Usher and StateFarm matched with financial donations.

For additional information or to donate art supplies, contact ArtsBuild 423 756-2787 or email artsbuild@artsbuild.com.
Equipped to accommodate 3,400 guests, attended by a crew of 2,000 -- the highest crew-to-guest ratio in Asia-based cruising -- the Genting Dream arrived at Mumbai Port for the first time on its relocation voyage on Saturday.
photo by Dennis Norwood photo by Dennis Norwood photo by Dennis Norwood photo by Dennis Norwood photo by Dennis Norwood photo by Dennis Norwood photo by Dennis Norwood photo by Dennis Norwood photo by Dennis Norwood photo by Dennis Norwood photo by Dennis Norwood photo by Dennis Norwood photo by Dennis Norwood photo by Dennis Norwood photo by Dennis Norwood photo by Dennis Norwood photo by Dennis Norwood photo by Dennis Norwood photo by Dennis Norwood photo by Dennis Norwood photo by Dennis Norwood photo by Dennis Norwood photo by Dennis Norwood photo by Dennis Norwood photo by Dennis Norwood Previous Next

The Wings over North Georgia Air Show, held Saturday and Sunday, is expected to draw more than 50,000 spectators over the two-day event hosted in Rome, Ga.

The USAF Thunderbirds will close out the air show performances each day. Additional performers include the F/A-18F TAC Demo Team, US SOCOM Para-Commandos, Michael Goulian, Patty Wagstaff, Buck Roetman, Mike Wiskus and many more.

This event has been recognized as the premier fall family event in northwest Georgia.
As the range of products being sold on e-commerce platforms grows, ice cream makers are not to be left behind. Mother Dairy, Cream Bell and Havmor have started selling ice cream online in major cities.
Talks between the Tata group and former chairman Cyrus Mistry have begun with noted lawyer Darius Khambata as a mediator. According to sources, Tatas want to convince Mistry to quit from all Tata group companies, without any acrimony or public debate.
A group photograph clicked last November at 10, Downing Street shows Prime Minster Narendra Modi flanked by then Tata Sons chairman on one side and then UK PM David Cameron on the other. The setting for such a picture would be quite different when UK Prime Minister Theresa May visits India from November 6 to 8, her first bilateral visit outside Europe. Besides May replacing Cameron, Mistry, co-chair of the UK-India CEO Forum, would also go out of the frame.
The Information and Broadcasting ministry has given permission to a company related to the to operate five channels that they had bagged in e-auction in the first batch of Private FM Phase III expansion last year.

It is learnt that South Asia FM, which had bid for five channels, has been given clearance by the I&B ministry. Earlier, as the Ministry of Home Ministry had not provided the mandatory security clearance to the company, the permissions had been held up.

Red FM COO Nisha Narayanan confirmed the development and said that permissions have been granted by the ministry for five radio channels which will now come up in Chandigarh, Patna, Amritsar, Surat and Jammu.
Anti-GM activists and farmers have submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding rejection of genetically modified (GM) Mustard to safeguard the interest of farmers, consumers and environment.

Farmers organisations including RSS-affiliate Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, civil society organisations, experts and common citizens under the banner Sarson Satyagraha have come together and pointed out "serious objections" to the release of GM Mustard in their memorandum.

"All major farmer organisations are raising a strong voice against GM Mustard which they don't see as a beneficial technology in either short or long term, carrying all the risks described above, and opening the door for many other GM food crops.

"We demand that the government should reject GM Mustard. We urge you to take this decision as Prime Minister, in the interests of farmers, consumers and environment, and ultimately in the interest," the memorandum said.

It said that no state government is favouring GM mustard, while many important mustard states have taken a firm stand against commercial approval of the hybrid and even states that are mainly into mustard consumption are against this HT mustard.

"As a government that professes to stand for cooperative federalism, the government of India should not go through with GM mustard approval in the face of objections from states," it said.

Country's biotech regulator Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) had constituted a sub- committee to review the technical details and dossier related to environmental release of Genetically Engineered Mustard.

The report was uploaded on the ministry's website inviting comments from various stakeholders till October 5.

After receiving hundreds of comments from various stakeholders, the Ministry had forwarded it to the sub- committee which after studying it will submit its final report to the biotech regulator, GEAC.
The Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) on Friday denied that its possible buyout by the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) was being forced by the Narendra Modi government to save the Prime Minister.

The on Friday rejected Congress' charge of a Rs 20,000 crore scam in its alleged forced purchase by the ONGC, saying that the negotiations between the two companies were happening on "purely commercial basis with a view to achieve business synergies."

It was referring to the allegations on Tuesday by Congress spokesman Jairman Ramesh that Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan was "forcing" the state-owned ONGC to buy the Gujarat government firm's gas block in KG basin to "protect" Modi.

The Congress leader alleged that Modi as Gujarat Chief Minister had made borrow Rs 20,000 crore after making big claims in 2005 that the state-owned blue chip company had struck 20 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas reserves. After 11 years, the find was only one trillion cubic feet.

Jairam Ramesh claimed had had "squandered" its borrowings, was "bankrupt" and therefore unable to repay. And so the firm was now being forced down the throat of ONGC.

However, the GSPC said in its statement on Friday that "the discussions between the two companies are taking place on purely commercial basis. The objective being to achieve business synergy between the resources of ONGC and GSPC for achieving more domestic production of oil and natural gas by carrying out further development of GSPC's KG Block".

It said that ONGC was also operating an adjoining block in the KG basin which is due for development where the technological breakthrough achieved by GSPC in its KG Block could be of immense help for expediting the development.

Ramesh had alleged that Pradhan has ordered a "surgical strike" on GSPC through ONGC as the Gujarat government undertaking owes Rs 20,000 crore to 15 banks.

Denying Congress' charge that an attempt was being made to hide a scam, GSPC said: "The acquisition of stake by ONGC into GSPC's KG Block is meant for achieving synergy for securing energy security for India."

It said the loans advanced by the banks to it were done after "proper assessment" by lenders.

"In fact, GSPC had availed services of SBI Capital Markets (a subsidiary of SBI - a Government of India undertaking) for arranging the loan financing for GSPC. SBI Caps has also assisted the banks in evaluation before lending funds to GSPC.

"The proposals for lending to GSPC were cleared by the Board of Directors of the respective lending banks during the tenure of UPA government," it said.

GSPC said it has always carried out timely servicing of its loans. "GSPC has never ever defaulted even for a day in servicing its loans."

Ramesh had alleged that there have been four Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports on GSPC scam, and yet there have been no comments from the government on them.

To this, GSPC said all the comments of the CAG pertaining to it and its operations have been tabled before the Gujarat Assembly and reports have been discussed in the Public Undertakings Committee.
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Amid a growing fad of jail tourism around the world, Maharashtra is said to be planning to open its jails to people looking for a taste of history. According to a Times of India report, officials in the states home department are working on a jail tourism policy that will allow access to some jails in the state for common people.
Wikileaks founder has been refused the permission to have his arrest warrant temporarily suspended to attend a friend's funeral.

Assange was hoping to leave the Ecuadorian embassy in London so that he could attend the funeral of Gavin MacFayden, an investigative journalist and Wikileaks director, but his request has been blocked.

The Swedish prosecutor's office announced this week that it will not suspend the warrant as it does not allow exemptions to a court decision, the BBC reported.

The 45-year-old, who has been in hiding at the Ecuadorean embassy since he sought asylum there four years ago, is reportedly "heartbroken" and called the Swedish official who made the decision "callous".

Assange had made a request to attend the funeral of MacFadyen, a US journalist who died in London on October 22.

He has said he would be appealing to Sweden's Attorney General Anders Perklev.

The rape allegations against Assange relate to a visit he made to Stockholm in August 2010.

He has refused to travel to Sweden for questioning over concerns that he would be extradited to the US. Wikileaks had in 2010 released 500,000 secret military files related to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has warned the public to be on guard against in a recently issued circular. It is best for people to scrutinise notes carefully and not accept them if they suspect them to be counterfeit. Once you come to possess them, you stand to make a financial loss at the very least, and at worst, you could also get into legal trouble.
Revenge is dirty business. I remember in my youth, we had a saying, I am not going to get even with so-and-so, I am going to get ahead. This thought reveals a huge problem with revenge. It is an ever increasing and never ending endeavor. Each party feels obligated to keep responding and responding in ever more destructive fashion. The more important reason is found in Scripture. Leviticus 19:18 states it plainly, You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.(NASU) I cannot think of a more sobering tag to any command than, I am the Lord. If that does not get our attention, I am not sure what would. Furthermore, Deuteronomy 32:35, Romans 12:19, 1 Thessalonians 4:16, and Hebrews 10:30 all tell us that vengeance belongs to the Lord. Vengeance is His work and His prerogative alone. Only God has the wisdom and knowledge to engage in vengeance. Furthermore, God alone is justified in exacting revenge and He is the only Innocent One. All the rest of us are guilty. Only God knows when to administer justice and when to give mercy and grace.

Perhaps you are familiar with the account in 1 Samuel 25, where a worthless man by the name of Nabal insulted David and refused to feed Davids men. David purposed to take revenge on Nabal but Nabals wife, Abigail, spoke wisdom to David and he changed his mind.

the Lord has restrained you from shedding blood, and from avenging yourself

by my lord having avenged himself

1 Samuel 25:26-31 records her reasoning to David,(NASU)
The is facing new challenges globally, with prices going down and new markets opening up in emerging economies that are focused on cutting down carbon emissions. At the same time, financing is drying up as investors are preferring green energy. Benjamin Sporton, Chief Executive, World Coal Association tells Shreya Jai that South Asian countries, especially India, will continue to push demand for coal the coming decades. However, the emerging energy economies would now have to adopt clean coal technologies and efficient power production to remain sustainable investment destinations. Edited excerpts:



Global coal prices have lately faced lot of fluctuation, mostly downwards. Where are they headed and how would that shape the global coal industry?

Coal is a fuel in demand and will continue to be so, because economies in South East Asia, China and India would continue to source coal. It is a reliable fuel for affordable electricity. As a commodity, it is going through a down cycle and has recovered well from it. It might go down again and then recover. We will probably see current prices sustain for a little while yet - couple of quarters next year. No one predicted where they are today and no one can predict where they will be next year.
The Odisha government is set to sign a pact with the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) on November 5 for the establishment of four new centres in the state.
In order to attract sugarcane farmers, the Uttar Pradesh government is mulling a 10 per cent increase in the state advised price (SAP) of sugarcane for the crushing season 2016-17 (beginning October).
Presidents Diwali Greetings

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, has sent his greetings to fellow countrymen on the eve of Diwali.

In his message, the President has said, On the auspicious occasion of Diwali, I extend warm greetings and best wishes to all my fellow citizens in India and abroad. Diwali is a harbinger of hope and aspirations for a better tomorrow. It signifies the triumph of righteousness and victory of good over evil. May the lighting of lamps this year dispel the darkness of ignorance and suffering and illumine our lives with hope and prosperity. Let us on this day try to bring happiness in the lives of the less fortunate and needy by lighting the lamp of love, care and sharing. May this festival of lights radiate happiness, peace and prosperity in every home across the country. Let us all celebrate a safe and pollution free Diwali". AKT/SH

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Leading Democrats and advisers to expressed deep concern on Saturday that the renewed attention and unanswered questions about emails relating to Mrs. Clinton would turn some voters against her and hurt party candidates in competitive House and Senate races.
Hillary Clinton demanded that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) immediately explain its decision to reopen an investigation into her use of private emails as secretary of state and said shes confident that the renewed inquiry will show no wrongdoing. The American people deserve to get full and complete facts, Clinton told reporters in Des Moines, Iowa, hours after her presidential campaign was rocked by a letter from FBI Director James Comey telling lawmakers of the revived inquiry. If theyre going to be sending this kind of letter that is only ...
Officials from and non-member oil producing countries met on Saturday aiming to build support for an plan to reduce output one day after members were unable to agreed on how to implement the deal.
Russia, facing allegations of war crimes in relation to its policies in Syria, lost its seat on the UN Human Rights Council as the UN General Assembly voted to elect 14 members to the Geneva-based organ.

The 193-member General Assembly on Friday elected 14 nations by secret ballot to serve on the Human Rights Council, the United Nations body responsible for the promotion and protection of all human rights around the globe.

Brazil, China, Croatia, Cuba, Egypt, Hungary, Iraq, Japan, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Tunisia, United Kingdom and the United States were elected for three-year terms beginning January 1,2017. India is a member of the 47-member human rights body and its term will expire in 2017.

was seeking re-election to the human rights body, competing with Hungary, Croatia and Bulgaria for two seats in the Eastern European bloc. was edged out in a close vote, getting 112 votes, just two shy of the 114 that Croatia polled, Hungary got 144 votes.

In Russia's loss, leading human rights organisations saw a strong message to Moscow condemning its policies in Syria.

"In rejecting Russia's bid for re-election to the Human Rights Council, UN member states have sent a strong message to the Kremlin about its support for a regime that has perpetrated so much atrocity in Syria," UN director at Human Rights Watch (HRW) Louis Charbonneau said in a statement.

Geneva-based human rights organisation UN Watch described Russia's ouster from the Human Rights Council as a "positive outcome" of the election.

UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Ne'er said the "non-election of shows that the nations of the world can reject gross abusers if they so choose."

Moscow has faced severe criticism for allying with the Syrian government, carrying out air strikes to support the Syrian armed forces that have indiscriminately killed and wounded countless civilians.

Over 200,000 people are believed to have died in the Syrian conflict during the last five years.

China, Cuba, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and the UK were seeking re-election to the Council as their terms were set to expire in December this year.

HRW had strongly opposed the candidacy of Saudi Arabia, criticising its "widespread unlawful attacks" on civilians in Yemen.

Charbonneau said that Saudi Arabia, which was re-elected without competition, "doesn't belong on the council in light of its indiscriminate attacks on civilians in Yemen. We'll be keeping all members' rights records under the microscope while they're on the council."

UN Watch said the re-election of China, Cuba and Saudi Arabia, "regimes which systematically violate the human rights of their citizens, casts a shadow upon the reputation of the United Nations."

Neuer said the world's highest human rights body was now dominated by a "majority of 53 per cent which are non-democracies".

"The UN's election of Saudi Arabia as a world judge on human rights is like a town picking a pyromaniac to be the fire chief," said Neuer.
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched an app through which people can send messages to boost the morale of Indian soldiers, 26 youth from various parts of Gujarat have decided to celebrate Diwali with the soldiers on the Kutch border.

The youths are from different parts of Gujarat, they will leave from Vadodara to tell the soldiers that the nation is with them.

Rangam Trivedi, one of the organisers, told ANI: "We thought that if the soldiers are doing so much for us, then we should also do something for them. In India, festivals are the best time to send messages to our soldiers. So, we posted on Facebook that we want to celebrate Diwali with the soldiers. A lot of young people are joining us from Ahmedabad, Surat, Vapi, Porbandar and Bhuj etc., and now, 26 of us will go the Vighakot border to celebrate Diwali with the soldiers,"

"For years, we have been celebrating Diwali with our families at home. This year's Diwali is for the soldiers. The soldiers are on the border and we want to celebrate Diwali with them for peace. We want to tell the soldiers that the whole nation supports them," Nihal Trivedi, a student, told ANI.

These students assembled at a friend's house in Vadodara and have bought sweets and crackers for the soldiers. Greeting cards have also been made for them.

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Hollywood's most coveted couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have officially sold their longtime mansion in New Orleans for a whopping 4.9 million dollars.

According to Hollywood Reporter, the former couple, who is currently in the middle of a highly publicized divorce, sold their property which was purchased back in 2007 for 3.5 million dollars shortly after creating the 'Make It Right Foundation' in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

The three-storey estate is said to spread over 7,500 square feet having five bedrooms, three full bathrooms and two half-bathrooms.

Back in September, the 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith' stars made headlines when wife Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt citing 'irreconcilable differences'. The couple had been together for more than 11 years.

Brangelina has six children- 15-year-old Maddox Jolie-Pitt, 12-year-old Pax Jolie-Pitt, 11-year-old Zahara Jolie-Pitt, 10-year-old Shiloh Jolie-Pitt, and 8-year-old twins Knox Jolie-Pitt and Vivienne Jolie-Pitt.

Presently, all the six kids are in a temporary custody of their mother.

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Updated: Plane Catches Fire At O'Hare, 20 Injuries Reported

By Stephen Gossett in News on Oct 28, 2016 8:30PM

Update, 4:45 p.m.:

Officials say a total of 20 people have been injured. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, those twenty people were treated at the hospital for minor injuriesChicago Fire Department District Chief Juan Hernandez said there were "mostly bruises and ankle sprains suffered when sliding down the inflatable ramp exiting the plane."

Update, 4:24 p.m.:

American Airlines said in an update to Chicagoist that some injuries have been reported:

"All passengers onboard flight 383 have been bused back to the terminal. Seven passengers and one flight attendant reported injuries and were transported to the hospital to be evaluated. We are taking care of our customers and crew and are re-accommodating our passengers on another flight to Miami this evening."

Original:

An airplane caught on fire on Friday afternoon at O'Hare Airport. It was a two-alarm fire, according to the Chicago Fire Department.

Flight 383, scheduled for Miami, suspended takeoff shortly before 3 p.m. after an engine fire ignited on the right wing, according to ABC7. No injuries have been reported, and the plane was evacuated of passengers.

In a statement sent to Chicagoist, American Airlines reps explained what happened in more detail: "American Airlines flight 383, a Boeing 767 bound for Miami, aborted take off due to an engine-related mechanical issue. The 161 passengers and 9 crew deplaned on the runway and buses are enroute to pick up the passengers and bring them back to the terminal."

Several people Tweeted about the airplane fire Friday afternoon, but it's unclear whether they were observing the airplane fire or other controlled fires being set throughout the day at O'Hare for the Chicago Fire Department to perform scheduled fire drills. It appears to be a coincidence that an O'Hare plane caught fire during take-off on the same day as fire drills were scheduled at O'Hare.

Another video pic.twitter.com/jg58N8x3l8  Jose Castillo YZ (@Kryptonlogic) October 28, 2016

EMERGENCY AIRCRAFT DOWN AT OHARE 2 11 RESPONSE details to follow  Chicago Fire Media (@CFDMedia) October 28, 2016

Others tweeted earlier in the day about the practice fires:


With the Supreme Court tearing into the government for disrupting the functioning of the judiciary by delaying appointments of high court judges, the Congress party on Saturday called on the Centre to take a call on the issue immediately as it was denying people justice by keeping these positions vacant.

Branding the entire series of developments as utterly serious, Congress party leader Anand Sharma told ANI here that the Narendra Modi-led Centre cannot escape its responsibility and accountability, adding that it was an "alterable" situation that 456 positions of high court judges are vacant in the country.

"One year was lost because this matter was before the Constitution bench, but after December 2015, the government has been dragging its feet. Non agreement on a supplement Memorandum of Procedure for appointment of judges cannot be an excuse for keeping these positions vacant and denying people access to justice and undermining the justice delivery system," Sharma said.

He further pointed a finger at the government, saying that it has a lot to answer to the nation as there is an existing Memorandum of Procedure under which these appointments can take place.

The tussle between the Centre and the judiciary over appointment of judges went to the next level when Chief Justice T S Thakur criticized the government by saying, "Why don't you lock the courts and lock out justice? Executive inaction is decimating the institution."

"In the Karnataka HC, an entire floor of courts is locked because there are no judges. Once we had a situation where we had judges but no court rooms, but now, there are courtrooms and no judges," Chief Justice Thakur told Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi.

The court has asked the government to resolve and get back to it on November 11, the next date of hearing.

The Centre and the apex court have been at war since the Supreme Court struck down the Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act, which was brought in to end more than 20-year-old practice of appointing judges via the collegium system, with the government having no say in the process.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Delhi's Crime Branch on Saturday confirmed the arrest of a fourth spy, claiming that he was carrying out espionage activities for Pakistan.

The arrested person was identified as Fahat, a resident of Uttar Pradesh and a close aide of Samajwadi Party leader Munawwar Salim.

Yesterday, Shoaib, a Jodhpur-based man, who was detained on Thursday by the Rajasthan Police, was placed in the custody of the Delhi Police till November 8.

The other two alleged Indian spies arrested by the Crime Branch are Maulana Ramzan Khan alias Hazrat and Subhash Jangir.

The police apprehended Khan, Jangir and Akhtar from the Delhi Zoo on October 26, but Akhtar was let go because of his diplomatic immunity and was handed over to the Pakistan High Commission.

Immediately, the Ministry of External Affairs summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit and informed him that Akhtar was caught for espionage activities.

Ties between India and Pakistan, which are already on the rocks, took another deep gash to its relations after New Delhi and Islamabad expelled a staffer each at their High Commissions, declaring them 'persona non-grata' in a move reeking of retribution after Delhi Police said it uncovered a spy ring involving an employee of the Pakistani mission.

Pakistan on Friday officially announced Surjeet Singh, Assistant Personnel and Welfare officer in the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, to be a persona non grata for his "activities that were not in the interest of the security of Pakistan" and accused India of involving in "terror financing" and "terrorist activities" in the state.

"His activities were not in the interest of the security of Pakistan. And secondly, we are all aware of the Indian state-sponsored activities, state involvement in terrorism in Pakistan. Unlike India which does not have any proof but they just level the baseless allegations against Pakistan, Pakistan has irrefutable proof of Indian involvement in terror financing and also terrorist activities in Pakistan," Pakistan Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said in a press briefing.

The development came a day after Indian authorities detained Mehmood Akhtar, an official of the Pakistan High Commission, on charges of espionage and later asked him to leave India within 48 hours.

According to Indian officials, Akhtar was caught in possession of sensitive documents.

"The foreign secretary summoned the Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale on October and conveyed the decision of the government of Pakistan to declare Surjeet Singh, an official of the Indian High Commission as persona non grata," Zakaria said.

"The Indian High Commission has been asked to make urgent necessary arrangements for Surjeet Singh and his family to leave Pakistan by October 29," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Responding to the arrest of his personal assistant in connection with the espionage case in which a Pakistan High Commission staffer was also expelled, Samajwadi Party's Rajya Sabha MP Munawwar Salim on Saturday said he was unaware of his activities as he was hired after due parliamentarychecks.

"I had appointed the PA a year back after due parliamentary checks on his character verfiifcaion, Till now, nobody has contacted me, but I am ready to extend all support during the probe. Apart from this, I don't know him personally. Before working for me, he worked for former MP Munawwar Hasan for 10 years," Salim told ANI.

Farhat, was detained last night by Crime Branch, Delhi Police where he is currently being interrogated.

Asserting that had he known about his activities he would have taken action sooner, Salim said that he wrote a letter to the Rajya Sabha secretariat to strip him of all facilities given to him as a PA with immediate effect.

"My love, respect and my dedication to the country is no inferior to that of soldiers," he said.

Delhi Police is also trying to nab other members of the racket who it believes were in close contact with Pakistan High Commission staffer Mehmood Akhtar, the man caught receiving secret documents here on October 26.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma on Saturday said it is unfortunate that an aide of Samajwadi Party leader Munawwar Salim has been arrested for being part of an espionage racket linked to Pakistan, adding that such activities should be looked into and stopped.

"It is a matter to worry that such incidents happen under the leadership of a Member of Parliament. Somewhere, it becomes our responsibility as well that if such activities are happening under the protection of the Parliament, it should be investigated," Sharma told ANI.

Adding that the honourable Parliament will fully co-operate with the investigation, he said, "The security agencies will investigate and take decisions. I completely believe that such incidents will be looked into and stopped," he added.

Farhat, the personal assistant of Munabbar Saleem, was arrested by the Delhi Police on Saturday in connection with the espionage ring run by a Pakistani High Commission official, which was exposed earlier this week.

Farhat has been sent for police remand and is currently being interrogated.

On Wednesday, police caught Pakistan high commission official Mehmood Akhtar along with two Indians identified as Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangir at the Delhi Zoo while they were exchanging sensitive defence documents. They were running a spy ring for Pakistan's spy agency ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence).

Akhtar was asked to leave the country within 48 hours. Subhash and Maulana were arrested on charges of sharing of sensitive information, defence documents and deployment details of the BSF along the India-Pakistan border, with the ISI. The two were sent to 12-day police custody.

Another accomplice of Akhtar, a Jodhpur-based passport and visa agent named Shoaib, was arrested near Jodhpur on Thursday evening. Shoaib was responsible for recruiting Subhash and Maulana in the module.

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European Parliament's four-member delegation is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka from October 31 to November 3 to discuss national reconciliation and greater women's empowerment as part of groundwork to review the country's application to regain Generalised Scheme of Preferences GSP+ facility.

The delegation of the European Union to Sri Lanka and Maldives said in a press release in Colombo today that the focus of the visit will be on progress of national reconciliation and ways to empower Sri Lankan women politically and economically and they will also look at the groundwork laid for a successful GSP+ application, today, reports Colombo Page.

Jean Lambert (UK), chair of the Delegation for Relations with Countries of South Asia, will be leading the delegation and will include Sajjad Karim (UK), Thomas Mann (Germany) and Ulrike Muller (Germany).

During the visit, the delegation members will be visiting Colombo, Trincomalee and Batticaloa to meet government, local government, parliamentary and civil society representatives. They will also visit European Union-supported projects in Trincomalee and Batticaloa.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had met the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee during his recent visit to Brussels to discuss issues including Sri Lanka's application for GSP Plus, the role of SAARC, accountability and justice, minority rights and poverty alleviation.

Development assistance to Sri Lanka has been nearly doubled for the years up to 2020 by European Union.

Support under the Government's Peace building Priority Plan will also be provided by EU.

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The former personal assistant of Samajwadi Party Rajya Sabha MP Munabbar Saleem was arrested by the Delhi police on Saturday in connection with the espionage ring run by a Pakistani high commission official who was uncovered earlier this week.

Speaking to the media, Ravindra Yadav, Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch said, "We've arrested Farhat and have sent him for medical tests. We will later send him for police remand as probe underway. We will try to interrogate and investigate properly as he has been involved for many years."

"Yesterday, we called him for interrogation and we found that he had an integral role to play. So, today we arrested him. The investigation will take time; therefore we will share the details later on."

Farhat is currently being interrogated.

On Wednesday, police caught Pakistan high commission official Mehmood Akhtar along with two Indians identified as Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangir at the Delhi Zoo while they were exchanging sensitive defence documents. They were running a spy ring for Pakistan's spy agency ISI.

Akhtar was declared persona non grata and asked to leave the country within 48 hours. Subhash and Maulana were arrested on charges of sharing of sensitive information, defence documents and deployment details of the BSF along the India-Pakistan border, with the ISI. The two were sent to 12-day police custody.

One more accomplice of Akhtar, a Jodhpur-based passport and visa agent named Shoaib, was arrested near Jodhpur on Thursday evening. Shoaib was responsible for recruiting Subhash and Maulana in the module.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Indian Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi will meet next week to discuss New Delhi's entry into the Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG) and boundary talks.

Besides blocking India's admission into the NSG, China had put a second technical hold on New Delhi's move to bring about a UN ban on Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar.

As regards India's admission into the NSG, both sides have held in-depth talks.

India has been pressing China to relent on its opposition, saying that vast majority of the 48 member group back India's case.

China, which is opposing India's membership on the ground that New Delhi is not a signatory to Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), says the group needs to work out a proposal on the accession of all the non-NPT countries meaning Pakistan's admission too.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has said India getting membership of the NSG will affect security in South Asia and derail "global non-proliferation".

Pakistan has been asserting that India's rapidly expanding military nuclear programme poses a grave threat to peace and stability in the region and beyond.

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Voicing its concern over India's nuclear capabilities, Pakistan called on the member states of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to make a well-considered decision over including India, keeping in view the long-term implications for the global non-proliferation regime as well as strategic stability in the region

"This build-up has been facilitated by the 2008 Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) waiver granted to India, which not only dented the credibility of the non-proliferation regime and undermined its efficacy, but also negatively affected the strategic balance in South Asia," said Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakariya at a weekly press briefing, reports the Dawn.

Pakistan has been asserting that India's rapidly expanding military nuclear programme poses a grave threat to peace and stability in the region and beyond.

The FO spokesman warned that another country-specific exemption by the NSG on the membership question would further exacerbate the ill effects of the 2008 exemption.

"It remains our hope that the NSG member states would make a well-considered decision this time keeping in view its long-term implications for the global non-proliferation regime as well as strategic stability in our region," he said.

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The Kothamangalam Police in Ernakulam district, Kerala has arrested a 36-year-old Sunday school teacher for allegedly molesting a 16-year-old boy.

The victim's mother filed a complaint and the police has registered his statement.

Meanwhile, the court has remanded the teacher for 14 days.

Earlier this year in July, the data from the state crime records bureau showed the disturbing facts that four children, on an average, are sexually abused in Kerala every day, while the number of sexual offences against children has doubled in the past three years.

More than 96 cases have been registered under the POCSO Act in the Ernakulam Rural Police limit till July. The city itself has witnessed registration of more than 26 such cases.

Even more disturbing is the low conviction rate in such cases as the data from the state commission for protection of child rights (SCPCR) showed a high rate of acquittal in few cases that were tried.

Of the 3,951 cases registered from November 2012 till December 2015 under the Pocso Act, only 53 accused were convicted and in Ernakulam, the figure was a measly 11 even though the trial was completed in 64 cases.

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Ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix, a member of Mercedes' Formula 1 race team has been reportedly robbed at gunpoint in Mexico City.

As per the Sun newspaper, the team member was "shaken up" after he was targeted by thieves as a chauffeur drove him from the airport in Mexico City, reports Sport24.

As per a Mercedes spokesman, an unnamed man's watch and wallet was stolen, following which the team has decided to take extra security measures for the rest of the weekend.

It is however reported that the Mercedes team member has decided to keep working rather than return to the UK.

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A model dressed with chocolate poses in the Chocolate Fashion Show during the opening of the 22nd edition of Salon du Chocolat in Paris, France, Oct. 28, 2016. The 22nd edition of Salon du Chocolat in Paris kicked off on Friday, gathering some 500 participants to showcase new chocolate products and fine desserts. (Xinhua/Han Qian)

The 22nd edition of Salon du Chocolat in Paris kicked off on Friday, gathering some 500 participants to showcase new chocolate products and fine desserts.

Chocolate producers have introduced innovations this year which made chocolate more "light", according to the organizer of the event. The "healthy" trend has prevailed for the last few years in the industry.

Karin Mercier, senior brand manager of the Belgian chocolate maker Guylian told Xinhua that chocolate producers now focus on adding the percentage of cacao, controlling sugar content and reducing the size of chocolate products.

"All these measures are to control the calories, making chocolate more light and healthy," Mercier said

Cacao production and consumption is also an important part of this year's exhibition, the organizer said. The show has a cocoa area which highlights fair trade initiatives in the world of chocolate and a large number of cacao producing countries.

In the 20,000 square meter-exhibition hall, a chocolate Eiffel Tower built on a 1/100 scale in line with the original design has attracted many visitors.

In addition, daily Chocolate Fashion Show during the five-day event has brought a series of activities to a climax, which included tastings, dessert competition, gourmet workshops and chocolate awards.
Pakistan's act of mutilating the body of an Indian soldier was described by the Congress party on Saturday as a violation of Geneva Convention.

"There are certain rules of engagement, certain rules of conduct even in a conflict situation and Pakistan is expected to respect those rules of engagement. They are not only codified in terms of international conventions but is also including the Geneva Convention," Congress leader Manish Tewari told ANI.

Tewari said that to mutilate the body of a soldier is an act of depraved behavior and deserves to be condemned in strongest words.

Last night, in an encounter close to the Line of Control in the Machhal sector, an Indian Army soldier lost his life and a terrorist was neutralised.

During the encounter, one of the terrorists mutilated the body of the soldier before fleeing into Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).

"This barbarism is a true reflection which pervades in official and non-official organisations across the border. This act will invite an appropriate response," the Indian Army said in a statement.

This morning, heavy mortar shelling by Pakistan was reported in Kathua and Abdullian area of the RS Pura Sector of Jammu and Kashmir.

Indian troops are giving a befitting response to the repeated ceasefire violations.

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Taking note of Pakistan's tit for tat declaration of sending Indian High Commission official Surjeet Singh back home, Congress party leader Mallikarjun Kharge said Islamabad is conspiring to spoil India's image globally.

The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha alleged that while India was successful in providing incriminating evidence against the Pakistan embassy staffer's espionage activities against India, Islamabad on the other hand has failed to do so.

"We nabbed him only after acquiring proper evidence against him. But Pakistan, just to get back at India, declared him (Singh) persona non grata without providing incriminating our official. The Pakistan government has always instigated its people, spreading the message that they are not mute spectators and are responding appropriately to every action. They are working to spoil the image of India in the international community and will do so in the future as well," Kharge told ANI.

Pakistan on Friday officially announced Surjeet Singh, Assistant Personnel and Welfare Officer in the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, to be persona non grata for his "activities that were not in the interest of the security of Pakistan" and accused India of being involved in "terror financing" and "terrorist activities" in the state.

"His activities were not in the interest of the security of Pakistan. And secondly, we are all aware of Indian state-sponsored activities, state involvement in terrorism in Pakistan. Unlike India which does not have any proof, but they just level the baseless allegations against Pakistan, Pakistan has irrefutable proof of Indian involvement in terror financing and also terrorist activities in Pakistan," Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said in a press briefing.

The development came a day after Indian authorities detained Mehmood Akhtar, an official of the Pakistan High Commission, on charges of espionage and later asked him to leave India within 48 hours.

According to Indian officials, Akhtar was caught in possession of sensitive documents.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan's Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid has resigned from his post apparently in connection with a leaked news report, local media reported on Saturday.

The minister is allegedly supposed to be responsible for the security leaks from a high level civil-military huddle and subsequent publication of a story in a national daily newspaper, reports Express Tribune.

This came after a news report was published in a national English daily, which had been immediately rejected by the civilian government.

A committee was formed to probe into the matter as it had caused harm to the 'national security' and the writer who had written the report was briefly put on the Exit Control List (ECL).

The controversial report had quoted a source as saying that the civilian government told the military officials "to either act against all militants or face international isolation" during a high-level meeting.

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The National Deepavali Festival was held on Friday evening under the patronage of Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at the Temple Trees.

The President along with the Prime Minister giving priority to the religious ceremony offered their best wishes to the Hindu people in Sri Lanka, reports the Colombo Page.

Wickremesinghe issued a message on the occasion and said that Deepavali is the Festival of Lights that expels darkness when symbolic lights are lit in Hindu homes.

The Prime Minister said, "In a filled with darkness that divides us along ethnic, religious and political affiliations, Deepavali reminds us that we should strive to light the fire of fellowship among all mankind."

In his message, Wickremesinghe said that the festival assures us that there is hope of good triumphing over evil.

Wickremesinghe said, "In keeping with the Hindu belief that Deepavali presents a sacred occasion to overcome darkness in human hearts with the light of love, it also assures us that the its light can cast out animosity and restore faith".

"May this Deepavali light a thousand lights in the hearts of all Sri Lankans," he added.

A large number of distinguished guests including Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan, minister D.M. Swaminathan and state minister Vijayakala Maheswaran were present on the occasion.

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The Congress Party on Saturday urged that the Tata-Mistry row should not be seen as an allegation -counter allegation match and suggested that the internal dispute should not be open in public as it would affect country, companies investors.

Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who is also the lawyer for the Tata Group, told ANI that statesmanship would prevail over the ego and that would settle down the issue.

"We should not seek this dispute as a daily issue of allegation -counter allegation. I think more dirty linen washed in public the worst it is for the country, worst it is for investors," he said.

"I hope and trust that statesmanship will prevail over ego. I hope and trust the things will settle down. Otherwise courts are always there to resolve the un-resolvable," he added.

Tata Sons has accused Mistry, who was appointed chairman in 2012 after the retirement of Ratan Tata and had his term was upto March 2017,of making "unsubstantiated claims and malicious allegations" against the conglomerate as the gloves came off in a bitter and highly public row over his sacking.

Mistry's parting shot, in a blistering five-page letter written after he was ousted in a boardroom coup late on Monday, accused the company of failures of governance that he said had destroyed billions of dollars in shareholder value.

He also alleged inappropriate interference by Ratan Tata, the 78-year-old patriarch who hired him and has come out of retirement to run the business in a caretaker role.

The Tata group, in an eight-paragraph statement on Thursday, dismissed Mistry's claims.

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App aims to update on ACC appointments and postings on real time basis and to bring transparency

The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr.Jitendra Singh launched the Employees Online (EO) App here today. EO App is a mobile application of the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT), Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Jitendra Singh said that it is the need of the hour to bring in high-tech systems in the governance. Since Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) is the R&D wing of the Government, it acts as a role model to other Ministries/ Departments, he added. He said that, as mobile phones are virtually available to all in the country, it is essential that we move to a mobile platform, which is easily accessible anytime, anywhere. Dr. Jitendra Singh said that the EO App has been developed keeping in mind the spirit of maximum Governance, minimum Government.

The application would enable its users, which may include officers, media persons and all stakeholders to stay updated on real time basis with appointments and postings approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) and vacancies at senior level in the Government of India.

By eliminating the information asymmetry in this regard, the EO App will reduce speculations regarding transfers and postings in the Government of India and will make the system completely transparent as all the relevant orders and notifications will now be instantly available in the public domain.

This is an effective management tool which also empowers the IAS officers on Pan India basis and officers serving under Central Staffing Scheme by providing their personal records like Annual Performance Appraisal Report (APAR), Immovable Property Return (IPR), Executive Record (ER) sheet through secured NIC login Id and Password.

Android users can download the application from the Google Play Store using DoPT as the keyword for searching the App. The iOS version of the application will be released shortly.

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Five persons were electrocuted to death when a tandoor with iron angles came in contact with a high tension electricity line near Jaipur late Friday night, police said.

"The incident occurred at around 12.30 a.m., when some of the waiters and labourers at a birthday party were trying to trying to take the tandoor out of a farm house near Bhankrota," a police official told IANS.

"They apparently did not notice high tension lines overhead. Iron angles of tandoor came in contact with these electricity lines and five waiters were electrocuted to death on the spot."

Three of the dead bodies have been identified so far, the official added.

--IANS

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An aide to a Samajawadi Party MP was arrested by Delhi Police in connection with an espionage case that led to the expulsion of Pakistan High Commission official, Mehboob Akhtar, from India, police said on Saturday.

Delhi Police detained Farhat, Personal Assistant to Rajya Sabha member Munavvar Saleem, from Uttar Pradesh on Friday night.

However, Farhat was put under arrest on Saturday when police found his "direct involvement" with the three persons arrested as part of a 'spy ring' being run by Mehboob Akhtar. The three arrested -- Sohaib Nagaur, Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangir -- hailed from Rajasthan.

According to police, Farhat used to hand over official documents to Akhtar for money. Farhat, along with Ramzan and Jangir, had come in contact with the Pakistan High Commission official, who was an Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) agent, some years ago.

"We have arrested Farhat, involved in the espionage racket; We will take his police Custody (PC) remand for further investigation into the case," Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime, Ravindra Yadav, told reporters.

On Saturday, the MP sacked Farhat and said he regretted employing him.

Farhat had worked with four Members of Parliament (MPs) during the last 20 years and was fond of forming contacts with political leaders, police said.

After Akhtar was detained, India on Wednesday declared the Pakistani official persona non grata and asked him to leave the country by October 29. Pakistan, in a retaliatory move, sent back a junior official of the Indian High Commission.

--IANS

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The Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) on Saturday condemned the "killing" of 28 Maoists, including several women in Odisha's Malkangiri district close to the Andhra Pradesh border on October 24, claiming the ultras were killed in captivity and not in any encounter.

"The incident of killing was described as an 'encounter'. The number and nature of casualties as reported in the media quoting police sources clearly indicate that there was no 'encounter' and people were killed in captivity," APDR working president Amitodyuti Kumar said in a statement.

Kumar claimed the ultras were "poisoned and sedated by agents beforehand and were targeted while asleep, some of them after brutal torture".

"According to reports some people, including a CPI (Maoist) leader, had been taken into custody, but they were not produced in any court or there is no news about their whereabouts," the statement said.

A Co-ordination of Democratic Rights Organisation (CDRO ) team will be visiting the spot in the first week of November to bring out the facts, it said.

The APDR demanded that the government should "stop the policy of physically eliminating political activists and dissenting voices, which tantamount to genocide of people believing in a particular ideology" and initiate a judicial enquiry by a sitting Supreme Court or High Court Judge to bring out the real facts of the carnage.

The non-governmental organisation also called for identifying the security personnel involved in the carnage and punish them as per law.

"FIRs must be lodged against those claiming an 'encounter' as recommended by the National Human Rights Commission," the statement added.

The Odisha government has said that the 28 Maoists died in an encounter in the cut-off areas of Chitrakonda in Malkangiri district.

--IANS

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Fireworks lit up the night sky and lakhs of people visited the marquees and famous temples, as West Bengal celebrated Kali Puja on Saturday with religious fervour and gaiety.

The famous Kali temples at Kalighat and Dakhineswar drew sea of devotees since Saturday morning for offering prayers to the goddess on the auspicious day.

Kali Puja is held on the new moon day of the month of Kartik in the Bengali calendar.

A countless number of devotees stood in long queues at the Tarapith temple near Birbhum district's Rampurhat to seek blessings of the goddess, considered a form of goddess Durga.

The puja rituals would continue well past midnight, according to the almanac.

As per tradition, people of all ages celebrated Kali puja with fireworks, a day ahead of Diwali.

Crackers of all kinds, sizes and hues -- torches, sparklers, flowerpots, rockets -- spread cheer among revellers triggering colourful sparks against the night sky.

People decked up in their best thronged hundreds of community marquees in the city and the districts where the goddess was worshipped.

Apart from community pandals, Kali Puja is also performed in residences.

As in earlier years, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is also performing Kali puja with due solemnity at her residence in south Kolkata's Kalighat.

According to old texts, Kali Puja was introduced in Bengal during the 18th century by King Krishnachandra of Navadvip in Nadia district.

The puja is also held in various Hindu crematoria.

Security has been beefed up in and around the city to avoid any untoward incident.

--IANS

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The Chinese Revolution and the dream of freedom could not have been uncompleted without the success of the great Long March. The heroics of the Red Army still remain fresh in Chinese minds even after eight decades to an unimaginable event.

In addition, the success of the Long March boosted the confidence of the Communist Party of China (CPC) to build a nation based on its principles, and led to the enemy (Kuomintang) steadily losing ground to final defeat.

Furthermore, the 12,500-km march across some of the most difficult parts of the country's terrain saw the emergence of Mao Zedong, as a supreme leader instrumental in the formation of the People's Republic of China founded on October 1, 1949. This year, China celebrates the 80th anniversary of completion of the Long March.

It was one of the hardest mission ever completed by humans. We can describe it better in the words of Chinese President Xi Jinping who described it as "full of the spirit of idealism and dedication," and a "human epic composed of will and courage" and "an epic of humankind's unremitting efforts to pursue truth and brightness."

Indeed, it was the great example of unity, trust, passion and love for the country, offering a ray of hope to millions of Chinese. Whenever I get a chance to talk with anyone in China about the Long March, I see the brightness in their eyes.

The public has been getting a glimpse of the historic era in Beijing's Military Museum during the past month. More than 300 items have been on display, including weapons, posters, maps and other important artifacts. It aroused much enthusiasm, evidenced by people lining up in the museum to get a glimpse of their heroes through pictures and with other memorabilia.

"I can feel the past when I see the original objects from the Long March," one man named Ji Yongxiao told Xinhua news agency.

In fact, after the formation of the People's Republic of China, millions of people have been rescued from extreme poverty, especially during the last 30 years. This achievement can't be separated from the success of the Long March under the inspired leadership of the CPC.

China's rapid development and modernization is a model for many other countries. Still China is not going to slow its pace, and wants to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2021, marking the centenary of the CPC's founding; in addition, by the end of 2049, the aim is to create a modern socialist country.

The success of the Long March not only attracted Chinese people's attention but also that of others around the world. Former American National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski described it as a great statement of the determination of the Chinese people fighting for change and a historically important milestone.

The red army and the old revolutionaries showed great determination to keep their mission alive in the face of enemy action and extreme weather conditions. They passed over high mountains and through swamps and deserts in western China. Notably, the historic Long March saw an active participation from women and children, as well as elderly people. During the March, red army leaders showed extreme courage and wisdom to overcome the challenges.

One can imagine the adversity and hardship of the campaign, given that of the almost 160,000 soldiers only 8,000 remained alive by the end.

The March finally ended near Yan'an of north China's Shaanxi Province, crossing 12 provinces, 18 major snowcapped mountain ranges and 24 rivers. It took the Red Army 370 days to complete the daunting task, which started in October 1934 in Jiangxi. Hence Yan'an became the center of the Chinese Communist Party from 1936 to 1948, and is known as the birthplace of the Chinese revolution. It was the longest march in the history of wars, inspiring many young Chinese to join the army and the Party.

In the past 80 years, the Red Army (now, the People's Liberation Army) has come a long way from small beginnings to become the largest army in the world.

There is no doubt that Long March has been the source of inspiration for Chinese people in the past decades and henceforth will definitely encourage generations to come.

Anil Azad Pandey has been working with China Radio, Beijing as a Senior Journalist since 2009, prior to China worked in New Delhi as a Senior National Correspondent, covered Foreign, Defense and Education Ministry. His articles often appear on Indian and Foreign newspapers on International issues. He is also an author of the book "Hello Cheen".

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
Cambodian former Prime Minister and current opposition lawmaker Pen Sovann died on Saturday at the age of 80 due to illness, the opposition party said in a statement.

"His Excellency Pen Sovann, a member of parliament and former Prime Minister during the People's Republic of Kampuchea, died at 19.17 local time on October 29, 2016 at the age of 80 due to illness at his house in (southern) Takeo province," Xinhua news agency quoted the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) as saying.

He was the Prime Minister of Cambodia for six months in 1981 after the fall of Democratic Kampuchea in 1979.

--IANS

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The Colombian government and the insurgent Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) will return to the negotiation table from November 3, to seek a new peace agreement.

Both parties held a press conference on Friday at Havana's Convention Centre, the venue of the last negotiations for four years, and agreed to try and quickly reach a definitive peace deal, Xinhua news agency reported.

Ivan Marquez, chief of the FARC delegation to the talks, said that the parties will continue listening to a diverse number of organisations and personalities of Colombian society, including those who opposed the peace accord in the plebiscite on October 2.

Marquez added that he trusted the administration of President Juan Manuel Santos as having the power to push through the constitutional peace process.

Humberto de la Calle, chief negotiator for the government, stressed that the final agreement signed on September 26, contains the necessary measures and reforms to lay the foundations of peace and end the war.

"According to the joint statement issued on October 7, we have analysed several proposals for adjustments and clarifications to the final agreement from different sectors of Colombian society," he said.

De la Calle said many of the proposals would be incorporated into the new text.

Last week, the guerrilla and the Government analysed 445 proposals for adjustments and clarifications to the final agreement.

The FARC and the Colombian government concluded four years of negotiations last August with a peace agreement to end the 52-year conflict. However, this was narrowly defeated in an October 2 vote, forcing them to reshape the final peace deal.

The conflict in Colombia has killed more than 220,000 people and displaced millions since 1964.

--IANS

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Gujarat Tourism has collaborated with the NFDC Film Bazaar as a State Partner for 2016 to promote the state as a film-friendly destination.

The state, which won the National Film Award for being the Most Film Friendly State in 2015, has been following an aggressive tourism policy approach in the area of developing and promoting tourism.

Gujarat Tourism participated in the Film Bazaar for the first time in 2012 and took up a Film Office in 2015 to promote Gujarat as filming destination.

Film Bazaar facilitated Gujarat in setting up one-on-one meetings with some of the prominent Bollywood filmmakers, including Rajkumar Hirani, Anurag Kashyap, Kabir Khan, Anurag Basu, Vikas Bahl, Rohan Sippy and Karan Malhotra who gave constructive feedback to the state tourism department.

Filmmaker Shoojit Sircar, who attended the Knowledge Series session at NFDC's Film Bazaar 2015 shot his film "Piku" in Gujarat.

"Gujarat is one of the few states in India which actually has a single window clearance for permissions to shoot," Sircar said in a statement.

Talking about the association, the spokesperson of Gujarat Tourism said: "Picturesque locations, friendly people, efficient administration and robust infrastructure make Gujarat the most encouraging state for film and its promotion."

"Each year, we aim for a better and healthy partnership for better exposure with the national and international film fraternity".

The Film Bazaar is organised by the NFDC (National Film Development Corporation of India), which is appointed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB). NFDC is the official body for all the permissions related to shooting of films in the country.

"By having a Film Office and being involved with the Film Felicitation Office activities we seek to align with the rules and norms of the MIB and attract more filmmakers -- Indian and international -- to come and shoot in Gujarat," the Gujarat Tourism spokesperson added.

The Gujarat state government has passed a Film Cell Resolution to facilitate production houses with assistance in film shooting permissions and other incentives.

Gujarat Tourism's major aim is in 100 per cent sync with the vision and mission of the Tourism Policy 2015-2020 which puts a strong emphasis on positioning the state as a vibrant tourist destination with an emphasis on improving visitor experience, livelihood linkages, environmental concerns and enhancing investment opportunities.

--IANS

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Iraqi security forces on Saturday freed a town from the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in the south of the group's stronghold of Mosul, as a major anti-IS offensive continued to seize more ground around the city, a security source said.

The federal police and paramilitary Hashd Shaabi units managed to liberate the central part of the town of Shoura and raised the Iraqi flag on the local government building after fierce clashes with IS militants since the early morning hours, a source from the Operations Command of Nineveh Liberation told Xinhua news agency on condition of anonymity.

The troops backed by Iraqi and US-led coalition aircraft destroyed at least ten booby-trapped vehicles and killed dozens of militants, the source said.

Also on Saturday, the paramilitary units of Hashd Shaabi in the morning launched a large-scale operation and advanced on three routes toward the town of Tal-Afar, some 70 km west of Mosul, according to a statement by the Hashd Shaabi's media office.

Tal Afar, which used to have both Sunni and Shiite Turkoman villagers, as well as other minorities of Kurds and Arabs, fell to the IS in 2014.

On October 17, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Iraqi forces, announced the start of a major offensive to retake Mosul, the country's second largest city.

So far, the Iraqi security forces have inched to the eastern fringes of Mosul, and made progress on other routes around the city, preparing to storm the city and drive out the IS militants.

--IANS

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Talk show queen Oprah Winfrey is releasing a cookbook, titled "Food, Health, and Happiness: 115 On-Point Recipes for Great Meals and a Better Life".

The 62-year-old has penned the book and will release it on January 3, 2017.

"As long as I can remember, I've been the kind of person who wants to share the things that make life better," Winfrey told people.com.

"When I come upon something useful, something that brings me pleasure or comfort or ease, I want everyone else to know about it and benefit from it, too."

"And that is how this cookbook came to be. It's my life story - the lessons I've learned, the discoveries I've made - told through food," she added.

Recipes for food items, including Turkey chili, farro with peas, asparagus, pesto and cured olives and sustainable Chilean sea bass with lemon fennel chutney, will be available.

--IANS

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Actress Rebecca Ferguson has been roped in to star as fashion designer and socialite Ruth Harkness in the upcoming historical adventure film "The Lady and the Panda".

The film is expected to go on floors next month in China, reports variety.com.

"The Lady and the Panda" is a British-Chinese co-production, produced by Laura Bickford and Michelle Qi.

Harkness was the first person to bring a live panda from China to the United States. She was a New York socialite whose wealthy explorer husband died unexpectedly in 1936. She took over his expedition to China, joined forces with Chinese guide Quentin Young, and travelled into the uncharted Himalayas, where, against all odds, they rescued an orphaned baby panda.

The panda, Su Lin, was bottle-fed baby formula as Harkness took the panda back to the US and created a nationwide sensation. But before long, Harkness realised that pandas are best preserved in their natural habitat. Su Lin ended up at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago.

--IANS

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The UN Security Council has "condemned in the strongest terms" another mortar shelling on the Russian embassy in the Syrian capital of Damascus, which caused significant material damage.

The 15-nation UN body, in a press statement issued Friday night, recalled the fundamental principle of the inviolability of diplomatic and consular premises as well as the obligations of host governments to take all appropriate steps to protect diplomatic and consular premises against any intrusion or damage, and to prevent any disturbance of the peace of these missions or impairment of their dignity, Xinhua news agency reported.

The fundamental principle and obligations were provided by international conventions including the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, the statement said.

Two mortar shells coming from the Jobar district in Damascus, an area controlled by anti-government forces, hit the embassy on Friday morning compound located in the central al-Mazra area of the Syrian capital, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

"It was a lucky coincidence that casualties were avoided," a statement from the ministry said.

The embassy building suffered "material damage" in the attack, with four of the Russian diplomats' cars being hit, the statement added.

This was the third time in October that the Russian embassy was shelled from militant-controlled areas.

Both previous attacks, which took place on October 4 and 13, damaged the embassy building but caused no casualties, reports said.

--IANS

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Bollywood star Kangana Ranaut is unsure whether she will be named the brand ambassador to promote Himachal Pradesh tourism or not.

Kangana hails from the hill state and there has been a buzz around her refusal to sign an agreement. However, her father denies any wrongdoing.

Two days after State Tourism Development Board Vice Chairman Vijai Singh Mankotia slammed the bureaucracy for deliberately scuttling the proposal mooted by him to appoint Kangana as the state's brand ambassador, another board member on Saturday slammed the actress for demanding a huge amount.

"After negotiations, Kangana Ranaut said that she will charge Rs.45 lakh per day and all the other expenditure, including board and lodging for the entire unit, and cost of shooting will be borne by the government," member S.P. Katyal said in a statement.

"Therefore, it was costing more than Rs 2 crore for her single appearance. Even after this huge expenditure, the deliverables were not clear as to how many more tourists will arrive in the state after she promotes it," he said.

Upset over the ongoing developments, Kangana's father Amardeep Singh Ranaut blamed the state government over flip-flops.

Katyal said since Himachal Pradesh is a well established tourist destination, the domestic tourist inflow is already touching 2 crore per year and infrastructure is to be provided to house them.

On the other hand, Vice Chairman Mankotia said that despite several rounds of talks with Kangana in Mumbai, the proposal to sign an agreement with her was deliberately delayed by the bureaucracy.

The issue turned hot on October 27 when Mankotia, after the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Board meeting that was presided over by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh here, told the media "the proposal to sign an agreement awaited government's nod for over one and half years and now it has died its natural death".

He lamented the bureaucracy by saying, "she too was very keen to popularise her home state, but probably the bureaucracy was not too keen on it".

Contrary to Mankotia's assertions, Katyal said when Kangana was approached for being brand ambassador, first of all she never responded. He said that after Mankotia's efforts, she agreed to talk on the issue. And even after this, she took more than six months for the officials to meet her. Then finally when a meeting was arranged she was taking the department and the government for a ride.

"She asked a huge amount of money for her appearance for the tourism department," he said.

"She was not insulted in any way, rather she inflicted insult on the people of the state by asking for huge money to promote the interests of the state," Katyal said in a signed statement.

Kangana's father Amardeep told IANS over phone that two state tourism department officials met her in Mumbai almost nine months back to fix the shooting schedule and the expenditure.

"After the first meeting, there was no communication from the state. I, in fact, approached the state on the insistence of my daughter as she had to fix her schedule for the state," he said.

"She, in fact, demanded nominal charges to become the brand ambassador. Even if they (the state) had no funds, they can inform Kangana in this regard. Moreover, initially when her name was announced she was not taken into confidence," said Amardeep, who is settled at Bhambla village near Hamirpur town, some 200 km from state capital Shimla.

"My daughter is born and brought up in Himachal Pradesh and she herself is its brand ambassador," the aggrieved father said.

Currently, Kangana is busy in shooting director Hansal Mehta's "Simran" in the US, he added.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)

--IANS

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The Delhi government on Saturday started work to light up around 7,500 dark spots in north and east Delhi areas.

Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Satyendar Jain said that street lights will be installed in all the identified spots by the end of this financial year (March 31, 2017).

Lighting dark spots in the city for ensuring safety of women was one of the major election promises of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

The 7,438 spots have been identified under the jurisdiction of North and East Delhi Municipal Corporations.

The project is being implemented following a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from both the corporations.

Jain expressed the hope that the South Delhi Municipal Corporation will also expedite the process of granting NOC so that lighting of dark spots across Delhi could be completed at the earliest.

The minister invited suggestions from all stakeholders on how the government could take further steps to make Delhi safe for women.

--IANS

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On the face of it, life seems to be returning to some semblance of normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir and this is going to be the likely trend, especially when the government shifts the capital from Srinagar to Jammu in the coming days. Although schools are still shut, young people are off the roads because farms and orchards need every hand they can get - it is time for harvesting paddy, fruit and dry fruit.
Two persons were killed and 15 others injured when the tractor trolley they were travelling in overturned after being hit by a truck near Karvantali village here, police said today.

Vimala (30) and Phulmati (35) died on the spot, they said.

The injured were taken to the district hospital, from where four others who had sustained serious injuries were referred to Lucknow.

The victims were returning home to Athauli village when they met with the accident, police said.

The bodies have been sent for post-mortem, he said.

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Twenty-five people were killed, six of them gendarmes, in two days of violence around the town of Bambari in the troubled Central African Republic, the UN force MINUSCA said today.

Six police and four civilians were killed in an ambush by armed men last morning, while on Thursday, 15 people died in fighting on the town's outskirts between the former Muslim Seleka militia and Christian vigilante groups known as "anti-balaka" (anti-machete), it said in a statement.

In a further incident, anti-balaka fighters yesterday attacked eight members of MINUSCA as they were heading to Bambari airport, the force said. A seven-year-old child was injured.

The UN force said there had been a "rise in tension in certain regions," citing "confrontation between armed elements of the ex-Seleka and anti-balaka" groups.

It called on the armed groups to end "the cycle of attack and reprisal."



Bambari lies in central CAR, about 250 kilometres northeast of the capital Bangui.

The bloodshed is the latest bout of violence to strike the CAR, a former French colony that is one of the world's poorest countries.

It occurred in the runup to the formal end on Monday of a French military mission, Operation Sangaris, sent to help the UN stabilise the country.

MINUSCA is seeking to support the administration of President Faustin-Archange Touadera, who was elected in February.

The CAR's descent into sectarian bloodshed began after the March 2013 ouster of president Francois Bozize, a Christian, by the mostly Muslim Seleka rebel alliance.

This triggered revenge attacks and a spiral of atrocities between Christian and Muslim groups in which thousands were slaughtered and around a tenth of the population of 4.5 million were displaced.

Earlier this month, 30 people were killed and 57 wounded when Seleka fighters staged an attack in the central town of Kaga Bandoro.

A few days later, 11 people were shot dead in a camp for displaced people in Ngakobo, northeast of Bangui.

On October 24, four civilians were killed when protests against the UN peacekeepers, called by a coalition of civil society groups angered by the rise of armed militias, turned violent.

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Three persons have been arrested for allegedly luring a youth on the pretext of a job and then extorting money by blackmailing him, police said today.

Police received a complaint by Avdhesh Kumar that he was blackmailed and forced to give his ATM passwords to three men who took out Rs 22,500 from his account. A case was registered at Seemapuri police station and investigation was undertaken.

The complainant met one Monu Panchal at the gate of GTB hospital who took him to a flat in Dilshad Colony on October 20. A girl was present there and he was made to pay Rs 2,000 for registration.

Later Panchal was joined by two other men, later identified as Harish and Pawan Sharma, who allegedly beat him and made him to take off his clothes and clicked his pictures.

He was also forced to give ATM card passwords and Rs 22,500 were withdrawn from his accounts.

He was later allowed to go by the trio who threatened to frame him in a rape case if went to police to report the matter.

The trio were arrested by police from different parts of north-east Delhi yesterday, he added.

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Army on Saturday said it has destroyed four Pakistani posts in a massive assault across the Line of Control (LoC) in Keran sector of north Kashmir's Kupwara district.

"Four Pakistani posts have been destroyed in a massive fire assault in Keran Sector," an army official said.

Heavy casualties have been inflicted on the Pakistani side, he said, without giving further details.

The firing assault comes in retaliation to ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops in the Keran sector earlier in the day, in which one BSF jawan and a civilian woman were injured.
Patna police today seized 500 cartons of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL), valued at about Rs 70 lakh, from a godown in rural Patna.

Acting on a tip-off received by Patna Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Manu Maharaj, a team from Fatuha police station raided a godown and seized 500 cartons of liquor, a statement from the SSP's office said.

The seized liquor was meant for illegal trade by a jailed former liquor supplier, Anil Kumar, in Fatuha, Mokamaha, Barh and Bakhtiyarpur regions, it said.

Kumar is in jail for illegally trading in liquor despite prohibition in the state.

The seized liquor bottles were valued at about Rs 70 lakh, the statement said.

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Heroin worth Rs 40 crore was seized by BSF personnel following a gunfight with Pakistani smugglers in Firozpur Sector along the Indo-Pak border here, BSF said today.

Troops at the D T Mal border post saw suspicious movement along the International Border and challenged the smugglers, BSF DIG R S Kataria said.

"Unfazed by the repeated warnings, the smugglers opened fire on the post. They fled the area after BSF personnel retaliated," he said.

Later, while conducting a search, BSF troopers recovered 133 packets of the contraband, which is worth Rs 40 crore in the international market, the DIG said.

The BSF has so far seized 214 kg of heroin this year on the Indo-Pak border, he said.

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Assam government has appointed Additional Director General of Police Pallav Bhattacharjee as a mediator to talk and sort out issues with bodies agitating for grant of ST status to six communities.

"Assam government has appointed Pallav Bhattacharjee, Additional DGP (SB), Assam as the new mediator to liaise with the organisations agitating for ST status of six communities of the state," an official release issued today said.

The six communities in question are Moran, Muttock, Tai-Ahom, Koch-Rajbongshi, Sootea and Tea-Tribes.

Reiterating the state government's commitment to the cause of ST status to these communities, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said he has already taken up the matter with the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and the issue was moving in the right direction.

The Chief Minister assured the agitating organisations during a meeting last night that he would call on the Union Home Minister along with them after the Lok Sabha and Assembly bye-elections are over in the state next month.

Sonowal also requested the organisations to reconsider their agitational programmes.

Following the meeting, representatives of the organisations expressed satisfaction on the assurance given by Sonowal and said they would reconsider their agitation.

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Hitting out at BJP for claiming that the state has five chief ministers, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav today asked the party to find at least one acceptable leader who could be projected as its chief ministerial face in the upcoming Assembly elections.

"These BJP people had been saying all along that there are five chief ministers in the Samajwadi Party government. I want to tell them to at least find out one (leader for the post) and bring him in front of the people," Yadav said at a programme of the Power Department here.

Alleging that BJP does not have strength of its own, Yadav questioned what the party had done in over two years since it came to power at the Centre and claimed that even the AIIMS is coming up in the state because the land for it was made available by the state government.

Akhilesh termed the BJP members as "hoshiyar, chamatkari and chalu" and recalled Prime Minister Narendra Modi raising the slogan of 'Jai Sree Ram' at the recent Dusherra funtion in Lucknow.

"What slogan was raised by the Prime Minister during the Dusherra function...Earlier they used to chant 'Bharat mata ki jai' but now you have forgotten Bharat Mata...Which path (do) they want the country to tread," he said.

"You (BJP) are discussing surgical strikes...Even senior people had known what it was...I have studied in a military school my classmates are serving at the borders...I asked them and they told me that surgical strikes have been taking place earlier also...This very work is what army does...But (see) how BJP people are misleading the country", Yadav said.

Referring to the upcoming elections, Yadav said people have many options before them and charged the BSP government with wasting public money during its government.

"The BSP government installed elephants in this very city...In the past nine years they have remained static...All the funds were wasted and they claim they will form the government," he said.

Citing the various development works undertaken by his government, he said it had taken the state on the path of development and prosperity and claimed 'work speaks for itself'.

No one can compete with the SP government as far as its works are concerned, he stressed.

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On the second day of his Gujarat visit, BJP president Amit Shah held separate meetings with several BJP leaders and MLAs as well as Union Minister Piyush Goyal.

The Minister of State for Power arrived at Shah's residence in the morning and their meeting lasted for almost one and half hours, said BJP sources.

Later, Goyal also met Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani at his residence to take stock of progress in the implementation of LED scheme in the Gujarat, officials said.

Meanwhile, several BJP leaders and local MLAs, including Babubhai Patel and Bhushan Bhatt from here, met Shah at his residence during the day.

Shah, who arrived here on late Thursday night, is expected to stay here till Diwali. His meetings with various party leaders is seen as BJP's exercise to gear up ahead of state Assembly elections, due next year.

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With his victory almost certain following a rare endorsement by US President Barack Obama, Indian-American Ami Bera hopes he would joined by at least one or a few other community members in the US Congress next year.

Bera, the only elected Indian American in the current Congress, is seeking re-election from a challenging Congressional district in California for the third consecutive term.

He has identified two others -- Raja Krishnamoorthi from Chicago and Pramila Jayapal from Seattle -- most likely to be elected to the US House of Representatives.

"We are gearing up the opportunity to welcome at least one, may be two or three other Indian Americans to the Congress," Bera told PTI in an interview.

"I mean Raja Krishnamoorthi in Chicago, certainly Kamala Harris would be the first Indian-American Senator and may be Pramila Jayapal from Seattle. I think this could be a better year for Indian Americans," Bera said.

Political pundits have favored Krishnamoorthi and Jayapal to win the House of Representatives elections in their November 8 general elections.

Latest polls suggest that Harris has increased her lead over her nearest rival.

Bera, 51, is facing a challenge from Republican Scott Jones, who was elected as Sheriff of the Sacramento County in 2010 and then reelected in 2014.

In both the previous two elections in 2012 and 2014, he was declared elected only after recounting of votes.

Only the third-ever Indian American to have been elected to the House of Representatives after Dalip Singh Saund in 1950 and Bobby Jindal in 2000s, Bera made his maiden entry into the House of Representatives by defeating incumbent Dan Lungren by a little over 9,000 votes.

Bera received a big boost to his campaign this week after he was endorsed by President Barack Obama.

"I'm proud to endorse Dr Ami Bera for the United States House of Representatives. In Congress, Ami has had my back as we've worked to make the country stronger, safer, and fairer for California families - and now I have his back," Obama said in a statement.

"Ami is a fighter for the middle class, and knows we need to build on the economic progress that workers and businesses have made in recent years. Ami has stood with me as we work to keep our country safe, defend a woman's right to choose, protect Social Security and Medicare, and make college more affordable. I've counted on Ami, and Californians can, too," Obama said in his rare endorsement.

Bera said he is honored to receive the endorsement of Obama.

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Himachal BJP has accused the ruling Congress party of conducting the delimitation of wards for next year's Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) elections in an "opaque" manner, and overlooking rules to benefit the ruling party.

"The entire process of delimitation smacks of politics and focused on suitability of ruling party which was afraid of defeat. The new wards are being created in the merged areasto benefit the ruling Congress," State BJP Vice-president Ganesh Dutt told mediapersons here today.

Describing the delimitation as being "politically motivated", Dutt said there was "no rationale method or standard norms" for creating new wards.

"A population criteria of 3000 has been fixed for creation of wards but it is not being followed and in order to benefit some builders, colonies developed by them at distant locations have been included in the new wards in urban areas while areas like Lambi Dhar, which are contiguous to Dhalli ward have not been included in spite of unanimous resolutions passed by SMC general house," he asserted.

"The authorities claimed that the de-limitation process was being done on the basis of2011 census butthe draft proposals clearly expose that no uniform pattern is being followedand no new ward is being created in old Shimla areas where BJP had won in the last MC elections," he alleged.

Dutt said that most of the ten new wards were being carved in merged areas while no landmarks have been identified to demark the area under the wards and the only consideration seems to be "how to benefit the ruling party".

He said BJP would file their objections before the Deputy Commissioner and Divisional commissioner "and if the need be the party would also knock the doors of the Court".

Governor Acharya Devvrat had promulgated the ordinance on September 4 last to amend the Himachal Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act to increase the number of wards upto 37 in two Municipal Corporations of Shimla and Dharamsala.

The delimitation of the wards is being done on the basis of 2011 census and effort is being made to have a new ward over 3000 average population.

In 2012 SMC polls, direct elections were held for the post of Mayor and Deputy Mayor but this time the elections would be held for 35 wards and mayor and deputy mayors would be elected by the councilors.

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A BSF jawan was today killed in ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops in Macchil sector along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.

28-year-old Constable Koli Nitin Subhash, hailing from Sangli in Maharashtra, was martyred this morning in firing by Pakistani security forces, a BSF official said.

Subhash had joined BSF in 2008 and is survived by his wife and two sons aged four years and two years.

The fresh casualty came hours after terrorists, aided by the cover fire by Pakistani Army, last night crossed the Line of Control in the sector. They killed an Indian army jawan and mutilated his body prompting the Indian army to warn that "the incident will be responded to appropriately".

Four army and three BSF personnel have died in the latest escalation along the boundary with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir.

Pakistan Rangers also violate ceasefire in RS Pura and Kathua sectors along International Border today.

In last night's attack, one attacker was killed in the incident.

"In an encounter close to the Line of Control this evening, one solider was martyred and one terrorist was killed. The terrorists mutilated the body of the jawan before fleeing back into Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir under the cover of firing by Pakistan Army," an army spokesman said.

He said the incident reflected the barbarism pervading in official and unofficial organisations in Pakistan.

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Carcasses of four crows were found at Shakti Sthal near Raj Ghat today taking the toll due to suspected bird flu in the national capital to 77.

Samples collected from the carcasses have been sent to the High Security Animal Diseases Laboratory in Bhopal and results will come within two to three days, an animal husbandry department official said.

A commemoration programme to mark the death anniversary of former prime minister Indira Gandhi on October 31 will not be held at Shakti Sthal as it has been closed amid the bird flu scare, Congress has said.

Animal Husbandry Department Minister Gopal Rai had yesterday reviewed the situation at a meeting of the Coordination Committee, comprising officials of all the departments concerned and agencies such as PWD, Health and the MCDs.

Rai has directed agencies owning waterbodies to execute the relevant action plan to contain the flu, in the form of enhanced fumigation, timely reporting of mortality and disposing leftover meat in their areas of jurisdiction.

The National Zoological Park will remain out of bounds for visitors for the next three months during which the area will be sanitised. The DDA Park at Hauz Khas, that reported a spate of deaths as well, also remains shut.

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Actress Carrie Fisher, best known for playing Princess Leia in the original "Star Wars" trilogy, has failed in her attempt to escape a legal case over the fatal heroin overdose of a 21-year-old woman, who lived in her guesthouse two months before her death.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge, Laura A Matz, has dismissed an appeal made by Fisher to be removed from a wrongful death lawsuit, which centers around the death of Amy Breliant in 2010, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The ruling says, that Fisher will remain a defendant in the case alongside a physician, Stephen Marmer M D and Warren Boyd, who were overseeing the rehab network that Breliant was under the care of when she died.

"Fisher has failed to meet her burden to establish that she cannot be found responsible, as a matter of law, for the conduct of Boyd, a joint venturer," reads Matz's order.

According to the original complaint, filed in 2013, Gianna Breliant, mother of Amy, claimed that the actress had liability in the case because she provided her guest house to her daughter in return for a share of Boyd's profit, implicating Fisher was engaged in a business relationship with him.

Fisher, however, refused to comment on the issue but sympathized with the family.

"I feel great compassion for any parent's loss of their child in an untimely death. I have a daughter. To lose a child is an unimaginable tragedy and the grief must be devastating. Unfortunately, I am not able to talk about the details of this case because it is ongoing," she said.

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Chinese vessels have left the contested Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, a Philippine official said today, less than a week after President Rodrigo Duterte visited Beijing pledging closer ties.

The firebrand leader used the trip to vaunt his move away from traditional ally the United States in favour of Beijing -- which was previously at loggerheads with Manila over the maritime dispute.

China took control of the Scarborough Shoal, 230 kilometres from the main Philippine island of Luzon, in 2012, driving Filipino fishermen away from the rich fishing ground, sometimes using water cannons.

In a case brought by former president Benigno Aquino, the Philippines won a resounding victory at an international tribunal earlier this year over Beijing's extensive maritime claims in the area, infuriating the Asian giant.

But Duterte has made a point of not flaunting the ruling and President Xi Jingping told the Philippine leader on his recent visit that there was no reason for hostility and difficult topics of discussion "could be shelved temporarily".

"There is no sign of Chinese coastguard vessels in the area. While we do not have any official explanation for this, it sends a positive signal regarding relations," Duterte's spokesman Ernesto Abella told AFP Saturday, referring to the shoal.

"This is a welcome development especially for Filipino fisherfolk."



Duterte had hinted at the possibility of a Chinese withdrawal directly upon his return from Beijing last week, saying: "We'll just wait for a few more days. We might be able to return to Scarborough Shoal."



Yesterday, Defence Minister Delfin Lorenzana said: "If the Chinese ships have left then it means our fishermen can resume fishing in the area."



However the foreign affairs department said they had yet to verify that Chinese vessels had left the shoal.

A report by television network GMA7 said fishermen from the northern province of Pangasinan had returned to shore Saturday with "a huge load of big species of fish" caught at Scarborough Shoal.

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US presidential frontrunner has declared that the FBI's decision to announce a renewed probe into her use of email just ahead of voting was "unprecedented" and "deeply troubling."

"It's pretty strange to put something like that out with such little information right before an election," the Democratic nominee yesterday complained, addressing cheering supporters at a rally in the must-win state of Florida.

Clinton remains the favorite to win the keys to the White House in the November 8 vote, but her momentum was slowed on Friday when FBI director James Comey made a shock announcement.

In a letter to congressional committee chairs, the agency chief said agents were investigating a newly discovered batch of emails linked to Clinton, to see if they contained classified material.

A previous FBI probe was declared finished in July, after Comey's agency found no evidence that Clinton had broken any laws through her controversial use of a private email server while secretary of state.

News reports citing FBI sources said the emails were found on a laptop used by Clinton's aide Huma Abedin and her husband Anthony Weiner, who is subject to an unrelated investigation for sending explicit messages to a minor.

But it is not clear whether the emails had any connection to Clinton's work at the State Department, and Comey's statement said only that investigators were studying to see if they are "pertinent" to the server probe.

Clinton's opponent Donald Trump, however, has seized gleefully on the statement, and her Democratic allies have reacted with fury, arguing that Comey had been so vague in his letter that he was feeding unproven conspiracy theories.

"It's not just strange, it's unprecedented," Clinton told the Daytona Beach rally.

"And it is deeply troubling because voters deserve to get full and complete facts. So we've called on Director Comey to explain everything right away, put it all out on the table.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has accused his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton of politicising the FBI investigation into her alleged email scandal, saying fresh inquiries against her could only indicate that she has committed an egregious criminal offense.

"Clinton tried to politicise this investigation by attacking and falsely accusing the FBI director of only sending the letter to Republicans, another Clinton lie, as it turned out the letter was sent to both Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress," Trump said at his third and final rally of the day in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

"The FBI would never have reopened this case at this time unless it were a most egregious criminal offense," he said, while his supporters shouted "lock her up."



"I've had plenty of words about the FBI lately, but I give them great credit for having the courage to right this horrible wrong. Justice will prevail," Trump claimed.

Trump later called the day's "this recent disaster for her, but justice for the country."



This was Trump's first reaction after Clinton's brief press conference in the same city in Iowa last night wherein she asked FBI to "immediately" release information related to the decision of the FBI Director James Comey to re-open the investigation into her alleged email scandal.

She alleged that the FBI had written the letter to only Republican members of the Congress.

The FBI letter was addressed to eight GOP chairs, along with the Democratic ranking members of each committee.

"I am writing to inform you that the investigative team briefed me on this yesterday, and I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation," Comey wrote in the letter addressed to several top leaders of the House and the Senate.

"In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to this investigation," Comey said.

Later in the day, Comey write an email to the FBI employee explaining his decision to write to the Congressional leadership on an ongoing investigation.

Clinton's vice presidential running mate Tim Kaine said the FBI's handling of the email investigation was troubling.

"When you do this 11 days before a presidential election and you don't provide many details, but details are apparently being given by the FBI to the press, this is very, very troubling, and we hope that the director- and we really think that he should give a clearer accounting of exactly what's going on right now," Kaine told Vice .

Mike Pence, the Republican vice presidential candidate, urged FBI to release more information on the email arguing that people have a right to know what was uncovered.

In a lead editorial, The Washington Post said the FBI's decision to re-open the investigation less than two weeks before the November 8 general elections would have an impact on the race to the White House. The Post was joined by The New York Times in slamming Comey for his decision.

Both the papers have endorsed Clinton as US president.

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Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who is leading in almost all major national polls with a considerable margin, has asked her supporters not to get complacent as her Republican rival Donald Trump can still win the November 8 general elections.

"I know that we've got to keep our foot on the gas. Donald Trump says he can still win, and you know, he's right. Anything can happen in an election," Clinton told her supporters at Cedar Rapids in Iowa, soon after the FBI said that it has re-opened the case against her email gate.

The former secretary of state, however, did not comment directly on this, even as she slammed Trump for his rhetoric.

"His strategy is to get women to stay home, get young people to stay home, get people of color to stay home. It's all part of his scorched Earth campaign. The last refuge of a bankrupt candidate. And it goes against everything we stand for in America," she said.

People of the country, she asserted, would not let that happen. "Now how we will do that, by voting, by showing up with the biggest turn out in history. More women voting, more young people voting, more people of color voting. More Americans of every kind voting for a good, positive, unified vision of the future," she said.

Referring to the three debates she had with Trump, Clinton said she stood next to him for four and half hours during those three debates.

"I think that proves once and for all I have the stamina to be president and Commander-in-Chief. And I have to tell you, he was always saying something that I was finding oh boy, unacceptable," she said.

"I kept reminding myself - people say, 'well, how did you keep your composure?' Well, I practiced that a lot. I had my team and the young man playing Trump for me just insult me up and down. It was exhausting. I spent hours being insulted by my team and my friends and boy did it to prepare me to stand there with the insulter known as Donald Trump," she said.

"And so, I kept thinking to myself, those -- wonderful line that Michelle Obama delivered in our convention when she gave her speech, 'when they go low, we go high'. Now Donald Trump has gone low, but in that last debate he said something that was truly horrifying," Clinton alleged.

"He refused to say that he would respect the results of this election. I know. It, it, it has never been done before. Nobody, you go back and look at debates and speeches, nobody running for president representing one of our two major parties has ever said that," she said.

"When you question the very institutions of our democracy going back to the founding of our country, you are attacking democracy. Now, we have seen Donald Trump attack so many different kinds of Americans. He's attacked African-Americans and Latinos and immigrants and Muslims and POWs and, of course, women and people with disabilities, right. But now, his final target seems to be democracy itself," she alleged.

"We have got to be vigilant about this. This is not something to be made right of, because there have been too many times in world history where somebody gets elected and the last election that...So have to not only stand up for whoever our candidates are, we have to stand up for the process of electing them,," she said.

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Air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition fighting rebels in Yemen killed 17 civilians in a battleground southwestern town today, the insurgents said.

Rescuers were still pulling bodies from the rubble after the raids hit residential buildings in Salo southeast of Yemen's third city Taez, rebel-controlled media said, giving a toll of 17 dead and seven wounded.

Most of those killed were women, sabanews.Net said, reporting four strikes hit three residential buildings, "completely destroying them".

A doctor at the town's public hospital said it had received the bodies of 15 dead and was treating seven wounded.

There was no immediate comment from the coalition, which launched a military campaign against the Iran-backed Huthi rebels and their allies in March last year to support President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government.

But a local Yemeni official loyal to the Saudi-backed government said the coalition air strikes had hit three adjacent homes by mistake.

"All those in the houses were killed," he told AFP, adding that a child and seven women were among the dead.

The coalition has come under mounting international criticism for the high civilian death toll from its bombing campaign.

An October 8 strike that killed more than 140 people attending a funeral ceremony for the father of a rebel leader in the capital Sanaa drew condemnation even from close Western allies.

The coalition launched a swift investigation into that attack and acknowledged that one of its warplanes had "wrongly targeted" the funeral based on "incorrect information".

It announced disciplinary measures, compensation for the families of victims and allowed the most seriously wounded to be evacuated on board an Omani flight.

The town of Salo has been the scene of fierce fighting for months as pro-Hadi forces attempt to advance towards Taez, where the government garrison is almost entirely surrounded by the rebels and dependent on a single supply line from the south.

The Shiite Huthi rebels have been attempting to block the advance, which would allow reinforcements to be brought directly along the main road from the government's headquarters in second city Aden to the south.

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State Congress here today condemned the mutilation of a soldier's body by terrorists, terming it a "cowardly" act and demanded a befitting reply.

"Rifleman Mandeep Singh was killed in an ambush by the Pakistani Army and later his was body mutilated. This is the most cowardly and provocative act on the part of the Pakistani Army which deserves a befitting reply from India," JKPCC spokesman, Ravinder Sharma said.

Sharma said that Pakistan was leaving no stone unturned to lauch a full scale war on India, which has been maintaining restraint for quite a long time.

"Border residents are fed up with the continuous firing and shelling and it would be in the best interest of the people if India answers Pakistan with its full might so that Pakistan does not dare to raise its head again," he said.

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Fine quality of heroin and cocaine worth Rs 70 lakh has been recovered by Crime Branch with the arrest of three drug traffickers, including two Nigerian nationals, from different parts of the national capital.

A Nigerian national Darlington Chiemezie who lived locally at Mehrauli was under scanner due to reports on his drug trafficking activities. He was caught by a Crime Branch team near Chattarpur CNG station alongwith 104 gm of cocaine on October 26, said Ravindra Yadav, Joint Commissioner of Police(Crime Branch).

Darlington was in India for the second time for drug trafficking activities on the direction of his fellow country man Tony.

He recently procured drugs from another Nigerian Cheema for supply in RK Puram, Mehrauli and adjoining areas in south Delhi.

A Nizamuddin resident Dhobir was caught near Railway bridge on Bhairon Road, while going to deliver drug to a contact on October 26. Heroin weighing 170 gm was recovered from his possession, said the officer.

Another Nigerian national Israel Echem, was caught by a Crime Branch team on a tip off, near Outer Ring Road, Tilak Nagar Mod, and heroin weighing 260 gm was recovered from him on October 25, he said.

Israel came to India on his maiden visit six months back. He came in touch with his fellow countryman John who was in drug trafficking and started supplying drugs to his contacts due to his need of money, he added.

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An Air India Express flight, which left for Dubai from here this evening, returned after completing almost half of the journey due to a technical snag.

Flight IX 539, with 152 passengers and six crew members on board, returned to Thiruvananthapuram International Airport after the pilots noticed that the Autopilot was not functioning, airline sources said.

The flight landed at 8.20 pm, they said, adding that the passengers would leave for Dubai later tonight in another flight, the sources said.

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Five workers of a catering group were electrocuted to death after the metal chimney they were carrying came in contact with a live wire at Bhankhrota area here, police said today.

The incident took place late last night after the function at a private farmhouse got over and the workers were shifting their items, they said.

"After the party was over, the members of the catering party were shifting their items. Five members were carrying the chimney which touched a 11,000 KV high tension line passing from above killing all of them on the spot," Assistant Commissioner of Police (Vaishali Nagar) Lakhan Singh said.

The deceased were identified as Devi Singh Rajput, Kishan Lal, Pradeep Burman, Vinod and Dinesh Saini.

Singh said the bodies were sent for post mortem.

"A case has been registered against the organisers of the party and the matter is being investigated," he said.

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Five Al Qaeda militants planning to carry out an attack in Gujranwala city were killed today by Pakistan police during a raid at a house in Punjab province.

"The militants were hiding in a house in Wapda town. When a CTD team along with police surrounded the house and asked the inmates to surrender," the Counter Terror Department (CTD) said in a statement.

"But the militants opened fire at police. The police team returned the fire. During the shootout five terrorists were killed and three others managed to escape taking advantage of darkness," the CTD said in a statement.

According to CTD, it received intelligence reports that eight militants belonging to Al-Qaeda were planning to carry out an attack in Gujranwala city, some 80km from Lahore, yesterday.

The CTD recovered one Kalashnikov, two pistols, two hand grenades and explosive material from the hideout.

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Amid apprehensions that Taiwan-based tech giant Foxconn may shy away from its proposed USD 5 billion investment in Maharashtra, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today said the company is "not going anywhere" and hoped issues raised by it will be resolved soon.

"Foxconn had issues pertaining to the Central government. The company wants its manufacturing costs here to match those in China," he said while speaking to reporters at his residence 'Varsha' here.

The world's largest electronics contract manufacturer plans to set up manufacturing units in India, which boasts of the world's second-largest base of mobile phone users, to mitigate rising labour costs in China and also lower manufacturing cost of iPhones.

Fadnavis said the company, which counts Apple, Xiaomi, Blackberry and Amazon among its clients, had laid down certain conditions, which were being examined by the Centre.

"I met officials from Foxconn a month back and they assured me their issues with the Centre would be solved soon. Once that happens, they will immediately start their work," Fadnavis said.

"It is true the project has got delayed but I can assure Foxconn is not going anywhere," he said.

The state government's widely publicised MoU with the iPhone maker appeared to be in trouble after a senior official from the Industries Department said production has not taken off as the company was "yet to find customers" here.

"They (Foxconn officials) say they haven't found customers yet and have thus not started their manufacturing plant. We don't think this is disappointing as we would like to give them some more time before coming to a decision," Apurva Chandra, Principal Secretary (Industries), had said.

Fadnavis had earlier said the MoU with Foxconn will create direct employment for 50,000 people.

Opposition Congress had used the delay in implementing the Foxconn MoU to criticise Fadnavis. The party had asked the Chief Minister to clear the air on the big-ticket project and said the delay exposed his "tall claims" about investment and employment generation in Maharashtra.

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Former Ghatampur MLA of Congress Shivnath Singh has died following a heart attack in Gwalior.

He was 90.

Singh, who was ill for sometime, died due to heart attack in Gwalior yesterday, UP Congress in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad today said in a statement.

He served as a minister in Congress' UP government and held the position of Deputy Speaker in the state Assembly.

"Shivnath Singh, who had been ill for sometime died of a heart attack in Gwalior," District Magistrate Kaushal Raj said.

Singh will be laid to rest today in Gwalior.

Expressing grief over the demise of the former Congress leader, Azad said, "This is a personal loss to Congress and the party stands with the family in this hour of grief.

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Union shipping minister on Saturday urged private port operators to create necessary arrangements for catering to passengers, pointing out to the prospects of cruise tourism in the country.

"We have taken a decision to have passenger terminals at all major ports to cater to cruise tourists. There are over 200 private and minor ports in the country and I would also request them to have such facilities," Gadkari said at the Mumbai Port Trust here.

He said the government is very keen to push cruise tourism, given its benefit to the local economy and wants the city port to become among the five best cruise tourism hubs in the world.

The government is investing over Rs 200 crore to build a modern international cruise terminal at one of the oldest ports in the country, the minister informed.

A bulk of the ports built in the last 25 years since the country embarked on the liberalisation journey have been privately owned or operated. All of them typically cater to the high-volume and revenue accretive trade segment, handling container, bulk and liquid cargos.

A slew of names including Adanis, Essar, Larsen and Toubro etc have entered the port segment in the last few years.

Referring to the port redevelopment plan, Gadkari said there is a plan to make the city port better than those in Dubai and Singapore as well.

The minister was quick to point out that while carrying out such projects, jobs will be protected and there will in fact be a growth in employment through such initiatives.

Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) chairman Sanjay Bhatia said catering to domestic tourists can also be a lucrative business opportunity and the ministry has appointed an international consultant to study the same both on the coastal and inland waterways front.

The MbPT, which has a dedicated berth for cruise tourism, today hosted its largest passenger ship yet. Genting Dream anchored at the berth in her maiden voyage and will be carrying 1,900 passengers from the city till Singapore, via Colombo.

A senior official from the shipping company said it has been serving the market for the last decade and saw a 36 per cent growth in Indian tourists in the last fiscal 2015-16 to over 1.25 lakh.
Government today slammed Congress for criticising it over vacancies in judiciary, saying it was like "devil quoting scriptures" as the opposition party had the record of damaging and trying to erode the sanctity of judiciary while being in power.

Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said the government has the highest regard for the judiciary and is committed to address the shortage of judges in High Courts.

In a statement here, he said the process of appointment of judges would continue even while the new Memorandum of Protocol for such appointments is under consideration.

"The government, in collaboration with the Apex Court, would sincerely endeavor for an early conclusion of the new MoP in the larger interest of transparency and objectivity," Naidu said.

"The Government of India has the highest regard for the Judiciary of the country which is an important pillar of democracy and shares the concern of the Supreme Court over the huge pendency of cases at different levels of Judiciary for different reasons," he said.

The minister said the government is committed to address the shortage of judges in High Courts.

While hitting out at Congress for attacking it over the vacancies, Naidu said the Modi government has approved over 200 new posts over the last two years as against only 20 posts of judges created during 2009-14 when UPA was in power.

"Despite the sincere efforts of the government to increase the strength of judges in High Courts and to address public concern over transparency and objectivity in the selection of judges in the higher judiciary, the Congress party has the audacity to criticize the government of seeking to undermine judiciary, further to the observations of the Supreme Court on the vacancies yesterday," he said.

"It is a recorded history that the Congress party has done the singular damage to democracy and one of its important pillar of Judiciary during its long rule.

"It badly bruised democracy through brazen violation of fundamental rights of citizens by clamping emergency and clearly stated in the Supreme Court that the citizen had no remedy even if shot at by a police officer.

"It further sought to erode the sanctity of Judiciary by inventing concepts like committed judiciary, superseding seniority in promotion of judges etc," Naidu said.

He said Congress party "with such a notorious record of treating democracy and judiciary with contempt, now criticizing the government of seeking to undermining judiciary, is like the devil quoting scriptures.

Naidu recalled that following "widely expressed concern



over lack of transparency and objectivity" in the selection of judges of High Courts and the Supreme Court, Parliament had unanimously passed an Act for setting up of the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC).

The Apex Court, however, in its wisdom struck down this legislation last year after hearings during April-December, he noted.

"I would like to remind the Congress, in case it has forgotten, that it had supported the NJAC proposal," the I&B Minister said.

He said that while striking down the NJAC proposal, the five-Judge Bench of the Supreme Court had clearly emphasized the need to improve the collegium system of appointing judges to ensure transparency and objectivity in the selection.

As per the direction of the Apex Court, the government is working on a revised Memorandum of Protocol in this regard and the same is under the consideration of the Supreme Court for over the last two months, Naidu said.

"Congress party needs to know that a large number of judges have been appointed to the High Courts during the last two years and this was acknowledged by the Hon'ble Chief Justice of India during the hearing yesterday," he said.

He said the working strength of judges in High Courts remained at almost the same level during the last few years.

"If the nine-month period of hearing on NJAC proposal, during when no appointments were made, is excluded, the rate of appointment of judges by this government has increased by 63 per cent, which is no mean achievement," Naidu said.

"Vacancies remained more or less the same despite increase in posts and no appointment during hearing on NJAC," he said.

"Congress party should realize and acknowledge the same after perusing the following information regarding vacant posts of High Court Judges," he said while giving a breakup of vacancies per year from 2008 till 2016.

According to the statistics furnished by him, there were 280 vacancies out of 877 posts in 2008, 276 of 886 posts in 2009, 265 of 895 posts in 2010, 286 of 895 posts in 2011, 273 of 895 posts in 2012, 282 of 895 posts in 2013 and 267 of 906 posts in 2014.

In 2015, 78 new posts were created and in 2016, 138 posts were created, Naidu said.

Hence, the vacancies were 268 out of 984 posts in 2015 and 286 out of 1044 posts in 2016, he said, adding the total strength increased "substantially" in last two years.

"Congress party has not only bequeathed a battered economy to the NDA government but also a legacy of huge pendency of cases and vacancies in higher judiciary. NDA government is committed to undo this legacy with the aid and advice of the Hon'ble Supreme Court," the minister said.

"During such time, I would urge upon the Congress party to stop quoting scriptures as it has no moral right to do so," he added.

"The Government of India assures the nation that it has the highest consideration and respect for judiciary," he said.
Five people including a woman were killed and six others injured when unknown assailants opened fire today at a Shia religious gathering here in Pakistan.

The incident took place at the home of a Shia Muslim doctor in Karachi's Nazimabad area where people had gathered for a religious meeting.

"Four men wearing helmets and riding on motorcycles came to the house where the religious gathering was taking place in the month of Muharram and they opened indiscriminate firing on the people standing at the gate," a senior police official said.

"Five dead bodies have been brought to the Abbasi Shaheed hospital including that off a woman," Dr Roohina said.

She said six other injured people were also brought with bullet wounds and condition of two patients was critical.

SSP West, Nasir Aftab told the media that the residents of the house had not sought security for having the private Majlis.

"The police was not informed about this religious gathering and there was no security," he said.

Ironically, the house outside which the firing took place is located in a lane just behind the Nazimabad police station and is also close to a Rangers checkpoint.

IG Sindh, AD Khawaja said that the Majlis was taking place at the house of Dr Asad Kohati who was targeted first by the gunmen who came and opened fire and fled away.

Shia Muslims are frequently targeted in sectarian violence in Karachi and Quetta, the capital cities of Sindh and Baluchistan provinces.

The attack took place despite the security agencies and law enforcement agencies being on high alert during the month of Muharram when Shia Muslims hold religious gathering throughout the month.

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Haryana fought back after conceding the first innings lead to Andhra, reaching 138 for three while chasing 371 on the penultimate day of their Group C Ranji Trophy game at the Wankhede Stadium here.

Young opener Shubham Rohilla was keeping Haryana in the hunt with an unbeaten 75, with seven hits to the fence, when play was stopped because of insufficient light.

Yuzvendra Chahal, who captured three wickets in the Andhra second innings with his leg spin, was the other not out batsman on 12.

Haryana require 233 more runs to win with seven wickets in hand.

Haryana, who conceded a lead of 150 in the first innings, did well on the field today as Chahal (3/51), captain Mohit Sharma (3/37) and Harshal Patel (2/33) played key roles in bundling Andhra out for 220 in the second innings.

Captain G Hanuma Vihari (50) and Siva Kumar (42) were the main scorers in the Andhra second innings.

In the second innings Haryana, who were shot out for a paltry 103 in the first innings, were struggling at 48 for two when 18-year-old Rohtak-born Rohilla, playing in only his fifth first-class match, repaired the damage by stitching a stand of 61 for the third wicket with Rajat Paliwal (25).

Although Paliwal departed before close, Rohilla remained unbeaten after facing 137 balls to carry forward Haryana's attempt for a victory on the final day tomorrow.

Brief scores:



Andhra: 253 & 220 (Hanuma Vihari 50, Siva Kumar 42; Mohit Sharma 3/37, Yuzvendra Chahal 3/51).

Haryana: 103 & 138/3 in 47 overs (SG Rohilla 75 not out).

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The Bombay High Court has rejected the plea of a prisoner lodged in Pune's Yerwada prison seeking release on furlough on the ground that he had misused this facility earlier by overstaying the leave period outside jail and the nature of his offences.

A bench of Justices V K Tahilramani and Mridula Bhatkar on October 26 dismissed the petition filed by Chetan Dumbare as he has been convicted under IPC for robbery and voluntarily causing hurt to people.

The bench noted that the prisoner had jumped furlough earlier and he had overstayed outside jail for a period of 631 days. "So there is some basis in the apprehension expressed by the authorities that this time also, he may jump furlough leave and not return to jail in time."



Moreover, the bench said, "In view of Rule 4(2) and the other facts and circumstances of this case, we cannot find any fault with the authorities for rejecting the application of the petitioner for furlough.

"We are not inclined to interfere. In view of this, the rule is discharged," the bench noted.

The prosecution opposed the release of the prisoner on furlough on the ground that he was involved in a robbery case under Section 394 of IPC, hence, in view of Rule 4(2) of the Prisons (Bombay Furlough and Parole) Rules 1959, he is not entitled to be released on furlough.

Rule 4(2) provides that the prisoner convicted of the offences under Sections 392 to 402 of IPC (robbery and causing hurt while committing such offence) shall not be granted furlough.

The bench noted that the conduct of the petitioner in jail has not been satisfactory. In view of these facts, his application for furlough had been rejected.

The petitioner had filed an application for furlough on April 13, 2015. However, it was rejected on November 10, 2015. Being aggrieved, he filed an appeal. The appeal was also dismissed by an order dated March 9 this year.

Thereafter, he filed a petition in the high court seeking release on furlough which was also rejected by the division bench.

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The Bombay High Court has set aside a first information report (FIR) against five youths, accused of outraging the modesty of two girls, on the condition that they would do social work for two days and donate Rs 50,000 for legal aid service.

The order was passed by a division bench of Justices Abhay Oka and AA Sayed on a petition filed by the accused earlier this week.

"Considering that the petitioners are in the age group of 19-22 and the remorse shown by them, we are inclined to quash the FIR. Looking into the peculiar facts of the case, it cannot be said that the offence alleged is against the society at large," the bench said while quashing the FIR.

A case had been registered against the five youths under IPC sections 354 (outraging the modesty of woman), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 507 (criminal intimidation) and 149 (rioting).

The mother of the complainant girl filed an affidavit in the High Court submitting that the two sides had reached a compromise and wanted to settle the matter.

She said she did not want her daughter to do the rounds of the police station and courts and therefore, was agreeable to the quashing of the FIR against the accused who had shown remorse.

The complainant, a 17-year-old girl, was accompanied by her friend when the alleged incident took place at Badlapur in neighbouring Thane district on September 25.

The two girls knew one of the accused, the first



petitioner, as he studied with them. He had reportedly raised an objection to the relationship between the complainant's friend and another boy who had met with an accident.

The two girls had gone to the house of the boy who was under treatment. When the first petitioner got to know about it, he called up the complainant and asked her to come and meet him immediately.

The alleged crime took place when the two girls went to meet the first petitioner and four of his friends.

Badlapur police registered the FIR, following which the accused moved the High Court.

The judges said the FIR could be set aside if the accused agreed to do cleaning work.

They also directed the youths to present themselves before the municipal ward officer on November 3 and do the cleaning work.

The next hearing, to confirm the compliance of the order, is scheduled for December 7.
A former senior government officer, working with SAIL, has been awarded two-year jail term for amassing disproportionate assets by a special court which said economic offences should be dealt with sternly.

Special Judge Vrinda Kumari awarded the jail term to former Senior Deputy Director (Quality) of the Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), Madan Mohan Singh, besides handing down a year's jail term to his brother Sharat Chandra Singh for amassing disproportionate assets worth Rs 58,79,153, which was 114.88 per cent of their known income.

"A high standard of conduct is expected from a public servant. The economic offences including the ones involving disproportionate assets are required to be dealt with sternly.

"In the facts and circumstances of the case, M M Singh is sentenced to rigorous imprisonment (RI) of two years and fine of Rs 50,000... Convict S C Singh is sentenced to RI of one year and fine of Rs 25,000," the court said while awarding punishment under sections of Prevention of Corruption Act.

The court also ordered that an equivalent amount of the disproportionate assets, either in the names of the convicts or in the names of their family members, be confiscated.

The CBI had filed its charge sheet against M M Singh, his late father Radheshwar Prasad Singh and brother.

The case was registered at the time when Madan, who was then working as Senior Deputy Director (Quality) in SAIL's Corporate Office here.

During that period, accused had amassed disproportionate assets movable and immovable in the shape of cars, FDRs, cash, plots, flats and house in his name or in the name of his family membersrelatives worth over Rs 98 lakh during January 1990 to December 1995, the agency had alleged.

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President Francois Hollande today acknowledged that France bore "broad responsibility" for the internment of thousands of Roma by the World War II Vichy regime and in the early months of the post-war government.

"The day has come, and this truth must be told," Hollande said in the first presidential visit to the main internment camp for Roma, located in Montreuil-Bellay, central France.

"The (French) Republic acknowledges the suffering of travelling people who were interned and admits that it bears broad responsibility," Hollande said.

Roma, also known as gypsies, were brutally persecuted in the Holocaust, parallelling the systematic murder of Jews. Estimates of how many died vary widely, between 220,000 and half a million.

The Vichy regime is the term for the government set up in France - but under de-facto Nazi control - after France surrendered to Germany in 1940.

The Vichy regime fell in late 1944 when the allied forces reconquered France and General Charles de Gaulle set up a provisional government.

Between 6,000 and 6,500 Roma were interned in 31 camps, the biggest of which was Montreuil-Bellay, where more than 2,000 were confined between November 1941 and January 1945. About a hundred of them died.

The camp was also used to intern a number of people from the city of Nantes who were officially categorised as homeless.

Some Roma remained interned in French camps until 1946.

"Nearly all families of travelling people have at least one relative who passed through Montreuil-Bellay," Hollande said.

More than 500 people took part in today's ceremonies, held 66 years after the last interned Roma had been set free, including some survivors as well descendants of the victims.

"It was important to us to have this recognition. It affects thousands and thousands" of Roma families, said Fernande Delage, head of the France Liberte Voyage NGO.

"It's late, but better late than never," he added.

Lucien Violet, a 69-year-old whose parents were held in Montreuil-Bellay, also attended the ceremony.

"This is the first president to pay homage to travelling people. We feel genuinely moved by his presence," Violet said.

"Our families have suffered enormously and we will never forget, even though there is forgiveness," he added.

At the site, a commemorative art installation by ceramics artist Armelle Benoit was set up, comprising a portico of eight columns engraved with the family names of the 473 affected families.

Hollande today also threw his weight behind moves in parliament to scrap a 1969 law that defenders of minorities say is discriminatory.

The legislation traces its roots to a regulation in 1912, which aimed at pressing Roma to settle down. It required "nomads" to have a special ID card.

This was replaced in 1969 by the requirement for "travelling people" to have a specific set of papers and name a district as their home base.

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Actor Benedict Cumberbatch says home is like a "safe harbour" to him.

The "Doctor Strange" star said he is thrilled to be expecting a second child with his wife Sophie Hunter, reported Female First.

"It's a joyous thing. I'm very happy to have them in my life, very lucky as well. Home is always the roots and the safe harbour," he said.

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India (HMSI) on Saturday said its 'by India, for India' bike Navi has crossed 50,000 units sales mark in just six months of market availability.

The bike was launched at the Auto Expo 2016 in Greater Noida. The two-wheeler maker recently introduced the utility box for the convenience of storage to Navi riders.

"Navi crosses 50,000 units landmark in just six months of market availability," the HMSI said in a statement.

It also said that the company has witnessed a jump in sales over the years.

Celebrating the 28 million customer milestone, HMSI said it has further consolidated its equity as India's fastest growing auto manufacturer.

"India is the fastest growing economy in the world and one of the most important markets for Honda. With this vision of growth, today we have achieved a new milestone for our business in India. The journey to the 28 million milestone has been phenomenal," said Keita Muramatsu, President and CEO of the company.

Further, it said that HMSI is setting the pace of industry with its 24% growth even while the industry continues to grow at 13%. The company is also looking forward to increase its market share in domestic export sales by 2% from the existing 26%.

The automaker is currently operating in full capacity at all its four manufacturing plants.

Its total production capacity is 5.8 million units. HMSI has expanded its touch points network to above 4,800 and will be adding another 500 touch points by the end of this finacial year.

"Aggressively expanding network footprint, with special focus on semi-urban and rural areas, we aim to cross 5,300 outlets by the end of current fiscal." it said.

According to the senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at HMSI, Yadvinder Singh Guleria, Honda's Navi bike "has been successful in creating a new segment in the Indian two-wheeler industry".
National Security Advisors of India and China will meet next week to discuss measures to improve bilateral ties which are strained by differences over a host of issues including India's admission into NSG and Beijing's attempts to block UN ban on JeM Chief Masood Azhar.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi will meet in Hyderabad in November first week for informal dialogue on the state of bilateral relations, specially the irritants bedevilling the development of ties, officials said.

Besides blocking India's admission into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), China had put a second technical hold on India's move to bring about a UN ban on Azhar. Also India has been protesting over the USD 46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which is being laid through the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

While India is concerned over the Pakistan factor creeping into India-China relations making the bilateral ties more complex, China too is airing its apprehensions over the movement to boycott Chinese goods in India as well the visit of US Ambassador to New Delhi, Richard Verma, to Arunachal Pradesh, which it considers as Southern Tibet and India's permission to allow the Dalai Lama to visit the area.

Chinese officials say Beijing is apprehensive about India moving closer to US and Japan broadening its strategic and defence ties with both the countries.

Doval and Yang who are the designated Special Representatives of the India-China boundary talks, also periodically meet to discuss the whole gamut of the Sino-Indian relations.

Yang was the former foreign minister of China before he was elevated to the rank of State Councillor of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) after President Xi Jinping took over power in 2013.

In Chinese power structure, State Councillor is more powerful than the Foreign Minister on foreign policy issues.

Both Doval and Yang have been meeting regularly to discuss the problems affecting the bilateral relations.

Officials say that the Hyderabad meeting is not Special



Representatives dialogue on border but an informal consultations in which all issues including those relating to the borders may figure.

Their meeting is set to take place in the backdrop of the just concluded plenary meeting of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) which conferred the status of "core leader" on Xi, broadening his power base both in the party and military.

On India's admission into the NSG, both sides held in-depth talks over the issue. India has been pressing China to relent on its opposition saying that vast majority of the 48 member group back New Delhi's case.

China, which is opposing India's membership on the ground that India is not a signatory to Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), says the group need to work out a proposal on the accession on all the non-NPT countries meaning Pakistan's admission too.

After talks with India, Chinese officials also held talks with Pakistan on the same issue.

On the issue of ban on Azhar, China has not reacted to Pakistan's reported move to freeze his bank accounts and keeping him under house arrest. Beijing's technical hold in the UN on Azhar's ban issue is due to expire in December.

Doval and Yang were expected to touch on these issues as well as India's concerns over the ballooning trade deficit which according to Chinese officials touched over USD 51 billion last year in little over USD 70 billion trade between the two countries.

China has been promising to step up investments in India besides opening up markets for Indian IT and Pharmaceuticals.
Ministers responsible for disaster risk reduction in 61 countries will meet here early next month to share their best practices in handling various calamities and discuss how to deal with future emergencies together.

The Asian Ministerial Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) 2016, to be held from November 3-5 in New Delhi, will set the direction for implementation of Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) in the Asia-Pacific region.

"It is a matter of immense pleasure that representatives of 61 countries are participating the meeting in disaster risk reduction. India will share its best practices before the global audience," Home Minister Rajnath Singh told reporters here.

Sendai Framework is the first major agreement of the post-2015 development agenda and identifies targets and priority action areas towards reducing disaster risks.

The conference, to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is being organised by the government of India in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.

An exhibition will also be held showcasing good practices in disaster risk management through the initiatives displayed by various governmental and non-governmental organisations as well as other stakeholders.

Visual material, publications, posters, multimedia and latest technological innovations showcasing India's efforts at Disaster Risk Reduction, mitigation and preparedness will be displayed at the exhibition.

The exhibition will also be leveraged to showcase India's rich cultural heritage, handloom and handicraft products to the international delegates from 60 Asian countries that are participating in the Conference.

Pakistan will not send its representative to the conference, amidst the ongoing hostilities with India.

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Iraqi officials said today that the security forces foiled an attack by jihadists of the Islamic State group on the city of Ramadi, capital of the western province of Anbar.

The reported thwarted attack led to 11 arrests and comes after a string of diversionary attacks by the jihadists since the start two weeks ago of a massive offensive against IS bastion Mosul.

Iraqi forces "arrested 11 Daesh (IS) members who were planning to attack the city" from the suburb of Al-Tash, on the southern edge of Ramadi, said Captain Ahmed al-Dulaimi of the Anbar police.

Iraqi forces retook Ramadi from IS early this year. Mine clearing and reconstruction efforts are under way but few civilians have returned.

Anbar provincial council member Raja al-Issawi said that the 11, arrested yesterday, had confessed to planning an attack on the city.

The loss of Mosul could spell the end of IS's days as a land-holding force in Iraq but observers warn the group's remnants could increasingly activate sleeper cells to carry out spectacular attacks in cities.

On October 21, sleeper cells joined up with militants who infiltrated Kurdish-controlled Kirkuk, sparking deadly clashes with security forces that lasted three days.

Since the start of the offensive on Mosul, IS fighters have also launched attacks on Rutba, an outpost in western Anbar that government forces retook earlier this year, and in the northern Sinjar region.

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To celebrate the festival of lights, B-town stars plan to spend day with their closed one and some might even throw party for friends and family.

The Bachchans like every year will have their annual Diwali party at their Jalsa residence in Juhu, which will be attended by several Bollywood celebrities.

Superstar Shah Rukh Khan is in Budapest shooting for Imtiaz Ali's "The Ring" but be might fly back to Mumbai to celebrate the festival with his friends and family.

Another Khan of Bollywood Salman is currently shooting for "Tubelight" in Manali, he too is expected to fly to Mumbai to celebrate Diwali with family and friends.

"I didn't dress up last year. But this year, I am going to wear new clothes. Diwali is about spending time with family. My friends might come over. But I urge all Indians to have a noise free Diwali. It's a festival of lights. We don't have to burst crackers," Anushka told PTI.

For actress Vidya Balan, Diwali is all about brightness and hope.

"To me personally I feel that people cleaning their houses symbolises letting go of what was, of baggage and making place for the new or change which is symbolised by the act of buying new clothes," she said.

Walking down memory lane, Vidya reveals, as a child she used to wake up early in the morning, take bathe, wear new clothes, go to temple and burst crackers.

"Diwali time was all about meeting relatives, friends and neighbours I cherish those memories. Over the years, while everything else remains same, except waking up that early and bursting crackers. Also one doesn't get the opportunity to visit relatives on that day because you get stuck in traffic," she said on a lighter note.

Unwinding from her hectic promotional schedule for her upcoming Hollywood release, "xXx : Return of Xander Cage", actress Deepika Padukone will be visiting her hometown Banglaore to bring in the festival with her parents and sister.

"Diwali is the festival of lights, joy and happiness and has always been a very special festival for all of us. So I decided to spend quality time with my family before I immerse myself in 'Padmavati'," she added.

Superstar Aamir Khan, who is receiving positive response to his recently released trailer of the much awaited film "Dangal", plans to throw a Diwali bash for his family and close friends.

According to sources, Aamir will celebrate the festival of lights and the love coming in for the "Dangal" trailer both together.

The actor is to turn host for a private party at his Bandra residence, which will have his family and friends in attendance.

Actor Hrithik Roshan will be taking time off to celebrate the festival of lights with his kids Hrehaan and Hredaan.

The "Jodha Akbar" star believes in spending time be it indoors or outdoors with his kids. According to sources, Hrithik has planned a private Diwali with his kids.

For actor Sanjay Dutt, this Diwali is extremely special as it is his first post his release from Yerwada Jail.

The 57-year-old star and his family have extensive Diwali plans which begin today with Dhanteras.

"Sanjay and Manyata are also gearing up for Diwali day and have been making extensive arrangements for the Laxmi Pooja at home," sources said.

Amid the ongoing promotions for "Rock On!! 2", actor-filmmaker Farhan Akhtar will be celebrating the festival with the film's team, including Shraddha Kapoor and Purab Kohli.

Shraddha will also spend a part of her day at home in with family and conduct Diwali Pooja at home.

While the producer of "Rock On!! 2", Ritesh Sidhwani, has extensive plans to host Diwali for his friends and family.

Actor Tiger Shroff, who is currently shooting for "Munna Michael", will be with his family this festive season.

The actor will be part of all Diwali rituals including Laxmi Pooja with his parents Jackie and Ayesha Shroff and sister Krishna.

Kriti, who is busy working in Lucknow for her upcoming film "Bareilly ki Barfi", is planning to travel to Delhi to bring in Diwali with friends and family.

Her co-star Rajkumar Rao will be celebrating the festival on the sets of "Bareilly ki Barfi" with the cast and crew of the film.

While actress Radhika Apte is flying to London to be with her husband to celebrate the festival of lights privately.
Accusing the Centre of attempting to "impose" the contentious Uniform Civil Code, the Indian Union Muslim League today announced the party would spearhead acampaign against it.

Speaking at a meeting of the joint council of different Muslimorganisations convened here by the IUML, party National Secretary E T Mohammed Basheer said the IUML wouldtake the lead in mobilising public opinion against the Centre over its attempts to "impose" the UCC.

He also said that his party would work for bringing all secular groups under one platform.

"IUML will take the lead in mobilising public opinion against the Centre in its attempts to impose the UCC and also work for bringing all secular groups under one platform," Basheer said.

The IUML leaders who spoke at the meeting alleged thatthe Centre was trying to divert the attention from various issues affecting the people by highlighting "less important matters such as triple talaq".

The joint council suggested that there was no need for anyamendment in the Shariat Law and opined that the Centre's move to implement the UCC was a trap and all the Muslim organisationswere similar in their views against its implementation.

Talking to reporters later, Basheer and IUML Treasurer P K Kunhalikutty, MLA, said implementation of the code would undermine the secular fabric of the country.

The meeting took a decision to oppose the codeand it would be conveyed to the National Law Commission, which had sent a questionnaire they said.

It was convened to discuss issues related tothe BJP-led Central government's move to implement the UniformCivil Code and to take a decision on how to respond to thequestionnaire issued by the Law Commission.

IUML President E Ahmed, MP, National Secretary M P Abdul Samad Samadhani, State Secretary K P A Majeed, besides representatives of E K Sunni fraction, Jama'ate Islami, Mujahid Madavoor fraction, Kerala Naduvathul Mujahideen attended the meeting.

Recently, All India Muslim Personal Law Board and various other Muslim organisations had announced that they will boycott Law Commission's process to take views on the UCC.

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Preservation experts have opened for the first time in at least two centuries what Christians believe is Jesus's tomb inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

Some of the historic work was witnessed by AFP photographer Gali Tibbon who captured images of the site believed to contain the rock upon which was laid in around 33 AD as it was uncovered as part of ongoing restoration at the site.

A marble slab covering the site, among the holiest in Christianity, was pulled back for three days as part of both restoration work and archaeological analysis, experts on the scene told AFP.

It was the first time the marble had been removed since at least 1810, when the last restoration work took place following a fire, and possibly earlier, said Father Samuel Aghoyan, the church's Armenian superior.

A painting of can be seen in the narrow area above where the marble slab was removed.

Debris and material was found beneath the marble and was being further studied, Aghoyan said.

"It is moving in a sense, something we've been talking about so many centuries," Aghoyan told AFP.

National Geographic has been documenting the restoration work which is being carried out by a team of Greek specialists.

It reported that "the exposure of the burial bed is giving researchers an unprecedented opportunity to study the original surface of what is considered the most sacred site in Christianity".

"My knees are shaking a little bit," Fred Hiebert, an archaeologist-in-residence at the National Geographic Society, said in a video on the magazine's website during the work at the shrine.

A shrine was built in the 19th century over the site of the cave where is believed to have been buried before his resurrection, and it is visited by throngs of tourists and pilgrims each day.

Earlier this year, a major restoration project began on the site, surrounded by a structure called an edicule and located at the centre of the church in Jerusalem's Old City, underneath its dome.

The project required the agreement of the various Christian denominations that share the church, which also contains the area where Jesus is believed to have been crucified and his body anointed.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das today greeted the people on the occasion of Diwali, wishing for them happiness, prosperity, peace and wisdom.

He also appealed to the people to light a candle for the country's martyrs to express their feelings for them, an official statement said here.

Stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was observing the festival of lights in Uttarakhand among jawans, Das called upon the people to pay gratitude to jawans and homage to the martyrs.

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Terming the mutilation of a soldier's body by terrorists as "atrocious", Union Minister Jitendra Singh today said human rights of soldiers should take precedence over anybody else's rights.

"There can't be anything more atrocious than this," Singh told reporters here.

"I'm always of the view that the human rights of soldiers should enjoy precedence over human rights of anybody else", he said.

Yesterday, terrorists, aided by cover fire by Pakistani Army, crossed the Line of Control and killed an Indian army jawan and mutilated his body in Macchil sector of Kashmir's Kupwara district.

"Gradually the entire world is coming around to India's point of view. Pakistan stands exposed. Pakistan has failed to reconcile with the idea that Jammu and Kashmir is a part of India," the Union Minister said.

He said the nation was confident that the security forces and the government were capable of responding to any kind of threat at the borders, he added.

"The longer Pakistan continues to remain in denial mode the more it is going to harm itself," he added.

In a similar action in 2013, Pakistani soldiers had beheaded an Indian soldier and mutilated another's body in Jammu and Kashmir's Mendhar sector.

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Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra and Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti have extended their greetings on the occasion of Diwali, hoping the festival will be a harbinger of peace, progress and prosperity for people in the state.

The Chief Minister said while celebrating festivals, the poor and needy should be remembered.

In her greetings on the eve of Diwali, the Chief Minister hoped that the Festival of Lights would be harbinger of peace, progress and prosperity for the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

She said, "we have a rich tradition of celebrating festivals in amity and brotherhood in the state, in consonance with our unique multicultural ethos".

"On this auspicious occasion I wish and pray that all good values of love, compassion, tolerance, mutual respect and brotherhood become hallmark of our society to take forward the State on the path of progress, prosperity and lasting peace," she said.

Expressing grave concern over the plight of hapless border residents and the people in Kashmir Valley who are entangled in an agonising situation, the Chief Minister expressed the hope that all the right-thinking people would strive towards making peace a reality in and around Jammu and Kashmir.

"We have suffered too much and too long, let's strive towards healing the wound and bringing peace in the lives of our people and ensure prosperity of our future generations," she said.

In his message of felicitations, Vohra said that the festival symbolises the triumph of truth and righteousness over falsehood and of good over evil and highlights the ethos and high values of the country's civilisational history.

Vohra has extended greetings to the people on Diwali and hoped that the auspicious occasion would bring peace, progress and prosperity in the state.

The Governor said that the festival would further strengthen the bonds of communal harmony, brotherhood, amity, tranquility and secularism, which are the hallmarks of our glorious composite cultural traditions and prayed for the well-being of the people of the State.

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A Louisville police detective was among two pedestrians killed after being struck by an alleged drunken driver while the officer was in Lexington, Kentucky, for a Fraternal Order of Police conference, authorities have said.

Detective Jason Schweitzer's death yesterday was announced on the Louisville Metro Police Department's Facebook page. The other victim had not yet been identified by Lexington authorities pending notification of family. Lexington police said an arrest was made in the case.

The veteran lawman's death spurred an outpouring of condolences.

"Our community mourns the death of Det Schweitzer, who served and protected our city and its citizens as an officer in the 6th Division," Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said in a statement. "We send our deep condolences to his family and his fellow officers of LMPD."



Louisville Metro Councilman David James, a former FOP president, called Schweitzer's death "a kick in the chest."



Suzanne M Whitlow, 26, of Lexington was charged with two counts of second-degree manslaughter and one count of driving under the influence, Lexington police said. The victims were struck around 2:30 AM local time yesterday when Whitlow lost control of her vehicle, police said.

Both pedestrians were taken to a hospital, where they died of their injuries.

The crash, which occurred on South Upper Street near Bolivar Street in Lexington, remains under investigation.

Schweitzer had been an officer in Jefferson County since 2001 and served as vice president of the River City FOP Lodge 614 since 2010, according to the Louisville police department's Facebook page.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, both blood and blue," the department's Facebook page said.

Schweitzer was in Lexington for an FOP fall conference, James said.

He called Schweitzer a dedicated husband and father who loved his job.

"He took it personally if a house got broken into on his beat," James said in a phone interview. "He took it personally if someone got assaulted on his beat. Because he looked at himself as the guardian of those people.

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The hunger strike of the Kashmiri Pandit employees, who have refused to join their duties in the Valley after their transit camps were allegedly attacked by stone pelting mobs there, today entered the fourth consecutive day.

The Kashmiri Pandit employees under the banner of All Migrant Employees Association of Kashmir (AMEAK) have been protesting for the past 105 days outside the office of the Relief Commissioner, Jammu.

The All Parties Migrant Coordination Committee (APMCC) has also extended its complete support to the agitating employees and have warned the government of dire consequences if the protesters are forced to join their duties in the Valley.

"The protesting employees are being forced to re-join duties in Kashmir not caring about their safety and security. The community leaders warn the government of dire consequences if the Kashmiri Pandit employees are forced to join their duties in Kashmir under the present circumstances," Chairman APMCC, Vinod Pandit said.

He also asked the government to immediately release the salaries of the protesting employees so that they can also celebrate the Diwali festival with their families.

APMCC National Spokesman King Bharti warned that the party would resort to nationwide agitation if the government forces the Kashmiri Pandit employees to return to the Valley under present circumstances.

"The situation in Kashmir is not conducive for the return of the employees and if they are forced to return we will resort to a nationwide agitation," Bharti said.

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Alden Ehrenreich is still shocked he was cast as the new Han Solo in Disney's "Star Wars" spin-off, insisting the audition process was a surreal experience.

The "Hail Caesar!" star landed one of the most sought-after parts in the industry in July - apparently beating out stars like Taron Egerton and Jack Reynor.

The 26-year-old is in London preparing to shoot the new film and he said the road to his casting was a long one, reported Contactmusic.

"I had an audition process that went on for a long time and I got to spend a lot of time with the guys who are directing the film," he said.

"Getting to be around them and being around the (Star Wars) world a little bit has been the main experience so far. I did my audition on the Millennium Falcon for one of my screen tests, which was pretty cool.

"It was pretty fun because I enjoyed the material a lot. Last year I read for the directors, then came to England and did a test on the Falcon, then came back and did a couple more screen tests in Los Angeles.

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Londoners may soon receive anti-terror alerts on their mobile phones as recommendations of a new counter-terrorism review have emphasised on the need to strengthen the city's preparedness for a possible terrorist attack.

London mayor Sadiq Khan had directed Lord Harris of Haringey to conduct a review of the city's preparedness for a terrorist attack and his wide-ranging recommendations released yesterday include creating a ring of mobile security barriers to protect government building.

It also suggested that the Home Office should consider combining Scotland Yard, the City of London Police and the British Transport Police (BTP).

"The quality and effectiveness of the work done by the intelligence services and the counter-terrorist police is among the best in the world, and if London were subject to a terrorist attack today, our emergency services response would be substantially faster than five years ago," said Lord Harris, a security adviser who chaired the Metropolitan Police Authority.

"Nevertheless, a serious terrorist attack remains highly possible and we cannot be complacent. London needs to become a city where security and resilience is designed in and is part of the city's fabric, and where everyone who lives and works here sees security and resilience as their responsibility just as much as it is for the emergency services and civic authorities," he said.

The review also found that, once the Met had completed its recruitment of 600 extra firearms officers, there would be no need for a further increase.

"Lord Harris' many recommendations deserve careful consideration and exploration over the coming months so we can take steps to ensure we are as prepared as possible," Sadiq said.

The most significant terror threat was of a "marauding terrorist firearms attack" (MTFA) using guns, grenades, suicide bombs, sieges and hostage taking.

"Such tactics would stretch emergency service resources, and contribute to the confusion and panic created. If such an attack did occur, multiple casualties would be inevitable," the report said.

"The diversity of these attacks, and the introduction of new methods by terrorists, means that we need to be prepared not only for those types of attacks we have seen before, but also for attacks the nature of which we cannot yet know," it adds.

London has been listed as one of many global targets by Islamic State (ISIS) in online propaganda videos and the report said the volume of icons, tourist attractions and government buildings, as well as a busy transport system and large public events, made individual targets difficult to predict.

The UK's threat level remains at severe, meaning a terror attack is considered highly likely.

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Each Badger Honor Flight operation takes hundreds of volunteers, hours of planning and thousands of dollars in donations.

Brian Ziegler, of Waunakee, chairman of the Badger Honor Flight board of directors, said about 20 volunteers comprise the groups main Flight Team.

Each of the flight's key functional areas has a team leader, for example medical, welcome home, etc., Ziegler said. We meet monthly to discuss specific issues and timelines. After each flight season, we do an after-action review to help us get ready for the next one. If something isn't working, we discuss it and develop solutions, and then decide the right corrective action."

Each area requires different numbers of volunteers Ziegler said. The largest requirement is the welcome home celebration," he said. "That requires hundreds of volunteers.

The Oct. 22 flight was sponsored by the Ho-Chunk Nation and Ho-Chunk Gaming, but there are many other sponsors or funding sources. For example, the Heroes for Honors Operation Eagles Wings based in Sauk Prairie sponsored a flight on Sept. 24. While the trips are free for veterans, each guardian pays $500. Guardians also have to attend a training session before being allowed on a flight.

Ziegler said the flights have become more efficient over time. There have been 25 flights from Madison over seven years.

We are able to see and do the things we now do because of our prior experiences and feedback from flight participants, Ziegler said. We learned early on that this population requires certain medical attention and that impacts how our day goes.

Each flight has doctors, nurses and other medical professionals along in case health problems arise. Wheelchairs are available, and the buses used in Washington, D.C., are equipped with lifts.

Ziegler served in the Army National Guard and was deployed twice as a helicopter crew chief. He said the organization is working hard to get every possible World War II and Korean War veteran signed up for a trip. Veteran do not need to have seen action to be eligible for a flight. They just have to have served while the wars were being fought.

In addition, we would like for every Vietnam War-era veteran to be aware we are now flying them and for them to get signed up, Ziegler added.

The Badger Honor Flight organization is a regional hub of the national Honor Flight Network. There are 130 hubs, including six in Wisconsin, in 42 states, according to the national organization.

Applications for veterans and guardians and other information are available at http://www.badgerhonorflight.org
Farhat, the PA of Samajwadi Party's Rajya Sabha MP Munvvar Saleem, was today sent to police custody for ten days by a Delhi court in the Pak espionage case.

The investigating officer said the accused, who was allegedly working for an ISI spy ring, was produced before Duty Magistrate Arun Kumar Garg and remanded for custodial interrogation till November 8.

He said Farhat has to be confronted with other arrested men to unearth the larger conspiracy and nab others.

Delhi Police claimed that Farhat was involved in the espionage ring in which Pakistan High Commission staffer Mehmood Akhtar, described as the kingpin working for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, was detained by police for alleged possession of sensitive defence documents.

It said that Farhat was detained last night and was arrested this afternoon after prolonged questioning.

The officer said that preliminary questioning has led to certain revelations that need to be further investigated as other names have cropped up.

The agency has already arrested three persons -- Shoaib Hasan, Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangir -- earlier in the case who are in police custody till November 8.

During the proceedings today, police alleged that more persons are likely to be apprehended and more documents and other evidence to be recovered with the help of the accused.

The agency also said that all the accused persons arrested so far would be confronted with each other and taken to various places in the course of the investigation.

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The barbaric incident at the LoC in Kashmir in which the body of an Indian army jawan was mutilated after being killed by terrorists, aided by the cover fire by Pakistani Army, sparked an outrage today even as a pall of gloom descended on his native village in Haryana.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh condemned the mutilation of the soldier's body as "atrocious" while senior Congress leader Manish Tewari called it "depraved behaviour".

The jawan's family members demanded that Pakistan be taught a lesson for harbouring terrorists while former Army officers expressed their sadness. His brother Sandeep Singh demanded that the family wanted 10 Pakistani heads for the price of one.

Terrorists, aided by the cover fire by Pakistani Army, last night crossed the Line of Control(LoC) and killed sepoy Mandeep Singh and mutilated his body in Macchil sector of Kupwara district.

The family members of the 30-year-old martyr were inconsolable.

Several women from Aantehri village in Kurukshetra reached the martyr's house and tried to console Mandeep's widow. The couple had got married two years ago, family members said. Mandeep's widow Prerna is a Head Constable with Haryana police and posted at Shahbad Markanda in Kurukshetra.

Mandeep's father said the Indian army should give a befitting reply to Pakistan.

"It was his duty, he has done it. He sacrificed his life. We should give a befitting reply to Pakistan," he said, adding that he got the of his son's death when army personnel visited him at his home at 1 AM.

Prerna said Pakistan must be taught a lesson for harbouring terrorists.

"Pakistan should be taught a lesson once for all so that no other family of a soldier has to go through such pain," she said breaking down several times.

She said that Mandeep had come for vacation six months back. "He was supposed to visit home again on Diwali but his leave was cancelled in view of the tension on the border at Machil sector."



Kurukshetra's Deputy Commissioner Sumedha Kataria also visited the jawan's home and offered her condolences.

The martyr's neighbours described him as a "go getter" who always had a smile on his face.

Subhash, husband of the Sarpanch of the village, said Mandeep was a helpful person who always offered help to anyone who approached him in need.

"There can't be anything more atrocious than this (on terrorists mutilated the body of a soldier)," Jitendra Singh told reporters in Jammu.

"I am always of the view that the human rights of soldiers should enjoy precedence over human rights of anybody else", he said.

"These are acts of cowardice and these are happening at the time of desperation of the part of the Pakistan army as well as Islamabad. Indian forces are capable of standing upto this challenge."



Tewari while condemning the multilation as "absolutely depraved behaviour" said it "violates you as a human being".

"There are certain rules of engagement and conduct even in a conflict situation. Pakistan is expected to respect the rules of engagement," he said.

"I am very sad being a soldier. It is a very sad mentality to take your anger on an injured or dead person," said Maj Gen (retd) B C Khanduri.

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Stating that the situation in Jammu and Kashmir is "explosive" in the wake of continuous cross-border shelling, Conference (NC) on Saturday appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to celebrate with the "abandoned" dwellers along the International Border and the Line of Control (LoC) in the state to "set an example".

NC's provincial chief Devender Singh Rana said the situation was "explosive" in the wake of continuous shelling and urged politicians to "rise above political affiliations and seek solution to problems".

" falls on Amawasya (new moon day) and let the prime minister light a lamp to end the darkness of borders, the silence of which is intermittently interrupted by mortal shells and heavy artillery, sending chill among the residents, who are running helter-skelter with women, old, ailing and children for safety," Rana said during party delegation's visit to the affected border villages here.

Rana hoped that the prime minister will see for himself how the state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and political executives of the government have virtually abandoned the residents, who are struggling to survive the onslaught.

"We are sure the prime minister will feel the trauma and agony of the suffering people whose woes have been aggravated by the bunch of BJP exploiters here," he said, adding that the prime minister can set an example by being with the residents in distress and feel their pain.

He assailed the BJP's total indifference towards residents of the forward areas at this crucial hour of border crisis and asked where the political executives of Jammu and Kashmir have vanished.

"At a time they should have been with the suffering people, the BJP ministers and leaders, who were making beeline during elections, were not visible anywhere," Rana said.

"The callousness of administration towards residents is a classic example of the duplicity and deception of the BJP, which has mastered in exploitation," he said.

The provincial president said the border skirmishes were no solution to problems and hoped that positive steps would be taken to de-esclate the tension and hostility that is proving hazardous for the villagers along the International Border and the LoC.

"We sincerely hope that the atmosphere of jingoism will be a temporary phase and the two countries would engage themselves in meaningful dialogue," he said and added that the victims of hostilities have always been the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Rana and other senior party leaders called for adequate arrangements, health care and other facilities at the make shift camps for border residents, who were forced to leave their homes and hearths due to intermittent shelling.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today announced Rs 11 ex-gratia to the next of kin of BSF head constable Jitendra Singh who was killed in Pak shelling at R S Pura sector in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday.

Expressing deep condolence at the martyrdom of the brave soldier from the state, Kumar said state honour was accorded to the martyred BSF man during his last rites today, he said.

The jawan, a native of Raxual in East Champaran district, was killed in shelling from Pakistan in violation of ceasefire.

The chief minister said in his condolence message that the country would always remember Singh's martyrdom and that the entire state was with his family in this hour of grief.

The last rites of the BSF personnel was held at his native Siswa village in Raxual along Indo-Nepal border.

After arrival of his casket, the residents of Raxauls marched on the streets recalling the bravery of the BSF jawan and shouting slogans against Pakistan.

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There has been no bird deaths in National Zoological Park and Deer Park in Delhi and Gwalior Zoo in the last 24 hours, the committee constituted by the Union Environment Ministry to monitor the bird flu outbreak said today.

"The Monitoring Committee for overseeing outbreak of H5N8 avian influenza reviewed the control and containment of the avian influenza situation today. Mortality Status within 24 hours - National Zoological Park in New Delhi - nil, Deer Park - Nil and Gwalior zoo - nil," an official statement said.

The committee said the control and containment measures of avian influenza in the affected zoos are being continued, which include, surveillance and screening for any dead bird regularly.

"Bio-security measures being strictly enforced. Delhi Zoo remained closed for the safety of visitors and control of the disease. Activities of other birds in the zoos appear to be normal. In Gwalior zoo, samples were collected for Plum Headed Parakeet, Red Munia, Shikara and Duck," it said.

"Anti-viral solution is being sprayed on the affected animal and bird enclosures and areas surrounding water bodies to prevent further infection," the statement said.

It also said a doctor has examined zoo employees exposed to affected birds and medication was provided.

Around 70 birds have fallen prey to bird flu in the national capital. There have been reports of bird deaths in other cities like Gwalior.

Union Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave had constituted a monitoring committee for overseeing the outbreak of H5 Avian Influenza.

The panel comprises member secretary of Central Zoo Authority, director National Zoological Park and deputy Inspector General of Forest (Wildlife).

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Making a rarest of the rare appearance in a video commercial, US President Barack Obama has endorsed "good friend" Indian-American Raja Krishnamoorthi for the US Congress from a Congressional district in Chicago suburb.

"Hi, this is Barack Obama asking you to vote for my good friend Raja Krishnamoorthi for Congress," Obama said in the short video that has started running on local television station of 8th Congressional District of Illinois.

In the video, President describes Krishnamoorthi as a "good friend" who helped him "develop ideas for building an economy that works for everyone" when he ran for the US Senate.

Having won the Democratic Party's Congressional primary in Illinois, Krishnamoorthi, 42, now faces Peter DiCianni of the Republican party.

"When I ran for the US Senate, Raja helped me develop ideas for building an economy that works for everyone. Now Raja's plans will help small businesses grow, raise wages, and help families pay for college. The polls are open now, so don't waste a minute. Vote Raja Krishnamoorthi for Congress," Obama said.

The 30-second video shows one of the pictures of Obama at Krishnamoorthi's home having Indian food at a dinner.

Busy campaigning in his district Krishnamoorthi told PTI in an interview that economy is the main issue in his district along with education, social security and healthcare.

This is Krishnamoorthi's second attempt to enter the US House of Representative. He was defeatedin the Democratic primary in 2012.

Obama has also recorded a phone call to reach out all the households in his Congressional district, he said.

Based on the feedback that he has been receiving from the ground, Krishnamoorthi said people are "horrified" with the prospect that Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, could be the president of the US.

Krishnamoorthi said Trump is a dangerous and divisive candidate who has no place in the White House.

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OPEC officials held talks with Russia and other non-cartel members today in Vienna to debate how to implement a plan aimed at cutting oil output to reduce a global supply glut and bolster prices.

"The recovery process has taken far too long and we cannot risk delaying the adjustment any further," said Sanusi Barkindo, the secretary general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, in his opening remarks.

"Therefore, we should be calling for maximum commitment from all OPEC and non-OPEC countries in this regard and we should expect no less as this is our commitment, not only to our member countries but to the global community."



Moscow's delegation declined to comment before the meeting. But OPEC and Russia - the world's top oil producer along with Saudi Arabia - have held several meetings recently to tighten cooperation to ease price volatility.

"There is an acute and urgent need to speed up the rebalancing," Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said during a recent Vienna visit.

Other non-OPEC members attending the technical committee meeting were delegations from Brazil, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Oman and Azerbaijan.

"We will discuss the recognised positions of countries, first of all the OPEC countries," Azerbaijan's Energy Minister Natig Aliyev told reporters in Vienna.

He added that some measures needed "to be taken to stabilise the market".

Yesterday, OPEC-only members, led by oil kingpin Saudi Arabia, had already met to try and hammer out details of the plan ahead of a summit late next month.

Participants' opinions from the weekend gathering "will be included in a report to be considered by ministers" at the November 30 meeting, OPEC said.

In a surprise move, the cartel in September agreed a deal to trim production by up to 750,000 barrels per day to between 32.5 and 33 millions per day.

The announcement of the first such move since 2008 sent prices surging.

Production has outpaced demand over the past two years, with the resulting supply glut hammering prices from highs of more than USD 100 a barrel in June 2014 to near 13-year lows below USD 30 in February this year.

Prices are currently hovering around USD 50 a barrel, still too low for oil revenue-dependent nations.

But obstacles remain to the new accord as some OPEC members refuse to decrease their output.

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The government on Saturday sacked Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid over the recent "leaked" media report about a rift between the civilian and military leaderships on support to militancy.

The Prime Minister's spokesman Musadiq Malik confirmed that "initial evidence" was against Rashid in the leak of sensitive information of a high profile national security meeting.

"Investigation into controversial story is in the final stage and it will be shared with media in a couple of days. Who was responsible for the leakage of sensitive information to the Dawn reporter will be known soon," Malik said adding "investigation is still underway".

Rashid is a close aide of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and reports suggest that the anti-army information could not have been leaked to the media without his consent.

PTI leader Imran Khan welcomed the ouster of Rashid saying a "darbari" (courtier) of Sharif had gone and others would go soon as well.

In another development, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif left for Dubai along with his family at a time when Khan's Tehreek-i-Insaf has said it will lock down Islamabad on November 2 to protest against Sharif over corruption allegations.

A rift between the civilian and military leaderships on the powerful ISI's covert support to terror groups in the country was the subject of a news report in The Dawn newspaper.

The widely read daily stood by the story issued on October 6, saying it was "verified, cross-checked and fact-checked".

A travel ban on Cyril Almeida, the journalist who wrote the story, had sparked massive criticism of the government and the military from media houses, journalist associations and civil society.

Almeida's name was put on the Exit Control List but the ban was later lifted after the backlash against the government.

Later the government constituted a committee to investigate the matter.
Pakistani government had informed the Union Home Ministry about the death of a fisherman from Gujarat at Karachi jail hospital, state Fisheries Minister Babubhai Bokharia today said.

Mohan Jethiya Rathod from Malkhet in Umargam Tehsil of Valsad district had died on October 2 due to illness, as per the communication received by the Home Ministry.

"We hope Pakistani government will fly his body to India at the earliest," Bokharia said.

The authorities in the neighbouring country were yet to communicate to the India when would they dispatch the body, the minister told PTI.

Gujarat government had completed the necessary paperwork to bring back Rathod's body, he said.

Rajya Sabha member Parimal Nathwani recently had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the issue.

Veljibhai Masani, senior vice president of Gujarat Fishermen Association, had also taken up the issue with the Centre.

Rathod was one of the seven crew members onboard 'Sara', the boat which was seized by Pakistan Maritime Security Agency in the Arabian Sea on the charge of entering that country's waters on December 20 last year.

Remaining crew members are still in jail in Pakistan.

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State-owned Punjab National Bank on Saturday said it plans to raise Rs 6,000 crore in tranches from bonds to fund business expansion.

The board will be considering issuance of Basel III compliant debt instruments - Perpetual Additional Tier I capital bonds worth Rs 3,000 crore and Tier-II bonds of up to Rs 3,000 crore, said in a regulatory filing to stock exchanges.

The fund raising is subject to availability of headroom in one or more tranches, it said.

The board meeting will be held on November 4, it added.

Under the Basel-III norms, AT-1 bonds come with loss absorbency features, meaning that in case of stress, can write off such investments or convert them into common equity if approved by the RBI.

AT-1 bonds qualify as core or equity capital.
The following editorial appeared in Thursdays St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

The Pentagon has inflicted unnecessary financial upheaval upon thousands of California National Guard veterans who sacrificed years of their lives to serve their country in wartime. Congress needs to take quick action to permanently halt an aggressive debt collection program aimed at recouping bonus payments for troops who re-enlisted during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Amid growing outcry from Capitol Hill, Defense Secretary Ash Carter acknowledged Wednesday that the debt collection program was unacceptable and ordered it suspended.

A 2010 Sacramento Bee report first exposed irregularities in the re-enlistment incentive program. A Pentagon audit confirmed massive overpayments, which federal law requires the recipients to repay. The incentive program came at a time when the military was under recruitment duress while fighting two costly and debilitating wars.

To avoid losing valuable expertise and encourage soldiers to re-enlist, recruiters began offering substantial financial incentives, but some recruiters overstepped their legal limits. One recruitment chief, former Master Sgt. Toni Jaffe, was sentenced to 30 months in prison for making $15 million in false claims related to the re-enlistment program.

The Los Angeles Times reported last week that around 10,000 former National Guard troops are being required to repay bonuses and government tuition payments. Some were forced to take out second mortgages on their houses to meet rigorous federal schedules. Some had their paychecks garnished. Others face repayment schedules that effectively cut their household incomes by a quarter or more.

Perhaps more to the point, the financial-aid recipients did nothing wrong, even though Carter said some of them should have known they didnt qualify for the amounts of money they were given.

The soldiers agreed to an up-front deal: Stay in service and receive extra compensation. They lived up to their end of the bargain, which included serving out re-enlistment periods of three to six years each. It wasnt their fault that the government didnt check the legality of the promises military recruiters were making.

California wasnt the only state where such incentives were being offered, so its important that troops in other states arent put through the same ordeal if audits reveal additional financial abnormalities.

Carters decision to suspend the debt-collection program doesnt necessarily let the affected soldiers off the hook for good. Canceling the debt would take legislation from Congress; House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., already is suggesting ways to address it.

The bottom line here is the governments trustworthiness. You dont make an agreement that requires people to put their lives on the line in service to their country and then, after theyve held up their end of the bargain, tell them that the deal is off. It doesnt get any more unfair than this. The real harm comes to the nations reputation if we renege on our promises.
A senior police department official was today gunned down by unknown assailants in an apparent target killing in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police said.

Ibad Khan, a clerk in the department, was shot dead when he was on his way back home after duty hours in the Khazana area of Peshawar district.

The attackers fled from the scene after the incident.

Target killing of policemen is on rise in the province.

On October 24, an officer was killed by two gunmen on a motorcycle in the province.

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A conman, posing as a doctor, drove away with a luxury car after taking it for a test drive from a second hand car dealer here, police said today.

The 35-year-old man, who introduced himself as Gowtham Reddy, working at Apollo Hospitals arrived at Nani Cars in Srinagar Colony yesterday and expressed interest to buy an Audi car, Banjara Hills Police Inspector K Srinivas said.

"He then took an Audi Q3 worth about Rs 25 lakh from the dealer's office for test drive. The showroom owner gave the car and sent along with him one of the showroom staffers," the officer said.

"They drove up to Apollo Hospitals where the accused asked the showroom staffer to get down so that he can take the car into the hospital and show it to his friends. Afterwards, he drove into the hospital and never returned," the police official said.

A case has been registered in this regard and further investigations into the matter are going on, police added.

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The process to identify a service provider to work with the National Informatics Centre (NIC) to develop "facial recognition software" to track missing children is under way, government has told Delhi High Court.

The information was given to a bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Sunita Gupta which had asked the authorities to develop a system by which information and details of missing children can be matched with those found and recovered.

It had asked the Centre to consider developing a "facial recognition" system to curb the menace of minor children going missing in the national capital.

The bench had said the details of missing children who are found and housed in different institutions can be matched from such a system.

The court had given the suggestions after the Delhi Police had informed it they were uploading photographs of children who have gone missing, but it was difficult to match them with housed in various institutions.

The court was hearing a couple of petitions dealing with two missing minor children, one of whom is yet to be traced.

The Centre also told the court that its model Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), meant to trace missing children, has been revised in view of the latest changes in the Juvenile Justice (JJ) (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015.

The SoP is meant to trace missing children and train and sensitise police officers to handle such cases as well as prevent trafficking, child labour, abduction and exploitation.

The bench in July this year had asked the Centre to revise its SOP, in view of the change in the JJ Act. It took note of the new sections in the Act which was notified in January, making it mandatory for reporting to authorities if a child is found separated from his or her guardian.

As per section 32 of the Act, any individual or police officer or nursing home or hospital or maternity home that finds a child, who appears or claims to be abandoned or lost, has to report to the Childline Services or the nearest police station or a Child Welfare Committee within 24 hours. Failure to do so may land the person or the officer concerned with up to six months of jail.

The bench had earlier expressed displeasure on increasing number of missing children her, saying it was akin to terrorism.

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Actor Ranbir Kapoor has clarified a comment he made on "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" co-star Aishwarya Rai Bachchan during an interview and said he respects her.

While talking about the intimate scenes between him and Aishwarya in the film, Ranbir apparently said in a radio interview that he felt shy, so much so that his hands used to shiver and he was hesitant to even touch her cheeks.

He then added that Aishwarya asked him to do it properly, reminding him that they were acting at the end of the day. "Tabhi maine socha, kabhi aisa mauka milega nahi, so maine bhi mauke pe chauka maar diya!" Ranbir said.

Now, in a statement, the actor has said that his comments "in a radio interview were taken in a bad taste," though he has not mentioned the particular statement.

The statement says he is hurt about how a candid conversation has been blown out of context and sensationalised into headlines and stories.

"Aishwarya is such a superb actor and a also a family friend. She's one of India's most talented and respected women. I will be forever grateful to her for her contribution to Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. I could not have disrespected her like that!" the 34-year-old actor said.

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Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today said the contribution of Rs 5 crore to the Army Welfare Fund by filmmakers was "never decided" at the meeting he had mediated between MNS chief Raj Thackeray and director Karan Johar to ensure smooth release of "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil".

Karan Johar's film "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" had faced protests by MNS for casting Pakistani actor Fawad Khan.

The film's smooth release, scheduled to open on October 28, was ensured after a meeting among the Film Producers' Guild, the producers, and Raj Thackeray, mediated by Fadnavis last week.

It was agreed upon at the meeting the film makers would contribute Rs 5 crore to the army welfare fund, which sparked strong reactions from Opposition and some army veterans.

Replying to a question whether he will monitor the filmmakers' contribution demanded by the MNS, now that the film has released, Fadnavis said, "Such a decision (filmmakers' contribution of Rs 5 crore) was never taken at the meeting. Even producers' guild chief Mukesh Bhat has said that I had told the producers that there was no compulsion to accept the MNS demand."



Under fire for "brokering" a deal between producers of "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" and Raj Thackeray, Fadnavis had earlier said he had opposed the offer of Rs 5 crore contribution from the film makers to the Army Welfare Fund.

"When the issue of Rs 5 crore came up, I intervened and made it clear to the Film Producers' Guild that they need not have to agree to it. I also told them that the contribution has to be made voluntarily. However, it was the producers' decision to accept it," Fadnavis had said explaining his stand.

"Ae Dil Hai Mushkil", a romantic drama, which stars Ranbir Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Anushka Sharma, got a smooth opening yesterday at theatres across the state.

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Pakistan High Commission staffer Mehmood Akhtar, expelled by India for spying, had named Samajwadi Party's Rajya Sabha MP Munavvar Saleem's personal assistant Farhat as one of his "close associates" in the crime following which he was arrested.

Farhat was picked up from Saleem's residence last night and detained. He was arrested this afternoon after prolonged questioning. This is the fourth arrest in the case.

"During Mehmood's questioning, Farhat Khan's name surfaced as one of his close associates in the espionage racket he was running along with names of some other Pakistan High Commission staffers," said a senior police officer.

TV channels also aired a confessional video of Mehmood Akhtar in which he purportedly named Farhat besides others including Syed Farruq, Khadim Hussain, Shahid Iqbal and Iqbal Cheema, claiming that they were also "staffers". In the video, he also said he used to meet Farhat at Mandi House Metro Station.

A crime branch officer said Farhat's preliminary questioning has led to "certain revelations" that need to be further investigated. Names of several other people allegedly involved in the racket have cropped up.

Delhi Police is also trying to apprehend other members of the espionage ring who, it believes, were in close contact with Pakistan Mehmood Akhtar. The Pakistan High Commission staffer was caught receiving secret documents here on October 26.

Two others, Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangir, residents of Nagaur, Rajasthan, were held along with Akhtar. Another accused Shoaib was detained in Jodhpur and brought to Delhi by the police where he was arrested.

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Sanitation will be an election issue in upcoming polls as people living in cities and towns will vote for those who vouch for hygiene and such a political implication will help in effective implementation of Centre's ambitious 'Swachh Bharat Mission', Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu has said.

The Urban Development Minister also exuded confidence that the NDA government will achieve all the stated objectives of the flagship programme, including making India open defecation free (ODF) by 2019.

"Sanitation is becoming an issue with the people. As we go along, it will become a political and even election issue. Citizens in urban areas will vote for those who ensure hygiene.

"I am sure political parties who know how to garner votes will factor this in their calculations. These political implications will drive the success of this important mission," Naidu told PTI in an interview.

Interestingly, the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP), an NDA constituent, earlier this week had announced formation of 'Swachh Abhiyan Samiti' within the party to push the agenda of the programme, which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi two years ago.

Modi had given a clarion call to make the Clean India campaign a mass movement.

Naidu stressed that behavior change towards using toilets and dumping waste in garbage bins is "key" to the mission's success.

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South Korean President Park Geun-hye has ordered 10 of her senior secretaries to resign amid an investigation that she let an old friend and daughter of a religious cult leader to interfere in important state affairs.

The announcement by Park's office came on the eve of large anti-government protests planned in Seoul today over the scandal that is likely to deepen the president's lame duck status ahead of next year's elections.

Park has been facing calls to reshuffle her office after she admitted on Tuesday that she provided longtime friend Choi Soon-sil drafts of her speeches for editing. Her televised apology sparked huge criticism about her mismanagement of national information and heavy-handed leadership style many see as lacking in transparency.

There's also media speculation that Choi, who holds no government job, meddled in government decisions on personnel and policy and exploited her ties with the president to misappropriate funds from nonprofit organisations.

The saga, triggered by weeks of media reports, has sent Park's approval ratings to record lows and the minority opposition Justice Party has called for her to resign.

In the last few days, prosecutors widened their investigation by raiding the homes and offices belonging to Choi and some of her associates and also the offices of two nonprofit foundations she supposedly controlled.

Park's aides on the way out include Woo Byung-woo, senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, and Ahn Jong-bom, senior secretary for economic affairs. Lee Won-jong, Park's chief of staff, tendered his resignation on Wednesday.

Woo has been blamed for failing to prevent Choi from influencing state affairs and has also been embroiled in separate corruption allegations surrounding his family.

Ahn is under suspicion that he helped Choi pressure South Korean companies into making large donations to the Mir and K-Sports foundations, launched in October last year and January this year, respectively.

Choi reportedly masterminded the creation of the two nonprofits, which managed to gather around USD 70 million in corporate donations over a short period of time, and is suspected of misappropriating some of these funds for personal use.

Park's office said she plans to announce a new lineup of senior secretaries soon.

Choi's lawyer Lee Gyeong-jae told reporters yesterday that she is currently in Germany and is willing to return to South Korea if prosecutors summon her.

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Budget carrier SpiceJet has announced the launch of its new daily direct flights on the Mangaluru-Dubai route from tomorrow with an all-inclusive introductory fare of Rs 6,013.

The airline will operate a daily direct flight SG59 on Mangaluru-Dubai route departing at 12.20am.

The second flight SG60 will depart Mangaluru for Dubai at 12.55pm on five days, a release from the airline said here today. On Monday and Saturday, the flight will operate at 3.40 am, and the airline will deploy its Boeing 737 fleet for the newly devised schedule.

Dubai is one of SpiceJet's six international destinations.

With this launch, SpiceJet now serves non-stop flights to Dubai from 10 Indian cities including Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Jaipur, Kochi, Pune and Mangaluru.

Being the port hub of Karnataka, Mangaluru offered immense potential for business travel and the new flights to Dubai would further boost economic activities besides offering a convenient travel option for both business and leisure travelers, Shilpa Bhatia, senior vice president (Commercial), SpiceJet, said in the release.

Besides being the main 'port city' of Karnataka, Mangaluru had been acknowledged as the state's most favourable destination for business and is currently being developed as 'smart city' by the Centre, Bhatia added.

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The Swaraj India today urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi for "immediate" steps to ensure that justice was meted out to Banaras Hindu University's (BHU) daily wage employees, who have been on a fast-unto-death protest demanding regularisation of their services.

Swaraj India president Yogendra Yadav, in his letter to the Prime Minister, also accused the BHU administration of "being apathetic" in the matter, notwithstanding the "deteriorating" health condition of the protesters as he urged him to intervene.

BHU falls within Modi's Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi.

"I am requesting you to take serious note of the issue and take necessary steps immediately to ensure that injustice is not meted out to the employees who have served the varsity for three decades and see that faith is restored in the university administration," Yadav wrote in his letter.

He also sought to draw the Prime Minister's attention towards the "euthanasia demand" made by the protesters to President Pranab Mukherjee after the university authorities allegedly did not pay heed to their protest.

"These employees have been on a fast-unto-death strike for the last 30 days and before that, they had staged a hunger strike for 90 days. The health of the employees has deteriorated and some of them were even hospitalised.

"But, the (BHU) administration kept being a mute spectator," Yadav alleged, adding that this "example of exploitation" has become a "matter of concern".

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The mortal remains of rifleman Sandeep Singh Rawat, who died while foiling an infiltration bid along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir's Tangdhar sector, were consigned to flames today with full state honours in Haridwar.

A host of dignitaries led by Chief Minister Harish Rawat paid tribute to the martyr as his body was flown in here this morning.

"I salute the martyrdom of a brave father's brave son. Not a day passes these days when a mother does not lose her son for the sake of the nation. All these sacrifices are meant for the nation," Rawat said after laying a wreath on Sandeep's body.

Sandeep's father Harendra Singh Rawat is also an ex servicemen. Sandeep had joined the sixth Garhwal Rifles of the Army only in January last year.

The Chief Minister said the entire country and the state stood by the family of the martyr in this hour of grief.

"I feel it is time to wage a decisive war against terrorism and Pakistan," Rawat said.

Former chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, state BJP president Ajay Bhatt and the party's Mahanagar president Umesh Aggarwal also paid tribute to the martyr.

A huge crowd came out in the streets as the coffin wrapped in the national flag carrying Sandeep's body was being taken to his Navada residence in the city.

The mortal remains of the martyr were then taken to Haridwar for the last rites and consigned to flames after a guard of honour by the police at Kharkhari cremation ground.

Sandeep had sustained bullet injuries on Thursday while foiling an infiltration bid by terrorists near the LoC in Tangdhar.

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Excise Department officials today arrested three smugglers and recovered one quintal ganja worth Rs 20-25 lakh from their possession in Nawada district of Bihar.

Excise Superintendent Prem Prakash said the smugglers were on their way to Muzaffarpur from Ranchi in a car when they were arrested after a search yielded one quital ganja from their vehicle at a checkpost near Rajauli police station limits.

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Amid the debate over triple talaq, the Jama Masjid committee here has undertaken a signature campaign to oppose the Centre's stand on the issue.

Reportedly, the Jama Masjid committee gave 'Namazis' forms to sign after the prayers yesterday.

"Islam is not the creation of human beings but based on teachings of the Quran and Hadith. The government's intention to ban the triple talaq practice was an emphatic insult to Islam," Nayab Imam at Jama Masjid Molana Faizan Khan said.

Meanwhile, Zila Mufti and Kazi-E-Shariya, Syed Shahid Ali Rizwi, said, "If he (the Prime Minister) is really worried about the welfare of Muslim women then he should manage reservation for them in government jobs."



"He should disclose why on almost all top posts (in the government) only women from high-castes have been placed and those from lower castes have not been treated at par," Rizwi said.

"In his two-and-a-half-year of governance, has Modi been able to provide justice and honour to Muslim women?" the Mufti asked, adding the rights accorded to women by Islam were "much more comprehensive" than by any other religion.

In a press meet in Kuderki, around 40 km from here, the national president of Jameet Ulema-E-Hind warned, "The question of triple talaq can be discussed or decided by only the 'Ulemas' and not by any other person or agency."



"In case a government or judiciary interferes in religious matters, it would be deemed an attack on human rights," he said.

The government instead of dealing with talaq issue should take care of poverty-ridden Muslims besides providing them better educational facilities, he demanded.

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An influential Turkish opposition lawmaker was shot and injured today by unidentified assailants who attacked him in a restaurant, according to the Anadolou agency.

Bulent Tezcan, deputy leader of the CHP party, was in a stable condition in hospital following the attack in which he was shot in the leg with a handgun, the agency reported.

The incident happened in a restaurant in Aydin, southwest Turkey. Tezcan was taken to hospital shortly afterwards.

The attackers fled the scene following the incident.

The motive of the attack was not immediately known, but tensions in Turkey are soaring following a failed coup attempt in July as well as a series of attacks blamed on both outlawed Kurdish organisations as well as the Islamic State group.

In August the motorcade of CHP chief Kemal Kilicdaroglu came under attack and was shot at by unidentified men who used automatic weapons.

Three soldiers were injured during the incident in northeast Turkey.

Tezcan was previously been injured during a brawl in the Turkish parliament in 2014.

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Sharing Chief Justice of India T S Thakur's concern over "delay" in appointment of judges, retired Supreme Court Judge N Santosh Hegde today warned that it may lead to "all types of systems" like underground elements coming to fore for "settling" disputes.

Hegde said in almost all high courts, pending vacancy of judges is 50 per cent.

"As it is, there is a delay of 10 to 15 years (in disposing of cases). What will happen in the days to come? People will lose faith in the system," he told PTI.

"Once people lose faith in the system then all types of systems will come into existence, underground people would say they would settle the dispute, recovery of bad loans, 'goondas' (goons) go and take over and do so called 'justice'," he said.

In a scathing attack, the Supreme Court yesterday said the government can not bring the judiciary to a "grinding halt" by not appointing high court judges despite the recommendations of its collegium long ago.

The government has, however, insisted that it has increased the sanctioned strength of high court judges from 906 to 1,079 and there has been no abnormal increase in the vacancies in the high courts under NDA rule.

Hegde, a former Solicitor General of India, said if the government is not agreeable to some names, they can send them back to the collegium citing reasons and the collegium would then consider it and "if it (collegium) says it (names) should be done (approved), the government is bound to accept it".

"They (government) are now harping on MoP (Memorandum of Procedure) or something, not yet drafted. All that cannot be an excuse for the purpose of filling up of vacancies. As it is, the lot of delay is causing problems to litigants," he said.

"It takes 10 to 15 years in the first court, second court and third court and then Supreme Court (to dispose of cases)," Hedge pointed out, adding, "by the time finality (judgement comes) is reached, people are tired of the whole exercise."



"They (Supreme Court and government) should sit together and thrash out the problem," he said, adding the Chief Justice had sent the names to the government three to four months back.

He said Allahabad High Court has 60 per cent vacancies, and Karnataka HC has 50 per cent.

"No high court in the country has full strength. How do you expect justice delivery to go on early? That's the expectation of all litigants," asked Hegde.

Taking into consideration the urgency because of the number of vacancies and consequential delay in disposal of cases, government should take some steps to at least clear pending names, asserted Hegde.

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Pakistani troops today targeted Indian security positions in Kathua, RS Pura and Keran sectors along the International Border and Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, injuring a BSF jawan while another BSF jawan was killed accidentally while retaliating to the cross- border shelling and firing.

A BSF jawan was injured in fresh shelling by Pakistan troops in Keran sector, a senior official of the force said this evening.

He said the jawan was admitted to a medical facility for treatment.

"The unprovoked Pakistani aggression is being effectively retaliated," he added.

A woman Shaheena Begun was injured in Keran sector along the LoC in Kashmir in shelling by Pakistani troops this morning, officials said.

They said the Indian army retaliated the "unprovoked" Pakistani aggression "in equal measure".

Pakistan Rangers also indulged in cross-border firing and shelling in RS Pura and Kathua sectors along the International Border.

BSF constable Nitin Subhash sustained grievous injuries last evening when an explosion inside the chamber of the long range weapon led to a recoil while he was firing in retaliation to ceasefire violation from across the LoC in Machchil sector, BSF IG (Kashmir) Vikash Chandra said.

"Subhash was injured due to recoil and was admitted to a medical facility where he succumbed late last night," the official said.

Initially, a top BSF official had said that the jawan was killed today in firing by Pakistani troops.

28-year-old Subhash, hailing from Sangli in Maharashtra, had joined BSF in 2008 and is survived by his wife and two sons aged four years and two years.

In Macchil sector, terrorists, aided by the cover fire by Pakistani Army, had last night crossed the Line of Control in the sector. They killed an Indian army jawan and mutilated his body prompting the Indian army to warn that "the incident will be responded to appropriately".

Four army and three BSF personnel have died in the latest escalation along the boundary with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir. In last night's attack, one militant was also killed.

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Yemen's president today rejected a UN peace proposal for his war-battered country, as rebels said air strikes by his Saudi-led coalition allies killed 17 civilians.

Forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government have been locked since 2014 in deadly battles with Iran-backed Shiite Huthi rebels who overran Sanaa late that year.

The conflict escalated in March 2015 when Saudi Arabia launched a military campaign to push back the rebels.

The war has left nearly 7,000 people dead, mostly civilians, according to the United Nations which had been struggling to convince the warring parties to implement a ceasefire and revive a stalled political process.

The latest peace proposal submitted by UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed was rejected by Hadi who even refused to receive it as he met the mediator in Riyadh.

The contents of the roadmap which the envoy already presented to the rebels on Tuesday have not been made public.

But informed sources say it calls for agreement on naming a new vice president after the rebels withdraw from Sanaa and other cities and hand over heavy weapons to a third party.

Hadi would then transfer power to the vice president who would appoint a new prime minister to form a government in which the north and south of Yemen would have equal representation.

A statement on the government's sabanew.Net quoted Hadi as saying the roadmap "only opens a door towards more suffering and war and is not a map for peace".

It cited Hadi as saying the plan "rewards the putschists while punishing the Yemeni people and legitimacy".

It was unclear how Hadi's Arab backers would react to his refusal, especially after a key coalition member, the United Arab Emirates, hailed the proposal on Thursday as a "political solution for the Yemeni crisis".

In August, US Secretary of State John Kerry outlined a similar plan which offered the Huthi rebels participation in government in exchange for an end to violence and a surrender of weapons to a third party.

Gulf states, most of which are members of the coalition, had "agreed unanimously" with that initiative, Kerry said at the time from the Saudi city of Jeddah.

But Saudi Arabia has not commented on the UN envoy's latest proposal and the rebels have yet to respond.

Warring parties in Yemen are under mounting international pressure to end the conflict that has left the already-impoverished country grappling with increasing cases of malnutrition and a spread of disease.

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Three senior group executives at have resigned, people close to the matter told Reuters on Saturday, as management woes appeared to deepen at the $100 billion conglomerate following the stunning ouster of its chairman.

The three executives were members of an executive council disbanded after Tata dismissed chairman Cyrus Mistry on Monday. The council, comprising five senior Tata group executives and Mistry, was tasked with creating long-term value for stakeholders and boosting returns on investment.

Those who quit are group human resources chief N S Rajan; group business development and public affairs head Madhu Kannan; and group strategy executive Nirmalya Kumar.

Reuters could not reach any of the three for comment. Tata did not respond to an e-mail request for comment on Saturday.

Reuters reported earlier this week that the other two council executives, Mukund Rajan and Harish Bhat, would take on senior level responsibilities within the Tata group.

One person close to Tata said there was no certainty all the positions would be re-filled as the group's structure is likely to change with Mistry's exit. Another person, however, said replacements could be named as early as next week, though there was no management crisis as each Tata company has its own team of public affairs and business development executives.

But some governance experts say the resignations of senior executives risk increasing the sense of uncertainty at Tata.

"In the short term, obviously there'll be some disruption at the group level" said Shriram Subramanian of InGovern, a shareholder advocacy group. "People leaving at senior levels shows there's a lack of confidence between the two sides, and that needs to be reinstated at the earliest to contain any longer-term damage."

MEDIATION

Disagreements between Mistry and his predecessor Ratan Tata, the family patriarch and now stand-in chairman of the 148-year-old conglomerate, have turned a boardroom battle into a damaging public spat fuelled by leaked letters and tit-for-tat accusations.

Mistry alleges corporate governance failures and mismanagement at Tata, which has dismissed the allegations as "malicious".

CNBC-TV18 news channel reported on Saturday that Darius Khambatta, a senior lawyer close to both Tata and Mistry, had initiated mediation talks between the two parties. Khambatta told Reuters he was "not mediating between them," but declined to comment on whether he had met Tata and Mistry.

India's financial crime-fighting agency will look into Mistry's allegations about mismanagement at Tata's aviation ventures, another person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

In a leaked letter to the Tata board, Mistry has said he was opposed to Tata's aviation partnerships with Malaysia's AirAsia Bhd and Singapore Airlines.

In the case of Air Asia, a forensic investigation had found "fraudulent transactions" of 220 million rupees ($3.29 million) involving "non-existent parties", he alleged.

That prepared the ground for a "probe into the allegation of mismanagement of funds," said an official at the national Enforcement Directorate, on condition of anonymity.

The agency was not immediately available to comment. Tata did not respond to Reuters questions on this matter. An AirAsia India spokeswoman said she had no immediate comment.

India's capital markets regulator is already looking into Mistry's allegations related to violations of corporate governance rules at Tata.
The war of words between Tata Sons and its ousted Chairman Cyrus Mistry ratcheted up a notch late on Friday, with Mistry stating he was surprised with reasons given by the Indian conglomerate for his dismissal.

Mistry was sacked as chairman by the board of Tata Sons on Monday and a scathing 5-page letter he wrote to the board was leaked on Wednesday, turning a boardroom feud into a public row.





ALSO READ: Why Nano exceeded its price of Rs 1 lakh Mistry's letter included allegations of corporate governance failures within Tata Sons, and a series of other barbs aimed at family patriarch Ratan Tata, who has returned as interim chair of the $104 billion salt-to-software conglomerate. In a statement on Thursday, Tata accused Mistry - whose Pallonji family owns a minority stake in Tata Sons - of making "unsubstantiated claims and malicious allegations" against the conglomerate. "It is surprising that Mr. Tata has sought to justify Monday's conduct by making vague public statements that are contrary to his knowledge and contrary to the records of the Tata Group," said Mistry in a response issued late on Friday. The company has not fully explained its justification for his dismissal, and its statement on Thursday only said that Mistry's tenure "was marked by repeated departures from the culture and ethos of the group".

ALSO READ: How a scooter on a rainy day turned into Ratan Tata's dream project Nano



It said the Tata family trusts that own a two-thirds stake in Tata Sons were concerned by a "growing trust deficit" with Mr. Mistry. The Pallonji family, to which Mistry belongs, owns an 18.41 percent stake in Tata Sons.

Some media outlets, citing sources familiar with the issues, have reported however that one of the issues that led to Mistry's ouster was his failure to keep the Tata Sons board and Ratan Tata informed about Tata Power's roughly $1.4 billion acquisition of Welspun Renewables Energy back in June.

A source familiar with the matter also told Reuters that the Welspun deal had been a sore point with the Tata board. Tata itself has not publicly said this was behind Mistry's ouster.

Mistry, who still remains chairman of a number of major Tata group companies including Tata Power, said in his statement on Friday that the Tata Sons' board was informed of the deal, .

He said that Tata Power, in which Tata Sons own a roughly 33 percent stake, had made a presentation to the Tata Sons board on its interest in renewable energy.

It had presented the Tata Sons' board with information on the deal, he said, and the board had approved the transaction in June.

"To even suggest that the Tata Sons board including the nominee directors of the Tata Trusts had not been adequately informed is contrary to the factual record," said Mistry in his statement.

In a brief statement late on Friday, Tata fired its own salvo back at Mistry, dubbing his new statement "incorrect" and saying it did "not reveal the real facts."

"We will present the real facts next week," said a spokesman for Tata Sons.


As family patriarch Ratan Tata takes back the controls at his Indian conglomerate after a boardroom coup this week, one sector is cheering his, albeit interim, return: the group's airline ventures, both lagging competitors in India's cutthroat market.

Industry executives and analysts say they expect loss-making Vistara and AirAsia India, both part-owned by Tata, to enjoy fresh cash and expansion plans as low fuel prices and Indian government policy drive a boom in air travel.

"Now he's back, we'll see him taking aggressive steps," said Mark D Martin, chief executive at Martin Consulting, adding this could include growing other ventures such as Taj Air, a charter company also owned by the Tata group.

Vistara and AirAsia India declined to comment.

Tata Sons, the parent controlling Tata's listed businesses, has said Ratan Tata's return from retirement is temporary, and denied the move would mean any extra focus on the airlines - other than for business reasons. "Both businesses are completely focused on enhancing their market positions," a spokesman said.

But analysts say the move will have a longer-term impact, with the family reasserting its influence in day-to-day operations.

Tata agreed to invest an estimated $60 million into the two airlines when they launched, mostly into Vistara.

The two airlines have a combined India market share of around 5 percent - dwarfed by more established carriers like InterGlobe Aviation's budget airline IndiGo.

AT ODDS



The Tata family has a long history with aviation.

Ratan Tata's predecessor was India's first qualified pilot, and Tata's first airline was later nationalised as state carrier Air India. Ratan Tata, insiders said, fulfilled a long-held dream when he pulled the group back into the aviation sector in 2013.

Ousted chairman Cyrus Mistry, who replaced Tata in 2012, was less keen, however.

In a leaked letter to the Tata board earlier this week, Mistry said he had opposed Tata's 2013 partnership with Malaysia's AirAsia Bhd to launch AirAsia India.

More than a year later, Tata started a second airline, Vistara, in partnership with Singapore Airlines.

"Tata Sons took a considered view that it makes business sense to take part in India's civil aviation industry," a spokesman for Tata Sons said.

Mistry's blistering letter portrayed Ratan Tata, 78, as a man who cast aside his advice and bulldozed through major decisions. Mistry considered the airlines to be proof that he had his hands tied as chairman, illustrating just how Tata still pulled the strings even after retiring.

"It is on his advice that the Tata Sons board has increased the capital infusion in the (aviation) sector at multiple levels of the initial commitment," Mistry wrote.

Tata has not detailed its most recent capital infusion, but media reports have said it increased its stake in AirAsia India over time to 49 percent from 30 percent for an undisclosed sum.

In Vistara, 51 percent-owned by Tata, media reported last month Tata approved injecting an additional $37 million alongside Singapore Airlines, which would bring the total equity by the joint-owners to around $150 million.

EMOTIONAL TIES



Whoever's in charge, turning a profit in India's competitive environment will be tough. Analysts say two years is too short: budget airlines could take up to five years and full service carriers up to seven years to be profitable.

Vistara has already had to revise its strategy, which initially sought to target business travellers, and AirAsia India has seen several senior management changes since it launched in 2014, and experts have queried its strategy.

Airline analysts and consultants said they expect Tata to strengthen the group's market foothold, for example, by expanding its partnership with Metro Jets, a provider of business aviation services including charters and maintenance.

"For Ratan Tata, it's an emotional issue," said Harsh Vardhan, head of Starair Consulting. "The Tatas think they pioneered aviation in the country, and again have a role to play."
Ministers responsible for disaster risk reduction in 61 countries will meet here early next month to share their best practices in handling various calamities and discuss how to deal with future emergencies together.

The Asian Ministerial Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) 2016, to be held from November 3-5 in New Delhi, will set the direction for implementation of Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) in the Asia-Pacific region.

"It is a matter of immense pleasure that representatives of 61 countries are participating the meeting in disaster risk reduction. India will share its best practices before the global audience," Home Minister Rajnath Singh told reporters here.

Sendai Framework is the first major agreement of the post-2015 development agenda and identifies targets and priority action areas towards reducing disaster risks.

The conference, to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is being organised by the government of India in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.

An exhibition will also be held showcasing good practices in disaster risk management through the initiatives displayed by various governmental and non-governmental organisations as well as other stakeholders.

Visual material, publications, posters, multimedia and latest technological innovations showcasing India's efforts at Disaster Risk Reduction, mitigation and preparedness will be displayed at the exhibition.

The exhibition will also be leveraged to showcase India's rich cultural heritage, handloom and handicraft products to the international delegates from 60 Asian countries that are participating in the Conference.

Pakistan will not send its representative to the conference, amidst the ongoing hostilities with India.
A UN General Assembly committee has adopted a resolution to launch negotiations next year on a new treaty outlawing nuclear weapons, even as India abstained saying it is not convinced the move can lead to a comprehensive instrument on nuclear disarmament.

The General Assembly's First Committee, which deals with disarmament and international security, adopted the draft resolution yesterday on nuclear disarmament negotiations.

Through the resolution, the General Assembly would reiterate that the universal objective of taking forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations remains the achievement and maintenance of a world without nuclear weapons.

The resolution emphasises the importance of addressing issues related to nuclear weapons in a comprehensive, inclusive, interactive and constructive manner, for the advancement of multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations.

It also decided to convene in 2017 a United Nations conference to negotiate a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination.

The resolution was adopted with 123 votes in favour, 38 against and 16 abstentions.

Permanent Representative of India to the Conference on Disarmament DB Venkatesh Varma said India has been "constrained" to abstain on the resolution and it is "not convinced" that the proposed conference in 2017 "can address the longstanding expectation of the international community for a comprehensive instrument on nuclear disarmament.

He said continued dialogue and consultation is necessary to bridge the current divides on nuclear disarmament which remain "deep and substantive".

"India attaches the highest priority to nuclear disarmament and shares with the co-sponsors the widely felt frustration that the international community has not been able to take forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations.

We also share the deep concern about the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons," Varma said in the explanation of vote.

He said India did not participate in the open-ended working group which met in Geneva during 2016 and so it reserves its position on its report and the recommendations.

"India has supported the commencement of negotiations in the Conference on Disarmament on a Comprehensive Nuclear Weapons Convention, which in addition to prohibition and elimination also includes verification. International verification would be essential to the global elimination of nuclear weapons, just as it has been in the case of the Chemical Weapons Convention. Progress on nuclear disarmament in the CD should remain an international priority," he said.

India has asserted that there is no question of it joining the Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear weapon State.


Royal Caribbeans Icon of the Seas will get the title of worlds largest cruise ship when it debuts sailing out of Miami in 2024, but thats b
Ashton Cigar unveiled its fifth line under its San Cristobal brand,called the San Cristobal Quintessence. This cigar made its debut at the 2016 IPCPR Trade Show and now has begun to arrive at retail shops.

Like the other blends of the Ashtons San Cristobal and La Aroma de Cuba brands, the San Cristobal Quintessence is produced at the My Father Cigars factory in Esteli, Nicaragua. This cigar is highlighted by Nicaraguan tobaccos grown on the family farms of Don Pepin Garcia. The cigar is being made available in four sizes packaged in 24 count boxes.

At a glance, here is a look at the San Cristobal Quintessence:

Blend Profile

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano

Binder: Nicaraguan

Filler: Nicaraguan

Country of Origin: Nicaragua (My Father Cigars SA)

Vitolas Available

Robusto: 5 1/2 x 50

Epicure: 6 x 52

Majestic: 6 x 60

Belicoso: 6 1/2 x 54

Photo Credit: Ashton Cigar Facebook
In secret, behind locked gates, our Nation's Oldest City dumped a landfill in a lake (Old City Reservoir), while emitting sewage in our rivers and salt marsh. Organized citizens exposed and defeated pollution, racism and cronyism. We elected a new Mayor. We're transforming our City -- advanced citizenship. Ask questions. Make disclosures. Demand answers. Be involved. Expect democracy. Report and expose corruption. Smile! Help enact a St. Augustine National Park and Seashore. We shall overcome!
On Friday night, police say two men were assaulted and robbed at different locations on the ANU campus, one around 8pm and the other 8.30pm. The first victim had been on foot and the second was riding his bicycle.
"In terms of sourcing it with the legalisation, it's still a long time before patients can get to a doctor and get [medicinal cannabis] prescribed. We'll have to wait for production for it to grow but it's in sight now."
Professor Stanley said traditionally conservative farmers were more split on the vote than expected, with many opposed to losing their sons who worked on their properties. Serving soldiers, while narrowly yes voters as a whole, were also less enthusiastic about forcing others to fight overseas than Hughes had expected.
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.
A long time ago, Walter Rohrl said that good drivers have dead flies on the side windows. An argument that makes sense after seeing Vaughn Gittin Jr. maneuver his RTR Spec 5-D Ford Mustang.



Gittin Jr. is an American, self-taught professional racing driver from Maryland, and hes currently competing in Formula D. The Mustang RTR he drives weighs 2,800 lbs (1270 kg), has a 50/50 weight distribution, and its motivated by a 436 cubic-inch (7.1-litre) Ford Performance/Roush Yates-built engine that revs to 9000 RPM and develops more than 900 hp.

So, as youd imagine, the car (as well as Vaughn) is more than happy to go sideways, as he once commented: Its crazy to think that Im driving the equivalent of a 9-second drag racing car. sideways.

Recently, Vaughn Gittin Jr. got behind the wheel of his trusty Mustang and pushed it to the limit on the Formula 1 Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, pulling a massive, continuous 3,200-foot (975-metre) drift in the process.

It was literally like I was drifting forever, I have never been at a sustained angle for that long in my 14-years of drifting, he said afterwards.

The entire happening can be seen in the video below.

VIDEO
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 RauDZ Regional Table in downtown Kelowna.

Executive chef Brock Bowes is preparing a Haida Gwaii pan-seared halibut with sprouts, carrot crab veloute and finished with sprouted grains and fresh greens.

Check back now through Oct. 30 to find out which restaurants are featuring delicious meals with unique mental-health benefits.
Photo: CTV

Langley RCMP have described the recent murder of a man believed to have ties to gang activity as barbaric.

The remains of Shaun Alan Clary, 27, were found on Oct. 26 in the area of 243rd Street and Robertson Crescent. His body had been dismembered.

However, police said Friday it was premature to assume that heightened tension between particular gang associates was the reason for Clary's murder and that investigators were working with partners in the Lower Mainland and beyond to gather further evidence.

The targeted and barbaric nature of this homicide is not lost on investigators or the public, and we are working tirelessly to gather evidence to move forward, said Cpl. Meghan Foster of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team. There are individuals out there who have the intimate details in regards to the flagrant disregard for Mr. Clary's life. We are looking to speak with those individuals and ultimately hold those responsible, accountable."

The RCMP said the investigation was in the early stages and other recent murders or cases of violence could not yet be linked to the murder.

Just 10 days before Clary's remains were found, a known member of the Hell's Angels was murdered in Langley. A suspect was arrested one day later.

The RCMP are urging anyone with information on the Clary case to contact IHIT at 1-877-551-IHIT (4448), or by email at [email protected] Should you wish to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers by phone at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
Photo: Contributed

Motorists who frequent Highway 97 along the northern part of Kelowna will get a bit of a break from construction over the next few months.

Crews working on the expansion of Highway 97 are expected to work until mid-December, weather permitting.

Then they will stop work until about mid-February.

While crews take a break from the weather, other crews working on underground installations as part of the project  water, sewer, electrical and telecommunications  will continue to work.

The 4.5-kilometre long widening project, from Highway 33 to Edwards Road, is about 30 per cent complete.

Work began back in the spring, and according to Ministry of Transportation officials, it is on track to be completed on time in the fall of next year.

Along with the road widening, improvements are also being made to several intersections at Leathead, McCurdy, Findlay/Hollywood and Sexsmith intersections.

The ministry says nearly all work is being done at night to minimize traffic disruptions. Two lanes will be maintained in each direction from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m. until June and from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m. from June to September.

Total cost of the project is $50.2 million. The province is paying $32.2 million with the feds picking up the remaining $18 million.
Photo: Contributed

A work by the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch will highlight Sotheby's fall auction of impressionist and modern art.

The auction house expects the painting "Girls on the Bridge" to sell for more than $50 million on Nov. 14.

The seminal work from 1902 depicts a cluster of girls huddled on the bridge of a country village. It sold in 1996 for $7.7 million and again in 2008 for $30.8 million, both times setting records for the artist.

In 2012, Munch's work "The Scream"  one of the most iconic images in art history  sold for $119.9 million at Sotheby's. It became the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction, a record that has been broken four times since.

Pablo Picasso's "Women of Algiers (Version O)" now holds that distinction. It sold last year for $179.4 million.

Other works in the November evening sale include a large-scale painting by Picasso, "The Painter and His Model," from 1963. The 5-foot-wide painting has descended through the same family since it was acquired in 1968. It carries a presale estimate of $12 million to $18 million. A 1951 bronze bust by Picasso of his lover and muse Francoise Gilot is also on tap. "Head of a Woman" could fetch $6 million to $8 million.

An early cubist composition by Mexican artist Diego Rivera, "Untitled (Cubist Composition)," from 1916 is estimated to bring $500,000 to $700,000.

The sale also has two abstract works by Laszlo Maholy-Nagy that recently appeared in a retrospective of his work at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. The 1923 work, "EM 1 Telephonbild," has a presale estimate of $3 million to $4 million.
Photo: Contributed

BMO Financial Group (TSX:BMO) says Darryl White will become its chief operating officer on Tuesday, one of a number of high-level appointments announced Friday by the bank.

White succeeds Frank Techar, who will become vice-chair of BMO Financial Group. Techar has been COO since November 2013.

The moves were among several announced by Bill Downe, who has been BMO's chief executive since 2007.

As chief operating officer, White will head BMO's personal, commercial and wealth businesses. He will also oversee marketing and the bank's technology operations, the bank said.

White has been group head for BMO Capital Markets. He'll be succeeded in that job by Patrick Cronin.

In his new role as vice-chair, Techar will work to help the bank grow its business with a particular focus on the U.S. Midwest.

Techar joined the bank in 1984 and led its U.S. personal and commercial banking business from 2002 until 2006 when he was appointed head of BMO's Canadian personal and commercial banking business.
Photo: Getty Images

The B.C. government isn't clowning around.

An official statement from Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Mike Morris is calling out "crazy clowns" and warning there could be serious consequences for their actions.

Morris issued a warning to some "so-called" adults:

"Don't think that police will view every trick as treat-worthy. If you engage in acts of vandalism or mischief  particularly while 'clowning' or otherwise disguised  you risk the possibility of arrest and potentially even a criminal record," said Morris.

"Recently, some 'crazy clowns' across North America have been learning this the hard way. If whatever you're planning could be considered irrational or illegal on any other night of the year, don't assume Halloween is your get-out-of-jail-free card."

He also reiterated the usual Halloween safety messages, including making sure kids are visible while trick or treating and paying extra attention while driving.
Photo: Contributed

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce has agreed to compensate clients a total of $73.3 million after collecting excess fees for certain mutual funds and investment services over 14 years.

The bank will also pay $3 million to the Ontario Securities Commission toward its mandate of protecting investors, while a further payment of $50,000 will go to cover the costs of the investigation.

The OSC approved the no-contest settlement Friday with CIBC World Markets Inc., CIBC Investor Services Inc., and CIBC Securities Inc. after the bank agreed to the deal without admitting or denying the conclusions of the OSC staff.

The OSC alleged that short-comings in systems and controls at the CIBC dealers resulted in some customers being overcharged from as early as Jan. 1, 2002 until as recently as Jan. 31, 2016.

The OSC says its staff have found no evidence of dishonest conduct by CIBC, which self-reported the problem.

It also says CIBC has implemented additional controls and supervision to prevent a recurrence.
Photo: Contributed

Most of the comics stolen from an East Vancouver home during a break in earlier this month have been recovered.

Vancouver Police put out a public appeal after a 100-pound safe loaded with rare comics disappeared without a trace on Oct. 17.

"Investigators visited every store involved in the sale and purchase of collectables in an attempt to locate the stolen comics and possibly identify a suspect," said police in a news release.

One of the comics, Fantastic Four: Issue No 1, is considered rare and is selling for $9,800 on eBay.

"Earlier this week, a man walked into a Vancouver business looking to sell a number of comics," said police.

"The owner of the shop quickly recognized them as the comics officers had been looking for. He held onto the items for police and the suspect fled the shop."

The Fantastic Four comic was recovered.

Police are still trying to identify the man who brought the comics to the shop and no arrests have been made.

Anyone who has any information about the break-in or the whereabouts of the remaining comics is asked to contact the VPD Property Crime Unit at 604-717-3328, or anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
Photo: CTV

A special advisor's report looking into the actions of the Vancouver School Board says problems within the board stemmed from some trustees prioritizing their political agendas, rather than stewardship of the district.

British Columbia's Education Minister Mike Bernier fired all nine members of the board last week and says two reports that show failures of governance and budgetary practices deepen his lack of confidence in the former board.

The province released the forensic audit by special adviser Peter Milburn along with a detailed review and audit by Ernst and Young, and supplemental report on the impact of school closures at the Vancouver School Board.

All school boards in the province were required by law to submit a balanced budget by June 30.

Bernier told reporters in a conference call today that the audits support his decision to fire the board because the report says trustees chose not to provide a balanced in an act of protest for more funding.

There were 59 recommendations made between the two audits, which the education minister says the newly appointed trustee Dianne Turner will be responsible for implementing.
Photo: CTV-YouTube

Police have launched a review into a new video that shows an RCMP officer dragging an elderly man down the stairs.

The incident happened after a strata meeting in Coquitlam Thursday night degenerated into possible violence.

A video uploaded to YouTube shows a Mountie grabbing and pulling an elderly man who is lying on the ground toward a staircase at the Best Western Hotel. The officer yells "Stop resisting," then pulls him down the stairs.

In a statement, Coquitlam RCMP Supt. Sean Maloney said police were called because the annual general meeting had "gotten out of hand and that some parties in attendance were potentially fighting."

Police say the man refused to leave.

"I respect and understand that the video may cause concern to the public," Maloney said.

"I ask for the community's understanding to give time for a fulsome review to take place, so I can make an informed decision about the next steps."

 with files from CTV Vancouver
Take Our Kids to Work Day Kamloops - 6:00 pm
Photo: Contributed

The cause of death of the suspect responsible for shooting a police officer and sparking a manhunt near Revelstoke on Oct. 11 is now being released.

The Independent Investigations Office (IIO) completed its investigation into the incident and concluded Sheldon Kyle Thunderblanket died from head trauma.

The IIO also found the death was not caused by action or inaction by police.

Thunderblanket had been stopped at a road check on Highway 1 in Golden. He got out of his vehicle, shot at an officer and fled on foot. Police fired back at the suspect, hitting Thunderblanket in the forearm.

A female officer also suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the shootout.

Thunderblanket, who was accused of murder in Saskatchewan, hijacked a car at gunpoint and fled the scene.

Marten Youssef with the IIO said police found the stolen vehicle near Revelstoke, set up two spike belts and attempted to stop the suspect.

The vehicle failed to stop and shots were fired by police. Eleven expended casings from police carbines were recovered from the scene in the vicinity of the spike belts; it can be confirmed one of the bullets struck the vehicle on the drivers wing mirror, explained Youssef.

However, the IIO said Thunderblanket was not shot during the second shootout.

Thunderblanket drove out of sight, but Youssef said police kept an eye on him.

The suspect managed to cross the highway and make his way down a steep embankment. A police service dog was deployed without success.

Police resumed the search the next morning and discovered Thunderblanket dead in a river.

The autopsy concluded the cause of death to be a head trauma consistent with an impact against a rock, said Youssef.
Photo: Contributed

Having the talk with children is never an easy task  and thanks to the Internet, speaking about sex can be even more difficult.

A new documentary produced by a Canadian Charity, Hope for the Sold, tackles an issue that some would rather ignore  pornography.

The effects of pornography on children and youth have changed drastically since the birth of the World Wide Web.

In the documentary, Over 18, the true story is told of a boy who became addicted to pornography at the age of nine while on his familys living room computer.

Jared Brock, founder of Hope for the Sold, says the film has several interviews with experts from around the world, as well as people who are still active in the porn industry today.

In a previous interview Brock explains 90 per cent of boys under the age of 18 have looked at porn while 60 per cent of girls have.

The stuff that they're accessing isn't the Playboy that the previous generation saw  breasts in a magazine. It's body-punishing sex."

According to Brock, nine of 10 boys view pornography, with the average age of exposure being just 12 years old.

The issue isnt specific to gender either, with 60 per cent of girls having viewed porn by the age of 18.

Brock and his wife, Michelle, are taking the film on tour across Canada, doing in-person screenings from Montreal to Victoria in order to raise awareness of this issue.

In Kelowna, the Metro Community will host a public screening on Nov. 3 at 6:30 p.m.

For more information check out over18doc.com
Photo: Contributed

Highway 1 west of Field is reduced to single-lane alternating traffic following a rock slide that occurred on Monday.

The entire road will be closed 16 kilometres west of Field for an hour Saturday starting at 8:30 a.m. for rock blasting.

A local gravel detour with a reduced speed limit of 30 km/h is in place. Alternative routes via Highway 95 and Highway 93 are available.

Check DriveBC for details.
Photo: Contributed

Five things no one tells you about remodelling

By Crispin Butterfield

How exciting You want to tackle a renovation.

Depending on who you talk to, that excitement can be squashed instantly by tales and horror stories of other peoples bad experiences.

Renovations can be full-out marriage, dream, and even bank account killers. But when handled properly, that doesnt have to be your story or experience.

Knowing what to expect, who to hire, and where you can help the process will better prepare you in every sense for beautiful, top-notch results.

It will be messy

Anyone who tells you they can complete your major renovation without causing disruption to your daily life is only telling you what you want to hear.

Think about it. Just moving furniture out of the way and prepping for a simple paint job makes things complicated for a few days.

Planning to expect dust, dirt, piles of old building materials, and tradespeople traipsing through will, in the very least, help to alleviate some natural anxiety that happens when our homes are opened up.

Some sage advice: take a trip, spend a month at the cottage, split your time between the in-laws, whatever you need to do.

Make arrangements to be out of the house, and youll feel more in control throughout the entire process.

It doesnt have to be ugly

This ties into the first point  knowing in advance what to anticipate helps to set you up for a better experience.

There is no way to foresee unexpected complications  and every project has them, large or small.

Anticipate that a few unexpected uglies, or setbacks will happen, and then formulate somewhat of a strategy as to how youre going to handle them.

Tack on an extra two weeks to the timeline for smaller projects, and an extra two to three months for complete gut and reno jobs for good measure.

The Boy Scouts say it best: Be Prepared.

Hire a designer, sleep at night

So youve picked up the most recent copy of Psychology Today. Are you an expert in relationships?

Or youve been super interested lately in the latest advancements in dental technology. Can you go and do your own dental work?

Why then, would you even think about trying to hash out and plan the design work, project details, and paperwork required before the project even begins on your own?

If youre thinking you cant afford to hire a design professional  someone who has studied for years at an accredited University, and can practically coordinate your project in their sleep  think again.

Take a moment and add up what it would cost you if things head south:

youve made initial oversights on budgeting, and now youve blown through your cash and are no longer in a position to finish the job

half way through construction, you realize you didnt make the best use of space and now its too costly to make crucial changes

you spent hours and hours hemming and hawing over all of the high-end materials and finishes you chose to purchase, and after theyve been installed, you realize your original vision is not coming to fruition: you now have a house full of mismatched finishes you arent about to rip out any time soon.

You are going to be spending thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of dollars of your hard-earned money.

Doesnt it make sense to spend some of that up front for a solid renovation plan from a professional that knows their stuff top to bottom, front to back, and inside out?

Um, simply put  yes, it does.

You can save money

No, that isnt a typo. When you hire the right professionals to do the job, you can actually save money in time, expertise, and off the cost of supplied goods, which is a total bonus to you in the end.

Knowing where to skimp, where to splurge, and where to lean into Trade Discounts is paramount when planning a budget-savvy renovation.

Communication will make or break your reno

Forget the award-winning design plans, the imported tile from Milan, the rock-solid job schedule nothing will sink the renovation ship faster than bad or non-existent communication  on both ends.

Forge a strong and open relationship with your contractor, designer, and subtrades to help ensure a more seamless experience. We need to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly in order to better serve and assist you.

Withholding concerns, budget constraints, or any information pertinent to your renovation only hinders the process.

Have a planning meeting before your project commences. Lay out expectations and discuss how each party will do their part to carry the project through to completion, and how issues that arise will be handled.

Effective communication is the single most important piece of the renovation pie.

Crispin Butterfield owns Urban Theory Interior Design, and has been designing soul-hugging residential and commercial spaces across Western Canada for the past 13 years. www.designchick.ca.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
Photo: Getty Images

By Rae Stonehouse

Being an effective emcee is an art.

Much of what happens at an award-presentation ceremony is done behind the scenes before the spotlight shines on you.

Award presentation ceremonies arent life and death situations, but they wont 't effective without preparation and your self-confidence.

Think showmanship. Think about some of the award presentation ceremonies that you have seen in the past as to what worked and what didnt.

Inexperienced emcees often make two big mistakes: they're unprepared and they make the ceremony about themselves rather than the award recipient.

Your job is to entertain and inform your audience and convince them that the award you are presenting and the person receiving it is of great importance.

Here are some steps to take to ensure your next award presentation is handled professionally.

Logistics: (things that you need to know in advance)

Do the nominees know if they have won an award?

Does the agenda allow time for the winners to deliver a speech? If so, how long?

If there are multiple awards, do you know the total time allotted in the agenda?

What is the size of the awards? Will they be placed on a nearby table or perhaps hidden within the lectern/podium? Will you be able to lift them or will you require an assistant?

Research questions:

What is the award being presented for?

Does it have a name?

What were the criteria for winning?

Are there any notable past winners who should be mentioned?

What did the recipient of the award do to win the award?

Is there a sponsor for the award? Are you expected to do a promotional plug or will they be expected to speak?

Preparation: Creating your script

You should incorporate the answers from your research into your notes. Answer the questions of who, what, why, when, where and how.

Your notes should be written for the spoken word, not the written. Short sentences. Simple words.

Be enthusiastic and motivational in your presentation, yet at the same time, sincere. You can read your notes, but you will seem more professional if you have committed much of your content to memory and only refer to your notes for specific details.

Presenting the Award:

Its show time! Time to make a special person feel like they are the most important person in the world, at least for the next few moments.

If it is a trophy or plaque, this would be a good time to show it to the audience.

Start by introducing the background of the award and provide examples of what the winner has done to achieve the award.

Now it's time to announce the winner. Your voice can be an effective tool by increasing your speaking speed, your pitch and your volume. Your role is to act as a cheerleader and lead the applause as you announce the winner.

If you are the sole presenter, step away from the lectern to allow room to present the award and shake the recipients hand. Think photo op.

While shaking the winners hand, offer them a few words of private congratulations while looking them in the eyes.

The process is much like following the steps in a dance routine.

Announce

shake their hand

look them in the eyes

congratulate them

step back

lead applause and lead the applause as they return to their seat.

Bridging between awards and recipients is essential to your performance.

You could give a brief personal example of how you have seen that the recipient has earned the award assuming that you know them. Or you could give a brief overview of why you believe the award is important as you set up the next award to be delivered.

The key word is brief. Repeat the process.

Pitfalls to Avoid:

What happens if you announce the winner and they are not present? One solution might be to ask the audience if there is anyone else from the individuals family or organization who would like to accept the award.

You are presenting awards and notice that the award isnt the one that is supposed to be next or there is a spelling mistake on the engraving. Present the award and tell the recipient you'll would solve it after.

Pictures can add a lively dimension to your ceremonies but what can you do when they take up too much time or are disruptive? If you want to restrict the time allowed for each picture, you can. There is nothing wrong with advising that the winner will be available for pictures the formal ceremonies.

What can be done about an award recipient whose acceptance speech never seems to end? If they are the one paying you, you might want to let them run on a little. If they arent, you may need to intervene. Often standing right beside the speaker can give them the hint that it is time to relinquish the spotlight. Sometimes you have to be forceful and interject with something along the lines of in order to keep us on track to allow our other winners to speak, Im going to have to cut you off Then, lead the applause.

Your local Toastmasters club is the perfect place to practice your award presentation skills.

Presenting an award for an educational achievement to one of your fellow members is a good way to practise this skill.

Rae Stonehouse is an Okanagan-based author, speaker and Toastmaster. Contact: 250-451-6564 or [email protected]

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
Photo: CTV

A power struggle between their landlord and BC Hydro has left a Mission couple in the dark.

Tanya and Robert Eely have been without power for four days since Hydro cut electricity to their home.

That's because their landlord, who lives in half the home, is locked in a dispute over switching to a new meter.

"We don't have heat... we don't have lights," Tanya told CTV.

"We're going to have to throw out our food that's been spoiled. That's going to cost money to replace it," Robert added.

Owner Ewa Gryz refuses to have the meter swapped out for a new smart meter or a radio-off meter. The current meter is inside the home and is expired, requiring replacement.

Gryz has refused to let workers inside, so on Tuesday they pulled the plug.

All meters have an expiry date of six to 12 years, and must be replaced by law, Hydro says.

While smart meters are free, some fear possible health effects from their radio waves. Hydro charges installation and monitoring fees for radio-off versions.

Gryz wants a digital meter, but Hydro says they are being phased out.

 with files from CTV Vancouver
Photo: CTV

A Vancouver daycare is defending waitlist fees, despite parents calling the practice a cash grab.

Lower Mainland parents have called for B.C. to follow Ontario's lead and ban the fees, which can be as high as $100, with no guarantee of a spot.

But Darcelle Cottons of UBC Childcare Services says the $15 fee at her daycare is needed to cover the costs of maintaining a 1,000-name list.

"The application fee pays the salary of the person who manages the waiting list,," Cottons told CTV.

"We have such a shortage of childcare that we have people in tears all the time."

But she questions the justification for fees that can top $100. "It's taking advantage of a very stressed parent," she said.

Stephanie Tsui says she paid "probably close to $300-$400 in waitlists over eight different daycares," while trying to find care for her two sons. "We got called back by two."

She would like more transparency, so parents can see where they are on the lists.

"Really, you have no idea where you are, or if the waitlists even exist," she said.

Emily Mlieczko of the Early Childhood Educators of B.C., said the fees are a symptom of the lack of available spaces.

 with files from CTV Vancouver
Photo: CTV

UPDATE: 1:50 p.m.

Police are asking the public to remain vigilant after the second man who was shot in Surrey Friday night died from his injuries.

Police responded to the area of 159 Street and 110 Avenue just before 7:30 p.m. to find one man dead and another seriously wounded. The wounded man was taken to hospital but later died from his injuries.

The two victims have been identified as Vikram Toor, 24, and Ashim Raza,19.

Police believe the shooting is independent of other shootings that have occurred recently in the Lower Mainland.

It is early in the investigation, but police are making every effort to establish the motive for the shooting," said Cpl. Meghan Foster of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team. "We ask that the public exercise vigilance, while we work to find justice for our victims and their families.

ORIGINAL: 12:06 p.m.

One person has died and another was seriously injured after a double-shooting near an elementary school and park in Surrey.

The incident on Friday evening occurred just after the province's public safety minister Mike Morris made a statement reassuring the public that police are working tirelessly to try to put an end to a recent string of gang-related violence.

Police have linked two killings and several shootings this month in Metro Vancouver to gang involvement.

Photos from the scene in Surrey on social media show what appears to be a body covered by a yellow tarp falling out of a vehicle that had a window blown out.

The RCMP's Integrated Homicide Investigation Team has taken over the case, but has not yet released details about what happened or whether the shooting was gang-related.

There have been 56 shootings in Surrey this year.

- With files from The Canadian Press
Photo: Contributed

A man was struck and killed by a train Saturday in the Chase area.

At 7:50 a.m., Saturday, the RCMP received a report of a fatal collision between a train and a pedestrian, approximately five kilometres west of Chase.

The RCMP, CP Railway Police and the coroners office attended.

A 50-year-old man was on the tracks when he was struck by a westbound train.

Rail traffic was stopped for approximately 3.5 hours for scene examination. No further information is available at this time.



Police are asking any witnesses to this incident to contact the Chase detachment at 250-679-3221.


As I've said:

He's embarrassing.

He's a narcissist.

He's running the worst presidential campaign I've seen in my lifetime.

But Donald Trump is not a criminal.

He's not a professional liar.

He's not an untrustworthy politician.

Hillary Clinton is all three ---- and much worse.

Thanks to Wikileaks (and no thanks to the mainstream news media), we're getting new details every day about the Clinton Foundation, the global private-public racket Hillary and Bill set up to enrich themselves.

Given her 30-year track record of criminality, we'll find out new dirt on her the next time Wikileaks dumps a couple thousand more John Podesta emails.

But we already know what Hillary is. She is a crook. She is a liar. She is untrustworthy. She is corrupt. She is incompetent.

Her judgment in and out of office has been shockingly bad, whether she's enabling the insatiable sexual and financial greed of her pretend husband, ignoring government rules about having a private email server, defying a congressional subpoena, cheerleading the toppling of Libya or using a charitable foundation as a front to rake in millions of dollars in global graft for her crime family.

Until now, Hillary virtually has been given a free pass to the White House by two of the most important mainstream media places -- the front pages of the New York Times and the Washington Post.

But Wikileaks' data dumps are finally forcing both of the journalists of those institutions to put aside their liberal biases and dig deeper into the oily workings of the Clinton Foundation ---- aka, "Bill Clinton, Inc."

Now the Post has given us the new phrase "Circle of Enrichment" to describe how the foundation's operatives have filled Bill's pockets with millions of corporate dollars for doing little more than being Hillary's political husband.

Hillary Clinton has already proved, again and again, that she can not be trusted with even a little power.

As bad as Trump is, if she and her liberal cronies get their grubby hands on the White House they will make hundreds of appointments to the Defense Department, the IRS, the EPA and a thousand other federal places.

Unless a Republican Congress exists to stop her, President Hillary will give America more of everything it doesn't need ---- more taxes, more spending, more deficits, more regulations on business, more government health care, more gun laws, more illegal immigrants, more liberals on the Supreme Court.

Anyone who's been reading this column for the last 15 months, or following my tweets @ReaganWorld, knows how I feel about Trump and how the inept GOP leadership allowed him to slime the Republican brand.

But as I said in my first tweet after the Republican Convention, I don't want Donald Trump to lose because I didn't show up at the voting booth.

No matter how bad he is, there is no doubt a president Trump will make better appointments, push better laws and be more honest than a president Hillary.

Trump has verbalized his positions terribly, run a terrible campaign and proves ten times a day that he's not a politician.

But he's not a criminal.

And if I have a choice between a narcissist and a criminal for president, I'm going to vote against the crook every time.




Tennessee Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III, along with the Division of Consumer Affairs, announced Friday that Tennessee will receive more than $965,000 as part of a $41.2 million multi-state settlement with Hyundai and Kia. The agreement resolves claims that the automakers misrepresented mileage and fuel economy ratings for some of their model year 2011, 2012 and 2013 vehicles.The settlement, reached between attorneys general in 33 states and the District of Columbia and the Hyundai Motor Company, Hyundai Motor America, Kia Motors Corporation, and Kia Motors America, concludes a multi-state investigation into the companies' fuel economy estimates during a period of especially high gasoline prices.When buying a car, consumers should expect honest information from automakers, Attorney General Slatery said.If a company intentionally misleads consumers and violates the law, they deserve to be punished.In November 2012, Hyundai and Kia announced they were adjusting and restating fuel economy ratings for certain model year 2011, 2012 and 2013 vehicles after it was revealed the companies had overstated the fuel efficiency of certain vehicles.The states allege Hyundai and Kia used inflated and inaccurate data in estimated mileage ratings displayed on window stickers of hundreds of thousands of cars nationwide. The states also allege the companies sought to capitalize on erroneous mileage estimates by placing them prominently in advertisements and other promotional campaigns.The states allege these actions were an attempt to mislead and persuade consumers to purchase particular vehicles during a time of high gasoline prices. The attorneys general allege the automakers violated state consumer protection laws, including the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act.We applaud the work done by Attorney General Slatery and his team on behalf of Tennessee consumers, said Consumer Protection Director Cynthia Wiel.In addition to Tennessee, the multistate group  led by Connecticut, Iowa and Illinois  includes Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.
Commissioner Marie Williams announces the appointment of Sejal West as the deputy commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.



I am pleased to announce Sejal West as the new deputy commissioner for the Department, said Comm. Williams. As Assistant Commissioner, Sejals extraordinary passion for serving those with mental illnesses and substance abuse disorders helped lead the way for innovative and transformational progress in this State.

Ms. West, 41, started with the department in 2010 and has served as assistant commissioner of Mental Health Services since January of 2012. As assistant commissioner, she directly managed the daily operations and budget for the division of mental health services which is responsible for providing a comprehensive array of mental health services, programs, and supports across Tennessee.

"Under her leadership, the division of mental health services was able to secure an unprecedented amount of federal discretionary grant funding in excess of $53 Million dollars. In her role, she has worked in collaboration with community stakeholders across multiple systems resulting in the development and creation of community based programs and supports. Under her leadership, the department has grown the system of care work resulting in children and families receiving high quality coordinated services and supports tailored to meet their individual needs. She has also led the implementation of OnTrackTN, an innovative approach based on the OnTrackUSA model providing recovery oriented treatment to youth and young adults who have recently begin experiencing psychotic symptoms," officials said.



I am extremely honored and humbled that Comm. Williams has asked me to serve as the deputy commissioner for our Department, Ms. West said. I look forward to continuing on with the great work that our Department is doing through collaboration with our amazing staff, sister state agencies, community partners, and our consumers, we will continue to transform the public behavioral health system in our State.



"Ms. West has shown a strong commitment to the mental health system in Tennessee and is passionate about making sure individuals living with mental illness are able to access high quality community based care. She has several years of experience providing direct services in a community mental health center and understands the challenges and difficulties that individuals living with serious mental illness often face," officials said.



Ms. West received her undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Virginia and her masters degree in counseling psychology from Trevecca Nazarene University. She has resided in the Nashville area since 1997 and currently lives in Brentwood, Tn. with her husband Ben and daughter Sienna Grace.
To open the new social network Rich Kids is to induce a bout of FOMO  fear of missing out  from which you'll never wake. The paid Instagram knock-off is an orgy of excess: Dog massages. Lamborghinis. Stacks of gold coins. Private planes.

For the low, low price of 1,000 pounds (about $1,225) per month, Rich Kids promises the one-percent of the one-percent an exclusive, virtual club designed just for them  a place where anyone can view pictures, but only the uber-rich can publish them. Since launching in late September, the Slovakian app has recruited a dozen members, including a Russian heiress, a rare coin dealer, and the scions of several prominent real estate families.

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It's also attracted a great deal of condemnation  even from the Apple App Store, which pulled Rich Kids last week. On Product Hunt, a sort of proving ground for new tech concepts and companies, critics panned the app as "awful," "stupid," "fantastically ridiculous," "everything that is wrong with the world" and "disgusting."

Emir Bahadir is one of the first members of Rich Kids, and he doesn't see what's wrong with the app. The 25-year-old heir to a Turkish real estate fortune, Bahadir basically sees 1,000 pounds the way I see the spare change at the bottom of my bag. He takes my phone call from the front seat of his Bentley, which he's driving to his brand-new realty firm in Manhattan.

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Bahadir has always been active on Instagram  he claims to have joined the site to post travel photos not long after it launched. So he saw no reason not to join a new app called Rich Kids when one of its founders, Juraj Ivan, tentatively reached out. Some of the proceeds would go to charity, Ivan promised, and Rich Kids would do the work of porting Bahadir's photos from Instagram to their more exclusive app. They had hoped he would join ever since seeing his well-filtered photos on the #RKOI hashtag.

"This is my life," Bahadir said. "My dog, my plane. I don't do it for social media."

But also: "My brand is a luxury brand."

And: "I don't post if I'm stressing out or something, because that's private stuff."

You wouldn't know it from his Instagram, for instance, but earlier this year Bahadir's first realty firm imploded in a pretty epic way. He sued his business partner and friend, Ben Benalloul, for using their company as his quote-unquote "personal piggy bank."

There are other things you don't see on Rich Kids: no "haul videos," no #blessed posts, absolutely no "food porn." Those sorts of subtle class performances are for the plebs, the ones not yet rich enough to do away with decorum. Social media may have democratized the means of conspicuousness  but the wealthy have, and likely always will, own the best objects of consumption.

They get Bentleys and Rolexes; we get Pinterest boards with names like "Products I Love."

This was, incidentally, part of CEO Juraj Ivan's motivation for launching Rich Kids: to separate the boring capitalist antics of the bourgeoisie from the more impressive Instagram posturing of the super-rich. Since 2012, Instagram's upper crust has used the hashtag #RKOI to flag their extravagant displays of wealth  but over time, it's gotten far less exclusive.

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"The problem with a hashtag," the 28-year-old quips, "is that anyone can use it."

Now, amidst the Bahadirs and Rodrigo Alves, you've got YOLO girls 'gramming their last domestic vacation and humblebraggarts posting six-dollar lattes. (Note that we've actually developed an entire auxiliary vocab to describe people who post this way.) In the U.S., casinos, theme parks and major-league stadiums regularly rank among our most-Instagrammed places; the author and futurist James Wallman has argued the platform risks turning everything into a commodity.

This goes far wider than Instagram, of course: to Pinterest, which has made a business out of capitalist aspirations; or to Venmo, where users broadcast their spending habits as icons of beer or dancing girls or winky faces. Geolocation apps like Foursquare confer public awards to users who can afford to repeatedly dine or drink out. On Twitter and LinkedIn, users speak frequently of the value of their "personal brands"  and not only users like Bahadir, who has turned his name into its own luxury hashtag.

Over the past two years, in fact, a trickle of studies have begun to probe the apparent link between social media use and the impulse to  bluntly stated  show off our stuff. They've found that the more you use Instagram and Facebook and their ilk, the more likely you are "to consume conspicuous products."

This is part of the reason why Ivan has little patience for critics of Rich Kids and its users: They seem so oblivious to the fact that their critiques also implicate mainstream social media culture.

"They are just people enjoying their lives, just like you do," he said. "There's no reason to be full of hate because they have something and you don't have it."

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Unfortunately for Ivan and the Rich Kids, few people seem to have caught onto this particular line of thought. Rich Kids received several more bad reviews after getting panned on Product Hunt. On Oct. 21, following the bad coverage, Apple abruptly pulled Rich Kids from its multi-billion dollar iOS market.

Unofficially, Ivan says, an Apple rep told him that the app had been deemed "inappropriate."
Chicago police were shot at in two separate incidents early Saturday.

About 3 a.m. officers were on patrol in the area of the 2500 block of South Avers, responding to a report of a shooting. They saw a car speeding away and began to follow it, and at some point someone in the vehicle began shooting at the officers, according to a spokeswoman for Chicago police.

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Authorities were able to curb the vehicle and two people ran off. One person was arrested and charges are pending, said Officer Ana Pacheco.

Then about 5:20 a.m., police were on a traffic stop in the 2000 block of East 71st Street when shots were fired in the officers' direction, she said.

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The squad car was hit, but no injuries were reported, Pacheco said. The attackers fled the area, but officials did not say whether they were on foot or in a vehicle.
Donmarvion Gwyn with mother Jalisa Wash at the West Calumet housing complex in East Chicago, Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2016. Wash and her family are staying at a local hotel while her housing unit is being cleaned due to possible lead contamination. Hundreds of East Chicagoans have been living on a Superfund site for years. Now they're being told to move immediately due to lead contamination. (Antonio Perez/ Chicago Tribune) (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

Like most of her East Chicago public housing complex neighbors, Jalisa Wash has run into problems in her scramble to find a new place to live  away from the lead and arsenic contaminated soil of the West Calumet Housing Complex.

Wash, like many others, has had trouble sifting through a limited availability of housing alternatives and lacks the funds needed up front to cover the costs of security deposits and moving. She said she found an apartment in neighboring Gary, but couldn't afford to put the money down herself.

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The East Chicago Housing Authority can reimburse residents for their relocation costs, but they need to pay out of pocket first.

"I'm at a standstill," Wash said.

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Nearly 60 days have passed since the vouchers issued to West Calumet housing complex residents took effect. They're set to expire Monday.

So far, just 29 of the 332 families who lived at the public housing complex have found a new place to live after East Chicago Mayor Anthony Copeland ordered the residents to leave. The soil around the complex has high levels of lead and arsenic contamination.

Officials from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said that despite the initial voucher expiration date, West Calumet residents should not be concerned about the approaching deadline. The federal housing agency plans to give them the time they need to find a new home.

"This is not the normal process," said James Cunningham, a HUD deputy regional administrator. "We're going to give them all the flexibility."

Under the normal voucher process, residents have 60 days to relocate with up to two 30-day extensions, Cunningham said. But in the case of West Calumet residents, HUD will meet the needs of the residents, he said.

"No one's being kicked out," Cunningham said.

Wash, who had to renew her voucher last week, said she's still looking.

"It's just kind of hard," Wash said. "We just haven't had any luck."

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Luck may be exactly what Nayesa Walker had come her way.

Walker said she found a house in Hammond and is just waiting for the paperwork to be finalized so she can start moving.

"I get that done and then I can call it a day," Walker said.

Before Walker got the call about the available house, she said had a step-by-step and day-by-day approach, just like the remaining residents of West Calumet.

"It was very frustrating," Walker said. "But luckily I came up on something."

From HUD's perspective, Cunningham said, the relocation is going along well.

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"The pace is pretty much what we expected," Cunningham said.

Carla Morgan, East Chicago's city attorney, said the city hoped the process would be farther along, but mass relocations take time.

The biggest challenge is the lack of available housing options, Morgan said. Housing counselors continue to work with residents to identify housing possibilities and to look outside the area.

"We wish it were easier for people to find affordable, good housing," Morgan said.

One of the options for West Calumet residents is to move to a neighboring housing authority, whether elsewhere in Northwest Indiana or in Cook County, Cunningham said. Nearly 200 families are trying to use that option, he said.

"There's no place to go for that many people," said Sherry Hunter, a community activist.

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For now, despite the contamination in the ground that prompted Copeland to order residents out of the complex, the Environmental Protection Agency continues cleaning individual residences around the complex and checking mulch to ensure there's no exposed soil.

The city's not comfortable with people still living at the complex, but didn't want to put added hardship on people, Morgan said.

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"We're trying to do the best we can with a bad situation," Morgan said.

While housing officials and the city want to see the residents relocated as quickly as possible, there's no immediate danger the complex will close its doors. Cunningham said the East Chicago Housing Authority submitted a demolition request but that's still in progress.

"It's really going to be when the last person is able to find suitable housing that it's going to be over," Cunningham said.

City and HUD officials said there's no hard deadline but as the weeks go on, residents try to move forward.

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"We just keep our faith up," Wash said.

clyons@post-trib.com

Twitter: @craigalyons
Two dozen people are facing federal drug charges after prosecutors say they used Amtrak trains to transport cocaine and heroin from California to Chicago.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago says the charges are part of a multi-year investigation dubbed "Operation Derailed."

In a news release, prosecutors say the defendants received large amounts of heroin and cocaine from traffickers in Mexico and California. They moved it from Los Angeles to Chicago aboard the Amtrak Express, a commercial train line. Some drugs were concealed inside pool filters and car parts.

One of the people named in the indictment unsealed Thursday is an Amtrak employee who's accused of stealing a package of cocaine after it arrived at Union Station in Chicago.

Associated Press
Warning: Video may be disturbing. A man is shot near 56th Street and Hoyne Avenue while operating Facebook Live, streaming his own shooting in real-time. (March 31, 2016) (Chicago Tribune)

A man killed Friday outside a gas station previously had suffered multiple gunshot wounds in March while he was using Facebook Live, effectively broadcasting his own shooting on social media.

Brian Fields, 30, of the 7200 block of South Wolcott Avenue, was shot to death while sitting inside a white two-door vehicle in the 1900 block of West Garfield Boulevard after 10 p.m. Friday, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner's office. Fields was shot in the chest, and Chiquita Ford, 30, who also was killed in the shooting, was shot in the side.

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No one has been arrested in connection with the double homicide.

Brian Fields also was shot March 31.

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At the time, he was standing outside a corner store at 56th Street and Hoyne Avenue in the West Englewood neighborhood, holding his cellphone in front of him while he spoke on Facebook Live, which sends out video in real time to Facebook. He was shot multiple times, including in the face.

His mother spoke with Tribune reporters at the time and said Fields was on a ventilator in the intensive care unit at Mount Sinai Hospital after suffering gunshot wounds to his jaw, back, stomach and legs.

At the time, Anthony Guglielmi, the Police Department's chief spokesman, said detectives were "increasingly confident" that the video was authentic and captured a shooting.

After the March shooting, Guglielmi said police were exploring two possible motives  if the shooting was gang-related or perhaps a retaliation for the victim's second-degree murder conviction in 2009.

Information on a possible motive for Friday's shooting has not been released.
Chiquita Ford was shot to death Oct. 28, 2016, at a gas station in the 1900 block of West Garfield Boulevard in Chicago. (Photo provided by friends)

Beat 0932

Chiquita Ford was days away from moving out of state with her two young children when she was gunned down inside a vehicle at a gas station in the Back of the Yards neighborhood.

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A large crowd stood feet away from where Ford was fatally shot while she was seated inside a white two-door vehicle that was stopped at a gas station in the 1900 block of West Garfield Boulevard. Some women cried and embraced each other while others sipped from cups.

Ford, 30, of the 1000 block of Hull Avenue in Westchester, was inside the vehicle with Brian Fields, 30, of the 7200 block of South Wolcott Avenue, when a man walked up to them and began firing shots, Chicago police said. Ford was shot on the side of her body and Fields was shot in the chest. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.

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Chicago police work at the scene of a double fatal shooting at a gas station in the 1900 block of West Garfield Boulevard on Oct. 28, 2016, in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. A 30-year-old man and a 30-year-old woman were shot to death inside a vehicle in the parking lot of the gas station late Friday night. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune) (Erin Hooley, Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune)

Domonique Walton was among those who showed up at the gas station after hearing about the fatal shooting. She grew up with Ford, whom she considered to be her best friend for the past 20-plus years.

"She was a very caring person," she said. "The realest chick you ever met."

Ford planned to move to Pennsylvania with her 9-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son in the next couple of days to escape the city's violence, Walton said.

"For a better life," she said. "She wanted to get her kids out of it."

Walton became emotional as a 40-year-old man, who asked not to be named, described Ford. Another friend hugged Walton, and the two walked away.

The 40-year-old man said Ford was the type of friend who didn't pass judgment on people. She seemed to already be working on a solution before a friend would even tell her about a problem they had.

"Her mind, body and soul, she wouldn't judge you," he said. "She would take you for who you are."

Fields' relatives also were among those grieving in the large crowd gathered outside the gas station that was roped off by various layers of crime scene tape. Family members declined to comment.

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A 64-year-old woman, who asked not to be named, joined the crowd, though she didn't personally know Fields or Ford. She said she has lived in the neighborhood since 1975.

"What affects one, affects all," she said, noting the people who were killed could have easily been one of her own relatives.

She said she joined the crowd for prayer, urging that vengeance for what happened would be taken care of by a higher spiritual power.

(Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)

Members of the Chicago Police Department stop a man who crossed police tape at the scene of a double fatal shooting at a gas station in the 1900 block of West Garfield Boulevard on Oct. 29, 2016, in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. Above: People climb a fence to get a view of the shooting scene. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)

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Another neighbor, May Watson, who has lived in the area for decades, stopped by with a friend to see what happened. She said the violence in the neighborhood seems to have gotten worse within the past six years.

"They need to shut both of these service stations," she said pointing at two nearby gas stations at the intersection of Damen Avenue and Garfield Boulevard. "I'm telling you, something happens every (expletive) day."

Her own son was shot in the neck not far from the scene of Friday's double homicide. The bullet remains lodged in his neck.

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At the gas station where Fields and Ford were shot, officers lifted covers that had been placed over the car to shield the bodies from the public. A crowd watched from across the street on a nearby grassy area as officers placed the bodies inside a police vehicle.

"Oh no, no," one woman said as officers placed one body into the police vehicle. "Oh Lord, Jesus."

Two women held on to each other as they cried.

The crowd slowly began to leave as officers began taking down some of the layers of police tape.
A 40-year-old man died after crashing into a light pole late Friday in the Washington Heights neighborhood on the Far South Side, Chicago police said.

He was riding a four-wheeler all-terrain vehicle about 11:25 p.m. Friday near 106th Street and Green Street when he crashed into a light pole. He was taken to Roseland Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11:40 p.m., officials said.

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He was identified as Orenthal Clark, of the 10500 block of South Green Street, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

No one else was injured in the crash. The incident remained under investigation as of Saturday morning.
Mark Maxson and his mother, Almeater Maxon, leave Stateville Correctional Center on Sept. 27, 2016, after Maxson, who was sentenced to life in prison for the 1992 murder of a child, was released when the conviction was vacated. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune) (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune)

CHICAGO  A certificate of innocence has been handed to a Chicago man whose conviction for the 1992 rape and murder of a 6-year-old boy was vacated last month.

The granting by a Cook County judge of the certificate on Thursday to 55-year-old Mark Maxson will allow him to seek a nearly $200,000 reimbursement from the state for his wrongful conviction.

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Under the law, the certificate also means the state will expunge Maxson's murder conviction.

DNA evidence showed Maxson didn't kill Lindsey Murdock, and Cook County prosecutors determined Maxson's conviction couldn't stand. Prosecutors say the investigation into the boy's slaying is ongoing.

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Mark Maxson reacts as he leaves Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill, Ill., on Sept. 27, 2016. Maxson, sentenced to life in prison for the 1992 murder of a child, was released after his conviction was vacated. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)

Investigators focused on Maxson after he told a reporter he'd bought chips for the child and told him to go home. Murdock was found dead the next day.

No physical evidence linked Maxson to the crime.

Associated Press
FBI Director James Comey decided to inform Congress that he would look again into Hillary Clinton's handling of emails during her time as secretary of state for two main reasons - a sense of obligation to lawmakers and a concern that word of the new email discovery would leak to the media and raise questions of a coverup.

The rationale, described by officials close to Comey's decision-making on the condition of anonymity, prompted the FBI director to release his brief letter to Congress on Friday and upset a presidential race less than two weeks before Election Day. It placed Comey again at the center of a highly partisan argument over whether the nation's top law enforcement agency was unfairly influencing the campaign.

In a memo explaining his decision to FBI employees soon after he sent his letter to Congress, Comey said he felt "an obligation to do so given that I testified repeatedly in recent months that our investigation was completed."

"Of course, we don't ordinarily tell Congress about ongoing investigations, but here I feel I also think it would be misleading to the American people were we not to supplement the record," Comey wrote to his employees.

The last time Comey found himself in the campaign spotlight was in July, when he announced that he had finished a months-long investigation into whether Clinton mishandled classified information through the use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state. After he did so, the denunciation was loudest from Republican nominee Donald Trump and his supporters, who accused the FBI director of unfair bias toward Clinton's candidacy. There was also grumbling within FBI ranks, with a largely conservative investigative corps complaining privately that Comey should have tried harder to make a case.

This time the loudest criticism has come from Clinton and her supporters, who said Friday that Comey had provided too little information about the nature of the new line of investigation and allowed Republicans to seize political ground as a result. The inquiry focuses on Clinton emails found on a computer used by former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D), now under investigation for sending sexually explicit messages to a minor, and top Clinton aide Huma Abedin, who is Weiner's wife. The couple has since separated.

"It is extraordinary that we would see something like this just 11 days out from a presidential election," John Podesta, the chairman of Clinton's presidential campaign, said in a statement. "The Director owes it to the American people to immediately provide the full details of what he is now examining. We are confident this will not produce any conclusions different from the one the FBI reached in July."

Officials familiar with Comey's thinking said the director on Thursday faced a quandary over how to proceed once the emails, which number more than 1,000 and may duplicate some of those already reviewed, were brought to his attention.

Comey had just been briefed by a team of investigators who were seeking access to the emails. The director knew he had to move quickly because the information could leak out.

The next day, Comey informed Congress he would take additional "investigative steps" to evaluate the emails after deciding the emails were pertinent to the Clinton email investigation and that the FBI should take steps to obtain and review them.

In July, Comey had testified under oath before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that the FBI was finished investigating the Clinton email matter and there would be no criminal charges. Comey was asked at the hearing whether he would review any new information the FBI came across.

"My first question is this, would you reopen the Clinton investigation if you discovered new information that was both relevant and substantial?" Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, asked Comey during the hearing.

"It's hard for me to answer in the abstract," Comey replied at the hearing. "We would certainly look at any new and substantial information."

In the Friday memo to his employees, Comey acknowledged the FBI does not yet know the import of the newly discovered emails. "Given that we don't know the significance of this newly discovered collection of emails, I don't want to create a misleading impression," Comey wrote.

An official familiar with Comey's thinking said that "he felt he had no choice."

"What would it look like if the FBI inadvertently came across additional emails that appear to be relevant to the Clinton investigation and not at least inform the oversight committee that this occurred?" the official said. "What would be the criticism then? That the FBI hid it? That the FBI purposely kept this information to themselves?"

The official said the decision came down to which choice "was not as bad as the others."

Comey's action has been blasted by some former Justice Department officials, Clinton campaign officials and Democratic members of Congress.

"Without knowing how many emails are involved, who wrote them, when they were written or their subject matter, it's impossible to make any informed judgment on this development," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, who called the release "appalling."

"However, one thing is clear: Director Comey's announcement played right into the political campaign of Donald Trump, who is already using the letter for political purposes. And all of this just 11 days before the election," Feinstein said.

Matthew Miller, a former Justice Department spokesman in President Barack Obama's administration, said the FBI rarely releases information about ongoing criminal investigations and does not release information about federal investigations this close to political elections.

"Comey's behavior in this case from the beginning has been designed to protect his reputation for independence no matter the consequences to the public, to people under investigation or to the FBI's own integrity," Miller said.

Miller and other former officials pointed to a 2012 Justice Department memo saying that all employees have the responsibility to enforce the law in a "neutral and impartial manner," which is "particularly important in an election year."

Miller said he had been involved in cases related to elected officials in which the FBI waited until several days after an election to send subpoenas. "They know that if they even send a subpoena, let alone announce an investigation, that might leak and it might become public and it would unfairly influence the election when voters have no way to interpret the information," Miller said.

Nick Ackerman, a former federal prosecutor in New York and an assistant special Watergate prosecutor, said Comey "had no business writing to Congress about supposed new emails that neither he nor anyone in the FBI has ever reviewed."

He added: "It is not the function of the FBI director to be making public pronouncements about an investigation, never mind about an investigation based on evidence that he acknowledges may not be significant."

In Comey's note to employees, he seemed to anticipate that his decision would be controversial.

"In trying to strike that balance, in a brief letter and in the middle of an election season, there is significant risk of being misunderstood," Comey wrote.
Indiana University students mourn the death of Hannah Wilson during a vigil in Bloomington, Ind., in April 2015. Daniel E. Messel was convicted of beating Wilson to death in August 2016 and now faces charges in a 2012 sex assault on another IU student. (Haley Ward / AP)

A man serving an 80-year sentence in the killing of an Indiana University student now faces charges in the sexual assault of another IU student.

Monroe County, Ind., prosecutors charged 51-year-old Daniel Messel with attempted rape, criminal deviate conduct and several felonies stemming from the September 2012 attack on a 22-year-old woman.

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The Indianapolis Star reports court documents filed Friday say a DNA analysis linked Messel to samples taken from beneath that woman's fingernails.

Daniel Messel, age 51. (Indiana police photo)

Messel was sentenced in September to 80 years in prison for the April 2015 slaying of 22-year-old Hannah Wilson and for being a habitual criminal. The 22-year-old Wilson from Fishers, Ind., was slain two weeks before her scheduled graduation from IU.

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The woman sexually assaulted in 2012 told investigators that testimony in Messel's trial was "eerily similar" to her own case.

This woman said that a man she thinks is Messel coaxed her into his car during the weekend after Halloween. He tried to force her to perform oral sex on him, but she jumped from the moving car. The attack was reported to police, but the woman could not identify her attacker until after the trial for Wilson's killing began.

The Star reports DNA samples from under the woman's fingernails were taken in 2012, but returned no matches until after Messel's August conviction when investigators ran the samples against Messel's DNA.

Even though Wilson was slain, her violent resistance of Messel dislodged his cellphone, which was found near Wilson's body, and led police to Messel before he could dispose of bloody evidence, police said.



Associated Press
FBI Director James Comey, shown testifying on Capitol Hill on Dec. 9, 2015, has notified Congress that the FBI is renewing the investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server. (Susan Walsh / AP)

WASHINGTON  Senior Justice Department officials warned the FBI that Director James Comey's decision to notify Congress about renewing the investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server was not consistent with long-standing practices of the department, according to officials familiar with the discussions.

FBI officials who work closely with Comey on Thursday contacted attorneys at the Justice Department. Their message: Comey intended to inform lawmakers of newly discovered emails potentially connected to the Clinton email investigation.

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Justice officials reminded the FBI of the department's position "that we don't comment on an ongoing investigation. And we don't take steps that will be viewed as influencing an election," said one Justice Department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the high-level conversations.

"Director Comey understood our position. He heard it from Justice leadership," the official said. "It was conveyed to the FBI, and Comey made an independent decision to alert the Hill. He is operating independently of the Justice Department. And he knows it."

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Comey's decision less than two weeks before the presidential election has stunned former and current law enforcement officials and rocked the Clinton campaign, which appeared to be coasting to victory. The bureau director said in a memo to FBI employees he felt obligated to update lawmakers after testifying under oath that the investigation into Clinton's private email server was complete. And he feared that word of the newly discovered emails - found in the course of a separate investigation into former U.S. congressman Anthony Weiner, D-New York - would leak to the media and suggest a coverup, according to officials familiar with his thinking.

FBI officials said Comey and those advising him were well aware of Justice Department policy, but considered it "guidance," rather than an ironclad rule, on how to handle such sensitive information so close to an election.

During a "vigorous discussion" at the FBI among about 10 officials, lawyers and staffers, different options were discussed, said one official with knowledge of the discussion. In the end, Comey felt that the Justice Department guidance about elections did not pertain to this "extraordinary situation," the official said.

But the day after Comey's surprise announcement, anger at the FBI director from Democrats had only intensified.

Campaign chairman and longtime Clinton family confidant John Podesta said on a call with reporters that Comey's announcement was "long on innuendo and short on facts," allowing Republicans to "distort and exaggerate" its message.

"There's no evidence of wrongdoing, no charge of wrongdoing, no indication that this is even about Hillary," Podesta said.

Comey's decision to ignore the advice of Justice leadership is "stunning," said Matt Miller, who served as Justice Department spokesman under then-Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. "Jim Comey forgets that he works for the attorney general."

"I think he has a lot of regard for his own integrity. And he lets that regard cross lines into self-righteousness," Miller said. "He has come to believe that his own ethics are so superior to anyone else's that his judgment can replace existing rules and regulations. That is a dangerous belief for an FBI director to have."

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With his letter to lawmakers Friday, Comey managed to unite traditionally polarized partisans in Congress who asked the FBI director to immediately release more information and explain his actions.

On Saturday, four Democratic senators called on Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Comey to further explain the letter Comey sent to congressional leaders. Sens. Thomas Carper (Delaware), Patrick Leahy (Vermont), Dianne Feinstein (California) and Benjamin Cardin (Maryland) asked that Lynch and Comey by Monday provide more details of the investigative steps being taken by the FBI, the number of emails involved and what is being done to determine how many of the emails are the same as ones already reviewed by the FBI.

"Just 10 days before a presidential election, the American people deserve more disclosure without delay regarding the FBI's most recent announcement," the senators wrote. "Anything less would be irresponsible and a disservice to the American people."

Republican lawmakers are likewise interested in greater transparency from the FBI director.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, wrote Comey Friday evening with a similar request.

"In line with your commitment to be transparent with Congress and the public, I respectfully request that the FBI provide as much information as possible about these new developments without harming the integrity of its ongoing investigation," Johnson wrote in the letter.

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The FBI director is considered a quasi-independent law enforcement official, though the role still falls under the attorney general. The division of duty between the FBI and attorneys at the Justice Department is usually clear. FBI agents investigate cases and will offer recommendations on whether to bring charges. Justice officials ultimately make that call.

But in the case of the Clinton email server investigation, that norm was upended in June after Lynch and former president Bill Clinton met on Lynch's plane in Phoenix, just as the inquiry was in its final stages. Lynch described the meeting as "primarily social," but she soon pledged that she would accept the recommendations of the FBI on the Clinton email probe.

That led to Comey's unusual news conference in July, when he announced he had finished an investigation into whether Clinton had mishandled classified information during her tenure as secretary of state. He recommended she not be charged.

DOJ officials said that Lynch and Comey did not have a direct conversation about Comey's decision to inform lawmakers of newly discovered emails.

The emails, which number in the thousands, were found on a computer used by Weiner, now under investigation after allegedly sending sexually explicit messages to a minor, and top Clinton aide Huma Abedin, who is Weiner's wife. The two recently separated.

The emails may duplicate some of those already reviewed, and officials still are not sure of their significance. While the FBI had legal authority to search Weiner's laptop for evidence related to his case of sexting a minor, it could not seize emails related to the Clinton server case. That would require a separate search warrant or the consent of the people whose emails were gathered.

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Comey said that once FBI officials decided to review the newly discovered batch of emails found on the Weiner computer, and examine its significance to the Clinton investigation, the law enforcement activity would soon become public.

"How would that look?" an official asked. "And how do you then explain it? What impact would that have had to hold onto this information for a couple of weeks?"

Michael Vatis, a former senior Justice Department official who is now a partner at Steptoe & Johnson, said Comey was probably trying to be transparent. But "transparency is not the foremost value in investigations. Fairness is," he said.

"His statement has, quite predictably, been blown out of proportion and twisted into a signifier of some momentous discovery, when in fact, the new emails may turn out to reveal nothing new at all," he said. "That's not fair to Clinton."

A 2012 Justice Department memo sent by Holder during the last presidential race said employees "must be particularly sensitive to safeguarding the Department's reputation for fairness, neutrality, and nonpartisanship."

The memo advised that if an employee was "faced with a question regarding the timing of charges or overt investigative steps near the time of a primary or general election," the employee should contact the department's public integrity section "for further guidance."

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An expert on legal ethics, Stephen Gillers of New York University School of Law said he was disturbed by Comey's conduct during this election season.

"Comey's July press conference was wrong, and now he has doubled down," Gillers said. "The FBI's job is to gather information for and make a recommendation to DOJ lawyers, not to hold press conferences and characterize the evidence. Tolerating that conduct from an FBI director sets a terrible precedent."

Adam Entous, Jenna Johnson and Matt Zapotosky contributed to this report.
In 1989, Mark Schafer teamed up with his University of Iowa roommate, Tim Condon, to form Schafer Condon Carter, which would become one of Chicago's largest independent advertising agencies.

Schafer, 58, died of complications from a pre-existing heart condition Oct. 14 at his farm in Lyndon Station, Wis., Condon said. Schafer had been a longtime resident of Glenview before retiring from Schafer Condon Carter in 2014 and subsequently moving to Wisconsin.

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Born in Rockford, Schafer grew up in nearby Roscoe. After receiving a bachelor's degree from the University of Iowa, Schafer worked as an ad copywriter for Wieboldt's in Chicago.

In 1984, Schafer joined the Mandabach & Simms ad agency in Chicago. He later moved to San Francisco, where he worked as a copywriter and then a creative director. When Schafer and his wife decided in 1989 to move back to Chicago, he asked his longtime friend Condon, who had been at the Bozell & Jacobs ad agency, if he wanted to join him in an agency.

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"(The move) wasn't as much bold as it was just I think naive," Condon said with a laugh. "We just figured we could always go back to work for a big agency if it didn't work out."

The new agency handled freelance assignments for Spiegel's magazine and for the in-house agency at Helene Curtis, Condon said. Soon, they won their first client, Chicago-based Canfield Beverage.

"They were young, they were hungry, and they seemed to have a je ne sais quoi about them at the time, and we thought, let's give (these guys) a shot. They were just great partners," said Bill Zilligen, who was Canfield's director of marketing from 1990 until 1995.

Schafer Condon created a new tagline for the venerable, Chicago-based soft drink company: Canfield's: The Flavor of Chicago.

"Mark had a real high attention to detail and I always had a lot of respect for that," Zilligen said. "I may have been in a hurry on a project, and he would see something that he didn't feel was right, and he would point out his own agency's mistakes. He'd say, 'I'm not proud of this, I gotta clean this up, this isn't clean.' "

"He was treating our business as if it was his business."

Schafer and Condon soon attracted other clients, including Equal sweetener. They hired Gail Carter, a client services director, and as time went on, the firm continued to grow. Today, Schafer Condon Carter has about 110 employees, Condon said.

"Mark was just a beloved person. He was someone who people could talk to, from our receptionist to our chief financial officer," Condon said. "He was just a genuine, warm and caring person."

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Schafer was chief operating officer at Schafer Condon Carter until retiring in 2014, at which point he became the firm's chairman emeritus.

Schafer is survived by his wife, Katie; a daughter, Margaret; a son, Joseph; a sister, Maureene Gulbrandsen; and a brother, Mike.

Services were held.

Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
I have good news for the winners and the losers of the election, whoever they may be. The winners may enjoy the pleasure of celebrating victory with genuine Cuban cigars. The losers can drown their sorrows in Cuban rum straight from the island.

That's because President Barack Obama has made such indulgences easier. Until recently, any American traveler could bring back no more than $100 worth of these items. Under the new policy, you're free to bring as much as you can carry.

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True, you may bring supplies only for your personal use; selling them is forbidden. Ha. Enterprising travelers will either ignore or find ways to evade these rules. I imagine Americans who really want Cuban rum or cigars will be able to satisfy their desire without flying to Havana.

How good are they? Before he imposed an embargo on Fidel Castro's communist state in 1962, President John F. Kennedy ordered an aide to lay in 1,000 of his favorite Cuban cigars. In the ensuing decades, they have been prized by aficionados. Havana Club's cachet has been sufficient to make it the best-selling rum on the planet.

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Even some smokers who despised Castro were known to indulge when they got the chance. Anti-communists caught puffing Cuban cigars would say they weren't subsidizing the dictatorship; they were burning the enemy's crops.

Frustrated connoisseurs who finally get their lips on these prizes should savor the pleasure while they can. It's not that these legendary items will suddenly become unavailable. But the thrill will soon dissipate, for a variety of reasons.

One is that forbidden fruit is always sweeter. Products that can be obtained only with great effort or subterfuge somehow deliver more enjoyment. A half-century ago, those visiting Colorado would often drive home in cars laden with Coors beer, which was sold only in Western states and thus achieved cult status elsewhere.

Those with the brew could sell it for triple the price they paid. The New York Times reported in 1975, "Secret Service agents were forbidden to bring extra crates aboard federal planes after one agent was discovered to have loaded 38 cases onto a recent flight from the West Coast." Only after it became available everywhere did people realize that Coors is just another bland mass-market beer, interchangeable with just about anything else on sale at your grocery or liquor store.

There's a similar story involving Krispy Kreme, whose doughnut shops used to be found only in the Southeast. When the first outlets opened in New York and Chicago, frenzied locals thronged to them. Today these places are just part of the landscape, not a shimmering destination people go out of their way to reach. Shares of the company's stock peaked at $50 in 2003 before sliding to $1.01 six years later.

Cuban cigars and rum, in the same manner, will eventually lose their special aura and have to compete on their tangible merits. Those may be less than commonly assumed.

In a recent interview with NPR, David Savona, executive editor of Cigar Aficionado, said that in the magazine's taste tests, the Cubans "don't always win. So the cigars from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Honduras  in many cases, they're just as good." Seriously? Honduras?

Blind tasting doesn't lie. The Washington Post recently conducted a test of six rums, four light and two dark, with each group including a Havana Club. But the Cuban brand came in second in the dark category and tied for first in the light. "Much of our obsession with Cuban rum 'is really myth over substance,' says Archipelago co-owner Ben Wiley," reported the Post.

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That's the nature of human beings. We always want what we can't have and often undervalue what's right at hand. We're also fickle, tiring of the familiar and ever-alert to new enticements.

And our minds have a way of playing tricks on our taste buds. "Studies have shown that people prefer inexpensive wines in blind taste tests," The New Yorker's James Surowiecki wrote in 2013, "but that they actually get more pleasure from drinking wine they are told is expensive."

The 18th-century writer Samuel Johnson noted, "Were it not for imagination, sir, a man would be as happy in the arms of a chambermaid as of a duchess." Those first tastes of Cuban cigars and rum will be fired by imagination. After that, it's all downhill.

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.

schapman@chicagotribune.com

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Follow him on Twitter @SteveChapman13 and Facebook.
Barb and John Nolan, of Aurora, brought Duddley, a 10-year old Maltese, to the American Cancer Society's Bark For Life charity walk that honors the lifelong contributions of canine caregivers. Duddley's Viking attire won him a blue ribbon for best costume. (Linda Girardi / The Beacon-News)

Karen Reeves has taught her bichon frise mix how to tap the keys of a miniature piano and turn on a light switch. However, those aren't the only things that make her a remarkable companion.

"Bailey is a trick dog champion. She knows 236 different tricks," Reeves said.

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"I wish that I didn't teach her how to turn on the switch above my bed's headboard because she now turns on the lights in the middle of the night," Reeves said with a laugh.

Reeves said her dog's temperament and personality partly have given her a positive outlook during a tough time in her life, and why she was taking part in Saturday's American Cancer Society's Bark For Life charity walk at Phillips Park in Aurora. The event honored the lifelong contributions and devotion of K-9 caregivers and raised money for cancer research, education and support services for cancer patients and their families in Kane County.

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The walk around Mastodon Lake became a pre-Halloween activity for most of the dog handlers, who dressed their K-9 friends in costumes.

Kaitlin Thompson, American Cancer Society community manager, said patients enduring cancer treatment often are empowered and consoled through the companionship of their beloved dogs.

"Our dogs are there for us every day, especially in stressful times when patients return from treatment for cancer," Thompson said. "As you step off for the walk with your dogs, remember how much of a difference you are making in people's lives."

Reeves was diagnosed in April with stage 4 colon cancer that had spread to the liver.

"I have had six surgeries and a series of chemotherapy and radiation treatments. I just underwent surgery for thyroid cancer two weeks ago," she said.

Her doctor prescribed a positive attitude and laughter as part of her recovery, according to Reeves.

"My doctor told me my attitude could kill me faster than the cancer. He told me that patients do survive this form of cancer," she said.

Reeves said she took her doctor's advice to heart.

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"He wanted me to maintain a positive attitude and laugh every day," she said with a smile.

Before her diagnosis, Reeves taught dog obedience and agility at a local dog day care facility, she said. Although she had to place her work on temporary hold, she was happy to be at Saturday's event.

"After my chemotherapy treatment, Bailey would cuddle with me and rest her head on my shoulder. She sensed when I wasn't feeling well and gave me comfort and support," Reeves said. "It's been a rough 18 months, but I feel good.".

Anna Rodriguez participated in the Bark for Life as part of a team composed of family members who walked in memory of her late mother, Socorro Rodriguez.

Rodriguez, of Aurora, brought her mother's beloved Baxter, a 9-year-old terrier who now lives with a granddaughter. The Rodriguez family had five of the 10 K-9s in Saturday's event.

"Baxter would sit at my mother's side on the couch and gave her comfort in the end. When she passed away, the dog sat in the same spot for the longest time. It was heartbreaking to see," Rodriguez said.

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Barb and John Nolan, of Aurora, brought Duddley, a 10-year-old Maltese. The dog's Viking ship outfit won a blue ribbon for best costume.

"We made a makeshift beard to go along with the costume. We always want to support the cause of finding a cure for cancer," Barb Nolan said.

Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
Preliminary maps show proposed boundary options for District 308 elementary schools. The district will collect feedback on the maps at public forums Tuesday and Wednesday. (Community Unit School District 308 / The Beacon-News)

Community Unit School District 308 officials have unveiled four options for changes to the district's school boundaries.

The drafts differ regarding proposed attendance lines, the way elementary schools would feed into middle schools and how many students in the Oswego-based district would be affected. They were made public before two open houses designed to allow residents and parents to give feedback on the boundary change options.

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The boundary line shift is designed to ease capacity issues and is part of a district plan to relocate some programs, including moving kindergarten classes into students' home schools. The changes would go into effect for the 2017-2018 school year.

The proposals, drafted with input from an advisory committee and educational planning firm RSP and Associates, are expected to affect between 456 and 683 elementary school students when the changes take effect, between 111 and 720 junior high students and between 102 and 163 high school students from among the district's roughly 18,000 students.

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The discussion comes about four years after the district last shifted boundary lines in 2012, when it was reportedly seeing overcrowding at several elementary, junior high and high schools. School board member Lauri Doyle, who is co-leading the boundary advisory committee, said boundaries lasting five years in a changing district is "pretty amazing." They will likely change again in the coming years, she said.

Many areas of the map are still under discussion, Doyle said, including the areas near the middle of the district and the Heritage subdivision, which could see a change in the elementary, junior high and high schools children attend. Other subdivisions could see significant changes under some scenarios but none under other scenarios, she said.

"If it's your subdivision moving, you will feel like it's the most dramatic change," she said.

One of the largest differences among the scenarios is the projected capacity at the district's middle schools, Doyle said. In some scenarios, some junior highs would be near capacity while others would be well below capacity. Other scenarios would leave the school capacities at levels Doyle said are more ideal for learning but would require moving more students.

The capacity of schools is one of the board's main priorities during the process of redrawing boundary lines, Doyle said. And keeping together neighborhoods bound by social ties is an "unwritten guiding principle," she said.

"The students that we're affecting, is it necessary to affect them?" she said. "Does it create a positive change in their learning environment? And is it necessary for capacity issues?"

The only difference in the school feeder system between the proposals affects Fox Chase and Lakewood Creek elementary schools. In two scenarios, Fox Chase, along with Boulder Hill and Old Post elementaries, feed into Thompson Junior High, and Lakewood Creek, Hunt Club, Prairie Point and a portion of Southbury elementary schools' students feed into Traughber Junior High. In two other scenarios, Lakewood Creek would feed into Thompson Junior High, and Fox Chase would feed into Traughber.

Southbury is the only school in each scenario that would feed into two junior high schools. In general, Southbury students who live west of Douglas Road would feed into Traughber, and students who live to the east would attend Murphy Junior High.

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The plans would also move some programs, such as special education services and programs for English learners. Those programs have capacity requirements separate from general education classes and would affect each building's capacity, which has been listed by the board as a priority during the boundary-shifting process. The changes would mean several of the programs would follow the same school feeder system as general education students, Doyle said.

Doyle said there will likely be changes to the boundary proposals before they are voted on by the board. She urged parents to remain positive while discussing boundary changes around their children.

"Please try to remain positive with your children," she said. "So if they end up being moved, they will at least have a positive feeling about this, and they won't be as anxious."

Public forums on the draft maps will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Bednarcik Junior High and 7 p.m. Wednesday at Traughber. Maps are available for review on The Beacon-News website, the Community Unit School District 308 website and at district buildings. Feedback can also be given through a survey on the district's website from 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through noon Friday.

The advisory committee will meet again Nov. 10, and then boundary recommendations will come before the full school board Nov. 28. The board is set to vote on district boundaries Dec. 12.

sfreishtat@tribpub.com

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Twitter @srfreish
A handful of polling places in the south and southwest suburbs will be changed for the Nov. 8 elections, according to Cook County Clerk David Orr.

Voters in Bloom Township precinct 37 who had voted at Brookwood Junior High will instead vote at the John. H. Blakey Center for Seniors, 1 N. Rebecca St., Glenwood.

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Bloom Township precinct 54 voters, instead of casting ballots at the Chicago Heights Fire Department, will vote at Bloom Township Hall, 425 S. Halsted St., Chicago Heights.

Voters in Bremen Township precinct 33 who had traditionally voted at Sandidge School will be voting at Kimberly Heights School, 6141 Kimberly Drive, Tinley Park.

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Bremen Township precinct 74 residents who had voted at Don Gorman Fieldhouse will instead cast ballots at Morton-Gingerwood School, 16936 Forest Ave., Oak Forest.

Rich Township precincts 2 and 35 which normally voted at the Barn at Sgt. Means Park in Olympia Fields will instead vote at Temple Anshe Sholom, 20820 Western Ave., Olympia Fields.

While polling places are primarily public buildings, they can change for a variety of reasons, such as safety issues, construction projects or space constraints, according to the clerk's office, which is sending notices to voters affected by the change in polling places.
Former Courier-News editor Mike Bailey will discuss his new book, 300 Lake St., at an appearance Nov. 9 at Gail Borden Public Library. (Gail Borden Library / HANDOUT)

ESO presents Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake suites

Elgin Symphony Orchestra Music Director Andrew Grams will conduct the ESO in a program of popular ballet suites  Tchaikovsky's "Sleeping Beauty" and "Swan Lake" and Stravinsky's "Petrushka"  at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, and at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, at Hemmens Cultural Center, 45 Symphony Way, Elgin.

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The program spotlights the award-winning ESO, named 2016 Illinois Professional Orchestra of the Year by the Illinois Council of Orchestras.

Stravinsky's "Petrushka" (1947), tells the story of three puppets brought to life that experience the human emotions of love, passion and jealousy, according to a release from the ESO. It was composed near the end of Stravinsky's Russian folk period. "Swan Lake" is the first of Tchaikovsky's three ballets. It was not well-received when it premiered in 1877 but it has since earned a place as one of the most treasured ballets. "Sleeping Beauty" was an immediate success when it premiered in 1890. Based on Charles Perrault's fairy tale of a sleeping princess awakened by her dashing prince, it was a favorite of Tchaikovsky. He remarked "I think, dear friend, it is one of my best works. The subject is so poetical," according to the release.

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Tickets start at $40. Student tickets are $12.

Go to ElginSymphony.Org or call 847-888-4000 for information.

Literacy Connection offers tutor training

If you can speak and read English you can help local adults who need help improvement their reading skills, according to a release from The Literacy Connection.

The Literacy Connection is offering a Volunteer Tutor Training from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturdays, Nov. 5 and 12, at the Gail Borden Public Library, 270 N. Grove Avenue, Elgin.

The first hour will be an introduction to the volunteer tutoring program, and the remaining time is the training. There is a $25 charge for the training, background check, and tutoring strategies book.

Seventy-five adults with limited English or low literacy skills are currently waiting for a tutor, the release said.

Registration is recommended, contact The Literacy Connection at 847-742-6565, emailinfo@elginliteracy.org, or go to www.elginliteracy.org to learn more about the organization or to register for the training workshop.

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The Literacy Connection serves 16 northwest suburban Chicago communities including Algonquin, Bartlett, Carpentersville, Cary, Elgin, South Elgin, East Dundee, West Dundee, Gilberts, Hanover Park, Hampshire, Hoffman Estates, Huntley, Lake in the Hills, Streamwood, and Schaumburg. The agency provides customized one-on-one adult tutoring, English conversation groups, and family literacy programs.

Former Courier-News editor discusses book

Elgin author and former Daily Courier-News columnist Mike Bailey will discuss his new book, 300 Lake St., a story that picks up where his previous book, Goodbye Elgin High, left off, according to a release from the Gail Borden Library.

The program, including a book signing, will take place at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 9 at the Gail Borden Public Library, 270 N. Grove Ave., Elgin. Bailey's appearance is part of the library's Author on the Fox series.

In 300 Lake St., Bailey explores the relationship between the city and its newspaper, the Daily Courier News, through a period from the early 1970s until the building closed in 2010, according to the release. 300 Lake St. is the story of their once intertwined relationship, exploring events during that period that shaped both, as well as a behind the scenes look at what politicians once called Elgin's conscience, the Daily Courier News, the release said.

"I wanted people to fully understand how remarkable it is that the city of Elgin emerged from what I call the Dark Decade to become the dynamic city it is today," Bailey said in the release. "In the book, I list and explain the three crucial decisions the city made that allowed it to escape that period of despair."

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The program is free but registration is needed and can be done at www.gailborden.info, by calling 847-429-4597 or in person.

Library to host U46 expo kickoff

A School District U46 expo will feature cutting-edge technologies, experiments with next-generation science and live chemistry and physics demonstrations.

The Gail Borden Public Library will host two kickoff events for School District U46 students and their families from 6 to 8 p.m. Nov. 10 at the main library, 270 N. Grove Ave., and from 6 to 8 p.m. Nov. 15 at the Rakow Branch, 2751 W. Bowes Road.

Students will be able to watch robotics demos, conduct hands-on science investigations, learn about architecture with LEGO bricks, do STEM activities focused on electricity, energy and physics, learn about coding and DNA extraction. Representatives from the Argonne National Laboratory, NIU Office of STEM Outreach, Roosevelt University Office of Biological, Physical and Chemical Science, and Illinois Science Olympiad will give demos and provide hands-on activities.

The events are designed to encourage students to explore all areas of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), exchange ideas with friends and pick up their STEM Expo information packet for the STEM Expo that will take place Feb. 25 at South Elgin High School.

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For information, go to U46STEMexpo.com
A student was inspired by "If You Give a Moose a Muffin" by Laura Joffe Numeroff. (Denise Moran / The Courier-News)

The 60 decorated pumpkins on display in the hallway of Howard B. Thomas Grade School in Burlington until Halloween feature characters from favorite children's books.

These characters include Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey, Sam-I-am by Dr. Seuss, Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton, and Pickles the Fire Cat by Esther Averil.

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The Pennies for Pumpkins Challenge was started in 2014 by HBT teacher Lori DeRaedt. Instead of being carved, each pumpkin is painted and decorations are attached. Students can vote for their favorite characters by placing money in the jars next to the pumpkins.

The money raised by the event serves a special purpose. HBT teacher Becky Mengel said that the first Pennies for Pumpkins Challenge raised over $1,000 for Riley Buckholz of Burlington, a student in Mengel's second grade class.

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Riley is the son of Paul and Adena Buckholz and the brother of Aiden Buckholz, a fourth grader at HBT.

In 2014 when he was four years old, Riley was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer called Pineablastoma. He has undergone surgeries to remove tumors at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago including a recent surgery in June 2016. The funds raised by this year's Pennies for Pumpkins Challenge will again be given to the Buckholz family to help with medical bills.

Riley decorated a pumpkin for this year's event to look like Mickey Mouse. Riley and his family went to Disney World over Christmas vacation in December 2015. The trip was provided by Make-A-Wish Illinois.

Next to Riley's Mickey Mouse pumpkin is another pumpkin titled "Monkey in My Chair." It was decorated by one of Riley's classmates. Mengel said that on Wednesday of every other week, Riley goes for cancer treatment. He stays home to rest on Thursday before returning to school on Friday.

While Riley is absent from school, a big stuffed monkey sits in his classroom chair. The "Monkey in My Chair" program, developed in honor of Chloe Watson Feyerherm for preschool and elementary school students, helps cancer patients stay connected to their teacher and classmates by including a "Monkey Message" online portal for sharing pictures and documents.

Since Riley was diagnosed with cancer, there has been an outpouring of support for him and his family from the community.

The Riley's Rescue Team website, www.youcaring.com, noted that $56,357 has been raised toward the goal of $80,000.

In 2015, Riley, who lost much of his hearing due to radiation and six rounds of chemotherapy, received hearing aids donated by Naperville's Fisher Foundation for Hearing Health Care. The hearing aids were presented to Riley by Batman, his favorite superhero.

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In May 2016, the Burlington Central High School trace team presented a check for $3,500 to the Buckholz family that they raised through a cookie dough fundraiser. Riley and his brother were made honorary track team members and given jerseys and batons.

Mengel said that the monetary donations from the 2016 Pennies for Pumpkins Challenge will be counted by the HBT second grade students on Monday.

Denise Moran is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
Elgin resident Inez Tornblom, left, and Tashlyn Johnson discuss the mural painted by artist Dave Powers in Elgin May 19, 2016. Tornblom thought the people in the mural appeared upset at what happened, instead of proud to be posing by a lynching. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

The downtown Elgin mural depicting a mob at the lynching of two black men created rift in the community this spring that led to its eventual removal.

It also created a new awareness of public art and the city's approach to it, said Amanda Harris, the city's liaison to the Cultural Arts Commission, which oversees public art. Harris was out of the country when the controversy over artist David Powers' "American Nocturne" began, but faced it head on when she returned.

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Looking back, "while everything with the mural wasn't great, it put the spotlight on Elgin's place in the arts," Harris said. "I think it created an opportunity for the city and local artists to say we have something good and we will keep growing it and we want (the community) to be a part of it."

The Cultural Arts Commission had been discussing creating a Public Art Plan that would include an inventory of all the public art located in Elgin, Harris said. When outrage began over "American Nocturne," the Commission was able to explain to the community its idea and the need for a Public Art Plan, she said.

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Harris has spent six months working on the plan and feels it has helped make the Elgin community cohesive, she said.

A part of the Public Art Plan is developing a database of Elgin's sculptures, paintings and murals displayed throughout the city. The database will launch online Monday, she said. Saturday's Art Harvest Festival is sort of a sneak peek with an art treasure hunt throughout the downtown featuring the six pieces on the database so far, she said.

Those six pieces are located in downtown Elgin, she said. The database will be a living document and will expand as pieces in other parts of the city are added, Harris said. She estimates there are about 100 pieces that will be on the list.

"The idea to catalogue as much artwork as we possibly can until we are done," Harris said. "We are figuring out how the best way to have (the database) online and accessible to the public," she said.

Harris and commissioners had to track down the art work, pin point locations, take pictures and research the history of each piece. She enjoyed the task, she said. "It was great to have a purpose just to be out and about and see what Elgin has to offer and to be in that moment," she said.

She feels the database will help people take a new look at the existing public art. "We want people to be inspired to see the creativity and see the opportunity that exists," Harris said. "And to put a positive light on the art that is down here. It is positive, it is good and what we are doing is good and forward moving."

Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
A statewide effort by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights to get out the Latino and immigrant vote is coming to Elgin.

The Coalition's New Americans Democracy Project is trying to let Latinos and naturalized immigrants to understand "the importance of not just one vote, but the collective vote of our community and how much power that can have," said Aida Palma said, a fellow with the Coalition.

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New Americans Democracy Project is holding a program at 1 p.m. Saturday at Gail Borden Public Library, 270 N. Grove Ave., in Elgin, to register, educate and mobilize Latino and naturalized immigrant voters to the polls. Gail Borden Library is one of the locations in Kane County for early voting and everyone attending will be encouraged to vote that day. Same day registration will also be available.

Palma is heading the Coalition's project in the Elgin and Carpentersville area. The state-wide initiative encourages immigrant community members to register to vote and to cast their vote, said Palma, a South Elgin High School graduate who recently received a bachelor's degree in International Relations from Brown University in Rhode Island.

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What Palma said she has learned working on the project is there are a lot "of disenfranchised voters in our area, people who feel the system is not working," she said.

"In conversations we've had with people, they feel they cannot be part of the democratic process in 2016 because the rhetoric has been so divisive," Palma said.

The Coalition, which is nonpartisan, is trying to let Latinos understand "the importance of not just one vote, but the collective vote of our community and how much power that can have," Palma said.

Nationally, there is a huge increase in the number of naturalized immigrants and Latinos going out to vote "because of the rhetoric," she said. "People want to push back. This election season, I think more people are motived to vote."

According to the Coalition's statistics, 31 percent of Elgin's voting population is Latino and the figure is 30 percent in Carpentersville, Palma said. The project has helped 317 people register to vote since August, she said.

The Pew Research Center reports 27.3 million Latinos are eligible to vote, which represents 12 percent of all eligible voters. The figure represents an increase of 4 million Hispanic voters since 2012, Pew's studies show.

Yet, Latino voter turnout lags nationally compared to other groups, according to Pew. In 2012, Latinos had a turnout rate of 48 percent compared to 67 percent for blacks and 64 percent for whites, the research shows.

Palma is hoping to get Latinos and naturalized immigrants to the polls. Education is another component to the project, she said. Voters need to understand where they can vote early and how they can do same day voter registration and vote on Election Day, she said.

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Celina Villanueva, manager of the New Americans Democracy Project, said the Coalition has been running the project since 2004 and has registered over 200,000 new American voters. The project is timed to midterm and presidential election years, she said.

"We've mobilized hundreds of thousands of people to get out the vote," Villanueva said. "We are really about educating the community about the issues affecting them because they have so much to lose and so much to gain from their civil participation."

"In terms of this election, it is an important election to have immigrant voices heard," Villanueva said. "It is beyond important. I think there are some serious issues in this country that really need to be dealt withthere are a lot of immigrant folks directly affected by the lack of progress on the local and state level. It is imperative that their voices be heard."

Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
A Safe Place executive director Pat Davenport, right, speaks with survivor Joyce Mason next to cardboard "silent silhouettes" representing victims who did not survive domestic violence after a domestic abuse event in Mundelein on March 30, 2016. (Yadira Sanchez Olson / Lake County News-Sun)

Abusive partners often are so good at disguising what goes on in private that victims doubt anyone will believe them if they bring the abuse to light, according to advocates working with victims of domestic violence.

It's one reason  of many  that women stay in relationships that are unhealthy for them and their children and perpetuate the cycle of violence.

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"A lot of victims feel nobody will believe them," said Pat Davenport, executive director of A Safe Place, a 38-year-old advocacy organization based in Lake County. "They've been so isolated and alone," she said, noting the abusive relationship reinforces a victim's low sense of self worth.

In yet another sign that domestic violence and high net worth are not mutually exclusive, the advocacy organization is expanding this month into Highland Park.

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"In affluent communities, there is more of an issue of denial because abuse is happening in different forms," Davenport said. "It's emotional, psychological, financial. Because people are not seeing a body full of bruises, they don't think it's abuse."

Joann Zarkovacki, a counselor with A Safe Place, said one common misconception is that domestic violence is caused by alcoholism. More likely, it's the result of growing up in an environment where violence was the norm, she said.

"Alcoholism can contribute to the abuse, and take it to a higher level because the abuser becomes more aggressive," Zarkovacki said. "More often than not, it's the power they need  to be able to exert control over another person, whether it's coming from low self-esteem or learned behavior."

That need for control sometimes takes the form of "reproductive abuse", that is, keeping a woman continually pregnant and dependent on the abuser.

"Think about it," said Davenport. "If you keep someone pregnant, you have all these kids and the spouse hasn't worked in a long time," she said. "They have no where else to go. The house is in his name. The credit cards are in his name."

She relayed an instance where a chief executive living in a mansion tried to run over his wife with a car. The couple had nine children and the wife, previously a professional therapist, hadn't worked in many years.

"On the phone, she said, 'He's just having a bad day. He didn't really hurt me. He just tried to show me that he was upset'," recalled Davenport.

She said it often takes time for the victim to recognize she didn't deserve the treatment.

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A Safe Place is starting a new Women's Care group in Highland Park this month. The group will meet from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday evenings starting Nov. 7 at the Trinity Episcopal Church of Highland Park, 425 Laurel Avenue. According to the announcement, groups of women will learn more about behaviors associated with unhealthy relationships and domestic violence. The sessions will help women recognize the impact of unhealthy relationships and to explore new coping skills, according to the announcement.

Participants are welcome to attend weekly or drop in occasionally. For information, call (847) 731-7165 ext. 219.

A Safe Place also offers Women's Care groups from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursdays at the First Presbyterian Church of Lake Forest, 700 N. Sheridan Rd., Lake Forest, and on Wednesdays at the Heritage Church, 255 N. Quentin Rd., Lake Zurich.

During the year that ended in June, A Safe Place assisted more than 2,800 callers on a 24-hour crisis line; provided 7,200 nights of emergency shelter to 188 victims and provided transitional and permanent housing to victims leaving abusive relationships.

Though the organization offers no legal services, advocates helped victims file 3,000 orders of protection out of its location in the Lake County Courthouse in Waukegan.

The process of filing a 40-page form and navigating a maze of services can be difficult for a woman to manage on her own, Zarkovacki said.

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"The chances of abuse increase nine times when she leaves, versus if she chooses to stay in a relationship," Davenport said. "Victims are perfectly aware that if they don't get it right, things could get worse," she said, adding, "So there is a lot of hesitation."

Funding from the Chicago Bears organization is allowing A Safe Place to expand into Highland Park and southeast Lake County. The Bears organization has provided financial assistance to A Safe Place since 1998.

Davenport said that about 50 percent of the organization's funding comes from the State of Illinois and the other half from private contributions. In light of the state's precarious finances and late payments that are forcing some agencies to close their doors, A Safe Place is trying to reduce its reliance on the state, Davenport said.

kberkowitz@pioneerlocal

@KarenABerkowitz
An attorney for a Highland Park couple planning to demolish a John Van Bergen home said Tuesday that an involuntary landmark designation is tantamount to taking the property without compensation.

"We are dealing with private property that someone paid for," attorney Harvey Barnett said during a public hearing before the Historic Preservation Commission. "In this country, you can only condemn private property for public purposes, and then only if you pay for it; it's called eminent domain."

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William and Karyn Silverstein purchased the vacant home at 1570 Hawthorne Lane behind their residence for $682,500 last fall with the intention of expanding their back yard. When they applied for a demolition permit, the preservation commission imposed a one-year moratorium after finding the home met four landmark criteria.

In May, preservation commissioner Lisa Temkin nominated the home, known as the Wilson Cline house, for landmark designation. She withdrew the nomination a month later, and architect Christopher Enck nominated the home "on behalf of an individual with an interest in historic preservation."

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The owners' attorneys have said that alterations and deterioration have left the home a poor example of Van Bergen's work, unlike Temkin's Van Bergen home which, they said, is in "pristine condition".

"That is where the buses on the Van Bergen tour are going to go," Barnett said of Temkin's home. "Trust me, they are not going down this dead-end street to take a look at this dilapidated house," he said, of the home his clients plan to demolish.

The preservation commission voted 3-1 to direct staff to prepare findings supporting the landmark nomination, which could be voted on Nov. 10. Three commissioners were absent, and it's not clear if the nomination can garner the five votes needed to forward a favorable recommendation to the Highland Park City Council. The city has only once designated a home a landmark without the owner's consent.

Testifying for the homeowners, preservationist Brian Hoffman spoke of the extensive damage and heavy-handed alterations that he believed disqualified the home for landmark standing.

"My anxiety as a preservationist is that if we were to landmark this house, I believe it would be litigated and that (the city) would lose," Hoffman said. "In so doing, we would weaken one of our most important tools for historic preservation."

Highland Park resident Skip Schrayer told the commission that landmarking homes without owner consent is damaging to home values and has a chilling effect on the market for older homes such as his on Knollwood Lane.

"It concerns (buyers) to think that at some point they may want to sell or tear down the home, but because a third party thinks it's architecturally significant, the home is protected," Schrayer said. "We live differently than we lived in 1900," he added. "In order for homes to be valuable and livable, we want garages, mud rooms and larger bathrooms, so we make additions to these homes," said Schrayer, noting they lose their artistic value and in some cases can no longer be altered and must be torn down.

But several preservation advocates spoke in favor of the nomination. Proponents have likened Van Bergen's stature and influence in Highland Park to that of Frank Lloyd Wright in Oak Park.

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Architect John Eifler, who specializes in restoring old buildings by noted architects, urged the commission to recommend the landmark designation.

"Preservation has to do with preserving culture, and when buildings like this disappear, then Highland Park becomes just a little bit different  and a little bit more the same as every other community in Illinois," said Eifler, whose firm has worked on two dozen Frank Lloyd Wright restorations, including the Mary Adams and Ward Willits homes in Highland Park.

"The idea that buildings need to be made current and when that doesn't work, they should be torn down is just bizarre," Eifler said.

kberkowitz@pioneerlocal.com

@KarenABerkowitz
Each month the Naperville Sun publishes a question-and-answer profile of a member of the Naperville Newcomers and Neighbors Club.

The November member of the month is Carolyn Klein.

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Tell us about yourself.

I grew up in Norridge, near the Northwest Side of Chicago. I met my husband Rick at Ridgewood High School 43 years ago. We have been married 37 years and have two children, Lisa, 33, and David, 31. Both live and work in Chicago. This year we finally fulfilled a family dream of traveling to Ireland. We wanted to go before our children started their own families. We planned well because in January our son will become a dad! This summer our daughter is getting married so 2017 will be a memorable year!

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How did you decide on Naperville?

After several moves with my husband's company, we finally settled back in the Chicagoland area in 1996. We decided on Naperville because of the great schools and affordable housing prices. Naperville was just beginning its massive growth and was building a great reputation for young families. It has been the perfect choice for us. We love our subdivision and are very happy living here.

How did you hear about the Naperville Newcomers and Neighbors Club?

After the kids graduated from Neuqua Valley High School and left for college, a dear friend and neighbor, Sandy Jezl, encouraged me to join her in the Let's Do Lunch group. I then joined one of the four book clubs, the Walkers group (which explores nearby forest preserves) and I've chaired the Daytime Potluck group for years. I became chairperson of the Baker's Guild in 2013. This group bakes once a year for our annual fundraiser, which takes place in November.

Since you're a Chicago native and have lived in Naperville for 20 years, you have a unique perspective of the area. What should a Naperville Newcomer do and see?

In Chicago, I would suggest Greektown and Chinatown as well as Millennium Park and the entire museum campus along the Lakefront. To get a perspective of the city from the river or the lake, the Architectural Tour is a great way to see the skyline.

In Naperville, the Riverwalk is gorgeous in every season with its many covered bridges. I love walking the dog and taking pictures downtown. We are fortunate that we have Naper Settlement, an outdoor 19th century living history museum, nestled right in the heart of our city. There is always something going on. I also love attending the Riverwalk Art Fair in September.

What's coming up next for you?

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The big focus with (Naperville Newcomers) is our annual silent auction and luncheon, Make Bake and Buy, on Nov. 15. The theme this year is, "Come to the Fair." In addition to our blue-ribbon baking, there will be sensational silent auction baskets, spectacular raffles, pop-a-balloon and so much more. We are encouraging our members to bring guests from their communities to introduce them to our wonderful organization. This event raises funds for our five supported local charities and two scholarship funds.

The Naperville Newcomers and Neighbors Club is hosting a Welcome Coffee 11 a.m. to noon Nov. 7 at the Naperville Municipal Center. For more information, go to www.napervillenewcomersandneighborsclub.com or call Sue at 630-904-5629.
Illinois State Police officials are currently investigating a shooting that took place Friday morning on the Eisenhower Expressway. The investigation had closed all westbound lanes of the expressway for more than an hour after the shooting, but as of 1:50 p.m. Friday, the state police announced that all westbound lanes were now open.

According to Illinois State Police Sgt. Jason Bradley, the shooting occurred at approximately 11:50 a.m. in the westbound lanes of Interstate 290 just east of Harlem Avenue. The incident left one person hospitalized, Bradley said.

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"The incident is currently under investigation," Bradley said. "There is one reported victim in the shooting who has been transported to a local area hospital. Their current condition is unknown."

Bradley said westbound lanes of I-290 will be closed while the state police investigate the area, and he said drivers should consider alternate routes and avoid the area.

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Forest Park Police Chief Tom Aftanas said his agency is assisting with traffic near the intersection of I-290 and Harlem, and said southbound Harlem Avenue is closed between Jackson Boulevard and Harrison Street.

"All I know is there were shots fired on the expressway, and one victim was shot," Aftanas said.

Illinois State Police ask anyone with information related to the shooting to call 847-294-4400. Callers have the option to remain anonymous.

sschering@pioneerlocal.com

Twitter: @steveschering
A sign in the hall in Hinsdale South High School points to the nurse's office. A proposal to add more nurses to Park Ridge-Niles School District 64's schools ended up being a topic of closed-door conversation for the school board. (Kimberly Fornek / Chicago Tribune)

A proposal to add more nurses to Park Ridge-Niles School District 64's schools ended up being a topic of closed-door conversation for the school board this month.

The board's Oct. 24 agenda included a "recommendation to reorganize school health services" for the 2017-18 school year as a discussion item during the public meeting, but board President Anthony Borrelli said a "long" and "very fruitful discussion" occurred earlier in the evening during a closed session instead. Because existing staffing positions that could be affected fall under a collective bargaining agreement with the Park Ridge Teacher Assistants Association, the board decided to take up the discussion in the closed meeting, Borrelli said.

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Briefly summarizing the talks, Borrelli said topics included financial aspects, qualifications of the health professionals and the needs of the current student population.

"The board is not allowed to take action in closed session, but we have raised questions and asked the administration to come back with further information so we can round out our discussion and come to a conclusion," Borrelli said.

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In August, Director of Student Services Jane Boyd presented the school board in open session with a recommendation to replace each school's health assistants with certified nurses. These positions can be filled by registered nurses or licensed practical nurses, Boyd said.

Currently, there is only one full-time registered nurse who travels to and from each of the schools to administer medication, Boyd said. Two additional nurses on staff can also give medication, but they have other duties, including providing special education services and consulting with teachers, a memo to the school board said.

Each of the eight schools are staffed by health assistants who are trained in first aid, but cannot give children medication or perform other duties that nurses can, Boyd said. They belong to the teacher assistants union, she said.

"Most of our schools, most of the time, do not have nurses working in them," Boyd told the school board in August.

Borrelli declined to say whether the board is leaning in support of having one nurse employed at each school.

"We're not done deliberating," he said.

How much a potential change in staffing could cost the district has not been presented.

"Once the board makes a decision on which type of licensure/certification they want our health services employees to hold, the district can then estimate the cost of the model," Boyd said in an email to the Park Ridge Herald-Advocate.

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Currently, the district's cost for building health assistants is $206,310, she added.

Boyd said the proposal "continues to evolve," with additional review by the school board planned for Nov. 14. It is not clear whether information provided to the board on that date will be discussed in closed or open session.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median pay for registered nurses in 2015 was $67,490 per year, and the median pay for licensed practical nurses was $43,170 per year.

Park Ridge resident Joan Sandrik, a frequent attendee of District 64 school board meetings, called for the board to hire certified nurses, saying the medical issues that some students have require more than a health assistant can provide.

"They are not trained medical professionals," Sandrik said of the health assistants. "At a minimum, I would strongly urge you to hire RNs."

Data shared with the school board in August indicates that, on average, District 64's three current nurses are called to each school just about every day. A District 64 survey of 15 suburban school districts indicates that only two do not have a registered nurse on staff in each school building.

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jjohnson@pioneerlocal.com

Twitter: @Jen_Tribune
Students constantly bombard me with this question  "How do I get into a top college?"

Most are asking about their chances of getting into the Ivy League, with Harvard, Yale and Princeton (HYP) being at the top of the list  sort of like caviar on a buffet table. Along with the Ivies, Stanford, MIT, and Caltech loom as assorted prime cuts of beef just as UC Berkeley and the University of Michigan are factored in if a student is interested in top state schools.

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A college applicant's life in the admissions office of these elite state schools begins and ends with having a strong GPA (3.75/4.0) and respectably high test scores (1400/1600 SAT, 33/36 ACT). These quantitative markers are also generally necessary for admission to top state schools, where slightly less emphasis will be placed on high school extracurriculars, recommendations and essays. The lifeblood of HYP and their sister institutions continues to be students who bring a "wow" factor to their applications  winners of national competitions and champion athletes with top grades and scores. Admission rates from top prep schools to the Ivies will likely trump those from most public high schools by several points.

A few years ago the Wall Street Journal studied freshman at 80 selective colleges to find out where they went to high school. Not surprisingly, New York City private schools and New England prep school graduates dominated freshman class enrollment at elite colleges. The article cited in particular, Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., as a "virtual factory" for sending students to Harvard and Yale. This trend continues but as the report indicated there is increasing new competition from schools overseas and public schools that focus on math and science. Public high schools located in close proximity to top universities also do well, in part because many students are children of professors at the university.

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As a public school student, your chances of admission increase markedly if your school specializes in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects. STEM-related jobs are expected to grow by a larger percentage than non-STEM jobs in the near future. Colleges are now investing a significant amount of money in facilities and faculty to meet these workplace needs.

We can thank the tech boom for creating a high demand for science and engineering majors as these are students that tend to have higher SAT scores, which pump up a school's rankings for a double dip benefit. The evidence suggests that if you attend a highly focused public school  one where academic rigor is given first priority  you can compete with the best private prep schools in the admissions process.

As I have often said, do not lose hope should you not gain admission to an Ivy. There are many state and smaller private schools that have excellent academic programs as well as job placement statistics. The success of your college education is not predicated on the name of the institution you attend  rather it will be on your academic acumen when you graduate and begin pursuing a career.

Gerald Bradshaw is an international college admission consultant with Bradshaw College Consulting in Crown Point.

gerald_bradshaw@post.harvard.edu
Monday

Indiana House internship application deadline

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Republican members of the Indiana House of Representatives are seeking interns for the upcoming 2017 legislative session, which runs from January through April 2017. College sophomores, juniors, seniors, graduate students, law students and recent graduates are eligible to apply. Benefits include a bi-weekly compensation of $700 and opportunities to earn academic credits and a scholarship. The positions are full time, Monday through Friday. Internships are available in various departments including legislative, communications, technology, fiscal policy and policy. Application deadline is Oct. 31. More information and application submission is at www.indianahouserepublicans.com/internship.

Police department accepting applications

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The Chesterton Police Department is accepting applications for the position of Patrol Officer through 4 p.m. Oct. 31. Applications are available between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. at the police department, 790 Broadway, Chesterton. Although the department does not currently have any openings, this process is to establish a list of candidates for future hires. More information is with Chief David Cincoski at 219-926-1136.

Nonprofit website giveaway

The Barnauld Agency is hosting a contest to celebrate the launch of their new website. Through Oct. 31, the public is invited to submit nominations for a nonprofit organization to win a free five-page website by visiting the Barnauld Agency's site, www.barbauldagency.com. Follow the link on the home page to "website giveaway," complete a brief form and include a description in 200 words or less about the nonprofit being nominated. More information is at 219-649-1227, Ext. 1104.

Tuesday

PNW to host Childhood Conversations

The Purdue University Northwest Center for Early Learning will host a Childhood Conversations event from 6:30-8 p.m. on Nov. 1, 15 and 29 in the James B. Dworkin Student Services and Activities Complex on the Westville campus, 1401 US-421, Westville. The sessions will feature the documentary film series, "The Raising of America," with individual segments aired each week, followed by a facilitated discussion. Each video examines how a child's early life forms the foundation for later success, and is free and open to the public. More information is with Mary Jane Eisenhauer at 219-785-5637 or mjeisenh@pnw.edu.

Swim club Jello drive

Valparaiso Swim Club is partnering with 500 Turkeys, Inc. to provide Thanksgiving meal items for 1,000 families in Northwest Indiana. This year, the swim club will be collecting Jello to accompany the meals from 6:30-8:30 p.m weekdays through Nov. 1 at the Valparaiso High School pool drop box, 2727 N. Campbell St., Valparaiso. More information is with Dawn Brown at president@ValparaisoSwimClub.com.

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Health screenings and classes

Community Healthcare System announces free screenings, classes and seminars for residents. Diabetes Screenings will be offered from 8:30-10:30 a.m. and 1-3 p.m. Nov. 1 at the Community Diagnostic Center, 10020 Donald S. Powers Drive, Munster. Register at 219-934-2830. A Baby and Me Exercise Class for new parents and babies age six weeks through crawling will be from 11 a.m. to noon at the Community Hospital Fitness Pointe, 9950 Calumet Ave., Munster. Register at 219-836-3477 or 866-836-3477. A Health Insurance Marketplace seminar will be from 5-6 p.m. Nov. 2 at Community Hospital Fitness Pointe, 9950 Calumet Ave., Munster. Register at 219-836-3477 or 866-836-3477. More information is at www.comhs.org.

Part-time crossing guard position

The Valparaiso Police Department is accepting applications for a part-time crossing guard to assist students crossing the street to and from school both in the morning and afternoon. Applications are available from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Valparaiso Police Department, 355 S. Washington St.. All applications must be completed and returned to the department by 6 p.m. Tuesday. Applicants must have a minimum of a high school diploma and pass a complete background check. Information is available through Dana at 219-476-7935 or dkinne@valpopd.com.

Wednesday

Donate Life ceremony

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Community Healthcare System invites the community to celebrate the life and legacy of organ, tissue, and cornea donors in a dedication ceremony from 6-8 p.m. Nov. 2 at the Center for Visual and Performing Arts, 1040 Ridge Road, Munster. Each donor family will be presented with a replica of the rose and vial that will adorn the 2017 Donate Life Float in the Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year's Day. Registration and information is with Connie at 219-852-6411.

Referendum forum

The Strategizing Toward Reforming and Improving Public Education Committee will present a Referendum Forum from 5:30-7 p.m. Wednesday at Gary Teachers Union, 1401 Virginia St. The forum's focus will be Question No. 2 on the Nov. 8 ballot concerning the Gary Community School Corporation. A panel of state and city officials, school board and school corporation representatives, educators and community organizations will be on hand to answer questions. More information is at 219-886-7320.

Friday

Wolf Lake research summit

Scientists and government planners will meet to discuss research on the Wolf Lake watershed and begin additional planning for this bi state resource Nov. 4 at Calumet College of St. Joseph, 2400 New York Ave., Whiting. The Research Summit on the Wolf Lake Watershed will feature a panel of researchers during the morning session followed by a panel of planners and land managers in the afternoon. Register at www.wolflakeinitiative.org.

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Karats for Kids

The Family and Youth Services Bureau will be accepting donations of gold, gems, fine jewelry or sterling silver from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 4 at 253 W. Lincolnway, Valparaiso. All donations will be appraised and sold to raise funds for Karats for Kids. More information is at 219-464-9585 or www.fysb.org.

Land Trust luncheon

Shirley Heinze Land Trust will host its annual partnership luncheon at noon Nov. 4 at the Spa, 333 N. Mineral Springs Road, Porter. The event is an opportunity for the business and civic community to engage with the local environmental conservation community. John Bacone, director of the Department of Natural Resources Division of Nature Preserves and Tom Swinford, assistant division director, will address 50 years of natural area protection in Indiana. There also will be a presentation of this year's corporate/civic/organization category of the Bringing Nature Home Awards. Tickets and table sponsorships are at www.heinzetrust.org. More information is with Bonnie Hawksworth at 219-242-8558 or bhawksworth@heinzetrust.org.

Dinner Dance to benefit Parkinson's disease

NorthWest Indiana Parkinson's second annual Dinner Dance will be from 6-11:30 p.m. Nov. 4 at the Avalon Manor, 3550 U.S. 30, Merrillville. There will be a raffle, music by the band Together and guest Speaker Dr. Jennifer Pallone. Tickets are $85 per person. Black tie optional. Dinner and raffle tickets or donation information at 219-237-2342.

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Saturday

Foundation to host Jailbreak 5K race

The Old Sheriff's House Foundation will host its fourth annual Jailbreak 5K race at 8:30 a.m. Nov. 5 at 226 S. Main St., Crown Point. The runner to come in first will receive $1,000, and the first law enforcement officer to finish will receive $500. In addition, there will be $100 gift certificates for the top three winners in each age category. Pre-race registration is $20 and includes a T-shirt at www.thtiming.com. Day-of registration is $25. Information is at www.oldsheriffshouse.org.

Valpo Admissions Visit Day

Valparaiso University Graduate School invites prospective applicants to campus for Admissions Visit Day starting at 10 a.m. Nov. 5 in the Duesenberg Welcome Center, 1620 Chapel Drive, Valparaiso. Admissions staff will be available to inform, guide and answer questions about gaining admission. Those attending also will be able to meet with current graduate students, financial aid staff and professors. Campus tours will be available upon request. Register at 219-464-5313 or graduate.school@valpo.edu.

 Staff report
Innkeeper Bill Simon stands in the basement beneath a trap door that opens into a closet at the Inn at Aberdeen in Valparaiso. The place may have been a station on the Underground Railroad, local historians say. (Nancy Coltun Webster / Post-Tribune)

Editor's note: On Dec. 11, 1816, Indiana became the 19th state in the Union. On Jan. 28, 1836, Porter County was created. A year later, on Jan. 18, Lake County became independent. As the state celebrates its bicentennial, the Post-Tribune will be taking a regular look back at the history of Northwest Indiana.

The Inn at Aberdeen in Valparaiso boasts well-tended lush landscaping and bright white exterior of the bed and breakfast that was once home to a pioneer family with a house full of children.

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Sunlight and blazing fall foliage spill into the large windows in the solarium near the entryway as well as the library in the original portion of the house.

It's hard to imagine ghosts visiting this place, yet ghost hunters and some of the Inn's guests say they believe they've encountered something  something that seems like it might be a little girl. They call her "Angel."

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When Schererville physician John Johnson decided to purchase the home in 1995 with the aim of converting it into a bed and breakfast, "it was just an old house with a lot of old things," he said. Johnson wasn't aware of the stories until people mentioned that author Wanda Lou Willis wrote about it in her book, "Haunted Hoosier Trails: A Guide to Indiana's Famous Folklore Spooky Sites."

Since then, Johnson said visitors still leave notes in the guest diaries.

Johnson said he has never seen a ghost, but "our staff claims fireplaces have gone on. Funny things happen in the basement. Guests have claimed strange things have happened. Being a physician, I'm looking for proof  haven't seen any  but it's been fun."

The inn has been the location of many weddings and birthday parties. Johnson said one man staged an elaborate engagement at the inn and the couple returned for the bridal shower and the wedding.

"The gal believes she conceived at the inn," said Johnson. "They did name the little girl Abby."

He's long since lost contact with the couple, but thinks that baby is a teenager now.

But as Halloween draws near, folks may be more interested in other the stories the guests have shared with Johnson and his staff.

Johnson tells one guest's story, a woman staying alone in a locked room claimed she had placed her makeup and jewelry on the writing desk and went into the bathroom. When she came out, the items had been rearranged and things were missing  though the door was still locked. She went back into the bathroom and when she came out again, all the items had been put back.

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"Several folks had indicated they had seen a little girl on the stairs," said Johnson. One story features "a little boy, about 4r, sitting on the main staircase while his grandmother was talking to the innkeeper. The little boy was talking to someone."

When the boy's grandmother asked, "Who are you talking to?" The boy responded, "The little girl."

But who is Angel? It might be impossible to know for sure. There's speculation Angel might be the ghost of Grace, the daughter of John and Sarah Ritter. She was 4 when she died, according to John's biography in the 1894 "Pictorial Biographical Record of LaPorte, Porter, Lake and Starke Counties." Sarah died in 1884, also after an illness.

Much of Porter County was still just wilderness when the Ritter family's covered wagon stopped in Horse Prairie, seven miles southwest of Valparaiso in 1845.

John was only 7 when his father, Christian Ritter, a German immigrant, brought his wife and seven children from the Buffalo, N.Y.-area to Porter.

In the biography, Ritter and his siblings are depicted as hearty healthy stock. The family walked alongside the covered wagon most of the way from New York. When they got to Porter, they put the wagon on stilts and slept in it from May 8 until a log home could be built, the biography says.

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The wilderness had its wonders and dangers for them. Wild game for food was plentiful, but so were the rattlesnakes. John's sister, Melvina, was bitten on the ankle on her way to school. Though she became very ill, according to the "Biographical Record," she survived.

After Sarah died, John married again and had four more children.

Today, a large photo of the Ritter family in front of the home hangs at the inn.

Room diaries provide guests with the chance to write down their experiences. Many of the entries are romantic tales of weddings and anniversaries. Some share the joys of a girls' weekend, the chance to relax or mention the delicious cheesecake.

More than a few are like this entry from a repeat guest on Feb. 2, 2010: "We read online that this suite was haunted, so that peaked our curiosity! When we were here in 2008, we digitally recorded sounds all evening and caught a few interesting things, like doors closing and locking. This couldn't be another suite, as you know, since this is the only suite on this side of the Inn!"

And this one from Oct. 29, 2011: "I didn't really hear much, a few bumps and things. I thought it was the guests next door, but I found out there was no guest next door somake your own assumptions."

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Bill Simon has been the innkeeper for 18 years and said he's heard some noises and seen some shadows, but "it's nothing that can't be explained. It could be a draft or a shadow or it could be a car going down the highway. You do hear noises, but that's all part of an old house."

And, the house has a rich history. According to Simon, some believe it was a station on the Underground Railroad that ferried slaves from bondage to a crossing point at Lake Michigan and on to Canada. A trap door in the floor of the front hall closet seems to support the theory.

But, Simon can't explain the recorded sound recent guests Al and Cathy Taylor played for him a couple of weeks ago during their stay. The couple are members of the Kokomo chapter of the Indiana Ghost Trackers. They brought along their sensors and recorders.

"We were looking for a place to get away and we were looking for a bed and breakfast and (discovered) the 'Ghost Hunters' had been there ," said Al Taylor, who saw the inn featured recently on SyFy channel's "The Ghost Hunters."

Taylor said he and his wife found their sensors reacted better during the day when they were in the library  a room that is part of the original home. There they recorded something that sounds a lot like a sigh.

According to Simon, the Taylor's told him the ghost must like him a lot, because whenever he came in the room, the sensors would light up.

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Nancy Coltun Webster is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Porter County councilman at large Jeff Larson speaks on Tuesday during a forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Porter County and the Valparaiso Chamber of Commerce. (Kyle Telechan / Post-Tribune)

Six people are vying for three at large seats on the Porter County Council.

With a foundation already in place to handle the proceeds from the 2007 sale of the county hospital, the candidates, including three incumbents, are looking ahead to how proceeds from the foundation might be used for the county.

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Republicans Travis Gearhart, Jeff Larson and Richard Parks face incumbent Democrats Sylvia Graham, Bob Poparad and Dan Whitten, the council president, in the Nov. 8 general election.

Priorities for the funding include public safety, roads, parks, updating county facilities, economic development and other quality of life matters. The foundation, created by unanimous vote of the council and the Board of Commissioners, was set up earlier this year and holds $147 million. A new law that took effect in July 2015 about how the money could be invested allowed the county to establish the foundation.

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Councilman at large Dan Whitten speaks to visitors before a forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Porter County and the Valparaiso Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday. (Kyle Telechan / Post-Tribune)

Gearhart, of Chesterton, previously served part of a term on the Hebron Town Council before job responsibilities took him to Wisconsin. He now works in commercial field sales for Luke Oil.

In the short term, he would like to sit on the proceeds, even though returns are coming in at a higher rate than officials expected. "I would much rather be conservative," he said.

His priority for the funds would be infrastructure countywide, which he said should be "a No. 1 priority," and his plans would include putting together a panel of representatives from the county as well as cities and towns to discuss the funds.

"I think that would be a really positive way for everyone to have a voice on how that money is spent," he said.

Larson, of Liberty Township, is a small business owner and building trades teacher. He is concerned about protecting the money.

"My concern with that whole situation with the foundation is, I don't want that to end up as someone's pet project money," he said, adding the proceeds should be used for infrastructure, including roads and drainage, and economic development.

He is against using any of the proceeds to shore up budget shortfalls, though since public safety is one of Larson's priorities, he would be willing to spend some of the funds to upgrade 911 communications to an 800 MHz radio system.

"We've waited a long time to do these things in the county and I want to make sure everyone has their say," he said.

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Parks, of Valparaiso, is president of the hospitality division of White/Peterman Properties. He would like to see county officials put together a comprehensive plan of how the money should be spent.

That plan should include the county's own facilities.

Council member at large Sylvia Graham gives her opening statements during a forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Porter County and the Valparaiso Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday. (Kyle Telechan / Post-Tribune)

"The county has neglected buildings for a long time. We have capital expenditure opportunities everywhere," he said, adding the county needs to evaluate its buildings, something already being undertaken by facilities director Matt Stechly, "so we can provide the best services to our taxpayers."

Funds also could be used for the 800 MHz upgrade, infrastructure improvements and economic development, he said.

"We have a phenomenal workforce here," he said. "In economic development, you can spend a dollar to make four."

Parks also wants the council to hold regular workshops with different county departments for better efficiency.

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Graham, of Center Township, is a retired registered nurse seeking her third term on the council. Part of the interest from the foundation should be reinvested to keep the fund going in perpetuity, she said.

She, too, wants some of the interest to go for the 800 MHz upgrade for public safety.

"I think if it's needed, then we have to do it," she said, adding the upgrade could cost $9 million.

Interest should only be used for the county's operating expenses in an emergency, she said, adding she would rather the money go toward job growth and capital projects.

Those projects include upgrades at the Porter County Expo Center, outlined in a feasibility study done a couple years ago, and county parks, including Aukiki Park north of Kouts and an education center at Sunset Hill Farm.

Poparad, a Burns Harbor resident and small business owner, previously served two terms as the District 1 representative on the council and is seeking his second term in an at-large seat.

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Porter County councilman at large Bob Poparad responds to a question about the Indiana Dunes State Park pavilion on Tuesday during a forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Porter County and the Valparaiso Chamber of Commerce. (Kyle Telechan / Post-Tribune)

Some of the money should be used for capital projects, he said, and some should go into a rainy day fund for emergency. Capital projects include county parks projects as well as public safety, including a shooting range for the Porter County Sheriff's Department.

He also suggested a bond issue for upgrades at the North County Government Complex in Portage, and said creating the foundation was the "first of many steps" to ensure the financial future of the county.

"I think we've done a pretty good job of keeping taxes low and keeping services up," he said, noting the county's thoughtful approach to the foundation. "We're not sending the proceeds like drunken sailors."

Whitten, of Porter Township, is a bankruptcy attorney with a practice in Portage with his wife, Stacey. He has served three terms on the council and is its president.

Whitten said the council should avoid using the proceeds for operating expenses, instead using the money for "those things that make Porter County a better place to work and live."

That includes county building upgrades, including considering the future of the North Count Government Complex, public safety, and setting aside money for grants for the county's non-profits for special projects.

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The county already has partnered with the sheriff's department for a safe schools program, is upgrading its parks, constructing a new animal shelter, and will pave more than 25 miles of roads this year, he said.

"All of those things my constituents have told me are important to them for the quality of life," he said.

Amy Lavalley is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Are we losing the ability to think? At least, to think fully and constructively.

Each day, we're given so much information  too much really  about innumerable facts, figures, issues, ideas and opinions, with many of them arriving at lightning speed with the click of a mouse. It's nearly impossible to absorb it all, interpret it all and, at times instantly, form an educated viewpoint to share with others.

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To deal with this fact during these hurried and harried times in the 21st century, we habitually regurgitate what we learn or we recycle it under the guise of our own thought. Let's face it, the Digital Age moves much faster than our brains, regardless of our age.

Instead of thinking things through, using the process of critical thought, or using intellectual reflection before commenting, many of us instead react from the gut. It's as if an endless stream of information enters through our ears, bypasses our brains, and exits our mouths.

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No other period in my life has revealed this collective shortcoming than the ongoing presidential campaign, which has not only divided our country but has also divided us from our thought process, I believe.

We hear something we agree with and, regardless of its truthfulness or ridiculousness, we echo it to the world. We read something we don't agree with and, regardless of its facts or proof, we instinctively or habitually dismiss it.

Too many of us seem to think with our heart, not our head. Or we allow our fears, prejudice and ignorance to skew what otherwise would be the cold-sober truth. What happened to objectivity? What happened to critical thinking? What happened to civic reflection?

With the presidential election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton whipping up public outrage and vicious debates with voters, I think we should elect civic reflection into the court of public opinion before casting our vote Nov. 8.

Civic reflection, by definition, uses readings, images and videos to engage people in productive conversation about their communities. But it can also be used to address volatile issues facing our community, our world and, in this case, our country.

Nearly 20 years ago, Elizabeth Lynn founded the Center for Civic Reflection at Valparaiso University, a nationally known center that developed and refined an innovative applied use of the humanities to illustrate issues of concern through reflective dialogue.

Remember reflective dialogue? Remember dialogue?

Her center began as a project, which began as an experiment, similar to our country.

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The center has blossomed through the years, just as our nation has blossomed, through changes, through dialogue and through reflection by keen minds.

As part of the Institute for Leadership and Service at VU, the center has trained more than 7,000 facilitators and led more than 20,000 people in public, community and workplace dialogues.

"We also supported the VU Mock Trial event, Voting Made Simple, which focused on voter registration and education," said Lynn, who recently was honored for her efforts.

Lynn was inducted into the Society of Innovators of Northwest Indiana, which recognizes and celebrates the spirit of innovation in our seven-county region.

"Looking ahead to our ability to come together after this presidential election, in the spring we will be hosting the 2017 Bridge/Work Conference," Lynn told me.

The conference is an undergraduate research conference titled "Democracy in Transition? Neighbor, Nation, and the Politics of Now." Through a mix of keynote addresses, undergraduate research presentations and practitioner panels, attendees will explore how American democracy is changing. And what these changes may mean for our own engagement with neighbors and our nation, Lynn noted.

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This is how keen minds think, by looking ahead to our future, past the ugliness and divisiveness of this surreal election. Such thinking and civic reflection is not possible for many of us who can't look past Nov. 8.

What's being labeled as the most caustic campaign in modern history has threatened the very fabric of our democracy. With Trump, the Republican nominee, accusing Clinton, the Democratic nominee, of "rigging" the entire election process, many Americans fear of Election Day violence.

A USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll finds a 51 percent majority of likely voters who have expressed at least some concern about the possibility of violence on Election Day. One in five Americans are "very concerned" about such backlash violence that day.

"More than four in 10 Trump supporters say they won't recognize the legitimacy of Clinton as president, if she prevails, because they say she wouldn't have won fair and square," the poll stated.

Is that what we, as a democracy, have become?

Post Tribune Twice-weekly News updates from Northwest Indiana delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

"My first vote for president was John F. Kennedy, and I can't ever remember being this stressed since then," said Marty Vagenas, a longtime Post-Tribune reader. "My husband and I have gotten kind of old, so this election is about our children and grandchildren."

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Regardless of our age, this election will be about our children and grandchildren.

That poll also concluded that three out of four voters have confidence that the United States will have a peaceful transfer of power, the same as it has for more than 200 years. Still, just 40 percent of those voters said they are "very confident" about this taking place.

As polls go, I've never put much faith into them. Clinton is up, Trump is down. Who knows for sure? Yes, polls may offer an early barometer of voters' intentions before any election, but we'll never know until Election Day results come in.

Until then, I suggest we use more civic reflection, and less public outrage, with an eye to the future  our future.

jdavich@post-trib.com

Twitter@jdavich
The U.S. Commerce Department on Friday announced its preliminary affirmative determination in the antidumping duty (AD) investigation against imports of 1-hydroxyethylidene-1,1-diphosphonic acid (HEDP) from China, signaling that it may pose punitive duties on the products.

The department said that such products from China had been sold in the United States at dumping margins ranging from 137.61 percent to 179.97 percent.

As a result of the preliminary affirmative determinations, Commerce will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to require cash deposits based on these preliminary rates.

The Commerce launched AD and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations against imports of such products from China in April 2016, in response to a request from Compass Chemical International LLC based in Georgia.

The Commerce made its preliminary affirmative determination in the CVD investigation in August, saying that producers and exporters of such products from China had received countervailing subsidies from 1.04 percent to 36.33 percent.

Punitive duties would be imposed after both the Commerce Department and the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) make affirmative final rulings. The Commerce is scheduled to make its final determinations in March next year and the USITC is scheduled to make its final determination in April 2017.

HEDP are chemicals used in industrial water treatment, household cleaning products and personal care products. Imports of these products from China were estimated at about 290.1 million U.S. dollars in 2015, according to U.S. official data.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has kept urging Washington to abide by its commitment against protectionism and help maintain a free, open and just international trade environment.
Premier Li Keqiang has called upon the leading Party group of the State Council, China's cabinet, and various departments to keep their thoughts, politics and acts in line with the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core.

Li made the remarks on Friday at a meeting of the leading Party group of the State Council on following calls made at the sixth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, which was held from Monday to Thursday.

Two documents, namely the norms of political life within the Party under the new situation and a regulation on intra-Party supervision, were approved at the session, which focused on the strict governance of the Party.

Li urged various State Council departments to strictly follow the Party's political discipline and regulations, improve supervision, resist corruption and withstand risks, and foster a team of civil servants that have firm beliefs, obey rules and are diligent and honest.

The State Council's leading Party group and various units under the cabinet were also told to become more aware of the need to uphold political integrity, keep in mind the bigger picture, follow the CPC as the core of the Chinese leadership and act consistently with CPC Central Committee policy.

They were also told to voluntarily conform to the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core in thoughts, politics and acts, and more resolutely safeguard the authority of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core," Li said.

Li's remarks echoed a call included in a communique released on Thursday after the four-day plenary session that all its members should "closely unite around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core" and resolutely safeguard the authority of the CPC Central Committee and its central, unified leadership.

Li noted that identifying Xi as the core of the CPC Central Committee is of great significance to safeguarding the authority of the CPC Central Committee, the Party's unity and leadership as well as the Party and country's prosperity and long-term stability.
People living 3,400 years ago in southwest China's Yunnan province ate snails and lived in different houses in winter and summer, latest findings from a historical site showed. [Photo/Chinanews.com]

People living 3,400 years ago in southwest China's Yunnan province ate snails and lived in different houses in winter and summer, latest findings from a historical site showed.

The site in Xingyi village of Yuxi city was discovered in July 2015 during construction of a primary school. Houses, tombs, coffins, ash pits, roads, ditches, pottery, stoneware and bronzeware were all found there.

A Xinhua reporter saw piles of snail shells at the site. Zhu Zhonghua, an archaeologist with Yunnan cultural relics and archaeological research institute, said the snails were of two types.

"One was unique to lakes in Yunnan and they are hard to find today. The other is known to have been used by people in prehistoric times for food and decoration," he said.

"The amount of shells is quite large," he continued. "They have the top broken and there is a large amount of pots around. We concluded that the shells were discarded by humans after the snails inside were eaten."

Examination of bones found at the site revealed them to be 3,400 years old.

"Most of them were fishermen, living off snails, fish, crabs and clams," Zhu said. "They also grew rice, raised cattle and pigs, and hunted birds, deer and elephant. They lived in square houses in the summer and semi-subterranean dwellings in winter."

Excavation of the site is almost complete.
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China and Mexico on Friday vowed to strengthen military cooperation and elevate mutual ties to a new high.

The pledge was made during a meeting between Vice Chairman of China's Central Military Commission Fan Changlong, and visiting Minister of National Defense Salvador Cienfuegos and Minister of the Navy Vidal Francisco Soberon from Mexico.

Hailing China and Mexico's close communication and coordination in international and regional affairs, Fan expressed China's willingness to develop military cooperation and relations to a higher level, to enrich their comprehensive strategic partnership.

Cienfuegos and Soberon acknowledged China's impressive development achievements, and voiced hope that the two sides will jointly advance the new type of military relationship via closer communication and stronger cooperation.

Later Friday, Defense Minister Chang Wanquan held talks with the two Mexican senior military officials.

"China and Mexico have maintained good communication between their defense ministries and the two militaries," said Chang, stressing that China is willing to work with Mexico for a military relationship compatible with the two countries comprehensive strategic partnership.

Chang also briefed the Mexican visitors on the sixth plenary session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, which was held from Monday to Thursday.

Cienfuegos and Soberon said Mexico was willing to learn from China's experience in governing the country and the military, and boost mutual cooperation in military operation, logistics, personnel training and peace-keeping.
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The Pakistani Foreign Ministry said Friday that six civilians, including two women, were killed by Indian "unprovoked" firing since Thursday at the Working Boundary in Shakargarh sector and on the Line of Control (LoC) in Nikial sector.

The ministry said in a statement that injured civilians reached 22 in the firing. The Pakistani side summoned the Indian Deputy High Commissioner on Friday and strongly condemned the unprovoked ceasefire violations.

Pakistan urged the Indian side to respect the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding, investigate the continued incidents of ceasefire violations, instruct the Indian forces to respect the ceasefire, in letter and spirit, stop targeting the villages and civilians and maintain peace on the Working Boundary and the LoC, according to the statement.
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The Syrian government forces and allied fighters have fully repelled a wide-scale offensive by at least 12 rebel groups in the northern city of Aleppo on Friday, a military source told Xinhua.

The Syrian army and the Lebanese Hezbollah group fully thwarted the rebel offensive, which was unleashed earlier on Friday on all fronts in Aleppo city, the source said on condition of anonymity.

At least 12 rebel groups, including ultra-radical ones, mounted the wide-scale offensive on government forces positions in Aleppo, with the aim of breaking the Syrian army's siege on rebel-held areas in the eastern side of Aleppo city, the source said.

The attack targeted government forces' positions in western Aleppo, and the rebels remotely detonated at least two car bombs near military positions at the western gate of Aleppo city, the source said.

The source, who is close to Hezbollah, said rebels' reports about capturing Hezbollah fighters are completely baseless.

He said at least 25 rebels with the Jaish al-Fateh, or the Army of Conquest, and the Conquest of Aleppo group, were killed and tens of others were wounded during the offensive.

Meanwhile, the source said that rebels also fired several rockets and mortar shells on government-controlled areas in western Aleppo, in tandem with the attack.

The Syrian national TV said at least seven people were killed on Friday by the rebel shelling.

The Syrian army has laid a siege on rebel-held areas in Aleppo in recent months, urging the rebels to surrender themselves or leave eastern Aleppo to other rebel-held areas in the northwestern province of Idlib.

The rebels didn't comply with the military repeated requests. Last week, a three-day truce, aiming to facilitate the evacuation of civilians and rebels who want to surrender in exchange for pardon, expired with a few civilians and rebels evacuating.

The Syrian government accused the rebels of preventing the civilians, around 250,000, from leaving.

Observers believe that Aleppo is going to be the decisive battle ground among the fighting groups, and the winner will be the one dictating its conditions to resolve the crisis, as the province contain all the groups that are supported by regional and international powers, with the civilians paying the price for this proxy war.
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Iran and Russia are broadly cooperating on regional issues and fighting terrorism and extremism, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Friday.

Iran and Russia have common stances on regional issues, and both countries have made substantive progress in mutual ties and international cooperation, official IRNA news agency quoted Zarif as saying before a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.

For his part, Lavrov said that indiscriminate fight against terrorists in Syria is on the agenda of Friday talks between Iran and Russia, according to the report.

Zarif arrived in Moscow on Friday to attend a trilateral meeting with his Russian counterpart and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem on the latest regional developments, including the conflict in Syria.

Upon arrival at Moscow airport, Zarif called for reaching a political solution to the Syrian crisis besides fighting the extremists in the country.

"Unfortunately, some countries have sought military solutions to Syria crisis, while the way to settle this problem is political approaches," Zarif said.

"We have always insisted on comprehensive ceasefire, availability of humanitarian aid (to the besieged people) and finding political solutions to the Syrian issue," he was quoted as saying.

Iran has urged Russia to strengthen strategic cooperation on regional and international issues, especially the ongoing crisis in Syria.
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Chinese nationals have had a positive bearing on Zambian communities where they live, results of a survey seen on Friday have shown.

The survey, conducted by a local think-tank, the Policy Monitoring and Research Center, was conducted to produce evidence-based data highlighting the various ways in which Chinese nationals in Zambia were integrated into the local society and how they were contributing to the socio-economic development in the country.

According to the findings, 63 percent of Zambians interviewed said they have benefited from Chinese nationals through job creation and incomes while 26 percent reported improvements in infrastructure such as roads and housing as a benefit received from the presence of Chinese living in the community.

The findings further show that 77 percent of Zambians reported that the Chinese work ethic had influenced their communities the most because of the professionalism, commitment, speed and the manner in which work or tasks are executed.

Other respondents also reported benefiting from the skills transfer and technology transfer from their Chinese counterparts as the Chinese nationals living within their communities were highly skilled and used advanced technological methods that have been passed on to Zambians.

But 57 percent of respondents cited limited interaction with the Chinese nationals as a challenge and this was mainly caused by communication challenges.

However despite the limited interaction, the Zambians reported that there was cultural exchange, with Zambians learning from their Chinese nationals.

Bernadette Deka, PMRC executive director said the survey will provide critical information to further enhance the rich economic and social relationship that exists between the two countries and provide an opportunity for the two governments to integrate their cultures.

"The Chinese culture of hard work has further been shared and adopted by Zambians as evidenced through the continuous growth of indigenous Zambian companies and businesses at both national and international levels," she said.

Chen Shijie, Counselor at the Chinese Embassy expressed gratitude that Chinese nationals have been commended by the Zambian people for their unselfish dedication and positive contribution to the socio-economic development of the country.

The survey has also recommended that the Chinese Embassy in Zambia put in place an orientation program for Chinese entrants which should include helping them understand the Zambian culture as well as enhance social interactions.

The survey captured 1,000 Chinese nationals living in Zambia and 100 Zambians sharing communities with Chinese nationals.

It was conducted with the support from the "China-Africa People-to-People Friendship Action" project which was initiated at the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2012, aimed at promoting exchanges and cooperation between China-Africa youths, women, and civil groupings.
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European Commission Vice President Kristalina Georgieva is going to take up a new post as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the World Bank in January 2017, the Commission said on Friday.

The Bulgarian commissioner, responsible for Budget and Human Resources since 2014, has informed the Commission of her resignation from the current post in order to take up a new post as CEO of the World Bank as of Jan. 2, 2017.

"It is with great regret that I have accepted Kristalina Georgieva's decision to resign from the European Commission," European Commission President Jean-Claud Juncker said in a statement.

Juncker described Kristalina Georgieva as "an experienced politician" and thanked for her "loyal and committed work."

The European Commission president said he has asked Gunther H. Oettinger, Commissioner responsible for Digital Economy and Society, to succeed Kristalina Georgieva in her portfolio.

After the current vice-presidents, Germany's Oettinger is the first commissioner in seniority and protocol order in the Commission.

Georgieva's resignation will take effect at the latest on Dec. 31, 2016, depending on the development of the ongoing budgetary negotiations.

Georgieva has recently lost in the race to become next United Nations secretary-general, and she worked at the World Bank between 1993 and 2010.
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The Colombian government and the insurgent Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) will return to the negotiation table in Havana from Nov. 3, to seek a new peace agreement.

Both parties held a press conference on Friday at Havana' s Convention Center, the venue of the last negotiations for four years, and agreed to try and quickly reach a definitive peace deal.

Ivan Marquez, chief of the FARC delegation to the talks, said that the parties will continue listening to a diverse number of organizations and personalities of Colombian society, including those who opposed the peace accord in the plebiscite on Oct. 2.

Marquez added that he trusted the administration of President Juan Manuel Santos as having the power to push through the constitutional peace process.

Humberto de la Calle, chief negotiator for the government, stressed that the final agreement signed on September 26, contains the necessary measures and reforms to lay the foundations of peace and end the war.

"According to the joint statement issued on Oct. 7, we have analyzed several proposals for adjustments and clarifications to the final agreement from different sectors of Colombian society," he said.

De la Calle said many of the proposals would be incorporated into the new text.

Last week, the guerrilla and the Government analyzed 445 proposals for adjustments and clarifications to the final agreement.

The FARC and the Colombian government concluded four years of negotiations last August with a peace agreement to end the 52-year conflict. However, this was narrowly defeated in an Oct. 2 vote, forcing them to reshape the final peace deal.

The conflict in Colombia has killed more than 220,000 people and displaced millions since 1964.
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The UN Security Council on Friday "condemned in the strongest terms" another mortar shelling earlier in the day on the Russian embassy in the Syrian capital of Damascus, which caused significant material damage.

The 15-nation UN body, in a press statement issued Friday night, recalled the fundamental principle of the inviolability of diplomatic and consular premises as well as the obligations of host governments to take all appropriate steps to protect diplomatic and consular premises against any intrusion or damage, and to prevent any disturbance of the peace of these missions or impairment of their dignity.

The fundamental principle and obligations were provided by international conventions including the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, the statement said.

Two mortar shells coming from the Jobar district in Damascus, an area controlled by anti-government forces, hit the embassy compound located in the central al-Mazra area of the Syrian capital, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

"It was a lucky coincidence that casualties were avoided," a statement from the ministry said.

The embassy building suffered "material damage" in the attack, with four of the Russian diplomats' cars being hit, the statement added.

This was the third time in October that the Russian embassy was shelled from militant-controlled areas. Both previous attacks, which took place on Oct. 4 and 13, damaged the embassy building but caused no casualties, reports said.
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Award winners pose for a photo during the awarding ceremony of "Green Talents" in Berlin, Germany, Oct. 27, 2016. (Xinhua/Shan Yuqi)

The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) awarded 25 international young scientists, two of whom from China, "Green Talents" prizes on Thursday for their innovative ideas to promote sustainable development.

"Green Talents" award was initiated by BMBF in 2009, aiming at collecting worldwide solutions for sustainable development in environment and society. This year's theme is "Ocean and Sea".

Minister of BMBF Johanna Wanka told Xinhua, as a very important global subject, sustainable development can be promoted with talents from different science disciplines and cultural backgrounds.

Wanka stressed that "Green Talents" award is important to intensify scientific cooperation with China.

Liu Zhu, a Chinese award winner who now undertakes the post-doctoral research in California Institute of Technology in the United States, focuses on climate change and carbon emission study.

He said his research field concerns the challenges facing the whole world and needs global wisdom.

"China is making outstanding contributions to the reduction of carbon emission with its technological developments," Liu said.

Each year the "Green Talents" winners would be invited by BMBF to visit German scientific institutes and enterprises.

Prize winners would also be invited next year by BMBF for a 3-month academic stay as visiting scholars in Germany to further their scientific cooperation with German scientific organizations.

BMBF invited this year specifically all "Green Talents" winners since 2009 to gather again in Berlin on Thursday for an academic conference on sustainable development with representatives from academies, politics and businesses.

Xue Bing, a Chinese scientist who got the award in 2011 for his research on circular economy, chose to cooperate with two German academic institutes in 2012.

"With the connections made then, members from my research team can nowadays make academic communication in Germany," he said.

A total of 25 prize winners in 2016 were selected from about 750 competitors. A number of 182 young scientists from 51 countries and regions have been awarded "Green Talens" awards so far, with 22 of them being from China.
Chinese authorities have become

increasingly sensitive to the display of

crosses, such as this one, which was

removed from the top of the church.

(Photo: China Aid)

China Aid

Reported in Chinese by Qiao Nong. Translated by Carolyn Song.

(Hetian, XinjiangOct. 25, 2016) Authorities recently imprisoned a Christian couple from a house church in Chinas northwestern Xinjiang and another woman visiting them because they displayed a cross in their home.

Dai, a Christian who hosts a house church in his home, and his wife, Li, were taken away by the local police, along with a woman who was visiting them. Additionally, their home was raided, and religious items were confiscated. This is the second time this year that the church has been invaded

At the present time, Dai has been released, but Li and their guest are still detained.

China Aid exposes abuses, such as those experienced by Li, Dai and their visitor, in order to promote religious freedom in China.

ChinaAid Media Team

Cell: (432) 553-1080 | Office: 1+ (888) 889-7757 | Other: (432) 689-6985

Email: [email protected]

For more information, click here
Airbus' A350 XWB test aircraft arrived at Zhuhai Jinwan International Airport at 9:16 a.m. on October 29, for its debut at China Airshow and a 5-stop A350 XWB tour in Haikou, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu.

For the first time, the A350 XWB test aircraft MSN002 will perform demonstration flights and be on static display for the first two days of the show. Test aircraft MSN002 will later visit Haikou, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu as part of its debut China tour from October 29 to November 8.

Featuring a distinctive "Carbon Fibre" signature livery to reflect its primary construction from advanced composite materials, the aircraft (MSN2) is one of Airbus' fleet of five A350-900 test aircraft and one of two with a fully functional cabin configuration (42 business class and 210 economy class seats). The flights will be operated by an Airbus flight-test crew.
ZTO Express founder, Chairman and CEO Lai Meisong raises his ceremonial gavel on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor before his company's IPO, on Oct 27, 2016. [Photo /AP]

Shares of ZTO Express Inc, a Chinese express delivery services provider, debuted on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, but fell from their initial public offering price.

The stock opened at $18.40, $1.10 below its IPO price of $19.50, and closed almost $3 lower at $16.57.

"Up and down is normal; it's better to not focus too much on a single moment," Lai Meisong, chairman of ZTO, said about the stock's first-day performance.

"I believe in the quality of ZTO; it will definitely pay off for the shareholders sooner or later," Lai said firmly.

Founded in 2002, the Shanghai-based company is now a leading express delivery company in China and one of the largest of its kind in total parcel volume globally in 2015, according to the iResearch Report.

ZTO has demonstrated the fastest growth rate among the top five Chinese express delivery companies as of Dec 31, 2015, with its annual parcel volume growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 80.3 percent between 2011 and 2015, during which time it recorded consecutive annual increases in market share.

The company mainly delivers parcels for businesses, including e-commerce giants Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and JD.com Inc. Alibaba accounted for 75 percent of ZTO's business during the first half of the year.

ZTO raised $1.4 billion by selling 72.1 million US depositary shares at $19.50 apiece, after offering them for $16.50 to $18.50 each.

In its IPO filing, the company said it generated revenue of $638.8 million last year and had a net profit of $115 million, with a profit margin of 18 percent.

With more than 23,000 branches and 74 operations centers nationwide, ZTO Express has assets worth $1.77 billion with liabilities of $412 million.

It had a market share of 14.3 percent in China last year.

ZTO domestic rivals STO Express and YTO Express have unveiled plans to go public through reverse mergers, while the country's biggest player, SF Express, received conditional approval to list in a similar way in Shenzhen.

Lai said listing on the NYSE instead of a domestic stock exchange will create more brand awareness for ZTO overseas, a plus for the development of cross-border and international business, and help ZTO build a sophisticated investor base.

"We also want to take advantage of this opportunity to showcase the advanced development model of Chinese express delivery and its market," Lai added.
Amazon boxes are seen stacked for delivery in the Manhattan borough of New York, January 29, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

Amazon.com Inc announced on Friday the launch of its membership program in China in an attempt to use a tailor-made free cross-border shipping service to compete with local e-commerce rivals, such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

The membership program named Amazon Prime China makes Chinese subscribers the first in the world who can enjoy free cross-border shipping directly from the United States. With an annual subscription fee of 388 yuan ($57.23), the prime package offers unlimited free cross-border shipping on more than four million authentic overseas products and unlimited free shipping with no minimum purchase on more than nine million domestic products.

"Launching a unique program designed for our Chinese customers shows our obsession with Chinese customer needs, and demonstrates our long-term commitment to growing our business in China," said Russ Grandinetti, senior vice president of Amazon at the launching event in Beijing.

Created in 2005, Amazon Prime has attracted more than 65 million members in the US and acted as an effective catalyst to increase customer royal and boost sales. Industry observers say Amazon Prime China is expected to work the same magic in China especially among the countrys high-end shoppers, who are increasingly seeking for overseas goods to meet their sophisticated taste.

Western retailers, including Amazon China, have been facing fierce competition to gain a solid foothold in Chinas crowded e-commerce market as local players such as Alibaba account for more than 90 percent of the share. Since the year 2014, Amazon has shifted its strategy to bring overseas products to China by leveraging its unique advantage of being a multinational e-commerce company with the most selection of overseas brands.

Lu Zhenwang, an internet expert and chief executive of Wanqing Consultancy in Shanghai, said that the newly launch Amazon Prime China is expected to help the company boost sales among its existing customers in the country.

"As soon as you join the membership, you will want to buy more because of the free shipping policy. And it is also likely to help the company gain new customers," he said.
Meeting offers opportunity for Chinese and Russian organizations to improve exchanges

The China-Russia Internet Media Forum and China-Russia New Media Youth Leadership Forum opens in Tianhe district of Guangzhou, Guangdong province, on Saturday, and will boost exchanges and communication among new media agencies of the two countries, says Aleksey Volin, the deputy minister of telecom and mass communication of the Russian Federation.

The forum, whose theme is "development and cooperation between Chinese and Russian internet new media organizations", aims to enhance people-to-people exchanges, create an information platform for the Belt and Road countries, enable enterprises to hold dialogues and promote development in the cultural, creative and information industries.

"The forum is a perfect way to enhance the cooperation of Chinese and Russian media," Volin said, "and such cooperation is not only limited to pure new media, but some traditional media as well, as nowadays newspapers, radio and TV are developing their internet and social media sectors."

Volin notes that the trend of media development should be multichannel. As each channel has its own advantages, internet media need to make full use of traditional platforms.

China and Russia have agreed to make the forum an annual one, and Volin says they are considering holding the second China-Russia Internet Media Forum next year in Rostov-on-Don, Russia.

Due to achievements by Guangzhou's Tianhe district in recent years in technological innovation and international exchanges, it was chosen as the venue of the forum, a major event of the 2016-2017 Sino-Russian Media Exchange Year, which was proposed by President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in 2015, according to the organizer of the event.

Tianhe is being called the capital for international fashion and a leader in innovation and entrepreneurship, and as Guangzhou becomes an important national center and a network-based hub, Tianhe is playing a major role.

Volin visited several Tianhe new media companies on Friday, including Kugou corp, a leading online music distribution company.

Established in 2006, Kugou's mobile application has been installed 3 billion times, and is ranked first on the Chinese digital music list, first on the Chinese video list, and third on China's list of all mobile apps.

"I'm impressed by Kugou's customer numbers, which is over 100 million active customers, and we hope to have cooperation between them and Russian music distributors," Volin said.

In Guangzhou for the first time, Volin has a very good first impression of the city.

Volin says he expects the forum to be very successful due to the fine organization by the China Daily website and the Guangzhou and Tianhe governments.

"I'm even considering making Guangzhou my next vacation destination," he said.

renqi@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 10/29/2016 page4)
Reporters from Chinese and Russian media outlets visit the headquarters of WeChat in Tianhe district, Guangzhou, Guangdong province, on Oct 28, 2016. [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/chinadaily.com.cn]

WeChat, the social media application developed by China's tech giant Tencent, has also clicked with expats.

Anna Nikulina, attache at the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Guangzhou told China Daily during a press tour to the headquarters of WeChat in Tianhe district, Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong province that the app impressed her very much by providing services such as taxi hailing or mobile payments in not only domestic scenarios but also overseas countries.

"I currently live in China, and thanks to WeChat's Quick Pay feature, I'm able to pay bills through my phone without using any cash in my wallet," said Nikulina. "Russians are only using WeChat mainly as a social application as only limited functions are available in the country at the moment."

She suggested that WeChat should collaborate more with Russian enterprises to further strengthen its services in the market.

The tour, marked as the teaser of the " China-Russia Internet Media Forum" that will be held in Tianhe district on Saturday, included visits to some of the leading internet and innovative companies in the district. More than twenty Russian press savvies and media entrepreneurs with their Chinese counterparts attended the tour.

Reporters from Chinese and Russian media outlets visit the headquarters of WeChat in Tianhe district, Guangzhou, Guangdong province, on Oct 28, 2016. [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/chinadaily.com.cn]

Andrey Kirillov, bureau chief of Russian News Agency - Tass' Beijing subsidiary, said that the visit to WeChat's headquarters is a new journey for him to explore China's development trends on high-tech industries. He suggested that more collaborations and communications in IT and media sectors should be undertaken by the two countries.

WeChat, launched in early 2011, is a short message service (SMS) application that enables users to communicate with each other by sharing texts, pictures, voices and videos on their smartphones.

In November 2013, the number of WeChat's registered users exceeded 600 million, the largest mobile user group in Asia.

As the most popular mobile social platform, WeChat is changing people's way of communication and lifestyle.

Statistics from the company show that, as of February , there are 700 million monthly active users on the platform, among whom 200 million users have linked WeChat with their credit cards for mobile payment.

The app started to step into overseas market in 2012. "It has unveiled a total of 21 languages versions and registered users are from more than 200 courtiers and regions", people familiar with the matter said in an interview.

Some of the world's leading social media apps, such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Line and KaKaoTalk, have also seen updated new features similar to WeChat.

With the assistance of Sputnik News Agency and Radio, the forum will be hosted by China Daily website under the guidance of the organizing committee of Sino-Russian Media Exchange Year and the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation.

The forum, whose theme is "development and cooperation between Chinese and Russian internet new media organizations", aims to enhance people-to-people exchanges between the two countries, create an information platform for the Belt and Road countries, enable relevant enterprises to hold dialogues and further promote development in the cultural, creative and information industries of the two nations.
Aleksey Volin (left), the deputy minister of telecom and mass communication of the Russian Federation, along with representatives from various Chinese and Russian media outlets visit several new media companies in Tianhe, Guangzhou, Guangdong province on Oct 28, 2016. [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/chinadaily.com.cn]

The China-Russia Internet Media Forum and China-Russia New Media Youth Leadership Forum opens in Tianhe district of Guangzhou, Guangdong province, on Saturday, and will boost exchanges and communication among new media agencies of the two countries, says Aleksey Volin, the deputy minister of telecom and mass communication of the Russian Federation.

The forum, whose theme is "development and cooperation between Chinese and Russian internet new media organizations", aims to enhance people-to-people exchanges, create an information platform for the Belt and Road countries, enable enterprises to hold dialogues and promote development in the cultural, creative and information industries.

"The forum is a perfect way to enhance the cooperation of Chinese and Russian media," Volin said, "and such cooperation is not only limited to pure new media, but some traditional media as well, as nowadays newspapers, radio and TV are developing their internet and social media sectors."
Reporters attending the China-Russia Internet Media Forum experience paying their subway fare by swiping their smartphones or bank cards in Tianhe district, Guangzhou, Guangdong province on Oct 28, 2016. [Photo by Zhu Xinxing/chinadaily.com.cn] The Central Business District in Guangzhou's Tianhe district is looking to maintain its rapid economic growth and enhance its influence on the Pearl River Delta and Southeast Asia through the financial industry. The Central Business District in Guangzhou's Tianhe district is looking to maintain its rapid economic growth and enhance its influence on the Pearl River Delta and Southeast Asia through the financial industry.

Tianhe CBD produces one-eighth of the gross domestic product in the provincial capital of Guangdong.

As the most important CBD in South China, it has offices for 140 Fortune 500 companies and boasts annual merchandise sales of more than 1 trillion yuan ($154 billion) in dozens of shopping malls.

"A strong financial industry is the backbone for the CBD's development, providing professional services for the companies in the area and those in the Pearl River Delta and in Southeast Asia," Huang Deshu, deputy director of the CBD's administrative committee, told China Daily.

"The financial industry will be the new engine for the CBD's economic growth and we will introduce new business formats such as internet finance as the internet economy continues to thrive," he said.

To make space for the booming financial industry, the district is building Guangzhou International Financial City, covering 8 square kilometers, to bring in more financial companies and institutions from home and abroad.

Guangzhou Tianhe CBD is one of the country's three largest in terms of its aggregate economythe other two being Beijing's Chaoyang district and Shanghai's Lujiazui district.

Similarly, the Tianhe CBD has a modern landscape with row upon row of skyscrapers. But it also has Huacheng Plaza, the biggest city park in China.

Covering 560,000 square meters, it is a pleasant journey to walk along the central avenue running through the Zhujiang New Town, with trees, grasslands, ponds and fountains.

Art and culture lovers will be excited to find Guangzhou Opera House, Guangzhou Library and Guangdong Museum beside the plaza.

At the end of the central avenue is eye-catching Canton Tower and Haixinsha, the main venue of the 2010 Asian Games.

The shopping malls in Tianhe CBD are also innovating to maintain growth while facing the challenges from e-commerce and to provide a better shopping experience.

For example, the Grandview Mall invested 680 million yuan on an indoor aquarium, where visitors can appreciate about 500 species of marine organisms, including white whales and a polar bear.

The aquarium has had nearly 1 million visits since it was opened in January, according to Mao Xiang, vice-president of Grandview Group.

"The aquarium is part of our efforts to transform from a shopping mall only to a complex combining commerce, culture and tourism," Mao told China Daily. "Facing the challenges from e-commerce, we need to upgrade the shopping experience."
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Alexey Volin, deputy minister of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation, delivers a speech on Oct 29, 2016 during the China-Russia Internet Media Forum & China-Russia New Media Youth Leadership Summit being held in Tianhe, Guangzhou city. [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/chinadaily.com.cn]

China-Russia Internet Media Forum & China-Russia New Media Youth Leadership Summit opened in Tianhe district in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong province, on Saturday.

Alexey Volin, deputy minister of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation, said both China and Russia are paying more attention to media development and media safety.

"In online media, the two countries can cooperate on more projects, such as the choice of internet platform, technical support, internet information security control, media data storage as well as big data," said Volin.

He said: "Russia will hold a series of events during the 2016-2017 Sino-Russian Media Exchange Year, to further promote cooperation. We look forward to more media representatives to get involved in the events to discuss how to enhance internet security and improve the quality of internet content."

"As new media develop rapidly, traditional media nowadays are facing new challenges, including how to use the internet technology to develop traditional media and how to achieve better communications with media audiences," he said.

Volin said he is very interested in the devices and products developed by leading internet and innovative companies that he visited during a press tour in Tianhe district on Friday.

"Some of those devices can be applied in Russia's internet media," Volin said.
A panel discussion themed "Sino-Russian Internet New Media Cooperation and Development" took place on Saturday afternoon during the China-Russia Internet Media Forum & China-Russia New Media Youth Leadership Summit in Tianhe district, Guangzhou, Guangdong province.

More than 20 Russian press representatives and media entrepreneurs and their Chinese counterparts attended the forum.

Andrey Kirillov, Beijing bureau chief of Russian news agency ITAR-TASS, said the media outlet has a more than 80 years' history of reporting in China and this December marks the 60th anniversary of collaboration with Xinhua News Agency.

"We (both the Russian media and Chinese media) have a tradition of closely working with each other and the cooperation will deepen as we move forward," Kirillov said.

He added that the experiences during the cross-border road rally-like group interview activities jointly held by ITAR-TASS and People's Daily in 2014 and 2016, respectively, emphasizing technology supports, such as network signals are necessary during on-site live coverage. "We not only cover what we see during the trips, but also try our best to showcase local cultures and local lives to our two countries' audience."

He said media colleagues from both sides have strengthened their friendship thanks to the events.

According to Kirillov, Russian news agency RIA Novosti and China Radio International jointly held a similar event this year, and received many positive feedbacks.

Meng Lingjuan, deputy editor-in-chief of ce.cn, the official website of domestic newspaper- Economic Daily, said personalization, matrixed collaboration and capitalization are the three main perspectives to develop international media cooperation.

She said the collaboration between Russian and Chinese media outlets should be based on matrixed new media products, such as audio content derived from the video stories produced by ce.cn.

"Think tanks and technologies powered companies, such as The Economist and NAVER, are some of the examples for both the two countries' media to learn to jointly improve the think tank networks construction," Meng said.
Chinese and Russian media representatives and media entrepreneurs shared the same stage to discuss the trends in new media at a forum held in Tianhe, Guangzhou city, on Saturday.

The interactive session, whose theme was "Technology-driven reform of media industries", was part of the China-Russia Internet Media Forum & China-Russia New Media Youth Leadership Summit held from Oct 28 to 29.

"Both Chinese and Russian media industries have seen the traditional media lose their original positions," said Anton Anisimov, head of International Broadcasting, Sputnik News Agency and Radio.

He said high-tech companies have become the new media content providers whether in China or Russia.

Technology-based entrepreneurial company ZAKER's president Li Senhe shared the company's experience in information aggregation and social reading.

"What we need in the era of information explosion is not just information but useful information," said Li. "By analyzing users' reading habits and social media buzzwords, ZAKER is able to predict which articles will see more hits. We want to use data to change the source of content production."

Matvey Alekseev, head director of External Communications of Rambler & Co, said, "As a pioneer internet company in Russia, GR has become the third-largest internet company in the country."

He said with users moving toward mobile internet, the company would like to further cooperate with Chinese internet companies.

Vadim Fedotov, counsel to the CEO, Gazprom-Media Holding, also expressed desire to cooperate with Chinese internet media.

"The quality of content is the lifeline of media and only high-quality can win overseas market. Gazprom-Media looks forward to working with Chinese internet media to explore products and projects that have bright prospect," said Fedotov.

Ning Er, deputy editor-in-chief of Sohu, agreed with Fedotov on the importance of quality. He said the quality of content produced by many should raise concerns.

"Co-producing high-quality content can be the starting point of Chinese and Russian media's cooperation," said Ning.

Georgy Kudinov, president of Group of Companies South Region, said there is a great future for media in the countries along the Belt and Road Initiative to cooperate with each other.
On May 8, 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin announced 2016-2017 as "Year of China-Russia Media Communication".

Media from both countries will carry out exchanges and cooperation in 10 fields, including policy exchange, mutual coverage, mega-events, joint production, publication and distribution, etc, pushing forward the cultural cooperation between both nations to a higher level.

Today, in the crisp autumn, China's and Russia's mainstream online media companies, most influential internet media organizations, delegates from related organizations, specialist and scholars meet in Guangzhou, an important harbor on the Silk Road, to discuss development and innovation, opportunities and challenges faced by the two countries' internet media. The forum has achieved fruitful results through communication and discussion. The forum reached a consensus on these points:

1. Highlight the increasingly important role of internet and new technology in information transmission

In today's world, internet technology is developing rapidly and internet is now part and parcel of everybody's life. It has transformed the global economic system, people's interests and security. Information online spreads with lightning speed, its scope is large and its influence is unprecedented in the history of human communication.

Chinese and Russian internet media should meet the challenges of new situation and technologies, actively innovate concepts, content, technique, application and form, make full use of the latest technological achievements, provide news products that are closer to people's daily lives and are interactive, readable, attractive and appealing, to fulfill people's need in the two countries.

2. Establish a long-term cooperation mechanism, expand the dimension of communication and cooperation between China and Russia

Chinese and Russian internet media should establish a long-term mechanism of communication and cooperation, expand ties through multiple ways, such as contacts on a regular basis, content exchange, joint interviews, joint seminars and tech projects, so they can share resources and complement each other's advantages and push forward the establishment of an open, inclusive and new order of international news and information spread.

3. Strengthen technical cooperation and communication, maintain international cyberspace security order

Under the framework of China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination, the two countries will further cooperate on information and cyberspace. Chinese and Russian internet media will uphold the principle of respecting cyber sovereignty and jointly safeguard international cyberspace order, stick to the concept of working together, trusting, benefiting and communicating with each other, jointly set up a peaceful, safe, open, cooperative community of common destiny in cyberspace, take part in building a multilateral, democratic, transparent mechanism of international internet that are shared and governed by all, further improve the opening-up level and connotation of the two sides' internet and mobile internet, strengthen research and development cooperation and technical assistance on big data collection and application, cloud computing and virtual reality, so as to let more countries and people share the fruits of internet development.

4. Create conditions to strengthen communication between youth talents from both countries and improve their professionalism

China-Russia internet media will push forward communication between youth talents, promote joint projects and enhance mutual learning of their media professionals to build the foundation for media cooperation. By sharing think tank resources, including specialists, scholars and media professionals based on the cooperation project, the two countries can combine their communication power and enhance their internet media's strengths and competitiveness.

Even mountains and seas cannot keep people with common aspirations away. Let us join hands to seek common points while reserving differences and make objective, fair voices sound with a more confident and more open attitude. In the all-media era, where traditional media and new media are undergoing deep convergence, China-Russia internet media will carry out practical cooperation at a higher level, push forward mutual learning and expand the new channel and new space for information communication, so as to build a bridge for the development of China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership, to make positive contributions to building a more diverse and a more balanced world media order.

October 29, 2016

Guangzhou, China
Journalists and Microsoft fans get a look at the new Microsoft Surface Studio introduced at a Microsoft news conference on Oct 26, 2016 in New York. [Photo/AFP]

Microsoft Corp plans to triple the number of its franchised stores in China to 400 in two years, as the United States tech giant steps up efforts to boost the sales of its consumer electronics products.

The plan came shortly after the firm unveiled a new all-in-one desktop personal computer on Wednesday, to target creative professionals and consumers.

Isaiah Cheung, vice-president at Microsoft Greater China, said China is the second biggest market for its Surface lineup, only after the United States.

"The average price Chinese consumers pay is going up. We believe China will overtake the US as our largest market one day," Cheung said.

In the latest quarter ending in September, Surface revenue hit $926 million, up 38 percent year-on-year.

In the same time frame, the China market was also growing rapidly, Cheung said. Currently, the firm has 115 franchised stores in the Chinese mainland and has established closer partnerships with major retail chains such as Suning Commerce Group Co Ltd.

The firm is also planning to open its first China Microsoft store, a store owned and operated by Microsoft itself, as an increasing number of consumers are gravitated toward its products.

"We are looking for the proper timing and location to open the store. After all, we don't have to worry about its revenue now, given the strong sales performance in China," Cheung said.

Surface Studio, the new PC unveiled on Wednesday, comes with a 28-inch display with what Microsoft says is the thinnest LCD screen ever. It is priced at $2,999 in the United States.

The Windows 10 update, which will be rolled out in the spring, enables consumers to invent and share 3D-objects.

On Thursday, Apple Inc also unveiled a new Macbook Pro, seeking to expand its share in the PC market.

Zhao Xiaolei, an analyst at International Data Corp, said Microsoft hopes to set the trend of what future all-in-one desktop PCs should look like so that other PC manufacturers can follow.

Currently, the best-selling Surface products in China are its tablet-PC hybrids.
China's annual expedition to Antarctica will feature an upgraded Douglas DC-3 fixed-wing aircraft and several unmanned aerial vehicles for the first time this year.

The reliable and versatile DC-3 - which revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s - was upgraded by US-based aircraft remanufacturer Basler and is worth more than 90 million yuan ($13 million). It left Canada, where it was undergoing maintenance, on Oct 23, said Sun Tijun, director of the Polar Research Institute of China and a member of the expedition's leadership team, said at a news briefing on Friday in Shanghai.

It will join the Chinese icebreaker Xuelong in Antarctica. The vessel is set to leave Shanghai on Nov 2.

"The plane will carry out scientific experiments and provide logistical support," Sun said. "It will land at Kunlun Station, at an altitude of more than 4,000 meters, for a test."

He said landing at such a high altitude will challenge both the performance of the aircraft and the physical condition of its crew, as well as test whether the plane is suitable for extended observation and exploration of the polar region.

"The airplane, whose wingspan and length are both about 30 meters, can act as a mobile platform for scientific research equipment," Sun said.

In addition to the rebuilt vintage DC-3, at least 10 unmanned aerial vehicles of various types will be part of this year's 161-day expedition, team leader Sun Bo said.

"Their ability to react rapidly makes them perfect for smaller tasks over shorter distances, such as assessing the ice condition 1 or 2 kilometers ahead," Sun said.

During its travels, the expedition may also select a location for China's fifth scientific research station in Antarctica.

"Possibly it will be at the southernmost part of the Ross Sea, where abundant ice shelves exist," said Xu Shijie, another member of the leadership team. "The influence of ice on global climate change is a key topic around the world."

Xu added that "a number of developed countries, including the United States, Italy, Germany and New Zealand, have set up their stations in the area, so having a station there is also a way to establish China's influence in Antarctic expeditions".

zhouwenting@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 10/29/2016 page3)
A street vendor whose classic spring onion pancakes were wildly popular with customers was allowed to start cooking again on Friday after being shut down for operating without a license.

A huge number of fans lined up again to buy the pancakes, which cook Wu Gencheng, 60, had been selling for 13 years from a roadside stall outside his home on the first floor of an old residential building.

Wu's story spread rapidly after his traditional Shanghai snacks, also known as scallion pancakes, received a favorable review in a BBC documentary and news reports in early September about the shutdown.

The closure generated widespread sympathy, with residents blaming bureaucracy for going after a tiny vendor over a trivial matter like licensing, not because of food safety or other good reasons.

In partnership with Ele.me, a Chinese online food ordering and delivery app, the new shop reopened at a food court on Yongjia road in downtown Shanghai - this time with a license. Ele.me paid the annual rent for the property.

Wu, who has a disability - a severe humpback - said he will keep up his routine at the new shop just as he did at his home, getting up every morning at 3 am and making 300 pancakes a day.

"Everything is fine for me," he said.

Yao Zhen, who is in charge of public affairs at Ele.me, said the company was glad to cooperate with Wu to promote the classic snack of Shanghai.

"It took us some time to find an ideal property in the city where an inch of land is worth an inch of gold," Yao said.

The new shop, covering about 7 square meters at the food court, has air conditioning, a better chopping board and better lighting than the old venue. The oven was moved from Wu's original shop, while food materials, including flour, lard oil and scallions are sourced from the same retailers he always used.

On Friday morning, a crowd of fans arrived to get a bite of the pancake praised as "deliciously crisp, doughy and very savory" in the BBC documentary that was broadcast earlier this year.

"I heard about the pancakes for a long time but had missed opportunities to taste it," said Sun Qiong, a Shanghai resident standing at the front of the waiting line. "I'm preparing take 10 of them, including some for my colleagues," she said.

The pancakes cost 5 yuan each. ($0.74).

Li Wenliang, a regular customer, said the pancakes are as tasty as usual - maybe even better: "This is the flavor I am used to," he said. "This is the flavor of Shanghai."

wangzhenghua@chinadaily.com.cn
Belgian students at the "Seeds for the Future" opening ceremony in Beijing on Aug 22.

Huawei Vice-President of Global Public Affairs David Harmon is invited to deliver a speech on the company's successful experience in Belgium on Oct 31 during the Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel's visit to China.

Harmon will share such experiences as Huawei's integration into Belgian society, its contribution to the local economy and telecom development, and the importance of Europe and Belgium to the company's global strategy.

Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei has been investing heavily in research and development in Belgium since 2008 when it first tapped into the local market.

It now has three R&D facilities in the European country, each having a unique innovation direction.

In Ghent, Huawei engineers are working on silicon photonics, a technology that is expected to revolutionize optical communications. In Louvain-la-Neuve, the company's research team is focusing on software development. In Leuven, Huawei established a European Research Institute in 2015 for chipset development, which was recently nominated by Flanders Investment and Trade as the "Best Investor of the Year". The institute has more than 1,200 engineers from 18 R&D sites in eight European countries.

Belgium is famous for its high-quality universities, so Huawei is committed to investing in local talent. A leading-edge wireless technology pilot initiative jointly carried out by Huawei and Proximus, the largest telecommunications company in Belgium, at the University of Brussels has allowed local students to benefit from the latest evolution of technology.

Moreover, the "Seeds for the Future" program, which was Huawei's contribution to the European Pact for Youth, an educational initiative under the patronage of Belgium's King Philippe, has enabled 40 students from five Belgian universities to gain firsthand working experience at Huawei's Shenzhen headquarters over the past two years.

In Belgium, Huawei has also developed a strong partner eco-system over the past eight years. Its partners include BKM, Data Unit, Prodata Systems and Infradata. Through its solid partner network, Huawei supports many local companies in dealing with their digital challenges, such as smart city initiatives, increased mobility in public transport and the Internet of Things, in a bid to build a more digitized community.

Huawei's strategy is also aligned with the "Digital Agenda for Belgium", a government-led initiative to strengthen the country's digital economy as a driver of growth, as well as the employment and well-being of its citizens.

In addition, Huawei works with Belgium's leading telecom providers, helping them to build future-proof network infrastructure projects that support the digital transformation of the society. Its efforts of putting affordable state-of-the-art mobile devices in the hands of subscribers also make mobile communication more accessible to local consumers.

Over the past three years, Huawei-brand smartphones have become one of the top three best-selling devices in Belgium.

In the future, Huawei will further strengthen its ties with the Belgian authorities, business partners, customers and consumers to build a "Better Connected Belgium", Harmon said.

haonan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 10/29/2016 page19)
The word "but" is probably the one most frequently on the lips of Qu Xing, China's ambassador to Belgium, when describing this small country in Western Europe and all that it has achieved.

Qu, who took up his diplomatic role in late 2014, has been impressed with the various strengths of Belgium, a country with only half the population of Beijing or Shanghai, that has achieved a great deal.

"It is a small country, but it has earned tremendous global influence," said Qu.

Sitting in the guest room of the newly-refurnished Chinese Embassy that stands next to an avenue lined with dense trees in the outskirts of Brussels, Qu noted that the country has hosted the European Union headquarters, NATO, think-tanks, media and lobbying and commerce organizations in the thousands. Behind him, Chinese and Belgian flags hang next to a wall, typical of an embassy setting.

"Apart from Washington, Brussels should be the second symbol when we talk about the West," said Qu, referring to the wealth of soft power that makes Belgium differ from other European countries.

He added that Belgium has advantages in the fields of research and development, foreign trade, education and logistics, which would be impressive, even for a large nation.

Because China has been in the process of restructuring its economy and boosting outward investment, Qu has been busy exploring cooperative opportunities for Chinese and Belgian businesses by putting as many on-site visits as possible on his daily agenda.

He has visited companies in areas including pharmacy, civil nuclear technology and the micro-electronics sector and has been impressed with them.

Obviously, Belgium is not a big market, "but", he emphasizes, "it has a strong hold on research and development".

Using the country's geographic advantage as a gateway at the heart of the European Union, Belgian people are inclined to develop international trade and explore markets that value Belgium's competitiveness in research. In addition, Belgium boasts convenient water, land and air transportation hubs within a close radius and can easily connect with Paris, Luxembourg, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and other European cities.

Qu noted that Belgium has several universities among the world's top 200 higher education institutions.

All of these factors contribute to it being active in boosting trade and investment.

Qu has spent a lot of time in Europe, having been in Paris between 1986 and 1992 while earning a master's degree and a doctorate in political science at the Paris Institute of Political Studies. Between 2006 and 2009, he worked as the Minister, DCM of the Chinese Embassy to France.

Qu said Belgium, which is nestled between the powers of France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands to form a convergence point for Latin and Germanic cultures, has created "its genes of being inclusive, tolerant and open".

It was also among the earliest countries to become industrialized.

Qu said he now has the great responsibility of helping to deepen the bilateral relationship between Belgium and China in several areas.

As a professor who worked as assistant president and vice-president of the China Foreign Affairs University between 1995 and 2006, president of the China Institute of International Studies between 2009 and 2014, he is adept at listing data and forming new narratives in describing the bilateral relationship.

He said businessmen in China and Belgium today handle trade flows every seven hours that equate to the size of an entire year of trade 45 years ago, which was when the nations forged diplomatic ties. This fact is among many comparisons cited by Qu Xing that illustrate the closeness of the partnership the nations have forged during the past few years.

Annual bilateral trade reached $23.2 billion in 2015.

"That's 1,150 times the trading volume at the beginning of our diplomatic relations," he said proudly, adding that the annual growth rate during the past five years has been 16 percent.

He said companies from both nations are more interactive than ever and are investing in one another's enterprises.

For example, Volvo's Ghent plant has been booming since China's Geely took over, said Qu. Every minute, the 5,300 local employees produce one automobile, and this production rate pushed the annual production to a record high of 250,000 automobiles, leading the company to fare well in a relatively sluggish worldwide automobile market.

fujing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 10/29/2016 page19)
Editor's note: With Halloween fast approaching, Chengdu's metro issued a statement on its Weibo account, banning spooky costumes to avoid chaos and panic among passengers. Should Halloween costumes be banned from the subway? Is Halloween becoming more popular in China? Forum readers share their opinions.

surfer567 (Thailand)

I loved Halloween, but it doesn't mean I want China to adopt the tradition, and I wouldn't ask for such a thing. If I wanted to celebrate Halloween, then I would go to the US. Each country should have its own unique traditions. And I never knew about the origins of Halloween, but to me, it's not important. What's priceless is not knowledge of where Halloween came from and not even the candies you get, but the fun you have with your friends. I'm sure Chinese people have got their own ways of having fun.
Hung Hsiu-chu,chairwoman of the opposition Kuomintang Party in Taiwan, gives an interview at a radio station inTaipei, Taiwan, on 23 June 2015.

Hung Hsiu-chu, chairwoman of the opposition Kuomintang Party in Taiwan, is scheduled to embark on a five-day trip to the Chinese mainland on Sunday. Her first visit to the mainland since becoming the Kuomintang leader in March will first take her to Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu province, where the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum is located, and then to Beijing.

Both sides of the Taiwan Straits are working on the details of Hung's itinerary. She has already confirmed her participation in the Beijing-based Cross-Straits Peace and Development Forum, which will be jointly hosted by nongovernmental organizations from the mainland and Taiwan on Nov 2 and 3.

As cross-Straits exchanges, official and grassroots both, have continued to wane since Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen, also the chairwoman of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, assumed power in May, Hung's visit to the mainland could serve as a silver lining in cross-Straits relations.

The primary aim of her visit is to deepen interaction between the Communist Party of China and Kuomintang in accordance with the common political foundation of the 1992 Consensus and help improve cross-Straits relations.

In other words, despite the high-level interaction being essentially confined to the two parties, its implications extend much beyond that. As An Fengshan, spokesman for the mainland's Taiwan Affairs Office, said on Wednesday, Hung's trip to the mainland will have a positive impact on maintaining cross-Straits peace and stability.

A lot depends on how the mainland sees the island's political situation and cross-Straits ties in the long run and what's on the agenda of the parties' leaders. If the meeting between the two parties is held, as many observers expect, it would deliver a key message that the mainland stands firm on its one-China principle and opposition to separatist moves in Taiwan irrespective of which party governs the island.

Exchanges between the CPC and Kuomintang are possible because the latter also upholds the 1992 Consensus. And the change in the theme of this year's CPC-KMT forumfrom "Trade, Economy and Culture" to "Peace and Development"reflects the demands of the changing times.

The peaceful development enjoyed by both sides for the past eight years has more or less come to a halt since Tsai became the Taiwan leader five months ago. Rebuilding peace and trust is supposed to be a priority in cross-Straits relations, because without peace and trust, trade and cultural exchanges would simply not proceed.

During Hung's visit to the mainland, both sides are expected to consolidate their adherence to the 1992 Consensus, which Tsai has not yet consented to, and address thorny issues facing cross-Straits ties. As such, the island's divisive public opinions should be fairly evaluated.

That Tsai and her DPP won this year's leadership election does not necessarily mean they can turn a deaf ear to those who are against the "independence" campaign and in favor of a peaceful cross-Straits relationship.

The Kuomintang leader is qualified to represent their appeals and seek consensus with the mainland's governing party, which should be taken seriously by the Tsai administration.

The author is a professor at the Institute of Taiwan Studies, Beijing Union University. The article is an excerpt from his interview with China Daily's Cui Shoufeng.
Scholars join in a discussion themed the "Different perspectives on global governance", a sub-forum of the annual North Pavilion Dialogue conference, on October 23, 2016. [Photo by Wu Zheyu/chinadaily.com.cn]

The third annual North Pavilion Dialogue conference was held in Peking University from October 21-23, to discuss the role of China in foreign affairs. The scholars attending the conference tend to reach a common sense that China, as an emerging leading power, is becoming increasingly involved in global governance, not only offering public goods to the whole world, but also contributing fruitful concepts, plans and solutions to international community, such as the concept of "human community", One Belt One Road Initiative, and also lead the founding of various financial institutes like Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Silk Road Fund and New Development Banks (NDB).

Wang Jisi, the president of Peking Universitys Institute of International and Strategic Studies, hosted the conference and leads the dialogue via offering questions and issues for scholars at present to discuss. When asked about how to better understand Chinas role in the foreign affairs and how would they define globalization, Nabil Fahmy, Egypts former minister of Foreign Affairs, warned that: "Globalization is quite complex, the failure of which would be detrimental to interests of China and clearly the rest of the world. Glad that after this meeting we achieve better understanding of China role in the global governance, definitely Chinas strengthening importance in this mechanism also makes it more reasonable and fair."

David Miliband, the UKs former minister of Foreign Affairs, explained that the public should not forget the original intention of building global governance:" Its important to emphasize that the purpose of global governance is to combat the unsustainability and instability that exists when global public space is not properly managed. By that standard, the world needs to do better job of managing the commons to combat those challenges. Its quite interesting that many ones I met in China are really uncertain about whether to believe the rest of world want China to be their international partner. There still exists much doubt that needs to be demolished."

Thierry de Montbrial, president of the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI), gives his suggestion: "In order to succeed we need more from a system which is based on the balance of power and interests. The only way to do that is to better understand and work together, it wont be easy but its not an option that we could choose or deny, its a parameter that we need engage to achieve."

Several former politicians who once held vital positions in governments also participated in the two-day conference, including Yoriko Kawaguchi, Japans former minister of Foreign Affairs, Marty Natategawa, a former Foreign Minister in Indonesia and Kim Sung-Hwan, Koreas former Foreign Minister. They contributed varying ideas and suggestions to the focused discussions covering issues of international organizations reform, developmental imbalance and social justice, coping with terrorism and extremism, regional security and nuclear non-proliferation.

Peking Universitys Institute of International and Strategic Studies holds the North Pavilion Dialogue every year to build it as a high-end platform, as a means to enhance communication and cooperation among scholars who studied on international strategy, hence help to predict the world circumstances more precisely, foster the mutual benefits and inclusive development within the framework of world politics.
CHICAGO - An American Airlines jet caught fire moments before it was due to depart O'Hare International Airport in Chicago on Friday, prompting the crew to abort takeoff and evacuate passengers via emergency chutes, authorities said.

No serious injuries were reported.

Chicago Fire Department Assistant Deputy Fire Commissioner Timothy Sampey holds a news conference about an American Airlines jet that caught fire as Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans looks on at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, US, October 28, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

The takeoff of American Airlines Flight 383, a Boeing 767 bound for Miami with 161 passengers and a crew of nine, was prompted by an "engine-related issue," the airline said in a statement.

The Federal Aviation Administration cited a blown-out tire reported by the flight crew as the plane was rolling down the runway before takeoff was aborted.

Neither the FAA nor the airline mentioned a fire.

But footage from Chicago's ABC News affiliate station, WLS-TV, showed an American Airlines jet on the ground with flames and large clouds of black smoke billowing from one side of the aircraft, which had its emergency slides deployed. Passengers milled about watching the blaze as fire trucks poured water on the flames.

A video clip posted on Facebook by Hector Gustavo Cardenas, who was on the plane, shows passengers shouting at each other to hurry as they move down the aisle to the emergency exit slide.

"15 Seconds later would have been on the air and would have been a good bye..." he wrote on Facebook.

The Chicago Department of Aviation confirmed in a statement that the city fire department responded to an aircraft fire involving American Airlines Flight 383 and that the passengers were off the plane. It said no crash was involved.

The company said seven passengers and one flight attendant were taken to a hospital for evaluation of minor injuries.

An American Airlines spokeswoman said the injuries were typical of those associated with evacuating a commercial jet, such as muscle sprains, and that none involved burns or smoke inhalation.

The incident forced the closure of at least three of the airport's eight runways, the city Aviation Department said.

By about two hours after the incident, the airport had experienced 130 delays of departing flights and 170 inbound flights, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware.com

As the mishap unfolded, tower controllers at O'Hare began ordering inbound aircraft to abort their landing approaches and "go around," initially closing all runways so emergency vehicles could reach the stricken aircraft, according to audio recordings of the main tower frequency posted by the website liveatc.net.

Asked by the pilot of one inbound plane to explain the maneuver, a tower controller is heard saying: "Vehicles have rights to all the runways right now because an American engine burst into flame on the rollout," the tapes showed.

Operations later resumed on the north side of O'Hare airport, one of the world's busiest, according to web tracking sites and a live feed of tower conversations from liveatc.net.

In September last year, a British Airways jetliner engine caught fire in Las Vegas as the plane was about to take off for London, forcing all 172 passengers and crew to escape as smoke and flames engulfed the aircraft.
NEW YORK - Democrat Hillary Clinton's lead over Republican rival Donald Trump widened to 6 percentage points in the latest Reuters/Ipsos US presidential tracking poll, released on Friday, showing Trump losing support among women.

US Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton holds an unscheduled news conference to talk about FBI inquiries into her emails after a campaign rally in Des Moines, Iowa, US October 28, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

The Oct. 21-27 opinion poll shows 42 percent of people who either voted already or expect to vote in the Nov. 8 election support Clinton, versus 36 percent for Trump. Clinton's lead a week ago was 4 points.

The polling was conducted before Clinton's campaign was hit on Friday by the FBI announcement that it was investigating more emails as part of a probe into her use of a private email server while secretary of state.

FBI Director James Comey said in a letter to several congressional Republicans that the agency had learned of the existence of emails that appeared to be pertinent to its investigation. However, he said the FBI did not know if the emails were significant and did not provide a time frame for the probe.

Trump, a New York businessman seeking his first elected office, has consistently trailed Clinton in the poll. His level of support has remained below 40 percent among all likely voters since the beginning of September.

Clinton leads Trump by 10 points among likely women voters, up from a 4-point lead the previous week. Clinton has led Trump among women over the last two months, though the size of her advantage has varied widely from 1 point to 11 points.

In a 2005 video that emerged this month, Trump could be heard bragging in vulgar terms about groping and kissing women.

At least a dozen women have since publicly accused him of making unwanted sexual advances. Trump denies the allegations.

Trump still has an edge among white women, a key source of strength for Republicans. Trump leads Clinton by 2 points with this group, down from a 12-point lead the previous week.

Women tend to lean Democratic, but Reuters/Ipsos polling this month shows a majority of women have an unfavorable view of the former US secretary of state and believe she is not honest and truthful.

Clinton also led Trump by 6 points in a separate Reuters/Ipsos poll that included alternative party candidates.

Both polls, conducted online in English in all 50 states, included 1,627 American adults who were considered to be likely voters from their voting history, registration status and stated intention to vote.

That sample included 965 likely women voters and 776 likely white women voters. Individual responses were adjusted to reflect the overall US population.

The poll has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points for the total sample and 4 percentage points for the women voters.

The RealClearPolitics website, which tracks most major polls, shows Clinton leading Trump by an average of 5 percentage points.
(Photo : https://pixabay.com/en/board-circuit-control-center-410099/) Aixtron is a manufacturer of semiconductor equipment.

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US intelligence services are believed to be behind Germany's decision to re-examine the Aixtron deal with a firm from China.



German authorities recently announced the withdrawal of its approval for Chinese takeover of German firm Aixtron, a manufacturer of semiconductor equipment. Accordingly, the reason for such move is the previously unknown security information.



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According to the newspaper Handelsblatt, the US authorities told Germany that the technology may potentially be used for military purposes.



The German ministry did not issue any comment on the newspaper report. It stated that no details may be provided about the "origin or the nature" of the information.



The ministry confirmed, though, that while taking a decision, it will in principle take into cognizance the information received from foreign intelligence agencies. The spokesperson for the ministry further stated that the review process may likely take two to three months after the proper collection of the relevant data.



The publication claimed that the American authorities showed evidence to the representatives of German ministries, but such was reportedly not handed over to the latter.



Earlier this year, the US Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) blocked Philips from selling its Lumileds LED business to Chinese buyers. The committee reviews acquisition deals from the viewpoint of national security.



Fujian-based Grand Chip Investment Fund had signed the deal with Aixtron for $732 million. However, following the approval's withdrawal, Aixtron shares plunged below the Euro 6 mark. Aixtron said it has not received any enquiries from the ministry, so far.



German authorities are increasingly becoming concerned about the growing Chinese acquisition of German businesses.



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TagsAixtron, Germany, United States of America, Grand Chip Investment Fund
(Photo : https://pixabay.com/en/iphone-iphone-7-iphone-7-plus-apple-1680359/) He said that the company enjoyed positive response in the country for its iPhone 7 and 7 Plus.

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Apple CEO Tim Cook reiterated his optimistic vision about China, particularly with its market share.



He said the company enjoyed a positive response in the country for its iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. However, the technology giant reported 30 percent year-on-year decline in its China revenue during the third quarter. The decline was attributed to the stiff competition from domestic brands, such as Huawei.



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This has been the American tech giant's third consecutive decline in its quarterly revenue and profits.



China is the leading region showing the biggest decline. The company earned $8.79 billion in revenue from China, down from $12.51 billion it reported in the previous year. However, the company CEO said it is likely that the demand for iPhone 7 and 7 Plus will pick up in the next quarter.



In his follow up earnings call, Cook said, "We are very bullish on China."



ChinaDaily reported that Roger Sheng, research director at Gartner Inc. said Apple is likely to face sales decline in China for quite some time.



He said the new iPhone failed to generate enthusiasm in customers as they already have access to high quality phones form domestic companies.



Apple introduces new models about once a year, while Chinese technology companies refresh their lineups every few months, offering better choices to their clients.



The company was hit by 17 percent decline in its fiscal annual revenue in the country. Apple's position in Chinese smartphone market share dropped to fourth place.



Apple expects to see an improved performance in China at the end of 2016, as it maintains optimism towards getting a bigger market share thsi time.



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(Photo : ONR) Hypervelocity projectiles

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The United States military will use hypervelocity projectiles (HVPs) designed originally for its electromagnetic railgun as missile-killing ammunition for its conventional naval guns and ground artillery systems.



Studies by the Department of Defense have revealed that HVPs fired from 5 inch (127 mm) Mk-45 guns aboard U.S. Navy warships such as the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers and the 155 mm guns aboard the Zumwalt-class destroyers can neutralize anti-ship missile (ASM) salvoes that will be the chosen mode of attack by China and Russia against Navy warships, especially aircraft carriers, in any future conflict.



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DoD noted that "if we can close the fire support with a controlled solution," HVPs will be able to shoot down most of the anti-ship missiles in a 100 ASM attack.



When fired from conventional 5 inch guns, HVPs achieve a speed of Mach 3 (3,700 km/h), half the speed it achieves when fired from a railgun, but more than twice the speed of a conventional high-explosive round.



A project of the Office of Naval Research (ONR), HVP is a next-generation, common, low drag, guided projectile for gun systems such as the Navy 5 inch, 155 mm and future railguns.



HVP's low drag aerodynamic design enables high-velocity, maneuverability and decreased time-to-target. The high-velocity compact design relieves the need for a rocket motor to extend gun range.



Firing smaller more accurate rounds improves danger close/collateral damage requirements and provides potential for deeper magazines and improved shipboard safety. The modular design will allow HVP to be configured for multiple gun systems and to address different missions.



HVP is being designed to provide lethality and performance enhancements to current and future gun systems.



In 2015, Naval Sea Systems Command said it was interested in taking the HVP being developed for the railgun and using it as ammunition for the Mk-45 deck guns on the Navy's Ticonderoga-class guided missiles cruisers and Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.



HVPs can theoretically be fired from the Mk 45 at Mach 3, which is faster than the speed of conventional unguided rounds but slower than one from a railgun. The U.S. Army plans similar testing with its 155 mm M109A6 Paladin self-propelled howitzers with the HVP.



BAE Systems, which is developing a naval EM railgun, said the range of an HVP fired from the Mk-45 is over 74 km (40 nautical miles). That distance increases to 130 km (70 nautical miles) when the HVP is fired from the 155 mm gun of a Zumwalt-class destroyer.



A railgun can fire an HVP to 185 km (100 nautical miles).



BAE says the maximum rate of fire for HVP is 20 rounds per minute from a Mk-45 gun; 10 rounds per minute from the 155mm gun on the Zumwalt and six rounds per minute from an EM railgun.



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Tagshypervelocity projectile, HVP, U.S. Navy, anti-ship missiles, Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers, Zumwalt-class destroyers
(Photo : getty images.) Chinas communist party has expelled two senior military officers for charges of corruption, according to Chinese state media Xinhua.

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Stepping up its ongoing fight against corruption, China's communist party has expelled two senior military officers, Chinese state media Xinhua reported.



Fan Changmi, former deputy political commissar of Lanzhou Military Command, and Niu Zhizhong, a former deputy commander of the paramilitary People's Armed Police were reportedly charged for corruption.



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Xinhua said the party officials have confirmed that they would go ahead with previous decision to expel them following a report that endorses their "serious discipline violations."



To recall, Fan was first put under investigation for corruption charges in 2014.



However, this is the first time that government officials have confirmed that Niu was also put under investigation, according to the report.



Both officers apparently could not be reached for their comment, and it is not clear if they have been allowed to access legal counsel to handle the charges filed against them.



Several serving and retired officers said the presence of corruption practices is allegedly deep-rooted in the Chinese armed forces that it can undermine China's ability to wage war.



Following these observations, Chinese President Xi Jinping has made his anti-corruption drive in the military and armed forces as one of the top priorities.



In July, a military court had convicted a former deputy head of the powerful Central Military Commission for corruption charges. The officer was given life imprisonment.



China is currently in the middle of pursuing a nationwide fight against corruption, as part of Xi's campaign to weed out corrupt officials from Chinese society. Apparently, some powerful and high ranked officials have fallen prey to the corruption campaign.



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TagsCommunist Party, Corrupation in China, Anti-Corrupation in China, china
(Photo : https://pixabay.com/en/dalai-lama-statue-wax-leader-724159/) The spiritual leader is expected to visit Tawang Monastery in Arunachal Pradesh

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Amid its ongoing rift with China, India confirmed the Dalai Lama's proposed visit to Arunachal Pradesh next year.



The spiritual leader is expected to visit Tawang Monastery in the region, following an invitation from the state chief minister Pema Khandu. The visit, which was announced earlier this month, is likely to further strain the fragile relationship between India and China.



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A spokesperson for the Indian external affairs said the Dalai Lama is a "guest of India" and is free to make visits across the country. He also added that the leader has visited the state during earlier occasions and there is nothing unusual about his upcoming visit.



Tawang Monastery is one of the biggest monasteries in Asia and the Dalai Lama has massive following there.



The Tibetan government in exile has not made any remark. However, Tenzin Takla, Dalai Lama's spokesperson, said the spiritual leader has accepted the invitation extended by the chief minister and people of Arunachal Pradesh.



He is expected to visit the place during the latter half of March. Dalai Lama was scheduled to visit the state in 2009 as well, it was canceled allegedly because of the pressure from China.



The announcement of the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh came on the heels of another controversial visit to the state by the US ambassador to India. It was learned that China registered its strong opposition to the visit. The country admonished the United States for visiting the disputed area.



Lu Kang, spokesperson for Chinese Foreign Ministry, said China was "firmly opposed" to the visit. The country also claimed the visit is likely to damage the situation at the China-India border.



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Tagschina, India, Dalai Lama
(Photo : getty images.) Malaysia will sign a major defence contract to acquire Littoral Mission Ships from China during Prime Minister Najib Razaks visit to Beijing next week. This was revealed by a Facebook post posted by the Malaysias Ministry of Defence.

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Malaysia will sign a major defense contract to acquire Littoral Mission Ships from China during Prime Minister Najib Razak's visit to Beijing next week.



The Malaysia's Ministry of Defense's Facebook post revealed.



"On Nov. 5, 2016, the Defense Ministry will sign a contract for the procurement of Littoral Mission Ships (LMS) with SASTIND (the State Administration for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense), which is an important part of the schedule during the Prime Minister's official visit to China," the Facebook post quotes Malaysia's Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein as saying.



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However, this post was immediately removed after Reuters reportedly inquired with Defensee Ministry's spokesperson for comment.



Littoral Mission Ships are basically fast patrol vessels that can be equipped with a helicopter flight deck and carry missiles. They are mainly used for coastal security, maritime patrol and surveillance.



Meanwhile, China's foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said on Friday that he was "unclear on the specifics of the situation."



Lu said China and Malaysia "continue to cooperate and communicate regularly across all spheres."



If Malaysia does buy Littoral Mission Ships, then it will be a first major defense deal with China in recent decades.



The deal will be a significant one, considering that Malaysia is one of the claimants of South China Sea, and shares bitter relationship with China over the sensitive issue.



The report about the defense deal comes at a time when Malaysia's ties with US have been going through a period of strain. This could be because of US Department of Justice's decision to file lawsuits against Malaysian state-owned financial company, which was apparently founded by Najib.



Interestingly, it was China that bailed out the scandal hit state- owned firm with a $2.3 billion deal. China's financial bailout apparently helped in brining fresh thaw in bilateral relationship between the two countries.



Ahead of his visit, the Malaysian prime minister said Malaysia was committed to improve relationship with China and pushing bilateral ties to "new high."



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TagsMalaysia, Malaysia and China, Najib Razak, Najib Razak's Visit to China
(Photo : Getty images) Xi Jinping.

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There is now the real possibility Chinese President Xi Jinping will extend his term as president past 2022 with his elevation to the status of a "core leader" of the Communist Party of China (CPC), an honor that places him among the "gods" of communism such as Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.



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Xi is also General Secretary of the CPC and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), which is the military branch of the central government that controls the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the armed forces of the CPC. The task of the PLA is to defend the CPC first and the Chinese state, second.



Since Xi holds the top offices of the party and the military, in addition to being head of state as China's president, Xi is also referred to as China's "Paramount Leader."



Western analysts said Xi will in all likelihood seek a third term as president after the traditional 10 years. Xi can, however, indefinitely remain party leader and from this powerful position control the next president, the CPC and the military.



A somewhat wordy communique issued after the 6th plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee in Beijing from Oct. 24 to 27 admonished all party members to "closely unite around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core."



Party members were told to resolutely safeguard the authority of the CPC Central Committee and its central, unified leadership while pushing forward the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party.



The communique said the CPC needs to be empowered to successfully purify, perfect, reform and upgrade itself, resist corruption and withstand risks, thus, safeguarding the authority of the CPC Central Committee and the Party's unity, advancement and purity.



It did, oddly, emphasize the importance of collective leadership. The communique also called for total subservience to the CPC leadership under Xi, saying the system "must always be followed and should not be violated by any organization or individual under any circumstance or for any reason."



Communist-controlled media believe the communique's call to unite behind Xi will give China the impetus to realize its two centenary goals.



The strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Xi as the core is vital to China's targets to build an "all-round moderately prosperous society" for the CPC's centennial in 2021, and for it to become a "modern socialist country" in time for the PRC's centennial in 2049, said Liu Dongchao, a professor with the Chinese Academy of Governance.



That "the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core" was officially put forward at the meeting is "where the fundamental interests of the Party and state lie," said Liu Qibao, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the CPC Central Committee's Publicity Department.



It is also a fundamental guarantee for the adherence to and strengthening of the CPC leadership.



The meeting approved two documents on the discipline of the Party, including the norms of political life within the Party under the new situation and a regulation on intra-Party supervision.



Liu called the two documents "a perfection of the CPC's governance system, which will result in a better intra-Party political life," adding that the communique is "an embodiment of the Party's strengthened awareness of its responsibilities."



The CPC has called on all Party members to firmly uphold the authority of the CPC Central Committee.



Addressing the intractable problem of corruption, the communique said the CPC vowed to tackle corruption in its promotion system, putting an end to the buying and selling of official posts and vote rigging.



The communique said requesting an official post, honor or special treatment is not allowed under any circumstances.



The 19th CPC National Congress, a major event in the political life of the Party and the state, will be held in Beijing in the second half of 2017



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Tagschina, Xi Jinping, Communist Party of China, 6th plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, Central Military Commission
(Photo : PLAGF) The Chinese team at the 1st International Physical Agility & Combat Efficiency System (PACES) Competition hosted by the Pakistan Army.

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The 1st International Physical Agility & Combat Efficiency System (PACES) Competition hosted by the Pakistan Army ended October 24. Teams from the People's Liberation Army Ground Force (PLAGF) won three out of five group competitions.



Hosted by the Pakistan Army, PACES began in Lahore on October 18. The contest consisted of five events: a combat efficiency test; 3.2 kilometer run; pull-ups; sit-ups and push-ups. The competition process made physical demands on the soldiers similar to what they'd encounter in actual combat.



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Army teams from 16 countries participated in the contest or attended as observers. A total of 326 competitors from 19 teams tried their best to defend their countries' army honor during the competition.



The Chinese delegation consisted of 22 men, most of whom were from the PLA 14th Group Army. They came to Pakistan after a period of high-intensity training and multiple simulation tests.



During the competitions, the Chinese military team competed against soldiers from Saudi Arabia, Nepal and other countries. The Chinese troops emerged champions in the 3.2 kilometer run; pull-ups and the combat efficiency test.



In the combat efficiency test, the Chinese team won the first three places in individual tests.



Due to its strict discipline, solid foundation and excellent skills, the Chinese military team has won wide praise from the organizers and other teams. The organizers commented that the PLAGF has first-class military quality, while successfully showcasing the "charms" of the PLAGF.



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Tags1st International Physical Agility & Combat Efficiency System (PACES) Competition, Pakistan Army, People's Liberation Army Ground Force, PLA 14th Group Army, Lahore
(Photo : US Army) M3E1 Multi-role Anti-armor Anti-personnel Weapon System.

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The U.S. Army version of the RPG, the superior M3 "Multi-role Anti-armor Anti-personnel Weapon System" (MAAWS), is being enhanced to make it lighter and capable of being fired inside a room.



The M3, which is classified as a recoilless rifle, only began being issued to all the army's brigade combat teams in 2015 at the rate of one M3 launcher per platoon. It's the U.S. military designation for the Carl Gustaf M3 recoilless rifle originally made in Sweden.



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This anti-tank and anti-personnel weapon weighs 8.5 kg and is reusable since it's made from metal/carbon fiber. The breech-loading M3 fires an 84 mm round.



More important, it outranges the RPG. The M3 can deliver its warhead to over 700 meters against a stationary target (effective range) compared to the RPG-7's 200 meters effective range. The M3 has a maximum range of 1,000 meters against stationary targets.



The U.S. Army is testing new recoilless rifle technology that lightens the weight of the M3 by three kilograms; makes it more ergonomic and allows it to be fired inside rooms or houses. Testers at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland are evaluating upgrades to the M3.



Maneuver officials at Fort Benning, Georgia are also conducting tests of the new Shoulder Launched Individual Munition, or SLIM, as part of the Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiments, or AEWE 2017.



SLIM is a new lightweight, disposable shoulder-fired rocket made by Aerojet Rocketdyne. It weighs 14.9 pounds and is designed to be safely fired from inside enclosures without causing hearing or respiratory system damage.



At 14.9 pounds, it lightens the soldier load; increases engagement lethality and flexibility by eliminating the need for multiple specialized rocket systems with single purpose warheads.



The Individual Assault Munition, or IAM, is a next-generation, shoulder-launched munition being designed for use by the Objective Force Warrior.



IAM will also contribute to survivability by enabling soldiers to engage targets from protected positions without exposing themselves to enemy fire. The new weapon is being designed to combine the best capabilities of the M72 LAW, M136 AT4, M136E1 and M141 BDM and replace them in the Army arsenal.



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TagsM3 "Multi-role Anti-armor Anti-personnel Weapon System" (MAAWS), U.S. Army, RPG, recoilless rifle, Carl Gustaf M3 recoilless rifle, Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiments
(Photo : Weiss, Nel et al) Nanoscience will make major contributions in health care, energy and many other areas.

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Nine prominent nanoscientists looked ahead to what the world can expect from the nanoscience in the coming decade, and concluded nanoscience is poised to make important contributions in many areas, including healthcare, electronics, energy, food and water.



Nanoscience research involves molecules that are only 1/100th the size of cells and that have the potential to profoundly improve the quality of our health and our lives.



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Significant progress has already been made in nanomaterials, said authors Paul Weiss, who holds a UC presidential chair and is a distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UCLA, and Dr. Andre Nel, chief of nanomedicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.



In the journal ACS Nano, Weiss, Nel and their colleagues forecast the following:



* They said nanoparticles can be designed to target infectious diseases. Nanomaterials may target the lungs to deliver potent antibiotics while anti-inflammatory drugs could fight bacterial and viral infection.



* Nanoparticles may lead to more effective treatments of neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease, as well as arthritis.



* The emerging field of immuno-oncology is likely to produce advances that will activate the body's immune system to attack tumor cells. Important advantages of nanoparticles are that they can bind selectively to receptors over-expressed on tumors and may be delivered to the same cell at a predetermined dose and timing.



* The microelectronics industry has been manufacturing products with nanoscale structures for decades. This is a market currently valued at $500 billion annually. Researchers say there is still plenty of room for major improvements, including many opportunities in creative design of devices for data processing and information storage.



* Nanotechnology is likely to capture, convert and store energy with greater efficiency, and will help to safely produce sustainable and efficient large-scale energy production to meet the increasing worldwide demand for energy.



* Nanotechnology principles are being used in water desalination and purification, and nanotechnology is poised to make major contributions to supplying clean water globally.



* Technology is likely to become increasingly widespread, with the proliferation of "nano-enabled smart devices" in such areas as telecommunications, consumer staples and information technology.



* Nanoscience advances may lead to advances in food safety and reductions in food contamination. Sensor technologies may be designed that exploit changes at the surface of nanostructures so they can detect disease-causing pathogens before they spread. Nanoscale sensor technologies also may lead to improvements in agrochemicals.



Researchers also discussed the need to safely implement new nanomaterials and present ideas for doing so. They also call for researchers to communicate their research with the public.



Nanoscience has brought together scientists, engineers and clinicians from many fields, and will continue to cross many academic boundaries.



"The field is poised to make contributions far beyond the nanoscale worlds that we have explored so far," said Weiss, who is also a distinguished professor of materials science and engineering at UCLA.



"This is the age of discovery for nanoscience and nanotechnology."



The researchers advocate strong federal support for nanoscience, and predict significant progress toward major scientific goals will be achieved by the end of this decade. They also advocate basic research to produce currently unforeseen discoveries.



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TagsNanoscience, nanoscientists, Paul Weiss, Dr. Andre Nel, Nanoparticles, immuno-oncology, microelectronics industry, nanotechnology
(Photo : Getty Images) Filipino fishermen now have access to the Scarborough Shoal after the Chinese Coast Guard left the area.

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Philippine defense officials say Chinese ships have left the Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea, enabling Filipino fishermen to resume fishing without fear of harassment since China seized control of the shoal in 2012.



Philippine defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana said China's departure from the shoal was a "welcome development," adding that Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's recent visit to Beijing proved to be very fruitful.



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Lorenzana said Filipino fishermen can now access the shoal for the first time since China took control of it four years ago in what he said appears to be a restoration of ties between Beijing and Manila after the latter challenged China's claims in the disputed area in a case at a Hague-based international tribunal.



State visit



The departure of the Chinese Coast Guard comes on the heels of Duterte's recent four-day state visit to Beijing where he negotiated with Chinese leaders to end their blockade of the shoal and open it to Filipino fishermen.



"Since three days ago there are no longer Chinese ships, Coast Guard or Navy in the Scarborough area," Lorenzana told Manila reporters.



Lorenzana said that if indeed the Chinese Coast Guard have left the shoal, then "Filipino fishermen can now resume fishing in the area."



July 12 ruling



The Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled on July 12 that China has no legal basis to make territorial claims in the disputed South China Sea.



The tribunal also ruled that the resource-rich Scarborough Shoal belongs to no one country and that it is the traditional fishing ground for Chinese, Philippine, and Vietnamese fishermen.



China had ignored the ruling and dismissed it as "illegal" and "null and void."



Lorenzana has not commented on the reasons for the apparent departure of Chinese vessels from the shoal which was the burning issue in the case filed by Manila against Beijing before the PCA.



On Friday, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters that he has no knowledge about the Chinese Coast Guard withdrawal from the Scarborough Shoal except to say that China and the Philippines continue to work together to resolve the South China Sea dispute.



"China and the Philippines were able to work together on issues regarding the South China Sea and appropriately resolve disputes," he said.



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TagsScarborough Shoal, Chinese Coast Guard, Filipino fishermen, South China Sea, President Rodrigo Duterte, President Xi Jinping, Philippines, china
(Photo : Russian Federation) The Tsar Bomba nuclear weapon -- the most powerful nuclear explosion in history -- explodes in the air over Novaya Zemlya in 1961.

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Russia within the year will activate its fourth "Podsulnukh-E" long-range, over-the-horizon radar system it claims can quickly detect United States stealth aircraft such as the B-2 Spirit flying over the ocean 500 kilometers away.



The new Podsulnukh (a Russian word meaning "sunflower) is located at the Russian-held archipelago called Novaya Zemlya ("new island") in the Arctic Circle, according to sources in the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.



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Novaya Zemlya is notorious as the most "atomic bombed" island in the world. The former Soviet Union conducted 224 nuclear tests on the island until 1990.



Included in this massive number is the largest and most powerful nuclear device ever exploded by man, the "Tsar Bomba." This nuclear device with a yield of 50 megatons was detonated as an air burst on October 30, 1961.



The ministry source said Russia plans to construct a total of six Podsulnukh stations along the coast of Novaya Zemlya. Deputy Defense Minister Dmitry Buklgakov, who visited the construction site of the first radar station, said a runway capable of handling all types of combat aircraft is also being built nearby.



A distinctive feature of the Podsulnukh is its mammoth antenna array up to five kilometers long and five meters tall that can identify aerial targets 500 kilometers away and sea targets up to 400 kilometers away.



Podsolnukh E is a coast-horizon shortwave short-range radar system that can detect both air and sea targets approaching it from the sea. It can simultaneously detect, track and classify 100 aerial targets and 300 maritime targets in an automatic mode.



The system is also able to determine the target's position and give target coordinates to weapon systems such as jet fighters; ships or surface-to-air missile batteries.



Russian sources said short-wave stations such as Podsolnukh can see stealth fighter jets like the multi-million dollar F-35 "as clearly as WWII-era aircraft".



It says the system can become operational in 10 days and needs a team of just three people to remain operational. The radar stations have to be spaced 370 kilometers apart to provide complete coverage.



Sea- and shore-based OTH systems are popular in Russia, which has long coastlines in Europe and Asia.



Russia currently has three operational Podsulnukh radar stations: one each in the Sea of Okhotsk; the Sea of Japan and the Caspian Sea. These fixed stations, however, are easily detected because of their large radar towers.



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TagsPodsulnukh-E, over-the-horizon radar, Novaya Zemlya, Arctic Circle, B-2 Spirit
(Photo : USAF) General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper in hunter killer mode.

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The U.S. Air Force is on the cusp of deploying remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) or aerial drones such as the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper as a forward defense against intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) launched by China against the United States.



Missile defense is one of the new applications being explored for laser-armed RPAs (also called unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs) by the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), the federal agency responsible for developing a layered defense against ballistic missiles (ICBMs and IRBMs).



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"A UAV-borne laser would be capable of acquiring, tracking and eventually destroying an enemy missile at a much lower cost than the existing BMDS," said MDA Director Vice Admiral J.D. Syring.



"Beyond intercept, these UAVs will also support ascent and midcourse tracking and target discrimination, as an alternative targeting method to ground or ship-based radars, alongside space-based sensors.



RPAs with Airborne Infrared (ABIR) sensors have been tested in the role of a "forward picket" to spot enemy missile launches and track them through their flight trajectory. With their sophisticated technology, RPAs can now discriminate between warheads and decoys.



More important, RPAs will also be able to shoot down ballistic missiles by firing powerful lasers at them during the missile's ascent stage from hundreds of miles away.



MDA MQ-9 RPAs successfully performed missile tracks during the recent Pacific Dragon missile defense exercise held last June at the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai off the coast Hawaii.



Sensors on these drones will ultimately improve the ability of missile defense sensors to track what are called "cold body targets," or missiles flying in space after rocket burnout.



By tracking such targets through their time of flight, defenders can get better target discrimination, thus reducing reaction time, and increasing the probability of hit.



These UAV-based remote sensors have help decrease the reaction time of the AEGIS ballistic missile defense system mounted aboard U.S. navy warships.



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TagsU.S. Air Force, remotely piloted aircraft, RPA, aerial drones, General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper, Missile Defense, Missile Defense Agency, intercontinental ballistic missiles
(Photo : Ministry of External Affairs) Modi and Abe

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China's great strategic nightmare has come to pass with India and Japan agreeing to boost defense ties and strengthen their armed forces to nullify China's military power.



That state of affairs will be cemented when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Japan from Nov. 10 to 12 to meet with his likeminded counterpart, Prime Minister Shinzo Abee, for their annual summit.



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It will be Modi's second visit to Japan since becoming prime minister in 2014. Abe paid a two-day visit to India last December during which he and Modi discussed defense and defense technologies.



India's Ministry of External Affairs said the meeting between Modi and Abe will be "an occasion for the two leaders to have in-depth exchanges on bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest."



Right-wing nationalists, Modi and Abe have developed a fast friendship over the years and apparently share the aim of thwarting China's unwarranted bid for hegemony in Asia by emasculating their countries.



Japan and India have dangerous border disputes with China that is bent on expanding its territory. China claims Japan's Senkaku Islands as its own and also claims ownership of the entire Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh bordering Tibet.



China conquered Tibet in 1951 after a military invasion.



Enhanced defense cooperation will be high on their agenda. This will include more joint maritime exercises between Japan, India and the United States, and other forms of military cooperation.



"We expect (Modi's) visit to advance the special strategic global partnership befitting a new era for Japan-India (relations) and further deepen the bonds and cooperative relationship between our countries," said Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda.



Modi will also have an audience with Emperor Akihito. He's also expected to sign a civil nuclear cooperation pact. This deal includes a provision to assure Japan that India, which hasn't joined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, won't use Japanese nuclear power plant technology for military purposes.



Japan previously avoided civil nuclear cooperation with India but appears to have softened this position to boost bilateral ties in the face of the threat from China.



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TagsPrime Minister Narendra Modi, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan, India, china, Arunachal Pradesh, Tibet, Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
(Photo : Portrait of an LBX/Flickr/CC) Some 20 Chinese Christians who were members of a house church were beaten up by Public Security Bureau in Nanle county, Henan province.

About 20 Chinese Christians were beaten by Public Security Bureau in Nanle County on September 25, according to China Aid.

The group of Christians were members of a house church in Henan province of central China.

"A lot of problems have been caused because they [the public security bureau personnel] control, attack and persecute Christianity in Henan. I hope the international community will pray for them," said Zhang Mingxuan, a pastor and president of the Chinese House Church Alliance.

Another couple in Henan province was imprisoned for hanging a cross in their home, which also served as a house church. A woman who visited them was also arrested.

The police raided their house church and confiscated their Bibles and other religious items. China Aid reported that this is the second time the house church was raided this year.

The pastor has been released from prison, but his wife and the female guest are still being detained by the police.

Activists say that the Chinese government has stepped up persecution of Christians under President Xi Jinping.

Hundreds of Christian activists and lawyers have been detained during the last two years, and over 1,200 crosses were demolished and hundreds of churches razed to the ground in a 'beatification campaign' launched by the government.

A member of the Houshi Church told Radio Free Asia that church congregations are under government's radar and are being closely monitored.

"There have been people watching me in the past few days from my neighbourhood committee and the local police station," RFA quoted an anonymous member as saying.

About two months ago, Chinese authorities in Zhejiang imposed bans on prayers in hospitals. The rule states that hospitals will not allow visitors to pray for sick or preach in hospitals.

In the same province, local government in Pingyang County made it mandatory for churches to give all their tithes and income to the authorities.

    press@cdaily.co.kr



- Copyright ,    

#China
30 Hostages, Including Kids, Slaughtered As ISIS Terrorism Reaches Afghanistan

Like cancer cells, terrorism grows.

Even as the Islamic State (ISIS) continues to lose ground and fighting men in Syria and Iraq, another group stamped with the same brand of terror has cast its shadow in another conflict-ridden countryAfghanistan.

A militant group known as Islamic State (IS) Khorasan kidnapped and then slaughtered on Tuesday at least 30 people, including children, near Firoz Koh, the capital of Afghanistan's Ghor province, reports said.

U.N. officials said the attack prompted angry protests from residents about the government's failure to protect them, The Guardian reported.

Hundreds of people gathered in the town as bodies were prepared for burial and some residents demanded government action. "Our demand to the local and central government is to bombard and destroy the terrorist nests in this province," one protester said. "If the government doesn't pay attention to our civil movements, then we will use the power of our youth to destroy the terrorist nests."

Amnesty International condemned the massacre as a "horrendous crime" and called for an immediate investigation by the government.

Afghan officials believe the massacre was prompted by the militants' desire to avenge the killing of an ISIS commander in Afghanistan by security forces a day earlier, according to The Christian Post.

Days earlier, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan revealed that the ISIS is planning to establish a caliphate inside Afghanistan, just like what it plans to do in Iraq and Syria.

"Right now we see them very focused on trying to establish their caliphate, the Khorasan caliphate, inside Afghanistan," General John Nicholson told NBC News on Sunday.

Nicholson said just like their counterparts in Iraq and Syria, members of the IS Khorasan are recruiting foreign fighters, particularly from Uzbekistan and Pakistan, to fight in Afghanistan.

However, IS Khorasan is having difficulty in recruiting more fighters since the ISIS local affiliate is "completely rejected by the Afghan people," Nicholson added.

"With our Afghan partners, we've been able to reduce that territory significantly and inflict heavy casualties on them to include killing their leaders," he said.
Mysterious 'Sniper of Mosul' Takes Out ISIS Executioner Just Moments Before He Could Behead an Iraqi Teen

Nobody knows him. But Islamic State (ISIS) warlords are said to be living in fear because of him. He's the crack shot marksman known simply as the "Sniper of Mosul," and he's just taken out another ISIS executioner who's about to behead a captive Iraqi teenager, reports said.

The mysterious sniper is believed to be behind shootings in four separate areas in the sprawling Iraqi city, although officials think he could be receiving help from other sharpshooters, according to the Daily Star.

Sources said he has been hunting down ISIS militants in broad daylight, with his latest hit done during a public beheading.

Iraqi news sources reported on Monday that the "Sniper of Mosul" killed the ISIS executioner with one fatal shot just seconds before he could chop off the head of the boy who was accused of supporting resistance movements within the besieged ISIS-occupied city.

The fatal gunshot which came from nowhere frightened the ISIS militants who frantically open fire as they sought to find cover, according to Al Sumaria News.

Unfortunately, sources said despite the killing of the executioner, the boy who was about to be beheaded was shot dead by ISIS fighters before he could escape.

Iraqi news outlets said there could be "many snipers," and not just the one since a number of ISIS fighters have already been brazenly gunned down in broad daylight shootings in various areas in the city.

Some speculate that these marksmen could be part of special forces such as the SAS or U.S. Navy SEALs.

Moreover, aside from the targeted killing of ISIS militants, certain buildings serving as headquarters of the jihadist group have been burned down, again by unknown attackers.

Mysterious women in burqas have also been gunning down ISIS commanders at checkpoints using pistols hidden beneath their veils, according to the Daily Star.

The mysterious killings of jihadis are happening even as Iraqi forces and Kurdish fighters press their drive to retake Mosul, the last major ISIS stronghold in Iraq.

Iraqi government forces and allied Kurdish Peshmerga fighters are fighting their way towards the city's outer limits, in the early stages of an assault which could become the biggest military operation in Iraq in over a decade, the Daily Mail reported.
'One Punch Man' season 2 release date, spoilers, news: new season to follow Yusuke Murata's manga?

The anime adaptation of "One Punch Man" has been taken from the original manga series. However, season 2 is said to introduce some minor alterations in the story, and this may also include a defeat for hero Saitama.

The first season of "One Punch Man" aired last year, and it was taken directly from the original manga adaptation by mangaka ONE. However, there is also an altered, graphically improved version of the "One Punch Man" manga, penned by Yuusuke Murata.

Speculations suggest that for season 2, creative studio Madhouse, who also came out with season 1, may choose to take events from the second interpretation of "One Punch Man." The version by Murata, aside from doing vast drawing improvements, has also introduced minor alterations not present in ONE's version. Accordingly, the new events are likely to make it to the anime adaptation for season 2.

Rumor has it that the on-going series by Murata will introduce a pivotal point in the story  a defeat for main hero Saitama. Reportedly, although the Caped Baldy ends his fights with just one punch, most of his colleagues in the Hero Association, as well as the hero fans, do not believe in him. It is likely that Saitama will pretend to lose, just to show citizens that his membership to the Hero Association is genuine.

Meanwhile, although there will be subtle alterations in the story, it is expected that the bulk of "One Punch Man" season 2 will still be taken from ONE, at least story-wise. This means that it is likely that Saitama will be fighting with a group from the Hero Association against the top fighters in the Monster Association, and he will also be instrumental in defeating Garou, the Human Monster.

As to when fans can expect the continuation of the anime adaptation, it is said that "One Punch Man" season 2 will premiere sometime next year.
Over 600 U.S. Cities Declare 'In God We Trust,' Affirming That America's 'Foundation Is In God'

Christianity remains strong in America, regardless of what some doubters might say.

Recently, more than 600 U.S. cities declared their dependence on God, with their city councils all voting to put the motto, "In God We Trust" on plaques and decals on city property, CBN News reported.

The latest city to make the declaration is Chesapeake in the state of Virginia. The city council there recently voted 7-0 to allow the words "In God We Trust" to be displayed throughout the chambers of its city hall.

In an interview with the Virginian Pilot, Councilwoman Suzy Kelly said the move is "long past due."

"We have to remember our foundation is in God," she said.

To forestall criticism from the left, she said "displaying 'In God We Trust' in no way infringes upon the rights of others who have secular beliefs."

U.S. Rep. Randy Forbes, who represents Chesapeake in the House of Representatives and is co-founder of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, is likewise supportive of the plan to display the message "In God We Trust" at the City Hall.

"The Chesapeake City council decided to do what many other city councils have done across the country," he said, adding that "they're now the 611th city council" to display that message.

He said for the past two years, the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation has already disseminated over 1.6 million "In God We Trust" plaques or stickers across the country. These include 356 first responders in 26 different states putting the message on all their vehicles, he said.

Forbes said one thing good about the motto is that it cuts across political lines.

"We had Republicans and Democrats and people across party lines coming together and saying this can unite us and this is something that's important for the country," he said.

Chesapeake Mayor Alan Krasnoff, a devout and vocal Christian, also expressed his strong support for the city council's move as he posted news about the resolution's passage on his Facebook page.

But not all city residents are giving a thumbs up on the move.

"I don't think the sign is offensive in any way. It's not that, but I do think people might find it divisive," resident Stacy Martinson told WAVY. "And if there's really any building or room in our entire city that should be representing everyone in that city, it's this room and this building," referring to the City Hall.
Philippines' Duterte says God warned him off swearing

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has promised to stop swearing, saying God spoke to him on a flight from Japan on Thursday, warning him the plane would crash if he kept using bad language.

The maverick former mayor, famous for profanity that has included outbursts aimed at Pope Francis and US President Barack Obama, said he heard a voice and realised it was God, telling him to clean up his act.

"I was looking at the skies while I was coming over here ... everybody was asleep, snoring, but a voice said that, 'you know, if you don't stop epithets, I will bring this plane down now'," Duterte said at a news conference late on Thursday upon arrival in his home city of Davao.

"And I said, 'who is this?' So, of course, it's God. OK.

"So, I promise God ... not to express slang, cuss words and everything."

Duterte, a former outspoken city mayor, emerged as a brash, crass, alternative candidate in a May election which he won by a big margin, owing much to his earthy style and promises to tackle problems important to ordinary people, like drugs and crime.

Advice to act more presidential once he took office was not heeded for long, however, and he resumed his eruptions of profanity with gusto when he started hearing foreign criticism of his deadly drugs war.

He has called US President Barack Obama a "son of a b***h" and chose the same words when criticising the pope.

He told Obama to "go to hell", called UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon a "devil" and said "f*** you" twice to the European Union, while raising his middle finger.

In Tokyo on Tuesday, Duterte used the same language when speaking about his anger with foreign criticism of his drug war.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner declined to say whether Duterte's vow might make dealing with him easier, but added: "He's certainly entitled to his views about his own relationship with a supreme being."

It was not the first time Duterte has spoken of his connection with God, whom he said had made him president.

Alan Peter Cayetano, Duterte's vice-presidential running mate and now his foreign affairs adviser, said Duterte was tired and appeared pensive during the flight back from Japan.

"He felt it was a message from God," Cayetano told reporters on Friday.

"I've always felt he's a deeply spiritual person. He's not religious, but he believes in God."

The Philippines is predominantly Roman Catholic.
As Pia Das began her yoga class at Houston Humane Society on Saturday, it started off a little differently.

Two grey kittens ran around in the corner. Some kittens drank water and ate food. Her class participants were dressed in the traditional yoga attire, but some wore cat ears and had tails attached to their yoga pants.

"This combines all of my favorite things," Das said as the class began.

She was talking about cats, yoga, and Halloween. El Gato Coffehouse, a cat cafe in Houston set to open in spring 2017, hosted a Halloween- and cat-themed yoga class at Houston Humane Society. The cat cafe has been holding pop-up events throughout the fall to promote its business.

READ MORE: Humane Society set to hold fall adoption event

"I'm a huge animal rescue person. I'm constantly fostering animals," Das said. "I got involved because it's two of my passions -- yoga and animal rescue. I think it's a great way of introducing animals to potential adopters."

This is the cat cafe's third cat yoga class. Classes are usually held at Humane Society or Sharespace in downtown Houston. Renee Reed, 37, founder of El Gato Coffehouse, said she got the idea for the class from other cat cafes hosting similar events. She also does yoga in her spare time.

Vita Brawley,33, dressed in leopard print, does yoga regularly, but said having the cats around was an added benefit.

"It's going to make going back to my regular yoga studio kind of sad," Brawley said. "I really enjoyed having the cats here. They kind of make the practice a bit more fun."
If you've ever seen Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds," you'd run out of this Houston parking lot like a madman with your hands firmly over your eyes.

A now-viral video filmed by Tami Denny shows how hundreds of black birds coating the cars and pavement at the Walmart near Hollister and Tidwell.
An undergraduate student's blog post recently went viral when she opened up about feeling hurt after her professor accused her of plagiarism.

Tiffany Martinez, who attends the College of Arts & Sciences at Suffolk University in Boston, said she felt disrespected and invalidated in class.

"My professor handed me back a paper in front of my entire class and exclaimed 'this is not your language,'" Martinez wrote. "On the top of the page they wrote in blue ink: 'Please go back and indicate where you cut and paste.'"

READ MORE: A&M students talk campus racism on social media

Worst of all, Martinez' professor grilled her on the use of the word "hence," writing "this is not your word."

In the question that best summarized her frustration, Martinez asked "How many degrees do I need for someone to believe I am an academic?"

Most people have been quick to show Martinez overwhelming support, but others fail to see why she would react emotionally to an accusation of plagiarism. Some seem to believe she's turning it into a "race thing."

READ MORE: 68 factual errors identified in controversial 'Mexican American Heritage' textbook

Studies show Latinos are treated as if they are less likely to succeed in college, less likely to receive a callback from a job interview and more likely to receive a ticket or to be victims of police brutality.

"At this moment, I am in the process of advocating for myself to prove the merit of my content to people who will never understand what it is like to be someone like me," Martinez wrote. "I understand that no matter how hard I try or how well I write, these biases will continue to exist around me. I understand that my need to fight against these social norms is necessary."

Click through above to see 10 things to know about Houston's changing Hispanic population
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.
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Drunken Driving, Cascade Crossing: A Honolulu man, 44, was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving Oct. 27 after he was found asleep at the wheel in the drive-thru at Steak-N-Shake. He had his foot on the brake pedal with the car in reverse. After officers woke up the man, he took his foot off the brake pedal, and the car rolled backwards into a police cruiser.

The man admitted to drinking throughout the day but couldn't recall when he had his last drink.

Fraud, Brookpark Road: A man reported Oct. 21 that someone had used his credit card fraudulently to purchase $124 worth of merchandise at Walmart.

Theft, Brookpark Road: A Parma man, 47, was caught shoplifting at Walmart Oct. 22. He tried to steal $22 worth of merchandise.

Disorderly Conduct, Tiedeman Road: A Parma man, 29, was arrested Oct. 23 at Aldis after fighting with another man in the checkout line while exchanging merchandise.

Theft, Brookpark Road: A Cleveland man, 56, was caught shoplifting at Walmart Oct. 24. He tried to steal $15 worth of merchandise.

Theft, Brookpark Road: A Garfield Heights man, 50, was caught shoplifting at Walmart Oct. 24. He tried to steal $500 worth of merchandise.

Theft From Auto, Brookpark Road: A car was broken into in the Best Buy parking lot Oct. 25. A laptop and a card reader were stolen. Total value of the items is $600.

Theft, Brookpark Road: A North Olmsted woman, 36, was caught shoplifting at Walmart Oct. 26. She tried to steal $105 worth of merchandise.

Drunken Driving, Interstate 480: An Elyria man, 55, was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving Oct. 26 after he drove the wrong way onto the eastbound lanes of I-480 and struck another vehicle. There was severe damage to both vehicles. The Elyria man had to be removed from his vehicle with the Jaws of Life.

If you would like to discuss the police blotter, please visit our crime and courts comment page.
Ian Bobich

Ian Bobich, 29, of Cleveland, was shot dead Monday in Anchorage, Alaska.

(Courtesy Orlando Santaella)

Ian Bobich, 29, of Cleveland, was shot dead Monday in Anchorage, Alaska.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Cleveland native was shot and killed Monday outside an apartment building in Anchorage, Alaska.

Ian Bobich, 29, was found dead of a gunshot wound about 11 p.m. Monday in Anchorage's Government Hill neighborhood, according to Anchorage police.

Residents reported hearing gunfire and police found Bobich dead on the ground, police said. Anchorage police said they have not made an arrest in the case and are unsure of a motive.

Bobich was an apprentice in the Sheet Metal Workers 23 union in Anchorage.

Orlando Santaella Jr., a friend of Bobich, said he was shocked by the death. He said Bobich moved from Cleveland to Anchorage about 10 months ago to find better work opportunities.

He landed a job with the union in Alaska and moved there with his longtime girlfriend. His girlfriend gave birth to a baby boy, Alex, about two months ago, Santaella said. He also had an 11-year-old son.

Santaella said Bobich turned his life around after serving a seven-year federal prison sentence for conspiring to sell cocaine, and an additional year for violating probation.

Santaella said he and Bobich became especially close after Bobich was released from prison in December 2013. Both grew up on the West Side and that Bobich sense of humor was infectious.

"He was a regular Cleveland kid," Santaella said. "He was macho, he had an ego and pride, but he worked really hard for a living. He tried to really turn his life around."

Santaella said Bobich recently told him he was moving back to Cleveland to take a similar job. He was in the process of selling things to make his move easier. Bobich's family is trying to get him back to Cleveland to buried and have set up an account on gofundme.com.

"He was coming home," Santaella said. "He texted me to see if I could pick him up from the airport."
North Royalton police

A man was shot by a North Royalton police officer Friday night after the man stabbed the officer's partner, police said.

(File photo)

NORTH ROYALTON, Ohio - A North Royalton police officer shot a man who stabbed the officer's partner while serving a probate order Friday night, police said.

The incident happened on the 9800 block of Independence Place, a condominium subdivision, North Royalton Det. Dave Loeding said. Two North Royalton officers went to a house to serve a probate order on a man in his 40s.

The officers intended to arrest the man and take him to St. Vincent Charity Hospital, Loeding said. However, the man became defiant during the arrest, grabbed a knife and stabbed one of the officers in his face and leg.

The officer was taken to MetroHealth in serious condition, though his injuries are not life-threatening, Loeding said. His current condition is unknown.

The second officer fired at the man, striking him. He was taken to University Hospitals Parma Medical Center, and his condition is unknown, Loeding said.

Neither officer has been publicly identified. An investigation into the incident is ongoing, Loeding said.

This is a developing story. This post will be updated if additional details about the incident are released Friday night.

If you'd like to comment on this post, please visit the cleveland.com crime and courts comments section.
Bill Clinton

FILE - In this Oct. 14, 2016, file photo, former President Bill Clinton campaigns for his wife, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, at Washington Park in Cincinnati.

(John Minchillo, AP Photo)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Former President Bill Clinton didn't mention the most recent Clinton campaign email revelations as he campaigned for his wife in Cleveland Saturday morning.

Instead, he stuck to the issues and the campaign script. He detailed Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's plans to help small businesses. He said that while his wife hopes to bring people together, her opponent, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, wants to pit people against each other.

"Her theme is 'Stronger Together' and her opponent's theme is 'No we're not,'" Clinton said.

It was, all in all, a fairly typical and uneventful campaign outing for the former president, a key surrogate for the Clinton campaign.

"This is more than about Republicans and Democrats," Clinton said. "It's about defining what America will be like for the next 30 years."

Here are three takeaways from Clinton's speech.

Emails

The FBI revealed Friday that it will investigate whether there is classified information in newly discovered emails that appear to be related to its inquiry into the Democratic presidential nominee's email practices. The new emails originated from an investigation into former U.S. Rep Anthony Wiener, the estranged husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin.

The Clinton campaign on Friday demanded that the FBI release more details about the emails. But on Saturday, it was all about getting out the Ohio vote -- the former president didn't mention the email inquiry.

Clinton's pitch

Clinton characterized Trump's vision for America as dated and polarizing. He said that while Trump wants to divide the country, his wife wants to bring Americans together.

"I spent a lot of my childhood in an us-versus-them environment. It doesn't work," Clinton said.

And in the final days of the election, he urged Ohioans to vote.

Trump campaign response

The Trump campaign, ahead of Clinton's speech, slammed Clinton's visit and the new email controversy.

"It's perplexing that 10 days out from the election Bill Clinton would try to convince Ohioans to vote early for Hillary when every single day more questions arise about her emails, and the FBI just reopened its investigation into her possible criminal conduct," Trump spokesman Seth Unger said in an emailed statement.
Barack Obama

President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign event for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton at the CFE Federal Credit Union Arena in Orlando, Fla., Friday, Oct. 28, 2016.

(Susan Walsh, AP Photo)

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- President Barack Obama will campaign for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in Columbus on Tuesday, a week ahead of Election Day.

Obama will appear at 4:30 p.m. in Columbus, at Capital University Field House, 360 East Mound Street.

"President Obama will urge Ohioans to take advantage of early voting right away and lay out his support for Clinton and her vision of an America that is stronger together, with an economy that works for everyone, not just those on top," according to a Clinton campaign news release.

Anyone interested in attending the event can RSVP here.
Mike Byrne

Richard Dell'Aquila

PARMA, Ohio -- The mayors of Parma, Parma Heights and Seven Hills on Friday publicly released a letter to the Parma school board, saying how the board appoints a new member could help regain public trust.

Parma Mayor Timothy DeGeeter, Parma Heights Mayor Mike Byrne and Seven Hills Mayor Richard Dell'Aquila wrote there is a problem with public confidence that needs to be repaired, especially in light of an upcoming property tax renewal.

"We believe filling this vacancy offers an opportunity for the board to regain some of the public trust lost over the outcry surrounding the initial recovery proposal as well as the controversy regarding the school board's latest appointment," they wrote.

The "skepticism" from the public, the mayors say, stems from outcry over the initial fiscal recovery plan and controversy over appointment of Michael Johns, a small-business owner who previously filed for bankruptcy.

Find out more about him, and critique from the community about his appointment, here.

The board is accepting applications for another new member after president Lynn Halloran resigned Thursday.

The district faces a $7 million shortfall for this year, and a $8 million for next. The state Department of Education placed the district in "fiscal caution" status, which requires that the schools come up with a plan to address fiscal troubles.

Read the plan here.

In the letter, the mayors urge the board to be open and transparent about the appointment, and seek input from the district's stakeholders.

Read the full letter below.
World Series Indians Cubs Baseball

Cleveland Indians' Coco Crisp hits an RBI single during the seventh inning of Game 3 of the Major League Baseball World Series against the Chicago Cubs.

(David J. Phillip/Associated Press)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Veteran outfielder Coco Crisp's pinch-hit RBI single in the top of the seventh inning gave the Cleveland Indians a 1-0 lead against the Chicago Cubs in Game 3 of the World Series.

Crisp, who has delivered clutch hits throughout the playoffs, pinch hit for reliever Andrew Miller in the seventh with runners at first and third and one out.

His looping fly ball to right allowed pinch runner Michael Martinez to score from third. Rajai Davis, who had walked earlier in the inning, was thrown out trying to advance to third.
Chicago Cubs vs Cleveland Indians: World Series, Game 3

Cleveland Indians first baseman Mike Napoli hugs reliever Cody Allen after Allen pitched the ninth inning to close Game 3 of the World Series. The Indians won 1-0. October 28, 2016. (Gus Chan / The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Did you miss any of our Facebook Live coverage from Chicago?

If so, we have you covered.

Below are all of the Facebook Live videos we hosted from Progressive Field and Vaughan's Pub-- a Cleveland bar-- in Chicago, as the city readied for a historic World Series game and Indians fans celebrated a 1-0 victory.

The Indians and Cubs will play Game 4 of the World Series on Saturday night from Wrigley Field and Cleveland will look to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Pre-game from watch party at Progressive Field

Watch as fans at Progressive Field get ready to watch game 3 of the World Series! Posted by cleveland.com on Friday, October 28, 2016

In-game at Vaughan's Pub in Chicago

Live from Vaughan's in Chicago, where Indians fans have gathered for Game 3. Posted by cleveland.com on Friday, October 28, 2016

Fan reaction for final three outs from Vaughan's
The probe into new Hillary Clintonrelated emails is a "very serious development," former Justice Department official David Rivkin told CNBC on Friday.



He believes the Federal Bureau of Investigation received information that puts into question its fundamental conclusions about not bringing a case against Clinton. The FBI investigated the Democratic nominee for her handling of classified information in connection with private email servers while secretary of state.

On Friday, FBI Director James Comey sent a letter to lawmakers stating it is looking into new emails related to Clinton. Those emails were discovered during an FBI investigation in which the devices of former Congressman Anthony Weiner and Clinton aide Huma Abedin were seized, NBC News confirmed. The news was first reported by The New York Times.

"It clearly is something that requires them to take additional investigatory steps. It's not something that is sort of self-contained and can be just looked at and put to the side. So I think it's extremely serious," Rivkin said in an interview with CNBC's "Closing Bell."

He believes there are only two possibilities  that the new information shows that someone lied during the investigation, or that highly classified emails were compromised in ways that bring into question the FBI's decision not to recommend charges against Clinton.

"I don't think there can be anything else that would have caused Director Comey this close to the election to take this very important step, which of course has tremendous symbolic significance," said Rivkin, who also served as White House counsel to President Ronald Reagan and President George H.W. Bush.

In fact, the FBI and Justice Department both have a longstanding policy of being "extremely reluctant to take any public investigatory steps this close to the election," Rivkin noted.

Hillary Clinton's campaign has demanded the release of those emails.

"The Director owes it to the American people to immediately provide the full details of what he is now examining. We are confident this will not produce any conclusions different from the one the FBI reached in July," campaign chair John Podesta said in a statement.



 CNBC's Christine Wang contributed to this report.


Hillary Clinton said she is "confident" that the FBI will not recommend charges, following news that the FBI is reviewing newly discovered emails tied to its investigation of her handling of classified materials.

Earlier, multiple federal officials told NBC News that the emails were discovered in a separate investigation in which the devices of Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her (now estranged) husband, former Congressman Anthony Weiner, were seized. But when Clinton was asked if she had spoken to Abedin, she deflected.



"You know, we've heard these rumors. We don't know what to believe and I'm sure there will be even more rumors that's why it's incumbent upon the FBI to tell us what they're talking about because, right now, your guess is as good as mine and I don't think that's good enough," Clinton said at a brief press conference in Des Moines, Iowa.

In a letter addressed to FBI Director James Comey's and Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Democratic congressmen Elijah Cummings and John Conyers called for full disclosure from the Department of Justice and the FBI "in order to debunk these conspiracy theories and correct the public record."



Clinton said that her campaign found out about Comey's letter after it was sent to lawmakers. The letter announced that new evidence has been discovered and that the FBI will review those materials to determine whether they are "significant."

When asked what she would say to a voter who still doesn't trust her, the former secretary of state responded, "I think people, a long time ago, made up their minds about the emails."
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks during the Get Out the Vote campaign event at Carl Hayden High School on March 21, 2016, in Phoenix, Arizona. Getty Images

When Peter Petracca, tells people in Vietnam  where he now lives that he's American, the conversation always turns political. Usually three questions or statements ensue. "'Who are you voting for'" is one question asked, along with expressions of admiration for current President Barack Obama, the 27-year-old start-up founder told CNBC recently. Yet more recently, he'll get an occasional shameful shake of the head, along with the words: 'Oh no, Donald Trump.'" As U.S. presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump reach the home stretch of an unprecedented general election cycle countries around the world have been have captivated even as Americans grow weary of the spectacle. The Democrat and Republican have received wide coverage in foreign media, appearing regularly on the front pages of international newspapers and on their TV screens. Despite Election Day being more than a week away, millions have already cast their ballot via absentee and early voting. The volatile race is fluid: the Democratic former secretary of state holds an edge in most polls but the billionaire real estate mogul remains competitive. There are an estimated 8 million Americans living abroad, not including military, according to The Association of Americans Resident Overseas organization. CNBC spoke with a number of millennial American expats, most of whom already voted in their resident countries. The voting bloc of U.S. citizens under 35 are among the most hotly coveted by both campaigns. "Most people in the U.S. don't realize that other countries follow the U.S. election and even know a lot on how the U.S. government is structured and operates," Kyle Austin, an expat living in Germany, told CNBC.



'No one would be safe anymore'

Donald Trump Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

And the political discourse that's surfaced just the past few months have made many Americans living abroad uneasy. Clinton has been dogged by a private email server she maintained while operating as America's top diplomat, as well as controversies stemming from a series of leaked emails. Meanwhile, Trump's unconventional style, brash language and allegations of sexual improprieties have upended his ability to communicate his message to voters. "Our leading candidates are giving the world an impression of corruption and racism. That is not who we are, and I don't feel proud," Steven Kass, 30, an Illinois resident who works in health-care administration in Abu Dhabi and has lived in both Chicago and New York. Kass said he was supporting Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson until recent TV interviews left him with a lot to be desired with respect to the candidate's position on international relations. Ultimately, he didn't have time to request his absentee ballot because of his busy work schedule.



Something quite scary to me about Trump, in particular, is how unaware he seems to be of the repercussions from his proposals Laura Authier U.S. citizen living in Singapore

An absentee ballot for the US election. Getty Images

Austin, a graduate program coordinator in Germany, said he was embarrassed about the coverage the U.S. election has been getting since he arrived in Germany seven months ago. "I was at a school in France during the 2004 election, but I don't recall any of the candidates being so uncivil," he added. Austin, a registered voter in Missouri, submitted an absentee ballot for Clinton after initially supporting Bernie Sanders in the primaries. "Trump is too unstable to know what he would do with the U.S.' military forces," he said. "People here joke with me asking if I am glad I will be in Germany instead of the U.S. if Trump wins," Austin said. "I say 'No' because if he wins, no one would really be safe anymore."



Drew Angerer | Getty Images
On its 10th anniversary of independence, Chad issued in 1970 a 300-franc coin depicting Kennedy with a space shuttle and part of the Earth on the reverse, a nod to his efforts to launch an American to the moon before the end of the 1960s.

During his life, President Abraham Lincoln received honorary citizenship from San Marino, who honored the late president in 2015 with a coin for the 150th anniversary of his death.

The birth of the Philippine Commonwealth was commemorated by three silver coins, one of which shows the bust of Franklin Roosevelt behind the bust of Commonwealth President Manuel Quezon y Molina (both busts face left).

Editor's note: this is the third part of a story by Jeff Starck about Americans on world coins. The story first appeared in the November monthly issue of Coin World.

A strong crossover appeal exists among American collectors for coins of the Philippines issued under U.S. administration  buoyed no doubt by their inclusion in the compact tome that has become the bible for collectors of American coins, A Guide Book of United States Coins (known as the Red Book, authored by R.S. Yeoman and published by Whitman Publishing).

In 1935, the U.S. Congress designated the Philippines as a commonwealth.

The birth of the Philippine Commonwealth was commemorated by three silver coins designed by Professor Ambrosio Morales of the National University, one of which shows the bust of Franklin Roosevelt behind the bust of Commonwealth President Manuel Quezon y Molina (both busts face left).

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Roosevelts tenure as president was historic, in part because he was the only president elected to four terms. The coin is also notable relative to other coins. The 1936 peso marks only the second appearance of an incumbent U.S. president on a U.S. coin.

The first instance occurred in 1926, when, as sitting president, Calvin Coolidge joined George Washington on a commemorative half dollar noting the Sesquicentennial of Independence. Coolidges honor seems to be widely known, but Roosevelts appearance is oft-overlooked.

Possibly no American president is honored on more world coins than Abraham Lincoln.

Besides being elected twice as Americas 16th president, Abraham Lincoln received an honorific that is little known today.

That is, until San Marino chose in 2015 to issue a Proof .925 fine silver 10 coin celebrating the event.

In a letter of thanks dated May 7, 1861, President Lincoln acknowledged that San Marino had bestowed upon him honorary citizenship. The first four words of that letter, Great and good friends, appear on the reverse of the San Marino coin.

In Lincolns letter to the regent captains of the Republic of San Marino, he continues: Although your Dominion is small, your State is nevertheless one of the most honored in all history. It has by its experience demonstrated the truth, so full of encouragement to the friends of Humanity, that Government founded on Republican principles is capable of being so administered as to be secure and enduring.

The coin marks the 150th anniversary of Lincolns death at the hands of assassin John Wilkes Booth.

Two other presidents vie with Lincoln for the unofficial title of most honored American president on world coins, with one contestant, John F. Kennedy, also making an appearance on a recent coin of San Marino.

In 2013, San Marino planned to honor Kennedy with a circulating commemorative 2 but, because of European Union pushback, had to settle for issuing a noncirculating Proof .925 fine silver 5 coin.

The coin shows on the reverse the smiling president with an American flag in the background, the year dates 1963 and 2013, and the German phrase Kennedy voiced in 1963 in support of West Germany, along with its English translation, I AM A BERLINER.

On its 10th anniversary of independence, Chad issued in 1970 a 300-franc coin depicting Kennedy with a space shuttle and part of the Earth on the reverse, a nod to his efforts to launch an American to the moon before the end of the 1960s.

Another seminal president of the 20th century, Ronald Reagan, may just be the most celebrated on modern coins. (But that is covered in another segment.)

Read more of our series about Americans on world coins:

Americans abroad: Honoring Tecumseh beyond the border: In rare instances, world coins depicting Americans makes total sense. There could be no more suitably American subject for a Canadian coin than the Shawnee war chief.

An American general in the Philippines, and on its coinage, too: A pair of popular world coins are the 1947-S coins from the Philippines honoring Gen. Douglas MacArthur.

Popular President Ronald Reagan oft-honored on non-U.S. coins: Though he is not without critics, President Reagan remains one of the most popular presidents of the 20th century.

World coins showing Americas The Greatest and The King abound:The only American honorees on world coins more popular than presidents are entertainers.
Types of obituaries

The Missourian publishes two types of obituaries  family obituaries and life stories.

A family obituary is the version submitted by a funeral home or family. Please see the submission form for details on cost and deadlines. Family obituaries

A life story is a closer look at a person's life and involves a reporter contacting family and friends. Life stories are based on newsworthiness and consent of the family. Life stories.
MoDOT seeks more public input on 70/63 connector plans

A public meeting from MoDOT seeks more information from the public regarding plans for the I-70/U.S. 63 connector in Columbia.
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It probably doesnt say much for the prospects of the hardcore counter-Brexiteers if Tony Blair ends up their highest-profile champion.

His rallying cry in the New European newspaper is a demand that the British public should be given the opportunity to think again about leaving the EU, once we have a clear sense of where were going.

This is a fairly standard Remain argument: Yes, we voted for Brexit, but what does Brexit mean? Hm? But this argument cuts both ways  how many people voted Remain to avert the ghastly spectres of immediate economic collapse conjured up by George Osborne et al?

But set that aside and Blair has a much more important problem, which is the fact that hes complaining about a process for leaving the EU that his own New Labour Government (with Gordon Brown closing the deal at the very end) signed up to.

Article 50 is a one-way exit corridor with a punishingly short timeframe for negotiating a new set of terms. It was never intended to be a constructive way out for members who wished to leave the bloc  leaving isnt meant to happen. Rather it was explicitly designed to be the opposite.

It was contained in the Lisbon Treaty, which was signed by the Member States on December 13 2007 only months after Blair had handed the keys to Number Ten to Gordon Brown, at a special Labour conference in June of that year.

Had they wished to, New Labour could have fought for a more constructive, less punitive mechanism for departing the bloc. It could have had just the opportunities for reflection and reconsideration that Blair pines for today. But there is no indication that he did any such thing.

As Andrew Rawnsley notes, the EU referendum result must have a particular sting to Labours most electorally-successful Prime Minister because it represents the shattering of the last of the pillars of Blairism  support for liberal interventionism abroad and an election-focused, centrist Labour Party having toppled already.

Many have pointed out that the blame for Brexit, or at least a substantial portion of it, can be laid at the feet of New Labour. It was on their watch that the eastward expansion of the EU, combined with its ministers own laxness, lit the fuse under the issue of immigration. Blairs oft-promised but undelivered referendum on a European question made one much more likely, and at a much more disadvantageous moment for the European cause.

But lets not lose sight of the fact that it was Blair, and latterly Brown, who signed Britain up to the treaty which made the decision to leave so decisive and hard to reverse.
Chip Consolidation

Qualcomm announced Thursday it is acquiring NXP Semiconductors for $47 billion as the company looks to amp up its sales channels around the Internet of Things.

The San Diego, Calif. company's acquisition of NXP marks the largest semiconductor deal ever, surpassing Avago Technologies' acquisition of Broadcom Corp. earlier this year for $37 billion.

In addition to Qualcomm, the semiconductor industry consolidation has been going on for a while. In 2015, Western Digital bought SanDisk and Intel nabbed Altera  and that streak of acquisitions is continuing.

Following are the 10 biggest semiconductor acquisitions so far this year.
State Senate District 32 is up for grabs on Nov. 8 in a battle between four-term incumbent Rob Kane and first-time challenger Greg Cava.

Kane, a Republican, is running for a fifth term after holding his seat by increasing margins since he was first elected in 2008.

Cava, a Democrat who is also running on the Working Families Party line, hopes he wont join the long list of failed Kane challengers.

Connecticut Senate District 32 includes all or part of Oxford, Seymour, Washington, Bethlehem, Watertown, Roxbury, Woodbury, Bridgewater, Middlebury and Southbury.

My priority is the budget, Kane said in an email, citing his experience on the General Assembly Appropriations Committee. As the ranking Republican member I have a great knowledge and understanding of the (state) budget and want to work on reducing spending, shrinking the size of government and getting the economy going through stronger fiscal management.

Cava, 58, of Roxbury, is a real estate attorney. Hes married, with two children.

He has a longer wish list, one that calls for greater spending in education, infrastructure, and seniors. For the last group, he offered his most specific proposal.

We must protect our seniors to keep them in their homes and make their retirement more secure by (a) ending state income taxation of social security benefits/income, (b) make it easier for seniors to freeze their property taxes to defer the payment of increases until their home is sold, and (c) strengthen the social services our seniors rely upon, Cava said in an email.

More Information Seymour bonds proposed for the Nov. 8 ballot Education: $1.5 million bond for school repairs and improvements. Roads: $4.5 million bond for roadway and drainage reconstruction and replacement. See More Collapse

Cava, who served on the Board of Education in Regional School District 12 since 2009, and worked on the Darien Planning & Zoning Commission from 1989 to 1993, also said that he wants to expand the fiber-optic network to make Connecticut the northeast venue of choice for high-tech start-ups.

Kane, 49, of Waterton, is the founder of KarTele, a small business focused communication electronics. Hes divorced, with two children.

I am proud to have created The Oxford Airport Development Zone, the CT Antiques Trail and a Safe Harbor for Exploited Children, Kane said in an email highlighting some of his past work as a senator. In spite of being in the minority I have had great success in getting my bills passed and have made real change for my district.

Kane defeated previous Democratic challengers by 30-point margins in the 2014 midterm and 2012 presidential election.

Cava acknowledged that it is difficult for a Democrat to win in a district that customarily votes Republican, saying that 2014 candidate Don Orsini, the most recent Democrat to lose against Kane, put up a great fight.
Cuban oil industry sets plans for expansion

Submitted by: Juana

Local

Business and Economy

10 / 28 / 2016



The Cuban oil industry has drawn up plans to find new reserves and recover the production levels or fields under exploitation since oil is a strategic Cuban economic sector and a priority for foreign investment.

CubaPetroleo Oil company is looking at a sustained growth of the local oil production and stepping up field exploitation, evaluation and development of its reserves in the Exclusive Economic Zone in the Gulf of Mexico, according to an article on Granma newspaper.

Oil is the major source to generate power on the island. At present 95 percent of all the electric energy comes from burning oil and derivatives, while the local production has been set at 75 thousand barrels of equivalent oil, as each barrel contributes 60 to 75 cubic meters of gas.

However, over 99 percent of the oil output is found on the 750 square kilometer strip on the northern part of the island, between Havana city and Varadero tourist center. Such production is made up of heavy crude oil in an area under exploitation for more than 40 years now, thats why the local company is searching for new reserves.

The company is also looking at the modernization of its refining facilities and increase fuel quality to fit with international standards. (acn)
Syria to attend Havana's International Trade Fair

A large Syrian business delegation will attend Havanas International Trade Fair, which will run October 31 through November 4.

The Syrian representatives will be headed by deputy Economy and Foreign Trade minister Mohammed Samer al-Khalil and will include companies in the fields of pharmaceuticals, food, textiles and crafts, PL news agency reported on Friday.

The delegation will also include executives of the Syrian Chamber of Commerce and the president of the Syrian-Cuban Entrepreneurial Council, Amar Matouk.

Some 4 500 exhibitors from over 70 countries of the world will take part at the fair, which has been annually held here since 1983.
Democrats saw a surge in new voters in Pennsylvania as midterms near

politics
Isn't it strange how politicians are such passionate, unswerving champions of democracy  until the democratic process comes up with a result they dont like?

Take Tony Blair, who graciously took time out yesterday from his normal job of selling his soul to some of the worlds worst despots to lecture the British people on their catastrophic decision to leave the EU.

Having so obviously come up with the wrong result, he said the recalcitrant voters should be sent back to the ballot box to think again. How very democratic!

Tony Blair graciously took time out yesterday from his normal job of selling his soul to some of the worlds worst despots to lecture the British people on their catastrophic decision to leave the EU

Theres never been a time I can recall, he said, where there have been so many people who feel a sense of disenfranchisement. Well if anyone knows about disenfranchisement, its Mr Blair.

He opened Britains borders to millions of migrants without consulting voters, dragged us into an illegal war and would have taken us into the disastrous euro but for the resistance of Gordon Brown.

And lets not forget that as prime minister he twice promised an EU referendum so the issue could be settled once and for all. Of course, he reneged both times. And this man dares to preach to us about democracy!

In fact, the referendum produced one of the biggest popular mandates in British history. More than 17.4million  including a majority in Mr Blairs old Durham constituency  voted for Brexit, nearly eight million more than voted Labour in 2005, when he was returned to power.

Interestingly, in that election his party polled just 35 per cent of the vote yet won a 66-seat majority. Did he complain about the democratic deficit then?

He opened Britains borders to millions of migrants without consulting voters, dragged us into an illegal war and would have taken us into the disastrous euro but for the resistance of Gordon Brown

Its time Mr Blair did us all a favour and went back to his money-grubbing day job. Why should anyone have to listen to the sanctimonious outpourings of such a discredited has-been?

The people have spoken on Brexit and its now up to the Government to implement their decision. That Mr Blair, is how real democracy works.

Marching for justice

Resplendent in their green berets and with campaign medals emblazoned on their chests, 2,000 ex-Royal Marines and servicemen gathered in Parliament Square yesterday in an inspiring show of support for their beleaguered comrade Sergeant Alexander Blackman.

Disgracefully convicted of murder after shooting a dying Afghan insurgent in the heat of battle, Sgt Blackman was the victim of a glaring miscarriage of justice. In what was clearly a botched trial, no allowance was made  either by the court or his own lawyers  for the immense stress he was under at the time. He should have been charged with manslaughter at worst.

Resplendent in their green berets and with campaign medals emblazoned on their chests, 2,000 ex-Royal Marines and servicemen gathered in Parliament Square yesterday in an inspiring show of support for their beleaguered comrade Sergeant Alexander Blackman

Following our Justice for Sgt Blackman campaign, Mail readers donated an incredible 800,000 to fund a review of his case but almost a year after it was launched, theres still no decision in sight. Frankly, this is a disgrace.

Its a stain on our legal system and an indictment of the generals who have so abandoned one of their own. But the top brass need to know this paper and its magnificently generous readers wont give up until Sgt Blackman receives justice.

Every day that justice is delayed is a slap in the face to those who believe we have a moral duty to stand behind the men and women who risk their lives for their country.

Just when you thought the child sexual abuse inquiry couldnt get any more surreal, its leading counsel Ben Emmerson resigned over allegations of  you guessed it  sexual assault.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK The moon is full, the autumn nights grow longer, In the north forests startled crows cry out Then one evening gusts of autumn come Mans life is not as the grass and trees. Still the seasons changes can stir the heart. Wei Yingwu (8th century Chinese poet) Advertisement

Dear Bel,

Im 26 and recently split up with a man ten years older whom I met a year ago on a dating website.

His previous relationship (17 years) ended because she lost interest in sex and he was devastated. He was kind, reliable, attentive and sweet, treating me with care and consideration. I felt loved by someone I could perhaps build a future with.

After six months, he suggested bringing other people into our sex life. I said I wasnt sure threesomes were my thing, but that I was all for sexual experiments between the two of us. One weekend, he was moody and grumpy and talked about his ex-girlfriend with such deep loss I became very upset and realised we had to break up. We were both distressed as we said goodbye. I missed him horribly.

After three months, he made contact and four weeks later we spent the day together, into the evening. Eventually, he confessed that while we were apart hed been exploring a side of his sexuality, namely BDSM (kinky, bondage sex with others). I was shocked by the sheer amount of strangers he had been with and he also continued an open sexual relationship with one girl.

I still loved him, warts and all, so I looked into BDSM and decided to try it.

We had a frank chat over a romantic dinner, about sex, but also what we wanted out of a relationship.

He told me hed missed me and wanted to work at a committed relationship.

I said that while I was willing to get into BDSM, Id need to take things very slowly and wouldnt tolerate him having sex with that other girl.

Four days later  a message. The other girl would like to meet me. Would I do this?

On the phone, he tried to talk me round, insisting she thought shed be able to help me explore BDSM. Then he confessed he thought I wouldnt be sexually adventurous enough for him.

I felt sick and worthless. He agreed he had to make a decision, but I suggested he had already made it, as those were not the words of a man in love. Coldly he said, yes  and goodbye.

Once again I was heartbroken. Now his number is deleted from my phone. But how did such a loving, caring, kind and considerate man change within four months?

How could he build a life with his ex (of whom I feel so jealous), but not with me?

This episode has terrified me. Am I unlovable?

Am I doomed to fall for cruel men interested only in pleasing themselves?

LUCY

A couple of weeks ago my And Finally column was about people (including me) having a dark side, which often directly contradicts the face they present to the world. The most famous example is the Jekyll and Hyde duality of black and white, kind and cruel, good and evil.

This is why I suggest that the man you fell in love with, the one who was caring, kind and considerate to you, was all the time harbouring inside himself a much darker character, with sexual needs he would not have confessed to you at first, in case you ran away.

Maybe he didnt change at all, but was far more complex than you realised at first.

It is not for me to make any judgments on what consenting adults do in private  although I must add that reading that ludicrously popular tome Fifty Shades Of Grey made me feel thoroughly queasy, not because of the kinky sex, but because of the appalling writing.

Some people are turned on by bondage, others (like me) by the joy of good books. Each to their own, in sex and artistic taste.

What matters in your story is that you told this man, quite clearly, that you had no interest in getting into bed with him and another woman, and that he later expressed a desire to commit himself to you once more and then turned around and asked you to get friendly with his kinky girlfriend.

What? On exactly what dark planet is this considered to be reasonable behaviour? And what woman could be expected to go along with his deceit, not to mention his barefaced cheek?

It is also a terrible mistake for you to compare yourself with his former girlfriend, since you have no real knowledge of what went on between them for those 17 years, apart from what he has told you.

For all you know, he treated her badly, made unreasonable sexual demands that she refused, cheated on her and has since been consumed with remorse, his good side taking his bad side to task for choosing to ruin that relationship for the sake merely of his sexual appetite.

Because that is the truth, isnt it? And now it has happened again, with you.

At the end of your email, you make what seems to me to be a huge jump, identifying a worrying pattern.

Yet you give no examples of previous relationships where you fell for cruel men interested only in pleasing themselves.

Therefore, I take this as an expression of your current unhappiness and not the truth about you and men.

At the age of 26, you have a whole life ahead of you in which to meet new people, have fresh experiences (and let us not include kinky sex here!), and fall in love  maybe more than once. This guy, for all his good side, sounds like rather a loser to me  ultimately led by what is in his pants, rather than in his heart.

He will make a miserable old codger one day. So celebrate the fact that you have deleted him from your life.

Thank your good angel that you are not doomed to thrash around in a grubby bed with a stranger (maybe more than one) in order to please an odd, dishonest man.

Stop blaming yourself and get on with your one precious life.

Why wont this woman commit to me?

Dear Bel

Anyone will tell you Im a really honest, genuine and trustworthy man. My female friends say Im strong, dependable and honest, the type of guy theyd like to build a future with.

About ten years ago all was going well for me: three great kids and a lovely wife  the perfect family. Then my wife left me for another man and I brought up three young children on my own while holding down two jobs.

I promised myself Id never commit to trusting again. Then about four years ago I met the loveliest lady. For two years everything was perfect, she even moved in. At the time, her three children were living with their father. She spent every weekend with them.

Then everything changed when her ex-husband got a five-year prison sentence. Since then she has committed every spare hour to making sure the kids are supported. I, too, was clear they must come first; nevertheless, after four years she decided to end our relationship. She said she didnt want to hold me back while having to spend so much time with her children.

I assured her I would support her whatever  to no avail. Every previous male in her life let her down. Her father left when she was a baby, her stepfather was an abusive drunk, so too was her ex-husband, and her last boyfriend was a control freak.

But she says Im lovely and she wants to speak a couple of times a week on the phone. She promises to meet, then backs out.

We do have some kind of bond, but I cant work out how she really feels. Am I wasting my time?

PAUL

This is a strange story, perhaps far more complicated than you have written it. You see, I straightaway wonder why your lady friends husband had the children.

In the uncut email, you say he was charged with a serious offence, but not whether this was a first offence. (If it wasnt, then why did he have custody?)

You then say she has committed every spare hour to the children, but not that she has moved back in with them. I assume so, but its odd you dont state that. Overall, this is a picture of a woman damaged (not her fault) by a dysfunctional background, who (unusually) chose not to live with her own children, or was not allowed to.

I think you wonder about the bigger picture, too  because your email subject was: I just dont get it. I take at face value all you say about yourself, but Id have liked to know the ages of all these children and whether yours have left home.

Anyway, after being so hurt by your ex-wife, and bringing up your family, its not surprising that you were ready to fall in love. Yet it does sound as if the object of your affections was probably rather unstable  a suspicion reinforced by the fact that shes now stringing you along. Maybe youre the nicest man she has ever met, yet shes conditioned not to trust that. It is a strange and complex truth that some women resist the dependable personalities of guys like you, and subconsciously yearn for the bad boys who have hurt them in the past.

How you proceed depends on patience. I dont think adults should play games with each other, but suggest it would do no harm to take several steps back from this relationship. You call her regularly, so perhaps you should use willpower and cease.

When she texts, just dont answer. After a while you can suggest a meeting and warn her, calmly, that if she doesnt show up to this one, thats it. You can emphasise that you understand her background and the vital need to take care of those poor children who have had such a disrupted life.

Nevertheless you are entitled to consideration. You could make the point that, as a dad, you could be helpful and that youd be willing to scale back your relationship and see her (perhaps) just once a week. But you do need to know for sure.

At the moment it seems you are turning yourself into this ladys victim and I dont think you deserve that. Its time to be a bit stronger, insist on a proper talk, and then decide that you have a life ahead in which to find real happiness with somebody else.

And finally... the joy of finding an old letter

Such an inspired gift from my oldest friend, costing her nothing but time and imagination. It was a small album of memories shared in a friendship of over 50 years.

With the photos are postcards and souvenirs (oh, that first-ever trip on a plane to Paris when we were 17!)  and, best of all, photocopies of letters I wrote her between 1964 and 1988. She kept them.

So I came face-to-face with the neat, rounded handwriting of my younger self and was overwhelmed with nostalgia.

We were grammar school girls in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, where my parents had moved from Liverpool just before I was 14. The subject matter is predictable: boys, boredom in a small town, A-levels, worrying about the future...

On August 16, 1965, I wrote, Dont be too miserable about your resultsAs far as I am concerned A-levels are just a sardine in the oceanFailure in exams doesnt mean failure as a person and youd better get that straight.

In September 1967, Im panicking because I havent started a vacation essay of 4,000 words, due the beginning of university term. And Im missing her.

So it goes on, through moves, children, illness, sadness. And then no more letters because life got in the way. But how precious such documents are. I think, for example, of letters written by soldiers in World War I and countless letters in archives around the country.

In fact, this afternoon I shall be appearing on a panel at the brand-new Liverpool Literary Festival, discussing writers letters. And I intend to make the point that many of the letters written to this column are as eloquent in their sadness as those written by some of the finest authors. The human spirit poured out on the page can be sublime.

But what of the future? Will a dear friend be able to bestow such a touching gift, 50 years from now? Who writes letters now? All our emails and texts disappear into nothingness, so what will remain?

That thought makes me sad.
Geraldine Winner (right), the woman Michael Winner (left) married 16 months before his death, lives in a 4.5 million West London flat and inherited 20 million bonanza

In life he was a shameless showman, a famed bon vivant and acid-tongued critic who loved nothing better than to bark orders and brag outrageously about his wealth.

Irrepressible film director Michael Winner liked to boast that he was worth as much as 75 million, and enjoyed the fruits of his success with a seemingly endless carousel of beautiful women.

Some, he had promised, would inherit a small fortune in his will  and to one at least, his generous words came true. Today Geraldine Winner, the woman he married 16 months before his death, lives in a luxurious 4.5 million West London flat, from where she can consider how to spend and invest her 20 million bonanza.

Others, though, have not been quite so fortunate. For them, Winners legacy has brought boundless anxiety and simmering resentment at the way it has been handled. And now one of them, his long-suffering PA and confidante Dinah May, has finally spoken out about the extraordinary dispute engulfing those he left behind.

Dinah is not the only one of Michaels friends to feel his wishes have been overturned. In particular, she wants to set the record straight about his estate, revealing that Winner did not die broke, a spendthrift pauper as many still believe, but with an impressive fortune of some 50 million. Then there is the disturbing case of the voodoo doll, complete with pinpricks, apparently found among Winners possessions.

At the centre of the whole furore is his widow Geraldine, who colourfully tweeted that her former rivals were conniving, calculating exes or, as she put it in one memorable email, witches. This is the woman who, it is sensationally claimed, attempted to short-change her rivals by concealing the true extent of Winners fortune.

Today Dinah, 63, is exhausted by the legal struggle following Winners death, but is determined to speak. The truth is that I went through two years of hell just to end up with some of what he wanted me to have, she says. I was made to feel as if I was trying to take something that was not left to me. It was the most miserable time of my life.

I lived on Valium, barely slept at nights and was ill most of the time.

Dinah May (right), has finally spoken out about the extraordinary dispute engulfing those Mr Winner left behind when he died

The story has its roots in Winners single-minded determination to lead a glamorous but decidedly single life. He laughingly claimed to have a congenital defect that prevented him from marrying, yet loved being surrounded by beautiful women.

There was no shortage of opportunity. He had made his name with the Death Wish film series starring Charles Bronson, and increased his wealth with outrageous newspaper columns and successful television car insurance adverts, featuring his calm down dear catchphrase.

He lived a life of ostentatious excess and for years readers of his newspaper columns were regaled with tales of his indulgence. Sitting imperiously in his beloved 47-room Queen Anne revival mansion in Kensington, he was insensitive to the austere mood of more recent times.

He was conspicuously generous, too, buying flats for at least three of his ex-girlfriends and paying their medical bills. His lovers included actress Jenny Seagrove, whom he was with from 1987 to 1994. He dated the former Benny Hill girl Lorraine Doyle between 1984 and 1986 and Vanessa Perry, an actress 30 years his junior, for five years until 1999.

But it was years earlier, when he was a 21-year-old film-maker, that he had first met 16-year-old Geraldine Lynton Edwards, then an aspiring actress and ballet dancer.

They began dating after she auditioned for his first film; when they parted she moved to France and married. With advancing years, however, Winners views on companionship seemed to change. Geraldine made a triumphant return into his life, and their engagement was announced in 2007.

They married in 2011, with Sir Michael Caine and his wife Shakira as witnesses. Already frail, however, Winner passed away in January 2013, aged 77.

Mr Winner (left) promised to look after his former secretary Paola Lombard (right) before his death

Naturally, when his will was published, Winner had remembered those close to him. Geraldine was handsomely provided for and Winner left around 1 million for former girlfriends Catherine Nielson, who lived with him for many years and whom he nicknamed Sparkle, and his exotic former secretary Paola Lombard. Both had life-threatening health problems, and Winner had always been financially supportive.

Dinah was also rewarded and it was richly deserved. She had suffered Winners vexing behaviour for three decades, as she detailed in her book, Surviving Michael Winner, serialised in The Mail on Sunday. The bequest, he had told her, was both her pension and a token of his appreciation.

Despite his never-ending tantrums and explosive temper they had shared a deep and lasting friendship. Her job included washing his hair in beer once a week and plucking his nasal hair. It was she who sat by his bedside holding his hand as he lay dying, after losing a long battle with liver disease.

Winner left Dinah an ex-council flat in Farley Court, Kensington, where she had lived for 25 years, plus 300,000 out of affection and appreciation. She was also to receive an old Suzuki jeep which she had used to drive Winner around London. Yet she never got the jeep and eventually settled for less than the bequest.

Her troubles began when lawyers told her she would have to pay 40 per cent inheritance tax.

Then Dinah discovered that the three-bedroom ground floor flat, like other properties owned by Winner, was saddled with a huge mortgage of about 600,000. It was valued at about 850,000 when he died. She was shocked, saying Michael had told her that it would all be paid. He wrote a codicil to his will saying the debt, by which he meant the mortgage, would be paid off, she explains. Michael made it clear that his bequests to me should be clear of inheritance tax and gift tax as his estate would pay it.

He told me, Dont worry darling, the debts on the flat will be paid.

But this turned out not to be the case and so she found herself liable for the huge debt. Dinah chooses her words carefully, and is quite clear that she doesnt think any laws have been broken by anyone. She says, too, she is grateful to Michael for what she did eventually receive.

Dinahs troubling account of events is supported by Barry McKay (right), a businessman and friend of Winner

In her view, Geraldine could have stepped in at any time see that Michaels wishes were respected.

Originally a hairdresser and model from Merseyside, Dinah was crowned Miss Great Britain in 1976 and became an actress.

Blonde and vivacious, she met Winner while she was working on Brookside in the 1980s, and travelled the world with him as his PA for three decades, sometimes acting as hair and make-up artist on his films.

They were never lovers, but she occasionally acted as his walker when he was between girlfriends. She was the one constant female he relied on through most of his life. And she says he proposed to her  twice.

Their evident closeness did not go down well. Even before probate had been published, Geraldine had complained in a tweet about the conniving, calculating exes... and the sharks trying to steal from the estate.

Paola Lombard and Catherine Nielsen have declined to talk; neither is in good health. But Dinahs troubling account of events is supported by Barry McKay, a businessman and friend of Winner.

He had become aware of the conflict after Geraldine invited him to act as a trustee for the Police Memorial Trust (PMT), a charity set up by Winner in the 1980s to honour officers who die in the line of duty.

It was not mentioned in the will but it was due to receive  by something called a deed of variation  whatever was left after the wills beneficiaries had been paid.

Catherine Nielson (right), who Mr Winner (left) lived with for many years was reportedly promised she would be looked after financially

Mr McKay says Geraldine attempted to keep secret the full extent of Winners fortune from the other beneficiaries, including money held in the Channel Islands, and was attempting to limit the amount they would receive.

She did not want the other beneficiaries to know about the 30 million in Guernsey, he says.

She wanted me to help fight their claims on behalf of the charity. Geraldine said that if the three witches ended up getting as much as they wanted there would be nothing left for the trust.

She told me they were being greedy and trying to take money from something which was so important to Michael.

One email sent to Mr McKay from Geraldine said that she didnt think it was a good idea to publish the exact amount of money that Michael left... as Dinah Mays claim is still relevant and it could be detrimental to me and the PMT.

Mr McKay believes Geraldine wanted to give the other women as little as possible. Michael would be horrified to know that Dinah has been so badly treated, he says. She was his rock. Of all the staff and women who came and went she was the person who remained by his side for decades. Michael trusted her completely. In my opinion Geraldine was being greedy and vindictive. The failure to give Dinah an old Jeep, specifically mentioned in Michaels will as being for Dinah, was just the tip of the iceberg. It was worth virtually nothing but it had sentimental value to Dinah as she and Michael had spent so much time together driving around London in it.'

He declined to sit on the trust, insisting instead that Geraldine do right by Dinah and the others.

Mr McKay said "The three were all advised by PWT, a specialist firm brought in by the executers to assist with probate, and were advised to hire their own lawyers to get their full legacy.

I just couldnt understand why she hated them, says Mr McKay. She actually used the word hate and she called them the three witches. I later saw a voodoo doll with pinholes with the left leg bandaged, like Michaels was, and the words three witches scrawled over the face. It also had the letters PWT. I have no ideas what it all meant, but it was very disturbing. The doll, along with some of Michaels possessions, was rescued from a skip outside the house after his death. It was then passed to Dinah.

A voodoo doll (pictured), complete with pinpricks, was apparently found among Winners possessions after he died

Mr McKay added: "Many of Michaels friends, myself included, were upset about newspapers incorrectly reporting that he had left insufficient money to honour his bequests. They should have checked their facts before publishing grossly incorrect information and doing so in such a demeaning manner, attacking Michaels integrity and honesty. As a result Michaels name and legacy was dragged through the dirt. Furthermore, the beneficiaries named in his will were reported as fighting over insufficient remaining funds, which was ridiculous and a slur upon Michaels memory."

"Michael Winner accumulated a substantial fortune through the exercise of his unique talents, hard work and special skills ... in a very competitive world. When he chose his beneficiaries he did so with the intent to deliver, which he did. The reality is that all of Michaels bequests were more than covered by the close to 50m of assets which he left behind which net down to in excess of 25m for distribution to the beneficiaries named in his will which include the Police Federation. By deed of variation the residue was moved to the Police Memorial Trust which ended up with around 5m. Media reports to the contrary were all totally incorrect.

In a curious twist to this tale, Geraldine was attacked with an iron bar in her Knightsbridge apartment and held hostage for three hours during a robbery last year. Such was the animosity over the will that Dinah and, it is understood, the other beneficiaries were interviewed by the police.

The robbers, who took jewellery and other valuables, were never caught despite a 10,000 reward and an appeal on BBCs Crimewatch.

Dinah eventually settled with the estate, but had to sell the flat and move out of London. She says: Ive decided to speak out now because its the right thing to do. Michael wanted me to have a home of my own and would have been furious to know that Ive had to sell it and leave London.
'Were doing this naturally, arent we, said my patients husband, with a soppy, doting expression.

His wife  lets call her Mrs Jacobs  was in the early stages of labour and I, then a medical student in obstetrics, was assigned to assist.

Mrs Jacobs, an architect, nodded.

Its all set out clearly in the birth-plan, she said.

Dr Max remembers the first birth he oversaw and the expectant mother who was insistent on having a natural labour with no painkillers

I looked at the piece of paper she handed to me  carefully typed and filed in a leather folder that made it look like a menu.

So youre not having any painkillers? I noted of her insistence on having a natural birth, trying to keep any sign of my amazement out of my voice.

Her husband chipped in: No, we didnt want any interventions. Were just using hypnosis and aromatherapy.

I looked at his wife for any sign of hesitation but she, too, seemed adamant.

Its their first child, said the midwife with a knowing smile which betrayed her true feelings that the couple were being naive.

It was my first birth, too.

Mrs Jacobs had been in labour for a few hours and I was hoping things would be completed by teatime. How wrong I was.

Initially, I busied myself by talking to the couple and making them tea.

Weve brought our own organic camomile, said her husband as he handed over the box of tea  its all in the birth-plan!

The midwife rolled her eyes at this.

And as the afternoon turned to evening and the evening turned to night, it became apparent that things werent going according to the couples careful plan.

In increasing pain, Mrs Jacobs agreed to use the gas and air. Then she conceded she needed to be in the obstetric ward, rather than the midwife-run birthing centre, and was induced.

Staff then started monitoring the baby and gave the mother more painkillers.

Only when the baby was in distress did she agree to have an epidural (an injection in the back to block pain) which shed been vehemently against. Finally, it was decided she should have a Caesarean.

But what about the birth-plan? I asked the midwife, who put her arm around my shoulder. Her years of experience led her to whisper to me conspiratorially: Its usually best to think of it as a wish-list, rather than a plan!

Its a common story  and I was reminded of Mrs Jacobs this week when I read a report that showed women who have an epidural are less likely to suffer postnatal depression.

The researchers suggested that less pain in labour was better psychologically for women once the baby was born.

An obvious conclusion, perhaps, yet one thats widely resisted today when medical interventions are regarded with deep suspicion by so many mums-to-be.

Its accepted  albeit erroneous  wisdom now that natural is best and drugs and doctors should be kept at bay unless absolutely necessary. Yet, as the new research suggests, this may not always be in womens best interests.

Quite apart from the psychological trauma of a very protracted, unnecessarily painful labour, birth plans can also be bad for mums mental health. While intended to make women feel more in control, I think they do the opposite.

By having a plan, it is treated as a series of important goals. If not achieved, women feel they have somehow failed. Equally, they will feel they have failed if they require medical intervention.

At a time of huge stress, this piles even more damaging and unnecessary pressure on women.

So how have we ended up here? Ironically, I would argue it has stemmed from feminists who argued in the Seventies and Eighties that medicine and paternalistic doctors were failing women.

A report has shown women who have an epidural during labour are less likely to suffer postnatal depression

I remember in my second year at medical school, we were given a number of books that made uncomfortable reading. Instead of the usual dry, dull textbooks, these were full of shocking claims and attacked the medical profession.

One  The Captured Womb by Ann Oakley  talked about how women were incapacitated by epidurals, confined to their beds, denied basic rights such as being allowed to walk around, shaved and starved before birth.

They universally condemned Caesarean sections as brutal and unnecessary, conveniently glossing over the number of lives this procedure has saved.

But as an impressionable 18-year-old, I empathised and it made me question my professional ambitions. After all, according to these feminist authors, medicine was barbaric and hell-bent on taking away any freedoms that women had.

This feminist culture influenced our course and we had to write essays about Western medicine being patriarchal and misogynistic and how it was a form of social control.

Looking back, these books were, to say the least, a little histrionic. Inevitably, when I made it on to the wards a few years later, I realised much of it was laughably outdated.

But still, this feminist dogma has been pervasive and powerful.

A nd while theres no doubt that in the past the male-dominated medical profession did not always place the woman at the centre of childbirth, it seems to me that things have now swung too far the other way.

Women are oppressed and controlled, but this time, rather than by fusty old men in white coats, its by other women who decree what they should and shouldnt want when it comes to giving birth.

It is vital that women realise there must be no sense of failure attached to a medical procedure such as a Caesarean section, or an epidural, any more than taking a painkiller if you have a headache or an anaesthetic to have a tooth removed.

Becoming a mother is already a profound psychological shift, and a time when women can be emotionally vulnerable.

As I noted last week, tragically, suicide is the leading cause of death among new mums, with one in ten succumbing to post-natal depression. It should go without saying that guilt and shame are feelings no new mother should ever have forced on them.

This week I went to the House of Lords for the launch of a report by the World Psychiatric Association into the discrimination that people with mental illness experience around the world.

And I was astonished to hear that 41 per cent of countries that have signed up to the UN treaty against discrimination still dont allow someone with mental illness to marry. Also, 42 per cent do not allow someone with mental health problems to enter a contract and the same number deny them the right to make a will. And these are countries that are supposed to be fighting discrimination.

It made me think that while we still have a long way to go in tackling stigma in this country, we have made remarkable progress in the past few decades. We have much to be proud of.

Tricky hip op? Dont count on NHS care

Imagine being turned away by the NHS because your case was too complicated.

Sorry sir, your knee is too damaged, your hip op will take too long, its just more trouble than its worth and we dont want to spend the money. Unthinkable?

Perhaps not. A few years ago, I was working in an NHS addiction clinic based in the Home Counties. Under legislation created by Labour under Tony Blair, some services, such as drugs and alcohol, were opened up for competition from private companies and charities.

Some NHS addiction clinics get paid for every person they successfully get to detox from heroin

The clinic had been taken over the previous year. Part of the deal was that the company was only paid for every person they successfully got to detox from heroin  to get completely clean. They received 3,000 per patient if they abstained for three months, then a further 5,000 if they were clean a year later. So each patient was worth about 8,000 to them  but only providing they stayed off heroin.

While working there, I had a homeless patient whod had several failed attempts at detoxing. He was injecting every day, was wretchedly ill and I knew that if he continued, hed be dead soon.

I reasoned that although it was unlikely we would get him to go cold turkey, it was worth trying to engage him in treatment, to help him reduce what he was taking, and get him on a prescription for methadone, a synthetic substitute for heroin.

The clinic manager, however, was very clear: they wouldnt get paid for this as he wouldnt be clean and this was all they were commissioned to do. I was instructed to discharge him.

I was horrified: if I did so, we were sending him to certain death. There was no NHS service to refer him on to because this organisation had taken over the entire contract for drug services in the area.

Were supposed to have a national health service  but there was no one who would help this man. In the end, I refused to discharge him, but would another doctor have done the same?

Research published in the British Medical Journal this week has evaluated the impact of these changes to drug services and found that drug-related deaths have shot up since providers were paid in this way. This is what happens when services go out to tender.

You might think that, because youre not a drug addict, this will never affect you. But youd be wrong. This is the model being rolled out across the whole of the NHS.

Say for example you need a hip operation. The provider for this service, selected by your local Clinical Commissioning Group, will have stipulated in the contract exactly how much they will get paid and what work they must undertake.

This is probably fine if youre a straightforward case. They do the operation, and are paid the set fee. But what happens if your knee has twisted (this sometimes happens), which means the operation is more specialist to avoid damaging leg nerves.

All of a sudden, they wont turn such a tidy profit. They decide its outside of the terms of their contract. So they reject you and discharge you back to the care of your GP. Theres no longer an NHS to pick you up because this private organisation has taken over knee operations in your area. What then?
Ben Stiller (pictured with his wife Christine Taylor) revealed that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer

Men who are newly diagnosed with prostate cancer find themselves with a bewildering array of treatment options  and two major worries.

John Robertson, specialist nurse at Prostate Cancer UK, says: 'The most-asked questions  after 'Will I survive'  are 'Will I be left impotent?' and 'Will I be incontinent?' No man wants either.

'The reality is that if we do treat aggressively then there will be at least temporary problems with erectile function and bladder control. But the good news is that we are now better than ever at telling the difference between cancers that will never really grow much or cause problems, and those that are more aggressive.

'This means we can delay invasive procedures until they are absolutely needed, and there are options that give men a fighting chance of getting back, if not to totally normal, as close to it as needs be.'

So what are the main choices for patients? We spoke to Britain's top experts about the latest developments in treatment for this guide every man MUST read...

WHY SURVEILLANCE ISN'T DOING NOTHING

The landmark ProtecT study of British prostate-cancer patients reported last month that most men diagnosed at an early stage will survive for at least a decade whether or not they have surgery.

'With a cancer diagnosis, the instant reaction from patients is often to want it out of their body,' says Tim Dudderidge, consultant urological surgeon at Southampton General Hospital. 'Now we have good evidence that surgery isn't always needed straight away.'

Men with early-stage localised prostate cancer can be monitored  termed active surveillance  meaning they will have regular PSA (prostate-specific antigen) blood tests, which look for a protein produced by prostate-cancer cells, and check-ups.

DON'T BE SCARED OF SURGERY

This month, Hollywood actor Ben Stiller, 50, revealed that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, had surgery in September 2014  and is now clear of disease.

While early-stage, low-risk patients are typically offered active surveillance, surgery to remove the prostate  a radical prostatectomy  gives the best chances for survival for those with intermediate risk.

The prostate is a walnut-sized gland that sits below the bladder, around the urethra in men, and is part of the reproductive system.

Any operation in this area will, inevitably, lead to some nerve damage. In order to minimise the risk of these complications, Professor Roger Kirby, medical director of the Prostate Centre, advises men to find a surgeon with the right experience: they need to be operating regularly, doing at least 50 to 100 cases a year.

Robot-assisted surgery, which is offered in 30 UK hospitals, has also improved outcomes over traditional procedures, he adds (this is what Stiller had).

The improved accuracy means reduced risk of complications, said Prof Kirby. 'Any issues with incontinence are likely to resolve with time  and while sexual function may be affected initially, erectile dysfunction goes on improving through the first year and up to four years, with the use of Viagra.'

For men with more advanced cancer which might be difficult to remove during surgery, radiotherapy is often the better option (stock photograph)

SOUND-WAVES THAT BLAST AWAY TUMOURS

The most promising new development in treatment for prostate cancer is high-intensity focused ultrasound, or focal HIFU, in which high-energy sound waves blast tumours while leaving the surrounding healthy tissues intact.

A major study announced by the European Association of Urology this year revealed the procedure offers a 93 per cent recurrence-free survival rate at five years, putting it on a par with prostatectomy.

Remarkably, just one to two per cent of men in the HIFU trial experienced long-term urinary incontinence, compared to between ten and 20 per cent of men who had a surgical procedure to remove the entire prostate.

And just 15 per cent of HIFU patients suffered erectile dysfunction, compared to between 30 and 60 per cent of men who opted for surgery. Only men with small tumours are eligible.

THE ROAD TO RADIOTHERAPY

For men with more advanced cancer which might be difficult to remove during surgery, radiotherapy is often the better option.

This may also be offered to older men who are not well enough for surgery.

OVER 50? GET TESTED FREE One in eight UK men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer. It is more common (one in four) in men of African or Afro-Caribbean descent. Symptoms may include frequent urination, hesitancy to urinate and weak flow. Over-50s have the right to a free prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test. The over 65s comprise 75 per cent of cases. More than 80 per cent of patients survive ten years or more after diagnosis. Advertisement

The treatment involves high-energy X-ray beams emitted by a machine that damage cancer cells and stop them growing.

Short-term side effects include bowel problems for one in ten men and bladder problems for 50 per cent of men. Half will have permanent erectile dysfunction.

GUINEA-PIG TREATMENTS

More experimental and newer treatments are available  such as proton beam therapy and irreversible electroporation (which uses electrical fields to kill cells)  but they are very new and without long term evidence yet, warns John Robertson.

Cryotherapy, which uses freezing and thawing to kill cancer cells, is effective for localised prostate cancer in certain cases but only available at specialist centres or as part of a clinical trial.

However, research suggests that it may cause a higher number of complications.

THERE IS LIFE AFTERWARDS

More than 47,000 Britons are diagnosed with prostate cancer and over 10,800 die of the disease each year. However, survival is improving: while fewer than 66 per cent of men survived a year in England and Wales in 1971, that figure had risen to 94 per cent by 2011.

In the UK, more than 330,000 men are living with and after prostate cancer. Professor Mark Baker, director of the Centre for Guidelines at NICE, said: 'Mortality rates are now falling in Britain so we must be doing something right.
Scientists in Brazil are preparing to release millions of factory-bred mosquitoes in an attempt to wipe out tropical diseases.

British firm Oxitec says its genetically modified mosquitoes will swarm in among ordinary species such as Aedes aegypti, the insect that carries feared diseases such as Zika, dengue and yellow fever.

The test tube mosquitoes method is to have sex and then die, spawning babies with a genetically inbuilt flaw that causes them to die quickly.

Scientists in Brazil says they have developed mutant mosquitoes that will mate with regular insets and pass on a genetic flaw that causes early death (stock image)

Fewer mosquitoes mean less chance of dangerous diseases and infections being spread, such as the Zika virus. Zika is particularly dangerous to pregnant women because it can cause microcephaly in babies (pictured), where babies are born with brain deformities

With their work done, the modified father mosquitoes will then give up the ghost themselves - as they are genetically programmed to do.

Oxitec says its factory in the town of Piracicaba, northwest of Sao Paulo, can produce 60 million mutant mosquitoes a week.

Piracicaba is the world's 'first and biggest factory' of genetically modified mosquitos, claims Oxitec president Hadyn Parry.

He said: 'This is the only place where we have a factory like this. We can use this as a hub for Brazil.'

Currently the company's only Brazilian customer is the city of Piracicaba.

Mr Parry added: 'We are having conversations with several municipalities and states.'

According to the firm, five field tests that they conducted between 2011 and 2014 - in Panama and the Cayman Islands, as well as the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia - showed the population of wild Aedes aegypti insects dropped by 90 percent after the mutant mosquitoes were released.

The World Health Organisation estimate one million deaths a years are caused by Mosquito bites world wide.

Oxitec does not yet have a sales permit from Brazil's Anvisa health authorities, and there are no epidemiological studies showing whether mosquito-carried diseases drop after the factory-bred insects are released.

Mr Parry said: 'We are still waiting for Anvisa approval - we have no date for it, but we expect it for 2017.

This has not stopped the mayor of Piracicaba from signing a four-year, $1.1 million deal with Oxitec.

In its first wave, the company will release 10 million factory-bred mosquitos each week into this city of 360,000 people.

According to the firm, five field tests showed the population of wild Aedes aegypti mosquitoes dropped by 90 percent after the mutant mosquitoes were released

The need for insect control is pressing, as the summer in the southern hemisphere approaches and the mosquito population - and cases of the diseases that they carry - is likely to boom.

As of July nearly 1.4 million cases of dengue were recorded in Brazil, following the record 1.6 million cases in 2015, according to health ministry figures.

In the same period 174,000 cases of Zika were reported.

The Zika virus outbreak began in late 2015 in Brazil and has since spread across the Americas.

Zika is particularly dangerous to pregnant women because it can cause birth defects such as microcephaly, in which babies are born with unusually small heads and brain deformities.

Zika infection has also been linked to a nerve and immune disorder called Guillain-Barre syndrome.

Scientists keep the spacious rooms at the Piracicaba factory at temperature and humidity levels ideal for mosquito breeding.

While female mosquitoes are kept for breeding, male mosquitoes of the OX513A breed - especially developed by Oxitec in 2002 - are released to mate with females in the wild, produce short-lived offspring, then die.

The Aedes aegypti mosquito is well-adapted to city life as it can breed in even tiny amounts of water, such as a puddle of rainwater or water pooled in flowerpots. The World Health Organisation estimate that one million deaths a years are caused by Mosquito bites

Oxitec biologist Karla Tepedino dismisses environmentalists' concerns about the lack of long-term impact studies.

'There are three essential factors for the transmission of these diseases: the mosquitoes, the virus and humans. What we do here is eliminate the mosquitoes, which transmit the virus,' Tepedino told AFP.

'Eliminating the vector, we eliminate the disease,' she said.

The Aedes aegypti mosquito is well-adapted to city life as it can breed in even tiny amounts of water, such as a puddle of rainwater or water pooled in flowerpots.

Experts have pointed to poor sanitation and the practice of storing open water containers in poor neighborhoods as contributing factors in the explosive growth of the mosquito population.
Langans

Stratton Street, London W1

020 7491 8822, langans

brasserie.com

Rating:

My uncle Simon once described the menu at Greens, his St James restaurant, as nursery food. Nursery food? growled the legendary (and legendarily well-watered) restaurateur Peter Langan in response. I never had lobsters in my f***ing nursery! Capable of being as caustic as he was funny, the remark was typical of a man whose drunken antics often overshadowed the brilliance of his work.

He was, alongside chef Richard Shepherd and Sir Michael Caine, the proprietor of Langans Brasserie, a Piccadilly pleasure palace that mixed serious art (among the daubings on the wall, works by Freud, Bacon and Hockney, who also designed the menu), with no-nonsense brasserie-ish comfort food and a relaxed attitude to what one wore.

Langan's. Sure, the good art has long gone, sold in an auction a few years back. But the place still has the sort of well-worn soul that only 40 years of clatter and bustle can create

By its mid-Eighties peak, the famously bright lighting was far outshone by the wattage of its guests. Serious A-list, from Nureyev and Warhol, to Taylor, Burton, Beatty, Nicholson and Ali.

Although the endlessly pickled tales of the man in the crumpled white suit might move from well worn to overly rubbed apocryphal, they lose nothing in the frequency of their telling.

Hed plonk himself down at any table he pleased, usually unwelcome, according to Caine, sometimes entertaining but never sober.

There was the time he climbed on to Princess Margarets table, and promptly fell asleep; or the day he greeted Prince Albert of Monaco with the words You Prince Albert?

The heir to the Monaco throne nodded his regal assent. Well, your darling mother had great t**s. Charming.

And the evening, in fact many evenings, where he took to all fours and disappeared under the tables, biting the legs of female guests.

When one diner complained about a cockroach scuttling across his table, he picked up the startled beast.

And threw it into his mouth, washed down by a glass of Champagne. One tiny sip of the dozen bottles he was said to quaff per day. He often passed out in the middle of the floor, or in the doorway, so guests had to step over his prostrate form.

Yet somewhere, beneath all that alcoholic bluster and toxic tongue, was a first-rate restaurateur. Everybody should be able to see each other, he once told Caine. When you walk in, you are the star. When you sit down, you are the audience.

Langans Brasserie is the godfather to the likes of The Wolseley and Balthazar, and, in their modern incarnations, Le Caprice and Quaglinos too. An iconic London restaurant. And restaurateur.

It all ended badly. In 1988, he allegedly tried to set fire to both his wife, and himself. She escaped out of the window. He died, of burns and smoke inhalation, six weeks later, aged 47. A tragic, if gloomily predictable end. But his eponymous restaurant stayed open, and still is today.

Bangers and mash

Smoked Scotch salmon

I find myself on a soft Friday lunchtime, sitting at Sir Michaels table (not, alas, with him. He sold his share to Shepherd in 2003), beneath a picture of Langans back, looking out over a broad, bustling and well-fed room.

Sure, the good art has long gone, sold in an auction a few years back. But the place still has the sort of well-worn soul that only 40 years of clatter and bustle can create.

I eat decent smoked salmon with my friend Jonathan as we talk Christopher Lee and The Wicker Man, before a Veal Cordon Bleu that is knowingly fried, and oozes in all the right places.

FROM THE MENU

Smoked salmon 12.95 Veal carpaccio 14.95 Langans bangers & mash 15 Ham hock, vegetables 16.50 Rice pudding 7.50 Advertisement

Nothing sensational (I dont think anything stuffed with ham and alpine cheese could ever be described as delicate), but properly done.

Jonathan chews on fat, herb-flecked sausages that taste of a life well lived, with buttery mash and lashings of bullishly beefy gravy, as we move on to discuss the merits of Seventies Italian cannibal films, over a second bottle of exceptionally well-priced Lalande.

Dauphinoise potatoes are a touch under-cooked, but thats my only real complaint.

You dont come to Langans looking for Atherton-esque artistry, nor Brett Graham brilliance, rather a decent lunch, in a fine room, among the gossiping ghosts of a now-distant age.

We linger until about five, as the hubbub dims, the stories lengthen and the first commuters pour, ant-like, into Green Park Tube.

Cocooned in that warm, boozy Langans embrace, they seem a long way away. Ive havent enjoyed a long lunch this much in years.

Lunch for two: about 60.

The Fortnum & Mason Cook Book by Tom Parker Bowles is out now, priced 30

What Tom eat this week

Tuesday

To Marseilles, with Rowley Leigh. Pizza, Gallic style, at Chez Etienne, and squid, plus a cool bottle of local Cassis rose. Then to Le Petit Nice for dinner, a three-star feast of deconstructed bouillabaisse that blew our minds.

Langoustine ravioli

Wednesday

Lunch at LEpusiette, a one-star shack overlooking the grey Mediterrean. Langoustine ravioli, then their take on Pied Paquets. A cracking bottle of Riesling too. Dinner at Le Souk. Lamb couscous and Algerian red.

Thursday

Lunch at Chez Michel, and old-fashioned bourride, made at the table. Bass, congers and weever, in a silken garlic broth. Immense. We shuffle back to the airport, half man, half fish. Pickled in pastis.

Friday
Not Dead Yet

Phil Collins Century 20

Rating:

Towards the end of Phil Collinss alternately breezy and self-lacerating autobiography, he asks his new girlfriend to start calling him Philip.

Why dont I like Phil Collins? he ponders. Because his life is a mess... If I give myself another name, another identity, I can write myself out of the script.

Poor old Phil. Or should that be Philip? You might think that selling 150 million records and having three wildly successful music careers  with Genesis, as a solo artist, and as an Oscar-winning film composer  would bring some degree of self-worth, but by the end of Not Dead Yet its clear youd be mistaken.

Phil Collins performs at the MTV Video Awards in Los Angeles in 1989

Musicians tend to produce books in the style of their most successful records.

Not Dead Yet isnt a wordy, literary memoir in the mould of Dylans Chronicles or Bruce Springsteens outstanding Born To Run.

Its closer in tone to the chipper blokeishness of Rod Stewarts autobiography, except that where Rod barrelled through the pages with a swashbuckling fatalism, Collins is all apologies.

Riddled with guilt, regret and plunging self-esteem, he calls himself Mr Insecure.

When he takes a critical pasting at the height of his fame, he bruises more easily than most.

The issues are deep-rooted. The books opening line is Larkin-esque: We think mums and dads know it all, but in fact theyre winging it.

Growing up at the end of the line in an emotionally detached household in Hounslow, west London, Collins was a chronic bed-wetter until a late age.

His first attempt at songwriting, aged 17, is called Lying, Crying, Dying, establishing the sincere, somewhat maudlin emotional template for dozens of his solo hits.

A talented child actor, he is the Artful Dodger in Lionel Barts stage production of Oliver!, but after his cameos in A Hard Days Night and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang end up on the cutting-room floor he focuses his energy on his first love: music, specifically drumming.

When he joins Genesis in 1970, he finally feels a sense of belonging. His time in the band is painted in affectionate broad strokes, with kind words for all concerned.

His solo career, beginning almost by accident in 1981, is given closer attention. Hes touchily aware that his Zelig-like ubiquity became a national annoyance.

You name it, Phil Woz There, usually wearing a shiny suit jacket rolled up to the elbows: Band Aid, Live Aid, numerous Princes Trust shindigs  he was Charles and Dis go-to entertainer  movies (Buster, Hook) and numerous No 1s.

The Eighties and Nineties pass in a bit of a blur, for author and reader alike, although he brings Live Aid into entertaining focus.

Collins played at both shows, performing in London before jetting to Philadelphia to moonlight on drums for the reformed Led Zeppelin.

En route to Philly he bumps into Cher on Concorde. Shes in her civvies and has no idea what Live Aid is until he tells her.

Can you get me on it? she demands.

Less than 12 hours later Collins sees her elbowing her way into the all-star finale.

Not only did she get in, she has a microphone!

The Led Zep cameo, meanwhile, is a disaster. I see Jimmy Page dribbling on stage, actual saliva, he recalls. He can barely stand up he looks like a baby giraffe.

This is not a mean, score-settling book, but there are a few choice digs.

Paul McCartney has quirky issues; hes very aware when youre talking to him that hes a Beatle, while a haughty Dustin Hoffman scuppers Collinss scene in Spielbergs Hook with his Method tutting  but generally Collins is hardest on himself.

At the height of his stardom he remains eminently sensible. Drugs are confined to the odd joint, and hes remarkably chaste, too.

Married to Andrea from 1975-80, he remains a faithful husband until the breakdown of his second marriage, to Jill, in the early Nineties.

He cheats on her not with a groupie but with a childhood sweetheart. This is the marriage that Collins famously ended via fax, a half-truth he tackles, with a typical mix of self-justification and self-recrimination, in a chapter winningly titled Faxgate.

Later, the trouble really begins. The books droll title alludes to the litany of misfortunes that have befallen Collins in recent years, including a third failed marriage (to Swiss graduate Orianne), partial deafness and several medical misfortunes that leave him unable to play drums and having to walk with a stick.

It also references the alcoholism that hit in his mid-50s, something he documents with painful candour. Having given up music to be a full-time dad  touring has become a giant pain in the a***  he fills the void of divorce and retirement by emptying mini-bars around the globe with Olympian dedication.

There are harrowing and humiliating blackouts, spells in intensive care with pancreatitis and a stint in rehab, before he finally cleans up.

It nearly killed me, he admits.

With actress daughter Lily at a film premiere in LA in 2012.

If this sweet-and-sour memoir emphasises Collinss near terminal defensive streak, it also flags up other traits: pride, humour, loyalty, resilience.

It ends on an upbeat note. Having reconciled with Orianne and set up home once more with their sons, earlier this month Collins announced his return to touring.

A nation chokes on its cornflakes, he imagines, exhaustingly wry to the last.
British Sausage Week starts tomorrow and to celebrate the splendour of our great British banger, the question when picking your vino is: whats inside the sausage and whats it served with? The keys to sausage heaven are within your reach.

My personal favourite all-time sausage is the pork and honey from Holmansbridge Farm in East Sussex. They just make me grin, such is their deliciousness. And I love them best on the barbecue with a pint of Harveys Best Bitter from the local brewery  the malty brew echoes the gentle sweetness in the sausage perfectly.

But red wine is hard to beat with a more robust banger, especially those deploying the traditional trick of adding powerful herbs such as sage.

For an all-round safe bet, southern France gets my vote, especially reds from the Rhone and Roussillon with their herby and peppery detonations.

Ive also found reds from northern Italy working splendidly with sausage casseroles, especially in tomato sauces.

And where smokey Spanish chorizo is concerned, a Rioja Reserva gets my vote every time.

If the ingredients in the sausage are even darker, such as beef or venison, you can go deeper with your vino too, with Malbec edging its way into the mix, especially from Argentina.

Where white wine is concerned, it works best with a pork and leek  Chenin Blanc or Chardonnay can both come up trumps.

And as for sausage and mash, red Zinfandel from the USA works well  but Id still steer you back to the splendid sausage haven of southern France.
Great-aunt to supermodels Poppy and Cara, Doris Delevingne rose from humble beginnings to become the most notorious courtesan of the 1920s and 30s. Here, her biographer Lyndsy Spence charts Doriss tumultuous marriage to Viscount Castlerosse  as well as her scandalous affairs with society figures from Winston Churchill to Cecil Beaton



Castlerosse and Doris in the South of France, 1932, apparently the last time they could tolerate each others company

From the moment Doris met Viscount Castlerosse, heir to the Earldom of Kenmare in Ireland, his passion burned brighter than hers. Seeing her arrive  blonde, beautiful and exquisitely dressed  at the St James nightclub in London, where he was drowning his sorrows one night after failing to bet on the right horse, he told her how exhilarated he felt by her appearance.

Castlerosse was corpulent, balding and looked older than his 37 years, but Doris, knowing of his fame as a society columnist and his affluent readership, responded to the flattery, and he turned her head further by including her photograph alongside several society beauties in his Londoners Log column for the Sunday Express newspaper.

Friends on both sides warned them against marriage, but they didnt listen. Castlerosse was hypnotised

While Doris, who was nearly ten years younger than Castlerosse, was fond of him and admired his jovial sense of humour, Castlerosse became obsessed with her, monitoring her comings and goings and following her wherever she went. She continued to see other men casually, in exchange for money and gifts.

Doris feared his meddling might sabotage such arrangements, as he was one of the most famous figures of the day in London, but on the other hand, she knew that he held the key to many a closed door (his family, the Kenmares, had a long association with the British royal family). In an attempt to compete with her admirers, Castlerosse began to send her jewels, furs and paintings, which plunged him further into debt.

Doriss great-nieces (from left) Poppy, Cara and Chloe Delevingne

Friends on both sides warned them against marriage, but neither of them listened. his mother, Lady Kenmare, threatened to cut him off financially. But Castlerosse was hypnotised and thought Doris breathlessly lovely to look at, with the delicate features of a nervous sensitive deer and the mobility, strength and grace of a panther.

Disillusioned with marriage, Doris longed for a divorce, knowing that she would not lose her title of Viscountess Castlerosse unless she were to remarry

He was equally attracted by her outspoken, outrageous and shameless behaviour. It was an age when decadence was admired and Doris embraced this by making scenes in public  particularly in restaurants, where she took pleasure in demanding to see managers and chefs in order to berate them for the position of the table, the temperature of the wine and the quality of the food. No one seemed to resent this, recalled an admirer. The men she was with seemed to think it gave them a sort of cachet.

Viscount Castlerosse and Doris Delevingne married secretly at Hammersmith register office on 16 May 1928. Discontent settled in soon afterwards, but Doris was pleased with her new title  if not her husband  and busied herself by ordering viscountess coronets to be stitched on to her crepe de chine sheets and pillowcases, which she sent to Paris to be laundered. Coronets adorned her notepaper, too, and were embossed on her luggage.

Castlerosse was less flamboyant and his fear of breaking the news to his parents sobered his marital bliss. He sensed the storm clouds were closing in. In addition to parental disapproval, he was exasperated by Doriss spending. With his own bills, many of which went unpaid, he could not afford Doriss expenses of 100 a week too, but Doris was not willing to compromise. She told him: Dont give me any money then  Ill pay for everything myself in future. Aware how she intended to get this money, he relented and increased her allowance.

Castlerosse and his dogs

Marriage for Doris had symbolised nothing more than a change of name. Her outlook and morals remained as before and she did not think it necessary to change her friends or reform her behaviour. She dabbled in charity work, as many peeresses did, but her efforts were overshadowed by the gaiety of the fundraising. Castlerosse criticised her antics and accused her of infidelity. Many of her affairs were so casual that Doris did not consider them adultery and she innocently told him that she was just a magnet to men.

Humiliated by her promiscuity, he demanded that she show some obedience and discretion. She is quite blatant, he remarked to a friend. She will soon have all of London laughing at me behind my back. Within weeks, the arguments they were having in private turned into public spectacles, and the couple became the talk of Mayfair.

After six weeks Doris moved out and returned to her house on Deanery Street, just off Park Lane. The separation was prompted by an argument that had, once again, ended in a physical fight. Disillusioned with marriage, Doris longed for a divorce, knowing that she would not lose her title of Viscountess Castlerosse unless she were to remarry. But she was not about to give her husband or her in-laws the satisfaction of seeing her named as the guilty party in a court case.

Doris had no scruples when it came to sex and used it as a ploy to get what she wanted

Sensing that forces beyond her control might portray her as the reason for divorce on grounds of adultery, she began to visit her lawyer to have her bruises from her numerous fights with her husband photographed as evidence. Both Doris and Castlerosse attempted to build cases against one another, a battle that would continue for a decade.

It was at Lord Beaverbrooks villa in Le Touquet that Doris met Winston Churchill in 1930. According to much-repeated gossip, he slept with her at the Ritz Hotel in Paris, after which encounter he is reported to have enthusiastically complimented her on her lovemaking skills. Churchill did not dismiss any of the rumours about their relationship.

Doris then turned her sights to younger men  including Tom Mitford, brother to the six Mitford girls. At the age of 21 he had already gained a reputation for having affairs with older married women, but his pockets were not deep enough for Doris and in the spring of 1932 she began an affair with 21-year-old Randolph Churchill.

At Faringdon, with (from left) Lord Berners, Daphne Weymouth and Robert Heber-Percy

An alarmed Winston tried to intervene and instil common sense into his son. Their affair had become a topic of gossip in London and Doris did little to hide it from Castlerosse: it was discovered by the maitre d of the Cavalry Club when he opened the door to the anteroom and was confronted by a pair of long gorgeous legs waving happily in the air.

If Doris had one ally at that time it was Gerald Tyrwhitt-Wilson, the eccentric Baron Berners. His house at Faringdon in Oxfordshire was a haven for social pariahs and Doris came to look on it as a second home. Gerald was ready to leap to her defence when others spoke badly of her latest high jinks.

Doris refused to believe that Cecil Beatons sexual orientation would pose a problem

Taking her place on the sofa, and with Gerald at the piano, it was the custom for Doris to say, Lets dish the dirt, and he would listen fascinated by her tales of rascality and violence, striking an occasional chord and making some puckish suggestion for a happy solution to her marital dramas, writes Sofka Zinovieff in her book about her grandfather Robert Heber-Percy, who was Baron Bernerss lover.

After exchanging society gossip, Doris spoke of her dwindling finances and Gerald offered his financial support. Acknowledging his kindness, she kissed him on the lips and said, Dear Gerald, anything you could do wouldnt last me two days. It was the kiss and not her statement that drew horrified gasps, for Gerald was known to detest kisses.

It was at Faringdon House that society and royal photographer Cecil Beaton first met Doris, who arrived in her chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce Phantom, with her coronet-embellished trunks. She carried with her a heavy box containing the precious Cartier jewels she had collected from her various lovers over the years.

Doris and Noel Coward (she was reputedly the muse for his play Private Lives)

With his spectacular eye for detail, Cecil noticed her slender legs and admired her gazelle-like ankles. Her exquisite suits and dresses were from Worth and Reville, and she continued to shun skirts in favour of tailored shorts  a daring choice  to display her best features.

As Cecil was a homosexual, he didnt make the first move. Doris took the initiative and, planning her seduction, scattered tuberoses  the most carnal of scents  on his bed. Cecil adored attention and he responded to the flattery she paid him. Doris refused to believe that his sexual orientation would pose a problem and told him: There is no such thing as an impotent man, just an incompetent woman. To ease Cecils reluctance towards going to bed with her, she assured him that he wouldnt have to do a thing.

Doris had no scruples when it came to sex and used it as a ploy to get what she wanted. It was a means of survival

Doris and Cecil often stayed at Faringdon. Guests, eager to judge if the affair was a farce, crept to the lovers bedroom door and were further astonished when they overheard Cecil squealing, Oh goody, goody, goody!

The droll antics continued when Cecil threw a party and the guests were ordered to dress as their opposite. Doris came as a nun. She defended her affair with Cecil and was forthright in her claim that she was sleeping with him for his own benefit. In an age when homosexuality was illegal, she maintained that she was trying to cure him of his sexual persuasion. She had, however, developed a deep and complex passion for him, despite his repeated warnings that he was terribly homosexualist.

Their affair might have been founded on deceit but their personalities were markedly similar. Both were ruthless in their quest for social mobility, although Doris had used different tactics to enter the aristocratic circles of London. They both shared a canny sense of self-promotion, traits they recognised in each other and which brought them together.

Doris with Margot Hoffman (right) in Deauville, France

News of their affair reached Castlerosse and, adopting the view of their contemporaries, he thought it a joke. On one of his outings to a London restaurant he spied his wife dining with Cecil and, turning to his companion, he quipped: I never knew Doris was a lesbian. The affair did little to provoke him, but he added Cecils name to his list of evidence for his divorce.

Doris had no scruples when it came to sex and used it as a ploy to get what she wanted. It was, to her, a means of survival and a way to fund a lifestyle that had become such a way of life for her that she saw no alternative  although a comment made one day to her great friend Phyllis de Janze over lunch revealed how much she had sacrificed to achieve that.

Her friend was waxing lyrical about men and money. Doris, whose charms were at this point beginning to wane, observed her friend with a cold and menacing look in her eyes. You may think it fun to make love, she warned, but if you had to make love to dirty old men as I do, you would think again.

Doris and Castlerosse divorced in 1938 in one of Londons most bitter and talked-about cases. Doris then embarked on a lesbian affair with wealthy American Margot Hoffman and moved to New York at the start of the Second World War. When this relationship ended she had no choice but to sell her jewellery and the portraits that Winston Churchill had painted of her. She returned to England penniless, having pawned the last of her diamonds (unaware that this was illegal during wartime), and when she realised she was to be investigated by the police, took an overdose of barbiturates. She never recovered consciousness and died in St Marys hospital, Paddington, at the age of 42 in December 1942.
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Tamara inhabits the world of the ludicrously rich, with an enormous London mansion and a good dose of tabloid scandal.

But, she tells Louise Gannon, since having her daughter two years ago, real life is more breastfeeding in leggings than Birkins and billions.

TAMARA WEARS DRESS, Attico. SHOES, Azzedine Alaia. Available from hewilondon.com in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital

As the midday sun warms the giant cashmere cushions in her daughters nursery, one of the richest women in Britain, Tamara Ecclestone, is discussing why she has decided to give away a large portion of her 5 million designer-stuffed wardrobe to raise money for charity.

TAMARA BY NUMBERS 7 million wedding (with performances by Mariah Carey and Elton John) 1 million crystal bathtub 300,000 Hermes Birkin bag collection 70,000 shoe collection 10,000 playhouse for Fifi 56 a bottle of Tamaras Show Beauty hair perfume Advertisement

I just dont need all these dresses any more and Ive stopped wearing heels, she says, as she shows me just a few of the around 1,000 items she will sell through HEWI London (Hardly Ever Worn It) on behalf of Great Ormond Street Hospital. People think Im always walking around in designer dresses. I was, but Im not any more. I dont miss it  the dresses, the eyelashes, the shoes. Im a mother now and I live in leggings, I never go to parties. Im normally asleep by ten oclock.

In light of all those Ecclestone billions and the bizarre criminal activity (from petrol bombs to kidnappings  more of which later) surrounding her family, however, Tamaras life seems less normal mum, more Dallas meets a Netflix drama.

And then there is the sense of surreal from the moment you walk through the vast iron gates of Tamara Towers. There are definitely rooms I havent been in for ages, she says of her 57-room London pile. I dont use the swimming pool and I havent been in the bowling alley for a long time. I generally just use four rooms. But I like to have the space for when people come round.

Once past the holding room (dominated by a vast photo of a stiletto heel spiked through a carpet of dollar bills), I am ushered into what appears to be an upmarket branch of Toys R Us, where every conceivable toy is neatly stacked against the walls and the seating areas are vast, deep and covered with the finest pearl-grey cashmere.

DRESS, N/Nicholas. SHOES, as before. Available from hewilondon.com in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital

Tamara  formerly never seen without make-up, towering heels and an eye-wateringly expensive body-con dress  is sitting on the floor in a robe, intermittently playing with and breastfeeding her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Sophia, who is dressed as Elsa from Frozen.

Last year Tamara attracted criticism when she shared a brelfie of herself breastfeeding. Katie Hopkins slammed her as unemployed and a member of the Mammary Mafia. Others took to social media to vent their disgust.

Yes, Im still breastfeeding, she sighs, as Sophia (known as Fifi) whips open her mothers dressing gown for the fourth time in 30 minutes for a quick snack. It bugs me that people attack me for it. Its easy. Its the best thing my daughter can have and I dont have a problem with it.

I get slammed for it by other mums and all I can think is, How do you actually have the time to make nasty comments about me? I dont judge anyone but Im constantly judged. I dont bother to respond any more. I just think people are jealous. Im happy, my daughter is happy and thats all I care about. I do exactly as I want, if thats what she wants.

Scott, her manager, sits protectively a few feet from his client and, outside, by a Baccarat crystal chandelier, a vast crumpled-dollar-bill wall sculpture and a giant 3D Chanel handbag, her security guards conspicuously walk the thickly carpeted corridors.

Tamara with maltipoo Teddy. JUMPSUIT, Balmain. SHOES, Gianvito. Available from hewilondon.com in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital

On the dazzling surface (Tamara is a huge fan of crystals, from Swarovskis on the phones to the grape-sized engagement ring on her finger, and the house is a mere velvety backdrop to the glittering floors and artwork), it seems as though the 32-year-old lives the dream.

The eldest daughter of Formula 1 billionaire Bernie Ecclestone (the self-made son of a Suffolk fisherman) and Croatian model Slavica Radic (the daughter of a fruit and vegetable market trader), Tamara and her sister Petra, 27, grew up in a world of private jets and Birkin handbags. (She has a collection of around 45 bags. Some people collect art, I collect Birkins, she says, although she also has an impressive number of Tracey Emins, Damien Hirsts and Sam Taylor-Johnsons.) Even the humble leggings she lives in are Lululemon and will set you back around 100.

Both sisters were born beautiful  Tamara dark and sultry, Petra blonde and fragile  and both married, became mothers, It-girls and celebrity tabloid fodder. These were super-rich girls who chose not to be aristocratically discreet about their huge stashes of inherited cash but to have it, blow it  and enjoy it.

Tamara, who is married to former City trader Jay Rutland, 35, lives in a 70 million mansion by Kensington Palace, and, after years in Los Angeles, Petra  who has three children by billionaire art dealer and gold-bullion firm owner James Stunt  has a 68 million mansion in Chelsea.

Tamara is a huge fan of crystals, from Swarovskis on the phones to the grape-sized engagement ring on her finger, and the house is a mere velvety backdrop to the glittering floors and artwork

Money aside, Tamara is, she says, old-fashioned, and wants to be judged on who she is, not what she is. She doesnt have a nanny (I cant bear to be apart from Sophia) and spends most of her time with her sister and her brood.

Petra and I see each other every day. We spend all day with our kids in parks, at Monkey Music, swimming. We dont really mix with other mums as most of the other children are with nannies who dont take any notice of us. We are the crazy women, never apart from our kids. Petra is like me, she hardly ever goes out. We are both obsessed with our children. Sophia doesnt sleep in her own room  she sleeps in the bed with me and Jay. He has just got used to it.

I wonder if the husbands get on and whether they could all live in some multimillion-pound commune together. Tamara thinks for a moment. We definitely all get on. Wed probably have huge rows every now and again but it would work. As long as its me and Petra, everything is fine.

Except, in fact, it isnt. Deep, dark matter constantly swirls around the Ecclestone world, sticking like mud to the billion-pound fairy tale.

In the past year alone, Essex-born Jay, whom Tamara married in a 7 million celebration after getting engaged just a month after meeting him, was cleared of allegations of assisting a drug dealer escape the country. Petras husband James, 34, meanwhile, had the offices of his gold-bullion firm searched by police in September (he alleges he is a victim of theft). His brother Lee, 37, was found dead at their parents home in Surrey shortly before the raid, and a petrol bomb was thrown at the house James shares with Petra.

Tamara with her daughter Sophia and husband Jay, left, and with her mother Slavica

Just this summer, Brazilian kidnappers threatened to behead the mother of Bernies 38-year-old wife, Fabiana Flosi, unless he handed over 28 million. He didnt, and she was found unharmed nine days later. All my friends know I wouldnt pay a penny for my mother-in-law, 85-year-old Bernie joked later.

Tamara with her father Bernie and sister Petra

I ask if Tamara was upset by the kidnapping. No, she replies sharply. (She and Petra didnt attend her fathers wedding to Fabiana in 2012.) Then she adds: All it did was make me think about my own daughters safety. Even when we go to the park we have security. I have someone with me all the time. I cant even think about anything like that happening to my family.

She doesnt want to talk about it any further. Neither is she up for discussing her brother-in-law. Tamara is used to compartmentalising difficult situations. A self-confessed daddys girl, she had to deal with the fallout from her parents split after 24 years in 2009, which she describes as the darkest period of her life. When Bernie began dating his current wife, Tamara only found out about the relationship in the newspapers. It was not a good start.

At the time she told me: I guess I dont have to ask his permission for who I date and Im 27, so why should he at 80? But I was really upset. I think I always hoped my parents would get back together and yes, I threw my toys out of the pram. I didnt want to meet her because I felt it must be awful for Mum. I have met her since at his birthday but shes not someone Id go shopping with. I cant help the way I feel.

In a twist on the Cinderella story (lets call it Blingerella), Tamara (who has certainly never had to sweep any floors) keeps a civil distance from her stepmother but her father remains her hero.

Tamara, who is married to former City trader Jay Rutland, 35, lives in a 70 million mansion by Kensington Palace

My dad is just incredible, she says. He came from absolutely nothing and built this Formula 1 empire. He is rich enough never to work again but for him its not about the money, its about passion, and hes still first in the office at 7am. He wasnt around like my mum was because of his work, but when he was with us he was totally there. As a teenager hed come with me to Miss Selfridge and wait while I tried on clothes and tell me things were too short most of the time. He is my hero.

Tamara's treasures HIGH-STREET SHOPS? Zara, Gap and Topshop. BEAUTY ESSENTIALS? Show Beauty dry shampoo and Palmers Cocoa Butter. GOOD BOOK? The Tiger Who Came to Tea, or anything with Peppa Pig. SCARIEST THING YOUVE DONE? Give birth. HOW DO YOU RELAX? When I put Fifi to bed I lie alongside her and snooze. Its so relaxing. GUILTY PLEASURE? Any Real Housewives reality show, particularly Beverly Hills and New Jersey. MOTTO? Dont sweat the small stuff. DESCRIBE YOURSELF IN THREE WORDS Loyal, sensitive and slightly bipolar. Advertisement

What about Bernie the grandfather? Hes a really good granddad, she says. He is a bit OCD so finds it difficult to cope with mess, but I took Fifi to his place in Switzerland and did baby-led weaning there. I was so anxious because there would be food everywhere, but he was very relaxed. He plays hide and seek with her.

As Tamara builds Duplo with Fifi, there is a defensive look on her face that makes her seem vulnerable. You wonder how she deals with all that goes on around her. I live in a bubble, she says. A Fifi bubble. I look after my child and I have my business [she owns a hair-product line, Show Beauty, with products containing extravagant ingredients such as caviar and truffle]. I dont have time for anything else.

Yet Tamara attracts trouble  she always has. She makes mistakes, particularly with men. Her former fiance Derek Rose tried to blackmail her for 200,000; another ex, Omar Khyami, cheated on her and they later ended up in court in a dispute over the ownership of a 380,000 Lamborghini Aventador Tamara had given him. (She now has a bespoke Range Rover with Tamara emblazoned on the bonnet.)

Her wealth provokes envy. She was recently shamed on social media for pledging 2,000 to a schoolfriend, Rosalie Marshall, hoping to raise 55,000 for cancer treatment. I am damned if I do, damned if I dont, she says. I do things for charity people dont even know about. It hurts but I try not to let it get to me.

It clearly does. We talk about how she felt when her husband was accused of helping a drugs kingpin evade the law. The media was full of stories claiming the couple had split, that Bernie insisted his daughter cut ties with Jay, and about how foolish she had been to marry him so fast. She has never  until now  publicly spoken about it. It was awful, she says. I chose not to talk about it because it was so difficult. I knew everyone wanted me to fail, that people were saying they knew we wouldnt last.

A marriage is not smooth sailing, but I am a grown-up and I know what Im doing. The most important thing to me is loyalty. I have never questioned Jays loyalty, and I am loyal to him. Its also important to show my daughter that you have to be true to yourself and to those you believe in.

Tamara and her husband Jay Rutland enjoy staying at home and having a few friends round for drinks in the garden (above)

The artwork above the fireplace is a Tracey Emin original and was a wedding present from Tamara's younger sister Petra Stunt

Jay is a good husband, a good father. He sticks up for me when people lay into me. I love that he is so protective of me and Fifi. I believe you have to make a marriage work.

She pauses: I have a lot of money. Im incredibly lucky. But having money doesnt stop you getting hurt. Ive had my heart broken in the past, people have damaged me. Being able to go out and buy a Birkin bag doesnt make the pain go away. Bad things happen and you have to deal with them. Everybody does.

There is no question that Tamaras heart is in the right place despite her tendency to avoid certain realities. She is embarrassed to admit she didnt vote in the referendum, but my mother is from Croatia. I believe immigrants who do well here and support the economy should stay.

When Tamara and Petra were growing up, their mother Slavica insisted they did normal things such as cleaning and going to Brownies, and would take them back to her homeland (the sisters speak fluent Croatian), where they would sleep on the floor of their grandmothers flat. Bernie, who spoilt his daughters mercilessly, would occasionally withdraw pocket money. (We never understood it was good for us, she says.)

Sophia has everything, from an iPad  she watches films on it when she goes to meetings with her mother  to a 10,000 dolls house modelled on their home, to a maltipoo, Teddy, with fur the colour of demerara sugar.

The Ecclestones like to have friends over for dinner; this remarkable dining room seats 12

The formal living room in the house - just one of its 57 rooms - where Tamara and her husband entertain

Does Tamara ever feel guilty about how much her daughter has? I dont, she says. I can give her anything she wants, but I know the biggest gift is nothing to do with money, its just to be with her. I chose not to have a nanny; to be the one changing her nappies, taking her to the park, feeding her and putting her to bed. I dont judge myself except as a mother and I think Im doing a good job as she is happy. I dont have maternal guilt because I have nothing to feel guilty about.

I ask her how she feels about sending Sophia to school. Im terrified, she says. Part of me wants to home school her, but I know she has to go. I never want her to be hurt, but its going to happen. Life is cruel and she will have to learn to cope. It breaks my heart.

Tamara wants more children. My ideal number is three, she says. I had a caesarean section with Fifi because I was terrified of the pain, but next time I want a natural birth. I want to enjoy having just Fifi for a while longer, but there will definitely be more. Being a mother is the best thing that has happened to me and Im doing it as well as I can.

I point out that she is, however, fortunate to be in a position to do whatever she wants. She nods. Dont get me wrong, I know Im lucky. I know its not like this for everyone.

The family can relax by the indoor pool or the hot tub next to it. Backlit onyx enlivens the room

Jay Z: The lobby where guests sign the visitors' book on the right of the table as they enter the magnificent house

A big part of the reason she is donating her clothes to Great Ormond Street (she is a long-time champion) is because she wants to help parents and children  she also supports childrens charities Starlight, Caudwells and Children in Need. For the past ten years, she has been a regular visitor there, although she admits since having Fifi I cant bring myself to see little ones in pain. Its important not to cry and I know Id dissolve in tears right now. I want to go but I want to do it right.

Tamara has teamed up with HEWI creator Sharon Wolter-Ferguson to donate around 1,000 items from her wardrobe to raise funds for the hospital. During the YOU photo shoot, she laughs as she poses in looks from her wardrobe, including a stunning pair of silver Alaia heels, a sleek black Balmain jumpsuit and a sexy pink lace-up dress by Ronny Kobo. These are from my old life, she says. I love them and I still enjoy getting dressed up  its just that Id always rather be home with Fifi. Nothing compares to being with her.

Sharon, whose site is aimed at women who love designer fashion but also want a bargain and the opportunity to buy and sell their clothes online, says: Tamara is really passionate about doing something to help children. She is an incredible style icon in her own right and has the sort of wardrobe HEWI women love.

Whatever is going on in Tamaras life, this is something good she can do. I love the idea that Im raising money and hopefully giving other women out there enjoyment from my clothes. Ive had fun in them. I hope someone else does and all of it is for a good cause.

The Tamara Ecclestone sale in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital begins today on hewilondon.com. Designers include Balmain, Azzedine Alaia, Alexander McQueen and Chanel
With the Pakistan High Commission staffer Mehmood Akhtar allowed to go to Pakistan on Friday due to diplomatic immunity, Crime branch sleuths now have a tough task as they try to identify the 'source', who was passing on secret information about BSF deployment on the Indo- Pak border.

Sleuths have started interrogation of the three Indian nationals arrested on the charges of espionage in order to plug the loopholes in the system that allowed Mehmood Akhtar, the alleged ISI agent to easily get access to the classified defence information.

Sohaib, one of the key associates of Akhtar, was caught in Rajasthan, on Friday.

Delhi Police crime Branch personnel surround Pakistani national Mehmood Akhtar, detained on suspicion of spying

He was produced in the court, and has been remanded to eleven days in police custody.

Sohaibs father was a visa agent and he had met Pakistan High Commission staffer Mehmood Akhtar in Delhi, in the garb of some official work, claimed the officials.

Sources also claimed that Sohaib had introduced the Pakistani staffers to some women, who he met secretly in hotels.

Sleuths suspect that these women were being used to honey-trap the Indian officials to extract classified information.

Subhash Jangir (left) and Maulana Ramzan, who were arrested for alleged espionage activities, at Delhi Police headquarters on Thursday

Sohaib is arrested along with the two other men- Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangir, and they are being interrogated, officials said.

According to the officials, Maulana Ramzan revealed that Subhash Jangir used to collect information from his sources in the border areas.

While Subhash reportedly claimed that it was Maulana who had contacts in the border areas, and he used those contacts to get classified information.

Now that the sleuths have got the custody of Sohaib, they hope to find out the name of the person who provided them with confidential information.

Sleuths have seized a Samsung Tab from Sohaib and they are hoping to get some other vital information regarding the spy ring.
With one more government school burnt in north Kashmirs Pattan area, taking the number of the burnt schools to 23 in the past four months, the Jammu and Kashmir government said it is investigating who are involved in the school burning cases.

States chief Secretary BR Sharma said the state government would protect all institutions and refrained from accusing anyone, at this stage.

It is all under investigation and once the investigation gets complete, we will let you know who are involved in burning of the schools. At this stage we cannot say anything, Sharma told Mail Today.

A senior police officer in Baramulla alleges that the separatists were involved in the burning of schools

However, senior superintendent of police in Baramulla, Imtiyaz Hussain Mir, alleged that the separatists were involved.

In my area, three schools have been burnt by the local youths, who are associated with the Hurriyat Conference and other separatist organisations, Mir told Mail Today.

Superintendent Police (SP) Budgam, Abdul Wahid, said in his area one school was burnt, but, the reason of fire was due to a short circuit.

In Kulgam district of south Kashmir, six school buildings were set on fire, which included two High schools, one Higher Secondary school, two middle schools and one Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya.

The list includes, two schools in Bandipore, two in Baramulla, two in Shopian and two in Anantnag.

One school each has been burnt in Kupwara, Ganderbal and Pulwama districts.

According to Pulwama Deputy Commissioner Muneerul- Islam, one school was burnt in his area, after the killing of a local youth by government forces, two months back.

Since then no one has touched schools in my district, he said.

Education Minister and government spokesman Naeem Akhtar told Mail Today that it was obvious who was behind this school burning incidents.

Wihout specifically naming the Hurriyat Conference, Akhtar added: "Those who have vested interests in keeping children away from school and use them as soldiers of future wars, are doing it.

The assault on education and inability of leaders to stop what is happening looks like an attempt at the collective suicide. Education is like oxygen and they are denying our younger generation from the basic tool needed to lead a dignified life, Akhtar said.

On its part, the Hurriyat Conference issued a statement hinting that the schools were being burnt under watchful eyes of police.
After Indias surgical strikes, Pakistan was looking for an opportunity to retaliate, but the Pakistani Rangers learnt a lesson as they tried to avenge the surgical strike.

On Friday, Indias Border Security Force (BSF) killed 15 enemy troops even as Pakistani forces opened heavy firing along a vast stretch of Line of Control and International Border.

The Pakistani troopers included the Border Action Team (BAT), while, Pakistani rangers pounded BSF posts and hamlets along the IB in Kathua, Hiranagar sectors (Kathua), RS Pura and Arnia sectors (Jammu) and Samba sector.

A villager shows the pockmarked wall of a building damaged by alleged shelling from the Pakistani side of the border

They also targeted forward Indian posts and villages along the LoC in Krishnagati, Balakote and Mankote sectors (Poonch) and Sunderbani sector (Rajouri), on Thursday evening.

Sources in the Northern Command said the Pakistani troops started firing to help infiltration of terrorists in Sunderbani, Pallanwala and Nowshera sectors of Rajouri and Jammu districts.

The attack in Sundarbani seemed like that of the Pakistani BATs, who had come very close to the border fence while targeting an Indian post there, they said.

Sources said they could not enter the Indian territory or come near the post as the troops were on a high alert expecting a retaliatory strike by the Pakistani troops.

However, the Pakistanis were armed heavily with rocket launchers and mortars and did not return to their posts when Indian posts responded.

Sources in Defence Ministry and the Army claim that the Pakistani action was just to push the terrorists inside the Indian territory and there was no BAT action along the LoC.

A convoy of Indian troopers passing through the border line area in Uri sector. File picture

It was claimed that the Pakistani Border Action Teams comprises of Pakistani Special Services Group (SSG), who generally carry out operations in the wee hours.

They are tasked to carry out sensational actions that have a demoralising effect on the Indian troops.

The last known BAT action was in January and August 2013, when SSG troops along with the hardcore terrorists killed and mutilated bodies of Indian troops in Poonch sector.

In the January incident, they had run away with the heads of Lance Naik Hemraj and Sudhakar Singh as trophies.

BSF Additional Director General Arun Kumar in Jammu, said: Fifteen Pakistani soldiers have been killed in retaliatory firing and shelling by the BSF. We have destroyed their OP (outposts) and damaged a few.

The BSF and Army have responded appropriately and befittingly, a defence spokesman also said on Friday.

They used small arms, 82 mm mortars and 120 mm mortars in the firing and shelling, he said.

They are being responded to appropriately and befittingly. No casualties to our troops have been reported, he said.

BSF officials are also saying that on the international border, which is supposed to be guarded by the paramilitary forces, it appeared that Pakistani Rangers have been getting artillery support from the Pakistan Army as their mortar shells are being fired from across the International Border.

Pakistan has, however, denied India's claims of having killed 15 paramilitary rangers.

Since surgical strikes by Indian Army Special Forces on terror launch pads in PoK on September 28-29, five Indians, including four security personnel, have been killed and 34 injured in ceasefire violations.

On October 21, the BSF killed seven Pak Rangers and a terrorist opposite the Hiranagar sector along IB in Kathua, in which one BSF jawan was injured.

On October 25, at least two to three Pakistani armymen are believed to have been killed in retaliatory firing by Indian troops in the Noushera sector of Rajouri district.

India inflicts heavy damage

Border Security Force's retaliatory fire has inflicted heavy damage on Pakistani Rangers and the neighbourhoods of Sialkot and Shakargarh across the border.

This was revealed by the images exclusively obtained by India Today.

The photos show people wounded in firing getting treated in the hospitals in the villages located on Pakistan border villages.

In one image, a building was seen with a large hole in its roof, possibly from BSFs mortar shelling in response to Pakistans assault.

Hospitals in Pakistan villages after Indias retaliation

Top military and security officials believe Indias massive retaliation has left the Pakistani Rangers demoralised.

According to sources in BSF, Pakistani border guards are now seeking immediate army support.
Sohaib Nagaur can easily be categorised as a bit of a social butterfly and social media regular.

After the police arrested the visa agent from Rajasthan for allegedly passing on Indian military secrets to Pakistan, officers found a slew of photographs he posted on Facebook, in which he shares the frame with top politicians, including Union ministers Manohar Parrikar and Harsh Vardhan and BJP MP Udit Raj. The authenticity of the pictures is yet to be established.

The development comes days after the Centre expelled a Pakistani diplomat based in Delhi, who allegedly ran a spy ring that allegedly collected sensitive information about Indian security operations along the border.

Photos of Sohaib Nagaur with Defence Ministers Manohar Parrikar (above) which he posted on social media. Mail Today could not independently verify the authenticity of the pictures, but police say Sohaib used them to impress his way into important places.

The arrests of Sohaib and Farhat, who was the former personal assistant of Samajwadi Party Rajya Sabha MP Munabbar Saleem, has raised concerns as both were close to the power corridors.

Cops have found that they used their perceived political clout to get access to important places and sensitive documents.

Saleem sacked Farhat who was held for supplying secret papers to Pakistan high commission official Mehmood Akhtar.

Akhtar has since returned to his home country after India declared him persona non grata.

Apart from posting pictures with BJP leaders, Sohaib claimed to be an active member of the partys minority wing in Rajasthan. The BJP, which is in power in the state, has rejected his assertion

Sources say Sohaib had years of experience in procuring Pakistani visas for people in Rajasthan, due to which he came in touch with ISI sleuths at the Pakistan embassy in Delhi and eventually turned to espionage.

Apart from posting pictures with BJP leaders, he claimed to be an active member of the partys minority wing in Rajasthan.

Delhi Polices crime branch extracted the photographs and is also trying to verify their authenticity apart from trying to probe his links with people in power at the Centre and Rajasthan.

It cannot be denied that Sohaib might have used his connections to get access inside important locations. We have got several pictures where he is spotted with senior leaders. We are trying to verify when and where he met them, a senior officer told Mail Today.

Farhats name cropped up during the questioning of Akhtar who was detained on October 27.

Picture of Sohaib with Harsh Vardhan

A senior officer said Farhat too was well connected and is believed to have been giving important documents related to external affairs, defence and shipping ministries for almost two and half years to Akhtar.

He used to charge Rs 2 lakh for the job. He has provided annual reports of several ministries in advance before they became public, the officer said.

Farhat allegedly came in contact with the ISI in 1998, through a Pakistan high commission official who was given the code name 'NK'.

The introduction with the ISI allegedly took place when he went to the embassy for visa.

NK allegedly 'trained' him and asked him to provide annual reports of the science and technology, water resources and civil aviation ministries.

NK died in 2000, but before that Farhat was handed over to a certain Rana Sagheer, who later introduced him to IP Shamshed.

He was given specific amounts of money per meeting for handing over documents.

Saleem said Farhat was appointed his PA after due verification by three different agencies including the Delhi Police.

When Farhat approached me a year ago, I had sent communications to Parliament and the government for verification. I would like to say that the police and other agencies which gave him a clean chit should be held accountable, said Saleem.

Samajwadi Party MPs personal assistant held for espionage

One more suspected Pakistani spy was arrested on Saturday by the Delhi Police crime branch.

Farhat, who is a personal assistant to Samajwadi Partys Rajya Sabha MP Munawwar Saleem, was arrested on charges of spying for Pakistan.

The details of his involvement are not immediately known. Delhi Police had busted a spy ring involving officials of the Pakistan High Commission, in which Pakistani diplomat Mehmood Akhtar was arrested.

Rajya Sabha SP MP Munawwar Saleem for whom Farhat worked

Akhtar confessed that there was a spy ring being run in India to obtain defence secrets. Meanwhile, the third accused - Shoaib Hassan - who was arrested for spying for Pakistan High Commission staffer Akhtar, was sent to 11-day police custody by a Delhi court.

Police are questioning Hassan to extract further details about the espionage ring.

On Thursday, Delhi Police achieved a major breakthrough after a strenuous vigil for over six months when it nabbed three people for passing sensitive and secret information about the security establishment of the country.

It emerged during questioning that police had actually nabbed a Pakistan High Commission official, who identified himself as Mehmood Akhtar.

Further inquiry established his identity. Akhtar was held along with two Indians identified as Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangir.

The three were arrested from Delhi zoo, where they had arranged a secret meeting.

The police claims that Akhtar admitted to have been working for the ISI and his posting with the Pakistan High Commission was part of his job.

Akhtar allegedly told the police that at least 14 officials in the High Commission were working as agents.

Police claims to have got all the names from Akhtar.

Akhtar, in his confession, allegedly spoke of securing secret files about deployment of Indian Armed Forces and paramilitary forces in border areas.

He also revealed that women were involved in the espionage ring. Police suspect the women were used as honey traps to get information from the defence officials.
With seven jawans being killed on the LoC in the latest escalation of ceasefire violation, a soldier's widow made an appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday.

Wife of soldier Mandeep Singh, whose body was taken to his native place at Kurukshetra in Haryana, appealed to Modi to take a decisive action against Pakistan.

"Nivedan sarkaar se hai ki ya toh samjha do Pakistan ko; samjhe toh thik, warna khatam kar do. Kam se kam roz roz Diwali kaali nahi hogi sabhi ki (I request the government to either tell Pakistan to behave; if it does not listen, then wipe it out. At least we will not have a black Diwali everyday), said Singhs widow after his body reached Kurukshetra.

Prerna, wife of martyred soldier Mandeep Singh, has asked the Modi government to tell Pakistan to behave and wipe it out if it does not listen

The villagers were outraged after learning that Mandeep's body was mutilated after being killed by the terrorists.

Paying tribute to the soldiers who lost their lives in the line of duty, she said, I salute the valour and sacrifice of all jawans. My husband was really brave.

Singh had died in an encounter near LoC in Machil sector of Kupwara district in Jammu & Kashmir.

In Bihar, the son of BSF jawan Jitendra Singh paid tributes to his father in Raxaul as the last rites were performed on Saturday.

Son of BSF jawan Jitendra Singh, who lost his life in firing by Pakistan soldiers in the RS Pura sector, pays tributes to his father at Raxaul in Bihar

BSF head constable Jitendra Singh lost his life in firing by Pakistan soldiers in RS Pura sector.

Meanwhile, another BSF jawan, Constable Koli Nitin Subhash, was killed on Saturday during ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops in Machil sector.

He lost his life due to malfunctioning of his weapon.

BSF IG (Kashmir) Vikash Chandra said: BSF constable Nitin Subhash was firing a long range weapon. Unfortunately, it blasted in the chamber itself giving a recoil, which hit him in the shoulder.

He was given treatment, but he complained of breathlessness and by 11:30, he succumbed to his injuries."

Subhash (28), hailing from Sangli in Maharashtra, had joined BSF in 2008, and is survived by his wife and two sons aged four and two.India Today

Village seethes in anger at mutilation

By PTI

The barbaric incident at the LoC in which the body of Indian army jawan Mandeep Singh was mutilated after being killed by terrorists, aided by cover fire from the Pakistani Army, sparked an outrage, even as a pall of gloom descended on his native village in Haryana.

Union minister Jitendra Singh condemned the incident as atrocious, while senior Congress leader Manish Tewari called it depraved behaviour.

The jawans family members demanded that Pakistan be taught a lesson, while former Army officers expressed sadness.

Mandeeps brother, Sandeep, demanded 10 Pakistani heads for each Indian casualty

Mandeeps brother Sandeep demanded that the family wants 10 enemy heads for the price of one.

Family members of the 30-year-old soldier were inconsolable as several women from Aantehri village in Kurukshetra reached Mandeeps house and tried to console his widow.

The couple had got married two years ago. Mandeeps widow Prerna is a head constable with Haryana police.

It was his duty, he has done it. He sacrificed his life. We should give a befitting reply to Pakistan, Mandeeps father said.

Pakistan should be taught a lesson once and for all so that no other family of a soldier has to go through such pain, Prerna said.
The event is held in memory of several people who were killed in 1966 anti-cow slaughter agitation

In BJP-ruled India, the right-wing is looking at the past through its own lenses. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the VHP is making yet another attempt to contest Congress hegemony on Indian history and rephrase the way the past has been written and remembered.

A number of cow-protection organisations with direct or remote affiliation to the RSS and the VHP are coming together to hold a memorial for the 1966 anti-cow slaughter agitation held in front of the Parliament.

Around 50 years ago, 10,000 advocated against cow slaughter, as the agitation led by Hindu holymen made an unsuccessful attempt tried to storm the parliament, but were prevented.

Cow-protection bodies with remote affiliation to the RSS and the VHP are coming together to hold a memorial on November 6

The RSS and the VHP supporters plan to commemorate the 50th anniversary at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on November 6.

Apart from top religious figures from the Hindu community, Baba Ramdev too is expected to attend the programme.

Even as the gathering is expected to be huge, an even bigger event is already planned for the 51st year of the firing incident the next year, in 2017.

On November 7, 1966, thousands of gau-rakshaks, including sadhus (Hindu saints) and other religious leaders had staged a massive march to storm Parliament demanding a law to ban cow slaughter across India.

The police fired upon the rampaging crowd that had left several dead. It also saw the then Union home minister Gulzari Lal Nanda resigning.

While there is a clear rift between the Rightists and the opposition camps in the way the incident is remembered, the former consider Nanda as the hero, who chose to relinquish his office over the atrocity committed on the gau-rakshaks, and attribute it to his love for the cause.

The opposition remembers the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as the hero, who not just fired Nanda, but also did not budge to the pressure for the demanded legislation.

File image of agitators who protested in front of the Parliament in 1966 for a nationwide legislation against cow slaughter

Meanwhile, the Right-wing camp is ready to recast the event as it remembers it now.

The event is organised by several Hindutva and pro-cow protection organisations from across north India, including Goraksha Andolan of KN Govindacharya.

The event is also being supported by the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP).

Top VHP leader Champat Rai, who was an eyewitness to the firing, shared his experience with Mail Today.

I was a BSc student, when the firing happened. I remember Atal Bihari Vajpayee was addressing the gathering, and several people were killed following the agitation. Home Minister Gulzarilal Nanda was a conscientious person, who had resigned, in reaction to what Indira Gandhi had committed.

VHP is not just supporting the commemorative event, but we are participating in the event. The event, is not just for the Hindus, but also for the Muslims who believe in preserving the cow, Rai said.

Rai claimed that while the memory of the event has been kept alive by certain Hindu and cow-protection organisations by observing its anniversaries in some form or the other, this years event is significant as it would be the 50th anniversary.
As the separatists continue to scuttle the efforts to bring normalcy in the Kashmir Valley, common people staged a protest against Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Saturday.

Large number of parents took out a protest rally in Srinagar against shutdown of schools in Kashmir valley.

School khulne chahiye. Geelani saab ki poti hai, vo exam de rahi hai. Hamare bacchon ka future kyun kharab kar rahe hain? (Schools must open. Geelanis grand-daughter wrote her exams. Why are they spoiling the future of our kids), asked one of the parents, who staged protest in Srinagar.

Parents took out a protest rally against Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani in Srinagar on Saturday

The protesters alleged that they were being forced to follow the instructions of the Hurriyat Conference and other separatists.

They said that people want the ongoing strike to end. According to a report in Indian Express, Geelani has planned a bandh (strike) calendar for all the schools in the Valley, except the one in which his grand daughter studies.

The Valley has been tense for more than 110 days after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8, in an encounter with security forces.

Hurriyat Conference has refused to give any exemption to education institutions including schools, which were forced to call off exams.

Geelani saab keeps his family safe and exploits the poor people like us. I fear for my life that is why I have covered my face to talk to you, a parent said.

Separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani (pictured) is blamed for allowed his grand daughter's school to hold examinations

Earlier, it was reported that the DPS, Srinagar, where Geelanis grand-daughter studies conducted the internal exams under tight security in an indoor stadium.

The parents felt cheated as this report exposed the double-speak of the Hurriyat- led separatist flank.

The protesting parents lamented that separatists customised their protests to suit Hurriyat chairman Geelanis granddaughters education.

Geelanis granddaughter appeared for her class 10 internal examination during October 1-5 while other schools were not allowed to run classes or conduct exams.

Militants have made schools their special targets in recent weeks. As many as 23 schools were burnt in last three weeks disrupting the education of children in the Valley.

Meanwhile, J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti said that separatists wanted to snatch books from the hands of children and replace them with stones.

Number of stone pelters in Kashmir has reduced from 40K to just 100

By Naseer Ganai

A study conducted by the Jammu and Kashmir Police on the current protests, which erupted after the killing of the militant commander Burhan Wani in July, says there is sharp de-escalation in violent incidents and the Valley is moving towards normalcy.

Though the study calls the current unrest a rural uprising, it says there were 2,250 incidents of protests, clashes, marches across Kashmir since July 8.

Of the 2,250 incidents, 1,566 were reported from the rural areas while 651 were reported from the towns.

Though the study by J&K Police calls the current unrest a rural uprising, it says there were 2,250 incidents of protests, clashes, marches across Kashmir since July 8 after the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani. So far, around 75 people have been killed in the violence.

The study says: In the first week of the turmoil each day 180 to 200 incidents of stone throwing were taking place across Kashmir and each day around 40,000 people were involved in these incidents of stone throwing.

However, in the last week of October only 10 incidents took place. From August people participated in pro-freedom and anti- India marches and rallies.

In August this year, five to 10 rallies were taken out each day where 50,000 people participated.

In October, just one rally was taken out in a week and where only 100 to 200 people participated, says the internal study of the police.

Initially the protests erupted in south Kashmir. The four districts of south Kashmir witnessed 725 incidents of violence while three districts in north Kashmir saw 715 such incidents.

In the central Kashmir, 810 incidents were reported, with Srinagar witnessing 650 incidents.

Only 78 incidents were reported from Ganderbal district. In Srinagar protests and clashes were witnessed from areas which could be described as the rural belt of Srinagar like Parimpora, Tengpora, Nowgam, Narbal, etc., the study says.

Most of the violent incidents have taken place on Fridays with July 9 witnessing 201 incidents.

But on October 17 only one such incident was reported. In the first week after July 8, 470 incidents were reported from across the Valley while in the last week of October the number has gone down to 31 incidents.

The police say around 44 police and government building were burnt in the past 100 days, and 52 police and government buildings were damaged.

In all these four months 23 schools were also burnt. Since July 8, 67 militancy-related incidents took place in which six policemen and 35 army men were killed.

During the uprising, 18 foreign militants were killed and 50 people joined the militancy.

Police say around 75 people have been killed including two policemen in the past four months.

However, human rights activists say over 90 civilians, including school-going children, were killed in pellets and bullets fired by the security forces.

The police have arrested over 6,000 youths involved in various cases including stone throwing, and over 450 political activists and separatist leaders have been booked under the Public Safety Act.

Of the 6,000 youths, police study says 4,800 have been released on bail.
After using Special Forces troops to attack and destroy terrorist launch pads in Pakistan- occupied Kashmir, India is now planning to add combat drones to its fleet which can do the same job without risking soldiers lives.

The Indian Air Force is working to upgrade and equip its fleet of Israeli-made Searcher and Heron Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) with missiles under a top secret and classified programme code-named Project Cheetah.

For the ambitious plan, which is expected to cost almost more than Rs 10,000 crores, the Air Force is looking to join hands with the Israel defence major Israeli Aircraft Industry (IAI).

The Air Force is working to equip its fleet of UAVs with missile capability (Picture for representation)

Under the project, we are planning to equip our Searchers and Herons with advance snooping capabilities and missiles which can target terrorists and their hideouts both within India and if required, across the borders, a senior IAF source told Mail Today.

Former IAF vice chief air marshal RK Sharma said ideally when the UAVs can see targets with their surveillance and snooping payloads, they should also have the capability to strike rather than having to deploy other aircraft or assets to do that job.

If you have such a capability in form of drones, you can take down terrorist targets both within and across the borders, the former vice chief stated.

With such a capability in its fold, in future scenario if the Army units inform about any particular launch pad of terrorists getting active, the IAF can deploy its armed drones to unleash a silent punishment to terrorists from 30,000 feet over the ground.

A convoy of Indian troopers passing through the border line area in Uri sector

After silently hovering over PoK over suspected launch pads for some time gathering accurate intelligence the drones can launch an attack and return to the base causing greater damage than what the troops can do.

The precision guided missiles would also help in specific elimination of desired targets and there would be none or minimum collateral damage in such operations," the IAF officer explained.

Officers said the drones can also be put to use in case a terrorist hideout is located in higher reaches in Kashmir where missiles can be safely fired to destroy them without any fear of causing any injury to the civilians.

For turning their surveillance drones into killer vehicles, the IAF has taken a cue from the United States.

For the Americans, drones are the weapons of choice for taking out terrorist leaders or destroying their safe houses.

The Americans regularly smoke out terrorists using their MQ-1 Predators and GlobalHawk as it has killed several more than 2,500 terrorist leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan alone during its war on terror in these countries.

India, so far, has not used air power in anti-terrorist operations in Jammu and Kashmir or North-east to take out terrorists as a policy to not to be seen being too tough within own areas.

India recently used helicopter gunships to eliminate terrorists who had entered the Pathankot air base but that was within a military station and not in civilian locality.

Unlike India, Pakistan uses its American AH1 Cobra gunships extensively against even suspected civilians as can be seen in its Operation Zarb-e-Azb in Taliban and Baloch areas within its own country.

At the moment, the IAF flies the Israeli-made Searcher II and Heron UAVs for reconnaissance and snooping purposes.

With the upgrade in snooping capabilities, the forces on ground would also be able to get pin-point intelligence about hideouts in areas where men have to be involved in operations," an IAF source revealed.

The upgrades would also enable the IAF ground station handlers to operate these aircraft from far-off distances and control them through satellite communication system.
A huge spat has emerged between Chief Justice TS Thakur and the government.

A bit of background- In 2014, the Constitution was amended and legislation passed for a National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC).

On October 16, 2015, by 4:1 the NJAC was rightly struck down by the apex court restoring the Supreme Court -dominated collegium, which was invented to avoid political domination instrumented through law ministers.

CJI Thakur is unlikely to resolve the appointment row before retirement

Anyway, the Justice Kehar NJAC Constitution Bench made a colossal blunder in NJAC-II of December 16, 2015, allowing the government to propose the Memorandum of Procedure (MOP).

Authority

NJAC II should have let the Supreme Court prescribe the MOP, and not created a problem looking for a solution.

As a historian said: Never was conquest so easy. Never, too, was it so easily squandered away.

The MOP of the government was rejected by the Supreme Court. Amendments were exchanged, rejected, exchanged.

At a function attended by CJI Thakur and PM Modi, Thakur wept publicly

By July-August, Chief Justice Thakur was worried and frustrated. At a function attended by Thakur and Modi, Thakur wept publicly.

On Independence Day, Thakur made an inappropriate remark as to why Modi had not mentioned the needs of the judiciary from the ramparts of the Red Fort - to be giving a strong reply by minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

The Chief Justice found himself getting short tempered in the court.

On October 22, 2016, the Chief Justice said to an unruly lawyer: Shut up, Shut up I say, I will get you thrown out.

The authority of a CJI does not need to shut up in judicial vocabulary. Oddly, Justice Thakur, sitting in Court No. 2 was the epitome of calm, courtesy, firmness and humour.

What happened? Acting on the judicial side Judges can coerce the mighty State by passing judicial orders.

This government obviously realised that it could stall the emotionally overcharged CJI over the MOP

But dealing with them on the administrative side can be irksome on two fronts: finance and appointments.

Many High Courts have resolved financial issues adroitly, but not always. The first Supreme Courts big break on this came in the Chandrachud Senior era (1978-85).

This government obviously realised that it could stall the emotionally overcharged CJI over the MOP.

My suspicion is that the gang of four from the government were the PM (as advised), Jaitley, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Attorney General Rohatgi.

They wanted the power to appoint High Court and Supreme Court judges just as Congress did in the 70s, 80s and 90s. A Hindutva judiciary.

There are already 4 in the Supreme Court with Hindutva biases. Soon the die was cast. The media turned against the judiciary calling it a self-selecting elite.

The litany of distrust increased. On September 20, a petition to restore the collegium was peremptorily dismissed. But the government upped the ante.

As Thakurs judgments became more obsessive by refusing to hear any arguments, his manner did not win him many friends in the public.

He declared: Fall in line or well make you. He was joined by Ex-CJI Lodha whose committee Thakur endorsed.

Negotiations

Thakur had no choice but to negotiate. On September 20, Thakur declared the MOP issues with the government would be resolved in the next two weeks.

The next day he went for a heart check but mercifully was fine. The appointment ball started rolling.

On September 17, five High Court CJs were designed for appointment. The news was Thakur met Modi in Ahmedabad and praised Gujarat even though Gujarat had 5,13,254 cases (22 per cent of all) pending.

But if because of the Modi meeting Thakur sounded hopeful on September 22, though on that date government was sitting on the appointment of 75 High Court judges.

The next day two Jharkhand appointments were cleared. This did not prevent Thakur from threatening the BCCI to fall in line (end September).

Resolution

By October 1, 2016, Thakur wanted Centre to relieve overburdened courts on legal services, chastising it for sheer apathy indifference or incapacity.

The Centres response on October 5 was that the appointment of judges was the governments top priority.

The day before nine additional judges were made permanent in Calcuttas High Court and 17 more High Court judges were in fray for Calcutta and Madhya Pradesh.

On October 28, the CJI in court warned the Centre. Our tolerant approach seems not to be working. If you go on like this we will re-constitute the five-judge bench (to prevent the government) scuttling judicial appointments till it frames a new law. We will summon secretaries of the Department of Justice and the PMO.

Diwali intervened. Thakur retires on January 4. He has 30 working days. Was Thakur a good judge? History will decide.

Was he a good Chief Justice? History will not speak necessarily in his favour.

Will he be able to resolve the appointment issue before retirement. Decidedly not.

As the CJI deals with government - he has been undiplomatic, threatening, frustrated and ineffective.

The original NJAC struck down by the Supreme Court was biased and hopeless. We do need a new rigorous, transparent and effective NJAC.

The government has played a waiting game with Thakur and succeeded by thwarting the Supreme Courts judgment.

His badly thought out strategy has been reduced to ashes leaving him burnt out. The governments behaviour is atrocious. Sadly, it has the upper hand.
Hotspot: Jon Ferrier in the shadow of Bashar al Assad at a natural gas plant in Syria

The Iraqi National Army and the Kurdish Peshmerga are closing in on the Islamic State-held city of Mosul.

It is one of the worlds hottest trouble spots. It is also where Gulf Keystone operates its largest oilfield, just 30 miles from the IS-held territory.

For Jon Ferrier, chief executive of the London-listed company, it makes a visit to the shop floor a tense affair. Once a month, he flies out to Erbil in northern Iraq. He then drives two hours further North, to the Shaikan oilfield.

The odd thing is that it is remarkably quiet. But as you drive through, theres these huge refugee camps, with people from Syria and also western Iraq that have both been pushed out by IS.

And with so-called Islamic State forces so close, security is vital. If I am going to the field I have one car trailing me with security guards and I have a security person with a handgun in my car too.

For 58-year-old Ferrier, it is only the most recent job to take him to the worlds hotspots. Since studying geology at Aberystwyth and gaining an MSc at Londons Imperial College, he has worked at a series of oil groups, including Maersk, Conoco and Petro Canada, inevitably often in troubled areas such as Syria.

Once I was holed up in a container with the Bedouin threatening to kill us with a machine gun. There was an argument about which tribes were getting work. They said they were going to kill all the Canadians. They did not know the difference, says British-born Ferrier. I was in the container for a day until the army turned up to liberate us.

A year later in 2010, he was in charge of developing a major gas plant at Elba near Palmyra in Syria  a project he regards as one of his proudest achievements. Four years later it was blown up by Islamic State, killing 30 of Ferriers former colleagues.

So sad. Its such a waste.

War: The Iraqi National Army and the Kurdish Peshmerga are closing in on the Islamic State-held city of Mosul

Eighteen months ago, Ferrier became chief executive of Gulf Keystone. Once a darling of the stock market and a favourite among private investors  35,000 UK small investors own shares  the group has been through its own turbulent period.

The company was close to going bust, crippled by a collapsing oil price and huge debts. Ferrier and his new board have spent most of 2016 negotiating with the companys creditors to avoid bankruptcy, getting them to convert Gulf Keystones debts into shares. Existing investors were virtually wiped out. Many small investors are furious and upset.

Its no fun to get letters from people saying they have lost money. Ordinary people on modest salaries, teachers and so on, who invested an inheritance in Gulf Keystone thinking it would double or make ten times their money and it didnt work. What can I say to someone like that? Its a very tough deal for that person.

But as a chief executive of a public limited company, he cannot write to them individually even though he wants to: Of course I do, thats my intuition. Id love to put my arm around someone and say sorry mate, but this is how it is and explain it. But that is not realistic in this world.

Pushed out: Refugees have been pushed out of Mosul

However, Ferrier does keep some of those handwritten letters in his desk drawer for humility.

Gulf Keystones problems were compounded by the fact that the government in the autonomous region of Kurdistan has at times failed to pay the company for its oil. In its latest results statement from September, Gulf Keystone estimates that the government owes it $28million (22.9million) in lost revenue and should hand over another $61million for its share of development costs of the field.

Most recently, payments for oil shipped in August and September have not been made.

The reason is simple  the Kurdistan government pays its soldiers, the Peshmerga, before it pays anyone else. These are the troops currently closing in on Mosul from the North and East.

Ferrier says: There are exceptional reasons behind budget stresses at the moment, namely Mosul. That is currently the number one priority for the government. It is making sure the Peshmerga are paid, as you need a pretty motivated workforce to take on what they are.

Owed moeny: In its latest results statement from September, Gulf Keystone estimates that the government owes it $28million (22.9million) in lost revenue

It is in most external players interests that there is stability in the region, and so I hope Mosul is the beginning of that new stability. And that thereafter the country can get back to normal business as opposed to being at war.

Of course, that doesnt mean that Ferrier is happy to lose a sixth of his annual revenue, but he has little choice.

The government is the government. I cant go beyond it. So youve got to make it work. And thats why we put an enormous effort into working with the government and understanding what it does. And I have worked in places like this for a long time and I know how to make it work. And its not a fight. Its a dance.

What sort of dance?

A tango.

And thats why he pays Iraqi-born British MP Nadhim Zahawi 20,000 a month as a chief strategy officer.

Position: Gulf Keystone is just 30 miles from the centre of a battleground

The payments have earned the company the wrath of those small investors who have seen their shares collapse in value. But Ferrier insists having Zahawi on board is hugely valuable to the company.

Ferrier says: To have someone on your team with his expertise is hugely helpful. He helps me to figure out what is going on because the politics are so complicated and nuanced. For example, hes helped me to understand the pressures on the governments budget and the timetable for Mosul.

And Ferrier is confident that Gulf Keystone will eventually be paid by the Kurdish government.

I met the prime minister about a month ago and the deputy prime minister and they both gave me a commitment to support the oil companies. They know how valuable we are to the economy, he says.

Gulf Keystone is the third-biggest producer of crude oil in the country, and the top three produce 90 per cent of its income. Or as Ferrier puts it: Oil income allows the country to exist.

For Ferrier, his interest and those of his shareholders are aligned with the long-suffering people of the region, who want nothing more than a return to normality.

The longer-term issue for the company is the political future of Kurdistan: an autonomous state, but not a separate country, in war-torn Iraq. Its neighbours are civil-war torn Syria; Turkey, with its own longstanding confrontation with the Kurds; and Iran, where relations with the West have been improving but remain chilly.

And yet the Shaikan oilfield has a lifespan of at least 30 years  time for a lot more political instability or for a stable period of profitable work.
Confident: American drugs giant Mallinckrodt has delivered a vote of confidence on post-Brexit Britain by moving its global headquarters from the US to a location close to Heathrow Airport

American drugs giant Mallinckrodt has delivered a vote of confidence on post-Brexit Britain by moving its global headquarters from the US to a location close to Heathrow Airport.

In addition, the company switched its tax domicile from Ireland to the UK in the last year.

Chief executive Mark Trudeau said the company had been aware of the potential risks of Brexit when choosing Staines as the spot for its new HQ.

He said: The decision to locate our global headquarters here was undertaken with full consideration that Brexit was a possibility. We believe the other conditions overwhelm the relatively short-term risks.

Trudeau cited the UKs stable tax environment and the strategic links  including the airport  as key reasons for the choice.

He said he recognised local concerns over the expansion of Heathrow, which was finally given Government approval last week.

However, he said he believed it would be good for economic development in the area. The 5.8billion group  which specialises in drugs to treat multiple sclerosis, lupus and respiratory problems in babies among other conditions  remains listed in the US where it makes three-quarters of its sales.

It manufactures its products in the US, Canada and Ireland.
Sir Rocco Forte is planning to expand his luxury hotel chain across Europe with a particular focus on Italy as profits continue to grow.

The company is set to open its second hotel in Rome, having just signed a deal to run the 192-room Hotel de la Ville, sited in the Italian capital at the top of the Spanish Steps.

The hotel is closed for refurbishment and will be re-opening as a five-star, 105-room establishment at the end of 2018.

Growth: Sir Rocco Forte is planning to expand his luxury hotel chain across Europe with a particular focus on Italy as profits continue to grow

Turnover at the group  which was founded by Sir Rocco and his sister Olga Polizzi  was stable at 173million for the year ending April 30, 2016, while pre-tax profits soared from 1.9million to 8.1million.

Directors said the profit boost was due to improved trading and reduced costs following its successful refinancing in 2015.

Last year the company spent 9million on refurbishing its hotels. Rocco Forte Hotels paid out a 2million dividend to shareholders due to the improved performance, having decided against one the previous year.

Sir Rocco told The Mail on Sunday he was planning to expand in partnership with Italian State-owned fund FSI which owns 20 per cent of the group.

I want to create the Italian luxury hotel company, he said, adding that he was also hoping to open hotels in New York, Paris, Barcelona and Madrid.

Rocco Forte Hotels  which include Browns Hotel in London, The Balmoral in Edinburgh and Hotel Astoria, St Petersburg  is in the process of opening hotels in Jeddah and Shanghai.
When it comes to lending on property, banks and building societies prefer to help the usual suspects.

Applicants with regular income, a squeaky clean credit record, decent deposit and who are purchasing a bog standard home will sail through the buying process.

But if your job or property are unconventional  and your credit record less than perfect  it can be a struggle.

Quirky: If your job or property are unconventional  and your credit record less than perfect  it can be a struggle to get a loan for a home

David Hollingworth, of mortgage broker London & Country, says: The lender wants to know you will be able to afford to repay the mortgage  and that the property will sell if they need to repossess it.

Do not despair as there are lenders prepared to take on borrowers  and their dream homes  even if they are not the norm.

GRAND DESIGNS

You can obtain a mortgage on most unusual properties  a former windmill, lighthouse, converted public convenience, thatched cottage, church, barn conversion or eco-friendly earth shelter.

You should also be able to find a lender to finance your own grand design property built from scratch.

Unusual: There are lenders prepared to take on borrowers  and their dream homes  even if they are not the norm

The main criteria for lenders is that the property is desirable and will sell easily should you fail to keep up loan repayments.

Those who fancy converting a church, for example, should expect lengthy planning hurdles and a wait for listed building consent  as well as Church approval for deconsecration.

MY FLOATING HOUSE GIVES ME FREEDOM Battle honors: Alice, right, with Hanniah and son Bertie As a descendant of Admiral Edward Codrington, who fought at the Battle of Trafalgar, it is no wonder Alice Codrington enjoys living afloat. Her home is a narrowboat  named Navarino after the 1827 battle where her ancestor was commander-in-chief of an allied force that sank the enemy fleet of the Ottoman Empire. Teacher Alice lives on the boat at a mooring on the Oxford Canal near Thrupp, Oxfordshire, with her partner Hanniah Brooks and their son Bertie, 18 months. Family history: Alice Codrington is a descendant of Admiral Edward Codrington They recently took out a ten year fixed-rate loan on the vessel through Shawbrook Bank. Alice, 47, says: I enjoy the freedom of being able to move from place to place with ease. 'Now because we have to think of issues such as schooling for Bertie, we decided to settle down and we have a permanent mooring. Though it is secondary to life on the water, cost is an issue. As teachers we could not afford a place of this size on dry land. 'We love the boat as it has all the mod-cons, including heating, a freezer and a washing machine.'

Converting or self-building homes will require patience, including waiting for cash since most lenders issue loans in stages. Some lend on a plot but others will want to wait until the foundations are down.

TIP ONE: The number of companies prepared to lend against an unusual property is limited. Smaller local lenders are likely to be more enthusiastic because they understand the potential quirks of properties in their area.

Self-builders can find loans from lenders such as Halifax and Earl Shilton Building Society or through self-help organisation Buildstore. For arranging self-build loans it charges 695.

TIP TWO: A list of building plots can be found at buildstore.co.uk. Also check preferred local authority websites for available land. Those who fancy turning a church into a dream home can find disused properties for sale at churchofengland.org, churchinwales.org.uk and churchofscotland.org.uk.

MORTGAGE IS THE PERFECT REMEDY FOR DOCTOR'S JOB DILEMMA Well suited: Charlotte Bell has found her ideal home loan As someone without a full-time work contract, Charlotte Bell did not think she had much chance of buying her first ever home. But Yorkshire Building Society came to her rescue by offering her a home loan. The result is that she moved into her three-bedroom semi-detached house last month. The 30-year-old junior doctor from Newcastle, pictured, was tired of moving from one rental property to another every 12 months and wanted her own place in which to settle down. The problem Charlotte faced was not having a full-time contract when applying for her mortgage as she was about to start a three-year training scheme. Although she is earning, she has to move post every six months. She says: I started looking to buy last Christmas but I couldnt get a mortgage because of my transient work history. But I then discovered that certain lenders would be more amenable because I had a firm offer of a place on the training scheme. With a near 20 per cent deposit saved with the help of her mum, Charlotte applied to Yorkshire. After receiving a letter from her employer and a copy of her contract, it was convinced her future earnings were secure enough to lend against. Charlotte says: Im over the moon as Ive been wanting to buy my own home for a while.

PROBLEMS WITH JOBS

Mortgages may currently be cheap but those either on temporary or zero-hour contracts or who have just changed jobs and are working a probationary period, can find it hard to get one.

It is getting easier than in the past. London & Countrys Hollingworth says: The crux is to have evidence of regular income going back at least two years, preferably three if you want more loan choices.

If employment records are limited then specialist lenders are the best bet. Hollingworth says: Halifax is an option, while niche lenders such as Precise and Kensington Mortgages are more open minded than most.

But expect to pay a higher price. A two-year fixed rate from Kensington, for example, costs 3.29 per cent for a borrower with a 25 per cent deposit. That compares with deals as low as 1.2 per cent from mainstream borrowers.

TIP ONE: Find as large a deposit as possible. It reduces the risk to the lender  and makes you a more attractive borrower.

TIP TWO: Research suitable lenders before applying, otherwise a series of rejections will leave a footprint on your credit record and could further limit your chances of getting a loan.

DON'T PAY OVER THE ODDS FOR YOUR BUILDING INSURANCE Value: Imogen Gardam plans to change policies Wherever they get their mortgage, homebuyers should resist home insurance offered by their lender. Taking this default option instead of shopping around means owners pay a collective 90million over the odds, according to comparison website comparethemarket. Nearly one in five borrowers are estimated to pay 66 more a year than they should by failing to seek out best-value cover. Imogen Gardam, 24, felt obliged to buy home insurance from her lender when she bought her flat in Hackney, East London, in July last year. She says: I thought my loan application might fall through if I didnt buy the cover. I bought the life insurance it offered too. Imogen, a public relations executive, only realised later that she could have found better value elsewhere. She is now seeking new cover. Borrowers with unusual properties may not be covered by standard home insurance. Graeme Trudgill, of the British Insurance Brokers Association, says: Borrowers buying an unusual home may need to buy specialist cover. We offer a scheme through underwriter Dual which among other unusual properties insures a converted Norman keep. This property was previously insured on a standard policy for a number of years before Dual found it had been underinsured on rebuilding costs by around 13 million. Dual also insures a tree house  used as a fun spot, not a permanent home  which has a buildings sum insured of 250,000. To track down a suitable broker contact the British Insurance Brokers Association at biba.org.uk or phone 0370 950 1790.

Going via a mortgage broker that knows the market should increase your chance of success. Accord  part of Yorkshire Building Society  Santander and Nationwide Building Society are among those lenders most helpful to new jobbers.

Jane Burnside, partner at mortgage broker Cochrane Cooke Associates, says: Help your credit score by making sure you are on the electoral roll and have paid off any outstanding debts. Even a 10 default on a payment can cause hiccups in the process.

She adds: If you havent got much of a credit history, think of building one by using a credit card or loan to buy something and then paying it off.

Check your basic credit ratings for free at experian.co.uk, equifax.co.uk and callcredit.co.uk.

HIGH RISE FLATS

Lenders get twitchy over properties in high-rise buildings  especially those above the fifth floor. The exception is in London, where some of the most desirable new properties are in skyscrapers or converted office blocks.

A mortgage may be hard to secure if you are buying in a former council block where the proportion of privately owned properties is 50 per cent or less.

Specialists: If employment records are limited then specialist lenders are the best bet

What materials a flat is made of or its design can also influence a lending decision. Many providers are wary of lending on some homes of concrete construction, while others dislike open deck access  where entrances to individual properties are all along an exterior corridor.

TIP ONE: Ex-council properties can be good value. So talk to a local surveyor as banks and building societies rely on their advice and they can direct you towards more lenient lenders.

TIP TWO: Ask local estate agents what they know about the split between private and council ownership of particular blocks.

PROPERTY ABOVE SHOPS

Properties over commercial premises sell relatively easily in boom times and are attractive because they are often conveniently located for public transport and local amenities.

But they can lose their lustre in slower markets. You may buy over a newsagent and then find it converts to a late opening fast-food outlet, making it harder to sell.

Hollingworth says: A bank such as NatWest will consider property above commercial premises but the decision will come down to a valuers view. A fast-food restaurant will raise more concerns than a shop that does not emit cooking smells or is not open long hours.

Set the foundations: Find as large a deposit as possible. It reduces the risk to the lender  and makes you a more attractive borrower

TIP ONE: Check with the local council to see if there is a proposed change of use permitted or planned for your chosen property.

TIP TWO: Ask local surveyors for their opinion before going to the expense of arranging a survey on a property over a shop.

HOMES ON WATER

With the average price of a home topping 200,000, it is tempting for wannabe buyers to look for alternatives that will not break the bank.

Paul Ratcliffe, of specialist lender Shawbrook Bank, says a top-of-the-range narrow boat can be bought for 150,000  with no stamp duty to pay. He says: Houseboats are very popular with young couples.

But standard mortgages are not available for houseboats because they are wasting assets that do not sit on a permanent plot of land.

Instead, buyers need a marine mortgage, essentially an unsecured loan from a specialist provider, such as Shawbrook or Arkle Finance.

TIP ONE: Marine loans are pricier than mortgages. Shawbrook charges 10.4 per cent fixed interest for a loan  minimum 10,000  lasting between two and ten years with a deposit of at least 25 per cent.

Do your homework: Check with the local council to see if there is a proposed change of use permitted or planned for your chosen property

TIP TWO: If the houseboat is going to stay in one place, mooring fees will be charged which can cost thousands of pounds a year. Unlike a boat, it is possible to get a mortgage to pay for a permanent mooring; try Ecology Building Society.

FLOOD RISK

If the home you have your heart set on is situated in a flood-prone area, it may be difficult to get a loan.

This is because insurance companies are often reluctant to provide home insurance cover. Since lenders demand homebuyers have such insurance in place, it could scupper your chances of getting a mortgage.

The introduction of Flood Re last April  a scheme designed to make home insurance affordable in areas prone to risk  means more homebuyers should now be able to get cover. Blocks comprising four or more flats and any property built since 2009 are excluded from Flood Re.

The scheme does not automatically mean lenders will be more forgiving although the fact insurance premiums may be cheaper should positively affect a lending decision.

TIP ONE: Check the general flood risk of a property at gov.uk/check-flood-risk.

TIP TWO: For the flooding history of a specific property email its address to the Environment Agency at enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk.
Andy Hollingworth, a former director at telecoms group TalkTalk and now boss of business broadband provider Toople, has hit out at the questionable practices of Big Six rivals selling to small firms.

He took aim at those selling broadband as a business service to small firms when he claimed it was no different to a normal household service.

He claimed small firms found themselves competing for bandwidth with children playing games after school and during holidays.

Hitting out: Andy Hollingworth, a former director at telecoms group TalkTalk and now boss of business broadband provider Toople, has hit out at the questionable practices of Big Six rivals selling to small firms

Hollingworth, whose challenger company Toople was launched by tech entrepreneur David Breith and listed in May, said: Ive been in the telecoms industry since 1988, in the mobile, fixed line and data sectors, and Ive spent the past 12 years working for one of the big carriers, looking after wholesale divisions and latterly small business and larger business divisions.

Obviously theres a lot of breadth in small and medium enterprises, but the thing that interests me is what I deem the micro-SME  the really true small business, with fewer than 50 employees.

We were dressing up what was prosumer packaging as connectivity for small businesses. We were taking what we did really well for millions of consumers and saying Isnt this a great business proposition?.

And really the only differentiation we had in the proposition was how many static IP addresses do you want free of charge?.

He added: Its very different if youre a consumer and little Mary comes home from school and she cant watch Peppa Pig compared with a business that has got a data connectivity line in its shop that runs its payment facilities.

Rival: Young gamers are hampering internet access

He explained: For all UK carriers, bandwidth demand triggers from about 3pm through to around 12pm. There are things that impact it, like if Apple releases an updated operating system into the market and everybody comes home and Apple has said please update.

At Toople we wanted to be carrier agnostic. If you go to BT you only get sold BT, if you go to Vodafone you only get sold Vodafone.

We deployed software behind our website called Merlin. That interconnects with the biggest carriers in the UK  with Vodafone, BT Wholesale, BT Openreach and TalkTalk. And it makes a decision in an automated way on the customers location and the best network for them. Then it says to the carriers, we will only send you customers if you prioritise them over consumers. Network prioritisation is really important for those times.

Meanwhile, a survey by OnePoll for Toople has found 62 per cent of SMEs do not know if they receive the right broadband speed and coverage for their business, and 54 per cent do not understand what telecoms services are best for them.

The Big Six broadband providers  BT, Sky Broadband, Virgin Media, TalkTalk, PlusNet and EE  are used by 90 per cent of firms and consumers. A drop in broadband speed was noticed by 72 per cent.

Yesterday a report from MPs revealed 17 million mobile phone customers have poor reception at home or none at all. Grant Shapps MP said: It is time to get tough with the industry.

Last week, Vodafone was fined 4.6million by regulator Ofcom for breaching consumer protection rules.
and hurtful language should not be tolerated

A journalist with an Indian background has spoken out about an awful message she received belittling her for marrying a white male.

Kema Johnson has lived in Perth since she was four-years-old and after updating her software she claimed to have noticed an awful Facebook message - from years back - shaming her for marrying 'a white guy'.

'U ended up being with a white guy....whitewashing your Indian cultural identity I see... smh [shaking my head],' the message to Johnson said.

The horrible message sent to Perth journalist Kema Johnson, which she described as discrimination 'on a different level'

The post from an unknown identity prompted Johnson to proudly speak out about discrimination 'on a different level' in WA Today.

Proud of her heritage and not wanting this comment to go unnoticed, Johnson fervently rebuked the intolerance as hurtful and unacceptable.

'Too often discrimination goes unnoticed and people argue these days that we're becoming too "soft" or too "politically correct" but when it comes to comments about race and culture that's a personal attack that is unacceptable,' she wrote in the publication.

Johnson said while she could of dismissed the comment as another misguided personal opinion, she said hurtful language should not be tolerated.

The Perth journalist wrote she married a man she simply fell in love with - a man who has not tried to change her from day one.

She also said she is proud to call herself Indian-Australian and she married her husband in a Hindu ceremony.

'Not out of obligation, or because he was forced but because he wanted to and accepts my background and embraces it as part of his own life,' Johnson wrote.

In a powerful message, Johnson said Australia was large enough for everyone and race should not enter our lives as a negative influence, but a positive one helping us come together as one.

Perth journalist Kema Johnson has spoken out about an awful message she received belittling her for marrying her husband, and has made a proud stand against discrimination

She said speaking out back in 2011, on her Indian background as a hindrance in the commercial world, could have triggered this person to send the message.

But not deterred by the act of discrimination, Johnson was adamant we learn hateful perceptions, which therefore means they can be changed with education.

The incident follows another Perth woman, 22-year-old Cynthia, who received a horrible message claiming she does not deserve happiness after falling for someone of 'a different race'.

Cynthia also decided to make a stand, and said she 'wanted people to know there are still people like this out there who judge you date and whether it's a black or white couple.'

She hopes sharing the story also stops such terrible comments and behaviour.
Doctor Strange Cert: 12A 1hr 55mins

Rating:

For a fleeting moment or two, Doctor Strange resembles nothing more than a disappointingly easy game of Cluedo. Oh, I know, I know, you want to shout as it gets gothically under way in something vaguely resembling the catacombs of a Shaolin temple, its Mads Mikkelsen, in the library, with the razor-sharp daggers.

And youd be right, of course. Game over; indeed, poor librarian over too but sadly not the film.

For this  seemingly about the 3,000th movie to be plucked from the pages of a Marvel comic in the first 16 years of the 21st century  is one of those unfortunate pictures that begin brightly enough but get worse as they go along.

Benedict Cumberbatch (pictured) takes on the role of Neurosurgeon-turned-necromancer, Dr Stephen Strange in his latest film

Its handicapped by performances that are decent but not great, an over-abundance of visual effects that are state-of-the-art but far too familiar, and a storyline that just gets sillier the longer it goes on. But that, unfortunately, is what happens when your main baddie is an inter-dimensional demon by the name of, er, Dormammu.

Dormammu, Ive come to bargain with you is one of those lines that will haunt Benedict Cumberbatch for the rest of his no doubt still-to-be-distinguished career.

Taking on the role of neurosurgeon-turned-necromancer Dr Stephen Strange was never going to offer the same chances to shine as playing Alan Turing in The Imitation Game, but its sad not to see his performance measuring up to his splendid Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness either.

That said, Cumberbatch, leading a British triumvirate that also includes Tilda Swinton and Chiwetel Ejiofor, is the best thing in Doctor Strange  particularly in the opening half-hour  despite a disorientating American accent.

Tilda Swinton stars alongside Benedict Cumberbatch as The Ancient one, played with androgynous ambiguity

The bigger problem is the nagging sense that we have seen so much of this before. It doesnt matter that the Marvel character has been around since the early Sixties; what does is how often three films, in particular, come repeatedly to mind  Inception, Harry Potter and the Matrix films.

Goodies and baddies jumping through portals in space-time and materialising in London  apparently unseen by muggles, er, I mean ordinary people  is pure Potter, as is Stranges rather silly Cloak of Levitation, which, just like a Diagon Alley wand, chooses its owner as opposed to its owner choosing it.

As for the rooftop fight involving city buildings that fold, bend and rotate  the first of many such sequences  its just like Christopher Nolans Inception.

There are so many of these visual effects too  which is not surprising given that our setting is a magical multi-verse where the normal laws of physics no longer apply  but, boy, do they go on.

A chance remark made by his physio points Strange in the direction of a mysterious temple of healing in Kathmandu, after a car crash wrecks his most vital tool - his hands

Once youve seen a few tower blocks roll themselves up like a caterpillar and floors tessellate themselves into something else well, youve pretty much seen them all.

Which is why the best part of the film is the opening half-hour. It sees Strange still very much in the normal world, thundering around his hospital, supremely confident of his own brilliance and doing a bit of low-key flirting with his ER colleague Dr Palmer (Rachel McAdams). And then a car crash wrecks his most vital tool  his hands  and suddenly the most talented neurosurgeon of the age can barely write his own name. His career is over.

Until a chance remark made by his physio points him in the direction of a mysterious temple of healing in Kathmandu, where he is initially welcomed by one of its most advanced students, Mordo (Ejiofor), but then cast out by the reputedly immortal being known as the Ancient One, played with androgynous ambiguity  and a shaven head  by Swinton.

But Strange is not a man to give up, and very soon hes back and demonstrating a surprising aptitude for the new world of spells, helped by the new librarian (Benedict Wong).

A screenplay co-written by director Scott Derrickson does contain some nice touches of humour, with wi-fi codes, Google Translate and Beyonce all finding a place in this otherwise magical universe.

Tilda Swinton (left) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (right), is the best thing in Doctor Strange  particularly in the opening half-hour  despite a disorientating American accent

But its disappointingly familiar to discover that while the Ancient One & Co appear very much forces for good, some magicians, like Mikkelsens Kaecilius, have gone over to the dark side. Yes, again; amazing how that keeps happening, isnt it? But which path will Strange choose?

I have to say I rather lost interest in discovering the answer in the second half, when there is surely too much talk of dark dimensions, destroyers of worlds and fiery demons called Dormammu for most adult tastes.

And the whole thing smacks of yet another Marvel franchise being launched and the inevitable tie-up with the Avengers tentatively embarked on.

Id love to say I cant wait but, alas, that wouldnt be true. Sorry, Benedict.

SECOND SCREEN

Ethel & Ernest (PG)

Rating:

Starfish (15)

Rating:

After Love (12A)

Rating:

Raymond Briggs is the artist and illustrator best known for the likes of Fungus The Bogeyman and, of course, that Yuletide staple, The Snowman.

Now at the age of 82, hes made his most personal animated film yet, Ethel & Ernest, which very simply but occasionally rather delightfully tells the story of his parents, from their chance meeting in the late Twenties to their deaths in 1971.

I didnt altogether care for the use of the same older voices throughout  Brenda Blethyn as Ethel and Jim Broadbent as Ernest  and Broadbent, in particular, rather overdoes the cheeky, south London chappie.

Now at the age of 82, artist and Illustrator, Raymond Briggs has made his most personal animated film yet, Ethel & Ernest, which tells the story of his parents

But the sequence dealing with the war is fascinating (Briggs himself was evacuated, leaving his parents to survive several near-misses) and I love the depth of characterisation.

Making a film about a difficult subject is one thing but getting people to pay to watch it is another and that, I suspect, is the problem facing Downton Abbey star Joanne Froggatt as she co-stars in and, impressively, co-produces the at times almost unwatchable Starfish.

Froggatt and Tom Riley play Nicola and Tom Ray, a happily married young couple with another baby on the way. And then he succumbs to terrible septicaemia and wakes up in hospital without his hands or lower legs and with his face horribly disfigured.

We never do discover what has forced Marie (star of The Artist, Berenice Bejo, right) and Boris (Cedric Kahn, left) to split up, but the battle lines are drawn

Its a slow, agonising and, at times, heart-breaking watch, but its brutally honest and very well acted.
20 people were taken to the hospital for minor injuries they suffered while sliding down the escape chutes during the rapid evacuation

All 161 passengers and nine crew members were able to evacuate

Twenty passengers had to be hospitalized after an American Airlines plane burst into flames on the runway at Chicago O'Hare International Airport on Friday afternoon.

The horrifying scene was captured by one passenger who filmed the chaos inside the plane as everyone tried to get out of the burning aircraft.

American Airlines Flight 383 was departing for Miami and just seconds away from takeoff when there was a sudden explosion on the Boeing 767 plane.

Lets go, lets go, the passengers yelled as they tried to rush each other out of the plane, some of them hysterically screaming as others first tried to grab their bags.

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American Airlines Flight 383 departed Chicago for Miami on Friday afternoon when it blew a tire and damaged an engine, causing the ride side of the plane to burst into flames

Hector Cardenas captured the terror of his fellow passengers, who were begging each other to leave the plane faster after it caught on fire

Sarah Ahmed, one of the last people to leave the plane, said the scene was absolute 'chaos' and described a 'stampede' of people trying to get off the aircraft

The pilot aborted takeoff around 2.35pm and 161 passengers, nine crew members and a dog were forced to evacuate on the runway.

Hector Cardenas captured the terror of his fellow passengers, who were begging each other to leave the plane faster after it caught on fire.

'Please let us out too,' someone can be heard saying in the video as the passengers line up to go down the escape chute slides.

'F*****g go,' one man screams as another woman simply wails 'Please' as she tries to get to the exit faster.

Cardenas then goes down the slide and lets out a scream as the passengers begin falling on top of each other before reaching the tarmac.

'Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,' Cardenas can be heard saying from behind the camera as he turns it on the plane, a massive cloud of black smoke filling the air.

Sarah Ahmed, one of the last people off the plane, said smoke began to seep into the passenger compartment and she could see flames up against the windows.

Cardenas showed the 'stampede' of people trying to get out of the plane, before letting out a scream on the escape chute as the passengers begin falling on top of each other

Passengers rushed to get down the slide and away from the plane as huge flames erupted from the right side of the aircraft

Ahmed said everyone in the plane immediately began to panic.

'It was chaos,' she told WLSTV. 'I thought it was the day I was going to die.'

'We were almost up in the air. We were full throttle, full speed ahead and then we heard this huge bang and there's fire at the window.'

Ahmed said everyone on the right side of the plane jumped up and ran to the left side.

The plane screeched to a stop and a 'stampede' of passengers immediately began to yell 'open the door, open the door!'.

'Everyone's screaming and jumping on top of each other to open the door,' she said.

Large plumes of black smoke filled the air as frantic passengers slide down escape chutes on the left side of the plane to escape

The pilot aborted takeoff around 2.35pm and 161 passengers and nine crew members were forced to evacuate on the runway

'Within that time, I think it was seven seconds, there was now smoke in the plane and the fire is right up against the window.'

The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that the plane made an emergency stop around 2.35pm after experiencing a problem during takeoff.

An earlier FAA statement said the plane had blown a tire, but officials later deleted that information from the statement.

American Airlines said in a statement that the takeoff was aborted due to 'an engine-related mechanical issue'.

A federal official said the flight experienced an 'uncontained engine failure', in which engine parts break off and are spewed outside the engine.

The danger of such a failure is that engine pieces effectively become shrapnel and can cause extensive damage to the aircraft.

The official wasn't authorized to speak publicly about the incident and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Chicago Fire Department Chief Timothy Sampey said the 20 people who were hospitalized had suffered minor injuries during the rapid evacuation down the plane's escape chutes.

American Airlines said one flight attendant also suffered non-critical injuries.

The injuries mainly consisted of minor bruising and ankle injuries.

'This could have been devastating if it had happened later,' Sampey added.

Passenger Gary Schiavone was sitting in the middle of the plane when he saw a 'big, red ball of flame' in the window, which then cracked due to the heat.

'Twenty seconds later, we would've been up in the air,' he told ABC News. 'We would've been done.'

Chicago Fire Department Chief Timothy Sampey said the 20 people who were hospitalized had suffered minor injuries during the rapid evacuation

Passengers could be seen walking on the grass, some holding their luggage, after the escape

The Federal Aviation Administration tweeted this statement on Friday afternoon, saying the Boeing 767 had blown a tire at 2:35 pm

Schiavone noted that the explosion rang out as the passengers were 30 seconds into watching the safety video - which just happened to be on the instruction that they should not grab their luggage during an emergency.

'It could have caused a big problem,' Schiavone told NBC Chicago. 'Don't get your luggage in a situation like that.'

Firefighters were on the scene in less than 90 seconds, officials said.

But that was enough time for the fire to consume the plane's right-side engine and wing.

A chemical foam and dry chemical was then used to knock out the fire, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Firefighters remained at the scene for several hours as they put out 'hot spots' on the plane.

At least six ambulances responded to the scene and passengers were bused back to the terminal.

American Airlines said it was operating a special flight to take the passengers to Miami on Friday night.

Some passengers at the airport could see the large cloud of smoke from their gate's window

Firefighters were on the scene in less than 90 seconds, but that was enough time for the fire to consume to the plane's right-side engine and wing (pictured here covered in soot)

WHAT CAUSES UNCONTAINED ENGINE FAILURES? Uncontained engine failures are unusual thanks to improvements in designs and the metallurgy. There are many possible causes, including overheating, runway debris or large birds that get sucked into the engine or parts that break when they wear out but aren't replaced during maintenance checks. Tom Walsh, an airline pilot who also works as a security consultant, said that engines that break apart can be especially serious if the parts end up cutting fuel lines or damaging other vital components of the aircraft. But he said even such catastrophic failures don't necessarily doom a plane - even if a pilot runs out of runway and must take off. 'Planes are meant to fly with one engine,' said Walsh, who has also flown Boeing 767s. 'We are trained so that we can lose the engine at the worst possible time ... and then still successfully take off and land.' One of the best-known incidents of uncontained engine failure occurred in 1989, when 111 people were killed when a United Air Lines DC-10 crashed while making an emergency landing at Sioux City, Iowa. There were 185 survivors. Such engine failures are taken 'very seriously' in the aviation industry, said John Cox, a former airline pilot and aviation safety consultant. It's mandatory that airlines report the failures to the National Transportation Safety Board, he said. 'It's something everyone in aviation safety tracks very carefully,' said Cox, president of Safety Operating Systems. Engines are especially vulnerable to overheating that can cause parts to fail during takeoffs when they are already operating at very high temperatures, said John Goglia, a former National Transportation Safety Board member and expert on aircraft maintenance. The giant blades inside the engines are revolving at about 13,000 rpm, he said. When one comes loose, it's like firing a bullet, he added. Advertisement

Jose Castillo, whose father was on the flight, said the passengers were told it would be three to four days before they would receive the belongings they left on the plane.

The runway was closed immediately after the evacuation as the FAA was called to investigate.

Four of the airport's eight runways are currently open, which O'Hare officials said is enough to handle the night's traffic.

The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate.

Another plane burst into flames on Friday at a Fort Lauderdale runway in Florida.

The landing gear of FedEx Flight 910, which was arriving from Memphis, collapsed after it touched down at the airport, according to NBC Miami.

The plane skidded down the runway before it caught on fire.
A teenager who was teased about his large ears pleaded guilty Friday to murdering two people and wounding seven others in a mass shooting at a high school in western Canada earlier this year.

The 18-year-old also admitted to killing two brothers in a nearby home in northern Saskatchewan.

The teen's name was not released under Canada's Youth Criminal Justice Act.

Killed in the school shooting were aide Marie Janvier, left, and teacher Adam Wood, right

An exterior view of La Loche Community School where the shooting took place January 22

On Friday, he entered guilty pleas to first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of two teachers at his school in La Loche, Saskatchewan and to second-degree murder in the deaths of two teenage brothers in the remote Dene community on January 22.

He pleaded guilty to seven counts of attempted murder for shooting seven other people, the Toronto Sun reported.

Provincial court Judge Janet McIvor said the courts still need to determine if he should be sentenced as a youth or an adult.

The maximum youth sentence for first-degree murder is 10 years in custody and an adult receives an automatic life sentence.

'I don't need to tell everyone these charges are very serious, very tragic  tragic for everyone involved in that region,' said McIvor.

Shortly after the shooting, officers were called to another crime scene in a nearby home where two brothers, Drayden Fontaine, left, and Dayne Fontaine, right, were found dead

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (left) hugs a resident in La Loche in January 2016

A psychiatric report was ordered by the judge for the teenager, the Toronto Sun reported.

On January 22, police responded to panicked calls from staff and students. Police said the shooter was inside the school for about eight minutes.

The building's main doors had been blasted with holes. Some students fled; others hid in fear.

Marie Janvier, 21, was killed as she ran to get help. She had graduated from the same school two years earlier and it was her first year working there as an aide.

Teacher Adam Wood of Uxbridge, Ontario, had also just started his job at the beginning of the school year. The 35-year-old was shot and died of his wounds in a hospital.

Police investigate the scene of the school shooting in this file image

Victims Phyllis Longobardi and Charlene Klyne think the teenager should be sentenced as an adult, the Toronto Sun reported.

Klyne told the outlet: 'He stood at the door and looked at me. I really think he totally knew what he was doing.'

Shortly after the shooting, officers were called to another crime scene in a nearby home where two brothers, Drayden Fontaine, 13, and Dayne Fontaine, 17, were found dead.

Their grandfather Norman Fontaine told the Toronto Sun: 'It's pretty hard. Pretty hard. Two are gone. We can't help it.'

Police tape surrounds a shattered window at the scene of the shooting at the school

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lays a wreath at a memorial during a visit to the town of La Loche, Saskatchewan on January 29 this year

At the time of the shooting, the teen's friends described him as the black sheep of his family and a victim of bullying at school.

One person said the teen was often teased about his large ears.

Mass shootings are rare in Canada, which has stricter gun laws than the United States, and this was Canada's worst mass shooting at a high school or elementary school.
The woman once wrote that her children as her 'biggest achievement'

The couple kept the girl inside a chicken coop at their rural NSW property

A mother and father have been jailed for rape and torture of their daughter

A girl who was raped and tortured by her 'well-respected' parents etched the words 'dad', 'mum is coming' and 'trapped' on a timber frame of the chicken coop she was abused in, a court heard.

The father, 59, and mother, 51, have been sentenced to a maximum of 48 and 16 years respectively for the sexual assault and torture of their daughter over a 15-year period on their rural NSW property, Sydney's Downing Centre heard on Friday.

In 2012, the traumatised young woman bravely told police about the horrific abuse she was being subjected to.

A father and mother (pictured) have been jailed for a maximum of 48 and 16 years respectively for sexually abusing their daughter over 15 years

The court also heard the girl had tried to use her own blood to write messages in the coop, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Judge Sarah Huggett said that the enormity of abuse committed by the father against his daughter 'involved depravity of an almost unimaginable magnitude' and that she will live with the consequences for the rest of her life.

'If events transpire that the father passes away [in jail] that is the result of the need for him to be appropriately punished for these offences and denouncement of his criminal conduct,' the judge said.

As Judge Huggett took 20 minutes to read the details of each of the 73 abuses carried out by the father, which added up to 999 years and four months in jail, was sentenced to at least 36 years in prison.

Sitting behind him was the girl's mother, who was convicted of 13 abuse charges, was sentenced to at least 11 years prison.

The mother is also set to divorce the father, the newspaper reported.

The judge told the court there was no reason they had cruelly abused their daughter as neither parent had mental illness or an abusive upbringing.

The parents, who cannot be identified, subjected their daughter to abuse and torture so graphic the details are too vile to be published.

The 59-year-old father began abusing the girl when she was only five years old, until she was 18.

The father and mother were jailed on Friday at the Downing Centre in Sydney

In a heartwarming letter the mother wrote that her children were her 'greatest inspiration', 'companions' and 'greatest achievement in life'.

She denied she was guilty during a court hearing, which revealed details of horrific sexual assaults and torture of the couple's daughter which spanned 15 years.

The assaults which started when the girl was just five years old included being raped with sharp metal tools, wrapped in barbed wire and forced to eat vomit during a sexual assault.

The woman who once wrote that 'motherhood completed' her even gave her daughter advice on having sex with her father.

'It makes it better if you make noises,' the court heard.

The mother who cannot be named for legal reasons once said her children gave her 'me a sense of belonging in a world I had struggled with before becoming a mother'.

She also wrote: 'the single most important thing in our lives is the happiness and safety of our children.'

Judge Huggett said the father 'hoodwinked' people to his true nature

Sydney District Court Judge Sarah Huggett said the man, who was charged with 76 counts relating to the girl's abuse, 'should not be released from custody before he passes away'.

The father was described as 'selfish, depraved and sadistic', and arrogant with an inflated ego.

'People were hoodwinked as to his true nature,' Judge Huggett said.
investigating the deaths have been given the emails

Emails from Dreamworld's senior staff members concerned about the understaffing of rides at the theme park have been handed over to police.

The two emails provided by the Australian Workers Union were written in 2015 and address concerns about rides being run by 'sole operators', The Brisbane Times reported.

But the concerns did not include the Thunder River Rapids ride where four people died when the ride malfunctioned on Tuesday afternoon.

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The two emails provided by the Australian Workers Union were written in 2015 and address concerns about rides such as the Cyclone Rollercoaster (pictured), being run by 'sole operators'

Senior employees at Dreamworld were concerned rides at the Gold Coast theme park were 'understaffed'

Dreamworld spokeswoman Miche Paterson said the Thunder River Rapids attraction was staffed by two people- following the guidelines outlined by the ride's manufacturer

On Friday Dreamworld spokeswoman Miche Paterson said the Thunder River Rapids attraction was staffed by two people as per the guidelines written by the ride's manufacturer.

AWU general secretary Ben Swann said he was concerned about other rides 'that [were] being operated, or monitored by sole operators, against manufacturers' clear guidelines'.

Mr Swann said on Friday he gave the two emails to police, showing the company was running the Cyclone Rollercoaster with only one operator despite the manufacturers guidelines of two, 'preferably three staff.'

In the 2015 emails Dreamworld senior staff told the AWU their decision to staff rides with one operator was made after a 'long and exhaustive risk assessment process.'

Company spokeswoman Miche Paterson said the issues raised by the AWU were central to the coroners investigation.

Staff members pay tribute to those killed on the Thunder River Rapids ride
Apple was last night accused of using Brexit to squeeze more money out of British customers.

The tech giant blamed the fall in the value of the pound since the referendum for hiking the price of its computers by up to 500.

The huge increases come on models which have not been upgraded for some time. For instance, the 13-inch MacBook Air  the least expensive laptop Apple sells and first introduced in 2015  rose from 849 to 949.

Apple was last night accused of using Brexit to squeeze more money out of British customers (File photo)

However, the high-powered Mac Pro has seen its basic price increase by 500, from 2,499 to 2,999.

The pound has dropped by almost 20 per cent against the US dollar since the referendum. This has provided a boost to exporters as it has made British goods cheaper abroad.

But it also means Apple, which reports in US dollars, is making less money from selling the same computer in the UK than selling it in America.

The hike means prices in the UK now more closely resemble those in the US after currency conversion and with the addition of UK VAT.

Apple said it sets product prices based on multiple factors including currency exchange rates, local import laws, business practices, taxes, and the cost of doing business. But this was given short shrift by business experts.

The tech giant blamed the fall in the value of the pound since the referendum for hiking the price of its computers by up to 500 (File photo)

David Buik, a veteran City commentator, said: To pass on the drop in sterling in one hit is completely unnecessary and unwarranted. Apple are using Brexit and the drop in the value of the pound as a convenient excuse to impose huge hikes in their prices.

A string of foreign firms have blamed the fall in the value of the pound for increasing their prices.

Microsoft was earlier this week accused of turning the screw on businesses in the wake of Brexit after hiking its prices by a fifth. It said it was trying to harmonise prices across Europe.

The decision by Apple will give further ammunition to its critics which argue it has been overcharging for its products for years. The firm sold 177billion of iPhones, Apple Watches and Mac computers over the last year.
Milwaukee MMA fighter Anthony 'Showtime' Pettis (pictured) found three cars in his driveway set on fire on Thursday

A Milwaukee MMA fighter awoke to find three cars in his driveway had been set alight on Thursday.

Anthony 'Showtime' Pettis found the blaze around 1am after an unknown suspect allegedly used an accelerant to burn the three vehicles.

Carson Blaszak, a witness of the fire, said he saw a car speeding through the neighborhood before he heard a loud bang.

'I just, I ran outside, and I was hoping, you know, the house hopefully wasn't gonna catch on fire,' Blaszak told FOX 6.

Bunny Blaszak said she heard Carson Blaszak shouting and came outside.

'As he's screaming that the house is on fire. Of course, you jump outta bed and you can't believe your eyes to see what you're, you know, that it's real,' she said.

The suspect has not been identified, but it is believed the person lit two cars on fire and eventually the blaze spread to the third vehicle.

She said that Pettis has always been a good neighbor.

Carson Blaszak, a witness of the fire, said he saw a car speeding through the neighborhood before he heard a loud bang

The suspect has not been identified, but it is believed the person lit two cars on fire and eventually the blaze spread to the third vehicle

'Very friendly. See him running around, jogging around,' she told the station.

First responders arrived in time to put out the blaze and protect the home.

Carson Blaszak said everyone was able to get out of the home safely, despite the cars being destroyed.

'My life as well as my loved ones were put in danger,' Pettis said, pictured with his daughter Aria

It is unclear if Pettis's daughter was in the house at the time of the alleged arson attack

Pettis said he will do everything in his power to bring the suspects to justice (pictured with girlfriend Lisette Gadzuric)

Pettis's brother has said the MMA fighter isn't ready to do interviews but released a statement on Instagram.

'I am a fighter. I won't be defeated by this. I am also extremely confused and saddened by the events that occurred.

'I am grateful that no one was harmed by this cowardly act. My life as well as my loved ones were put in danger. I cannot understand why someone would want to hurt myself or my family.

Pettis said he hopes the city will 'have his back' and that he won't be defeated by the act of violence

'Regardless of the crimes that have been occurring lately, this is my home. I really hope the city that I rep has my back on this one and helps by reporting anything they know about this,' he said.

A motive for the alleged arson attack hasn't been made public.
Thousands of stroke patients are forced to wait more than 12 hours for crucial treatment, a report reveals today.

Any delay in the critical first few hours after a stroke can be devastating, vastly increasing the chance that someone will be left permanently disabled or even die.

Yet nearly 6,000 people - one in 12 of those admitted to English hospitals with a stroke last year - had to wait more than 12 hours after arriving at hospital even before they received their first scan.

Thousands of stroke patients are forced to wait more than 12 hours for crucial treatment, a report reveals today

An audit of stroke services, published today by the Stroke Association charity, reveals what experts call a shocking postcode lottery in the speed of care.

In the worst hospitals, 36 per cent of patients had to wait for more than 12 hours before receiving a brain scan, whereas in the best, 81 per cent were seen within an hour of getting to hospital.

Nationally, 8 per cent of patients had to wait 12 hours for a CT scan.

Stroke care has dramatically improved over the last decade, with the creation of a network of specialist units across the country.

But experts stressed that even the improved care is gravely lacking.

Fast treatment is vital when someone has had a stroke, with every minute of delay killing more and more of the brain.

Strokes happen when the blood supply to the brain is cut off  either by a clot in a blood vessel or by bleeding in the brain.

This starves the brain of vital oxygen, killing off brain cells.

Doctors aim to restore blood to the brain as soon as possible - by remove the brain clot or stem the bleed, either with drugs or surgery.

But they first have to carry out a CT brain scan to identify the source of the problem - and cannot give any treatment until this has been done.

An estimated 150,000 people have a stroke each year in Britain.

A quarter of die within a year, and of the survivors, half are left with disability, which can include paralysis, speech problems and personality changes.

The Stroke Association, which is publishing a map of the best and worst care to mark World Stroke Day today, called on the Government to launch a major inquiry into stroke care, on the same model of the Cancer Taskforce that investigated poor survival for cancer patients in the UK last year.

Juliet Bouverie, chief executive of the Stroke Association, said: These latest figures show shocking variations in vital stroke treatment across England.

Stroke is a medical emergency, and when swift treatment is not given to those who need it, peoples recoveries are put at risk.

The longer a patient waits for a brain scan, the longer it will be before they receive the right treatment, and they are more likely to be left with a serious disability as a result.

The new data, which analysed care of 76,000 stroke patients admitted to English hospitals in 2015/16, revealed that at the slowest major hospital - North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust - 36 per cent of stroke patients wait more than 12 hours for a brain scan.

Any delay in the critical first few hours after a stroke can be devastating, vastly increasing the chance that someone will be left permanently disabled or even die

In the quickest, Eastbourne District General Hospital in Sussex, 81 per cent are scanned within an hour.

In South Tyneside, only 43 per cent of eligible stroke patients are treated with clot-busting drug treatment called thrombolysis, compared to 100 per cent in North Bristol or Harrogate.

Mrs Bouverie said: Over the past decade, we have made great strides in stroke treatment.

We know there are hospitals, stroke units and dedicated professionals leading the way for stroke treatment up and down the country. But currently, the stroke treatment people receive depends on where they live.

It is unacceptable that your postcode determines whether or not you face treatment delays if you have a stroke.

The Government simply cannot ignore the urgent need for a new strategy to ensure that every stroke patient can have the best possible life after stroke, regardless of where they live.

A Department of Health spokesman said: We are committed to improving stroke care across the country so that everyone who has a stroke receives the same high quality care, regardless of where they live.

Excellent progress has been made so far but we are determined to go further.
When a woman died from leukemia in 2007, members of an exclusive equestrian community mourned the loss of a legendary descendant of French nobility.

But it turns out that Genevieve de Montremare was actually born Genevieve Sanders, a waitress born and raised in California who faked her whole persona, as well as own death, according to the Fresno Bee.

Sanders made a name for herself in Fresno, California, posing as a French woman with a doctorate in genetics while she lived on a 15-acre property with her husband Michael Weilert and a number of expensive horses called Friesians.

After de Montremare's death was announced, Weilert is said to have broken down in front of another couple, who agreed to buy his home for $2.3million before they filed a lawsuit accusing Sanders and Weilert of real estate fraud.

Genevieve Sanders (left) made a name for herself posing as Genevieve de Montremare, a French woman with a doctorate in genetics who married Michael Weilert (right)

They lived together on a 15-acre property in Fresno, California, until they faked her death in 2007. Weilert sold the property, only to be sued for real estate fraud by the new homeowners

Sanders grew up just 60 miles away from Fresno in Lindsay, where her father served on the Board of Supervisors for Tulare County and her stepmom became the mayor.

Sanders was a waitress when she married her first husband Gary Hoffman, a psychology professor at the time, according to the Fresno Bee.

She soon realized she could get better tips by adopting a French accent, and while the ruse ultimately cost her her marriage, she was nowhere near finished.

Hoffman said: 'At first, I thought it was kind of funny.... But in the end, it was very much estranging, and I started to take it as a bit of a slap in the face because it struck me as just over the top.'

They divorced in 1990 and less than six months later, Sanders petitioned for her name to be legally changed to Genevieve Marie de Montremare.

In 1991, she married Weilert, and the two had a daughter, eventually settling down in a home they purchased for $1.6million.

Neighbors and members of the Friesian community marveled at her beautiful home, lavishly catered lunches, and perceived wealth.

Cheryl Skigin (pictured) and husband Brian Gwartz purchased the home, but later won $1.5million in a lawsuit against de Montremare and Weilert

But friends said she was reclusive, appearing with an IV when she was spotted around town, while others, like Friesian breeder Nina Miller, said de Montremare could wield her influence in damaging ways, ABC's 20/20 reported.

De Montremare eventually spread word of her failing health, revealing that she needed heart surgery before Weilert told friends his wife was in a coma.

Her 'death' was pronounced on November 30, 2007, and Weilert even contributed to her obituary, which called her the 'Matriarch of the Friesian community'.

Weilert tearfully explained that the property was a sad reminder of his loss, and he broke down crying in front of Cheryl Skigin and husband Brian Gwartz when he showed them the property.

De Montremare had previously bragged that her family had a long legacy of breeding horses, and her death was a way to capitalize on her superstar status in the equestrian community, Skigin and Gwartz's attorney alleged.

Her faked death was a way to leverage a higher selling price to Skigin and Gwartz, who were also horse enthusiasts, attorney David Weiland said in court documents.

The home eventually sold for $2.3million, until the new homeowners realized their purchase came with structural problems that would cost $800,000 to fix.

They also realized the deed to the property included de Montremare's signature, which was dated four months after her death.

'I was flabbergasted. I couldnt breathe for a second. It was just unbelievable,' Gwartz told ABC's 20/20.

Skigin added: 'We thought the deed was forged, and then we got a hold of the notary, found out the deed was not forged because he remembered meeting Genevieve de Montremare. You know, it was just unbelievable.'

Weilert eventually admitted in court that he faked his wife's death as she battles a real medical condition, but he also argued Skigin and Gwartz purchased the property 'as is'.

Skigin and Gwartz eventually won the lawsuit and received $1.5million in damages.

De Montremare and Weilert now live in Clovis, where she told 20/20 she struggles with 'punishing' health issues.

Weilert previously told the Bee: 'The Genevieve that used to be with me is gone. I'm facing the loss of a whole lifestyle and the whole existence that I previously enjoyed.'
Heathrow is to face its first legal challenge just days after the government announced its controversial decision to back a third runway at airport.

A group of residents launched a bid to halt the airports plans ahead of the start of construction work, claiming issues of bias may have occurred during the selection for the development.

Residents in Teddington, which is seven miles from the airport, have written to ministers claiming Sir Howard Davies, the chairman of the airports commission which recommended Heathrow expansion last year, was paid by one of the hubs shareholders.

Residents in Teddington, which is seven miles from Heathrow airport and under a flight path, have brought he legal challenge

The group have written to ministers claiming Sir Howard Davies (pictured), the chairman of the airports commission which recommended Heathrow expansion last year, was paid by one of the hubs shareholders.

It is thought the bid will be the first of many made in an attempt to reverse the decision.

According to The Times, Friends of the Earth also submitted a letter to the Department of Transport on Tuesday highlighting concerns over the way the site was chosen.

The letter accused the government of substantive procedural flaws.

It raised concerns that the airport had been named as the selected site for the major development without the decision undergoing the legal planning process.

The letter stated that the decision over the 17.6billion runway pre-empts the will of parliament and predetermines the outcome of any planning application.

Head of campaigns at Friends of the Earth, Andrew Pendleton, said that the Prime Minister had announced the decision like it was a done deal, but there are many MPs who recognise the devastating effect expanding Heathrow will have on our climate, who will want to vote against these proposals.

If the campaign group do not receive what it deems to be sufficient assurances over how the government came to its decision, it could open the gates for possible legal challenges in the future.

Conservative Richmond Park MP Zac Goldsmith quit over the government's decision to expand the airport forcing a by-election

The government opted to build a third runway at Heathrow over a proposal to add a second runway at Gatwick, providing a number of conditions are reached.

The Teddington Action Group has reportedly said that it could ask judges to reverse the decision on the runway, which officials have said could be built by 2025, over conduct of ministers during the process.

The groups pre-action letter reportedly accuses Sir Howard of bias over his role at GIC Private Ltd, which is one of Heathrows principal owners.
The chairman of the beleaguered child abuse inquiry faced explosive new claims of a cover-up last night after it emerged that its top lawyer had been accused of sexual assault.

Ben Emmerson QC, lead counsel to the inquiry, yesterday rebutted claims that he groped a female colleague in a lift at the headquarters of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

The allegations emerged when BBC Newsnight claimed that Mr Emmerson, the most senior lawyer in the countrys biggest public inquiry, had been allowed to quit after the accusations.

Ben Emmerson QC, lead counsel to the inquiry, yesterday rebutted claims that he groped a female colleague in a lift at the headquarters of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

The inquiry said yesterday that neither its chairman, Professor Alexis Jay, her panel nor any official were aware of any complaint of sexual assault before Mr Emmerson resigned.

But last night a source close to the inquiry said the alleged victim had made a disclosure to another member of the inquiry that was passed to Professor Jay and the panel before Mr Emmersons departure.

The source said: The chair and panel were aware. It is claimed that the alleged victim did not make a formal complaint but told a colleague, who relayed this to Professor Jay in mid-September.

The claim reported by BBC Newsnight on Thursday is threatening to derail the 100million inquiry, now on its fourth chairman.

Newsnight alleged that Mr Emmerson pushed a colleague against the side of a lift wall and groped her in September.

The inquiry said yesterday that neither its chairman, Professor Alexis Jay, her panel nor any official were aware of any complaint of sexual assault before Mr Emmerson resigned

He quit on September 29 a day after being suspended by Professor Jay over alleged concerns about his leadership.

But the barrister, who was on 400,000 a year, has carried on working for the inquiry at home, earning 1,700 a day during a changeover process.

On Thursday, his lawyers told Newsnight: [He] categorically denies any allegation of sexual assault or bullying or any other misconduct at the inquiry. Any such allegations are completely false.

The alleged victim has also refused to comment on the allegations.

But a source said last night the alleged victim had been treated unjustly, adding: These people cant be pious about other organisations when they dont look into serious allegations themselves.

According to another source, Professor Jay was told of the alleged incident in the lift, although this is strongly denied by the inquiry.

The child sex abuse inquiry should not be acting like other organisations it is investigating, the source said. It needs to be held to higher standards when dealing with very sensitive issues. We are meant to be telling other organisations how to handle sex abuse.

Last night Professor Jay was facing questions over what she knew of the allegations as a source told the Mail the disclosure had gone the whole way up the organisation.

Yesterday the inquiry issued a statement denying there had been any sexual assault complaint to Professor Jay, who gave Mr Emmerson a glowing send-off when he resigned, saying he has made an enormous contribution to the inquiry and we wish him well.

Last night Professor Jay was facing questions over what she knew of the allegations as a source told the Mail the disclosure had gone the whole way up the organisation

A spokesman said: The chairman fully stands by the statement she made on September 29.

'It is not true that an inquiry worker made a complaint of sexual assault to the chairman, or to the panel, or to an official.

Professor Jay and her two panel members, Drusilla Sharpling and Ivor Frank, remained silent about why the QC was suspended when they were questioned by the Home Affairs Select Committee last week.

Last night MP Tim Loughton, who quizzed them in his role as acting chairman of the committee, said: Professor Jay is letting down survivors by not being more transparent about what is going on in the inquiry.

It is ironic that an inquiry into cover-ups about historical child sexual abuse is handling things in this way and does need to be much more transparent.

Daniel Janner QC, whose father Lord Janner was accused of historical sexual allegations that will be heard as part of the public inquiry, said last night: Professor Jays position surely is now untenable. How can my family trust this discredited process?

Victims have reacted with anger to the claims. Phil Johnson, acting chairman of Minister and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors, said: Its ridiculous that an institution set up to investigate cover-ups is allegedly behaving in this way. This feels like the nail in the coffin of the inquiry, which is not what we want.

We have waited for 20 years to get an inquiry to get to the truth  but not this inquiry. It isnt fit.

Mr Emmerson refused to comment yesterday, saying: Im not taking any calls.
Police and the security services have foiled at least ten terror plots in the last two years, a top counter-terrorism officer has revealed.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, Scotland Yards new anti-terror chief, said the authorities are dealing with around 550 live investigations at any one time.

Mr Basu wrote in an internet post, published by the National Police Chiefs Council, that 850 Britons regarded as a security threat are believed to have taken part in the Syrian conflict, of which around half have returned to the UK.

The number of armed police was being increased dramatically, he said, so officers are better able to reach a scene quickly, gain control and stop the threat

CAUGHT BY POLICE AND SECURITY SERVICES BEFORE THEY COULD CARRY OUT MASS KILLINGS ON LONDON STREETS Tarik Hassane, 22, admitted to conspiracy to murder and preparation of acts of terrorism. He was jailed in 2014 for planning a drive-by attack on police officers and soldiers Tarik 'The Surgeon' Hassane, 22, was jailed in 2014 for planning a drive-by attack on police officers and soldiers in central London. He admitted conspiracy to murder and preparation of acts of terrorism. He was an Osama bin Laden fanatic and wanted to kill hundreds of people in a major terrorism act. He, along with Suhaib Majeed, were jailed for life in April. Mohammed Rehman, 25, plotted with his wife Sana Ahmed Khan, 24, to blow up Westfield Shopping Centre or the London Underground on the 10th anniversary of the 7/7 bombings. Their plot was only foiled when Rehman - who called himself the 'silent bomber' - sent a tweet asking for advice on which was the best target. Officers found 10kg of nitrate explosives - double the amount of powder used in the failed 21/7 London bombings - in his home. The pair have been jailed for life. Mohammed Rehman, 25, plotted with his wife Sana Ahmed Khan, 24, to blow up Westfield Shopping Centre or the London Underground on the 10th anniversary of the 7/7 bombings Advertisement

The counter-terrorism network and security services have foiled at least ten attacks in the last two years, he added, with 294 convictions for terror-related offences.

As soon as Daesh [Islamic State] started to lose on the battlefields abroad, it was clear their tactics would be directed closer to home.

The number of armed police was being increased dramatically, he said, so officers are better able to reach a scene quickly, gain control and stop the threat. The revelations came as a new report warned that Britains borders are not secure against attempts to smuggle weapons and terrorists into the country.

The review, commissioned by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, warned of real concerns about how easy it is to smuggle guns and people into the UK  and said Paris-style gun attacks are the new normal for Islamic State terrorists.

FORMER SUPERMARKET SECURITY GUARD PLOTTED TO BEHEAD A POPPY SELLER ON REMEMBRANCE DAY Nadir Syed was found guilty of planning a terrorist act earlier this year Nadir Syed was jailed for life after he was found guilty of preparing acts of terrorism in an attack he hoped would out-do the brutality of Lee Rigby's murder. The 23-year-old will serve a minimum sentence of 15 years before he is eligible for parole. Detectives believe Syed planned to sever the head of his victim and hold it up for the camera. They feared Syed was just three days from launching his attack, aimed at a poppy seller on Remembrance Day or possibly a Police Special Constable. Advertisement

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, Scotland Yards new anti-terror chief, said the authorities are dealing with around 550 live investigations at any one time

Its author, Labour peer Toby Harris, said: Our borders are not as secure as they should be and much greater efforts should be made to prevent the illegal transportation of weapons and people into the country. It would be naive in the extreme to assume that would-be terrorists will not attempt to exploit any such weaknesses.

He called for assurances that screening and searching of cars and freight at border ports was being significantly enhanced.

His review also called for greater use of mobile barriers to protect against a Nice-style attack in which a terrorist used an HGV to mow down members of the public.
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A New-York based photographer has offered a rare glimpse inside a Russian ballet institution where students dedicate all of their time from age 10 to 18, training twelve hours a day and six days a week.

Rachel Papo, who was raised in Israel and trained by Russian dance teachers as a child, spent five weeks in St Petersburg, photographing every aspect of the renowned Vaganova Ballet Academy and its young dancers.

Her stunning photo series entitled Desperately Perfect explores the physical and psychological pressures, as well as challenges, faced by the students obsessively striving for a 'level of perfection that is always out of reach.'

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A group of sixth class boys are captured stretching during a ballet lesson in a project by New-York based photographer Rachel Papo who photographed every aspect of the renowned Vaganova Ballet Academy and its young dancers

A group of second class girls are captured while elegantly performing during a lesson

A ballet student is pictured backstage in an elaborate tutu at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, Russia

From lessons to auditions, Papo captured the dancers in 2007 as they endured fierce competition at the ballet academy where old traditional methods are still practiced

Video courtesy of ballet flowers:

From lessons to auditions, Papo captured the dancers in 2007 as they endured fierce competition at the ballet academy where old traditional methods are still practiced, the photographer told Feature Shoot.

The statement for her project particularly focuses on 15-year-old dancer, Katya, who she captured on camera just after she was called out of the room by her teacher before her group's demonstration during a big international conference where dance professionals from all over the world visit the school to see the students.

Papo later found Katya alone in one of the studios stretching, appearing to be frustrated, in pain and as if she was about to cry, she explained.

One of the students, Arina, displays an impressive ballet move during a lesson at the academy

Student Alexander flashes a smile while performing a ballet jump. Students dedicate all of their time from age 10 to 18, training twelve hours a day and six days a week

Papo explained that her goal in taking the photographs was to 'capture the spirit' of the dancers, whose childhood is shaped by this experience, she said

The reflection of three second class girls are captured in a mirror as they stretch backstage

The photographer later learned Katya had a shoulder injury and that her teacher was worried it would impair her performance in front of the audience.

When asked what struck her about Katya, Papo told Feature Shoot the incident involving Katya took her back to her nine years training in ballet.

'It immediately brought me back to my childhood as a dancer, where frequently I would watch as my friends were praised or selected over me for various parts, while I stayed behind,' Papo said, who started dancing at the age of five before quitting when she was 14.

Papo explained that her goal in taking the photographs was to 'capture the spirit' of the dancers, whose childhood is shaped by this experience, she said.

'Dedicating all their time from age ten to eighteen, twelve hours a day, six days a week, the young dancers I photographed could never be satisfied with their level of accomplishment,' she told Feature Shoot.

'As hard as they worked, they believed they could always get better, and the inevitable competition between them enhanced the sense of desperation in their desire to be perfect.'

Two students from the academy are shown in costume while looking into the flashing bright light of the stage

A young dancer stretches his legs. While she ended up drifting away from a the world of ballet, through her project Papo said she decided to revisit the experience of being a young ballet student

Papo's project particularly focuses on 15-year-old dancer, Katya (pictured), who she captured on camera just after she was called out of the room by her teacher before her group's demonstration during a big international conference where dance professionals from all over the world visit the school to see the students

Dancer Snezchana reads a book while backstage at the academy while costumes hang above her head

Prior to photographing the students at Vaganova Ballet Academy, Papo said she did extensive research for about six months before deciding to visit the school.

Initially, she her first letter of request to photograph there was rejected by the headmaster.

However, with persistence she ended up becoming one of two people out of 100 requests that year granted access to the academy.

Papo noted she was also invited to photograph backstage at the historic Mariinsky Theater, also in St Petersburg, where dancers had their end-of-year performance.

While she ended up drifting away from a the world of ballet, through her project Papo said she decided to revisit the experience of being a young ballet student.

Papo noted she decided to 'explore photographically the emotional pressure that young dancers might face every day.'

A group of first class boys are pictured through a door in Papo's photo project entitled Desperately Perfect

A group of young dancers are pictured on the auditions day at the prestigious academy
A nine-year-old girl died after she was dragged and hit by a school bus on her way home on Friday, police said.

The girl was being dropped off her stop on South Central Street around 4pm in Plainfield, Massachusetts when tragedy struck.

A preliminary investigation indicates the girl was not fully clear when the door closed, Massachusetts State Police said.

A nine-year-old girl died after she was dragged and hit by a school bus on her way home on Friday (file photo)

She was caught in the door and dragged a short distance before she was struck by the bus, police said.

The male driver then stopped and remained at the scene. He is being interviewed and the incident is still under investigation.

Several other children were on board, although it is unclear if they saw their classmate getting dragged and hit.
Replacing the limit switch would have cost 'a couple of hundred dollars'

The lives of four people killed on a Dreamworld ride could have been saved by replacing a piece of equipment 'costing only a couple of hundred dollars,' according to experts.

David Eager, an associate professor of engineering at UTS said it was likely the Thunder River Rapids ride had a faulty limit switch - a sensor device that keeps distance between rafts.

He said a new limit switch would have only cost the Gold Coast theme park a couple of hundred dollars.

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Dreamworld won't reopen until at least after the funerals of the four victims killed on a malfunctioning ride in the theme park on Tuesday

Rides would also not operate until internal and external safety audits were conducted on every one one them

Police lock a gate near the Thunder River Rapids ride at the Dreamworld Theme Park on the Gold Coast

'It could be faulty some of the time but not all the time,' he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

'They're engineer's nightmares, these little things, finding the problem can be hard.'

Mr Eager who also represents Engineering Australia on the Amusement Rides and Devices Standards Committee, said a malfunctioning limit switch could have combined with other 'undetected' problems and human error to cause the raft to flip.

Kate Goodchild, 32, her brother Luke Dorsett, 35, his partner Roozi Araghi, 38, and Cindy Low, 42, were crushed and drowned to death when a malfunction on the Thunder River Rapids ride flipped their raft on a conveyor belt on Tuesday afternoon.

Dreamworld spokeswoman Miche Paterson said the company would not comment on the limit switch equipment while the case is before the coroner.

Meanwhile Alison Barrett from Queensland law firm Maurice Blackburn revealed her office had been flooded with calls from people concerned about the park's operations.

'People want reassurance; to know that this is not going to happen again and that they can feel safe going to places like Dreamworld,' she said.

The decision to further delay the reopening comes as the overturned raft was on Friday winched off the ride by crane

Dreamworld originally announced it would open the gates for a memorial day on Friday before resuming usual business on Saturday

Those plans were cancelled following discussions with police who were still investigating the tragedy

Kate Goodchild, Luke Dorsett, Roozbeh Araghi and Cindy Low died after a malfunction on the Thunder Rapids ride on Tuesday afternoon

The theme park won't open until after the funerals of the four people killed when a ride malfunctioned on Tuesday.

Rides would also not operate until internal and external safety audits were conducted on every one of them.

'No attraction in this park will reopen until internal and external safety audits are completed and peer reviewed,' chief executive Craig Davidson said on Friday.

Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate earlier said Dreamworld should only be reopened when the families of those killed were 'happy with it and they're ready to move on'.

While he admitted the park acted too fast announcing the memorial day without clearance from the police, he said criticising it would not help the situation.

Victims: Two mothers, Kate Goodchild (left), 32, and Cindy Low (right), 42, died in the tragedy

Ms Goodchild's brother Luke Dorsett (on right) and his partner Roozi Araghi (left) were also killed

Ebony Goodchild (right) and Kieran Low (left) witnessed their mother's deaths after being thrown from the malfunctioning ride as their father's ran to the scene

Dreamworld originally announced it would open the gates for a memorial day on Friday before resuming usual business on Saturday.

Those plans were cancelled following discussions with police who were still investigating the tragedy.

Dreamworld held its own memorial service inside the park attended by more than 1,000 staff.

Ms Thomas finally visited the park on Friday as she apologised for her poor handling of the tragedy, fighting back tears saying she had tried to 'do the right thing'.

The under-fire chief executive visited a floral tribute to the victims, after she donated her $167,500 cash bonus to the Australian Red Cross.

'If I haven't handled it as well as we could, we thought we were doing the right thing in terms of the way we approached it through the police,' she said.

'If the families are watching - I have spoken to a number of them - we will look after them.'

Under-fire Ardent Leisure chief executive Deborah Thomas finally visited the park on Friday as she apologised for her poor handling of the tragedy

She apologised to families of victims from this week's fatal accident at Dreamworld
The woman was treated at Flinders Medical Centre, an hour after arriving

The paramedic begged medical personals to take her condition seriously

The woman had lost 1.5 litres of blood and was continuing to lose blood

Paramedic refused to treat a pregnant patient in the back of an ambulance

A pregnant woman with severe blood loss was left untreated for an hour as her condition was not classified an emergency by hospital staff, a paramedic claims.

The woman was taken to Flinders Medical Centre, in Adelaide, by ambulance where the paramedic was told to treat her in the back of the ambulance.

But fearing she would lose her baby, the paramedic refused and instead put the patient on a stretcher and wheeled her into the hospital where he begged staff for 'an hour' to treat her 1.5-litre blood loss, The Advertiser reported.

A paramedic refused to return and treat a pregnant patient in the back of the ambulance and instead begged nurses to take a look at her condition after severe blood loss (stock image)

The issue faced by the paramedic was revealed in his incident report which the ambulance union says is a reflection of the continuous issue of overcrowding faced by hospitals.

As the paramedic's patient waited on the stretcher she asked to go to the toilet where her blood loss turned from dripping to a continuous flow.

'She is actively bleeding. Fills two trauma pads and her pants are soaked. Probably another 400-500ml loss. So heading towards 2 litre loss now,' the paramedic noted.

'She is actively bleeding into the toilet. Flowing. Not dripping. She feels dizzy and can't get up.

'I push emergency bell. Nothing. No response.'

It was not until he managed to find the consultant in charge was the woman able to receive immediate treatment.

A SA Health spokesperson said the patient was treated within an hour of her arrival at the emergency department and discharged after four hours.

The Ambulance Employees Association confirmed the paramedic was placed in a distressing situation and noted similar incidents are common.

The issue with the paramedic came as the Association launched an online systems allowing workers to lodge incidents which they believe effect their patients.
He was wearing blue Thomas the Tank Engine t-shirt and

A toddler has been found walking the streets alone by police in north Queensland.

Police are appealing for public assistance to locate the parents of the boy who is believed to be two years old.

He was found near Sheridan and Upward Streets in central Cairns about 11am on Saturday.

The boy was wearing a blue Thomas the Tank Engine t-shirt (stock image) and blue flannelette pyjama pants

A door knock of the area has failed to locate the boys family.

He is described as about 100cm tall, with blonde hair and blue eyes.

The boy was wearing a blue Thomas the Tank Engine t-shirt and blue flannelette pyjama pants.

Anyone who may know the boy or his carers is urged to contact Cairns Police.
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First lady Michelle Obama said she was 'beyond proud' to take part in a commissioning ceremony Saturday for the U.S. Navy attack submarine named for her home state of Illinois.

The submarine officially became the USS Illinois, SSN 786, and began active service at a ceremony at the submarine base in Groton, Connecticut.

Obama, the ship sponsor, gave the order to 'man our ship and bring her to life' before the crew of about 130 men ran across the brow, onto the vessel.

'Thank you for giving me the incredible privilege of being associated with you and with your families and with the Illinois for the rest of my life,' she told them. 'I will continue to keep you in my prayers every single day and keep you in my thoughts, and know that you have a sponsor that cares deeply.'

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First lady Michelle Obama said she was 'beyond proud' to take part in a commissioning ceremony Saturday for the U.S. Navy attack submarine named for her home state of Illinois. She is pictured with Master Chief David DiPietro, chief of the boat

The submarine officially became the USS Illinois, SSN 786, and began active service at a ceremony at the submarine base in Groton, Connecticut. Obama is pictured standing for the national anthem during the ceremony

Obama, the ship sponsor, gave the order to 'man our ship and bring her to life' before the crew of about 130 men ran across the brow, onto the vessel. The crew is pictured on the submarine during the ceremony

'Thank you for giving me the incredible privilege of being associated with you and with your families and with the Illinois for the rest of my life,' Obama (pictured waving after the ceremony) told the crew

The first lady, who is from Chicago, has made supporting military families a priority. She's considered an honorary member of the crew, and will be involved in the lives of the sub's sailors and families.

'Working with our military community has been the biggest honor of my life,' she said, before going on board and touring the vessel.

Commander Jess Porter, the submarine's commanding officer, has compared having the first lady as the sponsor to having Babe Ruth on your team. He said her participation in the commissioning is 'pretty monumental'.

The crew has worked tirelessly as the sub was built and had to sacrifice time with their families, Porter said. The ceremony recognized those efforts and accomplishments.

'This warship is absolutely ready to go,' he said. 'She's a wonder.'

Commander Jess Porter (pictured with the first lady), the submarine's commanding officer, has compared having her as the sponsor to having Babe Ruth on your team. He said her participation in the commissioning is 'pretty monumental'

'Working with our military community has been the biggest honor of my life,' the first lady said, before going on board and touring the vessel. She is pictured delivering a speech next to Porter Saturday

About 2,5500 people gathered at the ship's base in Groton to witness the ceremony Saturday. Among them was this baby, who wore a knitted Navy hat during the ship's commissioning

The crew has worked tirelessly as the sub was built and had to sacrifice time with their families, Porter said. Two of them are pictured breaking the commissioning pennant during Saturday's ceremony

The first lady, who is from Chicago, is considered an honorary member of the crew, and will be involved in the lives of the sub's sailors and families. She is pictured on top of the submarine Saturday

Submarine supply businesses across the nation and thousands of shipyard employees in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Virginia got involved to build the $2.7 billion submarine.

Electric Boat, a submarine builder based in Groton, and Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia build Virginia-class attack submarines under a teaming agreement and alternate the deliveries.

The USS Illinois is the 13th member of the Virginia class. Eleven more submarines are currently under construction. The last of the submarines under contract, the future USS Utah, is scheduled to be delivered in 2023 as the 28th member of the class.

Construction on the Illinois began in March 2011. The submarine was delivered to the Navy in August. The Navy has said the attack submarines are needed to replace those that were built during the Cold War and are retiring.

Admiral John Richardson, chief of naval operations, gave the order to commission the submarine, telling the audience of about 2,500 that the 'powerful warship' will strike fear into the hearts of the nation's enemies and bring warm reassurance to allies and partners.

The warship is absolutely ready to go' according to Porter, who called it a wonder. The first lady is pictured giving the thumbs up at the end of the commissioning ceremony in Groton

The USS Illinois was named for Obama's home state. She is pictured center with, from left, Commanding Officer Porter, Connecticut Governor Dannel P Malloy, Master Chief David DiPietro and Representative Joe Courtney

The Illinois will undergo additional testing in the shipyard before it begins the process of getting certified for its maiden deployment. Obama is pictured handing a pen to Porter to sign a commemorative book

Submarine supply businesses across the nation and thousands of shipyard employees in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Virginia got involved to build the $2.7 billion submarine. The first lady is pictured exiting the ship

His flag and the submarine's commissioning pennant were raised, signaling that the submarine can be tasked to conduct Navy missions as an active member of the submarine force.

'You're needed on station and there's not a moment to lose,' Richardson told the crew.

It will be about another two years before its first deployment. The Illinois will undergo additional testing in the shipyard before it begins the process of getting certified for its maiden deployment.

The submarine has a redesigned bow with two large tubes to launch Tomahawk missiles, instead of 12 smaller tubes. The larger tubes were designed so the Navy would have the flexibility to also launch future weapons and unmanned vehicles, according to Electric Boat.
A veteran journalist and his cameraman have come under fire by Islamic State militants while reporting in Iraq.

Mark Burrows, senior correspondent for 9News, and his cameraman Adam Bovino were six kilometres on the outskirts of Mosul with Iraqi soldiers when they were attacked by ISIS.

Burrows and Bovino had been in Iraq for the past week reporting the battle for the city between Iraqi soldiers and ISIS.

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Veteran reporter Mark Burrows and his cameraman Adam Bovino came under fire by ISIS, six kilometres on the outskirts of the besieged city of Mosul

Burrows and Bovino had been in Iraq for the past week following the battle for the Mosul

While filming at a safe post six kilometres from Mosul when ISIS militants opened fire on them.

'We've just made contact with some ISIS militants,' Burrows said in the footage while taking shelter behind a wall.

'The Iraqi soldiers responded with rocket-propelled grenades, heavy-calibre machine guns,' Burrows said in a 9News report.

'It was supposed to be pretty secure in that area, but there are still pockets of ISIS militants slowing up the progress of forces towards Mosul,' he said.

Nine news cameraman Adam Bovino was also caught in the crossfire with the veteran report (left with Tom Stefanovic)

Burrows and Bovino were uninjured in the attack and took shelter behind a wall

Footage from 9News shows the Iraqi soldiers in the skirmish with ISIS militants

Australian fighter jets were also involved in the skirmish.

This comes after the extremist group kills over 200 people and abducts 8,000 people as human shields in the besieged city.
Wyoming authorities have identified the 13-month old boy whose body they believe was taken to a landfill in northern Colorado.

Capt. Linda Gesell of the Laramie County Sheriff's Office identified the victim as 13-month old Silas Anthony Ojeda of Cheyenne.

Authorities on Friday announced a manslaughter charge has been filed against a man suspected in the baby's death.

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Wyoming authorities have identified the 13-month old boy whose body they believe was taken to a landfill in northern Colorado as Silas Anthony Ojeda

Logan Hunter Rogers, 23, has been arrested in connection to the death of a 13-month-old boy in Cheyenne, Wyoming

The suspect, 23-year-old Logan Hunter Rogers of Cheyenne, was scheduled to appear in court Friday on charges of manslaughter and reckless child endangerment, the sheriff's office said in a statement.

But the hearing was abruptly canceled after Rogers asked to speak with detectives, Gesell said.

The sheriff's office did not disclose details about Rogers' relationship to the baby.

The boy's grandfather reported the child missing on Wednesday after the boy's mother told him she had not seen her son since Saturday, the sheriff's office has said.

Investigators interviewed an unidentified person at the boy's home on Thursday who confirmed the boy was dead and that his body had been dumped into a trash container at a local community college.

Investigators working with a sanitation company determined that trash from the container is taken to a landfill in Ault, Colorado.

Authorities believe the boy's body is in this landfill in Ault, Colorado. They plan to search the landfill on Monday

Richard Ojeda, the boy's grandfather, declined Friday to discuss details of the case because he said he did not want to jeopardize the criminal investigation.

He said his grandson would have turned 14 months old on Friday.

'He was perfect, all grandchildren are perfect,' Ojeda said. 'We just want him home so we can give him a decent burial.'

Authorities found that the boy's mother had written a troubling Facebook post, saying that a man named 'Santiago' had taken her son fishing over the weekend and had not returned.

The boy's grandfather reported the boy missing on Wednesday, telling authorities he hadn't seen the boy since Saturday. The boy's mother posted this Facebook post about her son's disappearance without going to police

Authorities do not believe a man named 'Santiago' had anything to do with the boy's death. Above, the home where the boy disappeared from

Police interviewed a man with the same name, who was known to the family, but have determined that he had nothing to do with the boy's disappearance.

After touring the boy's home, authorities found biological evidence suggesting the boy had died.

'Through several interviews, we learned the child was, in fact, deceased,' Gesell told Denver7. 'A party in the home took the child and dumped it in a dumpster at our community college.'

'We know that the body was dumped sometime Sunday night or Monday,' she added. 'We are trying to narrow that down.'

It's still unclear whether Rogers was a relative or knew the boy in some other way.

Trash from Cheyenne goes to a private landfill in Ault, Colorado.

Authorities plan to search a 'newer' area of the dump on Monday. They could search through as much as 200,000 pounds of garbage.
The chemical compound is generally used for bleaching purposes

became sick just 15 minutes after she drank it

What began as a sail around the world and turned into a love story ended in tragedy when one man's crewmate-turned-wife suddenly died in his arms one night.

Sylvia Fink's autopsy was inconclusive, but her husband Doug says it was a 'miracle cure' that suddenly took her life.

Doug said his wife consumed Miracle Mineral Solutions (MMS), a medicine that claims it can be used to overcome 'most diseases known to mankind' including cancer and HIV, just 12 hours before she died.

It is also advertised as a preventative for malaria, which Sylvia had wanted to protect herself from when she and Doug arrived at the Vanuatu Islands in 2009.

Doug Nash (left) said his wife of five years Syvlia Fink, 56, (right) died just 12 hours after she drank Miracle Mineral Solutions as a malaria preventative during their sail around the world

Sylvia, 56, had wanted to avoid the malaria pills she took once before and met fellow sailers who sold her the MMS mixture.

'She thought it was a valid medicine,' Doug told ABC's 20/20. 'Turned out, it wasn't.

Only 15 minutes past before Sylvia began to feel terrible. And as the day went on she suffered diarrhea, nausea and began to vomit.

But the solution's packaging said these symptoms were normal and even proof that the MMS mixture is working, so Sylvia wasn't worried - at first.

Miracle Mineral Solutions (MMS) claims it can be used to overcome 'most diseases known to mankind' - including cancer and HIV

'It got worse and worse,' Doug said. 'And by mid-afternoon she was in...lot of pain.'

'By evening she was starting to be serious. And by this time I realized she was suffering from poison.'

Doug called for help on their boat's radio, but it was too late.

Sylvia became limp in his arms and her eyes rolled back.

'That'll haunt me for the rest of my life,' Doug said. 'The vision of her face, just inches away from mine, and those eyes suddenly de-focusing.'

A nurse tried to revive her, giving Sylvia a shot of adrenaline, but nothing worked.

'There's no point,' the nurse told Doug. 'She's gone.'

It was a devastating end to a magical love story.

Sylvia had been Doug's crewmate when he first set sail for his trip around the world in 2004.

Within six months into the trip, the two knew they had something special.

They eventually got married, living happily as husband and wife as they traveled through South America and spent two years in New Zealand before stopping in the Vanuatu islands.

The night before she died, Sylvia was dancing with the local children in the village. Doug said she was as healthy as could be at the time.

'There's no doubt in my mind,' he said. 'MMS did kill my wife.'

Doug is now fighting against the the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing (pictured), which was founded around 2010 and continues to promote and sell MMS as a 'miracle cure'

A local hospital later found that Sylvia had a 'concentrated solution' of sodium chlorite in her system at the time of her death.

The chemical compound, which is generally used for bleaching purposes, is also the main ingredient in MMS.

'They might as well be selling Clorox,' said Ben Mizer of the US Department of Justice.

'You don't drink Clorox, so there is no reason you should drink MMS.'

Doug filed a report against Project Greenlife, a Nevada-based company that sold the MMS bottles Sylvia had bought, with the US FDA in 2011.

Four years later, Project Greenlife manager Louis Daniel Smith was sentenced to more than four years in prison for 'marketing a toxic chemical as a miracle cure'.

'The verdict demonstrates that the Department of Justice will prosecute those who sell dangerous chemicals as miracle cures to sick people and their desperate loved ones,' said Mizer.

But the MMS industry continues to this day, thanks to the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing.

The church, which was founded around 2010, continues to claim that thousands of people have been cured because of MMS.

Now Doug is fighting against the church, hoping others won't be seduced by the promises of MMS and experience his same pain.

'Don't do it, because it may harm you,' he said.

'It harmed me greatly by causing my lover and my life and my partner in sailing to no longer be with me.'
The wife of a Massachusetts cop allegedly staged a robbery and vandalized her own home to make it look like Black Lives Matters supporters were involved.

Maria Daly reported a break-in at the couple's Millbury home last week, telling police $10,000 worth of jewelry and money had been stolen.

Spray-painted on the outside of her house were the letters 'BLM', a popular acronym for the Black Lives Matter movement.

Maria Daly, the wife of police officer Daniel Daly (both pictured), admitted to staging a robbery and vandalizing her home to make it look like Black Lives Matter supporters were involved

Daly reported a burglary at the couple's Millbury, Massachusetts home (pictured) last week, telling police $10,000 worth of jewelry and money had been stolen

But Millbury Police Chief Donald Desorcy said there was something about the story that didn't feel 'quite right'.

'I think that was pretty obvious,' he told CBS Boston.

'We came to the conclusion that it was all fabricated. There was no intruder, there was no burglary.'

Spray-painted on the outside of the house were the letters 'BLM', a popular acronym for the Black Lives Matter movement

Desorcy said Daly, the wife of Millbury K-9 officer Daniel Daly, has since admitted the entire robbery was a hoax and that her valuables had been recovered.

After she filed a police report on October 17, Daly told friends on social media about the alleged burglary.

'We woke up to not only our house being robbed while we were sleeping, but to see this hatred for no reason,' she wrote.

Desorcy said he believes the couple's financial troubles were the motivation behind the hoax.

'I have empathy for the family and for the defendant as well,' he told the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

'I'm very familiar with her and it's an unfortunate set of circumstances that have taken place.'

Daly has been charged with filing a false police report and misleading a police investigation.

The chief said there was no evidence that Maria's husband was involved in the hoax and he will not face charges in connection with the incident.
A senior journalist with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation has revealed his father was a British spy during the Cold War.

Mark Colvin, who hosts the influential PM radio current affairs program, says his father John gathered intelligence for British agency MI6 after World War II.

His father also played a pivotal role in bringing down British prime minister Sir Anthony Eden in 1956, over his botched invasion of the Suez Canal.

However, Mark Colvin didn't find out the truth until he was in his mid-twenties.

Veteran ABC journalist Mark Colvin (pictured) has revealed his father John was a British spy

Extracts of his new book Light and Shadow, published by Fairfax Media on Saturday, reveal what it was like being the son of an espionage agent.

He tells of how his mother Anne first told him and his sister Zoe what their father did for a living.

'It was in the kitchen of my mother and stepfather's house near Canberra in the Christmas and New Year holidays of 1976-77 that my mother first admitted ... that my father was a spy, and told us a little about how the stresses and strains of intelligence work had contributed to the breakdown of their marriage a decade and a half before,' he wrote.

'MI6 wives, just like the men they married, were bound to an informal vow of lifelong silence, even though they weren't actually made to sign the Official Secrets Act.

'Zoe and I were used to a degree of secrecy.

'But we'd also long joked about Dad maybe being a spy.'

Mark Colvin visited Washington later in 1977 to see his father for the first time in five years.

British Prime Minister Anthony Eden (pictured) lost his authority of the Suez Canal invasion

'Over lamb cutlets and claret, he told me that I had to be clear that what he was about to say was secret, not to be revealed to anyone, and that if I could not agree to this condition, I wouldn't be able to come and stay with him,' Colvin wrote.

During his two-week stay in Washington, Mark Colvin learnt his father was a source of information for politically conservative American columnists, Rowley Evans and Robert Novak.

'They were both fierce Cold Warriors with strong Republican connections, and their usually anonymous sources gave them a lot of scoops,' Colvin wrote.

Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser (pictured) nationalised the Suez Canal in 1956

In a separate interview with his son Will Colvin, Mark Colvin revealed his father John was part of an MI6 delegation that went to U.S. to persuade the CIA to encourage the United States to join Britain to take the Suez Canal off Egypt.

Anthony Eden's authority as British prime minister was destroyed in 1956 after he spearheaded an unsuccessful attempt, with France, to seize the Suez Canal from Egypt's socialist government led by Gamal Abdel Nasser.
This is the touching moment a bridegroom asked his step-daughter to be his child for life as he gave her a ring to seal the vow at his wedding to her mother in Brazil.

Kneeling down to the little girl's height, Diogo Bolant, 37, surprised six-year-old Isadora with the amazing question.

'I want to ask you something,' he said during the cute gesture in front of the altar and their guests at the wedding in Sao Bernardo do Campo, Sao Paulo, last Saturday.

Kneeling down to the little girl's height, Diogo Bolant, 37, surprised six-year-old Isadora by asking, 'Do you agree to be my daughter forever?'

'Do you agree to be my daughter forever?' he asked Isadora.

The child, who was the maid of honour for her 27-year-old mum Nicole de Souza, did not hesitate as she answered 'yes'.

Bursting into tears, Isadora sobbed uncontrollably as her new step-dad took a ring out of a box and slipped it onto her finger.

The pastor, giving his blessing to the vow, said: 'So seals the alliance.'

Overcome with emotion, Isadora at first buried her head into her mum's wedding dress.

Then, realising how special the moment is, she fell into her new dad's arms, hugging him as she cries on his shoulder.

He kissed her gently on the cheek as her mum held her tearful daughter's hand to reassure her.

The tender moment was filmed by the Blessed Space Company wedding organisers, who hosted the ceremony at their venue.

Edilaine Gaeta, commercial manager for the company said: 'This was all pre-planned.

'In one of the meetings before the wedding Diogo said he wanted to do a surprise for Isadora, who is like his daughter.

Bursting into tears, Isadora sobbed uncontrollably as her new step-dad took a ring out of a box and slipped it onto her finger

The child, who was the maid of honour for her 27-year-old mum Nicole de Souza, did not hesitate as she answered 'yes' and the pair embraced

The tender moment was filmed by the Blessed Space Company wedding organisers, who hosted the ceremony at their venue

'The little girl had no idea this was going to happen. All the guests and our team of organisers knew and were thrilled and close to tears too, even though we were in on the secret beforehand.'

The video posted on Facebook has received over nine million views in the space of a week.

The impact has shocked the newly married couple who are currently on their honeymoon in Cancun, Mexico.

Nicole said to Brazilian newspaper Extra: 'Wow! What a surprise the video has been. We had no idea it would make such an impression.

'We wanted Isa to participate in our wedding ceremony because she is at that phase where she loves all things about princesses and is in love with the idea of being a bride.'

Describing her daughter's relationship with her new husband, who she has been with for three years, Nicole said: 'Isadora has a biological father who is present in her life and no one can take that relationship away from her.

'However, Diogo has this love, a true love, and affection for her [Isadora] which is bigger than any title,' she added.

Nicole said Diogo has always had a good relationship with her daughter and Isadora even calls him dad.

Nicole said Diogo has always had a good relationship with her daughter and Isadora even calls him dad

Diogo said: 'Isadora always wanted us to get married. And I wanted to do a special tribute for her so she felt part of the moment in front of our guests'

Diogo said: 'Isadora always wanted us to get married. And I wanted to do a special tribute for her so she felt part of the moment in front of our guests.

'I had this idea of a surprise with Nicole a little while ago. It was so Isa could feel part of this family that is forming.'

The Sao Paulo businessman said he was 'surprised by all the repercussions' that had been positive and encouraging as he didn't think the video was going to be so popular.

Online comments included congratulations to Diogo for his 'wonderful attitude' and emotional words from those who were moved by the 'amazing gesture'.

Owner of Blessed Space venue, Katia Araujo said: 'I filmed this on my mobile as it was such a beautiful scene. We're used to seeing doom and gloom and this was so uplifting.'
Says he could never have let Tennent get away from the crime scene

Andrew Pappas, 53, helped chase him down and apprehend him

He pulled her off her bike in Melbourne into bushes and tried to rape her

One of the four men who saved a heavily pregnant woman from being raped on a bike track near where Jill Meagher was murdered says he could never let the attacker get away.

Casey Tennent, 21, was sentenced on Friday to 23 months jail and a four-year community corrections order in the Melbourne County Court after pleading guilty to the horrifying attack.

Father-of-two Andrew Pappas, 53, said he thought he saw an argument when he saw Tennent and his 31-year-old victim in the bushes alongside a Brunswick bike path in April, reports The Age.

Casey Tennent, 21, was sentenced on Friday to 23 months jail for attempting to rape a heavily pregnant woman in a random attack

The woman was riding home along Melbourne's Upfield bike path in Brunswick (pictured) when she was allegedly attacked in April

Casey Tennent tackled the woman off her bike and dragged her into some bushes before pushing down on her heavily pregnant stomach, whereupon she cried out for help.

'I yelled out 'Hey! What are you doing?' and she said 'Help, he is trying to rape me!',' Mr Pappas said after overhearing the victim's screams.

After being confronted Tennent gave chase, before Mr Pappas and three other Good Samaritans apprehended him in an alleyway.

He said the idea of letting Tennent escape from the scene of the crime went against his nature.

'My character wouldn't have let me ride by. It just wouldn't have happened.'

He said the senseless rape and murder of Jill Meagher in 2012 heightened his awareness of the public's responsibility to protect women on the streets.

Tennent was chased off by three men, one of whom says he could never let the attacker get away

'After what happened to Jill, as a community we all have a responsibility for everyone else in our community,'

Tennent, who was addicted to pornography and had violent sexual dreams, was placed on the sex offender's register for eight years.

The victim said in an impact statement she believed she was going to die that night and nowlived in fear.

'This is no way to live your life, in fear that something may happen,'her statement reads.






A group at the centre of an anti-semitism row paid for Jeremy Corbyn to travel to Syria to meet brutal dictator Bashar al-Assad.

The 2009 trip, while the current Labour Party leader was a backbench MP, was hosted by the Palestinian Return Centre (PRC), a London-based lobby group which campaigns on behalf of displaced Palestinians.

He was one of several MPs from the three main parties to make the trip to Syria, in a delegation headed by Conservative Lord Sheikh, which thanked Assad for his country's housing of half a million Palestinian refugees in the 61 years since 1948 - the year in which the state of Israel was founded.

Mr Corbyn met Assad in Syria in 2009, in a 1,300 trip which was funded by the London-based Palestinian Return Centre (PRC)

In the Members' Register of Interests, Mr Corbyn recording the trip as having been worth 1,300.

The PRC has been embroiled in controversy this week after holding a meeting at the House of Lords, where a speaker - who the group says was an audience member - claimed a 'heretic' rabbi had 'antagonised' Hitler 'to then want to systematically kill Jews wherever he could find them as opposed to just make Germany a Jew-free land'.

That meeting was chaired by Baroness Tonge, a former Lib Dem peer who resigned from the party as she was suspended - who was also on the 2009 trip.

The multi-party delegation met with President Bashar al-Assad, who discussed the number of Palestinian refugees in Syria

She told the MailOnline that the delegation visited UN camps on the Iraq/Syria border, which she described as 'full of refugees from the Iraqi government who did not like Sunni Palestinians'.

And she recalled: 'They wanted to go anywhere but stay in the camp.'

Of the delegation's meetings with Assad, she said: 'Assad had been very good to Palestinian refugees in Syria, but was getting fed up with taking more because of the strain on his countries resources.

Mr Corbyn declared the trip in the Members' Register of Interests in 2009, which reveals the cost was funded by the PRC

'We eventually got the people in the camp we visited relocated to various countries.'

The PRC-funded visit to Syria was held to mark Balfour day - the anniversary of the November 2, 1917, declaration by British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour supporting a Jewish home in Palestine.

The PRC has demanded Britain apologises for the promise - which Balfour said should made on the clear understanding 'that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine'.

Writing about the 2009 trip in communist newspaper the Morning Star, Mr Corbyn said he had met with a group of Palestinians on the anniversary of the 'infamous' declaration, and hit out at the US government for not taking stronger action over Israeli settlements.

'Once again the Israeli tail wags the US dog,' he wrote, 'as [secretary of state] Hillary Clinton drops demands to even halt new settlements as the Netanyahu government pushes to continue its dismemberment of the West Bank'.

Referring to the comments, Dave Rich, author of The Lefts Jewish Problem branded the wording 'crass', telling The Times: 'This crass wording about Israel echoes conspiratorial ideas about Jews or Zionists controlling US foreign policy.

'Somebody who claims to oppose antisemitism should be able to recognise the dangers of using language like this.'

The PRC has been accused by the Israeli government of being linked to Hamas - an allegation it strongly denies, claiming it is an effort to damage its credibility.

Baroness Tonge quit the Liberal Democrats this week, and was suspended from the party for chairing a controversial PRC meeting in the House of Lords, where a person was recorded seemingly blaming Jews for the Holocaust. She said she had not heard the comments

In numerous statements this week the group has said it does not tolerate Holocaust denial.

Referring to the trip, Mr Corbyn told the House of Commons: 'I pay tribute to the fact that Syria has accommodated a very large number of refugees and ensured that they are able to live in that country in safety.'

He recorded the purpose of the visit, between October 31 and November 2 2009 as 'to visit Iraqi and Palestinian refugee camps in Syria'.

In January the following year Mr Corbyn also visited Gaza in a trip funded by the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza, the register of interest shows.

MailOnline has contacted Mr Corbyn's office and Labour headquarters to comment on the trip.

A statement from Mr Corbyn's office this week said: 'Jeremy has consistently spoken out against all forms of antisemitism.

'In his speech to Labour Party conference this year, he said: Let me be absolutely clear: antisemitism is an evil.

'It led to the worst crimes of the 20th century, every one of us has a responsibility to ensure that it is never allowed to fester in our society again. This party always has and always will fight against prejudice and hatred of Jewish people with every breath in our body.'

Baroness Tonge said criticism of the PRC and of herself this week had been unfair. She said that she did not hear the 'rant' which caused outrage at the meeting this week.

At a PRC event last year, Labour MP Sir Gerald Kaufman claimed 'Jewish money' was influencing the Tories - a remark that Mr Corbyn condemned.
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Thousands of gamers, sci-fi fans and move buffs are descending on London's ExCeL centre for the MCM Comic Convention.

Day one of the event, which started yesterday and ends on Sunday, saw attendees in costumes ranging from Pokemon to Star Wars' Darth Vader.

Also on display was a giant Chewbacca and a troupe of women dressed as Harley Quinn from Suicide Squad.

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Thousands of gamers, sci-fi fans and move buffs are descending on London's ExCeL centre for the MCM Comic Convention. Pictured are cosplayers dressed as Harley Quinn from Suicide Squad

The Comic Con, which started in Britain in 1968, has always been a hotspot for cosplay - which means dressing up and taking the role of a particular character. Here cosplayers are dressed as Harley Quinn and The Joker from Batman

Actor Michael Landes meet new Marvel Superhero Samarium, who was at Comic Con to raise awareness of inflammatory bowel disease for a health campaign, IBDunmasked

A giant chewbacca (left) was also in attendance. On the right are two people dressed as El Diablo and Katana from Suicide Squad

A woman shows off her costume on the plaza outside the ExCel centre, where the convention is taking place

People attending the event competed for the best costumes. Pictured is a man in an Iron Man outfit (left) and a woman showing off a purple cape

Kick-Ass cosplayers on day 2 of the MCM London Comic Con at the ExCel Centre in the London Docklands

The Comic Con, which started in Britain in 1968, has always been a hotspot for cosplay - which means dressing up and taking the role of a particular character.

Cosplay fanatics Aaron Bell and Abbie O'Hara, both 22, from Devon, have transformed themselves into nine different characters over the past nine months.

After meeting online on a cosplay forum the pair started dating in January and have since spent weeks planning and creating their handmade outfits, which can cost hundreds of pounds to make.

Abbie said: 'We love to cosplay as we can get dresses up for comic conventions, London MCM is the biggest one in the UK, where thousands of people attend.

'This year when we attended it was the first time we went as a couple cosplay.'

The bi-annual event has grown every year since it took off in the 2000s and one of the highlights is the amazing array of comic characters on show

Also on offer are gaming competition, with a Street Fighter V tournament planned for Saturday. Left is Pyramid Head (aka Sankaku Atama) from Silent Hill and two men dressed as Judge Dread from 2000 AD

The Comic Con has attracted special guests from the worlds of TV and film, including cast members from Red Dwarf and Game Of Thrones. Pictured are two women dressed as Harley Quinn and one as Katana

Costumes featuring characters from anime and manga, (left, right) a Japanese style of animation, were also popular

The Comic Con has attracted special guests from the worlds of TV and film, including cast members from Red Dwarf and Game Of Thrones.

Also on offer are gaming competition, with a Street Fighter V tournament planned for today.

Meanwhile, the Comic Village features scores of budding comic book writers looking to promote their work.

And, the event also has a food area, with most stores focusing on Japanese cuisine due to the popularity of anime and manga, an animation style that originated in the country.

Last year over 120,000 pop culture fans filled the ExCeL and even more are expected this year.

Last year over 120,000 pop culture fans filled the ExCeL and even more are expected this year. Pictured is a cosplayer dressed as Merida from the film Brave (left) and the ever-popular Harley Quinn
Ben Gamble (pictured with parents Jackie and Paul) was born without a left ventricle

A boy born with half a heart had benefits that provide his essential 24-hour care taken away on his birthday.

Ben Gamble, from Coventry, was born without a left ventricle meaning his heart only has one pump instead of two - making it difficult for blood to be pumped around his body.

He has undergone five heart operations, has been resuscitated twice, and will need a transplant if he is to reach adulthood.

The youngster, who refers to his chest scars as his 'zip', also faces his next operation around Christmas time.

His conditions severely limits his ability to undertake physical activity, such as playing with friends, and he can't even take on the 500-metre walk to school from his house without having to stop to rest.

Once at school, Whitley Primary, his ability to concentrate is affected by restricted blood flow to his brain and he struggles to stay there for the whole day.

But government officials at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have taken away a large part of his disability allowance after concluding that the fact he can walk 50 metres at a normal pace means his condition is not as severe as previously assessed.

The callous nature of the benefits cut was compounded by the fact the letter arrived on Ben's birthday and referred to him as 'James'.

The decision to withdraw the disability allowance has had a knock on effect on other support payments, including some from Coventry City Council.

Ben's family now faces a monthly income shortfall of more than 700.

He has undergone five heart operations, has been resuscitated twice, and will need a transplant if he is to reach adulthood

Paul and Jackie Gamble, Ben's mother and father, have appealed against the decision and their case will be heard at Coventry Magistrates' Court on November 15.

Charity 'Little Hearts Matter' have written to the DWP in support of Ben and his family.

The four page letter outlines the complications Ben faces in everyday life as a result of his condition which is medically referred to as 'Double Inlet Left Ventricle with Transposition of the Great Arteries'.

The charity is currently lobbying government to take greater consideration of heart conditions when performing assessments over Disability Living Allowance.

The family has also received the support of local Labour councillor Ed Ruane.

Paul, who quit his job as a security guard to look after Ben full time, said: 'He told the teachers at his school he doesn't like his heart and wants a new one. It makes me tear up just thinking about it.

'When he's playing with his brother and sister, Chloe and Jack, he doesn't understand why he can't carry on for as long as they do.

'To look at him you wouldn't think he's disabled but you know inside he's only got half a heart.

'They say he's not entitled to the benefits because he can do things a normal eight-year-old can do. He can, but for nowhere near as long.'

The callous nature of the benefits cut was compounded by the fact the letter arrived on Ben's birthday and referred to him as 'James'

Jackie added: 'It's like a used car, it might look fantastic on the outside, but you don't know what the engine is like under the bonnet.'

Paul said he was shocked when he received the news Ben's benefits would be stopped on the day of his son's eighth birthday and that the added stress was not helping the family's situation.

He said: 'It was ridiculous. Happy birthday, you're not disabled anymore and you have a perfect heart.

'All I could think was how can they come to the conclusion he's fully functioning?

'It was like a bomb went off in my head.'

Jackie added: 'This whole thing is breaking us really.

'But we're massively proud of Ben. To go through what he's been through and the upset he has been through.'

Ben told the Coventry Telegraph he just wants to be able to play with his friends.

He said: 'I don't like my heart, I just want it to be fixed.

'Every time I walk to school I always have to stop. When I play I always get tired out a lot.'

Ben can't even take on the 500-metre walk to school from his house without having to stop to rest

Coun Ruane, cabinet member for children, said: 'It does make you question how we've allowed a culture in society to develop so strongly, where central government thinks it's acceptable to take money away from an eight-year-old boy with a severe heart condition.

'Ben Gamble's case is not an anomaly or accident of a flawed system with good intentions.

It's the human consequence of this government's active decision to bring in what they call tougher measures.

'Measures such as significantly increasing the amount of money they were able to take from sanctioned disabled and chronically ill people.

'But why should a child who already suffers from pain and misery be forced to suffer even more?'

The Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said: 'Decisions are made after consideration of all the supporting evidence provided by the claimant and their family, their school, and their GP.
Weeks later he had email asking him to confirm if he was Saddam Hussein

Apple refused to give a father-of-two a refund for his 799 iPhone unless he could prove he was not deceased Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Sharakat Hussain, 26, was miffed when he received an email from the tech giant claiming that he was on the Government's Denied Parties list, which made it illegal for him to be sold an iPhone, reports the Sun.

Mr Hussain, from Great Barr in Birmingham, had bought the phone for his sister but tried to get his money back after she did not want the gift.

Apple refused to give a father-of-two a refund for his 799 iPhone unless he could prove he was not deceased Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein (pictured)

Due to the high cost of the model, he was told he would receive his money via bank transfer. But after waiting weeks he was still out of pocket.

When he finally received an email from Apple, he could not believe his eyes when they asked him to prove he was not the Iraqi dictator.

Hussein was hung at an Iraqi army base in 2006 and also his name is spelled differently to Mr Hussain's.

However, bungling staff at Apple still managed to get the pair mixed up.

Sharakat Hussain, 26, was miffed when he received an email from Apple claiming that he was on the Government's Denied Parties list, which made it illegal for him to be sold an iPhone

Mr Hussain told the Sun: 'I thought the email was spam, I was stunned to learn it was real. I was furious to be linked to Saddam.'
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Iraqi forces have proudly waved their country's flag having regained control of another village from ISIS on the road to Mosul as the net closes on jihadis in the city.

State-sanctioned Shiite troops joined Iraq's Mosul offensive on Saturday in a hope to surround Mosul and sever terrorist supply lines from neighboring Syria.

Other Iraqi forces aided by US-led airstrikes and heavy artillery meanwhile drove IS from the town of Shura, south of Mosul, where the militants had rounded up civilians to be used as human shields.

The twin thrusts come nearly two weeks into the offensive to retake Iraq's second largest city, but most of the fighting is still taking place in towns and villages far from its outskirts, and the entire operation is expected to take weeks, if not months.

The umbrella group for the militias, known as the Popular Mobilization Units, says they will not yet enter Mosul itself and will instead focus on retaking Tal Afar, a town to the west that had a Shiite majority before it fell to IS in 2014.

Iraqi forces have proudly waved their country's flag having regained control of another village from ISIS on the road to Mosul as the net closes on jihadis in the city

State-sanctioned Shiite troops joined Iraq's Mosul offensive on Saturday in a hope to surround Mosul and sever terrorist supply lines from neighboring Syria

Other Iraqi forces aided by US-led airstrikes and heavy artillery meanwhile drove IS from the town of Shura, south of Mosul, where the militants had rounded up civilians to be used as human shields

Ahmed al-Assadi, a spokesman for the group, told reporters in Baghdad that the militias had retaken 10 villages since the start of the pre-dawn operation.

But there was likely still some fighting underway, and he said forces were removing explosive booby-traps left by ISIS to slow their advance.

Jaafar al-Husseini, a spokesman for the Hezbollah Brigades, said his group and the other militias had advanced 4 miles (7 kilometers) toward Tal Afar and used anti-tank missiles to destroy three suicide car bombs that were heading toward them.

Iraqi troops approaching Mosul from the south advanced into Shura after a wave of U.S.-led airstrikes and artillery shelling against militant positions inside the town.

Commanders said most of the IS fighters withdrew earlier this week with civilians, but that U.S. airstrikes had disrupted the forced march, allowing some civilians to escape.

'After all this shelling, I don't think we will face much resistance,' Iraqi army Maj. Gen. Najim al-Jabouri said as the advance got underway.

'This is easy, because there are no civilians left,' he added.

But hours later, a few families who had hunkered down during the fighting emerged.

The government has urged people to remain in their homes, fearing a mass exodus from Mosul, which is still home to more than 1 million people.

By the afternoon, Brig. Gen. Firas Bashar said his forces were clearing explosives and searching for IS fighters in Shura.

The sound of artillery still echoed in the distance.

Commanders said most of the IS fighters withdrew earlier this week with civilians, but that U.S. airstrikes had disrupted the forced march, allowing some civilians to escape

Pictured: Iraqi forces celebrate food being brought to their camp as they prepare for their offensive against ISIS

Iraqi troops approaching Mosul from the south advanced into Shura after a wave of U.S.-led airstrikes and artillery shelling against militant positions inside the town

The twin thrusts come nearly two weeks into the offensive to retake Iraq's second largest city, but most of the fighting is still taking place in towns and villages far from its outskirts, and the entire operation is expected to take weeks, if not months

The umbrella group for the militias, known as the Popular Mobilization Units, says they will not yet enter Mosul itself and will instead focus on retaking Tal Afar, a town to the west that had a Shiite majority before it fell to IS in 2014

Meanwhile, it emerged Iraqi civilians could suffer horrific injuries after forces fighting to liberate the city of Mosul dropped deadly white phosphorus shells.

The substance was recently used over the village of Karemlash, just 12 miles East of Iraq's second largest city.

Mosul is currently under the power of ISIS fighters, but state-backed Shi'ite paramilitary groups have started an offensive to take-back the city.

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Pictured: Families displaced by Iraqi forces offensive against ISIS jihadists gather near Qayyarah, 30km south of Mosul

Pictured: Civilians are transported in trucks as they are moved away from settlements and towns near Mosul, as the war against ISIS jihadists continues

Pictured: A little girl is carried by her mother as families gather together after being forced to flee their homes near Mosul

Karemlash is unpopulated but this this does negate the harmful effects phosphorus can have on civilians, as the substance can lodge itself in the ground - causing problems when people return to their homes.

It can also stick to clothing or on the skin and continues to burn unchecked as particles are exposed to air.

Experts at US military information service GlobalSecurity.org claim skin injuries caused by the substance are often 'deep and painful'.

It states: 'The burns usually are multiple, deep, and variable in size. The solid in the eye produces severe injury. The particles continue to burn unless deprived of atmospheric oxygen.

'These weapons are particularly nasty because white phosphorus continues to burn until it disappears. If service members are hit by pieces of white phosphorus, it could burn right down to the bone.'

Similar to Napalm, the chemical substance is used in shells and grenades, igniting spontaneously at around 30C to produce an intense heat and thick pillars of smoke.

Pictured: An Iraqi soldier sits at a checkpoint as he waits for the arrival of families displaced by the Mosul offensive

Pictured: A little girl sits with her mother alongside many other children and families who have been forced to flee their homes around the city of Mosul

Pictured: Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers, stationed between two front lines, talk to a child who just fled Abu Jarbuah village, near Bashiqa, east of Mosul

Pictured: A little girl wails as she is passed onto a truck carrying Iraqi's forced to flee their homes as coalition forces attack ISIS fighters in Mosul

Pictured: Iraqis drive their vehicles through a checkpoint as they arrive to distribute food to Iraqi forces deployed in areas south of Mosul during an operation to retake the city

The phosphorus is not the only chemical to be used in Iraq conflict - with jihadis setting fire to the al-Mishraq sulphur plant last week, creating a toxic cloud which overwhelmed many people who inhaled the gas.

Hospitals in Mosul were overwhelmed as casualties, among them children and pregnant women, reported breathing problems.

A satellite image from NASA showed the spread of the sulphur cloud to cover around a quarter of Iraq and spreading into Turkey, Syria and Iran.

News of the phosphorus comes as coalition forces begin their attack on ISIS militants in the town of Tal Afar, west of Mosul.

This NASA satellite image shows the plume of sulphur dioxide rising and blowing to the south

An Iraqi soldier puts on a gas mask as smoke billows in the background following ISIS setting fire to the al-Mishraq sulphur factory

Fighters from the Hashed al-Shaabi, a paramilitary umbrella organisation dominated by Iran-backed Shiite militias, have largely been on the sidelines since the operation to retake Mosul from the Islamic State group was launched last week.

But Hashed spokesman Ahmed al-Assadi said: 'The operation aims to cut supplies between Mosul and Raqa and tighten the siege of (IS) in Mosul and liberate Tal Afar.'

Assadi also said the operation aimed to retake the towns of Hatra and Tal Abta.

The operation could bring the fighting perilously close to the ancient city of Hatra, located northeast of the town of the same name, a UNESCO world heritage site that has already been vandalised by IS.

The involvement of Shiite militias in the Mosul operation has been a source of contention, although some of the Hashed's top commanders insist they do not plan to enter the largely Sunni city.

The Iraqi government troops are facing stiff resistance as they advance on Mosul. Pictured, an explosion from an ISIS IED

Pictured: An Iraqi Federal Police vehicle passes through a checkpoint in Qayara in the outskirts of Mosul

Iraqi Kurds and Sunni Arab politicians have opposed their involvement, as has Turkey, which has a military presence east of Mosul despite repeated demands by Baghdad for the forces to be withdrawn.

Relations between the Hashed and the US-led coalition fighting IS are also tense, but the paramilitaries enjoy widespread support among members of Iraq's Shiite majority.

Tal Afar was a Shiite-majority town before the Sunni extremists of IS overran it in 2014, and its recapture is a main goal of Shiite militia forces.
Parents who are being hit with draconian fines for taking holidays during term time are not causing any detriment to their children's results by doing so.

A new study has shown that children who take at least one day off a term are actually more likely to achieve better results than pupils with perfect attendance records.

Figures conducted by Dr Beccy Smith and published in the Times show that 78.7 per cent of those in the classroom every day reached the expected academic level by the end of primary school, but this was fewer than the 82.2 per cent of those who took between one and 20 days of authorised holiday.

She told the newspaper: 'I thought it was particularly unbelievable that taking them out of school for one day to go to a museum could have any effect at all.'

A new study has shown that children who take at least one day off a term are actually more likely to achieve better results than pupils with perfect attendance records

However A Department for Education spokesman claimed absences can impact results, particularly at secondary level.

The spokesman said: 'The evidence shows every day of school missed can affect a pupil's chance of achieving good GCSEs, which has a lasting effect on their life chances  vindicating our strong stance on attendance.'

They told MailOnline: 'We want every child to get the best possible chance to fulfil their potential. Clearly there are a range of factors that can affect achievement but to suggest missing school does not impact upon children's life chances would be disingenuous.

'Our evidence shows that every extra day of school missed is associated with lower attainment. A child who is absent also impacts teachers, whose planning of lessons is disrupted by children missing large portions of teaching.'

Rules introduced in 2013 by then-Education Secretary Michael Gove mean parents can be hit with 60-per-child fines for taking their children away during term, other than in exceptional circumstances.

And they have been somewhat of a cash cow for local governments, with 4million raised in just one year by charging for absences.

Research has found town halls issued 68,438 fines for unauthorised absences for family trips between September 2015 and July 2016.

Jon Platt,took his landmark case to the High Court, which ruled he did not have to pay a 120 fine to Isle of Wight Council after a Florida trip and had no case to answer

The most famous example involved Jon Platt, who took his landmark case all the way to the High Court, which ruled he did not have to pay a 120 fine to Isle of Wight Council after a Florida trip and had no case to answer.

The council, along with the Department for Education, has since appealed the decision, but his fight inspired other parents to challenge the system.

Tom Cafferty, who fought his 2,500 fine for taking his children on holiday during term time, also urged parents to contest school absence laws.

Cafferty and wife Marisa, both 37, asked the headteacher of their local school in Kettering, Northamptonshire, if they could take their two children to Florida to visit housebound grandparents.

He was initially fined before the prosecution withdrew its case.

In April, Michelle Smith was fined after taking her youngest daughter away because a Government 'free for all' meant her children had their Easter breaks at different times.

Despite alerting her teachers over the clashing date, the 34-year-old, wanted to go to Ibiza but it meant Amelia, 10, had to miss classes because she broke up two weeks after her two elder brothers, elder sister and stepbrother who attended other establishments.

Three cases were thrown out later on in the year by Swindon Magistrate's Court.

A fine issued to Richard and Tania Davey who took their student son - who has a 96 per cent attendance record - on holiday was quashed in September, along with two anonymous cases in May.

American-born Noah Myers, who was twice fined for taking his children on holiday during term time, took his fight to the European courts, claiming the law contravened his human rights.

Despite the precedence of Mr Platt's case, however, Ben and Rebecca Walker were found guilty at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court of refusing to ensure their children's regular attendance at Latchingdon Primary School, Essex, and made to pay a total of 615.

Michelle Smith was fined after taking her youngest daughter away because a Government 'free for all' meant her children had their Easter breaks at different times

A fine issued to Richard and Tania Davey who took their student son - who has a 96 per cent attendance record - on holiday was quashed

Noah Myers, who was twice fined for taking his children on holiday during term time, took his fight to the European courts, claiming the law contravened his human rights

Figures also show there has been a leap in the number of term-time absences despite the ban.

One in 20 half days were missed down to unapproved family trips in the autumn and spring terms of 2015 to 2016 - a five-year high.

This has gone up from roughly one in 23 half days in the previous academic year, and one in 30 in 2011 to 2012.
Mary Ann Cotton is thought by historians to have killed as many as 21 people - including 11 of her own children

Two decades before Jack the Ripper became Victorian London's most feared serial killer, a seemingly harmless County Durham housewife had already poisoned her way into the annals of British crime history with a horrific crime spree.

Experts are divided on how many bodies Mary Ann Cotton left in her wake as she posed as a kind and caring wife, mother, and sometimes widow.

Between 1860 and 1872 she is believed to have put an end to three husbands, a lover, and up to 11 of her children.

She was sent to the gallows in 1843 at the age of 40.

Some historians think the death toll she caused may be as high as 21 - all of them victims of a cruel and scheming temptress who killed with impunity using arsenic to make it look they had died from fever.

And yet a researcher who has spent the last 30 years investigating Cotton's conviction has said the case is not so clear-cut - saying authorities took shortcuts and used hearsay to get a conviction, and said presenting her as a 'psychopath' is unfair.

While Jack the Ripper remains one of the most notorious serial killers ever to baffle investigators, Cotton remains comparatively unknown.

Until now, that is.

A new ITV drama, starting on Monday night, will star Joanne Froggatt, of Downton Abbey fame, in the lead role. The two-part series, Dark Angel, will examine the life of woman believed to be the country's first serial killer.

Sinister: Cotton killed her victims by poisoning them, and historians believe she could have killed 21 people, including 11 of her own children

Cotton will be played by Downton Abbey star Joanne Froggatt in upcoming two-part drama Dark Angel

Historian Ian Smyth Herdman has called for the public to take the drama with a pinch of salt though.

He told MailOnline: 'It is sickening that over the years MAC's family have to suffer hearsay, rumours and accounts of MAC's as being accurate, when I'd say 99 per cent of the information is nothing more than rehashed accounts.'

And Mr Smyth Herdman added: 'The fact that the drama will be aired on Halloween is yet another indication that it cannot be taken seriously, as the timing is pathetic and an indication of hyperbole and sensationalism'.

The case against Cotton: It is long believed that she was responsible for up to 21 murders

Cotton denied her guilt until her day, but was convicted of murder after a three day trial at Durham Crown Court

The first part of the drama will be screened on ITV at 9pm on Monday night

He claimed that prosecution's star witness, a chemist called Thomas Detchon, was able to pick Cotton out in an identity parade because he had been shown a photograph of her beforehand.

I think she was a troubled person, and I believe my research shows that she suffered from depression, but was certainly not - as some authors describe - a psychopath. Ian Smyth Herdman

Far from being a cold-blooded killer, he believes, she was one of Sunderland Infirmary's best fever nurses, with a string of experts lining up to be character references at her trial.

Mr Smyth Herdman, who runs a website dedicated to the case, said: 'I believe like most Victorian women who had child after child, her life was one of difficulty, she made the best of the situation.

'Deaths in that era were frequent, the mortality age being very low for adults too.

'I think she was a troubled person, and I believe my research shows that she suffered from depression, but was certainly not - as some authors describe - a psychopath.'

He said his research has convinced many - including students interested in the case - that it was miscarriage of justice.

Cotton was locked up at Durham Prison after her conviction, but continued to protest her innocence until the day she died

At the time of her death, the Newcastle Chronicle described her as a monster in human shape.

David Wilson, professor of criminology at Birmingham University, who wrote a biography of the convicted killer, is convinced of her guilt.

Professor Wilson, author of the book Murder Grew With Her: On The Trail Of Mary Ann Cotton, Britains First Serial Killer, wrote that even 'crime aficionados' know little or nothing of her.

The murderer, he observed 'has been reduced to little more than a chilling bedtime story and a Northern nursery rhyme: "Sing, sing, oh, what can I sing? Mary Ann Cotton is tied up with string. Where, where? Up in the air, sellin black puddens a penny a pair."'

Professor David Wilson, who wrote a biography of Cotton and who makes a cameo in the series, wrote: 'It is hard not to believe that there was some element of enjoyment at the control she exercised'

Professor Wilson, who makes a cameo in the series as Cotton's lawyer, said he had uncovered toxicology reports at Leeds University which prove her guilt.

Born Mary Ann Robson in 1832 in Low Moorsley, a village outside Sunderland, she married first husband William Mowbray in 1852.

The couple and their family moved to Cornwall, but returned to the North East in 1860 - which is when the killing began.

Her style, Prof Wilson observed, was very simple.

'Mary Ann would find a man with an income, live with him until it became inconvenient, and then murder him,' he wrote.

The Durham home where Cotton was arrested for the killing of her stepson, seven-year-old Charles Edward Cotton

It has long been held that she killed her husbands in order to claim insurance money

'Numerous children  no one knows how many  were dispatched with the same callousness.'

Mary Ann would find a man with an income, live with him until it became inconvenient, and then murder him Professor David Wilson

She would dispatch her victims with arsenic, which brought on symptoms including vomiting, diarrhoea and dehydration - which could be easily disguised as gastroenteritis.

All of her four children with Mowbray, three died young, while her first husband perished in 1835.

It was this that provided the motive for her killings, investigators found - she was entitled to a payout of 35 from British and Prudential Insurance.

She married her second husband, George Ward, in August 1865. He was dispatched a year later, entitling her to a second insurance payout.

Next came widower James Robinson, who became her husband in 1867.

Yet he was to survive his marriage to the serial killer, throwing her out after discovering she lived on the streets, forcing her to live on the streets.

But she was not to be single for long, turning her attentions to Frederick Cotton. She committed bigamy to tie the knot in March 1870, and he was dead by the end of the year.

At this point her long-term lover, Joseph Nattrass, became her lodger. Shortly after revising his will in her favour, he was dead as well.

Letters written by Mary Ann Cotton were put up for auction last month amid heightened interest in the case

Cotton protested her innocence until her death, writing a string of letters from prison arguing that she was not a killer

Her neighbour Jane Hedley would later testify at Cotton's trial at Durham Crown Court that Nattrass had died writing in agony.

Prof Wilson wrote: 'It is clear from Jane Hedleys account that, by this stage at least, Mary Ann had the confidence to kill right under the noses of the doctors.'

And he continued: 'It is hard not to believe that there was some element of enjoyment at the control she exercised  that she was, in other words, a psychopath. I believe she would have enjoyed holding down Nattrass as he died writhing in agony.'

Despite protesting her innocence, Cotton was hanged in 1873, having been convicted in a three-day trial at Durham Crown Court

Also convinced of Cotton's guilt is retired Supt Stephanie Yearnshire, who told The Mirror ahead of the new series: 'This was a woman who was expert at seducing men, she was attractive and intelligent as well as being calculating and ruthless.'

It was the poisoning of her stepson, seven-year-old Charles Edward Cotton, that led to her undoing. His death was ruled to have been caused by natural causes, but by this stage her trail of victims had been noticed, and local gossip prompted a police investigation.

After a three day trial, she was executed on March 24, 1873, despite writing numerous letters to newspapers protesting her innocence.

Poisoning her victims meant there was little chance of her crimes being discovered, her trial heard

Mr Smyth Herdman said: 'MAC was only ever convicted of one murder, that of her stepson Charles Edward Cotton. Without this conviction the other three cases attributed to her at Durham Crown Court would collapse.'

The hanging itself was a horrific debacle -the drop below the trap door was too short, and the hangman was forced to press down on her to finish the job.

Mr Smyth Herdman has an unpublished book which he hopes will further understanding about Cotton, and also plans to produce a play about the convicted murderer.

Despite her protestations of innocence, Cotton was hanged in 1873 and is believed to be Britain's first serial killer

With attention set to focus on Cotton with the new series, her descendants are keen to avoid the spotlight.

Her great-great grandson told The Mirror, on condition of anonymity: 'Its such a strange, dark secret for a family to have. To say it came as a shock when my dad told me, quite casually, that she was a direct relative, is an understatement.
A Swiss mother and her boyfriend were arrested after two child prisoners were found in their home where they were held hostage for seven years.

The couple are thought to have arrived in Alicante, Costa Blanca, in March of 2009 but the girl and boy, now aged 17 and 15, never went out.

They were only saved when the girl managed to send a desperate email calling for help.

Police attended but were about to leave after the mother persuaded them nothing was wrong when the girl cried out for help.

The couple are thought to have arrived in Alicante (pictured), Costa Blanca, in March of 2009 but the girl and boy, now aged 17 and 15, never went out

Police attended but were about to leave after the mother persuaded them nothing was wrong when the girl cried out for help

The mother, who denies the allegations, claimed there were no children living in the house.

The daughter alleges they were constantly abused and threatened by their 49-year-old mother who beat them and threatened to kill them.

She said her mother's partner, a 30-year-old Swiss man, knew what was happening but ignored it.

A spokesman for the Spanish Civil Guard said: 'On receiving the email, we launched what was effectively a race against time.'

'The sister and brother lived completely isolated from society.

'They did not speak Spanish, communicating only in English, and never went to school.'

Investigations were hampered as the family often moved home and had lived in six different properties in Alicante over seven years.

The girl said she and her brother were denied medical treatment except for once seeing a doctor for a stomach complaint last year.

She claimed they were denied access to the outside world and weren't allowed to communicate with anyone except the family.

Her furious mother smashed a mobile phone when she tried to call police, it is alleged.

The daughter alleges they were constantly abused and threatened by their 49-year-old mother who beat them and threatened to kill them

A police spokesman said: 'The girl said she was only allowed out a few minutes each day to allow their pets to do their business or to buy something very quickly at the local supermarket but always under the strict control of their mother.'

'The girl had not dared to ask for help until now because, since childhood, they had been under constant threats of death and told repeatedly that she would be killed if she contacted the police or raped. This threat became very real over time.

'The girl, who heard the officers talking to her mother, began to make gestures from the hallway to get his attention, at which point the two children were rescued.'

The mother is alleged to have handed out 'continuous assaults and beatings' and would throw ornaments at them across the room.

Her daughter said they had lived in fear since she was three or four in Switzerland before moving to Spain.

The older teenager managed to send a number of emails calling for help but never said where she lived.

The mother was arrested on charges of domestic abuse, causing injuries and illegal detention. Her partner has been charged with aiding and abetting.

The two teenagers were initially taken to a children's centre in Alicante but the 17-year-old girl has since gone back to Switzerland after her natural father travelled to Spain to collect her.
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Scores of children are still wandering around the burnt-out remains of the Calais Jungle three days after it was declared empty.

Despite an impressive effort to clear out most of the refugees in the demolished camp, a handful can still be seen in the wreckage.

It comes after French officials declared the clearance complete, with the site evacuated of 5,596 people since the operation began on Monday.

Around 70 people were facing a second night of sleeping rough around the area, and were allowed into the camp's church and school, according to a charity.

Scores of children are still wandering around the burnt-out remains of the Calais Jungle days after it was demolished

Despite an impressive effort to clear out most of the refugees in the camp, a handful can still be seen in the wreckage

It comes after French officials declared the clearance complete, with the site evacuated of 5,596 people since the operation began on Monday

Volunteers from Help Refugees said they are taking blankets and food to the stranded group - reportedly half of whom are children - as temperatures turn colder at night.

After being left to fend for themselves for two days in the deserted shantytown, around 100 stragglers boarded buses for shelters around France as part of a government operation to shut down the notorious slum.

Around 50 minors, mostly Sudanese, were taken to a centre for refugee children, with another bus of 34 older youths leaving shortly afterwards.

Only around two dozen people who had spent the night in a disused part of the camp were still unaccounted for, following a clearance operation since Monday that has seen some the mpeople transferred to hostels around France.

Some had been refusing to budge from the site near the northern port of Calais, where migrants have flocked for years in the hope of stowing away on a truck crossing the Channel to Britain.

Among the last to leave Friday was Abdel Bassi, a Sudanese 17-year-old who had been clinging to dreams of a new life across the sea.

'APRES-JUNGLE' SPIRIT OF OPTIMISM IS IN THE AIR FOLLOWING JUNGLE CLEAR-OUT A new phrase has been coined in Calais - apres-Jungle. It sums up the northern French port's hopes and fears for the future following the dismantling of the notorious 'Jungle' migrant camp in its backyard. The bars and restaurants of the high street, the Rue Royale, 'used to be packed with Britons,' said pensioner Michelle Toulotte in a brasserie where staff outnumbered the customers. 'It's about time' the Jungle was cleared, said Christophe Defever, owner of the Au Davydson brasserie, a stone's throw from the town's central rail station. 'The economy has really suffered since they've been here,' he said. 'It's easier to count the shops that are closed than those that are open.' While a quick tour of the city centre revealed that to be an exaggeration, the shuttered Le Tub disco in the Rue Royale attested to a more vibrant past. The economy of Calais, a town of 72,000 people that has long a beacon for British day-trippers hunting for a bargain, began to slump early last year when thousands of migrants converged on France's northern shores, bent on reaching Britain. In June, the Brexit vote in Britain, which was followed by a slump in the value of sterling, also dented business morale. Real estate demand has soured, especially among investors, according to Evelyne Duriez, an estate agent in the high street. Media accounts of the crisis have 'disfigured Calais' image' and scared off investors, Duriez said, while noting that the property market has remained relatively stable for transactions between locals. But sheer geography is a constant minus, she said: 'I'm sceptical about the apres-Jungle because Calais is still the closest point' between French and British shores, tempting migrants to sneak onto cross-Channel trucks and trains. The economic downturn prompted a high-profile protest in September when truckers and farmers blocked the main routes in and out of Calais to call for the Jungle's closure. Under pressure from a Calais business collective, regional authorities agreed to boost the police presence on the motorway and to rapidly dismantle the lawless shantytown. A barman said appeals for tax breaks and other relief had fallen on deaf ears. 'The government has completely ignored us,' he said on condition of anonymity. But he said the city, which has a centre-right mayor, 'can't do much' while Socialists are in power in the central government. Meanwhile at the tourist office, bilingual brochures abound extolling the town's attractions, from its quirky neo-Renaissance city hall to an impressive museum devoted to the region's lace industry. Advertisement

A migrant brushes his teeth at the temporary reception centre, which is housing minors in the Jungle camp

Dozens of unaccompanied children were exposed to 'serious amounts of danger' in the evacuation process, a spokeswoman for Save the Children said, leading many to flee or exposing them to the risk of people smugglers

This tent is just one of many burnt-out shelters at the camp since it was knocked down earlier this week

'All my friends are in England,' the teen said.

France sees the Jungle as a problem chiefly of Britain's making given that most of its inhabitants were seeking to reach British shores.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve reacted with 'surprise' to a demand by his British counterpart Amber Rudd that children left in the Jungle were 'properly protected'.

A Home Office spokesman said: 'The Home Secretary has today spoken again with her French counterpart Bernard Cazeneuve to stress the need for children who remain in Calais to be properly protected.

'Any child either eligible or not in the secure area of the camp should be cared for and safeguarded by the French authorities. We understand specialist facilities have been made available elsewhere in France to ensure this happens.'

'These people... had been planning to migrate to the United Kingdom,' Mr Cazeneuve said in a statement, insisting that France 'had fulfilled its responsibilities out of solidarity and without trying to shy away' from its duty.

France sees the Jungle as a problem chiefly of Britain's making given that most of its inhabitants were seeking to reach British shores

Around two dozen people who had spent the night in a disused part of the camp were still unaccounted for

Around 70 people were facing a second night of sleeping rough around the area, and were allowed into the camp's church and school, according to a charity

Volunteers from Help Refugees said they are taking blankets and food to the stranded group - perhaps half of whom are children - as temperatures turn colder at night

Charities also claimed several young people had been taken away by police on Thursday morning.

It is unclear whether the children were arrested, but volunteers said they had not seen them since.

Dozens of unaccompanied children were exposed to 'serious amounts of danger' in the evacuation process, a spokeswoman for Save the Children said, leading many to flee or exposing them to the risk of people smugglers.

A total of 234 minors have been resettled to the UK since October 17, the French ministries of housing and the interior said.

Pascal Brice, head of the Office for Refugees and Stateless People, said on Wednesday that everybody leaving the camp had been registered at the processing centre on the edge of the site.
A reformed Thai porn star turned to Buddhism to land herself a millionaire American husband who is more than double her age.

The former X-rated actress says prayer and meditation helped her find love with 70-year-old architect Harold Jennings Nesland Jr.

The woman, 31, previously known as 'Nong Nat', has turned away from her previous career as the star of Tokyo Hunter and Asian Heart.

Harold Jennings Nesland Jr (left) with his reformed porn star wife 'Nong Nat'

'Nong Nat' (pictured) during her previous career as a Thai porn star with quite a following

As a former porn star, 'Nong Nat' still shows a bit of flesh on Instagram

As a married woman now known as Kejsarin Chaichalermphol, she is focused on Buddhist ideals.

'Good deeds, meditation and praying' she said.

These are the philosophies that helped her find a financially well-endowed man who is old enough to be her father.

'Other than receiving kindness from my husband from his monthly payments, he has also been giving me extra money, too,' she told the UK South West News Service.

'No matter how much he withdraws from the bank, he splits it with me 50/50.

'Prayers and meditation get you a good husband.'

'Nong Nat' (left) thanks prayer and meditation for giving her a generous husband (right)

'Nong Nat' (left) with her husband Harold Jennings Nesland jr (right)

'Nong Nat' (left) helps her elderly husband remove his shoes

'Nong Nat' (pictured) has quit the adult industry but she still reveals her legs on Instagram

She stirred controversy in the 2000s by appearing in black market videos that were distributed throughout Thailand, including Tokyo Hunter and Asian Heart.

The Asian beauty was prosecuted for appearing in the productions, which breach Thailand's anti-pornography laws.

She quit the industry, became a devout Buddhist and married Mr Nesland in 2012.

Mr Nesland, who was married previously, made his fortune as an architect near Seattle, following the career path of his late father Harold Jennings Nesland Sr.

'Nong Nat' (pictured) is now taking Buddhism seriously

'Nong Nat' (pictured) tells her Instagram followers about Buddhism

His wife said Buddhism gave her life focus.

'I used to be a Christian but I've been a Buddhist since I was about 21 years old,' she said.

'Recently I've started doing good deeds a lot more and taking the religion so seriously.

'I visit the temple, study and have to look after my family. All my time's taken up with donations, praying and meditating.

'Buddhism changed my mind a lot, it changed the way I lived my life. I'm a lot happier now.'

As a reformed porn star, the devotee of Buddhism still finds time to post images of herself in swimsuits to her 221,000 followers on Instagram.

Karma moves in mysterious ways, however, with an image on Instagram showing her husband in hospital being treated for the flu.

'Old people do not recover as fast as young people,' she wrote on Instagram.

'Nong Nat' as a reformed porn star still teases her followers on Instagram with a frilly number
Detectives seized their laptop which contains 'tens of thousands' of emails

Investigation was revived by a computer shared between Huma Abedin, Clinton's trusted aide, and her disgraced husband Anthony Weiner

The FBI's announcement on Friday that it was reopening its investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a secret email server sent shockwaves through the presidential campaign.

The decision was prompted by a laptop that was taken from the home of one of Clinton's most senior aides, Huma Abedin.

The bureau is investigating her husband, disgraced former representative Anthony Weiner, for sexting a 15-year-old girl, after DailyMail.com revealed their explicit messages and photographs in September.

Abedin and Weiner's shared use of the computer, and whether he had access to classified information obtained by his wife in her government role, lie at the root of the investigation.

Its remarkable revival has prompted a string of questions.



The FBI has revived its investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of emails while she was Secretary of State

Why didn't the FBI look at Huma's shared computer the first time around?

Whether the FBI demanded Clinton's aides turn over personal devices and any they shared with their partners when it launched the investigation in July 2015 is not clear.

Detectives are investigating emails on a computer shared by Clinton's former Chief of Staff, Huma Abedin, and her husband Anthony Weiner (above)

In a deposition in June, Abedin said she conducted 'the majority' of her work at her computer and Blackberry.

She said she turned over two laptops, a Blackberry and some 'files' she found in her apartment to her attorneys when requested as part of a lawsuit by the conservative watchdog Judicial Watch.

The FBI later said in its 47-page report that Abedin and others used their private server email accounts when traveling. It previously mentioned the use of cell phones, Blackberrys and iPads but there is no mention of personal computers or laptops.

Some of the devices, including 13 phones, were never turned over because the FBI 'could not locate' them.

John Podesta, Clinton's campaign chairman, said on Saturday Abedin had the campaign's full support.

'Huma completely and voluntarily complied with and cooperated with the investigation. She sat for a hours long interview.

'She turned over and went through with her lawyers all of the emails that might possibly be relevant and turned them over to the state department and investigators.

'Theres absolutely nothing shes done that we think calls into question anything that shes done. Shes been fully cooperative. We of course stand behind her,' he told DailyMail.com.

Did pervert Weiner have access to his wifes work emails without security clearance?

The reopening of the investigation was prompted by detectives probing Anthony Weiner's explicit exchanges with a 15-year-old girl, The New York Times reported.

They seized the laptop for the purposes of their separate investigation. What will be determined is if classified information obtained by Abedin could have been accessed on the computer.

Disclosing classified information to anyone who does not have a high enough security clearance to view it is a crime punishable by up to 10 years in jail.

Weiner is being investigated for sexting a 15-year-old girl after DailyMail.com exposed their explicit messages he sent her in September. He is seen above with his wife campaigning in July 2013

It is what the FBI cleared Clinton and her aides of in July after in its original report.

'Although we did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information, there is information that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information,' FBI Director James Comey said at the time.

He added that while there was evidence of 'potential violations', the bureau chose not to prosecute.

What did the FBI actually do then when they first investigated the secret server?

The FBI was brought on to investigate Clinton's emails in July 2015 after she destructed 30,000 she said were personal before turning any over to the State Department as requested in 2014.

FBI Director James Comey announced the investigation was ongoing, after previously describing it as 'complete', on Friday

The revelation that she had been using a secret, personal server to send both personal and work-related emails came later and prompted questions over her handling of classified information.

She participated in a voluntary interview on July 2, almost one year later, and it released its conclusive report three days afterwards. Abedin was interviewed in April 2016.

In its 47-page report, the FBI mentioned the confiscation of phones and iPads for the purposes of the investigation but makes no mention of personal devices.

Some phones, which were destroyed by Clinton aides with hammers when she had finished with them, were never found.

Announcing his decision not to prosecute anyone as a result of the investigation in July, Comey said the bureau had conducted a 'painstaking' search of tens of thousands of emails across various servers.

He did not clarify where these emails were read.

'In addition to our technical work, we interviewed many people, from those involved in setting up and maintaining the various iterations of Secretary Clintons personal server, to staff members with whom she corresponded on e-mail, to those involved in the e-mail production to State, and finally, Secretary Clinton herself,' he said.

The FBI did not formally close the case but removed active agents from it and published its conclusive report alongside documents pertaining to interviews conducted.

Comey acknowledged his categorization of it as a 'completed' in his letter to Congress on Friday.

Where is the Clinton server now?

The server, and the 33,000 emails that were deleted, may not be entirely lost.

The New York Post cited 'newly released' FBI notes earlier this week which described how a private company trusted to safeguard the server had knowledge of where they might be.

While it was first thought a worker 'bleached' all the emails using corrosive software, the Post claimed that it was only those stored on a file he used to move the emails from the server to Clinton aides and on to her attorney.

The original server, set up by Clinton in 2009 and kept in her basement, was reportedly 're-purposed' into a work station for her staff at her Chappaqua home (above)

Platte River Networks, the aforementioned company, may still have access to them.

Google may also have answers, with some of Clinton's personal emails reportedly transferred to a Google email address created by the same aide. The FBI did not subpoena Google for them in its original investigation.

The original server, set up by Clinton in 2009 and kept in her basement, was reportedly 're-purposed' into a work station for her staff at her Chappaqua home.

The server used after the first two months is backed-up by in a cloud-based server by a company called Datto which, the Post said, was never handed a subpoena by the FBI.

Who sent these new emails, who received them and how many are there?

There are 'tens of thousands' of emails on the computer, Fox News reported on Saturday.

An official told the network the number of emails discovered was 'five figures'.

None were exchanged directly between Abedin and Clinton but may have been forwarded on to unprotected accounts.

The concern is if they could have been accessed through these unprotected accounts.

In 2009, she sent one email exchange with Clinton to her personal Yahoo account to be printed, according to an email leaked by Justice Watch in September.

In 2009, she sent one email exchange with Clinton to her personal Yahoo account to be printed, according to an email leaked by Justice Watch in September

While it is not thought that any of the emails recovered were direct exchanges between Clinton and Amedin sent using the laptop (above on Friday), they could reveal previous discussions

Does this mean there are other personal computers of top Clinton aides that they didnt investigate?

Exactly how many devices Clinton aides were requested to turn over as part of the investigation is not clear. Whether any of their personal devices were looked in to is just as murky a matter.

The FBI refused to answer questions on Saturday about what materials it requested of her campaign.

It also wouldn't divulge whether it intended to confiscate all the personal devices of Clinton aides.

On Friday, Clinton said no one from her camp had been contacted that the investigation was ongoing. She implored the FBI to share whatever new information it had gleaned for transparency.

The FBI interviewed Clinton's aides and viewed tens of thousands of emails, it said. It did not reveal whether the personal devices of workers were requested. Above, campaign chairman John Podesta who said the stood fully behind Amedin on Saturday

Will the FBI release its outcome before the election?

Comey gave no indication of how long the revived investigation would last as he made his announcement on Friday.

He was slammed by peers for releasing it publicly with 11 days to go before the election.

In a memo to staff, however, he said he had chosen to disclose the decision so as not to 'mislead the American people'.

'I feel an obligation to do so given that I testified repeatedly in recent months that our investigation was completed.

'I also think it would be misleading to the Amercan people were we not to supplement the record. At the same time, however given that we don't know the significance of this newly discovered collection of emails, I don't want to create a misleading impression.

'In trying to strike that balance, in a brief letter and in the middle of an election season, there is significant risk of being misunderstood, but I wanted you to hear directly from me about it.'

Comey sent a memo to colleagues within the FBI to explain why he had chosen to disclose the investigation with Congress

Has this disclosure come too late to affect the outcome of the election given early voting?

More than 12million people had already submitted their ballots on Friday before Comey's announcement to congress.

It accounts for around 10 per cent of the vote. Clinton dominated in Arizona, Iowa and Nevada's count of early votes last week.

What will happen if Clinton becomes president and the FBI finds a smoking gun?

If Hillary Clinton is elected on November 8 before the FBI has completed its investigation, which is unlikely, it can continue it.

Should they find evidence of crimes against her and choose to prosecute, she could face impeachment.

It would not be the first time her family has faced the issue.

Bill Clinton faced impeachment in 1999 after being accused of perjury and obstruction of justice over his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

His wife stood by him throughout.

Bill Clinton was the second president in US history to face impeachment after Andrew Johnson in 1868.

Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 before facing possible impeachment for his involvement in Watergate.

Could Abedin face prosecution?

Abedin, with her husband, did not receive immunity for cooperating with the investigation

If the FBI gleans information it believes warrants prosecution, Abedin may be prosecuted for whatever crime they accuse her of.

Unlike Cheryl Mills, another long-serving Clinton aide who was granted immunity by the Justice Department to participate in the investigation, Abedin could face charges.

She has not been as yet accused or charged with any crime and the revived investigation does not suggest she has committed any.

It is evidence only of the bureau's reignited interest in the matter which is the result of newly obtained facts.

Disclosure of classified information is defined by the U.S. Code as follows:

'Whoever knowingly and willfully communicates, furnishes, transmits, or otherwise makes available to an unauthorized person, or publishes, or uses in any manner prejudicial to the safety or interest of the United States or for the benefit of any foreign government to the detriment of the United States any classified information concerning the nature, preparation, or use of any code, cipher, or cryptographic system of the United States or any foreign government.'

It incurs a fine, 10-year imprisonment, or both.
Hillary Clinton was overheard on tape telling the editorial board of a Jewish newspaper in New York that she believed the United States ought to fix the results of a 2006 Palestinian election.

The report appeared in the New York Observer on Friday. The newspaper's publisher is Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of Clinton's Republican opponent in the presidential race, Donald Trump.

Clinton made the remark during a meeting with the editorial board of the Jewish Press during her 2006 bid to win re-election as senator from New York.

The then-senator was recorded making the remark by Eli Chomsky, an editor and staff writer for the Jewish Press at the time.

Hillary Clinton (seen here during a news conference in Iowa on Friday) was taped telling a New York Jewish newspaper that the US should have 'made sure we did something to determine who was going to win' the 2006 election for the Palestinian parliament

'I do not think we should have pushed for an election in the Palestinian territories. I think that was a big mistake,' said Clinton. 'And if we were going to push for an election, then we should have made sure that we did something to determine who was going to win.'

Clinton was referring to the 2006 elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council.

Those elections were won by Hamas in a stunning upset over its bitter rival, the US-backed Fatah movement.

Hamas is the Islamist movement that has long opposed peace talks with Israel, while its rival, the secularist Fatah, is the faction that for decades dominated the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Palestinian supporters of Hamas, the anti-Israel Islamist movement, celebrate their victory in the Palestinian election during a rally in Khan Younis, south of Gaza Strip, January 27, 2006

The PLO recognized Israel in 1993 and engaged it in peace talks aimed at creating an independent Palestinian state, but the negotiations were upended in part due to deadly suicide bombings carried out by Hamas and their Islamist allies.

The US, which was led at the time by the administration of President George W. Bush, supported Hamas' participation in the elections as part of its overall efforts to democratize the Middle East.

Washington believed that its newfound policy to allow for free and fair elections in the Palestinian territories would bolster its ally, Fatah, led at the time by President Mahmoud Abbas.

Israel's then-prime minister Ariel Sharon (left) holds a news conference with then-US President George W. Bush in Crawford, Texas on April 11, 2005. Over Israel's objections, Bush insisted that Hamas be permitted to run as part of his overall strategy to democratize the Middle East

Israel and its supporters were opposed to the idea of Hamas' participation since the group did not renounce violence while also sticking to its long-held position of refusing to recognize Israel's existence.

But the Bush administration insisted that Hamas be permitted to stand for election.

The result backfired, as the Islamist group captured a plurality of seats in the Palestinian parliament.

Clinton's remark that in hindsight suggesting that it would have been preferable for the US to predetermine the outcome is ironic, given that Trump has often complained that the upcoming presidential election is 'rigged.'

A Palestinian woman casts a ballot inside a polling station in the Gaza Strip on January 21, 2006. Hamas won the election, shocking its US-backed rival, Fatah

The journalist who taped the remark, Chomsky, told the Observer that he was 'taken aback' by Clinton's off-hand comment that 'anyone could support the idea - offered by a national political leader, no less - that the US should be in the business of fixing foreign elections.'

Chomsky said that though at the time he thought Clinton's comments were newsworthy, his bosses didn't want to ruffle her feathers since it was likely they needed access to her in the future.

'I went to my bosses at the time,' Chomsky told the Observer.

'The Jewish Press had this mindset that they would not want to say anything offensive about anybody - even a direct quote from anyone - in a position of influence because they might need them down the road. My bosses didn't think it was newsworthy at the time.'
Jorge Hernandez, 26, was accidentally cremated by a technician in Los Angeles

The Los Angeles County Coroner has been forced to pleadingly apologize after accidentally cremating an organ donor instead of a homeless man.

Two men called Jorge Hernandez were in the morgue at the same time. One, a 26-year-old with a loving family, died of a drug overdose on October 7.

His family was planning to donate his organs after his death, they say.

The other was a homeless man whose body no one claimed.

He was due to be cremated when the technician, checking only their names and not ID numbers, sent the other man to the incinerator.

The mistake was noticed when a mortuary came to collect the young Mr Hernandez's remains after he had been cremated.

His family had not viewed his body when the mistake was admitted.

'It was an oversight caused by human error,' spokesman Armand Montiel told The Los Angeles Times.

'The department is profoundly sorry for any additional discomfort that this has caused the loved ones of Mr Hernandez,' he added.

Hernandez's parents has filed legal action against the office.

In two separate complaints, they say they planned to have his organs donated before they learned he had died.

They were also making funeral arrangements.

It is the latest in a string of woes for the coroner's office which, because of severe backlogging and staff shortages, is struggling to properly process deaths.

As of September 21, tests were still due to be carried out on more than 1,500 bodies.

Only 600 had been done since June.
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When you are relaxing in the sun, the last thing you need is to be harassed by a pesky fly.

And that's not just humans - as shown by these photos of a lioness trying to shake off an insect buzzing around her head.

With one eye closed and shaking its head from side to side, she pulls all kinds of amusing facial expressions for the camera.

The images were captured by field guide Michael Anderson, 28, while he was leading guests on a tour at Ngala Private Game Reserve in South Africa.

It is not only humans that find flies annoying, as shown by these photos of a lioness trying to shake off an insect buzzing around her head

The lioness shakes her head from side to side, flailing her ears, in an attempt to get rid of the insect

The images were captured by field guide Michael Anderson, 28, while he was leading guests on a tour at Ngala Private Game Reserve in South Africa

Mr Anderson said: 'This set of images were a complete surprise.

'After watching the lioness being worried by the flies, for a while, she kept shaking her head and I wondered if I could capture the movement.

'After struggling to get at the water for a while, the lioness lifts her head up and has some moisture clinging to the fur around her mouth.'

Mr Anderson said he found it amusing that these fearsome hunters could be bothered by a tiny fly.

'The flies are attracted to the droplets because it's hot and dry at that time of year and the drought means no water around for them to get at.

'It was funny because she was so desperate for the water but exasperated by the flies.

'I love the images because these lions can be so intense when hunting, and they are the most powerful of all the hunters. But the simple fly drives this lioness to distraction.'

Mr Anderson said he found it amusing that these fearsome hunters could be bothered by a tiny fly

He said: 'I love the images because these lions can be so intense when hunting, and they are the most powerful of all the hunters. But the simple fly drives this lioness to distraction'

This lioness at a zoo in Lodz, Poland, was given a pumpkin to play with as a special Halloween treat
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At least 10 people have been injured, including a young girl, after Syrian government forces launched a fresh attack on rebel-held areas of Aleppo.

Today's counterattack came after insurgents yesterday claimed areas of the war-torn city, and heavy fighting has been reported in the city.

Rebel shelling of the city yesterday is believed to have killed 15 people, and wounded around 100.

It comes as dramatic images have emerged showing bombing of the city.

An image, posted online by the Ahrar al-Sham militant group, purports to show a blast on the ground, apparently the result of an airstrike in Aleppo today

Reports from Syria say 10 people have been injured in a fresh wave of bombing and an attack by government forces to reclaim sections of the city from insurgents

Insurgents fighting against President Bashar al-Assad's forces successfully captured sections on the west and southern edges of Aleppo yesterday as they aimed to break a weeks-longs government siege.

They took control of the neighbourhood of Assad, where much of today's fighting has been concentrated, the Syrian army and the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said.

The Observatory said the new offensive by Syrian troops and their allies was ongoing under the cover of Russian and Syrian airstrikes.

A Syrian opposition group get prepared before they attack the positions of the Assad regime forces with missiles during an operation to break the siege of the regime

Rebels pictured today preparing to attack pro-Assad regime forces in Aleppo today, with heavy fighting reported in the city

The Syrian army command has said troops and their allies are pounding insurgent positions with artillery shells and rockets - adding that 'all kinds of weapons' are being used in the fighting.

Activist collective The Aleppo Media Center has reported airstrikes and artillery shelling of areas near Aleppo.

Rebels said they had launched an attack on the Zahraa neighbourhood in western Aleppo today to try and capture it from government forces.

The drone footage shows the damage caused by bombing raids to a mosque in an Assad neighbourhood of Aleppo

This attack began with a large explosion which struck government positions on the front line, said Yasser al-Yousef of the Nour el-Din el-Zinki group, a main faction in Aleppo.

A reporter inside the city for the Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV channel confirmed that the rebels have attacked the Zahraa neighbourhood.

As he spoke from the roof of a building, sounds of heavy exchange of gunfire could be heard in the background.

The Syrian army said troops are repelling the attack on Zahraa, which it said began when insurgents detonated a vehicle and shelled the area.

Syrian state media said rebels shelled government-held western neighbourhoods of Aleppo this morning, wounding at least 10 people, including a young girl.

The footage, which has been posted online by a militant group, purports to show damage to the city following airstrikes today

Yesterday insurgents including members of Fatah al-Sham and the ultraconservative Ajnad al-Sham and Ahrar al-Sham militias took advantage of cloudy and rainy weather to attack government positions.

'There are ongoing clashes,' said opposition activist Baraa al-Halaby by telephone from besieged east Aleppo, adding that the fighting is far from them but explosions could be clearly heard in the city.

East Aleppo has been subjected to a ferocious campaign of aerial attacks by Russian and Syrian government warplanes, and hundreds of people have been killed in recent weeks, according to opposition activists and trapped residents.

Heavily-armed rebels launched an assault on districts in Aleppo yesterday, and regime forces, supported by Russia, launched a counterattack today

Rebels have clashed with pro-government forces in the west of Aleppo, with the UN estimating that 275,000 people are trapped in the city

The new offensive by insurgents is the second attempt to break the government's siege of Aleppo's opposition-held eastern districts, where the UN estimates 275,000 people are trapped.

UN Special Envoy Staffan De Mistura has estimated 8,000 of them are rebel fighters, and no more than 900 of them affiliated with Fatah al-Sham. Syrian and Russian officials have said no ceasefire is possible as long as Fatah al-Sham remains allied and intertwined with other rebel forces.
Joe Biden is 'not a big fan' of disgraced Rep. Anthony Weiner.

Speaking to CNN, the vice president said he already didn't like the guy  and that's before it surfaced Friday that a probe into the ex-New York congressman triggered further review of Hillary Clinton's emails, endangering her presidential bid.

Vice President Joe Biden (pictured) says he disliked ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner 'even before he got in trouble' in a number of sex scandals

The vice president's comments came after revelation Friday that the FBI is still looking at a number of emails related to the Hillary Clinton investigation

'Well, oh God, Anthony Weiner,' Biden told CNN's Michael Smerconish. 'I should not comment on Anthony Weiner.

'I'm not a big fan,' he continued. 'I wasn't before he got in trouble. So I shouldn't comment on Anthony Weiner.'

Biden's comments came after revelations Friday  just 11 days before the election that the FBI is still looking at a number of emails related to the Hillary Clinton investigation.

The probe was reportedly triggered while the FBI and New York Police Department investigate allegations reported in the DailyMail.com that Weiner was once again sexting  this time a 15-year-old girl.

The probe was reportedly triggered while the FBI and New York Police Department investigate allegations Anthony Weiner was once again sexting  this time with an underage girl

Biden told CNN's Michael Smerconish (right): 'Well, oh God, Anthony Weiner, I should not comment on Anthony Weiner. I'm not a big fan'

In August, Weiner was dumped by Clinton aide Huma Abedin, who had been by his side for most of his embarrassing and years-long sexual scandals, which led to his resignation from Congress in 2011.

In the latest scandal, the ex-couple's now-four-year-old son is featured in an explicit photo Weiner sent to another woman.

Even Donald Trump has blasted Abedin for sticking with Weiner.

'Huma should dump the sicko Weiner,' the Republican presidential candidate tweeted in 2013.

'He is a calamity that is bringing her down with him.'

The way they were: This was the Anthony Weiner-Huma Abedin wedding's official picture taken after Bill Clinton married them

Deal-breaker: This was the sick picture that ended Abedin's loyalty to her pervert husband

Biden said the FBI should released all the emails to clear up confusion as voters head to the polls.

'Release the emails... for the whole world to see,' Biden told CNN, repeating words from the Democratic presidential candidate earlier on Friday.

'To the best of my knowledge, it won't prejudice the investigation, but that's the stilted language the agency always uses,' he added.

'And it doesn't mean anything it's unfortunate.'

Biden said he does not regret not running for president.

'I thought I could beat Hillary,' Biden told CNN. 'I thought I could beat anybody that ran. No one should run for president unless they think they can do that.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is still overjoyed that the FBI is reopening its investigation into Hillary Clinton's classified email scandal after celebrating the news on Friday with fireworks at a rally in Iowa.

The billionaire businessman took to Twitter on Saturday to share that he has a 'big day planned' ahead.

'I am in Colorado - big day planned - but nothing can be as big as yesterday!' Trump wrote on the social media site.

It's unclear what Trump has planned for the entire day in Colorado, but he is seemingly still celebrating about the revelation from the FBI, as the election is in just 10 days and he hopes to win.

On Friday, the day the news broke about the FBI investigation, a jubilant Trump set off fireworks at a rally in Iowa to celebrate.

Speaking to excitable crowds during a campaign stop in Cedar Rapids, The Donald said 'justice will prevail'.

Happy: Donald Trump took to Twitter on Saturday and wrote the above message in relation to the FBI reopening its investigation into Hillary Clinton's classified email scandal

Celebrating: Trump grins as he speaks to his supporters at a rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Friday

'The investigation is the biggest political scandal since Watergate, and it's everybody's hope that justice at last can be delivered,' he said. 'The FBI would never have reopened this case at this time unless it were a most egregious criminal offense.

'As you know, I've had plenty of words about the FBI lately, but I give them great credit for having the courage to right this horrible wrong.'

In a furious press conference Friday evening, Clinton called on the FBI to release whatever information it has about its restarted investigation of her email scandal 'without delay'.

And she said she did not know 'what to believe' regarding what she called 'rumors' that the new information came from trusted Aide Huma Abedin's laptop  a device she reportedly shared with disgraced ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner.

'We are 11 days out from perhaps the most important election of our lifetimes,' Clinton told reporters in a surprise press conference. 'The American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately.'

Asked if she had been contacted by the FBI or whether she was concerned that the new emails would reveal any classified information, Clinton responded to the first part of the question.

'No  we have not been contacted by anyone. First we knew about it is, I assume, when you knew about it, when this letter sent to Republican members of the House was released.

Fury: Hillary Clinton's anger was clear as she held an impromptu press conference in Des Moines, five hours after the FBI director's bombshell announcement on Friday

Fireworks were set off at the end of Trump's rally in Iowa, shortly after The Donald told the crowds 'justice will prevail' on Friday

'So we don't know the facts, which is why we are calling on the FBI to release all the information that it has.'

'Lets get it out,' she said.

She observed that FBI director James Comey had said the new information concerning the more than 1,000 emails found on the device may not be significant.

Responding to Clinton's press conference Friday night, Trump said: 'In her very brief remarks tonight, Hilary Clinton tried to politicize this investigation by attacking and falsely accusing the FBI director of only sending the letter to Republicans.

'Another Clinton lie. As it turned out, the letter was sent to both Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress.'

Earlier Friday Trump told about 1,600 supporters in Manchester, New Hampshire: 'The FBI has just sent a letter to Congress informing them that they have discovered new emails pertaining to the former secretary of state Hillary Clinton's investigation.'

His supporters promptly erupted in a chant of 'Lock her up!'

'And they are reopening the case into her criminal and illegal conduct that threatens the security of the United States of America,' Trump said.

'Hillary Clinton's corruption is on a scale we have never seen before. We must not let her take her criminal scheme into the Oval Office,' he declared.

This is the internal memo obtained by Fox News that Comey sent out. He noted he felt an 'obligation' to inform lawmakers about the investigation given he had testified repeatedly in recent months that the investigation was completed

Victory: 'The investigation is the biggest political scandal since Watergate,' Donald Trump declared at the rally in Iowa

'I have great respect for the fact that the FBI and the Department of Justice are now willing to have the courage to right the horrible mistake that they made.

'This was a grave miscarriage of justice that the American people fully understood, and it is everybody's hope that it is about to be corrected.'

He added a moment later: 'With that being said, the rest of my speech is going to be so boring! Should I even make the speech?'

The jubilant crowd screamed: 'Yeah!'

Musing on Clinton's future denials and the American public's reluctance to accept the idea that the Democratic nominee for president is corrupt, he said: 'Right now that takes care of itself, I think.'

The FBI's announcement Friday that it was reopening its probe stunned the political world.

Director James Comey said the bureau had come across new messages that 'appear to be pertinent' to her case.

He said in a letter to Congress that an investigative team is seeking to determine if any of the emails contain classified information and whether any of them are 'significant.'

Comey said that after learning about the emails he advised the bureau to take 'appropriate investigative steps' to review the emails.

Comey sent his letter, just 11 days before the November 8 election, to a host of congressional committee chairmen.

'In connection with an unrelated case,' Comey told them, 'the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation.'

It has since emerged that the emails were discovered during the investigation into the Dailymail.com exclusive story from September that Anthony Weiner sexted a 15-year-old underage girl.

Trump seemed to predict the FBI's move on Thursday, insisting that the government should abandon the conclusions of the FBI's first investigation that cleared Clinton of accusations related to her homebrew email server that once hosted thousands of classified documents.

During an afternoon campaign rally in Toledo, Ohio, he recounted some of the more devastating features of the scandal, ultimately declaring: 'We need to reopen the investigation!'

'Hillary Clinton 'bleached' and deleted 33,000 emails, lied to Congress under oath, made 13 phones disappear  some with a hammer  and then told the FBI she 'couldn't remember'  39 times,' Trump told about 2,500 supporters at the SeaGate Convention Centre.

And citing more recent news, he told fans that 'the Clinton crew gave more than $675,000 to the wife of the deputy FBI director overseeing the investigation into Hillary's illegal server.'

He called that development 'more devastating than anything you've seen so far.'

'It pertains to what they knew,' he said, 'and it makes all of them  they're already liars  but it confirms it for the 75th time.'
This two-year-old boy has scared his friends by dressing up as Donald Trump for Halloween.

Hannah Robinson decided to dress her little boy Mason as the Republican presidential candidate after listening to his TV debates with Hillary Clinton.

She said: 'I was looking for a monster outfit for him for Halloween and then I was watching all the coverage of the American elections and what Trump has been saying and I thought, that's it - he's a monster.

Hannah Robinson decided to dress her little boy Mason as the Republican presidential candidate after listening to his TV debates with Hillary Clinton

Although he only turned two in August, Mason has form for wearing incredible fancy costumes like this Keith Lemon look

For one occasion little Mason dressed up as Johnny Depp's character, the pirate Jack Sparrow

'He seemed like such a horrible character, I just had to do it.'

The 31-year-old from Liverpool recreated Trump's trademark navy suited look by trawling the internet, although she admits she had to improvise with his bouffant hairstyle.

'I went on eBay to look for a baby suit and got one for 2, a baby had worn it for a few hours for a wedding, and I got a plain white shirt and the red tie for 1.

'But I ended up ordering a Jedward wig because I could only get a Trump one from America.'

Then Hannah, who is a trained make-up artist, got her brushes out.

'Trump is known for his orange tan and his bushy eyebrows isn't he, so I got the foundation out and Mason was holding the brushes and trying to help,' she said.

Although he only turned two in August, Mason has form for wearing incredible fancy costumes. Last Halloween he had two - Celebrity Juice host Keith Lemon and Uncle Fester from the Addams Family.

He's also been to parties at Captain Jack Sparrow, and dressed as The Grinch for Christmas.

Hannah Robinson has designed costumes including this one as Mason as The Grinch

Hannah, who is a trained make-up artist, pictured with Mason who she has designed costumes for including Donald Trump

Hannah added: 'He loves dressing up, he hates getting his photo taken but he likes the whole process of putting on the costumes.

'Mason was born 15 weeks premature and we spent more than 17 weeks in Liverpool Women's Hospital neonatal unit so he had to have a lot of physio and was used to being touched a lot. It doesn't bother him at all.

'The first costume I did was a Minion when he was in the neonatal which everyone loved, and it's just gone on from there.

'Because I'm a make-up artist, when I go out in fancy dress I always go a bit over the top.

'I've gone as Avatar where I've painted myself blue and had facial prosthetics. I have to do something different, I always go the whole hog, so when I had a child all my friends knew that's what was going to happen with him.
Asylum seekers arriving by boat will be banned from ever applying for Australian visas under harsh new immigration measures.

The new laws will block any adults who has been sent to Manus Island or Nauru since July 19, 2013, from obtaining a visa of any kind, even as a tourist or genuine refugees.

The ban, which excludes children, is reportedly set to be introduced into parliament next week, reports Herald Sun.

Asylum seekers sent to Manus Island (pictured) or Nauru since July 19, 2013, will be banned from ever applying for Australian visas

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said the new laws send a stronger message than former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's 2013 ruling that asylum seekers arriving without visas will never be resettled.

'The government has consistently said no one who attempts to enter Australia illegally by boat will ever settle here. This puts into law that crucial aspect which has been central to stopping the boats and stopping deaths at sea.

'It sends a further clear and consistent message to people smugglers that the government's resolve on protecting Australia's borders is as strong as it has ever been.'

The government is hoping the visa ban will help negotiations with other countries to resettle hundreds of refugees held on Manus Island, which is set to be shut down.

The laws will overrule the 1958 Migration Act to prevent illegal boat arrivals taken to a regional processing country from ever making a applying for Australian visas.

The laws come after Asylum seekers Australia sent to Papua New Guinea had a Supreme Court application to have them returned to Australia and compensated for being illegally detained rejected on technical grounds.
The United States paid $1.7bn to Iran as settlement for failed arms deal

Fifth Amendment keeps people from being witnesses against themselves

Said Attorney General had refused to answer 'straightforward' questions

Loretta Lynch is 'pleading the fifth' to dodge questions about $1.7 billion payments made by the United States to Iran, two members of Congress have claimed.

Senator Marco Rubio and Representative Mike Pompeo wrote a letter to Attorney General Lynch Friday, accusing her of refusing to answer 'straightforward questions' about the payments.

The Fifth Amendment keeps people from having to be witnesses against themselves in a criminal case. Commonly, 'pleading the fifth' means refusing to provide information that might incriminate oneself.

The United States gave $.17 billion to Iran in three different payments, the first of which, worth $400,000 was made in January.

Loretta Lynch (pictured on Tuesday) is 'pleading the fifth' to avoid answering questions about $1.7 billion payments to Iran, Senator Marco Rubio and Representative Mike Pompeo claimed

Tehran agreed to release four American prisoners the same day, prompting Republicans to denounce the payment as ransom. Rubio has been one of the most vocal voices supporting that claim, which the White House has denied.

Rubio and Pompeo's letter, published by the Washington Free Beacon, a Conservative website, begins by slamming Lynch for failing to answer 'any' of their questions.

'As the United States' chief law enforcement officer, it is outrageous that you would essentially plead the fifth and refuse to respond to inquiries,' Rubio and Pompeo wrote.

'The actions of your department come at time when Iran continues to hold Americans hostage and unjustly sentence them to prison.'

Rubio (left) and Pompeo (right) wrote a letter to Attorney General Lynch Friday, accusing her of refusing to answer 'straightforward questions' about the payments

The United States' payment to Iran settled a decades-long failed arm deal dating back to before 1979.

Iran had ordered and paid $400,000 worth of fighter jets, but the United States froze the delivery when the Shah was overthrown in 1979.

The United States paid back these $400,000 plus $1.3 billion of interest.

Barack Obama announced the payments in January, when the Iran deal was struck.

'The United States and Iran are now settling a longstanding Iranian government claim against the United States government. Iran will be returned its own funds, including appropriate interest, but much less than the amount Iran sought,' he said.

Rubio in September became the main sponsor of a bill that would bar similar payments to Tehran until Iran pays the nearly $55.6 billion that US courts say Iran owes to American victims of Iranian terrorism.
suspicious, but a friend of Gilmour has blasted security services for leaving him to die 'in the gutter'

His death is not being viewed as

Gilmour lived for more than 30 years with an assumed identity after infiltrating the IRA

A supergrass who infiltrated the IRA and gave evidence against 31 terror suspects has been found dead in his home.

Raymond Gilmour, who became an Royal Ulster Constabulary Special Branch informer when he was 17, was given a new identity by MI5 after a 1984 trial collapsed.

His decomposed body was discovered in his flat in Kent by his 18-year-old son.

The death is not being viewed as suspicious, it is understood.

He was involved in several IRA and Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) operations between 1977 and 1982, mostly acting as a getaway driver.

But he provided information that led the RUC to a M60 machine gun, and 100 arrests were made as a result.

The trial collapsed after Lord Lowry ruled he was 'entirely unworthy of belief'.

Gilmour, who was 55 when he died, published a book, Dead Ground; Infiltrating the IRA, about his experiences in 1998.

The Belfast Telegraph reports that he suffered from alcoholism and psychological problems.

His friend, former British agent Martin McGartland, hit out at security services over Gilmour's death.

He told the newspaper: 'He spent years begging MI5 for financial and psychological help. Instead, they turned their back on him.

'He was a broken man, a wreck of a human being, and they left him to die in the gutter.'

Gilmour's book made many claims and revelations about the IRA during The Troubles

And he added: 'As far as I'm concerned, the security services have Ray's blood on their hands.

'They had plenty of opportunities to save him but they turned their back on him.'

Gilmour's second book What Price Truth made many claims and revelations about the IRA.

In the publication, which was released in 2014, he said that Martin McGuinness gave the order for a census worker to be murdered in Derry.

Frist day of trial at Crumlin Road Court,Of Raymond Gilmore - an IRA supergrass. Protesters outside the court

Security at Crumlin Road Courthouse for Raymond Gilmour's supergrass trial

Defendents in Raymond Gilmour case who were aquitted when the Judge Lowry threw the case out of the court. Pictured triumphantly outside the High Court

He also named the IRA unit which carried out the murder of the Queen's cousin Louis Mountbatten in 1979. He said that he could have saved him, but was 'just a kid at the time' and wasn't fully aware of the operation.

He accused McGuinness of being involved in the murder of two officers of the RUC, just a few days before Bloody Sunday in 1972.
A 79-year-old Philadelphia man who has served over 60 years in prison for a crime that he committed when he was 16 has rejected an opportunity to immediately be put on parole  insisting instead that he deserved to be released outright.

Joseph Ligon is the oldest prison inmate who was incarcerated as a juvenile and given a life sentence for his involvement in the stabbing deaths of two men in Philadelphia 63 years ago, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

He has also served longer than any other 'juvenile lifer,' as they are called.

Joseph Ligon (above) is the oldest inmate who was incarcerated as a juvenile and given a life sentence for his involvement in the stabbing deaths of two men in Philadelphia 63 years ago

Yet a recent US Supreme Court decision which instituted a retroactive ban on mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juvenile offenders offered him a way out of prison.

In hearing Montgomery v. Louisiana, the court held that mandatory sentencing of juveniles to life without the possibility of parole violated the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, which bars cruel and unusual punishment.

That decision prompted reviews for the approximately 300 inmates from Philadelphia who are eligible for re-sentencing.

But when Ligon was approached about a deal that would make him eligible for parole immediately, he declined.

'His view is: He's been in long enough,' said Bradley Bridge, his defense attorney. 'He doesn't want to be on probation or parole. He just wants to be released.'

So far, 65 juvenile lifers have received offers to place them on immediate parole, while 26 more are due to be given new sentences.

Three other prisoners have formally rejected offers for re-sentencing, the Inquirer reported.

The offers of parole are in line with a 2012 law passed in Pennsylvania which requires authorities to impose minimum sentences of 35 years to life against juveniles found guilty in first-degree cases and 30 years to life for second-degree cases.
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Hollywood movies, zombie shows, Halloween and even politics are fast changing Mexico's Day of the Dead celebrations, which traditionally consisted of quiet family gatherings at the graves of their departed loved ones.

Mexico's capital held its first Day of the Dead parade Saturday, complete with floats, giant skeleton marionettes and more than 1,000 actors, dancers and acrobats in costumes.

Tens of thousands turned out to watch the procession, which included routines like a phalanx of Aztec warriors with large headdresses doing tricks on rollerblades.

'It would be hard to conserve these traditions without any changes,' said Juan Robles, a 32-year-old carpenter who led the skating Aztecs. 'This way, people can come and participate, the young and old.'

Such a spectacle has never been a part of traditional Day of the Dead celebrations.

The idea for the parade was born out of the imagination of a scriptwriter for last year's James Bond movie Spectre.

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Spooky: Men dressed in costumes wait for a Day of the Dead parade to begin along Mexico City's main Reforma Avenue on Saturday. The idea for the parade was born out of the imagination of a scriptwriter for last year's James Bond movie Spectre

On the big screen: In the film, whose opening scenes were shot in Mexico City, Bond chases a villain through crowds of revelers in what resembled a parade of people in skeleton outfits and floats. Daniel Craig is seen in a scene from the movie

Friendly spirit: Residents work on a skeleton representation as part of the Day of the Dead festivities in Mexico City

In the film, whose opening scenes were shot in Mexico City, Bond chases a villain through crowds of revelers in what resembled a parade of people in skeleton outfits and floats.

It's a bit of a feedback loop: Just as Hollywood dreamed up a Mexican spectacle to open the film, once millions had seen the movie, Mexico had to dream up a celebration to match it.

'When this movie hit the big screen and was seen by millions and millions of people in 67 countries, that started to create expectations that we would have something,' said Lourdes Berho, CEO of the government's Mexico Tourism Board.

'We knew that this was going to generate a desire on the part of people here, among Mexicans and among tourists, to come and participate in a celebration, a big parade.'

Mexico City authorities even promised that some of the props used in the movie would appear in the parade.

The government board sponsoring the march called it part of 'a new, multi-faceted campaign to bring tourists to Mexico during the annual Day of the Dead holiday'.

Production: Daniel Craig is seen filming a scene from Spectre in this March 2015 file image

Dressed for the occasion: A woman holds her baby as she gets helped into her costume in preparation for the start of a Day of the Dead parade

Culture: Traditionally, on the November 1-2 holiday, Mexicans set up altars with photographs of the dead and plates of their favorite foods in their homes. They gather at their loved ones' gravesides to drink, sing and talk to the dead

When's the wedding? A woman dressed as a bride adjusts her costume in preparation for the start of a Day of the Dead parade

Add to this the increasing popularity of 'Zombie Walks' around the Day of the Dead, and the scads of Halloween witches, ghouls, ghosts and cobweb decorations sold in Mexico City street markets, and some see a fundamental change in the traditional Mexican holiday.

Johanna Angel, an arts and communication professor at Mexico's IberoAmerican University, said the influences flow both north and south.

She noted U.S. Halloween celebrations now include more Mexican-inspired 'candy skull' costumes and people dressed up as 'Catrinas' modeled on a satirical 19th century Mexican engraving of a skeleton in a fancy dress and a big hat.

'I think there has been a change, influenced by Hollywood,' Angel said. 'The foreign imports are what most influence the ways we celebrate the Day of the Dead here.'

Traditionally, on the November 1-2 holiday, Mexicans set up altars with photographs of the dead and plates of their favorite foods in their homes. They gather at their loved ones' gravesides to drink, sing and talk to the dead.

In some towns, families leave a trail of orange marigold petals in a path to their doorway so the spirits of the dead can find their way home.

Group activity: Mexico's capital held its first Day of the Dead parade Saturday, complete with floats, giant skeleton marionettes and more than 1,000 actors, dancers and acrobats in costumes

It's all in the details: A woman gets her face painted

Some light bonfires for the same purpose, sitting around the fire and warming themselves with cups of boiled-fruit punch to ward off the autumn chill.

These days, many cities set up huge, flower-strewn altars to the dead and hold public events like parades, mass bicycle events and fashion shows in which people dress up in 'Catrina' disguises.

Some say the changes don't conflict with the roots of the holiday, which they say will continue.

Samuel Soriano, a 35-year-old insurance executive, decorates his Mexico City home Halloween-style (think giant spider webs and inflatable tombstones) and each year hands out candy to about 100 trick-or-treaters.

But in his dining room, he has a more traditional 'Dia de los Muertos' shrine with portraits of departed loved ones, candles, decorative skulls and marigolds.

'We decorate for the sheer pleasure of it, and to see the smiles on children's faces,' Soriano said. 'We also celebrate Day of the Dead... There's no reason to see it as a contradiction.'

On a recent 'Zombie Walk,' in which hundreds paraded through Mexico City in corpse disguises one week before the Day of the Dead, most participants said it was just good, clean fun.

'We are not fighting against our cultural traditions,'Jesus Rodriguez, one of the organizers, said as he waved a fake plastic arm he was 'gnawing' on.

'On the contrary, if you take off the zombie's flesh, there are skeletons, there are Catrinas.'

Yet Mexico's traditional view of the dead was never ghoulish or frightful. The dead were seen as the 'dear departed,' people who remained close even after death. Could the outside influences threaten that?

'I don't think that will change,' Angel said. 'I think Mexico maintains the sense of remembering the dead with closeness, not fright.'

Indeed, Mexicans still enjoy the graveside celebrations. Some cemeteries grow so packed and rowdy that authorities have been forced to ban alcohol sales at nearby stores.

And Mexicans have changed the holiday themselves, without outside influences, making it a time to express social protest and social causes.

Many have erected public shrines for the nearly 30,000 disappeared in Mexico's drug war.

In downtown Mexico City in recent years, prostitutes have put on skull masks and erected a shrine to murdered prostitutes.

Day of the Dead  itself an amalgam of Spanish and pre-Hispanic beliefs  seems likely to survive, despite the rapid changes, in a festival-loving country that has long managed to successfully absorb many outside influences.

'Any opportunity for a festival is welcome,' Angel noted, 'and with any influences from at home or abroad, and in all possible combinations.'

As the arm-gnawing zombie Rodriguez put it: 'We love these days, Day of the Dead, Halloween, and Zombies, that is the reason why this crowd is here year after year.'

Custom: Mexico's Day of the Dead celebrations traditionally consisted of quiet family gatherings at the graves of their departed loved ones
Disgraced comedian Bill Cosby cannot adequately defend himself against charges of sexual assault because he is 'legally blind' and his memory has 'substantially declined,' his lawyers argued in a court filing on Thursday.

'How can a 79-year-old blind man defend himself against a claim that he sexually assaulted someone he supposedly met once, half a century ago?' the 13-page brief reads.

The document, which was written by Cosby's attorneys, Brian McMonagle and Angela Agrusa, was obtained by People magazine.

Bill Cosby (left) is lead out of a Montgomery County courtroom in Norristown, Pennsylvania, on September 6, 2016. His lawyers claim that he is legally blind and unfit to stand trial

'The answer is simple: He cannot, and the Commonwealth knows he cannot,' the lawyers wrote.

'Without his eyesight, Mr. Cosby cannot even determine whether has has ever even seen some of his accusers, let alone develop defenses and gather exculpatory evidence,' the brief continues.

'Moreover, Mr. Cosby's memory has substantially declined in the last decade.'

To bolster their claim, Cosby's lawyers say their client has been registered with the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind.

Pennsylvania prosecutors who have charged Cosby with sexual assault accused the actor's 'cadre of high-priced lawyers' of exaggerating claims that their client's health and mental state are deteriorating to the point where he is unfit to stand trial.

Montgomery County prosecutors say Cosby used his fame and fortune to conceal his sex crimes against a slew of women over the course of decades.

In December, the district attorney concluded a six-month investigation and charged Cosby with three counts of aggravated indecent assault for allegedly drugging and raping Andrea Constand, 43.

Andrea Constand (left), a former Temple University employee, alleges that in 2004, Cosby (right) drugged and molested her during an encounter at his home

Constand, who once worked for Temple University in Philadelphia, alleges that she was left incapacitated by a drug that Cosby slipped her during an encounter at his home in January 2004.

When Constand filed a complaint a year later, prosecutors declined to pursue the case.

She then filed a civil lawsuit against Cosby, which ended with a financial settlement.

In a sworn deposition, Cosby told Constand's lawyer that he had obtained quaaludes via prescription and then gave it to women.

He also acknowledged paying off a number of women with whom he had engaged in extramarital affairs  using funds from a private bank account so that his wife, Camille, would not find out.

Cosby (seen above arriving at the courthouse on September 6, 2016) is also suffering from declining memory, his lawyers say

Prosecutors said they reviewed accusations made against Cosby by about 50 women and concluded 13 should be allowed to testify.

In a pre-trial hearing set for Tuesday, prosecutors will seek to introduce Cosby's sworn deposition as evidence in the trial, which is set to begin in the spring of 2017.

Cosby has denied any wrongdoing, but prosecutors can introduce evidence of other acts, even though no charges were brought in those cases, to show a pattern of behavior.

His lawyers also argue that the case should be dismissed because the lengthy period of time it took authorities to arrest him constitutes a violation of his due process.
A slain Alaska police officer told his children that he feared he would get shot, just hours before he was hit during a gun battle with a career criminal.

Fairbanks police Sgt. Allen Brandt died on Friday, two weeks after he was shot five times in the legs while responding to reports of gunfire.

Earlier that evening, he read a story to his four children with his wife on their bed, and told them: 'I think I'm going to get shot tonight.'

He died Friday from complications from an eye surgery, the Alaska Dispatch News reported.

Brandt, an 11-year veteran, was protected from a shot to the chest by his body armor  but bullet fragments struck his eye, police said.

Sgt. Allen Brandt, of the Fairbanks Police Department, has died two weeks after he was shot in the line of duty

Brandt, an 11-year veteran, was protected from a shot to the chest by his body armor  but bullet fragments struck the officer's eye. He died Friday from eye surgery complications

Brandt survived by his wife and their four children. A candlelight vigil was held Friday at the Fairbanks Police Department.

'Fairbanks lost a hero today,' said Brad Johnson, acting chief at the Fairbanks Police Department.

He added: 'Our community, this department, our family and our friends are hurting. We thank you for all the support you have given us so far, and we ask you for more, for his family, for your department and for yourselves.

'Let's help each other heal and work through this together.'

Johnson said Brandt went into surgery on Thursday but his condition 'continued to deteriorate through the day,' the Alaska Dispatch News reported.

On Monday, a humble Brandt addressed the Fairbanks City Council  the last time he was seen in public.

'Can you believe I was shot five times in the legs and I walked into this room,' he said.

Brandt talked about the difficulties of being a cop and how he must always be 'armed, always vigilant, always watching.'

'The night that I was shot I had my four kids and my wife on my bed and I read them a story, like I do,' he said.

'After the story I told them, "I think I'm going to get shot tonight"  and in the middle of a gun battle, that's all I could think about.

'But can you imagine telling your kids before you go to work that you're going to get shot?'

Prosecutors are now considering upgrading charges for Anthony G. Jenkins-Alexie (picturred), the 29-year-old shooting suspect arrested on October 18

Court documents say Jenkins-Alexie opened fire on Brandt, took his gun, stomped on his head and taunted him as the officer stood and tried to get away

Prosecutors are now considering upgrading charges for Anthony G. Jenkins-Alexie, the 29-year-old shooting suspect arrested on October 18.

Court documents say Jenkins-Alexie opened fire on Brandt, took his gun, stomped on his head and taunted him as the officer stood and tried to get away.

He faces attempted murder charges that may be changed to murder now that the officer has died.

Jenkins-Alexie also is charged with six other felonies: assault, theft of a firearm, theft of a patrol car, evidence tampering, possession of a firearm as a felon and firing a gun at a building.

Police arrested Jenkins-Alexie on Tuesday walking in the same neighborhood east of downtown Fairbanks where the shooting occurred.

As Brandt lay on the ground, prosecutors said, Jenkins-Alexie approached and took his gun from his hand. He tried removing ammunition from Brandt's duty belt but could not. He then stomped on Brandt's head

The incident started shortly after midnight Sunday when Brandt responded in his patrol car to calls of shots fired and a man yelling.

Brandt's dashboard camera records him driving east and slowing as a man approaches on the sidewalk. As the patrol car stops, the man moves his right hand toward his coat pocket but continues out of the picture.

Seconds later, the man, gripping a silver handgun with both hands, runs around the front of the car.

Prosecutors said Brandt opened the driver's door and tried to take cover behind the patrol car and was shot. Brandt fired back but fell. He was struck six times: twice in the right leg, once in the left leg and once in the right foot.

A grazing wound hit his right knee. Body armor stopped a shot to the chest, but at least two bullet fragments entered his right eye.

As Brandt lay on the ground, prosecutors said, Jenkins-Alexie approached and took his gun from his hand. He tried removing ammunition from Brandt's duty belt but could not. He then stomped on Brandt's head.

Brandt struggled to stand and tried to get away. Jenkins-Alexie followed, mocking him, then got into the patrol car and drove away, prosecutors said.

A rear tire on the car was flat, and the car was abandoned two blocks away.

Jenkins-Alexie admitted to the shooting and apologized to Brandt and distraught family

Johnson said the suspect has a 'lengthy criminal history and has previously made threats toward law enforcement.'

In talks with police, Jenkins-Alexie admitted to the shooting and apologized to Brandt and his family.

'I am deeply sorry,' the suspect wrote in a letter to Brandt. 'I owe you an apology ... you ... your wife .... & your kids.'

Brandt was last seen in public on Monday, when he addressed the Fairbanks City Council

'I am mental just a little bit. ... You didn't deserve it. I was seeking vengeance from [Fairbanks police] for taking my relatives lives and closest friends. I was wrong."

There are no other suspects.

'After interviewing him and based on his own admissions and significant corroborating evidence, I can assure the community that he acted alone and that there is no continuing threat to my fellow police officers or our citizens,' Johnson said.

Brandt moved off the street. He radioed his location and reported that he had been shot. Responding officers administered first aid.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported that Brenda Riley, a woman who lives nearby, was the first person to reach the injured officer.

Riley, the executive director of the Fairbanks Children's Museum, said Brandt was conscious and radioing dispatchers when she arrived.
As heavy rain gushed down from glowering skies and cars snaked through heavily fortified customs points, it was impossible to ignore echoes of the last time the world was locked in a Cold War.

For beside me in the gloom of a grisly Baltic afternoon was a bridge that stands on the front line of frightening global tensions that have flared up between Russia and the West.

It is called Friendship Bridge  yet this route over the Narva river between Russia and Estonia is now ringed with steel and bristles with security cameras. At either end of the bridge stand medieval castles flying rival national flags  reminders of this region's troubled past.

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President Vladimir Putin (pictured) has already seized a slice of Ukraine and carpet-bombed an ancient city in Syria

It takes barely two minutes to cross on foot  and would take just seconds in one of the hundreds of tanks in a Russian armoured division stationed nearby.

Barely 100 miles to the north lies St Petersburg  the stunning city that symbolised Tsarist expansion. This was the power base of President Vladimir Putin, the ex-Soviet spy chief, whose plague of aggression in Europe and the Middle East is causing such international concern.

A similar distance west lies the Tapa army base, where 800 British troops with drones and heavy weapons will be deployed next year to demonstrate Nato's determination to protect Baltic states from the snarling Russian bear.

Other Nato nations are also sending troops as part of the biggest military build-up on Russia's borders since the collapse of the Soviet Union ended the last Cold War. Moscow has moved nuclear-capable missiles into its Kaliningrad outpost between Lithuania and Poland.

Dimitry, 39, a businessman from St Petersburg, spent several hours queuing at the bridge to reach his weekend flat in Estonia. 'Each time I cross here, I think it may be the last,' he said. 'Suddenly things are different and people are talking of World War Three.

'This is the front line between East and West. I am worried, full of foreboding about what happens next.'

Arriving back in Estonia from the sleepy Russian frontier town of Ivangorod, artist Galina Nikolayeva admitted the atmosphere was nerve-racking. 'But I don't think war is coming again,' she said with a smile.

A Royal Air Force 6 Squadron Typhoon from RAF Lossiemouth intercepts a Russian Bear aircraft in 2014

We must hope she is right. Yet Putin and his kleptocratic Kremlin pals have already seized a slice of Ukraine, carpet-bombed an ancient city in Syria, carried out near-constant cyber attacks on the Baltic states, and even interfered in the US presidential election.

So given his unpredictability, rapid military build-up and ruthless desperation to mask economic failure by whipping up nationalist fervour, who can be sure of this dangerous despot's next move?

Perhaps this is why Kersti Kaljulaid made one of her first visits as Estonia's new president to Narva on Friday, to visit border guards in their barracks. She warned officers about their disruptive neighbour spreading dangerous propaganda.

Earlier she told me these were difficult times. 'Russia is an aggressive state that does not recognise formal agreements, has unleashed humanitarian catastrophe in Syria, and refuses to recognise the Minsk agreements in Ukraine.'

She said her country was grateful to Nato allies such as Britain coming to protect them. When I asked if this was a new Cold War, she replied: 'We should be calm, not alarmed.' Yet this is a small nation with a population only slightly bigger than Birmingham that shed its Soviet shackles just 25 years ago  a country where most families have tales of terrible brutality.

As one politician put it to me: 'The fear of Russia is passed down in our mothers' milk for Estonians.' Like many others, his family saw members deported to Siberia under Stalin.

Another person quoted a local saying that Russia gave them only two things in history: bad weather and hunger. He went on to tell of a friend's uncle who had his face cut off with a spade by Soviet forces.

The Baltic states have long warned the West to be wary of Russia. Yet just four years ago Barack Obama mocked his presidential rival, Republican Mitt Romney, for saying that Moscow was their main enemy, claiming 'the Cold War's been over for 20 years'.

How times change as Nato sends 4,000 heavily armed troops to the region as a tripwire to deter 330,000 Russian troops lurking on the other side of the Narva. The purpose is to remind Putin of Nato's pact to defend any members coming under attack.

'Russia is playing a very dangerous game with Europe using military tools,' said Juri Luik, former defence minister and director of Estonia's International Centre for Defence and Security. 'That is why Nato must be very clear in its actions.'

A Russian TU80 (pictured) was photographed at a Moscow arms show last month

Yet the danger of these ratcheting tensions is not just that Putin does something stupid. It is also that  as with the first Cold War  a mistake is made or move is misinterpreted by a nuclear-armed nation with devastating consequences.

Moscow's jets routinely buzz Nato ships, its war games simulate attacking Baltic states, its submarines test marine defences, and its hackers taunt Western computer security.

Estonia was the target of the world's first cyber war attack in 2007 when websites were overwhelmed during a row with Russia over a war memorial.

Putin has warned he will shoot down Nato aircraft if they attempt to stop the slaughter of Syrians in Aleppo, while the FBI believes Russia has been meddling in the US election by leaking Democrat Party emails embarrassing for Hillary Clinton.

Moscow is pumping money into its military and has developed a powerful propaganda machine, which constantly warns of Western aggression. Earlier this month, 40 million people were put through civil defence drills in case of nuclear attack. Russia also funds populist parties such as the French far-Right National Front, provides a platform for rabble-rousing Western politicians, and has been accused of spreading lies on issues such as immigration to stir public discontent.

Mail on Sunday reporter Ian Birrell in the Estonian town of Narva on the Estonia/Russian border

In Narva, the majority of citizens are ethnic Russians who make up a quarter of Estonia's population. Many watch Russian television, read Russian websites and admire Putin's stance  provoking fears they may be stirred into revolt, as I saw happen in Crimea and Ukraine.

'The people here like Putin and support Putin  but in Russia, not in Narva,' insisted Sergei Stepanov, former editor of the local newspaper. 'We can cross the river and see the real Russia with its low pensions, expensive food and poor choice in shops.'

He believes Russia is fighting a 'virtual Cold War' using modern mass media to manipulate opinion. Stepanov helped Estonia set up a rival Russian-language TV station, although it receives a fraction of the massive funds spent by Moscow.

Yet what is so alarming is not just that Putin's message of supposed Russian insecurity in the face of Western aggression shapes opinion at home, but its corrosive impact abroad.

Just look at how his 'useful idiots' range from Nigel Farage and Donald Trump on the Right, through to George Galloway, Jeremy Corbyn and his spin doctor Seumas Milne on the Left.

Others argue Russia is just indulging in harmless sabre-rattling when it brazenly sails naval ships past British shores as they head out to fuel the carnage in Syria.

Watching events unfold in Crimea and eastern Ukraine two years ago, I was stunned at how many Westerners fell for Putin's lies as he carried out the first annexation on European soil since the Second World War using a highly skilled form of hybrid warfare.

They accepted Ukrainians demanding democracy 'provoked' Moscow, 'little green men' invading Crimea were not Russian special forces, and that a referendum at gunpoint was fair.

Four months later I saw hundreds of bodies littering fields in eastern Ukraine after a civil airliner was shot down by Putin's allies. The corpses of innocent men, women, children  even dogs  lay in the sun while pro-Russian rebels strutted around and looted luggage.

Moscow media blamed Kiev, then the CIA  yet Putin's rebel stooges used a Russian surface-to-air Buk missile. It has been established the weapons crossed the border the same morning on a launcher.

Now Putin adds to Aleppo's agony using sophisticated bunker-busting bombs, cluster weapons and missiles that suck oxygen from the air and create massive blast waves. He ignores Islamic State jihadis, yet targets hospitals and heroic White Helmet rescuers.

Behind all this lie the tried and tested tactics of Russia's self-styled saviour.

This is, after all, a man who razed Chechnya under the guise of attacking jihadism, and almost certainly bombed blocks of flats in Russian cities to incite outrage against 'terrorists'.

He has plundered state coffers and crushed dissent after a brief flowering of post-Soviet freedom.

Five years ago I watched middle-class Muscovites try to reignite democracy with protests; how futile their brave actions now seem as Putin's iron grip intensifies. So have no doubts about the determination of this ruthless Russian ruler.

It is no coincidence this month saw the inauguration of Russia's first statue to Ivan the Terrible, a 16th Century tyrant being recast as a protector of his people.

Little wonder that another Baltic state, Lithuania, has reintroduced conscription. Meanwhile, Sweden may follow suit and is, with Finland, considering joining the protective shield of Nato.

Putin is a gambler who sees attack as his best form of self-defence. For behind his inflaming of nationalist fervour, Cold War rhetoric and throwing of Russia's weight around the world stage lies growing insecurity over a glorious nation's crumbling weakness.

After a slump in oil prices, Russia has been left with a gangster economy in dire recession: shrinking GDP, crashing personal incomes, plunging investment, faltering public services and a falling population.

Putin responded by intensifying his control under security apparatchiks and making a handful of high-profile arrests to appease public anger over fraud. Last month, a senior anti-corruption official was arrested over 100 million stashed away in a Moscow flat.

Despite massive military spending, Russia is arguably weaker than it has been since the time of Putin's hero, Peter the Great, the 18th Century tsar who built St Petersburg to provide his nation with 'a window on the West'.

Among those I spoke to in Estonia was Marko Mihkelson, who watched Putin's power games while working as a journalist in Moscow.

'I know their desire to be great again,' he said. 'They are trying to reshape global security to restore the Russian empire.'

Today Mihkelson is chairman of his parliament's National Defence Committee and agrees that Russia has fired up a new hybrid form of Cold War.

'They do not accept Western security architecture and that is why they keep pushing the limits in Ukraine and in Syria,' he said.

The strengthening of Nato in eastern Europe is an important step in standing by Baltic allies who shed blood beside British troops in Afghanistan  and belated recognition of Putin's danger.
A knifeman is on the run after he stabbed four people in Frankfurt train station.

The attack this afternoon occurred at Hauptwache station and there police have said there are four victims.

At this stage the motive for the stabbings is not clear.

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A knifeman is on the run after he stabbed four people in Frankfurt train station

The bloody aftermath left behind after four people where injured in a knife attack in Germany

The attack this afternoon occurred at Hauptwache station and there police have said there are four victims

At this stage the motive for stabbings is not clear, nor is the conditions of the victims known

The local police force confirmed the attack by Tweeting: 'There was a knife assault at the #Hauptwache in #Frankfurt. 'That's why so many colleagues [police officers] and rescue workers there.'

An der #Hauptwache in #Frankfurt kam es zu einer Messerstecherei. Deswegen sind so viele Kollegen und Rettungskraften dort. *ds  Polizei Frankfurt (@Polizei_Ffm) October 29, 2016

Bei einer Messerstecherei in #Frankfurt wurden mindestens 4 Personen verletzt. Alle 4 befinden sich derzeit im Krankenhaus.  Polizei Frankfurt (@Polizei_Ffm) October 29, 2016

The local police force confirmed the attack by Tweeting: 'There was a knife assault at the #Hauptwache in #Frankfurt.

'That's why so many colleagues [police officers] and rescue workers there.'

Frankfurt Police confirmed all four victims were still in hospital.

A video of the bloody aftermath was captured on what is understood to be level B of the station.

The incident was at 5.30pm local time, according to Hessenschau, who report the stabbings came after a group were quarreling.

A dispute had started on one platform and spilled over onto another one.

There was more bloodshed in a separate incident at the station, understood to be on a passenger train between Hauptwache and Taunusanlage.

A dispute between two passengers broke out into a fight, according to Hessenschau, which led to glass being broken and people suffering cuts.

It is not known whether the two incidents are linked.

A video of the bloody aftermath was captured on what is understood to be level B of the station

A policeman talks on the phone as colleagues stand around the cordoned off area in the station

Germany has been rocked by terror attacks this year, heaping pressure on chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door immigration policy

Germany has been rocked by terror attacks this year, heaping pressure on chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door immigration policy.

A bloody week of violence that rocked Germany began on July 18 when Pakistani teenager Riaz Khan Ahmadzai, 17, posing as an Afghan refugee, hacked at passengers on a train in Wurzburg with an axe, wounding five.

He was shot dead by police.

Four days later mentally unstable German-Iranian teenager Ali Sonboly shot nine people dead during a rampage through a shopping centre in Munich before taking his own life.

Sonboly claimed he was taking revenge for being bullied at school with no political motive to the murderous rampage.

Two days later a Syrian refugee, 21, hacked a pregnant woman to death in Reutlingen and on the same night Daleel, 27, injured 12 people when he detonated a rucksack packed with metal shards and screws.

Daleel carried out the attack on behalf of the terror group ISIS and had planned to kill hundreds by detonating him bomb at an open-air music festival.

He was only thwarted after being turned away by security guard Pascal Bohm and instead detonated his rucksack bomb outside a wine bar.
Arrest warrants have been issued for the mother and sister of Samia Shahida (pictured left) after it is claimed she was murdered in a suspected honour killing after they disliked her second marriage to Syed Mukhtar Kazam

Arrest warrants have today been issued for the British mother and sister of Samia Shahida after police want to quiz them both over their involvement in her suspected honour killing.

The pair from Bradford, West Yorkshire, who face extradition to Pakistan on claims they abetted murder, are believed to have gone into hiding within their home city.

They have now been declared proclaimed offenders in the country where twice-wed beauty therapist Samia Shahid was killed.

A judge issued arrest warrants for the two women when they failed to appear in court earlier  meaning police believe they were involved in Samias death and need to question them.

MailOnline revealed last month that Imtiaz Bibi and daughter Madiha Shahid had fled their comfortable four-storey home for a secret location.

British Muslim Samia was allegedly raped and strangled with a scarf in an honour killing after being lured to her death in Pakistan by her mother and sister who lied and said her father was dying, court papers claim.

Samia Shahid, left, was allegedly raped and murdered in a so-called honour killing in Punjab in July by her cousin Muhammad Shakeel, right, who was her first husband

The 28-year-old, also from Bradford, is believed to have fallen victim to a 'devious plan' by her family who wanted her dead because she left the cousin she was forced to marry.

Bradford MP Naz Shah admits despite death threats she wants justice for Samia Shahid and to raise awareness about honour killings

Her local MP Naz Shah, who highlighted the alleged crime, told MailOnline exclusively today: 'This is a significant development. I welcome the fact arrest warrants have been issued because it will encourage the family to assist with the inquiry and make themselves available to police.

'If they have nothing to do with Samias death they will have nothing to fear. Surely they want justice for Samia so they must make themselves available to police.

'I am very pleased the Pakistan authorities are investigating this. It shows they are keeping the inquiry alive and committed to getting justice for the killers.'

The Labour MP for Bradford West previously revealed how she had stepped up security amid 'fears for my life' after exposing a strong possible family connection.

The politician admitted: 'I kicked off and if it wasnt for me this case would never have been brought. Ive now had to review my security arrangements. Police have intercepted threats to kill me.'

In the dock: Samia's father Muhammad Shahid, right, and ex-husband Muhammad Shakeel, left are chased by journalists as they arrive to appear in court in Jhelum, in eastern Pakistan in September

Samia died in Pakistan in July in a 'premeditated, cold blooded murder, according to local police. Her first husband Chaudhry Muhammad Shakeel is accused of her murder while her father Chaudhry Muhammad Shahid is being held as a suspected accessory. They earlier today appeared in the latest court hearing in Jhelum in the northern Punjab province. They case has been adjourned until November 11. Prosecutors want the death penalty if they are convicted.

MP Naz Shah said if Samia's (pictured) mother and sister 'have nothing to hide then they have nothing to fear'

Samia's mother and sister could not be found at their comfortable four storey home in when MailOnline called there last month. A neighbour in their close knit Bradford suburb said at the time 'They've shut up shop here and gone. It's all very sudden and strange'.

Lawyer: Najful Hussain Shah, center, the lawyer of slain British-Pakistani woman Samia Shahid's second husband, leaves court after saying he will seek the death penalty

MP Ms Shah warned today that as Britain has no extradition treaty with Pakistan the procedure to find and question the family members could take some time. She added: 'People have sighted mother and sister in the community recently so we believe they're still living nearby but not at the family home. It appears to be on lock down.

'Ive never met them so dont even know what they look like. We're not even aware if the police even know their whereabouts.'

The politician, who herself was forced into an arranged marriage at the age of 15, had called for an investigation into Samia's death insisting: 'We must raise the profile on so-called honour crimes.'

It is claimed Samia's mother and daughter 'emotionally blackmailed' her into thinking her father Mohammed (pictured) was dying and she needed to go to Pakistan

Sami's husband Syed Mukhtar Kazam (pictured) has also been fighting for justice for his wife

Ms Shah, a womens rights activist predicted: 'There will be a backlash and already I fear for my safety. Ive been outspoken about this matter and now people are plotting to shoot me.

'But we must ensure justice is done for Samia. This must never happen again.'

The MP backs Samias second husband, now Dubai-based Syed Kazahs views that her family killed her because they opposed his marriage.

The family had her buried in the local ceremony claiming Samia died of natural causes - the police later began investigating

Her mother and sister Madiha are accused of 'emotionally blackmailing' her to visit Pakistan and are wanted on suspicion of 'abetting the murder'. The pair were allegedly allowed to flee Pakistan on July 27 thanks to a police officer who ignored orders to seize their passports. They returned to the UK.

Court papers called for the extradition of the two women to be started via the Ministry of Interior. Arrests warrants are due to be issued through Interpol.

A Home Office spokesperson said today: 'We do not comment on this individual case.'
Jose Fernandez had cocaine in his system on the night he died in a boat crash, an autopsy has revealed.

The Miami Marlins pitcher had also drunk nearly double the legal alcohol limit before he was killed.

Fernandez, 24, and two of his friends died when a boat they were in slammed into a jetty in the early hours of September 25.

Results of toxicology tests on the three men were released on Saturday by the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner's office. They listed the cause of death as 'boat crash'.

The reports give an insight into what the trio had been doing in the hours leading up to the collision and the injuries they suffered.

They do not reveal who was driving the boat, called 'Kaught Looking', at the time, but Fernandez''s family attorneys insist he was not the one at the controls.

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Jose Fernandez had cocaine in his system before he died in a boat crash, a toxicology report has revealed

Fernandez had a blood-alcohol content level of 0.147, well above the legal limit of .08.

An autopsy report for one of the friends, Eduardo Rivero, shows that he too had taken cocaine and consumed alcohol the morning of the crash.

Emilio Macias, who was also on the boat, drank alcohol the day of the crash, but was not under the influence of any illegal drugs.

The reports show that all of them suffered blunt force injuries to the head and torso areas, the Miami Herald reported.

Earlier this week, a search warrant affidavit released by the Miami-Dade state attorney's office on Wednesday detailed how the bodies of the three men had a strong odor of alcohol on them when they were recovered by rescue divers.

It also says officials found a receipt for alcohol from American Social Bar, where Hernandez was said to be drinking just 90 minutes before his body was found.

Investigators also discovered evidence the boat was speeding at the time of the crash.

Fernandez and two of his friends were killed when the boat crashed on September 25. Investigators are seen looking at the crashed vessel

The autopsies were released after the Miami Herald sued the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner's Office seeking release of the documents.

The crash was being investigated by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, which initially claimed the documents could not be released because of an active criminal investigation.

But they countered, saying no criminal charges could be filed because everyone on board had died.

Ralph Fernandez, the late pitcher's friend and family attorney, blasted the county for releasing the toxicology reports.

He told the Miami Herald there is an active criminal probe that could still lead to arrests, but he would not elaborate on who was being targeted.

The attorney said investigators have strong evidence that the star was not piloting the boat

He insists someone was on the phone with him 'at the point of impact'.

The report does not mention who was driving the boat, but gives an insight into what the trio had been doing in the hours before the accident and what injuries they suffered

The witness supposedly told police and Fernandez's lawyer the pitcher 'was telling some driving to go left, to left, stay away from the shore, and moments later, communications ceased,' the attorney told the newspaper.

Fernandez escaped Cuba by boat as a teenager on his fourth attempt. During the crossing his mother fell into the ocean and the 24-year-old pitcher jumped in to save her life.

The 24-year-old had been earmarked as a potential star of the sport thanks to a 100mph fast ball.

It was a stunning debut year: He made it as an All Star, was in the game's top ten pitchers and was picked as Rookie of the Year.

He was the first pitcher in the modern era to win his first 17 career home decisions, and went 24-1 in his first 25 home decisions.

He also made his second All Star appearance in the 2016 rankings, and went 38-17 in over the course of his four seasons with the Marlins.

Last week, he was posthumously named Sporting News' National League Comeback Player of the Year.

Fernandez's girlfriend Maria Arias, 24, is pregnant with his child. She is due in February.

Instagram pictures revealed that Fernandez had spent his summer indulging his passion for big game fishing with a group of close friends who call themselves 'J's Crew'

Fernandez was seen partying at this popular nightspot in Miami just 90 minutes before his body was found, reports suggest

Days before his tragic death, Fernandez revealed he and Arias were expecting their first child together.

And in a touching Instagram post, he shared his excitement at the prospect of becoming a father, telling her: 'I'm ready for where this journey is going to take us together.'

Alongside a black and white image of Arias cradling her baby bump, he added: 'I'm so glad you came into my life.'

In a video posted on Facebook Aug. 11 by Arias' father, Fernandez and Arias are celebrating the announcement she is pregnant.

Fernandez had a blood-alcohol content level of 0.147, well above the legal limit of .08. He is seen pitching against the Washington Nationals on April 16

The ball player is seen cutting into a gender-reveal cake and jumps like a teenager when he discovers that the inside of the cake has a pink layer, the sign Arias is pregnant with a girl.

She became pregnant, her family says, within weeks of starting to date Fernandez.

'He wanted to name the baby girl Penelope,' said Magaly Junco, who is married to Arias' cousin and once lived with her. 'She is due in February and they were living together in his apartment in downtown Miami. They were very excited about having a baby.'

Via text message, Arias declined to comment about Fernandez and the baby.

Arias, Junco said, had met Fernandez through her sister's husband, Jessie Garcia, a professional deep sea fisherman who had become Fernandez's close friend.

But before he could jump into a relationship with Arias, Fernandez broke up his engagement to former Miami Marlins cheerleader Carla Mendoza.

The Marlins have not yet commented on the release of the toxicology results.

Miami Marlins players all wearing jerseys bearing the number 16 and name Fernandez honor the late pitcher before the game against the New York Mets at Marlins Park on September 26, 24 hours after the crash
Donald Trump said Saturday that Hillary Clinton 'has nobody to blame but herself for her mounting legal troubles' as a re-energized FBI investigation into illicit classified emails threatens to derail her White House ambitions.

'Her criminal action was willful, deliberate, intentional and purposeful,' Trump said in an agricultural event center in Golden, Colorado.

'Hillary set up an illegal server for the obvious purpose of shielding her criminal conduct from public disclosure and exposure.'

'That didn't work!' he joked, telling a raucous throng that Clinton's admission that she ordered the destruction of more than 33,000 emails after Congress subpoenaed them. 'I think some of these 33,000 were captured yesterday!'

Hours later in Phoenix, Arizona, Trump said Clinton and her husband, the former U.S. president, got rich by ignoring their obligations to safeguard America's national security.

Opportunity knocks: Donald Trump says Hillary Clinton has nobody to blame but herself for her mounting legal troubles after the FBI reopened their investigation into her emails

The Republican presidential nominee renewed his attacks on the disgraced former Democratic congressman Anthony Weiner, calling him 'a major, major, major sleaze'

Trump's speech, the first of two on Saturday, was delivered in a rodeo barn

'She set-up this illegal server knowing full well that her actions put our national security at risk, and put the safety and security of your children at risk,' he told a large crowd at the Phoenix Convention Center.

'But she didn't care. As long as she and Bill got the money, the safety of your family made absolutely no difference to her.'

In Colorado, the Republican presidential nominee renewed his attacks on the disgraced former Democratic congressman Anthony Weiner as well, calling him 'a major, major, major sleaze.'

Weiner's alleged sexting affair with a teenage girl, first expose by DailyMail.com, drew federal investigators to the computer where they found thousands of Hillary Clinton-related emails thought to be lost forever.

Weiner's estranged wife Huma Abedin is a longtime Hillary Clinton confidante who has served her for more than two decades.

'I wonder, is she going to keep Huma? Huma's been a problem,' Trump said

The billionaire didn't try the saddles in Colorado, but he did joke about shining his shoes just in time to 'walk through more dusty floors than I've ever seen'

Hillary Clinton (above) emerged on Saturday boarding her campaign plane noticeably without her top aide Huma Abedin as her campaign cranked up its war against FBI Director James Comey

Trump supporters brought their Halloween costumes to Golden, CO, including this one of Hillary Clinton as a prison inmate

'Hillary' stood at the front of the crowd of fired-up supporters in Colorado

'I wonder if Huma's going to stay there. And I hope they haven't given Huma immunity.'

'She knows the real story. She knows what's going on,' he said.

The FBI swooped in on Anthony Weiner in September after DailyMail.com revealed he had sent explicit messages and graphic pictures to a 15-year-old girl

'How can you have all of this incredible, confidential, secret information, and have your top person married to this guy? ... This is very serious stuff.'

The real estate billionaire used the 'pervert' Weiner's proximity to power as Exhibit A in his case that the Clintons have poor judgment and can't be trusted with the levers of power.

'As Podesta said, she's got bad instincts,' he said, quoting Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's stinging admission in a hacked email published by the WikiLeaks anti-privacy group.

'Well, she's got bad instincts when the emails are on Anthony Weiner's  wherever,' Trump quipped.

'Ooh. He's bad.'

In Phoenix, he recalled the months he spent lambasting Weiner on Twitter, calling him a 'pervert' and a 'sleaze' while predicting that the shamed sexter would prove to be a Clinton liability.

'I dont know if anybody saw my comments on Anthony Weiner,' he said. 'I had no idea I was going to be that accurate!'

Trump made for a one-man western tableau in Colorado, with his teleprompters framing hay bales, leather saddles and ropes.

'I spent a long time this morning making my shoes so beautiful,' he laughed when he took the stage.

'Then I walked through more dusty floors than I've ever seen!'

Biggest political scandal since Watergate? A delirious Trump says 'justice at last can be properly delivered'

While on her plane on Saturday, Clinton (above) was photographed speaking with members of her staff and seemed at ease despite the growing scandal

THE CLINTON EMAIL CONTROVERSY January 13 2009: Hillary Clinton's aide Justin Cooper sets up clintonemail.com domain. Huma Abedin signs off on it January 21: Clinton is sworn in as Secretary of State 18 March: Clinton stops using her BlackBerry email account and switches to the newly created hdr22@clintonemail.com account. The domain is hosted on her own private email server, set up by her aide Bryan Pagliano September 11, 2012: Four Americans are killed in attack on a U.S. base in Benghazi, Libya including Ambassador Chris Stevens February 1, 2013: Clinton steps down as secretary of state October 28, 2014: State Department demands Clinton's work-related correspondence as part of a congressional investigation into Benghazi Fall 2014: Clinton's lawyers deletes 33,000 emails which they claim are 'personal' December 5, 2014: Clinton's legal team provide roughly 30,000 emails to the State Department when they are demanded by a congressional investigation into Benghazi. March 2 2015: The New York Times breaks the news that Clinton used a personal email account to conduct government business while secretary of state July 25: Clinton says she is confident none of the emails on her private email server were classified at the time of sending and receiving August 4: The Washington Post reveals the FBI has begun looking into the security of Clinton's private email set-up September 10: Bryan Pagliano formally asserts his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination rather than answer questions from a Republican-led House committee on her email arrangements July 6, 2016: The Justice Department closes Clinton email probe and FBI Director James Comey announces the FBI won't prosecute. The decision was made by Comey because Attorney General Loretta Lynch had to recuse herself after a secret meeting with Bill Clinton October 7: WikiLeaks begins release of thousands of emails hacked from the Gmail account of John Podesta, Clinton's campaign chair October 28: FBI reopens its investigation into Clinton's server Advertisement

Trump's working-class soliloquy against Clinton on Saturday drew chants of 'Lock her up!' from thousands, and a scream of 'Trump that bitch!' from one man in a cowboy hat and flannel.

He called this year's most sensational October surprise 'the biggest political scandal since Watergate,' saying that 'it's everybody's deepest hope that justice at last can be properly delivered.'

'It's very sad, but it's taken so long,' he said. 'Hillary should have been convicted long ago.'

'This whole thing should have been over with a year ago,' he insisted.

'She is so guilty! She is so guilty! She is so guilty!'

Huma Abedin was pictured aboard the campaign plane with Clinton on Friday before the FBI announced they were reopening the investigation into the private email server

Trump also pointed a finger of blame at Attorney General Loretta Lynch, repeating news reports that suggested the political appointee tried to interfere with FBI Director James Comey's decision to alert Congress that the Clinton probe had been reopened.

'We're living in a third-world country. This has never happened before,' he said. 'This is the lowest point  in terms of the judicial system  this is the lowest point in the history of our country.

'The Department of Justice was fighting the FBI, and that's because the Department of Justice is trying so hard to protect Hillary,' he said.

Trump turned the episode into a civics pep rally, saying that political interference in the justice system 'deadens and saps the spirit of public participation.'

'When the outcome is fixed, when the system is rigged, people lose hope  not only in the system but in our country itself.'

Retired Lt. Gen Michael Flynn, on stage to warm up Trump's crowd, hinted at the speech to come.

'I've had it up to here with Hillary Clinton and her scandals! I'm sick of it!' he boomed.

'The American people need to put the Clintons in our rear-view mirror and say goodbye! When is enough enough? I'm tired of it!'
A former student trainer at Penn State says director Nate Parker exposed himself to her after he was tried for a campus rape 17 years ago, a new report claims.

The unnamed female trainer was reportedly encouraged by the university to contact law enforcement in the fall of 2000  but ultimately decided against it, the New York Times reported.

Parker  who directed, co-wrote and stars in 'The Birth of a Nation'  was a sophomore at Penn State when he was accused of rape in 1999. He was later acquitted and maintains his innocence, saying the encounter was consensual.

The woman says Parker was still facing trial under those allegations when the exposure allegedly happened.

A former student trainer at Penn State says director Nate Parker (pictured) exposed himself to her after he was tried for a campus rape 17 years ago, a new report claims

She told the Times that Parker was 'zeroing in' on her for a while, to the point where she had to ask her boyfriend to walk her home at night.

She says the alleged exposure happened while she treating Parker's back during wrestling practice when he said he 'wanted to show her something.'

Parker reportedly showed her the top half of his penis, according to the Times.

'I was shaken,' the woman told the Times. 'I was crying.'

She said several school officials encouraged her to go to the police.

'It was my decision not to report,' she said.

The allegations came to light as prosecutors continue to investigate Penn State officials over their failure to report Jerry Sandusky's rampant sexual abuse, which rendered him 60 years in prison.

Now investigators are looking at whether Parker's case illustrates a pattern of mishandling sexual misconduct complaints, the Times reported.

Allegations against PArker came to light as prosecutors continue to investigate Penn State over its failure to report Jerry Sandusky's (pictured) rampant sexual abuse

'This is the first Mr. Parker has ever heard of this,' Parker's lawyer, David Matlof told the Times.

'He recognizes the seriousness of the issue, but this claim is completely untrue.'

Penn State officials told the Times they could not comment due to student confidentiality issues.

'The Birth of a Nation' first debuted in January at the Sundance Film Festival where it was hailed as an antidote to the then-raging 'OscarsSoWhite' backlash.

Parker's film immediately sparked widespread Oscar expectations and a bidding war among distributors. Fox Searchlight, an Academy Awards regular, landed it for a festival record $17.5 million, with the assurance of a nation-wide release. It's to open in theaters next Friday.

But the newfound attention on Parker put a spotlight on the 1999 rape allegations.

Parker was acquitted, though his college roommate, Jean Celestin  who helped create 'The Birth of a Nation'  was initially found guilty of sexual assault. That conviction was later overturned when the accuser declined to testify for a retrial.

Parker and Celestin were also accused of harassing the female accuser on campus. The incident spawned a successful civil lawsuit by the woman against the college.

After several previous attempts, the accuser committed suicide in 2012.

Parker remained unapologetic.

'I was falsely accused. I went to court. I was vindicated,' he said in an interview with '60 Minutes.'
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Ukrainian riot police were sent in to pin back nationalists who were trying to prevent a rally in support of legalising cannabis.

The protesters set fire to a cap with a cannabis leaf printed on it in Mikhaylivska Square in Downtown Kiev on Saturday.

A second group had tried to hold a rally to demand marijuana to no longer be classed as a hard drug, demanding it be decriminalised.

But nationalists turned up in their droves to take the sting out of the demonstration by chanting and holding banners reading, 'Sport. Health. Nationalism.'

The other protesters held posters reading 'Freedom for plants, will for people' during a rally for cannabis legalisation.

The clashes appeared to turn ugly with officers with shielded helmets and truncheons forced to restrain a number of demonstrators.

Ukrainian police officers hold back nationalists who are trying to prevent a rally in support of cannabis decriminalisation in downtown Kiev, Ukraine, Saturday

Police clash with protesters trying to stop a rally in support of the decriminalisation of cannabis in Kiev, Ukraine

The protesters set fire to a cap with a cannabis leaf printed on it in Mikhaylivska Square in downtown Kiev on Saturday

Protesters shout slogans as they try to stop a rally in support of the decriminalisation of cannabis in Kiev

Ukrainian nationalists trying to prevent a rally of supporters of cannabis decriminalization stand in front mounted police

Ukrainian nationalists shout slogans as they try to prevent a rally of supporters of cannabis decriminalisation at Mikhaylivska Square in downtown Kiev

Policemen stand guard as they protect from Ukrainian nationalists the group of protesters demanding for cannabis decriminalisation

Policemen stand guard as they protect, from Ukrainian nationalists, the group of protesters demanding marijuana is legalised

A second group had tried to hold a rally to demand marijuana to no longer be classed as a hard drug, demanding it be decriminalised

. But nationalists turned up in their droves to take the sting out of the demonstration by chanting and holding banners reading, 'Sport. Health. Nationalism.'

The clashes appeared to turn ugly with officers with shielded helmets and truncheons forced to restrain a number of demonstrators

Protesters hold posters reading 'Freedom for plants, will for people' during a rally for cannabis decriminalization at Mikhaylivska Square in downtown Kiev
James Ellison (pictured) has been writing about the positive aspects of violence on the No Borders Facebook page under an alias

A leading member of the anarchist group accused of starting fires in the Calais Jungle is a British university academic who is being funded to study police and fascist violence in the camp, it can be revealed.

James Ellison is part of the hard-line organisation No Borders, whose members are being investigated by French police over claims they infiltrated the Jungle and torched shacks by igniting gas canisters during this weeks operation to close the sprawling camp.

Mr Ellison, 29, has been posting regularly about the camps closure on No Borders Facebook page under the online alias James Jayus, calling to let everyone in to Britain and writing about the positive aspects of violence.

Mr Ellison has a fully funded scholarship at Loughborough University, where he is studying for a doctorate on visual representations of border violence in Calais. He also gives talks at other campuses across the country.

Until two days ago the university had described Mr Ellison on its website as an activist who through involvement with freedom of movement struggles in Calais... has witnessed first hand the ensuing border crisis and human emergency as it has increased over the last 4 years.

All of this experience has fed into his research and James has become directly involved with documenting police and fascist violence in Calais. He has also helped establish social media groups that have become instrumental in coordinating material support and volunteers in Calais.

Mr Ellison described his research project on 'border violence in Calais' in one of his online profiles

The Calais camp was demolished on Monday (pictured) and No Borders activists were accused by migrants in the Calais Jungle of lighting fires. Mr Ellison was not in the camp during its closure, but was posting regularly on Facebook group Calais Migrant Solidarity

These lines were deleted after The Mail on Sunday approached the university for comment.

The university offers students fully funded studentships in the School of the Arts, English and Drama, which Ellison studies in, covering tuition fees and paying them a yearly stipend of 14,296. Loughborough University received more than 33 million last year in teaching and research grants from Government quango the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

Mr Ellison was not in the camp during its closure, but during the past week he has been posting regularly on Facebook group Calais Migrant Solidarity (No Borders), which he helps run as an administrator, under his alias. The groups Facebook page says: We work against the state and its borders and believe in freedom of movement for all.

Mr Ellison, who grew up in a pretty terraced cottage in the desirable Devon village of Cheriton Fitzpaine and attended local state schools, wrote earlier this month: Id like to say, dont just let the children in, let everyone in. It doesnt matter how f*****g old they are! Prior to its demolition, in a discussion on the page about Calais mayors fears that Left-wing anarchists would cause trouble in the camp, the academic admitted he saw the positive aspects of violence.

He wrote: I can see the positive aspects of violence and I see no need to be violent when the people you are struggling with dont lead the fight. Still, not all No Borders [members] are violent.

A burning travel trailer in the Calais Jungle in Calais after French authorities went in to clear the camp on Monday

Just like not all Jungle residents are violent.

No Borders activists were accused by migrants in the Calais Jungle of lighting fires that engulfed parts of the camp in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Patrick Visser-Bourdon, the police commissioner leading the security operation, said afterwards: Migrants say No Borders activists came into the camp in the middle of the night and set off the canisters.

The investigation into the No Borders infiltration of the Jungle was followed by yesterdays announcement that French riot police will start destroying illegal camps in Paris that have been swelling after migrants converged on the capital after the razing of the Jungle.

In September, Ellison posted an article about three Mail on Sunday journalists who were injured in a car crash in Calais after migrants threw a log at their vehicle, saying: Daily Mail hate and lies! In 2012 the activist was charged with obstructing the highway during a protest organised by No Borders at an Immigration Removal Centre near Heathrow against a flight deporting people to Ghana.

The committed anarchist even bragged on Facebook at the time about how he received legal aid. He appeared in court with 10 others, but his charges were later dropped.

Debris of burned makeshift shelters is all that is left of the camp that once housed between 6,000 and 8,000 people

Last night Mr Ellison said in a statement from his lawyer: I am not currently in Calais nor have I been there for nine months. I find the scenes of the camp on fire and its destruction distressing. My role in No Borders is as administrator for a Facebook Group. I am not responsible for organising any of the protests that have occurred.

He added: I do not believe that all No Border activists are violent nor do I believe that they were responsible for the fire and destruction of the camp.

He claimed he had discussed positive aspect of violence in a discussion of the 1969 Stonewall riots by the New York gay community. An hour after the MoS contacted Ellison for comment, the James Jayus Facebook page was deleted.
A poster featuring a so-called Genderbread person wearing a green beret has triggered anger and bemusement among Royal Marines.

The mocked-up image, intended to promote awareness of gender issues in Commando units, was attacked last night as disrespectful and a waste of money.

Some elite troops claimed the poster mocks their legendary green berets  which are only awarded after a brutally tough selection process.

The mocked-up image, intended to promote awareness of gender issues in Commando units, was attacked last night as disrespectful and a waste of money

A serving Sergeant Major told The Mail on Sunday: I have no issues with anyones sexuality. But depicting a member of the Corps as a Genderbread person, and the wearing of a green beret, is deeply offensive. It looks as if the Marines are being mocked.

A retired Royal Marines officer suggested the Corps had become paralysed by political correctness.

The poster, entitled Helping You Understand Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, was produced by the Royal Navy in conjunction with Compass, an equality campaign group officially recognised by the Ministry of Defence.

Last night, an MOD spokesman insisted that no offence was intended towards Service personnel. He also insisted the poster was supposed to be easy to understand. However, many troops were left confused by its wording.

The poster features four coloured boxes with the headings Expression, Identity, Sexual Orientation and Biological Sex. The text in each is supposed to explain the meaning behind these terms.

Under the heading Identity the text reads: How you, in your head, define your gender, based on how much you align (or dont align) with what you understand to be the options for gender.

Sexual Orientation is described as: The sexual, romantic, physical and spiritual attraction you feel for others. Often based on the gender relationships between you and the people you are attracted to.

Last night, an MOD spokesman insisted that no offence was intended towards Service personnel

Critics of the poster took to a Facebook page called Fill Your Boots, which is used by serving and retired military personnel. One person likened the use of language on the poster to Batco  an encryption system used by British forces to send secret messages on the battlefield.

Others said the poster was a waste of money at a time of defence cuts. The Royal Navy, of which the Royal Marines is part, has been praised by charities for its efforts to promote equality and diversity.

The Genderbread person, based on the design of a gingerbread man, is used worldwide as an infographic to help people understand gender and sexuality issues.
Princess Eugenie, left, and Princess Beatrice are still adored by grandmother amid fued

They have been derided as workshy, scorned for their many lavish holidays, and mocked  perhaps unfairly  for their fashion sense.

But while they might lack the status of their royal cousins or the elegance of the Duchess of Cambridge, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie can be confident of one thing at least: they are adored by their grandmother.

Over the years, The Queen, disheartened by the marriage breakdowns of three of her children, has stayed especially close to her grandchildren. Indeed, so fond is the Queen of Beatrice and Eugenie that she has now sided with them and their father Prince Andrew in their growing family rift with Prince Charles.

A senior member of the Queens court has told The Mail on Sunday that, while she must publicly be seen to support Charles as he plans for the future, she believes that his hopes of sidelining Beatrice and Eugenie could prove impractical. For the sake of the Monarchy, they should be allowed to carry out more royal duties.

The Queen adores the girls and is keen for them to have some kind of a role, said the source. Charless vision for a streamlined family is all very well, but how can the Royal Family do everything it currently does with just five players?

At present, the sisters are not on the official royal roster, although they attend engagements when they can.

It is a long-running and increasingly acrimonious row. As first revealed by this newspaper, Prince Charles is determined that there should be a slimmed-down Monarchy, with full royal status and financial support limited to leading members of the family.

And as the Queen hands over responsibility to her eldest son, his reforming spirit is increasingly influential  to the dismay of his younger brother, the Duke Of York, who is understandably concerned that his daughters will be phased out of royal life when Charles becomes King.

Last weekend it was reported that Andrew had gone so far as to write to his mother to lobby for more significant roles for them.

He feels strongly, sources say, that Beatrice and Eugenie should no longer be excluded from royal duties and that they should be properly compensated with state funding.

The family line-up behind the royal rift: This image is the most potent sign of Prince Charless vision of a slimline Royal Family. At the Diamond Jubilee flypast in 2012, The Queen was joined on the Buckingham Palace balcony only by Camilla, Charles, William, Kate and Harry  to the chagrin of Andrew and other family members, who felt snubbed. Prince Philip was absent as he was recovering from a bladder infection at the time

He also requested that his daughters, who live in rented accommodation at St Jamess Palace, should be granted accommodation at Kensington Palace along with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.

In contrast with Princess Anne, Andrew gave his children royal titles at birth.

The feud has been gathering ever since Beatrice and Eugenie were stripped of their 500,000-a-year round-the-clock police protection six years ago. At the time it was made clear that they would have to support themselves with full-time jobs.

Andrew now finds himself paying for the girls private protection officers.

In the same year, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent were told to start paying the market rent of 120,000 a year on their apartment at Kensington Palace.

There was more trouble to come in the run-up to the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 2012, when it was suggested that Prince William had failed to involve Beatrice in the preparations.

A rift between Princes Charles and Andrew has seen the heir to the thrown attempt to sideline his nieces from royal duties

And then came the most public blow of all, when Charles excluded his siblings Andrew, Edward and Anne and their children from joining the Queen on the balcony of Buckingham Palace for the RAF flypast to mark the Jubilee.

Charles decided that just the top tier of royals should appear in public for the close of the celebrations, so the Queen was joined only by Charles, Camilla, William, Harry and Kate. The snub is said to have upset many family members, including the Duke of Edinburgh, who had been ill in hospital with a bladder infection.

It was also seen as a pivotal moment, with Charles laying down a blueprint for the future  and Andrew taking up the cudgels. Sources suggest Andrew has complained to his mother that the princesses are in danger of being overshadowed by the Cambridges and that Beatrice and Eugenie deserve proper royal roles like their cousins, along with the same standard of accommodation at Kensington Palace. He fears that they will be totally sidelined when the Queen dies.

Buckingham Palace has declined to comment, but a source close to Her Majesty  who hates confrontation  said: The row between Andrew and Charles is not pleasant. It has been going on for many years and it all comes down to Andrew feeling that he and his family are being phased out.

Awaiting the role, the future Queen and her father in 1936 when he was till the Duke of York, a house she still holds sympathy for, and which is now headed by her son Prince Andrew

It has been said  although not confirmed  that the Queen passed Andrews letter on to her private secretary Sir Christopher Geidt who then raised the matter with Prince Charles. He, in turn, is said to be immovable, expressing the view that a member of the Government should tell Andrew directly that his children cannot be working royals.

The Mail on Sunday has been told that Prince Edward, the Queens youngest son, has also been drafted in to act as a peacekeeper.

While Princess Anne turned down royal titles for her children Peter and Zara Phillips, Prince Andrews girls, who are seventh and eighth in line to the throne, were given royal titles at birth. Peter and Zara are 13th and 16th in line respectively.

HER MAJESTY'S ABIDING EMPATHY FOR THE YORK DYNASTY The Queens special empathy for Beatrice and Eugenie has its roots in her own youth. For it is easy to forget that she, too, was a Princess of York, the daughter of a Monarchs second son. When she was born, she was not expected to become Queen, as the Prince of Wales was still young and many believed he would go on to have children of his own, even after he was crowned Edward VIII in 1936. But when he abdicated several months later, the ten-year-old Princess Elizabeth became heir presumptive, suddenly very aware of the responsibilities of a life of royal duty. Advertisement

Charles is increasingly powerful in the house of Windsor. There is already a quiet handover of power taking place at Buckingham Palace as he prepares for succession.

The Prince of Wales, 67, carries out the lions share of overseas travel on behalf of the Queen as well as investitures and other engagements. He carries out more engagements than any other member of the Royal Family except for Princess Anne in order to help out his 90-year-old mother and 95-year-old father.

Charles is said to have been increasingly annoyed by Andrews behaviour, including his involvement in the 15 million sale of his marital home Sunninghill Park (a wedding gift from the Queen); his friendship with US tycoon Jeffrey Epstein, who was jailed for sex offences; and a handful of ill-fated decisions such as taking a holiday with a Libyan gun smuggler which contributed to Andrew having to step down as the UKs special trade envoy.

The Dukes ongoing friendship with his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, and his decision to buy a 13 million chalet in Verbier with her are also said to have rankled with Charles.

This row has been going on for years, but its been under the radar. It hasnt got better, its got worse, adds the source.

Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie attend the Serpentine Summer Party in Hyde Park. They have been favoured by the Queen at the latest official ceremony

According to Royal historian Hugo Vickers, the Prince of Waless decision to scale back the Royal Family to core members will have been made with public perception in mind.

But he warned: I suspect Charles is worried that too many royals might be seen as a burden on the general public, but Charles will find it very hard carrying out all the engagements the Royal Family does collectively with just the support of a slimmed-down monarchy. The Queen depends not just on her immediate family but on her cousins also. I would have thought that Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie would both be a great asset to the Royal Family.

Ive met them both on many occasions and they are very well brought-up girls with an understanding of their titles and the sense of purpose that brings.

While the Duke of Yorks website states that Princess Beatrice, 28, works full-time in business and her 26-year-old sister works full-time in the art world, both are said to be keen to use their HRH titles to promote charitable causes.

The Queen waves happily at the side of Prince William after a Service of Thanksgiving for her reign

To the Queen's immediate left her grandson Prince Harry and the Duchess of Cambridge joined her on the balcony

Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall. The prince has taken on more royal duties from his ageing mother, and attempted to marginalise certain members of the Royal Family

This month Eugenie, an associate director at London gallery Hauser and Wirth, joined Theresa May at a service at Westminster Abbey for William Wilberforce, who led the movement to abolish the slave trade. The Princess also recorded a video for the Salvation Army to highlight the global issue of people trafficking.

Meanwhile, Beatrice campaigns to raise awareness about dyslexia, a condition she suffers from.

Those who know the Princesses say they are good-natured, well-intentioned girls in a difficult position of being royal yet ordinary  and increasingly anxious to show they are not just party girls.

At least they have an ally in the Queen. She certainly has a soft spot, inviting the girls and their parents to spend a week in Balmoral with her this summer. And one can understand her sympathy.

She too was once a peripheral royal, the daughter of a young Prince who never expected the crown  until the shocking abdication of her uncle Edward VIII in December 1936.
Theophilous Washington (above) has been charged with attempted murder of an unborn child and reckless endangerment

A university student enrolled at a small college in Pennsylvania was arrested and charged with attempted murder after authorities learned that he had poisoned his pregnant girlfriend's glass of water with bleach in an attempt to abort the fetus, authorities said.

Theophilous Washington, a 20-year-old from Washington, D.C. who is attending Millersville University in rural Pennsylvania, was charged with criminal attempt to commit first-degree murder of an unborn child and reckless endangering.

'The charges are twisted and the intended result nothing short of horrifying,' District Attorney Craig Stedman said in a statement Friday.

Washington and his girlfriend, who is two months pregnant, were at his home on Thursday.

When she was about to leave on Friday morning to return to her dorm, authorities said he offered her a drink of water that had been stashed in the refrigerator.

After she drank the water, she returned to her room and began to feel a burning sensation in her throat.

She started vomiting and eventually called 911.

In interviews with police, Washington acknowledged putting bleach in the water bottle from which his girlfriend drank, prosecutors said.

'Washington, the father of the child, admitted to putting bleach in the water bottle,' prosecutors said. 'He had stated previously that he did not want the female to have the child.'

The woman was examined by a doctor, who determined that she and the fetus were unharmed, according to the district attorney.

A Millersville University sign is seen on campus in this file photo. Police said the pregnant woman dialed 911 after she felt a burning sensation in her throat and began vomiting

Brian Hazlett, Millersville's vice president of student affairs and enrollment management, called it 'a horrible, unconscionable event.'

'It is very disturbing to me personally because I consider our students to be our family,' Hazlett said in a statement. 'Our thoughts and prayers are with the victim and we're doing everything we can to make sure she is OK.'

Washington remains in custody on $1million bail pending a November 4 preliminary hearing.
Witches (pictured) reportedly tend to draw pentagrams on the walls and doors of churches, and chant spells and curses

Hundreds of churches across Britain have taken up Government funding to protect themselves against pagans.

Many fear they will be targeted tomorrow when witches and Satanists celebrate Halloween, with reports of human skulls and bird carcasses being found strewn on church altars.

The Home Office set up a 2.4 million fund to help places of worship boost their security after two jihadis beheaded 85-year-old Father Jacques Hamel inside his church in Rouen in July.

But most of the churches in England and Wales that have taken up the offer have used the funds to protect themselves from Satanists and witches.

Latest figures show that 225 churches applied for money along with 36 mosques, 11 Sikh gurdwaras and three other places of worship. Jewish synagogues dont qualify to apply, as they receive money from a separate fund managed by the Communities Securities Trust charity.

Officials expected most funding requests to come from mosques, as they are regularly targeted by racist groups like Britain First and the English Defence League.

But Nick Tolson, who sits on the Home Office panel that awards the grant, said: The fact that 80 per cent of applicants were churches was a surprise and raised a red flag that there may be a problem with anti-Christian hate crimes.

Many churches fear they will be targeted when witches and Satanists celebrate Halloween

Mr Tolson explained that witches tend to draw pentagrams on the walls and doors of churches, and also enter churches to chant spells in the belief they are cursing them.
Their captors have forced them to remain in the war zone as human shields

Hiding in a barn in a war-torn city, a petrified young man living under the horrific rule of Islamic State whispers his desperate cry of help into his mobile phone: We are all close to death. Save us.

He is one of the many thousands of human shields in Mosul, where a coalition of Iraqi and Western forces are battling to take back the city from an army of jihadi terrorists making their last stand.

His is an extraordinary and terrifying despatch  as for the first time, one of the hostages being held by IS in the Iraqi city speaks to the outside world. Abdul  whose real name The Mail on Sunday has chosen not to disclose  spoke to our reporter in a snatched phone call, for which he could have paid with his life if he had been discovered.

Guardian: A Peshmerga soldier protects refugees fleeing the region

Iraqi artillerymen fire shells at the retreating ISIS forces who are being attacked along a broad front. Civilians have been used as human shields by under-fire ISIS fighters

Speaking from the smallholding where he and his family are trapped, Abdul said: We are all close to death, all of us  my mother and father, my brother and his wife, and my own wife and children. God help us here, we feel it could not be worse, but I know there are even more terrible days to come.

His home is in an area that has come under sustained aerial bombardment from coalition forces battling IS over the past few days and he added: The bombs and rockets and the sound of gunfire goes on all day and night now.

We have no television or radio, and no internet, but I know from the noise and the feeling of terror around us that something big is about to happen. It could be the end of us.

Please, please do something to help us. Save our children and the helpless women here. Surely the world can spare them, surely someone cares about us?

But as a human hostage he fears the awful possibility of falling victim to friendly fire, because of the way in which IS has forced Abdul and others to blend in with their captors.

A member of Iraqi armed forces kisses a liberated boy after Iraqi forces entered the town of Shura, some 30 kilometers south of Mosul

An Iraqi airforce helicopter fires missiles at Islamic State fighters in al-Shura, civilians fear the impact of the coalition firepower

He said: We have been forced to grow our beards so that we look like them. We are terrified of being shot on sight when the troops come in. It will be difficult for them to tell the good guys from the bad guys.

That is why I want the troops to know where we are and who we are, so they know that in this family we are innocent victims of the persecution that has continued for two years. During those two years Abdul has witnessed the full horror of the rule of jihadi law.

Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) personnel fire artillery during clashes with Islamic State militants

Iraqi tanks advance towards the village of Ayn Nasir. Those liberated by the advancing Iraqis have said they were all 'close to death'

Just days ago, he was one of a number of men forced at gunpoint to witness three of their neighbours having their hands cut off. The men, trying to feed their starving families, had stolen rice and flour from the market.

It was terrible and brutal, he said. They forced a local doctor to inject morphine into the mens arms, then made one clean sweep with a meat cleaver, and afterwards got the doctor to bandage the wounds.

Iraqi forces and the Hashed al-Shaabi advance towards the village of Ayn Nasir, south of Mosul, where civilians have been put in the firing line by ISIS

A Shiite fighter from the Hashed al-Shaabi, whcih means Popular Mobilisation, patrols in the village of Ayn Nasir near Mosul, where jihadi forces are making a last stand

They say they do it for our religion, to punish thieves. My friends tried to be brave but there was so much blood, and I will never forget them crying with pain while we could do nothing, just stand and watch.

He was calling to find out how long it was going to take for the Iraqi army, along with the US and Britain, to eliminate the terrorists and bring back some sort of peace to Mosul.

You must know how long, he said. Will it be days or weeks? We cannot bear this waiting, this dread. My whole family is petrified, we are moving from place to place to try to find somewhere safe. We dont want to abandon our farm and sheep. We need the animals to barter for rice and vegetables and bottled water. The only water we can get from the taps is briny and bad for us.

Im trying to comfort the children but Im afraid they will soon get sick. They have seen houses bombed and crushed and some of our neighbours killed. Now they wont sleep indoors. They spend each night in the farm vehicles and ask me all the time when we can get out of Mosul, get somewhere safe.

Displaced people who are fleeing from clashes south of Mosul, where they fear being killed by friendly fire

Peshmerga soldier Shivan Sadeeq protecting and organizing refugees. Many civilians have been used as human shields

Abdul wanted to pass a message to the troops now massing around Mosul ready for the big push against IS in the coming days. Tell the whereabouts of my family to any army officers you know, so they will know we are good people and not IS fighters or collaborators, he pleaded.

He has packed all his familys belongings so they can leave at a moments notice if rescue comes. We have so little anyway, he said. They ransacked our house and broke our furniture and took anything of value when they first came to Mosul two years ago.

The IS fighters have told Abdul and his neighbours that their best chance of safety is to take up arms with them. They say our women and children will be taken away by the Iraq army and that we can only be saved by fighting with them or letting their snipers come into our homes, he said. But they are mostly foreigners, Tunisians and Chechens and others.
Only one police officer is on duty for every 10,000 residents across much of the country at night, a Mail on Sunday investigation can reveal today.

Shocking figures show for the first time that just a few dozen PCs can respond to emergencies after hours in some rural counties covering hundreds of miles, leaving the public at risk from serious crime and disorder.

Even in big cities the forces of law and order are just as thin on the ground after dark  when official statistics show most crime occurs. In Manchester there is just one police officer for every 14,000 people, and in London the ratio is one to 11,000.

Only one police officer is on duty for every 10,000 residents across much of the country at night, a Mail on Sunday investigation can reveal today

Police leaders and politicians fear the thin blue line is set to become even more stretched. Latest figures show violent crime is on the rise, along with offences that are harder to investigate such as cyber fraud and child sex abuse, while Britain remains on high alert for Paris-style terror attacks.

Chiefs are also bracing themselves for fresh Government cuts to their budgets that will mean further falls in manpower.

Last night Labours Shadow Policing Minister Lyn Brown said: We have cases of police simply being unable to attend because of staff shortages or sometimes shortages of cars. Police response times at night are getting longer and longer and its completely unacceptable. Citizens are entitled to protection.

Labour is demanding no more cuts to policing and the reverse of the cuts already made.

Recent cases illustrate just how few police officers are left to keep the streets of England and Wales safe at night, following Government budget cuts that have seen numbers fall from 143,734 in 2010 to 124,066 this year.

One PC told a trial earlier this month that as he and a colleague raced to a mansion where a millionaire had been shot in the early hours of the morning: Believe it or not, we were the only car in Essex that was free at that time to go to anything.

Protecting Chester... the force of eight: Sitting bemused in their briefing room, outnumbered by empty chairs, this was the police night shift expected to keep safe the city of Chester  population 120,000  on one night last month

An illegal rave last spring was allowed to continue all night to the fury of neighbours kept awake, because Avon & Somerset chiefs did not have enough frontline officers to shut it down.

And Labour MP Holly Lynch had to call 999 for help when she went out on patrol with a lone West Yorkshire PC and he found himself surrounded by an angry mob during a late shift.

Steve White, chairman of the Police Federation, that represents rank-and-file officers, said: The first duty of a police service is to be able to respond to emergencies and we are finding with some cases we are unable even to do that if resources are not there or in the wrong place.

'I think it is absolutely vital for chief constables to be honest with the Government so that people recognise that the service cannot continue in this way.

The snap of the bare-bones police force was posted on Twitter and prompted incredulous responses

Most crime takes place after dark, with eight out of ten car thefts, six out of ten robberies, and more than half of violent offences committed between 6pm and 6am, according to the Office for National Statistics. Yet troubling figures obtained by this newspaper under the Freedom of Information Act show just how few police officers are now on duty at night.

The snapshot shows that, overall, there were 4,661 response officers working the night shift  usually running from 10pm to 6am  across 27 of the 43 forces in England and Wales on Saturday, April 9.

They were supported by 900 colleagues running control rooms or operating custody suites.

Detailed analysis shows the areas that have the lowest number of police relative to the local population.

Greater Manchester Police put out 193 response officers  known as the Tactical Patrol Team  across its 11 divisions that night in April.

With a population of 2,756,162 according to latest ONS figures, it means there was only one officer for every 14,281 residents across its north-west district, which is notorious for gangs and gun crime.

Even in Britains biggest force, the Metropolitan Police in London, there were only 763 response officers on duty in the capital that is home to an estimated 8.67 million people  a ratio of one police officer for every 11,368 citizens.

Next worst is Cheshire, where there were only 94 rostered response officers covering a population of one million. Last month the force posted on Twitter a photo of its night shift for the city of Chester  just eight officers in high-visibility vests in a room with dozens of empty chairs.

Members of the public were quick to show their surprise at how few police were on duty for a city with a population of 120,000.

One social media user commented: Thats it for the night shift!?! Makes my heart heavy. Please stay safe all.

Police tried to reassure concerned residents that they had other officers elsewhere, replying: Thank you but not to worry we are supported by numerous other units also working through the night.

Nottinghamshire, Durham and Essex also had one officer for more than 10,000 residents.

The fewest overall number of officers was the 57 reported by Warwickshire  a county of 480 square miles. Bedfordshire, covering 477 miles and including the high-crime town of Luton, had just 57 officers, 8 sergeants and 4 inspectors at the peak of the night shift. The county shares traffic officers, dogs and armed units with Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire.

Even when forces have hundreds of officers on duty, they often find themselves spending their nights responding to 999 calls made earlier in the day that the early turn and late turn shifts were unable to reach.

Police are increasingly called upon to cover gaps left by other public services after 5pm  searching for missing people or looking after those suffering mental health crises.

In one case investigated by the IPCC watchdog, Thames Valley Police sent a unit to a womans house after she rang 999 at midnight but operators could only hear strange noises. They were diverted to attend another emergency incident and when officers finally had time to reach the womans home nearly six hours later, they found she had hanged herself.

Police may even have to wait for back-up before they can intervene in a dangerous situation, particularly if they are single-crewed in their cars to cover more ground.

And when they make an arrest, PCs now face long drives to find cells that are still open, taking them out of action for hours. North Yorkshire has three custody suites, down from six a few years ago.

One officer, PC Nick Manning, was disciplined for revealing just how little cover there was at night, when he wrote on Twitter: Last 3 nights in North Dorset, 3 cops covering everything north of the A31.

Mike Pannett, a former police sergeant who worked for both North Yorkshire and the Met, said: I used to look forward to night shifts in the week, that was the time you could get out to mount operations and to prevent crime but with fewer officers thats something which doesnt happen any more.

Theyre just catching up with a backlog of calls which the late turn hadnt been able to deal with.

Chiefs admitted last night there are real challenges in keeping the public safe at night but pointed out that frontline PCs have back-up from civilian PCSOs as well as volunteers known as Specials.

The National Police Chiefs Council lead on local policing, chief constable Simon Cole, said: All forces have to deal with the realities of their budget when making operational decisions.

However, Jonathan Foreman, senior research fellow at think-tank Civitas, said: Chiefs and unions blame the lack of police at night on cuts and lack of resources. This is an excuse, not an explanation.

'The problem is not really a matter of resources; its a matter of a policing culture that takes less account of what the public wants and needs.
PM Theresa May will actively attempt to stamp out unpaid internships

Theresa May is set to ban unpaid internships as part of her mission to boost opportunities for working-class families.

In another break with the David Cameron era, Downing Street is understood to be considering forcing employers to pay at least the minimum wage to any school leaver or graduate in their offices.

Firms are swamped with applications for unpaid positions by young workers keen to boost their CVs with prestigious work experience, with the practice particularly widespread in politics and the City.

But the cost of living in cities, where most of the opportunities arise, means that the positions are disproportionately filled by those who can rely on wealthy parents to support them.

When David Cameron was Prime Minister, he blocked an attempt by his Coalition partner Nick Clegg to ban the practice, saying he was very relaxed about giving work experience to personal acquaintances, including a neighbour. He admitted that he had himself enjoyed a definite leg-up internship at his fathers stockbrokers.

On Friday, Tory MP Alec Shelbrooke will introduce a Commons Private Members Bill to ban the unpaid internships  although he has been warned by other MPs that they intend to talk it out  make sure it is not passed because it runs out of debate time  as they rely on unpaid staff themselves to keep their offices running.

However, sources have indicated that the measure is likely to be introduced by the Government, making it much more likely to become law, in next years Queens Speech.

Former PM David Cameron made use of internships as special favours, and was 'very relaxe' about tackling the issue

Unpaid internships are also widespread in the fashion industry.

Multi-millionaire designer Vivienne Westwood, who has campaigned on fairness and inequality with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, is currently advertising for two five-days-a-week volunteer internships starting in January.

Campaigners say that forcing employers to pay the minimum wage, currently 7.20 an hour, would open up opportunities to people from a much wider range of backgrounds. Only students on accredited degree courses would not be paid.

Multi-millionaire designer Vivienne Westwood, who has campaigned on fairness and inequality with Jeremy Corbyn

Earlier this month, Mrs May set up a Cabinet group of top Ministers to deliver on her pledge to make Britain work for all, not just the rich.

The Social Reform Cabinet will map out how to help with job insecurity, mortgage payments and school choices for ordinary working-class families, described by Mrs May as those who work all hours to keep their heads above water.

Mr Clegg tried to persuade Mr Cameron that plum internships should not go to people because of who they know, rather than what they know.

Mr Cameron responded: In the modern world, of course youre always going to have internships and interns  people who come and help in your office who come through all sorts of contacts, friendly, political, whatever.
A teacher at a top private school has been cleared of sexually abusing pupils.

Geoffrey Plow, 59, a master at the 18,400-a-year University College School for boys in North London  where former pupils include comedian and actor Hugh Dennis and MP Tristram Hunt  was accused of groping one pupil and fondling the thighs of another.

However, the languages teacher, who has taught at the school in Hampstead for 30 years, was cleared of all charges at Blackfriars Crown Court earlier this month.

Geoffrey Plow, 59, a master at the 18,400-a-year University College School for boys in North London, was accused of abusing pupils

During cross-examination, Dr Plow denied any sexual contact with the pupils.

He said: 'I would only touch pupils in comfort or consolation.

'It was not of a sexual nature, there was no sexual motive at all.'

Speaking after the verdict was delivered, Dr Plow said: 'I am extremely relieved.
One, two, three, four  tap your toe, stamp. Sounds easy enough doesnt it? Well, you also have to make graceful, artistic arm movements while your heels drill into the floor.

This is our first flamenco lesson in the Barrio de San Miguel in Jerez, where flamenco is part of the fabric of everyday life.

My partner Deri is doing most of the dancing while I learn to clap in time. This corner of the world has turned clapping and finger-snapping into an art form  and its no easy task.

Dancing in the streets: Jerez is small but full of wonders - and there are sherry bodegas to visit

Our teacher is Carlos Carbonell, almost unacceptably handsome and lithe. More important, he is endlessly patient.

He has just a week (two hours a day) to teach us the traditional Jerez dance, the buleria. Ed Ballss Strictly dance partner would sympathise.

On our first day, we leave Hotel Villa Jerez  near the Royal School of Equitation, Jerezs world famous riding academy  and head through the old town, past the white-washed bodegas and the sherry cellars towards the barrio of San Miguel.

Most bodegas sport familiar names: Gonzalez Byass, Harvey, Garvey and Sandeman; the British have been guzzling sherry since Sir Francis Drake (el Pirata in these parts) began looting supplies in Cadiz.

The local dance is the flamboyant buleria

Later, we visit the Tio Pepe bodega. It has barrels signed by Mrs Thatcher and Picasso, who both toured the premises.

Our guide tells us Jerez produces not just sherry, but brandy, wine and vinegar. Our vinegar is probably better than most wines elsewhere in Europe, he boasts.

We trundle through old walls and into medieval lanes lined with turrets, Arabic baths, former mosques and cathedrals. Jerez sometimes seems too small to contain all its clamorous history  but its a wonderful destination.

These streets have witnessed the likes of Christopher Columbus. One of the crew of his ship, the Santa Maria, was a local called Rodrigo de Jerez, who has an extraordinary claim to fame  as the first European smoker.

The district of San Miguel goes back to the 15th century.

Our destination, El Chiqui dance school, is beside the beautiful baroque 17th-century church Capilla de la Yedra, where the statue of Jesus is overshadowed by a much larger statue of a flamenco dancer, Francisca Mendez Garrido.

With some trepidation, we head into the studio. Carlos is friendly and welcoming.

We are to learn a buleria, the joyful flamenco dance native to Jerez. Flamenco has its fair share of loss and tragedy, but here in Jerez the form is fast-paced, raucous and raunchy.

The origins of flamenco remain obscure, but the widely accepted explanation is that, as the Christians moved in, the gypsies, Jews, Muslims and other assorted outcasts scarpered to the mountains.

Old pals: At the Tio Pepe bodega, there are barrels signed by Mrs Thatcher and Picasso

Here in the furnace heat of Andalucia, their cultures merged and from this happy coalition came flamenco: singing, dancing, guitar playing, staccato clapping and finger-snapping.

Most nights, after lessons, we do our homework in a flamenco bar, or tabanco, where the seats go right up to the stage, the walls plastered with photos of former flamenco superstars, the performers feet away, the wine and sherry flowing freely.

Our favourite flamenco bar is Las Cuadras, in the Plaza de Asuncion. There are no tourists. Members of the audience take it in turns to sing, play guitar or dance on the stone-flagged floor of the courtyard.

We come here on our last evening. Its judgment time. We click, stamp and tap. Theres no pretence that we are seasoned practioners, but when we finish, theres a hearty round of applause. I call that a result.
I've always longed to go to the Florida Keys because it sounds like such a romantic place to visit.

I'm a huge fan of the 1948 movie Key Largo, which starred Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. And of course, the area has a strong connection with Ernest Hemingway  the author lived on Key West.

Fans still turn up in Key Largo every October for the annual Humphrey Bogart Film Festival.

The Florida Keys are known for their idyllic white-sand beaches and azure waters (above)

One of the highlights is a chance to take a cruise on the fully restored African Queen, the original boat from John Huston's 1951 film of the same name that starred Bogart and Katharine Hepburn. (If you're a fan, the famous vessel is docked at the Holiday Inn Key Largo, at mile marker 100.)

Hemingway fans aren't forgotten either. The annual Hemingway Lookalike competition takes place in July at Key West bar Sloppy Joe's. An entire bar full of Hemingway clones sounds slightly frightening but each to their own.

My actor husband Trevor and I had long ago decided that we wanted to visit the Keys, but we never seemed to get around to it. However, a pleasure deferred is a pleasure intensified.

After our plane touched down in Miami, we rented a car and headed south. It may not look far on the map but the distance from Miami to Key West is around 150 miles  that's a three-hour drive because the road isn't brilliant.

Sharon stayed at Hawks Cay Resort & Marina (pictured), which she described as a 'great spot to unwind'

We broke the journey halfway on the secluded island of Duck Key at Hawks Cay Resort & Marina  a full-service resort with a touch of home comfort about it.

Our tropical villa was a private residence with the resorts many pools and tranquil saltwater lagoon nearby. It was a great spot to unwind and start to soak up the Florida Keys famed laid-back atmosphere, but three short days later we were back on the road, crossing the iconic Seven Mile Bridge heading west towards Key West.

We were based at Sunset Key Cottages, which you reach from the Westin Key West Resort and Marina located on Front Street.

Pastel perfect: The pretty homes of Key West, which Sharon said the couple immediately fell in love with

Chris Storm of Amarillo, Texas poses with his prizes after winning the 2006 'Papa' Hemingway look-alike contest in Key West

At the Westin we were ushered aboard a little ferry and whisked across to the amazing Sunset Key. It was a fabulous away-from-it-all place but also had the advantage of having the bustling delights of Key West almost on its doorstep.

We immediately fell in love with Key West and its coloured clapboard houses. For many young Americans, this is a party town  a vibrant, fun place.

Walking along Main Street at night is a delight because there is so much going on: music pouring out of crowded bars and the occasional Hemingway lookalike waiting for his big day!

During the day there are several interesting places to visit.

I enjoyed the Little White House, the holiday home of US President Harry Truman, famous for his remark 'the buck stops here'.

It was on his watch that the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki  the responsibility must have been immense.

Another unmissable place is the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum. It's where the writer lived for ten years

during one of his most prolific writing periods. The main attraction here for most visitors is its 50 six-toed cats.

A streetcar driving through the town outside Sloppy Joe's Bar, one of the local night spots

Hemingway was given a white six-toed cat by a ship's captain, and some of the cats who live in the museum grounds are descendants of that original feline, named Snow White.

There is also a good Tennessee Williams exhibition in Key West  the author had a home here for 34 years. It was in Key West that he is believed to have completed the final draft of A Streetcar Named Desire.

It was the best five days that we've ever had. Sublime

For most of the time, however, we were content to bask in serenity and comfort on our little 27-acre island, which used to be a naval base before it was acquired by the Westin. It felt like a little piece of paradise.

One minute we were in Key West, with all its tourist bustle and the huge cruise ships  the big Disney liners were a particular feature  but when we crossed back to our island, all the noise disappeared.

We had an idyllic white-sand beach and azure waters. It was the best five days that we've ever had. Sublime. Watching the sun go down is a big event in Key West  everybody stops to watch it. And when it got dark we loved looking up at the stars.

Sharon said their break was 'the best five days that we've ever had'. Above, Sharon and Trevor on their trip

After our Key West stay we drove back to Miami, where we were fortunate enough to be able to stay in a friend's apartment. I've been to Miami several times before, but always as a tourist, so this time it was great to be able to enjoy the city like a local.

We were staying in Miami Beach, at the very southern end of the resort which I'd never visited before  it's absolutely fantastic. We met some really cool people.

One of my great pleasures was swimming in the ocean: when you walk into the water it's like nothing else  it's so warm and silky.

One of my great pleasures was swimming in the ocean: when you walk into the water it's like nothing else  it's so warm and silky

Being in America on holiday is really a special pleasure for me because I'm a Liverpudlian and all Liverpudlians have a special love for the US  Liverpool used to the main port for travel to New York. Our city is where all the Cunarders used to sail from.

When I fly to America it feels a bit like coming home. My Dad was a sailor in the war  he was a stoker in the Merchant Navy  and he loved America. He always used to talk about New York.

If you're staying in Miami, I would recommend dining at the fantastic Seaspice restaurant situated on the Miami River  it is now reckoned to be one of the city's most fashionable eating places.

Sublime: The Florida Keys are lined with wonderful beaches like the one pictured above

They serve what is described as a 'globally inspired menu' featuring a raw bar and dishes ranging from wood-fired casseroles to Dover sole and branzino, which is a type of seabass.

Here you can not only enjoy the menu  the views over the city and the river are also very special.

It was fascinating just to sit there and watch the other customers coming and going  some arriving on the adjacent dock in very smart yachts. The staff were wonderful too and nothing was too much trouble.

If you were looking for somewhere to celebrate a special event, it would be hard to beat Seaspice. But then Florida is also very special.

A lot of people think that Florida means Disney World or the start of a cruise, but if you're prepared to search a little further you'll discover that there's much, much more.
Apart from the fact that I probably ruined someones wedding, it was an excellent summer holiday.

It was not something I planned to do. Come to think of it, I never planned to take a break in the school holidays either. I mean, is there anything worse than having to go with screaming kids in August?

When our youngest, Flora, left home for good 25 years ago, I thought that was it. Hurrah. Never again would I venture near any resort at peak time.

Hunter stayed at Vivenda Miranda, a boutique hotel once owned by Julian Tennant, a cousin of Colin Tennant (Lord Glenconner)

But now that I am a widower, I am on the lookout for company on a holiday, and best of all, someone who will do all the organising for me, such as book the flights, taxis and print my boarding card. I hate doing that.

We have had a holiday home in the Algarve since 1970, at a place called Porto de Mos, near Lagos. We took our three children there throughout their childhoods and they all loved it  such happy memories.

The beach is stunning, and after all these years it still has only two restaurants  Antonios and Campimar. Both are rather swish these days. In 1970 they had sand on the floors.

Our house, in a little terrace on top of the cliff, has an excellent view of the coastline. On a clear day you can see Sagres, from whence all those famous Portuguese explorers set off to discover the New Worlds.

I have stayed at the house alone in recent years, but I always worry I will fall down the marble staircase after too much red wine. No one would know for weeks  perhaps years.

Old town charm: Little bars line the streets of Lagos. Right: Hunter and Sienna make a splash

Then Flora asked me to visit the house at the same time as her, her husband Richard, and their two children, Amarisse and Sienna.

But I am a creature of routine these days. I like my comforts and peace and quiet. Not that I am saying my granddaughters are noisy  perish the thought  but 24 hours a day with them? Could I stand that?

So Flora suggested that I stay at a smart boutique hotel just 100 yards away. I could sleep there, have lazy breakfasts, then come to the house when I was ready.

The hotel is called Vivenda Miranda, and I knew it when it was a private house owned by Julian Tennant, a cousin of Colin Tennant (Lord Glenconner) and his wife Miranda, after whom the house was named.

The property is now owned by a Swiss man, Urs Wild, who started with eight bedrooms but now has 28.

Bolthole for a Beatle: The little town of Monchique, where Hunter and his family once took superstar Paul McCartney

So thats what we did. I had breakfast at the hotel, spent the morning on the beach with the grandchildren, then had lunch back at the family house, usually made by Richard, who is French and a real foodie.

Amarisse and Sienna are so well trained. They immediately brought me a glass of wine, for you do get awfully tired at 80 after playing on a perfect beach and swimming in a perfect sea.

I must mention the sea. In ye olden days, the water was still cold in July and August, for it is the Atlantic, and didnt really warm up until September. But this year, the Algarve sea was warm from June. Oh, I do approve of global warming.

We did the usual things we have always done, such as walking into Lagos in the evening for drinks.

There are plenty of beaches around the coastal town of Lagos where Hunter and his families could swim and relax

We also took a trip inland to Monchique to visit the chicken piri piri restaurant we have honoured with our custom since 1968, when we took Paul McCartney and his new girlfriend Linda, who arrived out of the blue to stay with us during our holiday.

On the last day, walking into town, I came across a man in a white suit outside a small hotel. I asked if he was lost. He was English, about 60, had a Manchester accent, and said he was the father of the bride, and was waiting for his daughter.

I told him how Flora had got married in France, and that was a bit of a faff, getting permission.

He agreed that the legal hoops were too complicated, so in fact his daughter Tracey had got legally married the previous month in Newcastle, where her husband is from. Today was the reception for about 50 guests, plus a blessing.

Hunter Davies pictured with his daughter Flora in Praia da Luz, Algarve, where the family have a holiday property

Later, I met a woman sitting outside. She said she was one of the six bridesmaids  they had known Tracey for 15 years. Did you go to her wedding as well? I asked.

She looked at me as if I was potty. Today was the wedding, she replied.

I mean the legal wedding last month, I persisted.

I think you have had too much sun. The wedding was today.

Er, not quite. I spoke to her father. He told me. The woman looked absolutely shocked. You would think I would have been told. All this way. Wait till I see that Tracey And with that she got up and stormed inside. I hurried home and packed.

I was leaving early the next day on an easyJet flight for Luton, which was just as well. I never did discover if I had inadvertently ruined Traceys wonderful wedding  but I did have a wonderful holiday.
French Polynesia is a string of idyllic South Pacific atolls and islands that all deserve to be explored. Fortunately there is a vessel custom-built to do just that.

The MS Paul Gauguins effortless (and all-inclusive) service provides the perfect compromise for travellers who want to explore the region in comfort, and for thrill-seekers who crave deep-sea diving, kayaking and other watersports.

Over seven nights, our itinerary included all the highlights such as the majestic scenery of Bora Bora, the untamed jungles of Moorea, and the veritable paradise that is Huahine.

Moorea is less famous than some of the other islands, and all the better for it says James

Sailing out of Papeete, the islands capital on Tahiti, the cruise started on a high in the ships upmarket La Veranda restaurant, which serves a range of mouthwatering French dishes.

Indeed, on a vessel simply designed to serve as a comfortable background to the scenery, there is much to enjoy on board.

In addition to several excellent bars and restaurants, theres a fitness centre, pool, spa and a retractable marina, where guests can try their hand at windsurfing, kayaking or paddle-boarding, at no extra charge.

Aside from Moorea (above), MS Paul Gauguin also stops in Bora Bora, and the veritable paradise that is Huahine

Better still is the programme of lectures from an assortment of marine biologists, anthropologists and naturalists. They gave us fascinating insights into the unique wildlife and conservation efforts in Polynesia.

Of course, nothing comes close to experiencing the magic of these islands first-hand. Everyone should see the classic tropical paradise of Bora Bora.

It took our breath away even before we moored: the spectacular main island, with its eerie cloud-swathed peak, Mount Otemanu, is surrounded by a crystal-clear blue lagoon.

Taking the plunge for the first time in my life, I dived into waters full of gentle manta rays, sharks and stunning coral. The sharks must be totally untroubled to the presence of divers by now, as several approached me and even let me feed them.

Moorea is less famous, and all the better for it.

Majestic: The Paul Gauguin off Bora Bora where guests can hop off to take in the tropical sights

It lacks Bora Boras lagoon but its spectacular mountains are captivating and offer numerous hiking trails for the adventurous. We hiked up the lower slopes of Mount Tohiea to take in the stunning views.

For sheer unabashed hedonism, our barbecue on the white-sand beach of the tiny island of Motu Mahana was truly memorable.

We snorkelled on the reef before joining fellow passengers for a sumptuous feast.

The only real catch is that from the UK it takes more than 22 hours to reach Tahiti. Once you arrive theres the proposition of further expensive and complicated travel to the outlying islands.

My advice? Let Paul Gauguin handle all your arrangements, giving you peace of mind and an unforgettable, hassle-free holiday.
As you wander around Venice you cant miss the protests being waged against cruise lines and their mega-vessels which regularly sail through the heart of the city en route to the port terminal.

A local who runs a small bar on Giudecca  which has the best view of the big ships  pulled a face when I mentioned it. During one recent demo, campaigners jumped in to the canal in a vain attempt to stop one of the vessels.

They are stupid rich kids who are lucky they didnt drown, he said.

Star attraction: A Grand Canal gondola coursing slowly past a row of Venetian buildings

These are people living in Venice on daddys wallet. They dont like the ships because they spoil the nice view from their expensive apartments. Ask the locals who depend on cruise passengers to earn a living and they will tell you something different. They love the ships.

Venice is not a place where tourism income helps to balance the books: this is a city which depends on tourism absolutely.

There may be glass factories and mask-makers, but compared with the megabucks generated by visitors, any other income is a drop in the ocean.

Venetians know that historically their city has survived by rolling with the punches.

Venice was built in the lagoon in order to keep it safe from northern Barbarians; its robust culture and maritime prowess helped it to dominate the eastern Mediterranean for centuries.

St Marks Basilica is always crowded with hoards of tourists but it's easy to avoid the rush

But when Napoleon came, followed eventually by the Austrians, Venice adapted, survived and thrived.

If the new big ships provide the necessary economic input, then the city will simply fit them in and carry on.

But how can Venice cope with such a regular influx of what are, in effect, day-trippers? The truth is that Venice may seem overcrowded if you stick to the main tourist haunts around St Marks Square, but it is easy to avoid the throng.

A few hundred yards away from the main drag you can find empty streets and deserted bars.

The Venetian island resort is becoming a bit of a thing

If you want to see inside St Marks Basilica or go up the Campanile, youll have to queue. But if you want to enjoy similar experiences elsewhere in the city, even at peak times, youll find very few other tourists to spoil your view.

Travel out to other islands in the lagoon, such as Torcello, or take the ferry across to the Lido, the setting for Thomas Manns novel Death In Venice. On a short break you may also prefer to stay away from the crowds on an island.

The Venetian island resort is becoming a bit of a thing.

Ten years ago, the San Clemente hotel opened on an island that was formerly a lunatic asylum (where Mussolini had his first wife committed). This year the hotel has reopened as a swish Kempinski hotel.

The island resort J.W. Marriott has one of the best views of Venice. Pictured on the right is the breathtaking view from the pool

Now there is a new J.W. Marriott on a man-made island about a 20-minute shuttle boat ride from St Marks Square.

The island used to house a hospital treating pulmonary diseases, but it closed 40 years ago and had been derelict until the hotel was built. It is quite unlike anything else in the city.

The Cipriani, which the shuttle boat passes travelling in and out of Venice, is a midget compared with the vast expanses of the Marriott.

The new hotel has two pools: an infinity rooftop pool with glorious views towards St Marks Square and a large family pool in the park. This is very much a family resort.

One thing you wont notice at the Marriott are the big ships as they travel in and out. But then you cant have everything
It is the iconic action film series starring Sylvester Stallone.

And now Rambo will be rebooted once again for the big screen.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the upcoming film version has a working title of Rambo: New Blood, and it would see a younger actor take Sly's place as the veteran.

Fresh blood! A Rambo reboot is in the works, but this one won't star Sylvester Stallone (pictured in Rambo: First Blood Part II)

The film's script will be written by Brooks McLaren, and The Iceman director Ariel Vromen is slated to helm the project.

The story of Vietnam veteran Rambo, which first originated in the book First Blood, premiered on the big screen in 1982.

It would go on to produce multiple sequels, including 2008's simply titled Rambo.

Sylvester reprised the role for the 2008 version, but recently made no secret of his desire to stay out of any sequels.

More recently: The original would go on to produce multiple sequels, including 2008's simply titled Rambo

'The heart's willing, but the body says "Stay home!"', he told Variety earlier this year.

'It's like fighters that go back for one last round and get clobbered. Leave it to someone else.'

'Theres nothing left,' he added. 'When they asked me to do another Rambo, I said, "If I can't do better than I did last time, and I can't, then why?"'

The plot thickens: The story of Vietnam veteran Rambo first originated in the book First Blood

Sylvester, however, did reprise his role as Rocky in the 2015 sequel Creed.

The actor expressed similar reservations about reviving the role of Rocky during an interview with Deadline, saying that he felt a sense of closure by the end of Rocky Balboa.

'I had been very, very grateful the way last chapter of Rocky Balboa wrapped up his story in a satisfactory way for the audience,' he said. 'When Rocky waves goodbye, that was a goodbye to the audience and a thank you. I just thought, Finally, and thought it was a wonderful send-off.'

'There's nothing left': Sylvester reprised the role for the 2008 version, but recently made no secret of his desire to stay out of any sequels

Sly said he was eventually convinced to return to the role after being persuaded by Creed's eventual director Ryan Coogler, who had just helmed Fruitvale Station.

'So I finally said, "You know what? Someone took a chance on me, once. I'm just going to throw caution to the wind and let him run with it."'

Sylvester would go on to earn an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his work in Creed.
Tom Ford's sophomore directorial effort Nocturnal Animals has yet to open in the United States, but its stars gave it quite the fanfare on Friday.

Leading lady Amy Adams cut an exquisite figure in black when she swung by the film's Los Angeles photo call at the Four Season Hotel in Beverly Hills.

Her castmate Isla Fisher turned up in a black dress of her own, its buttons undone to offer a trace of cleavage, and the pair posed with a troika of dashing co-stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Armie Hammer and Aaron Taylor-Johnson.

Swank: Amy Adams cut an exquisite figure on Friday at a Los Angeles photo call for her new film Nocturnal Animals

The 42-year-old had flung her wavy red hair over her left shoulder, her dress featuring a leather turtleneck and strips of leather running down its sides.

Another strip of leather encircled svelte waist, and the cloth sleeves ended in leather cuffs. Black ankle-strap stilettos and muted makeup completed her look.

Meanwhile, her 40-year-old doppelganger had cinched a belt about her dress to emphasise her petite frame, and elongated the look of her legs with stilettos of her own.

Doppelganger: Isla Fisher left a couple of buttons open on her black dress to provide a glimpse of her cleavage

Location, location, location: The photo call took place at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills

Gyllenhall had buttoned up his powder blue dress shirt all the way, though he'd worn it with no tie and tucked it sloppily into his dark jeans.

Faded brown and black shoes added to the faintly dishevelled look as he posed alongside Adams and the film's director.

Ford wore an elegant black suit over a white dress shirt he'd left partially unbuttoned over his chest.

Man and wife: Armie Hammer (right) plays the Adams (left) character's husband in the film

Casual: The dashing 30-year-old had thrown an Egyptian blue infantry jumper over a faded brown T-shirt and wore charcoal jeans.

The bombshell husband of Sam Taylor-Johnson was besutied as well, opting for pewter grey and matching his own white dress shirt with a pocket square.

Hammer had, like the Nightcrawler star, opted for a more relaxed wardrobe, throwing on an Egyptian blue infantry jumper over a faded brown T-shirt and slipping into a pair of charcoal jeans.

Based on the 1993 Austin Wright novel Tony And Susan, Nocturnal Animals centres on an art gallery owner played by Adams, who's unhappily married to the Hammer character and lives with him in Los Angeles.

The man that got away: Jake Gyllenhaal (left) plays the ex-husband of the 42-year-old's (right) character

Gyllenhaal plays her Texan ex-husband, who horrifies her with a manuscript of his harrowing crime novel, the plot of which plays out onscreen as she reads.

According to the Daily Mail's review of the film, the book follows a leading man played by Gyllenhaal whose wife is played by Fisher and whose daughter is embodied by Ellie Bamber.

Taylor-Johnson features as Ray, the merciless gang leader who sets upon the family as they drive through the desert.

Glamming it up: Aaron Taylor-Johnson wore an elegant suit with a pocket square

Among the notable cast members not present for the photo call were Michaels Shannon and Sheen as well as Laura Linney.

With a world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 2, Nocturnal Animals has been well-received critically and has an 81% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

It's since bounced about the festival circuit, alighting at stops including the Toronto International Film Festival and the London Film Festival.

After a November 4 release in Britain, it'll get a Los Angeles and New York release November 18. November 23 will see a limited American release, to be followed by a wide release on December 9.

The man behind it all: Director Tom Ford (left) stood for photographs alongside his leading lady (centre) and the Nightcrawler star (right)

Back at the bat: Nocturnal Animals is his sophomore directorial effort after his 2009 drama A Single Man

In the offing: The film will open in Britain on November 4, and after a limited release in the United States will get a mass release there December 9
She has been spotted wearing her $10m engagement ring despite having split from her billionaire fiance James Packer last month.

But Mariah Carey could potentially make a healthy profit from the diamond sparkler, according to celebrity jeweller Tobias Kormind, managing director of 77 Diamonds.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Tobias suggested Mariah would be able to earn a premium on the cost price of her ring if she chose to sell it.

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'She might sell it and bag the money': Celebrity jeweller Tobias Kormind told Daily Mail Australia that Mariah Carey (R) could earn a premium on the cost price of her $10m engagement ring from ex-fiance James Packer (L) if she chose to sell it

'If Mariah now wants to spite her fiance James Packer for dumping her, she might just sell her engagement ring and bag the money  given her celebrity status, jewellery she has owned is likely to fetch a premium if it comes on the market,' he explained.

'On the other hand, if she doesnt need the money, she might just keep the diamond and transform it into a totally different piece of jewellery, attaching the piece to dreams of her future, rather than the disappointments of her present.'

When quizzed about the possible cost of Mariah's ring, Tobias said: 'Mariah is known for seeking perfection  her ring appears to be 30 carats in size, so assuming it is of the highest colour and clarity, a ring of this size and quality would generally be priced in excess of 5m (US$6.1m)'

'A potential buyer might need to add 3m (US$3.7) to that price, taking it to a cool 8m (US$9.75)': Tobias suggested Mariah's celebrity status makes the ring more valuable

'But given the stones rarity and the identity of its A-list owner, a potential buyer might need to add 3m (US$3.7) to that price, taking it to a cool 8m (US$9.75).'

Meanwhile, TMZ has reported that Mariah is insisting upon a $50million pay off from Australian billionaire James following their split.

Mariah is said to think he owes her for uprooting her two children from New York to Los Angeles, so Packer could be near his own children.

Rumour mill: Meanwhile, TMZ has claimed that Mariah is insisting upon a $50million pay off from James Packer following their split. Pictured in January 2016

The report claims James also made financial promises to Mariah during their romance, which she wants him to honour.

The power couple became engaged in January in New York City after a whirlwind romance of less than a year.

Despite their high-profile relationship, James and Mariah did not provide many details about their wedding.
Not one of them is in the first flush of youth. But given the chance, these three stars can still show the youngsters how to party.

Madonna, 58, 42-year-old Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell, 46, proved they are not growing old gracefully at a party in London on Thursday night.

The event, at the exclusive club Marks in Mayfair, saw the three women  who have a combined age of 146  come out to celebrate British fashion stylist Edward Enninful, who had collected an OBE the same day.

Not one of them is in the first flush of youth. But given the chance, these three stars can still show the youngsters how to party. Madonna, 58, 42-year-old Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell, 46, proved they are not growing old gracefully at a party in London on Thursday night

The event, at the exclusive club Marks in Mayfair, saw the three women  who have a combined age of 146  come out to celebrate British fashion stylist Edward Enninful, who had collected an OBE the same day

The private members club strictly prohibits leather, denim and exposed undergarments and asks ladies to dress elegantly.

Doormen, however, turned a blind eye to Madonnas transparent netted top, ripped jeans and leather jacket.

Miss Moss wore a multi-coloured dress and red lipstick, but her usually flawless complexion looked dull and washed out.

She was later seen leaving the club in the small hours, looking the worse for wear and walking unsteadily.

The private members club strictly prohibits leather, denim and exposed undergarments and asks ladies to dress elegantly

Doormen, however, turned a blind eye to Madonnas transparent netted top, ripped jeans and leather jacket

Earlier this month the model split from her toyboy lover Nikolai Von Bismarck, 29, after his partying was said to have become too much for her, which may go some way to explaining her glum appearance.

In contrast, her friend Miss Campbell had a distinctly healthy glow.
She recently boasted about her place in Maxim's Hot 100 list, alongside A-list stars Margot Robbie, Miranda Kerr and Delta Goodrem.

But Roxy Jacenko was reportedly less enthusiastic at Who's Sexiest People 2016 event when she 'didn't make the list', The Sydney Morning Herald claims.

The Fairfax publication alleged Roxy 'stormed to the centre of the room for speeches' before 'briskly leaving the party' when she wasn't listed.

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Reports: Roxy Jacenko was rumoured to 'briskly leave' Who magazine's Sexiest People 2016 event on Wednesday upon discovering she 'didn't make the list'

Daily Mail Australia understands the 'Sexiest People' list was not read aloud at the event and has reached out to Roxy for comment.

Meanwhile, Roxy's Instagram page suggests she was actually attending to support her friend and Who magazine editor, Shane Sutton.

In a picture posted on Wednesday, Roxy is shown standing on the Who red carpet in a blue and red floral dress.

The intricately patterned garment flaunted the Sweaty Betty PR founder's slim figure and finished just above the knee.

What happened? Daily Mail Australia understands the 'Sexiest People' list was not read aloud at the event and has reached out to Roxy for comment

She appeared to wear minimal accessories and applied lashings of mascara and a light bronzer for the exclusive party.

Roxy wrote in the caption: 'Thank You @whomagazine and Shane Sutton for an incredible night at #whosexiest.'

Meanwhile, the mother-of-two celebrated placing 79th in Maxim's Hot 100 countdown of Australia's most beautiful women on Monday.

She shared an Instagram photo of herself posing with the magazine cover while performing the peace hand sign.

In the picture, she wore a stylish black dress and matching heels and styled her blonde hair into a sleek ponytail.

Success! Meanwhile, Roxy celebrated placing 79th in Maxim's Hot 100 countdown of Australia's most beautiful women on Monday

In the caption, Roxy made a cheeky reference to The Wolf Of wall Street actress Margot Robbie, who placed No. 1 in the list.

'Margot Robbie and I have even more in common now thanks @maxim_aus #hot100,' she wrote playfully.

On Saturday, Roxy took a break from her glamourous routine to spend quality time with her two-year-old son Hunter.

The mother and son appeared to be all smiles for their weekend 'breakfast date', as she shared a sweet photo on Instagram.
As he prepared to welcome a seventh child into the world, Kelsey Grammer enjoyed a pleasant day out in Los Angeles on Friday.

The 61-year-old was accompanied by his 35-year-old fifth wife, Kayte Walsh, whose baby bump had bulged to a formidable size.

They've already had two children together, and their firstborn, a four-year-old daughter called Faith, scampered along the pavement beside her mother.

Fun in the sun: On Friday, Kelsey Grammer (left) was spotted stepping out with his heavily pregnant wife Kayte Walsh (right) and their daughter Faith (centre)

The Frasier star had pulled on a short-sleeved sky blue polo shirt and donned a pair of charcoal slacks.

Black, white and red trainers completed the ensemble, and he held a plastic bag holding what appeared to be a Halloween costume.

They were seen passing Lisa Vanderpump's restaurant Villa Blanca.

Meanwhile, the platinum blonde had trammelled her hair into a bun and donned a pair of trapezoidal tortoiseshell sunglasses.

Bumping along: The 35-year-old is carrying what will be her third child and the 61-year-old's seventh

Opting for comfort, she'd thrown on an intricately patterned blue and white muumuu that flashed her enviably toned legs. Silver-strapped flat sandals did the trick in the footwear department.

After delivering Faith in 2012, Walsh gave birth to a son named after his father in July of 2014. She's been married to Grammer since 2011.

The actor's first marriage to dance teacher Doreen Alderman produced a now 33-year-old daughter called Spencer Grammer, who's herself taken up acting.

Fifth time's a charm: The Frasier star married his latest spouse in 2011

In 1992, the Cheers actor and a hair and makeup stylist called Barrie Buckner had a daughter called Kandace Greer Grammer, who acts under her middle and surname.

Somewhat surprisingly, given his prolific marital history, the five-time Emmy-winner and Buckner never made it down the aisle.

Erstwhile Playboy model Camille Donatacci, who's since gone on to be a Real Housewife Of Beverly Hills, was Wife Three. They've got two children together, a 15-year-old daughter called Mason and a 12-year-old son called Jude.
Tyra Banks dressed down to catch a flight to Georgia out of LAX Airport on Friday.

The 42-year-old supermodel-turned-CEO - toting a bright yellow purse - wore a brown trench-style cape over ripped skinny jeans and laceless Converse low-tops.

The 5ft10in presenter wore large sunglasses over her make-up free complexion and sported wavy shoulder-length locks for her voyage.

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Jet setter: Tyra Banks dressed down to catch a flight to Georgia out of LAX Airport on Friday

Leaving LA: The 42-year-old supermodel-turned-CEO - toting a bright yellow purse - wore a brown trench-style cape over ripped skinny jeans and laceless Converse low-tops

Just like Alicia Keys: The 5ft10in presenter wore large sunglasses over her make-up free complexion and sported wavy shoulder-length locks for her voyage

Tyra - who boasts 24.8M followers - later shared a market snap captioned: 'Fiercely shopping for chunky peanut butter in honor of Queen Elizabeth. #Poundbury'

Tyra - who boasts 24.8M followers - later shared a market snap captioned: 'Fiercely shopping for chunky peanut butter in honor of Queen Elizabeth. #Poundbury.'

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Banks will campaign for Hillary Clinton during Saturday's homecoming festivities happening at Morehouse College.

The two-time Daytime Emmy winner previously interviewed the 69-year-old Democratic presidential nominee on her CBS talk show back in 2008.

On July 28, Tyra shared a b&w snap of her baby boy York watching the email-plagued politician speak at the Democratic National Convention on TV.

Inspiring voters: According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Banks will campaign for Hillary Clinton during Saturday's homecoming festivities happening at Morehouse College

'I actually like Hillary personally':The two-time Daytime Emmy winner previously interviewed the 69-year-old Democratic presidential nominee on her CBS talk show back in 2008

Future voter: On July 28, Tyra shared a b&w snap of her baby boy York watching the email-plagued politician speak at the Democratic National Convention on TV

The Tyra Beauty owner welcomed her first child with babydaddy, Norwegian photographer Erik Asla, via surrogate on January 27.

Banks has been primarily focusing on motherhood and her cosmetics company since ABC canceled her talk show FABLife on January 19.

And beginning in May of next year, the Harvard Business School grad will team up with Allison Kluger to teach 25 graduate students a personal branding course called 'Project You' at Stanford University.

'If I see somebody not paying attention, I'm gonna call on them,' Tyra told The Wall Street Journal in August.

Strolling: The Tyra Beauty owner welcomed her first child with babydaddy, Norwegian photographer Erik Asla, via surrogate on January 27

Reinvention: Banks has been primarily focusing on motherhood and her cosmetics company since ABC canceled her talk show FABLife on January 19

Beginning in May 2017! The Harvard Business School grad will team up with Allison Kluger (R) to teach a personal branding course called 'Project You' at Stanford University

Tyra told The Wall Street Journal in August: 'If I see somebody not paying attention, I'm gonna call on them. [Unless they're] tweeting something I've said'

'[Unless they're] tweeting something I've said.'

After The CW canceled America's Next Top Model, VH1 took over and enlisted new host Rita Ora as well as judges Ashley Graham, Law Roach, and Drew Elliot for cycle 23.

The Blackish guest star will continue executive producing her 13-year-old modeling competition, which premieres December 12.

Cycle 23! After The CW canceled America's Next Top Model, VH1 took over and enlisted new host Rita Ora (2-R) as well as judges Ashley Graham (L), Law Roach (2-L), and Drew Elliot (R)
She will sit on the judging panel at the Derby Day Fashions On The Field competition.

And Jodi Anasta, 31, has imparted some of her sartorial wisdom upon those women attending the swanky racing carnival, advising them not to flash too much skin.

'[Race-wear] should be ladylike, it should be elegant,' the mother-of-one told Daily Mail Australia on Saturday at Flemington Racecourse.

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'I think it's about doing it the right way': Jodi Anasta, 31, has imparted some of her sartorial wisdom upon those women attending the swanky racing carnival, advising them not to flash too much skin

'It doesn't mean you can't show pops of skin here and there but I think it's about doing it the right way', she said.

Jodi made sure to lead by example on Saturday, attending Derby Day in a high-necked white midi-dress by Jonathan Simkhai and a matching turban by Ann Shoebridge.

The former Home And Away star also confirmed to Daily Mail Australia that she is still single following her split from husband Braith last year.

Conservative: Jodi made sure to lead by example on Saturday, attending Derby Day in a high-necked white midi-dress by Jonathan Simkhai and a matching turban by Ann Shoebridge

'I'm single and just focused on work to be honest. I don't really have time to date right now,' she said.

The pair, who share two-year-old daughter Aleeia, split in December just days after they were seen having a heated argument in a Coogee park.

Braith has seemingly since moved on with personal trainer Rachael Lee.

'I don't really have time to date right now': The former Home And Away star also confirmed to Daily Mail Australia that she is still single following her split from husband Braith last year

The couple have been seen looking cosy on multiple occasions after first being spotted together in Bondi in April.

Braith recently revealed that he is the primary carer for his daughter, telling Yahoo Be that he takes care of her between Monday and Friday.

Meanwhile, career-driven Jodi has filled her schedule with her new role on TV soap Neighbours.
In Downton Abbey, she played dowdy maid Anna Bates, and in real life Joanne Froggatt may be used to being looked down on.

The petite 5 ft 2 in actress was eclipsed in the height stakes by her 6 ft 2 in husband James Cannon, as the couple pitched up for the premiere of her new movie Starfish at the Curzon Mayfair. However, Joanne still stole the limelight in a shimmering Ermanno Scervino gold frock and matching heels.

Joanne Froggatt (left) and husband James Cannon attend the UK Premiere of 'Starfish' at The Curzon Mayfair on October 27, 2016 in London

Jacobis' U-turn on gay marriage

WEDDING JOY ONE

Sir Derek Jacobi is to wed his partner, actor Richard Clifford, just four years after famously dismissing gay marriage as a squabble over nothing.

Im getting married next year, confirms Jacobi, 78. Weve done civil partnership, weve been together for 39 years, and I think marriage is the next logical step.

I dont think well go through the love, honour and obey and all that.

It wont be a religious occasion, but it will be a proper marriage. The news of Jacobis forthcoming nuptials amounts to a dramatic change of heart.

When asked about his views on gay marriage in 2012, he said: The word doesnt mean anything to me. Its a squabble over nothing . . . It doesnt matter what you call it. We dont think of it as marriage, its a partnership.

Sir Derek Jacobi (left) is to wed his partner actor Richard Clifford

People are getting hot under the collar at the moment because of this word.

Acknowledging religious opposition to gay marriage, Jacobi, a staunch atheist, says: Well, I suppose their argument is that marriage is equated with having children, but what about couples who meet in their 50s? They cant have children.

Or what if you are biologically unable to have children? The word becomes meaningless . . . the Church is the problem. I dont mind people having faith and finding strength in that. But it aint for me.

WEDDING JOY TWO

The Duchess Of York, Sarah Ferguson, with her half-sisters Eliza (right)

The Duchess of York recently laughed off suggestions that daughter Princess Eugenie is engaged to boyfriend Jack Brooksbank, but at least theres another wedding in the Ferguson family.

Fergies half-sister Eliza Ferguson, 30, the younger daughter of Fergies late father Major Ronald Ferguson and his second wife Susan, now Lady Swinburn, has announced her engagement to private tuition director Harry Cobb, 30.

Eliza (pictured with Fergie) helped look after her nieces Beatrice and Eugenie, then aged ten and eight, when the Duchess flew to Argentina for her mother Susan Barrantes funeral in 1998.

Her older sister Alice was Fergies bridesmaid when she wed Prince Andrew in 1986.

Will Harry and Eliza, who met when they attended Stowe school in Buckinghamshire, continue the family tradition by asking Beatrice and Eugenie to be bridesmaids at their big day?

Though newly single, Beatrice may not be in the mood after her ex, Dave Clark, was spotted stepping out with a mystery blonde this week, just two months since they split.

Heiress's 16,000 frock flop

If you've got it, flaunt it  your extreme wealth, that is. Hotel heiress Nicky Hilton Rothschild put on an opulent show at a fashion gala in New York this week dressed in a nude chiffon Valentino gown embellished with sequins that cost more than 16,000.

The multi-millionaire fashion designer topped off the lavishly embroidered high-necked creation with plaits seemingly inspired by Heidi. However, Nickys pricey frock was a snip compared to her 60,000 outfit when she wed banking heir James Rothschild last summer.

Hotel heiress Nicky Hilton Rothschild put on an opulent show at a fashion gala in New York this week dressed in a nude chiffon Valentino gown embellished with sequins that cost more than 16,000

The matriarch of the prolific Fox acting dynasty, Joanna David, admits shes not impressed by how much her nephew, Lewis star Laurence Fox, uses social media.

I dont get involved with social media, downloading apps or anything like that. I dont do technology, Joanna, 69, tells me at a Poetry Hour do for the Josephine Hart Foundation.

If youre always using apps on your phone, youre not living in the real world.

Rufus Norris, head of the National Theatre, did not dress to impress at the opening night of Amadeus on Wednesday.

Norris and his predecessor, Sir Nicholas Hytner, walked on stage before the show to pay tribute to late theatre director Howard Davies.

Hytner was smart in coat and tie. Norris looked as if he was on a day off, in denims, pullover and no discernible collar.

Could the National not have togged him out in something more respectful?

MENTIONING NO NAMES...

Which leading actors recent family holiday was actually an attempt to fix his ailing marriage? He failed to smooth out all the bumps.
They travelled to the Nevada desert in August to attend the Burning Man Festival.

But model Kris Smith, 38, admitted his relationship with ex-girlfriend Maddy King was already 'on the rocks' during the trip.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia at Derby Day on Saturday, Kris admitted his former partner is 'amazing' despite their break-up.

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'On the rocks': Kris Smith told Daily Mail Australia his relationship with ex-girlfriend Maddy King was already struggling when they flew to Nevada's Burning Man music festival in August. The couple announced their split earlier this month

'She's an amazing girl, but we've gone in different directions. She's going to follow her dreams,' he said during the event at Melbourne's Flemington Racecourse.

Back in August, Kris notably shared several Instagram photos from the music festival - but was not once pictured with Maddy.

It wasn't until they announced their split earlier this month that Maddy's absence from the holiday snaps was made clear.

Kris revealed the end of their relationship took some 'adjusting' and that accepting they are no longer together has been 'a bit of a process'.

'I've always worn Dom on Derby Day': The Myer ambassador cut an elegant figure in a grey Dom Bagnato suit which he paired with black lace up shoes

Contrary to some reports, Kris revealed there are no women in his life at the moment and that he is, 'very, very single'.

Meanwhile, the Myer ambassador cut an elegant figure at the Derby Day races telling Daily Mail Australia that he was wearing Dom Bagnato.

' It was a really hard choice but I've always worn Dom on Derby Day and he's such an amazing young guy.'

'I'm very, very single': Kris was posed with a bevy of women including (L-R) Nicole Trunfio, Jennifer Hawkins and Jodi Anasta in the Myer marquee

When asked what his hot tips for the races are, Kris admitted: 'Don't listen to a word I say, I'm the worst punter ever!

'I've been given number five in this race and if that wins I'm on a roll, if he loses I'm going to leave,' he joked.

Meanwhile, the proud father said he's been keeping his fitness training regime going, admitting he's 'not getting any younger'.

'We've gone in different directions': Back in August, Kris notably shared several Instagram photos from the music festival - but was not once pictured with Maddy

'I'm training twice a day. I'm out walking in the fresh air. I'm 38, I'm not getting any younger, so I want to get as lean as I can and just stay that way.'

'When I'm training I feel great and when I don't I feel like s***,' he continued.

Kris said he is trying to 'secure as much work as possible' and is keeping busy following the high-profile split.
Though this Hollywood power couple is highly venerated, they are rarely seen out in public together.

But Friday, Daniel Day-Lewis and wife Rebecca Miller decided to take a romantic evening stroll around Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood.

The 59-year-old actor looked pleased as his wife of 20 years lovingly held onto his arm.

Cute couple: Daniel Day-Lewis looked pleased as his wife of twenty years lovingly held onto his arm

The British actor wore a black button down coat with a wide collar, a pair of relaxed fit gray pants, and black boots.

Instead of covering his silver hair with his trademark newsboy cap, Day-Lewis wore his hair down and combed back neatly.

His 54-year-old wife opted for dark pants, a white collared blouse, and a long military style black coat with shiny buttons.

Understated cool: Rebecca Miller opted for dark pants, a white collared blouse, and a long military style black coat with shiny buttons

Funky fashion: The writer topped the understated look with shiny silver booties with a short chunky heel and a blue purse

The writer topped the understated look with shiny silver booties with a short chunky heel and a blue purse.

Her hair was up in its usual tidy hairstyle and both wore their quirky spectacles.

The talented lady put some extra effort into date night, wearing a flattering red lip color.

Time for China: The couple will be celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary on November 13th

Making a comeback: Though off the Hollywood radar for a while, husband and wife team have been keeping busy

Though off the Hollywood radar for a while, husband and wife team have been keeping busy.

Miller, who has not worked as an actress since the Nineties, just wrapped up shooting a comedy to be released in 2017. It features Adam Sandler and Ben Stiller.

And the Academy Award winning Day-Lewis has begun shooting a drama placed in the fashion world of London in the 1950s.

The couple will be celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary on November 13th.

Good genes: Meanwhile, Daniel Day-Lewis's lookalike son Gabriel is making a name for himself as a model

Meanwhile, Daniel Day-Lewis' lookalike son Gabriel is making a name for himself as a model.

The 21-year-old recently walked in the Chanel show in Paris during Fashion Week.

His mother is actress Isabelle Adjani, 61.
Lindy Klim has told Daily Mail Australia her engagement to boyfriend Adam Ellis came after a 'very stressful year'.

The 38-year-old former model spoke about her wedding plans while attending Derby Day in Melbourne on Saturday.

Lindy, who split from husband Michael Klim in February, also claimed there were still 'a few hurdles' before she can legally marry.

Moving on: Lindy Klim (L) has told Daily Mail Australia her engagement to boyfriend Adam Ellis (R) came after a 'very stressful year' following her split from husband Michael Klim

'I need to get divorced first!' she said when asked about her upcoming wedding.

Lindy continued: 'But right now I'm just glad to be with somebody that loves me so much, and who loves my children'.

During the event at Flemington Racecourse, she described Adam's recent proposal as romantic and unexpected.

'I need to get divorced first!' The 38-year-old former model spoke about her wedding plans while attending Derby Day at Melbourne's Flemington Racecourse on Saturday

The engagement follows a 'stressful' year for Lindy, after announcing her separation from Michael, 39, eight months ago.

She was married to the former Olympic swimmer for almost 10 years when a representative confirmed the split.

Lindy was first spotted with Adam at London's Heathrow Airport in March, just two weeks after the break-up.

'I'm just glad to be with somebody that loves me': Lindy described Adam's proposal earlier this month as romantic and unexpected

It would seem their relationship developed very quickly as the British builder proposed earlier this month.

Meanwhile, Michael confirmed he was dating fashion designer Desiree Deravi in June after weeks of rumours.

But the retired athlete recently told The Kyle And Jackie O Show they are in no rush to get married.
Derby Day is known for its strict black and white dress code.

But brunette beauties Megan Gale and Terry Biviano decided to push the boundaries a little on Saturday, by incorporating a hint of green into their look.

Megan and Terry, both 41, arrived at Melbourne's Flemington racecourse in stunning floral dresses.

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Floral fever: Terry Biviano (L) and Megan Gale (R) were dressed to impress for 2016 Derby Day in Melbourne on Saturday

Megan arrived at the Lavazza marquee in a sleek black long-sleeved dress.

Finishing just below the knees, it revealed a glimpse of her trim pins.

The beautiful frock featured a print consisting of bold white flowers contrasted with green leaves.

Stunning: Megan arrived at the Lavazza marquee in a sleek black long-sleeved dress

Cute couple: She was joined by her beau Shaun Hampson

A pair of open-toed heels accentuated her model height, and of course a statement headpiece was in order for the race day event.

With her luscious locks pulled back in a ponytail, she sported a black headband to complete her look.

Meanwhile Terry exuded elegance in a fitted floral frock as well.

Race day look: With her luscious locks pulled back in a ponytail, she sported a black headband to complete her look

Photo time: The mother-of-one posed for a snap with former Home And Away star Bec Hewitt

The mother-of-one's off-shoulder number showcased her petite upper frame.

Her dress featured a similar print to Megan's, and was teamed with some striking accessories on the day.

She slipped her feet into a pair of pointy-toed black heels, and held onto a The Daily Edited clutch bag.

With her dark tresses also worn in a chic updo, she propped a delicate black and gold Viktoria Novak crown on her head.

Looking good: Terrry Biviano stepped out in an off-shoulder black dress with a bold floral print as well
She gave birth to twin boys Tom and Darcy last month, apologising to her 573,000 Instagram fans for the constant stream of 'baby spam.'

And on Saturday, Rebecca Judd, 33, apologised again for spamming fans - this time with snaps from Melbourne's Derby Day 2016 at Flemington racecourse, where she enjoyed her first glass of champagne in months.

The honeycomb-tressed beauty stepped out in an elegant white figure-hugging dress which highlighted her slender post-baby body.

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'Our first bubbles since December and January respectively': Rebecca Judd and her sister Kate pose with champagne at Melbourne's Derby Day 2016 after recently giving birth

She celebrated the event with a post to Instagram with sister Kate and wrote: 'Our first bubbles since December and January respectively- we've bloody earned these.'

The pair appeared to be all smiles as they posed for the snap which commemorated their first sip of champagne since recently giving birth.

Rebecca gave birth to her children last month, while her sister Kate gave birth to her son Levi Samuel Seal in August.

The popular television personality looked almost angelic as she posed with a halo like crown next to her sister who went for a simpler headpiece.

Both sisters wore lashings of mascara and light makeup which flaunted their natural beauty - which appears to run in the family.

Post pregnancy body: Rebecca stepped out for Melbourne's Derby Day 2016 in an elegant figure hugging dress which flaunted her slender post baby body

Angelic: Rebecca wore what appeared to be a halo of golden thorns to the glamorous Melbourne-based race day

Accessorise: She carried a black and gold clutch, wore a intricate head piece and diamond studded rings for the occasion

The trip to the Melbourne-based races was somewhat of a family occasion as Rebecca was joined by her husband Chris Judd and brother-in-law Matt Seal.

Rebecca and Chris were seen walking together through the crowd cutting elegant figures in their race day ensembles.

Chris wore a dark grey suit and silver tie, which he paired with black lace up shoes and a crisp white shirt.

Rebecca wowed in the figure-hugging white dress, that featured frilled detail and she completed the look with a crown of golden thorns on her head.

Looking good! Rebecca was joined by husband Chris Judd who cut an elegant figure in a dark grey suit, silver tie and black lace up shoes

Detailed: The Channel Nine presenter wore a figure hugging dress with a zip detail on the back (R) and frilled stitching on the front (L)

Loved up: Rebecca embraced Chris as they posed together at the Flemington racecourse

She wore her blonde locks out in waves and a slick of light pink lipstick which highlighted her plump lips.

She paired the outfit with beige heels and was seen carrying a black and gold clutch as she walked through the glamorous Victorian event.

In a picture posted to Instagram prior to the races, Rebecca was joined by Kate and Matt who opted for darker colour palettes for their outfits.

Kate was seen wearing a black dress and small beaded head band while husband Matt wore a grey suit, black tie and dark sunglasses.

Selfie: Rebecca posed for a picture before the event which showcased two diamond studded rings on her fingers

 Slide me  Family outing: Rebecca gave birth to her children last month, while her sister Kate and husband Matt welcomed their son Levi Samuel Seal in August
She came clean about her blossoming romance with fellow Australian Xavier Samuel earlier this month.

But Jessica Gomes, 32, cut a solo figure as she attended Derby Day celebrations at Melbourne's Flemington Racecourse on Saturday.

Posing at the Lexus Marquee, the David Jones model showcased a generous glimpse of cleavage in a plunging cocktail dress with puff-detail sleeves.

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Going solo: Jessica Gomes, 32 cut a solo figure as she attended Derby Day celebrations at Melbourne's Flemington Racecourse on Saturday without her new beau Xavier Samuel

She added height to her lofty frame by slipping on a pair of strappy black stilettos and accessorised her ensemble with a black baguette clutch bag.

Leaving her glossy mane to hang freely by her shoulders, the exotic beauty shrouded her visage with a birdcage veil in soft black lace.

Her makeup was kept fresh and feminine for the swanky event, featuring a bronze-hued dash of eyeshadow and a dash of pink lip-gloss.

Taking the plunge: Posing at the Lexus Marquee, the David Jones model showcased a generous glimpse of cleavage in a plunging cocktail dress with puff-detail sleeves

Her appearance comes days after Jessica gushed about her budding romance with actor Xavier Samuel.

'I am very happy in my life at the moment, very happy', she told The Daily Telegraph on Thursday.

Her comments confirm the pair's coupling, which was first reported earlier this month, after photos of the duo kissing in Los Angeles surfaced.

Sleek and chic: Leaving her glossy mane to hang freely by her shoulders, the exotic beauty shrouded her visage with a birdcage veil in soft black lace

The Perth-born beauty and the Victorian hunk are believed to have been set up by a mutual friend.

Xavier has previously dated Pretty Little Liars star and fellow Australian Phoebe Tonkin.

He has also enjoyed romance with German model Shermine Shahrivar.
Peta Credlin looked festive as she arrived at Melbourne's Derby Day celebrations looking chic in a black off-shoulder dress on Saturday.

The former Liberal staffer showcased her sartorial prowess as she posed for photos in her dramatic A-line frock and large statement headpiece.

Her look was complete with a black shoulder bag, pearl drop earrings and a pair of black-and-white patent pumps.

Arriving in style: Peta Credlin looked festive as she arrived at Melbourne's Derby Day celebrations looking chic in a black off-shoulder dress on Saturday

Her makeup was kept fresh and feminine with a grey smokey eye and pink lipstick.

Leaving her chestnut hair to fall by her shoulders, she posed confidently with both hands in her pockets.

Ms Credlin, longtime chief of staff to Tony Abbott, recently spoke to Sunday Style about the crippling pressures of her old role and the joys of a looming federal election that she plays no part in.

Trendy: The former Liberal staffer showcased her sartorial prowess as she posed for photos in her dramatic A-line frock and large statement headpiece

'I've had a really good break, the first for many years. I used to take off one week a year, sometimes two,'she said.

'So after 16 years, I've enjoyed not having my time managed out for me.'

Taking on a job as a political commentator for Sky News has allowed her to enjoy sleep-ins past 4.30am, as well as unlocking a passion for cooking, baking and painting.

Dressed to impress: Peta pictured with husband Brian Loughnane at the annual Mid Winter Ball at Parliament House in Canberra in August this year

'I've enjoyed not having my time managed out for me. I've had lots of people around for dinner. I love to cook. And I love to bake. And I like to paint portraits,' she told the publication.

She maintains that her friendship with Mr Abbott, who is also close to her husband Brian, will last a very long time.

'We (Mr Abbott) keep in touch. He's a close friend of Brian [my husband] and me, and I suspect he'll be a friend to both of us forever. He was extraordinarily good to me and I hope I was to him,' she said.

High profile: Ms Credlin is the longtime chief of staff to Tony Abbott
Emilia Clarke joined co-stars Peter Dinklage and Nathalie Emmanuel to film some dramatic scenes for the upcoming season of Game Of Thrones in Spain on Friday.

The British actors were on location at the cliffs and on the beach of Zumaia near Bilbao in the Basque Country.

All three of the actors were dressed in black leather warfare costumes and appeared to shoot some tense moments as cameras rolled.

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No siesta here: On Friday Game Of Thrones actors Conleth Hill, Peter Dinklage, Nathalie Emmanuel, Emilia Clarke and Jacob Anderson filmed scenes for the upcoming seventh series in Zumaia, Spain

Emilia, 30, who plays Daenerys Targaryen in the HBO fantasy series, was seen striding along the walled steps of the cliffs.

She was also seen leaping down steps with her arms flailing.

The actress looked every inch the Queen in her imperial cape as she ran down the steps and engaged in conversation with Nathalie who plays handmaiden and translator Missandei.

Flee to the sea? Later the actors decamped to the sandy beaches where they were seen deep in thought

Intense: Emilia, who plays Daenerys Targaryen, Mother of Dragons, and Nathalie Emmanuel, her trusted sidekick Missandei, wore stern expressions

Dramatic scenes: Emilia, 30, was seen striding along the walled steps of the cliffs

Queen and handmaiden: The British actresses were dressed in their black leather warfare costumes and appeared to shoot some tense moments as cameras rolled

Animated: Emilia was also seen leaping down steps with her arms flailing while wearing her imperial cape

Meanwhile, extras were seen rowing out over the beautiful waters of the Atlantic, followed by a film crew in a rib.

In series six, Theon Greyjoy and his sister Eura fled from the Iron Islands after their uncle Euron killed their father and took charge of the Iron Islands.

And it looked like Theon had finally been tracked down with him becoming embroiled in a violent exchange on the beach.

He looked to be coming off second best as his assailant delivered a number of blows leaving him with a bloody nose.

Conflict brewing? The Queen and her crew were guarded by black-clad warriors, who carried long and imposing spears

Constructive criticism: Emilia frequently paused to speak with crew members, who seemed to offer her notes on the scene

Alone time: As a team of stylists tended to Emilia, Peter stood on his own rehearsing his lines and getting into character

They grappled surrounded by soldiers, before Theon was mercilessly thrown to the floor.

Filming in the past few days has taken place on Itzurun beach, famed for its flysch rock strata, which is one of the longest continuous examples of the geological phenomenon in the world.

The formation is a mix of hard layers (limestone and sandstone) and soft layers (clay).

Make it work: A wardrobe assistant gave Emilia one final look over before she descended a set of imposing stairs

Waiting around: As the directors and cameramen ran through the elaborate scenes, the actors had plenty of downtime to chat

Other locations for this run of shooting have included the shoreline of La Muriola in Barrika, two hours to the West of Zumaia.

It's also believed that cast and crew will be filming on the San Juan de Gaztelugatxe islet, close to Barrika.

Filming for season seven of Game Of Thrones began last month, and is scheduled to go on until February for a mid-2017 air date.

Focus: The crew took great care when setting up scenes on the beach

Long march: At one point Emilia led her advisers and army through a shadowy stretch of sand

Hillside: Cast and crew spent countless hours on the side of a hill, perhaps owing to tricky wind and lighting conditions that the director had to navigate during filming

On the water: At one point crewman pushed a boat out to sea

Speaking at the Emmys last month, Emilia told DailyMail.com that with less than two years left of her hit show she is beginning to worry about the future.

'We've like had the cushiest job in TV,' she admitted.

'We're always working. No big deal. And now, yeah, we have to pay off some debts.'

Final season: Speaking at the Emmys last month, Emilia told DailyMail.com that she and her co-stars have 'one of the cushiest jobs' in television

Made her name: Game Of Thrones has catapulted Emilia to international stardom

Coming off second best: Alfie Allen's Theon Greyjoy was sent flying during one violent take

Fight! Theon grappled with an adversary as soldiers surrounded the pair

Man up: In the last series, Theon began to develop a backbone following countless episodes of being submissive to villainous characters such as Ramsay Boltn

Taking a beating: Theon looked to be coming off second best as his assailant prepared to deliver another blow

Broken and bloodied: Blood poured from the star's nose in the violent scene

Come at me: Theon bravely squared up to his opponent on the wet sand

Runaway: In series six, Theon and his sister fled from the Iron Islands after their uncle killed their father and took charge of the house

Nowhere to hide: It looked like the Iron Islanders had finally tracked the runaway down
She said their costumes would be rockin'. And she was right.

On Friday night Cindy Crawford and husband Rande Gerber dressed up as punk rock stars for a Halloween party in Beverly Hills.

Also there were their model kids Presley and Kaia, who kept with the theme.

Cool fam: On Friday night Cindy Crawford and husband Rande Gerber dressed up as punk rock stars to host a Halloween party at a private residence in Beverly Hills. Also there were their model kids Presley and Kaia, who kept with the theme

Not her normal look: Cindy was almost unrecognizable in her hot pink dress with tutu and black belt. The Vogue favorite also had on multicolored leggings and motorcycle boots

Cindy was almost unrecognizable in her hot pink dress with tutu and black belt at the private residence in Beverly Hills.

The Vogue favorite also had on multicolored leggings and motorcycle boots.

A black leather jacket with markings all over it looked ripped from the movie set of Sid & Nancy.

And she wore her hair pushed to the side with orange highlights.

Rande was co-hosting the Casamigos party alongside the tequila company co-founders Mike Meldman and George Clooney.

Hard: Husband Gerber dyed his hair purple and wore red eye makeup. He too was punked out, looking a bit like Justin Theroux on an average day

Funny fam: The Gerbers looked very serious as they posed in a mirror

Husband Gerber dyed his hair purple and wore red eye makeup.

He too was punked out, looking a bit like Justin Theroux on an average day.

He added a black T with a leather motorcycle jacket and heavy boots.

Two funny: Also there was Emmanuelle Chriqui as a rocker chick and Jenna Dewan Tatum as a sexy unicorn

Crafty: The dancer appeared to have strapped a unicorn horn to her head

Also there was Emmanuelle Chriqui as a rocker chick in all black with a whisky shirt.

And Jenna Dewan Tatum as a sexy unicorn with a white dress and white leggings.

The dancer appeared to have strapped a unicorn horn to her head.

Alessandra Ambrosio was done up as a very convincing Jessica Rabbit from Who Framed Rodger Rabbit?

Lisa Rinna was Cher and Harry Hamlin was Sonny for an inspired partnership.

Va-voom cartoon! Alessandra Ambrosio was done up as a very convincing Jessica Rabbit from Who Framed Rodger Rabbit?

We get you babe: Lisa Rinna was Cher and Harry Hamlin was Sonny for this inspired partnership

One of the best costumes was on Joanna Krupa.

The former Playboy model showed off her enviable figure in a butterfly costume.

The Real Housewives Of Miami star also had on a pink bob wig and bright green and purple wings.

A pregnant Molly Sims looked to be a fortune teller while her husband producer Scott Stuber was a wizard.

Fly! One of the best costumes was on Joanna Krupa. The former Playboy model showed off her enviable figure in a butterfly costume

Not sure what they are: A pregnant Molly Sims looked to be a fortune teller while her husband producer Scott Stuber was a wizard

Another pregnant guest: Kayte Walsh was a cat with nipples and Kelsey Grammer was himself

He got an invite: Ryan Lochte brought his pretty blonde partner

Classic: Robin Thicke looked like Robin Thicke in a dark suit. Also with him was his young girlfriend dressed like Julia Roberts from Pretty Woman

Ryan Lochte brought his pretty blonde partner.

She was dressed as a sexy Alice In Wonderland and he the Mad Hatter.

Robin Thicke opted against a costume while his girlfriend dressed like Julia Roberts from Pretty Woman.

Bunny ears! Jamie Mazur and Alessandra put on a dazzling display

Risque! Charlotte McKinney left little to the imagination in a leather ensemble

Bevy of beauties: Ryan Lochte was accompanied by pretty gal pals

Ying and yang: Actresses Emmanuelle Chriqui and Jenna Dewan Tatum partied up a storm

Friyay! The group looked like they were having a whale of a time

Dapper: Geyer Kozinsky (center) Ryan Seacrest (right) went skull-themed

Suicide squad! : Actor Kevin Connolly (center) was surrounded

Pose for the cameras! Charlotte McKinney went hell for leather

Interesting: Actor Zach Braff opted for a khaki boiler suit

Squad: Basketball coach Doc Rivers and comedian David Spade
She was attending a star-studded Halloween bash alongside the likes of Madonna and Idris Elba.

So Vogue Williams was naturally dressed to impress, embracing her inner demon and dressing in a sexy devil costume to party at M Restaurant in central London on Friday night.

The Irish beauty went all out with her attire, sporting a glittering red bodysuit teamed with figure-hugging red leggings.

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Red devil: Vogue Williams was clad in a sexy devil costume to party at M Restaurant in central London on Friday night

Vogue topped off her look with matching trainers and wore a coordinating cape slung around her neck.

She pulled the look together with a slick of bright lipstick and wore scarlet coloured contact lenses in her eyes.

The piece de resistance was two bloody horns on top of her head, with her honey hued tresses falling loose around her shoulders.

Dressed to the times: The Irish beauty went all out with her attire, sporting a glittering red bodysuit teamed with figure-hugging red leggings

Glam: Brian McFadden's ex-wife also took to Instagram to show off her 'Gothic vibes'

Brian McFadden's ex-wife also took to Instagram to show off her 'Gothic vibes', showcasing a dark purple lip and constellation themed jewellery.

Vogue was treated to a pre-party hair and make-up session from the five star professionals from Secret Spa ahead of the event.

Meanwhile, Vogue is alleged to have found love with actor Laurence Fox in recent times.

According to The Sun, the pair - who first met on Bear Grylls' Mission Survive in 2015 - are now officially dating after they found strength in each other following their own marriage break-ups.

Eerie attire: She pulled the look together with a slick of bright lipstick and wore scarlet coloured contact lenses in her eyes

Party pals: Vogue was spotted chatting to former rugby star Thom Evans

A source told the paper: 'Its very early days but both Laurence and Vogue consider themselves an item. Theyre enjoying spending time together and have had some great nights out.

'Its very recently turned into a romance because they get on so well. Laurence finds Vogue hilarious and they have so much fun.

The rumour mill first went into over drive over the two in April, a month after the 38-year-old Lewis star announced his split from wife Billie Piper.
She shot to fame as Paige Smith in the Australian soap Neighbours.

But now Olympia Valance is ready to spread her wings and try something different with an edgy new role, that's a complete contrast to her wholesome beginnings.

'I've just been in the UK filming a pilot for a drama called Ghetto Heaven and it's REALLY different to Neighbours,' the 23-year-old told Daily Mail Australia at Derby Day in Melbourne on Saturday.

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'I've just been in the UK filming a pilot for a drama called Ghetto Heaven:' Olympia Valance spoke to Daily Mail Australia about her new TV show at Melbourne's Derby Day

She continued: 'It's really gritty, full of sex and drugs.'

'It's nothing like a G-rated show, so it was really fun to do something out of what I know.'

Olympia added that she plans to return to the UK next year to film a few episodes of the series once it's picked up.

'It's nothing like a G-rated show, so it was really fun to do something out of what I know!' The 23-year-old is best known for her role on wholesome Australian soap Neighbours

'It's really gritty, full of sex and drugs,' she said of Ghetto Heaven (pictured above)

The brunette beauty, who made her Neighbours debut in 2014, revealed last year that she was planning to try and crack Hollywood once her three-year contract with the soap comes to an end.

Speaking to news.com.au she said: 'Ive got to give it a go. I would hate to have that regret.'

The rising star has already signed a deal with L.A. based agency ROAR, which represents fellow Australians Liam and Chris Hemsworth.

'It's REALLY different to Neighbours:' The young actress seems to be leaving her innocent image behind for the gritty new British series

Rising star: In addition to her acting career, Olympia is also the face of Gossard Lingerie

Like Olympia, Aussie Margot Robbie got her start on Neighbours before landing her big break in Hollywood in Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street.

Olympia's older sister and former Neighbours star Holly Candy also used the popular soap to launch a career in Tinseltown.

Holly had roles in Dead or Alive, Paris Hilton's Pledge This!, Prison Break, and a cameo in Liam Neeson's Taken before relocating to London for a quieter life.
They found love last year on hit dating series The Bachelor.

And reality star couple Snezana Markoski, 36, and Sam Wood, 36, were the perfect match as they attended Derby Day in Melbourne on Saturday.

Snezana highlighted her enviable figure in a strapless black frock, while Sam looked suave in a patterned grey suit.

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Sleek and sexy! Snezana Markoski, 36, and Sam Wood, 36, were the perfect pairing as they attended Derby Day 2016 in Melbourne on Saturday

The high-profile couple embraced one another for photos at the star-studded event.

Snezana, looked beautiful in a strapless black Misha Collection frock that accentuated her toned shoulders and delicate decolletage.

Cleverly placed stitching just under the bust drew attention to the lifestyle blogger's slender waist, while billowing sleeves added a flirty dimension.

Content: The high profile couple happily embraced one another outside the VIP marquee tents

Notoriety: Snezana and Sam came to media attention after the buff personality chose the brunette beauty on last year's run of The Bachelor Australia

Making an impact with accessories, Snezana sported nude Louboutin heels, a black clutch, a dramatic gold headpiece as well as a white flower crown.

Keeping her beauty look simple, the media personality styled her tresses in relaxed waves, and enhanced her natural beauty with lashings of mascara and a soft pink lip.

Meanwhile Sam, donned a patterned grey suit jacket and pants, teamed with a matching vest, crisp white shirt and simple black tie.

Flawless: The lifestyle blogger highlighted her svelte figure in a strapless black Mischa Collection frock that drew attention to her delicate decolletage, toned shoulders and slender waist

Dramatic: Making a statement, Snezana sported a gold headpiece and a white flower crown

Keeping the look smart and polished, the celebrity trainer and television personality sported a pair of patent dress shoes and at one stage shielded his eyes behind dark aviator sunglasses.

Things look to be going swimmingly for the engaged couple, having purchased their first home together in Melbourne for $1.65 million in January.

They officially moved into the property in early July.

Striking: The mother-of-one enhanced her natural beauty with lashings of mascara and a soft pink lip

Snezana had previously been living in Perth, with her 11-year-old daughter Eve.

Sam has confidently taken on the role of father figure to Eve in recent months.

He seems to have taken a hands-on approach to parenting, often sharing Instagram photos of the trio enjoying family trips.

Only last month, the pair spent the afternoon panning for gold at Sovereign Hill in Ballarat.

Since their engagement in December, they have not made public when they plan to wed.
He's earned himself a loyal fanbase through his portrayal of crime-fighting vicar, Sidney Chambers.

And James Norton seemed in great spirits as he took some time out of filming Grantchester to chat to his supporters in Cambridge on Friday.

Cuddling up to a host of swooning females, the 31-year-old actor - who is dating War And Peace co-star Jessie Buckley - beamed broadly as he posed for snaps and cracked a joke with the crowd.

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Snap happy: James Norton seemed in great spirits as he took some time out of filming Grantchester to chat to his supporters in Cambridge on Friday

Clad in a khaki blazer and brown corduroy slacks, the auburn-haired star looked effortlessly stylish as he prepared to head home after a day in his vicar's ensemble.

He was joined by a chirpy looking Robson Green, who plays Detective Inspector Geordie Keating in the series.

Unable to resist, James photobombed a few of the shots, forming devil ears behind Robson's head as the duo posed for snaps

Suave: Clad in a khaki blazer and brown corduroy slacks, the auburn-haired star looked effortlessly stylish as he prepared to head home after a day in his vicar's ensemble

Chirpy: Cuddling up to a host of swooning females, the 31-year-old actor - who is dating co-star Jessie Buckley - beamed broadly as he posed for snaps and cracked a joke with the crowd

Laugh a minute: James seemed well entertained by the fans on set

Also on set was Tessa Peake Jones, who plays the Sidney's religious housekeeper in the ITV series.

Grantchester follows the story of Sidney Chambers - a crime fighting Anglican vicar who develops a sideline in investigation with the help of Detective Inspector Geordie Keating.

The hit drama is a small-screen adaptation of crime-fiction book series The Grantchester Mysteries by James Runcie, with the first series based on the six stories from the first book.

Unusual role: He's earned himself a loyal fanbase through his portrayal of crime-fighting vicar, Sidney Chambers on the hit ITV show

Two of a kind: He was joined by a chirpy looking Robson Green, who plays Detective Inspector Geordie Keating in the series

Cheeky! Unable to resist, James photobombed a few of the shots, forming devil ears behind Robson's head as the duo posed for snaps

Love a man in uniform: James smouldered in his vicars costume

The first series pulled in an average of 6.6 million viewers when it debuted in October 2014. A second series was broadcast in March and April 2016.

Underneath Geordie's carefree exterior there are new feelings of vulnerability, and this puts a strain on his relationship with wife Cathy and his friendship with Sidney.

The six new episodes are being filmed in London and Grantchester as well as in Cambridge's city centre, and will air in 2017.
Lara Bingle has reportedly given birth to her second child.

The 29-year-old Australian model was pictured enjoying a brisk walk in New York city on Friday with her 20-month-old son Rocket Zot, amid claims that she and Hollywood actor Sam Worthington, 40, welcomed their newest addition 'a few weeks ago.'

According to The Daily Telegraph, the married couple of nearly two years are keeping all details, including the baby's name and gender, under wraps.

Has she given birth? The Daily Telegraph reported on Saturday that Australian model Lara Bingle (pictured here in New York on Friday with 20-month-old Rocket Zot) has given birth to her second child, although there has been no official confirmation

The blonde beauty sported an oversized sweater paired with leggings and comfortable footwear during her recent outing, as she pushed little Rocket in his pram.

Her designer shades added an element of mystery to her casual look, as she walked the streets on Manhattan.

While the model is yet to publicly reveal the sex of her and Sam's second child, gossip magazines previously claimed they were expecting another boy.

Low-key stroll: The 29-year-old wife of Hollywood actor Sam Worthington, 40, bundled up in head-to-toe black as she braved the cool fall weather

Mummy mode: The blonde beauty sported an oversized sweater paired with leggings and comfortable footwear as she pushed little Rocket in his pram

Is she or isn't she? Fans continue to speculate whether or not the beauty is still with child

'Lara was telling some friends from early on that she's having a boy,' a source told WHO magazine.

'She was quite open, saying how happy she is,' they added.

In June, the former reality TV star confirmed that she and her actor husband Sam Worthington were expecting their second child together.

Chic: Lara looked happy and relaxed as she made her way around town

Excited: 'I'm just excited that Rocket gets a sibling and that they'll be so close [in age] together', she previously told InStyle

'I'm just excited that Rocket gets a sibling and that they'll be so close [in age] together', she told InStyle at the time.

'I'm sure it might seem full-on at the beginning for me, and it's probably a lot harder than it is now, but when they get older they can share their life together,' she explained.

Lara and Sam were married in 2014 and relocated to New York that same year, where they are now based.
They've been good pals for years.

But Chloe Sims, 34, and Calum Best, 35, reportedly took their friendship to the next level as they were pictured sharing a very amorous goodbye kiss after the Elbrook Gala Dinner at Chak89 in Surrey on Thursday.

The pair bumped into each other at the event, with Calum said to have made a beeline for the pretty blonde and her cousin Frankie Essex, before they popped outside for some 'privacy'.

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New couple? Chloe Sims, 34, and Calum Best, 35, reportedly took their friendship to the next level as they were seen sharing a amorous kiss after the Elbrook Gala Dinner on Thursday

A source told The Sun: 'When everyone was having dinner, the two of them nipped outside discretely for some privacy.

'It was out in the car park that they started getting physical with one another, they were really going for it. Calums hands were all over her.'

However, Chloe told MailOnline: 'Callum and I were just sharing an innocent kiss goodbye.'

MailOnline have contacted Calum's representatives for comment.

Eye-popping: It was clear to see how Chloe would have caught Calum's eye at the bash as she slipped into a plunging black and flesh coloured ensemble for the Chak89 event

Fantastic four: A snap shared by the son of George Best, showed the pair cuddled up close on the evening as they shared a table with Frankie and X Factor winner, James Arthur

A snap shared by the son of George Best, showed the pair cuddled up close on the evening as they shared a table with Frankie and X Factor winner, James Arthur.

Clad in Calum's jacket, Chloe perched on his knee for the cute snap which showed her beaming as she leant against his chest.

Whilst mother-of-one Chloe has not been linked to anyone since her failed romance with Jon Clarke, Calum was rumoured to be dating American model Lindsey Pelas.

Looking good: Chloe wowed in a flesh flashing plunging fishnet gown, whilst Calum looked as dapper as ever in a suave three-piece navy suit

Having a ball: Calum was understandably in good spirits as he cuddled up to Chloe and Frankie

Chloe's flirty display came after she courted the affections of another male friend.

The TOWIE star put on very tactile display with her pal, before borrowing his bow tie from him to complete her busty ensemble.

Appearing in animated conversation with her companion, the duo leant in for an intense talk and seemed unaware of the goings-on around them.

Apparently a hilarious companion, Chloe cackled happily as he cracked a joke.

Deep in conversation: The TOWIE star, 34, also put on very tactile display with her male pal, before borrowing his bow tie from him to complete her busty ensemble

Chatty: Appearing in animated conversation with her companion, the duo leant in for an intense talk

And perhaps Chloe was feeling the chill having exposed her eye-popping cleavage, as her gentlemanly friend offered up - or was forced- his smart bow tie.

Whipping off the manly accessory, he showed his chivalrous side as he hopped up and stood around her to tie the dicky bow around her neck.

With trembling fingers he tried to avert his eyes as he fastened the accessory securely to complete her black ensemble.

Eyes on the prize! Perhaps discussing American politics, or the gossip from reality show TOWIE, the twosome were unaware of the goings-on around them

Getting close: And perhaps feeling the chill having exposed her eye-popping cleavage, her gentlemanly friend offered up- or was forced- his smart bow tie

And Chloe appeared quite enamoured with the new addition to her outfit.

Pouting and posing proudly so show off her new look, she perhaps felt slightly less nippy, the bow tie hopefully shielding her from any passing breeze.

But the bearded fellow had perhaps lost his beloved dicky bow forever.

Flirty: Chloe was later seen affectionately laughing with a male pale

Containing himself: Whipping off the manly accessory, he showed his chivalrous side as he hopped up and stood around her to tie the dicky bow around her neck

Posing with her manicured talons over her bountiful bust, Chloe appeared complete.

Earlier in the night the TOWIE favourite almost threatened to spill out of her daring plunge gown - showing off a huge amount of cleavage as she hit the event carpet with her newly-slender cousin Frankie.

Despite recently revealing her regrets after going under the knife to increase her boobs from a 34DD to EE, the reality star was certainly still proud to show off her surgically-enhanced assets as she posed for cameras.

What a pair! Chloe made a busty but glamorous arrival with newly slim cousin Frankie Essex, 29, earlier in the night

Eyes up! Chloe almost threatened to spill out of her plunging frock - showing off huge amounts of cleavage

The buxom blonde left little to the imagination in the V-neck number, which cut eye-wateringly low down her bust to display ample amounts of her plentiful cleavage.

Maintaining the saucy look from top to toe, the revealing gown was formed of a black fishnet material, revealing a slinky white slip layer beneath.

The white layer cutting high at her thigh, the dress then gave a glimpse of the reality star's toned and tanned pins underneath its sexy semi-sheer material, and was made even raunchier by a split down the front.

Flash of skin: Maintaining the saucy look from top to toe, the revealing gown was formed of a black fishnet material, revealing a slinky white slip layer beneath

Flowing out at the bottom, the dress hugged her womanly frame elsewhere, emphasising her pert derriere as she posed with her back to the cameras.

Flashing further glowing skin at the back with its saucy cut-out straps, the reality star let the show-stopping outfit speak for itself by attending the event, in aid of The British Asian Trust, without accessories.

Despite appearing happy to flaunt her curves for the cameras, Chloe recently admitted that she regrets getting her boobs surgically enhanced.

Keeping it simple: The reality star let the show-stopping outfit speak for itself by attending the event, in aid of The British Asian Trust, without accessories

'My boobs are a bit of a regret. Theyre like 1990s perky ones, instead of the more natural-looking boobs you see now,' the reality star admitted to Fabulous magazine earlier this year.

However she still asserts that she is more than comfortable in her own skin, adding: 'I feel quite good for 34. I never look in the mirror and think: Oh, god. I actually think I look the same age as a lot of 20 year olds!'

Retaining this more youthful style, Chloe dressed her lids with a chic mauve shadow and added a pair of her trusty thick, fake lashes to enhance her pretty features.

Mirror image: Leaving her bob in tousled waves, Chloe looked a perfect match for her date for the evening - her cousin and fellow platinum blonde Frankie Essex

Success story: The 29-year-old sister of Joey Essex showed off her impressive two-stone weight loss as she posed in a tight-fitting black strapless dress

Stunning: Remaining plain black all over, the focus was kept on her enviably slender and toned frame as she posed her pal Chloe

All smiles: Chloe beamed alongside former X Factor contestant Stevi Ritchie

High spirits: The pair appeared in high spirits at the worthwhile event

Blonde bombshells: Frankie and Chloe complemented each other in their black tie attire

Picture perfect: Chloe happily posed with fellow ball go-ers at the bash

Singing to the people: X Factor winner James Arthur crooned for the crowds as they dined

'In good company' Chloe shared a snap as she sat on Callum Best's lap




She's the former Playboy cover girl who recently modeled for lingerie brand Bras 'N' Things.

So it's no surprise that the busty Simone Holtznagel was hard to miss on Saturday at Derby Day in Melbourne.

The 23-year-old could barely contain her DDs in a plunging black dress, which left very little to the imagination.

Wow! Simone Holtznagel put on a busty display on Saturday at Derby Day at Flemington Racecourse

'I feel like a million dollars in this dress,' the blonde bombshell wrote on Instagram.

Simone added that her dress was from Misha Collection, while her stunning fascinator was from Melbourne's Morgan & Taylor.

The Guess girl, who found fame as a runner-up on Australia's Next Top Model in 2011, recently returned to the show for a guest spot.

'I feel like a million dollars in this dress,' the 23-year-old wrote on Instagram

She was joined on the episode by ANTM alumni Amanda Ware and Cassi Van Den Dungen.

Simone has gone on to have great success since appearing on season seven of the reality TV competition.

The Aussie stunner, who is now based in America, has modeled for Guess, covered Playboy magazine, and served as the face of Playboy Lingerie for Bras N Things.

In 2014, she posed topless as part of a racy photo shoot for the men's magazine.

In the raunchy snaps, she is pictured flaunting her assets and making out with a burly male model.

'I kind of struck gold with that. I'm really glad that I did it,' she told news.com.au of the racy shoot.
They're a Hollywood couple known for their comedic roles on the big screen.

And on Friday evening actress Isla Fisher and her husband Sacha Baron Cohen kept the laughs coming as they arrived at Kate Hudson's Halloween party dressed as a mermaid and a cow.

Isla, 40, showed off her hour-glass figure in a hip-hugging mermaid dress, which came with a glittering green fin.

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Keeping it cute: On Friday evening actress Isla Fisher and her husband Sacha Baron Cohen arrived at Kate Hudson's Halloween party dressed as a mermaid and a cow

The bodice channeled Disney's The Little Mermaid with its purple breastplate, which featured black and white jewels on the chest.

She dressed up the aquatic look with a set of fancy pearls and a blue floral headpiece.

Looking fresh-faced and ready for a night of fun, she wore her auburn locks in a simple part down the middle, and let her tresses flow in gentle waves to her bosom.

What a couple: Isla, 40, showed off her hour-glass figure in a hip-hugging mermaid dress, which came with a glittering green fin

Bejeweled: Isla dressed up the aquatic look with a set of fancy pearls and a blue floral headpiece

Not afraid to work a variety of colour palates, Isla wore black nail polish and carried a multi-coloured purse consisting of yellow, green and purple panels.

Many celebrity couples at the event opted to coordinate with each other, including Muse rocker Matt Bellamy and model girlfriend Elle Evans, who came as matching zombies.

But Isla's husband - the funnyman Sacha Baron Cohen - went his own way, instead turning up as cow - replete with massive udders.

Stunning: Looking fresh-faced and ready for a night of fun, she wore her auburn locks in a simple part down the middle, and let her tresses flow in gentle waves to her bosom

Bold: Not afraid to work a variety of colour palates, Isla wore black nail polish and carried a multi-coloured purse consisting of yellow, green and purple panels

Throwing himself fully into his look, he hid his hair beneath a cow bonnet with ears and obscured his face with dark shades.

Followed by a man in a Winnie-the-Pooh onesie, the Ali G actor had apparently painted his fingernails in recent days, as the remnants of red polish could clearly be seen on his ring and index fingers.

Isla and Sacha became engaged in 2004 and, following Fisher's conversion to Judaism, the pair married in 2010 at a ceremony in Paris.
She's made a stellar career thanks to her striking looks and svelte physique.

And Nikki Phillips reminded onlookers of her appeal as she stunned in a dazzling ensemble at Derby Day 2016 in Melbourne on Saturday.

The television presenter and brand ambassador showed off plenty of skin in a black backless frock that also featured a generous split just below her derriere.

Sizzling hot! Nikki Phillips showed off plenty of skin in a backless frock as she attended Derby Day 2016 in Melbourne on Saturday

Nikki stunned in a daring black frock by designer Daniel Avakian.

A large cut-out drew attention to the personality's toned back, while a generous split drew the eye to her pert derriere.

Large bell sleeves added an extra dimension to the revealing attire, which Nikki teamed with a pair of strappy black heels, a mesh headpiece by milliner Kerrie Stanley and jewelled drop earrings.

Daring: A large cut-out in the television presenter's Daniel Avakian frock drew attention to the personality's toned back

Stylish: Nikki accessorised with a mesh headpiece by milliner Kerrie Stanley and a pair of jewelled drop earrings

Styling her blonde locks sleek and straight, she complemented the look with a flawless complexion, defined brows, subtle kohl-rimmed eyes, lashings of mascara and a soft pink lip.

While at the event, Nikki happily posed for photos alongside celebrity stylist Donny Galella.

Donny cut a suave figure in a tailored grey suit jacket, teamed with slim-fitting black trousers, a crisp white shirt and a simple black tie.

Mingling: While at the event, Nikki happily posed for photos alongside celebrity stylist Donny Galella

Nikki has certainly been keeping busy, with hosting duties for beauty salon The Clinic.

The blonde stunner, who is an ambassador for the celebrity hot spot, helped celebrate the salon's 18th anniversary with a lavish affair at Icebergs Dining Room and Bar at Sydney's Bondi on Tuesday.

Guests including Terry Biviano, Candice Warner and Aisha Jade were treated to Perrier Jouet champagne, bloody mary cocktails and a breakfast grazing table.
Lisa Clark earned a reputation for flaunting her flesh after her now infamous wardrobe malfunction at last year's Sydney Film Festival.

And on Saturday, the former strip club manager was back at it again as she went braless underneath a blazer with a dangerously low-cut neckline at Melbourne's Derby Day.

The 31-year-old was joined by her former Big Brother co-star Aisha Jade, who matched the Penrith-born beauty in a plunging black jumpsuit.

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Forget your bras? Big Brother stars Aisha Jade and Lisa Clark dared to bare in plunging necklines at Derby Day in Melbourne

The stunning reality stars lapped up the limelight at the event, posing for photos together and rubbing shoulders with celebrity guests in the Mumm marquee.

Lisa proudly flaunted her artificial assets in her Camilla and Marc ensemble, which featured conservative flared pants to offset the racy braless blazer.

'Farshion darling, giddy up Derby Day 2016,' the busty blonde wrote on Instagram.

Old habits die hard: The 31-year-old former strip club manager made headlines last year after suffering an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction at the Sydney Film Festival

'Farshion darling, giddy up Derby Day 2016,' wrote the Penrith-born beauty on Instagram

Meanwhile, Aisha caught the eye in a bold black jumpsuit and matching wide-brimmed hat.

The model blogger posed for photos with her 'race day squad,' which included Lisa and Celebrity Apprentice star Tegan Martin.

Since shooting to fame on Big Brother, Lisa and Aisha have found success as digital influencers and professional socialites.

Cheers! The raunchy reality stars enjoyed some rose in the Mumm marquee

Designer diva: Aisha was decked out in designer labels, from Tom Ford to Steven Khalil

Careful! Lisa and Aisha looked like they were close to suffering wardrobe malfunctions as they posed with fellow reality star Tegan Martin

Lisa, who now works as a freelance blogger, can often be found online sharing lifestyle tips with her fans.

The self-proclaimed 'lifestyle commentator' recommends eating superfoods like kale and avocado.

In a column for Garnier, Lisa wrote: 'I LOVE grocery shopping. I love trying new recipes and every Sunday you will find me trolley-in-tow at the market, health food store and supermarket, ticking off my extensive shopping list.'

'I will smother avo on grainy toast and add a squeeze of lemon and salt and pepper to taste.'
He's been in showbiz for more than 70 years and is probably best known for playing super suave spy James Bond.

Now a very sprightly Sir Roger Moore, who turned 89 on October 14, is ready to share anecdotes of his extraodinary career with his fans in his new speaking tour, which he's taking around the U.K.

The star dropped into the RTE Studios in Dublin, Ireland, to talk about An Evening With Sir Roger Moore on The Late Late Show on Saturday.

Bond, James Bond: Sir Roger Moore, 89, looked every bit as suave as his one-time alter-ego when he turned up at the RTE Studios in Dublin, Ireland, for The Late Late Show on Saturday

The ever-debonair actor looked elegant in a dark blue blazer, a crisp white shirt teamed with a red tie, grey trousers and black shoes.

Looking years younger than his age, he smoothed his now thinning hair back and smiled when he was greeted outside the studio by a host of fans.

Sir Roger happily stopped to sign autographs and pose for selfies.

A legend in his own lifetime: The TV and movie star was at the show to talk about An Evening With Sir Roger Moore, his new nine-date UK speaking tour, which kicks off on November 13

Quite the raconteur: Sir Roger will share anecdotes of his extraodinary career with his fans

Star treatment: He was greeted by fans outside the studio and happily posed for selfies

He was joined on the show by pop icon Robbie Williams who forged a successful solo career after splitting with Take That.

Sir Roger posted a selfie with him backstage on Twitter, saying: 'Very pleased to meet up with fellow @UNICEF ambassador @robbiewilliams. A good man.'

A famous raconteur, the Brit's nine-date tour kicks off at the Theatre Royal in Norwich on November 13 and wraps at the Royal Festival Hall in London on November 27.

Happy to share: Sir Roger also stopped to sign a slew of autographs

Elegantly attired: The ever-debonair actor donned a dark blue blazer, a crisp white shirt teamed with a red tie, plu grey trousers and black suede shoes

Gareth Owen, who worked with the legend on his autobiography My Word Is My Bond, Bond On Bond and The Last Man Standing, will interview him on stage.

Sir Roger will share inside stories and exclusive behind-the-scenes anecdotes from his internationally-renowned TV series, including The Saint and The Persuaders.

He will also dish about his move into Hollywood and the blockbuster 007 films, in which he starred as James Bond between 1973 and 1985.

Two good men: Sir Roger posted a selfie with him backstage on Twitter, saying: 'Very pleased to meet up with fellow @UNICEF ambassador @robbiewilliams. A good man.'
No matter what age, a mother's care is never-ending.

And only child Heidi Klum was proud to show off a hand knit scarf made by her mom when she arrived at JFK airport in a chic boho inspired ensemble on Saturday.

But the 43-year-old supermodel - who is known for her showstopping looks - turned heads as she flashed her bra in a plunging black top.

Boho babe! Heidi Klum donned a retro-inspired ensemble when she arrived at JFK airport on Saturday

The former Victoria's Secret Angel put her ample cleavage on display in the low-cut satin blouse.

She made sure to leave several buttons undone to give an eye-popping glimpse at her decolletage.

A pair of high-waisted light wash bell bottoms flaunted the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover model's lean limbs.

Eye-popping! The 43-year-old supermodel flashed her bra and some major cleavage in a plunging black top

Leggy blonde! The former Victoria's Secret Angel wore a pair of bell bottoms that showcased her lean limbs

Ensuring her best assets would not be overlooked, the beauty wore a long gold chain that draped in between her breasts.

Heidi looked ever the A-lister in a pair of red-framed shades and matching MCM Worldwide Milla Tote that retails for up to $1100.

She teamed the retro-inspired look with black suede wedge heels that added extra height to her already statuesque frame.

Red hot! The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover model looked ever the A-lister in a pair of crimson-framed shades and MCM Worldwide Milla Tote that retails for up to $1100

Ageless beauty! Heidi went fresh-faced and skipped the cosmetics, highlighting her youthful appearance

The genetically-gifted stunner even took to Instagram and shared a snapshot from inside the aircraft, showing off her pricey purse and hand-crafted scarf.

'In Love with my new @mcmworldwide bag... that goes perfect with the scarf my mom knitted for me,' the mother-of-four wrote alongside the photo with several heart emojis.

The German beauty also had some fun as she posted a cute kitten filter photo with the caption: 'Taking a cat-nap.'

Heidi had arrived back in New York City after making an appearance in Hollywood on Thursday night at the amfAR Inspiration Gala.

'In love': The German beauty took to Instagram and shared a snapshot from inside the aircraft, showing off her MCM Worldwide bag and hand-crafted scarf made by her mom Erna
She's more often that not pictured wearing a glamorous face of make-up.

But Lydia Bright, 26, swapped glossy lipstick for a purring pussy pout, as she posted a close-up selfie dressed as a black cat on Saturday night.

The TOWIE star wore a bright pair of cat's eye contact lenses and thick, black, winged eyeshadow which only enhanced the colour of her peepers.

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Cat's eyes: Lydia Bright, 26, swapped glossy lipstick for a purring pussy pout, as she posted a close-up selfie dressed as a black cat on Saturday night

She painted the tip of her nose black as well as her top lip, while her bottom lip was given a glittering gold sheen.

The reality star drew three dots on each cheek to signify whisker marks, and she wore a pair of black lace cat ears atop her head.

Lydia finished her feline fancy dress with a lavish black masquerade mask for a glamorous touch.

Business and pleasure: Lydia and her ex, James Argent, slept together during their work-related jaunt to Spain at the beginning of the month

She tucked her blonde locks behind her ears and let them cascade down her back, and she looked to be wearing a thick faux fur coat.

Keeping things simple with her captioning work, Lydia simply wrote 'Pussy pussy' alongside the image.

Lydia and her ex, James Argent, slept together during their work-related jaunt to Spain at the beginning of the month.

Previously, the reality star duo, who have played out much of their romance on-screen since TOWIE began in 2010, split in April after seven years of on-and-off dating.

Lydia ended things with her long-term boyfriend after he allegedly relapsed into his cocaine habit.

Her friend Danielle Armstrong told Lorraine Kelly just days after their recent night of passion: 'She doesn't want to hurt him. I don't think they'll get back together, but she still cares for him.'
Karen Hardy has been approached by bosses of Strictly Come Dancing about taking on the head judge role when Len Goodman leaves the show later this year.

The 46-year-old ballroom dancer - who was employed as a professional dancer on the programme from 2005 until 2008 - has admitted she'd waste no time signing the contract if the documents were to land in her email inbox in the near future.

She said: 'Let's just say, there's been rumblings going around. But let's just say, if an email comes in, I won't say no.' And the brunette beauty doesn't think she'll have any trouble settling in as she really enjoys working alongside the other female panellist Darcey Bussell.

Having a ball! Karen Hardy danced with cricketer Mark Ramprakash on the show in 2006

She said: 'I love Darcey, I love them all. I've been a judge for 15 years so it's not something I'd be in fear of. I'm told everyone loves me and I didn't realise it until recently.

'Let's just keep our fingers crossed. See what the Gods have in store for me ... I keep trying to walk away but somehow they keep bringing me back. I've been on there since series three now and I was speaking with Brendan Cole on set yesterday and he said, "My God Karen we've been on his show a long time" and we love it.

'I don't want to call me an oldie but they love the oldies. I've shared a lot of knowledge over the years.'

A BBC spokesman said: 'It is far too early to speculate about any future judges on the show. We are currently concentrating on making Len's last series the best yet.'

Karen will certainly have a lot of experience ahead of her possible new head judge role as bosses have asked her to join the panel for the live Strictly Come Dancing Live! tour next year alongside Len and Craig Revel Horwood.

One his way: Len Goodman will be leaving at the end of the series

She explained: 'It was a bit of a shock, the email came in. The tour doesn't start until the end of January. The celebrities won't be announced until nearer the time.

'I'm the new judge with Len and Craig on the tour and then they'll be announcing the lovely celebrities as the weeks go along.

'It'll be exciting and, for me, I know there are 12 million people out there watching Strictly.

'I can't wait. I'm not going to lie to you but I'm still in shock. Basically the email came in, I looked at the screen and then I looked away at my work and I sort of double took. I just thought, "Oh you're joking?" and then I ran into my room and jumped on the bed - I literally did that. I must confess. I never saw that coming.'

MailOnline has contacted Karen's representatives for further comment.
The Bachelorette has revealed significant flaws in Australia's domestic airport security.

Newly crowned couple Georgia Love, 28, and Lee Elliott, 35, have revealed that to keep their relationship secret before the show's finale last week they boarded domestic flights using false names.

And according to the happy couple it wasn't too hard to fool airport security.

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Newly crowned couple Georgia Love, 28, (pictured) and Lee Elliott, 35, revealed that to keep their relationship secret before the show's finale last week they boarded domestic flights using false names

Finale: Georgia Love revealed she had fallen in love with Lee Elliott as she picked him as her final rose receiver in a dramatic Bachelorette finale that left Matty Johnson heartbroken

In love: During the ceremony, the 28-year-old confessed: 'Everything has led me to this moment. I'm absolutely in love with Lee. He makes me feel special'

Lee used the name Michael Cameron, while Georgia claimed she flew as the popular character from the film Titanic - Rose DeWitt - played by Kate Winslet, according to The Daily Telegraph.

The 35-year-old plumber for Melbourne revealed the secret is not checking in luggage.

'As long as you don't check any luggage in, you're fine. You check in online,' Lee said.

While the unwitting breach of airport security was harmless, using false names in most domestic airports is a federal crime and is punishable with a one year prison sentence.

Head over heels: As she held hands with the hunk, Georgia went on to confess: ' There's always been something in my life that's just not quite there..and that's love'

Despite the large extent producers go to conjure smoke and mirrors, Georgia revealed she didn't even fancy Lee's false name.

'We had to fly under fake names,' Georgia said, which is usually organised for cast members by production staff, according to the publication.

'His fake name for the first flight was Michael Cameron, so that's his fake name in my phone. It's not even, like, a cute nickname,' Georgia added.

It seems using fake names to fool media is a relatively new trick, with a former bachelor and bachelorette confirming they did not use this sleight -of-hand.

'We did have challenges with the paparazzi, because we were informed they have relationships with employees of airlines and they pay them off if names come up on their system,' a previous Bachelor told the publication.

The secrets about the shows are coming to light after last Thursday, Georgia Love revealed she had fallen in love with Lee Elliott as she picked him as her final rose receiver in a dramatic Bachelorette finale, which left Matty Johnson heartbroken.

During the emotional ceremony, which was filmed in Singapore, the 28-year-old confessed: 'Everything has led me to this moment. I'm absolutely in love with Lee. He makes me feel special.'

Looking into the future: She continued to say, 'I have fallen so madly in love with you,' as she went in for a kiss

'He's fun, he makes me excited for the future and he makes me laugh more than anyone ever has. When Lee told me he loved me...that was the happiest moment of my life,' she continued.

As she held hands with the hunk, Georgia went on to confess: ' There's always been something in my life that's just not quite there..and that's love.

'I've wanted to find someone to complete me. I've been looking for that unique story and that unique someone,' she continued.

'You make me laugh and you make me happy and you make me excited for the future. And you make me want to take on anything and everything. I have fallen so madly in love with you.'

Earlier in the episode, Lee told Georgia he had fallen in love with her as they enjoyed their final filmed single date.

While enjoying a night swim, he said: 'This moment couldn't possibly be any more perfect...There's been something I've wanted to tell you all day.

Heart broken: The news of Georgia being in love with Lee broke the heart of runner-up, Matty Johnson

'You know, I have so fallen in love with you. I don't want to go home without you. I no longer can see a future without you,' he concluded before Georgia pulled him closer to share a passionate kiss.

The night earlier, he admitted to Georgia he could 'see a future' with her after the show.

During Wednesday's episode, Lee revealed: 'I can honestly see a future together. That in the past perhaps used to scare me, but now I couldn't be more excited about thinking about it.'

How he feels: Earlier in the episode, Lee told Georgia he had fallen in love with her

Letting it out: While enjoying a night swim, he said: 'There's been something I've wanted to tell you all day. I have fallen in love with you. I don't want to go home without you'

He also told her: 'Our connection is far deeper, I feel, you know, and far more real than just living in the same state together,' he continued.

'I love thinking we we could start a life together in Melbourne and end up...wherever.'

In his piece to camera, he admitted: 'The feelings I have for Georgia are.. You know, I was going to say I have not felt in a long time, but to be honest, I've not felt ever before.'

Looking forward: The night earlier, he admitted to Georgia he could 'see a future' with her after the show

In touch: In his piece to camera, he admitted: 'The feelings I have for Georgia are.. You know, I was going to say I have not felt in a long time, but to be honest, I've not felt ever before'

But while Georgia fell head over heels for Lee, her sister wasn't too impressed by the lad after they met during the finale in Singapore.

During the grand finale, Katie confessed: 'The vibe that I did get from him was he's very smooth. I get the impression he's saying the right things.

'He knows that he's saying the right things. Saying the things that he thinks we want to hear,saying the right things for this type of situation.

'I think she might be getting a bit swept up with Lee. I think I have been able to call a bad egg out in the past. I don't want to see her getting swept up and then let down again,' she continued.

Not happy: During the grand finale, Georgia's sister Katie confessed: 'The vibe that I did get from him was he's very smooth. I get the impression he's saying the right things'
They met in early 2010 and married a year later, welcoming their daughter India in 2012 and twin sons Tristan and Sasha in 2015.

But Thor actor Chris Hemsworth is yet to deliver on his promise of learning Spanish for his wife Elsa Pataky - which he made almost six years ago.

Instead, the accomplished multi-lingual actress told The Herald Sun that her husband uses her to translate when she speaks her native tongue to their children.

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'No you learn Spanish and then you will know what she said': Elsa Pataky reveals Thor actor Chris Hemsworth is yet to deliver on his promise to learn her native tongue, Spanish

'I'm pushing and pushing all the time and I try to speak to the kids and when he is not understanding he starts trying to make an effort.

'The kids say some words in Spanish, sometimes he has to say to me, "What did she say?" and I say, "No, you learn Spanish and then you will know what she said".'

The 40-year-old, who is fluent in five languages, joked that she thinks promising to learn Spanish was a way her husband could win her over when they first met.

'He promised me when we met he would do it and now we are together a long time it is like, 'You promised so you could get me in your pocket right?',' she said.

'He promised me when we met': The 40-year-old revealed that Chris promised to learn her native tongue almost six years ago and says he often asks her to translate

'You promised so you could get me in your pocket right?': Elsa joked that her husband of six years, who she shares three children with, used the promise to win her over

Despite the hiccup, Elsa has proven to be more in love with Chris than ever after the couple faced backlash from Woman's Day magazine about a rumoured split.

Taking to Instagram, both Elsa and Chris put on a united front poking fun at the magazine and showing that their love for one another is stronger than ever.

Chris posted a picture recently and wrote: 'Looking for a new wife according to @womansdayaus and other misleading outlets!

'Looking for a new wife': Despite the hiccup, Elsa has proven to be more in love with Chris than ever after the couple faced backlash from Woman's Day magazine about a rumoured split

'Always and forever': In a post of the pair lounging at home with their dog Elsa too boasted their commitment to one another on Instagram

'Honey you still love me right?! @elsapatakyconfidential,' he said, adding the hash tag, 'thanksfortheheadsup'.

In a post of the pair lounging at home with their dog, Elsa wrote, 'Ahora y siempre!,' which translates to 'Now and Always'.

She also added: 'Always and forever! @chrishemsworth'

She told the newspaper, that the thing she loves most about Chris is 'what an amazing dad he is' and 'how much he loves playing with them'.

'What an amazing dad he is': Elsa gushed about how great Chris is as a dad to their three children, daughter India and twin sons Tristan and Sasha

'He loves playing with them': She went on to say that he loves being a hands on father and is often seen enjoying time with them playing and spending quality time together

The pair who live in a $7.2 million luxury home in Byron Bay say that family is extremely important to both of them.

They added that Byron makes for the perfect location for their family because of how 'close knit' their community is.

Chris has been filming the third Thor film, Ragnarok, on the Gold Coast, which recently finished shooting, and is ready to spend time with his family.

The newest addition to the Thor series is set to release in the U.S. in November next year.
Johnson, Stein, McMullin: the other White House hopefuls

In a White House race featuring the two most unpopular major party candidates in modern US history, a trio of fringe candidates -- all polling in the single digits -- will also feature on the ballot.

Here are short profiles of the three contenders who will challenge Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton for the presidency on November 8.

- Johnson: the libertarian -

Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson speaks to supporters at a rally on September 10, 2016 in New York Bryan R. Smith (AFP/File)

Gary Johnson's longshot bid for the White House might be defined by his "Aleppo moment."

As late as August, the Libertarian candidate was polling a respectable nine percent.

But the former New Mexico governor was stumped when asked on air last month how he would address the humanitarian crisis in Syria's besieged city of Aleppo.

"And what is Aleppo," he asked, prompting his shocked interviewer to respond, "You're kidding."

It was a black eye for his campaign.

Johnson suffered another setback a few weeks later when he was unable to name a foreign leader he admires. He called the brain freeze "an Aleppo moment."

The 63-year-old is running on a platform of small government, tax cuts, balancing the federal budget and reducing military intervention abroad, paired with a liberal outlook on social issues.

Johnson is open about being a marijuana user and a proponent of allowing states to decide for themselves whether to legalize medical and recreational marijuana.

"As president, I will not indulge in anything," Johnson told the New Yorker magazine. "I don't think you want somebody answering the phone at two o'clock in the morning -- that red phone -- drunk, either. Better on the stoned side, but I don't want to make that judgment."

Johnson ran for president in 2012, initially as a Republican before joining the Libertarian Party and becoming the party's nominee. He finished with about 1.3 million votes -- the strongest-ever result for the Libertarians.

He currently has about six percent support, according to the RealClearPolitics average of national polls.

But Johnson sees presidential politics as a long game.

"It's similar to the legalization of marijuana," he told the New Yorker.

"For those who wanted to implement the death penalty for marijuana, they don't go from death penalty to legalizing. They go from death penalty to 'OK, let's forget about the death penalty.' So you move the needle. And right now we're moving the needle."

- Stein: the green warrior -

A medical doctor who spent most of her career fighting for environmental causes, the Green Party's Jill Stein is offering another option to voters disdainful of both main-party candidates -- but one which few Americans are buying.

Stein has never held state or national office, but that hasn't stopped her from carrying forward with a boldly progressive platform.

"In this election, we are deciding not just what kind of a world we want, but whether we will have a world at all," the 66-year-old environmentalist said in a recent Fortune magazine commentary.

Stein, who also ran in 2012, stands no chance of winning, with only two percent of the likely vote, according to the RealClearPolitics national polling average.

Those numbers come on the back of a campaign that has garnered relatively limited media attention, in an election dominated by the bitter Trump-Clinton showdown.

Stein and her running mate, human rights activist Ajamu Baraka, are calling for "a WWII-scale national mobilization to halt climate change," with the aim of transitioning to 100 percent clean, renewable energy by 2030.

She has also promised to cut military spending in half, create a living-wage job for every American and eliminate student debt.

Stein had hoped to capitalize on disenchanted millennials who supported Bernie Sanders' run for the Democratic nomination, but has been largely unable to draw anything close to the Vermont senator's massive crowds.

The one time Stein's campaign made waves nationally was in early September when criminal charges were filed against her for allegedly spray-painting a bulldozer in North Dakota during a protest against an oil pipeline opposed by Native Americans.

The Chicago-born, Harvard-educated physician has also taken heat for implying that she sympathizes with Americans who question the merits of vaccinations.

- McMullin: the policy wonk -

Evan McMullin, a former Republican policy wonk in the House of Representatives, was little known when he jumped into the White House race in August.

But the 40-year-old Mormon has gained traction in his native Utah and beyond as an independent touting a "new conservative movement" among voters unhappy with both mainstream candidates.

"It's never too late to do the right thing, and America deserves much better than either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton can offer us," the former CIA counterterrorism operative said in announcing his candidacy.

"I humbly offer myself as a leader who can give millions of disaffected Americans a better choice for president."

McMullin presents a serious challenge to Trump in Utah, a traditional Republican bastion where the party nominee has faltered badly among the Mormon faithful who make up 60 percent of the state population.

If he wins in Utah, it would be the first time since 1964 that a Republican loses the staunchly conservative state.

McMullin also stands to make history as the first third-party candidate to win a state since segregationist George Wallace in 1968.

The former Goldman Sachs investment banker resigned from his job in Congress to run in a campaign backed by Better for America, a nonprofit organization supporting rivals to Trump and Clinton.

McMullin is on the ballot in Utah and 10 other states, including neighboring Idaho, Colorado and New Mexico, and is a write-in candidate in many states.

Trump supporters have labelled him a "Mormon Mafia Tool" but McMullin pushed right back this week, tweeting: "The strength of @TeamMcMullin is that we're the #MormonMafia...& the Jewish, Catholic, Evangelical, Hindu, Muslim, or no Mafia Mafias!"

Green Party candidate Jill Stein waves a peace sign after discussing her active arrest warrant in North Dakota at a rally on September 8, 2016 in Chicago, Illinois VNEWS International LLC (AFP/File)
Lebanon to elect president but divisions run deep

Lebanon's parliament is set to end more than two years of stalemate on Monday by electing ex-general Michel Aoun as president, but the vote is unlikely to heal deep political divisions.

Aoun, a Christian former army chief, is allied with the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah movement whose forces are fighting in Syria alongside President Bashar al-Assad's government.

But his election has been made possible by the surprise endorsement of former prime minister Saad Hariri, a fierce opponent of Syria's government and head of a bloc that is Hezbollah's key rival and has received regional support from Saudi Arabia.

Lebanese presidential candidate Michel Aoun, a Christian former army chief, is allied with the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah movement Joseph Eid (AFP)

So, while a deal has been made on the country's next president, analysts say Lebanon's key political blocs still disagree on almost everything else.

Aoun is expected to nominate Hariri to return as prime minister, but with little consensus in the political landscape, the process of forming a government is likely to be long and arduous.

"Aoun's election is not a magic wand," said Sahar Atrache, a researcher at the International Crisis Group think tank.

"Certainly the presidential vacancy will end, but it doesn't solve the political crisis, or the stagnant political institutions or the major divisions over domestic and foreign issues, particularly the war in Syria," she told AFP.

- 'No common ground' -

Under a power-sharing agreement, Lebanon's presidency is reserved for a Maronite Christian while the prime minister is a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of parliament is a Shiite Muslim.

The presidency has been vacant since May 2014 when Michel Sleiman's mandate expired.

Since then, parliament has held 45 failed sessions to elect a successor, each time failing to make quorum.

Each session was boycotted by the 20 members of Aoun's parliamentary bloc who insisted he be elected, with Hezbollah also keeping its 13 members away as a show of support.

Monday's session is expected to involve two votes, with Aoun unlikely to win the two-thirds majority necessary to avoid a second round.

The additional round only requires him to win a 50 percent plus one majority, which now looks assured.

The vote is set to end a void that has been seen as a reflection of a broader malaise: a divided polity with government institutions that have been impotent in the face of challenges including a garbage collection crisis.

The economy meanwhile has struggled with regional and domestic instability and already strained resources have been tested by an influx of more than a million Syrian refugees.

"Given what we know from history and the profiles of the personalities that have come together and the overall political climate, nothing guarantees any progress from filling the vacancy," said Carol Sharabati, a political science professor at the Jesuit University in Beirut.

"We're looking at an alliance of interest, in which each party has their demands. Aoun wants the presidency at any cost, and Hariri wants to rebuild his crumbling political bloc," added Sharabati.

"Will the personal agendas of each party allow them to build a common, long-term strategy, given that their alliance is not formed on common ground?"

- 'Can't expect miracles' -

Atrache said the agreement could not be described as a "political alliance," and said it would "prove difficult to maintain because they don't agree on how to share power."

The track record of recent years does not bode well: the last government led by Hariri, between 2009 and 2011, was hamstrung by tensions with Hezbollah's bloc which eventually brought it down.

And after going into self-imposed exile, Hariri's influence has waned domestically even as his personal finances have taken a hit because key backer Saudi Arabia is no longer willing to pump aid into Lebanon to shore up its influence.

Last time Hariri formed a government, it took five months, and the incumbent, Tamam Salam, spent 10 months crafting a national unity cabinet, which has nonetheless proved largely impotent.

"We can't rule out the possibility that we'll have a president, a prime minister without a government and a suspended parliament" until the next legislative election, Sharabati said.

Parliament has twice extended its mandate without holding elections because of disagreements over a new electoral law, with the next vote scheduled for mid-2017.

Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, who opposes Aoun's election, has already said he expects the formation of a new government to take five to six months.

But even if a government is formed, it will be full of "contradictions, and the question is whether it will be able, even partially, to restore institutions and put them back on track," said Atrache.

"We can't expect miracles."

Lebanese presidential candidate Michel Aoun (poster) is expected to nominate former prime minister Saad Hariri to return in the post Joseph Eid (AFP)
Raids, protests pressure S. Korea's scandal-hit president

Pressure mounted Saturday on beleaguered South Korean President Park Geun-Hye over a personal and political scandal, as prosecutors raided the homes of senior aides and thousands joined a protest in central Seoul demanding her resignation.

With just over a year left to run, Park's presidency has suddenly unravelled over shocking revelations of how she allowed a close personal friend, with no official position, to meddle in affairs of state.

Over the past week, the media has been full of increasingly sensational reports regarding Choi Soon-Sil, the 60-year-old daughter of a shadowy religious leader and one-time Park mentor.

A protester holds a placard showing portraits of South Korean President Park Geun-Hye and her confidante Choi Soon-Sil (L) during a rally in Seoul, on October 27, 2016 Jung Yeon-Je (AFP/File)

Invoking a lurid back-story of religious cults, shamanist rituals and corruption, the reports have portrayed Choi as a Rasputin-like figure whose influence over Park extended to vetting her presidential speeches and advising on key appointments and policy issues.

On Saturday morning, prosecutors confiscated computers and documents from the homes of a top presidential adviser and two other aides as well as a deputy culture minister, Yonhap news agency said.

The raids came hours before thousands took to the streets of central Seoul in a candle-lit rally, denouncing Choi as a dangerous charlatan and calling on Park to step down.

Teenagers in school uniforms, college students, labour activists, and middle-aged couples with young children joined the rally, carrying banners and chanting "step down Park Geun-Hye".

- Public anger -

"I came here today to show how angry I am," said Lee Ji-Hu, a 33-year-old housewife from Gimpo, northwest of Seoul, accompanied by her husband and two infant children in strollers.

"How can a leader have a shaman, or someone linked to a religious cult as a secret advisor and let her handle state affairs and squander taxpayers' money like that?" Lee said.

"I feel so ashamed ... I can't let our country where my children will live be corrupted like this," she added.

Police put the crowd at around 8,000, while organisers said 20,000 people turned out. Similar protests also took place in several provincial cities, including the country's second largest city, Busan.

Choi is being formally investigated for using her ties to Park to strong-arm major conglomerates into donating funds to two non-profit foundations she set up.

But the real focus of public anger has been the extent to which Park -- the daughter of South Korea's late military leader Park Chung-Hee -- apparently allowed herself to be controlled by such a cult-like figure.

The head of the main opposition Minjoo Party said it was like discovering you were being ruled by a "terrifying theocracy".

- Lurid past -

Choi is the daughter of the late Choi Tae-Min, who married six times, had multiple pseudonyms and set up his own religious group known as the Church of Eternal Life.

Choi Tae-Min first befriended a traumatised Park after the 1974 assassination of her mother, who he said had appeared to him in a dream, asking him to help her daughter.

Park Geun-Hye subsequently formed a close bond with Choi Soon-Sil that endured after Choi Tae-Min's death in 1994.

Choi Soon-Sil's ex-husband served as a top aide to Park until her presidential election victory in 2012.

Choi left the country for Germany in early September as reports of her alleged influence-peddling began to emerge.

Her lawyer has said she is well aware of the gravity of the situation and was willing to return home "to be punished if she did anything wrong".

Prosecutors have detained two people close to Choi for questioning, including one who told reporters that Choi had been behaving as Park's de-facto regent.
A late October surprise wallops Team Clinton

A political earthquake triggered by a fresh FBI email probe rocked Hillary Clinton and her White House campaign, but they weren't even on the ground to feel it hit.

Clinton and her team were on her plane, gliding toward the next campaign rally -- and a likely election victory on November 8 -- oblivious to the shockwaves convulsing the political world below.

The impeccably qualified candidate appeared to be in prime position against Donald Trump, the rabble-rousing Republican firebrand whose self-destructive streak was sending his own campaign into a spiral.

When a political earthquake triggered by a fresh FBI email probe hit, Hillary Clinton and her team were on her plane, oblivious to the political shockwaves below Jewel Samad (AFP)

The Democratic frontrunner's team sounded downright chipper as they began the morning by revealing their confident strategy to push into Republican-leaning Arizona next week as the former secretary of state seeks to deny her billionaire rival any breathing room just 11 days before Election Day.

Voter "complacency" was the biggest enemy, campaign manager Robby Mook told reporters on Clinton's jet.

But as Clinton flew to Iowa, another state where Trump had been leading before polls tightened dramatically, it was revealed that the FBI was taking a fresh look at newly discovered emails related to Clinton's use of a private server.

The revelations spread like wildfire, but not to Clinton's plane, where poor wifi connectivity kept nearly everyone in the dark as Mook and communications director Jennifer Palmieri presided in a press gaggle.

Moments later, when a reporter read a tweet about the Federal Bureau of Investigation revisiting Clinton's emails and asked a Clinton aide for a reaction, he appeared caught unaware and hustled to the front of the aircraft.

A tumultuous campaign day ensued, with Clinton's Arizona ploy all but forgotten as advisors scrambled into damage control mode.

- Radio silence -

Campaign chairman John Podesta issued a terse statement demanding that FBI director James Comey "immediately" provide more information after he wrote lawmakers announcing that the bureau would review the new-found emails.

But from the front of the plane: radio silence.

When Clinton disembarked in Cedar Rapids, delayed somewhat due to an onboard photo shoot by legendary photographer Annie Leibovitz, she waved and smiled but ignored reporters' shouted questions.

She also made no mention of the controversy at her two rallies in Iowa.

By late afternoon, with the FBI probe dominating the news cycle and Trump branding it "the biggest political scandal since Watergate," Clinton felt the need to get her own voice into the story.

After her rally at a Des Moines high school, reporters were hustled into a small gymnasium where a podium with a blue "Stronger Together" sign stood in front of six American flags.

Clinton strode in and offered a defiant statement.

"The American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately," she said. "We are calling on the FBI to release all the information that it has."

Clinton said she learned about the FBI letter as reporters did, when it was released by Republican lawmakers.

"I'm confident whatever they are will not change the conclusion reached in July," she said of the emails.

But the issue is surely uncomfortable.

According to the New York Times, the newly discovered mails emerged after agents seized electronic devices used by Clinton's closest aide, Huma Abedin, and Abedin's husband Anthony Weiner.

Weiner, a former congressman who resigned in 2011 after he was exposed for sending explicit online messages, is under investigation over allegations that he sent sexual messages to an underage girl.

After the Des Moines rally, Abedin was seen talking on the telephone outside the venue, but she did not speak with reporters.

Voters at her rallies appeared nonplussed.

"I don't think it'll end up making any difference. It isn't a bombshell to me," insisted Megan Claypool, 44, an attorney from Des Moines who attended Clinton's rally here.

"If you look at the facts of what's in the letter... it's not saying that secretary Clinton did anything wrong," Claypool added.

Comey's letter to lawmakers said the FBI "can not yet assess whether or not this material may be significant."

Hillary Clinton made no mention of the fresh FBI email probe at her two rallies in Iowa and only after a rally in a Des Moines did Clinton offer a defiant statement Jewel Samad (AFP)
Pressure on Myanmar over Rakhine abuses

Allegations that Myanmar soldiers are killing, raping and torturing villagers in Rakhine, a restive region that is home to the persecuted Muslim Rohingya, must be independently investigated, rights groups said.

Northern Rakhine has been under a military lockdown since an attack on border guards three weeks ago left nine policeman dead.

The government has blamed the raids on Rohingya militants and a search for the culprits has seen more than 30 people killed and dozens arrested, according to official reports.

An armed Myanmar border guard patrols the border fence along the river dividing Myanmar and Bangladesh, near Maungdaw, Rakhine state, on October 15, 2016 Ye Aung Thu (AFP/File)

Stories of grave abuse by security officers -- including sexual violence, summary executions and the torching of villages -- have spiralled on social media but are difficult to verify with the army barring rights groups and journalists from the remote region bordering Bangladesh.

On Friday Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch joined calls for an impartial investigation into the allegations, which the UN has called "alarming and unacceptable".

"If Myanmar's security forces are not involved in any human rights violations as the authorities claim, then they should have no trouble granting independent observers access," said Rafendi Djamin, Amnesty's Southeast Asia and Pacific director.

Writing on Facebook Friday, government spokesman Zaw Htay dismissed an article in the Myanmar Times that described reports of a "mass rape" in a Rohingya village on October 19.

"There was information that some attackers were kept in that village. So security was taken very seriously and (the search team) was very careful about being safe and would not think to rape up to 5 women," he wrote.

The government says the October 9 border raids were carried out by hundreds of Rohingya fighters linked to Taliban-trained Islamists.

If true, it would mark a troubling development in a religiously-split region where the stateless Rohingya have languished under years of repression but so far shown little interest in jihadist ideology.

Rakhine has sizzled with tension ever since waves of communal violence in 2012 killed more than 100 and pushed tens of thousands of people, mostly Rohingya, into destitute displacement camps.

Many in Buddhist-majority Myanmar insist the Rohingya are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and viscerally oppose any moves to grant them citizenship.

The recent upsurge in violence deepens and complicates a conflict that already posed a top challenge to a new civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, who has disappointed rights groups by not coming out in stronger support of the Rohingya.

Residents displaced by conflict flee from Maungdaw in western Myanmar's Rakhine state, on October 13, 2016 - (AFP/File)
Iraq forces say gaining ground around Mosul

Iraqi forces said Sunday that they recaptured a series of villages surrounding jihadist-held Mosul as the operation to retake the city from the Islamic State group neared its third week.

Tens of thousands of Iraqi troops and Kurdish peshmerga fighters have been advancing on Mosul from the north, east and south after the launch on October 17 of a vast offensive to retake IS's last stronghold in the country.

After standing largely on the sidelines in the first days of the assault, forces from the Hashed al-Shaabi -- a paramilitary umbrella organisation dominated by Iran-backed Shiite militias -- began a push on Saturday towards the west of Mosul.

An Iraqi forces tank advances towards the village of Salmani, south of Mosul, on October 30, 2016 during the ongoing battle against the Islamic State to liberate the city of Mosul Ahmad al-Rubaye (AFP)

The ultimate aim is the recapture of Tal Afar, a town west of the city, and the severing of jihadist supply lines between Mosul and Syria.

In a series of statements on Sunday, the Hashed's media office announced it had retaken at least four villages southwest of Mosul.

Al-Imraini, one of the recaptured villages, is 45 kilometres (27 miles) from Tal Afar, according to the media office.

The drive toward Tal Afar could bring the fighting perilously close to the ancient city of Hatra, a UNESCO world heritage site, and the ruins of Nimrud -- two archaeological sites that have previously been vandalised by IS.

Forces from Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region also announced gains on Sunday, saying that they had recaptured six villages north and east of Mosul.

- Concerns over militias -

Kurdish units are effectively operating on the opposite side of Mosul from the Shiite militiamen, with whom relations are tense.

The involvement of Shiite militias in the Mosul operation has been a source of contention, though the Hashed's top commanders insist they do not plan to enter the largely Sunni city.

Iraqi Kurds and Sunni Arab politicians have opposed their involvement, as has Turkey which has a military presence east of Mosul despite repeated demands by Baghdad for the forces to be withdrawn.

Relations between the Hashed and the US-led coalition fighting IS are also tense, but the paramilitaries enjoy widespread support among members of Iraq's Shiite majority.

The Hashed has been a key force in Iraq's campaign to retake areas seized by IS in mid-2014, when the jihadists took control of large parts of Syria and Iraq and declared a cross-border "caliphate".

But the paramilitaries have been repeatedly accused of human rights violations during the war against IS, including summary killings, kidnappings and destruction of property.

Tal Afar was a Shiite-majority town of mostly ethnic Turkmens before the Sunni extremists of IS overran it in 2014, and its recapture is a main goal of Shiite militia forces.

In Qaraqosh, a Christian town east of Mosul that was recaptured from IS a few days before, a handful of the faithful gathered in a burnt out church on Sunday for the first mass held there in two years.

The bell tower was damaged, statues decapitated and missals strewn across the nave floor, which is still covered in soot from the fire the jihadists lit when they retreated.

- First mass after exile -

But some of the crosses have already been replaced and a new icon was laid on the main altar, where armed Christian militiamen took turns to light candles.

"After two years and three months in exile, I just celebrated the Eucharist in the cathedral of the Immaculate Conception the Islamic State wanted to destroy," said Yohanna Petros Mouche, the Syriac Catholic Archbishop of Mosul who led the mass.

The US-led coalition -- which has been assisting federal forces and Kurdish peshmerga with air strikes, training and advisers for two years -- said Friday that Iraqi forces were observing a pause in the two-week-old offensive.

In Bartalla, a Christian town just east of Mosul, army and counter-terrorism forces were consolidating their positions, unloading cases of weapons from trucks and organising ammunition stocks.

More than 17,600 people have fled their homes toward government-held areas since the Mosul operation began, the International Organization for Migration said on Sunday.

Numbers are expected to soar as Iraqi forces close in on the city, which is home to more than a million people.

The UN says there have been credible reports of IS carrying out mass executions in the city and seizing tens of thousands of people for use as human shields.

It cited reports indicating IS has forcibly taken civilians into Mosul, killing those who resist or who were previously members of Iraqi security forces.

It said more than 250 people were executed in just two days earlier this week.

Map of the region around Mosul with the latest military developments as of October 30, 2016 Paz Pizarro, Thomas Saint-Cricq, Iris Royer de Vericourt (AFP)

Iraqi families displaced by the ongoing operation to retake the city of Mosul, travel between Makhmour and Qayyarah on October 29, 2016 Bulent Kilic (AFP/File)

The refugees fleeing Mosul Kun Tian, Thomas Saint-Cricq (AFP)

An Iraqi Christian forces member lights a candle at the Church of the Immaculate Conception on October 30, 2016 in the town of Qaraqosh, 30 kms east of Mosul, after Iraqi forces recaptured it from the Islamic State Safin Hamed (AFP)
Chinese vessels leave disputed shoal: Philippine official

Chinese vessels have left the contested Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, a Philippine official said Saturday, less than a week after President Rodrigo Duterte visited Beijing pledging closer ties.

The firebrand leader used the trip to vaunt his move away from traditional ally the United States in favour of Beijing -- which was previously at loggerheads with Manila over the maritime dispute.

China took control of the Scarborough Shoal, 230 kilometres (140 miles) from the main Philippine island of Luzon, in 2012, driving Filipino fishermen away from the rich fishing ground, sometimes using water cannons.

Disputed claims in the South China Sea Adrian LEUNG, Gal ROMA (AFP)

In a case brought by former president Benigno Aquino, the Philippines won a resounding victory at an international tribunal earlier this year over Beijing's extensive maritime claims in the area, infuriating the Asian giant.

But Duterte has made a point of not flaunting the ruling and President Xi Jingping told the Philippine leader on his recent visit that there was no reason for hostility and difficult topics of discussion "could be shelved temporarily".

"There is no sign of Chinese coastguard vessels in the area. While we do not have any official explanation for this, it sends a positive signal regarding relations," Duterte's spokesman Ernesto Abella told AFP Saturday, referring to the shoal.

"This is a welcome development especially for Filipino fisherfolk."

Duterte had hinted at the possibility of a Chinese withdrawal directly upon his return from Beijing last week, saying: "We'll just wait for a few more days. We might be able to return to Scarborough Shoal."

On Friday, Defence Minister Delfin Lorenzana said: "If the Chinese ships have left then it means our fishermen can resume fishing in the area."

However the foreign affairs department said they had yet to verify that Chinese vessels had left the shoal.
Two suicide bombers kill nine in NE Nigeria: emergency services

Two suicide bombings rocked Nigeria's northeast city of Maiduguri on Saturday, killing at least nine people and injuring scores of others, emergency services said.

One explosion happened outside a gas station, while the other was near the Bakassi camp for internally displaced persons (IDP), underscoring the continued threat from Boko Haram jihadists who are suspected of being behind the attacks.

"Two suicide bombers riding in motorised rickshaws this morning detonated their explosives 10 minutes apart, with one of them targeting the Bakassi IDP camp on the outskirts of the city," Mohammed Kanar, spokesman for Nigeria Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), said.

The city was also hit by a suicide bombing on October 12, 2016 where 8 people were killed and a dozen injured

"One of the bombers tried to enter the Bakassi IDP camp but the explosives detonated at the gates, killing four people," Kanar said.

"The explosives on the other one detonated minutes later as he rode with two other people towards the (Bakassi) IDP camp near the fuel depot."

Following the blast, one of the yellow rickshaws burst apart in half, while the ground was littered with metal shards.

"Nine persons lost their lives with twenty-four persons injured and evacuated to various hospitals," NEMA said in a statement posted on Twitter.

Boko Haram has devastated northeast Nigeria in its quest to create an Islamist state, killing over 20,000 people and displacing 2.6 million from their homes.

Since taking up arms against the Nigerian government in 2009, Boko Haram has disrupted trade routes and farms.

Now nearly 50,000 children are facing death by starvation if they dont get food and almost 250,000 more are severely malnourished in Borno state, according to UNICEF.

Nigeria is facing the worst humanitarian crisis on the African continent, Peter Lundberg, acting United Nations Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator, warned last week.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has led a successful offensive against the insurgents since coming into office last year, but Boko Haram is still capable of carrying out deadly attacks.

In October, Boko Haram attacked a town near Chibok, where in 2014 it kidnapped over 200 schoolgirls, drawing global attention to the insurgency.

Later this month, the jihadists claimed that they killed 20 soldiers in "fierce clashes" in the Ghashghar area of northeastern Nigeria.

The violence is spilling into neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, with Niger early in October declaring two days of national mourning after 22 soldiers were killed in an attack blamed on the jihadists against a camp sheltering almost 4,000 refugees.
Iraq says foiled IS attack on Ramadi

Iraqi officials said Saturday that the security forces foiled an attack by jihadists of the Islamic State group on the city of Ramadi, capital of the western province of Anbar.

The reported thwarted attack led to 11 arrests and comes after a string of diversionary attacks by the jihadists since the start two weeks ago of a massive offensive against IS bastion Mosul.

Iraqi forces "arrested 11 Daesh (IS) members who were planning to attack the city" from the suburb of Al-Tash, on the southern edge of Ramadi, said Captain Ahmed al-Dulaimi of the Anbar police.

Iraqi forces retook Ramadi from the IS group early this year Ahmad Al-Rubaye (AFP/File)

Iraqi forces retook Ramadi from IS early this year. Mine clearing and reconstruction efforts are under way but few civilians have returned.

Anbar provincial council member Raja al-Issawi said that the 11, arrested on Friday, had confessed to planning an attack on the city.

The loss of Mosul could spell the end of IS's days as a land-holding force in Iraq but observers warn the group's remnants could increasingly activate sleeper cells to carry out spectacular attacks in cities.

On October 21, sleeper cells joined up with militants who infiltrated Kurdish-controlled Kirkuk, sparking deadly clashes with security forces that lasted three days.
The battle for Mosul: What we know

Iraq launched a broad offensive to retake Mosul from the Islamic State group almost two weeks ago. Here is what we know so far about the country's biggest military operation in years:

Which Iraqi forces are involved?

Iraq's Counter-Terrorism Service and Rapid Response Division -- its two most elite special forces units -- are fighting alongside the army, federal and local police and Kurdish regional peshmerga forces.

The battle for Mosul

The Hashed al-Shaabi -- an umbrella organisation for pro-government paramilitary forces that is dominated by Iran-backed Shiite militias but also includes Sunni tribesmen -- largely remained on the sidelines in the early days of the operation but has now also entered the fight.

It is a heterogeneous coalition of sometimes-rival forces that have not all operated together before, but they have been tasked with fighting on different fronts, helping to minimise the potential for problems.

Where are they attacking?

The Mosul operation opened with attacks from the north, east and south, while the western approach to the city -- which is exposed to IS-held areas between it and Syria -- was left open.

Now, the Hashed al-Shaabi have launched an operation aiming to advance from south of Mosul toward the town of Tal Afar -- an IS stronghold located between the city and the Syrian border -- in an effort to cut jihadist supply lines.

How are the jihadists responding?

With brutality, as they have often done before.

The United Nations said it has received credible reports that IS executed more than 250 people in the Mosul area over two days earlier this week, and has also seized tens of thousands of people for use as human shields against advancing Iraqi forces.

The jihadists have repeatedly targeted attacking Iraqi troops with suicide car bombs, as well as employed artillery and small arms fire.

Outside of the Mosul area, IS has launched several diversionary attacks, including one in the Kurdish-held city of Kirkuk that left dozens dead. The jihadists also struck in Rutba in western Iraq, and the Sinjar area in the country's north.

There have been conflicting reports of IS movements during the battle, pointing to both withdrawals to neighbouring Syria and the deployment of reinforcements to Iraq.

The United States says the battle has taken a heavy toll on IS forces, with up to 900 killed in the first week and a half of the operation.

How are civilians affected?

As Iraqi forces approach, thousands of civilians have been fleeing IS-held areas to escape both jihadist rule and impending fighting.

The International Organisation for Migration said Saturday that 17,520 people have been displaced since the beginning of the operation, but that figure is expected to increase dramatically as Iraqi forces close in on Mosul.

According to the UN, up to a million people could be displaced by the battle for the city -- a major problem given that existing, under-construction and planned camps can only house around half that number.

Displacement is especially difficult for rural farming communities, whose wealth lies in fields and livestock that they cannot take to camps.

The situation for displaced Iraqis will get even more difficult as winter rains and colder weather set in.

Allied forces move closer to Mosul
Iran's Rouhani warns of 'terror' spreading to North Africa

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned against the threat of "terrorist governments" being established in North Africa as violence spreads from Syria and Iraq, as he met Saturday with EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini.

"The terrorist actions in Syria and Iraq are a serious threat to the world. If there is not a serious battle against terrorism in the region, we will see several terrorist governments and entities emerge in the North African region," said Rouhani, according to the presidency's website.

The Islamic State jihadist group has spread from its bases in Syria and Iraq to gain a significant foothold in Libya, and it has also carried out attacks in Algeria and Egypt.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (R) and EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini held talks on October 29, 2016

Mogherini also met with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif during her visit to Tehran for "high-level talks" on the Syria crisis.

The EU official, who was due to fly on to Iran's regional rival Saudi Arabia, was quoted by local media as saying the EU "needed the cooperation of Iran, a key power for solving the region's problems".

Rouhani called on the European Union to put pressure on regional powers to cut support to rebel groups in Syria.

Iran provides financial and military support to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and it accuses Saudi Arabia and Turkey of funding the rebel groups it is fighting.
Yemen's Hadi rejects UN peace plan amid deadly raids

Yemen's president rejected a UN peace proposal for his war-battered country, as air strikes by his Saudi-led coalition allies killed at least 47 rebels, inmates, and civilians.

Forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government have been locked since 2014 in deadly battles with Iran-backed Shiite Huthi rebels who overran the capital Sanaa late that year.

The conflict escalated in March 2015 when Saudi Arabia launched a military campaign to push back the rebels.

Yemen's President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi pictured in September at the United Nations Timothy A. Clary (AFP/File)

The war has left nearly 7,000 people dead, mostly civilians, according to the United Nations which had been struggling to convince the warring parties to implement a ceasefire and revive a stalled political process.

The latest peace proposal submitted by UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed was rejected by Hadi who even refused to receive it as he met the mediator in Riyadh.

While the government has shifted its temporary headquarters to second-city Aden, Hadi resides in Riyadh with most senior officials.

The contents of the roadmap which the envoy already presented to the rebels on Tuesday have not been made public.

But informed sources say it calls for agreement on naming a new vice president after the rebels withdraw from Sanaa and other cities and hand over heavy weapons to a third party.

Hadi would then transfer power to the vice president who would appoint a new prime minister to form a government in which the north and south of Yemen would have equal representation.

- 'Door to more suffering' -

A statement on the government's sabanew.net quoted Hadi as saying the roadmap "only opens a door towards more suffering and war and is not a map for peace".

It cited Hadi as saying the plan "rewards the putschists while punishing the Yemeni people and legitimacy".

It was unclear how Hadi's Arab backers would react to his refusal, especially after a key coalition member, the United Arab Emirates, hailed the proposal on Thursday as a "political solution for the Yemeni crisis".

Saudi Arabia has not commented on the UN envoy's latest proposal and the rebels have yet to respond.

Warring parties in Yemen are under mounting international pressure to end the conflict that has left the already-impoverished country grappling with increasing cases of malnutrition and a spread of disease.

The coalition, for its part, is under pressure over for the high civilian death toll from its bombing campaign.

On Saturday, four air strikes hit three residential buildings killing 17 people and wounding seven others in the battleground town of Salo, southeast of third-city Taez, according to rebel-controlled media.

A local Yemeni official loyal to the government said the coalition air strikes had hit three adjacent homes by mistake.

"All those in the houses were killed," he told AFP, adding that a child and seven women were among the dead.

Hours later, fresh air strikes on a rebel-held security building in Yemen's west killed at least 30 prisoners and insurgents, military officials said.

The two air strikes destroyed the building in Zaidia, north of the port city of Hodeidah.

The building houses a prison holding more than 40 inmates, most of them opponents of the Huthi rebels controlling the area, a military source close to the insurgents told AFP.

A number of rebels inside the building at the time were also killed in the attack, the source added.

Residents confirmed the attacks and medics gave the same toll without being able to immediately give a number for the wounded.

It was not yet clear why the coalition targeted the building holding anti-rebel inmates.

There was no immediate comment from the coalition on both attacks.

- Central bank bombing foiled -

Further south in second city Aden, the temporary seat of government, guards on Saturday thwarted a suicide attack on the central bank, opening fire on the bomber's vehicle and blowing it up before it reached the building, a security official said.

The bank has been based in Aden since Hadi last month ordered its relocation from Sanaa, accusing the rebels of running down Yemen's foreign reserves.

Five guards were wounded when the bomber's vehicle blew up around 30 metres (yards) from the bank building, the security official told AFP.

The bank's relocation has been a major blow to the rebels, forcing them to halt salary payments to state employees in the large areas of the country they control.

A UN report released in August found that the rebels and their allies were diverting about $100 million a month from the central bank, and that its foreign reserves had dwindled to $1.3 billion from about $4 billion in November 2014.

War-torn Yemen is grappling with increasing cases of malnutrition and a spread of disease Mohammed Huwais (AFP)
IS suicide bombing targeting Iraq Shiites kills four

A suicide bombing claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group targeted Shiite Muslims in the Iraqi capital on Saturday, killing at least four people, security and medical officials said.

The bomber targeted a tent in the Iskan area of western Baghdad where Shiites were distributing food and drinks to pilgrims making their way to the shrine city of Karbala, south of the capital.

The attack also wounded at least 16 people, officials said.

The bomber targeted a tent in the Iskan area of western Baghdad where Shiites were distributing food and drinks to pilgrims Sabah Arar (AFP)

IS issued a statement claiming the attack in which it boasted that the bomber had successfully passed security checkpoints to carry the attack.

The Sunni extremist group considers Shiites to be heretics and frequently targets them with bombings in Baghdad.

The latest attack comes as Iraqi forces close in on Mosul, the last IS-held city in the country, after regaining much of the territory that the jihadists had overran in 2014.
DR Congo activists arrested after anti-Kabila protest

A dozen activists who do not want President Joseph Kabila to remain in power in the Democratic Republic of Congo were arrested Saturday after a sit-in at the African Union headquarters in Kinshasa, an AFP journalist said.

The arrests were the latest sign of rising tensions in the vast central African nation, where the opposition does not want Kabila's grip on power to continue beyond the expiry of his term on December 20.

The arrests occurred despite repeated condemnations from human rights organisations in the fraught nation.

The arrests were the latest sign of rising tensions in the vast central African nation Eduardo Soteras (AFP)

"Arrests were made at the central station and the Bon Marche neighbourhood," police spokesman Ezekiel Mwana Mputu said, referring to the detention of the activists.

Some 30 activists affiliated to the Filimbi movement, whose name means "whistle" in Swahili, chanted slogans calling on Kabila to step down.

Police officers confiscated their banners as they gathered in front of the seat of the AU, braving pouring rain.

"We came to remind the AU that it holds great responsibility in the constitutional coup d'etat that was decided by the (participants in the) dialogue, with its full agreement," protest organiser Carbone Beni Wa Beya said.

"December 19 will be the last day of President Kabila's mandate, in accordance with the constitution," he added.

Shortly afterwards, the activist was detained.

The dissident was referring to an AU-facilitated "national dialogue", which last week reached a deal to keep Kabila in power until 2018 by postponing this year's vote.

The opposition rejected the deal, with the main dissident coalition -- "Rassemblement" (Gathering) -- branding the talks a ploy by Kabila to stay in power beyond the end of his term.
Egypt protests Islamic bloc leader's Sisi joke

Egypt on Saturday condemned the Saudi head of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation for mocking its President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in comments that provoked outrage among Egyptians.

OIC Secretary General Iyad Madani, a former Saudi minister, had mixed up Sisi's name with that of Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi.

"Mr President Beji Caid al-Sisi. Essebsi sorry. This is a big mistake. I'm sure your fridge has more than water, your excellency," he told the Tunisian leader at a conference.

President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah Al Sisi arrives to address the United Nations General Assembly on September 20, 2016 in New York City John Moore (Getty/AFP/File)

He was referring to widely derided comments made by Sisi this week in which he claimed that his fridge only had water in it for a decade.

Madani's remark was "a serious encroachment against a founding member state of the organisation and its political leadership," Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said in a statement.

"Such remarks do not conform with the responsibilities and the duties of the organisation's secretary general position, and fundamentally affect his ability to carry out his duties," he added in the statement in English.
US orders family of Istanbul consulate staff to leave

The United States ordered the relatives of staff members in its consulate in Istanbul to leave the country Saturday, warning that "extremist groups" are targeting American citizens for attack.

The order was announced in the second travel warning that the State Department issued for Americans in Turkey in less than a week, reflecting US concerns about "increased threats from terrorist groups."

The decision to evacuate the families of staff was made "based on security information indicating extremist groups are continuing aggressive efforts to attack US citizens in areas of Istanbul where they reside or frequent."

The order was announced in the second travel warning that the State Department issued for Americans in Turkey in only a week Bulent Kilic (AFP/File)

On Monday, the State Department had advised US citizens to "carefully consider the need to travel to Turkey at this time." There is also a long-standing warning against travel to the southeast of the country.

"Foreign and US tourists have been explicitly targeted by international and indigenous terrorist organizations in Turkey," both recent travel warnings said.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government has placed Turkey under a state of emergency in the wake on a July 15 coup attempt by disaffected military officers that triggered a crackdown on suspected dissidents.

Even before the failed but bloody putsch, Turkey was already fighting a renewed insurgency by Kurdish separatists and dealing with the fallout of the war in neighboring Syria, including attacks by the Islamic State group.

In recent months there have been bomb attacks blamed on various groups in Turkish cities, and tensions are running high as Erdogan purges his government of alleged supporters of exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen.

Turkish media have also been stoking anti-American sentiment, accusing Washington of harboring Gulen in Pennsylvania while he allegedly plots the overthrow of Erdogan's government.
Always B Miki edges Wiggle It Jiggleit in Breeders Crown

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP)  Always B Miki beat Wiggle It Jiggleit at the end of a thrilling stretch battle in the $421,000 Breeders Crown Open Pace on Friday night at the Meadowlands Racetrack.

Their rivalry has been the highlight of the harness racing season with each posting three wins in their previous seven showdowns.

With the Crown victory, Always B Miki likely clinched Horse of the Year honors by edging the defending champion.

The race unfolded with Wiggle It Jiggleit taking the lead on the first turn while Always B Miki dropped in behind him.

They raced in that order until midway on the final turn when driver David Miller sent Always B Miki after the leader.

Turning for home, it appeared Wiggle It Jiggleit would prevail until Always B Miki surged in the final strides to win by three-quarters of a length.

"I couldn't be happier with him," Miller said. "He's a tough horse. He shows up, and he was determined to get his head in front there."

He paid $3.20 to win. It was the 28th Crown win for trainer Jimmy Takter, the career leader in the series.

It was a satisfying victory for Takter who nursed the horse through multiple serious injuries.

"I am speechless," Hall of Famer Takter said. "The people here saw two great, great horses fighting side by side down the stretch. For me, it was maybe the best race I ever had a horse participate in."

The Meadowlands presented the four Crowns for older horses on Friday. The eight events for 2 and 3-year-olds take place Saturday.

In other results, driver Yannick Gingras won a pair of $250,000 Crowns with Hannelore Hanover in the Filly & Mare Open Trot and Lady Shadow in the Filly & Mare Open Pace.

Hannelore Hanover, the 3/5 favorite, beat Bee A Magician, the 2013 Horse of the Year, by two lengths.

It was her 16th win in 19 starts this season for trainer Ron Burke.

The time was 1:53 3/5 for the mile. She paid $3.40 to win.

Lady Shadow, the 1/5 choice, beat Sassa Hanover by 2 1/4 lengths for her 11th win in 19 starts this year.

She paid $2.40 to win.

In the only upset, 4-1 shot Flanagan Memory beat Resolve, the 1/5 favorite, by a length in the $500,000 Open Trot.
Shiite militias join the battle as Iraqis push toward Mosul

SHURA, Iraq (AP)  State-sanctioned Shiite militias joined Iraq's Mosul offensive on Saturday with a pre-dawn assault to the west, where they hope to complete the encirclement of the Islamic State-held city and sever supply lines from neighboring Syria.

Other Iraqi forces aided by U.S.-led airstrikes and heavy artillery meanwhile drove IS from the town of Shura, south of Mosul, where the militants had rounded up civilians to be used as human shields.

The twin thrusts come nearly two weeks into the offensive to retake Iraq's second largest city, but most of the fighting is still taking place in towns and villages far from its outskirts, and the entire operation is expected to take weeks, if not months.

Iraqi Federal Police officers enter a compound in the town of Shura, some 30 kilometers south of Mosul, Iraq, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. Iraqi troops approaching Mosul from the south advanced into Shura on Saturday after a wave of US led airstrikes and artillery shelling against Islamic State positions inside town. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

The involvement of the Iranian-backed Shiite militias has raised concerns that the battle for Mosul, a Sunni-majority city, could aggravate sectarian tensions. Rights groups have accused the militias of abuses against civilians in other Sunni areas retaken from IS, accusations the militia leaders deny.

The umbrella group for the militias, known as the Popular Mobilization Units, says they will not enter Mosul itself and will instead focus on retaking Tal Afar, a town to the west that had a Shiite majority before it fell to IS in 2014.

Ahmed al-Assadi, a spokesman for the group, told reporters in Baghdad that the militias had retaken 10 villages since the start of the pre-dawn operation. But there was likely still some fighting underway, and he said forces were removing explosive booby-traps left by IS to slow their advance.

Jaafar al-Husseini, a spokesman for the Hezbollah Brigades, said his group and the other militias had advanced 4 miles (7 kilometers) toward Tal Afar and used anti-tank missiles to destroy three suicide car bombs that were heading toward them.

He said the U.S.-led coalition, which is providing airstrikes and ground support to the Iraqi military and Kurdish forces known as the peshmerga, is not playing any role in the Shiite militias' advance. He said Iranian advisers and Iraqi aircraft were helping them.

Many of the militias were originally formed after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to battle American forces and Sunni insurgents. They were mobilized again and endorsed by the state when IS swept through northern and central Iraq in 2014.

Iraqi troops approaching Mosul from the south advanced into Shura after a wave of U.S.-led airstrikes and artillery shelling against militant positions inside the town. Commanders said most of the IS fighters withdrew earlier this week with civilians, but that U.S. airstrikes had disrupted the forced march, allowing some civilians to escape.

"After all this shelling, I don't think we will face much resistance," Iraqi army Maj. Gen. Najim al-Jabouri said as the advance got underway. "This is easy, because there are no civilians left," he added.

But hours later, a few families who had hunkered down during the fighting emerged. The government has urged people to remain in their homes, fearing a mass exodus from Mosul, which is still home to more than 1 million people.

By the afternoon, Brig. Gen. Firas Bashar said his forces were clearing explosives and searching for IS fighters in Shura. The sound of artillery still echoed in the distance.

In Baghdad, meanwhile, an IS suicide bomber targeting an aid station for Shiite pilgrims killed at least seven people and wounded more than 20, police and hospital officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to brief reporters.

The Sunni extremist group often target Iraq's Shiite majority, which it views as apostates deserving of death.

The Mosul offensive involves more than 25,000 soldiers, Federal Police, Kurdish fighters, Sunni tribesmen and the Shiite militias.

Iraqi forces moving toward the city from several directions have made uneven progress since the offensive began Oct. 17. They are 4 miles (6 kilometers) from the edge of Mosul on the eastern front, where Iraq's special forces are leading the charge. But progress has been slower in the south, with Iraqi forces still 20 miles (35 kilometers) from the city.

The U.N. human rights office said Friday that IS has rounded up tens of thousands of civilians in and around Mosul to use as human shields, and has massacred more than 200 Iraqis in recent days, mainly former members of the security forces.

The militants have carried out mass killings of perceived opponents in the past and boasted about them in grisly photos and videos circulated online. The group is now believed to be cracking down on anyone who could rise up against it, focusing on men with military training or past links to the security forces.

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Abdul-Zahra reported from Irbil, Iraq. Associated Press writers Joseph Krauss in Baghdad and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed to this report.

An Iraqi Federal Police officer looks out through a hole in the wall as his team secures an area in the town of Shura, some 30 kilometers south of Mosul, Iraq, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. Iraqi troops approaching Mosul from the south advanced into Shura on Saturday after a wave of US led airstrikes and artillery shelling against Islamic State positions inside town. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

An Iraqi Federal Police officer runs for cover in the town of Shura, some 30 kilometers south of Mosul, Iraq, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. Iraqi troops approaching Mosul from the south advanced into Shura on Saturday after a wave of US led airstrikes and artillery shelling against Islamic State positions inside town. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

A local resident talks to Iraqi Federal Police officers after they have entered the town of Shura, some 30 kilometers south of Mosul, Iraq, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. Iraqi troops approaching Mosul from the south advanced into Shura on Saturday after a wave of US led airstrikes and artillery shelling against Islamic State positions inside town. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

Civilians gather at the site of a suicide bomb attack in Baghdad's western Iskan neighborhood, Iraq, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. Iraqi officials say a suicide bomber targeting Shiite pilgrims has killed several people and wounded more than 20 in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Civilians gather at the site of a suicide bomb attack in Baghdad's western neighborhood, Iraq, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. Iraqi officials say a suicide bomber targeting Shiite pilgrims has killed several people and wounded more than 20 in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
5 things to know: Transgender case lands in Supreme Court

RICHMOND, Va. (AP)  For the first time, the nation's highest court will wade into the issue transgender rights  a contentious debate that has divided communities and courts across the country.

The U.S. Supreme Court announced Friday that the justices will take up the case of a Virginia school board that wants to prevent a transgender teenager from using the boys' bathroom at his high school.

Here are five things you should know about the case and its potential implications nationwide:

FILE - In this Aug. 22, 2016 file photo, transgender high school student Gavin Grimm poses in Gloucester, Va. The Supreme Court will take up transgender rights for the first time in the case of a Virginia school board that wants to prevent a transgender teenager from using the boys' bathroom at his high school. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

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HOW DID THIS CASE COME ABOUT?

The case was initially brought by Gavin Grimm, a 17-year-old high school senior, who was born female but identifies as male.

Grimm was allowed to use the boys' restroom at his high school for several weeks in 2014. But after some parents complained, the Gloucester County School Board adopted a policy requiring students to use either the restroom that corresponds with their biological gender or a private, single-stall restroom. Grimm says that policy violates Title IX, a federal law that bars sex discrimination in schools.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Grimm, concluding that courts should defer to the U.S. Department of Education's interpretation of Title IX. The 4th Circuit pointed to a letter that the Department of Education sent the Gloucester County School Board in January 2015, which said transgender students should be allowed to use restrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identities.

HOW BIG OF A DEAL IS THIS?

To members of the transgender community, there's a lot at stake in Grimm's case. Shannon Minter, a transgender man and an attorney who works on transgender issues, called Friday "one of the most important days in the history of the transgender movement."

"The outcome of this case is likely to shape the future of that movement in ways that will resonate for a very long time," Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said in an email.

The case is also being closely watched by parents who say allowing transgender students into the restrooms and locker rooms of their choice raises serious privacy concerns.

"I think it was bound to happen that the Supreme Court would weigh in eventually," said Vicki Wilson, a parent part of a lawsuit seeking to block a suburban Chicago school district from allowing a transgender student to use a girls' locker room and restroom.

But it's not certain that this case will result in a major ruling about transgender rights, said Kari Hong, an assistant law professor at Boston College who focuses on LGBT rights.

A central question in Grimm's case is whether the Department of Education's letter spelling out its position on Title IX should be given legal weight. It's possible the court will address that issue without even getting to the larger question of transgender rights.

HOW WILL THIS AFFECT CASES IN NORTH CAROLINA AND ESLEWHERE?

If the justices do address the larger question, Grimm's case could have a big impact on similar lawsuits pending around the country.

The Obama administration and North Carolina officials are battling in court over that state's law aimed at restricting transgender students to bathrooms that correspond to their biological genders. Meanwhile, a federal judge in Texas has sided with Texas and 12 other states in issuing a nationwide hold on the administration's directive to public schools, issued in May.

If the Supreme Court sides with Grimm and says courts should defer to the U.S. Department of Education rule, it would effectively invalidate the North Carolina law and overturn the Texas judge's decision. If the Supreme Court sides with the Gloucester County School Board, the North Carolina law and the Texas judge's decision will stand.

WILL GRIMM BE ABLE TO USE THE BOY'S RESTROOM THIS YEAR?

It's unlikely that Grimm will be able to use the boy's restroom before he graduates from high school.

While a district court judge in June ordered the school board to let Grimm use the boy's restroom, the judge's decision was put on hold by the Supreme Court until it rules in the case. The justices won't hear the case until February, at the earliest, and likely wouldn't make a decision until June.

AREN'T THERE ONLY EIGHT JUSTICES? HOW MIGHT THAT AFFECT THIS CASE?

There could be a ninth justice by the time Grimm's case is taken up  or maybe not. That depends on who is elected president Nov. 8 and how quickly the Senate moves to confirm a successor for the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

If there are eight justices and the court splits evenly, the 4th Circuit decision would stand and Grimm would win his case. But the decision would have no impact outside the 4th Circuit covering Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, West Virginia and South Carolina.

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Associated Press reporter David Crary contributed to this report from New York. Sherman reported from Washington.
Matsuyama keeps 3-shot lead at HSBC Champions

SHANGHAI (AP)  Hideki Matsuyama left the highlights to everyone else Saturday at the HSBC Champions.

All he cared about was keeping the lead.

In a third round that was dull by the standard Matsuyama had set for himself in making 19 birdies the opening two days at Sheshan International, the Japanese star picked up three of his birdies on the par 5s and rarely got out of position. Bogey-free for the first time all week, he was more than satisfied with a 4-under 68 to keep his three-shot lead going into the final round.

Japan's Hideki Matsuyama lines up his shot during the 2016 WGC-HSBC Champions golf tournament at the Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai, China, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

"The first two days, making lots of birdies, it's a lot of fun," Matsuyama said. "But today, when you're in a position to win, playing smart and making no bogeys was very satisfying for me."

Even more satisfying was that only four players were within five shots of his lead.

One of them was defending champion Russell Knox, who had far too much excitement in the middle of the back nine that kept his round together. Knox sandwiched birdies on a pair of tough par 4s around a par on one the third-easiest hole on the course, the par-5 14th. He hit into the water and was headed for a bogey when he made a long putt that kept his momentum and sent him to a 68 to stay three shots behind.

"After hitting in the water on 14, to make a massive putt for par was huge," Knox said. "Those little moments are what add up in a tournament. Could have been a lot worse."

Daniel Berger was another shot behind after quite the adventure over his final hour.

Berger ran off four straight birdies to get within two shots before taking bogey on the par-3 17th. Then he chose to go for the green on the par-5 closing hole, only to block it right into the water. He took his penalty drop, hit a full wedge into 5 feet and escaped with a par for a 67.

"That's what it's been like the last three days," Berger said about his scrambling. "To make bogeys on the last two holes would not be nice going into tomorrow."

Sunday might be no less daunting considering how Matsuyama has been playing  not just this week, but all month.

Matsuyama was at 17-under 199.

Francesco Molinari, who won the HSBC Champions in 2010, shot a 68 and joined Bill Haas (70) at 12-under 204.

Matsuyama finished fifth in the Tour Championship to cap off his most successful season on the PGA Tour, which includes his Phoenix Open playoff victory over Fowler at the start of the year. Two weeks ago, he won the Japan Open, then flew to Malaysia and was runner-up to Justin Thomas in the CIMB Classic.

Starting with his 10-birdie round of 66 to start the HSBC Champions, he has looked like the man to beat all week. No one got closer than two shots of Matsuyama in the third round, though the last hole was important to him. He hit driver down the right side of the fairway, along the edge of the lake, and then powered a 3-wood from 248 yards over the corner of the water to about 25 feet.

His eagle putt turned away at the end, leaving him a tap-in birdie that restored his lead to three shots.

Rory McIlroy tried to make a run and pulled off what he called one of the best short-game shots of his career for an unlikely birdie on the par-5 eighth. After sailing his 3-wood well right of the fairway on a thin patch of muddy grass, McIlroy faced a 50-yard shot over a creek with the pin on that side of the green. He hit a hard, low shot into the bank and it popped onto the green about 15 feet away, and he made the putt.

"One of the best up-and-downs of my career," he said.

That got him within four of the lead, but he began dropping too many shots to keep the momentum. McIlroy needed two late birdies to salvage a 37 on the back nine, and his 70 left him eight shots behind.

The shot of the day came from Matt Kuchar, minus the reward.

He made a hole-in-one on the par-3 17th, with a car perched behind the tee for whoever made an ace. Kuchar happened to read the fine print, however. Because the tee had been moved forward, there was a notice that the car would not be awarded Saturday because insurance only covered a tee shot of 200 yards.

"That was probably one of the saddest hole-in-ones I've ever had," Kuchar said. He shot 68 and was eight behind.

Matsuyama was quite happy to plod along with four birdies and no bogeys, and he wouldn't mind another day of that if it means becoming the first Japanese player to win a World Golf Championship.

"Everyone is so good. I know I'm going to have to make some birdies," he said. "But I think the key for tomorrow's round will be not making any bogeys."

Japan's Hideki Matsuyama reacts during the 2016 WGC-HSBC Champions golf tournament at the Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai, China, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Japan's Hideki Matsuyama reacts during the 2016 WGC-HSBC Champions golf tournament at the Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai, China, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Japan's Hideki Matsuyama lines up his shot during the 2016 WGC-HSBC Champions golf tournament at the Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai, China, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland cross a wooden bridge during the 2016 WGC-HSBC Champions golf tournament at the Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai, China, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland hits from tee during the 2016 WGC-HSBC Champions golf tournament at the Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai, China, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland waits for his turn during the 2016 WGC-HSBC Champions golf tournament at the Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai, China, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland gestures as he watch his shot from the fairway during the 2016 WGC-HSBC Champions golf tournament at the Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai, China, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Bubba Watson of United States reacts to a poor shot during the 2016 WGC-HSBC Champions golf tournament at the Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai, China, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

England's Richard Bland hits the ball during the 2016 WGC-HSBC Champions golf tournament at the Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai, China, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Witnesses: Bomb blasts kill 9 in northeastern Nigerian city

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP)  Twin explosions from female suicide bombers suspected to be with Boko Haram killed nine people and injured 24 in Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri on Saturday morning, officials and witnesses said.

The first explosion came when two of the bombers tried to enter a camp holding more than 16,000 refugees from Boko Haram's Islamic uprising at around 7 a.m. (0600 GMT), according to civilian self-defense fighter Dan Batta.

The military said there was only one attacker. "A suspected female suicide bomber ran into a group of men and women at the entrance while they were coming out of the camp, killing five men and injuring 11 women," said a statement from military spokesman Col. Mustapha Anka.

People clear debris after an explosion in Maiduguri, Nigeria, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. Twin explosions from female suicide bombers suspected to be with Boko Haram killed nine people and injured more than 20 in Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri on Saturday morning, officials and witnesses said (AP Photo/Jossy Ola)

Inuwe Sula, who lives nearby, said he saw six bodies evacuated and several wounded survivors "drenched with blood."

The second blast came half an hour later and about a kilometer away when a tricycle taxi carrying two passengers exploded outside a gas station, Anka said. The bomber was driving the taxi and following a fuel tanker "with the sole aim of gaining entry to cause maximum damage and casualty."

In both attacks, the bombers were prevented entry, which could have caused many more casualties, Anka said.

Nine bodies, including those of two suicide bombers, were recovered and 24 people wounded in the explosions were evacuated to nearby hospitals, said Sani Datta, spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency.

Boko Haram has stepped up attacks after a months-long lull caused by a leadership struggle in the organization affiliated with the Islamic State group. A bomb blast on Oct. 12 killed eight refugees in a taxi-van just outside Maiduguri.

Nigeria's home-grown insurgency has killed more than 20,000 people, spread across borders and forced some 2.6 million people from their homes.

People clear the scene after an explosion in Maiduguri, Nigeria, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. Twin explosions from female suicide bombers suspected to be with Boko Haram killed nine people and injured more than 20 in Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri on Saturday morning, officials and witnesses said. (AP Photo/Jossy Ola)

People clear the scene after an explosion in Maiduguri, Nigeria, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. Twin explosions from female suicide bombers suspected to be with Boko Haram killed nine people and injured more than 20 in Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri on Saturday morning, officials and witnesses said (AP Photo/Jossy Ola)

People clear the scene after an explosion in Maiduguri, Nigeria, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. Twin explosions from female suicide bombers suspected to be with Boko Haram killed nine people and injured more than 20 in Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri on Saturday morning, officials and witnesses said (AP Photo/Jossy Ola)

Animals cross a street as debris is seen on a vehicle, after an explosion in Maiduguri, Nigeria, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. Twin explosions from female suicide bombers suspected to be with Boko Haram killed nine people and injured more than 20 in Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri on Saturday morning, officials and witnesses said. (AP Photo/Jossy Ola)
Car bomb target Yemen's central bank in Aden

SANAA, Yemen (AP)  Witnesses say a car bomb has exploded in the southern city of Aden at a checkpoint steps away from the central bank, which has been relocated recently from the rebel-held capital, Sanaa.

The bomb injured three soldiers and caused panic in the busy commercial district of Crater, the witnesses said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.

Aden is the temporary capital of the internationally-recognized government which was forced out of Sanaa by the rebels in 2014. A Saudi-led military coalition has since intervened and continues to battle the rebels alongside forces loyal to internationally recognized President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
UN: 25 killed in Central African Republic's rising tensions

DAKAR, Senegal (AP)  The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic says 25 people have been killed in clashes between armed groups amid "rising tension" in parts of the long-turbulent country.

A statement late Friday said 15 fighters were killed Thursday in the communities of Mbriki and Belima on the outskirts of the central town of Bambari.

And on Friday, six police and four civilians were killed in an ambush on a main road there.

The U.N. statement added that on Friday afternoon, anti-Balaka forces attacked eight peacekeeping officials as they made their way toward the local airport. A 7-year-old child was injured, the statement said.

The peacekeeping mission urged armed groups to cease the cycle of violence of recent weeks, which it said goes against the aspirations for peace among the vast majority of the population in the impoverished, landlocked nation.

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 deadly 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.
Child of 'Britain's Schindler' appeals for help for refugees

LONDON (AP)  The daughter of a stockbroker nicknamed 'Britain's Schindler' for saving Jewish children from the Nazis appealed Saturday for the child refugees of today to be treated with similar compassion.

Barbara Winton's late father, Nicholas, rescued more than 650 Czechoslovakian children, most of them Jewish, by putting them on trains to the U.K. and helping them escape Nazi-occupied Europe on the eve of World War II.

In a letter posted on the website of the grassroots aid group Help Refugees, Winton drew a parallel between those children and a new generation fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East.

FILE - In this Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2014 file photo, Czech Republic's President Milos Zeman decorates Nicholas Winton, centre, with the highest Czech Republic's decoration, The Order of the White Lion in Prague, Czech Republic. The daughter of a stockbroker nicknamed Britains Schindler for saving Jewish children from the Nazis appealed Saturday for the child refugees of today to be treated with similar compassion. Barbara Wintons late father, Nicholas, rescued more than 650 Czechoslovakian children, most of them Jewish, by putting them on trains to the U.K. and helping them escape Nazi-occupied Europe on the eve of World War II. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek, File)

"Even at a time when city evacuations were being planned for British children, homes were found for these vulnerable young refugees," she said of the Czech children resettled during the late 1930s. "Now, 77 years later, vulnerable young refugees again seek the kindness and welcome that British people previously offered."

Britain is under pressure to accept young refugees from the Middle East and Africa after the closure of a large migrant camp in the French city of Calais, known as "the jungle." But there has been resistance to the idea, particularly after the vote to leave the European Union, which was fueled by public unease with growing immigration.

"Those who have travelled across Europe to Calais, to escape the life-threatening dangers of their home country, are hoping desperately to find the sanctuary their parents dared to believe Britain would once again offer," Winton wrote.

Nicholas Winton was a 29-year-old London stockbroker in December 1938 when a friend asked him to go to Prague to help in the refugee camps. He decided to do more after seeing that the children of those considered enemies of the Nazis, who had annexed part of western Czechoslovakia, were not being cared for.

When Winton returned home, he set to work by taking letterhead from the British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia, then typing underneath the words "Children's Section."

He eventually wrung a promise from the British government to let the children enter the country, provided he had a foster home arranged for each one and upon payment of a guarantee of 50 pounds per child.

Winton drew up lists of some 6,000 at-risk children and encouraged British families to take them in. He arranged trains from Prague to the Netherlands, then ferries to take the children across the North Sea.

The children from Prague helped by Winton were among some 10,000 mostly Jewish children who made their way to Britain on what were known as Kindertransports (children's transports) just before and during the first years of the war. Many never saw their parents again.

Nicholas Winton's exploits led to comparisons to Oskar Schindler, whose efforts to save Polish Jews were featured in the film "Schindler's List." Winton died last year at age 106.

"He continued to act and help others throughout his life and believed that actively assisting those in need was the most rewarding and ethical way to live," Barbara Winton wrote of her father. "Therefore, I believe that the most appropriate way of honoring his memory would be to show the same concern and compassion he did then, for those in danger and in need now."
Gunmen kill 5 Shiites Muslims in southern Pakistan

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP)  Pakistani police say gunmen have opened fire on a congregation of a minority Shiite sect, killing five people and wounding two.

Sindh police chief A. D. Khowaja said the attackers escaped on two motorcycles after shooting people Saturday in a central Karachi neighborhood.

Khowaja said the attackers used handguns in the attack. Two people were killed on the spot and the others died on the way to the hospital.

Shiites hold congregations to commemorate the centuries-old martyrdom of the grandson of the prophet Muhammad.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack but past attacks on Shiites have been acknowledged by the banned Lashker-e-Jhangvi sectarian group.
The Latest: Tribal chairman calls for rerouting pipeline

CANNON BALL, N.D. (AP)  The Latest on protests in North Dakota over the Dakota Access oil pipeline (all times local):

4 p.m.

The chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe is calling for rerouting the Dakota Access oil pipeline that is the target of protests in southern North Dakota.

The burned hulks of heavy trucks sit on Highway 1806 near Cannon Ball, N.D., on Friday, Oct. 28, near the spot where protesters of the Dakota Access pipeline were evicted from private property a day earlier. Authorities say protesters burned several pieces of construction equipment Thursday during a chaotic confrontation with law enforcement. (AP Photo/James MacPherson)

At a news conference outside the Morton County Courthouse, tribal Chairman Dave Archambault (AHR'-sham-boh) said Saturday the pipeline "doesn't have to put our water at risk" and that, "Everybody can still benefit."

Tribal members fear the pipeline will harm their drinking water and violate sacred sites.

The Bismarck Tribune (http://bit.ly/2eQ0Dc8 ) reports Archambault said other, existing pipelines also need to be refurbished and upgraded.

Supporters say the pipeline will have safeguards against leaks, and is a safer way to move oil than trucks and trains.

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1:50 p.m.

Dozens of protesters are demonstrating against the Dakota Access oil pipeline, this time outside the North Dakota Capitol.

More than 60 people were taking part in the event Saturday afternoon in Bismarck. Billed as the Rally To Protect Our Future, demonstrators carried signs with messages such as, "Water is life."

Members of the Standing Rock Sioux and other supporters are trying to halt construction of the nearly 1,200-mile pipeline that the tribe says threatens its water sources and cultural sites.

One protester, Holly Doll of Mandan, says Native Americans "have been ignored throughout history." Doll says the pipeline protest is "about looking ahead for future generations and protecting our water."

The protest in Bismarck was held about 50 miles north of where hundreds of protesters have been camping near a pipeline construction site. The demonstration has been ongoing for months.

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11 a.m.

Protesters trying to block the Dakota Access Pipeline are bringing their concerns to the North Dakota Capitol.

A rally is scheduled Saturday afternoon in Bismarck. Organizers say in a Facebook post that the event, called Rally To Protect Our Future, will feature landowners and community members encouraging supporters statewide "to take action how they can."

Hundreds of people gathered at a similar rally in September.

Standing Rock Sioux members and other protesters argue that the nearly 1,200-mile oil pipeline is a threat to water and cultural sites. Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners, which is building the pipeline across four states, says the line is safe.

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10:40 a.m.

Protesters trying to block the Dakota Access oil pipeline are staying near their encampment following two days of confrontations that resulted in more than a hundred arrests and a barricade of burned-out vehicles on a North Dakota highway.

A handful of people walked along the highway amid cloudy, chilly weather Saturday morning as campfires burned at the nearby camp where hundreds of protesters are staying. About a half-dozen law enforcement vehicles were parked along the roadway.

As many as 50 protesters gathered behind heavy plywood sheets and the burned vehicles on Friday, a day after about 140 people were arrested while protesting on private property.

Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier described the protesters as "non-confrontational but uncooperative," and credited Standing Rock Sioux tribal members for helping to ease tensions.

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12 a.m.

A tense protest over the Dakota Access pipeline subsided at least temporarily after some protest leaders urged activists to leave a barricade near a state highway bridge.

As many as 50 protesters gathered Friday behind heavy plywood sheets and burned-out vehicles. They faced a line of concrete barriers, military vehicles and police in riot gear.

But only a handful of people, some of them observers from Amnesty International, remained on the bridge by late afternoon after protest representatives told people to return to the main encampment.

Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier described the protesters as "non-confrontational but uncooperative." He credited Standing Rock Sioux tribal members for helping to ease tensions on the bridge.

Officers arrested one person, but no details were released.

A burned-out truck sits on Highway 1806 near Cannon Ball, N.D., on Friday, Oct. 28, near the spot where protesters of the Dakota Access pipeline were evicted from private property a day earlier. Authorities say protesters burned several pieces of construction equipment and other vehicles Thursday during a chaotic confrontation with law enforcement. (AP Photo/James MacPherson)

Demonstrators stand next to burning tires as armed soldiers and law enforcement officers assemble on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016, to force Dakota Access pipeline protesters off private land where they had camped to block construction. The pipeline is to carry oil from western North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to an existing pipeline in Patoka, Ill. (Mike McCleary/The Bismarck Tribune via AP)

Dakota Access pipeline protesters defy law enforcement officers who are trying to force them from a camp on private land in the path of pipeline construction on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016, near Cannon Ball, N.D. The months-long dispute over the four-state, $3.8 billion pipeline reached a crisis point when the protesters set up camp on land owned by pipeline developer Energy Transfer Partners. The disputed area is just to the north of a more permanent and larger encampment on federally-owned land where hundreds of protesters have camped for months. (AP Photo/James MacPherson)

Tires burn as armed soldiers and law enforcement officers stand in formation on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016, to force Dakota Access pipeline protesters off private land where they had camped to block construction. The pipeline is to carry oil from western North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to an existing pipeline in Patoka, Ill. (Mike McCleary/The Bismarck Tribune via AP)

Tires burn as armed soldiers and law enforcement officers stand in formation on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016, to force Dakota Access pipeline protesters off private land where they had camped to block construction. The pipeline is to carry oil from western North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to an existing pipeline in Patoka, Ill. (Mike McCleary/The Bismarck Tribune via AP)

Dakota Access pipeline protesters stand in defiance of law enforcement officers who are trying to force them from a camp on private land in the path of pipeline construction on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016, near Cannon Ball, N.D. (AP Photo/James MacPherson)

Demonstrators stand near armed soldiers and law enforcement officers who moved in to force Dakota Access pipeline protesters off private land in North Dakota on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016 where they had camped to block construction. The pipeline is to carry oil from western North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to an existing pipeline in Patoka, Ill. (Mike McCleary/The Bismarck Tribune via AP)

Dakota Access pipeline protesters confront law enforcement on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016, near Cannon Ball, N.D. The months-long dispute over the four-state, $3.8 billion pipeline reached a crisis point when the protesters set up camp on land owned by pipeline developer Energy Transfer Partners. The disputed area is just to the north of a more permanent and larger encampment on federally-owned land where hundreds of protesters have camped for months. (Caroline Grueskin/The Bismarck Tribune via AP)
Egyptian FM warns Muslim bloc after its mocking of el-Sisi

CAIRO (AP)  Egypt's Foreign Minister has protested remarks by the chief of the world's largest bloc of Muslim countries, for mocking Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

Sameh Shukry warned Iyad Madani, the head of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, on Saturday that Egypt will be "reviewing its position toward the secretariat of the organization."

This week, Madani mistakenly confused the Tunisian president's name with that of Egypt's el-Sissi, then told Essebsi, "I am sure your fridge has more than water."

He was mocking el-Sissi who claimed in a conference this week that for a decade his fridge had nothing but water, in a message to Egyptians to bear harsh economic conditions.
Renzi roots for Clinton, warns against 'demagogic' populism

ROME (AP)  Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is warning against the "demagogic" populism of U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump and politicians like him in Europe.

At a rally Saturday of his Democratic Party, Renzi said the political left around the world is in trouble and must figure out its identity.

Citing Trump by name, he said: "It really means something if there's a risk we'll have a populist government in the United States."

He said he hopes U.S. voters come together to elect Hillary Clinton, "the first woman president of the United States, which we hope will happen."

Renzi was recently hosted at President Barack Obama's final state dinner.
Student accused of putting bleach in pregnant woman's water

MILLERSVILLE, Pa. (AP)  A Pennsylvania university student accused of having put bleach in his pregnant girlfriend's water in an attempt to harm her fetus has been charged with attempted murder, authorities said.

Theophilous Washington, 20, of Washington, D.C., a junior at Millersville University, is charged in Lancaster County with criminal attempt to commit first-degree murder of an unborn child as well as reckless endangering.

"The charges are twisted and the intended result nothing short of horrifying," District Attorney Craig Stedman said in a statement Friday.

The district attorney's office said the two were together Thursday night into Friday morning, and the woman was leaving when Washington suggested that she drink some water from the refrigerator.

She did so, but after returning to her on-campus room felt a burning sensation in her throat, vomited and called 911.

Prosecutors said police interviewed Washington and they allege that he acknowledged having put bleach in a water bottle.

"Washington, the father of the child, admitted to putting bleach in the water bottle," prosecutors said. "He had stated previously that he did not want the female to have the child."

A doctor examined the woman and said both she and her approximately 2-month-old fetus appeared unharmed, the district attorney's office said.

Brian Hazlett, Millersville's vice president of student affairs and enrollment management, called it "a horrible, unconscionable event."

"It is very disturbing to me personally because I consider our students to be our family," Hazlett said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the victim and we're doing everything we can to make sure she is OK."

Washington remains in custody on $1 million bail pending a Nov. 4 preliminary hearing; court documents don't list a defense attorney who could respond to the charges and a listed phone number for him couldn't be found Saturday.

___
Mosul Today: Shiite militias join Iraqi fight for Mosul

BAGHDAD (AP)  State-sanctioned Shiite militias joined Iraq's Mosul offensive on Saturday with a pre-dawn assault to the west, where they hope to complete the encirclement of the Islamic State-held city and sever supply lines from neighboring Syria.

Here is a look at the main developments on the 13th day of the Mosul Offensive.

MILITIAS ON THE MOVE

An Iraqi Federal Police officer runs for cover in the town of Shura, some 30 kilometers south of Mosul, Iraq, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. Iraqi troops approaching Mosul from the south advanced into Shura on Saturday after a wave of US led airstrikes and artillery shelling against Islamic State positions inside town. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

The involvement of the Iranian-backed Shiite militias has raised concerns that the battle for Mosul, a Sunni-majority city, could aggravate sectarian tensions. Rights groups have accused the militias of abuses against civilians in other Sunni areas retaken from IS, accusations the militia leaders deny.

The umbrella group for the militias, known as the Popular Mobilization Units, says they will not enter Mosul itself and will instead focus on retaking Tal Afar, a town to the west that had a Shiite majority before it fell to IS in 2014.

The group said it had retaken 10 villages since the start of the pre-dawn operation. Jaafar al-Husseini, a spokesman for the Hezbollah Brigades, said his group and the other militias had advanced 4 miles (7 kilometers) toward Tal Afar.

The U.S.-led coalition, which is providing airstrikes and ground support to the Iraqi military and Kurdish forces, is not playing any role in the Shiite militias' advance.

FIGHTING TO THE SOUTH

Iraqi troops approaching Mosul from the south advanced into Shura after a wave of U.S.-led airstrikes and artillery shelling against militant positions inside the town. Commanders said most of the IS fighters withdrew earlier this week with civilians, but that U.S. airstrikes had disrupted the forced march, allowing some civilians to escape.

By the afternoon, Brig. Gen. Firas Bashar said his forces were clearing explosives and searching for IS fighters in Shura. The sound of artillery still echoed in the distance.

Iraqi forces moving toward the city from several directions have made uneven progress since the offensive began Oct. 17. They are 4 miles (6 kilometers) from the edge of Mosul on the eastern front, where Iraq's special forces are leading the charge. But progress has been slower in the south, with Iraqi forces still 20 miles (35 kilometers) from the city.

BAGHDAD BOMBING

An IS suicide bomber targeting an aid station for Shiite pilgrims killed at least seven people and wounded more than 20, police and hospital officials said. The Sunni extremists often target Iraq's Shiite majority, which they views as apostates deserving of death.

A local resident talks to Iraqi Federal Police officers after they have entered the town of Shura, some 30 kilometers south of Mosul, Iraq, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. Iraqi troops approaching Mosul from the south advanced into Shura on Saturday after a wave of US led airstrikes and artillery shelling against Islamic State positions inside town. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

An Iraqi Federal Police officer looks out through a hole in the wall as his team secures an area in the town of Shura, some 30 kilometers south of Mosul, Iraq, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. Iraqi troops approaching Mosul from the south advanced into Shura on Saturday after a wave of US led airstrikes and artillery shelling against Islamic State positions inside town. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

Iraqi Federal Police officers enter a compound in the town of Shura, some 30 kilometers south of Mosul, Iraq, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. Iraqi troops approaching Mosul from the south advanced into Shura on Saturday after a wave of US led airstrikes and artillery shelling against Islamic State positions inside town. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

Civilians gather at the site of a suicide bomb attack in Baghdad's western Iskan neighborhood, Iraq, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. Iraqi officials say a suicide bomber targeting Shiite pilgrims has killed seven people and wounded more than 20 in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Civilians gather at the site of a suicide bomb attack in Baghdad's western neighborhood, Iraq, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. Iraqi officials say a suicide bomber targeting Shiite pilgrims has killed several people and wounded more than 20 in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Turkey bans pro-Kurdish party leader from travelling abroad

ISTANBUL (AP)  Turkey's state-run news agency says a court has banned the co-chair of the pro-Kurdish political party from leaving the country.

Figen Yuksekdag, co-chair of the People's Democratic Party or HDP, is currently on trial for allegedly "disseminating terrorist propaganda" and "membership in an armed terrorist organization." The charges stem from comments she made last year praising Syrian Kurdish forces fighting the Islamic State group.

The Anadolu news agency says the court issued the travel ban Saturday after deciding Yuksekdag was a flight risk.

The government accuses the HDP of being the political wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party. The party denies the accusation.
Defendant in California deputy's slaying pleads not guilty

ALTURAS, Calif. (AP)  The defendant in the slaying of a sheriff's deputy in rural Northern California has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge.

The Record Searchlight of Redding reports (http://bit.ly/2dVpDgm ) that Jack Lee Breiner entered the plea in Modoc County on Friday amid heavy security that included officers on the roof of the courthouse.

Modoc County sheriff's officials say Breiner shot and killed deputy Jack Hopkins on Oct. 19 outside Alturas, California, near the Oregon border. The 31-year-old Hopkins was responding to a domestic disturbance call.

A deputy wheels Jack Lee Breiner, accused of killing Modoc County deputy Jack Hopkins, into a courthouse for his arraignment Friday, Oct. 28, 2016, in Alturas, Calif. Breiner pleaded not guilty to the charges. (Sean Longoria/The Record Searchlight via AP)

Hopkins was the fourth California law enforcement officer to die in the line of duty in a two-week span.

Breiner was arrested after a chase and shootout with the sheriff that left both wounded. Breiner also entered a not guilty plea to an attempted murder charge in the shootout.

___

Information from: Record Searchlight, http://redding.com

Sheriff's deputies and their dogs patrol a street next to the Modoc County Superior Court in Alturas, Calif., ahead of the arraignment of Jack Lee Breiner accused in killing Deputy Jack Hopins Friday, Oct. 28, 2016, in Alturas, Calif. (Sean Longoria/The Record Searchlight via AP)
German police say 4 injured in stabbing in Frankfurt

BERLIN (AP)  German police say four people have been injured in a stabbing attack at a commuter rail and subway station in downtown Frankfurt.

Frankfurt police spokeswoman Chantal Ench said the attack took place Saturday afternoon inside the Hauptwache station.

Ench says four people were taken to the hospital with stab wounds, but she didn't have details beyond that.
Israel condemns official who linked Italy quake to UN vote

JERUSALEM (AP)  Israel has condemned an official who suggested an earthquake in Italy was related to the contentious vote at a United Nations body.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon says Saturday that Israel apologizes for the comments of Deputy Minister Ayoob Kara that were "improper and would have been better left unsaid." Nahshon says Kara will be summoned for a "clarification talk" with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The announcement came shortly before an official visit to Israel by Italian President Sergio Mattarella.
Tucson leaders, former Mexican president to collaborate

GUANAJUATO, Mexico (AP)  An initiative to provide support to young entrepreneurs to help them develop their businesses in Tucson has gained a high-profile backer in former Mexican President Vicente Fox.

The Arizona Daily Star reports (http://bit.ly/2ePV6lO) the one-time president got behind the effort after a meeting with the Tucson mayor and other officials at his foundation, Centro Fox.

The partnership says the foundation will hold an innovation challenge open to entrepreneurs throughout Mexico.

Former Mexico President Vicente Fox, right, gives Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild a tour of his foundation in Guanajuato, Mexico, on Oct. 25, 2016. (Gabriela Rico/Arizona Daily Star via AP)

Winners will go to Tucson to work with startup mentors.

Fox asked for educators to come to Guanajuato, where the foundation is located, to help create a community college-like program.

"You want me to send people there," Fox said. "Help me help people here."

Mexico does not have a community college system.

Fox said these types of schools can serve more people, including those who cannot afford university prices.

He said young people need to be prepared for when manufacturing jobs start to leave the country, just as they did in the United States.

"Manufacturing is here for a while, he said. "Then they'll go to Guatemala, then to El Salvador."

Pima College Chancellor Lee Lambert agreed to arrange for someone to go to the foundation.
Pro-Trump rally in Brazil turns into confrontation

SAO PAULO (AP)  Brazilian supporters and foes of U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump have clashed in the Brazilian city Sao Paulo  a small sign of the passions the U.S. election is rousing abroad.

A right-leaning group called Together for Brazil held a demonstration of support on Saturday, holding up English-language signs with messages including "Brazilians for Trump" and "Hillary for Prison."

Scuffles erupted when they were confronted by members of two small leftist groups, the Anti-Fascist League and Revolutionary Periphery. Police say they detained four people. No serious injuries were reported.

Police try to break up a fight between a supporter of U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, man on ground, second from left, and anti-Trump protesters, two men on the ground to his right, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. The fight broke out during a small rally organized by a right-wing group via social media. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

The confrontation involved some 100 people along the Avenida Paulista, one of the city's main business thoroughfares.

Brazilian demonstrators rally in support of U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. A right-wing group organized the small rally via social media. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Police detain a man who was involved in a fight with supporters of U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. The fight broke out during a small pro-Trump rally organized by a right-wing group via social media. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

A demonstrator holds a poster of U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, depicted behind bars in a "wanted" sign, during a rally in support of her rival Donald Trump in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. A right-wing group organized the small rally via social media. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Police detain a man who was involved in a fight with supporters of U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. The fight broke out during a small pro-Trump rally organized by a right-wing group via social media. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

A police officer tries to break up a fight between a supporter of U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, top, and an anti-Trump protester in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. The fight broke out during a small pro-Trump rally organized by a right-wing group via social media. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Police stand guard as supporters of U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump hold a rally in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. Police arrived to break up a fight between pro-Trump and anti-Trump groups during the small gathering organized by a right-wing group via social media. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)
US orders families of consulate workers in Istanbul to leave

WASHINGTON (AP)  The State Department is ordering family members of employees posted to the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul to leave because of security concerns.

In a statement issued Saturday, the State Department says the decision is based on security information indicating extremist groups are continuing aggressive efforts to attack U.S. citizens in areas of Istanbul where they reside or frequent.

The Consulate General remains open and fully staffed. The order applies only to the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul, not to other U.S. diplomatic posts in Turkey.

The travel warning issued Saturday updates a warning last week of increased threats from terrorist groups throughout Turkey. U.S. citizens were advised to avoid travel to southeast Turkey and carefully consider the risks of travel to and throughout the country.

The State Department said international and indigenous terrorist organizations in Turkey have been targeting U.S. as well as other foreign tourists.

Anti-American sentiment runs high in Turkey despite its status as a NATO ally and a member of the anti-ISIS coalition.
Maduro becomes talk of summit _ by not showing up

CARTAGENA, Colombia (AP)  Leaders of Ibero-American nations met Saturday as a political and humanitarian crisis deepened in Venezuela, the summit overshadowed by a guessing game over whether their Venezuelan colleague would show.

He didn't. Reporters even trooped to the airport in this Caribbean city to await Nicolas Maduro.

His attendance had been expected after Peru's president laid down a gauntlet of sorts. Pedro Pablo Kuczynski said he would seek consensus for Venezuela's suspension from the Organization of American States for violating its democratic charter.

Peru's President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski attends the opening ceremony of the 25th Ibero-American Summit in Cartagena, Colombia, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. The Ibero-American Summit is an annual meeting of heads of state from Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

And though talk of Venezuela was the main course at the leader's private lunch, they issued no related statement.

Maduro's government has been widely condemned for blocking attempts by the opposition, which won control of congress in December elections, to gather signatures in a petition seeking to hold a recall election against the socialist leader.

Venezuela's foreign minister, Delcy Rodriguez, said Maduro couldn't attend because he was preparing for a Sunday meeting with Venezuela's opposition leaders sponsored by the Vatican.

She did not respond directly to Kuczynski's concerns.

"The only crime (of Venezuela's government) is to diverge from world powers and imperialism," she said.

Venezuela is suffering from severe food and medicine shortages and acute criminal violence.

Kuczynski, a 78-year-old former investment banker and World Bank official who assumed Peru's presidency in July, said it is very difficult for leaders to meet and not discuss the region's most burning issues.

He urged a diplomatic offensive in view of Venezuela's "potential humanitarian crisis."

"There is urgency so things get better and not worse," Kucznyski added.

The secretary general-elect of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres of Portugal, said he believed there was a clear consensus that the only solution for Venezuela is "a constructive dialogue between the parties" backed by the international community.

The meeting was attended by the leaders of just half of the group's 22 member countries. Notably absent were the leaders of Spain, Brazil and Argentina.

The group issued a statement endorsing efforts by their host, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, to rescue the peace pact he signed Sept. 26 to end a 52-year-old conflict that has claimed more than 220,000 lives.

Colombian voters on Oct. 2 narrowly rejected the accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

On Saturday, his peace negotiators meet with political leaders who had promoted the "No" vote, led by Alvaro Uribe, the hard-line conservative who weakened the FARC militarily during his 2002-2010 presidency with U.S. backing.

Santos said Friday that differences could be ironed out in a matter of days if there was good will. Uribe was noncommittal heading into Saturday's eight-hour talks.

Negotiators for both sides said afterward that they discussed FARC political participation and rural reform.

Many Uribe supporters oppose participation by the rebels in Colombia's congress. Under the accord, the rebels' future political movement would be guaranteed a minimum of 10 seats in congress for two legislative periods. After that, they would have to win representation at the ballot box.

___

Associated Press Writer Frank Bajak in Bogota, Colombia, contributed to this report.

Venezuela's Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez, left, listens to a member of her delegation during the opening ceremony of the 25th Ibero-American Summit in Cartagena, Colombia, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos, center, makes his closing remarks alongside Guatemala's President Jimmy Morales, left, and Secretary General of Ibero-American Summit Rebeca Gryspan during the 25th Ibero-American Summit in Cartagena, Colombia, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. The Ibero-American Summit is an annual meeting of heads of state from Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

Peru's President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski attends the opening ceremony of the 25th Ibero-American Summit in Cartagena, Colombia, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

Heads of state and representatives from Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula attend the opening ceremony of the 25th Ibero-American Summit in Cartagena, Colombia, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

Secretary-General designate of the United Nations Antonio Guterres, left, meets with Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos during the 25th Ibero-American Summit in Cartagena, Colombia, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. The Ibero-American Summit is an annual meeting of heads of state from Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
Ed Balls confesses guilt at starring on dance floor not Commons floor

Ed Balls has branded Labour beliefs that engaging the disadvantaged, dispossessed and disillusioned alone will secure election victory "utter deluded garbage".

The former shadow chancellor described his "guilt" of being left to watch the fight over Brexit from the sidelines, his voice diminished as Britain faces "massive issues" while he dances the cha cha.

Still feeling the pain of his humiliating defeat to the Conservatives last year, the ex-MP-turned Strictly Come Dancing star urged Jeremy Corbyn to charm those same Tory voters, gather Parliamentary support away from the capital's left and overcome squeamishness over immigration.

Ed Balls said Labour will only win the next election if the party's leaders "speaks to the voters"

He made the comments to The Times while eating a lunch of tofu and spring rolls during a break from rehearsals at an east London dance studio.

"The thing that shocks me is when I say we can't win the election unless we can persuade people who voted Tory in 2015 to vote Labour again, there is a reaction from some Corbyn supporters which is, 'we don't want anybody who voted Tory to vote for us'," he told the newspaper.

"They believe there is enough people in the non-voters and the disadvantaged and dispossessed to somehow make this outsider coalition big enough. It's utter deluded garbage."

Mr Balls said Labour's chances of avoiding a fourth successive electoral defeat will only come about if their leader "speaks to the voters".

"That means he can't just have conversations with London left-wing MPs. That's his choice now. But if you say that talking about controlling immigration is racist then you have no possibility of a conversation with most people living in our country who should vote Labour."

After winning the recent leadership election Mr Corbyn welcomed back 10 MPs who resigned during a mass exodus from his shadow cabinet in the wake of the EU referendum.

However, as reports emerged of a "shadow shadow cabinet" organising in secret, Keir Starmer, the shadow business secretary, said issues in the party remained "unresolved".

On Thursday the incumbent shadow chancellor said Labour would not make "cynical" promises on cutting immigration and accused the Conservatives of knowing their targets on numbers and timescale will be missed.

"It is not migrants to blame for low pay and insecurity at work, or the high cost of housing, it is the failure of our whole economic model," John McDonnell said.

Mr Balls revealed how he had to leave the country as a triumphant George Osborne delivered the first budget after the general election and said visiting his old constituency of Morely and Outwood in West Yorkshire remains "very difficult".

He said: "The truth is I feel guilty. And I can't do anything about it at the moment because I'm not an MP.

"The country's got massive issues to face and I'm doing the cha cha? I do feel a bit of angst and guilt about it. Is there something I could be doing to make things better? But you have to know when your time is. And maybe now is not my time."

Yet despite weekly drubbings by the dance floor judges Mr Balls appears to be upbeat when his focus is strictly ballroom. "I've discovered that I have this camp sense of fun, which I never realised," he told the newspaper.
Theresa May has refused a request from Francois Hollande for Britain to take in more child refugees.

The French president urged British authorities to 'do their part' to settle some 1,500 unaccompanied migrant children left after the demolition of the Calais Jungle.

But it emerged today that Mrs May told Mr Hollande in no uncertain terms that Britain had already committed to taking a 'considerable' number of child refugees from Calais.

Downing Street made clear that there was no commitment to take in more than the several hundred already agreed but said the PM told Mr Hollande during a call on Friday evening she was committed to helping France solve its migration crisis.

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Theresa May has rebuffed a request from Francois Hollande for Britain to take in more child refugees. Pictured, the pair came face to face at the EU summit earlier this month

Signalling a growing frustration with the lack of help from Britain, Mr Hollande said last night that his country 'cannot tolerate' the camps, describing them as 'not worthy' of France.

He said the remaining minors, most of whom are living in shipping containers in the remains of the camp, would be transferred 'very quickly' to other centres.

Mr Hollande said: 'There are 1,500 minors isolated in Calais. They will be transferred very quickly to other centres.

'I spoke yesterday to the British Prime Minister. Bernard Cazeneuve did the same with his UK interior minister counterpart so that the UK can accompany these minors to the centres and do their part to accompany them to the UK.

'So over a short period of time we will be able to evacuate the totality of what was called the camp of Calais.'

Scores of children are still wandering around the burnt-out remains of the Calais Jungle days after it was demolished

Dozens of unaccompanied children were exposed to 'serious amounts of danger' in the evacuation process, a spokeswoman for Save the Children said

The latest breakdown in relations between British and French authorities came just two days after Home Secretary Amber Rudd reminded France of their duty to 'properly protect' children, amid reports that youngsters were forced to sleep rough around the smouldering remains of the camp.

Responding to Mr Hollande's comments, a Downing Street spokesman said:'We are firmly committed to working with the French to safeguard and protect children who remain in Calais - and that includes transferring eligible children to the UK safely and as soon as possible.

'We have already transferred a considerable number of unaccompanied minors to the UK so far this year, and as the Home Secretary told Parliament this week, several hundred more children and young people will be brought to the UK in the coming days and weeks.'

His comments come just two days after Home Secretary Amber Rudd reminded French authorities of their duty to 'properly protect' children, amid reports that youngsters were forced to sleep rough around the smouldering remains of the camp.

It emerged today that Mrs May told Mr Hollande (pictured left, together at the EU summit earlier this month and right, the PM leaves No 10 for PMQs on Wednesday) in no uncertain terms that Britain had already committed to taking a 'considerable' number of child refugees from Calais

Francois Hollande (pictured left) said France 'cannot tolerate' the refugee camps. British Home Secretary Amber Rudd (pictured right) said French authorities had a duty to 'properly protect' children, after reports some were forced to sleep rough around the remains of the camp

Charities also claimed several young people had been taken away by police on Thursday morning.

It is unclear whether the children were arrested, but volunteers said they had not seen them since.

More than 100 French politicians reportedly wrote to Ms Rudd questioning whether the UK was living up to its 'moral duty' when it came to taking in children.

But, it is understood Britain has not yet agreed to agree any new targets about the amount of migrants allowed to enter the UK.

Concerns for the youngsters' welfare was echoed by Barbara Winton, the daughter of a hero dubbed the 'British Oskar Schindler', who called for the same 'compassion' he displayed to be shown to Calais' young refugees.

People from the Calais Jungle have been relocated to areas all over France. The men picttured were taken 300 miles away to an isolated and dilapidated childrens facility called Centre La Malbreche near Cerisy-La-Foret, Normandy

Ms Winton, whose father was Sir Nicholas Winton, said the 'most appropriate way' of honouring the memory of one of the nation's great humanitarians would be providing safe haven for the imperilled minors.

Sir Nicholas was instrumental in facilitating the flight of 669 mainly Jewish children from Nazi tyranny in Czechoslovakia on the eve of the Second World War.

It is estimated some 6,000 people alive today owe their lives to him.

Among those saved by Mr Winton was Lord Dubs, who, years later, would help secure a commitment from the Government to accept more lone child refugees, with a landmark amendment to the Immigration Act 2016.

French authorities started demolishing the Calais camp on Monday. Between 6,000 and 8,000 migrants were forced to move

Many ended up in Central Paris and set up camp near Stalingrad Station, after the Calais Camp was closed

In an open letter posted on the Help Refugees website, Ms Winton wrote: 'My father, Nicholas Winton, witnessed the appalling conditions children were enduring in the refugee camps in Czechoslovakia in 1939 and determined to give them the chance of a better, safer life by bringing them to Britain.'

She added: 'In recent years since the story of what my father achieved became public, he has been honoured and praised for the stand he took and the lives he rescued. Though he appreciated the accolades for his earlier work, he remained focused on the most pressing issues of the day.

'He continued to act and help others throughout his life and believed that actively assisting those in need was the most rewarding and ethical way to live. Therefore I believe that the most appropriate way of honouring his memory would be to show the same concern and compassion he did then, for those in danger and in need now.'

Barbara Winton (pictured), the daughter of Sir Nicholas Winton dubbed the 'British Oskar Schindler', called for the same compassion he displayed to be shown to Calais' young refugees

She drew parallels between Britain now and in her father's time, where there were 'disgruntled voices' but 'homes were found for these vulnerable young refugees'.

Many of these people went on to become 'valuable, integrated citizens, contributing to the well-being of the nation', she said.

Hundreds of children now face a tense wait for their asylum applications to be processed at centres throughout France.

Scores had been forced to sleep rough in the days following the mass evacuation.

French officials declared the clearance complete on Wednesday, with the site evacuated of 5,596 people since the operation began on Monday.

Sir Nicholas (pictured) was instrumental in facilitating the flight of 669 mainly Jewish children from Nazi tyranny in Czechoslovakia on the eve of the Second World War. An estimated 6,000 people alive today owe their lives to him

A government spokeswoman said: 'We are firmly committed to working with the French to safeguard and protect children who remain in Calais - and that includes transferring eligible children to the UK safely and as soon as possible.

'We have already transferred a considerable number of unaccompanied minors to the UK so far this year, and as the Home Secretary told Parliament this week, several hundred more children and young people will be brought to the UK in the coming days and weeks.'

A government spokeswoman said: 'We are firmly committed to working with the French to safeguard and protect children who remain in Calais - and that includes transferring eligible children to the UK safely and as soon as possible.
Francois Hollande urges UK to 'do their part' for Calais migrant children

The French president has urged British authorities to "do their part" to settle 1,500 migrant children left in Calais.

Francois Hollande said the minors, most of whom are living in shipping containers in the remains of the so-called Jungle, would be transferred "very quickly" to other centres.

Mr Hollande said that his country "cannot tolerate" the camps, describing them as "not worthy" of France.

Barbara Winton, the daughter of Sir Nicholas Winton

"There are 1,500 minors isolated in Calais. They will be transferred very quickly to other centres," he told reporters.

"I spoke yesterday to the British Prime Minister. Bernard Cazeneuve did the same with his UK interior minister counterpart so that the UK can accompany these minors to the centres and do their part to accompany them to the UK.

"So over a short period of time we will be able to evacuate the totality of what was called the camp of Calais."

His comments come two days after Home Secretary Amber Rudd reminded French authorities of their duty to "properly protect" children, amid reports that youngsters were forced to sleep rough around the smouldering remains of the camp.

Charities also claimed several young people had been taken away by police on Thursday morning.

It is unclear whether the children were arrested, but volunteers said they had not seen them since.

Concerns for the youngsters' welfare was also echoed by Barbara Winton, the daughter of a hero dubbed the "British Oskar Schindler", who called for the same "compassion" he displayed to be shown to Calais' young refugees.

Ms Winton, whose father was Sir Nicholas Winton, said the "most appropriate way" of honouring the memory of one of the nation's great humanitarians would be providing safe haven for the imperilled minors.

Sir Nicholas was instrumental in facilitating the flight of 669 mainly Jewish children from Nazi tyranny in Czechoslovakia on the eve of the Second World War.

It is estimated some 6,000 people alive today owe their lives to him.

Among those saved by Mr Winton was Lord Dubs, who, years later, would help secure a commitment from the Government to accept more lone child refugees, with a landmark amendment to the Immigration Act 2016.

In an open letter posted on the Help Refugees website, Ms Winton wrote: "My father, Nicholas Winton, witnessed the appalling conditions children were enduring in the refugee camps in Czechoslovakia in 1939 and determined to give them the chance of a better, safer life by bringing them to Britain."

She added: "In recent years since the story of what my father achieved became public, he has been honoured and praised for the stand he took and the lives he rescued. Though he appreciated the accolades for his earlier work, he remained focused on the most pressing issues of the day.

"He continued to act and help others throughout his life and believed that actively assisting those in need was the most rewarding and ethical way to live. Therefore I believe that the most appropriate way of honouring his memory would be to show the same concern and compassion he did then, for those in danger and in need now."

She drew parallels between Britain now and in her father's time, where there were "disgruntled voices" but "homes were found for these vulnerable young refugees".

Many of these people went on to become "valuable, integrated citizens, contributing to the well-being of the nation", she said.

Hundreds of children now face a tense wait for their asylum applications to be processed at centres throughout France.

Scores had been forced to sleep rough in the days following the mass evacuation.

French officials declared the clearance complete on Wednesday, with the site evacuated of 5,596 people since the operation began on Monday.

A government spokeswoman said: "We are firmly committed to working with the French to safeguard and protect children who remain in Calais - and that includes transferring eligible children to the UK safely and as soon as possible.

"We have already transferred a considerable number of unaccompanied minors to the UK so far this year, and as the Home Secretary told Parliament this week, several hundred more children and young people will be brought to the UK in the coming days and weeks."

It is understood that the government have not made any new commitments to the French beyond taking children who are eligible under the Dublin regulations and Dubs amendment.
Dissident's wife 'mistreated' in Bahrain following husband's London protest

The wife of a UK-based Bahraini dissident was "mistreated" in the Gulf state hours after he took part in a Downing Street protest against the country's regime, it has been claimed.

Duaa Alwadaei was detained at Bahrain airport and quizzed for seven hours overnight as a reprisal after Sayed Alwadaei demonstrated when King Hamad arrived to meet Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday, Reprieve claimed.

Mrs Alwadaei, 25, and the couple's 19-month-old US citizen son were trying to return to London after a short visit to family and despite being a UK resident she has now been barred from leaving the tiny state, the charity said. She has also been subjected to violent threats from the police and the public, it said.

Theresa May greets the King of Bahrain

The Bahraini Embassy in London said that Mrs Alwadaei had been released to carry on her journey and denied she had been mistreated.

Reprieve d irector Maya Foa said: "Freedom of expression might be banned in Bahrain, but the British Government cannot allow Bahrain to punish people who demonstrate in the UK against human rights abuses such as torture and executions.

"Duaa and her baby must be allowed to leave Bahrain immediately and return to their home in London with Sayed."

Mr Alwadaei has refugee status in the UK after his role in the Arab Spring uprising in Bahrain in 2011. He was briefly held by police on Wednesday before being released, the charity said.

The Bahraini government has been accused of a string of abuses since pro-democracy protesters were violently suppressed during the Arab Spring.

The Prince of Wales was criticised earlier this month after it was announced he and the Duchess of Cornwall will visit the country as part of a Gulf tour in November.

Britain has a long-standing political, military and economic relationship with the Gulf state - which gained full independence in 1971.

But the UK's relationship with Bahrain was criticised in a report by the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee published in April.

A Bahraini embassy spokesman said Mr Alwadaei had a history of "being involved in and supporting terrorist acts".

He added: "Upon her departure at Bahrain's airport to her London destination, Mrs Alwadaei was briefly detained for questioning, searched and released to make her onward destination.

"At no time was she abused or mistreated by authorities.

"It bears noting that the Office of the Ombudsman is available to anyone who feels their rights have been abused and will open an investigation into matters brought to their attention.
Laura Whitmore 'didn't stop crying' after being forced to pull out of Strictly

Laura Whitmore has confessed to never having cried so much as she did when she was forced to pull out of last weekend's Strictly Come Dancing due to an ankle injury.

The TV presenter, 31, also revealed her upset over letting people down for missing the show and that she felt like a "failure".

She said that she "didn't stop crying" and that she has "never cried so much in my life" after being struck down with a repetitive strain injury on the joint.

Laura Whitmore admitted that she felt she had let people close to her down, including her professional dance partner Giovanni Pernice (BBC/PA)

Instead, Whitmore - who was given a bye through to the following week's show - stayed away from the studio to watch the episode on TV.

She said: "Watching it at home with my mates eating a Chinese curry, it did seem like - knowing I should be there - it was really hard to watch it.

"I wanted to watch it and support the other contestants and make sure Giovanni (Pernice) wasn't having too much fun without me."

Whitmore admitted that she felt she had let people close to her down, including her professional dance partner Pernice.

She said: "My best friend had flown over from Dublin to watch the show. Giovanni had spent a long time choreographing a beautiful dance, and taught it to me, and then I wasn't able to do it.

"There are people who give up so much to be on that show. I'm lucky to be able to be on it and then to not dance felt like a little bit of a failure."

She explained how she was told by doctors - of which she has seen three in recent days, including a physiotherapist - not to dance for five days.

This meant she started learning her tango routine for this weekend just four days before the live show on Saturday.

But instead of having fears over being behind the other contestants, who Whitmore said can train up to "triple the minimum 12-hour amount" per week, she was confident that she had rehearsed to her best ability.

She and Pernice put in around 12 hours of training on their dance to Paint It Black by The Rolling Stones for the Halloween special episode, despite still being in pain.

Whitmore said: "We worked really hard within that time.

"Sometimes Giovanni jokes with me that you can be in the studio 40 hours but not really be there in your head, so if you're there for 12 hours and fully committed, that can be just as good.

"I tried to concentrate a little bit more. Because of last week and how upset I was, it kind of makes you or breaks you. It gave me a little bit of determination.
Saudis, Mideast producers vie for China's teapot crude imports

By Rania El Gamal and Florence Tan

DUBAI/SINGAPORE, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Top global oil exporter Saudi Arabia is looking at new ways to sell crude to China, offering more cargoes at spot prices and more lenient payment terms after losing ground in the world's fastest-growing oil import market to Angola, Russia and others.

Independent refiners, known as teapots, have shaken up China's oil industry this year, accounting for most of its crude import growth since receiving import licenses for the first time near the end of 2015.

Most of this new demand is for high quality low-sulphur crude from non-OPEC producers, or for high-sulphur grades that sell at heavy discounts to Saudi prices, making it tough for state-owned Saudi Aramco to maintain market share.

Facing a stubborn global oil glut, and having failed to capitalise on Chinese demand growth, Saudi and fellow Gulf OPEC members have offered to cut their production by 4 percent, sources said on Thursday.

Industry sources say Aramco cannot sustain high output levels for long amid low oil prices.

"Saudi Arabia shifted gears and abandoned the strategy of prioritising market share simply because it proved ineffective," RBC Capital analyst Mike Tran said.

"The Kingdom squandered market share in the U.S. and China and failed to increase its foothold in India."

Middle Eastern sellers have seen their exports to China grow at less than half the pace of others in 2016, their smallest contribution since 2012, pulled down by 1 percent growth from Saudi Arabia.

Teapots refiners instead bought more oil from Angola, which has less sulphur than most Mideast grades, and Venezuela, which offers cheaper high-sulphur grades.

"It's hard at the moment because the heavy crude that we're using is from Venezuela which has a very high sulphur so we cannot add Middle East grades into our mix," said Zhang Liucheng, vice president at Shandong Dongming Petrochemical, the largest Chinese independent refiner.

Teapot purchases, along with buying by state giants such as Sinopec and PetroChina, have propelled China's imports to record highs this year. In September, China eclipsed the United States as the world's top buyer of foreign oil, according to customs data.

TEAPOT BOTTLENECK

Most of China's independent refineries are designed to process crude of about 1.5 percent sulphur, Zhang said. The refiners could buy crudes with that level or lower, or take higher-sulphur grades to blend with sweet grades.

Dongming, for example, takes Venezuelan crude with 2.5-2.6 percent sulphur, he said, in competition to oils from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iran.

Teapot refiners also tend to buy from sellers that offer more flexible deliveries, volumes and payment terms than typically available from Middle Eastern suppliers, who usually try to lock clients into long-term contracts.

Aramco is trying to keep that long-term model by negotiating to sell large volumes to a group of independent refiners in China in one annual contract, a senior industry source familiar with the company's operations said.

Until it is able to lock in a contract, however, Aramco is showing some flexibility in selling crude to the teapots, offering smaller cargoes to the refiners on a spot basis, said a second source familiar with the matter.

"Aramco can't depend on the big state (Chinese) buyers alone," the second source said.

Saudi Aramco did not reply to an e-mail seeking comments for this story.

STORAGE EXPANSION

To help supply China's new buyers, Aramco is expanding its oil storage capacity in Okinawa in southern Japan by nearly a third, Middle East oil sources said.

The state oil company started storing crude in Okinawa in 2011, sending supertankers to Japan and from there selling smaller cargoes on to Asian buyers.

In April this year, Aramco sold its first cargo of Arabian Heavy crude to a Chinese independent refiner from Okinawa in a trial spot shipment.

Saudi Arabia is also looking at setting up storage in China, with the two countries signing a memorandum of understanding to consider the matter earlier this year.

"The way to compete in China and Asia in general ... when Russia is supplying crude via pipeline is to be closer to your customers," said a third industry source.

"Having crude storage in China and the expansion of Okinawa is the way to do exactly that."

Saudi Arabia is still the biggest supplier to China over January-September, but on a monthly basis it has only held the top spot three times this year.

Russia and Angola have mostly taken the lead this year, with their crude exports to China growing 25 percent and 18 percent, respectively.

Saudi sales to China - which doubled to more than 1 million bpd in 2011 from 500,000 bpd in 2007 - have barely grown since.

"If China demand keeps going up can Saudi production keep going up? To keep your share, you have to increase as demand increases. Saudi cannot do that," said an OPEC watcher.

Kuwait, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates have also been looking to sell more oil to China's rising teapot importers, but so far it is not clear how many deals have been struck.
Volumes down, discontent up on the London Metal Exchange: Andy Home

By Andy Home

LONDON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Volumes are falling. Discontent is rising. Even the London Metal Exchange's (LME) new building in Finsbury Square was a let-down.

Quite literally.

The LME ring, one of the last surviving relics of open outcry trading, was temporarily banished to Chelmsford, east of London, due to a "structural issue" in its new home.

It has, it's fair to say, not been a great year for the venerable old dame of metals trading or for its Hong Kong owners.

It remains to be seen what reception LME chief executive Garry Jones gets when he addresses a black tie dinner on Tuesday, the centrepiece of the annual get-together of the global metals trading community. Frosty might be as good as it gets.

Among the audience will be a smattering of brokers who are so unhappy with the direction of travel they have asked former LME executive Martin Abbott to study the potential for a new metals trading platform.

The last hurrah of the old boys club or a new challenge to the LME's still dominant but fraying franchise as setter of global benchmarks for industrial metals pricing?

That remains to be seen but it is a symptom of the general unhappiness simmering in the tight-knit LME brokerage community.

Expect the LME itself to talk of a brighter future, a gilded path into the world of bullion trading early next year followed by a roll-out of more products in the wake of this year's steel scrap and rebar contracts.

But the LME still needs to stop a creeping rot in its core offering if it is to fend off an increasingly aggressive challenge from transatlantic competitor CME Group.

HANDS OFF OUR TOM

Some of the discontent among the LME fraternity is down to bigger forces.

The metals markets are still reeling from the bursting of the commodities supercycle bubble. It's no coincidence that the last time LME volumes slumped this badly was back in 2001, another year of collective hangover after the dot-com party.

The nature of trading is itself changing. The flash boys and their algos now light up LME screens, playing virtual spoof with each other across the three-month contracts.

The old brokerage model has become ever more concentrated in the trading of spreads. The LME's multiple prompt date system is still sufficiently weird and wonderful to withstand the predatory robots.

The LME itself, however, has played a part in its own misfortune.

Everyone knew that trading fees were going to go up after the initial stand-still promised by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing following its purchase of the LME in 2012.

But even exchange insiders will admit, albeit privately, that the hikes on the short-dated carries, the heart of LME spread trading, were a mistake.

Trading in "tom-next", the spread between tomorrow and the day after, has been hit far harder than the headline figures suggest.

The LME's reversal of fee hikes on such spreads, the life-blood both of brokers and industrial users, was a case of too little too late for some.

Meanwhile, its attempt to attract more liquidity by opening up membership to new players and facilitating electronic trading between the rolling three-month price and other spreads has served only to antagonise further.

The first company to pick up the carrot of LME membership was Jump Trading Futures, a Chicago outfit which describes itself as having been "at the forefront of algorithmic trading since its founding 15 years ago".

Exactly the sort of player feared by LME traditionalists and the industrial supply-chain users who lend LME pricing its real-world credibility.

FRAYING AT THE EDGES

The headline fall in trading volumes was 9.6 percent in the first nine months of this year, not quite as bad as the near 11-percent collapse in 2001.

But 2001 was something of a one-off. The recent decline in activity has been running for four years and this looks set to be the second consecutive year of falling volumes.

Moreover, some contracts have been hit harder than others. Cobalt trading has slumped by 63 percent, aluminium alloy by 46 percent and North American alloy by 40 percent.

The molybdenum contract has quietly given up the ghost and died. The last activity was in June and any remaining stocks have departed LME warehouses.

Now, none of these "lesser" contracts was ever going to set the world on fire. You don't read a lot of front-page stories about molybdenum.

But they are all products tailored specifically for industrial rather than financial users, the bricks and mortar on which the LME's credibility rests.

Is their precipitous decline a warning of the risks of pursuing liquidity from proprietary electronic traders at the expense of the market's industrial user backbone? There are many who believe so.

SQUARING THE RING

What can the LME do to reverse the slide in volumes?

The two new steel contracts offer a potential way forward. It's still early days and the memory of the failed billet contract lingers, but the scrap contract in particular is showing healthy signs of traction.

LME executives are running the rule over other potential new contracts such as ferro-chrome, the sort of specialist metal that reburnishes the exchange's industrial credentials.

The only problem is that these new steel contracts are plain vanilla monthly futures contracts with no daily spreads and no physical delivery. So too will be the next generation of contracts to follow.

The same sort of contracts, in other words, offered by every other big exchange, particularly the CME, which has been rolling out new metallic products with increasing regularity. The most recent, it is worth noting, is a North American aluminium alloy contract.

It's the LME's labyrinthine spreads, which evolved from industry's need to roll and adjust positions across odd dates, that has been its unique selling point for so many years.

If it loses that differentiator, how well equipped is it to resist the incursions of CME or, further down the line, from Chinese exchanges such as the Shanghai Futures Exchange.

And at the centre of this unique date system sit a handful of dealers in a ring of red leather seats.

The ring was displaced briefly in August by those "structural" problems in the LME's new offices.

The fear among parts of the broking community is that it will be displaced permanently by a different sort of structural problem.
Models strut down Paris runway in chocolate creations

PARIS, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Models sashayed down a runway wearing gowns and corset dresses adorned with chocolate to kick off Paris' annual Salon du Chocolat fair, where chocolatiers faced the challenge of stopping their creations from melting on the catwalk.

Actresses, dancers, and two former Miss France winners emerged in outfits that included a silver tutu studded with chocolates and another embellished with chocolate stars, all designed as a collaboration between stylists and chocolatiers.

"The difficulties we find with a dress made of chocolate are always about contact with the body, which has a temperature of 37 degrees," said French chocolatier Joel Patouillard. "Chocolate melts at 30 degrees, so it is quite simple: chocolate must absolutely not touch the body."

The fair opens to the public on Friday, featuring truffles and chocolate fountains along with a chocolate construction of the iconic Eiffel Tower.
Russia to push ahead with asset sales, starting with Rosneft stake

By Darya Korsunskaya and Katya Golubkova

MOSCOW, Oct 28 (Reuters) - The Russian government will sign off on the sale of a 19.5 percent stake in state oil firm Rosneft early next week, pushing ahead with a privatisation programme as it seeks to plug holes in the state budget.

Moscow has said it aims to raise 700 billion roubles ($11 billion) by selling the Rosneft stake, although the company is under Western sanctions imposed over Russia's role in the Ukraine crisis, which may limit interest by Western investors.

The government has already sold stakes in diamond miner Alrosa and oil firm Bashneft this year, raising around 380 billion roubles ($6 billion) in total.

The Economy Ministry said privatisations could earn around 200 billion-300 billion roubles annually over the next three years, and may include stakes in shipping firm Sovcomflot, bank VTB and Novorossiysk commercial sea port.

The government will sign a decree approving the sale of the stake in Rosneft, Russia's top oil producer, next week, a government source said.

It has not said when the sale will actually take place. However, the source told reporters on Friday that the budget should receive proceeds from the sale by Dec. 31, with funds coming via dividends from state energy holding company Rosneftegaz, a Rosneft shareholder.

"In case we don't succeed in time, we will have to simply take the funds from Rosneft. They have cash," the source said. Rosneft declined to comment.

The government is considering a scenario under which Rosneft might buy the 19.5 percent stake itself from Rosneftegaz to resell to investors afterwards. That scheme in theory would allow the budget to receive the funds faster.

"Rosneft will give us money, receive shares and transfer them (shares) to investors in the first quarter. Rosneft will get these (19.5 percent) shares for transit only," the source said, saying there were a couple of "real investors."

Rosneftegaz holds a 69.5 percent stake in Rosneft, with 19.75 held by BP.

MORE TO COME?

The finance ministry aims to reduce Russia's budget deficit, which has been aggravated by a weak economy due to low oil prices and the impact of sanctions, by 1 percentage point a year from an estimated 3 percent of gross domestic product in 2016.

The economy ministry said the government could also consider reducing its holdings in 2017-2019 in oil pipeline monopoly Transneft, Russian Railways, telecoms company Rostelecom, oil company Zarubezhneft, diamond miner Alrosa and United Grain Company.

While companies such as Rosneft, Transneft and VTB are under Western sanctions, stake sales would involve existing shares with the proceeds going to the government not the company, so Western investors in theory are not banned from participation.

The sale of a 10.9 percent stake in Russia's No.2 lender VTB, initially proposed for this year, is unlikely to happen before the second or even third quarter of next year, a banking source familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The government source said the state might also sell another 10 percent stake in Rosneft in 2017 but did not elaborate. However, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said he had not heard any discussion of a further sale as it would mean the government would no longer be the controlling shareholder.

Italian bank Intesa is the sole bank helping to arrange the sale of the 19.5 percent stake in Rosneft.
Vietnam to announce negotiation results with Carlsberg on Oct 31

HANOI, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Vietnam's trade ministry will announce the results of negotiation with Danish brewer Carlsberg on its priority purchase rights in local brewer Habeco on Oct 31, the government said on Saturday.

The negotiation will start on Monday and the ministry will announce the results then after having more information, trade vice minister Hoang Quoc Vuong told a news conference.

Carlsberg, which owns 17.08 percent of Habeco as of August 31, signed an agreement to have priority rights to purchase any Habeco stake on offer. But the Vietnamese government has been reviewing this agreement.

The government owns about 82 percent of Habeco.
Vietnam targets Q4 growth of 7.1-7.7 pct y/y - government

By My Pham

HANOI, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Vietnam targets economic growth in the final quarter of this year of 7.1-7.7 percent, a government senior official said on Saturday.

The rate will help the country achieve full-year growth of 6.3-6.5 percent, government spokesman Mai Tien Dung told a news conference.

"The speed of economic growth will affect public debt," Dung said.

The government this month lowered Vietnam's 2016 gross domestic product growth target to 6.3-6.5 percent from a previous target of 6.7 percent after the economy slowed in the first nine months of the year.

Lower GDP is expected to push Vietnam's public debt ratio closer to a ceiling of 65 percent of GDP and pose more challenges for Vietnam's already tight state budget, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said last week in an address to the country's national assembly.

Adverse weather, including drought in the coffee belt, and soil salinity in the Mekong Delta, have put the brakes on Vietnam's rapid growth, biting into its industrial and agricultural production, its exports and imports.
Non-OPEC yet to pledge concrete oil output steps after meeting OPEC

VIENNA, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Non-OPEC producers have yet to make a specific commitment to join the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in limiting output levels to prop up prices, OPEC and non-OPEC energy officials said on Saturday.

"We should be meeting in November to agree the further steps ... It is important that we meet once again with detailed numbers. We agreed that we have to meet in 3-4 weeks with numbers, because every country has his own opinion," an energy official from Kazakhstan said.
N.Ireland leader says special status for province possible after Brexit

By Amanda Ferguson

BELFAST, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Northern Ireland could have a different relationship to the European Union's single market or customs union from the rest of the United Kingdom following its exit from the EU, the leader of the British province said on Saturday.

The head of Scotland's devolved government Nicola Sturgeon this week said she would make specific proposals over the next few weeks to keep Scotland in the single market even if the rest of the UK left, and that British Prime Minister Theresa May had said she was prepared to listen to options.

Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom with a land border with the European Union and First Minister Arlene Foster has repeatedly said she wants to avoid a "hard border" with border posts and customs checks with the Republic of Ireland.

Asked by Reuters if Northern Ireland might have a special status in relation to either the customs union or the EU's single market Foster said "those are all matters, of course, for negotiation."

"Because of our history and our geography that things will be slightly different here in Northern Ireland," said Foster, speaking on the sidelines of her party's annual conference.

"We have to recognise that we are the only part of the kingdom with a land border with the European Union so all of those issues have to be sorted through in the negotiation."

She declined to give any further details of how a settlement might look.

The EU has said Britain's exporters can have access to its single, tariff-free market of 500 million consumers only if it maintains the freedom of movement of people with the rest of the EU, which many supporters of Brexit oppose.

Remaining part of the customs union would allow Britain to trade freely with the bloc but would require it to share its common external tariffs, which could complicate attempts to strike free trade deals with other countries.

Fifty-six percent of Northern Ireland voters rejected Brexit at the referendum in June. But Foster, who campaigned for Britain to leave said those opposed to Brexit should accept the will of the 52 percent of Britons who voted to leave.

Foster has mocked the "remoaners" who refuse to accept the vote and welcomed the rejection by a court on Friday of a legal challenge to Britain's moves to exit the union.

"All of this niceties around who voted what way is over. The vote has been had. We now need to get on and make it a success for everyone and that includes those people who didn't want to leave."

"I have no time for those who want to refight the referendum," she said.

Foster said she had good relations with the government of the Republic of Ireland, but criticized it for attempting to use Brexit to poach foreign direct investment jobs from Northern Ireland.

"It has been told to me from a number of sources that their representatives, particularly in the United States of America are visiting companies that either are in Northern Ireland or are thinking about coming to Northern Ireland,"
Venezuela crisis, Colombia peace dominate Latin American summit

By Julia Symmes Cobb

CARTAGENA, Colombia, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Venezuela's fast-escalating political crisis and Colombia's stuttering peace process looked certain to dominate the Ibero-American Summit on Saturday rather than an official agenda about youth, entrepreneurship and education.

Amid a swing to the political right around the region, Peru's president and former investment banker Pedro Pablo Kuczynski was leading calls to put Venezuela at the top of the agenda.

The oil-rich country's socialist government is facing an escalation of opposition protests after electoral authorities suspended a referendum on President Nicolas Maduro's rule that could have led to his departure from office.

Maduro, 53, narrowly won election to succeed Hugo Chavez in 2013 but has seen his popularity plummet during a deep economic crisis. He was due to attend the summit briefly on Saturday, organizers and a Venezuelan government source said.

Heads of state and officials from around Latin America, as well as Portugal and Spain, were attending the meeting in the coastal humidity of colonial Cartagena and were due to release a statement later on Saturday.

Venezuela, despite having the world's largest oil reserves, is mired in a prolonged recession worsened by currency depreciation and low oil prices, with many skipping meals due to shortages and soaring prices.

Critics say Maduro has kept a grip on power by side-lining the legislature, arresting opponents and leaning on compliant institutions to squash the referendum.

He says foes are seeking to topple him illegally.

The summit's host Colombia, meanwhile, is scrambling to save a hard-won peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

The deal, hammered out over almost four years of difficult negotiations, was rejected in a plebiscite vote this month by less than half a percentage point. The regional leaders met at the same conference center where the deal was signed just over a month ago.

President Juan Manuel Santos, who was reelected in 2014 on a platform focused on achieving peace, has held meetings with the opposition in a bid to modify the deal enough to satisfy critics.

"Peace for Colombia will be a reality," Santos said in opening remarks at the conference. "We will not betray the hopes of Colombians or the international community, which has accompanied us with such generosity."

Government negotiators have returned to Havana, Cuba, where the original talks took place, to discuss opposition suggestions with FARC leadership and make changes to the accord.
Guardiola's City and Arsenal hit four but no joy for Mourinho

LONDON, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Manchester City won 4-0 at West Bromwich Albion to end Pep Guardiola's worst run as a manager but Jose Mourinho's woes continued as Manchester United's manager was sent to the stands and Ander Herrera sent off in a goalless draw with Burnley at Old Trafford on Saturday.

United, with one goal in four games and a solitary win in seven, must now watch those with Premier League title aspirations pull away.

There were doubles all round at the top as Sergi Aguero and Iikay Gundogan scored twice for City while Alexis Sanchez and Olivier Giroud also struck braces for Arsenal, 4-1 winners at Sunderland. The Gunners have 23 points like league leaders City but are one place behind on goal difference.

Tottenham Hotspur, who play Arsenal next weekend, lost ground after their 1-1 draw with Leicester City while Liverpool were playing in Saturday's late game.

If Guardiola was all smiles after his first win in seven games, there was more frustration for Mourinho who began the start of the second half behind the dug-out before being moved to the directors' box.

The Portuguese had been incensed by the failure of referee Mark Clattenburg to punish Jon Flanagan for a foul on Matteo Darmian but will be equally unhappy with his team who failed to score in 37 attempts, 11 of which were saved by Tom Heaton.

Burnley's keeper produced another excellent performance with a series of outstanding saves, notably from Jesse Lingard and Zoran Ibrahimovic.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was delighted with his team's victory at winless Sunderland, who are experiencing the worst start in Premier League history after 10 games.

The match turned on the introduction of Giroud, who scored with his first two touches as Arsenal netted three times in seven second-half minutes.

Asked whether he deserved credit for the decision to bring on the Frenchman, Wenger said: "The manager gets easy credit when he has quality players on the bench. You do not need to be a special manager to make that decision."

A superb solo goal from Gaston Ramirez helped Middlesbrough to get their first home league win, 2-0 over Bournemouth.

Picking up the ball inside his own half, the Uruguayan forced his way into the Bournemouth area before cutting back inside a defender and scoring.
Venezuela crisis, Colombia peace dominate Latin American summit

By Julia Symmes Cobb

CARTAGENA, Colombia, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Venezuela's fast-escalating political crisis and Colombia's stuttering peace process dominated the Ibero-American Summit on Saturday, despite an official agenda about youth, entrepreneurship and education.

While leaders from around Latin America, as well as Portugal and Spain, approved a resolution calling for more support for youthful business owners and students, speeches also touched heavily on the two South American countries.

Venezuela's socialist government is facing an escalation of opposition protests after electoral authorities suspended a referendum on President Nicolas Maduro's rule that could have led to his departure from office.

"The neighboring country is suffering a tremendous economic crisis and also a crisis of political rights and also I would say human rights," Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, a former investment banker, told the leaders in the Colombian coastal city of Cartagena.

"There's no eagerness to interfere in what happens in other countries," he said. "But there is eagerness to insure all Latin Americans progress and not regress."

Antonio Guterres, the secretary general-elect of the United Nations, said Venezuela was discussed during the leaders' closed-door lunch.

"I think there was a very clear consensus there is not a solution to Venezuela's problems...without a constructive dialogue between the parties," he said.

Maduro's popularity has plummeted during a deep economic crisis. He was not in attendance at the summit, his foreign minister Delcy Rodriguez said, because he was preparing for a Sunday meeting with the opposition.

Venezuela, despite having the world's largest oil reserves, is mired in a prolonged recession and facing food shortages.

Critics say Maduro, 53, has kept a grip on power by side-lining lawmakers, arresting opponents and squashing the referendum. He says foes want to topple him illegally.

Colombia, meanwhile, is scrambling to save a hard-won peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

The deal, hammered out over almost four years of negotiations, was narrowly rejected in a plebiscite vote this month.

President Juan Manuel Santos has met with the opposition to hear their concerns, and government negotiators are modifying the accord with FARC leadership in Cuba.

Leaders at the summit repeatedly expressed support for the peace process on Saturday. The 52-year war has killed nearly a quarter of a million people.
Islamic State claims responsibility for attack outside U.S. embassy in Nairobi

CAIRO, Oct 29 (Reuters) - A follower of Islamic State was responsible for an attack last week on a Kenyan police officer outside a U.S. embassy in Nairobi, the group's Amaq news agency said on Saturday.

A knife-wielding man whom police described as a criminal was shot dead outside the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi last Thursday after he attacked and injured a Kenyan police officer.

"The person who carried out the stabbing of a guard outside the American embassy in Nairobi last Thursday was a soldier of Islamic State responding to calls to target coalition countries," Amaq said.

Kenya's police spokesman said at the time the motive was unclear and an investigation was launched. The spokesman could not immediately be reached on Saturday.

Islamic State previously claimed an attack in Kenya in September by three women who were shot dead after they tricked their way into a police station in Mombasa and tried to torch the building, according to police. The police in Kenya have also previously said they had detained sympathisers with the group.
EU, Canada to sign free trade deal after weeks of uncertainty

By Robert-Jan Bartunek and Philip Blenkinsop

BRUSSELS, Oct 30 (Reuters) - The European Union and Canada will sign a free trade agreement on Sunday that aims to boost jobs and growth after weeks of uncertainty and opposition in part of EU member Belgium that had threatened to scupper the entire deal.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected in Brussels for a signing ceremony with leaders of the EU institutions billed as an EU-Canada summit, all eager to ink a deal before any further hiccup.

The French speakers of southern Belgium, a minority within their own small country and accounting for less than 1 percent of the 508 million EU consumers likely to be affected by the deal, had held it up until a breakthrough on Thursday, confirmed by regional parliamentary votes on Friday.

The Canadian agreement is seen as a springboard to a larger EU deal with the United States, known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Treaty (TTIP), which has been much criticised by civil society groups and some politicians.

While that deal was planned to be completed before the end of U.S. President Barack Obama's term in January, both sides now acknowledge this is no longer feasible.

On Saturday, EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said TTIP was not dead and talks with the United States would continue with the next U.S. administation.

Supporters say the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada will increase trade between the partners by 20 percent and boost the EU economy by 12 billion euros ($13 billion) a year and Canada's by C$12 billion ($9 billion).

This would come at a time of low growth with monetary policy at its limits and fiscal policy constrained.

For Canada the deal is important to reduce its reliance on the neighbouring United States as an export market.

For the EU, it is a first trade pact with a G7 country and a success plucked from the jaws of defeat at a time when the bloc's credibility has taken a beating from Britain's vote in June to leave after 43 years of membership.

"I think we are signing the best commercial treaty the European Union has ever signed with a particularly close partner which shares our values," Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said on Saturday.

However, Sunday's signing is not the last act.

Assuming the European Parliament gives its assent, CETA could come into force partially early next year, allowing import tariffs to be removed. However, full implementation to include a contentious investment protection system will only follow after clearance by some 40 national and regional parliaments.

The Belgian experience shows this is not a given.

On Thursday, Belgium's regions and the federal government agreed on a text addressing fears about the investment protection regime, saying it would not come into force during an initial period. It also has a safeguard clause to protect Belgian farmers in the event of a "market imbalance".

The investment protection system has been the focus of most protests against CETA and TTIP. Critics says the system, with arbitrage panels to rule on disputes between states and foreign investors, could be abused by multinational companies to dictate public policy, such as on environmental standards.

The EU and Canada say their investment protection system guarantees the right of governments to regulate and would use independent judges and be more transparent.

The deal will eliminate tariffs on almost 99 percent of goods. The beneficiaries would include, for example, carmakers or the EU textile sector, for which Canadian duties of up to 18 percent can be imposed.

Service companies could also benefit and EU companies would be able to tender for public contracts at Canadian provincial and municipal level, the first time Canada has offered this.

Canada can send larger quotas of pork, beef and wheat to the EU market. EU dairy producers will be able to export more than double the amount of "high quality" cheeses to Canada. ($1 = 0.9107 euros) ($1 = 1.3396 Canadian dollars)
COPE Chairman and JVP MP Sunil Handunnetti, in his note with regard to the report on the Central Bank bond scam, urged the people, students and professionals to study it in-depth to understand who plundered public wealth and who covered up for them.

He told the House after presenting the report that COPE was assigned the arduous task of conducting inquiries into the irregularities in the controversial bond controversy. He said it was a highly responsible and complex task as Chairman and that it was more of an issue concerning the public finance administration of the country.

"There was a discussion in the public domain whether it would be possible to expose the fraudsters and bring them to book and whether a proper report would be presented to Parliament," Mr. Handunnetti said.

He said though the task was complex and challenging, COPE was able to finalise the report with a novel political experience.

"Sovereign rights of the people are implemented through Parliament. Inquiring into the bond issue is the exercise of such rights of the people," Mr. Handunnetti said adding that the finalisation of the report was a historic moment and a victory for those who clamoured for an anti corruption drive.

A total of 15 MPs from the JVP, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) from the government and the joint opposition have signed the report which was submitted separately without footnotes while the report with footnotes was signed by the nine MPs from the United National Party (UNP). (Kelum Bandara and Yohan Perera)
The Director of Police Traffic Division in Colombo, SP Sumith Nissanka said yesterday that no discussions were held so far with regard to a decision about a separate lane for buses during peak hours from Battaramulla to Colombo Fort from December 1, in a bid to reduce the extreme traffic congestion in the area.

However, the Lanka Private Bus Owners Association Chairman (LPBOA) Gemunu Wijeyaratne said recently that the Megapolis and Western Region Development Minister had approved the regulation with effect from December 1.

When the Daily Mirror inquired into the matter, the SP said that despite the requests made by various parties including bus associations, no such decision had been made as far as they were concerned.

He said there were already separate lines for buses on roads in Pettah and Kollupitiya.

He went on to say that even though there was a need for separate tracks for buses and other vehicles to ease the traffic congestion during peak hours, there was no infrastructure to implement such regulations.

Our roads are not compatible for such regulations. They should be developed further, he said.

At least 475,000 motorbikes, cars and vans travel to Colombo daily. However, the number of individuals entering Colombo by 21,000 buses outweighed the number of individuals coming into the city using other modes of transport. (Piyumi Fonseka)
Books written on war history such as War Heroes Killed in Action by Retd. General Gerry De Silva and Road to Nandikadal by Major General Kamal Gunaratne should be named as recommended books for the school syllabi, former president Mahinda Rajapaksa said.

He said this while delivering a speech at the book launch of War Heroes Killed in Action which was held at the BMICH last evening.

Mr. Rajapaksa said commitments, sufferings, travails and tribulations of Sri Lankan tri-forces during the war should be transcribed to literature in order to commemorate the war heroes at a time when they are being discriminated. (Piyumi Fonseka)
Last fortnight, close on the heels of the rise of firecracker nationalism against Chinese goods on social media, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was busy making adjustments for yuans entry into Indias foreign exchange reserves. Not only RBI, most of the global central bankers too had to alter metrics of their forex reserves after yuans rise as the worlds fifth most powerful currency.

Only three days after Indias surgical strike on terror launch pads across the LoC, the yuan became a Special Drawing Rights (SDR) currency, the elite club of four global currencies under the International Monetary Fund (IMF). After the American dollar, the Japanese yen, the British pound and the euro, only the yuan has found a place in the premium currency basket.

As all countries constitute their foreign exchange reserves in denominations of SDR currencies, India, along with other nations, are now required to create yuan reserves as well.

Chinas access to the Indian market is far more deep and extensive than low-end consumables like firecrackers.

We can vent our frustration by endlessly cursing former governments for Chinas growing influence, but when a country makes more than 50 per cent of the worlds computers, two-thirds of its DVDs, ovens and toys, Made in China is the unpalatable global reality. China has, in fact, forced the rewriting of the history of global trade. History shares no precedent when a country captured markets worldwide by becoming the singular global manufacturing power.

It is not at all impossible that the mobile phones with which messages of Chinese goods boycott are sent or received are fully or partially made in China. The mobile network carrying these messages could be made by the Chinese companies ZTE or Huawei, or the sim cards could have come from China. Even if the phone is Korean or Japanese, the China factor will come into the picture because these two countries import electronics worth $70billion annually from China. It is also possible that these phones are charged with electricity produced at a unit with a Chinese turbine.

Chinas access to the Indian market is far more deep and extensive than low-end consumables like firecrackers and other Diwali decorative essentials. The total firecracker import is unlikely to cross the million dollar mark, however, foreign trade statistics suggests that Indias largest imports from China are electronics ($20 billion), nuclear reactor and machinery ($10.5 billion), chemicals ($6 billion) and steel ($2.3 billion). In 2015-16, Indias import from China was worth $61 billion, out of which the top ten imports amounted to $48 billion. After China, Indias largest imports come from United States, Saudi Arabia and UAE. Imports from China is almost equal to all three put together. The cracker revolutionaries must know that Indias share in Chinas global export, more than $2 trillion, is less than even three per cent.

The China challenge will have to be dealt rationally, not emotionally. Indian manufacturing sectors dependence on China has not been studied well. The last such effort was made in 2011 when the national security adviser of that time confidentially studied the Chinese penetration into Indian economy. The conclusions were startling:

1. China is well in the position of pricing its products 40 per less than that in India. More importantly, India has comparatively very limited number of products in global trade.

2. In 2011, Chinas share in telecom imports by India was 62 per cent. Today it could be above 75 per cent, with fast growth of 3G and 4G networks.

3. China is the worlds largest bulk drug-manufacturer and India is 100 per cent dependent on China for its pharmaceutical (Bulk and API) supplies.

4. And, most importantly, China accounted for 26 per cent of Indias manufacturing GDP as per NSAs study in 2011. NSA study had projected Chinas share may go up to 75 per cent in next five years. This estimate has proven accurate largely. World markets have capitulated to the fact that whatever China would buy would become pricey and what it would sell would become cheaper.

After the rise of China, nations have started focusing on their core competence and cost reduction measures to counter the invasion of Made in China stuff. India, too, instead of a boycott, will have to work on reducing the cost of production, focus on technique and promotion of smaller units, for alternatives to low-cost imports from China. As far as high tech imports are concerned, India can play its market card in a more astute manner, while adjusting to the realities of global trade. Back to the China-Pakistan liaison, from where the crackers began bursting.

The international security scenario has significantly altered after China assumed the status of the worlds second-largest economy. Chinas strategic influence emanates from its economic power. It has invested about $46 billion in the China-Pak-Economic-Corridor, which is equivalent to 20 per cent of Pakistans GDP.
Taking barbarism to a new low, militants backed by Pakistan on October 28 mutilated the body of an Indian Army soldier close to the Line of Control (LoC) in the Machil sector. One militant was killed and another, possibly involved in this heinous act, fled back to Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).

"Barbarism is a true reflection which pervades official and non-official organisations across the border. In a despicable act, the terrorist mutilated the body of an Indian Army soldier before fleeing into PoK, supported by covering fire from Pakistan army posts," the Army said.

It has promised a fitting response.

According to some defence experts, the operation seemed to be the handiwork of a BAT (border action team), which typically consists of terrorists and Pakistan Army regulars.

In a previous instance in January 2013, another Army jawan, Lance Naik Hemraj was mutilated in a similar, horrific manner, when Pakistan's Border Action Team breached the LoC and beheaded the soldier, and mutilated the body of his colleague Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh.

This incident is bound to further escalate tensions along the LoC and the international boundary in J&K. Since India carried out a surgical strike inside Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) on September 28, more than 60 incidents of ceasefire violations have been reported.

On October 28, cross-border firing intensified across nine sectors of Jammu, along the international border and the LoC. Additional Director General, Border Security Force (BSF) Arun Kumar, said, in the last one week, Indian border guards have killed at least 15 Pakistani soldiers in retaliatory firing.

Official figures show that three Army jawans and four BSF men have been killed since the Indian Army's surgical strikes on terror launch pads in PoK on September 29.

Here are some instances of Indian soldiers mutilated by Pakistan perpetrators:

During the 1999 Kargil conflict, Captain Saurabh Kalia was tortured by his Pakistani captors who later handed over his mutilated body to India. In February, 2000, infamous Pakistani terrorist and al-Qaida member Ilyas Kashmiri had led a raid on the Indian Army's "Ashok Listening Post" in the Nowshera sector to kill seven Indian soldiers. Even then, Kashmiri had taken back to Pakistan the head of a 24-year-old Indian jawan, Bhausaheb Maruti Talekar of the 17 Maratha Light Infantry.

In June 2008, a soldier of the 2/8 Gorkha Rifles lost his way and was captured by a Pakistani Border Action Team (BAT) in Kel sector. His body was found beheaded after a few days.

January 2013: One Indian soldier was beheaded and another killed by Pakistani troops after they crossed over into Indian territory in the Mendhar sector of Jammu & Kashmir.

October 28, 2016: A soldier was mutilated by a militant in Kupwara's Machil near the Line of Control while the Army was engaged in cross-border firing with Pakistan's rmy.

A list of Indian soldiers killed during Pakistan's firing post surgical strikes:

October 28, 2016: One more BSF Nitin Subhash from Maharashtra martyred in an operation during cover fire in Kupwara area of J&K's Machil sector.

October 28, 2016: Indian Army soldier Mandeep (26) was mutilated by a militant in Kupwara's Machhil near LoC while the army was engaged in cross-border firing with Pakistan's army.

October 27, 2016: Rifleman Sandeep Singh Rawat laid down his life while fighting infiltrating militants in Trangdhar sector of Kupwara district.

October 27, 2016: BSF head constable Jitendra Kumar was martyred during CFA violation in RS Pura and Arnia sectors along the International Border in Jammu district.

October 23, 2016: BSF jawan Sushil kumar was martyred during a ceasefire violation by Pakistan along the international border in RS Pura sector.

October 22, 2016: BSF jawan Gurnam Singh who was injured on October 20 was martyred.

October 16, 2016: Army sepoy Sudees Kumar was martyred due to sniper fire at a forward post in Balakote sector of J&K's Poonch district What is Pakistan's Border Action Team (BAT)?

Pakistan's border action team (BAT) is a group of Special Forces with some highly trained terrorists specifically employed for trans-LoC action. In Pakistan, the SSG (special services group) forms the core of BAT. Its primary task is to dominate the LoC by carrying out disruptive actions in the form of surreptitious raids.

These raids are carried out after perfect planning and cautious scouting as well as high assurance of success.

Major districts of J&K vulnerable to ceasefire violations:
Come to the land of enlightenment, boasts a banner on the Bihar tourism website. Somewhat smug, it also slips in a tagline: You will keep coming back for more. Are you kidding?

Will they ever come back to Bihar? It was a cruel question; but a few media persons still threw it at the two businessman brothers from Delhi, Suresh Sharma (40) and Kapil Sharma (27), only hours after Bihar police rescued them from the clutches of abductors on Tuesday night. Having spent five painful days in captivity, the two hapless brothers only responded with a wistful, blank stare.

The two sons of Delhi businessman Babulal Sharma may stay away from the land of Buddha forever. But their Bihar experience has surely been "enlightening," leaving them bitter and wiser in equal ounces.

Grown up individuals and established businessmen; they still fell for such a pedestrian trick. Someone unknown called them on October 10, offered them a lucrative contract in Bihar, and, when they evinced interest, even sent them air-tickets to Patna.

It took the conspirator only 10 days to win Sharmas trust; and the two Delhi-based marble traders willingly boarded the Go-Air flight to Patna. When they reached Patna on October 21 in pursuance of a non-existent contract and some Bihari hospitality, they were abducted from the airport.

In his first conversation, the caller had introduced himself as one Gopal Goel. He gave reference of an engineer known to the Sharma family earlier and glibly spoke about how he could swing government contracts worth Rs 200 crores.

Though the Sharmas did not check with the said engineer, they were skeptical in the beginning. Besides their engagement in the marble industry in three states  Rajasthan, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh  the Delhi-based Sharmas also provide qualified manpower to different construction companies.

The said Gopal Goel  who turned out to be dreaded criminal Ranjit Mandal alias Ranjit Don  once again called the Sharmas on October 16 and 17. This time the Sharmas fell for the ruse, as the man spoke about government commissions and other intricacies of job at hand to establish his credential.

Suresh Sharma and his younger brother Kapil agreed to inspect the project site on a polytechnic institute at Haveli Kharagpur. The caller sent them tickets for Go-Air Flight G8 149 from New Delhi to Patna. And even before the flight took off, Suresh received an SMS on his mobile, which had the name of the driver, Ajit, and his mobile number. It all seemed so professional.

The flight landed at Patna around 6.10pm; and the driver received the two brothers in a Mahindra TUV vehicle. The vehicle kept moving for nearly two-and-a-half hours; and then the driver stopped his vehicle in an isolated area where eight armed persons were waiting for the Sharma brothers. They dragged the two out of the vehicle, tied their hands, covered their eyes and mouth with a piece of cloth and then bundled them to another vehicle, a Mahindra Scorpio. They were taken inside a dense forest, beaten up and then told they were kidnapped. The brothers still have injury marks on their chest, hands and back.

Sharma brothers after they were rescued by Bihar Police from the clutches of notorious kidnapper Ranjit Mandal, who's now absconding. [Photo: Agencies]

It was just the beginning of their horror odyssey. The two brothers were initially kept in a single room and then shifted to an open field inside a thick forest. Confined to an open jungle, their hands tied, their mouth and eyes covered by bandage, the two brothers were given just one meal of puffed rice (murhi) in a day, made to sleep on grass and regularly beaten up. The abductors were very harsh, and their vigil unrelenting with seven persons, including two women, keeping guard.

Almost simultaneously, a special police team in Patna sieved through call records of the suspects. They soon discovered they had made several calls to one Narayan Yadav in Allahabad.

Narayan, however, turned out to be a victim. He too was kidnapped when he reached Barh (Patna district) in search of a non-existent contract on October 17 along. Narayan had reached with his nephew after they were lured into Bihar on the pretext of a huge waterproofing contract. The duo was confined in an abandoned warehouse in Bihars Lakhisarai district. One of them somehow managed to escape and reach Lakhisarai police, which rescued the other. But, the jarring irony is that the Bihar cops then did not lodge an FIR, which let Ranjit go off the hook. It bolstered him further to plan another kidnapping.

The similarity of the modus operandi of the two incidents assured the police that Ranjit was involved in the Sharma brothers' abduction case too. The abductors, on their part, operated with unmatched impunity. They went ahead with their plan to abduct the Sharma brothers unmindful of escape of the Narayan from their captivity.

Subsequent police investigations also revealed that the captors had used the same modus operandi earlier to abduct another businessman from Madhya Pradesh earlier this year. He too was brought to Lakhisarai and was released only after payment of ransom amount.

Having seen the Yadavs from Allahabad slip away because of their slackness, the captors this time were extremely vigilant with the Sharma brothers. Having demanded Rs 5 crore as ransom money for their release; the abductors also used the ATM cards of the two brothers to withdraw Rs 2.5 lakh from their bank accounts.

The cops finally closed in on the abductors on Tuesday night after days of painstaking investigation led them to the dense forest in Lakhisarai. The abductors first engaged them in an encounter. But, they were clearly outnumbered. Still hopeful to escape under the cover of darkness, the captors discussed shifting the two brothers in the middle of the gunfight. But they panicked when the police started shooting off tracer bombs in the air, which illuminated the entire vicinity and helped the cop locate the exact location of the captive.

In the last few minutes before their escape, Ranjit Mandal first told his men to inject the two brothers with drugs and then also discussed killing them. But as he was running out of time and as the police closed in, the mastermind left the spot, leaving the two brothers and five armed men behind. Soon, the cops reached and rescued them. The cops also recovered six pistols, 15 live cartridges, drugs and some food items from the spot, located in the hilly terrain of the Kajra forest, around 200km east of Patna.

Though the police arrested five of his associates, the abduction mastermind, Ranjit Mandal known as Ranjit Don, who managed to slip away, is still absconding.

The area from where the brothers were recovered is considered to be the hotbed of Maoists. In 2010, a Bihar Military Police jawan was killed while three other policemen were held captive by the rebels in this very area. It also confirmed the long-held suspicion that the criminals and Maoists have developed a working understanding between them. According to preliminary inputs, the captors had offered half of the ransom amount to Naxalites in lieu of using their safe hideout.

Earlier this year, the enforcement directorate had attached Ranjit's property in a money laundering Act. In his 12-year career in the world of crime, Ranjit Mandal is known to have committed several crimes using many pseudonyms. The Marwari speaking Gopal Goel was his latest.

On Thursday, the three recent victims of the abduction gang  all three who fell for similar baits  Suresh, Kapil and Narayan Yadav deposed their statements before a judicial magistrate in Patna before safely returning to their destinations.

As the judicial process rolls on, the cops are still looking for Ranjit Mandal. But their strenuous routine will surely slow them down in times to come. And then Ranjit Don will procure a new SIM card to reach out to someone he would consider abduction-worthy.

So if you are an established businessman or contractor outside Bihar, you know what to do if someone unknown calls you promising a lucrative contract in Bihar.
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Ltd., Invitrogen Argentina SA, Invitrogen BioServices India Private Limited, Invitrogen Europe Limited, Invitrogen Finance Corp., Invitrogen Holdings LLC, Invitrogen Holdings Ltd., Invitrogen Hong Kong Limited, Invitrogen IP Holdings Inc., Invitrogen Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Ion Torrent Systems Inc., Ionalytics Corporation, JSC Thermo Fisher Scientific, Jouan LLC, Jouan Limited, Jouan SA, Kendro Containment & Services Limited, Kendro Laboratory Products Ltd, Kettlebrook Insurance Co. ltd., Keystone Scientific, KonTEM GmbH, Kyle Jordan Investments LLC, LIFE TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION, LTC Tech South Africa PTY Ltd., La-Pha-Pack GmbH, Lab Vision (UK) Limited, Lab Vision Corporation, Lab-Chrom-Pack LLC, Lab-Line Instruments Inc., Labomex MBP S. de R. L. De C.V., Laboratoire Service International - L.S.I, Laboratory Management Systems Inc., Laboratory Specialties Proprietary Ltd., LambTrack Limited, Laser Analytical Systems Inc., Liberty Lane Investment LLC, Liberty Lane Real Estate Holding Company LLC, Life Sciences International (Poland) SP z O.O, Life Sciences International Holdings BV, Life Sciences International LLC, Life Sciences International Limited, Life Technologies AS, Life Technologies Australia PTY Ltd., Life Technologies BPD AB, Life Technologies BPD UK Limited, Life Technologies Brasil Comercio e Industria de Produtos para Biotecnologia Ltda, Life Technologies Chile SpA, Life Technologies Clinical Services Lab Inc., Life Technologies Co. Ltd., Life Technologies Czech Republic s.r.o., Life Technologies DaAn Diagnostic (Guangzhou) Co. Ltd., Life Technologies Europe B.V., Life Technologies Finance Ltd., Life Technologies Finland Oy, Life Technologies GmbH, Life Technologies Holdings PTE Ltd., Life Technologies Inc., Life Technologies International B.V., Life Technologies Japan Ltd., Life Technologies Korea LLC, Life Technologies Limited, Life Technologies Magyarorszag Kft, Life Technologies New Zealand Ltd., Life Technologies Norway Investments US LLC, Life Technologies Polska Sp z.o.o., Life Technologies SA, Life Technologies SAS, Life Technologies s.r.o, Linkage Biosciences Inc., Linkage Biosciences S.a.r.l., Loftus Furnace Company, Lomb Scientific, Lomb Scientific (Aust) Pty Limited, MTI-GlobalStem, Marketbase International Limited, Matrix MicroScience Inc., Matrix MicroScience Ltd., Matrix Technologies Corporation Limited, Matrix Technologies LLC, Maybridge Chemical Company Limited, Maybridge Chemical Holdings Limited, Maybridge Limited, Medical Analysis Systems Inc., Medical Analysis Systems International Inc., Medical Diagnostics Systems Inc., Metavac LLC, Microgenics Corporation, Microgenics Diagnostics Pty Limited, Microgenics GmbH, Microm International GmbH, Microm Laborgerate S.L.U, Molecular BioProducts Inc., Molecular Probes Inc., Molecular Transfer Inc., NAPCO Inc., NERL Diagnostics LLC, NOVODIRECT GmbH Labor- und Industrie- Megerate, Nalge (Europe) Limited, Nalge Nunc International (Monterrey) LLC, Nalge Nunc International Corporation, Nanjing WeiKangLe Trading Industrial Co Ltd, NanoDrop Technologies LLC, National Scientific Company, Navaho Acquisition Corp., Neomarkers Inc., New FS Holdings Inc., NewcoGen PE LLC, Nihon Dynal K.K., Niton Asia Limited, NovaWave Technologies Inc., Nunc A/S, ONIX Systems Inc., OXOID CZ s.r.o., Odyssey Holdings Corporation, Odyssey Luxembourg Holdings S.a r.l., Odyssey Luxembourg IP Holdings 1 S.a r.l., Odyssey Luxembourg IP Holdings 2 S.a r.l., Odyssey Venture Corporation, Omega Data Systems, One Lambda Inc, Onix Holdings Limited, Orme Scientific Limited, Owl Separation Systems LLC, Oxoid (ELY) Limited, Oxoid 2000 Limited, Oxoid AS, Oxoid Australia Pty. Limited, Oxoid Company, Oxoid Deutschland GmbH, Oxoid Holding SAS, Oxoid Holdings Limited, Oxoid Inc., Oxoid International Limited, Oxoid Investments GmbH, Oxoid Limited, Oxoid N.V., Oxoid New Zealand Limited, Oxoid Pension Trustees Limited, Oxoid Senior Holdings Limited, Oxoid UKH LLC, PAX - DSI Acquisition LLC, PE AG, Pacific Rim Far East Industries LLC, Pacific Rim Investment LLC, Panomics L.L.C., Panomics S.R.L., Patheon, Patheon API Inc., Patheon API Manufacturing Inc., Patheon API Services Inc., Patheon Austria GmbH & Co KG, Patheon B.V., Patheon Banner U.S. Holdings Inc., Patheon Biologics (NJ) LLC, Patheon Biologics Australia Pty Ltd, Patheon Biologics B.V., Patheon Biologics LLC, Patheon Calculus Merger LLC, Patheon Cooperatief U.A., Patheon Development Services Inc., Patheon Finance LLC, Patheon France SAS, Patheon Holdings B.V., Patheon Holdings I B.V., Patheon Holdings II B.V., Patheon Holdings SAS, Patheon I B.V., Patheon I Holding GmbH, Patheon Inc., Patheon International AG, Patheon Italia S.p.A., Patheon KK, Patheon Life Science Products International GmbH, Patheon Manufacturing Services LLC, Patheon Pharmaceuticals Inc., Patheon Pharmaceuticals Services Inc., Patheon Puerto Rico Acquisitions Corporation, Patheon Puerto Rico Inc., Patheon Regensburg GmbH, Patheon Softgels B.V., Patheon Softgels Inc., Patheon U.S. Holdings Inc., Patheon U.S. Holdings LLC, Patheon UK Limited, Patheon UK Pension Trustees Limited, Pelican Acquisition Corporation, Perbio Science (Canada) Company, Perbio Science AB, Perbio Science BVBA, Perbio Science France SAS, Perbio Science Inc., Perbio Science International Netherlands B.V., Perbio Science Invest AB, Perbio Science Nederland B.V., Perbio Science Projekt AB, Perbio Science Sweden Holdings AB, Perbio Science Switzerland SA, Perbio Science UK Limited, Phadia AB, Phadia Diagnosticos Ltda, Phadia GmbH, Phadia Holding AB, Phadia International Holdings C.V., Phadia Korea Co. Ltd, Phadia Luxembourg Holdings S.a.r.l., Phadia Malta Holdings Limited, Phadia Oy, Phadia Real Property AB, Phadia Sweden AB, Phadia Taiwan Inc., Phadia US Inc., Phadia s.r.o., Pharmacaps Mexicana SA de CV, Phenom-World B.V., Phenom-World Holding B.V, Phenom-World Innovations B.V., Phinotex, Pierce Biotechnology Inc., Pierce Milwaukee Holding Corp., Pierce Milwaukee Inc., Polychromix, Power Sweden Holdings I AB, Power Sweden Holdings II AB, Power Sweden Holdings III Aktiebolag, Princeton Gamma-Tech Instruments LLC, Princeton Security Technologies, Prionics AG, Prionics Asia Ltd., Prionics Deutschland GmbH, Prionics France SAS, Prionics Italia S.r.l., Prionics Lelystad B.V., Prionics USA Inc., Priority Air Express LLC, Priority Air Express Pte. Ltd., Priority Air Express UK Limited, Priority Air Holdings Corp, Priority Solutions International, Promedica Pty Limited, Proxeon, Proxeon Biosystems ApS, Qiagen, REP GBP I-B Blocker Inc., Raymond A Lamb Limited, Remel Europe Limited, Remel Inc., Richard-Allan Scientific Company, Robbins Scientific LLC, Robocon Labor- und Industrieroboter Gesellschaft m.b.H, Rupprecht and Patashnick, Rupprecht and Patashnick (R&P), Russell pH Limited, S.C.I. du 10 rue Dugay Trouin, SCI Inno 92, STC Bio Manufacturing Inc., Samco Scientific (Monterrey) LLC, Samco Scientific LLC, Saroph Sweden AB, Schantz Road LLC, Seradyn Inc., Shanghai Life Technologies Biotechnology Co. Limited, Shanghai Thermo Fisher (C-I) Trading Co. Ltd, Shanghai Thermo Fisher (S) Trading Co. Ltd, Southern Trials (Pty) Ltd., Specialty (SMI) Inc., Spectra-Physics AB, Spectra-Physics Holdings Limited, Spectra-Physics Holdings USA LLC, Spectronex, Staten Island Cogeneration Corporation, Sterilin Limited, Stokes Bio Ltd., Sweden DIA (Sweden) AB, SwissAnalytic Group GmbH, Systems Manufacturing Corporation, TFLP LLC, TFS Breda B.V., TFS LLC, TFS Singapore HK Limited, TFSL Financing GP LLC, TFSL Senior GP Holdings 2 LLC, TK Partnership, TKA Wasseraufbereitungssysteme, TMOI Inc., TPI Real Estate Holdings LLC, TSP Holdings I LLC, TWX LLC, Technology Design Solutions Pty Ltd, Thermedics Detection de Argentina S.R.L, Thermo Allen Coding Limited, Thermo Asset Management Services Inc., Thermo BioAnalysis LLC, Thermo BioAnalysis Limited, Thermo BioSciences Holdings LLC, Thermo CIDTEC, Thermo CRS Holdings Ltd., Thermo CRS Ltd., Thermo Cambridge Limited, Thermo Cayman Holdings Ltd., Thermo Corporation, Thermo DMA Inc., Thermo Detection de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Thermo Dutch Holdings Limited Partnership, Thermo EGS Gauging LLC, Thermo Eberline Holdings I LLC, Thermo Eberline Holdings II LLC, Thermo Eberline LLC, Thermo Electron (Calgary) Limited, Thermo Electron (Chile) S.p.A., Thermo Electron (Karlsruhe) GmbH, Thermo Electron (Management Services) Limited, Thermo Electron (Proprietary) Limited, Thermo Electron A/S, Thermo Electron Australia Pty Limited, Thermo Electron Export Inc., Thermo Electron Holdings SAS, Thermo Electron Industries, Thermo Electron LED GmbH, Thermo Electron LED S.A.S., Thermo Electron Limited, Thermo Electron Manufacturing Limited, Thermo Electron Metallurgical Services Inc., Thermo Electron North America LLC, Thermo Electron Pension Trust GmbH, Thermo Electron Puerto Rico Inc., Thermo Electron SAS, Thermo Electron Scientific Instruments LLC, Thermo Electron Sweden AB, Thermo Electron Sweden Forvaltning AB, Thermo Electron Weighing & Inspection Limited, Thermo Elemental Limited, Thermo Environmental Instruments LLC, Thermo Fast U.K. Limited, Thermo Finland Holdings LLC, Thermo Finland Holdings MT1 B.V., Thermo Finland Holdings MT2 B.V., Thermo Finnigan LLC, Thermo Finnigan Limited, Thermo Fisher (CN) Luxembourg Holding S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher (CN) Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher (CN) Malta Holdings Limited, Thermo Fisher (CN-I) Luxembourg LLC, Thermo Fisher (CN-II) Luxembourg LLC, Thermo Fisher (Cayman) Holdings I Ltd., Thermo Fisher (Cayman) Holdings II Ltd., Thermo Fisher (Finland Holdings 2) LLC, Thermo Fisher (Finland Holdings) Limited Partnership, Thermo Fisher (Gibraltar) II Limited, Thermo Fisher (Gibraltar) Limited, Thermo Fisher (Heysham) Limited, Thermo Fisher (Kandel) GmbH, Thermo Fisher CHK Holding LLC, Thermo Fisher China Business Trust, Thermo Fisher China Business Trust II, Thermo Fisher Costa Rica Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada, Thermo Fisher Cyprus Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Detection Mexico LLC, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics (Ireland) Limited, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics AB, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics AG, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics AS, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics Aps, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics Austria GmbH, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics B.V., Thermo Fisher Diagnostics GmbH, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics K.K., Thermo Fisher Diagnostics Limited, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics NV, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics S.L.U., Thermo Fisher Diagnostics S.p.A. , Thermo Fisher Diagnostics SAS, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics Sociedade Unipessoal Lda, Thermo Fisher Eurobonds Ltd., Thermo Fisher Financial Services Inc., Thermo Fisher GP LLC, Thermo Fisher German Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Germany B.V., Thermo Fisher India Divestco Private Limited, Thermo Fisher India Holding B.V., Thermo Fisher Insurance Holdings Inc., Thermo Fisher Insurance Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Investments (Cayman) Ltd., Thermo Fisher Israel Ltd., Thermo Fisher Production et Services SAS, Thermo Fisher Project Cyprus LLC, Thermo Fisher Re Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Asheville) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Australia) C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Barbados) Holdings Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Breda) Holding BV, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Bremen) GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific (CN) Limited Partnership, Thermo Fisher Scientific (China) Co. Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific (China) Holding Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific (China-HK) Holding Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific (DE) Holding S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Ecublens) SARL, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Finance I) B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Finance I) S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Finance II) S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Finance III) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Finance III) S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Fuji) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Guangzhou) Co. Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Holding II) B.V. & Co. KG, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Hong Kong) Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific (IVGN) B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific (IVGN) Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Johannesburg) (Proprietary) Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Mexico City) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Milwaukee) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Mississauga) Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Monterrey) S. De R.L. De C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific (NK) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (PN) Austria Holding GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific (PN) UK LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (PN) UK Limited Partnership, Thermo Fisher Scientific (PN-I) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific (PN-II) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific (PN1) UK Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Panama) B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Panama) Dutch LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Praha) s.r.o., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Real Estate 1) GmbH & Co. KG, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Real Estate 1) S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Schweiz) AG, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Shanghai) Instruments Co. Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Shanghai) Management Co. Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Suzhou) Instruments Co. Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific AL-1 LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific AU C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific AU II Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific AU LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific AU Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Africa Proprietary Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific Aquasensors LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Australia Pty Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific B.V.B.A., Thermo Fisher Scientific BHK (I) Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific BHK (II) Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Baltics UAB, Thermo Fisher Scientific Beteiligungsverwaltungs GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific Biosciences Corp., Thermo Fisher Scientific Brahms LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Brasil Instrumentos de Processo Ltda., Thermo Fisher Scientific Brasil Servicos de Logistica Ltda, Thermo Fisher Scientific C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Cayman Investments LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Chemicals Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific China (C-I) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific China (S) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific China Holdings I B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific China Holdings II B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific China Holdings III B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific China Holdings IV B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Chromatography Holdings Aps, Thermo Fisher Scientific Chromatography Holdings S.a r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Cyprus I C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Cyprus I Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific Cyprus II C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Cyprus II Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific Cyprus III C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Cyprus III Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific Cyprus IV C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Cyprus V C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Denmark Senior Holdings ApS, Thermo Fisher Scientific Erie 1 Financing (Barbados) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific Erie Financing (Barbados) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific Erie Financing S.a r.l, Thermo Fisher Scientific Europe GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific FLC B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific FLC Finance C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific FLC II B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific FLC LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific FSIR Financing (Barbados) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific FSIR Financing S.a.r.l, Thermo Fisher Scientific FSUKHCO Financing (Barbados) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific Falcon Senior Holdings Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific Finance Company BV, Thermo Fisher Scientific GENEART GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific Germany BV & Co. KG, Thermo Fisher Scientific GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific HR Services Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Holdings (Cayman) I, Thermo Fisher Scientific Holdings (Cayman) II , Thermo Fisher Scientific Holdings Europe Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific IT Services GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific India Holding LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific India Pvt Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific Investments (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Investments (Malta) Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Investments (Sweden) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Investments (Sweden) S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Investments Malta (Sweden Financing) Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Invitrogen Financing (Barbados) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific Japan Holdings I B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Japan Holdings II B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Japan Holdings III B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific K.K., Thermo Fisher Scientific Korea Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific LSI Financing (Barbados) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life CV GP Holdings II LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life CV GP Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Enterprises C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Enterprises GP LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Financing (Barbados) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Financing (Cayman), Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Financing C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Financing Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Holdings I C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Holdings II C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Holdings III C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Holdings Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life International GP Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life International Holdings I C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life International Holdings II C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments GP LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments I S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments II S.a r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments III S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments IV S.a.r.l, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments Malta Holding I LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments Malta Holding II LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments Malta I Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments Malta II Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments US Financing I LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments US Financing II LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life NL Holdings GP LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Netherlands Holding C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Senior GP Holdings II LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Senior GP Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Senior Holdings C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Senior Holdings II C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Senior Holdings Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Switzerland Holdings GP LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Tech Korea Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Enterprise Holding Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Investment I LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Investment II LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Investment UK I Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Investment UK II Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Investments Holding LP, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Israel Investment I Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Israel Investment II Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Luxembourg Holding LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Luxembourg Enterprise Holdings S.a r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Luxembourg German Holdings S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Luxembourg Life Technologies UK Holding S.a r.l, Thermo Fisher Scientific Luxembourg Sweden Holdings I S.a r.l, Thermo Fisher Scientific Luxembourg Sweden Holdings II S.a r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Luxembourg Venture Holdings I S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Luxembourg Venture Holdings II S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Thermo Fisher Scientific Malta Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Messtechnik GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific Mexico City S. de R.L. de C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Middle East Holdings Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific Milano Srl, Thermo Fisher Scientific NHK Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific New Zealand Holdings, Thermo Fisher Scientific New Zealand Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Norway Holdings AS, Thermo Fisher Scientific Norway US Investments LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Odyssey Financing (Barbados) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific Odyssey Holdings Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Operating Company LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Oy, Thermo Fisher Scientific PN2 C.V, Thermo Fisher Scientific PN2 LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific PRB LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific PRB Malta Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific PRB S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Panama I Cayman Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific Peru S.R.L., Thermo Fisher Scientific Pte. Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific Re Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific SL, Thermo Fisher Scientific Senior Financing LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Senior Holdings Australia LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific South Africa Proprietary Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific SpA, Thermo Fisher Scientific Spectra LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Spectra Malta Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Spectra S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Spectra-Physics Holdings Luxembourg I S.a r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Spectra-Physics Holdings Luxembourg II S.a r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Spectra-Physics Investments Malta Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Switzerland Holdings C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific TR Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Taiwan Co. Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific Vermogensverwaltungs GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific West Palm Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Wissenschaftliche Gerate GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific Worldwide Investments (Cayman), Thermo Fisher Scientific eCommerce Solutions LLC , Thermo Fisher Senior Canada Holdings LLC, Thermo Foundation Inc., Thermo Gamma-Metrics Holdings Pty Ltd., Thermo Gamma-Metrics LLC, Thermo Gamma-Metrics Pty Ltd, Thermo Holding European Operations LLC, Thermo Hypersil Ltd, Thermo Hypersil-Keystone LLC, Thermo Informatics Asia Pacific Pty Ltd., Thermo Instrument Controls de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Thermo Kevex X-Ray LLC, Thermo Keytek LLC, Thermo LabSystems Inc., Thermo LabSystems S.A., Thermo Life Science International Trading (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., Thermo Life Sciences AB, Thermo Luxembourg Holding S.a.r.l., Thermo Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Thermo MF Physics LLC, Thermo Measurement Ltd, Thermo Measuretech Canada Inc., Thermo Neslab LLC, Thermo Nicolet Limited, Thermo Onix Limited, Thermo Optek (Australia) Pty Ltd., Thermo Optek Limited, Thermo Optek S.A., Thermo Orion Inc., Thermo Portable Holdings LLC, Thermo Power Corporation, Thermo Process Instruments GP LLC, Thermo Process Instruments L.P., Thermo Projects Limited, Thermo Quest S.A., Thermo Radiometrie Limited, Thermo Ramsey Italia S.r.l., Thermo Ramsey LLC, Thermo Ramsey S.A., Thermo Re Ltd., Thermo Scientific Microbiology Pte Ltd., Thermo Scientific Microbiology Sdn Bhd, Thermo Scientific Portable Analytical Instruments Inc., Thermo Scientific Services Inc., Thermo Securities Corporation, Thermo Sentron Canada Inc., Thermo Sentron Limited, Thermo Shandon Inc., Thermo Shandon Limited, Thermo Suomi Holding B.V., Thermo TLH (UK) Limited, Thermo TLH L.P., Thermo Trace Pty Ltd., Thermo-Fisher Biochemical Product (Beijing) Co. Ltd., ThermoLase LLC, ThermoSpectra Limited, Trek Diagnostic Systems LLC, Trek Diagnostic Systems Ltd., Trek Holding Company II Ltd., Trek Holding Company Ltd., Trex Medical Corporation, USB Corporation, Union Lab Supplies Limited, United Diagnostics Inc., VG Systems Limited, Westover Scientific Inc., ZAO PE Biosystems, eBioscience GmbH, eBioscience Ltd, eBioscience SAS, and picoSpin LLC.

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Standard Motor Products, Inc. manufactures and distributes replacement parts that are used in the maintenance, repair, and service of vehicles in the automotive aftermarket industry with a complementary focus on specialized original equipment parts for manufacturers across agriculture, heavy duty, and construction equipment industries. The company's Engine Management segment provides electronic ignition control modules, camshaft and crankshaft position sensors, ignition wires and coils, switches and relays, exhaust gas recirculation valves, pressure and temperature sensors, variable valve timing components, mass airflow and fuel pressure sensors, electronic throttle bodies, and diesel injectors and pumps; and anti-lock brake, vehicle speed, tire pressure monitoring, and park assist sensors. This segment offers its products under the Standard, Blue Streak, BWD, Intermotor, OEM, SMP Blue Streak Canada, GP Sorensen, Locksmart, Standard Motorcycle, and Blue Streak Race Wires brands. Its Temperature Control segment provides components for the temperature control systems, engine cooling systems, power window accessories, and windshield washer systems of motor vehicles under the Four Seasons, ACI, Hayden, Factory Air, and Maxair brands. Its products include air conditioning compressors and repair kits, clutch assemblies, blower and radiator fan motors, filter dryers, evaporators, accumulators, actuators, hose assemblies, thermal expansion devices, heater valves, heater cores, A/C service tools and chemicals, fan assemblies, fan clutches, oil coolers, window lift motors, window regulators and assemblies, and windshield washer pumps. The company serves primarily automotive aftermarket retailers, warehouse distributors, original equipment manufacturers, and original equipment service part operations in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, Mexico, and other Latin American countries. The company was founded in 1919 and is headquartered in Long Island City, New York.
Suncor Energy Inc. operates as an integrated energy company. The company primarily focuses on developing petroleum resource basins in Canada's Athabasca oil sands; explores, acquires, develops, produces, transports, refines, and markets crude oil in Canada and internationally; markets petroleum and petrochemical products under the Petro-Canada name primarily in Canada. It operates through Oil Sands; Exploration and Production; Refining and Marketing; and Corporate and Eliminations segments. The Oil Sands segment recovers bitumen from mining and in situ operations, and upgrades it into refinery feedstock and diesel fuel, or blends the bitumen with diluent for direct sale to market. The Exploration and Production segment is involved in offshore operations off the east coast of Canada and in the North Sea; and operating onshore assets in Libya and Syria. The Refining and Marketing segment refines crude oil and intermediate feedstock into various petroleum and petrochemical products; and markets refined petroleum products to retail, commercial, and industrial customers through its other retail sellers. The Corporate and Eliminations segment operates four wind farms in Ontario and Western Canada. The company also markets and trades in crude oil, natural gas, byproducts, refined products, and power. The company was formerly known as Suncor Inc. and changed its name to Suncor Energy Inc. in April 1997. Suncor Energy Inc. was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.
Humana Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a health and well-being company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Retail, Group and Specialty, and Healthcare Services. The company offers medical and supplemental benefit plans to individuals. It also has a contract with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to administer the Limited Income Newly Eligible Transition prescription drug plan program; and contracts with various states to provide Medicaid, dual eligible, and long-term support services benefits. In addition, the company provides commercial fully insured medical and specialty health insurance benefits comprising dental, vision, and other supplemental health benefits; and administrative services only products to individuals and employer groups, as well as military services, such as TRICARE T2017 East Region contract. Further, it offers pharmacy solutions, provider services, and home solutions services, such as home health and other services to its health plan members, as well as to third parties. As of December 31, 2021, the company had approximately 17 million members in medical benefit plans, as well as approximately 5 million members in specialty products. Humana Inc. was founded in 1961 and is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.
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.
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.
Carnival Corporation & plc is a leisure travel company operating a fleet of cruise ships, hotels, and resorts with international destinations. Brands under the Carnival Corporation umbrella include Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Holland America, P&O Cruises, Seaborn, Costa Cruises, AIDA Cruises, and Cunard. The companys goal is to provide extraordinary vacations at an exceptional value. As of 2022, the company laid claim to nearly half of the global cruising market share with several new ships in the works.

Carnival Cruise Line was launched in 1972 with one second-hand ship and a tank of fuel. The first port of call was San Juan, Puerto Rico, but soon more were added. The original growth strategy included a festive atmosphere, features and amenities unlike any other cruise line at the time. Slow to start, the growth strategy shifted into overdrive in 1980 when Carnival shocked the world by building its own ship. The Tropicale became an iconic name in the cruising industry and sparked a wave of shipbuilding that is still underway.

The companys growth hit a new stride in 1987 following the IPO which floated 20% of the company on the open market. The proceeds from the IPO allowed the company to embark on a voyage of acquisition and now Carnival is the worlds largest travel and leisure business.

Today, Carnival Corporations 87 ships visit approximately 700 ports worldwide and employ more than 120,000 people while serving more than 13 million guests annually for a total of 85 million passenger cruise days per year. Net revenue, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, peaked out at over $6.5 billion annually.

Carnival Cruise Line is the companys largest brand serving guests on all coasts of North America. The brand's 22 ships make 1500 voyages per year with trips ranging from 2 days to 3 weeks and ports of call from the Caribbean to Alaska. The company's largest ship is named Panorama and can accommodate more than 4,000 passengers.

Carnivals 9 brands provide access to a wide range of cruising styles and destinations including the Caribbean, Alaska, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, England, and ports in Asia. The company is headquartered in Miami, Florida and has offices around the world. The company also has the distinction of being the only company included in both the S&P 500 and FTSE 250 indices.
The Progressive Corporation, an insurance holding company, provides personal and commercial auto, personal residential and commercial property, general liability, and other specialty property-casualty insurance products and related services in the United States. It operates in three segments: Personal Lines, Commercial Lines, and Property. The Personal Lines segment writes insurance for personal autos and recreational vehicles (RV). This segment's products include personal auto insurance; and special lines products, including insurance for motorcycles, ATVs, RVs, watercrafts, snowmobiles, and related products. The Commercial Lines segment provides auto-related primary liability and physical damage insurance, and business-related general liability and property insurance for autos, vans, pick-up trucks, and dump trucks used by small businesses; tractors, trailers, and straight trucks primarily used by regional general freight and expeditor-type businesses, and long-haul operators; dump trucks, log trucks, and garbage trucks used by dirt, sand and gravel, logging, and coal-type businesses; and tow trucks and wreckers used in towing services and gas/service station businesses; as well as non-fleet and airport taxis, and black-car services. The Property segment writes residential property insurance for homeowners, other property owners, and renters, as well as offers personal umbrella insurance, and primary and excess flood insurance. The company also offers policy issuance and claims adjusting services; and acts as an agent to homeowner general liability, workers' compensation insurance, and other products. In addition, it provides reinsurance services. The company sells its products through independent insurance agencies, as well as directly on Internet through mobile devices, and over the phone. The Progressive Corporation was founded in 1937 and is headquartered in Mayfield, Ohio.
The following companies are subsidiares of Abbott Laboratories: 3A Nutrition (Vietnam) Company Limited, ABON Biopharm (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd., AGA Medical Belgium, AGA Medical Corporation, AGA Medical Holdings Inc., ALR Holdings, AML Medical LLC, APK Advanced Medical Technologies LLC, ATS Bermuda Holdings Limited, ATS Laboratories Inc., Abbott, Abbott (Jiaxing) Nutrition Co. Ltd., Abbott (UK) Finance Limited, Abbott (UK) Holdings Limited, Abbott AG, Abbott Asia Holdings Limited, Abbott Asia Investments Limited, Abbott Australasia Holdings Limited, Abbott Australasia Pty Ltd, Abbott B.V., Abbott Bahamas Overseas Businesses Corporation, Abbott Belgian Investments, Abbott Bermuda Holding Ltd., Abbott Biologicals B.V., Abbott Biologicals LLC, Abbott Bulgaria Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Capital India Limited, Abbott Cardiovascular Inc., Abbott Cardiovascular Systems Inc., Abbott Delaware LLC, Abbott Diabetes Care Inc., Abbott Diabetes Care Limited, Abbott Diabetes Care Sales Corporation, Abbott Diagnostics GmbH, Abbott Diagnostics International Ltd., Abbott Diagnostics Technologies AS, Abbott Doral Investments S.L., Abbott Equity Holdings Unlimited, Abbott Equity Investments LLC, Abbott Established Products Holdings (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Finance Company SA, Abbott Financial Holdings SRL, Abbott France S.A.S., Abbott Fund Tanzania Limited, Abbott Gesellschaft m.b.H., Abbott GmbH & Co. KG, Abbott Health Products LLC, Abbott Healthcare (Puerto Rico) Ltd., Abbott Healthcare B.V., Abbott Healthcare Costa Rica S.A., Abbott Healthcare LLC, Abbott Healthcare Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Healthcare Private Limited, Abbott Healthcare Products B.V., Abbott Healthcare Products Ltd, Abbott Holding (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Holding GmbH, Abbott Holding Subsidiary (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Holding Subsidiary (Gibraltar) Limited Luxembourg S.C.S., Abbott Holdings B.V., Abbott Holdings LLC, Abbott Holdings Limited, Abbott Holdings Poland Spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Hungary Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Abbott Iberian Investments (2) Limited, Abbott Iberian Investments Limited, Abbott India Limited, Abbott Informatics Asia Pacific Limited, Abbott Informatics Canada Inc, Abbott Informatics Corporation, Abbott Informatics Europe Limited, Abbott Informatics France, Abbott Informatics Germany GmbH, Abbott Informatics Netherlands B.V., Abbott Informatics Singapore Pte. Limited, Abbott Informatics Spain S.A., Abbott Informatics Technologies Ltd, Abbott International Corporation, Abbott International Enterprises Ltd., Abbott International Holdings Limited, Abbott International LLC, Abbott International Luxembourg S.ar.l., Abbott Investments Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Ireland, Abbott Ireland Financing Designated Activity Company, Abbott Ireland Limited, Abbott Japan Co. Ltd., Abbott Kazakhstan Limited Liability Partnership, Abbott Knoll Investments B.V., Abbott Korea Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Bangladesh) Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Chile) Holdco (Dos) SpA, Abbott Laboratories (Chile) Holdco SpA, Abbott Laboratories (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Abbott Laboratories (Mozambique) Limitada, Abbott Laboratories (Pakistan) Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Philippines), Abbott Laboratories (Puerto Rico) Incorporated, Abbott Laboratories (Singapore) Private Limited, Abbott Laboratories A/S, Abbott Laboratories Argentina Sociedad Anonima, Abbott Laboratories B.V., Abbott Laboratories C.A., Abbott Laboratories Finance B.V., Abbott Laboratories GmbH, Abbott Laboratories Inc., Abbott Laboratories International LLC, Abbott Laboratories Ireland Limited, Abbott Laboratories Limited, Abbott Laboratories Limited - Laboratoires Abbott Limitee, Abbott Laboratories NZ Limited, Abbott Laboratories Pacific Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Poland Spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Laboratories Products B.V., Abbott Laboratories Residential Development Fund Inc., Abbott Laboratories S.A., Abbott Laboratories SA, Abbott Laboratories Services Corp., Abbott Laboratories Slovakia s.r.o., Abbott Laboratories South Africa (Pty) Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Trustee Company Limited, Abbott Laboratories Uruguay S.A., Abbott Laboratories Vascular Enterprises, Abbott Laboratories d.o.o., Abbott Laboratories de Chile Limitada, Abbott Laboratories de Colombia S.A., Abbott Laboratories de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Abbott Laboratories druzba za farmacijo in diagnostiko d.o.o., Abbott Laboratories s.r.o., Abbott Laboratories(Hellas) Societe Anonyme, Abbott Laboratorios S.A., Abbott Laboratorios S.A., Abbott Laboratorios del Ecuador Cia. Ltda., Abbott Laboratuarlari Ithalat Ihracat ve Ticaret Ltd.Sti, Abbott Laboratorios Lda, Abbott Laboratorios do Brasil Ltda., Abbott Limited Egypt LLC, Abbott Logistics B.V., Abbott Management GmbH, Abbott Management LLC, Abbott Manufacturing Singapore Private Limited, Abbott Mature Products International Unlimited Company, Abbott Mature Products Management Limited, Abbott Medical (Hong Kong) Limited, Abbott Medical (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Abbott Medical (Portugal) Distribuicao de Produtos Medicos Lda, Abbott Medical (Schweiz) AG, Abbott Medical (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Abbott Medical (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Australia Pty. Ltd., Abbott Medical Austria Ges.m.b.H., Abbott Medical Balkan d.o.o. Beograd (Novi Beograd), Abbott Medical Belgium, Abbott Medical Canada Inc./ Medicale Abbott Canada Inc., Abbott Medical Danmark A/S, Abbott Medical Devices Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Espana S.A., Abbott Medical Estonia OU, Abbott Medical Finland Oy, Abbott Medical France SAS, Abbott Medical GmbH, Abbott Medical Hellas Limited Liability Trading Company, Abbott Medical Ireland Limited, Abbott Medical Italia S.p.A., Abbott Medical Japan Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Korea Limited, Abbott Medical Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Abbott Medical Laboratories LTD, Abbott Medical Nederland B.V., Abbott Medical New Zealand Limited, Abbott Medical Norway AS, Abbott Medical Overseas Cyprus Limited, Abbott Medical Sweden AB, Abbott Medical Taiwan Co., Abbott Medical U.K. Limited, Abbott Medical spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Middle East S.A.R.L., Abbott Molecular Inc., Abbott Morocco SARL, Abbott Nederland C.V., Abbott Nederland Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Netherlands Investments B.V., Abbott Norge AS, Abbott Nutrition Limited, Abbott Nutrition Manufacturing Inc., Abbott Operations Singapore Pte. Ltd., Abbott Operations Uruguay S.R.L., Abbott Overseas Cyprus Limited, Abbott Overseas Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Overseas S.A., Abbott Oy, Abbott Point of Care Canada Limited, Abbott Point of Care Inc., Abbott Poland Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Procurement LLC, Abbott Products (Philippines) Inc., Abbott Products (Spain) S.L., Abbott Products Algerie EURL, Abbott Products B.V., Abbott Products Distribution SAS, Abbott Products Egypt LLC, Abbott Products Limited, Abbott Products Limited Liability Company, Abbott Products Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Products Operations AG, Abbott Products Operations LLC, Abbott Products Romania S.R.L., Abbott Products Tunisie S.A.R.L., Abbott Products Unlimited Company, Abbott Resources Inc., Abbott Resources International Inc., Abbott S.r.l., Abbott Saudi Arabia Trading Company, Abbott Scandinavia Aktiebolag, Abbott Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable, Abbott South Africa Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Strategic Opportunities Limited, Abbott Trading Company Inc., Abbott Universal LLC, Abbott Vascular Devices (2) Limited, Abbott Vascular Devices Limited, Abbott Vascular Inc., Abbott Vascular Instruments Deutschland GmbH, Abbott Vascular International, Abbott Vascular Japan Co. Ltd, Abbott Vascular Limitada, Abbott Vascular Netherlands B.V., Abbott Vascular Solutions Inc., Abbott Ventures Inc., Abbott West Indies Limited, Abbott drustvo sa ogranicenom odgovornoscu za trgovinu i usluge, Advanced Neuromodulation Systems Inc., Alere, Alere (Shanghai) Diagnostics Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Healthcare Management Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Medical Sales Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Technology Co. Ltd., Alere A/S, Alere AB, Alere AS, Alere AS Holdings Limited, Alere BBI Holdings Limited, Alere Bangladesh Limited, Alere China Co. Ltd., Alere Colombia S.A., Alere Connect LLC, Alere Connected Health Limited, Alere Connected Health Ltd., Alere Diagnostics GmbH, Alere DoA Holding GmbH, Alere GmbH, Alere GmbH (Austria), Alere GmbH (Germany), Alere HK Holdings Ltd., Alere Health B.V., Alere Health BVBA, Alere Health Corp., Alere Health Sdn Bhd, Alere Health Services B.V., Alere Healthcare (Pty) Limited, Alere Healthcare Connections Limited, Alere Healthcare Inc., Alere Healthcare Nigeria Limited, Alere Healthcare S.L., Alere Holdco Inc., Alere Holding GmbH, Alere Holdings Bermuda Limited, Alere Holdings Pty Limited, Alere Home Monitoring Inc., Alere Inc., Alere Informatics Inc., Alere International Holding Corp., Alere International Limited, Alere Lda, Alere Limited, Alere Limited (New Zealand), Alere Medical BVBA, Alere Medical Co. Ltd., Alere Medical Pakistan (Private) Limited, Alere Medical Private Limited, Alere North America LLC, Alere Oy Ab, Alere Philippines Inc., Alere Phoenix ACQ Inc., Alere Pte Ltd, Alere S.A., Alere S.r.l., Alere S/A, Alere SAS, Alere San Diego Inc., Alere Scarborough Inc., Alere Spain S.L., Alere Switzerland GmbH, Alere Technologies GmbH, Alere Technologies Holdings Limited, Alere Technologies Limited, Alere Toxicology AB, Alere Toxicology Inc., Alere Toxicology S.r.l., Alere Toxicology Services Inc., Alere Toxicology plc, Alere UK Holdings Limited, Alere UK Subco Limited, Alere ULC, Alere US Holdings LLC, Alere s.r.o., Alisoc Investment & Co, Amedica Biotech Inc., Ameditech Inc., American Generics S.A.S., American Medical Supplies Inc., American Pharmacist Inc., Antares S.A., Apica Cardiovascular Limited, Aquagestion Capacitacion S.A., Aquagestion S.A., Arriva Medical LLC, Arriva Medical Philippines Inc., Arvis Investments Limited, Atlas Farmaceutica S.A., Avee Laboratories Inc., Axis-Shield AD III AS, Axis-Shield AD IV AS, Axis-Shield AS, Axis-Shield Diagnostics Limited, Axis-Shield Ltd., BBI Animal Health Limited, BBI Diagnostics Group 2 Public Limited Company, Banco de Vida S.A., Bioabsorbable Vascular Solutions Inc., Bioalgae S.A., Biohealth LLC, Biosite Incorporated, Bosque Bonito S.A., Branan Medical Corporation, Brandex Europe C.V., British Colloids Limited, CFR Chile S.A., CFR Interamericas EL Salvador Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable, CFR Interamericas Nicaragua Sociedad Anonima, CFR Interamericas Panama S.A., CFR Pharmaceuticals, California Property Holdings III LLC, CardioMEMS LLC, Caripharm Inc., Cephea Valve Technologies, Cephea Valve Technologies Inc., Colibri Medical Aktiebolag, Comercializadora y Distribuidora CFR Interamericas Honduras S.A., Concateno South Limited, Concateno UK Limited, Consorcio Tecnologico en Biomedicina Clinico-Molecular S.A., Continuum Services LLC, Cozart Limited, Dextech S.A., Diagnostik Nord GmbH, Distribuciones Uquifa S.A.S., Domesco Medical Import-Export Joint-Stock Corporation, Duphar International Research B.V., Endocardial Solutions, Epocal (US) Inc, Esprit de Vie S.A., European Chemicals & Co, European Drug Testing Service EDTS AB, European Services S.A., Evalve Inc., Evalve International Inc., FARMINDUSTRIA S.A., Fada Pharma Paraguay Sociedad Anonima, Fadapharma del Ecuador S.A., Farmaceutica Mont Blanc S.L., Farmacologia Em Aquicultura Veterinaria Ltda., Farmacologia en Aquacultura Veterinaria FAV Ecuador S.A., Farmacologia en Aquacultura Veterinaria FAV S.A., Fernwood Investment S.A., First Check Diagnostics LLC, Focus Pharmaceutical S.A.S., Forensics Limited, Forestcreek Overseas S.A., Fournier Pharma Corp., Fournier Pharma GmbH, Fournier Pharmaceuticals Limited, Framed B.V., Gabmed GmbH, Garden Hills LLC, Global Analytical Development LLC, Globapharm & CO LP, Glomed Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Golnorth Investments S.A., Gynocare Limited, Gynopharm Sociedad Anonima, Gynopharm de Centroamerica S.A., Gynopharm de Venezuela C.A., Hi-Tronics Designs Inc., IDEV Technologies Inc., IG Innovations Limited, IMTC Finance B.V., IMTC Holdings B.V., IMTC Technologies Inc., Ibis Biosciences LLC, Igloo Zone Chile S.A., Igloo Zone S.L., Inmobiliaria Naknek S.A.C., Innovacon Inc., Instant Tech Subsidiary Acquisition Inc., Instant Technologies Inc., Instituto de Criopreservacion de Chile S.A., Integrated Vascular Systems Inc., Inverness Canadian Acquisition Corporation, Inverness Medical (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Inverness Medical Innovations Australia Pty Ltd., Inverness Medical Innovations Hong Kong Limited, Inverness Medical Innovations SK LLC, Inverness Medical Investments LLC, Inverness Medical LLC, Inverness Medical Shimla Private Limited, Inversiones K2 SpA, Inversiones Komodo S.R.L., Ionian Technologies LLC, Irvine Biomedical Inc., Kalila Medical, Kangshenyunga S.A., Knoll UK Investments Unlimited, LLC VeroInPharm, Laboratoires Fournier S.A.S., Laboratorio Franco Colombiano Lafrancol S.A.S., Laboratorio Franco Colombiano del Ecuador S.A., Laboratorio Internacional Argentino S.A., Laboratorio Synthesis S.A.S., Laboratorios Lafi Limitada, Laboratorios Naturmedik S.A.S., Laboratorios Pauly Pharmaceutical S.A.S., Laboratorios Recalcine S.A., Laboratorios Transpharm S.A., Laboratory Specialists of America Inc., Lafrancol Dominicana S.A.S., Lafrancol Guatemala S.A. Sociedad Anonima, Lafrancol Internacional S.A.S, Lafrancol Peru S.R.L, Lake Forest Investments LLC, Lightlab Imaging Inc., Limited Liability Company Abbott Laboratories, Limited Liability Company Abbott Ukraine, Limited Liability Company VEROPHARM, Lung Fung Hong (China) Limited, Mansbridge Pharmaceuticals Limited, MediGuide LLC, MediGuide Ltd., Medscreen Holdings Limited, Metropolitana Farmaceutica S.A., Midwest Properties LLC, Murex Argentina S.A., Murex Biotech Limited, Murex Biotech South Africa, Murex Diagnostics Inc., Murex Diagnostics International Inc., Natural Supplement Association LLC, Negocios Denia Sociedad Anonima, Neosalud S.A.C., Nether Pharma N.P. C.V., NeuroTherm LLC, Normann Pharma-Handels GmbH, North Shore Properties Inc., Novamedi S.A., Novasalud.com S.A., Nutravida S.A., OJSC Voronezhkhimpharm, Omnilab Iberia Sociedad Limitada, OptiMedica, Orgenics France SAS, Orgenics International Holdings B.V., Orgenics Ltd., PBM-Selfcare LLC, PDD II LLC, PDD LLC, PT Alere Health, PT. Abbott Indonesia, PT. Abbott Products Indonesia, Pacesetter Inc., Pantech (RF) (PTY) LTD, Pembrooke Occupational Health Inc., Penagos S.A., Pharma International Sociedad Anonima, Pharmaceutical Technologies (Pharmatech) S.A., Pharmatech Boliviana S.A., Polygon Labs S.A., Quality Assured Services Inc., RF Medical Holdings LLC, RTL Holdings Inc., Ramses Business Corp., Recben Xenerics Farmaceutica Limitada, Redwood Toxicology Laboratory Inc., Rich Horizons International Limited, SC VEROPHARM, SJ Medical Mexico S de R.L. de C.V., SJM International Inc., SJM Thunder Holding Company, SPDH Inc., Saboya Enterprises Corporation, Salviac Limited, Scanax AS, Sealing Solutions Inc., Selfcare Technology Inc., Shandong Abbott Dairy Product Co. Ltd., Shanghai Abbott Medical Devices Science and Technology Co. Ltd., Shanghai Abbott Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Shanghai Si Fa Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Sinensix & Co., Spinal Modulation LLC, St. Jude Medical, St. Jude Medical AB, St. Jude Medical ATG Inc., St. Jude Medical Argentina S.A., St. Jude Medical Asia Pacific Holdings GK, St. Jude Medical Atrial Fibrillation Division Inc., St. Jude Medical Brasil Ltda., St. Jude Medical Business Services Inc., St. Jude Medical Cardiology Division Inc., St. Jude Medical Colombia Ltda., St. Jude Medical Coordination Center, St. Jude Medical Costa Rica Limitada, St. Jude Medical Europe Inc., St. Jude Medical Export Ges.m.b.H., St. Jude Medical GVA Sarl, St. Jude Medical Holdings B.V., St. Jude Medical India Private Limited, St. Jude Medical International Holding, St. Jude Medical LLC, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings II, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings NT, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings SMI S.a r.l., St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings TC S.a r.l., St. Jude Medical Mexico Business Services S. de R.L. de C.V., St. Jude Medical Middle East DMCC, St. Jude Medical Operations (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., St. Jude Medical Puerto Rico LLC, St. Jude Medical S.C. Inc., St. Jude Medical Systems AB, St. Jude Medical Turkey Medikal Urunler Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Standard Diagnostics Inc., Standing Stone LLC, Swan-Myers Incorporated, TC1 LLC, Tendyne Holdings Inc., Tendyne Medical Inc., Thoratec Delaware LLC, Thoratec Europe Limited, Thoratec LLC, Thoratec Switzerland GmbH, Tobal Products Incorporated, Topera GmbH in Liquidation, Topera Inc., Tremora S.A., Tuenir S.A., TwistDx, UAB Abbott Laboratories, UAB Abbott Medical Lithuania, Union-Madison Realty Company Inc., Unipath Limited (dba Alere International/aka Cranfield), Unipath Management Limited, Unipath Pension Trustee Limited, Veropharm, Veropharm Limited Liability Partnership, Vida Cell Inversiones S.A., Vida Cell S.A., Vivalsol, W&R Pharma Handels GmbH, Western Pharmaceuticals S.A., X Technologies Inc., Yissum Holding Limited, ZonePerfect Nutrition Company, eScreen Canada ULC, eScreen Inc.,      ( ), and Abbott Laboratories Baltics.

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Duke Energy Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Electric Utilities and Infrastructure, Gas Utilities and Infrastructure, and Commercial Renewables. The Electric Utilities and Infrastructure segment generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electricity in the Carolinas, Florida, and the Midwest; and uses coal, hydroelectric, natural gas, oil, renewable generation, and nuclear fuel to generate electricity. It also engages in the wholesale of electricity to municipalities, electric cooperative utilities, and load-serving entities. This segment serves approximately 8.2 million customers in 6 states in the Southeast and Midwest regions of the United States covering a service territory of approximately 91,000 square miles; and owns approximately 50,259 megawatts (MW) of generation capacity. The Gas Utilities and Infrastructure segment distributes natural gas to residential, commercial, industrial, and power generation natural gas customers; and owns, operates, and invests in pipeline transmission and natural gas storage facilities. It has approximately 1.6 million customers, including 1.1 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, as well as 550,000 customers in southwestern Ohio and northern Kentucky. The Commercial Renewables segment acquires, owns, develops, builds, and operates wind and solar renewable generation projects, including nonregulated renewable energy and energy storage services to utilities, electric cooperatives, municipalities, and corporate customers. It has 23 wind, 178 solar, and 2 battery storage facilities, as well as 71 fuel cell locations with a capacity of 3,554 MW across 22 states. The company was formerly known as Duke Energy Holding Corp. and changed its name to Duke Energy Corporation in April 2005. The company was founded in 1904 and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.
God knows, I didnt want to go.

Las Vegas isnt my kind of town. Nevertheless, the city in the desert has been the site for our annual Special Operations Association reunion since 1976, when the fraternal organization was created.

For the most part, the association is made up of Vietnam-era U.S. Army Special Forces men, commonly known as Green Berets. We were members of a top-secret unit with the innocuous cover name Studies and Observations Group, or the acronym SOG.

Our mission was to conduct cross-border raids and small-team reconnaissance operations into Cambodia, Laos and North Vietnam. Laos and Cambodia were being used as sanctuary areas by the North Vietnamese Army and were loaded with ammunition dumps, truck parks, staging areas and a maze of two-lane dirt roads leading into South Vietnam.

It was imperative to keep an eye on the enemys movements, as well as to do as much damage as possible to their operations. There was no job more dangerous than ours during that long war, and at times our casualty rate neared 100 percent.

The enemy paid a much higher price in lost lives than we did. In what may be the most lopsided kill ratio for any ground combat force in the history of warfare, we killed an estimated 150 NVA for every man we lost.

I had been a recon team leader at the most northern camp. My team consisted of Vietnamese and Chinese Nung mercenaries, each of whom had years of combat experience.

We affectionately called our mercenaries the little people, and I knew there would be a few at the reunion. None of them would be mine.

I didnt dread going to the reunion because of lost friends who now live in my memory. I dreaded it because I know from long experience what I go through physiologically when I leave my comfort zone  which basically encompasses Albemarle County.

No matter how many times Ive told myself otherwise, whenever I move outside my established zone of comfort, my brain goes into live-fire-mission mode. I will not sleep; I will eat very little, and drink only water.

My brain will refuse to shut down. Until Im back in what it perceives as a safe place, it will constantly be reeling off an endless litany of things that can go wrong, and things to be aware of.

This hyper-alertness saved my life any number of times in Vietnam. Sadly, I cant convince this part of my mind that our war has been over for decades.

My recent trip affirmed that my mental survival mechanism is as good as it has ever been. I got a total of five hours of sleep in five days, and ate only one full meal.

So why can I tell you that I had one of the best times of my life? And why did I willingly endure that level of angst and sleep deprivation?

Its because I was once again with men who share with me a love so deep that no assemblage of words, regardless of elegance, can ever hope to explain. We are now stepping into the autumn of our lives, and we realize that these tender moments of brotherhood are rapidly fleeting.

The words I heard time and again during the reunion were Thank you, and I love you. These are probably not the words one would expect from some of the strongest and most lethal men on the planet.

But there was a time when we continuously laid our lives on the line for one another. And when we had known the coppery bite of blood, and had been held in the protective hands of God, we had been joined in a sacred bond.

Most of us have witnessed profound miracles. The man who sat to my left at the banquet had been shot, and then fell 150 feet from a crashing helicopter.

The Huey smashed into the ground next to him, and he came to amidst a field of wreckage. No one has ever been able to figure out why he wasnt chopped to pieces by the disintegrating rotor blades.

Earlier that day, a friend I havent seen for nearly 50 years came up to me and said, Dave, I have to tell you how I have always remembered you. I was heading back to my hooch after a mission, and you were heading to your hooch when you saw me.

I was covered in blood, and you thought it was my blood. You started asking where I was hit, and you were trying to help me. But it wasnt my blood. It was the blood of one of my little people I carried out.

How do I explain the feeling I had when I met for the first time a Cobra helicopter pilot who had played a major role in saving my team and me during a mission? If there are words to describe that, I dont know what they are.

I learned that one of my best friends, who had been terribly wounded during an incident I was part of, had languished and suffered in hospitals for 25 years before dying. I would have gone anywhere in the world to see him, if only I had known.

The days I spent at the reunion were filled with laughter, revelations and emotional moments. I was particularly touched by something I learned about when a close friend of mine happened to mention it.

All the beer at the reunion had been donated by Anheuser-Busch. They didnt do it as a promotional gimmick, but as a private, low-profile gesture of their appreciation for what we had done.

And all the liquor had been donated by one of our own, Tony Bandiera Jr. He had run recon missions out of the camp I had been at, and went on to own a string of liquor stores in Texas.

As odd as this may sound, I feel that those two heartfelt acts of generosity were the welcome home most of us had never gotten.
The fossil fuel divestment movement is gaining steam on University of Virginia Grounds, but its getting a cold reception from the universitys Board of Visitors.

The students are part of a nationwide movement pressuring trustees at universities to divest from the fossil fuel industry because of the industrys role in global climate change.

The national movement has made gains at other universities  Yale, Syracuse and Georgetown, among others  where students have gotten administrations to agree to full or partial divestment.

The University of Mary Washington became the first Virginia institution to divest in April following a lengthy campaign by students that included sit-ins and arrests.

Maria DeHart, a member of the movement at UVa, said shes worried it could come to that at the university. The main problem is getting the Board of Visitors to give the idea a public hearing.

So far, DeHart said, the university has pursued an inside strategy of meeting with individual officials, but it hasnt resulted in anything substantial.

The group  which has about 900 supporters on Facebook  is looking for a discussion in one of the boards open sessions, which doesnt seem likely, DeHart said.

They are just obviously not interested in putting it on the agenda, she said. We may have to follow the model of other schools  bringing attention to the issue and publicizing it even though [Board of Visitors] members dont want us to.

The students are also pushing the University Investment Management Company, known as UVIMCO, to conduct a feasibility study. UVIMCO officials did not respond to requests for comment, while William H. Goodwin, rector of UVa, declined to comment on it.

But there are questions about the viability and the effectiveness of divestment. Experts differ on the financial impact, and critics say its irresponsible for school officials  tasked with financial stewardship of the institution  to do anything that could undercut a universitys ability to make money.

Divestment movements are nothing new. UVa students have in the past successfully pushed officials to divest from businesses that supported oppressive regimes. Campaigns to divest from companies doing business associated with apartheid in South Africa, the Sudanese government during the war in Darfur and the Burmese military junta of the late 1990s and early 2000s have been successful.

Divest UVa sees climate change as the next great ethical challenge, but critics worry about the financial impact of taking such a dramatic step. Other universities have dealt with this concern through partial divestment. After speaking with investment managers, Yale administrators agreed to remove about $10 million in investments in two fossil fuel producers from the schools endowment portfolio.

Georgetown divested from companies whose principal business is mining coal for use in energy production, prompting some people to criticize administrators for being too conservative.

University officials are in a tight spot.

Trustee boards have a responsibility to make the best possible financial decisions for their institution, said Ronald G. Ehrenberg, an economics professor at Cornell University and member of the board for the State University of New York.

But some schools have determined that divesting from fossil fuel companies, at a time when people are increasingly looking toward alternative energy, wont hurt the institution, Ehrenberg said.

For many investors, the question is not whether to get out of fossil fuel, but at what point it makes financial sense to do so, he said.

An analysis by UMW found the schools $41 million endowment would not be hurt by 99 percent divestment from the 200 largest fossil fuel companies.

Typically, said Ehrenberg, institutions that fully or partially divested from fossil fuels did so based on research that purports to show that investment in other entities is equally as positive and the claim that over long periods of time investments in fossil fuel entities will prove to be less positive because of growing reliance on other forms of energy.

There are also questions about whether divestment is actually an effective conservation tactic. Environmental economists, including Frank Wolak of Stanford University and Robert Stavins at Harvard, have dismissed the movement as a tool of environmental change, saying students should instead focus on carbon-reduction efforts.

DeHart said Divest UVa is intent on sending a message, above all. Whatever else happens, the group will not let the issue die quietly.

These industries will survive without UVa support, but it makes a difference in UVa making a moral stand as an institution, she said. Were going to try to make them make a decision with all eyes on them.
Carson Kauffman was born severely premature. He entered the world after just a 26-week gestation, and was kept in a neonatal intensive care unit in New Jersey, where he was born, for 93 days.

His adoptive parents, Heather Fox-Kauffman and Steve Kauffman, made the journey from Carlisle to see their new baby boy several times a week.

Midway through Carsons stay in the NICU, the medical staff told the couple they had noticed some possible signs of Down syndrome.

The nose, the lowering of his ears, the crease in his hands, the separation of the toes, remembers Fox-Kauffman. We looked at them like they were from another planet. We were not seeing any symptoms or signs that the doctor was seeing, but we agreed to have the genetic testing done.

The results came back positive; they were informed over the phone.

On their next trip to the hospital, Fox-Kauffman and her husband were met by social workers and hospital employees, who had drawn up the paperwork that would allow the couple to give Carson back.

They were appalled.

We were like, excuse me. They assumed with the diagnosis we wouldnt want him, but we dont know where they would come up with that. Hes our son. You cant give a baby back when you have a baby born with Down syndrome, so no way, she says.

Carson came home six weeks later. For a week, he was on a feeding tube that had to be tended to every two hours. A nurse came to check on him every day, and he was on oxygen until he was eight or nine months  the details get fuzzy from the lack of sleep during that time.

His parents took him to Penn State Hershey Medical Center three days a week to boot. Carson saw a cardiologist, a neurologist, a pulmonary doctor, an endocrinologist, in addition to the pediatrician.

Fox-Kauffman burned through her family medical leave quickly.

Learning patience

Just over a decade ago, Fox-Kauffman was a different person.

She was a busy mom with a tween daughter, on the go all the time. She traveled. She had a sales job that often required her to work 60 hours a week.

Carson changed a lot of things. Carson taught them patience.

The brakes went on so that our lives almost literally stopped and revolved around his needs, she says. If you knew Heather before Carson, I had zero patience. Heather now  I dont want to say Im laid-back but you have got to have patience, because everything is done in their time, not your time frame.

He has opened my eyes to so many things in the world. When they say stop and smell the roses, we literally stop and smell the flowers. Things we take for granted, you cant anymore.

One step at a time

Today, Carson is 11 and a half years old. Hes a social kid who always has a smile on his face. Hes navigating puberty just like any middle schooler, noting the recent changes in his voice with wonder.

Hes down to just one specialist, the endocrinologist, though he continues to have some lung issues that limit the time he can play outside.

Carson attends South Middleton School District, where hes working on double-digit addition and subtraction and reading on a second- or third-grade level. He was mainstreamed for second through fourth grade, which Fox-Kauffman says motivated him to keep up with his peers.

By the end of last year, the gap between his academic abilities and those of typically developing students was getting pretty significant, and it became very frustrating for him, she says.

The family decided to move him into the life-skills program at the middle school, where he can stay for four years before moving on to the high school.

Of course, in addition to academics, there are other things Carson must learn that others dont give a second thought.

His big thing has been for his physical therapist to get him to alternate legs go up and down steps, Fox-Kauffman says. Its scary, when you think about it, going down steps. He does not like that.

As with all things, though, patience will help.

It took years to teach him to walk or even say mommy or daddy, Fox-Kauffman says. He definitely has taught me more about life than I could ever read from a book or learn from a lifetime. You talk to any parent with a kid with Down syndrome  your eyes are opened to the world.
HARRISBURG  Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed four bills on Friday, including legislation that would have made the inspector generals office an independent agency and required the inspector general to be confirmed by the Senate.

Wolf also rejected bills that would have given lawmakers the ability to delay decisions on new regulations by a state commission, let people outside Philadelphia serve on the citys parking commission and required Senate approval of his appointments to the Delaware River Port Authority board.

He signed into law bills to fix a mistake in an eight-month-old law that had held up millions of dollars in awards to breeders and owners of Pennsylvania-bred thoroughbreds and to meet standards in federal law regarding parents who have committed child sexual abuse and help combat human trafficking of children .

The Democratic governor, who had previously signaled his opposition to the inspector general legislation, said the executive branch needed an internal watchdog and that the attorney general and auditor general already serve as external monitors on government actions. The inspector generals office investigates complaints about fraud, waste and misconduct in state agencies.

State lawmakers already have considerable influence on regulations, Wolf said in rejecting a bill that would have given certain lawmakers the ability to hold up decisions by the Independent Regulatory Review Commission .

This bill has the potential to grind the regulatory review process to a halt, Wolf wrote in his veto message .

The five-member commission board is filled by appointees from the leader of each of the four legislative caucuses and one from the governor.

House Republican spokesman Steve Miskin said some lawmakers were concerned about whether the regulatory review process was independent enough, and wanted to give legislative committees more influence over issues that fall within their purview.

A coalition of environmental groups, the Clean Power PA Coalition, called the proposal a power grab that would have given powerful special interests and big polluters an outsized role in our political process.

The governor said he could not support adding people outside Philadelphia to the citys parking authority when it has major problems and mismanagement that were not addressed in the legislation. Miskin said parking in Philadelphia involves people from around the region, so non-residents should have a voice in the agency.

Wolf said he supported much of the bill concerning the Delaware River Port Authority, but was concerned about subjecting his appointees to Senate confirmation. He called the bill an encroachment upon his powers that did not improve the authoritys operations.

These are all good government bills aimed at strengthening oversight and better public participation, Miskin said.

Senate Republican spokeswoman Jennifer Kocher said potential veto override votes may be a question we will ponder down the road.
Even comparing Apple and Microsoft is getting difficult because much of Microsofts advancement is with Azure and Apple has no counterpart. And Apple lives off the iPhone, while Microsoft, at least for now, is mostly out of the phone business.

However, where the two companies do overlap now is with focused PC hardware. This week we saw hardware launched by both Apple and Microsoft, and the two firms can be compared financially as well. On this last, Microsoft is once again on a roll, and Apple is struggling to find growth. After watching the two firms hardware pitches, I can point to one huge difference that likely speaks to why Apple beat Microsoft last decade and why Microsoft is outperforming Apple now.

It comes down to customer focus.

Surface Launch

Microsofts launch was a Windows update focused on creators, an update to the creator-focused Surface Book and a new all-in-one called the Surface Studio, which is also focused on creators. This last product was tightly targeted at those that animate, draw, engineer and edit visual content. Throughout the pitch, Microsoft tied each one of the features to a need identified by the target audience. For instance, the product collapses nearly flat to enable better drawing and collaboration at the desk. The Surface Dial (a new puck-shaped user interface) improves creation speed, and the unique 4.5K display provides one-to-one resolution to print (so you see exactly what you get).

Validating these points were a number of third-party customers who spoke to each feature as one that met a specific need. Whether true or not, this showed a very tight connection between the targeted customer for the device and the design of the device.

On the Surface Book, which is really more of a general-purpose high-end laptop, the number it highlighted was customer satisfaction. This product currently ranks higher than any product from any other vendor regardless of OS. In my opinion, customer satisfaction should be the most important measure of any product. Microsoft increased the performance but also pointed out the most important metric of any notebook: the battery life at 16 hours.

Apple Launch

Apple has traditionally had the same core customer group that Microsoft was targetingalthough you could argue that when Steve Jobs ran the company he appeared to be the target customer. This concept of a super-customer CEO actually played really well because folks seemed to identify with him, and he drove the choices when it came to features. Even so, during his tenure, the profile of the core business Mac user didnt change; it largely remained creatives.

At its launch, Apple didnt open with a creative productit opened with a new TV app. That had folks on Twitter using the word boring, which wasnt a good start. When Apple started showcasing the new features, it focused on how thin the new MacBook Pro laptops were, the increase in performance and a new targeted function bar/screen. There didnt seem to be a strong connection to any user needs driving the change, however. I doubt the touch bar overcomes the lack of a touchscreen for creatives.

It held the battery life off until late, and it was just 10 hours, showing a distinct change in focus. Apple went thinner, and the tradeoff was no increase in battery life. Microsoft kept the dimensions the same, which allowed it to up battery life through a combination of improvements in the Intel Skylake processor and more efficient space usage. Apples product is half a pound lighter than the 13 Surface, but the Surface should outperform it in both performance and battery life. The MacBook Pro is less expensive than the Surface Book but far more expensive than the Surface Pro.

But the thing is, none of this seemed user-driven. While Microsoft tied its changes back to user needs and maximizing customer satisfaction, Apple just did what most vendors do and simply focused on the changes and specs. (And a lot of the folks covering this launch really didnt like the new butterfly keyboard.)

Apple had no updates for much of its product line and no counterpart for the Surface Studio.

The Difference Is Customer Focus

Without Steve Jobs, Apple seems to be struggling with how to advance its products and staying connected to its users. It should own creatives, but after Jobs, it seems to be taking this audience for granted. Since Satya Nadella took over for Steve Ballmer, Microsoft has refocused down on users, and the Surface updates and launch seemed far more focused on this core audience than Apples was.

In the end, I think that is why Apple seems to be struggling: it has simply lost connection to its customer base. One of the Cnet reporters that were covering the Apple event live said it best when she pointed out that it used to be that youd walk out of an Apple event thinking you had to have one of its products, and out of a Microsoft event wondering how you ever stayed awake. Now the positions appear to be reversed, and folks are less than excited about the multi-function F key replacement, given its been years since this product has been significantly updated.

The lesson here is that customer focus is king. With Nadella, Microsoft has it back, and with Cook Apple has lost it. And in my opinion, that is largely why the two firms have switched places.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.
New Delhi: DCB Bank will raise Rs 300 crore by issuing debt securities on a private placement basis. The decision was taken by the Capital Raising Committee of the board of the bank at a meeting held today, the bank said in a BSE filing.

The committee has approved issuance of unsecured non-convertible tier-II bonds for an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs 300 crore on private placement basis, in one or more tranches, the filing said.

The committee has also authorised the Chairman/MD and CEO or the Chief Financial Officer of the bank to finalise terms like size, tenor, coupon, maturity and terms of interest payment, which are yet to be decided, it added.
New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate will look into Tata Sons' ousted chairman's allegations related to the mismanagement of the group's aviation ventures, India Today reported on Saturday citing a source.

Cyrus Mistry was removed as chairman of the 148-year-old Tata group this week in a move that stunned corporate India. Mistry has since accused his predecessor Ratan Tata of thwarting his attempts to restructure the $104 billion Indian conglomerate.

In a leaked letter to the Tata board, Mistry said he was opposed to Tata's aviation partnerships with Malaysia's AirAsia Bhd and Singapore Airlines.

In the case of Air Asia, a forensic investigation had found "fraudulent transactions" of 220 million rupees ($3.29 million) involving "non-existent parties", Mistry alleged in his letter.

That allegation had prepared the ground for an "examination" of the case, the India Today report said, citing an unnamed official at the Enforcement Directorate.

Officials at the agency were not immediately available to comment. Tata Sons said it was unaware of any such probe. An AirAsia India spokeswoman said she did not have an immediate comment.

An investigation by the agency, if confirmed, would come at a time when India's capital markets regulator has already started looking into Mistry's allegations related to violations of corporate governance rules at Tata.
Dear Editor:

Ours is a democracy with universal values of caring for those in need and loving our neighbor as ourselves. What pits us against each other is what others want us to believe for their own benefit. Such as:

They want to raise your taxes.

Legislators decry using tax dollars for full funding for public schools and libraries. But it is their refusal to ask big gas companies to pay their fair share, and to close corporate loopholes, that has caused the highest property tax increase in Pa. history.

They want to take our guns away.

No one wants to take guns away from responsible gun owners, the majority of whom want common sense measures like background checks and restrictions on those on an FBI watch list, a history of violence or mental health problems.

Those lazy people on welfare sit around and do nothing.

Welfare for people in poverty was replaced in 1996 by TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families). The total amount of cash assistance for a mother with two children is $2,600 for a year. Food stamps can give the family $3,600 for the year, but only if they are working or searching for a job.

Over 50 percent of homeless women and children are fleeing abusive relationships and have little access to affordable housing or childcare. Women are 70 percent of the minimum wage workforce, and they need a raise.

Our democracy and our faith demand that we use our freedom to ensure the life, liberty and happiness of all of our citizens  young and old. We cannot allow politicians to pit us against each other. This is the time to unite in our shared values and beliefs: a fair tax system, good public schools, safe neighborhoods and caring for those who need us.

Jill Sunday Bartoli

Candidate for State Representative in the 199th District

Carlisle
New Delhi: Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) today said its 'by India, for India' bike Navi has crossed 50,000 units sales mark in just six months of market availability.

The bike was launched at the Auto Expo 2016 in Greater Noida. The two-wheeler maker recently introduced the utility box for the convenience of storage to Navi riders.

"Navi crosses 50,000 units landmark in just six months of market availability," HMSI said in a statement. It also said that the company has witnessed jump in sales over the years.

Celebrating the 28 million customer milestone, HMSI said it has further consolidated HMSI's equity as India's fastest growing auto manufacturer.

Keita Muramatsu, President & CEO, HMSI said: "India is the fastest growing economy in the world and one of the most important markets for Honda. With this vision of growth, today we have achieved a new milestone for our business in India.

The journey to the 28 million milestone has been phenomenal." Further, it said that HMSI is setting the pace of industry with its 24 per cent growth compared to the 13 per cent growth of total two-wheeler industry.

"Continuing to reinforce its position as both the highest market share gainer adding 2 per cent share to 26 per cent market share in domestic export sales," it added.

The automaker is currently running at full capacity at all its four manufacturing plants. Its total production capacity is 5.8 million units.

HMSI has expanded its touch points network to 4,800 plus mark and will be adding another 500 touch points by the end of this fiscal.

"Aggressively expanding network footprint, with special focus on semi-urban and rural areas, we aim to cross 5,300 outlets by the end of current fiscal." it said.

Yadvinder Singh Guleria, Senior Vice President - Sales & Marketing, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India said: "With Navi, Honda has been successful in creating a new segment in the Indian two-wheeler industry."
New Delhi: State-owned Punjab National Bank today said it plans to raise Rs 6,000 crore in tranches from bonds to fund business expansion.

The board will be considering issuance of Basel III compliant debt instruments  Perpetual Additional Tier I capital bonds worth Rs 3,000 crore and Tier-II bonds of up to Rs 3,000 crore, PNB said in a regulatory filing to stock exchanges.

The fund raising is subject to availability of headroom in one or more tranches, it said. The board meeting will be held on November 4, it added.

Under the Basel-III norms, AT-1 bonds come with loss absorbency features, meaning that in case of stress, banks can write off such investments or convert them into common equity if approved by the RBI.

AT-1 bonds qualify as core or equity capital.
New Delhi: As family patriarch Ratan Tata takes back the controls at his Indian conglomerate after a boardroom coup this week, one sector is cheering his, albeit interim, return: the group's airline ventures, both lagging competitors in India 's cutthroat market.

Industry executives and analysts say they expect loss-making Vistara and AirAsia India, both part-owned by Tata, to enjoy fresh cash and expansion plans as low fuel prices and Indian government policy drive a boom in air travel.

"Now he's back, we'll see him taking aggressive steps," said Mark D Martin, chief executive at Martin Consulting, adding this could include growing other ventures such as Taj Air, a charter company also owned by the Tata group.

Vistara and AirAsia India declined to comment.

Tata Sons, the parent controlling Tata's listed businesses, has said Ratan Tata's return from retirement is temporary, and denied the move would mean any extra focus on the airlines  other than for business reasons. "Both businesses are completely focused on enhancing their market positions," a spokesman said.

But analysts say the move will have a longer-term impact, with the family reasserting its influence in day-to-day operations.

Tata agreed to invest an estimated $60 million into the two airlines when they launched, mostly into Vistara.

The two airlines have a combined India market share of around 5 percent - dwarfed by more established carriers like InterGlobe Aviation's budget airline IndiGo.

At odds

The Tata family has a long history with aviation.

Ratan Tata's predecessor was India 's first qualified pilot, and Tata's first airline was later nationalised as state carrier Air India . Ratan Tata, insiders said, fulfilled a long-held dream when he pulled the group back into the aviation sector in 2013.

Ousted chairman Cyrus Mistry, who replaced Tata in 2012, was less keen, however.

In a leaked letter to the Tata board earlier this week, Mistry said he had opposed Tata's 2013 partnership with Malaysia 's AirAsia Bhd to launch AirAsia India .

More than a year later, Tata started a second airline, Vistara, in partnership with Singapore Airlines.

"Tata Sons took a considered view that it makes business sense to take part in India 's civil aviation industry," a spokesman for Tata Sons said.

Mistry's blistering letter portrayed Ratan Tata, 78, as a man who cast aside his advice and bulldozed through major decisions. Mistry considered the airlines to be proof that he had his hands tied as chairman, illustrating just how Tata still pulled the strings even after retiring.

"It is on his advice that the Tata Sons board has increased the capital infusion in the (aviation) sector at multiple levels of the initial commitment," Mistry wrote.

Tata has not detailed its most recent capital infusion, but media reports have said it increased its stake in AirAsia India over time to 49 percent from 30 percent for an undisclosed sum.

In Vistara, 51 percent-owned by Tata, media reported last month Tata approved injecting an additional $37 million alongside Singapore Airlines, which would bring the total equity by the joint-owners to around $150 million.

Emotional ties

Whoever's in charge, turning a profit in India 's competitive environment will be tough. Analysts say two years is too short: budget airlines could take up to five years and full service carriers up to seven years to be profitable.

Vistara has already had to revise its strategy, which initially sought to target business travellers, and AirAsia India has seen several senior management changes since it launched in 2014, and experts have queried its strategy.

Airline analysts and consultants said they expect Tata to strengthen the group's market foothold, for example, by expanding its partnership with Metro Jets, a provider of business aviation services including charters and maintenance.

"For Ratan Tata, it's an emotional issue," said Harsh Vardhan, head of Starair Consulting. "The Tatas think they pioneered aviation in the country, and again have a role to play."
The new law to prohibit benami transactions, which also provides for up to 7 years imprisonment and fine for those indulging in such activities, will come into effect from November 1. (Representational image)

New Delhi: The new law to prohibit benami transactions, which also provides for up to 7 years imprisonment and fine for those indulging in such activities, will come into effect from November 1. With a view to curb the menace of black money, Parliament in August had passed the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, after assurance from finance minister Arun Jaitley that genuine religious trusts will be kept out of the purview of the legislation. The rules and all the provisions of the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act shall come into force on November 1, 2016. After coming into effect, the existing Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988, shall be renamed as the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988, a CBDT statement said.

While the existing law provides for up to three years of imprisonment or fine or both for carrying out benami transactions, the amended legislation would provide for seven years imprisonment and fine. The Act defines benami transactions, prohibits them and further provides that any violation is punishable with imprisonment and fine. The PBPT Act prohibits recovery of the property held benami from benamidar by the real owner.
Tata Sons has rejected as baseless and malicious the allegations that Mistry, 48, laid out in a 5-page letter to the board accusing Ratan Tata of backseat driving while in retirement and of thwarting his drive to restructure and refocus the $104 billion Indian conglomerate. (Photo AFP)

Ratan Tata may have dumped Cyrus Mistry as chairman of his 148-year-old family empire, but will find it harder to expunge the ex-manager's accusations that his acquisitive habits and lack of focus on returns have destroyed billions of dollars in shareholder value.

Tata Sons has rejected as baseless and malicious the allegations that Mistry, 48, laid out in a 5-page letter to the board accusing Ratan Tata of backseat driving while in retirement and of thwarting his drive to restructure and refocus the $104 billion Indian conglomerate.

Tata has launched a four-month search for a new chairman, and whoever lands the job will inevitably face the same challenges that Mistry felt he was unable to tackle because, he alleged, he lacked the backing of a board that he said answered only to Ratan Tata.

"What was 10-15 years ago - a Tata group that was a paternalistic conglomerate with more than 100 companies just ambling along - no longer works," said Shriram Subramanian of InGovern, a shareholder advocacy group.

"Shareholders need reassurance that the Tata operating companies are really working to enhance shareholder value rather than acting on the whim of one individual."

The incoming chair also faces possible regulatory probes after Mistry alleged a total breakdown in corporate governance, and said a "realistic assessment" of the group's portfolio would require $18 billion in write downs.

HANGING AROUND

Mistry, fired as Tata Sons chairman on Monday, remains a director as well as chairing listed subsidiaries Tata Motors, Tata Steel and Tata Consultancy Services.

Ratan Tata, interim chairman of India's Tata group, looks on from inside his vehicle after leaving his office building in Mumbai, India October 27, 2016. REUTERS/Shailesh Andrade

Should he refuse to go quietly, any attempt to oust him after his acrimonious split with the 78-year-old patriarch risks becoming messy. Further, Mistry's Pallonji family owns nearly a fifth of Tata Sons, while Tata family trusts control a two-thirds stake.

"This saga has not gone well and isn't good news in relation to the long-term strategic direction of the group," said a manager at a large Mumbai-based institutional investor that owns shares in some Tata group companies. "It doesn't affect the near-term operations of the companies, but strategically, in the long run, companies get impacted."

A person close to the Tatas warned that "the fight has just started", while recognising that Mistry had inherited all of the group's legacy issues, from steel to telecoms, and could have done little to rectify them.

Outside investors can only own shares in Tata's listed units. Lacking influence over strategy at group level, they have reacted to the bust-up by voting with their feet, erasing an estimated $4 billion from their combined market value this week.

BALANCING ACT

While the battle between Mistry and Tata plays out in public, and perhaps even the courts, the company is launching a search for a worthy successor.

On Tuesday, Tata named N. Chandrashekharan, CEO of TCS, and Ralf Speth, CEO of Tata Motors' luxury car arm, Jaguar Land Rover, as directors to the Tata Sons board, fuelling speculation that one or both are frontrunners.

Whoever takes the top job must work with a board that has both a duty to protect not just the interests of its shareholders, but is also committed to other stakeholders in a group that employs 660,000 people and has accounted for 8 per cent of the Bombay Stock Exchange's market capitalisation.

The crux of the Tata world view, said Morgen Witzel, a UK-based business historian and author of a book on the Tata company, is that shareholder value should not be an end in itself. "Companies are not machines for making money. They exist to provide value and service to their communities; profit is a by-product of that process," he said.

To his credit, Mistry had made headway in his bid to change Tata's slow and bureaucratic way of working, and turn it into a younger, more agile and inclusive organisation by tearing down the barriers of hierarchy.

"Ratan was about growth and turnaround, Cyrus believed you could only do that to a certain level but then you have a responsibility to grow returns for your shareholders for which you have to cut debt and be nimble," said another person close to the company, adding that this jarred with the Tata ethos.

Suresh Raina, managing partner at executive search firm Hunt Partners, noted the Tata Sons board focuses on strategy and not operations, and worries little about quarterly profits. "That's where the values become central to how the board operates," Raina said. "How the candidate aligns with these tenets and criteria will be more important than the business imperatives."
Mumbai: Yes, it is true that Bollywood stars are humans gifted with the finest of features. What makes them so tempting is their appearance: a chiselled face, a sculpted body, usage of international makeup brands and a pool of designer clothes to pick from.

While it is completely okay to go gaga over your favourite actors, all we are saying is take a look at these celebrity siblings who will surely taste success should they choose this glamorous industry.

Nupur Sanon: Sister of Heropanti actress Kriti Sanon

Porcelain complexion, long and lustrous hair, husky voice and an unexplainable sense of Indianness in her face. Nupur Sanon has all the ingredients of a top notch actress. And, she has got great vocal chords too. What you thinking Kriti? Push your sister to follow your footsteps.

Ishan Khattar: Brother of Shahid Kapoor

There is something about Ishaan that will constantly remind you of big brother Shahid. May be its his babylike smile or gym-fit body but this stylish lad is Bollywood-ready. In fact, he has worked in Udta Punjab as one of the crew members. Girls will surely cry in silence if he does not end up where he belongs- Bollywood!

Prepping for Bollywood big debut? Please do.

Krishna Shroff: Sister of Tiger Shroff

A mirror image of her older brother Tiger Shroff, Krishna has got the body and the looks and everything that constitutes a complete Bollywood package. Dont trust us? See for yourself.

Ahan Shetty: Brother of Athiya Shetty

Although Athiyas baby bro looks more like his father Suniel Shetty, Ahan shares strikingly similar features with his gorgeous big sis.

Tall, dark and intense-looking, Ahan, if joins Bollywood, will redefine the highly subjective term hotness. His jawline and that oh-so-serious look will leave you drooling.

Shanaya Kapoor: Cousin of Sonam Kapoor and Arjun Kapoor

This Kapoor scion will disappoint you all if she does not end up in Bollywood. Fresh-faced, petite and an impeccable sense of style  Shanaya Kapoor is very much the next big thing. Born to Sanjay Kapoor and Maheep Kapoor, this teenager rocks both western outfits and traditional attires with utmost ease. Just what Bollywood wants, isnt it?
Mumbai: Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt have been shooting for their upcoming film Badrinath Ki Dulhania for the past few days in Singapore. While Alia reportedly took off to Maldives to celebrate her mother Soni Razdans birthday and even shot for her mentor Karan Johars chat show Koffeee with Karan with Shah Rukh Khan in Mumbai, Varun had stayed back and was seen enjoying a bike trip on a tourist spot and had even posted a video talking about the fun time he was having in Singapore.

Alia has now joined back the cast of the film and with everyone in festive spirit this Diwali, Varun took Alia out for shopping amid the shooting. The lead pair took to Instagram sharing a picture in which Varun is lifting an overjoyed Alia holding all the shopping bags, with the beautiful lights behind them just creating the perfect atmosphere in Diwali.

The lead pair also enjoyed a meal with the other members of the cast including Gaurav Pandey, Sahild Vaid, Aakanasha Singh, as is evident in this picture.

Fans would definitely be looking forward to watching Varun-Alia's chemistry on the big screen when the film releases.
Mumbai: Unlike the makers of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, Raees co-producer Farhan Akhtar has refused to contribute any money to National Defence Fund saying that the Indian Army has refused to take it.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) allowed the release of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil featuring Pakistani actor Fawad Khan on the condition that the makers contribute 5 Cr to National Defence Fund as a mark of respect towards the Indian Army. Dharma Productions, headed by Karan Johar, obliged to MNSs condition and the film is now running smoothly on all single-screen theatres and multiplexes in India.

In a meeting with Raj Thackeray, Karan Johar had also promised never to work with Pakistani actors again.

After Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, it is now Shah Rukh Khans film Raees that has sparked fresh controversy. While the ADHM makers were happy to make peace with MNS and contributed to Indian Armys fund, Farhan Akhtar has decided not to give in to Raj Thackerays demand of paying 5 Cr as the Indian Army wouldnt take it.

He was reported as saying, No question of giving Rs 5 crore to the Army (for Raees) as they have refused to take it.

The film also features Pakistani actress Mahira Khan.

The Rock On 2 star also said that it is the duty of the state government to protect film fraternity so that they do not have to succumb to pressure from anyone. "We are law abiding tax payers and the state should take care of us, asserted Farhan.

Farhan even went on to question Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Phadnaviss credibility calling his way of dealing with MNSs demands as terrible precedent and called the ADHM incident unfortunate.

The only word, I think, that comes to mind is unfortunate, because it has set a terrible precedent, said Akhtar.

Raees is scheduled to release on January 26 next year.
Mumbai: After impressing audiences with her acting over more than a decade, Priyanka Chopra has turned a producer, launching her production house Purple Pebble Pictures, along with her mother Madhu Chopra. The actress is all set to begin her production journey with regional films and has decided to back a Marathi, Punjabi and Bhojpuri film each.

Out of these films, her Marathi film Ventilator will be the first one to release, on 4 November and in order to promote her film, Priyanka Chopra shared a video on Twitter. The actress is beautifully dressed in a saree, with the Maharashtrian jewellery and bindi, conveying Diwali wishes to viewers in Marathi and also urging audiences to watch the film.

Watch the video here:

Ventilator stars Priyankas Whats Your Raashee director Ashutosh Gowariker in the lead and features more than 70 other actors including Boman Irani. The actress does call Gowariker her 'favourite' director in the video.

After 'Bajirao Mastani', we can definitely say that Priyanka does have a decent command over the language.
Mumbai: Just when we thought the controversy around Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Raees has started to fade away, Farhan Akhtars decision of not contributing to National Defense Fund for the release of his film Raees has added fuel to the fire. The actor-filmmaker has said that unlike the makers of ADHM, he will not pay 5 Cr to National Defence Fund as compensation for casting Pakistani actress Mahira Khan in Raees which he has co-produced.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) had objected to the release of ADHM and Raees featuring Pakistani actors Fawad Khan and Mahira Khan. In the wake of the Uri attacks, MNS had given a 48-hour ultimatum to all Pakistani actors to leave India including Fawad Khan. MNS had initially banned both the movies and criticised the makers of the films for working with Pakistani artists. After a series of meetings, Raj Thackeray-led MNDS had given nod to ADHMs release with the condition that the makers pay 5 Cr to Indian Army to show respect towards them. Karan Johar, the producer of ADHM, not only agreed to paying the amount but also promised never to work with Pakistanis again.

But this controversy revolving around Pakistani artists working in India is far from over. Farhan Akhtar, who has co-produced Shah Rukh Khan-Mahira Khan starrer Raees, has refused to pay any money to Indian Army saying because the army wouldnt take it.

"No question of giving Rs 5 crore to the Army as they have refused to take it, Farhan was quoted as saying.

This statement of Akhtars has upset the MNS. In response to Farhan Akhtars statement, Ameya Khopkar, MNS Chief for film wing, said, Release nazdik aane do phir dekh lenge (Let the film's release come closer, we will look into it). By the way, where were these people when the decision of donating R5 crores was taken? Suddenly everyone is waking up."

Questioning the procedure filmmakers undertake in bringing Pakistani actors to India, Khopkar further added, We all know on what kind of visa these Pakistani actors come and work here. If we open the documents, producers will land in a big soup. When producers are ready to pay these Pakistani artistes, why are they hesitating to donate money to the Indian Army?"

The Rock On star expressed his disappointment over states alleged failure in protecting the film industry from succumbing to any kind of pressure tactics. "We are law abiding tax payers and the state should take care of us," Farhan had commented.

Raees is slated to release on January 26 next year.
Himachal Pradesh declared Indias second Open Defecation Free State

Published: October 29, 2016

The State of Himachal Pradesh was officially declared Open Defecation Free (ODF). Every individual household in the state has functional toilet under the Swachh Bharat Mission.

With this, Himachal Pradesh becomes the second State in the country after Sikkim to achieve the feat. However, among bigger states Himachal Pradesh is the first state to become ODF.

Himachal Pradesh has successfully achieved total rural sanitation coverage of 100% in the state. Besides, all 12 districts in state were declared as well as verified as ODF.

This status will further entitle Himachal Pradesh to receive World Bank funding under Rs 9,000 crore project to sustain sanitation campaign.

What is Open defecation?

Open defecation means people defecate in open spaces such as fields, bushes, forests, open bodies of water rather than using the toilet.

Hazards of Open Defecation: It is important factor in causing various diseases like intestinal worm infections, diarrhoea, polio, hepatitis etc.

It is important factor in causing various diseases like intestinal worm infections, diarrhoea, polio, hepatitis etc. Prevention: Creating awareness about adverse impact of open defecation on health, changing behavioural habit of people, building of community toilets etc.

Month: Current Affairs - October, 2016

Topics: Himachal Pradesh  National  States  Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan

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Mumbai: Just few years back Abhishek Bachchan thought of never flying with Jet Airways for good after the airline did not allow him to board the flight even after issuing boarding pass. Now, the actor is fumed by the airlines service yet again.

On Friday, Abhishek Bachchan was on his way to Chennai when the actor arrived at the airport on time and boarded the plane along with other passengers. However, the flight did not take off as scheduled because there were no pilots on board.

This incident left Abhishek irked and the actor then went on a Twitter rant, calling out the airline on their bad service.

In series of tweets, Abhishek wrote, Flying to Chennai. Baggage, check. Board flight on time, check. Seat belt fastened, check. Only thing we need now are our pilots!!

Meanwhile, Abhishek also recalled the incident that took place in year 2012 when he wasnt allowed to board the plane while travelling with the same airline company. Abhishek wrote, question - if an airline is delayed, do we as passengers have the option to get off, like how passengers are off loaded if they are late?

In a series of tweets, Abhishek slammed the airline company.

"Hey @jetairways just to let you know that the entire aircraft is still waiting for you'll to get in touch. Also,what is operational reasons?" he wrote.

However, the plane finally took off and the actor reached his destination. Our prayers have been answered.... We are moving! Haven't taken off yet so.... Fingers crossed, he tweeted.

The actor also got into a little heated conversation with the airline service on Twitter.

Those who dont know, the actor had a similar bad experience with the airline company in 2012 when he was not allowed to board the flight even after he was issued a boarding pass, citing the reason of his being late. Later Jet Airways offered Abhishek an alternative flight but he chose to opt for another airline.
With more than 13 years in the industry, and despite having several young and vibrant girls making their foray in tinsel town, Trisha is unfazed. After losing several opportunities to share screen space with the national award winner Dhanush, Trisha has finally been cast opposite him in Kodi, a political thriller, where she portrays a wily politician. The film hits the theatre this Diwali.

Trisha seems to be excited about bagging a meaty role in Kodi after Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa. Its completely opposite to what I did in VTV. It is a solid role and it is the first time I am starring with Dhanush, with a role as important as that of the hero. When I heard the script, I was wondering if people would accept me in such a role. It is something I have never attempted so far. I play Rudra, a rural girl, who is politically inclined and extremely ambitious, Trisha says

Showring praises on director Durai Senthil Kumar, she says, He is very clear on what he wants from each artiste. He would not let you go if he is not satisfied.

Talking about Dhanush stealing the show each time, she says, Not only him, that happens with any great actor on the sets. I did face a similar situation with Manorama Aachi in Saamy and Prakash Raj sir. They come casually and they steal the scene from under your skin. Dhanush is a brilliant performer. For him, the film and the product is important.

The Thoonga Vanam actress says that she has no regrets on missing opportunities. Its okay, I was to do Aadukalam with Dhanush, which won several national awards. In fact, we shot for a few days as well. Theres a time for everything. No regrets.

Trisha seems least intimidated with the presence of another actress  Anupama Parameswaran  in Kodi. I am very selfish as an actor, selfish as a person. I am only worried about myself. I dont know if that is good or bad. This is not my first multi-starrer. In Kodi, I know my character will stand out.

So, what is her agenda now? If I like the script, I will go on board, she asserts. Otherwise, I am okay to sit at home for three to six months, she adds.

Trisha is clear about what she wants. I am not in a relationship with anyone. I am single and peaceful after a long time. But I am open to love and I believe that I will only marry when I fall in love, she says.
'Legal abortion enables men who dont want to take the responsibility of fatherhood the option to forgo their paternal rights up to the 18th week of a womans pregnancy. (Photo: Pixabay)

Feminism advocates for freedom for women to go for a abortion if they want to as complete autonomy over their bodies is their right. But what about men that don't want to become fathers? Swedens Liberal Party has put forward a proposal that will allow men to officially become free of any parental responsibility in case of a pregnancy, according to Washington Post.

Their proposal termed this type of action a legal abortion which enables men who dont want to take the responsibility of fatherhood to have the option to forgo their paternal rights up to the 18th week of a womans pregnancy. This cut-off date also happens to be the last week in which a woman can have a medical abortion in Sweden.

Once men obtain a legal abortion then they are not liable to pay any child support and have any kind of connection with their child. Moreover they would also not be permitted to meet the child at any stage in the future.
Rahat Kazmi, an Indian filmmaker, recently made a film on Saadat Hasan Manto called Mantostaan. The film premiered at Cannes this year in the Le Marche Du category. And when Kazmi was asked about the logic behind the title of the film he said, Its beyond the boundaries of Hindustan and Pakistan. Its the world of the writer. Hence, Mantostaan.

Cinema is a collective art. In fact, it is one of the most democratic mediums of art. When the house lights go off and when the National Anthem starts playing, we all start honouring the diversity that our country has bestowed upon us. It brings us all into a single file and as citizens of this country we are all heart  both in love and rage.

The controversy surrounding Ae Dil Hai Mushkil has brought the spotlight back on a series of questions. Should art and politics be kept away from each other? Our soldiers have died along the Line of Control and theirs is the supreme sacrifice. But will the ban on a few actors bring solution and solace into a conflict that has been raging for years? Are these actors political performers? Are we, in any way constructively helping the Army by taking such decisions? Isnt it a matter of shame that we are encouraging hooliganism by agreeing to demands backed by threats of economic and physical harm? More importantly, are other nations who have been in conflict with neighbours resorting to such tactics?

Lets look at Israel  a country located in a region that has seen endless human suffering. Its also a country we were recently compared with, militarily.

Sufat Chol or Sand Storm is Israels official entry this year to the Academy Awards, in the Best Foreign Film category. The dialogues are entirely in Arabic and recently, it won six Ophir Awards (Israels equivalent to the Oscars).

Sufat Chol then, has become Israels first Arab entry to the Oscars. How, despite years of conflict between Arab and Jewish communities, did this happen? There were even protests from certain quarters of the Israeli establishment. The countrys Minister of Culture, Miri Regev, walked out when the makers of Sufat Chol were being honoured.

But Israel continued to promote the film. In fact, Arab women have been making substantial contributions to the Israeli film industry and the trend is being encouraged.

This perhaps moves Israeli cinema a few steps forward toward getting to know the Arab society in Israel, which it usually sees according to stereotypes that fit the Jewish narrative, Maysaloun Hamoud, director of In Between, which won the award for best debut film at the Haifa Film Festival, was quoted as saying. The lead characters in In Between are actually played by three Palestinian actresses. Israel and Palestine have been at war with each other for nearly half a century. Experts have even called it the planets most difficult political issue  an intractable conflict. But none of that animosity has permeated into cultural ties.

The strength of our democracy is its inclusivity. The Arts grow because of influences from different cultures and a culturally rich country like ours has had a million different contributions. This diversity is what we are fighting to protect in the first place.
Gaya: Rakesh Ranjan alias Rocky Yadav, who allegedly shot dead a Class XII student for overtaking his SUV here, today surrendered in a local court a day after the Supreme Court stayed the Patna High Court order granting him bail in the case.

Rocky, son of suspended JD(U) MLC Manorama Devi and Bindi Yadav, was granted bail by the High Court on October 19 last in Gaya road rage case which was challenged by the state government in the apex court.

Rocky surrendered in the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADJ)-(IX) Suresh Prasad Mishra who sent him to jail.

He gave himself up before the court after remaining in hiding since yesterday after the Supreme Court order.

"I have immense faith in the judiciary. The allegations levelled against me are baseless and concocted.... I have full faith in the court," he told reporters in the court premises while being taken to the jail by police.

His mother and suspended JD(U) MLC Manorama Devi too expressed her full faith in the judiciary.

Rocky had allegedly shot dead a Class XII student Aditya Sachdeva for overtaking his car on May 7, 2016.

Earlier, Rocky Yadav arrived at Patna Airport this morning by a flight from New Delhi and rushed straight to Gaya giving a slip to the police. Gaya is around 90 km from capital Patna.

The relief from High Court lasted only nine days for Rocky who walked out of Gaya jail on October 20. A day before Diwali, he returned to the prison.
Her nephew, V. Sampath Kumar, 11, and his friend Sandeep Goud, 11, accompanied her to the pond to play.

Hyderabad: Two boys and a 28-year-old housewife drowned in a pond in Mahbubnagar district on Saturday. Police said Bhargavi, who was washing clothes on the ponds bank saw Sampath and Sandeep drowning and got drowned attempting to rescue them.

V. Bhargavi, 28, a resident of Lagacherla village in Bomraspet mandal, had gone to the pond to wash clothes. Her nephew, V. Sampath Kumar, 11, and his friend Sandeep Goud, 11, accompanied her to the pond to play.

While she was busy washing clothes, the two boys entered the pond. Though they did not know swimming they went into the deep waters. When they started drowning they started shouting.

Bhargavi who did not know swimming saw them and in an attempt to rescue them she tied a sari to a tree on the banks and with its help she reached the kids and tried to pull them out. But in the process she lost her grip and the three drowned in the pond.

Another woman washing on the other side of the bank saw the three drowning and informed the villagers who recovered the bodies from the pond. Police registered a suspicious death case.
A Defence Ministry release said that the missile achieved a direct hit on a target which was much smaller than an actual aircraft and flying at a low altitude. (Photo: Representational Image/ AP)

New Delhi: The Indian Air Force has successfully fired recently acquired long range air-to-air MICA missile on a manoeuvring target from Mirage-2000 Upgrade combat aircraft.

A Defence Ministry release said that the missile achieved a direct hit on a target which was much smaller than an actual aircraft and flying at a low altitude.

"The target was destroyed on missile impact validating the launch envelope of the missile. With the success of this mission, the IAF has become one of the few Air Forces in the world with the capability of such long range Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air missile," the Air Force statement said.

The operational success of this mission confirms a critical capability of Indian Air Force.
The Supreme Court had come down heavily on the govt for delaying judicial appointments. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: Rapped by the Supreme Court for delaying judicial appointments, the government has said that it has increased the sanctioned strength of high court judges from 906 to 1,079 and insisted that there has been no abnormal increase in the vacancies in the high courts under NDA rule.

The average annual rate of appointment of judges in the high courts has not declined during the last two years, though no new appointments were made during April-December, 2015 due to hearing of the NJAC matter, sources said.

Government of India has utmost respect for the judiciary and its independence, a source said, against the backdrop of strong statement by Chief Justice of India T S Thakur over the vacancies not being filled up.

Sources said the government is concerned about the increasing pendency in the judicial courts and hence, government has been making all out efforts to see that the vacant posts are filled up.

They said while the sanctioned strength in June, 2014 was 906, the present government increased it to 1,079 in June this year.

The sources said that it is being presented in the media that the number of vacancies of judges in the high courts has increased abnormally in recent times. However, an analysis of data for the last 10 years indicates that there is no such abnormal increase, source said.

Giving details, sources said that during the last 10 years, the number of vacancies has varied from 265 to 280. Similarly, working strength of judges in the high courts has remained almost the same, around 600.

The current working strength in high courts is 620, they said against the backdrop of attack by the Chief Justice of India and opposition parties, including Congress.

Further, 173 new posts of judges were created in last two years. This has added to the vacancies in the High Courts,the source said.

During the period 2009-2014, only 20 new posts of high courts judges had been created, whereas during 2015 and 2016, 173 new posts were created.

If we exclude that period, the average annual rate of appointment of High Courts judges has increased by 63 per cent (from 74 to 121 per year), the source added.

They said government is keen to expedite appointment of judges and as explained in the court, 86 fresh appointments have been made in the high courts. 121 additional judges have been made permanent, 14 chief justices have been appointed and four chief justices transferred.

The sources said 18 additional judges have been given extension and four judges to the apex court were also appointed. Besides, 33 judges of high courts have also been transferred.
Srinagar: A Border Security Force (BSF) jawan was killed accidentally while retaliating to ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops in Machael sector along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmirs Kupwara district on Friday evening, the officials said on Saturday.

Earlier, an Army jawan Mandeep Singh and an infiltrating militant were killed in a fire fight in this sector. The others in the infiltrating group of militants mutilated the body of the slain soldier, the Army said and vowed revenge. It alleged that the attack took place under cover fire provided by Pakistan troops.

The BSF said on Saturday that its constable Nitin Subhash while returning fire along the de facto border suffered grievous injuries when an explosion inside the chamber of the long range weapon recoiled. BSFs Inspector General (Kashmir range), Vikash Chandra, confirmed it saying, Sepoy Nitin Subhash was injured due to recoil and was admitted to a medical facility where he succumbed late last (Friday) night.

28-year-old Subhash, a resident of Sangli in Maharashtra, had joined BSF in 2008 and is survived by his wife and two sons aged four and two years, a statement issued by the BSF here said. Earlier during the past over one week three BSF jawans were killed in the Pakistani firing and shelling along the International Border (IB) with Pakistan in Jammu region.

Four Army jawans too have died in the active hostilities between the facing armies which followed the surgical strikes conducted across the LoC by the Indian Army in the last week of September. Three civilians have also been killed in the Pakistani firing during past one week.

The BSF had on Friday said that it killed as many as 13 Pakistani Rangers and two soldiers of the neighbouring countrys Frontier Force in retaliatory fire since October 21. The Pakistani authorities dismissed the claim and termed it as part of Indias propaganda campaign aimed at hiding its losses at the border and to divert the worlds attention from ongoing Kashmir unrest.

The Army on Saturday in a solemn wreath laying ceremony at Srinagars Badami Bagh Cantonment paid homage to Sepoy Mandeep Singh who laid down his life while fighting infiltrating militants in Macheal sector on Friday evening. The Chinar Corps Commander, Lt. Gen. Satish Dua and all ranks attended the ceremony and paid their tributes to the national hero on behalf of a proud nation.

Singh, the 26-year-old son of a truck driver from Kurukshetra (Haryana) had joined the Army in 2009 is proudly remembered by his comrades in the unit that also includes his own maternal brother, as a highly professional soldier and a true patriot, a statement issued by the Army here said.

It added that he is survived by his young wife, serving in Haryana police, who he had married only a couple of years back in 2014. Singhs mortal remains were later flown to his native place in where the last rites will be held with full military honours, the Army said.

The border skirmishes continued on Saturday. The BSF said that the Pakistan Rangers (Punjab) resorted to unprovoked small arms and mortar fire along the IB in Ranbir Singh Pura of Jammu district and at a couple of locations in neighbouring Kathua.

Amid armed escalation, Home Minister, Rajnath Singh, on Saturday said the Army and the BSF are giving "befitting reply" to ceasefire violations from across the LoC and the IB. He assured India will not bow down before anyone.

I want to assure the nation that the security forces are giving befitting reply to the firing from Pakistan. We will not bow down before anyone," he told reporters in New Delhi. He added that if the countrymen were celebrating Diwali, it was because of the security personnel guarding the borders and that the people must have faith in security forces who are foiling the evil designs of enemies.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani authorities have alleged that the Indian troops continued to violate ceasefire along the LoC and the IB which is called Working Boundary by them. They said that on Friday a marriage party also came under the Indian mortar firing in PoKs Kotli area, killing, at least, three people including a woman and a child, and injuring five others.

The Indian troops opened fire on civilian population in Nakyal sectors Chafrigahi village. Three villagers attending the marriage ceremony were hit by a mortar shell coming from the enemys side. The mortar killed 24-year-old Saima Zubair, five-year-old Ammna Shaukat and 50-year-old Latif on the spot, they said.

Five other people, Aleeza Fatima, Shaheen Akhter, Muhammad Sadiq, Naila Ilyas and Dawood Ahmad were injured in the shelling, they added. The area is about 185-km from Muzaffarabad.

The Pakistani authorities also said that its army effectively retaliated to the Indian firing and silenced their guns. They alleged that the BSF targeted many areas along the working boundary particularly Chaprar sector in Sialkot and deliberately targeted residential buildings and cattle using light and heavy mortars.
A view of an Indian border post near fencing on the Line of Control (LoC) in Balakot Sector in Poonch, Jammu. (Photo: PTI)

Srinagar: A BSF jawan was killed on Saturday in ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops in Macchil sector along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.

28-year-old Constable Koli Nitin Subhash, hailing from Sangli in Maharashtra, was martyred this morning in firing by Pakistani security forces, a BSF official said.

Subhash had joined BSF in 2008 and is survived by his wife and two sons aged four years and two years.

The fresh casualty came hours after terrorists, aided by the cover fire by Pakistani Army, last night crossed the Line of Control in the sector. They killed an Indian army jawan and mutilated his body prompting the Indian army to warn that "the incident will be responded to appropriately".

Four army and three BSF personnel have died in the latest escalation along the boundary with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir.

Pakistan Rangers also violate ceasefire in RS Pura and Kathua sectors along International Border today.

In last night's attack, one attacker was killed in the incident. "In an encounter close to the Line of Control this evening, one solider was martyred and one terrorist was killed. The terrorists mutilated the body of the jawan before fleeing back into Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir under the cover of firing by Pakistan Army," an army spokesman said.

He said the incident reflected the barbarism pervading in official and unofficial organisations in Pakistan.
Union Cabinet approves new Agreement on Trade, Commerce and Transit between India and Bhutan

Published: October 28, 2016

The Union Cabinet has approved a new agreement on Trade, Commerce and Transit between India and Bhutan.

The Agreement provides for a free trade regime between two countries. It also provides duty free transit of Bhutanese merchandise for trade with third countries. As per the agreement, bilateral trade between both neighbouring countries will continue to be transacted in Indian Rupees and Bhutanese Ngultrums.

Background

The agreement on Trade, Commerce and Transit between India and Bhutan was renewed on in July 2006 for ten years. The validity of this agreement was extended, with effect from July 2016, for one year or till the new agreement comes into force.

How trade relations between India and Bhutan are governed?

The bilateral trade relations between India and Bhutan are governed by the Agreement on Trade, Commerce and Transit. It facilitates mechanism for a free trade regime between two countries, and duty free transit of Bhutanese merchandise for trade with third countries.

The bilateral trade between both countries had grown by 55% year-on-year in FY 2016 to $750 million. During this period, Indias exports have increased 40.4% to $469 million, while imports from Bhutan rose 87% to $281 million.

Month: Current Affairs - October, 2016

Topics: Cabinet Decisions  Commerce  National  Trade

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After a deal to buy high-end Rafale planes from France's Dassault was scaled back to just 36 jets last month. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: India is offering to buy hundreds of fighter planes from foreign manufacturers - as long as the jets are made in India and with a local partner, air force officials say.

A deal for 200 single-engine planes produced in India - which the air force says could rise to 300 as it fully phases out ageing Soviet-era aircraft - could be worth anything from $13-$15 billion, experts say, potentially one of the country's biggest military aircraft deals.

After a deal to buy high-end Rafale planes from France's Dassault was scaled back to just 36 jets last month, the Indian Air Force is trying to speed up other acquisitions and arrest a fall in operational strength, now a third less than required to face both China and Pakistan.

But Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration wants any further military planes to be built in India with an Indian partner to kickstart a domestic aircraft industry, and end an expensive addiction to imports.

Lockheed Martin said it is interested in setting up a production line for its F-16 plane in India for not just the Indian military, but also for export.

And Sweden's Saab has offered a rival production line for its Gripen aircraft, setting up an early contest for one of the biggest military plane deals in play.

"The immediate shortfall is 200. That would be the minimum we would be looking at," said an air officer briefed on the Make-in-India plans under which a foreign manufacturer will partner local firms to build the aircraft with technology transfer.

The defence ministry has written to several companies asking if they would be willing to set up an assembly line for single-engine fighter planes in India and the amount of technology transfer that would happen, another government source said.

"We are testing the waters, testing the foreign firms' willingness to move production here and to find out their expectations," the person said.

Operational Gaps

India's air force originally planned for 126 Rafale twin-engine fighters from Dassault, but the two sides could not agree on the terms of local production with a state-run Indian firm and settled for 36 planes in a fly-away condition.

Adding to the military's problems is India's three-decade effort to build a single-engine fighter of its own which was meant to be the backbone of the air force. Only two of those Light Combat Aircraft, called Tejas, have been delivered to the air force which has ordered 140 of them.

The Indian Air Force is down to 32 operational squadrons compared with the 45 it has said are necessary, and in March the vice chief Air Marshal B.S. Dhanoa told parliament's defence committee that it didn't have the operational strength to fight a two front war against China and Pakistan.

Jet Makers Respond

Saab said it was ready to not only produce its frontline Gripen fighter in India, but help build a local aviation industry base.

"We are very experienced in transfer of technology  our way of working involves extensive cooperation with our partners to establish a complete ecosystem, not just an assembly line," said Jan Widerstrom, Chairman and Managing Director, Saab India Technologies.

He confirmed Saab had received the letter from the Indian government seeking a fourth generation fighter. A source close to the company said that while there was no minimum order set in stone for it to lay down a production line, they would expect to build at least 100 planes at the facility.

Lockheed Martin said it had responded to the defence ministry's letter with an offer to transfer the entire production of its F-16 fighter to India.

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"Exclusive F-16 production in India would make India home to the world's only F-16 production facility, a leading exporter of advanced fighter aircraft, and offer Indian industry the opportunity to become an integral part of the world's largest fighter aircraft supply chain," Abhay Paranjape, National Executive for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Business Development in India said in an email.

US Top Supplier

Lockheed's offer comes on the back of expanding U.S.-India military ties in which Washington has emerged as India's top arms supplier in recent years, ousting old ally Russia.

Earlier this year Boeing also offered India its twin-engine F/A-18 Hornets, but the level of technology transfer was not clear.

India has never previously attempted to build a modern aircraft production line, whether military or civilian. State-run Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) has assembled Russian combat jets including the Su-30, but these are under licensed production.

"We have never had control over technology. This represents the most serious attempt to build a domestic base. A full or a near-full tech transfer lays the ground for further development," said retired Indian air marshal M. Matheswaran, a former adviser at HAL.

He said the Indian government would be looking at producing at least 200 fighters, and then probably some more, to make up for the decades of delay in modernising the air force.
Kozhikode: Accusing the Centre of attempting to "impose" the contentious Uniform Civil Code, the Indian Union Muslim League on Saturday announced the party would spearhead a campaign against it.

Speaking at a meeting of the joint council of different Muslim organisations convened here by the IUML, party National Secretary E T Mohammed Basheer said the IUML would take the lead in mobilising public opinion against the Centre over its attempts to "impose" the UCC.

He also said that his party would work for bringing all secular groups under one platform.

"IUML will take the lead in mobilising public opinion against the Centre in its attempts to impose the UCC and also work for bringing all secular groups under one platform," Basheer said.

The IUML leaders who spoke at the meeting alleged that the Centre was trying to divert the attention from various issues affecting the people by highlighting "less important matters such as triple talaq".

The joint council suggested that there was no need for any amendment in the Shariat Law and opined that the Centre's move to implement the UCC was a trap and all the Muslim organisations were similar in their views against its implementation.

Talking to reporters later, Basheer and IUML Treasurer P K Kunhalikutty, MLA, said implementation of the code would undermine the secular fabric of the country.

The meeting took a decision to oppose the code and it would be conveyed to the National Law Commission, which had sent a questionnaire they said.

It was convened to discuss issues related to the BJP-led Central government's move to implement the Uniform Civil Code and to take a decision on how to respond to the questionnaire issued by the Law Commission.

IUML President E Ahmed, MP, National Secretary M P Abdul Samad Samadhani, State Secretary K P A Majeed, besides representatives of E K Sunni fraction, Jamaate Islami, Mujahid Madavoor fraction, Kerala Naduvathul Mujahideen attended the meeting.

Recently, All India Muslim Personal Law Board and various other Muslim organisations had announced that they will boycott Law Commission's process to take views on the UCC.
CHENNAI: The Peoples Welfare Alliance which boycotted bypolls to three constituencies has planned to focus on protests demanding the formation of the Cauvery Management Board, while the DMK will be busy in bypoll work. The four-party formation did not attend the meeting convened by the DMK to discuss the issue, alleging politics behind the move. But, DMK and Congress leaders are accusing the PWA of considering politics above the Cauvery issue.

The PWA participated in the meeting convened by farmers on October 6 and took part in the two-day train blockade on October 17 and 18. Thol. Thirumavalvan, leader of VCK, a constituent of the alliance indicated that the protests would go to the next stage, if farmers themselves convened a meeting and invited all the parties.

VCK deputy general secretary Vanniarasu had criticised the resolutions and said the meeting had not taken the protests to the next stage and the resolutions lacked purpose. CPM state secretary G. Ramakrishnan said the PWA would convene a meeting and announce the next Cauvery protest after Deepavali. The leaders had already held a meeting on the issue and continue their consultations further. However, the DMK is likely to involve itself fully in election campaign and all its leaders in the delta districts would be in Thanjavur to canvass votes for the bypoll.

Stalin demands white paper on road-laying works:

Leader of Opposition M.K. Stalin on Friday sought a white paper on works undertaken by the Comprehensive Infrastructure Road Development Programme (CRIDP) for the last five years at an estimated cost of over Rs 15,000 crores. The white paper should contain details on the status of the road development schemes, the number of roads completed and the number of road works for which tenders had not been called for. Besides, the white paper should also explain how many villages populated mostly by people of SC had been completed, he said in a statement here.

The infrastructure, especially roads are essential for the growth of the state's economy and they satisfy people's requirements and help to prevent road accidents. The white paper should be released either by Finance Minister O. Panneerselvam, who is handling the portfolios of Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa or the Highways minister Edappadi K. Palanisamy, Stalin demanded.

Both the ministers have announced in the Assembly this year that Rs 15,000 crore had been allocated for road laying works under the CRIDP, he added.
Jaipur: A BSF jawan allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself with his service rifle in Jaisalmer district on Saturday.

39-year-old Manoj Kumar, a native of Uttar Pradesh, shot himself at around 1.30 am, Kishnaram, investigating officer, Ramgarh police station, said.

The jawan was posted on a border outpost at the Indo-Pak border, police said.

He was rushed to the district hospital where doctors declared him dead.

The body has been handed over to BSF officials after postmortem, Kishnaram said.

"The reason for the suicide is not clear and the matter is being investigated," he added.
New Delhi: Farhat, the PA of Samajwadi Party's Rajya Sabha MP Munvvar Saleem, was on Saturday sent to police custody for ten days by a Delhi court in the Pakistan espionage case.



The investigating officer said the accused, who was allegedly working for an ISI spy ring, was produced before Duty Magistrate Arun Kumar Garg and remanded for custodial interrogation till November 8.

Read: Pak espionage case: Delhi cops detain aide of SP Rajya Sabha MP



He said Farhat has to be confronted with other arrested men to unearth the larger conspiracy and nab others.



Delhi Police claimed that Farhat was involved in the espionage ring in which Pakistan High Commission staffer Mehmood Akhtar, described as the kingpin working for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, was detained by police for alleged possession of sensitive defence documents.



It said that Farhat was detained last night and was arrested this afternoon after prolonged questioning.



The officer said that preliminary questioning has led to certain revelations that need to be further investigated as other names have cropped up.



The agency has already arrested three persons -- Shoaib Hasan, Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangir -- earlier in the case who are in police custody till November 8.



During the proceedings today, police alleged that more persons are likely to be apprehended and more documents and other evidence to be recovered with the help of the accused.



The agency also said that all the accused persons arrested so far would be confronted with each other and taken to various places in the course of the investigation.
Embassies are getting in touch with manufacturers for information on the aircraft (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: After having signed a deal for 36 French Rafale aircraft, the government has started the hunt for 200-300 more fighter jets.

Embassies are getting in touch with manufacturers for information on the aircraft they can offer as well as the quantum and mode of technology transfer.

A top defence ministry source said a few unsolicited offers had been received. We will be looking at the offers from the Make in India perspective, he said.
Srinagar/New Delhi/Kurukshetra: The Army jawans brutal killing by terrorists aided by Pakistans forces has sparked widespread outrage and calls for retribution. Four jawans each from the BSF and the Army have died in border clashes in Jammu and Kashmir over the past one week.

Sepoy Mandeep Singh, 30, was killed while fighting terrorists who later mutilated his body in Kashmirs Kupwara district on Friday night, prompting the Army to vow revenge.

The martyrs inconsolable family at gloomy Aantehri village in Haryanas Kurukshetra demanded that Pakistan be taught a lesson. His brother, Sandeep Singh, demanded 10 Pakistani heads to avenge the barbaric killing.

Several women from Aantehri village in Kurukshetra reached the martyrs house and tried to console Mandeeps widow. The couple had got married two years ago, family members said. Mandeeps widow Prerna is a head constable with Haryana police and posted at Shahbad Markanda in Kurukshetra. His father said the army should give a befitting reply to Pakistan.

In 2013, Pakistans forces had beheaded an Indian soldier and mutilated anothers body in J&K, leaving the two countries teetering on the brink of war.

Meanwhile, heavy mortar shelling by Pakistan continued in Kathua and Abdullian areas of the R.S. Pura sector on Saturday. Indian troops are giving a befitting response, officials said.

The escalation in border firing comes even as Pakistan expelled on Thursday an Indian high commission official in Islamabad after a staffer of the Pakistan high commission in New Delhi was caught spying.
Mehmood Akhtar, the Pakistani spy who posed as a High Commission official (left), and two informants (right). (Photo: ANI Twitter)

NEW DELHI: The police arrested on Saturday Samajwadi Party Rajya Sabha MP Munavvar Saleems personal assistant Farhat Khan for his alleged involvement in a spy racket, two days after its kingpin  a Pakistani official  was expelled from India.

India had expelled Mehmood Akhtar on Thursday for using his consular position at Pakistans diplomatic mission in Delhi to recruit Indian spies, four of whom have since been held. Akhtar had named Khan  a resident of Uttar Pradesh  as one of his close associates.

He was picked up from Mr Saleems residence on Friday night and detained. He was arrested on Saturday after prolonged questioning.During Akhtars questioning, Khans name surfaced as one of his close associates in the espionage racket he was running.

He also named some other Pakistan high commission staffers, said a senior police officer. TV channels also aired a confessional video of Akhtar in which he purportedly named Khan and some others.

In the video, he also said he used to meet Khan at Mandi House Metro station.

A crime branch officer said Khans preliminary questioning has led to certain revelations that need to be further investigated. Names of several other people allegedly involved in the racket have cropped up.

Delhi Police is also trying to apprehend other members of the espionage ring who, it believes, were in close contact with Akhtar. Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangir of Rajasthan were arrested selling critical defence info pertaining to the deployment of the Indian military and paramilitary forces along the Indo-Pak border to Akhtar in Delhi on Thursday.

Another ring member, Shoaib, was arrested Friday after he was brought to New Delhi from Jodhpur. He was in touch with Akhtar. The module had been active for 18 months, and came on police radar six months ago.
Hyderabad: Facing flak for stating that it was demolishing the Secretariat because it was not vastu-compliant, the Telangana state government has changed its tune and claims the buildings are old and unsafe.

The Congress has filed a petition in the High Court, and other parties have sharply criticised the government for wanting to demolish the Secretariat building for such a paltry reason.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had openly blamed "dangerous vastu defects" in the building during several Cabinet briefings including one recently.

The government's new argument is that none of the blocks comply with fire safety rules; if a fire breaks out, there could be loss of lives, property and crucial documents and files. The government has got the fire department to certify the lack of fire safety in some buildings.

Telangana govt cites security risk at Secretariat

The government has got the fire department to certify the lack of fire safety in some buildings, like C-Block, which houses the Chief Ministers office, where there is no space for fire engines to enter.

The buildings also pose a grave security threat to the VIPs, the government claims, and G-Block, constructed by the Nizams in 1888 and not in use since 22 years, may collapse any time. The buildings also lack inter-connectivity and staff get drenched moving from one block to another during rains.

The case filed by Congress MLA T. Jeevan Reddy to prevent the demolition is expected to come up for hearing on Tuesday. The government has decided to file a counter in the High Court highlighting all these safety issues to prove the buildings must be demolished and new ones built.

A high-level committee of senior IAS officers had a detailed discussion with law department officials on Saturday to finalise their counter argument
Hyderabad: Secret orders issued by excise department permitting elite liquor outlets to sell foreign liquor brands besides premium Indian liquor brands, has turned controversial.

Existing liquor shop owners have cried foul over these orders alleging that they were issued to give undue benefit to certain individuals at the cost of normal liquor shops. They said that excise officials had shown favouritism towards elite liquor outlets by liberalising several norms and alleged huge corruption in this deal. They wanted the government to order an inquiry to bring out the facts behind it.

The excise department had issued GO Ms No.271 dated 26.10.2016 notifying the rules for setting up elite liquor outlets. However, the GO was not published and kept a secret. The government normally uploads all GOs on its website. In case, it doesnt want to disclose the contents of GO, it categorises it as confidential but still uploads the GO.

But in this case, the excise department had not uploaded the GO on the website. Liquor shop dealers say this was done only to cover up their shady deals.

They say though there is a difference of only Rs 25 lakh in licence fee between elite store and normal store, several exemptions are given to elite stores.

We pay Rs 1.10 crore fee while they pay Rs 1.25 crore. But we cannot sell even water. They are allowed to sell everything. Our shop timings are from 11 am to 10 pm while for them, 11 am to 12 midnight was fixed. Their licence period is for five years while ours is two years. These examples are enough to show how officials favoured certain individuals. We will suffer huge losses if the government permits them in our locations, said a liquor shop owner.

They say for any amendment to excise rules, cabinet approval is a must. But in this case, no cabinet approval was taken and the government too was kept in the dark.
Members of the regions Certified Work Ready Community planning committee hosted the Certified Work Ready Community Summit for St. Francois County employers on Oct. 27 at Mineral Area Colleges Continuing Education Building.

We are holding this meeting to help employers make improved hiring decisions by giving them a better understanding of the significance of on-boarding job candidates whose work ready job skills are certified through the ACT WorkKeys assessment process, said Dick Womack, CWRC committee chairman and executive director of the Farmington Chamber of Commerce.

In 2012 the state of Missouri jumped on board with the Certified National Career Readiness Certification Initiative, said Sharrie Berowski, another member of the committee. A goal for this program is to grow our economy by helping businesses and workers succeed. Shortly after the state agreed to start this initiative, St. Francois County jumped on board and started working towards becoming certified.

In July of 2014, we became a certified work ready community. The certifications are good for two years and its now time for us to get into maintenance status and maintain that certification.

In order to maintain the certification, a certain number of employers are needed to become work-ready partners with the National Career Readiness Communities organization.

Were currently at 24 percent of the supporting employer goal, said Berowski.

Were asking all those employers who completed employer-support forms in 2014 to reconfirm their support, as well as inviting new employers to join with us, said Harold Gallaher, CWRC committee member and Presiding Commissioner of St. Francois County.

Its a very simple process for employers of any size, said Womack.

Participating in the initiative offers several benefits for employers and the community as a whole. The work readiness system can help identify skill gaps, match individuals to jobs based on skill levels and quantify the skill level of the area workforce.

In turn, this aids educators in building career pathways aligned to the needs of local business and industry. It also helps a community stand out and be recognized for its workforce development efforts. A strong workforce, of course, is a tremendous economic development advantage.

Nationally, the majority of businesses that have participated in the work ready initiative have found that it improves hiring outcomes.

The initiative also benefits prospective employees by proving them with a useful credential after training and evidence of achievement beyond a diploma or degree.

Berowski explained that there are four credential levels  bronze, silver, gold and platinum  individuals can achieve, depending on their performance on assessments that look at factors such as problem solving and critical thinking skills, reading and applying information to help solve problems, mathematical reasoning and other analytical skills.

Comparing the assessment results of St. Francois County certificate holders with others in the state and across the nation, Berowski pointed out that although St. Francois County had fewer bronze level certificate earners than the rest of Missouri and the country as a whole, the results were quite different at the silver and gold levels.

The silver level is where we do really well; 61 percent of those that tested, earned a silver certificate, she said, which is well above the 50 (percent) nationally and 55 for Missouri.

Were still above average with gold as well; 26.7 percent of our test-takers earn gold where nationally and in Missouri only 19 percent earned gold certificates.

Results were nearly even for all test-takers at the platinum level.

There arent a whole lot of people that earn certificates at that level, Berowski said.

Summarizing how the certificate levels impact employers, Berowski said, Everyone has turnover, everyone loses employees. Part of this program looks at why turnover may be occurring, what training focuses you need to have, what youre doing for advertising, interviewing, hiring and training and how can this certificate help you save time and money for all those things.

Being the only region in the state with four connected counties certified as work ready  St. Francois, Madison, Iron and Ste. Genevieve  the region has a unique selling point for attracting new businesses into the area: the local workforce is prepared to succeed and becomes a valuable asset to your business.

Im anxious to see this succeed, said Gallaher. Its nothing but good for the employer and employee.

For more information about the initiative or how to participate, call the Missouri Job Center at 573-518-2431. Interested employers can also complete their partnership letters online at workreadycommunities.org/business/form.
Hyderabad: After hearing the pros and cons presented by Supreme Court senior counsel C.S. Vaidyanathan over follow up action on the Justice Brijesh Kumar Tribunal verdict on Section 89 of the AP Reorganisation Act, a Cabinet subcommittee looking into the matter on Saturday couldnt come to any conclusion and decided to meet again in the first week of November.

The tribunal had ruled that Section 89 was limited to the Krishna waters issue between TS and AP, and did not cover Kar-nataka and Maharashtra.

The subcommittee headed by irrigation minister T. Harish Rao, ministers T. Nageswara Rao, Jupally Krishna Rao and G. Jagadish Reddy held a three-hour meeting with Mr Vaidyanathan, irrigation special chief secretary S.K. Joshi, irrigation adviser R. Vidyasagar and other engineering officials at the Secretariat.

There was no official communique on the outcome of the meeting.

Informed sources told this newspaper that Mr Vaidyanathan explained to the subcommittee that it would be difficult for the state government to approach the Supreme Court as long as the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal was in vogue and seized of the issue of distributing 1,005 tmc ft water between TS and AP, allotted to undivided AP by the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal in 2013.

He appeared to have observed that there might be a chance of the apex court advising the state government to approach the tribunal and effectively argue its cae to get its share of the Krishna waters as the inter-state dispute tribunal was the place to do so.

He appeared to have observed that the government may prefer an appeal before the Supreme Court for speedy disposal of the special leave petition filed by the state government, which is pending. Till such time the state government could seek a stay on the Brijesh Tribunal verdict on Section 89.

The chances of getting a stay are only 50 per cent. The subcommittee appea-red to have been told by senior counsel that since there was already a stay on implementation of the KWDT-2 award, the state government could intervene in the litigation in case Karnataka and Maharashtra preferred a vacation petition on the issue.

The subcommittee also noted that the AP government did not seem inclined to go against the Brijesh Tribunals verdict as it felt there was no great injustice done to the state. In such a case the TS government should be prepared for a lone battle. After this, the ministers in the subcommittee met separately and dispersed before deciding to meet again in first week of November.
Racing is also one of the ways to make money for some students of engineering and management colleges and employees of software and BPOs. (Representational image)

Visakhapatnam: Bike racing gangs are finding new places for illegal races to evade the police: The 1.5-km Telugu Talli flyover near Asilmetta is one of them.

Not only weekends but also on weekdays bikers race their bikes at night.

Often the bikers are under the influence of alcohol.

A senior police officer with the traffic wing said that the flyover, which connects Asilmetta Junction and Railway DRM Office, comes under three police stations limits.

The bikers are cashing in on the jurisdiction dispute over deployment of police.

ADCP (Traffic) K. Mahendra Patrudu said that the police had identified over 15 places, including beach road stretch and NH-16 stretch between Zoo Park and PM Palem and few other places where illegal bike racings take place and has deployed teams to check them.

But youngsters are finding new places where the police vigil is low. We are chalking out plans to identify the new venues and check the dangerous practice, he said.

Racing is also one of the ways to make money for some students of engineering and management colleges and employees of software and BPOs.

There were few incidents where girls have participated in the races and have been injured but the organisers have managed to hoodwink the police.

The dangerous stunts of the racers trouble other road users, said Arvinda Kumar G, resident of Vishalakshinagar.
Jaipur: It was supposed to be a bumper Diwali for thousands of employees in Rajasthans three power distribution companies and the state roadways transport corporation but just two days before the festival all dreams turned into despair.

Two weeks ago, these employees were beaming with joy when the state government not just announced bonus before Diwali but also doubled the amount to Rs 7,000, at par with central government employees. However, just two days before Diwali, the bonus order came with a shocking rider.

Playing a cruel joke on the employees who have been eagerly waiting for annual Diwali bonus, in the order they were asked to forgo the bonus considering poor financial condition of the power companies. Although, the order made it look like a request.

Looking into the background of heavy losses being suffered by the power companies, an option may be given to the employees to whom ex-gratia is being allowed, to forgo the same if he/she so desires willingly/happily in the interest of the power companies, said the order issued by Jaipur Discoms chief accounts officer.

As the news spread about the offer, employees were taken aback and asked if any senior level official had set an example by following such an order.

According to them poor financial condition is not new but never ever a senior officer offered to forgo his bonus.

We are still to get our bonus. Has any officer offered similar gesture before, an employee asked. However, Jaipur Discom employees can take consolation as they have been requested to forgo the bonus while they still get their monthly salary regularly but their peers in state roadways corporation have been forced to observe the festival of light as black Diwali because forget bonus even the salary of October would be released next month.

After the finance department rejected Roadways authorities request to release Rs 14 crore for bonus, the managing director Rajesh Yadav said that the roadways was not in condition to give bonus to 17,000 employees. Further rubbing salt on their wounds the roadways employees have been told that they would get October salary in November.
Bhopal: A 77-year-old former soldier from China, who entered India during the 1962 Sino-India war after allegedly losing his way and later settled in Madhya Pradesh, is longing to go back to his native land and reunite with his siblings.

Septuagenarian Wang Qi, who lives with his wife and children in Tirodi area of Maoist-infested Balaghat district, has been harbouring a desire to see his relatives since the last five decades but his wish hasn't been fulfilled for want of a permit from the Indian government and other procedural roadblocks.

Wang who has grown frail over the years might now face more hardships in visiting his homeland given the prevailing tension in the Indo-China relations but he is still hopeful.

His younger son Vishnu Wang, 35, said that his father had joined the Chinese army in 1960 and he entered India from the eastern frontiers after losing his way in pitch darkness one night.

He landed in Assam where he was caught by Indian Red Cross Society and handed over to Indian Army on January 1, 1963.

"My father spent six years in different prisons in Assam, Ajmer, Delhi and the Punjab and Haryana High Court finally released him in March 1969," he said.

"The Indian government had promised to the court that it would rehabilitate my father. He was taken to Delhi, Bhopal, Jabalpur and then finally handed over to Balaghat police," he said.

After coming to Balaghat, Wang, in order to eke out a living, started working as a watchman with a mill where his colleagues started calling him by name Raj Bahadur apparently due to his Nepali features, Vishnu said.

But little did he know that the enemy nation against whom he had waged a war would become his home, where he would rear a family. Wang married his wife Sushila in 1975 but his desire to live a comfortable life was short-lived.

"Soon after my father married my mother, the Indian government stopped his monthly pension of Rs 100," Vishnu Wang, who works as an accountant for a small business unit, said.

"My father faced a lot of hardships, wanting to go to China. He tried very hard and even entered into correspondence with the then prime ministers but in vain," he said.
Fire broke out at the Gokool Restaurant in West Marredpally early on Saturday causing panic among residents of the building. (Photo: DC)

Hyderabad: Fire broke out at the Gokool Restaurant in West Marredpally early on Saturday, causing panic among residents, who live in the same building. Two fire tenders rushed to the spot and put out the blaze after an effort lasting around two hours.

Although the restaurants owners told the police that the fire erupted due to the malfunctioning of electric cables, fire officials said that it could be due to the blaze from one of the gas stoves. Fire officials found fire crackers in a storeroom near the kitchen.

Eyewitnesses said the fire erupted at around 5 am inside the kitchen. The fire spread quickly and burnt the furniture on the ground floor. The blaze then spread outside the building to the ventilation and ceiling. Thick smoke gushed into the residential part of the building on the first and second floors where seven people were sleeping, said a witness.

Some employees of Gokool Restaurant, who claimed they were sleeping in one part of the restaurant, woke up and rushed out escaping death. They then informed the police and fire officials.

Meanwhile, people living in the residential portion of the building woke up due to the thick smoke and heat and rushed out. I suddenly woke up as thick smoke filled the room. I could feel the heat. I rushed out of the building. If I had been late by a few minutes I would have fainted inside my locked room and died, said a person living on the third floor.

A fire official said they found the debris of fire crackers after they put out the fire. When we came firecrackers were exploding. The employees must have stored crackers for Diwali, he said, adding that they must have kept a gas stove open, which caught fire due to the heat inside.

Police said they did not receive any complaint from the restaurant owners. We are not investigating since there is no complaint. We have alerted the GHMC and they will check if the restaurant is illegal, said inspector C. Uma Maheswar Rao. Gokool owners were not ready to talk about the issue to DC.

Blaze in Panjagutta building

A fire broke out in a car accessories shop in Panjagutta on Saturday. Fire spread to the next shop by the time four fire tenders came to the spot. A major portion of the building was gutted.

The blaze erupted in Car Shringar, a showroom located on the ground floor of My Home Laxmi Nivas, at around 12 am. Owner Rakesh opened the shutter, saw sparks and before he could react, the blaze spread across the showroom.

He immediately called fire services and the police. Four fire engines from Sanath Nagar and Secunderabad rushed to the spot. A snorkel also arrived and used foam and water to put out the fire. The firemen took around two hours to extinguish the fire. The police said a case was booked based on a complaint by the showroom owner.
Visakhapatnam: Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidus contradictory statements over the financial status of Andhra Pradesh reflect how he is deceiving the people of the state, said YSR Congress senior leader Dharmana Prasada Rao.

Speaking to mediapersons at the party officer here on on Saturday, Mr Rao said, On the one hand, Mr Naidu claims that the state was staring at a revenue deficit of about Rs 18,000 crore. At the same time, he maintains that Andhra Pradesh is the only state registering double digit GDP growth in the country, he said.

How a state can have a revenue shortfall when its economy is on a higher growth path? the YSRC leader questioned.

The ruling party has lost its vision and deviated from its promises such as securing special category status. Now, the responsibility lies with the YSRC to question the government and hold it accountable to the public, Mr Prasada Rao said.

Mr Prasada Rao said Union minister M. Venkaiah Naidu had that the Special Category Status was beneficial. Right from 2014, the YSRC has been fighting for SCS.

To take all these failures of the government to the public, YSRC chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy would address a mega public meeting in Visakhapatnam on November 6 in the name of Jai Andhra Pradesh, Mr Rao said.

YSR Congress district president Gudivada Amar, K. Prasad Reddy, T. Vijay Kumar, T. Gurumurthy Reddy, K. Guruvulu and others were present on the occasion.
Hyderabad: TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Saturday challenged Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to conduct a survey on his popularity among students and farmers to get real results instead of enjoying fake surveys by some disreputable organisations

Addressing a rally in his home constituency Huzurnagar, Mr Uttam Kumar Reddy said the survey which placed Mr Rao as the most popular CM was a farce. It was shameful to celebrate the findings of a fabricated survey when over 14 lakh students and their families and about 2.5 lakh staff of private colleges are unable to celebrate Diwali due to non-clearance of fee reimbursement dues, he said.

Over 37 lakh farmers had foregone Diwali celebrations for the third consecutive year as the government had failed to clear crop loan waivers.

Thousands of poor patients were in immense pain with hospitals refusing treatment under Aarogyasri due to non-payment of dues by the government. He asked whether Mr Rao was ranked No.1 in popularity for being insensitive and inhuman towards the poor.

Survey enthuses TRS ranks

TRS leaders celebrated a private survey listing Mr K. Chandrasekhar Rao as the No 1 Chief Minister. The survey by VDP Associates described him as the most popular CM; if polls are held now, the TRS would get 51 per cent of vote and bag all 17 LS seats in the state.

Opposition leaders were unimpressed. Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya said, Survey opinion is not the same always. They keep on changing depending on situations and performance. KCR promise to implement reservations to minorities is not possible. He should focus on solving public issues instead of Secretariat buildings. Congress ex-MP Ponnam Prabhakar alleged that Mr Rao was No 1 in the country in failing to keep promises.
With less than six months to go, the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election of 2017 is engrossing the political class. There is a three-way contest afoot between the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the incumbent Samjawadi Party. Theoretically there is a four-way battle, with the Congress in the race. Potentially a five-way election, with the SP splitting, would make things even more interesting. However, this split is unlikely, notwithstanding the current struggle within the Yadav family. Where do things stand? The grim news is for the Congress, with Rita Bahuguna Joshi, a long-time functionary of the party in Uttar Pradesh, leaving for the BJP. In electoral terms, this is not a major loss. Ms Joshi is not a huge vote winner; if she had been, the Congress would have been differently placed in the first place. Nevertheless her departure is telling of the failure of the Congress to win enough support in the brahmin community, a reasonably sized cohort (about 10-12 per cent of state population) and influential beyond its numbers.

When the Congress began its Uttar Pradesh campaign under the leadership of Prashant Kishor and Rahul Gandhi, it targeted brahmins  and hence placed Sheila Dikshit as its chief ministerial candidate. The calculation was brahmins had an old association with the Congress and were probably tiring of Narendra Modi in mid-term. Hence they could be looking for options to the BJP. If enough brahmins switched to the Congress, then, constituency by constituency, seat by seat, the Congress could become competitive and appeal to other voter groups and communities. In a fragmented polity, where even 25-30 per cent of the vote can be enough to win a seat, this could help the Congress punch above its weight.

As a strategy, this was not a bad one. However, it hasnt quite worked. If anything brahmins and upper caste voters in general remain firmly in the BJP camp. It is possible that some of these voters may dump the BJP and move towards the winning party  should that party not be the BJP  in the final stages, as a demonstration of the bandwagon effect. Yet, the Congress is unlikely to be that front-runner. In a multi-cornered contest, the weakest contestant gets squeezed out. Move to the SP. For all the infighting, it is beyond belief that the party will split in patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadavs lifetime. Akhilesh Yadav may want to carve out a new, more inclusive identity  as opposed to the grime his uncles specialise in. Nevertheless, he needs to inherit his fathers Yadav base if he is to be electorally competitive. He cannot reasonably do this by taking on his father publicly. No memorandum of understanding between the Akhilesh Yadav spin and advertising factory and the English-language press in Delhi can replace that hard fact.

What Akhilesh Yadav is attempting is similar to a strategy that proved successful for Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in West Bengal in 2006. He is positioning himself as a likeable candidate and an agent of change against the backdrop of a discredited culture of governance created by his own party. However, two caveats need to be entered here. In 2006, the CPI(M) establishment played along with Mr Bhattacharjee and the Opposition  the Trinamul Congress-BJP alliance  was organisationally too weak to take advantage of a popular mood for change. Ten years on, the Akhilesh Yadav-SP dynamic in Uttar Pradesh is very different. Party patronage and sub-regional networks  represented by the various uncles  are holding on to their turf and are not amenable to any organisational discipline. That aside, the Opposition  especially the BSP under Mayawati and a resurgent BJP, smelling its chance after 15 years of exile from the secretariat in Lucknow  is not missing anything.

When one combines this with the overall despondency with the government  crime; the nexus between land-grabbing SP functionaries and local police officials; corruption in departments such as those of roads, public works and irrigation (all run by Shivpal Yadav, Mulayams brother and Akhileshs estranged uncle)  an anti-incumbency sentiment becomes inevitable. Indeed opinion polls that have shown a certain popularity for Akhilesh Yadav as an individual have equally suggested huge disappointment with his government. If the SP begins to slip, where will its voters go? There are three primary constituencies for the SP: Muslims, Yadavs and a slice of the non-Yadav upper OBC vote. The BSP is targeting Muslims and the BJP the other two. It needs to be factored in though that even in a losing cause, the SP and Mulayam Singh Yadav in particular will retain a sizeable chunk of Muslim and Yadav support. The SP is not going to simply collapse and disappear to convenience its rivals.

Both the BSP and the BJP start with some advantages. The BSP managed 20 per cent of the vote even in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, despite winning zero seats. On paper, a dalit-Muslim alliance is formidable. Complemented by Mayawatis presence as a chief ministerial face and an attraction for floating voters here and there, this could take her to victory. The BJP has solid support from upper caste groups and has carved out sustained loyalty among some OBC sub-communities, a project it is looking to expand under Amit Shahs presidency. As opposed to Bihar, Uttar Pradesh is that much more urban. As per 2011 census figures, 11 per cent of Bihar is urban but 22 per cent of Uttar Pradesh lives in cities and towns. This gives the BJP a pan-state baseline vote. Since many Muslims too live in cities and towns, a dalit-Muslim alliance leaves scope for a counter-mobilisation on caste as well as religious lines. What the BJP lacks is a candidate for the chief ministership  someone with name recognition and administrative experience to take on Mayawati. At some point, that will cost the BJP. This is not an issue that can be brushed aside for good.
Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav addresses the media with party's UP President Shivpal Yadav at a press conference at the party office in Lucknow on Tuesday. (Photo: PTI)

The caste cauldron in Uttar Pradesh has been boiling since the past three decades, but with the emergence of personality-based politics, especially with chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, the mould could be broken in the 2017 Assembly elections.

The Muslims, other backward classes (OBC) and the upper castes, who have been deciding the political fate of the state since 1989 when Mandal-Kamandal turned into the key factor, are now visibly yearning for a change.

The OBCs, dominated by the Yadavs who constitute almost 40 per cent of the OBC population in UP, have been solidly supporting the Samajwadi Party led by Mulayam Singh Yadav since the early nineties.

However, growing allegations of nepotism in the Yadav clan, apparently did not go down well with the community and a large section of them voted for the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, leaving the Samajwadi Party with just five seats. Though SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav remains the undisputed leader of his community in UP, his son and chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has refused to cultivate himself as a caste leader.

He is popular as a youth leader-cutting across caste lines-but is definitely not known as a Yadav leader. Akhilesh has also taken care not to cultivate the Yadav leadership around him  except the family, of course  and this could prove disappointing for the community.

Besides, the recent war in the Yadav family could lead to a split in Yadav votes, as not many feel that the crisis in the first family will get over anytime soon. A split in the family and the party is imminent, whether it comes before or after the elections. The Yadav community is definitely doing serious rethinking on the matter and we will go with the SP only where it is in a winning position, said Ram Ugrah Yadav, a school teacher in Azamgarh.

The Yadavs are dominant in about 37 Assembly segments in districts like Etah, Etawah, Ferozabad, Mainpuri, Badaun, Kannauj, Aurraiyya and Azamgarh. With non-Yadav OBCs already with the BJP, even a slight shift in Yadav votes could drive the SP out of power in 2017.

Decision

The BJP will surely try to take advantage of the ongoing SP crisis and make a renewed effort to win over the Yadavs, although it does not have a leader from the community to lead such a drive.

The most crucial votebank in UP continues to be the Muslims, who are majority in more than 124 Assembly seats. The SP crisis has left Muslims in a dilemma.

They are unsure if the party, weakened by the infighting, will be in a position to defeat the communal forces. Muslims are also wary of the BSP, which thrice formed government in UP with BJP support. What is the guarantee that the BSP will not go with the BJP again if it falls short of majority? The party is not trustworthy and the Muslims may vote for the BSP only in those seats where the candidate is strong enough to defeat the BJP, said Zahoor Baksh, a trader in Meerut.

The upper castes, meanwhile, could prove to be a gamechanger in these elections. The Brahmins, who constitute 13 per cent of the population, and the Thakurs (9 per cent) have traditionally voted for the BJP since the Ayodhya movement. But with the BJP now focussing more on OBCs and Dalits, the upper castes seem a little disillusioned with it.

Moreover, the BJPs upper caste leadership in UP has either migrated to national politics or has gone into semi-retirement.
BSP supremo Mayawati at a function on the death anniversary of party-founder Kanshi Ram in Lucknow on Sunday. (Photo: PTI)

Just about three months away from Assembly elections, UP is seeing developments that could upset the poll equations. Divisions, defections and desertions have hit the two principal contenders  the SP and the BSP. For the ruling SP, the crisis in the party is almost like sunset at high noon.

The feud in SPs first family has come at a time when it was ready with a makeover to retain power for the second term.

The slugfest that began between Shivpal Yadav and CM Akhilesh Yadav, Shivpals nephew, has turned into a generational war in the party. Those eyeing a political career beyond the next five years are supporting the CM and only few loyalists remain with party president Mulayam Singh Yadav and Shivpal.

This family feud has percolated down to the grassroots level, splitting the party into two groups and the division could lead to a realignment of voters preferences.

The SPs votebank, mainly comprising Muslims and Yadavs, looks set to be divided now as the party faces an uncertain future.

The Samajwadis led by Mulayam Singh Yadav may agree to an alliance with JD(U), RJD and RLD but certainly not the Congress whereas if Akhilesh Yadav has his way, the party will go it alone. The chief minister is confident of compensating the possible loss of Muslim votes with his youth following.

On the other hand, the SP infighting promises to offer BSP a golden chance to turn around its fortunes after it was hit by a series of desertions and defections by senior party leaders since June.

The BSPs main USP in the state has been its ability to control the law and order situation that has gone awry in the Samajwadi regime and Mayawatis image as a tough administrator has won her admiration cutting across caste lines.

However, allegations of selling tickets for a price have taken considerable sheen off the partys image and the Daya Shankar episode in which BSP leaders abused the BJP functionarys minor daughter have distanced the upper castes from Mayawatis party.

Another problem the BSP is facing is that its mainstay, the dalit vote, had drifted towards the BJP in the 2014 general elections. Morover, Mayawati has failed to groom a second-rung dalit leadership. The BSP election campaign is being run by Satish Chandra Misra, a Brahmin, and Naseemuddin Siddiqui, a Muslim.

The BSP has survived on dalit votes for more than three decades but, today, it does not have a dalit leader to campaign, said R.K. Gautam, a dalit writer.

For the BJP, the political horizon seems to have brightened. It is all set to sweep western UP, where a strong polarisation on communal lines is already working to its advantage.

Besides, the partys campaign has won it the support of most backward castes and non-Yadav OBCs. The rift in the SP will now encourage the BJP to try to divide the Yadav votes too. The upper castes, in the absence of a political option, are also likely to go with it.

What could prove to be a disadvantage for the BJP is that it has not projected a chief ministerial candidate.

The Congress, at the moment, may not seem robust enough to stake its claim to form a government but the intensive campaigning at all levels has started stirring the pot. It is trying to woo Brahmins and dalits, and expecting the Muslims to return to its fold.

If it chooses candidates judiciously, the Congress could well emerge as the kingmaker, if not the king.
The EU data protection authorities also wrote to Yahoo over a massive data breach that exposed the email credentials of 500 million users, as well as its scanning of customers' incoming emails for specific information provided by US intelligence officials.

European privacy watchdogs warned WhatsApp on Friday over sharing user information with parent company Facebook, and cautioned Yahoo over a 2014 data breach and scanning of customer emails for US intelligence purposes.

The popular messaging service's recent change in privacy policy to start sharing users' phone numbers with Facebook - the first policy change since WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook in 2014 - has attracted regulatory scrutiny in Europe.

The Italian antitrust watchdog on Friday also announced a separate probe into whether WhatsApp obliged users to agree to sharing personal data with Facebook. The European Union's 28 data protection authorities said in a statement they had requested WhatsApp stop sharing users' data with Facebook until the "appropriate legal protections could be assured" to avoid falling foul of EU data protection law.

WhatsApp's new privacy policy involves the sharing of information with Facebook for purposes that were not included in the terms of service when users signed up, raising questions about the validity of users' consent, the authorities, known as the Article 29 Working Party (WP29), said.

A spokeswoman for WhatsApp said the company was working with data protection authorities to address their questions. "Weve had constructive conversations, including before our update, and we remain committed to respecting applicable law, she said.

Facebook has had run-ins with European privacy watchdogs in the past over its processing of users' data. However, the fines that regulators can levy are paltry in comparison to the revenues of the big US tech companies concerned.

The EU data protection authorities also wrote to Yahoo over a massive data breach that exposed the email credentials of 500 million users, as well as its scanning of customers' incoming emails for specific information provided by US intelligence officials.

They asked Yahoo to communicate all aspects of the data breach to the EU authorities, to notify the affected users of the "adverse effects" and to cooperate with all "upcoming national data protection authorities' enquiries and/or investigations.

"The reports (about email scanning) are concerning to WP29 and it will be important to understand the legal basis and justification for any such surveillance activity, including an explanation of how this is compatible with EU law and protection for EU citizens," the watchdogs said in their letter to Yahoo. Yahoo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The regulators will discuss the Yahoo and WhatsApp cases in November.

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Rating:

After the successful hardware-rich Z1, Lenovo-owned Zuk Z2 Plus is now here to put a mark on the smartphone industry. For many who keep deciding on which smartphone to opt for, the Zuk Z2 Plus is definitely a worthy consideration.

We have known many out there, and definitely you would be one of them, who hunt for a smartphone which has a flagship performance on a budget price. And there are many others who look for a smartphone that has a decently large screen, but comfortable to hold on to. While many iPhone users still agree that the Plus versions of iPhones are a bit too large to handle, we assume that the iPhone 5 and iPhone 6 are the best in terms of handling. They are good enough to fit into the palm of anyone out there, without having to do the thumb yoga while using apps. Taking comfort into consideration, Lenovo has created the Z2 Plus to impress the masses with both design and price. The Lenovo Z2 Plus (aka Zuk Z2 in China) offers compelling features and performance at an affordable price.

Design and Build:

The Lenovo Z2 Plus has a sturdy and tough chassis, albeit one may find it a little boring as the aesthetics are almost absent on this handset. However, we still feel that though design and aesthetics are usually considered by most buyers, this one is not that bad. It looks like a simple piece of black plastic with a glass surface in front and at the back.

The frame is made from fibre glass  not plastic or metal. This body gives an additional advantage over falls and drops and protects the interiors from damage since fibre glass is stronger than metal, lighter too and causes zero interference in radio signals. Additionally, Lenovo has used a roll-cage design for the Z2 Plus, which means that individual components inside the device are stacked one on top of the other. This additionally helps for a rugged handset apart from efficient thermal management. Both the front and rear panel is made of glass  meaning you would have to keep your fingerprints off this baby. Lenovo takes care of this by bundling along a case within the box so that you can take care of your investment.

As usual with most smartphones, the power and volume buttons take their place on the right side, while the left keeps room for the dual nano SIM cards. The top is blank and Lenovo has placed the speaker, audio jack and the Type-C ports on the bottom where they are best needed. The rear panel is non-removable and holds the primary camera along with a single LED flash and a secondary microphone towards to the top left corner. The front panel consists of the earpiece, secondary mic and sensors as usual over the display, while the bottom features just a single physical intelligent Home switch since the control panel is placed within the UI itself. We call the Home button intelligent because this is one smartphone that features a multi-featured Home button for ease of use.

The Home button incorporates a fingerprint sensor as usual, but can also do tricks like swipe, recent apps, and a lot more. The Home button can be configured for swipes, taps and clicks, making it even easier to use the user interface. For example, swiping right can slide through apps in the background, long touch on the button can open the navigation bar, and more. You can customise it as per your choice. Lenovo names the Home button as the U-Touch Button for a one hand experience. Besides being a fingerprint sensor, U-Touch can perform 7 different tasks and can be customized to launch your favourite apps.

Overall, the Z2 Plus has a very comfortable grip, large enough to operate with a thumb and strong enough to withstand regular falls.

Specifications:

The Lenovo Z2 Plus features the most recent chip from Qualcomm. Built around the 64-bit Snapdragon 820 Soc featuring custom Kryo cores and an Adreno 530 graphics unit, the Z2 Plus comes in two flavours 3GB and 4GB RAM with 32GB and 64GB storage respectively. The only area where the Z2 Plus falls short is a hybrid SIM slot option, which does not allow for memory expansion. The rest of the specifications are identical. These include a 5-inch full HD LTPS LCD display panel with a 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 3, 13MP rear and 8MP front cameras, USB Type-C with USB 3.0 speeds, 4G VoLTE support, and a 3500mAh battery. The hardware is powered by an almost stock Android, but features a new user interface from Lenovo, called ZUI.

Display:

The Z2 Plus holds a 5-incher full HD display with a density of 441 pixels per inch. The display screen is bright, crisp and has decent viewing angles. One can tweak the colour settings or enable night mode for reducing eyestrain when using at night.

User interface:

As mentioned earlier, the Z2 Plus uses ZUI as the user interface over Android Marshmallow 6.0, unlike the Zuk Z1 that used Cyanogen OS. The interface is fluid, almost stock and features some great set of features. Swipe down from the top and you can see the notification bar, but similar to iOS, this one uses swipe up from bottom to show the quick settings, which Lenovo calls Quick Switch Panel  probably this is something that users would like since large display screens make is awkward for the user to read the finger to the top of the display.

With almost stock android, there are only a few apps that Lenovo has added. While U-Health, Superb Cleaner are two nice-to-have apps, a few unwanted ones such as Amazon, 9Apps, SHAREit and Hasoffer could have been done away with.

Performance:

On the performance front, the Z2 Plus wont let you complain. Powered by a 2.15GHz processor and an Adreno GPU, the user interface can be as smooth as possible. Casual to high-end gaming is absolutely no problem, with almost zero lags and frame drops. However, we did notice that the device marginally starts to become warmer, but thats bound to happen when you stress the hardware for a longer period.

Watching movies comes with no complaints either, but we do want to mention that Lenovo should have paid attention to the audio segment as well. The onboard speaker is not up to the mark and one would rather use a headphone than to watch a few clips out door. When in a quiet area, like at home, the audio output is OK but the quality is a bit below average.

As far as the battery performance is concerned, it would be totally subjective and differ from user to user. While some may use the device primarily for gaming, other could prefer it for office work and casual photography. The battery would last depending on the usage and on an average, you can expect anywhere between 5  8 hours before you hunt for a charger.

Speaking of the charger, the Z2 Plus supports Quick Charge 3.0, but sadly Lenovo has not bundled a compatible charger with it. Lenovo has also included the Intelligent Charge Cut-Off feature for the Z2 Plus, which disconnects the battery from the charger when charged at 100 per cent and uses the AC power ahead. This prevents the battery from overcharging, thus increasing the life of the battery by a margin.

Camera:

The Z2 Plus features a 13MP camera with an ISOCELL sensor wide and f/2.2 aperture, designed for better low-light photography. The camera app bundled with the user interface is very simple and stock. It has no additional features such as manual mode, or filters. Swiping from the left side takes you to the menu options which include HDR, Panorama photos, slow motion videos and time-lapse features. What we liked on the camera app is the ability to shoot slow motion with frame rates of 120fps, 240fps and 960fps. Shooting in slow-motion actually works well, but it does not record sound (iPhone does) and the results are lower resolutions and smoothening of the connecting frames so that they merge perfectly for the video.

As for still photography, we would say that the Z2 Plus performs above average. Captured images are crisp, colours are natural and details are great. However, the camera seems to only perform at par in well-lit areas and in broad daylight. During the evenings, or in low-lit areas, the images turn out grainy. We have included a few images below that we clicked using the Z2 Plus.

Without HDR

With HDR

Verdict:

The Lenovo Z2 Plus is a rugged and sturdy handset with hardware of a flagship smartphone in a small and comfortable 5-inch form factor. Priced at Rs 17,999 for the 3GB/32GB version and Rs 19,999 for the 4G/64GB version, we find the handset more affordable that the present rivals in the market that feature similar hardware. Closest brands in the same hardware field are Xiaomi, OnePlus and LeEco, but the Z2 Plus is cheaper over the rest. As for the performance, yes the OnePlus 3 could beat it with 6GB of RAM.

Advantages that the Z2 Plus has to its side are great build quality, very stable performance, stock-like interface, multi-featured home button, good grip, comfortable use. Its downsides are no memory expansion, average design and aesthetics, poor camera performance in low-light and a glass rear panel that is a fingerprint magnet.

The Lenovo Z2 Plus has a great value for money when considering features and specifications over its selling price. We highly recommend the Z2 Plus to those looking for comfort of use, combined with high-end specs on a fairly low price.

Specifications in brief:

Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, 64-Bit Custom Kryo Cores, Adreno 530

Operating System: Android 6.0.1

Memory: RAM/ROM: 4GB/64GB / 3GB/ 32GB

Display: Size: 5-inch full HD Display

Battery: 3500 mAh High Density (374 Wh/l) battery

Camera: Rear: 13 MP, Front: 8 MP

Connectivity: Data/Speed: 2*CA / CAT 6 for LTE, 2.4 GHz & 5 GHz for Wi-Fi

Bluetooth: v4.1

Ports: USB 3.0 type-C

Mobile network: 4G Network: TDD LTE B38/B39/B40/B41 | FDD-LTE Band: 1/3/7

SIM: Nano SIM, Dual-SIM

Sensors: 3-axis gyro sensor, 3-axis electronic compass sensor, 3-axis Acceleration Sensor, Light Sensor, Hall Sensor (Proximity Sensor), Distance Sensor (Pedometer), Fingerprint recognition

Design: Rollcage Design | Fiberglass frame

Colours: White, Black

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15 people died in fighting on the town's outskirts between former Muslim militia and Christian vigilante groups known as anti-balaka on Thursday. (Photo: AP)

Bangui: Twenty-five people were killed, six of them gendarmes, in two days of violence around the town of Bambari in the troubled Central African Republic, the UN force MINUSCA said on Saturday.

Six police and four civilians were killed in an ambush by armed men last morning, while on Thursday, 15 people died in fighting on the town's outskirts between the former Muslim Seleka militia and Christian vigilante groups known as "anti-balaka" (anti-machete), it said in a statement.

In a further incident, anti-balaka fighters on Friday attacked eight members of MINUSCA as they were heading to Bambari airport, the force said. A seven-year-old child was injured.

The UN force said there had been a "rise in tension in certain regions," citing "confrontation between armed elements of the ex-Seleka and anti-balaka" groups.

It called on the armed groups to end "the cycle of attack and reprisal." Bambari lies in central CAR, about 250 kilometres northeast of the capital Bangui.

The bloodshed is the latest bout of violence to strike the CAR, a former French colony that is one of the world's poorest countries.

It occurred in the run up to the formal end on Monday of a French military mission, Operation Sangaris, sent to help the UN stabilise the country.

MINUSCA is seeking to support the administration of President Faustin-Archange Touadera, who was elected in February.

The CAR's descent into sectarian bloodshed began afterthe March 2013 ouster of president Francois Bozize, a Christian, by the mostly Muslim Seleka rebel alliance.

This triggered revenge attacks and a spiral of atrocities between Christian and Muslim groups in which thousands were slaughtered and around a tenth of the population of 4.5 million were displaced.

Earlier this month, 30 people were killed and 57 wounded when Seleka fighters staged an attack in the central town of Kaga Bandoro.

A few days later, 11 people were shot dead in a camp for displaced people in Ngakobo, northeast of Bangui.

On October 24, four civilians were killed when protests against the UN peacekeepers, called by a coalition of civil society groups angered by the rise of armed militias, turned violent.
Pictures showed vehicles submerged and citizens making their way through muddy streets and knee-deep water. (Photo: Representational Image/AFP)

Cairo: Disgruntled Egyptians blocked the road in front of the Egyptian prime minister's entourage as he headed to visit a city devastated by heavy rains and flooding.

According to the daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, residents ordered Sherif Ismail to turn around and leave Ras Gharib, the Red Sea port town which was among the hardest hit by Friday's storms.

The paper said that angry citizens on Saturday criticized the government for its slow response to the flooding, which caused power outages and several deaths among residents. Ismail, instead, left his car and toured the town, promising to seek quick government support for the residents.

Pictures from Ras Gharib showed vehicles submerged and citizens making their way through muddy streets and knee-deep water.
A woman has been charged with murder and child abuse for locking up her 11-year-old son in a closet at her home in Los Angeles, the US, for three years until his death in August. (Representational image)

Los Angeles: A woman has been charged with murder and child abuse for locking up her 11-year-old son in a closet at her home in Los Angeles for three years until he was found dead earlier this year.

According to a report in Los Angeles Times, the mother, identified as 39-year-old Veronica Aguilar, allegedly kept her son sedated by feeding him liquid sleeping aids in the closet of her home in Echo Park .

Her son, Yonatan Daniel Aguilar, was found dead on August 22 and his body was covered with pressure sores from lying on the tiles floor for three years. The boy was also allegedly beaten up and his body weighed 34-pound when it was recovered from the closet.

Yonatan's death was reported to the authorities by his stepfather, Jose Pinzon, who did not know that the minor was locked up in the closet. Veronica told him about Yonatan on the day he died, following which he informed the authorities about his stepsons death.

However, Veronica's three other children, aged 14, 16, and 18 years old, were aware that Yonatan was locked up in the closet. Two of them slept in the room where he was locked up.

They said that their mother had forbidden them from speaking anything about this, authorities said. Veronica had told Pinzon and others that Yonatan was at an institution in Mexico.

Court records suggest Yonatan might have been autistic, which could have been the reason behind the alleged abuse. Veronica has, however, pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and child abuse resulting in death.

The investigation into his death also revealed that six reports were filed with the Department of Children and Family Services, alleging abuse or neglect by the family.
New York: Indian-Americans are overwhelmingly supporting Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton for president and feel she would be a better leader for furthering India-US relations, according to a survey.

The national online survey of Indian-Americans by Massachusetts-based media publication IndUS Business Journal and its sister publication INDIA New England News found that 79.43 per cent of Indian-Americans would vote for Clinton if elections were held today while 14.89 per cent would vote for Republican candidate Donald Trump.

The publication, focused on Indian-American and South Asian entrepreneurs and businesses, conducted the survey during October 21-26 after the third and final presidential debate.

On who would be good for India, 72.46 per cent responded Clinton while 18.12 per cent said Trump. It said the Indian-American community viewed economy, job creation, healthcare, immigration, integrity, credibility and ethics as the most important campaign issue of the 2016 presidential election.

The participants who supported Trump in the poll cited his policies to combat terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism, the publication said.
A Russian fighter flew dangerously close to a US warplane over eastern Syria, US defence officials said on Friday. (Photo: AFP/Representational)

Aboard a US military aircraft: A Russian fighter flew dangerously close to a US warplane over eastern Syria, United States defence officials said on Friday, highlighting the risks of a serious mishap in the increasingly crowded airspace.

The near miss occurred late on October 17, when a Russian jet that was escorting a larger spy plane manoeuvred in the vicinity of an American warplane, Air Force Lieutenant General Jeff Harrigian said.

The Russian jet came to inside of half a mile, he added.

Another US military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the American pilot could feel the turbulence produced by the Russian jets engines.

It was close enough you could feel the jet wash of the plane passing by, the official said.

It appeared the Russian pilot had simply not seen the US jet, as it was dark and the planes were flying without lights.

I would attribute it to not having the necessary situational awareness given all those platforms operating together, Harrigian said.

The incident raises serious questions about the extent to which pilots are able to track the complex airspace they operate in.

The US-led coalition has set up a hotline with Russian counterparts so the different militaries can discuss the approximate locations and missions of planes, and avoid operating in the same space at the same time.

In this case, the American pilot tried unsuccessfully to reach the Russian jet via an emergency radio channel.

The next day, US officers used the hotline to ask Russia what had happened and they said the pilot didnt see the American plane, the official said.

Harrigian said there had been an increase in close calls over the past six weeks, with intentional near misses  when a Russian jet deliberately follows a coalition plane too closely  happening one every 10 days-ish.

Russia is flying constant air patrols over Syria, the vast majority of them over the devastated city of Aleppo, and routinely transits parts of the country the US-coalition operates in, officials said.

Russia says it has not bombed Aleppo since October 18.

The Pentagon periodically chides Russia for unsafe and unprofessional behaviour in air operations.

This incident was deemed unsafe, but not necessarily unprofessional, officials said.
An eight-month-old Indian-origin boy in the United States was killed when the stroller he was in was hit by a car. (Photo: AFP/Representational)

New York: In an extremely tragic incident, an eight-month-old Indian-origin boy in the United States was killed when the stroller he was in was hit by a van as it backed out of a driveway in Queens.

Navraj Raju was being pushed in the stroller by his 35-year-old mom, who hailed from India, when he was hit by a van driven by 44-year-old Armondo Rodriguez.

Rodriguez was backing the van out of a driveway on Friday morning when he hit the stroller, knocking Raju out of it. Witnesses said the van kept backing up, running the boy over with the back tire, according to a report in DNAinfo.

Raju was rushed to the local hospital immediately but could not be saved. Rodriguez remained on the scene and was taken into custody. Police say he does not have a valid driver's license.

Witnesses told PIX11 the mother and baby had just left a nearby deli with a dozen eggs when the mother stopped to fix the blanket on the stroller, stopping behind the van.

Witness Ahmed Ali, 26, described a chaotic scene, saying the child's mother shouted "Stop! Stop!" as the van backed up. Some passersby ran to pull Raju from under the van, Ali said.

"One guy was touching the baby. Trying to see if it's crying. It's not crying," Ali said.

Raju was remembered as joyful by his family. "He was a very happy baby," his great aunt Rani Bedi said in the report.

"It's too much. I feel very bad," she said. Bedi added that Raju's mother had struggled to raise him and his older brother, 3 in the US and had to send her elder son to live with his grandparents in India.

Local resident Carlos Lopez, 50, said in the report that the stretch of sidewalk where the accident occurred was particularly dangerous for pedestrians because of the small parking lot the van had been backing out of and the busy gas station next door.

"This is very dangerous over here. [With cars] backing out, you've got to be careful, especially during the day," Lopez said.

"I always feared something would happen here," he added.
Washington: First Lady Michelle Obama has become one of the most popular figures in the 2016 election. Some 10,000 supporters roared at the sight of Ms Obama when she appeared with Hillary Clinton at a campaign event in North Carolina on Thursday. Many of her fans wonder whether or not Ms Obama, 52, will follow Ms Clintons lead on the path to the White House.

However, according to her husband President Barack Obama, she will not run for president, ever. While speaking on a radio show on Saturday Mr Obama said, She will never run for office. She is as talented and brilliant a person as there is, and I could not be prouder of her, but Michelle does not have the patience or the inclination to actually be a candidate herself.

Ms Obama herself had earlier declined the prospect of becoming the next President.
Grimm filed suit to be allowed to use the boys bathroom at his high school.

Washington: The US Supreme Court has said that it will decide which bathrooms should be used by transgender people, a highly sensitive question with national political resonance.

The case involves 17-year-old Gavin Grimm, who was born a female but identifies as a male. Grimm filed suit to be allowed to use the boys bathroom at his high school.

The Obama administration has said public schools should grant access to toilets and locker rooms based on the gender with which a student identifies, not the birth gender.

Federal authorities have threatened school systems with a loss of federal funds if they fail to comply.
There are two candidates vying for the St. Francois County Assessor seat in the upcoming election.

Dan Ward

Democrat Dan Ward is the current St. Francois County Assessor. He is married to Cathy Ward and together they have five children.

He grew up in St. Francois County, graduated from North County High School, attended Mineral Area College, Jefferson College and the John F. Kennedy School of Government Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Governments.

He has a background in insurance and real estate. A former Farmers Insurance agent and independent agent, he is still licensed as he has been for more than 25 years. He placed his real estate license with the state, after being elected, to avoid any conflict of interest with the assessor's office duties.

He served in the Missouri legislature for six years as the state representative of the 107th District (now changed due to redistricting). He ran for county assessor in 2006 and took office in 2007, was unopposed in 2008 and 2012 and is currently seeking another term.

Ward currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Elvins Food Pantry. He is a member of the Fraternal Order of Elks, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Missouri, is on the Masonic Home Board of Directors and is newly-elected president of the Missouri State Assessor's Association.

Ward said he has served the citizens of St. Francois County as their assessor for more than nine years and his goal has always been to treat everyone fairly and be transparent in the daily operation of his office. He said they have developed technology to allow workers in the office to do a better job, be cost effective and save tax dollars.

Jay Graf

Republican Jay Graf, 59, has been married to his wife Beth for 38 years. They have two children, Marianne and Greg, and he is known as "JayPaw" to eight grandchildren. Graf has a Bachelors degree in business and formerly held a real estate license.

He is the son of a retired Navy captain flight surgeon. He has been the owner and operator of Photo Majik Studio for the past 32 years. This is his first time running for office. He is a present member of the Farmington Chamber of Commerce and past president of the Maple Valley Merchants Association.

Graf said he is running to give back to a community and a county that has given so much to him and his family over the past 32 years.
Washington: India has an important role to play in responsible stewardship of nuclear weapons and materials, US Secretary of State John Kerry said ahead of

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Washington where he will attend the two-day Nuclear Security Summit.

"India has a long record of being a leader, of being responsible, and it is particularly important right now at a time when we see some choices being made in the region that may accelerate possible arms construction, which we have serious questions about," Kerry said as he met National Security Advisor Ajit Doval at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department.

"India has a very important role to play with respect to responsible stewardship of nuclear weapons and nuclear materials," Kerry said yesterday, adding that the US has raised these issues with various partners in the region.

Kerry said Obama has called the relationship with India a defining relationship of this century, and there are many reasons for that.

"India is the largest democracy in the world, and a real partner with the United States on a lot of technology and energy issues. We're particularly grateful to India for the

leadership it offered in Paris helping us to reach a climate agreement. And now, there is more that we can do with respect to the next steps in that agreement," he said.

"Our hope is that this Nuclear Security Summit will contribute to everybody's understanding about our global responsibilities and choices," he said.

Doval said India was "deeply interested" in ensuring safety and security of radioactive materials.

"India attaches considerable value to the Nuclear Security Summit. We are is deeply interested in seeing that the safety and security of the radioactive material must be ensured," he said.

Hoping for increased cooperation with the US, Doval said India and the US would look to work together on their shared concerns, including terrorism and cyber space.

"We have made many strides after the new government of Prime Minister Modi has come and we have taken our relationship to new heights. We have got many areas in which we have able to improve and achieve substantial results," he said.

During their meeting, Kerry and Doval discussed ways to increase diplomatic cooperation on a range of regional and global issues, including counter-terrorism efforts, State Department spokesperson John Kirby said.

The Secretary of State said that the US-India civil nuclear partnership should bolster India's energy security and the strong economic relationship between the two countries.

Kerry commended India for its leadership on clean energy and reducing carbon emissions, as well as its improving resilience in the face of climate change. They also discussed dealing more effectively with illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing.
In a case brought by former president Benigno Aquino, the Philippines won a resounding victory at an international tribunal earlier this year over Beijing's extensive maritime claims in the area, infuriating the Asian giant. (Photo: Representational Image/AFP)

Manila: Chinese vessels have left the contested Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, a Philippine official said on Saturday, less than a week after President Rodrigo Duterte visited Beijing pledging closer ties.

The firebrand leader used the trip to vaunt his move away from traditional ally the United States in favour of Beijing which was previously at loggerheads with Manila over the maritime dispute.

China took control of the Scarborough Shoal, 230 kilometres (140 miles) from the main Philippine island of Luzon, in 2012, driving Filipino fishermen away from the rich fishing ground, sometimes using water cannons.

In a case brought by former president Benigno Aquino, the Philippines won a resounding victory at an international tribunal earlier this year over Beijing's extensive maritime claims in the area, infuriating the Asian giant.

But Duterte has made a point of not flaunting the ruling and President Xi Jingping told the Philippine leader on his recent visit that there was no reason for hostility and difficult topics of discussion "could be shelved temporarily".

"There is no sign of Chinese coastguard vessels in the area. While we do not have any official explanation for this, it sends a positive signal regarding relations," Duterte's spokesman Ernesto Abella told AFP Saturday, referring to the shoal.

"This is a welcome development especially for Filipino fisherfolk."

Duterte had hinted at the possibility of a Chinese withdrawal directly upon his return from Beijing last week, saying: "We'll just wait for a few more days. We might be able to return to Scarborough Shoal."

On Friday, Defence Minister Delfin Lorenzana said, "If the Chinese ships have left then it means our fishermen can resume fishing in the area."

However the foreign affairs department said they had yet to verify that Chinese vessels had left the shoal.

A report by television network GMA7 said fishermen from the northern province of Pangasinan had returned to shore Saturday with "a huge load of big species of fish" caught at Scarborough Shoal.
Manila: The foul-mouthed Philippine president, who once called the pope a "son of a bitch" and told Barack Obama to "go to hell," says he has promised to God he won't spew expletives again.

President Rodrigo Duterte's profanities have become a trademark of his political persona, especially when threatening to kill drugs dealers as part of his war on illegal drugs that has left thousands dead since he took office at the end of June.

Duterte made the stunning pledge on arrival in in his southern hometown of Davao city late on Thursday from a trip to Japan.

He said that while flying home, he was looking at the sky while everyone was sound asleep and he heard a voice that said "'if you don't stop epithets, I will bring this plane down now."

"And I said, 'Who is this?' So, of course, 'it's God,'" he said.

"So, I promise God to ... not express slang, cuss words and everything. So you guys hear me right always because (a) promise to God is a promise to the Filipino people."

Duterte's vow was met with applause, but he cautioned: "Don't clap too much or else this may get derailed."
An Australian husband and wife were sentenced to lengthy prison terms on Friday for sexually abusing and torturing their daughter over 15 years. (Representational image)

Sydney: An Australian husband and wife were sentenced to lengthy prison terms on Friday for sexually abusing, torturing and confining their daughter over 15 years.

The District Court in Sydney was told that the father used various sharp tools to rape and torture the girl who was left tied up in a shed or in a plastic box for up to three days at a time on the family's rural property in northern New South Wales.

The parents cannot be identified. The 59-year-old father, was sentenced to 48 years in prison. He will be eligible for parole after serving 36 years.

The mother, 51, was sentenced to 16 years in prison and must serve at least 11 years.

The father began abusing the girl when she was 5 years old. He had also held the girl's head under water in a creek, wrapped her in barbed wire, forced her to eat hot chilies and threatened her with a chain saw.

The mother began teaching her daughter how to sexually arouse her father from the age of 8.

The father was convicted of 73 offenses and his wife of 13 offenses in June. They denied all charges.

Judge Sarah Huggett described the crimes as "atrocious in the extreme." She also described the father as "selfish, depraved and sadistic."

The victim, now aged 24, first complained about her parents in 2011, while she was a patient in a psychiatric hospital ward. Police arrested them in 2013.
Dou-La-Fontaine: French President Francois Hollande on Saturday urged Britain to take in 1,500 unaccompanied minors from Calais' "Jungle" as officials stepped up efforts to finish demolishing the almost-deserted migrant camp.

Hailing the evacuation of the sprawling encampment, Hollande vowed that France would not accept the emergence of any more makeshift camps, which have become a glaring symbol of Europe's worst migration crisis since World War II.

He pledged youngsters left at a container camp near the site would be "very quickly dispatched" to reception centres, with the hope that they would eventually be taken in by Britain.

"We had to rise to the challenge of the refugee issue. We could not tolerate the camp and we will not tolerate any others," he said while visiting a reception centre in Doue-la-Fontaine in western France.

"There are 1,500 unaccompanied minors left in Calais and they will be very quickly dispatched to other (reception) centres," he added.

Hollande said he had spoken with British Prime Minister Theresa May to ensure that British officials would "accompany these minors to these centres and would play their part in subsequently welcoming them to the United Kingdom."

Meanwhile on the ground, three huge diggers moved in to clear the debris of makeshift dwellings in the northern section of the camp which until Tuesday had been home to between 6,000 and 8,000 migrants.

Many tents and shacks had been ravaged as huge fires ripped through the camp on Wednesday. Around a dozen riot police trucks were posted at the camp's entrance, where skips were in place to take away piles of debris.

Officials hope to complete the clearance by Monday night and on Saturday morning there was little sign of life save for workmen and police.

French MPs appeal to London

In Paris, more than 100 leftwing lawmakers sent a letter to British Home Secretary Amber Rudd, calling on her government to "immediately" take in unaccompanied minors from the Jungle who want to rejoin relatives in the UK.

The letter, a copy of which was sent to AFP by the deputy president of the National Assembly, Sandrine Mazetier, said 1,500 unaccompanied minors had been placed in safety in the provisional reception centre -- a container camp -- in Calais.

"(They) are not seeking any favours: they have the right, in line with current international regulations and British law, to go to Britain.

"Their transfer to Britain is urgent. We ask you to take your responsibilities and assume your moral duty by immediately organising their arrival."

Britain's Help Refugees charity estimated that as of late Friday there remained over 1,000 unaccompanied children living in the container camp.

Since mid-October, Britain has taken in 274 children from the Jungle, mostly youngsters with relatives already living in the country.

Children who had been told they were headed for Britain to join family there were getting ready on Saturday, hoping to be on their way later in the day.

New arrivals in Paris

Migrants, mainly from Afghanistan, Sudan and Eritrea, had flocked to the camp near the northern port of Calais in the hope of making it across the Channel to Britain.

Clare Moseley, founder of British charity Care4Calais, expressed concern for those who had been evacuated. "We are worried about what happens next -- there will be multitude of small camps where conditions are even worse than in the Jungle," she said.

Many Calais locals also fear the Jungle will simply spring back up again once the current clearance operation is over.

In a separate development, officials said that more than 2,000 migrants were sleeping on the streets of northern Paris, with Hollande pledging that these new arrivals would also be evacuated.

"Those who have gone to Paris are not people who have come from Calais. There are perhaps a few. However there was a new migration wave of people coming from Libya in recent weeks and months who have headed for Paris," he said,.

"We are going to do the same as we did in Calais," the French leader said, meaning makeshift camps in Paris would be evacuated.

"I have been perfectly clear: those who have a right to claim asylum will go to welcome and orientation centres, and those who don't will be shown the door," he said, referring to their imminent deportation.
London: Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been refused permission to have his arrest warrant temporarily suspended to attend a friend's funeral.

Assange was hoping to leave the Ecuadorian embassy in London so he could attend the funeral of Gavin MacFayden, an investigative journalist and Wikileaks director, but his request has been blocked.

The Swedish prosecutor's office announced this week it will not suspend the warrant as it does not allow exemptions to a court decision, the BBC reported.

The 45-year-old, who has been in hiding at the Ecuadorean embassy since he sought asylum there four years ago, is reportedly "heartbroken" and called the Swedish official who made the decision "callous".

Assange had made a request to attend the funeral of MacFadyen, a US journalist who died in London on October 22 aged 76.

He has said he would be appealing to Sweden's Attorney General Anders Perklev.

The rape allegations against Assange relate to a visit he made to Stockholm in August 2010 to give a lecture.

He has refused to travel to Sweden for questioning over concerns he would be extradited to the US over Wikileaks' release of 500,000 secret military files on the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
After a foundation tip off, police tracked down the house where the siblings were living in the town of Catral. (Photo: AFP/Representational Image)

Madrid: Spanish police said on Saturday they had detained a Swiss woman who allegedly kept her children captive for seven years, threatening to kill them if they ever tried to get help.

The children, now 17 and 15, had never gone to school during their time in the southeastern province of Alicante and had hardly been allowed assistance when ill, the Guardia Civil police force said.

"The minor's signatures during police proceedings were exactly the same as those on their Swiss ID cards from seven years ago, the writing looks like that of a small child who has not developed his writing," a spokesman for the Guardia Civil in Alicante told AFP.

According to police, the 17-year-old daughter managed to evade her mother's surveillance in August and send an email to the ANAR Foundation, which helps children in trouble and sounded the alarm.

She had allegedly been the victim of violence from her mother, who prohibited either of her kids to have any contact with the outside world.

She said they were only allowed out on the streets for a short while every day for quick shopping errands or walks, but under strict surveillance.

Their 49-year-old mother, who is of Spanish origin, was allegedly particularly brutal towards her daughter, "hitting her, pushing her against walls or furniture and throwing cutlery or any other object she had in her hands," police said.

The daughter had not dared ask for help until then, as she "had been under constant threat of death from when she was little."

Her mother "said on various occasions that she would kill them if they spoke to police and that police would rape and kill them anyway -- an idea with which they grew up," the Guardia Civil said.

In her ANAR email, the daughter said this situation had started back in Switzerland when she was only three or four, and had continued when her mother moved to Spain in 2009.

The mother's Swiss partner, 30, was also detained for covering up the situation. After a foundation tip off, police tracked down the house where the siblings were living in the town of Catral.

"Agents went there immediately and the mother denied anyone was being held there, and also denied that any minor was living there," the Guardia Civil said.

"The girl, who heard the agents speaking to her mother, started gesticulating in the corridor to attract their attention, and the two children were rescued," it added.

The daughter has since returned to Switzerland to her biological father.

A judge decided to let the brother whom police said was not the victim of violence like his sister return to his home in Catral, where his mother and her partner have been released pending trial.
An 18-week-old girl died after her father kept her near a gas fire to wake her up. (Representational image)

West Yorkshire: A man in West Yorkshire, the United Kingdom, was convicted of cruelty for keeping his 18-week-old daughter near a gas fire to wake her up, which caused her death.

According to a report in Daily Mail, Daniel Sheard, 24, and his wife Lucy Damen, 22, have been charged with cruelty to a person under 16 years.

The incident had taken place on September 30, 2013, at their home in Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire. Daniel had called for an ambulance early in the morning and when the paramedics arrive at their home, they found the baby  Kayleigh Sheard  with several injuries.

Kayleighs face was burnt and Daniel had applied an antiseptic cream on it. She also had bite marks and fractured bones in her right shoulder and arm. The paramedics declared her dead few minutes after arriving at the familys home.

Daniel had told the paramedics that the baby was fine when he had put her in bed. "I don't know what happened," he said.

Nicholas Campbell QC, prosecuting, said the gas fire was burning at its maximum heat when the attendants arrived at the scene. The couple had neglected Kayleigh by failing to provide adequate medical care, he added.

The Leeds Crown Court has granted bail to the couple until the sentencing date.
Tehran: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned against the threat of "terrorist governments" being established in the Middle East and North Africa, during a visit by EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini on Saturday.

"The terrorist actions in Syria and Iraq are a serious threat to the world. If there is not a serious battle against terrorism in the region, we will see several terrorist governments and entities" established in the Middle East and North Africa, said Rouhani, according to the presidency's website.

The Islamic State jihadist group has spread from its bases in Syria and Iraq to gain a significant foothold in Libya, and has also carried out attacks in Algeria and Egypt.

Mogherini also met with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif during her visit to Tehran for "high-level talks" on the Syria crisis.

The EU official, who was due to fly on to Iran's regional rival Saudi Arabia, was quoted by local media as saying the EU "needed the cooperation of Iran, a key power for solving the region's problems".

Rouhani called on the European Union to put pressure on regional powers to cut support to rebel groups in Syria.

Iran provides financial and military support to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and it accuses Saudi Arabia and Turkey of funding the rebel groups it is fighting.

"The fight against terrorism in Syria and Iraq is the priority," said Rouhani, adding that the territorial integrity of both countries must be preserved.

"Syria's future will be assured only by the Syrians' vote," he said.
Iraqi troops approaching Mosul from the south advanced into Shura after a wave of US-led airstrikes and artillery shelling against militant positions inside the town. (Photo: AP)

Shura: Iraqi forces pushed into a town south of Mosul on Saturday after Islamic State fighters fled with civilians used as human shields, as state-sanctioned Shiite militias joined the offensive by opening up a new front to the west.

Iraqi troops approaching Mosul from the south advanced into Shura after a wave of US-led airstrikes and artillery shelling against militant positions inside the town. Commanders said most of the IS fighters withdrew earlier this week with civilians, but that U.S. airstrikes had disrupted the forced march, allowing some civilians to escape.

"After all this shelling, I don't think we will face much resistance," Iraqi army Maj. Gen. Najim al-Jabouri said. "This is easy, because there are no civilians left," he added. "The big challenge for us is always the civilians."

Lt. Col. Hussein Nazim of the militarized Federal Police, which is leading the advance from the south, said some civilians, mainly the elderly and infirm, might still be in the city, but that the use of heavy artillery and airstrikes was a standard tactic.

"We must strike like this before we move in or else we will be easy prey for Daesh," he said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

Iraqi forces launched a massive operation to retake militant-held Mosul last week. The offensive to retake Iraq's second largest city, which is still home to more than 1 million people, is expected to take weeks, if not months.

State-sanctioned Shiite militias meanwhile launched an assault to the west of Mosul aimed at driving IS from the town of Tel Afar, which had a majority Shiite population before it fell to the militants in the summer of 2014. They will also try to secure the western border with Syria, where IS shuttles fighters, weapons and supplies between Mosul and the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of its self-styled caliphate.

The involvement of the Iranian-backed Shiite militias has raised concern that the battle for Mosul, a Sunni-majority city, could aggravate sectarian tensions. The militias say they will not enter the city itself.

Jaafar al-Husseini, a spokesman for the Hezbollah Brigades, said his group and the other militias were advancing with the aid of Iranian advisers and Iraqi aircraft.

He said the U.S.-led coalition, which is providing airstrikes and ground support to the Iraqi military and Kurdish forces known as the peshmerga, is not playing any role in the Shiite militias' advance.

The Mosul offensive involves more than 25,000 soldiers, Federal Police, Kurdish fighters, Sunni tribesmen and the Shiite militias, which operate under an umbrella organization known as the Popular Mobilization Units.

Many of the militias were originally formed after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to battle American forces and Sunni insurgents. They were mobilized again and endorsed by the state when IS, a Sunni extremist group, swept through northern and central Iraq in 2014, capturing Mosul and other towns and cities.

Iraqi forces moving toward Mosul from several directions have made uneven progress since the offensive began Oct. 17. They are 4 miles (6 kilometers) from the edge of Mosul on the eastern front, where Iraq's special forces are leading the charge. But progress has been slower in the south, with Iraqi forces still 20 miles (35 kilometers) from the city.

The U.N. human rights office said Friday that IS has rounded up tens of thousands of civilians in and around Mosul to use as human shields, and has massacred more than 200 Iraqis in recent days, mainly former members of the security forces.

The militants have carried out mass killings of perceived opponents in the past and boasted about them in grisly photos and videos circulated online. The extremist group is now believed to be cracking down on anyone who could rise up against it, focusing on men with military training or past links to the security forces.
WASHINGTON -- When told that the New England transcendentalist Margaret Fuller had grandly declared "I accept the universe," the Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle dryly remarked: "She'd better." Much ink and indignation has been spilled concerning whether Donald ("I am much more humble than you would understand") Trump will "accept" the election's outcome. The nation, like the universe of which it is the nicest part, will persevere even without the election result being accepted by the fellow who probably will be the first presidential candidate in 16 years to receive less -- probably a lot less -- than 45 percent of the vote.

When the Jimmy Carter/Walter Mondale ticket lost 44 states in 1980, Mondale used his elegant concession remarks to herald "a chance to rejoice": "Today, all across this nation -- in high school cafeterias, in town halls, and churches, and synagogues -- the American people quietly wielded their staggering power. ... Tonight we celebrate above all the process we call American freedom." Today, such political grace notes are rare as the nation slouches toward its first dyspeptic landslide -- an electoral vote avalanche for a candidate regretted by a majority of the electorate.

Abraham Lincoln was elected in 1860 with the lowest percentage of the popular vote (39.9) of any electoral winner in history. He received fewer than the combined votes for two Democratic rivals, the Northerner Stephen Douglas and the Southerner John Breckinridge. This did not prevent Lincoln from becoming the nation's greatest president. Majorities, however helpful, are not necessary. In 14 of the 39 elections since 1860 the winner did not get a majority of the popular vote, including Woodrow Wilson (twice), Harry Truman, John Kennedy and Bill Clinton (twice), Democrats all.

Carter's 50.1 percent of the popular vote in 1976 was the only time in the 40 years after 1964 that a Democratic presidential candidate would win a majority of the popular vote. Ronald Brownstein of The Atlantic notes, "Since the 1828 election of Andrew Jackson, which historians consider the birth of the modern two-party system, no party has ever won the presidential popular vote six times over seven elections." By the evening of Nov. 8, the Republican Party will have lost the popular vote for the sixth time in seven elections, and will have lost three consecutive elections for the first time since the 1940s.

In the last four elections (2000-2012), no loser has fallen below 45 percent of the vote and no winner has reached 53 percent. This year's winner is unlikely to become just the fourth nominee of the world's oldest party (following Andrew Jackson, Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson) to win more than 53 percent. The loser, however, could plunge close to the 37.4 percent that George H.W. Bush received in 1992 when Ross Perot took 18.9 percent of the vote.

This year's winner probably will be the first Democrat since Grover Cleveland to become president without enjoying Democratic control of both houses of Congress. (Cleveland, the last conservative Democratic president, vetoed more bills during his two, non-consecutive terms than all of his predecessors combined.) This year will be the fourth of a particular kind of Republican disappointment since World War II. In 1946, 1994, 2010 and 2014 Republicans won huge victories in off-year elections but two years later lost the presidential election.

Jefferson said "the boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave," but some waves have become less turbulent. For example, in 2004, 13 states enacted -- 11 of them by referendums -- prohibitions on same-sex marriage. Three elections later, this issue has virtually disappeared from political discourse.

Americans might feel as though they are living through an unceasing and unprecedented political maelstrom, but by one measure there is unusual stability: The nation is nearing the end of a third consecutive two-term presidency, something that has occurred only once before in U.S. history -- the Virginia dynasty of the third, fourth and fifth presidents (Jefferson, Madison, Monroe). Of the five presidents in office from the inauguration of John Kennedy in 1961 through the departure of Jimmy Carter in 1981, not one served two full terms.

The last Democrat directly elected (that is, not counting Harry Truman or Lyndon Johnson who were elected after inheriting the office) to succeed a Democrat was James Buchanan, arguably the worst president ever. One hundred and sixty years later, Republicans fearing four Clinton years can reasonably hope there will be no more than four: The likelihood of Democrats winning a fourth consecutive presidential term will be reduced if the Republican Party reverts to its practice, adhered to since it chose John C. Fremont in 1856, of nominating a Republican.
A doctor at the town's public hospital said it had received the bodies of 15 dead and was treating seven wounded. (Photo: Representational Image/AFP)

Sanaa: Air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition fighting rebels in Yemen killed 17 civilians in a battleground southwestern town on Saturday, the insurgents said.

Rescuers were still pulling bodies from the rubble after the raids hit residential buildings in Salo southeast of Yemen's third city Taez, rebel-controlled media said, giving a toll of 17 dead and seven wounded.

Most of those killed were women, sabanews.net said, reporting four strikes hit three residential buildings,"completely destroying them".

A doctor at the town's public hospital said it had received the bodies of 15 dead and was treating seven wounded.

There was no immediate comment from the coalition, which launched a military campaign against the Iran-backed Huthi rebels and their allies in March last year to support President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government.

But a local Yemeni official loyal to the Saudi-backed government said the coalition air strikes had hit three adjacent homes by mistake.

"All those in the houses were killed," he told AFP, adding that a child and seven women were among the dead.

The coalition has come under mounting international criticism for the high civilian death toll from its bombing campaign.

An October 8 strike that killed more than 140 people attending a funeral ceremony for the father of a rebel leader in the capital Sanaa drew condemnation even from close Western allies.

The coalition launched a swift investigation into that attack and acknowledged that one of its warplanes had "wrongly targeted" the funeral based on "incorrect information".

It announced disciplinary measures, compensation for the families of victims and allowed the most seriously wounded to be evacuated on board an Omani flight.

The town of Salo has been the scene of fierce fighting for months as pro-Hadi forces attempt to advance towards Taez, where the government garrison is almost entirely surrounded by the rebels and dependent on a single supply line from the south.

The Shiite Huthi rebels have been attempting to block the advance, which would allow reinforcements to be brought directly along the main road from the government's headquarters in second city Aden to the south.

Thousands of people have been forced from their homes by the fighting. Rebel media said those killed in Saturday's air strikes were among them.

Nationwide, three million Yemenis have been displaced since the Saudi-led intervention began. Nearly 7,000 people have been killed, mostly civilians, and more than 35,000 wounded.
Beijing: Days after ruling CPC elevated President Xi Jinping as its "core leader" equating with him with 'Chairman' Mao Zedong, Premier Li Keqiang asked China's cabinet and government departments to act in line with Xi's new role and decisions of the party to ensure discipline.

Li has called upon the leading party group of the State Council, China's cabinet, and various departments to keep their thoughts, politics and acts in line with the Communist Party of China (CPC) with "Comrade Xi" as the core, state-run Xinhua news agency reported today.

Speaking at a meeting, Li asked the official departments to strictly follow the Party's political discipline and regulations, improve supervision, resist corruption and withstand risks, and foster a team of civil servants that have firm beliefs, obey rules and are diligent and honest, the report said.

State Council's leading party group and various units under the cabinet were also told to become more aware of the need to uphold political integrity, keep in mind the bigger picture, follow the CPC as the core of the Chinese leadership and act consistently with CPC Central Committee policy, it said.

"They were also told to voluntarily conform to the CPC Central Committee with Xi as the core in thoughts, politics and acts, and more resolutely safeguard the authority of the CPC Central Committee with Xi as the core," Li who is the second ranking leader in the party said.

His comments after the plenary meeting of the party, which is a policy making body in a four-day meeting that ended on October 27 elevated the status of Xi as "core" leader.

Only Mao, reformist leader Deng Xiaoping and his successor, Jiang Zemin had similar status in the party which was founded in 1921.

Li's remarks echoed a call included in a communique released in the plenary session calling on all its members to "closely unite around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core" and resolutely safeguard the authority of the CPC Central Committee and its central, unified leadership, the Xinhua report said.

Li noted that identifying Xi as the core of the CP Central Committee is of great significance to safeguarding the authority of the committee, the party's unity and leadership as well as the party and country's prosperity and long-term stability.
Besides blocking India's admission into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), China had put a second technical hold on India's move to bring about a UN ban on Azhar. (Photo: Representational Image/PTI)

Beijing: National Security Advisors of India and China will meet next week to discuss measures to improve bilateral ties which are strained by differences over a host of issues including India's admission into NSG and Beijing's attempts to block UN ban on JeM Chief Masood Azhar.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi will meet in Hyderabad in November first week for informal dialogue on the state of bilateral relations, specially the irritants bedevilling the development of ties, officials said.

Besides blocking India's admission into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), China had put a second technical hold on India's move to bring about a UN ban on Azhar. Also India has been protesting over the USD 46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which is being laid through the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

While India is concerned over the Pakistan factor creeping into India-China relations making the bilateral ties more complex, China too is airing its apprehensions over the movement to boycott Chinese goods in India as well the visit of US Ambassador to New Delhi, Richard Verma, to Arunachal Pradesh, which it considers as Southern Tibet and Indias permission to allow the Dalai Lama to visit the area.

Chinese officials say Beijing is apprehensive about India moving closer to US and Japan broadening its strategic and defence ties with both the countries.

Doval and Yang who are the designated Special Representatives of the India-China boundary talks, also periodically meet to discuss the whole gamut of the Sino-Indian relations.

Yang was the former foreign minister of China before he was elevated to the rank of State Councillor of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) after President Xi Jinping took over power in 2013.

In Chinese power structure, State Councillor is more powerful than the Foreign Minister on foreign policy issues. Both Doval and Yang have been meeting regularly to discuss the problems affecting the bilateral relations.

Officials say that the Hyderabad meeting is not Special Representatives dialogue on border but an informal consultations in which all issues including those relating to the borders may figure.

Their meeting is set to take place in the backdrop of the just concluded plenary meeting of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) which conferred the status of "core leader" on Xi, broadening his power base both in the party and military.

On Indias admission into the NSG, both sides held in-depth talks over the issue. India has been pressing China to relent on its opposition saying that vast majority of the

48 member group back New Delhis case.

China, which is opposing India's membership on the ground that India is not a signatory to Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), says the group need to work out a proposal on the accession on all the non-NPT countries meaning Pakistan's admission too.

After talks with India, Chinese officials also held talks with Pakistan on the same issue.

On the issue of ban on Azhar, China has not reacted to Pakistan's reported move to freeze his bank accounts and keeping him under house arrest. Beijing's technical hold in the UN on Azhars ban issue is due to expire in December.

Doval and Yang were expected to touch on these issues as well as Indias concerns over the ballooning trade deficit which according to Chinese officials touched over USD 51 billion last year in little over USD 70 billion trade between the two countries.

China has been promising to step up investments in India besides opening up markets for Indian IT and Pharmaceuticals.
The Delhi Police claims to have busted a cheating rink after it arrested two people for allegedly posing as Life Insurance Corporation and Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority agents as well as running a fake call centre on Wednesday. The police also recovered Rs 5.5 lakh cash, four mobile phones and 20 debit and credit cards among other incriminating documents.



The police said that the conmen have cheated many people all over India on the pretext of asking for processing fee, investment and other expenses along with prize amounts, huge bonus as well as clearances from IRDA on existing insurance policies. They, then, used to withdraw the money from many bank accounts, which they had opened through the use of fake documents.



Bengaluru-based Arun Kumar Verma had lodged a complaint at Delhis Parliament Street police station on 14 July, 2016, alleging that a certain LIC agent, by the name of Pradeep Negi, had conned him of Rs 24 lakh. Initial probe revealed that there was no Pradeep Negi working for LIC.



After thorough investigation, the police found that the most forged bank accounts were operating from Una in Himachal Pradesh. A police team was subsequently sent to Una and two people  identified as Arun Kumar and Sulabh Pratap Singh  were apprehended on Wednesday as they were tried to withdraw money from the account.



The kingpin, identified as Aman Kumar, is currently at large. The police said Aman ran a fake LIC call centre with 102 landline telephone numbers in a rented two-room house at Noida in NCR.



The police said that Aman had also recruited many ex-call centre employees after impressing upon them that he was running a genuine business. They used to call unsuspecting clients from the fake call centre as LIC agents and unknowingly dupe them.

According to the police, probe in the matter is still on and they are trying to identity other victims and accomplices involved in the racket.



Arun Kumar and Sulabh Pratap Singh are graduates from Delhi University and used to work in a call centre when they came into contact with the kingpin. Their work was to deposit and withdraw the money fraudulently from the bank accounts, the police said.
A BSF jawan was killed accidentally while he was retaliating to ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops in Macchil sector along the Line of Control in Kashmir. BSF constable Nitin Subhash sustained grievous injuries last evening when an explosion inside the chamber of the long range weapon led to a recoil while he was firing in retaliation to ceasefire violation from across the LoC, BSF IG (Kashmir) Vikash Chandra said.



"Subhash was injured due to recoil and was admitted to a medical facility where he succumbed late last night," the official said. Earlier, a top BSF official had said that the jawan was killed today in firing by Pakistani troops. 28-year-old Subhash, hailing from Sangli in Maharashtra, had joined BSF in 2008 and is survived by his wife and two sons aged four years and two years.



Pakistan Rangers also violate ceasefire in RS Pura and Kathua sectors along International Border today. In Macchil sector, terrorists, aided by the cover fire by Pakistani Army, had last night crossed the Line of Control in the sector. They killed an Indian army jawan and mutilated his body prompting the Indian army to warn that "the incident will be responded to appropriately".



Four army and three BSF personnel have died in the latest escalation along the boundary with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir. In last night's attack, one militant was also killed.

"In an encounter close to the Line of Control this evening, one solider was martyred and one terrorist was killed. The terrorists mutilated the body of the jawan before fleeing back into Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir under the cover of firing by Pakistan Army," an army spokesman had said.



He said the incident reflected the barbarism pervading in official and unofficial organisations in Pakistan. Two civilians were also killed and as many injured yesterday after Pakistani troops pounded civilian areas and forward India posts with 120 mm mortar shells and automatic weapons in Jammu, Kathua, Poonch and Rajouri districts. BSF yesterday said that it had killed 15 Pakistani soldiers in retaliatory firing along IB so far after the flare up started.


Russia, facing allegations of war crimes in relation to its policies in Syria, lost its seat on the UN Human Rights Council as the UN General Assembly voted to elect 14 members to the Geneva-based organ.



The 193-member General Assembly yesterday elected 14 nations by secret ballot to serve on the Human Rights Council, the United Nations body responsible for the promotion and protection of all human rights around the globe.



Brazil, China, Croatia, Cuba, Egypt, Hungary, Iraq, Japan, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Tunisia, United Kingdom and the United States were elected for three-year terms beginning January 1, 2017. India is a member of the 47-member human rights body and its term will expire in 2017.



Russia was seeking re-election to the human rights body, competing with Hungary, Croatia and Bulgaria for two seats in the Eastern European bloc. Russia was edged out in a close vote, getting 112 votes, just two shy of the 114 that Croatia polled, Hungary got 144 votes.



In Russia's loss, leading human rights organizations saw a strong message to Moscow condemning its policies in Syria. "In rejecting Russia's bid for re-election to the Human Rights Council, UN member states have sent a strong message to the Kremlin about its support for a regime that has perpetrated so much atrocity in Syria," UN director at Human Rights Watch (HRW) Louis Charbonneau said in a statement.



Geneva-based human rights organization UN Watch described Russias ouster from the Human Rights Council as a "positive outcome" of the election. UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer said the "non-election of Russia shows that the nations of the world can reject gross abusers if they so choose."



Moscow has faced severe international criticism for allying with the Syrian government, carrying out airstrikes to support the Syrian armed forces that have indiscriminately killed and wounded countless civilians. Over 200,000 people are believed to have died in the Syrian conflict during the last five years.



China, Cuba, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and the UK were seeking re-election to the Council as their terms were set to expire in December this year. HRW had strongly opposed the candidacy of Saudi Arabia, criticising its "widespread unlawful attacks" on civilians in Yemen.



Charbonneau said that Saudi Arabia, which was re-elected without competition, "doesn't belong on the council in light of its indiscriminate attacks on civilians in Yemen. We'll be keeping all members rights records under the microscope while theyre on the council." UN Watch said the re-election of China, Cuba and Saudi Arabia, "regimes which systematically violate the human rights of their citizens, casts a shadow upon the reputation of the United Nations."



Neuer said the world's highest human rights body was now dominated by a "majority of 53 per cent which are non-democracies". "The UN's election of Saudi Arabia as a world judge on human rights is like a town picking a pyromaniac to be the fire chief," said Neuer.


Rakesh Ranjan alias Rocky Yadav, who allegedly shot dead a Class XII student for overtaking his SUV here, today surrendered in a local court a day after the Supreme Court stayed the Patna High Court order granting him bail in the case.



Rocky, son of suspended JD(U) MLC Manorama Devi and Bindi Yadav, was granted bail by the High Court on October 19 last in Gaya road rage case which was challenged by the state govenrment in the apex court. Rocky surrendered in the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADJ)-(IX) Suresh Prasad Mishra who sent him to jail.



He gave himself up before the court after remaining in hiding since yesterday after the Supreme Court order. "I have immense faith in the judiciary. The allegations levelled against me are baseless and concocted.... I have full faith in the court," he told reporters in the court premises while being taken to the jail by police.



His mother and suspended JD(U) MLC Manorama Devi too expressed her full faith in the judiciary. Rocky had allegedly shot dead a Class XII student Aditya Sachdeva for overtaking his car on May 7, 2016.
India is offering to buy hundreds of fighter planes from foreign manufacturers - as long as the jets are made in India and with a local partner, air force officials say.





A deal for 200 single-engine planes produced in India - which the air force says could rise to 300 as it fully phases out ageing Soviet-era aircraft - could be worth anything from $13-$15 billion, experts say, potentially one of the country's biggest military aircraft deals.



After a deal to buy high-end Rafale planes from France's Dassault was scaled back to just 36 jets last month, the Indian Air Force is desperately trying to speed up other acquisitions and arrest a fall in operational strength, now a third less than required to face both China and Pakistan.



But Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration wants any further military planes to be built in India with an Indian partner to kickstart a domestic aircraft industry, and end an expensive addiction to imports.



Lockheed Martin said it is interested in setting up a production line for its F-16 plane in India for not just the Indian military, but also for export.



And Sweden's Saab has offered a rival production line for its Gripen aircraft, setting up an early contest for one of the biggest military plane deals in play.



"The immediate shortfall is 200. That would be the minimum we would be looking at," said an air officer briefed on the Make-in-India plans under which a foreign manufacturer will partner local firms to build the aircraft with technology transfer.



India's defence ministry has written to several companies asking if they would be willing to set up an assembly line for single-engine fighter planes in India and the amount of technology transfer that would happen, another government source said.



"We are testing the waters, testing the foreign firms' willingness to move production here and to find out their expectations," the person said.



OPERATIONAL GAPS



India's air force originally planned for 126 Rafale twin-engine fighters from Dassault, but the two sides could not agree on the terms of local production with a state-run Indian firm and settled for 36 planes in a fly-away condition.



Adding to the military's problems is India's three-decade effort to build a single-engine fighter of its own which was meant to be the backbone of the air force. Only two of those Light Combat Aircraft, called Tejas, have been delivered to the air force which has ordered 140 of them.



The Indian Air Force is down to 32 operational squadrons compared with the 45 it has said are necessary, and in March the vice chief Air Marshal B.S. Dhanoa told parliament's defence committee that it didn't have the operational strength to fight a two front war against China and Pakistan.



JET MAKERS RESPOND



Saab said it was ready to not only produce its frontline Gripen fighter in India, but help build a local aviation industry base.



"We are very experienced in transfer of technology - our way of working involves extensive cooperation with our partners to establish a complete ecosystem, not just an assembly line," said Jan Widerstrom, Chairman and Managing Director, Saab India Technologies.



He confirmed Saab had received the letter from the Indian government seeking a fourth generation fighter. A source close to the company said that while there was no minimum order set in stone for it to lay down a production line, they would expect to build at least 100 planes at the facility.



Lockheed Martin said it had responded to the defence ministry's letter with an offer to transfer the entire production of its F-16 fighter to India.



"Exclusive F-16 production in India would make India home to the world's only F-16 production facility, a leading exporter of advanced fighter aircraft, and offer Indian industry the opportunity to become an integral part of the world's largest fighter aircraft supply chain," Abhay Paranjape, National Executive for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Business Development in India said in an email.



U.S. TOP SUPPLIER



Lockheed's offer comes on the back of expanding U.S.-India military ties in which Washington has emerged as India's top arms supplier in recent years, ousting old ally Russia.



Earlier this year Boeing also offered India its twin-engine F/A-18 Hornets, but the level of technology transfer was not clear.



India has never previously attempted to build a modern aircraft production line, whether military or civilian. State-run Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) has assembled Russian combat jets including the Su-30, but these are under licensed production.



"We have never had control over technology. This represents the most serious attempt to build a domestic base. A full or a near-full tech transfer lays the ground for further development," said retired Indian air marshal M. Matheswaran, a former adviser at HAL.



He said the Indian government would be looking at producing at least 200 fighters, and then probably some more, to make up for the decades of delay in modernising the air force.
The barbaric incident at the LoC in Kashmir in which the body of an Indian army jawan was mutilated after being killed by terrorists, aided by the cover fire by Pakistani Army, sparked an outrage today even as a pall of gloom descended on his native village in Haryana.





Union Minister Jitendra Singh condemned the mutilation of the soldier's body as "atrocious" while senior Congress leader Manish Tewari called it "depraved behaviour".



The jawan's family members demanded that Pakistan be taught a lesson for harbouring terrorists while former Army officers expressed their sadness. His brother Sandeep Singh demanded that the family wanted 10 Pakistani heads for the price of one.



Terrorists, aided by the cover fire by Pakistani Army, last night crossed the Line of Control(LoC) and killed sepoy Mandeep Singh and mutilated his body in Macchil sector of Kupwara district.



The family members of the 30-year-old martyr were inconsolable.



Several women from Aantehri village in Kurukshetra reached the martyr's house and tried to console Mandeeps widow. The couple had got married two years ago, family members said. Mandeep's widow Prerna is a Head Constable with Haryana police and posted at Shahbad Markanda in Kurukshetra.



Mandeep's father said the Indian army should give a befitting reply to Pakistan.

"It was his duty, he has done it. He sacrificed his life. We should give a befitting reply to Pakistan," he said, adding that he got the news of his son's death when army personnel visited him at his home at 1 AM.



Prerna said Pakistan must be taught a lesson for harbouring terrorists.



"Pakistan should be taught a lesson once for all so that no other family of a soldier has to go through such pain," she said breaking down several times.



She said that Mandeep had come for vacation six months back. "He was supposed to visit home again on Diwali but his leave was cancelled in view of the tension on the border at Machil sector."



Kurukshetra's Deputy Commissioner Sumedha Kataria also visited the jawan's home and offered her condolences.



The martyr's neighbours described him as a "go getter" who always had a smile on his face.



Subhash, husband of the Sarpanch of the village, said Mandeep was a helpful person who always offered help to anyone who approached him in need.



"There can't be anything more atrocious than this (on terrorists mutilated the body of a soldier)," Jitendra Singh told reporters in Jammu.



"I am always of the view that the human rights of soldiers should enjoy precedence over human rights of anybody else", he said.



"These are acts of cowardice and these are happening at the time of desperation of the part of the Pakistan army as well as Islamabad. Indian forces are capable of standing upto this challenge."



Tewari while condemning the multilation as "absolutely depraved behaviour" said it "violates you as a human being".



"There are certain rules of engagement and conduct even in a conflict situation. Pakistan is expected to respect the rules of engagement," he said.



"I am very sad being a soldier. It is a very sad mentality to take your anger on an injured or dead person," said Maj Gen (retd) B C Khanduri.


Standing in a garish hotel lobby, casino music pounding, a Republican who has worked hard to help Donald Trump couldn't quite believe how the final presidential debate had ended just a couple of hours earlier.

"He had a home run going -- a home run -- and then he pissed it away in ten seconds," the person said. "Could he just try to win?"

The Republican was referring, of course, to Trump's refusal to promise that he will abide by the results of the election, should he lose. "I will look at it at the time," Trump said. "I will keep you in suspense."

It seemed a crazy answer for a number of reasons, not least of which was that in the first debate, when Trump was asked, "Will you accept the outcome of the election?" he answered, "If (Hillary Clinton) wins, I will absolutely support her." Then, Wednesday night, for reasons unknown, Trump said something completely different.

His comments electrified the press, resulting in furious questioning of Trump surrogates, who flatly contradicted their candidate and said that yes, Trump will accept election results. There were banner headlines. Trump's remarks -- those few seconds -- became virtually the only story of the evening.

A few miles away, on the Vegas Strip, 26 uncommitted Nevada voters were watching the debate with the Republican consultant Frank Luntz. Although their minds weren't fully made up, when Luntz pressed them on how they leaned, nine tilted toward Trump, eight toward Clinton, and nine were truly uncommitted. They had been given dials on which to register their reaction to everything the candidates said in real time. The dials controlled three lines on a screen, one each representing the Clinton and Trump leaners and the undecided.

Unlike in the media room at the debate site, Trump's will-you-accept-the-results-of-the-election answer was not a bombshell in the focus group. When Trump began to answer, the line representing his leaners actually went up a bit. The line for undecided voters went down a bit, but quickly moved above the neutral line into positive territory. Even the line representing Clinton leaners wasn't very low, just below the neutral line. No lines plunged. It did not seem as if the moment had really registered.

A short time later, all the lines rose -- Clinton, Trump, and undecided --in a positive response to Clinton's declaration that presidential candidates must accept the outcome of a free and fair election.

Questioned afterward, a few members of the focus group defended Trump. "It should be perfectly acceptable for him to say he'll make that decision when the time comes," argued one man.

But others, even some who leaned toward Trump, didn't like what they heard. "It makes me very frustrated," said one woman, "because he should say yes."

"The American way is whoever wins is the winner," said another. "You don't de-legitimize the president."

"He doesn't understand our process," said yet another.

"They didn't like it because they think elections have an end," Luntz told me after the debate. "It's one of the reasons why some of the people turned against Trump -- they felt like he didn't accept the obvious."

Now that the focus group members are back home, and have had a chance to read or watch coverage and analysis of the debate, they might well think of the accept-the-results question as a pivotal moment in the debate. But it didn't seem like a bolt from the blue to them at the time.

As the voters' dials told the story, each candidate had strong moments. Clinton's best point came in the first portion of the debate, on the Supreme Court, when she said she would not seek to reverse Roe v. Wade. The Clinton leaners' line literally rose off the chart, while the undecided line was very high, and the Trump leaners' line was high, too. Clinton's answer scored much better than Trump's promise to appoint pro-life judges.

The situation was reversed a short time later, when moderator Chris Wallace brought up immigration. Trump's build-a-wall, secure-the-border statement scored with everybody. When he said, "We have to have strong borders," all three groups, Clinton leaners included, were near the top of the chart.

Clinton's counter-attacks didn't seem to work. When she pointed out that Trump had once referred to some Mexicans as rapists, all three lines went down -- the voters have perhaps heard that one too many times. When Clinton tried to pivot to Vladimir Putin, the lines went down again.

Trump scored again on jobs and trade; when he criticized the North American Free Trade Agreement, all three lines went up, up, up.

When Trump slammed Clinton's 30 years of experience -- "The one thing you have over me is experience, but it's bad experience because what you've done has turned out badly" -- all three lines moved up.

Trump's mention of Clinton's email scandal was also well received. His remarks on jobs and the national debt had Clinton leaners' dials moving up.

Trump had a few real loser lines, too. For example, when he said, "Nobody has more respect for women than I do," all three lines, including his leaners, plunged. Nobody was buying that one.

But in general, Trump had a good night, a solid performance. When Luntz asked who won, the decision was Trump 14, Clinton 12. That might as well be a tie, but it was certainly an indication that Trump had at least as good a night as Clinton.

Until the question about the results of the election.

Perhaps Trump's performance in the rest of the debate wasn't quite the home run the Republican in the hotel lobby said. But it was good, and Trump was headed toward his best debate of the campaign -- until those few seconds that turned the night completely around.

Byron York is chief political correspondent for The Washington Examiner.
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Why J.D. Vance is crucial to GOP's U.S. Senate hopes

While the GOP deals with unpredictable races in states such as Pennsylvania, Republicans hope Ohio will show up for Senate candidate J.D. Vance.
Deployed troop holiday card donation

The Order of the Eastern Star Grand Chapter of Georgia donated holiday cheer in the form of cards to send to deployed troops on October 25, 2016 at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Georgia.



The grand chapter took up a collection of cards from other chapters around Georgia in hopes of reaching their goal of 6000 cards. They reached and greatly exceeded their goal by bringing in 10,194 cards in only two months to present to Airmen at Dobbins.



Chief Master Sgt. Lyndon Tubbs, 94th Airlift Wing command chief, along with other Airmen from the 94th AW met with the members of the chapter and received the cards in Heritage Hall.



Its fantastic, said Senior Airman Justin Holt, 94th AW Aircraft Maintenance Squadron specialist. Its a blessing that the deployed troops are able to receive thoughtful cards during the holidays.



Among the presenting Eastern Stars were Hellen Skelton, the chairperson of operation, and Teena Culpepper, worthy grand matron.

Culpepper said, she liked to be involved in supporting the troops in honor of her father who served 33 years in the army, especially during the holidays.



If you have ever been handed a folded flag, this is why we send cards out to our troops, said Skelton.



Thank you Order of the Eastern Star Grand Chapter and all involved Georgia chapters. We appreciate your service in supporting our service!


Moscow's veto power as a permanent United Nations Security Council member has for years blocked UN countries seeking to stop Russia from assisting the Assad regime militarily in Syria. But on Friday at the UN, opponents of Russia's punishing assaults in Syria achieved a small symbolic victory. Russia was defeated in its bid to be re-elected as a member of the UN's Human Rights Council, the most prestigious panel in the UN system designed to examine global human rights. But it was close as Russia lost to Croatia by just two votes, 114 to 112, with Hungary claiming the Eastern Europe region's other remaining seat. The UN General Assembly voted in a secret balloting process that has no vetoes. The United States and United Kingdom also won seats on the rights panel. UN Watch, a UN watchdog group, said after the vote that "the non-election of Russia shows that the nations of the world can reject gross abusers if they so choose". Dozens of human rights groups had campaigned against Moscow's bid, citing the massive bombing assault on parts of Syria opposed to the government of its close ally, President Bashar al-Assad. An estimated 400,000 people have died in the Syrian conflict. Moscow's refusal to accept Security Council resolutions framed to seek the end of the war seemed to be a factor in Russia's failure to gain support for the council seat from others in the UN. US State Department spokesman Mark Toner, noting that he wasn't referring to Russia specifically, said that "we continue to believe that UN member states should seek countries that have a strong human rights record to be a part of the council". Human Rights Watch's UN director, Louis Charbonneau said, after Hungary and Croatia beat Russia in their regional contest, the vote "also shows how important it is to have competitive slates in UN elections. Countries should have a chance to reject those whose candidacies are so severely compromised, as they did today." It's rare for one of the five powerful permanent UN Security Council member nations to lose any UN election. However, the United States, too, experienced such defeat in 2001, when the US failed to win a seat on the UN Human Rights Commission, which the council later replaced. Human rights advocates, however, did lose their campaign to stop Saudi Arabia from being re-elected. The Mideast power has recently been accused of major human rights violations in its onslaught in neighbouring Yemen. But it was nearly impossible for Saudi Arabia to lose, having already been selected as one of the four Asia-Pacific region countries to run for that region's four allocated slots. China and Cuba also won seats. UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer said the re-election of Saudi Arabia, China and Cuba "casts a shadow upon the reputation of the United Nations".








A mother of four stole 127,000 from her employers over a five-year period, forcing the family-owned supermarket to

reduce staff hours and cut wages.

Caroline Carr (36) of Naomh Conaill Close, Glenties admitted stealing the money electronically using prepaid credit cards from Mellys Supermarket in Glenties between 2008 and 2013.

Carr, who worked in the accounts department of the Costcutters store, transferred the sums of money over to transaction cards and then moved the money into her bank account.

She made the transactions on a terminal in the shop and then removed any evidence of the payments.

Carr received 240 hours community service in lieu of a two-year prison sentence at Donegal Circuit Criminal Court.

The Melly family had to take personal loans and cut back the hours of staff to deal with the losses that the shop was incurring during the economic downturn.

Over 45,000 of the money has been paid back and Carr has reached an agreement with the shop owners to repay a total of 80,000 with repayments of over 330 per month.

The thefts were detected after the owner's investigated why they had been losing so much money. The thefts range from 255 in one financial quarter to over 11,000 in two separate financial quarters. Car pleaded guilty to 18 different counts of theft between 2008 to 2013.

Garda Gallagher told the court that the system in the shop enabled customers to hand over cash and the sum would be transferred to transaction cards. Carr was transferring the money to four cards she owned but was not placing money in the till and was taking the receipts that the terminal produced, removing any evidence of the transactions.

Darren Melly contacted gardai in April 2013 over a 350 transaction on an O2 electronic top-up card as he suspected the money was stolen.

After an application for information under the Data Protection Act, gardai identified Carr as a suspect.

Carr had worked in the shop for eight years, initially on the floor of the supermarket before moving into the accounts department.

Garda Gallagher said that Carr was topping up her own cards and the shop was not aware the transactions were taking place and that they were losing money.

The investigation resulted in a search of Carrs home and the discovery of the cards and bank records.

Garda Gallagher said Carr had stolen a total of 127,657.98 using two 3V prepaid cards and two O2 cards.

She lodged over 56,000 from the cards into her bank account and transferred almost 20,000 of that into her credit union account.

Garda Gallagher said some of the money was going direct to her bank account while some was spent directly from the cards on online purchases.

On arrest, Carr admitted the hundreds of transactions. She told gardai that thefts started when she was short of money one day and then became a habit. She said the thefts got out of control and she did not realise how much she had taken.

State counsel, Patricia McLaughlin (BL), told the court that after Carr was dismissed, the Melly family experienced a backlash from the local community as people did notknow the full facts of the situation and there was a belief that she had been unfairly dismissed.

An unfair dismissal claim was launched, but the court heard this was mainly due to pressure from Carrs husband, who at that stage did not know about the thefts. The action was withdrawn as soon Carr told her husband she had been stealing from the shop.

Garda Gallagher said he was satisfied that her husband was unaware of the thefts.

Darren Melly told the court that the thefts had a huge impact on him and his family. He said the missing money caused massive mistrust between him and one of his brothers, because they were the ones that handled the money.

We knew something was wrong, he said. We tried to tighten up. Hours were cut, wages were cut, Ms Carrs wages were cut.

Defence counsel, Peter Nolan, said Carr's parents and her family had been very shocked by the thefts. He said the family had been at breaking point but had come together to support each other.

He said Carr, a mother of children aged six months, nine, ten and 15 years, felt relief when she admitted the thefts.

He said at the time the thefts started she had been under strain of looking after two children under the age of one and later one of the children was diagnosed with autism.

Carr did not display signs of major spending. Money was spent on pointless dresses and shoes which ended up in a closet or charity shop, he said.

Mr Nolan said a psychiatric report detected evidence of obsessive and compulsive behaviour.

Carr told the court she was sorry for what she did. I just want to say to Darren and all the Mellys, I am sorry for what I done. It should never have happened. And to my husband and my family, I have put them through a lot and I am very sorry for that.

Judge OHagan said the thefts were a very serious crime with a maximum sentence of ten years in prison.

That kind of money to a small grocery shop in the middle of a small town like Glenties is massive, he said.

He said Carr will have to suffer the shame and guilt for the rest of her life. The judge said Mr Melly had been very Christian in the agreement reached over repayment.

He said it was a most difficult case because of the amount of money involved, but, as he was happy that Carr is very unlikely to reoffend, he imposed 240 hours community service in lieu of two years in prison.
A new collaboration to address environmental challenges facing northern European upland areas was launched last Thursday in the shadows of Errigal, one of the pilot sites in the initiative.

"In working with our European partners, we can learn from each other in collectively exchanging knowledge and ideas, and in exploring new concepts for balancing tourism, cultural and economic interests associated with environmental needs," Donegal County Council Cathaoirleach, Cllr. Terence Slowey, said in launching the new programme.

Donegal County Council is the lead partner in Ascent (Apply Skills and Conserve our Environment with New Tools), working with Metsahallitus Park and Wildlife in Finland; Newry, Mourne and Down District Council and the Mourne Trust in Northern Ireland; Hordaland County Council in Norway; and the Soil Conservation Service of Iceland.

Associated partners in Ascent include Udaras na Gaeltachta, Causeway Coast and Glens Heritage Trust, Mossfellsbaer municipality and Skaftarhreppur.

I am confident that this project will ensure the long-term sustainable management of our mountains and upland areas for future generations, Cllr. Slowey told the launch audience in the Dun Luiche community centre, at the base of Errigal.

Seamus Neely, Donegal County Council chief executive, said, It is all about marrying tourism and economic needs with the needs of our community, and to do this we need to be working with all the relevant stakeholders, adding that council have been very fortunate with positive engagement with the local community and councillors.

The pilot sites face challenges posed by unregulated access to upland sites and natural erosion, and the aim of the three-year Ascent project is to develop management plans and implement measures to address economic and environmental sustainability.

Speakers from Donegal, Northern Ireland, Finland, Iceland and Norway addressed the particular challenges their areas face, and their hopes for the programme.

Ascent is a 1.6 million initiative, with Donegal County Council receiving 568,580. Funding comes from from Interreg VB Northern Periphery & Arctic Programme (2014-2020) with support from the European Regional Development Fund.

And so it begins, Charles Sweeney of Donegal County Council, project manager of Ascent, said at the close of the launch.

In three years time Ascent will conclude with a seminar in Donegal, he said.
The majority of hoteliers and guest house owners in Donegal and across the country are reporting continued growth in business compared to last year according to the latest quarterly barometer from the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF).

However, the survey also shows that the industry is feeling the effects of the fall in the value of Sterling with one in three hoteliers (36%) saying that it has negatively impacted their business. This comes as the latest figures from the CSO show that while visitors from Great Britain are up 9% year on year, the rate of growth has slowed.

The UK market accounts for approximately 40% of overseas visitors, making it Irelands largest source of inbound tourists, which highlights the potential exposure of Donegals tourism industry.

The growth in business levels from US, meanwhile, shows no signs of waning. Visitor numbers from North America are up by 15% year to date, with two thirds of hoteliers (66%) reporting an increase in business levels from this market. Thirty eight percent (38%) of hotels and guesthouses are also seeing an increase in visitors from Germany while 30% are benefiting from an increase in visitors from France. Visitor numbers from the rest of Europe are up by 11%. Domestic tourism is also still on the increase. Seven out of ten hoteliers (71%) are reporting that business levels are up compared to last year as consumer sentiment at home continues to improve.

Paul Diver, Chair of the Donegal Branch of the IHF says Visitor numbers are up overall, which is good news. Tourism now supports 6,600 jobs in Donegal and contributes some 179m to the local economy annually. However the impact from the fall in Sterlings value and the slowdown in growth are worrying and leave no room for complacency. We are doing our best to maintain competitiveness through constant monitoring of costs so that we continue to deliver good value to all visitors and especially visitors from the UK. The pro-tourism measures of the Government are vital too and the latest barometer shows just how critical the Governments recent decision to retain the 9% VAT rate was to the industry that is so price-sensitive and vulnerable to external economic shocks.
Businesses in Donegal are being encouraged to attend a free Green Business seminar in the Enterprise Fund Business Centre in Letterkenny on 10 November from 9.30am to 1pm.

This seminar will focus on how businesses can achieve substantive resource efficiency improvements and cost savings, through waste prevention and reductions in water and energy consumption.

Green Business is a free and confidential resource efficiency service for all types of SMEs in Ireland and is funded by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the National Waste Prevention Programme.

Recent resource efficiency assessments of Irish SMEs revealed potential savings of 35,000 on average for companies and this includes water, waste and energy management; with half of these savings achievable with merely better practices, at little or no cost to the business.

Suzanne Bogan, Waste Awareness Officer with Donegal County Council believes that businesses in Donegal should attend this seminar saying this is a free seminar open to all types of SMEs in Donegal. It is a great opportunity for businesses to learn more about how they can save money and use their resources more efficiently. The workshops will give you access to experts in several fields, who can provide specific advice and assistance to you and your business.

Green Business has teamed up with IBEC and BIM (Bord Iascaigh Mhara) to host this half-day seminar in Letterkenny which will feature speakers and case studies from local businesses who have achieved savings by taking Green Business advice. James Hogan of Green Business and Raoul Empey from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) will also speak at the seminar.

James Hogan of Green Business believes that every business can make savings by better utility management. Every business has the potential to better manage its energy, water and material resources.

There are significant opportunities for businesses to capitalise on and were delighted to have key industry business people on board to explain and discuss how their companies are saving tens of thousands of euro through efficient utility management.

For further information and to book a place at any of the seminars, email contactus@greenbusiness.ie
Home Two wheelers Royal Enfield To Launch Something Big Early 2017 oi-Kennedy Paul

Royal Enfield has confirmed to launch a new motorcycle by this financial year and will be launching the new motorcycle early 2017.

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Via Business Standard
Reviews | Price Search | Forum | Video Game Reviews | DVD Talk Search:  DVD Talk Interview: Adam West - Back to Batman | Main | Notes from Book Expo  DVD Talk Interview: Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders Cartoon Caped Crusaders The goofy charm of the 1960s Batman television series, starring Adam West and Burt Ward, holds a special spot in the hearts of fans across several generations. Old fans and new alike will have a chance to meet those heroes all over again in the new animated adventure Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders, which will remind many of a far less dark knight, while still offering some surprises. DVDTalks Francis Rizzo III had a chance to speak with director Rick Morales and writers Michael Jelenic and James Tucker to find out from where they drew their inspiration, any concerns they had about putting West back in the cowl and their thoughts on ruining childhoods. The goofy charm of the 1960stelevision series, starring Adam West and Burt Ward, holds a special spot in the hearts of fans across several generations. Old fans and new alike will have a chance to meet those heroes all over again in the new animated adventure, which will remind many of a far less dark knight, while still offering some surprises. DVDTalks Francis Rizzo III had a chance to speak with director Rick Morales and writers Michael Jelenic and James Tucker to find out from where they drew their inspiration, any concerns they had about putting West back in the cowl and their thoughts on ruining childhoods. Archives
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As world leaders prepare to gather in Paris for a landmark climate summit, a new analysis from Stanford University and University of California researchers lays out roadmaps for 139 countries, including the worlds major greenhouse gas emitters, to switch to 100 percent clean, renewable energy generated from wind, water and sunlight for all purposes by 2050.

Mark Z. Jacobson, a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University and director of the schools Atmosphere/EnergyProgram, said the roadmaps should give negotiators and leaders confidence that they can meet energy demands in all energy sectorsincluding electricity, transportation, heating and cooling, industry and agriculturewith clean sources.

The main barriers to getting to 100 percent clean energy are social and political, not technical or economic, Jacobson told members of Congress and ambassadors from countries participating in the negotiations during a forum Thursday in Washington, DC.

All the roadmaps are available via an embeddable collection of interactive maps on The Solutions Projects website.

Jacobson and his colleagues found that future costs for producing clean energy are similar to a business-as-usual scenario of about 11 cents per kilowatt hour, similar to the average cost in America today. The air pollution and climate costs due to fossil fuels, however, are virtually eliminated by clean-energy technologies.

Overall, the analysis found, the business, health, plus climate costs of a 100 percent clean and renewable energy system were more than 60 percent lower than those of a business-as-usual system.

Switching to 100 percent clean energy would prevent four to seven million premature deaths each year globally from pollution associated with fossil fuels. By comparison, about six million people die prematurely each year from smoking, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Globally, the transition to clean, renewable energy would create more than 20 million more jobs than would be lost in the transition. It would also stabilizeenergy costs, thanks to free fuels such as wind, water and the sun; reduce terrorism risk by distributing electricity generation; and eliminate the overwhelming majority of heat-trapping emissions that contribute to climate change.

The researchers also calculated that just 0.3 percent of the worlds land footprint would have to be devoted to energy production under a 100 percentclean energy scenario. That is less than the size of Madagascar.

Jacobson and his colleagues are also slated to publish a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Nov. 23 which examines how to achieve reliability under a 100 percent clean energy scenario for the U.S.

The countries in the roadmap include the worlds major emitters, and were selected based on available International Energy Agency data. Last week, the IEAs energy outlook concluded for the first time that renewables are already set to outpace coal as the worlds leading source of electricity.

The past few years have seen dramatic increases in the growth of renewable energy, Jacobson said. Countries can ramp that up even faster and enjoy a host of economic and health benefits by doing so.

Earlier this month, National Geographic highlighted Jacobsons earlier research on clean energy roadmaps he drew up for all 50 U.S. states, calling the project a blueprint for a carbon-free America. The magazine will highlight his new research on the 139 country roadmaps to clean energylater this month. The paper, along with underlying data and tables are available on Jacobsons faculty website. The analysis uses the same methodology as a previous study published in Energy and Environmental Science, and will be formally published in a journal next year.
To build the largest and most complete Amateur Radio community site on the Internet - a "portal" that hams think of as the first place to go for information, to exchange ideas, and be part of whats happening with ham radio on the Internet. eHam.net provides recognition and enjoyment to the people who use, contribute, and build the site. This project involves a management team of volunteers who each take a topic of interest and manage it with passion. The site will stand above all other ham radio sites by employing the latest technology and professional design/programming standards, developed by a team of community programmers who contribute their skills to the effort. The site will be something of which everyone involved can be proud to say they were a part. We welcome your comments. The eHam.net Team, Revision 07/2020.
Powerwall 2 has twice the capacity of predecessor

By Jim Harrison

Teslas Energy group has revealed its 2nd-generation home energy battery storage unit and, along with it, a new aesthetic solar roof design. The Powerwall 2 has twice the energy density and capacity of its predecessor and can power a two-bedroom home for a full night. Compact, stackable, and with a built-in dc-to-ac inverter, the new unit costs $5,500 (plus $1,000 for installation and supporting hardware), under-cutting rival battery suppliers. The included inverter is a new design by Tesla. Powerwall capacity is now 14 kWh and it starts shipping in December from Teslas new factory in Nevada. Power output is 7 kW peak, 5 kW continuous, weight is 264.4 lbs., and dimensions are 44 x 29 x 5.5 inches.

Fig. 1: Elon Musk in front of the new Tesla Powerwall in Los Angeles on October 28th.

The solar roof consists of uniquely designed glass tiles that complement the aesthetics of any home, embedded with high-efficiency photovoltaic cells. It is customizable for a variety of different home styles, each engineered so that the photovoltaic cells are invisible. Customers can choose which sections of their roof will contain the hidden solar technology while still having the entire roof look the same. Tesla said, These new roofs will seamlessly and beautifully supply renewable energy to homes and battery storage systems. When combined with Tesla Powerwall, the solar roof can power an entire home with 100% renewable energy.

Fig. 2: Design house with solar roof.

As the roof tiles are made from quartz glass, they should last much longer than an asphalt tile  or as Musk later said, They should last longer than the house. They come in four distinct styles  Textured, Slate, Tuscan, and Smooth. The tiles are transparent to solar, but appear opaque when viewed from an angle and look much like a standard roof. They have 2% loss over a plain solar panel  though Tesla is working with 3M to reduce this loss. The solar roof product should start to see installations by next summer.

Learn more about Tesla
Angelina Jolie submitted and fully-cooperated to be interviewed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for four hours regarding ex-husband, Brad Pitt's alleged verbal and physical abuse towards son Maddox while on board a private plane on September 15, the incident said to be the root cause of the Brangelina's divorce.

"The agents wanted a breakdown of everything that happened from when the plane took off to when it landed. They're looking into charges of assault," an insider revealed regarding the interview that took place in Angelina's place in Malibu, as reported by US Weekly.

Aside from the Maleficent star, the FBI has also interviewed possible witnesses, an action that may lengthen the period of the investigation while the Allied actor will be investigated next year.

Earlier on Tuesday this week, the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) conducted its own extended interviews among members close to the Jolie-Pitt household. The interview is supposed to end on October 20 but as one source said, the investigation may not have a definite deadline yet and will remain 'open-ended' and 'in a holding pattern.'

As cited in AOL, a source said, "They're looking for a history or pattern of behavior. They are looking at the original inciting incident and anything surrounding that, and looking at any relevant history."

The ex-couple has been following, for the meantime, their agreed parenting arrangements with the 41-year old actress given full custody with their six kids and Brad granted visitation rights. The Big Short actor is seeking join custody but has not forced the petition for now as it may result in a bitter court battle.

"It's a very sad situation for everyone. He's disgusted but she's worried about the safety of their kids around him," a source said.

Meanwhile, another report said that Brad Pitt is 'disgusted' with how Angelina Jolie handled the aftermath of their divorce.
Meadhbh Costello (The Institute for International and European Affairs)

In recent years, China has increasingly occupied the position as one of the worlds leading powers. Gone are those days when China was the most vocal spokesman for developing countries. Nowadays, the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) represents a major economic and military power to be reckoned with. Chinas efforts to change the status of its economy to a market economy are related to its economic growth and primarily to international trade.

In this case, the change in the status of its economy is related to Chinas membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO). It is mostly a political move rather than a fundamental indica-tor of how the country has developed its market economy, which is precisely in Chinas case rather problematic. On the other hand, this also means that it is a political gesture from the WTO Member States. Among the individual EU countries, there is some disaccord as to whether or not the PRC should be granted this status.

This disaccord is partly the result of the concerns prevalent in some EU members, such as France or Italy, which see it as a threat to their domestic steel industries. Steel is Chinas major export article, with which the European steel cannot compete, at least in terms of the price. However, other sectors are jeopardized by Chinese exports as well. Chemicals and ceramics are among the products that are potentially dangerous for the EU internal market.

Another factor affecting the issue of granting China the market economy status is the lack of clarity in understanding the terms of Chinas accession to the WTO, which should have prevent-ed China from flooding the other members markets with products at dumped prices. The cur-rent status is to last until 11 December 2016 and the Chinese representatives believe that after this date, the Chinese economy will be automatically recognized as a market economy and the above-mentioned anti-dumping protection clauses will cease to apply. Voices from the EU, however, are much less unequivocal and there are also proposals that call for further negotia-tions.

The EU is one of Chinas largest trade partners, whereby the latter would, in order to maintain good relations, certainly prefer to continue negotiations on further economic cooperation. It is, however, not a one-way relationship. China is expressing its willingness to make substantial investments in EU countries. Chinese capital in the EU countries is welcome, which is also why the Union must play its cards very carefully.

The study can be downloaded here:
Swedish researchers have found that common swifts can stay aloft for close to an incredible ten months, straight, no rest-stop breaks, perhaps sleeping while in flight. A Wall Street Journal article summarizing a paper in Current Biology makes the interesting comparison of human technology, specifically lightweight drones, to these little birds.

Micro air vehicles, or MAVs, can remain in the air for a matter of mere hours. Their performance is ridiculous compared with these birds, Lund University biologist Anders Hedenstrom told the reporter:

The birds typically spend two months a year at breeding sites in Sweden. The rest of the year, they fly to and from their overwintering sites in sub-Saharan Africa where they never touch down. They are extremely well adapted with crescent wings and a long streamlined body shape to minimize the drag, said Anders Hedenstrom, a biologist at Swedens Lund University and co-author of the study. They are the Formula One car of the bird world. The birds use a combination of flapping and gliding to cover long distances very efficiently, he said. The new research answers a question asked by ornithologists in the 1960s who suggested the swifts could remain airborne for all of their non-breeding period but lacked the technology to check.

Figuring out just how swifts do it would be of both commercial and military interest, as the Journal points out. Biomimetics, as we had the occasion to mention just yesterday, is the science and art of seeking design inspiration from nature. It means solving engineering problems with an assist from  whether we call it that or not  intelligent design.
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DALLAS  Exxons profit keeps shrinking because of lower oil prices, and the company is responding by sharply cutting investment in future production.

Exxon Mobil Corp. said Friday that its third-quarter income fell 38 percent from a year ago to $2.65 billion. It marked the eighth straight quarter in which Exxons profit fell compared with a year earlier.

Still, it was the companys best quarter this year, and the profit was higher than analysts had expected, although revenue was sharply below forecasts.

Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson said the business environment for his company remains challenging.

Oil prices hit longtime lows early this year but have recovered somewhat to around $50 a barrel. Exxon said, however, that if average prices dont improve by year-end, it may have to reduce its count of proved reserves by up to 4.6 billion barrels. The disclosure indicates that nearly one-fifth of Exxons reserves, mostly in Canada, might not be economical to pump at those prices.

Exxon said it will examine whether to write down the value of the assets.

Such a write-down wouldnt cost Exxon any cash and would be more symbolic than anything else, said Brian Youngberg, an analyst with Edward Jones.

Exxon and other oil companies are cutting capital spending as they ride out the slump in crude prices. Exxon invested $4.19 billion in the latest quarter, down 45 percent from its capital spending a year earlier. So far this year, Exxon has cut more than $9 billion in production investment.

Some analysts predict that those kinds of cuts will mean less oil and higher prices.

Exxons profit amounted to 63 cents per share, beating the forecast of 58 cents per share from 22 analysts surveyed by FactSet.

In a twist, the companys chemicals division earned twice as much as the beleaguered oil and gas exploration and production business. Exxon pumped 3 percent less oil and gas from the ground, which the company blamed partly on interruptions to its operations in Nigeria because of fighting there.

Voter Guide: What to know for the midterm election Your guide to the Texas and San Antonio races and candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Earnings in the refining segment fell on narrower profit margins.

Exxons revenue slumped 13 percent to $58.68 billion, well below the analysts prediction of $60.41 billion. Costs dropped 10 percent. Exxon saved more than $1 billion, or 75 percent, on income taxes.
ConocoPhillips, a leading independent oil exploration and production company, plans to add two drilling rigs to its Eagle Ford operations as it pivots investment away from deepwater projects toward onshore shale fields, company executives said Thursday.

The announcement came during the Houston-based companys third-quarter earnings call. The rig count, the number of active drilling rigs, in the Eagle Ford peaked at 210 in mid-July 2014 and have since plummeted to less than 40. ConocoPhillips is currently running two drilling rigs there.
The city of San Antonio could lose more than $270 million in tax revenue over the next five years if Lowes Home Centers wins a legal battle to cut its property assessments in half, a city official said Friday.

Lowes is suing the Bexar Appraisal District to have its stores valued as so-called dark stores  vacant buildings instead of fully functioning businesses.

The North Carolina-based chains 11 area stores, each measuring roughly 136,000 square feet, were valued between $80 and $85 per square foot for this tax year. That value could drop by about 60 percent to around $30 if Lowes prevails in the lawsuit, according to estimates from the appraisal district.

County and city officials caution that a victory for Lowes would have a ripple effect, emboldening other retailers to demand lower assessments for their stores. That would prompt owners of other commercial properties, including hotels, office buildings and apartment complexes to use the same strategy under the states equal and uniform taxation policy.

The appraisal district projects that a favorable ruling for Lowes could ultimately lead to a 50 percent loss of commercial property value countywide, deputy chief appraiser Mary Kieke said.

Ben Gorzell, the citys chief financial officer, said the city estimates that it would lose $272.5 million over a five-year period if the appraisal districts predictions pan out  likely resulting in budget cuts, tax increases or a combination of the two to maintain city services.

It would have a significant impact on our budget, Gorzell said.

Lowes spokeswoman Karen Cobb did not respond to multiple calls and emails requesting comment.

Estimates conducted by the appraisal district show that commercial properties could lose $64.3 billion in assessed value within five years if Lowes wins. Forty-two percent of that lost value  $27.3 billion  would come from decreased valuations on retail stores, according to the appraisal district.

This is a sea change in the way commercial property will be valued, Kieke said.

Big-box retailers, including Lowes, have successfully challenged their land values in Michigan, Indiana and other states, leading to hundreds of millions of dollars worth of revenue loss to government agencies in those states.

Taxpayers in Michigan have refunded nearly $100 million to retailers since 2013 after using the dark store theory to challenge their property values to the Michigan Tax Tribunal, a court that settles tax disputes, according to a 2015 study by the Michigan Association of County Treasurers.

And, in Indiana, dark store assessments resulted in $120.8 million worth of tax reductions for big-box stores such as Lowes, according to a 2015 study commissioned by the Indiana Association of Counties. Other taxpayers, including residents and smaller businesses, saw their property tax bills jump by $49.9 million.

Kieke said Bexar County could expect to see homeowners shouldering a heavier property tax burden if commercial properties begin to demand dark store tax assessments.

Voter Guide: What to know for the midterm election Your guide to the Texas and San Antonio races and candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Its like a waterbed: If you push down on one side, the other side goes up, Kieke said.

Bexar County isnt the only Texas county to see retailers challenge their property values based on the dark store theory. Lowes has a pending lawsuit in Harris County regarding its five Houston-area stores and has settled lawsuits against appraisal districts in Hunt, Taylor and Denton counties.

City officials are evaluating potential fixes to propose to state legislators when they reconvene in January, Gorzell said, citing efforts made by lawmakers in Michigan and Indiana.

Obviously, were concerned about it and were going to continue to monitor it closely, Gorzell said.

jfechter@express-news.net

Twitter: @JFreports
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Last year wasnt a great one for San Antonio-area CEOs, unless you were Tesoro Corp. President and CEO Gregory Goff.

Goff was the areas highest paid CEO in 2015, earning $23.3 million in salary, stock, bonuses and other compensation  an 11.5 percent increase from the year before, according to an analysis of executive pay by the San Antonio Express-News and data compiled by Bloomberg.

Goff was just shy of being the highest paid CEO in Texas  only about $1 million behind Exxon Mobil Corp.s Rex Tillerson, who was paid $24.3 million last year.

Only half of the top 10 highest paid CEOs of the largest local companies saw a pay raise last year. As a group, their total compensation, $74.3 million combined, fell by 4.2 percent from the year before.

Consumers, however, may not be all that sympathetic. The worst-paid local CEO  Alamo Group Inc.s Ronald Robinson  still took home a total pay package of just under $2 million, almost 40 times the median household income in Bexar County, according to U.S. census data.

Its been more than eight years since the collapse of Wall Street investment bank Bear Stearns sent world markets into a tailspin, and the U.S. economy is still sputtering along while corporate CEOs are raking it in. Top executives generally earn somewhere around 200 times the pay of their rank-and-file employees, according to compensation experts. The highest-paid CEO in the U.S. last year, Dara Khosrowshahi of Expedia, was awarded $94.6 million in total compensation.

In general, CEO pay has been on the rise, said Andrew Chamberlain, Glassdoor chief economist. With the far reach of companies, CEOs hold greater responsibility to more people using their products or interacting with their brands, and therefore we see pay increases. There are only a small group of people that hold these creative leadership roles, and that drives pay as well.

And those who perform well reap the most rewards.

While the oil rout put a lot of energy companies out of business during the last two years, refiners such as Tesoro and Valero Energy Corp. were something of a safe haven for investors. Although the companies took in less revenue on cheaper gasoline prices, their profits were higher  benefiting from significantly reduced costs for raw crude.

That worked out nicely for investors in Tesoro and Valero; the companys 2015 profits rose 82.7 percent and 9.9 percent, respectively. Tesoro Corp.s board of directors upped Goffs original pay package based on the companys strong performance and his significant leadership in continuing to drive outstanding safety and environmental results, among other things, the company said in a securities filing.

Valero chief Joseph Gorder, the second-highest paid area CEO, was awarded $17.5 million in cash, stock incentives and other compensation last year, according to company disclosures.

Shares for both refiners soared last year: Valeros jumped 47 percent while Tesoros surged 45 percent, outperforming other large publicly traded local companies.

Goff, who runs a $10 billion company, was paid 264 times more than Tesoros average employee in 2014, the most recent data analyzed by Glassdoor.com. Gorders total compensation, which rose by about a percentage point, was roughly 208 times that of Valeros rank-and-file employees that year, according to Glassdoor.com.

The average ratio of CEO-to-median-employee pay is generally below 200-to-1, Mercer said in its CEO Pay Ratio Survey released last month. While the ratio may still seem significant to some, it is not as high as many might think, Gregg Passin, North America leader of the executive rewards business for New York consulting firm Mercer, said in a statement.

All public companies will be required to start disclosing pay ratios beginning in 2018.

This rule will shine a brighter light on one aspect of pay disparity  the ratio between worker pay and chief executive pay. It will bring continued transparency to the workplace, said Glassdoors Chamberlain.

Are CEOs worth this level of compensation?

They can be, said Ralph Ward, publisher of the online email newsletter Boardroom Insider. Ward emphasized that corporate boards of directors, especially their compensation committees, are becoming better educated on the complex structures of executive compensation, which ranges from base pay to bonuses to stock awards, pensions and performance incentives.

Boards also are answering more to investors, Ward said.

San Antonios executive pay isnt out of line with the rest of the U.S., said Matthew Goforth, lead research and content specialist at executive pay tracking company Equilar Inc.

CEOs managing companies in the Standard & Poors 500 index made an average of $10.8 million, including bonuses, stock awards and other compensation, according to an Equilar study conducted for the Associated Press.

Corporate boards generally design target pay packages for top talent based on what their competitors are paying. Pay can be adjusted if executives hit certain performance targets. And the biggest measure of a companys success, no matter the industry, is the stock performance.

That has led most boards to pay executives in stock, options and restricted shares that cant be cashed in until they fully vest, usually over a three- to five-year time frame. This ties top management pay to the companys profits and performance of its shares.

If the performance is poor compared to other investments, CEO pay needs to be in line with that, Goforth said.

No one felt that harder in San Antonio than Rackspace Hosting Inc. CEO Taylor Rhodes, who saw his mostly stock-based pay package plummet 44.5 percent from $12.5 million in 2014 to $6.9 million last year. Though the companys 2015 profits rose 14.1 percent to $126.2 million, its stock price slid 45.9 percent on increased competition from larger competitors.

Voter Guide: What to know for the midterm election Your guide to the Texas and San Antonio races and candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot.

New York private equity firm Apollo Global Management has since announced plans to buy the cloud computing company for $4.3 billion in a transaction that will temporarily take Rackspace shares off the market.

CST Brands CEO Kimberly Lubels pay plan rose 8.4 percent to $5.4 million as she steered the company through an intense shareholder fight that resulted in the sale of the convenience store chain to Quebec-based Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. for $4.4 billion.

Both sales resulted in generous returns for shareholders and generous exit packages for Rhodes and Lubel. Shares for Rackspace and CST are up 26.1 percent and 22.8 percent, respectively, so far this year.

The trends in CEO pay is that it is creeping up, said Matthew Goforth, lead research and content specialist at executive pay tracking company Equilar Inc.

Investors are savvy enough to know that share prices often are subject to factors beyond the CEOs control. But profitability, cost controls and return on investment ratios remain most important, he said.

Shareholder perspectives are different from the general publics view when looking at the high levels of pay.

To the public, they often judge CEO pay based on fairness rather than efficiency, said Chamberlain. Many observers compare CEO pay to their own familys circumstances, or to the pay of rank-and-file workers at companies. These are two very different ways of looking at CEO pay.

dhendricks@express-news.net

NOTE: This article has been updated to provide better context for the comment from Mercers Gregg Passin.
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WASHINGTON  From the political right and the left, AT&Ts $85 billion bid for Time Warner has provoked pushback. But AT&T, in addition to its billions of dollars of capital, has another arsenal at its disposal: one of the most formidable lobbying operations in Washington.

The companys list of nearly 100 registered lobbyists already on retainer in 2016 includes former members of Congress. AT&T is the biggest donor to federal lawmakers and their causes among cable and cellular telecommunications companies; its employees and political action committee sent money to 374 of the Houses 435 members and 85 of the Senates 100 members this election cycle. That adds up to more than $11.3 million in donations since 2015, four times as much as Verizon Communications, according to a tally by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit research group.

AT&T has also spent decades building a national alliance of local government officials and nonprofit groups  particularly from black and Hispanic communities  that it certainly will be asking to weigh in again in Washington as it tries to get the merger approved.

We have seen our fair share of deals, AT&Ts general counsel, David R. McAtee II, said in an interview. Our job is informing consumers what a good development this is for them.

But navigating this transaction will be a test of just how much influence AT&T has in Washington these days, especially as it tries to persuade antitrust officials at the U.S. Department of Justice, who will be crucial in approving the deal. The task may be particularly tricky as AT&Ts lobbying team undergoes a transition after losing its longtime leader, James W. Cicconi, a former aide to President George H.W. Bush.

For AT&T, the regulatory environment around megadeals has also soured. Antitrust officials have muscled up in recent years, blocking dozens of deals across industries including pharmaceuticals and retail.

Other prominent telecommunications deals have imploded even after huge lobbying efforts, most notably Comcasts attempt to buy Time Warner Cable in 2014 and AT&Ts bid in 2011 to buy T-Mobile, a cellular telephone competitor.

Issues that led to the collapse of those deals seem even more prevalent now, as the nation closes out a presidential campaign that has featured candidates from both parties  most notably Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders  promising to challenge corporate power.

The public is really stirred up and angry about the growing dominance of a small number of firms, said Gene Kimmelman, president of Public Knowledge and a former antitrust official at the U.S. Justice Department during AT&Ts bid for T-Mobile.

The alarms over AT&Ts deal for Time Warner stem from mounting frustration over high prices and the lack of competition in the telecom industry, with most Americans limited to one or two providers of broadband services. Regulators are set to focus on AT&Ts powerful control over broadband and television customers since it is the nations second-largest wireless company, after Verizon, and biggest paid-television provider after its recent acquisition of DirecTV.

With Time Warners marquee content  from its HBO and CNN channels to its movies from Warner Bros.  regulators will also scrutinize whether the creation of a multitentacled juggernaut could suppress competition in the technology, media and telecommunications industries. One way the combined company might do that, for example, is by offering unlimited streaming of HBOs Silicon Valley or Game of Thrones to its wireless customers, or making it harder for competing streaming video services and television programs to reach AT&T subscribers.

Lawmakers have already vowed a tough review of the deal, regardless of the lobbying full-court press they know will be playing on Capitol Hill.

We are seeing increasing consolidation, especially scary consolidation, between the content side of the media and the internet provider side, said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committees antitrust panel.

The panel could hold a hearing on the proposal  with sworn testimony from AT&T executives  as soon as next month.

We have a duty to examine this deal, Klobuchar said.

The merger sets up a monthslong battle in Washington with consumer advocates, smaller telecom and cable companies, and some tech companies preparing their own assault against the deal.

The American people want more competition, not less, said Chip Pickering, chief executive of Incompas, a lobbying group that represents internet companies, including Netflix and Google. Megamergers are leaving them with higher prices and less choice.

AT&Ts lobbying playbook from the T-Mobile bid offers the most detailed blueprint of what might unfold again. In that campaign, AT&T helped line up dozens of elected officials from communities across the United States, many of whom had received financial support, to send letters or sign petitions urging the deals approval.

More endorsements came from community and nonprofit groups, many of which AT&T also helped fund through its corporate foundation, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Voter Guide: What to know for the midterm election Your guide to the Texas and San Antonio races and candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot.

More than 100 lawmakers on Capitol Hill  again, many of whom had taken contributions from AT&T  also signed letters urging the Justice Department to sign off on the transaction. The company funded a $40 million advertising campaign in cities nationwide to build public support for the deal.

Arik Ben-Zvi, a lobbyist at the Glover Park Group, which was hired by rivals to Comcast to help challenge its deal with Time Warner Cable in 2015, said he thought it would be a mistake to rely on the same tactics this time.

This massive campaign of blanketing the Hill, that is the wrong way to go, he said.

Instead, Ben-Zvi said, AT&T needs to be more specific and authentic to be more effective. The company must confront head-on any questions about the effect its deal would have on its competitors, for example, and make sure regulators and lawmakers understand that, with so much changing so fast in the tech sector, it has no choice but to pursue a deal like this.

Incumbent telecommunications companies like AT&T are deeply threatened by the emergence of Silicon Valley giants that are poised to take over this space, said Ben-Zvi, who is not working on the AT&T-Time Warner deal. Companies like Amazon, Google, Netflix  those are now some of AT&Ts rivals, not just companies like Verizon.

The company is offering some clues about how it will position the deal. Unlike a horizontal merger that unites competing companies in the same line of business, this transaction would not reduce the number of options for consumers, AT&T executives have said.

AT&T also said it would not withhold Time Warner shows from competitors. It plans to create an advertising-based video business for mobile devices, similar to the ad business of the web juggernauts Google and Facebook.

The biggest advantage AT&T may have is the likelihood that the deal may face little scrutiny from the Federal Communications Commission, which typically gets involved if there are transfers of telecom or broadcast licenses. If Time Warner divests the one Atlanta broadcast station it owns, that would make the FCCs jurisdiction moot. The merger would be reviewed under a new administration, potentially with new antitrust officials.

Even so, it will not be easy. Michael J. Copps, a Democrat and former commissioner for the FCC, said he was preparing, with consumer groups, to battle an AT&T lobbying surge.

AT&T has a huge lobbying budget and the sharpest lawyers money can buy to get this deal approved, Copps said.
A new monumental public artwork for the San Pedro Creek project by Cuban-American artist Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada will emphasize the human connection to the waterway that winds through the West Side.

At a press conference Friday morning, Bexar County officials announced Rodriguez-Gerada had been selected for the $735,000 project from a field of four finalists. Known for large-scale works in urban spaces, the artist, who is currently based in Barcelona, Spain, will create a permanent installation that will serve as the centerpiece of San Pedro Creek plaza, the entryway to a nearly 3-mile linear park.

Titled Plethora, the piece is a six-story aluminum sculpture made out of fluid lines that form a womans face. It will be visible from Interstate 35.

The sculpture will serve as a lasting commemoration of the interweaving cultures that define San Antonio, said County Judge Nelson Wolff. Thats precisely why we chose Jorge. Instead of exemplifying the water, which is of course important in the creek, he exemplifies the culture, and thats what this creek project is going to be about - history, artwork, civilizations that came here and the human connection to the creek.

A preliminary timeline released by the county set the beginning of construction for December 2017, but that date may change. The project is due to be completed by May 2018, in time for the citys Tricentennial Celebration.

Rodriguez-Gerada is planning to move to San Antonio to oversee the construction of the project. Previous works by the artist include his Terrestrial Series, monumental portraits created from organic materials such as sand and gravel that can only be viewed in their entirety from above. On a visit to San Antonio in 2015, he painted a portrait of a 10-year old San Antonio girl directly on the Christopher Columbus Italian-American Society parking lot.

The San Pedro Creek project brings Rodriguez-Geradas monumental portraits into three-dimensional form.

Plethora is not a portrait of a specific person, but rather symbolic of the different cultures that make up the city.

I was looking for a face that was going to allude to the idea of water, but was open ended enough to where you can see your ethnic background within that face no matter where you come from, he said. So it didnt matter if you came from Canary Islands or you came from Germany or youre one of the first native people, you can see your face in that, and thats what I wanted.

The piece will be constructed so that it casts a shadow of the face, so its actually drawing using shadow, Rodriguez-Gerada said.

lsilva@express-news.net




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Candice Millard doesnt attempt to cover the full spectrum of Winston Churchills adventure-filled life in her new biography.

That would require a shelf full of books.

Instead, in Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape and the Making of Winston Churchill, she focuses on a singular event that brought the 24-year-old Churchill his first public acclaim: his capture and audacious prison break from a POW camp during the little-remembered (at least in the United States) Boer War, in what is now South Africa.

I first heard the story 25 years ago, and it has stayed with me ever since, said Millard. Once I started researching, I was hooked.

The book captures Churchill in all his young-gun glory, born to the aristocracy, yearning for adventure and supremely confident in his future.

I have faith in my star, the future British prime minister wrote his mother, that I am intended to do something in the world.

Churchill had landed a plum assignment as a newspaper war correspondent when, just two weeks after arriving at the front in 1899, he was captured by Boer rebels, who ambushed the armored train he riding in.

He eventually escaped from a Pretoria prison camp.

More Information Hero of the Empire By Candice Millard Doubleday, $30 See More Collapse

With help from British sympathizers, he made a harrowing dash across hundreds of miles of African veld to the safety of what was then Portuguese East Africa.

It took Millard five years to research and write the book, in part, she said, because there is so much primary material available.

Newspapers at the time covered the war extensively and, after his escape, couldnt get enough of young Churchill.

It seems like everyone who came in contact with him  on both sides  also wrote about their experience, said Millard.

This will be Millards second appearance at the Express-News Book & Author Luncheon. In 2011 she appeared with her book Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President, about the life, assassination and unnecessary death of the 20th U.S. president James A. Garfield.

rmarini@express-news.net

Twitter: @RichardMarini
AUSTIN  Marked by record turnout, Texas first week of early voting has been plagued by widespread confusion about controversial photo ID requirements, civil rights groups monitoring state activity said Friday, citing reports of intimidation and cases where people were turned away at the polls.

A coalition of civil rights groups manning a hotline say theyve received around 325 reports from Texas since early voting started Monday, with complaints ranging from long waits at polling sites to machine malfunctions to an armed person in North Texas talking to voters in line about political controversies.

However, disorder, inaccurate information and intimidation tactics by election officials and poll workers surrounding the states voter ID law has been the biggest driver of complaints so far.

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund on Friday filed a lawsuit against Bexar County for having outdated voter ID information, including posters, website materials and a recorded message. The county agreed to a temporary restraining order.

The confusion over voter ID, the civil rights groups said, is due in part to massive turnout inundating workers at polling sites and new rules that the Texas Secretary of State is responsible for spreading to election officials and the public.

The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in July ruled the Texas voter ID law violated federal ballot box protections for minorities and ordered it be weakened for Novembers election.

A federal judge in Corpus Christi carried out the 5th Circuits ruling and diluted the measure. Voters lacking one of seven forms of state-mandated photo identification are now allowed to cast a regular ballot after signing an affidavit and presenting an alternate form of ID from an expanded list.

Texas election officials, however, are improperly enforcing the law in some cases  and have even turned eligible voters away from the polls, the groups said.

One situation out of Harris County involved a poll worker reporting that election officials were telling people they had to have photo ID to vote without explaining the affidavit option. Another report out of Harris County dealt with a poll worker questioning people of color who were waiting to vote.

In Bexar County, the civil rights groups say they received a complaint about an election judge challenging a voter who wanted to sign an affidavit to cast a regular ballot because of a lost photo ID. The loss of identification does qualify for the affidavit process ordered by the federal court in Corpus Christi, yet the election judge used loud and intimidating language attempting to stand in the voters way.

A similar situation was also reported in Denton County, where a woman tried to use the affidavit process but was told by poll workers that losing her ID was not a good enough reason.

It is shameful we are now seeing local election officials moving forward as if the law was fully intact, said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

Clarke added: We are deeply concerned about these reports.

Harris County County's chief election official Stan Stanart downplayed the reports about voting issues in his jurisdiction, saying activists who dont like the photo ID law are possibly spreading misinformation.

Weve not heard any credible complaints from anyone that theres anything like that going on, he said. Our intent is to follow the law 100 percent, and we are accommodating every voter who doesnt have a photo ID. Its been a pleasant voting environment in Harris County.

The civil rights groups said they've kept in regular contact with officials from the Secretary of State's office and some issues have been corrected. But by and large confusion abounds and new reports of intimidation and inaccurate voter ID information are coming in daily.

Our lawyers have been springing into action, said Mimi Marziani, executive director with the Texas Civil Rights Project.

One of the big issues reported this week has been outdated voter ID posters in early voting locations at several counties: Bexar, Dallas, Denton, El Paso, Hays, McLennan and Travis. Some counties, according to the groups, still have the incorrect posters on display

Earlier this week, lawyers for the civil rights groups contacted the Secretary of States office after receiving reports of outdated voter ID posters in early voting polling sites.

The groups said they asked Texas top elections office for immediate statewide action to make sure local officials were providing accurate information  and received it. The Secretary of States office sent election clerks around the state an email to make sure they have the correct posters displayed.

The Secretary of States office did respond promptly, Marziani said. I am pleased to say they have remained responsive to our concerns.

In Bexar County, the issue of dated voter ID information was handled in court, when a temporary restraining order was granted Friday. MALDEF had filed suit asking a state judge to force Bexar County to remove the illegal voter ID signs and other materials, and to update its website and telephone hotline to make clear that voters who lack a government-issued photo ID can show alternative, non-photo ID.

Jacque Callanen, Bexar County elections administrator, said in a statement that her office had fixed the problems.

The elections office has responded to all issues brought to its attention and corrected any issues that may have existed at the polling places when early voting began, she said in a statement. These issues were not significant and did not result in a single voter being disallowed to vote.

drauf@express-news.net
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a Virginia transgender rights case could curtail legislative plans in Texas to target the use of public bathrooms over sexual identity.

The court accepted the blockbuster case Friday, agreeing to hear an appeal from a Virginia school board that wants to prevent a high school student from using the boys bathroom.

The justices will review a ruling that said that the Gloucester County school board is probably violating federal civil rights law with a policy that reserves the boys restrooms for biological males.

In Texas, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has called for lawmakers to act on a bill in the next legislative session that would restrict use of public restrooms by transgender people.

Texas is part of a 14-state coalition challenging an Obama administration order that requires public schools to allow students to use restrooms that conform to their sexual identity. A federal judge in Texas has blocked enforcement of the administrations order.

Patrick and Republican leaders have sparked an outcry from civil rights and business groups that oppose the transgender bill.

I think that it is now perfectly clear that the U.S. Supreme Court is going to decide the issue regarding the use of restroom facilities based upon gender identity, and with that as the case, there is clearly no reason for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to blow up the Texas economy by filing a bathroom bill, said Chuck Smith, CEO of Equality Texas, which works to secure full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Texans.

But Jonathan M. Saenz, president of Texas Values, also said the court deciding to review this case is good news. The Obama administration has been trying for some time to redefine Title IX and really redefine what sex means. And hes been doing that without congressional consent.

Texas Values describes itself as dedicated to preserving and advancing a culture of family values in the state. Title IX is a 1972 federal civil rights law that bars discrimination in schools on the basis of sex.

Last week, small-business owners from 36 municipalities across Texas held a news conference in San Antonio to voice opposition to legislation that they said would legalize discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Texans.

Every single child should feel safe and welcomed in our schools. It is a shame the Republicans do not agree, said Manny Garcia, Texas Democratic Party deputy executive director.

The decision by the Supreme Court to take up the appeal is a setback for Gavin Grimm, a Gloucester High School senior who was born with female genitals but identifies as a boy. The court in August temporarily blocked Grimm from using the boys bathroom, and Fridays action extends that order until the court decides the case.

The dispute is the highest-profile case the court has accepted since Justice Antonin Scalias death in February. With Senate Republicans thwarting President Barack Obamas efforts to fill the seat, the court remains shorthanded and susceptible to 4-4 splits.

The case centers on U.S. Education Department regulations implementing Title IX. The regulations say schools can provide separate bathrooms and locker rooms on the basis of sex.

In January 2015, the department applied those regulations to transgender students for the first time and said schools needed to treat them in accordance with their gender identity. In siding with Grimm on a 2-1 vote, a federal appeals court said it would defer to the departments interpretation.

Gloucester officials argued in their appeal that the lower court ruling upended a decades-old understanding that schools could have separate restrooms based on physiological gender.

No one ever thought this was discriminatory or illegal, the school board argued.

Grimm, now 17, came out as transgender to his parents during his freshman year and has been attending school as a male since he was a sophomore. His lawyers said in court papers that he has legally changed his name, has a state identification card identifying him as male, and has facial hair and a deep voice as a result of hormone therapy. He says he always uses boys or mens restrooms elsewhere.

The school let Grimm use the boys restroom for several weeks in 2014 before the school board intervened and voted to change the policy.

Since then, he has generally used the nurses restroom, though the school has since installed three single-user bathrooms. His case involves only bathrooms, not locker rooms.

I feel the humiliation every time I need to use the restroom and every minute I try to hold it in the hopes of avoiding the long walk to the nurses office, Grimm wrote in an opinion column in Fridays Washington Post, published before the court granted review.

Legal fights over transgender rights are brewing around the country.

Since the appeals court ruling, the Obama administration has gone further and directed every public school in the country to let transgender students use bathrooms and locker rooms based on their gender identity. The administration also has sued North Carolina over a state law regulating the public bathroom use of transgender people.

The Supreme Courts August order that temporarily blocked Grimm from using the boys restroom came on a 5-3 vote, with Justice Stephen Breyer joining the courts four most conservative members in the majority. Breyer said he cast that vote as a courtesy that would preserve the status quo until the court decided whether to take up the case.
Before HomeServe USA bought the right to use the citys logo to solicit homeowners here, the Connecticut-based home-repair service company was accused of deceptive advertising in at least six states.

Last year, for instance, Maryland Attorney General Brian Froshs office found that consumers were tricked into signing up for coverage they might not have needed because of ads that looked like they came from a local government or were endorsed by a government.

Last month, spurred by Councilman Ron Nirenberg, the city actually endorsed Utility Service Partners Inc.  a company acquired by HomeServe in July  in exchange for a fee and monthly royalties. The unusual corporate sponsorship marked the first time the city has endorsed a companys product.

Although the product has nothing to do with the San Antonio Water System or the city, residents here soon will begin receiving notices in the mail from Service Line Warranties of America marked by the citys official logo, warning them that SAWS does not maintain water or sewer lines on their properties. The ads will urge homeowners to spend up to $200 a year on warranties to ensure against breakages in sewer, water and in-home plumbing lines.

In exchange for use of the citys logo, Homeserve is paying the city a brand license fee of $650,000, plus 75 cents for each month a warranty is in force, with a guaranteed minimum of about $2.5 million over five years. The revenue will go to the citys general fund to support basic city services.

Nirenberg described the deal with HomeServe as a best practice for large cities.

The company, however, has a shady past.

Since 2010, HomeServe has paid more than $400,000 to settle allegations that it misled consumers in six states: Maryland, New York, Kentucky, Ohio, Massachusetts and Georgia, according to a recent article in the Washington Post.

In 2011, the Massachusetts attorney general accused HomeServe of deceptive advertising, including mailing solicitations that looked like utility bills.

Last year in Maryland, Froshs office alleged the company misrepresented its affiliations with local governments, illegally required consumers to release it from liability for damages it caused during repairs, provided only 11 months of coverage under its annual service plan, and claimed any and all problems would be covered when the warranties actually contained numerous exclusions from coverage.

In that state, HomeServe agreed to pay restitution to former customers who believed they were misled.

Six months later, in November 2015, HomeServe reached another settlement after New York Attorney General Eric Schneidermans office found the company had misrepresented itself to consumers by featuring logos of utilities with which it wasnt affiliated. The ads also resembled formal notices from a municipality and didnt make clear that the service was optional, the office alleged.

When city officials recommended that council approve the deal with Utility Service Partners in September, they were not aware that HomeServe had acquired the company, according to city spokesman Jeff Coyle.

Myles Meehan, senior vice president of public relations for HomeServe, told me the various settlements were not admissions of wrongdoing and have nothing to do with how our business is run today.

It is true that HomeServe six years ago caught the attention of several attorneys general, but those issues were dealt with over time, Meehan said.

Since the investigations, HomeServe has updated its marketing materials, which are approved by its partners, Meehan said.

We make sure that (the materials) are very clear about our relationship with the municipality or the utility, he said, and make sure the customer understands what theyre purchasing ahead of time.

Nonetheless, SAWS is bracing for a flood of calls from customers who could interpret the ads as official notices from the city of San Antonio warning of imminent sewer and water line breaks.

Such breakages are uncommon, consumer advocates say. But who can blame residents from believing otherwise after seeing the citys official seal of approval?

I would rather our customer service representatives deal with our customers, SAWS spokesman Gavino Ramos said, rather than try and answer questions that were really not part of.

bchasnoff@express-news.net
AUSTIN  Marked by record turnout, Texas' first week of early voting has been plagued by widespread confusion about controversial photo ID requirements, civil rights groups monitoring state activity said Friday, citing reports of intimidation and cases where people were turned away at the polls.

A coalition of civil rights groups manning a hotline say they've received around 325 reports from Texas since early voting started Monday, with complaints ranging from long waits at polling sites to machine malfunctions to an armed person in North Texas talking to voters in line about political controversies.

However, disorder, inaccurate information and intimidation tactics by election officials and poll workers surrounding the state's voter ID law have been the biggest drivers of complaints so far.

A prime example: The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund on Friday filed a lawsuit against Bexar County for having outdated voter ID information, including posters, materials on a website and a recorded message.

The confusion over voter ID, the groups said, is due in part to massive turnout inundating workers at polling sites and new rules that the Texas Secretary of State is responsible for spreading to election officials and the public.

The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in July ruled the Texas voter ID law violated federal ballot box protections for minorities and ordered it be weakened for November's election.

A federal judge in Corpus Christi carried out the 5th Circuit's ruling and diluted the measure. Voters lacking one of seven forms of state-mandated photo identification are now allowed to cast a regular ballot after signing an affidavit and presenting an alternate form of ID from an expanded list.

Texas election officials, however, are improperly enforcing the law  and have even turned eligible voters away from the polls, the groups said.

One situation out of Harris County involved a poll worker reporting that election officials were telling people they had to have photo ID to vote without explaining the affidavit option. Another report out of Harris County dealt with a poll worker questioning people of color who were waiting to vote.

In Bexar County, the civil rights groups say they received a complaint about an election judge challenging a voter who wanted to sign an affidavit to cast a regular ballot because of a lost photo ID. The loss of identification does qualify for the affidavit process ordered by the federal court in Corpus Christi, yet the election judge "used loud and intimidating language attempting to stand in the voters way."

A similar situation was also reported in Denton County, where a woman tried to use the affidavit process but was told by poll workers that losing her ID was not a good enough reason.

"It is shameful we are now seeing local election officials moving forward as if the law was fully intact," said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

Clarke added: "We are deeply concerned about these reports."

Some of the complaints highlighted throughout the week:

--Outdated voter ID posters in early voting locations in several counties: Bexar, Dallas, Denton, El Paso, Hays, McLennan and Travis; some counties still have the incorrect posters on display

--Denton County's election office had a recorded message giving inaccurate voter ID information.

--Civil rights groups have heard concerns from new citizens in the Rio Grande Valley who registered to vote at naturalization ceremonies and are being given a "hard time" by election officials because their name on an ID might not match exactly with what's on voter registration rolls (the names don't have to match; just need to be similar).

The civil rights groups said they've kept in regular contact with officials from the Secretary of State's office and some issues have been corrected. But by and large confusion abounds and new reports of intimidation and inaccurate voter ID information are coming in daily

"Our lawyers have been springing into action," said Mimi Marziani, executive director with the Texas Civil Rights Project.

Earlier this week, lawyers for the civil rights groups contacted the Secretary of State's office after receiving reports of outdated voter ID posters in polling sites in multiple counties. The groups said they asked the Texas top election's office for immediate "statewide action" to make sure local officials were providing accurate information.

"The Secretary of State's office did respond promptly," Marziani said, noting that an email was sent to county officials around the state but problems continue to persist. "I am pleased to say they have remained responsive to our concerns."

Some of the counties, the groups said, are still posting inaccurate information.

In its lawsuit filed Friday, MALDEF asked a state judge to force Bexar County to "remove the illegal voter ID signs and other materials," and to update its website and telephone hotline "to make clear that voters who lack a government-issued photo ID can show alternative, non-photo ID."

"The failure to take the simple expedient of removing and replacing the signs suggests a nefarious motive or patent incompetence; neither should be tolerated in this critical election," Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF president and general counsel said in a statement.
COLUMBIANA, Ohio  One hundred years of family memories and 150 years of life  the Zarnosky barn is coming down.

Over the years, many people from eastern Columbiana County came to purchase their milk and produce from this 82-acre farm. Located on the north side of the road just west of the former Theron Store, now the Columbiana Flea Market, the barn stood prominently.

The landmark is thought to have been built in 1870, and specific elements within the barn tell the history, like the built-in ladders the original builders would have used to construct the barn, Joe said.

Local flight schools used the old barn and homestead as a landmark for pilot training, he added.

Now, often times people just come to visit and enjoy old-time memories while standing around, Ruth Zarnosky said.

Change

This is all changing. First, the familys farmhouse burned down Dec. 28, 2013. It was replaced by a new home on the same foundation, but nothing like the landmark farm homestead.

Now, it is time to take the barn down due to age and deterioration, said Ruth. The barn was leaning and it would cost way too much to restore.

Of course we have regrets because it has always been a part of our familys life, as a dairy farm, Joe said. The family operated a dairy for two generations, a produce market and most recently a flea market.

The 62 acres still attached to the barn are now rented to local farmers with big machines that do the job quick, said Joe.

New life.

K&L Homes and Barns from Piedmont, Ohio, was brought in to look at the barn and assess the ability to repurpose the beams, siding and other wooden elements.

The plan is for much of the wood to be saved  beams and flooring will be used for building other homes throughout Ohio and across the country.

Many pieces will be shipped to build log cabin homes, repair other barns or build furniture such as benches, workers with K&L told Ruth.

The men working to remove the barn do so piece by piece, dusting them off and removing every nail, getting them ready for transport.

The company tearing down the barn makes it look like they are operating on something beautiful, something that still has a heart, Ruth said.

It will take several weeks to disassemble the barn, pull the frame down and clean it up.

We feel that others will get great satisfaction from a part of our barn, said Joe. Maybe we can feel a little more at peace that it is not just being destroyed completely as our home was.

They are going to keep parts of the barn, too, to make some kind of tribute on the property for them to keep, the Zarnoskys said.

The company tearing down the barn is doing so in exchange for other work to be completed on various remaining outbuildings.

Life is completely different on our property, after the loss of the homestead and now the barn, but we know that it is time, and life will go on, Joe said.

Your piece

The Zarnoskys want to offer local folks a piece of the memory. If you were part of the memories of the Zarnosky homestead, you can stop and pick up a piece from a wood pile in the front yard. A way to keep a barn alive that has been in Columbiana County for more than 150 years.

Zarnosky barn This barn has stood in Columbiana County for 150 years, for most of those years as a family dairy operation. < > < > 1 View Zarnosky barn This barn has stood in Columbiana County for 150 years, for most of those years as a family dairy operation. 2 View Zarnosky barn The Zarnosky barn has been a landmark in Columbiana County Ohio for nearly 150 years. This fall it is being professionally disassembled. 3 View Zarnosky barn The large wooden beams which once held up the barn floor were thought to have come from trees that once stood on the Zarnosky's 83-acre farm 4 View Zarnosky barn Farm and Dairy file photo 5 View Zarnosky barn Piece by piece the barn is coming down and will shipped across the country for various construction projects. 6 View Zarnosky barn K&L Home and Barns from Piedmont, Ohio, is tearing the barn down. The wood will be used to build homes, repair other barns and for custom furniture.
Northern Ireland has announced the opening of a 40million capital funding scheme designed to help farmers across the country improve their businesses.

The capital element of the Farm Business Improvement Scheme will formally open on Monday 31 October.

The scheme, worth 40million over the first two tranches in its initial phase, represents a significant investment to support the industrys ambitions.

The capital element of the Farm Business Improvement Scheme is a two-tiered programme which supports on-farm investment projects costing 5,000 and above.

Tier 1 aims to improve the sustainability of farms and Tier 2 aims to drive transformational investment guided by a robust business planning process. The scheme has a particular emphasis on improving farm safety and investing in the farmers of tomorrow.

The Minister for Agriculture Michelle McIlveen said: Clearly, we have many high quality farm businesses run by very able people within Northern Irelands agri-food industry.

I understand the value of Direct Payments to farms and the stability this income can provide, especially at times of extreme market volatility.

Northern Ireland is the first part of the United Kingdom to introduce advance payments. This week I was delighted to announce that over 90% of eligible farmers across Northern Ireland have now received advance payments, with more than 21,000 local farm businesses having now received 70% of their 2016 Basic Payment allocation, Miss McIlveen concluded.
Farmers, landowners and rural businesses have urged the public and councils to think twice about setting off sky lanterns due to the dangers associated with them.

Numerous organisations have been working hard to influence councils across the UK to ban the release of sky lanterns and balloons on their land.

Twenty five councils in England have already banned sky lanterns, and the majority of Wales 22 local authorities.

The National Farmers Union continues to call for an outright ban on the sale of sky lanterns.

What are the risks?

There is a risk to animals and livestock - frames can contaminate forage crops which are later fed to the animals. The frames of sky lanterns can harm or even kill farm animals if they are eaten. Animals can get tangled or injured from the sharp wire frames, and bamboo framed lanterns can splinter causing serious injuries if ingested.

They often cause a false alarm - the Coastguard has reported incidents of sky lanterns being mistaken for distress signals and the Civil Aviation Authority are concerned with airborne lanterns being drawn into aircraft engines. They can also delay take-off and landing.

Sky lanterns can be a major fire risk  once lit and set off into the sky you don't know where an ignited lantern will land. Fields of standing crops, hay and straw stacks, farm buildings and thatched roofs are all at significant risk of being set alight.

And lastly, they are a litter nuisance - farmers and other land owners have to clear up the remnants of sky lanterns from their fields.

The farming industry is urging the public to send a letter to local MPs, prospective Parliamentary candidate, local council/authority or local venues that regularly hold events asking them to support a ban.

'Risks are significant'

CLA South West Director, John Mortimer said the fire risks associated with releasing sky lanterns is 'significant'.

"They pose a threat to homes, businesses and lives in both urban and rural areas - add to that the proven risks to livestock and wildlife and there is a compelling case for a ban."

Mr Mortimer said that if other authorities were to follow suit, it would send a strong message to the public that this is a very important issue which requires serious action.

It would be a real boost if all councils backed our stance and helped ensure that someones home, property, business or life isnt destroyed by one of these flying bonfires.

We strongly object to any guidance that suggests there is a safe way to light and release these lanterns, because the safest thing to do is not to light them at all. They pose an enormous fire risk, and endanger the lives of both humans and animals.

Even after it has finished flaming, the fuel cell of a lantern can register a spot temperature of over 200C  and even after two minutes it can be around the 100C mark. Lanterns landing or crossing fields can panic livestock, but the biggest concern to farmers is that their animals can suffer a slow, agonising death if they ingest debris from spent lanterns.

'A mass landing of 28 sky lanterns'

Beef and arable farming couple Tony and Sue Robinson from Coolham, West Sussex experienced a mass landing of 28 sky lanterns on their farm in 2013 and are urging people not to release them.

They believe they were lucky to escape a fire, given many sky lanterns had landed alight, scorching the ground around them.

Sue Robinson said: All we want is for people to be aware of what could happen and we hope we will dissuade people from releasing sky lanterns. If this had happened three weeks earlier, during the dry weather, we could have had a major fire here as many lanterns landed in fields that were earlier growing corn.

By the burn marks, many were still alight on landing. One landed yards from our supplies of winter straw and feed for the cattle.
UK scientists have shared new, groundbreaking updates in crop research at an industy event called 'New Frontiers' in London.

With over 40 delegates from 25 organisations across the UK in attendance, the event fostered and saw an interdisciplinary environment essential for innovation in the agricultural sector.

The nine research talks focused on enhancing growth and crop yields, improving quality and sustainability.

Dr Toby Bruce of Rothamsted Research, described a new system CROPROTECT to improve access to information about crop protection.

BBSRC is the UKs largest public funder of agricultural research

CROPROTECT is available on mobile devices accessed either as a website or via smartphone apps.

Funded by the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Innovation Club (SARIC), it provides farmers and agronomists with guidance on pest, weed and disease management.

The system already has over 900 pioneer users, not only does it provide management recommendations to users, it also provides useful feedback from users about the priorities of the UK arable sector

Dr Jim Monaghan, of Harper-Adams University, outlined a genetic approach to improving postharvest quality in lettuce.

The project funded under the Horticulture and Potato Initiative (HAPI), is gaining a better understanding of the genetic and biochemical regulation of post-harvest discolouration (pinking and browning).

This may be a major reason why fresh produce fails to meet shelf life targets, adding to the high wastage in the UK salad industry (a value of 2.39M annually, with nearly 75% due to loss of quality)

Dr Lionel Dupuy, of the James Hutton Institute, presented the Crop Improvement Research Club (CIRC) funded project on high throughput root phenotyping and development of models to predict how crops utilise environmental resources to grow and produce yield.

Although at an early stage, the technologies being developed within this project already show potential for applications in crop breeding

BBSRC is the UKs largest public funder of agricultural research and the projects presented at the conference showcase how we bring together researchers in academia and industry to solve challenges in a way that will advance the UK bioeconomy, said James Phillips, BBSRC Senior Business Interaction Manager.
Retailer Tesco has announced a working partnership with environmental charity Hubbub to save pumpkins from going to waste this Halloween.

The people of north London are being asked to go on a rescue mission, to salvage the little orange squashes from their otherwise grisly doom, and save unnecessary food waste.

With as many as 18,000 tonnes of pumpkins being thrown away each year after Halloween, one supermarket has decided to set up pumpkin rescue stations across 10 of its north London stores, in order to help customers provide the little festive stalwarts with a brighter, more productive future.

The rescued pumpkins will be recycled via a process called anaerobic digestion

From 31 October, pumpkin rescue stations are being set up outside the entrances of ten Tesco stores, as the supermarket plans to help customers recycle their food waste, and avoid their pumpkins going to landfill.

The rescued pumpkins will be recycled via a process called anaerobic digestion, which will dispose of and convert the little orange squashes into energy in an environmentally friendly way.

The stations have been set up in partnership with environmental issues charity Hubbub and the North London Waste Authority, who recently revealed that 42 per cent of the UK population buy a pumpkin at Halloween but as many as 25 per cent of those purchased are being thrown in the bin without being recycled.

Spare a thought for the pumpkins

Commenting on the news, Jez Butwell, store director for Tesco in North London, said: Im delighted that were sparing a thought for pumpkins this Halloween, helping our customers in North London to convert leftovers into energy and once again demonstrating Tescos commitment to reducing food waste.

The soup being cooked for customers to try is also really tasty, providing a great alternative to throwing pumpkins away and a nice, healthy little warmer as the nights start to get cold.

Its the latest move by Tesco to reduce food waste, with the retailer having already rolled out its food surplus redistribution scheme, Community Food Connection, to over 800 stores across the UK, and pledging to be in all Tesco stores by the end of 2017.

Community Food Connection, is run in partnership with food redistribution charity FareShare has already donated over a 1.5 million meals worth of surplus food from Tesco stores to people in need. Over 3,000 charities and community groups are already signed up.
Tractors were parked outside the regional legislature in Namur, Belgium, the day the no votes were cast.

Then came Thursday's declaration to save the deal. Again, a nod to the grumpy farmers.

"Safeguards" would be provided, it said, if an as yet undefined "market imbalance" emerged as a result of Canadian imports.

But do Belgium's livestock farmers really have a legitimate beef?

"There's absolutely no way I think that we could ever affect either the price or the quantity over there," said Ron Davidson, the director for international trade, government and media relations at the Canadian Meat Council.

Canadian meat products have been all but shut out of the European marketplace for several decades now, thanks to the common market's strategy of looking after its own.

It's true that the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, called CETA for short, secured market access gains for Canadian beef and pork. This win for Canada's export-oriented agriculture sector was heralded as one of the deal's triumphs by the previous Conservative government.

Over six years, Canada's annual quota for beef shipped to Europe will rise gradually from 15,000 tonnes to 65,000 tonnes annually. For pork, the quota rises from 6,000 to 75,000 tonnes, again with a six-year phase-in period.

But annual consumption of beef across the European Union is over seven million tonnes. Canada's new share, eventually, is less than one per cent of that. For pork it's even smaller: less than 0.4 per cent of total European consumption.

"It just doesn't make any sense to me how it could possibly be an issue for the European market," Davidson said.

Additionally  and here's the kicker, as Davidson sees it  European livestock producers who want to export to Canada have tariff-free, quota-free market access from Day 1.

"It's not balanced," he said. "I find it quite amazing that they're complaining about it."

Protesting farmers in Wallonia said their average farm size was about 50 hectares, while in Canada it's over 300 hectares.

Outside of the supply-managed dairy, egg and poultry sectors, Canadian agriculture is more focused on expanding abroad.

But Walloons have nothing to fear, he said. "If they're producing a lot of domestic product there, there's not going to be a domestic demand for it," he said, suggesting Canadian beef or pork would end up in parts of Europe without a strong domestic industry, or as premium products in high-end restaurants.

"They're not even going to know it's coming in, it's so small," he said.

The sign of an effective protest can be the degree to which it gets results. On Thursday, a section in the final declaration written by Belgium's government leaders provided for unspecified "safeguards" that would be applied to ensure Belgium's agriculture sector does not suffer from some kind of as yet undefined "market imbalance" as a result of Canadian imports. But Canada did not agree to renegotiate CETA's market access quotas. So what are they talking about here?

Canadian agriculture officials have speculated this may be code for compensation  something in the works here in Canada too for the dairy industry, as it concedes two per cent of Canada's domestic cheese market to new European imports.

An announcement on the details of that for farmers and dairy processors is expected to quickly follow the CETA signing, perhaps as early as next week.

The declaration also specified that existing regulations will continue to apply for things like genetically modified organisms (GMO foods), including the EU's precautionary principle, which says that if something can't be proven safe, it won't be allowed.

Certain crops common in North America may not be allowed in the European Union.

The Belgium declaration also touched on "geographic indicators"  like the name Feta, which is meant to apply only to cheese from Greece.

Faced with concerns from several countries, Greece included, the European Commission had already issued a seven-part declaration on this issue, clarifying how regional trademarks were protected and enforced.

Then there's the food safety, hormone-free' beef concern debate. Was Canada applying pressure to lift beef hormone restrictions?

"We didn't even ask for it," Davidson said. "So the fact that they were talking about that shows to me, my gosh, they don't know the terms of their agreement, how good a deal they have."

"Every time you read something you're going to hear them saying they have safer product than we do. The reverse is true," he said.

Davidson cites an example of veterinary drugs approved for veal calves. At least 83 approved in Europe, he said, are prohibited by Health Canada because of fears about antibiotic-resistant microbes.

"Contrary to what you're hearing they don't have safer meat," he said.

Canada does some things differently. What he calls a "long, slow, drawn-out process" to work out equivalent regulations continues for things like the Canadian use of carcass washes to reduce E. coli contamination.

Even if current Canadian herd sizes could provide the new volumes  which they can't, yet  these talks haven't finished in time for the provisional application of CETA.



Source: Meatbusiness
Where can you get free diapers in Cumberland County?
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have sold their New Orleans home for $4.9 million.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt

The 41-year-old actress filed for divorce from the 'Fury' star over a month ago, and the pair have now sold their shared home in the Louisiana city for the hefty sum.

The former couple - who share six children, Maddox, 15, Pax, 12, Zahara, 11, Shiloh, 10, and eight-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne - first put the 1830s-era mansion on the market for $6.5 million in May 2015, long before the news of the divorce filing.

A rep for the pair said at the time: "[Brad and Angelina are] looking for something more off the beaten path."

Brad, 52, and Angelina bought the property in 2006 after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, and splashed out $3.5 million at the time. They moved into the property whilst the 'Fight Club' actor set up the Make It Right foundation to foster new housing development in the wake of the natural disaster.

The three-story home features five bedrooms, three bathrooms, marble mantles and fireplaces, a chef's gourmet kitchen, and a grand spiral staircase.

The mansion spans a total of 7,645 square feet, and in addition to the main home there is an entirely separate two-story guest house.

Despite having sold the home, the couple are no closer to a definite split as they still currently own a further three properties together - a 5,300-square-foot home in Los Angeles, an extravagant 1,200-acre chateau in Correns, France, and an apartment in Waldorf Astoria Towers in New York City.

The 'Maleficent' star filed for divorce from her husband - whom she had been in a relationship with since 2004, and married to since 2014 - on September 19, citing "irreconcilable differences".
Now in the midst of its fifth season, Arrow has managed to give us a variety of characters throughout its dozens of episodes, and the series' current producer is hoping to get more female villains on board, along with the return of fan favourite character, the Huntress.

Credit: The CW

Speaking to CBR, executive producer Wendy Mericle explained: "I'd really like to see some strong female super-villains on the show. I don't know who we would want to get! There's such an embarrassment of riches in that respect in the DCU, but that's something I would definitely love to do. I'd like to use someone like, I don't know, Poison Ivy, a Batman villain who would be amazing. Someone in that vein, but someone in the Green Arrow universe would be fantastic."

She also spoke about how she'd like to see Huntress back on the show: "We would love that! She's fantastic. But again, it's always about whether it's right for the direction or whether it's right for the story at that point in the series, so we'll see."

Actor Jessica De Gouw first appeared in Arrow back in the first season as Helena Bertinelli, aka Huntress. On a mission to kill her father - the villainous mob boss who was responsible for Huntress' fiance's death - she formed some brilliant chemistry with Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell), but had to leave the series eventually because of her violent ways.

Exactly when she'll return, if at all is still up in the air, but the fact Mericle is looking for more females going forward has to be a good thing.

Arrow continues Wednesdays in the US on The CW, and on Sky1 in the UK.

by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk

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Providing connectivity to Fiji from 15 additional U.S. cities and now, London

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 25, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --Fiji Airways, Fiji's National Carrier, and American Airlines are strengthening their codeshare agreement to include more cities in the United States, as well as a significant international connection, London's Heathrow Airport (LHR). The extended agreement allows for convenient connections when flying between Fiji, across the U.S. and the United Kingdom.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140110/LA44052LOGO

"This extended codeshare agreement is a truly remarkable achievement for Fiji Airways. Just as important, it allows for more of America's customers to visit our home, Fiji, and seamlessly access our network in the South Pacific," said Fiji Airways Managing Director & CEO, Andre Viljoen.

Fiji Airways will add eight (8) new codeshare departure cities to and from Los Angeles and seven (7) connecting to and from San Francisco (SFO). This gives customers traveling on Fiji Airways' non-stop flights from LAX and SFO better access to Fiji from major U.S. cities such as: Atlanta, Nashville, Portland, Philadelphia, Seattle, Dallas, New York, Miami, Phoenix, and more. In total, the codeshare agreement now provides the customers of Fiji Airways with accessibility from 38 cities across the U.S and, for the first time, the United Kingdom, via American Airlines.

American Airlines customers also gain new codeshare service on Fiji Airways between SFO and Nadi, Fiji (NAN). Members of the AAdvantage program can now earn and redeem miles on all Fiji Airways flights.*

Guests can book travel today on these codeshare flights directly through Fiji Airways andAmerican Airlines. The two airlines began their codeshare partnership in 2011 and with this expansion the codeshare now includes 49 destinations in the South Pacific, United States and Europe.

*For conditions regardingAAdvantagemiles, please visithttps://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/partner-airlines/fiji-airways.jsp

For media inquiries, contact:

Lauren Hammerson

Myriad Marketing for Fiji Airways

LaurenH@myriadmarketing.com

+1 310-649-7700
FRANKFURT (DEUTSCHE-BOERSE AG) - 27. Marz 2017. Die erste groe Niederlage des US-Prasidenten Trump sorgt fur Ernuchterung an den Borsen.

Mit dem Scheitern der US-Gesundheitsreform werden auch die sonstigen Wahlversprechen immer mehr in Frage gestellt. "Droht Trump fruhzeitig zur Lame Duck' zu werden?", heit es etwa bei Robert Halver von der Baader Bank. Die Republikaner hatten am Freitag die Abstimmung im US-Reprasentantenhaus uber den vom Prasidenten unterstutzten Gesetzesentwurf fur eine neue Gesundheitsversorgung mangels Erfolgsaussichten zuruckgezogen.

Auch harten Zahlen uberzeugen nicht

"Eine wesentliche Erkenntnis daraus ist, dass der Markt bereits sehr viele Vorschusslorbeeren mit Blick auf die Plane des US-Prasidenten Trump verteilt hat", erklart Christian Schmidt von der Helaba. Offensichtlich sei es jedoch nicht einfach, diese auch in die Tat umzusetzen. "Entsprechend besteht ein gewisses Anpassungsrisiko, insbesondere am US-Aktienmarkt, da dieser mit einem Kurs-Gewinn-Verhaltnis fur den S&P 500 von 18,4 sehr deutlich uber dem langfristigen Durchschnitt von 11 bis 12 notiert."

Claudia Windt von der Helaba zweifelt, ob der DAX in den kommenden Wochen die Marke von 12.000 Punkten wird halten konnen. "Ungemach droht vor allem aus den USA." Die Wachstumsstrategie der Regierung Trump werde mit einem immer deutlicheren Fragezeichen versehen. Zudem hatten die jungsten "harten" US-Daten nicht uberzeugt. Die US-Wirtschaft habe im ersten Quartal wohl keine starkere Konjunkturdynamik entfaltet.

Der DAX liegt am Montagmorgen bei 11.972 Punkten leicht im Minus, nach 12.064,27 zu Wochenschluss. Der Dow Jones hatte vergangene Woche mit einem Minus von 1,5 Prozent auf 20.596,72 Zahler den groten Verlust seit der US-Wahl verbucht.

Charttechnik mahnt zur Vorsicht

Auch der Blick auf das langfristige Chart des DAX stimmt laut Christoph Geyer von der Commerzbank nicht unbedingt optimistisch. "Nachdem die Indikatoren auf kurzfristiger Basis beim DAX bereits seit Wochen vor einer moglichen Korrektur warnen, hat sich auch die Indikatorenlage im langfristigen Bereich inzwischen sichtbar eingetrubt." Der seit Anfang des vergangenen Jahres bestehende Aufwartstrend sei zwar noch immer intakt, der MACD-Indikator habe aber nach unten gedreht und stehe kurz vor einem Verkaufssignal. Der Stochastik-Indikator habe eine gut erkennbare Divergenz generiert. "Damit sollte ein Ausbruch nach oben in den nachsten Wochen eher unwahrscheinlich sein."

Dynamik nach unten groer

Laut Christian Schmidt ist es dem DAX zuletzt gelungen, sich oberhalb einer Reihe bedeutender Unterstutzungsmarken zu etablieren, wie beispielsweise der 21-Tagelinie, der Instantaneous Trendline, einer Fibonacci-Fanline und zweier Strukturmarken. "Allerdings ist es nicht gelungen, das obere Band des Preisspanne-Channels sowie die 144er-Regression zu uberwinden." Insofern musse weiter mit dem Fortbestand der etablierten Spanne mit den Begrenzungen bei 11.850 auf der Unter- und 12.150 Punkten auf der Oberseite gerechnet werden.

"Erst wenn diese in die eine oder andere Richtung verlassen wird, konnte eine neue, ausgedehnte Impulsbewegung vollzogen werden", erklart Schmidt. Im Sinne eines Trendfolgeansatzes seien die Chancen fur einen Ausbruch nach oben leicht hoher zu gewichten. "Jedoch sollte nicht vergessen werden, dass ein Abwartsimpuls meist mit deutlich hoherer Dynamik vollzogen wird." Erste Kurszielmarken auf der Unterseite lagen bei 11.812, 11.711 und 11.544 Zahlern.

Wichtige Konjunktur- und Wirtschaftstermine

Montag, 27. Marz

10.00 Uhr. Deutschland: ifo-Geschaftsklima Marz.

Mittwoch, 29. Marz

Grobritannien: EU-Austrittserklarung. Premierministerin Theresa May wird den EU-Rat uber den Austritt Grobritanniens aus der Europaischen Union informieren. Damit beginnt die zweijahrige Phase der Verhandlungen.

Donnerstag, 30. Marz

14.00 Uhr. Deutschland: Verbraucherpreise Marz. Nach 2,2 Prozent im Februar ist die Preissteigerungsrate im Marz nach Ansicht der Helaba wieder unter die 2 Prozent-Marke gefallen, zumal die Benzinpreise etwas schwacher tendiert hatten. Die Nahrungsmittelpreise seien unter anderem wegen des schlechten Wetters in der Mittelmeerregion stark gestiegen, hier werde es im Sommer zu einer gewissen Entspannung kommen. Die Jahresdurchschnittsrate werde fur 2017 voraussichtlich bei 1,7 Prozent liegen.

Freitag, 31. Marz

11.00 Uhr. Eurozone: Verbraucherpreise Marz. Die DekaBank geht davon aus, dass die Inflation nach 2 Prozent im Februar wieder auf 1,8 Prozent zuruckgegangen ist. Ursachlich hierfur seien auch die leicht gesunkenen Preise von Benzin, Diesel und Heizol. Fur die Kerninflation werden 0,8 Prozent erwartet.

von: Anna-Maria Borse 27. Marz 2017, sie konnen sich kostenlos fur unseren taglichen Newsletter per E-Mail anmelden. Registrieren Sie sich bei www.boerse-frankfurt.de/newsletter

Laden Sie sich jetzt die neue Version der Borse Frankfurt-App fur Android oder iOS herunter, bzw. aktualisieren Sie die Version auf Ihrem Smartphone. Die App bietet jetzt kostenlose Xetra-Preise in Realtime. Bis zu drei Titel konnen Sie in Ihre Watchlist aufnehmen. Auerdem: Broker-Buttons fur den direkten Weg in Ihre Ordermaske, Watchlists ohne Anmeldung u.v.m.

Unterstutzen Sie uns bitte mit Ihrem Feedback - im App-Store oder direkt per Mail an uns.  Deutsche Borse AG

(Fur den Inhalt der Kolumne ist allein Deutsche Borse AG verantwortlich. Die Beitrage sind keine Aufforderung zum Kauf und Verkauf von Wertpapieren oder anderen Vermogenswerten.)

AXC0071 2017-03-27/10:47
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Twenty passengers and one flight attendant were injured in an incident of Friday at the Chicago O'Hare International airport, when an American Airlines plane bound for Miami caught fire while attempting take-off. The injuries were 'non-critical' and those injured were shifted to Chicago-area hospitals for further evaluation, the American Airlines said in a statement on the company website. Pilots aborted take-off after the right-side engine of the Boeing-767 American Airlines Flight 383 caught fire on the runway, which the airline company attributed to an engine-related issue. Meanwhile, the Federal Aviation Administration blamed the problem on a blown tire. Following the incident at 2.35 pm local time, an emergency rescue operation took place and the 161 passengers and 9 crew members were evacuated safely using a chute within a few minutes. The fire was also brought under control swiftly. The FAA is investigating the incident. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.


LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Bob Dylan ended several days of silence since winning the Nobel Literature Prize, saying the news left him speechless and, also indicated in an interview to a newspaper that he will turn up at the awards ceremony in Stockholm on December 10.



The Swedish Academy, which awards the prize, said in a statement on its website on Friday that the American musician called the academy this week.



'If I accept the Prize? Of course,' Dylan said, according to the statement.



Dylan was announced as the winner of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature on October 13 'for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition'. He is the first song-writer to be awarded the prize.



'The news about the Nobel Prize left me speechless', he told Sara Danius, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy. 'I appreciate the honor so much.'



The Swedish Academy said it could not confirm if Bob Dylan will attend any events during the Nobel Week in Stockholm in December.



However, Dylan himself confirmed his appearance in an interview to the British newspaper the Telegraph, published on Saturday.



Asked about plans to attend the award ceremony in December, Dylan told the newspaper 'Absolutely'.



'If it's at all possible.'



The newspaper reported that he did not offer any explanation for his long silence following the Nobel announcement.



He is also an artist and a wide collection of his drawings, watercolors and acrylic works on canvas that depict the artist's view of American landscapes and urban scene will be on display at the Halcyon Gallery on London's New Bond Street between November 5 - December 11.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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"Nebraska spends an average of $14.6 million annually to keep the death penalty."

Dr. Ernie Goss, professor of economics at Creighton University, is frustrated with death penalty proponents' constant challenge of his study on the cost of capital punishment in Nebraska





So on Friday, he issued a challenge of his own. Goss wants Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson, who has attacked the study, to appear with him at a public forum to debate it.





It appears Peterson is turning down the invitation.





Goss sent a letter to Peterson Friday saying there have been repeated misstatements, half truths, and misrepresentations from the Attorney General's office about the cost analysis. It showed Nebraska spends an average of $14.6 million annually to keep the death penalty, beyond what life imprisonment costs the state.





"The economic impact of the death penalty is an important component of the death penalty discussion, and voters deserve to have the real and whole truth," Goss said.





He asked that Peterson and he come together to each present their research on the cost so voters could analyze the data and decide for themselves the economic impact of Nebraskas death penalty.





Peterson replied in a news release that he is confident in Nebraskans ability to determine the facts when they vote on the death penalty in November.





He said he has provided information from actual Nebraska cases and the information is available on the attorney general's website: http://ago.nebraska.gov/media/news/view/101182/nebraska-facts-about-nebraskas-death-penalty





Nebraskans will vote on Nov. 8 whether to retain a law (LB268) passed in 2015 that repealed the death penalty, or repeal that law.





Source: Lincoln Journal Star, October 29, 2016





Dr. Goss Asks AG Peterson for Public Forum on Cost of Death Penalty ...so voters can analyze the data and decide for themselves what the economic costs of Nebraskas death penalty are"





LINCOLN, NE  Dr. Ernie Goss, professor of economics at Creighton University, today asked Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson to join him in a public forum to present their research on the cost of Nebraska's death penalty.





In August, Dr. Goss presented a study that revealed Nebraskas maintenance of the death penalty cost the state $14.6 million annually above what the states cost for life without parole. Attorney General Peterson has repeatedly challenged the study and criticized Dr. Goss work.





Dr. Goss sent the following request Friday afternoon to AG Peterson:





"There have been, what I regard, as repeated misstatements, half truths, and misrepresentations from your office about the cost analysis I conducted showing Nebraska spends an average of $14.6 million annually to keep the death penalty, beyond what life imprisonment (without the possibility of parole) costs the state.

The economic impact of the death penalty is an important component of the death penalty discussion, and voters deserve to have the real and whole truth. I request a public forum for you and I to come together to both present our research on the cost of the death penalty so voters can analyze the data and decide for themselves what the economic costs of Nebraskas death penalty are.

Thank you."



Sincerely,

Ernie Goss, Ph.D.

MacAllister Chair & Professor of Economics

Creighton University

Omaha, Nebraska 68178





Ernie Goss, Ph.D., is the Jack MacAllister Chair in Regional Economics at Creighton University and is the initial director for Creighton's Institute for Economic Inquiry. He is also principal of the Goss Institute in Denver, Colorado. Dr. Goss was a visiting scholar with the Congressional Budget Office for 2003-04, and was appointed by the Nebraska Attorney General to head a task force examining gasoline pricing in the state in 2005. He served as a faculty research fellow with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1991 and 1992. Dr. Goss has conducted studies for the Platte Institute for Economic Research, a free market research and educational think tank, founded in 2008 by Pete Ricketts, now Governor of Nebraska.





Source: Retain a Just Nebraska , October 29, 2016. Retain a Just Nebraska is a public education campaign to urge the retention of LB 268, the Nebraska Legislatures vote to end the death penalty. Supporters include fiscal conservatives, law enforcement officials, faith leaders, murder victims families, and Nebraskans from all walks of life. It is a statewide coalition conducting public education on the smart alternative of life in prison without parole, which protects society without the many problems of our death penalty system.

 | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; send a submission; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com



Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!
DUBAI, UAE, October 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

DMCC announce partnerships with the Shanghai Gold Exchange; Agricultur al Bank of China ; Mega Capital & Yunnan State Farms Province

DMCC, Dubai's Government authority on trade, enterprise and commodities and the world's number one Free Zone, concluded Dubai Week in China, Shanghai, with three significant commodity trade agreements and its "Made for Trade. Together" in Shanghai Forum.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161029/434047LOGO )



(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161029/434042 )



(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161029/434043 )



(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161029/434044 )



(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161029/434045 )



(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161029/434046 )



DMCC's event attracted over 130 senior government officials, business leaders and financial institutions including His Excellency Abdulla Al Saleh, Under Secretary of the UAE Ministry of Economy for Foreign Trade and Industry Affairs; Consul General His Excellency Ibrahim Al Mansouri, Consulate General of The United Arab Emirates of Shanghai; Jiao Jinpu, Chairman, Shanghai Gold Exchange; Gautam Sashittal, Chief Executive Officer, DMCC; Matthew Pang, Managing Director of Mega Capital; and Zhonghua Chi, General Manager of Yunnan State Farms Group.

Gautam Sashittal, Chief Executive Officer at DMCC, said:

"The DMCC partnership agreements we announced at Dubai Week in China, Shanghai, today, is evidence of the deep links between China and Dubai, and the growing role the Dubai trade has in bringing our world's closer. China is Dubai's number one trading partner. The relationships that we have cemented here with the Shanghai Gold Exchange, Agricultural Bank of China, Mega Capital and Yunnan State Farms Group will further underpin the role that DMCC is playing in boosting the commodities trade along the West to East corridor - connecting directly into China's Belt and Road Initiative."

During the Dubai Week in China event, DMCC signed three significant commodity partnerships:

The Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) announced the first yuan-denominated gold future product to be offered outside of China , obtaining a license from the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) to list Shanghai Gold Futures in Dubai using the Shanghai Gold Benchmark Price.

, obtaining a license from the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) to list Shanghai Gold Futures in using the Shanghai Gold Benchmark Price. The Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) also announced that Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) has become the first market maker for the Shanghai Gold Futures contract to be listed on its exchange.

(ABC) has become the first market maker for the Shanghai Gold Futures contract to be listed on its exchange. DMCC signed an agreement with Mega Capital Halal (MCH), a Hong Kong -based holding company, to import coffee annually from China's Yunnan State Farms Group to Dubai for world distribution. The agreement will see MCH export Chinese Arabica beans from the Yunnan State Farms Group to Dubai . DMCC will also develop a Coffee Centre. Based on the highly successful DMCC Tea Centre, which has enabled the UAE to become the largest re-exporter of tea in the world.

DMCC also launched the latest in a series of reports on 'The Future of Trade', hosting a roundtable of experts to discuss the ways that trade is changing the world. The report focus heavily on the potential for digitalisation to impact trade, stating that as many as 350 million businesses would begin exporting goods for the first time if they were to adopt an end-to-end digital strategy.

There was also considerable interest in DMCC's Free Zone, named the Global Free Zone of the Year 2016 by The Financial Times fDi Magazine for the second year running, and its Business Panel debate 'Making Business Happen in Dubai. Together'.

Panel Speakers representing leading Chinese companies based in the DMCC Free Zone in Dubai, Zhu Jianchao, Vice president/Chief Engineer; China State Construction Engineering Corporation; Wu Qing, Administration Manager, PowerChina; Robert Wang, Technical Director, Hikvision; and Timothy Chong, Director, Mega Capital; shared their views on why DMCC is such a pro-business place, and how Dubai's world-class infrastructure, connectivity and partnership approach create a unique environment for Chinese companies to drive growth in the Middle East, Africa and beyond, and opportunities to forge closer ties between the twin cities of Dubai and Shanghai.

DMCC. Made for Trade.

http://www.dmcc.ae
Exploring the USA by road is definitely one of the best ways to experience everything this incredible country has to offer. From exploring a state like California, to taking a classic road trip like Route 66, or just thoroughly exploring a section of the Pacific Coast Highway  hitting the open road in the US is a thoroughly rewarding experience.

Its by far our favourite way to explore the country, and weve done thousands of miles of driving in the US, including Route 66, the Oregon Trail, and the Deep South.

I personally also love driving in the US. Its a really car friendly country, with big, well maintained roads, clear signage, and no shortage of places to visit.

That said, coming from the UK, there are definitely a few things Ive had to learn in order to have the best driving experience as a Brit in the US. Luckily I have an American wife who is used to driving in the US to help me (e.g, yell) when I am doing something wrong!

In todays post, Im going to share what Ive learnt from numerous driving experiences in the US, generally from the perspective of a UK driver, but these tips should come in handy for anyone who is driving in America for the first time, or just wants a reminder of what driving in the US is like.

Tips for Driving in the USA

These tips for driving in the USA should all be useful to anyone coming to drive in the USA  even if its not your first time doing so.

Theyre not in any particular order, so do read them all to be sure you have a good handle on them, as many things about driving in the USA are different compared to other countries you may have driven in.

State Laws

One of the first things to be aware of with the USA is that there are generally two types of law  federal laws, which apply to the whole country, and state laws, which vary depending on the state you are in.

The majority of traffic laws are set at a state level, which means that they vary depending on the state you are in  things like speed limits, age limits and drink or drug driving laws.

Some things are country wide of course. All traffic for example drives on the right (with the exception of the US Virgin Islands), you need a driving license to drive, and there are speed limits on all roads, although these vary by state.

Age Limits for Driving in the USA

The age at which you are legally allowed to drive alone on a full driving license in the US varies by state, but falls between 16 and 18 years of age. Heres a full list of legal driving ages by state.

As a visitor, you will generally find that most car hire companies will require you to be over 21 to rent a car, and there is usually a surcharge for renting a car if you are under 25. See more below on this subject in the car rental section.

Basic Rules

As with every country, there are some basic rules for driving that you need to observe. These are:

Drive on the right hand side of the road (except in the US Virgin Islands!)

Observe all posted speed limits.

Dont drive if you are over the legal blood alcohol limit, in all states this is a blood alcohol concentration at or above 0.08 percent. Penalties vary by state, but basically, you dont want to do it.

You must stop at all STOP signs (see below for more information on STOP signs).

You must stop for stopped school buses with flashing lights and a stop sign (more below on school buses).

At least the driver and front seat passenger must wear a seat-belt  see below for more on seat belts.

Traffic Lights

Like nearly every country in the world, the US uses traffic lights to control traffic. Lights can be red, yellow or green. These colors mean:

Red  stop. As you would imagine, red means stop, and must stop at a red traffic light. There will be a line on the road marking where you should stop if you are the first car to arrive at the light  otherwise you just stop in line behind other waiting traffic. Note that in some situations you are allowed to proceed after stopping, even on a red light  see turning on a red traffic light below.

Yellow  you must come to a stop at the stop line. If you are moving too quickly to safely stop, for example you are about to cross the stop line and the light turns from green to yellow as you approach, you may proceed, however if you can safely stop it is advisable to do so and not try to beat the light.

Green  proceed. The light goes from red directly to green, at which point you may continue. If a light is green as you approach it, you may continue to travel, although be aware that if it changes to yellow you are required to stop unless it is unsafe to do so.

Speed Limits in the USA

Speed limits vary by road and state, so theres no one-size fits all answer here. Speed limits are in miles per hour, and some roads have posted minimum speed limits as well as maximum speed limits that you have to obey. Limits vary from 15mph all the way up to 85mph on one rural road in Texas.

The best advice is to follow all posted speed limit signs, and learn what the usual limits are for different road types and locations in the state or states you are driving in. For a full breakdown of speed limits by state, look at this list.

Hiring a Vehicle in the USA

If you have a full valid license from your home country, then you can hire a vehicle in the USA, although there are some restrictions to be aware of.

In the majority of states, there is no legal requirement for a hire company to rent you a car, and they are at their discretion as to who they rent to.

Nearly all hire car companies have minimum age restrictions and will charge a fee if you are under a certain age  the majority of companies charge extra if you are under 25, and most will not rent to you if you are under 21.

In addition, if you are under 25 you might find that you arent able to hire the more high-end car models. There is usually no upper age limit, however if you are over 70 it is worth confirming that this wont be a problem.

To hire a vehicle, you will usually need to use a credit card to pay for it, and many companies will place a hold on your card for a fixed amount, to cover them in the event of accidents. Our tip would be to find a credit card that includes liability cover and accident cover for car rental, so you can avoid the very high fees that rental car companies charge for this service.

Alternatively, if thats not an option, you can take out third party insurance which offers the same type of cover at a fraction of the cost  read more about that here.

You may also have car rental insurance attached to your own car insurance policy at home so check that as well to see if it would cover a rental car in the U.S. Note that if you do have full coverage via your credit card or own insurance policy, you have to decline coverage by the rental car agency to be able to use your insurance in most cases. Be clear in how you are covered and where!

You will also need a full and valid drivers license. Some rental car companies will require this to be in English, so if your license is not issued in English, you may need either an International Drivers Permit or a certified translation of your original license, both of which you will need to obtain prior to leaving your home country.

If your license is not in English, wed recommend getting the International Drivers Permit even if it is not required as it will also be helpful if you get pulled over or there are any other issues while driving.

Personally, I rented a car using a French drivers license in the USA and the hire companies I used generally did not need to see an English translation, however, check the rental conditions beforehand to be sure. For more on the IDP, see here.

If you are looking to hire a vehicle, we recommend that you take a look at Rentalcars.com to compare car hire deals across a wide range of different providers, including the biggest names in the business, to get a great deal for your trip.

We have also often used and can recommend Enterprise, we generally find that they come up with the best deals when were looking to hire a car  especially for one way trips  in the USA.

Finally, if you want to rent out a campervan or similar, we recommend starting with Motorhome Republic, who compare prices across a range of providers. See their USA listings here.

We can also recommend you check out RVShare, who offer peer to peer campervan rental  a bit like the AirBnB of RV rental.

Road Types in the USA

The US has a number of road types. These, in our experience, can be broadly categorised as follows:

Interstate Roads

As the name suggests, an Interstate is a road that runs across states. These can be compared to Motorways in the UK, or the autobahns in Germany. They are usually at least two lanes, and they have on and off ramps rather than stop signs or traffic lights.

Interstates keep the same number regardless of state  Interstate 40 for example, runs through eight states, and is called Interstate 40 in all of them.

Maximum speeds on the Interstate vary by state, from 60 mph through to 80 mph. Speed limits are clearly posted and should be obeyed.

State Roads

A State Road is specific to a state. State Road 54 in one State is going to be a different road to a State road in a another state.

State roads vary from dual-carriageway styles through to single lane highways, and as they pass through towns, cities and villages, the speed limit can vary from as low as 20 mph up to 75 mph. As always, check local state regulation and obey posted speed limits.

County Roads

A county road is any road that is maintained by the local county authority, rather than the state or federal system. County roads are usually smaller, slower roads, and they have a C or CR designation, followed by a number.

They do vary in size and quality, from freeway sized right through to unpaved roads, depending on the area, traffic, and local county budget. Again, as they vary hugely in quality and size, speed limits on County Roads also vary tremendously.

Stop Signs

Stop signs were a source of much confusion as I got to grips with driving in the US. Not so much the stopping, which is obvious, but the way that at road intersections, the STOP signs are used to dictate traffic priority.

It seems easy in principle. If two road intersect, there are four entrances and four exits to the intersection. In the UK, this would be handled with either a traffic light or a roundabout. In the US, the way it works is that if multiple vehicles arrive at the STOP intersection, priority is given to the first vehicle that arrives.

This is only the case if its an all way STOP, i.e., all the entrances to the intersection have a STOP sign. Sometimes, this is not the case, meaning you have to give way to all through traffic.Sometimes this can be tricky to tell, and you have to look carefully to see what kind of STOP intersection.

In the majority of cases, the STOP sign will be clearly marked to say it is an all way (e.g., 4-way) STOP, or if cross-traffic does not stop.

If it is a busy four (or even five!) way STOP, it can initially be a little tricky to keep track of who arrived when, but with a bit of practice you get the hang of it. If in doubt, wait a bit.

One last thing to be aware of is if you arrive at the same time as another vehicle or vehicles. In this case, the vehicle on the left has to give way to the vehicle on the right. In all cases, Id advise being cautious, and pulling out slowly just in case, even if you are sure you have right of way!

Turning On Traffic Lights

One of the more unusual, but quite logical when you get used to it, rules in the US, is that you are allowed to turn right on a red traffic light, unless there is a sign specifically telling you not to.

Sometimes there will be a right turn only lane, which you must use to turn if it is there. If the light is red, you must behave as if it is a STOP sign  approach the stop line with your turn signal on, stop, check for traffic, and if it is clear, you may turn right  giving way to any pedestrians who have the right away.

This is the sort of rule that can really catch out new drivers in the US, as it generally goes against everything you will have learnt in your home country, with a red light meaning not to go. However, it is important that you remember and adhere to it, as on a busy turn, if you forget to go, the traffic behind you might become quite irate that you are not following the rules of the road!

Note that this rule does not apply in New York City. Turning on a red light in New York is only allowed if specifically indicated, otherwise its illegal. However, wed advise against driving in NYC anyway  we have a great guide to getting around New York that will give you plenty of options.

Passing Other Vehicles

Passing another vehicle works much the same as in other countries around the world. You are allowed to pass on a normal road if there is a broken line (yellow or white) down the middle of the road and it is safe to do so.

On multi-lane highways, slower traffic should stay on the right, and faster traffic should pass on the left. You should generally only use the fast lanes for passing, and otherwise always keep right.

In my experience, especially on the wider highways (10 and 12 lanes wide), the rules become a little less clear. In some states, on highways with more than two lanes on each side, you are legally allowed to pass on either the left or the right side. This means that if you are not driving in the far right lane, you have to be aware that faster traffic could pass you on either side.

In my further experience, Ive observed drivers passing on both side even when there are only two lanes in either direction. My advice is to try to only pass on the left if possible, unless you are absolutely sure it is legal to pass on both sides in the state you are in. Heres an overview of which state has which law regarding passing on the right.

Interstate Exit Numbers

Heres a tip that flummoxed me for a while coming from the UK. In the UK, exit numbers on the motorways are sequential, so Exit 2 follows Exit 1, and so on.

In the USA, Interstate exit numbers are often based on the number of miles you have travelled along the Interstate. If you pass exit 280 for example, and the next exit is ten miles along, it will be exit 290.

This makes quite a lot of sense, and helps you see how far the next exit is easily, but did confuse me for a while as I was expecting sequential numbers and figured I was just missing exits! It was quite the revelation when Jess pointed this out to me after weeks of driving in the U.S.

Note  a reader in the comments pointed out that some states do have sequential exits. So just be aware that either is an option!

Buying Petrol / Gas

The great majority of cars in the US, especially rental cars, use unleaded petroleum fuel, and this is usually referred to as unleaded gas or just gas. Diesel is available, but is generally reserved for trucks or larger vehicles, so most fuel pumps in commercial gas stations dont have it as standard.

Be sure to check before you leave the rental car agency to know what kind of fuel your car takes (unleaded or diesel) and be sure to note if it requires a certain type of unleaded, for instance some may be designed for premium unleaded petrol with an octane rating of 97 or higher.

Buying fuel is, in most cases, a fairly straightforward process. Nearly every machine has a credit card/debit card reader, and you just pre-authorise the card, fill up the tank, and your card is billed. Fuel stations like this often provide fuel 24 hours a day although the office will close.

Theres no need to go inside and see the attendant unless you want to pay in cash, or you wish to pay with your card inside. If thats the case, you have to specify an amount up front with the attendant, pay that amount, and then you can fill up. If you have overestimated the amount you need, then you can get change for cash payments by returning inside, or it will be re-credited to your credit card.

It is generally easiest to just use the credit card payment option at the pump. However, even if you have a credit card, you may be required to enter a zip code at the pump (the one attached to your credit card billing address) and this generally wont work if you have a foreign address so you may need to use cash in these cases.

Its worth noting, as pointed out in the comments, that in some states you arent allowed to pump your own gas. In these states, such as Oregon, there will be a filling attendant who will ask you how much gas you want, and handle filling it for you. Theyll also usually handle payment. Note that tipping is not expected in these gas stations.

Do be aware that petrol prices vary wildly from state to state, and if you are driving across multiple states, you might want to check to be sure its not worth crossing a state line to get cheaper gas. A website like this can definitely help you save money, also available in app form.

Drink driving

As previously mentioned, the legal limit for blood alcohol content is 0.08% in the USA. Unfortunately, there is no fixed amount of drink that gets you to that limit, because there are a huge number of factors on an individual basis, from weight and height to metabolic rate and gender  even to what youve eaten that day.

Basically, its way easier not to drink at all rather than run the risk of being caught for driving while over the limit. In many states, if youve been drinking at all, even if youre under the BAC limit you can still be charged if the officer feels you are impaired.

You can also be charged in many states if you have passengers under 21 for any amount of BAC.

Insurance

The majority of states in the USA require car insurance. There are two main types of insurance: liability insurance and collision / damage insurance.

Liability insurance covers other people and their property if you have an accident  so if you drive into someone else, then the insurance will pay for the damage. Collision / damage insurance covers you for damage to your vehicle.

The insurance that nearly every state requires you to have is liability insurance, with collision / damage insurance generally being optional.

Heres an overview of the levels of insurance you will require per state to get you started, as well as further explanations of required coverages. If you are driving a rental car, it is best practice to have both types of insurance as damage costs can be astronomical!

School Buses

Heres another one that caught me off guard the first time I visited the USA  the rules around school buses are remarkably strict. Youll easily recognise most school buses from their bright yellow paint, with most of them clearly marked as such.

What you might not have known is that when a school bus is in the process of picking up or dropping off passengers, all vehicle traffic must come to a stop. When the bus is stopped, big STOP signs will pop out of it (on most buses), and it will flash red lights.

At this point, all traffic, including oncoming traffic (unless there is a a separated roadway), must stop and wait for the bus to complete its operation and move on.

These rule can vary slightly by state, with different guidelines on how far from the bus you must stop as well as other details  the best option is to check the rules per state. Heres an overview to get you started.

Mobile Phone Use

This should be pretty obvious  dont use your mobile phone when driving! Its incredibly distracting and dangerous, and really isnt worth it. Also tickets can be very expensive.

Of course, the legal landscape is a little different to my opinion. Some states dont allow any hand-held cell phone use when driving, others forbid texting and internet use, whilst permitting phone use, other have no restrictions at all.

Heres a full run down state by state of all the laws  I expect this to update as more studies come out demonstrating the dangers of driving and mobile phone use.

Driving with Children in the USA

If youre driving with children in the USA, then youre going to have to be aware of even more rules. Yay! Lets take a look at these:

Safety Belts & Car Seats. Nearly all the states have specific laws regarding child constraints, which vary depending on the size of your child. In most states, you will need to be using either a child safety seat, a booster seat, or an adult sized seatbelt for your child, depending on your childs weight. Some states also regulate the positioning of the car seat or booster seat, such as it has to be in the back seat or should be forward or rear facing. Heres a full breakdown of the legal requirements by state.

Nearly all the states have specific laws regarding child constraints, which vary depending on the size of your child. In most states, you will need to be using either a child safety seat, a booster seat, or an adult sized seatbelt for your child, depending on your childs weight. Some states also regulate the positioning of the car seat or booster seat, such as it has to be in the back seat or should be forward or rear facing. Heres a full breakdown of the legal requirements by state. Smoking in the car. It is not generally illegal to smoke in a car with a minor present in the USA, although some states have either implemented or are testing such a ban. For a list of these locations, check here. However, note that many rental car agencies in the U.S. do not allow smoking in their cars or charge a mandatory cleaning fee for smoking.

What To Do If You Get Stopped By The Police in the US

In a worst case scenario, you will commit a traffic violation and be stopped by the police. You can be stopped for a variety of reasons, including driving over the posted speed limit through to dangerous driving and lights on your vehicle not working.

If you are being signalled to pull over by a police vehicle, which will usually be fairly obvious as itll be right behind you with flashing lights, you should pull over as soon as it is safe to do so.

When your vehicle comes to a stop, you should remain in the vehicle, with your hands on the wheel and your seatbelt fastened. You should open your driver side window and if it is dark, turn on the vehicles interior lights. Do not get out of your vehicle or unfasten your seatbelt. Remain seated and wait for the the officer.

I have to admit that I was stopped once in the US for going over the posted speed limit. In my defence, we had just arrived in Yosemite National Park, the scenery was stunning, and the speed crept over the limit as we coasted downhill without me paying attention to it.

Unfortunately, the park ranger behind me was paying attention to my speed, so he pulled me over very quickly. Jess was not hugely impressed with me either.

When we stopped, the ranger came up to the car and asked if he knew why he had stopped me. To be honest, the best response in this instance is to say that you dont know, because otherwise youre incriminating yourself. Since I wasnt that clever, I asked if I had been going too fast.

This was affirmed, and I was then asked various questions, including providing my drivers license, vehicle registration and ID (as I am foreign I was obviously driving in the USA with a foreign license).

I was also asked if I had been drinking or had taken any drugs, and if there were any weapons in the car. The answer was truthfully no to all these.

Thankfully, in my case, the ranger chatted cordially with me about why I might have been going too fast, and my confession of being distracted by the scenery on the downward slope was enough to get me out of a ticket. Note that since we were on a U.S. federal property, fines and violation penalties are often a lot higher, which is also the case for construction zones. I was very lucky!

You might not be so lucky, in which case, your best option is to remain polite, and if you feel the ticket was unfair, you can contest it in traffic court later. If you know you were in violation, you can just pay it and move on so you dont end up with a record.

Finally, for lots more information on how to behave when pulled over in a vehicle, your rights, and what to do if you are for some reason arrested, take a look at this article.

Final Tips for Driving in the USA

My final words on driving in the USA are not to forget why you are there in the first place  most likely to see some scenery and enjoy the views. So just take it easy, dont rush, and enjoy yourself.

Try to limit your driving to the daylight hours so you can enjoy the scenery, pick some fantastic road trip music to accompany you, and have a great time!

Further Reading and Information on Driving in the USA

Whew! Well, that was a lot of words to hopefully help you get started. Of course, I cant cover everything in just one post, so here are some helpful resources to get you on your way:





Please note that this blog post is for guidance only and should not be taken as any form of legal advice. Check local state and federal laws before driving in the USA to be sure you are safe and legal.
Roncade, TV, Italy-based AIM Italia listed venture incubator H-Farm has launched a new acceleration program dedicated to Italian startups going to China.

In partnership with investment intermediation firm QWOS, Marco Polo Accelerator will select 5 to 10 Italian innovative startups that want to address the Chinese market.

The program is open to companies registered as innovative startups according to Italian law working in all sectors. Special considerations will be given to projects aimed at exporting Made in Italy in China.

Every startup will receive up to 200k (cash + services), guaranteed by a maximum of 4 investors selected by QWOS. The Chinese company will support the startups with its network of investors and entrepreneurs, will support them in dealing with red tape complexities and will provide them with two MBA students who will facilitate access to the Chinese market, thanks to the partnership with Tsinghua University.

The 16 week program will begin in early 2017 and will culminate with a Demo Day which will take place in Beijing.

November 30 is the deadline to apply for the program.

FinSMEs

29/10/2016
Bhopal: Hindu groups held demonstrations against Ae Dil Hai Mushkil in many cities of Madhya Pradesh on Friday. However, theatres continued to show the movie which released on the occasion of 'Dhanteras'.

Hindu groups are opposing the film as it features a Pakistani actor Fawad Khan in one important role.

Shiv Sena workers held a demonstration outside Cineplex at Tatya Tope Nagar here. But their attempt to storm the theatre was foiled by the police.

A Hindu group also stopped the screening of the film in a multiplex for some time at Samdareeya Mall in Jabalpur.

Hindu groups held similar demonstrations in Gwalior also.

Hindu right-wing groups led by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) had given a call for banning Pakistani artistes working in Bollywood following a terrorist attack on an army camp in Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir in September.

Since the Karan Johar directorial features Fawad Khan, calls were made to ban Ae Dil Hai Mushkil also. However, the movie was allowed for release by MNS after Karan Johar made an appeal to the people to not stall the release of the film and also agreed to donate Rs 5 crore to the Army Welfare Fund.
Kolkata: Activists of Bajrang Dal staged a demonstration outside a cinema hall in West Bengal's Purulia district on Friday, protesting against the screening of Karan Johar-directed Hindi film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil that also features Pakistani actor Fawad Khan.

The Bajrang Dal is the youth wing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

The members of Bajrang Dal's Purulia district wing gathered in large numbers outside a Purulia-based multiplex right in the morning to protest against the screening of the film.

The protestors carried banners and flags of the Bajrang Dal as well as the national flag and shouted slogans condemning the casting of Fawad in an Indian film at a time of high tension between the neighbouring nations.

"The cinema management responded positively to our protest and decided to stop the first show of the movie," Bajrang Dal-Kolkata said in a social media website, claiming that their demonstration was "a huge success".

"About a hundred Bajrang Dal supporters gathered in front of the multiplex at around 9 am on Friday and held a protest for an hour. However, police were alert to avert any untoward incident," a senior officer of Purulia Police Control Room said.

Police said the issue was resolved without much hassle and the film could be screened thereafter.

"No one was detained during the incident," police said.
Karan Johars Ae Dil Hai Mushkil has received good audience response on the first day of its release, and theres a message in it for the patriots of the gutter variety. In fact, it is the second tight slap on the face of the latter after the Army refused Rs 5 crore donation extracted from Johar for having Pakistani actors in his movie and senior ministers slamming such extortionist tactic. Now the audience has delivered their response.

The movie, according to media reports, has done about Rs 18 crore business in the domestic circuit on day one  combined with overseas collection total earnings come to about Rs 22.5 crore. This despite another biggie, Ajay Devgn-starred Shivaay, being in the race for the Diwali audience. The rather impressive advance bookings in multiplexes reflect no collective faux patriotism-driven ill-will against the movie, which has Pakistani actor Fawad Khan in it.

The message? Leave it to people to decide what they want to watch or read or enjoy. They understand what patriotism is; dont force on them your version of it. They are intelligent enough  at least more intelligent than the street thugs  to understand that the mere presence of an actor from a hostile country in a film does not constitute an offence to India. They also know the idea of patriotism is too precious to be left to the interpretation of the street and idiots. If they find something repulsive to their sentiments they would reject it on their own.

Political parties in India have always treated the power of the street with the certain degree of reverence, at the cost of civil liberties of the ordinary citizenry. Governments could act against the outfits threatening violence if they wanted. After all, the might of the state is too big for the lumpen elements to handle, never mind whether they carry any political weight. But they desist from taking action; more often than not its sheer opportunism. If theres a cause on display on the streets their resistance gets weaker. All this is well-known and need no elaboration.

The point here is where does it leave the rights of individuals as citizens of the country? The instruments of the state in cahoots with criminal forces can make a mess of these. As an expose in a television channel a couple days ago said some members of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena have been in the practice of taking money to engineer protests, including violent ones, in the city. With the police managed they can organise protests of any size and intensity. Those caught on camera were also aware of making the manufactured agitation television worthy. Obviously, all of this happens in the knowledge, if not patronage, of the state.

Joseph Goebbels, propaganda minister in Nazi Germany, believed in the power of the street. "Whoever can conquer the street will one day conquer the state, for every form of power politics has its roots in the street," he said. Our governments, it includes those of all parties, obviously carry the same conviction but wont spell it out openly. Such an arrangement has to come at the cost of those who cannot fight back. It includes all of us who have other interests in life than the politics of power. It chips away at our freedom to live freely in a free country.

As this piece is being written theres news that filmmaker-actor and the maker of film Raees Farhan Akhtar has been threatened by the MNS for refusing to pay Rs 5 crore to the Army Welfare Fund. Obviously, nothing has changed on the ground after the controversy over Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. The slaps from the audience and the Army have not worked.

The Devendra Fadnavis government has a challenge on its hands. Tackling the MNS for the second time will require the will of the state more than its might. Will it allow people to decide on the movie and come down hard on street power? Lets wait and watch.
The clause in the articles of association of Tata Sons Limited state that so long as the Tata Trusts hold 40 percent of the equity of Tata Sons Ltd, they would have virtual veto power in the matter of appointment of the chairman of the company cooks the goose of Cyrus Mistry, the ousted Chairman of Tata Sons Ltd, assuming Tata Sons is a private limited company under license to delete the word Private from its name.

This clause in the memorandum is de rigueur in almost all the articles of association of private limited companies which are strictly family affairs or at best a cosy association of friends and relatives.

A limited company, be it listed or unlisted, cannot have a clause akin to the one in Tata Sons. If Tata Sons is not a private company, then Mistry has a fighting chance of winning his battle against Tatas by mainly attacking this invidious clause in the Articles of Association.

Odds are heavily stacked against Mistry who is emerging as David in his battle against Ratan Tata the Goliath.

Even if his petition (assuming he files one) complaining of oppression and mismanagement succeeds, the relief if any can at best be given to the minority shareholders---Shapoorji Palonji Mistry family which owns 18 percent of Tata Sons equity. However, the oppression petition if being contemplated would be misplaced. To challenge the removal from the post of chairman would not yield any positive results assuming the Tata Sons articles vesting veto power in Tata Trusts are not ultra vires which would be the case if it is indeed a private company. In the event, Cyrus Mistry has to grin and bear.

Ratan Tata too must grin and bear. He must take the tirade against him by Mistry in his stride. He cannot file a defamation case---if he contemplating filing one--against Mistry who turned out to his consternation an upstart out to undo his projects and dreams. For, there is a grain of truth in what the freshly humiliated Mistry says. Indeed the catalogue of accusations can never be one-sided.

Mistrys problems were inherited. He had to reap the bitter harvest of what Tata in his uninhibited enthusiasm had done by acquiring a pig in the poke---the Anglo-Dutch steel major Corus. And in addition macro economic conditions were not kind to the new kid in the chair. That Rs 1, 18,000 crore worth of assets have become impaired by way of investments in Corus, Nano and Tata Finance is at best his (Mistrys) opinion that no doubt has spooked the market.

Narayanamurthy of Infoys fame was right when he said profit is opinion, cash is fact. Hence the announcement by Mistry of purported loss of Rs 1.18 billion cannot be treated as a holy writ. Indeed Accounting Standard 28 of the ICAI dealing with impairment of assets is nebulous and gives a lot of leeway to managements to brush things under the carpet.

Tatas might well say Nano is not a gone case as indeed Corus. Both call for deft handling over as long enough period of time, the point made by Ratan Tata when he said business is a long haul. Therefore Tatas may be successful in warding off pressure from the regulators and auditors to write the conglomerate assets.

Ratan Tata was naive in appointing Cyrus Mistry as the Chairman perhaps believing that he would do his bidding. But Mistry proved to be a man made of sterner stuff. And Mistry is naive too in believing that the chairmans post was his for all times to come. He should have realized that like civil servants whose continuity is subject to the Presidents pleasure, his continuance too was subject to Tata pleasure which he forfeited when he rubbed it in through concrete actions that Ratan Tata rushed where angels fear to tread.

To be sure, they cannot smoke the peace pipe and reunite. But grin and bear both can.
In the great corporate cosmic sense if the Board wants you to go you go. It doesnt matter how wrong it is, how much sour prejudice is involved in the decision or whether you deserve it or not, it is not yours to keep and good manners mean you shut the door quietly after you.

The Ratan Tata-Cyrus Mistry bar-room brawl falls squarely in that category. There are thousands of CEOs and presidents and editors and top-flight executives who have dumped, dropped given the five oclock letter or simply the old heave-ho with no good reason beyond bruised egos.

They can nurse the grievance, feel let down, even go public and make all the mewling sounds they want but the fact is that they have been voted out by a hostile Board and all that is left is for the dirty linen to be hung out for public glee and gloating.

Cyrus Mistry is an Irishman of Indian origin who was given full power as the sixth Chairman of the group and the second not to bear the name Tata. In doing so he may have well-wounded feelings, run roughshod over the old guard and triggered an in-house mutiny. So be it.

There is nothing new about this scenario in the private sector except that tawdry scenes like this were never associated with the Tatas and the JRD legend covered all warts and spots.

JRD was so above it all that expecting that baton to stay unscratched for so long is unrealistic. In his time the hierarchy was a family and those retired JRD men and women in the world can rightfully wring their hands and fall upon their knees and bemoan the lot that has befallen their company but times have changed.

JRD Tata was a giant. Guarded by his faithful secretary Ms Hopegood (think I have the name right) getting to see him was a major project. For a while he had taken a kind of shine to me when I was in Weekly under Khushwant Singh and would meet him over the exposes I was writing on Air India and he was always kind and gentle and shared three factors that I have never forgotten.

He said, it is easy to hurt people, you are young and brash and you have attacked my airline but never lose sight of the greater good and weigh your scoops or whatever you call them in the same scale.

One day he told me that if he could remove one person per year per company without the unions getting into the act and giving no reason the productivity of this nation would rise by 500 percent.

JRD never carried any money and we once met at the Sea Lounge of the Taj Hotel in Mumbai where no special attention was permitted to be given to him as the man except a certain privacy in that no one would be allowed to approach.

It was a moment of history. He had just been told in the rudest way possible that he was no longer chairman of Air India. But he kept his appointment.

He talked about the decency of Air Chief Marshal PC Lal in calling him from Kolkata to say that Prime Minister Morarji Desai had ordered him to take over Air India from JRD and would that be fine by him and the former air chief asked for permission.

I told the Air Marshal he must follow orders, JRD said, But that does not mean I have to like it.

He sipped water and you could see the hurt rising like a thin mist in his eyes because the prime minister hadnt even warned him that his airline was being taken away so abruptly.

And he said, There is always a graceful way of doing things dont you think, if you have to do something do it with dignity?

We sat in awkward silence. It was 1978 and in his memoirs later and interviews he gave to various journals being so crassly robbed of Air India was perhaps an act which pained him most of all. He would express his outrage with grace and dignity because for him those were two attributes you never gave up.

I shook his hand and he said words to the effect that he had just lost his airline and was most annoyed that two top Air India executives KG Appuswamy and Nari Dastur had quit in protest to the sudden appointment of the Air Marshal.

We dont do that at Tatas, he said, "We dont gang up and pressure our Prime Minister, I must make them stop from leaving and continue to work with Lal.

Slightly bent by the hurt of it all he walked out slowly and I never saw him again.

Perhaps Cyrus and Ratan can both take a leaf from this book, a book on manners and the Tata way of doing things. A scroll of an ethos written by their mentor and bring back the grace and dignity that marked everything JRD did even when under fire.

Stop it now gentlemen, you are hurting no one but yourselves and even though I may not have the words exactly right you have heard these words and the voice that spoke them to know this was the legacy he left behindkeep it going with grace and dignity.
By Sanjeev Miglani

| NEW DELHI

NEW DELHI India is offering to buy hundreds of fighter planes from foreign manufacturers - as long as the jets are made in India and with a local partner, air force officials say.A deal for 200 single-engine planes produced in India - which the air force says could rise to 300 as it fully phases out ageing Soviet-era aircraft - could be worth anything from $13-$15 billion, experts say, potentially one of the country's biggest military aircraft deals.After a deal to buy high-end Rafale planes from France's Dassault was scaled back to just 36 jets last month, the Indian Air Force is desperately trying to speed up other acquisitions and arrest a fall in operational strength, now a third less than required to face both China and Pakistan.But Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration wants any further military planes to be built in India with an Indian partner to kickstart a domestic aircraft industry, and end an expensive addiction to imports. Lockheed Martin said it is interested in setting up a production line for its F-16 plane in India for not just the Indian military, but also for export. And Sweden's Saab has offered a rival production line for its Gripen aircraft, setting up an early contest for one of the biggest military plane deals in play."The immediate shortfall is 200. That would be the minimum we would be looking at," said an air officer briefed on the Make-in-India plans under which a foreign manufacturer will partner local firms to build the aircraft with technology transfer.India's defence ministry has written to several companies asking if they would be willing to set up an assembly line for single-engine fighter planes in India and the amount of technology transfer that would happen, another government source said."We are testing the waters, testing the foreign firms' willingness to move production here and to find out their expectations," the person said.

OPERATIONAL GAPS

India's air force originally planned for 126 Rafale twin-engine fighters from Dassault, but the two sides could not agree on the terms of local production with a state-run Indian firm and settled for 36 planes in a fly-away condition.Adding to the military's problems is India's three-decade effort to build a single-engine fighter of its own which was meant to be the backbone of the air force. Only two of those Light Combat Aircraft, called Tejas, have been delivered to the air force which has ordered 140 of them.The Indian Air Force is down to 32 operational squadrons compared with the 45 it has said are necessary, and in March the vice chief Air Marshal B.S. Dhanoa told parliament's defence committee that it didn't have the operational strength to fight a two front war against China and Pakistan.

JET MAKERS RESPOND

Saab said it was ready to not only produce its frontline Gripen fighter in India, but help build a local aviation industry base."We are very experienced in transfer of technology  our way of working involves extensive cooperation with our partners to establish a complete ecosystem, not just an assembly line," said Jan Widerstrom, Chairman and Managing Director, Saab India Technologies.He confirmed Saab had received the letter from the Indian government seeking a fourth generation fighter. A source close to the company said that while there was no minimum order set in stone for it to lay down a production line, they would expect to build at least 100 planes at the facility.Lockheed Martin said it had responded to the defence ministry's letter with an offer to transfer the entire production of its F-16 fighter to India.

"Exclusive F-16 production in India would make India home to the world's only F-16 production facility, a leading exporter of advanced fighter aircraft, and offer Indian industry the opportunity to become an integral part of the world's largest fighter aircraft supply chain," Abhay Paranjape, National Executive for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Business Development in India said in an email.U.S. TOP SUPPLIER

Lockheed's offer comes on the back of expanding U.S.-India military ties in which Washington has emerged as India's top arms supplier in recent years, ousting old ally Russia.Earlier this year Boeing also offered India its twin-engine F/A-18 Hornets, but the level of technology transfer was not clear. India has never previously attempted to build a modern aircraft production line, whether military or civilian. State-run Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) has assembled Russian combat jets including the Su-30, but these are under licensed production."We have never had control over technology. This represents the most serious attempt to build a domestic base. A full or a near-full tech transfer lays the ground for further development," said retired Indian air marshal M. Matheswaran, a former adviser at HAL.He said the Indian government would be looking at producing at least 200 fighters, and then probably some more, to make up for the decades of delay in modernising the air force. (Reporting by Sanjeev Miglani, with additional reporting by Tommy Wilkes in NEW DELHI; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
I read Jawaharlal Nehru's Discovery of India for the first time, when I had just joined college. Since then, I must have re-read it at least half a dozen times, the latest being in October when I was preparing for recording a conversation with Shyam Benegal for Kitab  my weekly show on Rajya Sabha TV. This time, the reading acquired added poignancy given the current environment characterised by vulgar, in fact hostile rejection of intellectual vocation; and political scene populated by "leaders" who proudly display their ignorance of Indian history and culture while aggressively professing great love and reverence for "Bharat Mata". Naturally, some of this environment reflected in the recording also, when nonchalantly admitting their ignorance of the text, some of the audience condemned it nonetheless. After all, why should anybody bother to read such a thick and obviously dated book?

The question was blunt enough and the answer can be similarly straight: "Going through this book will help you in knowing that leaders of our freedom movement were struggling not merely for political freedom, but for regaining the soul of India and for creating a just and compassionate society."

The idea of India  a nation self-confident enough to look at itself critically, not suffering from self-pity of present or delusions of the past, committed to a just and inclusive growth-pattern, conscious of its historical role  was not Nehrus alone. It was shared by all forward looking leaders and thinkers of his generation  their disagreements (sometimes quite acrimonious) notwithstanding. In fact, People like BR Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh were critical of the Congress party, precisely because they thought that it was not doing enough to realise the shared vision of an egalitarian and just society.

The slogan desiring the 'Jai' or victory of Bharat Mata was popularised during the freedom struggle. Nehru recalls that he used to ask his audiences the "meaning of the expression Bharat Mata", and proceeds to decode the slogan. He writes, "...what counted ultimately were the people of India, people like them and me. who were spread all over this vast land. Bharat Mata  Mother India was essentially these millions of people, and victory to her meant victory to these people (page 53).

There can be no people without shared memories, dreams and aspirations. And, A nation like an individual has many personalities, many approaches to life. If there is sufficiently strong bond between these different personalities, it is well; otherwise those personalities split up and lead to disintegration and trouble (page 562). To Nehru, "discovery" of India meant discovering the matrix of "strong bond" holding the personalty of India together and to identify the potential threats as well. It was a search of destiny, as given its human, material and cultural resources "India can only be in the frontline in the comity of nations; it is her destiny".

Written in Ahmednagar Fort prison during April-September 1944, the "discovery" begins with reflections on national and international political situation of the time. In these, reflections are interwoven with the memories of his wife Kamla Nehru who after a prolonged illness, passed away in February, 1936. Nehrus reflections on this admittedly less than perfect relationship reach to the fundamental "problem of human relationship" which is "often ignored in our fierce arguments about politics and economics", he reminds his reader, "it was not so ignored in the old and wise civilisations of India and China" (page 34).

This book is an attempt to trace the evolution, nature and problems of the "wise civilisation of India". Starting from reflections on contemporary political scene, the book turns into a poignant re-telling of the evolution of Indian society, its culture and economy. Nehru notes the remarkable continuity of Indian culture and its material context from Indus Valley Civilisation to his own time, and also the "break" in its natural growth caused by the British colonialism. Delving into the heritage of literature, art, science and philosophy, he underlines the crucial fact that one can not imagine Indian civilisation without diversity and dialogue amongst various viewpoints. He underlines the importance of scientific temper and method for understanding the mysteries of nature, but is clear about its limitations as well  science can hardly tell us anything about the purpose of life, hence there must be moral basis and ethical dimension to the life of individual, community and nation. To him, one of Gandhijis greatest contributions was his "stress on right means" (page 16), ie, the ethical idea of the purpose of life.

Quite contrary to popular ignorance, Nehru did not dismiss religion summarily. He was, of course motivated by the desire to see a "culture less based on religion, and more on morality and ethics" (page 577). As a matter of fact, by making ethics more important than dogma and belief as a principle of social organisation, Nehru is speaking here in a quintessentially Indian way. He did not fancy himself as a crusader against religion, because, ...religion had supplied some deeply felt inner human needs of human nature" (page 13). As for himself, he felt attracted "towards the advaita philosophy of Vedanta and felt at home "in the old Indian or Greek pagan and pantheistic atmosphere, but minus the conception of God or Gods that was attached to it" (page 16).

In Nehrus own words, this book is an attempt to "travel into the past and peep into the future". He borrows TS Elliots words to describe his venture as an attempt to "balance myself on that point of intersection of the timeless and time" (page 627). This book, so directly concerned with the events of that time has a timeless quality, because such a balance on the "point of intersection of the timeless and time" is always needed in the lives of individuals and nations. More so, these days, when we seem to be living under the illusions regarding past and confusions regarding future, coupled with a disastrous lack of a higher ethical vision.

(All page numbers are Discovery of India, Penguin edition, New Delhi, 2010)
European Union politicians have warned that Pakistans preferential trade status with the EU could be under threat from an executions drive in the country that has seen over 400 people hanged since 2014. EU trade delegates are due to visit the country on Monday (31st)  two days before the scheduled hanging of a severely mentally ill prisoner.





Officials from the EU who oversee Pakistans special GSP plus trade status with Europe will visit Pakistan from Monday next week to assess whether the government has honoured its obligations under the scheme, which including abiding by certain human rights standards. The visit takes place in the week that Imdad Ali  a prisoner who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia  is to face execution, on Wednesday (2nd). Government psychiatrists have confirmed Mr Alis illness, concluding that he is insane. The execution of mentally ill people is prohibited under Pakistani and international law.





In a letter sent earlier this month to Pakistans President, Mamnoon Hussain, members of the European Parliament from 10 countries  including the UK, Germany, Spain, and Italy  wrote that they are deeply troubled that Pakistan became one of the worlds top-5 executioners in 2015. Their letter urged Pakistan to reconsider its use of the death penalty, adding: Given Pakistan's recent assurances regarding effective implementation of its obligations under 27 international conventions, we trust you will share our concerns regarding the imposition of the death penalty... As you know, effective implementation of these conventions is a requirement under the GSP+ scheme.





Pakistan has hanged an estimated 418 people since a moratorium on executions was lifted in December 2014, and those executed have included vulnerable people such as juveniles, people who were tortured into signing fake confessions, and the mentally ill. Figures collated by human rights organization Reprieve and the Justice Project Pakistan show that 94% of prisoners who were recently executed had no links to terrorism  despite a repeated claim by the Pakistani authorities that executions are designed to combat militancy.





In their letter, the MEPs criticise Pakistans government for its use of the fight against terrorism to defend the use of the death penalty, saying that Pakistani officials had repeated these claims during a public hearing on Pakistans trade status at European Parliaments trade committee in February this year.





Commenting, Maya Foa, a director at Reprieve, said: Its shocking that the Pakistani government is planning to execute a severely mentally ill man, even while European trade officials are visiting the country to monitor Pakistans commitment to human rights. Imdad Ali is so seriously ill that he doesnt even understand that he faces the hangmans noose. EU officials visiting Pakistan next week must make very clear that Imdads execution would be a grave breach of Pakistans international obligations  they must urge the President to grant mercy to Imdad, before its too late.

The MEPs letter to Pakistan's President is available on request.

Government psychiatrist Dr Tahir Feroze has told Reuters: "I have been treating this man for the last eight years, and there is absolutely no room for doubt in this that he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia."

More information about Imdad Ali is available on the Reprieve website.

 | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; send a submission; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com



Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!

Source: Reprieve, October 29, 2016. Reprieve is an international human rights organization.
Srinagar: A BSF jawan was killed in ceasefire violation on Saturday by Pakistani troops in Macchil sector along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.

28-year-old Constable Koli Nitin Subhash, hailing from Sangli in Maharashtra, was martyred on Saturday morning in firing by Pakistani security forces, a BSF official said.

(In pic): Constable Nitin Subhash of BSF lost his life in Machil sector while retaliating to the ceasefire violations by Pakistan. pic.twitter.com/d4iHBnZmib  ANI (@ANI_news) October 29, 2016

Subhash had joined BSF in 2008 and is survived by his wife and two sons aged four years and two years.

The fresh casualty came hours after terrorists, aided by the cover fire by Pakistani Army, last night crossed the Line of Control in the sector. They killed an Indian army jawan and mutilated his body prompting the Indian army to warn that "the incident will be responded to appropriately".

Four army and three BSF personnel have died in the latest escalation along the boundary with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir.

Pakistan Rangers also violate ceasefire in RS Pura and Kathua sectors along International Border on Saturday.

In last night's attack, one attacker was killed in the incident.

"In an encounter close to the Line of Control this evening, one solider was martyred and one terrorist was killed. The terrorists mutilated the body of the jawan before fleeing back into Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir under the cover of firing by Pakistan Army," an army spokesman said.

He said the incident reflected the barbarism pervading in official and unofficial organisations in Pakistan.

Two civilians were killed and as many injured on Friday after Pakistani troops had pounded civilian areas and forward India posts with 120 mm mortar shells and automatic weapons in Jammu, Kathua, Poonch and Rajouri districts.

BSF on Friday said that it killed 15 Pakistani soldiers till now in retaliatory firing along IB.
New Delhi: Personal assistant of a Samajwadi Party's Rajya Sabha MP has been detained by Delhi Police in connection with the espionage racket in which a Pakistan High Commission staffer was expelled from the country and three persons were arrested.

Farhat, the PA of SP's Rajya Sabha MP Munabbar Saleem, was detained on Friday night, said a senior Crime Branch officer, adding his interrogation is underway.

Delhi Police is also trying to nab other members of the racket who, it believes, were in close contact with Pakistan High Commission staffer Mehmood Akhtar who was caught receiving secret documents here on 26 October.

Two others, Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangir, residents of Nagaur, Rajasthan, were held along with Akhtar. Another accused Sohaib was detained in Jodhpur and brought to Delhi by

the police where he was arrested.
New Delhi: India is offering to buy hundreds of fighter planes from foreign manufacturers  as long as the jets are made in India and with a local partner, Indian Air Force officials say.

A deal for 200 single-engine planes produced in India  which the air force says could rise to 300 as it fully phases out ageing Soviet-era aircraft  could be worth anything from $13-$15 billion, experts say, potentially one of the country's biggest military aircraft deals.

After a deal to buy high-end Rafale planes from France's Dassault was scaled back to just 36 jets last month, the Indian Air Force is desperately trying to speed up other acquisitions and arrest a fall in operational strength, now a third less than required to face both China and Pakistan.

But Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration wants any further military planes to be built in India with an Indian partner to kickstart a domestic aircraft industry, and end an expensive addiction to imports.

Lockheed Martin said it is interested in setting up a production line for its F-16 plane in India for not just the Indian military, but also for export.

And Sweden's Saab has offered a rival production line for its Gripen aircraft, setting up an early contest for one of the biggest military plane deals in play.

"The immediate shortfall is 200. That would be the minimum we would be looking at," said an Indian Air Force officer briefed on the Make-in-India plans under which a foreign manufacturer will partner local firms to build the aircraft with technology transfer.

India's defence ministry has written to several companies asking if they would be willing to set up an assembly line for single-engine fighter planes in India and the amount of technology transfer that would happen, another government source said.

"We are testing the waters, testing the foreign firms' willingness to move production here and to find out their expectations," the person said.

Operational gaps

India's air force originally planned for 126 Rafale twin-engine fighters from Dassault, but the two sides could not agree on the terms of local production with a state-run Indian firm and settled for 36 planes in a fly-away condition.

Adding to the military's problems is India's three-decade effort to build a single-engine fighter of its own which was meant to be the backbone of the Indian Air Force. Only two of those Light Combat Aircraft, called Tejas, have been delivered to the air force which has ordered 140 of them.

The Indian Air Force is down to 32 operational squadrons compared with the 45 it has said are necessary, and in March the vice chief Air Marshal BS Dhanoa told parliament's defence committee that it didn't have the operational strength to fight a two front war against China and Pakistan.

Jet makers respond

Saab said it was ready to not only produce its frontline Gripen fighter in India, but help build a local aviation industry base.

"We are very experienced in transfer of technology  our way of working involves extensive cooperation with our partners to establish a complete ecosystem, not just an assembly line," said Jan Widerstrom, Chairman and Managing Director, Saab India Technologies.

He confirmed Saab had received the letter from the Indian government seeking a fourth generation fighter. A source close to the company said that while there was no minimum order set in stone for it to lay down a production line, they would expect to build at least 100 planes at the facility.

Lockheed Martin said it had responded to the defence ministry's letter with an offer to transfer the entire production of its F-16 fighter to India.

"Exclusive F-16 production in India would make India home to the world's only F-16 production facility, a leading exporter of advanced fighter aircraft, and offer Indian industry the opportunity to become an integral part of the world's largest fighter aircraft supply chain," Abhay Paranjape, National Executive for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Business Development in India said in an email.

US top supplier

Lockheed's offer comes on the back of expanding US-India military ties in which Washington has emerged as India's top arms supplier in recent years, ousting old ally Russia.

Earlier this year Boeing also offered India its twin-engine F/A-18 Hornets, but the level of technology transfer was not clear.

India has never previously attempted to build a modern aircraft production line, whether military or civilian. State-run Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) has assembled Russian combat jets including the Su-30, but these are under licensed production.

"We have never had control over technology. This represents the most serious attempt to build a domestic base. A full or a near-full tech transfer lays the ground for further development," said retired Indian air marshal M Matheswaran, a former adviser at HAL.

He said the Indian government would be looking at producing at least 200 fighters, and then probably some more, to make up for the decades of delay in modernising the Indian Air Force.
Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir police are skipping courts to keep the youth in prisons and instead detain them by getting the orders issued by the Deputy Commissioners (DCs) under the "draconian" public safety act (PSA) in Srinagar.

Instead of turning to courts to grant the remand of those who are allegedly involved in incidents of stone pelting and damage to public property, police have detained the youth under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act 1978. Under the act the Deputy Commissioner grants the permission to detain a person for a period of even 2-years after a dossier of anti-national activities is submitted by the concerned Senior Superintendents of police (SSPs). After the DC approves the PSA following the execution of the warrant by the police, based on the dossier being provided by the police, the PSA board of the Home department meets to approve the period of detention. Police officials admit that the detention is carried out under the PSA to ensure that the youth "dont get the bail" from the courts. In the last over 110 days of unrest that started after the killing of HM militant commander, Burhan Muzafar Wani, police have registered at least 2,500 cases and detained over 3,000 people. Over 500 people have been detained under the PSA.

Mohammad Yusf Ganie, of Kawoosa Yarigund, Budgam, said that his 18-year old son, who had dropped out from 10th class, was among the many youth who have been detained by the police under the PSA over 2 months back. He said that his son, Adil Yusf, is currently lodged at Kot Bhalwal jail in Jammu and they are not even able to inquire about his condition. "We had asked the authorities to shift him to any of the jails in Kashmir, but the request has not been heeded," said Yusuf. He said that one Friday afternoon, Adil went out to look for his brother, before they learnt from his relatives that he has been detained at Magam police station. "He had not indulged in any incident of stone pelting and had gone out to look for his brother when he was arrested. There was firing going on outside our house and his younger brother had gone out and didnt return home."

Senior Superintendent of police (SSP), Kulgam, Shridhar Patil, however said that the PSA is being slapped against those youth who indulge in stone-pelting and resort to damage of public property. "The normal legal procedure is not so deterrent. Even if we book people under Unlawful activities act and provide the evidence, judiciary takes a comprehensive view. Generally bail gets granted after thorough scrutiny of preliminary inquiry, Patil said. "If one person is causing law and order disturbance and by detaining of one person the property and life of many others is saved," he added. SSP Kulgam said that even in case of incidents of stone pelting where the attempt to murder charges are also being registered the accused get bailed out. "The PSA has been lodged against people who are a threat to the public order."

The PSA has been slapped against people not only in Kashmir region, but even to detain the youth in the Chenab Valley region of Jammu. In a recent PSA order which has been issued against one Advocate Hassan Babar of Doda, the Deputy Commissioner of Doda has noted in his order that he has been indulging in inflammatory and objectionable speeches which have the potential to "cause a serious law and order problem." "Some of your anti-national activities are highly prejudicial to the maintenance of public peace and order," noted the PSA order. As per the order under section 8 of Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978, Hassan Babar Nehru, was detained in central jail, Kot Bhalwal.

"The section 13 of the PSA act provides for that if a person is aggrieved of the order he can approach the Home department to be heard in person by the Advisory Board after making a representation to the government under the detention order," the order further read.

In a similar such case Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir recently intimated the agriculture department that based on the intimation received from Deputy Commissioner, Kupwara, and on the basis of recommendations submitted by the SSP Kupwara, detention under PSA was issued against one Ghulam Mohammad Mir who works as a class-IV employee of agriculture department "for his involvement in the anti-national activities."

The PSA issued against human rights activist, Khuram Parvaiz, notes that the senior superintendent of police (SSP) Srinagar issued an order dated 19 September 2016 which said that he achieved "prominent" position in the separatist camps under a hidden cover of being a human rights activist. The dossier mentions that in the ongoing unrest Khuram was found instigating the "disgruntled" elements to resort to "illegal activities." Noting his involvement, SSP in the dossier mentioned that Khuram joined the human rights organisation, Human Resources, and became its chairman in April 2004 and in 2005 he got associated with the newly floated Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society and started working as its co-ordinator. "You (Khurram) have a secessionist ideology and inclination towards secessionism and during the present unrest have remained instrumental in instigating the disgruntled elements to resort to violence by indulging in stone pelting upon security force personnel which in turn disrupts the public order."

Legal expert and Advocate Bhat Fayaz, who has fought many PSA cases, said that "once PSA is invoked the right of liberty gets curtailed and a person cant be bailed out during the course of detention order and this is the purport of the act. It is in the interest of the security of the state and to maintain the public order and under the act persons movement is being curtailed." He added that the PSA is a measure of deterrence. Fayaz said that even if the high court quashes the PSA against the people and the order specifies that a person has to be released if he is not required in any other case "the authorities invoke other cases against him to keep him under detention." He added that the period of detention ranges from 6 months to 2 years. "In case of riots mostly the PSA is invoked for at least 6 months," he said.
Terrorists, aided by the cover fire by Pakistani Army, on Friday crossed the Line of Control and killed an Indian army jawan and mutilated his body in Macchil sector of Kupwara district of Kashmir, an army spokesman said.

One attacker was killed in the incident which the Indian Army said will be "responded to appropriately".

"In an encounter close to the Line of Control this evening, one soldier was martyred and one terrorist was killed. The terrorists mutilated the body of the jawan before fleeing back into Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir under the cover of firing by Pakistan Army," he said.

He said the incident reflected the barbarism pervading in official and unofficial organisations in Pakistan.

"The incident will be responded to appropriately," he added.

Pakistani troopers continued heavy shelling targeting civilians and Border Security Force (BSF) facilities on the International Border in Hiranagar sector and RS Pura in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, police said.

"Around 6am, the Pakistan Rangers resorted to heavy mortar shelling and automatic gunfire. The BSF has started retaliating effectively," the police said.

"Shelling and firing exchanges are still going on in both these sectors."

As military confrontation increased on the border on Friday, two civilians were killed in Jammu region of India in cross-border shelling and firing overnight even as BSF claimed to have killed 15 Pakistani soldiers over the last one week.

BSF, which primarily guards the International Border with Pakistan, said it had also foiled two infiltration bids in Samba district two days back. Besides, BAT (Border Action Team) attacks from Pakistani side along the Line of Control have also been thwarted during the past 24 hours.

Firing mortar shells and using automatic weapons, Pakistani troops targeted civilian areas and forward security posts along the International Border and Line of Control in Jammu, Kathua, Poonch and Rajouri districts of Jammu and Kashmir.

"At 1720 hour yesterday, Pakistan Rangers started unprovoked heavy firing and shelling in Kathua sector of Jammu which further spread to Hiranagar and Samba. It continued till 0500 hours today in the area of 24 BSF posts," a senior BSF officer said.

"In the Pakistani shelling, one civilian died in Khour belt of Pallanwala sector today," Jammu Deputy Commissioner Simrandeep Singh said, adding another civilian was injured in RS Pura sector.

Similarly, one woman Usma Bi, aged 50 years, was killed in shelling by Pakistan on Gohlad village in Mendhar tehsil of Poonch district on Friday, Defence spokesman said.

Another civilian was injured in the area, the reports said.

BSF Additional Director General Arun Kumar said as per the ammunition used, it seems Pakistani Army Army is backing the Rangers and has taken over the posts of the paramilitary force, which is the further cause of escalation.

Kumar, who laid the wreath at the moral remains of the BSF martyr Head Constable Jitendra Singh here, said, "they (Pakistani side) are resorting to heavy firing and shelling and we are giving them befitting reply."

He said BSF has inflicted heavy damage on the Pakistani side. "As far the number of casualties on other side is concerned, which our men have seen through our eyes and instruments, 15 Pakistani soldiers have been killed after the sniping incident of Constable Gurnam Singh (on 21 October)," he said.

Gurnam was injured in the sniper firing and then succumbed to the injuries.

"They (Pakistani side) have suffered damage but are hiding them in public domain and they do not accept it. Last night we have destroyed their OP (observation post) towers and some OP towers caught fire due to our firing," Kumar said.

He said Pakistani Rangers, Pakistani regulars and civilian population on their side have suffered heavy damage because of the Indian retaliation.

"The damage to the civilian population is much more (than us)... We have seen a large number of ambulances coming and picking up injured. They have been making announcements from mosques asking people to assemble for last rites. All that points that they suffered a lot," the BSF officer said.

With inputs from agencies
In the much-hyped debate on the Uniform Civil Code and the Islamic conception of talaq-e-salasa (triple talaq), news media has understated a very crucial point. Just as the landmark developments in law brought about by judicial pronouncements could not receive the required attention of media, the misreading of religious texts has been wholly ignored in the debate.

One thing should be patently clear. It is the self-styled religionists, particularly the priestly class, who are vehemently opposed to equal rights for women. Religion per se is adaptable to and compatible with any civil code providing justice, equality and dignity for women regardless of caste and creed. No religious scripture attaches sanctity to the men who let their womenfolk down. But the current political polemics over religion vs constitution depict a diametrically different phenomenon. The Uniform Civil Code has become such a controversial and confusing issue that it now seems 'better to be put out of the discussion'. It is only being misused by the political pundits and the male-centred clergy as a ploy to maintain their hegemony.

Inevitably, the evolution of a Uniform Civil Code seems as much of a constitutional quandary as the abolishment of personal laws of religions. Therefore, the first thing that all religious communities need to do is undergo an introspection to make sure whether their personal laws guarantee justice, equality and dignity for all.

In this context, the noted women's rights lawyer Flavia Agnes has rightly pointed out to the need for uniformity of rights across religion and internal reforms in place of the 'politicised' Uniform Civil Code. In her interview to Outlook, Agnes spoke: "What we need is not a Uniform Civil Code but uniformity of rights across different religions. For this we need to follow the premise, "Reform from Within" in the same way Hindu law was reformed, the Christian Law was reformed and the Muslim law has been reformed without invoking any major political controversy. The present controversy is entirely unwarranted and best avoided."

The Muslim case

However, in keeping with the above line of thinking, I would beg to differ in the Muslim case. Certainly, Hindus and Christians have engaged in an internal reformation over a period of time. But the Muslim masses have hardly been exposed to any such 'reform from within', thanks to their clergymen ruling the roost. Politicisation of the personal laws in the Muslim case is an indirect outcome of the whim and fancy of the self-seeking maulvis. Muslim laws could long have been refined and standardised with the Quranic injunction of ijtihad (creative rethinking). They too could have been codified as per the necessities of the time. But unlike the codification of the Hindu laws in the post-Independence era, Indian Muslim society kept strictly adhering to the dictates and fatwas of the maulvis. Worst of all, Indian governments, regardless of their political affiliation set their eyes on the electoral benefits amassed from the clerical circles. No political party in India seriously approached the progressive Islamic scholars to debate these issues.

Most importantly, the current Indian establishment, which has lately shown an avowed criticism of the Muslim triple talaq and the Hindu female feticide, is accused of playing out in the communal cauldron of Uttar Pradesh. Let alone the Uniform Civil Code, even if a genuine call for gender justice is raised in a communally vitiated atmosphere, it will turn out a pointless sloganeering with an adverse impact.

The only way forward is to urge all the religious communities and minorities to brainstorm internal ways to ameliorate their personal laws and customary practices. It will involve an undying spirit of bringing in social reform with a gradual process.

Misreading of religious texts

The baffling problem with Muslims is that they are inadvertently buying the misuse and misreading of religious texts by the orthodox maulvis, mostly serving in the mosques as imams. For instance, the concept of Halalah, which finds mention just once in the Quran (2: 230), is one of the grossly misconstrued texts in the primary Islamic scripture. In this verse, Qur'an has elucidated a logical procedure of divorce (talaq) commanding the gradual approach in it. But regrettably, it has been abused by the half-educated and male-chauvinist maulvis without penetrating the essence behind this Quranic injunction.

First, it was laid down in the contextual historical conditions of the time. Second, Halala implies that it would be Halal (lawful) for the first husband to remarry his divorced wife only after she gets married to another person and gets divorced through the same logical process. But it is a brazen violation of the verse prevailing today that the former husband, knowingly and intentionally, stage-manages the nikah-e- halala (marriage of his former wife to another person in a bid to reclaim his reunion with her). And he does it so blatantly without even regretting over his guilt of divorcing his wife. This stands brazenly against the Quranic notion of halala. Disgustingly, it degrades the divorced women to the downtrodden status of a sex-object who has to lose her dignity in a one-night stand with a strange man.

Similarly, there is a rampant misreading of the Quranic verses (4:2, 3 and 127) pertaining to polygamy. Any insightful person would realise that polygamy in the Quran was validated under conditional circumstances. At a time when scores of women in Arabia were widowed with orphaned children, it was only then Quran had permitted polygamy. So, it was primarily aimed at safeguarding women and orphaned children living in a beast-like Arabian society. But it is quite difficult for the short-sighted minds of the mullahs to comprehend it today.

The Hindu case

Undeniably, gender discriminatory laws and anti-women provisions are still retained in all religious communities in various forms and fashions. Latest impact studies conducted by well-established researchers confirm that bigamy is still practised by a section of Hindus, in a manner worse than the polygamy in the Muslim society. Since the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 outlaws bigamy and Section 494 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) declares it a punishable act, it exists unofficially in the Hindu society.

Likewise, Census Data 2011 shows that among divorced women in India, 68 percent are Hindu, and 23.3 percent Muslims, as mentioned in this Firstpost article. However, the census reveals that gender skew is particularly sharp among Muslims (79:21), followed by "other religions" (72:28), and Buddhists (70:30).

In some cases, customary practices in the Hindu society are terribly more misogynistic. In Goa, for instance, a Hindu man can remarry if his previous wife does not give birth to a male child till the age of 30 years.

Flavia Agnes has tried to find out the crucial points of the current debate in her interview to Firstpost which carries a detailed legal analysis of the issue. She opines that the UCC debate is not moving in the right direction, as it is mainly focused on the Muslim law and the discriminatory aspects of the Hindu law are not coming into focus. "It is not just law, we also need to examine the Hindu ethos and cultural practices which are anti-women," she said.

Muslim polygamy vs. Hindu bigamy

In his op-ed article in The Indian Express, Prof Faizan Mustafa, a noted legal analyst and VC of the NALSAR University of Law (Hyderabad), tried to buttress the same point, but in a different way. He contends that polygamous Muslim men are legally bound to provide each wife not only residence but also proper maintenance and equal care as the Quran permits polygamy only in exceptional situations with very stringent conditions. "Thus, she is better off in comparison to the 'second Hindu wife' who has no legal status or rights... The second Hindu wife cannot even claim maintenance from her husband," he wrote.

However, there is no need for such fruitless attempts aimed at drawing a parallel between the Muslim polygamy and Hindu bigamy. Instead, it would be expedient to impose conditions first rather than randomly abrogate the personal laws

Polygamy or bigamy for that matter could only be considered as a conditional customary practice. It cannot be retained as an unfettered licence to Muslim or Hindu men. At the same time, all the reactionary arguments justifying the contextual and conditional practices as 'immutable' laws of religion need not be given primacy over the constitutional rights of women in India.

Child Marriage

Another major issue plaguing both the Muslim and Hindu personal laws is child marriage. While the retrogressive Muslim clergy still validates this medieval-age practice in India, statistics tell that child marriages in Hindu society outnumber the child marriages among Muslims. Thus, both religious communities have not yet completely shunned the obnoxious practice which the government of India has made unlawful with the prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA) in 2006.

According to the Indian law, if the girl is below age 18 or the boy is below age 21 while getting into the wedlock, it is regarded 'child marriage'. But Zakir Naik, the influential Islamist preacher with a huge following in India, justified child marriage under the pretext of preaching Shariah. He exhorted: "The only requirement for marriage in Islamic Sharia is that girl and boy both must attain the age of puberty that can occur at age 12, 11 or even 10."

The Islamist televangelist not only validated the marriage consummated at the age of 9 but also encouraged it as something 'scientifically, medically and religiously perfect'.

Similarly, child marriage is a common practice in the Indian Hindu society in most rural areas, though the Child Marriage Restraint Act prescribing minimum age of 18 for girls has reduced it among Hindus. Although child marriages are constitutionally banned in India, but they are not declared unlawful once they actually happen. The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act does prevent the marriages of minor children but the Constitution actually has no definite provisions to this end. Even though the Act recommends punishment for those involved in a child marriage, but it does not completely declare child marriage null and void.

The author is a scholar of Comparative Religion, Classical Arabic and Islamic sciences, cultural analyst and researcher in Media and Communication Studies. Views are personal. He tweets at @GRDehlvi. Email: grdehlavi@gmail.com
Devdutt Pattanaiks new book, Olympus  an Indian Retelling of the Greek Myths, neatly and with somewhat unpronounceable names, turns the tables on the usual re-tellings, by giving us a beloved foreign mythology in his trademark style. Curses are flung about with gay abandon, the dead brought back to life routinely, with beings half-men, half-women, and babies born to human moms and animal dads  in short, Greek snapshots that could be from ancient Indian albums. The similarities are fascinating: our Narada and their Iris, Olympus vs Kailash Parbat. God of the sea Poseidons desi counterpart Varuna who rides a dolphin. Prometheus embodies forethought and his brother Epimetheus, afterthought; in Hindu mythology Bhrigu is an intuitive and Brihaspati a rational adviser. Plus, the stories of sons raised by single moms, like Bharat by Shakuntala, and Theseus by Aethra.

As he draws us to this colourful compelling world of Greek gods and folklores, Pattanaik tells us why he found any similarity between Indian and Greek myths to be merely superficial. Here are some excerpts from the interview.

What does it feel like to write a story?

To see the world through different eyes. To realise that there is no one world, but different eyes create different worlds. And how the mismatch creates the soup of experience and emotions.

When was the first time you wrote something and thought, yes, this is what I want to do, write?

I wrote my first published article in a magazine that has a notorious reputation, but gave space to young writers always (perhaps to offset notoriety): Debonair. My first article was on a son is born. I did not accept the idea that men are privileged in our society. I see them as entrapped in the system, that we choose to call patriarchy, that someone assumes one gender is privileged over the other. When I wrote it, I knew writing helped me clarify my emotions, and express my thoughts. And that is when I said, yes, this is what I want to do.

What is your preferred time to write? And where usually do you write?

Early morning. Till noon preferably. On my desk if at home. On hotel desks, if I am in hotels. On restaurant tables in airport lounges, if travelling. In boardrooms, when waiting for a meeting.

What is your usual process of writing?

Directly on computer. Love writing the title first, blurb second, then table of contents, and then the book Of course as I write, everything changes  title, blurb, table of contents and the book, of course.

How do you 'see' God?

A subjective truth born out of human acknowledgement of the very human ability to empathize, and understand, infinitely.

Would you call yourself a loner or someone who thrives on company?

When writing or thinking I like being alone. And after a talk. But in free time I love company  sometimes for intellectual conversations, sometimes to be silly, sometimes to just watch beautiful people being beautiful, but never fake polite conversations in a party.

While writing the story Are You Fresh? you say you were spooked...

I think as I imagined the world I was creating, it became so real, like a movie in my minds eye, and that got me spooked... the idea of human sacrifice and the detailed gory description that a pulp fiction demands.

You hint that life began with fear  and that fear is the one primary emotion that can have you believe anything.

The difference between a living organism and a lifeless object is hunger, the quest for food. Why does that organism seek food? To nourish itself. To prevent itself from starving, from dying. That is the most primal of fears. Of not being alive, when one has no food, or when one becomes food, or when the body simply is unable to fetch or consume food. This fear, like our body, has evolved and amplified over millions of years. We never discuss it. Herein lies the seed of our yearning for validation and meaning.

In The Girl Who Chose you give us Sita's five choices. Which choice, according to you, most changed the course of the story?

Each course of the story is dependent on the choice made by Sita, in a way. But the decision to feed a hungry man rather than worry about personal safety was the most impactful. It reveals how good actions and intentions need not have good results, a lesson that impacts all moral and ethical thinking.

Which among all your books was the most traumatic to write?

Business Sutra. Suddenly a whole world of unexplored frameworks exploded; wealth (Lakshmi), power (Durga) and knowledge (Saraswati), and finally the whole world of identity (Brahma, Indra, Shiva, Vishnu). It was awesome.

You go back into the myth, legend and histories of queerness in India, especially in Shikhandi and Other Tales They Don't Tell You. Do you think we are still struggling, as a society, to accept differences?

I only write on myth (transmitted beliefs that establish worldviews), not on legend (which is based on some historical fact) or history (that is obsessed with facts). Shikhandi deals with the Hindu (actually Indic belief) that there are more than two genders in mythologies based on rebirth. Actually there is a continuum of genders, which is why Sanskrit and Prakrit and Pali have words for third genders, and stories about them. We shy away from these stories as it challenges our assumed understanding of the world. I draw attention to them because if we get stuck in binaries we lose appreciation of nature in its most honest form  life.

In your new book Olympus  An Indian Retelling of the Greek Myths, you talk of how mythology and philosophy are the same and that they come together in symbols and precise language... Which was the first Greek tale you heard and what exactly fascinated you about it?

The first tale I heard about was about Medusa and her snake-like hair. And I kept wondering, would she not be most tortured about having snakes for hair. Would those snakes not have bitten her? In ancient art, Medusas face was shown as ferocious. In modern fantasy art, she was shown as sexy, a femme fatale. In South India and Sri Lanka we come upon many masks of folk gods and demons who have snakes for hair. Were they local Medusas? All this fascinated me.

And yes, to me the philosophy that reaches the masses takes the form of stories, symbols and rituals; rest remains in the ivory tower of the elite.

Everything here is so poetic  Iris and Arke who are rainbows... How did you balance all this poetry with your research? Were you ever overwhelmed by the lyrical aspect of the stories?

I focus more on structure that emerges from the entire body of mythology, than on details of the story. I want to show how different Greek mythic structure is from Hindu mythology. So I do not pay attention to details of a tale or the lyrics of the literature, which can so enchant us that we forget the woods for the trees.

You speak about the curious mixing of Greek philosophy and Christian theology, calling it the beginning of secularism...

I prefer the use of the word mythology, subjective truth of a people communicated through stories, symbols and rituals. In the 19th century, Europeans equated monotheism as religion, and so described all polytheistic faiths as mythology. They valued Greek philosophy but not Greek myths, just as Greek philosophers valued philosophy over poetry. The created a new word theology when it came to explaining the nature of God, since they wanted to distinguish it from philosophy, and religion, as well as mythology. All these are highly political terms, which have been ripped apart in the 20th century by the post-modernists, deconstructionists and post-structuralists who saw the power behind these assertions and these binaries. Many Hindu supremacists even today, rather ironically, suffer from colonial hangover, cling to colonial definitions and biases, and so hate this word mythology.

In the 20th century, we have a word called secularism, which is also a mythology, one that has no God, or gods, but is a subjective truth based on ideas such as justice and equality. We forget that justice was a goddess called Dike in Greek mythology and the Greeks did not believe in equality  they even had a special heaven for heroes, like a gated community for aristocrats. The idea of equality comes from Christian mythology where everyone is in the tribe before the God of Abraham, where loyalty to Gods commandment is what matters, not justice. Secularism seeks justice and equality but not Greek gods or Christian God. We refuse to see its mythic roots because we cannot see secularism as part of a Western mythic continuum. Underlying this is the colonial assumption that myth is everywhere except in Western developed countries.

The tapestry weaving contest between Athena and Arachne has a vivid ending  the latter is a spider who will weave webs for all eternity. Why are gods and mortals always trying to outwit each other?

Greek gods, not all gods, are uncomfortable with Greek mortals. For the Greek gods feared being overthrown by humans as they overthrew Titans and as Titans overthrew the Giants before them. Fear of the next generation is a consistent theme in Greek mythology that we realise when we see the grand design of Greek mythology that Olympus seeks to reveal.

You draw constant parallels with Indian mythology in this book. Which, to you, is the biggest similarity of them all?

I found more points of departure than parallels to be honest. All similarities are superficial. For the Greeks believed in one life and so one chance, while Hindu mythology emerged to celebrate rebirth. This paradigm shift is the most mindboggling as even very educated and erudite modern scholars in some of the best universities around the world do not realise its implications and relevance in both ancient and modern thought. They are too consumed in seeing similarities and so forget the vast difference. Perhaps because of the underlying assumption that all religions (one God mythologies) are same as in the case of Christianity, Islam and Judaism, and so all mythologies (many gods mythologies, actually) must also be same, as in case of Greek and Hindu mythology.

Do you think we are all part-Poseidons, never satisfied with what we have? Like Poseidon wasn't content ruling merely the seas.

Yes, the various Greek gods do reflect different parts of our being. Like Zeus we struggle to keep unruly family members in check. And like Poseidon, we do feel deprived, denied, sidelined, often. So like Poseidon, we shake the system, and cause earthquakes from time to time  our family calls it a tantrum.

Prometheus made dolls out of clay and breathed life into them, creating mankind thus. Do all creation stories in mythology combine divinity with practical elements?

Brahma of Hindu Puranas creates humans (manavas) from his mind (manas). Here the material is actually non-material. Of course, we do have Sita emerging from earth, and Draupadi being born of fire. Ultimately, humans are created by matter and mind. The value placed on mind is very high in Hindu mythology.

Are we all at heart Tantalus  cursed with eternal hunger to have, to hold, to always be tantalized by what we don't or can't have?

Tantalus suffers eternal hunger and thirst and eternal deceptive enchantment by food and water. But this is not a human condition as much as punishment for daring to test the gods. And this test involves human sacrifice, which Zeus consistently frowns upon. Even worse is that the sacrifice is Tantalus own son. Thus a son is killed, a human is eaten, and gods are tested, all because of Tantalus, which justify his horrific punishment. Greeks were uncomfortable with human sacrifice, but not entirely, especially not of women. There is the sacrifice of Ipigeniah by Agamemnon to Artemis at start of Trojan war (later works say the Goddess abducted the girl before she was killed) and sacrifice of Polyxena at the insistence of the ghost of Achilles at the end of Trojan war.

Unfaithful wives are common in Greek mythology while fidelity is of paramount importance in Indian mythology. Does that underline gender dynamics between them and us then and now?

Penelope is a faithful wife. Helen, the mysterious daughter of Zeus, seems to love no one, as she embodies Nemesis, the vengeance of the gods. In Trojan War, the Greeks are punished by the gods who ensure their wives are unfaithful, which means faithfulness is desired but never obtained. Hindu mythology also values faithfulness and attributes magical powers to fidelity, just as men acquire magical powers through celibacy. So in Hinduism, both genders have to be restrained if they seek powers. In Greek mythology, when men try to be too chaste, they are eaten by the wild women of Bacchus, the Maenads, as in the story of Orpheus.
With pristine beaches, clear blue waters and unhurried pace, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands have become a popular vacation idyll. These islands were swept into the conscience of mainland India with the tsunami of 2004, which brought large scale destruction to many parts of southeast Asia. However, in the years after the tsunami, Andaman and Nicobar have been grappling with a different kind of problem.

Since the tsunami and more recently, from 2010 onwards, saltwater crocodiles are coming in contact with the human inhabitants on the islands with increasing frequency. In 2016, four people have fallen victim to attacks by saltwater crocodiles.

One such victim was Jasinta Silwanus Tirkey of Ranchi basti from Tushnabad of South Andaman who was attacked while Washing clothes in a nallah near her house on 4 September. More recently on 6 October, Hemant Das, a 56-year-old resident of Kadamtala village in Middle Andaman was seriously injured while returning from a fishing trip. In the years since the tsunami, there have been  on average  two attacks per year. Out of these, half have been fatal for the person attacked. That is one human death a year at the jaws of these crocodiles.

[In comparison, close to 2,000 people die each year on the tracks of the Mumbai local trains. Nearly 1,50,000 were killed in traffic accidents in 2015 in India.]

Do these attacks mean there is no place in Andaman and Nicobar for these prehistoric creatures?

Saltwater crocodiles are thought to have been a part of the islands since they diverged from their parent genus, Crocodylus, around 12-6 million years ago and evolved into a separate species. The aboriginal tribes of the Andamans are thought to have inhabited the islands 30,000 years ago. Saltwater crocodiles were previously found all along the eastern coast of India and Kerala on the western coastline. The last few saltwater crocodiles south of Orissa were reported from Tamil Nadu in 1935, another was shot in Kerala post-Independence.

Along with the destruction of suitable habitat and breeding grounds, the crocodiles were extensively hunted throughout its range in India. Today, they are found only within the protected boundaries of Bhitarkanika National Park in Orissa and the Sundarbans in West Bengal. With large scale hunting of crocodiles for their skins and meat, by 1970s, their numbers were in serious jeopardy. Before the end of the decade, they were brought under highest level of protection and classified under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act of India. With this protection extended even to the Andaman islands, their numbers rebounded. According the first-ever population census conducted by the forest department, the estimates stands at 450 to 550-odd crocodiles in the Andamans.

So what has changed in the period post-tsunami that is responsible for increased interaction between crocodiles and humans?

For one, the space available to accommodate the recent rise in the number of crocodiles has shrunk drastically in the past decade. A study published in 2013 by the Department of Disaster Management of Pondicherry University documented the land use and land cover changes wrought by various developmental forces on South Andaman. Changes in land use pattern could be attributed to rise in tourism and civil infrastructure, and land allocated for defence and fishing purposes. With increasing number of migrants settling in and around Port Blair, the area converted into settlements has gone up from 1,640 hectares to 12,080 hectares in the past three decades.

Much before the tsunami, the first recent wave of settlers arrived on the islands post-Independence in 1947. But the influx of migrants looking to settle on the islands exploded 15 years before the tsunami. From close to 2,80,000 people in 1991, the population increased to around 3,60,000 in 2001. Harry Andrew, a researcher who has worked on crocodiles for nearly two decades on the islands, says the habitat of crocodiles started to be encroached on for agriculture and settlements very rapidly to support the increase in human population. Saltwater crocodiles are large bodied reptiles who show fidelity to nesting sites. They are also known to be territorial. With their preferred freshwater mangrove habitat being destructed, they travel vast distances looking for suitable sites. Sometimes these are close to human habitation. Especially during their breeding season, they use freshwater creeks as they prefer secluded places to lay their eggs.

Unregulated proliferation of tourism infrastructure like restaurants and resorts, is another possible cause of increase in human-crocodile interaction. Some of the development has occurred in contravention of the prescribed Coastal Regulatory Zone rules and within 200-500 meters from the sea. Resorts have mushroomed on Havelock, Neil, Little Andaman island, and in areas around Port Blair, Corbyns Cove, Mundapahar and Wandoor. The Andamans now receive a footfall of close to 2,50,000 tourists annually. This floating population is more than half of the resident population. Improper disposal of solid waste directly into creeks, canals and the sea is a common practice. Port Blair generates one of the the highest per capita waste generation in the country with 75 tonnes of solid waste per day. Garbage disposal sites over time end up attracting crocodiles looking to scavenge for food.

[Caution: Graphic image below]

To mitigate any further escalation in potential conflict, the local forest department has decided to tap various resources. They have included members from the local villages and police department to form Joint Patrolling Units who would alert the forest personnel in case crocodiles are sited near habitation. According to SK Thomas, divisional forest officer for South Andaman, the department is also conducting extensive awareness campaigns on basic precautions public can take especially from June to November which is the breeding season for crocodiles. A recent attack was reported on a fisherman who was dangling his feet in the water. Being aware of certain areas which crocodiles are known to use would go a long way in reducing such instances.

The forest department has also been relocating captured crocodiles to areas away from human habitation. Tarun Nair, a crocodile biologist points out such practices of capture and relocation of 'problem' crocodiles will only exacerbate conflict occurrence as crocodiles are known to return to original capture sites due to their homing instinct. Hence, relying on scientific studies to disseminate precautionary measures would help in making informed decisions. Sensitising people on sharing land and water with these ancient creatures will greatly enable peaceful cohabitation for both man and animal.

Vardhan Patankar is a marine biologist researching in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Vrushal Pendharkar writes on science and environment.
New Delhi: Bypolls in Assam slated on 19 November is likely to be the BJPs litmus test on the issue of Citizenship Amendment Act. The ruling NDAs move to pass the amendment has faced stiff opposition from various groups in Assam.

Winning the bypolls may be deemed as a green signal by the BJP to accept the much-debated bill. On the other hand losing might make BJP think twice on it.

Assam is heading for bypolls on in the Lakhimpur parliamentary constituency and Baithalangso Assembly constituency.

"In recent time BJP has seen a downfall in its popularity graph in Assam due to the move taken by BJP-led NDA government at the Centre to grant Hindu Bangladeshis Indian citizenship by a new amendment in the Citizenship Act. Hence this election may be like testing the waters about how to go ahead with the bill, for the party," says Naba Thakuria of Patriotic Peoples Front Assam.

Assam has a strong trend of linguistic identity politics by dint of which Asom Gana Parishad rose to power in the state twice.

Pressure groups and political parties subscribing to the ideology of linguistic identity politics have along been demanding that Bangladeshis those who have infiltrated into Assam are to be extradited irrespective of their religious affiliation.

BJPs stance to grant citizenship to Hindu Bangladeshis have been stiffly resisted by these groups.

Lakhimpur Lok Sabha constituency had no representation after Sarbananda Sonowal, its representative rose to be the Chief Minister of Assam. The vacancy in the Baithalangso assembly constituency occurred after its MLA Mansing Rongpi resigned from Congress to join BJP.

In the 2014 general election, the Lakhimpur Lok Sabha constituency saw more than 50 percent of its voters swinging in favour of BJP candidate Sonowal, who is seen as an Assamese national hero for his effort to repeal IMDT Act, which was seen as a legal protection to Bangladeshi infiltrators.

Whether the voters in Lakhimpur constituency will support the BJP the same way this time as it did in 2014 General Election, especially when Sonowals heroic image is weaning after the Citizenship Amendment Bill was placed in Lok Sabha, is an important question for the party. For the party is soon going to face another election in Manipur early next year, and the amendment to the Citizenship Act is opposed by many in that state also.

"Certainly this election is going to be a litmus test for BJP. This is the reason why the party is trying to woo the voters by declaring mega projects," says Apurba Kumar Baruah, an Assamese intellectual.

Recently Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Shipping announced projects worth Rs 1 lakh crore in roads and transport sector of Assam, which this time is going to be the BJP's election plank for not only in the bypolls but also in all the other upcoming assembly elections in the northeastern region.

Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma recently declared to establish a Hills University in a bid to win the voters in the Boithalangsu constituency, an assembly seat in the Karbi Anglong Hills.

The upcoming bypolls puts the popularity of Chief Minister Sonowal as a national hero and that of Sarma as a born achiever in a re-test.

The miracle of 2016 assembly election in which BJP asserted its glory in Assam, happened mostly because of the perception the voters had about these two leaders.

The success of the central leadership of the party lies in roping in Sonowal with his clean image and Sarma with that of a doer.

But recently both the leaders had to burn the midnight oil to do the homework just to retain their support bases. For a number of decisions taken by the new dispensation led by them faced stiff protest from the public.

Hence the party is not willing to risk a possible victory by fielding fresh candidates and has filed tried and tested ones.

Pradan Baruah, an MLA whom the BJP has fielded as its candidate in Lakhimpur was a Congress veteran who changed sides to join BJP along with Sarma before 2016 assembly election. Rongpi, who is BJPs candidate for the Baithalangso assembly constituency won the seat as a Congress candidate in 2016 assembly election but soon resigned from both his party and post to join the saffron party.

Analysts say that despite all the odds BJPs position is still advantageous than that of the Congress.

"The Congress party still finds it difficult to put its pieces together after BJPs smashing victory in Assam. The party leaders had to ponder for a long time to decide on the candidates for the election since it was not left with too many options," says Thakuria.

On Saturday, the party announced the name of Hema Hari Prasanna Pegu, a lesser known political leader as its candidate for the Lakhimpur constituency and former minister Rupam Ronghang for the Baithalangso constituency.

Analysts say that the partys candidature is weaker than BJP and puts it in the backfoot. Moreover, the recent declaration by Gadkari to provide the state with a fund of 1 lakh crore in the transport sector is seen as a meaningful promise from the saffron party by the voters.

The promise is likely to go down well with the people in Lakhimpur and Baithalangso since both the constituencies suffering from chronic infrastructural deficiencies.
Srinagar: A day after an Indian soldier's body was mutilated by terrorists who escaped back into Pakistani side under covering fire from Pakistani troops, the Indian army said on Saturday it had hit back, destroying four Pakistani posts and inflicting "heavy casualties".

The posts were destroyed in a massive fire assault in Keran sector of Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara, said the army's Northern Command.

"Heavy casualties were inflicted on the other side," it said.

Sepoy Mandeep Singh, who was killed in the gunfight with the infiltrators on Friday, was beheaded by the terrorists who fled back to Pakistan-administered Kashmir under covering fire from Pakistan Army.

The Indian Army had said an "appropriate response" will be given.

This is not the first time Pakistan has mutilated the bodies of Indian soldiers.

During the Kargil war in 1999, Captain Saurabh Kalia, Sepoys Arjunram Baswana, Mula Ram Bidiasar, Naresh Singh Sinsinwar, Bhanwar Lal Bagaria and Bhika Ram Mudh of four Jat Regiment were captured by Pakistani troops and brutally tortured.

The soldiers had their ear drums pierced with hot iron rods, eyes punctured and genitals cut off. The autopsy of the bodies also revealed that they were burned with cigarettes butts. Their limbs were also chopped off, teeth broken and skull fractured during the torture. Even their nose and lips were sliced off.

In another incident, on 8 January 2013, Pakistani soldiers entered Indian territory in Krishna Ghati sector of the border and killed two Indian soldiers  Lance Naik Hemraj and Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh. Indian officials said both the bodies were mutilated, and Hemraj's body was decapitated.

Just before retiring, former army chief General Bikram Singh, who headed the Indian Army when the incident happened, had said India gave a "befitting reply".

General Dalbir Singh, just after taking over as the Army chief, had then said if a similar incident occurred the Indian Army's response "will be more than adequate in future".

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 or 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 his name, date of birth, rank and service number if applicable.
The new Clinton email scandal keeps getting worse for Republicans as new information is emerging that the emails the FBI is looking at were not on her server.From previous reporting, it is known that the emails have nothing to do with Clinton, her campaign, the Clinton Foundation, the Russian hacks, the State Department, and any emails she sent or received. Now, we know that the emails were not on her server. FBI Director Comey completely bungled this announcement, and he needs to explain what the FBI is analyzing, because it doesnt sound like it has anything to do with Hillary Clinton.The email scandal that Republicans thought would save them has evaporated nearly as quickly as it arrived. With each new development, it is clear that there is much less to the story than initially reported.If the Republican Party wants to risk losing, even more House and Senate seats in 11 days by pursuing this non-story, they should feel free to have at it.Any time that Republicans spend talking about Clintons emails over the next 11 days will only help the Democratic Party.
Caste politics revolves around a higher goal: social justice. Ignore the chaotic way it manifests itself, it is finally about social groups bargaining for a better deal in the democracy. It is empowering and has made caste equations more equal in the country. The politics of religion serves no such purpose. It is regressive and bereft of a superior goal. Its capacity to divide and damage the society is immense. Both kinds of politics are exclusive, but the exclusion in the case of caste is more liberating while in the case of religion it is inhibiting.

That is one reason why all advanced societies try to keep religion and polity apart. Mixing them up can be disastrous for a country  Pakistan is an example. And that is why the BJP leaders who willingly give full play to religion in politics should be extremely careful. In a submission before the Supreme Court, three BJP-ruled states have said that religion can always be used in any sphere of society in the country unless it violated constitutional or statutory provisions. The court is hearing a case pertaining to the use of religion in political speeches and party manifestos.

One aspect of the argument is that since caste and religion are closely linked to the society both would be discussed in manifestos. There cannot be separate yardsticks while taking a stand on the use of either of them in politics. It implies if caste is discussed, religion would be too. Fair enough. Political parties cannot be expected to cut themselves off from the society they belong to. Some religious sects maybe the creation of social discrimination and inequalities, like the Deras in northern India are; hence there is nothing wrong with parties taking up the cause of their members. In any case, religion has always played a part in Indian politics, either through perverse secularism or straightforward communalism.

But the question is how far can you go?

Indian secularism, even in its perverted form, was hardly anti-religion or anti-Hindu or pro-Muslim in practice. The politics around it reeked of hypocrisy and opportunism though. What it managed for long was keeping religion on the fringes, at a safe distance from centre stage politics.

The discreetness may be going through the window now with the BJP no more playing coy about Hindutva or about courting religious/spiritual figures openly. That its a vote bank the party cannot let go is understandable; theres something existential about it. But does it know where it has to draw the line?

Drawing the line is important because competitive politics will soon take over and other parties will be vying for chunks or the whole of the same vote bank. Given the culture of opportunism among our parties, it may not be long before other parties started shifting attention to the unwieldy yet significant mass of voters. The resulting competition would make them cede more and more neutral political space to religion. It is also possible that ambitions and jealousies within would lead to an implosion in the vote bank and creation of aggressive, demanding and unpredictable new players in the same space. Some degree of radicalisation in the society is also expected.

Several Islamic countries have suffered debilitating from this trend. India may not go that way anytime soon given the deep fault lines within its society but theres a fear that forces of faith once unleashed will be difficult to control.

Like we have mentioned earlier, the politics of caste has a noble purpose; that of religion has none. Both emerge out of the society but have opposite impacts on it. The secularism debate must free itself from semantic quibbles  rest assured there would be no definition of it satisfying all. If at all there is, it would be quite different in practice  and go by the spirit of the word. To begin with, political parties can be restrained with their manifestos.
SANAA At least 17 civilians were killed in Yemen's southwestern province of Taiz on Saturday by a Saudi-led coalition air strike that struck a house, local officials and residents said. The raid targeted a house in the al-Salw district, the sources said, an area of Taiz where Houthi rebels and government forces backed by the coalition are fighting for control. Taiz is Yemen's third largest city with an estimated pre-war population of 300,000. The Saudi-led coalition has been fighting Houthi rebels and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who hold much of the north of Yemen including the capital Sanaa, since March 2015 to try to restore the internationally recognised President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power.The exiled Hadi on Saturday rejected a U.N. peace proposal to end the turmoil saying the deal would only be a path to more war and destruction. Speaking after meeting U.N. envoy Ismail Ould Cheickh Ahmed in Riyadh, Hadi said the agreement would "reward the rebels and penalise the Yemeni people and legitimacy," according to the government-controlled Saba news agency.

According to a copy of the proposal seen by Reuters, the plan would sideline Hadi and set up a government of less divisive figures.The deal would involve removing Hadi's powerful vice president, Ali Mushin al-Ahmar Ahmar from power and Hadi agreeing to become little more than a figurehead after a Houthi withdrawal from the capital Sanaa.

Hadi fled the armed advance of the Iranian-allied Houthi movement in March 2015 and has been a guest of neighbouring Saudi Arabia ever since.A U.N. Security Council resolution a month later recognised him as the legitimate head of state and called on the Houthis to disarm and quit Yemen's main cities. But the Houthis and their allies in Yemen's army have said he will never return.

The conflict in Yemen has killed at least 10,000 people and unleashed one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. (Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari; Writing by Maha El Dahan; editing by Richard Balmforth)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
China is often compared to a dragon, but her antics are of chipmunks  they look loveable and confident from outside, but carry the heart of a mice. They act like thieves and are highly destructive.

You witness China's arrogance in development projects all over the globe; showing scant regard for the environment or the locals. Not that the Chinese government bothers one bit about its own population, especially when it comes to public freedom and environment, with its indiscriminate dams, leveling of mountains, horrific state of mines, and the like.

Chinas current action of mobbing the Senkaku Islands with hundreds of civilian fishing vessels interspersed with People's Liberation Army (the armed forces of the Communist Party of China and the People's Republic of China) naval vessels is akin to human wave tactics of 1962 or chipmunk attacks (persistent gnawing by water rats) in present era. But behind all these tactics of a bully flush with money, is the lurking fear of insecurity in the Communist Party of China (CPC). They may showcase a China they want the world to see, but the chances of implosions, big and small, remain constant. Perhaps that is why 54 percent of Chinas defence budget is allocated towards internal threats.

Chipmunks may cavort and indulge in destructive games but when confronted are liable to suffer heart attacks. That Pakistani military has never won a war is well-known but Pakistan has ensured its youth are busy with radicalisation and terrorism rather than learn why their military lost East Pakistan (now Banladesh) and 93,000 military personnel were taken prisoners of war by India. Similarly, China would not like its population to know that when the PLA under Deng Xiaoping (Xi Jinping was then secretary of defence) invaded Vietnam to teach them a lesson, it learned a lesson in the bargain; returning home with its tail tucked between its legs. Even in the case of India-China confrontation, leaving aside the 1962 Nehru-Krishna Menon folly, the chipmunks have always ran backwards whenever confronted. During the 1967 confrontation that was engineered by China at Nathu La in the first place, not only did the chipmunks vacate their posts at Nathu La, but after receiving the beating of their lives, dared to return only four days after the firing stopped.

Norman Ohler in his recent book Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany writes how Hitlers "super junkie" addiction to opiates destroyed his veins, led to paranoia and erratic decisions. Mao Tse Tung too was known for his penchant for opiates. So, in the haze of narcotics, he once wrote a poem describing India as a "useless cow". The present day CPC hierarchy, obviously, continues with the high and mighty habit of smoking grass that lends to paranoia and erratic proclamations. That is why one fine morning as late as year 2005, they came up with the grand claim of entire Arunachal Pradesh being part of the Chinese territory. And so, with opiates in their veins (like Hitler), they call Arunachal Pradesh a disputed territory and cry "hands off" while PLA troops in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir dig missile silos and toilets. Isnt it the height of brazenness?

But the CPC is burdened with what is better known as Mao Tse Tungs "finger problem" wherein he said, "Tibet is the palm of China and Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and North-East Frontier Agency (now Arunachal Pradesh) are its fingers". So much for the so-called "historical" claims of China on the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh! Maos finger problem also explains why China invaded and annexed Tibet. Deng Xiaoping inherited Maos finger problem, passing it on to Xi Jinping. It is well understood that China invaded Tibet, Xinjiang, and Aksai Chin, not only for territorial gains but also because of the minerals and oil wealth in these regions.

China claims Arunachal Pradesh as South Tibet, while in Tibet, China is systematically attacking the Tibetan language, literature, heritage and culture in a bid to push it into extinction. Already, the Tibetan language has been replaced by Chinese in Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). But what was most amusing to hear was Chinese protests to US Ambassador to India, Richard Vermas recent visit to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh. Wagging a finger like a primary school teacher, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang announced, We urge the United States to stop getting involved in the China-India territorial dispute. China should know that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India, and any Lu has no business to interfere and comment like that. Richard Verma had visited Tawang on invitation of the chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh to participate in the Tawang festival.

Chinas defence budget sure is galloping and as per the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, it will cross the defence expenditure of the US after 2050. However, despite all the stealing, copycatting and reverse engineering, it will be many decades before China catch up with the US in terms of technology, if at all.

It would also be amusing for readers to know that when a visiting Indian General met and asked the Chinese defence minister in Beijing four years back on why China does not respond to global tenders by India for arms import, his response was that we dont want to sell weapons to India because you will then come to know how inferior our technology is. It is a different issue that Pakistan is the biggest importer of Chinese weapons, followed by Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Incidentally, Lu kang commenting on Richard Vermas visit to Tawang also referred to some hard-earned peace and tranquility, which apparently Verma had disturbed with his visit. Surely, Verma didnt trigger a kinetic attack across the Line of Actual Control on CPCs casinos? But the laughable part is that Lu talked of hard-earned peace and tranquility despite some 350 PLA transgressions across the LAC in 2015 alone.

Now that the Modi government has cleared the visit of Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh early next year, the chipmunks can be expected to create noise synonymous to skeletons dancing on a tin roof. But while the Dalai Lama visit to Tawang may just be another of his periodic visits to Buddhist monasteries, India should convene international events in Arunachal, like say an international cultural festival, where China too can participate or put up noodle stalls?

The author is veteran Lt Gen of Indian Army
By Michael Nienaber

| BERLIN

BERLIN China is strategically buying up key technologies in Germany while protecting its own companies against foreign takeovers with "discriminatory requirements", German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Saturday.Gabriel, also vice chancellor and leader of Germany's Social Democrats, heads to China next week after having ratcheted up tensions with Beijing by putting the brakes on the latest Chinese takeovers of German technology companies.In a guest column for Die Welt newspaper, Gabriel urged the European Union to ensure a level playing field and adopt a tougher approach with China."Nobody can expect Europe to accept such foul play of trade partners," Gabriel wrote, adding that Germany was one of the most open economies for foreign direct investments.In China, on the contrary, foreign direct investments by European companies are being hampered and takeovers are only approved under discriminatory requirements, he said."But China itself is going on a shopping tour here with a long list of interesting companies - with the clear intention of acquiring strategically important key technologies."Under German law, the government can block takeovers only if they jeopardise energy security, defence or financial stability.Gabriel is pushing for a Europe-wide safeguard clause which could stop foreign takeovers of firms whose technology is deemed strategic for the future economic success of the region.

WARNING ON WTO STATUS

The minister said China would not be granted the important status as a market economy under the rules of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) if it did not change course."If China wants to get the market economy status, then it also has to act accordingly," Gabriel told Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung in an interview.

The EU is debating whether to grant China "market economy status" from December, which Beijing says is its right 15 years after joining the WTO.Market economy status would make it harder for Europe to impose anti-dumping duties on Chinese goods sold at knock-down prices because it would change the method for determining a fair price.Despite her deputy's tough words, Chancellor Angela Merkel views China as a strategically important partner, not only to do business with but also in foreign policy. It remains one of Germany's most important trading partners and 60 business executives will join Gabriel on his five-day trip.This year to date, Chinese investors have racked up 47 deals to buy German targets with a total volume of 10.3 billion euros ($11.3 billion), according to Thomson Reuters data, compared with 29 deals worth 263 million euros in the whole of 2015.

Deputy Economy Minister Michael Machnig told the Financial Times that Berlin was worried about takeovers that seemed to be driven by the Chinese government or were about gaining access to German technology."We need to have the powers to really investigate deals when it is clear that they are driven by industrial policy or to enable technology transfers," he said. "When necessary, in exceptional cases, maybe even to say we're not going to allow (them)."Gabriel's visit comes a week after his ministry withdrew approval for Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund (FGC) to buy chip equipment maker Aixtron, citing security concerns. The government is also scrutinising the sale of Osram's general lighting lamps business Ledvance to a consortium of Chinese buyers.Gabriel has struck increasingly protectionist tones since Chinese home appliance maker Midea made overtures back in May for robot-maker Kuka - a national champion in Germany's push to hook up machinery to the Internet. ($1 = 0.9107 euros) (Reporting by Michael Nienaber; Editing by Alison Williams and Stephen Powell)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Beijing: A rural bank officer who allegedly obtained fake identity cards and used them to illegally buy dozens of properties worth hundreds of millions of dollars was in police detention Tuesday, weeks after she became China's newest symbol of official corruption.

Police in the central county of Shenmu on Monday arrested Gong Ai'ai, who until recently was the deputy head of the government-run Shenmu Rural Commercial Bank, on suspicion of forging official documents, according to the Xinhua News Agency and a local official.

Gong is suspected of misusing her loan-approving power to give loans to mine operators in the county in return for cash or shares in the mines that she then used to buy at least 45 properties worth billions of yuan. Fake identity cards can help hide income, business activities, and circumvent limits on buying houses and apartments in Beijing.

Of Gong's three fake national identity cards, one was from Beijing and two were from Shaanxi, the province where Shenmu is located, reports said. Among the properties she purchased, 41 are in Beijing, where skyrocketing real estate prices have priced many Chinese families out of homeownership.

Even in a country where the public is used to official corruption, the scandal has touched a nerve.

Not only is her wealth stunning, but her ability to circumvent China's identity law, which allows each Chinese one identity card and number, suggests corruption among the police who issue the cards. Local authorities have already detained four police officers on suspicion of helping Gong obtain the fake IDs, the Ministry of Public Security said.

That the money was poured into property has further inflamed outrage among Chinese, who blame speculation by the wealthy and corruption for soaring housing prices.

This "goes to show how state resources and public trust and authority have been excessively abused by those people," said Yang Fengchun, a professor of government and management at Peking University. "They behave as if the country were at their beck and call. Whatever they want, they get."

Gong's case is one of several to emerge in recent months of government officials buying up large numbers of properties beyond the means of their civil servant incomes. They have fueled public calls for asset disclosure by public officials and have been seen as a test for the newly installed Communist Party leadership, which has warned that corruption threatens the party's legitimacy and has vowed to stamp it out.

Yet Gong's case has stirred a fascination beyond many other reports of corruption. Since details first trickled out in mid-January, the public and state media have followed each development, registering shock as the scale of the alleged corruption grew.

In the days prior to her detention, speculation centered on her whereabouts and why she had yet to be arrested.

AP
By Michael Georgy

| NEAR BASHIQA, Iraq

NEAR BASHIQA, Iraq After two years of ruthless Islamic State rule, Ahmed finally decided to make a run for it, past some of the group's snipers in his village in northern Iraq. He is relieved that the bullets they fired at him, and at anyone else attempting to flee, missed. But life is still fraught with risks and hardship.Ahmed had to leave his elderly parents behind when he sought refuge in a small makeshift base for Kurdish peshmerga fighters, who are vulnerable to attacks by suicide bombers in vehicles."After Islamic State took over our village there were no jobs. My father ran out of money. He and my mother stayed behind to watch over the car," said Ahmed. "We can't afford to buy a new one."Iraqi troops and Kurdish fighters have cleared dozens of villages as they press towards the city of Mosul for an offensive against the Islamic State's last main stronghold in the country.The momentum has encouraged Iraqis like Ahmed to take a risk, despite warnings from the world's most feared and violent Islamist militant group that anyone who attempts to flee their self-proclaimed caliphate will be shot dead.They are slowly emerging from villages and towns with accounts of Islamic State's ferocity in imposing their ultra-hardline interpretation of Islam.Sitting beside a plastic plate and picking at some rice and chick peas, Ahmed spoke slowly, exhausted and wondering what would become of relatives who had to stay behind."When Daesh arrived two years ago we all thought they would be here for a couple of weeks because the Iraqi army would remove them," said Ahmed, who asked that only his first name be used to avoid reprisals against his loved ones.

Daesh is an Arabic acronym used by opponents of Islamic State to describe the group.The Iraqi army collapsed in the face of a lighting Islamic State sweep through northern Iraq in 2014. The group seized Mosul - Iraq's second largest city -- and then swallowed up villages like Abu Jarbouh, where Ahmed's parents still live in fear of militants who control every aspect of life, from beard sizes to a ban on cigarettes and alcohol.The whole family were virtually hostages in their own home for two years, afraid that even walking down the street in their own neighbourhood could invite the wrath of the jihadists.

"We left the home once a month to go to Mosul to get some food and other supplies," said Ahmed, who gave up his education after he heard what the group was doing in schools."Word got back to me that they were actually teaching young men how to behead people and shoot them."Moments after he spoke an air strike was launched against Islamic State targets in a village held by the group about about 1.5 km (one mile) away. A thick cloud of smoke rose up.Kurdish fighters said that two children who ran away from that area towards the base were shot dead by the Sunni militants this week.Jihadists also tried to carry out suicide bombings against the base and clashes often erupt at night. Kurdish fighters say Islamic State snipers are positioned in buildings across fields in the distance.

The Kurds man positions beneath dirt berms at the base, located between two villages held by Islamic State.Kurdish fighters occasionally test their machine guns, rattling refugees who have blank stares, sitting on dirt and gravel wondering whether they will ever be able to return home.The United Nations has warned that Islamic State could try to take thousands of people as hostages and human shields during the Mosul offensive.As a military truck that will transport the displaced to a camp arrived, Ahmed and a few relatives, along with young children, slowly climbed on it."I never thought we would escape Daesh," said Ahmed, holding a worn plastic bag with his meagre belongings. "God has showed us mercy." (Editing by Stephen Powell)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
We can all pretend to be uppity about Pakistan's repeated breach of the Geneva Convention but the point is, to expect a nation that uses terrorism as a state policy to uphold the sanctity of law is illusory and self-defeating. The mutilation of Manjeet Singh's body is a grim reminder that unless India substantially raises the cost of Pakistan's delinquent behaviour, the rogue republic will continue to unleash atrocities against us.

There is a sad sense of deja vu in India's handling of Pakistan. It doesn't matter if the government at the Centre is leftist, rightist or centrist. Each head of Indian state suffers from an illusory notion, aided by an army of entitled influencers with deep ties to the enemy state, that relationship with Pakistan can be and should be stabilized and the onus of doing it lies with us.

Therefore, every act of atrocity that the unstable, terror-sponsoring nation inflicts on us is followed by a predictable pattern. We outrage, foam at the mouth, try some maneuvers which have long exhausted their sell-by date and then eventually settle into a prolonged ennui followed by renewed attempts at restoring ties.

And we are doomed to repeat this fallacious cycle as long as we do not realize that Pakistan is not a modern Westphalian nation-state. It is the original Islamic State that seeks to spread Islamism as a politico-religious-cultural movement with the stated goal of establishing a Caliphate. This explains its lust for Kashmir and why it shall remain congenitally opposed to the pluralistic, multicultural, heterogeneous, secular idea of India and consider the fight against 'Hindustan' a holy war, or jihad.

And because the existence of Pakistan as an idea depends on continuing this perpetual jihad against India (a point author C Christine Fair elaborated in her seminal work Fighting To the Finish), any Indian overtures for peaceful relationship is bound to fail. If we as a nation do not understand it, the fault the lies with us, not history.

We only have to turn over the pages to recall that soon after Atal Bihari Vajpayee took a bus-full of goodwill and Bollywood stardust to Lahore in 1999, he was answered with Kargil and a hijacked Air India flight. And few would forget the bestiality of Pakistan Army in treating our war heroes during Kargil. In gross violation of Geneva Convention, the barbarians subjected Captain Saurabh Kalia and his unit to horrendous torture.

As a News18 report recalls, Captain Kalia and his sepoys' "ear drums were pierced with hot iron rods, eyes punctured and genitals cut off. The autopsy of the bodies also revealed that they were burned with cigarettes butts. Their limbs were also chopped off, teeth broken and skull fractured during the torture. Even their nose and lips were cut off."

Pakistan still maintains that the bodies of these Indian soldiers were found in a pit where they ostensibly died due to "inclement weather".

Treatment of PoWs or showing respect to the dead in war is accorded the highest importance under Geneva Convention. In an article on crimes of war, H Wayne Elliott writes: "The treatment of the battlefield dead can be divided into two aspects. First, there is a prohibition on deliberate mistreatment of the body, either through failure to treat it with appropriate respect or through mutilation. Second, there is a prohibition on pillaging the dead. These mandates concerning the dead are as much derived from the customary laws of war as from the Geneva Conventions.

To understand why Pakistan's BAT (Border Action Team, an amalgam of its army and pet terrorists) killed and then apparently beheaded Manjeet Singh of 17 Sikh Light Infantry, we must recognise that the situation has to come to such a pass because for far too often the Pindi Khakis have been rewarded for their bad behaviour. If a criminal is paid handsomely for crimes what else can we expect except a recurring nightmare?

As The Times of India had reported back in January 2013, bodies of Lance-Naiks Hemraj and Sudhakar Singh of the 13 Rajputana Rifles were found in the Mendhar sector of Jammu & Kashmir in a badly mutilated state.

"Although the Indian Army did not give more details of the barbarism, sources said the retreating Pakistani soldiers had chopped off the head of one of the Indian soldiers and taken it back with them."

This is why the surgical strikes on 29 September and its public acknowledgment by the Narendra Modi government were crucial. It broke the template and introduced an element of unpredictability in Indian response. The Army has already reiterated that Pakistan Army will get "an appropriate response" for their bestiality and callous disregard for all norms. But we must not stop there. The punishment from India should be brutal and swift because barbarians only understand the language of violence.
Geneva: Just a day before EU-Canada were to sign a major trade deal, an independent expert at the United Nations labeleld it a "fundamentally flawed treaty", and urged EU members to file referendum in their countries.

The danger of CETA (Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement) and TTIP (the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) is so serious that every stakeholder, especially parliamentarians from EU member-states, should now be given the opportunity to articulate the pros and cons. The corporate-driven agenda gravely endangers labour, health and other social legislation, and there is no justification to fast-track it, Alfred de Zayas, the UN Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, said on Friday.

A dangerous culture of bullying and intimidation has emerged in the context of trade treaties, and a corrosive competition among States, Zayas told Firstpost.

The treaty, that has been touted as a model for post-Brexit negotiations by UKs Conservative politicians like Boris Johnson, however, has tripped near the finishing line in the face of a strong opposition by Belgians Socialist-led regional parliament of Wallonia.

Though the federal government of Belgium supported the trade deal  negotiations have been going on for the past seven years  its regional parliaments in Wallonia and Brussels were uneasy about the agreement. The treaty needs a nod from all the 28 EU governments to come into force.

The CETA complications may be an ominous sign for Brexit negotiations  to be reached within a short time frame of two years after Article 50 is triggered  that has to neutralise many potential spoilers in the form of national referendums, regional parliaments and national courts before it can be signed, sealed and delivered.

"Striking a trade deal with a friendly partner like Canada should have been about as easy as it gets for the EU," wrote The Economist.

Paul Magnette, Wallonias minister-president, who led the fierce opposition to the deal was worried about Walloon farmers facing stiff competition from Canada, and also about a proposed special court to settle disputes between investors and governments.

Investor-state dispute settlement arbitrations and the proposed investment court system are both one-way streets that contravene the centuries-old development toward independent, transparent and accountable public courts. A parallel system of dispute settlement that is not independent, transparent or accountable is a frontal attack on the rule of law," Zayas told this reporter.

CETAs exclusive trade court has proved so controversial that the EU Commission that decides on foreign trade with the EU has said that such a court wont be set up immediately.

A compromise with the Walloons came in the form of a four-page addendum to the 1,600-page CETA text that among other things enables the Belgian government to go to the European court of justice to ascertain the compatibility of investor-state tribunal system with EU law and also a guarantee that the government will do a socio-economic and environmental assessment of CETA.

Backers of the trade deal say that bilateral trade will boost by 20 percent through CETA and 98 percent of the tariffs will be scrapped.

"The propaganda in favour of mega trade treaties  that entering into such agreements will effectively bring more foreign direct investment, or, for that matter that FDI will bring more benefits than disadvantages to the country  is not backed up by any empirical evidence, the American human rights lawyer argued.

Additionally, associations of German and Spanish judges have slammed investor-State dispute settlement systems and have questioned the necessity of having such systems when all participating states are signatories to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights with public courts that are independent, transparent and accountable.

The emergence of a large number of trade agreements like CETA, Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), TTIP and Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) that lie beyond the purview of multilateral rules of the WTO or national courts has been a point of concern for activists as well as national governments in recent decades. Having signed a trade deal, governments have found themselves being dragged to court in some instances when they have legislated in public interest that has eaten into the profits of corporations.

"It is not for the State to guarantee the profits of an investor," Zayas said.

The UN Human Rights Council has established an inter-governmental working group on transnational corporations to discuss the possibility of a legally binding instrument obliging TNCs not to interfere in the internal affairs of States, imposing sanctions on pollution or shifting profits into tax havens. It is holding its second session this week.

The hue and cry comes at the same time when India resumed trade talks in the European city of Geneva with a bloc of four European nations, including Switzerland, on a free trade agreement.

The India-EFTA (the European Free Trade Association) talks that started in 2008 were frozen three years back after about 12 rounds of negotiations due to issues related with intellectual property rights (IPR) and data exclusivity. The EFTA states were insistent on more IPR, especially in the pharmaceutical sector.

The Indian government  the largest producer of generic medicines for the poor  has had a long running battle with global pharmaceutical companies, particularly with American and European ones. Swiss giant Novartis lost a case in an Indian court in 2013 to get a patent approved while Indias Intellectual Property Appellate Board had revoked a patent on a Hepatitis C drug held by Roche, among other cases. Access to cheap medicines is a particularly sensitive issue in India where a single health episode can push a poor family into deeper recesses of poverty.

The trade pact talks were announced to be re-opened in June this year when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Geneva to get a Swiss nod for Indias entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group. A high-level trade delegation had visited the New Delhi later that month.

The level of ambition for IPR remains the same, Swiss president Johann Schneider-Ammann had told reporters in Germany after the announcement of re-opening of the EFTA-India trade talks.
Washington: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton says she is "confident" a new FBI probe linked to her emails will not change its original finding that she should not be prosecuted and wants the agency to immediately explain the inquiry to the American people.

"We don't know the facts, which is why we are calling on lease all of the information that it has. Even Director (James) Comey noted that this new information may not be significant. So let's get it out," Clinton, 69, told

reporters.

During the rare press conference, which lasted a little over five minutes, Clinton said that it is incumbent on the FBI to clarify the issue.

"It is incumbent upon the FBI to tell us what they are taking about. Because right now, your guess is as good as mine. And I don't think that's good enough," she said when asked if she has spoken with her close aide Huma Abedin, the center of the controversy.

The FBI decided to re-open the case after it found some emails on the electronics devise of Abedin's husband Anthony Weiner.

The FBI has not said what kind of email was found on this devise.

"We are 11 days out from perhaps the most important national election of our lifetimes. Voting is already under way in our country. So the American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately. The director himself has said he doesn't know whether the e-mails referenced in his letter are significant or not. I'm confident whatever they are will not change the conclusion reached in July," Clinton said.

"Therefore it's imperative that the Bureau explain this issue in question, whatever it is, without any delay. I look forward to moving forward to focus on the important challenges facing the American people, winning on November 8, and working with all Americans to build a better future for our country," she said.

Clinton said she and her campaign have not been contacted by anyone from the FBI on this issue.

Leading in almost all major polls, Clinton exuded confidence that this is unlikely to have an impact in the

election results.

"I think people a long time ago made up their minds about the e-mails. I think that's factored into what people think. And now they're choosing a president," she said in response to a question.
By Julia Symmes Cobb

| CARTAGENA, Colombia

CARTAGENA, Colombia Venezuela's fast-escalating political crisis and Colombia's stuttering peace process looked certain to dominate the Ibero-American Summit on Saturday rather than an official agenda about youth, entrepreneurship and education. Amid a swing to the political right around the region, Peru's president and former investment banker Pedro Pablo Kuczynski was leading calls to put Venezuela at the top of the agenda.The oil-rich country's socialist government is facing an escalation of opposition protests after electoral authorities suspended a referendum on President Nicolas Maduro's rule that could have led to his departure from office.Maduro, 53, narrowly won election to succeed Hugo Chavez in 2013 but has seen his popularity plummet during a deep economic crisis. He was due to attend the summit briefly on Saturday, organizers and a Venezuelan government source said.Heads of state and officials from around Latin America, as well as Portugal and Spain, were attending the meeting in the coastal humidity of colonial Cartagena and were due to release a statement later on Saturday.

Venezuela, despite having the world's largest oil reserves, is mired in a prolonged recession worsened by currency depreciation and low oil prices, with many skipping meals due to shortages and soaring prices.Critics say Maduro has kept a grip on power by side-lining the legislature, arresting opponents and leaning on compliant institutions to squash the referendum.He says foes are seeking to topple him illegally.

The summit's host Colombia, meanwhile, is scrambling to save a hard-won peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. The deal, hammered out over almost four years of difficult negotiations, was rejected in a plebiscite vote this month by less than half a percentage point. The regional leaders met at the same conference center where the deal was signed just over a month ago.President Juan Manuel Santos, who was reelected in 2014 on a platform focused on achieving peace, has held meetings with the opposition in a bid to modify the deal enough to satisfy critics.

"Peace for Colombia will be a reality," Santos said in opening remarks at the conference. "We will not betray the hopes of Colombians or the international community, which has accompanied us with such generosity."Government negotiators have returned to Havana, Cuba, where the original talks took place, to discuss opposition suggestions with FARC leadership and make changes to the accord.Leaders at the summit have repeatedly expressed their support for the peace process, which would end 52 years of war that have killed nearly a quarter of a million people. (Additional reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta in Cartagena, Deisy Buitrago in Caracas; Editing by Helen Murphy and Chizu Nomiyama)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Biden neven trying to say the latest "news" might cause violence...then went on to say if Trump is elected he would shake his hand.



They are saying ...nothing here because the new e-mail discovery is not from Hillary's 'server". Hell, there are lots of Hillary's e-mails that have been passed on to others... from another "server". Hillary is the one who decided to use a "private server" for her official Dept of State business.



Who knows what she did with any of her many communications devices...some smashed with a hammer and NONE turned over to the FBI.



Let the other shoe drop...before there is no floor left for it to hit.
On the surface, Chevron's (CVX 0.51%) earnings results pretty much followed the track of prior results: Lower oil and gas prices continued to weigh on upstream profits that were largely offset by downstream operations. But if you look deeper into the results, you can start to see the effects of management's decisions over the past several years to cut costs and make a leaner, meaner Chevron for the upswing.

Here's a quick look at the company's results, how Chevron is doing more with less, and how that will play out over the coming quarters.

Chevron's results: The raw numbers

Metric Q3 2016 Q2 2016 Q3 2015 Revenue $30,140 $29,282 $34,315 Net income $1,283 ($1,470) $2,037 Earnings per share $0.68 ($0.78) $1.09 Operational cash flow $5,311 $2,531 $5,360

After a few quarters in a row where Chevron took several billion dollars' worth of asset writedowns and goodwill impairments, this is the first quarter in a while in which we get to see a "clean" earnings report from the company. Without those charges, Chevron is showing that it's still generating profits, albeit modest ones. The one part of the business that continues to drag things down from a profitability standpoint is its U.S. upstream production.

Looking at those numbers in isolation would make it seem that the company is still struggling with eking out a profit from its U.S. operations. If you dig a little deeper, though, you can start to see some of the effects of Chevron's huge cost-cutting efforts. The best way to show this progress is the price realizations the company received for oil and gas this past quarter and the prior year.

Price Realization For:

Q3 2016 Q3 2015 U.S. crude $40.10 $45.56 U.S. natural gas $1.89 $1.96 International crude $41.08 $44.85 International natural gas $4.18 $4.68

So even though Chevron averaged 10% less revenue per barrel equivalent of production, it was able to improve upstream earnings by $405 million.

The one stain on Chevron's earnings is the continued dismal cash-flow gap. The company's operational cash flows are still well short of its capital spending, especially after it committed to the $36.8 billion expansion of the Tengiz project in Kazakhstan with ExxonMobil (XOM 0.10%). This past quarter alone, Chevron spent $2 billion on the expansion.

As a result of this additional spending, the company took on another $500 million in debt for the quarter, and its debt-to-capital ratio jumped to 23.7%.

What happened with Chevron this quarter?

Overall upstream production was down slightly, from 2.54 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (mmboe/d) in 2015 to 2.51 mmboe/d this past quarter. It should be noted, though, that a large portion of this change was from turnaround activity at Tengiz. civil unrest in Nigeria that has shut in production, and asset sales in the Gulf of Mexico.

Management expects production to be in the range of 2.65 mmboe/d to 2.7 mmboe/d by the end of the year, thanks to a completed turnaround at Tengiz, ramp-ups at the Jack/St.Malo platform and Gorgon LNG facility, and completed turnaround activity at Angola LNG.

Speaking of Gorgon, Train 2 of the three-train facility came online at the end of October. It expects the final train to be up and running by the second quarter of 2017. Its sister facility, Wheatstone, expects to ship its first cargoes mid-2017.

Asset sales for the first nine months of the year have totaled $2.2 billion. Management says it's confident it can meet its asset sales target for the year of $5 billion to $10 billion, but that's unlikely unless we see some major sales in the last two months of the year.

Chevron's board of directors approved a $0.01 increase in the company's quarterly dividend. It may be a token increase, but it's enough to keep the company's streak of 29 straight years of dividend payments alive without putting too much of a dent in the company's cash flow.

What management had to say

Typically, Chevron's earnings releases and press conferences are rather dull affairs, but this quarter, the company went into quite a bit of detail about its U.S. shale production in the Permian Basin. Aside from its massive holdings in the basin -- north of 2 million acres -- the company has been driving down costs rather quickly. According to Bruce Niemyer, vice president of U.S. mid-continent operations:

To achieve strong returns, we focus on all elements necessary to generate cash flow-capital efficiency, operating expense, and product realizations. ... [D]evelopment cost per barrel ... in our view, is the ultimate measure of capital performance, as it incorporates all sub-metrics. We have achieved a 30% development cost reduction from 2015, fully inclusive of drilling, completions, facilities, and associated G&A. We have accomplished this through a focus on improving expected ultimate recovery, driving execution efficiencies, and implementing supply-chain savings. This is delivering capital performance that is competitive with the operators of our joint ventures. The trend of improvement is mirrored in our overall unit operating expense. ... [T]he downward trend and competitive performance of our direct lease operating expense ... illustrates a significant reduction of 45% from 2015.

Thanks to these efficiency gains, Chevron is ahead of its production targets for shale without significant additions to its capital spending:

10-second takeaway

There are some good things coming out of Chevron right now that suggest it's getting back to profitability. The most encouraging sign is the operational cost reductions that have drastically improved upstream results compared with this time last year. At the same time, the company is still struggling with a capital spending gap that's increasing its debt levels to their highest in over a decade. Hopefully, as oil prices improve, this funding gap will repair itself soon and the company can focus on spending within its means and trimming that debt load.
Investing in integrated oil and gas companies -- aka big oil -- in general over the past several decades has been a rather lucrative venture. That is, if you were willing to buy during the low times. With oil prices still on the very low side, today sure seems like one of those times to buy. So we asked three of our contributors what they view as the best big oil investment right now. Here's why they think Occidental Petroleum (OXY 1.06%), Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) (RDS.B), and ExxonMobil (XOM 0.10%) are the right names for your portfolio.

The best of both worlds

Matt DiLallo (Occidental Petroleum): Occidental Petroleum is a unique big oil stock. While it does not own refineries like most other integrated majors, Occidental does operate counter-cyclical chemicals assets that benefit from lower commodity prices. It also owns midstream and marketing assets that generate pretty steady cash flow. Meanwhile, a significant portion of its production comes from ultra low-decline assets, such as its enhanced oil recovery projects in the Permian Basin and the Al Hosen gas plant in the UAE. Because of the stability of these assets, Occidental does not have to invest as much capital as others to maintain its production. This lighter capital requirement has allowed it to preserve its balance sheet strength, enabling it to support a growing dividend.

That said, the company differs from most of its larger rivals in its growth potential. Thanks to its vast land position in the Permian Basin, Occidental Petroleum can deliver 5% to 8% annual production growth over the long term. That is a faster clip than the low single-digit growth rate at most other big oil companies. Meanwhile, it also has the flexibility to ramp its production growth rate up or down to respond to market conditions, which is adaptability its larger rivals do not have because the bulk of their investment dollars go toward major long-term capital projects.

What makes Occidental Petroleum the perfect big oil stock, in my opinion, is this blend of stable assets and upside potential from shale development in the Permian Basin. Because of this, the company is durable during the tough times, while delivering outsized growth when conditions improve.

The underdog among big oil stocks could be the one to own

Sean Williams (Royal Dutch Shell): Consider it the underdog of the bunch, but Royal Dutch Shell might just be the smartest big oil stock you can buy.

Royal Dutch Shell has some clear knocks against it, with the biggest being the largest amount of debt it's carrying around on its balance sheet following the $53 billion acquisition of BG Group, which was completed in February. As of the end of the second quarter, Shell had approximately $75 billion in net debt. Combined with paying a large premium for BG Group amid weaker crude and natural gas prices, Shell has been the target of much criticism in recent quarters.

However, this pessimism could be the perfect opportunity to grab a big oil stock at a nice discount. Shell is currently trading at just 6% above book value, and it's a company that regularly traded at twice its book value or higher over the past 10 years.

Though Shell's acquisition of BG Group has been a source of recent frustration, it's also likely to create ample opportunities for cash flow growth, improved margins, and bigger profits in the years that lie ahead. BG Group is asset-rich in natural gas and liquefied natural gas, instantly making Shell one of the largest gas players in the world. That's not such a bad thing considering that most developed countries are tightening their environment regulations surrounding coal, which could lead to improved opportunities for cleaner-burning natural gas and NGLs. As a whole, the deal expands Shell's production by about 20% and boosts its reserves by 25%, while giving the two companies an opportunity to save as much as $4.5 billion annually. Since most of Shell's annual revenue comes from the production side of the business, this acquisition should generate pretty quick returns to the bottom line.

Royal Dutch Shell is also being much smarter about how it spends its capital. After capital spending nearly hit $60 billion in 2013, Shell has essentially halved it to between $25 billion and $30 billion in 2016. Spending more wisely, coupled with its BG Group acquisition, is expected to improve its return on average capital employed to about 10% by the end of the decade, from 8% between 2013 and 2015, as well as quadruple to quintuple its organic annual cash flow to $20 billion-$25 billion.

Shell has created a natural-gas-heavy monster that can now withstand relatively low crude prices for an extended period of time, and it's rewarding shareholders with a 7.4% yield, which crushes its peers and is well over three times what you'd net in yield from owning an S&P 500 index fund. Royal Dutch Shell looks like a Big Oil play to strongly consider.

Stick with the best

Tyler Crowe (Exxon Mobil): Year in, year out, ExxonMobil never really wows investors with production growth or banner quarters of profits. What it does do, though, is continue to generate the best returns in the business over the long term. It does that by being a much more conservatively run business that green-lights new development projects at much lower oil prices than the rest of the business. Back in 2014-2015, when most of its peers were projecting long-term oil prices in the $70 per barrel range for their investment decisions, Exxon's was closer to $55 per barrel. That's a big reason so many others have had to take billions in writedowns over the past year while Exxon hasn't: Its assets were built for much lower prices.

What also makes ExxonMobil that much more attractive as a long-term investment is the flexibility it has in its portfolio. For the most part, ExxonMobil's peers' success will be anchored to one or two types of development, be it deepwater, LNG, oils sands, or shale. ExxonMobil, on the other hand, has significant positions in all four of these types of production, and that will give it a ton of options to develop the most cost-effective strategies over the next several decades. As it has stated on its recent investor presentations, it's making a slight shift toward shale over the next couple years because the economics for it are so much better than other sources right now. This is something few other big oil companies can do.

Granted, shares of ExxonMobil are always going to carry a premium to other integrated oil and gas companies, but that has been the case for decades for the very reason that it produces better returns. Still, at 2.1 times tangible book value, shares are still cheap compared to the company's long-term historical average, and it suggests there is a bit of room for the stock to run over the long term.
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The U.S. energy industry is in a state of transition, and there may be no company whose situation exemplifies that more than Duke Energy (DUK -0.87%). As recently as last year, Mother Jones ranked it the dirtiest power company in the U.S., primarily based on the large number of coal power plants it operates. But that report was based on 2013 data, and the Duke Energy of 2016 is rapidly changing along with the rest of the industry. Formerly dirty utilities like Duke Energy, AEP (AEP -1.65%), and Southern Company (SO -1.30%), which were on the top 5 of the dirtiest companies list, are now all leaders in renewable energy. But Duke's transition may be the most surprising given its investments in coal over the last few decades.

As a power supplier, it is still reliant on coal and natural gas to serve customers, but it's also one of the biggest renewable energy owners in the U.S. And as growth in the utility sector diminishes, we will likely see the move to renewable energy accelerate in coming years.

Betting big on renewable energy

Today, about 2.4 GW out of Duke Energy's 52.7 MW energy generating capacity comes from wind power and solar power. The vast majority of that was acquired in the last few years, and those investments are going to continue. It recently opened bidding for 400 MW of solar capacity in the Carolinas, aiming to meet a mandate that the company meet 12.5% of retail sales from renewables or energy efficiency by 2021.

AEP has a portfolio of 3.1 GW of wind and solar when you include power purchase agreements, out of a total of 31 GW capacity. Southern Company has announced 4 GW of new renewable projects in the last four years compared to its 44 GW of capacity overall. With figures like that, it's not hard to see the trend toward renewable energy moving across the industry.

At this point, moving into green energy isn't a political or environmental move for these utilities: They're buying renewable assets for the money.

When a wind or solar power plant is built, it normally signs a power purchase agreement with the local utility for 20 years or longer. This creates a dynamic where cash flows are easily predictable for the project owner, creating a bond-like investment. Utilities can then use the low-cost capital from their consistent utility business to generate strong returns on the projects. Renewable energy is a great investment for utilities.

The recent attractiveness of renewables as an investment is combining with the aging of our coal power plant infrastructure to propel a huge transition in what utilities look like today.

Getting out of the coal business

There are very few coal power plants being built today, and the bigger trend is coal plants being shut down because they're no longer cost effective. In 2014, Duke Energy shut down the 1.4 GW W.C. Beckjord Station coal plant, and this year the Wabash River Generating Station was closed.

Its 376 MW coal plant in Asheville, North Carolina, is also going to be decommissioned, and replace with two new 280 MW natural gas plants and more solar energy.

In short, Duke Energy is shutting down the dirtiest plants in its arsenal and replacing them with wind and solar. That's a sign of where energy is trending today.

Driving the renewable energy future

When dirty coal-burning companies become the biggest buyers of renewable energy projects in the country, you know the face of the energy business is changing. And that's exactly what's happened. Duke Energy and counterparts like AEP and Southern Company are investing billions to buy, build, and purchase electricity from renewable energy power plants. And with the nearly guaranteed returns coming from them, they're a better bet than aging coal-fired plants in today's energy business.
With the oil and gas industry back on the mend, there are ample opportunities for investors to benefit from the upturn. Some of those opportunities are more speculative than others, but one of the surer bets is to buy into big oil. These integrated giants have the double benefit of seeing decent gains from the rise in oil and gas prices, but they also throw off lots of cash to investors in the form of dividends.

So, we asked three of our contributors to each highlight a big-oil stock they see as a great investment today for the industry turnaround and beyond. Here's a quick run-down as to why they picked Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX), Total SA (NYSE: TOT), and Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY).

Image source: Getty Images.

Moving the oil and making the products means less risk, solid prospects

Jason Hall(Phillips 66): The most risky part of investing in oil stocks is how quickly oil prices can fall and shock the entire industry. And since the shock is first -- and often longest -- felt at oil producers, a great way to reduce your risk is to avoid companies involved in oil production. It just so happens that Phillips 66 is a big-oil superstar that does all of the things that happen to oilaftersomeone else has spent the money to find it and drill for it.

While its more vertically integrated peers typically operate exploration & production segments, Phillips 66 -- since splitting fromConocoPhillipsin 2012 -- is a refiner, refined products marketer, midstream/logistics provider, and petrochemicals manufacturer. This structure, for most investors, makes it an ideal company to buy and hold without having to worry as much about the gyrations of oil prices.

Since the company doesn't produce the products, it buys oil and natural gas to refine into things like gasoline and jet fuel, and to make plastics and chemicals used by other industries. But in general terms, it's able to pass higher input prices along to its customers.

Management has done a solid job investing for growth while still focusing on its shareholders. The company has steadily grown its dividend, while also repurchasing 17% of shares outstanding since going public.

If you're looking for an ideal big-oil stock for the long term, Phillips 66 is as perfect a choice as you'll find.

Emerging as the best in the business

Tyler Crowe (Total SA):Total is rarely mentioned as one of the top dogs in the big-oil business. Its smaller size and high exposure to offshore oil and gas suggest that it would have higher costs than most of its peers and would generate lower rates of return. That isn't the case, though; the company has shown during this most recent oil market downturn to be one of the better-positioned companies for the next few years and beyond.

Not only has the company been able to grow its oil and gas production by 14% over the past two years, but it has also announced that it can cover all of its capital spending and dividend payments with cash from operations with oil at less than $50 a barrel. Only one other integrated oil major, ExxonMobil, claims it can accomplish this feat at such a low oil price.

Also encouraging are some of the moves the company is making for its future. Total has been very aggressive in signing production and operation contracts with national oil companies in the Middle East. National oil companies in this region have vast reserves but don't necessarily have the technology or development capital to access them, so Total gets a cut of these very low-cost barrels in exchange for developing the fields. Total is also being very aggressive with developing a greater refining and retail presence in the Middle East and Africa, two regions where refined product consumption is growing fast and competition is rather low.

Even today, with oil prices at $55 a barrel, Total is producing the best returns on equity in the business. With its plans to grow production another 4% this year and further development of these growing product markets, it's pretty easy to make the case that Total is the best among the big-oil bunch as of late.

A stable foundation with plenty of upside

Matt DiLallo (Occidental Petroleum): The draw of investing in a typical big oil stock is that they tend to be safer investments. These companies often operate both oil and gas production assets as well as counter-cyclical refining and marketing assets, which enable them to generate steadier cash flow and consistent dividend growth. The trade-off for this consistency is a much slower growth rate compared to independent exploration and production companies.

That said, there is one company that seems to offer the best of both worlds: Occidental Petroleum. While Occidental Petroleum doesn't own any refining assets, it does own a chemicals business that benefits from lower commodity prices and generates gobs of free cash flow. Further, it owns several assets that deliver stable production, such as enhanced oil recovery facilities in the Permian Basin and a stake in the Al Hosn gas project in the Middle East.

Occidental Petroleum compliments the relative stability of those assets with the enormous growth potential of its Permian Basin resource position. The company controls a vast legacy acreage position across the Basin, which it has started to develop using newer horizontal drilling techniques. This shift has proven to be a game-changer for the company, which believes it can grow production from this resource by a 20% to 30% compound annual growth rate over the next three years. That would enable Occidental to deliver companywide production growth of 5% to 8% per year, which is a higher growth rate than most other big-oil companies. Further, it can achieve that growth while maintaining a strong balance sheet and paying a consistently growing dividend. It's that unique combination of stability and a faster growth rate that makes Occidental the perfect big-oil stock, in my opinion.

10 stocks we like better thanWal-MartWhen investing geniuses David and TomGardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter theyhave run for over a decade, the Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*

David and Tomjust revealed what they believe are theten best stocksfor investors to buy right now and Wal-Mart wasn't one of them! That's right -- theythink these 10 stocks are even better buys.

Click hereto learn about these picks!

*StockAdvisor returns as of December 12, 2016The author(s) may have a position in any stocks mentioned.

Jason Hall owns shares of Phillips 66. Matt DiLallo owns shares of ConocoPhillips and Phillips 66. Tyler Crowe owns shares of ExxonMobil and Total. The Motley Fool owns shares of ExxonMobil. The Motley Fool recommends Total. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Image source: Chipotle.

It's hard to tell what is more out of favor these days --Chipotle Mexican Grill(NYSE: CMG), the stock or the restaurant. Shares of the fast-casual restaurant chain hit fresh three-year lows after posting another rough quarter.

Sales are falling. Margins are getting creamed. Store-level popularity continues to fade, with the chain now rattling off four-straight quarters of double-digit declines in comparable-restaurant sales. It's a tough time to be Chipotle, but the former market darling isn't standing still. Let's go over a few of the ways that the burrito roller is trying to woo diners back to its assembly lines.

1. Chewing on chorizo

Chorizo -- Chipotle's first new protein since the tofu-based Sofritas hit the menu in 2014 -- went nationwide earlier this month. The spicy chicken and pork sausage is quickly gaining traction, accounting for 7% of sales.

Chipotle isn't the type to take new additions lightly because it alters its assembly-line setup. However, giving folks a savory option that most rival burrito chains aren't offering is important.

2. Sweet endings

Chorizo may not be the newest menu item at Chipotle for long. The chain's been quietly testing two different types of dessert. It will roll one of them out.

There's no official word on what the two meal enders being considered may be. Churros is an obvious choice, but it poses prep challenges. The more likely dessert candidates are pre-made treats along the lines of flan, key lime pie, or tres leches, which can be kept in the cooler until they're ordered. The key draw to dessert is that it would be incremental to sales.

3. Shifting focus on sister concepts

It may come as a shock to see Chipotle announce that it's giving up on ShopHouse. The Asian fast-casual concept expanded slowly to 15 locations across three markets, but Chipotle has concluded that ShopHouse doesn't have the ability to support compelling unit economics. It will seek out strategic alternatives, something that should help it focus more on its struggling namesake business.

However, Chipotle has a new toy to play with. The first Tasty Made burger joint opened in Ohio on Thursday. It will serve up burger, fries, and shakes, hoping to cash in on the "better burger" craze. It's a more familiar concept than the ethnic complexities that ShopHouse offered, making it an easier chain to expand quickly.

4. Take two tablets

Long lines aren't much of a problem at Chipotle these days, but the chain's already working on what it can do to improve the customer experience when the long lines return. There's a big push to improve mobile ordering, as digital ordering only accounts for 6% of its sales at the moment.

Chipotle has created a second assembly line to piece together mobile and catering orders to help speed up the process of walk-ins, but it's also experimenting with tablets to see if folks -- facing long lines as they enter -- would prefer to peck out their orders on the mobile devices and head to the register.

5. Life after Chiptopia

The three-month Chiptopia rewards program has come and gone, and while it didn't do much to drum up sales -- comps were still a negative 21.9% during the quarter -- it did help the chain load up on contact information of its most loyal customers.

Chipotle got 6 million of its customers to participate in the program, and 2.5 million of them came back at least three times in any given month to win a free entree. The program was supposed to be temporary, but Chipotle's move to tie registrations and rewards to mobile phones, now has given it easy access to millions of customers. It's been pushing out mobile marketing missives on a weekly basis, promoting items like chorizo's arrival, or Halloween's upcoming Boorito promotion, where folks in costume on Monday after 3 p.m. can buy an entree for just three bucks.

A more permanent loyalty rewards program will come eventually, but for now, Chipotle has a wider promotional net. With the chain also evaluating what would be its first national television commercial campaign, shaving corporate and new unit buildout costs, and getting ready to introduce a new mobile ordering platform that doesn't require an app download, Chipotle isn't standing still. It doesn't have much of a choice.

A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here.

Rick Munarriz has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Chipotle Mexican Grill. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Image source: The Motley Fool.

The best thing about JPMorgan Chase's (NYSE: JPM) stock has little to do with the stock itself, and more to do with the underlying fundamentals of the business. More specifically, if you buy shares of the nation's biggest bank by assets, you'll be aligned with one of the best bankers alive today.

Getting to know Jamie Dimon

JPMorgan Chase chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon didn't follow the conventional path. After graduating near the top of his class at Harvard Business School, Dimon turned down some of the most coveted jobs in the financial industry, including the opportunity to work at Goldman Sachs.

He instead chose to go and work under Sandy Weill, the president of American Express at the time and a well-known financial services empire builder. Weill was soon ousted from his post at the credit card giant and, along with Dimon, took control of a consumer credit company. They then expanded it over the years until, eventually, after merging with Citicorp in 1998, the company became what's known today as Citigroup.

JPMorgan Chase chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon. Image source: JPMorgan Chase.

Dimon became president at Citigroup, but was himself ousted by Weill not long after the merger, which created the first true universal bank in the United States since the Glass-Steagall Act was passed in the midst of the Great Depression. Dimon wasn't fired because he did anything wrong, but rather because he refused to promote Weill's daughter to a position Dimon didn't believe she was qualified for.

After a brief hiatus, Dimon was hired to run Bank One, a regional bank based in Chicago at the time that ranked fifth in the country in terms of assets. He turned Bank One around, boosting not only its efficiency but also morale. He did the latter in part by investing a substantial part of his net worth in the bank's stock upon taking the helm.

Dimon joins JPMorgan Chase

Fast-forward to 2004, whenJPMorgan Chase approached Bank One about a potential merger. The deal was attractive to JPMorgan Chase not only because it would give the Wall Street bank access to Bank One's plentiful retail deposit base, but also because it secured Dimon as the successor to William Harrison atop the combined firms.

This was a prudent move. Dimon proceeded to improve the operations at JPMorgan Chase, much like he did at Bank One. And he was the single most important reason that the New York City-based bank not only survived the financial crisis of 2008, but actually thrived because of it.

At the darkest points of the crisis, the government came to JPMorgan Chase twice for assistance (most other banks went in the opposite direction, hat in hand to the government). In March 2008, JPMorgan Chase rescued Bear Stearns, the fifth-largest stand-alone investment bank at the time. And six months later, JPMorgan Chase came to the rescue again, taking over the failed savings and loan giant Washington Mutual.

These moves, combined with impressive organic growth under Dimon's watch, enabled JPMorgan Chase to climb once again to the apex of American finance, after years of lingering behind Citigroup and Bank of America. To this end, JPMorgan Chase is now the biggest bank in America by assets. And if you include assets under custody, it oversees around $30 trillion worth of on- and off-balance-sheet assets.

And I'm not the only one who thinks highly of Dimon. Warren Buffett, one of the greatest bank investors in American history, praises the bank CEO regularly. Most recently, Buffett described an interview that Dimon sat for as "off the charts." And while Buffett's company, Berkshire Hathaway, doesn't own shares of JPMorgan Chase, Buffett himself does. It was recently announced as well that one of Buffett's lieutenants at Berkshire has agreed to join JPMorgan Chase's board of directors.

If you're considering buying shares of JPMorgan Chase and are wondering about the best reason to do so, I'd say it's none other than Jamie Dimon.

A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here.

John Maxfield owns shares of Bank of America and Goldman Sachs. The Motley Fool recommends American Express and Bank of America. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Image source: Getty Images.

Investors who buy shares of Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI) at around the current price can lock in a roughly 2.4% dividend yield. While that rate is slightly better than the market average, it trails many of the company's closest peers. That said, the paltry payout, by pipeline company standards, could be in for a big boost come 2018 if everything goes according to plan. Here's a look at how much investors could be collecting in the future.

The pivot point

Kinder Morgan's dividend used to be much higher. However, credit concerns caused the company to cut its dividend by 75% late last year. The company chose to divert the cash it was sending to shareholders to pay down debt and fund its growth spending. That approach seems to be working. With the help of a major strategic joint venture, the company has cut its leverage from debt at 5.6 times EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) at the end of last year to 5.3 times as of the end of the third quarter.

While that is progress, the company's leverage ratio is still above its target of 5.0. According to analysts, Kinder Morgan can organically hit that goal by mid-2018, as a combination of incremental cash flow from new projects grows EBITDA while excess cash flow trims away at debt. What's more, the company could speed up the process if it signs another strategic joint venture agreement for one of its large capital projects. According to comments by its management team, Kinder Morganis currently considering joint venture options for both its $2 billion Elba Liquefaction Project and its $5.4 billion Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project. A joint venture of either project could bring in much-needed cash for debt reduction while freeing up cash flow that it would have earmarked for these projects, giving it the capacity to boost the dividend even sooner.

Image source: TransCanada.

Flipping the switch

While the actual timing of a dividend increase is uncertain, one thing that analysts agree on is that when Kinder Morgan raises its dividend, it will be a doozy. The consensus estimate is that the company will have the financial capacity to double its dividend from its current run rate of $0.125 per share each quarter ($0.50 annually) to $0.25 per quarter ($1.00 annually). Meanwhile, some analysts are even more bullish, with Raymond James, for example, forecasting a 130% increase in 2018, to $1.15 per share.

The conservative estimate that the dividend will double in 2018 implies that investors buying today could own a stock that yields 4.6% in two years' time. To put that in perspective, we will compare that potential yield with the 2018 dividend projections of Canadian rivals Enbridge (NYSE: ENB) and TransCanada (NYSE: TRP). Currently, Enbridge plans to grow its 3.7% payout by 15% in 2017 and then by an average of 11% annually through 2024, while TransCanada projects to grow its 3.8% yield by an average of 9% annually through 2020. Here's what those projections imply for the companies' respective 2018 payouts:

Data sources: Kinder Morgan, Enbridge, and TransCanada. DPS = Dividend per share.

As the chart shows, Kinder Morgan would basically pay an in-line dividend in 2018 if all three companies hit their current growth assumptions. However, it could start trailing its peers if it is not able to deliver double-digit growth in 2019 and beyond, which is what its rivals currently forecast.

Kinder Morgan's ability to achieve that high bar would be tougher to meet if the company did indeed sign one or more joint venture agreements to pay down debt quicker. That is because the company's current project backlog of $13 billion is much smaller than the more than $20 billion firm project backlogs of both Enbridge and TransCanada. Furthermore, both of those companies have a growing supply of visible potential projects in development that they can use to fuel dividend growth over the next decade, which is something Kinder Morgan does not have right now.

Investor takeaway

Given the way things look right now, Kinder Morgan has the potential to grow its dividend substantially in 2018. But even if it did, the company's payout would only be in line with its Canadian rivals, which are forecasting healthy growth over the next two years. In addition, they could outgrow their American rival over the next several years given their larger growth backlogs.

That said, while the visibility surrounding Kinder Morgan's dividend growth beyond a potentially big raise in 2018 is somewhat poor, that does not mean the company cannot find compelling growth opportunities to fuel robust dividend growth. A major acquisition or several significant project wins could tilt the balance in its favor.

A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here.

Matt DiLallo owns shares of Kinder Morgan and has the following options: short January 2018 $30 puts on Kinder Morgan and long January 2018 $30 calls on Kinder Morgan. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Kinder Morgan. 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.
Few issues are as divisive in American politics as the right to keep and bear arms. Almost everyone has an opinion, and the issue often gets parsed with no gray: You either see an escalation of violence in society and believe access to guns needs to be restricted, or you look at the very same situation and see a crying need for individuals to be able to defend themselves.

Image source: Ninian Reid via Flickr.

Yet violent crime is actually down even as the number of guns sold grows exponentially.FBI data show that violent crime is lower today than at any time since 1970, while the murder rate is the lowest it's been since the early 1960s.At the same time, gun ownership and demand to purchase guns have seemingly rarely been greater.

The Pew Research Center found recently that 44% of all U.S. homes had a gun in them, while the pace of the FBI's criminal background checks ofthose wanting to buy a gun is set to break all-time records this year.

Data source: Federal Bureau of Investigation. Chart by author.

Still, the number of "mass shootings," where four or more people are wounded or killed is also growing by leaps and bounds. Over the past seven years, there have been 35 mass shootings documented, more than the number of incidents recorded during the previous 16 years.

As Election Day nears, the presidential candidates have laid out where they stand on this hot topic. Because the next person to occupy the White House will have a big say on whether gun rights are restricted or expanded, today we'll take a facts-only look at how Republican Party presidential nominee Donald Trump says he'll address the contentious issue.

1. Uphold the Constitution

To begin, Trump sees the meaning of the Second Amendment as being unambiguous. He says the language declaring "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed" is clear-cut, and that the Constitution didn't create the right, but exists to prevent the government from taking it away.

He notes in a campaign document: "[T]he Second Amendment's purpose is to guarantee our right to defend ourselves and our families. This is about self-defense, plain and simple."

These themes are echoed in Pew research, with 58% of the public believing gun ownership in this country does more to protect people from becoming victims of crime than to put people's safety at risk. Pew found in 2013 that almost half (48%) of gun owners had their weapon(s) for protection. That was a big change from 1999, when 49% said the reason they owned a gun was hunting.

2. Defend "America's first freedom"

Where the framers of the Constitution enumerated in the First Amendment many important, individual rights, including freedom of religion, speech, and the press, they followed that with a means by which the people could protect them: the Second Amendment and the right to own guns.

Trump points out that the U.S. is the only country in the world that has expressly protected its citizens' right to own a gun, which is why it has long been called "America's first freedom" -- it protects all the other rights and freedoms we enjoy.

Trump then lays out four ways he will continue to protect that freedom.

The late Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia. Image source: Stephen Masker via Flickr.

3. Shape the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has a lot of leeway in determining just how far our rights go and with the death of Justice Antonin Scalia earlier this year, the next president will be appointing at least one justice to the court, and his or her views on gun rights will play a pivotal role in being nominated.

Scalia was an ardent defender of gun rights. His landmark opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller established the absolute constitutional right of individuals to purchase and own firearms, but Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton has called the Heller decision "wrong." Trump says his court nominees (and he's provided a list of candidates he would consider) "will abide by the rule of law and the Constitution of the United States that includes upholding the Second Amendment."

4. Revamp the mental health system

In his campaign document, Trump promises to "fix our broken mental health system," stating in that section: "All of the tragic mass murders that occurred in the past several years have something in common -- there were red flags that were ignored. We cant allow that to continue. We need to expand treatment programs, because most people with mental health problems arent violent, they just need help. But for those who are violent, a danger to themselves or others, we need to get them off the street before they can terrorize our communities."

Trump calls for expanding treatment programs and reforming the laws to make it easier to take preventive action.

Image source: Getty Images.

5. Enforce existing laws

One of the hallmarks of the gun-control debate has been the push for so-called "common-sense gun laws." Yet there are numerous laws on the books already that go unused, whether because they're considered too vague, the bar for proof is too high, or there's a lack of resources to prosecute using them.Trump says it's not that more laws are needed, but rather that we need to use the ones we have more effectively.

Trump also says he wants to bring back and expand programs such as Virginia's Project Exile, which made it mandatory that a person serve at least five years in jail for crimes committed with a gun. He notes that former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder dismissed such laws as an ineffective "cookie-cutter" approach to crime, but Trump deems it a success when murders committed with a gun plunge 60%, as he said happened in Richmond, Va.

6. Defend existing gun owner rights

The most popular firearm sold today is the AR-15 semiautomatic rifle. While attempts to ban its sale have been attempted, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives under President Barack Obama tried a different tack and sought to ban the 5.56 mm M855 "green tip" round, one of the most popular rounds for the weapon. It's been suggested that by banning the ammunition you can effectively ban the gun, too.

Trump says the type of ammunition and the size of the magazine that can hold it should not be dictated to law-abiding gun owners. Moreover, the current background check system isn't really useful in deterring crime, according to Trump, since criminals often don't get their guns through legal channels. A better system is needed, one that also ensures the states are maintaining their criminal and mental health records, says the candidate, who said he owns a gun and has a concealed-carry permit. Trump also calls for a national right-to-carry law that would make a concealed-carry permit valid in all 50 states.

Image source: Flickr via Marc Nozell.

Will he do it?

Trump's positions on gun rights have changed over the years. Whether he's "evolved" or is pandering to position himself opposite of his opponent, only time will tell.

But in his 2000 book The America We Deserve, he praised a ban on so-called assault weapons, though he now opposes it, while also callingfor longer waiting periods before being able to buy a gun and saying people on no-fly lists should also be unable to buy guns. His platform is silent on those positions today, though he does, as noted, believe the current background check system is ineffectual.

There are fewer than two weeks before voters decide whether these positions are good for the country. Depending upon who is elected, it could be a very different world for gun owners come next January.

A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here.

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With the troubled 787 Dreamliner program finally starting to turn a profit, Boeing's (NYSE: BA) most pressing challenge now is filling its open delivery slots for the current-generation 777 over the next few years. In the past two years, order activity for the 777 has slowed dramatically.

Boeing's management has admitted that it will be hard for the company to meet its order goals for the 777. However, Boeing isn't conceding yet. Let's take a look at whether it has a realistic chance of getting the orders it needs to avoid another deep production cut.

Order activity grinds to a halt

Since the beginning of 2015, a combination of low oil prices, currency volatility, and subpar global growth has taken a big bite out of the wide-body market. For example, Boeing only won 38 firm orders for the current-generation 777 in 2015, compared to a goal of 40 to 60.

Boeing hasn't received enough 777 orders recently. Image source: Boeing.

As a result, Boeing admitted last year that it might have to reduce 777 production to seven per month from the current rate of 8.3 per month. In early 2016, it confirmed that it would cut production to that level at the beginning of 2017. Moreover, Boeing plans to deliver just 5.5 units per month in 2018 and 2019, as it will start building some 777Xs on the same production line by then.

Yet as 2016 progressed, analysts started to doubt that even this reduced target was achievable. As of the end of September, Boeing had just six new net orders for the 777 this year. Last week, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenberg acknowledged that Boeing may have to reduce deliveries to as little as 3.5 per month in 2018 and 2019.

Based on Muilenberg's comments, there are about 40 open slots for the current-generation 777 in the 2017-2018 period, assuming no further production cuts. In addition, Boeing would probably need another 100 orders for 2019 and beyond.

A year-end order flurry?

Still, there have been some hopeful signs. Earlier this month, Qatar Airways ordered 10 more 777-300ERs. Just this week, SWISS ordered a single additional 777-300ER. That brings the year-to-date order total to 17.

More orders could potentially be finalized soon. Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) announced last month that it plans to add 15 more 777-300ERs to its fleet. Boeing hasn't reported an order from Saudia yet, so it's not clear whether these are all new orders.

Iran Air also hopes to acquire 15 new 777-300ERs. It reached a tentative agreement with Boeing earlier this year and the U.S. government has now approved the sale. However, lining up financing remains a major obstacle due to ongoing financial sanctions against Iran. There's also a lot of political opposition within the U.S. to doing business with Iran, so the deal could potentially be torpedoed at any moment.

Time to replace those 747s!

Aside from these already-rumored potential sales, Boeing could look to current operators of the 747-400 for new 777 orders. The in-service fleet of 747s has been shrinking rapidly. Rising maintenance costs and declining availability of spare parts could encourage airlines to accelerate their 747 retirements.

Many airlines are retiring their 747-400s in a hurry. Image source: The Motley Fool.

Many of the top operators of passenger 747s have already ordered enough planes to replace their 747 fleets. But some -- such as KLM, China Airlines, and Thai Airways -- might need to order a few more planes to replace the last of their 747s.

There are also a lot of active 747-400 freighters, and many of their operators haven't planned for their replacement yet. The 747 offers some unique advantages over the 777 as a freighter, due to its nose-loading capabilities. Moreover, fuel efficiency is less of a concern for cargo airlines. Nevertheless, Boeing could potentially pick up a few 777F orders as 747 replacements, especially if fuel prices rise in the next year or two.

Will Emirates order more 777s?

Middle Eastern airline giant Emirates is by far the largest 777 customer in the world, accounting for more than 10% of all orders for the current-generation models. As of last year, it was looking at ordering up to 15 additional current-generation 777s, but it hasn't pulled the trigger yet.

If Emirates sees incremental growth opportunities in the next year or two, it could order more 777s for delivery in 2018 or 2019. It could even replace some of its older 777s just to keep its fleet age young. This year, it is retiring nine 777s.

Emirates may be interested in buying even more 777s. Image source: The Motley Fool.

A fleet refresh could be aided by the growing market for secondhand 777-300ERs. For example, British Airways is interested in acquiring some used 777-300ERs to help replace its aging 747 fleet, rather than buying any more new 777s.

Anybody else?

FedEx could be another source of incremental orders for Boeing's 777F in the coming years. In fact, the company plans to buy at least 7 777Fs that are not in Boeing's firm order book yet. It could order even more if rising fuel prices or maintenance costs make it advisable to accelerate the retirement of its older three-engine MD-10s and MD-11s.

Boeing could also nab some orders in emerging markets if air travel demand grows faster than expected, as the 777 is one of the few wide-body models available on relatively short notice.

The bottom line is that aside from potential orders of about 15 planes each from Iran Air, Saudia, and Emirates, there aren't many prospects for big 777 orders out there. There are a large number of potential sale opportunities, but they are mostly for deals of a few airplanes each -- or even just one, as in the case of the recent SWISS order.

Unless Boeing has an amazing success rate in closing these deals, it's not going to get enough orders to maintain the current production plan. That said, if it can seal the relatively large Iran Air and Saudia deals in the next few months, Boeing should at least be able to avoid the worst-case scenario of reducing deliveries all the way to 3.5 per month in 2018 and 2019.

A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here.

Adam Levine-Weinberg owns shares of Boeing. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends FedEx. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Image source: Getty Images.

You don't become a billionaire investing in the markets without considerable skill. Hedge fund billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller has the necessary skill and while his trading-driven approach to investing isn't how we do things at The Motley Fool, looking to Druckenmiller's unique past is still both interesting and educational.

Billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller, who founded and led Duquesne Capital and was a protege and longtime colleague of superinvestor George Soros, has established a long track record of profiting from macroeconomic trends, and his presentation on U.S. monetary policy from earlier this year, "The Endgame," has generated controversy worldwide.

Zerohedge.com said Druckenmiller's presentation "may have been his most bearish fire and brimstone sermon yet ... Druckenmiller said that while the Fed and policymakers have no endgame, markets do -- hinting that one is rapidly approaching ... " Forbes reported that Druckenmiller recommended gold.

Investors will want a peek at the stocks Druckenmiller holds, but before we get to that, let's examine the path he took to minting his hedge fund billions.

Inside Druckenmiller's investing style

Druckenmiller's journey to investing greatness certainly didn't follow a traditional path. After graduating from Bowdoin College with a degree in economics, Druckenmiller left his studies toward a Ph.D. in economics at the University of Michigan in 1977 for a position as an oil analyst at Pittsburgh National Bank, the forerunner of today's PNC Financial Services Group.

A star in the making, Druckenmiller rose to become the bank's head of research within a year of joining the company. From there, Druckenmiller founded Duquesne Capital in 1981, the hedge fund he would oversee in various capacities until his official retirement from professional money management in 2010. In 1988, Druckenmiller began his professional relationship with George Soros at the latter's Quantum Fund, for which Soros is best-known.

Soros and Druckenmiller employ a similar top-down style of investing. In its most basic form, top-down investing involves trading long or short positions in stocks, bonds, futures, and currencies based on one's views of likely macroeconomic changes. By far, the best-known example of Druckenmiller and Soros' top-down investing style was their combined effort to short the British pound sterling in 1992. This single trade, in which the inherent instability of the fixed exchange rate between the British pound and the German deutschmank was broken by short-selling from hedge funds, reportedly netted Soros a $1 billion personal gain. Druckenmiller also served as the portfolio manager for other notable short-selling efforts, including correct bets against many East Asian currencies ahead of the Asian financial crisis in 1997.

Analyzing Druckenmiller's portfolio

Even though Druckenmiller retired from professional fund management years ago, the hedge fund guru still maintains a family office to manage his fortune. Per SEC rules, any fund with over $100 million in assets under management must file a Form 13F each quarter. Given Druckenmiller's personal fortune is estimated at $4.4 billion, his Duquesne Family Office provides investors with a snapshot into Druckenmiller's investing thinking. Here are his top 10 long public equity holdings as of the end of June.

Data source: SEC filings.

It's critical to note that Druckenmiller's macroeconomics-driven investment style involves using a mix of securities and long and short exposure. Thus, you should assume that this is not a complete representation of his investment views or positions. Some of these long equity positions could easily be part of more sophisticated trades.

That being said, the overarching theme that shines through here is Druckenmiller's bullishness on beaten-down commodity stocks. In fact, Halliburton(NYSE: HAL), Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX), Deere & Company (NYSE: DE), and Alcoa (NYSE: AA) are all cyclical stocks that have underperformed the S&P 500 to varying degrees over the past two years.

DE data by YCharts.

However, the first-half rebound in many commodity prices has helped ignite a rally in shares of cyclical, commodity-driven companies. On average, shares of Halliburton, Alcoa, Deere & Co., and Freeport-McMoRan have risen 23.4% year to date.

This analysis also merits a brief word of caution. Druckenmiller's investing style is that of a top-down trader, someone who moves in and out of his holdings as opportunities dictate. The Form 13F that detailed Druckenmiller's above holdings represents a snapshot of his portfolio over three months ago. Druckenmiller could have already sold his stakes in Deere, Halliburton, Alcoa, Freeport-McMoRan, or any of the other stocks detailed here.

Either way, the fact that Druckenmiller was able to identify and presumably profit from this year's rally in commodity prices is just one more example of a unique skill set that made this macro trader a billionaire. His investing style doesn't necessarily jive with The Motley Fool's long-term buy-and-hold approach, but it is certainly interesting to explore.

A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here.

Andrew Tonner has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends AMZN and FB. The Motley Fool owns shares of FCX and HAL. The Motley Fool is short DE. 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.
Just days before Halloween, Chris Hemsworth shares his biggest costume regret.

On Thursday, the 33-year-old actor posted a photo of himself dressed as his "Avengers" character posing alongside "Thor: Ragnorak's" director Taika Waititi. In the caption, Hemsworth announced that he would be supporting the Standing Rock protests in the U.S. "Standing with those who are fighting to protect their sacred land and water. #nodapl #waterislife #mniwiconi @taikawaititi," he wrote.

PHOTOS: Zac Efron, Chris and Liam Hemsworth, and More Male Stars Wear Nail Polish for a Good Cause

Hemsworth also expressed his deep regret for once dressing up as a Native American. "I would also like to take this opportunity to raise something that has been bothering me for sometime. Last New Year's Eve I was at a Lone Ranger-themed party where some of us, myself included, wore the traditional dress of First Nations people," he explained. "I was stupidly unaware of the offense this may have caused and the sensitivity around this issue. I sincerely and unreservedly apologize to all First Nations people for this thoughtless action."

The father of three added, "I now appreciate that there is a great need for a deeper understanding of the complex and extensive issues facing indigenous communities. I hope that in highlighting my own ignorance I can help in some small way."

MORE: Vanessa Hudgens Accused of Cultural Appropriation After Sharing Dreamcatcher Pic

Hemsworth isn't the only celebrity who's protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline that's being built at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota. His "Avengers"co-star, Mark Ruffalo, has also joined the efforts and Shailene Woodley was recently arrested for protesting at the site of where the pipeline is to be built.

"For me, it's not about helping the environment or saving the environment," the 24-year-old actress told ET after her arrest. "It's about recognizing that if I want my children to know a world where Manhattan isn't all the way under water -- because guess what, ladies and gentlemen, that world is not too distant and it's a reality that we must start facing and waking up to -- [then] we've gotta work our a**es off now to make that happen."
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called on the FBI to release "all the information that it has" about the ongoing probe into her use of a private email server after the bureau's director confirmed it was investigating whether there is classified information in new emails uncovered during a probe of disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner.

"Weve heard these rumors, we dont know what to believe," Clinton told reporters during a brief news conference in Iowa Friday evening. "And Im sure there will be even more rumors. Thats why it is incumbent upon the FBI to tell us what theyre talking about."

FBI Director James Comey's letter informing Congress that investigators were taking another look at whether classified information had been mishandled constituted a political earthquake just 11 days before Election Day.

"Even Director Comey noted that this new information may not be significant," Clinton said, "so lets get it out."

At a rally in Iowa, Trump said Clinton "tried to politicize" the investigation by incorrectly claiming that Comey only sent his letter to congressional Republicans. In fact, the letter was sent to congressional leaders from both parties.

"Another Clinton lie," said Trump, who added, "the FBI would have never reopened his case at this time unless it were an egregious criminal offense."

Earlier, in New Hampshire, the real estate mogul said Clinton was guilty of corruption "on a scale we have never seen before."

Democrats joined the criticism of Comey, suggesting the FBI director was putting a thumb on the scale ahead of the Nov. 8 election.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said she was "shocked" by Comey's letter.

"Without knowing how many emails are involved, who wrote them, when they were written or their subject matter, it's impossible to make any informed judgment on this development," said Feinstein. "The FBI has a history of extreme caution near Election Day so as not to influence the results. Today's break from that tradition is appalling."

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., and Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., said in a note to Comey and Attorney General Loretta Lynch that Comey's letter "provided such limited and vague information that it allowed rampant speculation, numerous leaks, and wild accusations" and called on the FBI and Justice Department to "issue a more complete accounting of the details behind this letter."

Republicans renewed their criticism of Clinton, who appeared to have been cleared by Comey in July when he said his agents didn't find evidence to support a criminal prosecution or direct evidence that Clinton's private server was hacked.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said Clinton had "nobody but herself to blame" and renewed his call for intelligence officials to suspend classified briefings for her.

"[Clinton] was trusted with some of our nation's most important secrets, and she betrayed that trust by mishandling highly classified information," Ryan said.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, sounded a similar note in a statement of his own, saying the FBI's "previous half-hearted investigation of Hillary Clinton did serious damage to [its] reputation, and this latest revelation affords the FBI the opportunity to begin to repair that damage."

Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., told Fox News' Megyn Kelly on "The Kelly File" that Comey's new letter was "pretty extraordinary because Secretary Clinton had an extraordinary email arrangement with herself and she is the author of her own destiny.

"Everything thats happened since then is the natural probable consequence of deciding youre going to have a rogue email system," Gowdy added. "So I understand shes upset and I understand she doesnt like the timing, but she need look no further than herself."

Gowdy also criticized Clinton's call for the FBI to release more information about the emails, saying that she "knows [Comey] cannot produce the information in the middle of an investigation."

"The same person who went to great lengths to make sure that these emails were private now wants it all made public," he said. "Its just too rich."

Federal authorities in New York and North Carolina are investigating online communications between Weiner, the estranged husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin, and a 15-year-old girl. Abedin was interviewed by the FBI as part of its investigation into Clinton's private server.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has campaigned on a largely populist message about helping the underclass in which she and surrogates frequently refer to her post-law school job working for the Childrens Defense Fund.

However, Clinton later worked for 15 years as a corporate litigator at the Rose Law Firm in Arkansass capital, longer than any other position in or out of government

One of her first assignments as a corporate lawyer, in fact, landed her far from her roots. She helped overturn a ballot measure that increased electric rates for businesses and lowered them for the poor, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Instead of defending poor people and righting wrongs, we found ourselves squarely on the side of corporate greed against the little people, Clinton colleague Webb Hubbel later wrote.

Clinton has touted her work at the Childrens Defense Fund from the early stages of campaign in June 2015, to her nomination acceptance speech this summer at the Democratic National Convention, through her second 2016 president debate, against Republican nominee Donald Trump.

You know, right out of law school I went to work for the Children's Defense Fund, Clinton said in the Oct. 10 debate. I started off as a young lawyer working against discrimination against African-American children in schools and in the criminal justice system. I worked to make sure that kids with disabilities could get a public education, something that I care very much about.

Yet Clintons work later at the Rose law firm -- from the mid-1970s through the 1980s while husband Bill Clinton was Arkansas attorney general and governor -- is hardly ever mentioned on the campaign trail.

Bill Clinton, also a former U.S. president, at the Democratic convention mentioned his wifes work at the defense fund but skipped past her Rose tenure.

And until August, that part of Hillary Clintons career wasnt even mentioned on her campaigns official biography, according to The Journal.

It illustrates a pattern apparent through Clintons career and into this years presidential campaign: She emphasizes different roles for different audiences.

The duality was on display in transcripts of paid speeches Clinton gave to Wall Street before she entered the presidential race. As a candidate, she has emphasized the need for tough regulation of Wall Street. In those addresses, she pointed to the industrys contributions.

More thought has to be given to the process and transactions and regulations so that we dont kill or maim what works, she said in one speech underwritten by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., according to a transcript that was hacked from her campaign chairmans email account.

Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon recently pointed to her advocacy work during her Rose years.

From the day she left law school, Hillary Clinton has never stopped being an advocate for children and families, he said. This period was among her most active years as Arkansas first lady, when she introduced a new early childhood education program and expanded health access to rural parts of the state.

Clintons years at the firm included some controversy.

For one, the roots of the Whitewater affair reach back to her years at Rose when her husband was serving as governor.

The firm and Mrs. Clinton represented a failed savings-and-loan association run by James McDougal, the Clintons partner in the Whitewater real-estate investment, in a matter before state regulators. Whitewater dogged the Clintons throughout Bill Clintons presidency, though neither of them was ever charged.

Click here to read more from The Wall Street Journal:
Officials in Denver began counting mailed-in election ballots Thursday using what they say is a hack-proof system.

Denver officials will not release the results until Election Day Nov. 8.

The scanners and computers used in the voting process are not connected to city or county computers. The system they use is also not connected to the internet.

Denver Elections Director Amber McReynolds says the system can't be hacked from outside the facility, and the rooms are monitored 24/7 throughout the election process.

McReynolds added that additional security measures are in place to ensure no one gets into the system.

The voting results will be transferred on Election Day to Internet connected computers using USB drives that are secure and locked in a safe.



The Associated Press contributed to this report.
There is nothing new under the sun. But there are lots of old things we don't know.  Ambrose Bierce

Weve seen this all before. Everyone is apoplectic about how crazy the presidential campaign is. How crazy the congressional campaigns are. And then the dramatic FBI email news just days before the election.

Did you hear about Mike Pences plane sliding off the runway at LaGuardia? Can you believe it? What would have happened if

Chill.

In an election year, October is always full of surprises.

This isnt new. This zany stuff always unfolds in October just as the election cycle crescendos.

Lets start with the Pence plane mishap

Late-House Majority Leader Hale Boggs, D-La., and Rep. Nick Begich, D-Alaska, perished in a plane crash October 16, 1972. Nobody has ever found the plane after it lifted off from a socked-in Anchorage International Airport into turbulent skies. Boggs was in Alaska to help the freshman congressman campaign just before the election.

Also on October 16 -- but 28 years later in 2000 -- Missouri Democratic Gov. Mel Carnahan died in a Cessna that went down near St. Louis. Carnahan was running against then-Sen. John Ashcroft, R-Mo.

Missouri law prevented officials from striking Carnahans name from the ballot. Carnahan still defeated Ashcroft posthumously by 2 percentage points. Missouris new governor then appointed Carnahans wife, Jean, to the Senate where she served until losing to former Sen. Jim Talent, a Republican, in a 2002 special election.

Two years later, on October 25, 2002, Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., barnstormed the state in his campaign against former Sen. Norm Coleman, a Republican. Wellstone died when the Beechcraft King Air A100 in which he was flying crashed in northern Minnesota. Then-Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, an Independent, appointed Sen. Dean Barkley, also an Independent, to serve the rest of Wellstones term.

Democrats scrambling to find a replacement for Wellstone on the ballot tapped former Democratic Vice President and former Sen. Walter Mondale. Coleman defeated Mondale a few days later.

The term October Surprise entered the American political vernacular in 1964. Thats when Washington, D.C., police picked up a top aide to President Lyndon Johnson on morals charges after an incident in a YMCA locker room.

Aide Walter Jenkins had worked with Johnson in the House dating back to the late-1930s, followed him to the Senate, the Kennedy administration, then the White House.

Johnson thought his longtime aide was facing blackmail and that this could portend a dirty trick just before the election. The president got FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover on the phone immediately (remember the part about the FBI supposedly being above the fray just before elections weve been hearing so much over the past few days?) to order an investigation.

The president was just weeks away from facing Sen. Barry Goldwater, R-Arizona, at the polls.

Goldwater had long been talking about Texas cronyism and questions of ethics surrounding Lone Star State political operatives tied to Johnson. Goldwaters campaign printed bumper stickers declaring All the Way with LBJ, but Dont Go Near the YMCA.

In the New York Times, columnist James Reston wrote that the Jenkins bust revived and dramatized all the harsh feelings about morals, and political cliques, and the Texas gang in Washington.

Sound familiar?

October Surprise conspiracy theories only flourished after Jenkinss arrest.

In October, 1968, rumors abounded that Johnson might craft a last-minute deal to halt the Vietnam War. Such an effort could vault Johnsons Vice President and Democratic nominee Hubert Humphrey to the presidency over GOP nominee Richard Nixon.

It was thought that President Carter might engineer a special deal with Iran in October, 1980, to trigger the release of American hostages held in Tehran.

Of course, the converse theory was that the campaign of GOP nominee Ronald Reagan forged a pact for Tehran to hold the hostages through the election to make Carter appear weak.

Iran freed the hostages on Reagans inauguration day in 1981.

Four days before the 1992 presidential election, the feds indicted former Reagan Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger over the Iran-Contra affair.

This fueled speculation that then-President George. H.W. Bush knew something about the arms-for-hostages agreement. Republicans found the timing dubious. They charged this was an effort by Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh to defeat Bush.

President Bill Clinton then vanquished Bush with Ross Perot placing third.

Bush pardoned Weinberger in the final days of his presidency.

We havent even talked about the election dispute in Florida in 2000 between President George W. Bush, a Republican, and Vice President Al Gore, a Republican. And thats to say nothing of a 1976 DUI arrest of the younger Bush in Maine, which surfaced immediately before the 2000 election.

But almost no October Surprise resonated quite like the one in the closing days of the 2004 presidential campaign between George W. Bush and then-Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

A videotape -- recorded somewhere in the Hindu Kush mountains bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan -- surfaced on October 30, 2004.

The public hadnt seen nor heard from Osama bin Laden for a while. But like an apparition appearing on Halloween, Americas mortal enemy infused immediately into that years presidential election. The tape rattled the country.

Would the phantasm of bin Laden remind voters that the 9-11 attacks unfolded on President Bushs watch? Would it rekindle the fears of terrorism and perhaps work against Kerry?

Kerrys surrogates wondered aloud why the U.S. had still not captured bin Laden.

Just months before, Kerry assumed the stage at the Democratic National Convention in Boston to accept his partys presidential nod.

Im John Kerry and Im reporting for duty, declared the former Vietnam-era soldier, saluting the throng.

The bin Laden video almost echoed Kerrys pronouncement, but with a vengeful sneer. It practically proclaimed Im Osama bin Laden and Im reporting for duty.

In the video, a robust-looking bin Laden stared directly into the camera and augured that neither Bush nor Kerry held the keys to U.S. security.

I am speaking to tell you about the ideal way to avoid another Manhattan, threatened bin Laden. Your security is in your own hands.

And so now we have another October Surprise, courtesy of FBI Director James Comey and Carlos Danger, the nom de plum of former Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y.

Comey cleared Hillary Clinton of wrongdoing tied to her email back in July. Republicans went nuts, accusing Comey of politics. Naturally, Democrats were grateful.

Let me just say this about Director Comey, beamed House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in July. This is a great man. We are very privileged in our country to have him be the director of the FBI.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, also a Californian and the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence panel, gushed with similar praise for the nations top G-Man.

Im especially grateful to the FBI and Director Comey -- who previously served as a U.S. attorney and deputy attorney general during the Bush administration -- for a thorough, objective review, Feinstein said at the time.

But Fridays news muted the Pelosi and Feinsteins praise for Comey, as Republicans rallied to his cause.

The public interest would be served by the FBI providing the facts, rather than allowing Republicans to stoke innuendo and falsehoods 11 days away from a presidential election, Pelosi said.

Feinstein said she was shocked to read Comeys missive Friday and called the move appalling.

Director Comeys announcement played right into the political campaign of Donald Trump, who is already using the letter for political purposes, she said.

There are just a few hours left in October. Not a lot of time left for surprises. Its just that these things happen all the time in October. And they sometimes trigger other events in November.

Thats when the real surprises happen.
Former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani ripped into the FBI's early investigation of Hillary Clinton's private email server Friday night, calling it a "sham" and saying the bureau did "a completely irresponsible" job.

"If you read the [summary] of her interview, its absurd. The FBI agent doing that [summary] didnt follow up on anything," Giuliani told Fox News' Sean Hannity on "Hannity." "In other words, she was questioned as follows 'Did you do the murder?' 'No.' 'Thank you.' And they walked out.

The FBI is investigating whether there is classified information in new emails uncovered during the sexting investigation of disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of one of Hillary Clinton's closest aides.

FBI Director James Comey had announced in July that "no reasonable prosecutor" would seek an indictment against Clinton for mishandling classified information while secretary of state, though he noted that she had been "extremely careless." He notified congressional leaders of the new turn in the investigation Friday, though he did not reveal details of the probe.

"The reality is, the report that Comey gave to us [in July] before he came to the conclusion that she shouldnt be prosecuted was a report that any prosecutor would have taken before a grand jury, probably got an indictment, and the evidence of intent is overwhelming," said Giuliani, a former federal prosecutor. "You dont interview someone on a Saturday and put out a complete report on a Tuesday, unless the report was written before you interviewed her."

"The cover-up is worse than the crime," Giuliani added. "Although in this particular case, the crime was pretty bad, exposing national security information to countries we know can take it from us ... And for that, you shouldnt be allowed to get off.
WikiLeaks has released what may be the key email that led to one of the biggest cybersecurity breaches in presidential campaign history -- allowing hackers to gain access to Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podestas Gmail account.

A new email thread released Friday shows Podesta got a March 19 email from Google notifying him someone had his "password" and tried to sign in from Ukraine.

The IT team told Podesta the message was legit and he should change his password. But it appears the email actually was a phishing ploy  and likely gave the world access to the contents of his account.

In the new batch of emails leaked Friday, Podestas assistant Sara Latham forwarded the "Google" email to Charles Delavan, a Clinton campaign IT official, to see if it was real.

Delavan told her that it was a legitimate email.

John needs to change his password immediately, and ensure that two-factor authentication is turned on his account  It is absolutely imperative that this is done ASAP, he wrote, sharing a Google link where he could change his password.

Latham then sent Podesta and another campaign official an email saying the message was "REAL."

The email chain does not detail what happened next. But a previous report from Motherboard said on that same day, Podesta opened a link that gave hackers access to his email. The hackers reportedly used a URL shortened using the Bitly service, which reportedly contained Podesta's encoded Gmail address and gave the hackers access.

The March 19 email published by WikiLeaks indeed includes a shortened Bitly link at the bottom where Podesta was directed to change his password.

Cybersecurity firm SecureWorks told FoxNews.com the alleged hacking method is the same used by Fancy Bear, a Russian hacker group -- and the link was created specifically to target Podesta's account.

We can confirm that in the leaked email, the Bitly link listed is one of the links we saw created by the Fancy Bear group to target Podesta, a spokeswoman for the group said. It was one of four links created to target Mr. Podestas Gmail account.



The Obama administration recently blamed senior Russian officials for orchestrating a string of hackings at the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The Obama administration, however, has not publicly accused Russia of the Podesta hack.

Motherboard wrote: None of this new data constitutes a smoking gun that can clearly frame Russia as the culprit behind the almost unprecedented hacking campaign that has hit the DNC and several other targets somewhat connected to the U.S. presidential campaign.

Fridays WikiLeaks email release  part 21 of its Podesta series  brings the total emails released so far to 35,594.

FoxNews.com's Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
As if travelers hailing from Illinois or Ohio needed any more reason to cheer on the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians this weekend, Kimpton Hotel Group says it will reward residents from the World Series-winning state with a limited-time special offer, just in time for a holiday getaway.

The Chicago Tribune reports that residents of the winning state can score $99-a-night room rates at Kimpton hotels in the opposing city during the month of December. They're calling it a "World Series wager."

If the Cubs win the title, Illinois residents can book a room at Cleveland's Kimpton Schofield Hotel in December for $99-- a savings of about $60 per night. And if the Indians are triumphant, residents of Ohio will receive the reduced rate of $99 at five different Kimpton hotels throughout Chicago, including Kimpton Hotel Allegro, Hotel Burnham, Kimpton Hotel Monaco, Hotel Palomar and the Kimpton Gray Hotel.

To claim the prize, guests need valid ID to prove their state of residence at check-out, but there are limitations to the offer. Discounted rooms at Cleveland's Schofield Hotel will be limited to 10 per night and three per night on Christmas and New Year's Eve.

In Chicago, the discounted rooms will be limited to nine per night at the five participating Kimpton hotels. Blackout dates also apply at four of the hotels. If the Indians win, Kimpton Hotel Allegro and Hotel Burnham are blacked out Dec. 1 and Dec. 31, while Kimpton Hotel Monaco and Hotel Palomar are unavailable to book Dec. 31.

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The Kimpton wager certainly raises the stakes for this year's Fall Classic as fans will have even more incentive to celebrate their team's success.

It's been nearly seven decades since the Indians conquered the World Series, while Cubs fans have been waiting for more than a century.
First lady Michelle Obama will participate in a commissioning ceremony Saturday for a U.S. Navy fast attack submarine.

The submarine will officially be named the USS Illinois at the ceremony at Naval Submarine Base New London in Connecticut. The first lady will give the order "to bring the ship to life" before the crew runs across the brow and onto the vessel.

The first lady, who is from Chicago, has made supporting military families a priority. As the ship sponsor, she will be involved in the lives of its sailors and families.

Navy secretary Ray Mabus described the new submarine as " one of the most technologically advanced platforms in the world" to the Navy's official website.

"This submarine represents not only the Navy's lasting connection to the state of Illinois but also the American innovation and manufacturing skill that have given us such a powerful advantage, making us the most powerful expeditionary fighting force the world has ever known." Mabus said.

The submarine will become the second ship to be commissioned with the name Illinois. The first Illinois was a battleship built in 1897 that was remaned Prairie State in 1941. It was scrapped 15 years later.

The submarine cost nearly $2.7 billion to build and is 13th member of the Virginia class fast attack submarine.

To watch the event live, visit their website or on the Navy's Facebook page.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click here for more from Navy.mil.
DNA evidence in the killing of JonBenet Ramsey does not support a former prosecutors decision to clear the girls relatives in her death, according to an explosive new report revealing new information to the public for the first time in the 1996 killing.

A joint report by the Boulder Daily Camera and 9NEWS analyzed exclusively obtained lab test results and reports in the homicide that remains Colorados most closely followed unsolved murder two decades after the 6-year-old beauty queen was found dead in the basement of her familys home.

SNEAK PEEK: WHO KILLED JONBENET? NEW TV SPECIAL PROFILES PATSY RAMSEY

Forensic experts who examined those DNA tests disputed former District Attorney Mary Lacys conclusion that a DNA profile found in one location on the girls underpants and two spots on her long johns necessarily belonged to the killer, which Lacy asserted when clearing the girls family of suspicion in 2008.

But the evidence, experts told the Boulder Daily Camera and 9NEWS, revealed that the DNA samples recovered from the long johns came from at least two people in addition to JonBenet. Thats something Lacys office was told, according to documents obtained by the news organizations, but a fact that Lacy did not mention when clearing the Ramseys.

The existence of a third persons genetic markers has never previously been publicly revealed, according to the report, which also raised the possibility that the original DNA sample recovered from JonBenets underwear could be a composite and not from a single individual.

Click for more from the New York Post.
The Supreme Court will take up transgender rights for the first time in the case of a Virginia school board that wants to prevent a transgender teenager from using the boys' bathroom at his high school.

The justices said Friday they will hear the appeal from the Gloucester County school board sometime next year. The high court's order means that student Gavin Grimm will not be able to use the boys' bathroom in the meantime.

A federal appeals court had ordered the school board to accommodate Grimm, but the justices in August put that order on hold while they considered whether to hear the appeal.

Grimm, a 17-year-old high school senior, was born female but identifies as male. He was allowed to use the boys' restroom at his high school for several weeks in 2014.

But after some parents complained, the school board adopted a policy requiring students to use either the restroom that corresponds with their biological gender or a private, single-stall restroom. Grimm is backed by the Obama administration in his argument that the policy violates Title IX, a federal law that bars sex discrimination in schools.

"I never thought that my restroom use would ever turn into any kind of national debate," Grimm said after the court announced it will hear his case.

"The only thing I ever asked for was the right to be treated like everyone else. While I'm disappointed that I will have to spend my final school year being singled out and treated differently from every other guy, I will do everything I can to make sure that other transgender students don't have to go through the same experience."

Gloucester County school board chairman Troy Andersen praised the court for agreeing to hear what he called a difficult case. "The board looks forward to explaining to the Court that its restroom and locker room policy carefully balances the interests of all students and parents in the Gloucester County school system," Andersen said.

The U-S Education Department says transgender students should be allowed to use restrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identities.

In granting review, the high court sidestepped the most pressing question-- whether to overturn a 1997 ruling that said courts should defer to a government agency's interpretation of its own regulation.

Instead, the issue will center around whether the specific directive from the U-S Education Department-- issued for this particular dispute-- should have the force of law.

Similar lawsuits are pending around the country.

The Obama administration has sued North Carolina over a state law aimed at restricting transgender students to bathrooms that correspond to their biological genders.

A federal judge had earlier sided with Texas and 12 other states in issuing a nationwide hold on the administration's directive to public schools.

The Supreme Court split 5 to 3 in August to put the court order in Grimm's case on hold. At the time, Justice Stephen Breyer said he was providing a fifth vote to go along with the four more conservative justices to "preserve the status quo" until the court decided whether to weigh in. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented.

Grimm had urged the court not to take up his case.

The school board asked the court to settle the matter now. It said that allowing Grimm to use the boys restroom raises privacy concerns and may cause some parents to pull their children out of school.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond sided with Grimm in April, saying the federal judge who previously dismissed Grimm's Title IX discrimination claim ignored the Education Department's guidance on bathroom use.

The appeals court reinstated Grimm's Title IX claim and sent it back to the district court for further consideration. The judge then issued the order in favor of Grimm.

The case is Gloucester County School Board v. G.G. (16-273). A ruling is expected by late June.
A Sacramento County sheriff's spokesman says a suspect is dead after he pointed a gun at police and was shot by two California Highway Patrol officers.

Sgt. Tony Turnbull says one officer saw the man walking with a gun in his hand Friday afternoon along a street near Interstate 80.

He says the suspect pointed the gun toward other officers as they arrived, ignoring their commands to drop the weapon.

Two CHP officers fired.

The suspect, a man in his 30s, was taken to a hospital but later died. His name was not immediately released.

No one else was injured.

CHP Officer Chad Hertzell referred calls to the sheriff's department, which is handling the investigation.

The officers are 20-year and 8-year CHP veterans.
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A tense protest over the Dakota Access pipeline subsided at least temporarily after some protest leaders urged activists to leave a barricade near a state highway bridge.

As many as 50 protesters gathered Friday behind heavy plywood sheets and burned-out vehicles, facing a line of concrete barriers, military vehicles and police in riot gear. But only a handful of people, some of them observers from Amnesty International, remained on the bridge by late afternoon after protest representatives told people to return to the main encampment.

Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier described the protesters as "non-confrontational but uncooperative" and credited Standing Rock Sioux tribal members for helping to ease tensions on the bridge. Kirchmeier said tribal representatives were allowed onto the private property to remove teepees.

Officers arrested one person, but no details were released.

Standing Rock has waged a protest for months against the four-state, thousand-mile pipeline being developed by Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners to carry North Dakota crude to a shipping point in Patoka, Illinois.

The tribe argues it's a threat to water and cultural sites, and encampments have grown to thousands at times as its cause has drawn support from Native Americans and others from around the country, including environmentalists and some celebrities.

The protest escalated on Sunday when demonstrators set up camp on private land along the pipeline's path that had recently been acquired by Energy Transfer Partners. On Thursday, more than 140 people were arrested as law enforcement, bolstered by reinforcements from several states, moved in slowly to envelop the protesters.

Following Thursday's eviction, some protesters worked overnight to create the two roadblocks.

Jolene White Eagle, 56, a lifelong Cannon Ball resident, watched as law enforcement officers massed near Friday's new blockade and called the police response "nonsense."

"It reminds me of something like a foreign country, what's happened here with all the destruction," she said.

The camp cleared on Thursday was located just to the north of a more permanent, larger encampment on federally owned land that has been the main staging area for hundreds of protesters. Many returned to that site Friday to regroup and reunite with others who had been arrested the day before.

There were no immediate plans to try to reoccupy the private land or to build a new camp elsewhere in the pipeline's path, protest camp spokesman Cody Hall said.

"That's something in the air for people to grasp onto, think about, but I don't know if that will happen today," he said.

A federal judge in September denied the tribe's request to block construction on the grounds that the Army Corps of Engineers improperly issued permits, and North Dakota officials say no culturally significant sites have been found in the area. But on the day the judge ruled, three federal agencies stepped in to order construction to halt on Army Corps-owned land around Lake Oahe, a wide spot of the Missouri River, while the Corps reviewed its decision-making.

Meanwhile, construction has been allowed to continue on private land owned by the developer, with a goal of completion by the end of the year.

___

Nicholson reported from Bismarck, North Dakota.
The State Department is ordering family members of employees posted to the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul to leave because of security concerns.

In a statement issued Saturday, the State Department says the decision is based on security information indicating extremist groups are continuing aggressive efforts to attack U.S. citizens in areas of Istanbul where they reside or frequent.

The Consulate General remains open and fully staffed. The order applies only to the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul, not to other U.S. diplomatic posts in Turkey.

The travel warning issued Saturday updates a warning last week of increased threats from terrorist groups throughout Turkey. U.S. citizens were advised to avoid travel to southeast Turkey and carefully consider the risks of travel to and throughout the country.

The State Department said international and indigenous terrorist organizations in Turkey have been targeting U.S. as well as other foreign tourists.

Anti-American sentiment runs high in Turkey despite its status as a NATO ally and a member of the anti-ISIS coalition.

In addition to the terrorist threat, friction between Washington and Ankara has increased since a failed July coup in Turkey, which Turkish officials blame on a U.S.-based cleric who lives in self-exile in Pennsylvania. Turkey has requested his extradition, but the U.S. has yet to make a decision.
LEBANON  A woman suffered minor injuries Friday afternoon in a single-car crash on the South Main Road bridge over Oak Creek.

The Lebanon Fire District responded to the call at about 3:20 p.m., according to LFD lieutenant Brett Kibble. Two engine companies with four firefighters and one Advanced Life Support medic unit with two firefighters/paramedics also responded, along with an LFD battalion chief.

Upon the first engine's arrival, crews discovered a mid-sized SUV had crashed head-on into the bridge. The vehicle had come to a rest with its wheels dangling over the bridge's side. Its railing had pierced through the SUV's front end and into the passenger seat.

Firefighters secured the vehicle and extricated the driver, who was transported with minor injuries to a local area hospital. A cat and dog in the SUV were not injured. There were no other passengers.

The Lebanon Fire District was assisted by the Linn County Sheriff's Office and the Linn County Road Department.
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Wyoming authorities are investigating the death of a 13-month-old baby whose body was dumped in a trash bin that was taken to a Colorado landfill.

Logan Hunter Rogers, 23, of Cheyenne, was charged Friday with manslaughter in connection with the death of little Silas Ojeda who was reported missing Wednesday.

CBS 4 Denver reported Friday that Rogers is the boyfriend of the boys mother. According to the station Rogers told investigators he drove Silas body to a community college and dumped it a garbage container.

Laramie County Sheriffs Office spokeswoman Capt. Linda Gesell told the station a cadaver dog checked the vehicle and indicated it smelled a body.

Rogers was set to appear before a judge Friday but the hearing was abruptly canceled after Rogers asked to speak with detectives.

His story is changing somewhat and thats why they cancelled the court hearing, Gesell told the station.

The boy's grandfather reported the child missing on Wednesday after the boy's mother told him she had not seen her son since Saturday, the sheriff's office has said.

CBS 4 reported that the childs mother told detectives that Rogers had given the child to a man named Santiago who was going to take him fishing.

Cops said she did not know his last name or where he lived, the station reported.

Gesell told the station that since Rogers' arrest, the mother checked into a hospital and was not talking.

Investigators working with a sanitation company determined that trash from the container is taken to a landfill in Ault, Colorado.

They plan to start searching for the boy's body at the landfill on Monday, Gesell said.

Richard Ojeda, the boy's grandfather, declined Friday to discuss details of the case in an interview with The Associated Press because he said he did not want to jeopardize the criminal investigation.

He said his grandson would have turned 14-months-old on Friday.

"He was perfect, all grandchildren are perfect," Ojeda said. "We just want him home so we can give him a decent burial."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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The daughter of a stockbroker nicknamed 'Britain's Schindler' for saving Jewish children from the Nazis is appealing for today's child refugees to be treated with similar compassion.

Barbara Winton's late father, Nicholas, saved some 650 Jewish children from the Holocaust by extricating them from Nazi-occupied Europe and putting them on trains to the UK.

Winton says another generation, this one from Africa and the Middle East, needs the kindness Britain previously offered.

She said in remarks offered Saturday on the website of the organization Help Refugees that the best way to honor her father's memory is "to show the same concern and compassion he did then, for those in danger and in need now."

Britain is under pressure to accept minors from France after the closure of a large migrant camp.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the government will soon submit a bill to Parliament to reinstate the death penalty amid calls for the execution of the plotters of a failed coup in July.

Addressing crowds in Ankara on Saturday, Erdogan said he would ratify such a bill once it passed despite any objections it might spark in the West.

Erdogan made the comments in response to public chants calling for the death penalty, which Turkey abolished in 2004 as part of its bid to join the European Union.

Erdogan said: "Soon, our government will bring (the bill) to Parliament...It's what the people say that matters, not what the West thinks."

The government has blamed the coup on the followers of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen. The cleric denies involvement.
A former ISIS fighter has told Sky News the group is shooting women and children fleeing areas under their control to deter others from escaping.

Abu Ahmed, who is now a prisoner of the Kurdish authorities, said he had been given orders to shoot to kill.

"People tried to flee, because of the conditions in Mosul, to Kurdistan or Baghdad but they would be blown up by IEDs and if they weren't they'd be shot at even if they were kids," he said.

"The thing people care about the most is their children, the hardest thing for anybody to see is their child being hurt even if it's not with a weapon but [ISIS] are going to use guns on children."

Each day more of Islamic State's territory is being retaken. The villages outside Mosul bear the scars of the fighting.

But despite the destruction there are celebrations as people taste freedom once again.

We witnessed jubilant crowds in Fadhiliya - 10 miles east of Mosul - as a shopkeeper arrived with the first supplies of cigarettes for two years.

Click for more from Sky News.
The Latest on the battle to retake the city of Mosul from the Islamic State group (all times local):

10:30 a.m.

Iraqi forces have pushed into an Islamic State-held town south of Mosul after a wave of airstrikes and heavy artillery.

Iraqi commanders said Saturday that most of the IS fighters fled the town of Shura earlier this week, using civilians as human shields, but that U.S. airstrikes disrupted the forced march, allowing some civilians to escape.

Iraqi army Maj. Gen. Najim al-Jabouri said "after all this shelling, I don't think we will face much resistance." He added that "this is easy, because there are no civilians left."

Lt. Col. Hussein Nazim of the Federal Police said some civilians might still be in the city, but that the use of heavy artillery and airstrikes was a standard tactic.

Iraqi forces launched a massive operation to retake militant-held Mosul last week. Forces coming up from the south are still 20 miles (35 kilometers) from the city, but fighting units on other fronts are closer

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8:45 a.m.

State-sanctioned Shiite militias have launched an attack on the Islamic State group west of the Iraqi city of Mosul but reiterated that they would not enter the Sunni majority city.

Jaafar al-Husseini, a spokesman for the Hezbollah Brigades, said they launched an offensive Saturday along with other militias toward the town of Tel Afar, which had a Shiite majority before it fell to IS in 2014. He says Iranian forces are advising the fighters and Iraqi aircraft are providing airstrikes.

Iraq launched a massive operation to retake militant-held Mosul, its second largest city, last week. The involvement of the Shiite militias has raised concerns the battle could aggravate sectarian divisions.

Al-Husseini says the militias will focus on Tel Afar and on securing the western border with Syria.
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A meeting of Ibero-American leaders held amid a deepening political and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela turned into a guessing game over whether the neighboring nation's president would show.

Reporters even trooped to the airport in Colombia's Caribbean city of Cartagena to await Nicolas Maduro.

His attendance had been expected after Peru's president laid down a gauntlet of sorts. Pedro Pablo Kuczynski said he would seek consensus for Venezuela's suspension from the Organization of American States for violating its democratic charter.

Maduro's government has been widely condemned for blocking the opposition's democratic attempt to oust him with a recall election.

Kuczynski said Saturday that it's very difficult for leaders to meet and not discuss the region's most burning issues. Venezuela is suffering severe food and medicine shortages and acute criminal violence.
President Francois Hollande has acknowledged the French state's role in the Nazi persecution of Gypsies held in Nazi internment camps during World War II.

France's collaborationist Vichy regime helped deport Jews to death camps and send Gypsies to internment camps. Former President Jacques Chirac acknowledged France's role in the Holocaust in 1997, and on Saturday Hollande called attention to the Gypsies' plight.

"The republic recognizes the suffering of the nomads who were interned, and admits its responsibility is large," Hollande said at a former internment camp in western France.

France has historically been home to hundreds of thousands of "gens du voyage" who move from town to town and are French citizens. They consider themselves distinct from Roma who have arrived more recently from Romania or Bulgaria. Both face discrimination.
The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic says 25 people have been killed in clashes between armed groups amid "rising tension" in parts of the country.

A statement late Friday says 15 fighters were killed Thursday in the communities of Mbriki and Belima on the outskirts of Bambari.

And on Friday, six police and four civilians were killed in an ambush on a main road.

The U.N. statement adds that on Friday afternoon, anti-Balaka forces attacked eight peacekeeping officials as they made their way toward the local airport. The statement says a 7-year-old child was injured.

The peacekeeping mission urges armed groups to cease the cycle of violence of recent weeks, which it says goes against the aspirations for peace among the majority of the population.
Like the movie monster who lurches back out of the dark depths for one last jump scare, the former Mid-Willamette Family YMCA is rising from the dead.

The Y's old building at 3311 Pacific Blvd. S.W. closed Nov. 20, 2015, and the new, $17 million complex opened right behind it 10 days later. But tonight, for an unforgettable four hours, the old center will creak, groan and sputter its way back to life to give visitors a Halloween scare.

Nineteen seventh-graders at Memorial Middle School have turned the building into a haunted house to raise money for their summer 2017 trip to Washington, D.C.

The haunted house will be open from 7 to 11 tonight. Ten percent of the proceeds will go to YMCA scholarships and the rest will be divided among the D.C. travelers.

Tickets are $10 at the door and all ages are invited, but come at your own risk  most scenes are not for the faint of heart.

"These are going to be dead bodies," Sam Kellar, 13, narrates with glee as she leads a quick tour. "And we have a creepy old witch here, which kinda gives me the creeps."

The building's hallways, offices, locker rooms, gym and swimming pool are serving as spooky laboratories, torture chambers, haunted bedrooms and murder investigation scenes. An office that used to belong to Tami Kellar, Sam's mother and the Y's associate executive director, is now a grim surgical center where body parts are removed from still-screaming victims.

"Isn't that great?" Tami says, beaming.

Upstairs are the zombie hall, a graveyard and the "carn-evil" of clowns, a place so terrifying even Sam won't go near it unless she has to. "I'm terrified of clowns," she explains.

Sam drew on her favorite Smosh Games videos on YouTube for scare ideas, while classmate Eli Gomez is relying on the sensory overload of flashing lights, drifting streamers and spooky sound effects to lure his victims to the carn-evil.

For Laethym Zahlmann, a good scare is all about the unexpected twists. Her Hell's Kitchen, complete with guest appearance by Hannibal Lecter, includes a few of those.

The best thing about the haunted house, however, is the building itself, Tami Kellar said. Because it's slated to be torn down next spring as a project for the Oregon National Guard, it didn't need to be kept pristine in any way. Students were allowed to spray paint, take off doors and hang things from walls and ceilings, all things they weren't allowed to do two years ago when they last held a haunted house there.

Once a building that housed International Harvester, the old Y began serving the community in 1960. Fifty-five years is plenty of time to develop lots of creaks and cracks and the potential for things to go bump in the night.

"The YMCA is spooky already, even without decorations. It's noisy, it's dark ... it's been creepy for a long time," Kellar says.

The students plan a couple of exits along the route for people who, say, suddenly remember they have something urgent to do somewhere else. But Sam Kellar says they hope the experience leaves a lasting impression nonetheless.

"Hopefully," she jokes, "we give one kid nightmares."
LEBANON  The way Lebanon is currently handling the issue of homelessness is not working, according to an expert hired by the city.

"What you're doing is making things worse," said Robert Marbut said. "What you're doing needs to change."

Marbut, is the founder of Marbut Consulting, a national consulting organization dedicated to helping the homeless.

Marbut met with the leaders of several of Lebanon community organizations, including churches, nonprofits and other agencies and spent several nights seeking out and interacting with members of the homeless community.

He then spent Thursday evening at the Boulder Falls Conference Center explaining the overall issues of homelessness, the problems specifically facing Lebanon, and how Lebanon can work to resolve those issues.

Marbut said that there are between 62 to 75 people in Lebanon who are experiencing street-level homelessness. The national average is .2 percent, meaning Lebanon would expect to have 32 individuals.

Through his interviews with homeless individuals, Marbut said the city also lacks availability of emergency transitional and long-term types of housing.

One thing Lebanon has done well, he said, was in addressing panhandling. In February the city passed an ordinance prohibiting panhandlers from requesting items from a moving vehicle in specific situations. The ordinance also prohibits panhandling to a captive audience, aboard public transportation, within 50 feet from a transportation stop, in public or private parking lots at night, at outdoor dining areas or within 15 feet of an ATM.

Marbut said giving people money or food is enabling.

"I have never met anyone who got out of homelessness because you fed them," Marbut said.

Another positive step for Lebanon is the homeless community has great respect for the Lebanon Police Department.

"That is very unusual," Marbut said. "That's going to be one of your assets."

Marbut recommended the city begin making changes right away, and suggested it create a small group made up of community leaders from city organizations and religious and nonprofit groups to work on how Lebanon should change to address the problem.

The city of Lebanon has already created this. That coalition had met Friday afternoon and it is being led by LPD Community Services Officer Dave Albanese.

Marbut recommended that group work to find the root causes of homelessness in Lebanon.

In the survey Marbut conducted, 71.8 percent of the people he spoke with became homeless after living in Lebanon. He said that's a very high number and it means that Lebanon has a "homegrown problem." Because Lebanon is a ways off of Interstate 5, people aren't coming from Portland or other areas of the state, making matters worse.
Office2016PromoCodes.com Prepares Discounts on Microsoft Office 2016 and Office 365 Subscriptions and Renewals

Office2016PromoCodes.com Announces Discounts on Subscriptions and Renewals of Microsoft Office 2016 and Office 365.

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Office2016PromoCode.com is thrilled to announce the release of some incredible promo codes for discounts on Microsoft Office 2016 and Office 365 subscriptions and renewals. Microsoft changed its software sales model a few years ago from a one-time purchase per edition static model to an ever-evolving, regularly updated version model. Because their current cloud-based software requires at the very least annual renewals in order to keep the customer's subscription active, promo codes can go a long way in saving you money!

Office 2016 Promo Code, is a multi-year affiliate of the Microsoft Store. It's thanks to that longstanding relationship they are privy to many exclusive discounts not only on Microsoft Office 2016 and Office 365, but also promo codes on a variety of other products Microsoft makes on to the customer. In fact, the website offers a number of discounts on a number of other products including Windows 10, Surface Pro 4, Word, Excel, Outlook, Visual Studio, Visio, Project, Publisher among many, many others.

An Office 365 Promo Code is easy to use. The customer simply visits the website and browses the many different versions of the software relevant to their needs including a Microsoft Office 2016 Home & Student Version, Microsoft Office Home & Business Version, Microsoft Office Professional, or Microsoft Office for Mac OS. Once the customer has located the promotion right for them, they click on it, and the customer is re-directed to the online Microsoft Store with the price already applied on the website where they can place the purchase- either for the subscription or renewal.

"If you're looking to get a gift for someone that continues to give or just are looking for an ever-updating Word Processing software long trusted by millions, then getting Microsoft Office 2016 will help you do just that. With capabilities to handle any number of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Publisher tasks, you can't go wrong. If you're interested in one of these many Microsoft Office software packages, Office 2016 Promo Code or Office 365 Promo Code can help you purchase an initial subscription or renew your current one at a reduced rate. Any questions? Contact us for more details! - Frank Umarov, Owner, Supreme Bath Refinishing

About Office 2016 Promo Codes: Founded in 2008 in Washington, Office 2016PromoCodes.com quickly rose to the ranks as a top notch affiliate of the Microsoft Office store, allowing it to be privy to exclusive discounts necessary to pass them on to the customer. It now offers some of the deepest discounts on Microsoft Office 2016 Promo Code and Office 365 Promo Code of anywhere online.

For more information, please visit http://www.office2016promocodes.com/

Contact Info:

Name: PRWhirlWind

Organization: PRWhirlWind



Source: http://marketersmedia.com/office2016promocodes-com-prepares-discounts-on-microsoft-office-2016-and-office-365-subscriptions-and-renewals/142113

Release ID: 142113

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Portable Hot Tubs Rio Rancho, Spa Dealer Participates in Physical Therapy Month

Rio Rancho Portable Hot Tubs Dealer Featuring Caldera Spas Publishes "3 Ways to Find Relief From Pain". Offers Free Hot Tub Test Soaks to Local Residents.

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Caldera Spas of New Mexico, a hot tub and portable spa dealer serving Albuquerque and Rio Rancho, NM participates in National Physical Therapy Month, sharing "3 Tips for Better Pain Relief."

Tom Gervais of Caldera Spas said, "The physical therapy month program is designed to help people find new ways to manage chronic pain whenever possible. There are things that people can do right in their own home to make themselves more comfortable, and relieve pain without taking medication."

Here are three simple ways to get healthier and find relief from pain.

Soothe Aches and Pains with Hot Tub Hydrotherapy - For thousands of years, people have sought out the comforting pain relief of warm water. From ancient hot water springs to modern day hot tubs, the muscle relaxing heat and tension relieving water pressure allow people to feel better faster. However, spas do more than just make people feel better.

From the largest commercial size to individual portable spas, hot tubs help people heal better faster so that injuries do not become chronic over time. By warming the blood and enlarging capillaries, blood flows faster, getting to areas it is needed more efficiently. Increased blood flow brings needed oxygen and nutrients to torn, stretched or stressed tissue so it can repair itself quicker. Adding a hot tub to the backyard, patio or porch is an easy, cost effective way to enjoy the beneficial effects of hydrotherapy on demand.

Find a Physical Therapist - Another goal of Physical Therapy Month is to help people suffering with pain find the treatment they require. The American Physical Therapy Association teaches people how getting trained can help them overcome injury, illness or disease, preventing the need for heavy medication. If someone needs support to deal with aging muscles and joints, or a debilitating injury, they should ask for recommendations from their physician.

Find Community Support - Often, support groups can help people looking for better ways to manage long-term pain. Check with community centers, doctors or local hospitals to find a location nearby. If there are no local groups, look online for pain management groups in the area, to speak with others who deal with similar same issues.

To encourage residents to check out the benefits of owning their own hot tub, Caldera Spas will be providing free hot tub test soaks for the entire month. They do recommend however that people wanting to schedule their free 30-minute wet test call them ahead of time to reserve their spot.

Consumers wanting to learn more about hot tubs and how they can help improve their overall health and well-being are encouraged to pick up a copy of this free guide, How to Buy the Best Hot Tub to Fit Your Lifestyle, Backyard and Budget. Just call 505-883-9722 or go to http://calderaspasnm.com/.

About Us

Caldera Spas of Albuquerque is one of New Mexico's largest and most established hot tub dealers. They sell and service Caldera Spas, one of the world's premier brand of hot tubs. All of their hot tubs provide stress-relief, true hydrotherapy performance, energy efficiency, outstanding warranties, and long-term reliability - all at affordable prices! Whether it's a Caldera Spa of the many other hot tubs and spa brands showcased, they have hot tubs and spas of all sizes, prices, and therapy options.

To encourage residents to check out the benefits of owning their own hot tub, Caldera Spas will be providing free hot tub test soaks for the entire month. They do recommend however that people wanting to schedule their free 30-minute wet test call them ahead of time to reserve their spot.

Consumers wanting to learn more about hot tubs and how they can help improve their overall health and well-being are encouraged to pick up a copy of this free guide, How to Buy the Best Hot Tub to Fit Your Lifestyle, Backyard and Budget. Just call 505-883-9722 or go to http://calderaspasnm.com/.

Contact Info:

Name: Tom Gervais

Email: tgervais@att.net

Phone: 505-883-9722

Organization: Caldera Spas of Albuquerque

Source: http://www.prreach.com/pr/26505

Release ID: 142159

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Portable Hot Tubs Sioux Falls, Spa Dealer Participates in Physical Therapy Month

Sioux Falls Portable Hot Tubs Dealer, Selling Hot Spring Spas, Participates in National Physical Therapy Month. Offers Free Hot Tub Test Soaks to Sioux Falls, SD Residents.

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Hot Spring Spas of Sioux Falls, a premier portable hot tubs and spa dealer serving the greater Sioux Falls area publishes "3 Quick Ways to Create a Healthy Home Atmosphere for Therapy."

Kevin Yopp, general manager of Hot Spring Spas of Sioux Falls said, "along with the advice and help of physicians, therapists and other healthcare providers, many people suffering from chronic pain can improve their situation and health by creating a better home atmosphere."

Here are three quick ways to create a healthy home atmosphere for physical rejuvenation and therapy.

Add a Sioux Falls Hot Tub to Home Fitness and Wellness Equipment - While most people do not associate hot tubs with fitness equipment, they are just that. Spas offer luxury, for sure. However, they also help people dealing with chronic or acute pain through hydrotherapy. Combined with elevated heat and water, pulsating jets offer therapeutic massage for increased blood flow to injured areas, fast healing and long lasting pain relief.

Follow the Plan - When an at home exercise routine is given to a patient by a physical therapist, it must be followed. The closer patients follow any "homework" given by their therapist, the faster the healing process. If an existing plan is difficult to follow, talk to a physician or physical therapist to identify ways of making it easier to understand. Print out the exercises and make sure that all the necessary equipment, such as resistance bands, dumbbells or other workout needs are on hand, eliminating interruptions.

Break It Up - If an exercise routine seems overwhelming, or time is an issue, break up activities into smaller segments to do at different times throughout the day. Three or four small workouts can be just as beneficial as one long one and may be easier to handle in the early stages of therapy. If any physical activity causes pain, stop and make sure the exercise is being done properly. Write down any questions that come up during home workouts to make it easier to remember during therapy or doctor's appointments.

To encourage residents to check out the benefits of using a hot tub to help improve their overall health and well-being, Hot Spring Spas of Sioux Falls is providing free test soaks at their modern showroom. They do recommend however that people wanting to schedule their free 30-minute soak call them ahead of time to reserve their spot. To learn more, just call 605-361-3323 or go to http://hotspringspasofsiouxfalls.com.

About Hot Spring Spas of Sioux Falls

Hot Spring Spas of Sioux Falls is a premier hot tub and portable spa dealer serving the greater Sioux Falls South Dakota area. With more than 30+ years of pool and spa experience, the company prides itself on providing the absolute best hot tub experience, before, during and after the sale.

They sell and service the #1 selling portable hot tub in the world, Hot Spring Spas. Hot Spring Spas are manufactured by Watkins Manufacturing Corporation, the world's leading manufacturer of hot tubs/spas and maker of aquatic fitness products.

At Hot Spring Spas of Sioux Falls, they strive to do these things better with one-of-a-kind products, service and selection. In addition, all their spas come with innovative water care systems, and features that keep water hot and operating costs low. Plus, people can count on their decades of experience and unparalleled commitment to customer care. To learn more, visit their website at http://hotspringspasofsiouxfalls.com or call 605-361-3323.

Contact Info:

Name: Kevin Yopp

Email: info@hotspringspasofsiouxfalls.com

Phone: 605-361-3323

Organization: Hot Spring Spas of Sioux Falls

Source: http://www.prreach.com/pr/26519

Release ID: 142158

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Aug. 8, 1960  Oct. 19, 2016

Janice died unexpectedly due to complications during routine surgery on Oct. 19, 2016, in Tacoma, Washington.

Born Aug. 8, 1960, in Corvallis to Boyd and Louise Nash, Janice grew up active in church and attending Dixie, Cheldelin and Corvallis High School, graduating in 1978. She received her associates from Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho, and her bachelor's from OIT in Klamath Falls. She returned to Corvallis to work as a phlebotomist at The Corvallis Clinic.

Janice became reacquainted with childhood friend Ted Anderson, whom she married June 16, 1984. Children soon arrived, and the family was blessed with Megan Nicole, Corinne April, John Terrance and Dean Isaac. In all the places we lived, she enjoyed serving in church. Family was always the focus and center of her life.

Survivors include her husband, four children, three grandchildren, parents and in-laws, two brothers and a sister, and all their extended families. We all miss her greatly, and look forward to being reunited with her.

The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 2, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 4141 Harrison Blvd., Corvallis. Private interment will be at New Tacoma Cemetery in University Place, Washington.

Please sign the guestbook at www.newtacoma.com.
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A stunningly ambitious and beautiful novel, perfect for fans of The Nightingale, Schindlers List, and All the Light We Cannot See, about twelve-year-old Hannah Rosenthals harrowing experience fleeing Nazi-occupied Germany with her family and best friend, only to discover that the overseas asylum they had been promised is an illusion.

Before everything changed, young Hannah Rosenthal lived a charmed life. But now, in 1939, the streets of Berlin are draped with red, white, and black flags; her familys fine possessions are hauled away; and they are no longer welcome in the places that once felt like home. Hannah and her best friend, Leo Martin, make a pact: whatever the future has in store for them, theyll meet it together.

Hope appears in the form of the SS St. Louis, a transatlantic liner offering Jews safe passage out of Germany. After a frantic search to obtain visas, the Rosenthals and the Martins depart on the luxurious ship bound for Havana. Life on board the St. Louis is like a surreal holiday for the refugees, with masquerade balls, exquisite meals, and polite, respectful service. But soon ominous rumors from Cuba undermine the passengers fragile sense of safety. From one day to the next, impossible choices are offered, unthinkable sacrifices are made, and the ship that once was their salvation seems likely to become their doom.

Seven decades later in New York City, on her twelfth birthday, Anna Rosen receives a strange package from an unknown relative in Cuba, her great-aunt Hannah. Its contents will inspire Anna and her mother to travel to Havana to learn the truth about their familys mysterious and tragic past, a quest that will help Anna understand her place and her purpose in the world.

The German Girl sweeps from Berlin at the brink of the Second World War to Cuba on the cusp of revolution, to New York in the wake of September 11, before reaching its deeply moving conclusion in the tumult of present-day Havana. Based on a true story, this masterful novel gives voice to the joys and sorrows of generations of exiles, forever seeking a place called home.

The German Girl is told from two perspectives: Hannah  the German Girl whose story begins in the streets of Berlin during 1939  and Anna, her only living relative 70 years later. It is written in the vein of The Nightingale and All the Light We Cannot See in that the story being told is riveting and envelopes you in the forever changed life of a girl affected deeply by the Nazi regime. The writing is beautiful, descriptive and strings you along right up to the masterfully written and satisfying ending.



I enjoyed the parallels between Nazi Germany and Communist Cuba  I had no idea that Cuba sent enemies of the state to work camps. Ive been to Cuba several times, the first time was in the late 90s when I spent two weeks among the locals in Havannah, Varadero, Cardenas and a small town named Itabo. The descriptions of Havana were very familiar (The author is Cuban) and brought me back to when I was 16 and walking through the streets of Old Havana particularly while walking down the Malecon waterfront promenade as waves crashed against it, spraying water up at us.



Hannahs story is a unique and heartbreaking story of loss and it does an incredible job of bringing to light the story of the St. Louis and its hero captain Gustav Schroder. This is a truly exceptional piece of historical fiction that you are sure to enjoy if you loved The Nightingale and All the Light We Cannot See.

Elizabeth Lampman is a coffee-fuelled Mom of 2 girls and lives in Hamilton, Ontario. She enjoys travelling, developing easy recipes, crafting, taking on diy projects, travelling and saving money!
In the run up to Bonfire Night, farmers and landowners are urging the public and county councils to consider the dangers of sky lanterns.

The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) is calling for any councils that have not already banned the release of sky lanterns on their land to do so.

The CLA are also asking local authorities to outlaw the sale and release of lanterns on council property.

See also: Chinese New Year warning for farmers over sky lanterns

Twenty five councils in England have already banned sky lanterns, as well as the majority of Wales 22 local authorities, and the CLA want more to follow suit.

A council ban sends out a strong message to the public that this is a very important issue and highlights the serious risks associated with releasing a sky lantern, said CLA east regional director Ben Underwood.

The fire risks associated with releasing sky lanterns is significant, posing a threat to homes, businesses and lives in both urban and rural areas.

We strongly object to any guidance that suggests there is a safe way to light and release lanterns, because the safest thing to do is not to light them at all.

They pose an enormous fire risk, and endanger the lives of both humans and animals.

Even after it has finished flaming, the fuel cell of a lantern can register a spot temperature of more than 200C  and even after two minutes it can be about the 100C mark.

Lanterns landing or crossing fields can panic livestock, but the biggest concern to farmers is that their animals can suffer a slow, agonising death if they ingest debris from spent lanterns.

The CLAs campaign to have lanterns banned has been running for almost three years and is supported by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, The Chief Fire Officers Association, and the Local Government Association, which represents more than 370 local councils and all 49 fire and rescue authorities in England and Wales.

The RSPCA also agrees with the plea, stating on its website: Were pleased that a number of local councils have already banned the use of sky lanterns on all council owned land and wed like to see other councils follow suit.

As well as the danger to animals, there is a risk of sky lanterns burning farm buildings containing bedding, crops in the fields and houses with thatched roofs.

First-hand experience

Last year, David Rowlands of Grange Farm, Mickle Trifford, Chester, experienced the problems of sky lanterns first hand.

The Rowlands family lost one of their pedigree Red Poll breeding cows to a sky lantern around bonfire night.

She started staggering, so we treated her for staggers, but obviously it had no effect.

The vets assessment was that the oesophagus had been pierced by wire from one of these wretched things, leading to asphyxiation, Mr Rowlands explained.

These sky lanterns have either wire or bamboo frames and essentially theyre cannon balls floating.

Eventually they land and if they land in a field with cattle grazing, the cattle will investigate.

The animals are inclined to chew things like this, the wire will splinter, penetrating their throats and causing swelling. It leads to asphyxiation, a horrible death taking about 48 hours.

How an animal-loving nation can tolerate this sort of risk to cattle and sheep baffles me, he told Farmers Weekly.

But Mr Rowlands hopes if more councils ban them it will help as he says he doesnt think it is deliberate nastiness of the people releasing them, more that they simply dont understand the risks.

Our cows dont think they are worth the risk, he said.

Fireworks

Fireworks also pose a big risk to property and livestock at this time of year.

Earlier this week, a Facebook post showing the damage a horse suffered when spooked by fireworks went viral.

The horse had to be put down due to extensive injuries.
OnePlus 4 Release Date, News & Update: Specs, Low Price To Steal iPhone 7, Samsung Galaxy S8 Spotlight?

The One Plus 4 is slated to be a tough competition for the Samsung Galaxy S8 with the Chinese tech company rumored to roll out several improved and impressive specs for their upcoming handset. The South Korean company may need to remodel their phone especially regarding their batteries after the Galaxy S7 incident. Moreover, Samsung may also lower the cost of their next handset as the OnePlus 4 is rumored to release at a much fairer price of $400.

The One Plus 4 is said to roll out with 8GB RAM and 256GB external storage via MicroSD card. The device is also rumored to run on the latest Qualcomm Chipset Snapdragon 830 processor, along with an upgraded 4,000 mAh battery. Furthermore, the upcoming handset will come with the latest OS by Google, the Android 7.0 Nougat straight out of the box, according to report.

The 5.5-inch screen of the OnePlus 4 will also boost either 2K or QHD resolution, Trusted Reviews reported. OnePlus Co-founder Carl Pei reportedly noted that the OnePlus 4 will feature a display with improved quality specifically a superior display panel to replace the LCD screen. The OnePlus 4 may also include a fingerprint scanner. A 23MP rear shooter and 8MP sensor in the front completes the smartphone.

Meanwhile, a Twitter poll was spotted online that was started by Carl Pei himself. Apparently, the company's founder is contemplating on whether to jump on the headphone jackless wagon that the iPhone 7 started followed by the Moto Z. Pei has been trying to get feedback from mobile phone enthusiasts whether the OnePlus 4 should also follow suit.

OnePlus 4 enthusiasts, however, reportedly voted to retain the audio jack in the upcoming OnePlus phone. What is certain for now is that Pei confirmed that the handset will roll out without a hefty price tag despite all the improvements they have made on it. The smartphone is set to hit the market on June 2017. Watch the OnePlus 4 Features video here:
Xiaomi Mi Note 2 Release Date, News & Update: 5 Features That Is Sure To Beat Samsung Galaxy C9 Pro's 6-inch Super AMOLED Display?

Xiaomi Mi Note 2 has been in competition with Samsung Galaxy C9 pro when it comes to keeping the top position. Given its interesting features, the Xiaomi flagship has reportedly become a tough rival of the best smartphones in the tech market.

The Xiaomi Mi Note 2 comes with a 5.7-inch dual-edge complete HD display, with the protective features of Corning Gorilla Glass. The device is also reported to have a sunlight display pro mode for legibility under direct exposure to sunlight.

Xiaomi Mi Note 2 will be powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 821 quad-core processor, along with a clock speed of 2.35GHz, and with either 6GB or 4GB of RAM. The Xiaomi flagship will also have a powerful 4,070mAh battery, while a battery of 4,000mAh is set on the Samsung smartphone. Mi Note 2 has 4GB of RAM with 64GB internal storage or a 6GB RAM with 128GB storage.

In terms of software, both smartphones run with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow OS. But, as for the camera features, the two come with different specs, since Mi Note 2 is reported to have an 8MP front camera and a 22.56MP rear camera, while Galaxy C9 Pro has 16MP front and rear cameras. The Xiaomi flagship is priced at $515 for 6GB RAM and $410 for 4GB RAM, while the Samsung phone is available at $470 in the Chinese market, PC Advisor reported.

Meanwhile, Samsung is reported to be on a roll, which appears to be an attempt to fix the damage brought about by the issues involving the Galaxy Note 7. Given that, the much anticipated Galaxy C9 Pro was unveiled by the South Korean company during an event held in China. According to reports, the smartphone is set to feature a 6-inch Super AMOLED display with 1920 x 1089 pixel Full-HD resolution.

The Samsung Galaxy C9 Pro is also expected to come with a powerful Qualcomm octa-core Snapdragon 653 processor, including a built-in 64GB storage. Compared with other popular devices in the market, the C9 Pro is not removing the 3.5mm headset jack. The C9 Pro weighs in at 189g, with dimensions of 162.9 x 80.7 x 6.9mm, according to report. Watch Mi Note 2 Vs Samsung Galaxy C9 Pro [Compare]
Star Trek: Discovery Air Date, Spoilers, News & Update: Budgeted Same Level As HBOs Game Of Thrones, Will Be Set Ten Years Ago

"Star Trek: Discovery" paid an expensive production which is the same with the famous "Game of Thrones" which was budgeted at $6 million to $7 million per episode. The first season of this series will be set ten years ago from the start of this series.

Yahoo noted that the series will feature new crews, new villains, new heroes, and new worlds which suggest that viewers will discover more about the canon of the established "Star Trek" universe. Another teaser during San Diego Comic-con was released that the series will also feature about space traveling, the test flight of the U.S.S. Discovery base of operations for the cast.

Meanwhile, showrunner Bryan Fuller of "Hannibal'Pushing Daisies" has left the series. Fuller as reported by Ars Techica has been very busy with another project and he will be replaced by Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts. Berg and Harberts were both executive producers of "Star Trek: Discovery."

However, Fuller's exit doesn't mean he's fully left "Star Trek: Discovery," he'll still remain in the series but as an Executive Producer. Fuller will still remain and help shape up the story. The first two scripts has already been penned by Fuller and the broader story has already been built.

Bryan Fuller responds to news that hes stepping down as #StarTrek: Discovery showrunner https://t.co/BmAwXJwzRB pic.twitter.com/VYJ0RF6qmo  Hollywood Reporter (@THR) October 27, 2016

Berg and Harberts will be taking the responsibilities as the new showrunners of "Star Trek: Discovery," and the series will start filming next month. The main characters of the series was not named yet, but the premier date which is May 2017 is still on the go, but it sounds like there is a possibility of change.


Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Release Date, News & Update: Discounts Provided to Former Galaxy Note 7 Owners; Amazing Specs & Features Revealed

Following the disappointing release of Samsung Galaxy Note 7, the company is now focusing on the new iteration of the series dubbed as Samsung Galaxy Note 8. According to reports, the company is under pressure to redeem the reputation of the Galaxy Note line as tech freaks will certainly keep an eye on its development. Now that the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is already making some headlines across the Internet, fans are expecting the South Korean company to develop the best hybrid phablet in the market today.

Although the tech giant has yet to make an official statement regarding the development and release date of the new Samsung Galaxy Note 8, several reports have emerged suggesting that the device will arrive in the market in 2017 with amazing features and the best specs under the hood.

According to the latest report, consumers who bought the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 when it was still in the market and decided to switch to either of the current flagship smartphones, Samsung Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 Edge, will only have to pay half the price of the Galaxy S7 to be able to get the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 8 or the new Samsung Galaxy S8. As of the moment, Samsung has continued to stay quiet regarding the development and release of the new Galaxy Note iteration as well as the next flagship smartphone.

According to a report by Game N Guide, the current discount offered by Samsung is meant to encourage people to surrender their Samsung Galaxy Note 7 to avoid further issues. It is reported that during its development with the new Samsung Galaxy Note 8, the company will make sure to start with the safety issue of the device.

As of the moment, fans will have to wait for Samsung to make an official announcement. All rumor and speculations must be taken with a grain of salt. Stay tuned for more news and updates about the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 8.
Facebook Latest News & Update: New Features Similar To Snapchat Filters; Will Users Be Impressed?

Facebook is expanding in testing a new camera feature on its main app that relies on the exact same video and photo filters enjoyed by Snapchat users today. Facebook users can now send masks that map your face and full-frame effects that overlays the scene. It can be sent as a direct message to a number of people on Facebook.

Facebook being used by over 1.4 billion people every month has never before adopted features from prominent apps to its main app. According to The Verge, another feature which is similar to Snapchat is that the video will only remain visible as long as you and your friend talk about it. The content will disappear after 24 hours if you fail to start a conversation.

Facebook is planning to place the camera icon in the upper left hand corner of the main app. It will also let you access it be swiping right on the main screen. Currently it is still only a test, which is limited only in Ireland. Similar features were released by Facebook in Canada and Brazil during the Olympics.

The new update of Facebook is the boldest attempt to steal away Snapchat's user base. In fact, a report by Wall Street Journal said that Facebook tried to buy Snapchat for $3 billion back in 2013. However, the mega social media site was unsucessful in convincing the Snapchat CEO, Evan Spiegal.

Snapchat is still an existing threat to Facebook, making a near copy of the fun and spunky features the former has. Facebook seems to only be following suit, especially after Instagram released their Instagram Stories feature recently.

According to Mashable, the company's goal is to capitalize on user's desire to share more casually and more visually. As of writing, the Snapchat-like feature on Facebook is still experimental and they will still continue testing different variations of the feature.
Rotary got started in Long Beach in 1917 when seven local businessmen met with a New York Rotarian who talked about his club there.
Benton Countys top manager is stepping down.

Chief Operating Officer Dennis Aloia, 62, plans to retire at the end of the fiscal year June 30.

Aloia, who has held the COO post since March 2012, quietly informed the county commissioners and department heads of his decision over the last few weeks. He announced his plans to all county employees in an email sent Thursday afternoon.

County officials said they expect to launch a national search for Aloias replacement in January and hope to have a new COO on board before the end of June.

As chief operating officer, Aloia supervises county department heads and reports to the three-member Board of Commissioners. He oversees day-to-day operations of a county government with more than 400 employees and a 2015-17 budget of $207.9 million. His annual salary is $161,952.

Aloia has spent four decades in county government work, including more than 30 years as a county manager. Prior to taking the Benton County job, he held management posts with Grand Traverse County, Michigan; Seneca County, New York; Marquette County, Michigan; and Lake County, Indiana.

He and his wife, Jean, have a son in Wisconsin and a daughter in New York City. Both are married and talking about having kids of their own, and Aloia said the desire to be closer to them was a big factor in his retirement decision.

Its time, he said.

Aloia called the Benton County post my favorite job and said hes enjoyed working with the commissioners.

Theyve given me my stride and let me do my thing, he said. I feel really good about being here.

High marks

For their part, all three commissioners gave Aloia high marks for his job performance and credited him with several significant accomplishments during his tenure, including:

 Changing the countys organizational culture by improving communications between departments and between department heads and the commissioners.

 Launching a new pay-for-performance system for evaluating and compensating employees.

 Starting the process of creating succession plans for county department heads, a number of whom will be retiring in the next couple of years.

 Creating a strategic plan for facilities improvements.

I think Dennis has been a tremendous asset to the county, said four-term Commissioner Annabelle Jaramillo, the boards current chair. He came at the right time and he helped us move along some projects.

Im sorry the countys going to lose him, added Jay Dixon, like Jaramillo a 16-year veteran of the board. Hiring a chief operating officer and someone with Denniss skills and experience was the best thing weve done in my tenure.

Anne Schuster, who is halfway through her first four-year term on the board, is especially sorry to see him go.

Oh, my God, what am I going to do? Because Im going to be chair next year, and I was relying on him for help, Schuster said of her response when she learned of Aloias retirement plans.

I think itll be fine, but initially my reaction was one of disbelief.

Schuster called Aloia invaluable and said hell be difficult to replace.

Hes been awesome, she said. He has the respect of all of the staff, and hes been a big help to me as a new commissioner.

The county went without an executive-level manager for eight years after John Anderson stepped down as chief administrative officer in 2004. But after having Aloia in that position for the last four-plus years, all three county commissioners say they have no desire to return to managing daily operations themselves.

Of course, the boards position on hiring a new COO could change depending on the outcome of the Nov. 8 election, which will usher in at least one and possibly two new commissioners. Dixon, who lost in the Democratic primary, will step down when his term expires at the end of the year, and Jaramillo is in a three-way race for re-election. Schusters seat on the board will come up for election in 2018.

To-do list

With eight months left before he retires, Aloia said he still has a number of projects on his to do list.

Those include:

 Getting started on a project to renovate three county buildings to create more space for the Health, Community Development, Public Works, and Natural Areas and Parks departments.

 Hiring new directors for the Juvenile and Natural Areas and Parks departments, who plan to retire soon.

 Helping to prepare a county budget for 2017-19.

 Getting the countys new strategic planning process, the 2040 Thriving Communities Initiative, off the ground.

 Overseeing the launch of the criminal justice study, which will evaluate the need for a new jail and new courthouse in the broad context of the countys overall criminal justice system.

Aloia said hes proud of the work hes done for Benton County government, but he does have one major regret: the countys handling of the failed $24 million jail bond, a highly controversial measure that was shot down by voters last November.

My biggest regret is not being more vocal on the jail levy, he said. I dont feel we did enough work or spent enough time preparing for it.

Aloia said he should have pushed the commissioners harder to hold off on going to the voters with a bond measure until they had completed a broad-based, independent study of the local criminal justice system like the one now being planned. If the board had decided to lay more groundwork, he believes, the voters might have agreed to fund a new jail and perhaps a new courthouse as well.

Doing it the way were doing it now? Yes, I think we would have had a shot, he said.
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, the Benton County Sheriffs Office and Oregon State Police. 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

FRIDAY, OCT. 28

DUII: 2:01 a.m., Northwest Polk Avenue and 30th Street. An officer arrested and charged Kyle Allen Perry, 23, of Corvallis with DUII after a traffic stop. Perry reportedly had a blood alcohol content of 0.12 percent.

Benton County Sheriff's Office

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 26

SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY: 4:05 p.m., 26000 block of Fudge Road, Alsea. A deputy spoke to a woman who reported that she may have been the victim of fraud. The woman reportedly told the deputy that she was contacted by a company named SHIPFROM-USA and was told to receive packages and then ship them to other locations using shipping labels provided. The woman reported that she shipped 20 packages, including items such as computers, iPhones and pressure cookers.

SUNDAY, OCT. 23

DUII: 1 p.m., Northwest Highway 20 and Scenic Drive, Albany. A deputy responded to check the welfare of a woman pulled over on the side of the Highway. The deputy spoke to Volkman Macomber, 45, of Corvallis, who reportedly stopped because she was too intoxicated to drive her and another person in the vehicle. The deputy arrested Macomber on charges of DUII and reckless endangering. Macomber reportedly had a blood alcohol content of 0.17 percent.
VATICAN CITY (AP)  The Vatican this week published guidelines for Catholics who want to be cremated, saying their remains cannot be scattered, divvied up or kept at home but rather stored in a sacred, church-approved place.

The new instructions were released just in time for Halloween and "All Souls Day" on Nov. 2, when the faithful are supposed to pray for and remember the dead.

For most of its 2,000-year history, the Catholic Church only permitted burial, arguing that it best expressed the Christian hope in resurrection. But in 1963, the Vatican explicitly allowed cremation as long as it didn't suggest a denial of faith about resurrection.

The new document from the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith repeats that burial remains preferred, with officials calling cremation a "brutal destruction" of the body. But it lays out guidelines for conserving ashes for the increasing numbers of Catholics who choose cremation for economic, ecological or other reasons.

It said it was doing so to counter what it called "new ideas contrary to the church's faith" that had emerged since 1963, including New Age-y ideas that death is a "fusion" with Mother Nature and the universe, or the "definitive liberation" from the prison of the body.

To set the faithful straight, the Vatican said ashes and bone fragments cannot be kept at home, since that would deprive the Christian community as a whole of remembering the dead. Rather, church authorities should designate a sacred place, such as a cemetery or church area, to hold them.

Only in extraordinary cases can a bishop allow ashes to be kept at home, it said. Vatican officials declined to say what circumstances would qualify, but presumably countries where Catholics are a persecuted minority and where Catholic churches and cemeteries have been ransacked would qualify.

The document said remains cannot be divided among family members or put in lockets or other mementos. Nor can the ashes be scattered in the air, land or sea since doing so would give the appearance of "pantheism, naturalism or nihilism," the guidelines said.

It repeated church teaching that Catholics who choose to be cremated for reasons contrary to the Christian faith must be denied a Christian funeral.

The author of the text, Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, was asked at a Vatican briefing if Francis had any reservations about the text, particularly the refusal to let family members keep remains of their loved ones at home.

"The dead body isn't the private property of relatives, but rather a son of God who is part of the people of God," Mueller said. "We have to get over this individualistic thinking."
International schools : Future plans of IBIS remain open

Bad Godesberg A decision about whether or not to give IBIS a green light for a secondary school was postponed. It was signaled that the administration wanted further talks with the school.

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Following a no vote by the Bonn School Committee but a positive sign from the city administration, Independent Bonn International School (IBIS) has reason to remain hopeful. IBIS had put forth a proposal for a secondary school and this was to be included on the agenda of the Bonn City Council for a Thursday evening meeting.

Instead, a committee which is at a higher level than the school committee, postponed discussion on the topic so it did not come up for a vote at the city council. According to administration, more talks should be held with the school.

IBIS is currently a primary school only. The Bonn school committee voted against a secondary IBIS school, saying another private international secondary school would lead to an oversupply. But that committee does not have a final say.
International reach : German Aerospace Center grows

Bonn Its expansion time for the German Aerospace Center in Bonn. A new building will house 300 additional employees, bringing the total number of staff to 1,000.

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The German Aerospace Center (DLR) celebrated the grand opening of a building expansion on Heinrich-Konen-Strae 5, in an area nicknamed The Bonner Bogen (near the Kameha Grand Hotel). The six story building has 10,500 square meters of space and will accommodate 300 more employees of the DLR Project Management Agency. The agency has three main areas of focus: scientific research, innovation and education and it works with organizations from all over the world. Bringing the total number of employees to 1,000, it is one of the largest project management agencies in Germany.

Environment, sustainability and health will be the main topics for the additional 300 DLR employees. At the original building, some of the focus is on education, gender, society and innovation. According to Director Klaus Uckel, From here, we work for our clients, cooperating with over 100 different countries. This contributes to Bonns reach and visibility as an international location. The DLR Agency manages research funds of approximately one billion euro.

Bonns Mayor Ashok Sridharan was at the grand opening and welcomed the new addition, saying the enhancement was a boost for the development of Bonn as an international location. Only when we work together can we strengthen Bonn as an innovative and international city.
Have you ever spotted something unexpected while walking down the street? Last December, paleontologists literally stumbled upon a new discovery of a fossil sea cow in a very unexpected place  in a limestone paving stone in Spain! Research presented this week at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, describes this remarkable find and how it is changing our understanding of sea cow evolution.

The unusual pavement was spotted in the picturesque town of Girona, northern Spain. A local geologist first noticed the fossil and submitted it to the website http://www.paleourbana.com, an online database of urban fossils worldwide. As word of the fossil spread, paleontologists Dr. Manja Voss and Dr. Oliver Hampe, from the Museum fur Naturkunde, Berlin, visited Girona to take a look.

Closer inspection of the paving stones by Dr. Voss and Dr. Hampe revealed that the complex array of shapes was slices of the backbone and skull of an ancient marine mammal. Based on the skull and teeth, they concluded that it was a sirenian, or sea cow, a member of a group of large, plant-eating marine mammals represented today by the living manatee and dugong.

Once the significance of the fossil was understood, Dr. Voss and Dr. Hampe worked with the mayoralty of Girona and local geologists to have the 50x30cm large paving stones removed for study. Since the rock was cut into slices to form the paving stones, the paleontologists had a cross-sectional view of the sea cows skull, revealing many details of its anatomy. However, they also wanted to see inside the stones, so they took them to a medical hospital, the Clinica Girona, where they were CT-scanned.

The scientists discovered that the Girona Sea Cow is most likely a representative of Prototherium, a genus of extinct sea cows from Spain and Italy. However, this find is particularly important because the rocks from which the paving slabs were quarried are 40 million years old, explains Voss. Hence the find represents one of the oldest sea cows in Europe, making it a unique opportunity to enhance our knowledge on the evolution and diversity of this marine mammal group that arose about 50 million years ago.

Next the scientists will use the CT scans to try to digitally piece together the separate skull slices of Prototherium. This can help them answer more questions, such as the animals age when it died and its potential relationship to other fossil sea cows.

The Girona Sea Cow, which is providing clues into the evolution of sea cows in the ancient oceans of Europe, shows that fossils can be found in surprising locations. Voss says While the limestone used to build the city of Girona are enriched by fossilsit is quite common to identify invertebrates for examplefinding a marine mammal on which thousands of people walked over for the last two decades is indeed very peculiar.

Note: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.
Here Are 8 Hilarious Pictures That Flooded Social Media After Galaxy Note 7 Explosions Features oi -Sneha Tired of Samsung Note 7 explosion incidents? Check out these funny pictures of the phone you shouldn't miss!

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 has hit headlines for quite some time now. In the meanwhile, social media has taken the lead and has flooded several hilarious pictures across the internet.

This year Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was pretty early with its Diwali gift for its users. Diverting from the serious Note 7 explode incidents, social media has taken a lead and brought about these hilarious pictures about Samsung Galaxy Note 7. Check out now!

SEE ALSO: How to Check WhatsApp Last Seen Without Reading Messages [4 Simple Steps]

Be Safe Rather Than Blowing Away With Note 7

Try putting your Samsung Galaxy Note 7 on a charge, far away from yourself.

Click Here for New Smartphones Best Online Deals

Waterproof Device Right? Try This Hack

Note 7 is supposedly waterproof, and stuffing it between ice cubes may possibly cool it down? Really?

Try Out this Vintage Charging Station

Trying the above method to charge the Note 7 may call for World War II paraphernalia in handy. Try at your own risk!

Note 7 is Surely Befitting its Brand Name 'Galaxy'

Use Note 7 and you can directly experience the galaxy around you. Want to know how?

Burn it Off and Shit the Blame Like a Boss

Oops it's not me, its the Note 7! I swear.

Awww! Its Such a Cute Bird Look

Check out the exploded Note 7 and you'll see cute birds flying by your phone.

Need to Exchange Your Note 7? Do it Instantly

Like Samsung has brought about the Note 7 exchange offer, all that you need to do, blow off your phone, and exchange it. P.S: Save yourself from exploding.

Engineers Testing the New Note 7? Are Your still Alive?

Here's for the engineers testing the new Note 7 models, while saving the batteries to explode, kindly don't blow up yourself.

Click Here for New Smartphones Best Online Deals

Best Mobiles in India
Coalition Strikes Hit ISIL Terrorists in Iraq, Syria

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Oct. 28, 2016  U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Iraq and Syria 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

Bomber, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted three strikes in Syria:

-- Near Abu Kamal, a strike damaged an ISIL supply route.

-- Near Mara, two strikes engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two vehicles and a heavy machine gun.

Strikes in Iraq

Attack, bomber, fighter, remotely piloted and rotary wing aircraft and rocket artillery conducted six strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq's government:

-- Near Rutbah, a strike engaged an ISIL bunker.

-- Near Mosul, three strikes engaged two ISIL tactical units and four fighting positions; destroyed four vehicles, four tunnels, two vehicle bombs, two mortar systems, a mortar cache and a weapons cache; and damaged a tunnel.

-- Near Sinjar, a strike engaged an ISIL headquarters building.

-- Near Tal Afar, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit.

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 Iraq include the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. 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.

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U.S. Department of Defense

Press Operations

News Transcript

Presenters: Colonel John Dorrian, Operation Inherent Resolve Spokesman; Captain Jeff Davis, Director, Defense Press Office October 28, 2016

Department of Defense Press Briefing by Col. Dorrian via Teleconference from Bagdad, Iraq

CAPTAIN JEFF DAVIS: Good morning and sorry about the delay there.

We're pleased to be joined with us today by Colonel John J.D. Dorrian, the spokesperson for Operation Inherent Resolve coming to us live from Baghdad.

J.D., just want to make sure we can hear you and you can hear us.

COLONEL JOHN DORRIAN: Jeff, I've got you loud and clear. How do you read?

CAPT. DAVIS: Got it. And we'll get a tiny bit more volume, Tom.

We'll turn it over to you. J.D., go ahead.

COL. DORRIAN: Everything -- very good.

Well, good morning, Pentagon press. I know you've recently heard from General Townsend, but given the ongoing operations to liberate Mosul, we're temporarily increasing our briefing battle rhythm to offer new developments.

First, the ongoing operation to liberate Mosul. Iraqi and Kurdish security forces have continued progress in clearing their respective axes from Daesh and are black-clearing several areas before they continue to advance. As they do so, the coalition will continue our precision strikes to take our Daesh targets. For example, many of you have seen and noted the enemy's developed extensive tunneling networks in some of the areas that they use for tactical movement and to hide weapons.

If left unabated, this could present challenges for the Iraqi and Peshmerga forces advancing on the city --

(AUDIO GAP)

COL. DORRIAN: -- 46 of those tunnels since the liberation battle for Mosul started on October 17th, reducing the threat from a favored enemy tactic.

One of the highest profile tactics the enemy has used since the battle of Mosul started has been their lighting of the toxic sulfur residue started at al-Mishraq south of Mosul. The latest information I have is that those fires are lightly -- are largely under control, but continue smoldering and flaring up as the Iraqis continue to use water, sand and fire-fighting foam to combat the blaze.

The coalition's constantly assessing the risk to forces at Camp Swift and Qayyarah West Air Field due to the smoke caused from the burning wells and from the sulfur plant fire. And the masks that have been required at those locations, they've not been required for the past two days. Daesh is intent on -- Daesh's intent in starting those fires was to divert and disrupt ISF forces who were going to Mosul and those efforts have failed.

Since the campaign for Mosul started, the coalition has delivered almost 2,500 close air support bombs and missiles, artillery rounds and HIMARS rockets on enemy targets since the battle started on October 17. Those weapons destroyed not only the tunnels we already discussed, but 33 vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices in hundreds of enemy vehicles, fighting positions and artillery pieces.

Finally, in case you missed it, the air field at Qayyarah West is now open and the first flight landed there blacked out in the evening of October 21. The new air field capability provides the coalition and the Iraqis who have -- their own C-130s the ability, the ability to resupply or reposition forces rapidly. Daesh had largely destroyed that air field in a manner they thought would deny the ISF and the coalition from using it.

The Iraqi and coalition forces who swept the area to remove explosives plus 29 airmen who specialize in opening and repairing air fields used their heavy equipment and more than two million pounds of concrete to show Daesh once again that they are wrong. Five flights have gone into that air field so far.

Pentagon Press, I would be delighted to take your questions.

DAVIS: Start with Bob Burns from the Associated Press.

Q: Colonel, thanks.

Could you first tell us about this October 17 incident where the Russian jet -- there was a close miss with an American jet over Syria. And also, could you tell us a bit about the use of human shields in the Mosul area and how that's being -- how that's being done and how it's being countered?

COL. DORRIAN: Sure.

I'll start with the -- the incident on the 17th. From my understanding, and I'm catching up with this a little bit late as you are, two aircraft, one Russian and one coalition, came within about a half a mile of each other. The -- the Russian aircraft was a fighter jet and the coalition aircraft was a larger framed aircraft that we don't provide additional detail on.

But the flight -- the jet -- the Russian jet passed in front of the coalition jet close enough that the jet wash from that flight was felt within the larger aircraft. So that's closer than we'd like. There was an immediate contact between the aircraft and then follow-up through the deconfliction channel that we've been working with the Russians for quite some time.

(inaudible) -- CAOC does -- does not asses this to be something that was done with nefarious intent. And therefore, they've continued discussing that incident. And those de-confliction calls, they continue to be conducted on a daily basis. The latest one was today at about 11 o'clock.

General Townsend was informed when this event occurred. So, he was aware of this as well. And that's about the -- the level of information that I have for you, Bob.

Regarding the human shields, we have seen many instances in the past where Daesh have used human shields in order to try and facilitate their escape. Right now they're using human shields to make the Iraqi Security Forces' advance more difficult.

We don't have quite as specific information as I've seen in some of the news reports today, but we did expect them to do some of this type of taking of human shields because they've done it in previous liberation battles, most recently in -- I guess most famously in Manbij, where they kidnapped you know up to a couple of thousand people in -- in their escape convoy. So, this is something that we've seen. We did expect them to do some of this.

And what's happening is as they fall back into the city, apparently they are taking some of the local residents as human shields. So this is something we try to stop when we can, or put a stop to it.

I am aware of one incident in which Daesh had gathered a large number of vehicles to try and transport some of the civilians back with them. We were able to attack those vehicles before they could take the civilians.

So I -- yeah, I don't have the specifics on the date and the location of that strike. We can owe that to you. I was gathering information on that this afternoon.

Q: Colonel, on the October 17th incident, you say it was reported up the chain of command. Can you say why it wasn't reported to the public, given how -- how close it was to being a collision?

COL. DORRIAN: Well, it wasn't reported to the public because we have a deconfliction channel to discuss these incidents with the Russians. The deconfliction channel is not one that's necessarily designed for public disclosure.

And really, the purpose of that is to do the exact opposite of turning it into a major incident. It's really more intended to keep the temperature down between us and the Russians in that very crowded and confused, at times, battle space. So that's why we didn't put it out then.

Q: Was it discussed with the Russians through that channel immediately or shortly thereafter or not until today?

COL. DORRIAN: Shortly thereafter. And there were communications between the two aircraft and it was followed up, I believe, the next day with the Russians in the normal channel.

Q: Tom Bowman with National Public Radio.

Q: Colonel, if we could just stay on this for a second. On October 17th, before these flights took off, was there discussion, deconfliction discussion with the Russians? I'm just wondering what the chatter was that day and how you explain this. You say it's not nefarious. What, is it just a mistake? How do you explain it first of all?

And then with the human shields, do you have a ballpark number of how many people we're talking about here? Is it dozens, is it hundreds?

COL. DORRIAN: Yes. For the October 17th incident, I don't know if they have conducted a deconfliction call that day. We'll take that question and get with the CAOC, and try to get it answered for you. So we'll have to get back to you on that one.

With regard to the human shields, we don't have good fidelity. I think it would be a little bit of a wag for me at this point. I just don't think it would be appropriate for me to offer a number because we just don't have that level of fidelity at this point.

Q: (inaudible) -- mentioned you took out a couple of ISIS vehicles before they were able to take civilians. Has that been done in other occasions recently? Is that pretty rare? Do you have a sense of that? And then any other ways you've kind of prevented this from happening.

COL. DORRIAN: Yes. On that incident, it was more than a couple of vehicles. My understanding from the discussions I've had was that they had massed about 50 vehicles and the strike was able to take out 40 to 45 of them. So it's a pretty significant strike.

I'm not aware of any other incident in which something like this happened, but we can -- we can look into that. That's one of the open questions that I had this afternoon when I learned of the larger strike.

CAPT. DAVIS: Okay. Next, we'll go to Barbara Starr with CNN.

Q: Colonel Dorrian, if -- thank you for doing this.

If we could stay on the October 17th incident, I'm confused on a number of points that had been made. First of all, what is the -- Central Command's assessment on how dangerous this incident was to American pilots to have a Russian plan at night flying half -- less than half a mile in front of them? So that's my first question. What was the level of danger posed to U.S. pilots?

My second question is what is the increased danger in northwest Syria to American pilots from the Russians now that you're increasing, by your account, operations over Raqqah?

My third question is I want to understand this. Did General Townsend and your part of the command make a conscious decision not to reveal this incident because you wanted to, as you say, keep the temperature down with the Russians? Obviously the Russians knew about it, but the American public did not. Because I find that baffling, since today, it was actually revealed by a senior U.S. military official in the Central Command.

So what has changed that is -- now you're suddenly willing -- and that is General Harrigan of course. So what -- what's changed? Why not tell us? And why are you telling us today? What's changed in your thinking about this? If the Russians knew, why can't the American public know?

COL. DORRIAN: Well, first off, now you do know. And there wasn't anybody playing I got a secret, it had nothing to do with that. That's why this was used as an example. The purpose of the discussion at the CAOC, my understanding, was to discuss the importance of the deconfliction channel, and this was provided as an example in those discussions. So I don't think that it was perceived to be a danger.

And again, we don't assess that this was the Russians trying to do anything with nefarious intent, but this is an -- the explanation for it is why it's important to have these deconfliction measures, so if there's something that could put pilots in danger that there's an opportunity to discuss it between the two sides and create processes and procedures and enough transparency to deconflict. So that's the explanation for it.

As far as General Townsend, you know, he was briefed on this incident. I don't think that he saw it as anything that -- that needed to go out in a breaking news event. He understands that the purpose of this deconfliction channel is to discuss these things with the Russians. And that's -- that's exactly how it played out.

Q: Can I -- thank you. Can I just go back and follow up two points? How many other near misses of this nature, half a mile or less let's say, have there been with Russian aircraft? Do you feel that you're facing increased encounters with the Russians now that you're getting into closer air space? So how many encounters? Is there increased risk?

And do I understand you correctly to say you do not believe that this was perceived to be a danger to U.S. pilots? Maybe I misunderstood you. I don't know.

COL. DORRIAN: Yeah, what I said is we don't believe there was any nefarious intent. So that's -- that's -- that's all I meant.

As far as near misses and how many there have been in the past, I'd have to circle back with the CAOC and we'll have to owe you that answer. I'm not aware of any such incident other than this one and we'll just owe that to you.

Q: (inaudible) -- is a danger to U.S. pilots?

COL. DORRIAN: I'm sorry. You broke up a little bit. I couldn't -- couldn't hear what you said.

Q: Sorry, Colonel.

I just want to ask straight up, was this -- did this incident pose a danger to U.S. Air Force -- to U.S. pilots?

COL. DORRIAN: Well, I think it's a significant enough incident that it required follow-up in this briefing in this deconfliction channel. We don't like to fly our aircraft within a half a mile of each other. I can assure you of that.

But as far as the level of danger, you know, it's -- no one declared an in-flight emergency or anything of that nature. And again, we just followed it up afterwards, and you know, continued those deconfliction efforts.

CAPT. DAVIS: Okay. Next, we'll go to Tara Copp with Stars and Stripes.

Q: Hi, Colonel Dorrian. Good to see you again.

Just to follow-up on Barbara's questions, in an interview with NBC News, General Harrigian had said that these incidents happen about every 10 days, which doesn't seem to gel with what you just told us. I just wanted to know, you know, how frequently are these if not near misses, but something enough to raise some concern or raise level of discussion at the deconfliction calls occurring?

COL. DORRIAN: Well, Tara, it -- it gives just fine with what I told you. I said I'm not aware of any other such incidents and haven't been briefed on any. So it sounds like you've got some additional information, so good for you.

Q: The deconfliction channel was started after there were a number of incidents, it seemed, where Russian aircraft were getting very close to U.S. drones or other U.S. fighter aircraft. Since the deconfliction channel has started, is this, from what you can recall and what you know, the first time that there's been this type of close call?

COL. DORRIAN: This is the first time I've been informed of any such thing, so that's all the information I have for you. I think it's clear to me that you're interest in learning more about this and if there are any further incidents. So we'll follow-up with the CAOC and get you some more information. But I just don't have any others -- any other information to offer about that.

Q: Okay.

And then separately on Mosul, it was I think my understanding that the Kurds had agreed with the Iraqi government that they would stay around 20 kilometers outside of Mosul and hold that area. There are various news reports that have the Kurds heading towards Mosul, as close as five kilometers away. And I just wanted to get an understanding if we were right about the 20 kilometer kind of barrier or if there's an agreement that maybe they help with an advance and then they go back and hold territory. Anything that you can do to provide some clarity on that would be appreciated.

COL. DORRIAN: What I can tell you is, that the Iraqis are an adaptive force, and so what they've seen is some tactics, techniques and procedures by Daesh that have lead them to believe it's in their interest to pause the advance in some areas in order to do some back clearing and make sure that their flanks and their rear are clear of Daesh. But you know, they are still largely on plan and on the various axis of advance, anywhere from 10 to 20 kilometers away, that's kind of where it stands right now.

Q: My question was about the Kurds and close they are to Mosul, and are they advancing closer than the 20 kilometer, I guess, barrier if that was their agreement?

COL. DORRIAN: Yes, they're following their agreement, they're executing the plan that they've come up with, the Iraqis -- between the Iraqis and the Kurdish regional government. There's been very good cooperation between the two sides and everyone's honored the agreements that they -- they entered into.

Q: When you said the Iraqis are adaptive, does that mean that maybe the agreement has also changed a little for when necessary, the Kurds help and advance closer to Mosul with them, or what are -- how do you reconcile the reports that Kurdish forces are five kilometers away from Mosul in some cases?

COL. DORRIAN: Yeah, I haven't seen those reports, so we'll just have to look into that for you. But you know, everything that I have seen indicates to me that the Kurds are following the agreed upon plan, and they're doing what the Iraqis and they agreed to.

CAPT. DAVIS: Next we'll go to Idrees Ali with Reuters.

Q: As follow up on Mosul and human shields. Have you seen reports of human shields being used, or have you yourself with your own intel seen them being used by the Islamic State and how has that impacted coalition strikes? Have you had to adjust, given the fact that they could be using them?

COL. DORRIAN: Well, we have seen a lot of open source reports, and there have been incidents that our intelligence enterprise has seen. We've not seen the very large numbers that we've seen in some of the reports, but we are comparing the things that we've seen from talking to sources on the ground, SIGINT and other intelligent sources, and just deconflicting those to determine the size and scope of the issue.

Q: And a follow up on the Iraqi Shia militia and the Shia said they will take part in an offensive, West of Mosul. I know you've said, you would provide support to Shia militias, but I mean, that does fill a gap where a lot of fighters were flowing into Syria. So what's your take on that? And are you supportive of them launch this offensive?

COL. DORRIAN: Well, we're supportive of the plan that the government of Iraq has come up with, so my understanding is that that plan includes the popular mobilization forces moving into those areas. We'll support forces that are under the command and control of the Iraqi government in doing the things that the Iraqi government has asked them to do.

CAPT. DAVIS: Bob Burns with Reuters.

Q: Colonel, when you were --

CAPT. DAVIS: I apologize. I did say Bob Burns, but I said Reuters and I -- Associated Press. Two great wire services. I won't say which one I like better.

(Laughter.)

Q: Colonel, in response to Tara's question, you mentioned that in some areas, the Iraqi security forces are pausing, to use your word, to make sure their rear areas are clear. Now, since the Mosul operation began, we've heard from coalition officials that there's been steady momentum and -- and so forth and it's been on schedule. Does this represent now -- does this pause represent a change, a shift, a slowdown of the momentum?

COL. DORRIAN: No, Bob. We expected that there would be instances where they needed to pause and reposition forces, you know, because the enemy gets a vote. The Iraqis have made the determination that now is the time to do that, and we've continued to conduct strikes in support of them, to go against tunnels, the command and control network for Daesh.

But they -- they have decided to do some back clearing and that -- that's not something that we would consider to be off-plan. I think they're still largely on-plan, and you know, they continue to push. And after, you know, a couple days to refit, resupply, repositioning, I think that they'll be moving forward again.

CAPT. DAVIS: Ryan Browne with CNN.

Q: Colonel, thanks for doing this.

I just had a question on Mosul kind of -- we've talked a little bit about the post-battle plan being a little bit -- it was still kind of in development when this operation kicked off. Do you -- do you -- is there any more knowledge on kind of where the Iraqis are on coming up with a stabilization plan, a counter-insurgency policing plan for Mosul once -- you know, as areas are liberated? I mean, has that -- has that plan been finalized? Is it still being worked on? And what's -- is there a U.S. involvement in that or coalition involvement?

COL. DORRIAN: Well, we -- we have been working with the Iraqi security forces and government of Iraq for quite some time on their plan for post-Mosul. So we've trained a very large number of security police forces because these are going to be key to establishing a degree of stability in the areas that get liberated from Daesh.

So we think the police are going to go in as a part of the hold force and the wide area security force, once Daesh have been pushed out of the city. And then they'll move into a lot of the other areas, and this is a part of the answer for counter-insurgency because as you know, the police and their regular presence and regular interaction with the population, that is the purpose of those forces and that's the answer for how you solve a problem with counter-insurgency or terrorist tactics.

So Daesh won't be allowed to simply melt away and then do terrorist attacks or sort of counter-insurgency ops. The police will be in these areas and assisting with that challenge.

Q: Thank you.

And has that -- is it your understanding that those police forces that will be responsible have been identified? The units -- I mean, I understand you are training some of them, but is -- is it kind of who's going to have the roles and responsibilities? Is there a plan in place as you understand it now, or is that plan still being developed?

COL. DORRIAN: There is a plan in place, but it's an adaptive plan, and it's -- you know, they continue to work on this.

I think what we have to do is get Mosul cleared of Daesh, and once we do that, we'll see where those remaining elements are. I think there's some in Tal Afar, there's some in Al-Qa'im, there's some along the Euphrates River Valley and then there are other areas where they'll try to infiltrate.

And we'll get a feel for the size and scope of the challenge that there is. And a lot of the forces that we've trained up until now, will be repositioned to address that.

CAPT. DAVIS: To Tom Bowman?

Q: Colonel, getting back to this pause, can you give us a sense of how widespread this is? Is this, you know, many Iraqi forces and units south of Mosul?

And you said you expected just a couple of days, is that right?

COL. DORRIAN: That's exactly right, Tom. It is -- it is widespread. It's, you know, forces on several axes. They're -- they're pausing and repositioning, refitting and doing some back-clearing. We think it'll just be a couple days, and they'll be back on the march toward Mosul. That's -- that's their game plan, and believe they're gonna be able to stick to it.

Q: Presumably as they move closer to Mosul, there'll be more and more resistance. I mean, is that what you're anticipating as this operation continues?

And maybe -- as we've been told, the momentum and they're on schedule, may be be going -- you know, going south so to speak; that maybe it's more -- more resistance than you guys anticipated.

COL. DORRIAN: No, I would -- I would say that what the definition of on schedule is, they have a plan for how far they want to get each day, and they were able to get to those places faster than they anticipated that they would.

So, the Iraqis continue to be successful in the engagements against Daesh. And, you know, essentially they are on plan and, you know, ready to move back toward Mosul probably within the next couple of days.

CAPT. DAVIS: Corey Dickstein with Stars & Stripes.

Q: Thanks, sir.

Can you, kind of, characterize what it is that they're facing that -- with this pause? Is -- is it more IEDs than they expected? Is it groups of fighters that, kind of, laid low? Could you, kind of, help what -- what it is they're back-clearing?

COL. DORRIAN: Yeah, a lot of it is just repositioning forces as we get a feel for where areas of extra Daesh presence, very tougher -- you know, tougher areas. The Iraqis may reposition forces in order to sort that out.

And we share our intelligence with them so that they can determine where they want to advance and with what force. And then we'll continue to assess the situation and conduct --

(AUDIO GAP)

COL. DORRIAN: -- kind of where we are.

Really, what I would say is, you know, the -- the Iraqis are, you know, quite capable of defeating Daesh. They've pushed them out of all these key areas around Mosul and they continue to reposition as they see fit.

And when I was discussing this with my counterpart, General Tisheen, the other day with a couple of our press who were visiting, what he said is that one of their primary goals is the protection of civilian life. So they are assessing the same news reports that you are all assessing and making the determination how best to get after those issues.

Q: And then just quickly, do you have a general idea how much, you know, square miles they -- they've recaptured at this point, the ISF and the Pesh combined through this whole operation?

COL. DORRIAN: We can take a look and see how many square kilometers have been recaptured. I don't have that figure handy here, but I think we can probably get that for you.

CAPT. DAVIS: Next we'll go to Luis Martinez with ABC News.

Q: Hey, John. A quick question about what happened in Al-Rutbah. How large of a force was it? How large was that ISIS force that pressed on the town? How well equipped were they? Did they seem like a -- like they had good command and control? And just how much of a threat did they pose to the city?

COL. DORRIAN: You know, my -- my information is there were anywhere from 60 to 100, and you can get a lot done with 60 to 100 determined fighters. We do assess them to have been a dangerous force. Obviously, they were able to take temporary control of some of the government buildings and go into the center of the city and cause some significant mayhem with the -- the local populous there.

The Iraqi security forces did expect a lot of these kinds of attacks and they positioned their forces around the country in order to respond to those. We had seen some significant spoiler-type attacks and harassing attacks around Rutbah, so this was not a real surprise for the Iraqis and they were very -- very much capable and moved their forces that they had nearby into the city and were able to take it back. Within about 36 hours or so, they pretty much had everything pacified.

Q: And if I could just follow up, did that ISIS force -- were they pushed out or were -- were they all taken and seized? I mean, how -- how did this incident finish up?

COL. DORRIAN: Most of them were killed in -- in place. Some of them were trying to escape the city and were struck by coalition air strikes. So you know, probably somewhere a third to a half of them. So that's -- that's about it.

Q: Touching on a different matter, General Votel yesterday was quoted as saying that between 800 and 900 ISIS fighters have been killed since October 17. Is it safe to assume that the numbers he's citing are from air strikes and not necessarily from ground combat?

COL. DORRIAN: I don't know, Luis. We'll -- you'll have to follow that one up with CENTCOM.

CAPT. DAVIS: Okay. The queue is empty. Anyone else?

All right. Thank you, J.D. We appreciate your time.

COL. DORRIAN: Thank you.

http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Transcripts/Transcript-View/Article/989781/

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31st MEU completes fall patrol, returns to Okinawa

US Marine Corps News

By Cpl. Samantha Villarreal | October 28, 2016

The 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit returned to White Beach Naval Base, Okinawa, Japan after a successful Fall Patrol, Oct. 28.

The 31st MEU deployed aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard, the USS Germantown and the USS Green Bay (LPD 20) as part of their regularly scheduled Fall Patrol aboard the Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group.

"As the U.S. Marine Corps' force in readiness in the Pacific, the 31st MEU must be ready to respond at a moment's notice to a wide range of military operations and work alongside our partners and allies," said Col. Tye R. Wallace, commanding officer of the 31st MEU. "Fall Patrol 2016 helped us sustain unit readiness and further our cohesion with partner nations."

While deployed, the 31st MEU integrated with a U.S. joint task force comprised of the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Navy to conduct training during Exercise Valiant Shield 2016 on Guam and around the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Valiant Shield is a biennial field training exercise held in Guam with a focus on integration of joint U.S. forces.

"Valiant Shield enabled real-world proficiency in sustaining joint forces at sea, in the air, on land, and in cyberspace in response to a range of mission areas," said Wallace. "This year, the training went really well and all the Marines were able to benefit."

After Valiant Shield, the 31st MEU participated in Amphibious Landing Exercise 33 at several locations across the Philippines. The exercise improved military relations with the Armed Forces of the Philippines through bilateral training, including humanitarian civic assistance, amphibious landings, and a combined arms live-fire exercise.

Throughout the patrol, Marines and Sailors with Battalion Landing Team, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment; Combat Logistics Battalion 31; and Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 262 (Reinforced), focused their efforts to develop cohesion between their respective elements and the Sailors of the Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group.

Each Marine and Sailor within the Marine Air-Ground Task Force contributed to the success of the Fall Patrol, according to Sgt. Maj. Jim Lanham, the senior enlisted Marine within the 31st MEU.

"The Marines and Sailors of the 31st MEU worked hard throughout the float to maintain and build on the operational readiness we are known for," said Lanham.

Throughout the patrol, leaders across the 31st MEU encouraged initiative and a focused joint effort to increase operational readiness and mission focus during each stage of the patrol, according to Lanham.

"Prior to each patrol, the Marines and Sailors of the 31st MEU are thoroughly trained in unique capabilities to remain continuously ready," said Lanham. "This patrol allowed the MEU to test and improve on our capabilities."

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Navy to Commission Submarine Illinois

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS161028-05

Release Date: 10/28/2016 9:45:00 AM

From Department of Defense

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The Navy will commission its newest fast attack submarine, the future USS Illinois (SSN 786), during an 11 a.m. EDT ceremony Saturday, Oct. 29, at Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Connecticut.

Adm. John Richardson, chief of naval operations, will deliver the ceremony's principal address. First Lady Michelle Obama is serving as the ship's sponsor. In a time-honored Navy tradition, she will give the order to "man our ship and bring her to life!"

"USS Illinois is one of the most technologically advanced platforms in the world," said the Honorable Ray Mabus, secretary of the Navy. "This submarine represents not only the Navy's lasting connection to the state of Illinois but also the American innovation and manufacturing skill that have given us such a powerful advantage, making us the most powerful expeditionary fighting force the world has ever known."

Illinois is the 13th Virginia-class fast attack submarine and the third Virginia-class block III submarine. This next-generation attack submarine provides the Navy with the capabilities required to maintain the nation's undersea supremacy well into the 21st century.

The submarine is only the second U.S. Navy ship to be commissioned with the name Illinois. The previous Illinois (BB 7), a battleship, was built at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, laid down in 1897 and was the lead ship of a class of three 11,565-ton battleships. In December 1907, Illinois steamed out of Hampton Roads, Virginia, to begin a voyage with the Great White Fleet. In January 1941, she was renamed Prairie State (IX-15) and served through World War II as a midshipmen's training school.

Illinois has the capability to attack targets ashore with highly accurate Tomahawk cruise missiles and conduct covert long-term surveillance of land areas, littoral waters or other sea-based forces. Other missions include anti-submarine and anti-ship warfare, mine delivery and minefield mapping. It is also designed for special forces delivery and support.

Virginia-class submarines are 7,800 tons and 377 feet in length, have a beam of 34 feet and can operate at more than 25 knots submerged. They are built with a reactor plant that will not require refueling during the planned life of the ship-reducing lifecycle costs while increasing underway time.

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Makin Island ARG, 11th MEU conduct Sustainment Training in Hawaii

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS161028-17

Release Date: 10/28/2016 11:32:00 AM

From USS Makin Island and 11th MEU Public Affairs

PACIFIC OCEAN (NNS) -- The Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group and 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit conducted amphibious sustainment training on Oahu and the island of Hawaii, Oct. 19-23, after departing Naval Base San Diego, Oct. 14, for a scheduled deployment to the U.S. 3rd, 5th and 7th Fleet areas of responsibility.

"As we head into the Western Pacific and then to the Middle East, this training opportunity in Hawaii proved crucial to sustaining our combat readiness," said Col. Clay C. Tipton, commanding officer of the 11th MEU. "Whether we're bringing food and supplies to people in need or conducting a helo-borne raid to remove a high-value individual from the battlefield, the Makin Island ARG/11th MEU provides our nation with an on-call, forward deployed crisis response force."

The sustainment training allowed the Navy-Marine Corps team to sharpen the skills they learned during a six-month pre-deployment cycle, and included planning and execution of ship-to-shore operations, a company-sized helo-borne raid, combat marksmanship, fire support operations, and simulated convoy operations.

"Maintaining our high levels of proficiency as we make our way into our operating areas means the ARG/MEU will be prepared to handle any mission our commanders task to us," said Capt. Mike Crary, commander, Amphibious Squadron Five. "This team is the most capable amphibious force in the world, and we sustain that edge by capitalizing on every opportunity to train together."

The Makin Island ARG is comprised of the amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island (LHD 8), the command ship for PHIBRON Five and the 11th MEU, as well as the amphibious transport dock ship USS Somerset (LPD 25), which is embarking on its maiden deployment, and amphibious dock landing ship USS Comstock (LSD 45). Embarked units, which extend the ARG's capabilities, include the "Blackjacks" of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 21, Fleet Surgical Team 5, Tactical Air Control Squadron 11, and Assault Craft Unit 5.

The 11th MEU is a Marine Air-Ground Task Force comprised of a ground combat element, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marines; an aviation combat element, Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 163 (Reinforced); a combat logistics element, Combat Logistics Battalion 11; and a command element with a commanding officer who leads the entire MEU.

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USS Iwo Jima Returns Home from Haiti Relief

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS161028-11

Release Date: 10/28/2016 10:49:00 AM

From USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) Public Affairs

MAYPORT, Fla. (NNS) -- Sailors aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) returned to their homeport of Naval Station Mayport, Oct. 28, after conducting humanitarian assistance and disaster relief as part of Joint Task Force (JTF) Matthew.

The mission of JTF Matthew, led by Rear Adm. Roy Kitchener, commander of Expeditionary Strike Group Two, was to provide support for the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) in their efforts to provide immediate humanitarian and disaster relief assistance in the wake of Hurricane Matthew.

The deadly hurricane smashed into Haiti, Oct. 4, killing hundreds. U.S. military forces were already steaming toward Haiti when it struck, arriving just hours afterward.

Overall, JTF-Matthew conducted 400 hours of flight operations and delivered of more than 600,000 pounds of humanitarian relief supplies to some of the most impacted areas from the storm, directly aiding an estimated 100,000 citizens in the process.

The crew of Iwo Jima was underway due to the expected arrival of Hurricane Matthew when they received the call to provide support in Haiti.

"Everyone on board Iwo Jima and the embarked units performed exceptionally well throughout the entire mission," said Capt. James Midkiff, commanding officer of Iwo Jima. "To successfully execute something of this caliber definitely takes a team effort, and that includes the team waiting for us back home. Thank you to the Sailors and Marines, the ombudsmen, and the friends and family who continue to support everything we do."

Iwo Jima and 500 Marines from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit departed Naval Station, Oct. 8, following a two-day onload totaling nearly 225 pallets of supplies, including 800 cases of bottled water.

The ship also embarked 11 aircraft and two landing craft units (LCU) adept at accessing fouled beaches. Other units on board Iwo Jima included Amphibious Squadron EIGHT, Tactical Air Squadron 21, Meteorological Fleet Survey Team, Assault Craft Unit TWO, Expeditionary Strike Group TWO, Fleet Intelligence Department Office of Naval Intelligence, and Naval Beach Group TWO.

After their departure from Norfolk, Iwo Jima relieved USS Mesa Verde (LPD 19) as the lead Navy support for JTF Matthew, Oct. 13.

The amphibious-based JTF provided medium and heavy lift helicopters to carry large relief supply loads in the western part of Haiti, which was hardest hit.

The Department of Defense has a longstanding history of providing initial support and capabilities to disaster relief efforts until governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations are able to provide the needed aid on their own.

Once JTF-Matthew's unique capabilities were no longer required, the JTF ceased operations, Oct. 21, and transitioned the longer-term relief effort to the appropriate civilian agencies.

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Saudis resorting to media flimflam over missile attack: Ansarullah

Iran Press TV

Fri Oct 28, 2016 7:14PM

Yemen's Houthi Ansarullah movement has strongly dismissed claims that the recent missile attack against Saudi Arabia was aimed at Islam's holiest and most revered site, emphasizing that the Saudi regime is restoring to media hype to justify its military aggression against its southern neighbor.

Ansarullah spokesman Mohammad Abdulsalam, in a statement released on Friday, said Saudi officials are looking for sympathy in the name of guardianship of the Masjid al-Haram in the holy city of Mecca, and availing themselves of media frenzy  something which nobody actually believes in.

Abdulsalam underlined that Saudi Arabia seeks to provoke Muslims worldwide through fabricated allegations that Ansarullah fighters sought to hit the Kaaba, calling on Muslims not to take note of lies being spread by the Saudi-led military coalition.

"The Yemeni nation needs no proof to show its Arab and Muslim identity. It has never targeted religious sites, and definitely treats religious rites with much greater respect compared to US mercenaries. Aggressors must end their attacks and siege against Yemen, embrace peace and observe the principle of good neighborliness," the Ansarullah spokesman pointed out.

Late on Thursday, Yemeni soldiers and their allies fired an indigenous Borkan-1 (Volcano-1) missile towards King Abdulaziz International Airport, located 19 kilometers north of the western Saudi port city of Jeddah.

A Yemeni military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, later told the official Saba news agency that the 12.5-meter-long missile had hit its target accurately and left massive destruction at the airport.

Saudi media outlets, however, reported that the kingdom's missile systems intercepted and destroyed the solid propellant and Scud-type missile before it could cause any damage.

They said the projectile was launched at 9 p.m. local time (1800 GMT) on Thursday from Yemen's mountainous northwestern area of Sa'ada.

The Saudi military also claimed that the Yemeni missile was fired toward the holy city of Mecca.

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Saudi, Qatar seek to recruit Algeria in Yemen

Iran Press TV

Fri Oct 28, 2016 9:0AM

Saudi Arabian and Qatari army chiefs have met with their Algerian counterpart, asking Algiers to send its servicemen to Yemen, where Riyadh has been leading an unbridled military campaign since March 2015.

Earlier in October, the Saudi and Qatari top brass Abderrahmane Ben Salah al-Baniane and Ghanem Ben Chahin al-Ghanem met with Chief of Staff of the Algerian Army General Ahmed Gaid-Salah, the Middle East Eye news portal reported on Thursday, citing an unnamed Algerian diplomat.

Algiers, who had last year turned down a request to join the war and offered only as far as logistical support, likewise refused the offer in line with its policy of non-interventionism.

"Algiers responded that it would consider the proposal, but for the time being, the general feeling is one of refusal," said the diplomatic source.

The report said the two military officials, who had travelled to the North African country with large delegations in attendance, asked Algiers to become part of a Yemen-based "peacekeeping force."

"Saudi Arabia wants to bring an end to the war and implement a peacekeeping force from various countries, who are trusted by Riyadh and Doha," the diplomat continued.

Riyadh has come under international opprobrium for the sheer size of the casualties from the war it has launched in support of Yemen's former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who has resigned and fled to the Saudi capital.

The offensive has so far killed 10,000 amid countless reports suggesting deliberate and indiscriminate targeting of civilian infrastructure by Saudi aircraft and mercenaries.

Observers say the warfare has cost the kingdom so much in terms of financial and political capital that it seeks to diminish its own role while enlisting the services of allies to gradually fill in its shoes.

So far, Riyadh has once tried and failed to bring in Pakistani forces, but Islamabad said it would only partake if Yemeni forces target Muslim holy sites inside Saudi Arabia.

On Friday, it was reported that Yemeni Army forces and allied fighters from Popular Committees, which both side with Ansarullah, had launched a locally-designed and manufactured ballistic missile towards an area deep inside Saudi Arabia in response to the Riyadh regime's atrocious aerial bombardments.

The forces fired a Borkan-1 (Volcano-1) missile towards King Abdulaziz International Airport, located 19 kilometers north of the western Saudi port city of Jeddah, Arabic-language al-Masirah television network reported.

A military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, later told the official Saba news agency that the 12.5-meter-long missile had accurately hit its target and left massive destruction at the airport.

Saudi media outlets, however, reported that the kingdom's missile systems intercepted and destroyed the solid propellant and Scud-type missile before it could cause any damage.

The Saudi military also claimed that the Yemeni missile had been fired toward the holy city of Mecca, but the Houthi Ansarullah movement has rejected the claim.

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Yemeni forces fire ballistic missile at Saudi Arabia's Jeddah airport

Iran Press TV

Fri Oct 28, 2016 1:9AM

Yemeni army forces and allied fighters from Popular Committees have reportedly launched a locally designed and manufactured ballistic missile towards an area deep inside Saudi Arabia in response to the Riyadh regime's atrocious aerial bombardments against the crisis-hit Arab country.

Yemeni soldiers and their allies fired a Borkan-1 (Volcano-1) missile towards King Abdulaziz International Airport, located 19 kilometers north of the western Saudi port city of Jeddah, Arabic-language al-Masirah television network reported.

A military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, later told the official Saba news agency that the 12.5-meter-long missile had hit its target accurately and left massive destruction at the airport.

Saudi media outlets, however, reported that the kingdom's missile systems intercepted and destroyed the solid propellant and Scud-type missile before it could cause any damage.

They said the projectile was launched at 9 p.m. local time (1800 GMT) on Thursday from Yemen's mountainous northwestern area of Sa'ada.

The Saudi military also claimed that the Yemeni missile was fired toward the holy city of Mecca, but the Houthi Ansarullah movement has rejected the claim.

Fars news agency quoted an informed Houthi source as saying that the missile was aimed at King Abdulaziz International Airport close to Jeddah, which hosts the kingdom's royal forces as well as a group of American troops.

Also on Thursday, the media bureau of the operations command in Yemen said army soldiers had targeted a gathering of militiamen loyal to resigned president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi in the Aqaba district of the northern province of Jawf, leaving scores of the Saudi-backed armed men dead.

An armored vehicle and battle tank belonging to the mercenaries were also destroyed in the attack.

Separately, a number of Saudi soldiers were killed and injured when Yemeni forces and Popular Committees fighters struck al-Kars base in Saudi Arabia's southwestern border region of Jizan.

Saudi Arabia has been engaged in the deadly campaign against Yemen since March 2015 in an attempt to bring back the former Yemeni government to power and undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement.

The United Nations puts the death toll from the military aggression at about 10,000.

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Russia, U.S. Coalition Planes Have Near Miss Over Syria

October 28, 2016

U.S. officials say a Russian fighter jet came dangerously close to a U.S.-led coalition aircraft over Syria earlier this month.

One military official told the Reuters news agency that the Russian plane came close enough for its wake to be felt by the other pilot.

The officials said the incident, which occurred on October 17, did not appear to be threatening, but rather caused by the Russian pilot losing "situational awareness."

It wasn't immediately clear whether the non-Russian jet was a U.S. plane or one piloted by one of the U.S. allies helping the effort in Syria.

With scores of aircraft flying sorties over Syria, Russian and U.S. military operations there have communication procedures to reduce the risk of mishaps or midair collisions.

Still, the incident also follows more intentional close encounters between Russian and American planes. Last month, a Russian fighter jet came within 10 feet of an American spy plane over the Black Sea.

Based on reporting by AFP, Reuters

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/russia-u-s-jets- near-miss-syria/28081056.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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Trump Criticizes Clinton For Speaking 'Very Badly' Of Putin

RFE/RL October 28, 2016

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has criticized Democratic rival Hillary Clinton for speaking "very badly" of Russian President Vladimir Putin, remarks that follow Clinton's recent allegations that the Kremlin is trying to tilt the election in her opponent's favor.

Noting Russia's nuclear capability, Trump told a rally in Springfield, Ohio, on October 27 that Clinton is unwise to criticize the Russian leader so harshly and that Washington and Moscow would benefit from closer ties.

"She speaks very badly of Putin, and I don't think that's smart," Trump told the crowd.

He accused Clinton, who has suggested Putin considers Trump a potential Russian "puppet" in the White House, of "trying to get votes" with her stinging criticism of the Russian president.

"How do you speak so badly of somebody? I mean, how are they ever going to get along? Wouldn't it be great if we actually got along with Russia and other countries?" Trump asked, drawing cheers from the crowd of thousands.

U.S. intelligence has formally accused the Russian government of meddling in U.S. elections by directing a string of cyberattacks, including on the Democratic National Committee (DNC), ahead of the November 8 election.

Clinton has publicly accused Putin of ordering the cyberattacks in what she characterized as a Russian bid to help Trump, who has advocated repairing U.S.-Russian ties battered by disputes over the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.

Both Trump and the Kremlin have rejected the allegations. The Republican candidate, who is trailing in most major polls, has also cast doubt on the U.S. government's charge of Russian involvement in the cyberattacks.

Trump told the crowd that it would be a "good thing" if Russia and the United States teamed up against Islamic State militants and "knocked the hell out of them."

Trump has faced widespread criticism for speaking warmly of Putin, including saying that the Russian president has been a better leader for Russia than U.S. President Barack Obama has been for the United States.

Trump's vice presidential candidate, Mike Pence, has taken a tougher line on Russia, calling Putin a "small and bullying leader" in a debate earlier this month.

With reporting by AP and Reuters

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/trump-criticizes- hillary-clinton-speaking-badly-about- russian-president-putin/28079675.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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Tensions Boil: Beijing Accuses Japan of Endangering Chinese Aircraft

Sputnik News

23:50 28.10.2016(updated 00:54 29.10.2016)

On Thursday the Chinese Defense Ministry accused Japan of targeting and endangering the safety of Beijing's military aircraft. Tokyo and Beijing are in the midst of a long-standing dispute over a group of islands in the East China Sea, called Diaoyu by China and Senkaku in Japan.

Fighter jets and patrol ships from both countries have been hounding each other near the small, uninhabited islets, seemingly setting the stage for an impending confrontation. Beijing's planes have been chased 407 times by Japanese fighter jets in the six months preceding September. This marks a roughly 75 percent increase from 231 incidents over the same period last year, according to the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force.

Wu Qian, Chinese Defence Ministry spokesman, maintains that Japan is interfering with training exercises and beefing up its surveillance while Beijing's air force acts in compliance with international law.

At a monthly briefing, Wu said, "What is more, when aircraft of the Japan Self-Defence Forces encounter Chinese aircraft, their radars light up, they let off infrared jamming projectiles and show other unprofessional, dangerous provocative behaviorThis endangers the safety Chinese aircraft and personnel and is the root of the China-Japan maritime and air problem."

The spokesman added that he hoped Tokyo will avoid an incident by acting less aggressively. Part of the tension stems from Japan's support of a Hague decision in July that nullifies Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea.

China rejected the ruling, the result of a complaint lodged by the Philippines, calling it "ill-founded" and saying the decision is "naturally null and void." The Chinese Communist Party's official media outlet, the People's Daily, commented, "The Chinese government and the Chinese people firmly oppose [the ruling] and will neither acknowledge it nor accept it," according to the Guardian.

Tokyo is in the process of fortifying ties with Vietnam and the Philippines, and on Thursday President Rodrigo Duterte said Manila is open to joining Japan in naval exercises. While visiting Yokohama, site of the Japanese Coast Guard's 3rd regional headquarters, Duterte said the joint exercises had been discussed "sort of in general terms" according to the Japan Times.

He called Prime Minister Shinzo Abe "courteous" and said Abe listened as Duterte explained his frustrations with Washington. "I told him of my sentiment, because it's like we are being treated (by the United States) like dogs, where you throw the bread far away every time you have an issue with me."

 Sputnik

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US Air Force Claims Russian Jets Flew Dangerously Close to US Planes Over Syria

Sputnik News

17:53 28.10.2016(updated 18:51 28.10.2016)

US Air Force Central Command chief Lt. Gen. Jeff Harrigian claimed on Friday that a Russian military aircraft flew dangerously close to a US jet over Syria on October 17.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  According to Harrigian, in the latest incident the jets were less than a half-mile apart, and Russian authorities said the pilot did not see the US counterpart.

"We called the Russians about it and made sure they knew we were concerned," Harrigian was quoted as saying by NBC News.

The commander asserted that Russian aircraft intercept US planes "every 10 days-ish."

"They didn't have the situational awareness to know how close some of our airplanes were," Harrigian said, according to the media report.

In October 2015, senior officials from the US Department of Defense and Russia's Defense Ministry signed a memorandum of understanding on safety in Syrian airspace that has proven effective so far.

 Sputnik

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US Troops Deployment Contradicts Norway's Peacetime Foreign Military Base Policy

Sputnik News

17:05 28.10.2016

Norway's decision to host 330 US Marines on its soil contradicts the Northern European state's policy against foreign military bases, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The US Marine Corps are scheduled to establish a "limited rotational force presence" at the Royal Norwegian Air Force Vaernes Air Station starting January 2017, the Norwegian defense ministry announced Monday.

"Of course, we paid attention to this fact. We believe that this contradicts the Norwegian policy of not stationing foreign military bases in peacetime on its territory," ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in an interview with Norway's NRK broadcaster.

Zakharova warned against being mislead about the rotational US presence, saying "the specific troops will change, but the presence will be continuous."

"It appears that the Norwegian government's decision is another link in the chain of ongoing US-led military preparations, which have intensified in recent years against the background of anti-Russian hysteria," she stressed. "This step is obviously not conducive to maintaining stability and security in Northern Europe."

 Sputnik

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Colombian President Postponing Historic Talks With ELN Rebels

Sputnik News

07:19 28.10.2016(updated 12:53 28.10.2016)

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has said he was postponing peace talks with the National Liberation Army (ELN) rebel group as it had failed to confirm it was going to release a hostage it was holding.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  ELN, the second-largest rebel group in Colombia, agreed to release all the hostages it was holding ahead of the peace talks with the government which were scheduled for Thursday. However, the group failed to confirm to the government that it was going to release Odin Sanchez, a former member of Congress.

"I have instructed the negotiating team of the government to suspend the journey  [The formal installation of the talks] will be postponed until they release Odin Sanchez alive and well," Santos said later on Thursday, as quoted by El Tiempo newspaper.

In August, the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group, the largest in the country, announced a comprehensive peace agreement to end decades of conflict. The deal includes agreements on landmine removal, land reform, transitional justice and the end of illegal drug trafficking.

Earlier this month, voters in Colombia rejected the deal in a referendum. Despite the referendum's result, President Juan Manuel Santos has pledged to continue seeking peace with FARC.

 Sputnik

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UN must strengthen regional partnerships to promote stability and defuse tensions, Ban tells Security Council

28 October 2016  Highlighting the complex challenges confronting global peace and security, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today emphasized the urgent need for a collective response by the international community that draws on regional and global partnerships.

"Brutal wars raging across the Middle East and beyond continue to take lives, displace millions and wreck economies," Mr. Ban told the Security Council's open debate on cooperation between UN and regional organizations in the maintenance of international peace and security today.

The UN chief also drew attention to targeting of hospitals, schools and humanitarian convoys and said the he is "especially alarmed that a wide variety of armed actors are taking advantage of modern technology and globalization to wreak havoc on a horrific scale." He also drew attention to rising ethnic and sectarian tension within conflicts, and growing xenophobic, nativist and protectionist policies and sentiments in other parts of the world.

"These challenges transcend national borders and demand a collective response by the international community," he added.

Noting the UN has risen to the moment by undertaking a series of Organizational reviews, all of which emphasized the urgent need to prioritize conflict prevention  in a collective manner that draws on regional and global partnerships.

Moreover, in line with Chapter VIII  relating to the regional arrangements  of the UN Charter, the Mr. Ban said the Organization is working to intensify its interactions with regional and sub-regional organizations.

While touching on a number of key regional issues, Mr. Ban turned to the organizations that were the main focus of the Council meeting, noting that Central Asia is the region where the UN has its closest contact with the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

"These organizations regularly exchange information with the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia on terrorism, violent extremism, drug trafficking and other issues of shared interest and concern," he explained, adding that his Special Representative for Central Asia and the Head of the UN Regional Centre, Mr. Petko Draganov, regularly meets with the organizations' leaders to discuss shared priorities and the latest developments.

Further highlighting the value of cooperation with these and other regional organizations, with which the UN has much in common but may differ in resources, capabilities or mandates, the Secretary-General stressed the importance of deepening strategic dialogue, forging common approaches to emerging crises, as well as to improve collective responses to peace and security threats.

"In that way, we can make the most of our respective strengths," he said.

The UN chief also noted the work of the various entities of UN system in cooperation with regional organizations in areas such as counter-terrorism, addressing drugs and crime, peacekeeping, as well as measures for building confidence and promoting stability.

"Let us use this valuable Security Council meeting to advance our partnerships for the sake of the peoples of these regions and our world," the Secretary-General concluded.

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INTERVIEW: New global compact "should make a difference" in lives of refugees and migrants  outgoing UN Special Adviser

28 October 2016  The adoption of what has been dubbed the "New York Declaration" should make a difference in the lives of refugees and migrants, an outgoing UN Special Adviser has underscored.

Karen AbuZayd worked with UN entities and undertook consultations with Member States and relevant stakeholders in the lead up to the first-ever UN Summit on the issue.

It all culminated in a landmark agreement, adopted on 19 September, to address the challenges faced by people on the move. Countries promised to protect and save the lives of refugees and migrants as well as fairly divide the burden and responsibility for hosting and supporting them.

The UN estimates that a record 65 million people worldwide have been forced out of their homes, thousands die at sea each year while those fleeing war on land are blocked by closed borders.

A month has gone by and the buzz surrounding the ground breaking agreement has not died down, Ms. AbuZayd told UN News Centre, when first asked in an interview if the summit was a success.

Karen AbuZayd: We thought it was very much a success. In terms of having 193 states all sign up to a number of commitments and some of the things that were achieved were good refugees and migrants and should make a difference in their lives.

UN News Centre: What impact will the New York declaration have?

Karen AbuZayd: Well, the impact, we hope, will be on the refugees and migrants, and how they live and how they are received in countries and what happens to them after they get to a new place. So there were a lot of commitments related to that  to receiving them  and what we called inclusion: making sure they learn the language, that they get a job, that they get education. All of these things are part of the commitment that states have signed up to.

UN News Centre: With so much else happening, have you seen an interest wane or increase since these resolutions were made?

Karen AbuZayd: Well it's not quite as exciting as those days just before the summit but certainly, we're still here, a month later, almost, and we're still working, meeting and speaking, and people are still asking questions and coming forward with ideas about things they can do and that's very much within the UN. The UN agencies and departments have a lot of things on their mind that they want to do to contribute, to follow up, and I think I have a number of speaking engagements through 2018 already that people want to continue to hear about this. So, I think there is still some excitement about it or at least some interest in it and I think it has really brought the issues to the world's interests, despite the very bad political climate for refugees and migrants.

UN News Centre: What are the proposed next steps taking us through to the compact in 2018?

Karen AbuZayd: The UNHCR will be taking charge of the refugee compact because they're already starting to look at new refugee flows and to look at the protracted refugee situation, which is extremely important, because these have been pretty much neglected for decades, and so this is very good. And they will be developing, in conjunction with the member states, host countries, or resending countries, the compact or provisional compact that will be finalized in 2018. On the migration side we want to have an intergovernmental conference in 2018. So there are the co-facilitators as we call them, the people who will be negotiating how to get there have already been chosen- the two countries that will work together. There are countries that have already offered to have a preparatory conference- Mexico, for example. So there are already steps in place and that will move gradually up until 2018 when the actual compact will be accepted at the intergovernmental conference.

UN News Centre: Have you sensed any change in people's  both the public and from government officials  view towards refugees and migrants?

Karen AbuZayd: I like to think that there certainly is a more positive approach. There are a lot more stories, I'd say, news articles and things dealing with the issue, some even critical of our report in the summit, because they wanted it to be stronger, and we would too, have liked it to be stronger. There were compromises made. We had, for example, that children should be in school within a few days  which is pretty unrealistic  and they said within a few months, "okay good put them in school". We wanted to say that children should never be in detention; it was that children should seldom if ever be in detention, so that's not wonderful but it's better than the way it has been before. The same with many other things; there's still a lot of discussion going on and I think that is important. I'm briefing some parliamentarians from Norway this week; people are still coming to New York to talk about the summit.

UN News Centre: How will IOM joining the UN system make a difference?

Karen AbuZayd: I think it will improve what we work on together, on migration. The UN has always worked with the various agencies and with IOM over years and this, I think, strengthens the cooperation and makes sure we're really working together and for them, I think, it is an advantage. They'll be able to come to our official meetings even out in the field, but also here at Headquarters. I mean we can exchange a lot more information because we'll be together more often.

UN News Centre: What is the together campaign and what difference can it make?

Karen AbuZayd: We think it could make a big difference especially if we get it out there in the world. You know that that it's 'Together, Respect, Safety and Dignity for all', and these were the words that were in the report that was the basis for the outcome document  the New York declaration. It's an anti-xenophobia campaign, and the Secretary-General has launched it. So we expect the next Secretary-General to take it forward, and for people to think about this. We have a lot of interest in it, from Ad agencies that want to help us spread it around, from all the UN information centres around the world; they all have plans about taking the message out. So I think it could be quite exciting; a lot of interested persons are working on it.

UN News Centre: What does this declaration mean for the many refugees and immigrants, especially in the developing countries? How should they interpret this?

Karen AbuZayd: Talking particularly about the refugees, the major goal of the conference on the refugee side was to make more equitable responsibility sharing for refugees, because we know that 86 per cent of the world's refugees are in a few countries; 86 per cent are in 8 countries. The poorest countries often have the most refugees because they are the ones that are neighbouring countries that are in conflict. So if it's true we'll get better responsibility sharing  more equal, more predictable  and that countries will really share this responsibility, then everyone should benefit; the refugees should be better off, and the countries that are hosting them should be better off.

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Amid escalating conflict in Yemen, UN-associated migration agency launches 150 million regional appeal

28 October 2016  Warning that the situation in Yemen is growing more dire every day, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the lead United Nations-affiliated agency on migration issues, launched today a regional appeal for nearly $150 million to help provide desperately needed assistance to the country's people trapped amid the escalating conflict.

"The situation in Yemen continues to further deteriorate daily. Millions are internally displaced and desperately need food, clean water and medicines. Thousands of civilians have been killed or injured," said IOM Director General William Lacy Swing.

Indeed, the agency reported that the ongoing armed conflict has exacerbated an already precarious humanitarian situation, characterized by widespread poverty, waves of violence, human rights violations and open conflict, and recent escalation of the crisis only worsens the situation.

As such, nearly 82 per cent (21.2 million individuals) of the population in Yemen, including 2.2 million internally displaced people (IDPs), are in need of humanitarian assistance.

Mr. Swing urged the international community to provide the vital humanitarian assistance and end suffering of the millions of people who are caught up in the conflict. "I call upon all sides in this conflict and the international community to find a solution urgently to end this deadly conflict," he added further.

According to UN, some 10,000 people have been killed over the more than 18 month of conflict deaths as a result of the ongoing conflict, in addition to the issue of internal displacement, with people using abandoned buildings and informal settlements for shelter.

Mr. Swing has underlined the necessity to allow humanitarian access to the hardest-hit areas, where most of the internally displaced are located.

The armed clashes have also affected some of the Yemen neighbours, such as Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Somalia. Therefore, IOM's revised regional appeal, for $149.96 million covers those countries and seeks to provide a range of humanitarian aid, including medical assistance, protection, water, sanitation, shelter, and livelihoods to the struggling regions.

In addition, the situation on the ground has been complicated by the fact that Yemen has remained a transit country for thousands of migrants in search of better economic opportunities in the Arabian Peninsula. Approximately 10,000 migrants enter Yemen irregularly each month, according to IOM data, only to find themselves trapped in the conflict, exploited, and abused by criminal networks.

Similar to the local population, migrants in Yemen are in need of humanitarian aid. IOM reports that migrants are predominantly men, women, and children escaping political instability, environmental degradation and limited economic prospects.

Djibouti has been at the centre of these migratory flows across the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, with most immigrants originating from Ethiopia and Somalia. Approximately 20 percent of the migrants are unaccompanied children, stated IOM, and the rest of them are mainly between the ages of 15 and 30.

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UN expert panel cites crimes against humanity committed by Eritrean authorities dating back 25 years

28 October 2016  Eritrean officials have committed crimes against humanity since 1991, including enslavement, imprisonment, enforced disappearances, torture, other inhumane acts, persecution, rape and murder, a member of the former United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the country reported to UN Member States.

"My plea to you [] is for you to pay heed to voices of victims of crimes against humanity in Eritrea," said Sheila Keetharuth, presenting the panel's final report to the UN General Assembly's main body dealing with social, humanitarian and cultural issues (Third Committee).

The three-member Commission, established by the UN Human Rights Council, ended its mandate in June 2016.

Ms. Keetharuth highlighted the Commission's clear findings that crimes against humanity have been committed since 1991 by Eritrean officials, adding that such a dire assessment left no room for "business as usual" in the international community's engagement with the Government of Eritrea.

"The crimes of enslavement, imprisonment, enforced disappearances, torture, other inhumane acts, persecution, rape and murder have been committed as part of a widespread and systematic campaign against the civilian population," she said. "The aim of the campaign has been to maintain control over the population and perpetuate the leadership's rule in Eritrea."

She explained that the Commission has concluded the Government of Eritrea has neither the political will nor the institutional capacity to prosecute the crimes documented, and therefore recommends that the UN Security Council refer the situation in Eritrea to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and that the African Union establish an accountability mechanism.

"There is still no constitution, no parliament where laws are discussed, enacted, and where questions of national importance are debated; indefinite national service persists, with its adverse impacts on individual rights; there is no free press and no [non-governmental organizations], except for Government-sponsored ones," she said.

"The population lives in fear and the Government still controls their daily life, making the enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all Eritreans a remote possibility," she added.

She noted that while several foreign delegations, journalists and others had been invited to visit Eritrea over the past year, the rampant human rights violations taking place in isolated locations and detention facilities were not apparent to the casual visitor.

Ms. Keetharuth noted that Eritreans were among the largest numbers of African nationals seeking asylum in Europe and that the overall recognition rate for Eritrean asylum seekers in European countries remained high.

"The findings of the Commission underscore that it is not safe to forcibly return those who have left Eritrea," she stressed, noting that the Commission's first report documented that individuals forcibly repatriated, with a few exceptions, have been arrested, detained and subjected to ill-treatment and torture.

"I appeal to Member States to grant Eritreans access to their territory and asylum procedures," she said, reiterating her call to protect all Eritrean asylum-seekers from refoulement and to refrain from any forced repatriation to Eritrea or to third countries where they may still be at risk or unwelcomed.

Ms. Keetharuth is also UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea.

Special Rapporteurs and independent experts are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a specific human rights theme or a country situation. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.

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UN chief set to open next month 'crucial phase' of negotiations on Cyprus

28 October 2016  The Turkish Cypriot leader and the Greek Cypriot leader will head to Switzerland early next month for a meeting that will be opened by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and will kick-off an intensive week of negotiations of the Cyprus talks, a senior UN envoy announced today.

According to the UN Special Adviser on Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide, the week of negotiations will be held at Mont Pelerin, Switzerland, and begin on 7 November. The talks will focus on the chapter of territory.

According to a statement issued by the Secretary-General's Good Offices Mission in Cyprus, the dialogue, supported by the Government of Switzerland, is first time that the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mustafa Akinci, and the Greek Cypriot leader, Nicos Anastasiades, are negotiating the issue of territory directly, marking a critical juncture in the current process.

"It is important to recognize the particular sensitivity of this chapter for both sides, which is a key reason why the leaders have agreed to hold the talks outside of Cyprus, and why they want to conduct them interdependently with other relevant chapters," noted the statement.

It added that the two leaders have jointly expressed their hope that the meeting in Switzerland will pave the way for the last phase of the talks, in line with their shared commitment to do their utmost in order to reach a settlement within 2016.

The statement further noted that Mr. Ban has been closely following the Cyprus negotiations throughout his tenure and looks forward to lending his personal support to the work of the two leaders as they are entering this crucial phase of their negotiations.

Mr. Ban's tenure as the UN Secretary-General finishes at the end of this year and he will be replaced by Antonio Guterres of Portugal, who was appointed as the next Secretary-General by the UN General Assembly earlier this month.

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Withdrawal from International Criminal Court could send 'wrong message' - UN chief

28 October 2016  Expressing regret over the intention of three African countries to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for strengthening the Court from within its processes.

"Deterring future atrocities, delivering justice for victims, and defending the rules of war across the globe are far too important priorities to risk a retreat from the age of accountability that we have worked so hard to build and solidify," said Mr. Ban at the start of a Security Council meeting earlier today on cooperation between UN and regional organizations on matters of international peace and security.

"The world has made enormous strides in building a global system of international criminal justice, with the International Criminal Court as its centrepiece," he added, recalling the ground-breaking convictions secured by the ICC and other international tribunals.

In his remarks, the UN chief said that these and other gains have also been accompanied by setbacks and shortcomings such as prosecutions taking many years and not all countries accepting the Court's jurisdiction.

"Even some of those that do [accept the ICC's jurisdiction], do not always support the Court fully," he noted.

He also noted the concern raised that the Court has convicted only Africans despite evidence of crimes in other parts of the world, and stressed that such challenges are best addressed not by diminishing support for the ICC, but by strengthening it from within.

South Africa (24 October) and Burundi (yesterday) have informed the Secretary-General, who is the depository of the Rome Statute of the ICC, of their intent withdraw from the Court.

According to a UN spokesperson, official communication from Gambia  the third country which, according to reports, is intending to withdraw  has not been received.

"I regret these steps, which could send a wrong message on these countries' commitment to justice," said the Secretary-General this morning.

According to ICC, the withdrawal will only come into effect one year after the official notification.

The Court's founding Rome Statute sets out the tribunal's jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and  as of an amendment in 2010  the crime of aggression. In addition to jurisdiction, it also addresses issues such as admissibility and applicable law, the composition and administration of the Court, investigations and prosecution, trials, penalties, appeal and revision, international cooperation and judicial assistance, and enforcement.

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ICC May be Flawed, But It's Far From Finished in Africa

By Jill Craig October 28, 2016

South Africa and Burundi have sent letters of intent to withdraw from the International Criminal Court to the U.N. secretary-general. Gambia says it will do the same.

These threats are nothing new, says Angela Mudukuti, international criminal justice lawyer at the Southern Africa Litigation Center.

"Every year, about this time, we see the same thing, where states say they are going to withdraw but then they never actually do it," said Mudukuti. "Namibia did it last year, Kenya's been talking about it for years, Uganda's spoken about it as well, and there are various states who have threatened to leave the ICC but never actually done anything.

But, she adds, "now that there's someone who has actually started the process, it is a different ballgame and there could be more."

African leaders upset

African leaders have long decried a perceived bias by the court, arguing they are being unfairly targeted.

The Hague-based court has served a warrant for the arrest of Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in the Darfur region

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta and his now-deputy William Ruto were accused of crimes against humanity in connection with Kenya's 2007 and 2008 post-election violence, although the charges were subsequently withdrawn and vacated.

All but one of the 10 investigations by the ICC have taken place in African countries.

"A critical question comes to your mind, why are other atrocities around the world not brought to the attention of ICC? Why is the focus only on Africa? So this is a question which attracts a discussion," said John Seka, president of the Tanganyika Law Society in Tanzania.

Seka says that he believes an African court, such as the Arusha-based African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, would be a better option than the ICC.

Court's end is near?

But Kenyan international law expert and University of Nairobi lecturer Herman Manyora disagrees, saying he does not believe that an African court can supplant the ICC.

"For now, no, it can't work. Africa is home to impunity," said Manyora. "The lords of impunity cannot be expected to come up with a court of justice, who can try the very same people who are the perpetrators, with impunity."

Manyora argues that more progressive forces are coming into leadership positions, and they don't like the impunity.

"You know, they are beginning to take government. Buhari is in Nigeria. There are others elsewhere. And I don't think, it's a sad situation to say, that those with the agenda to leave will remain in power. So I don't think Africa will leave en masse. It's not possible," Manyora said.

Seka agrees that the ICC will not see its end in Africa any time soon.

"I'm not envisioning a dead ICC in the next 10 years, I think it will continue to exist for quite awhile, and it will be with us for more time to come," said Seka.

Mudukuti says that state parties have the power to amend the Rome Statute, so they should instead work to fix the problems, not leave.

"And states that have signed up for the Rome Statute have the capacity and the potential to affect change from the inside," said Mudukuti. "But once you leave the system, there's nothing you can do about it."

South Africa, Burundi and Gambia are planning to leave anyway. The question now -- will other African nations follow?

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Chinese Vessels No Longer in Disputed Shoal  Philippines' Defense Chief

Sputnik News

00:49 29.10.2016(updated 00:50 29.10.2016)

Philippines' Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Friday that Chinese coast guard ships have left the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea.

Filipino fishermen are back in the area of the shoal, territory that is claimed by Manila as Panatag, and can return to the traditional way of making their living, four years after China seized control of the region.

"Since three days ago there are no longer Chinese ships, coast guard or navy in the Scarborough area," Lorenzana told reporters, referring to the departure of the vessels as a "welcome development."

He added, however, that the report required verification and that the Philippine air force was preparing to conduct aerial surveillance of the shoal on Saturday.

President Rodrigo Duterte, who has been shifting the country's diplomatic attention to China from the US, earlier hinted that Philippine boats could soon resume fishing in the area without hindrance.

The move by China follows Duterte's visit to Beijing one week ago, aimed at mending damaged ties between the two states. According to China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang, the countries managed to "work together on issues regarding the South China Sea and appropriately resolve disputes."

Philippine presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella confirmed that it had been observed that there were no longer Chinese ships in the area, without providing further details on the circumstances behind China's decision to end its blockade of the shoal.

Greg Poling, a South China Sea expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington, warned that the development of the situation would largely depend on the countries' further rhetoric.

The deal "might prove impossible to reach if Beijing insists on language suggesting it is 'permitting' or 'allowing' the Philippines access," he explained, cited by Reuters.

Scarborough Shoal was the centerpiece of a claim Manila submitted before The Hague arbitration court, at the behest of the United States. In the court's decision, China's longstanding claim to the waters was invalidated.

Some 40 percent of the world's shipborne trade transits through the region, and the surrounding territories serve a crucial strategic importance for Beijing. China immediately denounced the ruling, denying the legitimacy of the court.

 Sputnik

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Facing Pressure at Home, Islamic State Focuses on SE Asia

By Ron Corben October 28, 2016

As the Islamic State terror group faces territorial losses in the Middle East, there are signs that the group is increasing its cooperation with local militant groups in Southeast Asia.

A new report from researchers at the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC), warns that supporters of the terrorist group are networking in Southeast Asia and law enforcement agencies appear unprepared for the new threat.

"Over the last two years, ISIS has provided a new basis for cooperation among extremists in the region," said IPAC director Sidney Jones, using an acronym to describe the Islamic State, which is also known as IS, ISIL, and Daesh.

Focus on Philippine extremist groups

Four extremist groups are increasingly focusing on the southern Philippines' Mindanao region, with fighters, instructors or funding at times from Indonesia or Malaysia. In turn, the groups have provided refuge, training sites, combat experience or arms.

"That cooperation could take on new importance as ISIS losses in the Middle East increase the incentive to undertake violence elsewhere," Jones said.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, since taking office in June, launched negotiations to end long-running violence in the southern Philippines, offering "multiple options" to groups in terms of proposals to end the violence.

Ehud Ya'ari, an Israel-based military analyst and political commentator, sees a growing threat for Southeast Asia as military defeats for ISIS in the Middle East lead to hundreds of fighters returning to Asia.

"Once ISIS is defeated in the Levant ... some of them, many of them, I don't know, are coming to the islands," Ya'ari said at a regional security seminar at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.

"They see the islands of Indonesia, Philippines, etcetera, as a promising new base and they dedicate a growing amount of investment in the literature and propaganda to this region," he added.

Elina Noor, director of the Malaysia-based Institute of Strategic and International Studies, said the southern Philippines will be a "regional hub" for the extremist operations.

But the IPAC report said while ISIS-driven unity among the groups may be only temporary, "it could leave behind a hard core of Mindanao-based jihadists who are more ideological than their predecessors and look to like-minded associates in the region for support."

'No Single Profile' for IS supporters

Analysts, including Noor, see a threat from the numbers of people from Asia traveling to the Middle East to join the Islamic State.

Malaysian authorities have reported a rising trend in terrorism-related arrests since 2013, citing some "80-plus" arrests in Malaysia in 2015, and 90 detentions as of August 2016.

Noor says the crackdown points to a broad profile of those supporting militant groups. "There is no single profile," she said. "They come from different age groups, they come from different professional and non-professional backgrounds."

Arrests included an Islamic religious teacher, senior government officials, military and security forces personnel, as well as teens and children as young as 14, including girls.

A primary reason many travel to the Middle East is a motivation to "redress injustices in Syria and Iraq," as well as in other countries. But, she added, there is a rising tone of a more conservative view of Islam in Southeast Asia among the groups.

"What many are now seeking is a puritanical brand of Islam. So that's the ambition," she said. "And who are Southeast Asian [militants] turning to for that direction  West Asia, the Middle East."

To tackle the issue of extremism, Noor says governments need to counter an ideology "rooted in political grievances, not religious ones, often rooted in a failure of good governance."

She also calls for the "de-politicization" of religion in which governments need to step back from "manipulating religion for political purposes."

Riad Kahwaji, head of the United Arab Emirates'-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, warns against the "import" of the sectarian divisions within Islam that have deeply divided communities in the Middle East, at a terrible cost to human life.

"The states here [in Southeast Asia] should work hard to prevent any division between the Islamic sects  the Sunnis and the Shias," Kahwaji said. "They should work much harder to prevent any spill over from the troubles in the Middle East into Southeast Asian countries,"

Analysts say the internet and social media have led to self-radicalization among some individuals capable of carrying out so-called lone wolf attacks. Australia's has faced a spate of such attacks and threats, with the national terrorism threat currently set at "probable."

More than 100 Australian nationals are reportedly fighting alongside or supporting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

Colin Rubenstein, executive director of the Australia-Israel and Jewish Affairs Council, says the concerns for Southeast Asian countries will come after military action against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq concludes.

"There's no suggestion they will disappear [after the fighting ends]. As we've seen, it will globalize and in terms of [militants] coming back to their [home] countries; obviously that process unfortunately can include Australia," Rubenstein said. "So eternal vigilance and staying ahead of the curve  that's what the authorities are well aware they need to do."

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CPC Central Committee with Xi as "core" leads China to centenary goals

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 04:49, October 28, 2016

The Communist Party of China (CPC) has called on all its members to "closely unite around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core," a call to action that many observers believe will give the country the impetus to realize its two centenary goals.

The call was included in a communique released Thursday after the sixth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, which was held from Monday to Thursday.

Party members were told to resolutely safeguard the authority of the CPC Central Committee and its central, unified leadership while pushing forward the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party.

That "the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core" was officially put forward at the meeting is "where the fundamental interests of the Party and state lie," said Liu Qibao, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the CPC Central Committee's Publicity Department.

It is also a fundamental guarantee for the adherence to and strengthening of the CPC leadership, Liu said after the meeting.

The strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Xi as the core is vital to China's targets to build an "all-round moderately prosperous society" for the CPC's centennial in 2021, and for it to become a "modern socialist country" in time for the PRC's centennial in 2049, said Liu Dongchao, a professor with the Chinese Academy of Governance.

The meeting approved two documents on the discipline of the Party, including the norms of political life within the Party under the new situation and a regulation on intra-Party supervision.

Liu Dongchao called the two documents "a perfection of the CPC's governance system, which will result in a better intra-Party political life," adding that the communique is "an embodiment of the Party's strengthened awareness of its responsibilities."

UPHOLDING AUTHORITY

The CPC has called on all Party members to firmly uphold the authority of the CPC Central Committee.

A leading core is vital to a country and a political party, the communique said, adding the entire Party should consciously maintain a high degree of consistency with the CPC Central Committee in thoughts, politics and actions.

Ensuring the authority of the CPC Central Committee and the proper execution of orders of the Party are concerned with the destiny of the Party and the state, according to the communique.

They are also concerned with the fundamental interests of the people of all ethnic groups in China, and they are important purposes of strengthening and regulating intra-Party political life, the communique said.

An overhaul of intra-Party political life was a pressing task for the CPC, if it was to weather the storm of challenges -- the ruling status, reform and opening up, market economy and other external factors -- it had to address the dangers rocking the boat, including the slacking of officials, incompetence, isolation from the people and corruption, it noted.

It said the CPC needs to be empowered to successfully purify, perfect, reform and upgrade itself, resist corruption and withstand risks, thus, safeguarding the authority of the CPC Central Committee and the Party's unity, advancement and purity.

Party organizations at all levels and all Party members, especially senior cadres, should conform to the CPC Central Committee and CPC theory, path, principle and policy, as well as decisions made by the CPC Central Committee.

Party organizations at all levels and all Party members should firmly follow what the CPC Central Committee advocates, firmly implement what the CPC Central Committee decides, and must not do what the CPC Central Committee prohibits, according to the communique.

The document also urged Party discipline to be thoroughly enforced with no exceptions made for any organizations or members.

Every individual or organization is equal before Party discipline and none enjoys any prerogatives, it said.

CORRUPTION FREE

The CPC vowed to tackle corruption in its promotion system, putting an end to the buying and selling of official posts and vote rigging.

According to the communique, requesting an official post, honor or special treatment is not allowed under any circumstances.

The communique also underscored that bargaining with Party organizations or disobeying decisions made by Party organizations is forbidden.

"No one should be allowed to consider Party officials as their private property," the document said, adding there should be no "personal favors" within the Party.

There will no longer be any place for corrupt officials to hide in the CPC, the communique noted.

In efforts to clean up Party politics, leading officials are banned from using their positions to seek benefits for friends and family. Family members and friends of leading officials will be banned from interfering in the work of leading officials, including personnel arrangements, the communique said.

Stating that building clean politics and opposing corruption was an important task in strengthening and standardizing political life within the Party, the meeting called for the building of a system that ensures officials dare not, will not and cannot be corrupt.

In addition, leading officials at all levels have no right to seek personal privilege, it said, adding that they should take the lead in implementing socialist core values and acting with integrity and self-discipline.

The Party will stick to the policy of "no restricted zones, full coverage and zero tolerance" in its fight against corruption, it added.

STRONGER SUPERVISION

The communique stressed supervision as the fundamental guarantee for exercising power properly, as well as a crucial measure for strengthening and regulating political life within the Party.

Unrestricted power or unsupervised Party members are not allowed to exist within the CPC, it said. "No prohibited zone or exception will be allowed in intra-Party supervision."

Intra-Party supervision should be carried out in accordance with regulations and by observing the principles of democratic centralism, top-down organizational supervision, democratic supervision from the bottom to the top, and peer review or critique, said the communique.

The mission of intra-Party supervision is to ensure the Party Constitution, its regulations and code of conduct are enforced effectively; to maintain Party unity and solidarity; and, primarily, to resolve Party leadership enervation and slackness in Party building and governance as well as discipline slackening, it said.

Supervision will ensure Party organizations perform their due duties, that all members play vanguard and exemplary roles and leading officials are loyal, clean and accountable.

The main targets of supervision are the CPC's top organs and officials, particularly senior officials, according to the communique.

Intra-Party supervision should focus on Party members' observance of the Party Constitution and rules as well as the country's Constitution and laws, adherence to the centralized and unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee, official's integrity and self-discipline, and impartial exercise of official power.

19TH CPC NATIONAL CONGRESS

The 19th CPC National Congress, a major event in the political life of the Party and the state, will be held in Beijing in the second half of 2017, according to the communique.

The entire Party shall comprehensively implement the spirit of the 18th CPC National Congress, as well as the third, fourth, fifth and sixth plenary sessions of the 18th CPC Central Committee, the communique stressed.

In the lead-up to the 19th CPC National Congress, the Party shall rally and lead people of all ethnicities to forge ahead with firm confidence; perform various jobs of the Party and the state, particularly preparatory work for thought, theories and organization, economic and social development, as well as ideological work; and safeguard social harmony and stability, the communique said.

Two new members have been added to the CPC Central Committee to fill vacancies, who are Zhao Xiangeng and Xian Hui, formerly alternate members of the CPC Central Committee.

The meeting also endorsed prior decisions to expel four former senior officials from the Party, including former Party chief of Liaoning Province and senior national legislator Wang Min, former Beijing deputy Party chief Lyu Xiwen, and former senior military officials Fan Changmi and Niu Zhizhong.

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China's Xi Jinping Gets Power Boost, Named Core of the Party

By William Ide October 28, 2016

China's communist party has wrapped up high-level political meetings in Beijing, bestowing the prestigious title of core of the party on the country's increasingly powerful leader, Xi Jinping.

The title and status could help Xi better lead the party, enforce discipline, and give him more control over the selection of a new slate of top leaders late next year, analysts said. What is less clear is how the title will help China with the wide range of challenges it faces from a slowing economy, rising debt and stagnating market reforms.

Loyal to core

Some believe that problems such as slowing private investment, ballooning debt and a lack of progress in forwarding the reform of state-owned enterprises are issues of party cadre loyalty. Therefore, the logic goes, making Xi the core of the party and tightening discipline means party members have no choice but to get in line or face the consequences.

Jude Blanchette, a Beijing-based researcher who is writing a book on the legacy of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong, says "that could certainly help at the margins, with cadres following orders, if that is what you thought the problem was."

"However, I think a different interpretation is, it really isn't a problem of discipline within the party  although that might matter to some extent. Really, what the problem is: Are policies coming down from the center, clear, coherent and non-contradictory?"

Blanchette notes that at a time when the world's second-largest economy is slowing, local leaders are receiving an array of key performance indicators that range from maintaining moderate growth and social and financial stability, to implementing structural reforms and taking into consideration environmentally responsible Gross Domestic Product targets.

No excuses now

Hu Xingdou, an economist at the Beijing Institute of Technology, says that while it may have previously been difficult to blame Xi Jinping directly for a host of problems that China faces, that will no longer be the case as he takes on the mantle of core of the party.

"As he becomes core of the party, Xi should have the capability and authority to correct the illegal actions that have been taken, in particular by the government and officials, and to carry out the pledges that were made during the party's third and fourth plenums," Hu said.

This week's meeting, the sixth plenum, has focused on party discipline. The third and fourth plenums made pledges to give the market more sway in the economy, reform the country's bloated State Owned Enterprises and promote the rule of law. Many of those pledges have yet to be realized and, in some cases, officials have moved in the opposite direction.

There is a concern that China is isolating itself from the world as it tightens controls on everything from foreign investment to online speech and the running of non-governmental organizations.

"He [Xi] should try to reverse the trend, in which China has been moving backward toward the times of the Cultural Revolution and Mao Zedong era," Hu said. "It is a trend that isolates China in seclusion."

Succession questions

By giving Xi the title of core, there is also concern that China's leader could be amassing too much power and that unlike leaders in the past, his time in office could last longer than the usual two terms.

Blanchette says that granting Xi the title clearly "muddies the water" about where the power succession is headed, but is not a silver bullet when it comes to figuring on whether norms on leadership retirement or term limits will change.

"Certainly if you were the prosecution making the case that Xi Jinping is likely to stay on for a third term, this would certainly be a piece of evidence that you will enter and enter in [to your case]," he said.

Xi is the fourth leader to receive the title since the Chinese Communist Party began single-handedly ruling China in 1949.

Hu Xingdou says that even with his title, Xi should still honor the party's traditions of collective decision making.

"When it comes to the decision-making of major policies, members of Politburo and standing committee should be consulted. That means that Xi cannot be the only 'final sayer' to hammer out all the country's economic policies," Hu said.

Sensitive to such concerns, party officials and state media have been talking about the continuing importance of collective leadership as well as widespread support for Xi.

Party officials say the bestowing of the title on Xi is a natural outgrowth of his popularity both within the party and among the Chinese public.

At a news conference Friday to outline changes that were approved during the meeting, party officials specifically noted that the decision to elevate Xi to the status of core came with the approval of all of those in the military and local governments.

Officials also said that all of the public agrees with the decision. China does not conduct public approval surveys for its leaders, nor are they elected by popular vote.

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772 Daesh terrorists killed, 23 captured since start of Mosul operation: Iraq

Iran Press TV

Thu Oct 27, 2016 10:17PM

Iraq's Joint Operations Command (JOC) has announced that more than 700 Takfiri militants have been killed and nearly two dozen others arrested ever since government forces and allied fighters launched a massive operation to dislodge the terrorists from the northern city of Mosul.

A total of 772 Daesh terrorists have been killed and 23 others arrested since the offensive to liberate Mosul, located some 400 kilometers north of the capital Baghdad, was kicked off on October 17, the JOC said in a statement released on Thursday.

The statement added that 127 car bombs, 27 makeshift mortar launchers, seven explosive belts and a large weapons cache were also destroyed during the mentioned period.

Furthermore, four booby-trapped houses, 397 explosive devices and five motorcycle bombs were blown up, while three tunnels, a command center for terrorists, 40 defensive fighting positions, seven airstrike-resistant bunkers and three Dushka heavy machine guns were destroyed.

The JOC statement added that 1.5 tons of ammonium nitrate, nine 120mm mortar rounds, 380 mortar shells, 61 Katyusha rockets, 31 missile launchers, three PK machine guns and four anti-tank rocket-propelled grenade launchers were also confiscated.

The Iraqi forces also destroyed four cannons, seized a caravan and four heavy machine guns and discovered two bomb-making workshops.

Also on Thursday morning, Iraqi security forces managed to retake the village of Wadi al-Qasab in al-Shoura district and al-Hamza village in Hammam al-Alil district, both south of Daesh-held Mosul.

Separately, the Iraqi Defense Ministry announced that 12 Daesh extremists were killed when fighter jets from the so-called US-led military coalition struck Mosul's al-Arabi neighborhood.

Fifteen Daesh terrorist were also killed and two others injured when US-led military aircraft targeted a gathering of the militants in Suwayrah village of al-Shoura district, the ministry added.

Mishraq sulphur factory fire extinguished

In another development on Thursday, the Iraqi forces put out a fire at the Mishraq sulphur factory, located about 30 kilometers south of Mosul.

Last week, Daesh militants set the factory on fire in a bid to prevent army and security units from making advances.

There are reports that about 50,000 Iraqi ground troops are involved in the Mosul offensive, including 30,000 army troops, 10,000 Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and the remaining 10,000 from police and Popular Mobilization Units.

International aid agencies have warned that the military operation to retake Mosul has displaced about 10,600 people from their homes.

"Assessments have recorded a significant number of female-headed households, raising concerns around the detention or capture of men and boys," said Lise Grande, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, on Tuesday.

She noted that a huge exodus of people from Mosul could occur within the next few days, warning that Daesh terrorists could resort to "rudimentary chemical weapons" as part of efforts to hold up government forces.

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Iraqis Clear Areas Outside Mosul Before Advancing To Liberate City

By Terri Moon Cronk DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, Oct. 28, 2016  In the operation to liberate Iraq's second-largest city from the control of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Iraqi and Kurdish forces continue clearing and back-clearing areas around Mosul before they advance to the city, the Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman told reporters today.

Air Force Col. John Dorrian briefed the Pentagon press corps via videoconference from Baghdad on Iraq's progress to liberate Mosul.

Coalition Strikes Extensive ISIL Tunnels

As Iraqi and Kurdish security forces clear formerly held ISIL territory, the U.S.-led coalition continues precision strikes to take out ISIL targets, Dorrian said.

One of those targets is ISIL's extensive tunnel networks, which the enemy uses for tactical movement and to hide weapons.

"If left unabated, this [network] could present challenges for the Iraqi and peshmerga forces advancing on the city," Dorrian noted. "Coalition strikes have taken out 46 tunnels since the liberation battle of Mosul started Oct. 17, reducing the threat from a favored enemy tactic."

Diversionary Fires Under Control

Dorrian said one of the highest-profile tactics ISIL fighters have used since the battle of Mosul began is igniting toxic sulfur residue stored at the Mishraq sulfur factory, 28 miles south of Mosul, to deter Iraqi forces.

"The latest information I have is that those fires are largely under control," he said, "but [they] continue smoldering and flaring up as the Iraqis continue to use water, sand and firefighting foam to combat the [blazes]."

Predominant winds were blowing smoke from the sulfur plant fire and from burning oil wells south toward Camp Swift and Qayyarah West Airfield. The coalition constantly assesses the risk to forces, Dorrian said, noting that protective masks that were required at those locations have not been necessary in the past two days.

"[ISIL's] intention starting those fires was to divert and disrupt [Iraqi] forces going to Mosul, and those efforts have failed," he said.

Since the campaign began Oct. 17, the U.S.-led coalition has delivered nearly 2,500 close-air support bombs and missiles, artillery rounds and rockets from High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems on enemy targets, the spokesman said.

"Those weapons destroyed not only the tunnels, but 33 [vehicle-borne bombs], hundreds of enemy vehicles, fighting positions and artillery pieces," he added.

Qayyarah West Airfield Reopened

The airfield at Qayyarah West is open and supporting the resupply of troops in the area, Dorrian said. A team of Air Force engineers spent three weeks repairing the damage caused by ISIL, and the first aircraft, a U.S. Air Force C-130 Hercules, landed the evening of Oct. 21

The colonel said ISIL had largely destroyed the airfield in a manner they thought would prevent the Iraqis and the coalition from using it.

"The Iraqi and coalition forces that have swept the area to remove explosives -- plus 29 airmen who specialize in opening and repairing airfields -- used heavy equipment and more than 2 million lbs. of concrete to show [ISIL] once again that they are wrong. Five flights have gone into that airfield so far," he said.

"The new airfield capability provides the coalition and the Iraqis, who have their own C-130s, the ability to resupply and reposition forces rapidly," Dorrian said.

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Russia to help Iraq stop Daesh militants fleeing Mosul to Syria

Iran Press TV

Fri Oct 28, 2016 6:19PM

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned that Daesh terrorists are leaving the northern Iraqi city of Mosul in droves and heading to neighboring Syria, voicing Moscow's eagerness to work with the Iraqi government to stop the exodus.

"The international anti-Daesh coalition has launched the operation to liberate Mosul. We are interested in working with our Iraqi colleagues to take measures to prevent terrorists moving from Mosul to Syria with their heavy arms, which of course will seriously worsen the situation in the Syrian republic," Lavrov said at a joint press conference with his Iranian and Syrian counterparts Mohammad Javad Zarif and Walid al-Muallem respectively in Moscow on Friday.

He added, "We think that it is important not to let this happen. We will discuss it with the US and other members of the coalition. We cannot let the terrorists leave Mosul into Syria with the aim to re-directing their activity."

Last week, the Russian Defense Ministry asked the US-led military coalition not to "drive terrorists" from Iraq to Syria during the offensive to liberate Mosul.

Iraq's Joint Operations Command (JOC) announced on Thursday that a total of 772 Daesh terrorists have been killed and 23 others arrested in the operation so far.

The Syrian foreign minister, for his part, stated that the so-called US-led military coalition plans to salvage Daesh, and move the terrorists from Mosul to al-Raqqah, which serves as their stronghold in Syria.

"Lavrov pointed out that Mosul and the liberation operation around the city suffered from the intervention of the US-led coalition and from the US guidance. This coalition has never fought Daesh. On the contrary, it is destroying the infrastructure of the Syrian economy, and recently destroyed a huge number of bridges on the Euphrates River. It is them who do not want to destroy Daesh. They want to move Daesh from Mosul into Raqqah. I was glad to hear that we will continue our cooperation to prevent this (from happening)," Muallem said.

Lavrov then pointed out that Moscow and Tehran support "the readiness of the Syrian government to continue and even expand cooperation with the UN in resolving the humanitarian issues."

The top Russian diplomat, however, made it clear that "UN representatives should be impartial, not respond to provocations, as an international organization should be."

Muallem also questioned the ongoing US-led airstrikes against purported Daesh positions in Syria, stressing that the aerial attacks have failed to dislodge the terrorists.

The Syrian foreign minister further dismissed allegations of contacts between the US-led coalition and Syrian government, saying, "All these conversations might prove as useful for the US administration before the US presidential vote. But we do not believe this and there are no contacts between us anyway."

The foreign-sponsored conflict in Syria, which started in March 2011, has claimed the lives of more than 400,000 people, according to an estimate by UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura.

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UN Decries IS 'Mass Executions, Human Shields' In Mosul

RFE/RL October 28, 2016

The office of UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein has said that militants of the extremist organization Islamic State (IS) have executed at least 232 people in the embattled Iraqi city of Mosul.

Speaking in Geneva on October 28, UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani also said IS has been bringing "tens of thousands" of Iraqi civilians into the city to use as "human shields" while Iraqi government forces and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters push to drive IS out of Mosul.

Shamdasani said the 232 people were executed on October 19 and that 190 of the victims were former officers of the Iraqi security forces. Forty-two of the victims were civilians who refused to obey IS orders.

She added that, because of difficulty confirming information from inside the city, the number of victims might actually be much higher.

Shamdasani also said that IS fighters had rounded up some 8,000 families from districts around the city to implement a "depraved, cowardly strategy" of rendering "certain points, areas, or military forces immune from military operations."

The U.S. Pentagon on October 19 said IS had been using human shields "for several weeks." The International Organization for Migration issued a similar report on October 18.

U.S. Brigadier General Matthew Isler said on October 28 that U.S.-backed Iraqi forces have captured 40 villages around Mosul from IS since the operation began last week.

Isler also said the U.S.-led international coalition has stepped up its air strikes in support of the Mosul offensive.

A spokesman for an Iranian-backed Shi'ite militia said the same day that his group was about to launch an offensive on the city from the west.

UN spokeswoman Shamdasani said her organization is concerned about possible "revenge killings" against locals who militia fighters believe supported IS.

There are believed to be some 1.5 million civilians in the Mosul area.

With reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/un-mosul-islamic- state-executed-200/28080362.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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Thousands of Iraqi Civilians Abducted, Hundreds Executed in Battle for Mosul

By Lisa Schlein October 28, 2016

The U.N. human rights office reports Iraqi civilians are increasingly being used as pawns by Islamic State militants in their battle for Mosul. The agency says it has received credible reports of hundreds of executions, mass abductions, and the use of civilians as human shields.

The agency reports Islamic State militants have been forcing people living in the outskirts of the city of Mosul out of their homes and pushing them into the city to be used as human shields. It says that has been going on since the Iraqi government offensive to retake Mosul began October 17.

Human Rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani says IS, also known as ISIL, has abducted nearly 8,000 families or more than 47,000 people and forced them at gunpoint into strategic IS locations.

"ISIL's depraved, cowardly strategy is to attempt to use the presence of civilian hostages to render certain points, areas or military forces immune from military operations, effectively using tens of thousands of women, men, and children as human shields," said Shamdasani. "Many of those who refused to comply were shot on the spot. And, even among those who did comply, many of them, including 190 former ISF (Iraqi Security Forces) officers and 42 other civilians were shot dead."

Shamdasani says the cruel behavior is provoking revenge killings of people suspected of being members of IS. She says some individuals have embarked on revenge killings and have vowed there will be "eye for eye revenge."

She says the high commissioner for human rights is urging people to refrain from vigilante justice and to treat captured IS fighters in accordance with international human rights law. However, she tells VOA his appeal is failing to deter some people from attacking those they believe to be members of IS.

"However, what is very encouraging is that there are tribal leaders who actually are encouraging their people not to exact revenge attacks," said Shamdasani. "They are saying let us hand them over to the criminal justice system because otherwise we will be making things worse. And, this is extremely wise and really it is the only way forward towards peace."

Shamdasani agrees some people claiming to be internally displaced are actually IS militants. She says it is important to screen everyone who arrives at camps for IDPs to separate those who have run from IS in fear of their lives from the men responsible for their suffering.

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Rohingya women say Myanmar soldiers raped them amid crackdown

Iran Press TV

Fri Oct 28, 2016 7:13AM

Dozens of Rohingya Muslim women in Myanmar's Rakhine state say government forces have committed acts of rape or sexual assault against them.

Eight Rohingya women, all from the remote U Shey Kya village, described in detail how soldiers last week raped them at gun point, while raiding their homes and looting property, according to Reuters news agency on Friday.

Myanmar deployed troops to Rakhine earlier this month following alleged attacks on police posts along the border with Bangladesh, which authorities blamed on Rohingya Muslims.

One 40-year-old woman said four soldiers raped her and assaulted her 15-year-old daughter, while stealing jewelry and cash from the family.

"They took me inside the house. They tore my clothes and they took my headscarf off," she said.

Another woman, 32, described being knocked off her feet by soldiers and repeatedly raped. "They told me, 'We will kill you. We will not allow you to live in this country,'" she said.

The women said the soldiers took gold, money and anything that was valuable from their bamboo huts and burned down village homes and spoiled rice stores by pouring sand on them.

One 30-year-old woman said she did not have clothes or food to eat after everything was destroyed. "I'm feeling ashamed and scared," Reuters quoted the unnamed woman as saying.

Five more women from U Shey Kya also detailed how soldiers had raped them. The accounts were confirmed by at least three male residents of the village and a Rohingya community leader.

U Shey Kya village's official administrator, Armah Harkim, said he was verifying the accounts which most residents believed to be true. The residents said about 150 soldiers attacked U Shey Kya on October 19.

A presidential spokesman accused the villagers of fabricating the news while confirming that government troops had conducted a sweep of the village on October 19.

Most male residents have reportedly left the village as they believed they would be suspected as militants. The women said they stayed behind fearing that the military would burn down empty homes.

Residents said the soldiers dismantled the fences around the houses after the military declared northern Rakhine State an "operation zone."

The UN has called on Myanmar to investigate new reports of human rights violations, including the killing of unarmed people and torching of rural settlements in Rakhine state.

Rights groups say troops have gone on a rampage, which has forced terrified civilians to flee their homes.

Rakhine, where Rohingya Muslims form the majority population, has been the scene of communal violence at the hands of Buddhist extremists since 2012.

Hundreds of people have been killed, while tens of thousands have been forced to flee their homes and live in squalid camps in dire situations in Myanmar and other countries in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

According to the UN, Rohingyas are one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. The government denies full citizenship to Rohingya population, branding them illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, even as many trace their lineage in Myanmar back generations.

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Pakistan expels India diplomat in tit-for-tat move

Iran Press TV

Fri Oct 28, 2016 9:48AM

Pakistan has declared an Indian diplomat persona non grata and given him 48 hours to leave the country, in a tit-for-tat move that comes a day after India said it would deport a Pakistani official.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said it had declared Indian diplomat Surjeet Singh persona non grata and that it had informed India's diplomatic mission in Islamabad of the decision.

The statement said Singh was accused of activities "that were in violation of the Vienna Convention and the established diplomatic norms."

An aide to India's prime minister in New Delhi said the Indian government was looking into the matter.

The decision came after India said on Thursday it had declared a Pakistani consular official persona non grata for "espionage activities" against New Delhi.

Mehmood Akhtar, the visa official at the Pakistani mission, had been briefly detained by Indian police on Wednesday outside the gates to the Delhi Zoo where he met two Indian associates.

Indian police said the Pakistani diplomat and his alleged accomplices were found in possession of forged documents, defense-related maps, deployment charts and lists of officers working along India's border with Pakistan.

Pakistan's High Commission in New Delhi dismissed the allegation, saying it "never engages in any activity that is incompatible with its diplomatic status."

Relations between India and Pakistan have been strained in recent months, with New Delhi blaming Islamabad for a raid on an army base in Indian-controlled Kashmir in September that killed 19 soldiers.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan but claimed in full by both since the two countries gained independence from Britain in 1947. They have fought four wars with each other, three of which have been over Kashmir.

'Indian soldier, civilian killed in Kashmir'

An Indian paramilitary officer claimed that Pakistani troops had opened fire along the volatile frontier in Indian-controlled Kashmir, killing a civilian and a soldier. Pakistan's army denied the claim.

The Indian officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Pakistani soldiers fired mortars and automatic gunfire at several border posts in Jammu region on Friday in an "unprovoked" violation of a ceasefire accord between India and Pakistan in the disputed region.

Troops from the two countries regularly trade fire, causing casualties.

On Thursday, protesters in Kashmir and Pakistan observed the Black Day, demonstrating against what they called Indian occupation.

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Moscow pledges response to NATO build-up near Russia's borders

Iran Press TV

Fri Oct 28, 2016 8:44AM

Russia has warned that Moscow would take necessary measures in response to NATO's planned build-up near Russian frontiers.

Russian Ambassador to NATO Alexander Grushko gave the warning on Thursday following the meeting of the Western alliance's defense ministers in the Belgian capital of Brussels.

The Russian diplomat stressed that NATO's planned enhancement of its military presence in the Baltics and Poland, near Russia, will not go unanswered. He also accused NATO of brandishing the so-called Russian threat to expand eastward.

"This cannot be the case that the Alliance does not understand that these measures will be left without a response from our [Russian] side. The question arises, what will happen next? A new wave of NATO speculations about the Russian threat and approach to the next round of arms race? In our opinion, this is a road to nowhere," Grushko said.

He said NATO's activities are clearly aimed at military force projection in the Black Sea and Eastern Europe.

NATO aims to send "battle groups" to the Baltic states and Poland early next year. The groups will consist of 40,000 forces. It will be the biggest military buildup near Russia since the Second World War. More forces would also be deployed if necessary.

Grushko also warned of NATO's and the United States' active exploration of the Black Sea waters with multi-functional combat platforms.

He said the planned military build-up near Russia's borders has no anti-terrorism value and is not bolstering European security, rather creates additional "obvious risks."

NATO suspended all ties with Moscow in April 2014, after the then-Ukrainian Crimea Peninsula voted in a referendum to join Russian territory.

Shortly afterwards, an armed conflict broke out in eastern Ukraine, areas inhabited by an ethnically-Russian population. The Ukrainian government, which militarized the originally peaceful unrest in the regions  known as the Donbass  has ever since been accusing Russia of having a hand in the conflict there. Moscow denies the claim.

The conflict has so far claimed the lives of more than 9,200 people and left over 21,000 others injured.

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U.S. Authorities Rule Ex-Kremlin Official Mikhail Lesin's Death An Accident

Carl Schreck, Mike Eckel October 28, 2016

WASHINGTON -- U.S. authorities have ruled the death of former Kremlin media boss Mikhail Lesin an accident, saying a nearly year-long investigation determined that "acute" alcohol intoxication was a contributing factor and that the case is now closed.

Federal prosecutors said in an October 28 statement that Lesin, 57, died in a Washington hotel on November 4, 2015, due to "falls" that left him with "blunt force injuries" after drinking heavily for several days.

Lesin, a former press minister under Russian President Vladimir Putin, was found dead in his room at Washington's Dupont Circle Hotel the following day, November 5.

His death has been shrouded in mystery and the subject of widespread speculation about what the former powerful Kremlin official was doing in Washington at the time.

Lesin's family had lived in California for several years prior to his death. After serving as head of state-owned Gazprom Media, he fell out of favor with the Kremlin in 2013, and largely dropped out of public view.

In 2014, a U.S. lawmaker called on federal authorities to investigate whether he had laundered ill-gotten gains through pricey California real estate and other assets.

U.S. Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik said later that year that the request from Senator Roger Wicker (Republican-Mississippi) was referred to the Justice Department's criminal division and the FBI. Neither agency confirmed whether a formal investigation was ever opened in the matter.

As press minister, Lesin played a central role in tightening the Kremlin's control over the media during Putin's first term. He also was instrumental in creating Russia Today, the Kremlin-backed global news network now known as RT.

After his body was discovered in his hotel room, local police in Washington indicated that they were not treating his death as a homicide. An employee at the Washington city police's homicide branch indicated to RFE/RL shortly after his death that the matter was being handled by the branch's natural-death unit.

'Some Sort Of Altercation'

However, on March 10, more than four months after the body was found, the city medical examiner's office released its finding, saying that Lesin died of blunt force trauma to the head, and to other parts of his upper and lower body.

This prompted speculation that Lesin had sustained injuries in an attack. The New York Times a day later cited an unnamed law enforcement official as saying his injuries were the result of what the paper described as "some sort of altercation" that occurred before Lesin returned to his hotel room.

The Reuters news agency also quoted an unnamed police official as saying that investigators were looking into whether Lesin had been attacked outside the hotel.

But the October 28 statement issued by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia painted a different portrait of the events leading up to Lesin's death.

Citing "new evidence," it said the attorney's office and the Metropolitan Police Department -- with help from the FBI -- determined that Lesin sustained the injuries from "falls" after entering his hotel room on the morning of November 4, 2015.

It said that Lesin, who was known to be a heavy drinker, sustained the injuries from "falls" after entering his hotel room on the morning of November 4, 2015, "after days of excessive consumption of alcohol."

His death was a result of "blunt force injuries to his head, with contributing causes being blunt force injuries of the neck, torso, upper extremities, and lower extremities," the statement said.

It added that Lesin died "while alone in his hotel room."

Bill Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in the District of Columbia, told The Washington Post that authorities made the results of the investigation public "because of the widespread interest in this case."

"We typically do not comment on specifics of our investigation, and have no further comment on this particular matter," Miller told the newspaper.

Just two days before his body was found on November 5, Lesin was on the guest list to attend a lavish dinner at Washington's Ritz Carlton hotel, honoring Russian billionaire and philanthropist Pyotr Aven and Susan Lehrman, a Washington socialite, investor, and patron of the arts.

But Lesin never attended the event, which was organized by the Woodrow Wilson Center's Kennan Institute, a think-tank specializing in research on Russia, Ukraine, and other former Soviet republics.

Also, the night before his body was found, Lesin had sought to attend another, smaller, private dinner meeting at the Atlantic Council, another Washington think-tank, that also featured a discussion with Aven.

According to a person with knowledge of the event, officials at the council declined to include Lesin on the guest list, due to his checkered past.

The Russian Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment from RFE/RL on October 28.

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/russia- mikhail-lesin-hotel-death- accident/28081208.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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Russian Warships Refueling At Sea After Canceling Spanish Port Call

October 28, 2016

A flotilla of Russian warships en route to the eastern Mediterranean has been refueling at sea near the Strait of Gibraltar.

The eight-vessel flotilla, headed by the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, was refueling at sea on October 28 after cancelling a request to do so at the Spanish-controlled port of Ceuta on the North African coast the previous day.

Spain came under heavy international criticism for allowing the flotilla to resupply at its facilities because of concerns that Russia intends to boost its military capabilities in supporting the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Russian and Syrian forces have been accused of inflicting civilian casualties in and around the city of Aleppo.

The BBC reported that two tanker ships had joined the flotilla, but it is unclear where they came from.

In 2009, Russia acknowledged that the Admiral Kuznetsov spilled some 300 tons of fuel into the sea off the coast of Ireland during a botched at-sea refueling operation.

Based on reporting by the BBC

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/russian-flotilla- kuznetsov-refueling-at-sea-spain/28080015.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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Death of Ex-Putin Aide in DC Ruled Accidental

By VOA News October 28, 2016

U.S. authorities said Friday that the unexplained death last year of a Russian media executive in a Washington hotel was accidental and caused partly by alcohol poisoning after days of heavy drinking.

Following a yearlong investigation by city police along with assistance from the FBI, District of Columbia authorities said the death of Mikhail Lesin, a former adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was partly attributable to "acute ethanol intoxication."

A statement by D.C. police and the U.S. attorney's office for the District of Columbia said, "Based on the evidence, including video footage and witness interviews, Mr Lesin ... sustained the injuries that resulted in his death while alone in his hotel room."

Officials said Lesin was injured in successive falls due to alcohol poisoning. The chief medical examiner for the case ruled the cause of Lesin's death on November 5, 2015, was "blunt force injuries to his head, with contributing causes being blunt force injuries of the neck, torso, upper extremities and lower extremities, which were induced by falls, with acute ethanol intoxication."

Lesin, who was 57 at the time of his death, was a founder of the Russian English-language television network RT. His death in a hotel in Washington's fashionable Dupont Circle neighborhood sparked a host of theories about how he died, including speculation he was murdered.

Russian officials complained in March that they were not receiving information about the U.S. investigation.

Lesin had served as Russian press minister from 1999 to 2004 and was presidential media adviser from 2004 to 2009. He also was a senior executive at Gazprom-Media, Russia's largest media holding company, from 2013 to 2014.

In 2014, U.S. Republican Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi called for an investigation into Lesin for alleged money laundering and corruption. Wicker said Lesin accrued multimillion-dollar assets in the United States and Europe while serving as a Russian government minister, including $28 million worth of real estate assets in Los Angeles.

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Militant shelling kills at least 15 civilians in western Aleppo

Iran Press TV

Fri Oct 28, 2016 9:33AM

At least 15 civilians are killed and some 100 others injured as foreign-backed militants shell western Aleppo after launching a massive offensive to break the Syrian government's siege over the city.

A UK-based monitoring group sympathetic to the militants said hundreds of shells and rockets had fallen on various western neighborhoods of the city on Friday.

Militant groups involved in the attack include Turkey-backed FSA and Jaish al-Fatah, an alliance of terrorist factions actively supported by Saudi Arabia and Turkey, they told news agencies.

A senior militant said it was going to be "a big battle" with all the groups there participating.

The attack appeared to have been mostly launched by militants from outside the city against government forces that hold its western districts, Reuters news agency reported.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Right said militants had set off several car bombs on the western edge of Aleppo after launching grad rockets at the city's Nairab airbase.

Heavy militant bombardment, with more than 150 rockets and shells, struck districts on the southwest of the city, it said.

The Syrian military said a militant attack in that area had been thwarted and the army had destroyed four car bombs.

The massive assault by foreign-backed militants comes in the wake of a unilateral "humanitarian pause" declared by Syria and Russia in the city.

On Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry said aircraft had not carried out any sorties over Aleppo for the past nine days. There were no immediate indication on Friday whether the airstrikes had resumed.

Militants used a US-Russian ceasefire to break the siege in early August, opening up a new route into the city from the south, but government forces quickly closed it.

The new civilian deaths came after at least six children were killed and over a dozen people injured after Takfiri terrorists launched rocket attacks on a school as well as a house in Aleppo.

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UN report on Syria chemical arms unconvincing: Russia

Iran Press TV

Fri Oct 28, 2016 7:1AM

Russia says a UN-led investigation accusing the Syrian government of chemical attacks is "unconvincing" and full of contradictions which fails to present solid evidence to support the claim.

The report has been compiled by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the UN's Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM). It alleges that Syrian forces carried out three chlorine gas attacks on villages in 2014 and 2015.

The finding of the investigation said in one of the alleged attacks, Syrian military helicopters dropped "barrel bombs" containing chlorine gas against the village of Qmenas in the northwestern province of Idlib in March 2015.

The authors, however, said they "could not confirm the names of the individuals who had command and control of the helicopter squadrons at the time."

Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin took on the document at a UN Security Council session on Thursday, pointing out a host of irregularities and unsubstantiated claims and calling it generally "unconvincing."

The hospital, which received the victims of the attack, is yet to confirm that they died of chlorine asphyxiation, he added.

Churkin, meanwhile, reminded that the investigators had also entirely thrown out the Syrian government's explanations that the spill of chlorine might have been caused by a traffic accident as it was being transported to the village by militants.

The Russian ambassador also called on the Damascus government to launch its own investigation in the claims.

During the Thursday session, Britain and France called for more anti-Syria sanctions as UN resolutions provided for such punitive measure in response to the use of chemical weapons.

However, Russia argued that no sanctions could be slapped on Syria as the UN-led investigation suffers from serious shortcomings.

The Russian diplomat said the findings are "not definitive, have no legally binding force and cannot serve as accusatory conclusions for taking legal decisions."

The use of chlorine as a weapon is prohibited under the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention. Syria joined the treaty in 2013.

On October 26, the Syrian Foreign Ministry issued a statement and rejected the investigation, saying Damascus fully honors its commitments under the convention.

Syria "has repeatedly denied all allegations circulated by some Western departments and their tools about the use of chemical poisonous materials by Syrian sides, like chlorine gas, during military acts which take place between the Syrian Arab armed forces and the terrorist groups," the ministry said.

The OPCW confirmed back in January that Damascus had surrendered its stockpiles of chemical weapons to a joint mission led by the organization and the UN following a chemical attack outside the Syrian capital two years ago.

UN investigators established that sarin gas had been used in Eastern Ghouta in the 2013 attack, which allegedly killed 1,429 people, including at least 426 children.

Last December, Ahmed al-Gaddafi al-Qahsi, a cousin of former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, said the chemical weapons used in Ghouta were stolen from Libya and later smuggled into Syria via Turkey.

Damascus accuses Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia of supporting the foreign-backed militants, who have been ravaging the country since 2011.

'Russia patience wearing thin'

In another development on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow is exercising restraint on Syria, but warned that it may lose patience and react to certain actions.

"We ... don't respond to our partners in such a rude way. But everything has its limits. We may respond," Putin told an audience in southern Russia.

He made the comments after accusing the US-led coalition pounding Syria of violating a ceasefire agreement by bombing Syrian government forces in September.

A US- and Russia-brokered ceasefire in Syria ended last month. It had ushered in several days of relative calm.

However, later through the ceasefire, violence began to creep back when a US-led airstrike killed more than 80 Syrian soldiers, who had been fighting the Takfiri terrorists in the eastern parts of the country.

Damascus says Washington deliberately targeted the Syrian soldiers.

With the help of dozens of its allies, the US has been leading an aerial bombardment campaign targeting alleged Daesh positions in Syria and Iraq since 2014, without achieving much.

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Syria Rebels Launch Counteroffensive In Aleppo; Russia Hosts Syrian, Iranian Ministers

RFE/RL October 28, 2016

Syrian activists say rebel fighters have launched a large-scale offensive in Aleppo, trying to break the government's siege of opposition-held, eastern districts.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based organization with extensive on-the-ground contacts, said more than 15 civilians had been killed and 100 wounded by rebel shelling.

State media reported that five civilians were killed and the Syrian Army said its forces had repelled the attacks.

"The Syrian Army and its allies are in control on the ground and armed groups were not able to change the map," the statement said.

Once Syria's biggest city, Aleppo has become the main battlefield between President Bashar al-Assad's forces, backed by Iran, Russia, and Shi'ite militias, and Sunni rebels, which includes groups supported by Turkey, Persian Gulf states, and the United States.

The fighting on October 28 came as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with his counterparts from Syria and Iran to discuss the Syrian conflict.

Lavrov said the Moscow meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif was an effort to "hammer out a constructive solution" to the Syrian crisis.

Lavrov accused Western countries of "trying to distort the meaning of UN Security Council decisions" and encouraging "extremists in their unwillingness to stop their criminal acts."

He also repeated Moscow's assertion that neither Russian nor Syrian government aircraft had conducted air strikes in the Aleppo area for the last 10 days.

The Syrian war, now in its sixth year, has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced half the country's pre-war population, sending millions of refugees fleeing through the Middle East and Europe.

In his comments in Moscow, Lavrov also indicated that Russia was watching the ongoing offensive in Iraq to retake the city of Mosul, which has been held by Islamic State fighters since 2014.

Lavrov suggested Islamic State militants might try to move from Mosul into Syria. The city is the target of an Iraqi government offensive, backed by U.S. air power and Kurdish Peshmerga militia, to drive them out.

"We are interested in taking measures in collaboration with our Iraqi colleagues to prevent the exodus of terrorists from Mosul, which would, of course, aggravate the situation in Syria," Lavrov said.

With reporting by AFP, Reuters, AP, and TASS

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/russia- lavrov-syria-iran-ministers-aleppo -fighting/28080252.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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Russia Dismisses Documentation Of Syrian Gas Attacks, Rejects Sanctions

October 28, 2016

Russia has dismissed as "unconvincing" a United Nations report finding that Syrian forces carried out three chemical attacks, and said no sanctions should be imposed.

"We believe that the proof is not there for any punitive action to be taken. It's simply not there," Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said after a closed-door UN Security Council meeting on the report on October 27.

The joint UN-Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons report provided documentation that government forces carried out three chlorine gas attacks on villages in 2014 and 2015.

But Churkin insisted the findings were not strong enough to trigger sanctions.

The conclusions "are not substantiated by sufficient testimonial basis, first of all material proof. They are full of contradictions and therefore unconvincing," he said.

The findings are "not definitive, have no legally binding force and cannot serve as accusatory conclusions for taking legal decisions," he said.

Britain and France are demanding sanctions, however.

"Those responsible for using chemical weapons must be sanctioned. There is no other way," French Ambassador Francois Delattre said.

"There should be accountability for every single person involved in any use of chemical weapons in Syria," British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said.

Based on reporting by AP, AFP, and dpa

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/russia-dismisses -un-documentation-syrian-chemical-attecks- rejects-sanctions/28079678.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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Putin Declines Russian MoD's Request on Need to Restart Airstrikes in Aleppo

Sputnik News

19:10 28.10.2016(updated 19:43 28.10.2016)

Russian President Vladimir Putin declined the Russian General Staff's request to renew airstrikes on militant positions in eastern Aleppo in Syria, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Earlier in the day, the Russian General Staff asked Putin to allow renew airstrikes in Aleppo.

"You know about our General Staff statements about the need to resume airstrikes in Aleppo in connection with terrorist activities. The Russian president considers it inappropriate at the present time to resume airstrikes on Aleppo," Peskov told reporters.

Russia reserves the right to use all means at its disposal to render the needed assistance to the Syrian armed forces in the fight against terrorists when needed, Peskov said.

"Russia reserves the right to use all means it has to provide support to the armed forces of the Syrian Arab Republic when it is absolutely necessary to prevent provocative acts by terrorist groups."

Putin believes the humanitarian pause in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo needs to be extended, Peskov said.

"The president believes it is possible to extend the humanitarian pause to evacuate the wounded and for militants who want to leave to exit the city, and in order to enable our US partners to fulfill their promise and commitment to separate the so-called moderate opposition from terrorist groups."

On October 20, the humanitarian pause was introduced in the embattled city of Aleppo to ensure the safe evacuation of civilians from eastern Aleppo via eight designated corridors.

During the humanitarian pause, al-Nusra Front terrorist group, recently renamed as Jabhat Fatah al Sham, prevented civilians from fleeing the city, attacking them. On Sunday, the government forces started offensive in the south of Aleppo after the end of the humanitarian pause.

 Sputnik

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Militants' Shelling Kills 43, Wounds 96 in West Aleppo in 72 Hours - Russian MoD

Sputnik News

18:34 28.10.2016(updated 18:37 28.10.2016)

Militants' shelling over the past 72 hours killed more than 40 residents of western Aleppo, Syria, and wounded nearly 100, the Russian General Staff said Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) Terrorists have opened fire 62 times from mortars and cannons, Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy, chief of the Russian General Staff Main Operational Directorate, said.

"Over the past three days, terrorists have opened fire 62 times from mortars and so-called Hellfire cannons on areas in the western part of the city. The shelling killed 43 and wounded 96 civilians," Rudskoy said.

Russia invites international organizations to investigate the shelling of residential areas in Northern Syrian city of Aleppo carried out by militant groups, he said.

All eight humanitarian corridors set up in the Syrian city of Aleppo are open and operate around the clock, the General Staff said.

"The Russian reconciliation center together with the Aleppo administration are in talks with representatives of local authorities in the eastern part of the city, as well as with a number of armed groups on the evacuation of civilian population and the withdrawal of rebels from the areas under their control. All eight humanitarian corridors are open and running around the clock."

Ruskoy added that buses, ambulances are on duty near the corridors, which also have food and water supplies.

"All measures to stabilize the situation are being undertaken. We are ready to consider any proposals to improve the situation in Aleppo, including introduction of humanitarian pauses, but only in case they are not used by rebels to achieve their goals," Rudskoy said.

More than 34,000 civilians have returned to their homes in Syria, with the trend of returning refugees on the rise, he said. He specified that, as of early October, the heads of 163 inhabited areas have signed reconciliation agreements, bringing the total of these agreements to 857 areas.

 Sputnik

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Russian Military Asks Putin to Allow Renewed Strikes on Militants - Gen Staff

Sputnik News

17:51 28.10.2016(updated 19:10 28.10.2016)

On October 20 a humanitarian pause was introduced in the embattled city of Aleppo, however, the Russian military has asked president Putin for permission to renew airstrikes in the area "due to the fact that civilians continue to die" there.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The Russian military are asking President Vladimir Putin to allow renewed airstrikes on militants in eastern Aleppo, Syria, the Russian General Staff said Friday.

"Due to the fact that civilians continue to die, militants have renewed active hostilities against government forces, we have appealed to the Supreme Commander of the Russian Armed Forces to resume airstrikes on illegal armed groups in eastern Aleppo," Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy, chief of the Russian General Staff Main Operational Directorate, said.

On October 20, a humanitarian pause was introduced in the embattled city of Aleppo to ensure the safe evacuation of civilians from eastern Aleppo via eight designated corridors. During the humanitarian pause, al-Nusra Front terrorist group, recently renamed as Jabhat Fatah al Sham (outlawed in Russia), prevented civilians from fleeing the city, attacking them. On Sunday, the government forces started offensive in the south of Aleppo after the end of the humanitarian pause.

 Sputnik

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Turkey Not to Fight in Syrian Raqqa Alongside Kurdish Units

Sputnik News

16:54 28.10.2016(updated 17:09 28.10.2016)

In case Kurdish units take Raqqa, Turkey is not going to take part in the military liberation.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Turkey is not going to participate in the military operation aimed at liberation of the Syrian city of Raqqa if Kurdish units such as the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) take part in it, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Friday.

"Raqqa issue is not our problem  We have a loud and clear stance there. We can be with you [the United States] against Daesh [Arabic acronym for Islamic State (IS)] in the Raqqa operation but if elements such as PYD/YPG, which we identified as terrorist groups, join the operation, we are not there," Yildirim told reporters, as quoted by the Anadolu news agency.

Yildirim noted that fighting alongside terror organizations was unacceptable for any state.

"We can never be together with those terror groups," he stressed.

In August, Turkish forces, backed by the US-led coalition aircraft, began a military operation dubbed Euphrates Shield to clear the Syrian border town of Jarabulus and the surrounding area of Daesh, outlawed in Russia and many other countries. As Jarabulus was retaken, the joint forces of Ankara, the coalition and Syrian opposition continued the offensive.

On Thursday, Turkey's Defense Minister Fikri Isik said the country was ready to support the opposition Free Syrian Army's (FSA) offensive on Raqqa.

 Sputnik

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Syria: UN chief condemns reported school attack in western Aleppo

28 October 2016  United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the reported attack today on a school in the western part of Syria's Aleppo city that killed a number of children.

According to a statement issued by his spokesperson, the Secretary-General "condemns the reported attack" and "reiterates his call on the Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court."

"Such attacks, if deliberate, may amount to war crimes," said the spokesman in the statement. "Those responsible for these acts must be brought to justice," he added in the statement.

The attack, which reportedly left several children dead, comes a day after Mr. Ban's spokesperson issued a statement saying the UN chief was appalled by reports of attacks that killed students and teachers in a school complex in Haas village, Idlib governorate, Syria on 26 October. In the statement he called for immediate and impartial investigation of that and other similar attacks against civilians in Syria.

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Syrian Rebels Battle for Control of Aleppo

By VOA News October 28, 2016

Syrian rebel groups say they have begun their large-scale offensive in Aleppo to break the government's siege on neighborhoods in the eastern part of the divided city.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Friday rebel shelling in west Aleppo Friday killed 15 civilians and wounded 100. No other information was immediately available.

On Thursday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for an investigation into an airstrike on a school in Syria that killed nearly 30 people, most of them children.

"If deliberate, this attack may amount to a war crime," Ban's office said in a statement.

War crimes investigation

Former British prime minister Gordon Brown, who is the U.N. special envoy for education, also called for a war-crimes investigation of the incident.

"It really is now incumbent on the Security Council to investigate this, to prosecute if there is a war crime, to get the International Criminal Court on board for this, and to have an investigation," Brown told VOA in an interview.

Warplanes carried out six strikes Wednesday on a village in rebel-held Idlib and hit a school complex, leaving six teachers and 22 of their students dead, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Who is to blame?

Both the observatory and the White House have said that either the Syrian or Russian governments were responsible for the attacks.

"We don't know yet that it was the Assad regime or the Russians that carried out the airstrike, but we know it was one of the two," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

Russian defense ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Russian warplanes were not in the airspace over the school at the time in question. Russian news agencies also quoted him as saying that images of the damaged site photographed by a Russian unmanned aircraft indicated the damage was not due to an airstrike.

Western diplomats at the United Nations backed calls for an independent investigation.

"It's an appalling attack. We condemn it," British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told reporters. "It is a good idea to establish a proper investigation. I hope the whole of the Security Council would be able to support that, and I hope the whole the Security Council would also support proper accountability for whoever is deemed to have been responsible for such an outrageous attack," he added.

'Barbarian acts'

"If this is not a war crime, frankly, what is a war crime?" French Ambassador Francois Delattre asked reporters. "We must hold the perpetrators of those barbarian acts accountable. We will be firm on that. We will also keep up the pressure on the Syrian regime and its allies to stop the bombing."

The United Nations says some two million Syrian school-aged children are out of school and 52,000 teachers have left their jobs. Since January, there have been up to 40 attacks on schools in the war-torn country, and one-third of all schools are unusable because they have been damaged, destroyed or occupied.

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Allies Resist US Plan to Attack Raqqa

By Jamie Dettmer October 28, 2016

A proposed U.S.-backed offensive on the Islamic State terror group's Syrian stronghold of Raqqa is encountering problems, because Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan insists the Syrian-Kurdish YPG  the only militia currently up to the task  can play no part.

America's European allies also are raising objections and expressing strong skepticism about any major role for the Kurdish People's Protection Units, or YPG. They fear that having the Kurds in the vanguard of an assault on Raqqa, historically a predominantly Arab city, would fuel sectarian rivalries.

Speaking to the news channel France 24, Britain's defense secretary, Michael Fallon, warned that using anything but an Arab force would court rejection by the Sunni Arab residents of Raqqa. He said the liberation of the city would have to be done by an "essentially Arab" force.

"Otherwise," he warned, "the liberation is not going to be welcomed by the people of Raqqa" and would worsen tensions between Arabs and Kurds.

U.S. officials are eager to liberate Raqqa sooner rather than later because they fear IS is planning to prolong its already stiff defense of the Iraqi city of Mosul by sending reinforcements from Raqqa  something it may already be doing.

Earlier this week, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter called for a simultaneous attack on IS' self-styled capital of Raqqa alongside the push, started more than a week ago, to retake Mosul.

"We want to see an isolation operation begin around Raqqa as soon as possible," Carter said during a visit to the Iraqi city of Irbil. "We are working with our partners there [in Syria] to do just that."

Two fronts

In the runup to the launch of the assault on Mosul, some U.S. officials and analysts argued that to speed up the end of the jihadist caliphate, a better strategy would be to attack Raqqa and Mosul at the same time, forcing an already stretched terror group to fight off two major assaults on different fronts.

"I think Raqqa is more important to IS than Mosul is, because of how central Raqqa is to the group's administration of its declining state," Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based research group, told VOA before the Mosul assault unfolded.

Control of Raqqa and its surrounding province has supplied IS with considerable revenue, from the sale of oil from nearby oil fields and cash the group demanded from the Assad government in Damascus for the electricity generated by the Euphrates and Ba'ath dams.

Only in recent days have U.S. officials started to talk publicly about a Raqqa assault being unleashed within weeks. But as with the planning for the Mosul offensive, with Raqqa, U.S. officials are faced with a host of problems as they try to discipline unruly alliances of local sectarian rivals that mistrust each other and fear they will be outmaneuvered and weakened for what may follow the defeat of IS.

Turkey's Erdogan has said he told U.S. President Barack Obama in a phone call to exclude the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its militia, the YPG, from the proposed Raqqa offensive.

"We do not need terrorist organizations like the PYD and YPG in the Raqqa operation. Let us work together to sweep Daesh [the Arabic acronym for IS ] from Raqqa, I told him," Erdogan said.

In a written statement after the phone call, Turkish officials said the two leaders agreed to support the territorial integrity and independence of a post-Assad Syria.

Assad first, IS second

Ankara fears the Kurds are planning to fashion an independent state in northern Syria running along the border with Turkey and sees the PYD as an extension of Turkey's outlawed separatist group, the Kurdistan Workers' Party, with which it is locked in a vicious conflict in southeastern Turkey.

But without the YPG, it is unclear who could muster a strong enough assault on Raqqa to recapture it from the jihadists.

Since the YPG's successful 2014-15 defense of the border town of Kobane from IS, Washington has considered the YPG its most reliable ground ally against the jihadists. But backing the Syrian Kurds has damaged Washington's relations with both Ankara and the mainly Sunni Arab Syrian rebel militias that have battled to oust President Bashar al-Assad for more than five years. Arab insurgents see Assad as their main enemy and IS as a secondary foe that can be defeated once Assad has been driven from power.

Syrian rebel militias have clashed with YPG forces, which took the opportunity to seize traditionally Arab towns north of the city of Aleppo during a Russian-backed Assad offensive last February. Both Kurdish-dominated forces and Syrian rebels backed by Turkey are converging on al-Bab, northeast of Aleppo, in a race to take the town from IS.

Speaking in Ankara to the families of veterans, Erdogan reiterated his determination to maintain the push toward al-Bab. After that, he said, the rebels, with Turkish air, artillery and special forces support, would turn their attention to Raqqa.

"I had a long conversation with Mr. Obama last night and I told him that we'll take these steps," he said.

But it remains unclear whether Syrian rebel militias want, at this stage, to be drawn into what would be a prolonged and bloody fight over Raqqa. Rebel commanders working with the Turks told VOA that after al-Bab they want to bolster their comrades in the besieged city of Aleppo, where insurgents Friday announced they were mounting a new offensive to try to break a months-long siege by Assad's forces, their second bid to do so.

The Turkish and American defense ministers, Fikri Isik and Carter, met in Brussels Thursday on the sidelines of a NATO meeting to discuss the anti-IS battles in Iraq and Syria. Isik told reporters that Ankara was pressing the U.S. to drop the PYD and to embrace the Free Syrian Army as the local force to liberate Raqqa.

"We will be insistent on this issue up to the end," he said.

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Iran rules out military solution to Syria crisis

Iran Press TV

Sat Oct 29, 2016 10:11AM

President Hassan Rouhani has reiterated Iran's stance that the crisis in Syria should be resolved through "political" means only.

"All should know that the Syrian issue has no military solution and must be resolved through diplomatic means," Rouhani said in a meeting with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in Tehran on Saturday.

"In this regard," the Iranian president said, "the EU's increased activity to create security and peace in Syria with the cooperation of regional countries will be effective."

Rouhani further said terrorist activities in Syria and Iraq pose a threat to the whole world, calling on the EU to use its "political influence" to put pressure on the regional sponsors of terrorist groups and block financial support for them.

He warned that the Middle East region and North Africa will in the future witness the establishment of several terrorist governments "if the terrorists are not seriously confronted."

President Rouhani further said fighting terrorism and safeguarding the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Syria is important to the Islamic Republic.

Mogherini, for her part, underlined the need for cooperation between Tehran and the EU in the settlement of regional conflicts, including in Syria, saying that diplomacy can help solve such crises.

Earlier Saturday, Mogherini met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to discuss bilateral ties between Tehran and the EU as well as the latest developments in Syria.

Zarif hailed EU's "constructive" role in the Syrian peace process and expressed the Islamic Republic's readiness to forge closer relations with the bloc.

Mogherini arrived in Tehran on Friday night to hold talks with senior Iranian officials about the ongoing crisis in Syria.

Mogherini's trip to Tehran comes after Iran's foreign minister participated in a day-long trilateral meeting with his Russian and Syrian counterparts, Sergei Lavrov and Walid al-Muallem, in Moscow on Friday.

Zarif said the three countries should reinforce cooperation in the campaign against terrorism. He called for measures to stop the delivery of military equipment to foreign-backed Takfiri militants wreaking havoc in Syria.

Since March 2011, Syria has been gripped by a militancy that it blames on some Western states and their regional allies, particularly Saudi Arabia.

Iran has been providing military advisory assistance to the Syrian government in its campaign against terrorism. Russia has been carrying out airstrikes against terrorist positions in Syria on a request from Damascus.

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Russia Blames U.S. For Near Miss Over Syria

October 29, 2016

A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman has blamed U.S. forces for a near-miss of planes over Syria earlier this month.

U.S. officials said this week that a Russian plane came close enough to a warplane from the U.S.-led coalition for its wake to be felt by the other pilot.

The officials said the incident, which occurred October 17, did not appear to be threatening, but rather caused by the Russian pilot losing "situational awareness."

But Major General Igor Konashenkov on October 29 dismissed that assertion, saying an American E-3 radar plane had unexpectedly descended during the October 17 incident.

He said that brought the American plane within 500 meters of a Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jet.

With scores of aircraft flying sorties over Syria, the Russian and U.S. military operations in Syria have communication procedures to reduce the risk of mishaps or midair collisions.

Still, the incident also follows more intentional close encounters between Russian and American planes.

Last month, a Russian fighter jet came within 10 feet of an American spy plane over the Black Sea.

Based on reporting by AP, AFP, Interfax

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/russia-blames-u-s-near -miss-syria/28082573.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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Army UAV missing in mountainous area in Chiayi

ROC Central News Agency

2016/10/28 21:53:19

Taipei, Oct. 28 (CNA) An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) went missing while undergoing a routine training in a mountainous part of Chiayi County on Thursday, the Army Aviation and Special Forces Command confirmed Friday.

It said the UAV took off from Chiayi on Thursday afternoon on a routine training mission. Air traffic controllers on the ground lost contact with the vehicle as it was flying near Zhuqi in Chiayi County.

The Army has yet to establish why contact with the vehicle was lost, but it is searching for the missing UAV and has grounded similar vehicles.

The UAV can conduct military missions such as daytime and nighttime reconnaissance and war zone management, and can also carry out such tasks as monitoring national lands and inspecting disasters.

(By Chang Jung-hsiang and Lilian Wu)

Enditem/ls

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Taiwan-U.S. ties will remain strong: new AIT chairman

ROC Central News Agency

2016/10/28 18:04:18

Taipei, Oct. 28 (CNA) The new chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) vowed Friday during a visit to Taiwan to further strengthen the already strong ties between the United States and Taiwan.

James Moriarty, who took over as AIT chairman in early October, said relations between the two sides will remain unchanged when asked if there would be any change in the development of bilateral ties after a new president takes office in the U.S. early next year.

Noting Taiwan's economic development and democratization, Moriarty said "support for Taiwan in America is very broad-based."

"Taiwan is viewed as a successful, mature democracy, a prosperous economy that we need to have a close relationship with," he told CNA in an interview. "There is no debate in America right now about the future of U.S.-Taiwan ties."

He praised Taiwan's economic development, saying that Taiwan's population of only 23 million is smaller than that of the U.S. state of Texas, but Taiwan has still managed to become the U.S.'s ninth largest trading partner.

Moriarty, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time since he took up the new post, also noted cooperation between Taiwan and the U.S. in several areas, citing as an example the Global Cooperation and Training Framework (GCTF).

Taiwan and the U.S. signed a memorandum of understanding on the GCTF last year to expand bilateral cooperation in international public health, humanitarian assistance and other global issues.

They have since co-organized several workshops in Taiwan on the fight against Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and dengue fever, as well as women's issues and e-business.

In addition to the ties between Taiwan and the United States, Moriarty also reaffirmed the U.S.'s stance of supporting Taiwan's membership in international organizations where statehood is not a requirement and meaningful participation by Taiwan in organizations where statehood is required to become a member.

In response to questions about Taiwan's failure to attend the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) assembly this year due to China's objections, he expressed support for Taiwan's "meaningful participation" in the organization, saying that it would add a lot to technical discussions on global aviation safety.

"We will continue to work with Taiwan to address these questions and to look for organizations where we can help the voice of Taiwan be heard," he said.

Asked if the U.S. has sensed that Beijing is stepping up its suppression of Taiwan's international participation, he said "that's hard to tell."

"We will look to see and continue discussing these issues with the authorities here but we'll also be holding discussions in Beijing and trying to understand if there is a trend or if you're seeing specific instances that don't amount to a trend," he said.

In response to questions about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade bloc for the Asia-Pacific region, Moriarty noted U.S. President Barack Obama's efforts to ensure the passage of the trade deal by the U.S. Congress before he steps down in January.

Moriarty expressed hope that whoever is elected as the next president will realize that TPP is "a very solid agreement and is very much in the interest of the United States." It is also important for partners in Asia to see the agreement be passed by the Congress, he said.

Commenting on the issue of imports of U.S. pork containing ractopamine, a leanness-enhancing drug that is banned in Taiwan, he said the issue needs further discussion.

"We believe that if Taiwan is genuinely interested in joining the TPP, it needs to move to a broad-based acceptance of international standards based on scientific evidence," he said.

The Codex Alimentarius Commission, a United Nations body that sets food standards, voted in July 2012 by a 69-67 margin to allow ractopamine residues in pork, beef and turkey.

Soon after the Codex vote, Taiwan formally eased the ban on U.S. beef imports containing traces of ractopamine, which led to the resumption of major trade talks between Taiwan and the U.S.

But the ban of ractopamine in pork has remained in Taiwan because of concerns that even trace amounts of the drug could be harmful to people's health given the large consumption of pork among Taiwanese.

With regard to the TPP, he said the focus for the time being is to have the agreement ratified by all 12 founding members.

The 12 founding members are the United States, Canada, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Australia, Brunei, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Vietnam and Japan.

Moriarty, who is on a visit that will last until Saturday, has decades of experience in Asia, including Taiwan, at senior leadership levels in the U.S. government and the private sector, according to the AIT, which represents U.S. interests in Taiwan in the absence of bilateral diplomatic ties.

He has served as U.S. ambassador to Bangladesh and Nepal, special assistant to the president of the United States, senior director for Asia at the National Security Council (NSC) and director for China affairs at the NSC, the AIT said.

Moriarty headed the political section at AIT from 1995 to 1998 and since retiring from the U.S. foreign service in 2011, has worked in the private sector and as an independent consultant, it said.

(By Elaine Hou)

ENDITEM/ls

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Turkey sentences pro-Kurdish mayor to one year in jail

Iran Press TV

Fri Oct 28, 2016 7:21PM

The mayor of the city of Siirt in southeastern Turkey has been sentenced to one year in prison for "disseminating terrorist propaganda."

Tuncer Bakirhan was tried in absentia on Friday, according to Anadolu news agency.

Bakirhan is a member of Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party, also known as the HDP, which the government accuses of being the political wing of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The party denies the accusation.

The sentencing comes three days after authorities detained Gultan Kisanak and Firat Anli, the popular co-mayors of Diyarbakir, a Kurdish-majority city in southeastern Turkey, as part of what was called a terrorism investigation.

Diyarbakir's prosecutor said Anli and Kisanak, who was a member of parliament before becoming the city's first female mayor in 2014, had given speeches sympathetic to the PKK.

Three city officials in Diyarbakir were also detained on Thursday after hanging a banner outside the city hall in support of Kisanak and Anli, municipal officials said.

The banner had pictures of the two politicians and read, "Respect the will of the people, free our mayors." It was later removed by police.

A PKK leader has urged Kurds to "rise up" in solidarity with the mayors, according to Firat News Agency. Cemil Bayik has said the importance of Diyarbakir, a city of 1.7 million people, meant that actions against its elected officials were attacks on all Kurds.

In a related development, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement released on Friday that it was "very concerned" about the detention of Kisanak and Anli, which has prompted protests by Kurds in Diyarbakir and Istanbul.

On Thursday, five members of Turkish security forces and five Kurdish militants were killed in clashes in the southeast. Two soldiers were killed in a clash near Hani, a town outside Diyarbakir. A third died in a firefight outside Cukurca, near the Iraqi border, where five militants were also killed. Another soldier was killed by a homemade explosive device in Bingol, north of Diyarbakir, and a Kurd was killed in Batman province to the east.

Violence has escalated since the PKK called off a two-year ceasefire with the government in the wake of the July 2015 bombing in the southern Kurdish-majority town of Suruc, which claimed more than 30 civilian lives. Turkish officials held the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group responsible for the act of terror.

The PKK militants, who accuse the government of supporting Daesh, launched a string of supposed reprisal attacks against Turkish security forces after the bomb attack, in turn prompting the Turkish military to tighten the noose on the PKK.

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Mass Suspensions of Teachers Stoke Concern in Turkey's Kurdish Region

By Dorian Jones October 28, 2016

Educators in Turkey are at the center of a crackdown, with more than 12,000 teachers suspended for alleged links to the Kurdish PKK rebel group.

"At a very early hour in the morning, police came banging on my door," one teacher said of the intimidating tactics employed. "They violently entered and told me that there is an order for my 'detention.' You go through a big worry and fear at that time, but you also know that you have not done anything wrong. Yet you know you still can get such a harsh treatment."

The teachers are accused of supporting terrorism because they participated in a strike last year calling for an end to fighting between the Turkish state and the PKK. However, Saliha Zorlu  co-head of the Diyarbakir branch of Egitim-Sen, the educators union  says there is a wider agenda behind the crackdown.

"We are very worried," Zorlu said. "Egitim-Sen is the guarantee of secularism both in the field of education and in society in general. If there is no active opposition by Egitim-Sen, I believe the education system will be pushed away from secularism and transformed into a religious system under the hegemony of religion.

"We are already seeing the signs of this today," she added. "During the attack on us, we saw that imams were appointed to state-run dormitories."

Kurds in Turkey traditionally are religious conservatives. Religious groups in the region backing the government have recently stepped up their activities, advocating for the region's return to its Islamic roots as a counter to the pro-secular, Marxist-rooted PKK  the Kurdistan Workers' Party. As is the case in the rest of the country, there has been an expansion of religious schooling in the Kurdish region.

However, the government insists its suspension of teachers is only about fighting terrorism.

"In the upcoming days, those who made propaganda for the terror organization, who boycotted schools and who encouraged students to join the terrorists will be separated from the innocent teachers," said Muhammed Akar, the head of the ruling AKP party in Diyarbakir.

"I can say that a significant percentage will be reinstated to their duties, and the others, those who are guilty, will be charged," he added.

The arrests and suspensions of teachers are continuing to provoke anger and protests; many parents complain that their children are without teachers.

Idris Baluken, a parliamentary group leader of the pro-Kurdish HDP party, warns the suspensions are adding more tension to the region.

"The position of the Kurdish teachers is like cartilage between two bones," he said. "Yes, when you go to school, you can't have education in Kurdish, but still, Kurdish-speaking teachers can help with the problems faced by children who do not speak Turkish.

"By taking out this cartilage," Baluken said, "President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan is causing friction, making two bones rub against each other."

The conflict-strewn region appears to have a new front line: education, with children and teachers destined to become caught in the crossfire.

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6 people, including 3 civilians, killed in east Ukraine clashes

Iran Press TV

Fri Oct 28, 2016 7:31PM

Six people, including three civilians, have been killed in clashes between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russians in eastern Ukraine.

Pro-Russian sources said on Friday that shelling by the Ukrainians killed three civilians in the eastern region of Donetsk on Thursday.

Two pro-Russia fighters were also killed and six others injured in the clashes.

The Ukrainian government said a military officer was also killed in the fighting.

"Over the past 24 hours, as a result of fighting, one Ukrainian serviceman was killed," Kiev's military spokesman Andriy Lysenko told reporters on Friday.

The death toll is reportedly the highest over the past days. Recently, a summit was held at the invitation of German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin to discuss the latest developments surrounding the Minsk peace deal on the crisis in eastern Ukraine.

During the meeting, the leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine agreed to come up with a "roadmap" for peace by the end of next month.

The conflict in eastern Ukraine erupted not long after people in the Black Sea Peninsula of Crimea voted in a referendum in March 2014 to rejoin the Russian Federation.

In April 2014, Kiev launched military operations to crush pro-Moscow protests in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, which are populated mostly by pro-Russians. The operations, however, led to deadly clashes between the two sides. Nearly 9,500 people have died and over 21,000 others injured, according to the United Nations.

Despite ceasefire efforts, sporadic fighting continues to claim more lives.

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KELOWNA, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Oct. 28, 2016) - Fission 3.0 Corp. ("Fission 3" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:FUU) today announced that its board of directors has approved an amendment to its by-laws by adding an advance notice provision regarding the nomination of directors (the "Advance Notice By-Law") effective October 28, 2016. The purpose of the Advance Notice By-Law is to provide shareholders, directors and management of the Company with direction on the procedure for shareholder nomination of directors. The Advance Notice By-Law is the framework by which the Company seeks to fix a deadline by which registered or beneficial holders of common shares of the Company must submit director nominations to the Company prior to any annual or special meeting of shareholders and sets forth the information that a shareholder must include in the notice to the Company for the notice to be in proper written form. No person will be eligible for election as a director of the Company unless nominated in accordance with the provisions of the Advance Notice By-Law.

In the case of an annual meeting of shareholders, notice to the Company must be made not less than 30 days prior to the date of the annual meeting; provided, however, that in the event that the annual meeting is to be held on a date that is less than 50 days after the date on which the first public announcement of the date of the annual meeting was made, notice may be made not later than the close of business on the 10th day following such public announcement.

In the case of a special meeting of shareholders (which is not also an annual meeting), notice to the Company must be made not later than the close of business on the 15th day following the day on which the first public announcement of the date of the special meeting was made.

At the Company's annual general and special meeting of shareholders to be held on December 15, 2016, the Company is seeking shareholder approval to confirm and ratify the amendment of the by-laws of the Company to, among other things, include the provisions of the Advance Notice By-Law. A copy of the Company's amended by-laws has been filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and has been posted on the Company's website at www.fission3corp.com. Notice provided to the Company under the Advance Notice By-Law should be sent to the attention of the Chief Financial Officer of the Company by mail at 700 - 1620 Dickson Ave., Kelowna, British Columbia, V1Y 9Y2, by facsimile at (250) 868-8493 or by email at paul@fission3corp.com.

About Fission 3.0 Corp.

Fission 3.0 Corp. is a Canadian based resource company specializing in the strategic acquisition, exploration and development of uranium properties and is headquartered in Kelowna, British Columbia. Common Shares are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "FUU."

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Ross McElroy, COO

Fission 3.0 Corp.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 28, 2016) - GB Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: GBL) (the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Damien Forer interim chief financial officer ("Interim CFO") of the Company for a six month period commencing November 1, 2016. Angel Law, the Company's chief financial officer, will be on maternity leave during the period of Mr. Forer's appointment.

Mr. Forer has more than 15 years of accounting, corporate finance and restructuring experience in Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. He has over 10 years' experience in public practice which included time spent with Deloitte in Australia and BDO Stoy Hayward in the United Kingdom. Damien is a member of both Chartered Professional Accountants British Columbia and Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand. He holds a Bachelor of Accounting degree from Monash University, Australia.

Luis da Silva, president and chief executive officer of the Company, said, "We are pleased to welcome Damien to our team. The Company is in the midst of an exciting development phase and his skills and experience will be of great benefit to us. We would also like to extend our best wishes to Angel Law and her family during this very special period and thank her for her commitment, support and financial leadership to the Company to date."

For further information please contact:

Luis da Silva

President and Chief Executive Officer

Telephone: + 1 (604) 569-0721

Angel Law

Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary

Telephone: +1 (604) 569-0721

ABOUT GB MINERALS LTD.

On September 14, 2015, the Company announced the results of, and filing on SEDAR, of a new feasibility study on its Farim phosphate project entitled "NI 43-101 Technical Report On the Farim Phosphate Project" (the "2015 Feasibility Study").

The Farim phosphate project is located in the northern part of central Guinea-Bissau, West Africa, approximately 25 kilometres south of the Senegal border, approximately 5 kilometres west of the town of Farim and some 120 kilometres northeast of Bissau, the capital of Guinea-Bissau, on a 30.6 km2 mining lease license granted by the Government of Guinea-Bissau to the Company's wholly owned subsidiary, GB Minerals AG, in May 2009. The Company also holds a production license in relation to the Farim phosphate project.

The Farim phosphate project consists of a high grade sedimentary phosphate deposit of one continuous phosphate bed which extends over a known surface area of approximately 40 km2. It is estimated to contain measured and indicated resources of 105.6 million dry tonnes at a grade of 28.4% P 2 O 5 and additional inferred resources of 37.6 million dry tonnes at 27.7% P 2 O 5 . The measured and indicated resources include 44.0 million dry tonnes of reserves based on a 25 year mine plan at 1.75 million tonnes per annum ("mtpa") of mine production at the following run of mine grades: 30.0% P 2 O 5 , 2.6% Al 2 O 3 , 41.0% CaO, 4.7% Fe 2 O 3 , and 10.6% SiO 2 . The phosphate ore will be beneficiated for a final phosphate rock concentrate production of 1.32 mtpa at a 34.0% P 2 O 5 grade at 3% moisture.

The 25 year mine plan also assumes a beneficiation process that involves scrubbing (both drum and attrition) followed by particle sizing to remove the fraction under 20 m. This new beneficiation process will result in a 34.0% P 2 O 5 product grade, mass recovery of 75.5% and 78.4% P 2 O 5 recovery confirmed by a pilot scale test on a one tonne sample that took place in May 2015. After passing through the process plant, the final production of phosphate concentrate, based on 1.75 mtpa of run of mine feed, will be 1.32 mtpa. The life of mine operating costs are approximately US$52.13 per tonne of final concentrate. The initial capital cost for the project is estimated at US$193.8 million and does not include owner's costs which amount to US$11 million and include items such as project insurance, resettlement and owner's team costs. Owner's costs have been included in the financial analysis.

For additional information, please visit us at www.gbminerals.com.

QUALIFIED PERSON

The Company's Qualified Person is Dan Markovic, P. Eng., who has reviewed and approves this press release.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain information in this news release relating to the Company is forward-looking and related to anticipated events and strategies. When used in this context, words such as "will", "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "intend", "target" and "expect" or similar words suggest future outcomes. Forward-looking information contained in this press release includes, but may not be limited to the use of proceeds of the Rights Offering, the business plans, statements or information relating to the anticipated development activities of the Company, the Farim Project (including the quantity and quality of mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates), the potential to upgrade inferred mineral resources, the ability of the Company to develop the Farim Project into a commercially viable mine and the proposed new plans relating thereto regarding operations and mine design, estimates relating to tonnage, grades, recovery rates, future phosphate production, future cash flows, life of mine estimates, expectations regarding production and estimates of capital and operating costs. By their nature, such statements are subject to significant risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information as actual results could differ materially from the plans, expectations, estimates or intentions expressed in the forward-looking information. Forward-looking information speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable law, the Company disclaims any obligation to update or modify such forward-looking information, either as a result of new information, future events or for any other reason.

Disclosure herein of exploration information and of mineral resources and mineral reserves is derived from the 2015 Feasibility Study. Information relating to "mineral resources" and "mineral reserves" is deemed to be forward-looking information as it involves the implied assessment based on certain estimates and assumptions that the mineral resources and mineral reserves can be profitable in the future. Such estimates are expressions of judgment based on knowledge, mining experience, analysis of drilling results and industry practices. Valid estimates made at a given time may significantly change when new information becomes available. By their nature, mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates are imprecise and depend, to a certain extent, upon statistical inferences which may ultimately prove unreliable. If such estimates are inaccurate or are reduced in the future, this could have a material adverse impact on the Company. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Due to the uncertainty that may be attached to inferred mineral resources, it cannot be assumed that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource will be upgraded to an indicated or measured mineral resource as a result of continued exploration.

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
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The Standard-Times publishes news of special events and programs. We do not accept items detailing regular weekly sermons or schedules. Items will be run only once. Church news can be submitted by email at Matthew.McDaniel@gosanangelo.com or by fax to 325-659-8133. Forms also are available in the Standard-Times lobby from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Deadline for submission next week is Wednesday before the date of publication. Dates, times, address and a publication number are required.

Aglow Community Lighthouse

Aglow Community Lighthouse will meet at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Ministerial Alliance Building, 1100 Martin Luther King Drive. The meeting will be led by Aglow President Bettie Brazil, with praise & worship led by Rudy Castenada. All are welcome to come share what they are thankful for. Finger foods will be served and there will be time for fellowship.

Call 325-653-9975 for more information.

Belmore Baptist

Belmore Baptist Church, 1214 S. Bell St., will show the Billy Graham film, "The Value of a Soul: What Is Your True Worth?" at 5 p.m. Sunday in the Fellowship Hall. The film includes the testimony of three people who found new life in Christ, and a message by Franklin Graham. The public is invited to attend.

Belmore members will participate in Operation Christmas Child, packing shoe boxes filled with gifts for children overseas. Packages are due at the Church by Nov. 20.

Call 325-651-4661 for more information.

Bethel Baptist

Bethel Baptist Church, 800 Culwell St., will host Trunk-of-Treats for neighborhood children at 5:30 p.m. Monday in the church parking lot. The event will continue until the candy runs out.

Call 3225-234-5024 for more information.

Christian Breakfast Fellowship

Ron Guzman, president of the Southwest Bible Institute, will speak at the Christian Breakfast Fellowship, 6:30 a.m. Thursday at Kenny Blanek's Village Cafe. He will speak on the topic, "Fear is not the way." The cost of the breakfast is $8 per plate.

Call 325-653-6866 for more information.

Christian Church

Christian Church of San Angelo, 4064 S. Bryant Blvd., will hold a kickoff event for Operation Christmas Child at 7 p.m. Saturday. Participants will prepare shoe boxes packed with toys, school supplies, hygiene items and notes of encouragement for distribution in to children overseas. The church will be accepting packed boxes Nov. 14-20, and step-by-step box-packing instructions are available at www.samaritanspurse.org.

Call 325-234-1799 for more information.

First Christian

First Christian Church, 29 N. Oakes St., will hold its Fall Festival 2-4 p.m. Sunday. The event will feature a bounce house, crafts, snacks and fun for children ages 3 thru grade 5.

Call 325-653-4523 for more information.

First Presbyterian

First Presbyterian Church, 32 N. Irving St., will hold its annual Fall Festival and Trunk-or-Treat event 5-7 p.m. Sunday. Games and supper will take place in the Wood Fellowship Hall, the Commons and on the playground. The trunk-or-treat will be in the main church parking lot accessible from College Avenue. Volunteers are needed to bake for the cake walk, and youth are welcome to come and help with the activities. Children are encouraged to dress in their not-too-scary costumes, and those participating in the trunk-or-treat are reminded not to decorate vehicles in a menacing or frightening manner.

Call 325-655-5694 for more information.

First United Methodist



First United Methodist Church, 37 W. Beauregard Ave., will host FUMC choir director and organist Rev. David Miron in the next installment of their 2016-17 concert series at 1:30 p.m. Sunday. He will perform the music of Bach, Rheinberger, Saint-Saens, and Guilmant. The concert will feature a Halloween surprise selection.

Call 325-655-8981 for more information.

Lifepoint Baptist

Lifepoint Baptist Church, 810 Austin St., will host a free Trunk-or-Treat event from 6-8 p.m. Monday. The event will feature a costume contest, games, cotton candy, popcorn, snow cones, hot dogs and more. Steve Harney, director of Cool Kids Ministries, will present a magic show and gospel presentation at 7 p.m. Friday in the Sanctuary.

Call 325-655-9319 for more information.

St. Joseph Parish



St. Joseph Catholic Church, 506 Edward St. in Rowena, will host its 94th Fall Festival Nov. 13. The theme for this year is "A Harvest of Blessings." Activities begin at 10:30 a.m. with a flag raising and balloon release ceremony to honor all veterans and military personnel deployed throughout the world. A turkey, dressing and Rowena-style German sausage dinner will be served from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Several activities are planned throughout the day. All events will take place in the parish hall and on church grounds. Uncooked sausage will be sold for $5 per pound while supplies last. In anticipation of the event, parishioners have prepared 4.5 tons of sausage. Handicapped parking, shuttle and seating assistance are available for those with special needs.

Call 325-365-2966 or 325-442-3521 for more information.

Sierra Vista

Sierra Vista United Methodist Church, 4522 College Hills Blvd. will host the free "Princesses and Heroes" photo event at 5:30 p.m. Saturday in the church's Pumpkin Patch before a showing of the Charlie Brown classic "The Great Pumpkin" at 7:30 p.m.

A Fifth-Sunday Brunch is slated for 9:45 a.m. Sunday in the Life Center. Attendees are encouraged to bring their favorite brunch dish to share while enjoying the fellowship.

The church will host a Trunk-or-Treat event at 5:30 p.m. Monday in the parking lot.

The Senior Adult Ministry Fun Fest is set for 9 a.m. Tuesday in the Life Center. Attendees may bring a covered dish to share for lunch.

Call 325-944-4041 for more information.

The Heights

The Heights Church, 4512 Sherwood Way, will host a Trunk-or-Treat 6-8 p.m. Monday in the church parking lot.

Trinity Lutheran

Trinity Lutheran Church, 3536 Lutheran Way, will hold its annual Trunk-or-Treat from 5:30-7 p.m. Monday in the church's loop-side parking lot. The event will feature candy, hot dogs and bottled water for trick-or-treaters and their families. The event is open to the public.

Call 325-944-8660 for more information.

Word of Life

Word of Life Church, 5173 S. Bryant Blvd. will hold its Fall Festival and Hallelujah Night 6-8 p.m. Sunday. The event will feature a Trunk-or-Treat event, hayride, black-light maze, inflatables for the kids, and a drawing to give away four children's bicycles. The event is free and open to the public; first 50 children to check in will receive a free hot dog and drink.

Call 325-651-7392 for more information.
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To include your club or organization, send your information to Matthew.McDaniel@gosanangelo.com.

Time, date, address and a contact telephone number are required.

The deadline for Club Calendar is 5 p.m. Thursday, 10 days before the Sunday publication date. For more information, call 325-659-8341.

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The San Angelo Genealogical and Historical Society host Suzanne Campbell, head of the West Texas Collection at Angelo State University, at 7 p.m. Tuesday, at Trinity Lutheran Church, 3536 Lutheran Way.

Campbell will speak about the history and impact of Jewish people in the Concho Valley.

The meeting is open to the public, and refreshments will be served.

Information: 325-942-5741.

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NewTimers Monthly Coffee Group will meet at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Paul Presbyterian Church, 11 N. Park St. for a social with refreshments, followed by "42" fun.

Guests are welcome.

Information: 325-656-1952

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Preceptor Iota Omicron will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Los Panchito's Restaurant, 34 E. Ave, D. Nancy Rowan will host the meeting, and Patty Englert will preside. Members are reminded to bring nonperishable food items for the Thanksgiving donation to Project Dignadad, and service projects will be discussed for the holidays and upcoming year.

Information: 325-949-1771.

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Promenade Squares will dance mainstream and plus level at 7 p.m. Thursday at 618 Locust St. The caller will be John Geen. Visitors are welcome.

Information: 325-944-1439.

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NewTimers Breakfast Group will hold a meet-and-greet at 9 a.m., Friday at Rosie's Diner, 4609 S. Jackson St.

Guests are welcome.

Information: 325-223-1885.

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San Angelo Retired Teachers & Associates will meet at 9:45 a.m. Tuesday at the First Christian Church, 29 North Oakes St. The program is Remembering our Veterans with Stephanie Campbell singing patriotic songs.

Information: 325-245-6212.
Graphic Illustration

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I have never been a huge fan of Halloween.

There already are plenty of things in everyday life I find terrifying  this election cycle included. I never understood the need to celebrate a day that imagines more things for us to fear.

But I've never had a problem with those who embrace the holiday.

Indeed, for adults, Halloween has always been the one opportunity each year when it's acceptable to pretend to be something we're not; to wear something scary, inappropriate or ridiculous in public with impunity; or to dress our children in something funny or cute.

Still, every year there is some outcry over the irreverence of costume choices. And every year the complaints become a little more absurd.

The latest outrage is over a costume depicting Maui, a Polynesian character in an upcoming Disney animated film. Maui is a revered figure for some Pacific Islanders, and many believe him to be their ancestor.

Presumably, the Disney film (scheduled to be released next month) handles Maui in a culturally respectful way. As such, one might assume that donning the costume is homage to the Polynesian culture  or at least a fun way to enjoy a new Disney character.

Apparently not.

Quite predictably, a social media storm erupted over the Maui get-up. One activist explained that it is off-putting to have a child wear the skin of another race.

OK. But the Maui costume is hardly blackface, especially when worn by a child who probably just wants to emulate the character  and in a good way.

Disney pulled the costume from the shelves after claims that it was offensive to Pacific Islanders became too many to ignore, which is no surprise considering what generally happens to people who rationally suggest that costumes, on both children and adults, might be a worthy form of self-expression.

That was part of the argument made last fall by Erika Christakis, an educator and wife of a Yale University administrator, in response to heavy-handed university advice about Halloween-wear.

In an email to students, Christakis wondered, "Is there no room anymore for a child or young person to be a little bit obnoxious  a little bit inappropriate or provocative or, yes, offensive?"

She further argued that the school's costume guidelines exhibited a lack of faith in students' ability to exercise their own judgment of what is and isn't appropriate and how to reasonably approach situations in which they might find a peer's choice of dress offensive.

"In other words," her email concluded, "Whose business is it to control the forms of costumes of young people?" It would appear that it is the business of a very vocal minority of social justice warriors.

As a result of the furor caused by Christakis' email  including a heated and profanity-laced confrontation in the quad  she resigned her position as a lecturer at the school, and her husband resigned his administrative role.

The political correctness police are not active only on Ivy League campuses.

This year, a Florida State University dormitory displayed posters that showed "examples of appropriation" and included suggestions for "great Halloween costumes" including "extraterrestrial alien," "Steve Jobs" and "any animal"  except Harambe, the gorilla killed this year in an effort to protect a small child who fell into his enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo.

Harambe, the poster said, for reasons of sexism and racism that still boggle the mind, was an inappropriate choice.

The posters were part of the "We're a Culture, Not a Costume" campaign that has been sweeping campuses.

While it might to be fair to question the judgment of some college students given the appalling amount of binge drinking and promiscuous sex that occurs on campus, a national campaign designed to steer their Halloween dress choices seems just a tad condescending.

But perhaps even more insulting is the service offered by another Florida school to students who find themselves traumatized by the costumes of their peers. The University of Florida is advertising that it has made available an round-the-clock hotline through which offended coeds can seek counseling services to help them deal with their costume-caused anguish.

The culture appropriation concerns extend beyond the campus bubble. Several theme parks, including Six Flags New England, have altered or removed Halloween attractions that featured scary psychiatric patients because they offended people who suffer from mental illness.

And as one writer explained in the Huffington Post, the use of any cultural garb at all  a kimono, sari or mariachi suit  should be off-limits. These "are deeply respected items of clothing in their culture" and wearing them isn't appreciation but appropriation.

Forget ghouls, ghosts and zombies. The thing to fear this Halloween isn't offending someone, but the whittling away at your right to self-expression.

Cynthia M. Allen is a columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Contact her at cmallen@star-telegram.com.
In New York Citys search for a new chief technology officer, it found a perfect match in San Francisco. The CIO responsible for leading one of the West Coasts high-profile cities in its technological evolution is leaving for a new role on the East Coast.The New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications announced on Monday, Oct. 24, that San Francisco CIO Miguel Gamino Jr. has accepted the Big Apple's chief technology officer (CTO) post, which was left vacant in August when Minerva Tantoco departed Gamino wasn't looking to leave San Francisco; his move into the position "all started with a 6 a.m. phone call," he told. "They called me and asked if I knew anyone who would be interested in the position. Part of me thinks they were asking if I had a protege, and part of me thinks there was maybe some guarded interest."The conversation ultimately evolved, Gamino said, to the point where both he and the team in New York City got excited about the opportunity.And the reason is clear: Under a statewide initiative announced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in January, all New York residents must have access to high-speed broadband by 2018  and providing Internet access is something in which Gamino is well versed.During his San Francisco tenure, Gamino worked to connect the city through a comprehensive wireless network project. He was a driving force in the 2014 launch of free Wi-Fi along Market Street, within city libraries, and at other public parks and spaces.In addition, Gamino will be responsible for incorporating the Internet of Things into New York City, which he also has much experience with. His leadership in San Francisco included partnerships with technology giants like Apple, Google and Facebook that helped to bolster connectivity through the implementation of a municipal sensor network "I've been asked to come in and take the helm of those particular initiative areas with what seems to be a tremendous amount of support," Gamino said. "It comes with a tremendous amount of expectation too, but I'm fine with that."Gamino, who had previously served as the Department of Technologys interim CIO, was appointed to the position permanently by Mayor Edwin Lee in December 2014. Officials in New York City expressed to Gamino that he has a reputation for being not only a thought leader when it comes to broadband and the Internet of Things, but that he also is known for getting things done and making progress."That was very flattering and also very motivating that that's what they were looking for," he said.In March, Gamino, who previously served as chief information and innovation officer for the city of El Paso, Texas, was named one of the 2016 Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers for his role in Team San Francisco, which also included Chief Data Officer Joy Bonaguro and Chief Innovation Officer Jay Nath.In 2015, the CIO was instrumental in launching the San Francisco Business Portal to serve as a one-point resource for city and county residents interested in opening, managing or growing their businesses.But technology deployment was not the only area Gamino excelled in  he was also known for out-of-the-box thinking during his time in the Bay Area. To help give the city a competitive advantage, a dedicated tech recruiter was added to its staff, as well as a chief information security officer, he said in March Reflecting on his time in San Francisco, Gamino said he's most proud of his work in the broadband arena, not just in terms of bringing connectivity to the area, but also in expanding the conversation beyond the tech community."It's not just an experiment anymore," he said. "It's a reliable public service that people now are asking for more. And also I think having helped lead the broadband conversation to the mainstream. I don't take credit for it, but I was certainly part of instigating it  broadband for San Francisco is now a mainstream conversation."Gamino also led the transformation of San Francisco's Department of Technology. Though it's not something most on the outside looking in would notice, he said it's something he's proud of given that the department is delivering high-quality services."I was able to make technology a positive contributor to the rest of the civic service that the city delivers in all kinds of different areas," he said. "So that was kind of an internal accomplishment, but the ripple effect is really external even if it's not obvious to most people. But it was really important that we get the shop cleaned up so that it could deliver on its responsibility to all the other departments and to the public."Though the soon-to-be New Yorker toldthat he has not established an official start date with the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, he expects to begin near the end of November.As for leaving a city he's helped to shape tech-wise for the past few years, Gamino noted that his time spent there has expanded his thinking about how some of these initiatives could be accomplished and how important their impact is to the community."It also helped me think about this beyond the local community," he added. "In San Francisco it is primarily serving San Franciscans and in New York it will be primarily to serve New Yorkers, but I think in both cases the world is watching. So it did help me to think bigger and bolder about how this might be done, how important it is, and frankly how big the stakeholder group is that will be impacted by this in both the jurisdiction I'm responsible for at the given time, but also for the global community."
As we've already explained, Ducati has got its own back on Yamaha. While the Japanese won't release Lorenzo for the tests at Jerez in late November, the Italians haven't invited Yamaha to the tests at the Spanish track, which they booked.

For the Iwata manufacturer, the only solution was to arrange for private tests for Rossi and Vinales in Malaysia. So far so good, but the problem is the asphalt, or rather its inability to fully dry.

If this a problem during the race weekend with three categories riding the track, imagine how it will be with just two bikes on track.

Valentino is aware of the potential problem: the tests in November are very important, we'll have the new bike and they assured us everything would be OK. But we now risk going there in less than ideal conditions, but that's the risk we take. Basically when the track is damp we always struggle, so it could be useful to carry out some tests he comments, trying to find the silver lining.

Also because there's no real alternative

I spoke to Meregalli about it yesterday and from what I can understand the decision's been made", he concluded.
Fernando Alonso smiled in Mexico as he said he forgives Sebastian Vettel for calling him an "idiot".

Vettel, who replaced the Spaniard at Ferrari last year, fired the insult in Alonso's direction after having a flying lap disturbed in Friday practice.

"I don't give it much importance," Spanish media quote McLaren-Honda's Alonso as saying afterwards.

"I'm sure there is a very great frustration on his and Ferrari's part, so he is forgiven," he smiled.

However, Vettel was actually fastest overall on Friday, but the German was not reading too much into it.

"We have good pace compared with the other two teams (Mercedes and Red Bull)," he said. "If the situation doesn't change and we stay ahead, I won't mind!

"But I saw one of Lewis' laps and he made a few mistakes, so we'll see how things turn out. Perhaps Mercedes still have something in the bag," said Vettel.

(GMM)
Felipe Nasr has rubbished suggestions Sauber is actively sabotaging his progress at the tail end of 2016.

Wild rumours have suggested recent problems for the Brazilian might be because the Swiss team is trying to derail his and key sponsor Banco do Brasil's speculated switch to Force India.

What Nasr would admit is that his handling problems in Austin recently were "very strange".

"I think as a team we're working on answers," he told Brazil's UOL in Mexico.

"It was very strange what happened, this imbalance, and I said this to the team. But I think it's going too far to say it was something deliberate.

"There's no need to comment on that sort of thing," Nasr insisted. "I want to stay focused here this weekend and do my best in the last three races."

(GMM)
Kevin Magnussen has criticised the Halo cockpit protection system after trying it during practice in Mexico.

The debut of the system has been delayed until at least 2018, but the FIA is determined that every driver give his feedback by testing it in practice sessions and answering a questionnaire.

But Halo did not get a good reception on Friday in Mexico, with Kevin Magnussen, Felipe Nasr and Pascal Wehrlein all going off track during their runs.

"I don't like it," admitted Dane Magnussen. "It's like pulling a cap over your eyes too low. The view is not as good as I had hoped, and with elevation changes it will be a problem."

Asked if he then got out of the car during the required time in the extraction test, the Renault driver said: "Yes. I don't know the results, but it was not easy."

Magnussen also said he would not like to have to do it in a real-world fire situation.

Massa was less critical, declaring: "It's a little harder to see on the straight, but in the corners it's not so bad.

"To get in and out is a bit difficult, but I think it would be worse for the bigger drivers. For me, I didn't have too much trouble," he is quoted by Brazil's UOL.

Manor's Pascal Wehrlein is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport as saying: "The halo is distracting.

"But you get used to everything. And if it's good for safety, then I support it."

(GMM)
Jenson Button has hit back at a magazine cover that suggested Ron Dennis pushed him into retirement.

After 17 years in F1, the 36-year-old is taking a sabbatical next season whilst remaining under contract to McLaren for the next two years.

But F1 Racing, a British magazine, quoted Button as saying on its latest cover that McLaren supremo Dennis "told me to take a year off".

In Mexico, Button said that is misleading.

"The idea of speaking to Ron in Spa was to retire, and he wanted to change my mind to stay rather than what it said on the front of F1 Racing," he insisted.

"It was the other way round. So it's a shame but there you go," Button said.

(GMM)
F1 legend and team founder Sir Frank Williams is in hospital battling pneumonia.

The news emerged in Mexico City, when team CEO Mike O'Driscoll made a rare appearance in front of the assembled media, in the place of deputy Claire Williams.

"Frank was taken ill at the Monza race," he revealed.

Williams, 74, is among the oldest surviving tetraplegics in the world, following his car accident in 1986.

"He's been a fixture in the paddock for so many decades now that it's strange not to have him with us," O'Driscoll added.

"He's had a tough time in hospital. He has contracted pneumonia. He is making a recovery, a slow steady recovery," he said, in written comments that were subsequently added to the official FIA press conference transcript.

O'Driscoll said he hopes Claire, Williams' daughter, is also back at the races soon.

"She has wanted to stay close to home, close to Frank, but in this modern world you are only ever a phone call away, so we stay connected and she's part of everything that happens on a minute-by-minute, day-by-day basis," he said.

Sir Frank's wife, Ginny Williams, died in 2003.

(GMM)
The cap represents a significant cut from the 3.5% m/m (35,000 ppm) global limit currently in place and demonstrates a clear commitment by IMO to ensuring shipping meets its environmental obligations.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO), the regulatory authority for international shipping, decided to implement a global sulfur cap of 0.50% m/m (mass/mass) (5,000 ppm) on fuel oil starting 1 January 2020 during its Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC), meeting for its 70 th session in London.

Heavy fuel oil (HFO) is the predominant marine fuel. It is viscous, dirty, inexpensive and widely available. Because of its high sulfur content, maritime shipping accounts for 8% of global emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), making the industry an important source for acid rain as well as respiratory diseases.

IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim welcomed the decision which he said reflected the Organizations determination to ensure that international shipping remains the most environmentally sound mode of transport.

Further work to ensure effective implementation of the 2020 global sulfur cap will continue in the Sub-Committee on Pollution Prevention and Response (PPR).

Regulations governing sulfur oxide emissions from ships are included in Annex VI to the International Convention for the prevention of Pollution from ships (MARPOL Convention). Annex VI sets progressive stricter regulations in order to control emissions from ships, including sulfur oxides (SO x ) and nitrous oxides (NO x )which present major risks to both the environment and human health.

The date of 2020 was agreed in amendments adopted in 2008. When those amendments were adopted, it was also agreed that a review should be undertaken by 2018 in order to assess whether sufficient compliant fuel oil would be available to meet the 2020 date. If not, the date could be deferred to 2025. That review was completed in 2016 and submitted to MEPC 70. The review concluded that sufficient compliant fuel oil would be available to meet the fuel oil requirements.

Under the new global cap, ships will have to use fuel oil on board with a sulfur content of no more than 0.50% m/m, against the current limit of 3.50%, which has been in effect since 1 January 2012. The interpretation of fuel oil used on board includes use in main and auxiliary engines and boilers. Exemptions are provided for situations involving the safety of the ship or saving life at sea, or if a ship or its equipment is damaged.

Ships can meet the requirement by using low-sulfur compliant fuel oil. An increasing number of ships are also using gas as a fuel as when ignited it leads to negligible sulfur oxide emissions. This has been recognized in the development by IMO of the International Code for Ships using Gases and other Low Flashpoint Fuels (the IGF Code), which was adopted in 2015. Another alternative fuel is methanol which is being used on some short sea services.

Ships may also meet the SO x emission requirements by using approved equivalent methods, such as exhaust gas cleaning systems or scrubbers, which clean the emissions before they are released into the atmosphere. In this case, the equivalent arrangement must be approved by the ships Administration (the flag State).
In its 2015-2020 Transportation Electrification Action Plan, Quebec set a target of 100,000 registered plug-in vehicles by 2020. The bill gives the Government of Quebec the powers it needs to require car manufacturers to sell a minimum of zero-emission vehicles through a tradable credit system.

Earlier this week, the Quebec National Assembly unanimously adopted Bill 104, a zero-emission vehicle standard. Automakers that sell or lease a yearly average of more than 4,500 new vehicles (all light models combined) will be subject to the ZEV standard.

Starting with 2018 models, automakers will be required to meet a ZEV sales target that is set by the government and transposed into credits. The target will be calculated by applying a percentage to the total number of light vehicles each manufacturer sells in Quebec. The credit requirement will therefore vary from one manufacturer to another.

Every sale or lease of a ZEV recognized by the Minister will earn the manufacturer a number of credits based on the vehicles electric range. The greater the range, the greater the number of credits earned by the manufacturer, which in turn will reduce the number of ZEV sales the manufacturer will need to reach its target. The goal of the ZEV standard is to incentivize automobile manufacturers to build more models and use increasingly efficient low-carbon technology.

Small manufacturers not subject to the standard, as well as high-performance automakers, will also be able to benefit financially from selling their excess credits to other manufacturers. Those manufacturers will have the option of purchasing credits to avoid paying the regulatory charges set out in the regulation or hold the credits for their future needs.

Automakers will be able to accumulate credits for 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 model-year vehicles, without regulatory requirements, and use those credits for compliance purposes in subsequent years. The government gave itself the power to regulate the use of deferred credits in order to ensure that its objectives are achieved.

The definitive text of the Act specifies that vehicles that are reconditioned by automakers and registered in Quebec for the first time will be eligible for credits if they meet prescribed regulatory conditions.

All operational parameters, including the credit percentages required by category of automaker, formulas for calculating credits associated with each type of vehicle, requirements for re-conditioned vehicles, rules for using credits as well as the information required when reporting will be specified in the forthcoming regulation.

In the view of David Heurtel, Minister of Sustainable Development, the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change, by enabling Quebec consumers to have access to a broader range of plug-in vehicles, the new Act will give further impetus to electric vehicle purchases in Quebec.

The inclusion of vehicles that are reconditioned by automakers and registered in Quebec for the first time in the list of targeted vehicles will ensure the availability of lower-cost vehicles, thereby giving all Quebecois, especially low-income households, an opportunity to participate in greening Quebecs car population through a purchase that is in keeping with their values, while at the same time promoting responsible consumption.

Quebec joins the ten U.S. states, including California and several northeastern states, representing one third of the American market, that have already adopted ZEV standards. Their experience demonstrates that the ZEV offer has increased and has resulted in a drop in prices for this type of vehicle.

Through the Green Fund, the revenue of which derives mainly from the carbon market, and the 2013-2020 CCAP, the Quebec government offers consumers who decide to purchase an electric vehicle a rebate of up to $8,000. The government also offers grants for the purchase and installation of charging stations, both at home and at work. These measures, together with the ZEV standards, reserved lanes and other incentives, will help achieve the objective of the 2015-2020 TEAP, i.e., having 100,000 electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids on Quebecs roads by 2020.

Now that the Bill has been adopted, a draft regulation for automakers will be tabled shortly for public consultation.
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.
With Amy Schumers best-selling memoir still riding high since its August release, and Vanity Fair writer Leslie Bennetts much-anticipated biography of Joan Rivers (Last Girl Before Freeway) coming out in two weeks, the role of profane female comics in our culture is being discussed once again.

Add to the mix the raunchy, hot-button new Amazon series Fleabag  about a sexually confused London woman and everybody appears to have an opinion about dirty female comics.

Brad Axelrod, who has run the Connecticut Treehouse Comedy Club brand for the past 33 years, says the shift to frank female comics has been in the works for many years. Lisa Lampanelli (a Trumbull native) started at a Treehouse open mic night. I think she was a bit of a trendsetter who opened the door for Amy, with the idea of being dirtier, Axelrod says. That started a shift away from Roseanne (Barr) and Ellen Degeneres and Paula Poundstone. I think Sex and the City played a role in the change, too.

In this age of increasing raunch, Greenwich comic Jane Condon continues to make people laugh with an act that could probably qualify for a PG rating. (Axelrod, who has booked Condon many times, says she might get a PG-13 for some jokes.)

Condons stories about feeling like an outsider in Greenwich  she grew up in working-class Brockton, Mass.  and doing the best she can as a wife and mother of two (now-grown) sons in the Connecticut suburbs have made her popular in comedy clubs and at benefits for the past 30 years. She was named audience favorite on Last Comic Standing and won a Ladies of Laughter contest where she was judged with 107 other comics.

In Greenwich, everyone is either above average or a poor test-taker, Condon has joked in her act. When she plays elsewhere in Connecticut, the comic will tell audiences, I live in Greenwich, but Im still a nice person.

I think women in comedy and politics both have to walk a tightrope. You have to be likable, she says.

Condons role models include Lily Tomlin and Richard Pryor, who both emerged in the 1970s and who both told hilarious and personal stories drawn from their own lives. She believes the profanity in Pryors act was organic to the people he was bringing to life on stage.

Condon is clean in an era dominated by Schumer, who has proven that female comics can be as forthcoming about their sex lives as male stars like Louis C.K. Schumer walked through a door that was opened by Sex and the City almost two decades ago, with its then-shocking bluntness about finding laughter in a frank treatment of womens sexuality.

The Greenwich comedian thinks the new female voices  which include comic actresses/writers Tina Fey and Lena Dunham  are not a threat to their male peers. Instead, they are loosening up the whole field to new topics and new ways of finding laughter in honest storytelling.

The guys did a great job when they were in charge. But you have a lot of other groups now who are ready to step up and take on some of the burden, Condon says of the rise of female and gay comedians.

Politics has never been a major part of Condons act, but this year the fact that she is an old friend of Hillary Clintons (they are fellow Wellesley graduates) and the irresistible comic target provided by Donald Trump have pushed her into the satirical arena.

Its very hard for (comics) because Trump is already an exaggeration and he doesnt leave much wiggle room, Condon says of such easy targets as Trump University and the fact that Melania Trump famously borrowed her Republican convention speech from Michelle Obama.

Condon thought long and hard about being more politically overt in her comedy and on her social media this year, but feels an obligation to the truth of this moment in history and the future of America.

I had to make a decision of whats more important  my career or my country.

She says the only advice she gives to younger peers is to create material that reflects them honestly and then to keep working.

You have to be out there, Condon says. Its working a muscle just like athletes do. It also becomes an addiction, but I think its a positive addiction.

Condon believes her comedy tribe has two major categories. There are the comic actors, who can put across material like a role they would play, and there are the writers whose ability to create new material keeps their acts fresh.

I think the writers might have more longevity because we keep coming up with new ideas, she says, adding it was her work as a journalist that led her to a career in comedy. After she and her husband spent several years in Japan during the 1980s, Condon wrote a book about the experience that led to speaking engagements where her stories about being an American outsider in Japan garnered lots of laughter.

The journalist enjoyed the immediate positive feedback of those live audiences, and when she started testing the waters at open mic nights she fell in love with the experience of giving an audience pleasure through laughter. Condon realized as soon as she started talking about Greenwich being as much of a foreign country as Japan that she was on to something.

I think my Irish background played a part in my career, too, Condon says. Were instinctive storytellers.

jmeyers@hearstmediact.com;

Twitter: @joesview
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GREENWICH  The Vatican issued a clarification on the practice of storing ashes following cremation last week, reminding Catholics that it opposes the scattering of ashes of human remains on land or sea.

The new pronouncement made it clear the church was opposed to the dust in the wind style of saying goodbye to a loved one.
The Note7s Coral blue offering turned out to be a popular color choice. Unfortunately for many, Samsung had to discontinue sales of the Galaxy Note 7. So, no S-Pen (for now) but that doesnt mean you cant have Samsungs soft-blue-and-tinge-of-orange color combo, as it will come to the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge.

Currently, Samsung plans to release the Coral Blue edition of the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge with 4G+ in both Singapore and Taiwan. This edition will be available starting on November 5 in Singapore and November 1 in Taiwan from what appears to be in a 32GB configuration for now. The smartphone will feature the 4G+ radio for Asian carriers and, of course, the coral blue paint job.

The new handset will be priced at 1090 SGD (about USD 788) in Singapore while in Taiwan, the same device will go for NTD 24,900 (about USD 787).

If we do get a coral blue version for the US, we dont think itll have any updated hardware. It will likely be the same hardware that is on sale now, except for the new color option. In any case, there is still no official word from Samsung as to whether or not well get this color. It wouldnt be surprising if we didnt as Asia already gets a pink gold color that isnt available in the States.

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Haiti - USA : A Florida Congressmen bipartisan Commission in Haiti





A bipartisan commission composed of members of Congress from Florida Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Republican) and Frederica Wilson (Democrat) is in Haiti this Saturday to discuss relief efforts after the passage of Hurricane Matthew.



In Jeremie, one of the most affected cities, legislators will receive information from the Embassy of the United States and the United Nations Mission on the emergency work and the responses to deal with cholera. They will also observe the distribution of food and health services. In addition, they will have a meeting with the Prime Minister of Haiti, Enex Jean-Charles, discussions will focus on key sectors in the country, before the next presidential elections.



"I am very grateful to have Federica part of this bipartisan committee in Haiti to obtain in situ information on our efforts to help this Nation. With 1.5 million people in humanitarian assistance needs, including about 175,000 in temporary shelters and 806,000 with immediate food needs, the Hurricane Matthew has had devastating consequences for the people of Haiti," declared Ros-Lehtinen.



Stressing "[...] the United States will remain engaged in humanitarian assistance, but it is crucial that our assistance reaches those who are most affected, those with desperate needs for food, water, shelter and sanitation. I look forward to meeting with U.S. and UN officials, as well as relief workers, to examine the distribution of essential humanitarian services."



For her part Frederica Wilson stated "This trip to Haiti is very important to me for different reasons. I represent members of one of the nations largest Haitian-American communities. Many of my constituents still have deep ties to Haiti and are desperate for accurate accounts of the damage caused by Hurricane Matthew [...]"



For Wilson, it is also very important to "witnessing and assessing the damage firsthand is the best way to determine the different types and levels of support Haiti will need to rebuild [...]"



Congress participants will return to Miami on Sunday.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Published on 2016/10/29

A new law aims to curb counterfeit art in Korea, Vivienne Chow explains Asia's photography boom, The Culture Trip has 15 fashion-conscious Instagramers to follow, and catch Bernard Pras's Hangeul-inspired installation art in Seoul until November 6.

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"After a Spike in Cases, South Korea Passes New Law to Prevent Art Forgeries"

After the high-profile counterfeit scandal that hit Korea earlier this year the country is now "taking steps to build a stronger, more transparent art market". Galleries and auction houses in Korea will now have to "obtain a license to sell art, and to keep records of all artworks traded, while independent dealers must report to the ministry before doing business".

...READ ON ARTNET NEWS

"Why Photography Is Finally Having a Boom in Asia"

Vivienne Chow explores the current photography boom in Asia for Artsy. According to Vivienne, "the medium is just now seeing a nascent surge of interest from collectors in Asia". South Korea, Japan and Taiwan do, however, have a longer history of photography, but in Southeast Asia the trend has just begun. Who are your favourite South Korean photographers? Let us know in the comment section below...

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"The Korean Fashion Bloggers You Need To Follow"

The Culture Trip highlights 12 South Korean fashion bloggers you may want to add to your feed to stay trendy and on top of Korea's thriving fashion scene. These style-conscious Instagramers include Jina Kim, Julianne Yoon, Nanjeong Lee and many others who are showcasing some of the hottest trends and original stylings you're likely to find.

...READ ON THE CULTURE TRIP

"Bernard Pras produces Hangeul-inspired works"

French installation artist Bernard Pras celebrates Hangeul, Korea's writing system, to commemorate the 570th anniversary of the writing system's introduction into Korean life. "This artwork is not a huge exhibition but will allow visitors to stop and pause for a while to enjoy a work of art during their busy lives" says Bernard, "That's why it's exhibited here on the stairs of this arts hall as part of public art". If you're in Seoul and would like to catch a glimpse, it's located close to the King Sejong statue in Gwanghwamun and will be on display until November 6.

...READ ON THE KOREA TIMES
Published on 2016/10/28 | Source

Added episode 10 captures for the Korean drama "Shopping King Louis" (2016)

Advertisement

Directed by Lee Sang-yeob-I

Written by Oh Ji-yeong-I

Network : MBC

With Seo In-guk, Nam Ji-hyun, Yoon Sang-hyun, Lim Se-mi, Kim Young-ok, Kim Sun-young,...

16 episodes - Wed, Thu 22:00

Also known as "Shopping King Louie"

Synopsis

"Shopping King Louis" is a romantic comedy drama about shopping King Louis and Ko Bok-sil. Louis was a man who would buy anything and everything with money until he met Ko Bok-il, an angel with no wings and experiences love he can't buy with money.

Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2016/09/21

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Published on 2016/10/29 | Source

Added the upcoming Korean movie "House With A Good View 3"'s page to HanCinema database

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"House With A Good View 3" (2016)

Directed by Kyeong Seok-ho

With Kim Sang-hyeon-I, Yoo Ji-won, Kang Cheol-ho, Han Soo-min-I,...

Synopsis

The rooftop seems suffocating because all the windows have been blocked by other buildings.

Every night women from next door can be seen through the windows?! Jae-min moves into the rooftop across from school but is disappoointed that all the windows have been blocked by other buildings. However, he learns that every night he can see the neighboring women from the other building! Something exciting goes on one night in that rooftop which has the greatest 'view' ever!

Release date in Korea : 2016/11
Jewish billionaire George Soros has announced in the Wall Street Journal that he will be paying out $500 million dollars to bribe Europes corrupt leaders into opening their nations borders to waves of non-White immigrants stirred up by Zionist wars, and, will then be keeping a piece of whatever the money is invested into to boot. In his wake are following a horde of Judo-occult organizations pushing out lies trying to justify the destruction of Europes culture-organisms and the transformation of Europe into a third world hellhole akin to the United States, South Africa, or, Rhodesia.



In Hungary , out of a population of 10 million, a mere 350,000 have emigrated over the past twelve years to other nations in Europe . Described as skilled and educated, the Judo-occult media is portraying this minor departure as a horror, a deep threat to the Hungarian economy, which it is said lacks waiters, agricultural workers and unskilled factory labor. This non sequitur, i.e. the obvious lack of relationship between the departure of skilled workers and a supposed lack of people willing to work at unskilled jobs, is obscured by the screeching of the Judaic hysterics, all of whom are saying that only a horde of unskilled, low-IQ, Africans can solve this supposed problem.



This kind of lie, the lie that labor is too expensive or that immigration is needed, is the same argument that Jews used to justify slavery, not only in the Americas in the 16th to 19th centuries, but also in Europe from time immemorial. As early as the 9th century AD, at the court of Louis I, Jews were saying that there was a lack of agricultural labor in southern France , mandating the need for a slave trade to correct the supposed problem. Similarly, a supposed lack of labor was used to justify the importation of both Africans and enslaved Whites into American colonies from the Spanish Caribbean to the American South.



The goal of this modern One Worldist movement is no different now than it was then. The intent is to create a global state that will plunge all of humanity into global slavery, once all human communities and nations have become so fractured and fragmented that they cannot organize to resist. Europe is a particular target because Judo-occultists view the White race as a particular object of hatred, an obstacle because it is more intelligent and less manipulable than the other peoples of the planet.



Thus, the intent of the current wave of immigration into Europe is explicitly to foment crime, particular violent crime, against White people who, for too long in Judaic eyes, have been able to live peacefully amongst each other in harmony with a natural order. In both Sweden and Germany, two countries whose leaders have defied their own people by allowing this mass of unwanted humanity to wash over them, gang rapes and random murder of the native inhabitants of those countries at the hands of dark uncivilized peoples have become commonplace. In time, if this situation continues, there will soon be United States-style riots against the rightful inhabitants of those nations, followed by a South African-style usurpation and a culmination in Rhodesian-style genocide.



In Hungary , the illiberal government of Viktor Orban is doing exactly what it is supposed to, and for that reason it, like the Law And Justice Party government of Poland , is coming under particular fire from Judo-occult elements in the European Union. Orban has built a Donald Trump-style wall along Hungary s southern border, and, is only allowing 30 non-White migrants to enter the country a day, and those only on the condition that they promptly transit to some other nation. Orban has called a referendum on defying the EUs demand that he allow non-Whites to settle in his nation, and according to polls, it will pass with more than 61% popular support.



Further, Hungary s position is not stopping it from receiving migrants. To the contrary, Hungary , unlike other nations, is seeing an inflow of White German migrants who are refugees from the migrant policy of Angela Merkel. Unlike the unskilled Africans who want to come to rape and plunder, the Germans settling in Hungary are skilled laborers, hard workers, and, refuse to become drains on the nations social support systems.



While Judo-occult powers point to the current popular resistance forming in certain European nations against their globalist agenda of hatred, one must also remember that segregation was once popular in the United States , and yet it did nothing to solve the problem of a hostile, alien, and, unproductive minority in a White nations midst. Populist resistance to the immigrant hordes is not sufficient; only the expulsion of all of the non-White migrants being driven into Europe

by George Soros manipulations and money can restore the peace and tranquility which White Europeans once enjoyed.
Countering Chinese Inroads into Micronesia by Dean Cheng, Heritage Foundation, October, 2016 As Chinas economy has grown and China has assumed the role of foremost global trading power, Beijing has extended its influence to the South Pacific. The latest development has been reports of a new mega-resort on the island of Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM).[1] The United States, which has generally played the dominant role in this area that straddles key sea lanes of communications to the western Pacific, needs to keep a close eye on Chinese efforts to make inroads there. Otherwise, Washington could find itself strategically outflanked. Current State of Affairs in Micronesia and the Pacific While Yap and Truk (also part of the FSM) were major Japanese naval bases in World War II, the South Pacific has generally not been a point of great power contention since 1945. At the end of World War II, the U.S. assumed responsibility for the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. In the 1980s, the Compact of Free Association (COFA) allowed the various Trust Territories to become independent states: the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Palau, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Under the COFA, the U.S. maintains certain preferential policies towards the island nations, while also assuming responsibility for their defense. Citizens of the islands may join the U.S. military without first establishing permanent residency or citizenship. The U.S., in turn, can maintain strategic access through the waters that are encompassed by the various island nations. Some one-third of global trade and almost 50 percent of energy commerce passes through waters controlled by these island states.[2] While the U.S. has been responsible for the island states security, Washington has generally exerted limited economic effort in support of their development. (Much of U.S. aid in this case is administered via the Department of Interior, rather than the State Department.[3]) The largest source of aid to the states has been Australia ($7 billion between 2006 and 2013). Meanwhile, the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) has established relations with the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Niue, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Samoa, Tonga, and Vanuatu, becoming a major donor and providing some $1 billion in aid. According to the Lowy Institute in Australia, China has grown as a source of aid to various South Pacific nations.[4] Although Chinas aid efforts remain behind Australias, they have eclipsed Japans. Chinese Investments and the Extension of Chinese Power The extension of Chinese power has occurred even as Beijing no longer competes with Taipei for diplomatic recognition from the various South Pacific states. For many years, Beijing and Taipei sought to buy diplomatic recognition by offering large aid and investment packages to the various nations. Under Republic of China (ROC) President Ma Ying-jeou, an informal truce was reached whereby both the PRC and ROC refrained from trying to alter the state of recognition. Six states in the region currently recognize Taiwan (ROC), while eight recognize Beijing (PRC). Ironically, the shift away from checkbook diplomacy between Beijing and Taipei has probably left the region more open to Chinese investment, as the PRC pursues commercial opportunities in the region. Indeed, Chinese trade with Pacific island countries rose by 60 percent between 2014 and 2015, reaching $8.1 billion.[5] As is the case with its investments in the Indian Ocean region, Chinas economic investments in the South Pacific could eventually pose a security threat. After Australia, China is the largest source of aid to Samoa and Tonga. However, like the string of pearls of Chinese commercial investments and developments in the Indian Ocean, little evidence exists that Chinese business investments in the South Pacific are masks for a greater military presence. In both instances, however, Chinese investments do serve the purpose of expanding Chinas commercial, economic, and political footprint. This is arguably even more true in the South Pacific, where Chinese aid has transitioned from grants to concessional loans that will have to be paid back. Many of these island nations may find it difficult to meet the terms of these loans, given their limited economic resources. This, in turn, could open the door to other forms of Chinese presence, including military. In some cases, China has clearly emphasized political and diplomatic considerations. When Fijis military staged a coup in 2006, many donor states, including Australia, reduced their commitments. The PRC, however, maintained its relations with the military government, and substantially expanded its aid donations. Chinese bilateral aid rose to $333 million by 2013, substantially outpacing Australian and Japanese aid. Challenges Facing the U.S. For the U.S., the presence of the PRC in the South Pacific does not pose immediate military threats; rather, it promises longer term influence for Beijing, which is likely to erode regional support for the U.S. This longer term erosion does have potential military implications. Not only do key sea lanes of communications (SLOCs) transit the waters encompassed by these island nations, but they also offer potential sites for various bases, as was the case in World War II. Anchorages and airfields in these islands would offer alternative sites for Guamwhich is already densely covered with various American military bases and facilitiesmaking it a lucrative target for Chinese missiles and other stand-off weapons. Dispersal to additional sites would complicate Chinese targeting, by both proliferating the number of sites that might have to be attacked and broadening the number of sovereign states that it would be attacking. By contrast, if Beijing established a political foothold in these islands, it could persuade these states not to extend access to the U.S., as well as arrange for Chinese access. These need not be military bases; the ability to build space surveillance facilities and communications nodes, for example, would make these islands potential reconnaissance and surveillance sites for eavesdropping on Guam and the U.S. missile test facilities at Kwajalein in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Recommendations for the U.S. Chinas efforts in the South Pacific are still at the nascent phase, so a relatively low-key American effort would serve to limit Chinese inroads. However, if the U.S. neglects the region, then Chinese investments are likely to generate disproportionate benefits. Therefore, the U.S. should implement the following policies: Develop a regional strategy for the South Pacific. The first step is to recognize both the regions importance and its needs. In this regard, the U.S. should coordinate its efforts with Australia and New Zealand, which are physically closer and have far more expertise in the region. In addition, the three nations share a common perspective and a common democratic tradition, and have the Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty as a foundation for their efforts.

Preserve the Compact of Free Association. Part of the U.S. strategy for the South Pacific should be to preserve the COFA, which provides the legal basis for relations between the U.S. and several of the states in the region. Should the effort by the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) succeed, then there would be the diplomatic equivalent of open season on the various states, which would ultimately be detrimental to U.S. interests. The FSM effort would end the COFA by the close of 2018, rather than 2023, severely curtailing the time available for renegotiation. Washington should seek to reverse the FSMs decision, while initiating talks now for revising the COFA. The U.S. should also consider moving the administration of COFA-related funds to the State Department, rather than the Department of Interior, so that it can be better integrated into a regional strategy.

Highlight and emphasize private investment and trade in the South Pacific. The aid distributed to many South Pacific states has not resulted in a substantial growth in regional economies. Such growth is unlikely to occur so long as the various states depend on aid. Given their location on the equator, the states have a number of potential avenues for economic growth, including tourism and fishing, as well as space tracking and potentially even space launch. (The commercial space launch provider Sea Launch operated its maritime launch ship from equatorial waters in the Pacific.) The U.S. may want to also consider including the various states in free trade agreements.

Monitor Chinese efforts in the region. Chinese efforts in the South Pacific, while mainly economic, undoubtedly have a political component and possibly a strategic one as well. Beijing is primarily oriented towards developing trade; however, as with much of East and South Asia, multiple political, diplomatic, and military considerations are in play. For these reasons, the U.S. needs to monitor Chinas efforts in the South Pacific, as well as keep watch on its efforts in the Indian Ocean or Latin America. ---30--- Dean Cheng is a Senior Research Fellow for Chinese Political and Security Affairs in the Asian Studies Center, of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy, at The Heritage Foundation.
Caldwell Duped? The People vs. the Powerful Continued

From Djou Campaign October 27, 2016

Yesterday we shared that our campaign is in a clear fight between the people and the powerful. We showed you that our opponent actually paid for an ad that features the old-boy network and the most powerful people in Hawaii endorsing him. This Caldwell ad featured the endorsement of Dennis Francis, the head of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

But, Mr. Francis states he never consented to appear in any paid Caldwell political ad - an action that would be a clear breach of basic journalistic ethics. The Caldwell campaign initially responded that 'Dennis Francis' is an East Honolulu businessman. But, upon further investigation by Civil Beat, Caldwell's campaign recanted and declared they were 'duped' into using the name of the Star-Advertiser's publisher to promote their campaign. Rather than personally take responsibility, the mayor promptly blamed his own volunteers. Read the story here.

This entire incident is classic Kirk Caldwell - sloppy oversight and an utter lack of attention to detail. This is a perfect illustration of how Caldwell manages our City and it is no wonder the rail project has spiraled out-of-control under our opponent. Then, when confronted with the facts and the error is pointed out, Caldwell refuses to personally take responsibility and immediately points blame at others. WE DESERVE BETTER.

PLEASE HELP US. We don't have the powerful politicians, big businesses, and big unions listed by Caldwell in his ad controlling our campaign. We have you -- regular people, families, small businesses and small unions, who believe that we deserve a mayor who works for the people, not the powerful.

Alone, the average individual doesn't stand a chance against the powerful and wealthy network listed in Caldwell's ad. But together we can fight back.

We need your help right now - In just 12 days we can win this election by all of us working together. We can win this race, but only if regular people stand up to do something truly extraordinary. It is now or never to get a mayor who works for the people -- no more insider deals, no more six-figure second jobs, no more lies and finger-pointing.

Aloha,

Team Djou
Thursday night, after Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL), one of the first high-ranking Republicans to disavow Trump, flubbed his debate with Democratic challenger Tammy Duckworth-- and flubbed it spectacularly. Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Con-Man immediately tweeted somehis way. The Trump camp is eager to see Republicans like Kirk, John McCain (AZ), Kelly Ayotte (NH), Rob Portman (OH), Lisa Murkowski (AK), Pat Toomey (PA), and Joe Heck (NV)-- each of who is in a competitive Senate race-- lose. Same for House incumbents Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL), Carlos Curbelo (FL), Tom Rooney (FL), Erik Paulsen (MN), Jamie Herrera Beutler (WA), Dave Reicjert (WA), Frank LoBiondo (NJ), Ann Wagner (MO), Adam Kinzinger (IL), Bob Dold (IL), Rodney Davis (IL), Will Hurd (TX), Kay Granger (TX), Steve Knight (CA), John Katko (NY), Mia Love (UT), Cresent Hardy (NV), Martha Roby (AL), Barbara Comstock (VA), Mike Coffman (CO), and Charlie Dent (PA). Trump's political operation has already backed fringe lunatic and white nationalist Kelli Ward-- who got just 38% of the vote against McCain this cycle-- in a bid to unseat Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) in 2018.

As polls show Trump collapsing and as Clinton runs up a massive war-chest advantage over him for the final week-- $153 million to $68 million -- he's left sputtering in increasingly hyperbolic fashion about rigging and fixing-- and about how he was stabbed in the back by the media

Early Friday morning,had Beltway types buzzing with the question, who could replace Paul Ryan? . Trumpists want him out of the Speakers chair, but does the losing camddiate-- probably the spectacularly losing candidate with the psychotic neo-Nazi organization, get to tell the House Republicans who their leader is after the historic self-inflicted loss? John Bresnahan and Rachel Bade were determined to get to the bottom of... who, if not Ryan. Sure, TV freakshow Sean Hannity wants Texas freakshow Louie Gohmert, but the chances of that happening about about equal to Ann Coulter or Sarah Palin being brought in as Speaker. Bresnahan and Bade laughably suggest Kevin McCarthy, perhaps forgetting that the extremists like him-- or at least used to-- even less than they like Ryan.

Any of the alternatives lack the star power of Ryan and would probably have an even harder time corralling the unruly Republican conference. Plus, there's the major question of whether any of them can actually get to 218-- the number of votes needed to take the gavel.

Their other candidates include KKK-friendly Steve Scalise, Cathy McMorris Rodgers ( it's a girl, it's a girl, it's a girl ), Patrick McHenry ( crooked little closet case -- oh, yes... please, God, yes), Mike Conaway (who?), Wall Street bankster candidate Jeb Hensarling, outright neo-fascist Jim Jordan, Rob Bishop (who?), Tom Price, Peter Roskam (IL), Mac Thornberry (who is "neutral" on Trump), corrupt sex-maniac Pete Sessions, the Koch brothers' employee Mike Pompeo and, everyone's favorite failed pinhead, Trey Gowdy. Looks like the only way the GOP's getting rid of Ryan is... if the Democrats put them out of their misery and give the job to Pelosi.

More to the point, though, is Julia Ioffe's piece inabout how the Republican Civil War isn't going away any time soon . Right-wing political scientist Peter Berkowitz, talking at a Hoover Institution conclave last week, said "Obviously the party and the conservative movement are very troubled, and there will obviously be a crisis whether Trump wins or loses. What are the core conservative convictions going forward?"

Another participant, Kori Schake, a Bush National Security Council member and a McCain-Palin campaign advisor pointed out that "If he wins, he will for all intents and purposes reshape what it means to be a Republican. Were fumbling our way through, which I hope will lead us to consensus, but were nowhere near it now."

This election, the conventional wisdom goes, has done tremendous damage to the American body politic, but nowhere is the damage as severe as it is inside the party that nominated the wrecking ball known as Donald Trump. Now the party of Ronald Reagan is being led by a man with no discernible ideological leanings, save for an affinity with some of historys ugliest. In the face of mounting evidence that Hillary Clinton is set to dominate the electoral map on November 8, Republicans across the right side of the spectrum recognize theres defeat coming. And behind the scenes, in conversations and closed-door venues-- the Hoover gathering was not open to the public-- the people who once considered themselves the heart, or at least the head, of the party have begun a very pessimistic reckoning.





As yet there seems to be no coherent vision for what kind of future November 9 brings for the Republican Party-- or, for that matter, if there will even be a Republican Party they could support. Youre assuming that establishment Republicans are going to be Republicans anymore, said Juleanna Glover, a GOP lobbyist and former staffer to then-Senator John Ashcroft.





The likelihood of the Republican Party surviving this, of there being another Republican president in the future, is small, said one movement conservative who served in the Bush White House. I dont think the Party survives.





...[Y]ounger conservatives, some of whom have begun to use the word collaborator to describe the Republicans who publicly signed on with Trump as he steamrolled toward the nomination [are appalled]. I know lots of high-value donors who have no desire to have any collaborators at the top of the ticket in 2020, [GOP lobbyist Juleanna] Glover said of Pence. Thats a commonly held opinion. Pence has disgraced himself in this election, says reformicon archpriest Pete Wehner, a senior fellow at the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center and a former senior adviser to the younger Bush. He has been making arguments that he cant possibly believe, on behalf of the man he cant possibly believe in. To them, Pence made a pact with the devil, and says Wehner, There should be consequences for that.





With less than two weeks until election day, this is what Republican agony sounds like. Ive never seen so many really smart people at a loss for what to do, says the head of one prominent conservative think tank. Theyre pulling their hair out, to the extent they have any hair left. Douglas Heye, a former RNC official and Eric Cantor staffer, rejects the word collaborator. I dont like that language. I dont think it helps, he told me. Ive been watching a French TV series about World War Two, and now Im watching the part about the aftermath of the war where theyre trying to figure out whos a collaborator, shaving womens heads, etc. The echo scares him. I would like to see us sort out our difference in non-punitive ways, he says.

imagine Ann Coulter, Sarah Palin, Kellyanne Con-man, Laura Ingraham, Omarosa, Hope Hicks, Joni Ernst, Katrina Pierson, Scottie Nell Hughes, Renee Ellmers, Kayleigh McEnany, Betsy McCaughey, AJ Delgado...

Maybe thats possible. But today, it sounds like wishful thinking. Theres going to be an extremely tense and divisive and probably angry fight within the Republican Party to determine the future of the Party, says Wehner. These wounds wont heal quickly, or at all.





...There is pretty universal agreement in conservative circles that the immediate cause of death was blunt force trauma with a loud, orange object. You cannot overlook the temperament of a candidate, says [evangelical theologian Russell] Moore. You cannot win a general election by antagonizing minorities. But there is wide disagreement as to whether this was a sudden, unpredictable trauma-- a piano falling on you as you walk down the street-- or the result of deep-seated, sclerotic disease. And the answer depends on a Republicans faction, age, and view of where the Party goes from here.





Take, for instance, Republican pollster and commentator Kristen Soltis Anderson. She is in her early 30s and a self-proclaimed fan of the reformicons like Wehner, Yuval Levin, and Ramesh Ponnuru. She feels that, with Trump, the Republican Party has shifted out from under her. When he said he was a gentleman, that its not really sexual assault, thats been driving me crazy, because people have said that about Republicans for a while, she said of Trumps response in the third debate to the dozen sexual assault allegations against him. Great, you are everything that the left said you were! Its not a Republican Party she recognizes, she says; she sees it as an entity that has been perhaps permanently changed. If Trump wins the White House, then he has redefined the Republican Party, and to the victor go the spoils, she says. Its his party now.





Wehner, considered a leading light among reformicons, said this has brought him to a certain realization about his own party, and that the forces that Trump represents are forces that predated Trump forces and will outlive him, he told me last week. The ugliness of those forces is real. The number of people who supported Trump is alarming. It turned out that those forces within the Republican Party were larger than what I had imagined. He sees a moral necessity to hand Trump a humiliating defeat and to scrub out the uglier things he brought to the surface of American politics. But, like Soltis Anderson, he recognizes that splitting the two may prove a Solomonic task. Is there a way to repudiate the worst of Trump-- the nativistic, racist, misogynistic elements-- and appeal to people whom he brought because of economic anxiety? he asked. It wont be easy because he has loyal following. If you morally repudiate him-- which has to happen-- those people may decide they dont want to be part of that.





Like other young conservatives, Wehner and Soltis Anderson are facing the possibility that, instead of being the Partys intellectual vanguard and future leadership, they may no longer even qualify as Republicans. I think the party will be too far gone from the party I joined, Soltis Anderson says. My Democrat friends are telling me Im free to join them whenever, but I told them not to hold my space and I wont be joining them any time soon. Instead, she says, Id be an independent, and Id be perfectly comfortable with that.





She, like several other young Republicans I spoke to, cited Avik Roy, a Republican health care wonk who advised the campaigns of Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, and Marco Rubio, and who is now increasingly distancing himself from the Party. These are people who are much more interested in ideas and policies than the jerseys theyre wearing, and, until now, the Republican Party has been best vehicle for their ideas, Soltis Anderson said. I think Avik Roy is the kind of model of where youll see people go if they feel the Party is not the right vehicle anymore. It has liberated folks who care more about the policy than about just getting Republicans elected.





Eric Teetsel, a prominent young evangelical and the executive director of the 2009 Manhattan Declaration that trumpeted the sanctity of life and heterosexual marriage, expressed similar views to me in an email. Not so long ago I stood in the back of an event in South Carolina watching Marco Rubio, Tim Scott and Nikki Haley together and thought, This is my Republican Party, Teetsel, Rubios former director of faith outreach, said. With Paul Ryan as Speaker, rising stars in the Senate like Ben Sasse, and the influence of Arthur Brooks and Yuval Levin, the future of the conservative movement is bright. Whether the Republican Party is the vehicle for that movement is to be determined.

Rather than kicking Trumpers out of the GOP, in other words, these young conservatives may instead find themselves without a party. Some among them just think its time to start over. If you cant resurrect the Republican brand with less than half a billion dollars and spending four to eight years to get it done, Glover, who is on the board of Roys new think tank, said, it might be time to think about starting something new. The question is where do the brains and the billions go after this? The party she envisions is one with a Jeb Bush platform but with a 21st-century bolt-on acknowledging climate change, gay marriage, and campaign finance reform thats First Amendment-compliant. She believes that such a party is a majority party and has vast support to get to the White House, even if the dynamics of the 2016 GOP primary seem to indicate it would be the party of the one percent-- at most.





...[T]here are people like Heye, who argues that Trump isnt even the problem. The real problem was the split in the Republican Party that existed before him, and in fact allowed him to seize control. I believed that the 2016 Republican primary was going to be a variation of Mom and Dad having the fight in front of the kids. Instead, the crazy uncle showed up and started a 17-person food fight, Heye says. People are talking about having a reckoning, a great purge, whatever, and theres some truth to that, but we still havent resolved these differences even with Trump removed from the equation.





These are the differences between the Jeb Bush/Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz/Rand Paul wings of the GOP, and they were raging years before Trump came down his gilded escalator. Theres still that, and then theres Trump, Heye explains. Theyre not the same train track. You can recognize the danger of Trump and what he has wrought on the Party and the country, you can still think thats terrible, and still disagree with your conservative brethren. To some extent, Heye says, it can be boiled down to the following question: Youre either one of the people that pushed for the shutdown or you didnt.





In essence, theres a post-Trump reckoning that needs to happen, but theres already a pre-Trump reckoning idling on the docket. The fight hasnt happened, Heye says. When the crazy uncle leaves Thanksgiving, and theres food all over the living room, and Mom and Dad still havent resolved their differences, thats a problem. In other words, Trump could only have happened to a party that was already paralyzed by an identity crisis-- one that still has to be dealt with in addition to the secondary identity crisis wrought by Trump.





People like Soltis Anderson and Heye recognize that there now three disparate factions that find themselves squabbling under the Republican tentthe Trump fans, the stand-pat establishment, and the conservative Jesuitsand, in order to form the coalition the think tank head described, they need a strong leader, a savior of sorts. With a good leader, we can incorporate all three of those, says Soltis Anderson. At some point, parties tire of losing, says Wehner. It happened to Democrats in the 80s. What happens? Along came Bill Clinton and the New Dems. Same thing with Tony Blair and the Labour Party in England. These leaders reversed their parties losing streaks, Wehner argues, with policy changes, stylistic changes, and key moments that signaled to the country that they were a different kind of party and different kind of candidate. Trump is not that leader; he is a false Messiah. A better leader, hope Wehner and Soltis Anderson, will come along. The hope is that they can merge and not become an incredibly fractious fight, Wehner says.





But the outlook is bleak. The very fact that these debates are happening before Trump has even properly lost the election is itself deeply telling. To these Republicans, the only question is how badly hell lose, and what hell do after the election. Does he retire to his gilded den and lick his wounds? Does he continue playing politics, as he has already intimated he might, throwing shade at potential 2020 primary rivals? Does he start a Trump media company with Roger Ailes? What the orange dragon chooses to do after the drubbing Republicans are sure hes going to get might be the difference between the final nail in the GOP coffin, and a revival. And again, few really believe in the latter, not even the stalwarts. I have a feeling no ones going to learn a lot from this campaign because of the unique nature of Trump, says the think tank head. Im one of the people who is feeling a lot of angst. If he starts a media company, says Ayres, It will be far harder to heal the wounds that he opened up, and far harder to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.





Despite conservatives propensity to speak in the past tense about 2016, preparing glumly for a Clinton administration and doling out the blame, one uncomfortable fact remains: the crazy uncle is still in the room, and he may control the proceedings for quite a while longer. Its in Trumps nature to continue to want to be relevant, to have people come to Trump Tower to lick his boots for years to come, says the conservative who served in the latter Bushs administration. Hell remain a force, unless someone takes him out.





As for the people who hope Trump will simply melt away on November 9 and remove the threat of collapse from the Republican Party? I appreciate but do not share their optimism, says Soltis Anderson. I feel like we are in for a pretty long civil war.
I don't think there's a state offering its voters a worse choice than the two losers running for the Senate in Florida, Republican doofus Marco Rubio and the far stupider "ex"-Republican/fake Democrat Patrick Murphy. These arterially two garbage candidates deserving of no votes at all. It's races like this one that make people yearn for a "none-of-the-above" choice on the ballot.





The RealClearPolitics polling average shows Hillary leading Trump in Florida by a narrow 1.6%. The senate average there shows Rubio beating Murphy by a more formidable 3.6%. And the most recent Senate polling from Florida, by Bloomberg, shows Rubio opening up a much bigger lead over Murphy, 51-41%





Wednesday night the two clowns debated again . Despite Murphy being demonstrably more of a moron, Rubio is weighed down by the catastrophic and unpopular Republican policy agenda and, of course, by Trump. In fact, Murphy's response to almost every question was "Trump."

Murphy repeatedly criticized Rubio for still endorsing Trump, who Murphy referred to as one of "the most racist and bigoted people ever to run for office."



"Senator Rubio continues to support Donald Trump, and it is shameful that he stands there with him," Murphy said.



Rubio has said he has disagreements with Trump but still thinks Trump would still be a better president than Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.



He criticized Murphy for continuing to steer debate questions back to Trump.



"The answer to every question tonight by Congressman Murphy is Donald Trump," Rubio said.



...In a sarcastic tone, Rubio added, "And as far as the opening is concerned, cruise ships? Basically an invasion of cruise ships is going to bring democracy to Cuba. It is not, because the Cuban government is a dictatorship. We have now made, over two years, concession after concession to the Castro regime. They have taken not even a quarter step towards democracy."



Murphy responded by pointing to Trump's past business dealings that critics say violate the embargo. "The person you chose to be our next president has basically admitted he violated the embargo. And you continue to stand by his side," Murphy said. "So what's it going to take for you to unendorse Donald Trump?"



Rubio's response: "That's bizarre, Congressman Murphy. You're criticizing Donald Trump for supporting a position you have."



Murphy shot back: "I'm criticizing you for not having the courage, senator. You have no backbone."



The audience broke up the exchange by whooping and hollering.



Rubio said the debate showed Murphy was living up to his reputation as a "serial embellisher."



"Why does someone make things up? You make them up because you don't have anything real to point to," Rubio said.



Murphy said Rubio is the one who can't be believed. "If you voted as much as you lied, you might actually be a decent senator, but you continue to throw out these lies," he said. "I'm proud of what I accomplished, proud of what I've done."

Rubio is certainly correct to point out that Murphy has accomplished nothing for Floridians and is universally considered one of the most ineffective and worthless members of Congress. He has zero influence other than in his work of betraying Democratic positions on the House Financial Services Committee, where he consistently votes with the GOP against consumers and for Wall Street. But Rubio can hardly criticize him for being a Wall Street whore, since that defines him as well as Murphy. One assertion that Rubio makes about Murphy is that it is his own business that has had dealings with Trump and Murphy, a practiced-- if clumsy-- liar, denies it. PolitiFact looked into the claim and denial yesterday and found Murphy's denial "half true," a diplomatic way of saying "half false." During the first debate Rubio pointed out that "There's only one person on the stage tonight whose family made millions of dollars in partnership with Donald Trump and that's you." Murphy had no response and looked like he was going to burst into tears. Later his programming team told him to deny it and he later asserted that "It's an absolute lie. Weve never done business with Donald Trump."

Reporter Candace McCowan followed up: "Was there not some dealings between him and your father on a real estate deal?"



"No, absolutely not. Weve never had a contract with Donald Trump," Murphy said.



Whos telling the truth here?



We found that Coastal Construction, a luxury residential building firm owned by Murphys father, Thomas P. Murphy Jr., did have business dealings related to Trump. But they were not direct contractual agreements, and they require further explanation.



During the debate, Rubio was referring to two condo projects that Coastal Construction built: Trump Hollywood and Trump Royale in Sunny Isles Beach.



According to Coastal Constructions website, it built Trump Royale, a 55-story, 386-residence project owned by Dezer Properties. Coastal won the contract for the project in 2005.



Coastal won the contract to build Trump Hollywood in 2007, a 42-story, 208-unit condo project owned by The Related Group.



(Although Patrick worked at Coastal Construction in the past, for much of the time that the condos were under construction, Patrick worked at Deloitte. Patrick Murphy owns between $1 million and $5 million in assets from Coastal Construction, according to congressional financial disclosure forms.)



We interviewed Thomas P. Murphy Jr. as well as the owners of both projects, to find out the connection between Coastal Construction and Trump.



There is no dispute that Coastal Construction was the builder, and Trumps organization had the licensing deal. But it was the owners-- The Related Group and Dezer Development-- who hired Coastal. The Related Group and Dezer reached an agreement with Trump separately.



"I hired Coastal to build the building, and I signed up with the Trump Organization for the licensing deal," said Gil Dezer, president of Dezer Development. "The licensing deal was just that. It gave them no rights to construction decisions."



(An article in The Real Deal , a real estate publication, in 2008 described a more intensive business relationship between Dezer and Trump and referred to Trump as Dezers "development partner.")



We received a similar statement about Trump from The Related Group.



"Mr. Trumps role was that of licensor; he was not a partner in the development, and he had no role in the actual development process or the hiring of Coastal Construction," said Betsy McCoy, The Related Groups general counsel and vice president.



Although Murphy wasnt the one who entered into the agreement with Trump, he knew about Trumps role, which had been publicized in news reports . The projects were clearly branded with the Trump name.



"We are extremely excited to be a part of this project and for the opportunity to continue working with such a reputable and powerful development team," Murphy told the South Florida Business Journal in 2007 about the Hollywood project. "The tower's sleek and innovative design is sure to make its mark on the Hollywood skyline, and we look forward to delivering it on time."



Both Murphys have downplayed the link to Trump during the campaign, particularly after the first debate.



"Coastal has never worked with Donald Trump personally or with any of his businesses," Thomas P. Murphy told PolitiFact Florida.



After the debate, Patrick Murphy distanced his fathers firm from Trump.



...But clearly Coastal Construction at the time was aware of Trumps role and didnt appear to have a problem with it.



CNN reported Oct. 25 that in a photo obtained from Getty, Thomas P. Murphy can be seen with Trump and a group of people wearing Trump-branded hard hats at the groundbreaking ceremony for Trump Hollywood in 2007. (Thomas P. Murphy is on the far left.)



Funny hat Papa Murphy is wearing with the Trump logo on it (on the left)



Murphys campaign spokesman Joshua Karp said that Trumps involvement was irrelevant to Coastals role building the units.



"Trump's name may have helped market the condo units after Coastal's role was completed, but Coastal has never benefited from Trump at all," he said. "The developers paid Coastal for services, which was construction, and developers paid Donald Trump for the privilege of using his name and image in promotional materials. Point of fact, there was no money connection between Trump and Coastal Construction."



So would we call the projects a "partnership" between Coastal Construction and Trump as Rubio said?



We posed that question to Jack McCabe, a South Florida real estate expert hired as an expert witness on behalf of condo buyers in two separate Trump condo cases in Tampa and Fort Lauderdale.



McCabe said that when condo buyers signed contracts, it included a paragraph that stated Trump was not a partner.



"Even though buyers had every inclination Trump was an actual partner in the deals, the paperwork said otherwise," he said.



But it also appears that Coastal Construction boasted of doing work for Trump once.



Coastal Construction president Dan Whiteman in 2008 told South Florida Constructor, a trade publication, "Many of (Coastals) high-rise residential projects have been built for world-renowned developers including Jorge Perez, Craig Robins and Donald Trump."



That quote was included in opposition research that Murphys 2014 congressional campaign commissioned. On Oct. 14, BuzzFeed reported about the opposition research.



Rubio said that Murphys family made "millions" off the condo projects. We dont know the amount Coastal Construction earned, since it is a private firm. However, McCabe told us that the industry standard is between 8 and 12 percent. In news articles and interviews we found price tags for the projects between $150 million and $350 million, so its likely that Coastal Construction did make millions.



Thomas Murphy said that Coastal made the fair-market rate for building these projects.



Our ruling



Murphy said in an interview, "We have never done business with Donald Trump."



Murphys familys construction firm, Coastal Construction, built Trump condo projects in Hollywood and Sunny Isles Beach. The owners of the projects-- not Trump-- hired Coastal as the builder, and then separately the owners reached licensing agreements with Trump. So while Coastal built projects that carried Trumps name, even boasting about it at least once, they didnt directly strike a partnership together. But they did work on the same condo projects.



We rate this claim Half True.

Oh, by the way, the actual development company was not "Dezer Development," but "Trump Dezer Development." You would think that SOMEONE at PolitiFact would think of googling "Trump Dezer," in quotes , but I guess that theyre just too... inside-the-box to think of that.

Yesterday, Harry Enten at FiveThirtyEight looked at how Rubio is the Democrats' sorest spot . Schumer knew that going in but his only priority was to make sure Grayson didn't get the nomination. FiveThirtyEight asserts the Democrats have a 67% chance to win the Senate but Florida (Murphy) is holding that number down. They give Rubio an 81% to beat him.

Simply put: The race in Florida isnt anywhere as close as those in the states that will be key in determining control of the Senate. Rubio is up by a little over 5 percentage points. The margins in Indiana, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, in contrast, are all within about 2 percentage points.









Democrats need to win three of these six states to win the Senate (if Hillary Clinton wins the presidency and Democrats carry Illinois and Wisconsin, where they are heavy favorites). Because those six races are so close, they dominate our tipping-point rankings, which are based on the chances that a given race will determine which party wins a majority. Florida is down to just a 6 percent chance of determining control.



So if youre a Democratic operative trying to allocate resources for the national party in Washington, Florida doesnt come close to topping your list of biggest concerns.



...Rubios lead has never dipped below 4 percentage points and has rarely exceeded 7 points. And theres a lot of agreement among individual polls. Of the last 50 polls released publicly, Rubio has led in 48. Two surveys showed a tie. Thats very different from the states with close races-- like New Hampshire, where in the past three days there have been polls released showing the Democratic candidate ahead, polls showing the Republican candidate ahead and polls showing a tie. The more consensus among polls over time, the less likely the polling average will be way off.



But maybe theres some Democratic diehard in Miami reading this right now and thinking, OK, sure, Harry, but 5 points isnt that big a margin-- if the national party ponied up some cash, we could push Murphy over the top. Thats not unreasonable, but it would make more sense if we were talking about a 5-point race in New Hampshire or Colorado. Those states are more elastic-- they have a lot of swing voters. Florida is not especially elastic and so responds to national trends about as much as other states. Nor does Florida have a large share of undecided voters compared with the states that have closer races.

Enter can't mention that Murphy stinks as a candidate-- even against a jerk like Rubio; that isn't something they do at FiveThirtyEight. PolitiFact was back on Murphy's habit of lying all the time. "Our ears," they wrote yesterday, "are burning. Twice in two debates, Democratic Senate candidate Patrick Murphy invoked our name as a shield in the face of criticism from Republican incumbent Sen. Marco Rubio about his background. 'You continue to throw out these lies. They have all been debunked by PolitiFact,' Murphy said. Murphys response was memorable-- especially to us. His retort is a wishful reading of our reports. Heres the truth: Murphy has exaggerated his credentials, and his opponents have also exaggerated their attacks on Murphy."

In the Oct. 26 debate in Davie, Rubio dubbed Murphy a "serial embellisher," saying the South Florida congressman never had a contract to clean up Gulf oil, and he could not have worked as a CPA in Florida because he did not have a Florida CPA license.



ABCs Jonathan Karl, the moderator of the first debate, also asked Murphy about his background.



"Youve described yourself as a small business owner, but your company is a subsidiary of a billion-dollar construction firm founded by your father. You call yourself a Certified Public Accountant, but you have not been a CPA in the state of Florida. And for more than a year, your website said that you had two degrees from the University of Miami, when in fact you only had one."



"Absolutely not," Murphy responded, "and I am glad you asked this question, and its important that you all hear it from me. You see, PolitiFact, an independent fact-checking agency has already debunked these accusations."



No, we have not.



Words matter, and heres why.



In September, we fact-checked a TV ad from the National Republican Senatorial Committee that made less nuanced attacks about Murphys resume than what was described at the debates. The attacks skimmed the facts laid out in a June CBS4 Miami investigation into Murphys background.



The ad starts with a clip of Murphy saying in 2012, "I believe that my background as a CPA and a small business owner is exactly what we need."



The narrator then reads lines from a CBS4 Miami report and says, "Never worked as a CPA," and "Never a small business owner."











Those words rated Mostly False, meaning they contained an element of truth but ignored critical facts that would give a different impression.



The ad made it sound like Murphy flat-out lied about being a CPA. He is a licensed CPA-- in Colorado. He could not sign off on audits at his Florida job since he didnt have his Florida license, but he still was a CPA.



Murphys claim of being a small business owner is complicated.



Murphys business, Coastal Environmental Services, was owned by multiple people and stemmed from a business his father owned, Coastal Construction. Annual reports show Murphy was a director in 2011 and 2012, though he remained an owner and not a director since winning election to Congress in 2012.



Unlike the slippery TV ad, Karl didnt say Murphy was never a small business owner; he started his question by noting his fathers connection to the business Murphy claimed. Still, Murphy said PolitiFact had debunked the accusation.



PolitiFact Florida also did not rate Rubios statement about Murphys company not having a contract to clean up the Gulf oil spill. We visited the issue in this this explainer to attacks against Murphy, laying out that Murphys Coastal Environmental Services did not get the contracts itself but worked with and then bought another company with existing contracts. Murphy's actual work in the Gulf was short-lived-- just a matter of months.



Finally, we did not debunk an attack from Rubio about Murphys degrees from the University of Miami-- we actually backed it up. When Rubios campaign released an ad claiming "Murphy embellished, according to reports, his University of Miami academic achievement," we rated that Mostly True.



Murphys campaign websites for U.S. House and Senate used to say he had "dual degrees" from Miami, but what he really had was a single bachelors degree with a double major in accounting and finance. Murphys campaign has since fixed the error.



Theres a lot of blame going around, but here are the facts: Murphy puffed up his qualifications. Republican attack groups exaggerated the scope of the issue.



But Murphys claim that we debunked every attack leveled against him?



Thats also exaggerated.

I think it would be safe to say that just about all politicians lie and exaggerate. Murphy's worst than most, but that isn't the reason DWT recommends voters ignore the Florida Senate race. Murphy's record is-- and the likelihood of the damage he will cause if he's elected to the Senate.
'Judge Comerford said Ms Mooney's place of work had been unsafe that day and found the hospital negligent.' (stock photo)

A catering assistant who claimed she suffers ongoing whiplash-type injuries since slipping on human faeces while working at St James's Hospital in Dublin has been awarded 16,000 damages in the Circuit Civil Court.

Rachel Mooney (41) told the court that, on the morning of February 10, 2013, she had been carrying trays with dishes to a "darkish" bedroom in the William Wilde Ward of the hospital when she slipped on faecal matter and fell backwards.

Ms Mooney told her barrister, Caroline Williams, that a ward attendant and a nurse came to her assistance after hearing the loud noise of the trays and dishes hitting the floor.

She said her trousers were covered with faeces and she had felt "totally embarrassed". She had pain in her neck, head and shoulders. Ms Mooney, a mother-of-two of Priory Hall, Terenure, Dublin, said she felt stiffness in her upper body in the following days and attended physiotherapy sessions.

Difficulty

She told Judge Francis Comerford she has ongoing pain in her arm and has difficulty carrying and lifting. She sued St James's Hospital.

The hospital denied negligence and claimed the faeces had been on the floor for only a short period of time.

It alleged that a patient had been "taken short" while on their way to the toilet.

The hospital argued that night lights were on and the spillage had been visible. It claimed Ms Mooney's ongoing injuries were due to a degenerative condition.

Judge Comerford said Ms Mooney's place of work had been unsafe that day and found the hospital negligent.

He initially awarded her 32,000 damages but found her 50pc liable for contributory negligence and reduced her award to 16,000.

"It was not an unusual type of danger as people working in hospitals are aware there may be body fluids spillage on the floor. Ms Mooney should have made sure the floor was safe," the judge said.
Democrats have labored for years and years and years trying to get California Hispanics registered to vote in greater numbers. Want to know why? Simple-- there are 8 Republican-held congressional districts in the Golden State with immense numbers of unregistered Latinos-- over a third of the potential voters. Like these:

And then along came Trumpy . Since he came down the escalator at Trump Towers last year to call Latinos rapists, 1,196,060 California Latinos have newly or re-registered. That's 26.2% all Latino registrants in California. Despite his typically uninformed and ignorant claims he would win California-- he's not even polling 30% in the state and is likely to do worse than any Republican, worse even than Alf Landon when he ran against FDR-- the real problem for the California Republican Party is not Trump, who they wish didn't exist. It's the down-ballot races in districts like the ones above. Frantically, they got Paul Ryan to do an emergency three-day, 14-stop swing through the state to to help shore up highly vulnerable incumbents, particularly Jeff Denham, David Valadao and Steve Knight, who could all be goners in less than 2 weeks. Andpolitical reporter, Sean Cockerham, begins his report not in the Central Valley but by talking about how Darrell Issa, the richest person in Congress, may well be defeated-- and his district is only about a quarter Latino! White suburbanites, apparently, don't like Trump's anti-Hispanic racism either.

The release of video footage of Trump bragging in explicit terms about groping women has only escalated problems that began with his statements calling Mexican immigrants rapists. Nearly 1 in 5 people in Issas changing district whove registered to vote since Californias June primary are Latino, and theres no shortage of resentment of Issas description of Trump as the obvious choice for president.









The more the word is getting out that Issa is endorsing Trump, it doesnt bode well for Issa in the Latino community, said Bill de la Fuente, who works on Latino business development in Issas home city of Vista. ...California Republicans running for re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives are struggling in the age of Trump, with their challenge intensified by the growing numbers of registered Latino voters. This is Issas first tough race since being elected to Congress 16 years ago, and he is not alone.





Rep. Steve Knight, from Lancaster in northern Los Angeles County, also is fighting for his political life as he scrambles to distance himself from Trump, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sees an opening in the Central Valley congressional district around Modesto, now represented by Republican Rep. Jeff Denham of Turlock, a Trump supporter. The committee is spending nearly $700,000 to unseat Denham, whose district now has a population that is more than 40 percent Latino.





The 11-year-old footage of Trump bragging about groping women, followed by women accusing him of groping, has increased the pressure on California Republicans to the breaking point. Knight  after spending the year refusing to say whether he supports Trump or not-- announced after the videos release that he now cannot support either candidate for president.





Denham and Issa condemned Trumps remarks but neither withdrew support for his presidential campaign. Trump is toxic for any Republican who is running for office, and all of them are worried about what he means for their races, said Kurt Bardella, a former spokesman for Issa who now runs his own consulting firm.





Republican candidates are terrified that Republican voters wont show up at the polls because they dont want to vote for either Trump or Hillary Clinton, he said. Thats especially a danger in California, where the U.S. Senate race is between two Democrats, so theres nothing at the top of the ticket to draw Republicans out to vote other than the presidential race.





In some of these districts if (Republican) turnout is 5 percent less than it was four years ago then thats the ballgame, Bardella said.





...Denham and Knight... represent congressional districts where registered Democrats now outnumber Republicans. Knight, the most vulnerable Republican member of Congress in California, long tried to avoid the Trump issue by refusing to say whether he would vote for the Republican presidential nominee before the video release forced his hand.





Nick Chavez, a third-generation Mexican-American who works in construction in Palmdale, in the high desert an hours drive north of Los Angeles, said he hadnt been impressed with Knights waffling over Trump.





Either put up or shut up, said Chavez, a registered Republican who is leaning toward voting next month for Knights Democratic challenger, Bryan Caforio.





Knights district runs from Santa Clarita, a low-key bedroom community of Los Angeles where the surrounding area doubles for the Old West in films and television (scenes from HBOs Westworld were recently filmed there), north along the highway to the working class Antelope Valley cities of Palmdale and Lancaster.





About a quarter of the registered voters in the district are Latino and their registration numbers are growing as the election nears, according to Political Data Inc., a California firm that tracks election data for campaigns.





Caforios campaign is on the offensive against Knight for not renouncing Trump until after the groping video was leaked 31 days before the election, with Caforio saying in an interview that Trump is running the most racist, misogynistic, bigoted campaign in the history of a presidential candidate.





Knights response in an interview to questions about his long silence on Trump was that hes never before endorsed a presidential candidate and in this campaign its served me well.





On paper at least, Denhams fertile San Joaquin Valley district appears even more primed for a Democratic takeover.





The agricultural heart of California, where vast orchards and groves of almonds, walnuts, grapes, oranges and other crops stretch toward the Sierra Nevada mountains, the area is heavily Latino, and Denham and Rep. David Valadao represent districts that are increasingly Democratic.





Al Moncada, a longtime Latino Republican activist from Manteca, said hed switched his voter registration to independent because of Trump and was a supporter of Denhams Democratic opponent, Michael Eggman.





Denham aligned himself with a man that represents everything Republicans have fought against all these years, discrimination and all these things, Moncada said. Trump has taken the Republican Party back to slavery years. It is sad, but thats the way Latinos and African-Americans and other minorities feel.





...At this point theres nothing beneficial that a Republican candidate can say about Trump, said Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California.





Schnur said it was clear that Trump was dragging down Republicans running for Congress in California, especially after the bombshell release of the video where the Republican presidential nominee brags about groping women.





That doesnt mean every Republican congressional candidate will lose, but it means there is a significant downside to having Trump at the top of the ticket regardless of how you handle it, Schnur said.
Laborers work at TAL Apparel Vietnam Garments factory in Vinh Phuc Province, north of Hanoi, Vietnam October 20, 2016. Photo by Reuters/Kham

The Overseas Private Investment Corporation is particularly interested in clean energy and telecom projects.

The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), an agency of the U.S. government, has announced that it will invest half a billion dollars into small and medium-sized enterprises in Vietnam in the next three years.

The plan was confirmed by OPIC President and CEO Elizabeth L. Littlefield during a seven day trip to discuss investment opportunities in Myanmar and Vietnam.

There is immense potential for high-impact development projects across Asia, especially in clean energy and telecom," Littlefield said in a statement.

During President Obamas administration, OPIC has tripled its investment throughout Asia to $3.9 billion, but its portfolio in Vietnam is still modest with only a few major projects.

The agency has expressed interest in Vietnams private sector and in projects in the areas of renewable energy, agriculture and information technology.

Littlefield said that loans can vary from $1 million to $250 million and have a maturity of up to 20 years.

OPIC has invested in Vietnams largest barramundi breeding project worth $4.5 million in the south central province of Khanh Hoa.

Related news:

> Vietnam's H1 actual FDI rises 15 pct yr/yr to $7.25 bln - govt

> $20 bln of FDI in Vietnam channeled from British Virgin Islands

> Top FDI source China pours over $56 billion into Vietnam with nearly 5,000 projects
SERVICES

BUFFALO CHRISTIAN CHURCH: Bluff City, Tenn., 436 Buffalo Road. Oct. 30, 11 a.m.: Guest speaker Pat Mooney from Abingdon, everyone welcome.

MORNING STAR CHURCH: Bristol, Va., 319 East Mary Street. Nov. 6, 3:30 p.m.: Guest speaker, Rev. Sharon Comage from Bluff City, Tennessee, special music Sis. Geneva Brown, Min. Todd French, everyone welcome, 276-494-3630.

VICTORY BAPTIST CHURCH: Bristol, Va., 11101 Island Road. Nov. 6, 11 a.m.: Veterans Day service, all veterans, organizations, are welcome.

HOMECOMING

WALLACE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH: Bristol, Va., 13141 Wallace Pike. Oct. 30, 11 a.m.: Homecoming service, guest speaker, Pastor Luther Roberts, lunch following service, everyone welcome, come celebrate fall.

COMMUNITY

CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN CGURCH: Bristol, Va., 301 Euclid Avenue. Oct. 29, 7:30  9 p. m.: Season solo concert, In Flanders Fields, Voices of the Mountain choral performance, 423-392-8423.

ALDERSGATE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH: Bristol, Tenn., 136 Highridge Street, Oct 29, 6  8 p. m.: Fall Festival, free candy, games, food, drinks, prizes, everyone welcome, 423-341-5240.

ELECTION PRAYER RALLY: Abingdon, Virginia, 100 VHCC Drive. Oct. 25, 5:30  7 p. m.: Prayer Rally, featuring speakers Chief of campus police, Blake Andis, Circuit Court clerk, Patricia Moore, prayers for our nation, police officers, service men, refreshments provided, everyone welcome, 276-429-2972.

GRACE FELLOWSHIP CHURCH: Kingsport, Tenn., 1 Fellowship Point. Oct. 29, 10 a. m.  2 p. m.: Trunk or Treat, costumes, everyone welcome.

WALNUT GROVE BAPTIST CHURCH: Mendota, Va., 6134 Walnut Grove Road. Nov. 5, 4 p. m. until food runs out.: Benefit Riverview and Walnut Grove Cemeteries, $5 hot dog supper, homemade crafts, baked goods, gospel music 6 p. m., everyone welcome, 276-669-8811.

GRANITE CHRISTIAN ACADEMY: Wytheville, Va., 1705 Peppers Perry Road. Nov. 5, 8:30 a. m.  4 p. m.: Fall craft fair and auction, various vendors, food, live auction, music, everyone welcome, craft tables available for vendors, 276-228-3129.

FIRST BROAD STREET UNITED METHODIST CHURCH: Kingsport, Tenn., 101 East Church Circle. Volunteer two hours any day Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Marlene Hudson, 423-817-8332, to help with food, Bob Smith, 423-246-3966. Clothing and other donations can be brought to Single Vision or taken to Shades of Grace.

FAIRVIEW UNITED METHODISH CHURCH: Jonesborough, Tenn., 878 Highway 81 North. Third Saturday each month, 7-10 a.m.: Country breakfast, bacon, fresh ground sausage, eggs, pancakes, gravy, biscuits and more. Donations. Located 5 miles from downtown Jonesborough going toward Fall Branch.

YARD SALE

PENTECOSTAL CHURCH: Abingdon, Va., 17535 Jeb Stuart Highway off Exit 19 toward Damascus: Yard Sale, second Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.: Name brand childrens and maternity clothes, plus tons of good quality baby equipment. Proceeds benefit the Mayan malnourished children of Guatemala, and children in our orphanage and those in our orphans at home program. www.safehomesforchildren.org.
As the 2016 White House race unfolded, the Facebook home of one of Princeton Universitys best-known scholars was packed with cries for help.

The battle lines were clear. Religious conservatives wanted to know if they had to choose between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Was picking the lesser of two evils still evil? Was it morally wrong to refuse to choose?

Robert P. George made his own convictions clear.

If you truth bomb Trump but go silent on Clinton, shame on you, wrote George, an outspoken Catholic and distinguished professor of jurisprudence at Princeton. If you truth bomb Clinton but go silent on Trump, shame on you. Whole truth! In another salvo, he added: A ghastly choice for Catholics and others: One will taint and bring disgrace on our moral values. The other will wage unrelenting war on them.

With Election Day drawing near, George finally republished a note from June, pleading for charity in these arguments.

Friends, we are in a terrible fix here. And it is putting some of us at each others throats. It must not be permitted to do that. Donald Trump is dreadful. Hillary Clinton is horrible. One called for the killing of the innocent family members of terrorists. The other promises to protect the killing of unborn babies up to the point of birth, he wrote.

For some of us, it just isnt obvious which of these two scoundrels would do greater harm in the long run, he argued. Whatever happens, those who believe in limited government, constitutional fidelity and the rule of law, flourishing institutions of civil society, traditional principles of morality, and the like are going to have profoundly important work to do. And we will need to do it together.

Yes, Republicans face what many are predicting will be a civil war between Trump insurgents and the party establishment, said George in an interview. Its also hard to know what will happen to the religious right after some of its elders backed the New York billionaire to the bitter end, no matter how lurid the evidence of his wild past.

What really matters is what happens to people in traditional faiths, including activists who never fit into old organizations led, in most cases, by evangelical Protestants, he said. Do the math. It will be hard for the Washington, D.C., establishment to completely ignore conservative Catholics, Orthodox Jews, Southern Baptists, Eastern Orthodox Christians, traditional Muslims, Pentecostal Christians and others if they form coalitions on key issues.

Its not too late to make a serious effort to combine religious groups into some kind of effort to defend religious liberty, said George, former chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. The faithful are not going to flee to monasteries and abandon public life. ... If the Republican Party falls apart, then they will look for some other vehicle in the future, perhaps another political party that emerges out of the wreckage of this election. It has happened before.

While its easy to focus on White House executive orders and U.S. Supreme Court decisions, George acknowledged that religious believers face new challenges. For starters, its clear that leaders of some major corporations  think Google, Apple, Microsoft and others  have decided to back the evolving doctrines of sexual liberation over the convictions of those defending centuries of religious teachings and traditions.

It will be hard to push back against the Chamber of Commerce, especially in debates among Republicans. However, religious leaders will, at the very least, need to plead with corporate elites to remain neutral on issues affecting religious freedom, he said.

That may sound idealistic. However, its important to learn from the past  even the recent past. George noted, for example, that Trump successfully attacked Republican orthodoxy on trade and corporate issues, but then claimed he had abandoned his history of support for abortion rights.

Think back to the years after Roe v. Wade, when it appeared there was no way religious conservatives could win on abortion in battles with corporate interests and the Republican Party donor class, he said. Who won those debates inside the GOP? ... This time, Trump knew he couldnt challenge what the Republican platform says on abortion and on religious liberty. He didnt even try. Thats important.
Chinese products from clothes and vegetables to machinery and vehicles can now be found easily in Vietnam. Photo by VnExpress/Hoang Ha

China, which is Vietnam's biggest trading partner, is likely to benefit from low taxes.

Goods from China are expected to come flooding in as Vietnam will soon remove or cut tariffs on a wide range of products to fulfill its commitment as a member the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area.

Vietnam has committed to eliminating 90 tariff lines by early 2018. In a new list released by the government, zero tariffs will be applicable to various meat products, vegetables, beverages, airplanes, fishing vessels, among many other products.

Then by 2020, about 475 sensitive tariff lines are to be cut to 5 percent, including those imposed on iron and steel products, rubber products, paper, cement, plastic and other industrial products as well as some types of vehicles.

In return, China has also pledged to make similar cuts for goods from Vietnam and other members of the 10-nation Southeast Asia bloc.

Experts anticipate that trade between China and Vietnam will grow significantly in the coming time.

Vietnam had a trade defiict of $21.3 billion with China in the first nine months, according to official statistics. Imports from China were $36 billion, the highest in all trading partners, with many products under zero tariff.

Related news:

> Vietnam imposes safeguard tariffs on steel imports to block Chinese products

> Rice exports to EU: making the most of zero tariff

> Vietnam's oil imports from South Korea spike after tariff cut
Who were the top Washington County football performers in Week 9?

Big plays and turnovers were plenty as the winners overwhelmed the losers in the final week of Washington County's regular season.
Laborers work at a construction site of a residential apartment building in Hanoi on March 16, 2016. Photo by Reuters/Kham

Actual inflows, however, saw a 7.6 percent increase.

Foreign investors have pledged to invest a total of $17.6 billion in Vietnam so far this year, down 8.7 percent from the same period last year, the Ministry of Investment and Planning said on Friday.

Vietnam recorded a decline in new foreign direct investment (FDI) pledges in two months straight, with an estimated $1.18 billion in October, said the government agency.

Fresh pledges totaled $12.26 billion, down 1.3 percent, while additional funds to existing projects fell 22.1 percent to $5.34 billion, the investment ministry said.

From January to October, 73 percent of the new investment pledges and increased capital for existing projects went to the processing industry, followed by the property sector with 5.5 percent, the report said.

The investment ministry also said foreign investors disbursed an estimated $12.7 billion in Vietnam as of October 20 this year, a rise of 7.6 percent from the year-ago period.

The FDI sector posted a trade surplus of $17.51 billion in the first 10 months, excluding crude oil, official statistics show.

South Korea continued to be the biggest foreign investor in Vietnam, the report said.

Related news:

> Vietnam emerges as a magnet for foreign direct investment

> Foreign investment: A double edged sword for Vietnam
The country may end the year with just more than 5 million tons in shipments.

Vietnam may not achieve its already revised target for rice exports this year due to weak demand from international markets, local media reported Friday.

In summer, the Vietnam Food Association (VFA) said rice exports would reach 5.65 million tons, down from the original target of 6 million tons. But even the lowered target may be a little too high now.

Nguyen Van Don, director of Viet Hung Company Limited in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang, told VietnamPlus that many rice exporters may not fulfill their business plans this year as there is an excess of supply globally.

China, a major buyer of Vietnamese rice, has already used up the official import quota this year. It is unlikely that the Philippines will buy more in the final two months of the year.

The Philippines is set to call for bids for an additional 250,000 tons of rice, but bidders may have to wait until late November to know information about the tender. Deliveries will be likely scheduled for early 2017, according to Don.

Firms in the Philippines have registered to purchase more than 300,000 tons of rice from Vietnamese companies, higher than the 293,000 tons that the Philippine government had asked them to buy from Vietnam.

Huynh The Nang, chairman of VFA, said apart from the modest demand from China and the Philippines, prospects for rice exports of Vietnam remain unclear for the rest of this year.

The country may just ship a little more than 5 million tons of rice for the whole year, Nang said. Exports via border trade are not included.

Vietnams rice exports in the first 10 months were estimated at 4.2 million tons, down 21.2 percent from the year-ago period. In terms of value, it was a 16.9 percent drop, to about $1.9 billion.

China imported 1.35 million tons worth $613.8 million, down 23 percent in quantity and 13.9 percent in value. Declines could also be seen in other markets including the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and the U.S.

Related news:

> Vietnam suspends rice exports to US after pesticide violations

> Vietnams rice exports fall as average price rises

> Vietnam fears US ban on rice exports: govt official
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Okay, quickly: how many actors do you need to portray 25 characters in a play? Well, the answer isnt easy; just like acting in it isnt. Find out the answer at the end of the play Hotel Paradiso by German troupe Familie Floz, when the cast is introduced.

On their debut Indian tour, the group has brought one of their most comic acts. With the use of mask, an actor can sport any age from a 13-year-old to a 90-year-old. Only very quick costume change is required, says Gianni Bettucci, producer of the play. He informs that the play uses 25 masks to show humour, improvisation, mime and physical comedy. We try to use the mask as much as possible, Bettucci adds.

Gianni Bettucci, producer of the play.

The element of humour is present right from the performance title. Bettucci explains, The name of the hotel is paradise, in which the action ensues when a body is found. Soon the place turns from a paradise to hell.

There are no words used in the performance and one wonders if the act will be comprehensible. Even though its a non-verbal performance, the story is universal. When the youth of the family returns home, the conflict that appear in the household is what this play depicts says Daniel Matheus, one of the actors. Another actor Melanie Schmidli, says, The use of so masks adds to the complexity, but also creates humour. Schmidli, who is enjoying her trip to India, adds, We went to Connaught Place. The place was so alive.



CATCH IT LIVE

What: Hotel Paradiso

Where: Kamani Auditorium, Copernicus Marg

When: October 29

Timings: 4pm and 8pm

Nearest Metro Station: Mandi House on Blue Line

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Urdu poetry lovers were in for a treat this week as Jashn-e-Bahar Trust organised Dastan-e-Marsiya: Karbala se Kashi tak, an evening dedicated to Marsiya  a poetic form that commemorates the martyrdom and courage of Hazrat Imam Hussain and his comrades in Karbala.

Since its the month of Muharram, we thought of organising an evening that is dedicated to Marsiya. Even though the story behind Marsiya is religious, it has a very Ganga-Jamni tehzeeb (manner), the quintessential Indian sensitivity and sensibility, says Kamna Prasad, founder, Jashn-e- Bahar Trust.

The evening began with an exhibition of specially curated panels that depicted the evolutionary journey of marsiya. It was followed by recitations by Fauzia Dastango  Indias first woman dastango (storyteller), poet Azhar Iqbal and Syed Mohammad Kazim  a Persian research scholar.

An exhibition of specially curated panels depicted the evolution of Marsiya as a genre of poetry.

Kazim says, Marsiya started as a religious poetry but has evolved a lot. It has travelled from Shakhsi Marsiya (poetry on personalities) to protest poetry. To explain to the audience the evolution, we have recited poems in dastangoi format, where they give background information also.

The performances by the poets had a dramatic touch, to express bhaav (emotion)of the poem. The recitation of Marsiya involves a lot of expressions. People want to bring life into it. At times, it is compared to impressionistic painting. The audience can visualise in their mind, what mustve happened at Karbala, explains Prasad.

Talking about the program, Kazim says that more such events need to be organised. It was a great initiative as our culture is getting lost in this materialistic age. We need to promote our culture by presenting it in front of people, he says, adding, The house was full booked, and there were people from all walks of life, irrespective of their religious boundaries.

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Firecracker vendor Mohan Dhakads patriotic sentiment is out on display. A hand-written notice at his roadside makeshift shop in Bhopal makes it amply clear: Mera Bharat mahan. Na Chini, na Pakistani; Har samaan Hindustani (My India is great. No Chinese, no Pakistani; every article is made in Hindustan).

Dhakad used to earn Rs 1,500- Rs 2,000 daily on an average by selling Chinese products, including firecrackers. But post Uri attack, he switched over to products made in the country.

Is this love for the country or something else that prompted him to stop buying and selling Chinese articles? Both, he says explaining he was really upset over Pakistan and Chinas anti-India stand and activities.

But, Dhakad reveals his regular customers made him think by repeatedly appealing him to go swadeshi. More than 100 customers appealed me to desist from selling Chinese articles. I respect their sentiments too. He plans to sell local made garments after Diwali.

Anti-China sentiments among people given Beijings support to Islamabad may not have affected the market much, but sale of Chinese crackers and lights is hit to some extent. This is just the beginning. We cannot expect the market to change overnight. People are also realising the importance of quality as well which many Chinese products dont offer, says Santosh Kumar Agrawal of Akhil Bhartiya Udyog Vyapar Mandal.

Manoj Agrawal of New Market Sarrafa Association feels 10% to 20% sale is affected due to anti-China sentiment. Mostly, it has affected the sales of lights and crackers. Many people are unaware at all that many Chinese products are being sold without Made in China logo.

Ghoda Nakkas Vyapari Sangh president DK Verma says there are many shopkeepers who didnt place any order for China products. But those, who had already ordered for such products, were clearing their stocks, he adds.

Jaikishenlal Chandani of Bhopal Electricals Merchants Association, however, feels its difficult to overcome the challenges posed by Chinese products until India begins mass production to compete with its neighbour.
Bhopal: A suspected stalker pulled a college student out of a crowded bus in eastern Madhya Pradeshs Sidhi district and stabbed her to death in full view of co-passengers, police said on Saturday.

Sanju Singh of a Rewa college was on her way home in Sidhis Kusumi area for Diwali when the 19-year-old tribal was attacked on Friday evening.

The accused fled the spot near Gotara market, 600 km from Bhopal. Identified as 23-year-old Shivendra Singh Parihar, he boarded the bus from Bhadaura. Passengers said he was carrying a can of petrol.

The murder triggered protests in the market till Saturday evening. Residents blocked the road, while tribals gathered outside Sidhi district hospital, claiming the girls autopsy was done without the familys consent. Twice, the police used mild force to disperse them.

A passenger in the bus said Shivendra sat behind the girl, who initially sought to hide, and started troubling her. Passengers intervened and shifted Sanju to another seat.

The man asked the driver to stop the bus, and poured petrol on the girl, besides the driver and fellow passengers. He then pulled the girl by hair out of the vehicle and stabbed Sanju 18 times, killing her on the spot, police said.

The bus conductor Ashok Gupta and a co-passenger seated next to the girl, too, were injured.

The accused fled, following which the passengers of the bus alerted authorities. By the time the Dial-100 service reached, Sanju was dead. The girl, who was going to her native Barwahi village, was doing BSc in Girls PG College at Rewa  420 km northeast of Bhopal.

Primary investigations suggest the accused knew the girl well and could have been stalking her, Sidhi superintendent of police Abid Khan said. The crime was obviously pre-planned.

According to police sources, cops are investigating if the girl had an affair with Shivendraand if she left him. The man is accused in a 2008 case of assault lodged at Kusumi police station.

Shivendra has been booked under the IPC, besides provisions of Arms Act and Atrocities against SC/ST Act, Sidhi SP Abid Khan told HT. Four teams are searching for him.

The National Crime Records Bureau says Madhya Pradesh last year reported 1,124 cases of stalking  almost a fifth of such incidents across India.
Women wearing traditional hats, known as a non la, sit in a market in Hoi An, Vietnam. Photo by REUTER/SJorge Silva

The lack of balance could push the countrys social insurance fund to the verge of bankruptcy

A stampede toward early retirement has thrown Vietnam's social insurance fund off balance.

Though Vietnam has a relatively low retirement age, many employees here continue to opt for an early out, the Social Insurance Department said at a meeting on October 26.

Vietnam's official retirement age for men is 60 and women 55.

In 2012, however, Vietnamese men retired at an average age of about 54 while women retired around 53.

Only about 40.5 percent of employees retired at the legal age while around 50 percent took early retirement, the department said. The Labor Law allows those holding key positions to stay longer with their organizations if they can meet health requirements.

Many critics of the system say it lacks sufficient incentives to stick it out.

Retirees currently receive up to 75 percent of their monthly salary. Each year that he or she retires early only reduces that payout by 2 percent. Before 2014, that deduction was just 1 percent.

According to recommendations from the International Labor Organization (ILO), the figure must be 5-6 percent to prevent workers from retiring early, the department told the Vietnam News Agency.

The problem gets more pronounced as Vietnams life expectancy continues to rise.

Tran Huy Lieu, deputy head of the Social Insurance Department, said the average retiree lived to about 67 in 1995. Now they live to about 73, so many continue to draw pensions for approximately 20 years.

Lieu added that in 1996, for every 217 workers paying into the fund, one was drawing funds out. Last year, that ratio plummeted to 8.13:1.

Sooner or later, the social insurance fund will fly off balance.

A recent draft of the Social Insurance Law proposed raising the retirement ages to 60 for women and 62 for men to prevent the fund from collapsing.

Its such a vital issue, affecting all aspects of the social life so the government needs to create a rational roadmap, Lieu said.

Related news:

> Vietnamese women contribute 110 million hours of unpaid work each day

> Child marriage persists in Vietnam's ethnic minority communities
Diwali, the festival of lights, brings home happy memories for everyone. Its an occasion when many take off from work on mini vacations and celebrate with loved ones.

From Aamir Khans grand bash to Deepika Padukone spending time with family and Hrithiks private plans, heres how Bollywood lights up this Diwali.

Aamir Khan



Actor Aamir Khan is riding high on the praises being showered over the trailer of his upcoming feature Dangal. His near and dear ones are of the opinion that the incredible word of mouth generated by the trailer calls for a celebration. Acknowledging the response, Aamir has decided to treat his family and friends over the Diwali weekend. Word has it that the star, who traditionally organises big bashes for Diwali, will celebrate the festival of lights and the love coming in for the Dangal trailer both together. The actor is to turn host for a private party at his Bandra residence, which will have his family and friends in attendance.

Hrithik Roshan



Amidst all the buzz surrounding Kaabil trailer, Hrithik will take some time off to celebrate Diwali with his kids Hrehaan and Hredaan. The actor is known to be a doting dad and makes the most of his free time by spending with his two bundles of joy. Hrithik has planned a private Diwali with his kids.

Deepika Padukone



The gorgeous actress whose name is a synonym for the festival of lights, is travelling back to her roots. Its Bangalore calling for Deepika Padukone this Diwali, a festival very close to the actresss heart, and she is leaving no stone unturned to celebrate it with her family. Unwinding from her hectic promotional schedule for her upcoming Hollywood release, xXx : Return of Xander Cage, Deepika will visit the southern city where she will brighten up her home along with her sister and parents.

Deepika shares, Diwali is the festival of lights, joy and happiness and has always been a very special festival for all of us! So I decided to spend quality time with my family before I immerse myself in Padmavati.

The visit also serves as a break for the actress who will soon start shooting for Sanjay Leela Bhansali-helmed Padmavati.

Sanjay Dutt



This Diwali is extremely special for the Dutt household as it is Sanjays first post release from jail. The actor and his family have extensive Diwali plans which begin Dhanteras onwards. Sanjay along with wife Manyata, and their twins Sharaan and Iqra will perform a pooja for Dhanteras at their residence. Sanjays sisters Priya and Namrata Dutt will be attending the rituals. There will be a special family dinner hosted by Sanjay and Manyata. The duo has made extensive arrangements for the Laxmi pooja and Sanjay is personally looking into all the arrangements. Sanjay and Manyata will also be attending Amitabh Bachchans Diwali bash later in the night.

Farhan Akhtar



Its going to be a Rocking Diwali for Farhan Akhtar who will celebrate the festival with his Rock On!! 2 team. Amidst the ongoing promotional spree, Farhan Akhtar is set to have a get together with his entire Rock On!! 2 team to bask in the festival season.

Tiger Shroff



Tiger Shroff, the young actor who nurtures a close bond with his family, has ensured that he will spend time with family to celebrate Diwali. He will be with parents Jackie and Ayesha Shroff and sister Krishna during the Diwali rituals and Laxmi pooja.

Shraddha Kapoor



Shraddha Kapoor is gearing up to celebrate Diwali with friends-turned-family, her Rock On!! 2 team. The gorgeous actress will also spend a part of her day at home with her family and take part in the Diwali pooja. The actress is conscious of following traditions, and Diwali festivities have been a custom at the Kapoor household. The young actress will be seen juggling between family and friends this Diwali and has planned her day ensuring a balance between both.

Kriti Sanon



Kriti Sanon, who is currently in Lucknow shooting for her upcoming film Bareilly ki Barfi, plans to travel to the national capital to ring in Diwali with friends and family. The actress, who has been living independently in Mumbai, misses her parents and sister. Instead of flying back to her Mumbai house, Kriti will most likely visit her parents to spend quality time with family and childhood friends.

Yami Gautam



The gorgeous actress, who is soaking in the love coming her way for her recently released Kaabil trailer, is heading to her hometown Chandigarh to celebrate Diwali with her parents and sisters. Living away from her family, the self-made actress visits her folks back home as and when her work schedule permits.

Radhika Apte



The actress, who has been in the news for her performance in the critically-acclaimed Parched, has been making the right noise all throughout the year. After delivering outstanding applause-worthy performances with short films Phobia and Kriti in Bollywood and in the mega-blockbuster Kabali opposite Tamil superstar Rajinikanth, besides creating ripples internationally with Parched, Radhika will have a quiet Diwali. The actress is flying to London to be with her husband to celebrate the festival of lights privately.

Rajkumar Rao



The actor will be working on the festival day. After wrapping shoot for Vikram Aditya Motwanes Trapped and Hansal Mehtas Omerta, Rajkumar Rao has started shooting his next film, Bareilly ki Barfi. He will celebrate the festival of lights on the sets of Bareilly ki Barfi with the cast and crew.

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To celebrate the festival of lights, B-town stars plan to spend day with their closed one and some might even throw party for friends and family.

The Bachchans like every year will have their annual Diwali party at their Jalsa residence in Juhu, which will be attended by several Bollywood celebrities.

Superstar Shah Rukh Khan is in Budapest shooting for Imtiaz Alis The Ring but be might fly back to Mumbai to celebrate the festival with his friends and family.

Another Khan of Bollywood Salman is currently shooting for Tubelight in Manali, he too is expected to fly to Mumbai to celebrate Diwali with family and friends.

I didnt dress up last year. But this year, I am going to wear new clothes. Diwali is about spending time with family. My friends might come over. But I urge all Indians to have a noise free Diwali. Its a festival of lights. We dont have to burst crackers, said Anushka.

For Vidya Balan, Diwali is all about brightness and hope. To me personally I feel that people cleaning their houses symbolises letting go of what was, of baggage and making place for the new or change which is symbolised by the act of buying new clothes, she said.

Walking down memory lane, Vidya reveals, as a child she used to wake up early in the morning, take bathe, wear new clothes, go to temple and burst crackers. Diwali time was all about meeting relatives, friends and neighbours I cherish those memories. Over the years, while everything else remains same, except waking up that early and bursting crackers. Also one doesnt get the opportunity to visit relatives on that day because you get stuck in traffic, she said on a lighter note.

Unwinding from her hectic promotional schedule for her upcoming Hollywood release, xXx : Return of Xander Cage, Deepika Padukone will be visiting her hometown Banglaore to bring in the festival with her parents and sister. Diwali is the festival of lights, joy and happiness and has always been a very special festival for all of us. So I decided to spend quality time with my family before I immerse myself in Padmavati, she added.

Superstar Aamir Khan, who is receiving positive response to his recently released trailer of the much awaited film Dangal, plans to throw a Diwali bash for his family and close friends.

According to sources, Aamir will celebrate the festival of lights and the love coming in for the Dangal trailer both together.

The actor is to turn host for a private party at his Bandra residence, which will have his family and friends in attendance.

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Celebrities are always under scrutiny for their fashion sense, but Bollywood actress Athiya Shetty says it is not important for an actor to look good always.

Asked if looking good always is important for actors, Athiya said, No. We are human beings, and its okay if we have a bad hair day or bad day in general. I think people should know that it takes a lot of effort to look the way we do in front of the camera, and it is not hunky-dory always.

Athiya, who was here earlier this month for the Amazon India Fashion Week, feels that actors do get judged a lot on the basis of fashion. But it depends on how seriously you take it. If you are (in) something that you are comfortable in, and you like it, then thats all that matters. Its how you carry your clothes and how comfortable you are in your skin, she said.

The actor, who ventured into Bollywood in 2015 with superstar Salman Khans production Hero, is currently busy shooting for her next film titled Mubarakan.

The film is slated to release in July, next year and also stars Anil Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor, and Ileana DCruz.

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Actor Saiyami Kher is niece of actors Tanvi Azmi and Shabana Azmi and even though she looks up to them for inspiration, she is determined to make her mark in the film industry.

They (Tanvi and Shabana) are powerhouse performers but I would like to create a path of my own. My personality is different from both my aunts and I hope people see the effort I put into my work in the coming times, says Kher, who starred recently in Mirzya.

However, the actor does share little anecdotes her aunt Shabana shared with her before she stepped into films. She constantly tells me to talk in Hindi and complains that our generation does not talk in Hindi. Before we started the promotions of Mirya, she advised me that if you had fun in the film, then you get to tell new things to people and media and it is always a great experience. This is what happened, I gave my heart to my film and now it has become a beautiful memory, the 24-year-old actor says .

On the toughest thing about being an actor, she says, The problem is that you are rehearsing in comfortable conditions, your performance is 100 per cent but when you have to do your scenes in a place like Ladakh or in rain, snow and storm, things become tough.

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Visitors to Bell Tower at Elizabeth Quay in Perth, Australia, are being treated to a visual treat these days. More than 10 life-size installations with the largest of the scale of 16 feet by 10 feet, propagating the values of non-violence, peace and self-reliance, peers at them as they get close to the tower, in the heart of the city.

A series of installations titled Mahatma and Me, by celebrated artist Vibhor Sogani, brings together the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi with Soganis trademark medium: stainless steel. Large installations such as Harmony, The March To Freedom, and A Step Towards Divine, are inspired from peace, non-violence and cleanliness, tenets that the Mahatma lived by.

Part of the tactile exhibit has been done in black 8-mm iron. But the other part, with a mirror-like gloss owing to the high metal content on the edges, is the most interesting, the artist tells us: When a viewer stands in front of that, he sees a reflection of himself juxtaposed next to the Mahatma. In this stressful, violent world, it is a moment to pause. Pause and reflect upon what Gandhi stood for, says Sogani. If you move five inches to the left, the perspective and the reflections change. So, it is a series of dynamic installations, each of them have been created to provoke self-realisation through making you stop and reflect for a moment, explains Sogani.

The work Step Towards Divine is part of the Mahatma and Me show by celebrated artist Vibhor Sogani, being held in Perth till November 2.

When did Sogani, who generally does three-dimensional abstracts such as Sprouts, the 40-feet-high stainless steel installation at Delhis All India Institute of Medical Sciences, come up with idea for the show? How did the concept germinate? In a way, it was accidental. I got the idea of this show at 2.30 am on a humid summer night in Delhi, while reading about the Mahatma. Subconsciously, the themes he spoke about had been floating in mind. Gandhi was talking about self-reliance and cleanliness six decades ago, before it became fashionable in certain political circles. And then I remembered his iconic line: Be the change that you wish to see in the world. And Eureka! I knew I had to do an installation about the theme on a reflective surface. We all want to see big changes in the world. Every great journey, though, has to begin with one small step. That step needs to come from within us  the Gandhi in us, says Sogani.

The Aussies chapter of the month-long show that began on October2, is being funded by a non-resident Indian entrepreneur Nilesh Makwana and his wife Lene, the founders of the Borderless Gandhi project, supported by the Government of Western Australia, City of Perth and the Government of India.

Going forward, Sogani is planning to take the show to other cities within Australia, and subsequently other countries, particularly those where the Mahatmas politics left an enduring imprint, such as South Africa and the United Kingdom.

*



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From HT Brunch, October 29

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The smartphone super flagship war has been an interesting one. For years it played out between Apple and Samsung on one side, and a changing star cast of other brands on the other. For a few years, HTC had a flagship with the chops to take on these two giants; at another point Google Nexus phones gave them a run for their money; and then either LG or another brand played a guest appearance and quickly faded into oblivion. For the last few years, though, its been a straight out battle at the top among the Apple iPhone, the Samsung Galaxy S series and the Samsung Note phone. It even started to get a little boring. That dramatically changed this year.

The Pixel from Google came out with all guns blazing. Its a phone that has no weaknesses, ticks all the boxes on the hardware front, a phone that slaps on glass and metal on the outside to make itself look very pretty and then adds even more firepower with its Google Assistant add-on. And to ensure that everyone got the point that this was a top-of-the-line flagship phone, Google also priced it really high.

The contenders

There are others that should be part of a flagship shootout. Xiaomi, One Plus, Honor, Motorola, Lenovo, HTC, LG  all have contenders. But this is about the tussle for the top spot and also about being brutally realistic. The Samsung Note 7 blew itself out of this race (literally), the HTC 10 is a brilliant phone but hasnt been able to take on these three (I do hear though that HTC has some mind-blowing phones up its sleeve that may well bring it back in competition soon) and all the others have great products but cant be considered if this is a battle of the Super Flagships. That leaves us with three phones that truly can rule the roost. The iPhone 7 Plus, the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and the Google Pixel XL. Lets take them apart in a super shootout.

Looks

The Pixel XL has a glass and metal back and nice style chops but nothing that would blow your socks off at first glance. The Apple iPhone 7 Plus Jet Black does manage to take your breath away but is prone to serious scratches, and eventually, does have the same form factor as the previous versions. The S7 Edge is the easy winner here as the curved glass form factor and all the materials used make it quite a masterpiece.

Google Pixel XL claims to have the best camera, but is also priced at Rs 67,000

Display

This is bread and butter on phones this large. The Pixel XL has a stunning AMOLED Quad HD display which matches the S7 Edges Super AMOLED Quad HD display dot to dot. The 7 Plus loses the resolution battle but more than makes up for it with its very real colour saturation. However, while watching high-res movies, reading an ebook or playing a game, the difference between a Quad HD and Apples Retina display does become obvious.

Camera

The iPhone 7 Plus has really got its optics game on point. And this is because of a very intelligent use of its dual lens. It can be used as an optical zoom and also does a great job with diffused DSLR-style backgrounds. I also found its optical stabilisation to be far superior. While the Pixel XL is claimed to have the best phone camera ever, my results were great but not as good as the 7 Plus (except in low-light photography). The S7 Edge has a great camera but is beaten by the other two phones quite convincingly.

The iPhone 7 Pluss looks may take your breath away, but its prone to scratches

Battery

Im glad to announce that none of the three phones come with an extra feature where the phone battery blows up. But there is an added twist in the tale as mAh ratings dont tell the real story. On paper, the Pixel XL and the S7 Edge have better battery packs built-in, but in real life, the iPhone 7 Plus outlasted them in every test I tried. This is a huge deal for Apple as its most criticised feature has always been its very poor battery life.

The curved glass form factor makes the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge quite a winner

Disruptive feature

Each has one that really matters. The S7 has the curved screen and uses it very intelligently, the Pixel XL has Google Assistant that works well, while the iPhone 7 Plus dual camera is a game changer. No winners here because great innovation deserves a pat on the back.

Price

The S7 Edge has been around for a while and thus, its price has taken a nice, comforting fall. You can get one for about Rs 50,000. The Pixel XL wants to be seen as a premium flagship and is priced at Rs 67,000 and the iPhone continues its legacy of being super high-priced and thus, clocks in at Rs 72,000. Apple seems to have the best cashbacks (of upto Rs 12,000), but you can get some good deals online and offline on the others too.

Final winner

Many ways to answer this. If you own an iPhone 6, buy the 7 Plus. If you own an iPhone 6S Plus and still want an upgrade and a change, control that urge and wait for the next iPhone. If you own an Android phone and want to upgrade to something newish, buy the Pixel XL. If you arent in any camp or have no loyalty to any brand/OS or are an intelligent person not swayed by hype or just want the best bang for your buck in a Super Flagship, the S7 Edge is the way to go!

Rajiv Makhni is managing editor, Technology, NDTV, and the anchor of Gadget Guru, Cell Guru and Newsnet 3

From HT Brunch, October 30

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Do you want to do the Manaslu circuit in Nepal? asks Satya over the phone. Curiosity aroused, I ask, When? In a couple of days, is the answer.

I am flattered and bemused. Satya is a solitary trekker, one of the kind who carry their own tents and supplies. So hiking with Satya would mean carrying a backpack of well over 20 kilos for around 20 days. I decline the offer. But I wonder. Why cant I do something solitary? Within a week, I am on a flight to Kathmandu.

The Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) trek is very popular. Sometimes done independently and sometimes as the piece de resistance leg of the Annapurna Circuit trek, it is the archetypal made-for-the-westerner teahouse trek, nothing like which exists in India. It begins in Western Nepal and moves upstream along a valley through charming Gurung villages with captivating mountain views, and ends at the most accessible location to summit Mt Annapurna. It is a relatively safe trail for the solo trekker, with the right balance of adventure and solitude.

The journey can be initiated from Nayapul, a short distance from Pokhara. The pastoral landscape becomes visible after you cross the bridge across the Modi Khola, a raging river that originates in the East Annapurna glacier and serves as a navigational beacon till the end of the journey. It is a dusty path but quickly becomes a delightful ascent on the roughly hewn stone staircase to Ghandruk, a small cluster of slate-roofed homes inhabited by Gurkhas. Ghandruk welcomes visitors with a huge map of all the guesthouses in town. I know my destination but check to see if there is something fanciful enough to make me vacillate. Heaven View Lodge almost does it, but my moral fibre stands the test.

Himalaya Hotel, a resting place consisting of two inns, just before Deurali (Ram Yeggina)

The next morning, I discover the village to be a revelation. A previously dull painting on the guesthouse wall acquires character with the Machhapuchhre peak and Annapurna South massif visible from the window by its side. Machhapuchhre is a conical mountain whose peak not only splits up like a fish tail, but also twists like a half-closed bottle cap.

The switchback trail from Ghandruk to Chomrong, the next village, is a long walk along the mountain before it dips into the forest and continues up the other side of the valley. Woodpeckers, babblers and minivets are visible, and you hear the calls of a plenitude of birds. The path is easy to navigate and the red and white signs painted on the dressed stones, an initiative by a couple of individuals in tandem with the Annapurna Conservation Area Project, miraculously appear when you are in doubt. The trail is also a true cultural melting pot. There are Italians, Chinese, Malaysian, French and German trekkers and their guides and porters, with whom you can exchange notes after you greet them with the customary namaste. Public sanitation and toilet etiquette levels are exceptionally high on the trail and in villages, which I cannot say about Indian Himalayan treks.

Chomrong could be the most beautiful and indulgent village here. After this, there are no more villages, just a few spartan inns. I say indulgent because there has been an invasion of contemporary cuisine in this village. German bakeries, pizza joints and beef steak houses dance in front of my eyes, while beer cans line up the shop-fronts in homes. WiFi signs hang from every nook and cranny. It is difficult to believe that this is trekking territory.

In Chomrong Cottage, I bump into a Swiss couple, Sylvie and Egon, who are on a backpacking tour of the world. They are currently returning from Machhapuchhre Base Camp (MBC) where Sylvie was hit by altitude sickness. As we share stories, Sushila, the owner of Chomrong Cottage reveals that her chocolate cake was featured in Time magazine. No more electricity is required in the room as our eyes light up.

Dal bhat is the staple fare in these parts (Ram Yeggina)

The walk from Chomrong, down the wonderful cobblestoned stairs, past the suspension bridge across the Chomrong khola with Annapurna South to the left and the river roaring down to the right, is filled with glittering possibilities of what could lie ahead. The track then goes further up to the crest of the mountain before plunging into a forest of about-to-flower rhododendron trees, oak and bamboo. From now on, trekking groups become much fewer and mule packs disappear.

It is quite dull and gloomy by the time I reach Buddha guesthouse in Bamboo for lunch. While having the staple dal bhat, I chat with an American about the Presidential primaries in the lunchroom. We dont need a revolutionary President at this point. We just need the status quo to be maintained, he says sagely.

The route goes further up to Dovan via long steep stone staircase and by now a thunderstorm has enveloped the forest. Quiet rivulets have become uproarious with the rain and thunder down with rage, while the slushy path becomes desolate. Totally drenched, I reach Dovan and it is only a bite of the chocolate cake which Sushilas daughter had packed for me, that manages to warm my shivering body.

If the skies are clear, the route from Dovan to Deurali which is an ascent of 800 metres, can be the most beautiful section of the journey. A clearing in the forest appears intermittently to provide wonderful views of mountains and cascading waterfalls. As I hurry into an inn in Deurali, a hailstorm breaks out, soon replaced by a snowstorm. Across my table in the inns lunchroom, a boisterous gang of college students from Kathmandu is hunched up together in some kind of a scientific experiment. This region is also marijuana country. Anup gives me a quick lowdown regarding the ganja on the table and how it should be separated.

Dovan is a picturesque town in the valley of the Modi Khola river (Ram Yeggina)

Ten minutes from Deurali on the way to MBC, a wooden board nudges you out of your inertia by declaring this as an avalanche area. The landscape changes dramatically: now it is mountain territory. The trail goes further up along the Modi Khola through a canyon with mountains on both sides. The journey can be painfully slow you climb 1,000 metres.

At MBC, under the gaze of the impressive Gangapurna mountain, the trail climbs left. Snowstorms over the past week have deposited a few feet of powdery snow and the landscape looks like a desert with rolling white sands that glitter in the sun. The sound of avalanches crackling down mountains is frequently heard. It is 2 pm and there is no one on the iced-out trail. Dark clouds roll in slowly and snowflakes gently waft down. I look out for shelter when I hear voices behind me. And at 2.30 pm, an engineer from Dhaka and I plant our feet below the first signboard which proclaims our final destination.

ABC is a small plateau surrounded by Annapurna South, Fangs Peak and the Annapurna massifs. The skies clear up overnight after a full evening of snow. The Annapurna range becomes visible and it turns out to be a massive wall towards the northern side with no apparent breach anywhere in its rock face. It is easy to see why this is the worlds most dangerous mountain for climbers.

It is -2 C in the morning and it was -15 C the previous night. Many trekkers are assembled for the golden moment when the first rays of the sun touch Annapurna. And when it does, Annapurna looks like a bride first kissed. Macchapuchre on the eastern horizon is still in the shadow while the South Annapurna glacier slightly ahead slowly roils . There is a memorial for Anatoli Boukreev, one of the heroes or villains of the 1996 Everest disaster depending on whose perspective you believe, who was consumed by Annapurna on Christmas Day in 1997, nearby.

The stone trail from Ghandruk to Chomrong, as seen early in the morning (Ram Yeggina)

After ABC, many trekkers head to Poon Hill, a side trek, while some like me head back to the lakeside precinct of Pokhara to indulge in its luxury. The Tibetan curio shops are delightful, but it is saddening to hear the stories narrated by the refugee Tibetans. Dhampuk also narrates the story of his father, a Khampa guerrilla, who fought the Chinese in a bloody conflict in Nepals Mustang region in the 1950s.

But this is what the Himalayas have come to stand for: Sheer exhilaration together with lifes daily hardships of life.

From HT Brunch, October 30, 2016

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Im delighted the military fraternity has reacted with outrage at the attempt to whitewash what is essentially extortion from Karan Johar by Raj Thackeray by calling it penance. I always believed our men in uniform would be repelled by this donation. Not for a moment did I think they would welcome it. Its wonderful to know my instincts were right.

Speaking for every soldier, Gen. Shankar Roychowdhury, one of our most senior retired army chiefs, told The Hindu the army had nothing to do with the politics of Maharashtra and did not wish to be dragged into it. Air Vice-Marshal Manmohan Bahadur tweeted: By accepting this money the army would become a receiver of tainted money. Major. Chandrakant Singh, a hero of the 1971 war, said: The army will not accept such a thing.

Read: By negotiating with Raj Thackeray, the BJP government has diminished itself

The point theyre making is simple and necessary but, sadly, it wasnt obvious, at least not to those who thoughtlessly agreed on a donation of Rs 5 crore to the Army Welfare Fund to clear Johars film. This was imposed on Johar. If he hadnt agreed cinema halls showing his film would have been attacked by Raj Thackerays thugs. Inevitably, they wouldnt have shown it and audiences would have kept away.

Even if the suggestion to donate came from Johar himself, as chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has claimed, it was undeniably made under pressure. Every officer and jawan knows that. This is why accepting the money is tantamount to accepting the proceeds of coercion. And no man in uniform would accept the fruits of blackmail or extortion.

Read: Congress threatens legal action against Ae Dil... deal

There is, however, another reason why our army must refuse the donation. This time it goes to the very core of the institution. It is, after all, the proud army of the worlds biggest democracy. Its task is to defend that democracy. So when the rights conferred by our Constitution are challenged by bullies  even if its done, paradoxically, in the name of a faux nationalism  the army would believe its duty is to defend those rights, not benefit from their abridgement.

Actually, the belief the army would accept this money  and, I presume, its shared by Thackeray, Fadnavis and Johar  is an insult to the army. How dare they have thought so!

So when the Rs 5-crore cheque arrives at the Army Welfare Fund, I hope its returned with a polite but firm letter to explain why. It doesnt have to be written offensively and, indeed, it should express gratitude but it must make clear why the money cannot be accepted. And the letter must be made public so its content is recorded for history.

Read | Karan decided to donate to army six days before he met MNS chief: Nihalani

This would be a decorous but firm way of teaching Raj Thackerays Maharashtra Navnirman Sena an important lesson. It must stop using the army or talk of nationalism to disguise its undemocratic behaviour as the pursuit of a higher cause.

For example, Shalini Thackeray loudly asserted in television discussions that soldiers on our borders, who are prepared to lay down their lives, have demanded a ban on Bollywood films with Pakistani actors. That simply isnt true. As far as I know, not a single officer or jawan has even remotely made this demand. She simply made it up to dignify her partys thuggery with the appearance of soldierly sentiment.

This must stop. If the MNS wont desist, the army must tell it to do so. This is why that letter from the Army Welfare Fund is not just important but necessary.

The views expressed are personal

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Dehradun-based twin sisters, Nungshi and Tashi Malik, have received the 2016 Leif Erikson Explorer Award in Iceland for becoming the youngest people to complete the Explorers Grand Slam -- an adventurers challenge to reach the North Pole, the South Pole and all of the Seven Summits.

The twins, 25, received the award on October 23 under the category of great achievements in exploration by a person under the age of 30.

Their father Col VK Malik (retd) told Hindustan Times on Saturday, We are indeed delighted as there are very few global awards for explorers. Leif Erikson Award is one of the prestigious awards besides Nat Geo.

The Iceland-based Exploration Museum -- which instituted the award -- has uploaded 1.37 minute video of the twins on YouTube that shows the journey of the twins in scaling some of the difficult peaks.

They are the first siblings and twins to climb the Seven Summits and reach the North and South Poles, says the videos introduction.

The award is given annually in three categories: for a recent or a lifetime achievement in the field of exploration, for great achievements in exploration by a person under the age of 30 and to a person or an organisation that has worked to promote and preserve exploration history.

In 2015, the sisters, popularly known as Everest Twins, featured in Guinness World Records for becoming first twins to scale Mt Everest. In 2016, they again featured in Guinness for becoming first twins to scale Seven Summits.

In 2017, their names will be included in Guinness for becoming first twins to complete Explorers Grand Slam.

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When you are busy celebrating Diwali, doctors around the city are putting in extra hours to treat patients who come in with burns, respiratory problems, alcohol intoxication and other problems that can be associated with the festival.

Apart from that we also receive several cases of alcohol intoxication and other alcohol-related problems. In fact, on the day of Diwali, when the out-patient department does not function, at least 5 to 10 people come to the emergency department for some or the other problem of the digestive system, said Dr Suranjit Chatterjee, senior consultant of internal medicine at Indraprastha Apollo hospital.

Alcohol intoxication, vomiting and gastritis related to alcohol consumption and people with hangover are common in the clinics before and after Diwali. But, on the day of Diwali, there is a puja so people avoid drinks, said Dr Chatterjee.

There is a 20%-30% increase in number of people coming in with problems related to alcohol consumption during and around the Diwali time. This could be due to the several card parties that are organised across the city, said Dr Rommel Tickoo, senior consultant of internal medicine at Max super-speciality hospital, Saket.

There are people who do other drugs as well, but they do not usually come to hospitals because it would result in a medico-legal case. The drug problem is worse during Holi because of bhang. On Diwali, people usually stick to alcohol. But, we do receive one or two overdose cases and they come only when the condition is severe, he said.

When it comes to burns, hospitals receive the maximum proportion of the cases that they treat throughout the year on Diwali night or a few days after it.

Our hospital receives burn cases that have been referred from other centres two to three days after Diwali. On the day of Diwali, most of the burn patients go to government hospitals like South Delhis Safdarjung and Central Delhis Lok Nayak, mainly because of the cost of treatment and extended stay, he said.

Read: This is important: How to keep your children safe this Diwali

Most of the burns are on the hands or lower body. The burns vary between 20%-80%, with firecrackers bursting in hands causing around 20% burns and saris catching fire from diyas causing the severe burns, said Dr Suranjit Chatterjee.

Apart from lighting crackers with care, the doctor also advised people to avoid wearing loose-fitting synthetic clothes during the celebration.

Doctors also see nearly 30% rise in the number of patients who reach hospitals with respiratory symptoms. Mostly people who have chronic respiratory ailments such as asthma and bronchitis are the ones whose symptoms aggravate. But, the PM2.5 level, which should ideally be less than 60, goes up to 250-450 during Diwali and it does not settle down easily. Hence, even people with no history end up having to go to hospitals, said Dr Srikant Sharma, senior consulting physician at Moolchand hospital.

In and around Diwali, we get 10-15 patients at our hospital who require admission because of severe respiratory distress, respiratory failure and chest infection, said Dr Chatterjee.

Firecrackers aside, the sweets routinely exchanged during the festival also drive people to hospitals. After Diwali, there is a 30-40% increase in the number of patients who come in with uncontrolled sugar levels and when you ask them they would say that it was festival time so they had a couple of sweets, said Dr Tickoo.

The doctor advised diabetics to restrict their intake of sweets to one in the week.
Police in Vinh Phuc Province denied allegations of beating.

Police in the northern province of Vinh Phuc have opened an investigation after a man died with bruises on his body, hours after being interrogated by the police, local media reported.

Family of Nguyen Cao Tan found him dead in his bed on Friday morning.

They said the man, 45, skipped dinner and went to bed early on Thursday night after coming home from a police station. He never woke up.

He said the police beat him. His left eye was blackened and there were many bruises on his body, a relative told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

The commune police officers summoned him on Thursday afternoon for questioning in regard to an alleged phone theft that his son had reported.

An autopsy will be performed now that the family has demanded an investigation into his death.

Local police denied allegations of beating, saying the man must have died from a cold.

Several instances of suspects dying in police custody have been reported across Vietnam in recent years.

Last May, two police officers from the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap received up to one and a half years in jail for fatally torturing a motorbike theft suspect in 2012.

In late 2014, three police officers in the Central Highlands received four and a half years each as a court decided that their violent acts during intterogation killed a 39-year-old theft suspect.

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The Delhi Police have arrested three men for allegedly extorting money from people by threatening to frame them under false rape cases. The arrests were made from northeast Delhi.

Monu Panchal, 26), Harish Kumar, 26, and Pawan Kumar Sharma, 42, pretended to be part-time job employers and called job-seekers to their residence on the pretext of interviews.

They introduced the applicants to women and trapped them. They then clicked intimate photographs and extorted money by threatening to frame them in rape cases. They even threatened to put their nude photos online.

The incident came to light when Avdhesh Kumar lodged a complaint on October 22 at the Seemapuri police station. He told the police that a group of extortionists lured him with a part-time job and later threatened him.

Kumar said he was asked to reach the main gate of GTB hospital on October 22. He met Panchal who took him to his flat in block J of Dilshad Colony. A woman was sitting in one of the rooms. He was taken to another room and asked to pay R 2,000 for registration. Later, two men entered the room and told him that it was a police raid, a senior police officer said.

He was forced to give his contact details and asked to remove his clothes. The three men clicked his nude pictures and took his wrist watch, gold ring and four ATM cards. He was then asked to share his ATM card details upon which the men withdrew R 22,500 from three cards.

Kumar complained that he was asked to pay R 5 lakh or face rape charges. Kumar was told that his pictures with the women will be leaked, police said.

A case under sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 342 (wrongful confinement), 384 (punishment for extortion) and 389 (putting person in fear of acquisition of offence) and 34 (act done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) was registered.

During interrogation, three more names came out. The names cant be disclosed at this stage as they are to be arrested. Further investigation is on, said DCP (northeast) Ajit Kumar Singla.
The city police have deployed nearly 1,500 personnel to guard hundreds of people, from politicians to even widows of gangsters, officials said, but 10% of them dont face any threat and allegedly avail the security cover as a status symbol.

An HT application under the RTI Act revealed that 468 VIPs have availed 1,446 personal security officers (PSOs) under different categories  X,Y, Z and Z+. The number doesnt include armed guards which come with only Z and Z+ security. The number of PSOs is 20% more than last years figure.

While VIPs and other people in top government positions get PSOs from Delhi Polices security branch on the recommendation of the home ministry, 146 individuals fall in another category protected by the local police. Several people in this category have availed PSOs citing threat from property disputes or gang wars they are caught in.

In outer Delhi, the majority of PSOs have been given to female family members of gangsters killed by rivals, said police officials who spoke to HT on the condition of anonymity.

Dealing with demands for PSOs is tricky, officials said, as people allegedly stage-manage the threat to them and avail the security cover, as much a status symbol for many in the country as the red beacon on official vehicles. 80% security is positional. Cabinet ministers, judges, Delhis CM, etc, get security due to their position. The remaining are not entitled to any security, said another senior police officer.

Out of these 20%, only 10% genuinely need it. The other 10% have availed it either due to political reasons or by making bogus claims of threat on their lives.

Sources cited the case of right-wing Hindu leader Swami Chakrapani, who bought underworld don Dawood Ibrahims car at an auction in Mumbai on December 9, 2014, and a fortnight later publically burnt it in Ghaziabad to condemn terror. Seven months later, he alleged threat from another crime lord, Chhota Shakeel, and got himself Z category security by Delhi Police on the recommendation of the home ministry.

Senior leaders of the Hindu Mahasabha even wrote to the prime minister alleging that Chakrapanis car-burning act was to get security to intimidate others and carry on his land grabbing activities. Chakrapani refutes the charge.

There is trend to do something against terror outfits or make anti-Pakistan statement and then ask for security, said a senior officer in the security branch.

The Delhi Police reply also revealed that 82 people have been availing government security for the past 10 years.

Police officials said that removing security is more challenging. The moment we proceed to remove the cover, the person uses all means such as his political connections, fake claims of fresh threats from terrorists etc., to make a strong case in his favour, said one of the officers.

While X category security gets two PSOs, Y category gets three. The rest two categories, Z and Z+, gets PSOs, armed guards along with other facilities. Around 20 people have Z and Z+ security, said an officer.

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More than 300 personal security officers (PSOs) are protecting 146 lives in Delhi, reveals a reply to an HT application under the RTI Act to the Delhi Police.

While the VIPs and other people in top government positions get security from the Delhi Police (security branch) on the recommendation of the home ministry, these 146 individuals fall in another category of protectees who get personal security from the local police.

A majority of these individuals are allegedly victims of property dispute or gang wars, said a senior police officer.

A district-wise break up of protectees revealed that the highest number of people with threat on their lives in outer Delhi stands at 30. The northeast and south district came second and third with 27 and 25 people, respectively.

In outer Delhi, the majority of PSOs have been given to female family members of gangsters who were murdered in gang wars, said a police officer.

Another reason pushing up demand for personal security is a manifold rise in property prices in Delhi, especially in south Delhi, leading to crimes related to real estate.

Besides, courts have also asked the police to provide protection to witnesses and victims in high-profile crime cases.

In rape cases, we normally give PSOs to the victims to make them feel safe, said a police officer from the police headquarter.

The Delhi Police reply revealed that the demand for PSOs has gone up from 100% to 400% in some districts. For instance, in west district, there were only three people with six PSOs in 2012. The number of protectees is now 14 and PSOs 24.

Similarly, in north district, there was only one person with two PSOs in 2012, but today the number of protectees has gone up to 27 and PSOs 52.

There is a system of periodic review of the security provided to persons on the basis of threat perception. Security in each individual case is reviewed by the security review committee/district protectees. The decision to withdraw, reduce or enhance the cover is taken by these committees, said the public information officer in response to the HT application.

Senior police officers agreed that despite having a review system, people who have been availing this facility often misuse it to threaten neighbours and try to take undue advantage.

In one case, a woman has been given eight PSOs for many years and when we try to remove it, she makes a hue and cry in such a way as if she is the most vulnerable victim in Delhi, said the officer.

Anyone who gets security at the states cost doesnt want to give it up easily.

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In 16 years, Prabal Gurung made sure he became a name to reckon with in the international fashion industry. From the First Lady of the US, Michelle Obama, and the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, to Bollywood actors such as Alia Bhatt and Deepika Padukone  the designers envious list of celebrity clientele is never-ending. Yet, when asked if hes achieved his goals, he quotes lines from a Robert Frost poem, and says, Ive got miles to go before I sleep. Here, he talks about his bond with India and his love for Bollywood.

The designers clientele includes many Bollywood actors including Alia Bhatt, Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra, among others. (Photo: Yogen Shah)

You are known for your obsession with Bollywood. Does the industry ever inspire your approach to design?

I grew up watching Hindi films. Bollywood allowed me to dream the impossible. It allows you to fly. And thats what is amazing about Bollywood. So, yes, it influences me, it allows me to be daring, and to dream big. It has influenced the way I design, the way I drape, and the way I look at clothes.

Youve dressed several B-Town celebrities. Is there anyone in particular you would like to dress?

I have been fortunate enough to dress a lot of actors  whether it is Deepika, Priyanka (Chopra), Alia, Sonam (Kapoor) or Katrina (Kaif). I would love to dress almost every woman who makes her own money and buys her own clothes. Thats my dream.

Designer Prabal Gurung says that deigning for FLOTUS Michelle Obama was monumental and a game-changer for him.

From growing up in Nepal and working with Manish Arora in Delhi to becoming one of the most popular designers in the US  does it all seem like a dream

It does, but it is something I always wanted. Fame is not something I actively sought. But I wanted to pursue my desire for designing. For me, everything was a result of that. What is a bigger dream is that I want to use the platform I have to talk about other issues, which are politically or socially relevant.

You were one of the few designers who proved in the western world that South Asian fashion is much more than just ethnic wear. How tough was it to break that perception?

I am from the east, but I didnt want to make clothes that were ethnic. I wanted to play in the global field, and to do that, I first understood the market. I was born in Singapore, and lived in Nepal, India, UK and Australia. I then travelled the world. So, I knew that I wanted to cater to the woman who was unafraid of being glamorous and beautiful, but at the same time had substance, interest and curiosity. The challenges were similar to the ones any new designer would face. They were not based out of my ethnicity because I chose a city like New York, USA, which is a melting pot of cultures.

Actor Deepika Padukone in a Prabal Gurung gown at a press meet in Madrid, Spain.

Michelle Obama has been one of your celebrity clients. Was it an important moment for you when she wore your design?

It was monumental and a game changer for me. You cant plan such things. You can only hope that they happen. But when they do happen, you feel euphoric.

What are your thoughts about how the Indian fashion industry has progressed?

India is big on tradition and culture and thats the beauty of it. I hope it never loses that. It is fascinating how fashion in India, today, is the perfect blend of tradition and modernity.

Who are you supporting in the US presidential elections?

I support Hillary Clinton because she is the most qualified and the most prepared presidential candidate ever. She has been in politics for 30 years, but the fact that she happens to be a woman, her win will be a bonus. It will send out a message to the women of the world that the most impossible dream can also come true.

You also run the Shikshya Foundation Nepal that seeks to provide education to underprivileged children...

Education is the only way to freedom. The reason why I have been able to achieve things in life is because I was born in a family that could afford to send me to a good school. This foundation is a big priority for me. In the past five years, we have been able to touch more than 15,000 lives.

Youre in India for a trunk show. What prompted this decision?

I lived in India for a long time before I went to the US. So, I always wanted to come back here to sell my clothes. It was just about finding the right path and the right people who share the same vision for your product as you do. So, thats why I decided to have this trunk show at Le Mill, Colaba.

Would you like to have a full-fledged retail store in India?

Of course, thats a dream. As a designer who is based in the US, but whose heritage largely consists of what India stands for, I understand the women here very well. I feel what I have to offer will resonate with them.
A school in south Kashmirs Anantnag district became the latest target of unknown arsonists on Friday, taking the number of educational institutions to be burnt to 24 in almost four months of the ongoing unrest in Kashmir.

Mainstream parties as well as separatist leaders condemned the burning of schools but targeted each other for the state of education in the Valley during the unrest following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani on July 8.

On Friday, chief minister Mehbooba Mufti lashed out at the separatists, alleging they were not allowing schools to function as they want a new generation of uneducated youth who can pelt stones and be used as cannon fodder.

A civil society delegation (led by Yashwant Sinha) went to meet them (separatists) and they opened their doors for them. The team requested them that the future of children was getting spoiled and for gods sake help to let the schools open and the reply came in the form of burning of two schools, Mehbooba told a gathering.

Read | Kashmir unrest: Curfew lifted from Srinagar but restrictions remain

She also alleged that the separatists wanted that the children should get hurt to keep the pot boiling.

Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Geelani, on the other hand, alleged that those who burn schools do so in the vicinity of police and under their watchful eyes. It said that these actions are carried out with a well-planned strategy to malign the ongoing movement and paint it as violence and anarchy.

Those involved in such acts can never be well-wishers of the society, not to talk of the movement, and these acts are purposely used to malign the movement as authorities and the puppet regime has miserably failed after using every tool in their armoury to curb this movement, the Hurriyat said in a statement on Friday.

Officials of the directorate of school education said 22 government middle, high and higher secondary schools have been burnt mysteriously during the unrest. Of these, nine were reduced to ashes while 13 were partially damaged in the fire.

Besides the 22 government schools, two prominent private schools have also been damaged in the fires.

Read | Separatists want a generation which can be used as cannon fodder: Mehbooba

Of the 10 districts of the Valley, the maximum brunt has been borne by Kulgam district in south Kashmir, where five schools have been either partially or fully damaged in fires.

While most of the schools have been burnt in the dead of night by unknown miscreants, a few have caught fire allegedly after security forces fired teargas shells on protesters.

Police said they were trying to identify the miscreants.

It is a matter of concern for us. We are in the process of identifying the miscreants and also putting in place some security measures like area domination to avoid such incidents, states director general of police, K Rajendra Kumar, said.

He said there are thousands of schools in the Valley, so locals have to take the responsibility of protecting these institutions as well.

The burning of schools jeopardises the careers of hundreds of students, he said.

Read | Former J-K CM Farooq Abdullah meets Modi to discuss Kashmir unrest

In an official statement, education minister Naeem Akhtar lamented that the damage to schools is not just burning of an institution but a colossal loss for the entire society.

During the last few months, Kashmir has gone through a bad phase which has given pain to everybody, Akhtar, who is also the government spokesperson, said.

Students have not attended schools since Wanis death in an encounter.

The government has decided to go ahead with the exams of high and higher secondary classes in November despite students not having been able to cover even 50% of their syllabi.

The governments insistence on holding the exams has prompted protests by the students who want the tests to be conducted in March. It has said it was looking into various options, including the introduction of more choices in question papers and reduction in the syllabus for the examinations rather than postponing them to March.

Read | Education in Kashmir faces another challenge: Almost 20 schools burnt in unrest

Arson is not the only issue that is plaguing education in Kashmir these days. Many schools in the states summer capital Srinagar have been occupied by security forces, which were brought in for law and order duties. At least seven prominent schools in Srinagar have been housing many companies of paramilitary forces.

The government has maintained that security forces would vacate these schools once the situation in the Valley improves.
A Border Security Force (BSF) trooper was killed in an accident while retaliating to a ceasefire violation by Pakistani forces in northern Kashmirs Macchil sector along the Line of Control --- the de-facto border between India and Pakistan, authorities said on Saturday.

BSF constable Nitin Subhash sustained grievous injuries on Friday evening when an explosion inside the chamber of the long-range weapon led to a recoil, BSF IG (Kashmir) Vikash Chandra said.

Subhash was injured due to recoil and was admitted to a medical facility where he succumbed late last night, the official said.

The BSF soldiers death came less than 24 hours after an Indian Army soldier was killed in Macchil, where the army foiled an infiltration bid and gunned down a militant.

The army said militants had mutilated the soldiers body before withdrawing into the Pakistan side. Sources said the militants, who attacked 12 Indian posts, beheaded the soldier. In a brief statement, the army also said an appropriate response will be given.

The 28-year-old Subhash, who was a resident of Sangli in Maharashtra, had joined the BSF in 2008 and is survived by his wife and two sons aged four years and two years. Four army and three BSF personnel have died in the latest escalation along the boundary with Pakistan in militancy-hit Jammu and Kashmir.

Relations between India and Pakistan have hit a new low after four militants attacked an Indian Army base in northern Kashmirs Uri in September, killing 19 soldiers . India blamed Pakistan-based militants for the assault, a charge Islamabad promptly denied.

Salutes to constable Koli Nitin Subhash who martyred retaliating #Pak fire in #Kashmir. This brave heart had joined #BSF in 2008. pic.twitter.com/Fhjl5k0X0f  BSF (@BSF_India) October 29, 2016

On Saturday, Pakistani forces resorted to heavy shelling targeting civilians and BSF posts along the International Border in Hiranagar sector and RS Pura in the Jammu region as well, police said.

Around 6am, the Pakistan Rangers resorted to heavy mortar shelling and automatic gunfire. The BSF has started retaliating effectively, police said.

The fresh firings came a day after the BSF claimed 15 Pakistani soldiers could have died in its retaliatory firing in the past week, a claim dismissed as baseless by Islamabad that said six of its civilians died in Indian firing on Thursday.

Civilians continue to be in the firing line on the Indian side as well. A woman and a 15-year-old boy were killed in Jammu and Kashmir when Pakistan targeted Indian posts and villages along the LoC on Friday.

On Friday, heavy shelling took place in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts and in Mendhar and Macchil sectors.

(With agency inputs)

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The Dalai Lama is free to travel to any part of India and Chinas objections about Arunachal Pradesh will not be accepted, the BJP has said.

As far as whoever wants to visit any part of India, they can do so and these kinds of comments are uncalled for and they do not help in Bilateral relations in any way, BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli told ANI in Delhi.

China on Friday warned India that bilateral ties may suffer damage if it allows the Tibetan spiritual leader to visit Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims is part of southern Tibet. It routinely objects to visits by the Dalai Lama and foreign leaders to the Indian state.

The border dispute covers the 3,488-km long Line of Actual Control (LAC). India asserts that the dispute covered Aksai Chin area, which was occupied by China during 1962 war.

China objected on October 24 to US ambassador Richard Vermas visit to Arunachal Pradesh, saying any interference by Washington in the Sino-India boundary dispute will make it more complicated and disturb hard-won peace at the border.
On a late October evening, hundreds of people had gathered as usual on both sides of the Indo-Pakistan border at Wagah to cheer for their respective countries, as Border Security Force personnel performed the daily ritual of lowering the national flag and closing the border for the night. At about the same time, in nearby Amritsar, another group was gathered at the citys Town Hall for the opening of a museum that aims to record and preserve the experiences of those displaced by the partition of India in 1947. Hindustan Times is one of the contributors to this first-of-its-kind museum.

They come in hordes every day to see the border. But how many know how it came to be, questions writer Kishwar Desai, the guiding spirit behind the Partition Museum. With both her parents having survived the horrors of the partition  her mothers family was from Lahore, her father a student of Government College Lahore, who couldnt complete his PhD because he lost all his papers in the displacement - tales of displacement and rebuilding ones life in a new place, are something that Desai has grown up with. No wonder then that the idea of the museum has been on her mind for the last 20 years, though she says she started actively working on it only about a year-and-a-half back. On October 24, with the opening of the Partition Museum in Amritsar, a long-cherished dream was realised.

Though the museum at present is spread across three rooms and an introductory passage, the final plan is for seven galleries spread across 16,000 square feet. It will be thematically divided into syncretic Punjab, independence and partition, migration, research, rehabilitation and resettlement and the gallery of hope.

The Town Hall in Amritsar that houses the Partition Museum (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)

The narrative starts with Lord Mountbattens arrival to India in March 1947 with the charge to transfer power to the Indians and then of Sir Cyril Radcliffe, a barrister, who was brought in to divide the country. From the political decision of partition, the Museum then moves on its impact on civilians, many of whom didnt know of it till the last minute. On the walls are newspaper reports from 1947, including those from the archives of Hindustan Times, recording news of violence and riots as the people of a divided country tried to make their way to safety. The good thing about the museum is that you dont have to do all the research yourself. You can be dependent on other people who have been working and your duty is to collect all that material and put it in one space, says Desai.

There are oral recordings of personal histories, photographs and paintings (including those by Sardari Lal Parasher done during his stay in a refugee camp in India), letters and objects that people brought with them when they left their homes. In the centre of one of the rooms is a well  symbolic of the many wells across Punjab into which women and children threw themselves to avoid being abducted, raped and killed by rioters.

The Tree of Hope at the Hindustan Times Gallery of Hope at the Partition Museum in Amritsar (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)

But it is not just a re-telling of tales of past anguish, a display of old wounds or their scars, but rather a story of braving that and rising above challenges to build a new life. The Gallery of Hope, which is funded by Hindustan Times, tells the inspiring stories of people like Brijmohan Lall Munjal, who crossed over to the Indian side without anything and managed to build a business empire over the years. At the centre is the Tree of Hope  its trunk made out of barbed wire (symbolic of the borders). But its branches are smooth. We will hang leaves on it with positive messages. We wanted to show that there is peace and harmony again through the efforts of people, we will talk of how people reconcile to the memories and how the young generation moves forward, says Desai. Agrees senior advocate and additional solicitor general Pinky Anand, one of the trustees of the museum, Most north Indians, if I can use that term, are partition survivors and have resurrected themselves. I think it is a part of the Indian psyche  we are survivors. As survivors you learn to manage everything.

Read: Partition: An interactive project exploring stories from 1947

Desai says that from the time that she thought of the museum, she always wanted it in Amritsar, because being on the border, it suffered the worst impact of the partition. Also, this is where trains to and from Pakistan would cross through. And the Punjab government has supported her all the way, including by giving her the space for the museum. The museum has also fitted in with the efforts of the Punjab government (which has provided the space for the museum) to preserve and promote Amritsar as a destination for heritage and culture tourism. The street leading from the Town Hall to the Golden Temple, with shops, offices and other properties on both sides has been renovated to give it an old-world look. Buildings  both of the British era and those built earlier by local rulers  have been restored to preserve their original look. We want any tourist who comes here to go back with a different experience and this forms a part of it, says Navjot Pal Singh Randhawa, CEO Punjab Heritage Tourism Promotion Board and director, Tourism and Cultural Affairs, Punjab. The stretch is so clean, and so other-worldly, it is like stepping into the sets of a period film. It is definitely the perfect setting for the museum.

The renovated stretch of road between the Town Hall and the Golden Temple in Amritsar which has been given an old-world look (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)

There is a lot of tension about partition, even now. So we need to understand what happened. There is a problem of defining Indias nationhood, in India we are sitting on multiple possible nations. And we have to go on asking ourselves why partition happened and could it have been avoided. To understand the nature of Indias unity, we have to understand partition, says economist Lord Meghnad Desai, also one of the trustees of the museum. Hopefully, the museum will help with that understand and by reconciling visitors to the past, help them work harder for peace today.

A Digital Tool To Connect To the Past

Viren Gupta at the Partition Museum in Amritsar. The student of class XII has created a Partition Museum App to digitalise the project (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)

When Viren Gupta, a student of class 12 at Gurgaons Shri Ram School heard of the Partition Museum from a family friend, he was immediately interested. My grandfathers family was based in Jhelum, in present-day Pakistan, and he talks about how as a ten-year-old in 1947, he used to carry a knife with him because he was determined that if he was killed, he would take down someone with him, says Gupta. When I heard of the museum, I thought why not digitise the experience, says Gupta who has created the Partition Museum App.

While one function of the app is for people to record their oral history on their phone and submit it for verification to an administration, the young enthusiast has also recorded film personalities like Shyam Benegal and Govind Nihalani on their experiences of portraying the partition on screen. There is also a donation tab for those who want to donate to the museum. A company called Sparklin has done the programming, but the design and functionality is mine, he says. We are raising funds for the app through a crowd funding called Wishberry which will be launched in early November. The app will be launched in December, he says.

Watch: View of the Partition Museum

Not Just Putting Objects In A Glass Case

Neeraj Sahai, designer of the Partition Museum in Amritsar at his Delhi office

It was about two-three months ago that Delhi-based communication designer Neeraj Sahai saw the Town Hall in Amritsar for the first time. The building was a mess. Even the electrical work had not been done, says Sahai of the place that he had been hired to design as a partition museum. I had been approached by Kishwar (Desai) and the other trustees of the Partition Museum about a week before that to work as design consultant for the project and I said I needed to see the space. They (the government) were saying they would give us the building in five days, but they were just being ambitious about it, says Sahai, who explains his role to be that of designing the exhibition, the whole look and feel of it. We have a story. We have done our research and we have edited it to get the final narrative in place. But the story has to have an ambience. It has to be set in the right backdrop so that while going through it you are drawn into it. I help create that experience, he says.

A few days after his first visit to the Town Hall, Sahai paid a second visit to the place with Kishwar. At one point thinking of giving us the whole building and they wanted us to fit up that entire space in two-a-half-months. Even without seeing the place, I told Kishwar, that is not possible. So we agreed to do up the ground floor. After the second visit, however, when we saw how much work was still left to be done on the building, we agreed to launch with just three-four rooms and gradually building up the entire museum, says Sahai. The question then was whether to just create the first gallery on Punjab or do a kind of a curtain raiser to the whole project. So then the question was, should we do a just Punjab, or a curtain raiser to the entire project. I think it was a good decision on all our parts to go with the decision to do a shorter version of the whole story. We kind of fast-forwarded the story, removed two-three sections, entered from the middle, and tried and finished it on a positive note. It was very important for us to stop at a positive note. There were some very gory and disturbing images, but we had to end with hope, he says.

There were on ground challenges. The buildings were very dusty. We were not in a position to bring in all the objects that are in our possession. So we agreed to bring a few, key objects, some old letters etc. But the exhibition was becoming very flat, recalls Sahai. They decided to add some installations, a well, symbolic of the ones in which so many women had jumped to avoid being abducted and raped by the rioters. A well is very simple, just a cylinder and you put it there. But to put it there and to make it look authentic, it had to be downscaled in a way that it did not look like a plastic toy. That was the challenge. We researched with various photos of wells from Lahore, downscaled it, We were lucky to get these Nanakshahi bricks  these are thinner than the ones that we use now-a-days, that helped us give the well look closer to the wells of those times, he explains.

The communication expert has much more ambitious plans for the final look of the museum. There will be soundscaping to give a feel of the place and time. We will experiment with the light. In some galleries we might add a fog machine. There will be more installations, he promises. Though reluctant to give out the details of the project, he promises that it wont be another museum that has objects in a glass case with captions. Today museums have moved into a high-tech space. But unfortunately many our museums are in a bad state. The original purpose of a museum was to preserve objects for the purpose of research. But they have gone beyond that. They have general visitors now. And so you need drama, you need to engage your audience, so that they go beyond and read more. It is important that museums embrace the change and dont look upon technology and the art of communication as a luxury, says Sahai.

SURVIVOR STORIES: FRIENDS AND FOES FROM ACROSS THE BORDER, SOME ORAL HISTORIES

Biba Uppal, 73

I was four years old when India was partitioned. My father had houses in Lahore, Rawalpindi and elsewhere, but at the time of partition we were in Lahore. I still remember the house. It was a very big house, with a driveway. I dont remember too many people, but some incidents have stayed in my memory. My father was a collector and he had many Persian carpets. There was a wall hanging of a Persian carpet in the dining room. I was always asked to come and meet the guests when there were guests at home. I remember this one incident where I went to the dining room to meet some guests and my father was sitting at the dining table and there was a lady called Begum Shahnawaz. I remember her name because I often heard her name mentioned in later years. I was made to curtsy to her and I remember her telling my father that sardar saab, give me this carpet, I want to buy this carpet. My father said I am a collector and I buy things for myself, not to sell.

After Pakistan was created, our munshi ji offered to go back and get some things from the house, because when we moved, my father refused to bring anything. He said the state has changed, but people havent. We will stay here. He had many Muslim friends. He didnt doubt them. When this munshi came back, he brought back only family paintings that had been done in London. He knew they would be of value to us, even if they had no value to others. He also brought some family books. He said Begum Shahnawaz was there with two trucks and she was loading things. Another story I remember was of my uncle, who left Pakistan later. He said they (rioters) killed children with spears. He said I have to give it back to them. And he killed others. But his family was here, so he finally came.

Biba Uppal (standing) and Amolak Swani (seated) at the Partition Museum in Amritsar. Both their families moved to India from the other side when the country was divided in 1947 (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)

Amolak Swani, 85

My house was in Peshawar. Prithviraj Kapoors family was our neighbour there. We moved in March. The riots had started. Sikhs were easy targets because they were easily identifiable. People were being stabbed from behind. For a week, no one went out of their houses, not even to get food. They just managed with what was in the house. I was already married. My father and my husband were both in the dry fruit business.

When the situation became so bad that it was difficult to reach the station  people were being killed, women abducted  then our Muslim workers helped us to come to India. My husband and father-in-law were both away on business. So I came with my mother-in-law and the other women and children in the family. My parents moved later. The workers put us in trucks that would come with the dry fruits. They put boxes of dry fruits in the back and took us to the station. They brought the burqas of their women and told us to put them on. We were put in trains. We were lucky, we reached safely. The train that arrived the next day came with dead bodies.

I was newly-married at the time and I put all my jewellery in a sewing machine and brought it with me. I thought suitcases will get looted, but no one will look inside a sewing machine. We never thought we would never go back. We thought we would stay for a few months here and once the situation improves, wed go back. That never happened. But my most poignant memory of partition was of the time when my husband was in China, and I was visiting my parents in Peshawar. My father said there is a mob downstairs. If you hear me killed, here are petrol and matches. Kill your mother and yourself, but dont fall in their hands.

Dr Santokh Singh, 77

Dr. Santokh Singh at his home in Amritsar. (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)

My father and the rest of my immediate family were in Lahore at the time of partition. My father owned brick kilns, and was also a supplier of bricks and a contractor. We lived five-six miles out of Lahore, on the Amritsar side. The problem started in February-March 1947. We heard sloganeering. We children would be scared and run in and wed see mobs passing. It didnt affect the elders so much, because they had Muslim friends.

I remember one incident very clearly. We were in school and we heard during recess that a mob was coming to kill the Sikhs. We tried to sneak out, but there was a big burly Muslim gatekeeper who stopped us. We went to the headmaster and he too asked to wait. He said someone will come to take us home. And sure enough my father sent a car and then the gatekeeper and headmaster told us that there was killing outside and they had stopped us because they wanted us to be safe. Possibly the trouble makers had migrated from India, perhaps they had been beaten and forced to leave their homes and they wanted revenge. My father sent us to the Indian side in March, but he stayed in Pakistan till August 14.

Once when he had come to Amritsar to get license for a brick kiln here, he saw a Sikh mob attacking a boy, presumably a Muslim. He saved him and a little later when he himself was attacked by some people, he was also saved because he ran inside a gurdwara.

On the evening of 14 August, his Muslim friends came to him and asked him to leave for India. They said a kafila had come and had heard that there was a Sikh in the village and was looking for him. He was reluctant, but they put him in his car and sent him away. And sure enough, the house was burnt down that night.

My grandparents also moved to India, but that was later, after August 15. When they entered Amritsar, they slept near a bridge. The house that we had been living in was only three hundred yards away, but they didnt know. My father of course had joined us by then and when he heard of the refugees, he went to see if he could off er any help and he saw his in-laws there! So he brought them home.

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The Centre on Saturday said Rahul Gandhi was not right on facts when he questioned the implementation of the One Rank, One Pension scheme, adding that the Congress vice-president should not subject army to petty politics for partisan gains.

The first thing is Rahul Gandhi is wrong on facts. But a larger issue is to make him aware that armed forces is an important institution of the country. They are doing sensitive work to make India secure. I would urge Rahul Gandhi not to subject army to petty politics, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told PTI.

Prasad, who holds the law, justice and information technology portfolios, emphasised that it was the Narendra Modi government which has taken the decision to implement the One Rank, One Pension policy which comes at an annual load of Rs 10,000 crore on the exchequer.

Responding to Gandhis charges, Prasad said that as far as equivalence part is concerned, the same has been in force since 1998-99.

There is no new policy initiative undertaken taken by the Narendra Modi government in this regard, the minister said.

He said that as far as pension payment on slab system is concerned, it is a recommendation of the Pay Review Committee which the government has not accepted.

The government has referred this issue to the anomaly committee. Till the time the anomaly committee gives a recommendation, the payment of pension on percentage basis shall continue, Prasad said.

Gandhi had written a letter to PM in which questioned the Modi governments resolve to work for soldiers welfare, asking the Prime Minister to first implement the One Rank, One Pension scheme in a meaningful way and redress their pay anomalies and other grievances.

The senior BJP leader said he would urge Rahul Gandhi to do his home work and not politicise armed forces sensitive issues for partisan gains.
The mutilation of a dead soldiers body by militants along the Line of Control sparked outrage on Saturday, with his family demanding decisive action against Pakistan.

Read | Soldier dies in encounter near LoC, militants mutilate body before fleeing

We want revenge, our army should be given free hand to tackle Pakistan as they (army) said that they are capable to finish Pakistan within 20 minutes, said Prerna Singh, the 27-year-old widow of sepoy Mandeep Singh, who was martyred near LoC in Macchil sector in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir on Friday. The government should take decisive action against Pakistan.

How can they see the families of the soldiers mourning their deaths on Diwali? asked Prerna, who is a head constable in Haryana police and married two years ago.

Prerna, Mandeeps wife, is a head constable in Haryana police. (HT Photo)

A pall of gloom descended over the soldiers native village here soon after the news of his death arrived around 1am on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.

Mandeep had promised me that he will come on Diwali and we will shift to the new house, said Nirmla Devi, Mandeeps mother.

She said the last time Mandeep, who joined the army in 2008 in the first attempt at Kurukshetra, came home was about six months back, and he wanted to come over for Diwali but his leave was cancelled due to tensions on the border.

Mandeeps cremation with full state honours will take place on Diwali, on Sunday morning, according to district officials. (HT Photo)

Mandeep was very brave and during his visit to the village he used to tell us about incidents at the border and also wanted more youths of our village to join the army, said Mangat Pal, Mandeeps friend.

Villagers said Mandeep had constructed a new house on the outskirts of the village as the house they were living in was old and located on a narrow street.

Mandeeps father Phool Singh is a truck driver and his elder brother Sandeep is unemployed and looks after the familys one acre land.

I appeal to the prime minister to allow me to join the army, (as) I want to take revenge of my brothers death, Sandeep told Hindustan Times. I want the heads of 10 Pakistani soldiers in revenge of the murder of my brother.

Mandeeps brother Sandeep, right, as asked the Prime Minister to allow him to join the army so he can avenge his brothers death. (HT Photo)

Mandeeps cremation with full state honours will take place on Diwali, on Sunday morning, according to district officials. The body will reach the village from Ambala in the morning (on Sunday), Kurukshetra ADC Dharamvir Singh said.

Kurukshetras deputy commissioner Sumedha Kataria and several politicians visited the family on Saturday to offer their condolences.

Mandeep is the second soldier from this district to be martyred in the last week. The other was Sushil Kumar, 47, a BSF constable, who was killed in Jammu district.

Read | Grief grips village of soldier mutilated at LoC, leaders condemn act

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Smoke rises after an American Airlines jet (background) blew a tire, sparking a fire and prompting the pilot to abort takeoff before passengers were evacuated from the plane via emergency chute, at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., in this still image taken from video October 28, 2016. Courtesy of Robocast.com/Handout via Reuters.

The engine of the jet caught fire as it was about to depart Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

The engine of an American Airlines jet caught fire as the aircraft was about to depart Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on Friday, prompting the crew to abort takeoff and evacuate passengers via emergency chutes, authorities said.

No serious injuries were reported in the incident, which occurred just hours before a similar, unrelated mishap in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where the landing gear of a FedEx cargo plane collapsed, sparking a fire that was quickly extinguished.

The company later said the FedEx pilots were safe.

American Airlines jet catches fire on takeoff at Chicago airport FedEx plane catches fire in Florida

American Airlines Flight 383, a Boeing 767 bound for Miami with 161 passengers and a crew of nine, was headed down an O'Hare runway at about 2:30 p.m. CDT (1930 GMT) when the right-side engine of the twin-engine jet burst into flames, authorities said.

Footage from Chicago's ABC News affiliate station, WLS-TV, showed the idled plane on the ground with flames and large clouds of black smoke billowing from its right side and emergency slides deployed on the left side. Passengers milled about watching the blaze as fire trucks pumped water on the flames.

Smoke rises after an American Airlines jet (background) blew a tire, sparking a fire and prompting the pilot to abort takeoff before passengers were evacuated from the plane via emergency chute, at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., in this still image taken from video October 28, 2016. Courtesy of Robocast.com/Handout via Reuters.

Timothy Sampey, assistant deputy fire commissioner for airport operations, said the mishap could have been much worse.

The plane was fully loaded with 43,000 pounds (19,504 kg) of jet fuel, which was leaking when fire crews reached the jet, Sampey told a news conference later.

"So they had a heavy volume of fire on both the engine and the entire wing," he said. "This could have been absolutely devastating if it happened later."

Sampey confirmed the incident began with a fire in the right-side engine.

Chicago Fire Department Assistant Deputy Fire Commissioner Timothy Sampey holds a news conference about an American Airlines jet that caught fire as Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans looks on at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., October 28, 2016. Photo by Reuters/Jim Young.

The Federal Aviation Administration initially said the pilot aborted takeoff after reporting a blown-out tire.

The airline said seven passengers and one flight attendant were taken to a hospital for evaluation of minor injuries.

Inside the aircraft after it came to a stop, frantic passengers shouted at each other to hurry while making their way down the aisle to an emergency exit slide, as seen in a video posted on Facebook by Hector Gustavo Cardenas, who was on the plane.

Soot covers the fuselage of an American Airlines jet that blew a tire, sparking a fire and prompting the pilot to abort takeoff before passengers were evacuated from the plane via emergency chute, at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.October 28, 2016. Photo by Reuters/Jim Young

The incident forced the closure of at least three of the airport's eight runways, the city Aviation Department said.

By about two hours after the incident, the airport had experienced 130 delays of departing flights and 170 inbound flights, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware.com

As the mishap unfolded, tower controllers at O'Hare began ordering inbound aircraft to abort their landing approaches and "go around," initially closing all runways so emergency vehicles could reach the stricken aircraft, according to audio recordings of the main tower frequency posted by the website liveatc.net.

Asked by the pilot of one inbound plane to explain the maneuver, a tower controller is heard on the recordings saying: "Vehicles have rights to all the runways right now because an American engine burst into flame on the rollout."

Soot covers the fuselage of an American Airlines jet that blew a tire, sparking a fire and prompting the pilot to abort takeoff before passengers were evacuated from the plane via emergency chute, at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.October 28, 2016. Photo by Reuters/Jim Young.

Operations later resumed on the north side of O'Hare airport, one of the world's busiest, according to web tracking sites and a live feed of tower conversations from liveatc.net.
Four Pakistani posts were destroyed in a massive fire assault in Keran Sector of Jammu and Kashmir, the Army said on Saturday.

Four Pakistani posts have been destroyed in a massive fire assault in Keran Sector, an army official told PTI. Heavy casualties have been inflicted on the Pakistani side, he said, without giving further details.

The army had earlier said that it would retaliate in equal measure to any ceasefire violations by Pakistan.

A Border Security Force (BSF) trooper was killed in an accident while retaliating to a ceasefire violation by Pakistani forces in northern Kashmirs Macchil sector along the Line of Control --- the de-facto border between India and Pakistan, authorities said on Saturday.

BSF inspector general (Kashmir) Vikash Chandra said constable Nitin Subhash sustained grievous injuries by the recoil of a long-range weapon on Friday night.

Subhashs death followed the killing of sepoy Mandeep Singh on Friday night by militants who also mutilated his body, close to the border in the same sector, sparking outrage in India and politicians terming the act atrocious and depraved.

Indian security agencies suspect the militants to be from the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), a Pakistan-based militant outfit also blamed for the attack on an army camp at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir in September that left 19 soldiers dead. India had also blamed the outfit for the earlier attack on an air force base in Pathankot.
The mutilation of a dead soldier by militants along the Line of Control sparked outrage on Saturday, with politicians terming the act atrocious and depraved.

Indian soldier Mandeep Singhs native village in Haryanas Kurukshetra went into mourning. The 30-year-old soldiers family members demanded that Pakistan be taught a lesson for harbouring terrorists, and former army officers expressed sadness over the incident.

Militants crossed the LoC, the de facto border between India and Pakistan, on Friday night and killed the soldier before mutilating his body in Macchil sector in Kashmirs Kupwara district. They were believed to have been aided by cover fire from the Pakistan Army.

Sources said the militants, who attacked 12 Indian posts, beheaded the soldier. In a brief statement, the army said an appropriate response will be given.

With ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops sparking panic in border villages, home minister Rajnath Singh assured the nation that security forces were giving befitting reply to firing from across the border.

We will not bow down before anyone, he told reporters in New Delhi.

Read: Kashmir: BSF trooper killed after ceasefire violation by Pakistan

Minister of state (MoS) Jitendra Singh said nothing can be more atrocious than this.

The human rights of soldiers should enjoy precedence over the human rights of anybody else. The longer Pakistan continues to be in denial mode, the more it harms itself, he said.

These are acts of cowardice and these are happening at the time of desperation on the part of the Pakistan Army as well as Islamabad. Indian forces are capable of standing up to this challenge.

Congresss Manish Tewari said the mutilation was an absolutely depraved behaviour that violates you as a human being.

There are certain rules of engagement and conduct even in a conflict situation. Pakistan is expected to respect the rules of engagement, he said.

Grief engulfs Mandeeps village

Women flocked to the dead soldiers house in Aantehri village to console his widow, Prerna, who is a head constable with the Haryana police. The couple married two years ago.

Pakistan should be taught a lesson once and for all so that no other family of a soldier has to go through such pain, Prerna said, breaking down several times while speaking.

He was supposed to visit home again on Diwali but his leave was cancelled in view of the tension on the border at Macchil sector.

Mandeeps father said the Indian Army should give a befitting reply to Pakistan.

It was his duty, he has done it. He sacrificed his life. We should give a befitting reply to Pakistan, he said, adding that he got the news of his sons death when army personnel visited the family home at 1 am.

Kurukshetra deputy commissioner Sumedha Kataria also visited the soldiers home and offered her condolences.

Mandeeps neighbours described him as a go-getter who always had a smile on his face.

Subhash, the husband of the village chief, said Mandeep always offered help to anyone in need who approached him.
Ailing AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa has put her thumb impression on the election affidavit of a party nominee in an assembly bypoll because her right hand is swollen and inflamed, documents show.

A document filed by AK Bose, the Thirupparankundram candidate, showed the Tamil Nadu chief ministers thumb impressions in the designated space for signature.

Such impressions were also seen on a letter to the Chief Electoral Officer about her partys official candidates for the November 19 by-elections.

Read: Jayalalithaa recovering, doctors to decide on discharge date: AIADMK

The 68-year-olds thumb impressions were authenticated by Dr P Balaji, a professor at Madras Medical College.

The signatory has undergone tracheotomy recently and has an inflamed right hand she is temporarily unable to affix her signature. Hence she has affixed her left thumb impression on her own in my presence, the professor wrote in a note added to the electoral affidavit.

Last month, expelled party MP Sasikala Pushpa warned that people may be using Jayalalithaas signature without her knowledge as she convalesces, and urged the Governor to authenticate any documents that came out of Apollo hospital.

If there are any election affidavits with her signature on them, I urge the Centre to probe the matter immediately to verify whether they are authentic, the Rajya Sabha MP told a regional channel in an interview.

Jayalalithaa has been in Chennais Apollo Hospital since September 22. She was admitted to the facility after she complained of high fever and dehydration, and the rumour mills have been running overtime since then. Initial press releases from the hospital failed to throw any light on the exact nature of her ailment, creating further confusion.

The hospitals latest health update simply said Jayalalithaa, who is on respiratory support and is suffering from an unspecified lung infection, was interacting and gradually progressing, sentiments echoed by the partys spokespersons.

She is recovering well, and will be back in charge soon, says C Saraswati, AIADMK leader and spokesperson.

Although several important leaders - including Union finance minister Arun Jaitley, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Tamil Nadu governor Vidyasagar Rao and leader of the opposition in the state assembly MK Stalin - have visited Chennais Apollo Hospital to enquire about the ailing six-time CM, but none have been able to meet her.

Earlier this month, the governor moved her portfolios to state finance minister O Panneerselvam after intense criticism by opposition parties. Panneerselvam has stood in for Jayalalithaa as an interim CM twice before after she was arrested in 2001 and 2014, and is currently chairing cabinet meetings.

Read: The health of Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa is a matter of public concern

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A UN General Assembly committee has adopted a resolution to launch negotiations next year on a new treaty outlawing nuclear weapons, even as India abstained saying it is not convinced the move can lead to a comprehensive instrument on nuclear disarmament.

The General Assemblys First Committee, which deals with disarmament and international security, adopted the draft resolution yesterday on nuclear disarmament negotiations.

Through the resolution, the General Assembly would reiterate that the universal objective of taking forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations remains the achievement and maintenance of a world without nuclear weapons.

The resolution emphasises the importance of addressing issues related to nuclear weapons in a comprehensive, inclusive, interactive and constructive manner, for the advancement of multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations.

It also decided to convene in 2017 a United Nations conference to negotiate a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination.

The resolution was adopted with 123 votes in favour, 38 against and 16 abstentions.

Permanent Representative of India to the Conference on Disarmament DB Venkatesh Varma said India has been constrained to abstain on the resolution and it is not convinced that the proposed conference in 2017 can address the longstanding expectation of the international community for a comprehensive instrument on nuclear disarmament.

He said continued dialogue and consultation is necessary to bridge the current divides on nuclear disarmament which remain deep and substantive.

India attaches the highest priority to nuclear disarmament and shares with the co-sponsors the widely felt frustration that the international community has not been able to take forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations. We also share the deep concern about the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons, Varma said in the explanation of vote.

He said India did not participate in the open-ended working group which met in Geneva during 2016 and so it reserves its position on its report and the recommendations.

India has supported the commencement of negotiations in the Conference on Disarmament on a Comprehensive Nuclear Weapons Convention, which in addition to prohibition and elimination also includes verification. International verification would be essential to the global elimination of nuclear weapons, just as it has been in the case of the Chemical Weapons Convention. Progress on nuclear disarmament in the CD should remain an international priority, he said.

India has asserted that there is no question of it joining the Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear weapon State.
National security advisors of India and China will meet next week to discuss measures to improve bilateral ties, which are strained by differences over a host of issues, including Indias admission into the NSG and Beijings attempts to block UN ban on JeM chief Masood Azhar.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi will meet in Hyderabad in the first week of November for informal dialogue on the state of bilateral relations, especially the irritants bedevilling the development of ties, officials said.

Besides blocking Indias admission into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), China had put a second technical hold on Indias move to bring about a UN ban on Azhar. Also, India has been protesting over the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is being laid through the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

While India is concerned over the Pakistan factor creeping into India-China relations making the bilateral ties more complex, China is airing its apprehensions over the movement to boycott Chinese goods in India as well as the visit of US ambassador to New Delhi, Richard Verma, to Arunachal Pradesh, which it considers as Southern Tibet. Another sore point with China is Indias permission to allow the Dalai Lama to visit the area.

Read | China lashes out against Dalai Lamas planned Arunachal visit

Chinese officials say Beijing is apprehensive about India moving closer to the US, and Japan broadening its strategic and defence ties with both the countries.

Doval and Yang, who are the designated special representatives of the India-China boundary talks, also periodically meet to discuss the whole gamut of the Sino-Indian relations.

Yang was the former foreign minister of China before he was elevated to the rank of state councillor of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) after President Xi Jinping took over power in 2013.

In Chinese power structure, the state councillor is more powerful than the foreign minister on policy issues.

Both Doval and Yang have been meeting regularly to discuss the problems affecting the bilateral relations.

Officials say the Hyderabad meeting is not special representatives dialogue on border but an informal consultation on all issues, including those relating to the borders.

Their meeting is set to take place in the backdrop of the just-concluded plenary meeting of the ruling Communist Party of China, which conferred the status of core leader on Xi, broadening his power base both in the party and military.

Read | Talks on cross-border terror, India-China rift to be in focus at BRICS Summit

On Indias admission into the NSG, both sides held in-depth talks over the issue. India has been pressing China to relent on its opposition saying that vast majority of the 48-member group back New Delhis case.

China, which is opposing Indias membership on the ground that India is not a signatory to Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), says the group need to work out a proposal on the accession on all the non-NPT countries meaning Pakistans admission too.

After talks with India, Chinese officials also held talks with Pakistan on the same issue.

On the issue of ban on Azhar, China has not reacted to Pakistans reported move to freeze his bank accounts and keeping him under house arrest. Beijings technical hold in the UN on Azhars ban issue is due to expire in December.

Doval and Yang were expected to touch on these issues as well as Indias concerns over the ballooning trade deficit which according to Chinese officials touched over $51 billion last year in little over $70 billion trade between the two countries.

China has been promising to step up investments in India besides opening up markets for Indian IT and Pharmaceuticals.
The army said on Saturday it destroyed four Pakistani posts in a massive assault across the Line of Control in north Kashmirs Kupwara district, ratcheting up hostilities with the neighbour a day after an Indian soldiers body was mutilated by militants.

Four Pakistani posts have been destroyed in a massive fire assault in Keran sector, an army official said.

Heavy casualties have been inflicted on the Pakistani side, he said, without giving further details.

#JKOps. Four Pak posts destroyed in massive fire assault in Keran Sector. Heavy casualties inflicted @adgpi  NorthernComd.IA (@NorthernComd_IA) October 29, 2016

The Indian strike is seen as a retaliation to ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops in the Keran sector earlier in the day, in which one BSF jawan and a civilian woman were injured.

The de-facto border with Pakistan has remained tense since a militant attack on an army camp at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir in September left 19 soldiers dead.

India retaliated by carrying out what the government termed surgical strikes across the LoC and destroyed several militant launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

A Border Security Force (BSF) trooper was killed on Friday in northern Kashmirs Macchil sector in a freak accident while responding to a ceasefire violation.

BSF inspector general (Kashmir) Vikash Chandra said constable Nitin Subhash sustained grievous injuries by the recoil of a long-range weapon.

Read | Woman, BSF jawan injured in Pak shelling along International Border and LoC

Subhash was admitted to a medical facility where he succumbed late last (Friday) night, the official said.

Subhashs death followed the killing of sepoy Mandeep Singh whose body was mutilated by militants close to the border in the same sector, sparking outrage in India with political leaders terming the act atrocious and depraved.

Indian security agencies suspect the militants to be from the JeM.

Sources said the Pakistani army provided cover to the militants that attacked Mandeep by firing on Indian positions.

The 30-year-old Mandeeps family members on Saturday demanded that Pakistan be taught a lesson for harbouring terrorists, and former army officers expressed sadness over the incident.

His brother, Sandeep Singh, said the family wanted 10 Pakistani heads as revenge.

Read | Family of soldier martyred at LoC demands decisive action against Pakistan

With ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops sparking panic in border villages, home minister Rajnath Singh assured the nation that security forces were giving befitting reply to firing from across border and that the country will not bow down before anyone.

I want to assure the nation that the security forces are giving befitting reply to the firing from Pakistan. We will not bow down before anyone, he told reporters in New Delhi.

Minister of state Jitendra Singh said nothing can be more atrocious than this.

The human rights of soldiers should enjoy precedence over the human rights of anybody else. The longer Pakistan continues to be in denial mode the more it harms itself, he said.

Read | Grief grips village of soldier mutilated at LoC, leaders condemn act

Congress Manish Tewari said the mutilation was an absolutely depraved behaviour.

There are certain rules of engagement and conduct even in a conflict situation. Pakistan is expected to respect the rules of engagement, he said.

Mandeeps native village, Aantehri, in Haryanas Kurukshetra went into mourning. Women flocked to the dead soldiers house to console his widow, Prerna, who is a head constable with Haryana police. The couple had married two years ago.

Pakistan should be taught a lesson once for all so that no other family of a soldier has to go through such pain, Prerna said, breaking down several times.

With inputs from New Delhi, Kurukshetra and agencies

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Intelligence agencies suspect Pakistan based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) group with the backing of Pakistan Army for the killing and brutal mutilation of 17 Sikh battalion sepoy Mandeep Singh at Machchil sector on Friday evening even as high alert has been sounded along the Line of Control (LoC) for more border action or BAT action by terrorists for the remaining of 2016.

Sepoy Mandeep Singh of 53 Independent Brigade was part of a patrol that left its base at 4 pm in Machchil sector and was ambushed by JeM terrorists around 7.45 pm with Pakistan Army providing fire cover for nearly four hours. The Pakistani Army pounded Indian positions from 4 pm and continued till 8 pm in the evening to facilitate BAT action by JeM terrorists. A Pakistani terrorist was gunned down by the Indian forces in retaliation but his body has still not been recovered.

Read | Family of soldier martyred at LoC demands decisive action against Pakistan

Top government sources said that some 250-300 terrorists of both JeM and largely Lashkar-e-Tayyebba (LeT) are waiting in depth beyond the launching pads to infiltrate across the LoC for taking on the security forces. Indian national security establishment has discussed the possibility of a BAT action by Pak terrorists along the LoC after September 28-29 surgical strikes by Indian special forces in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). Indian Army Chief Gen Dalbir Singh had alerted the Northern Command on the possibility of such action.

Post Indian surgical strikes, a total of one Army trooper, three BSF soldiers and three civilians have been killed in cross border and LoC firing and mortar shelling by Pakistani Army. Nineteen personal of the security forces and 41 civilians have been injured in the unprovoked firing and shelling that has affected more than 150 villages along the international border in Jammu. While the Pakistani focus is on 125 Hindu dominated villages in Jammu, one person has been killed and another 9 have been injured from the minority community out of a total of 41 injured.

Read | Grief grips village of soldier mutilated at LoC, leaders condemn act

Home Ministry reports indicate all the 101 BSF/Army posts have been targeted by Pakistani Army since September 28-29 with Uri and Machchil sector pounded by enemy mortars since surgical strikes. The Pakistani Army is firing across the IB and LoC with heavy machine guns and 82 inch mortars to facilitate infiltration by pinning down Indian security forces.

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Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik was released from the central jail here on Saturday after nearly four months of detention, officials said.

Malik was arrested on July 8 from his Maisuma residence, hours after Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani, along with two of his associates, were killed in an encounter with security forces in Kokernag area of Anantnag district, triggering widespread protests.

The JKLF chairman was released from the central jail, Srinagar, this evening and has reached his residence, the officials said.

Soon after his arrest, Malik was initially held at Kothibagh police station and later shifted to the central jail.

Malik, along with chairmen of both factions of Hurriyat Conference -- Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Geelani, is spearheading the ongoing 113-day agitation in the Valley which has claimed the lives of 85 persons and rendered thousands others injured.

The Mirwaiz was released on Monday from sub-jail, Cheshmashahi, after two months of detention but continues to be under house arrest.

Read | Over 7,000 people, mostly youth, arrested during Kashmir unrest
Police have rescued 10 teenage boys, allegedly trafficked and held in bondage in a shoe-sole factory in Karnataka, after a tip-off from a childrens helpline.

Hundreds of children, mostly from poor rural areas of Bihar, are brought to Bengaluru in Karnataka every year by agents who sell them into bonded labour or hire them out to unscrupulous employers, activists say.

I sneaked out one night and bought a telephone card, teenager Adhir Paswan, 18, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a telephone interview.

I made the distress call to our families and a helpline in Bihar. We were not being paid and the younger boys were being beaten and abused.

One of the boys, 17, said in a statement they hadnt been paid in over a year.

Earlier this month, six boys from Bihar were rescued from a decoration-making factory in Bengaluru.

A 2015 report by the International Labour Organization puts the number of child workers in India aged between five and 17 at 5.7 million, out of 168 million globally.

More than half of Indias child workers labour in agriculture and over a quarter are in the manufacturing sector.

The government has recently amended its child labour law to permit children to work for their families and reduce the number of banned occupations for adolescents.

The sole factory was a miserable place, said Lakshapathi Pendyala of the Association for Promoting Social Action, a charity that runs a helpline in Bengaluru that was part of the rescue team.

The boys were working from nine in the morning to nine at night. They were made to sleep in the workplace only, which was filled with the smell of glue used in sticking the soles, Pendyala told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on Friday.

Several chemicals and glues were being used by the boys without any protection and some of the boys had deep cuts on their palms.

In a statement, rescuers said the boys, aged between 14 and 18, had been brought to Bengaluru from Sitamarhi district in Bihar state by at least five different traffickers.

The boys had been working at the factory for between one and 14 months.

In their accounts to officials, the boys said they were forced to work throughout the day with breaks for meals only. None were allowed to call or visit their families.

Paswan said they had been promised wages of 7,000 rupees ($105) a month. Most said the money had been sent for a few months to their parents and then discontinued.

Police have registered a case against the owner of the factory and two traffickers under the anti-slavery legislation.

They arrested two people. The factory owner is at large, investigating police, said in an interview, requesting anonymity.
The Indian government is offering to buy hundreds of fighter planes from foreign manufacturers - as long as the jets are made in India and with a local partner, air force officials say.

A deal for 200 single-engine planes produced in India - which the air force says could rise to 300 as it fully phases out ageing Soviet-era aircraft -- could be worth anything from $13-$15 billion, experts say, potentially one of the countrys biggest military aircraft deals.

After a deal to buy high-end Rafale planes from Frances Dassault was scaled back to just 36 jets last month, the Indian Air Force is desperately trying to speed up other acquisitions and arrest a fall in operational strength, now a third less than required to face both China and Pakistan.

But Prime Minister Narendra Modis administration wants any further military planes to be built in India with an Indian partner to kickstart a domestic aircraft industry, and end an expensive addiction to imports.

Lockheed Martin said it is interested in setting up a production line for its F-16 plane in India for not just the Indian military, but also for export.

And Swedens Saab has offered a rival production line for its Gripen aircraft, setting up an early contest for one of the biggest military plane deals in play.

The immediate shortfall is 200. That would be the minimum we would be looking at, said an air officer briefed on the Make-in-India plans under which a foreign manufacturer will partner local firms to build the aircraft with technology transfer.

The defence ministry has written to several companies asking if they would be willing to set up an assembly line for single-engine fighter planes in India and the amount of technology transfer that would happen, another government source said.

We are testing the waters, testing the foreign firms willingness to move production here and to find out their expectations, the person said.

OPERATIONAL GAPS

Indias air force originally planned for 126 Rafale twin-engine fighters from Dassault, but the two sides could not agree on the terms of local production with a state-run Indian firm and settled for 36 planes in a fly-away condition.

Adding to the militarys problems is Indias three-decade effort to build a single-engine fighter of its own which was meant to be the backbone of the air force. Only two of those Light Combat Aircraft, called Tejas, have been delivered to the air force which has ordered 140 of them.

The Indian Air Force is down to 32 operational squadrons compared with the 45 it has said are necessary, and in March the vice chief Air Marshal BS Dhanoa told parliaments defence committee that it didnt have the operational strength to fight a two front war against China and Pakistan.

JET MAKERS RESPOND

Saab said it was ready to not only produce its frontline Gripen fighter in India, but help build a local aviation industry base.

We are very experienced in transfer of technology  our way of working involves extensive cooperation with our partners to establish a complete ecosystem, not just an assembly line, said Jan Widerstrom, chairman and managing director, Saab India Technologies.

He confirmed Saab had received the letter from the Indian government seeking a fourth generation fighter. A source close to the company said that while there was no minimum order set in stone for it to lay down a production line, they would expect to build at least 100 planes at the facility.

Lockheed Martin said it had responded to the defence ministrys letter with an offer to transfer the entire production of its F-16 fighter to India.

Exclusive F-16 production in India would make India home to the worlds only F-16 production facility, a leading exporter of advanced fighter aircraft, and offer Indian industry the opportunity to become an integral part of the worlds largest fighter aircraft supply chain, Abhay Paranjape, National Executive for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Business Development in India said in an email.

US TOP SUPPLIER

Lockheeds offer comes on the back of expanding US-India military ties in which Washington has emerged as Indias top arms supplier in recent years, ousting old ally Russia.

Earlier this year Boeing also offered India its twin-engine F/A-18 Hornets, but the level of technology transfer was not clear.

India has never previously attempted to build a modern aircraft production line, whether military or civilian. State-run Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) has assembled Russian combat jets including the Su-30, but these are under licensed production.

We have never had control over technology. This represents the most serious attempt to build a domestic base. A full or a near-full tech transfer lays the ground for further development, said retired Indian air marshal M. Matheswaran, a former adviser at HAL.

He said the Indian government would be looking at producing at least 200 fighters, and then probably some more, to make up for the decades of delay in modernising the air force.

(Additional reporting by Tommy Wilkes )
U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton holds an unscheduled news conference to talk about FBI inquiries into her emails after a campaign rally in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S. October 28, 2016. Photo by Reuters/Brian Snyder

U.S. House Speaker Ryan renews call to suspend classified briefings for Clinton

The head of the FBI said on Friday the agency would investigate additional emails that have surfaced related to Hillary Clinton's use of a personal email server to determine whether they contain classified information, adding that it is unclear how significant the new materials may be.

In a letter to key Republican committee chairmen in the House of Representatives and Senate, FBI Director James Comey said that he "cannot predict how long it will take us to complete this additional work."

The U.S. State Department said on Friday it will cooperate with the FBI investigation.

"We certainly stand ready to cooperate if we are asked to do so, but we just don't have any additional details or information at this point," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.

Call to suspend classified briefings for Clinton

In the wake of FBI Director James Comey's letter, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan renewed his call for U.S. intelligence officials to stop giving Hillary Clinton classified briefing typically given to presidential candidates.

"This decision, long overdue, is the result of her reckless use of a private email server, and her refusal to be forthcoming with federal investigators. I renew my call for the Director of National Intelligence to suspend all classified briefings for Secretary Clinton until this matter is fully resolved," Ryan said in a statement referring to the former secretary of state.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump welcomed news on Friday that the FBI would investigate the additional emails.

"I have great respect for the fact that the FBI and the Department of Justice are now willing to have the courage to right the horrible mistake that they made, Trump told a campaign rally in Manchester, New Hampshire.

John Podesta, chairman of U.S. Democrat Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, listens as she talks to the media inside of her campaign plane after the third and final 2016 presidential campaign debate in North Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., October 19, 2016. Photo by Reuters/Carlos Barria

Clinton campaign says 'confident'

The chairman of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign said in the same day that the campaign was "confident" the FBI would again recommend against pressing charges against the former secretary of state relating to her use of a private email server once it wraps up the latest leg of its investigation.

"The (FBI) Director owes it to the American people to immediately provide the full details of what he is now examining," campaign chairman John Podesta said in a statement after the FBI said it was examining new emails for whether they contained classified information.

"We are confident this will not produce any conclusions different from the one the FBI reached in July," he said.

Related news:

> Trump assails Bill Clinton, vows to jail Hillary Clinton if he wins White House

> U.S. judge says Clinton may have to testify in email lawsuit
Farhat, the PA of Samajwadi Partys Rajya Sabha MP Munvvar Salim, was on Saturday sent to police custody for ten days by a Delhi court in the Pakistan espionage case.

The investigating officer said the accused, who was allegedly working for an ISI spy ring, was produced before duty magistrate Arun Kumar Garg and remanded for custodial interrogation till November 8.

He said Farhat has to be confronted with other arrested men to unearth the larger conspiracy and nab others.

Delhi Police claimed that Farhat was involved in the espionage ring in which Pakistan High Commission staffer Mehmood Akhtar, described as the kingpin working for Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence, was detained by police for alleged possession of sensitive defence documents.

It said that Farhat was detained on Friday night and was arrested on Saturday afternoon after prolonged questioning.

The officer said that preliminary questioning has led to certain revelations that need to be further investigated as other names have cropped up.

The agency has already arrested three persons -- Shoaib Hasan, Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangir -- earlier in the case who are in police custody till November 8.

During the proceedings on Saturday, police alleged that more persons are likely to be apprehended and more documents and other evidence to be recovered with the help of the accused.

The agency also said that all the accused persons arrested so far would be confronted with each other and taken to various places in the course of the investigation.
The Pakistan government had informed the Union home ministry about the death of a fisherman from Gujarat at Karachi jail hospital, state fisheries minister Babubhai Bokharia said on Saturday.

Mohan Jethiya Rathod from Malkhet in Umargam Tehsil of Valsad district had died on October 2 due to illness, as per the communication received by the home ministry.

We hope Pakistani government will fly his body to India at the earliest, Bokharia said.

The authorities in the neighbouring country were yet to communicate to the India when would they dispatch the body, the minister told PTI.

Gujarat government had completed the necessary paperwork to bring back Rathods body, he said.

Rajya Sabha member Parimal Nathwani recently had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the issue.

Veljibhai Masani, senior vice president of Gujarat Fishermen Association, had also taken up the issue with the Centre.

Rathod was one of the seven crew members onboard Sara, the boat which was seized by Pakistan Maritime Security Agency in the Arabian Sea on the charge of entering that countrys waters on December 20 last year.

Remaining crew members are still in jail in Pakistan.
The personal assistant of a Rajya Sabha MP of the Samajwadi Party has been arrested in connection with an espionage racket that allegedly involved a Pakistan high commission staffer.

Delhi Police detained Farhat Akhtar, an aide of SPs Munawwar Salim, on Friday night, said a senior Crime Branch officer. He was arrested after questioning.

Police are also trying to catch hold of other members of the racket who were suspected of having close links with Pakistan high commissions Mehmood Akhtar.

Tensions between India and Pakistan have escalated further after Mehmood was briefly detained for allegedly running the spy ring that collected sensitive information about Indian security operations.

Read: The spy story: 10 things about Pak officials detention in Delhi, his network

Police detained Mehmood on Wednesday and arrested two Indian citizens at the Delhi zoo when they were meeting to exchange sensitive documents. A third Indian was arrested on Thursday. Mehmood, who was released from custody under diplomatic immunity rules, has been asked to leave the country by Saturday.

Pakistan has denied the charge and accused Indian investigators of manhandling Mehmood. It also expelled an Indian embassy staff in a tit-for-tat move, saying his activities were against diplomatic norms. New Delhi has rejected Pakistans accusations.

Mehmood said in his confession that he was in touch with one Farhat, police sources said. It was later found out that Farhat was the personal assistant of SPs Salim.

Based on Akhtars questioning, we called Farhat for clarifications. He is being questioned..., a police source said.

Police suspect that Farhat supplied documents on national security to Mehmood in exchange for money. Being the assistant of a Rajya Sabha MP, he had access to a few relevant documents, police sources said.

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Union minister of state for parliamentary affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Saturday said that soldiers would be happy to have Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrating Diwali with them.

The way our soldiers save our borders with such bravery is worth a salute from all of us. Prime Minister Modi always tries celebrate the festivals with jawans of the Indian Army and this time also he is doing the same. This gives happiness to the soldiers who protect our borders day and night, Naqvi told ANI.

Prime Minister Modi leaves for Chamoli on Saturday to celebrate the Diwali with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval will accompany the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Modi has urged the nation to send their good wishes to the armed forces to boost their morale.

In 2014, the Prime Minister celebrated Diwali with the flood-affected people in Srinagar, and last year he visited Amritsar to celebrate Diwali with army troops.
A con man, posing as a doctor, drove away with a luxury car after taking it for a test drive from a second hand car dealer in Hyderabad, police said on Saturday.

The 35-year-old man, who introduced himself as Gowtham Reddy, working at Apollo Hospitals arrived at Nani Cars in Srinagar Colony on Friday and expressed interest to buy an Audi car, Banjara Hills Police Inspector K Srinivas said.

He then took an Audi Q3 worth about Rs 25 lakh from the dealers office for test drive. The showroom owner gave the car and sent along with him one of the showroom staffers, the officer said.

They drove up to Apollo Hospitals where the accused asked the showroom staffer to get down so that he can take the car into the hospital and show it to his friends. Afterwards, he drove into the hospital and never returned, the police official said.

A case has been registered in this regard and further investigations into the matter are going on, police added.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expressing concerns over reports suggesting that the NDA government has decided to downgrade the status of military officers compared to their civilian counterparts.

Raising the issues of reduction of disability pension and the anomalies in the one rank-one pension rolled out by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government, he said these developments have adversely affected the morale of the armed forces soon after they conducted surgical strikes against terror launchpads across the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border between India and Pakistan.

I am saddened that in the last few weeks actions taken by the government, far from reassuring the soldiers, have indeed caused them pain and hurt, Gandhi said in the October 28 letter to the PM.

Just days after our soldiers conducted the surgical strikes, the disability pension system was converted to a new slab system, that in many instances drastically reduces the pension received by these brave men in case of a disability, he said.

The defence ministry had earlier this month referred the representation of the armed forces for a percentage-based system rather than a slab-based one for determining disability pension to the Anomaly Committee of the 7th Central Pay Commission.

The decision followed widespread criticism over a move that introduced a slab-based system, as recommended by the 7th Pay Commission, for determining the disability pension for defence forces.

The Congress vice-president claimed that the roll out of the 7th Pay Commission continues to keep the defence forces at disadvantage and further exacerbates the disparity between them and civil employees.

To add to that we learnt through the media that the government has downgraded the status of our military officers vis-a-vis their civilian counterparts in a letter dated 18 October 2016, Gandhi wrote.

The rank controversy erupted after hindustantimes.com broke the story on October 24. On Friday, the government took a U-turn and decided to form a panel to look into the row after it had ruled out any re-look at the new norms that angered the armed forces.

And finally contrary to what was promised, One Rank One Pension (OROP), as implemented by your government, does not fully meet the genuine demands of our ex-servicemen and they have been forced to come out on the streets to make their voice heard on this vital issue, Gandhi said.

The government had appointed a one-man judicial committee to look into the anomalies in the implementation of OROP following widespread protests. The committee, under L the chairmanship of Narasimha Reddy, the retired Chief Justice of Patna high court, submitted its report to defence minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday. The panel had held hearings in around 20 cities and towns across the country and interacted with cross sections of ex-servicemen.

As a responsible democracy we must make sure that the brave soldiers who put their lives on the line for each one of us, feel the love, support and gratitude of 125 crore people, the Congress leader said.

Wishing the Prime Minister on Diwali, Gandhi urged him to ensure that the soldiers get their due as they risk their lives each day to defend the nation. It is our duty to show them that we care for them and their families, not only through our words, but also through our actions, he said.

As we celebrate Diwali, and rejoice in the victory of light over darkness, let us send this message to our soldiers that our gratitude is expressed both in words and in deed. This is the very least we owe to those who give up their today to secure our tomorrow, Gandhi said while concluding his two-page letter.

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Ideological fount of the BJP, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) will not only campaign for the party in the states going to polls in 2017, but will also reach out to registered voters of the election-bound states, living elsewhere.

As the BJP gears for assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Manipur and Uttarakhand, the RSS has charted a plan that will see volunteers reach out to those voters who live in metropolitan cities, but are expected to travel to their home states to cast their votes.

For instance, over the next few weeks, volunteers of the RSS will fan out across JJ clusters in the national capital to ensure the targets of Centres health, education and skill development programmes are aware of the schemes and benefitting from them.

A senior functionary of the RSS asserts that the programme has not been conceived with an eye on the elections; but the identified area--localities in the North East of Delhi-- home to thousands of migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar is clear giveaway of its intent.

Christened setu (bridge) the programme will entail RSS workers reaching out to over 10,000 families in 25 such localities over the next two years, listing out centrally-sponsored schemes such as the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme, which provides food, preschool education, and primary healthcare to children under 6 years of age and their mothers.

Karyakartas (volunteers) will be divided into groups of five, which will have at least two women, and one member between 18-25. These groups will have pockets allotted to them where they will oversee whether the mid day meals are being provided, immunisation is being offered and if there are people in need of skill development, said a functionary of the Delhi unit.

The RSS is hopeful that its overtures will win over these migrant voters, when UP goes to polls early next year. The Setu programme is in addition to the canvassing the RSS volunteers will do for the party in the poll-bound states.

Under its samajik samarasta (social harmony) campaign, the RSS will also reach out to the so-called lower castes this Diwali. RSS karyakartas will meet 6,000 opinion makers across sections, including the Dalits on the festive occasion.

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Samajwadi Party MP Munawwar Saleem has said he will kill himself if any links with Pakistan were found against him, a day after his personal assistant (PA) was arrested in Delhi for alleged links with espionage ring.

My life is an open book. Everyone in my home district Vidisha and elsewhere know about it. My house has always been open to all in Vidisha and New Delhi, but I cant even dream of having any association with Pakistan, ISI or any other anti-national element, Saleem told reporters in Vidisha on Saturday.

The Rajya Sabha MP said he would kill himself along with his family if investigators came out with even the smallest of evidence of his links with anti-nationals.

Saleems PA, Farhat, identified only by his first name, was arrested in Delhi on Friday night on the basis of information provided by Mehmood Akhtar, who was on deputation at the trade section of the Pakistan high commission.

The busting of the ring has spiked tensions between the neighbours, who have been trading charges and artillery shells along the border since the militant attack on an Indian army camp at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir left 19 soldiers dead.

Saleem said he had come to know about Farhats arrest from TV and immediately e-mailed the Rajya Sabha secretariat, requesting them to seize his identity card and nullify it.

I only know that Farhat hails from Kairana town in west UP and I gave him a chance to become my PA 11 months ago, he said, adding that his verification was done fully by the Rajya Sabha secretariat through Delhi Police as well as UP Police.

Prior to being appointed as his PA, Farhat had served in similar capacity for other MPs as well, including former SP MP Munawwar Hasan, who died in a road accident in 2008, he said.

Maintaining that anyone conspiring against the nation should be rendered the harshest punishment, the Rajya Sabha member assured total cooperation with all the agencies probing the matter.

Powerful UP minister Azam Khan played a key role in Saleems nomination to the Rajya Sabha, which was done by SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav in 2012 as the Muslim face of the party in Bundelkhand region.
In a bid to strengthen vigil along the riverine border with Bangladesh, BSF has decided to deploy six to seven floating border outposts (BOP) next year.

Currently, there are three BOPs that keep surveillance in the Sunderbans.

Read: India, Bangladesh to erect new single-layer fence on border

However, BSF has refused to divulge the number of BOPs that it is going to deploy.

In order to strengthen vigil, we are going to install more BOPs along our riverine border, P S R Anjaneyulu, inspector general, BSF, South Bengal Frontier, told HT.

The vigil along Bangladesh border has increased after the infiltration of the eastern neighbour of India by IS elements, and especially since the massacre in Dhakas Holey Artisan Bakery on July 1 when 20 hostages (18 foreigners, two locals) people were killed.

Mechanised country boats are also used by BSF to supplement its fleet of speed boats. (HT Photo)

Even earlier guarding the waters became extremely important for the country since 2008 when 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) carried out serial attacks in Mumbai after crossing the seas and landing in Mumbai.

The attack lasted for four days, snuffed out 164 lives and came to be recognised as a milestone in the terrorist activities in the modern world.

Read: Cow smuggling along Bangladesh border down, collateral problems up

After this incident, the Union government stepped up vigil in every riverine area that is sharing borders with another country, and at the same time asked every state government to strengthen vigil. Bengal government has also increased the number of costal police stations in Bengal and purchased modern equipment like speed boats, and installed radars.

About 35-40 personnel posted in each BOP and four to five speedboats are deployed for every such outpost. These boats roam around the area in close coordination with the police and other security agencies that are also working in border area, said a BSF officer, requesting anonymity.

BSF has also used speed boats along Ichamati river to curb cow smuggling to Bangladesh. (HT Photo)

According to him, the installation of floating BOPs may take nearly one year.

The Ichamati river marks the border between Bangladesh and south Bengal for quite some distance. The total stretch of this area is about 80 km where the new BoPs will be deployed.

Read: Dhaka attack aftermath: High alert sounded in 5 states on Indo-Bangla border

The Sunderbans is the main border area and there are 102 islands in this area where 54 islands are inhabited by humans. The rest of the islands mainly consist of dense forests and wildlife habitats.

Our men are already keeping round the clock vigil in the area. But after BOPs are installed, the level of vigil will go up further, said R P S Jaswal, the DIG, BSF, South Bengal Frontier.

Read: Indian cow vigilantism gives Bangladesh opportunity to be self sufficient

Since the new government assumed power ta the Centre, BSF was asked to step up vigil in the border with Bangladesh. It has also sharply reduced the number of cattle that are smuggled through the land in Bangladesh.

After the BSF dug up trenches along the border area to stop cattle smuggling, smugglers tried to send cattle through waterways. There are several incidents where BSF with their speedboats chased these smugglers, caught them and seized cattle.

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The ploy could have been explosive but it turned out to be a dud in the end.

Indeed, the self-claimed desperation for a permanent job made a former contractual class four court employee set off a bomb scare on the Allahabad high court premises, police said.

Santosh Kumar Agrahari was arrested Friday within 24 hours of having alerted other court employees and judicial officers after claiming to have found a tiffin box full of firecrackers and a suspicious explosive-like powder late Thursday night, police added.

He confessed later to having placing a plastic with the box under a bench in a courtroom, taking advantage of the lack of activity during the Diwali vacations which have begun, police claimed.

Jobless for the last few years, he also admitted that he alerted the court officials so that he could gain their confidence and win a recommendation for a permanent job at the court, police said.

A case was registered against Agrahari under Section 4/5 of the Explosives Act at the Cantonment police station here, police said.

Senior superintendent of police Shalabh Mathur also said the powder found inside the box seemed to be a common explosive used in crackers. It has been sent to a forensic lab for tests. Agrahari, the sole breadwinner of his family of four, told the police he was going through an acute financial crisis.

His role came under suspicion when he was asked about his designation at the high court and failed to give a satisfactory answer, senior superintendent of police Shalabh Mathur said.

His identity card was also found to be outdated. Contradictions in Agraharis statements were found when CCTV footage of the courtroom and the corridor were scanned. He informed the police that he thrice entered courtroom number 55 and spotted an unclaimed polythene bag after which he alerted the other court employees. However, the footage revealed Agrahari was roaming in the corridor with the polythene bag in his hand.

Agrahari said he entered the court premises with the crackers in his pockets via gate number 4 of the high court after showing his old identity card. He had hidden the tiffin on a shelf near courtroom 37. He packed the box with the crackers and other material at a store behind the same courtroom. Then, he went to courtroom 55.He told the police that he worked as a contractual employee at the high court for 14 years but was never given permanent employment. The SSP further said Agraharis contract came to an end a few years ago after which he became jobless.

However, he continued to come to court, taking advantage of his old identity card and managed to earn a few hundred rupees doing odd jobs. A class 7 dropout, he belongs to Amethi district but lives with his wife and two children in Rajruppur locality of Allahabad. His wife holds an MA degree.

Earlier, panic gripped the high court premises when the unclaimed polythene bag containing a tiffin box was recovered from courtroom number 55 late Thursday evening. Some firecrackers, a plastic ball wrapped in tape and powder mixed with ball bearings was recovered from the box and the polythene bag which also had a knife. District magistrate Sanjay Kumar, the SSP and other senior police officials rushed to the scene and summoned the bomb disposal squad. Taking no chances, the bomb disposal squad put the explosives in a bucket of water.
In Mumbai, a young man literally takes the plunge, diving into a swimming pool fully dressed, holding out a ring to his fiance. She waits underwater, holding her breath, surrounded by flowers and dressed in a bright pink ball gown.

Its a scene that might smack of Bollywood, but its not all make-believe. The actors are a real-life couple and the scene is part of their wedding movie.

Watch Karishma and Vishesh Jains underwater wedding film

Filmmaking is the newest addition to the Big Fat Indian Wedding, with couples making movies complete with scripts, songs and elaborate costumes. These movies are usually centered on them and feature friends, relatives and in-laws in secondary roles, recreating key events in the couples courtship (first meeting, first major fight, breaking the news to the families, family reactions, the proposal, etc).

So in Delhi, a camera wends its way along streets in Hauz Khas Village and Ashok Nagar, filming friends and relatives who talk about how the couple first met (they barely noticed each other), were introduced again by cousins, and eventually fell in love.

Saurabh and Aastha Wason from Delhi were shot by Rajesh Luthra Photography.

In Goa, a wedding movie shows a couple smiling and chatting as they walk down a sunlit beach. Theyve finally found some alone time, away from the bustle of the metropolis. On her finger is an engagement ring; the guy has just proposed.

In many cases, there are song-and-dance sequences, with the music and steps usually borrowed from Bollywood and Hollywood but sometimes written by the couple or expressly for the couple by wedding storytellers.

Some are even shot on location, with couples travelling to Goa, Jaisalmer and Ladakh for a few days just for their shoot.

Mumbais Rishabh and Aditi Jain shot their film in Goa, with Seventy By Two.

Shoots generally last two to three days and the movies are usually about 1 minute to 10 minutes long, with budgets ranging from Rs 60,000 (for something like the Hauz Khas video) to Rs 3 lakh (for movies shot outdoors in locations such as Rajasthan, Goa and Ladakh).

Wedding movies first surfaced in India three years ago and have been getting increasingly popular, as the technology for making them and showcasing them has become more accessible.

The videos are generally released in parts  first a trailer, then a preview and finally the entire film  either just before or just after the wedding itself. They are usually shared via Facebook, Twitter and YouTube or on the couples wedding website.

Watch Sujay and Ruchita take wedding festivities up a notch with a film shot in Jaisalmer

THE FAIRYTALE EFFECT

Every couple wants their wedding to look like a fairytale and we try to make that possible for them, says Akash Agarwal, a Mumbai-based wedding filmmaker who runs a company called WeddingNama. Some want to shoot the movie at a dream location, even if that means travelling just for the shoot. Others want to capture their love in surreal settings and get out-of-this-world shots.

Where about 20% of clients would go in for a scripted movie three years ago, now more than half want some form of short film to tell their story, adds Aloha Mehta of Ellite Wedding Planners.

Wedding movies are generally offered by wedding planners, who then rope in photographers to plan and execute the shoots. The planners have costume rental services, make-up artists and even scriptwriters and choreographers they can then call upon to help.

Read: For wedding-day perfection, many don't mind going under the knife

Usually, elaborate planning is required in the form of storyboards, styling and equipment. Drones and slow-motion and underwater cameras are used to make the film visually appealing, Agarwal says.

The shoot is actually the final stage, says Gala, a wedding movie scriptwriter who runs a company called Seventy by Two- Wedding Stories.

Shashank and Komal Jains film shot by Saurabh Patwari in Udaipur.

Gala, incidentally, is an IIM graduate who quit a career in real-estate to pursue his passion  photography  and set up his company more than three years ago.

We sit with the couple and listen to their story. We understand their personalities, likes and dislikes. Once we have all the information, we work out the script. We try to keep the story as original as possible and add just a pinch of drama to make the video interesting, Gala says.

Rishabh Jain, 25, a businessman from Mumbai, and his wife Aditi, 23, a homemaker, wanted to keep their wedding movie as real as possible.

Read: Brides are breaking with tradition in exciting and colourful ways

Shot largely in Goa a month before their wedding in May 2015, it shows how the two liked each other but were not able to spend much time together in fast-paced Mumbai, and how they decided to head to the beach state for some quality time. It goes on to show how Rishabh realised in Goa that Aditi was the love of his life  all of which really did happen. In the movie, he surprises her at the end by proposing.

That last bit didnt happen, says Aditi, laughing. But Rishabh has this habit of surprising me all the time and so in the video, he surprises me with a ring in the end. The video was released at my sangeet ceremony and all my family members found it amazing. They all said it was like nothing they had never seen before.
Try this social experiment the next time youre idly browsing on your favourite e-shopping site. Scroll through the apparel  mens, womens, kurtas, saris, trousers, jumpsuits, it doesnt matter  and see how long it is before you spot a dark-skinned model. Youll be there a while.

As online marketplaces gain a stronger foothold in India, a kind of whitewashing is starting to characterise the catalogues of brands they retail. Labels like Benetton, whose iconic multiracial campaigns cover billboards around the world, have barely a smattering of dark models on Amazon, Myntra and Jabong. Indian brands like Pantaloons feature white men in kurtas. Even Ritu Kumars brand, Label, has only a minuscule proportion of women who are tan or darker. Many of those donning ikat dresses and kitschy prints look more European than Indian.

We contacted representatives for Myntra / Jabong, Ritu Kumar and Benetton but all three companies declined comment.

Gurpreet Singh, whose company Browntape Technologies helps individual brands get their products onto sites like Flipkart, Snapdeal, Myntra and Amazon, says the websites subtly push towards Western or Western-looking models. While it might seem most evident on ecommerce pages, the fixation is something that many brands in the country have been following, he says.

Its not always the sites fault, adds Vikram (last name withheld on request), a photographer who does garment shoots for some of Indias largest e-commerce websites, in addition to Fashion Week work for designers like Manish Malhotra, Anita Dongre and Nikhil Thampi. Usually, the product images come from the brands, he says.

So why do brands and websites alike seem to prefer to showcase their clothes on models that most Indians cannot identify with?

Read: Fairness and anti-ageing creams may not be good for your health

The whitewash

Those in the know will tell you that fashion shoots, especially for e-commerce websites, are gruelling, endless and largely devoid of glamour. You pose for the same four shots: front, back, diagonal and detail, but between hair, make-up and lighting, a single costume change can take hours of prep. Given the sheer number of products to be modelled, studios are typically booked round the clock, with models displaying anything from 70 to a 100 garments in a single 10-hour shift.

Indian wear takes longer to change into and style, says Singh Saris take so long that the sometimes theres only time for 30 per shift.

So e-tail work is at the bottom of the pecking order for most models. While the pay can vary from Rs 8,000 to Rs 15,000 per day, its hectic, uncreative and offers little chance of leading to better campaigns.

Talent agencies say this puts off most local talent, since Indian models are usually looking for their big break rather than trying to earn a little on the side during a break or gap year.

Of the local talent, I would say eight out of 10 are problematic, says Arpita Gulati, co-director of Delhi firm Auraa Models, which has primarily foreign models on its roster. Theyre the ones whove been told they look good and are tall and should try modelling, but have no idea that it is hard work. They will watch the clock, wont cooperate.

Read: Why Diana Penty will never endorse a fairness cream

Brands often find that they can squeeze in more shots with a foreign model, making them better value, Gulati adds. Theyre just easier to work with. They come on time, and will deliver until their last change. You dont have to push them to work.

Selina Dulz, a German model in India for a second six-month shooting stint, says hard work is part of the job. Shes booked nearly every day for commercials, catalogues and e-commerce jobs. There are days Ive changed 70 outfits and one rush job even had 150, she says. I go home, eat, sleep, shower, get coffee and go back to do it all over again the next day. Shes 19.

Foreign but familiar

While Singh agrees that some Indian models less-than-professional conduct hampers shoots, he says thats not always the reason a foreigner is hired. It is believed that if you have product photos with foreign models, they will sell better, he says. We are a country where thousands of crores of fairness cream are sold. This is not a surprise at all.

Authentically brown faces are often lightened too. About 80% of my job is done at the computer, making women and men look fairer, says the photographer.

For shoppers, it makes for a surreal experience. Heenal Shah, a 21-year-old intern at a glossy magazine who buys from online sites about twice a week, says she finds the fair, thin, tall models kind of fake. We have to figure out what a colour or style might look like on our skin and our height. Will the purple clash on me? Will those boyfriend jeans suit my 411 frame? Its time the sites become more realistic, she says.

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Uddhav Thackeray is quietly having the last laugh. Just around the time that his cousin Raj Thackeray was striking a deal with Karan Johar in Chief Minister Devendra Fadnaviss presence to pay Rs 5 crore into an army welfare fund as penalty for including Pakistani artistes in his film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, the Sena chief was in Goa striking one of his own, But this deal was a legitimate one and quite above board.

With elections to Goa approaching early next year, the Shiv Sena has now officially tied up with the Goa Suraksha Manch, a new party set up by Subhash Velingkar, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh functionary who was bested by Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and has now struck out on his own.

The battle between Parrikar and Velingkar was over grants to English medium schools. According to Vinayak Prabhu, an analyst who hails from Goa and watches its politics closely, Most English medium schools are run by Christian missionaries and they get double grants  one from the Catholic church and another from the government thus giving them an unfair advantage. Marathi and Konkani schools thus have an uphill task keeping up with the missionary schools. Parrikar had promised to withdraw these government grants to the English medium schools during his election campaign in 2012 but with a 24 per cent Catholic population, no government can afford to alienate this substantial chunk of voters. In the running battle between the two, the RSS top brass, which does not want to lose Goa, sided with Parrikar and that led to Velingkar splitting from the party.

Now the Shiv Senas pre-poll alliance with the GSM is set to damage the BJPs prospects at the February 2017 elections with all indications that despite a lethargic Congress, the BJP may be unable to retain its majority. The Goa assembly has just 40 members and it has been frequently observed in the past that barely one member or two make the difference between government and the opposition.

It was this tie-up of the Shiv Sena with the GSM at has rattled the BJP in Maharashtra which has been seeking to sideline the party which is its ally in government and yet its bitterest opponent. If the Sena were to win even a single seat in a hung Goa assembly, that would offer tremendous leverage to Uddhav to bargain with the BJP not just in Goa but also Maharashtra where it has its primary alliance with the party. Asked if this was not a betrayal of its long term ally, Uddhav said, quite correctly, Our alliance is limited to Maharashtra. We have contested polls in other states too without any alliance with the BJP.

He is right  at the height of the Ayodhya movement in Uttar Pradesh in the 1990s, the Sena won its singular seat in the UP Assembly. It has gone on its own in states like Gujarat and even Goa in the past with limited success. Most recently it contested several seats in Bihar, cutting into the BJPs votes in the face of a united opposition to the party in November 2015. But now the issue of language, which was the raison detre of the Sena in Maharashtra and the reason for its foundation in the first place, is what has united Subhash Velingkar and Uddhav Thackeray for Velingkr too is fighting for the supremacy of Konkani over Rnglish as Bal Thackeray had done for Marathi in the 1960s.

Marathi is my mother but Konkani is my maushi (mothers sister),Uddhav said in a nuanced reply to a question about the Goans preference for Konkani over Marathi.

Uddhav is well aware of the fact that Goans had rebelled against integration with Maharashtra after liberation from the Portuguese and that even a whiff of an attempt to dominate Goans over the language issue could backfire on his party.

However, the alliance with the GSM is all set to dent the BJP not just in Goa but also the adjoining districts in Maharashtra which are on the cusp of local self government elections. The BJP is not confident of beating the Sena at the crucial election to the Brihanmumbai Corporation (BMC) and playing Raj Thackeray against Uddhav might have seemed like a good idea at the time which prompted Fadnavis to broker a deal between the MNS and Johar. However, the huge backlash, which,included disapproving statements from Parrikar and Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Venkaiah Naidu has unnerved the State BJP which seems to have scored a self-goal in the process.

Uddhav was not beyond his own sarcasm on the issue. In response to a question on what he thought about the deal struck between Johar and Raj, he said, I have heard there is a new movie in the offing starring these three actors (Fadnavis, Raj and Joha). It is being titled Yeh toh hona hi thaa!

But there is a deep political nuance beind that humour. Uddhav knows the BJP is nervous about both the BMC and Goa assembly polls and he is expecting the party to trip itself up in its eagerness to cut the Shiv Sena down to size. However, the BJP seems to have picked on the wrong man for that job. Raj now has very little following and has been unable to evolve and grasp modern day issues as his cousin Uddhav has in some measure. Raj is now being seen as little more than an extortionist and the horror of that revelation is showing in his response and body language. Both the BJP and the MNS may have shot themselves in the foot and that is half the battle won for the Sena in both the BMC and Goa.

No wonder Uddhav is laughing up his sleeve  and perhaps he may be laughing all the way to the electoral bank in the coming weeks

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The state pollution control board has approved the use of all 26 types of firecrackers that were tested for noise levels on October 18 in Mumbai. However, the result for a chemical analysis test of the firecrackers is yet to be issued b the board.

Officials from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) told HT on Thursday that individual noise levels from serial (1000 series) as well as single crackers, was calculated by their scientific officers and the decibel (dB) levels were found to be below the permissible limit of 125 dB .

Apart from testing crackers in Mumbai, we have received reports of similar firecracker testing done across the state over the past week. Noise from none of the crackers surpassed safe limit under noise rules, said VM Motghare, joint director, MPCB. We submitted our findings to the Controller of Explosives, Nagpur with a conclusion that none of the crackers should be banned this year.

On October 18, the annual testing by MPCB and anti-noise campaigner Awaaz Foundation, found the noise levels from serial crackers (1000 series) to be at a maximum of 116  118 dB (1000 series at 116.2dB). The testing was done in an open ground in Rashtriya Chemical and Fertiliser (RCF) colony, Chembur, 12 days before Diwali.

While permissible limits for single crackers is 125 decibels (dB), a series of crackers (ladi) have limits between 90 decibel (dB) and 110dB, depending on the number of crackers put together. For serial crackers, noise from each individual cracker from the series was tested and a logarithmic analysis showed that individual crackers were below 110 dB limit, said Motghare.

Meanwhile, the results for the chemical analysis of the crackers are yet to be received from the pollution boards laboratory. While some of the crackers showed release of thick smoke and could have traces of lead and zinc, it is yet to be confirmed from our lab, said Motghare.

Anti-noise activists said that there was a drop in noise levels due to enforcement as well as awareness. During 2012, firecracker testing by different groups clearly showed a 100% violation for all firecrackers. While awareness has resulted in a lesser use of firecrackers, over the years, the firecracker testing done by our NGO, the pollution board and several complaints to the Controller of Explosives and the police that led to better enforcement and the manufacture of less noisy crackers, said Sumaira Abdulali, convener, Awaaz Foundation.

What to do if noise levels are breached around you this Diwali?

#Measure noise levels using free downloadable App on iPhone or android phone.

#Take a photograph of the measurement for your records.

#Complain to Police Control Room by dialing 100 and get a complaint number.

 In case of continued violation, message the police on Twitter (@MumbaiPolice) or lodge a complaint on their website (https://mumbaipolice.maharashtra.gov.in/complaint.asp).

#Send a copy to Awaaz Foundations email address: sumairaabdulali@yahoo.com, or Facebook page Get Well Soon Mumbai.

#Follow up on your complaints by filing additional complaints as needed. Get a complaint number every time.

#Write to assistant commissioner of police, deputy commissioner of police and commissioner, Mumbai with copy to Awaaz Foundation. The letter or email should contain the date, time, silence, residential or other zone, name of concerned police station, source of noise (type of cracker used), complaint number and status of action taken.

In a first, pollution board to check noise levels this Diwali

The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) said that they will for the first time record noise readings at 158 locations across 26 municipal corporations across Maharashtra along with calculating air quality levels.

We recorded ambient noise at all 158 locations on October 24 to adjudge the noise levels during a non-Diwali day and have background readings. On October 30, the same test will be conducted along with air quality analysis throughout the state. The readings will be compared to national ambient air quality standards and put up on our website, said VM Motghare, joint director, MPCB.

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A day after the Supreme Court stayed his bail, suspended JD (U) MLC Manorama Devis son Rocky Yadav, who allegedly shot dead a class XII student for overtaking his SUV, on Saturday surrendered before the Gaya district court in Bihar.

The Patna High Court had on October 19 granted bail to Rocky in the case.

Rocky, son of suspended Janata Dal United MLC Manorama Devi and alleged history sheeter Bindi Yadav, is accused of shooting and killing Aditya Sachdeva, a Class XII student who was driving his Maruti car, for overtaking his SUV on May 7 near Gaya.

A day after Rocky came out of jail, Principal Additional Advocate General Lalit Kishore had said the state government would file an appeal in the Supreme Court challenging the bail granted to the accused by the High Court.

The police arrested Rocky from his father Bindi Yadavs mixer plant complex in Gaya on May 10.

Rockys parents, accused of sheltering him while he was on the run after the murder, were recently granted bail.

Read | Bail for Gaya road rage accused draws flak, forces govt into damage control

The police filed a charge sheet in a Gaya court against Rocky and another accused in connection with this case.

Police had filed a chargesheet in a Gaya court against Rocky and another accused in connection with the murder. They had also filed chargesheet against Rockys cousin Teni Yadav, his father Bindi Yadav and his MLC mothers bodyguard, Rajesh Kumar, in the murder case.

The state government had put the case on speedy trial and investigation was completed in three weeks and chargesheet filed within a month of the incident.

Rocky was facing two cases - one of murder of Aditya Sachdeva and another under Excise Act for recovery of liquor bottles from the house of his mother.

His name was included along with his father Bindi Yadav in the case of recovery of liquor bottles which were found when police raided his mothers house looking for Rocky.
The contractual employees of Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant (GNDTP) Bathinda, and Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant (GHTP), Lehra Mohabat, blocked deputy commissioners office on Friday.

Hundreds of protestors accompanied by their families, blocked Bathinda-Mansa road outside mini secretariat for more than four hours.

The agitators raised slogans against Punjab government.

They protested against management of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited for their decision to shut down public thermal plants for six months during winter season. The plants are being shut from November 1 onwards. The agitators also demanded regularisation of their jobs.

To encourage privatisation of public-sector services, the state government has decided to close three thermal plants of the state located at Rupnagar, Lehra Mohabbat and Bathinda, said Jagroop Singh, president of GHTP contractual workers union.

By taking the closure decision, state government and PSPCL management is playing with jobs of contractual employees, said Singh.

More than 3,500 employees will be jobless as there will no source of income for them to make both ends meet, Singh said.

Rajinder Singh Dhillon, general secretary of the union, said the state government is playing at the hands of multinational private companies.

The government is willing to close the public sector institutions to promote privatisation without considering the future of contractual government employees, said Dhillon.

On one hand, the government is making tall claims of providing employment to more than one lakh people and on the other, it is taking away employment of contractual employees, he said.

The union leaders said not only contractual employees, even the services of regular staffers will be affected due to the governments decision.

Despite repeated presentations, the state government failed to pay heed to our demand of regularising the services, the union said.

Other unions including Bhartiya Kisan Union (ugarahan) and Naujawan Bharat Sabha also supported their protest.

Meanwhile, heavy police force was deployed near Bathinda thermal plant, where deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal had come to inaugurate the railway over bridge.

Earlier, the protestors had threatened to disrupt Sukhbirs function.
In yet another incident of crime in Amritsar, unidentified accused snatched a bag carrying Rs 5 lakh from a businessman on busy Batala road on Friday.

The police said businessman, Ramesh Arora, was going to a bank on a scooter, when the crime was committed.

They said when he reached near Milan Palace, two accused, on a motorcycle, came near him and ran away with the bag after pushing him.

Though, the police reached the spot in big number after the incident, they are yet to make any crackdown in this case.

A team led by DCP (investigations) Gagan Ajit Singh reached the crime scene and started the probe. The police have got hold of CCTV footage from a nearby camera and would go through it for probable leads.

Snatching incidents on rise in city

At a time when Amritsar is witnessing high footfalls and VVIP movement on account of festive season and also to see newly built Goldten Temple complex, crime has shot up in this holy city.

Recently when chief minister Parkash Singh Badal was in the city to inaugurate heritage street on October 24, the robbers struck at Court Road. They attacked owner of an automobile showroom and his cashier with sharp-edged weapons, injuring them seriously and took away the bag containing Rs 25 lakh. On the following day, a Toyota Fortuner was stolen.

Similarly, a few days ago, a bag was stolen from a woman, who was on a rickshaw. It contained Rs 5000 in cash, mobile phone and jewellery worth Rs 60,000.

Apart from these crimes, a snatching incident took place outside Jallianwala Bagh on October 22. In this incident, a scooter was stolen. Though, the police has made tall claims of enhancing vigil but back to back incident has exposed its working.
Two days before Diwali, when most city residents were busy extending heartiest wishes to each other, the citys elected representatives were throwing verbal volleys of an entirely different nature at each other. From calling each other rats to belittling each others parties, the show that the councillors, including the mayor, put on at the last MC House meeting before the election code of conduct kicks in on November 15, was anything but pleasant.

Sample this: mayor Arun Sood of the BJP told Congress councillor Subhash Chawla, 900 chuhey kha ke billi hajj ko chali (You are playing innocent after having committed so many crimes). The mayor said this after Chawla told the House that the MCs claims of bringing 24*7 water supply to the city was false.

Chawla and other Congress councillors raised objections over the project and an Sood accused its councillors of not letting bring extra water to meet the demand of city residents. The water is to be supplied after a water pipeline is laid as part of Phases 5 and 6 of the Kajauli waterworks.

After being compared to a rat, Chawla said, You are calling us rats, but you are a small rat.

The mayor, however, was not one to be stopped.

To Congress Gurbax Rawat, the mayor said, Apka seene pe kyon saamp laut rehe hain (Why are you getting heartburns)?

The Congress councillors demanded an apology from Sood. Chawla said, You should be ashamed of using such words as rats, and dogs in your position as mayor.

While the Congress wanted debate on the issue before approving other agenda, an adamant mayor insisted that agenda should be approved first.

You are saying that this is a unique project and is happening for the first time. However, this is just an extension work as the city is already getting water from first four phases of the waterworks. The pipelines for these phases were laid during the Congress tenure. Also, funding for the first four phases was done by the central government, and now the MC paid Rs 98 crore for this, the Congress councillors said.

He also questioned the mayor over his statement to the media that an extra 29 million gallons daily (MGD) water will be brought to the city within six months. The MC commissioner clarified it that it was a big project to be completed in a short time.

Sidelights

BJP councillor advises Chawla to do yoga

Reacting to the comment of Congress councillor Sybhash Chawla, where he said, he had a weak heart and should be allowed to speak without any disruption, BJP councillor Asha Jaswal advised him to do yoga. Hitting back, Chawla said, I will come to your home and take proper advice and lessons on yoga.

Argument over oath for transparency

As MC commissioner B Purusharta asked councillors to take pledge for transparency and integrity to mark the Vigilance Awareness Week, Chawla raised an objection to this and said, first explain us the importance of the day. The commissioner was caught off-guard, We have not got a circular, he said and failed to explain the importance. The oath was administered.

Mayors Devtaa version punishes

When former Cong mayor Pardeep Chhabra told the mayor that you are a Devtaa and the Devtaa listens to everybody and requested that the House must be allowed to debate water supply issue first, before taking up the agenda, mayor Arun Sood said, Devtaa to dand (punishment) bhi deta hain. This had everybody burst out in spontaneous laughter.

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I still have a little Pakistan inside me, so I ask, would you draw a line through me too? Budding poet Samreen Chhabra finished her performance with these resonating lines, an appeal trapped in it. Her poem was about the 10 things India has in common with Pakistan that her grandfather had jotted down, the last being the line drawn between us.

Given the recent tension between the two neighbouring countries, her lines hit the right notes with the audience made up of young poets, poetry lovers, friends, professors and family members who gathered at Chandigarhs iconic Open Hand monument in Sector 1 on Friday for an evening of recitation and music. Not an easy task. But such was the urgency that Kavitactic, a collective of young poets, decided to put an application in the Punjab and Haryana High Court to ask for permission for holding the event here.

We wanted to hold the event at the Open Hand because it is symbolic of the vision of Le Corbusier, the creator of the city, said Gursaya Grewal, one of the founders. Kavitactic started a year ago to provide a platform to poets and poetry lovers in the tricity.

The other founder, Prerit Rajput, said, We have broken the myth that poetry is a declining art form among the youth. We now have around 80 to 90 members and meet regularly to discuss poetry. We have also started a Shimla chapter that has around 30 members.

The collective holds a poetry event towards the end of each month. The event, a Diwali special, started around 5pm and saw 20 poets performing one after the other on a wide range of topics from love and romance to Diwali and its festivities.

The audience at Kavitactic event at Open Hand monument in Chandigarh on Friday. (Keshav Singh/HT)

Slamming it out

Having redefined performance poetry by opening it to more people in a short span of time, these youngsters have made poetry more accessible. These poets also call themselves the first generation slam poets of Chandigarh. With slam poetry becoming a phenomenon in India, poetry is headed towards a new future that focuses more on freestyle writing.

Last month, three girls from MCM DAV College made it to the top 10 of the National Youth Poetry Slam (NYPS) that was adjudged by prominent spoken word poet Sarah Kay from New York and Bollywood actor Kalki Koechlin, who made headlines with her poem The Printing Machine, a powerful critique of sensationalism in the media. Avleen Kaur Lamba, Gursahiba Grewal and Samreen Chhabra were the only poets from the region to participate in the competition held in Bengaluru.

Kamaljeet Kaur, the mother of a performer, said, There was a lull in the poetry scene in the city. But they have taken up the initiative to revive the scene, something that you wouldnt expect youngsters to do. Its a big thing to see so many young poets together as one, adding, they are performing in all languages, which is commendable.

There was a balanced mix of English, Hindi and Punjabi poetry at the event.

Plans for the future

So, what plans do they have for the future? Gursaya said, After each event, were reminded that we started something different. There are so many new performers every time we do an event. Our first and foremost aim is to keep the community united so that the discussion grows and the poet grows as an artist.

To this, Prerit added, Other than that, a slam poetry competition is in the works. But as of now, our job is to give poets and poetry lovers a platform to perform.

What is spoken word poetry

Spoken word poetry is conversational in tone making it more relatable to listeners. Since it is not metaphorical in nature, it provides an instant connect to the subject. American poet Marc Smith is credited with starting the poetry slam at Chicago in November 1984. There are poetry slam competitions across the globe now. (Source: Wikipedia)

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Suspecting foul play in the six-month-old fire incident at the arms licensing branch of the deputy commissioners office in Tarn Taran, the vigilance bureau (VB) has registered a case at its Amritsar police station.

Although nobody has been named in the first-information report (FIR) registered on Wednesday, the officials and employees concerned have been mentioned as accused, said VB inspector Barjinder Singh Dhillon on Friday.

Dhillon said names of the accused are being verified and the probe will be completed soon, following which action will be taken against the guilty. VB senior superintendent of police (SP, Amritsar range) Ketan Baliram Patil is supervising the probe.

The case has been registered under Sections 175 (omission to produce document to public servant by person legally bound to produce it), 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house, etc), 201(causing disappearance of evidence of offence), 202 (intentional omission to give information of offence by person bound to inform) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

It was on May 7 this year that the fire took place inside the records room of the arms licensing branch, destroying important documents concerning a VB probe. The bureau was investigating alleged large-scale issuing of fake arms licences by making alterations to official records in lieu of bribe. The VB had asked the DC office to produce the relevant documents on May 9.

The then Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) district president Navreet Singh Shafipur had alleged a conspiracy and also lodged a complaint with Tarn Taran senior superintendent of police (SSP) Manmohan Sharma.

The case

# The fire took place inside the records room of the arms licensing branch at the Tarn Taran deputy commissioners office on May 7

# Important documents concerning alleged issuing of fake arms licences by making alterations to records gutted

# VB had asked the DC office to produce the documents on May 9

# The then BJP district president alleged conspiracy, lodged a complaint with the Tarn Taran SSP.
Jeffrey (Jeff) Eckert, DPT is an outpatient physical therapist and owner of Full Range Physical Therapy in Elko. An Elko resident since 2011, Jeff supports activities in the community that encourage health and well-being for all ages. He is an active board member for the Elko Senior Olympic Games and was the premier sponsor for the first annual I Walk I Run 5k/10k fundraiser for the Rotary Club of Elko Desert Sunrise.

Jeanna Johnson is the manager at Eagle Eye Embroidery, Vogue Services in Elko. She has lived in Elko for just under 16 years and her hobbies include family, friends, camping and making her house a home. She joined the Rotary Club of Elko Desert Sunrise in the month of July because she wanted to meet new people and to be a bigger part of her community. Jeanna said, I have looked in to different groups and this one is the fit for me.
REALITY CHECK Haryanas performance in agriculture and industry has not been consistent with its service sector growth, making it a revenue-deficit state in a decade.

Dont miss : HT Special | Punjab vs Haryana: 50 yrs on, whos the poor cousin now?

From Indias growth engine to a lagging neighbour, today Punjab faces a fiscal challenge for which it has its culture of freebies to blame:

Haryana: Service sector drives states growth

INDUSTRIAL CONCERN: The Maruti Suzuki plant in the Industrial Model Township (IMT), Manesar, in Gurgaon district after labour unrest in 2012. Haryanas manufacturing sector needs a boost to help the state on the growth trajectory. (Parveen Kumar/HT File)

When 1956-batch IAS officer SK Mishra was handed the Haryana cadre after the state was formed in 1966, his colleagues who remained in Punjabjoked that if he doesnt get his salary, he can count on them.

There was no optimism. No one was sure Haryana would be a viable state, says the retired bureaucrat, who was awarded the Padma Bhushan for distinguished civil service.

But Haryana, underdeveloped in agriculture, industry, and infrastructure as compared to Punjab, made good progress.

Rapid growth

Bolstered by improvements in agriculture and manufacturing, the state saw an upturn in the service sector.

While Haryana had a gross state domestic product (GSDP) of Rs 332 crore at constant prices in 1967-68, it rose to Rs 3,96,642 crore in 2015-16.

Haryana grew faster than most

states with a decadal average growth rate higher than the national gross domestic product (GDP) for most of this period. It had an annual average growth rate of GSDP of 4.06% from 1970-71 and 1979-80 as compared to the GDP growth rate of 3.13% during the corresponding period.

In the next decade, its GSDP growth rate was 7.01%, while the GDP growth rate was 5.89%. Barring a dip from 1990-91 and from 1999-2000, the trend continued.

The state saw an average growth of 8.5% between 2005-06 and 2014-15 with only Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Bihar and Tamil Nadu performing better.

The demand for a separate state was raised because areas that became Haryana were neglected and most of the development was taking place in Punjab. Visionary leadership and a motivated bureaucracy worked, says Mishra.

The per capita income (PCI) was higher than the national average in the past 10 years. Revenue collections, particularly value-added tax (VAT), were robust.

Challenges ahead

But there are concerns. The tertiary or service sector is doing well, while the primary (agriculture and allied) and secondary (industry) sectors have not been consistent in growth.

There are regional disparities in income levels and development. Most of the PCI comes from six of the 22 districts.

A revenue-surplus state till a decade ago, Haryana today has a huge revenue deficit.

Additional chief secretary, finance, P Raghavendra Rao, however, says the fundamentals are strong and economy robust. The contribution of the service sector is growing. Efforts are on to boost agriculture and manufacturing. We are focusing on resource mobilisation and job creation. The state is poised for growth, he says.

Punjab: Misgovernance, militancy setbacks

Road to recovery: The flyover at Zirakpur town on the Chandigarh-Ambala highway is a sign of growing infrastructure in Punjab. The pace of progress has been slow but the state is hopeful of finding its way out of its fiscal woes. (Keshav Singh/HT file)

Resilience is Punjabs strength. As celebrations to mark 50 years of being a Punjabi Suba (state) begin, bouncing back to its prime slot as Indias growth engine is the challenge the border state faces. Geographically, the Punjabi Suba is roughly equal to what was once the Jalandhar division of post-Partition Punjab before the reorganisation of 1966.

When the Congress government led by Giani Gurmukh Singh Mussafir took oath on November 1, 1966, Punjab opened its account with a Rs 1.5-crore deficit.

Opening with a cash balance of Rs 4.39 crore (Rs 6.39 lakh revised figures), finance minister Baldev Prakash announced on March 28, 1967, while presenting the budget for 1967-68.

Proud past

During the first two decades, Punjab was the highest per-capita income state in the country and clocked the fastest growth rate.

After 1994, the debt rose to 40% of the GSDP and revenue deficit kept rising due to high interest payments. The revenue deficit increased from Rs 244 crore in 1988-89 to Rs 2,336 crore in 2000-01.

This year, Punjab will pay Rs 10,788 crore as interest payments.

With 15,000 small-scale units, Punjab accounted for 15% of the nations small-scale industry. Backed by rapid growth in agriculture, the state was revenue surplus until 1985-86.

Lost its mojo

The 1971 war with Pakistan, decade-long militancy in the 1980s and aftermath of Operation Bluestar took a toll on the states economy. Once a fast-growing state, it slipped into the category of slow-growing ones. Former chief secretary KR Lakhanpal says, Punjabs plight is entirely due to misgovernance in the past 25 years. Punjab has lost its mojo. It will take a heroic leadership and Herculean effort to revive it.

Such is the misgovernance that Punjab ministers are exempt from paying tax and known for spending lakhs a month on fuel for official vehicles.

Punjab remained under Presidents rule for eight years and five months on six occasions. The Congress ruled the state for 19 years and the Shiromani Akali Dal for 22 years.

A former chief secretary (1992-95) Ajit Singh Chatha blames the culture of freebies for the fiscal woes. Uneducated leaders with limited political vision, who fought for Punjabi Suba, ruined Punjab, says Chatha, who was deputy commissioner of Lahaul and Spiti when Punjab was trifurcated. Punjabs history offers a glimmer of hopeit will find a way out of the current morass, says Lakhanpal.

Next: Agriculture
The Ladhowal police claimed to have arrested a man who is part of a supply chain of drug peddling on Thursday and recovered 1kg narcotic powder and 28 cartons of illicit liquor from his possession. The accused in an attempt to flee has rammed his car into a pole.

A case under Section 22/61/85 of NDPS Act and Section 61/1/14 of Excise Act has been registered against the accused Vishal Kumar of Joshi Nagar in Haibowal. The accused told police that a man named Lucky of same locality has sent him to Phillaur to receive the consignment and to hand it over to him.

ASI Jaswinder Singh, who is investigating the case, said following a tip-off, a check point near Hussainpura village was set up. The police stopped an Innova car, but instead of stopping the driver drove off the vehicle towards the village.

The police chased the accused. In the meantime, the accused lost control over the vehicle and rammed into a pole. The accused tried escaping from the spot leaving the vehicle there, but the police nabbed him. The ASI added that the police recovered 1kg narcotic powder and 28 cartons of illicit liquor from the car and a case was against him. The accused told to police that Lucky has sent him to Phillaur to receive the consignment. He met three men in Phillaur near a shrine, who loaded liquor and narcotic powder in his car.

ASI Jaswinder Singh said the police will try to arrest all accused in the supply chain.
Cancellation and re-conduct of several recruitment examinations following selective leak of question papers has put a financial burden on lakhs of government job aspirants in Punjab.

There are candidates who have shelled out more than Rs 30,000, applying for these tests since November last year. While they are likely to get no refund of the amount paid to apply for the examinations that stand cancelled now, they will also have to pay again to apply for the retest in many cases.

The worst-affected are the candidates who cleared the examinations, but continue to remain jobless. Many candidates have even overshot the age limit set for applying to these jobs.

Since the Punjab Vigilance Bureaus inquiry revealing selective leak of question papers of recruitment tests in March this year, several exams have come under the scanner.

The latest recruitment exercise to be cancelled is that for posts of sub-divisional engineer (SDE) in the Punjab irrigation department and junior engineer in the Punjab Water Resource Management and Development Corporation (PWRMDC). Both these examinations were found to be compromised, after a team of the VB arrested four persons from a house in New Delhi, providing the question paper to 17 candidates earlier this month. Both these examinations were conducted by Thapar University, Patiala. The irrigation department has now asked the university to re-conduct these examinations.

The university has already charged the candidates `800 each for the examinations. According to the information gathered by the department from the VB, the university is not at fault for the question paper leak. So we have asked the university to conduct the examination again at the earliest, without making the candidates pay the fee again, said irrigation secretary Kahan Singh Pannu.

The candidates who took this examination, conducted by Thapar University, had also applied for it when it was to be conducted by Panjab University, Chandigarh, on behalf of the department. The candidates paid Rs 1,650 to appear for the examination, which was never held. The department has asked Panjab University to refund the fee to the candidates.

Other than these recruitment tests, candidates who appeared in the examinations conducted by PU on behalf of the department of local bodies in November last year have paid Rs 8,000 to appear for four separate posts (Rs 2,000 each), even though the syllabus was the same and single merit was to be prepared. A part of the examination was later cancelled and the candidates are not likely to get the refund.

We have already conducted the examination, leading to the expenditure. We cannot return the fee, said University Institute of Management Studies chief coordinator PK Sharma, who conducts these examinations.

The Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC), Patiala, which is now recruiting SDEs for various government departments in the state is charging the candidates Rs 3,000 for each department. The fee charged by the PPSC is the highest charged by any examination agency. For the same syllabus and same test, it is criminal to charge separate application fee, said a candidate, who spent Rs 9,000 applying for the test for jobs in three departments.

Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, meanwhile, has given some respite to those aspiring for the posts of patwari. Around 1.25 lakh candidates appeared in preliminary examination conducted by PU in January this year, which was later cancelled. The mains examination was never held. Candidates had paid Rs 800 each for the test. The Amritsar university, which is conducting the test now, told all those who appeared in the PU examination that they need not pay the fee again.

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Vanishing roundabouts

In picture is the traffic light point of Sectors 33 and 34. But until a few days ago, a roundabout existed here. It has become the latest casualty of the dangerously growing traffic on the city roads. The road used to witness jams, especially in the evening and afternoon. So the authorities decided to remove the rotary.

City residents have had a strong affinity with these roundabouts or chowks, but these are gradually giving way to traffic lights, thanks to the exponentially growing traffic. To avoid removing some other rotaries, the administration installed lights on these, but this only adds to chaos.

The Chandigarh Master Plan 2031 clearly says that roundabouts are not considered viable for traffic volumes beyond a certain limit. It says the only way to retain these rotaries is by reducing personalised cars and SUVs and going in for mass rapid public transport. That doesnt seem to be happening, though.

Not cracker of Diwali for babus

Its time for the festival of lights and crackers, Diwali. But one thing that the employees of the UT administration only talk nostalgically about is the Diwali bonus. The employees used to get bonus of a few thousand rupees for the festival, which would really make their festival special. The union territory follows the Punjab governments service rules, and since Punjab has been in throes of a severe financial crisis for several years, the state government stopped giving bonus to its staff. Though the UT has no such crisis, it had no option but to follow Punjab.

...And dreams of house to Punjab govt staff

They may not be getting any Diwali bonus but the Punjab government has definitely shown its employees the dream of owning a house. The government has come up with a housing scheme for its employees on Diwali. The eligible employees can own a flat in multi-storeyed buildings the government will be constructing in SAS Nagar and Mullanpur. The staff, however, has a grievance, which is very valid too. The scheme opened on October 18 and closes on November 18. But no one knows who is eligible and who is not. The advertisement said eligibility details and brochure can be downloaded from the GMADA website or bought from banks. But it is available nowhere.

VIP wedding

The tricity is never short of VIP weddings. But this one was a little different. Son of a prominent bureaucrat couple from Himachal Pradesh, Manisha and Tarun Sridhar, married the granddaughter of GR Majithia, retired judge of the Punjab and Haryana high court, at Panchkulas Gymkhana Club. This meant that not only dignitaries from Chandigarh were present but HP governor Acharya Devvrat and many bureaucrats from HP turned up too. After all, additional chief secretary Sridhar holds key charges in HP, including that of revenue. Many retired and serving judges of the Punjab and Haryana high court were also in attendance.

arvind.chhabra@hindustantimes.com

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DIYE JALTE HAIN

Could there be a finer articulation of a Green Diwali than observing moths flocking to a light lure on the night of the new moon? Away from the hurtful glare of city lights and the infernal din of crackers, Dr Shubhalaxmi Vaylure has planned Diwali night in a remote forest rest house at Bheemashankar in Maharashtra to lure these flying diyas. An expert on moths and an environment educator, Dr Vaylure waits patiently as darkness engulfs the forest and moths flock to the light lure in the verandah, some decked in the daintiest of colours and patterns, others drab as only moths can be. Fireflies in the courtyard add to the Diwali ambience, as do the stars that twinkle fiercely, freed of the moons dominance. Emerging from a netherworld that daylight hides, these are moths most humans will not have seen in a lifetime. When the sheet is bedecked with para-dropping moths, it evokes the imagination of a printed saree gracefully shrouding the night. Just last week, she was in Sikkim luring moths.

So mystical is her tryst with moths that Dr Vaylure has penned verses in anticipation of Diwali night: Kali amavas Ki raat ho, Ek mercury bulb mere pass ho, Uspar Atlas moth ka saath ho, Uff phir kya baat ho, Din dugni raat choguni ho, Moths ki barsaat ho, Es Diwali alaam-e-khaas ho!

When moths are collected for research using a light lure, the chosen specimens are picked off the sheet and killed in a poison jar. The residual moths are left to bats, lizards, monkeys, cats and birds to mop up as researchers do not turn off the lights through the night. But Vaylure switches off the light lure at midnight so that moths can fly back into the refuge of darkness. She would not want to turn this spectacle of Diwali lights into a free breakfast for lazy, holidaying predators in the dawn after Diwali.

TO WONDER TILL I DIE

As a kid growing up in Chandigarh, Anjali Aggarwal was a loner. Her toys were flowers, her friends the insects that crawled over them. She would minutely examine the underside of leaves and lurking veins and wonder what the insects thought of her when their eyes met. She blossomed into an accomplished artist, armed with academic credentials and awards, and is currently an Assistant Professor at the Government College of Art, Chandigarh.

Anjali Aggarwal's painting, 'Glistening Wilderness'.

Her childhood fascination for animals wanders through her art work like a restless spirit. On a recent visit to Chhatbir zoo, she heard a leopard growl and sensed the unusual tone. She glanced at the source and saw leopards mating, a joyous moment created by two beauties, as she puts it. She did not have the time to grab a camera but the image got entrenched in her artistic imagination and she subsequently produced an enigmatic acrylic on canvas, Glistening Wilderness (69 x 66 inches).

In her painting, mating leopards are watched by a group of uneasy rabbits. We have turned away from the nature inherent in us. The act of mating was such a beautiful moment but I observed that people watching were looking quite ashamed or were tittering. One small rabbit in the painting, next to the tails of the leopard, symbolises a child at the zoo, who did not know whether to observe the mating or not. My painting captures this dilemma, Aggarwal told this writer.

Mainstream medias narrative of conflict with leopards is such that the mere thought of these big cats tends to terrorise urbanites; rather than evoke appreciation of their grace and reclusive lives that shirk human contact. Would this artist be afraid of these beauties in the wilderness? Her reply, though delivered in a jocular vein, reflects aesthetic sensibilities at her core. Haha, no! I fancy, I am not afraid of leopards. Even if a leopard did confront me in the jungle, I would be just wondering about this graceful creature till such time as it pounced and gobbled me up!

GENTLE MATES

The arts need not reconcile to the flesh and blood of animal reality because these are powerful expressions of the individual self and the imagination, and are primarily aesthetic in intent. Anjali Aggarwals Glistening Wilderness depicts mating leopards with long, unsheathed claws. But leopards do not unsheathe their claws during mating. This is because the cat family wields retractable claws or nails, which go into a sheath of skin and fur when not in use.

Leopards mating at Masai Mara, Kenya. (Photo: Rayees Rahman)

Evolutionary biologist Dr Vidya Athreya, who has accumulated a wealth of knowledge on leopards through rigorous field research, notes that leopards never hurt each other during mating in the wilderness though they possess lethal claws and fangs. Even if they do unsheathe the claws during mating, they would use the claws very gently like, say, a household cat in a soft, non-violent mode. However, sometimes in captivity, when they come under stress, mating can take a violent turn and claws/canines/teeth can be used to fatally damage the weaker of the leopard/tiger/lion pair, adds Dr Athreya.

In the accompanying picture, readers will note the female grimacing in pain. This is because the male has barbs on his penis that dig into the female when mating and when he retracts, it is painful causing the female to strike out. Male leopards take a gentle but firm grip of the females ear/back of the head/neck so as to incapacitate her during mating and prevent her from seeking a premature disentanglement due to attendant pain.

vjswild1@gmail.com
As Dussehra and Diwali are considered to be auspicious for big-ticket purchases, most people prefer to move into their new homes during the festive season. Meet one such lucky couple, Pawan and Tanu Abbott. They moved into their beautiful 5,000 sq ft apartment in South Delhi recently. While they bought the house almost five months ago, doing up the interiors took a long time. HT Estates caught up with them to share their happiness.

Their house is interesting because the basement, the stilt area (now turned into an inviting foyer) and the ground floor have been integrated into a single unit. Since the house faces a park, the green element is reflected in almost every room  even in something which is usually uninteresting and drab  hold your breath, the shaft. The shaft has a patch of artificial green grass and lots of plants.

Subdued neutral hues run across the house with furniture adding a splash of colour. Theres a tan colour chair in the recreational area in the basement and deep blue chairs set against an Ikat-patterned sofa in the foyer area. Shades of green are omnipresent in the formal living area, reflecting the greenery of the park.

The apartments interiors have been done by Amarjeet Syali, design head at Locus Design Arbeit and executed by Captain Sumit Gupta of Aaone Developers Pvt Ltd. Since the project had to do with filling spaces in an apartment located on a 500 sq yard plot, there had to be both informal and formal spaces. The basement was transformed into a casual, recreational area with a card table, pool table and a theatre thrown in and the formal area was restricted to the ground floor, says Syali. If spaces are not visually connected and the feeling of oneness is missing, then a house is incomplete.

Colour tones have been kept soft and neutral with accent pieces thrown in to add colour to the rooms, including the balcony with orange accents in the seating arrangement. The idea all along was that since you cannot change the upholstery, the colour or the wall paper on the walls, only the cushions and accent pieces, artefacts can be changed from time to time to introduce the change element, says Tanu, who has painstakingly chosen the colour scheme and the furnishings.

I was looking for somebody to help choose furniture and do up the interiors. Just to agree with what the vision would be took us about a month. As our discussions progressed everything changed. I also ended increasing my budget, says Pawan, an entrepreneur who manufactures mechanical engineering products.

Tanu saw to the art work, selected fabrics and lights  all sourced from local vendors that included furniture from Wild Ochre by Anju Choudhury, lights by Luminaries by Honey Handa and furnishing by Nirmal Handlooms. The interesting side piece in the foyer area, the round tables in the living area and the dining table have all been sourced from vendors in MG Road, Khan Market and Kirti Nagar.

For more pictures of the Abbotts new house, click here.
His debut short film was screened at the 66th Cannes Film Festival and he is now all set to join the ranks of Priyanka Chopra. Actor Hemwant Tiwari, who hails from Daltonganj village in Jharkhand, has recently completed shooting for an international TV series, Medinah.

Medinah is about an accident caused by a failed experiment which prompts teleportation of 12 random people into a different dimension. Tiwary plays a bus driver in the series who is in charge of taking people back to their places.

Directed by Ahmad Bakar, the series was shot in Qatar. Bakar is known for zombie movie Lockdown: Red Moon Escape and The Package Vol. 1. The makers claim it is the first sci-fi Arab series and first 3D movie from the Middle East.

Medinah is a 20-episode series that will be aired across several countries including India.

Hemwants Zindagi Bahut Khoobsurat was screened at the Court Metrage, the short film corner of the 66th edition of Cannes Film Festival, in 2013.

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Donald Trump is no stranger to ridicule, and TV host Jimmy Kimmel is no stranger to ridiculing him. In a new video, shared by Kimmel on his Facebook page, he takes fresh shots at the Republican presidential candidate for his recent attempt at attracting Indian-American voters.

The video, a response to Trumps borrowing of Indian PM Modis Ab ki baar Modi sarkaar slogan, found Kimmel taking to the streets, after mocking his stilted delivery of course, and asking people if they understand what Trump is saying.

To be fair, Trumps butchering of the PMs slogan isnt as confusing as some of the peoples reactions would suggest, but after playing the clip of him saying Ab(i) ki baar Trump sarkaar numerous times, it becomes clear that most people were not only unfamiliar with basic Hindi, but also of PM Modis original slogan.

But its all in good fun and presumably, only those who didnt quite catch Trumps words were chosen for the video.

Thats not Hindi, one man declared. His accent was very funny, said another, possibly chosen because of his own comically exaggerated delivery.

When one man was asked if listening to Trump speak in Hindi would tilt him in his favour, the man replied, No, because I hate him.

Another man displayed a quick sense of humour, offering his own translation of Trumps words, With my orange face, I will rule the world.

Watch Trumps original ad here

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A new shock hit Hillary Clintons campaign Friday in the unpredictable and often unbelievable presidential race: The FBI is looking into whether there was classified information on a device belonging to the estranged husband of one of her closest aides.

Adding to the drama of the stunning revelation: The FBI uncovered the emails during a sexting investigation of Anthony Weiner, the disgraced ex-congressman who is separated from long-time Clinton aide Huma Abedin.

The Democrat said late Friday she was confident whatever the FBI may find would not change its conclusion from earlier this year  that her use of a private email system as secretary of state did not merit prosecution.

We dont know the facts, which is why we are calling on the FBI to release all the information that it has, Clinton said. Even (FBI) Director (James) Comey noted that this new information might not be significant, so lets get it out.

The news arrived with Clinton holding a solid advantage in the presidential race. Early voting has been underway for weeks, and she has a steady lead in preference polls. But the development all but ensures that, even should she win the White House, the Democrat and several of her closest aides would celebrate victory under a cloud of investigation.

It was a day that thrilled Republicans eager to change the trajectory of the race, none moreso than GOP nominee Donald Trump.

Hillary Clintons corruption is on a scale we have never seen before, Trump said while campaigning in battleground New Hampshire. We must not let her take her criminal scheme into the Oval Office.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said in Hampshire, Hillary Clintons corruption is on a scale we have never seen before... We must not let her take her criminal scheme into the Oval Office. (AFP)

Democrats, still confident Clinton will prevail in 11 days, were enraged by Comeys decision to disclose the existence of the fresh investigation in a vaguely worded letter to several congressional leaders.

The FBI has a history of extreme caution near Election Day so as not to influence the results, said California Sen. Dianne Feinstein. She added, accusingly, Todays break from that tradition is appalling.

It wasnt until hours after Comeys letter emerged that word came that the source of the new emails was Weiner, the former congressman under investigation for sending sexually explicit text messages to a teenage girl.

We dont know what to believe, Clinton said, adding, Right now, your guess is as good as mine, and I dont think thats good enough.

The development also reignited persistent worries among Democrats that electing the former first lady will restart a cycle of scandal and investigation that could rival the final portion of her husbands term in office.

In his Friday letter to congressional leaders, Comey wrote only that new emails have emerged, prompting the agency to take appropriate investigative steps to review the information that may be pertinent to its previously closed investigation into Clintons private email system.

Read: Lets get it out: Clinton after fresh email trouble caused by aides husband

The FBI ended that investigation in July without filing charges, although Comey said then that Clinton and her aides had been extremely careless in using the system for communications about government business.

The agency, which did not respond to questions about Comeys letter and did not lay out a timeline for the review, is also investigating the recent hacks of the emails of John Podesta, Clintons campaign chairman.

As Clinton and her campaign have been pounded by allegations and embarrassing revelations related to the hacked emails, theyve largely avoided engaging in the details. Instead, theyve focused on blaming the Russians.

As Clinton and her campaign have been pounded by allegations and embarrassing revelations related to the hacked emails, theyve largely avoided engaging in the details. Instead, theyve focused on blaming the Russians. (AFP)

These are illegally stolen documents, Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said earlier in the day on her campaign plane. Were not going to spend our campaign fighting back what the Russians want this to be about.

That may be because Clinton hasnt yet felt the political pressure. Recent surveys show her retaining her lead in national polls and making gains in some swing states. In fact, her campaign announced plans to hold a rally in Arizona next Wednesday, a traditionally red state put in play by Trumps deep unpopularity among minority voters, Mormons and business leaders.

To the frustration of many in his party, Trump has struggled to consistently drive an attack against Clinton, often turning to personal denunciations of private citizens he feels have wronged him, like the Gold Star family of Captain Humayun Khan, a Muslim-American soldier killed in action.

That may be changing. He quickly pounced on the email news, seeing an opportunity to press the argument hes long tried to make against Clinton: that she thinks shes above the law and that she put U.S. security at risk by using her personal email.

After weeks of declaring the race rigged in favor of his opponent, Trump declared Friday he has great respect for the FBI and the Justice Department, now that they are willing to have the courage to right the horrible mistake that they made in concluding the investigation earlier.

White House spokesman Eric Schultz urged the FBI to follow the facts, wherever they lead. President Barack Obama plans to travel to support Clinton nearly every day thats left in the campaign.

Hes going to be proud to support her from now until Election Day, Schultz said.
Witnesses say a car bomb has exploded in the southern city of Aden at a checkpoint steps away from the central bank, which has been relocated recently from the rebel-held capital, Sanaa.

The bomb injured three soldiers and caused panic in the busy commercial district of Crater, the witnesses said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.

Aden is the temporary capital of the internationally-recognized government which was forced out of Sanaa by the rebels in 2014. A Saudi-led military coalition has since intervened and continues to battle the rebels alongside forces loyal to internationally recognized President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

This summer, Hadi ordered the relocation of the countrys central bank from Sanaa to Aden, amid accusations that the rebels were misusing state funds.
August 9th, 1943October 16th, 2016

Willomonte Ranch owner, Anne Annie Louise Britton of Clover Valley (Wells, Nevada), passed away on Sunday October 16, 2016 after a long illness. Annie was born in Reno, Nevada on August 9, 1943 to Dr. Vernon and Anne Louise Cantlon. Annie attended the University of Nevada, Reno, graduating as a medical technician. She was a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority. After graduation, Annie continued her involvement in the family cattle ranch Willomonte Holsteins which her father founded in Wadsworth NV. She became a well known and respected Cattlewoman in the Dairy Cow industry, breeding and showing champion Holsteins.

Annies first marriage to David A. Gardner ended in tragedy from a motor vehicle fatality. In 1986, Annie married the love of her life, Robert Bob E. Britton, living at Willomonte Ranch in Steamboat NV, until they relocated the ranch to Clover Valley in 1995, raising beef cattle. Bob Britton (1990 Reno Rodeo President) passed away in 2010 leaving Annie to continue the ranching operations.

Annie loved animals, especially her golden retrievers of which she had many. Annie shared her love of ranching and animals with her grandchildren. Annie leaves behind many loving friends and neighbors in the Clover Valley community, and throughout Nevada, who will always remember her generosity and the fun times at Willomonte Ranch.

In addition to her parents and husband, Annie was preceded in death by her brother William Mckeen Cantlon. She is survived by her nephew Chris Cantlon of Reno, NV; step-son, Jeff Britton (Terri) of Carmel, CA; step-daughter, Beth Miller (Don) of Sausalito, CA; step-daughter, Lara Ramsey (Aaron) of Crested Butte, CO; seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren and her beloved golden retriever Harley.

A graveside memorial service for family only will be held on November 5th at 1pm at the Clover Valley Cemetery. A Celebration of Life ceremony will be held at Willomonte Ranch in the Spring for all those who wish to attend (date to be announced).

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Reno Rodeo Foundation Scholarship Fund. This program, which Bob and Annie Britton helped create and were actively involved in for many years was very important to them.

Reno Rodeo Foundation

59 Del Monte Ranch Parkway

Suite B-441

Reno, Nevada 89521
Two gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on a Shia Muslim gathering in Pakistans largest city of Karachi late Saturday, killing five people, police and hospital officials said.

The attack occurred in a congested neighbourhood in the city centre where Shia worshippers were congregating for a religious gathering, a senior police official told AFP.

Two attackers on a motorbike opened indiscriminate fire on the participants coming for the gathering, Tayyab Muqaddas Haider said.

The attackers fled the scene after the assault, he added.

Five people including a woman were killed in the attack while another six suffered injuries, Zafar Rajput, a senior official in Karachis Abbasi Shaheed hospital said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Sectarian violence -- in particular by Sunni hardliners against Shias who make up roughly 20% of Pakistans 200 million people -- has claimed thousands of lives in the country over the past decade.
Supporters of opposition politician Imran Khan played hide and seek with police throughout Saturday as they tried to break a security cordon put in place around his home in Islamabad to thwart his plans to lockdown the Pakistani capital next week.

Police used teargas to disperse workers of Khans Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party who tried to break the cordon around his residence in the suburb of Bani Gala. Khan urged his supporters to continue their protests and to travel in large groups to avoid being arrested.

Read | Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf cancels October 29 rally, announces future plans

We will show (Prime Minister) Nawaz (Sharif) what democracy is, Khan said while addressing the media and his supporters.

If you arrive in small numbers, the police will put you in jail. Avoid being arrested until November 2, he said, referring to his plan to lockdown the national capital next week to pressure Sharif to quit over revelations in the Panama Papers leaks that his children owned offshore assets worth millions of dollars.

A Pakistani police officer fires tear gas shell to disperse crowd protesting against the government in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. (AP Photo)

The government is blocking roads and authorities are arresting PTI workers, which is a violation of court orders, Khan said.

Concerned about the well-being of his supporters, Khan directed PTI leaders to provide them with food and shelter.

Khan also challenged the Islamabad high courts order that no one would be allowed to blockade Islamabad and said it was his legal and constitutional right to hold a peaceful protest and I will exercise that right.

He said the protest scheduled for November 2 would be held at any cost. We will change the fate of Pakistan on November 2, and no one has the power to stop us, he added.

Read | Opposition activists clash with security forces ahead of Imran Khans protest

Khan chaired a meeting of PTI leaders to review arrangements for the planned protest. Party representatives from across the country assured Khan that workers would reach Islamabad ahead of time to participate in the dharna against the PML-N government.

Mushahidullah Khan, the prime ministers advisor, said authorities were dispersing all crowds as the government had banned all political rallies and protests. PML-N leaders also poked fun at the PTI leadership, saying the only thing that was stopped from entering Khans house was powder. This was a reference to media reports of Khan and his aides allegedly being addicted to cocaine, a charge that the PTI has denied.
An Indian-origin businessman has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a teenage girl during a flight to the UK and jailed for 20 weeks by a UK court.

Suman Das, from Qatar, had been arrested at Manchester Airport after the 18-year old girl claimed he touched her between her legs during a flight from Doha to Manchester as she was dozing in her seat in July.

The 46-year-old had denied the charges but was found guilty at Manchester Magistrates Court last week and was sentenced yesterday.

District Judge Sam Goozee said, This is a sexual assault in circumstances that you took advantage of her. It was a brief but traumatic assault touching her incredibly intimately.

A pre-sentence report stated community service was not an option for Das, who grew up in India and is now based in Qatar, as he is not a UK resident.

He will also have a post sentence supervision order for one year after his release, which means he must stay in the UK until that expires.

Das was also ordered to pay a 115-pound victim surcharge.

The victim had told the hearing, He knew exactly what he was doing and he wasnt sleeping. He was looking at me, I saw he was looking at me. He must have been looking at me to see if I was awake.

He did move very quickly once he saw that I was awake, the victim said.

The court heard how Das wife, Sonia, was sitting next to him on the Qatar Airways when the incident took place, five hours into the flight.

During the hearing Sonia, his wife of 23 years, said, I have had no concern. Until today I have faith in my husband and still today I have total faith in my husband.

The accused initially claimed he must have touched her by accident while fidgeting in his seat and offered to apologise -- but he later said he could not have carried out an assault as he was asleep.

Das and his wife were visiting the UK for what was described as a holiday of a lifetime whilst the unnamed girl was returning to Britain after spending two months travelling in Thailand.

The girl alerted a member of cabin crew and went crying to the back of the plane.

In a statement, Das said later, I may have touched accidentally -- but I didnt touch her intentionally.
The new emails announced by the FBI on Friday as pertinent to Hillary Clintons use of a private server were found on a device shared by her long-time aide Huma Abedin and her estranged husband Anthony Weiner, according to reports.

FBI director James Comes told congressional leaders in a letter that the investigating agency had learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation of Clintons email server use.

He said he has ordered a review (of) these emails to determine whether they contain classified information. He added that the FBI did not know the significance of the new material and how long it would take to ascertain it.

Moving swiftly to contain the damage this announcement could cause her campaign 11 days from election day, Clinton said at a news conference, We are calling the FBI to release all the information that it has. She added, Lets get it out.

Trump was, predictably, jubilant. He relayed the FBI announcement as breaking news to cheering supporters at a rally and told supporters at another rally, Perhaps, finally, justice will be done.

Is this the October surprise of this race? The term refers to a stunning setback for a campaign around this late stage of the race that leaves the nominee affected.

There have been few October surprises this season  the Access Hollywood tapes that had Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women; then women accusing Trump of forcing himself on them; and WikiLeakss daily dump of hacked emails of Clinton campaign chair John Podesta.

And now the Weiner emails. Though the FBI gave out no details, multiple news outlets reported the emails, running into thousands, were those sent and received by Abedin and had been backed up on Weiners device, a laptop.

They were found during the FBIs investigation of explicit text messages sent by Weiner to a 15-year-old girl. Weiner and Abedin, who is of mixed Indian-Pakistani descent and have a son, announced they had separated in September.

Clintons use of a private email server as secretary of state from 2009 to 2012 has dogged her presidential campaign from the time she launched her bid earlier in 2015. She has apologized for it, and has said many times shouldnt have done it.

The FBI closed its investigation of the case in July, with Comey saying that though the former secretary fo state had been extremely careless, his investigators had found nothing to recommend she be prosecuted.

Republicans were outraged, and felt let down by one of their own, FBI director Comey, himself a lifelong Republican. He had tried to defend himself and his agency at a highly charged congressional hearing, but didnt get much sympathy.

Comey was back in the crosshairs Friday, of Democrats this time, who accused him of breaching investigating principles, not rules, and seeking to insert himself as a player in a presidential election so close to election day.

Clinton campaign chair John Podesta said in a statement, It is extraordinary that we would see something like this just 11 days out from a presidential election. The Director owes it to the American people to immediately provide the full details of what he is now examining. We are confident this will not produce any conclusions different from the one the FBI reached in July.
A man with a reported history of mental illness was on Saturday remanded in custody after being charged with the murder of Punjab-born bus driver Manmeet Alisher in the Australian city of Brisbane.

Anthony Mark Edward ODonohue, 48, allegedly hurled an incendiary device at Alisher on Friday, setting him alight and killing him on the spot. The family of Alisher, 29, has said they believe the attack was racially motivated though Brisbane police said there was no apparent motive for the killing.

ODonohue, who was injured in the attack, appeared briefly in the Brisbane magistrates court on Saturday morning and was charged with the murder of Alisher, 11 counts of attempted murder related to passengers in the bus and arson, ABC reported.

Outside the court, his lawyer Adam Magill said ODonohue was numb. He added, His major concern as far as Im concerned at this point in time is his mental health, that needs to be assessed.

Magill acknowledged the case was very heinous and said he did not expect ODonohue to apply for bail.

Read: Parents of Punjabi man burnt alive in Australia unaware of his death

Hes numb at this stage...I dont think hes feeling anything at this point in time. Hes trying to come to terms with what happened himself, Magill said.

Police officials were astonished by ODonohues reaction after the attack. The 7 News channel quoted its sources as saying that when detectives arrived at the scene of the attack, ODonohue was sitting casually and saying nothing other than I want a lawyer.

Police delayed entering ODonohoes nearby apartment because they feared it could be booby-trapped. ODonohue has a history of mental illness but he had never done anything as violent as Fridays attack, police said.

Officials said on Friday that Alisher stood no chance and died soon after the device was thrown at him. ODonohue, who was among passengers waiting to board the bus at a stop when he carried out the attack, was arrested on the spot.

Superintendent Jim Keogh said there was no apparent motive for the attack and that police had ruled out terrorism.

Bus drivers across Brisbane wore black armbands on Saturday as a mark of respect for Alisher and his family. The flag over the City Hall in Brisbane flew at half mast.

Watch these two short films made by Alisher

Hundreds of people who gathered for a vigil at the site of the attack on Friday night placed flowers and lit candles. Hundreds more gathered at the Brisbane Sikh Temple at Eight Mile Plains on Saturday for a special memorial service for Alisher, who was also known as Manmeet Sharma.

Alishers friends Jaswinder Santh and Saibjit Singh had said he was a go-getter who worked very hard since he moved to Australia nine years ago. They said he planned to release a single in the New Year and he had told them that he would become a star.

Close friend Reshpal Singh told the media that Alisher was also a talented actor who produced short films and stage plays. Alisher was also a regular announcer on Brisbanes 4EB ethnic radio station, he added.

Alishers younger brother Amit Sharma told Hindustan Times in Sangrur that his sibling was set to return home in December year to finalise his marriage. Family members still havent told Alishers aged parents of his death because they fear they will not be able to endure the shock, he added.

My parents cant survive such news and due to this fear, the family has not told them about the death of Manmeet. He was coming in December as we have almost finalised a girl for his marriage in early January, Sharma said.

Sharma also said the family suspects the killing was racially motivated. The police says there was no apparent indication it was a race-related incident, but authorities are still not clearly saying why the man threw some inflammable liquid only on my brother and set him ablaze, he said.



Navdeep Suri, the Indian high commissioner to Australia, tweeted the following.

It is a terrible tragedy.Have personally spoken with Queensland police and with family of Manmeet.

Doing everything possible from side. https://t.co/WC9XNUee9L  Indian HC in Aus (@navdeepsuri) October 28, 2016

A promising young life extinguished for no reason. Manmeet wrote short stories, was engaged with theatre, even made short documentaries. https://t.co/wcvhK3RIrl  Indian HC in Aus (@navdeepsuri) October 28, 2016

Manmeet's assailant is in police custody. He had a history of mental illness, which is no consolation for friends and family of Manmeet https://t.co/WC9XNUee9L  Indian HC in Aus (@navdeepsuri) October 28, 2016
Pakistans information minister Pervaiz Rashid was sacked on Saturday as the fallout of a report in the Dawn newspaper on a rift between the civil and military leadership over security policies and tackling banned terrorist groups.

Sources said Rashid, a senior leader of the ruling PML-N party considered close to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, was removed after a government inquiry found him involved in leaking secret information to Dawn journalist Cyril Almeida that had embarrassed the militarys high command.

Read | Pak newspaper questions govts inaction against Masood Azhar, Hafiz Saeed

The sources added Sharif had accepted Rashids resignation.

A brief statement from the Prime Ministers Office said: Evidence available so far points to a lapse on part of Information Minister, who has been directed to step down from office to enable holding of an independent and detailed inquiry.

It added that a planted story related to meetings of the National Security Council and National Action Plan published in Dawn on October 6 amounted to a breach of national security.

Read | Pak military skewer fabricated Dawn story, say it breached national security

The government will form an inquiry committee, including senior officers of the Inter-Services Intelligence, Military Intelligence and Intelligence Bureau, to clearly apportion blame, identify interests and motives and expose all those responsible for this episode for stern action in the national interest, the statement said.

The governments principal information officer Rao Tehsin Ali Khan too was sacked and analysts said more officials could face the axe. They include the principal secretary to the premier, Fawad Hassan Fawad, and Sharifs special assistant for foreign affairs, Tariq Fatemi. Another federal minister could also be shown the door, sources said.

Read | Triple-checked facts of Pak civilian-army leaders rift story: Cyril Almeida

The Pakistani media also reported defence minister Khawaja Asif, another senior leader of the PML-N, had left for Dubai with his family. However, the reason behind his trip could not immediately be ascertained.

Reports said action was taken against Rashid followed a preliminary inquiry by interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. His ouster capped several weeks of fast paced developments after the Dawn reported that foreign secretary Aizaz Chaudhry had warned a meeting of top civilian and military leaders that Pakistan faced growing international isolation if it failed to act against terrorist groups.

The report Act against militants or face international isolation, civilians tell military, created a storm in Pakistani political circles even though it was denied by the PML-N government. The government ordered a probe as it came under mounting pressure from the powerful military.

Read | Pak media slams travel ban on Almeida, questions lack of action on Saeed

The army contended details of the meeting between civilian and military leaders had been leaked and demanded a probe as it believed the leak amounted to a breach of national security.

Almeida was briefly barred from travelling out of Pakistan. The Dawn stood by Almeida and his report, with its editor Zaffar Abbas saying the story was verified, cross-checked and fact-checked.
Pakistan has said India getting membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group will affect security in South Asia and derail global non-proliferation.

Pakistan says Indias military nuclear programme is a threat to peace and it should not be admitted to NSG.

This build-up (of nuclear arsenal) has been facilitated by the 2008 Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) waiver granted to India, which not only dented the credibility of the non-proliferation regime and undermined its efficacy, but also negatively affected the strategic balance in South Asia, said Pakistans Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakariya at a weekly press briefing, reports the Dawn.

Zakariya said that another country-specific exemption by the NSG regarding membership would make the ill effects of the 2008 exemption worse.

It remains our hope that the NSG member states would make a well-considered decision this time keeping in view its long-term implications for the global non-proliferation regime as well as strategic stability in our region, he said.
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) cancelled a rally scheduled for Saturday, with leader Shireen Mazari saying the resistance by PTI workers was kept to a minimum, media reports said.

A rally was scheduled earlier for Saturday for public mobilsation, but now that the public is already mobilised following the government crackdown, we see no further need to hold the rally tomorrow, Dawn online quoted a PTI official as saying.

Shedding light on the future course of action, Mazari said responsibilities between PTI leaders have been divided and a huge number of workers will reach Islamabad on the scheduled date from across the country.

As the party plans to focus on its November 2 sit in, Mazari said, PTIs sit-in is to ensure the Prime Minister's resignation. We will not become part of any undemocratic or unlawful move.

On Thursday, Islamabad Police stormed a PTI youth convention and arrested over 200 party workers for protesting against the government following which, PTI Chairman Imran Khan gave a call for countrywide protests against the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government.

The PTI is protesting alleged money laundering by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family in the wake of the Panama Papers leak and is demanding his resignation.
The militarys influence in Pakistans public life came under fire at a conference here that brought together more than 60 left and liberal thinkers and political activists from the beleaguered country and elsewhere, with some calling for controlled demolition of the armys role.

Organised by Saath Forum (South Asians Against Terrorism & for Human Rights) on Saturday, the conference on the Pakistans future issued a London Declaration for Pakistani Pluralism that highlighted several issues confronting the country.

Husain Haqqani, Pakistans former envoy to the US, told Hindustan Times: If Pakistan wants to avoid big pressure from the rest of the world, it has to change from within. The current narrative of the establishment is untenable.

Organisers said the conference had to be held away from Pakistan because of what they called threats to the security of free thinkers in the country. Participants included leading Pakistani individuals based in Europe, the US and Canada.

The event highlighted a range of issues, including the marginalisation of the Baloch and other minorities by Punjabi majoritarianism, crises of identity, a shift in the militarys control of government to control of governance, and the need for a dialogue for unity among various ethnic groups.

In a moving presentation, politician Shahjahan Baloch strongly opposed the $46-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that, he said, had adversely affected Balochistan and recalled the killing of dozens of lawyers and police cadets in the province in the recent past.

It is wrong to say there is democracy in Balochistan. We dont want the development brought by CPEC. I have lost so many friends. Who will want the fruits of such development that comes with so many killings? We only want the right to life, he said.

Recounting the militarys pervasive role in public life, speakers said the army was now involved in image and narrative management, with major investment in films, radio and theatre to capture the mind before it gets ideas.

To strengthen democracy, the military needs to be put on the back foot, speakers said, adding that news media in Pakistan was not being allowed to convey ground realities to the people.

The declaration said: It is sad and disconcerting that instead of dealing with these issues with the help of fresh ideas espoused by broad-minded Pakistanis, the Pakistani state tends to appease religious extremists, continue to propagate religious extremism and allow it free spread in society and persistently misinform the people of Pakistan about the realities of our country.

It added: The Pakistani state, regrettably, expresses a continued willingness to engage with religious extremists and terrorists, and sometimes even talks of formally inducting Jihadi terrorist groups into the states paramilitary structure but remains hostile to liberal, progressive and nationalist groupings within Pakistan.

Political parties representing Baloch, Mohajir, Sindhi and Pashtun segments of Pakistans population, the declaration said, had been targeted by state repression and hostile propaganda aimed at delegitimising them even when they had won clear electoral mandates.

Participants included former lawmaker Afrasiyab Khattak, former Pakistan high commissioner to UK Wajid Shamsul Hasan, columnist Ayesha Siddiqa, Anis Haroon, rights activist Beena Sarwar, broadcaster Murtaza Solangi, scholar Mohammad Taqi, journalist Rashed Rehman, Taimur Rahman, Wasay Jalil and Senge Hasnan Sering.

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Days before taking off for a visit to India, Prime Minister Theresa May on Saturday hailed the contribution of Britains Indian community and said the values reflected by Diwali were relevant to everyone.

May is due to leave on November 6 for a two-day visit to New Delhi and Bengaluru, during which she and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Indo-UK Tech Summit. Britains future of trade in the post-Brexit scenario is the focus of her visit.

May said in a Diwali message that the festival is not relevant only to Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and Buddhists: It is relevant to all of us, those of all faiths and none. We can all learn from the example set by Lord Rama, whose return from exile is marked by these five holy days.

That epic story teaches us about building strong families and communities, shunning wrongdoing and evil, and choosing the right path. It promotes the values of service, responsibility, unity and tolerance.

We need those values more than ever as we build a country that works for everyone  a country where no matter what your faith, your beliefs or your background, you can reach your full potential.

Recalling the Indian communitys contribution to Britain, May said she would highlight their achievements during her India visit. In Britains Indian communities, we can see the good that can be done when peoples talents are unleashed, she said.

Foreign secretary Boris Johnson added: Ahead of Prime Minister Theresa Mays visit to India next month, I hope these celebrations continue and help further strengthen our long friendship with India.

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Kenneth Eugene Hagen, 66, of Elko, NV passed away peacefully in his sleep on October 24, 2016 surrounded by his family. He was born in Jacksonville, FL., on January 18, 1950. He served in the Army during the Vietnam War. After the war, he made his life permanent in Elko, where he worked in the mining industry for many years.

Preceding Ken in death were his father, Bert Hagen; mother, Dorothy Patrick; and brother, Mike Patrick. Ken is survived by his daughter, Jennifer Hagen Sena of Elko and son, Kris (Veronica) Hagen of Elko. He is also survived by his beloved grandchildren; Jadyn Sena, Makaya Sena, Jocelyn Hagen, Kylee Hagen and Jessica Hagen, as well as many family members in Florida.

Ken will be dearly missed by many people in the community. He was always willing to help out family or friends whenever they needed. Those who knew him would tell you that he was the kindest and sweetest man you would ever know. Ken also had a very strong connection with his daughter-in-laws family.

Upon his request there will be no service. He asked that we take him to the Ponte Vedra Beach in Florida where he loved to spend a lot of time during his childhood and adulthood.
At least 11 people from a minority Christian community in Pakistans central Punjab province died after drinking toxic liquor, police said Saturday.

Three other people who consumed the alcohol at a party on Friday night in Jhelum district, some 126 km (78 miles) east of Islamabad, are in hospital in critical condition, police said.

The dead bodies of 11 victims have been handed over to their relatives after completing the postmortem, the condition of the three others is still critical, said Asif Nawaz, a senior police official in Jhelum.

Nawaz said most of the victims were young and from same Christian neighbourhood.

They drank locally-made poisonous liquor while partying late Friday, he added.

Police are looking to arrest the suspected supplier of the poisoned alcohol, whose brother was reportedly among the dead.

The public sale of alcohol is banned in conservative Pakistan but some people make moonshine at home.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday said his government would ask parliament to consider reintroducing the death penalty as a punishment for the plotters behind the July coup bid.

Our government will take this (proposal on capital punishment) to parliament. I am convinced that parliament will approve it, and when it comes back to me, I will ratify it, Erdogan said at an inauguration ceremony in Ankara.

Soon, soon, dont worry. Its happening soon, God willing, he said, as attending crowds chanted: We want the death penalty!

Capital punishment was abolished in Turkey in 2004 as the nation sought accession to the European Union.

Read | Turkey orders dozens of pilots detained in coup investigation

After the failed bid to unseat Erdogan on July 15, the leader had threatened to bring the death penalty back for the coup plotters, stunning EU leaders.

Relations between Brussels and Ankara have been strained since Turkey responded to the coup by launching a relentless crackdown against alleged plotters in state institutions, amid calls from the EU to act within the rule of law.

On Saturday, Erdogan scoffed at the Wests warnings on the death penalty.

The West says this, the West says that. Excuse me, but what counts is not what the West says. What counts is what my people say, he said, during a ceremony to inaugurate a high-speed train station in the Turkish capital.

Read | Turkeys post-coup emergency rule led to torture: Human Rights Watch

More than 35,000 people have been arrested in the crackdown unleashed after the failed coup, according to official data.

Ankara accuses exiled Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen of masterminding the coup -- a claim he denies.

Erdogans government has also repeatedly called on the United States, where Gulen lives, to extradite him.

Read | With coup defeated, Erdogan eyes vote on revamped powers
The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic says 25 people have been killed in clashes between armed groups amid rising tension in parts of the long-turbulent country.

A statement late Friday said 15 fighters were killed Thursday in the communities of Mbriki and Belima on the outskirts of the central town of Bambari.

And on Friday, six police and four civilians were killed in an ambush on a main road there.

The UN statement added that on Friday afternoon, anti-Balaka forces attacked eight peacekeeping officials as they made their way toward the local airport. A 7-year-old child was injured, the statement said.

The peacekeeping mission urged armed groups to cease the cycle of violence of recent weeks, which it said goes against the aspirations for peace among the vast majority of the population in the impoverished, landlocked nation.

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 deadly 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.

Earlier this month, fighters with the former Seleka group attacked the northern town of Kaga-Bandoro, with at least 30 killed and 57 wounded in clashes as UN peacekeepers confronted them. And in the capital, Bangui, 11 people were killed and 14 injured in violence sparked by the killing of a military official.
Chinas imports of North Korean coal run counter to global sanctions, a senior US official said on Saturday, adding that a US missile system deployed in South Korea should motivate Beijing to pressure Pyongyang over its nuclear programme.

North Koreas exports of coal to China provide a lifeline for the country and are also seen by the United States as a crucial area where Beijing has leverage over its neighbour, which has carried out a series of missile and nuclear tests in defiance of international sanctions.

China announced in April that it would ban North Korean coal imports to comply with U.N. sanctions, though it made exemptions for deliveries intended for livelihood purposes.

Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken told journalists that China had reversed the burden of proof put forward under U.N. Security Council resolution 2270 adopted in March in response to a North Korean nuclear test.

The plain language of 2270 makes it very clear that the export of coal, or the importation of coal if you are China, is prohibited unless you can demonstrate that the transaction in question goes to the livelihood of the North Korean people, Blinken said in Beijing after visits to Japan and South Korea.

The Chinese have reversed the presumption and their approach has been that the trade in coal is allowed unless you can demonstrate that it is going to the weapons programme. But thats not what 2270 says, he said.

Coal is particularly important to the economic health of North Korea because it is one of its only sources of hard currency. China imported $1 billion worth of North Korean coal in 2015, according to Chinese customs data.

Beijing fears strengthening sanctions could lead to collapse in North Korea, sending a flood of refugees across the border into China, and it also believes the United States and South Korea share responsibility for growing tensions in the region.

North Koreas fourth nuclear test in January was followed by a satellite launch, a string of tests of various missiles, and its fifth and largest nuclear test in September.

China has repeatedly expressed anger at the United States and South Korea for their decision to deploy the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system in the South to counter threats from North Korea. Beijing worries that the systems powerful radar will compromise Chinas security.

Blinken said THAAD was the latest but not the last defensive step that the U.S. would take if the North Korean nuclear threat persists, and that hopefully it would motivate China to work with us to change the conduct of the North Korean regime.
The wife of a Pakistani man diagnosed with schizophrenia on Saturday appealed to the countrys president to spare her husbands life and suspend a death sentence that is set to be carried out in less than 72 hours, as international human rights groups stepped up their campaign against executions in Pakistan.

I met with my husband Imdad Ali in jail two days ago and he doesnt fully comprehend what is about to happen, Safia Bano told The Associated Press. She said she has filed a revised petition in the Supreme Court, requesting suspension of the scheduled November 2 execution of the 50-year-old Ali.

Bano said her lawyer has informed her that the court will hear her appeal on Monday.

Ali has been on death row since he was convicted in 2001 of murdering a religious scholar in central Pakistan. Sketchy details are available about the circumstances in which the murder took place. Bano at first said the slain man was an expert in black magic and she did not know what prompted Ali to kill him.

Her comments came after a human rights committee in Pakistans upper house of parliament urged the government to halt Alis execution, saying it will seek a pardon from President Mamnoon Hussain.

Ali was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2008. Pakistans highest court has already rejected Alis final appeal, claiming his disease does not qualify as a mental disorder.

According to Reprieve, an international human rights group, European Union politicians have also warned that Pakistans preferential trade status with the EU could be in danger because of executions in the country. In a statement, it said EU trade delegates were due to visit the country on Monday ahead of Alis execution to assess whether Pakistan has honored its obligations to abide by human rights standards.

Maya Foa, a director at Reprieve, said Ali was so seriously ill that he didnt even understand he faces the hangmans noose. Doubts have surfaced about the process of executions in Pakistan after a court overturned the death penalty of two brothers only to find out that the two men had already been executed while their appeal was still underway. Pakistan has hanged over 400 convicts since a moratorium on executions was lifted in 2014.

Executions in Pakistan remained on hold between 2008 and 2014 due to pressure from international human rights groups. But it lifted the moratorium on executions following a Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar in December 2014 that killed 150 people, nearly all of them children.

Reprieve said only a small number of the executions since 2014 have been related to terrorism. It said Pakistan recently overtook Saudi Arabia to become the worlds third ranking executor, trailing only China and Iran.
After passing through British waters earlier, Russian warships remain in the limelight as the battle group continues its journey. This time, Vladimir Putin's naval vessels are due to drop anchor in Northern Africa.

The Russian fleet's trip to the Middle East has been a major concern for NATO. With the aircraft carrier, Admiral Kuznetsov in tow, it has been perceived that the Kremlin is set to reinforce the siege in the Syrian city of Aleppo.

Fallout between the West and Russia has surfaced following reports of high civilian casualties inside Syria. What further irked the US-led Allied Coalition is the approach being taken by Putin's troops.

It has been known that airstrikes were aimed at the rebel-held eastern part of Aleppo. Based on current developments, there are no indications that the Russian-backed Al-Assad regime will refrain from assaulting insurgent positions anytime soon.

Before heading to Africa, the Russian Navy has been due to refuel in Spain. However, NATO allies have objected strongly to such move. In fact, Moscow's intention has drawn flak from no less than Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and former UK Navy Chief Admiral West.

The Spanish Foreign Ministry has translated Russia's request as under review. Spain gets itself caught in an awkward position considering that allowing the warships to dock is in direct contrast to what it did last week. In a conference held in Paris, Madrid has expressed its support to save Syria.

The Russian armada is supposed to drop anchor at Africa's north coast of Ceuta just across the Spanish Straits of Gibraltar. Considering the enclave's unclear standing as NATO ally, around 60 Russian war vessels have stopped in the area since 2011.

A permission to dock has already been granted by Spain in September. Since inquiries about its Syrian intentions have cropped up, Moscow has withdrawn its request in Madrid.

UK Defense Secretary Michael Fallon comments that it is a concern if a NATO member extends assistance to a Russian fleet that will eventually bomb Syria.

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
At a time when Motorola users are enthusiastically waiting for the Android 7.0 Nougat OS update for their Motorola-Lenovo handsets, it seems like that the company is still thinking about the release of Android Nougat as an OS update for the recently launched Moto E3 Power.

The China-based company is yet to announce an update about the release of the Android Nougat firmware its for Moto E3 Power handset.

Motorola recently released a list of smartphones that are eligible to receive Android Nougat OS update. But in the list that was released just last month, the notable absentee was Motorola Moto E3 power .

And now, even a month after announcing this list, Motorola is still finding it difficult to state if the Moto E3 Power would be provided the latest Nougat update or not.

As far the Moto E3 Power is concerned, it is unlikely that this device will be receiving Android Nougat OS, as this phone, despite being a very recent release, does not find place amongst the devices that have been listed as eligible to receive Nougat update.

Motog3 says that the pocket-friendly smartphones from Motorola might not prove to be friendly this time. Talking about Moto E3 Power, there is not even a little chance that the currently existing phones in the E series will get the Android 7.0 update.

This development indicates that users of the Motorola handset may be stuck with Android 6.0 Marshmallow for a long time, reports IBT Times.

The Moto series smartphones is enormously popular in India and the United States because even the budget offerings of Motorola attract people. The Moto E3 power comes with a price tag of Rs 7,999 in India. This is extremely competitive and affordable as Indian market attracts cheap and fully featured phones.

Moto E3 Power has the design language of Moto G4 and G4 Plus. The front is very much of a standard affair. The device has a 5-inch display that is placed between and the earpiece and speaker. Also the earpiece and speaker grills are narrower than before. They are not hiding the stereo speakers this time.

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
In September 2017, an alien invasion of the Earth can be expected. A leaked top-secret "report" from the conspiracy theory blogosphere revealed that leaked top-secret Kremlin documents expose the secret meetings that took place between President Vladimir Putin of Russia and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.

Biden had delivered Putin a message from President Barack Obama that Russia needs to cooperate with the US so that an "Earth-wide" missile defense system can protect our planet from alien UFO invasion that will occur in September, 2017.

YouTube/UFOMania - The Truth is out there

It happened when NASA satellites located a huge "miles-wide" alien UFO invasion fleet when it came into the solar system. It was heading towards the Earth, and is expected to hit the planet on September 2017.

On January 15, 2014, the report was featured on a number of alien and UFO conspiracy theory blogs, which explained that the U.S. Department of Defense had launched three Terrier-Orion rockets from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. It is not clear why it was done, but there are speculations that Pentagon is trying to probe the alien UFO invasion fleet.

NASA also found that the mysterious force field is acting in a way similar to the Earth's magnetic field. It is "deflecting" space energy particles that constitute the solar wind.

The fleet had come so close to the Earth that amateur sky watchers examined its minor details through powerful telescopes, said the reports. However, the aliens will not reveal the purpose of the missions until late 2017, when they reach the Earth.

Opinions over the ETs are divided. Some are convinced that they are hostile enemies who hold the threat of invasion over our heads. On the other hand, many are afraid that the aliens are benevolent and have come to save us from World War III conflicts between the U.S. and Russia.

Conspiracy theorists are convinced that the aliens can save our planet from the evil NWO-Illuminati globalist cabal that wants to impose a dictatorial rule over the world.

However, many were surprised that they had not already descended down on the world.

"Thought they should've been here already," a believer commented. "These Aliens keep on wasting our time. We've been waiting since 2000 and its 16 years now. They are telling us that they will arrive next year. When next year comes they will probably take a detour and visit Mars and we will have to wait for 2019. Then they might decide to go to Venus and check it out before they come here and then they delay again till 2021. And so this generation dies out..."

One 'soothsayer,' Psychic T. Chase, has revealed in a video on his channel Revelation13net that recent warnings of an alien invasion fleet by 2017 are supported by Nostradamus as well as the Book of Revelation: "Decode Rev. 19 and it sounds like a UFO invasion. 'And I saw heaven opened and a white horse...' Rev. 19:14 says 'and the armies in heaven followed on white horses.'"

There are predictions that the aliens would intervene to stop a World War III encounter between the U.S. and Russia., after which they are expected to set up a new global government and spark off a genetic engineering program to protect humankind from its own self-destruction.

YouTube/revelation13Net

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
ELKO  The Newmont Legacy Fund reached a new record this year of $2.63 million in pledged funds to nonprofits and 73.5 percent participation from employees.

More than 2,500 employees pledged a combined $1.316 million, which is deducted from their paychecks, and Newmont Mining Corp. matches those donations dollar for dollar. The money pledged this year will be given out quarterly in 2017 to more than 200 nonprofits in Northern Nevada.

This is actually our seventh campaign, said Newmont Legacy Fund Executive Director Nancy Ostler. This is our fifth year of getting either equal to or over 70 percent participation. So its our fifth anniversary of that, which is really pretty outstanding.

The Legacy Fund is controlled by the employees, since they decide where their money is sent, Ostler said.

We have over 3,100 pledges, because we found that about 20 percent of employees make more than one pledge, she said. So they might do $10 to (The Committee Against Domestic Violence) and might do $10 to the senior center.

While Newmont Mining Corp. has increased the number of employees in Nevada, Ostler doesnt think that is the only reason the fund has reached a new record.

I think more and more people are liking it, she said. They see it. They trust it. They like to be able to pick their nonprofit and they see what it does in the community.

The employees who help her promote the fund agree.

Penny Kennedy, Long Canyon business assistant, said she helps promote the Legacy Fund because some of the local nonprofits "have touched my heart in one way or another."

I believe that employees are willing to pledge for the same reason," she said. "It seems that one or more of the organizations has touched their hearts at some point in their lives, and not only that I think employees feel great to help support the community."

Donna Boggio, senior business assistant for Twin Creeks process department, usually gets about 95 to 100 percent of her division to participate in the Legacy Fund.

She helps with the fundraiser because she "believe in it with all my heart."

When asked why she thinks employees are willing to pledge funds, she said, "because they understand how blessed we are to be in the position we are and be able to help our communities."

Jodi Notestine, who works at Leeville, said the Legacy Fund is her way of giving back to the community.

"I think employees give because they are out in the community seeing first hand where their dollars are going," she said. "They may have kids in an afternoon program or even a parent utilizing the senior center -- so many reasons to donate."

Tabby Mays-Wynia works in Carlin mine operations south area. She said she participates to support local nonprofits.

It "helps them to build a future and pay it forward," she said. "I believe employees are willing to pledge funds because they want to see our community grow and help others in need. Our employees have hearts of gold."

Mary Sutton, Phoenix Mine process, said she promotes the fund because "if you still talk about it, you still care about it."

"I do it because of my own experience," said Adriana Carrillo, who works at Twin Creeks Mine operations. "This is my way of returning the generosity that was shown to me.

"My peeps do it because they believe in helping the community and because you never know when you will need the lending hand of the community."

Colleen Schaffer, who works in maintenance at Twin Creeks, said she promotes the Legacy Fund because "it makes me proud of my fellow co-workers each time I do a presentation to see how generous and community oriented they are.

"I think they are willing to pledge funds because they know how much of an impact they have on the communities, and it just makes a person feel good to know that you are in some way helping others out."

Ostler said this is the last year only Nevada employees will be involved in the fund. Next year the campaign will expand to Colorado, where Newmont has its Cripple Creek & Victor Mine.

Our employees are the real key to the Legacy Funds ever escalating success, said Gary Dowdle, interim regional senior vice president for Newmont North America. Its in Newmonts culture to give back to our local communities, which have been unyieldingly supportive of our business over the years. Our people regularly contribute generous amounts of their money, time, energy and talents to their communities, and the Legacy Fund is an extension of that generosity.

Not only does Newmont match employee donations, but we also cover all overhead and administrative costs separately, so all of the Legacy Fund money is distributed among the nonprofits designated by the employees, said Rhonda Zuraff, director of communications and external relations for Newmont North America.

Newmonts Endowment Fund is a companion to the Legacy Fund. It also has grown year after year and now is valued at more than $1.6 million. The Endowment Fund was established to help nonprofits when Newmont is no longer in the community.

Thank you to all of our participating employees and campaign coordinators, who continue to make the Legacy Fund a great success year after year, Dowdle said. They exemplify Newmonts commitment to the betterment of our local communities.

These impressive numbers might quantify our employees generosity, but thats only part of a bigger picture, Zuraff said. When it comes to helping out our communities, Newmont and our employees offer so much more than just dollars. We are all supremely proud to be a respected partner with our communities, and this latest Legacy Fund campaign demonstrates that pride.
Are you a tourist photographer seeking your next destination to capture those unforgettable natural shots of the world's beauty? Dead Vlei should be your very next stop. This dried-up marsh located near Sossusvlei in the Namib Desert in Namibia, is a darling picturesque whose fascinating images are commonly used colorful desktop savers across the globe, with gracefully yet somber trees that have frozen in time.

Characterized by a cracked salt pan, scorched skeletal acacia trees believed to be over 900 years old and surrounded by the tallest sand dunes in the world; Dead Vlei was formed after river Tsauchab flooded to form the clay pan. However, it later surrendered to the persisting climate change in the area, drying up to the extent that even the once towering trees failed to decompose, but were instead scorched black. Yet, there is sign of life in the resolute endurance of plant species such as clumps of nara and salsola shrubs, which survive from the morning mist.

Reasons to visit

Apart from the opportunity to photograph some of the most captivating images of the Dead Vlei, a morning or evening 4-wheel trail drive below the towering red sand dunes will give you an experience of the most beautiful sunrise and sunset. They form a celestial view as the sunrays strike from the clear skies, through the ghostly trees reflecting into the dead desert.

Nearby attractions

Sossusvlei is another salt and clay pan near Dead Vlei and is mainly surrounded by the Red Dunes. Like Dead Vlei, its trees have also been scorched black by Namib's blistering sun. Sossusvlei is River Tsauchab's final destination. In addition, Namib Naukluft National Park is one of the largest conservation areas in Africa, covering approximately 50,000km and protecting the Namib Desert; one of the oldest in the world. It is advised to take the route from south-central Mariental; to avoid the treacherous mountain passes and at the same time capture exceptional views of the desert.

Accommodation

Sossus Dune lodge is in Sesriem within the Naukluft Park and provides guests the efficiency of reaching Dead Vlei before sunrise and leave after sunset. Additionally, add luxury to your Dead Vlei experience at the Moon Mountain Lodge found in the Naukluft Mountains near the charming little Solitaire village. The lodge provides outdoor activities including short distance helicopter flights, ballooning and horse riding and a private splash swimming pool to cool off from the sizzling heat. Guests enjoy an array of traditional Namibian dishes from the lodge's Nebula Restaurant and drinks from the onsite Cosmos Bar.
Rising oil prices have meant profits for Exxon Mobil, Chevron and some of their rivals, but the latest round of corporate earnings over the past two weeks show the energy industry faces a long, difficult and uneven road out of the oil bust.

Most executives and analysts say the worst is over for the industry, and a tentative rebound has begun. But financial reports for the three-month period that ended in September outline the shape of the recovery, one that will proceed in painful fits and starts for companies that extract oil, refine it into gasoline and write paychecks to thousands in Houston. Profits have returned for some companies and losses have narrowed for others, but many are still cutting jobs.

Last week, for example, the leading oil field services companies, Schlumberger and Houston's Halliburton, said they earned modest profits in the third quarter and halted layoffs. But their smaller Houston rivals have not fared as well; Baker Hughes slashed another 2,000 jobs in the third quarter as it cuts its losses in half, while National Oilwell Varco said Friday that it cut 43 percent of its workforce - 27,000 jobs - over the past two years and expects more cutbacks after posting a $1.4 billion third quarter loss.

"We're definitely seeing a recovery," said Brian Youngberg, an analyst at Edward Jones. "It's going to be choppy, as they always are."

More Information By the numbers $511M Third-quarter profit for Houston-based Phillips 66 2,000 Jobs shed in third quarter by Baker Hughes $48.70 Price per barrel for crude oil on Friday See More Collapse

But in a sign of just how deep the crash has cut and how far the industry must climb, Exxon disclosed Friday that stubbornly low oil prices may force it to write off the value of as much as 4.6 billion barrels, or about one-fifth of its oil and gas prospects. Exxon, which is under investigation by state and federal agencies for the way it values such reserves, has in the past steadfastly declined to devalue them.

Questions for Big Oil

If low prices persist, some of Exxon's oilfields may not qualify as proved reserves because it won't be economical to drill, the company said. It promised to assess all of its major oil and gas fields by the end of the year.

Exxon, headquartered in Irving, but with a major presence in the Houston area, said its profits fell by more than 30 percent to $2.7 billion, the worst third quarter in at least five years, and far below the $16 billion earned in 2012. Chevron, the nation's second largest oil company, reported its first quarterly profit in a year, $1.3 billion, attributing it in large part to higher oil prices.

But the question for Big Oil and the rest of the industry: Will prices still keep going up? While the recent climb in crude prices has led to a steady return of drilling rigs, the recovery remains fragile, analysts said.

Much of the it depends on whether Saudi Arabia and other members of the OPEC cartel finalize an agreement to cut production in November. Jitters about the deal helped push U.S. oil prices down $1.02 to $48.70 a barrel on Friday, its lowest point in more than a month.

That is still well above the $26 a barrel low reached in February, and much of the industry seems to have begun to heal. Independent drillers reported $1 billion losses in the third quarter deficits but also improvements, however slight, from the same period last year. Refiners, hit hard this year by a gasoline glut and squeezed by rising crude cost and falling gas prices, are showing signs of growth again.

'Volatility' challenge

Houston-based Phillips 66, the nation's largest refiner, reported profits of $511 million for the third quarter, up from $496 million in the second quarter but down 68 percent from historic profits earned during the same period last year. National Oilwell Varco, despite writing down the value of its rigs and other assets by $1 billion, said its North American revenues rose 15 percent as drilling activity increased.

Among independent drillers, revenues edged up slightly compared to the second quarter and losses narrowed. On Thursday, ConocoPhillips reported it lost $1 billion in the third quarter compared to a $1.1 billion loss in both the second quarter and the third quarter of 2015. It cut about $300 million in capital expenses as it shifted money from offshore projects to hydraulic fracturing operations in U.S. shale fields. It also slashed operating expenses by 17 percent, or $300 million.

Even some smaller companies, harder hit by the downturn, are beginning to recover. Houston's Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., a natural gas producer, on Friday posted a third quarter loss of $10.3 million, compared to a loss of about $15 million in the third quarter of 2015. Chairman Dan O. Dinges said the company managed to increase production while cutting costs and echoed the comments of many energy executives these days.

"The volatility in commodity prices continues to challenge our industry, " he said, "and has driven us to be more efficient."

Jordan Blum contributed to this report.
BRUSSELS - The European Union will sign a long-delayed trade pact with Canada on Sunday after a holdout Belgian region finally endorsed the agreement.

Ambassadors from the EU nations meeting in Brussels late Friday paved the way for the signature of the deal and for it to be provisionally applied until all 28 member states have legally ratified it.
About 79 percent of Americans say global warming is happening, with majorities from both political parties supporting government action to address the problem.

So when will Republican politicians accept scientific fact and do something?

The UT Energy poll of 2,043 Americans by the University of Texas' Energy Institute found that 89 percent of self-identified Democrats and 62 percent of self-identified Republicans accept the overwhelming scientific consensus about global warming. In 2012, only 45 percent of Republican accepted climate change science as fact.

That's in direct contrast with Republican leaders, both nationally and in Texas, who still publicly question whether humans burning fossil fuels for the past 250 years has contributed to a warming planet and rising sea levels.

"Some of these findings reflect entrenched positions of the two parties," Sheril Kirshenbaum, the poll's director, said.

Most importantly, perhaps, 91 percent of Americans under the age of 35 accept climate science. This might account for why millennials overwhelmingly reject Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who has called climate science a Chinese hoax to destroy the U.S. economy.

Not surprisingly, 62 percent of millennials support phasing out coal as a source of electricity, while only 28 percent of seniors do. About 52 percent of millennials support a carbon tax, while 77 percent of senior citizens oppose one.

On hydraulically fracturing wells, only 47 percent said they understood what the technology involved, but of those, 45 percent oppose the technology. Opposition to fracking has grown 8 percent since last year.

The results appear to show greater awareness of the fossil fuel issues.

Republicans should recognize they need to get with mainstream scientific opinion, because the American public already has.
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CANNON BALL, N.D. - A standoff between Dakota Access pipeline opponents and law enforcement over a highway roadblock diminished Friday without incident, a marked contrast to the forced removal a day earlier of protesters occupying private property.

As many as 50 protesters gathered early in the day behind heavy plywood sheets and burned-out vehicles, facing a line of concrete barriers, military vehicles and police in riot gear. But only a handful of people, some of them observers from Amnesty International, remained on the bridge by late afternoon after protest representatives told people to return to the main encampment.

Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier described the protesters as "non-confrontational but uncooperative" and credited Standing Rock Sioux tribal members for helping to ease tensions on the bridge. Kirchmeier said tribal representatives were allowed onto the private property to remove teepees.

Officers arrested one person on Friday, but no details were released.

Standing Rock has waged a protest for months against the four-state, thousand-mile pipeline being developed by Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners to carry North Dakota crude to a shipping point in Patoka, Ill.

The tribe argues it's a threat to water and cultural sites, and encampments have grown to thousands at times as its cause has drawn support from Native Americans and others from around the country, including environmentalists and some celebrities.

The protest escalated on Sunday when demonstrators set up camp on private land along the pipeline's path that had recently been acquired by Energy Transfer Partners. More than 140 people were arrested Thursday as law enforcement, bolstered by reinforcements from several states, moved in slowly to envelop the protesters.

After Thursday's eviction, some protesters worked overnight to create the two roadblocks.

Jolene White Eagle, 56, a lifelong Cannon Ball resident, watched as law enforcement officers massed near Friday's new blockade and called the police response "nonsense."

"It reminds me of something like a foreign country, what's happened here with all the destruction," she said.
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Before she could paint in a way that satisfied her, Terrell James had to learn to close her eyes and trust that what she could hear and smell was as important as what she saw.

Drawn to nature and landscapes, James sensed early that she expressed herself best with abstraction. She wants to translate the experience of seeing, not tell viewers what to see, likening her painting to music.

Her show "Hover" at Art League Houston, celebrating her moment as the 2016 Texas Artist of the Year, illustrates James' poetic vision.

Although she is widely known as a painter, the show includes two shelves of fist-size bronze sculptures from 1997 and 2014 and a series of monoprints, "Ten Stones," that James made in 2012.

She hadn't really noticed the relationships between those pieces and the show's large canvases, which date from 2007 to the present, until the show was installed - more on that in a bit.

"You just can't escape yourself," she said.

Last week, James also celebrated the opening of her first solo show at London's Cadogan Contemporary Gallery.

"I have the privilege of showing all over the world, but it's also a great privilege to have one place you're from," she said.

More Information 'Hover,' by Terrell James When: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, noon-5 p.m. Saturdays, through Nov. 19 Where: Art League Houston, 1953 Montrose Info: Free; 713-523-9530, artleaguehouston.org See More Collapse

The Art League survey prompted her to reflect on decades of accumulated visual influences.

A fourth-generation Houstonian, James remembers running across a lawn at the MFAH as a child to inspect a monumental Olmec sculpture. She grew up going to the Rothko Chapel. She learned to love Cy Twombly at the Menil.

"All these things are remarkable - the experiences you have in your own city museums," she said.

Terrell, her first name, reflects her prominent Texas family, which goes back seven generations. Many of her relatives, including her parents, were writers; her great-uncle operated an important printing press on land that was once the family farm, where the Houston Public Library now stands downtown.

"I was the weird kid not reading all the time," James said. "But I love trying to make sense of things verbally. My titles come after the work is finished. For me, they are a way in: What is this evoking for me? I also think it's another clue for the viewer."

She always knew she would be an artist. "The printing press was important for me because I had reams of paper taller than I was at any given time," she said. "As a child, I could draw a little lady with a flowery hat on a paper plate and take it down to the printing office and have four-color-separation cards made."

James trained classically, starting with life drawing and traditional landscapes. She painted one of her first abstract canvases during college, working outdoors, on the edge of a lake at dusk.

"There was hardly any light. There was reflection. It was a kind of palpable sense of the air and the insects and the movement of reeds, but you couldn't really see it. You couldn't even see the color of paint you were using," she said. "Somehow that became a very important painting for me. It sounds peculiar  but it captured the place."

She had a similar experience years ago during a daytime hiking and drawing trip with her husband, architect Cameron Armstrong, at Big Bend's Santa Elena Canyon.

"My drawings were a little stiff, tight - I drew a lot of detail of the rock ledges. Then I decided to close my eyes, and I drew for about 30 minutes not looking at the sketchbook. I still have that sketchbook.  The experience of being in a canyon came through much better. It's almost like the echo of sound off the stone walls became part of the drawing - these very free loops that became more like the imposing walls of the canyon."

James explored form and light further when she had a second-floor studio at Rice Village with an ugly view of roofs, power lines and cars. "I started looking at shapes just because I think it's important, whatever you're looking at, to have something in mind," she said.

She has never stopped learning. Recently, she has been able to make it appear as if light is emanating from the back of her canvases.

She pointed to "Circadian Clock," one of her most luminous recent canvases, as an example.

"There are lots and lots of layers of paint in that. It was a frustrating painting. I had worked on it and worked on it, and almost gotten it right. Then all of a sudden, it came together when I destroyed a series of wet patches with drawn forms. You know it when you see it; that light is coming from the back."

As she painted, she was thinking about plums, figs "and the colors of rotting beauty - things rotting, decaying and shining - and that incredible thing when you open a fig and it's got that hidden pink and little seeds," she said. "It turns out that fig is a flower that's blooming inward, and it needs a particular wasp to penetrate, lay an egg and die there.

"There are these glorious anomalies in nature that somehow create amazing life and beauty. A lot of my work is dependent on my love of organic forms in nature and light," she said.

"When you look at painters who are great with light - let's say Edward Hopper - you notice that there is a lot of attention paid to the area around the illumination. An important thing happens with the juxtaposition of dark and light values and color. I remember distinctly when I finally got it. You can't always summon it."

She stopped talking to watch a young couple who entered the gallery to look at her work. They breezed through in less than a minute.

How, I wondered, does she explain abstraction to people who think anybody could swipe a mess of paint on a big canvas and call it art?

"That's a really good question because it's so hard to know what to paint," she said. And every abstract painter has a distinct feel for when a piece is done.

"If you're painting a thing you're looking at, you can see if the shadows and light are wrong. That's why we teach that way, starting with still life and landscapes," James said. "I started painting with oils as a 10-year old - so that's five decades. There's a sense of development with your own vocabulary."

She compared it to learning to write poetry: First you have to learn handwriting, then sentence structure, then how to put meaning into paragraphs, then write a page that is what you want to say.

"With painting, there's a real structure that you learn - with form, with composition value, with color," she said. "And then there's that thing in which you hope you have something new to say."

Her sculptures include bronzes and clay pieces. If you spotted them in a riverbed, you probably wouldn't recognize them as art - they're organic forms, some of which look like random clods of earth.

"Exactly," James said.

She started making them in the mid-1990s because she had the urge to create something that might be crawling out from the floor instead of hanging on the wall.

Look closely at the paintings, and black areas on canvases take on new meaning.

"Surprisingly, they jumped from the table into the paintings: I started drawing them. I thought it was sort of funny and perverse that when I finally started working from life again, it was something nobody could name - these odd, clumpy things," she said, chuckling.
Mariano Rajoy greets supporters after being voted in the new prime minister of Spain. Samuel Sanchez (EL PAIS)

Mariano Rajoy was voted in as the new prime minister of Spain at the second round of a congressional vote on Saturday night.

Rajoy, of the Popular Party (PP), won a second term in office after leading a caretaker government for 10 months in the wake of inconclusive elections that broke the two-party system, introducing unprecedented fragmentation in the lower house.

When people mobilize, that is not a threat to democracy

Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias

As expected, the PP nominee won 170 favorable votes from his own party, from the reform group Ciudadanos and from the regional Canaries Coalition.

But his victory was only made possible by the fact that 68 Socialist Party (PSOE) deputies abstained, following their own partys instructions. Even so, 15 Socialist congressmembers entered a conscience vote against Rajoy, evidencing the deep fracture within the PSOE.

In all, 111 deputies voted against Rajoy in the 350-seat chamber.

Rajoys minority government will have to reach vote-by-vote agreements in a hostile chamber, a fact that the new PM acknowledged right after the vote.

Thousands of people protested the new government outside Congress on Saturday. Jaime Villanueva

I think there is still a lot of work ahead of us, said Rajoy in his first statements. We will try to seek agreement and understanding with everyone.

But then he issued a warning to other members in Congress who have pledged to fight his tenure every step of the way.

I think we are a great nation and a great country, and I hope this will not simply be an investiture session, but that we will be able to do what other European countries with no majorities do: try to govern and work together.

His words were mostly aimed at the anti-austerity Podemos and the United Left, whose representatives warned ahead of the vote that they cannot be counted on to cooperate during the coming term.

Carolina Bescansa, a deputy for Podemos, declared that today, a new bloc has been created in reference to the PP, PSOE and Ciudadanos.

Over 1,000 police officers were sent to watch over a demonstration

Meanwhile, the PSOE issued a statement saying that from this very moment, the PSOE pledges to head an opposition that will revert four years and 300 days of partisan and harmful policies.

Protest outside

But as lawmakers were casting their votes, a large crowd had congregated outside Congress to protest what it viewed as a breach of democracy.

The Surround Congress demonstration attracted an estimated 6,000 people according to the National Police. Protesters, who ended the rally at around 8pm, claimed that the PSOEs passive support for its traditional rival, the PP, is a betrayal of voters wishes  or, in the words of protest organizers, a mafia coup.

Marchers protested the illegitimate government being created within the walls of Congress.

Over 1,000 police officers were sent to watch over a demonstration that was organized by a group called Coordinadora 25S and sponsored by radical left-wing parties who have promised to bring the fight into the public squares.

Protesters waved placards showing Rajoy with a smoking gun in his hand. Former Socialist leader Felipe Gonzalez, who was Spains longest-serving prime minister and publicly supported abstention as a last resort to end the impasse, was also depicted as a gunslinger in the posters.

Asked about the protest, Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias denied that it was a threat to democracy. When people mobilize, that is not a threat to democracy, he said. A lethargic society is a threat to democracy.

English version by Susana Urra.
Kinzie+Riehm/Getty Images

When I was growing up in Clear Lake City, I trick-or-treated in a beige satin princess dress that my mom had made out of one of the dresses she had worn in high school or college at the many dances and formals she attended.



It was a more traditional time, when people actually dressed up for things, danced dances that involved more than just jumping around, and I was shocked that she had taken scissors to that gorgeous dress and cut it down into something that made me feel like a fairy princess with magical powers. I think I even had a wand. My straight-as-a-stick blonde hair wouldn't stay securely in my tiara, but no matter: I felt like Princess Diana, before I knew who she was, before I knew how things could go so wrong.



Then, when I was a little older, Halloween didnt seem as fun, but it did seem scarier. There were upsetting incidents: Pixie sticks that had been tainted by some sicko, apples with razors in them handed out to innocent kids. Maybe that was when I started hating Halloween  what was supposed to be fun and light-hearted had turned as serious as burning a witch at the stake.

I was done with what I was sure was a stupid way to push candy sales. I started to understand why some people turn out the front porch light on Halloween, go to the movies instead, say no thank you to both tricks and treats.



Now my son, Christopher, is 15. This year, Halloween will be, probably, more about handing out candy to little kids, doing the regular grind of AP class homework (which is more than I could have handled at that age), figuring out if we want to go ahead and make brownies since we have already agreed to surrender to sugar on that day anyway. Its a war we cant win, and frankly, we dont want to. Bring on the candy corn, unwrap that mini Heath Bar, pretend you can fit that jawbreaker in your mouth: No one can stop you.



But when Christopher was little, I put on an Academy Award-worthy performance. My role? Pretending that I was neutral about Halloween. Because that was way better than being killjoy-in-residence.
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JoAnne Stefano flipped on the kitchen faucet in the child care center she operates. She wasn't sure what would come splashing out. Would the water be off-color? How would it smell?

Stefano and other local residents and business owners in recent weeks have contended with the growing pains of a city transformed. Developing from rural town to suburban hot spot, Fulshear (pop. 7,545) is home to people who still use private wells reminiscent of a pastoral way of life. Its quaint town center, and surrounding properties with hay bales and horses, continues to feel of another era.

But like many once-rural towns in the Houston area, the city-in-flux in Fort Bend County has also been forced to meet the needs of an increasing population. It's made changes like connecting a newly drilled well to a public water system - a move that turned out less than ideally. Toilets filled with brown water. Baths smelled like sulfur. Glasses of water seemed unfit even for dogs.

City staff said they have been moving as quickly as possible to address the problems of look and smell, which don't affect the entire city. But the puzzle hasn't yet been solved, and some residents say their patience is wearing thin.

The original cause was determined to be iron-reducing bacteria. The new well system was treated with highly concentrated chlorine several more times to eliminate it, Assistant City Manager Michael Ross said. (This is routine before bringing a well online.)

City Council officials also approved a change-order for the system so the water from the new well would be routed to the top of the supply in the tank, Ross said. This would give it a longer chance to aerate, which was expected to help eliminate the odors.

Now city leaders are waiting for the old water to be used from the tank to see if their attempts have worked. But they also have outstanding concerns about sulfides detected in the water, which may be contributing to the issues.

"We hope that it's going away," Ross said. "If it's not, then we're going to look at Plan B and C and D."

Region has water challenges

Around the region, local governments are grappling with how to provide clean drinking water to a fast-growing population. Issues include the sustainability of pumping water out of depleted aquifers, the merits of drawing more water from reservoirs and what to do about private water wells in danger of contamination due to aging septic tanks.

Fulshear leaders knew they needed an extra well ahead of August, when two public schools were slated to open. The schools would share a system that provides water for the entire city except for one major subdivision, Cross Creek Ranch.

As such, they planned ahead. The city approved a $615,200 contract for a new elevated water storage tank, a $674,800 contract for a third water well and a $545,500 contract for general plant improvements.

Work on the projects moved forward. Construction of the new tank, designed to hold 250,000 gallons, was finished early this year. (A ground storage tank that existed previously also remains in use.) The well was up and running around the start of school, Aug. 22.

That's when the problems arose.

As the well got going, water appeared brown or yellow in color, residents said. The liquid carried with it a bothersome odor - like iron "with a covering of rotten eggs," as Stefano said.

It was a shock that those involved say could not reasonably have been avoided. Complaints poured into City Hall, and officials tried to reassure residents that the water was safe. It passed tests for state and federal health standards.

Murky water at day care

Running water from her faucet at the Rocking Horse Children's Center on Thursday, Stefano figured she might be able to serve it to the kids.

"Right now it's not a bad color," Stefano said, watching the water run and filling a cup to sniff, "and today the smell has been pretty good."

Stefano, 56, knows they've been told the water is safe, but it doesn't always seem like it to her. She's not soon to forget the day recently when the water appeared so murky that it didn't even seem good for hand washing. She closed her business early then, asking parents to come get their kids.

The day care is usually responsible for 80 infants and children, and law requires that water be served with every meal and snack, Stefano said. In her fridge, she now stocks several 2.5-gallon jugs of Ozarka water. She has also tried to come up with substitutes or ways to distract from the smell and taste of the tap water, like mixing it with apple juice or slicing up lemons or cucumber to drop into it.

Still, Stefano is getting tired of making due. "I get that we have growing pains, I get that," she said. "I just wonder how much longer I have to do this. Why is this not getting accomplished?"

She feels tempted to take a glass to nearby City Hall, place it in front of the city manager and say, "Here, you drink it," she said. (In the interim, the number for City Hall is saved on speed dial.)

'Tastes like stinky shoes'

Around the corner, at Huggins Elementary in Lamar CISD, Elizabeth Hixon sends her first-grade daughter to school with her own purple water bottle filled with ice water from home, where they are on a different water line and also have a filtration system.

The 31-year-old mother has worried about the quality of water at the school since her 7-year-old began telling her that it looked yellow, smelled bad and, as the daughter said Wednesday, "tastes like stinky shoes."

The mom explained that she's not overly sensitive - she vaccinates her kids and lets them eat McDonalds, she said - but that this crossed a line.

"Yellow water, you think that's safe for little kids?" Hixon posed.

Communication from the school did not reassure her. A message emailed by the school from the city in September included a broken link to a web page they said would help address concerns. An email that came two weeks later directly from the school suggested "it might be wise" to send students with two bottles of water because, although the school's water was safe, students did not like the taste.

School administrators were not made available for interviews. But the district did conduct its own testing that found the water safe, spokesman Phillip Sulak wrote in an email. He wrote the problem was "a city issue."

Officials cite progress

Officials say they have made headway.

"Everyone's committed," Ross said. "It's just bad luck right now."

The city's plan leaves residents like Sonya Simmons, who lives in a 90-year-old house downtown, in a whole new situation than that which she moved into 30 years ago - when a milkman delivered dairy products and old neighbors who came to visit from Houston filled up jugs of water to take home.

Part of the frustration, she thinks, is that people don't like how the city has changed. She's even heard a threat of a water-related lawsuit.

"People don't like change." she said. "You're going to embrace it, or you're going to complain about it forever."

But the 58-year-old real estate agent said she and neighbors experienced problems when they first joined the city system. And she expects the current bout of issues will clear up like that. It's not ideal, she concedes - she doesn't use her own water to make coffee - but, she notes optimistically, "I haven't gotten sick."
Rodwaan Saleh ended his sermon on Friday at the River Oaks Islamic Center mosque with the same plea heard at mosques around the city: Vote on Nov. 8.

Across the country, American Muslims are mobilizing to vote in an election in which their religion has played a key role, a target of Republican nominee Donald Trump who called for a ban on Muslim immigration in the wake of terrorist attacks and accused the community of not doing enough to root out extremists.

A record 86 percent of registered Muslim voters are expected to cast ballots nationally this year, and the overwhelming majority -- more than 70 percent -- are expected to vote for the Democratic nominee, according to surveys. Muslims represent only about 1 percent of the population, but high turnouts in states where the election is close could push the electoral votes to Clinton, analysts said.

Texas could be one of those states as recent polls show Clinton within striking distance of Trump. While most analysts expect the state to stay in the GOP column, a high turnout of Muslims voting for Clinton could help upset those predictions.

Among those who say they will vote for Clinton is M.J. Khan, a Republican who served three terms on the Houston city council from 2004 to 2009. Khan, who immigrated from Pakistan in 1976 and owns businesses in oil, gas and real estate, said Muslims historically were attracted to Republicans because of their opposition to abortion, support for limited government and emphasis on values that frown upon divorce and pre-marital sex. But Trump's derogatory comments and attacks against Muslims, Mexicans, and other minorities will lead him to vote against his party's presidential nominee.

"We expect leaders to have strong character and inclusivity in their discourse," Khan said. "After what Mr. Trump has said about many groups, Latinos, Blacks, Muslims and women, I cannot support a leader with such insulting views."

Texas has one of the largest Muslim populations in the country, and Houston the largest in the state. More than 60,000 Muslims live here; the city is home to more than 20 mosques.

Houston's Muslim population is nearly as diverse as the city itself, community leaders say. About 75 percent have Indian or Pakistani backgrounds and 15 percent are Arab. The remaining 10 percent were born in places like China, Myanmar, South Africa -- and the United States.

That diversity was displayed at Friday's service at the River Oaks Islamic Center mosque, where people all races -- black, white, Asian -- nodded along with Saleh's sermon on balancing faith and entrepreneurship. As they sat or kneeled on carpeted floors in rooms separating men from women and children, volunteers waited in the lobby with fliers on early voting locations.

Saleh, the executive director of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston, said the community has been particularly unnerved by Trump's proposal to ban Muslim immigration. Saleh, born in the United States to Sudanese immigrants, said he understands the need to conduct background checks on people emigrating from Syria and other war-torn nations, but imposing a blanket ban on all Muslims is unfair, un-American, and probably unconstitutional.

He said it is wrong to single out any religious group; throughout history, whether Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Sunnis or Shiites, targeting people who practice a particular religion has led to persecution and atrocities.

"It will open a Pandora's box," said Saleh.

Afshan Jilani, 62, has lived in Houston for about 40 years. Born in Pakistan, Jilani said she views the proposed immigration ban as code that has intensified anti-Muslim feelings and led to harassment and attacks. One of her daughter's friends told her that while walking to classes one evening, a group of young men yelled at her to "go back where you came from" and called her a "camel jockey."

"I just envision an America with President Trump," Jilani said, "and I start hyperventilating."

The anti-Muslim feelings that Trump and his campaign have tapped have led many young Muslims to take precautions, said Saqib Gazi, 22, president of the Muslim Students Association at the University of Houston. For example, his younger sister and her friends who wear hijabs look for chaperones to escort them to evening classes. His friends are wary of mentioning their faith among people they don't know.

The shooting of Gazi's friend, Arslan Tajammul outside the Madrasah Islamiah mosque in Houston this summer, has left him and others on edge about simply walking to services. "It makes me feel insecure about myself when I try to build relationships with people," said Gazi, a senior studying industrial engineering.

A recent report out of Georgetown University found that in 2015 Muslim Americans were six to nine times more likely to be victims of violence than in period before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The study also found that soon after Trump called for shutting down mosques following the mass shootings by Islamic extremists in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif. in December, anti-Muslim attacks tripled, with nearly half directed against mosques.

Neither the Trump campaign or Republican National Committee responded to requests for comment.

Wardah Khalid, 30, a Middle East policy analyst who lives in Houston, said she is still undecided about the presidential election. Both parties, she said, have contributed to a narrow, negative view of Muslims.

Clinton and other Democrats primarily discuss Muslims in terms of national security, ignoring many other issues important to Muslim Americans, including education, civil rights and the economy. She added that discussions about national security often overlook the safety of Muslim Americans.

James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute in Washington and chair of the ethnic council of the Democratic Party, said Clinton and Democrats have addressed many of the issues raised by Khalid, and are very much aware of the dangers the Islamic community faces. "We take the protection of Muslims very seriously," he said.

Nabila Mansoor, director of the Houston chapter of Emerge USA, an Islamic civic organization, has gone to mosques across Houston to register voters and hand out fliers with information about early voting. In past elections, she said, she had to recruit people to help. Not this year: volunteers are flooding her organization, most driven by fears of a Trump presidency and determination to try to prevent it.

With early voting underway in Texas and other states, Mansoor said, anxieties are growing among Muslims. But she hopes tensions will ease if Clinton, as recent polls suggest, wins.

"People just want this election to be over," Mansoor said.
BALMORHEA - Chronicle business writer David Hunn got here from St. Louis four months ago and has done a great job in recent weeks reporting on a potentially devastating mix of oil and water in this tiny town scratched out of the Chihuahuan desert in far West Texas. Reading Hunn's articles about the spectacular new oil and gas field that Houston-based Apache Corp. has discovered in the area, I couldn't tell whether he had made the ultimate journalistic plunge - an actual plunge into the cool, teal-blue waters of one of the largest spring-fed pools in the world. I felt it was my journalistic obligation to complement my colleague's good work by taking a dip. (David told me a couple of days ago he forgot to take along his swimsuit when he made the trek west.)

On Monday afternoon - temperature 79 degrees, the vast Texas sky a cloudless blue - I paid my $7 Balmorhea State Park entry fee, strolled past the "Caution: Watch for Rattle Snakes" sign on the wall outside the dressing rooms and changed into my baggy yellow-and-black-striped swim suit. On busy summer weekends the V-shaped pool, constructed in the early 1930s by young men of the Civilian Conservation Corps, lures some 3,000 people. On this day, I shared the water with maybe a dozen humans and countless 2-inch-long Comanche Springs pupfish, an endangered species that lives only in the waters of San Solomon Springs here at the park.

Unlike Austin's Barton Springs, which takes your breath away when you dive in, the water temperature at Balmorhea is, to my mind, a perfect 76 degrees. It's cool enough to invigorate without the 68-degree shock to the system at Barton Springs. Splashing un-Michael Phelps-like in 30-foot-deep water near the high diving board, I found out what more than 150,000 visitors a year already know, what people have known for centuries: San Solomon Springs, water source for the pool, the nearby town and area farms, is an irreplaceable treasure.

'Town is dying'

It's hard to imagine that the springs themselves might be in danger, but people are worried - with good reason, it seems to me. Despite Apache's assurances, and the company's good reputation, all it takes is one mistake to ruin for ourselves and future generations a natural resource aeons old. It's happened elsewhere, and not far from Balmorhea.

This little community just off Interstate 10, 4 miles north of the park, is like a lot of small Texas towns. With less than 500 people, what's left of downtown is pocked with empty storefronts; people are moving away. Saddled with a median income that's $20,000 below the state and national median, Balmorhea needs the jobs, investment and tax dollars that Apache's discovery might bring.

"This little town is dying," retired teacher, former mayor and Cactus Motel owner Joy Lewis told me. "We've got to get something, or the same thing will happen to us that happened to little Toyah over here." She was referring to a once-thriving rail head and cattle-shipping point nearby that's now a ghost town.

Toyah, an Indian word that means flowing water, was the oldest settlement in Reeves County. The newest was laid out in 1906 and named for the three land developers - Balcum, Moore and Rhea - who filed the plat. Before World War II, about 1,200 people lived in Balmorhea; they've seeped away like sand in an hour glass almost every decade since.

The community's dream of reversing the long decline is buoyed by Apache's discovery, a huge oil field under 350,000 acres of scrub-brush plain north of the Davis Mountains. (The peaks are purple in the distance when you're standing on the high board at the pool.) It may hold more than 15 billion barrels of oil and gas, potentially one of the largest discoveries in years. The company told the Chronicle it might drill as many as 3,000 wells over 20 years in the field it's calling Alpine High.

A cautionary tale

Apache told Hunn that technical positions largely will be filled by current employees, but developing the oil and gas fields is likely to generate hundreds of jobs for drilling contractors, pipeline operators, construction workers and road builders. "All of those people, they've got to eat, they've got to sleep somewhere, they've got to buy gas for their trucks," an Apache spokeswoman said.

But then there's the water - cool, clear water that supported farming by prehistoric Indians scratching out an existence in the midst of the vast and unforgiving desert. When the Spanish explorer Antonio de Espejo arrived in 1583, he found Jumano Indians using the springs to irrigate corn and bean fields. In the 1850s, Mexican settlers from Chihuahua arrived and built acequias to transport water to their fields from San Solomon and other springs. Today an old acequia that runs through town carries some 26 million gallons per day to irrigate 8,000 acres of cotton and alfalfa. The town relies on the tourists, winter Texans and year-round scuba divers drawn to the magnificent pool and adjacent campground.

Hunn retells the cautionary tale of Comanche Springs, the desert oasis at Fort Stockton, 50 miles east of Balmorhea. The springs were a long-ago respite for soldiers, travelers and explorers, and the town grew up around the water. Within a few decades farmers were irrigating 6,200 acres of nearby cropland.

In the early 1950s, farmers west of town began digging wells, drawing water from the same aquifers, and soon Comanche Springs began to wane. In 1952, more than a hundred farmers sued the profligate water-users, including Clayton Williams, Sr., father of billionaire oilman and 1990 gubernatorial candidate Clayton Williams, Jr., but the courts ruled Williams and his cronies had a legal "right of capture." Within a few years Comanche Springs, where between 30 and 40 million gallons of water once flowed daily, had dried up. For "The Spring City of Texas," the springs are just a memory.

'Nobody's happy'

Apache is trying to ease concerns. Its spokeswoman told Hunn the company won't drill on or under the state park or the town of Balmorhea, even though it holds the mineral rights, and doesn't plan on using spring water for fracking operations. The company also has agreed to fund a study in conjunction with scientists from the University of Texas at Arlington to assess water quality in the new oil field. And, thanks to persistent inquiries from Hunn, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department finally decided to begin collecting research and to consider testing the water.

Those efforts have assuaged some concerns, but not all. "We get a lot of people coming through here, and nobody's happy," park ranger Christa Morrison told me as I paid my fee. "It's very disturbing."

Morrison, who lives in Fort Davis 50 miles away, isn't a Texas native. She's from Titusville, Pa., birth place of an iconic industry, one that holds in its hands the fate of a little Texas town and its precious natural resource.
AUSTIN - Marked by record turnout, Texas' first week of early voting has been plagued by widespread confusion about controversial photo ID requirements with cases of people being turned away at the polls, civil rights groups monitoring state activity said Friday.

A coalition of civil rights groups manning a hotline says it has received around 325 reports from Texas since early voting started Monday, most of which involved disorder, inaccurate information and intimidation tactics by election officials and poll workers surrounding the state's voter ID law.

Other complaints involved long lines, malfunctioning machines and an armed person in North Texas talking politics to voters in line.

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund on Friday filed a lawsuit against Bexar County for having outdated voter ID information, including posters, website materials and a recorded message. The county agreed to a temporary restraining order.

The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in July ruled the Texas voter ID law violated federal ballot box protections for minorities and ordered it be weakened for November's election.

A federal judge carried out the 5th Circuit's ruling and diluted the measure. Voters lacking one of seven forms of state-mandated photo identification are allowed to cast a regular ballot after signing an affidavit and presenting an alternate form of ID from an expanded list.

Law not upheld

But Texas election officials are improperly enforcing the law in some cases - and have even turned eligible voters away from the polls, the groups said.

"It is shameful we are now seeing local election officials moving forward as if the law was fully intact," said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

One situation out of Harris County involved a poll worker reporting that election officials were telling people they had to have photo ID to vote without explaining the affidavit option. Another report out of Harris County dealt with a poll worker questioning people of color who were waiting to vote.

In Bexar County, the civil rights groups say they received a complaint about an election judge challenging a voter with "loud and intimidating language" who wanted to sign an affidavit to cast a regular ballot because of a lost photo ID. The loss of identification does qualify for the affidavit process ordered by the federal court in Corpus Christi.

Harris County's chief election official Stan Stanart downplayed the reports about voting issues.

"We've not heard any credible complaints from anyone that there's anything like that going on," he said. "Our intent is to follow the law 100 percent, and we are accommodating every voter who doesn't have a photo ID. It's been a pleasant voting environment in Harris County."

One of the big issues reported this week has been outdated voter ID posters in early voting locations at several counties: Bexar, Dallas, Denton, El Paso, Hays, McLennan and Travis. Some counties, according to the groups, have the incorrect posters on display

Incorrect posters

The groups said they asked Texas' top elections office for immediate "statewide action" to make sure local officials were providing accurate information - and received it. The Secretary of State's office sent election clerks around the state an email to make sure they have the correct posters displayed.

In addition, the United Hispanic Council said it has filed a complaint with the Department of Justice, saying a Republican-led investigation into potential voter fraud there has "left a trail of confused and upset seniors who are now afraid of voting or participating via the absentee ballot process."

Senior citizens in Tarrant County complained of being intimidated by "vigilante-style" tactics, leaving some too afraid to vote by mail or in person.

"This is voter suppression," said Sal Espino, a Fort Worth city councilman.

This report contains material from the Associated Press.
Amid growing concerns about possible violence and voter fraud on Election Day, the Oath Keepers, a national group of former military and law enforcement officers, has urged its members to "blend in" with voters and do "incognito intelligence gathering and crime spotting" at polling places across the country on Nov. 8.

"In particular, we are calling on our retired police officers, our military intelligence veterans, and our Special Warfare veterans (who are well trained in covert observation and intelligence gathering) to take the lead," group leader Stewart Rhodes said in a "call to action" on the group's website and in a YouTube video urging members to "help stop voter fraud."

The Oath Keepers are officially nonpartisan, but their concerns clearly echo Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's warnings about a "rigged" election and his calls for his supporters to monitor polling places for evidence of fraud by supporters of Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

Noting recent undercover video shot by conservative activists, Rhodes, a Montana attorney and Army veteran, told his supporters he is worried about "criminal vote fraud on an industrial scale."

"We are, indeed, most concerned about expected attempts at voter fraud by leftists, but we will spot, document and report any apparent attempt at vote fraud or voter intimidation by anyone, of whatever party," he said.

The call to action advises members to follow all laws, not to engage in direct arguments or confrontations with anyone at polling places and to report any suspicious activity to police.

"Dress to blend with the crowd," Rhodes wrote. "That may mean wearing a Bob Marley, pot leaf, tie-die peace symbol, or "Che" Guevara T-shirt  or it may mean wearing working-man Carhartt pants and a plaid shirt."

A District of Columbia-based civil rights group, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said Thursday that it would ask the Department of Justice to investigate the Oath Keepers' actions.

"What's particularly disturbing here is that they are encouraging their members to go out covertly and not disclose their identities," said Kristen Clarke, the group's president. "We want elections where there is transparency and openness. This kind of rallying call stands to intimidate voters and could have a chilling effect on Election Day."

Half of likely voters say they are at least somewhat concerned about violence either on Election Day or after, according to a Suffolk University/USA Today poll conducted this month. One in five likely voters say they are very concerned, about the same number who said they were not terribly confident that the United States would "have a peaceful transfer of power after the election."

Mark Pitcavage, who monitors extremism for the Anti-Defamation League, said that despite the calls for restraint from its members, stationing Oath Keepers at polling places was potentially dangerous in an election where tensions are already so high.

"With this election, everything is heightened," he said. "Because it is so contentious and controversial, and because emotions and passions are so high right now, any sort of action like this has the potential to have a greater effect."

Police have also expressed concerns about the potential for conflict.

"Our concern will be with anybody showing up outside of a polling place that someone might perceive as a safety issue" said Peter Simpson, spokesman for the Portland, Ore., police. "We don't support anything that's going to put community members in fear, on Election Day or any other day."
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Harris County residents cast more ballots in the first four days of early voting than five states did in the entire 2012 presidential election.

Locally, the number of ballots cast over those days was 45 percent higher than the same period four years ago. Other parts of the state, which sported the nation's lowest turnout in 2014, have seen similar growth.

Now, the question is, will it continue? If it does, Harris County could see close to 1 million people - almost half its registered voters - cast ballots before election day.

"There's so much more voting this time than we've ever seen," said Richard Murray, a veteran pollster at the University of Houston.

In the 15 most populous Texas counties, turnout in the first three days of early voting equaled one-third of total turnout in 2012, said Derek Ryan, an Austin-based Republican data consultant. In some less populous counties, he said, polling places have been "just completely swamped, they aren't used to seeing this many people show up to vote."

And it's not just Texas.

Interactive Written By John D. Harden

Copyright  Houston Chronicle 2016

Caption: Keep track of day-by-day voting totals in Harris County using the chart above. On the first day of early voting, the county broke its one day record in a short few hours. Click the button below to chart to track early voting totals and to view when the county will surpass it's overall 2012 record.

"We're seeing reports of record turnout for this point in time across the country," said Michael McDonald, director of the United States Elections Project. "You (Texas) are really off the scale compared to the other states."

Vote counts more

That may be thanks to a perfect storm of demographic change and an incessantly heated presidential election that is pulling voters to the polls.

Tight races drive turnout because people feel their vote counts more, and presidential contenders Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are neck-and-neck in typically deep red Texas.

Locally, some Harris County races with Republican incumbents also remain up the in air.

Meanwhile, a predominantly Hispanic generation is aging and heading to the polls, potentially pushing state and county politics leftward.

"The first four days looked pretty good for local Democrats," said Murray, who has studied Harris County voting patterns since 1966. "More female, more ethnic, less Caucasian."

The county's turnout so far has been 57 percent female, Murray said, compared with the typical 54 percent, which he called "probably something of a Trump effect."

Stephen Klineberg, founder of Rice University's Kinder Institute for Urban Research, said the county's Democratic shift was a long time coming.

He pointed to a 2016 study by the Institute, which showed Harris County had been evenly split between Democrats and Republicans since studies began in 1984.

In 2005, 35 percent of respondents identified as Democrat and 37 percent identified as Republican. In 2016, 52 percent identified as Democrat and 30 percent as Republican.

That change was mostly due to population growth and changing party affiliation among Latinos, who make up 51 percent of the population under 20 in Harris County, he said.

"Pundits have been predicting this for years," Klineberg said. "There are some indications that we are beginning to see signs of that inevitable transformation in this election year, earlier than most pundits expected."

'Everybody is voting'

Of course, Latinos alone are not driving Harris County's surging early voting turnout.

Some of the highest turnout has come from Houston's suburban ring, including Katy, Cypress and Kingwood, areas with typically high Republican turnout.

"Everybody is voting," Murray said. "It's not that the Anglo vote has fallen, it's just that others have risen more than they have."

According to Crystal Zermeno, director of electoral strategy for the Texas Organizing Project, the number of Harris County Hispanic voters in the first four days of early voting has more than doubled since 2012, citing the organization's analysis of turnout data using Spanish last names in the Voter Activation Network database.

She pointed to Ripley House, an early voting spot in Houston's traditionally Hispanic East End, where turnout on the first day of early voting in 2012 was 460; 1,120 voted there on Monday. That location sported the largest percentage increase of any local early voting spot, according to county data.

In her 18 years of labor organizing, said Zermeno, a Houston native, this year has seen the strongest Latino election engagement.

On the first day of early voting, when the countywide total was up 43 percent over Day 1 in 2012, Hector DeLeon, who runs voter outreach at the county clerk's office, checked the increase for the county's traditionally Hispanic districts, and found it was 43 percent.

"People say, well what's the news about that? Well, news is that usually Hispanics don't keep up, they lag behind," he said. "Especially in early voting."

'An increased interest'

Democrats in general tend to lag in early voting, experts said. This year, Houston Democratic consultant Greg Wythe said, has been "pretty remarkably different from whatever happened in the past."

"Normally, we're losing at this point," he said. An analysis of this week's early voting results suggests 54 percent of turnout so far has been Democratic. That mirrors a recent poll by the University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs, which showed a slight lead or statistical tie for Democrats in countywide races.

It remains unclear what the numbers mean for turnout on Election Day, Nov. 8.

Early voting has grown steadily more popular in the county and state since it was introduced in 1996. That year, 9 percent of Harris County ballots were cast early, compared with 38 percent in 2012.

"It could be that people just want the election to be over," said McDonald at the Elections Project. "But I don't think that's everything going on here. I think there's an increased interest in the election across the board."

In Texas and Harris County, experts said they will be watching to see if turnout begins to taper or continues to grow.

"If the numbers start to trend downward, then we may just be seeing a very active informed and motivated subset with a desire to cast their ballots sooner than later," said Mark Jones, a political scientist at Rice University. "If these numbers stay this high, then that would lead us to believe that this is a major shift."
AUSTIN - Faced with a mandate to quickly come up with a temporary fix for the state's troubled child-protection system, members of a state Senate panel on Friday hinted they may OK an emergency pay raise for front-line workers, but are not yet ready to sign off on another $83.1 million to hire more than 800 additional employees.

Instead, lawmakers said they plan to expedite an in-depth review of how the Department of Family and Protective Services is spending its current budget of $2.8 billion before they approve tens of millions more as a stop-gap measure.

That move indicates that Senate budget-writers at this point appear unwilling to accept interim DFPS Chief Henry "Hank" Whitman Jr.'s request to significantly grow the agency's payroll before they are able to measure whether the funds will correct flaws that have plagued the child protection system for years.

The agency's chronic problems exploded into headlines in recent weeks, after reports that 2,853 children deemed at high risk of being abused or neglected had gone for weeks without being seen by state employees, despite a benchmark requiring they be contacted within a few hours or days, depending on the severity of the allegations. Many of those were in Houston.

Senate leaders on Wednesday ordered state police to help track down 511 of the highest-risk children who had not been seen. While they found 26 on Thursday, and caseworkers found another 136, DFPS spokesman Patrick Crimmins said officials could not say how many additional children had been found on Friday.

"This is an urgent matter ... and I don't think we can wait and procrastinate until the legislative session begins to make some initial decisions," said Sen. John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat, echoing colleagues who spoke privately. "We need to quickly determine what will work and what won't, and then move ahead to make sure we spend taxpayer money on the solutions that will work."

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Jane Nelson, who appointed the five-member working group on Wednesday to come up with a plan to immediately address critical issues, directed its members to "take the (DFPS) budget down to zero and look at every single penny of the $2.8 billion" in assessing whether the agency's emergency funding request "addresses the current crisis that we are facing."

"We have to get it right on (Child Protective Services)," she said. "We need to better understand what investments are working, and what improvements are needed. We need an action plan that keeps children safe."

Funding increase

Sen. Charles Schwertner, a Georgetown Republican who heads the Senate working group, said that until employee turnover at the agency is reduced, "this is like filling up a pail that has a hole in the bottom."

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick issued a statement saying he shares the frustrations of senators that the child-protection agency "been unable to move through their backlog and protect these at-risk children despite and 85 percent increase in funding since 2006-07."

Whitman, commissioner of the troubled agency for the past five months, has urged legislative leaders to approve additional funding as quickly as they can so he can start correcting the systemic flaws and reduce the turnover rate to stabilize operations.

He has sought permission from state leaders to hire 550 additional caseworkers and special investigators, along with 279 support and supervisory staff and training and hiring specialists. That, plus proposed immediate pay raises for front-line staff, would cost a total of $91.2 million.

Top aides to Gov. Greg Abbott have said they support Whitman's requests for additional funding and employees, and have urged fast action by lawmakers to find the additional state money needed.

On Friday, state Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, a member of the budget-writing House Appropriations Committee, urged state leaders to quickly get the agency the additional funding for the immediate pay hikes "for the safety and protection of our state's children."

Whitman proposed raising the base pay of front-line caseworkers and supervisors by $12,000 a year, a plan applauded by child-advocacy groups and agency employees, who say high employee turnover is due to low pay.

'Terrible turnover'

Other members of the Senate Finance Committee said while fast action is warranted, correct action and a successful plan to turn around the agency's long-standing operational issues is a must.

"A terrible turnover of kids, a terrible turnover of employees and a terrible turnover of taxpayer dollars does not benefit anyone," said Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston. "You cannot hire your way out of this problem. The more people you bring on without training, the more it makes the matter worse."

Once Schwertner's panel reviews and refines Whitman's requests  a process senators said could take more than the few days they originally indicated  their report will have to come back to Nelson's 15-member finance committee for action before any emergency funding can be approved, with the consent of other state leaders.
Political forces to cooperate upon condition

Most of the political forces havent decided yet in which format and in association with whom they will take part in the parliamentary elections of 2017. If the matter is working in favor of the country, yes, we can cooperate. I dont rule out that some forces may join us, Armenian Renaissance Party (HVK), as judging by the work, the feedback, which we have, we have a viewpoint that we will receive serous vote of trust. The rest will be decided by the people and God, Rule of Law (OEK) faction Secretary Mher Shahgeldyan told A1+. OEK, which was renamed to HVK, is sure that they will overcome both the electoral and the NA stable majority threshold; they will not have problems with forming coalitions. Our chances are high, there is no problem here, as the OEK in particular has always won the elections and has been presented in the NA. Depending of the post-electoral processes, we can cooperate with the political forces, if there are general approaches, projects, notes Mher Shahgeldyan. There are 6 months left until the parliamentary elections, but many political forces have already come forward with the proposals of cooperation, for example, the Armenian National Congress (HAK). Heritage party has its conditions for cooperation, It is clear, that there should be our agenda on which there must be our vision connected with future Armenia and there should be consolidation around it, and not around the people, by announcing that there must be regime change. We understand that if there isnt any program, which differs from the previous ones, we cannot consolidate, highlighted Heritage lawmaker Zaruhi Postanjyan. At the moment Heritage cannot see the power, with which it would like to pass through the pre-election and post-election campaign. Besides, the party is confident of its powers; it can enter the campaign alone, Of course, it isnt the first time Heritage has been taking part in the elections; overcoming the threshold isnt a problem, we will overcome that threshold. Our issue is different; we propose system changes and their implementation, says Zaruni Postanjyan. Irrespective of the fact that Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) is a coalition partner of Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), the latter prefers to enter campaign alone. We have always entered and participated separately, then, when the existing situations makes us take steps for solving issues, resort to compromises, yes, it is typical of the skills and experience of a political force, so that it can make a right decision on how to solve its problems in the particular situation, thinks ARF faction Head Armen Rustamyan. ARF is ready to cooperate with all the forces, but it also has its preconditions, Starting from the quartet, ARF has clearly presented its approaches and program, its political ideas and strategy. They havent changed until now and wont change, unless someone proposes a real alternative, says Armen Rustamyan. The political forces are sure on the eve of the elections, everybody will start making bombastic promises and statements. In this case the voters are to assess the situation and decide whose words correspond to their actions.
AUSTIN  Texas' top three elected officials are wading back into the same-sex marriage debate by asking the state's high court to clarify how far last year's landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling reaches into the laws of the Lone Star state.

Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton filed an amicus brief Thursday night asking the Texas Supreme Court to clarify the relationship between the federal courts and state law following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell v. Hodges that legalized same-sex marriage across the country in 2015.

"I think they're getting involved because they want to explore ways in which they could either defy or ignore the Obergefell decision, which I think is spiteful, futile and probably going to be a big waste of taxpayer money," said Chuck Smith, CEO at Equality Texas, the state's leading gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender advocacy group.

The federal high court decision does not speak to whether governments are required to provide employee benefits to same-sex couples, which is restricted by state law, according to the brief.

"While the U.S. Supreme Court did recognize a right to same-sex marriage, there are a host of issues in that area of the law that remain unresolved," Paxton said in a statement Friday. Abbott and Patrick's offices declined to comment beyond the filing.

The state's three high-profile Republicans argue same-sex marriage may be the law of the land, but Texas justices need to clarify that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision "does not bind state courts to resolve claims in favor of the right to same-sex marriage."

The brief stems from a lawsuit filed by Jack Pidgeon and Larry Hicks, two Houston taxpayers who sued the City of Houston after former Mayor Annise Parker extended spousal employment benefits to same-sex couples who were married in other states. Parker, the first openly gay mayor of a major U.S. city, said at the time in 2013 that "the only constitutional, just, right and fair thing to do is to extend benefits to all of our married employees, whether they are heterosexual or same-sex couples."

The nation's high court would rule in favor of same sex marriage two years after Houston began paying out benefits.

The Mayor Sylvester Turner's office declined to comment.

"This has always been what we do in America after a big U.S. Supreme Court decision," said Jonathan Saenz, the plantiff's lawyer and president of Texas Values, a right-leaning family and religious liberty group advocacy group. "When we have these types of U.S. Supreme Court cases, what we do moving forward is we fight over what the decision means and that's what we're doing in this case."

The Texas Supreme Court rejected a request for appeal in September, letting stand an appellate court decision in the city's favor. Since then, Pidgeon and Hicks have asked the court to reconsider, citing a lone dissenting opinion from Supreme Court Judge John Devine who said the case raises questions the court should answer. Since then, more than 70 Texas state legislators, candidates and conservative leaders in Texas have filed amicus briefs urging the court to take up the case.

It takes four of the state court's nine judges to grant a rehearing. Only one judge offered a dissenting opinion when the high court refused to hear the case. Out of the nearly 1,000 cases that go before the high court, the body grants no more than a half dozen cases each year.

Lawmakers are due back in Austin in January for the first legislative session since same-sex marriage was legalized. Smith said he is anticipating lawmakers will file bills targeting the LGBT community.

"It's fair to say that we are living in a period of significant backlash to the Obergefell decision and we fully expect that we will see a raft of legislation filed in 2017," Smith said.
Rather than engaging in acrimonious pointless battles, on this 100th anniversary of Planned Parenthood, lawmakers, pro-abortion rights and anti-abortion advocates and concerned citizens should focus on helping women prevent unwanted pregnancies in the first place.

The path away from the abortion wars isn't complicated or political. Much of it is common sense and should start with mandating and funding medically accurate sex education in Texas. Most people assume that in this modern age students take a sexual education course in high school. That's not true in Texas. Some districts don't teach sex education.

Many that do emphasize abstinence-only, which means that they use State Board of Education-approved health textbooks that keep our students uninformed about the basics of safe sex.

And how is this working for our state? Miserably.

Texas is ranked near the bottom among the states and District of Columbia on its rate of teen pregnancy. Our state also had the largest percentage of teen mothers giving birth multiple times, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics for 2010. A teen birth affects not only the mother - who is less likely to graduate from high school - but also the child, who is more likely to suffer neglect or abuse.

Effective sex education represents a longitudinal effort, not a single class taught as part of the physical education curriculum in high school. Reproductive health education should begin in preschool. Don't be shocked. Of course we're not advocating teaching toddlers about sex. But children should know the correct names of body parts so that they don't stigmatize them. By elementary school, students are ready to learn about the components of healthy relationships such as consent and boundaries.

By middle school, teens are desperate to understand the new feelings that accompany their hormonal changes and to navigate the new and mysterious world of relationships between boys and girls. Boys should learn that sexual conquest is not the path to manhood, and girls should understand that they are human beings who deserve respect.

Age-appropriate sex education instruction in the lower grades would lay a solid foundation for a medically accurate curriculum in high school that provides information on contraception, anatomy, how sexually transmitted diseases spread and parenthood.

Abstinence - which is a free form of birth control - deserves consideration as an option. The irony for advocates of this as the only approach to sex education is that the more adults talk to teens about sex and effective ways to prevent pregnancy, the more likely teens are to postpone sexual activity and the more likely they are to use contraception.

Effective sex education in our schools would cut the legs out from under the anti-abortion platform that so many self-serving politicians stand on to rile up their base.

Access to contraceptives is another area that needs attention. Our state is going in the wrong direction here by cutting off funding for Planned Parenthood and other family-planning clinics. An analysis published this year in the New England Journal of Medicine documents a significant increase in births among women who had previously received birth control at clinics that no longer get state funding. But there's a bit of positive news. The state-run Healthy Texas Women program will provide low-income teenagers with access to free birth control.

Now that lawmakers are rebuilding the family planning infrastructure that former Gov. Rick Perry began decimating in 2011 in the abortion wars, we recommend that they revisit regulations that require parental consent for teenagers to get contraceptives. Research shows that parental consent is a barrier to using birth control - but not a barrier to having sex.

Good information and access to contraceptives, goals that Planned Parenthood has long espoused, are an easier, more cost-effective, more humane approach to family planning and one that has a broad base of support. Polling consistently shows that Texas parents want medically accurate, age appropriate sex education in our schools. And providing better access to contraceptives would go a long way toward fulfilling another goal of most people. Texans want abortion to be legal, but they want it to be treated as a last resort.
For the past couple of weeks the American public has been held in uneasy thrall to a candidate for president who seems to be growing more unhinged - or "unshackled" - by the day. Donald Trump's wildly intemperate remarks and ridiculous assertions are, quite simply, without precedent. Like most Americans, we're relieved that this bizarre odyssey is nearing an end.

Under normal circumstances, it would be absurd to have to point out that American elections aren't rigged, that claims of widespread voter fraud are a myth, that a powerful cabal of media figures, establishment politicians and international bankers are not conspiring to deprive the American people of their choice for president.

But these are not normal circumstances. As the long, long campaign reaches its end, thousands of our fellow Americans continue to rally behind a would-be despot, raising loud hosannas to his every claim, no matter how outrageous. (The noise level only increases with news of Hillary Clinton's latest email problems.) Millions are prepared to entrust this nation to a man who brays that he and he alone can save us from total ruination. At mass rallies across the country, their ardor stokes the outsized ego of a man who seeks to delegitimize not just his opponent - "lock her up!" - but also the nation's carefully constructed system of governance. Perhaps most distressing of all, a sizable number of Trumpian true believers are threatening armed uprisings if the election is "stolen" from the one and only choice this nation can, as they see it, possibly make.

We have no idea whether Trump's followers will make good on their threats if their man loses. Maybe they're merely rattling the cages of gullible members of the "crooked media," or maybe they're venting in the face of likely disappointment. We don't know.

What we do know is that Trump himself, if he loses, is not likely to calm troubled waters. From him, it's impossible to imagine eloquent expressions of concession and support in the admirable tradition of George H.W. Bush, Al Gore and every other losing presidential candidate within living memory. Remember, he's keeping us all in suspense about whether he will accept the results of the presidential election - unless he wins.

At a time when graciousness and good will are required, Trump's abdication of responsibility is a given. That's all the more reason for responsible elected officials from both parties to stand up for this nation and its venerable traditions when the votes are counted on Election Day. Republicans bear a lion's share - or should we say an elephant's share - of the responsibility. As the party begins the tedious, torturous process of determining who and what it is post-Trump, party leaders, elected officials, conservative thinkers and others who care about the existence of a strong, responsible center-right party must repudiate their unfit candidate and his noxious views. That repudiation must begin with clear and unequivocal expressions of support for civility and for the ties of civic tradition and mutual respect that bind us each to each.

At the same time, the party that has proudly made a habit of grinding the gears of governance at all levels must embark on a sincere effort to understand and attempt to address the needs of those who found the GOP candidate appealing. "You can't pretend that Trump didn't happen," anti-Trump Republican Peter Wehner, an adviser to President George W. Bush, told Politico. "And you can't pretend that there aren't real issues and concerns that he spoke to."

Democrats bear responsibility, as well. They too ignored the needs of working-class Americans and others who turned to Trump as the answer to their frustrations and despair. "Attention must be paid," Willie Loman's wife Linda demanded, and so it must. Attention must begin with a recommitment on the part of both parties to effective and responsive governance. No more gridlock.

It's we, the people, of course, who bear ultimate responsibility. Trump happened because we weren't paying attention. Our renewed commitment, post-Trump, must be to stay informed, to stay involved, to vote - all to make sure that government of, by and for the people doesn't perish because of our inattention and irresponsibility.
Brett Coomer/Staff

(Thumbs up) Feeling down about the election? A little blue because of the return of summer? Here's an easy picker-upper. Head on over to chron.com and search for the photo gallery about this week's Sunshine Kids day at Minute Maid Park. The pictures are guaranteed smile producers. More than 100 children battling cancer and their siblings batted balls and ran the bases courtesy of Astros Hall of Famer Craig Biggio and his wife, Patty.

(Thumbs down) In almost four years of service, Friendswood congressman Randy Weber hasn't introduced a single bill that became law. He has, however, set himself up as a Jeopardy answer if "Moldova" is the category. "Which Texas congressman stepped in you-know-what during the 2016 Moldovian presidential election?" In a "you-can-take-the-boy-out-of-Friendswood" moment, Weber introduced a resolution critical of pro-Western, anti-Russian candidate Andrian Candu. Why Weber is interested in the former Soviet state landlocked between Romania and the Ukraine is anybody's guess. A former spokesman to four U.S. ambassadors said, "Randy Weber does not know what he is doing." It's time for Final Jeopardy. "These are the most unhappy people in the world, according to World Values Survey." If you said, "Moldovans," you'd be right, and Weber has only made things worse.
Therapy and mental health

Regarding "Court case highlights gaps in state's mental health care system" (HoustonChronicle.com, Oct. 11) and "Money is at the root of court case" (below), the Texas Supreme Court heard arguments for a lawsuit against marriage and family therapists (MFTs). Who sued therapists? The Texas Medical Association.

TMA President Don Read suggests that Texas marriage and family therapists are taking this case to court. Please be clear - there is nothing family therapists in Texas want less than to be involved in this lawsuit.

Read neglects to mention in his essay that TMA's lawsuit is to remove MFTs' ability to diagnose mental health conditions (which they've done for decades), given a semantics concern between two different codes describing MFTs' scope of practice.

TMA has said MFTs are not trained to diagnose. They are - with required coursework and thousands of supervised hours of practice before licensure. They're also endorsed by the American Psychiatric Association for diagnosing. Marriage and Family Therapy is one of five core mental health professions recognized by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - all of which diagnose, as diagnosis does not require a medical doctor.

Read suggests MFTs suddenly wanted to diagnose for "money." While he's wrong about that, he is right that health insurance companies require a diagnostic code to cover mental health services. MFTs whose care is covered by Medicaid, CHIP, the Veterans Affairs and private or state agencies, will lose the ability to be reimbursed, rendering them unemployable. At best, Read's assertion that a ruling in TMA's favor won't change access to mental health care is short-sighted.

Sarah Woods is an assistant professor and program coordinator of the Family Therapy Program, Texas Women's University, Denton.

Keep credentials

Regarding, "Dialogue on bias takes off after black doctor's post (Page A1, Monday), why must everything be politicized these days? The flight attendant acted properly within the airline's guidelines and her training.

The single most important "fact" that is being ignored is that Dr. Tamika Cross did not have any credentials with her, identifying herself as a doctor. Another passenger did have their medical identification and assisted the person needing attention.

George Harper, Brazoria

Airline protocol

Unfortunately a nonmedical person, the flight attendant, was making a quick, panicked decision. I recall a young woman of color approaching me during an in-flight medical emergency after we made a public announcement. She wore her hospital ID around her neck holding it up as she approached me. It made it easy for me. I immediately let her take over.

Nowadays there may be liabilities for the airline if personnel allow unqualified persons to take over an onboard emergency.

Mary Margaret Reilly, posted on Facebook
This month marks the 100th anniversary of the organization that we know today as Planned Parenthood. Please excuse us for not celebrating the occasion. Planned Parenthood, after all, is the largest abortion provider in America, accounting for one out of every three abortions. Over the course of its existence, Planned Parenthood has been responsible for the deaths of almost 7 million unborn children. And let's not forget that, just recently, employees of Planned Parenthood were caught on video discussing the sale of body parts from aborted babies - a potential crime for which Planned Parenthood has yet to be held to account.

Planned Parenthood's callous disregard for human life stands as a stark reminder that one of our highest ideals - that all people are endowed by God with the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness - remains unfulfilled. Planned Parenthood believes that unborn babies who are unwanted are undeserving of life.

Fortunately, most Texans disagree. The people of Texas have embraced the truth that is written on every human heart - that children are a God-given blessing who not only bring joy and fulfillment but, perhaps most important, who teach us to love unconditionally.

That is why Texas has been at the forefront of efforts over many years to protect both the lives of unborn children and the well-being of their mothers. In 2011, the Texas Legislature passed a sonogram bill that is credited with dramatically decreasing abortions in Texas. That same year, Texas also launched efforts to exclude Planned Parenthood from receiving funds under state programs, demonstrating our state's commitment to preventing tax dollars from subsidizing abortion providers.

In 2013, the Texas Legislature passed the Preborn Pain Act as part of a larger bill to ensure the health and safety of women at abortion clinics. While the Supreme Court has since struck down the health and safety provisions - wrongly, we believe - the Preborn Pain Act still stands. That law prohibits abortionists from taking the life of an unborn child at 20 weeks or later - the stage at which science tells us that the unborn baby can feel pain.

Just last year, the Legislature enacted additional measures to advance the cause of life and took further steps to prevent Planned Parenthood from receiving state funds. It ensured that the parents of unborn children diagnosed with Down syndrome receive educational materials that avoid encouraging abortion, and it increased funding for alternatives to abortion, such as adoption.

While Texas continues to lead on pro-life issues, it cannot alone win the struggle for life. The federal government must also take action. Congress should, once and for all, end all taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood, and it should enact the Conscience Protection Act, which would prohibit the federal government, as well as state and local governments that receive federal dollars for health-related activities, from penalizing doctors for refusing to perform an abortion in violation of their conscience.

Congress should also pass the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which, like Texas' Preborn Pain Act, would prohibit the killing of unborn children at 20 weeks and beyond. Finally, Congress should enact the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which would require doctors to treat a child who survives an attempted abortion the same as any other child who is born alive.

These are reasonable, common-sense proposals, but the abortion lobby and virtually all Democrats oppose them. Why? Because to support these measures would require them to admit that, at least sometimes, unborn children are worth protecting. This is an admission of the essential humanity of the child that they are unwilling to make. Nothing is more extreme than that.

We hope and pray that someday America's unborn children will be able to claim that most precious of human rights - the right to life. Until then, we will redouble our efforts to persuade our fellow citizens of the justice of our cause, to save as many unborn children as we possibly can, and to protect women from an abortion industry that preys on them and their children.

Cruz represents Texas in the U.S. Senate. Patrick is lieutenant governor of Texas.
The Houston Chronicle editorial board met with candidates for 75 different races in the run-up to the 2016 election. However, most Texans only check a single box when they cast their ballots. No, they're not skipping dozens of races. Instead, folks are voting straight-party - automatically selecting either all the Democrats or Republicans (or Greens or Libertarians).

This sort of partisan voting can fill important positions with unfit contenders. So if you're one of those straight-party voters, don't forget to look down the ballot and change your vote for these highly qualified candidates.

Railroad Commissioner: Mark Miller

The three-member Railroad Commission needs people who both understand the nitty-gritty of the oil and gas industry, which it regulates, and also refuse to rubber-stamp corporate interests. Libertarian candidate Mark Miller has the balance of background and healthy skepticism to act as a voice for Texans. He has worked as a professor in petrochemical engineering at the University of Texas and literally wrote the book on the Railroad Commission. As he told the editorial board, if he's elected we should expect plenty of 2-1 decisions on the Republican-dominated board.

District Judge, 215th Judicial District: Fred Shuchart

Incumbent Democrat, Judge Elaine Palmer, won her seat in 2012 after a questionable primary campaign that was funded almost exclusively by a local plaintiff's attorney who had lost a major judgment in the 215th. Since then she has received poor evaluations from local attorneys and in the Houston Bar Association. Her Republican challenger, Fred Shuchart, is an experienced attorney and would be a fine replacement.

Judge, County Civil Court at Law No. 1 (Unexpired Term): Clyde Raymond Leuchtag

Democratic candidate George Barnstone admitted that if he weren't running, he'd vote for his Republican opponent: Clyde Raymond Leuchtag. Barnstone is a kind man, but Leuchtag clearly has the superior legal background.

County School Trustee, Position 1, Precinct 2: Sherrie L. Matula

County School Trustee, Position 2, Precinct 4: Marilyn Burgess

The Houston Independent School District needs help. State government is trying to siphon its tax dollars. Special education students aren't getting the resources they need. The Harris County Department of Education helps HISD and surrounding school districts with specialized schools, Head Start, bulk purchasing and other programs. The two Democratic candidates, Sherrie L. Matula and Marilyn Burgess, have backgrounds in education and will take their roles seriously.

We've seen nothing from Republican candidates George Moore and Eric Dick that shows either cares about our schools or will be effective stewards of taxpayer dollars.

Constable, Precinct 6: Richard "Rick" Gonzales

Former constable Victor Trevino is currently serving 10 years probation for gambling at a casino with charity dollars. After his resignation from office, interviews and audits revealed that guns, jewelry, electronics and cash were misplaced in his evidence room. His wife, Silvia Trevino, is now running as the Democratic candidate.

When she met with the editorial board, Mrs. Trevino revealed a startling ignorance: She did not know what Kush is. Constables should understand the issues facing law enforcement officers in our city.

Republican candidate, Richard "Rick" Gonzales, served for 30-years in the Houston Police Department and will give this office a much-needed clean slate.
Thousands of brave Americans have answered the call of duty to serve our country and protect us from terrorism. These brave soldiers fought tirelessly to defend our country in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places around the globe. I was appalled this week to learn along with millions of Americans that now some fifteen years later, many of these soldiers are being asked to repay enlistment bonuses doled out during the global war on terror.

In order to keep highly trained and desirable personnel in the service, the US military has long used incentives such as re-enlistment bonuses. In the early 2000s the US military used re-enlistment bonuses and other incentives for thousands of National Guard Troops in California. In 2010, revelations about mismanagement by the California National Guard surfaced. Following these findings, nearly 10,000 soldiers who were given bonuses were ordered to repay them or face serious financial penalties such as wage garnishments and tax liens. Thats right, because of bureaucratic mismanagement, our countrys soldiers were being asked to make up for the mistakes of paper pushers.

It is clear that Military recruiters betrayed these soldiers, making promises they could not keep and offering incentives they were not authorized to give, but our nations heroes should not have to pay for the mistakes of military officials from over a decade ago. In May I helped pass the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to help correct this injustice by putting a stop to the military going after soldiers for mistakes like this that military personnel make. Simply put, our troops should not be punished for the mistakes made by the Department of Defense.

In 2007, President Obama made a promise to the American people to ensure that our troops have the resources, support, and equipment they need to protect themselves and fulfill their mission, but the reality today is that throughout his presidency he has consistently put military readiness and the interests of our troops on the back burner. In early September, a leaked Pentagon memo revealed the Obama Administrations plan to veto this years National Defense Bill which would have ended the outrageous action of recouping 15 year old military payments. That same Defense Authorization Act included a much needed pay raise for our troops and $2.5 billion for necessary training and maintenance which are funding needs identified as critical by the military services.

Whether they are still on the battlefield or back home, we have a duty to take care of our soldiers. Just this week I met with VA officials to discuss the VA facilities in southeast and south central Missouri. I had previously shared with them the signatures of 5,700 Missourians seeking increased care and services for the veterans in our area and I reiterated my support for such in our meeting. I was pleased that during the meeting the VA confirmed they would expand services, options and care hours at a facility in south central Missouri. Additionally, later in the day the pentagon finally announced that they would no longer be trying to recoup the old bonus payments from our soldiers. While millions of American families are struggling to make ends meet, asking our military members to make repayments because of bureaucratic errors was not appropriate or fair.

With so many problems facing our country and our government it is embarrassing that going after payments to our soldiers was ever a priority. The Department of Defense owes it to the American people to be focused on eradicating entities like ISIS and staying vigilant against terror threats abroad and here at home. The White House should be less focused on vetoing legislation containing pay increases and resources for American troops and instead on how to mitigate the threats from countries like Iran and North Korea. Its time your government put at the top of its responsibility list the safety and security of you and your family, not its own misguided agenda.

Jason Smith represents Missouris 8th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. Contact him at 573-335-0101 or visit https://jasonsmith.house.gov
STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH

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Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders

PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces

There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan

Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia

Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair

Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan

I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General

I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox

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There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur

EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol  Armenia and Azerbaijan  to do so without delay

An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan".

UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT

The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022

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Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully

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STATEMENT BY SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN

This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan

Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments

Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan

Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement

With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building

OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General call for immediate cessation of hostilities along Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh

USA Embassy Message for U.S. Citizens
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MoD: Adversary left posts in panic, leaving ammunition

On October 18 Center for Humanitarian Demining and Expertise received information that there was abandoned ammunition in the territory adjacent to Yeghvard and Uzhanis communities of Syunik marzs Kapan region. Thanks to the efforts of engineering service of the Armenian armed forces and as a result of examination carried out with the expertise support of the Humanitarian Demining Center, ammunition was found in the abandoned posts of the adversary in the abovementioned territory, still after the military operations of the 1990s. On October 27 the ammunition was destroyed. The activities of searching another batch of abandoned ammunition in the adversarys former post in the territory of Yeghvard and Uzhanis are underway. The territories, where the abandoned ammunition was found, are used as meadows and pastures by the residents of Yeghvard and Uzhanis communities. This fact once again must be a call for alertness and vigilance for the community residents, reminding them that it is strictly prohibited to enter hazardous areas. It is indisputable that the revelation of the abandoned ammunition is vivid proof that during the years of the Armenian-Azerbaijani confrontation, the adversary shelled the centers of Yeghvard and Uzhanis communities from these posts. And, most likely, as a result of the targeted shelling by our artillery, the adversary left the posts in panic, leaving the ammunition. On October 18 Center for Humanitarian Demining and Expertise received information that there was abandoned ammunition in the territory adjacent to Yeghvard and Uzhanis communities of Syunik marzs Kapan region. On October 18 Center for Humanitarian Demining and Expertise received information that there was abandoned ammunition in the territory adjacent to Yeghvard and Uzhanis communities of Syunik marzs Kapan region.
It should have been a fresh start.

After years of hauling water from a basic standpipe to their homes, and years of campaigning for better services, Island Lake finally got running water in 2014.

The federal government paid to outfit about 800 homes in the Manitoba region with indoor plumbing. Before that, the vast majority had no plumbing systems at all.

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Just two years later, researchers have found alarmingly high levels of fecal bacteria and E. coli in one area of the regions water. The quality is far below the standard what would be expected of a developed country like Canada, even for small communities, according to the University of Manitoba study published last month.

Island Lake is a community of four Manitoba First Nations. (Photo: Wasagamack First Nation)

I would be concerned if my family drank that water, one of the reports authors, Annemieke Farenhorst, told The Huffington Post Canada in an interview. The Canadian guidelines say there shouldnt be any E. coli in the water at all. It should be zero.

Home to more than 4,000 people, Island Lake is a fly-in community made up of four First Nations. People have been concerned about the drinking water for years, Farenhorst said, and many dont trust that its safe.

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You can hardly blame them. Drinking water on some reservations is notoriously inadequate  the United Nations has chastised Canada for failing to provide such a basic necessity.

Last week, interview requests to the federal government were re-directed from Aboriginal Affairs to Health Canada. Despite assurances, a senior media relations advisor has still not replied to queries for comment.

UPDATE - Nov. 6, 2016: HuffPost's interview request was re-re-directed from Health Canada back to Aboriginal Affairs, which sent a statement.

"Working with First Nations and other partners to support their efforts to ensure clean drinking water and end all long-term DWAs (drinking water advisories) affecting public systems on reserves in five years is a key priority of the Government of Canada," it said, pointing out that the 2016 budget allocates $1.8 billion over five years to First Nation communities to "improve on-reserve water and wastewater infrastructure, ensure proper facility operation and maintenance, and strengthen capacity by enhancing the training of water system operators."

The statement did not directly address queries about communities with unsafe water, yet no DWAs.

I would be concerned if my family drank that water.

Currently, 132 boil water advisories are in effect for First Nations across the country. But it can be a misleading statistic. None of the nations of Island Lake are on that list  even though the water is questionable, and boiling would make it safer, Farenhorst said.

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Many other reserves are in that situation.

Problem is in the delivery

In the community that was studied, water is actually clean when it leaves the treatment plant  but only 300 homes have pipes that are directly connected to the plant. The rest of the community relies on underground cisterns  which Farenhorst described as very, very old and prone to cracking.

Others still have no plumbing at all, so people are still filling buckets at a standpipe or lake and carrying water home.

When you go camping... you do that for two weeks, Farenhorst said. But people there do that every day for their whole lives.

University of Manitoba researcher Annemieke Farenhorst (right) found 'alarming' contamination in the drinking water of Island Lake, a First Nation in Manitoba. (Photo: NSERC)

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The situation in Island Lake is not uncommon. Only 51 per cent of homes on First Nations in Manitoba have piped water, Farenhorst said. Another 31 per cent rely on cisterns, while the rest use wells or have no running water at all.

The nation that Farenhorst studied relies on a single truck to deliver water from the treatment plant to homes and holding tanks. The truck is rarely cleaned because its constantly in use, she said.

"It has taken way too long in Canada.

A solution could be as simple as an extra delivery trucks or replacing underground cisterns with above ground tanks, which are less prone to decay, Farenhorst explained.

It has taken way too long in Canada, she said.

You read in the newspaper that some countries want to put people on Mars Well, if we think thats possible, why is it not possible to provide people in Canada with clean drinking water?

CORRECTION - Oct. 30, 2016: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that all four nations of Island Lake rely on a single water truck.

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Also on HuffPost
Traditionally older Americans vote in larger percentages than the rest of the population. In fact, in the last 38 years, the 65-plus demographic averages a voting percentage of nearly 60 percent. In between the jabs and juvenile antics of the debates, we have not heard much about issues that impact seniors.

The Issues

What are the candidates' positions on Social Security? Find out here.

Research for cures for Alzheimer's and other age-related illnesses? More here.

What is their position on paid family leave and family caregivers in the workforce? Clinton. Trump.

What are their plans for helping Americans pay for long-term care costs? It's limited!

Enabling the Vote

I researched the following while preparing for a TV segment about getting out the senior vote in the Charlotte area of North Carolina. And while there are specifics to North Carolina, there are takeaways for all voters.

Check your state's voter ID requirements. A North Carolina law requiring photo IDs at the polls was struck down though you do need to provide identification when initially registering to vote.

The absentee vote is the best way and recommended way to vote for someone who cannot get to the polls at all. Request a form from your Board of Elections. I have observed that many of my long-term care clients have been very diligent in assuring their residents obtain the ballots.

If you can get to the polls, early voting might be best way to avoid the lines and commotion on Election Day.

What if a person has a disability but can still make it to the polls?



Contact your Board of Elections and ask them about the accessibility of your polling place or an early voting location. You have the right to request another permanent polling place in advance of the election if yours is inaccessible.

People who have visual, physical, cognitive, or mental disabilities have a right to vote, protected by federal and state law. A poll worker is not allowed to offer assistance -- you have to ask for it. You can ask for assistance from any person of your choice, except not an agent of your employer or union.

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You can also remain in a car and vote from the curbside of the polling place if you would have difficulty going inside, due to your age or a physical disability. A poll worker will bring the ballot to you.

Get a ride to the polls.

There are people who have the ability and the desire to vote in person but may lack transportation. This is a very specific geographic issue so do some research to find out what services are available. An inquiry to Uber showed that they do not offer free assistance. Lyft did not respond to our requests.

For my North Carolina readers, here is what we found that can help.

Mecklenburg County Coalition - Early Voting. Request transport using this online form.

Go to NCVoter.org/rides and request a ride or call 888-482-7353.

Democracy North Carolina and the Forward Together Movement -- "Souls to the Polls." Contact 1-888-OUR-VOTE.

If someone needs assistance with voting, say filling out their absentee ballot, who can help them?

They can choose whoever they want but it cannot be the owners and employees of a care facility, elected officials or candidates, and individuals holding office in a political party or organization or who are campaign managers or treasurers for a candidate of a political party.

Some states have mobile polling, also known as supervised absentee voting. These efforts are conducted in the residential facility, by bipartisan team of workers trained by local election officials. NC does not have this but with the growing numbers of seniors and senior facilities, probably should.

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The older demographic is an important voting block and the issues facing older adults impact their younger family caregivers. Keep in mind that 25 percent of those caregivers are Millennials so older adult issues become everyone's issues.

Earlier on Huff/Post50:
On November 8, I will proudly cast my vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton. There are a lot of people like me, people who are voting for Hillary Clinton not because the person running against her is so horrible, but because we truly believe she will make a good president. And it hasn't been a great 24 hours for us. But, even before this latest drama, I was still nervous. In the face of increasing poll margins, I was not confident. Why? Because of the media.

Trump blames the media for his downfall, but the truth is, they are also responsible for his ascension. His supporters haven't been forgotten. The world gets that people are motivated by him; he is touching a nerve. However people like me--people who are not choosing Clinton because she is the lesser of some purported evil--aren't featured a ton. Her whole candidacy has been spun as a candidacy that no one is particularly excited about. That is, I truly believe, a false narrative. It then spirals though, with people who were on the fence becoming less inclined to vote. The narrative becomes reality in a small, troubling sense. And this election is too important for inaction.

Hillary Clinton is not a particularly gifted orator. She is a policy wonk. If you have a bridge to sell, I wouldn't recommend her as the broker. If you are worried about Zika funding though, she has a plan. She is a fighter. She fought attacks against her personally. She has worked across the aisle and across the world to fight for many things I believe in. I have not 100% always agreed with her decisions or her execution of them. I'm pretty liberal; the only campaign before this I ever volunteered for was a Dennis Kucinich primary bid. That means Secretary Clinton has been to the right of me on many (though not all) issues throughout the years. However I'm fairly sure someone to the left of me would not be a great president in this era. Change has to happen incrementally. The government is not set up for the immediate revolution some candidates have promised upon their election. Sometimes I wish it was, but it's not.

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During the primary, one of my friends was outraged that I was not voting for Bernie Sanders and asked me whether I was voting for Hillary Clinton solely because she was a woman or because of the combination of the fact that she was a woman and she went to my alma mater. He couldn't fathom another reason I would be voting for her. I quickly cited her accomplishments, focusing on her fight to get a Republican administration to recognize the health problems facing New York's first responders. I volunteered after 9/11. Then Senator Clinton spoke to volunteers and victims' families, without press. People have come out during the campaign to discuss what a difference she made in their lives. It's one thing to make a great speech and have pure ideals and it's another thing to really think about the small things you can do to change a person's life. Hillary Clinton did those small things as our Senator.

Calling a first responder's daughter is not what being president is about, but it speaks to a greater goodness to me. I get that is not something a lot of people see. Hillary Clinton often doesn't seem warm and open. She's clearly very hardened from battle and very private. The emails, the speeches, many of the issues that have followed her this election are a result of that. She has had to be tough. She fights and fights and fights and that is the leader I want. I'm not always going to agree with her, but there is no candidate I'd always agree with.

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And I've spoken to others who have been so proud already to cast their ballot for her or those, like me, who are looking forward to it. My mother--a woman who likes male doctors better (which will tell you she is not just "yay, women")--will be voting for HRC for President for the third time, having written her in both times Obama ran. That is in addition to her votes for her for Senate and in the Presidential Primaries. We have been having Wellesley Days of Action across the country, with alums, including Clinton friends from college, gathering to canvas or phone bank. (Wellesley Women for Hillary and, specifically, Jessica Linker in PA have been great at getting us together on a massive scale.) And I'm constantly hearing and reading stories not just from those alums, but from people they spoke to while doing their work. I myself have heard from people thrilled to be supporting Hillary Clinton. A woman told me last week that she was voting for Hillary Clinton because she knew she was "not only the smartest person in the room, but also the one who gives a crap." I think "I give a crap" would be awkward coming from Clinton's mouth, but I sort of looked at it as a nice rallying cry in an alternate universe.

Then, of course, there is the other side. While I do not approve of the "lesser of two evils" narrative at all, there is a great threat on the other side. I don't believe Donald Trump is anti-Semitic. I'm not even sure he's racist. But what I do know is it does not matter -- he and his campaign have egged white supremacists on. Those aren't the only people voting for him of course. I know people voting for him. People I like. Smart people. People who feel the system has let them down and are encouraged by his mantra of change and/or people who simply need to vote for the person most likely to appoint conservative judges. (And, yes, it is a binary choice at this point.) But then there is the segment I fear. My good friend Devika, a doctor in Kansas City, has a son who turns two today. I think he is going to cure cancer, if no one beats him to it. Devika is of Indian descent and her husband is of Thai descent, so little Sarit doesn't have my pale skin. If Trump is elected, I worry about the world he will grow up in, how he will be viewed in that world. Not because I think Trump or his administration will change the world, but because his election will mean white supremacists will feel they helped elect a president. There has been anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and racism in this country forever. Trump didn't start it. But his campaign is stoking its flames. I spoke to someone the other day -- a generally reasonable woman -- that believes in the Muslim ban. She thinks it is a necessary temporary measure. She didn't seem to understand my argument when I brought up Martin Niemoller, and I hope she never does. I know this hatred will never fully go away, but I hope it is beaten back at least slightly after November 8. For his birthday, I'll get him a toy, but my wish for Sarit is really that by the time he is old enough to understand racism and religious intolerance, we haven't spent time encouraging it in the guise of being anti-PC.

This election is close. It's not about watching the polls and assuming whatever they say is true, it's about voting. I've never been particularly political, or active in this realm, but I know that much. Please no one stay home on November 8.
London--Comparisons might be odious, but Kenneth Branagh invites them. Over several decades he's assumed classic roles associated with Laurence Olivier. His Henry V and Hamlet were unquestionably Olivier-worthy. Now, however, he's playing Archie Rice (for another two weeks) in John Osborne's The Entertainer, at the Garrick and as the conclusion to his Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company year.

It could be argued that Archie Rice was the great performance of Olivier's later career. I'd certainly make that argument vigorously. As the aging music hall performer, Olivier--frequently at his best when playing a ham (watch him in Sleuth, for instance--pulled out every last stop. His Archie Rice was someone far past his prime, a prime that probably was not much of a prime anyway. His on-setting desperation was visible in the song-and-dance routine that began the play.

Branagh starts with a deft tap routine executed in Neil Austin's hazy lighting and augmented by four dancing cuties. Immediately, Archie Rice's cheap turn, as Osborne plants it, is fudged. That's the start of director Rob Ashford's undercutting the playwright's music-hall metaphor--of the fading post-World War II music hall as a metaphor for the United Kingdom's post-war fade.

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Yes, it looks as if Ashford, who started his career as a choreographer, is the explanation for this misguided look at The Entertainer, although since Branagh and he have been a team for a while now, Branagh can surely be assumed to be in agreement with all decisions made. (Chris Bailey and Pip Jordan are credited as, respectively choreographer and associate choreographer of the numbers.)

Osborne alternates the song-and-dance turns (Branagh has a strong voice, though he's not always pitch-perfect, perhaps deliberately) with Archie at home alongside his accommodating wife Phoebe (Greta Scacchi, very effective), father Billy Rice (Gawn Grainger, still an on-stage powerhouse), son Frank (Jonah Hauer-King) and nubile Jean Rice (Sophie McShera) for whom Archie makes a baleful play.

Somehow, these sequences seem diluted as well, the view of a troubled England surprisingly pallid. Perhaps 60 years on, Osborne's script is partially responsible for the lack of urgency. Nevertheless, the overall result is disappointing.

What's no letdown is Christopher Oram's set which melds the music hall with the Rice home so that at no time is Archie's squalid professional life absent from the mundane family activity.

******************

Kemp Powers's One Night in Miami... has already played Baltimore, Denver and Los Angeles, but it may be the sold-out Donmar Warehouse entry, directed by Baltimore Center Stage artistic director Kwame Kwei-Armeh, that guarantees Manhattan and across-the-land sightings.

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It's 1963 and Cassius Clay (Sope Dirisu) has just defeated Sonny Liston for the world heavyweight title. He's returned to his hotel room to celebrate with good pals Sam Cooke (Arinze Kene), Jim Brown (David Ajala) and Malcolm X (Francois Battiste), while Nation of Islam guards Kareem (Dwane Walcott) and Jamaal (Josh Williams) keep watch in the corridor.

Don't look here for confirmation of the personnel present on that historic evening. Just know that Kemp has assembled four men important to the black community. They're men whose disparate attitudes have the capacity to influence a wide population.

Malcolm X is among them because the following morning Clay will announce he's becoming a Muslim and henceforth will be known at Muhammad Ali. How that goes down with the others is the thrust of Powers's powerful 90-minute drama. For instance, Brown, who's just made his first movie, won't convert, since that would mean giving up his grandmother's pork chops.

While the men wrangle over their different positions, perhaps the crucial entanglement is between Malcolm X and Sam Cooke. The former, who just then happens to be out of favor with the Nation of Islam, believes the latter could be doing more for his people than writing benign love songs, and in the heated discussion that follows Cooke singing "You Send Me" and "A Change is Going to Come" earns whopping audience approval.

Before the 90-minute play ends, Powers has delivered a subtle lecture on racial intolerance that existed then and still does today--as, at a crucial moment, a projected image of Donald J. Trump attests.

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At first it might seem as if director Michael Longhurst has decided to deconstruct Peter Shaffer's Amadeus, at the National's Olivier, where it started in 1979. To play the Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart music mentioned throughout the script, he dispatches 20 members of the Southbank Sinfonia all over the expansive stage.

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The idea is that whenever Antonio Salieri (Lucian Msamati) hears Mozart in his head as he reads the scores, the audience gets to hear it played right there in front of them. Poor Salieri. Even while he remains the acknowledged musical genius of the world ruled by Joseph II (Tom Edden), very imperious), he has to admit to himself that it's younger cut-up Mozart (Adam Gillen) who will live in perpetuity.

Up to the point where Salieri hears his first Mozart serenade, Longhurst's approach seems big but not overblown. Salieri's response to what he experiences as exquisite physical pain does capture something rarely articulated about the effect of great music.

But later Longhurst feels the need to build on Salieri's reactions to the scores as he peruses them, and that's where the production goes wildly wrong. To end the first act Shaffer provides a scene in which Salieri, already considering himself the apex of mediocrity, scans several sheets of music and realizes that, though he's conscientiously devoted himself to his writing, he's woefully deficient when compared to the young whippersnapper, and his attempts to ruin Mozart's life ultimately disastrous..

The carrying-on that Longhurst has Msamati go through is unconscionable--such breast-beating and flailing and sobbing and collapsing. Surely, this is not what Shaffer, who died this year at 90, had in mind. These tortured shenanigans are hardly a tribute to him. Nor is Gillan's outlandish performance, contorting himself as he constantly does, at one point hanging upside down from the piano frequently rolled on and off Chloe Lamford's striking, hulking steel-grey set.
Closeup of Vote Pin

For years, Arab American voters, like most other ethnic communities, slightly leaned toward the Democratic party but were swing voters in national and local elections. This was the pattern we observed in the early years of our more than two decades of biannual surveys of the community's voting behavior. It is no longer the case, as Arab Americans have increasingly come to identify themselves as Democrats and vote for Democratic candidates.

In a book I wrote back in 2001 on the values and voting patterns of a number of ethnic American communities ("What Ethnic Americans Really Think" -- based on polling conducted by my brother's group, Zogby International) we found that most ethnics leaned Democrat but shared a value system that ran counter to the political ideas offered by what were then called "moderate Republicans" and "New Democrats." The tendency of both was to combine fiscal conservatism with social liberalism. Many ethnic voters, on the other hand, embraced beliefs that were the exact opposite. They were fiscally progressive and socially more conservative. They believed that government played a constructive role in society and they were, therefore, supportive of strengthening programs like Social Security and Medicare, investing in public education, and expanding health care coverage. At the same time, they were small business people with extended family networks who believed in building strong communities and, therefore, had belief systems that reflected those values.

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Beginning in 2002 and continuing during the next decade, the community drifted away from the Republican Party. There were a number of factors that fueled this drift. Initially, it was the post-9/11 reaction of the Bush Administration that compromised the civil liberties of recent immigrants, followed by the War in Iraq, and then the hard line rhetoric that came to dominate the GOP. The first to be affected were those Arab Americans who were more recent immigrants and Muslim. While Arab Americans who had been born in the US had stronger party identification, those who were immigrants were classic "swing voters." But, as our polling demonstrated, all parts of the community were repulsed by and felt threatened by the increased harsh anti-Arab and anti-Muslim rhetoric. In our most recent poll of Arab Americans, 50 percent of all those surveyed said they had personally experienced discrimination because of their ethnicity, while 53 percent expressed concern that they might face discrimination in the future.



In reality, it might be said that it wasn't the community that drifted away from the Republicans, it was the party that was galloping away from Arab Americans. This parting of the ways especially intensified during the elections from 2008 to 2016, culminating in the nomination of Donald Trump. The impact of all this can be seen in the results of this year's Arab American Institute (AAI) poll.

In an October poll of likely Arab American voters, Hillary Clinton smothers Donald Trump, by a margin of 60 percent to 26 percent. Commissioned by the AAI and conducted by Zogby Analytics, the survey found that the movement of Arab Americans away from the Republican Party has continued. Arab Americans now favor the Democratic Party over the Republicans by two to one -- with 52 percent identifying as Democrats and only 26 percent who say they are Republicans. And when asked which party they prefer to control Congress, by a margin of 54 percent to 27 percent Arab Americans say they favor the Democrats.



When asked why they would vote for either Clinton or Trump, Arab Americans gave surprisingly similar responses. Over 40 percent of Clinton voters said they were supporting her either because of party loyalty or because they liked her domestic policies. Another third said they were, in fact, voting against Trump. Only one in ten identified foreign policy as the reason they were supporting Clinton.



Supporters of both Clinton and Trump identified "Jobs and the economy" as the most important issue in determining their vote. But that was where the similarity ended. While Democrats pointed to gun violence, health care, and Social Security and Medicare as next in importance, Republicans identified combating terrorism, the budget deficit and controlling government spending, and immigration as their most important concerns. And when asked on which issues they felt Clinton would be best able to address, Arab Americans added improving education and race relations to the mix.



What emerges from this survey is that while Arab American Democrats and Republicans share the basic beliefs of their respective parties, the former is growing while the latter is shrinking. The bottom line here is that while not "in love" with Clinton" -- as they were with Obama in 2008 --

most Arab Americans have come to feel more comfortable voting for Democrats because they feel more aligned with the issues and values of that party.

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Especially interesting is the fact that the gap that once existed between the immigrant and native born and the Catholic and Muslim components of the Arab American community has, over time, disappeared. Party identification and candidate preferences are now largely the same for all groups. This has meant that immigrants are now more comfortable identifying as Democrats and are less likely to be swing voters. At the same time, the once more evenly matched party id of the native born group has changed rather significantly.
"Example is not the main thing in influencing others, it is the only thing."

-- Albert Schweitzer

These children -- your children, my children, the children of the world -- are why Donald Trump cannot ever be our president.

Because Donald Trump is, quite simply, the worst example we could possibly inflict upon those children. On ourselves. Our country. The world. The universe at large.

There may be worse people; I'm sure there are, but odds are good they're either in prison, running multi-level marketing scams in nondescript towns, or living in basements trolling ecologists and women with money. And none of them is actually running for president.

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Donald Trump is.

And Donald Trump does not possess, and is utterly incapable of, embodying and exemplifying the kind of integrity, consideration, grace, wisdom, compassion, impulse control, verbal acuity, knowledge, experience, honesty, and simple good manners to not only run this country well, but be held up to our children as someone to emulate; to admire as a mentor, a leader, a person worthy of awe and inspiration.

Donald Trump is none of those things. In fact, he is the exact opposite of those things. And we have an obligation -- as caring, thinking, conscious Americans -- to not allow our children, our country, our world, to be inflicted, infected, with the kind of bottom-feeding demagoguery that he and his cabal of alt-right coattailers would impose upon this country.

I realize my opinion is not remotely decorous (which I usually try to be), but when we have an FBI director come out on a Friday morning eleven days before the election to toss a nebulous, noxious grenade on the field, literally throwing that election into a frenzy of questions, lies, suppositions, intimations, and misinformation, the gloves come off. We go to the mattresses.

Because it's too late for that kind of manipulative nonsense (especially for emails described as: "not to or from Clinton... contained information that appeared to be more of what agents had already uncovered" - LA Times). The stakes are too high, the outcome too important, and we cannot allow this election to be thrown to a declared sexual assaulter and hate-and-fear mongering demagogue over unknown emails purportedly "connected" to a powerfully qualified candidate who's already been investigated, questioned, and examined by countless political pitchforkers (at the cost of millions) and found to be guilty of no crime.

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And frankly, whatever may be found in flagged emails on Anthony Weiner's computer, there will be nothing that makes Donald Trump any less unqualified than he was before Comey's announcement.

Let's be honest: we've been parsing this candidate now for over a year, and while some of us have tried our best to stay above the fray, speaking more to the positive attributes of his opponent(s) than his own litany of turpitudes, the critical mass has hit a tipping point, even for many Republicans:

We've listened to his mangled, misinformed, and misogynistic debate chatter, watched in horror as he maligned those who disagreed with him; felt the reflexive gut punch when he mocked a disabled reporter, slandered Mexican immigrants; denigrated countless women, and dishonored the Muslim parents of a dead American soldier.

We've winced as he behaved, again and again, like a sophomoric bully, so cliched and stereotypical that, were he a movie character, we'd admonish the screenwriter for lack of wit and originality.

We've watched as he's exuded craven disrespect toward his Republican opponents, denigrating with grade-school insults and absurd aggrandizements of his own self-assigned superiority; recoiled when he chortled repulsive taunts at his female opponent, whether sniggering as Clinton dealt with a brief illness, commenting on her body, or insulting her intelligence and character.

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We witnessed his self-proclaimed penchant for sexual assault, watched tapes of repulsive behavior; listened as he rebutted his own words with wholesale denouncement of credible women who came forth to acknowledge that exact proclaimed behavior, yet additionally watched as he trotted out -- like browbeaten show ponies -- the woman who've accused Bill Clinton of the same.

We've cringed as he's repeatedly denounced and disrespected Barack Obama as a weak leader, making continued inferences regarding his citizenship, while simultaneously praising Putin as admirable and hearty, bragging like a needy child that the Russia dictator said "nice things" about him.

The list is stunningly long and anyone reading this article likely knows it all. But what is more stunning is that anyone who has seen it, witnessed it, heard it, and felt it, could possibly excuse it, deflect it, minimize it, or pretend it really has no bearing on his qualifications for the office.

I watched the circus event of "horrified" Republicans coming out to "unendorse" him after the skeezy "Access Hollywood" videotape, all thundering about how they simply couldn't vote for such a vile, repugnant man... only to, days later, shuffle back, chagrined, tails between legs, whimpering about "Hillary is worse" and how they have to pick party over all else. All else, apparently, being integrity, respect, true family values, civil/legal behavior; honor... all the most basic qualities we expect from a president.

Republicans will ignore the snorting, sniggering man behind the curtain, only to, instead, buy wholesale the lies, propaganda, and misinformation regurgitated from sputterers like Sean Hannity, Alex Jones, House Republicans, anybody at Breitbart, paid CNN Trump trumpets, and the glassy-eyed vacuity of Kellyanne Conway. They're willing to put hands over eyes and ears to ignore or disbelieve anything about Clinton that celebrates her impressive lists of accomplishments, honors, and political victories, only to respond with yelps about the "huge" contributions made by their candidate, a non-taxpaying, bankruptcy bandying blowhard. They insist on digging back decades to slime Bill Clinton while conveniently turning a blind-eye to Trump's more current serial sexual harassment, and his own accusation of rape. They'll screech and scream about "crooked Hillary" while endorsing a candidate who's heading to court on fraud charges with his own purported "university."

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This nimble disconnect, this cultish occlusion, would be something to pity and criticize in some circumstances, but when these same misguided partisans push and plot to put an historically unqualified man into the White House, pushback from those of us not in the thrall of nativist bigotry, political myopia, and calculated expediency is critical. Because it's clear that while their own people may occasionally give nod to intelligence and integrity, they simply can't hold their ground.

Example?

The Washington Post recently ran a piece titled, Jason Chaffetz just set some sort of modern record for flip-floppery. You know Jason Chaffetz, right? He's the U.S. Republican Representative from Utah, one of the most teeth-gnashing of the cabal browbeating Clinton during the Benghazi hearings. Well, Rep. Chaffetz actually had one brief, shining moment of integrity after the "Access Hollywood" videotape, in which he, face tight with horror and indignation, announced that he could no longer endorse Trump:

"I'm out. I can no longer in good conscience endorse this person for president," Chaffetz said the day after The Washington Post revealed Trump's 2005 "Access Hollywood" tape. The breaking point, Chaffetz went onto say, was that he couldn't look his 15-year-old daughter in the eye and talk about what the GOP presidential nominee said: "It is some of the most abhorrent and offensive comments that you can possibly imagine."

Yet only nineteen days later, with no miraculous adjustment of Trump's history, proclivities or personality, after scores of credible women came out to make claims of sexual groping and assaults perpetrated by Trump, and as Trump continued his denigrating, disrespectful, and dishonest ways, Chaffetz -- the noble, moral, daughter-protecting Chaffetz -- rescinded his outrage with the mewling:

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"I will not defend or endorse @realDonaldTrump, but I am voting for him. HRC is that bad. HRC is bad for the USA."

Which tells you all you need to know about Rep. Jason Chaffetz and the Republican party. Their wild-eyed hatred of Hillary Clinton is so "baked in," as pundits like to say, they'd choose to ignore the ignominy of their cataclysmically unqualified candidate to bow to party pressure and the depth of that hate. That's how much they care about the country. About their children.

But one has to ask: what kind of mad skills does it take to morph and parse Trump into someone they can look into the eyes of their daughters and sons and say, "I endorsed him, I voted for him. I declared him worthy of the noble position of president. My vote says I think he sets a proud example of quality leadership and ethical behavior. He is a man of honor who will lead our country, our world, to a new consciousness regarding our planet, our people, and our legacy as human beings"?

Maybe Chaffetz has those skills. Maybe he can look at his daughter -- at himself -- and make that argument convincingly.

I don't think so. I think he and his GOP cohorts have capitulated to political ambition, the preservation of their jobs, and the id of winning. Whether they'll admit it or not, they've abdicated their responsibility to build and contribute to an evolving, culturally expanding, and embracing government that grows with its people, its changing demographics, industries, and sensibilities, while keeping step with our increasingly global involvement and integration. They have abdicated that mission and thrown their children's future under the bus, at the behest of political rancor and the greed of partisanship.

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I will not. We will not. Because unlike Rep. Chaffetz, what I perceive as integrity and the qualities of leadership do not change with the waft of political winds. I am not cowed by the demands of angry men and women willing to sacrifice this country and its future, its children, to vaunt a criminally unqualified man to a position of historical power for the sake of political greed and smallmindedness.

Jason Chaffetz may have found the pretzel logic to look his 15-year-old daughter in the eyes while still voting for Donald Trump, still denigrating the highly qualified -- and, hopefully, first female -- president of the United State, but I cannot. I cannot look at my son, the sons and daughters of others; the grandchildren, brothers, sisters, wives, husbands, mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, co-workers, humans of the world and defend a vote for Donald Trump. None of us should be able to. None of us should.

The President of the United States must always be someone whose example of honor, integrity, respect, and consideration is unassailable, something our children can look to with pride; to learn from, to be mentored by; to admire and emulate. I remain convinced there is not a person in this country who can close their eyes and honestly look in their heart-of-hearts, their deepest, most truthful, unsullied part of their psyche, and believe Donald Trump is that person.

He is not. And he cannot ever be our president.

Children collage assembled with photographs (in order) from Michael Mims, Gabby Orcutt, kazuend, LDW, Jorge Barahon, Michael Mims. All (except for LDW's) by permission of Unsplash.

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Wednesday night's episode of Law & Order: SVU was one of those "ripped from the headlines" stories. Like many of you who followed the news back in June about Brock Allen Turner's six-month sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman behind a dumpster on the Stanford University campus--and her statement that went viral--the storyline was familiar. His friends and family made excuses for his behavior. His father blamed the assault on a "culture of alcohol consumption and partying" and referred to it as "20 minutes of action." The lenient sentence, the victim-blaming, the focus on a perpetrator's future rather than that of the survivor who he raped and the impact on her life. The longing for justice and accountability, especially as in the end, Turner only served 90 days in jail.

The Stanford case, as I said at the time, was "rape culture firing on all cylinders."

But Brock Turner wasn't an isolated instance of a single judge making excuses, or a perpetrator evading accountability, or of justice denied. This weekend, another case made headlines. In Montana, Judge John McKeon sentenced a man to 60 days in jail for repeatedly raping his 12-year-old daughter. Prosecutors in the case had recommended the state's mandatory 25-year sentence. Among the reasons the judge gave for rejecting the recommendation are that the survivor's mother and grandmother had written asking for leniency. Both cited the defendant's relationship with his sons and the sons' need to have a relationship with their father in their letters. No one stood up in court to advocate for the 12-year-old survivor. In the face of this injustice, there is a flicker of light: 80,000 people have signed a petition to impeach this judge.

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Society firing back like this can--and does--effect change. We witnessed that in the Stanford case. Petitions demanding Judge Persky's impeachment were widely circulated--garnering millions of signatures online--and committees were formed to mount a recall challenge in the 2017 election. In the face of this public pressure, Judge Persky voluntarily stepped aside and is no longer hearing criminal cases.

Cases like this--and all that they represent--hit home for me in many ways. They touch me deeply as someone who has been immersed in these issues all of my life, as a survivor working to heal every day from the trauma of sexual violence, and as an advocate for my entire career.

Wednesday's episode of SVU differed in many ways from the experience of the Stanford survivor. And let me be clear: no one can--or has the right to--tell her story or represent her pain but her. But what I think the episode captured in such a real way is a sense of longing from Janie, our fictional survivor. What she so desperately wants is for Ellis, the fictional perpetrator of the rape, to take accountability and ownership of his actions.

"I just want him to know what he did, and not tell his lawyers tell the press that the 'nameless intoxicated female is just as responsible as he is.' Just because I don't remember what happened doesn't mean I wasn't hurt... I don't want to testify. I just want an apology."

And later on:

"At first, you didn't think you did anything wrong. You blamed alcohol. I'm glad you now understand alcohol didn't push my dress up, get on top of me and force itself inside of me. I'm glad you know what you did."

This deep longing for personal accountability is something many survivors have shared with me. It's something they want and it's important to them even if the person who caused harm is held accountable by the criminal justice system. It's something, too, that the Stanford survivor expressed:

"...But right now, you do not get to shrug your shoulders and be confused anymore. You do not get to pretend that there were no red flags. You have been convicted of violating me, intentionally, forcibly, sexually, with malicious intent, and all you can admit to is consuming alcohol. Do not talk about the sad way your life was upturned because alcohol made you do bad things. Figure out how to take responsibility for your own conduct..." "...He pushed me and my family through a year of inexplicable, unnecessary suffering, and should face the consequences of challenging his crime, of putting my pain into question, of making us wait so long for justice." "He has only apologized for drinking and has yet to define what he did to me as sexual assault, he has revictimized me continually, relentlessly. He has been found guilty of three serious felonies and it is time for him to accept the consequences of his actions."

It's a feeling I know all too well.

I was sexually abused during most of my childhood, for the first time when I was five, by a teacher at the private school I attended. I testified, at eight years old, in front a grand jury, and the man who abused me was indicted and sentenced to five years in prison. He served eleven days. He was also ordered to pay restitution to his victims. He never did.

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Years later, as a grown woman, I received a phone call and learned that he had again been caught sexually abusing a young girl for several years. Again, he excused it away as if she invited it and wanted it. I was called to speak at his sentencing--the sentencing of yet another young girl, experiencing what I had experienced at the hands of the same person--22 years later.

More than 20 pages of words flowed out of me, including these ones:

"I am certain that he has no concept of what my life or the lives of my classmates have been like since we were abused, and I'm convinced that he never will. The effects of the abuse and the breach of trust are devastating. I assure you that they don't last for any term of sentencing, but forever. Here I am, A grown woman, about to be married, and I have to relive the abuse all over again."

In Janie's deep longing for an apology, she was expressing a desire for justice. Her longing was perhaps even deeper than a guilty verdict and a long sentence. I understand exactly where she is coming from. I know the struggle of trying to find justice, of seeing it slip away. My abuser never apologized to me, or to any of his victims, and that, more than 11 days served or no restitution--a hole that was never filled--has stuck with me all these years. An apology--not empty words, but true accountability--is the kind of justice I wanted then and have longed for all these years. Distilled to its simplest underlying principle: "what makes an apology work is the exchange of shame and power between the offender and the offended."

Even though the man who harmed me never acknowledged what he did to me and I never heard the words, "I'm sorry," when I spoke at his sentencing years later, something shifted. As a dear friend once shared with me, it's like the scales of justice somehow balanced--just a little. For me, I would say in part, it was about having the opportunity to contribute to his criminal case and ensuring he was held accountable. But It wasn't just about seeing him sentenced to eight years for victimizing a young girl. For me, it was also about having the opportunity, in a safe place, with support around me, speaking my truth and taking back the power that had been stolen from me all those years ago.

As I stood it that courtroom, I addressed him directly: "You violated every faith and trust we gave to you. You took from me my innocence, my purity, most of my youth, and a piece of my spirit." But I knew that while I was wounded, I was not broken. He didn't ruin me.

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Justice comes in many forms and is different for every survivor. I deeply respect and honor that. In the absence of my own personal experience of justice--acknowledgement and apology--I hold onto my work. I hold onto the fact that I am privileged everyday to work toward creating possibilities for others to find justice and healing.

I have worked for 25 years in pursuit of transforming our society's response the issues of sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse--the past eight with the Joyful Heart Foundation, founded by actress and advocate Mariska Hargitay of Law & Order: SVU. I know that this dogged pursuit goes all the way back to my five-year-old self. I see that seven-year-old girl found in the kitchen by her mother being abused by the same man who abused me--bright, full of promise, a light not to be extinguished. And I think about the very real possibility that there have been so many others as well. I picture the survivors whose letters to Mariska compelled her to start Joyful Heart twelve years ago. I hold close all those who are physically, emotionally, verbally, or sexaully abused or assaulted every day by someone they know, love or trust, or at the hands of total strangers.

We cannot undo what has been done to us and to one in three women in this country, but we can change it for future generations. We can lift the shame and stigma that survivors are so undeservingly burdened with. We can hold perpetrators accountable for their crimes rather than making excuses for their actions. We can create opportunities for survivors to heal and reclaim their lives. This, I know in my heart.

I think often of my personal mantra, "be the change you wish to see in the world." Our priorities, our culture, our criminal justice system, our laws--everything--they are all mirrors of what we as individuals believe in and stand for. Each of us has within our power to change what's reflected back. We need to be the change.

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We must say enough.

Yes, I use that word deliberately.
Gary Gensler is former head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and earlier in his career logged time at Goldman Sachs. His name is now in circulation to be Treasury Secretary if Hillary Clinton wins the presidency. (AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson)

By: JACK NOLAND

Washington thrives on speculation and now, after months of guessing at things like primary contenders and vice presidential picks, it's time to draft potential cabinets. With no shortage of well-educated guesses on who might lead the various executive departments, certain names crop up more often than others, often officials and bureaucrats with substantial political and policy experience.

The key for would-be President Clinton, of course, is winning the election, which at this writing, seems more likely than not. So, here's a look at the fundraising and influence backgrounds of some of the elected officials, nonprofit leaders and businesspeople who have appeared on the lists. These selections, of course, are not meant to be exhaustive.

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STATE

Wendy Sherman

For former Secretary of State Clinton, filling the office she used to occupy would surely be an important task. Wendy Sherman has been all over the State Department across the years, as assistant secretary for legislative affairs (1993-1996), counselor (1997-2001), under secretary for political affairs (2011-2015) and acting deputy secretary (2014-2015). She also was the chief negotiator for the Iran nuclear agreement and led the Obama-Biden Transition Project's State Department section.

Between all those stints at State, Sherman was president and CEO of Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored mortgage company, from 1996 to 1997. She's long been associated with the Albright Stonebridge Group, the business strategy firm founded by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, holding positions as vice chair and currently as senior counselor.

Center for Responsive Politics records show that Sherman has been a generous Democratic donor down the years, having given $51,800 to candidates and organizations since 1992.

Tom Donilon

A leading figure in the State debate is Tom Donilon, whose experience includes serving as chief of staff and assistant secretary for public affairs in the State Department during Bill Clinton's administration and as deputy national security advisor and national security advisor in the Obama White House. As reported by the Washington Post, many in leading foreign policy circles see Donilon as a favorite for the top diplomatic job.

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After leaving Foggy Bottom in the '90s, Donilon practiced law at O'Melveny and Myers and later became a registered lobbyist at Fannie Mae, leaving in 2005. Since his time spent in the Obama administration, Donilon has returned to O'Melveny, where he is a partner. Since 1997, he and his wife, Ambassador-at-Large Catherine Russell, have contributed $65,328 to PACs and Democratic candidates, though the vast majority of Donilon's giving came during his private sector years.

John Kerry

On the other hand, Clinton could choose to keep the current Secretary of State, John Kerry. The failed Democratic nominee for the White House in 2004 and a senator from 1985 to 2013 has occupied the seat for most of President Obama's second term, replacing Clinton herself.

As might be expected of a 30-year politician, Kerry has collected a lot of money for his campaigns. Since 1989 - the earliest year for which the Center for Responsive Politics has complete data - he raised more than $392 million, a total that includes his presidential campaign fundraising. Kerry, a former assistant district attorney, received more money from lawyers and law firms - over $27 million - than any other industry. Employees affiliated with the University of California topped his individual contributions list, donating $700,755 to his efforts over the years, followed by individuals connected to Harvard University and Time Warner, as well as Time Warner's PAC. Kerry's candidate committee and leadership PAC together made more than $26.4 million in contributions to other campaigns and committees, though the lion's share of this sum derives from money transferred from his presidential campaign to party accounts.

Kerry and his wife, philanthropist Teresa Heinz, have personally contributed extensively down the years, giving $266,405. Heinz has made the vast majority of the contributions, however, and while most of the cash has gone to Democratic candidates and committees, she has donated to a handful of Republicans.

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DEFENSE

Michele Flournoy

She's been called the "Likely Defense Secretary" in a Hillary Clinton administration and her background suggests she may well be equipped to become the first woman to hold the post. After being deputy assistant and principal deputy assistant secretary at DoD in the 1990s, Flournoy was under secretary for policy from 2009 to 2012.

Flournoy has established affiliations with a number of defense-focused think tanks, co-founding the Center for a New American Security, where she is CEO, and having previously been a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. In 2008, she led the DoD segment of Obama's transition team. She's been active in Democratic politics for years, too, having contributed $11,825 with her husband, former Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs W. Scott Gould, to candidates and party committees since 2004 and $3,350 to Clinton over the course of the 2008 and 2016 campaigns.

Jack Reed

Reed ticks several boxes that you might expect of a Defense Secretary: Captain in the U.S. Army, where he served as a paratrooper; West Point professor; 19-year U.S. senator; ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. His name is often raised in discussions about potential DoD leaders; in 2014, when then-Secretary Chuck Hagel resigned, Reed declared that he would rather stay in the Senate.

Center for Responsive Politics data shows that Reed has collected almost $17.8 million over the course of his career. Employees and the PAC of defense contractor General Dynamics have been his top donor group, giving a total $98,000 to the Rhode Island Democrat. Reed has received the most cash from lawyers and law firms - $1.6 million - followed by the securities & investment and real estate industries. His candidate committee and leadership PAC have contributed more than $1.9 million over the years to other candidates and committees, while Reed himself has given $4,100 to Democrats since 1992.

Adam Smith

Smith, who has represented Washington's 9 Congressional District since 1997, is also considered a potential Defense pick. The Democrat is the ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee.

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Over his 10 federal elections, Smith has raised more than $9.5 million, including more than $1 million apiece in his past two contests. Individuals and PACs associated with two Seattle-area business giants lead Smith's contributions, as those from Microsoft have kicked in $215,250 and those from Boeing have donated $121,450. Defense aerospace represents Smith's third-highest donating industry, contributing $466,400 over the years, behind only lawyers and law firms (Smith is a lawyer himself) and the electronics manufacturing and equipment industry.

Smith's personal political giving have been limited; he has contributed $4,000 to Democratic candidates and party committees. Outside of individual donations, however, his candidate committee and leadership PAC have contributed almost $1.8 million to other campaigns and party committees.

TREASURY

Sheryl Sandberg

There are rumblings that a potential Clinton administration could look to the outside to lead the Treasury Department, possibly to Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook. She has experience in the department, having been chief of staff to top Treasury official Larry Summers in the Bill Clinton administration.

Sandberg has made a name for herself in Silicon Valley, first at Google and, since 2008, at Facebook. Before her Treasury work, Sandberg was a consultant at McKinsey & Company, following a stint at the World Bank in the early '90s. With her cachet as one of the top businesswomen in America, she founded the Lean In Foundation to support women's empowerment. Sandberg and her late husband, SurveyMonkey CEO Dave Goldberg, were also top liberal donors - according to Center for Responsive Politics records, they have given $555,245 to Democratic candidates and statewide and national party committees since 2004.

In voluntary disclosures, the Clinton campaign revealed Sandberg to be among the 1,129 bundlers who have raised more than $100,000 each from friends and colleagues for the Democrat.

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Gary Gensler

Gensler has already held office in the Treasury at the assistant secretary and under secretary levels from 1997 to 2001 and is the Clinton campaign's chief financial officer.

His resume is a complicated one. After graduating from Wharton, Gensler went to Goldman Sachs for 18 years, leaving to join Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin in 1997. He also served on the board at for-profit Strayer Education, Inc. from 2001 to 2009. After advising Democratic Sen. Paul Sarbanes, then Senate Banking Committee chairman, he joined Clinton's team in 2008 and in 2009 was appointed chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. While there, he became a left-wing darling for his tough policies on commodities regulation, in the process becoming, as Bloomberg Politics describes, "a financial-policy unicorn-a deregulator turned reformer."

Gensler has used some of that Wall Street money to fund Democrats around the country. CRP records show he has contributed $298,918 to candidates and parties since 1990. This year, the Clinton campaign also listed Gensler as a bundler, signifying that he has raised more than $100,000 for her over the course of this cycle.

JUSTICE

Tom Perez

Perez, the current Secretary of Labor, missed out when he was vetted, but not chosen, to be Clinton's vice presidential nominee. In the process, however, the Maryland Democrat apparently became close to both Bill and Hillary Clinton, friendships that could prove valuable when Hillary chooses an attorney general.

Perez's career has not included much time spent as an elected official - he was on the Montgomery County Council in Maryland from 2002 to 2006. After a run for Maryland attorney general from which he was disqualified for not having been a member of the Maryland bar for 10 years, Perez became the state's secretary of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, before ascending to become assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Justice Department from 2009 to 2013.

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On a campaign finance level, Perez has not donated as much as some of his peers on this list, giving a paltry $1,250 to Democrats in the period since 2004. For his stymied run for state attorney general in 2006, he raised more than $500,000, according to state campaign finance reports.

Janet Napolitano

Another potential attorney general pick also was in Obama's Cabinet, and previously had been a state official. Janet Napolitano headed the Homeland Security Department from 2009 to 2013 and left "after years of waiting to be attorney general," but could be in line for the position in a Clinton administration.

Napolitano has been the U.S. Attorney in Arizona (1993-1997), Arizona Attorney General (1999-2002) and the state's governor (2003-2009). The Democrat raised more than $4.6 million for her state elections, National Institute for Money in State Politics data show. The bulk of the cash raised for her two successful gubernatorial elections came from public subsidies.

Napolitano has steadily donated to Democrats over the years, giving $29,523 since 1990, including $11,573 while working at Lewis and Roca LLP in the early 1990s. From 1994 to 2016, she has contributed $13,500 to EMILY's List. Napolitano now heads the University of California system, which made $800,000 in lobbying expenditures in 2015. Its employees made $1.65 million in contributions in 2014, the last full cycle for which data are available.

OTHER CONTENDERS

Neera Tanden

Some see a potential role for longtime ally Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress, in a Clinton administration. Tanden worked as a policy director for the Clinton and later Obama campaigns in 2008 and was senior advisor to the Department of Health and Human Services from 2009-2010.

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Tanden was registered as a lobbyist for the Center for American Progress Action Fund in 2006. She has repeatedly gone to bat for Clinton on social media this year and has given $1,279 to the Democrat, per Center for Responsive Politics data. The two share a long history: Tanden was Clinton's deputy campaign manager in her 2000 Senate bid.

Blanche Lincoln

The Arkansas Democrat, who was the youngest woman ever to win a U.S. Senate seat win elected in 1998 at 38 years old, has been mentioned as a potential pick for Agriculture secretary.

Over the course of her career, which included four years in the House and 12 in the Senate, Lincoln collected more than $23 million for her campaigns. During that period, individuals and the PAC associated with the Stephens Group topped her donor list at $127,350. She was also popular with employees and the PAC related to Arkansas-based Wal-Mart, who gave Lincoln $87,350 during that period.

She and her husband, Steve Lincoln, have also contributed to other Democrats, giving $51,548 since 1997, though the vast majority of her donations have been made after her return to the private sector in 2011. And Lincoln's leadership PAC and candidate committee gave just under $1.5 million to campaigns, PACs and committees over the years.

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"NSS agreement with Sasna Dzrer remains unfulfilled"

Members of Sasna Dzrer group are innocent and must be released, as there is no corpus delicti in their actions, the NA Heritage faction lawmaker Zaruhi Postanjyan told A1+. As a ground for her words, she reminds of the leaflet published by the National Security Service before the surrender of Sasna Dzrer group. According to it, in case of lay-down of arms and surrender, the gunmen must have been granted a chance to be freed of criminal liability. The leaflet of the NSS should be fulfilled. They have already violated their promises and warning. The Criminal Code demands the release of members of Sasna Dzrer, notes Zaruhi Postanjyan. According to the words of the lawmaker, the rights of members of Sasna Dzrer have been violated since their surrender. First they have been prohibited to meet with their relatives. There was a great deal of problems connected with their detention conditions, says Zaruhi Postanjyan. The supporters of Sasna Dzrer group cannot get used to the fact of imprisonment of the group, which seized Erebuni police regiment. Yesterday they organized a protest action at Liberty Square. With the calls for defense of the rights of the armed group members, they moved to the office of Human Rights Defender, handing a petition over to the Ombudsmans office. Today in the evening a charitable concert will be held. The income will be provided to the families of inmates.
The criticism of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) came swiftly after they first endorsed Republican Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois for reelection. His opponent is Purple Heart recipient Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth who has a 100% HRC rating.

We all know HRC plays politics and many understood they wanted to endorse at least one Republican and chose Kirk as the least objectionable. What was missing from their analysis is Kirk's first vote should Republican's maintain a majority in the Senate, and he could have been the one Senator who helped them keep that, will be for Mitch McConnell. Then whether or not he is supportive of LGBT individuals in anyway will be of no value as no LGBT civil rights legislation would pass a Republican Senate.

My comments on the endorsement of Kirk at the time were it shouldn't have happened but if HRC felt they had to give a sop to the Republicans the least they should have done in this race was a dual endorsement.

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Kirk took his HRC endorsement and proceeded to endorse Trump. That gave the HRC a legitimate opportunity to take back the endorsement. They didn't! When it finally became apparent Trump looked like he would hurt Kirk's campaign he gently walked away from him. Now Kirk has made an overtly racist comment about Duckworth's family and HRC has another perfect opportunity to again do the right thing and rescind their endorsement. Again they won't and it was reported by the Advocate their spokesperson Brandon Lorenz "tweeted a statement that has the HRC standing behind its endorsement of Kirk despite backlash over the derogatory comment about Duckworth's ethnicity."

The Advocate reported the incident which occurred in a debate between Kirk and Duckworth. Duckworth said, "My family has served this nation in uniform, going back to the Revolution. I'm a daughter of the American Revolution. I've bled for this nation." Kirk then responded "by snidely bringing up Duckworth's ethnicity. I had forgotten that your parents came all the way from Thailand to serve George Washington." The facts are Duckworth's mother is of Thai and Chinese descent and her father is a military man and American who can trace his roots back to family members who fought in the American Revolution. So Kirk's comment was not only wrong it was clearly racist.

Responding to the HRC spokesperson's tweet Eric Alva, a war hero and one of the LGBT activists I most respect, posted this on his FB account about the Human Rights Campaign. "The organization I once stood behind as their "National Spokesperson," has lost my trust and I want a divorce. You are so wrong on this, as an organization and as a President Chad. Last year I was awarded the Chuck Jordan Award for all the work I did with HRC and other communities. I honor Chuck's memory every day but I will NOT attend another single HRC event till you earn my trust again. Until then we are done!!!! Tammy Duckworth is a fellow Purple Heart recipient and for you to allow and stand by Senator Kirk to treat her with these racist comments - You are no better than him or Donald Trump!!!

I understand the machinations organizations like the Human Rights Campaign must go through as they try to lobby Congress and at the same time try to raise the money to do so from both Republicans and Democrats. The LGBT community needs an organization like HRC in Washington to lobby and speak up for our rights. But it does seem at times they are deaf to the voices of the community.

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The LGBT community is diverse and broad. There are times when it seems the HRC in their actions hark back to what they were dubbed when there was an F at the end of their acronym standing for Fund. Back in those days the organization was often called the Human Rights Champagne Fund because many considered them an organization of, by and for, rich gay white men.

It is clear they have come a long way since those days, but it's just as apparent they have a long way to go. They are more understanding of the diversity of our community which includes men, women, transgender individuals, people of color and people outside the Washington, DC vortex of politics. But every once in a while they seem to revert back to their HRCF roots as they did with this Kirk endorsement.

Thankfully it looks like Duckworth will win the Senate seat and hopefully HRC will have learned something from this fiasco.
One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between 2 "wolves" inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith." The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?" The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

- Cherokee Proverb

My friend and I took my 2-year-old twins to the pumpkin patch last week. We had a great time, mostly because I think we both experienced the day through young eyes. They shrieked, ran up and down the aisles, and patted the pumpkins. They held onto little "baby" pumpkins like they were treasures, and sat on top of the giant overgrown ones like they were on top of the world. They rode in a wagon full of pumpkins, threw pieces of hay into the dirt, narrated (loudly) every single thing they saw, and we purchased our carefully selected pumpkins.

They resisted when we left. "More Halloween," they begged.

Evidence of an afternoon well spent.

Back at home, I unloaded our newest pumpkin additions and gave the girls a bath. My friend sent me a picture she took of me and my girls, and my immediate uncensored reaction was this: my face looks fat. Is this what I really look like?

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I looked at that photo several more times before I could finally see it clearly, for what it was. I looked at that photo several more times before I could silence that nagging, overbearing voice inside that is notorious for tricking me into creating false images, imagined experiences, and inaccurate information. I looked at that photo several more times before a new truth slowly emerged. And that truth was beauty. It was beauty in a way I wasn't capable of seeing, just moments before.

In that photo, I began to see my good fortune. I opened my eyes to see the beauty: two beautiful, smart, funny toddlers standing by my side -- their happiness seeping through the stillness of the snapshot. Me, with a pregnant belly and a healthy pregnancy, captured in a perfect moment of time. The giddy thought of my little family growing and expanding. The power of three (almost four) women standing together. The celebration of one of my favorite holidays, and the expectation and exhilaration of the quickly approaching holiday season. A quiet and fun afternoon spent with a dear friend, who stood behind that camera.

These are all beautiful things.

The size of my body (pregnant and all) kind of seemed irrelevant now.

And so I posted this picture -- the photo that I initially wanted to erase -- to my Instagram feed to be shared with everyone. I posted it to challenge myself, and to challenge my own definition of what it means to feel beautiful. I posted it in hopes that other people would see its beauty too, that my inner critic would be put in its proper place, and that this special time in our lives would be carefully documented and cemented in time. I posted it to remind myself that my work is not yet done.

Every day I come closer to being the most authentic version of myself. I come closer to putting more time and space between my eating disordered past and my self-loving future. I take deliberate measures to care for myself -- to love and appreciate myself -- so that my girls will learn to do the same.

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Although that pesky voice sometimes rears its ugly head, I now have the capacity to silence it, challenge it, and defy it. I have the power to decide what's worthy of my time, I have the power to decide what's beautiful, and I have the power to shape and mold the young women that follow behind me.

There are so many things that make me feel beautiful now, and my children are a huge part of that.

Beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder, and I can finally see mine.

Earlier on Huff/Post50:
At a special dinner honoring The Man Who Knew Infinity movie, and Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons at Bagatelle in the Meatpacking district this week, the discussion was on how you play a math geek. The answer: you have a secret weapon, a real math geek who can teach you how to scribble those equations effectively on a chalkboard. The man in question, Manjul Bhargava, was honored with a Fields Medal; Neil DeGrasse Tyson, "just your neighborhood astrophysicist," as he describes himself, explained just how impressive the Fields Medal, is. It's like the Nobel Prize.

For those who don't remember this excellent movie when it opened last April, The Man Who Knew Infinity is a biopic about Srinivasa Ramanujan, a math prodigy from Madras, with Dev Patel in the role. The movie emphasizes his relationship with his mentor, G. H. Hardy, a perfect and prim Jeremy Irons. Amazed by his facility with figures, Hardy invites Ramanujan to Cambridge, England where he faced racism, cold, and culture shock, and still managed to move mathematics forward much the way Sir Isaac Newton advanced the laws of physics, finding a formula for partitions that others thought was impossible. Srinivasa Ramanujan was elected Fellow of the Royal Society.

Producer Ed Pressman introduced the celebrants to Matt Brown, who wrote and directed this film, so beautifully shot by longtime Kubrick collaborator Larry Smith. The lovely Devika Bhise, who plays Ramanujan's wife back in India, was also present. Jeremy Irons was looking forward to speaking on a panel at the White House this weekend, followed by a screening of the film. Explaining his new found math skills, Jeremy Irons, so charming and droll with a career that counts 70 or more films, offered the following advice: "Never put your martini down in a crowded restaurant."

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Group of students discussing outside school building

This was originally part of a keynote address for the 10th Annual Latinx Leadership Summit at the University of Kansas.

Last week I was at a faculty reception hosted annually to welcome new women identified professors to our campus. This is my fourth year on faculty here, and I returned to my alma mater, after five years on faculty elsewhere. So, I was there to welcome, not be welcomed myself. However, I remember attending this reception when I first joined the faculty. This reception was where I met a number of people who are still some of my closest friends and colleagues. I consider this reception a safe space. A place where I am able to engage with a supportive community of other women in the academy, many women who have gone through similar struggles that I have, women who I look up to as mentors and role models.

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I was standing near the plate of desserts talking with a friend a mine and an older woman approached us. I had never met this woman, but my friend introduced us, shared our names. I said it is nice to meet you, and the woman asked where I was from. We were at a faculty reception, so I assumed she meant which department. I proudly told her I'm an associate professor in the School of Public Affairs & Administration. She said, "No, where are you from?" I thought she meant where had I grown up or where had I moved from since the reception was about faculty, many of us are from all over the country and world. I smiled and said, "I'm from Kansas. Working at KU is home for me. I spent 5 years on faculty at George Mason University outside of DC, but grew up near Lawrence and went to KU for undergrad and grad school, so I'm happy to be home." She gave me a bit of an exacerbated look and said, "No where are you from?"

I now realized where she was going with the conversation, and I was frankly ready to get back to picking out my brownie from the platter positioned just out of my reach behind her. I told her what she wanted to hear, "My father is Mexican American and my mother is Jewish. I'm a MexiJew." She smiled and "I knew it! I knew it from your name. I've studied Latin Americans." She looked like she was ready for a cookie, but more of a metaphorical one than the plate of carby deliciousness she was blocking me from at the moment. I said "Oh, that's wonderful, I study policy implementation within public organizations." Her face dropped a bit and I excused myself and enjoyed a brownie with cream cheese frosting and chocolate chunks.

One of my mentors often reminds me not to read malice where you can read ignorance. She means that often people aren't trying to do us wrong, but rather they don't know any better. That doesn't mean they cannot hurt us. It doesn't mean they don't have an impact on us. I truly believe this woman meant well. She was trying to make a personal connection to me that she saw as unique. Instead, I felt like she was equating me with her research subject rather than a peer, a colleague at a faculty reception.

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This is a reception I enjoy going to every year because I see it as a safe space. It is a space where I engage with interesting faculty doing fascinating work. Many of us have not only studied the inequalities of the world, but have survived them to become a part of a traditionally male dominated profession. This micro-aggression, this small, unintended slight, hurt me in many ways more than the overt sexism or racism we still see in our world because it came in a place I saw as safe and it came from a person I assumed an ally.

I shared this story over Facebook messenger with other academics of color when I got home. We shared gifs of rolling eyes, there were comments of support and "I'm sorry you had to go through that" along with comments of anger. It was cathartic to share the story, to laugh at this older woman's expense when she equated me to a research subject and not her peer. In reality I knew, or I think, she was trying to be nice and see a connection between us.

The implications I always take away from my mentor's phrase, "do not read malice where you can read ignorance" are two fold. The first focuses on intent. There are inequities in the world and actions in the world that are not intended to hurt us. They still can, but we can approach them with more humanity and empathy if we realize that they are not intentional. The second is a call to action. As an educator I want to push back against ignorance. I want to help people learn and grow. Sometimes that means I have to help them understand their preconceived notions are wrong. Sometimes that means I have to educate by example. Showing this woman that Latinas can be professors as well as research subjects.

But, we also need to talk more about how we handle the pain of encountering and learning. My husband refers to this as pain for growth. It isn't useless pain, it is the pain we experience as we get stronger and smarter and able to tackle the challenges in front of us. Talking about what you're going through, sharing your experiences and hearing others share their experiences is how we grow our empathy and compassion. It is how we learn to educate those around us.

I remember this pain for growth quite vividly from graduate school. In graduate school I had the opportunity to work as a research assistant for three professors who were working on a book about race and policing. Honestly, I had never considered doing research on the police. I knew I didn't care much for the police. My father, a large dark skinned Mexican-American man was regularly pulled over driving me to school as a child because he looked out of place in our very white neighborhood. I remembered the long conversations my dad had with my brother about how to act during a police stop, something that as a light skinned, small, woman I was never lectured about. I generally didn't like the subjects that were brought up around the police in my house, and did not give it much thought to them beyond that.

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But, this research position was a great opportunity academically, and financially. I was working with incredible scholars. One of those scholars was my dissertation advisor, hands down the person who has had the biggest impact on my academic career. He helped me to deepen my thinking about scholarship and ways in which law and social norms intersect. This was a great opportunity, and if it meant I was studying the police, I was all about it. For my part in the project I interviewed police officers and citizens about their encounters in police stops. For this project we were only interviewing black and white citizens. This was really frustrating as a Latina scholar. I know we "complicate" things. It is hard to discuss identity and race within Latino communities, so much of the scholarship just doesn't.

In the project, white citizens would respond in outrage about being pulled over. Even when they knew they were doing something wrong. They were upset that the police interrupted their movement and their day-to-day activities. Whereas black drivers responded with relief when they received "just" a speeding ticket. Interactions between black drivers and the police escalated quickly, often when the driver had not committed a crime. Black drivers would quickly discuss these stories in the context of family and community narratives. Black drivers would discuss being prepared by their parents for how to interact with the police.

To me, this wasn't surprising. These are conversations that HAVE to happen between fathers and sons, over dinner and before bed. But, what was interesting, was this was shocking to the three amazing scholars I was working for. They didn't realize that there were completely different communities within our communities. They didn't realize that these cultural narratives have played out for as long as our country as had a modernized police force. They didn't realize that these narratives are what keep black and brown men and women alive when interacting with state authority. To be fair, these scholars are not isolated individuals. As this project has gotten attention, many progressive whites have had the same response.

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This is not to discount what they did. They created one of the most systematic studies of police-citizen interactions to date. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor cited their work. They have survey data on top of the narrative data I mentioned before. If you read just one book about policing, read Pulled Over (University of Chicago Press, 2014).

Being able to contribute to this work is one of my most important graduate school memories. The things I learned while working on this project shaped me into the scholar I am today. I am stronger methodologically and intellectually because of this project.

This project made me realize that it does not matter if you have the most progressive, forward thinking individuals in the room. A diversity of experiences, racial, ethnic, gender, sexual orientation and other traditionally underrepresented identities do not just make our institutions symbolically representative. That diversity does not just show that anyone can make it if they work hard. That diversity does not just demonstrate that America is a place where we value equality. That diversity fundamentally shapes our conversations, the questions we ask and the scholarship that gets done in academia.

My own scholarship fundamentally changed because of the uncomfortable position this research project put me in. I started getting angry not just because they left Latinos out of the citizen groups, but because all police were assumed the same.

When you close your eyes and think of a police officer what is the image that comes into your mind? To this day I still think of a large white man with too many muscles and a short haircut. But, I know that police come in all shapes and sizes, both sexes, all genders, multiple races and ethnicities. I realized, that much like I was not experiencing academia the same way that my white male colleagues were, these "othered" police officers were not experiencing their work in the same way as the stereotype of a police officer I had in my head.

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My research now builds off of this idea, exploring the paradox of power for people of color and women in positions of authority. The irony is not lost on me that I basically do research that is an extension of my own experience - being Latina in a white male environment. But, my findings and my scholarship continue to contribute to the academic conversation. There is a need for diverse voices in the academy. There is a need for us to all share our stories and help shape the questions that are asked and answered by experts.
14 countries were recently chosen to serve on the United Nations Human Rights Council, a forty-seven-member body. As usual, each country will serve a three-year term, from 2017 through 2019. Interestingly, Russia lost its bid for reelection. Less encouragingly, China, Saudi Arabia and Cuba all made the cut.

It's good to see the United States will be on the Council again. Washington did two terms on Mr. Obama's watch. Even though it's an election year, it's nice to see that Washington still understands the importance of actively participating in this multilateral body -- despite its many flaws.

In a Reuters piece, UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer noted that "[t]he re-election of China, Cuba and Saudi Arabia -- regimes which systematically violate the human rights of their citizens -- casts a shadow upon the reputation of the United Nations."

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Here's part of a New York Times article on Friday's developments:

The Human Rights Council is politically influential. Its responsibilities include establishing panels to investigate human rights abuses in specific countries. Human rights advocates had hoped that the council would impanel an inquiry into rights abuses in Yemen. It was vigorously opposed by Saudi Arabia, which was re-elected Friday for another three-year seat.

While it's not incorrect to assert that the Council is politically influential, there also seem to be real limits to how much it can achieve. Sure, it's a venue that can help draw attention to egregious human rights violations -- but other atrocities are largely ignored. Besides, promoting or attempting to protect human rights doesn't necessarily mean that perpetrators will be held accountable, far from it. Nonetheless, this is a venue that the U.S and its allies must not ignore.
A grunge textured digital illustration of a group of diverse hands reaching together in unity and support.



Women across Latin America took to the streets after a 16-year-old girl was raped and murdered in a coastal town of Argentina in October 2016. Edgard Garrido/Reuters

It's not been a particularly uplifting month to be a woman in Latin America, especially if you read the news.

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On October 8 in Mar del Plata, Argentina, 16-year-old Lucia Perez was abducted outside her school, drugged, and brutally gang raped. Young Lucia died when her heart stopped during the sadistic violence, which included penetration by objects.

In Mexico, three transgender women, Paola (last name unknown), Alessa Flores and Itzel Duran, were killed in different parts of the country. All were sex workers, and Flores and Duran were also trans rights activists. Just weeks before, Karen Rebeca Esquivel, 19, and Adriana Hernandez Sanchez, 52, were found dead in suitcases in Naucalpan, State of Mexico, the deadliest place for women in the country. Both had been raped.

On October 18, a young pregnant woman was found dead on a Peruvian beach with signs of rape and the word puta (whore) written on her leg.

Horrifying but not isolated, these incidents reflect a regional reality. Several studies have shown that Latin America is the worst place in the world to be a woman.

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A Gallup survey has shown that Latin American women feel they are not treated with respect and dignity. Dissatisfaction was highest in Colombia, Paraguay, El Salvador, Guatemala and Peru. The study attributes these feelings to widespread sexual violence and harassment against women and children, in combination with machista culture.

Hashtag movements for women, by women

Lucia's murder in Argentina hit a nerve with women across the entire Latin American region. On October 19, thousands of people in Mexico, Peru, Guatemala, El Salvador, France, Spain, Chile, Brazil, Bolivia, Honduras, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay and Costa Rica joined Argentina in street protests, demanding an end to the killing of women, misogyny and sexual violence.

The massive and simultaneous demonstrations were convened by the budding social movement #NiUnaMenos (#NotOneWomanLess). It was launched in August 2015 in Argentina as a response to an increasing number of feminicides. Peru, Chile, Uruguay and Mexico soon joined.

The international demonstrations have not only made the #MiercolesNegro (#BlackWednesday) and #ParoNacionalDeMujeres (#NationalWomensStrike) regional trending topics, they are also bringing light to the issue of violence across the region.

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Here are some statistics: in Argentina, 226 women were killed in 2016; and in Peru, there were 54.

And in Mexico, 40,000 women were killed between 1985 and 2014. Here, the systemic killing of women since the mid-1980s has been so severe that it led to the coining of the word feminicide as a sociolegal term for the deliberate killing of women, and its codification as a serious crime.

Despite recent institutional and legal changes in the country, such as the establishment of a national institute for women's issues, a protocol for feminicide investigation, legalised abortion in Mexico City, and a bill for the protection of women from gender-based violence, the problem is getting worse. More than half of the 40,000 murders (23,000) occurred between 2000 and 2014.

Indeed, as I wrote in a previous article, it seems that Mexico's bloody war on cartels, in addition to increasing general homicide rates, has specifically made gender-based violence more common as well.

Feminicide vs femicide?

The term "femicide" was coined by American feminists Jill Radford, Diana E. Russell and Jane Caputi to mean the misogynistic murder of women by men. Femicide is the politics of killing women, the extreme-most action of a terror continuum against women.

For American feminist thinkers, then, femicide includes a wide range of physical, discursive and sexual abuse against women and girls: rape, slavery, torture, incest, harassment, mutilation, forced heterosexuality, criminalisation of abortion and contraception.

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Mexican feminists have modified this framework using our specific experience. Looking at the systemic killing of women in Ciudad Juarez in the 1990s, Julia Monarrez and Marcela Lagarde suggested the more accurate concept "feminicide", based on the notion that femicide is just a gender-specific word for homicide while feminicide refers to the killing of women based on their social or biological gender, and the characteristics attributed to that gender.

Feminicide is, then, the murder of women because of their sexuality, reproductive features, and social status or success. Building on the Juarez case, Monarrez also coined the phrase "systemic sexual feminicide" to refer to the cultural, political, legal, economic, religious and social context that allows sexual violence to be widespread and feminicide to be its culmination.

Systemic sexual feminicide in Latin America has shaped legal notions, which have now been used by international bodies such as the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Recent murders in Argentina, Peru and Mexico demonstrate the importance of this concept to the region.

Likewise, American feminists would place this phenomenon on the continuum of sexual terrorism, but in Latin America the systematic and sexual nature of feminicide - painfully reflected in Lucia's case - are closer to an experience of what Italian philosopher Adriana Cavarero has called "horrorism".

In her book Horrorism, Cavarero claims that while the term "terrorism" focuses on the perpetrator's actions (the motivations of suicide bombers, for intance), it fails to describe the victim's horror and experience of being defenceless, which is the terrorist's aim.

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The term "horrorism", she argues, better describes the experiences of massacre and genocide victims, because it focuses on the suffering and powerlessness of the victims.

Following Cavarero's ideas, we may assert that women's permanent fear of sexual violence, along with the feeling of powerlessness vis-a-vis their rapist, is closer to horror than terror. Rape followed by feminicide is sexual horrorism.



The horror continuum of sexual harassment

During the #PrimaveraVioleta demonstration against sexual violence in Mexico in April 2016, the trending topic #MiPrimerAcoso (#MyFirstHarrassment) showed that feminicide sits on a sexual violence continuum.

It begins as systematic and widespread sexual harassment at the hands of friends, relatives, neighbours, teachers, schoolmates and strangers, to girls as young as five years old. It happens on the bus, at school, while shopping, in the work place, at the park and in women's homes. It advances to sexual touching, violent abuse, and, as we've seen, murder.

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#MiPrimerAcoso started as the response of the Brazilian feminist organisation Think Olga to people accusing girls of making up harassment stories. It was part of the group's 2013 campaign against the normalisation of abuse against women. With #MiPrimerAcoso, Think Olga called on women to share on Twitter and Facebook their stories of the first time they were sexually harassed.

The movement has spread across the Americas, from Argentina to Mexico and the United States (with #MyFirstAbuse), with thousands of posts showing that women and girls experience harassment from boys and men starting at six years old, and that this type of abuse is so systematic and widespread that women have learnt to live with it. They, we, see it as normal.

Well, not anymore. Latin American women are saying enough is enough, and #MiPrimerAcoso is just the beginning.
Iron cross at mountain top in alp. Cross on top of a mountains peak as typical in the Alps. Monument to the dead climbers

Since the late 1970s, American evangelicalism has been largely identified with right-wing politics. Conservative religious values entered the political sphere through movements such as Moral Majority and Focus on the Family that opposed gay rights, abortion, feminism and other liberal issues.

Evangelical leaders have influenced national elections and public policy. They have been instrumental in pushing the Republican Party toward increasingly conservative social policies. They have generally been the most consistent voting bloc within the Republican Party.

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But, evangelical Christianity, as we have known it, is changing. While old guard evangelical leaders are vocally supporting Republican nominee Donald Trump for president, there is a groundswell of opposition from within evangelicals.

My research focus is on vibrant religious congregations. I am seeing the emergence of a new generation of evangelicals that has a very different view of what it means to be a "Jesus follower."

This generation is abstaining from the political theology of the earlier generation and focusing their attention, instead, on improving the lives of people in their local communities.

History of evangelicals

The groundwork for American-style conservative evangelicalism was laid several decades before the rise of the Moral Majority and Focus on the Family movements. Evangelicals, and their forbears the "fundamentalists," had long made education and mass communication a centerpiece of their efforts.

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Starting in the late 19th century, they established post-secondary Bible training schools and utilized various mass media outlets, such as their own magazines and radio stations to get their religious message out.

After World War II, these efforts expanded to include elementary and secondary schools - now numbering almost 3,000, along with approximately 150 evangelical colleges and seminaries in the U.S. In addition, evangelicals expanded their media efforts in publishing (books and national periodicals such as Christianity Today), radio and television.

Even though these schools and media outlets were independent from each other, they were unified in a shared theological and moral perspective that served to reproduce evangelical culture and beliefs, and to disseminate the religiously tinged political message of the religious right.

Rifts within

This once-unified movement is now dividing over whether to support Donald Trump in the general election.

Old guard evangelicals such as the founder of the Focus on the Family movement James Dobson and Jerry Falwell Jr., son of the Moral Majority founder and current president of Liberty University, are warning of dire consequences for the U.S. if Trump is not elected.

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According to Dobson, without a Trump presidency, the U.S. will "see a massive assault on religious liberty," which would "limit what pastors... can say publicly," and would "severely restrict the freedoms of Christian schools, nonprofit organizations, businesses, hospitals, charities, and seminaries."

But not all evangelicals are supporting Trump, even though they remain true to the Republican Party. These evangelicals are alarmed at what they see as the vulgar and immoral lifestyle that Trump exemplifies.

In the past, mobilizing this vast religious and political machinery would have resulted in overwhelming and unquestioning support for the Republican candidate. This was first seen with Ronald Reagan in 1980 who won the White House with widespread support of evangelicals, and has been repeated in each election since.

But this time, a call to support Trump has exposed deep divisions within evangelicals that have gone unnoticed until now.

The point is that Trump represents to many the very antithesis of the kind of moral probity that evangelical leaders have spent their lives defending.

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Differences over social and moral issues

How did this happen? While the mostly white religious right was gaining political and cultural power over the last 40 years, evangelicalism became as much a political and racial identity as a religious or theological one.

Survey research and election polls have failed to differentiate the differences within the movement between whites, Latinos, African-Americans and Asians who all share the same basic evangelical theology, but who may part company over other social and moral issues.

For example, in most surveys and political polls, "evangelical" is limited to white believers, with others who may be similar theologically being classified into other racial/ethnically identified categories such as "Black Protestant," "Latino Protestant" or "Other nonwhite Protestant."

Further, as with all religious groups in the U.S., the evangelical movement began struggling to keep its young people in the fold. Recent research shows that among young adults who were identified as evangelicals as teenagers, only 45 percent can still be identified as such.

A new generation

At its most basic level, American evangelicalism is characterized by a belief in the literal truth of the Bible, a "personal relationship with Jesus Christ," encouraging others to be "born again" in Jesus and a lively worship culture.

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This definition encompasses many groups that were not historically included in the old religious right. Thus, while Latino evangelicals believe the same thing about the Bible and Jesus as white evangelicals, their particular social context in many cases leads to a different political stance.









David Goldman/AP





As these new and growing groups find their own voices, they are challenging the dominant evangelical perspective on political issues such as immigration and economic inequality.

For example, the Evangelical Immigration Table, established in 2014, has been working across a broad spectrum of evangelical churches and other institutions to highlight what they see as the biblical imperative to support a just and humane immigration policy. These groups range from the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention to the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.

In addition, younger evangelicals are increasingly coming of age in more diverse neighborhoods and schools, leading to an openness to other racial and religious groups, LGBT people and social justice issues in ways that older evangelicals strenuously opposed.

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Further, while the educational successes of evangelicalism, through its many and varied curricula, have served to socialize young people into the "biblically based" moral world, it has also taught them how to read the Bible critically and to pay attention to biblical themes and narrative through-lines that resonate with their own life experiences.

According to a pastor of a church included in my research, he is seeing young evangelicals apply the interpretive skills they have learned in school and church to a broader range of biblical teachings.

"When you start to examine the teachings of Jesus, you're going to end up seeing that justice matters, that we have a responsibility to care for the poor. Younger evangelicals are basically using those same hermeneutical tools to study the Bible and are saying, wait a minute, not only is there nothing wrong with caring about justice, there's something wrong with not [caring]."

Thus, while young evangelicals in some ways still evidence a shared theology with their parents' generation - for example, on biblical passages that would support a "pro-life" perspective - they part company through their engagement with passages that emphasize the believer's responsibility for the poor.

View of social justice

The younger evangelicals that I've been studying are not taking the expected evangelical position in this election, such as supporting Donald Trump, or supporting a broader agenda as that promoted by evangelical leaders such as James Dobson.

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Instead, the political activism that these younger evangelicals tend to engage in usually relates to issues like improving local schools, creating job opportunities, caring for the homeless and other activities that have been largely overlooked by American evangelicalism as it has been practiced over the past several decades.

In my interviews, I've asked many of these younger evangelicals how their religious commitments relate to politics. Their responses show a simultaneous distancing from "politics," and a desire to seek change in a way that is consistent with their beliefs. A good example of this kind of response came from a 20-something African-American young woman who told me,

"I also don't care much for politics, because it's so ugly. I just feel like, let's commit to loving people. When I think about laws that unjustly affect minorities or the poor, that bothers me only because of the Gospel."



Diverse world view

These evangelicals have staked out a middle ground that is neither Democrat nor Republican, liberal or conservative.

This is not to say that younger evangelicals are all in agreement with how their religious views should be applied in the world. Rather, they are opting out of the political identities and battles that have characterized evangelicalism for the past 40 years.

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Their world is more diverse in terms of race and ethnicity, social class, sexuality, and religious beliefs. Their friends are as likely to be straight or gay, Christian or Buddhist, or black or Latino.

That has informed the way that they understand their religious beliefs and their political alignments. They are seeking to live out their faith in response to a world that is different from the world that leaders of the old religious right inhabit.


Written by Deena Blanchard MD, MPH.



I'm a strong believer in evidence-based medicine, and we know we can take steps to keep our babies safe during their sleep. But one of my greatest fears as a mom is still sudden infant death syndrome, also known as SIDS. And while we've been talking about SIDS in the medical community for quite some time, this week, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released updated guidelines for safe sleep, warranting a closer look at this disconcerting issue.

SIDS is any sudden or unexpected infant death that occurs during sleep within the first year of life and that cannot be explained after thorough investigation. Most SIDS cases occur within the first six months of life, and babies between the ages of 2 and 4 months are at the highest risk. SIDS remains the leading cause of death among U.S. babies, claiming close to 3,500 lives each year.

We don't know what causes sudden infant death, but research suggests that brain abnormalities, genetics and hazardous environmental factors, like loose blankets and smoking households, can play a role. And though there is no way to test for which children have an underlying vulnerability, certain babies, such as premature infants, are at increased risk. We also know that breastfeeding decreases the risk of SIDS. Here are the AAP's new safe-sleep recommendations to help reduce your little one's risk of SIDS:

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1. Back to sleep for EVERY sleep. Infants under the age of one should always be put down and sleep on their backs -- at nap time and at night. Many parents worry about their babies spitting up and choking if placed flat on their back, particularly if they have gastrointestinal reflux, but the AAP asserts that the supine position doesn't increase the risk of infant choking. If your baby has a medical condition that you feel necessitates sleeping on their tummy, please discuss it with your physician. Once your little one can roll over, continue to put him down on his back, but you can let him sleep on his stomach if he ends up rolling himself into that position.

2. Use a firm sleep surface. Infants should be put to sleep on a firm mattress in a crib or bassinet that adheres to the newest standards of safety. Mattresses that are too soft can create an indentation or pocket that creates the risk of rebreathing or suffocation as your baby gets old enough to roll over. Since rolling over is a normal part of gross motor development in the first six months of your little one's life, a breathable mattress can be helpful. A breathable mattress, such as Newton Rest, provides your baby with the support she needs while allowing air to circulate. It also has the added benefit of preventing overheating (more on that soon!). But remember, a breathable mattress is not an excuse to forget about other safe-sleep practices. Make sure, also, to use only mattresses that are approved for that specific product (for example, don't put a crib mattress into a Pack n' Play).

3. Only the baby should be in the crib. Do not place blankets, pillows, bumpers or stuffed animals in the crib. The mattress can be covered with a fitted sheet with no additional bedding or soft objects.

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4. Avoid putting babies to sleep in car seats, swings, or bouncers. Infants have poor neck control, and if their heads fall forward they can inadvertently cut off their trachea (air pipe) and stop breathing. This is known as positional asphyxia. If a baby falls asleep in one of these devices, the AAP recommends to move them to a safe-sleep space as soon as possible.

5. Keep your baby's crib in the same room, close to your bed. This is the newest recommendation. According to the AAP, an infant should sleep in the same room as his parents, in his own crib or bassinet, for at least 6 months and ideally the first year. Research suggests having the baby sleep in the parent's room on a separate surface can decrease the risk of SIDS by up to fifty percent. Couches or arm chairs are particularly dangerous spaces for infants to sleep in, increasing the risk of being trapped in cushion and of infant deaths.

6. Put the baby back into the crib after feeding or cuddling. The AAP recommends infants return to a separate sleep space after feeding. It also advises to feed in an environment that is safe for sleep in case you fall asleep. Don't feed your baby on a couch in the middle of the night. Opt for an adult bed instead, and make sure that it is as safe as possible: no pillows, blankets or other objects that could obstruct the baby's breathing when feeding in bed. If you have had any alcoholic drink, sleeping in the bed with your little one is not safe. The AAP statement notes that bedsharing with infants that are younger than four months or premature can increase the risk of SIDS. So do everything you can to stay awake and return the baby to his crib or bassinet once he is done eating. In addition, if you or your partner smoke or take medication that can increase drowsiness, you should avoid bed-sharing.

7. Avoid overheating when sleeping. Studies have shown that overheating increases the risk of SIDS. Dress your little one in one light layer more than you have on, and do not cover his head. If your baby is sweating a lot, he's probably over bundled. Are you worried your little guy may be cold? Use a swaddle or sleep sack to keep him comfortable. Once your little one shows signs of being ready to roll, stop swaddling and use only a sleep sack -- no loose blanket.

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As a pediatrician and a mom, I get it, you can't control everything in life. That's actually one of my most difficult parenting struggles. But as parents, we do have areas in which we can feel empowered to make the best choices for our children, and sleep safety is one of them.

While extrinsic factors are involved in SIDS-related deaths, SIDS is also related to intrinsic biological factors that infants may have that parents cannot prevent and don't know about. This means that parents can "do everything right" and provide the safest sleeping environment possible, and their child may still fall victim of SIDS. We know how frightening this lack of control can be. If you are facing extreme levels of anxiety about any parenting issues and specifically about SIDS, reach out to your pediatrician for support and guidance.

Furthermore, exhaustion can be really challenging for new parents. Don't be afraid to accept or ask for help. At Premier Pediatrics, we are strongly committed to supporting families as they transition from pregnancy to parenthood. We get that you may have questions about sleep safety or other topics. We understand that you may be getting conflicting information from lots of sources and are available to discuss your concerns in an open-minded and non-judgmental way. If you have questions about sleep safety, it's always best to be safe than sorry and contact your pediatrician, it's always best to reach out and check our bookshelf for information on common pediatric topics.

This piece was originally published on Well Rounded NY, and written by Deena Blanchard MD, MPH. Dr. Deena is a board certified pediatrician working at Premier Pediatrics. Dr. Deena has provided health/parenting tips for outlets such as AOL, Buzzfeed, The Huffington Post, The Bump, The Daily News, and appeared on CBS and CUNY-TV. She is also a regular contributor for Big City Moms, Well Rounded NY, The Stir by Cafemom, and Momtastic. Dr. Blanchard joined Premier, after completing her residency training at Columbia University. There she served as a physician advocate for families as part of the family advisory committee and was awarded physician of the year in 2007. Prior to going to medical school she completed a Masters of Public Health at Temple University with a specific focus in health education. Dr. Blanchard attended medical school at Albert Einstein College of Medicine where she was awarded both Alpha Omega Alpha and the American Medical Women's Association Glascow-Rubin Achievement award. Dr. Deena Blanchard serves as a pediatric expert for brands including Ella's Kitchen and Newton.

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Ah, those hobgoblins of the past. It turns out that elections are over when they are over.

Just a day after the latest Wikileaks/KGB data dump revealed former President Bill Clinton's body man-turned-closest aide laying out how he and his partners -- during Hillary Clinton's tenure as U.S. secretary of state -- leveraged the Clinton Foundation and its international programs to yield $116 million in personal income for the first President Clinton, plus a smaller fortune in perks for the family, FBI Director James Comey announced that his agency will investigate new information in the Hillary e-mail controversy.

If not election game changers, certainly terrible blows to the Clinton image. What is Comey up to? And what is the long game for Moscow?

What left field did this second thunderclap of an announcement come from? Well, a separate investigation touching very much on the life of another extremely close Clinton associate, Hillary's closest aide, Huma Abedin. Her estranged husband, former Congressman and New York mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner, his career wrecked spectacularly and, amazingly, repeatedly, by a ludicrous sexting habit, is under federal investigation for allegedly sexting with an underage girl.

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Investigators reportedly found seemingly sensitive State Department-related e-mails on at least one device used by Weiner, including a laptop computer shared by Abedin and Weiner which was used to sext with the girl, a 15-year old (yikes!) in North Carolina.

Not at all incidentally, is there any more obvious security risk in history, and I mean the history of the entire universe, than Anthony Weiner? Back in the day, the KGB would have had a field day with Weiner and his wacko predilections and his intimate access to Hillary Clinton's alter ego. Now, of course, we needn't worry about such ... oh, hang on.

As long-time readers know, I was fairly sympathetic to Hillary's ill-conceived desire for some e-mail confidentiality. Until, as discussed here, it emerged that she and her crack team managed to lose her entire, obviously highly sensitive, e-mail archive as secretary of state by sending it to her new office via snail mail. Or maybe it was lost in the shuffle of the new office. Hahah. I think Russian intelligence is simply too good to miss an easy bet like that.

If Donald Trump wasn't a world class screw-up, it would be virtually impossible for him to lose the election with this sort of ammunition at his disposal.

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Indeed, the ABC/Washington Post tracking poll, which gave Clinton a 12-point lead last week has dropped to only a four-point margin, and that was taken before the big revelations of Thursday and Friday.

But Trump is such an obnoxious, erratic jag-off -- not to mention an aggressively know-nothing neo-fascist, racist, and sexist -- that Hillary still has a quite decent shot at winning.

Unless ...

As readers know, I've always felt that Trump is a dangerous possibility until the end. He has a powerful set of messages -- much more so than the establishment empty suits like Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio he crushed in the Republican primaries -- but is a wildly erratic, self-indulgent, and self-destructive messenger.

And Hillary was quite vulnerable, even before "Grifters-in-chief" became a meme.

Many are asking what the FBI director is up to dropping his ill-defined bombshell a week-and-a-half before the presidential election.

Well, perhaps he is routinely informing the public that there is some new information to be examined in the course of a routine investigation. Hmm, maybe not.

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Or perhaps he is covering his behind in anticipation of some new revelation.

Or perhaps, given how awkward it would have been for the Obama Justice Department to indict the president's preferred successor, the director is reflecting some sort of FBI sense of rough justice in making trouble now for Clinton. There have already been two FBI reports which have been rather embarrassing for the former secretary of state.

All speculation, of course.

What is less and less speculation is my longstanding sense that Moscow and its spymaster president Vladimir Putin is out to delegitimize rather than defeat the Clintons, who first stirred up Russian enmity with their plan to expand NATO toward post-Soviet Russia's borders back in the 1990s. I discussed the longstanding dispute with the Clintons in July.

Although my sourcing was informal, I learned some time back that Hillary campaign chairman/ex-Obama counselor/ex-President Bill chief of staff John Podesta's e-mail was hacked in plenty of time to turn the tide for Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primaries. Sanders repeatedly clashed with Hillary over her Russia hawk stances.

Now it appears to have been established that Russian intelligence accessed Podesta's incredibly sensitive and revealing trove of communication just after Hillary won the Ohio primary in mid-March. There were nearly three more months of primaries after that.

Release Hillary's secret Wall Street speech transcripts, as Wikileaks finally did earlier this month, at any point there and the Democratic nomination probably falls to Sanders and his massively funded advertising campaign.

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And, obviously, had Trump had the revelation about Bill Clinton's vast enrichment via the Clinton Foundation during his wife's tenure as U.S. secretary of state before any of his three debates with Hillary and the dynamics are greatly altered.

My theory, based on no formal sourcing, continues to be that Moscow is out to delegitimize rather defeat the Clintons. This makes for much greater dynamics for the theatrical Putin on the world stage and makes America a much better punching bag down the line. Trump? Well, he is just too erratic to have in the White House.

It's the smart play for an intelligence professional who is a Russian nationalist, and Putin is, above all, precisely that.
French film expert on Armenian animation and wine

I cannot see any reason hindering cooperation with Armenian animators, Jean-Paul Commin, member of the jury of the 8th ReAnimania International Animation & Comics Art Festival of Yerevan, French film expert, told A1+. Today he has held a master class for Armenian movie stars. Commin is in Armenia for the first time. He says that it is early to form any impression about Armenia and Armenian films. Instead, he has managed to notice that we have very good wine, which is very important to every Frenchman. The way he was met here allows him to think that his opinion will be positive. I have known about ReAnimation long ago, and I am very impressed with organizational activities, as I know how difficult it is to organize preview of the films, which havent been screened even in their countries. I think that in the countries like Armenia, where animation isnt that much developed, the organization of such festivals is very important. It is the first way for Armenia for further cooperation with foreign producers. In reply to our question, whether he can see that potential, the film expert answered, We are used to working with the people from around the world, creating films, and I cannot see any reason, which will hinder Armenian specialists to become a member of that animation family. I hope that after the festival I will be able to answer your question more clearly, he said. Jean-Paul Commin can hardly visit any sightseeing out of Yerevan, but he promised to visit the important museums of the capital, especially the Museum-Institute of the Armenian Genocide.
Misleading texts claim to show your polling place. Here's how to vote.

A batch of texts that claim to show a voter's polling place were sent Monday to Kansans, despite appearing to show inaccurate information.
More than 130 people participated in the drill held at the closed elementary school. 'Casualties' clean up their wounds after the drill. A round up of after-action comments in the cafeteria. Firefighters and EMS discuss communication issues they ran into. The vacant school provided an opportunity for EMS and law enforcement to drill together to prepare for a real incident. PreviousNext

North Adams First-Responders Stage Active Shooter Drill at Sullivan

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  The closed Sullivan School on Friday morning hosted an emergency drill that brought more than 130 people together.



Kemp Avenue was closed to through traffic between Lake and Rich streets for several hours as first-responders deal with a simulated mass casualty incident on the elementary school campus.



"We brought together numerous agencies throughout Bekshire County, primarily police, fire and EMS from North Adams, and conducted an active shooter drill," said Amalio Jusino, assistant chief of the North Adams Ambulance Service and coordinator of the drill. "The real focus is integrating fire and EMS with law enforcement for effective critical life-saving skills ... compared to a pre-Columbine incident."



The 1999 Columbine High School massacre that killed 13 and wounded 20 marked what would become almost a regularity in shootings in schools, ranging from Virginia Tech to Sandy Hook. Since then, school safety has become integral in any emergency planning for communities. A tactical drill was held last year with the Northern Berkshire Emergency Planning Committee at Drury High School.



On Friday, four corridors of Sullivan School were used as part of an exercise involving at least 132 participants, 40 of them patients. The wounded were rescued and moved out to the parking area for the three Ts  triage, treatment and transport.


Those working on the campaign rally at the First Street Common before canvassing. United Educators of Pittsfield President Brendan Sheran says the state is underfunding the school systems by $1 billion a year already. Princess Moss of the NEA and Barbara Madeloni of the MTA both spoke against Question 2. The crowd listens to five speakers rally in opposition to the ballot question. No on 2 campaign supporters began canvassing after the rally. State Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier says votes, not money, is what counts in the end. Princess Moss urges voters to show 'you cannot buy public education.' PreviousNext

No on 2 Campaign Rallies in Pittsfield as Election Day Nears



MTA President Barbara Madeloni said so far 'the 413 is no on 2.' PITTSFIELD, Mass.  Corporations and big business cannot buy public education.

That is the message that those opposing Question 2, a ballot initiative calling for raising the cap on charter schools by a dozen, is sending.



The opposition says the expansion of the charter school system will devastate the traditional public school system by allocating more public funding to the privately-run schools.

"The message you are sending across the nation is powerful. What you are saying is that big business, corporations, you cannot buy public education. That's the message that needs to be heard all across the nation," Princess Moss, treasurer for the National Education Association, said at a rally on the First Street Common on Saturday afternoon.

Moss was joined by many elected officials on the City Council and the School Committee, and from the State House and the corner office to rally support for the No on 2 campaign.

Locally, the City Council, the mayor, and the School Committee have all come out in opposition to the measure. Council Vice President John Krol estimates that charter schools pull some $2 million per year from the city's system. He says while the City Council pours over every detail of the budget, funded by taxpayer dollars, that level of oversight isn't there for charter schools.

"Here in the city of Pittsfield, $2 million goes out the door each and every year, $2 million goes to our charter school and how much oversight do we have of those $2 million? The answer is zero, absolutely none," Krol said. "In my book, I would call that taxation without representation."

The opponents say the traditional public school and charter schools are not on a level playing field, particularly when it comes to the student body. Charter schools have the ability to send students who are not living up to their standards back to the traditional school system, a luxury the traditional schools don't have.

"The commonwealth of Massachusetts is an innovator in public education historically. What is public education? Education for everyone and not just a handful of students, not just students who win a lottery, and not just students who have parents engaged enough to go through a process of school choice," Krol said.

United Educators of Pittsfield President Brendan Sheran compared the "two-track" system to that of two police forces. One police force is assigned to the nicer neighborhood, has the ability to banish criminals from the area, and the area has more wealth. The other force is in the low-income area, with higher crime rates, and does not have the ability to require anyone to leave the area. At the end, the nicer neighborhood force would take funding from the other force because it performed better by having fewer crimes.

Already, Sheran says the state is underfunding the school systems by $1 billion a year. Expanding charter schools would just dilute the funds that are available, making it more difficult for the public schools to provide high-quality education.

"That is a massive, massive number. If you think about that, if we expand charter schools in the state, cities like Pittsfield, towns like Lenox, cities like North Adams, Springfield, Boston, they are going to have a harder time to meet the needs of their kids if the funding is being pulled out to fund charters," Sheran said.

Mayor Linda Tyer says the Pittsfield Public Schools have a lot to offer  there are great programming and dedicated teachers. But, that doesn't magically happen.

"All of that heart and soul is backed up with money. It takes money to run a public school system. When we are put at a disadvantage by poachers like charter schools then that impacts our ability to continue providing excellent educational opportunities for every child in the city of Pittsfield," Tyer said.



Mayor Linda Tyer was one of many elected officials at the rally. Tyer called on those involved in the No on 2 campaign to talk to people and share their concerns. Following the rally, the group numbering around 50 headed out for canvassing. The hotly contested ballot question is quickly becoming the most expensive campaign in the state's history.

"They are going to crush us with the money. They have dark money. They have more dark money than has ever been spent on a campaign. But we have each other. People have never won any struggle because they have more money," Barbara Madeloni, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association said.

Some $33 million is expected to be expended on Question 2, more than double 2014's casino question. WBUR reports that some 75 percent of the $20 million spent to promote the question is coming from so-called "dark" sources  political non-profit groups that don't have to disclose donors. On the other side, according to WBUR's research, more than half is from in-state and the bulk from educational unions.

Madeloni is working on campaigns across the state and in Western Massachusetts, the polls are showing the No on 2 side outnumbering the "ye" side. She said so far "the 413 is No on 2" but doesn't want anyone to rest on their laurels.

"We've got to up those numbers even more. We're going to have Western Mass bring this home," she said.

For the next 10 days, across the state advocates will be pushing to spread their message in support of the public school system. Meanwhile, those in favor of the expansion of charter schools will be doing the same.

"We have the right argument. We not only have righteousness on our side but we have the facts on our side. It's a very nice combination," Madeloni said.

But to win, it will come down to votes and not dollars so state Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier called for the "boots on the ground" to go door to door and share the message in opposition of the ballot questions.

"This fight is a fight against big money. There will be more money spent on the yes side of this campaign that was spent to get Elizabeth Warren elected as senator of this state. That broke all of the records at the time. Twenty-two million dollars is being spent on huge ads, on a lot of paid people going into neighborhoods to convince people to vote yes," Farley-Bouvier said.

"It doesn't matter who has as much money, it matters who has the most votes."
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An alleged sadomasochist accused of murdering a policeman has told a court that the officer died while they were playing "a very dangerous game".

Stefano Brizzi, 50, described how Pc Gordon Semple, 59, had been enjoying the sex session at the Italian's home in south London on April 1 but then stopped breathing.

The pair, who met on the gay dating app Grindr, had been performing bondage actions - which included Brizzi sitting on Pc Semple's face while he rocked his "bottom back and forward", the jury at the Old Bailey heard.

Brizzi said Pc Semple was wearing a collar and a mask while he held a leash which he tightened at the policeman's request.

Standing in the witness box, Brizzi said he was "pulling the leash and counting until 30. I was following his instructions."

He said Pc Semple was "extremely excited" and had a "very big hard on while we were playing this game and he was enjoying it".

"His face was under my buttocks," Brizzi said, but when he stood up he noticed "that something had gone wrong because he didn't respond any more".

"I released the lead when I got up. I immediately untied his collar when I realised that he wasn't answering."

He said he was "calling him" and asking "what's going on".

Brizzi - who broke down in tears several times as he gave evidence - said he then removed Pc Semple's mask and "realised that he was completely unresponsive and I started to panic".

He slapped Pc Semple's face to try to wake him, gave him mouth to mouth and attempted chest compressions but to no avail, Brizzi told the court.

"Unfortunately I couldn't see any response. I also checked his pulse to see if I could feel any pulse. I realised that we had been playing a very dangerous game."

Brizzi thought about calling an ambulance but did not do so because he thought Pc Semple may have a "condition" such as asthma.

He said he checked Pc Semple's pocket to see if he had an inhaler but instead found his police badge. "I was absolutely petrified," Brizzi said.

Asked by Sallie Bennett-Jenkins QC, defending, to confirm that he did not call an ambulance, he replied: "Yes, I accept that."

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

Brizzi also told the court that he and Pc Semple had used code to indicate whether they were enjoying the sexual acts or were struggling to cope.

"He would say the word 'Thank you, sir' when he had reached a point when he was reaching his limits and I should start to pay a bit more attention to what I was doing," Brizzi said.

But the pair also had the code word "red" to indicate that the activity should stop immediately.

"He never said red," Brizzi told the court.

The Italian denies murdering the officer but has admitted obstructing a coroner by disposing of the body.

The case continues on Monday.

Press Association
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A barrister has had his right to practice law revoked after a complaint that he posted a series of seriously offensive tweets about Jews, Muslims and black people.

Ian Millard was expelled from the bar by a disciplinary tribunal after posting messages on his Twitter account in November 2014.

In the tweets, he expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, while making it clear in his biography that he was a barrister. The tribunal found this had brought the profession into disrepute.

In one tweet Mr Millard described the then Justice Secretary Michael Gove as a pro-Zionist, pro-Jew expenses cheat, according to tribunal documents.

Another tweet featured an image of a Nazi swastika alongside the German phrase Juden sind hier unerwunscht, which means Jews not wanted here.

He also wrote: National Socialist Germany 1933-1945. Its flaws were few, its achievements many. Don't believe Jewish-Zionist lies.

The Bar Standards Boards director of professional conduct, Sara Jagger, said in a statement: The use of such offensive language is incompatible with the standards expected of barristers.

The tribunal rightly found that such behaviour diminishes the trust and confidence the public places in the profession and the decision to disbar Mr Millard reflects this.

Mr Millard was called to the Bar by Lincoln's Inn in November 1991 and worked in London on criminal and civil cases, as well as presenting judicial review applications at the city's High Court.

But before being disbarred he had been unregistered for several years and had not worked since 2007.

Since being disbarred, he has tweeted more offensive statements. He claimed he had received many messages of support and only a few slating him -- mostly from Jewish Zionists.

He also complained coverage of his case was one-sided.

He tweeted on Saturday: I was disbarred (on Thursday) because of 7 tweets. 7 tweets out of 155,000 tweets (and RTs) over 6 years.Newspapers silent on that.

He added in another post: My persecution by the Zionists, carried on in the British Press, continues to attract people: 57,605 have seen my tweets in past 24 hours.

Lawyer Jonathan Goldberg QC brought the complaint against Mr Millard. He said after the hearing: A man who spews out such Nazi propaganda is not fit to call himself a barrister, so I feel satisfied.

His complaint against Mr Millard, filed in 2014, said the barristers tweets were racist, anti-Semitic, anti-black, anti-Muslim and showed him to be an outspoken admirer of Adolf Hitler.

Defending himself at the tribunal, Mr Millard said he rejected these simplistic labels, and had not directly insulted or attacked anyone in any way by addressing them on Twitter.

He argued that calling people Jews was not offensive and that his Twitter account was not related to his work as a barrister, which he no longer carries out.

Proceedings will now be brought against Mr Millard in the US, where he is still a member of the New York bar.

Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said Show all 14 1 /14 Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On Israel and Palestine The simple fact in all of this is that Naz made these comments at a time when there was another brutal Israeli attack on the Palestinians; and theres one stark fact that virtually no one in the British media ever reports, in almost all these conflicts the death toll is usually between 60 and 100 Palestinians killed for every Israeli. Now, any other country doing that would be accused of war crimes but its like we have a double standard about the policies of the Israeli government Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On Antisemitism in the Labour Party As Ive said, Ive never heard anybody say anything antisemitism-Semitic, but theres been a very well-orchestrated campaign by the Israel lobby to smear anybody who criticises Israeli policy as antisemitic. I had to put up with 35 years of this Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On Naz Shah Its completely over-the-top and rude, but who am I to denounce anyone with all of that. It was wrong. I dont think she is antisemitic, it was incredibly rude but I dont believe she is an antisemite. When the NEC investigation is finished they'll say it was rude and over the top but they wont find any evidence that she actually hates Jews. Weve got to investigate all these charges and the context in which they are made. If she is antisemitic like the other three or four members weve found who are antisemitic, shell be expelled Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On other alleged antisemites in Labour That is part of the classic antisemitic thing about an international Jewish conspiracy  that is the reason we need to have an investigation. Ive got an open mind. Ive seen nothing to suggest to me that she is antisemitic. I wouldnt have supported her if I [thought] she was antisemitic Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On whether what Hitler did was legal, as stated by Naz Shah Thats a statement of fact  Hitler, Im sure, passed all those laws that allowed him to do that  its history  literally, Hitler was completely mad, he killed six million Jews. Shes not saying its legal to kill six million Jews: what they were doing in that country allowed them not just to kill six million Jews, kill all the communists, kill all the leftists like me, my father almost died when a Nazi sub sank his boat. I have no sympathy with Hitler Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On another alleged antisemite in Labour No, that is, and thats why shes been suspended or expelled. What Ive said is that in 47 years of the party in all the meetings Ive been in Ive never heard anyone say anything antisemitic. There are bound to be in a party of half a million people youll have a handful of antisemites, youll have a handful of racists. Youve managed to dig out virtually every antisemitic comment that Labour members have made out of half a million people. Ive never met any of these people. Theres not a problem. Youre talking about a handful of people in a party of half a million people. Jeremy Corbyn has moved rapidly to deal with them Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On Jeremy Corbyns response to the allegations He met with Naz and she agreed she would stand down while the investigation is going on. He called her in to see her. Theres been a huge investigation of virtually everything that anybody put on the internet  many of these people are quite new and recent members of the party that joined in the big influx. 300,000 new people came in Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On his meeting a man accused of antisemitism in London This is the man who called for Muslims around the world to donate blood after the attacks of 9/11 when he came to London I went with him to the Regents Park mosque where he said no man should hit a woman and you should not discriminate against homosexuals. So I cant equate what I heard him say he made no antisemitic statement while he was here in London. I dont investigate people. Ive simply said what I believe to be true which is that Naz was not antisemitic. She was completely over the top, very rude, but that does not make her an antisemite Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On John Manns comments He went completely over the top. I was actually doing a radio interview at the time that he was bellowing that Im a racist antisemite in my ear. Ive had that with John Mann before a few weeks ago screaming that I was a bigot down the phone. Im not an apologist for anyone who makes antisemitic statements. What Im saying is dont confuse antisemitism with criticism of the Israeli government policy Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On calling a Jewish journalist a concentration camp guard whilst Mayor of London I cant tell if a journalist is Jewish or Catholic or anything. If a journalist is chasing you down the street at nine of clock at night you might be rude to them. Some people might have hit him! He said he was just doing his job. We went all the way to the High Court and the judge opened his judgement by saying I hope no one here is going to suggest that Mr Livingstone is antisemitic. We won the case Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On claims about Hitler and Zionism I cant tell if a journalist is Jewish or Catholic or anything. If a journalist is chasing you down the street at nine of clock at night you might be rude to them. Some people might have hit him! He said he was just doing his job. We went all the way to the High Court and the judge opened his judgement by saying I hope no one here is going to suggest that Mr Livingstone is antisemitic. We won the case Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On John Mann Id simply say to John Mann go back and check. Is what I say true, or is it not? The BBC, youve got a huge team of researchers, it will take just an hour or two to go back and confirm. I was asked a question, I answered it. I have never in 45 years since I won my first election, I have never lied. I have always answered the question Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On raising the issue if Hitler It lays you open to people smearing and lying about you. Ive always answered the questions put to me and that simple fact is weve had a handful of people saying antisemitic things in the Labour Party, theyve been suspended, some of them are on their way to being expelled, some of them have been expelled already Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On people calling for him to be suspended All my usual critics  but the simple fact is I agree with them; there is no place for antisemitism in the Labour party. For them to suggest I am antisemitic is a bit bizarre considering we worked with Jewish groups and put on exhibitions about the scale of the holocaust, we worked with Jewish groups to tackling the scale of antisemitism back in the 1970s. Ive always opposed every form of racism whether its against black people or Jews. Im going to stay in the Labour party and continue to fight against all forms of racism and discrimination as I have my entire life

Speaking after the case, Gideon Falter, of Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, told the Daily Mail: Anti-Semitism is a cancer in society and it must be met with zero tolerance.

We commend the Bar Standards Boards decision, which sends a clear message that anti-Semites will suffer devastating professional consequences for their actions.

Mr Millard will be able to appeal against his expulsion if he wishes to do so.
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Two videos of Spaniards being violently assaulted in separate incidents in the UK have gone viral in Spain, fuelling speculation the attacks could be linked to Brexit.

The first video, from May, shows a British man hitting 27-year-old Tomas Gil, from Valencia, in the face with a wooden plank after shouting at him to speak English. It was released this month after the assailant was convicted of assault and bodily harm.

The guilty verdict coincided with a second incident, in which a man was filmed punching 31-year-old Bangladeshi, Jubair Ahmed, in the face as he travelled through east London with his Spanish wife Kilian.

 A woman chase a man off of the tube after a racially aggravated assault

Ms Ahmed is shown chasing down the attacker, who got off the train at Upton Park, and berating him in Spanish.

Daniel Way, 37, was convicted of the first attack, which happened in Bournemouth on 19 May, after CCTV footage of the incident was shown in court.

Way was given a 12-month suspended sentence, in addition to 150 hours of community service. He was also ordered to pay Mr Gil 800 in compensation.

Mr Gil told Spanish newspaper El Pais he had been living in Britain for four years when the attack occurred, but had never previously experienced prejudice.

He said he had been in a pub with a group of friends before he walked outside with a woman, called Silvia, at about 5am.

He told El Pais that Way came at us from the other side, screaming 'you f***ing Spanish, speak English', and I faced up to him a bit.

Silvia told me to let it go. And then... well, you see it in the video: he pretends to leave, gets the stick... and takes good aim, Mr Gil said.

Several people who witnessed the attack ran to help Mr Gil and then restrained the attacker until police arrived.

Mr Gil said his face was swollen for a week, especially around the jaw, but he did not suffer any broken bones or other significant injuries.

Mr Gil complained to El Pais that he was not notified of the verdict or about his compensation. He found out through media coverage and through Way, who contacted him on Facebook to apologise.

I suppose his lawyer must have recommended it," he said.

"He told me he needs to start paying me next month... I have heard more from him than I have from the police or the courts."

Mr Gil added he had decided to return to Spain before the attack. He is now a social worker in Valencia.

In the four years he spent in Britain, he said he worked in a kitchen and a factory, and as a sales assistant and a waiter, but he experienced no racism beyond observing a "feeling of superiority" in some British people.

The timing of the incident, as the anti-immigration Leave campaign gained momentum in the run-up to the EU referendum, has led Spanish media to speculate the attack could be linked to Brexit, which some experts have said legitimised and fuelled racist attitudes.

Way's lawyer, however, attributed the incident to a mixture of ADHD, drugs, alcohol and a recent break-up.

He is extremely ashamed of his use of racist language," Guy Draper told the court. He can't recall ever holding racist views.

The second incident, however, has added to a belief in Spain that Spaniards are now in danger of being targeted by racists in the UK.

Footage of the incident on a London train on 17 October, recorded by another passenger on a mobile phone, has been circulated on social media.

The video shows Mr Ahmed, a 31-year-old finance student, being hit in the face by a man who then runs off the train, down the platform.

Ms Ahmed, who studied in Seville before coming to the UK, runs after the assailant, screaming insults at him in Spanish.

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

A 33-year-old man was later detained by police on suspicion of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Hate crime soared by 41 per cent the month after the Brexit vote, official figures show.

Meanwhile, a Home Office report showed there was an increase in hate crime of 19 per cent in the year leading up to the vote, between April 2015 and March 2016.

Mr Ahmed told the Sun he had been targeted by racists in the past; the incident in October was the second time he had been the victim of an apparent hate crime in five years.

But he said in recent months he had experienced more racism and seen an increase in similar assaults.
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Englands oldest hotel has started to collapse as a fire raged on into its second day.

Firefighters worked to control the blaze at Exeter's Royal Clarence Hotel which started at 5am on Friday after a gas main ruptured.

The buildings facade, which dates back to 1769, is now crumbling away, with structural engineers expecting further collapse.

Police believed the blaze was close to being extinguished and the structure of the building was expected to be assessed with the use of drones, according to the BBC.

The fire broke out in buildings on Cathedral Green and quickly spread to the hotel, causing its guests and surrounding properties to be evacuated.

Louisa Peckover, area manager for neighbouring restaurant Cote Brasserie, said she was in the dark as to when businesses would reopen.

The fire started on Friday morning and we couldn't even get access into the building as they needed to make it safe, so until further notice, were in the dark about whats happening, she told The Independent.

Its obviously absolutely heartbreaking for all involved.

The gas supply was cut to the area after the fire broke out and water to fight the fire was originally siphoned from the mains until it ran dry.

Firefighters have since been using water from the River Exe hundreds of metres away to help extinguish the blaze.

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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 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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 hotel is always something that a lot of our customers ask us about, its an absolutely beautiful hotel, such a massive loss to the community, Charlotte, a team leader at the nearby Georges Meeting House pub, told The Independent.

The community has really joined together and were supporting the firefighters as best we can.

We've got coffee going for anyone who needs it and weve told people to pop in if they need anything from us.

Andrew Brownsword, the hotel's owner, praised staff for working tirelessly to help guests get to safety.

The Royal Clarence Hotel has long been a special place for my family and I and it is with great sadness that we witnessed yesterdays events as they unfolded, he wrote in a statement on the hotel's website.

We would like to thank all of our team who have worked tirelessly to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our guests along with the outstanding efforts of the emergency services. Our thoughts are with all those affected in Exeter.

The Royal Clarence Hotel became the first establishment in England to use hotel in its name in 1827, according to Exeter historian Dr Todd Gray.
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Hospitals are forcing surrogates to hand over newborn babies to parents in car parks for fear they may fall foul of "dire" and "outdated" surrogacy laws that are failing families, The Independent can reveal.

Surrogates, parents and lawyers say such handovers are demeaning and leave families feeling distraught, humiliated and let down by an ongoing failure to properly legislate for surrogacy. They say hospitals are insisting the emotional moment of receiving the baby happens in the bleak environment of the car park because hospital staff fear they could be implicated in legal disputes if the exchange happens on NHS premises.

We felt like we were stealing a baby, one mother told The Independent. It put a huge strain on everything.

Advocates say confusion over surrogacy legislation is growing as the number of babies born this way rises, due to improvements in fertility technology and lowering stigma about non-traditional families. Some 214 surrogate babies were registered with the courts in 2014-15, up from 138 in 2011-12.

Surrogate births are governed by the 1985 Surrogacy Arrangements Act, which bans commercial payments and requires a six-week period immediately after a baby is born before parties can apply to the courts for a formal transfer of parental rights. Campaigners and lawyers argue such rules are now outdated. The Government has indicated reforms to surrogacy law could be introduced by 2020.

But although the Department of Health told The Independent hospitals are wrong to insist families leave the NHS premises for legitimate handovers, lawyers insist such practices are common. One woman, who asked not to be named, said she was upset by the way she was forced to take custody of her newborn.

Describing her experience, she said: [Hospital staff] took us off the premises. They got the surrogates husband to come and escort us out. He physically carried the baby out of the hospital and handed us the baby in the car park. It seems hospitals dont want to take any responsibility in case a legal dispute occurs and it has happened on their territory so theyre liable.

She explained: We felt like we were stealing a baby. It put a huge strain on everything. Theres an overwhelming sense youve done something wrong by having a child through surrogacy. Were good law-abiding people and we were treated like wed done something wrong. I felt incredibly vulnerable.

Natalie Gamble, a lawyer who specialises in legal issues surrounding surrogacy, said she had been involved in many similar cases.

She said: This is relatively common, since hospitals do not wish to be involved in the handover of a child who are not legal parents. Its just one example of how the lack of legal recognition of surrogacy in the UK makes those involved feel what they are doing is somehow illegitimate or murky.

Natalie Smith, trustee of the campaign group Surrogacy UK, said: Sadly, the handing of babies over in car parks is very common for surrogacy. It is demeaning for all involved and makes people feel as though they have done something wrong.

No new parents should have to start their journey being made to feel demeaned and ignored, especially at such a life-changing, joyful and vulnerable time. Many parents through surrogacy have gone through years of heartache to have their children and both surrogates and parents deserve to have a positive experience.

She added: We have also heard of cases where parents have been told that they are not allowed to be at the birth of their child, or to hold the baby when it is born. In other cases surrogates have been told that if they dont look after the child  which isnt theirs  when it is born the hospital will call social services. Clearly this is unacceptable and its in no ones interests that surrogates are treated this way.

Surrogacy is legal in the UK provided that the surrogate does not receive payment for the pregnancy, beyond reasonable expenses incurred during the pregnancy and the birth. Once a baby is born by a surrogate, the child is legally that of the birth mother and any spouse they have until a parental order is obtained from a court which transfers parental rights to the intended parents. This can take several months for courts to consider and approve, meaning surrogates can remain the legal parents for a considerable time period against their wishes.

This can have other consequences. One woman who gave birth to a baby as a surrogate for a couple in her extended family this summer told The Independent that the delay in transferring parental rights had caused her considerable distress. She gave birth to twins who have had serious health complications requiring urgent medical treatment and a stay in neonatal intensive care. As she is the legal parent, she has to approve all procedures for the babies as only she can give medical consent.

She said this can leave new intended parents feeling helpless and undermined as their connection to the babies is not acknowledged. She said: The law is a complete headache. Since the birth Ive had to give consent for every procedure. Every day or every other day for months was another phone call. I had to give consent for four or five operations, feeding tubes being put in or lines.

I even had to give consent forms for the couple to see the twins without me being there, for the twins grandparents to see them. They know theyre the babies parents and they are them, but theyre not being recognised at the moment.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 31 October 2022 GBs James Hall competes during the mens parallel bars qualification at the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 October 2022 People dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, Dorset PA UK news in pictures 29 October 2022 Members of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a Just Stop Oil protest, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA 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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. 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Ms Smith said: Surrogacy law needs to be urgently reviewed and reformed. Even one child or family let down by the current law is too many, but sadly more and more people will be affected whilst we wait for reform to happen.

According to data, the average year on year growth rate in parental order applications is 35 per cent. A quick review of the current legislation and a rapid response from the Law Commission and the Government is vital.

Labour politician and former MP for Bolton West Julie Hilling, who has spoken in Parliament on surrogacy issues, told The Independent it was ridiculous that some surrogate parents had to resort to car park handovers.

It makes surrogacy into something like a dirty secret, when actually its a very positive choice for would-be parents, and for the woman who is prepared to carry a child, she said.

Clearly its something we need to update our laws [on]. More people are considering surrogacy, so clearly we have to do something to ensure ridiculous things like that dont happen."

A spokesperson for the Department of Health said: Altruistic surrogacy is perfectly legal so it is unacceptable that some families feel they are being forced off NHS premises after the birth of children.

We are working with surrogacy groups to develop guidelines both for those entering into surrogacy arrangements and also for care professionals. The Law Commission is also looking at the issue of surrogacy as part of its work programme from 2017.
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David Cameron's general election pledge to ban any increases of income tax until 2020 was concieved on the hoof, according to one of his advisers.

Ameet Gill, who was responsible for event planning at No 10, described the five-year tax lock as probably the dumbest economic policy possible.

He said it was introduced because they needed a policy to announce to fill a gap in the campaign schedule, known as the grid.

Mr Gill told Radio 4s Week in Westminster programme: Towards the end of the general election campaign in 2015, we did the five-year tax lock. Its when we committed to put in legislation that we would not increase taxes.

It was probably the dumbest economic policy that anyone could make, but we kind of cooked it up on the hoof a couple of days before, because we had a hole in the grid and we needed to fill it.

He added: Sometimes when a vacuum is there, it makes the Government do some stupid things.

When I was in Government, we made some announcements on the hoof just to fill that vacuum."

 David Cameron: Key moments

After the election, the tax lock was passed into law and can only be overturned by a vote of Parliament. The lock also covers VAT and national insurance.

Mr Cameron stepped down as Prime Minister on 13 July and as MP for Witney in Gloucestershire on 12 September.

The Conservatives retained the seat in the by-election on 20 October with Robert Courts succeeding the former Tory leader.
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UK manufacturing has declined to such an extent that it is now neck and neck in employment figures with bar, hotel and restaurant jobs.

Despite news of Nissans continuing investment in Sunderland, by the end of 2016 hospitality may provide more jobs than manufacturing, according to an analysis of figures from the Office of National Statistics by the Fabian Society.

The UK manufacturing sector has been in decline for several decades, falling to four million jobs by 2000.

But from 2000 to 2015 this fell to just 2.5 million. In the same period the hospitality sector rose by 22 per cent, from 1.8 million to 2.2 million, meaning both sectors, by the end of last year, provided around 7 per cent of the total employment.

By the time figures for 2016 are available, they could show that Britains manufacturing base has been overtaken by what is traditionally the lowest paid, most insecure sector.

According to Cameron Tait, who is head of the Changing Work Centre at the Fabian Society: In 2011 George Osborne, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, called for a new march of the makers and a revival of British manufacturing.

"However, this turnaround did not materialise and manufacturing jobs continued to decline. Instead, we have seen a rise of high skilled jobs in sectors like professional services and in low-skilled jobs in sectors like hospitality."

He added: This crossover runs to the core of Britains job quality problem and represents a key milestone in the lovely and lousy jobs trend.

"Manufacturing jobs once offered progression, security and a decent wage. Bar, waiting and hotel jobs, however, tend to be low paid and employees are less likely to have job security or control over their shift patterns.

"It is therefore easy to understand why George Osborne wanted to trigger a march of the makers. However, the jobs data shows it is the waiters, rather than the makers, who are on the march in modern Britain.
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John McDonnell, the shadow Chancellor, has demanded the Government extend assurances provided to Nissan to the entire manufacturing sector.

It comes amid mounting speculation the Government gave a compensation deal to the company as the executive of the Japanese car giant met Theresa May earlier this week in Downing Street. On Thursday business minister Greg Clark refused six times to say what post-Brexit financial help Nissan has been promised to build its new cars at its flagship Sunderland plant.

Two former business ministers, who have negotiated with the company previously, have said they believe Nissan must have been told Britain would remain a part of the EU customs union or offered some sort of mitigation to announce it would continue to invest.

Downing Street, however, insists that Nissan has not been offered any form of compensation package and that ministers had simply assured the company of the Governments determination to secure the best deal possible after Brexit.

Mr McDonnell said he welcomed the decision by Nissan to back the hard work and dedication of the workforce at the Sunderland plant. But there are other plants in the car industry whose workers will be holding their breath hoping that their jobs are also safe following the Tories shambolic handling of Brexit.

The shadow Chancellor added: The trade unions are right to demand clarity from government. It is unforgivable that the Tories can clearly act to safeguard jobs in our manufacturing industries, as proven by their deal with Nissan, but are refusing to do so. This is something which is deeply concerning many thousands of dedicated workers as we approach the Christmas period.

What experts have said about Brexit Show all 11 1 /11 What experts have said about Brexit What experts have said about Brexit Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond The Chancellor claims London can still be a world financial hub despite Brexit One of Britains great strengths is the ability to offer and aggregate all of the services the global financial services industry needs This has not changed as a result of the EU referendum and I will do everything I can to ensure the City of London retains its position as the worlds leading international financial centre. Reuters What experts have said about Brexit Yanis Varoufakis Greece's former finance minister compared the UK relations with the EU bloc with a well-known song by the Eagles: You can check out any time you like, as the Hotel California song says, but you can't really leave. The proof is Theresa May has not even dared to trigger Article 50. It's like Harrison Ford going into Indiana Jones' castle and the path behind him fragmenting. You can get in, but getting out is not at all clear Getty Images What experts have said about Brexit Michael OLeary Ryanair boss says UK will be screwed by EU in Brexit trade deals: I have no faith in the politicians in London going on about how the world will want to trade with us. The world will want to screw you  that's what happens in trade talks, he said. They have no interest in giving the UK a deal on trade Getty What experts have said about Brexit Tim Martin JD Wetherspoon's chairman has said claims that the UK would see serious economic consequences from a Brexit vote were "lurid" and wrong: We were told it would be Armageddon from the OECD, from the IMF, David Cameron, the chancellor and President Obama who were predicting locusts in the fields and tidal waves in the North Sea" PA What experts have said about Brexit Mark Carney Governor of Bank of England is 'serene' about Bank of England's Brexit stance: I am absolutely serene about the  judgments made both by the MPC and the FPC Reuters What experts have said about Brexit Christine Lagarde IMF chief urges quick Brexit to reduce economic uncertainty: We want to see clarity sooner rather than later because we think that a lack of clarity feeds uncertainty, which itself undermines investment appetites and decision making Getty Images What experts have said about Brexit Inga Beale Lloyds chief executive says Brexit is a major issue: "Clearly the UK's referendum on its EU membership is a major issue for us to deal with and we are now focusing our attention on having in place the plans that will ensure Lloyd's continues trading across Europe EPA What experts have said about Brexit Colm Kelleher President of US bank Morgan Stanley says City of London will suffer as result of the EU referendum: I do believe, and I said prior to the referendum, that the City of London will suffer as result of Brexit. The issue is how much What experts have said about Brexit Richard Branson Virgin founder believes we've lost a THIRD of our value because of Brexit and cancelled a deal worth 3,000 jobs: We're not any worse than anybody else, but I suspect we've lost a third of our value which is dreadful for people in the workplace.' He continued: "We were about to do a very big deal, we cancelled that deal, that would have involved 3,000 jobs, and thats happening all over the country" Getty Images What experts have said about Brexit Barack Obama US President believes Britain was wrong to vote to leave the EU: "It is absolutely true that I believed pre-Brexit vote and continue to believe post-Brexit vote that the world benefited enormously from the United Kingdom's participation in the EU. We are fully supportive of a process that is as little disruptive as possible so that people around the world can continue to benefit from economic growth" Getty Images What experts have said about Brexit Kristin Forbes American economist and an external member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England argues that the economy had been less stormy than many expected following the shock referendum result: For nowthe economy is experiencing some chop, but no tsunami. The adverse winds could quickly pick up  and merit a stronger policy response. But recently they have shifted to a more favourable direction Getty

That is why it is vital we get clarity from the government as to what reassurances they have given Nissan, and how they can extend them to the rest of the industry and manufacturers across the country.

We cannot have a situation where the government are simply going factory-by-factory, we need the same assurances given to the sector and manufacturing as a whole to safeguard jobs and the local communities who are being left stranded by this government."

His call came in response to Unite the trade union announcing it would pressing Ms May to ensure that whatever assurance had been given to Nissan would apply across the manufacturing sector.

Our members at car and other manufacturing plants across the country rightly are looking for the same job security that appears to have been secured at Nissan through government intervention and investment guarantees, said Unite assistant general secretary Tony Burke.

He added: We need similar arrangement across the manufacturing sector to protect workers and secure these crucial high skill, decently paid jobs.

Labour shadow Business Secretary Clive Lewis said the public  and the many other businesses and employees facing turbulent times ahead  have the right to know what Nissan was offered to stay in the UK. Secret backroom deals are unfair, unsustainable, and are no way to run an economy.

Ministers were elated after Nissan announced it would build its next-generation Qashqai in Sunderland, as well as add production of the new X-Trail SUV model. Ms May also hailed it as fantastic news, adding: This vote of confidence shows Britain is open for business and that we remain an outward-looking, world-leading nation.
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Theresa May has been urged to remember her earlier words after a paper resurfaced showing the Prime Ministers previous enthusiasm for MPs having a right to veto European talks.

Since becoming Prime Minister, Ms May has repeatedly refused to give MPs a vote in the Commons or set out Britains negotiating strategy with Brussels  despite calls from the major political parties and the new Commons Brexit select committee.

But in 2007 Ms May, then the shadow leader of the Commons, claimed that ministers should have to set out their negotiating positions to a Commons committee and gain its approval before talks with the EU.

Speaking about European legislation and restoring Parliamentary sovereignty, Ms May added: Our feeble system of scrutiny undermines Parliaments ability to check or restrain the Governments actions in Europe.

In our constitution, Parliament is supposed to be sovereign, but this weakness means that in practice it is not. We therefore need a system that gives Parliament real powers over ministers, enough time to scrutinise new EU laws, and the transparency to restore public trust in the process.

Writing in a pamphlet for the right-wing think tank Politeia with her special adviser Nick Timothy, it was also argued that ministers failing to comply would have to resign. Though the pamphlet was regarding EU laws and British scrutiny, it appears Ms May views parliamentary sovereignty in a different light when it comes to Brexit.

Nicky Morgan, the former Education Secretary, told The Independent that Ms May was spot on in 2007 to argue Parliament should be heavily involved in the UKs negotiations with Europe. In 2016 MPs arent asking for a veto but they do want a say and we hope the Prime Minister will remember her earlier words, she added.

Former business minister Anna Soubry said she welcomed the fact that obviously the Prime Minister recognised the importance of Parliament. She told the Times newspaper: Ministers cant go off and negotiate with the EU without some form of scrutiny, guidance and approval from Parliament.

Nick Clegg, the former deputy Prime Minister who speaks for the Liberal Democrats on Brexit, added: I agree entirely with what Theresa May wrote in 2007, that it should be impossible to over-ride parliament and that ministers should have to set out their negotiating positions. What a pity she appears to have changed her mind.

This follows revelations that she had warned prior to the referendum that withdrawing from the single market would be devastating for the British economy and her flip flopping on Hinkley and Heathrow.

If she's not careful, Theresa May will develop a reputation as a flip flop PM - with no mandate of her own and no policies which she's prepared to stand by.

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

Downing Street sources said Ms May had written the article about proposals covering the way ministers negotiated specific aspects of policy while the UK was a member of the EU.

They were about providing a check against giving away more sovereignty, they added.

We are now talking about negotiating an entirely new relationship with the EU, based on the mandate given to us in the referendum."

 Corbyn makes joke about Prime Minister's Brexit phrase

Earlier this week Hilary Benn, the new chairman of the Commons Brexit committee, said MPs should be able to tell ministers to change this or do that before a decision triggering Article 50  the untested protocol for a member state leaving the EU.

He said: Its not a vote on Article 50  I think Parliament would seek to have a vote on the negotiating plan, because they are two different things.
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More people died from violent crime in Brazil than in the Syrian conflict in 2015, a Brazilian monitor has claimed.

There were 58,383 violent deaths in Brazil that year, according a report by the Brazilian Forum for Public Security, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented 55,219 deaths in the conflict-ridden country.

However, Syria is a much smaller nation with a pre-war population of 22 million  now believed to be around 16 million  while Brazil is home to 200 million people.

Recommended Read more Brazil prison violence leaves at least 18 inmates dead

The report demonstrated the grim extent of violence in the Latin American country. The Forums numbers did not just include murders but also other violent deaths, such as people who died at the hands of the police.

Despite having fallen since 2014, the Brazilian murder rate in 2015 reached 28.6 per 100,000 people, according to the report, much higher than the 10 per 100,000 rate that the United Nations considers the threshold for chronic violence.

Economic pressures have seen crime increase in many of Brazils cities, which was highlighted during the Olympics Games in Rio de Janiero.

The worst affected areas were the impoverished, north eastern states of Sergipe, Alagoas and Rio Grande do Norte. Sergipe saw 57 murders per 100,000 people.

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. 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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

Police brutality was also highlighted by the report, which said 3,345 people  an average of nine every day  were killed by police in 2015. Nearly 400 police officers died, although only a third were on duty at the time of their death.

While Brazilian police work in dangerous conditions and have suffered budget cuts, it is widely accepted that corruption remains endemic in the countrys law enforcement institutions.

The Forum's executive director, Samira Bueno, told the newspaper O Estado that the rise in the number of people killed by police "shows us that the Brazilian government encourages the excessive use of lethal force".

"Police kill a lot, as if they have been given the right to decide who dies and who lives," she said.

Renato Sergio de Lima, chief executive of the Forum, told journalists: As the world is discussing how to avoid the tragedy that has taken place in Aleppo, in Damascus and several other cities, in Brazil we pretend that the problem does not exist.

We think that it is a minor problem. We persistently show that we do not take security as a national priority.
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Thankfully, the tweet from Chicago Fire Department was unnecessarily alarmist: EMERGENCY AIRCRAFT DOWN AT OHARE.

The Twitter statement from the Federal Aviation Administration was more measured: Flight 383, B767, ORD>MIA, blew a tire at 2:35PM CT & aborted take off. Passengers deplaned. FAA Investigating.

American Airlines initially simply called the problem with the flight from Chicago OHare to Miami a mechanical issue.

But by then images of fire burning furiously on the right wing of a Boeing 767 were circulating widely  with the smoke plume even registering on local weather radar.

One contributor to a pilots forum reported: The right wing is toast, outboard half of it melted to the ground.

Passenger Sarah Ahmed told WLS-TV the plane was speeding down the runway when she heard an explosion and saw flames and black smoke. She said everyone on the right side of the aircraft jumped from their seats and moved to the left side.

People are yelling, 'Open the door! Open the door!' Everyone's screaming and jumping on top of each other to open the door, Ms Ahmed said. Within that time, I think it was seven seconds, there was now smoke in the plane and the fire is right up against the windows, and it's melting the windows.

As with the Emirates emergency in Dubai in August, and the British Airways fire on the runway at Las Vegas last year, the evacuation of American Airlines flight 383 was a textbook success. All 161 passengers and nine crew members aboard the Miami-bound 767 successfully escaped the burning plane  though as typically happens in an emergency evacuation, a number of people were taken to hospital with minor injuries sustained on the slides.

American Airlines later said: All passengers onboard flight 383 have been bused back to the terminal. Seven passengers and one flight attendant reported minor injuries and were transported to the hospital to be evaluated. We are taking care of our customers and crew and are re-accommodating our passengers on another flight to Miami this evening.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has sent three investigators to the airport for what it called a tire blowout.

The Boeing 767 has been in service since 1982, and has an excellent safety record. But airsafe.com reports an event on the runway at Fort Lauderdale in Florida almost a year ago involving a 767 belonging to Dynamic International Airways. Before the plane took off to the Venezuelan capital, Caracas: A fire broke out in the area of the left engine prior to takeoff. There were over a dozen injuries among 90 passengers and 11 crew members.
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A Florida police officer has given himself a citation for driving through a red light.

Tim Glover, of the Haines City Police Department, whose job is to review red light camera footage, was surprised to see his own car.

He didn't remember the incident until he saw the infraction on his computer two weeks later.

While on his way to buying a sandwich for lunch, Mr Glover made a left turn in his patrol car when the lights changed to red.

He told WTSP: "Realized that the vehicle did look familiar, and I was hoping it wasn't mine, but I walked out and confirmed it was mine out here in the parking lot.

"I've always been taught that, if you've done something wrong, to take responsibility for what you've done and accept your punishment."

 Man survives car crash after flipping through Florida car park

Mr Glover added: "In this part, it was paying the fine and getting my letter of reprimand.

"It was a good sandwich, but it probably wasn't worth the 160-plus dollars I ended up paying for it."

While he was reprimanded, his commander, Acting Police Chief Jay Hopwood, praised Mr Glover's honesty.

Chief Hopwood said: "Thats what makes wearing the badge so important. If you dont have that, then your name is mud in law enforcement."
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Hillary Clintons campaign has called for the FBI director to provide more details on why the agency might be considering reopening its investigation into Ms Clinton's emails.

Campaign chair John Podesta released a statement several hours after the news broke that the FBIs investigation into disgraced congressman Anthony Wieners alleged involvement with a 15-year-old girl led to the discovery of emails on a government computer relating to Ms Clinton. The emails, the FBI said, pertained to the now-closed investigation into Ms Clinton's alleged misuse of her personal email server.

Ms Clinton did not address the matter directly herself when she spoke at a rally in Iowa immediately after the news broke.

Mr Comey did not say what the emails contained or how long the investigation would take, 11 days before the presidential election.

"FBI Director Comey should immediately provide the American public more information than is contained in the letter he sent to eight Republican committee chairmen," wrote Mr Podesta.

"Already, we have seen characterizations that the FBI is 'reopening' an investigation but Comey's words do not match that characterization.

"Director Comey's letter refers to emails that have come to light in an unrelated case, but we have no idea what those emails are and the Director himself notes they may not even be significant.

"It is extraordinary that we would see something like this just 11 days out from a presidential election.

"The Director owes it to the American people to immediately provide the full details of what he is now examining. We are confident this will not produce any conclusions different from the one the FBI reached in July."

In July Mr Comey said that "no reasonable prosecutor" would bring charges against Ms Clinton, even though she had shown "extreme carelessness" when it came to sending and receiving government emails on her personal server.

Mr Comeys new statement on Friday said he was not sure whether the new emails would be significant.
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As if the alleged sexual misdeeds of her own other half werent scandal enough, Hillary Clintons presidential campaign now faces an eleventh-hour crisis thanks to the estranged husband of her closest aide.

Recommended Read more Anthony Weiner sexting scandal led the FBI to reopen Clinton probe

Disgraced former New York congressman Anthony Weiner split from his wife, Clinton confidante Huma Abedin, in April. Now, however, he stands accused of sexting an underage girl  and the investigation has opened a new chapter in the long-running Clinton email saga.

FBI director James Comey revealed on Friday that the agency was reviewing a fresh batch of Clinton emails that appear to be pertinent to its probe of the former Secretary of States use of a private email server.

Those emails, Comey wrote, were uncovered in connection with an unrelated case. According to the New York Times, the case in question is the sexting case, which could land Weiner in the clink for up to 30 years if he is found guilty of sexual exploitation of children.

Weiners unsavoury online habits first became public knowledge in 2011, after he mistakenly tweeted a photograph of his bulging underwear, which he had intended to send to a 21-year-old college student. At the time, Abedin was five months pregnant.

He resigned from Congress, but decided to run for the New York mayoralty in 2013, only for his campaign to be derailed by revelations that he had continued to send lewd messages to strangers  under the pseudonym Carlos Danger  after the original controversy.

The couple separated this spring after the New York Post published a selfie sent by Weiner to another sexting partner, which displayed his semi-erect penis (albeit, once again, obscured by cloth) as he lay in bed beside their sleeping five-year-old son.

The scandal took on an even darker hue last month, when the Daily Mail published an interview with a 15-year-old girl who claimed Weiner, now 52, had sent her explicit messages for months, including shirtless selfies, rape fantasies and requests that she undress for him on Skype.

The FBI reportedly seized a laptop belonging to Weiner and Abedin in relation to the allegations, which appears to be how they came across the new collection of Clinton-related emails. Abedin, who first worked for Clinton as an intern in 1996, is now the vice chair of her presidential campaign.

Clinton and Abedin are famously inseparable. A February 2016 Vanity Fair profile of Abedin, who is 40, suggested that over the years, Abedin and Hillary have spent more time together than either has with her husband.

Weiner and Abedin at a press conference after news of his second sexting scandal broke in 2013 (AP)

Politico recently described Abedin as Clintons external hard drive, explaining: When it comes to Clintons complicated web of relationships with donors, elected officials, union members and longtime supporters, Abedin is where all of that information is stored.

She has even been talked about as a prospective chief of staff in a Clinton White House. Bill Clinton presided at her wedding to Weiner in 2010, with Hillary reportedly saying in a wedding toast: I have one daughter. But if I had a second daughter, it would [be] Huma.

Born in Michigan in 1976, Abedin spent her childhood in Saudi Arabia, where her Pakistani mother and Indian father were academics. She returned to the US at 18 to study at George Washington University in Washington DC and began her White House internship a year later.

The relationship between Abedin and the former First Lady is a subject of fascination and suspicion for Republicans and the right-wing Internet. In 2012, GOP Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann suggested she might be a sleeper for the Muslim Brotherhood.

The laughable accusation was based in large part on the fact that Abedins late father had founded the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, an academic periodical about the Muslim diaspora, which her mother later edited and where Abedin worked part-time for several years.

Of all people, it was Republican Senator John McCain who rebutted Bachmanns claims on the Senate floor, calling them unwarranted and unfounded, and describing Abedin as an intelligent, upstanding, hard-working, and loyal servant of our country and our government.

Even before news broke of the new Clinton email probe, GOP nominee Donald Trump and his allies were including Abedin and Weiner in their conspiracy theories. In August, Roger Stone, a sometime Trump adviser, referred to Abedin as a Saudi asset.

Trump, meanwhile, has previously tried to link Clinton to Weiners scandals, claiming in August that Clinton had been careless and negligent in allowing Weiner to have such close proximity to highly classified information It's just another example of Hillary Clinton's bad judgment."
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An Iowa woman charged with voter fraud has admitted to casting two ballots in the US presidential election, because she feared her vote for Republican nominee Donald Trump would be changed instead to a vote for Hillary Clinton.

Terri Lynn Rote, a 55-year-old registered Republican, was arrested by Des Moines police on Thursday after she reportedly cast an early ballot at the Polk County Election Office, and then voted again at a second location in Des Moines.

Her decision to vote a second time came on the spur of the moment as she happened to walk past a satellite voting location in the Iowa state capital, Rote told the Washington Post, adding: I dont know what came over me.

In an interview with Iowa Public Radio, she expressed concern that her original vote might be turned into a vote for the Democrat. Echoing a claim made repeatedly by Mr Trump on the campaign trail, she insisted: The polls are rigged.

 Trump effectively rejects US election result before votes have even been counted

Ms Rote, an enthusiastic Trump supporter, caucused on behalf of the property developer during the Iowa primary in February. Her Facebook page contains posts describing Ms Clinton as Satan, as well as derogatory comments about black people and Muslims.

The Des Moines Register reported that Rote had been charged with first-degree election misconduct and released on Friday after posting a $5,000 bond. Her hearing is scheduled for 7 November, the day before election day.

Early voting began in Polk County, Iowas most populous county, on 29 September. The Polk County Auditors Office is also investigating two other cases of potential voter fraud, in which the suspects allegedly submitted postal ballots and then voted again in person.

No arrests have yet been made in those other cases, according to police records. Polk County Auditor Jamie Fitzgerald told the Register that it was the first time in his 12 years in the role that he remembered having to report possible voter fraud.

Ms Clinton and Mr Trump are locked in a tight race in Iowa, which in past elections has proved to be a key swing state. Mr Trump has claimed the election is rigged against him, though there is no evidence of any widespread voter fraud in any recent US election.
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FBI director James Comey reportedly ignored the advice of Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who urged him not to thrust the controversy over Hillary Clintons emails back into headlines less than a fortnight from election day.

US Department of Justice officials, Democrats and even some Republicans were said to be aghast at the timing of the FBIs announcement, on Friday, that it was reviewing a fresh cache of emails, which Mr Comey said may be pertinent to the investigation into Ms Clintons use of a private email server during her tenure as Secretary of State.

According to a report from the New Yorker, Ms Lynch expressed her preference that Mr Comey uphold the Justice Department's longstanding practice of not commenting on ongoing investigations, and not taking any action that could influence the outcome of an election. The FBI director, however, said that he felt compelled to do otherwise.

Writing in the Washington Post, former Justice Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Mr Comeys decision was a troubling violation of long-standing Justice Department rules or precedent, conduct that raises serious questions about his judgment and ability to serve as the nations chief investigative official.

The emails were discovered in connection with an unrelated case, the FBI director wrote in a letter to Republican congressional committee chairs on Friday. That separate case, it later emerged, concerns disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner, who is under investigation for allegedly sending explicit messages to a 15-year-old girl in North Carolina.

Mr Weiner is the estranged husband of Ms Clintons closest aide, Huma Abedin, and the emails were found on one or more electronic devices belonging to the couple, which had been seized as part of the Weiner probe. The FBI is now investigating whether those emails contained any classified information.

The revelations came as Ms Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, was enjoying a comfortable poll lead over her Republican rival Donald Trump just 11 days before the election. The review is unlikely to be completed by election day, leaving an unwelcome cloud hanging over the remainder of the campaign.

The US stock market fell sharply upon the release of Mr Comeys letter, while Mr Trump and other Republicans seized on the news as a potential game-changer. Yet one law enforcement official told the Los Angeles Times that the emails found were not to or from Clinton, and contained information that appeared to be more of what agents had already uncovered.

The FBI felt the need to review them only out of an abundance of caution, the official said.

The decision to make the review public was met with outrage by Democrats including California Senator Dianne Feinstein, who said in a statement that the FBI had a history of extreme caution near election day so as not to influence the results, and added: Todays break from that tradition is appalling.

Clinton campaign chair John Podesta said the timing of the letter was extraordinary, and blamed Mr Trump and Republicans for baselessly second-guessing the FBI and, in both public and private, browbeating the career officials there  in a desperate attempt to harm Hillary Clintons presidential campaign.

Some Republicans were also shocked by Mr Comeys decision. Texas Senator John Cornyn, ostensibly a Trump supporter, asked in a tweet: Why is FBI doing this just 11 days before the election?

Even Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch, the conservative group that originally filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits for access to Ms Clintons emails, told the New York Times that the episode was as bad for Comey as it is for Hillary.

Mr Comey, a Republican appointed by President Obama, wrote in an email to FBI employees on Friday that he had felt an obligation to inform Congress of the new developments, given that I testified repeatedly in recent months that our investigation was completed.

He acknowledged that the agency would not ordinarily tell Congress about ongoing investigations, but suggested that in this case it would be misleading to the American people were we not to supplement the record.

Speaking in July, when the FBI appeared to have completed its investigation into Ms Clintons emails, Mr Comey told reporters that her handling of sensitive materials on a private server had been extremely careless, but that no reasonable prosecutor would have pursued criminal charges against her or her staff.

The latest revelations came as a shock to Ms Clinton, who was flying to a rally in Iowa when the news broke on Friday, apparently without a working WiFi connection on board the candidates plane. Speaking in Des Moines later, the Democratic nominee said neither she nor her campaign had been contacted by the FBI beforehand.

 Hillary Clinton responds to email probe: We need the facts

American voters deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately, Ms Clinton said, adding that she was confident the new emails would not alter the FBIs original findings. Its imperative that the bureau explain this issue in question, whatever it is, without any delay, she said.

With the deeply polarised presidential race so near its conclusion, and Ms Clinton polling well ahead of Mr Trump, it seemed unlikely that the controversy, at least in its current form, would do more than close the gap between the two candidates. But Democrats were concerned that it could damage the partys chances of picking up sufficient seats to reclaim the Senate.

Mr Trump, meanwhile, appeared gleeful as he took the stage in Iowa shortly after Mr Comeys letter became public. Never one for understatement, the property developer described Ms Clintons emails as the biggest political scandal since Watergate and insisted: The FBI would never have reopened this case at this time unless it were a most egregious criminal offence.
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Hillary Clinton broke her silence after the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced its reopening of a probe into her use of email while serving as Secretary of State  stoking the flames of the ongoing scandal that has plagued her campaign.

The Democratic presidential candidate made her statement following a day of speculation caused by FBI director's letter to congression Republicans. Mr Comey revealed that investigators discovered emails pertinent to the prior probe into Ms Clinton's private email servers  for which the FBI found evidence of no criminal wrongdoing in July.

The former Secretary of State said it is "imperative" that investigators release all information about the new emails, following Mr Comey's Friday announcement.

"We are 11 days out from perhaps the most important national election of our lifetimes. Voting is already underway in our country," she said. "So, the American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately."

She emphasised that Mr Comey did not know the significance of the particular emails referenced in his letter, and expressed her confidence that the decision to not pursue criminal charges in July would remain unchanged.

"Therefore, it's imperative that the Bureau explain this issue in question  whatever it is  without any delay."

FBI officials found the emails while investigating electronic devices that belonged to longtime aide Huma Abedin and her now-estranged husband, former congressman Anthony Weiner  who is the focus of an investigation for allegedly sending sexts to a minor.

US election 2016: the race for the White House in pictures Show all 12 1 /12 US election 2016: the race for the White House in pictures US election 2016: the race for the White House in pictures Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump shakes hands with Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at the conclusion of their first presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York Reuters US election 2016: the race for the White House in pictures President Barack Obama embraces Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton on stage at the party's convention in Philadelphia US election 2016: the race for the White House in pictures Donald Trump's wife Melania delivered a speech at the GOP convention in Cleveland that was later found to have been cribbed in part from Michelle Obama's 2008 convention address AP US election 2016: the race for the White House in pictures Hillary Clinton talks to reporters aboard her new campaign plane on Labour Day, 5 September, her first 'press conference' since 2015 (Getty Images) US election 2016: the race for the White House in pictures Donald Trump held a joint press conference with Mexican leader Enrique Pena Nieto in Mexico City in August, hours before reiterating his harsh immigration plans at a campaign rally in Arizona Reuters US election 2016: the race for the White House in pictures Bernie Sanders officially endorsed Hillary Clinton, saying his progressive vision for a transformed America would be best served by the defeat of Donald Trump Reuters US election 2016: the race for the White House in pictures Khizr and Gazala Khan appeared at the DNC to slam Trump for his stance on Muslim immigration, citing the case of their son Humayun Khan, who was killed in combat while serving as a Captain in the US Army in Iraq US election 2016: the race for the White House in pictures Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson is doing better in polls than any third party candidate since Ross Perot, 20 years ago Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty US election 2016: the race for the White House in pictures Green Party candidate Jill Stein (centre) marches with supporters in Colorado AP US election 2016: the race for the White House in pictures Hillary Clinton and Virginia Senator Tim Kaine at a rally in Kaine's home state in July, days before Ms Clinton tapped him to be her running mate Getty US election 2016: the race for the White House in pictures Trump on the campaign trail with his vice presidential pick, Indiana governor Mike Pence AP US election 2016: the race for the White House in pictures Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage appears at a Trump rally in Mississippi in August, where he told the crowd that he 'wouldn't vote for Hillary Clinton if you paid me'.

When questioned about the investigation into Mr Weiner's case, Ms Clinton repeated her urge for the FBI to release more information.

"We've heard these rumours. We don't know what to believe, she said. "That is why it is incumbent on the FBI to tell us what they are talking about. Because right now your guess is as good mine, and I don't think that is good enough."

In his Friday statement, Mr Comey said: In connection with an unrelated case the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent, and I am writing to inform you that the investigative team briefed me on this yesterday and I agreed the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation.

He added: "The FBI cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be significant, and I cannot predict how long it will take us to complete this additional work."

Republican nominee Donald Trump quickly seized the opportunity to use this persistent scandal to his advantage.

While speaking at a campaign event in New Hampshire, Mr Trump said the news is "bigger than Watergate"  the scandal that led to President Richard Nixon's 1974 resignation.

"Hillary Clintons corruption is on a scale we have never seen before, Mr Trump said. We must not let her take her criminal scheme into the Oval Office.

I have great respect for the fact that the FBI and the DOJ are now willing to have the courage to right the horrible mistake that they made."

He continued: "This was a grave miscarriage of justice that the American people fully understand. It is everybodys hope that it is about to be corrected."

In July, Mr Comey said he would not seek prosecution against Ms Clinton after reading through more than 30,000 emails.

"Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case," he said. "In looking back at our investigations into mishandling or removal of classified information, we cannot find a case that would support bringing criminal charges on these facts."
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Francois Hollande has urged British authorities to play their part to settle 1,500 unaccompanied minors left in Calais.

The French President said the children, most of whom are living in shipping containers in the remains of the so-called Jungle camp, would be transferred very quickly elsewhere.

Mr Hollande said his country cannot tolerate conditions in makeshift camps like the Jungle, describing them as not worthy of France as officials stepped up efforts to finish demolishing the almost-deserted Calais migrant camp.

Recommended Read more Refugee children sleeping rough on site of destroyed Calais Jungle

There are 1,500 minors isolated in Calais. They will be transferred very quickly to other centres, he told reporters at a reception centre in Doue-la-Fontaine in west France.

The President said he had spoken to British Prime Minister Theresa May to ensure British officials would accompany these minors to these centres and would play their part in subsequently welcoming them to the United Kingdom.

Over a short period of time we will be able to evacuate the totality of what was called the camp of Calais, he said.

His comments come two days after Home Secretary Amber Rudd reminded French authorities of their duty to properly protect children, amid reports that youngsters were forced to sleep rough around the smouldering remains of the camp.

Calais refugee camp evacuation Show all 15 1 /15 Calais refugee camp evacuation Calais refugee camp evacuation Refugees run past a fire in the makeshift migrant camp known as 'the jungle' in Calais, October 2016 AP Calais refugee camp evacuation French authorities say the closure of the slum-like camp in Calais will last approximately a week in what they describe as a "humanitarian" operation, October 2016 AP Calais refugee camp evacuation A painted message saying 'Bye Jungle' on a tent in the camp in Calais, October 2016 Getty Calais refugee camp evacuation Refugees set rubbish bins alight as a protest in the makeshift camp 'the Jungle' in Calais, France, October 2016 EPA Calais refugee camp evacuation French riot police advance through tear gas and smoke from a fire to disperse refugees throwing stones and lighting fires at the Jungle migrant camp Getty Calais refugee camp evacuation French CRS riot police secure an area on the eve of the evacuation and transfer of refugees to reception centers in France Reuters Calais refugee camp evacuation Journalists run away from smoke during clashes near a makeshift refugee camp known as 'the jungle' in Calais AP Calais refugee camp evacuation French CRS riot police secure an area on the eve of the evacuation and transfer of refugees to reception centers in Franc Reuters Calais refugee camp evacuation Migrants queue for transportation by bus to reception centres across France, from the 'Jungle' refugee camp in Calais Getty Calais refugee camp evacuation Refugees line-up to register at a processing centre in the 'jungle' near Calais, northern France, as the mass exodus from the migrant camp begins PA wire Calais refugee camp evacuation Refugees 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 Calais refugee camp evacuation French far-right Front National (FN) party's member of parliament Marion Marechal-Le Pen (L) delivers a speech next to a banner reading "They arrive in Vaucluse, no migrants in our place" as she attends a rally against the hosting of refugees in La Tour d'Aigues Getty Images Calais refugee camp evacuation French police forces secure the area near the 'Jungle' refugee camp in Calais Getty Calais refugee camp evacuation Refugees leave messages on their tents in the Jungle migrant camp Getty Calais refugee camp evacuation Refugees carry their belongings and transfer to reception centers in France

Three huge diggers moved in to clear the debris of makeshift dwellings in the northern section of the camp which until Tuesday had been home to between 6,000 and 8,000 migrants.

Charity workers said they had been forced to spend every night since the demolition began ringing round shelters trying to find accommodation for children who the authorities had failed to house.

It was difficult to get children on to buses because they didnt have much faith in the system, said Dorothy Sang, a humanitarian adviser at Save the Children.

They didnt believe that their cases would be followed up if they were taken out of Calais.

A Home Office spokesperson said:[The Home Secretary] reaffirmed the UKs commitment to working with the French to make sure all minors eligible to come to the UK continue to be transferred as quickly as possible.

Any child either not eligible or not in the secure area of the camp should be cared for and safeguarded by the French authorities. We understand specialist facilities have been made available elsewhere in France to ensure this happens.
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Refugees, including children, are still sleeping on the site of the Calais Jungle camp, despite authorities reporting it had been completely cleared three days ago.

According to humanitarian organisations and volunteers, at least a dozen children were sleeping rough at the beginning of Friday night and three had still not been found shelter by morning. A group of at least 30 refugees reportedly spent the night in a burnt out and half-demolished church on the razed camp grounds.

Charity workers said they had been forced to spend every night since the demolition began ringing round shelters trying to find accommodation for children who the authorities had failed to house.

 Calais 'Jungle' exodus: Charity boss likens refugee treatment to Nazi persecution

On Thursday night, aid workers said some children slept in a makeshift school building in the dismantled camp, but on Friday the structure was destroyed by bulldozers.

The children were supposed to be taken to a reception centre in another part of the country but were reluctant to board a bus because of their deep distrust of the French authorities. The bus did not wait and left the children behind, with no alternative provision made for them.

"It was difficult to get children on to buses because they didnt have much faith in the system," said Dorothy Sang, a humanitarian adviser at Save the Children. "They didnt believe that their cases would be followed up if they were taken out of Calais."

Instead, Ms Sang said, most children wanted to go to a temporary container camp that has been erected within the city. Around 1,500 unaccompanied minors have been moved there since Monday and told their claims will be accessed before they are sent to reception centres elsewhere in France, or to other European countries, including the UK. But the container camp is full, the French authorities have said.

Access to the container site is being restricted, with most charities kept out entirely. But according to grassroots non-profit Help Refugees, authorities are relying on a group of aid organisations to distribute food to people inside the containers. The French government are not delivering supplies to refugees themselves, the organisation alleged, but will only allow aid groups minimal access to the site at certain times.

Calais refugee camp evacuation Show all 15 1 /15 Calais refugee camp evacuation Calais refugee camp evacuation Refugees run past a fire in the makeshift migrant camp known as 'the jungle' in Calais, October 2016 AP Calais refugee camp evacuation French authorities say the closure of the slum-like camp in Calais will last approximately a week in what they describe as a "humanitarian" operation, October 2016 AP Calais refugee camp evacuation A painted message saying 'Bye Jungle' on a tent in the camp in Calais, October 2016 Getty Calais refugee camp evacuation Refugees set rubbish bins alight as a protest in the makeshift camp 'the Jungle' in Calais, France, October 2016 EPA Calais refugee camp evacuation French riot police advance through tear gas and smoke from a fire to disperse refugees throwing stones and lighting fires at the Jungle migrant camp Getty Calais refugee camp evacuation French CRS riot police secure an area on the eve of the evacuation and transfer of refugees to reception centers in France Reuters Calais refugee camp evacuation Journalists run away from smoke during clashes near a makeshift refugee camp known as 'the jungle' in Calais AP Calais refugee camp evacuation French CRS riot police secure an area on the eve of the evacuation and transfer of refugees to reception centers in Franc Reuters Calais refugee camp evacuation Migrants queue for transportation by bus to reception centres across France, from the 'Jungle' refugee camp in Calais Getty Calais refugee camp evacuation Refugees line-up to register at a processing centre in the 'jungle' near Calais, northern France, as the mass exodus from the migrant camp begins PA wire Calais refugee camp evacuation Refugees 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 Calais refugee camp evacuation French far-right Front National (FN) party's member of parliament Marion Marechal-Le Pen (L) delivers a speech next to a banner reading "They arrive in Vaucluse, no migrants in our place" as she attends a rally against the hosting of refugees in La Tour d'Aigues Getty Images Calais refugee camp evacuation French police forces secure the area near the 'Jungle' refugee camp in Calais Getty Calais refugee camp evacuation Refugees leave messages on their tents in the Jungle migrant camp Getty Calais refugee camp evacuation Refugees carry their belongings and transfer to reception centers in France

Volunteers in Calais said they believed the children inside had not been provided with youth workers; the only adults working with them were thought to be security guards and police.

Meanwhile, charities are struggling to find accommodation for children who did not make it into the containers, and others who have arrived in the town in the last few days only to find the jungle gone and to be told the French authorities would not house them because they did not have space.

With nowhere else to go, many have returned to the dangerous ruins of the Jungle. Some children have even been directed there by French authorities.

"They were saying it was completely cleared by Wednesday, which was just not true," Ms Sang told The Independent. "There have been children sleeping rough pretty much every single night since.

She added: "Every single night weve had a situation where weve had to ring round children's shelters to see if there were spaces, and often only managed to get a handful of spaces".

Fires ravaged the camp on Thursday and Friday, scattering the refugees who remained.

"On Friday we managed to get everyone who had been there [in the Jungle] out, but some children had run away after the fire and been staying in other parts of Calais, they may have gone back," Ms Sang said.

"Unfortunately the authorities are taking no responsibility for the children since the demolition."

Volunteers report the Jungle has never been a safe place for children, who are particularly at risk of violence, including sexual assault. Now the emptiness makes it more dangerous than it has ever been before.

Migrants gather around a bonfire to warm up in the 'Jungle' migrant camp in Calais (Getty)

One long-term volunteer wrote in a post on Facebook: "As you may not want to know, there have been many children raped in the jungle, the jungle was a great community but also a hunting ground for paedophiles.

"Lone kids have been snatched from their shelters and raped, the danger during eviction multiplies exponentially as communities are dispersed and networks of mutual aid torn apart, together with the buildings that physically hosted them. Yet yesterday kids were told to go back and sleep in the burning Jungle."

Ms Sang said she had seen terrified, exhausted, ill, and injured teenagers forced to sleep alone in the ruined camp. Registering to enter the container area was difficult she said, with registration only possible for a short time.

"Let me tell you about another Afghan boy, aged 15, who started queuing at 4am, then fainted," she wrote in a blog post. "Or the Eritrean boy who attempted to register on four occasions, and whose shelter was broken into and all of his stuff stolen while he queued.

"This doesnt cover the many children we know had to be treated for crush injuries. Or the children for whom we couldnt find a safe place to sleep last night and who were taken in by one of the community mosques in the Jungle - only to watch that go up in flames."

French authorities have so far not admitted any fault with regards to the clearing of the camp. On Saturday, president Francois Hollande said Britain should help by taking more children.

On Thursday, the Home Secretary Amber Rudd reminded the French authorities of their duty to properly protect children in the Jungle. The Home Secretary spoke to her French counterpart Bernard Cazeneuve to stress the need for children who remain in Calais to be properly protected.

calais-1.jpg, by Megan Townsend (Reuters)

A Home Office spokesperson said:[The Home Secretary] reaffirmed the UKs commitment to working with the French to make sure all minors eligible to come to the UK continue to be transferred as quickly as possible.

Any child either not eligible or not in the secure area of the camp should be cared for and safeguarded by the French authorities. We understand specialist facilities have been made available elsewhere in France to ensure this happens.

Bernard Cazeneuve, the French interior minister, rejected the suggestion France was not doing enough. "These people...had been planning to migrate to the United Kingdom," he said in a statement, insisting France "had fulfilled its responsibilities out of solidarity and without trying to shy away" from its duty.

But Ms Sang said the camp demolition had put children in severe danger.

She catalogued serious failings, from the "unclear registration" process, to "allowing the bulldozers to go in before accounting for where they would be placed", and the "endless evenings when the only people looking for accommodation for the children who hadnt been put in the container camp were humanitarian organisations and volunteers on the ground".

"Every single night weve seen children having to go back into the jungle when its been the most dangerous it's ever been," she said. "I think this process from start to finish has really failed children."
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Sweden will not temporarily suspend an arrest warrant for Julian Assange so he can attend a funeral.

WikiLeaks founder Mr Assange was hoping to leave the Ecuadorian embassy in London so he can attend the funeral of his friend and mentor Gavin MacFayden but his request has been blocked.

The Swedish prosecutors office has announced it will not suspend the warrant as it does not allow exemptions to a court decision.

The 45-year-old wanted to attend the funeral of Mr MacFayden, an investigative journalist and director of WikiLeaks who died at the age of 76.

Mr Assange is reportedly heartbroken and called the Swedish official who made the decision callous, the BBC reported.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 31 October 2022 GBs James Hall competes during the mens parallel bars qualification at the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 October 2022 People dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, Dorset PA UK news in pictures 29 October 2022 Members of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a Just Stop Oil protest, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing 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"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 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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. 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Mr Assange has been in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since June 2012 after exhausting all legal options in his fight against extradition to Sweden. He is wanted for questioning over sex assault allegations after a visit to Sweden in 2010. Mr Assange denies the allegations.
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Lithuania is handing out an updated civil defence booklet to citizens telling them what to do in the case of a Russian invasion.

The 75-page manual offers survival techniques and warns readers Russia would not hesitate to use military force against its neighbours, the BBC reported.

A telephone hotline has even been set up for Lithuanians to report anyone they suspect are Russian spies.

The manual states: "It is most important that the civilians are aware and have a will to resist  when these elements are strong, an aggressor has difficulties in creating an environment for military invasion."

The country's head of state security, Darius Jauniskis, said: "Every Lithuanian citizen can become a target [of spying]."

Since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, relations between Russia and the Baltic states have deteriorated.

Lithuania borders on the Russian port of Kaliningrad which is cut off geographically from the rest of Russia.

 Russian warships move through English Channel under Royal Navy watch

An American think tank has warned Nato that Russia could overrun the Baltic states in as little as 36 hours. Nato has been ramping up its presence in the Baltic states and Poland.

Lithuania is currently in talks to buy missile defence systems worth up to 100m (90m) in an attempt to deter Russian aggression.

In February 2017, Germany is set to send between 400 and 600 troops as well as tanks to Lithuania.
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Turkey's president has said he will ask parliament to consider reintroducing the death penalty.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he was "convinced" his proposal to punish those behind July's failed military coup would be approved.

Our government will take this [proposal on capital punishment] to parliament," he said in a speech in Ankara.

"I am convinced that parliament will approve it, and when it comes back to me, I will ratify it."

Crowds at the ceremony to inaugurate a high-speed train station in the Turkish capital chanted: We want the death penalty!

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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

Soon, soon, don't worry. It's happening soon, God willing, said the President.

President Erdogan has previously said he would approve the return of the death penalty in Turkey if that was what the people and parliament wanted.

He told the crowd of millions his intentions at a vast rally in Istanbul following the attempted coup on 15 July.

The death penalty was abolished in Turkey in 2004 as the nation sought accession to the European Union. However, in practice it had not been enacted since 1984.

Relations between Brussels and Ankara have been strained since Turkey responded to the coup by launching a relentless crackdown against alleged plotters in state institutions, amid calls from the EU to act within the rule of law.

The West says this, the West says that. Excuse me, but what counts is not what the West says. What counts is what my people say, he said in his speech on Saturday.

The July coup represented a serious challenge to Mr Erdogan's presidency, however he resisted the attempt and remains in power.

He blamed US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen for the coup and his supporters who are known as the Gulen movement. It is critical of Mr Erdogan who they see as supporting a 'political Islam' rather than a 'cultural Islam' in his presidency.

More than 35,000 people have been arrested in the crackdown unleashed after the failed coup, according to official data.
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Syrian government forces have launched a counteroffensive under the cover of airstrikes in an attempt to regain control of areas they have lost to insurgents in the last 24 hours in the northern city of Aleppo, activists and state media have said.

Meanwhile on Saturday, insurgents launched a fresh offensive, the day after embarking on a broad ground attack aimed at breaking a months-long government siege on the eastern rebel-held neighbourhoods of Syria's largest city.

Rebels were able to capture much of the western neighbourhood of Assad, where most of Saturday's fighting was concentrated, according to the Syrian army and the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

SOHR said the new offensive by Syrian troops and their allies was ongoing under the cover of Russian and Syrian airstrikes. The group said the ground fighting and bombings are mostly on Aleppo's western and southern outskirts.

The Syrian army command said troops and their allies are pounding insurgent positions with artillery shells and rockets, adding that all kinds of weapons are being used in the fighting in Assad neighbourhood.

Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Show all 16 1 /16 Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo A girl who fled areas of conflict rides a vehicle in Dahiyet al-Assad, west Aleppo city, Syria REUTERS/Ammar Abdullah Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Rebel fighters from the Jaish al-Fatah (or Army of Conquest) brigade have a tea in a building under construction Getty Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo A rebel fighters' armoured vehicle in Dahiyet al-Assad Reuters Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Rebel fighters from the Jaish al-Fatah (or Army of Conquest) brigades sit on a tank Getty Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Abandoned magazine of shells after rebel fighters took control of Dahiyet al-Assad Reuters Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Rebel fighters ride a pick-up truck with civilians who fled areas of conflict in Dahiyet al-Assad, west Aleppo city, Syria Reuters Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo A rebel fighter gestures with a girl who fled areas of conflict while they ride a pick-up truck in Dahiyet al-Assad Reuters Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Smoke rises near a damaged road in Dahiyet al-Assad, west Aleppo city, Syria Reuters Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Syrians carry their belongings as they leave the southwestern frontline neighbourhood of Dahiyet al-,Assad Getty Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo A view shows a damaged minaret of a mosque after rebel fighters took control of Dahiyet al-Assad, Syria Reuters Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Rebel groups have pledged to push from newly captured positions in the Dahiyet al-Assad district towards Hamdaniyeh. Rebels and allied jihadists launched a major offensive on October 28, 2016 to break through government lines and reach the 250,000 people living in the city's east Getty Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Rebel groups have pledged to push from newly captured positions in the Dahiyet al-Assad district towards Hamdaniyeh Getty Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Rebel fighters from the Jaish al-Fatah (or Army of Conquest) brigades hold a position at an entrance to Aleppo, in the southwestern frontline neighbourhood of Dahiyet al-Assad Getty Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Smoke billows from the frontline district of Dahiyet al-Assad following an attack by rebels on Syrian regime forces in the northern city of Aleppo Getty Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Syrians carry their belongings as they leave the southwestern frontline neighbourhood of Dahiyet al-Assad Getty Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo People who fled areas of conflict ride a pick-up truck in Dahiyet al-Assad, west Aleppo city, Syria Reuters

The Aleppo Media Centre, an activist collective, reported airstrikes and artillery shelling of areas near Aleppo.

Yesterday the rebels said they launched an attack on the Zahraa neighbourhood in western Aleppo to try and capture it from government forces. The attack began with a massive explosion that struck government positions on the front line, said Yasser al-Yousef of the Nour el-Din el-Zinki group, one of the main factions in east Aleppo.

A reporter inside the city for the Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV channel confirmed that the rebels attacked the Zahraa neighbourhood. As he spoke from the roof of a building, sounds of heavy exchange of gunfire could be heard in the background.

 Aleppo offensive

The Syrian army said troops are repelling the attack on Zahraa. It said the offensive began when the insurgents detonated a vehicle and shelled the area.

Syrian state media said rebels shelled government-held western neighbourhoods of Aleppo on Saturday morning wounding at least 10 people, including a young girl, rebel shelling of government-held areas on Friday killed 15 and wounded more than 100.

On Friday, insurgents including members of Fatah al-Sham and the ultraconservative Ajnad al-Sham and Ahrar al-Sham militias took advantage of cloudy and rainy weather to attack government positions. On Saturday the weather was better, according to residents.

There are ongoing clashes, said opposition activist Baraa al-Halaby by telephone from besieged east Aleppo, adding that the fighting is far from them but explosions could be clearly heard in the city.

East Aleppo has been subjected to a ferocious campaign of aerial attacks by Russian and Syrian government warplanes, and hundreds of people have been killed in recent weeks, according to opposition activists and trapped residents.

The new offensive by insurgents is the second attempt to break the government's siege of Aleppo's opposition-held eastern districts, where the UN estimates 275,000 people are trapped.

UN Special Envoy Staffan De Mistura has estimated 8,000 of them are rebel fighters, and no more than 900 of them affiliated with Fatah al-Sham.

Syrian and Russian officials have said that no ceasefire is possible as long as Fatah al-Sham remains allied and intertwined with other rebel forces.

Aleppo is the current focal point of the war. President Bashar al-Assad has said he is determined to retake the country's largest city and former commercial capital.

Associated Press
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Isis jihadis are shooting women and children who try to flee areas under its control, according to a former fighter.

Abu Ahmed told how he was ordered to shoot to kill to deter others from trying to escape.

The former militant, who is being held by Kurdish forces, said people were desperate to escape the groups brutal regime.

The thing people care about the most is their children. The hardest thing for anybody to see is their child being hurt, even if it's not with a weapon, but Isis are going to use guns on children, he told Sky News.

People tried to flee, because of the conditions in Mosul, to Kurdistan or Baghdad but they would be blown up by IEDs and if they weren't they'd be shot at even if they were kids.

Up to 900 Isis fighters were killed this week in the offensive to retake Mosul in northern Iraq, a stronghold of great strategic importance which the group captured in 2014.

Many Iraqis who fled their homes celebrated their escape, with some being reunited with relatives from whom they were separated when Isis took control.

Recommended Read more This is what will happen to Mosul after Isis is pushed out

Crowds were jubilant in Fadhiliya, 10 miles east of Mosul, as a shopkeeper arrived with the first supplies of cigarettes for two years.

However, one resident who gave his name as Hamza, a former translator for the US military, said he feared Isis would come back.

We are happy but we are also very scared  for the last two years I stayed in my house because I feared they would hurt or kill me as an unbeliever, he told Sky News.

Iraq's Ministry of Displacement and Migration said on Thursday that more than 11,700 people had been displaced since the operation began on 17 October.

In pictures: Mosul offensive Show all 40 1 /40 In pictures: Mosul offensive In pictures: Mosul offensive A doctor carries an Iraqi newborn baby at a hospital in Mosul, Iraq July 18, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi girls play at a yard of a school in Mosul, Iraq July 18, 2017alal Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A woman on crutches who is a relative of men accused of being Islamic State militants is seen at a camp in Bartella, east of Mosul, Iraq July 15, 2017. Picture taken July 15, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A displaced girl, who fled from home carries a doll at Hamam al-Alil camp south of Mosul, Iraq July 13, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi federal police members and civilians celebrate in the Old City of Mosul on 9 July 2017 after the government's announcement of the "liberation" of the embattled city. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office said he was in "liberated" Mosul to congratulate "the heroic fighters and the Iraqi people on the achievement of the major victory" AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A picture taken on 9 July 2017, shows a general view of the destruction in Mosul's Old City. Iraq will announce imminently a final victory in the nearly nine-month offensive to retake Mosul from jihadists, a US general said Saturday, as celebrations broke out among police forces in the city. AFP In pictures: Mosul offensive Members of the Iraqi federal police raise the victory gesture as they ride on a humvee while advancing through the Old City of Mosul on 28 June 2017, as the offensive continues to retake the last district held by Islamic State (IS) group fighters. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Smoke billows as Iraqi forces advance through the Old City of Mosul on 26 June 2017, during the ongoing offensive to retake the last district held by the Islamic State (IS) group. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi man wearing the green scarf of the Shi'ite faith kisses an Iraqi Army soldier on safely reaching the Iraqi forces position as Iraqi civilians flee the Old City of west Mosul where heavy fighting continues on 23 June 2017. Iraqi forces continue to encounter stiff resistance with improvised explosive devices, car bombs, heavy mortar fire and snipers hampering their advance. Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A picture taken from the inside of an Iraqi forces armoured vehicle shows residents walking through a damaged street as troops advance towards Mosul's Old City on 18 June 2017, during the ongoing offensive to retake the last district still held by the Islamic State (IS) group. Military commanders told AFP the assault had begun at dawn after overnight air strikes by the US-led coalition backing Iraqi forces. They said the jihadists were putting up fierce resistance. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi Army soldiers advance in a destroyed street after an Iraqi forces airstrike targeted an Islamic State sniper position 17 June 2017 in al-Shifa, the last district of west Mosul under Islamic State control. IS snipers, as well as car and suicide bomb attacks continue to hinder the Iraqi forces efforts to retake the final district. A series of airstrikes by Iraqi helicopter gunships attempted to hit multiple Islamic State sniper positions in al-Shifa. Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier frisks a displaced Iraqi man at a temporary camp in the compound of the closed Nineveh International Hotel in Mosul on 16 June 2017 which was recovered by Iraqi troops from Islamic State group fighters earlier in the year. A screening centre set up in the compound's fairgrounds sees a constant stream of Iraqis fleeing the battle for Mosul, awaiting their turn to be checked by the Iraqi forces who are searching for suspected Islamic State (IS) group members. The small fairground lies at the end of a pontoon bridge across the Tigris recently opened to civilians that is the only physical link between the two banks of the river. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqis staying at the al-Khazir camp swim in a river near the camp for internally displaced people, located between Arbil and Mosul on 11 June 2017. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi government forces drive on a road leading to Tal Afar on 9 June 2017, during ongoing battles to retake the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi policeman carries a poster bearing an image of Mosul's iconic leaning minaret, known as the "Hadba" (Hunchback), on 22 June 2017. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqis stand in line to receive food aid in western Mosul's Zanjili neighbourhood on 7 June 2017, during ongoing battles as Iraqi forces try to retake the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters. Living conditions in Mosul have again deteriorated since the start of the Iraqi government's offensive on the city in October in which they retook a large part of the west of the city. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Displaced Iraqis carry lightbulbs and sacks as they evacuate from western Mosul's Zanjili neighbourhood as government forces advance in the area during their ongoing battle against Islamic State (IS) group fighters on 13 May 2017 AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) flashes the victory gesture as he patrols in western Mosul's al-Islah al-Zaraye neighbourhood on 13 May 2017 AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi army soldiers from the 9th armoured division on a truck flash the sign of victory as they drive back from Mosul to the town of Qaraqosh (also known as Hamdaniya) Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Members of Iraqi forces flash the sign of victory on their vehicle as they advance towards Hammam al-Alil area south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi security forces gestures in Hammam al-Alil, south of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi children, one flashing the sign of victory, greet Iraqi army's soldiers from the 9th armoured division in the area of Ali Rash, adjacent to the eastern Al-Intissar neighbourhood of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Peshmerga forces look at a tunnel used by Islamic State militants near the town of Bashiqa, east of Mosul, during an operation to attack Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier takes a photograph with his phone as his comrade stands next to a detained man, whom the Iraqi army soldiers accused of being an Islamic State fighter, who was fleeing with his family in the Intisar disrict of eastern Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iranian Kurdish female members of the Freedom Party of Kurdistan (PAK) hold a position in an area near the town of Bashiqa, some 25 kilometres north east of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi families, who fled their homes in Hamam al-Alil, gather on the outskirts of their town Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Displaced people walk past a checkpoint near Qayara, south of Mosul, Iraq AP In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi families who were displaced by the ongoing operation by Iraqi forces against jihadists of the Islamic State group to retake the city of Mosul, are seen gathering in an area near Qayyarah In pictures: Mosul offensive A boy who just fled Abu Jarbuah village is seen with his family at a Kurdish Peshmerga position between two front lines near Bashiqa, east of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi child eats a pomegranate upon the arrival of Iraqi forces in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive People who just fled Abu Jarbuah village sit as they eat at a Kurdish Peshmerga position between two front lines near Bashiqa, east of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A couple who just fled Abu Jarbuah village are escorted by Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Women carry a boy over a wall as civilians flee their houses in the village of Tob Zawa, Iraq AP In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier and a civilian ride a motorbike as smoke rises behind them, on the road between Qayyarah and Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi forces, wearing a skull mask, waits at a checkpoint for people fleeing the main hub city of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier sits at a checkpoint in an area near Qayyarah Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi men prepare food portions for Iraqi forces deployed in areas south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi forces celebrate upon the arrival of vehicles bringing food to them Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi childen smoke cigarettes upon the arrival of Iraqi forces in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi forces distributes drinks to children in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty

Fears are growing for those trapped in the city with some reports suggesting Isis is using hostages as human shields.

Isil's [Isis] depraved, cowardly strategy is to attempt to use the presence of civilian hostages to render certain points, areas, or military forces immune from military operations  effectively using tens of thousands of women, men and children as human shields, said United Nations (UN) spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani.

The UN has warned more than 200,000 civilians could be displaced in the battle.

Reports suggest Iraqi forces have reclaimed 40 villages bordering Mosul from Isis since fighting began.
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Several British academics and journalists are attending a conference organised by President Bashar al-Assads father-in-law in the Syrian capital of Damascus, in a move which has been called a mistake by anti-regime critics.

The two-day conference, which begins on Sunday, will discuss the ramifications of the war in Syria.

Liberal Democrats peer Raymond Asquith, or Lord Oxford, former special forces officer Major General John Holmes, and research analyst Kamal Alam of think tank Rusi, are among those expected to speak alongside Syrian government representatives.

Journalists for international media outlets were also invited to attend.

It has been organised by the London-based British Syrian Society's founder Fawaz Akhras, the father of Mr Assad's wife Asma, who has kept a low media profile since war broke out in country in 2011, but used to regularly organise conferences and talks between Syrian and UK politicians.

Several analysts on the war in Syria have criticised those who have chosen to take part in the weekends workshop, which has been dubbed a "PR exercise" by Chris Doyle of the Council for British-Arab Understanding (Caabu).

The regime is trying to energise its public diplomacy and public outreach in Britain. They are trying to maintain this is a neutral conference. Its simply not. The speakers are senior regime figures, plus others who are extremely supportive, he told The Guardian.

Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Show all 16 1 /16 Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo A girl who fled areas of conflict rides a vehicle in Dahiyet al-Assad, west Aleppo city, Syria REUTERS/Ammar Abdullah Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Rebel fighters from the Jaish al-Fatah (or Army of Conquest) brigade have a tea in a building under construction Getty Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo A rebel fighters' armoured vehicle in Dahiyet al-Assad Reuters Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Rebel fighters from the Jaish al-Fatah (or Army of Conquest) brigades sit on a tank Getty Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Abandoned magazine of shells after rebel fighters took control of Dahiyet al-Assad Reuters Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Rebel fighters ride a pick-up truck with civilians who fled areas of conflict in Dahiyet al-Assad, west Aleppo city, Syria Reuters Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo A rebel fighter gestures with a girl who fled areas of conflict while they ride a pick-up truck in Dahiyet al-Assad Reuters Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Smoke rises near a damaged road in Dahiyet al-Assad, west Aleppo city, Syria Reuters Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Syrians carry their belongings as they leave the southwestern frontline neighbourhood of Dahiyet al-,Assad Getty Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo A view shows a damaged minaret of a mosque after rebel fighters took control of Dahiyet al-Assad, Syria Reuters Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Rebel groups have pledged to push from newly captured positions in the Dahiyet al-Assad district towards Hamdaniyeh. Rebels and allied jihadists launched a major offensive on October 28, 2016 to break through government lines and reach the 250,000 people living in the city's east Getty Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Rebel groups have pledged to push from newly captured positions in the Dahiyet al-Assad district towards Hamdaniyeh Getty Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Rebel fighters from the Jaish al-Fatah (or Army of Conquest) brigades hold a position at an entrance to Aleppo, in the southwestern frontline neighbourhood of Dahiyet al-Assad Getty Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Smoke billows from the frontline district of Dahiyet al-Assad following an attack by rebels on Syrian regime forces in the northern city of Aleppo Getty Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Syrians carry their belongings as they leave the southwestern frontline neighbourhood of Dahiyet al-Assad Getty Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo People who fled areas of conflict ride a pick-up truck in Dahiyet al-Assad, west Aleppo city, Syria Reuters

The British delegates are merely reinforcing the regime's narrative that it's business as usual as they [the regime] carpet-bomb Aleppo and other Syrian cities. It's wrong to take part. If you are involved in track two diplomacy, fine. If you are going on some sort of propaganda conference, no way, Mr Doyle added.

The Independent has attempted to contact Mr Asquith, Major General Holmes and Mr Alam for comment. When asked by The Guardian, the Liberal Democrats said they were unaware of Mr Asquiths trip.

Syrian government buses picked up delegates in the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Saturday to drive the short 70 mile (115 kilometre) journey over the border to Damascus. It was unclear at the time of publication whether flights, food and accommodation were being provided by Syrian authorities or by delegates themselves.

The Syrian civil war - now in its sixth year - has left more than 400,000 people dead and created four million refugees, the UN says.

President Assad is currently in the middle of a campaign to retake the last major urban rebel strongholds in the northern city of Aleppo, with the help of Russian air strikes.

Successfully recapturing the opposition-held east of the city would greatly bolster the regime, analysts say, although not enough to bring a swift end to Syrias complicated and multi-sided conflict.
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Men sit handcuffed and blindfolded under the watchful eye of a black-clad national security officer after escaping from their Isis-held towns south of Mosul hours before. Their towns are under attack by the Iraqi army and the federal police on the southern front of the offensive to wrest the northern city from jihadi control.

Escaping across the battle lines is not easy: Isis abducted tens of thousands of civilians to use as human shields and killing at least 232 people on Wednesday, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Civilians who fled Isis just days ago told The Independent of militants forcing them to walk further back into Isis territory in front of their vehicles as the battle lines shifted. They executed civilians who tried to flee, and held hostages inside towns and villages to prevent government shelling.

Recommended Read more This is what will happen to Mosul after Isis is pushed out

Families desperate for escape risked death  not just from bullets crossing the army front lines, but also from clouds of toxic smoke from oil wells and sulphur fields near Qayyarah, lit by Isis fighters as they retreated.

When helicopters came to fight Isis the civilians had a chance to flee to other side, said a 45-year-old man from the town of Shora, 25 miles south of Mosul, who refused to give his name fear of Isis. They came walking followed by their sheep and waving white flags so as not to be confused with the enemy.

At the camp for new arrivals in Qayyarah, security services were busily cross-checking a box of national identification cards with computer lists of known Isis members, gleaned from on the ground intelligence, to weed out any suspects amid the displaced. The eight men who identified on Wednesday remained silent, their wrists tied and were blindfolded with pieces of black plastic. An officer tapped the head of one of the suspects with a pointy stick. The suspects T-shirt and flimsy sandals were covered in dust.

Children playing near the burning oil wells of Qayyarah (Cathy Otten)

The security official, who wouldnt give his name, said that the suspects would be sent to the local court, and depending on evidence would be jailed. In a war where so many have lost friends and loved ones; human rights abuses, revenge attacks and arbitrary detentions of suspects are not uncommon.

Human Rights Watch has confirmed that the Kurdistan regional government is arbitrarily detaining men and boys fleeing Isis held Mosul and Hawija.

Of the thousands of people displaced by the fighting so far, many are women and children. Men that have avoided capture by Isis must go through a screening process to check they are not militants.

The man who escaped from Shora claimed 75 per cent of the people in his town supported Isis and that resistance against the jihadis was dangerous because of the long reach of Isis intelligence. They cant resist Isis because Isis is strong, he said. He described harsh punishments for minor transgressions such as wearing the wrong length trousers, smoking or using a mobile phone. For two years I didnt know what time it was or what day it was because we had no TV, no film.

When the attacks by the Iraqi security forces began, the Isis morality police left the streets and went to the front lines to fight. Isis stopped being so visible because of the danger of air strikes.

In pictures: Mosul offensive Show all 40 1 /40 In pictures: Mosul offensive In pictures: Mosul offensive A doctor carries an Iraqi newborn baby at a hospital in Mosul, Iraq July 18, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi girls play at a yard of a school in Mosul, Iraq July 18, 2017alal Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A woman on crutches who is a relative of men accused of being Islamic State militants is seen at a camp in Bartella, east of Mosul, Iraq July 15, 2017. Picture taken July 15, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A displaced girl, who fled from home carries a doll at Hamam al-Alil camp south of Mosul, Iraq July 13, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi federal police members and civilians celebrate in the Old City of Mosul on 9 July 2017 after the government's announcement of the "liberation" of the embattled city. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office said he was in "liberated" Mosul to congratulate "the heroic fighters and the Iraqi people on the achievement of the major victory" AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A picture taken on 9 July 2017, shows a general view of the destruction in Mosul's Old City. Iraq will announce imminently a final victory in the nearly nine-month offensive to retake Mosul from jihadists, a US general said Saturday, as celebrations broke out among police forces in the city. AFP In pictures: Mosul offensive Members of the Iraqi federal police raise the victory gesture as they ride on a humvee while advancing through the Old City of Mosul on 28 June 2017, as the offensive continues to retake the last district held by Islamic State (IS) group fighters. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Smoke billows as Iraqi forces advance through the Old City of Mosul on 26 June 2017, during the ongoing offensive to retake the last district held by the Islamic State (IS) group. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi man wearing the green scarf of the Shi'ite faith kisses an Iraqi Army soldier on safely reaching the Iraqi forces position as Iraqi civilians flee the Old City of west Mosul where heavy fighting continues on 23 June 2017. Iraqi forces continue to encounter stiff resistance with improvised explosive devices, car bombs, heavy mortar fire and snipers hampering their advance. Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A picture taken from the inside of an Iraqi forces armoured vehicle shows residents walking through a damaged street as troops advance towards Mosul's Old City on 18 June 2017, during the ongoing offensive to retake the last district still held by the Islamic State (IS) group. Military commanders told AFP the assault had begun at dawn after overnight air strikes by the US-led coalition backing Iraqi forces. They said the jihadists were putting up fierce resistance. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi Army soldiers advance in a destroyed street after an Iraqi forces airstrike targeted an Islamic State sniper position 17 June 2017 in al-Shifa, the last district of west Mosul under Islamic State control. IS snipers, as well as car and suicide bomb attacks continue to hinder the Iraqi forces efforts to retake the final district. A series of airstrikes by Iraqi helicopter gunships attempted to hit multiple Islamic State sniper positions in al-Shifa. Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier frisks a displaced Iraqi man at a temporary camp in the compound of the closed Nineveh International Hotel in Mosul on 16 June 2017 which was recovered by Iraqi troops from Islamic State group fighters earlier in the year. A screening centre set up in the compound's fairgrounds sees a constant stream of Iraqis fleeing the battle for Mosul, awaiting their turn to be checked by the Iraqi forces who are searching for suspected Islamic State (IS) group members. The small fairground lies at the end of a pontoon bridge across the Tigris recently opened to civilians that is the only physical link between the two banks of the river. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqis staying at the al-Khazir camp swim in a river near the camp for internally displaced people, located between Arbil and Mosul on 11 June 2017. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi government forces drive on a road leading to Tal Afar on 9 June 2017, during ongoing battles to retake the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi policeman carries a poster bearing an image of Mosul's iconic leaning minaret, known as the "Hadba" (Hunchback), on 22 June 2017. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqis stand in line to receive food aid in western Mosul's Zanjili neighbourhood on 7 June 2017, during ongoing battles as Iraqi forces try to retake the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters. Living conditions in Mosul have again deteriorated since the start of the Iraqi government's offensive on the city in October in which they retook a large part of the west of the city. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Displaced Iraqis carry lightbulbs and sacks as they evacuate from western Mosul's Zanjili neighbourhood as government forces advance in the area during their ongoing battle against Islamic State (IS) group fighters on 13 May 2017 AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) flashes the victory gesture as he patrols in western Mosul's al-Islah al-Zaraye neighbourhood on 13 May 2017 AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi army soldiers from the 9th armoured division on a truck flash the sign of victory as they drive back from Mosul to the town of Qaraqosh (also known as Hamdaniya) Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Members of Iraqi forces flash the sign of victory on their vehicle as they advance towards Hammam al-Alil area south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi security forces gestures in Hammam al-Alil, south of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi children, one flashing the sign of victory, greet Iraqi army's soldiers from the 9th armoured division in the area of Ali Rash, adjacent to the eastern Al-Intissar neighbourhood of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Peshmerga forces look at a tunnel used by Islamic State militants near the town of Bashiqa, east of Mosul, during an operation to attack Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier takes a photograph with his phone as his comrade stands next to a detained man, whom the Iraqi army soldiers accused of being an Islamic State fighter, who was fleeing with his family in the Intisar disrict of eastern Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iranian Kurdish female members of the Freedom Party of Kurdistan (PAK) hold a position in an area near the town of Bashiqa, some 25 kilometres north east of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi families, who fled their homes in Hamam al-Alil, gather on the outskirts of their town Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Displaced people walk past a checkpoint near Qayara, south of Mosul, Iraq AP In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi families who were displaced by the ongoing operation by Iraqi forces against jihadists of the Islamic State group to retake the city of Mosul, are seen gathering in an area near Qayyarah In pictures: Mosul offensive A boy who just fled Abu Jarbuah village is seen with his family at a Kurdish Peshmerga position between two front lines near Bashiqa, east of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi child eats a pomegranate upon the arrival of Iraqi forces in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive People who just fled Abu Jarbuah village sit as they eat at a Kurdish Peshmerga position between two front lines near Bashiqa, east of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A couple who just fled Abu Jarbuah village are escorted by Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Women carry a boy over a wall as civilians flee their houses in the village of Tob Zawa, Iraq AP In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier and a civilian ride a motorbike as smoke rises behind them, on the road between Qayyarah and Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi forces, wearing a skull mask, waits at a checkpoint for people fleeing the main hub city of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier sits at a checkpoint in an area near Qayyarah Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi men prepare food portions for Iraqi forces deployed in areas south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi forces celebrate upon the arrival of vehicles bringing food to them Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi childen smoke cigarettes upon the arrival of Iraqi forces in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi forces distributes drinks to children in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty

In the town of Qayyarah, south of Mosul, Zedan Khalaf, a retired soldier of 70, told The Independent that Isis shot 42 civilians accused of trying to escape one week before the town was liberated at the end of August. Abdul Kader Yousif, 38, also living in Qayyarah, told how he was caught by Isis smuggling people out of the town seven months ago. As a punishment he was hung up by his hands inside the local Isis security headquarters and regularly beaten with a piece of piping for 10 days.

One man still inside Mosul, who spoke to The Independent by telephone and cannot be named for his own security, described an atmosphere of foreboding about the coming battle.

There are no fighters on the street and I am trying to stay at home. People are trying to escape, the situation is very bad. I dont know what will happen. he said.
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Forces from an Iranian-backed Shia paramilitary umbrella organisation have begun a major new stage in the offensive to recapture the Iraqi city of Mosul from Isis, as the group puts up a fierce fight in the struggle for control of the city.

A 28,000-strong coalition of Iraqi army, Kurdish Peshmerga, Sunni fighters and Shia militias have managed to make significant gains on the north, south and eastern approaches to the city during the past 12 days of fighting, despite Isis counterattacks on other Iraqi cities and the difficulties posed by landmines, sniper fire and suicide bombers.

The town of Tal Afar, to the west of Mosul, is the last front to see ground force deployment in the form of the Hashed al-Shaabi, a paramilitary umbrella group largely composed of Iranian-funded militias.

The operation aims to cut supplies between Mosul and Raqqa and tighten the siege of [Isis] in Mosul and liberate Tal Afar, Hashed spokesperson Ahmed al-Assadi said on Saturday, referring to Isis's main strongholds in Iraq and Syria.

The often competing interests of the different US-backed forces battling to remove Isis from Mosul has made the operation a complex one: Iraqi Kurds and Sunni Arab politicians, as well as Turkey, have raised concerns over the possibility of further violence if Shia militias enter the majority Sunni city, seized by Isis in 2014.

Amnesty International has accused Shia militas of mounting revenge attacks on Sunni civilians suspected of supporting Isis in the last two years, including torture and extrajudicial executions.

In pictures: Mosul offensive Show all 40 1 /40 In pictures: Mosul offensive In pictures: Mosul offensive A doctor carries an Iraqi newborn baby at a hospital in Mosul, Iraq July 18, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi girls play at a yard of a school in Mosul, Iraq July 18, 2017alal Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A woman on crutches who is a relative of men accused of being Islamic State militants is seen at a camp in Bartella, east of Mosul, Iraq July 15, 2017. Picture taken July 15, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A displaced girl, who fled from home carries a doll at Hamam al-Alil camp south of Mosul, Iraq July 13, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi federal police members and civilians celebrate in the Old City of Mosul on 9 July 2017 after the government's announcement of the "liberation" of the embattled city. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office said he was in "liberated" Mosul to congratulate "the heroic fighters and the Iraqi people on the achievement of the major victory" AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A picture taken on 9 July 2017, shows a general view of the destruction in Mosul's Old City. Iraq will announce imminently a final victory in the nearly nine-month offensive to retake Mosul from jihadists, a US general said Saturday, as celebrations broke out among police forces in the city. AFP In pictures: Mosul offensive Members of the Iraqi federal police raise the victory gesture as they ride on a humvee while advancing through the Old City of Mosul on 28 June 2017, as the offensive continues to retake the last district held by Islamic State (IS) group fighters. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Smoke billows as Iraqi forces advance through the Old City of Mosul on 26 June 2017, during the ongoing offensive to retake the last district held by the Islamic State (IS) group. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi man wearing the green scarf of the Shi'ite faith kisses an Iraqi Army soldier on safely reaching the Iraqi forces position as Iraqi civilians flee the Old City of west Mosul where heavy fighting continues on 23 June 2017. Iraqi forces continue to encounter stiff resistance with improvised explosive devices, car bombs, heavy mortar fire and snipers hampering their advance. Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A picture taken from the inside of an Iraqi forces armoured vehicle shows residents walking through a damaged street as troops advance towards Mosul's Old City on 18 June 2017, during the ongoing offensive to retake the last district still held by the Islamic State (IS) group. Military commanders told AFP the assault had begun at dawn after overnight air strikes by the US-led coalition backing Iraqi forces. They said the jihadists were putting up fierce resistance. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi Army soldiers advance in a destroyed street after an Iraqi forces airstrike targeted an Islamic State sniper position 17 June 2017 in al-Shifa, the last district of west Mosul under Islamic State control. IS snipers, as well as car and suicide bomb attacks continue to hinder the Iraqi forces efforts to retake the final district. A series of airstrikes by Iraqi helicopter gunships attempted to hit multiple Islamic State sniper positions in al-Shifa. Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier frisks a displaced Iraqi man at a temporary camp in the compound of the closed Nineveh International Hotel in Mosul on 16 June 2017 which was recovered by Iraqi troops from Islamic State group fighters earlier in the year. A screening centre set up in the compound's fairgrounds sees a constant stream of Iraqis fleeing the battle for Mosul, awaiting their turn to be checked by the Iraqi forces who are searching for suspected Islamic State (IS) group members. The small fairground lies at the end of a pontoon bridge across the Tigris recently opened to civilians that is the only physical link between the two banks of the river. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqis staying at the al-Khazir camp swim in a river near the camp for internally displaced people, located between Arbil and Mosul on 11 June 2017. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi government forces drive on a road leading to Tal Afar on 9 June 2017, during ongoing battles to retake the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi policeman carries a poster bearing an image of Mosul's iconic leaning minaret, known as the "Hadba" (Hunchback), on 22 June 2017. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqis stand in line to receive food aid in western Mosul's Zanjili neighbourhood on 7 June 2017, during ongoing battles as Iraqi forces try to retake the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters. Living conditions in Mosul have again deteriorated since the start of the Iraqi government's offensive on the city in October in which they retook a large part of the west of the city. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Displaced Iraqis carry lightbulbs and sacks as they evacuate from western Mosul's Zanjili neighbourhood as government forces advance in the area during their ongoing battle against Islamic State (IS) group fighters on 13 May 2017 AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) flashes the victory gesture as he patrols in western Mosul's al-Islah al-Zaraye neighbourhood on 13 May 2017 AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi army soldiers from the 9th armoured division on a truck flash the sign of victory as they drive back from Mosul to the town of Qaraqosh (also known as Hamdaniya) Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Members of Iraqi forces flash the sign of victory on their vehicle as they advance towards Hammam al-Alil area south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi security forces gestures in Hammam al-Alil, south of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi children, one flashing the sign of victory, greet Iraqi army's soldiers from the 9th armoured division in the area of Ali Rash, adjacent to the eastern Al-Intissar neighbourhood of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Peshmerga forces look at a tunnel used by Islamic State militants near the town of Bashiqa, east of Mosul, during an operation to attack Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier takes a photograph with his phone as his comrade stands next to a detained man, whom the Iraqi army soldiers accused of being an Islamic State fighter, who was fleeing with his family in the Intisar disrict of eastern Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iranian Kurdish female members of the Freedom Party of Kurdistan (PAK) hold a position in an area near the town of Bashiqa, some 25 kilometres north east of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi families, who fled their homes in Hamam al-Alil, gather on the outskirts of their town Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Displaced people walk past a checkpoint near Qayara, south of Mosul, Iraq AP In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi families who were displaced by the ongoing operation by Iraqi forces against jihadists of the Islamic State group to retake the city of Mosul, are seen gathering in an area near Qayyarah In pictures: Mosul offensive A boy who just fled Abu Jarbuah village is seen with his family at a Kurdish Peshmerga position between two front lines near Bashiqa, east of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi child eats a pomegranate upon the arrival of Iraqi forces in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive People who just fled Abu Jarbuah village sit as they eat at a Kurdish Peshmerga position between two front lines near Bashiqa, east of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A couple who just fled Abu Jarbuah village are escorted by Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Women carry a boy over a wall as civilians flee their houses in the village of Tob Zawa, Iraq AP In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier and a civilian ride a motorbike as smoke rises behind them, on the road between Qayyarah and Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi forces, wearing a skull mask, waits at a checkpoint for people fleeing the main hub city of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier sits at a checkpoint in an area near Qayyarah Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi men prepare food portions for Iraqi forces deployed in areas south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi forces celebrate upon the arrival of vehicles bringing food to them Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi childen smoke cigarettes upon the arrival of Iraqi forces in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi forces distributes drinks to children in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty

Hasheds commanders have said that they do not plan to enter the city limits when fighting eventually reaches the outskirts of the city.

Elsewhere in Iraq on Saturday, Iraqi army officials said that the security forces managed to repel an attack on the western city of Ramadi overnight.

Eleven militants were arrested, Captain Ahmed al-Dulaimi of Anbar province police force said, who confessed to planning an assault from a southern suburb.

 Mosul battle: Civilians flee ahead of fighting

Isis has launched several counterattacks on cities in Iraq in an attempt to draw focus and attention away from the coalitions battle for Mosul. Fierce fighting in the Kurdish city of Kirkuk in the east lasted three days, and killed up to 90 people.

More diversionary attacks are expected as Isis members infiltrate urban centres in sleeper cells by pretending to be some of the expected hundreds of thousands of people who will be displaced by fighting, several Iraq officials have said.

While the loss of Mosul will effectively spell Isiss defeat in Iraq, suicide bombs and other attacks on civilians designed to show the group is still capable of inflicting death and destruction are likely, analysts warn, as Isis evolves from a land-holding force to a potentially global ideological insurgency.
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There is a problem with the story I am about to tell you. It is bloody. It is about the massacre of innocents  six of them, the youngest a little girl of two  blasted to death by shell fire in Aleppo.

Three of them were killed in their junior school, a teenage boy blown clean off the roof next to his classroom four stories down into the street where he lay in a pool of blood. The shrapnel tore into his friends and when I reached the school, I was walking across floors swamped with crimson liquid.

But reader, bare with me. For the problem with my grim  some might say gruesome  but certainly tragic report is that the victims were slaughtered by the guns of the rebels of eastern Aleppo. These children were killed in western Aleppo, in the sector of the city held by the Syrian regime and its army. And that is why you will not know their names. The suffering of the survivors, one of the wounded child survivors, groaning in agony as a doctor picked a piece of metal from his face with a scalpel in the Al-Razi Hospital, will be quite unknown to you.

Recommended Read more The devastated Syrian town where fighting may have finally ended

None of what I shall describe excuses the savagery visited upon the people of eastern Aleppo by Syrian and Russian bombs. Indeed, when I asked the senior Syrian police officer at the wrecked school  he was standing on the rood beside a bloody puddle  if this might be some sort of revenge by the armed groups in the east, he side-stepped the question. No, no, no, no, no  No! he shouted. They have hit other schools before now  they are just animals, they dont even know the meaning of childhood. When we opened the crossing points for the people of eastern Aleppo last week, we even cleared these schools as a reception place for them.

Ahmed Skeifeh, 14, wounded in the legs when a shell hit his school in western Aleppo (Nelofer Pazira)

The first shell crashed into the corner of the roof of the privately-run National School of Aleppo at almost exactly 11am, blasting part of the parapet into the street below, along with one of the pupils who was taking a class break on the patio outside his classroom. By the time I arrived, they were taking the corpses out of the school door in blue sheets. One of them was 15-year old Omar Deiry. Another was Imad Sabbagh who was also 15. The third was still unidentified when scores of parents  being a private school in an urban area of tree-lined streets of semi-detached stone apartments, they were well dressed and quite unused to the idea that violence might touch their families  ran towards the building, weeping and shrieking.

Given the worlds understandable  and justified  horror at the suffering of eastern Aleppos people, and its apparent inability to grasp that its defenders also kill indiscriminately, I suppose we must add that the pattern of mortar fragment marks around the impact point on the school roof left no doubt that the projectile was fired from the east. This was no devilishly-designed hidden bomb placed by the authorities to kill children for propaganda purposes. Fired by the Islamist Jabhat al-Nusra group or its allies  the same name-changed al-Qaeda of 9/11 infamy whose ranks are now referred to respectfully as rebels by the rest of the world  it was directed into a residential district of western Aleppo, just like the second shell which landed on an apartment in the Hamdamiyeh district.

The bloody balcony outside the schoolroom where three children were killed by a shell fired from eastern Aleppo (Nelofer Pazira)

By the time I reached the University Hospital a mile from the Razi medical centre, this attacks three victims  all killed just after breakfast in their home  had just arrived. Khanom Fallaha was two and I found her lying on a trolley, her face grey with dust, slightly turned to the right as if sleeping, her clothes and tiny shoes black from the shell blast, although a bright, shiny earring remained in her left ear. Behind her were her two brothers, ten-year old Khalil and 11-year old Khaled.

One of them  I dont know which  lay with his face towards the ceiling in an uncomfortable, ungainly way. And of course, being human, familiar thoughts crept into ones mind. Yes, that is how her mother dressed Khanom this morning on her last day on earth, that is what she was wearing when she had breakfast with her brothers, and Well now, like tens of thousands of other children in Syria, she was gone, departed from the world she scarcely knew, part of the past, a mere figure in the grotesque and massively abused casualty statistics of the dead whose real total we shall never know or, one day, much care about. Tonight, she will be in the earth.

The torn balcony where a shell hit the school (Nelofer Pazira)

Is this sentimental? I dont think so. We weep over the dead children of eastern Aleppo, under siege by the Syrian regime. But Khanom is equally worthy of the worlds sympathy. Neither she, nor her brothers, nor the three children at the school, chose which side of Aleppo they would live in. But of course, as always, there is astonishment as well as shock when you talk to the children who survived. Although in great pain and with blood on his feet, 14-year old Ahmed Skeifeh, told me that he was still in the classroom beside the roof when the shell exploded. I had seen English textbooks and a half-eaten bun on the floor and on the broken desks and  incredibly, amidst his pain  Ahmed chose to speak in perfect English. I fell onto the floor and my friends were all with me and I saw my friends fall down and I saw my friends die with my own eyes, he said. I cant remember anything more. I ran out of the room. The boy was propped up on his hospital bed, one of five boys seriously injured, his teacher standing beside him, his arm around the boys head.

The Syrian town of Mouadamiya Show all 7 1 /7 The Syrian town of Mouadamiya The Syrian town of Mouadamiya Medical staff at the underground hospital who treated the dying and wounded during the siege The Syrian town of Mouadamiya Former militia fighters from Mouadamiya Nelofer Pazira The Syrian town of Mouadamiya A man sells sweets on a table amid the ruins Nelofer Pazira The Syrian town of Mouadamiya A vegetable seller Nelofer Pazira The Syrian town of Mouadamiya A mother and her children walk past the ruins of Mouadamiya Nelofer Pazira The Syrian town of Mouadamiya The rubble of the smashed town of Mouadamiya Nelofer Pazira The Syrian town of Mouadamiya A householder stands next to the ruins of his neighbours' bombed home Nelofer Pazira

A younger boy lay on a hospital trolley, a doctor picking metal out of his face, all his limbs heavily bandaged. He was writhing in agony, moving his legs wildly, comforted by the director of the school, Sayed Kadayer. Outside, the street was lined by men and women, their heads and arms shaking in loss and mourning and disbelief. One middle-aged man was carried by two Red Crescent rescue workers  they wear orange suits and are of course less known than their opposite numbers who wear white helmets in eastern Aleppo  into the hospital, his legs collapsing beneath him as he realized his loss.

There was a bleak, frightening moment when a wounded man arrived, carried by his armed comrades, dripping blood and obviously in terrifying pain, crying out, bandages hanging off him but his camouflage clothes visible and bloody beneath a sheet. The other soldiers pushed the families aside. Hes from the front line, a doctor shouted. And so the dead children of western Aleppo were joined by a still living but gravely wounded soldier of the Syrian army of Bashar al-Assad whose name, I noticed, was carved in white marble on a wall opposite the elevator. He had, long ago in the days when no-one could have imagined the war  least of all him  officially opened this hospital.
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Exiled Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi has rejected a peace proposal presented to him by UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, a presidency source has said.

According to the source, Hadi "received Ould Cheikh Ahmed and refused to take the UN proposal" handed to him by the envoy on Saturday.

Contents of the roadmap, which the envoy presented to Shiite Houthi rebels currently in control of the country, has not been made public, but according to informed sources its terms include easing Hadi out of power.

Also on Saturday, Saudi-led coalition air strikes killed at least 10 civilians in a battleground town southeast of Yemen's third city Taez, according to the rebels, a medic and a loyalist official.



The rebel-controlled sabanews.net website said 10 people were killed and seven wounded when the strikes hit residential buildings in the town of Salo where clashes with government forces are raging. It also said rescue workers were still recovering bodies from under the rubble.



A doctor at the town's public hospital said it had received the bodies of 15 dead and was treating seven wounded.

Why Yemen's future threatens to destroy its past Show all 4 1 /4 Why Yemen's future threatens to destroy its past Why Yemen's future threatens to destroy its past Hugh McLeod Why Yemen's future threatens to destroy its past Hugh McLeod Why Yemen's future threatens to destroy its past Hugh McLeod Why Yemen's future threatens to destroy its past Hugh McLeod



A local official loyal to the Saudi-backed government said a child and seven women were among 11 people killed when two coalition air strikes hit three adjacent homes by mistake. "All those in the houses were killed," he told AFP.



The Saudi-led coalition has come under mounting international criticism for the high civilian death toll from the bombing campaign it launched in support of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi's government in March last year.



An October 8 strike that killed more than 140 people attending a funeral ceremony for the father of a rebel leader in the capital Sanaa, drew condemnation even from close Western allies.



The town of Salo has been the scene of fierce fighting for months as pro-Hadi forces attempt to advance towards Taez, where the government garrison is almost entirely surrounded by the rebels and dependent on a single supply line from the south.

 Theresa May can't give assurances that no civilians have been killed by British arms in Yemen



The rebels have been attempting to block the advance which would allow reinforcements to be brought up directly along the main road from the government's headquarters in second city Aden to the south.



Thousands of people have been forced from their homes by the fighting. The rebel news agency said that those killed in Saturday's air strikes were among them.



Nationwide, three million Yemenis have been driven from their homes since the Saudi-led intervention began.



Nearly 7,000 people have been killed, most of them civilians and more than 35,000 have been wounded.
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The United Nations has hailed British endurance swimmer Lewis Pughs Speedo diplomacy after 24 nations signed a landmark agreement to protect a vast area of Antarctica.

Mr Pugh, who is also the UN Environment Programme's Patron of the Oceans, last year completed a series of long-distance swims in the icy waters of the continent to raise awareness of the need to preserve the area. He has also made several visits to Moscow to persuade Russia to sign up to a protection plan.

On Friday the nations that make up the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) agreed a monumental deal to introduce a Marine Protected Area (MPA) in the region.

The milestone agreement, which was proposed by the USA and New Zealand and will come into force in December 2017, will impose a 35-year ban on commercial fishing in almost 600,000 square miles of the Ross Sea  one of the last wilderness areas on earth and the home to a number of protected marine species.

While the area, which is six times the size of the UK and equivalent to Germany, France and Spain combined, makes up just two per cent of the Southern Ocean, it is home to a number of protected and endangered species, including more than half the planet's South Pacific Weddell seals, a quarter of the worlds emperor penguins and six per cent of minke whales.

Officials and campaigners hailed the role played by Mr Pugh, who first started his campaign for protection of the Ross Sea two years ago.

UN Environment head Erik Solheim said: We are thrilled that this very special part of our planet's oceans has been safeguarded for future generations.

We are especially proud of our Patron of the Oceans, Lewis Pugh, who shuttled between the nations to help find consensus. Todays result is a testament to his determined efforts.

Stunning images of Antarctica Show all 10 1 /10 Stunning images of Antarctica Stunning images of Antarctica Antarctica Breathtaking glaciers Stunning images of Antarctica Antarctica A penguin dives from an ice block in front of Brazil's Comandante Ferraz base Stunning images of Antarctica Antarctica View of an iceberg in front of Argentinian Esperanza military base from the Brazilian Navy's Oceanographic Ship Ary Rongel Stunning images of Antarctica Antarctica View of Antarctica early in the morning after a snow shower Stunning images of Antarctica Antarctica View of China's military base in the King George island Stunning images of Antarctica Antarctica Giant tabular icebergs are surrounded by ice floe drift in Vincennes Bay in the Australian Antarctic Territory Stunning images of Antarctica Antarctica An inquisitive Adelie Penguin next to the stranded ship MV Akademik Shokalskiy, which is trapped in the ice at sea off Antarctica AFP/Getty Images Stunning images of Antarctica Antarctica Aerial view of South Korea's second Antarctic research station which was opened in a ceremony in Terra Nova Bay Stunning images of Antarctica Antarctica A colony of Emperor penguins and an elephant seal on Possession Island Stunning images of Antarctica Antarctica A turquoise lake (C) forms from melting snow near Cape Folger on the Budd Coast in the Australian Antarctic Territory

Mr Pugh said: I am overjoyed. The Ross Sea is one of the most magnificent places on Earth. It is one of our last great wilderness areas. This is a dream come true.

This is a crucial first step in what I hope will be a series of marine protected areas around Antarctica, and in other parts of the High Seas around the world.

Writing on his website, he said he was thrilled at the completion of a plan that had consumed my every waking hour  and most of my dreaming ones  for the past two years.

It was a very big moment in the history of conservation, he added.

Mr Pugh is a maritime lawyer, campaigner and endurance swimmer. In 2005 he became the first person to complete a long-distance swim in every ocean in the world.
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Grim prognostications already fill the air. Think the elections been terrible? Its only going to get worse. Trench warfare between Congress and the White House will intensify, they warn, signifying yet greater dysfunction in US politics.

Such is the standard wisdom in Washington right now, along with the expectation Hillary Clinton will win on 8 November, and take office as the most distrusted, suspicion-shrouded president of modern times. And therell be one very early indicator of whether the pessimism is correct: what happens with the Supreme Court.

Given that a president appoints its members, the Courts future inevitably looms large over every election. But never more so than in 2016  for two reasons. The failure of Congress to perform means that the judicial branch is now the second most influential of the three branches of US government, after the White House itself. Second, the Court itself is at an ideological turning point. If Clinton does become the 45th president, she may well have the chance to create the first reliably liberal court since 1971, when Richard Nixon was in office. The stakes, in short, could hardly be higher; and the potential for deadlock could not be greater.

But first an essential primer about how matters stand today. The Democratic White House and the Republican-controlled Senate which must confirm nominees to the Court have been at an impasse since the death in February of the conservative justice Antonin Scalia, which deprived the right of its longstanding five-four majority on the nine-member body.

What did Donald Trump say during the third presidential debate? Show all 9 1 /9 What did Donald Trump say during the third presidential debate? What did Donald Trump say during the third presidential debate? Mr Trump denying claims from a number of women that he sexually assaulted them This is all fiction, all fictionalised, probably or possibly started by her and her very sleazy campaign. I didn't even apologise to my wife who is sitting right here because I didn't even do anything Getty What did Donald Trump say during the third presidential debate? Mr Trump claiming the Russian leader had no respect for Mrs Clinton She doesn't like Putin because Putin has outsmarted her every step of the way. He has no respect for her. He has no respect for our President." Getty What did Donald Trump say during the third presidential debate? Mr Trump interrupting Mrs Clinton with one of his most scathing personal attacks yet as she explained her policy on social security Such a nasty woman Getty What did Donald Trump say during the third presidential debate? Mr Trump claiming Mrs Clinton shouldn't have been allowed to run for presidency and that the election is rigged She should never have been allowed to run. Shes guilty of a very very serious crime. She should not be allowed to run. And just in that respect, I say its rigged. Getty What did Donald Trump say during the third presidential debate? Mr Trump voicing his pro-life stance during the abortion debate Based on what she's saying ... you can take the baby and rip the baby out of the womb in the ninth month, on the final day, and that's unacceptable Getty What did Donald Trump say during the third presidential debate? Mrs Clinton suggesting this is not the first time Mr Trump has claimed results against him have been rigged There was even a time when Trump didn't get an Emmy for his TV programme three years in a row and he started tweeting that the Emmys were rigged Getty What did Donald Trump say during the third presidential debate? Mrs Clinton responding to Mr Trump's lewd comments about women Donald thinks belittling women makes him bigger. He goes after their dignity and self-worth Getty What did Donald Trump say during the third presidential debate? Mrs Clinton implying Mr Trump is a puppet of Russian president Vladimir Putin He'd rather have a puppet as president of the United States Getty What did Donald Trump say during the third presidential debate? Mrs Clinton comparing her political experience to Mr Trump's former television role On the day I was in the situation room monitoring the raid that brought Osama Bin Laden to justice he was hosting the Celebrity Apprentice Getty

President Barack Obama could have thrown down the gauntlet to Republicans by nominating a liberal as forceful and outspoken as Scalia. Instead he offered an olive branch by putting forward Merrick Garland, a centrist judge of impeccable credentials, respected by both sides, and who at 63 was not likely to stay on the Court for ever. Republicans however were having none of it.

Mitch McConnell, the Senate leader, refused even to consider the nomination, arguing that the American people should have their say on the matter, at the election. His calculation, of course, was that a Republican would win, and appoint a replacement for Scalia who ensured conservatives would retain their majority.

So the Court has soldiered on with eight members, and a proliferation of four-four tied votes that have prevented it from providing definitive rulings on a variety of important cases, involving abortion rights, immigration, and affirmative action. Now it looks as if McConnells calculation will prove wrong. It probably wont be a Republican president sorting out the mess.

What happens thereafter is anyones guess. One possibility is that McConnell and his troops settle for the lesser evil. After all, Merrick Garland is still around. So why not go ahead with hearings and a confirmation vote in the lame duck session of the outgoing Congress, between the election and the installation of the new Congress? The judge would win, and the Court might tilt a little left. But he is surely a more palatable option than a newcomer picked by a President Clinton. There are just a couple of snags. McConnell has said that Garland is a non-starter, even in the lame duck session. More seriously, one new justice is probably only the start of it.

Supreme Court nominations are like London buses. You wait for ages for one, then two or three come along together. If history is a guide, Hillary Clinton will be a one-term president  only twice in the past 80 years has the same party held the White House for three consecutive terms. But even if she serves only four years, she might be filling three more vacancies.

 Hillary Clinton email probe: Donald Trump hails decision to investigate new emails

Even the Supreme Court is not exempt from the laws of anno domini. Of the eight current justices, two of the liberal ones are 83 and 78 respectively, while Anthony Kennedy, the Courts pivotal justice who usually votes with the conservative faction, is 80.

None have given a clear sign they intend to resign soon, but all have been on the Court for more than 20 years  in Kennedys case for more than 30. If the three did step down, Clinton would be in a position to shape the ideological stance of the Court for decades  a legacy that might extend long after she has departed this earth.

For Democrats its a dream. Yes, Supreme Court justices are supposed to be non-activist and apolitical, but such niceties went out of the window with the five-four conservative-liberal split on Bush v Gore in 2000 that handed that election to George W Bush. Today, everything is a piece in the great political struggle, especially a small group of judges appointed for life, often called upon to take decisions that Congress either cant or wont take.

So imagine a Court that enshrines once and for all Roe v Wade, guaranteeing a womans right to an abortion. Or one that reinstates campaign finance restrictions, acts decisively to promote affirmative action and supports other liberal causes. But the Democrats dream is the Republicans nightmare. And the latter sound as if theyll do anything to prevent it.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz, runner-up to Donald Trump in the Republican primaries, has said eight justices are fine, implying his party will let new nominations just hang there in the wind. John McCain, the defeated Republican candidate of 2008 and arguably the partys most prestigious figure, has declared that Senate Republicans will be united against any Supreme Court nominee that Hillary Clinton, if she were president, would put up. The implication is that Republicans, even if they lose control of the Senate on 8 November, will filibuster any Clinton candidate to death.

Maybe this is mere bluster. Maybe a president Clinton and Senate Republicans will find common ground on the Court, that might even portend a thaw between the parties that would see them working together to solve the real problems facing America. Perhaps. More likely though, and especially after the FBIs re-examination of new evidence in the Clintons private email server scandal on Friday, it will be open warfare  warfare that has us looking back to election 2016 as light relief.
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Behind two bobbing placards  WOMEN FOR TRUMP  I saw The Donald speak in Virginia. He didnt see me. Tired, hoarse, grouchy  as if he was about to step off backstage and begin yelling why do I even f***ing bother  he didnt seem to be enjoying himself.

I had come expecting to see the Apprentice Fuhrer. But Donald Trump, barely able to smile and reading from a teleprompter, had the crinkled face of defeat. As his theme songs played, on repeat  You Cant Always Get What You Want  he seemed almost wistful, nostalgic for the fun of primaries.

And then he was gone.

In the three hours I waited for Trump to turn up, his speakers blaring Pavarotti, I got to a handful of the thousand-odd supporters who had turned up. I had come ready for the mood of the Munich beer hall. But that was just not the vibe. Smiley, friendly, comfortably off, this crowd was Mom and Pop; just a slice of your regular white American middle class.

 Donald Trump says US 'should just cancel the election' and call it in his favour as Hillary Clinton leads polls

They were not particularly hateful, nor were they particularly excited. There were some gross placards, some anti-Hillary chanting of Lock Her Up, but at the end, when Trump called on his supporters to shout  Trump! Trump! Trump!  to the cameras, most of them were turning back, laughing to their companions as they yelled at CNN.

That morning I had driven through fall colours out of Washington DC. Seen from Capitol Hill, Trump feels like a tear from classic Republicans: on Russia, on Wikileaks, on NATO, on free trade. The atmosphere of horrified apprehension of a Trump win exceeds anything conjured up in the Cold War spy thriller The Manchurian Candidate. But seen from this crowd in Virginia, in the eyes of regular middle-class Republican voters, Trump looked like more of the same than a marked change from classic Republicanism.

Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Show all 16 1 /16 Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump E Jean Carroll Author Carroll alleges that Trump pinned her against a wall and forced himself upon her in the changing rooms of a Manhattan department store in the mid-90s Getty Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Kristin Anderson Anderson alleges that Mr Trump touched her genitals while at a club in the early 1990s Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Jessica Leeds Leeds told the New York Times that Mr Trump groped her on an airplane in the 1980s BBC Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Natasha Stoynoff Stoynoff alleged that Mr Trump forcefully kissed her before an interview at his Mar-A-Lago estate in 2005 Everipedia Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Karena Virginia Virginia alleges Mr Trump groped her in 1998 outside of the US Open tennis tournament BBC News Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Temple Taggart Taggart claims Mr Trump gave her a kiss without consent during a rehearsal for a 1997 Miss USA pageant Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Summer Zervos The former Apprentice contestant alleged that Mr Trump kissed and groped her at a Beverly Hills hotel in 2007 Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Alva Johnson A former staffer for Trump's campaign, Johnson alleges that Trump forcibly tried to kiss her after a rally in August 2016 MSNBC Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Jennifer Murphy The former Apprentice contestant said Mr Trump "surprise kissed" her - but she said it did not bother her Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Jill Harth The makeup artist accused Mr Trump of "attempted rape" while in his daughter's room in 1997 Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Mindy McGillivray McGillivray alleges Mr Trump groped her at Mar-A-Lago in 2013 AP Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Rachel Crooks Crooks says that kissed her on the cheeks and mouth when she introduced herself to him in 2005 Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Mindy McGillivray McGillivray claims that Trump grabbed her backside at Mar-a-Lago in 2006 CNN Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Cassandra Searles The former Miss Washington alleges that Trump repeatedly grabbed her backside and invited her to his hotel room Getty Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Jessica Drake Drake claims that when she and two other women arrived to Trump's hotel room at his invitation, he arrived at the door in pyjamas and tightly hugged and kissed each of the woman without permission Getty Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Ninni Laaksonen The former Miss Finland claims that Trump squeezed her behind before they appeared together on the Late Show with David Letterman in 2006 EPA

A big break with Bush? They dont see it. This is why 82 per cent of Republicans are voting for Trump (as compared to 91 per cent of Democrats for Clinton).

Why Trump, I asked the crowd in Virginia. Were they here to stand up against globalist elites? Almost everyone I spoke to said they were there for red meat Republican issues: guns, God, abortion, taxes and bombing the hell out of the terrorists.

I spotted a man in a conspiracy site InfoWars t-shirt, but this was not a gathering in real life of Twitter trolls. Trumps followers here were typical Republicans, and thats exactly how they saw him in return.

Outside DC, where the voters might struggle to place Ukraine on a map or tell the difference between Nafta and Nato, they dont why Trump is different. Foreign policy treason? Forget it. What they see is a tough guy promising to build up the navy and bomb Isis to smithereens. To the crowd in Virginia he sounded just like Bush.

The longer I spent in the crowd, the more I realised they were so at ease with Trump because that which is supposedly so radical about him is, in fact, just Republican tradition.

Ranting about corrupt Washington? That builds on decades of attacks on corrupt big government. Endless dog-whistle class and dog-whistle race? This goes right back to Richard Nixon. I met with a lot of anti-Hillary ranting, but that is nothing new either. This election is the result of a 25-year Fox TV-driven delegitimisation campaign, where dozens of hacks have made careers convincing audiences that the Clintons could even be murderers.

Back in DC, it started to feel obvious that American conservatives are in denial about two things. First, that Trump represents a natural, logical continuity with decades of Republican rhetoric. Second, that most Trump voters are just like the people I met in Virginia: middle-class white Americans.

The same goes for his core support. The average pro-Trump household, supporting him in the primaries, earns $72,000 (59,000) a year. The national average is $56,000. This is mainstream America.

 Hillary Clinton email probe: Donald Trump hails decision to investigate new emails

Look at the data: Trump is polling at 51 per cent of the white American vote according to YouGov. Break this down between those with and without a college education and you discover Trump is polling 36 per cent and 55 per cent respectively, according to a recent ABC poll. Trump supporters are not all rednecks and rust belters, but in white America, they are all around you.

There has been an othering of Trump supporters as rust-belt hillbillies. Statistically, this doesn't add up  there are just not enough of them to have him polling 41 per cent. Nor have post-industrial whites really fuelled his support. Despite putting jobs and industrial outsourcing as the top line of his speeches, they have not added much to his ratings.

Trump wanted to flip Ohio, Wisconsin and Michigan to overturn Obamas electoral map. But Trump is only outpolling Mitt Romney in these states between 1 and 2 per cent.

Trumps 51 per cent of white America is not coming from there. But Donalds Brexit-levels of support in white America are no longer enough to clinch it for him. What was telling about the Trump rally I saw in Virginia was the extent that did not look like the nearby town Virginia Beach  or indeed real America at all. It was, I guessed, more than 99 per cent white. I spoke to the odd Korean or African American, but minority groups (now so influential in US election history) were conspicuously absent.

Recommended Read more The battle for the Supreme Court will continue for Clinton

The nearby town was only 64.5 per cent non-Hispanic white, and the crowd Trump had drawn was entirely in line with recent polling too. According to YouGov, Trump is only polling 1 per cent of the African-American vote and 22 per cent of the Hispanic vote. If he loses, this will be why.

Ronald Reagan, with an electorate 87 per cent white, could campaign with only them in mind. No American president can be elected on that ticket today  some 30 per cent of voters in this years election are expected to be non-white.

White America cant always get what it wants.
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Moonscape. Desert. Blitz. The past 100 years of war have turned all our words into cliches. I rage at every reference to the Second World War  because its over, because Hitler is dead, because we won and because we shouldnt dig up old graves to frighten future generations. But Beni Zeid is an exception.

It goes on for square miles and it is total destruction. This was the last great confrontation between the Syrian army and the Jabhat al-Nusrah fighters (yes, they are the Al-Qaeda of 9/11 infamy, although we have quite put that aside in our coverage of the Syrian war) as the door closed on eastern Aleppo and the siege of its people and defenders began this summer.

Beni Zeid lies on a hill to the north of the city and its pulverisation is total. The words Year Zero comes to mind when I look at it. Factories, warehouses, streets of laced ruins, crushed apartment blocks, cratered courtyards and roads, and what the Syrians described as a Nusrah explosives factory, destroyed with a massive bomb. Dropped by a Syrian or Russian pilot, we shall never know. But its detonation scattered at least 70 red-painted gas cylinders across the rubble.

The wreckage of industrial Stalingrad might be appropriate if we are talking in pictorial form, for there can be no repairs here. So crushed is the district of Beni Zeid that the Syrians will have to level these streets with bulldozers and start all over again. But the casualties were few; on 18 July this year, two Syrian army groups attacked this place from the north and west at almost the same time as they crossed the Castello road.

They lost few men. They took no prisoners. And we all know what that means.

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

They left the gas canisters where they were, ignored the craters and the cemeteries of streets and factories, and Beni Zeid became  as these places do in war  part of the front line, in this case the Syrian government front line around besieged eastern Aleppo. The pain and grief of its surrounded people have now become the latest Sarajevo in our popular history books, although I notice that the equally cruel Israel siege of the Lebanese and Palestinians in Beirut in 1982 is left out when comparisons are made. I wonder why?

Well, there we were amid this desolation of Beni Zeid when one of us spotted a vehicle that had been jammed by the bomb blast between the foundation walls of a factory perhaps 200 feet from the gas cylinders. The top of its roof could just be seen from the next street and it said AMBULANCE in big letters. In English.

We turned the corner. The Syrian military had not touched it. No one told us it was there. The bomb that destroyed the explosives factory (primitive though the factory was) had blasted the ambulance into the wreckage.

It was right-hand drive, so the vehicle was never made for Syrian roads. And it looked, albeit crushed, like an ambulance you might see on the streets of London or Manchester or Glasgow. But the registration plates were missing.

 Aleppo offensive

We overuse the word ironic in war  I admit I used it again this week  but the giant transfer painted on the side of the vehicle, in English, quite took our breath away. HAS YOUR HEART DIED ALONG WITH THE CHILDREN? it asked in capital letters.

What ghostly hand had plastered this frightening, horribly relevant legend along the side of this ambulance? I climbed in the drivers cab. I clambered up the shattered ladder through the back. There was no sign of blood.

But everything was in English. Fasten your seat belt. Even DRINK OR DRIVE: YOU DECIDE  which was not a question you need ask of the people of eastern Aleppo, since Nusrah and their 15 or so allied groupuscules (the figure is anyway contentious) are unlikely to encourage the pitiful civilians in their sector to touch alcohol. There were pieces of door frame and mudguards in the cab, but then on the right side of the wall of the ambulance was clear proof of this vehicles origin.

Eastern Aleppo (Nelofer Pazira)

This is what was printed in capitals in red ink: THE SCOTTISH AMBULANCE SERVICE WILL FULLY SUPPORT THE PROCURATOR FISCAL AND POLICE IN THE PROSECUTION OF THOSE WHO ASSAULT THEIR STAFFAMBULANCE STAFF HAVE THE RIGHT TO GO ABOUT THEIR DUTIES WITHOUT FEAR OF ATTACK...

Well, of course, whoever was going about their duties in this Scottish ambulance was very much attacked in Aleppo. As for assault or fear, there was plenty of that around Beni Zeid. There was rifle fire across this wasteland as we prowled through the ambulance and a big shell came crashing into the ruins a few hundred metres away as we inspected the vehicle and its contents.

So we should perhaps help the Scottish authorities  let alone the procurator general  to solve the mystery of this ambulance. On the steering column was the code: A 9014600104 (the first 4 was slightly scratched and might have been a 6).

There was a lens in the cab marked CAMERA OXYGEN which carried the code BS. EN 737-1: 1988. MFD [manufactured] 02/2006. B/no 18192. There was an in/out switch (perhaps for the rear doors), manufactured by Linax in Denmark, the item coded HB41000-00012 and marked DATE: 05.11.22 [sic] IP 65.

The makers code was O.C. 096451-0057. And for what its worth, the back of the drivers mirror  if that is what it was  carried the vehicle identity no as E367 44-3-5068 210 EG and then wv1zzz2D 2L z 6H014667, TYPE 2DF 292.

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But enough codes. This is a detective story, not a crime story. Many an ambulance was donated to Syria by foreigners at the start of its terrible war, always to opponents of the regime or the civilians in areas under their control. A sign in English on the cab of the vehicle read: EID IN SYRIA and the last Muslim Eid feast came after the destruction of Beni Zeid and the ambulance. So the vehicle could have been in Syria for more than a year.

Was it sent in by NGOS from Britain? Was it brought in  yes, the thought struck me  by one of those selfless men and women who tried to help the people of Syria before Nusrah and its ghastly on-again-off-again ally Isis came into existence, and who then fell into the fatal hands of the very same Isis murderers? Was it used by the people of eastern Aleppo and the surrounding countryside and then later seized by Nusrah for its own use? There was no sign that it had been carrying weapons  and Nusrah, after all, has its own wounded. There are Syrian army ambulances aplenty in western Aleppo  and its wounded militia opponents are as worthy of medical help as any soldier once they are hors de combat, even in a civil war.

So, until the Scottish Ambulance Service tells us to whom it gave (or sold) their ambulance  the procurator fiscal might find this out for us, although his writ does not run quite as far as Beni Zeid  this vehicle, built to save lives, will remain an unidentified skeleton amid the ruins of a Syrian bomb site. But the legend on its side remains to haunt us all.

Has your heart died along with the children? In this place, I fear the answer.
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It has been obvious for many years that one is not self-employed if one only has one client. It is disgraceful that the Government has been expressing pleasure that there has been a huge increase in self-employment since 2008 even though this is a manifestation of how difficult it has been to get a proper job.

Large numbers of currently self-employed people are suffering from unacceptably low incomes. The Government should not be calling this a sign of their success.

AE Baker

Thirsk

Why dont the marginal parties team up?

With the left wing of UK politics fragmenting as the right draws its unsavoury Ukip wing back in house, redrawing electoral boundaries to suit itself, the implications for a generation of right-wing hegemony must be clear. Is it therefore not time for the centre left, which together must comprises a majority electorate, to come together in a broad alliance?

Labour, Lib Dems, Greens and the Scottish and Welsh nationalists share similar views on many policies and could surely thrash out a common platform to avoid splitting the votes against the common enemy, avoiding the need for tactical voting. Some sacred cows would have to be put out to pasture but is this not better than the alternative?

Des Senior

Aylesbeare

Brexit regret is too little, too late

Sean OGrady is clearly suffering from a major case of buyers remorse in relation to his referendum vote in favour of Brexit. He now describes Brexit as hugely risky. I wonder in what other area of his life he would embark on a course of action that is hugely risky but might offer some prospect of a benefit at an unspecified date many years hence?

I suspect the answer is he wouldn't dream of embarking on such a course, and yet, by voting for Brexit, he was willing to commit the country to this path. Perhaps it was because as a comfortably-off baby boomer, the risk to him personally was significantly less than to millions of his less well off fellow citizens.

Douglas French

London N1

The people have spoken

I fear that Adam Posen's prediction is probably true (Brexit will cause stagflation, warns former BoE expert, 29 October). But he is an expert and so is not to be trusted. The people have spoken Brexit means Brexit. So Theresa May would jump across a 100 yard abyss because 52 per cent of the crowd shouted that they thought she could make it.

Chris Elshaw

Headley Down

We can all learn from I, Daniel Blake

I was saddened to read that I, Daniel Blake may be Ken Loachs last film, but if it is then it's a terrific way to bow out.

I saw the film last week with two generations of my family. At the end all of us were in tears. Many people in the cinema were crying and one person shouted out in anger at the end, we must do better than this in our rich society, and earned a round of applause. Incredibly, more than 50 people stayed on for a spontaneous discussion about what's happening to the welfare state and how we can organise to stop the sort of savagery revealed in Loachs drama. The discussion only ended when the hall was needed for the next showing. Anybody who wants to understand what the Government is doing to our welfare safety net in our name should see this poignant film.

Kevin Curley CBE

Duffield

Iain Duncan Smith has clearly not seen the whole I, Daniel Blake picture he describes. Had he done so he would have noticed that Ken Loach places Daniel Blake inside both Jobcentre and benefits offices while all around him the system is operating as expected, people queuing patiently, staff and claimants following procedure without censure, a scenario many who have visited these centers with recognise. The film does not vilify the institutions, staff or procedures of Jobcentre or benefits offices.

The film is about Daniel Blake who is a victim of confusion over definitions of a persons health and the right to claim support  a confusion that needs Duncan Smith's attention.

Mike Dodds

London W11
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Relief all round that the new Prime Minister has revived traditional collegiate government. She has brought back proper cabinet government with formal committees, reported Laura Kuenssberg, the BBCs Political Editor. She has started well, said Lord Tebbit, getting away from ad hoc decision making amongst a few chums.

Much was also made of Theresa Mays declaration, when she paused the go-ahead for Hinkley Point nuclear power station: I actually look at the evidence, take the advice, consider it properly and then come to a decision.

This all sounds lovely, but it is the purest moonshine. Even at this early stage, we can see that her cabinet is neither more collegiate nor more presidential than those of most of her predecessors. And taking her time over decisions is either a good thing or a bad thing depending, usually, on whether you agree with what she decides in the end.

Personally, I am agnostic on Hinkley and am opposed to the expansion of Heathrow, but I dont think the way the decisions were arrived at was relevant. In fact, she stopped Hinkley so abruptly that she put Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, in an awkward position, because he was still reassuring the Chinese investors it was going ahead. That was hardly collective decision-making.

The Heathrow decision, on the other hand, wound its way laboriously through the full pomp and ceremony of a cabinet committee followed by a formal decision of the full Cabinet. However, the main reason for that was to avoid a legal challenge to the procedure from the anti-Heathrow lobby. And even that was hardly traditional cabinet government. While the cabinet committee was meeting on Tuesday, journalists already knew what the decision would be, and were competing with each other to announce the point at which it had actually been made.

Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in  and who's out? Show all 27 1 /27 Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in  and who's out? Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in  and who's out? Andrea Leadsom Andrea Leadsom has been appointed Secretary for Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Getty Images Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in  and who's out? Priti Patel Priti Patel has been appointed International Development Secretary PA Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in  and who's out? Alun Cairns Alun Cairns will stay on as Welsh Secretary Reuters Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in  and who's out? Karen Bradley Karen Bradley is now Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Rex Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in  and who's out? Greg Clark Greg Clark has been appointed Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy PA Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in  and who's out? James Brokenshire James Brokenshire has been appointed as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland PA Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in  and who's out? Stephen Crabb Stephen Crabb has resigned as Work and Pensions Secretary PA Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in  and who's out? Theresa Villiers Theresa Villiers will not return as Northern Ireland Secretary. She was reportedly offered a role by Theresa May, but turned it down, saying it was not one she felt could take on Getty Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in  and who's out? Chris Grayling Chris Grayling has been appointed Transport Secretary PA Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in  and who's out? Damien Green Damien Green has been appointed Work and Pensions Secretary Getty Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in  and who's out? Liz Truss Liz Truss has been appointed Justice Secretary Getty Images Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in  and who's out? Patrick McLoughlin Patrick McLoughlin who was Transport Secretary has been appointed Tory Party chairman and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Getty Images Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in  and who's out? Justine Greening Justine Greening has been appointed as Education Secretary Getty Images Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in  and who's out? Gavin Williamson Gavin Williamson is to become the new Government Chief Whip Reuters Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in  and who's out? Jeremy Hunt Jeremy Hunt will continue as Health Secretary Getty Images Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in  and who's out? Nicky Morgan Nicky Morgan lost her job as Education Secretary Reuters Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in  and who's out? Michael Gove Michael Gove has been sacked as Justice Secretary Reuters Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in  and who's out? John Whittingdale John Whittingdale left his job as Culture Secretary EPA Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in  and who's out? Oliver Letwin Oliver Letwin, the Chancellor for the Duchy of Lancaster, has been sacked from his role in the cabinet PA Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in  and who's out? Philip Hammond The former Foreign Secretary has been made Chancellor EPA Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in  and who's out? Boris Johnson Leading Brexit campaigner is given the role of Foreign Secretary Getty Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in  and who's out? Amber Rudd Leading Remain campaigner takes Theresa May's old job of Home Secretary PA Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in  and who's out? Michael Fallon Stays as Defence Secretary AP Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in  and who's out? Liam Fox The former Defence Secretary is named as head of new Department for International Trade PA Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in  and who's out? David Davis The former shadow Home Secretary and leadership rival to David Cameron is named Secretary of State for Leaving the European Union - aka Brexit minister PA Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in  and who's out? George Osborne Gone as Chancellor - and fails to secure any new role in May's government GETTY Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in  and who's out? David Mundell The Conservative Party's only Scottish MP retains his role as Scottish Secretary Getty Images

As soon as the full Cabinet meeting was over, Chris Grayling, the Transport Secretary, was on TV explaining why it was the right decision for Britain. Which meant that a couple of hours later his Labour shadow  pub quiz question  was able to fulminate about ministers announcing decisions to the media before coming to the House of Commons. If you realise that opposition spokespeople have made this complaint for longer than I can remember, I suppose you could say that Andy McDonald (the answer to the pub quiz question) was merely upholding the ancient traditions of the unwritten British constitution.

In any case, not every stuffy traditionalist has been so impressed with Mays restoration of constitutionalist sticklerdom. Kenneth Clarke, a traditional cabinet government man down to his suede shoes, complained in the Commons the other day that the Prime Minister had announced the timetable for invoking Article 50, the procedure for leaving the EU, at Tory party conference without consulting the Cabinet.

For every plaudit for Mays return to collegiality there has been a complaint about her centralising control-freakery, about how she takes important decisions in a tight circle of her advisers.

As I was reminded twice this week, it was ever thus.

On Wednesday the Strand Group of Kings College, London, organised a conference at the Treasury to mark the 40th anniversary of the IMF crisis in 1976. Then, James Callaghan held nine cabinet meetings in three weeks before the final one that agreed the spending cuts needed to secure the IMF loan. That was either a masterclass in cabinet government, in the words of Baroness Jay, Callaghans daughter (who was later a cabinet minister in Tony Blairs government), or a show of weakness in the words of the late Edmund Dell, Trade Secretary in Callaghans Cabinet. The conference was reminded of Dells memoir, in which he said Callaghan should have told the Cabinet that he and Denis Healey, the Chancellor, had decided the cuts were needed, and that, if they didnt agree, they could resign  which they wouldnt.

The balance of opinion was in Baroness Jays favour: that Callaghan succeeded brilliantly in holding his government and party together at a time of national stress.

 Theresa May's Brexit strategy like a plan from Baldrick - Corbyn

Then on Friday Jon Davis, my Kings College colleague, invited Lord Butler, the former cabinet secretary, and Lord Hennessy, the great constitutional historian, to talk to his class on Prime Ministers and No 10. They traced the ebb and flow of collegiality versus presidentialism over the ages, from Walpole to the present day. Im not sure the noble lords would see it this way, but what I took from the seminar is that what matters is not procedure, which is always flexible, but what Professor Hennessy calls the emotional geography of power. Strong personalities tend to dominate government, but even the supposedly most collegiate prime ministers are more first than equals. For example, Clement Attlee, often held up as the model of the chairman type, went behind the back of his Cabinet  because he thought most of them couldnt be trusted  to authorise the building of Britains nuclear weapons.

Most new prime ministers claim to be restoring cabinet government. John Major did after Thatcher. Gordon Brown did after Blair. David Cameron did after Brown. But in all cases the extent to which a prime minister works collaboratively with colleagues depends on their ideological unity and the nature of the challenges facing them.

Cameron, for example, was forced to work closely with Nick Clegg in a coalition government, but the way he did it was not traditional cabinet government, it was the Quad of two leading Tories and two Lib Dems, a device improvised as they went along.

May faces the unique challenge of managing Brexit, with a Cabinet divided 15-7 between those who backed Remain and Leave in the referendum. She has cut down the number of non-cabinet ministers attending cabinet meetings, sensibly enough, but even in 1976 the Cabinet was not where the decision was really made. The repetitive meetings were a form of group therapy, as Baroness Jay put it, required to bring people together around a decision that was unavoidable.

Interesting though procedures may be, let us judge Theresa Mays policies on their merits, not on how the decisions were reached.
The downturn in farm profitability along with significant cash-flow issues across all farming sectors has been well highlighted in recent months.

The recent budget, through various means, tried to help with these problems. One area targeted by the budget was the access to low-cost funds for business.

While this is of huge benefit to the sector, it will only be valuable if used for the right reasons. Low-cost funds should not be used to disguise other fundamental profitability issues within the business.

One of the main pro-comments about the new loans is that they will replace other high-interest credit, for example merchant and/or bank. However, if a farm is struggling with making interest payments on capital loans or merchant credit, is a lower interest loan the long-term answer to the business cash-flow problems?

Will in fact more borrowings increase the cash-flow problems and effectively cover over more fundamental cash-flow/ profitability issues in the business?

While the loan is of massive benefit in the short term to the farm - a vital and necessary injection of cash - it could have long-term profitability issues for the business as the farmer may not be in a position to repay the money in the years to come.

If a business is in this situation it must look at its own cost base and earning potential as the business will need to raise additional funds to re-pay this loan.

Farmers must not ignore the most basic principles of borrowing money - it has to be paid back.

All borrowings - short, medium and long-term - should therefore be viewed in the same manner; are the borrowed funds going to make a return on investments (ROI); are these funds going to make the business more profitable and therefore allow the business to repay the money (plus interest) along with making an additional contribution to the business profits?

If the answer is NO to these questions, should you be really borrowing the money or should you be targeting the borrowings at an investment that will make a greater return?

Ultimately when borrowing money it will come down to this simple fact - can you afford to make the monthly/yearly repayments? In bank circles they call this 'repayment capacity'.

While the ability to repay money might not be there every year (for example in 2009, 2013 and again 2016), it has to be there in the majority of years. Options like interest-only don't last forever; at some stage capital repayments must be made to the lender.

As stated above, access to low-cost credit is going to be of huge benefit to the farming sector, but only if used for the right reasons. If the underlying farm is profitable at a reasonable commodity price and the business is more than able to meet its financial commitments, then of course borrowing money is a plausible and correct solution in helping in the current cash-flow crises, either as additional working capital or replacing existing high merchant credit/bank loans.

Solution

However, equally if the farm has been running at a cash loss in recent years or needs a high commodity price/yields, is borrowing money regardless of rates the correct solution?

While in theory the farmer wishes to use the money to pay for other debt or as working capital, it in fact ends up been added to overall debt - for example, loan used to pay down merchants or an overdraft, but 12 to 18 months later, creditor and overdraft are again back to current levels.

These farms need to review their entire farms financial performance and fundamentally ask themselves - will they be better or worse of in one to three years plus time? Where will they be when the next milk/beef/grain price crash happens or the next weather crisis? What happens if it's in 2017?

Restructuring and increasing debt can have a huge positive effect on business both in terms of increased profits and available cash to a business. But only if the underlying business is profitable and able to meet its yearly financial obligations - your own personal drawings, revenue, bank repayments and possible capital investments.

Farmers need to continually review and be honest about their financials. Is the farm profitable? Can the farm meet its financial commitments? Is the farm reliant on unrealistic average prices to make it profitable?

Every business regardless of sector needs to be critical when analysing its own performance. If a farm isn't able to meet its financial commitments at a reasonable commodity price, what steps does the farmer need to make to bridge this gap?

The answers to these questions can't be simply to borrow more money and ignore all other aspects of the business.

Philip O'Connor is an agriculture support manager at Ifac Accountants in Cahir, Co Tipperary
The InterContinental Hotel in Ballsbridge in Dublin, which was bought by John Malone in 2015

US billionaire John Malone last year booked a 9.34m gain on the value of his new five-star InterContinental Hotel in Dublin's Ballsbridge.

In March of last year, the businessman paid a reported 50m for the hotel that formerly operated under the Four Seasons banner.

New accounts for the hotel show the firm recorded a pre-tax profit of 10.56m in the 15 months to the end of December last - largely as a result of the 9.34m gain in the value of the property following an independent revaluation.

The accounts show that the firm's gross profit during the 15 months totalled 10m - a 61pc increase on the gross profit of 6.2m in the prior 12 month period.

The company also benefited from a 2.1m gain arising from the forgiveness of a 1.5m inter-company loan and the write back of accruals totalling 611,781.

A note states that the exceptional items occurred as a result of the sale of the company during the financial period.

Numbers employed by the hotel fell from 334 to 306, with staff costs reducing from 11.88m to 6m.

The pre-tax profit takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of 442,996.

The 9.3m increase in value of the hotel property resulted in a book value of 22.5m at the end of December last.

The InterContinental was sold to Mr Malone by London & Regional which acquired the hotel in 2011 for 15m - a figure believed to be about a quarter of what it cost to develop it.

Mr Malone recently added the Spencer, Morgan and Beacon hotels to his growing Irish portfolio that also includes the Westin Hotel in Dublin.
CRAFT brewer Wicklow Wolf is to expand thanks to 2m in funding.

The money, being provided by The Halo Business Angel Network (HBAN), Enterprise Ireland, and InterTradeIreland, will help the business open a new and larger brewery.

Wicklow Wolf is looking to expand domestically and also into the US, Asia, and Europe over the next five years. The new brewery will enable a 15-fold increase in production and will provide 20 new jobs.

Wicklow Wolf chief executive Quincey Fennelly said the firm wanted a solid base at home before it started selling abroad.

"As soon as we started brewing, the local support we received from the people in Wicklow was unbelievable and it continues to be just as strong.

"We feel that now we are well-positioned to bring Wicklow Wolf to the next level and the investment will be crucial to that," he said.

He and co-founder Simon Lynch began brewing in August 2014 and sold their first beer a month later to Bray's Harbour Bar.

The move shows further confidence in the Irish craft brewing industry, which is tipped to reach 58m in turnover this year, up 48pc on 2015.
Aer Lingus remains on track to launch a new transatlantic service in time for next summer and to rejoin the Oneworld alliance in 2017, according to IAG chief executive Willie Walsh.

Third-quarter results released by IAG show the Irish carrier, which IAG acquired for 1.36bn in 2015, continues to post strong profitability during its peak summer months.

IAG, which also owns British Airways, Iberia and Vueling, didn't reveal the actual third-quarter profit figure for Aer Lingus, but Mr Walsh pointed to the fact that it had a 29.7pc operating margin in the period.

That was significantly more than the 18.6pc reported by British Airways, the 17.4pc at Vueling and the 15.9pc at Iberia.

IAG's third-quarter operating profit fell to 1.2bn from 1.25bn in the corresponding period in 2015, dented by the fall in sterling, as well as other issues such as air traffic control strikes.

The group also cut its full-year profit forecast. It now expects to make a profit of about 2.5bn, compared to a previous estimate of 3.2bn.

The return on invested capital at Aer Lingus was 20.6pc over the past four quarters. That's the strongest in the group, and well above the grow-wide target of 15pc set by IAG.

"The Aer Lingus performance is very impressive and we expect that to continue," said Mr Walsh.

"Aer Lingus is trading very much in line with what we would have expected when we acquired the business. It's probably slightly better than we would have expected, but not significantly out of line with our expectations."

Mr Walsh added that for the full-year at IAG, British Airways will continue to be the biggest contributor to profitability, but that Aer Lingus, which is headed by Stephen Kavanagh, will tussle with Iberia for second place. IAG is 20pc-owned by Qatar Airways.

Mr Walsh also said that negotiations that will see Aer Lingus join a joint venture that includes British Airways and American Airlines and operates across the North Atlantic, are "progressing well". The joint venture sees American and British Airways share revenue.

The model helps them to deepen their network penetration, and coordinate schedules and pricing.

Mr Walsh said Aer Lingus will initially do more code-sharing with American before joining the venture.

"Then it's how we bring them [Aer Lingus] into the joint business," he said.

"Aer Lingus is unique in terms of how it operates and can operate on the transatlantic, and therefore we need to ensure that flexibility is retained and not in any way inhibited by being part of the joint business.

"We don't want a straitjacket placed on Aer Lingus," the chief executive said.

Mr Walsh said that American previously "didn't fully understand the Aer Lingus model", and that it now "better understands" the opportunity that Aer Lingus presents, both as a standalone entity and as part of an alliance.

Mr Walsh also insisted that a third runway at Heathrow Airport is "by no means a done deal" and that the next 12 months will determine whether it goes ahead or not.

The UK government has just selected Heathrow as the preferred location for a third runway to serve London.
Whatsapp has been warned by EU data officials to stop sharing users' information with Facebook until further notice.

The European Union's 28 data protection authorities said in a statement they had serious concerns about WhatsApp's recent change in privacy policy in which it would share users' phone numbers with Facebook.

It was the first policy change since Facebook bought the messaging service in 2014.

The authorities, known as the Article 29 Working Party (WP29), requested that WhatsApp stop sharing users' data with Facebook until the "appropriate legal protections could be assured" to avoid falling foul of EU data protection law.

WhatsApp's new privacy policy involved the sharing of information with Facebook for purposes that were not included in the terms of service when users signed up, raising questions about the validity of users' consent, the regulators said.

A WhatsApp spokeswoman said the company was working with data protection authorities to address their questions.

"We've had constructive conversations, including before our update, and we remain committed to respecting applicable law," she said.

Facebook has had run-ins with European privacy watchdogs in the past over its processing of users' data. However, the fines that regulators can levy are paltry in comparison to the revenues of the big U.S. tech companies concerned.

Meanwhile, Apple has vigorously defended a tax settlement in Italy led by one of its senior Irish-based executives.

The company agreed to a settlement of 45,000 for unpaid taxes in the country without any finding of law-breaking.

Michael O'Sullivan, head of Apple's Irish-based unit, Apple Sales International, agreed the tax settlement with Italian authorities.

"Michael has agreed to settle this case on behalf of Apple in order to put the matter behind us," a spokesman for Apple told the Irish Independent.

"He has our full confidence and support and remains an important part of our management team in Europe."

The case was the first of its kind to be brought against any Apple employees in Europe relating to unpaid taxes.

Italian prosecutors swooped on Apple's offices in 2013 and alleged that the company's scheme for redirecting revenues to Ireland was illegal under Italian law.

However, Apple says that it adhered to all Italian legal guidance from authorities.

"Apple has always complied with the instructions we received from the Italian tax authorities and during a tax audit in 2012 the authorities again confirmed we were filing our local tax returns correctly," said the Apple spokesman.

"In 2015 the tax authority contradicted its guidance and said they now believed Apple had not filed its returns from the correct entity. When the authorities changed their view we complied."

The Apple spokesman said that Michael O'Sullivan acted properly at all times.

"Michael O'Sullivan has worked for Apple for over 25 years and has always operated with the highest integrity," said the spokesman.

"He is a valued member of our finance team and his responsibilities include oversight of the team filing some of our international tax returns and other regulatory requirements since 1999."

(Additional reporting Reuters)
Bob Dylan said he 'absolutely' wants to attend December's Nobel Prize award ceremony Photo: PA

Bob Dylan has said he was left "speechless" after learning he had become the first musician to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

The 75-year-old was controversially handed the prestigious accolade earlier this month for "having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition".

The Swedish Academy said Dylan acknowledged the prize for the first time this week in a phone conversation.

They said he told Sara Danius, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy: "I appreciate the honour so much."

And he said: "The news about the Nobel Prize left me speechless"

After failing to comment on the award immediately after it was announced, Dylan was called "impolite and arrogant" by an official from the Academy.

But yesterday he said he "absolutely" wants to attend December's Nobel Prize award ceremony "if it's at all possible".

He said being awarded the prize was "hard to believe", adding that it was "amazing, incredible."

"Whoever dreams about something like that?" he asked.

Dylan became the first American to win the literature prize since 'Beloved' author Toni Morrison in 1993.

His win was praised by literary figures and critics, with a leading academic hailing him as the Tennyson of our times.

Professor Seamus Perry, chair of the English Faculty at Oxford University, described Dylan as "one of the greats", saying: "He is, more than any other, the poet of our times, as Tennyson was of his: representative and yet wholly individual, humane, angry, funny, and tender by turn; really, wholly himself, one of the greats."

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The decision was not received well by everyone. 'Trainspotting' author Irvine Welsh said: "I'm a Dylan fan, but this is an ill-conceived nostalgia award wrenched from the rancid prostates of senile, gibbering hippies."
The scene after the crash in Smithfield Photo: Mark Condren

A three-month-old baby girl was among eight people injured following a crash between a Luas tram and an open-top tourist bus in Dublin's Smithfield.

A spokesperson for the Temple Street Children's Hospital last night confirmed that the infant was brought to the hospital following the crash at around 11am yesterday.

She was kept in the emergency department for about four hours for observation before being discharged.

The accident between an outbound tram on the Luas Red Line and a Dublin Cityscape 'hop-on, hop-off' bus brought service on the line to a halt after seven ambulances were dispatched to the scene to take the injured to hospital.

Expand Close A tour bus and Luas crashed on Lincoln Lane in Smithfield Photo: Mark Condren / Facebook

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Whatsapp A tour bus and Luas crashed on Lincoln Lane in Smithfield Photo: Mark Condren

Service resumed at 12.40pm but the crash caused delays on the line for several hours.

The collision occurred at the Smithfield stop near the Four Courts and Lincoln Lane, which is controlled by a traffic light.

Expand Close Emergency services at the scene after a tour bus and a Luas tram crashed in Dublin yesterday Photo: Mark Condren / Facebook

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Whatsapp Emergency services at the scene after a tour bus and a Luas tram crashed in Dublin yesterday Photo: Mark Condren

Three separate investigations are under way by gardai, the Commission for Railway Regulation and Transdev, which operates the Luas.

"As far as we are aware there were eight people, four were described to me as 'walking wounded', who have gone off to local hospitals," Transdev chief Gerry Madden, who was at the scene, said.

Expand Close Passengers shown getting off the Luas after the incident (Photo: John Donnelly) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Passengers shown getting off the Luas after the incident (Photo: John Donnelly)

"The most important thing is making sure they and our drivers are OK. But the number one priority is making sure that we understand what happened and that the people who've been injured are OK.

"I saw the driver of the bus and he was obviously shaken. He's been taken off to a local hospital. I don't know the mix (of the injured) but I think there was some people on the tram who have since gone off to hospital."

Expand Close The incident occurred at approximately 11am on Friday morning at Smithfield in the city centre (Photo: Mark Condren) / Facebook

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Whatsapp The incident occurred at approximately 11am on Friday morning at Smithfield in the city centre (Photo: Mark Condren)

Work crews were mopping up shattered glass that littered the road and footpaths while the bus remained at the scene yesterday. Evidence of the impact of the crash could be seen on the driver's side of the bus, as the windscreen was shattered and the section of windscreen near the front door was sheared off.

"I'm still in a bit of shock. I was just sitting when I heard a massive bang and crunching of glass, and then everyone just started helping people get off," eyewitness Una Kavanagh told the Irish Independent.

"The bus seemed to hit the Luas while it was still moving and then, because it was moving, all the side of the carriage, all the glass on the side shattered too.

"There were a lot of people in shock and a few people were being looked after at the very front where the driver is. Some couldn't stand up. There was glass everywhere.

"It was just very out of the blue. I'm just hoping that people are OK because it looked like a lot of people were in shock."

Ramanathan Murugesu, who owns the doughnut and coffee kiosk at the Luas stop, said he heard a loud bang and the sound of shattering glass.

"There was a big, loud bang and then you could see all the shattered glass. A few of the passengers had dropped to the floor of the tram," he said.

"I saw a lady (on the top deck of the bus) and the driver walking out fine, although the driver looked a bit panicked all right."

There have been 19 collisions involving the Luas this year.

We've fire units & adv paramedics attending a #Luas vs tour bus RTC in #Smithfield. NAS also on scene. Pics  @gerrycurran @JohnXDonnelly pic.twitter.com/PKaYQcIgcu  Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) October 28, 2016

Seen from Workday building: sightseeing bus crashed into one of Dublin's light rail trains #luas pic.twitter.com/ARURSJRBrw  Lindsey George (@lindsey_george) October 28, 2016
A catering assistant, who claimed she suffers ongoing whiplash-type injuries since she slipped on human faeces while working at St James's Hospital in Dublin, has been awarded 16,000 damages in the Circuit Civil Court.

Rachel Mooney (41) told the court that on the morning of February 10, 2013, she had been carrying trays with dishes to a "darkish" bedroom in the William Wilde ward of the hospital when she slipped on faecal matter and fell backwards.

Mooney (pictured below) told her barrister, Caroline Williams, that a ward attendant and a nurse came to her assistance after hearing the loud noise of the trays and dishes hitting the floor.

She said her trousers were covered with faeces and she felt "totally embarrassed".

She had felt pain in her neck, head and shoulders.

Mooney, a mother of two, of Priory Hall, Terenure, Dublin, said she felt stiffness in her upper body the following day and attended physiotherapy sessions.

She told Judge Francis Comerford that she has ongoing pain in her arm and experiences difficulties carrying and lifting. She sued St James's Hospital for negligence. The hospital denied negligence and claimed the faeces had been on the floor for only a short period of time. It alleged that a patient had been "taken short" while on their way to the toilet.

The hospital also argued that night lights had been on and the spillage had been visible. It claimed that Ms Mooney's ongoing injuries were due to a degenerative condition.

Judge Comerford said he was satisfied that Ms Mooney's place of work had been unsafe that day and found the hospital negligent. He initially awarded Ms Mooney 32,000 damages but found her to be 50pc liable for contributory negligence, and reduced her award to 16,000.
'The abuse happened on dozens of occasions for two years between 1983 and 1985 when the girls were aged five and seven' (stock photo)

A bus driver has been sentenced to four and half years in prison after pleading guilty to indecently assaulting two sisters after he tricked them into playing 'sweet games' while he abused them.

Cathy and Caroline Brady waived their anonymity in a bid to name abuser Leo McFarland.

McFarland (57) of Millfield, Buncrana had originally pleaded not guilty to a total of 53 charges against the sisters in the kitchen of his home and in his mini-bus in Co Donegal.

The abuse happened on dozens of occasions for two years between 1983 and 1985 when the girls were aged five and seven.

McFarland, a father-of-five daughters, dramatically changed his plea and admitted to the charges against the women after the first sister, Cathy, gave her evidence.

His case was put back until yesterday for a probation and psychological report to be carried out.

McFarland was a neighbour of the victims at the time of the abuse on Convent Road, Carndonagh and was friendly with the two victims and their family.

The women revealed how their attacker would assault them in his kitchen while the other girls waited outside in the hall.

He would play games with them and ask the girls to put their hands into his pockets to retrieve sweets and keys.

"He would ask us to look for sweets in his pocket. There would be a hole (in his trouser pocket). He would say 'move about more and more and squeeze and look for it'. It was his penis. There was never sweets," Cathy previously told the court.

Judge John O'Hagan sentenced McFarland to four and a half years for each of the 11 sample charges and ordered the sentences to run concurrently.

He also placed McFarland on the sex offenders register.

The sisters said they were pleased that their attacker had been jailed for four and a half years. They said they felt a huge sense of relief but were still annoyed that McFarland had not apologised or shown any sign of remorse.

Cathy said: "Thank God it is now finally over and we can move on with the rest of our lives."
Northern Ireland's High Court has dismissed the UK's first legal challenge to the Brexit decision.

Mr Justice Paul Maguire ruled that there was nothing in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement to prevent the UK government from triggering exit negotiations with the EU.

He said the implications for Northern Ireland were still uncertain.

A cross-party group of politicians had claimed the Stormont Assembly should have a say on whether to begin talks.

Raymond McCord, whose son was murdered by loyalist paramilitaries, had a separate Brexit challenge heard alongside that of the politicians at the Belfast court.

Mr Justice Maguire said: "While the wind of change may be about to blow, the precise direction in which it will blow cannot yet be determined so there is a level of uncertainty, as evidenced by the discussion about how the Northern Ireland land border with Ireland was affected by withdrawal from the EU."

Some 56pc of Northern Irish voters backed Remain but some unionist-dominated areas supported Leave.

The largest party in Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionists, campaigned for an exit.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "Obviously we welcome the court's judgment this morning. It agrees that we can proceed to trigger Article 50 as planned.

"But I think what's important to stress, one of the concerns that was raised during this court case is that there is no reason to think that the outcome of the referendum will do anything to undermine the rock-solid commitment that the Government has to the settlement that was set out in the Belfast Agreement and to the people of Northern Ireland."

Mr McCord said he was disappointed but vowed to take his case to the Supreme Court - the UK's highest court.

The politicians said they had a mandate from the majority in Northern Ireland who opposed Brexit to continue to oppose it.

The Belfast case was heard earlier this month and concentrated on the impact on the Northern Ireland constitution of Prime Minister Theresa May's proposed action.

Mr Justice Maguire said he was not aware of any specific provision in the Good Friday Agreement or the 1998 Northern Ireland Act which established that UK withdrawal from the EU required the consent of the people of Northern Ireland.

He said if such a limitation existed, it would be reasonable to have expected it to have been highlighted before the June referendum.

The judge said it was difficult to see how the court could overlook the fact the UK parliament had retained the ability to legislate for Northern Ireland without any special procedure.

He said the royal prerogative power of the prime minister to launch negotiations was not one in which the court could intervene, adding: "Any suggestion that a legitimate expectation can overwhelm the structure of the legislative scheme is not viable."

The judge said: "It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that a decision ...following a national referendum is anything other than high policy.

"Accordingly, it seems to fit well into the area of prerogative powers which are unsuitable for judicial review."
A man will appear before Dublin District Court this evening charged in connection with an ongoing human trafficking investigation.

In a statement gardai said the 38-year-old male was arrested in Dublin earlier on Saturday afternoon as part of a four year investigation.

Gardai said: "In February 2012 an investigation was commenced by members of An Garda Siochana attached to Operation Quest, Garda National Protective Services Bureau, into human trafficking of Polish nationals into the state by organised criminal groups for the purpose of sexual exploitation. "

Gardai said that during the course of the investigation a number of female victims were identified and interviewed by officers.

Those identified are continuing to receive support from Ruhama and the HSE.

A total of five suspects were arrested and detained under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act, 2007. They were released without charge and a comprehensive investigation file was forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

This is the second person to face charges following a four year long investigation.

A male aged in his 30s was charged before a sitting Athlone District Court under Human Trafficking legislation on October 26.

The investigation was led by Gardai attached to Operation Quest, Garda National Protective Service Bureau and supported by the Human Trafficking Investigation and Co-ordination Unit, Drugs & Organised Crime Bureau, National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, District Detective Units based at Store Street and Athlone Garda Stations.

Gardai say that valuable assistance was also provided by the Polish National Trafficking Unit, the Police Service of Northern Ireland, Europol and Interpol.
Wojciech Gendarz, 38, arrives at the criminal courts of justice where he was charged with trafficking a person with the purposes of sexual exploitation. Picture: Damien Eagers

A man has been charged under human trafficking legislation with bringing a woman to Ireland to work in the illicit vice trade.

Wojciech Ganders (38) appeared at a special District Court sitting on Saturday evening where he was charged with trafficking a woman for the purposes of sexual exploitation.

The man was arrested in Dublin on Saturday afternoon after travelling from Poland.

A Garda who gave evidence of arrest and caution said the defendant denied the charge when put to him.

An application by the defendants lawyer to exclude the media was denied by Judge John Coughlan who said: Justice must be seen to be done.

Gendarz was remanded in custody with consent to bail set at 10,000 with an independent cash surety of 10,000.

Gardai sought a number of bail conditions including the accused is not allowed direct or indirect contact with any person connected with the investigation.

Gendarz must also sign on at a Garda station three times a week, surrender all travel documents and provide Gardai with a mobile phone number in which he can be contacted.

He was remanded to appear at Cloverhill District Court on November 3.
The sister of a man who suffered a heart attack while their home was being burgled pleaded with the intruders to help but nobody came to her aid, a court heard yesterday.

Details of the evidence were heard at the sentencing hearing of cousins David and Michael Casey at Limerick Circuit Court.

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Both men pleaded guilty to breaking into John O'Donoghue's home on August 27, 2015.

The 62-year-old bachelor collapsed and died of a heart attack as he watched the two defendants ransacking his cottage in Doon, Co Limerick.

David Casey was on bail for two robberies at the time, the court heard.

Christina O'Donoghue told gardai: "I called on them to help but no one came to help. By then, I didn't care they were in the house. I just wanted somebody to help my John."

The defendants were part of a three-man gang that went around the country targeting isolated rural communities, John O'Sullivan, prosecuting, told the court.

The two cousins pleaded guilty to a spate of burglaries in the south-east Limerick and Tipperary border regions on the day. The court was told that a third man, not before the court, who drove the gang's getaway car, is still at large.

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Mr O'Donoghue and his sister Christina had returned home around 2pm from a shopping errand in Tipperary town when they interrupted the gang.

Sergeant Mike Reidy told the court: "They became suspicious someone was in the house. John approached a side door and saw it had been broken.

"John O'Donoghue got a shovel out of his shed, as he was concerned for his safety. He stood near the house. His sister knew by him that he wasn't feeling great. He collapsed down in the yard.

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"His sister tried her best to resuscitate him."

The driver of the getaway vehicle sped off, while the two cousins who had been "ransacking the house" fled through fields at the rear of the cottage.

A number of local people alerted gardai after spotting the pair running along the road.

Gardai Bill Collins and Elaine O'Donovan, who had arrived on scene and tried in vain to resuscitate Mr O'Donoghue, later apprehended the two men about 2km away on the side of the road.

A post-mortem was carried out by State Pathologist Professor Marie Cassidy, which revealed Mr O'Donoghue had "an enlarged heart and significant coronary disease".

However, the autopsy concluded Mr O'Donoghue's death "cannot be separated from the circumstances that occurred".

In a victim impact statement written on behalf of the O'Donoghue family, Angela Denning, a niece of the deceased, said: "Words cannot describe the impact of this break-in on our family. We lost a kind, clever, talented and very witty man. We miss him terribly."

Adjourning sentencing to December 15, the judge expressed his sympathies to the O'Donoghue family, saying: "I don't wish to prolong matters but I have a duty to consider everything I have heard."
The scene of the shooting in Swords.

The scene of the shooting in Swords.

The scene of the shooting in Swords.

The scene of the shooting in Swords.

SEASONED criminal Tommy The Zombie Savage narrowly escaped an attempt on his life just days before Halloween  a time of the year he previously feared he would be killed.

The 66-year-old former INLA gangster, who is believed to have imported large quantities of drugs into Ireland, was shot at several times in Swords last night.

He was targeted as he was pulling into a driveway and jumped out of the car and ran. Four bullet holes were seen in the windscreen. A local source said he was lucky to escape with his life.

Up to two gunmen fled the scene, and a black Audi believed to have been used in the shooting was found burned out in a lane nearby.

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Gardai are probing whether the attack was linked to an INLA feud over missing cash, which was also thought to have been the reason behind another failed hit this year.

In July, Christopher Maguire survived being shot at his home in Lusk, Co Dublin.

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Sources said last nights shooting could be the latest development in a row in the so-called New INLA faction over extortion cash.

Some of Maguires associates are suspected of being involved in the murder of Gareth Hutch, but it is not clear if either of the shootings is linked in any way to the Kinahan-Hutch feud.

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The scene of last nights shooting remained sealed off for forensic investigators to examine Savages bullet-damaged car at Rathbeale Crescent.

Two windows in the silver- coloured Renault Clio were shattered. The front-seat pass-enger window was hit and the passenger window behind the driver was also damaged.

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A 52-year-old local woman said she thought the shots were fireworks.

I heard the bangs. There were a few clips. I thought it was just Halloween fireworks, she said.

A 30-year-old man living in nearby Mooretown Estate said: I heard six shots. I knew straight away it was gunfire. It sounded like six thuds.

I went and got into my car and drove down to the scene, but all I saw was the empty car.

Some locals said they saw Savage after the shooting.

I saw him surrounded by guards. He had run across to the JC supermarket, which was crowded at the time, one man said.

When I saw him, he was coming out of the supermarket with about five guards all around him. He got into an ambulance.

Savage is believed to be a key associate of George The Penguin Mitchell and has convictions for armed robbery, theft and violence and became involved with the INLA in the late 1970s.

He was jailed in Greece in 2006 for smuggling 50m of cannabis.

In his book, Gangland, Paul Williams described him as feared by practically everyone.

He was among the most successful terrorists-turned-drug dealers in the business, he said.
With uncertainty hanging over the next half of the school term, students, and parents, are likely to be wondering how they can maximise their time, if school life is disrupted.

While the situation is less than ideal, there are a number of things that students, especially exam candidates, can do to keep the impact of any school closures to a minimum.

Students who are sitting exams this year will need to approach their work slightly differently from those who are not, and younger students cannot be expected to work independently for the same length of time as we might expect from older students.

Next week is mid-term break when all schools are closed. Exam students are likely to have been assigned work from their teacher to be completed over mid-term, such as completion of projects, assigned revision or essays. Mid-term gives students the opportunity to work on tasks that take a little more time as well as doing this work without being exhausted.

For Leaving Certificate candidates, revising fifth year work practice questions will be really helpful. Exam year students should make a plan for the week, which is realistic, and follow it.

For non-exam years, mid-term is about relaxing and recuperating. Rest is essential to allow students to perform to their best next term. However, any student who finds their first term has not worked out as intended may take some time to get themselves back on track.

The question arises as to what students should do if their school is closed for a day or days after November 7.

In the event that schools close after mid-term, either indefinitely or for the flagged strike days, all students should use this time to consolidate their learning by working at home.

As with the mid-term break, study during school closures may be approached differently depending on the year group. Where possible, teachers are likely to give guidance to their students on how they should spend their time. They may assign extra work or suggestions topics for revision. As we are entering unknown territory this may not be possible.

Juniors students who are not in an exam year should consider doing two subjects a day. They can begin by revising for the Christmas exams and ensuring they are familiar with all that has been covered this term.

Children of this age group will find maintaining even this level of study a challenge as it may not be something they have done before. Revision will put them well ahead. As first years don't have work from previous years to return to they might consider reading ahead in the text book (however, this is in no way essential). When the teacher gets to this topic the students will already be familiar with it, which will result in quicker learning and better retention when it is covered for the second time in class. This can be a helpful study technique for anyone who finds it difficult to retain information taught in class.

When the situation is resolved all teachers will be working hard to get the courses finished. Therefore the pace of work is likely to increase. Ensuring that they fully understand content that has already been taught means that students will have the necessary knowledge to work at this pace when they return.

Few young people have the self-discipline and focus needed to maintain work and focus for longer periods of time when away from school, so it is a good idea to follow the school timetable. This will put structure on the day.

Students should get up at the normal time and begin working at the time school normally starts. For example, if a student normally has English class for 40mins at 9am, then at 9am they should work on English for 40mins. They should also follow the daily timetable for taking breaks and lunch. In order to maximise the time, students should decide in advance what they would like to achieve that day and write it down.

As part of their planning, students should create a list of goals for each subject and set out the time in which they would like to achieve them. Once they have completed any work that teachers have suggested, Leaving Certificate students can use this time to work on practice questions and revise fifth year work. Finally, all students may find that they have fewer opportunities to participate in sports, activities and see their friends while schools are closed.

These are all important aspects of school life and key to maintaining good mental health. As well as academic work, students and parents might consider including time in the day to meet friends, do some exercise and get outside. Maintaining a balance in life is an essential part of being a successful student. Students should trust that teachers will get them to where they need to be when it has passed. By using time away from school to revise and learn content that has been covered, students will have time to cover new content when the time comes.

Aoife Walsh is a guidance counsellor at Malahide Community School, Co Dublin.
Central Bank Governor Professor Philip Lane has warned that there could be a flood of financial services firms leaving the UK as a result of Brexit.

He said his officials had been having "substantive discussions" with companies considering their options about what might happen.

Dublin has been tipped as a possible contender in attracting financial services operations either which are already based in London, or thinking twice about setting up in the UK, in the wake of the Brexit vote.

Prof Lane also reiterated that there are major risks for the Irish economy from the vote on June 23.

The Governor said post-Brexit it is unlikely that financial activity will cluster in a specific area, as no location offers a close substitute to London.

He said if an agreement is struck between the UK and EU that allows UK-based finance firms to sell into the EU, there will be little impact.

But he added: "In scenarios in which UK-resident firms are no longer treated as equivalent to EU firms for regulatory purposes, it is likely that significant migration of financial activity from the UK to the EU will occur."

Dublin is vying with other European capitals, such as Paris and Berlin, for foreign investment displaced by the Brexit vote.

The Government has also already made clear its interest in attracting both the European Medicines Agency and the European Banking Agency to Dublin, as have many other European capitals.

Prof Lane's comments come just a day after it emerged that authorities here have received more than 100 Brexit-related queries from international investors.

Mr Lane said that while the economic reaction to Brexit has been "relatively orderly" so far, he signalled this could change as the date for triggering Article 50 nears.
Tom will be married 50 years next year to Phyllis

It was a college birthday bash with a difference.

Tom Boyle, a first-year law student at Waterford Institute of Technology, celebrated his 79th birthday at the college this week.

Tom, a mature student from Ramsgrange, Co Wexford, described the day as "emotional" and said it's never too late to go back to college.

Im a bit emotional, the kindness is overwhelming. From the first day, everyone has been so welcoming. The WIT staff and lecturers are fantastic, I cant say enough about them, he said during the celebration.

Tom, who was a taxi driver for more than 20 years, will be married 50 years this June to Phyllis, a retired civil servant.

The couple have six daughters and a son.

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Phyllis joined Tom at WIT for the birthday celebration.

He has always said he wanted to go back and I tell him; follow what you want to do. I always support him with what he wants to do. He really is living the dream, she said.

Tom has been making an impression on students and lecturers alike since starting his course in September.

His neighbour Sarah Daunt Smith, who is studying law with him, said: Tom is the loveliest, warmest gentleman, who would help anyone out. You might think with younger people there would be a divide, but he brings them all together.

His course leader Deirdre Adams, who organised the birthday party, said: Tom sends a really inspirational message to us all.

"He had the imagination to come to college in his late 70s and had the courage to do so.

"We may be the lecturers but we also learn so much from Tom.
A new agreement which could end the bitter row that has held up the building of a modern National Maternity Hospital is believed to be imminent.

The much-needed facility has been delayed because of the dispute over control of the hospital if it moves from its city centre location in Holles St to the campus of St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin 4.

St Vincent's healthcare group demanded that there be a single governance structure.

However, the maternity hospital objected to this, saying it would lose independence while the long-established system of having a hospital master would be phased out.

It is believed that significant progress in efforts to seal an agreement on governance and other clinical issues has been made in recent months.

The progress was made since former chief executive of the Labour Relations Commission Kieran Mulvey was appointed as mediator.

The stand-off between the board and managers of the maternity hospital - currently struggling in an outdated building - and the St Vincent's healthcare group, governed by the Religious Sisters of Charity, has delayed plans to apply for planning permission.

Sources said a number of outstanding differences have yet to be ironed out but there is optimism that these can be overcome.

The current Holles St maternity building is no longer fit for purpose and is putting patients at increased risk.

Meanwhile, a Hiqa hygiene inspectors' report on the Rotunda maternity hospital yesterday said overall, patient equipment and the environment in the delivery suite were generally clean but there were some exceptions.

The infrastructure and design of the operating theatre in the delivery suite does not meet international best practice guidelines for operating theatre infrastructure and presents challenges for effective cleaning.

It praised the monitoring of wound infection following caesarean section, representing good practice.
Patients are facing major disruption following a decision to close 10 inpatient beds in University Hospital Waterford due to a shortfall of 25 nurses.

The drastic move is expected to lead to more patients spending longer on trolleys in its emergency department as well as the potential cancellation of operations.

The hospital is in the constituency of Training and Skills Minister John Halligan of the Independent Alliance, who has already suffered the disappointment of seeing it turned down for a second cath lab to cater for heart patients.

A spokeswoman for the hospital said it was closing the beds "on a temporary basis" with effect from Monday due to the vacancies.

She said they were using all options to recruit nurses. However, pending restoration of staffing levels, the hospital "will seek to minimise any disruption to patient care and the matter is under ongoing daily review".

The nursing vacancies are in medicine and surgery.

The priority at all times will be in maintaining safe emergency services and if, on occasion, this is only achievable by containing elective activity "it will be considered", added the spokeswoman.
Minister of State for Public Health Marcella Corcoran Kennedy is standing firm on her decision to bring in tough new legislation which will force shop owners to restrict the visibility of alcohol.

However, Ms Corcoran Kennedy said she would listen to the concerns of the growing number of Fine Gael backbenchers who were demanding that so-called 'booze curtains' were removed from the final legislation.

Speaking to the Irish Independent, the minister said she had to "respect" the work that has been put into the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill by Department of Health staff and previous ministers.

Fine Gael TDs and senators rounded on Ms Corcoran Kennedy and Taoiseach Enda Kenny at Wednesday night's parliamentary party meeting over the proposed legislation.
The fire brigade has quenched a second major gorse blaze in Howth, North Dublin this evening.

This is the second fire that they have dealt with in the area this week.

In a tweet Dublin Fire Brigade said they found fireworks and the remainder of a barbecue at the scene of the first fire.

A spokesman confirmed that the second blazer was brought under control at 2pm on Saturday.

Lighting an illegal firework in any place could carry up to a 10,000 fine and five years imprisonment.

The Dublin Fire Service are advising people to be careful in the countryside, especially in dry weather.
Northern Ireland first minister Arlene Foster has claimed that instability in the Irish government is driving its stance on Brexit.

She hit out at what she called attempts by the Dublin government to talk down the Norths economy and poach investors.

And she encouraged shoppers from the south looking for a bargain to cross the border.

Ms Foster  whose Democratic Unionist Party campaigned for a Leave vote in the Brexit referendum  was speaking at her partys conference near Belfast.

Fianna Fail TD Brendan Smith already dismissed her remarks saying Ms Foster was speaking to her political base and insisting no Irish government irrespective of who is in office, talks down the Northern Irish economy.

Ms Foster has ruled out taking part in an all-island forum, proposed by Taoiseach Enda Kenny, thats designed to respond to the challenges presented by Brexit.

It is to meet for the first time next week but in recent days Ms Foster outlined why she wont be going.

"To be a lone voice amongst a whole lot of remoaners? No thank you - I have better things to do with my time," she said.

Speaking today Mr Foster said relations with the government in Dublin are as good as they ever have been.

But she attacked the Irish governments reaction to the Brexit vote.

"The reality is that political instability in Dublin, and fears for their own future, are driving their decision-making at present as much as any concern about Northern Ireland.

"And while they seek to take the views of people of Northern Ireland on the issue of Brexit at home, their representatives are sent out around the world to talk down our economy and to attempt to poach our investors.

"It is clear, conference, that the one place that a hard border does exist is in the mind of the Irish Government.

"Well, I don't believe in a hard border and am happy to welcome shoppers looking for a bargain from across the border any time they want to come, she added.

A majority of people in the North voted for the United Kingdom to remain in the EU.

Ms Foster said she is proud of the role her party played in campaigning for a Leave vote.

And she echoed remarks by British prime minister Theresa May saying: Brexit means Brexit. The whole of the United Kingdom leaves the EU.

This evening, Brendan Smith, the chairman of the Oirechtas Foreign Affairs Committee said Ms Foster was incorrect to suggest that the Irish Government talks down the Northern Irish economy, and seeks to poach investors away.

He said that he would hope that Ms Foster would join efforts to maximise foreign investment on the whole island and especially in the border region.

A single all-Ireland industrial promotion agency would have huge benefits for the entire island, he said.

We need to build further to realise the full potential of the Good Friday Agreement.

The First Minister can show leadership on this matter, and work with the Irish Government to make this a reality. I hope she takes the opportunity, Mr Smith said.
Conor Lenihan arrives at the Our Lady Mother of the Church in Castleknock for his mother's funeral Photo: Damien Eagers

Two books which her family felt epitomised Ann Lenihan's life were placed on the altar at her parish church in Castleknock for the duration of her funeral Mass.

First was the 'Prayer Book of St Therese of Lisieux', which she used every day of her life. The other was the memoir 'Letters of My Life' by her sister-in-law and best friend, Mary O'Rourke. She was reading this when she was stricken by her short and final illness.

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The celebrant said Mrs Lenihan, widow of former Tanaiste Brian Lenihan Snr and mother of former finance minister Brian Jnr, set great store by friendship.

"Friendship was Ann Lenihan's great consolation in adversity," Fr Denis O'Connor said.

Fr O'Connor, a long-time family friend, said local people in Castleknock noted how "Mrs Lenihan had a word for everybody".

He said Mrs Lenihan and her family had been struck by difficulty in their lives - but her faith, prayer and spirituality always gave her strength.

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Mrs Lenihan, who died on Tuesday aged 79, was laid to rest yesterday in her native Athlone, close to her late husband, who died in 1995 aged 64, and their son Mark, who died in 1965 at the age of five.

At the mass, neighbours and friends were joined by senior politicians from all parties but predominantly from Fianna Fail.

Party leader Micheal Martin was joined by Denis O'Donovan, Cathaoirleach of the Seanad, and former EU Commissioner Ray MacSharry, along with party TDs Jack Chambers, John Curran and Fiona O'Loughlin.

Fianna Fail general secretary Sean Dorgan and his predecessor Pat Farrell attended, as did local TDs, Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar of Fine Gael and Joan Burton of Labour.

President Michael D Higgins was represented by his ADC, Lieutenant Commander Patricia Butler.

Eight priests joined in concelebrating the requiem mass at the church of Our Lady Mother of the Church in Castleknock, west Dublin.

Special prayers were said for sons Mark and Brian Jnr, who died in 2011 of cancer, the disease which had claimed his father.
All ready for fright night: Aoife McGann (7) at Scoil na Maighdine Mhuire, Newmarket on Fergus, Co Clare Photo: Brian Arthur

It could get very scary indeed. The weekend will be populated with DC comic book heros, Donald Trump, Snapchat filters and sugar- skulled zombies lurking around bars and streets corners.

Perennial Halloween favourites like witches, zombies and ghosts have been outflanked in terms of popularity by 'Suicide Squad's Harley Quinn.

It is the most-searched-for costume on Google, and Irish make-up artists have been inundated with requests to recreate the pink and blue pigtailed look.

"Harley Quinn will be everywhere this weekend," Donna Morris Conlan from Make-Up For Ever said.

Pumpkin

The DC comic book character's costume is so popular it's been dubbed the 'pumpkin spiced latte' of 2016 Halloween costumes.

"It's a great look but you have to put a twist on it or else you'll end up looking like everyone else," Conlan said.

Snapchat filters are another favourite - so expect to see lots of panting puppies and vomiting rainbows.

According to Conlan, Snapchat-inspired costumes are popular as they are so easy to master.

"If you get the make-up right - then you don't have to focus as much on the outfit," she said.

We are in the final furlong of the US presidential election so expect lots of bad tan, pant suits and The Donald's trademark pursed pout at parties.

They may be banned from some pubs and parties, but killer and creepy clowns are the fourth most-searched-for Halloween costume in Ireland.

You can also expect to see a handful of Pokemon Go rarities such as Pikachu and Charizard out trick or treating.

Ornate

Mexican 'Day of the Dead'-style sugar skulls, covered in tiny love hearts and swirling floral motifs, are also popular.

"The ornate make-up looks really dramatic and is more colourful than your typical skeleton costume," said Conlan.

Fancy dress stores have noticed an increase in the number of gents hunting for 'Game of Thrones'-inspired costumes or garish Joker ensembles. Magical and mythical creatures like unicorns, fairies and mermaids have also jumped up in the popularity stakes.

And of course there will be the more familiar costumes - Draculas, emojis, ghosts, Frankenstein's monsters and a healthy number of Father Ted Crillys and Mrs Doyles heading out this evening.
An Irish MEP has called for the end of Daylight Savings Time in the European parliament.

The clocks go back at 2am tomorrow morning, restoring normal time by giving back the hour that was put forward in March.

But an Irish MEP has argued that the clocks should not go forward again next year.

Deirdre Clune, Member of the European Parliament for Ireland South, has said that removing Daylight Savings could promote safety on Irish roads and benefit peoples health.

Brighter evenings would lead to improved outcomes for road safety as the roads are more dangerous from the hours of 4-7pm.

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"There are obvious economic benefits such as reduced energy consumption because of less need for artificial light in the evenings with a consequent reduction in CO2 emissions," she said.

Brighter evenings would have a positive benefit for public health.

"One study of 23,000 children, published by the BBC, found that their daily activity levels were 15 to 20 per cent higher on summer days than winter days and that moving the clocks back causes a five per cent drop in physical activity.

Scientists speaking at a conference in Brussels earlier this month claimed that the bi-annual Daylight Savings switch is damaging to peoples health, does not save energy and may cost the European economy as much as 300 billion a year.

Originally called British Summer Time in the UK, Daylight Savings Time was introduced in 1916 in an effort to save on coal consumption during the war.

Proponents argued that the bright mornings were wasted and that this encouraged more fuel use in the evenings.

However, a number of studies have suggested that the energy savings are negligible or even non-existent, leaving people to wonder why we make the difficult adjustment twice a year.

Turkey has switched to summer time permanently and will not be putting its clocks back tomorrow; this means that time differences between Ireland and Turkey will change during the year, and may increase permanently if we abolish Daylight Savings.
An Irish blogger who battled for more than a decade with chronic symptoms that impacted her life said she always knew that there was something more serious going on with her body than doctors believed.

As a teenager, Avril McDonnell (31) was very active and an Irish dancer but during her Leaving Certificate year, she began to experience heart palpitations and fatigue that her GP diagnosed as anxiety.

Really it stems back to when I was 17 just after my Leaving Cert. I began to get heart palpitations and it freaked me out, it was quite scary. My GP diagnosed me with anxiety and placed me on medication to combat that, but the situation didnt really improve.

I was a really active child and I did Irish dancing from the age of four until I was about 17. I just found that I was getting weaker and weaker, and quite quickly I found I wasnt able for the high-energy sets and jigs. It just got too hard to continue with it.

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My college years were a constant battle with exhaustion and fatigue. I was exhausted all the time. Even a moderate gym session would leave me wrecked and my joints and bones would ache afterwards, said Avril.

Throughout the years, Avril battled with extreme fatigue along with a barrage of other symptoms including joint pain, rashes, vomiting, nausea and insomnia which she said were continuously diagnosed and treated as anxiety and depression.

After finishing her second science degree in DIT, Avril admitted that she reached breaking point in August 2013, when her symptoms became overwhelming as she tried to cope with the pressures of a full-time job.

I had just finished my second degree, and I had been pushing myself so hard. My body just crashed. I had been coping with these symptoms for so many years, just ploughing through them and my body couldnt take it anymore.

I remember the day, August 30 in 2013. I was in work, I was just so exhausted. I became so upset and I broke down. I went into my boss and said that I just couldnt do it anymore.

I was so frustrated because I know my body and I knew that there was something deeper going on than anxiety and depression. However, all the tests I was undergoing were coming up healthy and on paper everything looked normal. It was such a physical and mental battle for me, my mind was boggled and I was incredibly frustrated, she said.

Avril, who had recently married her college sweetheart Kevin, made the decision to go part-time in her job, but in 2014 had to take leave because she was so ill.

The scientists mystery illness looked set to remain unexplained until she was recommended to a specialist in Infectious Diseases in Dublins Mater Hospital earlier this year.

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I went to so many different specialists, before I was recommended to a doctor in the Mater who specialised in Infectious Diseases and looking at my symptoms, he believed I could have Lyme disease, she said.

The illness is a serious infection which is passed to humans through a tick bite. The bacteria has the ability to penetrate the bodys tissue, and causes a number of chronic symptoms. In serious cases the disease can cause paralysis and death.

When an infected tick bites you, he rarely is carrying just one type of bacteria, and those who suffer from Lyme disease will often have an aligning infection. In my blood, they found a co-infection, which indicated Lyme disease but that can be much harder to detect.

Testing for Lyme disease is very complex, and the results are not often definitive, so my blood was testing negative for it. Thats why so many people are living undiagnosed with Lyme disease, in the same position that I was in. In September I finally tested positive for the Lyme bacterium after coping with its symptoms since I was a teenager, said Avril.

After living with undiagnosed Lyme disease for most of her life, Avril believes more needs to be done to understand and treat this infection, which she said hasnt been given enough research focus.

My husband and I are both scientists so we have done quite a lot of research into Lyme disease and I just dont think its something that is understood enough. Its such a complex illness and completely misunderstood. There isnt a quick fix. Some people get better and some people never do. Frustrating is the key word to describe Lyme disease, she said.

Avril said her illness has affected her life in other ways, and she and her husband have moved back in with her parents in Phibsborough, which she said has been a blow to her independence despite her gratitude to her mum and dad.

Expand Close Avril battled with the symptoms of Lyme disease for more than 14 years / Facebook

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Whatsapp Avril battled with the symptoms of Lyme disease for more than 14 years

My husband and I have been living together for 10 years. We recently moved back in with my mum and dad in Phibsoboro which is difficult because you are losing your independence. Im nearly 32, this is a time in my life I should be enjoying and thinking about starting a family, she said.

Chronic illness messes up your life and your plans.

Before she was diagnosed, Avril set up a beauty and lifestyle blog A Paler Shade of Beauty and said her followers have become a great support network.

I just wanted to get across the point that, you are still you despite what you see in the mirror. Youre still beautiful when youre sick, youre just a paler version of yourself. No matter what illness youre coping with, your inner beauty still shines through.

I opened up about my battle with chronic illness on the blog and my followers were so supportive, its been mad. Theyre all so lovely. When I disappear for a while, Ill come back to messages asking me how I am, and if Im okay. Its heart warming, said Avril.

Following the detection of Lyme diseases co-infection, Avril was treated with antibiotics, which unfortunately damaged her liver and cause drug-induced hepatitis. The blogger revealed that one of the most frustrating things about the disease is not knowing what the future holds.

I dont really know what is in the pipeline for me. My doctors are considering going town the intravenous route but I dont know what to expect. Im trying to remain positive. Its such a complex illness and completely misunderstood. There isnt a quick fix. Some people get better and some people never do.

Avril's blog: www.apalershadeofbeauty.com

What is Lyme disease?

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Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi which is spread by the bite of a tick. These spider-like insects are about the size of a poppy seed, and can be found close to the ground, especially in moist, shaded areas.

How is the disease treated?

Lyme disease can be treated after a tick bite is found using antibiotics, but treatment can be more complex.

What are the symptoms?

The most common first symptom of Lyme disease is a rash that can appear three to 30 days after the tick bite. Other symptoms can include fever, chills, headaches, stiff neck, fatigue, muscle aches and joint pain.

How can you prevent Lyme disease?

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre lists a number of guidelines, such as using an insect repellent containing DEET, wearing long trousers while walking in forested/grassy areas, and wearing shoes rather than sandals.
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What will it take to unite Ireland? Opinions are divided

There are those for whom Northern Ireland is a geographical fragment of the UK holding true to empire on its western flanks, and those for whom partition is a century-old wrong that must be overturned. Somewhere in the middle are the persuadables  people willing to accept either unity or union, so long as the justification is logical. One way or another, the unity conversation is in the air.
With the closure of the Calais 'Jungle', there is much criticism of the French and British authorities for their apparently harsh attitude on the question of migrants and refugees.

But what are we doing in Ireland, the 'land of a thousand welcomes', which was supposed to traditionally support the underdog and the oppressed?

So far a derisory number of refugees from Syria, and from war zones elsewhere, have been settled in Ireland - and even these small numbers seemed to have created public disquiet in our new culture of giving vent to every opinion, no matter how unpleasant.

It should be said that opinion polls show a large majority of Irish people want to do something for the victims of the Syrian civil war.

But there has been precious little follow-up in the public discourse. Where is the Government lead on this? Where are the politicians coming out and saying loud and clear that our sheer humanity, and our traditions of solidarity and overseas aid, should make us want to welcome and support these families and children.

Look at former Irish attorney general, Peter Sutherland. Aged 70, he could be sitting back with his millions. But he has been deeply moved by the suffering, and wants to do something.

Ireland promised that it would accept 4,000 Syrian refugees by September 2017, but so far it has accepted just 439. The same amount of Syrians will be located in Northern Ireland by this December.

The official explanation for the delay is operational issues in Greece and Italy and an apparent reluctance by many of the migrants themselves to co-operate with the registration process. But one suspects foot-dragging in Ireland too: there are no votes in it. If we care so much, how come there's been so little political, or public, pressure to address this delay?

Granted, German Chancellor Angela Merkel went too far when she announced last year that Germany was going to take in hundreds of thousands of refugees and that other EU states should follow suit.

Ms Merkel (below) should have distinguished between war refugees and the growing phenomenon of economic migration, for which Europe is not responsible and with which it could be swamped.

But at least Ms Merkel showed initiative and leadership, unlike our own politicians. She also made her proposal despite the threat of Islamic terrorism - and quite rightly. Imagine if Irish people were stopped from entering and living in Britain because of possible IRA actions. Most of London's 7/7 Islamic bombers, after all, were born and grew up in Britain.

The Irish reaction to the refugees has been matched by a similar lassitude, and even equivocation, in the reaction to the conflict itself. After all, where is the public outrage over the war crimes in Aleppo and the rest of Syria? The left is very quick to organise a demonstration at the US or Israeli embassy. Why have they not troubled the Russian embassy up in leafy Rathgar, despite the airstrikes on civilians and hospitals in Aleppo?

Yes, there have been small protests, but nothing like what you get for Israel or the US. Or indeed, during the Bosnia conflict when, interestingly, the Irish government took a hands-off policy then too, despite the outcry about Bosnia among the Irish public.

Instead, what we got on Syria was a strange and rancorous debate in the Dail. When Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin tried to put down a motion condemning the Russian and Assad regime's actions in Aleppo, the hard-left TDs wanted to broaden the motion to include all actions in Syria - and even brought up the French and US. But this 'whataboutery' diminishes the impact of such a motion, and lets the Russians off the hook. It also suggests the real motive of the hard left is bashing the 'imperialist' West and US. As Mr Martin said, the far left wants to "dilute focus on the Russian contribution to the slaughter and genocide in Aleppo".

In fairness, Richard Boyd Barrett shot back that he had, in fact, condemned the Russian actions and Syrian barrel bombs. This is true, but it's unlikely that you'll find Boyd Barrett as loudly addressing a march about Syria as he has about Israel. Clare Daly and Mick Wallace the same.

That is not to let the Government off the hook. The Taoiseach misled the Dail when he claimed the Russian Ambassador had been called in for a dressing down on the Aleppo killings. It turned out he hadn't. So why the misinformation, and why hasn't Putin's envoy been told how we feel? Or does anyone in officialdom care?

Likewise, does anyone in officialdom care about our (very modest) commitment on taking refugees? Or have we forgotten our broader role in the world, as a post-colonial, still militarily neutral country which is supposed to work for peace and justice?

In our current economic self-absorption, it would be a pity if we had. Especially given our own history in terms of trauma and migration.
Ireland is heading into a significant financial storm in which it cannot afford to make the wrong decisions. Many people will presume that storm is Brexit, and the impact it is likely to have on jobs in key parts of the economy.

For others, the storm is further down the road as the exchequer grapples with how to pay for the pending pensions crisis in both the private and public sectors.

More immediately, the storm will be seen as the public sector industrial strife that has seen secondary school teachers, bus drivers and possibly almost every garda in the country go on strike.

The financial cost to the exchequer of fixing these disputes could be significant but not nearly as big as the avalanche of pay claims waiting to come.

But there is another storm brewing that isn't so much about the strikes, as the root causes of the strikes. The storm is the lack of reality about just how precarious our government finances and the economy actually are.

There is a complete mismatch between people's expectations regarding tax cuts, spending increases and pay rises, and what can actually be afforded. Even the Government is fully cognisant of it. Yet, it went ahead with a raft of permanent spending increases in the Budget, without any real cost/benefit analysis or figuring out how they will be financed in the future.

This mismatch runs right through the rhetoric and argument about teachers' pay, garda pay and the importance of cherishing our valuable public servants.

In the past, we muddled through when it came to paying public servants. They tended to be paid reasonably well but any shortfalls were easily compensated for with job security and pensions. In the 1970s and 1980s, public sector jobs were the Holy Grail.

Then the Celtic Tiger boom happened and the public sector worker began to feel left behind by his private sector neighbours.

The issue of public sector pay rises and benchmarking was initially triggered by the house price spiral. I remember Charlie McCreevy lamenting the fact that a garda married to a nurse could no longer afford to buy a house.

I heard the very same argument made on radio this week in relation to garda pay. Back in 2000, the government decided that rather than tackle spiralling house prices it would pay public servants more money instead.

The new Help-to-Buy scheme echoes the principle in a smaller way. It is about giving first-time buyers more money to pay more for houses, rather than making them cheaper to build. The financial crash changed everything and public servants were forced to take pay cuts and pay a pension levy. It hurt a lot, especially as many were also expected to do more work for this lower pay. However, in the private sector, many people took the ultimate pay cut by losing their jobs. They weren't even given the chance of doing extra work for less pay. There simply wasn't any work at all.

The truth is that many public servants took a lot of financial pain. But pay and pension levels were not sustainable. Now the argument is about pay restoration, to what were seen by many as unsustainable levels. If those pay levels were not sustainable back in 2008 when our national debt was 50bn, how sustainable are they when it is 200bn? The problem is that acknowledging this fact requires a very big and painful leap for many people. It involves saying that pay and conditions for public servants in general (and there are many different rates of pay and conditions within that very large group) may have been too high in the first place and the clock has to be reset.

This is what the 'equal pay for equal work' campaign is about among the teachers. The Government wants to start again at what it believes is a more sustainable position. This means, for a period of years, some teachers earning less than others despite having the same qualification.

Teachers and gardai will argue that lowering the bar in this way will ultimately downgrade the job and the quality of the people who enter the profession. This is a genuine point and one that has to be considered. However, right now, we cannot afford to grant the pay rises being sought, such as the 16pc increase to gardai, along with the plethora of claims that will follow.

The State is still borrowing money to balance the books. Finance Minister Michael Noonan suggested on Budget day that our debt/GDP ratio had fallen from 123pc of GDP a few years ago, down to around 78pc.

Unfortunately, this is a meaningless statistic because our GDP was artificially boosted by activities of multi-nationals that did not equate with real economic activity in Ireland. Now commonly known as "leprechaun economics", it meant our debt/GDP ratio is pretty useless when measuring how we are doing. Let's look at our national debt, compared to the amount of money the State actually takes in every year in taxes and other income. We are at 277pc of annual income, according to the NTMA. Just paying the interest on our national debt cost 9.6pc of Government revenue last year. So nearly 1 in every 10 collected in tax and other income by the State went on servicing our national debt. This compares to 7.6pc for Greece.

The entire world of work is changing. It is becoming less secure. Private sector pensions have been decimated. Even the defined benefit schemes of long-standing Irish companies have been largely dismantled.

The State does not have a plan for how it will fund the old age pension, public sector pensions or cater for the social cost of decimated private sector pensions, into the future.

It seems right and appropriate that the State should be the best employer in any country. It should be a model of how an employer rewards and remunerates its employees. However, when it comes to pensions, in many cases, it is now so far beyond what private sector employers offer it is beginning to look unsustainable.

Clearly big mistakes have been made. When it comes to the gardai, lack of investment in basic equipment and lack of internal reform have contributed to the legitimate grievances many in the force feel.

It is difficult to tell hard-working public servants that they can't have any more money when they see the derisory tax rates paid by some vulture funds who have gamed the system.

In its own way, the Government has primed the industrial relations bomb that is about to go off, not least by telling everybody they had turned the country around and it was all going to be OK.

But those mistakes don't suddenly make everybody's pay claim affordable.
Walking to the corner shop for a bottle of milk last night was an otherworldly experience. Over the course of a five-minute stroll, I was accosted by half a dozen vampires, three zombies, a pair of seriously aggressive goblins, and a sundry offering of spectres, spooks, bogeymen and fiends.

With my normally peaceful neighbourhood already having become a cross between 'Night of the Living Dead' and 'The Exorcist', one wonders just how bonkers this whole monster mash will get before Halloween itself arrives on Monday?

Long before the Americans 'invented' Halloween, the Irish were celebrating Samhain as a major Druidic festival marking the boundary between the living and the spirit world.

Any Irish granny from the country can make even the coolest kid tremble with creepy tales of Feile na Marbh, the Feast of the Dead. A night when spirits of the departed arose seeking the warmth of the fireside and communion with their living kin, woe betide the house that didn't leave a candle in the window or an empty chair by the fire to guide those wandering wraiths homeward to receive their blessing for the coming year.

As the last festival of the harvest year, pagan Ireland decreed that fruit and nuts, particularly apples, be the sustenance of choice on that soulful night.

The great irony is how Samhain, which was exported with the Famine multitudes to America, has now been transformed and repackaged by Hollywood into a Freddie Kruger fright-fest designed to separate us from our hard-earned cash.

Irish people spend upwards of 45m on Halloween, much of which is used to revamp their little darlings into all manner of fearsome apparitions and phantasms to spook the locality.

The multi-million euro splurge also goes on sweets, confectionery and pumpkins, as well as the must-have monkey nuts and barm brack.

For those keen to inject a little Dracula terror, this weekend's Bram Stoker Festival should set off more than a few horror alarms.

Whether you squirmed in fear during a Hammer double bill at the Corinthian on Eden Quay, or gasped at Gary Oldman's more recent blood-lusted version directed by Francis Ford Coppola, this vampire created in Dublin has always found a way to unravel our deepest fears.

'Tis indeed the hard man who won't twitch nervously at a midnight screening of 'Nosferatu', the classic 1922 silent movie where the vampire Count Orlok rises from his coffin complete with slanted ears, bottomless black-rimmed eyes, and a pair of rat-like fangs protruding from sneering lips. Come to think of it, wouldn't he make a perfect Minister for Finance?

Rather than the generally accepted inspiration being Vlad the Impaler, it's more likely Stoker's influence was much closer to home. Abhartach, a little-known Celtic legend from the 6th century, could well be Ireland's very own Dracula. A tyrannical dwarf possessed of magical powers, he was one of the Marbh Bheo - the living dead - who could only be killed with a stake of yew wood through the heart, then buried upside down.

The blood sacrifice demanded by Abhartach translated in Irish as droch-fhoula, bad blood, pronounced phonetically as droc'ola. Say it slowly.

Ireland could also claim a reasonable credit for a similarly monstrous creation in JRR Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings'. During his tenure as Professor of English at Oxford, Tolkien took on summer work as external examiner at Galway University.

During that time, he became fascinated by the Burren and its 25km of underground passages. The entrance to these creepy caverns is called Poll na gColm, phonetically spoken as 'Gollum'.

Who knows?

Perhaps mindful of the Edmund Burke dictum, "People will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors", Dr Richard T Cooke founded the World Ghost Convention in Cork in 2001 - an annual event for people who have experienced supernatural occurrences to meet like-minded individuals.

"Instead of fearing the spirit world, we need to embrace it, as it makes us aware of our own mortality, reminding us to live each day of our life to the best of our ability," says Dr Cooke.

He cites spiritual revelations by people like Michael Flatley and Hugh Leonard as helping lift the veil of fear around the subject.

"My vision for the future is to promote the idea of ghosts," he says. "They are our spirited friends, and they are not here to harm us, but to help us."
Shhh... We've got to really try and listen. Strain our ears. Read the signs. Something has been afoot in the undergrowth during these surprisingly sun-dappled October days. There are so many things we can't see. But we can try and pick up the signals from hidden happenings.

Politics is often just a question of toddling along. One day blending into the next, and a deceiving sense of calm in the air. But one should never forget - stuff is always happening out of view.

And so with all that in mind, let us say that, as of now, Leo Varadkar is one to watch. There is no doubt he has left the starting blocks in the race to try and replace Enda Kenny.

We hear stories of him sharing a pizza, or having a glass of beer, with some middle-ground Fine Gael deputies. All pretty innocent stuff. But not really. These days, he has the look of a man who won't - who can't - wait around forever.

It's something Enda and his politburo have to watch. Deep in the political undergrowth, where we can't fully observe what's happening, there is no doubt both men are closely circling one another. Kenny must be ever watchful as to when the challenger might make his move.

Leo has been making some carefully choreographed sound-bites of late. There cannot but be a feeling his campaign has, however surreptitiously, moved up a notch or two. No doubt he is regularly doing the numbers in his head - as indeed is Enda. But when it comes to heave-ho time, will the challenger have enough backers to take out the leader should it come to a full face-off between both men?

It all means the Taoiseach cannot relax his defences for even an instant. Such is the reality at this point in his life, as the cruel trade of politics exacts its all too often heavy price. It's a bit unfortunate for somebody in the swansong of a not inconsiderable political career, that they have to be so much on their guard. If the gods were in any way reasonable, Enda Kenny should be given time to enjoy a period when in many ways he is at the height of his powers. After all, there is, as he is wont to regularly remind us, the many and varied conundrums surrounding the whole Brexit issue.

However, this instinct to cleave towards matters of foreign affairs is not unusual for an elder head of state, who has to put up with all sorts of grubby machinations on the home front. There is obvious relief in getting away from what must often seem like tawdry parochialism, to the consolation and satisfaction to be found striding through the corridors of power in Brussels and such places, with the likes of Merkel, Hollande and May.

After all, attending to important matters of state provides a much greater sense of purpose compared to having somebody whispering in your ear that Leo has been seen nibbling at a pizza and chatting to a FG backbencher in some obscure Dublin restaurant.

Yet the lessons of Margaret Thatcher's final months in power will not be lost on the Taoiseach. The Iron Lady succumbed to the tempting allure of matters on the international stage, while her enemies were sharpening their knives back at base. Indeed Mrs Thatcher was waxing lyrical at a meeting of world leaders in Paris when the news came through she was finally done for as prime minister.

So when will Leo strike? Enda's great strength is that he knows Varadkar will only get one clean shot at unseating him if it comes to a straight fight. Making a move at the wrong time could be disastrous for the Social Protection Minister. But if he leaves things too late, it may even mean Paschal Donohoe coming up on the outside.

Meanwhile, it seems that Leo's leadership ambitions have the capacity to make Micheal Martin and some of his frontbenchers just a little bit jumpy. It's almost as if there is a nascent fear he just might inject some mysterious vim into FG, frustrating Fianna Fail from getting the numbers to form a government after the next election.

That election looks like being another knife-edge battle with all sorts of hook-ups necessary to try and get Martin elected as Taoiseach. But any kind of significant turnaround in Fine Gael's electoral fortunes in the interim - possibly spawned by having a new head honcho - could mean that Fianna Fail's best laid plans will come unstuck.

Facing down yet more years in opposition would be a veritable nightmare for the party, following on from its obvious frustrations in the current Dail, where it cannot function as a proper cutting-edge political unit. As things stand, it must 'kinda' support Kenny and 'kinda' oppose him. The FF front bench is bogged down in too many pointless and phoney skirmishes.

This inability to really get stuck in and go for the jugular of the Government leaves it in danger of becoming atrophied.

So what's to happen? We can but try and listen to those stirrings in that deep undergrowth - some of which will come to the surface sooner rather than later.
I thank Mr A Leavy for his response to my letter. I can assure him, I am very much aware of the recent, and past history of Ireland. In particular, I am more than aware of the causes of the faux Celtic Tiger, and the tragically real effects of its aftermath.

I observed its progress with fear and foreboding, to the extent of rescuing a friend of mine in the West of Ireland from its trap. In 2007, he was about to borrow 2m to invest in his business, until I outlined the financial events about to unfold.

In 2007, the finances of the Irish government were in a sound condition; they were warned by international wealth management institutions of the impending financial implosion in some Irish financial institutions; the government choose to ignore the warning.

If I had this information here in Australia, why were the then-opposition parties - now in Government - unaware of it?

Comparing Ireland to Greece carries no weight. Greece (like Italy, Spain and Portugal) should never have been admitted to the Euro currency.

Its finances were perilous, and its tax collection was, and is, a joke, by comparison to its vibrant black economy.

Yes, Mr Leavy, some parts of Ireland are recovering, alas, others are not.

Mr Leavy is a regular correspondent to the Irish Independent Letters page, and without doubt he takes his task as seriously as I do. I would love to be able to write letters of praise for Enda Kenny and his ministers, but all I have witnessed since March 2011 has been a totally inept government.

Old, old, politics takes precedence over common sense.

Ireland is sitting on a "gold mine" - the gold in this mine is its people: men, women and children, the latter being of great importance to the future of the nation. Ireland is in dire need of leadership. It is not to be found in the current Dail, as the two and half parties continue to play their childish games on a daily basis.

In the past it was all England's fault, today it is all Brussels's fault, and Ireland is hamstrung in what it can do.

Edward Carson, on his death bed, was visited by Kevin O'Higgins - the men had become friends while on Anglo-Irish committees.

Carson, when bidding adieu to O'Higgins, said: "I too love Ireland and only wanted what was best for her".

Declan Foley, Bewick, Australia

Let's have rational debate on media

It is extremely unfortunate that Denis O'Brien has chosen to focus on Sinn Fein rather than the substantive issues raised in the report by the independent lawyers commissioned to conduct the review. (Irish Independent, October 27).

To be clear: the National Union of Journalists has no dog in the fight between Mr O'Brien and Sinn Fein.

In the past we have been critical of both Sinn Fein and Mr O'Brien.

It would appear that they share at best a jaundiced view of RTE as the public service broadcaster.

Both seem to forget that RTE is regulated in a way that commercial media organisations are not. In discussing the concentration of ownership, one has to separate commercial and public service media organisations.

That's not to say that RTE is above scrutiny or even criticism but let us be clear of the differences between public service broadcasting and private, commercial media. Both play important and valid functions.

We do have grave concerns about the high level of power and influence exercised by a small number of wealthy players on the private media landscape in Ireland.

The NUJ has been consistent in calling for a commission on the future of the media in Ireland and we welcome the support for such a commission by the authors of the report.

Such a commission should not be confined to the issue of ownership but should examine the future of public service broadcasting, access to employment, terms and conditions of employment, media education and training, the funding of public interest journalism, the promotion of diversity within the media, the role of the State in ensuring diversity and plurality and the steps necessary to ensure editorial independence, especially in a heavily concentrated market.

The cornerstone of any such commission would be the principle that a diverse, pluralist media is essential to the healthy functioning of a democratic society. As a significant employer and shareholder, Mr O'Brien would have much to contribute to such a commission.

So too would the rest of us struggling to face the multiple challenges confronting the industry, along with the citizens who look to the media, in many diverse forms, for news, views and information.

If Communications Minister Denis Naughten wants to make his mark, let him have the courage to rise above the recent spats, start the ball rolling and help frame an informed national debate on the future of the media in our democracy.

Seamus Dooley, Irish Secretary, National Union of Journalists

Some more equal than others?

Do teachers want genuine equality or an unequal equality?

Teachers receive salary increments based on years of service. They also receive allowances based on their qualifications, which varies across the teacher population.

These qualification allowances were suspended for new teachers as a result of the financial emergency measures.

But irrespective of any emergency measures, teachers in the same school, teaching the same range classes, have substantial differences in their salaries and had prior to any emergency measures.

Joseph Mackey, Athlone, Co Westmeath

So ASTI want equal pay for equal work?

I look forward to its strikes against annual increments which ensure that high-performing but less experienced teachers are paid less than their low-performing but more experienced colleagues.

Frank Devine, Kenilworth, UK

Hair-raising prospect

Quantas has banned pilots from growing handlebar moustaches.

Hopefully, though, there'll be no close shaves for passengers?

Tom Gilsenan, Beaumont, Dublin 9

Ashes to ashes

Reading about the Vatican decision on the scattering of ashes, I couldn't help think: Let he who is without cinders cast the first stone.

M O'Brien, Dalkey, Co Dublin
A bust of the late Professor Eoin Mac Neill which was on display at Louth County Library

A bust of the late Professor Eoin Mac Neill, which was commissioned by the Omeath branch of Conradh na Gaeilge was on public display in Louth County Library, Dundalk recently.

The branch received funding from Louth County Council earlier this year when they decided to commission the bust as part of the Louth 1916 Centenary Programme.

Artist Ursula Klinger created the bust which honours the Eoin Mac Neill, who was a senior professor of 'Colaiste Bhride' in Omeath.

It is hoped that, subject to the awarding of planning permission, it may be placed in an appropriate place in the village of Omeath at a later date.

In 1913, he was appointed head of staff of the Irish Volunteers but didn't take participate in The Rising.
In an age of mass production and new technologies, ceramic artist Caroline Sheerin is going back to the basics of working with clay and creating pieces inspired by traditional celtic designs.

The Ardee-based artist, who recently took up a residency at Creative Spark,

'All my work is inspired by celtic design and in this day and age of 3-D printers and the like, I have gone back to the old days of clay throwing, which is a traditional art,' she explains.

Having completed a degree in contemporary art and appreciation at the University of Ulster, during which she specialised in ceramics, Caroline set up her Raven Ceramics studio complete with kiln at her home.

'I graduated with a degree in contemporary from the University of Ulster in 2014 and was working at Castle Ward on Strangford Lough,' she says. 'It's a fantastic place but travelling up and down was very tiring.'

'Having a studio at home makes it much easier to start a business and as I have my own kiln, I can be quite self-sufficient.'

Kitting out a studio is an expensive undertaking, and Caroline admits that she choose to save money while at college. 'I sacrificed my social life to have a professional life.'

She readily admits that she wants 'to make pretty things and give something nice back to the world,' after getting drawn into creating political art while studying print.

'I am gearing my work towards the tourist market,' she says. 'People should be able to buy affordable quality Irish made crafts in tourist offices and heritage centres rather than something which turns out to have been made in China.'

'I feel it's really important to keep the celtic designs alive so that if people want to have something traditional in their house, they can get a piece that's handmade and reasonably priced.'

Her celtic range includes pendants and hand thrown vessels as well as beautifully crafted pieces inspired by the patterns of nature. She uses a distinctive palate of glazes inspired by the colours of the Irish landscape, all of which are made in Ireland.

Caroline is delighted to have the opportunity to work in Creative Spark as it will allow her rekindle her print skills and combine them with ceramics.

She is also looking forward to taking part in the community outreach element of the residency as she would like to work with young people. 'I'm really looking forward to working with teenagers who are not going to school and are still looking for life skills,' she says. 'Clay is a wonderful medium for young people to work with.'

She believes passionately that many young people who are good with their hands and not so academically inclined are being lost in an education system which places too much emphasis on points and going to university. 'The old skills which were handed down are being lost.'

Now 36, Caroline knows what it's like to be a young person unsure of what to do in life. 'I was a young mum and it took me until my twenties to go back to college after going from job to job,' she recalls.

She decided to pursue her love of art and resume studying. 'It's good to set example that you can raise up with a bit of initiative, that you can turn things around.'

Her work is stocked in a number of craft outlets including The Wickerman, The Seamus Ennis Centre in The Naul, and Loughcrew Visitors' Centre. She will be taking part in Creative Spark's annual exhibition in The Basement Gallery next year.
Students from St Vincent's Secondary School swept the boards at the annual Soapbox competition organised by the Europe Direct Centre and held in Drogheda Library

Students from St Vincent's Secondary School swept the boards at the annual Soapbox competition organised by the Europe Direct Centre and held in Drogheda Library on October 13.

The competition was chaired by MEP Mairead McGuinness and each participant had up to three minutes to debate the topic: 'The EU: United in Diversity', following which a panel of judges evaluated the contributions.

In the under 18 category, St Vincent's students took the top three places: 1st Aoife McGeough, Knockbridge, 2nd Ciara Finlay, Ardee, 3rd Zara Wadding

The over-19 category was won by Loyola Brown, Dundalk, with Conor McGinniety runner up.

The winners of both categories received an iPad Mini 4 and go on to compete in the national final in Dublin in November where they could win 1000 and a trip to Brussels.
Families, schools, community groups and businesses across County Louth are being asked to share the gift of hope with needy children by donating a gift-filled shoebox for Christmas.

This year every box counts as organisers at Team Hope aims to collect more shoeboxes than ever before to ensure that even more deserving children experience the joy of receiving a gift.

To get involved in the 2016 Shoebox Appeal, simply wrap a shoebox with Christmas paper, then fill it with gifts for a child, attach 4 and bring it to a local drop-off point before Friday, November 11th.

Suggestions for what can be put in the shoeboxes include pens, pencils, colouring books, toothbrushes, hairbrushes, a small item of clothing and a treat. In the receiving country Team Hope's network of partners delivers the shoebox gifts right into a child's hands - in hospitals, schools, shelters, churches, orphanages, community centres or family homes.

For more information about the Team Hope Christmas Shoebox Appeal, or to get involved visit www.teamhope.ie
When Michelle Hanlon dared her sister Lorraine to go shopping in her wedding dress as part of the Today FM Dare to Care Wedding Dress Wednesday challenge in aid of the Irish Cancer Society she never guessed that they would end up raising over 5000 for the charity.

That dare, which Lorraine and cousin Siobhan willing embraced, led to Michelle deciding to go one better and she invited friends, relatives and neighbours to put on their wedding finery and go to her house for dinner.

Unbeknown to them, she had organised a champagne reception sponsored by Danny and Dymphna Fitzpatrick in Fitzpatrick's Bar and Restaurant beforehand and a bus to transport the 75 ladies to and from the venue.

Back in her home, the wedding party sat down to a delicious dinner and wedding cake sponsored by The Carrickdale Hotel, McCrysal's Shop, Brendan Copas Avonmore, the Home Bakery and Tommy's Tarts, and were presented with goodie bags from Bioline and Exhale beauty before going home.

Michelle and Lorraine recently presented a cheque to local representatives of the Irish Cancer Society.'

'We are delighted and proud to hand over the cheque for 5322.50 from our Dare to Care - Wear Your Wedding Dress Wednesday Event to the Irish Cancer Society,' said Michelle. 'A huge thanks to everyone who helped out and contributed to our event. It was an amazing night and a fantastic amount raised.'
The Louth Green party hosted a special border 'Brexit' summit in Dundalk last week.

Attended by MEP's from across the EU members states, the event was aimed at informing political representatives of the direct impact their decision will have on the border area.

Held in Dundalk Institute of Technology, and attended by Green Party leader Eamon Ryan TD, the summit was according to local Green party Councillor Mark Dearey 'also an attempt to positively influence the Brexit negotiations that will take place in the coming years.'

'We wanted to get the message out there that everything they will decide impacts on us locally,' said Cllr. Dearey.

He added that a range of issues were raised including the potential for tariffs on goods going in and out of the UK, and the impact on farmers in Northern Ireland after the loss of CAP payments.

'We also looked at the detrimental impact on cross border health services, including access to specialised children's health services.

'For many of the MEP's, it was the first time they became aware of just how significant these current arrangements are.'

Cllr. Dearey also took the visitors out to some of the border crossing points, including a river crossing at Jonesboro.

'I think they were shocked to see how there is no border physical border, it doesn't exist.'

The importance of the free movement of people across the border was one of the major issues highlighted at the summit, said Cllr. Dearey.

Also at the event was had MLA, Stephen Agnew who is one of the signatories of the legal challenge which has been lodged in the north relating to the free movement of people specified by the Good Friday agreement.

'A decision on that legal challenge is expected in December, and it is from that point that we can judge how Brexit is going to impact.'

Cllr. Dearey added that the final, and perhaps most serious issue raised was the potential of a 'low grade' terrorist threat if a hard border is established.

'I think the overriding theme of the event was highlighting just how essential it is that a Brexit without borders is agreed on during the negotiations which will take place over the next few years.

He said that as the fourth largest party sitting in the European parliament, members of the Green party will be voting on proposals that are put before the parliament.

'The summit was a success in that it highlighted these very important issues to MEP's who will be involved in the decision making process, issues they simply would not have been aware of if they had not visited this area,' said Cllr. Dearey.
Dun Lughaidh recently welcome two foreign language assistants to the school, where they have been working with students of French and Spanish.

The school applied under the Department of Education scheme for modern language assistants and were delighted to secure two paid posts, for Ana Jimenez Tirado is a native of Malaga in the south of Spain, and Cindy Cosson, from Laval in Pays-de-la-Loire in France.

'The aim of the scheme is to encourage the development of students' Modern Foreign Language skills as they see the language as a living entity and not just a school subject,' said teacher, Orla Dumgoole.

'There are a limited number of assistants available and not every school that applies is successful.'

Spanish native Ana has completed a BA in English studies and has recently completed her masters in the Teaching of Spanish as a Foreign Language (ELE), as well as a course in Mediation and Conflict Resolution and a degree in Music Studies.

Ana told how she fell in love with Ireland during her Erasmus year in NUI Galway and for this reason she selected Ireland as her country of choice for her year as a MFL assistant. She brings her passion for teaching and learning of Spanish, her public speaking skills and her musical prowess to St. Louis Secondary School.

She chose the school for its ethos and also the range of musical activities available within the campus. Barbara Finigan is delighted to welcome Ana. 'The opportunity to speak Spanish with a native speaker for the year will be an invaluable aid to our students in both junior and senior years. Even the first years who have only done a month's language learning can understand Ana and it is a real bonus to have her in the classroom."

French language assistant Cindy has a degree in English from the Universite du Maine in Le Mans, France, where she studied until last April.

She explained her reason for becoming an assistant is simple: 'I am not sure whether I would prefer to teach French in Ireland or to teach English in France.

So, this year is both a break in my studies and a way for me to be sure of my future choice.'

Cindy added that she chose Ireland and not the UK is because she grew to love the country on a visit to her best friend two years ago.
Sr. Joan Watters, Brendan Henry, Kilcawley Construction, Archbishop Eamon Martin, Children's author Marita Conlon-McKenna, Stephan Carter, Coady's Architects and Principal, Marcella O Conluain at the official opening of the new extension at St. Joseph's National School

There were great celebrations as the official opening of the newly refurbished St Joseph's National School took place last Friday.

A tangible sense of pride was evident as teachers, pupils, parents and the wider community gathered to mark this landmark occasion in the school's history.

The 4.8million refurbishment has completely transformed the school into an inspiring place of learning for its 554 pupils and fifty plus staff.

The work was completed earlier this spring and the refurbishment project designed by Coady architects has resulted in a school building which is full of light and colourful features to capture the imagination of its young pupils.

The titles of well loved children books, for example, decorate the steps of the stairs leading to the school's second floor which enjoys impressive views of the town and Cooley mountains.

The jewel in the crown is the new library building and it was here that special guest children's author Marita Conlon McKenna read to small groups of pupils after speaking at the opening ceremony.

Eariler in the day, a special Mass was celebrated by Archbishop Eamonn Martin in the nearby Holy Family Church. He was joined by Fr Paddy Stanley and Fr Jim O'Connell as well as Fr Sean McArdle and Fr John Harrington, former members of the Board of Management.

The school choir, comprising 5th and 6th pupils and directed by Ms Muirne Lawlor, provided inspiring music and parents and pupils, as well as past parents and pupils participated in the ceremony.

After the Mass, everyone was invited to the school for a reception to celebrate the historic day in the life of the school.

Principal Ms Marcella O Conluain, who is retiring at Christmas, welcomed all those in attendance and spoke of how delighted they all were with the new school buildings.

Sr Joan Watters, chairperson of the Board of Management, also spoke as did Marita Conlon McKenna.

As those present enjoyed a buffet, they were also treated to a display of the amazing talent to be found in the school, with a gala performance co-ordinated by teacher Ms Roz Brady. The enthusiastic pupils performed excerpts from 'Oliver' and there Hip Hop and Diversity acts, a Gailge group, and a display Junk Kouture costumes while some brave parents also took to the stage.

Afterwards, everyone got the opportunity to see the wonderful new facilities which pupils and teachers now enjoy with a tour of the school.

The extension includes eight new class rooms, eight resource rooms, a new library, foyer, staff rooms, offices, fully accessible toilets as well as two new play areas, including a courtyard, outside.
A Dundalk man who was one of a pair who smashed up two cars outside a house in Muirhevnamor has been given a suspended sentence.

John Smith (25), with an address at Doolargy Avenue, Muirhevnamor, admitted a charge of criminal damage arising out of the incident at Aghameen Park on December 21 2014.

The second man charged with criminal damage was acquitted following a trial, Dundalk Circuit Court heard.

Smith, who has 74 previous convictions, had gone to the house earlier in the day and had remonstrated with a man there and returned later that evening with another man.

Smith had a wooden baton which he used to smash up two cars that were on the driveway, causing nearly 2,000 worth of damage.

The sentencing hearing had previously been before Judge O'Brien in June and he said that if a probation report was positive, he would consider imposing a six month sentence, suspended for 16 months.

Smith has previous convictions including for criminal damage, stealing cars and knife possession.

He is currently serving a sentence and is due for release in Spring next year.

Smith's barrister said the insurance on one of the cars paid out 1250 for the damage caused.

She said a large number of the previous convictions date to when Smith was younger and he started abusing drugs when he was 11.

The barrister said Smith was 'a troubled young man' who had battled 'serious addiction difficulties'.

He's now the father of two children and his partner was in court to support him. The probation report says that he's 'enthusiastic' about further engagement with the service and while he's at high risk of reoffending, if his circumstances stabilised, that risk would reduce.

The barrister outlined how Smith is keen to move away from Dundalk and from 'negative peer influences'.

He lacked a father figure in his younger life and recently lost his step father. He suffers from depression and is now drug free.

Judge O'Shea said that despite Smith's assertion that he was on drugs at the time of the offence, 'he knew what he was doing' and the judge added Smith went to the house with the intent of 'malicious retribution', causing a 'shocking' amount of criminal damage.

He said Smith was entitled to think from what Judge O'Brien said that he would get a suspended sentence if he engaged with the probation service and got a positive report.

And while the report was 'not unfavourable', Judge O'Shea said he was concerned about the risk of reoffending.

He imposed a 12 month sentence, but suspended it for 18 months from the date that Smith is released from his current sentence.
Wicklow Hospice Foundation requires another 1 million before it can start to build on the site at Magheramore.

Chairman Sean Dorgan told the Hospice Foundation AGM last Tuesday evening 'the sooner we raise the money, the sooner building will start.'

To date 3.3m has been raised by the foundation. The initial fundraising target was 3m. However, the Government changed the policy on capital funding due to the economic recession and now the HSE wants more of the capital cost of hospices to be raised. Only half was required previously.

Speaking to the Wicklow People this week, Mr Dorgan said he is still hopeful that the hospice will go ahead within the next year.

'You can't start until you know you can see it all the way through to the end. There's no point getting halfway and then discovering you don't have the funds to build any further.

'We would like to think by this time next year we might be able to start but we appreciate that 1 million is a lot to ask for. At the moment we are more than three quarters of the way there.

'People have been really generous. Every week there are different fundraisers taking place and volunteers have been tremendous.

'We understand the reason people are asking "why is it taking them so long?" but we can't start until we can ensure we have enough money to finish,' said Mr Dorgan.

A site at Magheramore has been donated by the Columban Sisters and full planning permission for the development has already been received. The hospice will consist of 15 rooms rather than the initial 12 included in plans.

The facility will also be the hub of palliative care services for County Wicklow, which will go on to cover seven day care spots rather that than the current five.

Agreement has been reached with Our Lady's Hospice, Harold's Cross, who will operate the Hospice when it is built. The Department of Health and the HSE will meet the annual running costs of 3m.

Minister for Health Simon Harris said that the project was very close to his heart. 'I am very pleased that the funding agreed earlier this year has allowed the Wicklow Hospice Foundation to move forward. I look forward to working closely with the Wicklow Hospice.'

Mr Dorgan understands that some members of the public may be frustrated by the delay, but asks for their patience.

'We know that people are getting impatient because nothing is yet visible on site,' he said. 'We share this concern. We had hoped and planned to start the building sooner, but prudence requires that before we start we can see it all the way to completion.'

'We are ramping up our fundraising programme to raise this further 1 million as soon as possible in order to commence the build. It's a lot but we have raised 3.3 million to date and it is not insurmountable. We will be reaching out to philanthropic supporters both in Ireland and abroad as well as driving a corporate fundraising programme.

'We will continue with an intensive programme of community fundraising events, which thanks to the support of the people of Wicklow, have raised significant funds over the past seven years. We are extremely grateful to the local community for their continued support, and together we will get there and build this 15-bed hospice for the people of County Wicklow.'

He also paid tribute to outgoing chairperson Dr Brendan Cuddihy, who chaired the Foundation for seven years.

'Dr Cuddihy was the Founding Chairman and led with great energy and commitment with the support of an able and hardworking committee. I am delighted that he is continuing as a board member, contributing his experience and talents as we bring the project to fruition.'
A delegation of councillors and officials from Wicklow County Council met with Wicklow's five TDs at Leinster House to discuss the provision of new housing.

The council was represented by cathaoirleach Cllr Pat Fitzgerald; Cllr John Snell, Cathaoirleach, Housing and Corporate Estate SPC; and Mr Bryan Doyle, Chief Executive, along with senior officials from the Housing and Corporate Estate Department.

Also present was Deputy Damien English, Minister of State for Housing, along with senior Department officials.

Wicklow County Council currently has 13 schemes at various stages of planning which will potentially yield 162 housing units.

Funding of circa 36m has been sanctioned by the Department for these schemes.

These were discussed at length with particular reference to the stages, planning process and progress.

Rapid Build was also discussed and the Council is considering this method of delivery for future schemes.

The recent advertisement of five of the above schemes to Part 8 Planning Consultation stage was welcomed by all as a significant step.

The Department indicated they were satisfied with progress and pointed out that whereas the approval process is acknowledged to be labour intensive.

There is a significant investment by the State in Social Housing and consequently necessary controls on this level of expenditure must be strictly adhered to.

Based on current target dates for all stages and no anticipated delay, it is expected that some construction activity will commence in 2017.

Other matters up for discussion included the Public Private Partnership on the Convent Land, Wicklow town and the development in Ballybeg, Rathnew.

Reference was made to an October advertisement seeking expressions of interest from approved housing bodies to develop on local authority land.

Approved housing bodies are being sought to develop land in the ownership of the local authority where the local authority or Department may not be in a position to develop in the short-term.

Also included in the talks were Part V negotiations with developers, the Capital Assistance Scheme, homelessness prevention and strategy, the roll out of the Housing Assistance Payment in Wicklow, the recent Social Housing Needs Assessment and housing acquisitions

Other issues tackled included vacant houses in the ownership of Financial Institutions and the potential conversion to social housing.

The TDs, councillors and officials also talked about the recently adopted Part V Policy and the Acquisition of Housing Units Policy and both of their potential to supply housing units.

Fifty-nine properties have been acquired by the council at a cost of 12.6m since 2015.

The phased development, closely adhering to the five pillars of Rebuilding Ireland, was positively welcomed and it was agreed to continue to develop the productive relationship exhibited by the meeting.
An Arklow insurance company did its bit to highlight an important issue recently as staff took part in the local version of a nationwide initiative.

Travers & Co Insurances Ltd which has an office on Upper Main Street took part in the Think Pink event, an annual day to create awareness about breast cancer.

Every year, almost 3,000 women in Ireland are dignosed with this form of cancer. The company takes part in Breast Cancer Awareness Day every year and all the staff embraced the challenge of wearing brighly coloured pink t-shirts with the 'Think Pink' slogan across the front.

All the staff and directors got involved, including Mary Murray, Kiara Byrne, Mervyn Travers, Siobhan Briscoe, Denise Hyland, Aaron Travers, Lindsay Wood, Alma Travers, Michelle Byrne, Mairin Nolan, Cheryl Dodds and Alan Crummy and they were joined by director of Arklow Cancer Support, Mary O'Brien who thanked them for their efforts.

'Travers & Co Insurances Ltd decided to get involved to promote awareness of this worthy cause. All staff wore pink t-shirts, pink posters were displayed in the office window and we provided customers with pink cupcakes and decorated the office with pink balloons and flowers,' explained Aaron Travers.

Rather than raising funds, Think Pink aims to create awareness about breast cancer and to give information to those seeking support.

In Arklow, the local Cancer Support Group also hosted a large scale Think Pink event, the first of its kind since they relocated to their new premises at St Mary's Road.

Arklow Cancer Support Group was thrilled to see so many local people and businesses involved in the awareness day and thanked everyone who took part.
Members of the Indigo Artists group who will be staging an exhibition at St. Peter's Church of Ireland parish rooms on Friday 4th November. Pictured are Owen Morrissey-Murphy, Maureen Peakin, Ann Somers, Mary McDonnell, Maeve Holly, Geraldine Ryan Monk and Giovanna Costigan

A diverse range of local artists will showcase their work at a new exhibition in St Peter's Hall at the start of November.

The Indigo Art Group started 13 years ago when five friends gathered over a cup of coffee and decided to start their own gallery.

The rest, as they say, is history and the group has been going strong ever since.

Now with a 17 strong membership, the art collective have their own gallery in the ground floor of the Laurence Town Centre which they take turns in manning, and are currently preparing for their annual art show which will take place in St Peter's Church of Ireland Hall from November 4th to 6th.

The guest artist for the event will be Mel Bradley who will also open the exihibition.

Mary McDonnell, one of the original founding members, explains how the group came into being: 'We started in the summer over a cup of coffee, about five of us in 2003. We were sitting in Bettystown and we said: 'Why don't we start a group? It would be great.' We all had an interest in art and we would have met each other through other exhibitions or classes, some of us went to NCAD at night to do courses so that gave us the idea to inspire each other and get going. I think artists can get a kind of slump on their own and it's lovely to meet other artists and to get inspired by them.

'Art is not a thing in isolation, it's great to bounce ideas among other artist friends. So we started the group, we approached the Julianstown Parish Rooms there and since 2003 we've been meeting there every Monday. We don't have a resident teacher but we've had lots of people coming over the years to give workshops.

'The group has grown and shrunk and grown again, with the recession now the sale of art went down a little bit because it would be the first thing to go, it's a luxury item but now things are picking up again and we didn't lose our enthusiasm in that time. We kept painting and building up stock.'

Maeve Holly has been with the group for four years. 'I always liked art when I was younger but obviously with work I never got the opportunity to do that much so as soon as I retired I started back and I always admired this group and I thought 'I'd love to be part of that' so I put my work in and was accepted and I've been with them ever since.

'We're all just here for the love of art, and if we sell something great. We all man the gallery so everyone takes their turn two days a month to keep the gallery open.'

Indeed, one of Maeve's paintings with the group 'Summer Time' is being raffled as part of the exhibition with all the funds raised going to ABACAS School. As the only man in the group, Owen Morrissey-Murphy describes himself as 'the only thorn amongst the roses!'.

The Skerries native said he always had an interest in art and excelled in the subject in school.

'I took it up again four years ago. I was in Drogheda doing some shopping, they were upstairs at the time and I went in to have a look at it went from there.'

Originally from New York, Maureen Peakin has been living in Drogheda for the past 15 years after moving back here with her husband.

'I used to come in to the gallery for a look and one of the members said: 'Do you paint? Why don't you come join us' so she kind of invited me and then I was shocked when I started and I saw how good they were!' said Maureen. 'I've been involved for a year. I'm really an amateur painter so I'm learning from them.' Giovanna Costigan has also been with the group for about a year but has been painting all her life. 'I do love it, I just wish I had more time. I love figurative art but I'm doing a couple of landscapes for the exhibition.'

Ann Summers joined Indigo about five years ago and likes to focus on familiar scenes around Drogheda. 'I love being part of the group, I find it very motivating.' The Indigo Art exhibition will take place in St Peter's Hall from November 4th to 6th.
Some of the pupils who took part in the fundraising event

Staff and students at St Mary's Parish Primary School are planning to 'run around the world' to raise much needed funds for their new extension.

The fundraising event started last Wednesday when each pupil in the school covered at least a kilometre which, when added together gave the school a combined total of over 1100 km travelled on the day.

This was a fun event and it was great to see the whole school active together.

The run was followed by a healthy snack courtesy of 'Nature's Best.'

'This is a fundraising event, a sponsored run/walk to raise much needed funds for our new school extension,' said principal Philip Ward. 'The new extension will transform our school and is a facility which will enhance the educational experience of our pupils over many years and includes two classrooms, Special Education rooms, an assembly space and school library.

'Over the coming months, the pupils will walk/run a kilometre on school grounds on a regular basis and as they do, we will add up all the kilometres covered until we have travelled around the world.'

En route they will visit landmarks such Rome, Cairo, Bangkok, Sydney, Honolulu, Mexico and New York. Check our school website for a running total of Kilometres covered. The distance we hope to cover is approximately 40,000 kilometres and the journey will take several months.

Sponsorship cards have been sent home with each pupil and we ask families over the next few weeks to try and raise as much as they can from relatives friends and neighbours.

To finish off our journey around the world the school will have a run involving parents, families and friends to help them reach their total and to celebrate together the great achievement it is to cover such a distance together.

This on-going event will have the added benefit of regular exercise for all our pupils and help in promoting the value of exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle.
A major water pipe replacement project is set to take place in East Meath and south Drogheda next year, including a 6.4km stretch in Slane.

Following a review of the age of pipes and other issues, Meath County Council are progressing plans to upgrade the system, in association with Irish Water, that will see cast iron, asbestos and PVC piplines replaced. The 24.7km involved will come at a cost of 8m.

The area around the crossroads in Slane village will see some heavy works, as the pipeline will go south for 2km at the Boyne bridge and then to the Slane hill resevoir and up to Stanley Heights and Abbey View.

During a presentation to the local council in Duleek, engineers said getting through the crossroads 'would be a challenge' but they are looking at Sunday work and a new lights system.

There will be 3km replaced in Duleek with other stretches at Mornington, Rathmullen, Laytown and Gaulstown.

Engineer Pat Wickham said that Duleek had been a problem for years and it would be first on the list for 3kn of works. He said people would be notified about any impact and there would be traffic management and no works in December that would interfer with business life.

Cllr Tom Kelly said now was the time for the council to re-issue the list of areas that have homes with lead pipes.

'The new pipeline will go through an area of Laytown with old homes and how do people sort out the issue of leaded pipes into their homes,' he asked. 'It's a long time since the council issued the lead pipe list and it needs to be put out there again. People need to know if there's grants out there for this work.'

It is expected that the works will go to tender at the end of 2016 and will start in mid 2017 with a completion timescale of 18 months.
SIPTU nursing and support staff members in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda are to ballot on industrial action in relation to a number of ongoing disputes with HSE management at the facility.

SIPTU Organiser, John McCamley, said: 'There are a number of disputes between our members and management at the hospital. These include the non-implementation of a number of deals which were agreed at the Workplace Relations Commission concerning the filling of vacant posts, the use of contractors and the removal of shift pay from some support grades.

'It is a matter of deep concern that processes agreed following discussions overseen by the industrial relations machinery of the State are not being implemented without undue delays by HSE management.'

He said SIPTU members are calling on management to agree to a reasonable timescale on approving the filling of all vacancies within the hospital. 'We are also asking management to reverse any cuts made to members' pay and for it to uphold all the agreements it has reached with staff representatives.'
The Cottage Hospital may have to close because of staff shortages, HSE management have warned.

A demonstration to protest against the closure of nine community care beds in the unit took place on Monday afternoon.

SIPTU representative John McCamley said management have indicated that the hospital may have to close temporarily because of the shortage of nursing staff. The union is calling on the HSE to take steps so that the current vacant nursing posts can be immediately filled and to maintain the services at the facility.

He said: 'Our members are calling on the HSE to immediately authorise the filling of all vacant nursing posts in Elderly Services in County Louth. Such a move would allow for the re-opening of the nine beds, which have been closed, in the Cottage Hospital in Drogheda and the opening of nine new beds in St Oliver Plunkett Community Unit in Dundalk.

'Staff members were informed that these 18 beds are not available for use due to a lack of nursing staff in the facilities. This problem is directly linked to the delay by the HSE in approving the filling of nursing posts at a national level.
A convicted killer who stole nearly 10,000 worth of sunglasses and cash from a Drogheda store has been jailed for three years after the circuit court heard he told the secretary: 'This is a robbery, love'.

But the defendant was caught the following day after he walked past the same shop and the victim recognised him.

Wayne White, (43), whose address was given as 1 Laurence's Gate, Drogheda, admitted a count of robbery from the Eye Care Plus in Drogheda on April 9 2015.

He arrived into the shop shortly after they opened at 10am and the female secretary recognised him from White having been in the store the day before and on another occasion.

White went around the counter and said to the secretary: 'This is a robbery, love' and he had a screwdriver in his hand which the woman believed was a knife.

He told her to lock the front door and then asked her where the safe was.

The victim got a key and took items out of the safe, including an envelope with around 2,000 in it, which White placed into his bag.

White then asked her about CCTV and when the woman said she didn't know how it worked, he tried to get the CD out of it and ended up hitting it with the screwdriver a number of times.

He then took the woman into the retail part of the store where he stole around 20 pairs of Ray Ban sunglasses, as well as designer glasses' frames.

White later told Gardai he had gone straight to Dublin with the cash and glasses, which had a total value of 9,646, and used them to 'pay off a drug debt'.

A co-worker contacted Gardai moments after the robbery and despite getting there quickly and viewing the CCTV, they were unable to catch him that day.

But just over 24 hours later, the victim was in the same shop and saw White walk past the window. She immediately contacted Gardai who arrived within minutes and located White on North Quay Street.

After his arrest, he made 'frank admissions' about his involvement in the incident and said he was very sorry when Gardai told him that the victim had been very frightened by his actions.

The woman told Gardai that she had worked in the store for a couple of months following the robbery but when she was told she could no longer lock the door between customers, she left and found other employment.

White, who has 29 previous convictions, was sentenced to nine years in 1994 for manslaughter and his other convictions include two counts of robbery, theft and assault.

Barrister Aaron Shearer said his client has battling a heroin, and then cocaine, addiction for the past 20 years. He is a father of two and also has a grandchild.

He has been in custody since June 14 2015 and is attending weekly counselling session in prison.

Judge O'Shea said that while the screwdriver wasn't used, the victim had been subjected to a 'frightening, intimidating and aggressive' ordeal.

The judge said: 'He held up the screwdriver which she thought was a knife and she was afraid'.

Judge O'Shea imposed a three year sentence but backdated it to June 14 when he went into custody.
A local company has once again come under fire after refusing to print wedding invitations for a same sex marriage.

Drogheda firm Beulah Print refused to print invitations for Julieanne Grant after they realised she was gay citing their religious beliefs as the reason.

Julieanne Grant said she 'thought this country had moved on from that' after she was told that the company would not print her wedding invitations because of their Christian beliefs.

This is the second time the Drogheda printing firm has caused a storm of controversy after refusing to print wedding invitations for a same sex couple.

The company came under fire last year when it refused an order for wedding invitations from Drogheda hairdresser Jonathon Brennan for his civil partnership ceremony.

Commenting on the incident last week, Julieanne said she initially 'couldn't stop smiling' because she was 'so excited' going in to get her invitations printed but said once the person she spoke to realised she was gay, the mood changed dramaticially.

She told 4fm that as soon as she mentioned that her partner was a she 'his whole behaviour changed'.

'He distanced himself from the conversation and he didn't give me eye contact anymore,' she said.

'He stopped talking for a few seconds and then he still wouldn't give me eye contact. Then he gathered himself and said: 'I'm sorry Julieanne, I have my own beliefs. I'm a Christian man and I'm not able to do your invitations.'

Asked how she felt once she was told this, Julieanne said: 'Of course I wasn't smiling anymore. I actually wasn't angry because I wanted to stay mature and I wanted to stay calm. There's no point making a scene.

'I respect everyone's beliefs, but I really really felt that he should've kept it separate. Business is business, and he didn't.' she added.

Julieanne originally posted about her experience on her Facebook page and while she received lots of support, others questioned whether she knew the response she would receive given the media coverage the same printing company had received last year.

Julieanne said she had never heard any of the stories about the printers prior to visiting the shop last week.

'All I can say is I would never have put myself through that, it was an awful experience. It was very upsetting and if I'd heard about it I certainly wouldn't have given my energy and time to go there.

'I was in the area and there were a few printers shops, that was the first one I went in to. I was expecting it to be a positive experience and it wasn't,' she said.

Peter Nugent, founder of the Drogheda LGBT group and Drogheda Pride said he was 'disheartened' to hear about the incident.

'We've come so far in Drogheda and since we set up the group we have had great support from the local community for it and for the Pride Festival. This is 2016, it should be equality, peace and love,' he said.

In a statement issued to the Drogheda Independent, the company said: 'At Beulah Print we are happy to serve all members of the community, irrespective of religion, colour, sexual orientation, etc. However we cannot employ our creative ability to design and print materials which come into conflict with our Christian faith.'
A proposal which would pave the way for local authority bosses having the power to evict council tenants, who a cause frequent and extreme anti-social behaviour against their neighbours, on the word of a Garda Superintendent was passed at the monthly meeting of Louth County Council.

Cllr Conor Keelan called for the council to 'support a change in legislation which would grand the Chief Executive the power to evict council tenants (who are known to be causing frequent and extreme anti-social behaviour against their neighbours) on the word of a Garda Superintendent.'

He asked that the motion be referred to the housing strategic policy committee (SPC) for comment and that it then be circulated to other city and councils and to the Department of Justice and Equality and the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government.

Opposing the motion, Cllr Joanna Byrne said it was a matter for the Housing SPC and they needed to have faith in their own policy,

Cllr John McGahon said he was delighted to support the motion. While there was a policy in place, he felt this would bring about better communication between the gardai and the council.

Cllr Marianne Butler said that while she agreed with a lot of what was being said, she couldn't support the motion as she felt that the council's policy needed to be renewed. She also asked if the gardai have been consulted and wondered if they wanted the power suggested.

'If a senior Garda is prepared to evict someone for serious wrong doing, they should be prepared to take them to court,' she argued.

Cllr Richie Culhane noted that they were talking about a small number of people who are creating havoc for other people and the current legislation was not sufficient. It is not always possible to take someone to court for anti social behaviour as evidence has to be gathered or people have to be caught in the act.

Cllr Maria Doyle wanted clarification as to what 'the word of a Garda' meant and she felt it was right for councillors to raise an issue like this at a full council meeting. Like most councillors she had attended meetings with councillors who were very concerned about anti social behaviour. She recalled people from Doolargy Avenue being very frustrated, annoyed and upset at the lack of progress on issues affecting them and said she was disappointed at Sinn Fein councillors for not being willing to take action against people 'who engage in frequent and extreme anti-social behaviour'. It is 'extremely upsetting for people who cannot get on with their lives and are being crucified by those engaging in anti social behaviour.'

'Anti-social behaviour is a huge problem in the county,' said Cllr Maeve Yore. 'It boils down to people respecting their neighbours and we should have zero tolerance to anti-social behaviour.'

She said that the current system errs on the side of the perpetrators and not the victim and needs to be changed nationally as they are bound by legislation,

The problem with 'neighbours from hell', of which there were a couple of hundred in the county, was where do they go after they are evicted, said Cllr Frank Godfrey. He was concerned about what happens to young children after families are put out. He said they had an agreement with tenants and if they break it, they can ask them to leave. However, there would be problems for other neighbours if they go somewhere else. 'There are decent neighbours who don't sleep at night and have to put up with abuse and name calling.'

Cllr Peter Savage wondered if there was anything they could do with the existing policy to make it more efficient with regard to eviction.

Cllr Mark Dearey said he didn't support the proposal that a Supt sworn evidence should be sufficient to evict someone. He felt they were asking the gardai to do a job which they didn't seem to be able to do themselves. He felt the key weakness in the existing policy was that the warnings are extinguished within twelve months.

While he could understand the frustration behind the motion, Cllr Alan Cassidy said felt they needed to extend the powers of the anti social behaviour officer to include the voluntary housing sector.

Cllr Kevin Meenan said that most of his work over 17 years on the council was taken up with anti social behaviour problems. They needed a co-operative approach taking in all stakeholders including the council, gardai, HSE and Probation Service and a special forum should be set up to look into the issue.

He believed that jail should be the first option for those responsible for serious anti social behaviour, followed by eviction.

Cllr Kenneth Flood opposed the motion, saying that they were being asked to evict someone on the word of one individual with no checks or balances.

Chairperson Cllr Paul Bell said that the lives of council tenants were being made an absolute misery because of the a minority of people.

Director of Service, Joe McGuinness said that their had been 172 complaints about anti-social behaviour which wasn't a huge number out of 4,000 tenants. Out of those, 60 were struck out for having no basis or being malicious.

He pointed out that anti-social behaviour was being caused by people who were not council tenants, by people who were in the private sector, and by people who had bought out their houses years ago. Council tenants were affected by anti social behaviour caused by other people and it was unfair to take it out on them. He was happy that they had an existing policy. He couldn't recall any notices to quit being made in the past year and there had been five exclusion orders against occupants.
Speech and language therapy waiting lists are ten times longer in County Louth than in Meath, new figures have revealed.

Local TD Fergus O'Dowd said he is 'puzzled' by his recent findings that almost 300 people are awaiting speech and language therapy in Louth compared to just 30 in County Meath. The figures, released by the HSE following a written parlimentary question from Deputy O'Dowd, also show that almost 800 people are awaiting assessment in Meath compared to 367 in Louth.

Responding to the question, Minister for Health Simon Harris said the demand for Speech and Language Therapy services within Louth and Meath is increasing year on year and both departments are working extremely hard to meet national key performance indicator waiting time targets but, he said, this is not always possible due in the main to insufficient staff numbers.

He went on to reveal that six new Speech and Language Therapy posts have been allocated in Meath and three in County Louth.

Deputy O'Dowd said he is concerned that only half the number of therapists have been allocated in Louth as in Meath.

'I recently questioned the Minister for Health through a PQ on the waiting times and intervention lists for SLT for the last 3 years in both counties, I was not expecting such a huge contrast in the figures from county to county,' he said. 'The HSE's decision to allocate new therapists should be welcomed but I believe this should be done in a way that is fair for constituents needs.'

The Deputy said he will be following up these findings with the HSE and the Minister for Health and will be asking for a clear and precise outline of how the decision was made on allocation of therapists to each county respectively
A transformation at Bettystown beach is on the way after it was confirmed that Meath County Council has secured the houses at the entrance to the beach area, opening the way for major development of the facility.

It is planned that the area will now see a multi-million euro boost, including a new lifeguard tower, along with a toilet block and a First Aid centre.

'This will turn Bettystown into one of the best seaside towns in Ireland. It will now have the facilities and capacity that's been lacking,' Cllr Tom Kelly stated. 'The beach area has been difficult to manage but this will make it safe and secure. This gives the area a new lease of life.'

He says the move will also lead to increased employment opportunities.

The Drogheda Independent revealed details of the ambitious project in January and last week agreement was reached on the purchase of the properties.

It now remains to be seen if they'll be knocked to make way for a new entrance and exit, or retained as part of the plan.

'I proposed this project and we discussed it with the owners and now we are moving on it,' the cathaoirleach of the Laytown/Bettystown area added.

'We'll now have to get a report on the houses and the next stage is a workshop and public consultation. But this is a big moment for the beach area.'

Meanwhile, Cllr Sharon Tolan has called for action to be taken in relation to joy riding on the beach at night.

With no barrier in place, the area is being targeted by motorists.

'Something has to be done in relation to this, be it a barrier or whatever,' she stated. She brought the matter to the attention of the council last week.
There was plenty of fashion on show at the Scissor Sisterz evening of fashion recently.

Organised by sisters Keara and Tanya Doran and Mary Banks the fashion show was to raise money for Wexford Hospice Homecare. Keara said that her and Tanya's mother Catherine as well as Mary's husband Tim O'Connor had both been able to die at home thanks to the support of Wexford Hospice Homecare.

Mary who is a customer of Keara's salon Scissor Sisterz was in the salon on day and they were both discussing how they would like to give something back to the wonderful charity and the night of fashion was the result of their ideas.

Mary who previously worked in RTE got Marietta Doran, Tracy Piggott and Marty Morrissey on board and all local shops and businesses were asked to support the cause.

Keara said the support was fantastic with 'over 3,500 worth of prizes and auction items on the night, all of which were donated.' The show was a huge success with over 15,000 raised.
The students at Colaiste Bride Enniscorthy proved to be the best ambassadors for their school, when it came to encouraging sixth class pupils to select their secondary school for next year.

The school's open evening for prospective students last week was hailed as a great success by principal Kiera O'Sullivan. 'Everybody was very happy and we're already receiving calls from people complimenting us on the evening,' she said.

'The greatest part of the evening was perhaps our own students who are our best ambassadors,' she said, explaining that students volunteered to show the visitors around and show them various aspects of school life.

'Incoming students got to see how the school operates on a day-to-day basis,' she said. 'They saw the classrooms, activities, and subject displays. It was student-driven all the way.'

'They told it as it is, and didn't dress it up or dress it down,' she continued. 'They are at the centre of how the school works.'

Up to 150 places are available next year, with the deadline for applications on November 10. Offers will go out the week after that.

A sincere thank you was sent to all who helped out on the evening and made it such a success. Thanks also went to those who attended the evening. Anyone looking for information on enrolling can contact the school directly.
Ireland's spookiest village will the location a fantastic scary parade on Halloween eve, Monday 31st October.

Naul will play host to ghouls, magic and mayhem as the village goes back in time to celebrate the ancient rural county Dublin traditions of Samhain.

Colette Lawless SEAC event organiser is really looking to forward to the event. 'The parade is a must for all families and children in the area. It has grown substantially over the years and this event will be even better with street performers, a spectacular fire performance, the annual burning of our scary beast, spooky stories, tricks and treats and other surprises.

'I would also like to say this has been a great community initiative for Naul with the Foroige group, Naul Community Council, Clann Mhuire, local artists and many others all supporting the event. Of course this event would not happen without the continued support of Fingal County Council.'

There will also have a pumpkin carving competition. Just bring your pumpkin down to the Seamus Ennis Arts Centre at 6pm. The parade will congregate at Bun an Cnoic (at the bottom of the big hill coming into Naul from Ballyboughal) at 6.45 p.m. Parade starts at 7.p.m.

For more information visit: www.tseac.ie.
One of five overall winners, Irene Lowry CEO, Nurture receiving award from Minister of State for Disability Issues Finian McGrath and Roger Connor, President, Global Manufacturing & Supply (GMS) at GSK

A Skerries charity delivering vital counselling to women experiencing mental health issues around pregnancy and childbirth has won a national award.

Skerries charity, Nurture, along with the Traveller Counselling Service, Dyslexia Association of Ireland, Sensational Kids, and Anam Cara have all been announced as the winners of the GSK Ireland IMPACT Awards 2016, during a ceremony at the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin Castle.

The five award-winning charities were each awarded 10,000 in unrestricted funding, while five runner-up charities also received 2,000 each. In addition, the winning charities received a video and photography package to promote their charities and services.

The awards, in their second year in Ireland, are designed to recognise and reward community-based charities who contribute to the improvement of people's health and wellbeing, as well as acknowledge the positive outcomes these charities have on their users and local communities.

This year's winners represent an inspirational mix of healthcare heroes making a real difference to the lives of their communities right across Ireland.

The IMPACT awards are judged across a number of criteria including innovation, management and partnership which looks to reward how the charities are run and what they are actually achieving. This year's winners demonstrated excellence across the criteria during the fiercely competitive application process.

Nurture, based in Skerries, is a nationwide charity which provides professional counselling and supports surrounding pregnancy and childbirth and maternal mental health illnesses to women, partners and their families founded by Rush woman, Irene Lowry.

Roger Connor, President, Global Manufacturing & Supply (GMS) at GSK said: 'GSK is extremely proud to support these healthcare charities, very often unsung heroes, who are contributing so much to health in their communities. To really make an impact, charities need purpose with passion coupled with strong management and governance, which can be very challenging, particularly with tight resources.

'This year's winners show this is possible and we have been impressed, inspired and moved by our winners and the huge contribution they are making to Irish health.'

The Impact Awards 2016 were judged by a multidisciplinary panel of professionals.
The Mayor of Fingal was delighted to welcome a very special visitor to a recent council meeting at County Hall who is making a point of visiting a council meeting in all 32 counties on the island of Ireland, north and south, in a very personal commemoration of the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising.

Adrian Hogan is a Limerick man who visited a recent meeting of the full council at County Hall in Swords and was introduced by the Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Darragh Butler to the gathered councillors who responded to Mr Hogan's story with spontaneous applause.

It all began with a letter to the mayor from Mr Hogan, who said: 'My intention for 2016 is to attend a full council meeting in the 32 counties of Ireland. I have already attended 37 full council meetings and I would like to attend your full council meeting taking place in the County Hall.

'All I would ask, is a letter in council paper verifying that I attended your meeting, a photo taken with you, and if you have a business card you might sign and date the back of it for me. The whole purpose of the exercise is to put all the letters, I receive into a book for my grand, and great-grand children to see what I was doing in 2016, celebrating the centenary of the 1916 rising.'

The Mayor of Fingal was very glad to grant the Limerick man's request and told the Fingal Independent: 'I was delighted to welcome Mr. Adrian Hogan to the gallery for our Fingal full council meeting in October and he received a spontaneous round of applause from my fellow councillors when I introduced him at the start of the meeting.'

The Fingal Mayor added: 'This is a unique and remarkable way to celebrate 2016 and I will be personally delighted to go into this collection. This will be a fantastic achievement and I wish him well in completing this task over November and December. All I can say is fair play to Mr. Hogan, as our full council meetings are not easy to sit through and I hope we measured up when compared to all of the others that he has attended.'

The Limerick man just has a handful of meetings left to attend and will finish his unique quest in December
Maria and Val Fynes and their children Rebecca, Keziah and Isaiah from Ballyboughal, who lost son Aaron (16) to a severe form of the 'butterfly skin' disease EB (epidermolysis bullosa)

A Ballyboughal family who lost their teenage son to a rare and painful genetic skin condition is asking the people of Fingal to help others with the disease by wearing a special butterfly 'tattoo', this week.

Sixteen-year-old Aaron Fynes from the rural Fingal village suffered from a severe form of the so-called 'butterfly skin' disease EB (epidermolysis bullosa) which eventually claimed his young life.

Aaron was the beloved son of Val and Maria Fynes who are now appealing to everyone in Fingal to play their part in raising funds and awareness for the disease in National EB week from October 24 to 29.

This incredibly painful condition causes the skin layers and internal body linings to blister and wound at the slightest touch.

One of only 300 people in Ireland with EB, Aaron had to be bandaged from head to toe to protect him from everyday life.

'Aaron was in severe pain before he died, 75% of his skin was missing, he was going blind and he had to use a wheelchair,' said his dad, Val.

October 24 to 29 is National EB Awareness Week and Debra Ireland, the charity which supports EB patients, is trying to raise vital funds to help people with EB through day to day family support and research to find a treatment for one of EB's most harrowing side effects - extreme itch. The 'Itch Project' is being carried out at the Charles Institute of Dermatology at University College Dublin.

The Fynes family is asking the people of Fingal to help those living with this distressing condition by picking up a Debra Ireland EB butterfly temporary tattoo at any Applegreen store and sharing a selfie of their new tattoo on social media.

'With EB every little bit can hurt, but in this case every little butterfly helps, so please show your support, go to any Applegreen, pick up a Debra Butterfly and text BUTTERFLY to 50300 to make a 4 donation, 3.25 of it will go to fighting EB,' said Val.

Dr. Avril Kennan, Head of Research at Debra Ireland, explains why more research is needed. 'EB brings a lot of pain and another major side effect is the awful itching that accompanies the healing process,' said Dr Kennan.

Dr Keenan added: 'We all know how much you want to scratch a healing wound, so imagine having wounds all over your body that itch horrendously as soon as they start to heal.

'The itch makes sleeping extremely difficult, parents can spend all night comforting their children.

'At night children with severe EB can scratch themselves so badly they wake in the morning to blood-soaked sheets.'

In Aaron's memory the Fynes family, including his siblings Rebecca, Keziah and Isaiah, are keen to raise awareness of EB and help those who live with the butterfly skin condition.

Aaron's dad said: 'When Aaron was born the doctors had never seen EB before, they knew little or nothing about it or how to treat it,

'We had to take control of his medical treatment eventually finding help at London's Great Ormond Street hospital.'

The Ballyboughal dad concluded his appeal, saying: 'Research is the only hope we have to help end the suffering associated with EB.'
An attempt to rezone lands to the west of Swords that had the potential to stretch the town's boundary in that direction as well as deliver anything up to 2,000 new houses has failed as planners set their face against the proposals arguing strongly that Swords has sufficient residential zonings in place for its future.

The proposals all came from Cllr Anne Devitt who eventually accepted the planners' arguments on lands at Brazil but put the other proposal at the Rathbeale Road to a vote, where her rezoning proposal was defeated by a majority of 27 votes to nine with one abstention.

Cllr Devitt argued that development in this part of Swords would help fund an objective of the council to construct a western distributor road for Swords. She said development on these sites would generate levies that could fund that project and deliver a 'vital piece of infrastructure' for Swords.

Planning director, Annmarie Farrelly dismissed that argument saying she could 'absolutely confirm that we don't need to zone these lands to deliver that road'.

County planner, Matthew McAleese said there was there was no need for the rezonings and there was still plenty of undeveloped residentially zoned land in Swords to satisfy demand and keep pace with construction. He said that development to the west of Swords at a 'peripheral location' was 'not appropriate at this stage'.

While Cllr Devitt ultimately accepted those arguments on her proposal for rezonings in Brazil, Swords, she went on to put two further rezoning proposals at the Rathbeale Road to a vote arguing that a school and community facilities were being sited nearby and that this would 'make sense' to have development on the western side of the new distributor road as well as on its eastern side.

Planners were again vocal in their opposition to this move and said that road should be the western boundary of Swords and not open up land to the west of it for further development.

Senior executive planner, Matthew McAleese said these proposals were 'entirely premature', a characterisation that Cllr Duncan Smith (Lab) said he agreed with.

Cllr Devitt said she did not believe that the proposal was any more 'premature' than the lands already zoned for housing in the plan, at Lissenhall and pressed ahead with her call for a vote.

Her proposal was put to a vote and was defeated by a strong majority.
A father-of-two, who had a bad experience at a play centre where another parent approached him and told him to take his 11-year-old son, who is confined to a wheelchair, off the ground, has gotten together with a group of other people to try and build a Special Needs Fun Centre which is inclusive for all children.

Paul Bolger, who lives in Oldtown, said he was left heart-broken when the parent approached him while his son Duy, who has special needs, was having fun rolling around on the ground while his younger able-bodied son was playing at the centre.

'The parent told me to pick Duy off the ground, saying he has no place on the ground,' Paul told the Fingal Independent.

'I was very taken aback by this but I kept a cool head, placed Duy back in his wheelchair and we left the premises.'

Later that evening, the incident had been playing on his mind, so much so he felt he needed to do something about the situation and change the perception of others, for all parents who have children with special needs.

'I said to my wife Louise, what can I do to change all this,' said Paul, whose dream it is now to provide the world's first all inclusive indoor play centre specially designed for children and young adults with special needs.

'I would love both my children to be able to play in the one centre - a centre where there is a regular play centre as well as a special needs play centre. All children deserve the right to have fun.'

Initially he went about by setting up a Facebook page and invited lots of people to 'Like' it in the hope that word would spread about the initiative of setting up the Special Needs Fun Centre.

'I also wanted to get feedback from other parents who have children with special needs, to hear their experiences of being at play centres and generally what they thought about the idea of a centre for youngsters who have special needs,' said Paul.

With the setting up of the page, it took off. 'I couldn't keep up with the messages I was receiving,' he said, leading him to get together with a group of friends to set up the initiative.

'None of us are in it for the money. We just want to try and set this place up and see what happens,' he added.

'We have set up as a Company Limited by Guarantee which means none of the directors get paid but we will have paid staff whenever we get the centre open.'

The Special Needs Fun Centre company was legally formed in May and donations are flying in.

A landowner in Meath has donated some land to the company where, depending on planning permission and finances, the centre may be based there.

They recently held a Coffee Morning in St Cronan's Parish Centre where they raised 729 and a second coffee morning in Limerick which raised 1,100.

'This is a massive project and we need all the support and financial backing we can get,' said Paul.

'Schools have been in touch with me finding out more information about it as they are finding it difficult to find places to bring their students with special needs to.

'Not only will this centre benefit the children with special needs and their families, but it will also enable the parents who can get the chance to meet other parents.'

Parents wishing to contact Paul can do so on the Special Needs Fun Centre Facebook page or check out their website at www.specialneedsfuncentre.ie where donations can also be made.

A fundraising Christmas Toy Fare and Coffee Morning is taking place at St Michael's Special National School in Baldoyle on November 11 from 10.30am to 1pm.
A call has been made for the Council to write to ESB Networks to connect the street lighting at Branogue Park, Riverchapel. 'The residents are still in the dark there,' said Cllr O Suilleabhain.

Coill na Giuise

Concern was expressed at the lack of movement on the old Coill na Giuise site on the Ballytegan Road which is earmarked for redevelopment. Cllr Malcolm Byrne said he didn't want a planning application to be used as a way to delay action on the derelict site.

School concern

The old St Joesph's school on Wexford Street in Gorey is 'in an appalling state' and is attracting regular anti-social behaviour, said Cllr Malcolm Byrne during a discussion on derelict sites. 'Because it's so open, it's particularly urgent,' he said. Deirdre Kearns of the council's planning section said the site has been inspected and she has asked for the report to be given to her as a matter or urgency.

Derelict homes

There are three derelict cottages on Puddle Lane in Ballycanew, Cllr Pip Breen said last week, wondering if it was possible that the Council could purchase them. 'We need to concentrate the minds of the people who own them,' he said.

Old Tesco site

The old Tesco site in Gorey is 'becoming a bit of an eyesore, and becoming overgrown,' Cllr Joe Sullivan told last week's Gorey district meeting. Deirdre Kearns from the Council's planning department said that permission was granted to sub-divide it. She said the Council was expecting that work would be starting on site straight away, and was surprised when it didn't. Cllr Robbie Ireton said it would even help if it was given over for car parking at specific ties. Cllr Pip Breen suggested they look at considering it as a derelict site.

Dilapidated

Wexford County Council has come up with a programme of works to deal with the old Stafford house at Ramsfort Park. Cllr Malcolm Byrne raised the issue saying the house has gotten into a worse state, despite promises from the developer that it would be sorted. When Deirdre Kearns told him the Council is proposing to do the work itself, Cllr Byrne wondered if a CPO could be placed on the house. 'I have a real problem with us going in and cleaning up after their mess, and then pursuing them for it,' he said.
Tesco Ireland said this week that local charities and groups across Wexford have received almost 141,000 meals to date from the company through its surplus food donations programme which is run in partnership with Irish social enterprise, FoodCloud.

A wide range of Wexford organisations, including Gorey Youth Needs Group, New Ross Community Food Bank, and Taghmon Family Resource Centre, have benefited from the redistribution of over 63,000 kgs (or 141,000 meals) of surplus food from Tesco stores across Wexford since 2014.

Nationally, Tesco's surplus food donations programme has redistributed over two million meals to 195 charities since its launch in July 2014. This equates to over 20,000 meals distributed to charities and groups every week..

At present, 109 of Tesco's 148 Irish stores (73 per cent) support local good causes with surplus food donations, with the retailer planning to introduce the programme into all of its Irish stores by the end of 2016. With two million meals redistributed to date, equating to 1000 tonnes of food, Tesco is encouraging more charities across Ireland to sign up and take part in this initiative.

Speaking about the initiative, Aoife Parle, area community champion for Tesco in Wexford, said 'my day-to-day role involves working with the charities and FoodCloud to ensure our partners are receiving food which works for them. I have seen the impact that this initiative has on these organisations and I am delighted to play a role. I would encourage any charity to get involved in FoodCloud.'
Gorey Municipal District councillors presented a united front last week when they decided to reject the draft budgetary plan for 2017, saying that the Gorey district should be given a larger share of funds.

There was some disagreement among the eight councillors during the meeting as to whether or not they should take such a stand, so they took the unusual step of exiting the chamber, leaving the Council officials and journalists inside. When they returned a few minutes later, there were suggestions of 'white smoke' as they passed the journalists at the back of the room.

The plan as presented to them involved the sum of 292,000, divided into various categories. This, they were told, was the same allocation as 2016, and did not include expenditure on specific projects which would be applied for separately.

First to speak against the allocation was Cllr Malcolm Byrne who said that once again, the allocation to the Gorey district was the lowest in the county. 'I'm not happy that the Executive has the attitude that Gorey is the smallest district, so it gets least,' he said.

Lynda Lacey, acting head of finance with Wexford County Council, told him that the allocation is in line with that of New Ross, and district manager Amanda Byrne said that there are more schools with disadvantaged status in Enniscorthy, so when the allocations for those are taken out, then there's not much difference there with Gorey either.

Cllr John Hegarty objected to the fact that discretionary spending for councillors in other areas had increased, and he was told that this was to bring everyone up on a par.

Cllr Byrne felt that if there was a 'one-size-fits-all' policy, then this should be applied in other areas such as arts, business, and tourism. 'I'm not happy with the decision the manager has taken and I propose we reject it,' he said. 'We should not be fighting here for the crumbs.'

Cllr Robbie Ireton felt it was too late in the day to object after the budgets were worked out. He agreed that Gorey was being unfairly discriminated but felt the time to object was after the budget for the following year.

Cllr Byrne said they have complained in the past about a higher rate imposed on businesses in Gorey. 'This is the result of continued frustration,' said Cllr Hegarty.

Cllr Joe Sullivan seconded Cllr Byrne's motion, saying 'this is the only protest we can make.'

'We would love to see more money for Gorey but I don't think the GMA (General Municipal Allocation) is the place to do it,' commented Ms Byrne.

'We're the nice guys in this, and nice guys come last,' said Cllr Hegarty. 'Gorey has the highest rates, and the lowest return,' added Cllr Byrne.

Cllr Fionntan O Suilleabhain felt that they shouldn't be pitting one area against each other, while Cllr Mary Farrell said they had to fight for Gorey.

'I think our battle is with the main budget. It's not with the GMA,' said the chairman, Cllr Pip Breen. He agreed with Amanda Byrne when she said that there are bigger projects ahead that will need allocations. However, he also agreed with Cllr Hegarty when he stated that they were looking for a means of making a point.

Cllr Ireton felt that plans to equalise the rates across the county shouldn't take ten years.

After they returned to the chamber after a quick discussion outside, Malcolm told the meeting that they decided to reject the draft budget, and they asked Ms Lacey to bring their concerns to the Council chief executive.
An aid worker from North Wexford has described the horror of living through the devastating Hurricane Matthew which recently struck Haiti, leaving more than 1,000 people dead.

Damien Meaney, (37), who is originally from Vevay Road in Bray, but now lives in Kilanerin, said that it was horrendous during the storm. 'I have never witnessed, and hope never to go through, anything like it again,' he said. 'I thought it was never going to stop.'

He has been working with the Haven Partnership in Haiti for over five-and-a-half years, on a small island called Ile a Vache, south of Haiti. Before the storm hit, the Irish organisation was working to support livelihoods, by providing agriculture training, and home upgrades.

'The main focus is to help support existing programmes to become self-sustaining,' he said, explaining that much of his work centred on supporting local community projects such as building fishing boats so they can go to sea to catch fish.

'It is all about trying to up-skill and train local Haitians on how to practice better techniques to carry out their daily activities and livelihoods,' said Damien. 'My role has been helping the locals to co-ordinate these programmes.'

He said that the island was devastated during Hurricane Matthew. 'It has caused untold damage, destroying homes, businesses, schools, churches, agriculture, and livestock,' he stated. 'The destruction is unreal. It's sad to see that what everyone had worked for was wiped away in a couple of hours.'

'I had six families in my room that night as their houses were being torn away,' he continued. 'We were all huddled into a corner as the windows blew out.' He couldn't believe how strong the winds were and could feel the walls moving. They peaked at around 4 a.m.

'The rain was lashing into the room,' he said. 'The clothes, bed, everything, was destroyed.'

Eventually at around 9.30 a.m., they managed to prise the door open. 'The wind and rain were still blowing very strong,' recalled Damien. He saw that the roof of neighbour's house was gone, and a coconut tree had smashed through the house. The roof of his house was gone too, as were many of the contents from upstairs.

'It felt unreal, like a bad dream,' he said. 'It was hours before we were all able to talk, as the wind and rain lasted until early afternoon. All we could do was be thankful that everyone was still alive.'

He said that since the storm, his main activity has been surveying the damage done to the island, and to other projects on the mainland, and seeing how the Haven Partnership can help. 'The key has been getting food and water to families,' he said. 'We have delivered a couple of thousand food kits now. We are in process of getting tarps to try keep homes dry as the roofs are gone.'

Other priories include: getting wells fixed and cleaned to provide clean water for families; getting aqua tablets out for disinfecting the water; setting up a cholera area to help reduce the number of cases; and facilitating medical teams with logistics on getting aid to the island.

'The conditions are still very hard and getting aid in and distributed is a challenge,' he said. 'It's raining on and off, so movement is limited.'

'We are working to try get schools back open, the medical centre fixed, clean farms back growing seed, and trees planted,' he said. 'We are focusing as much as we can on helping people to try to get back to normal as quickly as possible.'
It's important that Ferns is at the centre of any plans to build links between Wexford and the Norman Way, the Gorey Municipal District committee meeting heard last week.

District manager Amanda Byrne said that after an initial visit to Normandy, a follow up visit was made to Bayeux to establish a programme to bring young people from Gorey to the town in 2017 to take part in the annual War Correspondents Prize events.

She said that other projects will be planned for the following years. 'We want to ensure that this will be our project,' she said. Cllr Pip Breen added that they also went to Hastings, where they were very well received.

Cllr Malcolm Byrne said that people in Normandy and in the French Embassy were very keen to explore the links. He agreed with Cllr Breen that Ferns should be tied into the network. He also suggested writing to An Post to issue a stamp commemorating 1169 and Diarmaid MacMurrough inviting the Normans to Ireland, and putting Ferns Castle on it.
Transport Infrastructure Ireland, (TII), has proposed making changes to the speed limits on the N11 in Ferns and Camolin, involving an increase in the limit on certain sections.

The proposals were put to the Gorey Municipal District councillors at their monthly meeting last week for feedback. David Codd of Wexford County Council's roads department said that the TII's national roads review was aimed at ensuring consistency and appropriateness of speed limits on national roads across the country. The alterations will be incorporated into the Council's draft speed limit bye-laws for the county.

It's proposed to set new limits of 80 km/h, then 60 km/h, and finally 50 km/h, approaching Camolin from Ferns, with a special 30 km/h limit outside the local national school at specific times of the day. A section of the current 50 km/h limit on the approach from Gorey would increase to 60 km/h.

On the Wexford approach to Ferns, it's proposed to increase the limit from 50 km/h to 60 km/h almost as far as the roundabout, and to introduce the 60 km/h limit again on the other side of the village at St Edan's Cathedral, heading towards Camolin.

Cllr John Hegarty found it 'unusual' to be reducing the areas where lower speed limits apply in developing villages. Mr Codd said the TII wants consistency nationally, where a 60 km/h limit will apply in a partially built up area, and 50 km/h in a fully built up area.

Responding to Cllr Hegarty's request for a review of the other limits countywide, Mr Codd said that the submissions made over the past seven years will be included in the draft bye-laws, if they were deemed appropriate. He said this document should be ready by December.

Cllr Joe Sullivan also questioned increasing the limit approaching Ferns to 60 km/h. He was told it was calculated on the number of entrances onto the road. Cllr Sullivan felt this was flawed logic, and pointed out that there are 100 houses using one entrance at Cluain Caislean.

'One hundred houses create a lot of traffic and there are a lot of children walking to school,' he said. 'Far from increasing the limit, I would be reducing it.'

Cllr Malcolm Byrne didn't know if it made a lot of sense spending a lot of money on new traffic signs, and that it might be better spent on traffic calming measures, which looked better than plain bollards. Mr Codd replied that money for traffic calming measures was in short supply. Cllr Hegarty agreed that traffic calming should be something more creative than bollards.

Cllr Mary Farrell said that lower limits are needed as far as the IWA centre in Ballycanew, and at the Wells House junction, on the R741. She was told that Ballycanew is included in the draft plan for the county. Mr Codd added that the guidelines say lower limits should not be used in one-off rural locations, and that warning signs might be a better solution.

Cllr Anthony Donohoe asked if the new limits could affect new planning applications for housing, as regards density, and he was told they could, but that they can always be reviewed again.
Wexford, Enniscorthy and Rosslare Europort could be severed from the rail network under a controversial review put forward by the National Transport Authority.

The review, established to look at possible solutions to the rail company's sustainability, says Iarnrod Eireann needs more than 640 million in extra finance over the next five years to tackle solvency issues and as compensation for past under-funding.

One of the suggestions is to curtail rail services south of Gorey, leaving the south of the county isolated from the rail network.

Already there are calls for top-level talks between Wexford's public representatives, the Minister for Transport and Iarnrod Eireann to counter the proposal before it gains any traction.

Wexford Chamber said the existing rail service from Rosslare to Dublin was an absolute necessity for the county.

'This rail line is one of the county's most important infrastructural assets, as it enables both business commuters and tourists to conveniently travel between Dublin and Wexford on a daily basis. I am calling upon our local government representatives to secure the investment that will be required to protect this valuable link to the capital,'chamber president Karl Fitzpatrick told this newspaper.

'Furthermore, Wexford Chamber believes that a direct route from Wexford town to Dublin would significantly increase the number of passengers using this service, establishing a profitable route for Irish Rail,' he said.

National and local political figures in the county described any plan to cut the service as wholly unacceptable, and while there have been previous threats to axe the lightly-used service between Wexford town and Rosslare Europort, the town has not been included on a potential hit-list for some time.

'This is almost a hardy annual, they seem to cycle out when they feel that resistance to it is least,' said former minister Brendan Howlin.

'It is wholly unacceptable. A lot of money has been invested on the line in Wexford and instead of seeking to cut lines, in the whole new scenario of climate change, they should be seeking to expand services.. this suggestion will be greatly resisted,' he said.

Cllr Malcolm Byrne said Iarnrod Eireann has lost significant levels of funding in recent years and 'we need to invest in public transport'.

'To cut off Rosslare Europort and most of County Wexford from the rail network would be hugely detrimental to the county.' said Cllr Byrne.

Cllr Lisa McDonald called for a pan-political response and high-level meetings with decision-makers.

'It's very worrying and I am genuinely concerned about it. I will be calling for a meeting between the public representatives and Irish Rail and the Minister for Transport,' she said.

'The railway is a lifeline and is an important structural part of Rosslare Port, which, despite being in profit, has received no investment for many years from Irish Rail.. it's disgraceful that they should get away with.

'If you take the tourism and amenity perspective into it, what is proposed makes no sense at all,' she said.

Cllr Jim Moore said that cutting the service would be short sighted, given the nature of the relationship between Dublin and South Wexford.

'It transports not only tourists, but a lot of people who rely on the service to get to and from work in Dublin,' said Cllr Moore.

'It has a long history of its full benefits never being exploted, with bad time-tabling, poor promotional work and not enough investment,' he said.

Deputy James Browne said the report highlights that officials have mooted the possibility of closing the Wexford rail line south of Gorey as a cost saving measure.

'This cannot be allowed to come to pass,' said Deputy Browne.

Minister Paul Kehoe said: 'We are totally dependent on rail services and trying to encourage people to use rail services, not to see them cut.'

A draft report, drawn up by the National Transport Authority and Iarnrod Eireann following its review between March and June, provides the government with options for dealing with funding problems at the State-owned rail operator.

The report says that if the government provides no additional money, the funding gap would have to be eliminated by the closure of whole swathes of the existing rail network.

It says that in such a scenario the majority of the rail network would be shut down, leaving only Dart, commuter services in Dublin and Cork and inter-city services from Dublin to Cork, Belfast and Limerick operating. There would be no services to the west or south east.
Carers from around the country joined together in Ballyvaloo Retreat Centre for a rare and much-appreciated bit of pampering as part of the 'Caring for Carer's' weekend.

Hosted by the Wexford Lions Club, the third annual event saw 26 carers from Dublin, Kildare, Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford and Wicklow come together for a weekend of R and R. The guests were well looked after over the course of the two days, with Lions Clubs in each area sponsoring their guest's stay.

Guests were greeted by Mayor Frank Staples, who acknowledged the role that carers play in our community and the work they do.

'You take on a responsibility that doesn't operate Monday to Friday, nine to five, but more often, a twenty four/seven role which can be very rewarding but also overwhelming at times,' he said.

He thanked the Lions Club for their work throughout the year and their recognition of some of the most valuable people in our communities.

President of Wexford Lions Club Dan Redmond joined the Mayor in welcoming the guests and reminded them that the weekend was all about them.

'You are often forgotten for the work you do. Wexford Lions Club is privileged to host this weekend for you,' he said.

He went to thank the organising committee, headed by Lion Trina Barnes, and the club as a whole for the work put into organising the weekend.

The weekend was certainly all about the guests, as a host of activities were organised in their honour. Live music on Friday and Saturday night as well as presentations from an IT specialist and motivational speaker Bob Carley kicked off the weekend. Guests also enjoyed group and individual sessions with a reflexologist, beautician, fashion advisor and counsellor.

Throughout the weekend, the carers had the opportunity to swap stories about their own experience, which many agreed was a very positive and encouraging experience.

'We were treated like dignitaries; it was such a happy time and will have an everlasting effect on all who attended,' one of the guests told Wexford Lion's Club in a post-weekend survey.

The Caring for Carer's weekend is held in Sligo and Wexford on an annual basis, with Lions Clubs across the country sponsoring guests to attend. The next Wexford weekend will be in the autumn of 2017. This and similar events hosted by the Lions Club are provided for from public donations.

On behalf of the Caring for Carer's guests, the Lions Club expressed their gratitude to everyone who donates to their local club, enabling them to continue to serve their local community.
Our Lady of Lourdes, Rosbercon, welcomed Lieutenant Commander of the Irish Navy, Eddie Mulligan, to speak about the humanitarian work of the Irish Navy in the Mediterranean recently.

As part of their Action Project for Civic Social and Political Education, Class 3M are raising-awareness of the Navy's commendable work and of the ordeals facing the migrants seeking a better life in The European Union.

The numbers attempting the journey across the Mediterranean is rising and migrant-smuggling networks are flourishing.

Lt. Commander Mulligan described the desperate plight of Syrians who have endured a four year of civil war, and migrants from Africa crossing from Libya in flimsy vessels. He outlined how since July the L.E. James Joyce and the L.E. Samuel Beckett have saved 3,273 lives including new born babies and unaccompanied children.
A Greensave Business Conference aimed at showing businessowners how to save money through the use of 'greener' practices will take place in Wexford County Hall on November 23.

The event, which will be Wexford's second Greensave Conference to date, will encourage small businesses in Wexford to save money by reducing their energy, water and waste costs. It is part of the Greensave Programme - a joint initiative of Wexford County Council's Local Enterprise Office, the Environmental Protection Agency and Wexford Chamber of Commerce which is supported by Econcertive.

Speakers on the day will include Director General of the EPA Laura Burke, Programme Manager of Greenbusiness.ie James Hogan and Richard Keegan from Enterprise Ireland.

Speaking at the launch of the conference last week, Director of the Office of Environmental Enforcement at the EPA Dara Lynott said:

'The Environmental Protection Agency is delighted to be associated with the Greensave Programme and the 2016 Greensave Business Conference. Streamlining and efficiency have always been considered good business practice and one of the ways to achieve efficiency is to improve environmental performance and cut your business's carbon footprint. This has obvious benefits in terms of reputation and brand as well as helping to achieve significant cost savings. The 2016 Greensave Business Conference will certainly encourage all of us to develop a leaner greener approach to doing business.'

Speaking at the announcement of the conference dates, Head of Enterprise at Wexford Local Enterprise Office Tom Banville said:

'We are delighted to once again bring together companies engaged in the provision of environmental solutions and locally based businesses seeking to save money by deploying these solutions.'

'The Greensave Business Conference 2016 will include keynote speakers from the field of environmentally friendly technologies and solutions and will also feature case studies from a number of Wexford businesses who have participated in the Greensave Programme. It is a "must attend" for all businesses owners who realise that implementing good environmental practices is a simple and effective way to cut costs and save money.'

Each year, up to ten businesses in Wexford are supported through the Greensave programme, which is delivered on a mentoring basis from a specialist in the given field. Through the programme, they receive an onsite review of current environmental performances to identify low-cost improvments; a follow-up visit to discuss the findings and an implementation plan; assistance with developing an environmental policy; telephone support and a final review to evaluate results.

The Greensave Conference will take place in County Hall on November 23.
Students from Moncoutant, France who were awarded a civic reception during their time at the CBS secondary school

A large group of students from Moncoutant were welcomed to New Ross at a civic reception in The Tholsel recently.

Cathaoirleach Cllr Michael Whelan welcomed the students and teachers to the Tholsel, along with pupils from New Ross CBS and their principal Pat Rossiter, saying that a civic reception is the highest honour a council can bestow.

Cllr Whelan said that 2016 is the second year of the student exchange with New Ross CBS.

'Last year students from the CBS travelled to France to experience life as a French student. I hope that you enjoy your experience in our beautiful town of New Ross and here in Ireland.'

Cllr Whelan thanked the host families, adding that without their support the exchange would not be possible. 'I hope you realise how lucky you are to meet students from different countries. I'd like to thank the twinning committee.'

Cllr Michael Sheehan said numerous local sport organisations have been involved in the twinning exchange which has been in existence ever since New Ross and Moncoutant were twinned in 1999.

'I think it's very important that school and young people stay connected today. All across the world people want to create walls and distance between people. This is about working together and building bridges so when our visitors go back home they will leave with an experience of what life if like somewhere else. This town is a wonderful place of history, promise and ambition. We looked forward to welcoming you back many times.'

Mrs Hiem of the Moncoutant exchange programme thanked the committee for all their work. 'It's a different way of life here; not just a different language and a lot of things are included which makes it a rich experience.'

Mr Rossiter said the reception was historic in that it was the first time students from the school had been in The Tholsel. He said: 'We had a good time in Moncoutant last year. I am honoured to be here today and I would like to thank the twinning committee.'

Afterwards presentations were made to Mrs Hiem and the New Ross and Moncoutant pupils enjoyed buns, savoury treats and refreshments.
Staff from the senior primary school in New Ross went on site to view the new school being built in the Maudlins

The builders of the new 10m coeducational school in New Ross have committed to conclude works on all buildings by November 28 and to handover the two schools fully completed by December 12.

Sammon Group workmen have substantially completed the Catherine McAuley junior school, but a lot of work remains to be carried out on the senior school, Brian MacMahon, Principal of the Edmund Rice school said.

The company is facing delay charges running to thousands of euros per week from the Department of Education.

The school, which was due to open in late August to around 700 students, is not expected to be open to students now until January.

Mr MacMahon said it is very frustrating that after waiting 16 years for the schools to be built that they are not completed.

When it opens the new school will see New Ross CBS, St Joseph's and Michael St national schools amalgamated giving New Ross its first ever fully coeducational primary school.

Junior and senior infants students are being taught as a temporary measure at Michael St school, while older students are being taught in St Joseph's, including in a pre-fab.

Mr MacMahon said the move will take place over the Christmas break providing all the work is carried out.

He said: 'We met with the owner Michael Sammon and he promised us it will be done by Christmas. A lot of fit out work is required in the senior school, including electrical and plumbing works. They gave us a schedule of works and we are meeting them every week for updates.'

Mr MacMahon said the fit out is scheduled to be completed by November 28 and it will take a fortnight for fire safety certificates etc to be completed.

'We will start moving stuff in immediately. The parents, kids and staff have been brilliant. It's so close to completion now, it's just down to their lack of professionalism. When it's built it will be absolutely excellent with a fantastic special needs unit. We've had 160 years of single sex schools in New Ross and we're the only town in the county where that has been the case.'

There will be 320 senior students and 340 students in the school which has capacity for around 850 pupils.

'Our numbers have grown already. We had a lot of people applying so much so that we had to take on an extra teacher in September.'
Murtagh Joyce, Madeleine Quirke CEO Wexford Chamber and Derek Joyce with the just released Sony VR Headset for the Playstation at the recent Wexford Chamber Business After Hours event at Joyces

The focus was on modern technology at Wexford Chamber's recent Business After Hours event, which brought over 50 businesspeople to Joyces of Wexford.

Guests had an opportunity to experience the new PlayStation VR - a virtual reality head-mounted display developed by Sony, which only launched in store that same evening. IT Experts were also on hand to showcase the newest products to the market from Apple, Lenovo and Epson, while many of the ladies experienced the Dyson Supersonic hair dryer with a complimentary blow dry on the night.

Hungry guests were thrilled to meet with Chef Tony Carty, who demonstrated a selection of canapes for everyone to sample.

'Our family business has developed considerably over the past 72 years with strong product associations with an extensive list of top brand names and it has seen many changes over the years, for example, we have introduced in-house cookery courses for adults and children, which are proving very popular,' said Derek Joyce

The evening ended with a business card draw. Andrew Owen of Bank of Ireland won a Lenovo Yoga Tablet and Donal O'Keeffe of AIB Bank won a Nespresso machine.
County Wexford based truck drivers are finding themselves at risk of being effective couriers for asylum seekers who may be found dead in their vehicles.

Verona Murphy, President of the Irish Road Hauliers' Association (IRHA), said truck drivers are continuing to experience problems with migrants in France attempting to gain access to and hide inside their trailers. She was speaking after a three-year-old girl and four adults were found in a sealed, refrigerated container at O'Leary International in New Ross on Sunday, October 16.

Ms Murphy, who runs a transport company based in Ramsgrange, said: 'Drivers are instructed to be vigilant at all times to ensure their own protection and the protection of their property, but it happens.'

She expressed particular concern about the people who were found in the container in New Ross, especially the three-year-old child. 'In a container like that there would be problem with oxygen, there may not be enough, they could be dead,' she said.

'That's everybody's fear. It would be of utmost concern to both the haulier and the driver - nobody would want that on their conscience.'

She also pointed out that the container the five Kurdish people stowed away in had passed through two border checks - one in France and one in Wexford - and they were only discovered when the truck driver transporting the trailer heard noises and opened it up. 'In the UK, if that had happened, they would be looking at a 10,000 fine,' Ms Murphy said. 'What's happening is that the French authorities are saying there is no one in the trailer and you travel a small distance to the UK authorities who fine you. The haulier and the driver get a fine and there are no penalties for the French authorities who didn't catch it in the firstplace. In the same vein, if people were found dead and both authorities missed them, would they be brought up for murder?'

Ms Murphy said her organisation would 'strenuously oppose' any plans to bring in similar fines for drivers arriving in Irish ports who are found to have people hiding inside their trailers.

The people discovered in New Ross in the back of the container were medically examined afterwards and are now in Dublin having applied for asylum seeker status.

Three-quarters of stowaway migrants discovered at Rosslare Harbour this year failed to say they were seeking asylum and were sent back to their port of origin, Wexford Chief Superintendent John Roche said.

There have been about 25 stowaways discovered at the harbour this year, but only about one-quarter requested asylum. The others were sent back to their ports of origin. 'There is a serious market in Europe right now in relation to false travel documents,' he said. 'If there's any suspicion in relation to validity of the documents we will send them back to their port of origin, unless they ask for asylum. We are refusing a fair number because people are coming in with false documentation or no documentation at all, particularly as foot passengers. They're evading capture on the French side but we stop them once they get to Rosslare and return them immediately.'

Any individual who arrives in the State has a right to seek asylum. The claim is processed and a determination made about whether to grant refugee status.

Supt Roche said there is a significantly increased garda presence at Rosslare Europort this year. 'We have six ferries arriving here every day from Cherbourg, Fishguard and Pembroke,' he said.
The event in the Curracloe Hotel will see over 40 Scrabble enthusiasts go head to head in a series of scrabble games on November 5 and 6

People from across the country who share a way with words flock to Wexford annually for the Scrabble Tournament and this November, the competition will mark its 25th anniversary.

The event in the Curracloe Hotel will see over 40 Scrabble enthusiasts go head to head in a series of scrabble games on November 5 and 6. This year will see visitors coming from as far away as Australia in an attempt to be crowned the champ.

Visitors from Germany and the UK will also take part, while a newcomer from Tipperary will also get involved for the first year ever. They will go head-to-head with some of Ireland's seasoned players, who have been attending the competition for many years.

There is still time for people to sign up to take part. Those who are interested can email pidgied@yahoo.co.uk or enter via the Irish Scrabble Association website.
There will be plenty of spooky goings-on at the Irish Agricultural Museum celebrating Halloween and the mid-term break.

The celebrations kick off on Saturday, October 29 and run until Sunday, November 6.

The displays at the museum have been specially decorated for the occasion and families are encouraged to take a spooky trail around the museum.

Taking place in the 200 year old former farm buildings of the Johnstown Castle Estate, the trail features 13 special Halloween displays including the haunted forge, the terrifying tailor's shop, the monster's bed and the witch's kitchen. Children are encouraged to look out for the cats, bats and witch's hats hidden amongst the displays to win a little prize.

A bonus question gives families the chance to enter a prize draw to win their choice of either a family ticket for two adults and two children to see Santa at the Castle or Afternoon Tea for two in the Castle.

There's no need to book for the Spooky Trail, visitors can just turn up anytime between 11am and 4pm to take part. All children completing the trail will receive a Halloween treat at the end.

On Sunday, October 30 and Bank Holiday Monday, October 31, the Spooky Trail will include free face-painting by Oddsocks as well as the opportunity to see, hold and be photographed with real live owls and birds of prey, and a range of creepy crawlies and other creatures.

The spooky trail is an indoor family-friendly event and is not intended to have a high scare-factor.

The trail is included in the usual museum entrance fee. Usual admission charges also apply to adults, seniors, students and children not taking part in the trail. For families there is an excellent value family ticket for two adults and up to four children for 24.

For more log onto www.irishagrimuseum.ie or www.facebook.com/irishagrimuseum.
In 1991, Niall Henry and Malcolm Hamilton formed 'The Famous Blue Raincoats' known today as the Blue Raincoat Theatre Company.

The Blue Raincoat Theatre has become the key stone to Sligo and the North West's cultural life and it celebrates 25 years as one of the most vibrant, creative and enduring independent theatre companies working outside of Dublin.

Marking the end of their 25th year the Blue Raincoat Theatre Company ensemble will perform Jocelyn Clarke's acclaimed stage adaption of the classic 1865 Lewis Carroll novel 'Alice in Wonderland' in The Factory Performance Space from 26th October to 5th November.

This classic literary tale has enthralled and engaged both children and adults alike, as they follow Alice who falls down a rabbit hole and lands into a fantasy world full of strange people and unpredictable events.

The company first presented a fast-paced and physical retelling of Alice in Wonderland in 1998, and are excited at developing a new production from the original script almost two decades later.

Co-founder and Artistic Director Niall Henry said: "The great challenge of returning to the script of Alice in a Wonderland is that we find ourselves nearly twenty years later with a good part of the company still intact, trying to reinvent and out create our younger selves is a strange but exciting experience. Most of the ensemble has worked together for over twenty years and, in that time; the collaborations with Jocelyn as writer have produced some of our best work."

The company has presented the world premieres of Clarke's critically acclaimed original productions Shackleton (2016) and First Cosmonaut (2015); Clarke also adapted for stage the award-winning Flann O'Brien trilogy, The Third Policeman, At Swim-Two-Birds and The Poor Mouth.

Introducing Miriam Needham as Alice, the production is adapted from the Lewis Carroll classic with supporting cast Hilary Bowen John Carty, Sandra O'Malley, Brian Devaney and Barry Cullen.

Hailing from Ballisodare, Hilary Bowen Walsh began acting at the age of only six and with several successful projects behind her she is destined for great things.

Hilary says that while this is the first time she has worked with the cast, she appreciates how lucky she is to be able to come home and work locally: "I have seen most of the Blue Raincoat productions since I was 16, they were hugely inspirational and fantastic productions. Their stage craft is unique it's very good.

"While this is the first time I've worked with them, it's lovely to come home and work locally and with people I would have seen on stage and would have known for many years beforehand." Last year Hilary attended the highly acclaimed Cannes film festival where the first Irish language musical 'Bonsuir Luna' premiered. Looking towards the future she admits she isn't looking for fame, instead finding sustainable work that continues to let her do what she loves.

"With acting there is no definitive path of A B and C and then you get to Z. Everyone finds their own path with acting. It's a small industry in Ireland."

and there is a large pool of people trying to get work at once.

While Sligo boasts a wide range of home-grown talent, Hilary thinks it deserves more national coverage: "I think in Ireland sometimes a lot of the focus can be quiet Dublin centric which is unfortunate because there is so much wonderful theatre being made across the country. The raincoats have an outstanding reputation with their 25 years and every show that I've seen them do they are world class theatre. There should defiantly be more recognition there is so much going on, on the amateur circuit."

Offering advice to the up and coming actors of Sligo she added: "Go and see lots of theatre, watch lots of films, do lots of training, talk to as many people as you can, get more than one persons advice. It's tough but persevere."
Lough Gill brewery, Sligo town's first brewery in 100 years, was in the US last week in attempts to develop trade links in the country.

The brainchild of brewing entrepreneur James Ward, the business will officially launch next month.

Ward, who also founded Ballymote brewery, The White Hag, said exporting beer to the States is high on his agenda:"It's been a busy few years for both myself and my family from launching my first brewery -The White Hag - in 2013 to now my final preparations for the launch of the Lough Gill Brewery next month.

"This trip is a fantastic opportunity for me to expand my brand not just here in Rhode Island but across the eastern coast of the US through the many available resources provided here at the Ireland West Trade Centre." Lough Gill Brewery is selling its wares with other companies at the Ireland West Trade Centre in Rhode Island, on the US east coast.

This is a pilot project funded by the Local Enterprise Office in Sligo to allow companies in the West and North West of Ireland to explore and test new markets in the US. It also helps companies in the West of Ireland to sustain operations, increase employment and support.
Think Irish when you think Engineering. That's the message from a local businessman whose engineering company is continuing to grow.

Seamus Farrell of SF Engineering has asked Engineers to think Irish when looking about jobs for the future.

Seamus is the driving force behind a global team of 130 people at SF Engineering, a global leader in the design and manufacture of food processing equipment, said that one of the biggest challenges facing indigenous Irish companies was constraint on talent.

"There are a lot of young Engineers graduating in Ireland and either going abroad to work and to gain experience or seeking work with foreign multi nationals based in Ireland.

"The indigenous Irish engineering sector is booming and our main constraint is getting new talent. It's a real issue for companies like us and we are doing a lot to retain and grow talent as well as recruit the next generation of solution providers for SF head-quartered here in Grange," he said.

While complimentary of the foreign direct investment sector in the North West Seamus warned that the results of the US election could have serious consequences for employment prospects here.

"If you look at comments from either of the candidates they are both on record as saying that they will "bring American jobs home." That could have serious implications for employment in the North West given the reliance on the FDI sector in the region."

Passionate about his message to get further talent into the Engineering Sector in the North West, Seamus is taking to the road and speaking to the Sligo Business Network in London in November about the issue. "We face the uncertain prospect of Brexit - and we think it's fair to say that not even the top figures in the EU and in the British Government know exactly what effect that's going to have on Irish employment near our internal border over the next few years.

"Meanwhile, given the effect the global economic crisis had on employment prospects with FDI companies in the region after 2008, this region might face similar challenges again if the global economy struggles over the next couple of years". Seamus has also commissioned a recruitment video to highlight the great lifestyle on offer in the North West and enjoyed by staff at SF.

"We are going to be pushing this video out across the world to target Engineers that want to come to the North West of Ireland and have a great way of life and great career prospects.

"As a company, we operate all over the world from Chile to Russia, from Germany and Poland to Dubai and the Far East. We get to see life all over the world, which is exciting and challenging in equal measure, but it also lets our staff see the benefits of the lifestyle we have here in the north west of Ireland.

"It's time people who left Ireland to seek work, or those who have left the North West to work elsewhere realise that the opportunities on offer in this sector in the North West are as good as they will find anywhere in the world. The pace of life and the cost of living cannot be beaten and as an industry we need to be clear and vocal with potential staff, that there are amazing opportunities here, and now," Seamus added.
A new outreach programme which sees paintings from The Model visit local national schools will have many educational benefits for young children, according to Emer McGarry, Acting Director at The Model.

She was giving a presentation along with Marie Louise Blaney on the new Punc1x1 initiative. The national schools programme sees ten schools across the county welcoming one painting at a time each to give students the opportunity to learn more about them.

The name Punc refers to the Pop Up Niland Collection and the ten schools in question are Our Lady of Mercy, Carn in Gurteen, St Cecilia's, Gaelscoil, St Patrick's Ballinful, Holy Family Tubbercurry, Scoil Mhuire agus Iosaf Collooney, Dromore West NS, Taunaugh in Riverstown and Carns in Moneygold.

Emer said that a team from The Model will be engaging with the schools throughout the programme. "All of the children will gain confidence to their learning. We will be seeking further funding to bring each and every primary school in Sligo into the programme in the coming years."

There are aims to engage all 69 primary schools in the project by 2020. Funding for Punc1x1 comes from Sligo County Council and the Community Foundation for Ireland. She said funding for 2017/18 will come from the Community Foundation for Ireland until the project gets off the ground and two potential funders for 2018/20 have been identified.

Emer added there was a duty of care to the collection and it's vital to make sure the paintings are 100% secure when out in the schools. The programme was widely welcomed by councillors.

Cllr Sinead Maguire said: "It's a wonderful project and we often find adults enjoy the gallery experience while it can be distracting for children." Cllr Thomas Healy paid tribute to Nora Niland, who was the person who set up the collection.
The main street of Ballisodare, where calls have been made for a pedestrian crossing.

The decision to allocate funding of 380,000 funding to four designated areas across Sligo was made without consulting the local councillors.

Councillors at Monday's meeting of Sligo Municipal District raised their disappointment that they were not spoken to ahead of the four areas - Tubbercurry, Enniscrone, Ballisodare and Grange being selected for the funding.

The money was part of the Town & Village Renewal Scheme. Council Engineer Michael Carty was explaining the allocation of the funding and how it was going to be divided up equally among the four areas in question.

Cllr Sean MacManus said the money was welcome and it was reasonable to divide it up equally, meaning each region would benefit from 90,000. He added: "I express disappointment surrounding the lack of consultation with us public representatives in relation to this. I would have loved to have pushed for Strandhill to receive some funding," he said.

Cllr Seamus Kilgannon said the 380,000 was a lot of money and it was extremely welcome and again expressed concern over the lack of consultation. "Carney is an area surely that could have been selected. It's an area that has a lot of young families and it certainly could do with some funding to make it more attractive," he added.

Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council, Cllr Hubert Keaney, said he welcomed the funding, adding that whatever funding comes it is never enough. "I'm very disappointed there was no consultation with public representatives. Many didn't find out until they heard through the grapevine, that's no way to conduct business. I got two irate phone calls last week from village groups. Hopefully if we get funding like this next year that we will approach it differently."

Council Engineer Michael Carty told the meeting that the application process for the funding had to be made at short notice and the council wasn't advised until mid August with regard to submitting an application.

The four areas in question were drafted as Grange had a population growth of 100%, Ballisodare and Tubbercurry both 50% while Enniscrone had in excess of 80%. The application had to be submitted by the end of September.

Sligo County Council CEO Ciaran Hayes said the criticism regarding the lack of consultation was fair. "I think the criticism is very fair criticism.

"The notification came down in August, this was not the way we like to do business.

"It came at a time staff were under very severe pressure with Failte Ireland grants.

"There was very serious work done to get the application in at short notice.

"I had direct discussions with the Director of Services and my main concern was that we wouldn't miss out on the funding," the CEO said.

The request was to have two schemes in north Sligo and two in south Sligo.

"The schemes fit the criteria and I fully credit Dorothy (Clarke) and Michael and the team to turn this around at short notice.

"Certainly regarding future applications, we will have advance notice to engage with you."

The money has to be spent by the end of the year, the councillors were told.
A Garda told Sigo Circuit Court how he felt his life was in danger as he clung to the car of a fleeing driver who had been asked to submit himself to a drugs search at Cartron Point in April 2013.

Garda John Walsh, since promoted to Sergeant, told the court that he felt his life was in danger as he pleaded with Tommy Corcoran (22) to stop.

The Garda said that on the evening of April 19th a number of planned searches were being carried out to disrupt and disband an anti-social gang that had developed in the town and Gardai had gone to the home of the defendant who lived at Ard Na Mara, Cartron Point at the time, which was the last of five searches.

Sergeant Pat Harney said when Gardai arrived in the area they saw Corcoran driving out of his driveway at a cul de sac at Ard Na Mara in his 1999 registered Toyota Altezza.

Sergeant Walsh moved himself out on to the road to try to prevent him moving off and approached the car.

Corcoran was told he was going to be searched under the Drugs Act but he put the car into reverse and took off at high speed.

Sergeant Walsh was struck by the bonnet and front wing of the car and ended up being dragged along the road after he grabbed hold of the driver's window before being flung sideways from it.

Corcoran was later seen fleeing from the car carrying a bag, making his way on to the mud flats at Cartron Bay where he began to throw items into the sea.

He was subsequently arrested and some of the items were recovered which turned out to cannabis herb worth a couple of hundred euro.

Corcoran later told Gardai that the drug was for his own use, that he smoked about 200 worth a day and was addicted to it. He said that in total there had been three ounces of the drug.

Corcoran pleaded guilty to having the drug for sale or supply and endangerment to Sergeant Walsh.

Corcoran said he had panicked when the Gardai approached. He said he got a fright, took off his his car and that all that was in his head was his child.

He told Gardai that he was sorry and that he wasn't trying to put any Garda in danger. He regretted taking off.

Cororcan was extradited on February 12th last from England where he fled soon after the incident.

Sgt Harney said Sgt Walsh was removed to hospital where he was treated for head and neck injuries. He was off work for two months and was still receiving physiotherapy.

Witness said that despite falling on top of his head and neck from the car, Sgt Walsh continued with the pursuit of Corcoran that evening.

The defendant had seven previous convictions dating back to 2010 including burglary and handling stolen property along with Public Order offences.

A Probation Report before the dourt dated July 19th last stated that Corcoran said he was now drug free.

Sgt Harney agreed with Ms Aoife O'Leary BL, instructed by Mr Mark Mullaney, solicitor that it would appear Corcoran had settled a bit and had not been in trouble here or in England since.

Ms O'Leary said it would appeaer that the defendant had acted out of panic. He had been leaving his house when he was approached by the Gardai.

The defendant 1,000 in court for the Sergeant.

Ms O'Leary added that Corcoran was supplying the cannabis in small amounts in order to support his own habit.

He had spent over two months in custody on the charges following his extradition from England.

Judge Keenan Johnson said that a disconcerting aspect of the case was that the defendant skipped bail and didn't return until a previous three year suspended sentence imposed was finished.

Sergeant Walsh in a Victim Impact Statement said he had actually spoke with Corcoran as he was sitting in the car but he took off in an attempt to escape dragging him along for about 100 metres.

"I pleaded with Tommy Corcoran to stop because I knew my life was in danger.

"The reason I knew I was in danger was because I felt stones from the road being flung up by the spinning tyres which hit my teeth and face. I could also see that I was going to strike parked cars on the right hand side of the road.

"When I let go I was actually propelled forward becaise of the speed involved. I was lucky to avoid colliding with parked cars as well as being lucky to avoid being struck by a patrol car that was in pursuit of Mr Corcoran's car.

"On reflection, the entire experience has allowed me to appreciate how lucky I was to escape being seriously injured. I has made me appreciate how a situation for a member of An Garda Siochana can escalate out of control in virtually a split second," he said.

Three years on he was still receiving medical attention.

"Psychologically I am reminded almost every day of the actions of Mr Corcoran's when I suffer pain/spasm/stiffness in my back," he added.

He said that prior to April 2013 he would have net the defendant on an almost daily basis and he indicated at the time that he was in a dark and dangerous place as a result of drug use.

Over the past six months he had met the defendant on numerous occasions and he was now a father of two and was in a long term relationship with his partner, Jamie.

Corcoran's attitude towards him and An Garda Siochana and life in general was now positive.

"I genuinely believe he has turned a corner in his life," said the Sergeant.He accepted Mr Corcoran's apology and bore no ill feelings towards him.

Judge Johnson commended Garda Walsh for the restraint and magnanimous nature of hisImpact Statement.

"You have shown incredible Christianity and charity," the Judge told the Sergeant.

Judge Johnson added that Gardai put their lives on the line to protect citizens and that needed to be acknowledged and the Sergeant did that on this occasion.

The Judge said he was delighted the Garda had since been promoted and that it was well deserved.

Corcoran told the court that he was extremely sorry.

"It was a split second decision," he said.

He had tried to stay out of trouble since and had done this. He was 19 at the time. He agreed that he left the country after itsaying he was scared, that his child was only a few months old at that stage.

He got work with his father in England. He had consented to his extradition back to Ireland.

Corcoran said he was heavily smoking drugs then.

The defendant accepted Judge Johnson's remark that the Garda could have been killed and he could have ended up in jail for the rest of his life.

Corcoran said he didn't know how bad the situation was until the Sergeant gave his Impact Statement.

"I'm shocked. I didn't understand it was this serious. I am extremely sorry," he said.

On being told the Sergeant did not want the 1,000 and that he would prefer if it went to a charity, Corcoran said he had no difficulty with this.

He said he had been planning to return before he was arrested in England and extradited.

Judge Johnson said it was a very serious offence and the Garda could have been fatally injured.

He suffered serious and significant injuries and it was reprehensible and unacceptable that a member of An Garda Siochana be treated in this way.

Corcoran was remanded in custody for sentencing (tomorrow) Wednesday.
An excessive amount of electricity usage at a house in Tubbercurry led to the finding of 20 cannabis plants growing in the bedroom of a house, Sligo Circuit Court was told.

When Gardai carried out a search of the house at Mountain View they discovered that the householder had ran electricity cables from a vacant house next door into his property.

Before the court was Francis Gallagher (37) of 28 Mountain View who admitted cultivating cannabis at his home on May 1st 2015.

Ms Dara Foynes BL (prosecuting) with State Solicitor said an electricity supplier became aware of an excessive amount of electricity being consumed at the defendant's home and an adjoining house which was unoccupied.

When employees attended at the houses they got a strong smell coming from number 27 and 28 Mountain View.

Gardai were subsequently contacted and when they carried out a search they discovered a cannabis growing set-up in a upstairs bedroom at number 28.

The bedroom was sealed off and there were hanging lights there which were being powered with cables brought in from next door.

The 20 cannabis plants were mature and had a potential street value of 16,000.

Gallagher told Gardai after his arrest that the plants had been growing for two months.

He said he was a user of cannabis and that this had been an experiment.

He had bought the seeds in a shop in Galway and his plan was to smoke the cannabis himself.

Mr Keith O'Grady BL (defending) with Mr Morgan Coleman, Solicitor, said it could be argued that the valuation of each plant could be as low as 400.

Mr O'Grady said Gallagher had made a full admission.

He was separated with one child and had a severe alcohol proble,.

"Alcohol is an issue here, no question about that and he has had residential treatment in the past for this," said Mr O'Grady who told Judge Keenan Johnson that the defendant was drinking at the moment.

Gallagher told the court he was attending AA meetings.

"I broke out yesterday with the court coming up. It's been on and off," he said.

Judge Johnson said that cannabis was a scourge on society and he could impose a custodial sentence but that he was satisfied this was an isolated event in this case.

The Judge imposed a three years sentence, suspended for four years.

It was ordered that he be placed under the supervision of the probation service, that he engage with the mental health services, remain alcohol free and continue to attend AA meetings.

"You are getting an opportunity to get your house in order and I hope you take it and rehabilitate yourself," said the Judge.
A man driving towards Manorhamilton died from extensive injuries he sustained when his car was involved in a multiple pileup on the N16 after colliding with a lorry.

The inquest into the death of Martin Mongan, 51, of Roche's Terrace, Ballina, took place at Sligo Courthouse yesterday. Mr Mongan was the driver of a third car, a Toyota Avensis, which was in collision with a lorry at Diffreen, Glencar.

Coroner Eamon MacGowan heard that Mr Mongan, who was a community councillor with the travelling community, was pronounced dead at Sligo University Hospital on October 30th 2014.

The inquest heard gardai in Manorhamilton and Sligo carried out an extensive investigation into the crash, interviewing 60 witnesses.

The accident occurred close to 10am at Diffreen, Glencar, Co Leitrim on October 30th 2014. Mr Mongan was in collision with a white Mitsubishi lorry being driven by Gary Flaherty, who was making deliveries in the area for a pre-packed food company.

In his deposition, Mr Flaherty said he was travelling back to Sligo after making a delivery in Manorhamilton. He was driving along when a gold car approaching from the opposite direction swerved to the left. He tried to keep in as far as possible on the verge but the car hit the truck's back wheel and he lost control. He recalled the lorry hitting another car and the next thing he remembered was being released from his seat belt. He was dazed.

He said he knew there was a van behind him but didn't notice that it was attempting to overtake.

It all happened very quickly after the car swerved in front of him.

The car was being driven by Nina Perepeccinna Petrosiene, a Lithuanian national living in Sligo.

Her deposition said she was going to Enniskillen for the day with her friend, who was driving behind, and their children.

She said she came to a straight stretch and saw a lorry getting closer. She claimed a dark coloured van behind it came onto her side and she though it was going to hit her.

"There was nowhere to go and I hit the brakes. I tried to keep my hands on the steering wheel," she added.

"All the cars were thrown everywhere." Her friend Gajane Danijelianc, who was driving in the next car, also collided with the lorry. She said she saw Nina's car break before colliding with the lorry.

A deposition from the driver of the van, Lee Mitchell, said he was driving behind a lorry and had passed Diffreen school.

The lorry was travelling normally and suddenly it swerved to the left into the margin and toppled over on its side.

It crashed into two cars before coming up against a third car, the driver of which was unconscious.

He checked the lorry driver who told him he was okay.

He was hanging by the seatbelt and said there was nothing he could do as the car came onto his side.

He said he was driving behind the lorry and didn't move out onto the right lane.

A case of dangerous driving causing death against Perepeccinna Petrosiene was later dismissed at Carrick-on-Shannon Circuit Court.

The jury after deliberations returned a verdict death was due to injuries received as a result of a road traffic accident.

The coroner expressed his sympathies to the family of Mr Mongan, who were present at the inquest.

"His death is clearly a loss. He was a community councillor with the travelling community and doing good work. It's very sad for his family and friends."

He also thanked gardai for carrying out an exhaustive examination and the witnesses. The jury also expressed sympathy to Mr Mongan's family, as did Sergeant Philip Maree on behalf of An Garda Siochana.
A 20-year-old student who was jailed at the District Court for six months for assaulting another man in a pub with a glass has had the term lifted on condition he complete 240 hours of community service.

Mark Comerford of Tully, Strandhill had pleaded guilty at the District Court to assault causing harm to Michael Mitchell in the Garavogue Bar on April 6th 2015. Comerford, who had drank eight pints that night, struck Mr Mitchell in the face with a pint glass.

The court heard that he was just "chatting and having the craic" with his friends in the bar around 2.30am when he remembered getting "a thump in the face and seeing the blood."

"I remember looking at my hands and seeing the blood just falling out of me," he said. "I have a heart condition so I was worried I was bleeding so much. I'm still in a lot of pain and aware I'm going to have scars on my face for the rest of my life," he told Gardai.

Comerford who had no previous convictions, apologised to his victim in court.

Judge Kevin Kilrane sentenced Comerford to six months in prison which was appealed to the Circuit Court. "A man with eight pints glasses another man for no reason. If there is a reason I haven't heard it.

"A message has got to be sent out that this type of assault is to be completely abhorred and punished severely," he said.

Last Tuesday, Judge Keenan Johnson lifted the jail term on hearing that 10,000 was paid over to Mr Mitchell.

The six months prison sentence was suspended and Comerford was ordered to carry out 240 hours of community service in lieu of six months in jail. Mr Gerard McGovern, solicitor (defending) said the defendant was a student in Dublin so that the community service would have to be carried out there.
An Arklow insurance company did its bit to highlight an important issue recently as staff took part in the local version of a nationwide initiative.

Travers & Co Insurances Ltd which has an office on Upper Main Street took part in the Think Pink event, an annual day to create awareness about breast cancer. Every year, almost 3,000 women in Ireland are dignosed with this form of cancer. The company takes part in Breast Cancer Awareness Day every year and all the staff embraced the challenge of wearing brightly coloured pink t-shirts with the 'Think Pink' slogan across the front.

All the staff and directors got involved, including Mary Murray, Kiara Byrne, Mervyn Travers, Siobhan Briscoe, Denise Hyland, Aaron Travers, Lindsay Wood, Alma Travers, Michelle Byrne, Mairin Nolan, Cheryl Dodds and Alan Crummy and they were joined by director of Arklow Cancer Support, Mary O'Brien who thanked them for their efforts.

'Travers & Co Insurances Ltd decided to get involved to promote awareness of this worthy cause. All staff wore pink t-shirts, pink posters were displayed in the office window and we provided customers with pink cupcakes and decorated the office with pink balloons and flowers,' explained Aaron Travers.

Rather than raising funds, Think Pink aims to create awareness about breast cancer and to give information to those seeking support.

In Arklow, the local Cancer Support Group also hosted a large scale Think Pink event, the first of its kind since they relocated to their new premises at St Mary's Road.

Arklow Cancer Support Group was thrilled to see so many local people and businesses involved in the awareness day and thanked everyone who took part.
A Wicklow woman has welcomed former MEP and TD, Gay Mitchell, onto her team at Unique Media as part of the company's political and public affairs division. Gillian Kavanagh, most recently Media and Campaigns Manager with Fine Gael, is also joining Unique Media as Political and Public Affairs Manager.

The company is one of Ireland's leading media consultancy firms and was co-founded by Breda Brown, who is originally from Roundwood and used to attend the Dominican College in Wicklow town.

Unique Media's Political and Public Affairs division offers advice and guidance on how to approach the often challenging political and public affairs systems that exist in Ireland and across Europe

Mr Mitchell, a Presidential candidate in 2011, believes that Brexit could end up benefiting Ireland, once the right preparations are in place.

'Brexit presents an unprecedented challenge for the EU and the UK,' he said.

'We in Ireland will have our own challenges arising from this but we are well capable of meeting these. In fact, if we prepare well, this could present the greatest opportunity for Ireland since Independence. I hope my work with Unique Media will contribute to this preparation.'
A County Armagh man was flown to England on Friday to style the hair of two Liverpool FC stars.

Ryan Cullen was asked to do England and Liverpool player Adam Lallana's hair, as well as Liverpool captain and England player Jordan Henderson's.

The Liverpool fan took to Instagram to share the news with his 54,000 followers.

"So this happened today! My boys Adam Lallana and Jordan Henderson flew me over to get them ready for their match tomorrow! Being an LFC fan I'm overwhelmed!" he wrote.

"You wanna see the grin on my face today! Two lovely lads! Good luck tomorrow lads!"

Liverpool are set to play away to Crystal Palace at 5:30pm on Saturday.

Cullen has previously had other clients go to great lengths to get their hair done by him, with a fellow barber travelling from England to visit his Newry salon.

Ryan Hughes travelled 250 miles each way to visit Ryan Cullen Hair.

Cullen posted a photo of the pair and said he was humbled by the move.

He said: "This morning I arrived into "work" like any other Saturday... half asleep. Lol. My first client of the day, 8am, was already there and raring to go."

Video of the Day

"Ryan is from Southport near Liverpool and flew all the way across the pond with his other half to get a haircut from myself. I have been smiling all day and feel so incredibly humbled by this. He is also a fellow barber which makes it all the more special. A huge thank you to him for making the trip."
Hollywood star Jennifer Connelly has revealed she wore an "embarrassing" hairpiece while shooting a nude scene in her latest film, American Pastoral.

The 45-year-old said she donned the pubic wig to mimic a more bouffant style to fit in with the film's 1960s setting.

Connelly stars alongside Ewan McGregor and Dakota Fanning in the Scottish actor's directorial debut.

Labyrinth star Connelly told The Times that she finds on-screen nudity "difficult" and hid in her trailer after the scene in which she wore the merkin.

She added: "In my new film, American Pastoral, there's a scene where I'm naked and dancing around freely in a state by myself before I am committed.

"I felt exposed in a lot of ways. Because it is set in the Sixties, I had an enormous wig on my crotch, which was so embarrassing.

"I have never done anything like it before. After they shouted cut, I just hid in my trailer."

In American Pastoral, McGregor plays a man whose life is torn apart when his teenage daughter is accused of an act of political terrorism in 1960s America.

The film is an adaptation of Philip Roth's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

Connelly also spoke of her love for her husband, British actor and Avengers star Paul Bettany, whom she married in 2003 after meeting on the set of A Beautiful Mind two years previously.

She told the newspaper: "He talked politics, played guitar and sang. Not all at the same time.

"Towards the end of the movie we were on location in Princeton and a bunch of us were hanging out. Paul played and sang a Nick Cave song, and I looked at him and went, 'Huh!'

Video of the Day

"He is very witty, very gregarious and very social. He's a funny guy and our kids have a good sense of humour because of him."
A council letter sent to residents to encourage them to check their eligibility to vote directed them instead to a hardcore porn website.

Mid Suffolk District Council sent approximately 80 reminder letters to residents in the Claydon and Barham wards, which included a link to pornographic content.

The error was discovered when one resident, who wished to remain anonymous, typed the address into his web browser.

Quite humorous from my perspective but might give some of your older listeners a bit of a shock, he told BBC Radio Suffolk.

I have informed them but I'm guessing a few have already been mailed out.

The council has since apologised, calling the mistake embarrassing and a result of a technical slip.

It was not our intention to embarrass anybody in the district and the first thing I would like to say is to apologise to anybody who has received this letter, said the council's senior director Mike Evans.

We think about 80 documents were hand-delivered by canvassers in the wards of Claydon and Barham.

He also said the council would be hand-delivering apology letters to affected residents over the weekend.

Sending out this web address was absolutely not our intent and we apologise unreservedly to anyone who received it, he added.

Mr Evans said an error in the software that personalises council letters led to "this unacceptable mistake".

"It should not have happened and we are putting it right," he added.
At least four people have been injured after a knifeman went on a rampage in a German train station.

Police say the suspected perpetrator is at large after the attack at the commuter rail and subway station in downtown Frankfurt.

Frankfurt police spokeswoman Chantal Ench told the Associated Press that the attack took place Saturday afternoon inside the Hauptwache station.

Ms Ench says four people were taken to the hospital with stab wounds, but she didn't have details beyond that.

An der #Hauptwache in #Frankfurt kam es zu einer Messerstecherei. Deswegen sind so viele Kollegen und Rettungskraften dort. *ds  Polizei Frankfurt (@Polizei_Ffm) October 29, 2016

The spokeswoman said police are seeking to establish how many people were involved. She didn't have details of the ages and genders of the injured.
Taiz is the cultural centre of Yemen

A Saudi-led coalition air strike in the war-torn western city of Taiz has killed a family of 11, Yemeni security officials said.

The air strike hit the house of a citizen named Abdullah Abdo in a southern district called al-Salw, officials said.

Taiz, the cultural centre of Yemen, has been torn between coalition-backed forces and Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, for the past year-and-a-half.

The district that came under attack is close to the front line, and officials said that it is often difficult to distinguish rebels from government forces.

The fighting between the two sides intensified in al-Salw in recent days and many families have fled their homes.

AP
Hillary Clinton's campaign lashed out at the FBI on Saturday, saying there was no indication that a cache of recently discovered emails under review by the agency was connected to the Democratic nominee.

Barnstorming the West, Republican rival Donald Trump pounced on the reignited email controversy.

Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta told reporters FBI Director James Comey's letter to the US Congress about the new emails was "long on innuendo" and "short on facts".

"There's no evidence of wrongdoing," he said. "No charge of wrongdoing. No indication this is even about Hillary."

But on that latter point, Mr Comey in fact said the new trove was "pertinent" to the Clinton email investigation, without explaining how.

A government official said on Saturday that the Justice Department had advised the FBI against telling Congress about the new developments in the Clinton investigation because of the potential fallout so close to the election.

Justice officials concluded the letter would be inconsistent with department policy that directs against investigative actions that could be seen as affecting an election or helping a particular candidate, the official said.

Landing with a thud, the email issue again threatened to undermine an advantage built by Mrs Clinton, the Democratic nominee, over Mr Trump and raised the possibility that the Republican might be able to seize momentum during the final days before the November 8 election.

Mr Trump told a crowd in Golden, Colorado, on Saturday that the FBI's review of Clinton email practices raises "everybody's deepest hope that justice, as last, can be properly delivered". His crowd cheered Mrs Clinton's email woes, which Mr Trump has taken to calling the biggest political scandal since Watergate.

Mr Trump also had battleground Arizona on his plate Saturday. Early voting has been under way for weeks and Mrs Clinton, who was campaigning Saturday in Florida, has led in preference polls, both nationally and in key swing states.

The FBI is looking into whether there was classified information on a device belonging to Anthony Weiner, the disgraced ex-congressman who is separated from long-time Clinton aide Huma Abedin.

Mr Comey, in his letter to Congress on Friday, said the FBI had recently come upon new emails while pursuing an unrelated case and was reviewing whether they were classified.

The announcement raised more questions than answers and generated criticism that Mr Comey was injecting a significant development too close to an election. Yet the FBI director also faced the prospect of intense scrutiny if voters learned that he had been sitting on a major development until after the election.

Mr Podesta and campaign manager Robby Mook spoke to reporters in a conference call, following Mrs Clinton's hastily arranged news conference on Friday night in a high school choir room in Des Moines, Iowa.

In it, she said "the American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately. The director himself has said he doesn't know whether the emails referenced in his letter are significant or not".

But long-term, the development all but ensured that, even should Mrs Clinton win the White House, she and several of her closest aides would celebrate a victory under a cloud of investigation.

AP
Thousands of migrants have been moved from the Calais camp (AP)

French president Francois Hollande has vowed to shut down a growing migrant camp in Paris, after his government cleared out 5,000 people from a site in Calais in an effort to tackle the migrant crisis.

Mr Hollande met migrants brought from Calais to a reception centre in Doue-la-Fontaine in western France.

"We cannot tolerate camps," Mr Hollande said, calling them "not worthy" of France.

He said the latest camp to spring up in Paris will be evacuated, too.

About 1,500 under-age migrants remain in Calais in a special shelter, and Mr Hollande urged British authorities to "do their part" to settle them in Britain.

Calais is a magnet for migrants from the Middle East and Africa seeking to reach Britain, and its camp was a symbol of Europe's migrant crisis.

AP
Twin explosions from female suicide bombers suspected to be with Boko Haram have killed nine people and injured 24 in Nigeria's north-eastern city of Maiduguri, officials and witnesses said.

The first explosion came when two of the bombers tried to enter a camp holding more than 16,000 refugees from Boko Haram's Islamic uprising at around 7am local time (0600 GMT), according to civilian self-defence fighter Dan Batta.

The military said there was only one attacker.

"A suspected female suicide bomber ran into a group of men and women at the entrance while they were coming out of the camp, killing five men and injuring 11 women," said a statement from military spokesman Colonel Mustapha Anka.

Inuwe Sula, who lives nearby, said he saw six bodies and several wounded survivors "drenched with blood".

The second blast came half an hour later and about a kilometre away when a tricycle taxi carrying two passengers exploded outside a petrol station, Col Anka said.

The bomber was driving the taxi and following a fuel tanker "with the sole aim of gaining entry to cause maximum damage and casualty".

In both attacks, the bombers were prevented entry, which could have caused many more casualties, Col Anka said.

Nine bodies, including those of two suicide bombers, were recovered and 24 people wounded in the explosions were evacuated to nearby hospitals, said Sani Datta, spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency.

Boko Haram has stepped up attacks after a months-long lull caused by a leadership struggle in the organisation affiliated with the Islamic State group.

Nigeria's home-grown insurgency has killed more than 20,000 people, spread across borders and forced some 2.6 million people from their homes.

AP
Richard Hoagland left his family and began a new life with a stolen identity

A man who went missing in 1993 has been discovered living with a new family and a stolen identity in Florida.

Richard Hoagland made a panicked call to his wife, Linda Iseler, when she was at work on 10 February 1993, saying he was on his way to hospital.

She and her two sons, Matthew, 9, and Doug, 6, never saw him again.

"He devastated us. He left us with nothing, absolutely nothing. I was very broken," she told ABC News.

He was declared legally dead in 2003. His wife moved on and and remarried.

Meanwhile Hoagland had traveled 1,000 miles south from their home in Indianapolis to the small town of Zephyrhills, Florida.

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He remarried under the name of Terry Symansky - a fisherman who died in a freak accident in 1991 - and had another child.

He stole the identity by renting an apartment from the fishermans father and taking his sons death certificate once the landlord had died, and using it to apply for a birth certificate and a driving licence.

Smyanskys nephew exposed the con after doing some research on ancestry.com and saw that his uncle had married two years after his death.

Hoagland, now 63, faces several fraud charges. Pascoe County police called him a "selfish coward" for the cover-up.

Sheriff Chris Nocco said: "This is a person who has lived his life destroying others."

His third wife, Mary Hickman, said she found a briefcase of documents relating to his first identity after he was arrested.

Hoagland told police he wanted to leave his second wife but did not want to get another divorce after being married to Linda for 11 years.
Wisconsin prosecutors filed a criminal complaint against a University of Wisconsin-Madison student on Thursday, accusing him of sexually assaulting at least six women since early 2015.

Alec Cook, 20, of Edina, Minnesota, faces a total of 11 counts of sexual assault, two counts of strangulation and suffocation, and two counts of false imprisonment.

Since news of his arrest broke, police in an affidavit said dozens of women have come forward with information about Cook, according to local television station ABC 27 WKOW.

Cook's attorney did not respond to requests for comment.

WKOW reported his attorney as saying that Cook, who is in jail, had no criminal record. Cook has been suspended from the university and is prohibited from being on campus.

Campus sexual assault has become a hot topic after former Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner sexually assaulted an unconscious woman and received a six-month jail sentence. Prosecutors had sought six years.

The first complaint against Cook stems from an Oct. 12 meeting with a female student identified as JAS, who said that after they studied in a campus library, she went with Cook to his apartment where he aggressively kissed her before having what JAS described as non-consensual intercourse. She told police Cook choked and slapped her face against her will.

The encounter left the woman with tearing in her vagina, patches of irritated skin on her scalp where her hair was torn out, and scratches on her arms, according to the complaint.

The page from Cook's notebook which allegedly had a column marked "kill" @BadgerHerald pic.twitter.com/rJsGR8PCbA  Alice Vagun (@a_vagoon) October 27, 2016

Another woman identified as MBG told police that Cook sexually assaulted her and that she was not physically strong enough to stop him. After that incident, Cook stalked her, she told police.

Another student, identified as NSN, told police that Cook would grab her breasts and buttocks inappropriately whenever they were paired in their ballroom dance class. Another student from the same class reported similar behavior to police.

According to ABC 27 WKOW, court records show a black leather book seized by police from Cook's apartment last week lists women's names.

"Each entry showed how he met the female, and what he liked about them. Further entries went on to document what he wanted to do with the females," the affidavit stated, according to WKOW.

"Disturbingly enough there were statements of 'kill' and statements of 'sexual' desires," according to the affidavit.

Cook's attorney said the notebook entries can be interpreted in many different ways, according to WKOW.
The latest in the Hillary Clinton email scandal is a mess of information and competing narratives so dense we can only guess the effect it will have on the election, now just 10 days away.

If today has left you scratching your head, here are the four things you need to know to understand the latest developments.

1. This began with a sexting scandal

We all know by now that the root of this scandal was Hillary Clintons decision to keep confidential state emails on her own private email server during her tenure as Secretary of State; critics have argued that this represented a threat to national security and evidence that Secretary Clinton is corrupt.

But the recent reopening of the case goes back to a sexting scandal involving Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of Huma Abedin, one of Secretary Clintons top aides.

The FBI seized a laptop which was shared by Abedin and Weiner as part of an investigation into the allegations that Weiner had exchanged explicit messages and images with a 15-year-old girl. The FBI discovered emails on this laptop that could be relevant to Secretary Clinton, but were not part of the previous investigation.

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This is only the latest in a series of Anthony Weiner sexting scandals going back to 2011, when he resigned from Congress after a scandal involving his trading explicit images with several women broke. Huma Abedin remained loyal to her husband until this August, when the latest scandal broke and they separated.

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2. The FBI director disclosed the new investigation to Congress so as not to mislead the American people

FBI Director James Comey had repeatedly stated in recent months that investigations into Hillary Clintons emails had concluded without charging the former Secretary of State.

The Director insists that his decision to reveal the new investigation to Congress was due to his opinion that it would be misleading to the American people were we not to supplement the record."

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Mr Comey has come under fire for dropping this bomb so close to the election, with some Clinton supporters accusing him of attempting to influence the result in Trumps favour. But if he had waited until after the election, he likely would have been accused of supporting Clinton by sitting on a major news story.

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3. Clinton has challenged the FBI to reveal more information, not less

Hillary Clinton is remaining confident during this scandal, insisting that the FBI should give people more information rather than calling for the investigation to be halted.

"We are 11 days out from perhaps the most important national election of our lifetimes. Voting is already under way in our country," Secretary Clinton said yesterday. So the American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately.

Clearly, Secretary Clinton does not believe that the emails will reveal anything incriminating to her campaign and wants the issue cleared up as quickly as possible; if it is not resolved before Tuesday week, it could swing battleground states in Trumps favour.

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4. Trump is taking whatever he can from the scandal  and it may work

Trump is capitalising on the latest developments as openly as he can; he slammed Hillary Clinton as corrupt and criminal at rallies in New Hampshire, Maine and Iowa yesterday.

According to CNN polling, Iowa is leaning for Trump and New Hampshire for Clinton; Trump is using these rallies to shore up his vote in Iowa and break Clintons moderate hold in New Hampshire. Maine is a battleground state, winnable by either side.

Clearly the Trump campaign has had a confidence boost since the revelations; Trump is now saying that the system might not be as rigged as I thought.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton greets a woman and a baby outside the Leonard J. Kaplan Center for Wellness at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in Greensboro, N.C.

With under a fortnight to go, all the polls suggest Hillary Clinton will be America's first woman president following what has been a bruising, nasty and tawdry campaign.

It should, of course, be seen as momentous an event as when Barack Obama entered the White House as America's first black president. But it will not be.

For many people who have lived through months of playground insults and allegations of political, sexual and financial impropriety, the end of the election campaign will be a relief.

It is hard to think of a presidential election contested by two more unpopular candidates. Some Americans have voiced their despair that this is the best a country of more than 300 million people can produce.

The visceral hatred aimed at Mrs Clinton has been astonishing. Cars and T-shirts bearing the slogan 'Hillary for Prison 2016' are commonplace. At Trump rallies, chants of 'lock her up' are routine. At one event, a supporter waved a particularly unpleasant poster with the former First Lady as a rifle target.

Donald Trump's candidacy was initially regarded by many as little more than a stunt by a publicity-hungry television personality. Few people took him seriously and most expected the billionaire's self-funded campaign to collapse pretty quickly.

Relying on Twitter and a brash debating style to get his message across, Mr Trump laid waste to the vast Republican field in pretty short order, leaving a legacy of bruised egos and bitterness.

The consensus, however, has been that the tactics which secured the nomination have been ill-suited to dealing with a candidate as savvy, street-wise and experienced as Mrs Clinton.

Seeing the writing on the wall, some Republicans began jumping ship months ago.

Even before the drip-feeding of allegations about groping and rampant sexism, there were a number of figures in the GOP who made it clear they had no intention of supporting Mr Trump even if he was the party's nominee for the Oval Office.

Over the past few weeks this has become a stampede joined by a number of rival candidates for the nomination.

Quite simply, Donald Trump has now become so toxic that Republicans fear he will not only cost the party the presidency, but the Senate and, should things go really badly, the House as well.

The party establishment has deserted him. Instead, money is being thrown at congressional races as the Republicans desperately try to shore up their position.

Things are so bad that some Republicans have threatened to sue television stations who have run ads saying that they are backing Mr Trump.

Lawyers acting on behalf of Mike Coffman, who is running in Colorado, have said suggestions that he supports Mr Trump for president are "defamatory and false".

This is all very good news for Mrs Clinton.

The indications are that it will be women who sweep her to a comfortable victory. Most polls give her a double-digit lead over Mr Trump among female voters.

There was palpable excitement at the prospect of Mrs Clinton's candidacy when the campaigning started in earnest.

But it dissipated in the months that followed. It was an old, white man who generated the passion - Bernie Sanders, the independent socialist senator from Vermont. While Mrs Clinton addressed hundreds of voters, his rallies drew thousands across the US.

Somehow he put together an alliance of veteran radicals, many of whom campaigned for Eugene McCarthy in 1968, and young voters, many struggling to make ends meet as they paid off their student debts.

Like Donald Trump, his message was simple. The political system was rigged in favour of the wealthy and his slogan that the billionaires could not have it all resonated with a vast swathe of voters.

Mrs Clinton became tetchy as it grew clear that the road to the nomination was not going to be a serene procession culminating in a coronation.

But unlike the feuding in the Republican party, Mr Sanders accepted his defeat with surprisingly good grace, even if some of his supporters did not.

Having more or less secured her base, team Clinton moved in on women voters. They were aided by a series of crass comments by Mr Trump, including his extraordinary spat with Megyn Kelly, a broadcaster with the right-wing cable station Fox News.

There was a significant gender gap which was merely accentuated by the publication of Mr Trump's lewd remarks about women and the procession of alleged victims of sexual harassment.

Perhaps the most telling campaign slot was one in which young girls were filmed looking into the mirror against a sound track of Mr Trump's assorted insults about women's appearance.

The ad ends with the question: "Is this the president we want for our daughters?"

Should Mrs Clinton secure the presidency, she will have finally broken the glass ceiling. It will mean that Britain, the United States and Germany will all have women at the helm.

But there is a nagging doubt that the story will not end when votes are cast on November 8.

Even if Mrs Clinton wins comfortably, there will still be those who will not accept the result. As historic as the election of a woman president would be, the country will still be divided.

Her key campaign slogan has been 'Better Together'.

Making that a reality could prove to be her first and biggest challenge.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton greets a woman and a baby outside the Leonard J. Kaplan Center for Wellness at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in Greensboro, N.C.

THE saga of Hillary Clinton's email server began back in 2009, when she was appointed by President Barack Obama to be secretary of state.

Mrs Clinton had used a Blackberry phone to check her emails and communicate with her friends, and she wanted to continue using it. The only problem was a Blackberry not issued by the government was not considered secure enough for official government use.

So Mrs Clinton and her team came up with a solution: an email server, just for her, located in the basement of her house in Chappaqua, New York.

She would have her own email domain - clintonemail.com.

It was to prove a costly decision.

Ever since then questions have been asked about how she was allowed to use her own email server - whether she was negligent, or even whether she did it with the express intention of hiding classified material.

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Donald Trump, her rival for the presidency, has said she should be tried and imprisoned for the act - whipping up chants of "lock her up" to echo around his rallies. Last night he said it was a scandal "bigger than Watergate".

James Comey, the FBI director, was more reserved - but in July he did describe it as "extremely careless".

In the first year of Mrs Clinton's appointment, officials with the National Archives and Records Administration expressed concerns over possible violations of normal federal government record-keeping procedures. Hackers from Russia, Serbia and China are said to have been aware of the existence of her private server since 2011.

Mrs Clinton says she felt she was doing nothing different to her predecessor.

Colin Powell had used a private email account - such as a gmail.com one - but, crucially, he never had his own private server.

Madeleine Albright and Condoleezza Rice never used email - and John Kerry now uses a state.gov email address.

Mrs Clinton's ill-advised choice was probed in 2012 by an NGO, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, towards the end of her tenure - but they were told, in response to a Freedom of Information Request, that no records were available.

It was not until March 2013 when a well-known hacker, "Guccifer," accessed and distributed emails sent to Mrs Clinton from her confidant Sidney Blumenthal that the existence of her clintonemail.com address

was revealed. The following summer, lawyers from the state department investigating the 2012 Benghazi attack - which killed Chris Stevens, ambassador to Libya - noticed emails from Mrs Clinton's personal account.

In October of that year, the state department sent letters to Mrs Clinton and all previous secretaries of state back to Ms Albright requesting emails and documents related to their work while in office.

Mrs Clinton's lawyers in December 2014 delivered 12 boxes filled with printed paper containing more than 30,000 emails. But, crucially almost 32,000 emails deemed to be of a personal nature were withheld.

In March 2015, The New York Times broke the story that the Benghazi panel had discovered that Mrs Clinton exclusively used her own private email server rather than a government-issued one during her time as secretary of state, and that her aides took no action to preserve emails sent or received from her personal accounts as required by law.

Mr Obama at first denied knowledge of the scandal yet it later transpired he had exchanged emails with Mrs Clinton, suggesting he may have known her server was not secure. The following month Mrs Clinton announced her bid for the White House. By spring of this year, with the election campaign in full swing, an internal investigation by the inspector general of the state department found that she had never sought permission to use the server in her basement, and would have been refused permission if she had tried.

They discovered that some of the emails contained classified information - and the FBI became involved.

In October 2015 Mrs Clinton testified for 11 hours before a committee investigating Benghazi.

The email issue was addressed, but was not the focus of the session. "I did not conduct most of the business I did on behalf of our country on email," she testified. "I conducted it in meetings, I read massive amounts of memos, great deal of classified information, I made a lot of secure phone calls, I was in and out of the White House all the time."

The questions refused to go away, and led Bernie Sanders, then Mrs Clinton's rival for the Democratic nomination, to declare in a debate: "The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails."

Still it continued. In November 2015, the FBI expanded its inquiry to examine whether Mrs Clinton or her aides had jeopardised national security secrets, and, if so, who was responsible.

She was questioned over the July 4 holiday for three hours, in testimony that was never made public.

On July 5 the FBI concluded its investigation. Mr Comey strongly criticized Mrs Clinton, stating that it "is possible that hostile actors gained access to Secretary Clinton's personal email account." Yet he recommended there was no criminal case to answer.

Mrs Clinton and her team breathed a huge sigh of relief, and felt that the seven-year saga was over.

That, too, now appears to have been unwise.

The revelations continued. In September the FBI took the unusual step of making parts of her testimony public, including the astonishing revelation that her Blackberries were destroyed with a hammer, rather than being disposed of securely.

Mrs Clinton told the agents that she had no idea about servers and security. ( Daily Telegraph, London)
Park Geun-hye has apologised for her links to Choi Soon-sil

Thousands of South Koreans have taken to the streets of the capital Seoul calling for president Park Geun-hye to step down over allegations that she let an old friend, the daughter of a religious cult leader, interfere in important state affairs.

The evening protest came after Ms Park ordered 10 of her senior secretaries to resign over a scandal that is likely to deepen the president's lame duck status ahead of next year's election.

Holding candles and signs reading "Who's the real president?" and "Park Geun-hye step down", the protesters marched through central Seoul after holding a candlelight vigil near City Hall.

Police estimated that about 9,000 people turned out for the biggest anti-government demonstration in Seoul in months.

"Park has lost her authority as president and showed she doesn't have the basic qualities to govern a country," Jae-myung Lee, from the opposition Minjoo Party and the mayor of the city of Seongnam, told the protesters from a stage.

Ms Park has been facing calls to reshuffle her office and cabinet after she acknowledged on Tuesday that she provided long-time friend Choi Soon-sil drafts of her speeches for editing.

Her televised apology sparked intense criticism about her mismanagement of national information and a heavy-handed leadership style that many see as lacking in transparency.

There is also media speculation that Ms Choi, who holds no government job, meddled in government decisions on personnel and policy and exploited her ties with Ms Park to misappropriate funds from non-profit organisations.

Prosecutors on Saturday widened their investigation by searching the homes of presidential officials suspected of interacting with Ms Choi and receiving their office files from the Blue House - the presidential office and residence.

Prosecutors had previously summoned some of Ms Choi's key associates and raided their homes and workplaces, as well as the offices of two non-profit foundations Ms Choi supposedly controlled.

The saga, triggered by weeks of media reports, has sent Ms Park's approval ratings to record lows, and the minority opposition Justice Party has called for her to resign.

The Minjoo Party, a larger opposition party that has refrained from calling for Ms Park's resignation over fears of negatively affecting next year's presidential election, said Ms Park's decision to shake up her secretariat was too little, too late, and called for stronger changes, including the reshuffling of her cabinet.

Ms Park's aides on the way out include Woo Byung-woo, senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, and Ahn Jong-beom, senior secretary for policy co-ordination.

Lee Won-jong, Ms Park's chief of staff, tendered his resignation on Wednesday.

Mr Woo has been blamed for failing to prevent Ms Choi from influencing state affairs and has also been embroiled in separate corruption allegations surrounding his family.

Mr Ahn, whose home was searched by prosecutors on Saturday, is under suspicion that he helped Ms Choi pressure South Korean companies into making large donations to the Mir and K-Sports foundations, launched in October last year and January this year, respectively.

Ms Choi reportedly masterminded the creation of the two non-profits, which managed to gather around 70 million dollars (57 million) in corporate donations over a short period of time, and is suspected of misappropriating some of the funds for personal use.

Ms Park's office said she plans to announce a new line-up of senior secretaries soon.

Ms Choi's lawyer Lee Gyeong-jae said that she was currently in Germany but would return to South Korea if prosecutors summon her.

In an interview with a South Korean newspaper earlier in the week, Ms Choi acknowledged receiving presidential documents in advance, but denied intervening in state affairs or pressuring companies into donating to the foundations.

Ms Choi and Ms Park reportedly became friends in the 1970s, when Ms Choi's late father, Choi Tae-min, a shadowy religious figure who was a Buddhist monk, cult leader and Christian pastor at different points in his life, emerged as Ms Park's mentor.

At the time, Ms Park was serving as acting first lady after her mother was killed in 1974 by a man trying to assassinate her father, military strongman Park Chung-hee, who would be murdered by his own spy chief five years later.

AP
Aleppo is the current focal point of the Syrian war

Syrian government forces have launched a counter-offensive under the cover of air strikes in an attempt to regain control of areas they had lost to insurgents the day before in Aleppo, activists and state media said.

The offensive came a day after Syrian rebels launched a broad ground attack aiming to break a weeks-long government siege on the eastern rebel-held neighbourhoods of Syria's largest city.

The insurgents were able to capture much of the western neighbourhood of Assad, where Saturday's fighting was concentrated, according to the Syrian army and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The observatory said the new offensive by Syrian troops and their allies was ongoing under the cover of Russian and Syrian air strikes.

The group said the fighting and air strikes are mostly on Aleppo's western and southern edges.

The Syrian army command said troops and their allies are pounding insurgent positions with artillery shells and rockets, adding that "all kinds of weapons" are being used in the fighting in the Assad neighbourhood.

The Aleppo Media Centre, an activist collective, reported air strikes and artillery shelling of areas near Aleppo.

Syrian state media said rebels shelled government-held western neighbourhoods of Aleppo on Saturday morning, wounding at least six people, including a young girl.

Rebel shelling of Aleppo on Friday killed 15 and wounded more than 100.

On Friday, insurgents including members of Fatah al-Sham and the ultraconservative Ajnad al-Sham and Ahrar al-Sham militias took advantage of cloudy and rainy weather to attack government positions. On Saturday the weather was better, according to residents.

"There are ongoing clashes," said opposition activist Baraa al-Halaby, from besieged east Aleppo, adding that the fighting is far from them but explosions could be clearly heard in the city.

East Aleppo has been subjected to a ferocious campaign of aerial attacks by Russian and Syrian government war planes, and hundreds of people have been killed in recent weeks, according to opposition activists and trapped residents.

The new offensive by insurgents is the second attempt to break the government's siege of Aleppo's opposition-held eastern districts, where the UN estimates 275,000 people are trapped.

UN special envoy Staffan De Mistura has estimated 8,000 of them are rebel fighters, and no more than 900 of them affiliated with Fatah al-Sham.

Syrian and Russian officials have said that no ceasefire is possible as long as Fatah al-Sham remains allied and intertwined with other rebel forces.

Aleppo is the current focal point of the war.

President Bashar Assad has said he is determined to retake the country's largest city and former commercial capital.

AP
This week marks the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Sandy, a Category 3 storm which formed on October 22, 2012 and caused $70 billion in damage in roughly two weeks as it moved from the Caribbean to Canada, $11 million of which came from its impact in Rhode Island. Do you believe Rhode Island is more or less prepared to handle a large storm in the decade since Hurricane Sandy? Let us know in this week's poll question below.

You voted:
If you're going to watch Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, here's a bonus. Be ready to get some serious dejavu of films like Rockstar, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, Tamasha, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Kal Ho Na Ho. Karan Johar managed to give us a Diwali mash-up hamper and ignoring all cinematic flaws, the film will give you your moments of joy. Some major spoiler here. So, read it at your own risk.

1. For instance, the film has characters trapped in the vicious cycle of unrequited love. Ranbir loves Anushka, Anushka loves Fawad, Aishwarya loves Ranbir and Shah Rukh loves Aishwarya. You will get a major KANK-ish feeling in between. Everyone is in love but that love isn't making them happy. Ouch, that hurts.

2. Ayan and Alizeh are best friends and then, the guy falls in love. Because ek ladka aur ek ladki kabhi dost nahi ho sakte . Remember?

3. Terminally ill girlfriend returns in hero's life and the hero decides to spend his time with the heroine in her last days. Remember? Rockstar? Heer-Jordan? With a pinch of Kal Ho Na Ho too.

4. And then there is a pinch of Filmy Tamasha too. From a spontaneous holiday to Paris, dancing on Mohammed Rafi songs at bars and then dressing up Sridevi and Rishi Kapoor and dance to a Chandni song on a mountain top, a major Tamasha Deja-vu awaits Bollywood fans. Alizeh-Ayan will make you want to root for them.

So if you're up for Karan Johar's Dharma Mash-up, ADHM won't disappoint you.
1. Deepika Padukone And Vin Diesel Have A Special Hindi Diwali Message For India

Screengrab

Vin Diesel tries hard to wish each one of us in Hindi and Deepika promotes her film subtly in this video that is perfect.

2. After Farhan turned down to give Rs 5 crores demanded by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, the political party has threatened the makers to ban Raees.

Raees, that stars Pakistani actress Mahira Khan might face some troubles and the problems have just begun it seems.

3. KRK reviewed Shivaay and said that if the film does well at the box-office, he is ready to work as an office-boy for Ajay Devgn.

He also claims that if that film works, he would give up on reviewing films. HAHA.

4. The first teaser of Koffee with Karan is out and SRK-KJo bully Alia Bhatt in the cutest possible way.

The video gives us a preview of how KJo and Shah Rukh Khan both are going to bully Alia in the funniest way possible. When SRK was asked, If you woke up as Alia Bhatt,, SRK said, I will just read the newspaper.

5. According to an IANS report, activists of Bajrang Dal staged a demonstration outside a cinema hall in West Bengal's Purulia district.

They were protesting against the screening of Karan Johar-directed film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil that also features Pakistani actor Fawad Khan.
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From a clueless lover in Wake Up Sid to a love-lorn man in with Ae Dil Hai Mushkil who believes in the power of one-sided love, Ranbir Kapoor has grown up phenomenally as an actor. While many couldn't help but call the film KJo's weird mash-up of all his films that include: Kal Ho Na Ho, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna and Kuch Kuch Hota, what's hard to ignore in the film is Ranbir Kapoor.

While there was a time when we wanted to forget his films like Roy, Besharam, and Bombay Velvet, Ranbir Kapoor bounced back to prove to his haters than give him the role of a passionate lover and he will tell you how to be emotive and expressive with eyes.

If you think that Ranbir is over-rated, time to burst this bubble. Keeping all cinematic flaws of films aside, Bollywood's lover boy Ranbir Kapoor has time and again proved that love is his forte on the big screen.

1. Remember Wake Up Sid? Siddharth had no clue about his life. From meeting a random stranger at a party, confiding in her and then transforming as a mature adult during the whole film, Ranbir Kapoor's simplicity as an actor won us over.

Dharma Productions

Remember that scene when Aisha (Konkona) nags Ranbir Kapoor because she was jealous of having his female friend come over at their place? And Ranbir says, "Oh come on Aisha! Thak gaya hoon main. Main jo bhi karoon, tumhe galat hi lagta hai.." and the perfect Marine drive climax.

Watch the scene that melted our hearts right here:

2. Cut to, Imtiaz Ali's Rockstar. For many, it was a complex love story but there was a gang of people who started obsessing over Jordan-Heer. We cried with them, we cried for them.

"Mera dil nahi tootna chahiye, Khatana Bhai..", with that Ranbir did manage to break our hearts into tiny pieces.

YouTube ScreenShot

3. After series of flops and mistakes, Ranbir Kapoor was back as Kabir Thapar in Ayan Mukerji's Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. His comfort level with Padukone is what made us overlook small flaws in the storyline. A feel-good package by Dharma was a hit.

Dharma Productions

His transformation in the film from a commitment phobic ambitious 20's something to someone who falls hard for Naina (Deepika), the song Kabira and Naina-Bunny's connection in the song was one of the major highlights of the film.

And then Ranbir's filmy-career was on a roller-coaster. Critics had given up, fans couldn't understand what happened to Jordan and Kabir?

4. Ranbir and Imtiaz Ali's Tamasha gave us one message loud and clear, chase your dreams and make your passion, your ambition.

And then came Imtiaz Ali to Ranbir's rescue once again. Trust Imtiaz Ali to bring the best out of actors. Be it Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor or Ranbir, Imtiaz has been a magician. Tamasha didn't fare well at the office but Ranbir's acting in some of the scenes again proved that he's an actor who can be trusted.

When Love Shows you the middle finger #AeDilHaiMushkil Ranbir Kapoor's best performance till date pic.twitter.com/wFMvCT8PTW  bharati dubey (@bharatidubey) October 28, 2016

#AeDilHaiMushkil is about heartbreak and nobody portrays heartbreak better than @karanjohar #RanbirKapoor is awesome in the film -loved it.  Shashank khaitan (@ShashankKhaitan) October 28, 2016

Kudos to @karanjohar for @AeDilHaiMushkil. Love, friendship and their complexities are well defined. #RanbirKapoors best performance.  Mohd Mustaquim (@Mustaquimm) October 29, 2016

Ranbir  I think the sweet, heartbroken type is a thing.

Jordan is back!  That Cheesecake Girl (@SaaliKhushi) October 28, 2016

Ranbir makes you laugh and cry. This seamless actor makes you want to reach out and give him a huge bear hug.  J (@jiteshpillaai) October 28, 2016

Dunno about you guys but I like Channa Mereya because that damaged guy is too familiar. Almost as if he is me.  Mischief Managed (@BookLuster) October 27, 2016

Welcome back, Ranbir. Now, stay.
Madhya Pradesh police have arrested a 23-year-old man for stabbing a college student to death in broad daylight. The victim, a 19-year-old girl was returning from her college in Rewa district to her home in Sidhi when she was attacked by a co-passenger.

KSRTC Blog/ Representative Image

According to passengers, the accused had boarded the bus mid-way with a can of petrol in his hand and began troubling her. This continued until some passengers intervened and moved the girl to another seat.

But when the bus reached Kusumi, the accused Shivendra Singh Parihar forced the driver to stop the bus and poured the petrol on the victim threatening to set the bus ablaze if anyone came to the girls rescue.

He then forced the girl to get out of the bus and stabbed her repeatedly in full view of the horrified passengers.

PTI/ Representative Image

The girl died on the spot. Police suspect the attacker was known to the victim and had been stalking her for sometime.

Primary investigations suggest that the accused knew the girl very well and could have been stalking her. The crime was pre-planned, as the accused, who had boarded the bus with a petrol can and knife, seemed to have complete information about the girl, Abid Khan, SP Sidhi said.
Ae Dil Hai Mushkil received a good opening at the box-office but the troubles haven't ended completely for KJo's film. According to an IANS report, activists of Bajrang Dal staged a demonstration outside a cinema hall in West Bengal's Purulia district on Friday. They were protesting against the screening of Karan Johar-directed film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil that also features Pakistani actor Fawad Khan.

The Bajrang Dal, that is the youth wing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, gathered in large numbers outside a Purulia-based multiplex right in the morning to protest against the screening of the film. Apart from carrying banners and flags of the Bajrang Dal and the national flag, the protesters shouted slogans condemning the casting of Fawad in an Indian film at a time of high tension between the neighbouring nations.

Dharma

Claiming that their demonstration was "a huge success", they boasted about their success on Social media. They wrote, "The cinema management responded positively to our protest and decided to stop the first show of the movie."

A senior officer of Purulia Police Control Room said, "About a hundred Bajrang Dal supporters gathered in front of the multiplex at around 9 am on Friday and held a protest for an hour. However, police were alert to avert any untoward incident."

However, after the protest, the issue was resolved and no one was detained in this process, confirmed police.
The company building the penguin enclosures at Byculla zoo was awarded the Rs 50-crore contract because it said it had struck up a partnership with a US firm specialising in aquatic systems.

But according to Mumbai Mirror there is no such joint venture between M/s Highway Construction Company and Austin-based SIVAT Services, and the BMC blindly believed the agreements existence.

BCCL

SIVAT, in an email to Mumbai Mirror, said it only discussed the possibility of a joint venture with Highway Construction, which has experience only in road and civil works, but the talks didnt move forward because of cost concerns. It insisted it had no involvement in the penguin exhibit plan, which is being viewed with growing scepticism after Dory the penguins death at the zoo on October 23.

SIVAT does not have any role in this project nor does it have any staff working on this project. While we feel for the zoo and the penguins, we are very concerned that we are being associated with this project.

The new facts have raised more questions about the penguin exhibit plan, the Shiv Senas pet project, and its hurried execution ahead of 2017 municipal elections.

Activists had objected to the BMCs expensive pursuit of the flightless birds, saying Mumbai, with its poor record of looking after zoo animals, is not an ideal place for such exotic creatures.

BCCL

After Dorys death, various aspects of the project were examined and found that controversial contractor Tanmay Rai  whose firm was blacklisted last year for cheating the BMC  acted as a coordinator for Highway Construction.

Rai and civic officials have denied he was involved in the project, but documents with Mirror have established his association. He was even photographed overseeing eight Humboldt penguins arrival at the zoo on July 26.

SIVAT Services clarification is likely to create more trouble for Highway Construction, which has been already dropped from the Rs 120-crore zoo revamp because of delays and irregularities.

BCCL

The zoo revamp included construction of a 1,550-sq ft main penguin enclosure and a quarantine room, where the seven birds are currently housed. Three firms, including Highway Construction, had bid for the much-trumpeted project last year, but the tenders were floated again after the high-level committees allegations that a cartel was at work.

Earlier this year, Highway Construction, which is registered in Uttar Pradesh, and other firms submitted fresh bids. The only reason BMC officials allowed Highway Construction to re-enter the fray was because it boasted of a joint venture with SIVAT Services, an expert in the field of aquatic life support systems and exhibits.

In March this year, that claim made Highway Construction a leading contender in the contract race despite reservations about its competency among some officials. SIVATs mail to Mirror has exposed the UP firms alleged lie.

SIVAT discussed working with Highway Construction at Byculla Zoo. After the tender, we were informed that the project budget could not afford the cost of having expatriate staff on the project; therefore we would not be involved. Beyond that, we have had no involvement in this project, Jones Jr said, clarifying there had been no JV.

ALSO READ: As Mumbai Prepares To Recieve The Penguins, Here's What Awaits The Birds - A Place In Shambles

BCCL

A senior BMC official said it was contractors responsibility to provide proof of their JVs with other companies within three months after a project has been awarded. After the three-month window, we sent a reminder to Highway Construction asking it to provide documents of the JV. There has been no response, the official said. We have decided to scrap its contract and it will not be part of any zoo work once it completes constructing the main penguin enclosure.

But industry insiders said Highway Construction had no experience in the field and it cannot complete the work on the enclosure without help from a specialist like SIVAT. They also questioned the leeway given by the BMC to Highway Construction despite its failure to honour contractual requirements.

The firms current project coordinator, Romin Chedha, told Mirror SIVAT had earlier agreed to a joint venture in principle. We held talks with them and they did agree to a partnership with us. Later on the projects budget was trimmed and it wasnt financially viable for them. So we could not complete the JV according to the BMCs requirement, Chedha claimed.
Offer of good money and honey trap were at play to attract people to join espionage racket allegedly being run by a Pakistan High Commission official in New Delhi, said a senior official of the Delhi Police, who is close to the investigation.

BCCL

The Crime Branch of the Delhi Police said there might be involvement of BSF personnel in the racket as well.

Procuring such documents seized from their possession is not possible without the involvement of people privy to sensitive information. We are suspecting that they were aided by some BSF personnel who leaked the information and documents to them, said a senior police officer adding that they are investigating all aspects.

He claimed that the officers involved have been identified. We will conduct a raid to arrest them, he added.

BCCL

The diplomat Mehmood Akhtar, the alleged kingpin of the spying ring, was working in the visa department of the Pakistan embassy in the city. His job profile helped him identify people who could work for him as spies, said another officer.

He would chat up with people about their family background and then start laying his trap. People who were financially weak would be lured by promising them big money, said the officer.

He added the police are also exploring the honey-trap angle.

It has also been found they have exploited some girls were on the pretext of good money. They were used to lure men into the module. We are investigating this aspect as well, he added.

The two men  Subash Jangir and Maulana Ramzan, both from Rajasthan  who had come to share information and documents with Akhtar used to mostly communicate through WhatsApp calls as they are not recorded, he added.

BCCL

On normal phone calls, their conversations would mostly happen through code words and we were studying the pattern in the last six months, he said.

During sustained interrogation, Mehboob Rajput revealed his actual name as Mehmood Akhtar.

He was carrying a forged Aadhar Card to assume an Indian identity. He is serving with Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI and has got diplomatic immunity since he is posted in the Pakistan High Commission (PHC) of Delhi. This was got verified through MEA and after confirmation and as per the due procedures, he was handed over to the PHC diplomats in presence of MEA representative, said the officer.

ALSO READ: Heres The Inside Story Of How Delhi Police Nabbed Pakistani Diplomat For Running Espionage Racket

BCCL

During interrogation, he added, the PIO disclosed that he was posted in PHC, Delhi since about two and half years and was working in visa section of the PHC. He also disclosed that he is on deputation with ISI since Jan 2013 and is a serving Hawaldar of 40 Baloch Regiment of Pakistan army and native of village Kahuta, district Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

There is likelihood of involvement of other persons as per the information elicited from him, which is being investigated.
Delhi police has detained an aide of Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Munawwar Saleem in connection with the espionage ring run by a Pakistani high commission official, which was uncovered earlier this week.

AP

Delhi Police crime branch officials said they detained Farhat, an aide of SP Rajya Sabha MP Saleem, late last night. Farhat is currently being interrogated.

On Wednesday, police caught Pakistan high commission official Mehmood Akhtar along with two Indians identified as Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangir at the Delhi Zoo while they were exchanging sensitive defence documents.

It was discovered they were running a spy ring for Pakistan's spy agency ISI.

ALSO READ: Heres The Inside Story Of How Delhi Police Nabbed Pakistani Diplomat For Running Espionage Racket

PTI

Akhtar was declared persona non grata and asked to leave the country within 48 hours. Subhash and Maulana were arrested on charges of sharing of sensitive information, defence documents and deployment details of the BSF along the India-Pakistan border, with the ISI. The two were sent to 12-day police custody.

One more accomplice of Akhtar, a Jodhpur-based passport and visa agent called Shoaib, was arrested near Jodhpur on Thursday evening.

It was discovered that Shoaib was responsible for recruiting Subhash and Maulana in the module.
In its pursuit to enhance the states cleanliness, Himachal Pradesh has becomes the second Indian state to go "open defecation free" state after Sikkim.

Open Defecation is a reprehensible practice that is continuing in many parts of India. Himachal Pradesh has successfully achieved total rural sanitation coverage of 100% in the state.

States 12 districts are now verified and declared as Open Defecation Free (ODF).

indianluxurytrains

The hill state of Himachal has become the first large state to become completely ODF, said Virbhadra Singh, the states CM.

According to the government officials, it is not just the authorities but the people of the state who have come ahead to put an end to this crisis. With the communal efforts of both, the government and the people the state is able to comply with the Swachh Bharat Mission.

Such feat was not possible without the support of the people he added.

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I am confident would be able to sustain it in the future as well. he continued as he praised the people in sheer elation.

The state has achieved the feat six months ahead of their targets. The massive drive and the campaign which was run by the government were religiously followed by all the people and authorises who were responsible for it.

Himachal Pradesh today became an Open Defecation Free state, the second state in the country to achieve the feat after Sikkim pic.twitter.com/V4Euqv3z0w  TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) October 28, 2016

Congress led "Dev Bhumi" Himachal Pradesh, becomes 1st Big State to be declared " Open Defecation Free" pic.twitter.com/4jOdqrdnm4  Youth Congress (@IYC) October 29, 2016

The authorities now plan to eradicate water-borne diseases from the area.
Delhi had a poop rain, yes it happened!

It is rather bizarre but true that the residents around the Delhi's IGI airport have found that walls and floors of their houses were splattered with large patches of excreta dumped by aircraft flying.

A former senior Army man has moved the National Green Tribunal alleging dumping of human waste by aircraft over residential areas near the IGI Airport here, which led the green panel to order an inspection of his South Delhi house.

Reuters

Lieutenant General (Retd) Satwant Singh Dahiya has sought criminal proceedings against commercial airlines and levy of hefty fines on them for endangering the health of residents, terming the act as the violation of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

Noting the submissions of the petitioner, the green panel directed Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to depute a senior environmental engineer to inspect his house and check the existence of human excreta on the walls.

It also asked CPCB that if excreta was found, samples should be collected for analysis and the report placed before the Tribunal.

A Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar also issued notices to the Ministries of Environment and Forests and Civil Aviation and CPCB, seeking their replies within two weeks.

Plane toilets store human waste in special tanks. These are normally disposed of by ground crew once the plane lands, but aviation officials acknowledge that lavatory leaks can occur in the air at times.

There have been instances, including in India, when people have been injured.

In his petition, Vasant Enclave resident Dahiya has sought the creation of a 24-hour helpline for immediate reporting of the incident and a monitoring mechanism to check that no aircraft drops human soil or excreta while landing.

BCCL

For past more than the week in the early morning, we found that walls and floors of a terrace of our house splattered with large patches of excreta dumped by aircraft flying in front of Palam airport at night. This is the second time this has happened. Last time it had occurred in early October when we had spent Rs 50,000 to get the entire exterior resurfaced with fresh paint.

Diwali is only a few days away and being the festive season having recently finished fresh coating of the house exterior at considerable experience to clean up the premises. We are again faced with having our walls completed spattered with waste. We are retired people and cannot afford to have this defacement every day, the plea said.
The Delhi Police apparently are showing no interest in probing the suicide case of ex-bureaucrat BK Bansal and his son Yogesh Bansal. So far, the cops have not even filed any FIR in the case involving four deaths. Bansal's wife and daughter had also committed suicide, alleging harassment by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials two months ago.

NDTV

According to police, no strong evidence to file a case of abatement to suicide (section 306 of the IPC) against the investigators of the central agency has been found.

Though Mr Bansal and his son had accused the CBI officials of harassing them, it does not mean they were instigated to commit suicide. Harassment cannot be considered as abatement to suicide, a senior officer of the Delhi Police told Indiatimes.

So how does the IPC define abatement and abatement to suicide?

Section 107 of the IPC defines abatement as: Instigating any person to do that thing, engaging with one or more other person or persons in any conspiracy for the doing of that thing, if an act or illegal omission takes place in pursuance of that conspiracy, and in order to the doing of that thing and intentionally aiding, by any act or illegal omission, the doing of that thing.

And abatement to suicide (306 IPC) says: If any person commits suicide, whoever abets the commission of such suicide, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.

Also Read: Bansal's Tell-All Suicide Note Accuses CBI Of Ruining His Family

PTI/File

The police are also yet to find the original suicide note.

The Bansals  who ended their lives on September 26  had left four copies of their suicide notes in their flat in Neelkanth Apartments, Madhu Vihar, East Delhi. They had shot off copies to eight media houses and the CBI chief.

indiatoday

The 65-year-old bureaucrat  a director-general in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs who was accused of seeking a bribe from a Mumbai-based pharmaceutical company for not recommending an investigation by Serious Fraud Office into charges that it had duped 24,000 investors  was being probed by the CBI. The company  Elder Pharmaceuticals  is owned by TV actor Anuj Saxena.

Notably, the investigation agency is yet to arrest Saxena despite the fact the fact he is a prime accused in the case.

Bansal was found hanging along with his son in their flat. They have named CBI DIG Sanjeev Gautam, SP Amrita Kaur, Deputy SP Rekha Sangwan and a fat head constable, in the suicide note and demanded an inquiry against them.

intoday.in

On the other hand, a senior joint director-rank officer of the CBI is conducting an internal probe into the allegation levelled against the agency officials. The report  if sources are to be believed  may shortly be prepared and submitted to National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

Meanwhile, the CBI has also sought clarification from the central government whether the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) has jurisdiction to summon its officials. The CBIs stand is that the DCW is a body constituted under state law, while the CBI is a central, autonomous agency.

DCW had last week asked the Assistant Inspector General of CBI to present himself before the commission in connection with the suicide of Bansal's wife and daughter. The sources said that the agency is ready to respond to questions raised by statutory bodies, but has reservations over its officers appearing before a body created under state government law.
A five-year-old lion from Girnar Wildlife Sanctuary was caged and termed as 'man-eater' after it attacked a woman who died in December last year.

However, wildlife experts and environmentalists have floated an online petition demanding the lion's release back into the wild on the grounds that the postmortem of the 50-year-old woman had concluded that she died of shock and not due to injuries caused by the lion attack.

BCCL/Representational Image

The woman was attacked near Samatpar village on the fringe of Girnar Wildlife Sanctuary .

Terming the caged lion as `innocent' animal `jailed for no fault' at Sakkarbaug Zoo in Junagadh, the petitioners have demanded release of the wild cat into its natural habitat Girnar Wildlife Sanctuary .

"This handsome young lion from Girnar Wildlife Sanctuary , a member of male trio pride, is spending life in zoo, just for being a wild (aggressive) lion in natural course. There was no thorough investigation whether the lion was involved in any conflict with humans and there was no proper order passed by forest department with justifiable reasons to keep the wild cat in captivity for life," the petition stated.

Pranav Vaghashiya, a wildlife conservationist from Junagadh, who has signed the online petition said that the postmortem report of deceased woman concluded that she had died of `shock' and not because of the injuries caused by lion.

"Where was the fault of the lion? A lion in wild would react as per its natural instinct when it encounter humans or feels threatened," said Vagahashiya.

ALSO READ: 17 Lions Arrested In Gujarat After 3 Of Them Turned Man-Eaters, Guilty Will Get Zoo Jail For Life!

Wildlife/Representational Image

"It is a known fact, lions never attacked humans unless they are disturbed. Why do lions face `jail' when humans are responsible for the disturbing the wild cats?" asks Ankit Shukla, another petitioner who has signed the petition.

Wildlife experts also believe that caging a lion after attack on humans was not always correct.

"We follow the `unwritten' standard operating produce of releasing the lion into wild after observing his behaviour. If publicly announced it will create hue and cry," said senior official of the forest department.
In an outrageous and inhuman act, the Pakistan-sponsored terrorists have beheaded an Indian soldier after an encounter that happened near the Line of Control in Macchil sector of Kupwara late on Friday evening.

PTI

Army said the terrorists beheaded the soldier, identified as Manjeet Singh, of 17 Sikh Light Infantry, before fleeing into Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir under the cover of firing provided by the Pakistan Army.

"One militant was also killed in the gun-battle. But the despicable act of mutilating the jawan's body reflects the barbarism pervading in official and unofficial organisations in Pakistan," said the Army spokesperson in Srinagar.

(In pic): Constable Nitin Subhash of BSF lost his life in Machil sector while retaliating to the ceasefire violations by Pakistan. pic.twitter.com/d4iHBnZmib  ANI (@ANI_news) October 29, 2016

AP

According to reports, the late night offensive was carried out by BAT (border action team), which typically consists of terrorists and Pakistan Army regulars.

This is the second time since 2013 an Indian soldier is being beheaded in Kashmir. In 2013 Lance Naik Hemraj and Sudhakar Singh were killed by suspected BAT operatives and was beheaded.

BCCL

In a recent statement following the surgical strike the then Army chief General Birkam Singh had said the barbaric act was avenged in a "a befitting manner".

Meanwhile the situation at the LoC continues to be extremely volatile. Indian posts along the Kathua sector came under unprovoked firing on Saturday morning.

Another BSF soldier identified as Nitin Subhash was killed in Machil sector during ceasefire violation by Pakistan in Kupwara, the third fatality for the paramilitary in the past three days.

#UPDATE: Constable Nitin Subhash of BSF lost his life in Machil sector while retaliating to the ceasefire violations by Pakistan.  ANI (@ANI_news) October 29, 2016

There are also reports of a civilian death in Pakistani shelling along the LoC along in Mendar sector of Poonch.

AP

Ever since the Uri terror attacks, there has been dozens of unprovoked ceasefire violations by Pakistan targeting both civilian areas and military posts.

Pakistan has regularly used these ceasefire violations as a protective cover to facilitate the infiltration of terrorists from PoK to the Indian side.
The Tata-Mistry relationship is perhaps best described Facebook style: It's complicated. Cyrus Mistry's family and the Tatas have at times been friends, and at other times frenemies since the time Cyrus's grandfather Shapoorji Mistry acquired a sizable stake in Tata Group's main holding company, Tata Sons in 1936.

BCCL

"Cyrus's removal as company chairman could be a master stroke that may put pressure on the Mistrys to check them out from Tata Sons," the observer said. But that may be a trifle optimistic.

Tata Sons is currently one of India's richest privately held companies. Mistrys' 18.5% stake in Tata Sons is worth billions of dollars, and Tatas may find it an uphill task to buy them out, just as they have found it in the past.

BCCL

Tata Sons is the holding company of hundreds of unlisted and nearly 30 listed companies. The listed companies alone are valued at about Rs 8.3 lakh crore (about $125 billion). Going by the value of only the listed companies within the Tata fold, the 18.5% stake held by the Mistry family would be worth about $23 billion.

Shapoorji had acquired Tata Sons shares from the heirs of eminent financier FE Dinshaw in 1936, seven years after Cyrus' father was born. Dinshaw had lent nearly Rs 1 crore to Tata Sons to finance its power unit in 1926 but the latter couldn't repay the amount and, subsequently, the loan got converted into 12.5% stake of Tata Sons. Later, Shapoorji bought some more shares from JRD Tata's siblings, thus increasing his stake to 18.5%.

BCCL

After Shapoorji's death in 1975, Pallonji (Cyrus' father) took his position at Tata Sons. While Shapoorji was believed to have had a tumultuous relationship with the Tatas, Pallonji had a much friendlier relationship with the family. Also, he never interfered with the functioning of Tata Sons.

A year after Pallonji stepped down in 2005, Cyrus, his youngest son, took his position at Tata Sons. And in November 2011, Cyrus was named chairman of Tata Sons, the first non-Tata to head the company.

On October 24 afternoon, the 80-year-old relationship between the Tatas and the Mistrys turned bitter again.
It promises to be an Indian space mission which will rocket instantly into global history books. If all goes well, on January 15, 2017, Isro will launch 82 foreign satellites in a daring single shot, Subbiah Arunan, the project director of Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), has said.

ISRO

Arunan, who was in Mumbai to attend the Brand India Summit 2016, said on Thursday that of the 82 satellites, 60 belong to the US, 20 are from Europe and two are UK-made.

The record for launching the highest number of satellites in one go is currently held by Russia, which launched 37 satellites on June 19, 2014. The US had placed 29 satellites in orbit using the Orbital Sciences-built Minotaur-1 rocket on November 19, 2013. On June 22, 2016, India launched 20 satellites in one go. If the mission in January succeeds, India will once again break a global space record  for the second time in about two-and-a-half years.

ALSO READ: ISRO Scripts History, Launches Record 20 Satellites Into Space In A Single Launch!

ISRO

On September 24, 2014, in a record-breaking feat, India entered the Martian orbit in the very first attempt, garnering international acclaim.

The rocket for Isro's historic mission will be the advanced version of the proven four-stage Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) designated PSLV-XL. All 82 satellites will be placed in a 580-km polar sun synchronous orbit in a span of 20-25 minutes after launch.

ISRO

Arunan told TOI that MOM was the first Indian satellite which is being analysed by international space agencies and management schools to pave the way for low-cost access to deep space. He added that the second mission to Mars  MOM-2  is provisionally slated for launch in 2020.

"We plan to use the aerobraking method to approach Mars and go close to the surface," Arunan said, pointing out that it will not be a landing mission. "We have, so far, received nearly 40 proposals for carrying out Mars-related science experiments and the response is very encouraging," he said.

ISRO

Arunan also said that the second lunar mission, Chandrayaan-2, will land on the moon by December 2018. "The ground tests have already started," he said.
The Ahmedabad Fire and Emergency Services (AFES) personnel deployed at Sabarmati Riverfront were in for a shock when a man slammed them for saving his wife from drowning.

Newsbook/Representational Image

On Thursday, an AFES rescue team rushed to the site after a 37-year-old woman jumped into the river. After pulling the woman to safety, the firemen informed her husband, who arrived at the spot in a huff; shouting at firemen, questioning them why had they saved his wife.

"The husband, owner of a CNG pump, asked us with whose permission did we foil his wife's suicide bid. He even clicked our pictures and threatened that he would deal with us later. His reaction was shocking. At this point, we decided to inform police," said Bharat Mangela, a fireman.

DeshGujarat/ Representative Image

Police said the couple, married for 10 years with two children, cited marital discord as reason for her extreme step.

Sources said the woman told police she was tired of quarrels as her husband suspected her of having an affair despite her proving her innocence. She, too, had a suspicion that the husband was involved with another woman. "The wife agreed to go back with the husband after the couple decided to resolve their differences," they said.
In an outrageous and inhuman act, the Pakistan-sponsored terrorists have beheaded an Indian soldier after an encounter that happened near the Line of Control in Macchil sector of Kupwara late on Friday evening.

Army said the terrorists beheaded the soldier, identified as Manjeet Singh, of 17 Sikh Light Infantry, before fleeing into Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir under the cover of firing provided by the Pakistan Army. Read more

1. With Pollution Levels At All Time High Delhi To Face The 'Dirtiest' Diwali In Three Years

Even as Delhi's air quality continues to worsen, a government agency has predicted that Diwali this year is likely to be significantly more polluted than the previous two years. The air quality index bordered on "severe", the highest pollution level.The Central Pollution Control Board's AQI reading was 397 while the "severe" level begins from 400.

Worse may lie ahead. A super computer-generated prediction model run by SAFAR, under the earth sciences ministry, indicated that air quality would be in the "severe" zone on Diwali and the day after. Read more

2. Indian Air Force Looking To Buy 200 More Fighter Jets And They Will Be Made-In-India

This might well become one of the biggest fighter jets deal in the world. India is once again looking for new fighter planes. Also benefiting will be the industry, since India is looking to set up a manufacturing line for the jets in the country itself.

A deal for 200 single-engine planes produced in India - which the Air Force says could rise to 300 as it fully phases out ageing Soviet-era aircraft - could be worth anything from $13-$15 billion, experts say, potentially one of the country's biggest military aircraft deals. Read more

3. Call Centre Scam Probe Widens, Four More Similar Operations Come Under The Scanner

The masterminds of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) call centre scam may be involved in at least four other such frauds to cheat US, Australian and Canadian citizens, a top police official said. Beside cheating the US nationals by posing as US Tax Department officers, scamsters used to cheat people through the 'medical pharma scam', the official said.

In this scam, they used to illegally procure data of subscribers who regularly use medicines like Xenix, Tans-toil, Oxide, Hydrophone, insisted that they purchase them and used to cheat them of thousands of dollars, he said. Read more

4. Weapons Used In Dhaka Cafe Attack Were Made In Bengal By Gunsmiths Trained By Pakistani Experts

Assault rifles used in the Gulshan cafe attack in Dhaka on July 1 were made in Bengal with the help of Pakistani experts, one of the six terrorists arrested by Kolkata STF in September in connection with the Khagragarh blast has told NIA sleuths.

According to the arrested terrorist, Pakistani tribal gunsmiths clandestinely visited Malda to train gunsmiths from Munger, who set up base in the border district to make AK-22 assault rifles. Read more

5. In January 2017 ISRO Will Rocket Into The Record Books With 82 Launches In A Go

It promises to be an Indian space mission which will rocket instantly into global history books. If all goes well, on January 15, 2017, Isro will launch 82 foreign satellites in a daring single shot, Subbiah Arunan, the project director of Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), has said.

Arunan, who was in Mumbai to attend the Brand India Summit 2016, said on Thursday that of the 82 satellites, 60 belong to the US, 20 are from Europe and two are UK-made. Read more
In the village of Kafer, in Iraqs northern city of Mosul, a fierce and terrifying battle was taking place to liberate Mosul from the sadistic fists of Islamic State.

Dailymail

Inside one of the homes of Kafer was 10-year-old Aysha. She went without food or water for three days, clinging on to her mother for hope that they will get out alive.

They were rescued by the Iraqi Army earlier in October 2016 and as the soldiers took her in their arms, she held back her tears, fear and trauma.

Kafer is 18 miles from Mosul and has been under the grips of ISIS since 2014.

Aysha certainly feels fortunate because many of the villages residents have lost their life to this battle, among one of them is her father.

ALSO READ: UN Says ISIS Slaughtered As Many As 232 Innocent People In Iraq Last Week

She told the soldiers, The IS men have taken away so many children and people from my village and we don't know what happened to them. Some of them died. I thank you, thank you!
Its a shame that everything about this guy reminds us of nuclear bombs and barbaric acts, where hes just a nice soul who loves wine and cheese.

The dictator is bragging about having gobbled 10 bottles of Bordeaux Wine in a single sitting.

palembang

His former family chef, who worked with him for almost 13 years, revealed this information about the king.

Fujimoto, who last visited North Korea in April, was Kims family chef, and had served the Kim Dynasty for a long time.

He fled to Japan in the year 2001 while he was out buying Sushi ingredients.

The king is also rumoured to be a big smoker and a lover of cheese.

@AndyRoberts84 He must have one of those magic wine cellars we've heard about https://t.co/uW0ginmheK  Ben Woodall (@woodall85) October 29, 2016

Kim Jong-Un claims he can drink 10 bottles of wine in a single evening. Explains the haircut.  Kiel Phillips (@kiel_phillips) October 28, 2016

Hes also a fan of parties and is often spotted rocking up with women.

Fujimoto said that the claim was made during a party where Kim was accompanied by 6 other women. The North Korean despot supposedly claimed the Bordeaux binge occurred a few days before the banquet.

Kim Jong Un drinks an unbelievable 10 bottles of French wine per night https://t.co/m2olaoRaLk pic.twitter.com/HdkRm7IjPd  Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) October 28, 2016

sportsjoe

But everything aside, having gobbled so much wine could kill a man for sure. So Kim really is a superman, if we go by what he claims.

A bottle of Bordeaux roughly contains the alcohol quotient of 5 standard drinks. So if Kim really drank that much, he had nearly 50 standard drinks that night. (Oh My Goodness)

But who are we to questions? Mere mortals! Tch Tch!
Nigerian airline Arik Air has said it is ready to assist Emirates Airline in flying passengers from various destinations in the country that the latter has suspended its operations.

Emirates had earlier announced that it would stop from the nations capital Abuja.

Arik announced on Thursday through its Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), Suraj Sundaram, that it would be able to assist Emirates with accommodating passengers from various Nigerian destinations.

According to Sundaram, Arik Air and Emirates have a long standing partnership through an interline agreement since 2011 which enables Emirates passengers to have access to the entire Arik Air network for connections to and from within Nigerian destinations and to other West African countries.

This means Arik Air would be able to fly Emirates passengers from various Nigerian destinations (including Abuja) and other West African markets to Lagos for onward connection to the Emirates service from Lagos to Dubai.

Sundaram also added that the travel choices for Emirates customers from Nigeria and West Africa to travel to various global destinations had increased due to Ariks interline agreement with the airline.

He said that such partnership also allows Emirates passengers to tap into Ariks strong network which currently serves 18 destinations in Nigeria and 10 in West and Central African destinations.
In the last three months, Gadilo Agbajo, an Arogbo, Ondo State indigene, has been involved in three kidnaps, which netted the gang he led N14.8m in total.

But when Agbajo and eight other members of the gang were brought before journalists at the Lagos State Police Command headquarters following their arrest, the explanation he gave for his life of crime surprised many.

According to Agbajo, whom the gang members said was responsible for sharing the ransom money in the bush anytime the families of their victims paid, he was not a selfish criminal.

Agbajo explained that he used his criminal activities to help his friends.

When some of my people who did not have job could not pay their house rents, they came to meet me for help.

I normally told them that they should not worry and that I would find a way to help them and they could help me as well. My way of helping them is getting them involved in the kidnapping business rather than for them to roam the streets without work.

In July 2016, Saturday PUNCH learnt that Agbajos gang kidnapped a pastor of a parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God at Santos bus stop in Isawo, Ikorodu, Lagos State, Olukayode Bajomo, on a Sunday morning just before the weekly service.

A witness of the abduction said the kidnappers wore attractive clothes as if they had come for the church service.

The witness said, The pastor came earlier around 7am to prepare for a workers meeting. The shocking thing was that the men walked in quietly like new members.

They dressed like people who had come to church. They had Bibles with them. They did not shoot or display any weapon. It was when they got to the pastor that they brought out their guns and ordered him to come with them.

The gang also kidnapped Otunba Lateef Ogunfowora, who owns Lat Ogun Petroleum in Ijebu Ode.

Agbajo said, When I was introduced to kidnapping by Blessing Bamidele, the first person we kidnapped was a white man. After that, Bamidele always called me anytime he had an operation.

We later kidnapped a man in Ijebu Ode, one at Epe and another at Gberigbe side. We got N6m from one, N5m from another and N3.8m from the third victim.

I am not the leader of the group like my other colleagues said. Bamidele Blessing introduced me to the work. I got N1.2m in one.

The police recovered two AK47 rifles from the suspects along with six magazines, 51 rounds of live ammunition and a set of army uniform.

Agbaso said they got the uniform from his brother-in-law, a soldier, but he said the soldier knew nothing about their operations.

According to them, the guns were usually hidden in a bush after each operation by a member of the gang.

Responding to Agbajos allegation that he introduced him to kidnapping, 26-year-old Bamidele, another Arogbo, Ondo State indigene living at Ijebu Ode, said Agbajo was lying.

He said, I have been living at Ijebu-Ode for one year. Gadilo (Agbajo) introduced me to kidnapping. He led our group and shared every money we made. I got N1.9m from the N6m we made. I was an oil vandal before I became a kidnapper.

Another member of the gang, Pleasure George, who again said he was an indigene of Arogbo, said they had another boss they rarely saw.

He described him as OC, the leader of the water group.

According to him, OC was the one who provided the gang with the guns they used.

George said.We could not just see him anyhow. He usually came to our area if he wanted to see his wife and that was usually the time we had access to him.

One day, he sent one of his boys to deliver the guns to us and we started our operations. We only go to him when we take his share of the ransom to him. Out of the N6m we got from one of our last operations, we gave him N1.5m. His share varies according to how much we make.

The Lagos State Commissioner for Police said investigation was still ongoing and that members of the gang would be charged to court as soon as investigators completed their work.

Source: Punch
The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has accused the chief executive officer of Facebook, Mr Mark Zuckerberg, of allegedly removing the radio Biafra Facebook group, London, from social media platform.

IPOB spokesman, Emma Powerful, in a statement on Saturday said Mark Zuckerberg, a Jew, who should know about the horrors of fascism and genocide, is helping an Islamist Buhari to continue the mass murder of innocent Biafrans.

Radio Biafra London before its shut down by Zuckerberg who visited Buhari recently, was the biggest and most vibrant discussion forum on facebook with nearly 1 million members.

Why a man whose family benefited from the freedoms and opportunities the land of the free USA had to offer can turn around to brutally suppress freedom of speech and expression is beyond human understanding.

Facebook has made itself the wiling tool of repressive regimes and psychopathic murderers in power such as Major-General Muhammadu Buhari the Nigerian ruler.

Mark Zuckerberg must know that the day he cut the deal with Buhari at Aso Rock his Facebook satellite was destroyed at the launch pad.

That was a sign from the Most High that he should stay out of this battle between good and evil. Now that you have sided with the Devil, Mr. Zuckerberg, you will see the judgement of God upon you.

The God we serve will set an example with you that mankind may know that HE is the God of Biafrans. If you do not turn back from your evil ways.

Look at Nigeria today and know that Gods anger is upon her and her leaders because they dared to arrest Nnamdi Kanu. Satlink Israel lost their satellite because Buhari persuaded them to remove Radio Biafra satellite radio broadcast from their services.

Nobody comes against IPOB and survives it. We urge you to retrace your steps and reinstall Radio Biafra London Facebook group, he said.

Source: Dailypost
Nigerian newspaper headlines October 29, 2016.

National Mirror

At least three senior Nigerian lawyers reported to the Economic and Financial Crimes office on Thursday to answer questions over alleged transfer of huge sums of money into the bank accounts of some judges.

Vanguard

There are indications of a cold war between the incumbent Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Kpotum Idris and his predecessor, IGP Solomon Ehigiator Arase over the investigations of some of the activities and actions of the erstwhile IGPs one year and three months administration with sources close to the two Police top shots indicating that President Muhammadu Buhari may be dragged into the cold war battle for the matter to be settled.

The Sun

Turkish Ambassador to Nigeria, Amb. Hakan Cakil, in this interview with IHEANACHO NWOSU dispelled claims that 50 Nigerian students are in police custody in Turkey over the failed coup in the country. The envoy also spoke on other issues including the request for the closure of Turkish schools in Nigeria, the relationship between his country and Nigeria, the reason Turkish authorities are seeking the extradition of the leader of Fetullah Gulen movement.

Thisday

The federal government disclosed yesterday that it had so far spent N3.577 trillion out of the full years budget of N6,060 trillion for the 2016 fiscal year which was signed in May.

Guardian

The Ogun State Police Command yesterday paraded 23 suspected criminals for various crimes, ranging from armed robbery, kidnapping to illegal possession of arms.

Leadership

President/chief executive officer, Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote has challenge participants of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru near Jos to explore ways of contributing meaningfully to the present efforts to diversify the economy, saying as a leading policy formulation body in the country, their input remain vital to economic development.

Punch

The Rivers State Government has told two cult leaders in Ikwerre LGA, ThankGod Wandikom and Friday, to surrender their arms and embrace amnesty or be declared wanted.

The Nation

Akure, the Ondo State capital, was in turmoil yesterday after youths stormed the streets ,protesting Thursday nights decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to drop Mr Eyitayo Jegede (SAN) as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in next months governorship election.

Premium Times

At least six persons have been killed in an early morning bomb attack in Maiduguri, Borno State, on Saturday, according to witnesses.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) recognized governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) in the upcoming election in Ondo State, Jimoh Ibrahim has accused Governor, Olusegun Mimiko of sponsoring Fridays violent protest in Akure.

Jimoh Ibrahim made this accusation in a statement made available to newsmen on Friday as he said his attention had been drawn to the ongoing burning of tyres, orchestrated by Mimiko.

In 2009 Governor Mimiko forged security reports of the DSS and the Police to deceive the court and tribunal of Justice Nabaruma that there were security issues in the state, leading to cancellation of results in 8 out of 18 Local Governments of the State, the statement reads.

This is how Governor Mimiko schemed himself into power and became the Governor of Ondo State, but when the late President Umaru Musa Yardua realized that the forgery story was true, Mimiko was already enjoying constitutional protection as Governor.

Mimiko called on the drivers union in the state, whose chairman is his relative, to gather disposed tyres across the state and burn them so as to show that there are security challenges in Akure town.

While the tyres were burning, school children were attending their classes, Banks were opened, market women and traders were carrying on their economic activities, courts were sitting and more tyres were burning by the side of the road.

Regrettably, Mimikos orthodoxy has played out to be fake, empty and unbecoming of a person that occupies the position of the governor of a state.

Am happy to note that Mimiko eventually met with President Muhammadu Buhari, a president that Governor Mimiko had described in a meeting with the former President Goodluck Jonathan, as unfit to govern Nigeria and according to Governor Mimiko, the president does not have a school certificate.

Mimikos trajectory of movement lately includes visit to Senator Buruji Kashamu and his offer of title to choice properties in Abuja but the senator declined, Mimiko filed action at the State High Court Akure, Federal High Court Abuja and secured a Saturday opening of door for hearing at the Court of Appeal Abuja all simultaneously, burning billions of naira which ought to have been used to pay salaries of workers in Ondo State.

Regrettably, this tyre burning for sympathy will not work as Ondo State remains peaceful, he stated.
The United Nations has negotiated the release of 876 children who have been detained by the Nigerian Army for their suspected affiliation with Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram.

An official of the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) Manuel Fontaine said on Friday that 876 children had been held in the barracks in Maiduguri.

It was not immediately clear how long the children had been detained, but the army routinely keeps close tabs on civilians who have been living in areas that had been under the control of Boko Haram insurgents on suspicion that they too might be linked to terrorist activities.

Rights groups have condemned the Armys action saying there is no proper legal process for such civilians, including the children.

The United Nations insists that children should not be kept in detention.

We fear that there are still kids who are being at least temporarily detained because they are being released from Boko Haram areas by the army but then kept for a while, Fontaine, UNICEFS regional director for Western and Central Africa, told reporters by telephone.

He gave no details of the ages of the children or how long they had been held at the barracks.

Fontaine also said the conflict, which has killed thousands and displaced more than two million, had separated about 20,000 children from their parents, of which 5,000 had since been reunited with their families.

Once we get children out, there is a major issue of stigmatization in the communities, Fontaine said. There is a sense that children who have been associated with Boko Haram for a while, could be, and in some cases we have some evidence, are rejected by community and people around them.
Self-storage operators around the world have launched charity drives to collect coats and blankets for various organizations as the weather turns cold. Heres a summary of how theyre giving back to their communities so far in fall 2016.

Guardian Self Storage, which operates facilities in Dutchess, Orange and Ulster, N.Y., counties, is hosting its 22nd annual Susan DeKeukelaere Memorial Coat Drive in partnership with Dutchess Outreach, a local nonprofit that provides resources and advocacy for those in need. Garments may be dropped off through the end of the month at any of Guardians 13 facilities, as well as Rhinebeck Bank branches. Once sorted, the coats will be handed out at distribution locations.

Personal Mini Storage has been collecting coats and blankets this month to benefit the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida. The company is accepting clean blankets, coats and jackets in gently used condition for children and adults. Items may be dropped off at either of the companys Apopka, Fla., facilities at 1365 E. Semoran Blvd. or 777 Piedmont Wekiwa Road. The Coalition operates two campuses in downtown Orlando.

U.K. self-storage operator Safestore Holdings PLC is supporting Human Appeal, a British international development and relief charity, by collecting coats next month at its nine locations in Manchester, England. The campaign, Wrap Up Manchester, is based on Hands on London, a successful program now in its sixth year. Coats will be collected Nov. 7 through 18. Items will then be distributed to organizations for the elderly, homeless shelters, refugee centers and other charities.

Wilkes-Barre Self Storage in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., is among several businesses participating in Madis Annual Coat & Blanket Drive. Blankets, coats, sweaters, sweatshirts and other items designed to keep people warm may be dropped off through the end of the month. Collected items will be taken to Ruths Place womens shelter and St. Vincent de Paul soup kitchen for distribution. The drive was started six years ago by 7-year-old Madison Kick, who donated some of her clothing and toys and asked others to participate.

Founded 25 years ago, N.Y.-based Guardian Self Storage has 13 facilities in the Hudson Valley.

Founded in 1982 by brothers Stan and Ron Shader, Personal Mini Storage has remained a family-owned and -operated business for more than 30 years. It operates 36 locations in Florida.

Safestore operates 131 self-storage facilities, including 95 facilities it owns in the United Kingdom and 24 in France. Its wholly owned properties comprise more than 5 million square feet of storage space, while its entire portfolio serves approximately 49,000 customers.
Un week-end allinsegna dello sport e della sana passione agonistica e quello che attende, da domani, giovani  e meno giovani  in molte piazze italiane. Il 9 e il 10 maggio si svolge infatti il Csi Day, lappuntamento annuale organizzato dal Centro Sportivo Italiano (Csi) che colorera di arancioblu 50 piazze e altrettante citta del Bel Paese per far vivere lo sport nei luoghi della quotidianita, lontano dalle violenze e dalle volgarita che spesso contraddistinguono le competizioni ufficiali.

E il secondo anno che il Centro Sportivo mette in campo questa iniziativa promozionale, che, nelle parole del Presidente nazionale Csi Massimo Achini, intende esaltare quei valori genuini tipici dello sport ciessino, retto dal volontariato, dallimpegno educativo, fatto di passione per il gioco, anche i piu semplici; di coesione, integrazione, solidarieta ed amicizia. Ogni giorno  prosegue Achini  decine di migliaia di persone operano in ogni zona dItalia per il bene dei nostri giovani. Csi Day vuole fare da cassa di risonanza a tutto questo impegno e a questo straordinario patrimonio associativo, di quanti lavorano nellombra, occupandosi responsabilmente dei ragazzi.

Nello stesso week-end sono pronte a scendere in piazza tante discipline diverse, dalla gimkana in bicicletta allorienteering, dal calciotto al giocagym per i piu piccini. Tante alternative tutte gratuite e sfiziose per avvicinare i bambini e i ragazzi, ma anche adulti e anziani, alla pratica sportiva senza lo stress del risultato a ogni costo. Da sottolineare le diverse proposte sociali che saranno realizzate nella due giorni, come ad esempio ad Acireale dove il gioco portera tra i detenuti in carcere sorrisi e attimi di spensieratezza, oppure a Potenza dove sono programmate numerose attivita per disabili. A Mantova invece il filo conduttore dellevento sara il gioco di strada.

Il Centro Sportivo Italiano  la piu antica associazione polisportiva attiva in Italia fondata nel 1944 dalla Gioventu italiana di Azione Cattolica  e unassociazione senza scopo di lucro, fondata sul volontariato, che promuove lo sport come momento di educazione, di crescita, di impegno e di aggregazione sociale, ispirandosi alla visione cristiana delluomo e della storia nel servizio alle persone e al territorio. Lo Csi day rappresenta il momento social dellassociazione, che conta in Italia decine di migliaia di affiliati in oltre 80 discipline sportive diverse.
We had our first snow here at IoT Evolution headquarters in Connecticut, so Im going to bring it ice cold this week. Weve been working hard to do some cool stuff for you in the last few days, including launching a new Industrial Internet of Things content channel, so make sure you check that out.

In the first of our lead stories this week, Cambridge University researchers have invented a near-infinite power supply for IoT devices, so if you want your IoT devices to last a billion years, you can use an AA battery, or just suck the leakage out of your transistors, according to a new paper in the journal Science.

And in more of the same old news as usual, apparently, a new study from security firm ForeScout based upon research by white hat hacker Samy Kamkar, it takes fewer than three minutes to hack many common Enterprise IoT devices. This in-depth analysis shows the dangers posed by enterprise IoT devices, and seems to reveal that most can act as points of entry into critical enterprise networks.

In a great guest post from Hagay Gellis, Regional Sales Manager, CEVA, we got a great rundown of the budding battle between the major connectivity standards that are all vying for dominance of the IoT.

And now, the news:

Consumers dont trust the IoT, and now theres some evidence other than the flat sales figures that shows it from IT security firm ESET and the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), which have together released a survey that shows that half of Americans have such strong concerns about the security and privacy of connected devices and the Internet of Things (IoT) that they dont want the devices at all.



Qualcomm Incorporated has announced that it will buy NXP Semiconductors through a subsidiary of Qualcomm that will make an offer to acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of NXP for $110.00 per share in cash, representing a total enterprise value of approximately $47 billion.



AT&T has switched on North Americas first LTE-M commercial site, in San Ramon, California, kicking off a growth pattern that will enable the evolution of the Internet of Things (IoT) for years.



Anheuser-Busch announced that it has fielded an automated big rig, controlled by software from Ubers Otto, that this week successfully hauled a fully loaded trailer of Budweiser beer more than 120 miles on I-25 from Fort Collins, Colorado through Denver, to Colorado Springs.



Inmarsat, a provider of global mobile satellite communications, and Vodafone have announced a new roaming agreement designed to enable international satellite and cellular roaming connectivity for the Internet of Things (IoT) that the companies say will deliver greater reliability and reach than either has been able to offer previously.

This week on the IoT Time Podcast, I sat down with with Mikko Jarva, CTO, Intelligent Data, Comptel, to talk about data refinery, building a middle ground between the Edge and the Cloud, and Ken panders to you listeners both shamelessly and blatantly. This episode is sponsored by the IoT Evolution Expo. To become a sponsor of IoT Time, please email or tweet me.

Theres plenty more to read, listen to and watch, so visit us on IoT Evolution World for all the IoT news, my friends. Now is the time to put into your calendar the next IoT Evolution Expo, to be held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Also, please get in touch with us when you have stories. As always, if you have questions, comments, complaints or compliments, please send them to me, editorial director Ken Briodagh at [email protected] or on Twitter @KenBriodagh.
During Thursday night's episode ofreunion special  Alaska Thunderf 5000 didnt apologize when she snatched the crown from Roxxxy Andrews, Detox and Katya Zamolodchikova during the show's finale of the popular Logo series.In this exclusive clip courtesy via, the 31-year-old drag queen payed homage toalum Aviva Drescher by reenacting her iconic leg toss.Alaska had a message for anyone who had any problems with how she handled the shows controversial eliminations. If you want to say that Im fake  if you want to say that Im a snake  I have this to say, Alaska declared, lifting up her skirt and reaching for something under her dress.The only thing fake about me is THIS, she screamed, throwing a prosthetic leg across the stage. It left everyone  especially host RuPaul  in stitches.In 2014, Aviva Drescher famously tossed her prosthetic leg during a heated dinner party at NYC restaurant, Le Cirque, which took place on the sixth season finale of RHONY. The scene may go down as one of the most memorable in The Real Housewives of New York City history. While we applaud Alaska's efforts, nothing beats the original. Relieve Aviva's infamous leg toss below!Photo/Video Credit: Bravo, Logo
The bank yesterday released an interim management statement more upbeat than some analysts had expected, but, nonetheless, made no mention of any schedule for resuming dividend payments.

The shares rose 1 cent to 20 cent as the bank detailed the effects of the Brexit fallout in a drop in bond yields which, in turn, led to an increase in the deficit in its defined benefit pension scheme.

The shares have slid 42% this year and values the bank on the stock market at 6.37bn.

Bank of Ireland said business was growing in line with expectations and that it had boosted new lending by 1bn to 10bn in the first nine months of the year from a year earlier.

Early this year, the lender in which the Government holds a near 14% stake  had all but set its sights on paying out its first dividend since the financial crash.

It had eyed resuming a dividend next year based on an improving outlook for its capital base this year.

But by high summer that conviction had weakened as the lender cited the fallout of the Brexit vote and rock-bottom bond yields for delaying a decision on any dividend until late this year.

Resuming paying a dividend remains controversial because Irish banks are still not back to full financial health, as EU-wide stress tests run by the European Banking Authority found earlier this year.

Its dividend decision will mark a significant milestone for Irish banking.

Analysts now say the bank will almost certainly not pay a dividend based on this years earnings, and delay a final decision to sometime in 2017.

Its highly unlikely the bank will make an early decision even though there is an outside chance, if trends improve through the end of the year, said Owen Callan, a senior analyst at Investec Ireland.

Another analyst, who didnt wish to be named, said Bank of Ireland management would likely need bond yields to recover further this quarter to make them comfortable about a dividend decision.

Diarmaid Sheridan, an analyst at Davy Stockbrokers, said in a research note that perhaps understandably, there is no reference to dividends in the statement with capital trajectory, together with macroeconomic developments, being key determinants at full year 2016.

The interim statement showed its net interest margin  a key measure of the banks profitability increased to 2.15% for the first nine months of the year. But the ratio understated a healthier increase posted in the quarter, of 2.23%.

At the end of September, the bank had a so-called fully loaded capital ratio of 10.5%, and anticipates receiving a dividend from its New Ireland insurance unit this quarter.

Separately, Ulster Bank in the Republic, a unit of RBS, said it boosted mortgage lending in the quarter.

Its operating profit in the third quarter fell to 69m (77.2m) from 74m a year earlier, as it tapped fewer impairment releases.

Ulster Bank in the Republic contributed 106m to the total net interest income at RBS of 2.16bn in the third quarter.

Meanwhile, Danske said it weathered Brexit better than anticipated, but in Northern Ireland, uncertainty continues to dampen business investments.
In granting the orders, Mr Justice David Keane noted lease and franchise arrangements with another company, of which two of the directors were shareholders, cost the company about 825,000 and were not reflected on the balance sheet in the companys financial statements.

The fact the third director played an entirely passive role in the company did not exonerate that director from responsibility, the judge added.

The restriction application was sought by Eamon Leahy, who was appointed liquidator of Spur (Liffey Valley) Restaurants Ltd, against Helen Bailey, Stephen Logue, and Denis Cremin when it went into voluntary liquidation in 2013.

Ms Bailey was the companys operations director, Mr Logue the managing director, and Mr Cremin was a non-executive director.

At the time of the liquidation, the respondents were directors of the company that had operated a restaurant at the Liffey Valley for around 11 years. It had suffered a downturn in recent years and went into liquidation with a deficit of 309,000.

Mr Leahy sought the orders over how the firm dealt with a debt owed to it by another company, Trinity Leisure Leisure Ltd. Trinity, whose directors are Mr Logue and Ms Bailey, held 95% of Spurs shares.

He had made enquires about two transactions involving Trinity and Spur in 2010.

The transactions saw Trinitys debt to Spur reduced by 825,00 when Spur acquired franchise rights and the transfer of the restaurants lease from Trinity for an agreed amount.

The explanations proffered to the liquidator were not sufficient, he claimed. The liquidator had sought documents and details about the agreements but did not receive them. This, he said, was a failure to co-operate.

The directors did not oppose the application, nor were they represented in the proceedings.

In his judgement yesterday, Mr Justice Keane said there was a failure to provide the liquidator with the documentation to allow a proper examination to support the transactions between Trinity and Spur.

The judge said the purported lease and franchise agreements were not reflected on the balance sheet in the companys affairs in 2010 copies of the agreements, which benefited another company of Ms Logue and Mr Bailey and were not produced.

The agreements gave rise to an obvious potential conflict of interest on the part of Ms Logue and Mr Bailey.

The practical benefit of the transactions to Spur was at the least questionable, said the judge. Spur, he said, had acquired assets that had little or no realiseable value on insolvency when Spur was already in financial difficulty.

The amount expended in the transactions was 825,000, more than twice the companys net deficiency on insolvency.
Many of the worlds major banks have European headquarters in Britain, but they face significant uncertainty over the countrys future relationship with the EU after its vote to leave the 28-member bloc in June.

Their long-term prospects hinge on what happens to Britains access to the EUs passporting arrangement.
The death of John ODonoghue, aged 62, on August 27, 2015, outside his home near Doon, Co Limerick, sparked national outrage.

Two cousins, David Casey, aged 21, from Coolock, Dublin, and Michael Casey, aged 33, from Clonlong halting site, Limerick, pleaded guilty to the burglary  details of which were heard yesterday at Limerick Circuit Court.

In a victim impact statement to the court, his niece, Angela Denning, said they had lost a kind, clever, talented, and witty man: A happy home is now missing something that, unlike stolen possessions, can never be replaced.

Dr Marie Cassidy, the State pathologist, said there were no signs of assault on Mr ODonoghue or any evidence of him being involved in a struggle.

However, she said her evaluation of the cause of death, heart failure, could not be separated from the stressful circumstances which had caused increased heart rate and raised blood pressure, increasing the risk of heart attack.

Ms Denning said: Words cant describe the impact of this break-in on our family. After a burglary everyone loses their sense of security and feels more vulnerable; they add extra locks; get a dog; and live in fear that it might happen again. My parents used to worry about me because I live in Dublin, now I wake at night worrying about the safety of my parents and members of my family.
Darren Martyn, aged 24, of Cloonebeggin, Claregalway, Co Galway, was brought before Dublin District Court on charges under the Criminal Damage Act.

Mr Martyn, who studied biopharmaceutical chemistry at NUI Galway, was arrested by appointment in Dublin yesterday and then taken to the Criminal Courts of Justice building.
The Health Product Regulatory Authoritys caution comes following the conviction of Patrick Merlehan, who was found guilty on two charges related to the manufacture and supply of Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS), an unauthorised medicinal product on the Irish market.

John Lynch, director of compliance, HPRA, repeated the authoritys warning against buying MMS: We continue to warn the public not to buy medicines from unregulated sources.

There is no way for consumers to know what substances such products actually contain and consequently they can pose a serious risk to your health. Additionally, you should only take prescription medicines under your doctors supervision, he warned.

On Thursday, Judge Alan Mitchell at Naas District Court fined Merlehan of Newtown House, Newtown, Moone, Co Kildare a total of 4,000.

Following the conviction, the HPRA warned that MMS is a product which contains a substance which is used in bleach and has no recognised therapeutic benefits.

The court ruling follows a lengthy investigation by the HPRA, An Garda Siochana and the Garda regional support unit.

The MMS product was found following the execution of a search warrant on November 6, 2014 at Merlehans home.

The premises included the Ark Recycling business, which was controlled by Merlehan at the time of the investigation.

MMS has been promoted as a cure for autism, cancer, HIV, and other conditions, and has been notably championed by a group called the The Genesis II Church of Health and Healing. Its founder, self-appointed archbishop Jim Humble, is a former Scientologist who claims to have discovered MMS as a cure for malaria in 1996.
The 26-year-old model from South Africa, who has an address at Jamestown Road, in Dublin 8, is accused of harassing Dylan McGrath, aged 39, at various locations in the State from September 9 until November 21 last year. The charge is contrary to Section 10 of the Non Fatal Offences Against the Person Act.

She is contesting the case and her Dublin District Court trial had been scheduled to take place on September 30 but could not proceed then because Mr McGrath was bedridden with a serious back injury.
Cylance describes itself as a company that is revolutionising cybersecurity with products and services that use artificial intelligence to proactively prevent, rather than just reactively detect advanced persistent threats and malware.

It is opening its new Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) operations centre on South Mall and is looking to fill roles in sales, sales engineering, and customer support and says it plans to add malware analysis and software development roles in the future.

Cork has become an international cybersecurity and technology centre, and we are proud to be a part of that. Our mission has always been to protect everyone under the sun, and tapping the rich technology pool in Ireland will help us greatly in this effort, said Stuart McClure, president and CEO at Cylance.

IDA Ireland chief executive, Martin Shanahan, described Cylance as one of the fastest-growing companies in the history of cybersecurity.

The choice of Ireland for the new EMEA operations centre for Cylance is an endorsement of the emerging cybersecurity cluster in Cork.

The citys tech infrastructure, talent pool, and supportive academic network have created a compelling business environment which will continue to attract investment from companies operating in this space.

Barrie OConnell, Cork Chamber president, said Cork has many connections with the west coast of the US.

In a digitalised economy, cyber security is a key business priority. For Cork Chamber it is very encouraging that Cork is at the forefront of providing leading cyber security solutions for businesses across Europe and with Cylance on board, our offering will become even stronger.

The California-headquartered company has been named in the top 100 of the 5,000 fastest growing American companies.

It says its CylanceProtect product currently protects millions of computers and servers for more than 3,000 large enterprise customers, preventing cyber attacks every day which could otherwise result in data breaches or cripple network performance, employee productivity and brand reputation.

Meanwhile footwear company Skechers has opened its 15th Irish retail store in Waterford.

The 14 staff in the new store bring the number the company employs on the island to 250.

Plans call for additional stores to roll out across the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland over the next year, including one in Kilkenny and another located at Newry, bringing the new jobs tally to almost 40 in the space of less than a year, said a spokeswoman for the company.

Skechers signed a retail licensing agreement with the footwear retailer Shuz 4 U Ltd in 2010 to open and operate Skechers-branded retail stores throughout Ireland.
Last night, Galway Pro-Choice group held a candlelit vigil at the Spanish Arch in her memory, while, yesterday, a video made from hand drawings outlining the events that led to Ms Halappanavars death was posted to YouTube and various tributes were written in her memory.

Her death in 2012, on October 28 at Galway University Hospital due to septicemia from miscarrying at 17 weeks, having been refused a termination, galvanised many people to fight for the reproductive rights of women in Ireland.

Her death was one of the galvanising forces behind the formation of ARC [Abortion Rights Campaign], said an ARC spokesperson. We wanted to ensure something like this could never happen again.

Anna Cosgrave, the woman behind the Repeal jumpers, said that it was her attendance at one of the vigils for Savita in 2012 that sparked the idea for her project.

I want to ask the Minister for Health Simon Harris, when he talks about delaying a referendum [on the eighth amendment], whether or not he is reminded of Savita or other women who have needlessly died because of our archaic abortion laws, Ms Cosrgave said.

The eighth amendment changed Article 40 of the Constitution in 1983 which acknowledges the right to life of the unborn, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother.

ARC states that the result of this was to criminalise abortion in all cases except where to continue a pregnancy would result in death.

4 years ago Savita Halappanavar died in an Irish hospital, denied an abortion that wld prob have saved her life. https://t.co/VNXtR0uZc1 pic.twitter.com/v6WQ6HL6Ui  Sam Baker (@SamBaker) October 28, 2016

In Ms Halappanavars case, a termination was requested multiple times but not granted as there was still a foetal heartbeat. The procedure was refused despite the fact the 31-year-old was in intensive care and in septic shock.

Orla OConnor, director of the National Womens Council of Ireland, also referred to the need for a referendum.

Its four years since the tragedy of Savita and still there is no referendum in sight. There is no clear commitment about a timeline, she said.

Several things have happened in the aftermath of Ms Halappanavars death.

A HSE report into her death was published in June 2013. Among its findings was that legal uncertainty played was a contributory factor in not terminating the pregnancy earlier.

The report also found that there was an over-emphasis on the foetal heartbeat.

Following this came the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013, which allows for a termination when there is a real and substantial risk to a womans life from a physical illness, when there is an immediate risk to the life of the woman arising from a physical illness, or when there is a real and substantial risk to the life of the woman arising from suicide intent.

In June 2016, a UN report by the Human Rights Committee called Irelands abortion ban cruel, inhumane, and degrading.

As of today no date for a referendum has been set. However, a Citizens Assembly is discussing the matter of abortion. It is due to report next June.
Ronan Hughes, 17, killed himself in 2015, just hours after being blackmailed over intimate images of himself.

The young GAA player, who was a pupil at St Josephs Grammar school in Donaghmore, was tricked into sharing the images of himself online.

Ronan told his parents that he was being blackmailed and they reported it to the local police station.

However, three days later, when the schoolboy had not paid them the 3,300 they demanded, the blackmailers went through with their threat and sent the images to his friends.

Ronan killed himself a few hours later.

According to the Irish News, local priest Benny Fee said at the time: He did not take his own life. His life was taken by these faceless people who put the child into a burning building that he felt he could not escape.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) launched a determined campaign to track down those involved and the focal point of the investigation was tracking the computer used to blackmail the teenager.

While it was initially suspected that the blackmailers may be in Africa, investigators were able to ascertain that in fact it could be traced back to Romania.

The PSNI said it liaised with a number of agencies in a variety of jurisdictions, including Poliia Roman?a (Romanian Police), the Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism in Romania, the National Crime Agency, and Europol, as part of the investigation.

As a result, a 31-year-old male appeared yesterday at Bucharest Municipal Court in Romania, charged with producing and distributing indecent images of children and blackmail.

The PSNI confirmed that the charges were connected to its investigation into webcam blackmail linked to Ronans death in June 2015.

Detective Superintendent Gary Reid, of the PSNIs Reactive and Organised Crime Branch, said: Detectives from the PSNI are currently in Romania assisting our colleagues with this phase of the investigation.

This has been complex and protracted and we are grateful to our colleagues in our partner agencies for their assistance to date.

As legal proceedings are now ongoing, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.

He did, however, say he wanted to remind people to be mindful of their online activity, particularly with strangers and, if they felt they have been compromised online in any way, to report it to police.
Speaking in London, Ms May restated her position that Brexit means Brexit  but added that a hard border from Donegal to Dundalk is not on the agenda.

We have been very clear, the Government of the Republic of Ireland have been very clear, and the Northern Ireland Executive have been very clear that none of us wants to see a return to the borders of the past, and I simply remind the right honourable gentleman that the Common Travel Area has been in place since 1923, which was well before either of us joined the European Union, she said
As a result, special security measures were put in place to protect the family of Det Garda Pat Whelan and their home, Limerick Circuit Court was told.

Darren OHalloran, aged 31, of Aurea Cottage, Dublin Rd, Limerick, was found guilty by a jury last Friday on charges of threatening to kill Det Garda Whelan and threatening to damage property.

At a sentencing hearing yesterday, Insp Padraic Byrnes said Det Garda Whelan was among gardai who went to the address of the accused on March 29, 2015. They had an arrest warrant for OHallorans brother, whom they found hiding in the attic. As the gardai left, OHalloran made a remark to Det Garda Whelan about being on a white horse clip-clopping at Christmas time through a village near to where he lived.

Det Garda Whelan took a phone call at Henry St Garda headquarters in Limerick on April 2, 2015, and put the call on loud speaker.

OHalloran identified himself and said: Look Pat, well do no more crime if ye back off me and Aaron [OHallorans brother].

Det Garda Whelan made it clear to the accused he would not back off and OHalloran became aggressive.

OHalloran told Det Garda Whelan: I will kill ye, you c*** with your big yellow house and I will burn it to the ground. Dont be coming to my house in the middle of the night. OHalloran, with 76 previous convictions, was on bail at the time.

Insp Byrnes said: The threat was taken very seriously as it was known OHalloran had the capacity to carry it out. Steps were taken and Garda patrols were put in place near Det Garda Whelans house until the time of his arrest.

Judge Tom ODonnell, sentencing OHalloran to four years, said it was unacceptable for a member of An Garda Siochana and his family to be subjected to serious threats.
WHAT are we to do now, the families of the faithful who have already scattered our loved ones ashes? Can we assume that the new Vatican ban on the practice wont be applied retrospectively?

Can we also ask if the Catholic Church is bent on alienating us, the relatives of the 1,300 people cremated in Ireland annually?

About 50% of all people who die in Ireland are cremated and, of those, about a quarter choose to bring the ashes home, or to scatter them.

Not all of those people are practising Catholics and many may simply choose to ignore the new guidelines issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and approved by Pope Francis. But for the observant, it is now against Church regulations to scatter the ashes of our departed relatives in the air, on land, at sea, or in some other way.

The measure is designed to counter so-called New Age ideas that death is a fusion with Mother Nature, or the definitive liberation from the prison of the body.

The new rules also consider it non-Christian to preserve ashes or bone fragments in mementos, pieces of jewellery or other objects.

That last instruction is, lets say, interesting when you consider the bone fragments of saints that have, for centuries, been preserved in mementos, pieces of jewellery or other objects in lavishly made Church- approved reliquaries. You can visit them in the treasury houses of the bigger Catholic churches and cathedrals all around the world.

I love visiting those wonderful repositories, packed, as they are, with rings, chasubles, copes, beautifully illuminated books, crosses, crucifixes and breath-taking reliquaries. They offer a tantalising peep into the past.

They also show the deep human need for ritual in life but, more importantly, in death.

Of course, the key difference between the Churchs collection of mementos and those held by its grieving faithful is that the former are held in a sacred place. That is one of the central concerns behind the latest Vatican document  it insists that ashes should be kept only in sacred places, such as cemeteries.

In truth, the Catholic Church never fully endorsed cremation. It reluctantly allowed it as recently as 1963, so it is not entirely surprising to hear the Church say now that burial is the most fitting way to express faith.

I wont be alone in feeling a deep sense of betrayal in that understandable U-turn. I say understandable because this measure is all about exercising more control and we have come to expect that from the Catholic hierarchy.

Though, it has to be said the softening of the rules on eulogies at funerals some years ago was a heartening step. In fact, only last week, at the funeral of a dear friends mother it struck me that Catholic funerals were one of the few truly inclusive Church occasions.

There is something genuinely comforting about allowing family members stand on the altar to recall their loved ones in those moving self-penned prayers and eulogies that are often delivered in quavering voices.

It is to the credit of Irish clergy that they allow a little of the profane to be included at the edges of their sacred rites. Allowing those family tributes has neither diluted the funeral liturgy, as was feared, nor turned religious ceremonies into some sort of a This is Your Life show. If anything, it has heightened the integrity of the sacrament and made it more meaningful to relatives and friends.

Thanks, too, to those understanding priests who bend the rules on hymns and music. My wonderful Auntie Mary went out to the strains of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, a nod to her love of jazz and her visit to New Orleans.

But now? What about those committed Catholics who have passed on believing that the ashes of their living spouses would be scattered as theirs were, in some favoured beauty spot?

Or those deeply Christian people, now departed, who would be rocked to their core to discover that they had contravened some Church regulation?

Of course, they could not possibly know that the Church would move the goal posts, yet it is still not clear if the guidelines are retroactive or not. Worse, there is no explicit instruction on what Catholics should do if they scattered their loved ones ashes in a practice now deemed improper.

In the ten years since we, as a family, scattered my fathers ashes, it comforts me to think that he got the dignified funeral that he had wished for. He was a committed Catholic but more than that, he was a truly Christian man in the broadest possible sense. One of the balms during his illness were the regular visits from local priests. They, too, were Christian in the broadest sense  those kind, generous, men helped us navigate some sort of a path through those final bewildering months.

There were lots of bewildering moments in death, too. I remember calling to Glasnevin Cemetery to pick up the urn containing my beloved fathers ashes and wondering what to do with it; I couldnt, in all conscience, put him in the boot, so I strapped him into the back seat as we drove to our native Kerry. I am almost afraid now to say exactly how we dispensed with those ashes, but I can say that, to us, it was sacred and fitting and solemn.

The Catholic hierarchy has already alienated so many with its indifference to the child abuse scandals and its continuing refusal to include women, to mention the most damaging examples. Many, however, are still happy to dance around the fringes and join in during those important times in a Catholics life  baptism, Communion, Confirmation, marriage and death. But for how long?

The Catholic Church is not a democracy, of course. Still, I cant help feeling these new guidelines will prompt even more people to vote with their feet.
Business The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (October 29)

Stacks of Burma kyat are seen on the counter before a client collects them. / Minzayar / Reuters

Govt committee to oversee inward investment

A government committee will be formed to manage matters concerning international investment into Burma, State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has said.

As the country opens up and rising numbers of development partners and business groups seek to operate in Burma, the committee will help manage and supervise suitable activities.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will chair the committee and U Kyaw Win, Minister of National Planning and Finance, will be the vice chair.

The State Counselor told members of the business community in Naypyidaw last week that international assistance in Burma needed to be used effectively, and deployed in suitable arenas.

Information on how assistance was being used should also be transparent, she said.

Detailed plans will be released to the public soon, the State Counselor added.

MPT offering wide job opportunities

Telecoms company MPT is offering hundreds of job opportunities at a job fair in Rangoon on Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 October, the company said.

More than 100 vacancies will be offered across several departments at the MPT Job Fair 2016, including positions for team mangers, senior personnel and general staff in areas such as sales and distribution, marketing, information technology and operations.

The state-owned MPT has partnered with Japanese mobile operator KDDI and global company Sumitomo Corporation since 2014.

Yoshiaki Benino, chief operating officer for the MPT-KSGM joint operation, said in a statement, MPT needs fantastic talent to work in a variety of roles, and we are proud to offer opportunities for Myanmar people to develop their careers.

Japans JFE Engineering to invest in power plant

Japanese company JFE Engineering will work with the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC) to build a waste-to-energy 700-kilowatt power plant, the Dealstreet Asia website reported.

JFE aims to start a test run of the plant in January 2017 while production is aimed to start the following April at the plant whose total investment, shared with the YCDC, is around US$16 million, according to the website.

The Japanese company is serving as an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor for the plant, which will run on raw material waste from suburban areas of Rangoon including Shwe Pyi Thar, Insein, North Okkalapa and Mingaladon townships.

The plant is expected to supply at least 300 kilowatts of electricity to the national grid line.

JFE is also working on a waste water treatment project in Dala and Twante and is involved in over-bridge projects in Yangon.

Hotel group receives IFC loans

The locally-owned Amata hotel group has received convertible loans worth US$13.5 million from the International Finance Corporation, an arm of the World Bank, Eleven Media reported.

The loan will help the groups expansion plans which include new hotels in Bagan and Inle Lake, according to Win Aung, chief executive officer of Amata group.

Providing a loan to a local firm is a way of supporting Myanmars economic growth. It will definitely provide employment opportunities for local residents, particularly women and youth, Win Aung said.

Amata is also reported to be planning to build international-standard hotels in the Myeik archipelago, subject to the approval of the Myanmar Investment Commission.

Win Aung added that the group planned to introduce a new mid-range hotel brand, Awinka, in 10 different cities in the coming months.

Our target customers are both local and foreign visitors who want to enjoy good services at a reasonable price, he said.

Vietnams Zalo messaging app seeks higher market share

Burma has two million users of the Zalo messaging app launched by Vietnamese company VNG, according to a report in a Vietnamese media outlet quoting the companys vice president Vuong Quang Khai.

VNG launched the Zalo app in 2012 and it has since become the most-downloaded mobile messaging app on Android and iOS in Vietnam, Khai told VnExpress.

Roughly two-thirds of Vietnams current smart phone users chat via Zalo, according to the report.

Burma is Zalos first overseas market. The company aims to increase its market share in the country and has developed the app to cope with spotty 3G infrastructure and bargain mobile phones. Its marketing strategy includes enlisting celebrity spokespeople.

Viber, Line, Kakao Tak and WeChat are among the other messaging apps that are competing for market share across Southeast Asia.

EIA: Illegally imported Burma timber entering the EU

The UK-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) has claimed that Burmese teak is being illegally imported into the European Union, following a two-month investigation.

During its probe the EIA posed as buyers and approached nine timber importers working in five EU countries. The EIA reported that companies consistently failed to pinpoint the source of the teak they were importing.

Several companies called the allegations unfounded, and argued they could not be held accountable for problems in a supply chain controlled by the Burma government, according to a report in the Mongabay website.

The Myanmar Timber Enterprise (MTE) controls all timber for export from Burma.

An agent of one company, Teak Solutions, told the EIA, We have no control over what the MTE offers for sale. We must assume that they are from the area they say and that they are legally cut.

The MTE did not respond to emails from Mongabay requesting comment.
Dateline Dateline Irrawaddy: The Burma Army Doesnt Underestimate the Wa

On this weeks Dateline, Kyaw Kha, Lawi Weng, and Nan Lwin Hnin Pwint discuss military tensions brewing in eastern Shan State.

Kyaw Kha: Welcome to Dateline Irrawaddy! This week well discuss the three-way military tensions between Burmas largest ethnic armed group the United Wa State Army [UWSA], its brotherly ally the Mongla Group [National Democratic Alliance Army, or NDAA], and the Burma Army. Im Irrawaddys reporter Kyaw Kha, and our news crew reporters for ethnic affairs Ko Lawi Weng and Ma Nan Lwin Hnin Pwint will join me for the discussion.

On Sept. 28, around 600 troops of the UWSA raided and occupied some bases in the area controlled by the Mongla Group [near the Chinese border in eastern Shan State]. We heard that the UWSA has since continuously brought in reinforcements and that around 800 troops have been deployed there. Burmas military then sent an ultimatum to the UWSA to withdraw its troops by Oct. 24. We heard that fears have mounted and roads have been blocked. Ma Nan Lwin, what are the latest developments?

Nan Lwin Hnin Pwint: Mongla Group leaders said it was the UWSAs fault, and that they want the UWSA to withdraw from their area as demanded by the Burma Army. But the UWSA said that it wont withdraw, and it has since deployed even more forces. Because both [groups] are holding peace talks with the government, Dr. Tin Myo Win of the [governments] National Reconciliation and Peace Centre [NRPC] has asked to mediate between the two [groups]. The Mongla Group accepted the proposal, but the UWSA hasnt. And locals said [on Tuesday] that they had seen [planes] flying over the area of Mongla. So theyre afraid, and some of them [locals] have started to flee from Mongla, Ive heard.

KK: Given their actions, it appears that Wa is desperately trying to defend those places. And we heard that Wa has systematically monitored military activities of Burmas military and made necessary counter-actions. Why has Wa occupied those bases, and how much do they mean to them, Ko Lawi?

Lawi Weng: I would like to raise two pointsone military and the other political. Politically, Wa is concerned that Mongla may sign the NCA [Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement] since it seems that Mongla supports the ongoing peace process with the government. Wa is worried that Mongla will be influenced by Burmas military if it signs the NCA. If Burmas military took over the mountain bases in the Mongla area, it could easily attack the Wa. So on Sept. 28, the Wa took preemptive actions and raided Mongla posts unexpectedly. According to some sources close to Mongla, before this [incident], some officers of Sai Lin [a Mongla Group chairman] held talks with the government, mainly because Mongla does not want to be under the control of Wa and wants to compromise with the government. The UWSA raided Mongla bases after they heard this news. They then summoned Sai Lin to discuss the issue.

According to Kyi Myint [a leader within the NDAA], the Wa has occupied almost all of the hills and only keeps the routes open for the Mongla Group. Those hills are strategic for the Mongla Group for fighting Burmas military if it approaches. While we were visiting Wa [territory], Sai Mauk told us that there is a port on the Mekong River in the area that is crucial for the UWSA, and which is jointly controlled by the Mongla [Group] and the Wa. And Burma Army troops are also deployed not very far from there. It is the only navigable water route for the Wa to transport its products, including perhaps weapons, to Laos and Thailand and other foreign countries. The Wa [imports] mainly through this port. So those hills and that port are critically important for the Wa, both militarily and economically. The Wa are concerned that Sai Lin might take the side of the government, so it carried out a sudden raid.

KK: The Mekong River is crucial for the Wa to purchase weapons via Laos. It is also economically important for the Wa. The Wa have occupied those Mongla bases because of the fear that it might lose contact with its southern headquarters along the Thai-Burma border.

LW: [The Wa] will lose its exit route if the military occupies that area. Now, the Kokang [self-administered zone in northern Shan State] is essentially held by the Burmese military. Previously, the Wa had access to Kokang areas before the fighting erupted between the Kokang [Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, or MNDAA] and the Burma Army.

KK: A few days ago we heard that the Burmese military launched offensives on some important bases belonging to the Shan State Progressive Party/Shan State Army-North (SSPP/SSA-N), a close ally of the UWSA. Ma Nan Lwin, you have been reporting about it. How important are those bases to the Burma Army for attacking the Wa?

NLHP: Currently, Burma Army troops are deployed in SSPPs Loilem mountain ridges to the west of the Salween River [in central Shan State]. The Wa headquarters of Panghsang and its mountain bases lie to the east of Loilem. Since the mountains in the Wa-controlled area are lower than those in the SSPP-controlled area, if the Burmese military occupy those mountains, it would pose a grave threat to the Wa. [] [because] the Wa may not be able to withstand an attack from the Burma Army from a higher vantage point.

Also, if the Burmese military could take control of the Loilem mountain ridge, they would have access to the routes through which the TNLA [Taang National Liberation Army], the Kachin Independence Army [KIA] Brigade No. 4, and the Kokang (MNDAA) receive military assistance, including weapons, from the Wa via Mong Hsu, Kyethi, Mongyai, and Kyaukme townships. The military could occupy those routes once they occupy the Loilem mountain ridge. Since the Wa [UWSA] is the largest ethnic armed group, Burmas military is not only preparing militarily; it is also making other moves.

KK: What will happen if conflict breaks out, Ko Lawi?

LW: If conflict breaks out, it would spread to many places. The Wa have three bases: Tangyan, Chin Shwe Haw, and Loi Tak, and each of those places would experience clashes. The TNLA and the Kokang [MNDAA] are Wa allies, and even the AA [Arakan Army, also present in Shan State] would help them in the event of an attack from the Burma Army. Then the SSPP would also have to join the fight. So if conflict breaks out [between the Burma Army and the UWSA], it would spread to other areas along the Chinese border, and many civilians would be displaced. In the case of Kokang [where intense fighting erupted in early 2015], the fighting left many people displaced. If conflict breaks out along that area, there would be many more displaced persons. It is a cause for serious concern.

NLHP: Some local residents have started to flee the Mongla area. And there are previous examples in Karen and Kachin states. Displaced persons still cant go back to their homes [in those states]. Their lives were ruined. Many things they had built were ruined. In the Laukkai [Kokang] fighting in 2015, the [local] economy collapsed. Women and children also had to flee. If war broke out there [Loilem], it would force women and children into camps and destroy businesses. Whats worse is it will affect schooling and ultimately the future of the children who are displaced. Children will have to pass their days at displaced persons camps.

KK: Yes, there were serious negative impacts on businesses and transportation in Kokang. The Wa always monitors the activities of Burmas military and is continually preparing [for fighting]. Is the Burmese military also making preparations?

NLHP: Since the Wa [UWSA] are the largest ethnic armed group [in Burma], the Burma Army does not underestimate them. They have placed units of Triangle Command, headquartered in Kengtung [in eastern Shan State], in the vicinity of major mountain bases held by the UWSA and the SSPP, as well as units of Eastern and Eastern-Central commands on the other side of the Salween River. In addition, the Burma Army has established an artillery base to the west of Kunhing, while maintaining a strong force in Lashio [where North-Eastern Command is based, in northern Shan State]. It seems that the Burmese military has adopted particular strategies to deal with the Wa.

KK: They have made preparations already?

NLHP: Yes. They do not underestimate the Wa.

LW: Actually, the Burmese military already wants to launch offensives in places like Tangyan. Now it seems that they also want to occupy the SSPP-controlled area [in central Shan State].

NLHP: The Burma Army has made certain preparations. They have plans.

KK: So if the Burmese military were to attack the Wa, they would have to confront the SSPP because they lie in between them and the Wa.

LW: Yes, the SSPP knows that. The Burma Army would have to attack places like Tangyan to occupy the [Loilem] ridge before attacking the Wa. But the SSPP wouldnt just give in to them. There would be clashes for sure.

KK: China plays an important role in the Wa and Mongla issue, I think. How could China help defuse this situation?

LW: China always says positive things about Burmas peace process and has said that it would support it. But we dont know the real changes taking place along the border. When we last went to Mai Ja Yang [a KIA-held area in Kachin State on the Chinese border, which hosted an ethnic armed group summit in July], we could cross the border [without undue restriction] at certain places.

Ethnic armed groups active along the border say that China is playing a greater role these days [in the peace process]. Previously, China placed some travel restrictions [on ethnic armed group members]; China now seems to be easing up in this regard. But we dont know what agreements the Wa and China have reached.

KK: We will have to wait and see whether China, our superpower neighbor, and the international community steps in to help, applying pressure to avert the worst possible scenario. Ko Lawi and Ma Nan Lwin, thank you for your contributions.
Commentary An Uphill Mission But Not Mission Impossible

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (C) and Myanmar Military Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing arrive (R) for the handover ceremony from outgoing President Thein Sein and new Burmese President U Htin Kyaw at the presidential palace in Naypyidaw on March 30, 2016. / Reuters

Burmas peace processthe first priority of State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyis political agendais at risk due to the militarys ongoing offensives against ethnic armed groups. The de facto leader is ambitious for aiming both to achieve peace and amend the undemocratic, military-drafted 2008 Constitution during a specific timeframe.

When the incumbent government led by the State Counselor announced its policy for national reconciliation and Union-level peace in mid-October, it indicated a certain level of determination to suggest that this could be completed in accordance with a predetermined schedule. The policy was published in the governments newspapers after Daw Aung San Suu Kyi described them in her speech at the first anniversary of Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement on Oct. 15.

The first two steps of the governments seven-point policy are to review and amend the political dialogue framework that was drafted by the previous government led by ex-general Thein Sein. The third and fourth steps are to continue convening the 21st Century Panglong Conference and to sign a Union peace agreement based on the 21st Century Panglong Conference.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her government never officially disclosed a timeframe for their political roadmap in establishing a democratic federal union, but she seems to have a specific deadline in mind. The fifth point clearly mentions amending the current Constitution in accordance with the Union agreement, while the sixth says to hold multi-party democratic elections in accordance with the amended Constitution.

These two points reveal her timeframe. The general elections mentioned in the governments policy must be a reference to the next election in 2020. Thus, before the 2020 election, the State Counselor must aim to execute the other points of the policy, including the Union-level agreement, and the amendment of the Constitution.

This clearly shows that the governments policies do not only aim to achieve peace but also to change national laws. In fact, such an attempt to amend the Constitution could be considered the bigger challenge, as the militarywhich enjoys the Constitutional privilegeswill definitely resist any change to its current status. Yet one of the longtime goals of the National League for Democracy, led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, has been to create a Constitution that ensures all the people of Burma can live together in tranquility and security. It was officially written as such in the NLDs 2015 election manifesto.

Both the State Counselor and her NLD government will need to doggedly pursue this goal in order to keep their word. But it remains an inconceivably difficult task for any government, as the militarys main duty is to safeguard the current Constitution, which protects both its economic benefits and guarantees its privileges in the political arena.

The sixth point in the policy states that the election will be held in accordance with the amended Constitution, meaning that the election is to be held only after the Constitution has been changed. The seventh and final point of the guideline mentions the building of a democratic federal union based on the results of the election, revealing the governments ultimate aim.

It reads as quite an ambitious guideline to achieve such goals within five years.

But even now, only two months after the 21st Century Panglong Conference convened for its first round at the end of August, fighting between the military and ethnic armed groupsincluding the Kachin Independence Army, the Taang National Liberation Army and the Shan State Army-Northhas escalated in border areas.

This round of fighting in Kachin State started on Aug. 17, about two weeks before the Panglong peace conference. It was expected to end or, at the very least, decrease, after the peace conference. Instead, it has escalated with the military attacking using fighter jets; it is hard to say whether this timing was a coincidence. The clashes have led tens of thousands of Kachin people to take to the street in Hpakant, Kachin State, calling on the Burma Army to stop the offensives, launching criticism of continued fighting while the government was holding peace talks with ethnic armed groups.

But the government is silent.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her administration have faced heavy condemnation because they have not spoken out against the militarys heavy offensive against the KIA. I sincerely believe the government deserves this criticism as long as they cannot come out to reasonably explain such circumstances to the public.

But there is another relevant question: why is the government so quiet on this issue?

Not all people Burma and the international community might understand that the military and the government are not joined together in such offensives. The military is its own absolute authority when it comes to strikes against ethnic armed groups.

Fairly speaking, no one exactly knows the depth of the relationship between the government and the military, though we have often seen smiles on the faces of Commander in Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi when they meet. Yet one thing is certain: the government does not seem to have any power to give orders to the military when it comes to fighting. This was particularly apparent in 2013, when then-president Thein Seinhimself an ex-generalinstructed the military to stop an offensive against the KIA, but clashes continued.

It then becomes clear how much more difficult it would be for the NLD civilian government to order the military halt such offensives. Under that scenario, the government is not in position to come out and admit that they cannot control the military. The public who understand our countrys complex political situation might accept such an honest statement, but it would just as soon upset the leaders in the military establishment.

The ongoing military offensives continue to damage the governments attempts to gain trust from the ethnic groups. Is the military intentionally undermining the governments peace process? The answer remains unknown.

The entire peace policy of the government remains a sheer uphill mission. But we cannot say it is mission impossible. Among the mounting challenges, the militarys collaboration with the government and the ethnic armed groups is the most crucial throughout the entire process. We will have to see if and how Daw Aung San Suu Kyi can coax the military leadership into cooperating to achieve her goals.

Kyaw Zwa Moe is the editor of The Irrawaddys English edition.
Saturday, October 29th, 2016 (8:23 am) - Score 917

A new report from the British Infrastructure Group (BIG), which was setup by Grant Shapps (Conservative MP for Welwyn Hatfield), has brought together 90 cross-party Members of Parliament in order to demand better UK mobile coverage and a limited national roaming agreement.

At present most of the United Kingdoms primary Mobile Network Operators (Three UK, Vodafone, O2 and EE) are aiming to deliver 98% population coverage of 4G (LTE) based mobile broadband technology by the end of 2017 and one (EE) has effectively already achieved that goal. Most operators also claim to have already delivered 99%+ coverage of 2G and 3G services.

However for many people the reality is that mobile coverage remains patchy and unreliable, which is partly due to the fact that geographic (landmass) coverage is still fairly poor and also because Ofcoms coverage estimates are often more optimistic than even those figures being supplied by mobile operators themselves.

Back in December 2014 the Government reached a new 5bn legally binding agreement with all of the major mobile operators, which committed them to extending their geographic network coverage (voice and text) of the United Kingdom to 90% by the end of 2017 (falling to 85% for Mobile Broadband [3G / 4G] data coverage).

However todays new report  Mobile Coverage: A Good Call for Britain?  claims that the mobile network operators are unlikely to achieve the [geographic coverage] targets and even if they do then coverage related issues may continue to be a problem unless the Government takes more action.

Grant Shapps MP said: Although the British mobile communications sector has flourished through sustained private sector investment, comparing favourably with EU markets in terms of service costs and technological advances, visitors to Britain have consistently enjoyed better and broader mobile coverage. Whereas British consumers remain stuck with a single provider, international SIM cards roam between different networks. This is a bad call for connectivity in Britain. Instead, this report takes a second look at the costs and benefits of national roaming, and urges the Government to reconsider this approach on a smaller scale, in areas severely affected by not spots. In light of Ofcom recently fining Vodafone 4.6 million for breaching consumer protection rules, the treatment of mobile consumers requires greater scrutiny. This BIG report also urges the passage of the Digital Economy Bill, to kick start much-needed reforms to the Electronic Communications Code and to provide Ofcom with the ability to ensure that mobile operators become accountable to consumers. Britain is yet to achieve mobile coverage for all. The Government must rethink which policies are the best call for Britain.

Its perhaps worth pointing out that BTs recent financial results included an update on EEs geographic 4G network coverage, which currently sits at about 70% (the other operators are nearly at this level too). In that update it was reported that EEs geographic coverage should grow to reach 92% by September 2017 and then 95% by the end of December 2020.

EEs rivals havent been as clear about their expectations for geographic coverage, but at the very least they have committed to deliver the 90% target by the end of 2017. As such it may perhaps be a bit premature to reconsider reviving the demand for national roaming, at least until weve seen if the MNOs can deliver and what impact that has.

Just to be clear, a national roaming policy would focus on improving mobile coverage by forcing operators in mostly rural locations to adopt greater sharing of key infrastructure, such as masts (details). Suffice to say that the big network operators were bitterly opposed to this, not least since it would effectively give a free ride to those that havent invested as much in order to improve rural mobile coverage (some warned that this could also discourage future investment). In the end the idea was abandoned in favour of the aforementioned 5bn agreement.

Sadly some big obstacles remain. In particular the failure of the Governments earlier 150m Mobile Infrastructure Project (MIP) demonstrated that getting planning permission for new masts in sensitive rural areas, as well as securing related access to private land and supplying those masts with the necessary power / network capacity is far from easy (here).

The new Digital Economy Bill 2016-17 contains vital revisions to update the Electronic Communications Code (ECC) and remove barriers, such as by making it easier and cheaper to install such infrastructure on private land. However land owners remain less than keen on the idea and have repeatedly tried to block some of the key measures (here).

In the end many of the recommendations being made in todays report reflect changes that are already in the process of happening, although some (e.g. making it cheaper / easier to access private land and national roaming) are a lot easier to say than they are to actually deliver.
Netflixs Making a Murderer is but a massive success that follows the life story of Steven Avery who is convicted of rape and murder of Teresa Halbach. As millions of viewers wait for the release of the second season of the controversial documentary, they can expect a thrilling twist of events.

Recent news mentioned that famous lawyers Dean Strang and Jerry Buting are set to return as Averys legal defense. The comeback of the powerful duo has paved the way to theories that the series subject is in for a possible acquittal.

Making a Murderer season 2 is currently in the works as confirmed by series directors Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi. All attorneys are expected to return as they have already provided their statements on the case via interviews.

In an interview with Newsweek, both lawyers said that they are personally convinced of Averys innocence. According to Strang, he always believes that Avery is not guilty of the charges against him.

Ive always suspected Steven Avery was innocent Ive recognized that I dont have the right to make a claim of absolute innocence because I wasnt there. I am very confident in offering my opinion that the evidence didnt even come close to proving him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. And I suspect him innocent, Strang elaborated.

The Steven Avery that I knew certainly didnt fit the mould of the way they tried to portray him. So I hope that at some point they will be able to find and prove who the perpetrator is, so he is in essence proven innocent, Buting said.

Averys case is led by his lawyer Kathleen Zellner, an Illinois-based attorney who specializes in wrongful convictions. She has filed a motion that accuses investigators of setting up her client.

Mr. Avery has already completed a series of tests that will conclusively establish his innocence, Zellner said of the advanced scientific tests that she ordered in the aim of clearing Averys name.
Pizza the polar bear, dubbed as the "saddest polar bear in the world," has been caged in a mall in China. An animal rights group suggests it is showing signs of mental decline.

Pizza the polar bear is a superstar "without freedom," according to Cao Jinwei, a representative from Beijing's Capital Animal Welfare Association.

Yu Hongmei, the founder of Dalian-based VShine Animal Protection Association, also said that ieala shopping mall is not the ideal place for the exhibition of animals.

The polar bear is living in an aquarium at China's Grandview Mall and things seem to get even worse for Pizza. In the report of Huffington Post, the video took by Mai Zi, an activist with Animal Protection power showed how the polar bear behaved. He is pacing back and forth, violent shakes of his head and he even tried biting the metal grille inside his blue-lit cage in the said mall.

The three-year-old polar bear has been a made as an attraction since the Grandview opened in January and his seeming desolation made him went viral as mentioned is CBC. Many animal right groups visited him to see mall's facilities in taking good care of him.

There is a growing number now of petition calling for the closure of the cage and calling for Pizza the polar bear to be rehomed. There was even an offer for Pizza last month for a new home at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park's which is really intended for the welfare and habitat for polar bears. However, the Grandview's general manager replied that there is "no need for foreign organizations to get involved".

"We are a legally compliant aquarium, run according to Chinese standards and protecting animal rights. In the future, we will strengthen the protection of animal rights and welfare." The mall's general manager added.
"Dragon Ball Super" episode 63 left a lot of questions despite the fact that the Saiyans have inflicted more damage on Black Goku. Vegeta took the center stage in this episode which sparked rumors that he is now the stronger Saiyan. With the arc's progress, it is bound to reach its finale soon and reports indicate that the new arc will put future Trunks in the spotlight.

"Dragon Ball Super" Episode 63

"Dragon Ball Super" episode 63 left fans wanting more especially now that the Saiyans are on top of their game. Black Goku remained to be a real threat but Vegeta showed him how powerful the Prince of Saiyans is. Given the recent happenings in the episode and Vegeta's success in putting Black Goku in his place, a feat that Goku wasn't able to pull off successfully, many fans are speculating that Vegeta's power already surpassed Goku's.

However, it should be noted that Black Goku mimicked the real Goku which puts the latter at a disadvantage in a fight. Meanwhile, Vegeta has proven time and again that he possesses a huge amount of power although he doesn't display it blatantly. His training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber also paid off. Admittedly, Vegeta may appear to be the stronger Saiyan in the episode but all things considered, Vegeta and Goku could be at the same level.

"Dragon Ball Super" New Arc

At the rate that "Dragon Ball Super" is going, things will definitely heat up fast. The latest buzz is that the Trunks arc would be the focus of the "Dragon Ball Fiesta" which is scheduled for release in December.

Given the warm reception that fans had for "Dragon Ball Super," a new arc is already in the works. Akira Toriyama's new saga will be unveiled at the annual Jump Festa 2016 which will be held from Dec. 17 to 18 in Tokyo, Japan. There have been rumors that this new saga will focus on future Trunks, and a recent interview with Toyotarou seems to support this rumor. When asked about his favorite gag in the manga, he teased about a part in the Trunk's storyline where "Trunk's tutor explains a certain important part of the story."

Meanwhile, there are speculations that the new storyline will feature Trunks as the new God of Destruction since Zamasu already killed all 12 of the future Gods of Destruction. Nevertheless, these are just rumors and more details about this new arc would be revealed in December.


The incredible messaging service Google Allo released a 2.0 update that brings a whole batch of new incredible features that will be fantastic for its users, including Multitasking, splash screen, incognito key alerts, landscape, GIFs in keyboard for Android 7.1+, direct share, direct replies in notification and many more. The only bad news is that SMS/MMS messaging is not included.

A Bunch Of Options To Send Messages

According to the International Business Times, the Google Allo 2.0 update came from Googles official Nexus Twitter account, and it was launched at the companys I/O annual event, alongside the DUO video calling app. Also, this is the first major update after the hi-tech giant made the Allo app available for users on both Android and iOS platforms.

One of the most amazing facts about Google Allos updates is that you can count with the features that exists in many other messaging apps, which means that you will have a bunch of options to send any message in the way you prefer, more comfortable than you can ever imagine it. Also, when you use the Android sharing menu your frequent contacts will appear, as reported by PC World.

Two Problems Of Google Allo 2.0

The only major annoyance for users since the official release of Google Allo 2.0 update was the lack of ability to replay from the message notification. On the other hand, one of the best features is definitely the reply button, which allows to replying directly from the notifications, being a similar option as the quick replies on Hangouts and Google Messenger.

According to the International Business Times, Google Allo 2.0's most notable feature is support for Android Wear. The latest update allows users to reply with their voice and emoji on Android Wear, by tapping on the notification and start speaking or tap Draw emoji. However, another problem is that there arent shortcuts for specific conversations like you get on Googles Messenger SMS app.
Samsung wants to rule the phone market once again with its new devices, and the Galaxy S8 -and the S series flagship- promises to be an outstanding piece of work, since the company revealed that this smartphone will be equipped with a "slick" design, an improved camera and -believe it or not- and artificial intelligence.

Samsung To Purchase Viv Labs

This way, the biggest phone maker in the world will try to restore its reputation and recover the customers trust after the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco, whose consequences has been so harmful to Samsung that it has also affected the South Korean economy. In fact, this new phone will provide a glimpse over the uncertainty of how damaged could be Samsungs image, as reported by Tech Times.

According to the International Business Times, the Samsung will buy the artificial intelligence company Viv Labs -whose cofounders created iOS favorite assistant, Siri- which shows its intention to concentrate on the virtual personal assistant as the firm wants to deliver an AI-based ecosystem across all its devices and services, being the Galaxy S8 the main exponent of this feature, just like Googles new Pixel and Pixel XL.

Galaxy S8 Improved Camera And Slick Design

On the other hand, the Galaxy S8's slick design is likely to be an incredible artwork for the South Korean smartphone which could offer not only an aesthetic image, but also an easier and comfortable way to handle it. The improved camera system would confirm a report from August that explained that the Galaxy S8 would be equipped with the iPhone 7 Plus dual-rear camera setup, as reported by Tech Times.

Although it is not known if this phone could represent an important revenue for Samsung and help the company to restore its reputation, the truth is that the biggest phone maker in the world is betting big in its new smartphones, and the Galaxy S8 represents the ambition to keep competing against other giants as Google or Apple, even when the South Korean company is having its worst moment in decades.
Apple launched its new MacBook Pro laptop with Touch Bar, the biggest change to the design is the touch bar, new OLED touch panel above the standard keyboard. A small touchscreen, which changes depending on the app being used.

It's a retina display, multitouch, responding to gestures and taps. We call it Touch Bar. First, it replaces the standard system functions, but it goes way beyond that. It adapts to whatever software you're using." says, Phil Schiller, senior vice president of worldwide marketing for Apple.

My main criticism so far is that since the Touch Bar is so small, it can be hard to see which tab is which on the Touch Bar. It would be easier to differentiate between tabs if the Touch Bar showed the logo for the website instead of a miniature version of the page, as per Fortune.

And here are the most useful features worth considering:

Touch ID

The same as that featured on iPhones, has been integrated directly into the power button on the new Macbook Pro. As well as being a secure method to login to the MacBook Pro, it also offers a secure, not to mention fast, way to buy goods online, which might help fight fraud. You can also register the fingerprints of different (hopefully trusted) users. Touching ID will then let you quickly switch between profiles sharing the same machine, reported by IB Times.

Emojis

There can also be a full emoji bar on Touch Bar, much easier to reply and send reactions to messages without leaving the keyboard.

FaceTime

When you receive an incoming call via FaceTime or through your computer, the Touch Bar will automatically transform into a place where you can accept, decline, or send a message, much like in iOS. PayFor the first time, Apple is putting Touch ID on the Mac, and with it, you can make purchases via Apple Pay right on the web.

Function Keys

Even though Apple replaced the function row with an OLED display, that doesn't mean that you still can't access the function keys when you need them. All you need to do is hit the Function (FN) at the bottom and boom, there's your F1 through F12 keys.

Edit Photos and Videos

Photoshop gets sliders for brushes and other tools. More importantly, Touch Bar tools allow you to edit photos in fullscreen mode without having to clutter up the image with your modules. You'll be able to scroll through your photo library with your finger, select a photo, rotate images, crop an image, add a filter, mark images as a favorite and move through a video.



DJ Pro

DJ Pro fans will also be overjoyed to know the Touch Bar will also be compatible with this app, allowing you to mix songs and access features with your fingers. Compatibility will arrive end of this year.
The fossil was discovered by hunter Jamie Hiscocks from Sussex in southeastern England who caught it in the glow of his flashlight while prowling a British beach. The specimen is a lumpy brown rock, no bigger than the size of an orange.

Hiscocks brought the fossil to University of Oxford paleobiologist Martin Brasier, who then reached out to David Norman, an expert on Iguanodons. The two scientists spent years debating what the fossil represents. In 2014, Norman sent a letter explaining his interpretation of the rock, but did not get a reply from Braiser. It turned out that the reason why is because the paleobiologist was killed in a car accident on Dec. 16, 2014.

The skull came from an Iguanodon and is believed to be about 133 million years old. A detailed CT scan shows remnants of outer layers of neural tissues, blood vessels strands and collagen networks which were preserved by the natural pickling process.

Dr Alex Liu, a palaeobiologist at the University of Cambridge and co-author of the research said that the brain tissues are "are amongst the least likely tissues we would expect to ever be found in a fossilized terrestrial vertebrate. It seems that the brain in this dinosaur was therefore more similar to that of modern birds, in that it filled a greater proportion of the braincase."

Notably, no other scientist has uncovered a fossil brain from a dinosaur, so it is not surprising that discovery raised some eyebrows during its presentation on Thursday at the annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. But Liu said that he and his colleagues spent a decade examining the fossil and this is the best interpretation that they can come up with.

"The wrinkles and folds and pits and grooves... the tubular structures that look like blood vessels - those are very difficult to explain in any other way," Liu said.
It is not unknown that Twitter has been suffering from financial problems these past few months. From a financial perspective, Twitter has always struggled with user growth. It could not catch up with the pace of growth to the magnitude of Facebook, Snapchat and WhatsApp.

According to Forbes, Twitter has officially announced to cut off Vine from its circle to save itself from cost cuts. Upon hearing this, Pornhub has offered to buy it in hopes that it will help to avoid Vine being shut down entirely, as Twitter and Vine have announced it will do. It is also confirmed that Twitter will lay off some of its employees for the cost cuts and for a more profitable profit next year.

According to a written article at Independent, Pornhub had made it clear that it plans to make Vines into a 6-second porn site and believes that their company is capable of restoring it back to its former glory. Pornhub also made it clear that it will also look to save the Vines that are currently hosted on the site, as well as presumably letting create new vines.

That former aim is believed to be unnecessary, since Vine is still letting people see old posts on their website, it is impossible because the company has already discontinued the app that was the only way of posting to the network.

With Twitter's Reason For Cutting Off Vine

As of now, Twitter's decision for their company is still a question that can only be answered in the future if it can shoot them to success or continue to experience financial problems. But if Twitter continues to struggle financially by next year, it is highly possible that it will be changed entirely, bought by another company or end up getting shut down (it is unlikely that Twitter will be shut down, giving it already has its own popularity).

What If Twitter Ends Up Like Friendster?

Friendster used to be a popular social media site in Asia back in the days with MySpace. Heard about it? Yeah, for most it is not popular anymore ever since Facebook became big in Asia. Aside from Twitter's plans to cut off Vine and to lay off some of its staff members, there are no reports about what exactly Twitter intend to do to for more profits by next year.

However, if Twitter's plans fail to deliver by next year for a profitable year and will refuse to be bought by any company, there are speculations that Twitter might follow Friendster's footsteps. For all Twitter fans out there, let's hope it does not happen.
Experts from the University of Pisa, Italy have recently reached a groundbreaking understanding as to what happens to the human brain after a person experiences blindness. It was found that an adult brain can actually be taught on learning on how to be able to see again after such a long time that the person goes totally blind.

That's all made possible because of the help from a light sensitive electrode that is being implanted on the person's retina and of course, lots of practice and therapy sessions. In their press release as reported by CBS News, scientists has explained that although this is a considerable landmark when it comes to the study of blindness, it still cannot be thought of as the cure for blindness.

The study aims to offer a possible hint of hope to researchers in developing certain implants that can aid people whose eyesight have long gone. It provides answers to questions of whether the human brain is capable of of regaining its ability to process "restored or artificial visual inputs" even after the sense of sight had been lost.

As per Medical Daily, the National Eye Institute emphasizes that retinitis pigmentosa is genetic in nature. Thus, it has the ability to cause cells in the retina to break down which in turn, causes difficulty to a person especially with his peripheral vision and as well as the ability to see in the dark until it potentially leads to total blindness.

Research shows that about 1 in 4,000 people have this kind of disorder which can be diagnosed in as early as the childhood years of an individual. Moreover, the institute explains that although the Federal Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of Argus II implant on the retina, it still has not been proven to be as effective in wirelessly transmitting sorts of information from the camera to the electrode on the retina, which then sends the information to the brain.

Furthermore, the research recommends that a series of tests, studies and experiments must still be required before it can be put into any form of formal medical practice.
As the number of Americans with asthma increases annually, the demand for the discovery of new treatments also arises. Recently, a study has found that we may just have the help that we're looking for from one of man's unlikely friend - hookworms. Hookworms are considered as intestinal parasites causing more than 760 million infections worldwide.

Although hookworms are seen to be the culprit in some experiences of abdominal pian, diarrhea, loss of appetite, weight loss, fatigue and anemia, researchers from James Cook University (JCU) in Australia has revealed that hookworms aren't as bad and useless as we think it is.

According to Medical News Today, study co-author Dr. Severine Navarro, of the Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine at JCU, together with her colleagues, have found how a protein that is being secreted by hookworms known as anti-inflammatory protein 2 (AIP2) can potentially be used to suppress the inflammation airway in a mice with asthma.

In one of his interview, although he's not involved in the research process, parasite immunologist at the University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom, Rick Maizels, claims that the said medical breakthrough is a clear demonstration as to how a single product from a parasite can lead to several whooping systemic changes that are favorable.

Science reports that Navarro's latest study, which was published in Science Translational Medicine, explains the reflection of the shifting in field. From examining a hookworm's ability to affect the immune system up to identifying the molecules that causes them to do so. However, Navarro and her team reveals that the ultimate goal is coming up with a new drug based on these prized molecules.

Experts believe that the discovery of hookworms' ability of treating asthma is not just what excited them. Rather, it is said to be a milestone not just for asthma but as well as for other inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. As of the present time, Navarro's team is now on the move to look for adequate funding source in order for them to conduct tests that would determine its side effects and safe dosage.
The Australian Red Cross Blood Service has admitted that the private details of half a million blood donors have been leaked to the public. It has been leaked online in a mass security breach in Australia. The link information includes the following:

First name Last name Gender Physical address Email address Phone number Date of birth Blood type If they'd previously donated Country of birth When their record was created The type of donation (Plasma, Plasmapheresis, Platelet, Plateletpheresis, Whole Blood) When each donation occurred Donor eligibility answers

Data of 550,000 donors' information from between 2010 and 2016 was unintentionally placed on a backup copy of an online inquiry form on an unsecured website in early September. The chief executive of the organization Shelly Park apologized unreservedly for the breach.

We are deeply disappointed this could happen. We take full responsibility for this mistake and apologise unreservedly. We would like to assure you we are doing everything in our power to not only right this but to prevent it from happening again.

The organization in a statement said it was informed Wednesday that a file containing donor information was placed in an "insecure environment" by a third party that develops and maintains the Blood Service's website. Ms Park said it was 'due to human error' that information was posted online by a contractor who maintains the Red Cross website.

According to The Guardian, cyber security expert, Troy Hunt, had told the organization that the risk of the data being misused was low. Australia's computer emergency response team, AusCERT, is also working with the organization to address the problem.

Hunt told the ABC that on Tuesday, he was contacted by an anonymous Twitter user who claimed to have details of his and his wife's names, address, dates of birth, phone numbers and email addresses. However, donors have been warned to be on alert for phone and email scams.

In the website of Troy Hunt, he said that the case of the Red Cross personal details leaked data was a database backup. "That 1.74GB was simply a MySQL dump file that had everything in it. Taking a database backup is not unusual (in fact it's pretty essential for disaster recovery), it's what happened next that was the problem."
Pitt's cousin came on stage during police investigation to defend allegations. Brad Pitt's ongoing police investigation about child abuse has been a shocker, Radar Online has learned from his family. And now, his cousin is coming out to defend the man he says that could never do the things the actor has been blamed of.

On Issues Of Child Abuse - Pitt Labeled as "Bad Dad"

Pitt has been in cover since the divorce filing on September 20, but his family and relatives gathered around him since the split to refute claims that he "physically or verbally" abuse his kids. His cousin, Roger Hal Hillhouse, told Radar, "I'll definitely defend him! Brad Pitt is a good father. ... He wouldn't hurt his own kids..."

Pitt has only seen five out of his six children since the break-up, and he was supervised during the visits. His oldest son, Maddox Jolie Pitt, was not with his siblings when he saw his dad, according to previous reports. But Pitt's cousin told Radar that his own parents are very affectionate and supportive of the kids ever since the separation.

Grandparents In Full Support Of Brad Pitt And The KIds

"His mother and father, Jane and Bill, are great grandparents to those kids. It's a good family unit," Hillhouse said. And the family is fighting this storm together. "We're all saddened by the fact that the children, Brad and Angelina are having to go through this," said Hillhouse.

Brad Pitt had no intentions to be a nbad husband or father as opposed to what this marital-separation drama is trying to portray. With the child abuse investigations going on, Pitt has been labeled as a "bad dad". While the rest of the critics are pointing fingers on Brad Pitt, his entire family is his army of defense.
Last Week Tonight host John Oliver shot down Donald Trumps understanding of women's rights, while also vowing to stay in the country even if the Republican presidential nominee wins the election, during a gala on Tuesday night.

"If you ask Donald Trump to draw a fallopian tube, I cannot imagine what you would get back other than a childs drawing of a cobra," Oliver said at Tuesday's gala for the Center for Reproductive Rights. Donald John Trump is an American businessman, television producer, and politician who is the Republican Party nominee for President of the United States in the 2016 election.

John William Oliver is an English comedian, political commentator, television host, and occasional actor. He is the host of HBO's Peabody Award-winning late-night talk show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Oliver is the recipient of five Primetime Emmy Awards and two Writers Guild Awards.

"Good evening gentlemen and nasty women - nasty, nasty, nasty," he said Tuesday night to a roar of applause and cheers. "Some of the nastiest among us, I imagine."

John Oliver appeared at the fifth annual shindig, which honored filmmaker Dawn Porter and author Isabel Allende. Oliver's opening line was a dig at Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who referred to his opponent Hillary Clinton as a nasty woman during the third debate.

Through the showdown, Trump came out as steadfastly pro-life and anti-abortion. Oliver suggested that Trumps blustery statement might have a silver lining. In terms of the communication about reproductive rights, and the conversation that is so important, we really did potentially hit an idea in the modern era during that third debate, Oliver said.

The TV host also mentioned that Trump's discussion about abortions showed no real understanding of how it works and no clear understanding about the basic biology of women's body. He said that the nominee has a very poor sense of grammar.
Twitter is facing one of its most delicate situations in its history, giving the fact that the company is looking for major investors to sell itself, but no one seems to having much interest to buy it. Although the executive board is willing to keep pushing for the sale, CEO Jack Dorsey wants the social media to keep its independence, which might create a serious problem within the companys head, and a huge dilemma for Twitters co-founder.

Jack Dorsey is one of the most interesting members of Silicon Valley, since far from having enough by running a major company, hes also the CEO of Square, and he believes more in the romantic stance of surviving with his creation instead of selling it and keep making business. However, Twitter's decline doesn't seem to have an end, and Dorsey might be facing a one-mans war against other powerful members of the social media world.

Twitter Has Lost Much Since Its Foundation

Although the whole picture might look as a sick joke considering that were talking about an incredible social media as Twitter, the sad true is that the company has lost since its found more than $2 billion. In addition to this billionaire disaster, its stock price has shed 60 percent of its value since the social media went public, losing a staggering amount of money while its customer base hasn't seen much growth, which is the kind of flaws that Wall Street never forgives.

When Jack Dorsey returned to the company in 2015 - he was fired some years before - he already knew that his mission to fix Twitters financial issues was going to be chaotic, but his methods werent getting effective enough, and some weeks ago Twitter sales tumbled 20 percent, closing at $19.87, as reported by CNET.

This was a huge setback in every single way, because in one hand, some companies had already showed its interest to buy Twitter and these number vanished their options, and in another hand, even when major companies walked away from a possible deal, this was also harmful to Jack Dorsey, considering that the numbers showed that he wasn't achieving Twitters objectives.

Actually, his position at the company has been challenged and even overruled by the executive board, which hasn't hidden their intentions to sell the social media no matter how. Regarding this situation, Business Insider reported that Twitter CFO Anthony Noto has essentially taken the reins of some of the social medias biggest product decision.

Jack Dorsey vs Twitters Board: Do We Have To Take Sides?

If Twitter got acquired by another company it could mean the end of the social media, considering that the number of users will hardly increase more, and this doesn't mean precisely a lucrative business. However, this is probably the only point were Jack Dorsey and the boards member are in concordance, since they dont want Twitter become something different of what it is.

In fact, Twitter is planning to cut its workforce by 8 percent to have more chances at being competitive, but they main question is who will win if they can increase Twitters numbers so other companies would want to buy it. Right now, only cloud software giant Salesforce seems like a serious suitor, but Jack Dorsey and the board knows that if this company ends up buying Twitter, the social media will become a data mine for business intelligence.

While Twitter still posted a loss of $103 million in its third quarter, the war between Jack Dorsey and the board is likely to escalate in the next months, while both are looking for numbers increase, but only one wants to keep companys independence, and the other wants to sell it. Do we take to take sides on this war, or just look at it silently, expecting the best ending?
We all know that the OnePlus 3 has blown as away with its lightning fast specs and processors and considered one of the top smartphones released this year and looks like OnePlus is planning on releasing a version of the OnePlus 3 with bumped-up specs called the OnePlus 3T.

Google's first phone, and for a first effort it is exceptionally good. By almost every way - speed, power, camera, smart assistant, you name it - it meets or exceeds the best smartphones available on the market today.

The OnePlus 3T speculations suggest that the 3T is a variant of the OnePlus 3 with a faster processor with Snapdragon 821 at the processor and mighty 6GB of RAM. In normal speak, the OnePlus 3 is one of the most powerful Androids of 2016 and still gives us silky smooth everyday performance.

The Pixel XL It runs the very latest Android build (7.1) and should prove just as efficient with its all-new Snapdragon 821 chipset and 4GB RAM and like the OnePlus 3T, runs Android 6.0.1 MarshmalloW, Snapdragon 820 and the OnePlus' epic 6GB of RAM. You should also be able to play the latest games without trouble.

Under the hood, there's a 3,450mAh battery powering the entire Pixel XL experience, which is slightly more than the 3,000mAh unit inside the Pixel. The extra capacity doesn't deliver any different battery life (thanks to the larger, denser display) critics had mixed results when it comes to the battery life, according to Android Authority.

The OnePlus 3T is expected to come with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 chip, which is an enhanced version of the SD820, resulting in a faster and a more efficient device that should be more capable, especially when it comes to virtual reality. Other hardware specs are expected to remain the same at 6GB of RAM, 64GB of storage and a 3000mAh battery, Stated from Pocket-lint.

If the rumor is to be believed, the OnePlus 3T is expected to feature a 16MP Sony IMX398 sensor, we guess it could be a feature worth looking forward to. The Google Pixel XL packs a 12.3-megapixel primary camera on the rear and an 8-megapixel front shooter for selfies.

Google Pixel and OnePlus 3T seems to be evenly matched and as for the rest, there are a lot of unanswered questions.The OnePlus 3T camera will most likely have more megapixels, but will Google's sensor technology give it the edge? Does an upgrade to Snapdragon 821 toss the OnePlus 3T's expanded RAM?
Google Pixel XL Android smartphone is announced last October in the same year, 2016. Google Pixel and Pixel XL are said to be the Android phones that will beat the Apple iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. Many gadget reviewers said that the smartphones from Google is the best Android Smartphone so far and because of the fact that it is not too expensive and not too premium, these phones can really beat the other company's flagships.

The Outside Design

Pixel XL is a phone that uses various design elements we have seen in the phones in the last few years such as Apple, Samsung and HTC. Google is proud of the fact that it designed everything in-house and only used HTC as a manufacturer. But other than that, nothing really very strong design will attract you when you look at it.

It has front glass with a lot of space above and below the screen. The spec sheet lists 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 4, but curvature at the edges is extremely slight. There is no other use of the glass top. But it doesn't work that well. The glass part not only looks tacky but is also a fingerprint and smudges magnet.

The back casing is made from two materials, and with a dual color combination. The top half is a bit heavy and is covered by glass which hosts the camera without any bump, the flash, and a couple of other sensors, along with the fingerprint reader which is called Pixel Imprint. The bottom half of the back comprises brushed silver-coloured metal casing that is easy to grip.

The edge designs are a bit sharp. They are easy enough to hold. Pixel XL's design might not be the best for a phone, but it is unique. The phone stands out in a crowd when all smartphone designs are to compare.

The Screen

As reported by the India Today, the Pixel XL has a 5.5-inch screen that uses AMOLED panel. This is a brilliant screen when you use it indoor or outdoor. It shows rich colors and with resolution of 1440p. It is sharp enough to show clear text and without any fuzzy edges.

It is also, just like other good AMOLED screens, is very bright and contrasty. This helps when you are using the phone in bright sunlight. But this can be adjustable whenever.

The Software

The latest Android 7.0 is Nougat is already the world's best mobile operating system. It is better than iOS 10, which powers the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus. The Android keyboard is better. The Google Assistant is so much more smarter than Siri. The way apps are installed are also better compared to iOS.

The Camera

The camera in the Pixel XL is one of its top features. It has a 12.3-megapixel rear camera and an 8-megapixel front camera. This rear camera is paired with an F2.0 lens and electronics image stabilisation. But the reason why it is so good is its large Sony-made IMX 378 image sensor. This sensor, due to its large pixel size and relatively large physical size, captures lot more data and light.

The video is also clear and sharp, with smooth motion at various resolutions and frame rates. One of the problems with recording 4K video is the amount of space they consume, but Google offers free unlimited cloud storage for photos and videos in their original sizes, including 4K.

Verdict

According to Gadgets 360, it is clear that even though the style, design, and other features are borrowed from Microsoft and its Surface products, the Pixel XL are competing for the iPhone 7 Plus. You get exactly the same storage capacity at the same prices, but at least no features have been reserved for the more expensive model. Now, Apple fans have the most iPhone-like Android phone alternative. It might convince some to switch over.
Samsung is expected to release the Galaxy A7 in December 2017, as its predecessor will complete a year cycle in the market by this time. The company is also expected to release a few handsets from A-series like the Galaxy A3, Galaxy A5, and Galaxy A4 before the end of this year or early next year.

Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017) was recently spotted on AnTuTu and some of the devices specs were revealed.

The AnTuTu listing was spotted on Weibo and it shows that the smartphone carries the codename SM-A720F. Galaxy A7 (2017) might be running Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow out of the box and feature an octa-core 1.8GHz Exynos 7870 chipset, coupled with a Mali-T830 graphics processing unit, according to Soft Pedia.

The smartphone was previously spotted on GFXBench too and the listing revealed that it would come with a 5.5-inch Full HD display. Battery capacity is unclear at this point, but last years model came with a very potent 3,300mAh battery.

According to Decan Chronicle, Samsung Galaxy A7 is an upgrade to the last years Galaxy A7 (2016). It remains to be seen whether Samsung will be making any changes to the design. It remains to be seen if Samsung will make any changes to the series design, as last years model came with ultra-thin design and premium glass and metal materials.

In terms of camera capacity, the predecessor came with a 13MP rear camera with OIS and a 5MP camera in the front. Based on this, we can expect that the smartphone will be the same or with higher specifications.

The specifications mentioned according to AnTuTu is that the smarthone will offer 3GB RAM and up to 64GB of internal storage that could be expanded to 128GB using a microSD card.

After all the problems faced by Samsung, let us hope that the next smartphones, especially Galaxy A7, will have a better quality and battery as well.
Angela Dorothea Merkel is a German stateswoman and former research scientist. Merkel has been the Chancellor of Germany since 2005, and the leader of the Christian Democratic Union since 2000. She said that the way search engines and social networks like Google and Facebook choose what people see online should be made public.

"The algorithms must be made public so that one can inform oneself as an interested citizen on questions like what influences my behavior on the internet and that of others?" Merkel said, RT reported.

"This is a development that we need to pay careful attention to," Ms Merkel said in a keynote speech to the Medientage conference in Munich earlier this week.

"The big internet platforms, via their algorithms, have become an eye of a needle, which diverse media must pass through to reach users," she added.

"These algorithms, when they are not transparent, can lead to a distortion of our perception, they narrow our breadth of information," she warned.

Mrs Merkel called on the algorithms to be made public so "informed citizens" can see the influences on what they are fed via social media, news feeds and search results.

According to Merkel, the information was drawn from a limited list of sources in many cases and situations.

"What we have right now is an incredibly influential platform that has no reason to measure its influence because it will likely open it up to regulation," she said.

Thomas Jarzombek, the digital policy spokesperson of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, told Spiegel Online he did not think she was suggesting companies such as Google and Facebook should reveal their trade secrets.

"But we do need more information from these operators as to how their algorithms function generally speaking," he added.

According to BBC, a cross-party group of German politicians will send the results of an investigation into algorithms used by Facebook, Google and other internet firms to the EU's digital commissioner Gunther Oettinger. This will be expected in late 2016.
NASA's New Horizons mission has brought much information about Pluto. There is much curiosity about this dwarf planet since it is one of the farthest from the Earth and has been well-known for many years. Now the New Horizons Pluto mission ends, and this gives reason to look as to why it's a major milestone.

The last data from 2015 has been transmitted by New Horizons to Earth. With this new data, there would much new information that NASA and astronomers would be going through in the coming months that could shed more light on Pluto. The mission has been the nearest so far that has studied much of Pluto.

The observations taken by New Horizons arrived here on Earth on October 25 at 5:48 a.m. EDT. The information was taken by the John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland after a downlink coming from the NASA Deep Space Network in Canberra, Australia. The data is said to be the last coming from New Horizons on Pluto.

New Horizons had to gather so much data, since it wouldn't get another chance of getting that much information on Pluto, according to NASA's official site. It took in 100 times more data as it approached Pluto. As soon as it could gather all of the data it then began to send them to Earth, where they would be studied and analyzed.

"The Pluto system data that New Horizons collected has amazed us over and over again with the beauty and complexity of Pluto and its system of Moons," Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator, said. He further added that there would be much work to be done in trying to understand all the information New Horizons has sent.

Alice Bowman, Missions Operations Manager at APL, said data-verification would be done before the two onboard recorders would be erased, as Phys Org reports. The next mission of New Horizons would be towards the Kuiper Belt, though it would not arrive there until January 1, 2019. As the New Horizons Pluto mission ends, it has become a success and that is why it is a major milestone. Earlier New Horizons has found what could possibly be clouds on Pluto.
The Federal Communications Commission has recently issued new rules to protect broadband users' data from being used and shared by Internet Service Providers. Now, the European Union (EU) has taken notice of a change in the privacy policy of WhatsApp. It also has raised concern over Yahoo's infamous data breach.

According to The Wall Street Journal, European privacy regulators have sent letters to both WhatsApp and Yahoo Inc. The two companies have been warned about possible violations of data-protection rules.

WhatsApp Sharing User Information With Facebook

The EU's data-protection authorities that represent 28 states have expressed concern over the shared personal data. In a statement, EU revealed that they had requested WhatsApp to stop sharing personal data with its parent company Facebook. This is until "appropriate legal protections could be assured". Otherwise, they end up violating EU's data protection law.

According to Reuters, WhatsApp has recently made a change in its privacy policy. It allowed the messaging service app to share users' phone numbers with Facebook. Apparently, this has attracted privacy regulators in Europe.

The data-protection authorities said that WhatsApp can share user information with Facebook for purposes that are not contained in the terms of service users signed up for. This means that WhatsApp is using personal data without the user's consent.

Reuters further reports that a WhatsApp spokeswoman has said that the company is committed to respecting applicable law. WhatsApp is already working to address the inquiry of the data-protection authorities.

Yahoo's Massive Data Breach

Yahoo also received a letter from the EU privacy regulators. The subject was around the infamous 500 million Yahoo accounts that were hacked. Apparently, the said massive data breach is a concern to EU's Article 20 Working Party (WP29).

Yahoo is asked to communicate with EU authorities about everything that concerns the data breach. EU wants to ensure the protection of affected EU citizens. The said users should be notified of the hacked data's adverse effects. Yahoo also has to cooperate with the upcoming inquiries and investigations of the data-protection authorities.

The EU regulators are set to discuss the cases of WhatsApp and Yahoo in November.
German automaker Volkswagen has just unveiled its largest crossover SUV. The Atlas will be built at Volkswagen's US plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. This is amidst the ongoing diesel emission lawsuits that the company is currently facing in the country.

Volkswagen's Biggest And Boldest Crossover SUV

The seven-passenger and three-row Atlas is 16.5 feet long. According to the USA Today, it's bigger than Volkswagen's Touareg SUV. The automaker plans to launch it next year. Atlas might also be exported to markets where SUVs are popular.

Volkswagen North America CEO Hinrich Woebcken said that the Atlas will help the automaker to enter the heart of the American market. This can be in connection with the recent debacle that Volkswagen is dealing with in the US.

Woebcken boasts the Atlas as the biggest and boldest Volkswagen they have ever built in the country. It shows Volkswagen's signature distinctive design and craftsmanship.

According to CNET, customers have an option between a 2-liter turbo engine for 238 horsepower and a 3.6-liter for 280 horsepower. The engines will have the 8-speed automatic transmission. Apparently, the Atlas has four driving modes: snow, off-road, sport and custom.

With regards to its features, Atlas also got it covered with an adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning, emergency braking, blind spot monitoring, lane departure warning and park assist. It is also equipped with the first in class post-collision braking. This will restrain additional collisions after the initial impact.

CNET further reports that the cabin has Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and MirrorLink. It also has its own version of virtual cockpit with a customizable digital gauge cluster.

Volkswagen On Going Diesel Emission Debacle

Volkswagen's Atlas will have to compete against other SUVs by other automakers such as Ford, GM and Toyota. The automaker also has to earn back the trust of US customers to their brand.

US District Judge Charles Beyer in San Francisco has recently approved a $14.7 billion settlement with California regulators and consumers. There's a total of 17 US states that had filed lawsuits against Volkswagen on cheating diesel emission.

It's not only the amount of money the automaker has to spend. There were also thousands of affected vehicle owners.
Microsoft is offering $650 worth of credit for MacBook users to trade in their laptops in exchange for the new Surface Pro 4.

The announcement comes after Apple unveiled their latest line of laptops. The 2016 MacBook Pro introduces a new technology that Apple recently had patented - the Touch ID Fingerprint Sensor. This tech allowed Apple to make do without the traditional function keys. In its stead is the Touch Bar which has been gathering a lot of interest since its formal introduction.

Microsoft, in an effort to sway interest back to their products is enticing MacBook owners to give up their laptops to get extra value toward the purchase of a new Surface laptop. According to an article, Microsoft stressed that 97 percent of Surface owners already use on-screen touch input on a regular basis. The company wishes everyone to experience that through this new offer.

"Today, we are announcing a limited-time "trade up" offer to invite more people to experience Surface. If you have a Mac but want to experience the ultimate laptop with on-screen touch, Surface and Microsoft Store are here for you. Starting today, anyone in the U.S. can trade in their MacBook Pro or MacBook Air at a Microsoft Store or online for up to $650 off a Surface Book or Surface Pro."

Microsoft, itself, recently unveiled a number of new devices including the Surface Studio. With these recent developments, Microsoft is hoping that the offer will spike interest on the Surface Book and Surface Pro 4.

MacBook users can visit a website that Microsoft recently launched to have their laptops appraised. MacRumors reported that MacBooks, MacBook Pros, and MacBook Airs from 2006 up are eligible for trade. A total of 117 configurations of MacBooks are included in the list.

Only MacBooks with intact, undamaged and etch-free housing and functioning screens may be traded in. The keyboard and all the keys must still be working. The MacBook should turn on and boot up to the desktop. Interested MacBook owners also need to surrender their chargers.

The offer runs until November 10 this year. The trade-in may only be done at Microsoft stores around the U.S. and on the company's website.
Pangu, a hacking group from China, is one of the most well known ones around the world, as it has released plenty of successful jailbreaking tools for Apple's operating systems. However, the group has failed to crack iOS 10. There have been plenty of theories for why this is so, but the looking at the bigger picture, there are other options to take.

As Neurogadget notes, individuals can opt to instead use Tinyumbrella, which is available for iPhone 6S devices and above. Basically, Tinyumbrella is a software that will downgrade the operating system of the unit back to iOS 9.3. Of course, this means that users will not get the perks and new features of iOS 10, but the software should guarantee a safe downgrade for those that are unhappy with the new OS.

The other choice is to find a Cydia replacement, which is pretty much the main reason to jailbreak a phone anyway. Cydia is an application that allows users to download other applications that are not necessarily found in the Apple Store. But because Cydia requires jailbreaking, which is currently not available, there are other alternatives to use.

The publication goes on to suggest using Mojo, which is also another application but does not require any form of jailbreaking. The only downfall is that not all applications found in Cydia are found in Mojo, as the former definitely has a larger battery. But the trade of is pretty worth it, as iPhone users no longer need to go through the hassle or security doubts of jailbreaking their units.

For those that still prefer a jailbroken iPhone, however, Latin Post confirms that Pangu is still working on a jailbreak and that it has not given up hope. So the wait for an iOS 10 jailbreak tool might finish sometime in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, Apple has already released the new iOS 10.1, which includes a new portrait feature.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 may as well be forever known for its explosion cases, but it doesn't mean that the Galaxy Note 8 and the Note series both have to suffer because of it. There have been rumors in the recent weeks that point out to Samsung's total discontinuation of the Note brand. While most people took this coldly, Note fans didn't.

Even though Samsung has admitted to the Note 7's flaw, fans of the Note series are unhappy with the cancellation rumor. Fortunately for them, the rumors turn out to be false. Samsung may not have debunked the hoax clearly, but their recent announcement implied that the Galaxy Note 8 will still see the light of day.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 News

As per Reuters, Samsung is offering its recall participants an upgrade program. Note 7 buyers who had their devices replaced with either an S7 or an S7 Edge will be able to get a big discount when new Samsung flagships get released. It was said that those who got their recalled phablet replaced with the S7 or S7 Edge will only have to pay half the S7 price to participate in the program. This trade-in program is said to be applicable to the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy Note 8. It's worth noting though, that this deal is confirmed to occur in South Korea. As per Tech Times, global launch is still uncertain at this point.

With Samsung subtly mentioning the Note 8, it goes to show that the Galaxy Note series is pretty much alive and kicking. With that said, there should be a number of Note loyalists who would be happy to wait for the Galaxy Note 8 despite the Note 7's infamous incidents. Sure, Samsung sees the threat of losing loyalists hence the generous trade-in program. However, the online community has actually seen a bunch of Note 7 users who are reluctant to surrender their phones.

There are people who claim to have been Note users ever since the series started. There are also people who admit not returning their Note 7 phablets despite the recall. What this says is that there's a good chance that the Galaxy Note 8 will still be embraced by the market.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8, Why It's Still A Great Buy

Despite the Samsung controversy that flooded the mobile phone world this 2016, there are still a bunch of reasons why the Note 8 will be a great buy. For starters, Samsung has already learned their valuable lesson in quality control. There's a pretty good chance that this exact same mistake won't happen ever again to Samsung, especially if they are given the chance to develop the Galaxy Note 8 from scratch instead of just fixing a smartphone in a recall.

Samsung may have learned it the hard way, but it's safe to say that quality assurance will be on top of the company's list for their next products. With that, we can say that the Note 8 is still a worthy purchase. Besides, it's the only smartphone dedicated to providing a stylus and an uber-premium specifications. You can get a stylus-based phone or a premium phone from other brands, but there's no assurance that you can get both traits in one phone. Samsung's vivid display, top-of-the-line processors, first-rate cameras, etc. are all reasons why the Galaxy Note 8 will still be a great purchase.
Facebook recently made a blunder by blocking a breast cancer awareness ad. The tech giant immediately owned its mistake and apologized. It also re-approved the ad. Another huge media platform YouTube is faced with a Change.org petition that demands to temporarily ban a popular YouTuber with a serious underweight condition.

The Petition To Temporarily Ban A Popular YouTuber

The petition stated that popular YouTuber Eugenia Cooney has a serious medical condition. It mentioned that Cooney needs to seek help. The petition claimed that she has been influencing her viewers by her serious underweight condition.

The petition's administrator Lynn Cloud reiterated that displaying 50 percent of Cooney's body in videos and pictures are not helping girls with anorexia or other eating disorders. This is though she may not be intentionally influencing her YouTube viewers. The petitioner said that Cooney's severely thin appearance set an unhealthy example.

According to the Daily Mail, one those who signed the petitions reveals that his/her cousin had starved herself to look like Eugenia. The said cousin has lost 17lbs but is now receiving care. To make the matter worse, she is just 12 years old.

The said petition had been addressed to YouTube and Google in early October. However, it might have been taken down by Friday afternoon, according to the New York Daily News.

Who Is Eugenia Cooney?

22-year-old Eugenia Cooney has almost 900,000 subscribers on YouTube. The number of Cooney's following is not a lot compared to other famous YouTubers. Though she is still able to reach that much people through her channel and social media accounts.

She makes make-up, hair and wardrobe advice videos. The Daily Mail further reports that Cooney joined YouTube back in 2013 after she left school. She also receives financial contributions from fans. It is said that she may still be living with her parents.

Cooney made a YouTube video to address the issue of her weight. She revealed that she refused to make an appearance on Dr. Phil. She also took to Twitter to speak about the petition. Cooney insisted that she's not trying to do anything wrong. But she also has apologized to those who want her off YouTube.

She mentioned that she has been receiving more negative comments. Cooney suggested that people should not watch her video instead of banning her account.

YouTube's Action Regarding The Matter

Daily Mail stated that YouTube would not comment on the issue. Apparently, it only highlighted the list of its policies. Viewers are advised to flag inappropriate contents.

There should be something to be done about Cooney's condition. As a YouTube personality, she has some influence over those who watch her videos. It does not help that other people are unintentionally encouraged to be disturbingly thin.

However, a petition may not be the right solution. It's also important to respect one's self as well as others. As a huge media platform, YouTube is responsible for protecting their viewers.
The Big Bang Theory has been the subject of numerous cancelation rumors. "The Big Bang Theory" season 10 was said to be the last installment and that season 11 may not be possible.



However, latest updates claim that "Big Bang Theory" season 11 might still be possible since negotiations are underway. Meanwhile, there are speculations that Penny (Kaley Cuoco) is also expecting. Following reports that Cuoco is jealous of Melissa Rauchs character Bernadette who is pregnant, could this mean that the story will focus mainly on Leonard (Johnny Galecki) and Penny next?

"The Big Bang Theory" Season 11 Canceled?

Despite having a successful season 10 premiere, there are persistent rumors that "The Big Bang Theory" won't have a season 11. Kaley Cuoco reportedly hinted that the series is coming to a close. Given the fact that the actors in the show are getting almost a million dollar paycheck each, doing another season is quite expensive. However, the show has a huge fighting chance for a renewal although the negotiations might take quite a while.

Currently, TVLine still lists "The Big Bang Theory" as a sure thing in its 2017 renewal scorecard despite the cancelation rumors surrounding the show. Although the show has been moved to a Thursday time slot, which is a usual practice for CBS, the ratings for Episode 6 that aired on Thursday, Oct. 27 garnered 14.31 million viewers. This is higher than the number of viewers for two previous episodes in season 10.



"The Big Bang Theory" remains to be one of the top ranking shows on CBS and this would definitely be a huge consideration during the negotiation. Given how much the network spends on the show, negotiations could take some time especially if the actors demand a salary increase.

Penny's Possible Pregnancy

Following reports that Kaley Cuoco hinted that "The Big Bang Theory" season 10 could be the end of the series, rumors followed that she was jealous of Melissa Rauch. Rauch plays the role of Bernadette who is expecting a baby, and viewers loved seeing the humor in this storyline. Hence, rumors surfaced indicating that Penny could also be pregnant.



Although this would be a nice development since this could help Penny's character grow and make her relationship with Leonard deeper, there's no indication that TBBT will be expecting another baby soon. Nevertheless, it's impossible to discount any possibility.

"The Big Bang Theory" was moved to a Thursday timeslot and it airs on CBS at 8 p.m. ET.
In the next decade, the mining industry may lose more than half of its jobs to automation, according to a new report. That's not based on future technologies, but on automated equipment being deployed today.

The mining industry is primed for automation. It's capital intensive, buys expensive equipment and pays relatively well.

This industry is adopting self-driving trucks, automated loaders and automated drilling and tunnel-boring systems. It is also testing fully autonomous long-distance trains, which carry materials from the mine to a port, according to the report by the International Institute for Sustainable Development in Winnipeg, Canada.

A broader question is whether mining is a bellwether for other industries. There's no clear answer, but what Aaron Cosbey, a development economist with the institute and a report author, can say is this: "Where you can find robotic replacements for human labor you tend to do it."

Cosbey estimates that automation will replace 40% to 80% of the workers at a mine. New mines and those with many years of life left are the prime candidates for automation.

Automation's impact will affect the high-wage countries the quickest, "and is going to be keenly felt," Cosbey said.

Most affected will be miners in the lesser-skilled trades, including heavy-equipment operators, drivers and maintainers. This will increase demand for people with IT skills who can set up and operate the automation systems -- but at far smaller numbers than the people automation displaces. Local communities, dependent on mining employment, will be hard hit.

Driverless technology, the report said, can lead to a 15% to 20% increase in output, a 10% to 15% decrease in fuel consumption and an 8% decrease in maintenance costs. Maintenance costs are reduced because this is "self-aware machinery" and can monitor itself and signal emerging problems.

Self-driving trucks that operate above ground are cited as examples of automation in this industry, but Volvo recently announced a self-driving truck that can operate underground as well.

The U.S. mining industry employed 634,600 people in 2014, according to data from the National Mining Association. It created another 1.3 million indirect jobs.

Coal mining, because of coal's contribution to climate change, is politically explosive, but it's a relatively small employer. The U.S. Energy Information Administration, in a recent report, put the number of workers at coal mines at 74,900 in 2014. Overall, coal employment fell 6.8% from the prior year.

The government report on coal mining doesn't assess automation, but the data hints at it.

West Virginia had the largest decline in the average number of employees in 2014, the government notes, "declining by 1,951 employees (9.6%), despite only a small reduction (0.5%) in statewide total coal production.

"While there were fewer coal mine employees in the United States in 2014, the average production per employee hour increased by 7.6%," the government found. Increased productivity per employee may be an indicator of technology improvements.
The annual keelboat regatta will be held at Medway Yacht Club from July 5 to 9 for keelboats and July 15 and 16 for dinghies.

The trophy was first awarded in 1964, and, with one exception in 1977, has always been won by a Medway-based yacht.

The Medway Keelboat Regatta is only a four-day event, over a weekend, so even the most committed workaholics should be able to drag themselves away for a couple of days.

And the Medway clubs have done their best to make life as easy as possible for competitors by offering free moorings, very reasonable entry fees and accommodation within a short distance at 10 a night.

Alternatively, you can use the on-site campsite for free.

Not that the racing, or the social side are lacking either. In just under 100 hours, the Keelboat Regatta packs in six starts for each class and four organised parties -- class racing for Dragons, Sonatas and Squibs, up to four divisions racing IRC and a Cruiser division racing.

The Saturday and Sunday races also count towards the popular Sail East Championship.

This is the third year the keelboats want the starts on an ebb tide to allow them to get out into the Thames Estuary, making local river knowledge less of an issue. The dinghies want high water for their river courses.

This successful formula will be repeated from July 5 to July 9 for keelboats with the dinghies the next weekend, on July 15 and 16.

Based at the Medway Yacht Club, the Keelboat Regatta is easy to get to. By road, the new Wainscott by-pass takes you almost to the door, just 15 minutes from the M25.

To register, contact the regatta secretary, Medway Yacht Club, Lower Upnor, Rochester, Kent, or call 01634 718399.

Otherwise, e-mail rsngreen@aol.com.
Hello. We are back for the 7th year for our annual Caring Hearts Card Drive!!! I cant believe it and we have YOU all to thank.

The purpose of our card drive is to collect holiday cards for the elderly that live in nursing homes. Vera Yates started this card drive 7 years ago, in honor of her moms request. That first year, we collected 750 cards. And each year it continue to grow bigger. Last year we received over 22,000 cards and distribute the cards to over 100 nursing homes throughout the US, Canada and Australia. Thank YOU!

Vera and I are excited to continue bringing holiday cheers to many nursing homes. This year, were branching out to the United Kingdom and this will allow us to start distributing in Europe.

The holidays are about family, kindness, and joy. During this time, many of the elderly who live in nursing homes feel lonely. Wouldnt it be great if we brought a smile to their face & brightened their holiday season simply by sharing our love of card making? A simple gesture to let them know that they are not forgotten  that someone still thinking of them.

All you do is make cards. As many as you want and/or have time for. Anything helps! You mail them to us and we mail them out to volunteers who distribute them to nursing homes around the world.

IMPORTANT DETAILS:

This card drive end 11/25/16. We need to receive your card by 11/25/16.

Please make the cards for any holiday theme. Anyone can make or send a card  you, your children, church group, scout troops, etc.

All cards need to have a message inside (it can be stamped or hand written). Just saying something like, Hope you have a wonderful holiday! Love, Jennifer in Ohio.

Please sign your name and where you are from inside the card.

Please include an envelope for each card and please dont seal the envelope.

Please stick to just cards (standard size A2 or 4-1/4 x 5-1/2) as this will help us in packing more efficiently

Please dont use any pins, etc (safety reason).

In each package, PLEASE include THIS SUBMISSION FORM . (More on that below.)

. (More on that below.) This is totally optional  if youd like to include $1 or $2 to help with shipping, itll be much appreciated. We cover the shipping cost ourselves  with no sponsor  so any donation toward shipping would help tremendously.

For US, you can mail the cards to:

Vera Yates, 1314 Roy St., Houston, TX 77007

Tina Schrof, 185 W. Pugh Drive, Springboro, OH 45066

Lynn Reloza, 3353 Cimmarron Road, Cameron Park, CA 95682

For Australia:
Apple has recently released its newest edition of MacBook Pro with the addition of a cool new feature unseen from both competitors and within Apple itself, the Touch Bar.

The new MacBook Pro - with both a 13-inch and 15-inch model - is an improvement of its line of notebooks. It is thinner than its predecessors and promises improved utility, visuals, and sound. The addition of the touch bar makes the new edition more personal to the owner, as one can simply customize the options found therein. It will also be the first to have a fingerprint security feature.

In an interview with The Verge, Steven Troughton-Smith, Irish programmer, and developer, mentioned the touch bar may "actually be a mini Apple Watch." This allows the MacBook to access the iOS' embedded security making an impact to the touch sensor and apparently, the front-facing camera too.

Much optimism is seen in using the new touch bar for the MacBook series. Aside from its obvious security feature and huge potential for customization and personalization, it could theoretically function still with the whole machine turned off, adding a more powerful power-save feature. Further experimentation could make it a huge hit in the future, although the touch bar is already a breakthrough even with the absence of a true touchscreen.

There are a few skeptics though on how it would make work more efficient the way things are currently. As per Fast Company, the touch bar looks like a unique addition, but its functionality is something that is yet to be proven. Some would prefer using existing keyboard shortcuts or via touch pads and command bars. Perhaps habit is the biggest problem, and using the touch bar would need some getting used to.

The potential of this product will be seen on the type and volume of audience it invites, and how it revolutionizes the way people do things. Like how it started in the past, time will tell how "functional" the new functionality is going to be.
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A leaf from the past

A leaf from the past
A busy third quarter filled with non-core gains and charges left First Bancorp with a 32.7 percent decline in net income to $4.62 million.

The profit drop was expected for First Bancorp, based in Southern Pines, and appeared less than projected by analysts.

The bank, with a growing Winston-Salem and Triad presence, said Sept. 23 that it would end loss-share agreements with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. related to purchases of two failed North Carolina banks: Cooperative Bank of Wilmington in June 2009 and The Bank of Asheville in January 2011.

First Bancorp paid about $2 million to exit the agreements. It recorded a pretax expense of $5.7 million in the quarter, primarily related to the write-off of the remaining indemnification asset associated with the agreements.

The bank gained 21 North Carolina and three South Carolina branches and $974 million in total assets from Cooperative. It gained five branches and $210 million in total assets from Bank of Asheville.

The third quarter contained new revenue from the acquisition of seven former First Community Bank branches, including four in Winston-Salem. In swapping its Virginia branches with First Community, First Bancorp reported a one-time gain of $1.36 million.

Diluted earnings were 23 cents a share, down 11 cents from a year ago. Adjusted earnings were 34 cents a share.

The average earnings forecast was 17 cents a share by one analyst surveyed by Zacks Investment Research. Analysts typically do not include one-time gains and charges in their forecasts.

Focusing on core financial performance, First Bancorp reported a 4.5 percent decline in loan revenue to $30.3 million. It had no provision for loan losses in the quarter.

Fee revenue excluding the FDIC payment was up 61.9 percent to $10.3 million.

The biggest factor was the banks entrance during the third quarter into national Small Business Administration lending business. It reported consulting fees of $1.18 million and gains of $694,000 on the sales of the guaranteed portions of SBA loans.

The bank had a significant drop in losses on foreclosed properties, to $266,000 compared with $939,000 a year ago.

Service charge fees were down 8.1 percent to $2.71 million, while the category of other service charges, commissions and fees rose 7.9 percent to just under $3 million.

Nonperforming assets were at $70.1 million on Sept. 30, down from $77.8 million on June 30 and from $91.7 million on Sept. 30, 2015.

Richard Moore, First Bancorps president and chief executive, said in a statement that although the termination of the FDIC loss share resulted in a charge against earnings this quarter, we anticipate a positive impact on future earnings.

I am also pleased with the initiatives we undertook to increase our revenue sources.

First Bancorp expects to complete late in 2016 or early in 2017 its proposed $93 million deal for Carolina Bank Holdings Inc. of Greensboro, in which it would gain two Winston-Salem branches and eight overall.

At six branches, Winston-Salem would be First Bancorps largest market when using that measuring stick. It is likely to close one branch between a former First Community branch and a Carolina Bank branch that are less than a mile apart off Stratford Road and Knollwood Street.

First Bancorp will have 19 branches in the Triad and 93 in North Carolina upon closing the Carolina Bank purchase. It would gain $706 million in total assets from Carolina, increasing that total to $4.2 billion, as well as $601 million in deposits, raising its total to $3.5 billion.

Chris Marinac, managing principal with FIG Partners of Atlanta, said he viewed First Bancorps growth initiative and its SBA activities as positive for generating additional fee income, positive operating leverage and earnings per share.

First Bancorp is executing on its new goal of entering higher growth markets and enhance longer-term return on assets, Marinac said.
Vios Nutrition opens downtown headquarters

Vios Nutrition has opened its headquarters at 751 W. Fourth St., on the corner of Fourth and Broad streets in downtown Winston-Salem.

The company develops whole food, plant-based nutrition supplements.

The new location includes about 3,200 square feet of workspace, including office suites for the companys executive team, customer care and marketing departments. It also provides space for the companys brand partners to meet with customers.

 Fran Daniel

Surrey Bancorp has slight drop in 3rd quarter profit

Surrey Bancorp reported a 1.7 percent decrease in net income to $785,354 for the third quarter.

Diluted earnings were unchanged at 19 cents a share for the Mount Airy bank.

Loan revenue increased 8.6 percent to $2.59 million. Its provision for loan losses was $124,000, down from $129,000 a year ago.

Richard Craver Pepsi Bottling plans St. Pauls center expansion

Pepsi Bottling Ventures LLC said Friday it will create 50 jobs over the next five years at a new $16.5 million distribution center in St. Pauls. The company also pledged to maintain 250 jobs in the area.

Pepsi Bottling Ventures is the nations largest privately held manufacturer, seller and distributor of Pepsi-Cola and other beverages. The average annual salary of the new jobs would be $39,500, compared with a $29,579 annual average in Robeson County.

It has been made eligible for up to $150,000 in performance-based incentives from the One North Carolina Fund, as well as a $400,000 grant from the state Economic Infrastructure program.

The company pledged in July 2012 that it would spend at least $81.7 million on new equipment and property over seven years in its Winston-Salem operations, adding 198 jobs to its workforce of 307 at that time. In return, the company has been made eligible for nearly $1.74 million in local incentives.

 Richard Craver
Q: What would Jesus say about churches hosting concealed carry classes? Recently a church in my county announced they were going to host concealed carry classes. I pondered on this ideology as I did when a church supported Gay Pride week in Winston-Salem.

Answer: In attempting to address the issues in your statement, I understand the responses of readers will vary. I hope that your question and my response will encourage readers to discuss these important issues.

My approach is informed by what I understand about the wisdom presented in the Old Testament, the teachings of Christ, and the nature and purpose of the Church. Clearly the Old Testament is filled with stories of violence, but one of the Ten Commandments states, Thou shall not murder. Moses also speaks against violence by saying to two fighting men, You are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other? Other verses speak against violence and for love, Hebrews 12:14, Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no one shall see the Lord. Romans 13:10, Love worketh no ill to his neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. In the New Testament, the teachings of Jesus warn against violence and reveal a new way. When Peter pulled the sword to defend Jesus from those who came to arrest him, Jesus said, Put up again thy sword: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.

Since the Bible clearly speaks against violence, it is hard to understand what is in the minds of church leaders who would host concealed carry classes. The sole function of a weapon is to maim or kill. So we need to remember the nature and purpose of the church. In the New Testament, the word for church literally means those who are called to follow the way of love, not violence, even toward our enemies. A house of worship is a place for the faithful to gather and renew their commitments and to refresh their spiritual strength. It is a place from which people take their collective spiritual strength into the world with the dedication to make a difference. I believe that all people of faith following their sacred text should use their holy place as a center of peace and love. Peace and love should then be made a part of everyday life and problems. In Colossians 3:14-15, And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.

The second part of your question mentions the support of a local church for Gay Pride Week. The Old and New Testament oppose homosexuality. The Old Testament states that homosexuals should be stoned to death. Paul, in the New Testament, says they would not be accepted into the Kingdom of God. Jesus, so far as recorded in the Bible, did not speak of homosexuality. I believe that people of earlier cultures did not have the scientific information about the biological nature of sexual preferences. Some Biblical writers regard sexual preferences as a free-will choice. We now know better. Beyond that point, it seems apparent to me that the teachings of Jesus would not permit the harmful treatment of those with different sexual preferences. All relationships should be centered in love, kindness and respect, which is the way of Jesus for all people. I believe that where there is love, God is present. Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love. (1John 4:8) Love is so sacred and rare that we should celebrate, not condemn, it. I am pleased to see that some local churches have opened the doors. Peoples actions should reflect their religious commitment even when it is hard to do. Just what do we do with our ability to love that God has given to us?

Answers to last weeks quiz

The woman who lived on a boat with her husband and many creatures for seven months: Naamah (Jewish tradition)

Midwives who disobeyed Pharaohs order to kill Jewish males at birth and saved many lives: Shiphrah and Puah

Contribution of the Witch of Endor: She helped King Saul with his difficulties by summoning the spirit of the wise prophet Samuel.

Moses wife: Zipporah

The woman who made a sacrifice to give Abraham a son named Ishmael: Hagar
In past election cycles, political yard signs have sprouted like daisies in spring, pitting lawns against each other in good-natured political rivalry.

But with the impending fiery and controversial election between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, political signs are noticeably absent.

Im struck by the lack of signs at the governor, senate and, especially, presidential level this year, Allan Louden, a political communications professor at Wake Forest University, said. Theres almost none.

Loudens street used to be decked in signs at nearly every house, but the neighborhood is suspiciously quiet this election season, much like the rest of the city.

Even in yards where political views are decisively stabbed into the ground, most of the signs represent smaller races at the local level. Few bare the name Clinton or Trump.

So, where are all the signs?

I think its a race in which no one wants to brag to their neighbors about who theyre voting for, Louden said. A lot of people are more against one candidate than for another.

The lack of yard signs could also be a testament to an increasingly digital world with people taking their fights online, he said.

Facebook introduced its own version of political signs with a feature to publicly endorse candidates. The endorsement is then posted to the individuals profile page.

Hashtags, like #ImWithHer coined by the Clinton campaign, have also garnered support.

Even with the surge of social media, a study by Fordham University in 2005 found that political sign use had quadrupled in the past 20 years.

But recent reports show that yard sign presence around the country has been significantly less this year than in past elections.

Buena Vista Road didnt get the memo.

Amid the drought of political signs, Buena Vista is a street divided, with next-door neighbors posting warring signs.

People around here really care about who is elected, Michael Newman, who has a Clinton sign on his lawn, said. Putting my sign out shows were not all old-fashioned Republicans in these parts.

Newman said there are more signs in the neighborhood  evenly split between the two parties  than hes seen in the 50 years hes lived in Winston-Salem.

He said the surrounding Trump signs dont bother him, but he keeps his blue sign out to show his support.

Anyone is entitled to put out their signs, he said. We have a sign for Hillary because we think shes the only real candidate.

Down the road, thats the same reason Maurice Banks keeps his Trump sign defiantly and proudly planted in front of his house. Some of his neighbors yards also boast Trump signs.

A lot of people talk about Trump saying hes this or hes that. And he is, Banks said. My opinion is, even with all his baggage, he can change things up and get stuff done.

Banks, who is retired, said when he was working in industry, he had a lot of bosses at the top of big companies that bordered on mean but were very successful, one reason he supports Trump.

He doesnt judge his neighbors for having different views, as long as they are respectful, he said.

The neighborhood watch group issued a notice that Trump signs were being stolen around the neighborhood, prompting Banks to chain his to his fence.

At first, I assumed the people who support Trump are less vocal, Banks said. But they told me at the local Republican office where I picked up my sign to be careful not to get it stolen.

Its a misdemeanor to steal, vandalize or remove a political sign that has been lawfully placed, according to city ordinances and state laws.

Three Maine women were charged earlier this month with stealing 40 Trump signs in an effort to do, what they deemed, a cleansing of the streets, according The Press Herald in Portland, Maine.

It wasnt immediately clear Friday if theres been a rash of thefts and defacing of signs in Winston-Salem.

But Buena Vista residents say several Clinton signs have been stolen or defaced, as well.

Its a shame to see it come to that, Pfafftown resident Annie Wrobel said.

Her own lawn is void of signs, she said, and she noted the few dwindling signs she has seen in her neighborhood and around town. Its likely because the race is volatile and divisive and people dont want to be lumped into stereotypes, she said.

I think people should post signs if thats what they believe in, Wrobel said. But whether its Clinton or Trump, we have to remember were all one country and, no matter what happens, we have to stand united.
Man injured when he is pinned beneath vehicle in King

A 25-year-old Virginia man was seriously injured Thursday night when he was caught between two vehicles during a domestic incident in King, authorities said.

John Payne, 37, of Mount Airy is accused of driving his vehicle into the passenger-side doors of a vehicle operated by his ex-wife, police said.

The injured man, whom police didnt identify, became pinned beneath the front tire of Paynes vehicle.

The victim was taken to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center for treatment.

Payne was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, inflicting serious injury and driving while impaired, police said.

Two other people were charged at the scene, police said.

Cody Levi Dalton, 23, of King was served with outstanding warrants for failure to appear in court for charges of possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, police said.

Tara Dawn March, 35, of King was charged with resisting an officer, police said. March was a passenger in Paynes vehicle during the incident.

John Hinton

As many as 13 staff members injured in high school fight

HERTFORD  Officials say a North Carolina high school staff member was hit by a fire extinguisher while trying to break up a fight that left as many as 12 other staff members also injured.

Perquimans County School Superintendent Matthew Cheeseman told news outlets that as many as 13 faculty and staff members were hurt as they tried to stop the fight involving five students at Perquimans High School.

Cheeseman says one of the students threw a fire extinguisher that ended up hitting a staff member.

While most of the staff involved sustained bruises, cuts and scrapes, Cheeseman says one faculty member went to an urgent care facility where a doctor diagnosed her with a concussion.

One student was charged. Deputies say they expect the other four students will be charged also.

The Associated Press

Candidates keep coming

to North Carolina

RALEIGH  President Obama and Vice-President Biden are coming to North Carolina next week to try to get Hillary Clinton across the finish line first on Election Day.

Clintons campaign announced Friday that the president will campaign for the Democratic nominee in the Raleigh area Wednesday. The vice president is scheduled to be in the Charlotte area Tuesday.

The campaign already announced that running mate Tim Kaine will visit Jacksonville and Sanford on Monday.

Democrats see winning North Carolinas electoral votes a major step toward defeating Donald Trump. Trump running mate Mike Pence spoke in Smithfield on Friday and was set to appear in Jacksonville today.
District attorneys offices in Rockingham and Caswell/Person counties are at the heart of a criminal investigation into whether there has been a theft of state funds, law enforcement and judicial officials confirmed this week.

The State Bureau of Investigation confirmed Wednesday that since July 25 agents have been investigating both district attorneys offices.

No charges have been filed. Agents from the SBIs Special Investigations Unit, based in Raleigh, are investigating alleged theft of state funds from the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts, the SBI stated in its response to a public records request for details filed by the Greensboro News & Record.

Iredell County Superior Court Judge Joe Crosswhite, at the request of the Administrative Office of the Courts, issued the order for agents to begin looking into the theft allegations.

I can confirm there is an ongoing investigation into the possible thefts of state funds, Crosswhite said Wednesday. Both counties are being investigated.

Kent Williamson, vice chairman of the Caswell County Board of Commissioners, confirmed in late September that he also knew about the criminal investigation into the Caswell County District Attorneys Office, but his details were limited.

The county manager told us there was an investigation going on in our district attorneys office, Williamson said. Actually, he had the county attorney call and tell each of us about the investigation on his behalf.

Neither Rockingham County District Attorney Craig Blitzer nor Caswell/Person County District Attorney Wallace Bradsher returned detailed requests for comment left Wednesday on their cellular and office telephones.

No one interviewed for this story would comment on the specifics of the investigation, and very few details are available to the public. There is no indication that either district attorney is under investigation.

More than 31 people make up the district attorney offices that stretch across three counties.

Bradsher, who became district attorney of both Caswell and Person counties on Jan. 1, 2011, leads a team of 14.

Craig Blitzer took office on Jan. 1, 2015. He has a staff of 15.

Caswell County Manager Bryan Miller told the News & Record he is not officially aware of an SBI investigation into the district attorneys office.

SBI criminal investigation records do not fall under public record laws in North Carolina, although the public is able to access limited information, including the time, date and nature of an apparent violation of law and the name of the complaining witness.

The SBI on Wednesday released information to the News & Record that revealed the alleged theft and the identity of the judge who initiated the order to investigate.

Judge Crosswhite said a Caswell County judge, whom he did not name, first was made aware of the allegations but that judge felt he was too close to the situation to oversee the case. That judge contacted the Administrative Office of the Courts, which asked Crosswhite to step in.

He ordered the investigation in late July and said Wednesday that he is awaiting a report from the SBI on its findings.

Crosswhite said he will not be the one to issue charges if they are warranted. Instead, he will review the file and tell the SBI if there is sufficient findings to go further with the investigation.

If the investigation does go forward, Crosswhite said he believes the case will be assigned to a district attorneys staff to be determined at that time.
SYLVIA DAUGHERTY, Lewisville

Child deaths

According to an article on Oct. 15, Study indicates that accidental shootings kill a child every other day. On that date, the number would be 145 per day so far in 2016. No child should have to die this way, accidentally or otherwise.

No child should have to die purposefully, either. On that same date (Oct. 15), there had been 862,561 deaths by abortion so far in 2016, according to www.romans322.com/daily-death-rate-statistics.php. Thats just under 3,000 per day.

Whats wrong with this picture? Where is the outrage?

******

DAVID SHUFORD, Winston-Salem

The Constitutions intent

In the third presidential debate, Hillary Clinton said, The Supreme Court should represent all of us. While that sounded good, Im concerned about the balance between the three branches of the government. Over the years, the balance of power instituted in the Constitution has gotten out of kilter.

One way that has happened is through Supreme Court justices who believe the Constitution doesnt have to mean what it was intended to mean. In a particular case, they seek to construe the Constitutions words in a way that achieves the outcome they want.

Thats what the term living Constitution means in practice. So, the Constitution itself becomes not much of a limit on the courts power.

The peoples only recourse is to prevent such judges from rising to the court in the first place. Thats why the election of the president is crucial because the president chooses the justices. Failing that safeguard, the Senate must stop an unwise choice.

The Supreme Court does not represent us. Thats the job of Congress. Its the Courts job to represent the Constitution. But it cant do that very well if the justices think the text is pliable.

Yes, the Senate should have performed its duty to consider President Obamas recent nomination. But we will still need a Senate that will check a President Clintons power to choose justices who can, in effect, change the Constitution by fiat.

A living Constitution may seem sensible, but its dangerous to our democracy.

******

D. CLARK SMITH JR., Lexington

A capable judge

I write this letter on behalf of Jeffrey Berg, candidate for Superior Court judge.

It is imperative to have capable judges to insure justice is done, rules of procedure are followed, the law is interpreted and applied correctly, and cases are heard in a timely manner. Jeff Berg has the attributes which will make him an excellent Superior Court judge.

I have known Jeff professionally for over 20 years. He is an excellent attorney, skilled in both criminal and civil cases. He served as an assistant district attorney and then went into private practice where he served as a criminal defense attorney. He represented plaintiffs and defendants in civil cases in Superior Court. Serving on all sides of a case makes him well balanced. He has over 27 years in law practice and is experienced in all aspects of the law.

Jeff is a committed Christian, a strong family man and father, and a dedicated husband. He is a community leader serving on numerous boards, as Cub Scout den leader, and as committee member sponsoring the Memorial Day parades for our veterans.

Jeff is fair and honest and humble. He is caring and compassionate and willing to lend a helping hand. He is intelligent and of highest integrity. He has all the characteristics needed in good judges.

I strongly endorse Jeff Berg for the seat of Superior Court Judge and encourage you to vote for him. You will not be disappointed.

HAYES MCNEILL, Winston-Salem

Swimming

Poor old North Carolina. Once we were in the mainstream of progress and growth, but now regressive politics have made us a backwater.

Most of the damage has been done by Raleigh, but take note that every six years, Sen. Richard Burr breaks the surface, much like a mud turtle, then sinks back into obscurity again, invisible and not much use to anybody.

N.C. needs to upgrade to Deborah Ross. Shes got the energy and the smarts to start repairing our damaged brand so we can start swimming with the big fish again.

******

LEE CHADEN, Winston-Salem

More information

I believe that the long article about local homicides in the Oct. 23 Journal (Homicides climb in city) was missing an important element. Specifically, how many of these homicides involved guns, what kind of guns were used, and whether they legally registered to the individuals who used them. This information is seldom reported by the news media when homicides occur; it would go a long way toward helping us citizens to develop informed views on the issue of gun control which, for now, are often emotional vs. data-driven rational arguments.

Reporting on the number of homicides is score-keeping; getting meaningful information on how guns are used and obtained might actually lead to remedies.

***

WILLIAM FREEMAN, Winston-Salem

An outstanding reputation

Judge Eric Morgan should definitely be re-elected to keep his position as a Superior Court judge. He is highly intelligent, fair, firm and courteous. He has earned an outstanding reputation as a judge. We in Forsyth County are very fortunate to have a man of his high caliber on the bench. I respect him as highly as any judge who has ever served in this position.

If you have any doubt, please ask any attorney or judge you know, in either political party, about him and I am confident you will get an overwhelming positive response.

In short, I whole heartedly endorse Eric Morgan for re-election to the Superior Court bench in Forsyth County in this nonpartisan race.

******

MARGARET SUPPLEE SMITH, Winston-Salem

Trump the bully

To recast, slightly, the saying erroneously associated with Abraham Lincoln: You can bully all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, but you cannot bully all of the people all of the time.

Donald Trumps over-the-top behavior, crudeness and incivility have been tolerated far too long. The Republican Party needs to stand up for America. It should have put the kibosh last fall on Trumps candidacy when he taunted and humiliated his fellow candidates. This is the election of the president of the United States of America  not the place for locker-room banter or a schoolyard skirmish.

Trump is a blustering braggart and bellicose bully whose ego is so fragile that he apparently is willing to destroy America rather than be a loser.

I am sure I am not the only American who feels that I have been subjected to an unending nightmare of the Trump reality show, which morphed from his false accusations about President Obamas birth to Hillary Clintons crookedness to attacks on everything that doesnt go his way.

Michelle Obama was right: Enough is enough.

Whatever happened to the Grand Old Party?

Abraham Lincoln would weep.

***

MAX WALSER, Lexington

Best for the students

With the school board election coming up, I feel it is my duty now to speak out in the interest of our 20,000 students. The Davidson County Board of Education has always been a nonpartisan board. I feel that has worked well as both Democrats and Republicans have been elected without any fanfare, and have worked together in the best interest of our boys and girls.

It appears that in the upcoming school-board election some are attempting to make this a partisan election. Partisan politics has no place in the most important thing we do in this county, and that is the education of our children. I believe that is a serious mistake. We should elect people based on their ability and interest, and not on their party affiliation.

Having said that, I am now endorsing a Republican, Kristie Bonnet, and two unaffiliated people, Mary Ann Brown and Phillip Craver, for the school board. These three individuals have the integrity, honesty and knowledge to help our school system move forward. They are passionate about doing the right thing to educate our children. They do not have an ax to grind. I have talked at length with all three of them and I am convinced that they will represent the best interest of our students, teachers, support staff and administration.

I hope you will consider voting for Kristie Bonnet, Mary Ann Brown and Phillip Craver for the school board. Their party affiliation does not matter.

Walser is a former superintendent of the Davidson County Schools.  the editor

******

NAOMI J. DAVIS, Winston-Salem

Seen the light

Thank Heavens! The Journal has finally seen the light and endorsed Democrat Roy Cooper for governor of North Carolina. It took you a lot longer than it did me to see through Gov. Pat McCrorys persona of that sweet, soft-spoken, caring, smiling person  to know he was an impostor.

Gov. McCrory missed his calling. He could have won an Academy Award had he chosen a career in acting instead of governor.

As he is acting out these commercials I can almost hear the Koch brothers and Duke Power laughing in the background. You know the old saying, fool me once and fool me twice. He might have fooled the Journals editorial writers, but he didnt fool me.

But, I will forgive you because you are still young, and I have had 91 years to wise up to this type of thing and am not that easily fooled.

******

HOWARD FLOCH, Clemmons

A change this year

We are facing an important senatorial election. So far, in every election in which he has run, I have voted for Richard Burr. This is going to change this year.

In the debate a couple of weeks ago (Presidential race looms over debate, Oct. 14), the question of what he has accomplished was raised. This was not impressive. He did, however, manage to vote with his party leadership 95 percent of the time.

I was at Republican headquarters in Winston-Salem awaiting Donald Trumps son, Donald Jr., recently (Trump Jr.: Dont focus on dads potty mouth Oct. 14). I inquired of several people as to the accomplishments of Sen. Burr, and everybody greeted me with a blank stare.

The senator used to be the ranking Republican on the Veterans Affairs Committee. Unfortunately for our veterans, this was another area where he accomplished little as facilities were overrun with mold and veterans were getting delayed care of serious diseases. I find it ludicrous that a recent ad points a finger at his opponent over not being supportive of veterans. If people want the situation in Washington to change, we must change the personnel involved.

Election Letters Deadline

The deadline to receive letters about the Nov. 8 elections was Monday.

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If you would like a photo of yourself included with your letter, send it to us as a .jpg file.

For more guidelines and advice on writing letters, go to journalnow.com/opinion/submit_a_letter.

The Journal welcomes original submissions for guest columns on local, regional and statewide topics. Essay length should not exceed 750 words. The writer should have some authority for writing about his or her subject. Our email address is: Letters@wsjournal.com. Essays may also be mailed to: The Readers Forum, P.O. Box 3159, Winston-Salem, NC 27102. Please include your name and address and a daytime telephone number.
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By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |  

WaPo is reporting that it was the FBI investigation of Anthony Weiner that caused new emails between Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin to come to light, which apparently might include forwarded State Department memos or correspondence related to State.

Nothing produces upchuck in the throat like another headline with the name Anthony Weiner in it. But heres an opportunity for me to reprint a column I once did on the things Weiner has said and done worse than sexting. The FBI was investigating him for sending suggestive messages to an under-aged girl.

The nation is fixated on Trumps groping and Clintons email server (uh, the State Department and the NSA got hacked folks, so it isnt the case that government servers are secure) and, well, maybe it was fixated for a brief second on Weiners sexting. But we dont seem interested in serious policy questions like Syria and Iraq. Oh, the public got all het up about ISIL in 2014 and demanded something be done, but now it has lost interest.

So heres an actually important policy issue on which Weiner shaped public opinion and helped make policy:



The real scandal surrounding Anthony Weiner is that he is bigoted against Palestinians and has misused his position in Congress to support punitive policies against them. Americans appear to be bored by policy, titillated by private peccadilloes. But it is the policies that are important. Mahatma Gandhi was once kicked out of a brothel in South Africa. No one judges him by his lapses. Weiner, in contrast to Gandhi, has not worked for peace but has rather given knee-jerk support to the worst policies of the most far rightwing parties in Israel toward Palestinians. A social liberal in American terms, Weiner is so blinded by his allegiance to Israel and so studied in his ignorance of the Middle East that he has played a uniformly sinister role in that aspect of foreign policy. . .

Weiner:

1. Called for Columbia University professor Joseph Massad to be fired for being critical of Israel; Weiner thus spearheaded a new McCarthyism.

2. On the Israeli attack, in international waters, on the Mavi Marmara relief ship, Weiner sputtered: If you want to instigate a conflict with the Israeli navy it isnt hard to do. They were offered alternatives. Instead they chose to sail into the teeth of an internationally recognized blockade. The blockade of Gaza civilians is a breach of international law; it is not internationally recognized and has on the contrary been condemned by almost every nation and human rights organization.

3. Alleged that the New York Times is anti-Israel: Amnesty International in particular, has always had bias against Israel, and frankly I would argue that in many cases, the New York Times has, as well.

4. Alleged that the Palestine Liberation Organization is still listed by the US as a terrorist organization. It was dropped from the list over 2 decades ago.

5. Tried to bar the Palestinian delegation to the United Nations from New York.

6. Alleged that Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestine Authority, is not the head of the PLO. He is.

7. Refused to condemn the use by Israel of cluster bombs on the civilian farms of south Lebanon in 2006.

8. Alleged that the Israeli army does not occupy the West Bank and that there is no Israeli Army presence in the West Bank.

9. Called Israels [2009] war on Gaza a humane war. 400 children were killed.

10. Voted for Iraq War authorization in 2002, before later turning against the war.

-

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By Nigel Ashton | (The Conversation) |  

Does history repeat itself? Never perfectly or precisely, but some of the parallels between Anthony Edens handling of the 1956 Suez Crisis and Tony Blairs role in the 2003 invasion of Iraq are worth pondering. In both cases prime ministerial decision-making dictated the course of British policy and laid bare some of the weaknesses of the British political system.

First, take the conjuring of the threat. Both men framed their struggles in existential terms. For Eden, the nationalisation of the Suez Canal Company at the end of July 1956 by the Egyptian president, Gamal Abdel Nasser, represented a threat to national survival.

A man whom Eden likened to Hitler or Mussolini would have his fingers wrapped round the nations economic windpipe. Whenever Nasser wished he might squeeze and strangle the country. Its either him or us. Dont forget that, Eden warned.

For Tony Blair, meanwhile, after 9/11, a whole new world had dawned. Terrorism and weapons of mass destruction together formed a fundamental assault on our way of life and the central security threat of the 21st century. Blairs fears focused once again on an Arab dictator, this time the Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein. His supposed arsenal of weapons of mass destruction now formed a clear danger to British citizens.



PM Anthony Eden (in office 1955-57), h/t Wikipedia

Deja vu

The path to war on both occasions has certain eerie parallels. Both men resorted to the creation of a sort of inner circle or kitchen cabinet of key ministers backed by sympathetic officials. For Eden it was the Egypt Committee, a select group which included the key hawks in the Cabinet such as the chancellor of the exchequer, Harold Macmillan.

For Blair the group was more fluid, but it included the then foreign secretary, Jack Straw, and his Number 10 advisers, Jonathan Powell, David Manning and Alastair Campbell. In both cases, despite the doctrine of collective responsibility, the full cabinet was largely cut out of the decision-making process. Remarkably given the drive towards military action, both mens ministers of defence  for Eden, Walter Monckton, and for Blair, Geoff Hoon  were not part of the inner circle. Indeed, Monckton was opposed to the use of force, leading Eden quietly to shunt him out of the way.

For both men, the military timetable also overshadowed diplomacy. A deadline for military action was imposed by weather conditions in the region. For Eden, an amphibious assault on Egypt had to be launched before the middle of November 1956  while for Blair the deadline was late March 2003, after which the heat of the Iraqi spring and summer would hinder operations. Admittedly in Blairs case that deadline was also imposed by American war plans.

Legal war?

Both leaders resorted to the United Nations to prepare the ground for war. Neither got what he wanted. While Edens foreign secretary, Selwyn Lloyd, made some progress at the UN in agreeing principles for the operation of the Suez Canal, the pretext for war Eden sought  which would put Egypt clearly in the wrong  was elusive. Meanwhile, for Blair, Security Council resolution 1441, passed in November 2002, proved a double-edged sword. While it was later used as the legal justification for war, it also crystallised the division in the international community. Without a second resolution explicitly justifying war, France and Russia opposed military action.

Both Eden and Blair grappled with the concept of legality. Eden didnt want the governments law officers consulted at all. The lawyers are always against our doing anything. For Gods sake keep them out of it. This is a political affair, he complained. But the attorney-general, Sir Reginald Manningham-Buller, stood up to him in private, warning that if he was asked a question in parliament as to whether the Suez invasion was legal, he would have to declare that it was not. The Opposition missed its chance and the question was not asked. In 2003 by contrast, the attorney general Lord Goldsmith proved more malleable, changing his mind at a late stage about the authority granted by resolution 1441.

Public opposition

The actions of both leaders brought huge crowds on to the streets of London in protest. Against Eden, the banners called for law not war, while for Blair the message was even more direct: B-liar. In both cases, war split the nation and led to a fundamental debate about Britains role in the world and the justification for military action.

But there, perhaps, the parallels end. Edens action over Suez was thwarted by American intervention while Blair acted in concert with Washington. Eden fell over Suez, while Blair held on to office after Iraq. No formal public postmortem was ever carried out over Suez, while over Iraq every detail of decision-making was pored over by the Chilcot Inquiry.

Still, Blairs testimony before the inquiry does show that he and Eden shared at least one more trait in common: the belief that whatever the consequences they were both right all along.

Nigel Ashton, Professor of International History, London School of Economics and Political Science

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
A jury in Portland, Oregon on Thursday acquitted [NPR report] all seven defendants involved in the 41-day armed occupation of Oregons Malheur National Wildlife Refuge [official website], in a trial that lasted nearly six weeks. The defendants were acquitted of the main charge of conspiring to impede federal employees from performing their duties, while no verdict was reached in connection with Ryan Bundys charge of theft of government property. The jury returned its verdict after less than six hours of deliberations. Federal prosecutors argued that members of the Bundy family conspired to keep federal workers from performing their jobs at the wildlife refuge site through threats and intimidation, while defense attorneys responded that that the Bundys were merely protesting the federal governments control of public land in the west through the exercise of their First and Second Amendment rights. Defendant Ammon Bundys attorney, Marcus Mumford, demanded that his client be released immediately following the verdict. US District Judge Anna Brown refused to release Ammon and several others, stating that they would remain in federal custody because of similar pending charges in Nevada. An agitated Mumford had to be restrained by US Marshals after he reportedly started yelling at the judge [NYT post] and was warned by Brown not to yell at her ever again.

Many expressed disappointment and concern over the jury verdict including Oregon Governor Kate Brown [official website] who said [NYT report] that The occupation of the Malheur Reserve did not reflect the Oregon way of respectfully working together to resolve differences and Joan Anzelmo, a retired federal land manager, who stated [NPR report] that this is a very dangerous verdict  This was a national wildlife refuge that was taken over essentially in an act of domestic terrorism. Aside from the problems posed by the northwest militia, gun control [JURIST backgrounder] and the Second Amendment in general continue to be controversial topics across the US. In May the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the Second Amendment protects the right to buy and sell guns [JURIST report]. In January US President Barack Obama announced executive actions on gun control [JURIST report].
The UN General Assembly [official website] on Friday elected [press release] 14 member-states by secret ballot to serve three-year terms on the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) [official website] beginning January 1. The newly elected countries include Brazil, Croatia, Egypt, Hungary, Iraq, Japan, Rwanda, Tunisia and the US. Countries re-elected for an additional term were China, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Maldives was not considered because it had already served two consecutive terms on the HRC. The remaining 33 states will continue in their capacity as members.

The HRC is a UN body created in 2006 and charged with the responsibility to promote and protect all human rights [official backgrounder] around the globe and comprises a total of 47 elected member states. Council seats are allocated [UN News Centre report] on the basis of equitable geographic distribution to countries in Africa (13), the Asia-Pacific region (13), Eastern Europe (6), Latin America and Caribbean (8), Western Europe and others (7). Elections are held annually with the terms of many states expiring in 2017 and 2018. Last week the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed outrage [JURIST report] over the human rights crisis in Syria, stating that, [t]he violations and abuses suffered by people across the country, including the siege and bombardment of eastern Aleppo, are not simply tragedies; they also constitute crimes of historic proportions. Earlier this month a spokesman from the UN Human Rights office said the High Commissioner is seriously concerned [JURIST report] about human rights violations in India-administered Jammu and Kashmir.
[JURIST] The UN General Assembly [official website] on Thursday voted to begin [text, PDF] negotiations on banning nuclear weapons, despite opposition votes from world leaders including the United States, Russia, and the UK. The vote in the UN disarmament and international security committee passed 123-38, with 16 abstentions. The resolution aims to be a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination, and fill the legal gap by which the most destructive of all weapons  nuclear weapons  are the only weapon of mass destruction to not yet be outlawed by international treaty. Of the nations opposing [ICANW report] the nuclear ban are all five UN states with veto-power, making any effective nuclear ban unlikely. On the issue Richard Sadleir [official website], Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trades assistant secretary, stated, [a] ban treaty that does not include the nuclear weapons states, those states which possess nuclear weapons, and is disconnected from the rest of the security environment, would be counterproductive and not lead to reductions in nuclear arsenals.

Nuclear weapons and capabilities have been of increased concern over the past several years. Earlier this month, the International Court of Justice refused to hear [JURIST report] a claim by the Marshall Islands that the worlds nuclear powers failed to halt the nuclear arms race. The court found that they could not hear the case because they did not have jurisdiction over the matter. The Marshall Islands was the site for numerous nuclear tests carried out by the US during the Cold War arms race, and claims that such experience allows it to testify on the danger of a nuclear arms race. The US and France agreed in March 2015 to strengthen nuclear talks with Iran to persuade the nation to restrain its nuclear program in exchange for relief from sanctions and the following April Iran agreed [JURIST reports] to a framework deal to restrict its nuclear plan. In August 2012 Japanese authorities opened [JURIST report] a criminal investigation into the nuclear power plant meltdown after more than 1,300 people filed [JURIST report] a criminal complaint against the Tokyo Electric Power Company for causing the catastrophe and the resulting radiation.
Last month our school celebrated Constitution Day and our Founding Fathers. During the celebration we were reminded of the words of Thomas Jefferson, We hold these truths to be self-evident. What does it mean when a truth is self-evident? We think it means that there are certain things that are basic and unarguable. For us that is civics education.

Did you know that strong civics relate directly to ones ability to be an informed citizen, vote, run for office, and volunteer for community service?

Unfortunately American high school students are struggling with learning the basic concepts of our government and our history. In fact, when we pre-tested our classmates and 200 other juniors and seniors from across Nebraska, with the same U.S. Citizenship Test that immigrants must pass to graduate, more than 80 percent failed.

Presented with these findings, our Elm Creek School Board acted immediately. This year our high school has started to require that all students pass the U.S. Citizenship Test to graduate.

Currently 14 other states have also made passing the U.S. Citizenship Test a requirement for high school graduation. We believe Nebraska should join that movement to ensure that all students have a basic understanding of how our government works.

We are writing this letter to you to ask for your help in promoting enhanced civics education for Nebraska students and to please encourage your local school, the Nebraska State School Board and your state representative to make the U.S. Citizenship Test a base line requirement for all Nebraska High School students.

It is a small but important step in ensuring that our generation, and all that follow, will understand our inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, so that our unique and exceptional nation can continue to be a light of hope to the rest of the world.

Audrey Worthing, Anna Hoffman and Sydney Hubbard

Elm Creek Public Schools
President Tran Dai Quang at the ceremony (Source: VNA)

Addressing the 50th Traditional Day of the MTA in Hanoi on October 28th, the President pointed out that the nation-building course is being challenged by complex and unexpected situations, along with fierce territorial and sovereignty disputes in the East Sea.

Against the backdrop, the academy needs to step up scientific research on military and national defence, and make products in service of military training and combat and socio-economic development, he said.

In a parallel effort, the academy should expand international cooperation to improve the capacity of its officials and lecturers, consolidate its links with local Party Committees, authorities and people, and pay more heed to Party building, the leader stressed.

President Quang requested the Ministries of National Defence, and Education and Training, agencies and localities to create favourable conditions for the academy, helping it prove itself as an important and prestigious training and scientific research centre of the Vietnam Peoples Army and the State.

He applauded the MTAs efforts in military training and scientific research during the past struggle against US forces and at present, saying the academy has trained tens of thousands of scientific and technological officials for the army, ministries, agencies and localities, as well as the two neighbouring countries of Laos and Cambodia.

Its scientific and technological activities have all served the task of building a regular , elite and modern revolutionary armed forces, the President said, adding that the academy has constructively participated in major projects and programmes launched by the VPA and the State.

The leader expressed his belief that the MTA will gain greater achievements, contributing to national construction and protection.

On this occasion, the academy was honoured with the Independence Order, second class./.
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Japan festival in Vietnam (Source: internet)

The event will include cultural exchanges, traditional performances, trade promotion activities, and agricultural workshops.



At a meeting with special advisor to Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance Tsutomu Takebe in the city on October 27th, Vice Chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee Le Thanh Liem said the city is honoured to host the event, the largest of its kind between the two countries, this year.



Preparation work is on schedule, he said, adding that the city is ready for the opening ceremony on November 18th.



Takebe, also head of the organising board, suggested the southern economic hub work with Japan to ensure a successful event.



The annual Japan Festival in Vietnam was first held in 2013 at the September 23 Park in HCM City.



This years event is expected to welcome 180,000 visitors./.
Myanmar President Htin Kyaw and Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong (R) (Photo: VNA)

During his three-day stay in the country, the Myanmar President held talks with his Vietnamese counterpart Tran Dai Quang, paid a courtesy visit to Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and met with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.



During the talks and meetings, the two sides expressed their delight at the thriving cooperative ties between the two nations over the past 40 years, particularly in 12 priority sectors.



The two sides pledged to continue building on the positive achievements, expanding and deepening the Vietnam and Myanmar fruitful friendship.

They consented to increase contacts at all levels and people-to-people exchange, as well as maintaining the current bilateral cooperation mechanisms.



They pledged to deepen the bilateral trade-investment relations on the basis of mutual benefits and create the optimal condition for business operation.

The two sides agreed on organising the ninth meeting of the Vietnam  Myanmar Joint Sub-Trade Committee in Vietnam this year and strive for the early signing of agreements on cooperation in customs, finance. The two sides will make amendments to the investment encouragement and protection agreement and sign an MoU on investment promotion.



They also vowed to encourage people-to-people exchange, connection between localities and further bilateral cooperation within ASEAN and other international and regional forums, such as the Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV), Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS), the East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC) forum, Greater Mekong Sub region (GMS) and the United Nations (UN); and work together on sustainable and effective use of Mekong river water resources.



The two sides reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining and promoting regional peace, security, and stability, as well as resolving disputes by peaceful measures, with full respect for diplomatic and legal process, without use or threat to use of force, in line with widely-recognised principles of international law, including the1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)./.
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If your partner is a doctor or medical student, prepare yourself for dozens  possibly hundreds  of conversations about their career. If youre lucky, these conversations are pleasant moments in which you get to show pride about your partners accomplishments, discuss the challenges openly, or talk about something you have learned as an outsider looking into the medical establishment.

Unfortunately, many of us experience a far more frustrating reality when our partners career comes up in conversation. Lets break down some common things people say to med student and physicians significant others and whats behind them.

Financial comments

Its not clear why, but commenting on doctors and future doctors imminent wealth is perfectly acceptable, despite the generally frowned upon topic of money and salaries. As a group, medical partners are viewed as recipients of winning lottery tickets. Well-intentioned acquaintances and friends think its cute to tell us how many homes well have or how little we will have to worry about money.

These comments are problematic on multiple levels. First, discuss other peoples salaries can be uncomfortable for the person whose salary youre discussing. Second, these comments imply that we have chosen our partners at least partially based on their earning potential and earnings. Third, these comments can create stress for doctors and medical students who are struggling under the immense weight of medical school debt and cannot foresee when they will achieve the expected level of wealth.

With the changing climate in health care and the financial burden of medical school, many doctors do not achieve the stability and wealth that previous generations of doctors enjoyed (I recently spoke to a woman who told me her goal was to pay off medical school loans by the time her baby daughter, her third child, graduates from high school). When I hear somebody mention physician wealth to a spouse, I cringe and hope that they arent speaking to a couple that is struggling financially.

Assumptions about you based on presumed doctor

In the last six years, I have been informed countless times that I will not have to work because my now-husband was going to be a doctor and he would support me. Another fun comment Ive heard is that it must be nice to be a trophy wife.

Im sorry, but why are we assuming that doctors spouses could not possibly want their own careers, that they will only work if financially necessary? It is destructive to tell men and women to build their dreams in reaction to and based upon their partners choices. My career is not a reaction to my husband. Its my career. Sometimes, career sacrifices are made and medical couples know that better than anybody. We choose those sacrifices.

But the assumption that these sacrifices reflect a lack of ambition or dreams is insulting. Those comments tell me that the speaker thinks about my husbands work as fundamental to his identity and mine as an afterthought or necessity in times of financial instability. It also tells me that the speaker views the physicians career as inherently worthwhile and mine as disposable, or at least certainly, not as important as a physicians career.

Physician as primary

Which brings me to my next point. Inherent in these comments and others is the toxic assumption that the physician inherently holds the primary position in the family. Medical couples struggle to create balance in their lives, making medicine a part and not the entirety of their relationship. Often, the universe of medicine forces other interests and talents to take a back seat. Comments that assume medicine is the central family theme only reinforce the version of reality that most couples want to avoid.

During our honeymoon, Brian and I were walking with an older couple wed met. The man asked Brian where we were from and what he did. Brian explained that we were moving to Philadelphia after the honeymoon and that he was starting residency. Without missing a beat, the man looks at me and says, Ah, so youre the trailing spouse? His assumption is that our collective life revolved around Brians career. It didnt occur to him to ask about my plans or wonder whether our geographical decisions related to me.

Male partners of female doctors and medical students

Those who date female medical students and doctors receive different treatment. In heterosexual couples, men dating doctors are not assumed to be financially dependent on the women they date. Instead, the comments tease the partner for having a woman earn more than they earn. I have spoken with men who date women in medical school and are working physicians. Some examples of comments they receive include, Ooh! You got yourself a sugar momma! and Oh, SHE is going to be the breadwinner. How does that make you feel? Do I need to spell out why these comments are problematic? A womans ability to earn large sums of money should not be met with comments about how uncomfortable their male partner should be. Once again, the comments are often not rooted. The men who date and marry female physicians are generally supportive and secure, not emasculated by their wifes earning potential.

Even more fun, some respond to a man talking about his physician wife by assuming that the man means to say nurse. In one example, a man was met with, Good for her. Nursing is such a great profession. Medical schools in the United States have reached gender parity. These comments perpetuate the frustrating stereotype that women are nurses and men are doctors. The recent stories emerging about men and women both failing to believe female physicians are actually physicians are important. The casual assumptions that women in medicine are always nurses or the insistence that a man cannot possibly feel ok that his partner might just out-earn him contribute to the problem.

Comments about the looming demise of your partnership

When talking to female medical partners, a few told me that upon mentioning their spouses career in medicine, they received comments like You know physicians marriages have the highest divorce rate, right? and Dont be stupid. All doctors cheat on their wives. Others I spoke with said they hear the same things. The rate of divorce among doctors is around 24 percent, while the national average hovers between 40 and 50 percent. I cannot speak to why people feel the need to say these hurtful comments. Is there a scenario when these comments are constructive and helpful?

These are only some of the wide variety of judgmental comments that get made to the significant others of doctors and medical students. We also endure comparisons between our careers and theirs, comments based on specialty choice, and references to raising children alone. We can do better for physician families and couples. The life we have chosen is unusual and often extremely difficult. It is time to start pointing out these comments when we hear them and find ways to discuss medicine in supportive ways.

Sarah Epstein is a masters candidate in couples and family therapy who blogs at Dating a Med Student.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
Max Verstappen set the fastest time of a messy final practice session for the Mexican Grand Prix as drivers struggled for clear laps.

As was the case on Friday, traffic was a problem throughout much of the session and led to a number of aborted attempts to set lap times on the supersoft tyre during the qualifying simulations. Verstappen managed a clear run as Red Bull opted to head out relatively early, setting the pace with a 1:19.137.

Lewis Hamilton was second fastest, 0.094s slower than Verstappen as he had to abort his first planned attempt due to traffic. The defending champion took two laps to close the gap to less than a tenth of a second, with a clear final sector allowing him to set the fastest time in that part of the track. Hamilton's time also showed the supersoft tyre is good for more than one flying lap.

Daniel Ricciardo was third quickest but will attribute the 0.233s gap to team-mate Verstappen to traffic on his first attempt. Ricciardo was on a good lap but came across a very slow Kevin Magnussen in the middle of the penultimate corner and lost time. A second run yielded no personal improvement in any sector but a slightly quicker time overall for Ricciardo, who split the two Mercedes drivers.

Nico Rosberg was 0.481s off the pace in fourth but aborted one of his laps when he ran wide at Turn 12. The two Ferrari drivers - Sebastian Vettel in sixth and Kimi Raikkonen in seventh - made the exact same mistake and ended the session 0.8s off the pace. However, Vettel's first attempt saw him fastest in the first two sectors before running wide, suggesting both Ferrari and Red Bull could threaten Mercedes in qualifying.

Between Rosberg and the Ferraris was Valtteri Bottas as Williams timed its first runs well. Bottas and Felipe Massa - eighth fastest overall - were sent out early while the track was clear to attempt their low fuel runs. Massa did not have a smooth session, however, locking up and running wide over the grass at Turn 1 early on.

Flying laps were also hampered by a brief yellow flag when Romain Grosjean spun at Turn 11 late in the session. Grosjean was unhappy with the handling of his Haas as he ended FP3 down in 19th place, two spots below team-mate Esteban Gutierrez as both complained of a lack of grip from the front tyres.

15 minutes with ... Nico Rosberg

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By Michael Martina

BEIJING, Oct 29 (Reuters) - China's imports of North Korean coal run counter to global sanctions, a senior U.S. official said on Saturday, adding that a U.S. missile system deployed in South Korea should "motivate" Beijing to pressure Pyongyang over its nuclear programme.

North Korea's exports of coal to China provide a lifeline for the country and are also seen by the United States as a crucial area where Beijing has leverage over its neighbour, which has carried out a series of missile and nuclear tests in defiance of international sanctions.

China announced in April that it would ban North Korean coal imports to comply with U.N. sanctions, though it made exemptions for deliveries intended for "livelihood purposes".

Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken told journalists that China had reversed the burden of proof put forward under U.N. Security Council resolution 2270 adopted in March in response to a North Korean nuclear test.

"The plain language of 2270 makes it very clear that the export of coal, or the importation of coal if you are China, is prohibited unless you can demonstrate that the transaction in question goes to the livelihood of the North Korean people," Blinken said in Beijing after visits to Japan and South Korea.

"The Chinese have reversed the presumption and their approach has been that the trade in coal is allowed unless you can demonstrate that it is going to the weapons programme. But that's not what 2270 says," he said.

Coal is particularly important to the economic health of North Korea because it is one of its only sources of hard currency. China imported $1 billion worth of North Korean coal in 2015, according to Chinese customs data.

Beijing fears strengthening sanctions could lead to collapse in North Korea, sending a flood of refugees across the border into China, and it also believes the United States and South Korea share responsibility for growing tensions in the region.

North Korea's fourth nuclear test in January was followed by a satellite launch, a string of tests of various missiles, and its fifth and largest nuclear test in September.

China has repeatedly expressed anger at the United States and South Korea for their decision to deploy the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system in the South to counter threats from North Korea. Beijing worries that the system's powerful radar will compromise China's security.

Blinken said THAAD "was the latest but not the last defensive step" that the U.S. would take if the North Korean nuclear threat persists, and that hopefully it would "motivate China to work with us to change the conduct of the North Korean regime".

(Reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Nick Macfie)
MEEGAN M. REID | KITSAP SUN Vacant buildings on the corner of Burwell and Warren in Bremerton may come down next summer, thanks to more than $200,000 in federal money the city is directing toward a demolition project.

SHARE MEEGAN M. REID | KITSAP SUN Lorax Partners of Seattle, which development the nearly 606 building on Burwell, plans a 25-unit apartment complex for the property at 1010 Burwell.

By Josh Farley of the Kitsap Sun

BREMERTON  Developers will have help from city-authorized federal funds in 2017 to get an apartment building near downtown off the ground.

Or, perhaps more accurately, to ground out some urban blight.

Lorax Partners of Seattle is set to receive nearly $211,000 to tear down condemned row housing at Burwell Street and Warren Avenue. Lorax plans to build a 25-unit apartment complex there.

"Lorax is excited about removing this eyesore," said Brian Fyall, a partner.

Mayor Patty Lent praised the City Council's decision to steer funds, which come from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, toward the project.

"There is nothing that brings down the value or brings down the condition of the city more than that," she said of the condition of the properties at 1010 Burwell.

The federal cash comes by way of Community Development Block Grants, which are distributed each year to the city. A committee of city officials and community representatives reviews project proposals.

Lorax Partners has worked with the city of Bremerton before, building The 606 apartments at Burwell and Park Avenue in 2015 and the Bremerton Harborside more than a decade ago.

Bremerton will not receive the funds for distribution until 2017. Fyall hopes the demolition at Burwell and Warren can occur in the summer. Lorax is seeking investors for the project. The group purchased the property from Diamond Parking last year.

Outside of the demolition and asbestos abatement, Lorax is not bound to build the project by accepting the money. But City Council President Eric Younger said at Wednesday's council meeting that it still would be a success story. "It would be better than it is now," he said.

In 2015, the City Council opted to steer much of the city's block grants toward downtown blight. The first award, about $235,000, went to the Sound West Group, which is using the money for facade improvements on Fourth Street, between Washington and Pacific avenues. Their project, which envisions 25 to 30 apartments plus retail space, has not yet begun.

The council will soon approve the 2017 block grants, which are not limited to funding for the demolitions at Burwell and Warren. A couple of Kitsap Community Resources programs also received money: $50,000 for entrepreneurship training and at least $32,000 to help residents with weatherization and minor home repair. Nonprofit organization Community Frameworks also is due to get $132,000 to support its mission of renovating dilapidated homes and selling them to new homeowners.
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By Andrew Binion of the Kitsap Sun

PORT ORCHARD  Noting the lack of an apology from a man who pleaded guilty in connection to the death of his girlfriend's 19-month-old son, on Friday a Kitsap Superior Court Judge sentenced the man to 4  years in prison, the maximum sentence allowed.

"What is remarkable is the lack of remorse I heard," a terse Judge Sally Olsen told David Ray Betancourt, 29, of Bremerton, who had pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter and second-degree assault of a child for the death of Kaden Richardson. "It's all about yourself."

Betancourt had originally been charged with second-degree murder for Kaden's April 7, 2015, death. He told investigators that he had been alone watching the child for 11 hours at his residence on the 3200 block of Pine Road, that Kaden had been "fussy" that day and that he had placed Kaden in a playpen for timeout for about 15 to 20 minutes, according to court documents. When Betancourt returned Kaden was not breathing, Betancourt told investigators.

Kaden's grandmother, Rachel Nielsen, told Olsen that Kaden was a happy, well-mannered child and that his death devastated his family.

"Kaden trusted David, and David destroyed that trust," Nielsen said.

Nielsen asked Olsen to sentence Betancourt to at least 15 years in prison.

Although other men charged with second-degree murder in the deaths of children in their care have been sentenced to 15 and 18 years, the sentence for the crimes to which Betancourt pleaded carried a maximum of 54 months, which is the sentence Olsen handed down.

When given the opportunity to address the court Betancourt repeatedly told Olsen that he was a good person, that Kaden had been surrounded by love and that he helped people when they were in need, including Kaden's mother.

Betancourt maintained that he was not a "deviant" and that Kaden's mother and her family had initially supported him.

"I'm a good person, and this is really painful to go through, especially without (Kaden's mother) and her family's love," Betancourt said.

After discovering Kaden was not breathing, Betancourt called Kaden's mother, who returned shortly after that and called 911.

Betancourt told officers he was the "primary discipliner," an officer wrote in reports, and said that would "knock", "swat" or flick Kaden, though not hard to enough to cause trauma. Numerous bruises were discovered under Kaden's scalp, according to reports.

Betancourt said he attempted CPR to revive Kaden by placing him facedown on his stomach and pressing on his back. Investigators wrote they could find no examples of his method in use and wrote Betancourt served in the Navy as a corpsman and should have known proper CPR technique.

After a pathologist found Kaden had died from blunt force trauma, and ruled his death was a homicide, investigators arrested Betancourt in June 2015 and he was charged with second-degree murder.

However, a second pathologist evaluated Kaden and ruled that he died from smothering, Chief Deputy Prosecutor Chad Enright said.

With two different causes of death  though both found Kaden was a homicide victim  Enright said prosecutors were not confident they could have secured a murder conviction.

"It is disappointing, but given what we felt we could prove at trial, it was an appropriate sentence by the court," said Enright, who also said: "I think what it comes down to is reasonable doubt could have been raised about how Kaden died, but I think there is no doubt that David Betancourt was responsible for his death."
The state Department of Fish & Wildlife is proposing to move the marbled murrelet from "threatened" status to "endangered" status on the state endangered species list. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

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By Tristan Baurick of the Kitsap Sun

OLYMPIA  Getting listed as "threatened under the state's endangered species law nearly 25 years ago didn't do the marbled murrelet much good.

The little seabird's population has been in free fall, dropping by 4.4 percent annually for the past decade.

Fearing that the species could be extinct in Washington within 50 years, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife is proposing to "uplist" the murrelet to "endangered" status  the top tier for species that have hit the lowest lows.

The murrelet's advocates welcome the move, but they say the new label will be no more than that  a label.

"Calling them 'endangered' cranks up the volume on the alarm but what difference does it make if the fire department's not coming?" said Peter Goldman, an attorney representing the Sierra Club, Washington Audubon Society and 22 other conservation groups pushing for greater murrelet protections. "It doesn't mean any rules will change, and the (current) rules are so weak that none of it really matters."

State officials admit a bump up in the listings will do little for beleaguered murrelet population, now estimated at 7,500 birds in Washington. State endangered status comes with no funding or added protections.

"Primarily, it signals a call to action," said Hannah Anderson, Fish and Wildlife's listing and recovery section manager. "It raises a flag that this species has been listed since 1993 and it's not improving."

Related to the auk and about size of a robin, the murrelet spends much of its life at sea but nests in old-growth trees.

The bird is facing challenges in both of these worlds. At sea, the murrelet's chief food source  herring and other forage fish  is in decline. Puget Sound herring stocks fell by more than 25 percent between 1986 and 2010, according to a Fish and Wildlife report. Candlefish  another nutrient-rich food source  was recently listed under the federal Endangered Species Act. Forage fish depletion has driven murrelets to rely on less-nutritious food, such as krill and zooplankton.

"Diminished food availability has led to other problems, like less reproductive success," Anderson said. Murrelet hatchlings have increasingly been starving to death in their nests.

Suitable nesting habitat has declined by 27 percent since the murrelet was listed as a state threatened species in 1993. The vast majority of this loss was attributed to timber harvests in public and private lands.

Logging has "fragmented" old-growth stands, allowing crows, jays and other forest edge predators to raid murrelet nests, Anderson said.

The highest concentrations of murrelets are along the coast and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Recent surveys have noted a few murrelets in Kitsap County waterways, including Rich Passage, between Bainbridge Island and South Kitsap, and the north end of Hood Canal.

The Fish and Wildlife commission will have a presentation and hearing on the murrelet's uplisting on Friday in Olympia. Uplisting approval is slated for early December.

Murrelet advocates say state uplisting could push federal uplisting. The murrelet is also listed as a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act. A federal endangered status boost could trigger tougher regulations and greater conservation funding.

An upgrade on the state list could light a fire under the state Department of Natural Resources, which has postponed a long-term habitat conservation plan, Goldman said. Under consideration are murrelet protections on more than 730,000 acres of DNR-managed forest.

State forests contain just 15 percent of all existing murrelet habitat, but the land is "disproportionately important" for the bird's survival, according to Kara Whittaker, a scientist and policy analyst with the Washington Forest Law Center.

DNR lands are generally closer to marine waters than federally-protected lands, allowing nesting murrelets easier access to marine food sources.

Rules protecting murrelet habitat on private lands are "thin" and generally rely on the "honor system" for compliance, Whittaker said.

"For private land owners, the rules are very, very weak," she said. "Hopefully, there will be more scrutiny after the uplist."
By Choi Sung-jin



The past year was a banner year for Korea's pharmaceutical companies that rolled on with a series of new drugs and export contracts.



Now the sector is facing a headwind. Export contracts have been canceled and clinical tests are being suspended, aggravating corporate profitability and weakening investor sentiment.



As of 1:07 p.m. Friday, the shares of major drug makers were being traded at prices between 2.06 percent and 16.63 percent lower than their opening prices, and down between 0.34 percent and 15.25 percent from their previous-day prices, according to stock traders.



The first signal of this downturn came from Hanmi Pharmaceutical, which opened a boom year for the industry. On Sept. 30, the company announced that the right to develop a new lung cancer drug that it had exported to Boehringer Ingelheim of Germany in July 2015 has been returned. The cancellation of the technology export contract worth 850 billion won ($748 million) dampened investors' enthusiasm about new drug development and overall probability of success.



The way Hanmi's leaked the information and its massive short selling have combined to pull down the price of its stock sharply, inviting the prosecution to probe its activity and causing investor trust to hit another rock bottom.



On Oct. 13, Green Cross said it was suspending the stage 3 clinical test of its new treatment for hemophilia because progress was too slow in gathering patients willing to serve as test subjects to sharply weaken its commercial viability, compared with other new drugs.



After trading was over on Thursday, Yuhan also gave notice that it is suspending the clinical test of its drug to cure degenerative slipped disc, acknowledging it has failed to prove statistically significant effects in differentiation from the placebo.



As a result, the industry's third-quarter performance remains in the doldrums. Hanmi Pharmaceutical's sales in the July-Sept. period dropped 18.1 percent from a year ago to 219.72 billion won and its operating profit plunged 61.5 percent to 13.76 billion won. Yuhan and Green Cross also saw their operating profits drop 28 percent and 83 percent, respectively, to 15.94 billion and 4.61 billion won.



Domestic brokerages have readjusted their target prices for drug firms. Five out of the six securities companies that issued price reports Friday pulled down their target prices for Hanmi, and five out seven also did so against Green Cross.



Market watchers do not paint their mid-term business outlooks bright, either. "The pharmaceutical firms are expected to make efforts in the form of reducing various costs, but frankly speaking, I can't see any breakthroughs until the end of this year," said an analyst wanting to remain anonymous. "The gloomy climate will likely change only when there is news of more export contracts or progresses in major clinical tests."




By Choi Sung-jin

North Korea's attempted interference with the internal affairs of South Korea with respect to the glaring scandal involving the South's top leader has exceeded a tolerable level, experts said here Saturday.

The Rodong Sinmun, the mouthpiece of the North's ruling Workers Party, reported in great detail about the scandal Thursday, such as the leakage of state documents to Choi Soon-sil, a long-term confidant of President Park Geun-hye, as well as the South's political and social circumstances, and said, "Park's governance crisis has reached the worst situation."

"The (Park) regime has all but collapsed," it said while making an unwarranted call for the cabinet's resignation en masse.

The reclusive regime has moved beyond the simple intervention in the South's internal affairs. It is seeking to foment a South-South schism and instigate an outright anti-government protest.
















By Ko Dong-hwan

As of Saturday at 6:00 p.m., civic groups and people gathered at Cheonggye Plaza in central Seoul to demand President Park Geun-hye's resignation amid her influence-peddling scandal involving her longtime confidant, Choi Soon-sil.

Some 10,000 people are estimated to have joined the candlelit protest that encouraged people to "come and show fury."

The protest, streaming live on YouTube channel Fact TV, demands the truths behind the scandal involving Choi Soon-sil, who used her friendship with Park to meddle in state affairs. The protesters are also demanding the resignation of the President.






By Park Si-soo

Braving the chilly weather, tens of thousands of protesters are taking to a street in downtown Seoul on Saturday, calling for a thorough investigation into the "Choi Soon-sil scandal" and resignation of President Park Geun-hye.



They are chanting anti-President slogans with placards that read "Impeachment" or "Park Geun-hye OUT" on their hands.



While organizers estimate the number of protesters at 2-30,000, police say it's much smaller  around 3,000. Police have dispatched 4,800 riot police officers to prevent angered protesters from making their way toward the presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae, which is located just a few kilometers away from the scene.

There are no reports of clash between protesters and police.
South Korea's top prosecutor's office said Thursday a special task force will look into the scandal over a controversial figure with close ties to President Park Geun-hye.



Kim Soo-nam, the country's top prosecutor, ordered Lee Young-ryeol, the chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, to head the team to investigate suspicions surrounding Choi Soon-sil.



The announcement by the Supreme Prosecutors' Office came a day after investigators raided the houses and offices of Choi, who is suspected to be the behind-the-scenes power broker of the current administration.



On Tuesday, Park offered a rare public apology over a leak of dozens of presidential speeches to Choi before they were made public. Acknowledging her ties to Choi, which go back decades, the president said she asked for consultation "out of the best intentions" so as to be more thorough in her work.



Still, the allegations have only been snow-balling as local broadcaster JTBC, who first reported on the document leak, said earlier this week that there were other documents handed over to Choi, indicating a possible broader intervention by her in state affairs.



Choi -- the daughter of Park's late mentor Choi Tae-min and ex-wife of Park's former secretary Chung Yun-hoi -- does not hold an official government post.



There have been a series of media reports on suspicions she peddled influence on a broad range of affairs.



The latest raids also included two nonprofit foundations Mir and K-Sports, which are suspected of raising a combined 80 billion won (US$70 million) from conglomerates with the help of the country's big business lobby group.



Prosecutors are looking into whether some of the money was funneled to Choi.



Choi, however, has been denying all allegations raised against her, except that she received and edited the president's speech drafts.



In a recent interview with South Korea's daily Segye Times she said it was only to "help better convey Park's feelings" on certain issues. She is currently known to be in Germany.



The prosecutor-general ordered a "thorough investigation to get to the bottom of the case," according to the top prosecution's office.



The task force, comprised of 15 prosecutors under Lee, will look into the case independently and report only the results to the top prosecutor. (Yonhap)




Veteran actor Kim Sang-Joong will return to small screen after two years. He will play in a period drama about a Robin Hood-like figure in Joseon era, Hong Gil-Dong.

Kim Sang-Jong who is known for his raw and straightforward persona will be back to small screen in the drama about the Robin Hood-like character in Joseon era Hong Gil-Dong. Kim is reported to cast as Hong Gil-Dongs father, a Joseon nobleman.

This will mark the comeback of Kim after two years absent from TV drama. His last appearance was in the 2015 KBS period drama about Imjin War (1592-1598) titled The Jingbirok: A Memoir of Imjin War as the Joseon scholar Ryu Seong-Reong who wrote the Jingbirok memoir.

He also played the lead character in the noir crime drama Bad Guys aired on OCN cable channel in 2014, along with Park Hae-Jin, Ma Dong-Seok and Jo Dong-Hyuk. He played police detective who assmbled the crimininals to solve cold cases. Kim showed a remarkable performance in the drama.

The new drama about Hong Gil-Dong is scheduled to air early next year on MBC according to MBN. The title of the drama is Yeok Jeok Hong Gil-dong ( ) which literally means The Rebel Hong Gil-Dong.

Nevertheless, main cast to play Hong Gil-Dong has not been determined, according to Star News. Until recently, there are two main candidates to play Hong Gil-Dong - Nam Gung-Min and Ji-Sung.

Hong Gil-Dong is a a bandit in Joseon era who stole from the rich and gave it to the poor people. His action was memorized in the novel titled Hong Gil-Dong Jeon () which loosely translated as The Story of Hong Gil-Dong written by Hyeo-Gyeon in 16th century Joseon. There is no official record about Hong Gil-Dong other than his status as an illegitimate son of a Joseon nobleman.

Watch Kims memorable performance in tvN drama Bad Guys when detective Oh Goo-Tak lost his only daughter below:


From left, late Okorares two wives in black and his daughter and son

It was a pitiable sight last Wednesday, October 26th, when vigilante members from Emuhun community in Uhunmwode Local Government Area of Edo state who rescued the abducted wife of the Central Bank of Nigeria governor, Mrs Margret Emefiele, stormed the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) secretariat in Benin city alongside the family of one of their members, Mr Gabriel Okorare, who lost his life during the rescue operation.

They came lamenting that the corpse of their deceased member had been abandoned at the mortuary by the police while the family members the deceased left behind have also been left to their fate.

Late Okorare is an indigene of Delta State but lived in Emuhu community with his eleven children and two wives before his death.



Saturday Vanguard learnt that following an appeal from the police that the vigilante should comb the bush in search of Mrs Emefiele and three others who were abducted with her by the kidnappers, the deceased mobilized his men and during a shootout with the kidnappers, he was shot dead.

However, this did not deter his colleagues and some farmers who were said to have helped in locating the place she was kept and in fact assisted in ferrying the ransom to the area the kidnappers demanded the money should be kept.

Recalling the sacrifices their breadwinner made before Mrs Emefiele was rescued, the two wives, the eleven children and other members of the family wept uncontrollably as they felt abandoned. They also expressed disappointment at the Edo state Commissioner of Police, Mr Gwandu Haliru

Abubakar, who promised to pay a condolence visit to the family of the deceased but never kept to his promises. Eldest son of the deceased, Roland Okorare, in his speech said: we are still in shock because we were at home when we heard that our father was shot dead by the kidnappers when they went to rescue the wife of the CBN governor Mrs Emefiele.

We went to Ugoneki police station and the police admitted that they knew about his death, that they actually called members of the vigilante to comb the bush that day in pursuit of the kidnappers of the wife of the CBN Governor. All our vigilante men went into the bush and as they were exchanging fire with the kidnappers my father was shot. The police took his body to Abudu mortuary. We left there for Okhuai police station and the police said they were contacting the DSS and the Police command on the matter.

When they did not give us concrete response, we went to Benin to see the police commissioner who told us that he was also aware of the matter. But unfortunately, the police have abandoned the corpse at the mortuary, they are not bothered about how he will be buried or the welfare of the family he left behind. We have not also heard from the Emefiele family.

We did not hear from the police and we believe that the police did not even give the report of how one of the vigilante men lost his life. The kidnappers abducted that woman, took her to Igumoso bush where my father confronted the kidnappers and was shot dead. The police did not know the bush where the woman was kept. Emefieles wife was still in the bush when this happened, in fact it was a farmer and one of our men who brought the woman out after the kidnappers ran away and we handed her over to the police at about 2 am.

Emefiele family also promised to come and pay a condolence visit to us and we are still expecting them. My father has eleven children, most of them can no longer go to school now and all the promises from the police have not been fulfilled. I dont know if it is now a crime to assist people who are in distress he lamented.

The elders of Emuhun community led by Great Omoruyi, on their part said it would be the height of ingratitude to abandon the family of the deceased. According to him, it was the police who put a call across to us that we should come and help out immediately they kidnapped the woman and three others. They told us that the kidnappers ran into the bush and we should help. So we mobilized our vigilante men. The police told us that they were kidnapped at Ugoneki area along the Benin Asaba express road. The late Gabriel Okorare was one of the vigilante members who volunteered to join forces with security operatives. Unfortunately, Okorare, a hero, crime fighter, was shot dead by the kidnappers and his lifeless body was recovered by the police who were equally involved in the same rescue operation.

The police deposited the corpse at Abudu hospital mortuary. It may interest Nigerians to know that the deceased who was the bread winner of his family left behind eleven children, two wives, aged mother and brothers and sisters. Since his death, the feeding and the general welfare of the family have been a major challenge to the community of Emuhun. The situation has forced the children of the deceased out of school.

We are using this medium to appeal to Mr Godwin Emefiele, his wife Margret, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta state, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole of Edo state, our revered father, the Oba of Benin Kingdom, and others to come to our aid to enable the children of the deceased survive this shocking death of their father.

The report of late Okorares death was lodged at Okhuaihe police station while the family has also been interviewed by the Edo state Police Commissioner who promised to convey the matter to the appropriate authority but he had not done son and also failed to pay a condolence visit to the family of the deceased. All efforts to reach the Edo state CP for his comments proved abortive while the Police spokesman in the state, Stephen Onwuche, who promised to get back to Saturday Vanguard, failed to pick his calls.

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The SLFP does not condone the continuation of the Emergency Regulations (The Public Security Ordinance) more than a day necessary

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This article appears in the October 28, 2016 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.

ZEPP-LAROUCHE TO ESSEN CONFERENCE

Germanys Potential Role in

Developing the World Land-Bridge

The keynote address of Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder and chairwoman of the Schiller Institute, to the Schiller Institute conference in Essen, Germany on Oct. 21, 2016.

[Print version of this article]

Dear ladies and gentlemen, honored guests, most honored charge daffaires [of the Embassy of China in Berlin]: I am very happy that this event has begun with this wonderful performance of Chinese art, because I believe that art is the best way to open the hearts of mankind to new ideas.

EIRNS/Chris Lewis

We are hosting this conference in Essenand a similar conference took place just two days ago in Lyon, France, in cooperation with the China Club EM Lyon Foreverbecause we intend to put on the agenda a new perspective for Europe, namely cooperation between Germany and France on the New Silk Road. By organizing many such conferences, we want to make much better known the political, economic, and cultural potential which exists in the New Silk Road policy. Because the New Silk Road, which is already developing effectively at a very rapid tempo, is fast becoming a project of understanding among nations and is developing into the World Land-Bridge.

Obviously the New Silk Road provides enormous potential for business opportunities, that is, business relations, but actually it involves something much more important. It involves not only linking together the worlds continents through infrastructure and development corridors, and making innovation the science driver for the world economy with the goal of raising productivity. It involves something very much deeper and more fundamental than that: Can mankind, in the face of all the crises which we see before our eyes, establish a world system in which people can live together in peace? Is humanity capable of defining a higher level of reason, or are we compelledby keeping to the well-worn pathsto hit a stone wall, perhaps losing civilization forever?

I believe that it is possible to find this higher level of reason, and to make it effective. Just as the ancient Silk Road, during the Han Dynasty some 2,000 years ago, was not only a means for the exchange of goods, but also of technology, culture, and philosophyand thus led to an enormous improvement in the living standards of all the participating nations and regionsso, I believe, it is possible to put on the agenda today a New Silk Road, a new policy for binding nations together.

The Existential Threats

But I can not talk about the advantages of this new paradigm without at least very briefly identifying the great dangers which the world is confronting at this moment, and why, in my opinion, the New Silk Road is not an option, but a necessity, if we are to avoid a catastrophe.

Seventy-one years after the end of the war in Europe, what once seemed unthinkablethe possibility of a new great waris looming. So much so that German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier recently said that he could no longer rule out a direct military confrontation between the United States and Russia. American Vice President Joe Biden said that the United States was planning a cyber-attack on Russia, at the time of our choosing and under the circumstances that have the greatest impact, because of alleged Russian manipulation of the American election campaigna statement that Konstantin Korsachov, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Russias Federation Council, has called the greatest threat since the Cuban Missile crisis. Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said that the Obama Administration is carrying out a scorched earth policy in bilateral relations.

And Russian and Chinese military officials at the Seventh Xiangshan Forum in Beijing a week ago warned that the Obama Administration has gone a long way in preparation for a first strike against their two countries on the basis of the Prompt Global Strike doctrine!

Nor can anyone claim that Europe doesnt face other crises. After the Brexit, the future of the European Union (EU) is somewhat unclear. The refugee crisis has shaken Europes very foundations, and esteem for the EU handling of this crisis has absolutely collapsed internationally, as I myself have had to recognize many times.

We are approaching a new financial crisis like that of 2008, only this time potentially very much worse, of which Deutsche Banks crisis is only the tip of the iceberg. And everyone knows that if Deutsche Bank, with its 42 trillion euros of outstanding derivatives goes bankrupt, then all the banks which are allegedly too big to fail, would be immediately affected. And as a former member of the board of a large European bank told me a few days ago: If the storm breaks out and the governments do nothing to bring matters under control, then the biggest losers will be those who have earned their life savings with honest work. We will have a different kind of Europe, full of ungovernabilityand chaos and revolution will be at hand.

I point to that as a scenario simply because, if we do not change course, the danger is that we will enter an unprecedented crisis.

Chinas Meteoric Progress

Now the good news is that, because all these crises are man made, if we change our policies, we can overcome them. Western media have scarcely reported what a dramatic change has occurred over the past three years, since President Xi Jinping put the New Silk Road on the agenda. A totally new perspective has emerged, which has developed with enormous momentum and in which more than 70 nations are already cooperating.

Since the economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping, China itselfas most of you know, either through visits there or reportshas carried out an unbelievable transformation from total underdevelopment to at least partial industrialization. Interestingly, the Chinese economic miracle proceeded according to the same principles as the German Economic Miracle of reconstruction after World War II, namely the principles which were then applied by the Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau, and which were close to the ideas of the German economist Friedrich List, who, interestingly, is the best known and most loved German economist in China.

Over a span of 40 years, China has been able to accomplish the development that took the industrialized nations up to 200 years. China has long since stopped relying on cheap production, but is already the world market leader in many areas such as high-speed rail. By the end of 2015, China had built 20,000 kilometers of high-speed rail. It will have 38,000 kilometers of high-speed rail by 2025, linking all major cities in this way. It has surpassed many western nations in the digitalization of industry and is the market leader in many areas.

Over this period of 40 years, China has freed 700 million people from poverty. I believe there is no country that has done as much for human rights as China, because poverty is the greatest violation of human rights; therefore to have done what China has done is a great contribution to human civilization. China has even published a white paper on overcoming extreme poverty entirely by 2020; only three percent of the population still lives in extreme poverty, and China is determined to change that.

Sputnik

At the recent G-20 summit in Hangzhou, hosted by China, China announced its proposal to base the world economy on innovation and win-win cooperation, and declared Chinas intention to become an innovative nation by 2020in my view it already is onean internationally leading innovative nation by 2030, and a world powerhouse by 2050. China declared that innovation is the primary driving force of an economy, and that it is determined to escalate the benefits of scientific and technological progress in all areasmodern agriculture, information technology, protection of the environment, the ocean and space industries, and healthcare and services.

President Xi Jinping has given Chinese scientists the mission to achieve fundamental breakthroughs in four specific domains: the structure of matter, the evolution of the universe, the origin of life, and the nature of conciousness. It perhaps will surprise some, but Chinese economic theories are very close to what we call physical economy as it was developed by Wilhelm von Leibniz, and taken further by Friedrich List; Mathew Carey; Henry C. Carey, Abraham Lincolns economic adviser; and Wilhelm von Kardorff, Bismarcks chief economic adviser, and to whom we owe Bismarcks shift from supporting the free trade outlook to advocating of physical economics, and Germany was enabled to become an industrial nation.

According to the theory of physical economywhich has been further developed by Lyndon LaRouche, my husband, whom we have here with usthe source of societys wealth does not lie in the control of trade relations (for example, a TPP or TTIP), or in buying cheap, selling dear, or in the control of raw materials, and certainly not in the derivatives trade and other speculative products. Societys wealth lies ultimately in the creative potential of the human spirit and the application of scientific and technological progress to the production process, which raises productivity, and thus is the source of the improvement of living standards and life expectancy.

China has developed, along with the nations along the Silk Road, a comprehensive plan for scientific and technological cooperation, and will establish joint research laboratories and centers, and organize technology transfer and the exchange of 150,000 scientific personnel and 5,000 young scientists. The goal is explicitly to raise the productivity in the cooperating countries.

At the G-20 Summit, President Xi Jinping announced that China will share breakthroughs in scientific and technological progress immediately with the developing countries, so that their development is not delayed.

This ideal, to my knowledge, was first proposed in the 15th Century by Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa, who likewise said that human inventions are so important for the human race that they should immediately be placed in an international pool in which all can participate, so that their development will not be held back.

Greatest Construction Program in History

Chinas Silk Road conception is the greatest infrastructure and industrialization program that has ever existed on Earth. Already there are 30 treaties between China and other nations; 70 nations are cooperating, involving 4.4 billion people altogether. The total investment amounts to $1.4 trillion, which is twelve times greater than the Marshall Plan after the Second World War, measured in todays purchasing power.

The Silk Road is a perspective for the economic transformation of the Earth over the next 30 to 40 years, and by no means involves only trade routes to Europe and Africa. The expression Silk Road was coined by the German geologist Ferdinand von Richthofen in 1877, but Silk Road is actually a synonym for the integration of regions and routes for the exchange of science and technology, and what the Silk Road technology was thenhow to produce silk, how to produce porcelainis today the most modern technologies, like the question of nuclear fusion, or space technology.

Its obvious that Germanys future lies in cooperation with this project, because Germany has something which is highly valued in the whole world, and that is the German Mittelstand (small and medium-sized enterprises), which in fact contributes the most to innovation. Germany, which as you know, has hardly any raw materials, was only able to achieve high productivity and a high living standard because we always had a very high rate of scientific and technological progress, and a very high rate of exports. In Germany it is the Mittelstand that is the source of most inventions and patents, that provides 85% of expenditures for the general welfare, and it is the German Mittelstand which would profit the most from cooperation with Chinanot only through direct German investments in China and Chinese direct investments in Germany, but primarily through joint ventures in various projects in third countries.

High-Speed Changes

Over the last six weeks the process of change has reached an enormous rate of speed, and there is now a totally new alignment. At the beginning of September, there was an economic forum in Vladivostok, where Chinas New Silk Road was integrated with the Eurasian Economic Union under the leadership of Russia. Prime Minister Shinto Abe of Japan was there, as well as South Koreas President Park, both with large economic delegations. Immediately after that, there was the G-20 Summit in Hangzhou, at which China presented a new model for economic relations among nations, focussing on the United Nations Charter, with its emphasis on sovereignty and respect for different economic and social models.

President Xi said on this occasion that the old model is no longer sustainable; we now need an innovation-directed strategy. We will take the lead in science and technology, and conduct the fundamental research needed to solve the scientific and technological problems holding back economic and industrial development. We will speed up the commercialization of research and development, foster strategic emerging sectors, and move industry up to a medium-high level of the value-added chain.

This philosophy was then discussed further at the directly following summit of the ASEAN nations in Laos, a summit which actually consummated a strategic orientation toward China and, for example, adopted the Chinese position on the conflict in the South China Sea. Their final declaration stated that Chinas development was an opportunity for the entire region. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, during his visit to China, has just said that he will now prioritize the relationship with China. The same interests were stressed at the immediately following conference in Goa, India of the BRICS nationswhich are at the core of Eurasian integrationand remaining tensions were downplayed. The reason is clear: The Asian dynamic continues to grow.

The tempo of this strategic realignment shows very clearly that the center of world politics has shifted to Asia. When the first train arrived from China five years ago, it created great surprise. But now, 20 trains a week are coming from different economic regionsZhenjiang, Lianyungang, Harbin, Yiwu, Wuhan, Chengdu, Chongqingto Duisburg, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Lyon, and Madrid. The Eastern and Central European countries have long since realized the advantages of working with China, because China has invested in the transport corridors that were agreed on in 1994 at the EU Conference in Crete but never realized, because of the Troikas austerity policy. China has expanded the port of Piraeus, or is soon to expand it; it is building the railroad line from Greece to Serbia, towards Hungary; it is connecting the Oder-Elbe-Danube Canal with the other European waterways.

The governments of Greece, Serbia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Italy, Switzerland, and Portugal have stated that they see the path to the future in cooperation with the Chinese Silk Road.

At the same time, a parallel banking system has developed, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Seventy countries immediately joined as founding members, although the United States put enormous pressure on them not to do so, among them such close allies as Great Britain, Germany, France, Japan, Australia, and Canada. Simultaneously the New Development Bank (NDB) of the BRICS emerged and is now operational, along with the Silk Road Fund, the Maritime Silk Road Fund, the Bank of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and also the Contingent Reserve Arrangement to protect countries from speculative attacks.

Xinhua/Geng Yuhe

To all the cities and regions that are cooperating with these projects, it is perfectly clear that it is to their advantage. For example, Duisburgwhich was once a steel city but has experienced a great economic slow-downis now in an upswing, because it is profiting enormously from being the largest inland port on the Silk Road.

China has made Europe an offer to fully cooperate in the industrialization of Africa. And what should prevent us from doing this, along with using this Asian dynamic to develop the Balkans and Southern Europe, which has suffered economic hardship from the Troikas policy? For example, Greeces industry, through the Troikas policy, has shrunk by a third. Everything can be built up again through China and the Silk Road. At the same time, the Middle East must urgently be reconstructed, and naturally, Africa.

Speculators Propaganda

What should prevent us from taking up these offers? The answer is clear: that some countriesthe United States and Great Britaininsist on a unipolar world, although this unipolar world has long since ceased to exist. The danger is that the trans-Atlantic world will fall into the Thucydides trapthat it will see the rise of Asia as a geopolitical threat instead of recognizing the opportunity for everyone to participate in win-win cooperation.

The propaganda against the New Silk Road is gigantic. On September 12 the Said Business School of Oxford University published a report asserting that Chinas huge investments in infrastructurethe equivalent of $10.8 trillion over the last decadeis leading to an imminent economic collapse of both China and the world. This is obviously a desperate attempt to slander the Silk Road, and the argumentation is that of the typical investment bankerthat investments in infrastructure dont yield enough profit.

Chinese officials have already countered this argument, saying that China has a different appraisal of risk than the western rating agencies, and that it sees the potential of a country in its future, while the bankers view the past. In the history of industrialization of every country, with no exceptionwhether it be Germany, the United States, Russia, or any other countrythe development of infrastructure was always the sine qua non for its transformation into a modern economy.

The idea that one realizes a profit on infrastructural investments directly, as, for example, by tolls on private highways, is obviously absurd. The profit is in the rise of productivity in the whole nation, and the higher the level of development, the denser the infrastructure network must be. If you then include all forms of infrastructureenergy, water, communications, education, healthcarethen it is totally clear: The higher the density of infrastructure, the higher the productivity, the living standard of the population, and life expectancy. And the more advanced industry is, all the more relevant is the time factor; thus we absolutely believe that the Transrapid technology remains a technology of the future, and we will hear a lecture on this subject today after lunch.

The Oxford University researchers then let the cat out of the bag as to why they published such a laughable report: They said specifically that the Chinese model should no means become the model for other developing countries, certainly not for Pakistan, Nigeria, or Brazil. That China should not be a model. But all predictions that China will collapse economically are totally absurd; look at the just published figures on annual growth. The Gross National Product is up 6.7%, exactly as predicted; industrial production is up 6.1%what European country would not rejoice over a 6.1% annual increase? The rise in consumption is 10%. Electricity use is up 4.8%, thanks in no small part to the ongoing electrification of Chinas western regions.

The stance of these investment bankers against infrastructure is one of the reasons why we in Germany have an infrastructure investment deficit of somewhere around 2 trillion euroramshackle bridges, bad roads, and the rest. That is also the reason why the IMF conditionalities of the last 50 years have prevented the infrastructural development of the Third World, and why we today have such a great stream of refugees out of Africa into Europe.

A Cultural Renaissance

wikipedia

There is another false argument, namely that China actually only wants to replace Anglo-American imperialism with Chinese imperialism. I think this is the projection of people who simply cannot imagine that any country today has a positive model for the organization of relationships on this Earth.

In that regard, you must understand that China not only has a 2,500-year-old Confucian tradition, but that there is at present a powerful Renaissance of Confucian thought in China on all levels of society. Part of that thought is, for example, the idea of life-long self-improvement, self-perfection, the idea that each person should become a junzi, someone morally self-possessed. To that tradition also belongs the idea of the harmonious development of all nations, and the win-win idea of Xi Jinping conforms precisely to that. It also correspondsif we in Europe go back in our historyto the ideas of Nicholas of Cusa, who said in the Fifteenth Century that there can only be harmony in the macrocosm if all the microcosms develop harmoniously and to their mutual advantage. There is a deeper affinity between Confucianism and European humanism than most people realize.

The problem isnt China. The problem is that we in Europe have forgotten this tradition, or have shunted it asidethe ideal of humanity that was associated with the Italian Renaissance, the Ecole Polytechnique in France, or the German Classical period. Who today still has the optimistic image of man of Wilhelm von Humboldt, who said that the goal of education should be to create a beautiful character? Who still has the ideas of Friedrich Schiller, who said, Every man has the potential to become a beautiful soul, for whom passion and duty, freedom and necessity, are the same? The only person who can do so is the genius; but Schiller meant that all people have the potential for genius.

That means that we have distanced ourselves from these humanistic ideals, or that they have meaning for only a very small part of the German population. And looking at our youth culture, no one can doubt that it is dominated by a very far-reaching degree of brutalization; ugliness is everywhere, violence is glorified, teachers are afraid of their students. The German Industrial Association wrote several years ago that 25% of 15-year-olds are not employable because they are not interested in anything.

This is the first time in the history of Europe and America that we have apparently accept the idea that the next generation will be worse off than we are. For youth this means that they have no future, no reason to study and to learn.

And it is totally different in China. Chinas youth have experienced the Chinese economic miracle, and most of themnot all, of course, but mosthave an enormously optimistic conception of themselves and their country. That means that also in this respect, Europe and Germany could cooperate with the Silk Road so that our youth can regain a perspective.

Germany is the most important economy in Europe. I think that if we can get Germany to consciously say yes, officially, to cooperation with the New Silk Road, that would perhaps be the most decisive step which Germany could take for the preservation of world peace.

The Common Aims of Mankind

The issue is a totally new paradigm, a totally new era in the history of mankind. The issue is the idea that mankind as a whole represents a higher order than all of the nations. If we focus on the common aims of mankind, what Xi Jinping calls the community of destiny or the community of the common future of mankind, then, I think, everything is possible.

What are these common aims?

The industrialization of Africa, for example. If Germany and Europe were to cooperate with China, with Japan and Indiaall of whom are already engaged in Africawe could create a situation in which tens of thousands of people are no longer either dying of thirst in the desert or drowning in the Mediterranean, while fleeing from war and starvation. We could build up the Near and Middle East again, which is our moral responsibility, because we have tolerated these wars which everyone knows were built on lies.

We could give all children access to education and thus set free the real creative potential of mankind.

We must concentrate on a new scientific revolutionthe principle of life, the creative potential of the human spirit as a physical force in the universe. We must better understand the processes of the Solar system, of the Galaxy, of the Universe as a whole. We must put ourselves in the position of astronauts, cosmonauts, and taikonauts, who all report that when you look down on the Earth from space, it is only a small blue planet, which has no limits, but is also infinitely vulnerable.

We must place ourselves in the position of Krafft Ehricke, the German rocket and space pioneer, who defined three laws of astronautics:

The first law: Under the natural law of this universe, nothing and no one imposes any limitations on man, but he himself.

Second: The rightful field of action for mankind is not only the Earth, but the whole Solar system, and as much of the Universe as he can reach under natural law.

And third: When he expands into the Universe, man fulfills his destiny as an element of life, endowed with the power of reason and the wisdom of the moral law within himself.

The infrastructural development of the New Silk Road therefore means not only the improvement of the landlocked regions of the Earth, but also the improvement of the nearby space environment. The Chinese lunar program, with Change 4 and 5, plans to land space vehicles on the far side of the Moon in two years, with the purpose of later mining Helium 3 for a future fusion economy on Earth, which will finally bring mankind energy and raw material security.

Just now there was a successful docking of the space vehicle Shenzhou-11 with the Tiangong Space Station, where two Chinese taikonauts will carry out experiments for 30 days. China will have a permanent space station in a few yearsas early as 2020 or 2022. Thus cooperation in space is one of the most important areas of the common aims of mankind, because it challenges man practically on all fronts of his physical and spiritual existence, and it reflects to the highest degree the independence of the human spirit and absolutely touches the philosophy of his existence. I think that we can survive the challenges with which we are currently confronted on Earth with this orientation to the future, and on the level of reason. But I think we can do it.
This article appears in the October 28, 2016 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.

Duterte Crushes the Obama/Hillary

Imperial Pivot to Asia

by Michael Billington

[Print version of this article]

Oct. 24 (EIRNS)The newly elected President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, in a press conference at the beginning of his visit to China on Oct. 18, described the reasoning behind the transformation of his countrys foreign policy from subservience to U.S. dictates to alignment with Chinas New Silk Road concept of win-win development of the world as a whole. (A transcript of portions of Dutertes remarks is included below.) At the same time, he presented a powerful indictment of Obama, Bush, Tony Blair, and the British Empire for crimes against humanityan unprecedented and courageous act for a head of state. The truth of his indictment was clearly contained in the indictment itself.

Xinhua/Li Xueren

Obamas plan for war against Russia and China has been dealt a powerful blow by Dutertes courage. The threat began with Obamas Pivot to Asia, announced by then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2011, a plan to militarily encircle China with U.S. nuclear forces, together with an economic isolation of China (the Trans-Pacific Partnership, TPP). The centerpiece of the policy was to be the transformation of the Philippines into a vast U.S. military base, an unsinkable aircraft carrier.

The Philipines was then governed by a puppet of Obamas Wall Street and British controllers, Noynoy Aquino, the manipulable son of Cory Aquino, whom the United States had placed in office after the successful regime change operation against the last nationalist president of the country, Ferdinand Marcos, in 1986. Obama worked out a deal with the young Aquino, called the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), allowing the deployment of U.S. air, land, and sea military forces into bases across the Philippines, with prepositioning of weapons and military materiel, ready for a war on China. The EDCA agreement was implemented illegally, bypassing the Philippine constitutional requirement for Senate approval for such foreign military deployments on Philippine soil.

Obama then orchestrated a phoney international tribunal, under the aegis of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague, which was no tribunal at all, since China refused to participate in the rigged game. The tribunal, composed of anti-China judges chosen by anti-China interests, refused to follow their own guidelines, ruling that Chinas historical rights have no meaning in the new Alice-in-Wonderland world, but that international law is determined by those who pick the judges.

But Obamas dreams of maintaining a unipolar world, with military control over Asia after a probable war with China, have now been dealt a severe blow. Even Wall Streets Bloomberg News posted a headline on Oct. 23: The Philippines Just Blew Up the Obama Pivot.

U.S. Navy/Petty Officer 1st Class Chris Williamson

As you can see in the transcript, Duterte has turned the tables on Obama. While Obama and his human rights mafia are denouncing Duterte for the killing of drug dealers in his ferocious war on the drug cartelscartels that are killing the youth of his countryeven demanding that Duterte be taken to the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, Duterte instead indicts the western leaders who have killed hundreds of thousands of innocents in wars against countries which were no threat to the West, from Iraq, to Libya, to Syria today, and even reflecting back on Vietnam, when young Filipino soldiers were also sent to fight and die for a pointless and losing cause in that fellow Southeast Asian nation.

Duterte in China

Dutertes wildly successful trip to China resulted in an agreement to put aside the issues of sovereignty in the South China Sea, and instead to work out agreements for sharing the natural resources in the region and ensuring the peace and stability necessary to deal with the horrific state of the Philippine people and their failed economy. As mentioned in an editorial in Chinas Global Times when Duterte arrived on Oct. 18, 40% of the Philippine people are living in poverty, many of them suffering from hunger. The fishing industry in the Philippines, it said, employs more than 1.6 million people and provides nearly 40% of the protein consumed in the nation. In this context, it continued, many Filipinos equate the right to fish as the right to life.

Indeed, one of the most contentious issues between China and the Philippines has been over fishing rights in the region of the Scarborough Shoal, a contested area between the two countries. When the Aquino government sent Coast Guard boats to push Chinese fishermen out of the area in 2012, the Chinese responded with their own Coast Guard, and have kept Philippipine fishermen out of the region since that time. Now, the two sides are not only working out joint fishing rights, but China has offered to significantly upgrade the fishing industry in the country.

As to the South China Sea, the two sides signed an agreement for the establishment of a joint coast guard committee on maritime cooperation, while Duterte has announced that there will be no further joint patrols of the region with the United States. On the other hand, the Philippines will become a major part of Xi Jinpings 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, linking the worlds maritime nations in win-win development projects.

Altogether, Duterte and the Chinese signed 21 agreements, including $13.5 billion in Chinese soft loans and investments in the Philippines. This includes cooperation in the War on Drugs and investments in rail, roads, agriculture, and more.

ASEAN Unified

Beyond the bilateral agreements, Dutertes rejection of war and confrontation has also facilitated a transformation of the ten-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). For years, the Philippines sabotaged the consensus required by the ASEAN Charter, serving as Obamas puppet to demand denunciations of China at ASEAN summits. At the last summit in Laos in Septemberthe first attended by President DuterteASEAN came together, expressing its united intent to work with Chinas Silk Road process, drawing on the China-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation development plans, and other regional development plans, rejecting confrontation in favor of growth and development.

No to U.S. Policies of War and Poverty

Dutertes dramatic public declaration has been widely publicized in the West. Speaking in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, he said, In this venue, I announce my separation from the United States. Not in social matters, but militarily, and in economics also. I have separated from them. Clearly he meant a separation from Obamas war and confrontation policy in favor of cooperation with all nationsincluding the United States, but not in confrontation with others. Economically, he will not reject American investment, but as he makes clear in the transcript below, U.S. investment has been limited to extracting raw materials. The investors have refused to invest a cent in building infrastructure, and that is what the country needs to grow, and which is the core of the offers coming from China.

But Duterte is clearly aware that he has made himself a primary target of the Bush/Obama/British regime change imperialism, either by a color revolution or by direct assassination or war. His Defense Secretary, Gen. (ret.) Delfin Lorenzana, told the press that in every discussion with his military leaders, Duterte tells them that he may not survive his full term, and that they must continue his uncomprimising war on drugs, crime, terrorism, and subversion.

In the same vein, Dutertes Social Media Director during his presidential campaign, Pompee La Vina, posted on his Facebook page on Oct. 20 an article written by this author in 2004 in EIR, describing in detail the coup run by the American neocons in 1986, led by George Shultz, to overthrow President Marcos, in one of the first color revolutions, making the coup appear to be a peoples power revolution. In that case the color was yellow. La Vina wrote in his posting (translated from Tagalog): The Secret Sin of U.S. to Philippines. No secret stays hidden forever. These documents explain how the U.S. IMF Economic Hitmen (global elites) helped the Yellow Oligarchy take over our country and resources from 1986 to present. Is Uncle Sam our true ally? Think again.

The message is clear. Just as Washington would not allow Marcos to turn the Philippines into a modern nation statewith nuclear power, industrialization, self-sufficiency in food, and friendly relations with Chinaso it will also try to stop Duterte.

War Danger

Obama is further exposed and weakened by Dutertes courageous moves, but, as Lyndon LaROuche has emphasized, Obama is all the more dangerous, since his last resort is war.

Indeed, Obamas maniacal Defense Secretary Nuclear Ash Carter, meeting in Washington with his South Korean counterpart, according to Voice of America, declared that the United States is considering the permanent deployment at its bases in South Korea of B-1B and nuclear-capable B-52 bombers, F-22 Stealth fighter jets, and nuclear-powered submarines. It is widely recognized that such mass overkill, like the deployment of THAAD missiles to South Korea, has no purpose whatsoever against North Korea, but is aimed at China and the Russian Far East.

Stopping such a scenario of doomsday for mankind requires the courage of every citizen of the United States and of the world to stand up against the mad oligarchs in London and Washington, as demonstrated by the outsider Duterte, elected President of the Philippines by a population that has finally seen enough of poverty, hunger, drugs, terrorism, and war under U.S. tutelage. The alternative is before us all, in the new paradigm posed by China, Russia, India, and most of the developing nations, who have joined in the New Silk Road concept of global development for the common aims of mankind.

mobeir@aol.com
This article appears in the October 28, 2016 issue of Executive Intelligence Revie

The LaRouche-Hamilton Laws

Will Solve Todays Crisis

by Robert Ingraham

[Print version of this article]

Oct. 23On October 7, 2016, in a discussion with associates, and following several reports on the unfolding breakdown of the trans-Atlantic banking and financial system, Lyndon LaRouche stated the following,

Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr.

All you have to do is to take my laws, which I presented. Those laws, my laws, define exactly what solves the problem by creating a standard by which credit is defined. This was developed by the Treasurer of the United States [Alexander Hamilton]. This is the only way it will work. . . All you have to do is go for an international program based on that principle, the same principle, and youve got to get the people of the nations working together to understand what this kind of action is. Just read the publications on law by [Hamilton]. He wrote the laws. Theyre written there. But people dont do it. They talk about something else. Therefore, they dont understand what makes history, what makes history work. What I did was actually a mechanism to define the way in which the original system had been established. By Hamilton. You dont have to do anything else. Thats what you have to do. . . Youre talking about Hamiltons laws, and youre talking about my laws. Thats what youre talking about. Dont change the subject. . . You have to get an international agreement among nations, among a significant number of nations, which will create a credit system, an international credit system or something tantamount to that, which will deal with this problem. Were not talking about that, yet. You have to talk about that; youve got to talk about the work of Hamilton. Youve got to put the name of Hamilton in there, and youve got to put my name in there. Because thats the only way youre going to get that thing done. Get some books about Hamiltons economy. Its all there. All I did was to put this thing into standards which conform to what Hamilton laid out. People have to take the handbooks, the records of Hamilton; read those things as Hamilton stipulates. Use that. Do it! Then you can go to the table and say, Now we can create a credit system. Take Hamilton, and take what I have done. Put the two things together, and that work contains enough information to define exactly what has to be done. Its just ignored because people want to be stupid.

Let us be as clear as possible on the most crucial point. What is being discussed here, what Mr. LaRouche is proposing, is not economic theory. It is an Action Plan, a solution to the current trans-Atlantic financial and banking crisis. It will work, but it will work only if the precise method prescribed by Mr. LaRouche is followed. It is, in fact, the only way out of our current crisis.

I. Hamiltons Reports and LaRouches Four Laws

Between January of 1790 and December of 1791, that is, over a period of a mere twenty-four months, Alexander Hamilton authored five documents which created the sovereign United States of America and brought into existence a national Public Credit System, entirely new in the history of the human species.

Alexander Hamilton

These documents are:

 January 14, 1790the Report on Public Credit  December 14, 1790the Second Report on Public Credit (the Report on a National Bank)  January 28, 1791the Report on the Establishment of a Mint  February 23, 1791an Opinion as to the Constitutionality of the Bank of the United States  December 5, 1791the Report on Manufactures.

Much more will be said about these documents later in this article, but for now only a few observations need be made.

George Washington was inaugurated as the first President of the United States on April 30, 1789. At that time, the new government, as established by the recently ratified U.S. Constitution, was not even functioning. The nation was de facto bankrupt, its currency debased and its finances in a state of chaos. This was the crisis that Alexander Hamilton, as the new Secretary of Treasury, was tasked to solve. Hamiltons measures and his actions were entirely successful. What is more, however, is that Hamilton did not simply implement means to solve a financial crisis; he brought into existencecreateda system of Public Credit whereby a sweeping future-oriented transformation of both the nations physical economy as well as the culture of the nation might be accomplished.

On June 8, 2014, the LaRouche Political Action Committee published a document, authored by Lyndon LaRouche, titled, The Four New Laws to Save the U.S.A. Now! Not an Option: an Immediate Necessity. In that policy statement, LaRouche begins by saying, The economy of the United States of America, and also that of the trans-Atlantic political-economic regions of the planet are now under the immediate mortal danger of a general, physical- economic, chain-reaction breakdown crisis of that region of this planet as a whole.

Mr. LaRouche goes on to describe the nature and the origins for this physical-economic as well as financial/banking crisis, and then he proceeds to enunciate what he terms The Available Remedies. In lieu of reprinting that entire document here, we present just the briefest synopsis of what LaRouche proposes:

 The immediate re-enactment of the Glass-Steagall law instituted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, without modification, as to principle of action;  A return to a system of top-down, and thoroughly defined [as] National Banking;  The purpose of the use of a Federal Credit-system is to generate high-productivity trends in improvements of employment, with the accompanying intention, to increase the physical-economic productivity, and the standard of living of persons and households of the United States; and  Adopt a Fusion-Driver Crash Program, later defined to include the relaunching of the space program. The essential distinction of man from all lower forms of life, hence, in practice, is that it presents the means for the perfection of the specifically affirmative aims and needs of human individual and social life. . . .

If the reader of this article will take the time to read the full document published by Lyndon LaRouche in 2014, and then proceed to read and study the reports issued by Alexander Hamilton in 1790 and 1791, the full coherence of what LaRouche and Hamilton are proposing will become very clear, particularly as to matters of principle.

II. Historical Specificity

It is strongly recommended to read the five documents authored by Hamilton that are listed at the beginning of this report in chronological order. The benefit in doing so is to experience how Hamilton proceeds step-by-step in the creation of his system. True, some of what he discusses is specific to the time and circumstances within which he livedsuch as in his discussion of gold and silver coins in the Report on the Mintbut that is the point. Hamilton is not writing timeless academic economic theory. He is dealing with a crisis, and he is defining the way, the only lawful and effective way, to overcome that crisis.

To truly understand what Hamilton is doing, one must look out through his eyes. In many of his writings from 1790 through 1794, Hamilton is very explicit that Jefferson and his allies are intent on overturning the 1788 Constitution. Everything they did was directed toward that end. Thus, Hamiltons banking and economic writings of 1790-1792 are not ivory tower speculations. They are written under war-time conditions.

The Battlefield

In early 1791, Thomas Jefferson released his Opinion on the Constitutionality of a National Bank. This was not a mere critique of Hamiltons proposal for a National Bank. It was the opening salvo of all out war to defeat Hamilton, destroy the Washington Administration and overturn the Constitution that had been ratified only two years earlier. Jeffersons declaration of war against Hamilton would unleash what became an open rebellion against the Washington Administration, including an armed insurrection against the U.S. Governmentknown euphemistically as the Whiskey Rebellionand widespread anti-Washington and anti-Hamilton riots in 1794-1795. This would culminate in the assassination of Hamilton in 1804.

It is sometimes stated by illiterate historians that, Hamilton was for manufacturing, and Jefferson was for agriculture. What a lie! Hamilton was for human progress, human advancement, science and industry; Jefferson was for slavery and enforced human backwardness. It is also useful to note that the greatest enemy of Hamiltons demand for scientific and manufacturing progress are the proposals put forth by the British Empires Adam Smith in his Wealth of Nations. Everything Smith proposes, on behalf of his British masters, is contrary to the approach which Hamilton initiated.

Every step of the way, beginning with the proposal of Madisons pro-slavery anti-national Virginia Plan at the Constitutional Convention in 1788, through Hamiltons proposal for the National Government to assume the debt of the individual states and unify the finances of the nation, through his defense of government corporations, and into his proposal for bounties in the Report on Manufactures, Hamilton was at war with those who favored sectionalism, slavery, a weak national government and unchecked financial speculation. His adversaries included the British Empire, the southern slavocracy and the corrupt swindlers of what later became known as Wall Streetthe friends of Aaron Burr.

It was under thesethe most adverse  conditions that Hamilton set about, beginning in 1790, to erect his new system.

III. Hamiltons Laws

As one makes ones way through Hamiltons five documents, the effect is of entering into the mind of a great architect, as Hamilton sets out to create the nation. Each tier creates the basis for the next tier, with the vision of the completed edifice always in mind from the start. The end intention determines all of the preliminary and subsequent steps.

He begins at the beginning. The nation is bankrupt. In the Report on Public Credit he provides the evidence of this bankruptcy, he defines the moral and legal issues at stake, and he defines the solution as one of securing a well- funded and secure public debt, one which will meet all obligations. He articulates a detailed plan of tariffs, taxation and other measures to ensure that all bona fide debt obligations will be met and confidence in the nations credit restored. He states that this is the pre-condition for a desired revival of trade and promotion of agriculture and manufacturing.

During the Revolution, the Continental Congress had borrowed heavily from the French government and from Dutch bankers, but the government, from a lack of revenue, had stopped paying both principal and interest on those debts in 1786. By 1789, the nations foreign debt totaled $12 million dollars, and its domestic debta combination of state debt, bills of credit, and various notes and certificatesstood at $65 million. Even worse, the new government lacked the funds to operate day-to-day.

Between September and December of 1789, Hamilton secured loans, totaling $170,000, from the Bank of New York and the Bank of North America, to cover the salaries of the President, the Vice-President, Congress and other necessary functions. Then, in January of 1790, he issued his Report on Public Credit.

Sovereign Debt

Hamiltons aim, in this Report, is threefold. The first is to stop the hemorrhaging, to prevent the nation from descending into financial and economic chaos. The second is to unify the finances of the nation, to eradicate all sectional and local authority over matters of public credit. The third goal, one which Hamilton will proceed to address more directly in the Second Report on Public Credit (the Report on a National Bank), is to create the basis for an expanding system of public credit generation, for the purpose of developing the physical economic potentials of the nation.

Report on Manufactures

Hamilton is ironclad in his demand that all government debtsstate, local, national and foreignwill be paid at full value. The details of his proposal are multifaceted and comprehensive, and it is not possible to fully elaborate on them here. He proposes a series of very detailed steps, all of which are designed to provide confidence in the nations credit, as well as to generate low-interest capital for investment in the nations economy.

It is in this Report that Hamilton also establishes the basic principle that the nations public debt, if properly funded, will provide the basis for the generation of new credit that will stimulate investment and economic development.

A key component of Hamiltons planone fiercely opposed by Jefferson, Madison and Monroewas for the National government to assume the millions of dollars in individual state debts. This would have the effect of transforming all of the state debt holders into national debt holders, solidifying the position and sovereignty of the National government. This was accomplished with the United States Funding Act of 1790, through which $21 million of state debt was taken over by the National government. Under this act, the states were given extremely generous terms, and the shedding of their debt burden left the states with substantial revenue, earned through the federal securities, enabling them to directly invest in industry and promote economic enterprises.

National Credit

In his Report on a National Bank, Hamilton next proceeds to the issue of Sovereign credit generation as the essential life-spring for the new republic. There is no substitute for reading this report, and a mere commentary does it an injustice. Suffice it to say that Hamilton makes short shrift of all the objections to the Bank, defines the principles upon which it will operate, and then he proceeds to enunciate a twenty-four point detailed plan for the actual day-to-day operations of the bank.

It is toward the end of the Report that Hamilton first introduces his proposal to use the funded debt of the nationa funded debt which he, himself, had established with the First Report on Public Credit and the Funding Act of 1790as the means to provide new credit for manufacturing, agriculture, trade and other useful enterprises, thus establishing a National Public Credit System.

Under Hamiltons proposal, a percentage of the sovereign debt of the United States (up to $2 million) will be deposited as assets in the new Bank. These funds will then allow the Bank to issue notes, as loans, for the financing of many useful enterprises. The notes could also be deposited with other financial institutions as well as circulate among businesses, establishing a sound financial market and integrating the entire financial system of the nation into a nationally directed Public Credit System. Security of the notes would be guaranteed, since their issuance was based entirely on the sovereign debt obligations of the National government.

It should be noted, that in both the First and Second Reports on Public Credit, Hamilton spends a good deal of time on the need to create a system which will generate large amounts of low-interest credit for investment in manufacturing, agriculture and other useful enterprises.

The immediate effect of Hamiltons plan was to create a legal, sound banking system, under continuous national review, with the intention for providing for the rapid physical-economic development of the nation. Hamilton is keenly aware of the power of banking and the power of credit to foster economic development. At the same time, as proven by his later writings and actions, Hamilton is explicit that all illegal, unsound and shady financial practices will be choked off through the deployment of the National Bank as the regulator of the nations credit system.

Nation-Building

Hamiltons third Report, the Report on the Establishment of a Mint, is of too technical of a nature to elaborate here, but it should not be passed over without comment. In these first three Reports, Hamilton moves from securing the credit of the nation, to national banking, and then to the currency itself. There is a progression, a lawful creation of a national system of banking and credit. Hamilton is extraordinarily precise as he moves, step-by-step, in erecting his system. Nothing is arbitrary. All of the actions are of one design.

Then, in December of 1791 came the Report on Manufactures. It is here that the completed nature of Hamiltons Public Credit system comes to light. This Report contains the famous Section VIII: The Encouragement of New Inventions and Discoveries, where Hamilton defines the Constitutional responsibility of the government to transform the nationas a matter of permanent ongoing willful policyto promote the scientific and industrial development of the nation. Hamilton is very explicit as to the genuine power and mission of the National government to promote these changes. There are many passages in the Report which make all of this very clear, but rather than cite lengthy quotations here, it were better left to the reader to obtain a copy of the Report and investigate the matter for ones self.

To achieve his end, Hamilton takes an additional step beyond his proposals in the Report on a National Bank. He proposes to supplement the credit generating power of the National Bank by using two percent of the funded national debt, every year, directly to finance science and industry, in the form of bounties. He asks, In what can the national debt be so useful, as in prompting and improving the efforts of industry?

Hamilton also proposes the creation of a national manufactory, i.e., not simply the financing of individual factories, but the creation of a centralized hub where the most advanced forms of technology and industry might be developed. Simultaneous with the writing of this Report, Hamilton initiated the founding of the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures, as an attempt to put this proposal into motion, and he led the effort to establish a pilot project at Paterson, New Jersey through a combination of private investment and loans from the National Bank.

IV. Constitutional Lawfulness

In the above-cited October 7 quotation from Lyndon LaRouche, he states:

All you have to do is to take my laws, which I presented. Those laws, my laws, define exactly what solves the problem by creating a standard by which credit is defined. This was developed by the Treasurer of the United States [Alexander Hamilton]. This is the only way it will work. . . Just read the publications on law by Hamilton. He wrote the laws.

LaRouches use of the term laws, as opposed to policy or program, or some other similar term, may seem odd or eccentric to the lazy reader, but it is not LaRouche who originates this concept of lawfulness; it is precisely the approach insisted upon by Hamilton, himself. This is nowhere more clear than in his Opinion as to the Constitutionality of the Bank of the United States.

There are, in fact, two parallel and intertwined concepts of lawfulness to consider here. One is Hamiltons insistence that not only are all of his measures lawful, but that the contrary proposals of Jefferson, et al., are unlawful because they are contrary to the species-nature of the Republic that was created at the Constitutional Convention in 1788. The very nature of the sovereign Republic which came into existence in 1789 demands the Public Credit System that Hamilton defines in his Reports. The contrary proposals put forth by Jefferson and Madison are more in tune with what would later emerge as the Confederate States of America in 1861.

The second thing to recognize is that Hamiltons policies are lawful simply because they work. And they represent the only approach that will work. They worked then, and Lyndon LaRouches redefining of Hamiltons Laws will work today.

Hamiltons Argument

One thing that leaps off the page in reading his Reports is that Hamilton continually makes the point, not only of the necessity for his initiatives, but of the Constitutional legality of everything he is proposing. For the perceptive reader, what becomes clear is that Hamilton is not proposing individual pieces of legislation, nor simply particular banking measureshe is defining the actual Constitutional Nature of the Republic. His argument is that legality is to be found in the actual dynamic intent of the Constitution itself. It is very instructive to witness Hamiltons lawfulas Einstein would understand the term lawfuland relentless pursuit of his goal.

No arbitrary actions are allowed. No tyrannical actions. Every action, beginning with the assumption of Revolutionary War and State debts, through to the proposals within the Report on Manufactures, follows a lawful progression. It is a mandatory path that must be followed.

Following the release of Hamiltons Report on a National Bank, that document came under violent attack from Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and other apologists for the southern slavocracy. The focus of these attacks was their denial of the right of the National Government to establish, by law, corporations, since there was no specific enumerated right named in the Constitution granting the government that specific right.

Hamiltons argument, one earlier enunciated by Gouverneur Morris, is that the General Welfare Clause, within the body of the U.S. Constitution, provides all of the legal backing required for the government to take any lawful actionnot arbitrary, but lawfulin pursuit of the intentions of that Constitution, as adopted at Philadelphia in 1788.

In his Opinion, Hamilton states,

Every power vested in a government is in its nature sovereign, and includes, by force of the term, a right to employ all the means requisite and fairly applicable to the attainment of the ends of such power, and which are not precluded by restrictions and exceptions specified in the Constitution, or not immoral, or not contrary to the essential ends of political society.

And, in his Vindication of the Funding System, written later in the summer of 1792, Hamilton goes even further, stating,

[All property rights] which are contrary to the social order, and to the permanent welfare of society ought to be abolished. . . Whenever, indeed, a right of property is infringed for the general good, if the nature of the case admits of compensation, it ought to be made; but if compensation be impracticable, that impracticability ought not to be an obstacle to a clearly essential reform.

This does not imply that the government may do anything it chooses, as in the call by Jefferson and others to repudiate Revolutionary War debt. It means that the sovereign power of the National government can and must be employed on behalf of the intent of the Constitution, which, itself, is coherent with Natural Law. Within that intent, as Hamilton defines in his Opinion as to the Constitutionality of the Bank of the United States, the power of the National government is awesome.

Public domain/Davidt8

V. The LaRouche-Hamilton Solution

As LaRouche states, My laws, define exactly what solves the problem by creating a standard by which credit is defined. To reiterate, in the briefest sketch-synopsis, those Laws are: Glass-Steagall, National Banking, a Federal Credit system to generate high-productivity trends in improvements of employment, and a Fusion-Driver and space Crash Program. This is the Hamiltonian solution to todays crisis. It worked in 1790-1792. It will work today.

The axiomatic flaw of almost all modern financiers and economists is that they do not assign a true human value to any financial investment. Their system is valueless and mathematical. Thus, misguided fools would define the problem we face today as How to fix the banking system. That approach can lead into all kinds of hare-brained schemes, many of which would leave intact the oligarchical system of usury and speculation.

That is not Hamiltons approach. That is not LaRouches approach.

Consider the question of reimposing Glass-Steagall and so-called banking reform. As Lyndon LaRouche has forcefully insisted, Glass-Steagall is a vital necessary step, a precondition, for a return to both soundConstitutionalbanking practices, as well as a genuine economic recovery. But it is not banking reform legislation! It represents a Constitutional Principle, one indispensable for the future development of the population.

On the other hand, defining Glass-Steagall as synonymous with a simple banking reform is sophistry. Yes, under Glass-Steagall, we will separate out the viable elements of the commercial banking system. We will regulate them, reform them, and integrate them into a viable National Credit System, much as President Franklin Roosevelt did in 1933. We will then create a system of National Banking and Public Credit, as Hamilton did.

But do the investment banks, the hedge funds, and the other gambling houses serve any necessary lawful purpose, as such lawfulness is defined by Hamilton? Or, better, might they not be shuttered, with or without compensation for their gambling debts? Recall, first, that investment banking is the descendent of the centuries-old British system of merchant banking, a system completely alien and hostile to Hamiltons conception of National Banking. Recall, also, that virtually all of the current financial practices of these institutionsderivatives, options trading, financial speculationwere illegal under President Roosevelt. One must ask ones self, What is the underlying Law which must govern the affairs of the nation, or a community of nations?

Future Generations

Hamiltons rigorous approach, in his Reports, of identifying legitimate debt, sound banking, Constitutional credit generation, and scientific and industrial progress has stood the test of time. It is future orientated. What is being built? What is being created? What is being transformed? This must be the necessary orientation.

As Lyndon LaRouche states, in his Four Laws:

The purpose of the use of a Federal Credit-system, is to generate high-productivity trends in improvements of employment, with the accompanying intention, to increase the physical-economic productivity, and the standard of living of persons and households of the United States.

Today, tens of millions of Americans are standing at a precipice, overlooking an abyss, as living standards, health care, education, and the nations culture vanish. Heroin and other drugs are everywhere. These same Americans know that the worst is still to come. Hopelessness and fear are spreading throughout American society. The nation of China, on the other hand, has elevated 800 million of her people out of poverty during just the last 20 to 30 years, and is now leading the world in science, space exploration and economic development.

This destruction of the population in the trans-Atlantic world must be reversed. The entire population must be uplifted, in terms of its standard of living, its access to high productivity employment, but also in its access to classical education and its exposure to those creative inputs in science and in the arts which will provoke creative investigations and breakthroughs within the individual human mind.

On May 10, 2016, during a discussion with supporters in Manhattan, Lyndon LaRouche addressed this precise issue, stating,

It comes in the ability of mankind, to develop within the human individual the characteristics to give a higher degree of power to mankind as a whole, through self-development of the human species. Thats the only thing that is important . . . The issue is, can the human species produce from within its own ranks a body of people who will meet the challenge of defeating the kind of evil we have to face now . . . Mankind is not a bunch of objects that you can manipulate and make the toys dance for you. That does not work. You actually have to create a power in mankind which is improved over previously existing expressions of mankind. That is the whole game. And you have to spread this kind of development, such that it sustains itself.

Hamiltons creation of a system of Constitutional Public Credit solved the financial/economic crisis of his day, but it is also important to recognize that in so doing, he defined the advancement of the populationthat is, the ongoing cognitive development of the populationas the axiomatic law of the new Republic. This is explicit in both the Opinion as to the Constitutionality of the Bank of the United States and the Report on Manufactures. The uplifting of the population, the enhancement of their potentials, in a permanent, ongoing way, is the true Hamiltonian nature of the American Republic. It is, in fact, the Law of the Republic, and anything opposed to that is illegal and unconstitutional.

That is what must be done. Any other approach is un-lawful and un-Constitutional. Hamilton defined the Laws by which the economy and the banking system must function. Lyndon LaRouches Twenty-First Century redefinition of Hamiltons approach, in his Four Laws, shows the way into the future.
PRESS RELEASE

Terrorists Launch Attack in Aleppo, During Russian Air Strike Pause

Oct. 28, 2016 (EIRNS)Terrorists hoping to take advantage of the lull in fighting during the Russian-brokered ceasefire, launched a brutal assault today, detonating car bombs, rolling in tanks, and using rocket fire and assault vehicles, media are reporting. Attacks included some executed on the humanitarian corridor, which was supposed to be safe for supplies to be brought to the city.

Early today, Lt. Gen. Sergey Rudskoy, Operations Director for the Russian General Staff, said that militants, "used the moratorium of Russian and Syrian combat flights," and tried to push into eastern Aleppo. He said,

"The attack was carried out by three groups [of militants]...with support of 20 tanks and 15 APCs. All this was accompanied by heavy fire from rocket launchers and artillery."

Rudskoy said that the terrorist offensive was repulsed. The militants lost six tanks and five armored personnel carriers.

In response, the top leadership of the Russian military today asked President Putin if the pause in aerial bombing put into effect 10 days ago, should be lifted, and airstrikes resumed against the terrorists.

According to Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov, at present, the humanitarian pause should continue, but a decision on further action will be made, based on events on the ground. Peskov said today,

"The President believes that it would be possible to extend the ongoing humanitarian pause for the withdrawal of wounded people and militants wishing to leave the city."

He said Putin also stated that
PRESS RELEASE

Russian, Syrian, and Iranian Foreign Ministers Meet in Moscow

Oct. 28, 2016 (EIRNS)The foreign ministers of Syria, Russia, and Iran, Walid Muallem, Sergey Lavrov, and Mohammad Javad Zarif, held trilateral talks on Syrian developments on Oct. 28 in Moscow. In statements made by Lavrov and published in TASS, the Russian Foreign Minister stressed the need to comply with United Nations Security Council resolutions on not supporting terrorist groups in Syria, and made pointed remarks about the lack of cooperation from the United States, in particular. Here are some of the highlights.

In direct reference to Russian President Vladimir Putins call for a Marshall Plan for Syria at the Valdai Discussion, Lavrov said, "Putin suggested giving thought without delay to some equivalent of a Marshall Plan for reconstruction in Syria." He also said that both Russia and Iran are committed to maintaining the territorial integrity of Syria.

On the United Nations, Lavrov said,

"Russia and Iran welcome the Syrian governments readiness to enhance cooperation with the UN in solving humanitarian issues.... We believe that the UN representatives should act impartially, refrain from responding to provocations, and do everything possible to confront terrorists in Syria."

He reiterated that neither Russian or Syrian war planes have conducted any operations for the past 10 days, that therefore claims that they are responsible for attacks are false.

Lavrov emphasized that the United States has not implemented its agreement to separate moderate opposition and terrorists, saying "there is no progress and, to tell the truth, I do not expect any further progress, at least in the immediate future," Lavrov said.

"I am going to remind that this separation was linked to a seven-day silence regime during which Americans promised to show us in their maps where there were terrorists and where not."

He continued that although Russia and Syria have unilaterally implemented a humanitarian pause, the United States once again failed to convince the so-called moderate opposition to dissociate itself from Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, the former Nusra or Jabhat al-Nusra. Furthermore, instead of letting civilians leave, the corridors have turned out to be under militants aimed fire.

The three foreign ministers discussed the situation in Iraq, emphasizing that they will seek collaboration with Iraq in order to prevent a terrorists exodus from Mosul with their weapons and heavy vehicles, which would, of course, aggravate the situation in Syria.

"We cannot let terrorists leave [Mosul] so they could redirect their activities towards Syria," Lavrov said, pointing to the joint intelligence center established in Baghdad by Iraq, Iran, and Russia and noting that it could be be more relevant than before, especially in light of the situation in Mosul.

Syrian Foreign Minister Muallem complained that there has been no contact with the U.S.-led anti-terrorist coalition and questioned its effectiveness.

"The U.S. admits the roles of Russia and Iran [in resolving the Syria crisis] but cannot cooperate with us," Muallem said. "We have no trust in the United States. We are certain it will not meet its commitments."
PRESS RELEASE

Trumps Glass-Steagall Speech Revives Political Debate

Oct. 29, 2016 (EIRNS)A Washington political insider with close ties to both the Republican and Democratic party leadership had the following assessment of the Trump speech earlier this week, calling for reinstating the Roosevelt-era Glass-Steagall banking-separation law which had been repealed in 1999: Whether Trump was being serious or opportunistic, the speech has rekindled the larger policy fight over the need to reinstate Glass-Steagall, and that is a very good thing, regardless of the election outcome. It had been hoped that Trump would raise the Glass-Steagall issue earlier; however, the fact that is has been re-injected into the presidential campaign, even in the final days, is a good development. If Trump wins, it will be vital to hold his feet to the fire and make sure he actually follows through on this campaign statement. If Hillary Clinton wins, she will be facing the same groundswell of demand for Glass-Steagall, which is equally strong or stronger among Democratic core voters. The Glass-Steagall fight has been inserted into the presidential race at the very top and that is something that cannot be erased.

There are indications that Donald Trumps promotion of 21st-Century Glass-Steagall Act in his Charlotte speech was planned and intended to be the serious, though very belated, presentation of an economic program.

Aside from the serious tone of the presentationit may have been Trumps only speech this year, outside a church, which was nearly free of buffoonery and macho aggressionit was also preceded and accompanied by public expressions from Trump advisors, locating Glass-Steagall restoration as part of an economic plan.

In July Trump named 15 men, most billionaires and certainly none economic saints, to an economic advisory team. Three have promoted Glass-Steagall. Immediately after Trump spoke in Charlotte, vulture-capitalist billionaire Wilbur Ross appeared on Fox News Oct. 27: WL Ross and Co.s Wilbur Ross on Donald Trumps infrastructure plan and Trumps calls for a 21st century version of Glass-Steagall, as the banner for the Mornings with Maria financial show announced it.

Ross explained a private-sector infrastructure bank scheme of $1 trillion to create 1 million infrastructure jobsnot ultimately workable, but nonetheless clearly presented to back up Trumps linkage of Glass-Steagall and credit for small businesses in the Charlotte speech. Then questioned by Maria Bartiromo on the 21st Century Glass-Steagall, Ross said,

Well, the banks. It isnt so much that theyre too big. Its that theyre too complex. Too complex and too complicated internally.... You have to know ... every kind of obscure, complicated product in the derivative markets. Thats an awful big menu for anybody to absorb. We think it might be better for the banks to stick to lending, and instead of making more restrictions on lending, make it easier for them to make loans.

On Oct. 7, Ross and Peter Navarro, another Trump-panel advisor, were interviewed by Politico, attacking Hillary Clintons idea of what caused the 2008 crash, and calling for restoration of Glass-Steagall. This may have indicated a desire for Trump to have made this speech sooner; it may have taken an urban policy speech in a Black Lives Matter setting (Charlotte) to get him to do it seriously.

Navarro is a China-bashing U.C.-Irvine economics professor, author of Death by China and similar. A third member of Trumps billionaire panel, former NuCor Steel CEO and now author Dan DiMicco, has also spoken out for Glass-Steagall, this past Summer.

Dont rule out, that the manipulative Trump also called it the 21st-Century Glass-Steagall Act in order to provoke his ferocious electoral foe, Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has enacted bill amending some Ukrainian laws concerning the improvement of registration of ownership rights to immovable property and protection of ownership rights.

The press service of the head of state reported that the law envisages a comprehensive approach to the improvement of registration of ownership rights to immovable property.

As reported, Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada on October 6, 2016 toughened rules for keeping the public register of ownership rights to immovable property and responsibility for attempts of illegal registration.

It is foreseen that public registrars are obliged to urgently inform owners of immovable property if an application to carry out registration actions for the property is submitted.

The obligatory registration of the applications of owners of property banning the registration actions in the public register is introduced.

According to the document, restoration of registration actions is possible only under a court decision that took effect or under an application of the owner.

The document permits Ukraine's Justice Ministry to monitor the registration actions in the public register of ownership rights to immovable property.

The obligatory use of the Land Cadastre and the Register of document permitting preparation and construction works by registrars is foreseen.

The document increases the term for challenging the decisions or neglecting the functions by registrars from 30 to 60 days. The obligatory provision of an extract from the state register of ownership rights to property in paper is envisaged.
Like some kind of 21st century Willy Wonka, audacious entrepreneur Elon Musk chose a prime spot on the Universal Studios Hollywood backlot tour to unveil his latest attempt to energize an industry  roofs that generate solar power but look like no other.

Musk, the chief executive of Tesla Motors and chairman of SolarCity, showcased a line of high-design solar roof tiles that would replace clunky solar panels and tie into an upgraded version of the Tesla wall-mounted battery for those times when the sun doesnt shine. The glass solar shingles resemble French slate, Tuscan barrel tile or more conventional roofing materials with a textured or smooth surface.

The key is to make solar look good, Musk said during the product introduction staged on the old set of ABCs Desperate Housewives series, where he had re-roofed four of the Wisteria Lane houses. If this is done right, all roofs will have solar.

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At Universal Studios Hollywoods old Desperate Housewives set, Tesla CEO Elon Musk shows off a new solar tile roof to be produced by SolarCity, which Tesla is buying. Four Wisteria Lane homes on the set were re-roofed with the tiles. (Ivan Penn/Los Angeles Times )

The move comes as Californias solar industry grapples with slowing growth and other challenges despite aggressive state mandates to boost the use of renewable energy.

Nationwide, sales of residential solar panels have held fairly steady in the year ended June 30, according to the Solar Energy Industries Assn.

In California, solar photovoltaic panel sales rose 12% in the first nine months of 2016 compared with the same period of 2015, state data show. But that pales compared with the 66% jump in the first three quarters of 2015 compared with the same period a year earlier.

Experts attribute the slowing to depletion of the pool of early adopters as well as to policy changes in California and other states governing how solar owners are compensated for electricity they produce and sell to utility companies.

In addition, many homeowners were worried whether Congress would renew a 30% federal tax credit set to expire at the end of 2016. Congress extended the credit through 2019 at 30%, after which it gradually phases out for residential solar customers.

The California solar industry still expects 2016 to finish with an expansion.

Were seeing a slowdown in the market but its not a downturn, said Bernadette del Chiaro, executive director of the California Solar Energy Industries Assn. Were going to install more rooftop solar this year than we did in 2015.

A significant driver in the solar market is the continued drop in the price of solar panels. The typical residential solar system runs about $8,000 with government incentives, including the 30% federal tax credit.

The supply of solar panels for residential and other uses almost doubled from 32 gigawatts in 2012 to 60 gigawatts in 2015, according to Navigant Research of Chicago. Thats enough to power roughly 45 million homes.

But capitalizing on the falling price of solar panels has been difficult for an industry that continues to struggle with other high costs such as labor.

Technological advancements in rooftop solar will help push overall industry sales from $3 billion in 2016 to $38 billion by 2025, Navigant projects. And by offering consumers a variety of solar system options, industry executives believe they will have an increased ability to compete with the price of electricity produced by utilities.

One style of the line of solar tile roofs that Tesla and SolarCity plan to manufacture, shown on a Desperate Housewives home at Universal Studios Hollywood. (Ivan Penn/Los Angeles Times )

Price and styling will likely prove critical for the industry in attracting customers as current solar power owners have seen some of the benefits of self-generating electricity erode. Utility companies have complained that solar owners havent been paying their share of the cost to maintain the network of power lines, substations, transformers and power plants that make up the electric grid.

Regulators across the country have added costs to solar power owners such as higher rate tiers and mandatory fees that have increased per-household costs by as much as $10 to $20 a month in California, Del Chiaro said.

In some states such as Florida, utility companies have fought the growth of rooftop solar with ballot initiatives that protect their monopolies on centralized power while penalizing solar owners.

Virtually all quarters agree that the real future for solar  and much of the energy industry  depends on electricity storage, which banks solar power for when the sun isnt shining. The cost of electricity storage is high but, as with solar panels, is dropping rapidly.

Several solar companies in recent months have announced partnerships with storage companies to offer a package to consumers. Still, it remains too pricey for the average consumer.

All of these strategic alliances are smart, Del Chiaro said. Theyre critical. We basically have to sell solar packaged with storage.

Last week, residential solar giant Sunrun Inc., based in San Francisco, said it had entered an agreement with South Koreas LG Chem, the worlds largest supplier of automotive batteries, to offer home energy storage to consumers.

In July, Musks Tesla Motors offered to buy SolarCity for more than $2 billion. As a battery maker, Tesla combined with SolarCity gives the company its own version of a storage and solar partnership.

Tesla is expected in November to finalize its acquisition of SolarCity, which is run by Musks cousins Lyndon Rive, who is chief executive, and Peter Rive, the chief technology officer.

People spend a lot of time trying to create an attractive home. They dont want funny glass boxes stuck on one side of their roof.  Andy Ogden, chairman, industrial design graduate program, ArtCenter College of Design

But Musk, with his flamboyant style, did not stop there. Instead, he is looking to one-up his competition.

Musk is working to build a personal alternative energy ecosystem connected by software and harmonious design, all under the Tesla brand name. The idea is that green-minded homeowners will mix with performance-oriented automotive geeks at Tesla retail stores to shop for electric cars, charging stations, solar rooftops and wall-mounted batteries for energy storage, available separately but designed to work best as a system.

Fridays solar roof unveiling also included an upgraded Powerwall, Teslas sleek wall-mounted home battery, which can store roof-generated solar energy for household uses and recharge the Tesla in the garage.

During an August conference call with analysts, Lyndon Rive all but bet the announcement would trigger growth in SolarCity sales as the company lures homeowners off the sidelines with its new design. Rive noted that 5 million U.S. homes get new roofs each year  a really big market segment that wont cannibalize sales of SolarCitys traditional product.

Revenue during the first six months of the year almost doubled that of the same period in 2015, but the companys net loss for 2016 was more than $230 million higher.

SolarCitys value is far from its February 2014 high of $84.96 per share. The companys stock price hovers around $20 a share now.

Julien Dumoulin-Smith, an analyst with UBS who focuses on electric utilities and alternative energy, said new products and flashy presentations are less important to SolarCity than the fundamentals.

What they need to do is bring down the costs, Dumoulin-Smith said. The meat and potatoes issues for this company are much more pressing.

In an effort to curb costs, SolarCity and home-sharing company Airbnb this month announced a partnership under which Airbnb hosts and renters are eligible for a rebate of up to $1,000 on solar panels through SolarCity. In addition, SolarCity customers who become Airbnb hosts receive a $100 travel credit.

With this kind of partnership, solar firms reduce the cost of customer acquisition, a large expense.

Solar firms also have been adding financing options other than the leasing model that was a signature strategy of SolarCity.

In June, SolarCity said it had begun offering 10- to 20-year loans to customers that would allow homeowners to gain the benefit of government incentives the leasing programs did not offer. The loan program allows homeowners to own the panels without huge upfront costs and receive the 30% federal tax credit  an incentive SolarCity and other solar leasing companies claimed themselves since they still owned the solar panels.

For Musk, who just reported a surprise quarterly profit at Tesla, design has always been supreme.

The company had fashioned its Powerwall home storage batteries with lines that complement the silhouette of a Tesla Model S; but to Musk, SolarCitys solar panels looked like the same commodity products every other solar installer was selling.

He pushed the company to make the product not only cheaper and more energy efficient, but also better looking.

This needs to be an asset to your house, he said, repeating it in public appearances over the past few weeks. It needs to be so good that when its done you call your neighbors over to show them how proud you are.

The new Tesla-SolarCity roof tiles will be available next summer, Musk said Friday, with rollout starting in California. He didnt give details about cost or efficiency.

Musk says he spends most of his time on engineering and design, and on Wednesday emphasized the essential relationship between the two in a conference call with stock analysts.

Its important to have tight control over the production of solar panels  to have a beautiful roof product, he said. Weve got to be able to iterate rapidly and have them made exactly how we want them.

A 2014 survey by home-solar power provider Lumeta found that slightly under a third of respondents considered appearance very or extremely important, while slightly over a third said the look was slightly important or not important at all.

People spend a lot of time trying to create an attractive home, said Andy Ogden, chairman of the industrial design graduate program at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena. They dont want funny glass boxes stuck on one side of their roof.

Making solar roofs more attractive, he said, increases the number of people who will install solar.

ivan.penn@latimes.com

russ.mitchell@latimes.com

Twitter: @ivanlpenn russ1mitchell

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Californians who trusted their money to Beverly Hills investment manager Stanley Chais, only to have him funnel their money to Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, will get $15 million in restitution through a deal announced Friday.

Chais, who died at 84 in 2010, was accused of steering hundreds of millions of dollars from his investors  without their knowledge  to Madoff. Investors lost most of their money when Madoffs seemingly successful investment business turned out to be a scam.

The California Department of Justice sued Chais in 2009, with then-Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown calling the money manager nothing more than a Madoff middleman.

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The department, now led by state Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris, announced Friday that it had reached a settlement with Chais estate, calling for it to forfeit assets to pay restitution.

The settlement, which must be approved by a federal bankruptcy judge in New York, calls for the estate to pay $15 million. Eligible victims will be mailed information if the settlement is approved.

Chais was a longtime associate of Madoffs but had maintained that he did not know Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme  an investment fraud in which money from new investors is used to pay back and inflate returns paid to previous investors.

The state Department of Justice argued that Chais must have known something was wrong and that Madoff was providing false financial statements. In the settlement agreement, Chais estate denies any knowledge of the scheme.

Madoff, 78, pleaded guilty in 2009 to multiple counts of fraud and is serving a 150-year prison sentence. Authorities have estimated that his Ponzi scheme totaled $65 billion, making it one of the largest and longest-running in U.S. history.

james.koren@latimes.com

Follow me: @jrkoren
Bags will continue to fly free at Southwest Airlines. For now.

Under pressure to generate more revenues, the chief executive of the Dallas-based carrier rejected suggestions that the airline start charging customers to check luggage, even though bag fees have generated billions of dollars for other airlines.

The nations top 13 airlines collected $3.8 billion in bag fees during 2015, plus another $3 billion in charges paid by passengers who change or cancel reservations, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation

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Southwest is the only major airline in the United States that doesnt charge passengers to check their first two bags or to change flight reservations.

During a quarterly earnings conference call with analysts this week, Southwest Chief Executive Gary Kelly said he wont consider instituting such fees, as some industry analysts have urged.

We have a unique and beloved position in the industry with this approach and we would be foolish to squander it, so no thought whatsoever on charging bags, Kelly said.

Southwests net income declined to $388 million in the three months ended Sept. 30, compared to $584 million in the year-earlier period. Kelly blamed part of the decline on a technology outage in July.

Kelly said the airline is considering other money-making ideas. When asked to elaborate, he declined.

Well, its just not ready for prime time, he said of his plan. And Id rather not share with our competitors where we see opportunities for a variety of reasons.

hugo.martin@latimes.com

To read more about the travel and tourism industries, follow @hugomartin on Twitter.

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On a warm Friday afternoon in downtown Los Angeles, the ground floor of the Hellman Building on East 4th Street is awash in the scrape and bang of construction. A repairman patches holes in the floor with cement, while a painter rollers the walls a universal shade of art-world white.

This lobby will one day become a portion of the Main Museum, the downtown arts institution set to open its doors sometime in 2018. But even though the renovations arent close to being done, artists Suzanne Lacy and Andrea Bowers are taking over the unfinished space for 10 days starting Sunday for Performance Lessons, one of a series of informal happenings in advance of the museums official opening.

In the piece, Lacy, who is known for her work in performance and social practice, will teach Bowers, an artist whose politically minded practice is rooted firmly in drawing, how to be a performance artist.

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They will also live in the museum  in a pair of newly painted offices spaces that overlook the lobby.

Artists Suzanne Lacy, left, and Andrea Bowers in the windows of the Main Museum in downtown L.A. in October. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times )

Mine will be quite small and monk-like, says Lacy, gesturing at her set-up.

Were getting beds, pipes in Bowers with wry smirk. And there will be something to sit on.

Bowers and Lacy are art world colleagues. They have both taught at the Otis College of Art and Design (though Lacy recently left to join USC). And after meeting at a REDCAT event in 2006, theyve developed the type of easy rapport that good friends develop over a course of a decade.

Performance Lessons is a way of exploring an exchange of knowledge between two generations of women with intersecting interests. Lacy received her degree from the feminist art program at CalArts in the early 70s; Bowers got her MFA from the same institution two decades later.

Lacy has staged performances that deal with issues of domestic violence in an Ecuadorean bullring; Bowers has created drawing and photo-based installations that focus on questions of protest and labor.

At the Main Museum, one will learn from the other  and from whoever else happens to wander into the space.

A series of beta events will be staged in completed storefront areas of The Main Museum in downtown L.A. The events will kick off with a performance by Suzanne Lacy and Andrea Bowers.

There is this tradition among male artists of attacking the generation before, Bowers says. Ive been interested in an alternative tradition that is matriarchal and nurturing.

But if youre expecting 10 days of dry art school pedagogy, think again.

Theyve planned a conversation about whether feminism is funny, a demonstration of Japanese archery and even a special Wiccan gathering.

I have always had a hard time with theory, Bowers says. One of the ways Ive overcome it is I try to ask an artist that I really look up to teach me about it, or to explain it to me. Or I go to someone and say, You were studying with Rosalind Krauss, what does this mean?

Its this idea that history is a social thing, not just a text, she adds. Its transmitted.

The focus, though, will be on performance. Once a day, Lacy will give Bowers a performance-related assignment, which she will proceed to work on the rest of the day. From noon to 8 p.m., the doors will be thrown open so the public can observe and join in.

We might do some warm-up exercises to get started, Lacy says to Bowers with a grin, like take off your clothes.

I dont take clothes off! Bowers says, laughing. I think of ideas.

The pairs contagious laughter bounces riotously off the Main Museums empty walls.

Bowers, however, is nonetheless rattled by the idea of perhaps having to take it all off, a performance-art trope. I may have to get one of those nude body suits, she says with some resignation.

From left: Main Museum Director Allison Agstein with artists Andrea Bowers and Suzanne Lacy. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times )

Performance Lessons is the inverse of a 2014 performance that Lacy and Bowers did in New York, in which Bowers taught Lacy how to draw. Called Drawing Lessons, the piece took place at the Drawing Center, during which the artists inhabited the galleries (in tents and cots) and engaged in all manner of drawing-related activities.

She asked me to bring props, stuff I wanted to draw, Lacy recalls. So I brought stuffed animals.

Not stuffed, interjects Bowers. Taxidermy!

Yes, Lacy confirms. I had turkeys, skulls, all these other animals.

At night it was kind of scary, says Bowers. I would push all her stuff, all this taxidermy, to the other side.

For sessions devoted to figure studies, Bowers invited male curators from the area to participate as models  but the rule was they had remove at least one article of clothing.

The amazing Nato Thompson [of the arts nonprofit Creative Time] took everything off for us, Bowers recalls. And there were like 20 to 30 people drawing him.

Bowers says the experience of Drawing Lessons was energizing  attracting a constellation of important artists, from Martha Wilson to Mierle Laderman Ukeles  to participate in informal chats and full-blown art-making sessions. Of course, the core mission of the piece may not been entirely fulfilled because Lacy wasnt exactly the worlds best student of drawing.

She could not record what she sees, Bowers says, chuckling.

I didnt really care, Lacy says.

She assumes what something looks like and records that, Bowers says.

Really what we both wanted to do was launch a conversation about feminism and intersectionality and the things we care about, Lacy says. How do you negotiate power? How do you negate authority?  Thats ultimately what we did.

Performance Lessons will likewise also draw on the knowledge of important Los Angeles artists. There will be presentations by renowned performance artist Barbara T. Smith and dancer Simone Forti, as well as an opening night talk by Nao Bustamante and Rodney McMillian.

On election night  the last night of the show  they will talk about art and politics and host a special election party.

The project, in many ways, explains Lacy, pays homage to the neighborhood and to the history of performance art in Los Angeles  to the 1970s, when artists began staging actions in old industrial buildings and empty warehouses around the citys core. Downtown L.A. was at the heart of that moment, she says, when performance art started becoming a thing.

Allison Agsten, the Main Museums director, says that Performance Lessons is just the sort of work she was seeking to launch the beta series, a show that goes beyond simply hanging an object on the wall.

Its art that is not just about the endpoint, she explains. Its really about education.  I want this to be the kind of institution that gives this kind of work a platform.

Bowers and Lacy, she adds, are especially well-suited to pull off the piece.

The dynamic between [Bowers and Lacy] is incredible, she says. If this show is anything like our meetings, then it will be both energizing and wildly informative.

+++

Performance Lessons: Suzanne Lacy Teaches Andrea Bowers Performance Art

Where: Beta Main, 114 W. 4th St., downtown Los Angeles

When: Opens Sunday, Oct. 30. Runs through Nov. 8, noon to 8 p.m.

Info: mainmuseum.org

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Eric Smidt was a peddlers son, rattling through the morning light in his fathers van, hawking jewelry, tape and electrical cords in the San Fernando Valley. He endured a troubled home life and spent two years in an orphanage. But a restless need for the flash of a deal made him a rich man by turning a mail-order business into a corporation that sells power tools, log splitters and chain saws across America.

His company, Harbor Freight Tools, expects to do $4 billion in sales this year. Smidts name seldom appears in the media, but his profile will rise Saturday with the announcement of a $25-million pledge by him and his wife, Susan, in a campaign to reimagine the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Im coming to learn that being under the radar may not be a good thing even though Im most comfortable that way, said Smidt, whose personal art collection includes works by Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Vincent Van Gogh. He said stepping more publicly into the philanthropic light shows leadership. I want to give back.

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Smidt was nudged out of anonymity by LACMA Director Michael Govan. The museum is attempting to raise at least $650 million for a new 368,000-square-foot building by architect Peter Zumthor. Smidts pledge puts the drive closer to the halfway mark, the museum said, following a recent $50-million promise from Las Vegas resort magnate Elaine Wynn and a $25-million pledge from former Univision Chairman A. Jerrold Perenchio.

It takes gifts like this to get to that point of confidence so that others will invest, said Govan, who has been advising and working on artistic endeavors with Smidt for a decade. Its a new generation of people, and thats what has to happen in the civic environment. The torch has to be passed.

The relationship between Govan and Smidt symbolizes the intersection of money and culture in which a knowledgeable, urbane curator influences the tastes and responsibilities of the wealthy to shape a citys aesthetic identity. Or as Smidt, a LACMA board member since 2006, puts it: Until Michael came along, Los Angeles really didnt have a public museum that was commensurate with a great city of the world. Today, we do.

Smidts arc from his fathers van to a headquarters in the Calabasas hills that oversees nearly 20,000 employees and 700 stores nationwide has the air of a Charles Dickens novel: an ill mother, an overburdened father and an abandoned boy who found his way through a cruel and at times, splendid world of possibility. At 56, Smidt is unassuming and ever-questioning, a man who will tell you that in the beginning his interest in art was for decoration and that he had no idea what genre meant.

He puts on no airs, said Allan G. Mutchnik, Harbor Freights chief administrative officer.

Smidts father, Allan, had a salesmans soul but quickly had to care for a young son and a wife, Dorothy, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Allan was part of a free-flowing tribe of peddlers who roamed the San Fernando Valley; by the late 1960s many of them had turned to the burgeoning telephone sales trade. When Smidt was 9, his mothers illness had become pronounced, and his father left him at an area orphanage.

Its so blurry, that part of my life, said Smidt, who added that he was choked by another boy at the institution and beaten by a staff member. I really blamed it on my mother at the time.  It was very hard. I was very angry and miserable.

He returned home when he was 11. But not for long: My mother wanted him [the father] to be focused on her. She was very frightened. Smidt added: I was in the way. He was sent to live with his fathers sister, Rezella, an Army nurse who had eight cats and four dogs in Clarksville, Tenn. She bought him a small motorcycle, and he enjoyed the freedom of the place. But, he said, it was difficult to reconcile that I wasnt really a wanted child.

Im 13. Ive got my scars, he said. I dont like school. I dont like being sent away. I felt rejected and all the emotional things that you can imagine that goes along with that. I blamed this rejection on my mother. I always tried to vie for my father.

He moved back home when he was 15. But, again, not for long. My dad says, What are we going to do with you? Lets get you an apartment. On the day of my 16th birthday, we got a drivers license in the morning at the DMV on Kester and in the afternoon, I signed my first lease at 7840 Woodman Av., Panorama City, which was about one mile and a half up the street from where my parents lived.

He attended Grant High School and worked in the afternoons and evenings at his fathers small phone sales company. In 1977, the Smidts copied the model of another former peddler who was importing tools from Japan and undercutting American retailers. By this time, Eric Smidt was eclipsing his father in business savvy and instinct: When he was 17 he flew to Japan to make direct connections with suppliers, cutting out importers and boosting profits.

I got into the bowels of Japan, he said. It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life.

Sitting in his office  power drills near a board scrawled with notations, as if a sleepless mathematician had been set loose  Smidts voice rose from low to high. His hands fluttered when he told a story; he was at once reticent and open, a well-traveled businessman who had overcome much but who, contrary to the brashness and colorfulness of his companys fliers, was still uncomfortable in the spotlight.

He and his father were equal partners in the small mail order business, but it was Erics wider and aggressive vision that eventually led to what Harbor Freight Tools is today. The two had a falling out in 2010 when his father, whom Smidt bought out more than a decade earlier, sued his son over management decisions and accused him of using company money to buy an estate in Beverly Hills and to add to his multimillion-dollar art collection.

Smidt denied the allegations and the case was settled out of court. Allan Smidt died this year. The elder was shaped by the Great Depression and often worried about money and savings. He lived in fear his whole life, said Smidt, adding that during the companys growth we were doing great and every penny we were making we put back into the business. Not borrowing a dime from anybody. We lived like paupers until it was a $500-million business.

Smidt bought an Italian-style villa and became a philanthropist, donating gifts to educational programs, including funding the charter school Alliance Susan & Eric Smidt Technology High in Lincoln Heights. He also increasingly turned his eye toward art, starting with the Old Masters and then in 2004 paying $6 million for a Van Gogh. He later switched his tastes to Abstract Expressionism and has been listed by ARTnews as one of the worlds 200 top art collectors.

He mentioned no piece of art that particularly moved him, saying that he collaborated with experts and researched the dates, periods and sweet spots in an artists career. When he started collecting, he said, I didnt know anything about anything.

But later Smidt knew it was a time for a change from the Old Masters: I couldnt find any that werent gruesome, violent, religious, he said. It was kind of cool in the beginning and then not so cool.  I wanted to get out of the dark stuff and into the colorful stuff.

Times staff writer Deborah Vankin contributed to this article.

See the most-read stories this hour 

Twitter: @JeffreyLAT

jeffrey.fleishman@latimes.com
Personalities may have overshadowed policy during this presidential campaign, but one issue has dominated virtually every news cycle:

He said, she said, he interrupted.

Whether she wins the White House or not, Hillary Clinton has already changed American discourse. If it has done nothing else, her historic campaign has illuminated the belittlement, condescension and hostility that women have endured for decades in workplaces across the country.

From the moment in the Democratic debates when Bernie Sanders snapped at Clinton, Let me finish, to the recent sight of Newt Gingrich accusing Megyn Kelly of being fascinated with sex, this campaign has been the embodiment of a growing awareness of the subtle  and not so subtle  sexism women face.

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Documented in numerous studies and over countless commiserative glasses of post-work wine, such experiences have spawned at least three neologisms (mansplain, manologue, manterruption), an entire cottage industry around the empowerment of working women and even an app.

But this election put what once seemed anecdotal or academic starkly on display on television and in easily shareable YouTube clips. Along with post-debate fact-checking came an actual tally of how many more times Donald Trump interrupted Hillary Clinton than vice versa (51 versus 17, according to an analysis by the news website Vox).

These gendered confrontations have been replayed to the point of ubiquity, analyzed by the numbers and illustrated with snazzy graphics.

It is an issue that crosses political lines; even as memes circulated of Trump yelling wrong repeatedly while Clinton spoke during the debates, Republican analyst Ana Navarro shot to fame by refusing to be shushed when she quoted the exact wording of the now infamous Access Hollywood tape in which Trump is heard making lewd remarks about women.

And Fox News Kelly has been at the center of it all from the beginning.

Even before Trump began his controversial bid for the White House, Kelly was an outlier at Fox News when it came to matters of gender. The working mother of three young children drew headlines for rebuking smug male pundits who called maternity leave a racket or suggested women were going against nature by making more money than their husbands.

And there was the star-making viral moment on election night in 2012 when Fox News called Ohio -- and thus the election -- for President Obama, sending Republican operative Karl Rove into an on-air meltdown of denial. With the poise of a White House tour guide, Kelly walked across the Fox News studio to interview the networks statisticians to confirm the results.

Viewed in hindsight, the clip plays like a teaser for the 2016 election, when fulminating men have repeatedly lost their cool, talked over and interrupted women who have (mostly) kept their cool and stuck to the facts, dismantling the notion that women are dictated by emotions.

Kelly also reportedly played a pivotal role in the well-documented behind-the-scenes drama at Fox News over its chief, encouraging other women to speak out against Roger Ailes, who was ousted in July following multiple charges of sexual harassment.

She also clashed with prominent Trump booster Sean Hannity, who took to Twitter -- the second-most public venue after live television -- to accuse her, with scant evidence, of being a Clinton supporter. (Note: He was the one to pick the fight; she was the one who made nice in a subsequent tweet.)

Then last week, during her prime-time show The Kelly File, Trump supporter Newt Gingrich responded to a question about sexual assault allegations against the Republican nominee by claiming that Kelly was fascinated with sex.

Without turning a hair, Kelly calmly explained that she was, instead, obsessed with the safety of American women.

These gendered confrontations have been replayed to the point of ubiquity, analyzed by the numbers and illustrated with snazzy graphics.  Meredith Blake

I think your defensiveness on this may speak volumes, sir, she said, ending the segment by suggesting Gingrich work on his anger issues.

Not surprisingly, the exchange went viral.

For his part, Trump has seemed to go out of his way to make gender an issue of the campaign, questioning whether Clinton has the look or stamina of a president, talking over her repeatedly and standing strangely close to her during the second debate.

More than once he has complained that Clinton was allowed to talk for longer periods, though reviews of debate footage revealed that he usually edged her out by a minute or two.

At one point, Trump griped that between Clinton, Anderson Cooper and Martha Raddatz, the second debate was one on three. (In fact, he spoke about a minute longer than Clinton.) Meanwhile, Raddatz and Cooper repeatedly had to remind Trump to let Clinton finish speaking.

It is not the first time the camera has caught men verbally bulldozing women. Who could forget Kanye Imma Let You Finish West hijacking Taylor Swifts acceptance speech at the VMAs, or Joe Scarboroughs interruptions of his Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski, too numerous to recount here?

And as the Washington Post reported last month, female staffers within the Obama administration who felt their voices were being ignored finally adopted a policy of giving credit to each others contributions, to force some gender parity.

But just as the Access Hollywood tape confirmed womens worst fears about closed-door conversations between men, the election coverage has been a showcase for age-old frustrations about being shouted down or disregarded by colleagues, which is why so many clips have gone viral.

There was the spectacle of former presidential candidate Ben Carson asking MSNBC producers to cut off host Katty Kays microphone during a discussion of Trumps alleged groping habit.

Or Trump executive Michael Cohen repeatedly barking says who? at CNNs Brianna Keilar, when she noted his candidate was lagging in the polls.

Or the televised debate last Thursday that made national news when Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois appeared to mock the Asian heritage of his Democratic challenger, Rep. Tammy Duckworth. (She responded with a bemused laugh.)

Increasingly the pushback has become just as noticeable, and as bipartisan.

CNN contributor Navarro, once a relatively obscure Republican strategist, has broken out this election season by giving voice to the disgust felt by women of all political stripes.

On Fox & Friends, Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway -- a woman dubbed the Trump Whisperer for her ability to rein in the volatile candidate, and brought onboard the flagging campaign after two bombastic male campaign managers got the boot -- criticized Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Kaine for interrupting debate moderator Elaine Quijano.

And lest we forget, it was former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson  hardly anyones idea of a feminist agitator  who first went public with allegations against Ailes, opening the door for others to do the same.

As Wonder Woman celebrates her 75th anniversary, the battle of the sexes is also playing out in pop culture. Good Girls Revolt, which premiered Friday on Amazon, is a fictionalized series about the gender discrimination lawsuit filed by female employees of Newsweek magazine in 1970. At the time, women toiled invisibly as fact-checkers and researchers, and only men received bylines.

And next week comes The Crown, Netflixs scripted series about young Queen Elizabeth II. It follows the newly-crowned monarch, who ascended to the throne at the age of 25. As she fights to find her voice she pushes back, ever so slightly, against powerful older men, including Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

Her job as sovereign requires a more extreme version of what so many women, both world-famous and obscure, have learned to do: keep calm, carry on  and fight back when called for.

The times have changed, but not as much as we might think.

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour 

Follow me @MeredithBlake

To read the article in Spanish, click here

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Bill Maher is finally getting his wish. The host of HBOs Real Time with Bill Maher has landed his biggest get of the year  President Obama.

Maher made the announcement during his Friday show that Obama would appear Nov. 4, just four days before the election. The comedian recorded a video in which he expressed his happiness with finally getting Obama to come on the show.

In the video, Maher, 60, joked that he celebrated his 32nd birthday last January by making a plea to Obama to appear, not just because Im a true fan, but our large, loyal audience deserved to be treated to a presidential visit, just like other shows Maher said in the video.

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Since being elected eight years ago, Obama has appeared on several talk shows including Ellen DeGeneres daytime talker, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and Jimmy Kimmels late-night show.

As an audience, we sometimes think a little differently about things, and I know the president is sincere in extending diversity everywhere in America, Maher said.

Maher in 2012 contributed $1 million to Obamas reelection campaign.

greg.braxton@latimes.com

Twitter:@GeBraxton
In her 30-plus year career in television, Tracey Ullman has done more to boost the wig-making economy than any other woman except perhaps Dolly Parton.

Beginning with The Tracey Ullman Show, the groundbreaking sketch show that helped establish the fledgling Fox network back in the late 80s and introduced The Simpsons to the world, the British actress has earned a reputation as a comedic shape-shifter and unparalleled impressionist.

Shes up to her old tricks in Tracey Ullmans Show, premiering Friday on HBO. The six-episode series, which aired earlier this year across the pond, where it has already been renewed for a second season, reprises Ullmans signature blend of celebrity impersonations, outrageous characters and comedic musical numbers.

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Basically Im still doing the same show I did in my mothers bedroom, and Ill do it til the bitter end, Ullman sings in the shows opening credits. And, while I cant vouch for the show she did in her mothers bedroom, its true that shes not exactly breaking new ground. (Even the title is just a single possessive s away from her Fox series.)

Sketch comedy has evolved considerably since Ullman first burst onto the scene, with shows like Inside Amy Schumer, Key & Peele and Portlandia pushing the form into absurdist, socially relevant new realms. As such, some may find Tracey Ullmans Show a touch dated, but her acutely observed characters are generally enough to overcome any mustiness.

The contemporary subject matter also keeps things fresh. After spoofing American culture in the Emmy-winning Tracey Takes On... and Tracey Ullmans State of the Union, she turns her gaze back to the U.K. at a turbulent time. With sketches about libraries closing because of budget cuts and refugees stowing away on the bottom of RVs, it might as well have been called Tracey Takes on Brexit.

Ullman is drawn to formidable women of a certain age, and finds humor in playing with expectations.

She does a wonderfully prickly version of Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, imagining her as a posh boozehound. Her Dame Judi Dench is a kleptomaniac mischief-maker, clogging toilets in five-star hotels just because as a national treasure, she can get away with it.

In a less successful bit, Ullman plays German Chancellor Angela Merkel as a sultry, image-obsessed sexpot.

But as Ullman makes clear even in her less hilarious moments, being a good impressionist is about observation as much as execution. The most jaw-dropping impressions dont mimic obvious vocal tics or distinctive facial expressions (Robert DeNiros grimace, Bob Dylans rasp), they illuminate traits so subtle and ineffable, you may have never noticed them before.

Come to think of it, Maggie Smith does have an interesting way of pronouncing her Rs, you might find yourself thinking.

This truth even applies to her fabricated characters, whose gestures, accents, costumes and hairdos are so specific, you have to believe theyre based on real people. Theres a proud Northern real-estate agent who wields her fingernails like talons and a crazy-eyed Irish entrepreneur who peddles twee, overpriced ceramics.

Ullman brings these characters to life so vividly, there are times when  forgive the cliche, but it applies  she almost literally disappears. During a sketch about a deluded app developer who treats the local coffee shop like his own fiefdom, I wondered when Ullman was going to show up. (Turns out she was there the whole time, playing him.)

The sketches are timely even when theyre not entirely ripped from the headlines; theres a very funny bit about an Internet literacy course for older people (called Silver Surfers) in which they learn to troll and foment racial hatred.

Some of the references  to Coronation Street characters and Scottish politicians  might be lost on American viewers without advanced degrees in Anglophilia, but for the most part the humor transcends cultural barriers.

Sketch shows are almost inherently uneven, and the same is true of Tracey Ullmans Show. The best material is darker, zanier and lands in unexpected places. Case in point: a sketch about a convicted war criminal trying to put a positive spin on her genocidal past during a job interview. (A lot of burials obviously had to be undertaken, and if you look at it purely in those terms, I was very successful, she says calmly.)

The interwoven format, cutting between several sketches, means some ideas never really get off the ground. And theres a laugh track which feels especially intrusive.

Canned laughter isnt necessary for this fine showcase for Ullmans distinctive talent  and those wigs.

Tracey Ullmans Show

Where: HBO

When: 11 p.m. Friday

Rating: TV-MA (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 17)

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour 

Follow me @MeredithBlake
Browsing through the tightly-edited, new offering of Fendi clutches, sandals and jeans studded with bold geometric studs might be a good way to get you into the mood for the impending holiday shopping season.

The venerable Italian brand, in partnership with Saks Fifth Avenue, has unveiled 16 pieces from an exclusive womens capsule collection adorned with colorful studs. It is an aesthetic inspired by the Fendirumi characters  the plush and criminally cute mascots unveiled by Fendi earlier this year  which have popped up in the form of handbag charms ($1,500 at fendi.com). Think of the Fendirumi characters and this new womens holiday collection as the luxury brands answer to those colorful trolls and their related merchandise tie-ins for the upcoming Trolls movie.

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The special Fendi footwear, clothing and accessories pieces, which are priced from $650 to $3,050, will be rolled out at the Saks Beverly Hills store this weekend for the holiday season. Among the selections is a nifty rectangular pouch, a structured backpack and a cropped sweater  all with strategically placed studs across their surface. The Fendirumi characters will also be on hand at Saks for the launch event from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. today, no doubt inciting the inevitable Instagram selfie.

Saks chief merchant Tracy Margolies said that partnering with Fendi was a fantastic way to highlight the brands iconic product as well as create an immerse experience for our customers.

The collection is also available at select Saks stores around the country, including those in New York, San Francisco, Phoenix and Boston, as well as online at saksfifthavenue.com.
In the framework of consultations on ratification of the Association Agreement, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko held a phone conversation with European Parliament President Martin Schulz.

"The head of state emphasized that every opportunity must be used to ratify the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU. In his turn, Martin Schulz noted that the European Parliament stood on the side of Ukraine and had a majority to provide the visa-free regime for Ukrainians," the Ukrainian president's press service reported

The parties agreed to continue contacts for the efficient coordination of efforts.

Earlier, the President had phone conversations with President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and President of the European Council Donald Tusk.
We are really still a garage band, doing what we do from various hubs around the world, but it feels like fun, declared Geza Schon, referring to his Escentric Molecules team. Theyd come to Schons home base, Berlin, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the ground-breaking perfume line that introduced synthetic-embracing unisex minimalism to the fragrance industry, starting in 2006 with the launch of Molecule 01, composed of 65% Iso E Super, and Escentric 01, its complementary perfume.

Among the gang on hand for the recent event was the brands design guru, Paul White of Me Company, and author and fragrance consultant Susan Irvine, who made many of the fateful introductions that set Escentric Molecules on its way to becoming the notorious bestselling cult fragrance some couldnt smell, and others couldnt resist.

Not only was the Molecule 01 formula a paradigm shift, but the bottle had no cap, and the brand opted for flying particles and binary code over buxom babes for the packaging and imagery.

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Chemistry, science and technology are the things that feed our vision narrative, explained Paul White. Were not interested in the sex side of selling fragrances. We never put a face to Escentric Molecules ever, no matter what. It has its own story, and we play around with that.

A new chapter is about to begin. The brand will officially launch its next edition, Escentric Molecules 04, at Milans Esxence in March. Molecule 04 is based on Javanol, Givaudans sandalwood synthetic; its corollary, Escentric 04, adds grapefruit, juniper, osmanthus, rose, mastic and labdanum to the mix. Escentric Molecules 04 is designed, said Schon, to show this classic perfumery note in a whole new way: Sandalwood for the first time in a fresh shape, instead of just being cloying and sweet.

But first, it was time to celebrate with a custom scented dinner for around 65 invited guests, including perfumer Mark Buxton, designer Kostas Murkudis, Linda Pilkington of fragrance brand Ormonde Jayne, and ballet dancer Polina Semionova  all of whom have collaborated with the busy Schon on other scented projects.

Escentric Molecules is on course for something new. Its second edition launched in 2008, two years after the brands debut. Two years after that, came Escentric Molecules 03. Then came a break of six years, before the right match was made. Fragrance companies are all constantly looking for the next big molecule, noted Schon, so he is sure to have more new possibilities to play with.

Schon said the team does already have a molecule in mind for the fifth generation of the series, but that he plans to keep the line compact.

We will never see Molecule 10. This is impossible, he insisted. Because I think we would look stupid, because if we get to 10 we would have to launch Molecules where you smell them and say, I would never wear this on its own.
When it comes to mass transit, the common narrative holds that the Bay Area has built a sleek, efficient commuter rail network while car-loving Los Angeles remains something of a primitive backwater.

But that perception is increasingly not the reality, as choices voters face in the November election make clear.

The Bay Areas dominant rail systems  BART and Caltrain  are bursting at the seams as ridership is rapidly overwhelming the services. BART and Caltrain cars, along with San Franciscos Muni trains, are filled to capacity at rush hour, and riders are clamoring for more trains and new routes.

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BARTs 44-year-old electric rail system is so decrepit that bay water is seeping into tunnels, ancient power systems surge so much they disable train cars, and even the steel rail itself has cracked and split off during the height of the morning rush hour.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles is in the midst of a major rail system expansion, building so rapidly that Metros 105 miles of rail is nearly equivalent to BARTs 107 miles. If two-thirds of voters approve Measure M  which would raise the sales tax by an additional half a penny for every dollar spent  Los Angeles County would see a dramatic expansion of rail over the next 40 years.

A BART train travels toward downtown Oakland. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images )

The two regions find themselves in very different positions. BART and the other Bay Area rail line still serve more riders than L.A.s Metro rail and Metrolink, in part because owning a car is becoming more difficult in some areas, notably San Francisco. Los Angeles has been investing heavily in rail, opening up more regions of the county to trains at a rapid clip, but has still struggled to lure more riders to mass transit. Backers hope that once enough rail lines are built, the L.A. area will see the rise in passengers that the Bay Area is now dealing with.

I think a lot of folks in the Bay Area look with a lot of envy toward Los Angeles, said Randy Rentschler, spokesman for the Bay Areas Metropolitan Transportation Commission. I mean that seriously: A lot of people here wish we could find that political capital and raise that kind of money to expand the system that we have.

Bay Area commuters and planners dream of their own expanded system, such as a second transbay tube that could carry BART, Caltrain and Amtrak trains between San Francisco and East Bay suburbs, and new rail lines serving western San Francisco. But finding funding has proven challenging.

The citys Muni rail system is also buckling under heavy demand. The service still doesnt connect to many neighborhoods, requiring many riders to rely on the systems famously slow buses for their daily commute, with the average speed on the system 8 mph.

For now, the Bay Area is settling for a far less sexy goal: just trying to coax voters in three counties to approve a $3.5-billion bond measure, Measure RR, to rebuild the core systems of BART.

We opened BART in 1972 and then proceeded to let it deteriorate and almost fall apart, said San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener, who chairs the county transportation authority. Meanwhile, over the last 35 to 40 years, weve grown by about 2 million people in the Bay Area, and  weve fallen behind.

I know people in Berkeley who work in downtown San Francisco who no longer take BART, because they physically cannot get on to the train, Wiener said. They will take a bus instead or drive.

A BART worker destroys a faulty insulator with a sledgehammer at the Powell Street station in San Francisco. (Ben Margot / Associated Press )

Complicating matters for planners is that the Bay Areas 7 million people are split into many counties. That makes it harder to plan on a grand scale compared with L.A.s Metro, the transit workhorse for the nations most populous county  home to 10 million people.

L.A. County for three decades has focused on building a rail network strictly within its borders and didnt have to form plans with neighbors. Orange County, for example, has debated various light rail lines and streetcar projects over the years but has yet to build any of its own.

We have yet to develop the type of visionary package that L.A. County has, said Ratna Amin, transportation policy director for the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Assn., in part because we are nine counties in our region, and no one of them captures a majority of residents or jobs the way L.A. County has.

The biggest challenge for Los Angeles is getting people to ride the rails.

Armando Cobian rides the new Expo Line with his bike to school at Santa Monica City College. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times )

Despite the ongoing expansion of L.A.s Metro rail system, annual ridership has declined, from 114 million riders two years ago to 108 million for the fiscal year that ended in June. Although the new rail routes are attracting commuters, overall rail ridership has fallen as fewer people ride the older lines, such as the subway.

Transit backers say the real test will come as the next major rail projects are completed, such as a new subway in downtown L.A., a subway to the Westside and service toward LAX, among others.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said he was confident that ridership would increase after more rail is built. He pointed out the unexpected popularity of the Expo line light rail extension to Santa Monica, where trains are so crowded officials are scheduling trains to run every six minutes for most of the day instead of every 12 minutes.

The Bay Area shows you the promise of investing in rail density, which we still dont have. Were still too spread out, Garcetti said. When you build it, people do come.

Others are more skeptical, questioning whether L.A. is simply too spread out and car-dependent for rail to ever gain a major following.

Passage of Measure M would dramatically expand L.A.'s rail network.

Harriet, a tunnel-boring machine on the Crenshaw/LAX light rail construction project, breaks through at the underground Leimert Park Station. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times )

By raising about $120 billion in revenue over four decades, the plan envisions transit lines extending into the San Fernando Valley, the Westside, and the suburbs of Artesia, Claremont, Torrance, Whittier and South El Monte. About $2 billion would be set aside for Metrolink, which has already begun to replace its oldest locomotives and is working to add a second track to more areas along the San Bernardino line, which has only a single track for 80% of its length.

The Bay Area is also trying address its future transit needs.

BARTs riders are angry, and its easy to see why: Annual ridership has more than doubled in the last 30 years, from fewer than 60 million to more than 128 million, just as much of our core system has reached the end of its life, said agency spokesman Taylor Huckaby. Eventually, the whole thing needs to be replaced.

The single biggest tab is $1.2 billion to replace electrical transmission lines and substations that feed power into the third rail that powers the trains. The system is so old that it doesnt even use modern, rubber-insulated power lines, but antiquated technology that uses pressurized nitrogen in a pipe to insulate the copper lines. (And, making matters worse, the pipes are leaking nitrogen, costing nearly $90,000 last year to replace it.)

The list of items goes on: BARTs tunnels in San Francisco need to be waterproofed from the bay and underground streams; water leaks have weakened the steel rails so much that they break apart during commutes, and crews have nicknamed the area The Rainforest.

BART needs to replace 90 miles of rail. And the Apollo-era train control system needs replacement; BART currently has 669 train cars and wants to eventually operate to its maximum capacity of 1,081, but cannot operate more than 900 until a new control system is installed.

Finally, some of the rails need to be realigned, because of the slow creep of the Hayward fault, and our trains are getting closer and closer to the tunnel walls, Huckaby said.

Caltrain has seen record-breaking growth in the last several years  growing from about 12 million annual riders six years ago to now more than 19 million. But Caltrain, too, has now reached capacity, and wont be able to grow unless two things happen.

The first is moving Caltrain from using diesel locomotives to be powered by overhead electrical lines, which will enable trains to accelerate and brake faster. That would enable the system to run six trains an hour per direction, instead of the current five. Construction could begin as early as next year and be completed by 2021.

Caltrain has also added a sixth car to some of its most crowded five-car trains, added after the system purchased 16 train cars from Metrolink. But its not a perfect solution  some stations arent designed to handle trains of that length, and the system will work on lengthening platforms in the coming years, said spokeswoman Jayme Ackemann.

And a major goal for Caltrain  extending the rail system in a tunnel directly into the heart of the city at a new Transbay Terminal  has been elusive. Funding has not been secured for that extension.

In addition, like BART, Caltrain has had a hard time with funding in the past. Forty percent of Caltrains budget comes from transit agencies in San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, and any one of those agencies can decide to unilaterally cut back their financial contribution to Caltrain.

Meanwhile, in Silicon Valley, Santa Clara County transportation officials are asking voters to pass Measure B, which would raise the sales tax by half a cent for every dollar spent to fund a host of freeway and transit improvements, including funding to bring BART to downtown San Jose.

BART is already opening a South Fremont station this fall, and plans to open stations in Milpitas and northeastern San Jose by next year. But more funding is needed to complete a tunnel underneath downtown San Jose, where it would connect with San Jose State, Santa Clara University, Caltrain and rail lines to Stockton and Sacramento.

Why is BART important? Thats a lot of folks out of their cars onto BART cars  and completes the length of rapid rail around the entire Bay Area, said Carl Guardino, CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.

Other agencies are seeing past sales tax measures bear fruit. San Francisco voters in 2003 extended a half-cent sales tax, paving the way for the construction of the Central Subway. The first subway built in San Francisco since the 1970s, it will connect the Caltrain terminal near the ballpark to Market Street, Union Square and Chinatown.

But some commuters are hungry for more planning. San Francisco officials backed a plan by Wiener, the supervisor, to create a long-term policy for new citywide subway construction, and authorities have discussed lines on Geary Boulevard, down 19th Avenue as well as routes connecting to Fishermans Wharf, the Sunset District, the South of Market area and southeast San Francisco.

City officials are also asking voters to pass Propositions J and K, which would increase the sales tax rate by three-quarters of a penny for every dollar spent and set aside about $100 million a year to pay for repairs, upgrades and infrastructure improvements to Muni.

And the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit system, or SMART, expects to open up the first segment of a new passenger rail line by spring. It will cover a 43-mile route, running trains every half hour during peak hours, between Santa Rosa to San Rafael, with an extension to a stop near the Larkspur ferry terminal planned to open in 2018, where commuters can go on to San Francisco. That rail line is supported by a quarter-cent sales tax increase approved by voters in 2008.

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Two Los Angeles-area men have been arrested on federal charges of conspiring to smuggle more than $3 million in fighter aircraft parts to Iran, the U.S. attorneys office announced Friday.

Zavik Zargarian, 52, of Glendale and Vache Nayirian, 57, of Lakeview Terrace were arrested Wednesday by special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements Homeland Security Investigations following an undercover probe. The nine-count federal indictment unsealed this week also named Zargarians Pacoima-based company, ZNC Engineering Inc., and two Iranian nationals, Hanri Terminassian, 55, and Hormoz Nowrouz, 56  both of whom are believed to be in Iran.

Several of the defendants also are accused of buying and illegally exporting fluorocarbon rubber O-rings to Iran. Those parts have possible military applications, including use in aircraft hydraulic systems and landing gear, according to federal authorities.

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The crimes charged in this indictment are very serious threats to our national security, U.S. Atty. Eileen M. Decker said in a statement. As a nation, it is vital that we protect our military technology and prevent it from getting into the hands of other countries without proper authorization.

Zargarian and Nayirian pleaded not guilty and were freed on bond Wednesday. A man who answered the phone at a number listed for ZNC Engineering declined to comment Friday.

According to the indictment, Terminassian contacted Zargarian from Iran for help in obtaining military aircraft parts, including those used in F-18 fighter jets. Zargarian sought to purchase them from an undercover Homeland Security special agent posing as a parts supplier, and Terminassian traveled to the United States to meet with both of them about the deal, the indictment says.

The indictment also accuses Zargarian and Nayirian of conspiring with Terminassian and Nowrouz to export fluorocarbon rubber O-rings to Iran. The indictment alleges that Zargarian bought the O-rings from a California vendor and provided them to Nayirian, who then exported them to the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. Terminassian then allegedly arranged for more than 7,000 of those O-rings to be transshipped to Iran.

To reduce the likelihood of detection, federal authorities allege, the defendants falsely claimed on shipping documents that the O-rings were destined for countries other than Iran and undervalued them to avoid close inspection by U.S. customs officials. Federal authorities said they obtained evidence that the O-rings were delivered to the Iranian Air Force.

One of [our] top enforcement priorities is preventing sensitive articles like those in this case from falling into the hands of individuals or nations that might seek to harm America or its interests, Joseph Macias, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Los Angeles, said in a statement. The illicit trade of these kinds of items to countries that have repeatedly violated our export laws must be controlled.

The U.S. embargo on Iran prohibits the export of goods, technology and services to Iran with limited exceptions.

If convicted, Zargarian would face a maximum sentence of 115 years in federal prison and a $4.77-million fine, while Nayirian would face 95 years in federal prison and a $3.77-million fine. A trial is set for Dec. 20.
Both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have said they oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would be the largest multilateral trade agreement ever negotiated.

On Friday, some of the men who negotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement about 20 years ago came together to warn against dismissing these pacts.



For the record: A previous version of this article misspelled Mickey Kantors name as Cantor.

Every White House administration since the 1930s has supported trade agreements, former U.S. Commerce Secretary and Democrat Mickey Kantor said Friday morning during a panel at Claremont McKenna College. He was part of a conference on populism, politics and global trade through the Dreier Roundtable.

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I support Hillary Clinton, but I deeply disagree with her on what shes done in not leading on trade, Kantor said.

Americans who support Trump see demographic change and jobs shifting overseas, and these changes lead to anxiety and anger that politicians have ignored for too long, the panelists said. Trump taps into that populism.

People are watching the world around them change in such a way they cant absorb it, Kantor said. The accompanying fear manifests itself politically, he said.

The Dreier Roundtable is a public policy program led by former Rep. David Dreier, a California Republican. (Dreier is also a member of the board of directors for Tronc, which owns the Los Angeles Times.)

During the conference, Kantor and the Republicans who spoke blamed Trumps success in part on the lack of education that voters receive about these trade deals and the forces driving globalization. Jobs will leave the U.S. for industries in other countries regardless of trade deals; what the U.S. needs is trade agreements to help create structure and processes, including strong job training programs for the multiple careers that Americans will likely have over their lifetimes, Dreier said.

If we  dont shape the global economy, Dreier said, we will be shaped by it.

Reach Sonali Kohli at Sonali.Kohli@latimes.com or on Twitter @Sonali_Kohli.
For years, mass murderer Scott Dekraais defense attorney has accused the Orange County Sheriffs Department of operating an elaborate jailhouse informant program that regularly flouted defendants rights.

When jailers testified during extensive hearings before Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals about their dealings with snitches, the jailers recollections proved sketchy. Nor could they think of documents that might refresh their memories.

Then came the revelation that jailers kept secret jailhouse computer logs. It contributed to Goethals decision in March 2015 to throw the district attorneys office off the Dekraai case on the grounds that authorities had failed to turn over key information.

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This year came still another batch of previously undisclosed records  a log of 1,157 pages compiled from 2008 to 2013 by the Special Handling jailers who dealt with informants.

At a hearing Friday, Goethals said he plans to give 250 to 300 pages of the Special Handling Log to the defense, with redactions he has made himself with an eye on the safety of inmates and jail staff.

Goethals said that some of the material in the Special Handling log is grossly impeaching to the jailers sworn testimony, while other material is silly verging on embarrassing to the Sheriffs Department, which has repeatedly failed to comply with his discovery orders since 2013.

The Sheriffs Department has lost the high moral ground here, since weve been waiting three and a half years, the judge said.

The judge also ordered that the Sheriffs Department not destroy any successor document or database to the log, which mysteriously ceased to exist in 2013, around the time the judge ordered authorities to produce documents in the case.

Goethals told Elizabeth Pejeau, the attorney representing Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens, that he was skeptical of the departments apparent inability to explain what took the place of the log.

How could it be immediately terminated without any sort of replacement? Goethals said. Its time for compliance on that issue. If theres something else out there, it should have been provided a long time ago, years ago.

Dekraai has pleaded guilty to murdering eight people in a Seal Beach salon in 2011, but the informant controversy has indefinitely delayed the penalty phase of his case, which will determine whether he receives the death penalty or life in prison.

The California attorney generals office is appealing the judges ruling to throw the D.A.s office off the case. An appeals court is expected to rule on the matter within the next three months.

On Friday, Dekraais attorney, Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders, said his client was the victim of a conspiracy of silence among authorities, and asked the judge to demand answers about what he called the Important Information Log he believed followed the Special Handling log.

They should be told to bring the log. Theres no reason to wait any longer, Sanders said. Why are they sitting here pretending like they cant get answers?

Pejeau said the Sheriffs Department was working diligently to get to the bottom of it, and an exhaustive search for records was underway.

If the Orange County sheriff were sincerely trying to unravel this mystery, I cant think of any reason why we cant get to the bottom of it, Goethals said, adding: It seems as if the sheriff believes that she can have documents and she can decide whether or not she can turn them over. Thats not the sheriffs job. Thats the courts job.

Goethals ordered the parties to return for another hearing on Nov. 10.

christopher.goffard@latimes.com

Twitter: @LATchrisgoffard
A Santa Ana City Council candidate is under investigation for allegedly misusing campaign funds, officials said.

State officials launched an investigation last week against Jose Solorio, a former state assemblyman who also previously served on the City Council. He is running for the seat representing Ward 3 in the Orange County city.

Solorio, has been criticized by some who accuse him of being a political carpetbagger.

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Earlier this year, he moved to an apartment in Ward 3 to run for the open seat on the council. His family still lives in Ward 1. He is accused of using campaign donations to rent the apartment.

California Fair Political Practices Commission officials are investigating whether Solorio violated state law, commission spokesman Jay Wierenga said.

Wierenga said he could not comment specifically on Solorios case because the investigation is ongoing.

But he said that campaign funds cannot be used for personal expenses.

The law is pretty clear about personal use of campaign funds and its pretty well forbidden, he said.

The complaint against Solorio came from David De Leon, a notary who is Solorios rival for the council seat.

Solorio, who said hes since paid back his campaign, said he believed he was permitted by law to use campaign funds to pay for his rent since his apartment also served as his campaign headquarters.

In an abundance of caution, I decided to discontinue this arrangement and have reimbursed my campaign, Solorio said in a prepared statement.

Solorios campaign finance disclosure covering Jan. 1 to Sept. 24 shows that the council candidate paid $1,867 to Far West Management Corporation in Irvine for an apartment in Santa Ana.

FPCC guidelines state that its illegal for a candidate and campaign to jointly lease a property. It could only be legal if there are two separate leases  one for campaign business and another for personal use.

Its unclear whether Solorio had one or two separate leases. He would not comment further beyond his prepared statement.

Its unclear how long it will take the FPPC to wrap up its investigation, but its possible that it could be resolved before the Nov. 8 election, Wierenga said.

cindy.carcamo@latimes.com
Ocean lovers have long been drawn to the tranquility of Martins Beach, a sweeping crescent of sand just south of Half Moon Bay.

But a tsunami of litigation began building soon after billionaire Vinod Khosla, a co-founder of the pioneering tech company Sun Microsystems, bought the secluded property for $32 million in 2008.

The family that sold Martins Beach had, for almost a century, allowed surfers, fishing enthusiasts and others to reach the sand on foot or by car via an access road. Eventually the family provided public restrooms, a parking lot and a general store.

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Khosla posted do not enter signs, hired security and shut the gate.

Since the closure, attorneys have filed at least four lawsuits.

If he thought his legal fees have been monumental so far, just wait until his case gets going  Mark Massara, Surfrider Foundation attorney

On one side of the battle, the Surfrider Foundation and Friends of Martins Beach are suing Khosla, demanding public access to this stretch of California coastline.

And Khosla, in turn, has sued the California Coastal Commission, the State Lands Commission and San Mateo County, including its building and planning department.

His latest lawsuit, filed Sept. 30 in San Francisco federal court, accuses the state and local agencies of harassment, singling out his land for unfair treatment and trying to force him to surrender his property rights in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

Khosla has really stirred things up, said Mark Massara, an environmental attorney who represents Surfrider. If he thought his legal fees have been monumental so far, just wait until his case gets going.

The battle over public access centers on whether Khosla has repeatedly stopped visitors from entering a 49-acre parcel, which includes the access road and beach, and an additional 39.5 acres that contain coastal bluffs.

Court documents state that after the purchase, Khosla shut down the road during the winter, if attendants were unavailable or for private events. Those closures came to the attention of San Mateo County and the Coastal Commission, which sought to keep the road open.

Khosla sued them in June 2009, hoping to end their interference with what he considered to be his property rights. A San Mateo County Superior Court judge, however, dismissed the case, stating that the property owner had to go through the commissions permit process or enforcement proceedings before he could resort to a lawsuit.

The legal fight resumed in October 2012 after five surfers were arrested on trespass charges for walking past the roads locked gate and refusing to leave the property.

A few days later, Friends of Martins Beach, a group that included two of the surfers, sued Khosla in an attempt to establish a public right to use the road, the parking area and the beach.

Khosla contended the property was privately owned and had never been subject to easements or dedications granting public access.

The pending lawsuit prompted the San Mateo County district attorneys office to dismiss trespass charges against the surfers because the access issue had not yet been resolved by the courts. The Sheriff s Office also stopped making arrests or issuing citations for trespass on the property. Though the road is closed to traffic, at least for the moment people can use it to walk to the beach.

A year after the case was filed, however, a San Mateo County Superior Court judge dealt Friends of Martins Beach a setback, ruling there was no right of access. He said the property was subject to the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, an agreement that ended the Mexican-American War and required the United States to recognize Mexican land grants.

Martins Beach, the judge ruled, had been privately owned long before there were public access laws and the new state of California had claimed no interest in the land. The decision meant Khosla could keep the public off Martins Beach, including the sand between the water and mean high tide line, which is defined by the state Constitution as public.

On appeal, state justices decided there was no constitutional right of access and upheld most of the treaty except to conclude there was no evidence to show that it applied to the beach below the mean high tide line. They sent the matter back to the Superior Court to consider whether access to the road and dry, sandy beach should be required because the public has been allowed to use them for decades.

The state Supreme Court later declined to hear the Friends of Martins Beach case, but ordered that the appellate opinion not be published, which means the ruling cannot be cited as precedent in similar cases.

A Surfrider lawsuit filed in March 2013 has been more successful. A Superior Court judge ordered the gate to be opened at least as frequently as the family that had owned it kept it open.

Khoslas failure to secure a coastal development permit before restricting access to the beach was illegal, the judge stated.

Khosla appealed the decision.

That same year, the Legislature passed a bill ordering the State Lands Commission to negotiate with Khosla and try to acquire a public easement within a year. If an agreement could not be reached, the commission was authorized to obtain the necessary land through condemnation proceedings.

Jennifer Lucchesi, executive director of the State Lands Commission, said talks with Khosla are still underway, though the deadline expired in 2015. She declined to discuss details of the negotiations.

In his new lawsuit, Khosla accuses the Lands Commission, the Coastal Commission and San Mateo County officials of employing strong-arm tactics and targeting him for uniquely disfavorable treatment by demanding permits, denying permits, refusing to enforce trespass laws and by threatening condemnation proceedings to coerce him into surrendering his professed right to exclude the public.

The lawsuit notes that for years the previous owner of Martins Beach made improvements to the property and routinely chose whether, when and how to allow public access, something that San Mateo County and the Coastal Commission never interfered with.

Dori L. Yob, one of Khoslas attorneys, alleges that after Khosla bought the land, county and Coastal Commission officials repeatedly sought to force him into granting public access on their terms. No other similarly situated property owner in the area has been subjected to anything close to the same treatment, the lawsuit states.

The case mentions that privately held beach campgrounds in Santa Cruz, Sturgeon Beach and a popular beach in San Gregorio have not attracted the attention of government agencies as Martins Beach has.

By their logic, if I commit a murder and I am not prosecuted for it, it excuses you if you commit a murder, said Gary Redenbacher, the attorney for Friends of Martins Beach.

San Mateo County Counsel John Beiers said that while property rights are important, the allegations against the county are an overreach, and the county is confident it will prevail.

Prior to the current owners, Coastal Commission officials said they never received any complaints or requests for enforcement action on the closure of public access, so there was no reason for them to take action until recently.

The Coastal Commission, which has accused Khosla of closing Martins Beach and making improvements without permits, is trying to establish a right of access based on the publics longtime use of the road and beach.

Among the more than 200 testimonials it has gathered so far is one by Steve Angeja, who said members of his family have visited Martins Beach since the 1930s to swim, fish and barbecue their catch.

We would probably go to the beach 5 to 6 times a year during the summer, Angeja wrote. We had our family reunions there for years. This was the only beach we would go to.

dan.weikel@latimes.com

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3:10 p.m., Oct. 31: This article was updated with a comment from Coastal Commission officials.

This article was originally published at 5:40 p.m., Oct. 28.
An Agoura Hills man who state prosecutors say called the Islamic Center of Southern California and threatened to kill people because they were Muslim made some intemperate comments but is basically a decent man who is a victim of todays toxic political climate, his attorney said Friday.

Investigators allege that Mark Feigin, 40, called the center twice last month, at one point threatening to kill its members because of his hatred for Muslims and his belief that Muslims will destroy the United States, Los Angeles police Cmdr. Horace Frank said at a news conference this week.

The L.A. Police Department launched an investigation into the calls and arrested Feigin during a traffic stop Oct. 19, Frank said. Police searched his Agoura Hills home and found several guns  rifles, shotguns, handguns  and thousands of rounds of ammunition in his Agoura Hills home, the commander said.

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But the guns were just a collection and Feigin never fired them, said Robert Sheahen, one of his attorneys. He acknowledged Feigin made some intemperate comments, but said he is not conceding his clients guilt.

The attorneys also released a statement Friday saying their client has no prior criminal record and poses no threat:

Mark Feigin is a good, decent man. He has no criminal record and he is not a danger to anyone. He has worked as a Chinese translator, as a screenwriter and as a real estate developer, the statement said. If anything, Mr. Feigin was a victim of the toxic national discourse of this political season.

Feigin has been exposed to a lot of alt-right media coverage that vilifies Muslims, his attorneys said. The so-called alternative right is described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a movement of groups and individuals  largely to be found on social media and the Internet  who espouse extreme right-wing ideology and white identity politics. The movement has gained a higher profile for its embrace of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Mr. Feigin now realizes we must work as a nation to put an end to fear and intolerance, the statement said. Our Islamic brethren must be both protected and respected. We hope to be able to reach out to Islamic representatives in the near future to begin a process of apology, contrition, dialogue  and education.

State prosecutors charged Feigin with making criminal threats. His weapons and ammunition were seized pending the outcome of his case, Sheahen said.

Feigin faces an additional allegation of committing a hate crime and a misdemeanor count of making annoying telephone calls, according to documents filed in court last week. He is scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 10.

The first call to the Islamic Center came Sept. 19, when a man left a voicemail that was peppered with vulgarity and espoused hatred toward the Muslim faith, Frank said. The next day a man called again, threatening to kill the person who answered the phone along with other members of the center, police said.

Unfortunately, in todays political climate, such hate is not uncommon, said Omar Ricci, a spokesman for the Islamic Center of Southern California. We get a call every once in a while. This particular call rose to a different level.

Frank did not specify how police identified Feigin as their suspect, saying only that police were able to connect the voice to the person who called. Investigators obtained warrants to arrest Feigin and search his home last week.

Though Feigin has a constitutional right to free speech, Frank said, that right does not extend to making statements that threaten the well-being of others.

People make those calls all the time, he said. Where you cross the line is the threat to kill them.  Thats where free speech ends.

Police are also looking into Facebook posts and tweets that may be connected to Feigin, Frank said. Many of the tweets shared by the LAPD include disparaging, profanity-laced remarks about Muslims, calling Muslims filthy Islamic beasts and saying they should be quarantined.

The tweets also included remarks against Muslim refugees  drowning them is best, one read.

Times staff writer Kate Mather contributed to this report.

Joseph.serna@latimes.com

For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter.
Police are investigating a fatal shooting in South Los Angeles and three related crime scenes in the same neighborhood, authorities said.

Officers responded to a call about a shooting near 90th and Hoover Streets about 4:30 a.m. Saturday, said Officer Norma Eisenman, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Police Department.

A 25-year-old man was transported by a private party to a local hospital, where he died, Eisenman said.

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No additional details were available about the shooting.

About the same time as the shooting, Eisenman said, there were three other crimes a few blocks away.

There are detectives on scene at all of them, and were trying to get clarification as to what exactly happened, Eisenman said.

She could not say whether the additional incidents involved shootings and whether they were gang-related.

matt.stevens@latimes.com

Twitter: @ByMattStevens
Los Angeles police are searching for a Trump supporter who was harassed by a crowd and apparently bumped to the ground in Hollywood this week after making what were described as racial slurs.

A videotape taken Thursday and uploaded to YouTube showed the unidentified female supporter, wearing dark glasses and a gray hoodie, sitting silently on Hollywood Boulevard near Highland Avenue, apparently to protect Trumps star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Earlier this week, James Lambert Otis was arrested by Los Angeles police on suspicion of felony vandalism for allegedly using a pickax to demolish the Republican presidential nominees star.

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The videotape showed the woman displaying several pro-Trump signs that complained about immigrants without legal status and blasted President Obama for purportedly selling out African Americans. A heavyset man with glasses and tattoos then moved in to tear up her signs, leading her to push back at him and fall to the ground.

As she lay prone, some onlookers jeered her with profanity.

You spewed hate and you got hate, one man is heard to say. You got exactly what you were dishing out.

Another man, however, asked the crowd to let her be while another said, She obviously has a little bit of mental difficulties. A woman is heard to ask if she needed water or an ambulance.

The videotape prompted headlines on conservative news sites, such as Breitbart News, and several calls to police asking why they did not intervene. LAPD Officer Tony Im said Friday that police would write up a misdemeanor battery report on behalf of the woman, using the video and information they obtained from her at another confrontation in Hollywood on Wednesday.

On that day, Im said, the woman also incited the crowd with what he called racial slurs. Police from the Hollywood station went to the scene and kept the peace, he said.

Police took down her name and Los Angeles address at the time, but Im did not have the information available for release. He said police would visit the address she gave to interview her.

We had a lot of people upset that we didnt do anything, Im said. If shes a victim, she has a right to come forward.

Trump attorney Michael Cohen said in a tweet Friday afternoon that he is also looking for the woman, and that Trump has a gift for her.

.@DiamondandSilk @realDonaldTrump someone please help me locate this woman as Mr. Trump has a gift for her...  Michael Cohen (@MichaelCohen212) October 28, 2016

Koali Fikator, who took the video and posted it, wrote on YouTube that onlookers gave the woman food, drink and called for emergency services after the altercation. He said the woman was fine.

SHE REFUSED TO BE HELPED, got up, and kept on with her hateful rhetoric, writing a new sign saying: "[expletive] Mexicans, vote for Trump, Fikator wrote.

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11:25 p.m.: Updated with the tweet from Trumps attorney.

This article was first published at 10:30 p.m.
Monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Special Monitoring Mission (OSCE SMM) in eastern Ukraine have recorded significant growth in the number of ceasefire violations in Luhansk region, the mission's press service said in a statement shared with Interfax-Ukraine.

In particular, the SMM conducted 20 patrolling missions in the region on 26 to monitor the ceasefire observance, the movement and withdrawal of military hardware, and the general humanitarian situation.

"In Luhansk region, the SMM noted an increase in the number of recorded ceasefire violations, including almost 300 explosions compared with two on 25 October," the mission said in a statement.

"Positioned on the government-controlled side of the Zolote-Pervomaisk disengagement area, the SMM heard six explosions assessed as mortar (82mm) rounds, and a ten- and a twenty-minutes long exchange, respectively, of automatic-grenade-launcher, heavy-machine-gun and small-arms fire, all 3-5km south-east (outside the disengagement area)," it said.

"Positioned at the 'LPR' [the self-proclaimed Luhansk people's republic] checkpoint on the edge of the Zolote-Pervomaisk disengagement area, the SMM heard, in about two hours, 190 undetermined explosions, and more than 300 bursts and shots of recoilless gun (SPG), automatic-grenade-launcher, heavy-machine-gun and small-arms fire, 3-6 km north-north-east; and 97 undetermined explosions 5-15 km south-south-west and west (outside the disengagement area)," it said.

"While in 'LPR'-controlled Kadiivka (formerly Stakhanov, 50 km west of Luhansk), the SMM heard five explosions assessed as artillery rounds, 15 km north-west of its location," it said.

"Positioned 2 km west of government-controlled Dmytrivka (43 km north of Luhansk), the SMM heard two explosions assessed as tank rounds, 2 km east. The SMM assessed the explosions as live-fire exercise at the Dmytrivka training area," the SMM said.
Barry Socher, a violinist for the Los Angeles Philharmonic for 35 years and a prolific composer, has died, the orchestra said. He was 68.

He died after a long battle with brain cancer, the L.A. Phil said.

Socher retired as a first violinist from the orchestra in 2015. He was hired by then-Music Director Carlo Maria Giulini in 1981. He was a frequent performer with the L.A. Phils New Music Group and Chamber Music Society and appeared in recitals all over Southern California.

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He was a person who approached everything he did with such joy, said L.A. Phil Executive Director Gail Samuel, who knew Socher for more than 25 years. He was just in love with music.

That love drove Socher to be part of many prominent outlets for classical music. He served as concertmaster for the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Pasadena Pops, Fresno Philharmonic, Ojai Festival and Oregon Bach Festival orchestras.

We may have been one of the few groups who were put on that stage and allowed to act like the Three Stooges.  Violinist Steve Scharf, fellow member of the Armadillo String Quartet

He was a founding member and first violinist of the blithe Armadillo String Quartet, which performed serious music alongside humorous compositions with tongue planted firmly in cheek. Armadillo gained a reputation for delighting audiences in unusual places, including along the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon and beside the Rogue River in Oregon.

Armadillo was as also responsible for one of Sochers finest moments, says quartet co-founder and violinist Steve Scharf, who became friends with Socher in 1969 while both were studying at USC. The group regularly collaborated with composer Peter Schickele, well known for his satirical projects involving the discovered works of the only forgotten son of the Bach family, a character he invented named P.D.Q. Bach. One such collaboration resulted in two performances by Armadillo at Carnegie Hall in 1999.

The quartet was alone onstage and in full form  combining all the aspects of the serious music making, outrageous fun and irreverent performance that were Sochers hallmarks. They sang, they danced, they told esoteric jokes and they played and played.

We may have been one of the few groups who were put on that stage and allowed to act like the Three Stooges, joked Scharf.

As much as he liked to have fun, Socher was never more at ease than he was when he was working on his craft, those who knew him said.

His compositions, of which there are many, have been played throughout the United States and Europe. Last year the L.A. Phil performed his composition Fin Tango at the Hollywood Bowl in honor of his final concert as an orchestra member.

The day after Sochers death, L.A. Phil music and artistic director Gustavo Dudamel dedicated the matinee performance at Walt Disney Concert Hall to Socher.

He had this very wry sense of humor wedded to a truly gentle soul, said Grant Gershon, artistic director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Gershon studied under Socher in the mid-1970s when Socher was teaching at the Idyllwild Arts Academy.

Gershon said Socher was a legendary figure back then, as a musician and as a colorful character. That reputation stayed with him later in life, as a bushy shock of white hair and a big beard reminded people of Brahms.

Gershon said Socher and the Armadillos were famous in the citys classical music community for their highly anticipated annual Halloween concerts, which they called Dilloween. Each year the members of the quarter would dress up in outlandish costumes  sometimes in drag, sometimes as Elvis at various stages of his career.

Barry with his big Brahmsian beard in sequins and full regalia is a sight that none of us will be able to forget, recalled Gershon, chuckling.

For Socher, humor was a way of reflecting how seriously he felt about music, said L.A. Phil violinist Mitchell Newman, who first met Socher as a student at Idyllwild when he was 8.

All that humor came out of being a sensitive and serious musician and finding the essence of the piece, Newman said. Music making for Barry was almost like a moral cause.

Also of note was Sochers innate warmth and respect for his fellow musicians, said L.A. Phil violinist Vijay Gupta.

To him playing music was sacred and he treated every single note as if it were holy, Gupta said. He treated people with the same kind of care.

Socher is survived by his wife, Jutta Thorne; sons Peter Thorne, Michael Thorne and Aron Socher; daughter Leslie Beattie; and four granddaughters.

jessica.gelt@latimes.com

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Just as Hillary Clinton appeared to be cruising to Election Day with the wind at her back, the FBI rattled the presidential race Friday by announcing it is again probing emails that might be related to her private server, rekindling a politically damaging controversy for Clinton and reinvigorating Republicans scrambling to hold on to congressional seats.

The surprise word from FBI Director James Comey came after his agency discovered new communications on a computer jointly used by close Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her estranged husband, Anthony Weiner, a former New York congressman, according to U.S. law enforcement officials. Investigators came across the emails while investigating whether Weiner violated federal law when exchanging sexually explicit texts with a 15-year-old girl in North Carolina, the official said.

Comey wrote in a letter to Congress that the newly discovered messages could be relevant to questions of whether Clinton and her aides mishandled classified information while she was secretary of State.

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The emails were not to or from Clinton, and contained information that appeared to be more of what agents had already uncovered, the official said, but in an abundance of caution, they felt they needed to further scrutinize them.

Because Comey had told Congress that the FBI had finished investigating Clintons server, he felt he needed to let lawmakers know that agents were looking into the case again in light of the recent discovery, the official said.

News of Comeys letter sent the stock market falling and Republican candidates rewriting their stump speeches. The Clinton campaign was caught off guard, as the letter emerged while the candidate and her entourage, including Abedin, were flying on a campaign plane with no working Wi-Fi en route to a rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Speaking briefly to reporters after an event in Des Moines, Clinton called on Comey to release more information. She said neither she nor her campaign staff was contacted by the FBI and noted twice that the bureau communicated only with Republican congressional investigators.

The American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately, she said.

Clinton also expressed confidence that whatever might be in the newly discovered emails will not change the conclusion Comey reached in July when he announced he would not recommend criminal charges.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, excoriated Comeys timing.

The FBI has a history of extreme caution near election day so as not to influence the results, she said in a statement. Todays break from that tradition is appalling.

Democrats were not alone in demanding Comey disclose more information or questioning such a disclosure so close to the presidential election.

The letter from Director Comey was unsolicited and, quite honestly, surprising, said a statement from Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa, a Republican. But its left a lot more questions than answers for both the FBI and Secretary Clinton. Congress and the public deserve more context to properly assess what evidence the FBI has discovered and what it plans to do with it.

Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas asked in a tweet: Why is FBI doing this just 11 days before the election?

The FBI discovered communications on a computer jointly used by close Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her estranged husband, Anthony Weiner, a former New York congressman, according to U.S. law enforcement officials. (John Minchillo / AP)

Comey had written in his letter that he could not assess whether the new messages contained significant material or how long it will take us to complete this additional work. He wrote that the FBI would take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation.

The review could take weeks and will not be completed by Election Day, a law enforcement official said.

The short note put Comey, a Republican who was appointed by President Obama, back under an unwelcome spotlight. Democrats who had praised his handling of the email investigation this year, when Comey declared he had reviewed the evidence and found it did not merit criminal charges against Clinton and her staff, are now questioning his judgment.

Republicans who accused Comey of covering up Clintons misdeeds then were lauding his courage Friday. Donald Trump said the political system might not be as rigged as I thought.

The announcement that FBI agents would again be combing through emails possibly linked to Clintons private server was enough to shift the tone of the race. Minutes after the news broke, Trump took the stage in Manchester, N.H., to suggest the FBI was all but ready to indict Clinton  which Comeys letter hardly suggested.

Hillary Clintons corruption is on a scale we have never seen before, Trump said as the crowed roared lock her up, a staple chant at his rallies. We must not let her take her criminal scheme into the Oval Office.

Trump branded the latest news from the FBI bigger than Watergate.

Congressional GOP candidates in tight races, who have been struggling to deflect voter attention away from their uneasiness with a presidential nominee who has been a drag on the ticket, were also quick to pounce.

This decision shows exactly why we need strong watchdogs in Congress to ensure thorough oversight of the executive branch, Rep. Darrell Issa of Vista said in a statement. The federal government constantly needs to be held accountable to curb poor judgment  like using a private server to circumvent federal records laws  and incomplete investigations that fail to deliver justice and erode public faith in government.

House Speaker Paul Ryan renewed his call to suspend classified briefings to the Democratic presidential nominee. Like Trump, Ryan took liberties in interpreting Comeys carefully worded letter. Ryan declared the FBI is reopening its investigation into Clintons private email server, which is not what Comey wrote.

Unless the fresh FBI review leads to new evidence of actual wrongdoing by Clinton, it may not substantially change the contours of a presidential race in which Clinton is polling far ahead, and at least 17 million Americans have already cast their ballots through early voting.

FBI Director James Comey told members of Congress on Friday that it is investigating whether there is classified information in new emails that have emerged in its probe. (Win McNamee / Getty Images)

But it could provide a badly needed boost to congressional Republicans. Antipathy toward Clinton is the issue that most unites the party.

Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, who is locked in a tight race with Democrat Katie McGinty, quickly sought to link his opponent to Clintons email woes, pointing to a controversy in Pennsylvania over some of McGintys electronic communications. We knew McGinty was in complete lock-step with Hillary Clinton, but sharing an email scandal is ridiculous, Toomey spokesman Ted Kwong said in an email.

Other Republicans demanded their opponents disavow Clinton  just as Clinton and her allies have for months been demanding Republican candidates disavow Trump following some of his more incendiary comments and the emergence of a video in which Trump boasted of his uninvited sexual advances toward women.

The FBI is reopening its investigation into Hillary Clinton, said one of a blizzard of carbon copy releases sent out by the National Republican Congressional Committee, where only the state and name of the Democrat targeted on each was changed. In this case, the target was Rep. Ami Bera, who represents a swing district in the Sacramento area. California voters deserve to know if Ami Bera still stands by her.

Times staff writers Chris Megerian in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Lisa Mascaro in Manchester, N.H., contributed to this report.

Twitter @delwilber

Twitter @evanhalper
Jody Atkin felt as if hed been constantly losing. Losing confidence in the government, losing faith in elections and losing his freedoms to what he saw as an overly aggressive federal government.

Jesse Miller felt the same way. Together, they hoisted their version of an SOS  a flag, with the patriot motto Dont tread on me  outside Atkins home that looks out toward the broad, open cattle ranges of northern Nevada. It flapped briskly when the hard winds came down the mountains.

Over the last year, much of their attention has been focused on a court case playing out in Oregon, where Ammon and Ryan Bundy, both sons of a well-known Nevada rancher, have been on trial for occupying a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon. For many residents of the rural West, the case has become a referendum on the federal government and a way of life that is under threat.

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Atkin and his neighbors in this small ranching and mining town in the heart of the Nevada Gold Belt, had held out precious little hope that the Bundys would escape being locked up for years on federal conspiracy and weapons charges.

Then came the unexpected news Thursday that the Bundys and their co-defendants had been acquitted. Atkin was in his Alcoholics Anonymous meeting Thursday when his phone buzzed with the news.

I almost yelled out loud right there in the meeting, Atkin said, re-enacting the moment in his recliner chair by raising a fist in the air. His smile was barely contained behind a thick, bushy and graying goatee.

The verdict means that the high-profile occupation, in which Bundy and his followers brazenly marched onto a federal refuge with guns and held it for more than a month, will carry no criminal consequences. Already, there are fears that the acquittal could embolden the militia movement and, at a time when the nation is straddling a deep political chasm, prompt some citizens to follow their conscience rather than the law.

On Friday, Atkin, a 62-year-old former miner who is on disability, and Miller, 47, a ranch-hand who recently moved from Virginia, were celebrating what they said was a rare victory.

Both are supporters of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, and see the upcoming election as a necessary step to undoing President Barack Obamas agenda over his two terms. But they arent sure what should be done to keep up the fight if he is defeated.

J. Morgan Philpot, a Utah-based attorney who helped in the defense of the Bundy brothers, said most citizens are committed to working within the law to press their political beliefs.

I dont think youll ever see me supporting or calling for any form of revolution other than one in the hearts and minds of citizens or one that occurs in the courtrooms through legal arguments, Philpot said. We were given a form of government that allows us as citizens to preserve our liberty and we ought to do that through lawful and peaceful means.

Ken Ivory, a Utah State representative who has spent most of his time fighting against the federal government and can be counted on in most legislative sessions to spearhead proposals in that vein, said frustration has been building for years and that the acquittals in Oregon were an encouraging step.

Ivory emphasized that he does not support using weapons to protest.

Hopefully this stands for having a robust discussion nationally about how we deal with the root cause of the frustration instead of guns on either side of the equation, he said of the verdict. Federal agents shooting ranchers and ranchers with guns, thats not the answer in a republic. We need to have that broader discussion because the frustration is still there. Its real.

Miller, sitting in Atkins living room Friday on a couch near a flat screen TV, said resolution can come without revolution if people try to understand the issue from the perspective of ranchers, and those who dont live in urban environments.

But he didnt feel optimistic about that happening.

Even if Trump wins, he cant undo eight years in four, Miller said.

The victory for the Bundy brothers, however, led him to believe the system isnt necessarily as broken as it looked before the verdict.

John Henry Browne, a prominent defense attorney in Seattle, who defended serial killer Ted Bundy, among other high-profile defendants, said he was impressed with the jury in the Malheur case.

People dont give juries enough credit, Browne said.

Its really kind of funny, because I think people distrust government now more than ever, but that doesnt necessarily translate into not-guilty verdicts, he said. I think its really exciting for our society that, in this really high-profile case that people will be talking about over the dinner table, a jury paid attention to the law and the jury instructions and found the defendants not guilty.

The resonance of the acquittal was felt deeply both in the courtroom and across the country, in part because of the drama in the courtroom itself  Ammon Bundys other attorney, Marcus Mumford, was tackled by bailiffs and blasted with a stun gun when he stood to demand an explanation for why his client wasnt being freed immediately.

Outside the courthouse in Portland, fellow refuge occupier Brand Nu Thornton blew his shofar and another man rode his horse back and forth, hoisting an American flag.

Around the country, there were other expressions of support, especially among Trump supporters.

The acquittal gives people hope that Hey, when we stand up in numbers we can stand up to the government and its not just what the government says that goes,  said James Stanley, a 34-year-old who works in digital marketing in Ventura, Calif.

I am a Navy veteran, and I took an oath to protect the Constitution. These people in Oregon were within their 1st Amendment rights and their 2nd Amendment rights, said Stanley, a Navy veteran and Trump supporter.

Similarly, Stanley said, citizens will be holding public officials to account for the conduct of the upcoming election to make sure it is conducted fairly  a reference to Trumps warning that some of the balloting may be rigged.

If there truly was enough proof that a significant number of people and votes were illegal, I would absolutely -- I would resort to other things before taking up arms, I would go through political channels. But violence is the last resort and the government needs to be aware that there are people like me out there, Stanley said. We are not insignificant or uncaring.

Atkin stood on his porch while his dog Shadow barked in the rain. Miller finished a cigarette as they talked about America after Nov. 8. Atkin already voted for Trump. Miller had yet to cast his ballot, but planned do so for the Republican nominee.

There was a brief silence. Atkin said hed been sober for 18 years after moving from Utah and settling in Elko to work in the mines. After meeting that challenge, Atkin said, hed be able to handle anything.

Theres still a lot of work to do, he said.

Montero reported from Elko and Yardley reported from Seattle. Times staff writers Matt Pearce and Jaweed Kaleem in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

david.montero@latimes.com

william.yardley@latimes.com

ALSO

Leaders of Oregon wildlife refuge standoff are acquitted of federal charges

Opinion: Was the Malheur occupation legal, or did the feds botch the Bundy case?

Opinion: In acquitting the Oregon militants, a white jury determines that the law doesnt apply to white protesters
The Trump vs. McMullin battle for Utah spills into the open

(Benjamin Zack / Associated Press)

It was only a matter of time, but the shadowboxing between Donald Trump and conservative rival Evan McMullin turned into a full-scale brawl Saturday.

Who is McMullin? The 40-year-old Republican-turned-independent is the face of the Never Trump movement; he announced his presidential candidacy in August and as a Mormon has built up a well of support in Utah, where he could very well stop Trump from winning a state that no Republican has lost in years.

Trump delivered the first blow, calling McMullin a puppet backed by prominent conservatives  namely, neoconservative commentator Bill Kristol.

The guy takes votes away from me, Trump complained during an interview alongside running mate Mike Pence on Fox News. Hes a puppet of a loser.

Nobody ever heard of him, Pence said.

Trump criticized McMullin for going from coffee shop to coffee shop trying to win votes.

McMullin, who stepped up for the long-shot run as part of a Republican effort to block Trump and launch a new conservative movement, fought back the way Trump knows best: a tweetstorm.

Yes youve never heard of me because while you were harassing women at beauty pageants, I was fighting terrorists abroad, McMullin, a former CIA operative who more recently worked on staff for House Republicans, tweeted late Saturday.

You think youre entitled to Utahns and other Americans votes. Were earning them, McMullin added.

.@realDonaldTrump, Yes youve never heard of me because while you were harassing women at beauty pageants, I was fighting terrorists abroad. https://t.co/hNDTWn3HPN  Evan McMullin (@EvanMcMullin) October 30, 2016

.@realdonaldtrump, you think you're entitled to Utahns' and other Americans' votes. Were earning them.  Evan McMullin (@EvanMcMullin) October 30, 2016

.@realDonaldTrump, it's time for a new conservative movement & generation of leadership. We are building it. #McMullinFinn  Evan McMullin (@EvanMcMullin) October 30, 2016

.@realDonaldTrump, we will not sit by while two corrupt, self-serving, big government liberals like you and Clinton destroy our country.  Evan McMullin (@EvanMcMullin) October 30, 2016

Trump has struggled with Mormon voters, who make up 60% of the electorate in Utah, creating an opening for McMullin.

The Times Melanie Mason traveled to the Beehive State recently to more closely examine the state of play in the presidential race there.
Trump lets off fireworks in Iowa and slams Clinton over emails

Donald Trump closed out a busy news day Friday with a fireworks display at a rally in battleground Iowa as he hardened his attack on Hillary Clinton amid renewed investigation of her emails.

Trump suggested there was criminal wrongdoing in Clintons handling of classified information, even though the FBI has given no such indication of the scope or extent of its scrutiny of newly found emails.

The FBI would have never reopened the case at this time unless it was the most egregious criminal offense, Trump said.

He also said Clinton was wrong in saying that federal investigators had notified only Republicans in Congress of their new review. (His claim that Democrats had also been told could not be immediately verified.)

Trump acknowledged that he has been critical of the FBIs handling of the case, but now, he said, he gives them great credit.

The rally was Trumps final one of the night and drew thousands, including a protester with a sign against racism. Trump did not slow down his speech as she was escorted out of the venue.

After his short speech came the fireworks.
If youre a restaurant junkie, as many of us are, then this is one of the best weeks of the year: when Jonathan Gold comes out with his new 101 Best Restaurants list. How many new restaurants are on this years list? And how many of them have you been to? The print booklet comes out Sunday, so we can add it to the things we spill hot sauce on in our car.

In other news, Jonathan reviews an old red sauce favorite, Noelle Carter checks out another old school restaurant that does it up for Halloween, and if Diwali is more your speed than Dia de los Muertos, we check out four restaurants that are having special menus for the holiday. And when youre home baking cookies after all that outside dining  the baking season is almost upon us  and have a great recipe, consider submitting it to our Holiday Cookie Bake-Off. After a year off, weve brought it back.

 Amy Scattergood

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Red sauce, Lakers garb and chicken Beckerman

This week Jonathan checks in on Dan Tanas, the West Hollywood Italian restaurant thats been feeding celebrities, Lakers players and the rest of us for over 50 years. Its a place where many Angelenos have dined repeatedly over the last half-century, whether for a nightly plate of chicken parmigiana or on a teenage date, as our restaurant critic tells us he once did.

1 / 5 A lot of the dishes at Dan Tanas are named after people. The late Hollywood producer Sidney Beckermans moniker is attached to this assemblage of freshly made potato chips, tender onions and garlic, as well as to a version in which all of this accompanies baked dark-meat chicken. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 5 Red-checked tablecloths and snug booths are integral to the atmosphere at Dan Tanas in West Hollywood, a Santa Monica Boulevard institution since 1964. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 5 The Caesar salad is a staple at Dan Tanas: cold, juicy and slicked with a powerful emulsion of garlic and cheese. Its tossed to order across the room. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 5 The face of welcome at Dan Tanas: Christian Kneedler, maitre d. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 5 Dan Tanas on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. Its just steps from the Troubadour. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

The 101, 2016 edition

This years 101 Best Restaurants list is out. Jonathans list of his favorite 100-plus restaurants came out online Tuesday, and is out in print Sunday. Check out who made it this year  there are a large number of new restaurants  and who did not, and plan your dining accordingly.

Providence is again No. 1 on the 101. (Mariah Tauger / For The Times )

Where to eat brunch

And if youre wondering which of this years 101 restaurants serve weekend brunch, we conveniently broke them down for you. (We did the same for the Japanese restaurants on the list, as well as those specializing in Mexican food. Cheat sheet? Maybe so.)

(Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times )

Margaritas for Halloween

At El Coyote Cafe, one of L.A.s oldest Mexican restaurants, Test Kitchen director Noelle Carter considers the enormous vats of margaritas that the folks there make every year for Halloween. Thats not all the restaurant has going on for the holiday, which includes Dia de los Muertos: a costume party, decorations, margarita specials and lots of the food theyre known for.

El Coyote Cafe is known for its margaritas. The house margarita is made in 20-gallon batches each day. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times )

Diwali dinners

This Sunday is Diwali, the festival of lights, and Hindus celebrate the event with culinary festivities as well. Food writer Lara Rabinovitch details four L.A. area restaurants that have special menus for the holiday, including a tasting menu at DTLAs Badmaash.

City of Gold, Laura Gabberts documentary of Jonathan Golds Los Angeles, is available on Amazon.

Check us out on Instagram @latimesfood

In the Kitchen: Sign up for our weekly cooking newsletter

Check out the thousands of recipes in our Recipe Database.

Feedback? Wed love to hear from you. Email us at food@latimes.com.
When John Deasy resigned in 2014 as superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, the school board charged with replacing him made a conscious decision to throw off his brash, big-vision missionary approach in favor of the incremental-improvement style of current Supt. Michelle King.

But two years later, the group seems unsure whether the small-bore approach is the right one. After King developed a three-year strategic plan of potentially realistic but unexciting goals for the districts next few years, board President Steve Zimmer complained that it was not ambitious enough.

I dont think that we have a mission sense right now, and I think it is our role to create it, he said. It has to be big.

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And what the board settled on certainly fits the bill: a 100% graduation rate.

L.A. Unified has followed the same pattern too many times. Set a big goal, watch it fail, change the rules, define its way out of the problem.

It felt as though Deasy was still in the building. He had pushed audacious policies, such as providing an iPad for every L.A. Unified student and requiring all students to pass a full series of college-prep courses with at least C grades in order to graduate. Both of those efforts were approved by the school board.

But neither came to pass. The problem was that Deasy invented goals that were unrealistic, setting everyone up for failure, including students. He announced goals without figuring out how they would be carried out in the hard day-to-day instructional world, or how they fit in with teaching and curriculum.

Even the pre-Deasy graduation policy that took effect earlier this year  requiring all students to pass their college-prep courses with a grade of D or better  would have led the district to ruinously low graduation rates if King hadnt allowed students who were failing to meet that new standard to take online makeup courses. But that was a problematic shortcut. The courses themselves were rigorous enough, but a Times editorial project found that students were permitted to pass at least some of these courses too easily, without reading the material or listening to lectures, if they got a minimally passing grade on a fairly easy pre-test for each unit.

The board has moved to tighten use of the courses slightly in future years, but the new rules are still inadequate to ensure that students have mastered the material. Even the NCAA requires more from students who plan to be college athletes.

The point is this: Were all for ambitious goals and bold moves to transform the school district so that it can provide a meaningful, high-quality education to L.A.s students, many of whom are low-income or English learners. Unquestionably, it will be a happy day when L.A. Unified gets close to a 100% graduation rate, and the board is right to demand a hyper-focus on moving in that direction.

But goals must be specific, well-planned and achievable, or they can end up causing more problems than they solve. In this case, the boards 100% graduation goal sounds good  who doesnt want a 100% graduation rate?  but what does it mean, really? Will it be achieved within the three years of the strategic plan? That seems impossible. Will there be an end-date put on it at all? District officials say theyre not sure. The reality is that even in wealthy school districts, the highest-performing schools rarely graduate all their students. How can one of the largest urban school districts in the nation, with its budget woes and a student demographic that faces all kinds of challenges hope to get there in a few years?

More important than setting an ideal like 100% as your mission is doing the hard work of figuring out how the district gets there. Raising graduation rates isnt hard, frankly, if schools are willing to lower their standards, pressure teachers to hand out passing grades and farm out failing students. Instead of taking that approach, the board must nail down the standards needed for a meaningful diploma and then set a specific plan to bring students to that level  a plan that rejects shortcuts and emphasizes better-educated students.

L.A. Unified has followed the same pattern too many times. Set a big goal, watch it fail, change the rules, define its way out of the problem. What student needs is an ambitious goal that gives everyone something to reach for without feeling doomed from the start.

To read the article in Spanish, click here

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Ukraine's Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko will visit The Hague in November and take part in events on the sidelines of the General Assembly of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yevhen Yenin has said.

"Next month Ukraine's Prosecutor General is expected to visit the Hague, during which he will participate in the events that will take place on the sidelines of the General Assembly of the International Criminal Court, where prospects and possible time frames for considering Ukraine's request by the International Criminal Court will be coordinated," Yenin said at the 112.ua TV channel on Thursday.

According to him, at this stage the mechanisms of cooperation with the ICC are being prepared.

"There are two statements by the Rada, which extend the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, [one dealing with] the crimes that were committed during the Revolution of Dignity. The second statement deals with the offenses committed on the territory of Crimea and events in Donbas... We have discussed ways of how to strengthen the arguments of representatives of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court regarding the possible consideration of these proceedings by this court. At this stage, we have a common vision of the way forward," Yenin said.

As reported, on September 2, Lutsenko said that Ukrainian law enforcement agencies cooperate with the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague on the matter of bringing to justice the Russian leadership and top military officials for unleashing war in Donbas and the occupation of Crimea.

On October 25, Ukraine's prosecutor general did not rule out the transfer of cases on the crimes against Euromaidan activists to the ICC.

On October 27, representatives of the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine discussed crimes against protesters in Kyiv center in February 2014, and Russia's military aggression in Donbas and Crimea.
To the editor: With 4,400-plus U.S. dead, the carnage continues in Iraq partly because President Obama doesnt know how to fight a war and most of the members of the Senate and Congress have never seen combat. Thats because we choose our youth to die for us. Members of Congress today have limited experience with the horrors of war. (Defense secretary orders Pentagon to stop seeking repayment of California National Guard bonuses, Oct. 26)

Young men who volunteer to put their lives on the line for us should not be harassed into repaying enlistment bonuses. Obama and members of Congress should be raising hell with the Pentagon over the bonus recall. Anything less is a political travesty.

There was a time in Americas history when service in a time of war was mandatory for most men thanks to the draft. It was eliminated after the Vietnam War for a time, and then registration for the Selective Service System was brought back with a volunteer armed forces. It was a cynical move by the government to appease the population segment opposed to the draft while at the same time building our armed forces with volunteers who might have been misled about what they had enlisted to do.

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Tom Pincu, Los Angeles

..

To the editor: Im glad that Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has at least suspended the enlistment bonus repayments of the California National Guard soldiers, but here is what really needs to be done:

Return all of the payments made, plus interest. Restore any blemished credit ratings caused by this bureaucratic incompetence. Apologize to our soldiers.

Suspend Carters pay until this issue is fully resolved. A July 1st, 2017, deadline is an insult to soldiers.

Rick Kern, Incline Village, Nev.

..

To the editor: This is a very encouraging development regarding a horrible attempt to make our patriots return the pay they rightfully earned.

But high up in The Times article was this shocker: Aides made clear they didnt intend to issue a blanket waiver for tens of millions of dollars in irregular bonuses and other payments given to California Guard soldiers, however, as some members of Congress have urged.

For Gods sake, lets save our countrys honor by not only stopping all efforts to make our brave men and women pay back money they rightfully deserve, but immediately putting in place a program to pay back all monies already collected (including interest). The president, Congress and the Pentagon especially the sadly reluctant Carter  all need to be behind this.

They also must make sure that such a shameful punishment will never again be imposed on those who willingly put their lives on the line for the sake of democracy.

Bonnie Compton Hanson, Santa Ana

..

To the editor: I hope that when we finally have a woman as our president, maybe the United States will no longer go around starting expensive and useless wars, making it no longer necessary to convince poor young men and women to risk their lives so they can receive a bonus.

But regarding this story, it was cowardly and wrong for the Pentagon to have threatened veterans, who kept their promises, by reneging on our promise to them.

Cheryl Clark OBrien, Long Beach

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Former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa endorses marijuana legalization initiative By Patrick McGreevy Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday endorsed a marijuana legalization initiative. ((Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) ) Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday became the latest high-profile politician to endorse an initiative on next weeks ballot that would legalize the recreational use of marijuana in California. Villaraigosa is considering whether to run for governor in 2018 amid a field that already includes Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a leading proponent of Proposition 64. I took my time on this measure because I wanted to make sure it included protections for children and public safety, Villaraigosa said in a statement. In evaluating the measure in its entirety, I am convinced there are enough safeguards to make it a workable proposition. The Proposition 64 campaign welcomed Villaraigosas endorsement at a time when one recent poll indicated slightly fewer than half of Latino voters support the measure. Were glad to have it, said Jason Kinney, a spokesman for the campaign. Facebook

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Conservative group spends $3.5 million on Central Valley race once considered safe By Sarah D. Wire The Congressional Leadership Fund is pouring another $1.5 million into the race between Rep. Jeff Denham and Democrat farmer Michael Eggman. The group, which is endorsed by House Republican leaders, and works with the American Action Network, has now spent $3.5 million in the race. The race was initially viewed as an easy win for Denham (R-Turlock), but has become increasingly uncertain in recent weeks. The district is being closely watched as an indicator of how Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump might affect down-ballot candidates. Democrats have spent more than $6 million in the district. The Congressional Leadership Fund and American Action Network have spent $45 million in 32 districts nationwide so far and have aired ads in other California House races, including in the nearby 21st District race between Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford) and attorney Emilio Huerta and the 7th District race between Rep. Ami Bera (D-Elk Grove) and Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones. The groups newest ad in the 10th District race begins running on television Tuesday. It calls Eggman, an almond and bee farmer, an extreme liberal and a rubber stamp for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) because he supports the Affordable Care Act. It previously ran an ad against Eggman that used news footage from the 2015 San Bernardino terrorist attack. ------------ FOR THE RECORD 2:14 p.m.: An earlier version of this article incorrectly referred to the Congressional Leadership Fund as the Conservative Leadership Fund. ------------ Facebook

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The Rev. Al Sharpton and civil rights leaders hold rally in support of Proposition 61 By Christine Mai-Duc The Rev. Al Sharpton kicks off a rally and march in support of Proposition 61, the California ballot measure that seeks to lower the price state agencies pay for prescription drugs. The Rev. Al Sharpton and other civil rights leaders gathered at a rally Monday morning to support Proposition 61, the ballot measure that seeks to lower the price state agencies pay for prescription drugs. Sharpton appeared alongside black community leaders, including Marc Morial, former New Orleans mayor and head of the National Urban League, and Kevin Sauls, pastor of a South L.A. church. This issue is very simple, Sharpton said to a crowd of about 40 supporters. Its about the right of people to afford what they need, and they need to have accessibility that is affordable with prescription drugs. He likened the issue of prescription drug affordability to a civil right, and recycled the well-known Yes We Can slogan from President Obamas 2008 election to urge voters to pass Proposition 61. Sharptons appearance came a day after he and Morial stumped for the measure at seven different churches in South Los Angeles and the Bay Area. The significance of bringing in people of color is that we are the ones who disproportionately are impacted by the prices and impacted by the need for healthcare, Sharpton said in an interview afterward. I think its a civil right for people to be able to afford healthcare in the wealthiest nation in the world. Appearance of Sharpton, New Orleans mayor Marc Morial and LA pastor follows Sharpton's visits to two South LA churches Sunday for Yes on 61 pic.twitter.com/redBvU8WWZ  Christine Mai-Duc (@cmaiduc) October 31, 2016 In a statement, No on Proposition 61 spokeswoman Kathy Fairbanks pointed to support for the opposition campaign from groups like the California NAACP, and the California League of Latin American Citizens. Higher drug prices resulting from Prop. 61 will decrease access to care, Fairbanks said. Thats a policy step in the wrong direction. The Rev. Al Sharpton at a Yes on Proposition 61 rally in downtown Los Angeles. (Christine Mai-Duc / Los Angeles Times) Facebook

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Voters are being asked whether they want to cast more votes in future elections on big public works projects By John Myers (Russel A. Daniels / Associated Press) Voters casting a ballot for Proposition 53 on election day are, in effect, choosing more voting on more propositions in future elections. The ballot measure, bankrolled by a wealthy Stockton agribusiness owner, seeks to force voter approval of a particular type of borrowing for large public works projects. Its most likely impact, in the near future, would be ballot measures on a landmark water project and on Californias high-speed rail effort. The propositions backer, Dean Cortopassi, argues its all about more transparency when it comes to government debt. His critics suggest theres more to it than that. Read More Facebook

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This congressional race could be one of the Republicans worst nightmares By Sarah D. Wire Rep. Jeff Denham represents the Modesto area in Congress and is up against Democratic beekeeper Michael Eggman, the same man he beat just two years ago by 12 points. Denham first won his seat in 2012 even as a majority of his constituents voted for President Obama. When Denham (R-Turlock) started this latest campaign, most observers thought he would probably win. But some now wonder if Denhams 10th District race will be an example of what Republicans fear across the country. Will conservatives expected to win actually lose because voters arent excited about Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump? Read More Facebook

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Rep. Loretta Sanchezs day on the campaign trail: Two ribbons cut, one candle lit, and jabs made at her Senate rival By Phil Willon U.S. Senate candidate Loretta Sanchez shows Clifford Young, president of the West Valley Water District, where to cut the ribbon for the grand opening on a new water treatment plant Saturday. (Phil Willon / Los Angeles Times) With less than two weeks to go before election day, U.S. Senate candidate Loretta Sanchez bounced from the Inland Empire to Monterey Park on Saturday as she tries to drum up support for her uphill Senate bid. Sanchez, the U.S. representative from Orange, started her day with a gaggle of other Inland Empire politicians at the grand opening of a $23-million water treatment system in Rialto, using the occasion to lay out her record on water issues during her 20 years in Congress. Sanchez told the crowd of about 60 that shortly after she was elected to Congress, two members of a local water board approached her about a way to deal with Californias serious drought. They said, we need to convince people that were going to take toilet water and were going to clean it up enough for people to drink it, Sanchez said. They said, we cant get anyone to champion this for us. Well, no wonder. Sanchez said they won her over, and she helped deliver federal funding for Orange Countys Groundwater Replenishment System to do just that. The system uses treated waste water to recharge the local groundwater basin and provides enough water for nearly 850,000 residents. After the event, Sanchez accused her rival in the Senate race, state Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris, of having little grasp of the complexities of Californias drought and water crisis. One of the biggest differences between my opponent and myself is that I actually talk about issues, I actually meet with people, I actually try to figure out whats going on, Sanchez said. Ive not seen anything about her. Ive not seen any policy. All I see is commercials on TV. U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Orange) officially opens the childrens Diwali celebration at the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Hindu temple in Chino Hills on Saturday. (Phil Willon / Los Angeles Times) A few hours later, Sanchez raced over to Chino Hills to open the Kids Diwali Celebration at the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Hindu temple, a family-friendly event filled with carnival rides, booths and food. She thanked festivalgoers, saying they were setting a good example for the rest of the country at a time when the presidential election is filled with such meanness. This is a time where through tradition and through culture you can show Americans the better part of people, Sanchez said. You give the rest of us hope. After listening to Sanchez speak, Kay Mistry, a volunteer at the festival, said he still wasnt sure who he will vote for in the Senate race. He said he was aware that Harris, whose mother emigrated from India, went to a Hindu temple as a child. Im not sure that matters to me, said Mistry, 48, of Chino Hills. Im pretty conservative. Sanchez attends her second ribbon cutting of the day, this time for Halloween in the Park in Monterey Park. (Phil Willon / Los Angeles Times) The Orange County congresswomans final stop of the day was in Monterey Park, where she helped cut the ribbon to open citys Halloween in the Park festival. After the ceremony, Sanchez mingled with the crowd, handing out campaign fliers. Arnold Jeung, 62, stuck the flier in his back pocket. He said he didnt know much about Sanchez or Harris. Im not sure what Im going to do, said Jeung, a Republican. I might not even vote. Facebook

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California Politics Podcast: The lowdown on the states big down-ticket races By John Myers Perhaps more than any other recent election season, races for seats in the California Legislature and U.S. Congress are being reshaped by the broad, national discussion. In short, its the Trump effect. On this weeks episode of the California Politics Podcast, we take an overview of some of states most closely watched down-ticket races. Theres new polling data in the U.S. Senate race that suggests a sizable number of voters will skip casting a ballot. Meanwhile, President Obama had endorsed candidates all the way down to the state Assembly level. Im joined by Marisa Lagos of KQED News and Anthony York, author of the Grizzly Bear Project website. Facebook

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California, your official presidential write-in options include Bernie Sanders and Evan McMullin By Christine Mai-Duc Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is one of five officially certified write-in candidates for president in California. (Christopher Dolan / Associated Press) California Secretary of State Alex Padilla released the names of the five officially qualified write-in candidates for the presidential race in California, along with their vice presidential running mates. Contrary to popular belief, votes for write-in candidates only count when the candidate is officially certified. (That means votes for Mickey Mouse, Giant Meteor, or Chuck Norris will not be counted.) The officially qualified write-in candidates are: Laurence Kotlikoff for president and Edward Leamer for vice president

Mike Maturen for president and Juan Munoz for vice president

Evan McMullin for president and Nathan Johnson for vice president

Bernard Bernie Sanders for president and Tulsi Gabbard for vice president

Jerry White for president and Niles Niemuth for vice president Now, that doesnt mean that Sanders and the other candidates wanted to be recognized as official write-ins. California law only requires that 55 electors sign on to declare a person a write-in candidate, not that the person consent, according to a statement from the Secretary of States Office.

A full list of each candidates electors can be seen here. Write-in votes for these candidates will not be reported until the counties send their final vote certifications after the post-election canvass period, meaning a write-in vote will take longer to count. You might be wondering: Does spelling count? The Secretary of State says election officials will accept a reasonable facsimile of the spelling of a candidates name. For example, Joe Smith and Joseph Smith would both be accepted. Facebook

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Dueling ads aim to persuade Latinos on proposition to legalize marijuana in California By Patrick McGreevy With a poll indicating Latino voters lag in their support for a ballot proposition that would legalize recreation marijuana in California, the campaigns for and against the measure are launching dueling ads aimed at that large demographic. A poll Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California found that Proposition 64 is favored by a majority of likely voters in California, including a majority of all ethnic groups, except Latinos. Latinos support is just under half at 47%. The campaign against the ballot measure will launch its second ad on Spanish language television, titled Asusta or Scary on Halloween. The ad warns if approved, Proposition 64 could eventually lead to radio and television ads for marijuana candy. Federal law prohibits such ads on broadcast stations, and the initiative prohibits television advertising aimed at minors if federal law ever changes. The campaign in favor of the ballot measure said Friday it has launched new counter TV ads targeted to the Los Angeles area, where there is a large Latino audience. One ad, for Spanish language television, labels as falso, or false, the claims that there will be television commercials for marijuana candy. A second ad, in English, features a mother of teenagers saying she appreciates that Proposition 64 has important safeguards for families, like strict product labeling and child-proof packaging of all marijuana products and banning edibles that would appeal to a child. The two sides each claimed Friday that the polls are favorable to their cause. The polls highlight the lack of support by the Latino community because they know their neighborhoods will have to face the problems that recreational marijuana creates, said Andrew Acosta, a spokesman for the opposition campaign. Not true, said Jason Kinney, a spokesman for the Proposition 64 campaign. Polls show that Latino support for Proposition 64 and marijuana decriminalization has been increasing as they learn how communities of color are being disproportionately targeted for marijuana arrest and prosecution, he said. Facebook

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House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi endorses ballot measure to repeal the death penalty in California By Jazmine Ulloa (Win McNamee / Getty Images) House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) on Friday announced her support for a proposition that would repeal the death penalty in California, calling the practice cruel and unusual punishment under the 8th Amendment to the Constitution. Even the most heinous of crimes can be punished without killing, she said. As Pope Francis said in his address to Congress, where he reaffirmed his advocacy for the global abolition of the death penalty: every human person is endowed with an unalienable dignity, and society can only benefit from the rehabilitation of those convicted of crimes. Pelosi is among a string of top political leaders, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and celebrities to come out in support of Proposition 62, which would replace the punishment with life in prison without parole and apply life sentences retroactively to death row inmates. The initiative is one of two competing death penalty measures on the Nov. 8 ballot. She also is among fewer political leaders to denounce the death penalty itself on moral grounds. I oppose the death penalty because too many defendants have not had access to appropriate legal counsel; because poor people  especially in communities of color  have been disproportionately charged with capital crimes and sentenced to death, compared with more affluent defendants; and, so many people have been exonerated with DNA evidence. It is time for us to take a moral stand. Read More Facebook

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Obama endorses Emilio Huerta in his Central Valley race against Rep. David Valadao By Sarah D. Wire (Sarah D. Wire / Los Angeles Times) President Obama on Friday endorsed 21st District congressional candidate Emilio Huerta, the Democrats campaign announced. I am proud to endorse Emilio Huerta for the United States House of Representatives, Obama said in a statement released by the campaign. In Congress, Emilio will be a fighter for Central Valley working families. Emilio isnt afraid to take on tough challenges, and hell fight for more and better access to clean water, good jobs with fair wages, and an education system that works for every child. Emilio is the kind of smart leader who will build on what weve accomplished and move our country forward, and thats why I know Californians can count on Emilio Huerta. Huerta, an attorney and son of labor rights icon Dolores Huerta, is challenging Rep. David Valadao in the Central Valley district. Obama had already endorsed six California Democrats. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) was in the district Thursday to campaign for Valadao. Hes in the middle of a swing through California to support vulnerable House Republicans. David Valadao is exactly the type of representative Central Valley families and those involved in the agriculture industry need. He understands the issues impacting the area, because thats been his life. David was born in the Central Valley, he grew up there, he went to school there -- and he even met his wife there. In Congress, he has led the fight on water, veterans issues, and education, Ryan said in a statement. Facebook

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Comedian Kathy Griffin pokes fun at tobacco company ads By Liam Dillon The tobacco industry-funded television advertisements against the Proposition 56 tobacco tax increase are ubiquitous. They all generally have the same message: The money from the tax hike would go to Medi-Cal, the states low-income healthcare program, and therefore benefit the doctors and insurance groups that are helping finance the measure. Comedian Kathy Griffin decided to spoof the advertisements follow-the-money message in a video she released on Twitter Tuesday. Hey @YesOn56...I had to get involved! #YesOn56 https://t.co/ZXURPBZYZP  Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) October 27, 2016 Griffin highlighted that tobacco companies had funded the advertisement, which is clear when you read the fine print at the end. So in general just be careful of these opposite ads, Griffin said, dressed in a similar gardening outfit as the actress in the No on 56 ad. Or in general white ladies gardening. You can watch Griffins full spoof here: Facebook

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Los Angeles County Bar says expediting the death penalty system will compromise justice By Jazmine Ulloa The Los Angeles County Bar Assn. has joined opponents of a Nov. 8 ballot measure that intends to expedite executions in California, saying it would likely compromise access to justice at all levels of the court system. In a letter released late Wednesday, the organization, which comprises more than 20,000 members, said Proposition 66 would require appellate courts to hear initial death penalty appeals, without providing the roughly $100 million needed to fund additional judges, staff and resources. LACBA opposes Proposition 66 based entirely on its damaging effect on the operation of an already over-taxed judicial system, and most importantly, the resulting lack of access to justice for California citizens, states the letter signed by Margaret Stevens, the associations president. The association said it took no position on the death penalty itself, its effectiveness, morality or social merits. But its opposition to the ballot measure comes as top Los Angeles County officials, including Sheriff Jim McDonnell and Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey, have announced their support. Proposition 66 has drawn wide support and funding from law enforcement officials and organizations that argue Californias death penalty must be preserved and reformed. Facebook

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Gov. Jerry Brown launches TV ad against Prop. 53s change to state revenue bonds By John Myers Its a nuanced pitch from Gov. Jerry Brown, asking California voters to oppose an effort that would give them a vote on future big infrastructure projects. But Brown has more than $15 million in campaign cash to make his case against Proposition 53, in a TV ad that began on Thursday. Proposition 53 asks voters to add revenue bonds of $2 billion or more to the list of government borrowing that requires statewide voter approval. Unlike general obligation bonds, which are paid back by taxpayer dollars through the states general fund, revenue bonds are paid back with fees charged to users of projects like bridges, dams and buildings. Brown takes aim in the ad at the fact that 53 is paid for by one millionaire, Central Valley agribusiness owner Dean Cortopassi. In an interview this week, Cortopassi called revenue bonds a blank check to sell debt forward into the future. Proposition 53 could force statewide votes on two high-profile infrastructure projects: Californias plan for a high-speed train system and the construction of twin underground tunnels to divert water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to Southern California. Facebook

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New citizens can still register to vote Nov. 8 even though the California deadline has passed By Sophia Bollag Thomas Macariola, center, fills out a voter registration form after a naturalization ceremony on Oct. 26 in Sacramento, where a cardboard cut-out of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was among the witnesses. (Sophia Bollag / Los Angeles Times) Alex De Leon, a 30-year-old immigrant from Guatemala, was among more than 400 people who became U.S. citizens at a ceremony in Sacramento on Wednesday. After the program concluded, he walked outside and filled out his voter registration papers. The registration deadline to vote in the Nov. 8 election for most Californians was Monday. But a 2012 state law allows people like De Leon, who became citizens after the deadline, to register late. To vote, they must bring proof of citizenship and California residency to show to an official at a county election office. As a precaution against voter fraud, theyre not allowed to vote at a neighborhood polling place or with an absentee ballot. Read More Facebook

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A new poll shows Californians remain ready to legalize the recreational use of pot By Patrick McGreevy (David Zalubowski / Associated Press) A majority of Californias likely voters continue to favor legalizing the recreational use of marijuana, but the level of support has dipped from a reported 60% a month ago to 55% this month, according to a statewide poll released Wednesday night. The latest poll by the Public Policy Institute of California found 38% of those surveyed oppose Proposition 64 and 6% are undecided. But the basic finding is that the initiative would still pass with a majority vote if the election were held today, according to Mark Baldassare, the institutes pollster and president. The numbers have been favorable, consistent, and exactly where we expected and wanted to be at this point, said Jason Kinney, a spokesman for the Proposition 64 campaign. The poll was conducted Oct. 14-23 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4% at a 95% confidence level. Proposition 64 is supported by 66% of Democratic likely voters and 56% of independents, but 60% of Republicans are opposed. Just under half of Latino likely voters (47%) would vote yes, while majorities of other racial/ethnic groups (65%) and whites (55%) would do so, the poll report said. Support is highest, at 78%, among those age 18 to 34. The opposition campaign said the campaign for Proposition 64 has turned voters away from the measure. It is clear that voters are realizing that Prop 64 is a 62-page mess that helps the marijuana industry tap into the California market, said Andrew Acosta, a spokesman for the campaign against the initiative. Those polled were also asked whether they have ever tried marijuana and, if so, if they used it in the last year: 18% said they have tried marijuana and used it in the last year, while 25% said they have tried it, but not in the last year. Updated at 9:30 am to include comments by the campaigns. Facebook

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New poll shows Kamala Harris leading Californias U.S. Senate race by a 2-to-1 margin By Phil Willon U.S. Senate candidates Kamala Harris, left, points a finger toward rival Loretta Sanchez during their debate at Cal State L.A. on Wednesday, Oct. 5. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times) With ballots already being cast, State Atty. General Kamala Harris leads by a more than a two-to-one margin over her rival in Californias U.S. Senate race, according to a new poll by the Public Policy Institute of California. The survey showed that 42% of likely voters supported Harris, compared to 20% who favored her opponent, Orange County Rep. Loretta Sanchez. Among the remainder, 20% of voters were undecided and 18% said they will not vote for either candidate by election day on Nov. 8. The results are dramatically different that those in a PPIC released on Sept. 21, when Harris had just a 7-point lead over Sanchez. But the new poll numbers are closely aligned with results in the June 7 primary, when Harris received 40% of the vote and Sanchez came in second with 19% in a race with 34 candidates on the ballot. In a PPIC poll in July, Harris also had 38% support among likely voters and Sanchez 20%. From the start this has been a race in which Harris, who did very well in the primary, has had a large advantage, said PPIC President Mark Baldassare. Loretta Sanchez hasnt been able to, in any of our polls, get above 25% Unlike the PPICs surveys in July and September, the new poll included the ballot designations for the two Senate candidates, listing Harris as Attorney General of California and Sanchez as a United States Congresswoman. Both Harris and Sanchez are Democrats. There also have been a few major developments in the Senate campaign since Sept. 21, including the Oct. 5 Senate debate at Cal State Los Angeles where Sanchez caused a stir by dabbing as her finale. The following day, U.S. Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein endorsed Harris. Both Harris and Sanchez are trying to succeed Boxer, who is retiring after serving four terms in the Senate. According to the new PPIC poll, Harris is favored over Sanchez across all general income and education levels of voters, as well as among both men and women. Harris also leads in these major regions of the state: Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay area, Orange and San Diego counties, and the Inland Empire. Latinos are the only major cross-section of likely voters who favor Sanchez over Harris, by a margin of 41% to 33%, the poll shows. Harris also gained support from Republicans and independents over the past month, mostly likely from voters who previously said they would not vote. Still, more than a third of likely Republican voters said they would not vote for Sanchez or Harris, and 16% of independent voters also plan to take a pass. The two Democrats are facing off in the highest-profile contest between two members of the same party since California adopted a top-two primary election system. Facebook

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Will the Defense Department fix the National Guard bonus repayment problem? California congressional reps are skeptical By Sarah D. Wire (Paul Sakuma / Associated Press) Some members of Californias congressional delegation arent satisfied with a Defense Department plan to verify whether thousands of California National Guard members fairly received bonuses for enlisting during the height of the Iraq war or must repay the money. They said Wednesday that they want a detailed plan by the time Congress returns in mid-November. Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) organized a call so that Californias 53 House members could question the Defense Department about how it plans to fix the problem, which was first reported Sunday by The Times. Members werent sure exactly how many of their colleagues were on the call. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Wednesday ordered the Pentagon to pause efforts to claw back the enlistment bonuses. He said the suspension would continue until he was satisfied that our process is working effectively. Congressional members told The Times that Defense officials said they plan to increase the number of employees reviewing the cases and expect all of them will be examined by July. After the call, Rep. Julia Brownley (D-Westlake Village) said she was still outraged and wants a more detailed plan from the Defense Department. There was definitely a level of skepticism that they would move forward on this in a very fair and evenhanded way, Brownley said. Department officials told the delegation there are 13,800 questionable bonus cases in California. Of those, 4,000 have been cleared as properly eligible and 1,200 cases identified as possible fraud, meaning the guard member was not eligible or did not complete the contract. The department still must review the remaining 8,600 cases. (The case numbers relayed to members of Congress on Wednesday differ slightly from those provided to The Times by the department.) Rep. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park) said the Defense Department told members its plan is to clear up to 100 cases a day. They will give everybody a chance to go through the panels and make their case, she said, even the 1,200 identified as possible fraud. Brownleys staff said some Guard members were told to pay back more than $60,000. Many of the bonuses were at least $15,000. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) said that in many cases, Guard members werent spending money they knew they werent supposed to receive, and that the Pentagon should have the burden of proving the soldier knowingly took a bonus they werent supposed to get. In the vast majority of cases, soldiers accepted these bonuses in good faith, Schiff said. You dont call them up years later and say, We shouldnt have offered that and try to collect. The department will give the California members another briefing when Congress returns Nov. 14. Brownley said several members told the department they would go ahead with legislation to forgive the bonus debt for at least some Guard members if a detailed plan was not ready by then. Facebook

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Latinos in California are motivated to vote against Donald Trump, and that could affect a lot of other races By Sophia Bollag Voters make their way in and out of a polling place at the House of Mercy in Los Angeles in November 2012. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) Latinos make up the largest ethnic group in California, but are often underrepresented at the polls. This year, however, experts say they expect good Latino turnout in November, thanks largely to the heated presidential election that is motivating many Latinos to vote against presidential candidate Donald Trump and his anti-immigration rhetoric. They stand to have considerable impact on many down-ballot races in California, as well as on the outcome of many statewide propositions. Read More Facebook

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Tom Steyer is now the biggest donor in the effort to raise the tobacco tax By Liam Dillon Billionaire Tom Steyer is now the largest donor in the effort to raise the states cigarette tax by $2 a pack. With a $3.5-million donation to the Yes on Proposition 56 campaign Tuesday, Steyers total spending on the race has reached $11.3 million. Thats more than a third of the $31 million the primary Yes on 56 committee has raised and more than all the money raised during a similar, but failed, effort to increase the tobacco tax four years ago. Steyer, who is a major donor to state and national liberal causes, is the focus in two Yes on 56 television advertisements. Hes said hes motivated to spend to limit youth smoking and the memory of his mother, a smoker who died of lung cancer. Steyer also is frequently mentioned as a potential Democratic candidate for governor in 2018. The No on 56 campaign, which is almost entirely funded by tobacco companies, has raised $71 million. Facebook

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California congressional reps say they didnt know so many Guard members were being forced to repay enlistment bonuses By Sarah D. Wire Some of Californias members of Congress say Californias National Guard did not explain in 2014 how many guard members were being forced to repay enlistment bonuses. On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter ordered the Pentagon to suspend all efforts to collect reimbursement from the nearly 10,000 California National Guard members who were improperly given bonuses as an incentive to reenlist at the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Earlier in the week, a senior California National Guard official said it told the states members of Congress two years ago the Pentagon was trying to claw back reenlistment bonuses from thousands of soldiers, and even offered a proposal to mitigate the problem, but Congress took no action. After The Times first reported the problem Sunday, most of Californias 55 members of Congress signed onto letters to Carter, or House and Senate leaders, asking for an immediate fix. On Wednesday, they praised the Defense Department for halting the clawbacks and said Congress needs to stop the process entirely and refund the Guard members who already have repaid money. Still, some members took issue with the California Guards characterization of what it told the California delegation two years ago. Staff in members offices said the Guard broadly mentioned the clawbacks in a 2014 letter detailing its policy goals for the year, but officials didnt meet with members of Congress in person or by phone, and didnt otherwise tell them about the scale of the issue. Such letters are fairly common from groups working with Congress. If they would have come and said, Youre going to have thousands of combat veterans having their wages garnished and tax liens being put on them, we would have been all over this, said Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine). That was never communicated to us. Rep. Tony Cardenas (D-Los Angeles) said neither the Pentagon nor California Guard officials told him about the large number of soldiers ordered to repay bonuses, though his office had received complaints from individual soldiers. I have no record of receiving any formal notice of this widespread issue from any department  federal or state. The only record I have is of individual cases of service members who approached my office to get help, and we are working with these individuals who have served our country to make sure they are treated fairly, he said. Several high-ranking members of the delegation said this week they first heard of the scope of the problem from The Times reporting. The California Guard also sent members of Congress a suggested provision that would have allowed debt waivers for the affected soldiers in the 2015 defense authorization bill. Reps. Paul Cook (R-Yucca Valley) and Jeff Denham (R-Turlock) initially pushed for the provision but later abandoned the effort, and it didnt appear in the final bill. Cook and Denham said they dropped the effort after being told the Pentagon already had the power to waive the debts. Guard officials said they were told the provision was discarded because waiving the debt would have cost the Pentagon money, requiring the estimated costs to be offset with cuts elsewhere in the defense budget. For the record: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Denham declined to discuss why he dropped the provision to waive the debt. He dropped the effort after being told the Pentagon already had the power to waive the debt. Facebook

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Ted Cruzs old gang called into action to help California GOP By Phil Willon Ron Nehring, a former aide in Sen. Ted Cruzs presidential bid, chats with visitors at the California State Fair in Sacramento during his 2014 campaign for lieutenant governor. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Texas Sen. Ted Cruzs presidential bid may be history, but his supporters in California are banding together to help GOP candidates locked in tight down-ballot races. Ron Nehring, the former state GOP chairman who was a top Cruz booster, said the focus will be turning out Republican voters and recruiting volunteers to work on a list of hotly contested congressional and legislative races selected by the California Republican Party. Among those pinpointed are Vista Rep. Darrell Issa, who faces his toughest challenge since being elected to Congress in 2000, and Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones, who is trying to unseat Democratic Rep. Ami Bera of Elk Grove. It is 100% exclusively boots on the ground, Nehring said. Michael Schroeder, who was co-chairman of Cruzs campaign in California and also served as the state GOP chairman, said Republican turnout in the Golden State is expected to be down because of the controversies surrounding GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump. Having Trump at the top of the November ballot also will motivate more Democrats to vote, and that could endanger GOP candidates in close races throughout the state, he said. Trumps campaign is a lost cause in California at this point, Schroeder said. Trump said he was going to drive Hispanic turnout, and I think hes right -- but not in the way hes hoping for. Californias Cruz alumni have a website and on Monday night held a conference call with 75 former Cruz organizers asking them to activate their local political networks to help with the effort, Nehring said. Other Republicans theyll work to protect or elect: Reps. Jeff Denham of Turlock, David Valadao of Hanford and Steve Knight of Palmdale.

Assembly members Catharine Baker of San Ramon, David Hadley of Manhattan Beach, Tom Lackey of Palmdale and Young Kim of Fullerton.

State Senate candidates Mike Antonovich of Glendale, Scott Wilk of Santa Clarita and Ling Ling Chang of Diamond Bar. Facebook

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Central Valley congressional race shifts to a toss-up By Sarah D. Wire (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images) The 10th Congressional District race between Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Turlock) and Democrat Michael Eggman is now a toss-up, the nonpartisan analysts at the Cook Political Report announced Tuesday. The contest in the heavily Latino Central Valley district had been rated lean Republican, meaning the analysts thought Eggman had a chance, but they expected the third-term Republican to be reelected.The Cook Political Report now lists several California House districts held by Republicans as toss-ups, including Rep. Darrell Issas seat in the 49th District and Rep. Steve Knight in the 25th District. This is the second matchup for Denham and Eggman. Denham won their 2014 encounter with 56% of the vote, but this year, there is the added unknown of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trumps effect on other races and whether his unpopularity will drag down other candidates. For the record: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Rep. David Valadaos race in the 21st District is listed as a toss-up. It is listed as leaning Republican. Facebook

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U.S. Rep. Ami Bera: Soldiers who served our country should not be penalized for the mistakes of others By Sophia Bollag Urging @DeptofDefense today to immediately stop ordering @theCAGuard members to pay back their enlistment benefits. pic.twitter.com/Ti6bzWJias  Ami Bera, M.D. (@RepBera) October 24, 2016 U.S. Rep. Ami Bera (D-Elk Grove) wrote to top Department of Defense officials Monday urging them to stop asking veterans to repay enlistment bonuses. The Pentagon has ordered nearly 10,000 California Guard soldiers to repay bonuses that were improperly awarded to them, The Times reported Saturday. With his letter, Bera joined the chorus of lawmakers who have condemned the action, calling on the Pentagon to waive the soldiers debts. Soldiers who served our country should not be penalized for the mistakes of others, wrote Bera, who faces a tough reelection battle in his Northern California district. I urge the Department to halt the collection of these bonuses at this time to prevent placing more service members in financial hardship. Facebook

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Crime victims oppose the death penalty in Yes on Prop. 62 ads By Jazmine Ulloa In new online ads released Tuesday by proponents of Proposition 62, which seeks to repeal the death penalty in California, crime victims urge voters to end the system and bring peace to grieving families. Proposition 62 would replace the ultimate punishment for murder with a sentence of life in prison without parole, ending a lengthy appeals process that some victims say has interfered with their healing. It is one of two competing death penalty measures on the Nov. 8 ballot. In one of two videos, which campaign officials say are geared toward swing voters, Beth Webb tells viewers she has had to face the death row inmate who killed her sister and seven others in a hair salon almost 50 times in court. Him sitting there, soaking up all of the attention, loving it, its disgusting, she says. The commercials come as proponents of the opposing measure on the ballot, Proposition 66, have released their own ads over the last few days, urging voters to reform the system, not end it. In one of those videos, a murder victims mother says no punishment other than the death penalty is appropriate for the twice-convicted sex offender who abducted her child. Read More Facebook

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Common, Russell Simmons, Shailene Woodley among celebrities pushing to legalize weed in California By Patrick McGreevy Common at the 2015 Academy Awards (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) Top celebrities including Common, Tim Robbins and the author of the Orange is the New Black memoir are joining forces in what they are calling Artists for 64"  the effort to legalize recreational use of marijuana in California. A show of force announced Tuesday includes rapper and actor Common; music producer Russell Simmons; Ty Dolla $ign; actors Danny Glover, Olivia Wilde, Tim Robbins, Sarah Silverman, Shailene Woodley of The Divergent series, Jesse Williams of Greys Anatomy and Michael K. Williams of the HBO series The Wire; and Piper Kerman, author of Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Womens Prison. Jay Z, who last week put out a video calling the war on drugs an epic fail, also signed on to the effort. In California, the question on whether to legalize marijuana for adult use is a policy change that will have a lasting impact on historically marginalized communities, Glover, the star of films including the Lethal Weapon series, said in a statement posted on Artists for 64. Marijuana laws have been used as a tool by law enforcement to racially profile, harass, intimidate and criminalize mostly young African American and Latino men for decades. I am shocked and saddened by the harm that marijuana criminalization brings, especially for communities of color, Wilde said in a statement. The campaign against Proposition 64 said Hollywood celebrities are not the most credible endorsers, charging they are out of touch with the reality of drug abuse in many communities in the state. Today the No on Prop 64 campaign did a press event in Fresno with faith and community leaders who know that the problems that recreational marijuana creates will impact these communities and neighborhoods across California not Hollywood, said Andrew Acosta, a spokesman for the opposition campaign. In a video produced by Dream Hampton and included on the website, former Golden State Warrior Al Harrington talks about how marijuana helped him overcome pain and inflammation during a staph infection and helped his grandmother with her glaucoma. Im a California voter and Im voting `yes for Prop. 64, he says. Williams spoke from personal experience. Im in recovery and dont use marijuana, and my Christian faith is my rock when it comes to staying sober, he said in a statement. But I dont believe people should be arrested for marijuana anymore. California can lead the country by voting yes on Prop 64. Drug Policy Action, an advocacy group backing Proposition 64 to legalize the drug for recreational use, paid for the site. Facebook

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Californias Congress members knew the Pentagon was trying to get back bonuses from soldiers, official says By David S. Cloud The California National Guard told the states members of Congress two years ago that the Pentagon was trying to claw back reenlistment bonuses from thousands of soldiers, and even offered a proposal to mitigate the problem, but Congress took no action, according to a senior National Guard official. What form that communication took and whether the members of Congress understood the scope of the problem at the time is unclear. On Monday, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi sent a letter to Speaker Paul D. Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell saying that Congress should pass legislation to halt the Pentagon debt recovery as soon as we gavel back into session after the Nov. 8 election. Other California congressional members, including Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, also sent letters to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter about the matter. Read More Facebook

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Proposition 56 and the great vape tax debate By Liam Dillon (Kenzo Tribouillard / AFP/Getty Images) Turn on any TV in California and you know that all the talk surrounding the Proposition 56 tobacco tax has been about cigarettes. But if the initiative passes next month, e-cigarettes will also be taxed like traditional cigarettes for the first time  a huge tax increase that could boost the price of a typical 30-milliliter bottle of e-liquid by $10. Read More Facebook

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State ethics watchdog asks court to force assemblymans campaign to turn over documents for investigation By Christine Mai-Duc Assemblyman David Hadley (R-Manhattan Beach) greets people after participating in a candidates forum in Torrance. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) The campaign of Assemblyman David Hadley (R-Manhattan Beach) has delayed turning over documents related to an official investigation into his campaign practices, according to court documents filed by the state Fair Political Practices Commission. The investigation grew out of a complaint from Hadleys opponent, Democrat Al Muratsuchi, that claims Hadleys campaign was illegally coordinating with an independent expenditure committee that also supported Hadley. In a letter to the FPPC, Muratsuchi claimed Hadleys campaign and Spirit of Democracy, a group funded mostly by Republican donor Charles Munger, Jr., shared consultant Steven Presson during at least part of the primary campaign for Assembly District 66. In court documents filed Oct. 13, FPPC special investigator Garrett Micheels said he initially emailed Hadley Aug. 4, asking him to voluntarily provide certain records to the commissions enforcement division. The records requested included emails, letters and text messages between Jan. 1 and June 7 between Presson and the Hadley campaign, or any other individuals or groups concerning the Hadley race. The next day, Presson responded that the campaign would require a subpoena to avoid possible public exposure to sensitive emails within the Hadley campaign regarding our strategy. After a subpoena was issued on Aug. 12, Micheels said in court documents, Hadley retained attorney Steve Churchwell, who asked for extensions to produce the documents at least three times, but never provided the records. On Sept. 27, Hadley produced some of the documents, court filings say, but wrote to explain that he was withholding his communications with Presson because there are hundreds or thousands of such correspondences that contained sensitive/confidential campaign communications that he said he had not had the time to review. As of Friday, the FPPC says, they have not received the rest of the documents requested. There is only one reason Hadley would conceal documents, and that is because he is guilty and is trying to hide the evidence, said Mike Shimpock, a consultant for the Muratsuchi campaign. A Hadley campaign spokesman declined to comment and Churchwell did not return a request for comment. Oral arguments in the case are scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday in the Sacramento County Superior Court. Facebook

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New ads urge California voters not to repeal the last defense against killers By Jazmine Ulloa In two new television ads, police officers and prosecutors urge California voters not to repeal the death penalty on Nov. 8, calling it the last defense against killers. The commercials, released late Monday by the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., are part of the No on Prop. 62, Yes on Prop. 66 campaign. The effort aims to defeat Proposition 62, which would replace the ultimate punishment for murder with life in prison without parole, and to support Proposition 66, which would change and limit how and how often death row inmates can appeal. The pro-death penalty campaign has drawn broad support and funding from law enforcement organizations across the state. The Correctional Peace Officers Assn. alone has donated nearly $600,000 since last September. Ive seen what the worst among us can do, killings so brutal families never recover, Sgt. Dan Cabral of the Sacramento County Deputy Sheriffs Assn. tells viewers in one ad. Its why we have a death penalty. The second ad features the case of serial killer Charles Ng, who has spent 17 years on death row for the rape, torture and slayings of at least 11 victims. This is cruel punishment for the families, Sharon Sellitto, one victims sister, says in the video. Read More Facebook

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GOP Rep. Darrell Issa returns fire after President Obama rips his campaign mailer By Phil Willon Vista Republican Rep. Darrell Issa said Monday he was disappointed but not surprised by President Obamas criticism of him for using the presidents photo in a campaign mailer. At a fundraiser in La Jolla on Sunday night, Obama said Issas primary contribution to Congress has been to obstruct and to waste taxpayer dollars on trumped-up investigations that have led nowhere. The president called Issa shameless for using his image in his reelection campaign. Im disappointed but not surprised that the president, in a political speech, continues to deny accountability for the serious scandals that happened under his watch where Americans died overseas and veterans have died here at home, Issa said in a statement released by his congressional campaign Monday. Youd be hard-pressed to find anyone who thinks Ive done too much to hold Washington accountable. Ive worked with the administration on good legislation where it was possible, called out wrongdoing wherever I saw it and will continue to do so. Issa is running his toughest congressional campaign to date, an increasingly nasty race that has been declared a toss-up by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. Issas Democratic challenger in the 49th Congressional District, retired Marine Col. Doug Applegate, has criticized the congressman as a Washington insider and supporter of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. In the political mailer sent out by the Issa campaign, the congressman said he was pleased with the president for signing legislation he co-sponsored that provides victims of sexual assault legal protections in the federal criminal justice system. At the Sunday night fundraiser, Obama ripped Issa as a guy who, because poll numbers are bad, has sent out brochures with my picture on them touting his cooperation on issues with me. Now that is the definition of chutzpah, Obama said. Issa once called Obama one of the most corrupt presidents in modern times. While chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, he led investigations into the Benghazi attack, the Internal Revenue Service scandal, the botched Fast and Furious gun sting and other actions by the Obama administration. Facebook

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California Democrats remember Tom Hayden for pursuits close to home By Michael Finnegan (Lori Shepler / Los Angeles Times) Top California Democrats remembered Tom Hayden on Monday as an influential activist whose pursuit of liberal causes extended far beyond his best-known work leading protests against the Vietnam War. Tom took up causes that others avoided, Gov. Jerry Brown said. He had a real sense of the underdog and was willing to do battle no matter what the odds. Hayden died Sunday in Santa Monica after a long illness. He was 76. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti recalled Haydens work negotiating a gang truce in Venice, along with his contributions to an anti-sweatshop ordinance to prevent worker exploitation. Tom Hayden was a giant who never stopped pushing for peace and justice, and inspired a generation of change agents to bring new voices and overlooked perspectives to the decision-making process, Garcetti said. Hayden, classified by the FBI as a rabble rouser in the 1960s, was prosecuted by President Nixons Justice Department in the raucous Chicago 7 trial after violent clashes with police at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. His conviction was dismissed on appeal. He went on to serve in the state Assembly and Senate for a total of 18 years. John Burton, chairman of the California Democratic Party, recalled two measures that Hayden got passed. One allocated $250,000 to buy tattoo removal machines for imprisoned youth so they could cut their gang ties. The other set up a program for parents to use tax-free accounts for savings dedicated to their childrens college education. These bills didnt get a lot of attention at the time, but they have had a far-reaching impact on young peoples futures, said Burton, who led the state Senate when Hayden was a member. The Senates current leader, Kevin de Leon of Los Angeles, said Hayden was well ahead of the curve on issues involving the environment, social justice, gang intervention and urban peace, access to higher education, domestic violence and much more. Hayden, he said, distinguished himself as a paragon of political integrity and a great intellect. Facebook

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Secretary of States office holds voter registration drive at the Capitol on the last day to register in California By Sophia Bollag .@CASOSvote staff are outside the Capitol today to register new voters. Today is the deadline to register in CA. pic.twitter.com/vNovU1jNla  Sophia Bollag (@SophiaBollag) October 24, 2016 The Secretary of States office is holding a voter registration drive outside the Capitol today, the last day to register in California before the November election. The offices staff registered about 20 people in the first couple of hours, said Milena Paez, who works in the offices elections division. Many people had also stopped by the booth to ask where their polling place is or check their voter registration status, she said. LaRhonda Sayles-Willis, who recently moved to the Sacramento area, said she saw the booth as she walked down the street and stopped by to see where she was registered. She ended up re-registering to vote to be on the safe side and said shes particularly motivated to vote for Hillary Clinton. I really oppose her opponent. I just dont like the guy, the 56-year-old said. I just dont think hes a good representation of the United States. Ada Avelar, 21, said she decided to register because she recently moved to the United States from Mexico City to attend Sacramento State University. Avelar is an American citizen. She said she saw the booth on her way back from having lunch with a friend and decided to register right there. I was like, its a sign, she said. I have to do it. Facebook

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Assemblywoman Patty Lopez vows not to give up on reelection despite lack of party support By Christine Mai-Duc Patty Lopez watches as ballots are counted in her 2014 race against then-incumbent Raul Bocanegra, who she bested by fewer than 500 votes. ( (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)) On a recent weekend, with just three weeks to go until the November election, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon made a whirlwind tour of five of the most hotly contested races in the state, stumping for Democratic candidates. Assemblywoman Patty Lopez (D-San Fernando), who faces a stiff challenge from former Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra, was not one of them. Instead, she spent part of her Saturday walking through a community street festival, handing out fliers with a handful of volunteers. Ive been blocked from my party, but my district knows who is Patty Lopez, she said. Sometimes I feel disappointed, but thats not stopping me from doing what I need to do. In 2014, Lopez shocked many when she eked out a win against Bocanegra by a margin of less than 500 votes. With six Democrats on the ballot in this years primary, Lopez received just 27.2% of the vote, a distant second to Bocanegras 44.4%. Despite this, and the fact that the California Democratic Party has endorsed her challenger, Lopez says she is a woman of faith who believes 100 percent that shell be reelected. Read More Facebook

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Obama says Darrell Issa is shameless for praising him in campaign mailer that is the definition of chutzpah By Sarah D. Wire At a California fundraiser Sunday night, President Obama called Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) shameless for using the presidents photo on a recent mailer and praising him after years of criticizing the Obama administration. Issa is facing an unexpectedly tough race this year as the eight-term Republican squares off against political novice former Marine Col. Doug Applegate. Issas primary contribution to the United States Congress has been to obstruct and to waste taxpayer dollars on trumped-up investigations that have led nowhere. And this is now a guy who, because poll numbers are bad, has sent out brochures with my picture on them touting his cooperation on issues with me, Obama told the crowd, according to a transcript, at a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee fundraiser in the La Jolla home of donor Christine Forester. Now that is the definition of chutzpah. The Vista Republican has been a frequent critic of Obama and has called him one of the most corrupt presidents in modern times. The campaign mailer said Issa was pleased with the president for signing legislation he co-sponsored into law. Issa was one of 40 House members who co-sponsored the legislation, which provides some sexual assault victims legal protections in the federal criminal justice system. The president is in Los Angeles today and Tuesday for a taping of Jimmy Kimmel Live and two fundraisers, including a $100,000-per-ticket fundraiser at DreamWorks Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenbergs home tonight that is completely closed to the press. Facebook

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The district where water is more important than all other campaign issues By Sarah D. Wire (Sarah D. Wire/ Los Angeles Times) In Californias Central Valley, the nations most productive agricultural region, the drought drives everything. And the ongoing fight over how much water flows could be the reason Democrats havent been able to win in the 21st Congressional District with a national race even though 47% of registered voters there are Democrats. Heres a look at the role of water in the race between Rep. David Valadao, and attorney Emilio Huerta. Read More Facebook

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What happens if both death penalty measures are approved by voters on Nov. 8? By Jazmine Ulloa (Pat Sullivan / Associated Press) California voters are weighing dueling death penalty propositions on the Nov. 8 ballot, one that seeks to repeal the system and another that aims to speed it up. If both pass with a majority, the initiative with the most yes votes would supersede the other. If both fail to garner the votes, then the status quo remains, a frustrating prospect for many as advocates on both sides of the issue say the system is broken. California has more than 740 inmates awaiting execution, the largest death row population in the country. Their appeals go directly to the state Supreme Court and take 25 years to process. Both capital punishment measures would require current prisoners to work and pay restitution to victims. But Proposition 62 would repeal the death penalty in California for first-degree murder and replace the sentence with life in prison without the possibility of parole. It also would apply retroactively to offenders already sentenced to death. Proposition 66 would designate lower trial courts to take on initial challenges to convictions and limit successive appeals to within five years of a death sentence. It also would require court-appointed lawyers who dont take capital appeals to represent death row inmates. Facebook

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California Politics Podcast: Propositions, polling and parole By John Myers The fact that there are 17 propositions on the statewide ballot has not only made things hard on voters, its been almost impossible for pollsters to sample opinion on so many issues. But one new poll looks at some of the least talked about measures, and its our first topic on this weeks California Politics Podcast. The poll suggests a lot of voters remain undecided about several of these low-profile proposals. We also take a detailed look at one of the most contentious ballot fights, the effort by Gov. Jerry Brown to revamp state prison parole rules through Proposition 57. Im joined on this weeks episode by Marisa Lagos of KQED News. Facebook

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In No on 62, Yes on 66 campaign ad, murder victims mother urges California voters to keep the death penalty By Jazmine Ulloa In three online ads released Friday, Sandra Friend tells California voters they should fix the states death penalty system, not end it. The 43-year-old mother has been a crime victims advocate since Robert Boyd Rhoades sexually abused and killed her 8-year-old son, Michael Lyons, two decades ago. She is now serving as one of the main voices behind a campaign that is working to defeat Proposition 62, which would repeal the death penalty, and in favor of Proposition 66, which seeks to speed up executions. Voters will weigh the dueling capital punishment initiatives on the Nov. 8 ballot. Both would require current death row inmates to work and pay restitution to victims, but would take opposing approaches to what the measures both call a broken system. Rhoades, who abducted Lyons on his way home from school in Yuba City, is one of 740 death row inmates in California. Executions have been on hold since 2006, when the states lethal injection protocol was challenged in court. Friend tells viewers it has been difficult coming to terms with the fact that her son was murdered by a twice-convicted sex offender. I am living a parents worst nightmare, she says. Facebook

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Former state Sen. Ronald Calderon sentenced to 42 months in prison on corruption charge By Joel Rubin Former state Sen. Ronald S. Calderon was sentenced in Los Angeles on Friday to 42 months in prison after he pleaded guilty in a federal corruption case. The Montebello Democrat, who served in the state Senate for eight years ending in 2014, admitted in a plea deal in June that he accepted tens of thousands of dollars in bribes from undercover FBI agents and a hospital executive in return for official favors. Federal prosecutors had asked for a five-year sentence for a charge where the maximum possible penalty was 20 years. U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder, who handed down the sentence to Calderon, said five years was too severe but that a significant prison sentence was needed to punish Calderon and send a message to other elected officials that corruption will not be tolerated. The crime is significant, she said during the court hearing. This is a true public corruption case. Striking a defiant tone throughout, Calderon refused to admit any wrong-doing or to apologize during the court hearing. My goal was always to do the right thing for California, he said. At no point did I intend to break the law. He said he ultimately decided to plead guilty in order to spare his family the ordeal of a trial, but persisted in his innocence, saying he never agreed to any quid pro quo to benefit himself or his family. Unemployed and tens of thousands of dollars in debt, Calderon said professional relationships had been ruined as had his relationship with his brother. My reputation is destroyed, Calderon said. Snyder was unmoved. I did not really hear Senator Calderon accept responsibility or apologize, she said. It was really about himself. Calderon, 59, had pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud as part of a plea in which he admitted to accepting trips to Las Vegas, jobs for a son and daughter, and cash for him and his brother, former Assemblyman Tom Calderon. Tom Calderon was sentenced last month to one year in federal custody for laundering bribes taken by his brother. The Calderon family was politically powerful for decades in California. A third brother, former Assemblyman Charles Calderon, was not implicated in the corruption scandal. Ronald Calderons nephew, Ian Calderon, is a state assemblyman, the last family member in state elected office. He was not alleged to have any part in the corruption scheme. Assistant U.S. Atty. Mack E. Jenkins wrote a blistering brief opposing Calderons request to serve time with home detention or be released for the brief time he already spent in jail. Here, defendants trafficking in his legislative votes (for, by contrast, over $150,000 in benefits) caused a reverberation of negative effects throughout California and put a stain not just on his career, but on the reputation of the state legislature, Jenkins wrote. Read More Facebook

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Accusations fly in the congressional race for this Northern California swing district By Sophia Bollag Democratic U.S. Rep. Ami Bera, left, shakes hands with his Republican challenger, Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones, after their debate Tuesday in the race for the 7th Congressional District seat. (Jose Luis Villegas / Associated Press) Questions about character have been dominating the congressional race between Rep. Ami Bera (D-Elk Grove) and Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones. Both candidates have been plagued by allegations of wrongdoing. Beras father was recently sentenced to jail for illegally funneling money to two of his sons past campaigns. Jones faces allegations he sexually harassed a subordinate at the Sheriffs Department more than a decade ago, which he denies. Theyre competing in a divided district that leans Democratic, but not by much. In 2014, Bera beat his Republican challenger by less than a percentage point. This race is always one of the closest races in the country, he said. Read More Facebook

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Loretta Sanchez says she got death threats after she voted against the Iraq war By Phil Willon Rep. Loretta Sanchez, after her speech Thursday. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) U.S. Senate candidate Loretta Sanchez on Thursday urged ROTC cadets at UCLA to have the courage to challenge politicians who call for ill conceived uses of military force such as the 2003 invasion of Iraq. We need military leaders that understand the limits of our military power, said Sanchez, who has served in Congress for two decades and sits on the House Armed Services Committee. Why is it that every generation and every president has to learn that all over again? The Orange County congresswoman made the comments during an address to ROTC cadets at UCLAs Pauley Pavilion. Sanchez said her experience on the House Armed Services Committee made her question the long-term implications of the Iraq invasion, and whether the U.S. might find itself bogged down in a war in the Middle East. In 2002, Sanchez was among the 133 House members who voted against the authorization of military force against Iraq. It was a lonely time, Sanchez told the cadets. [When] I came back to Orange County, I was spit on. I received death threats. The congresswoman told the cadets the military is just one part of a national security strategy that includes intelligence gathering, diplomacy and the use of the countrys economic strength. Because so much is at stake, the use of our military should always be a last resort, Sanchez said. Sanchez is running against fellow Democrat and state Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris for Californias U.S. Senate seat. She says her expertise on national defense and terrorism are among the reasons shes the most qualified candidate. Facebook

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Tobacco companies claim proponents of cigarette tax will use the new revenue to enrich their top executives By Liam Dillon Tobacco companies have unveiled a new claim in their campaign against the $2-per-pack increase in cigarette taxes on the November ballot. In a television advertisement that debuted over the weekend, the No on Proposition 56 campaign contends that the doctors and health insurance groups financing the initiative wrote it to avoid external oversight over the money going to low-income patient care. They even exempted themselves from the new audit requirements, the ad states. They can use the new revenue to enrich their top executives, and theres no requirement to treat even one more patient. The claim rests on a part of the Proposition 56 initiative that creates new auditing rules to govern where the new tax money would go. But it ignores the litany of state and federal auditing requirements to which Medi-Cal, the states low-income health program, already is subject. First, heres a little background about how the money from Proposition 56 would get spent. Assuming fewer people use tobacco because of the tax increase, the tax would raise about $1.27 billion next year, according to an estimate from the Legislative Analysts Office. Of that amount, $710 million  about 56%  would go to Medi-Cal, primarily to increase the payment doctors and other healthcare providers receive when they treat patients. The remaining dollars go to back-filling current state and local sales taxes and other programs because fewer people will buy cigarettes, doctor and dentist training and anti-tobacco efforts. The initiative kicks in $400,000 a year to audit the agencies receiving the money. Beth Miller, spokeswoman for the No on 56 campaign, said that opponents like that state and local agencies will be audited if the measure passes. The criticism is that the provisions dont go far enough. It would have been nice to have those audit requirements also apply to those end users, so to speak: the hospitals, the insurance companies and the doctors, Miller said. Medi-Cal providers, however, get audited all the time. The states Department of Health Care Services does internal audits and investigations through an entire department of about 700 employees and a $50-million budget dedicated to reviewing the programs under its jurisdiction, including looking at the financial records of Medi-Cal providers. Beyond that, the California State Auditor has issued at least two wide-ranging audits involving Medi-Cal providers in the last five years on the states oversight of managed-care plans. And the federal Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General also audits programs and providers that receive federal dollars for low-income patients. One recent federal audit of California that examined pediatric dental providers happened last May. Miller contended that the audits required under Proposition 56 are more transparent than the existing state and federal programs. Mike Roth, spokesman for the Yes on 56 campaign, said the initiative has plenty of safeguards to ensure the tax money is spent wisely, including the auditing provisions. This is another desperate and deceitful red herring from tobacco companies, and it takes the cake as far as their flagrant lies about Proposition 56, Roth said. Heres the full ad: UPDATES: 3:03 p.m.: This post was updated to include the full video of the advertisement. This article was originally published at 2:00 p.m. Facebook

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Central Valley congressional race that once leaned Republican is now a toss-up, report says By Sarah D. Wire Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Turlock) (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images) The nonpartisan analysts at the Cook Political Report now say its a toss-up whether Republican Rep. Jeff Denham or Democrat beekeeper Michael Eggman will win the 10th Congressional District race. The race had been rated leans Republican since last fall, indicating that the analysts expected Denham to keep the seat, but felt Democrats had a chance. This is the second matchup for Denham and Eggman. Denham won in 2014 with 56.4% of the vote. Democrats have worked for months to tie vulnerable House Republicans to the rhetoric of their presidential nominee, Donald Trump, and this race is one where Trumps effect down the ballot could be most visible. Denham has said he disagrees with Trumps rhetoric, but hasnt backed off supporting him, a move that could prove unpopular in the Central Valley district where at least 40% of the population is Latino. Three Republican-held seats in California are now considered toss-ups. The other two are representing the 25th Congressional District, held by Rep. Steve Knight (R-Palmdale), and the 49th Congressional District, held by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista). Facebook

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California Senate leader endorses gun control initiative despite differences with its author, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom By Patrick McGreevy California Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, left, and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, right, applaud at Gov. Jerry Browns State of the State speech in January. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) Despite political differences with its author, state Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) on Thursday endorsed Proposition 63, which would expand Californias already tough gun control laws. Proposition 63 was proposed by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and would outlaw large-capacity ammunition magazines, require background checks for those buying bullets, require lost or stolen guns to be reported quickly, make stealing a firearm a felony and provide a process for newly convicted felons to relinquish their guns. De Leon and Newsom have both been working on gun control issues for years and both have aspirations for higher office. Newsom is running for governor in 2018. Some in the De Leon camp thought when the initiative was proposed last year that it was being used to try to take over an issue on which the senator has been a leader. The two disagreed earlier this year on the best way to achieve gun control aims, with De Leon publicly calling on Newsom to drop his initiative and allow the Legislature to act, and Newsom refusing, charging that the Legislatures proposals were not extensive enough. In the end, the Legislature approved several bills, including one by De Leon that requires background checks for ammunition purchasers, even though a similar proposal is included in the Newsom initiative. The Legislature also mandated that its background-check plan would supersede the one in Proposition 63. On Thursday, De Leon made no mention of the differences. Earlier this year, our Legislature passed the most sweeping and important package of gun safety laws in the nation, increasing nationwide momentum and grass-roots outcries for common-sense safeguards against gun violence, De Leon said in a statement. I endorse Proposition 63 because we must send a powerful and united message to the national Gun Lobby that California will not capitulate to political bullying or compromise the public safety, he added. The differences between the two politicians were highlighted noted by Richard Grenell, co-chairman of the Coalition for Civil Liberties, which is campaigning against the initiative. This is a prime example of why people should trust law enforcement on this question before self-interested politicians, Grenell said. Just a few months ago, de Leon asked Newsom to repeal Prop 63. De Leons statement was released a day after Newsom ruffled some feathers in the De Leon camp when he told the Sacramento Press Club that his initiative accomplishes things that state officials could not. Newsom noted that 11 other states have enacted the requirement that stolen guns be reported. There have been legislative attempts and they have failed multiple times here in the Capitol, Newsom said. The Legislature did approve such a bill this year, but it was vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown in July. The political dispute between the two leading Democrats surfaced last year when De Leon acted to slash a third of Newsoms staff, notifying him that two Senate employees who had been on loan to the lieutenant governors office were being reassigned. UPDATED at 1:10 pm to include comment from opponent of initiative. Facebook

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No fight from the business community over the proposed tobacco and income tax hikes By Liam Dillon (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images) Business groups often make up a triumvirate with Republicans and taxpayer advocates against tax increases. But on the two tax hikes on the 2016 California ballot, major business leaders are mostly staying away from the fight. They tend to dislike the income tax extensions promised by Proposition 55, but arent campaigning against them. And some are even backing Proposition 56s cigarette tax increases. Read More Facebook

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Almost half a million Californians have already voted by mail, with a surge in some hotly contested races By John Myers (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Early data compiled from local elections officials shows a surge of ballots being returned in the mail, especially in some of the most closely watched races this election season. A report compiled by Political Data Inc. shows almost 408,000 ballots cast in just the first eight days of voting, with more than half of those ballots arriving in local election offices Wednesday. As weve reported before, election day in California is now more like an election month. A majority of the states voters cast their ballots away from traditional polling places, and political professionals can closely monitor which voters in any given race have turned those ballots back in. The report also shows strong early voting in some of Californias most talked about congressional races. In the hotly contested reelection race of Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), more than four times as many ballots have been returned so far compared to the 2014 general election. And even though Republicans have an eight-point registration advantage in Issas district, the ballots cast so far have skewed more Democratic. In early voting, the two major parties are almost even in the number of votes cast. Issa, facing a tough race against Democrat Douglas Applegate, recently sent out a campaign mailer trying to appeal to local voters who support President Obama. Compared to the first few days of the 2014 general election, substantially more ballots have also been cast in the Central Valley races featuring Reps. Jeff Denham (R-Turlock) and David Valadao (R-Hanford). In both districts, Democratic voters are outpacing GOP voters in early ballot returns. While none of the data offers information on how those ballots were cast -- these are only totals received by county officials -- the early numbers may offer a glimpse at how energized some parts of the electorate are in this contentious campaign season. Facebook

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What will Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom focus on in his run for governor? Aging infrastructure among issues By Patrick McGreevy California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at an event in Los Angeles in April. (Nick Ut / Associated Press) Signaling that his gubernatorial campaign will shift into higher gear after next months election, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday that he is working on a plan to double spending on roads and other infrastructure since the Legislature failed to act this year. This is going to be something you will be hearing a lot more from me on over the course of the next number of months, a very aggressive infrastructure proposal, Newsom said in a speech to the Sacramento Press Club. The former San Francisco mayor is running for governor in 2018. He noted that the governor and Legislature did not reach an agreement on a transportation funding program in the face of a $130-billion backlog in state and local road repairs. Legislative Democrats proposed a $7.4-billion plan earlier this year that would raise the gas tax by 17 cents a gallon. Thats about twice the size of an earlier plan by Gov. Jerry Brown. Weve got to more than double our investment in infrastructure in this state, Newsom said, adding the problem has reached code red in California. Plans by the governor to use proceeds from sale of cap-and-trade credits have merits, he said. Separately, Newsom said he continues to support the vision of a high speed rail system for California but said I remain concerned about the finances. He said the private sector must step up to provide more of the money as the project cost has close to doubled from its original $33 billion price tag. Newsom acknowledged that he has work to do to introduce himself to voters outside his home base. I think a lot of the state really doesnt know me yet, he said, adding he sees it as a great opportunity to tell his story. He declined to comment on the gubernatorial candidacy of state Treasurer John Chiang and possible runs by former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer. Im not focused on those others, he said. Im focused on what we have before us. Facebook

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L.A. activist is building his AIDS organization into a political powerhouse with two November ballot measures By Christine Mai-Duc (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times) When Michael Weinstein launched his AIDS Healthcare Foundation in the late 1980s, he had a coffee can for donations and a $50,000 budget to provide end-of-life care to those dying of the disease. Today, hes grown the nonprofit into a $1.2-billion operation that manages hundreds of clinics and pharmacies globally, and has quickly become a major political player in California, and, he hopes, nationally. AHF, as it is known, is sponsoring two initiatives on Californias November ballot: Proposition 60, which would require adult film actors to use condoms during sex scenes, and Proposition 61, which would bar state agencies from entering contracts to purchase drugs where the price is higher than that paid by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Thats quite a feat in a state as expensive as California, and in a political year as crowded as 2016. Were doing things on a scale that we havent before, Weinstein said in a recent interview from his office in a Hollywood high-rise. Read More Facebook

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These janitors are giving up sleep to knock on doors for Hillary Clinton By Sarah D. Wire Yamilex Rustrian, left, of North Hollywood, and Leticia Soto of Los Angeles check Las Vegas addresses to visit to encourage voters to support Hillary Clinton. (Sarah D. Wire / Los Angeles Times) Early Saturday morning, Yamilex Rustrian sat with her mother and other janitors assembled at long tables in the old mortuary that is home to the SEIU United Service Workers West. They ate ham, cheese and bean sandwiches as they waited for the final workers to get off the late shift. At least one came still dressed in her blue smock. The group of janitors and their children made a quick trip to Las Vegas over the weekend to knock on doors for Hillary Clinton, and got home Sunday just in time for the late shift. Each had their reasons to join the more than 150 union members who made the trip. Read More Facebook

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Federal prosector seeks 5 years for former California Sen. Ron Calderon in corruption case By Patrick McGreevy A federal prosecutor has recommended that former state Sen. Ron Calderon be sentenced to five years in prison as part of a federal corruption case that rocked the California state Capitol. Assistant U.S. Atty. Mack E. Jenkins wrote a blistering brief urging the federal judge to not show leniency to Calderon, who in June entered a plea deal in which he pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud. Here, defendants trafficking in his legislative votes (for, by contrast, over $150,000 in benefits) caused a reverberation of negative effects throughout California and put a stain not just on his career, but on the reputation of the state legislature, Jenkins wrote ahead of Fridays sentencing date. The prosecutor noted that only one fellow politician wrote a letter of support for Calderon, a Montebello Democrat. In defendants plea agreement, he admitted to participating in two substantial and complex bribery schemes that entailed multiple forms of bribes, concealment and sophisticated money laundering, the prosecutor wrote. Here, defendant sold his vote not just to help pay for the expenses of living beyond his means, but for the more banal and predictable aims of corruption  fancy luxuries, fancy parties and fancy people. An attorney for Calderon has asked the judge to sentence the former lawmaker to time already served in jail during his booking or home detention. Jenkins proposed that Calderon be sentenced to five years in custody, one year of supervised release, a $7,500 fine and 250 hours of community service. Facebook

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A new Jay Z video says pot should be legal in California and calls the war on drugs an epic fail By Patrick McGreevy Rapper Jay Z has weighed in to support Proposition 64, which would legalize the recreational use of marijuana in California, calling the war on drugs an epic fail, in a YouTube video, which also describes how the effort filled prisons with young African American and Latino men. Young men like me who hustle became the sole villain, Jay Z says as the video depicts the deterioration of a neighborhood drawn by artist Molly Crabapple. The one-minute video was produced by the group Drug Policy Action from a longer animated video that addressed the general issue of drug prohibition, said Jason Kinney, a spokesman for the campaign. The shortened video, titled The War on Drugs from Prohibition to Gold Rush, ends with a new, written message urging people to vote for Proposition 64, adding, We can stop the harm on Nov. 8. Jay Z agreed to have the video tailored to the Proposition 64 campaign, Kinney said. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who helped qualify the initiative, praised the rapper on Twitter, writing Thank you, Jay Z, for your strong voice for social justice & co-creating this new @Yeson64 video! Facebook

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Bay Area congressman Eric Swalwell got married over the weekend By Sarah D. Wire View Instagram post Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin) and Brittany Watts, a sales director at the Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay, got married on Friday. They were married at the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland. Before being elected to Congress, Swalwell worked in the courthouse as a prosecutor with the Alameda County district attorneys office. Here is the couples wedding announcement. The congressman also posted an image of the couple cutting their wedding cake on Instagram. Facebook

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Los Angeles top elections officer talks about voter fraud and polling place intimidation in Reddit chat By John Myers The questions posed by Reddit users on Monday to the top elections officer in Los Angeles ranged from small problems over where to cast an early ballot to broader concerns about election security. Dean Logan, Los Angeles Countys registrar of voters, attempted to answer almost all of them during the hourlong online conversation. Asked about intimidation of voters at the polls, possibly inspired by criticisms over comments by GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, Logan said the question has been popping up a lot in his office. We, of course, encourage people to observe all elements of the process, but any disruption of voters or intimidation of voters is unacceptable, he wrote. Another Reddit user asked whether all ballots mailed or dropped off at a polling place are counted. Any valid and timely received vote by mail ballot will be counted and included in the certified election results, Logan wrote. I am always surprised by this question. Logan said that officials mailed some 1.8 million ballots last week to Los Angeles Countys permanent absentee voters, with one-time requests for ballots by mail being sent out this week. Asked by one Reddit user about a potential way to commit voter fraud with absentee ballots, Logan said it is important to note that the voter doing so would be signing an oath under penalty of perjury. He also agreed with one questioners concern that voter turnout was too low, and suggested that a new state laws significant expansion of voting by mail may help. I think the model of voting we use is somewhat outdated and unfamiliar to new voters, Logan said. Facebook

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Kamala Harris and her husband made $1.17 million in 2015, according to report on their tax returns By Phil Willon Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris files to run for the U.S. Senate in February at the Los Angeles County Registrar with her husband, Douglas Emhoff. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times) The 2015 tax returns filed by U.S. Senate candidate Kamala Harris and her husband, Los Angeles attorney Douglas Emhoff, show that the couple earned $1.17 million that year, according to reports. Harris tax returns, which were viewed and first reported by the Sacramento Bee, also showed that the California attorney general and her husband paid $450,000 in state and federal income taxes. Harris campaign spokesman Nathan Click said journalists are being allowed to view the tax returns by appointment only. Harris rival in the Senate race, Orange County Rep. Loretta Sanchez, provided her 2015 tax return to the Orange County Register and will not make those tax records available to other journalists until after that news organization publishes its story, said Sanchez campaign spokesman Luis Vizcaino. Harris and Sanchez have net worths that likely run in the millions, according to federal and state financial disclosures. Facebook

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Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum reopens  and his daughter and grandson get a tour By Christine Mai-Duc Christopher Cox, grandson of Richard Nixon, talks to reporters during a tour of the newly renovated Nixon Presidential Library and Museum. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) The Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum reopened Saturday, after a 10-month renovation that sought to reframe the narrative of the 37th presidents life and legacy. The $15-million remake brings to a close a more than decade-long effort to bring greater legitimacy to a library that historian and Nixon scholar Stanley Kutler once called just another Southern California theme park whose reality level was slightly better than Disneyland. We wrote about the librarys new exhibits a couple of months ago, and the challenge of building an unflinching portrait of a complicated man. In attendance were Henry Kissinger, Nixons former secretary of State, former California Gov. Pete Wilson and Nixons daughter and grandson, Tricia Nixon Cox and Christopher Nixon Cox. Times photographer Mark Boster attende
Arizona was supposed to be the biggest news for Hillary Clinton on Friday.

Aboard a flight to Iowa, top campaign officials told reporters she would travel to the state in a fourth-quarter gambit to turn it from red to blue.

It was the kind of move that could reshape the electoral map, but it wasnt the strangest twist of the day.

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After the announcement, reporters flipped open their laptops to file their stories, struggling with balky Wi-Fi. I established a brief connection, long enough to open Twitter and see a headline: FBI Director James Comey was taking a new look at emails related to the Democratic presidential nominees private server.

The tweet said something about reopening the investigation, and I immediately flagged Nick Merrill, a Clinton spokesman, who was standing at the end of my row. Did he have any comment?

Merrill looked at me like he had been slapped. The investigation was supposed to be finished  Comey had announced months ago that he wouldnt recommend criminal charges. Merrill hadnt heard anything about a new probe, nor had anyone else in the campaign.

As reporters started buzzing, Clintons top advisers at the front of the plane scrambled to figure out what was going on. No one had a solid Internet connection. The people who were physically closest to the candidate knew the least about what was happening.

It wasnt until the plane landed in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, about an hour later, that they could get clearer details about how the FBI was examining additional emails they had discovered during an unrelated investigation.

Now there was a new question  when to tell Clinton herself? They hadnt yet told the nominee, who had spent the flight with a childhood friend.

Follow live coverage of the presidential campaign on Trail Guide 

Famed photographer Annie Leibovitz was onboard, and she was supposed to spend a few minutes taking pictures of Clinton once the plane landed. When Leibovitz finished, staffers broke the news to their boss.

Campaign officials said Clinton took the news in stride  like a champ, one said. If she was bothered, she was determined not to show it when she stepped off the plane.

Reporters standing under the wing shouted questions, but she just smiled and waved before stepping into an SUV and being whisked to her first rally of the day. Clinton didnt say a word about the FBI investigation in Cedar Rapids, nor did she mention it at a second event at a Des Moines school.

By now, new details had emerged. The FBI review was tied to a separate investigation into Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of close Clinton aide Huma Abedin, over whether he broke the law by sending sexual text messages to a 15-year-old, a sordid case now merging with the long-running drama over Clintons private email server.

As she often does, Abedin was traveling with Clinton on Friday. I spotted her from a distance outside the rally in Des Moines, a stricken look on her face as she held a phone to her ear.

Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin onboard the campaign plane. (Andrew Harnik / Associated Press)

Once the event was over, reporters were ushered out of the gymnasium and into another room that had been decorated with flags and campaign signs. Clinton would make a statement and take a few questions.

Although she was criticized last year for a leaden response as the controversy over her emails began to swirl, Clinton and her campaign were determined to stay on top of this story with a little more than a week until election day. She urged the FBI to release more details to clarify the situation, which the public was learning about only through Comeys vague letter to Congress and the medias anonymous sources.

The next day, top campaign officials held a conference call with reporters, again applying pressure to Comey. Asked how the news would affect the campaign, chairman John Podesta said, Were not going to be distracted, and Hillarys not going to be distracted in the final days of this campaign over nothing.

Clinton, however, would address the issue again in Florida on Saturday. In Daytona, she mentioned the letter Comey sent to Congress, and the crowd booed.

It is pretty strange to put something like that with so little information right before an election, she said. Its not just strange. Its unprecedented, and its deeply troubling. Voters deserve to get the full and complete facts.

It was a little more than 24 hours since she was told of the FBI investigation, and there were 10 days left before election day.

chris.megerian@latimes.com

Twitter: @chrismegerian

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FBI Director James B. Comeys announcement Friday that his agency was investigating newly found emails that might be related to Hillary Clintons use of a private server sent shock waves through the presidential campaign in its final days.

A letter from Comey announcing the new probe rekindled a politically damaging controversy that has dogged Clinton since she launched her campaign last year.

Here is some of what we know so far and what we dont.

What did Comey say?

Not much. In a three-paragraph letter to members of Congress, Comey, who has served as FBI director since 2013, said newly discovered emails could be relevant to questions of whether Clinton and her aides mishandled classified information while she was secretary of State. He offered no details about the messages themselves and said he could not predict how long it would take for the FBI to determine whether they were relevant.

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So did the FBI reopen its investigation into Clintons email use?

No. In July, the Justice Department declined to file charges in the case, based on Comeys recommendation. He concluded that although Clinton had been extremely careless in her use of a private email account while at the State Department, there was no clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information.

How did these new emails surface?

The FBI came across the emails while investigating whether Anthony Weiner, a former New York congressman, violated federal law when exchanging sexually explicit texts with a teenage girl in North Carolina, a federal law enforcement official said.

Whats Anthony Weiner got to do with it?

His estranged wife, Huma Abedin, is one of Hillary Clintons top aides. The two of them shared the computer that the emails were found on, law enforcement officials said.

How significant is this development?

Its unclear. Comey was vague, saying that the FBI cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be significant. However, a federal official told The Times that the emails examined so far were not to or from Clinton, and that they contained information that appeared to be more of what agents had already uncovered.

Then why did Comey announce it?

He told bureau employees in an email Friday that he felt compelled to be transparent after announcing in July and testifying on Capitol Hill that the investigation was over. I also think it would be misleading to the American people were we not to supplement the record, he wrote.

What is Clintons campaign saying?

The campaign is urging Comey to be even more transparent. Robby Mook, Clintons campaign manager, said Comey owes the public the full story, or he shouldnt have cracked open the door in the first place. Clinton herself has called Comeys letter deeply troubling.

Democrats and Republicans alike are also asking for more information. Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, Donald Trumps vice presidential running mate, tweeted that the FBI should immediately release all emails pertinent to their investigation. Americans have the right to know before election day.

Moreover, four Senate Democrats, including California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the ranking member on the Senate Intelligence Committee, wrote that more information must be made public in regard to the new investigation.

The letter is troubling because it is vaguely worded and leaves so many questions unanswered, the senators wrote. The letter is also troubling because it breaks with the longstanding tradition of Department of Justice and the FBI exercising extreme caution in the days leading up to an election, so as not to unfairly influence the results.

How did Clinton get caught up in this email controversy?

While she was secretary of State, Clinton used a personal email address to conduct government business. The messages were stored on her familys personal server in the basement of her home in Chappaqua, N.Y. Clinton has said she used the account because she didnt want to carry two devices for personal and State Department communications. Other officials have said the State Departments official email system was cumbersome and difficult to use.

Clinton has since said that using a private server was a mistake and not the best choice.

Has she admitted any wrongdoing?

Clinton has said if she could do it over again, she would not have used a personal email server while at the State Department. The issue has continued to create headaches for the campaign. On Sunday, Podesta, Clintons campaign chairman, said she did not give it much thought back then and its been a hindrance.

Its the kind of a decision that I think needed more thought, more review, and she didnt do it. And she regrets that, he said on CNN.

Times staff writers Del Quentin Wilber and Evan Halper in Washington contributed to this report.

For more political news follow @kurtisalee

kurtis.lee@latimes.com

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Oct. 30, 4:50 p.m.: This article was recast for clarity throughout and expanded with additional context.

This article was originally published Oct. 29 at 3:35 p.m.
Ever since federal agents concluded this summer that they had no case against Hillary Clinton over mishandling classified information, FBI Director James B. Comey has been in a bind.

He could either take the traditional approach of keeping mum or publicly explain his reasoning. A man unafraid of the spotlight, Comey decided then to address the matter head-on, as he did again Friday in telling lawmakers that agents were reviewing newly discovered emails that may be pertinent to the investigation.

Comey, confidants say, wanted to maintain transparency in the face of multiple pressures: from both political parties, agents, former agents and his bosses at the Justice Department. But by making such a move just 11 days before the election, he also thrust the FBI into a glare as harsh as klieg lights and influenced a presidential race more deeply than the bureau ever has.

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He has been trying to thread this needle between keeping things close to the vest, like we typically do, and explaining matters to the public because this is such an unusual and public case, said a colleague who requested anonymity to speak freely. It is a really narrow window. And he would acknowledge it hasnt always worked out the way he hoped. He was going to be damned if he did, and damned if he didnt.

And damned he was.

Democrats reacted with frustration and anger over both the announcement and its vague nature. Its not just strange. Its unprecedented, and its deeply troubling, Clinton said Saturday at a rally in Daytona Beach, Fla. Voters deserve to get the full and complete facts.

Four Senate Democrats, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California and Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, the ranking member on the Judiciary Committee, demanded a briefing from Comey by Monday.

Even some Republicans condemned Comey for stepping into the race, though most expressed glee that Clintons emails were suddenly a dominant topic again at this late stage.

Hillary has nobody to blame but herself, GOP nominee Donald Trump said before thousands at a packed livestock arena in Golden, Colo.

Comey, who served in Justice Department posts in the George W. Bush administration, learned of the new developments in the investigation into Clintons use of a private email server on Thursday from agents, law enforcement officials said.

He was told that investigators found a trove of emails related to Clintons server during their separate probe into whether Anthony Weiner, a former New York congressman and the estranged husband of Clinton aide Huma Abedin, had violated federal law while sexting a teenage girl in another state. The emails were on a laptop jointly used by Abedin and Weiner.

A cursory review indicated no emails were sent to or from Clinton, but some were forwarded messages from Abedin to herself and others were emails between her and other Clinton aides, a law enforcement official said. In briefing Comey, agents said further investigation was needed to determine whether classified information had ended up on Weiners device, a law enforcement official said.

Though agents had seized the laptop with a judges authorization, that order did not grant them permission to examine Abedins correspondence because it only applied to the investigation into Weiner.

To review the contents of Abedins emails, agents told Comey they needed another court order, a request he granted. Such an order would also need approval from the Justice Department, and officials there were weighing how to respond, a law enforcement official said.

No evidence has emerged that the emails had been withheld by Clinton or her aides, law enforcement officials said.

Comey consulted with senior Justice Department officials and was urged not to disclose any developments in light of long-standing guidelines, according to two officials briefed on the matter. Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch was not involved in the discussions, they said.

The FBI and Justice Department rarely discuss details of ongoing investigations, and they are urged to avoid even the appearance of politically motivated investigations.

Law enforcement officers and prosecutors may never select the timing of investigative steps or criminal charges for the purpose of affecting any election, or for the purpose of giving an advantage or disadvantage to any candidate or political party, former Atty. Gen. Eric Holder wrote in a 2012 memo.

But Comey concluded he had to go public because he had told the world in July that the probe was completed. He strongly echoed those comments in sworn congressional testimony and was concerned that if the bureau waited until after the election, it would be accused of playing politics and withholding information from the electorate.

Of course, we dont ordinarily tell Congress about ongoing investigations, but here I feel an obligation to do so given that I testified repeatedly in recent months that our investigation was completed, Comey wrote in an email to bureau employees Friday. I also think it would be misleading to the American people were we not to supplement the record.

Comeys step was set in motion months ago, some close to him suggested, when Lynch drew sharp criticism over allowing former President Bill Clinton to come aboard her plane on an Arizona tarmac for a chat. Lynch conceded the meeting cast a shadow over the department and announced she would accept the recommendations of career agents and prosecutors investigating the case, as well as the FBI director.

That was the tipping point, said a second Comey colleague. He didnt have a choice after that.  He kind of had to take a bullet for her if the government had any chance to prove the case was not shaped or altered by politics.

Though most agents, especially those investigating the Clinton case, agreed with Comeys decision not to recommend criminal charges, they continue to grapple with him stepping so boldly into the public fray, according to interviews with current and former agents.

I was shocked by it, Ronald Hosko, a former top agent, said in describing Comeys public approach to the case. But I understand why he did it. In his mind, he had no choice. It was such an unusual and public case, and he had to be transparent. But by going public like that, being transparent, now he cant stop doing that. He has to keep talking about it. I struggle with the decision he made. Was it the right call? I think so. But it wasnt an easy one.

Hosko and other former agents were concerned that the decision ultimately could undermine the bureaus reputation for being an apolitical law enforcement agency, especially in such a highly partisan climate.

Comey, who took the top FBI job in late 2013, replaced the low-key Robert Mueller, who likely would have written up his findings and shipped them across the street to be announced by the Justice Department, according to a top FBI official.

But Comey  who stands 6 feet, 8 inches  is far from low-key. He regularly addresses reporters and relishes being the bureaus public face. He also isnt afraid of confrontation, as evidenced most notably by his refusal in 2004 as deputy attorney general to reauthorize the Bush administrations warrantless wiretapping program.

Comey has acknowledged that his approach has no precedent, telling Congress in September that theres never been this kind of transparency in a criminal case, ever. With seven more years in his 10-year term, he knows he will continue to be dogged by questions about the case, even if he is growing tired of answering them.

He sarcastically told a think tank in September that obviously I want to talk about the email investigation while Im here. Later, he quipped to the same audience that my children, again, discipline me not to go on Twitter because apparently people say bad things about me on Twitter.

Times staff writers Chris Megerian in Daytona Beach, Fla., and Lisa Mascaro in Golden, Colo., contributed to this report.

del.wilber@latimes.com

Follow @delwilber on Twitter

ALSO:

FBI says emails found in Anthony Weiners sexting scandal may have links to Clinton probe

Trump has made a lot of women mad. Clinton hopes to turn that into a surge of votes for Democrats

How Michelle Obama became more than just another political voice

UPDATES:

7:40 p.m.: This story was updated with more details on a court order investigators sought.

6:40 p.m.: This story was updated with details on the investigation.

4:45 p.m.: This story was updated with Senate Democrats demanding a briefing from Comey.

4:05 p.m.: This story was updated with comments from Clinton and Trump.

This story was originally published at 1:10 p.m.
Marijuana could be legal for medical or recreational use in 29 U.S. states after the November election.

The issue will be put to voters in nine states, with legalization backers enjoying well-funded campaigns and polls showing a high likelihood that they will prevail in the most populous states.



For the record: A previous version of this article misspelled the name of Atty. Gen. Maura Healey.

Currently, marijuana is allowed for medical use in 26 states. Florida, Arkansas and North Dakota could join their ranks. Montana voters are deciding whether to loosen its current regulations on medical marijuana.

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In addition, California, Arizona, Nevada, Massachusetts and Maine  all of which already allow medical use  could join Oregon, Colorado, Washington and Alaska as states that also permit recreational use. Those nine states account for nearly a quarter of the U.S. population.

The trend of states loosening restrictions is likely to put more pressure on the federal government to lift its ban on the drug. Americans overwhelmingly support medical marijuana use. The proportion backing full legalization has climbed from 12% in 1969 to 25% in 1995 to 60% today, according to Gallup polls.

At the same time, the state campaigns have shown that even some proponents of loosening the laws believe that some of the initiatives give too much power to companies seeking to turn the marijuana business into a nationwide mass market.

While polls in California show strong support for Proposition 64, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, some pro-marijuana groups have come out against it, arguing that it favors big growers over smaller ones.

For those of us who care about medical marijuana patient rights, Prop 64 is a horrible policy, Dennis Peron, a hero of the legalization movement said in a statement. The multimillion-dollar pro-64 interests represent Silicon Valley and others who wish to cash in on marijuana legalization.

California is already the largest marijuana market in the country, having legalized pot for medical use in 1996 and done little to restrict its availability or what medical issues qualify somebody to buy it.

Still, given the massiveness of the states economy, experts said that formal legalization for recreational use could embolden lobbying efforts at the federal level aimed at making it easier for marijuana companies to do business. Current law makes it difficult for them to open bank accounts and illegal to ship across state lines.

There are a whole host of smaller-scale reforms before full-on legalization that the industry would be thrilled to work on, said John Hudak, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who studies federal marijuana policy.

Such reforms are increasingly looking inevitable.

Consider Nevada, where the legalization measure, Question 2, faces formidable opposition from the states powerful gambling industry. Sheldon Adelson, the chief executive of Las Vegas Sands, has contributed millions of dollars to fight the initiative there as well as the ones in Florida and Massachusetts.

The states largest newspaper, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, reversed its stand on the issue last year to oppose legalization, after Adelson bought it for $140 million.

Despite all that, polls suggest the measure will pass, and that soon tourists there will be allowed to toke up.

Donning blue-jean skirts and makeshift habits, Sister Kate and Sister Darcy are orderless and self-proclaimed nuns who have been reverently growing and producing cannabis-based tonics and salves in their Merced operation known as the Sisters of the

The Massachusetts initiative, known as Question 4, is also expected to pass, despite opposition from Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, and Atty. Gen. Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, both Democrats.

Im not sure exactly sure what the benefits of creating a marijuana industry here in Massachusetts are, Walsh said in a video advertisement against the measure.

The marijuana industry is also closely watching Florida, where a legalization victory would create the largest market for medical weed on the East Coast. Proponents estimate that about 2,000 dispensaries would be needed to handle the demand.

As a constitutional amendment, the measure requires 60% of the vote to pass. A similar proposal in 2014 fell just shy of that with 57%. Polls suggest it will pass this time.

The issue may be largely generational. Older Floridians see marijuana the same as heroin, they just hear drugs, said John Morgan, a personal injury lawyer and leading medical marijuana supporter. The older someone is, the harder it is to get them to vote for my proposition.

The presence of legalization measures on the ballot in Arkansas and North Dakota  both staunchly conservative states  illustrate the power of the trend toward legalization.

At the same time, opponents are still far from giving up. Election day is the beginning of the battle, not the end, said Kevin Sabet, a legalization opponent and head of the Washington-based group Smart Approaches to Marijuana.

Alex Halperin is a special correspondent.

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Editorial: Figuring out Californias 17 ballot propositions: Here are the L.A. Times endorsements
When Michelle Obama delivered the most influential speech of the 2016 campaign in an out-of-the-way stop in New Hampshire, she suddenly and somewhat unexpectedly commanded the spotlight with her emotional account of how Donald Trumps private words about womens bodies had shaken me to my core.

Though she spoke earlier this month while much of the country was seeing for the first time video of Trumps lewd bragging, the first lady actually had been working on the address for weeks, incorporating her growing concern about the GOP presidential nominees many insults of women into a polemic that drew from her own experiences of being verbally harassed on the street and ogled at work.

I feel it so personally. she said. 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.

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Trumps attitude toward women had been weighing on her for a long time, one senior adviser said. She wanted to speak about it.

The speech, amplified by timing and met with an enthusiastic response, cemented Obamas place as a star of the presidential race and put a defining stroke not just on how women view Trump but on herself as a voice of moral authority. Three months before leaving the White House, she already is among the ranks of public figures who transcend politics and title.

Shes variously called an icon, one of the greats and a woman who changed history in an essay collection in the current issue of the New York Times T magazine, titled To the First Lady, with Love.

When you rise to a level like that, you see how much weight your words carry, said Anita McBride, former chief of staff to First Lady Laura Bush and executive in residence at the School of Public Affairs at American University. We know she didnt like politics. But she was impassioned by the language that was used, and she feels compelled to speak out. People listen to her.

For Obama, it was an uphill climb to that moment. She was reticent to get involved in campaigns early on, suspecting that they were difficult for a family.

Michelle was never wild about politics, President Obama told late-night host Jimmy Kimmel this week. When he was thinking of running for president, he said, his wife told him, You would make an outstanding president, and I would work so hard to make sure you were president ... if I werent married to you.

Her fears proved prescient in the 2008 Democratic primary, when a fierce stereotype of her as an angry black woman developed. A cartoon on the cover of the New Yorker pictured her in militant garb.

She pulled out of the campaign for weeks, emerging later with a bold and disciplined new branding plan that included careful decisions about what she said in interviews and to whom she said it. She since has favored womens and celebrity magazines and friendly television venues over straight news outlets.

And at the heart of her strategy is a cautious defense of her time. She takes care to leave plenty of it for her teenage daughters  but also to place a premium on when she appears in the spotlight.

While her husband and Vice President Joseph Biden were starting to publicly back former secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the beginning of the summer as she closed in on the Democratic presidential nomination, Michelle Obama mostly held her fire until the Democratic National Convention at the end of July.

When she did take the stage, Democrats who remembered the enmity between the Obama and Clinton camps in 2008 were rapt, listening to see how hard she would lean into the endorsement.

Obama did not worry about selling her lines, one adviser said. She has developed a deep respect for her East Wing predecessor.

I trust Hillary to lead this country, Obama said, because Ive seen her lifelong devotion to our nations children, not just her own daughter, who she has raised to perfection.

Her pitch has been similarly personal on the campaign trail, where Obama has been available more than Clinton campaign officials anticipated.

At one event, she said of Clinton that when she gets knocked down  she doesnt complain. For emphasis, Obama tapped her mic  a reference to Trumps complaints that his microphone hadnt been working properly at the first presidential debate. The wordless put-down went viral.

Shes particularly effective because shes not viewed as someone who lives in the day-to-day political battles, said Jennifer Palmieri, a top adviser to the Clinton campaign. They dont see her in the daily tumult.

Indeed, Obamas positioning of herself as far outside of politics as is possible for a first lady has helped mute criticism and contributed to a perception that she is above the fray.

Republicans have been sparing, if sharp, in their criticism of her. After she said Trump exhibited sexually predatory behavior in bragging about grabbing women in the Access Hollywood video from 2005, Trumps running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, said he didnt understand the basis of her claim.

What hes made clear, Pence said of Trump, is that was talk, regrettable talk, on his part, but that there were no actions.

Trump fired off critical tweets about other speakers at the Democratic convention, but was mum on Michelle Obama. A GOP spokesman said, The first lady is off-limits.

Later, Trump complained about an implicit shot Obama took at Clinton during the 2008 primaries, though the first lady has denied she was targeting her husbands then-rival.

This fall, she has made it clear to White House aides that she didnt just want to take on Trump, she wanted to take a stand for women and girls  and for Clinton in particular.

At their first joint campaign event, in a North Carolina arena packed with 11,000 supporters Thursday, Obama acknowledged that its unprecedented for a first lady to campaign as much as she has.

That may be true, she said. But this is also an unprecedented election.

Abio Harris, 54, and Yvette Jones, 57, who work together at a local nonprofit, like Clinton. But they love Obama.

Michelle is very deep, Jones said. She can take things to a different level.

Harris was effusive. I love FLOTUS, she said, referring to Obama by the Washington shorthand for first lady of the United States. She represents the best of the administration.

Megerian reported from Winston-Salem, N.C., and Parsons from Washington.

Twitter: @cparsons, @chrismegerian

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Trump has made a lot of women mad. Clinton hopes to turn that into a surge of votes for Democrats

Millions of people have voted, and Democrats are showing strong signs in key states

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The Optimist Club of Burbank will hold a Halloween carnival from 6 to 8 p.m. on Monday at Vickroy Park, 2300 W. Monterey Place, Burbank.

There will be games, prizes and candy at the free event.

The organization is seeking teen volunteers who would like to earn service learning hours. For more information about volunteering, call (818) 216-9377 or email jrdiel@aol.com.

Woodburys architecture school to host open house

Woodbury Universitys School of Architecture will host an open house from 2 to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The school is located at 7500 N. Glenoaks Blvd., Burbank.

Visitors will have an opportunity to meet some of the schools faculty, administrators and current graduate students as well as learn about the admissions process, scholarships and financial aid.

Those who want to see an example of the schools lecture series can stay for a talk by Sandy Attia and Matteo Scagnol of the Italian design office MoDus Architects at 6:30 p.m.

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Mark Kellam, mark.kellam@latimes.com

Twitter: @LAMarkKellam
Burbank native Wes Clark claims to have read every book there is about his beloved hometown. However, when approached with the chance to publish his own take on the city, Clark didnt want to do what everyone else before him had done.

Instead of focusing on the nitty-gritty details about Burbank, Clark and Mike McDaniel, a fellow Burbanker and longtime friend, opted to share with readers the forgotten lore that made the city what it is today and why it is known by people around the world.

Lost Burbank, which is being distributed by Arcadia Publishing and goes on sale Monday, sheds light on some not so well-known stories, such as the Battle of Burbank, the origin of the Turkey Crossing and two songs written about Burbank.

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The publishing company initially contacted Clark about writing a book that would put Burbank in the spotlight.

"[Arcadia Publishing] sent me a couple of copies [of their history books] to give me an idea of what they were looking for, Clark said. One of them was Lost Flint and when I got through that book, I thought it was really depressing. It thoroughly bummed me out.

With that in mind, Clark and McDaniel, who are both 60 years old, focused on making their book more light-hearted by including tidbits that the average Burbank resident may not know about.

What I wanted to do was incorporate as many interesting facts about Burbank and as much of its history I could cram in there, Clark said. I just wanted the book to sparkle. I wanted the text to be the kind where somebody could jump on any page and get snared right away and want to finish the page and go onto the next one.

Clark and McDaniel recognized that Burbanks presence reached further than just Southern California. Most people know about the important role Lockheed Corp. played during World War II and that the films made in the citys Media District have been seen by millions of people all over the world.

However, fewer people know about the Cooper Underwear Co., which is now Jockey, and its factory in Burbank or about Maurice Poirier, a Frenchman who lived in Burbank who Clark and McDaniel believe was the first inventor to patent an early type of independent-suspension system.

Whatever happens here can go global, and most people dont realize that a lot of stuff started here, McDaniel said.

Clark concurred, quoting a phrase then Mayor Jess Talamantes said during Burbanks centennial in 2011.

He was playing off of [the] Las Vegas ad campaign of What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, Clark said. He said, What happens in Burbank is seen globally.

The two Burbank natives love for their citys history goes back to when they were students at Burbank High School and has grown from there.

Clark moved to Springfield, Va., in 1984 to follow his love of history, specifically the Civil War. However, it was through learning about that piece of American history that he became more interested about how his hometown came to be.

The history of the place that I was from was every bit as interesting as the history of the place where I live, he said.

On the other hand, McDaniel has never left Burbank. He works for the city in its print shop and lives in the house wherehe grew up.

Regardless of where they are, Clark and McDaniel continue to dig up tidbits about their hometown.

I dont think theres another city in the whole United States that can claim the things that Burbank can claim and have the things that came out of Burbank, McDaniel said. A lot of cities have a claim to fame, maybe one thing that they can point to. Burbank has thousands of things that [it] can point to. You can stand here with pride and say, Hey look! Im a member of this community.

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Anthony Clark Carpio, anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Twitter: @acocarpio
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) encouraged students on Thursday to pursue work they care about during a visit he made to Luther Burbank Middle School, where he also answered some tough questions from sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders.

Schiff opened his talk by describing what he loves most about his job, which includes working at his local office, serving people in his district who need help navigating various challenges  such as adopting a child  tackling the immigration system and connecting veterans with services.

He described his work in facilitating help for his constituents as immediately impactful.

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Luther Burbank Middle School Principal Oscar Macias, right, and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) look over a new school mural depicting the schools namesake. (Raul Roa / Burbank Leader)

Then he urged the students to work on anything you care about and asked them to focus on lifes journey, not the destination.

One of the really fun things is figuring it out along the way, he said.

When one student asked about the congressmans greatest challenge in office, Schiff said its the countrys ill-functioning, gridlocked government.

Im a big believer in something Bill Clinton once said, Schiff said. He said, Theres nothing wrong in America that cant be fixed by whats right in America. I think thats really true. We have the most talented people. We have the most incredible natural resources. We have the most entrepreneurial spirit in this country. But we are hampered at the moment by a government thats not working very well.

Another student told Schiff that 10% of his familys income will soon go toward healthcare premiums, far more than what they paid before Obamacare, when his family purchased private health insurance.

Schiff pointed out that the Affordable Care Act has brought positive change for millions of people, but cited room for improvement.

Before Obamacare, he said, about 20 million people who didnt have any healthcare were suddenly able to get healthcare. Every year, peoples health insurance rates were going up quite dramatically. This problem didnt start with Obamacare. It wont end with Obamacare.

However, any fix to Obamacare is now hampered by political gridlock, he said.

Theres the view of most of the Democrats in Congress who want to fix and improve Obamacare, and theres Republicans who want to repeal it completely. And until we can decide, OK, its not going away, we need to improve it  its going to be hard to make those improvements, Schiff said.

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Kelly Corrigan, kelly.corrigan@latimes.com

Twitter: @kellymcorrigan
The International Criminal Police Organization, Interpol, will revisit the possible issuance of an international wanted persons notice for former Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky charged by Russia with involvement in assassinating a former Nefteyugansk mayor, a knowledgeable source told Interfax.

Interpol will address the matter at Russia's urgent request at the upcoming meeting in Indonesia in mid-November, the source said.

Interpol has received all documents related to the case that it had earlier asked for from Moscow to decide whether there are grounds to declare the former Yukos head internationally wanted, the source said.

The General Secretariat of Interpol had earlier recommended that Khodorkovsky not be put on national databases of wanted persons, referring to Article 3 of the organization's Constitution, which strictly forbids it "to undertake any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character."

It had been reported in mid-February 2016 that the Russian national central bureau of Interpol had put Khodorkovsky on the Interpol database of wanted persons on charges of involvement in the killing of Nefteyugansk Mayor Vladimir Petukhov in 1998. Moscow's Basmanny District Court had issued an arrest warrant for Khodorkovsky and declared him internationally wanted at the end of December 2015.
Hypercorrection is the term language buffs use when people try so hard to avoid mistakes that they end up making mistakes.

It happens when people use between you and I in the belief that between you and me is wrong, when in fact between you and me is the grammatical form. It happens when people say I feel badly instead of I feel bad, which is the grammatical form because copular verbs like feel take adjectives, not adverbs, as their complements.

But the most interesting examples of hypercorrection occur in gray areas, where the too-cautious choices arent necessarily wrong but arent quite right, either. Take, for example, this snippet I caught in a National Public Radio report about preparing for a hurricane: It doesnt come cheaply.

A few weeks later, I heard on Marketplace, another public radio show, a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government expressing skepticism that the refugee crisis in the Middle East could turn out neatly.

I hear stuff like this a lot. The project turned out well. It came out beautifully. When someone is speaking with caution, worried how they might sound to others, they default to the idea that adverbs like well and beautifully are better than adjectives like good and beautiful.

The project turned out good and It came out beautiful are considered casualisms at best and grammar errors at worst.

But if you think the examples above call for adverbs, consider this: Do you slice the meat thin or do you slice it thinly?

This example sheds light on the flawed thinking that leads to turn out well and come cheaply. The user is thinking: The word after my verb should be an adverb because adverbs, not adjectives, describe verbs.

But who said were actually describing the action? Who said that a word that comes after a verb cant describe a noun elsewhere in the sentence?

After slice the meat, you certainly could use an adverb. Slice the meat carefully and Slice the meat quickly describe the verb. They tell the manner in which the action should be performed.

But when youre engaged in the act of slicing, can you really perform that action thinly? Does that really describe the manner in which youre moving the knife through the roast? I suppose you could turn sideways and suck in your tummy as youre slicing. But, really, its obvious that the meat, a noun, is whats thin.

To ask whether a crisis could turn out neatly isnt quite as straightforward. It seems to me that youre modifying the noun, crisis, and that you therefore would use the adjective form, neat. But could you argue that your real intent was to describe the action of turning out? Depending on what you mean, neatly or neat could be correct in this example.

The same is true for Hurricane preparation doesnt come cheaply. But this one isnt equivocal to me: I would always opt for cheap here because my emphasis would be on the noun, preparation, instead of the action, to come out. But is it possible that something could come out in a cheap manner? Perhaps.

The trick here is to not get hung up on the order of words. Instead, focus on meaning  whether youre describing the action or a thing.

Perhaps the best illustration comes by comparing Brad acts good with Brad acts well. When you use the adjective, good, you show that youre modifying the noun, Brad. Brad is acting as though he himself is good. But when you use the adverb, well, youre describing the verb, act. Thats why Brad acts well makes perfect sense if Brad is a thespian.

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JUNE CASAGRANDE is the author of The Best Punctuation Book, Period. She can be reached at JuneTCN@aol.com.
Duncan Phillips may not be a household name in Orange County, but many of the American artists in his collection have become almost as familiar as todays movie stars or celebrities.

Artists like Georgia OKeeffe, Edward Hopper, Winslow Homer, Richard Diebenkorn, Stuart Davis and Clyfford Still have become enshrined in museums across the country and the world as great American painters of the modernist tradition.

But Phillips was collecting them when U.S. museums and collectors didnt care about homegrown artists, and seemed much more interested in European old masters, realists and Impressionists.

Through Dec. 4, the Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Beach is presenting American Mosaic: Picturing Modern Art through the Eye of Duncan Phillips. The exhibition features 65 works by 53 artists, with a focus on paintings created between 1870 and 1965. Many of the artworks have never been exhibited before on the West Coast.

When we started to think about what we wanted this entire exhibition season (fall 2016-summer 2017) to provide our visitors, we saw a fantastic opportunity to showcase the entirety of our mission to present modern and contemporary art, and to tell the stories of art since 1900, said Todd DeShields Smith, director of the O.C. Museum of Art since 2014. The show provides many definitions of what modernism is and demonstrates how these definitions still shape contemporary art.

An aristocrat for sure, Phillips was born in 1886 into a wealthy family in Pittsburgh. His mother was an heir to the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company.

His family moved to Washington, D.C., in 1896. Phillips attended Yale University and made his way to New York, becoming an art critic. Back in the nations capital, he founded the Phillips Collection in 1921 in the familys Dupont Circle home  Americas first museum dedicated to modern art.

During the 1910s Phillips had come to know many American artists and that personal relationship with Americas contemporary artists continued over the next 50 years, said Susan Behrends Frank, a curator at the Phillips Collection and the organizer of the OCMA exhibition.

Phillips saw firsthand how they struggled to find collectors to buy their work, how Americas living artists were ignored by museums between the wars. Throughout his life, Phillips gave American artists his patronage and encouragement.

That support and patronage ranged from Albert Pinkham Ryder, an early and influential Romantic, to American Impressionist Ernest Lawson to John Sloan, a noted Ashcan painter.

Phillips also collected self-taught and foreign-born artists, as well as several artists of color, including Jacob Lawrence, Allan Rohan Crite and Yasuo Kuniyoshi.

Phillips message about the diversity of American art as the essential nature of our national character was an idea ahead of its time and certainly is still important today, Frank said.

The OCMA exhibition is divided into 10 chronological and thematic sections, starting with Romanticism and Realism and ending with Abstract Expressionism.

Highlights of the exhibit include Homers windswept oil To the Rescue (1886), Marsden Hartleys colorful, expressionist oil on academy board Mountain Lake  Autumn (c. 1910), Hoppers contemplative, moody oil Sunday (1926), and Edward Bruces stark and spiritual oil on canvas, Power (c. 1933).

Two iconic OKeeffes  Large Dark Red Leaves on White (1925) and Ranchos Church, No. II, NM (1929)  grace the Nature and Abstraction section, as does Arthur Doves stunning sunset captured in oil, Red Sun (1935).

Doves painting gives visual form to that moment of the sunset that hovers between light and dark over hills and patterned fields, Frank said. This picture captures everything I love about Dove  his rich color and his inventive visual equivalents that capture the interplay of heat and light in the landscape.

Red Sun also is featured on the cover of the catalog, Made in the U.S.A.: American Art from the Phillips Collection, an evergreen publication produced to coincide with the 2014 exhibition of the same name at the Washington, D.C., museum.

American Mosaic draws heavily from that exhibition, which had a stop at the Tampa Museum of Art, where OCMAs Smith used to be executive director. This version will close in early December then travel to the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford, Pa., where it will be on view Feb. 25-May 21, 2017.

*

IF YOU GO

What: American Mosaic: Picturing Modern Art Through the Eye of Duncan Phillips

When: Till Dec. 4; gallery hours are from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays

Where: Orange County Museum of Art, 850 San Clemente Drive, Newport Beach

Cost: $7.50 to $10; every Friday, children age 12 and under and museum members are admitted free

Information: (949) 759-1122 or ocma.net
Nearly two decades after launching her Pacific Palisades boutique, which houses couture with contemporary fashions, Elyse Walker has opened her first Orange County store.

Situated on the prime corner of the recently renovated Lido Marina Village, the 12,000-square-foot shop inside a former bank building incorporates fine shoes, bags, jewelry and clothing from womens ready-to-wear and couture collections.

Below the spaces open ceilings and mesh chandeliers are edited displays of luxury brands that read like a compendium of international opulence: Givenchy, Chloe, Hermes, Stella McCartney, Alexander Wang, Lanvin, Brunello Cucinelli.

But dont let that intimidate you.

Walker, a stylist and buyer whose star-studded clientele includes actresses Jennifer Garner, Kate Hudson, Cindy Crawford and Reese Witherspoon, is known for creating a relaxed and casual ambiance within a fashion-forward showroom.

This should feel comfortable and fun, and it shouldnt feel like high pressure, Walker said as she sat on a pink velvet chaise in her Newport Beach store, which opened in late August.

But, if something looks really great on you and I tell you, you know I mean it, she said with a laugh.

Fashion wasnt her initial profession.

While majoring in mathematics at Columbia University with plans to work on Wall Street, Walkers mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

She took charge in running the familys shoe business in New York City and completed her education. But she lost her mother  who was 42  to the disease.

In 1996, she and her husband, David, moved California. Three years later, she opened her first boutique, which at first carried mostly shoes and handbags.

The nondescript store located on an unassuming block in Pacific Palisades garnered a following. Since its inception 16 years ago, the store has quadrupled in size with more than 150 designers and a team of stylists.

Since founding her namesake boutique, which is stocked with a mix of new and emerging designers, Walker founded her Internet business, Forward by Elyse Walker, and her curated womens line, ThePerfext.

With expansion in mind, Walker embarked on opening a new store for the Orange County shoppers who would visit her Palisades shop.

The O.C. store, she conceptualized, would share her personal love for art while offering a different point of view.

The result: A space that features designer shop-in-shops, fine jewelry housed in the former bank buildings vault, a denim bar, beach shop and salon.

Guests may sip Champagne while slipping on precious stones by New York jeweler Bayco or have their hair colored and styled at the boutiques two-chair salon.

They may stand before works of art created by street artist Retna, painters Paul Rusconi and Robert Mars and abstract mixed-media artist James Verbicky, or have a stylist unwrap a shoeboxs tissue paper before them to reveal the latest style by Gucci or Manolo Blahnik.

With more than 250 showcased designers, Walker said she wanted to create a shopping experience that felt like a place where a woman could take risks in pieces right off the runways while also shopping for classic and timeless pieces that could suit any occasion.

This experience should be relaxed, said Walker. I hope you feel like you got a great foot massage. You should leave here feeling happy.

Elyse Walker is at 3444 Via Lido, Newport Beach. For more information, call (949) 612-2646 or visit elysewalker.com.

kathleen.luppi@latimes.com

Twitter: @KathleenLuppi
Two groups of Costa Mesa High School students wrapped up trips across and beyond the country last week.

Band teacher Sandy Gilboe and 14 band members left March 31 for five days in New Orleans.

Instructor Lu Wang and eight students in her Mandarin 3 class departed April 2 for Beijing and Xian for a week in China.

As Wangs students toured sites such as the Great Wall of China and Xians Terracotta Army sculptures, she urged them to communicate in Mandarin with local residents and one another.

I was excited for the trip because I knew Id be able to apply what Ive learned to more life situations, said Kris Araracap, a Costa Mesa High senior who took the trip.

In New Orleans, Costa Mesas band students toured the swamps, roamed the French Quarter and attended a performance at Preservation Hall, where they met professional musicians.

New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz, Gilboe said. Its a city thats vibrant with live music, whether it be in the clubs or in the streets. They got to see something that you dont see anywhere else.
Newport Beach City Council candidate Fred Ameri said Friday that a yard campaign sign spotted on the corner of West Coast Highway and Dover Drive that has words written in Farsi is a racist ploy by those seeking to discredit his candidacy.

The red sign, which was placed in front of Ameris own blue campaign sign, has the words vote for Fred written in Farsi  the language spoken in Iran  and Ameri written in English. At the bottom of the sign, the words Newport Beach City Council are written in English.

The reason they picked on mine is to advertise that this guy is not one of us, Ameri said. Theyre saying Be careful, if you vote for this guy, youre voting for an Iranian terrorist.

Ameri, who was born in Iran, is running to replace termed-out Councilman Keith Curry representing the District 7, which includes Newport Ridge and Newport Coast. Also vying for the seat are local attorney Phil Greer and Finance Committee member and attorney Will ONeill.

No one has taken responsibility for publishing or posting the sign. ONeill and Greer said their campaigns had nothing to do with the sign.

Ameri, a 19-year Newport Beach resident long active in the Republican Party, said he planned to remove the sign from West Coast Highway and drive around the rest of the city to make sure that was the only one.

This isnt the first time that Ameris Persian heritage has been scrutinized this campaign season, he said.

Even though Ive lived in this county for 55 years, they want to send a message that Im Persian, not American, Ameri said. This is so dirty, so low. Im just dumbfounded.

The sign showed up about two months after Newport Beach resident William Stewart filed a lawsuit against Orange County Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley and Newport Beach City Clerk Leilani Brown seeking a court judgment mandating that Ameri use his given first name  Farrokh Ameri  instead of his nickname Fred on the ballot.

Stewarts attorney, Bruce Peotter, brother of Newport Councilman Scott Peotter, argued in court documents that the state election code requires that a candidates legal name be used on the ballot. A fictitious name, the lawsuit states, would mislead voters.

Ameri maintains that the lawsuit was a ploy by his opponents to force him to use his legal name in an effort to alienate voters.

In September, Orange County Superior Court Judge David Chaffee ruled that Ameri has a common-law right to use an assumed name by which he is known and recognized.

It seems [the] petitioner is hoping to marginalize [the] candidate by forcing him to use a birth name he is not commonly known by, Chaffee wrote in his decision.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCN
Newport Beach filed a lawsuit in federal court Thursday challenging the accuracy and efficacy of the Federal Aviation Administrations environmental assessment of a proposal to reroute flights at John Wayne and 20 other Southern California airports.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals complaint centers on the FAAs Metroplex project, which intends to replace traditional ground-based air traffic procedures with a GPS-based system of air traffic management, redesign the airspace and alter the arrival and departure procedures for jets at several Southern California airports.

The Newport Beach City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to sue the FAA over its environmental assessment of the project, which determined that the agencys plan would not have any significant impacts on surrounding communities.

The city is asking the court to overturn the federal agencys project approvals and require it to complete a more-thorough environmental analysis, which it says is mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act.

Newport Beach contends in the lawsuit that the analysis of the noise, air quality, greenhouse gas emissions and cumulative impacts of the project on local residents is insufficient. The city also alleges there are significant cyber-security risks related to the project that were not addressed in environmental documents.

FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said the agency does not comment on pending litigation, adding that the FAA stands by its environmental analysis.

The agency has said the Metroplex procedures could save fuel, reduce emissions and delays and shorten flight times by establishing less-dispersed flight plans.

FAA officials have said they plan to phase in the new procedures from November through April. While the agency has indicated to city officials that they dont intend to change the flight paths immediately above Newport Beach, city officials want to ensure that if changes are made in the future a thorough analysis is completed.

Wed like the FAA to give us more information about the possible impacts of these changes, said Mayor Diane Dixon. Our goal has always been to do all we can to protect our residential neighborhoods from noise and air quality impacts associated with John Wayne Airport.

The FAAs plans have ignited conversation in the past year among the Newport Beach Aviation Committee and community concerned that airplane noise over their homes, which has been an issue for decades in Newport Heights, Balboa Island and Peninsula Point, could worsen.

Most of the planes departing John Wayne Airport follow a route that takes them across Upper Newport Bay before flying over Balboa Island and the end of the Balboa Peninsula and turning around a few miles over the ocean.

Under the current system, the pilot has more control of the takeoff route. Under the new system, a precise takeoff path can be programmed into the planes flight plan, which could further concentrate flights over residential areas. Newport alleges in the lawsuit that the plan could increase pollution and noise over homes.

The city also took issue in the lawsuit with the FAAs failure to respond to a letter the municipality sent outlining its concerns during the environmental analysis.

"[The city] commented that the environmental analysis does not clearly explain or show in diagrams what the FAA specifically proposes for SNA, making it difficult, if not impossible, to understand the ways in which the project would affect [the citys] residents and the environment generally, the lawsuit states.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCN
If there was ever a project that should go to a public vote, the Museum House condominium tower has to be it. It represents all the issues that just beg for a good public discussion.

On the one hand, it is touted to be a beautiful, iconic structure the likes of which can be found in places like Century City and big cities around the world. On the other, it is an increase in the density of Newport Center and an extension of the wall of high-rise buildings. Is Newport Beach wanting to be more like Century City?

On the one hand, it will bring $7.1 million in developer fees, which can be used at the discretion of the City Council for things like extra payoff of the citys pension liabilities, a new West Newport Community Center, or whatever. On the other, is the city in such financial despair that it needs to sell itself off to developers?

On the one hand, it is said to fulfill a need for luxury condominiums in our city. On the other, such housing can be found in many other places, such as Marina del Rey, probably San Diego and other big cities, with coastal views included. If we really need more housing, isnt it likely that the price should be more modest?

On the one hand, it offers the Orange County Museum of Art the opportunity to raise lots of money and move to Costa Mesa. On the other, OCMA could stay and grow here and let Newport share some of the cultural benefits that were the intent of Irvine Co.'s gift in the first place.

On the one hand, it is said that many of us are obsolete in our thinking about Newport Beachs character and atmosphere. On the other, such character and atmosphere have been consistently described and repeated in the early and current general plans.

These are at least five reasons why this project deserves the exposure of a public vote. By our calculations, it should be put to a vote under the Greenlight law, but the city disagrees. Aside from that consideration, it is one residential unit short of needing to go to a public vote under the Greenlight law.

The City Council has the discretion to put this project to a vote, and we hope it sees fit to do so. The residents of the community also have the discretion to put the project to a vote by gathering the requisite signatures.

Either way, I remain of the belief that this project is worthy of a broad public discussion and a vote to once again help steer the citys vision and future.

JEAN WATT, of Still Protecting Our Newport (SPON), is a longtime community activist.
Research into breast cancer continues to advance, and with it new areas of focus, awareness and prevention. As we mark National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it is an opportune time to address a less well-known dimension of breast cancer: its link to gum disease.

Gum disease, also known as periodontal disease, afflicts more than 85% of Americas adult population, yet remains a silent disease out of the public spotlight. Despite the silence, years of research have found that the prognosis for gum disease does not end with tooth loss; it has been linked to a wide range of systemic diseases, including diabetes, heart disease, stroke  and breast cancer.

Postmenopausal women with gum disease had a 14% higher risk of developing breast cancer, according to a 2015 study led by Professor Jo Freudenheim of the University of Buffalo and published in the Journal of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. The incidence was even higher for former smokers: 36% more women with periodontitis who had quit smoking within the last 20 years developed breast cancer. Nonsmokers had a 6% higher risk.

The conclusion: periodontal disease is associated with increased risk of breast cancer especially among smokers.

Freudenheim offered at least two plausible theories for the link: cumulative exposure of breast tissue to periodontal bacteria in the blood stream through brushing, flossing or chewing; or gum inflammation that could exacerbate other conditions in the body. Increasingly, researchers are finding that parts of the body thought to be sterile actually contain bacteria and microbes.

Of course, individual studies cannot establish a causal link, and more studies are welcome. Nonetheless, the evidence clearly points to a connection, underscoring why periodontal health should be a priority for all Americans, especially women with elevated risk for breast cancer.

Its important to know that some periodontal procedures are more effective than others and individuals should keep this top-of-mind when choosing periodontal care. Numerous recent studies, for example, show that laser surgery procedures result in more positive outcomes  less painful, faster healing, and the regeneration of bone and tissue  than conventional surgery.

As science continues to advance and better understand the systemic connection between your oral health and total health, advances in dental technology and noninvasive laser surgical procedures have reduced the pain of treating periodontal disease with stable, long-term clinical outcomes.

More progress must be made to educate dentists and patients alike about these advances, and to work with insurance providers to improve patient coverage. Research must continue to advance as well.

But when it comes to fighting breast cancer, the more we know and the more proactive we are with our oral health, the better our total health. And the more hopeful we can be about the future.

---

Huntington Beach resident DAWN M. GREGG is training director at the Institute for Advanced Laser Dentistry and vice President, operations, of Millennium Dental Technologies.
Medical professionals from Glendale Adventist Medical Center returned this week from their second mission trip to Armenia, where they provided free medical services and care to residents in an underserved community.

Transportation, planning and on-site logistics were again coordinated by the Armenia Fund, which helped expand operating rooms and specialty medical services at sister site Noyemberyan Hospital, located in the small Armenian town of the same name.

Glendale Adventist brought Noyemberyan and 30 surrounding villages the same 12 services they brought last year, and added orthopedics, ophthalmology, gynecology and pathology this year.

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Kevin Roberts, Glendale Adventists president and chief executive, was among the 40 volunteer missionaries who committed from dawn to dusk to not only treat 1,700 patients over five days, but give hospital employees enough education and resources to better sustain the facility over the coming years.

The idea is not do just these little bumble-bee, one-flower-and-move-on visits. Its to create a more self-sufficient hospital, Roberts said, who worked as an operating room nurse at the site. We didnt want to supplement stable resources. We wanted to go where we could make the biggest difference.

Armenia Fund is committed to build out Noyemberyan over the next several years due to its small size and limited resources.

Roberts said he saw marked improvements at the Armenian hospital, which allowed medical staff such as registered nurse Filor Izanian to tend to the growing number of patients coming in compared to last year.

We saw three times what we expected in a five-day period, and I dont have the words to describe how wonderful it was there to help these people, Izanian said. Ive never been so happy to be a nurse, to be able to give my service to these people.

Izanian joined cardiologist Dr. Arby Nahapetian in observing and addressing the needs of many people who have high blood pressure, high cholesterol or a disproportionate amount of gastritis.

Glendale Adventist family physician Dr. Sirvard Khanoyan saw many of the same issues with the hundreds she treated each day and attributes poverty as the main reason many they had not seen a doctor for years. Khanoyan used the daily line of patients outside of Noyemberyan Hospital as a chance to educate them about better health and eating habits.

---------------------

FOR THE RECORD

10/31, 10:20 a.m.: A previous version of this story misspelled the name of the Armenian hospital in the fourth reference. It is Noyemberyan, not Narembeen.

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Going there and doing this really reenergizes you. It sort of reminds you of why you went to med school, why you became a physician, Khanoyan said. Its an enlightening experience. Its very rewarding.

Having left Armenia when she was 12, Khanoyan also saw the mission as an opportunity to give back to her homeland.

I think we brought hope because when you look at the people, the poverty, seeing the group of doctors available and helping them for free  people were very appreciative, Khanoyan said.

--

Jeff Landa, jeff.landa@latimes.com

Twitter: @JeffLanda
Police are searching for a man caught on camera throwing a rock through a glass door at a local business.

At 3:53 p.m. on Aug. 18, a man was walking northbound on Adams Street and stopped in front of Unlimited Text and Talk Wireless, located at 304 S. Adams St., according to Glendale police spokeswoman Tahnee Lightfoot.

Camera footage shows he tried to open a door, but the business was closed. He loitered in front of the business for some time, then picked up a rock next to the building.

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He waited for traffic to clear and then threw the rock through the glass door of the business, shattering it, Lightfoot said. He then ran southbound on Adams on the west side of the street.

The man is described as Caucasian, 5'9" to 6' tall, with a stocky build and a trimmed beard and mustache.

Anyone with information about this incident should contact the Glendale Police Department at (818) 548-4911. Callers may remain anonymous by calling Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.

--

Mark Kellam, mark.kellam@latimes.com

Twitter: @LAMarkKellam
Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov has submitted his e-declaration reporting a collection of paintings, icons, weapons and wine, as well as $71,000, EUR 30,000 and UAH 265,000 in cash.

According to the e-declaration, Avakov together with his wife Inna owns two apartments in Kharkiv with areas of 657.90 square meters and 70.90 square meters, and solely owns an apartment in the town of Chuhuyeve with an area of 39.30 square meters, as well as a 1,200-square-meter land plot in Korobochkyne, Kharkiv region. The wife of the minister also owns a similar 1,200-square-meter plot of land in Korobochkyne.

Avakov and his wife also declared a collection of paintings, other works of art, including a n artistic chess set, icons; furniture, watches (Rolex Daytona, Jaeger LeCoultre, Vacheron Constantin), bags (Chanel, Louis Vuitton) other valuables and jewelry, as well as a collection of wine of the Mouton-Rothc brand.

Avakov has 20 series B military treasury bonds acquired in 2014 with the nominal value of UAH 20,000, and 12 shares of FC Metalist worth UAH 3. The minister's wife owns shares of the Joint Stock Bank Basis, which is currently being liquidated, worth UAH 1.316 million and shares in the PJSC Investor worth UAH 210.

In addition, Avakov owns 100% of the capital in the Italian company Avitalia s.r.l. worth UAH 8.832 million, 99.99% of the capital in the Avakov Trust Company, which is currently being liquidated, worth UAH 205,478 (the rest 0.01% of the company's shares are owned by his son Oleksandr).

Avakov is also a beneficial owner of PJSC Investor, Investor Elite Bud, Media Technology Research Center, PE Organics 2007, Investor Protection Service, Vetra LLC, Badge LLC, Power Machines LLC, Investor Fund LLC, ATN TV Company LLC, Elite Service Investor LLC, Investor Publishing House LLC.

Avakov pointed out in his e-declaration that he owns copyright to a script worth RUB 1 billion or UAH 1.

In 2015, the minister declared UAH 228,414 of salary and income from sales of movable property (except securities) of UAH 1.450 million. His wife Inna in 2015 received UAH 187,153 in salary and UAH 2.23 million for sale of movable property (except securities).

Avakov and his wife jointly own bank metals worth UAH 200,000. The minister also keeps UAH 14,122 on his account in Oschadbank, UAH 218,174 in Ukreximbank, UAH 31 in Alfa-Bank and UAH 265,000, $571,000, EUR 30,000 and GBP 2,100 in cash.

His wife keeps UAH 148,640 in UniCredit Bank and has UAH 1.3 million, $275,000 and EUR 30,000 in cash.
Given all the recent campaign rhetoric about financial insecurity and under-employment in our country, Im struck by how little has been said about public education  beyond the cost of college tuition  as if education were unrelated to jobs or the economy.

There are plenty of reasons to explain educations absence from debate topics, starting with the century-long separation of academics and workforce preparation. It took a long time for schools to become worlds of their own, in which successful students were set apart for continued, post-secondary academics while workforce preparation was left to the non-college bound.

Outside the relatively small circle of long-committed career technical education teachers, academia and workforce worlds are only beginning to merge again in the public education consciousness. Its fair to say most students and their parents  not to mention their teachers  still view school work in terms of purely academic grades and credits rather than life skills or career development.

Another reason education hasnt been a hot-button economic issue could be its reputation as a long-term strategy with no easy fixes. People prefer quick results: better jobs now. Adding to the tepid interest is the fact that career-technical education  science, technology, engineering, arts and math, incorporated in project- and-work-based learning  is an issue with broad support, not an attention-getter for campaigns.

Lost in the campaign dramas are the positive outcomes beginning to appear as a result of bipartisan legislation  the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act  that is expanding career education to help individuals overcome barriers to better employment.

Supporting both statewide efforts and local partnerships of schools, colleges, nonprofits, and businesses, the legislation is helping shift career education to the forefront of discussions on economic growth and development.

The Adult Education Block Grant, or AEBG, consortium is one such partnership beginning to make a difference in Glendale. Led by the Garfield Campus of Glendale Community College, the partnership for a strong California workforce includes the Glendale Unified School District, the Verdugo Workforce Development Board, the Department of Rehabilitation, the Glendale Youth Alliance, Glendale Public Library, Armenian Relief Society, International Rescue Committee and the Glendale Communitas Initiative.

With support from the grant, students at the Garfield campus will have the opportunity to meet with a representative from the Department of Public Social Services. Theyll also have access to case managers from the Verdugo Job Center for help with job searches.

The Glendale Youth Alliance will send representatives to assist with work-readiness training for out-of-school youth ages 16-24 and to link students to on-the-job training where it is available. The Department of Rehabilitation will provide information and services to students with disabilities.

English-as-a-second-language and adult literacy classes at partner sites will also be expanded with help from the grant.

Garfields Student Success Center, under the direction of Maria Czech, will soon be expanding its services to include college and career preparation classes for adults with disabilities.

The center, according to its brochure, already serves approximately 1,200 students a semester, providing computer-aided instruction, one-on-one tutoring, small-group instruction and individualized instruction for students wanting to improve their basic skills, prepare for a GED or complete a high school diploma.

Scott Anderle, Glendale Unifieds assistant director of student support services and the districts representative to the AEBG consortium, shared with me his gratitude for the relationships established during the time spent in consortium meetings and conferences.

Id never met Maria Czech, he said, and now hes working with her to keep track of students the district refers to the Garfield campus. Czech, for her part, said she looks forward to more meetings with high school counselors, like the one Anderle arranged recently, to keep them apprised of programs available to their students.

Meanwhile, through a partnership with the Glendale Community College main campus, AEBG will continue to support the Uniquely Abled Academy as it begins a second session for individuals with high-functioning autism, training people with special skills for specialized needs in the workforce.

Candidates and voters may not talk much about the economic developments underway in education, but they ought to know about them, so they can share the information with the people who need help.

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JOYLENE WAGNER is a past member of the Glendale Board of Education. Email her at jkate4400@aol.com.
Re: Donald Trump is no role model, Whiteboard Jungle, Oct. 21. Brian Crosbys column on Donald Trump not being a role model is amusing. He claims he is an independent but comes up as a bitter foe of Trump with nothing good to say about him.

Crosby forgets Hillary Clintons numerous acts of omission and commission, so I presume he wants open borders and opposes tax incentives to big business to invest and create jobs. He is not an advocate of a strong America militarily and economically. Conflict of interest is OK; he turns a blind eye as $8 billion in the state department disappears. He is for huge influx of refugees from radical Islamist countries engaged in terrorism. For him its OK to declare we are dead broke and then raise hundreds of millions for a foundation by misusing official position and distributing favors. He doesnt care if many women accuse a certain president for gross misbehavior (to put it mildly) but are callously targeted and their allegations dismissed as a vast right-wing conspiracy.

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Crosby ignores frequent lies and thinks bad words are more dangerous than bad actions. He condones manipulating the mainstream media, Benghazi murders, deleting thousands of emails and extreme carelessness in handling state matters. A fraction of similar careless actions got others jailed. Crosby doesnt mention these.

Sir, that distinguishes Trump from Hillary.

Trump may not be a role model. Hillary is far from it. But Trump wants a safe, secure, strong and prosperous America  and these are the most important issues before the nation.

Yatindra Bhatnagar

Tujunga

Donald Trump: role model

Despite Mr. Crosbys assertions to the contrary, Trump is an excellent role model for all young men and women.

Mr. Crosby opens his column by claiming that Trump "...mocks immigrants, the disabled and women. Trump welcomes legal immigrants, respects women and mocked a heckler who happened to be disabled.

Trump didnt threaten to jail his opponent if he wins. He said he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Hillarys erased emails.

Mr. Crosby asks, What parents would want their child to grow up emulating Donald Trump? I would if I had children. Who wouldnt want a son or daughter who has created great businesses around the globe? Who wouldnt want a son or daughter who loves America, understands that Islam is a threat to America and wants to drain the corrupt swamp of Washington?

Mr. Crosby also claims Trump has unleashed below-the-surface racism. This is yellow journalism; a lie meant to silence critics.

Crosby is the very image of all that he despises. He twists words into lies to mislead those who dont read widely. He hints at the racism of Trump supporters. It was the Republican Party that was able to eliminate all references to race in federal and state law books via the passage of the civil rights bills of the 1960s. Every since that time, it has been the Democratic party which has at every turn attempted to reintroduce race back into every piece of legislation.

And Trumps opponent? A career politician who is a proven liar, a proven failure at everything she touches, and a proven enabler of her sexual predator of a husband, and simply corrupt to the core.

Ray Shelton

Glendale

The story of our local bears

The local bears in the San Gabriels are not native to this area. The original brown and grizzly bears had long been hunted to extinction in the early 20th century. The last grizzly killed in the San Gabriels was shot in Sunland by Cornelius Johnson in November 1916, it was not a wild bear as originally thought but one that had escaped from the then-primitive Los Angeles Zoo.

In November 1933, due to an overabundance of bears in Yosemite, black bears were shipped to Southern California to reintroduce the species; seven were released in San Gabriel Canyon (over the objections of the local beekeepers), seven in Big Bear Valley and six in Santa Ana Canyon. All our local bears are descended from these Yosemite bears.

Living in the Foothills is a blessing, warts and all. The continuing drought has brought the bears down to our ever encroaching civilization. How do we relocate the bears; to where, who is going to do it, pay for it, and maintain them? Then whats next, the coyotes? When the coyotes go, we will have to deal with a monstrous rodent problem. For every push, there is a shove.

If one doesnt want to deal with bears and other canyon inhabitants, then move to the 20th floor of a mid-Wilshire high-rise, urban, sterile, animal free and soulless.

Jo Anne Sadler

Glendale

A yes vote for Measure GC

There is a bond measure that needs to be supported by voters in Glendale  Measure GC. This measure will enable Glendale Community College to maintain its excellence in preparing students to enter higher education programs at universities and colleges, to expand its vocational programs to train students for jobs in demand in our region, and to support the English as Second Language, citizenship support and basic business skills needs of immigrants to our region. The college currently has several vocational classes at its Garfield Campus. In order to minimize traffic and parking issues at the main campus, expansion of that campus would be ideal to support the vocational studies program.

I feel passionate about this measure because I attended GCC. The education I received set the course for my future in the aerospace industry, mainly at JPL. Like hundreds of thousands of others I benefited from the college and am grateful for those who supported previous tax measures that allowed the college to flourish.

Recently I completed a four-year term on GCCs Facilities Bond Oversight Committee. I observed first-hand how the college thoughtfully, frugally, and within budget used taxpayers money to build and renovate the facilities as it promised the voters in 2002s Measure G.

The state provides limited funding to construct, renovate or upgrade local community college facilities. This support primarily can come only from local property taxes.

Let us stand with those in need of the education and training Glendale Community College can provide now and in the future just like voters were there for those of us who benefited directly from the college in the past. Vote Yes on Measure GC.

Albert Hofmann

Glendale
Santa Rosa Island, part of Channel Islands National Park, is temporarily closed to visitors while park and law enforcement officials search for drug smugglers. Its the second island to be put off-limits this year.

The five-island national park, located off the coast of Ventura and Santa Barbara, announced Thursday that federal and local law enforcement found numerous bundles of marijuana on the island and were conducting an aerial and ground search, a news release says.

The move was taken to protect the public from potential harm, Park Superintendent Russell Galipeau says in the statement. The island will be reopened when the danger has passed.

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Most visitors (aside from those who come by private boats, small plane or sea kayaks) get to the island on Ventura-based Island Packers Cruises. The closure affects about 73 visitors who were scheduled to travel to Santa Rosa Island this weekend.

Island Packers is working with booked visitors to refund their money or reschedule their trip.

The closure is the latest setback for the national park during the National Park Services centennial year.

Santa Barbara Island closed to visitors in January after high surf destroyed the landing dock and snapped some of the pier pilings. No reopening date has been scheduled.

And Santa Cruz Island, by far the most popular destination, which sees about 90,000 visitors a year, also had its dock knocked out by stormy surf last December.

Scorpion Pier closed at the time, but the island remains open. Visitors now reach the island by taking a small skiff and landing on the beach. A repair plan is under way, but no reopening date for the pier has been announced.

So whats the outlook for this hard-to-get-to national park?

Galipeau, who has been superintendent of Channel Islands since 2003 and previously served as chief of natural and cultural resources at Yosemite National Park, will address that very topic at 7 p.m. Nov. 10 in a public lecture.

Hell discuss management of Channel Islands as well as the biological and cultural values of the national park. The lecture takes place at Channel Islands National Park Robert J. Lagomarsino Visitor Center, 1901 Spinnaker Drive in Ventura.

The national park, which also includes Anacapa and San Miguel islands, was created in 1980.

Info: Channel Islands National Park, (805) 658-5730

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Syrian government forces launched a counteroffensive Saturday under the cover of airstrikes in an attempt to regain control of areas they had lost to insurgents the day before in the northern city of Aleppo, activists and state media said.

Meanwhile, insurgents launched a fresh offensive on the city, a day after embarking on a broad ground attack aimed at breaking a weeks-long government siege on the eastern rebel-held neighborhoods of Syrias largest city.

The insurgents were able to capture much of the western neighborhood of Assad where a majority of Saturdays fighting was concentrated, according to the Syrian army and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

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The Observatory said the new offensive by Syrian troops and their allies went under the cover of Russian and Syrian airstrikes but government forces did not succeed in regaining control of areas they lost. The group said the fighting and airstrikes are mostly on Aleppos western and southern edges.

The Syrian army command said troops and their allies are pounding insurgent positions with artillery shells and rockets, adding that all kinds of weapons are being used in the fighting in the Assad neighborhood.

The Aleppo Media Center, an activist collective, reported airstrikes and artillery shelling of areas near Aleppo. The AMC and another activist collective, the Local Coordination Committees, said rebels entered the village of Minian west of Aleppo on Saturday afternoon after intense fighting with government forces.

Later Saturday, the rebels said they launched an attack on the Zahraa neighborhood in western Aleppo to try to capture it from government forces. The attack began with a massive explosion that struck government positions on the front line, said Yasser al-Yousef of the Nour el-Din el-Zinki group, a main faction in Aleppo.

A reporter inside the city for the Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV channel confirmed that the rebels have attacked the Zahraa neighborhood. As he spoke from the roof of a building, sounds of heavy gunfire could be heard in the background.

The Syrian army said troops were repelling the attack on Zahraa. It said the offensive began when the insurgents detonated a vehicle and shelled the area.

The Observatory said the intense fighting was continuing after sunset, adding that government forces detonated explosives and bombs they planted earlier in the area in an attempt to repel the offensive on Zahraa.

Syrian state media said rebels shelled government-held western neighborhoods of Aleppo on Saturday morning wounding at least 10 people, including a young girl.

Rebel shelling of Aleppo on Friday killed 15 and wounded more than 100.

On Friday, insurgents including members of Fatah al-Sham and the ultraconservative Ajnad al-Sham and Ahrar al-Sham militias took advantage of cloudy and rainy weather to attack government positions. On Saturday, the weather was better, according to residents.

There are ongoing clashes, opposition activist Baraa al-Halaby said by telephone from besieged east Aleppo, adding that the fighting is far from them but explosions could be heard clearly in the city.

The Observatory said that since Friday, 30 troops and members of Lebanons Hezbollah group were killed in the Aleppo fighting.

East Aleppo has been subjected to a ferocious campaign of aerial attacks by Russian and Syrian government warplanes, and hundreds of people have been killed in recent weeks, according to opposition activists and trapped residents.

The new offensive by insurgents is the second attempt to break the governments siege of Aleppos opposition-held eastern districts, where the U.N. estimates 275,000 people are trapped.

U.N. Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura has estimated 8,000 of them are rebel fighters, and no more than 900 of them affiliated with Fatah al-Sham. Syrian and Russian officials have said that no ceasefire is possible as long as Fatah al-Sham remains allied and intertwined with other rebel forces.

Aleppo is the current focal point of the war. President Bashar Assad has said he is determined to retake the countrys largest city and former commercial capital

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Trilateral Contact Group to hold unscheduled meetings of two working subgroups next week

Unscheduled meetings of working subgroups on humanitarian and socio-economic issues of the Trilateral Contact Group have been scheduled for next week.

Such an agreement was reached during a videoconference of the Trilateral Contact Group on Saturday, press secretary of the Ukrainian representative in the tripartite group, second President Leonid Kuchma, Darka Olifer, told Interfax-Ukraine.

"A videoconference of the Trilateral Contact Group with representatives of ORDLO (separate areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions) took place. The agenda included security issues. They also agreed to hold unscheduled meetings of working subgroups for humanitarian and socio-economic issues next week," Olifer said.
Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Andriy Parubiy and chairman of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs Elmar Brok called on the European Parliament to vote for the introduction of the visa-free regime with Ukraine by the Euromaidan anniversary dated November 21, 2016.

Parubiy met with Brok at the Jean Monnet Conference, the Ukrainian parliament's press service reported.

"Andriy Parubiy said that the anniversary the Euromaidan events on November 21, 2016 will be an important symbolic date for the completion of the liberalization of the visa regime, because it is under the European integration banner that Ukrainians went out on Maidan. Elmar Brok explained that the delay in the completion of the liberalization of the visa regime was related to internal institutional problems of the European Union and has nothing to do with issues of liberalization of the visa regime per se," the report says.

Parubiy handed to Brok a statement signed by the chairman and members of most of the factions of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in which they call to complete the process of liberalization of the visa regime by the date of the anniversary of Euromaidan events.
Two vehicles crashed just before 10:40 p.m. Friday on Route 22's Cemetery Curve in Easton, a Northampton County emergency dispatch supervisor said.

There were injuries, she added.

The highway was closed for about 30 minutes eastbound as emergency medical personnel did their work and city police began to investigate. About 11:05 p.m., one lane of traffic began to get by.

The city fire department, Bethlehem Township EMS and Nazareth EMS also responded.

Freelance photographer Tim Wynkoop contributed to this report.

Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
For some, it was a link to the past. For others, a sign of the future.

And for 2-and-a-half-year-old Dylan Del Percio, it was just plain fun.

"There's a train coming down the track!" he exclaimed, waving an old spike he found along the Easton rails.

Actually, two freight trains rumbled through before the main event -- the history that Dylan and his mother joined crowds of others in towns along the track to see.

For the first time in decades, a passenger train was rolling through the Lehigh Valley.

Amtrak's Autumn Express started at 8 a.m. Saturday in New York's Penn Station and sped through the region en route to Harrisburg, following the old Queen of the Valley line, which Amtrak says has not been used for regular passenger service since the 1960s. The return route brings the train through Philadelphia, and a second run is scheduled Sunday.

On #Amtrak Autumn Express crossing to Easton PA approaching Bethlehem Steel, not quite that @BSteelFC but close. #traintravel pic.twitter.com/rJ0elWmTgi  JohnCorbett (Travel) (@jacorbett7022) October 29, 2016

"Once again," Amtrak says on the event website, "we travel through small towns, historic tunnels, see key landmarks and experience rare mileage along a route that hasn't seen regular passenger service in decades."

Patricia Wheeler's father used to work at Easton's train station, where residents gathered Saturday morning at the urging of Mayor Sal Panto. A similar event was held in Allentown.

Wheeler, of Easton, made signs to cheer the arrival of the Autumn Express with her grandson, nephew and other family members. She saw it as a chance to teach them about the history of their family and their city.

Others, including Panto, said they hoped the one-time excursion was a sign of things to come.

The mayor called the event historic: "Getting (passenger service) back would be an economic boon for the Lehigh Valley."

Keith Scalley, of Forks Township, grew up in Morristown, New Jersey, where he said regular train service gives people more options both for work and tourism.

"I think it's a benefit to the whole area," Scalley said, holding his own homemade sign. It read: "Bring the train to the Lehigh Valley."

Establishing passenger service would not be easy. Norfolk Southern heavily uses the track for freight lines, and a spokesman previously said any passenger proposal has to take the impact on shipping into account. An exception was made for the two-day Autumn Express run.

Regardless, the crowds cheered and waved as the train sped by and continued on its way.

For one weekend, at least, passenger service is back in the Lehigh Valley.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Another one-time passenger train excursion, the Lehigh Limited, ran from Hoboken to Bethlehem in 2013.

Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
quarry explosion newspaper

The front page of The Easton Express from March 26,1942, commemorating the explosion at the Lehigh Portland Cement Company quarry.

Twenty tons of dynamite accidentally ignited in an earthshaking explosion that blew out windows miles away and killed 31 quarry workers in 1942.

That was the horrific scene on March, 26, 1942, at the Lehigh Portland Cement Co. quarry in the Sandts Eddy section of Lower Mount Bethel Township.

Seventy-four years later, a group of volunteers and donors erected a memorial to the men who lost their lives that day.

A memorial was installed in October 2016 to commemorate an explosion on March, 26, 1942 at the Lehigh Portland Cement Co. quarry in the Sandts Eddy section of Lower Mount Bethel Township that killed 31 people.

Earlier this month, a marker was placed at Church Hill Cemetery off Route 611 in Lower Mount Bethel.

"The cause of the blast is unknown but to God," read the words in a booklet created for the memorial dedication.

Rich Grucela, a retired state representative and former Lower Mount Bethel Township supervisor, helped organize plans for the memorial with his wife Gina Grucela over the past year.

"We started to get contributions before we had a site or even a design," Grucela said.

The tragedy hits close to home for many who still live in the area and were personally affected by the disaster, Grucela said. Some of the contributors to the memorial are family members of those who died that day.

Workers from the entire region were killed in the blast, with the highest concentration coming from the village of Martins Creek in Lower Mount Bethel.

Reports at the time state body parts were found hundreds of yards from the quarry and window shattered in Allentown and Bethlehem -- up to 18 miles away.

Grucela, with the help of the Lower Mount Bethel Civic Association and others, raised about $18,000 for the memorial. Local construction workers and landscapers helped dig the foundation and prepare the area for the memorial.

"It was a tragedy that was overlooked. These quarry workers were part of the generation that built this country," Grucela said. "It was a historical event that deserves a historical monument."

The names of those who perished that day are memorialized on a plaque that's part of the memorial. They are.

A plaque lists the names of those who died in a quarry explosion in Lower Mount Bethel Township on March, 26, 1942.

Benjamin Ascani, 41, Martins Creek

Joseph Ascani, 38, Bangor

Alfred Bavaria, 21, Martins Creek

Elwood E. Eberly, 23 Bath

Alfred Lee Frankenfield, 19, Martins Creek

Ray E. Garnett, 41, Wilmington, Del.

Victor Grbich, 46, Oxford, N.J.

Lester Gruver, 27, Easton

Karol Gumulak, 50, Huntington, N.J.

George B Hadesty Jr., 48, Allentown

Clayton C. H. Herman, 31, Nazareth

Andrew Kerlich, 53, Nazareth

Michael, Kochis, 54, Oxford, N.J.

John Kopach, 48, Nazareth

Franklin Krock, 18, Easton

William B. Lanahan, New York City

Charles F Lilly, 52, Easton

William P.B. List, Wind Gap

August Marinelli, 27, Martins Creek

Adam Miechur, 50, Martins Creek

Leon Miechur, 21, Martins Creek

Leo Pace, 45, Martins Creek

Quinto Pignotti, 20, Martins Creek

Ettor Piebani, 27, Martins Creek

John Pulcini, 38, Martins Creek

Raymond Pulcini, 21, Martins Creek

John Sikora, 41, Brainards, N.J.

Charles T. Smith, 55, Stockertown

Samuel S. Smith, 23, Tatamy

Stephen Talpas, 49, Nazareth

Arthur Zappasodi, 46, Martins Creek

John Best is a freelance writer. Find lehighvalleylive on Facebook.
When some Warren County voters head to the polls on Election Day, they'll be deciding more than who serves in the local government.

Five towns have ballot questions -- listed below as they will appear in the voting booth -- giving residents in each the chance to weigh in on some proposals. At stake are a library, a pool, a dam and more.

These are in addition to two statewide questions: one asking if gambling should be expanded to two more counties, and another inquiring about a constitutional amendment to dedicate the entire gas tax to transportation projects.

The general election is Nov. 8. You can check your registration and find your polling place on the state department's election division website, www.njelections.org.

1. SHOULD ALPHA RESTORE ITS POOL?

The John Dolak Memorial Pool in Alpha has been closed since 2006. (Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com)

The question: With the Borough having recently achieved all of its open space and farmland acquisition goals, do you favor redirecting 100% of the available balance of the Municipal Open Space, Recreation, and Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund monies to recreation activities within the Borough, including refurbishing, reopening, and operating the John Dolak Memorial Pool, now and in the future?

What it means: Alpha's council and residents have been divided on spending money to restore a municipal pool that has been closed since 2006 -- this is the second referendum in three years and the facility narrowly avoided demolition last year. Now the borough is asking if it should redirect all of its open space funds to the project.

"Yes" indicates support to restore the pool; "no" opposes it. The referendum is non-binding, meaning the council does not have to act on the result.

2. SHOULD BELVIDERE KEEP ITS LIBRARY?

The Belvidere Free Public Library at the corner of Greenwich and Second Streets. (lehighvalleylive.com file photo)

The question: Shall the free public library established pursuant to R.S. 40:54-1 et seq. in the Town of Belvidere be dissolved effective December 31, 2016 and provision made for assessing, levying, and collecting the special tax assessed, levied and collected to support the County library system entitling the residents of the Town of Belvidere to receive the same County library assistance services as are received by other municipalities within the County library system?

What it means: The Belvidere town council wants to know if the town should continue to fund the Belvidere Free Public Library -- itself established by public referendum in 1937 -- or if the library should be disbanded in favor of joining the larger county system. Basically, do you want to pay the town or the county for a library?

"Yes" means the local library is dissolved and Belvidere joins the county system; "no" preserves the local library.

3. SHOULD GREENWICH EXTEND ITS SEWER?

City workers replace a sewer main in Easton. (Matt Smith | lehighvalleylive.com file photo)

The question: Shall the Township Committee of the Township of Greenwich pursue extending public sewer to the Municipal Building, the Middle School, the future location of the Firehouse and sections of North and South Main Street, Washington Street, and Watertower Road to alleviate cesspools and septic systems on small lots and serve 132 existing properties by requiring all residents in the proposed areas to hook into the sewer line at the cost of the homeowner, with Township bonding at a total cost of $2.4 million?

What it means: Greenwich Township officials want to know if they should extend the sewer to 132 properties in areas listed in the question. The $2.4 million cost would be financed through bonds, and homeowners would be required hook up to the system at their own expense.

"Yes" means the sewer gets extended; "no" means it doesn't.

4. SHOULD A KNOWLTON TOWNSHIP DAM BE REMOVED?

A fisherman casts his line from the Kill Road Bridge over the Paulins Kill in Knowlton Township in 2010. (lehighvalleylive.com file photo)

The question: Do you support the removal of the Columbia dam and the return of the Paulins Kill to a free-flowing river?

What it means: The Knowlton Township committee wants to gauge public interest in a proposal by an environmental group to remove a dam near the Delaware River, part of a larger goal of establishing a free-flowing Paulins Kill.

"Yes" indicates support for the dam's removal; "no" opposes it. This referendum is non-binding.

5. SHOULD WASHINGTON START AN OPEN SPACE FUND?

The scene on a weekday afternoon along Washington Avenue, the main street of downtown Washington Borough. (NJ Advance Media file photo)

The question: Shall the Borough of Washington establish an Open Space and Recreation Trust Fund through an annual levy of up to 0.02 per $100.00 of assessed real property value for a period not to exceed five years, for the purpose of protecting water quality in ponds and streams; conserving natural areas, and developing, maintaining and acquiring lands for recreation and conservation, including the improvement of recreational facilities, with spending based on the recommendations of a citizens oversight committee and all funds subject to an annual public audit?

What it means: The Washington Borough council is seeking permission to set up an open space fund, which is used to acquire and maintain land for recreation and conservation. The resulting tax would cost average homeowners about $28 a year for five years, and an advisory board would determine how to use the funds.

"Yes" means the fund is established; "no" means it is not.

Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
The first phase of what is hoped will be a greenway stretching from Sligo to Enniskillen was opened this afternoon in Dromahair.

A large crowd walked and cycled the 1.2km stretch and were treated to drama from the Lough Gill Players as well as a few tunes from local musicians.

Speaking this afternoon Cllr Felim Gurn told the Leitrim Observer, It's a great lift for the area and shows what a community can do themselves. It shows the potential in a town like Dromahair that had a population of 300 people 10 years ago that has 1,000 people now.

"They've lost the hotel, they've a lost a shop that was here for 100 years but it shows the potential is here for tourism especially with the ban on fracking. It shows that Leitrim is alive and well and it will be a hub for outdoor activities and for clean living. We think it will create major employment but it we just need help getting the infrastructure there."

For more on this story see Wednesday's Leitrim Observer.
A 35-YEAR-OLD man has been remanded in custody on charges of rape and assault relating to an alleged incident in county Limerick.

During the bail application at Newcastle West district court this week, it was alleged that the accused, who is from county Limerick, raped his former partner in a house in the town on September 10.

It was also alleged that the womans foster daughter was assaulted during the incident.

The accused man is facing one charge of rape and one of assault contrary to Section 2 of the Non Fatal Offences Against The Person Act.

Garda John Moriarty told the court that it was alleged that the injured party was asleep when she was woken by the man who put his hand over her mouth and held a knife to her throat before raping her.

It was also alleged that during the course of the incident, the victim was prevented from leaving the room to use the bathroom and was forced to urinate and defecate on the floor.

It was further alleged that the womans foster daughter was present for the entire incident.

The injured parties made good their escape when the accused fell asleep, Garda Moriarty told the court.

Gardai were subsequently called to the house and found the accused asleep with a knife in his hand, Garda Moriarty added.

The accused man was arrested and taken to the garda station where, according to Garda Moriarty, he made certain admissions during the course of an interview.

In objecting to bail being granted, Garda Moriarty told the court that the injured party had claimed the accused had threatened to kill her on several occasions during the course of the incident.

He added that he feared the accused would attempt to interfere with witnesses if he was released on bail.

Garda Moriarty pointed out that the accused was a self-confessed drug addict.

He admitted he does stupid things when he is on drugs, he said.

Solicitor John Lynch, acting for the accused, told the court that his clients family were in court and that he was prepared to give an undertaking to remain in the family home - at an address outside Newcastle West - pending trial and that he would abide by any bail conditions set.

In refusing bail, Judge Mary Larkin said she had to take into account the fact that the accused man was a self-confessed drug addict.

He was remanded in custody pending directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions.
LOCAL councillor Emmett OBrien has urged Transport Infrastructure Ireland to put traffic calming measures in place at Kilcornan National School.

The independent councillor accused TII of showing no regard or no interest for the residents of the area, school children and road users.

This is one of the few, perhaps only national schools on a national road that does not have any traffic calming measures and it is high time that the safety of the school children and kids playing on the all-weather facility is recognised, he said.

While the TII have told me there is little collision history at the school they accept is a case for giving the area around the school and the playing field an urban treatment with footpaths and street lighting. This will highlight to the drivers that the area is a centre of activity where slower speeds are appropriate.

Cllr OBrien added: The simple reason why there have been no accidents at the school entrance is down to the goodwill of Kilcornan Community Council and the local primary school in allowing cars come into the safe confines of the car park next to the all-weather facility and avoid traffic on the N69.
A WOMAN described as a dynamo for tourism in the Mid-West region was honoured this week by her peers in the industry.

At the Mid-West Tourism Ball, Margaret OShaughnessy, director of the Foynes Flying Boat and Maritime Museum, was presented with a special award for services to tourism in the region.

The event was attended by over 440 guests from across the industry from Limerick and Clare with special guest, the Junior Minister for Tourism and Sport, Patrick ODonovan.

Speaking at the event, Mr ODonovan said Ms OShaughnessy deserved to be honoured for what she had achieved with the Flying Boat museum.

She essentially built a tourist and visitor attraction from nothing and she took the heritage of the first Shannon airport in the port of Foynes and with a really dedicated board, she set out on a journey which has seen the museum now attract in excess of 60,000 visitors a year, he said.

Elaina Fitzgerald, chairperson of the Shannon Region branch of the Irish Hotels Federation, said the award was long overdue. She is a fantastic ambassador for tourism in this region, she said.

Ms Fitzgerald pointed out that tourism was one of Irelands largest indigenous industries, with visitor numbers up 13% so far this year.

Tourism makes a crucial contribution to Limerick city and county, supporting 7,000 jobs and generating 243 million annually for the local economy, she said.

It is clear from these statistics that tourism acts as a strong engine for economic growth and job creation both nationally and at a more local level.

But she outlined a number of concerns that needed to be addressed locally, including the urgent need for Wild Atlantic Way driving routes around Limerick and Adare; support for and development of Shannon Airport; and the need for a motorway between Limerick and Cork.

Also addressing the gathering, the head of the Irish Hotels Federation, Joe Dolan, dismissed a recent proposal to make Limerick a destination for stag and hen parties.

Mr Dolan described the idea, floated recently by new Failte Ireland CEO Michael Cawley, as quite offensive, especially for a high end tourism destination like Limerick.
WORKERS are on site this week in Castleconnell to refurbish empty shopping centre units that have long been labelled an eyesore.

The Castle Court Centre was completed by Rimgate Developments in 2007. While some units have been successfully occupied for years the remaining have been left idle and became a hub for anti-social behaviour. A controversial wall was lowered to try and open the units up but a big bugbear with locals was shops being built with their frontage behind a wall.

However, the sold signs have gone up in recent weeks. Acting on behalf of the receiver  Eoin Ryan of HLB McKeogh Gallagher Ryan  Gordon Kearney, of Rooney Auctioneers, said: It was an eyesore for the village and I know everyone in the village wants to see something happen with it so we are glad that the sale has been completed and new life is going to be brought back in to the block.

It was bought by JC Gubbins, of Murphy Gubbins Auctioneers, for a client. See next weeks edition for his plans.

The Limerick Leader understands eight first floor apartments and six ground floor commercial units sold for a figure close to 300,000.

Mr Ryan said: As Bank of Ireland appointed me receiver to the developer  Rimgate Developments Ltd - I am pleased that the remaining unsold units at the Castle Court Centre have been recently sold. I hope this represents positive news for the centre and Castleconnell."

Senator Kieran ODonnell also welcomed the fact that something is going to happen.

I obviously welcome anything that brings vibrancy to unoccupied buildings in Castleconnell. You have many established businesses in the centre that have operated there over a long number of years, said Senator ODonnell.

Local artist, Barbara Hartigan was so irked by the empty units that she painted false windows or trompe loeil (trick of the eye) to look like a sweet shop with the help of Tidy Towns and locals.

Barbara will be thrilled when they are occupied for real.

I would be absolutely delighted to see the whole area rejuvenated, used and vibrant. Its location is very prominent and creates a first impression as you enter the village  the Tidy Towns have done a wonderful job in enhancing clearing and improving so many areas and all their efforts are noticed and appreciated, said Barbara.

See next week's Limerick Leader, broadsheet editions, for more on the plans for the centre.
(Xinhua) 18:55, October 28, 2016

BEIJING, Oct. 28 -- China's domestic-built J-20 stealth fighter will make its public debut at an air show in Zhuhai City next week, with air-force pilots flying the new-generation warcraft, a military spokesperson said Friday.

The development of the J-20 is progressing as scheduled, and it is expected to further boost the fighting capacity of the Chinese air force, said Shen Jinke, spokesperson of the People's Liberation ArmyAir Force, at a press conference.

The J-20 made its maiden flight in 2011.

Shen said the fighter jet will help the air force better fulfill the mission of "safeguarding national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity."

According to Shen, though it will not fly, the domestic-built Y-20 heavy transport aircraft will also be displayed at the 11th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, which runs from November 1 to 6, in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province.

The Y-20, a versatile plane with a maximum takeoff weight of about 200 tonnes, is designed for carrying cargo and personnel over long distances in "complicated meteorological conditions." It officially entered military service in July this year.

Other aircraft such as the H-6K bomber, the J-10B fighter jet and the KJ-500 that is China's early warning and control aircraft will be showcased at the exhibition.
Oct 29, 2016, 10 AM

In contrast with the 1908 postcard, this Iguazu Falls postcard mailed by the author in March 2016 took more than three months to reach its destination in New York City.

The 1908 postcard mailed from Buenos Aires arrived in Paris less than a month later.

Argentinas Iguazu National Park was created in 1934, and represented on this stamp in 1936.

Two stamps of the same design, showing Iguacu Falls, were issued in 1938 by Brazil.

For the 1972 Year of Tourism in the Americas, an Argentina 45-centavo stamp depicts one of the countrys top attractions: Iguazu Falls in the tropical rain forest.

Stamps depicting South Americas Iguazu/Iguacu Falls have been issued by a number of different postal entities, from Argentina to the United Nations. This 2007 U.N. stamp is part of a continuing World Heritage series.

The 2014 four-stamp Argentina souvenir sheet for the Iguazu Falls includes images of native flora and fauna, including four species of butterflies.

This 2014 issue from Argentina depicts the Throat of the Devil  an abyss in Iguazu Falls. A walkway allows visitors to go to the edge of an overlook.

By Gregory W. Frux

Imagine a land of lush tropical forest, where the background sound is rushing water, there are constant rainbows in the mists, and hordes of butterflies land on you if you keep still.

This is not a fantasy, but a real place, one of the greatest waterfalls in the world. Iguazu (in Spanish) or Iguacu (in Portuguese) Falls is on the boarder of Argentina and Brazil and protected by national parks in both countries.

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The cataracts are elaborate  almost 300 separate waterfalls, dropping an average of 220 feet over a front of 1.7 miles.

The complexity of this landmark creates great challenges for stamp designers: How to represent this huge and amazing place?

Argentinas protected area, Iguazu National Park, was created in October 1934. A 5-peso vertical-format stamp was issued in 1936 (Scott 448), depicting palm trees in the foreground and two tiers of delicately engraved waterfalls in the distance.

Iguacu National Park was Brazils first such park, created in 1939. By that time, Brazil had its own stamps honoring the falls: a 1,000 reis denomination and a 5,000r, both with the same design, inscribed Cataratas de Iguassu (Scott 455-456).

The 1,000r stamp is shown nearby. This handsome design features rocks in the foreground, with a tiny seated figure at the base of the falls. A series of torrents plunges from cliffs above, appearing closest at the left and receding into the middle of the stamp. The design provides a suggestion of the power of the waterfalls, despite representing only a small part of the entirety.

With increasing mass tourism and easy jet travel later in the 20th century, Brazil, and especially Argentina, began to publicize this greatest of South American waterfalls on stamps.

In 1972, Argentina issued a 45-centavo stamp for the Year of Tourism in the Americas (Scott 985). With a tropical forest framing the right side of the stamp, the viewer is treated to the sight of two tiers of waterfalls, with the lines of falls hinting at the underlying geology  layers of ancient lava flows that form the plateau from which the water tumbles.

The national-park infrastructure on both sides of the Iguazu River is sophisticated and well-designed. A free railroad brings visitors part of the way into the Argentine park. The trails can handle the thousands of visitors daily, protecting the jungle while keeping the tourists safe. A park ticket is shown nearby.

Metal walkways cut through the forest, leading to the base level of the falls via one trail, and right along the edge of the cliffs where water spills over the abyss along another route.

Most spectacular amid this symphony of waterfalls is a central chasm that takes almost half the rivers flow. The Garganta del Diablo, the Devils Throat, is an abyss where torrents thunder downward. Remarkably, a sturdy walkway has been engineered right to the brink of the falls. You can look straight down from this vantage point  the roar is immense, the plunge is hypnotic, and the spray can be drenching.

A recent Argentina stamp, from 2014, makes the attempt to depict the Devils Throat (Scott 2725c). The stamp is shown here on a first-day cover. While the overview clearly illustrates the topography of the falls, the designer has added a toucan in profile, which somewhat reduces the impact of the falls image.

The Devils Throat stamp is part of a souvenir sheet which, taken as a whole, has by far the best depiction of Iguazu Falls. This complex issue by Correo Argentino, Argentinas postal administration, includes four stamps: 10-peso Devils Throat Falls, 8p Butterfly (Doxocopa linda mileta), 10p San Martin Falls, and 8p Exotic Flower (Fuschia bromeliad billbergia zebrina).

The selvage of the sheet has a wonderful aerial view that includes much of the 1.7-mile fall line, from Brazil at left to Argentina at right, and segues into the San Martin Falls stamp. This stamp shows the falls in the correct location but from a lower, more revealing angle.

Three other major falls in the Iguazu group are named on the souvenir sheet: Salto Mbigua, Salto Bernabe Mendez, and Salto Bossetti (rather alarmingly, salto means jump).

The souvenir sheet also maps the scenic railway and the three hiking trails in the Argentine park.

In all, four species of butterflies also are depicted: one on an 8p stamp and three in the selvage: Diaethria clymena, also known as Cramers Eighty-Eight because of its wing markings; Anartia amathea, the brown or scarlet peacock; and an iridescent blue Dynamine tithia. Lastly, the one mammal shown is the coati (Nasua nasua).

This critter might be considered the serpent in paradise of the Iguazu Park. A relative of the raccoon, the coati has become completely habituated to the tourist throngs. Packs of them wait near park snack bars, and they are well-prepared to hijack your food in a moments inattention, as I found out the hard way.

Iguazu National Park (Argentina) was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984, and Iguacu National Park (Brazil) followed in 1986. Both parks are well-engineered to provide amazing vistas of the many waterfalls while simultaneously protecting the rare Atlantic Rain Forest ecosystems.

Robust steel walkways provide easy access to all the sights. Visitors may not stray from these pathways, and wilderness begins at the railings.

Argentinas attractive Seated Liberty issue offers full collecting range: There are a multitude of reasons why Argentinas Seated Liberty stamps of 1899-1903 offer an inviting field for specialization.

It is a remarkable situation that Iguazu National Park can host a million human visitors annually while much of the surrounding forest is able to remain intact.

This wonderful refuge hosts diverse species. Birds living there include the heron, ibis, vulture, hawk, kite, eagle, dove, parrot, parakeet, cuckoo, screech and pygmy owl, swift, at least eight species of hummingbird, toucan, woodpecker, creeper, flicker, flycatcher, kingfisher, jay, thrush, warbler, tanager, finch, cowbird, and many others.

Mammals include the jaguar, puma, ocelot, howler and capuchin monkey, tapir, peccary, anteater, armadillo, fox, otter, raccoon, coati, capybara, agouti, opossum, and a great variety of bats. Butterflies abound, as well as numerous types of insect, snake, lizard, caiman, turtle, frog, and fish.

Iguazu Falls is a must-visit locale for many tourists to South America, despite being well off the track of other popular destinations.

Although mass tourism is a mid-20th-century phenomenon, I located a beautiful picture postcard, which is shown here, of Salto Iguazu from 1908 indicating the area was a tourist destination even then. The card bears a jaunty greeting in French on the picture side. The front of the card is dated 8-10-08 and posted in Buenos Aires, it was backstamped Nov 3 in Paris.

Assuming the senders handwritten date was in standard European order, making it Oct. 8, the card had an amazing transit time of less than a month from Argentina to France.

During my visit, I mailed postcards from both Brazil and Argentina, and they took more than three months to reach New York City.

Today, a modern airport on the Brazilian side is the main gateway to the falls, receiving many flights daily. If you cannot come in person, there are several movies that incorporate the falls: in 2008, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull; the 1979 James Bond film Moonraker; and, most notably, The Mission, a 1986 epic about the native peoples, slave-traders, and missionaries, starring Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons.

And, of course, you can visit via your stamp collection. A good-looking topical stamp collection of Iguazu Falls can be assembled at little cost, with issuing countries including Argentina, Brazil, the United Nations, and others. Here's a handy table listing Iguazu Falls stamps, to help you get started.
Photos by Janine Van Oostrom

During the weekend of October 20th to the 23rd Toronto hosted the 4th annual Buffer Festival. For those unaware, Buffer Festival is an annual showcase of YouTube video premieres, bringing the most acclaimed digital creators and their audiences together. One could even say it is like a TIFF but for Youtube based material. Founder Corey Vidal and his ApprenticeEh team started the festival back in 2012 where Vidal simply starting asking his friends he had made through Youtube to come out to Toronto to show some videos to an audience. Four years later the team had managed to bring in over 100 featured creators for this years festival. For those who are familiar with Buffer Festival, this year was a little different from types of screenings, prices, and different technological strategies used. Rather than simply screening different videos and films, the festival offered Red Carpets where people could meet the creators following the screening. Also offered were Spotlight Screenings which were hour long sessions dedicated to one creator or video that was so anticipated it needed to have its own time slot. There were also educational workshops, exhibits set up by sponsors, and an entire day (Friday Oct. 21st) dedicated to the press where creators were interviewed by different outlets (like us!) It was obviously impossible to attend every screening, spotlight and workshop but well be discussing some of the more popular screenings, the ones that stood out, and the ones that fell short.

Comedy Screening:

The Comedy Screening was entertaining from beginning to end. Some videos made me smile, others made me chuckle to myself in my seat, and a few even had me LOL-ing. Some of the Youtubers that were featured in this screening were Adande Thorne or sWooZie known by his fans and followers. The video he showed was a skit about filming his next action packed video. The video itself was nothing special but had its funny moments and did not leave the fans disappointed. Along the same lines of comedy was another skit by popular Youtuber Timothy DeLaGhetto in which him and his friend Rick discover that their food truck where they sell Thai food is actually a time machine that takes them on crazy adventures (hence the name Thai Machine, see what he did there?) There were a few funny jokes here and there but it wasnt the best thing Ive seen from him. An entertaining and very clever video created by Jon Cozart parodied the United States Presidential Debate however the theatres audio and fast rapping/singing made it hard to understand what he was saying at times; needed subtitles. A group that caught my eye were the Tin Can Brothers (Brian Rosenthal, Corey Lubowich, & Joey Richter) and their video Flop Stoppers. It was a bit long for a comedy video but still managed to capture the audience with their perfectly timed jokes and impressive musical numbers. Youtuber Mike Falzone stole the show with his comedy video as well which was a clip of his stand-up routine he has been working on for many years. The routine was perfectly executed (along with some funny improv as well) and is worth checking out. Finally, my personal favourite of the screening was one of the last videos shown: The Watercooler by Will Darbyshire and Adrian Bliss. This video has everyone in the theatre including the other Youtubers cracking up with endless comedic silences and dark humour. It has five 2-3 minute episodes and each present a day of the week at the office with main characters John and Bill. It was definitely the most unique video of the screening and those with darker senses of humour will definitely enjoy it. All in all it was a very good screening with the really good videos that premiered having made up for the just okay ones.

Travel & Adventure Screening:

The Travel & Adventure screening is always a fan favourite and most of the Youtubers featured have a very strong fan base. The screening started out with a short and simple video by Nadine Sykora (Hey Nadine) presenting different tips and things to remember when travelling. Although it was too short to leave a huge impression, this girl has made some pretty awesome videos and has gone on some amazing looking trips. Toronto Youtuber Kristen Sarah also had a nice video regarding many travel tips. Both videos were informative without being boring! Other videos to take note of were filmmaker Sawyer Hartman first try at a travel video with many cool drone shots and Riyadh Khalaf (normally a comedy vlogger) who took on a more serious approach to tell his story about moving away from his Ireland home to find a new home in London. A crowd favourite was Louis Coles (FunforLouis) video exploring an active volcano. Everyone in the theatre felt just as much intensity as Louis probably did filming that video. It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience and just the way he captured everything on film left everyone awestruck and that wasnt even the highlight. Hands down the best two videos of the screenings were the Arctic videos shot by Tim Kellner and Ben Brown. Both filmmakers along with famous Canadian astronaut Col. Chris Hadfield, son Evan, and about ten others went on an 18 day expedition to the Arctic so truly capture the beauty of this forgotten northern destination. Kellner (timtothewild) captured more of a dark and cold Arctic with senses of loneliness and mystery while Brown (Mr Ben Brown) captured a lighter and more adventurous video capturing the vast openness of the area. Both videos are definitely worth checking out on their channels but nothing will beat experiencing them in a theatre.

Daily Vloggers Screening:

My first impression of the Daily Vloggers screening was that it was going to be quite boring because I was not familiar with a lot of the featured creators and I thought a lot of the videos were going to be similar in style. However I was pleasantly surprised with how heartwarming the entire screening felt and how everyone was so supportive of each other. Fan favourite Bryan Lanning presented his video which described everything he had to prepare in order to record an album. I didnt really consider it a daily vlog but the audience still enjoyed it. There was LaToya Forever who showed her vlog of the birth of her son. It dragged out a bit too long and was a bit graphic at times but was still entertaining nonetheless. Louis Cole who was also featured in this screening presented a different approach to the normally shot first person vlog. His video was a day spent in Amsterdam with his girlfriend and while it was beautifully shot, it was a little cringey to watch at times because it was too cute (and yes, there is such a thing as TOO CUTE). An up-and-coming Youtuber and first time Buffer Festival panellist Kent Heckel impressed not only the audience but the other big name Youtubers on stage with his college vlog and well executed comedic timing. Finally there was Julien Solomita and his video what is a vlog? that stood out to everyone and earned him the longest and loudest applause of the screening. Again, instead of the video actually being a daily vlog, it perfectly explained what a vlog is and the pros and cons of video making. The screening ended with a trailer for a full length documentary produced by Corey Vidal, popular Youtuber Shay Carl with many others contributing as well. Vlogumentary describes what vlogging is and how it has taken over in the New Media industry. I for one am not paying to watch this on YoutubeRed anytime soon but perhaps if it comes out on Netflix Ill give it a watch.

Short Films Screening:

The last screening we saw was the Short Films screening late Sunday night. Being the last screening of the festival (and loving it last year) I was definitely looking forward to the different films that were chosen to be shown. However, I was quite disappointed right off the bat with one of the first films by popular Youtuber and musician Ricky Dillon. The Youtuber Killer was poorly scripted, casting was mediocre, and it just didnt fit the image of what the Short Film screening should be. Even though I didnt even crack a smile, it definitely belonged in the comedy screening (if any screening at all). Following the trend of bad acting was the adorable Michael Murphys short film about high school. You can definitely tell the actors he chose had zero acting experience and the storyline was a little cliche however the shots were nice and hes just so dang cute its hard to hate anything he produces. Another stand out was popular Youtuber Olan Rogers animated short film The Lions Blaze. The storyline was great, jokes perfectly timed, and characters you automatically fell in love with and left you wanting more. This will definitely become a popular series on his channel so make sure to subscribe, you will not regret it. Other than that, the rest of the films were nothing special. Honestly they were all quite boring, too long, or both unfortunately which left me feeling dissatisfied. The only other worth noting was a trailer for a short film by Bertie Gilbert called Playground which peeked interest with its interesting potential storyline and amazing child actors. The trailer was so good it earned Gilbert his own spotlight screening where he discussed one on one with an audience about the upcoming film.
(Xinhua) 20:30, October 28, 2016

BEIJING, Oct. 28 -- The volume of approved foreign institutional capital investing in China's capital market picked up in October thanks to more opening-up policies.

The accumulated volume of the approved Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (QFII) program grew by 2.7 billion U.S. dollars in October to reach about 84.4 billion dollars as of Oct. 27. The increase was 258 million dollars from August to September, according to data released by the country's foreign exchange watchdog on Friday.

Meanwhile, the RMB-denominated Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (RQFII) program saw its accumulated volume increase by 3.65 billion yuan (about 538 million U.S. dollars) this month, compared with an increase of 998 million yuan from August to September.

The acceleration of the volume of QFII and RQFII programs has been attributed to recent decisions by the central government to further open up its capital market.

China's securities regulator decided in late September to remove asset allocation restrictions on qualified foreign investors to allow them greater freedom to invest.

Previously, China required overseas investors to invest at least 50 percent of their assets into stocks, and their cash ratio should not exceed 20 percent.

To gradually open the capital account, the government introduced the QFII and RQFII programs in 2002 and 2011. They give foreign investors the right to move money into the account to encourage controllable flows.
(Xinhua) 21:02, October 28, 2016

NANNING, Oct. 28 -- Rice noodles cooked with snails, a signature street food of Liuzhou in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous region, are becoming a popular snack around the world.

On Thursday, Guangxi Luobawang Food Co. Ltd. became the first company authorized to export large quantities of the specialty.

Combining traditional foods of the Han, Miao and Dong people, "luosifen" is a dish of pickled bamboo shoots, dried turnip, fresh vegetables and peanuts, served over spicy noodle broth flavored with river-snails.

Listed as part of Guangxi's intangible cultural heritage in 2008, the dish became popular after being featured in the hit foodie-travel show "A Bite of China" in 2012.

In Liuzhou, "luosifen" is usually sold from roadside stands or in night markets. Now packaged versions are being sold by more than 5,000 online stores on e-commerce platforms like Taobao, with daily sales as high as 200,000 packets, according to Li Jianhong of Liuzhou's commerce commission. Several big commercial players have applied for export certificates.

The growth of the market can be traced back six years, when a government project began encouraging "luosifen" restaurants to open outside Guangxi.

According to Li, the number of instant noodle manufacturers offering river snail varieties has increased from one in late 2014 to more than 60 today. Online revenue from the noodles was more than 500 million yuan (74 million U.S. dollars) last year, with daily sales averaging more than 100,000 packets.

New food safety standards specifically targeting snail noodles took effect in May, and the local government hopes to see more than 5,000 snail rice noodles restaurants all over the country by 2020.
(Xinhua) 21:03, October 28, 2016

SHIJIAZHUANG, Oct. 28 -- The moat of a 2,000-year-old city has been excavated in north China's Hebei Province.

The 70-meter-wide and 4-meter-deep moat surrounds Wuyuan City, dating back to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty and has helped determine the limits of the city walls.

Located in Suning county of Cangzhou City, Wuyuan was listed as a protected historical and cultural site in 2003 and its excavation approved and funded by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage in 2015.

The dig, which started in September, has shown that Wuyuan was comprised of a square outer town protected by 1,800 meters of defenses around a smaller, inner town surrounded by 500 meters of walls.

The excavation is expected to last for another three or four years. Enditem
Face Your Fears & Share a Scare by Telling the Tale of One of These Real Haunts on Long Island

Music, Movies & Entertainment, Nature & Weather, Top Ten on Long Island, Seasonal & Current Events

By Kelly Tenny Published: October 29 2016

Make this Halloween extra scary by sharing one of the stories about real haunts on L.I.!

Have you had you fill of haunted house, spook walk and corn maze scares? How about moving onto something even more sinister, like a real haunted place on Long Island! Here on Long Island there are many legends surrounding supposedly haunted places on L.I. From the looming Kings Park Psychiatric Center, to the depths of Lake Ronkonkoma, there are countless myths, legends and hair-raising stories associated with the region of Long Island.

Check out these scary stories about local haunts on Long Island!

NOT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

If there is one haunted place on Long Island that everyone has heard of, including those who do not live on Long Island, that place would be the Amityville Horror House. Featured in many books and movies throughout the years, the terror of the Amityville Horror House begins in 1974 when Ronald DeFeo, Jr. killed his family in their sleep in that very house. Afterwards a new family, the Lutz family, moved into the residence and after just 28 days of living in the house, moved out because of paranormal occurrences and supposed possession.

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Nestled on the East End of Long Island in Montauk, is Camp Hero. Once a military base, there are many rumors that encompass this locale. It is said that at one point the military was conducting top secret experiments, having to do with time travel and UFOs, at Camp Hero. Another story says that after opening up a door to the fourth dimension, a creature was let loose and now lives in underground containment below the camp.

NOT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Once a home and hospital for those needing psychiatric care, and now partially demolished and abandoned, the Kings Park Psychiatric Center is a huge fixture of interest and mystery on L.I.. Rumor has it that due to overcrowding, and a change of healthcare tactics, the center quickly fell into disarray. Rumors nowadays circulate about the center being haunted, with some people having experienced hearing screams, seeing apparitions, and other supernatural experiences at the Kings Park Psychiatric Center.

Photo by Doug Kerr via Flickr . (CC BY-SA 2.0) The looming facade of the Kings Park Psychiatric Center.



OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

This local watering hole doesnt just serve up brews and cocktails, but ghost stories too! The story goes that Charlie, a bootlegger from the Prohibition Era who used to frequent the pub, still hangs around. Guests and workers have experienced strange phenomena like glasses moving on their own, figures floating through walls, toilet lids banging on their own and more.

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Many different legends surround Lake Ronkonkoma, Long Island's largest freshwater lake. One of the most prevalent stories is about a Native American princess who killed herself in the waters of Lake Ronkonkoma when her father would not allow her to marry the man that she loved. Rumor has it that she claims the life of a male every year to secure herself a soulmate in death, since she wasnt able to do so when she was alive.

Sweet Hollow Road

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Located in the Huntington area, there is an overpass on Sweet Hollow Road that many have visited to test out a local legend. It is said that a bus full of children crashed on this spot many years ago and that if you put your car in neutral under the overpass that spirits from those children will push your car forward in an attempt to put you out of harms reach.
Pets & Animal, Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Press Releases, Seasonal & Current Events

By Long Island News & PR Published: October 29 2016

Halloween is just around the corner, and keeping your pets safe, happy and healthy should be on your list of to-do items.

Nassau County, NY - Octoberr 28, 2016 - Halloween is just around the corner, and keeping your pets safe, happy and healthy should be on your list of to-do items. Here are some things you can do to make Halloween a fun experience for the entire family:

Pet costumes are very popular this year. Don't dress up your dog or cat unless you know he or she loves it. If you decide to do so, make sure the costume isn't annoying or unsafe, and doesn't restrict her movement, vision, hearing or ability to breathe or bark. Avoid costumes with small or dangling accessories that she could chew off and possibly choke on. Make sure an adult supervises pets in costume at all times.

It is wise to keep your pets in a separate area of the house. All but the most social dogs and cats should be kept in a separate room during peak trick-or-treat visiting hours. Too many strangers in unusual garb can be scary and stressful for pets.

Many animals become agitated at all of the "goblins" roaming the streets. Make sure all your pets are wearing current identification and take care when opening the door for trick-or-treaters that your dog or cat doesn't dart outside.

It is IMPORTANT to keep all Halloween candy out of your pet's reach. Chocolate can be poisonous to animals, and tinfoil and cellophane candy wrappers can be hazardous if swallowed.

Jack-o-lanterns and other decorations are fun, but can be dangerous. Be sure to keep lit pumpkins away from your pets. Better yet, use a battery powered light instead of a candle as pets can knock them over, and curious kittens especially run the risk of being burned by fire.

Don't leave your pet in the yard on Halloween. Besides the scary noise and activity that can upset your pets, sometimes animals become targets of "tricks", especially black cats. Keep your pets inside and keep them safe.

Have a safe and happy Halloween!



To Report Animal Cruelty call 516-THE-SPCA, email or use the online form



About Nassau County SPCA

Located in Nassau County, New York, The Nassau County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is a 501(c) (3), nonprofit organization originally designed to protect animals in the county from abuse and neglect, and to provide basic welfare. We hold special authority to enforce NYS Agriculture & Markets Law, and all other state and local humane laws. We are the only animal protection agency officially designated to operate within the county's borders.



The NCSPCA is a volunteer organization dedicated to the rescue, care and placement of needy animals. The Society is run entirely by unpaid volunteers and its operations have been historically funded through contributions solicited from the public and through corporate grants.



The NCSPCA receives no public funding, is in no way affiliated with, a subdivision of or funded by any other local, state or national organization and every contribution, large or small, helps to provide the critical care needed to help homeless, abused and neglected animals in Nassau County. The continued success of each program relies entirely on donations. No money given to any other spca organization aids or benefits the NCSPCA. Your generous contribution will help the NCSPCA in all of its efforts. Visit www.nassaucountyspca.org
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
Mr. Tian Jinchen (L) and Mr. Du Ping unveil the book 'Belt and Road in Big Data 2016'. [China.org.cn]

China issues its first book of data on the "Belt and Road" Initiative -- Belt and Road in Big Data 2016 in Beijing on October 28.

The book is an annual report that presents a comprehensive assessment of the implementation of the initiative and an authoritative evaluation of the cooperation between China and the 64 countries involved and the engagement of its 31 provinces.

The report, released by Du Ping, standing deputy director of the State Information Center (SIC), consists of two volumes: the first offers a comprehensive assessment of the building of the Belt and Road, and the second presents special analysis on important issues, such as international industrial cooperation, regional cooperation, internationalization of RMB and cross-border e-commerce, and puts forward some practical suggestions.

According to Du, there are more than 300 billion pieces of data in the report from domestic and foreign statistics agencies, news websites, social media and various other forums, over 5pb of which is original data, covering more than 60 countries and regions along the routes of the Belt and Road.

It shows that Russia, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Pakistan and Indonesia are the five most cooperative countries in advancing the Belt and Road Initiative and that Guangdong, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Tianjin, Fujian, Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan, Yunnan and Beijing are the top ten most active participants in China.in the implementation of the vision

Industrial cooperation in automobile, construction materials, iron and steel, railway and information communication attract the most attention from overseas. Specifically, Southeast Asian countries care more about the automobile, iron and steel, electricity and information communication industries; countries in the Central and Eastern Europe are eager to absorb infrastructure investment from China, while industrial cooperation, automobile, real estate, highway and power grid construction are the main concerns for Northeast Asian countries.

Supervised by the General Office of Leading Group of Advancing the Building of the Belt and Road Initiative, the report was compiled by the SIC and published by the Commercial Press.

Co-founded by the SIC, the municipal government of Karamay in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and the IZP Group, the Belt and Road Big Data Center is dedicated to building a state-level think tank decided to the initiative and vows to establish a database and a global platform to provide professional services for governments, enterprises and organizations involved in the initiative. It will also exert every effort to build the Belt and Road Initiative's official website - www.yidaiyilu.gov.cn.
The Chinese authorities have urged the German government to provide a fair environment for Chinese enterprises.

The call follows a decision by the German side to review several takeover bids by Chinese enterprises for Germany-based firms after reports that the U.S. intelligence agency had warned some takeovers might benefit China's nuclear program.

Lu Kang, spokesman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said the interference runs counter to China-Germany trade and investment cooperation.

"For a long time, the trade investment between China and Germany has been following the principle of mutual benefit and win-win results, which has brought about real benefits to both sides. If Germany allows a third-party's interference, out of various interests-involved considerations when evaluating a normal investment act between enterprises of the two countries based on commercial principles, it might run against the original intention of China-Germany economic and trade cooperation on investment and will not benefit the interests of enterprises and peoples of the two countries."

Berlin withdrew permission for a Chinese company to purchase semiconductor company Aixtron on Monday, and has reopened a review of the 670-million-euro deal it initially approved around two months ago.

Another deal to be reviewed is a planned acquisition of lighting manufacturer Osram by a consortium of Chinese buyers for more than 400 million euros.

The review could take months to complete.

The interference comes less than three months after the German federal government gave a green light to the take-over by Chinese home appliance giant Midea of the German robot maker Kuka.

The German authorities also intervened in that deal citing security concerns.
Luton is a large town, borough and unitary authority area of Bedfordshire. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 258,000. Luton is home to Championship team Luton Town Football Club, London Luton Airport and The University of Bedfordshire. You can find us on Facebook and Twitter. For all the latest news from Luton sign up to our newsletter here.
Lu Kang pictured on Oct. 28 [Photo: Minsitry of Foreign Affairs]

China is firmly opposed to any visit by the Dalai Lama to the disputed border region between China and India, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Friday.

According to Indian media reports, the Dalai Lama is scheduled to visit a disputed zone in the eastern part of the China-India border area in March next year at the invitation of the so-called "Arunachal Pradesh" government.

"China is very concerned about these recent reports," said spokesperson Lu Kang at a routine press briefing.

Lu said the Dalai Lama has long engaged in anti-China separatist activities with the aim to split Tibet from China and has behaved disgracefully on the China-India border issue.

India understands the seriousness of the Dalai Lama issue and the sensitivity of the border disputes, he said, noting that India's invitation to the Dalai Lama for activities in the disputed border areas will gravely damage peace and stability of the border areas, as well as bilateral relations.

Lu said China demands the Indian side meet its political commitments on the Tibet-related issues and abide by the consensus reached by the two sides on border issues.
Given that, I'm puzzled that the designers of CETA and other free trade agreements (like TTIP) apparently don't comprehend how little credibility they have.

For example, giving multinational corporations the legal ability to sue sovereign governments - the so-called Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) - not only raises suspicions, both in theory as well as in practice, but seems hopelessly outdated.

Much as its proponents want to defend it and use it in the future, this concept really is a leftover from the far too sweeping free trade agreements of the 1990s, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

At almost every instance when this clause has been invoked, it has created one uproar after another and been discredited. It is the opposite of what responsible globalization is. In today's climate, including such provisions is a poison pill for any trade agreement.

An outdated trade model

ISDS lawsuits have been deployed by hundreds of corporations, both domestic and foreign, against sovereign governments who have passed laws that these businesses claimed infringed on their "rights." This has resulted in billions of dollars in damages assessed against the taxpayers of these nations.

But what rights do these artificial entities, which are after all themselves creatures of the state - chartered and regulated by the state - have that should somehow supersede the popular will of democratically-elected governments?

Moreover, it is a historical figment of the imagination to see corporations as individual persons with inalienable rights. They are entities whose needs and interests must be balanced with the needs and interests of society.

Corporate ISDS attacks in obscure and unaccountable tribunals feed into a public fear that the biggest corporations are themselves becoming sovereign governments that are unrestrained by democratic accountability.

All of this is the context that helps us understand the stubbornness of Wallonia. Sure, one can argue - it was indeed argued - this is a trade deal with Canada, for heaven's sake. One of the more progressive nations on the planet is hardly likely to be a practitioner of the ruthless Wall Street capitalism that dominates south of its border.

One could argue - and it was argued - that Wallonia's fears were overblown, and there's probably a degree of truth to that. But the point is, it's hard to know what kind of laws or politicians to trust in the current climate. That's how many in the public feel today. (See Donald Trump.)

It seems like the experts needs to write a template for a "new free trade agreement" - one that is better geared for today and not 10 years ago.

Such an updated FTA would be able to win popular support because it would include the appropriate safeguards, as well as the right values that project a global vision of what trade in the 21st century ought to look like.

Such a new trade agreement should include some kind of "code of ethics" for how corporations should act.

It would include rules for how to regulate overseas tax havens, and how to ensure that these powerful economic entities can't run rampant across the globe, cherry picking laws and regulations that enhance their profits even as they undermine our societies.

If the trade negotiators put half as much effort into crafting rules to crack down on overseas tax havens as they put into so-called "free trade", it would have a beneficial effect on the things that matter.

Somehow the negotiators always seem to be keenly focused on lifting barriers on companies. This of course has value for the macro-economy as well as for individual companies. But today that needs to be balanced with attempts at cracking down on various corrupt corporate practices.

How can political leaders expect to do one and not the other, and still retain public trust?

In that light, any kind of free trade agreement that would have passed muster 10 years ago, today looks like only half a loaf. It's too loaded on one side.

Here is what the public sees on trade negotiations: Lift barriers on corporations, OK create more trade, OK that's going to create more jobs, hmmm, OK, possibly, hopefully. But what about some rules around corporate behavior?

That's what is missing from CETA and other free trade agreements. Perhaps it would be too much to negotiate all of that in a single agreement. But corporations already appear to many in the public like they are tax-dodging, lawsuit-waging, money-grubbing badasses that are becoming so big that they can challenge the sovereignty of governments.

That's the context that free trade agreements are entering into. If public leaders don't deal with that context in a trust-building fashion, free trade agreements look like another tool of wild-west capitalism.

So I confess, I watched the conflict play out between tiny Wallonia, the EU and Canada, day after day, with very mixed emotions. I saw the temperatures rising and the exasperation building, and like many I found myself shaking my head and thinking, "What? This is crazy. A small, poor region in Belgium can hold up the entire mighty EU?"

But increasingly my heart was overruling my head, saying, "Go Wallonia! Show these thickheaded politicians that a half a loaf isn't good enough anymore!"

I'm glad that cooler heads prevailed and that finally an agreement was stitched together to move forward. Too much was at stake to leave the whole agreement drowning in a cesspool of trans-Atlantic paralysis.

But political leaders have been forewarned (yet again): Democratically-elected governments that do not safeguard their own interests, and those of their residents, against continued overreach by multinational corporations may soon find themselves without either democracy or any sovereignty worth its salt.

The turbulent centrifugal forces of globalization are such that they require governments, on behalf of the people, to put a firm hand on the tiller of trade negotiations and rules governing corporate behavior.

It is not that the governments who do not simply roll over are against globalization. But they are very much, and very correctly, aware that the real battle is over what kind of globalization.

Much is at stake in this battle, and tiny Wallonia deserves gratitude for shining a glaring spotlight where it is needed.

Der Beitrag ist ursprunglich in The Globalist erschienen . Wir veroffentlichen ihn hier mit freundlicher Genehmigung des Globalist-Herausgebers Stephan Richter. Die Gastkommentare geben nicht notwendigerweise die Meinung der Redaktion wider.
Comey Hillary Emails bombshell - Throw Huma Under the Bus?

There is so much in innuendo and guesses and biased opinion floating around on this morning after the Comey bombshell that the only option we have is to read and watch a ton of stuff and see what sticks. One thing that definitely should stick was published late last night by Paul Sperry for the New York Post.

He scores a solid and massive point that looks as damning for the FBI itself (or at least the superiors), as it does for Hillary Clinton. It is, in that regard, perhaps telling that one of the alleged reasons whispered for FBI director Jim Comey to come forward on Friday is that he feared details of the probe would otherwise be leaked to the press.

Sperrys point: the emails that are at the center of Fridays announcement that Hillary Clinton s entire email server investigation will be re-opened -whether formally or not is moot-, were obtained by seizing devices from Anthony Weiner in relation him sexting to a 15-year old girl.

And seizing devices was exactly what was never done in Hillarys case, though agents assigned to that case knew Abedin hoarded classified emails on her electronic devices. They were seized neither from Hillary nor from her closest aide Huma Abedin, who now probably- and probably rightly- fears that she may be thrown under the bus at the first convenient moment.

Hillary doesnt appear to know what exactly is on the Weiner/Abedin device, but her staff is undoubtedly preparing a defense based on Hillary denying she knew anything about what emails Huma kept and/or sent. Such a defense may well be useless, depending on the contents of the mails. But by now its full blown panic danger control in the campaign.

While at the FBI the mood may now be that a second consecutive investigation that would end in a second consecutive dismissal would be unacceptable to -a lot of- agents. Something Comey is undoubtedly painfully aware of. His own people may have given him an ultimatum: either you do it right this time, or we will.

A few bits from Paul Sperrys piece:

On page 3 of their 11-page report, the agents detail how they showed Abedin a classified paper on Pakistan sent from a State Department source which she, in turn, inexplicably forwarded to her personal Yahoo email account  an obviously unclassified, unencrypted, unsecured and unauthorized system. The breach of security was not an isolated event but a common practice with Abedin.

This is one of those things that Hillary will likely try to plead innocence on. Not that that should be good enough: the server, illegal as it may have been, was still her responsibility. That either she herself or Abedin would play fast and loose with the confidentiality and classification of the material involved, on top of using a server whose very existence played fast and loose with the law, is the kind of thing that disqualifies her from public office, let alone the presidency.

Hillarys defense has been I made a mistake, and that was enough for her, for Comey, and for the entire American media. Its still hard to believe. And it certainly doesnt look like it will be enough a second time. Just imagine what some FBI agents must have thought when they found out, and when Comey subsequently decided to hush the case.

She routinely forwarded emails from her state.gov account to either her clintonemail.com or her yahoo.com account, the agents wrote. Why? So she could print them at home and not at her State Department office. Abedin contended that she would typically print the documents without reading them and was unaware of the classification. Uh-huh. The FBI also pointed out that the only person at DoS (Department of State) to receive an email account on the (clintonemail.com) domain was Abedin. Multiple State employees told the FBI that they considered emailing Abedin the equivalent of e-mailing Clinton. Another close Clinton aide told the FBI that Abedin may have kept emails that Clinton did not.

The phrase the equivalent of e-mailing Clinton says a lot about how closely the two worked together. And that in turn says something about the odds that Huma acted alone, without Hillary knowing.

In her April interview with the FBI, Abedin incredulously maintained that she did not know that Clinton had a private server until about a year and a half ago, when it became public knowledge. [..] .. another witness told agents that he and another Clinton aide with computer skills built the new server system at the recommendation of Huma Abedin, who first broached the idea of an off-the-grid email server as early as the fall (of) 2008. So if you believe Abedin, she didnt know the private clintonemail.com server that hosted her huma@clintonemail.com account even existed until she heard about it in the news. Comey was a believer; he didnt even bother to call her back for further questioning. Case closed.

Yes, Huma knew the server existed, long before she admitted knowing it. Thats a bold faced lie. But wait, didnt she get immunity? Apparently perhaps not officially (?!), but FBI agents seriously suspect she did:

During research, FBI assets and federal law enforcement sources concluded the only way Abedin could have walked away from the probe without criminal charges was because her legal team struck a secret immunity deal with Justice. She has a deal in place or (FBI Director James) Comey and (Attorney General Loretta) Lynch let her just walk out the door, a FBI source said.

Wait a minute! Anybody seen Loretta Lynch lately? Did she know Comey would make his announcement Friday? Shes his boss

If Huma knew the server existed when she said she did not know, its 99% sure Anthony Weiner knew it, too. Which is important in more than one way. They shared at least one device, which means he had access to classified material. That in itself is highly illegal. And in the -year long- first stage of the probe, FBI agents knew this, or could have suspected it, and asked Huma for details. Apparently, that didnt happen.

Perhaps even more important, Weiner is a huge and obvious risk as a blackmail target. For all we know, he may have already provided classified files to parties threatening to go public with photos he sent exposing his weiner to underage girls.

Was the clinton email server hacked? So far the word is theres no proof of that, but Did Huma delete and/or bleach-bit information on her devices the same way Hillary did? We cant know, because despite Humas obvious untruths, these devices were not seized for the earlier investigation.

Why? We can only guess. But to quote Hillary from last night (albeit on a slightly different topic): your guess is as good as mine, and thats not good enough.

What we do know is that, obviously, there is still enough material left for the FBI to re-open the case. They may have found as many as tens of thousands of mails belonging to Huma (well, actually, to the US government) on Weiners laptop.

[..] Abedins role in this caper begs for fresh scrutiny. Making false statements to a federal agent is a felony. So is mishandling classified information. By forwarding classified emails to her personal email account and printing them out at home, Abedin appears to have violated a Classified Information NonDisclosure Agreement she signed at the State Department on Jan. 30, 2009, in which she agreed to keep all classified material under the control of the US government.

Classified emails sent to an unprotected server and printed out at home. How dumb exactly is Huma Abedin? And how dumb does all this make Hillary?

Lets see if Comey puts the screws to Abedin and leverages her for information on her boss. If he agrees to cut another immunity deal, well know the fix is still in.

Will the media propaganda caravan now turn on Hillary to save its face? I would predict perhaps not immediately, since they bet a lot on their horse. But give it a few days and they may conclude its high time to cut their losses. And so may a lot of other parties involved.

The thumbscrews put on Huma this morning by the campaign must be hurting. Can she cut another immunity deal or will she end up under the bus?

By Raul Ilargi Meijer

Website: http://theautomaticearth.com (provides unique analysis of economics, finance, politics and social dynamics in the context of Complexity Theory) 2016 Copyright Raul I Meijer - 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.

Raul Ilargi Meijer Archive

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The image from the hotel's security monitoring system shows a man trying to grab a woman near the hotel's elevator entrance on April 3, 2016. [Photo: qq.com]

On Friday, the man involved in the Heyi Hotel assault pleaded guilty to charges of pandering.

The 25-year-old surnamed Li was arrested in early April this year after following a young Chinese woman to her hotel room. After pulling her down to the ground and trying to choke her as she searched for her hotel key, the woman fought back and Li fled quickly.

The woman, identified as Wanwan_2016 on Chinese social media Weibo, posted a video of the incident which generated a heated debate in Chinese social media.

In court, the man admitted to making a living by introducing women into prostitution. He attacked the woman because he thought she was competition and wanted to "steal away his business".

The public prosecutor said he understands the public concern of the attack itself. What is vital in the incident is the fact that the man's behavior had touched the bottom line of the law.

"On one hand, it's better to put a stop to anxious thoughts over this incident, on the other hand, people should strengthen their safety consciousness," the public prosecutor said.

The Beijing Police released an investigation report on the alleged attack earlier this year.

The report said the man had admitted to belonging to a prostitution ring and was acting as a procurer on the night of the attack.

He was also charged with an earlier offence of procuring a 28-year-old prostitute with two clients in the Heyi Hotel in March.

Li informed the police about an accomplice, a 30-year-old man surnamed Liu, who is now under investigation over engaging in prostitution and extortion by blackmail.

Chinese hotel group Homeinns, the parent company of Heyi Hotel, has apologized for the inadequate management of the assault.

The woman, who was the victim of the attack, announced on Weibo that her life has returned to normal. She will still take business trips alone, exercise more caution in the future.

She also expressed her gratitude to those who followed the incident: "I hope this incident will bring people positive effect and warmth, and make people offer help to those who are in dangerous situations."

The judgment was not pronounced in open court yesterday. The procuratorate suggested a sentence on the defendant between one to three years.
STUART  A Patrick County judge on Friday amended a proposed conditional release plan for a sexually violent predator, in order to address some concerns.

Patrick County Circuit Court Judge Martin F. Clark Jr. told officials to amend the plan so as to require that for 90 days, every day Kamarr King must report to one of two specified local ministers so that authorities can be kept abreast about Kings mental status, whereabouts and how he is doing.

All sexually violent predators are subject to GPS monitoring, Michele Whitlow, senior probation and parole officer, said in interview.

Judge Clark said he wants a local point of contact to monitor King every day for 90 days, and possibly beyond that if Clark thinks its needed.

The judge said he was worried that King wont take his medications.

Clark said he did not think Kings parents should be entrusted with objectively monitoring King.

Parents are parents, Clark said. He added that parents see the best in children and tend to cover for them. He later said the parents need to cooperate fully with the probation officer.

Clark also ordered that King receive drug treatment.

The other contents of the plan were not released during the court hearing, and the lawyers generally declined to discuss the contents in interviews after the hearing. The lawyers did indicate the release plan could be finalized and a court order issued as early as Monday.

At a court hearing Aug. 5, Judge Clark ruled that after three years of treatment at the high-security, in-patient Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation, King still is a sexually violent predator but not an undue threat to public safety. Clark directed an official at the center to develop a release plan in which King will receive outpatient treatment and supervision.

King, now about 38, whose address was listed as Lincoln, Nebraska, in online court records, was convicted in 2009 in Patrick County Circuit Court of attempted forcible sodomy, indecent liberties and two counts of aggravated sexual battery.

The commonwealth alleged in those cases that in early 2002, when King was living on Jeb Stuart Highway in Patrick County, he sexually assaulted two young girls.

According to testimony at the August 2016 court hearing and to online court records, King did not admit guilt but entered strategic pleas in those cases because he realized the commonwealth might have enough evidence to convict him.

King also was convicted of statutory rape in another state in a previous incident.

After King served his prison time, a court committed him to the Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation. The civil commitment section of the Sexually Violent Predators Act allows for the civil commitment of sexually violent offenders who have a mental abnormality or personality disorder and because of that mental health condition are likely to commit future sexually violent offenses.

According to a commonwealth website, the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services operates the Virginia Center of Behavioral Rehabilitation, in Burkeville. The center provides a secure environment for former Department of Corrections inmates deemed to be sexually violent predators. Residents of the center undergo intensive treatment aimed at reducing their risk so that they can be returned to the community, where they will be closely supervised.

Dr. Mario Dennis, a clinical psychologist and the centers director of forensic services, testified at the August court hearing that King was diagnosed with schizophrenia, personality and substance abuse disorders, and he showed some signs suggestive of pedophilia, or sexual preference or attraction for prepubescent children.

Dennis said King had completed some substance abuse courses and for the most part had attended group therapy.

Dennis expressed concern that King had flip-flopped on whether or not he actually committed the sexual crimes he was convicted of, sometimes saying he did them and other times denying it. Not owning up delays or prevents a sexually violent predators treatment because mental health professionals need to know what condition they are treating before they can successfully treat it and help the predator develop coping skills to reduce his risk of committing sexual crimes again if he is released back into the community.

Dennis also testified in August that by not consistently admitting he committed the sexual activities he was convicted of, King may be overconfident and conclude that after three years of treatment, he is better prepared to be released back into the community than he really is.

However, Dennis testified Friday that since the August court hearing King has consistently admitted he committed the crimes he was convicted of. Dennis called that encouraging.

At the August court hearing, Dennis estimated Kings likelihood of committing sexual crime again was 2.7 times greater than the average offender.

While at the center, King generally had been of good behavior, with only minor infractions and with no reports of improper sexual activity; and he likely will comply with treatment, Dennis indicated in August.

Dennis said at that time that King should continue receiving in-patient treatment at the center and that outpatient treatment would be inadequate.

However, Dr. Craig King, a licensed clinical and forensic psychologist who testified for the defense, said at the August court hearing that he diagnosed Kamarr King as suffering from schizophrenia, but that Kamarr King did not meet the criteria to be deemed to have a personality disorder or to be a pedophile.

One documented sexual contact with a child or sexual contact over a very limited time frame does not meet the criteria for pedophilia; the sexual abuse must be over a longer time period, for example, six months, said Dr. King, who is not related to Kamarr King.

Dr. King testified in August that he performed some additional tests on Kamarr King that the center did not perform. Dr. King said he did the extra tests to get a fuller understanding and additional information about Kings condition.

Dr. King indicated in August that he felt Kamarr King is not a sexually violent predator, is not an undue danger to public safety and does not need to remain in a secure in-patient facility.

The defense has maintained that Kamarr King never was a sexually violent predator and is not one now.

Vikram Kapil of the Public Defenders Office, Kamarr Kings lawyer, said in an interview Friday that his client will live in Patrick County when conditionally released, but Kapil declined to be more specific.

Assistant Attorney General William Winters indicated in an interview Friday that substance abuse and mental health treatment and sexual offender counseling will be part of the conditional release plan.

Also in Patrick County Circuit Court on Friday, the commonwealth dropped a grand larceny charge against Joseph Sobolewski of Stuart because the prosecution had been unable to contact a witness.

Paul Collins reports for the Martinsville Bulletin and can be reached at paul.collins@martinsvillebulletin.com.
A state legislative panel on employee compensation wants Gov. Terry McAuliffe and the General Assembly to reinstate raises for state employees, college faculty, teachers and state-supported local employees in the next budget year, despite a projected revenue shortfall that will require lawmakers to cut more than $654 million in the fiscal year that begins July 1.

The panel, a working group of a commission led by House Speaker Bill Howell, R-Stafford, also is considering a recommendation to require future governors to include in their proposed biennial budgets performance-based raises for state employees that are at least equal to the cost of living in the preceding two years.

This needs to be how the budget is built, said Sen. Frank Ruff, R-Mecklenburg, chairman of the compensation work group for the Commission on Retirement Security & Pension Reform.

Ruff made the proposal Friday in response to the cancellation of $346.3 million in employee raises. The budget tied raises to revenues not falling short of projections by more than 1 percent for the year that ended June 30. The pay increases  3 percent for state employees and college faculty and 2 percent for teachers, sheriffs deputies and other constitutional officers  were scheduled to take effect Dec. 1.

Weve got to do something, he said in an interview after the meeting. We need to make this part of the [budget] process. We cant continue to make state employees the last thing we think about.

However, the panels attempt to force the legislature and governor to restore the raises in the budgets second year  about $221 million of the two-year compensation package  would require them to make additional cuts in state spending.

Obviously, its going to be a priority, but theres going to be a lot of priorities in a really tight budget, said Senate Finance Co-Chairman Emmett Hanger , R-Augusta, a member of the work group who did not attend the meeting on Friday.

The recommendation and Ruffs proposal also raise questions about how far the legislature can go in prescribing how the governor puts together a proposed budget for the General Assembly to rewrite according to its own priorities.

Can we tell the governor what hes got to do? Howell said.

McAuliffe spokesman Brian Coy said, The governor is absolutely supportive of the state employee workforce and has made their compensation a priority throughout his term, and he will continue to do so.

In McAuliffes first year in office, employee raises were a casualty of a projected $2.4 billion shortfall that eased the next year and allowed the state to give employees a 2 percent pay raise, their first since 2007 that resulted in a net increase in salary.

But Coy said the governor and legislature face very difficult decisions on the budget for next year.

Were going to have to further cut the budget to reach the revenue estimates, he said.

House Appropriations Chairman Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, a member of the work group who did not attend the meeting, was not comfortable with prescribing what the governor must include in his proposed budget.

While laudable on its face, Im not sure thats the best approach to take, he said.

Jones, who became appropriations chairman almost three years ago, said the General Assembly has worked with McAuliffe to include money in the budget to pay the employee share of rising health care premiums and fully fund the recommended contributions to retirement plans for state employees and teachers.

He tied the prospect for restoring raises in the second year to recovery of lagging collections of income and sales taxes to close a revenue gap that already has eliminated $125.1 million in pay increases that were budgeted in this fiscal year.

If the revenues recover, it would certainly be my desire that we revisit the pay raises that were suspended for the employees, Jones said.

Howell, who proposed the commission primarily to move the state away from traditional pensions for its employees, supports a two-pronged approach to employee pay and other compensation, spokesman Matthew Moran said Friday.

The speaker wants to and recognizes the need to address compensation in a meaningful way in the short term, Moran said.

More broadly speaking, the speaker wants to take a more holistic approach to total compensations, he said. He hopes to develop a more innovative model that offers more flexibility to state workers.

Moran confirmed the speakers approach includes the creation of an optional 401(k)-style defined contribution plan for employees instead of a defined benefit pension plan. What could we do if we didnt have an unfunded liability? he said, referring to the long-term unfunded obligations of state employee and teacher retirement plans.

The cancellation of the scheduled raises has hurt morale and accelerated turnover, according to representatives of Virginia State Police and local sheriffs departments, who fault the decision to tie the pay increases to a trigger based on collection of income, sales and corporate taxes in the last fiscal year.

The first thing that goes is money for public employees, said John Jones, executive director of the Virginia Sheriffs Association, which also is upset about the loss of money in the budget to help departments promote career development and address salary compression. It is the lowest priority of the General Assembly.

Hanger raised the possibility that the legislature would be able find money in its next session to deal in part with state police and perhaps some of the deputies.

In addition to pushing for reinstatement of the raises, the work group also voted to recommend that the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission conduct a comprehensive study of employee compensation  both salary and other benefits  as it did in 2008 and 2011.

The group also supports appropriating $20,000 for the Department of Human Resource Management to subscribe to a occupational database that, prior to budget cuts in 2009, it used to compare Virginia compensation data with other public and comparable private employers.

It decided to wait on the final language of Ruffs proposal, which Howell declined to address.

[Howell] does not want to put his finger on the scale before he sees the actual recommendation, Moran said.

The group also did not act on nine recommendations made by Ronald Jordan, a member of the panel and executive director of the Virginia Governmental Employees Association who shares Ruffs concern about how compensation is handled in developing a budget.

Theres a real disconnect between budget development and compensation, he said.

Jordans proposals include requiring the governor to provide a plan to the General Assembly with his budget proposal each December that includes:

a base salary increase to ensure that the gap does not increase between Virginia employees and their peers;

a long-term program to eliminate the gap;

proposals to eliminate salary compression, in which newly hired employees make as much or more than veterans;

measures to ensure that base salaries align with local and regional labor markets in the state; and

a performance incentive bonus program.

Jordan said his proposal differs from Ruffs because it would not direct the governor to include pay increases in the proposed budget.

It says you would have to deliver a report and heres what it would cost, he said in an interview.

The full commission will consider the working groups final recommendations on Dec. 12, four days before McAuliffe proposes budget amendments that address the projected revenue shortfall for the next fiscal year.
Lollygagger October 2016 Benjamin Wright pkg.jpg

Portraits of Lillian Francis Moore Wright, top left, of Stockbridge, Mass., wife of Benjamin Warren Wright, of Springfield, Mass., top center and right, are from the collections at the J.M. Longyear Research Library at Marquette, Mich. Bottom photo shows the origin of Wright Street, which is named for Benjamin Wright, at the shore of Lake Superior near Presque Isle in Marquette. Star on the map of Michigan indicates the location of Marquette and Ishpeming on the state's Upper Peninsula, where Wright made a name for himself in commerce and government.

(Photos from the collections of J.M. Longyear Research Library and by Norm Roy)

Second in a series

"On the shores of Gitche Gumee, of the shining big-sea-water" ... stands a street sign honoring a man from Springfield, Mass.

Wright Street, a thoroughfare that meanders westward through Marquette, Mich., originates at the rocky shore of Lake Superior, just south of the scenic peninsula of Presque Isle.

Benjamin Warren Wright was 17 when he landed on that shore, seeking his fortune and making his own way in the world.

Born at Plympton, Mass., in 1838, Wright's parents both traced their lineage to the Mayflower. By mid-century, Benjamin's father, Josiah, had moved the family to Springfield.

This was verified by a learned and trusted source, Wayne Phaneuf, executive editor of The Republican. Phaneuf delved into the Springfield Directory of 1851-52 and found a half-dozen listings for Wrights, including Josiah. At the time, the family lived on Bliss Street.

Phaneuf wrote that in "1867-68, Josiah operated Wright & Emerson Agawam Foundry on Liberty Street, makers of cast-iron fences, balconies and verandas, along with machinery and building castings. By 1878 Josiah had moved his family to the McKnight District and lived at 78 Bowdoin St."

By that time, young Benjamin had already shed the security of family and home and sought adventure in Michigan.

Why Michigan?

Two years before gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in California, another mineral strike had lured fortune-seekers to the Great Lakes State. Iron and copper mines in Michigan would ultimately yield greater wealth than all the gold in California. Benjamin Wright wanted a piece of the action.

While there is no record of Wright working in a mine, he did work for several mining operations on the Upper Peninsula. According to Alvah L. Sawyer's "History of the Northern Peninsula of Michigan and Its People," Benjamin was "afforded the advantages of the schools of Springfield, Massachusetts" and used his education to make himself valuable to employers.

"He passed one year at Ontonagon," Sawyer wrote, "then located in Marquette." For several years, Benjamin was "in the employ of the Sault Ste. Marie Canal & Land Co. and the Northern Iron Co." According to Sawyer, Benjamin Wright came to be "numbered among pioneers of the Upper Peninsula."

Wright returned to Springfield, where he courted and won the heart of Miss Lillian Moore of Stockbridge. But business opportunities enticed him to return to Michigan in 1863 to manage the Chocolay Furnace Co. store at Harvey, five miles south of Marquette.

By 1867 he was "engaged in the mercantile business at Ishpeming," a town built in a cedar swamp 15 miles west of Marquette. He became a partner in Wright & Quthweaite, which became Myers, Wright & Co., selling goods and services to miners and mining operations.

Ishpeming, pronounced "ISH-pa-ming," was barely a town when Wright took up residence there. In its early days, according to one historian, the town "was often spoken of as Hell Town." But the direct translation of Ispheming is traced to the Ojibwe word for "Heaven" or "great elevation."

Miss Lillian joined Benjamin in Michigan and they married in 1871. Benjamin was 33, Lillian 18.

Ishpeming was a good town in which Benjamin could do business and he and Lillian could raise their family.

The Wrights were good for Ishpeming, too.

Inscription at the base of a stained-glass window at United Presbyterian Church, Ishpeming, Mich., shows that the window was a gift from Lillian and Benjamin Wright.

In 1874, Benjamin was listed among founders of the Presbyterian Church there. That building stands today with one of the stained-glass windows bearing the names of the Wrights as benefactors.

Lillian was a charter member of the church, at which she taught Sunday school. An article in the local newspaper, The Iron Ore, described Lillian as "pre-eminently a woman of the home. Here, in the midst of her family, she shone with brightest lustre. Her presence, labor and influence made a happy, beautiful home for her husband and seven children."

In 1876, Benjamin and H.O. Young teamed up to establish Ishpeming's first library. Two years later, Benjamin was elected mayor. He also served two terms as township supervisor, was the school director and served on the board of Marquette Street-Railway Co.

Lillian died at age 37 at Ishpeming. Her obituary stated she was "well-known in Ishpeming" where she had made "a great-many friends, not only among those of her own social circle, but also among the poor, many of whom will miss her benevolent remembrances."

Early in 1882, Benjamin was appointed county treasurer after a special commission discovered "a defalcation of $18,000 by the incumbent." Wright, it was reported, believed the appointment might last "four or five months, or until such time as the books could be straightened up."

The temporary assignment became 41 years of public service. Wright sold his interest in the mercantile company and embraced his role as guardian of "the people's money." A published report stated that "Mr. Wright looked after his office with marked efficiency. He was regarded as an expert on tax matters and was exceptionally well-versed on all matters handled in the treasurer's office."

Jan Neuman, a distant relative of the Wrights and a volunteer at Ishpeming Historical Society, came up with the official souvenir program of the town's centennial in 1954. The document indicated that 1886 was an eventful year: Ishpeming had built its first high school, abandoned its first cemetery, dedicated a new "burying ground" and published its first city directory. That year, the editor of the Oshkosh Times wrote that "Ishpeming is a very pleasant place in which to live. Its people are unaffected, and soon make a stranger feel at home."

In 1893, Wright married Miss Betsy Evans; Betsy died in 1907. In all, Benjamin served six terms as county treasurer; winning his last election in 1896. He chose not to seek re-election but accepted the position of deputy treasurer. The local paper reported that, "The aged custodian of Marquette county funds will not leave the office, but will work at his leisure. At the last meeting of the Marquette county board of supervisors he was retained at a salary of $1,200 a year."

Benjamin Wright died at Marquette March 23, 1923, less than a month after retiring from public service. He was 85. His obituary, published in The Mining Journal, stated "It is doubtful whether any man had a larger acquaintance than B.W. Wright, and every person who knew him held him in high esteem. He was a man of sterling character and admirable personality and his passing marks the close of a remarkable business career and spotless record of valuable public service."

Next: Lt. Daniel Ruggles of Hardwick, Mass., is dispatched to protect miners in Michigan.

Norm Roy, a retired copy editor for The Republican, lives and travels in a motorhome. He is eager to hear from readers about their own travel adventures. His e-mail address is: lollygaggeratlarge@gmail.com
LOWELL

 Three men were arrested Thursday by a Lowell SWAT team after their roommate turned up at a Boston hospital with multiple fractures and contusions.

The Lowell Sun reported that brothers Michael and Richard Lee and their uncle Louis Delmore were arrested in the SWAT raid of their Chelmsford Street apartment as police executed a search warrant.

The suspect's roommate told Lowell police he was beaten by the three after Delmore mistakenly accused the man was stealing cocaine from him. The victim said Delmore punched him and when he fell Delmore and the Lees started beating and kicking the victim. He ended up at Tufts Medical Center in Boston with facial fractures, broken ribs, and a possible skull fracture.

Police obtained a search warrant for the apartment and staged the raid Thursday afternoon. Officers found drugs, a large amount of cash and live ammunition. In Richard Lee's bedroom, they found a large capacity handgun and ammunition.

The three were arraigned in Lowell District Court Friday on charges of assault and battery with serious bodily injury, drug and firearms charges. Richard Lee was ordered held in lieu of $8,500 cash bail pending a November 18 pretrial conference. Michael lee and Delmore saw bail set at $3,500.
Medal-of-valor.jpg

Several Springfield Police Officers-- Sergeant Matt Benoit and Officer James Williams--received the Medal of Valor at a ceremony at the city's Sheraton Monarch on Thursday night. Sgt. John Delaney was also honored for his efforts at the annual "Ride to Remember" event.

(Springfield Police Department)

SPRINGFIELD, Ma - Several Springfield Police Officers were honored with the Medal of Valor at a ceremony at the city's Sheraton Monarch on Thursday evening.

Mayor Domenic J. Sarno and Police Commissioner John Barbieri assisted with presenting Sgt. Matt Benoit and Officer James Williams with the Medal of Valor at the Massachusetts Police Association (MPA) Convention.

The medal is awarded to police who demonstrate actions beyond the call of duty, often disregarding personal safety to perform public service, according to the MPA.

Additionally, Sgt. John Delaney was honored for his activities with the annual event "Ride to Remember"--a memorial bike ride dedicated to officers who have fallen in the line of duty.
PLAINFIELD, Ma  The nine-year-old girl who was killed after being struck by a bus in Plainfield on Friday has been identified by authorities.

Summer Steele, a resident of Plainfield and a student at Sanderson Academy, is the victim of Friday's tragic incident, said Mary Carey, spokesman for the Northwestern District Attorney's Office.

Carey said the driver who was operating the bus at the time of the incident works for F.M. Kuzmeskus, Inc.--a private transportation company based out of Gill. The man was in the process of taking students home from Sanderson Academy when the girl became stuck in the vehicle's door and was dragged and struck by the bus.

The young victim was quickly taken to the Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield for treatment, but was declared dead at 4:50 p.m.

Authorities, including the Massachusetts State Police and the Plainfield police, are still investigating the incident that took Summer's life, said Carey.

Efforts are also being made to comfort the surrounding community, with counseling services being offered to students and staff at Sanderson Academy.

Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan commented on the incident, calling the death of Summer Steele an "unimaginable" loss to her family and community.

"We send our deepest condolences to her family, friends, and all those who were touched by her joy and kindness," said Sullivan.
Candlelight vigil generic

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Sanderson Academy will hold a gathering Sunday afternoon to offer support for those impacted by the death of a 9-year-old girl who was reportedly killed while exiting a school bus in Plainfield.

Mohawk Trail Regional School District Superintendent Michael Buoniconti announced the gathering for the victim, who has been identified as a Sanderson Academy student, in a Saturday statement, the Greenfield Recorder reported.

"While the investigation of this tragedy takes place, our school community is focusing on supporting one another," he said. "Tomorrow from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., there will be a gathering of our school community at Sanderson Academy to begin offering such support. Our hearts go out to the family suffering this terrible terrible loss."

According to Massachusetts State Police, the girl was in the process of getting off the school bus near South Central Street around 4 p.m. on Friday when it began to drive away.

The unidentified victim, police said, may have become caught in the door and was dragged a short distance before being struck by the bus.

State Police Detectives are investigating and are in the process of interviewing the man who was driving the bus at the time of the incident. His identity has not been released at this time.

Police say that further information will be released by the District Attorney's office when it becomes available and is deemed appropriate.
state police.jpg

(Don Treeger / The Republican file)

WESTBOROUGH  Massachusetts State Police are investigating an early morning crash on Interstate 90 that killed a 26-year-old Spencer woman.

Troopers responded to reports of a single-vehicle crash on the westbound side of the Massachusetts Turnpike in Westborough around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday.

Preliminary investigation of the crash suggested that a 2005 Mercury Mountaineer was traveling westbound when the driver, a 20-year-old Worcester man, lost control, left the right side of the roadway and struck a rock ledge, according to state police.

The driver and three occupants were reportedly ejected from the vehicle as a result of the crash.

A 26-year-old Spencer woman, who was among those ejected, landed in the roadway, where she was subsequently struck by multiple vehicles, state police reported.

Police have yet to identify the woman, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

The other five occupants -- an 18-year-old Shrewsbury woman, a 21-year-old Charlton man, a 35-year-old Spencer man, a 36-year-old Worcester man and the driver -- were transported to UMass Medical Center in Worcester for treatment of serious injuries, state police reported.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation and no charge have yet been filed.
"I think the attention brought to White Sulphur by this has gotten the attention of people that maybe want to come to a small town and open a small business," he said. "If they see that youre building a new school and new highway, theyre going to want to move there. Youve got to get your city in line before anything happens."

When Red Ants Pants http://redantspants.com/ opened a decade ago in an old storefront, many in the community wondered if it would survive. As owner Sarah Calhoun successfully grew her business and the Red Ants Pants Music Festival now brings thousands of visitors to White Sulphur every summer, "I think it gave the community a little bit of hope for what can happen here," Hedrich said.

TOM KUGLIN Independent Record

Full Story: http://helenair.com/business/a-really-good-thing-going-white-sulphur-springs-celebrates-five/article_073e34c7-155d-5a35-a4b6-822f6a20ac9f.html
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 29

Trend:

Over the past 24 hours, Armenias armed forces have 31 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, said Azerbaijans Defense Ministry Oct. 29.

The Azerbaijani army positions located in Bala Jafarli village of the Gazakh district and Kokhanabi village of the Tovuz district of Azerbaijan underwent fire from the Armenian army positions located in the Vazashen village of the Ijevan district and on nameless heights of the Berd district of Armenia.

The Azerbaijani army positions also underwent fire from the Armenian positions located near the Armenian-occupied Chilaburt, Goyarkh villages of Azerbaijans Tartar district, Sarijali village of the Aghdam district, Gorgan, Garakhanbayli villages of the Fuzuli district, Mehdili village of the Jabrayil district, as well as from the positions located on nameless heights of the Goranboy 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.
Les membres du gouvernement ont pris note des previsions de la MMS pour la saison cyclonique de 2022-2023, que la Social Integration Division sera membre du Africa-China Alliance for Poverty Alleviation, de la signature dun accord de principe entre le Senior Citizens Council of Mauritius et celui de Senior Citizens Council of Delhi, India, entre autres.

1. Cabinet has agreed to the Social Integration Division of the Ministry of Social Integration, Social Security and National Solidarity becoming a member of the Africa-China Alliance for Poverty Alleviation (ACAPA). The main objectives of ACAPA are, inter alia, the following:

(a) enhancing cooperation between China and African countries through the launching of pilot demonstration programmes/rural product promotion;

(b) experience sharing in terms of participation in seminars and dialogues, release of newsletters and organisation of field trips;

(c) capacity building to target the youth, women and rural maker activities in Africa and China; and

(d) policy consultations to alleviate poverty and promote social development through policy recommendations.

2. Cabinet has agreed to the renewal of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Senior Citizens Council of Mauritius and:

(a) the Senior Citizens Council of Delhi, India; and

(b) the Respect Age International of India.

The areas of collaboration are as follows:

(i) devising and arranging various schemes and programmes on Ageing and Health issues;

(ii) conducting training programmes in the field of Ageing for various stakeholders, including officers working for the welfare of the elderly;

(iii) holding joint workshops, seminars and symposiums for manpower development;

(iv) exchange of resource persons and groups of elderly;

(v) information and experience sharing between the two organisations and mutual use of data base;

(vi) documentation of information in the field of Ageing for wider dissemination;

(vii) promoting cultural and social activities as well as productive activities among elderly between the two organisations; and

(viii) financial and technical assistance for the implementation of projects, such as setting-up of Recreation Centres and other programmes for the elderly.

3. Cabinet has agreed to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Civil Service College, Mauritius (CSCM) and the Ecole Nationale dAdministration de Madagascar (ENAM). The Memorandum of Understanding purports to promote and develop amicable relationship through exchange programmes for public officers, study tours and transfer of knowledge as well as exchange of expertise.

4. Cabinet has agreed to the submission of a Concept Note to the Agence Francaise de Developpement by the Ministry of Environment, Solid Waste Management and Climate Change for enhancing the capacity of institutions in Mauritius to effectively respond to marine oil spill and strengthen the National Oil Spill Contingency Plan of 2021 in the context of the Facilite dAmorcage, de Preparation et de Suivi des Projets.

The Concept Note comprises four components, each having its specific activities and duration of around six months as follows:

(a) Component A  auditing of the oil spill equipment available in Mauritius and Rodrigues, and formulation of recommendations thereon by an oil spill response expert having at least ten years experience in the related field;

(b) Component B  development of an Oil Spill Waste Management Plan for Mauritius and Rodrigues by a hazardous waste management expert having at least 10 years experience in the related field;

(c) Component C  development of an Oil Spill Volunteer Management Plan for Mauritius and Rodrigues by an experienced Volunteer Management Expert; and

(d) Component D  development of an environment, socio-economic impact assessment framework for Mauritius by international experts having 10 years experience.

5. Cabinet has agreed to the signing of two Research Collaborative Agreements between the Ministry of Environment, Solid Waste Management and Climate Change and the University of Mauritius. The first research project, namely Biodegradability testing of biodegradable/ compostable plastic materials is expected to start in November 2022 and last 12 months. The project would basically consist of an assessment of the disintegration, biodegradation and satisfactory terrestrial safety of these different types of biodegradable/compostable plastic materials against ASTM D6400.

The second research project, namely Assessment of biodegradability and composting of Polylactic Acid (PLA) bottles and cups, would span over the period January to December 2023. The scope of the research project would primarily involve an assessment of the biodegradability of four different types of PLA bottles and cups.

6. Cabinet has taken note that following a request from the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), a delegation of the Board of Commissioners of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) of Iraq would be in Mauritius from 20 to 25 November 2022 for a study visit. IHEC is currently developing its institutional and technical capacities. UNAMI which was established by UN Security Council Resolution 1500 is mandated to advise, support and assist the Government of Iraq and the IHEC with efforts to plan and execute genuinely free and fair Iraqi-led, Iraqi-owned elections.

The purpose of the study visit would be to enable the IHEC Board of Commissioners to learn from the Office of the Electoral Commissioner in Mauritius, the best practices, technological innovation, field operation dynamics and stakeholder engagement in the management of elections.

7. Cabinet has taken note of the Midterm Review Report on the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. The Midterm Review Report presents the progress achieved by Mauritius on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management related issues and Sendai-target-wise in terms of policies, strategies, legal frameworks, investments, collaboration, partnerships and actions implemented by all stakeholders across all sectors of the society from 2015 to 2022, as well as the emerging and future contexts and requirements of Mauritius in this area until 2030 from a prospective point of view.

The Report provides information on progress achieved in terms of disaster preparedness, response and recovery at institutional level and the various mechanisms in place. The Midterm Review Report would have to be submitted to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.

8. Cabinet has taken note that a National Integrated Care for Older People (ICOPE) Strategic and Action Plan 20222026 has been elaborated by the Ministry of Health and Wellness, as recommended by the World Health Organization in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Integration, Social Security and National Solidarity. The Plan has been developed through an intensive consultative process. The seven strategic objectives and priority areas of the National ICOPE Strategic and Action Plan are to:

(a) promote person-centred integrated care and long-term care and support for older people across health and social services at the community level, towards early identification of losses in physical and mental capacities (intrinsic capacity) and provision of appropriate care;

(b) engage and mobilise the community, including older people towards ensuring aged-friendly environment that compensate for loss of intrinsic capacity, and promote participation of older people and support their carers;

(c) coordinate health and social services, with the single goal of maintaining intrinsic capacity of older people through primary and community-based care and facilitating appropriate and timely referral;

(d) develop capacity of health and social care workers in the community at the primary care level for integrated and person-centred approach for assessment and management of decline in capacity in older age;

(e) establish digital innovations and electronic record system to record, store and transmit data on intrinsic capacity and functional ability, and self-management of older people;

(f) strengthen governance and accountability systems; and

(g) update legislation, policies and regulations to support integrated care and protect older persons against abuse and ageism.

One of the key strategic actions of the Plan is the development and implementation of a Carnet de Sante for Mauritians aged 60 years and above.

9. Cabinet has taken note of the activities which the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Welfare would organise in collaboration with the National Childrens Council in the context of the celebration of the Universal Childrens Day 2022, which is celebrated worldwide on 20 November each year. The theme chosen by the United Nations this year is A better future for every child.

The official celebration of Universal Childrens Day 2022 would be held on Sunday 20 November 2022 at the Relay Centre at Cap Malheureux. The programme of the day, targeting the children of the Centre, would constitute a one-day entertain and educate activities. It would be also an opportunity for children to share their opinion, culture and beliefs as well as participate in leisure and fun activities.

10. Cabinet has taken note of the status of the participation of member countries to the 12th Commission de la Jeunesse et des Sports de lOcean Indien (CJSOI) Games to be held from 04 to 11 December 2022 in Mauritius. The CJSOI member countries, namely Comoros, Djibouti, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mayotte, Reunion and Seychelles have already registered their participation to the Games.

11. Cabinet has taken note of the completion of Les Assises de la Recherche et de LInnovation (ARI) organised by the Mauritius Research and Innovation Council (MRIC) and the outcome thereof. The aim of ARI 2022 was to set the foundations for the development of a National Masterplan/Roadmap for technology, research, and innovation. The objectives were, inter alia, as follows:

(a) development of a National Innovation Strategy;

(b) provision of novel insights for emerging sectors and technologies;

(c) identification and introduction of enhanced strategies to drive leadership in emerging sectors and technologies;

(d) elimination of barriers for innovation; and

(e) charting of incentives to foster sustainable innovation.

ARI 2022 has identified a total of 372 projects spread across numerous themes. Strategies and projects have been programmed for implementation on short, medium, and long terms.

12. Cabinet has taken note of the report of the Mauritius Meteorological Services (MMS) with regard to the seasonal outlook for summer 2022-2023 for Mauritius and Rodrigues. The summer season officially starts from 01 November 2022 and ends on 30 April 2023, whilst the official cyclone season is from 01 November 2022 to 15 May 2023.

The main forecasts for the Summer Season 2022-2023 are, inter alia, as follows:

(a) temperatures would be close to normal. However, on certain days, it is likely that temperatures would exceed the long-term monthly average by more than two degrees Celsius;

(b) occasional above normal temperatures, coupled with prolonged periods of high humidity and light wind conditions, might result in torrid conditions particularly during the months of January to March 2023;

(c) during the months of January to April 2023, atmospheric conditions would become conducive to the occurrence of extreme weather events; and

(d) between nine to eleven named storms would likely evolve in the South West Indian Ocean basin during the cyclone season 2022-2023.

13. Cabinet has noted that actions have been taken by the Ministry of Agro-Industry and Food Security following the outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in Reunion Island. The Livestock and Veterinary Division of the Ministry convened on several occasions the HPAI Committee, comprising stakeholders from the public and private sector and various measures have been implemented.

14. Cabinet has taken note of the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic prevailing in Mauritius. As at 26 October 2022, there were 49 active cases of COVID-19, out of which 18 were admitted at the New ENT Hospital. Over the period 20 to 26 October 2022, no death was attributed to COVID-19.

Cabinet has also taken note that there is no suspected case of Monkeypox in Mauritius.

15. Cabinet has taken note that the second phase of the road works along the Motorway M1 in the region of Ebene, near Pont Mattar, would be carried out during weekdays and at night time only, from 01 November to 14 December 2022. The Motorway M1 would consequently be partially closed from 22 00 hours to 05 00 hours during this period. All required traffic signs would be in place to inform and guide road users.

16. Cabinet has taken note that major works were being undertaken, along Julius Nyerere Road, B1, at Ebene, in relation to the construction of a footbridge (near Nexteracom), in the context of the Phase 3 of the Metro Express Project: Extension from Rose Hill to Reduit. A new traffic scheme would be put in place as from Monday 31 October 2022 for a period of three months. All required traffic signs would be in place to inform and guide road users.

17. Cabinet has taken note that works at Chebel Roundabout have been completed and would be officially opened to the public as from 28 October 2022.

18. Cabinet has taken note that the MoKloud platform has been launched as a secured digital safe for storage, signing, accessing and sharing of documents.

The digital documents already available on the MoKloud platform are online extracts of birth and marriage certificates, COVID-19 Vaccination Pass and proof of address from the Central Electricity Board. Appropriate amendments were brought to the Civil Status Act for legal recognition of the online birth and marriage certificates. A Mobile Application would be launched soon.

19. Cabinet has taken note that an Electronic Queue Management System, Mo Rendez Vous, has been successfully deployed at the following sites with a view to enhancing public service delivery in the context of the digital transformation of Mauritius:

(a) Passport and Immigration Office;

(b) Pharmacy Department of Dr Bruno Cheong Hospital, Flacq; and

(c) Work Permit Unit of the Ministry of Labour, Human Resource Development and Training.

Citizens may book for an appointment to avail of the services offered by these institutions.

20. Cabinet has taken note of the reconstitution of the Board of the Mauritius Ports Authority with Mr Ashit Kumar Gungah as part-time Chairperson.

21. Cabinet has taken note of the reconstitution of the Agalega Island Council with Mr Gino Alfred as part-time Chairperson.

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Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 29

By Samir Ali  Trend:

An appeal has been filed against the court decision with regard to Jahangir Hajiyev, former chairman of the board of the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA), Hajiyevs lawyer Fakhraddin Mehdiyev told Trend.

Mehdiyev said the appeal, submitted to the Baku Court of Appeal, asked to acquit Jahangir Hajiyev.

Earlier, Baku Grave Crimes Court sentenced Jahangir Hajiyev to 15 years in prison.

Hajiyev was arrested Dec. 5, 2015 in accordance with a decision of the Baku City Narimanov District Court. His arrest term has been extended three times.

Hajiyev and other seven people are charged under various articles of the Criminal Code, including misappropriation, abuse of office, causing huge damage by fraud, embezzlement through the abuse of office, and bribing.
Authorities said Friday they arrested a Marion man facing federal probation on new drug charges.

Lt. Chris Taylor of the McDowell County Sheriffs Office charged Howard William Oliver, 64, of 981 Crisp Drive in Marion, with possession of methamphetamine, possession with intent to sell and deliver methamphetamine and maintaining a dwelling to keep a controlled substance.

On Tuesday, Oct. 25, authorities with the Sheriffs Office, Marion Police Department and federal probation searched Olivers residence and vehicle. Oliver is currently on federal probation for conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of cocaine base in the eastern district of Tennessee.

Taylor said the search turned up 3.5 grams of methamphetamine and various items of drug paraphernalia.

Oliver received a $25,000 bond.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 29

By Elmira Tariverdiyeva  Trend:

To talk of Azerbaijan only in terms of its energy resources is to do a disservice to the nation and its people, says Justin Amler, an Australian writer and commentator on international issues, in his article published by the American Thinker Oct. 29.

While those energy resources are critical to the future energy security of Europe and much of the region, it is only one aspect of this multidimensional country, says Amler.

The recent 5th Baku Humanitarian Forum showcased that which Azerbaijan most valuably has to offer the world  a model of a secular and modern Muslim-majority nation, where Shia, Sunni, Jew, Catholic, etc., live together absent the discord of much of the rest of the world, says the article.

Azerbaijani citizens worry not about what ethnic or religious group has more power, but about the economic downturn, education, life insurance, jobs, and juggling family with profession, says the author, adding that each distinct group has one commonality - they are all Azerbaijani.

Exploring Baku is taking a journey from a grand past to a cutting-edge future, according to Amler. Each street corner reveals grand buildings, their architecture harkening back to the eras of the famed Silk Road to Imperial Russia to todays staunchly independent Azerbaijan.

Towering behind them stand futuristic buildings that seem to leap from the ground, molded from the minds of artists and dreamers. Yet just a bit of the bland Soviet era remains, where functionality reigned supreme over style and where elegance gave way to insipidity, says Amler.

Over a millennium, perhaps this constant confluence of old and new/ancient and modern is what drives this quietness amongst its people, says the author, adding that throughout the history, Azerbaijanis have learned to adapt to numerous different worlds, peoples, and circumstances.

The pride of its citizens and their love for their nation and society is clear, he added.

While Azerbaijan is a Muslim-majority country, it is the polar opposite of the many Islamic and Muslim-majority nations of the neighboring Middle East, he says. Azerbaijan is a fierce defender of its state policy of secularism, yet also a vivacious proponent of religious freedom.

Despite the many ethnic tensions around the world, Azerbaijan has made pluralism a reality in ways the traditional western European countries can only dream about, according to him.

Western capitals would do well to study the fabric of Azerbaijani society, lest we improve our own, says Amler. Blessed with vast and critical energy resources, governed by stability and tolerance, driven by a modern and progressive outlook, embracing both a proud past and an exciting future, Azerbaijan may not always be easily found on a map, but its definitely leaving its mark on the world.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 29

By Maksim Tsurkov  Trend:

Azerbaijan will become a big transit hub in the region, Aboubaker Omar Hadi, chairman of Djibouti Ports and Free Zone Authority (DGZ), said in an exclusive interview with Trend in Baku.

Hadi noted that Azerbaijan has a very important geographical location at the crossroads of different countries and regions.

Azerbaijan is located on the shore of the Caspian Sea. Russia is located to the north, Iran to the south, Turkey and Europe to the west and China to the east, he said.

It is not surprising that the Great Silk Road was passing through Azerbaijan, noted Hadi.

Hadi also said he has visited the Baku International Sea Trade Port and is satisfied with what he has seen.

The port is very big and good, and despite the fact that the construction continues, the port already receives and sends vessels, he said.

Hadi also noted that the main purpose of his visit to Baku is to establish relations with the management of the Baku Port.

We wanted to establish relations, discuss how we can develop our relations, how we can cooperate, said Hadi. We intend to sign a memorandum of understanding in order to develop the cooperation with the Baku Port.

Prospects of our cooperation in the near future are very promising, he added.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov
by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, October 28, 2016

According to the latest research from the CMO Council, conducted in partnership with Bazaarvoice, while marketers have made strides in meeting the expectations of customers, there is still opportunity to reach deeper to create the competitive difference that cuts through the clutter, and leverage channels that truly make an impact.

The findings are based on two online surveys, the first including insights from 166 senior marketers, and the second including insights from 2,100 North America-based consumers. On the surface, says the report, customers are making their preferences known to brands. But deeper, customers real desire is to be known, understood, and to receive real value in channels they use. Marketers, though, are struggling to connect data with action, still facing silos and disconnections that derail even the best intentions, concludes the report.

According to 84% of marketers, customer data has helped marketers understand what customers are browsing on company-controlled websites while 53% say data has helped track purchases from the brand, says the report. But research revealed that marketers are struggling to see beyond their own walls, as few are currently able to leverage data that informs them of actions and behaviors across other partner or retailer websites. Even fewer can access competitive intelligence to understand how customers are browsing other products outside of their own brands portfolio.

According to 47% of consumers surveyed, they are really looking for, from brands, are offers that align with their personal buying and browsing behaviorssomething marketers simply cant deliver if they dont have visibility across the customers entire journey, especially beyond their own properties, says the report.

How Customer Data Helps Inform Brand And Marketing Initiatives (% of Respondents)

84% Informs marketing of customers browsing on our brand's website

53% Tracks purchases from our brand

48% Monitors customer sentiment

33% Recomends new customers likely to purchase our brand

20% Informs marketing of customers browsing on our retail partners websites

14% Informs marketing of customers browsing outside our brand and retail partners websites

12% Informs marketing of customers browsingproducts other than our brands products

4% Other

Source: CMO Council/Bazaarvoice, October 2016

This limited view could be contributing to the lack of overall confidence that marketers have in the strength of their customer profiles: 41% of marketers say they are not very confident in the current state of their data because profiles are missing pieces, and only 14% are highly confident in their customer profiles, feeling they have insights into customer behavior, action, sentiment and intent.

To deliver the relevance their customers desire, marketers must expand their data horizons, looking well beyond marketing-controlled data resources and into those from across the organization and throughout the partner ecosystems, says the report.

Q: Do You Have A Formal Customer Data Strategy That Is Embraced Across The Organization? (% of Respondents)

Partially there is a strategy in place for marketing, but not across the organization: 34%

We are establishing a strategy now: 26%

No, there is no strategy in place: 24%

Yes, there is an organization-wide strategy in place: 17%

Source: CMO Council/Bazaarvoice, October 2016

For many marketers, a data strategy is more of a goal than a reality. First and foremost, says the report, 54% of marketers are looking for predictive intelligence based on customer intent and behaviors, 45% crave insights into customer lifetime value beyond an individual transaction, 45% look for indicators on which marketing action will lead to a profitable customer reaction, and others few are seeking out more retailer or in-store behavioral insights.

While nearly half of respondents are turning to customer-generated content as a source of customer intelligence and insights, only 9% of marketers can actually connect the dots between this content and customer shopping behaviors.

Q: Are you able to connect consumer-generated content insights with customer shopping behavior? (% of Respondents)

Sometimes 43%

No 41%

Don't know 9%

Yes 8%

Source: CMO Council/Bazaarvoice, October 2016

When asked what advertising or promotional channels most impacted a consumers intention to buy, coupons and discounts, regardless of delivery channel, topped the list, according to 71% of consumers.

Factors That Influence Consumers to Purchase

71% say coupons and discounts

40% suggestions from friends and family

35% ads from a brand

32% follow up on product browsed online or left in cart

22% say brand recommendations of similar or complementary products

Source: CMO Council/Bazaarvoice, October 2016

Despite the willingness to receive coupons and savings, this should not be mistaken for a willingness to be bombarded with advertising. In fact, consumers admit that while brand advertising has impacted purchase decisions, television advertising can be the most ineffective and even the most bothersome.

Least Effective Advertising Channels (% of Respondents)

29% Ads on TV

20% Ads on social network

20% Mobile text ads

20% Ads on the radio

19% Mobile display

Source: CMO Council/Bazaarvoice, October 2016

Email tops list as communication channel of choice, not mobile apps. Not only do consumers see emails as being among the more effective advertising channels, but email is also the overwhelming channel of choice. When asked how consumers would prefer to hear from brands, the overwhelming majority (86%) pointed to email. Surprisingly, only 12% selected mobile app messages as their communication channel of choice. 33% of consumers indicated they would prefer to hear from brands by text message, concludes the report.

For additional information, please visit Bazaarvoice here.
by Aaron Baar , October 28, 2016

Its no secret that cats are the stars of the Internet. At some point, its probably better to join them than try to beat them.

Playing off the homophone of its name, Persil ProClean laundry detergent has launched a digital and social media campaign, #Purrsil, celebrating cats and laundry.

The effort includes an online video created by agency TBWA\Chiat\Day that illustrates how the brand has been observing the connoisseurs of clean: cats. As a group of cats interact with clean piles of laundry, washing machines and detergent while a voiceover wonders whether theyre attracted to the clean, the scent, or  the name. The spot closes with the line Even the pickiest cats pick Persil. (The campaign also included a teaser video showing cute kittens falling asleep among piles of clean laundry.)

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When you get down to it, cats are the epitome of clean -- their discerning nature makes them the toughest of critics, and theres something about fresh laundry that they cant resist, Janell Holas, vice president of marketing for the U.S. Premium Laundry Detergents business unit at Persil parent Henkel North America, tells Marketing Daily. They also drive more traffic than any other pet category on YouTube. Our tongue-in-cheek #Purrsil campaign continues to establish Persil ProClean as the premium detergent of choice for connoisseurs of clean, be it kitten or human.

The video includes a call-to-action for consumers to join in the brands charitable effort to support animal shelters across the country by registering barcodes from purchased bottles of Persil on their PersilDonates.com Web site. For every bottle registered, the brand will donate a bottle of detergent to the shelters to ensure clean fresh bedding for the shelter cats.

The video will be promoted on digital and social channels. Other outreach efforts will include outreach to cat-loving lifestyle influencers and some famous cats to spread the word in social channels. In November, the brand will kick off a search for an official Spokescat with the opportunity for consumers to submit photos of their own felines with a signature Persil bowtie filter.

Our bullseye target audience is a group of discerning moms who only want the best when it comes to their family, Holas says. We all know that social feeds are full of cat content at any given time, so it was vital that our campaign filled social with cuteness for engagement at every touchpoint.
by Barbara Lippert , Featured Columnist, October 28, 2016

Did you ever consider how much viewers, now stuck observing the final stretch (and stench) of this mightily dispiriting election on TV, might appreciate the occasional smile that a clever and surprising commercial could bring?

That would be a rock-solid no for Trivago, the German-based online hotel search site that has broken through to the American market with simple TV ads featuring a memorable, if slightly creepy, spokes-dude, The Trivago Guy.

Speaking directly to the camera, the guy usually opens with a Did you ever? question and then shows that he can actually talk and swipe at the same time.

In a heavy media spend over the past couple of years, the spokes-dude, played by American actor Tim Williams (who stars on a German soap opera as an aging rocker), has become something of an Internet heartthrob.

Indeed, Trivago Guys scruffy, slightly disheveled presence and silver-haired bad-boy vibe attracted so much attention (both from women and men) that the question of why he wasnt wearing a belt with his jeans in the first spot actually trended on Twitter.

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So thats why this recent one, Kicked Out is so offensive and unfathomable to me. Perhaps the strategy was At a time when the gender wars have been painfully reawakened by this election, how do we alienate our core audience and suggest that our hotels are low-rent fleabags for cheaters, while simultaneously aligning ourselves on the side of taunting, hostile, possibly violent, male creeps?

Oh, I can see the marketing men responding, But its light and funny! And the woman was the strong one and threw him out! Cant you women take a joke?

Funny, but it took the latest lows of this election for women to figure out that were not just fed up with the harassing language and behavior itself, but with the resigned, hugely uncomfortable feeling that it engenders: the attitude that this is just the way things are, and wed better get used to it.

No more. We are seeing with fresh eyes!

So lets take another look at the spot.

In a production that has the quality of a lowcost Web series (or maybe porn?), we see the man with a misbuttoned shirt (a nod to the belt controversy?) wearing his boxer shorts, carrying an annoying, hot-dog-shaped, hastily packed bag. Has your girlfriend ever kicked you out of your house, just because she checked your browser history? he shouts. Then he tells us that fortunately, with Trivago, you can always find a hotel nearby. The kicker that he screams out of frame: with WiFi!

Notice that he says your house. Meaning domination. Meaning, the nerve of the old ball-and-chain to have to ride me this closely for doing the natural stuff that men do!

Wink, wink, this is for you, imaginary locker-room boys and/or Newt Gingrich!

Why not turn men against women, and put females in the position of being shrews and harpies, screaming and forcing their providers out on the street without their pants?

Most people would naturally think that what the girlfriend found on the mans browser was porn.

A porn habit is a hugely complicated issue, and most couples figure out how to deal with it to their mutual satisfaction. It should not be diminished in a leering commercial for hotels.

There are enough concerns with some of the outgrowths of Internet pornlike its effects on teens and tweensthat over the summer, Donald Trump actually agreed to "give serious consideration to appointing a Presidential Commission to examine the harmful public health impact of Internet pornography on youth, families and the American culture and the prevention of the sexual exploitation of children in the digital age."

Thats serious stuff. But while were trivializing it as a joke, even worse, this whole attitude feels very 1995, like the guy fired up the old Commodore and found some desperate chick in a chat room.

Yes, she could have found him on dating sites, but even the women attracted to this type of guy knows that hes not the type to put that much wooing work into his Internet visits.

If anything good has come from this pitiless political season, its that increasingly, there is no room for bully boys and locker-room talk. Its out in the open. And over. And done.

This commercial is stupid, disrespectful, and datedand, if nothing else, terrible for business.

And the nature of it is such, that if girlfriend is discerning enough, maybe the sickening, objectionable, deal-breaker of a thing that she found on his browser was, actually, um, this spot. Who could blame her?
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For "practice", paper co-first author, Katherine Gowan, downloaded new mouse genomic data from the website of Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute outside Cambridge in the UK, one of the world's leading institutes for genetic research. Gowan is a researcher with the group of Kenneth Jones, co-director of the CU Cancer Center Bioinformatics Shared Resource."When we mapped the genome of this particular mouse strain against the mouse reference genome published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, we found thousands of translocations, even more than our experimental model!" Wang says.The problem was not their experimental mouse. The problem was not the quality of their data nor the computational algorithm they used to discover translocations. The problem, as reported in an article in the journal, was that reference genomes are different for various mouse strains.Not all mice have the same DNA sequences in the same locations on their chromosomes - due to this genetic variation, the DNA sequences of one mouse strain may appear out of place when compared with the DNA sequences of any other mouse strain.The goal of this research was to discover new translocations that could be driving lymphoma. These translocations - accidental genetic rearrangements in which a gene is snipped from one location and pasted into another, sometimes creating a "fusion gene" made from both - have been implicated in a range of cancers, for example ALK-positive lung cancer, which is driven by the translocation of the ALK gene, which fuses with the gene EML4. The question was whether a similar translocation might be to blame for a subset of lymphomas."Unfortunately, when we have so many events, the artifacts may mask our real events," says Wang, meaning that with thousands of translocations identified by next-generation sequencing, it was almost impossible to discover the "needle" of a potentially oncogenic translocation amid the "haystack" of identified translocations that were, in fact, only the unimportant, random differences between individual mouse genomes."Then we started to think about all these human cancer genomic studies," Wang says. "People use all this sequencing data to show genomic changes in human cancers, but what if these studies have similar comparison problems?"First, Wang points out, this possible trap is irrelevant when analyzing a patient's cancer for any known genetic change. In the previous example of lung cancer, genomic testing (often using the technique of fluorescent in situ hybridization or FISH) can tell if a cell's chromosomes do or do not contain an ALK-EML4 fusion gene.But it is when searching for important differences between a human cancer cell and a healthy human cell that the genetic backgrounds of these cells may skew results - due to the randomness of repeats and gene polymorphisms and other unpredictable genetic variations, the differences between a cancerous and a healthy cell may be due to chance and not to the influence of the cancer at all.Part of the problem is the small size of genetic "snips" used by today's next-generation sequencing technology. In "next-gen seq" the machine reads a test genome as many snips, each made up of 100 to 150 base pairs. Then the computational biologist fits these snips like puzzle pieces against a reference genome.When there is a match, the system puts the piece in place and thus, because it knows the makeup of the reference genome, can come to know the makeup of the test genome. Unfortunately, with three billion base pairs in the human genome, there may be many false matches for short, 100 base-pair snips. Technology is on the way to solve this problem, sequencing the genome in much longer snips (1,000 or more base pairs).Until then, Wang suggests a possible fix, "We suggest considering not mapping your data to a reference genome, but to the genome of some cell from the same source that doesn't have cancer."The paper calls this process "de novo assembly" - basically, instead of comparing a cancerous apple to a healthy orange, it is comparing a cancerous apple to a healthy apple."People should be their own control. Instead of working with the published, generic reference genome, we should work with two samples (control vs. cancer) from the same person," Wang says. "Only then can you really figure out what's going on in your cancer cell genome."Source: Eurekalert
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Postels, an associate professor in the College of Osteopathic Medicine who travels to southeastern Africa to treat patients and to further his research, realized that performing a spinal tap in children with the disease was not a universal practice across the continent. Many local doctors were concerned that the procedure could force the brain out of the hole at the base of the skull because of the potential pressure difference it could cause.Questioning the validity of this way of thinking, Postels, along with co-author Christopher Moxon from the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom, set out to show that a spinal tap was not dangerous.The researchers analyzed the outcomes of 1,827 cerebral malaria patients admitted to the hospital in Malawi between 1997 and 2013. They found that children who were sicker upon arrival at the hospital were more likely to die from their illness, not from the spinal tap, which did not change their risk of death.Based on these findings, Postels said educating the African population and other areas that have similar beliefs is crucial in treating the disease since it's estimated that malaria kills a child on the continent every minute."This actually is an important procedure that may help patients survive," he said. He hopes to further test these findings in a future randomized, controlled clinical trial to see if a spinal tap can actually be used as a therapy to lower brain pressure in children with cerebral malaria."The important thing to remember is it's not the spinal tap that causes death, it's the underlying illness. Rather than being harmful, we believe the procedure could be beneficial for these critically ill children. Anything we can do to help decrease death and disability rates for children with severe malaria is a positive for everyone."Source: Eurekalert
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 29

By Azad Hasanli  Trend:

The cotton export brought $29 million to Azerbaijan in 2015, Chairman of the countrys Parliamentary Committee on Agrarian Policy Eldar Ibrahimov told reporters in Baku Oct. 28.

In 2015, export of agricultural products amounted to approximately 47 percent (about $700 million) of all the non-oil export, the MP said. Only at the expense of cotton, we earned $29 million. This is very important, because if we give up the oil economy, agriculture should become one of the most important spheres of the non-oil sector.

He noted that agriculture should be actively developed.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev pays special attention to this issue, Ibrahimov said. Loans are allocated in the country and grants are provided for the development of the agricultural sector.

The MP went on to add that Azerbaijan will be able to meet the needs of the entire population in the agricultural products in the future.

The land plots of nearly 200,000 hectares are currently not used, and our goal is to use them, Ibrahimov said.
The next technical meeting of the members of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC states on oil market stabilization will be held on November 25-26, Azerbaijani Energy Minister Natig Aliyev said, Sputnik reported.

On October 28-29, a Meeting of the High-level Committee of the Algiers Accord of OPEC is taking place in Vienna.

"I am very happy with the results, and we are preparing for the next meeting which will be held on [November] 25-26," Aliyev told journalists.

On September 28, OPEC member states agreed on cutting its oil production to 32.5-33 million barrels per day for the whole cartel, however, no exact limits for each country have been placed. The OPEC countries are set to finalize the agreement on oil output freeze at the OPEC summit in Vienna on November 30.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 27

By Elena Kosolapova  Trend:

Kazakhstan expects to get 500,000  1 million tons of Kashagan oil until the year-end, Sputnik Kazakhstan quoted Kazakh Energy Minister Kanat Bozumbayev as saying Oct. 27.

The minister noted that Kashagan field is being tested now.

Kazakhstan expects oil production at Kashagan to reach 4-7 million tons in 2017, according to Bozumbayev.

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.

Oil production at Kashagan was launched in October 2016.
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Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Oct. 29

By Demir Azizov Trend:

Uzbekistan is taking additional measures to activate and expand activities of free economic zones (FEZ), according to the decree of the countrys acting President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

Currently, there are three free zones offering investors privileges and special opportunities for doing business in Uzbekistan. They are the Navoi free industrial and economic zone established in Navoi region in 2008, the Angren special industrial zone created in Tashkent region in 2012, and the Jizzakh special industrial zone with its branch in Syrdarya district, established in 2013.

In accordance with the decree, the names of all zones will be standardized, they will now have the status of free economic zones (FEZ). A single legal regime will be set for all the zones, tax and customs privileges and preferences will be unified in order to create most favorable investment conditions for foreign investors.

The participants of the FEZ will be exempt from paying a number of taxes, customs duties and mandatory payments for imported equipment and raw materials for production needs.

In particular, tax benefits to participants of the FEZ are provided for a period of 3-10 years depending on the amount of investments made.

If the investments volume is between $300,000 and $3 million, tax benefits are provided for three years, if the volume of investments varies from $3 million to $5 million, tax benefits are provided for five years.

Moreover, if the investments volume varies from $5 million to $10 million, tax benefits are provided for seven years, and if the investments volume is $10 million and higher, tax benefits are provided for 10 years, while profit and uniform tax rates for the next five years are established at 50 percent below the current rates.

Previously, the upper limit of provision of tax benefits in Angren and Jizzakh special industrial zones was seven years with a similar volume of investments.

The participants of free economic zones Angren and Jizzakh have the right to make calculations and payments in foreign currency within the free economic zones in accordance with the concluded agreements and contracts.

A unified administrative council of all the free economic zones will be created in accordance with the decree, which will abolish the previously established Administrative Council of free industrial-economic zone Navoi, the Administrative Council of the special industrial zone Angren and the Administrative Council of the special industrial zone Jizzakh.

The main tasks and functions of the administrative council will be providing enterprises with the status of FEZ participant, rendering wide assistance to economic entities, coordination of work of ministries and departments, business associations in the issues related to the functioning of the FEZ, organization of programs and projects of advanced development of transport, engineering and communication, as well as social infrastructure of the FEZ.

The decree contains instruction to the relevant ministries and departments to prepare in a month a program of measures to improve and expand the activities of the free economic zones of Navoi, Angren and Jizzakh.

The program must envisage concrete measures to improve the legislation, develop manufacturing, engineering and communication, as well as transport infrastructure of the FEZ in Uzbekistan and other development issues.
Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Oct. 29

By Demir Azizov  Trend:

Uzbekistans Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov received US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon, Jr., who arrived in Tashkent, the Uzbek Foreign Ministrys press service said in a message.

The sides discussed current state and prospects of bilateral relations in political, trade and economic, cultural and humanitarian and other spheres, according to the message.

Kamilov and Shannon also exchanged views on cooperation in the C5+1 format, specific issues of the international and regional agenda.

US Ambassador Pamela Leora Spratlen also took part in the discussions.

As it was reported earlier, Shannon arrived in Tashkent as part of his visit to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan Oct. 24-29.

The purpose of the trip is to strengthen the partnership between the Central Asian countries and the US government through C5+1 format, as well as discuss joint regional actions on the issues of mutual interest.

The C5+1 format was created in 2015. The US Secretary of State John Kerry had a meeting with foreign ministers of all five Central Asian countries in New York in September 2015.
HURON COUNTY  A pair of bills that would give school districts the option of carrying a drug that can reverse an opioid overdose recently passed in the Senate.

Senate Bills 0805 and 0806 would allow school districts to stock Naloxone in the event of an opioid overdose. Naloxone is a medication used to block the effects of opioids, such as heroin. Naloxone is sold under the brand name Narcan.

Ubly Superintendent Joe Candela told the Tribune hes never witnessed an overdose at any school district hes been employed with.

Nope, never, Candela said. Not in the 14 years as a superintendent, Ive never seen it.

If the bills pass, and a school district decided to obtain Naloxone, the district would have to train at least two employees to administer the drug. Candela said his staff is not trained if an overdose were to occur, but noted they are trained how to use an EpiPen, which would be used if a student has an allergic reaction after getting stung by a bee.

Although school districts wont be required to carry the drug, Candela thought it was important for each district to have the option.

To think (an overdose) could not occur would be naive, Candela said. I absolutely think it could occur in any of our school districts.

We always do everything we can do to preach against (drug use) to our students, he added.

Drug prevention education typically starts during students junior and senior year at Ubly High School.

The Huron County Prosecutors Office is currently seeking $18,000 from the Huron County Board of Commissioners so prosecuting attorneys can travel to local schools and community groups throughout the county with a drug prevention message.

I know in my old district (Almont), we brought in a prosecuting attorney to talk about the dangers of drugs and whats happening in the drug culture, Candela said.

I think theyre trying to address a problem thats not only happening in Michigan, but the whole United States, he added. I think its a good bill to have and for us to have the option.

As for the next step, the House could consider the measures after the Nov. 8 election.

Messages left seeking comments with other school district superintendents were not returned on Friday.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 29

By Fatih Karimov  Trend:

Iran has rejected reports on selling crude oil to Switzerland-based Vitol company on a special discount.

Iran sells crude oil to the European company only as a spot cargo, Mohsen Qamsari, the director for international affairs at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), said, Mehr news agency reported Oct. 29.

The NIOC has not signed any deal with Vitol on crude oil and gas condensates sale, Qamsari said, adding that no special discount was offered to the European company.

Earlier, Fars news agency reported that the NIOC plans to sign a deal with Vitol to sell crude oil and gas condensates on a discount for two years.

In exchange, the European company will give Iran a loan with high interest rate, Fars reported last month citing an informed source.

Asked about the loan, which is speculated to be $1 billion, Qamsari said he has no information on the issue.

He further said Iran also sells oil products, including diesel and fuel oil to Vitol based on market price.

Iran sells crude oil as well as oil products to the company on prepaid basis in the form of spot deal, Qamsari underlined.

Switzerlands Vitol remains as one of the worlds largest traders of oil and gasoline and it had been one of the buyers of Iranian crude oil before the imposition of international sanctions.

Three Swiss companies  Glencore, Vitol and Trafigura  were the largest gasoline exporters to Iran before the sanctions, providing 35 percent of Irans gasoline demand while the process was halted due to pressures form the European Union.

The NIOC has recently signed an agreement with Vitol for buying gasoline. Vitol has also expressed interest in crude oil swap with Caspian states through Irans Neka oil terminal.

An expert delegation from Vitol has visited the oil terminal to study the issue, Hamid Reza Shahdoust, director of Iran's North Oil Terminal, said in August.
GREENLEAF TOWNSHIP  Things got a little tense Tuesday night at a special Greenleaf Township Board of Trustees meeting, but the sheriffs deputy present did not have to intervene.

As the board and residents discussed how to pay for a lawsuit settlement of $187,500, resident Christina Gibbard asked whether it was in the townships master plan to go into business.

Officials are considering renting out space in the township hall for storage in order to create revenue.

Gibbard also asked if there would be a public hearing about the plan.

Were not on trial here, trustee Randy Schuette answered. Were not going to answer your questions.

When Gibbard tried to respond, Schuette shouted, Were done!

The investigation into an incident at the township hall following a special meeting last week continues, and officials say charges will be filed.

Sheriffs deputies were called to the hall, located at 6435 Bay City Forestville Road in Sanilac County on Oct. 18.

Two days later at the Greenleaf Township Planning Commission meeting, Gibbard addressed trustee Ken Brown, who also sits on the commission.

Two nights ago, two women were assaulted in this building. You stood at the left side of me, and Dave Keller had my hand in a death grip, on my camera. You never said one word to him. What kind of a man are you, to stand there when a woman is being assaulted by another man, and not saying, Please release them  her.

Brown interrupted.

You know what, Christina, if someone was being assaulted, I would jump right in. Its not my policy to let women be assaulted. I seen a lot of good acting, but I didnt see an assault.

Planning Commissioner Ken Osentoski added, I thought it was pretty well staged, myself.

The meeting was then adjourned.

Sanilac County Undersheriff Bradley A. Roff said the investigation is open, and it will likely be taken to the prosecutors office next week for charges to be filed.

The police report will be released then.

Two township board members commented on the incident Tuesday, but said that they have no first-hand knowledge of what happened.

The meeting was over when the altercation happened, Schuette told the Tribune. I didnt see it. There was a lot of shouting and finger pointing back and forth.

Treasurer Rosario Quinn said she was in the office at the time of the incident, and did not see what happened.

I was in the office doing some work and I heard something. I thought, What was that?

Brown and Clerk Judy Keller declined comment.

Weve just got a bad situation here, Schuette told the Trubune. We have viable options, but people resist our honest efforts, and its frustrating.
To the editor:

The clerk of Lincoln Township, Irvin Kanaski, was wrong to publicly criticize the filing of a Freedom of Information Act request. Citizens are right to question their government and FOIA is a proper tool to do so.

Kanaski said the request relating to a $1,100 anonymous donation cost the township up to $2,500 in legal fees, not counting the time he and another official put into handling the request. He then told other citizens to call the filer and tell her to stop wasting our money with her frivolous freedom of information requests.

His criticism of and behavior toward the resident filing the request is wrong for at least two reasons. First, it is inappropriate for a government official to use a public meeting to urge the harassment of a private citizen. No one should be bullied for seeking information from their government.

Second, state FOIA law allows public entities to charge citizens for the cost of gathering, printing and sending information sought in a FOIA request. The township did not have to waste time or money on this. It should have estimated the costs and notified the citizens that she would be responsible for these fees if she wanted the request fulfilled.

Jarrett Skorup

Policy Analyst

Mackinac Center for Public Policy

Midland
General Mills, Inc. manufactures and markets branded consumer foods worldwide. The company operates in five segments: North America Retail; Convenience Stores & Foodservice; Europe & Australia; Asia & Latin America; and Pet. It offers ready-to-eat cereals, refrigerated yogurt, soup, meal kits, refrigerated and frozen dough products, dessert and baking mixes, bakery flour, frozen pizza and pizza snacks, snack bars, fruit and salty snacks, ice cream, nutrition bars, wellness beverages, and savory and grain snacks, as well as various organic products, including frozen and shelf-stable vegetables. It also supplies branded and unbranded food products to the North American foodservice and commercial baking industries; and manufactures and markets pet food products, including dog and cat food. The company markets its products under the Annie's, Betty Crocker, Bisquick, Blue Buffalo, Blue Basics, Blue Freedom, Bugles, Cascadian Farm, Cheerios, Chex, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cocoa Puffs, Cookie Crisp, EPIC, Fiber One, Food Should Taste Good, Fruit by the Foot, Fruit Gushers, Fruit Roll-Ups, Gardetto's, Go-Gurt, Gold Medal, Golden Grahams, Haagen-Dazs, Helpers, Jus-Rol, Kitano, Kix, Larabar, Latina, Liberte, Lucky Charms, Muir Glen, Nature Valley, Oatmeal Crisp, Old El Paso, Oui, Pillsbury, Progresso, Raisin Nut Bran, Total, Totino's, Trix, Wanchai Ferry, Wheaties, Wilderness, Yoki, and Yoplait trademarks. It sells its products directly, as well as through broker and distribution arrangements to grocery stores, mass merchandisers, membership stores, natural food chains, e-commerce retailers, commercial and noncommercial foodservice distributors and operators, restaurants, convenience stores, and pet specialty stores, as well as drug, dollar, and discount chains. The company operates 466 leased and 392 franchise ice cream parlors. General Mills, Inc. was founded in 1866 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Steelcase Inc. provides a portfolio of furniture and architectural products in the United States and internationally. It operates through Americas, EMEA, and Other segments. The company's furniture portfolio includes furniture systems, seating, storage, fixed and height-adjustable desks, benches, and tables, as well as complementary products, such as work accessories, lighting, and mobile power and screens. Its seating products comprise task chairs; seating for collaborative environments and casual settings; and specialty seating for specific vertical markets, including education and healthcare. The company's interior architectural products comprise full and partial height walls and architectural pods. It also provides textiles, wall coverings, and surface imaging solutions for architects and designers; and workplace strategy consulting, lease origination, and furniture and asset management services. The company markets and sells its products to corporate, government, healthcare, education, and retail customers under the Steelcase, Designtex, Coalesse, AMQ, Smith System, Orangebox, and Viccarbe brands. It distributes its products and services through a network of independent and company-owned dealers, as well as directly to end-use customers. The company was founded in 1912 and is headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 29

By Khalid Kazimov  Trend:

An Iranian banking and financial delegation has paid a visit to Indonesian capital city of Jakarta to discuss facilitating banking ties between the two countries.

During the visit, the sides called for removing the obstacles hindering the expansion of banking ties between the two countries, IRNA news agency reported Oct. 29.

The Iranian delegation, headed by Ahmad Azizi, a high advisor to Governor of the Central Bank of Iran Valiollah Seif, pointed to the existing capacities for cooperation between the two countries and urged for broadening the ties, particularly in banking and financial spheres.

The sides further laid great stress on the need for establishing direct banking relations between the banks of the two countries aimed at deepening trade ties.

The delegations also agreed to keep in touch as long as banking ties are restored between Iran and Indonesia.

Although the nuclear related sanctions on Iran were lifted following the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on January 16, Iran still has difficulty establishing banking ties with leading banks as they are worried about running afoul of US regulations.
The following companies are subsidiares of Laboratory Co. of America: 1957285 Ontario Inc. dba Quality Underwriting Services, 2089729 Ontario Inc., 2248848 Ontario Inc., 3065619 Nova Scotia Company, 3257959 Nova Scotia Company, 8165335 Canada Inc., 8348596 Canada Inc., 896988 Ontario Limited, 9279-3280 Quebec Inc., Accupath Diagnostic Laboratories Inc., Assets of Pathology Inc, Beacon LBS IPA Inc., Beacon Laboratory Benefit Solutions Inc., CannAmm GP Inc., CannAmm Limited Partnership, Center for Disease Detection International, Center for Disease Detection LLC, Centrex Clinical Laboratories Inc., Chiltern, Clearstone Central Laboratories (U.S.) Inc., Clearstone Holdings (International) Ltd., Clinical Outreach Laboratory Services, Clipper Holdings Inc., Colorado Coagulation Consultants Inc., Colorado Laboratory Services LLC, Correlagen Diagnostics Inc., Covance Inc., Curalab Inc., Cytometry Associates Inc., Czura Thornton (Hong Kong) Limited, DCL Acquisition Inc., DCL Medical Laboratories LLC, DCL Sub LLC, DIANON Systems Inc., DL Holdings Limited Partnership, Decision Diagnostics L.L.C. (aka DaVinici/Medicorp LLC), Diagnostic Services Inc., DynaLifeDX, Dynacare - Gamma Laboratory Partnership, Dynacare Company, Dynacare G.P. Inc., Dynacare Holdco LLC, Dynacare Laboratories Inc., Dynacare Laboratories Limited Partnership, Dynacare Northwest Inc., Dynacare Realty Inc., DynalifeDX Infrastructure Inc., Envigo's nonclinical contract research services business, Esoterix Genetic Counseling LLC, Esoterix Genetic Laboratories LLC, Esoterix Inc., Execmed Health Services Inc., FirstSource Laboratory Solutions Inc., GDML Medical Laboratories Inc, Gamma Dynacare Central Medical Laboratories GP Inc., Gamma Dynacare Central Medical Laboratory Limited Partnership, HHLA Lab-In-An-Envelope LLC, Health Testing Centers Inc., Health Trans Services Inc., Home Healthcare Laboratory of America LLC, IDX Pathology Inc., Impact Genetics Corporation, Impact Genetics Inc., Kaleida LabCorp LLC, Lab Delivery Service of New York City Inc., LabCorp BVBA, LabCorp Belgium Holdings Inc., LabCorp Central Laboratories (Canada) Inc., LabCorp Central Laboratories (China) Inc., LabCorp Colorado Inc., LabCorp Development Company, LabCorp Employer Services Inc., LabCorp Health System Diagnostics LLC, LabCorp Indiana Inc., LabCorp Japan G.K., LabCorp Limited, LabCorp Michigan Inc., LabCorp Nebraska Inc., LabCorp Neon Ltd., LabCorp Neon Switzerland S.a.r.l., LabCorp Specialty Testing Billing Service Inc., LabCorp Specialty Testing Group Inc., LabCorp Staffing Solutions Inc., LabCorp Tennessee LLC, LabCorp UK Holdings Ltd., LabWest Inc., Laboratoire Bio-Medic Inc., Laboratory Corporation of America, Lifecodes Corporation, LipoScience Inc., Litholink Corporation, MEDTOX Scientific Inc., MNG Laboratories, MedAxio Insurance Medical Services GP Inc., MedAxio Insurance Medical Services LP, Medical Neurogenitics LLC, Medtox Diagnostics Inc., Medtox Laboratories Inc., Monogram Biosciences Inc., Monogram Biosciences UK Limited, Myriad Autoimmunes Vectra Testing Business, NWT Inc., National Genetics Institute, New Brighton Business Center LLC, New Imaging Diagnostics LLC, New Molecular Diagnostics Ventures LLC, Orchid Cellmark ULC, Ovia Health, PA Labs Inc., Paclab LLC, Path Lab Incorporated, Pathology Associates Medical Lab LLC, Pee Dee Pathology Associates Inc., Personal Genome Diagnostics Inc., Persys Technology Inc., Pixel by LabCorp, Princeton Diagnostic Laboratories of America Inc., Protedyne Corporation, SW/DL LLC, Saint Josephs-PAML LLC, Sequenom Biosciences (India) Pvt. Ltd., Sequenom Inc, Sequenom Inc., Tandem Labs Inc., Toxikon Corporation, Tri-Cities Laboratory LLC, Viro-Med Laboratories Inc., Visiun, and Yakima Medical Arts Inc..

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Douglas Dynamics, Inc. operates as a manufacturer and upfitter of commercial work truck attachments and equipment in North America. It operates through two segments, Work Truck Attachments and Work Truck Solutions. The Work Truck Attachments segment manufactures and sells snow and ice control attachments, including snowplows, and sand and salt spreaders for light trucks and heavy duty trucks, as well as various related parts and accessories. The Work Truck Solutions segment primarily manufactures municipal snow and ice control products; provides truck and vehicle upfits where it attaches component pieces of equipment, truck bodies, racking, and storage solutions to a vehicle chassis for use by end users for work related purposes; and manufactures storage solutions for trucks and vans, and cable pulling equipment for trucks. This segment also offers up-fit and storage solutions. It also provides customized turnkey solutions to governmental agencies, such as Departments of Transportation and municipalities. The company sells its products under the BLIZZARD, FISHER, SNOWEX, WESTERN, TURFEX, SWEEPEX, HENDERSON, BRINEXTREME, and DEJANA brands. It distributes its products primarily to professional snowplowers who are contracted to remove snow and ice from commercial and residential areas. The company was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
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.
Iran's oil export to Asian countries in October rose up 92 percent in comparison with the preceding period last year, IRNA reported.

Removal of sanctions on Iran and efforts of Petroleum Ministry to regain the Iranian market share led to get closer to Iranian share of Asian market before the sanctions.

During sanctions, Iran could sell maximum one million barrels a day to its customers, but now it allocated more than 2.5 million bpd crude oil for export and the Asian countries are still major customers.

According to the latest statistics, destination of 63 percent of Iran's oil is Asian states, which are the big hub for oil consumption in the world.

Iran's share of Asian market is more than 1.6 million bpd and Japanese oil firm 'Marubeni' is one of Iranian traditional oil customers.
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.
Marine officials are investigating after a recruit was hospitalized Friday after a fall from the second story of a building at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, Military.com has learned.

In a statement, Parris Island spokesman Capt. Gregory Carroll said the recruit was assigned to Support Battalion, Recruit Training Regiment. He fell from the second story of the base's recruit processing center and was transported to an off-site medical facility, Carroll said.

Neither the condition nor the name of the recruit was released.

The recruit arrived at Parris Island Oct. 24 and had been undergoing initial processing requirements, according to the statement. The fact that he was assigned to Support Battalion means he was still in the receiving process and had not yet begun training.

"The command is currently focused on the recruit's health and is in close coordination with the family," Carroll said.

An investigation has been launched in keeping with standard operating procedures, he said.

It's not yet clear if the recruit's fall was a suicide attempt.

The incident comes seven months after another recruit, 20-year-old Raheel Siddiqui, died by suicide after vaulting from the third story of a building at Parris Island's 3rd Recruit Training Battalion. The act was provoked by hazing at the hands of a drill instructor who had previously participated in the mistreatment of another Parris Island recruit, who was also Muslim, according to a wide-ranging investigation released in September.

Some 20 drill instructors and senior leaders may now face punishment for their roles in perpetuating or allowing a years-long culture of hazing within 3rd Recruit Training battalion.

Marine Corps leaders have also set in place a number of new policies aimed at adding supervision to prevent hazing, and recognizing and addressing suicide attempts and ideation at boot camp.

--Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 29

By Fatih Karimov  Trend

Irans president Hassan Rouhani asked EU to put political pressure on supporters of terrorists in the Middle East.

Rouhani made the remarks during a meeting with visiting European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Oct. 29, IRNA news agency reported.

"If the European Union, for any reason, does not want to use its military presence to fight terrorists in the region, it can use its political power to exert pressure against the terrorists regional supporters," Rouhani said.

This will have a significant effect in the fight against terrorism, he added.

Rouhani said that terrorists activities in Syria and Iraq should be considered as a big threat against the entire world.

Fighting against terrorism is the main priority in Syria and Iraq, he said, adding that the Syrian situation has no military solution, and can only be resolved through political means.

The EU can undertake a more active role in creating security and peace in Syria through cooperation with the regional countries, Rouhani underlined.

Mogherini for her part, said that the EU needs Irans cooperation as a key power in the region to settle the regional issues.

She further said that terrorist groups such as IS(Islamic State) and al-Nusra Front pose a threat to the whole world.

She also said that delivery of humanitarian aids to people of Syria and Yemen should be facilitated.

Mogherini arrived in Tehran on Oct. 28 night to hold talks with the Iranian officials about the ongoing crisis in Syria.

Earlier the day, Mogherini met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and discussed bilateral ties between Tehran and the EU as well as the latest developments in Syria.

Mogherinis visit to Tehran comes following Zarifs intensive talks with his Russian and Syrian counterparts, Sergey Lavrov and Walid Muallem.

The EU official left Tehran for Saudi capital, Riyadh this evening, where she is expected to hold similar talks with Saudi officials.
File photo

The 20 scariest horror movies ever

By John Serba

jserba@mlive.com

The tension and release of a good scare can generate some of our most memorable movie-watching experiences. Watching E.T. at age seven was one of those moments: Elliott shines his flashlight into the cornstalks and sees the alien, who lets loose the type of horrific, shrieking bleat that, for years after, had me avoiding my empty, suburban backyard after dark.

Of course, nobody watches E.T. for a good Halloween scare. So Ive whittled this (highly subjective and debatable, of course) list of 20 fright flicks from the more classical horror oeuvre, employing a lightly liberal definition of horror movie and using the criteria that scariest doesnt necessarily mean the best. (Unless youre talking about No. 1 on my list, which is one of the greatest films ever made.) All of these movies got under my skin and crawled around for a while there, the horror lingering like a stalker in the bushes or a werewolf in the woods or a set of creepy twins down the hall.

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20. 'The Mist' (2007)

Director Frank Darabonts adaptation of a Stephen King monsters-in-the-fog story features the most hideous ending ever (spoiler alert, although nine years later, I think the statute of limitations has expired): Thomas Janes desperate father uses the last bullet in his gun to spare his young son from a terrible death, only to find, when the mist clears moments later, that the military has arrived to save the day. This is by no means a perfect movie, but Ill never forget the feeling of my stomach falling into my shoes when Jane realizes whats going on.

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19. '28 Days Later' (2002)

The modern zombie movie is such a mixed bag of cliche and post-apocalypse tropes, it almost ruins my memory of this film. But the opening scenes of 28 Days Later, when Cillian Murphy wakes up from a coma to find the streets of London empty and silent, are so spooky, they supersede any contextual criticisms. That great chameleon of cinema, Danny Boyle (127 Hours, Slumdog Millionaire, Transpotting) plays with the traditional Romero rules of zombie films, and crafts a strong, suspenseful story. The ending is predictably chaotic, and disappointing; if only the unsettling final sequence from World War Z, where we only hear the gnashing of the zombies teeth on the other side of the glass from Brad Pitt, could be welded to 28 Days Later, we might have a great zombie film.

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18. 'The Birds' (1963)

Only through Alfred Hitchcocks filter could a nonsensical animals-attack plot become a tense and terrifying thriller. He offers no explanation as to why flocks of murderous birds terrorize a small seaside town  or why they shred people in one scene and sit still, as others make their way through the eerily quiet flock, in the next. Thats just the perplexing unreason of nature. Notably, Hitchcock uses no music throughout the entire picture, using silence and sound effects to disquieting effect.

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17. 'The Evil Dead' (1981)

Ah, the good old cabin in the woods. The cabin in the woods with the gloomy basement. The gloomy basement with the Necronomicon in it. The Necronomicon, which all but begs some dummies to read a passage. Some dummies, who read a passage and invoke a bizarre force. A bizarre force, which rapes its victims with vines or turns them into deadites, possessees with white eyes and an urge to kill the hell out of people. Sam Raimis cheapie debut is a charmer, all right  his filmmaking techniques are distinct and innovative, his star Bruce Campbell is in the early stage of becoming a beloved weirdo and his cheeky tone profited on the scary-funny trailblazing tone of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

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16. 'Poltergeist' (1982)

Every child of the 80s who saw Poltergeist at a young age was subsequently freaked out by wind-blown trees outside their windows, creepy clowns and the eerie crackle and ghostly glow of TV static. (Hey, remember TV static?) Poor Carol Anne. Poor, poor Carol Anne. The combination of Texas Chainsaw Massacre director Tobe Hooper and screenwriter Steven Spielberg made that old horror-movie chestnut, the Indian-burial-ground haunting, memorably effective.

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15. 'The Silence of the Lambs' (1991)

Jonathan Demmes Oscar winner isnt horror in the strictest sense, but it features one of the most terrifying performances in cinema history, Anthony Hopkins disturbing portrayal of the serial killer and cannibal Hannibal Lecter. The character is an erudite monster who can disarm you with withering psychoanalysis, then disembowel you with a dessert spoon. You can just feel the evil in Hopkins performance bubbling way down deep in your bile.

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14. 'Rosemary's Baby' (1968)

The air of the occult is especially vile, a pervasive stench that can color a scary movie in existential shades  who can upset the comfort we feel in accepting a loving god? Could it be Satan? Mia Farrow is exceptional in this film, playing a woman who learns that her husband may be a practicing devil worshipper, and that her unborn child may be the spawn of the big red goat-guy himself. A masterpiece in mood and tone by Roman Polanski, who nurtures a sense of sinister comedy alongside the consternation of the kids impending arrival.

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13. 'Halloween' (1978)

This is likely the only film from the pervasive American slasher-movie trend of the late 1970s and 80s that truly matters. It has far more staying power than its contemporaries, playing down its supernatural elements (until Michael Myers refuses to die, no matter how many times Jamie Lee Curtis stabs him) and sticking to conceptual simplicity: a heavy-breathing creep acting with impulse and no reason, punishing teen twits. This was John Carpenters coming-out party; his opening shot, a lengthy first-person Steadicam stalker, and his eerie minimalist score, set the stage for a legion of imitators. Halloween was a true original.

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12. 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (1974)

Tobe Hoopers influential beware-the-rednecks shocker is funny and terrifying at the same time, about a family of cannibals whose ties-that-bind have more to do with keeping their dinner immobile while they take the power tools to it. The final sequence, Sallys escape from the squabbling cut-ups, so effectively keeps us in suspense, it sucks the air from our lungs. After seeing this, the electric knife my dad used to carve the Thanksgiving turkey never sounded the same to my ears.

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11. 'Eraserhead' (1977)

That wailing mutant baby is the most disturbing sound effect in cinema history. Eraserhead deeply disturbed me the first time I saw it. The second time, I laughed my fool head off. Thats David Lynch for you.

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10. 'Night of the Living Dead' (1968)

I cant imagine wandering into a theater in 1968 and not being mortified by images of undead shambling corpse-people gnawing on human bones like theyre hot and crispy out of a KFC bucket. George Romeros shoestring-budget classic not only became ground zero for a million-zillion zombie movies to come, it pushed the boundaries of horror content  and is still a grueling, intense watch.

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9. 'Jaws' (1975)

Steven Spielbergs boundary-busting blockbuster scared people right off the beaches  so go ahead, tell me its not a horror movie. Ill humor you for a few milliseconds, then remind you that Spielberg indulges in classical horror techniques: jump scares (Youre gonna need a bigger boat), lurking dread (one word: fin) and an atmospheric score (You know it: Da-dum. Da-dum).

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8. 'An American Werewolf in London' (1981)

Although its tonally tongue-in-cheek, the transformation scene  key in earning an Oscar for makeup artist Rick Baker  is a brutal, terrifying stretch of film. Of course, its made all the more cheeky thanks to Sam Cookes Blue Moon playing in the background. I love this scary, idiosyncratic and frequently hilarious movie, which, for my money, is the best werewolf film ever made.

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7. 'Nosferatu' (1922)

This silent film is a jewel of German Expressionism, and one of the first truly terrifying cinematic experiences  even now, Graf Orloks ghastly levitation out of his grave is a disturbing sight, and Max Schrecks portrayal of said vampire is one of the most bizarre performances ever captured on film. Side note: Werner Herzogs Nosferatu the Vampyre, starring the ever-maniacal Klaus Kinski, is a more-than-worthy remake.

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6. 'Suspiria' (1977)

Saturated with bright bloody reds and kelly greens, Dario Argentos atmospheric masterpiece, assisted by an iconic score courtesy of prog-rock band Goblin, soaks you in its disquieting vibes. The story  ballet dancer stumbles across witch coven  is laughably silly, until Argento slowly and methodically pushes us through a thoroughly disorienting climax.

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5. 'Let the Right One In' (2008)

Ill probably regret asserting this for numerous reasons, but vampire movies almost always suck. Especially modern ones. Unless its Let the Right One In, an exquisitely atmospheric mixture of dread and melancholy. Its the story of a bullied Swedish schoolboy who befriends the girl in the apartment next door, and she happens to be of the sunlight-averse, bloodsucking, undead variety. Its an innocent, adolescent love story underscored by unspoken tragedies, and a horrific tale of revenge spiked with searing imagery and sudden bursts of violence.

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4. 'Alien' (1979)

It's sci-fi on the surface, but horror in concept and execution. Got it? Now that that argument is out of the way, Ridley Scott's chiller is vintage lurking-monster horror, employing dread tones and moody lighting as the creature picks off helpless humans one by one. Its creepy sexual-predator subtext gives it an added layer of psychological terror.

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3. 'Psycho' (1960)

Film Studies 101: The shower scene. Death by 50 cuts from editor George Tomasini and 78 camera angles from cinematographer John L. Russell, overseen by Alfred Hitchcocks ruthless eye. And the Master of Suspenses unforgiving desire to defy convention: he killed off his protagonist halfway through the movie, in a sequence that was controversial in content for the time, and coursing with unsettling psychological subtext. Psycho didnt just break ground for horror  its an innovation in the art of filmmaking.

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2. 'The Exorcist' (1973)

The demonic-possession conceit is especially terrifying when a little girl is the possessee. Poor Linda Blair  how often did images of her 360-degree head spin, self-violation with a crucifix or pea-soup projectile vomiting crop up in our cold-sweat nightmares? How many times did she unassumingly walk into a bank or grocery store and have an overzealous fan parrot the your mother line back at her? Thats what happens when youre in a peek-through-your-fingers classic freakout, I guess.

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1. 'The Shining' (1980)

Stanley Kubricks surreal, nightmarish classic isnt only one of the scariest movies ever  its one of the richest, densest, most suggestive pieces of cinema ever to flicker in front of our unworthy eyes. Ill stay on task here, and stick to the fear element: nobody trafficked in meticulously rendered, obsessively controlled, subcutaneous dread like Kubrick. The twin girls. The disorienting carpet. The haunting. The beautiful seductress whos actually a scabby old crone. The cabin fever. The insanity. The elevator full of blood. Every psychological safe space, violated.
ANN ARBOR, MI -- Want to help the University of Michigan beat Ohio State while getting a look inside the Big House? You'll get your chance on Sunday, Oct. 30., during U-M's largest on-campus blood drive.

U-M is hosting its Be a Hero at the Big House event, which kicks off the 35th annual Blood Battle with Ohio State. Open to the public from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., participants are asked to give blood, register with the bone marrow registry and sign-up as an organ donor.

In addition, the event features games, prizes, a children's Halloween costume contest, musical performances, autograph signing and a VIP view of the Big House.



Mark J. Bernstein, chair of the U-M Board of Regents, calls his 2014 bone marrow donation an "honor and a privilege" and urges others to register.



U-M hopes to bring the trophy home in the Blood Battle between the U-M and Ohio State. Each school tries to outscore the other in blood donations before their teams meet on the field Nov. 26, this year in Columbus, Ohio.

Ohio State has won the battle the last two years, after U-M had been the winner in five out of the previous six years. Since it began in 1982, U-M has won 19 of the battles, while OSU has taken 14, while another battle ended in a tie.

Parking is free at the stadium near the club-level doors on the Crisler Arena side. For more information, visit the Wolverines for Life website.
ANN ARBOR, MI - Emergency crews responded to a report of an accident about 4 p.m. on U.S. 23 north, near the Washtenaw Avenue interchange.

The crash temporarily closed both lanes of northbound U.S. 23, but the scene was cleared at 4:43 p.m., according to the Michigan Department of Transportation.

No details about the accident were immediately available. The vehicles involved were towed from the scene.
Patricia Drury's Victorian-era home, 813 Sheridan St., in Bay City's Historic District.

BAY CITY, MI -- A Bay City home where Susan B. Anthony once stayed the night was razed this week after the appointed body charged with preserving the city's historic architecture deemed the 134-year-old Victorian beyond repair following a July fire.

The demolition, which was completed Thursday, Oct. 27, was a rarity for the Bay City Historic District Commission, which only allows for a building to come down in extreme cases, said Scott McKillop, a community development planner with the city.

"The cost of repairing the house was well beyond what the market could bear," McKillop said.

"It was indeed a loss for everyone and something we feel terrible about -- especially for the owner."

A fire on July 14, during the Bay City Tall Ship Celebration, started in the kitchen of the home at 813 N. Sheridan St., at the Center Avenue intersection. The owner of the home, Patricia Drury, 87, safely evacuated the home and watched it burn as firefighters battled the blaze.

Marshall Lupp, a family friend of Drury who assists her with legal issues, said Drury's insurance company estimated it could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to bring the home back to its original condition. In addition to the damage caused by the fire, there was also mold in the house due to water damage.

While the house came down this week, its spirit is expected to live on in various homes in the city.

Michael Wittbrodt, a member of the historic commission who has renovated a number of homes across the city, and a friend of Drury's, said he has taken the spindles and other decorative items from the front porch of the home and intends to re-use the pieces in a home he's currently renovating at 1901 Center Ave.

"It's gone, but not completely," he said.

Wittbrodt said he looked into purchasing the home after the fire to see if he could repair it and make it livable again, but the numbers didn't add up in his favor.

"There was mold everywhere in the basement, the kitchen was ruined and the roof needed to be rebuilt from the second floor up, which would require all custom framing," he said.

He estimated that if the house was restored to its original condition, he might be able to sell it for $150,000 to $160,000. The cost of repairs, though, could hit $200,000, not including the time that Wittbrodt would put into the home, he estimated.

"I would do this for free because I love it, but it's not a lot of fun if you're losing money on a project," he said.

In 2014, Drury's home was featured in an edition of "Old House Journal," a national magazine that focuses on the restoration of historic homes. The 10-page spread highlighted the home's many antique pieces, as well as its rich history, including a story about the time Susan B. Anthony, an advocate who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement, stayed the night.

The initials "SBA" is printed on the door frames of the Susan B. Anthony room in Patricia Drury's 132 year old home located at 813 N. Sheridan St. in Bay City.

The home was built in 1882 by John Wesley Knaggs and his wife May Stocking Knaggs. Mrs. Knaggs, who was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 2002, was a well-known leader in the women's suffrage movement and campaigned heavily for Susan B. Anthony. Drury marked the room that Anthony slept in by etching her initials in a corner of the door frame.

Officials said the home's demolition shouldn't set a precedent for knocking down other homes in the historic district.

McKillop said the way the state's regulations are written with regards to historic districts assume that taking down a home is going to have an adverse effect on a neighborhood.

"The objective is always to preserve," he said.

The historic board expects to next deliberate on approving the demolition of a home at 619 Sherman St., which firefighters called a total loss following an Oct. 14 blaze.
BAY CITY, MI -- A 31-year-old Essexville woman is facing three felonies due to police alleging she stole prescription forms from an area dentist, then used them to obtain controlled painkillers for herself and others.

The case against Heather M. Malone begins more than a year ago. On July 14, 2015, a Bay County Sheriff's deputy responded to a theft complaint placed by Dr. Raul Mosqueda, who has dental offices at 4181 Shrestha Driver in Bangor Township. Mosqueda said several prescription sheets had been stolen and he speculated Malone, a former employee who had quit a year and a half previously, was to blame, court records show.

Mosqueda told the deputy that he recently needed some painting done in his offices. He ran into Malone and she offered to do that job. Malone and another man in mid-June visited the offices to perform the task, the dentist told the deputy.

Though Mosqueda paid Malone $2,500, she never completed the task, he told the deputy.

On July 7, Mosqueda began receiving calls from several pharmacies asking if he had written prescriptions for Malone. He told them he had not.

Mosqueda provided the deputy with data recorded by the Michigan Automated Prescription System (or MAPS), showing multiple prescription requests in his name for Malone and others starting on June 18, court records show.

Between June 18 and July 2, Malone used the prescription forms in attempts to obtain 130 tablets of hydrocodone for herself, with seven others attempting to acquire 460 such tablets at pharmacies in Bay and Saginaw counties, court records show.

Hydrocodone is a semi-synthetic opioid. Brand names include Vicodin, Norco, and Lortab.

By July 27, Malone was lodged in the Bay County Jail on an unrelated matter (specifically, an armed robbery allegation). The next day, the initial deputy and a detective interviewed her.

During their conversation, Malone said she did steal the prescription sheets from Mosqueda's desk. She and another man had used them to write numerous bogus prescriptions, though she said the pills obtained were used for personal use and never sold, court records show.

"Heather stated that she and (the man) would go to the various pharmacies with the individuals and wait for them to come out with the prescriptions for controlled substances," states a police report contained in court files. "When the individuals came out of the pharmacy they would divide the pills three ways."

Malone also claimed Mosqueda was aware of her addiction and had previously written her prescriptions for Vicodin. According to court records, between May 2014 and May 2015, Mosqueda had only written two prescriptions for Malone, one for tramadol and one for hydrocodone.

Authorities in August 2016 issued warrants for Malone's arrest. On Wednesday, Oct. 26, Malone voluntarily appeared in Bay County District Court and was arraigned on two counts of obtaining a prescription by fraud and one count of larceny in a building.

Malone is to appear for a preliminary examination before District Judge Mark E. Janer at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 10.
Tehran, Iran, October 29

By Mehdi Sepahvand  Trend:

Iran is seeking to have Iraq as a powerful, unified, and independent neighbor, Iranian Judiciary chief Sadeq Amoli Larijani said before departing for the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

Stressing Tehran-Baghdad cooperation on regional issues, the Iranian official stressed that uprooting terrorism would be possible only through joint effort by all regional countries, IRIB news agency reported October 29.

He said during his trip, Iran and Iraq will sign four memoranda of understanding on human rights, judicial cooperation, as well as prisoners and criminals extradition.

Larijani is accompanied in his trip by Deputy Foreign Minister for African and Arab Affairs Hossein Jaberi Ansari, Human Rights chief Mohammad Javad Larijani, and a host of other officials.

While in Baghdad, he will meet Iraqs judiciary chief, prime minister, and parliament speaker.
Detroit Police Car Hood

File photo, Gus Burns

Rip Officer Myron Jarrett. Prayers for you & your family, including your @detroitpolice family. Sad day. pic.twitter.com/Zxwb5z3Bpv  Dave LewAllen (@tvnewzguy) October 29, 2016

Detroit Police Chief James Craig and Mayor Mike Duggan held a somber news conference Saturday evening to discuss the death of Detroit Police Officer Myron Jarrett.

Jarrett, who was identified as a 40-year-old father of four by WDIV-TV, Channel 4 News, was struck by a vehicle believed to be traveling at a "high rate of speed," according to Craig.

The chief said Jarrett, an eight-year veteran, responded to a traffic stop investigation when Steven Patrick Guzinga, 54, drove into officers at the scene.

"The first police vehicle was struck by the suspect," Craig said. "Right after that collision, Officer Jarrett was struck. We believe, from the impact, he was thrown 30 feet.

"There was a second officer hit after the striking of Officer Jarrett and then a civilian."

Guzinga ran from the scene on foot and was arrested several hours later. He hasn't been charged.

Craig wouldn't comment on the cause or whether it's believed the suspect was intoxicated. WDIV-TV, Channel 4 News reports Guzinga refused a breathalyzer test and a search warrant was obtained to draw blood to test for the presence of drugs and alcohol.

"There's been way too much sadness in the city lately," Duggan said. This is the second time in just over a month the mayor and chief have had to address the public following the death of a Detroit police officer.

Detroit Police Sgt. Kenneth Steil, 46, of St. Clair Shores, died Sept. 17 of complications resulting from a gunshot wound to his right shoulder suffered five days prior while chasing a fugitive.

The Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office hasn't identified what the medical complication was.

Jarrett was a kind traffic officer who took the time to speak with people he issued citation to.

"In many cases, they said thank you after receiving the citation,' Craig said. "That's the kind of police officer he was. He was respected not only by the people he worked with but by the people he served.

"In fact, one officer commented to the fact that he never saw this officer angry over anything. He loved his job."
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 29

By Elena Kosolapova  Trend:

The Nord Stream 2 project, which envisages Russian gas supply to the EU bypassing Ukraine, acts as a wedge strategy, weakening the cohesion of the EU, Antto Vihma, a senior research fellow of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs Global Security Research Program, believes.

With Nord Stream 2 Russia can reassert its influence in Germany, weakening Berlins solidarity within the EU ranks. This would take place by giving Germany the key transit country status to European markets. Here, Nord Stream 2 acts as a wedge strategy, exerting divergent pressures on EU members and thus weakening the cohesion of the EU, Vihma told Trend by email.

The expert noted that the wedge strategy element of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project casts Germany in a remarkably different light than Chancellor Angela Merkels diplomatic efforts concerning Ukraine in 20142015, when Germany took the lead in the coordinating sanctions against Russia within the EU and Merkels leadership role in brokering the Minsk deals received widespread praise in EU.

With Nord Stream 2 pipeline in place, Germany would be seen as a country that enjoys its privileged relationship with Russia, driven by economic self-interest, and when push comes to shove, insensitive to the EUs collective security, diplomatic efforts and energy policy objectives, Vihma said.

The expert noted that in the short term, the Nord Stream 2 project could deprive Ukraine of significant annual revenue and a rare political lever against Moscow as a transit state between Russia and the EU markets.

This very same issue, from the EU perspective, would result in a sizeable policy incoherence, in which the EU and Germany would effectively end up supporting Ukraine, on the one hand, and weakening it, on the other, according to Vihma. In the longer term, with the current Russian-Ukrainian crisis out of the equation, the argument of not weakening the Ukrainian geopolitical position may become less relevant, and Ukraines role in gas transit can be addressed from more technocratic lenses.

Vihma noted that depending on the escalation and possible de-escalation in the general Russia-West tension matters, Nord Stream 2 could be implemented or blocked.

The Nord Stream 2 project envisages construction of two pipelines from Russia to Germany across the Baltic Sea. The project plans to use the original Nord Stream pipeline for 86-percent of the route before branching off. The capacity of the Nord Stream 2 will reach 55 billion cubic meters - the same as the capacity of the Nord Stream project. Russian Gazprom's partners in the Nord Stream 2 project are Uniper, Wintershall, Shell, OMV and Engie.

On Oct. 27, the first steel pipes have been delivered to the German island of Rugen to carry out construction of Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

Such European countries as Ukraine, Baltic countries, Poland and Slovakia stand against the project. Ukraine does not want to be deprived of income for gas transit. Baltic countries, Poland and Slovakia say the Nord Stream 2 will increase EU dependence on Russian gas, which contradicts EUs energy strategy. In a statement issued this week, the EU Parliament members said the Nord Stream 2 project runs counter EU interests.

Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova
An independent international commission of inquiry on Syria condemned a recent attack on a school in Idlib, adding that it was investigating to determine the perpetrators, Sputnik International reported.

On Thursday, Anthony Lake, the executive director of the UNICEF, said that the airstrike on the Idlib school resulted in the deaths of 22 children and six teachers.

"The Commission is horrified by the aerial assault reportedly launched by pro-Government forces in Haas village, Idlib, on 26 October in which three schools in a complex were struck The Commission is undertaking a thorough investigation of the attack with a view to confirming the identity of those responsible," the Friday statement read.

The independent international commission of inquiry brings together officials from different countries and seeks to investigate and record all violations of international law in the country under a mandate of the UN Human Rights Council.
you are here:
The UN Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the shelling of the Russian embassy in the Syrian capital of Damascus, Sputnik International reported.

On Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the embassy had sustained material damage after being struck with two mortar shells directed from rebel-controlled district of Jobar.

The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms another mortar shelling on 28 October of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Damascus (Syrian Arab Republic), which caused significant material damage, the council statement read.

The members of the council reminded of the fundamental principle of the inviolability of diplomatic and consular premises and of obligations of the state governments to take all appropriate steps to protect diplomatic and consular premises against any intrusion or damage, and to prevent any disturbance of the peace of these missions or impairment of their dignity, and to prevent any attack on diplomatic premises, agents and consular officers.

The Russian embassy in Damascus has been shelled numerous times, most recently on October 3. No staff were hurt in the attack according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Spains lower house of parliament known as the Congress of Deputies approved the appointing Mariano Rajoy, the Popular Party's (PP) leader seeking reelection as the country's prime minister, Sputnik reported.

Rajoys candidacy was upheld by 170 votes, 68 lawmakers abstained from voting and 111 voted against. The second round of voting required a simple majority to grant Rajoy his second term in office.

On Wednesday, Rajoy lost the first round of parliamentary voting to secure his status after a nearly year-long deadlock.

On August 31 and September 2, Rajoy failed to gain the necessary majority in the parliament at the two rounds of elections as the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) voted against him both times.

On October 23, PSOE said that it would abstain in the upcoming parliamentary vote on the prime minister candidacy so that Rajoy could remain in power.
Chinese women are getting concerned over issues on tainted feminine pads that are sold in the market. (Photo : Getty Images)

Two suspects were arrested by Chinese police for the manufacturing and distribution of fake sanitary napkins. The facility that produced the products did not have a sanitation facility.



A test was run for 60 batches of sanitary pads from domestic producers that the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine. The test was held in the first quarter of the year, only three were found to be of substandard quality.



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However, China Consumer Report last year released a contrary report that identified 10 sanitary napkin brands that contained fluorescent whitening agents. This agent can cause cancer to its users.



Zhou Xiaojing, a professional from Beijing, read the report and decided to switch brands.



She said, "It is in direct contact with the body, so it's worthwhile even though overseas ones are more expensive."



Professor Shen Yongjia, from the East China University of Science and Technology's school of chemistry and molecular engineering, said that whitening agents aren't proven to be harmful to people's health.



"Everyone is in contact with paper, notebooks, napkins and detergent powder, which all contain whitening agents. But there have been no reports of them directly harming people's health after so many years," Shen said.



"Even though fluorescent whitening agents are harmful to health, the quantity used is so small that it can be overlooked," he added.



Another expert, Dr. Ma Liangkun, from Peking Union Medical College Hospital's obstetrics and gynecology department, said, "It's not that easy to catch gynecological diseases if the pad is changed every two hours."



On Thursday, many microbloggers in Sino Weibo were outraged with the report.



"Why would someone want to hurt me at my most vulnerable?" asked social media user Sandler.



Some users said that the arrested criminals should be given the death penalty.


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In China, the number of available jobs cannot keep up with the number of jobseekers. (Photo : Getty Images)

Every year, more graduates face the uncertainty of getting employment with the opportunities getting limited.



One student by the pseudonym Xiao Jiang is a second-year graduate student at Beijing International Studies University. She studies in the library every day from 8 am to 10 pm.



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She is one of about 4,000 candidates who are eyeing a spot at the Foreign Ministry in the 2017 round of civil service recruitment.



She is hoping to be one of the 44 applicants that will be offered this position. She will have to undergo several rounds of written exams, oral exams, and interviews.



"I am currently doing exercises for the recruitment like crazy," Jiang said. "I don't think much about how many people have applied for this position. I just want to make an effort for it."



According to Li Zhong, a spokesman for the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, there was 2.1 million people who registered for the process for the 2017 round of civil servant recruitment.



There are only 27,000 vacancies in about 120 central departments and agencies, with around 1.48 million then judged to be qualified to take the first round of exams on Nov. 27.



"Most Chinese people like stable and long-term work," an employee from the Foreign Ministry said.



Another civil servant with the surname of Ye, said, "I feel very lucky to be enrolled through the civil servant recruitment."



"Even though I earn a little bit less than before," he added.



The most popular positions are those that are offered by the central government, especially for jobs requiring little experience.



"The most popular position changes every year, but in general they are the vacancies provided by the central government with relatively fewer limitations on the candidates' academic background and work experience," said Xiong Bingqi, deputy director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute.


The logo of the ride-sharing service Uber is seen in front of its headquarters on Aug. 26, 2016, in San Francisco, California. (Photo : Getty Images/Justin Sullivan)

Uber China is set to roll out a major upgrade to its mobile app and expand into 400 cities across China by the end of the year, the company said in a joint announcement with its local partner DiDi Chuxing on Tuesday.



The two top ride-hailing companies said that the upgrade "the beginning of a renewed quest for product innovation across the two services."



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Uber China merged with Didi earlier in August, acquiring 17 percent of the company as part of a massive $35 billion deal.



According a report by the state-owned Xinhua News Agency on Wednesday, the upgrade will enable "back-end integration" between Uber China and Didi.



The updated app will retain Uber China's popular settings, such as its intuitive user interface and 24-hour in-app customer service, and introduce elements from DiDi's highly successful local design, the report said.



Both companies vowed to synchronize ride dispatches to qualified DiDi and Uber China drivers and bring positive results in efficiency, according to the joint statement.



Prior to the merger, both companies competed against each other in granting subsidies to users in order to grab market share, leading to financial pressures.



Since the merger, users have complained of higher costs on the higher costs on the two ridesharing apps. China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) has announced it will investigate the transaction over monopoly concerns.



Ministry spokesperson Shen Danyang said in September that Uber China and Didi failed to notify the MOC before signing the merger deal, as required by China's Anti-Monopoly Law and other regulations.



DiDi, now one of the world's leading providers of comprehensive mobile transportation services, now offers a wide range of web-based mobility options for some 300 million users in more than 400 Chinese cities. The company is also backed by formidable investors including Tencent, Alibaba, and Apple.


Akufo-Addo should have apologised over hardship  ...
Indias Most Generous Boss Gives Away 1,260 Cars and 400 Homes to his Employees

Savjibhai Dholakia

Gem dealer Savjibhai Dholakia, the most generous man and manager in India, again lived up to that title by lavishing employees of his diamond trading company with 1,260 cars and 400 apartments on the eve of the Hindu festival of Diwali this weekend.



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Dholakia, founder and CEO of Hare Krishna Exports based in Surat, Gujarat, said the gifts are part of a company policy to enrich his staff. He's affectionately called "Kaka" (child) by his employees.



"Our aim is that each employee must have his own home and car in the next five years. So we have decided to gift cars, homes and jewelry to employees," said Dholakia.



Millionaire Dholakia began this unprecedented d spreading of wealth in 2012. He considers the items bonuses in recognition of his employees' loyalty, outstanding performance and commitment and not giveaways.



His company's loyalty program will distribute some $7 million to an unknown number of staff from its 5,500-strong workforce.



To celebrate Diwali in 2014, Kaka gave 1,268 long serving employees cars, apartments and jewelry, among other loyalty bonuses. Almost 500 employees opted for the Fiat Puntos, 570 employees decided to have jewelry cases and 207 employees chose two-bedroom apartments.



Last year he explained the reason for his continuing generosity.



"It's a refund of sorts to those who have stayed with us, helped improve our products and grown with the Hari Krishna family. I am merely giving back," he said.



"I know what it is like to have needs. When a worker is happy, he can do anything at all for you."



Dholakia's incredible version of employee rewards began in 2012 when he gave away three cars to loyal workers. He gave away 70 cars in 2013.



Dholakia believes that these incentives help keep his employees motivated.



"We created the hunger among the employees -- they work better, they take home better incentives," said Dholakia.


In several informal MyMotherLode polls, the questions related to Novembers Propositions 62, 63, 64 and 66. Propositions 62 and 66 both deal with Californias death penalty. Prop 62 seeks to repeal the death penalty and change the punishment to life imprisonment without possibility of parole. The Prop also increases the portion of life inmates wages that may be applied to victim restitution. The states estimates a net and ongoing reduction in state and county criminal justice costs of around $150 million annually within a few years but notes that figure could vary by tens of millions of dollars. Due to legal issues surrounding the states lethal injection procedures, executions have not taken place since 2006. The state is currently in the process of developing procedures to allow for executions by lethal injection to resume.

Our informal poll asked Do you support replacing the death penalty with life sentence in prison? Or Do You Support Prop 66? The results were Neither (against both) 44 percent, 29 percent are for Prop 66, only 21 percent were for Prop 62 and 6 percent didnt know.

A separate poll will be conducted on Prop 66 which changes procedures governing state court challenges to death sentences, including limiting successive petitions and appeals. From 1978 to April 2016, 930 individuals were sentenced to death, meaning the death was a first degree murder, being planned and deliberate or involving kidnapping, and had other special circumstances such as an additional murder or financial gain also proved in court. The voter guide states In recent years, an average of about 20 individuals annually have received death sentences. Various state regulations result in increased security costs for the 748 inmates currently under a death sentence. Unlike most offenders they are required to be placed in separate cells; male inmates are generally required to be housed at San Quentin State Prison (on death row), female inmates are housed at the Central California Womens Facility in Chowchilla.

Prop 63 is a measure with several gun control regulations. The informal My MotherLode poll asked Do you support $25mil for Prop 63: 5 days to report lost/stolen gun, forbid largecapacity ammo magazines, Natl Background Checks, license for ammo sales, convicts give up firearms? An overwhelming majority, 74 percent said No, 24 percent were in favor and a very minimal 2 percent voted Dont know.

Section 30371. (a) of the Prop calls for $25 million from the General Fund as a loan for the start-up costs of implementing, operating and enforcing the provisions of a newly defined ammunition authorization program. It also requires before July 1, 2017 that large-capacity magazines be remove from the state or a person can be charged a fine up to $100 per magazine and/or up to one year in jail. The Prop seeks to make the theft of a gun chargeable as a felony, and makes it illegal for a person charged with a gun theft to own any firearms. The Prop requires the Department of Justices participation in federal National Instant Criminal Background Check System and imposes new penalties if any person does not notify law enforcement if their gun is lost or stolen within 5 days. Lastly beginning January 1, 2018, it would require courts to inform defendants, at the time of conviction, that their conviction deprives them of the right to own a firearm for 10 years or permanently. It requires any firearms they own to be disposed of, generally within 14 days or less, and the court to be provided with documentation about the disposal.

While there is more support for not making any changes to current gun laws or the death penalty, legalizing recreational marijuana is a different matter. The informal poll asked Do You Support Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana by Any Adult 21 or Older as Defined in Prop 64? A full 59 percent of 642 votes said Yes, another 39 percent voted No and only 2 percent dont know.

As reported here, Mother Lode Congressman Tom McClintock is in support of Proposition 64. He said, I abhor the use of marijuana, and believe we should do everything we can through education and persuasion to discourage its use. But our current laws have failed us, and have created a violent and criminal black market that actively and aggressively markets to young people. Legalization takes the criminal profit out of the equation, and allows us to regulate marijuana the same way we currently regulate alcohol. This should make it more difficult for minors to obtain marijuana; it should remove illegal cultivation from our neighborhoods and forests and move it to normal agricultural operations; and it should replace the criminal gangs that traffic marijuana with law-abiding farmers and shopkeepers. Calaveras has its own measures related to marijuana as detailed here.

The news story about the informal MyMotherLode polls on Propositions 51 and 52 is here.

The news story about Propositions 53, 54, 55 and 56 is here.

The news story about Propositions 57, 58, 59, 60 and 61 is here.
PG&E Valley Springs outage map View Photos

Update at 2:50 p.m.: PG&E reports the lights are back on for 158 customers in the Valley Springs area east of Camanche Reservoir. The company did not release any details as to what caused the outage or whether it was weather related. Customers were without lights for about an hour and a half.

Original post at 2 p.m.: Valley Springs, CA  PG&E crews are investigating a power outage in the Valley Springs area that has left 158 customers in the dark on this soggy Friday.

The lights went out just before 1 p.m. along Camanche Parkway South, Penn Mine and Camp Seco roads on the east side of Camanche Reservoir. Crews are on the scene of the outage but there is no word if it is weather related. The company has given 4:30 p.m. as the estimated time of repair.
Sonora Police Department View Photos

Sonora, CA  The Sonora Police Department is seeking the publics help to identify the hit and run suspect.

The crime happened between 1:45 and 2 a.m. Friday on South Stewart Street near the intersection of Linoberg Street. Police report a 22-year-old male victim was struck by a vehicle traveling northbound on South Stewart Street. The force knocked the pedestrian to the ground and the vehicle ran over his legs. The driver stopped but incredibly, police indicate, the driver then backed up, freeing the victims pinned legs and drove off. Luckily, the mans injuries were not life threatening, although he was hospitalized, according to police.

Police describe the vehicle as similar to a silver 90s model Honda or Subaru four-door. Anyone with information on the felony hit and run should call the Sonora Police Department at 209-532-8141.
Indian Army soldiers bear the casket of their comrade, Lans Naik Hemraj, who was beheaded by Muslim terrorists. (Photo : Indian Army)

An Indian Army soldier or jawan was beheaded by Muslim Kashmiri terrorists that infiltrated the Line of Control (LoC) covered by heavy fire from the Pakistan Army, said the Indian Army today.



The soldier was identified as Manjeet Singh of the 17 Sikh Light Infantry. He was mutilated in the Macchil sector of the Kupwara district in Indian-administered Kashmir. The army has strongly condemned the mutilation and vowed to "respond appropriately" to the barbarism.



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This is the fifth known beheading of a jawan since 2011. A jawan named Lans Naik Hemraj was beheaded in January of that year while another jawan was decapitated in August. The Indian Army blamed both barbarisms on the Pakistan Army's "Border Action Team" (BAT).



But the most horrific beheadings were committed by BAT in July 2011. An attack by a BAT team at a remote Indian Army outpost, also in Kupwara, led to the deaths of three jawans.



Two of these men, Havildar Jaipal Singh Adhikari and Lance Naik Devender Singh of 20 Kumaon, were beheaded and their heads taken back to Pakistan.



Indian Army sources said the attack today seemed to also be the handiwork of a BAT, which normally consists of highly-trained Kashmiri terrorists and men of Pakistan's "Special Services Group" (SSG).



According to the Indian Army, BAT is specifically employed by the Pakistan Army for short-range "trans-LoC" raids into Indian-administered Kashmir, sometimes reaching up to three kilometers from the border.



This new firefight and the beheading of a jawan will most certainly worsen tensions along the LoC and at Jammu and Kashmir.



The reaction by the Indian public to the beheading was one of anger, horror and calls for revenge against Pakistan and the terrorists. Twitter was flooded by demands for righteous revenge.



Beheadings are commonly practiced by extremist Muslim terrorists such as ISIS in Iraq and Syria and the Abu Sayyaf Muslim terrorist bandit group in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao.



It remains unclear if the jawan was beheaded after being captured or beheaded after he was killed.



War has been in the air since September when Kashmiri Muslim terrorists killed 19 jawans in a raid on the Uri district in Kashmir. India replied to this atrocity with a series of surgical strikes at Pakistan Army and Kashmiri terrorist positions in Pakistan-controller Kashmir.


In the last article, details were revealed about Truman C. Meineckes branch of the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) in Plainview and Clent Breedloves CAP in Lubbock during World War II.

Security on the home front ranged from security guards and airport police on the ground at Finney Field north of Plainview and Dagley Field and Breedlove Airport in Lubbock to the Civil Air Patrol in the sky guarding the airways, borders and sea lanes of the United States.

Col. Steve Patti of the CAP certainly remembers his part in protecting the borders of the United States during the war. In a recent interview, Steve Patti told of his many experiences in the CAP in Texas near the Mexican border.

My experience with Civil Air Patrol on active duty was on the coast in the Gulf and then on the border, the southern border, Mexican border in Texas, explained Patti.

When asked about border crossings between the United States and Mexico versus the remote areas where the CAP patrolled, Patti said, If there was a road they would be crossing, there would be someone there to check them. In our case, we were out of the city area. We were doing the remote areas though.

Along the Mexican border, the area that I was involved with was the southern part of the Texas border, Laredo, south of Laredo, and then Brownsville and the part from Marfa to El Paso. So it was very remote, like in the Big Bend Country  primitive there. There were no roads on the American side and very few roads (on the Mexican side), because it was such mountainous terrain and so forth.

Patti remembers one flight along the Rio Grande when he was the observer in a Stinson 10A aircraft. He and the pilot were surprised to find a man crossing the river into the United States.

In one instance that I can best recall, we were flying about 50 feet above the river and the river was kind of in a curve and wasnt a straight line and we were flying in a small, two-place Stinson 10A.

We came around the corner, around the bend, and the river was shallow at that particular point; and he had his shoes off, and he had his shoes in his hand and when we came around, he was mid-stream in the river and he looked up at us and I looked down at him.

We were, you know, like 50 feet above him when we went over him and he just looked startled that we caught him crossing the river.

I just wrote down what I saw and where it was and the time of day and described the individual the best I could in a short time frame.

Then there were times that we were in an area on the Mexican side, it was fields, you know, flat ground, and there were dirt roads, more so on the Mexican side; it was more populated with small towns and stuff.

There was vehicle traffic on the Mexican side. We would just kind of fly along behind them with a pair of binoculars in slow-flight, you know, put the flaps down, and just kind of slow-flight behind them and I would get the information: the type of car it was, the color, the make of car possibly.

If it was possible, we would fly behind the guy on this dirt road, and he was doing 45, 50 miles per hour on the dirt road and there is no traffic, and with a pair of binoculars I would try to get the license plate and at the same time, I would look to see, you know, how many occupants were in the car and any other pertinent information of the individuals: which direction they were going, the time of day  that sort of information.

Then when I would get back to the base, I would report to the intelligence officer and give him the information, go into more detail that I didnt write down.

We would check the cars on the Mexican side as well as on the American side, if there was someone in an unpopulated area that was driving a car.

In the way of protection, we carried a Thompson sub-machine gun. Thats the old-fashioned kind like Bonnie and Clyde used or in the St. Valentines Day Massacre.

The Thompson sub-machine gun was a .45-caliber weapon and Patti said that he thought that it held around 20 or 30 rounds of ammunition.

Sometimes, some of the guys would carry a side-arm. I didnt personally, but the pilots would have a side-arm. They were given to us before we took off. Wed carry water and maybe a snack bar to munch on in case we made a forced landing.

We were out of radio contact. The radios that we used were, you know, historic stuff now. They were tube type and you had to extend an antenna out behind the airplane in order to use the transmitter. The frequencies were low frequency transmissions so there was no radio communication with anybody unless you were within just a few miles of their location.

All of this border security might seem excessive today; however, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the landing of eight German agents on Long Island, New York, on the night of June 12, 1942, protecting the home borders was of great concern.

The arrest of the eight German saboteurs was front page news and was especially topical due to the fact that a motion picture with a very similar theme had been released only about six months earlier. All Through the Night, starring Humphrey Bogart, Conrad Veidt, Frank McHugh, Phil Silvers and Jackie Gleason, told the fictitious story of German agents operating in New York City under the direction of Berlin. The German-American actor, Conrad Veidt, directed the spy ring. Their mission was to blow up a U.S. Navy battleship in order to start hostilities with the United States.

One of the many missions of the Civil Air Patrol was to prevent such acts of sabotage, whether in New York City or West Texas, and to prevent incursions of spies into the United States.

More about the history of Finney Field and the CAP will be discussed in the next article.

Readers are asked to visit the Breedlove-CPTP website at www.breedlove-cptp.com for more details about the glider program of WWII.

Anyone with information about the Plainview Pre-Glider School at Finney Field should contact John McCullough at 806-793-4448 or email johnmc@breedlove-cptp.org.
Velma G. Solorzano of Plainview passed away on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2016. Family and friends gatjered to recite The Holy Rosary on Friday, Oct. 28, 2016, at 7 p.m. at Lake Ridge Chapel and Memorial Designers with visitation to follow. Funeral mass for Velma was to be held Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016 at 11 a.m. at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Lubbock. A tribute of Velmas life may be found at www.memorialdesigners.net, where you may leave memories and expressions of sympathy for her family.

Velma was born on Sept. 1, 1963, in Loving, N.M. Velma the owner of Solorzano Law Firm was the daughter of migrant workers and worked in the cotton, soybean, onion and sugar cane fields of Texas as a young girl. Dreaming of a better life, she returned to college as an adult and earned her bachelors degree in business from Wayland Baptist University in 2001, and her MA in Business Administration in 2003. She started Solorzano Business Services in 1993 and was presently still operating her business in Plainview offering bookkeeping and federal and state tax preparation for individuals and small businesses. After completing her masters degree from Wayland, she decided to further her education at Texas Tech University, earning her Doctorate of Jurisprudence from the School of Law. She was a practicing attorney in Texas, focusing her practice on tax and immigration law, including representation before the Federal IRS Courts and Federal Immigration Courts. Mrs. Solorzano also served her community in criminal and family law issues as a proud member of her local bar association boasting of her colleagues compassion and professionalism. Velmas warrior spirit was surpassed only by her passion for serving those less fortunate, specifically those struggling to attain higher education. She and husband Joel established a scholarship for students who are undergoing hardships and facing obstacles in reaching their educational goals. The Solorzano Scholarship Opportunities for Latinos is the familys way of helping create a brighter future for others.


Date: 29/09/2016 10:32 PM (GMT+05:30)

Subject: Dear Thanks For The Respond



Hello My Dear

How are you today? i will like to be kind and faithful to you, i am a woman that have seen life, although it does not matter one' s age, color or achievement, what matters in our life is your kindness to humanity

Dear, i believe that is the most important thing in life, I had been hardworking all my life, i must think of something better, to enjoy my life and probably have a family maybe relocate and start investing in other things, Anyway i will like to tell you more about me, My name is Miss Annabel Bruce, am from San Marino, i was born in San Marino, And i left San Marino at Age of 13 Years to England, which to the glory of God Am working as an Senior Audit/banker in Al Rayan Bank Plc United Kingdom, is very painful i lost my only daughter at age of 5 years,

i was married but my Ex Husband got married to another woman, which caused our divorce, but is ok that is life for you, since he accused me of been so busy due to my bank work activities as accounting/auditing, that i was not having time for him and our kids before she passed away, but he refused to understand that i was pursing a goal, i told him that soon i will resign and we will have enough time for each other but he was impatient, although is over between us, I am happy alone because I have everything i need, This is why I think of relocating to another country to get into investment and maybe own a small company which i can be able to manage on my own, Please would you tell me more about yourself too? I like to know more about you for me to know if we can achieve this goal together, your marital status and your country of origin

I will be glad to hear from you soon Yours Faithful Annabel From: Annabel Bruce < annabelbruce7@gmail.com >Date: 29/09/2016 10:32 PM (GMT+05:30)Subject: Dear Thanks For The Respond









Date: 03/10/2016 1:25 PM (GMT+05:30)

Subject: Dear Sincerity And Faithfulness Is All I Needed



MY DEAR, i must thank you once again for your humble reply to my mail. I really appreciate it so much and i am very happy to read from you, well from your respond i' m convinced that the future has a special place for us, if only we could trust each other and also be honest and faithful to each other as well

Like i told you earlier, i was looking forward to accomplish a particular mission, which my ' ' ex ' ' husband was unlucky to achieve with me, I think with the little you have told me about you, it would be very wise to disclose this secret to you and also tell you my aim and plan. Because it would be of mutual benefit to us and maybe you could be the right person to utilize the opportunity with me, because i believe our knowing each other is the way God have destiny it

Remember i told you i am an Auditor of my bank and also the Chief of the International Relation Foreign Remittance Unit. Prior to my position here at my bank, i have the opportunity to loot out some amount of money of a deceased customer, whose autopsy result showed that he died as a result of gun shorts by unknown gunmen. As i was his personal accountant officer, before he died and from the account opening records, he did not indicate anybody as his beneficiary next of kin. Since 2008 to date, nobody has come forward as his beneficiary next of kin to administer the fund. The amount in question is the total sum of $:14.500,000. (Fourteen Million Five Hundred Thousand USD).

I can provide all the required legal papers from the British Court to present you as the legal beneficiary to these funds if you would accept to partner with me in this deal. A lot of abandoned money lay around in this bank as a result of abandoned bank accounts, stock holdings, unclaimed life insurance pay-outs and forgotten pension benefits. I will definitely give you comprehensive details on how we would achieve this legally, without going against the laws of the country. Once you reply to me indicating your interest to work with me. I have worked with the bank for several years and have taken time to study the British inheritance claims procedures. I would appreciate it if you would treat this issue with every bit of confidentiality and maturity, putting my integrity foremost, because i wouldn' t need any mistakes or regrets. I assure you that you will never regret it if you would take the bold step to partner with me in this deal. It would be wise if we make every effort not to loose this golden opportunity. This happens in every bank around the world, even in your own country, but people outside the banking industry do not know this.

The fund will be shared at the ratio of 58% for me, 40% for you and 2% will be set aside to cover any expenses and tax in your bank, We will use the fund there in your country to build companies and for investment which both of us would manage, Please this is an honest request for you and i. i only plead for you to make this transaction a top secret because we do not have to trust anybody unless you and i alone.

Thanks and best regards Yours Faithful Annabel

From: Annabel Bruce < annabelbruce7@gmail.com >Date: 03/10/2016 1:25 PM (GMT+05:30)Subject: Dear Sincerity And Faithfulness Is All I Needed



Date: 04/10/2016 3:25 PM (GMT+05:30)

Subject: Dear Contact The Bank Today For Confirmation



Hello Dear

How are you doing together with your family, I hope all is well ? here is my phone number +447706646191 NOTE do not call me, you can SMS me, Because Bank set security to monitor every member of the Bank due our banking rule and regulation

Kindly make sure that this information will be between you and me until we actualized the success of this transaction, What i want you to do now is to apply for the release of the fund into your account, Make sure you keep a top secret of this transaction because i don't want any staff of the bank to know that i am responsible for this transaction, This is where i lay the future survival hope of our future, and its was the reason I tried to explain for your best understanding

You should not change your name and nationality in this transaction because you are going to apply as the business partner to the deceased customer Note, if you send this letter to the bank, the bank will not delay to contact you, but you should not respond back to the bank until i direct you on what to do

This is to avoid mistake from your part , See the official letter below, send it through to the bank through the bank email address of the bank as follows.

Bank Details al.rayanbankplc@accountant.com Managing Director, Sultan Choudhury Address PO Box 12461 Birmingham B16 6AQ United Kingdom Phone +44 7970 8534 67 Bank Email al.rayanbankplc@accountant. com <al.rayanbankplc@accountant.com>

Immediately this fund is transferred into your account, then i will obtain visa to your country for the disbursement of the fund according to my proposal ratio, Immediately you apply update me that you have sent the letter to the bank.

My best regard to you and your family, Your Faithful Annabel



= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = COPY AND SEND THIS BELOW MASSAGE TO BANK

To The Manager Al Rayan Bank Plc United Kingdom Managing Director, Sultan Choudhury Address PO Box 12461 Birmingham B16 6AQ United Kingdom Phone +44 7970 8534 67 Bank Email al.rayanbankplc@accountant. com <al.rayanbankplc@accountant.com>

APPLICATION FOR REQUEST OF CLAIM

Sir / Madam,

I am . . . . . . the business partner to Late Mr Mabrouk Omar, who was assassinated on January 13, 2008 when Gun men shot him while still inside the capital Libya, Tripoli

After his funeral celebration, i discovered that he have an unclaimed and balance account Fourteen Million Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars. ($14.5 Million) deposited in your bank when he was alive.

I hereby wish to bring to your notice that i am eager to apply for the funds claim as his business partner to enable your bank release and transfer his balance account of ($ 14.5 Million) into my nominated bank account, Upon your urgent response to this effect, I will send you my bank account information for the transfer of the above mentioned sum

So i expect that your bank management will pay an urgent attention to my request and communicate to me further with the related forms and documents necessary to claim this above mentioned sum without delay.

I apologize for late application for this claim as i have been arranging other things left since his sudden death occurred.

Yours sincerely. . . . From: Annabel Bruce < annabelbruce7@gmail.com >Date: 04/10/2016 3:25 PM (GMT+05:30)Subject: Dear Contact The Bank Today For Confirmation

Date: 05/10/2016 2:04 PM (GMT+05:30)

Subject: Hello Dear



Hello Dear How was your night? i hope you slept well

Dear, i have heard what you said, i told you i' m a senior staff in this bank i will be here to ensure everything will be done accordingly

Well like i said earlier i had been working in this bank for some years now, which i know all there banking constitution, all you need to do is to forward the mail to the bank as i directed, then any respond you got from the bank forward it to me to enable me to direct you what next to do before the bank will release the money as our next of kin transaction demand, i hope you understand everything i said, just forward the mail to the bank first

I will stop here, inform me once you forward the mail to the bank today, bye and have a nice day Yours Faithful Annabel From: Annabel Bruce < annabelbruce7@gmail.com >Date: 05/10/2016 2:04 PM (GMT+05:30)Subject: Hello Dear

Date: 06/10/2016 5:12 PM (GMT+05:30)

Subject: Hello Dear





Hello Dear How are you feeling today? i hope everything is fine with you

Dear, i have heard what you said, inform me as soon as you send the mail to our bank ok, i will stop here, bye and have a nice day Yours Beloved Annabel From: Annabel Bruce < annabelbruce7@gmail.com >Date: 06/10/2016 5:12 PM (GMT+05:30)Subject: Hello Dear

Date: 07/10/2016 6:00 PM (GMT+05:30)

Subject: Hello Dear





Hello Dear How are you feeling today? i hope everything is fine with you

Dear, i have heard what you said, i' m in the office now i can' t do such thing, please i want to know if you have send the mail to our bank as i directed, please try and put more effort in this matter remember that this is issue of money that demand our urgent attention, try all your best for us to actualize this dream to reality

I will stop here, inform me how everything is going, bye and have a nice day Yours Beloved Annabel From: Annabel Bruce < annabelbruce7@gmail.com >Date: 07/10/2016 6:00 PM (GMT+05:30)Subject: Hello Dear

Date: 10/10/2016 4:32 PM (GMT+05:30)

Subject: Hello Dear



Hello Dear I have heard what you said, inform me as soon as you the mail to our bank as you promised, i will stop here, bye and have a nice day Yours Beloved Annabel From: Annabel Bruce < annabelbruce7@gmail.com >Date: 10/10/2016 4:32 PM (GMT+05:30)Subject: Hello Dear

Date: 12/10/2016 5:19 PM (GMT+05:30)

Subject: Hello Dear





Hello Dear How are you feeling today? i hope everything is fine with you

Dear, i have heard what you said, but honestly you are just delaying this process, just forward this mail to the bank so that they can be able to start the process of this transaction on time before they close for the next of kin transaction,

I will stop here, inform me once you send the mail to our bank today, bye and have a nice day, Yours Beloved Annabel From: Annabel Bruce < annabelbruce7@gmail.com >Date: 12/10/2016 5:19 PM (GMT+05:30)Subject: Hello Dear

Date: 13/10/2016 3:58 PM (GMT+05:30)

Subject: COPY AND SEND THIS BELOW MASSAGE TO BANK







To The Manager Al Rayan Bank Plc United Kingdom

Managing Director, Sultan Choudhury

Address PO Box 12461 Birmingham B16 6AQ United Kingdom

Phone +44 7970 8534 67

Bank Email



APPLICATION FOR REQUEST OF CLAIM



Sir / Madam,



I am . . . . . . the business partner to Late Mr Mabrouk Omar, who was assassinated on January 13, 2008 when Gun men shot him while still inside the capital Libya, Tripoli



After his funeral celebration, i discovered that he have an unclaimed and balance account Fourteen Million Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars. ($14.5 Million) deposited in your bank when he was alive.



I hereby wish to bring to your notice that i am eager to apply for the funds claim as his business partner to enable your bank release and transfer his balance account of ($ 14.5 Million) into my nominated bank account, Upon your urgent response to this effect, I will send you my bank account information for the transfer of the above mentioned sum



So i expect that your bank management will pay an urgent attention to my request and communicate to me further with the related forms and documents necessary to claim this above mentioned sum without delay.



I apologize for late application for this claim as i have been arranging other things left since his sudden death occurred.



Yours sincerely. . . .

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =To The Manager Al Rayan Bank Plc United KingdomManaging Director, Sultan ChoudhuryAddress PO Box 12461 Birmingham B16 6AQ United KingdomPhone +44 7970 8534 67Bank Email al.rayanbankplc@accountant.com APPLICATION FOR REQUEST OF CLAIMSir / Madam,I am . . . . . . the business partner to Late Mr Mabrouk Omar, who was assassinated on January 13, 2008 when Gun men shot him while still inside the capital Libya, TripoliAfter his funeral celebration, i discovered that he have an unclaimed and balance account Fourteen Million Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars. ($14.5 Million) deposited in your bank when he was alive.I hereby wish to bring to your notice that i am eager to apply for the funds claim as his business partner to enable your bank release and transfer his balance account of ($ 14.5 Million) into my nominated bank account, Upon your urgent response to this effect, I will send you my bank account information for the transfer of the above mentioned sumSo i expect that your bank management will pay an urgent attention to my request and communicate to me further with the related forms and documents necessary to claim this above mentioned sum without delay.I apologize for late application for this claim as i have been arranging other things left since his sudden death occurred.Yours sincerely. . . . From: Annabel Bruce < annabelbruce7@gmail.com >Date: 13/10/2016 3:58 PM (GMT+05:30)Subject: COPY AND SEND THIS BELOW MASSAGE TO BANK From: Al Rayan bank < al.rayanbankplc@accountant.com >

Date: 13/10/2016 5:44 PM (GMT+05:30)

Subject: RESPONDS TO YOUR CLAIM FROM AL RAYAN BANK AL RAYAN BANK PLC UNITED KINGDOM ATTENTION Sir,

We wish to inform you our transfer department of Al Rayan Bank United Kingdom, carefully received your official message in respect of our late customer funds. According to our Bank rules and regulations, the formal procedure(s) must be adopted to enable us to carried out our official Bank duties which is needful before the transfer will be effect for confirmation Note that you are expected to abide by the principles for us to finalize this transaction accordingly,You are therefore advised to view the TWO forms attached, fill the columns with the accurate information required for the immediate process of your claim. You are hereby given 48 hours to return these forms back to this Bank, We stand to give all our customer the best of our service, We once again welcome you to Al Rayan Bank United Kingdom Thanks Managing Director Sultan Ahmed Choudhury AL RAYAN BANK PLC UNITED KINGDOM















Date: 13/10/2016 9:17 PM (GMT+05:30)

Subject: Dear fill this information's and your personal data in this form



My Dear,

How are you doing together with your family, I hope all is well? Please bear with me that I am working on it to put all the necessary information in the form of official inquiry of deceased, I will like you to make an effort to see that this transaction is successful. This is a transaction that both of us need to be very careful to see that everything goes well.

I could understand this is a matter of urgency, therefore see the deceased information below, use it to fill the official inquiry of deceased form and send back to the bank immediately.

You should complete the next of kin ID form with your information and bank account details for the transfer. Please you should be very careful and hope that the success will be achieve soon.

You should avoid mistake from your side. What you should do now is to print the forms out and fill it with pen and sign on it, then send it back to the bank today or first thing tomorrow morning because the bank gave condition for the return of the forms. I will wait to hear from you and my best regard to you and your family. The Next of kin ID form will be filled with your information and your bank details for the transfer as the bank directed.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - THE DECEASED INFORMATION

DECEASED INFORMATION.

1: Deceased full name: MR MABROUK OMAR

2: Deceased occupation when he was alive; Business Tycoon & Medical Adviser

3: Where did he reside / address: Tripoli Ave-Deltona, FL 32725, EEUULybia

4: Deceased country of origin: Libya

5: Deceased place / Date of Birth: Libya / Nov 1, 1944.

6: Name(s) of the deceased wife or wives: He has one wife, Mrs Fatima Omar

7: Name(s) of the deceased child or children: NON

8: Your relationship with the deceased: He is my Business partner

9: Deceased Account type with this bank: company acceptance

10: Deceased Account number:-SID5813060001

11: Account Title of the deceased: MR MABROUK OMAR

12: Date account was opened: 16th August,2004

13: Year the fund was deposited: 16th August,2004







. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

From: Annabel Bruce < annabelbruce7@gmail.com >Date: 13/10/2016 9:17 PM (GMT+05:30)Subject: Dear fill this information's and your personal data in this form From: Al Rayan bank < al.rayanbankplc@accountant.com >

Date: 15/10/2016 6:54 PM (GMT+05:30)

Subject: RESPONDS TO YOUR CLAIM FROM AL RAYAN BANK AL RAYAN BANK PLC UNITED KINGDOM ATTENTION



Sir,

Be notified that the management of Al Rayan Bank United Kingdom, is in receipt of the returned Official Deceased inquiry form with the correct information required.



You therefore instructed after the Bank Executive Board of Directors meeting, before the Bank can be able to approve the fund in your favor as the benefited next of kin to the deceased, You are required to pass the second test by forwarding the following documents to the bank.



(1) The Death Certificate of the Deceased.

(2)The deposit Certificate Issued to him on 16th August, 2004.

(3) your National Identification Card or valid International Passport.



We request for this stated documents with immediate effect to enable us to approve your request.

Thanks. Managing Director Sultan Ahmed Choudhury AL RAYAN BANK PLC UNITED KINGDOM

From: Al Rayan bank < al.rayanbankplc@accountant.com >

Date: 18/10/2016 4:56 PM (GMT+05:30)

Subject: RESPONDS TO YOUR CLAIM FROM AL RAYAN BANK AL RAYAN BANK PLC UNITED KINGDOM ATTENTION



THE APPROVAL OF CERTIFICATES/DOCUMENTATION FROM AL RAYAN BANK PAYMENT PRESERVATION ORDER



Be notified that before the said fund will be transferred into your nominated bank account, You are required to send (1) AFFIDAVIT OF CLAIM AS THE LEGAL BENEFICIARY (2) POWER OF ATTORNEY, (3) A NON-RESIDENT CERTIFICATE, The above list documents must be Endorsed by Royal Courts of Justice (RCJ) Britain as the release order of the said fund in your nominated bank account, you are to provide those documents withing 7 working days as our banking law stipulates



(1) AFFIDAVIT OF CLAIM AS THE LEGAL BENEFICIARY

(2) POWER OF ATTORNEY

(3) A NON-RESIDENT CERTIFICATE



You will swear an affidavit before the SUPREME COURT OF BRITAIN That you are the authentic next of kin to the deceased, All formal procedures must be Satisfied, This will be signed by the Court Registrar Britain

OPTIONAL:- In alternative whereby you can not be able to come here and submit these certificate in person as our Financial Act 2003 demands, you have the lawful right as the successor to contact our Bank Financial Attorney to carry out the legal responsibilities on your behalf.



YOU ARE ADVICE TO CONTACT OUR ATTORNEY FOR POWER OF ATTORNEY AND AFFIDAVIT OF OATH / A NON-RESIDENT CERTIFICATE URGENT.



Barrister Patrick Smith

The solicitor in Charge of Al Rayan Bank United Kingdom

Address: 1 America Square, Crosswall, London EC3N 2SG, United Kingdom

Name. . Patrick Smith

Phone . . +447977950718

Email: Bar.Patricksmith@oath.com



Be informed immediately those documents are submitted, the bank will not hesitate to effect approve and commence the transfer to your nominated bank account within 72 hours,



Note; you are instructed to proceed with immediate effect enable our bank to carry out the transaction accordingly,Thank you for your co operations and congratulations Managing Director Sultan Ahmed Choudhury AL RAYAN BANK PLC UNITED KINGDOM



Date: 18/10/2016 8:52 PM (GMT+05:30)

Subject: Dear forward this mail to the lawyer immediately



Hello Dear How are you doing i strongly believe you are doing great

Dear, i have heard what you said, go ahead and contact the lawyer as the bank directed so that he can be able to assist us and get the remaining documents, which is the last stage for the transfer, i hope you understand what i said?

Remember we have only few days to provide the documents according to the bank rules, please go ahead and contact the lawyer today for him to stand on your behalf and process the required documents as the bank directed

Please Copy this message below and send it to the Barrister Patrick Smith Law firm now

I will stop here, inform me once you forward the mail to the lawyer today

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - SEND THIS BELOW MASSAGE TO LAWYER NOW.

Barrister Patrick Smith law Chambers The solicitor in Charge of Al Rayan Bank United Kingdom Address: America Square Conference, 1 America Square, Crosswall, London EC3N 2SG, United Kingdom Name:. . . . . Patrick Smith Phone: . . . . . +447977950718 Email: Bar.Patricksmith@oath.com

Dear Sir, I am . . . . , the business partner to Late Mr Mabrouk Omar, who was who passed away on February 06, 2008 when Gun men shot him while still inside the Libya capital, Tripoli

As his business partner / next of Kin, I applied for his remaining Balance from his Bank. The bank acknowledged my application and confirmed that I am indeed the real partner of late Mr Mabrouk Omar

I followed all the instructions from the bank and we are now at the point where the bank wants to approve this fund in my name and release the funds to my account here in my country

However, the bank wants me to come down in person, but due to the business schedule, I will not be able to come down in person at the moment. The bank have giving me Option of contacting you. The bank requested. .

(1) Power of Attorney (2) Affidavit of Claim the legal beneficially (3) A Non Resident Certificate

Sir, i believe you will assist me in obtaining these documents from the Government Institution who's dealing with these documents and hand it over to the bank. I will appreciated it if you can send me also copies of the documents for that fact I must also prove these documents into the receive of revenue for tax purposes here in my country, The money is with Al Rayan Bank Plc United Kingdom For further information you can contact me.

Yours Faithfully. . . From: Annabel Bruce < annabelbruce7@gmail.com >Date: 18/10/2016 8:52 PM (GMT+05:30)Subject: Dear forward this mail to the lawyer immediately

Date: 19/10/2016 8:52 PM (GMT+05:30)

Subject: Your Attention Sir,



Your Attention Sir, I humbly wish to write in respect of the mail i received from you Regarding the legal Parturition of Affidavit of Claim, and Power of Attorney / A Non-Resident Notarized Letter of Administration Certificate, well your request was well received on this day which was Noted respectably, It' s absolutely obligatory That we must know who you are by forwarding this mentioned data to this law firm First of all you are to send your international passport or your national Id card for identification, and your direct private telephone number for easy communication and the name of your country of origin, your full name and your date of birth. In receipt of this data, you will be required to sign a legal power of attorney, after we receiving all the relevant information' s from you, Which Will empower this law firm before the bank in any necessary question to render my service legally to ensure i get the Mentioned documents from Royal Court of Justice(RCJ) successfully. Thanks And Yours In Service

Barrister Patrick Smith Chambers

Address:1 America Square, Crosswall, From: Bar Patrick Smith < Bar.Patricksmith@oath.com >Date: 19/10/2016 8:52 PM (GMT+05:30)Subject: Your Attention Sir,



Date: 20/10/2016 1:43 PM (GMT+05:30)

Subject: Hello My Dear







Hello My Dear How are you doing today with great hope everything moving according to the glory of God

Dear, i have read the mail which you received from the lawyer and understood everything the lawyer is demanding from you, go ahead and forward the information' s to the lawyer as he requested so that he can be able to start the process of the documents immediately, as you know this is the only problem we have to complete the transfer now,

I will stop here, inform me once you forward the information' s to the lawyer, bye and have a nice day, Yours Beloved Annabel From: Annabel Bruce < annabelbruce7@gmail.com >Date: 20/10/2016 1:43 PM (GMT+05:30)Subject: Hello My Dear

Date: 20/10/2016 6:53 PM (GMT+05:30)

Subject: Your Attention Sir,



Your Attention Sir,



In respect of your mail concerning the legal Parturition of Affidavit of Claim, and Power of Attorney / A Non-Resident Notarized Letter of Administration Certificate, actually your mail was well received i will do everything within my legal power to ensure i get the needful documents once i receive all the necessary requirement from you

I have made an inquiry from Royal Courts of Justice, on your behalf since you have requested my total assistance to help secure and legalized Affidavit of Claim and Power of Attorney / A Non-Resident Notarized Letter of Administration Certificate, from Royal Courts of Justice on your behalf which will enable your legal representation as a legitimate legal beneficiary,I have confirm with the Royal Courts of Justice, to ascertain the cost of procuring the needed documents according to the rules and Commands of the law act and obligation guiding the members of the international bars Association,



SECTION 1

AFFIDAVIT OF CLAIM

(1) Registration of your Particulars. . . . . . . 50 British Pounds.

(2) Application Stamp Duty Fee. . . . . . . . 50 British Pounds.

(3) Processing Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 British Pounds

(4) Processing Insurance of An Affidavit. . . 100 British Pounds



SECTION 2

A; NON-RESIDENT NOTARIZED LETTER OF ADMINISTRATION CERTIFICATE

A. REGISTRATION FEE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 BRITISH POUNDS

B. STAMP DUTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 BRITISH POUNDS

C. AN AFFIDAVIT OF JURISDICTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 BRITISH POUNDS

D. CERTIFICATE OF LEGALITY CLEARANCE . . . . . . . 350 BRITISH POUNDS

E. ATTESTATION FEE BETWEEN YOU AND COURT. . . . .430 BRITISH POUNDS You have to pay the total amount of ( 1,333 GBP British Pound ) These will accredit and ascertain your legal request to be carried out with immediate effect Be informed that you will pay the ( 1,333 GBP British Pound ) before i proceed with preparation of the documents, you must make this payment before i proceed which will enable me to finalized the documents within a period of two working days



You are instructed to get back to me once you are ready for the payment to enable me to direct you on how to deposit the money through Western Union or Money Gram Transfer Agency, with my secretary name to enable him to receive the money on my behalf due to my legal activities at the federal high court

Sir, be informed i will proceed with this legal documents once i confirm the payment as the rule of my law firm demand, get back to me once you are ready for the legal fees to enable me to give you the information' s you will use to depsit the money, my duty is to give all my client the best of my service. Thanks And Yours In Service

Barrister Patrick Smith Chambers

Address:1 America Square, Crosswall, From: Bar Patrick Smith < Bar.Patricksmith@oath.com >Date: 20/10/2016 6:53 PM (GMT+05:30)Subject: Your Attention Sir,



Date: 20/10/2016 8:01 PM (GMT+05:30)

Subject: Dear try your best at this final stage



Hello My Dear

My Dear, i have heard all you said, which i also seen the mail you got from the lawyer concerning his legal fees, dear, like i told you earlier i can not involve myself in this matter for the fact the lawyer was provided by our bank, i don' t want the bank to know that i' m aware of this transaction, because if they find out i will be in a very big problem, please you have to find a away possible to comply with the lawyer even if it mean for you to borrow the money from friends or relative then as soon as the transfer is done you can refund them the money from the 2 percent i map out for any expenses you did during the process of this transaction

I hope you understand everything i said, try everything possible and reason with the lawyer to enable him to get the documents ready since he had already promised to get the documents in the next 48 hours, once he confirm his legal fees, and besides the bank had already agreed to transfer the money once they receive the three documents, as you can see everything is in our hand now, i will stop here, keep me posted how everything is going, bye and have a nice day Yours Beloved Annabel From: Annabel Bruce < annabelbruce7@gmail.com >Date: 20/10/2016 8:01 PM (GMT+05:30)Subject: Dear try your best at this final stage

Date: 20/10/2016 10:42 PM (GMT+05:30)

Subject: Hello Dear







Hello Dear

Dear, i have heard what you said, i wish you can understand my point in this matter i can not involve myself in this transaction because if the bank mistakenly find out that i' m aware of this transfer, i will definitely end up in jail, the bank are monitoring me since you requested for this funds due to my relationship with the deceased, i' m his personal account officer, i' m seriously under surveillance

Remember this is like a final battle to this transaction, i know it will be very difficult for you to raise the money, but you have to fight for the fact the bank had already confirmed you as the truthful next of kin to the deceased, is only this three documents is problem now

Dear, always remember what we are fighting for this is a huge amount of money that will change our life forever, please try all your best even if it mean to borrow the money from bank, friends or relative, go ahead and do it so that the bank can be able to complete the transfer this month, i will stop here, awaiting for your respond, bye and have a nice day Yours Beloved Annabel From: Annabel Bruce < annabelbruce7@gmail.com >Date: 20/10/2016 10:42 PM (GMT+05:30)Subject: Hello Dear

Date: 21/10/2016 2:03 PM (GMT+05:30)

Subject: Hello Dear



Hello Dear How are you doing i strongly believe you are doing great

Dear, i have heard what you said, i felt speechless and confuse i don' t just know what to do or say again, because the bank had already confirmed you as the truthful next of kin to this fund, i wish i have the power to provide this money as you suggested without any problem i will definitely do it, because i know the money will help me build a great future, but is unfortunate the situation in our bank is beyond my control, honestly i rather look for another representative than to involve myself in this transaction i don' t want to go jail and still loose the whole money

Please fight tirelessly to enable us to win this battle successfully, since the bank had already promised to release the money in the next 72 hours once they confirm the last three documents, it seen like everything is in our hand now, i will stop here, awaiting for your respond, bye and have a nice day Yours Beloved Annabel From: Annabel Bruce < annabelbruce7@gmail.com >Date: 21/10/2016 2:03 PM (GMT+05:30)Subject: Hello Dear

Date: 21/10/2016 10:21 PM (GMT+05:30)

Subject: Attention Sir,



Your Attention Sir,

With all due respect i wish to write in accordance to your mail, Sir, you will deposit the legal fees through Money Gram Or Western Union Transfer Agency, to enable my secretary to receive the money on my behalf due to my legal activities as i explained in my previous mail. Here is the information' s which you will use to deposit the money throughMoney Gram Transfer Agency Receiver Name:. . . . . Lucky Edosa

Phone: . . . . . . . . .+447855676438

Country:. . . . . . . . United Kingdom

Address,. . . . . . . . America Square Conference, 1 America Square, Crosswall, EC3N 2SG Sir, inform me once you deposit the money with the payment slip you got from Money Gram Transfer Office, after the transaction to enable my secretary to confirm the payment here. Which i will legally advice you to ensure you send the moneytomorrow as i instructed, so that i can be able to get the documents ready in the next 2 working days due to the bank next of kin constitution, get back to me once the payment is made to enable me to proceed effectively.

Thank You. Thanks And Yours In Service

Barrister Patrick Smith Chambers

Address:1 America Square, Crosswall,

London EC3N 2SG, United Kingdom From: Bar Patrick Smith < Bar.Patricksmith@oath.com >Date: 21/10/2016 10:21 PM (GMT+05:30)Subject: Attention Sir,



Date: 22/10/2016 6:38 PM (GMT+05:30)

Subject: i'm very disappointed in you



Hello Dear

I felt very disappointed to hear such doubtful word from you after all the trusted i placed in you, Listen i' m well comfortable with my banking salary here, what on earth will i do with your money or to cheat on you? if you like you can come over here in UK for you to confirm everything here in our bank, so that you can be able to meet the lawyer face to face before any payment



is very discouraging up to now you haven' t trust me, but i trusted you without seeing you in person i told you everything about the money due to the trust i deposited in you, listen if you don' t trust or believe me you can forget about the transaction i' m not forcing you, and i will personally refund your money back to you

because i know the transaction will definitely benefit you and me, this opportunity is what make some banks manger secretly rich, my bank staff id card, for you to confirm my position in this bank, Whatever i told you is nothing but the truth which you can come over here for confirmation



i' m very disappointed in you

Yours Faithful Annabel From: Annabel Bruce < annabelbruce7@gmail.com >Date: 22/10/2016 6:38 PM (GMT+05:30)Subject: i'm very disappointed in you

Date: 24/10/2016 10:24 PM (GMT+05:30)

Subject: Hello Dear





I don' t know what to say again because I' m tired of saying the same word every time, i have told you severally if you want to confirm everything about the money you can come over here in our bank to confirm the account balance of late Mr Omar the 14.5 Million Dollars is there intact, Just tell me what on earth will i do with your hard earn money while i' m comfortable with my banking salary

I believe you will confirm everything i told you as soon as possible our bank receive the last three documents, is just a matter of few days, you will realize nothing is impossible in this life,

i will stop here, inform me as soon as you send the legal fees to the lawyer tomorrow, bye and have a nice day Yours Faithful Annabel Hello Dear From: Annabel Bruce < annabelbruce7@gmail.com >Date: 24/10/2016 10:24 PM (GMT+05:30)Subject: Hello Dear

Date: 24/10/2016 7:31 PM (GMT+05:30)

Subject: Hello Dear



Hello Dear I have told you repeatedly nothing like another fees in this matter, this three documents is the last and final documents which is needed to enable our bank to complete the transaction as our bank next of kin rules and regulation demand, nothing like another payment in this matter

I will stop here, always inform me how everything is going, bye and have a nice day Yours Beloved Annabel From: Annabel Bruce < annabelbruce7@gmail.com >Date: 24/10/2016 7:31 PM (GMT+05:30)Subject: Hello Dear If you received a similar letter, please ignore it. Do not answer it. If you do, you will end up on more of the mailing lists used by the criminals behind this fraud. Read more....
Face of War (Photo : Daria Marchenko)

The recently introduced Russian RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) seems a weapon of mass destruction (WMD) developed from hell. It travels faster than the speed of sound and carries multiple nuclear warheads that in turn can be configured to strike targets independently. Appropriately, the Pentagon nicknamed the RS-28 as Satan 2.



Advertisement

Satan 2 is now the flagship Russian ICBM, replacing the R-36 or also known as the original Satan ICBM. Both WMDs, according to Business Insider, can hit the continental United States on all stretch and the last check from the U.S. military indicated that when airborne any of the Satan ICBMs are unstoppable.



"Neither missile can be stopped by the US's existing missile defenses," the report said.



But formidable and destructive the Satan 2 (likewise the first Satan) is, the ICBM has its share of weaknesses that the Pentagon can exploit to its advantage. For one, according to Dr. Jeffery Lewis of Arms Control Wonk, the WMDs are unstable no thanks to the Russians' use of liquid fuel.



"Russians love liquid fuel so much," Lewis told Business Insider, adding that the technology allows the deployment of multiple warheads in a single missile launch. But there also lies the hazard on Russia's part, Lewis said.



It's not very strategic to cram numerous warheads into one missile as the move affords the enemy the advantage of fewer targets to map when going for preemptive strikes, which appear as the best defense that the U.S. has against Satan or Satan 2 given that the ICBMs are impossible to intercept mid-air.



Lewis also claimed that with liquid fuel running inside of the Satan ICBMs, they are both unstable and less-mobile. They are unlikely to be deployed via submarines so the preferred delivery by the Russians would be missile silos - meaning the launch locations are fixed and therefore are easier targets for preemptive action.



And back to the unstable issue for both the Satan and Satan 2 ICBMs, there are just too many things working against the Russians. One is the crucial concern of maintenance. "Russia's newest nukes have an absurd, diabolical offensive potential, they demand constant attention and protection ... Moscow now has dangerous liquid-field missiles to maintain with costly maintenance for decades to come," Business Insider said on its report.



Yet the most dreadful scenario would be Russia's enemies successfully wiping out the Satan and Satan 2 ICBMs in preemptive strikes that at the same time will likely result to the nation instead absorbing the hellish destruction designed with the WMD.


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A blue whale that washed ashore near Thornton State Beach in Daly City this week was in all likelihood killed by a boat, researchers said Friday.

A team of a dozen scientists with the Marine Mammal Center, California Academy of Sciences, Noyo Center, and UC Davis, concluded the sea creature had injuries seen in whales involved in a vessel collision.

Pathologists worked with the scientists, observing necrotic tissue areas near the mammals fractured skull and extensive contusions that extended along the spine of the carcass, the center said.

No ship captains reported hitting any whales. Its all speculation. All we can document is that theres trauma, said Sue Pemberton, a curatorial assistant at the California Academy of Sciences. The impact was hard enough to basically shatter the back of his skull.

On Thursday, the team went to Westmoor Beach near Daisaku Ikeda Canyon to conduct a full necropsy on the animal despite its degraded body condition.

There, they found the 65-foot male whale had multiple fractures at the back of its skull that indicate blunt force trauma. Pemberton said the impact area could be between 20 to 30 feet wide.

The center received a report around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday of a whale carcass floating in the surf about a quarter mile off of Daisaku Ikeda Canyon.

It was the seventh blue whale carcass beached in the last 40 years along the Central and Northern California coastline, said Giancarlo Rulli, a spokesman for the mammal center.

There were no plans to remove the whale, which will be fed on by animals in the area as it decomposes, Pemberton said.

The last dead blue whale washed ashore in the region in 2010 at the Bean Hollow State Beach in San Mateo County. Scientists determined the female whale, which had been carrying a fetus, died of blunt force trauma after being hit by a ship.

Its just sad when things like this happen and the fix isnt quick, Pemberton said. Hopefully documenting these animals who are dying from apparent ship strikes will help.

Staff writer Kimberly Veklerov contributed to this report.

Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno
BRIDGEPORT  When her business was burglarized again Thursday at around 3 a.m., Socorro Silva made one copy of the surveillance video for the police and another for the media.

Unfortunately, the police dont do anything, Silva said.

The footage, which she copied Friday morning, shows two men smashing a window to break into El Mexicanito, the Park Avenue remittance and mobile accessory business she owns with her son.

Silva said she is frustrated that an earlier burglary of her business two months ago had not been solved. And shes not the only Hispanic business owner miffed by unsolved burglaries.

City Councilman Jose Casco, D-136, said the burglaries of El Mexicanito reflect a pattern across the city, and he is calling on the Bridgeport Police Department to step up its response.

Casco wants more police in areas like the Main Street section of his district near Suprema Pizza and Fonda Mexicana, which have also been robbed in recent months. Silvas business is just outside of Cascos council district.

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The police department keeps requesting (overtime) every month, Casco said. They cant be requesting overtime unless theyre doing (more) patrols.

Police Chief Armando Perez said hes done exactly that.

I increased patrols (near Suprema Pizza), Perez said. I made (the sergeants) and Detective Bureau aware of the problem there. As far as I know, I havent heard of any other burglaries in that area.

Whether or not the patrols have significantly increased, the owner of Suprema Pizza hasnt noticed.

More patrols (would be a solution), if I could see police three times a day, Marcial Romero said. Now, I never see them.

If he felt safer, Romero said, hed be open later, when business is better, possibly until midnight or 2 a.m.

But he wont, for my security and that of my employees, he said. Theyve robbed me three times. Thats why I close at 10 p.m.

Perez said he remembers the most recent of the three robberies well, including the security footage that was too dark to really help an investigation.

On Perezs suggestion, Romero has since installed floodlighting.

Silva also upgraded her security system after the first burglary, installing the surveillance system that caught images of the suspects in the second incident, and contracting with an alarm company.

Neither of those upgrades appeared to help in the short term, adding to Silvas discontent.

The alarm company called the police Thursday, but Silva said officers didnt arrive very quickly. She said her son beat police to the scene from Fairfield, and no one arrived before the thieves left.

Silva said she prepared a disc with camera images of the suspects, but as of Friday evening, an employee at the store said no one from the police department had come to pick them up.

How can businesses be robbed two times in two months? They have to do better than that, Casco said. We cannot let (these burglaries) continue to be unsolved.

Responding to both the burglary and overtime criticisms, Perez said the department is doing the best it can with the manpower it has.

Im down 120 guys, he said.
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STAMFORD  At least for a little while, Stamford was Houdinis great escape.

More than a century later, he may be the most famous person to ever maintain an address in Stamford during the citys 375 years. Halloween marks the 90th anniversary of his death, and his name remains synonymous not only with magic, but escape.

Marquees trumpeted Houdini with billings such as The Handcuff King, Jail Breaker and The Supreme Ruler of Mystery. But when the Daily Advocate reported in an Aug. 12, 1905, article that he bought a seven-acre farm on Webb Hill, the newspaper conjured his given name Ehrich Weiss to playfully redub the street Weiss Hill Road.

Like many Houdini legends, this one has a morbid twist  and a mystery. At his summer home in 1905, the 5-foot-5 Houdini, then 31, was living on the highest point in Stamford. The dead, however, were just above him. Houdini, whose escape-artist stunts included live burials, resided just below the graves of his roads namesakes: Nathaniel Webb and his three wives, all named Esther. Years later, the magician spent time at his brother Leopolds Gatsby-esque Ridgefield estate, whose Sunset Hall has been cited as one of the highest points in Fairfield County.

The mystery is why Houdini sold his 68-acre North Stamford farm a year after its purchase. His diary entries suggest he enjoyed a magical summer there after returning from four years of triumphant performances throughout Europe. He maintained his muscular physique chopping trees and lugging stones to create a path, contemplated making cider from a bounty of apple trees and cast his hypnotic gaze over Long Island Sound from his perch, some 340 feet above sea level.

History vanishes

More Information Houdini haunts the stage There are no known records of Houdini performing in Stamford, but his act has made cameo appearances in city theaters over the past century. His silent films were screened downtown circa 1919; his brother Theo returned to the city as Hardeen in 1932, and Hardeen's assistant brought his version of the act to Stamford High in 1949. But it wasn't until a few weeks ago that "Houdini" performed escapes on a Stamford stage. Ian Barto had to learn a few tricks for his role as Houdini in Curtain Call's production of "Ragtime." He initially hoped to free himself from a straitjacket while suspended upside-down, but decided to stay on his feet. "Logistically I would have been hanging there for far too long with blood rushing to my head," said Barto, who lives in Stamford and grew up in Greenwich. ". . . A couple of times I got nervous on stage thinking 'Wait a minute, what if I can't get out of this?'" John Breunig See More Collapse

Houdinis ties to Stamford have largely been forgotten. A mention in The Advocate a few years ago inspired local preservationist Renee Kahn to do some digging. She and her daughter, Eve, along with title sleuth Nils Kerschus, tracked down land records confirming that Leopold Weiss, who handled many of his brothers transactions, purchased three tracts of land, then sold them to Ehrich Weiss for a dollar on Sept. 22, 1904.

Though Khan is one of Stamfords best-known historians, she had a personal stake in this address. She has lived for decades on Webbs Hill Road (modern signs incorrectly edit out the apostrophe).

It was nice to know Houdini was your neighbor, but where? Was it my house? she recalls thinking.

Eventually, Khan pinpointed Houdinis address as 286 Webbs Hill. The 1830 structure had been destroyed in a winter fire in the 1960s. It was still owned at the time by the Parker family, which purchased the property from Houdini at the end of 1905.

We dont know anything of Houdinis days in Stamford, Khan said recently.

Houdini guarded his secrets, but he left behind some clues.

Man who defied death buys the farm

Houdinis diaries and comments to reporters at the time suggest he enjoyed his days amid cows and horses.

William Kalush, co-author of The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of Americas First Superhero, is founder of the Conjuring Arts Research Center. He unlocked Houdinis diaries last week to share the magicians notes about the farm.

Houdini recorded playing cards with friends who apparently didnt mind challenging The King of Cards. One left with winnings of several ducks.

On Thursday, Aug. 10, 1905, Houdini mentions visiting the offices of The Advocate. Two days later, a front page headline blares HOUDINI LIVING IN STAMFORD, over a story about Houdini buying the property to have a quiet, rural spot where he could rest and where his beloved mother could enjoy pleasant surroundings.

Houdini has studied the mysteries of raising corn and chickens, and he has enough livestock to satisfy the needs of his family, the story reads.

Houdini was known to court the press, and had charmed the unnamed reporter.

Personally, Houdini is one of the most agreeable men to meet, is modest and unassuming and has not the usual manners of the stage performer ... his cosmopolitan experience has given him an air of assurance, the article said.

Two summers later, in an article in the San Francisco Bulletin (How Houdini Made a Pin Cushion of His Cheek,) Houdini provided answers about what drew him away from his Harlem brownstone.

Three years ago I was ill. My physician ordered complete rest. So I bought a 70-acre farm at Stamford, Connecticut. I wanted some trees felled. I could get no one, so I felled them myself, about 20, in three weeks. I also built a road on the place. A lot of boulders were in the way, weighing 200 to 300 pounds. I threw them, unassisted, on a wagon and drove them to town.

Call for a seance

While news clippings and diary entries were lost in time, a veteran landscaper delivered the oral history of 286 Webbs Hill Roads former resident to David and Elaine Sansone when they bought the property four decades ago. After Khan noted the connection in the Historic Neighborhood News newsletter in 2011, the Sansones got a call from a Houdini buff in California.

He always said he was going to come back on Halloween, maybe we should have a seance, Elaine jested during the call.

I think he took me seriously, (saying) Well if you do, could you get in touch with me? 

For years, the couple and their three children watched summer fireworks from Rye Playland over the treetops from their back deck. A curtain of trees now block such vistas, along with Houdinis view of the Sound.

The rebuilt home retains the bones of the original saltbox, with twin wells bookending the property, a surviving carriage house, a broad hearth fireplace and a spooky well pit in the basement.

David Sansone traced in the air where a road once ran through the back of the property. At the bottom of the hill are two homes on Long Ridge Road, near Madonia restaurant.

Judging by Houdinis descriptions and property records Sansone obtained in the 1970s, it appears the magician made trees disappear to build a Long Ridge driveway that is now shared by neighbors.

Additionally, stone stairs match an Aug. 18, 1905, diary entry in which Houdini writes about finishing steps to the henhouse.

The house has a good vibe, Elaine Sansone said. Im not spooked.

Something did seem to spook Houdini. Just weeks after he told The Advocate about his plans for the property, he took out an ad lauding the farm as positively the healthiest place on a hill this side of Denver and detailing its stable, duck house, piggery and one of the finest chicken houses in Connecticut, which had just been built.

The asking price was $7,500, but Houdini said I want to sell at once on any reasonable terms.

The undated ad was tucked between autumn pages of Houdinis diary. That Oct. 19, The Advocate reported a land transaction of 68 acres from Erich Weiss of New York to Nathan M. Parker of Greenwich. As far as Stamford was concerned, Houdini had vanished.

I didnt recognize Stamford

Houdini was back on American stages immediately after selling the property, under a contract that guaranteed him $1,000 a week.

He did return to Connecticut, notably to his brothers Ridgefield estate, which Leopold eventually lost in the wake of financial ruin. It was subsequently owned by actor Robert Vaughn and considered as a possible United Nations site. The peak of Sunset Hall is some 900 feet above sea level, nearly triple that of the Stamford farm. Ridgefield Realtors have speculated that Houdini once practiced underwater escapes in the swimming pool.

He performed one such stunt on June 17, 1917, when his Submarine Box Mystery was featured as part of the Fairfield County Fete at a residence in the Saugatuck section of Westport. Irons were shackled around his legs, handcuffs encircled his arms and he was tossed into Long Island Sound inside a box packed with 300 pounds of weight and wrapped with ropes and steel bands and nailed shut.

A few months before his death at age 52 in 1926, he played at the Palace Theater in Norwalk. As part of the show, he was locked in a trunk and dumped into the Norwalk River. Elaine Sansone says her mother, Connie Marotto, 94, has always reminded her of the day the worlds most famous magician performed in her native Norwalk.

About six years after Houdinis death, in April 1932, his brother Theo (aka Hardeen) brought the family act to the Strand on Atlantic Street in Stamford. In The Advocate, he marveled at how much Stamford had changed since Houdini lived there.

We used to drive into town on Sunday and stop over at Main Street where they had a combination bakery and ice cream parlor so that we could have cream for dessert, and there was a small brick building in the square where that large building is now located, he said, referring to the Gurley Building across from Old Town Hall at Main and Atlantic streets. I didnt recognize the town. I thought I had gotten off at the wrong station.

The unsolved mystery

Houdinis motivation for breaking free of Stamford may be a secret he took to his grave in Queens, N.Y.

Stamford of 1905 was known as Lock City because it served as headquarters of Yale and Towne, manufacturers of many of the devices thwarted by the escape king. After being shamed by his inability to unlock handcuffs filled with buckshot in 1899, Houdini briefly considered accepting his brother-in-laws offer of a job with Yale locks.

Kalush said he believes Houdinis restless spirit just wasnt meant for farm life.

I think he didnt initially realize just how much work there was to do and he was the sort who was always working, he speculated. A farm just multiplied his responsibilities.

Houdini escaped milk cans, the belly of a whale and the Chinese Water Torture Cell, but he may have felt trapped in the solitude of a saltbox at the top of a Connecticut suburb.

John.breunig@scni.com; 203-964-2281; twitter.com/johnbreunig.
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In the days before he died, Sabine Wards husband built three birdhouses for her in the backyard of their new home in La Vernia. Sgt. 1st Class Clay Ward retired from the Army in 2011, with two tours to Iraq as a combat medic. Ward said that after his second tour to Iraq, her husband wasnt the same.

On May 16, 2013, Clay Ward was found naked in the backyard pool, with a gunshot wound to the temple. Sabine Ward began her life as a widow that day. Her mind seemed engulfed in fog. Days seemed to take months, and other times, hours would go by in a blink.

One day, about a year and a half after his death, she opened her eyes and found herself in the psychiatric hospital at Laurel Ridge Treatment Center. A week of her life had vanished.

Ward tried to piece together what had happened, but she could recall only scattered snapshots. A memory of pills in her hand, and a memory of opening the door for a police officer. She learned later that she had told police, I want to be with my husband. I want the pain to end.

The increase of suicide among military service members and veterans in the past 15 years brings with it an increase of those left behind. The most recent report by the Veterans Affairs Department shows that the suicide rate for veterans nationwide has surged 32 percent since 2001, compared with an increase of 23 percent for civilians. In raw numbers, the report estimated that 7,300 veterans took their lives in 2014.

The deaths rip holes in the lives of their loved ones. One study showed that those who knew someone who died from suicide were 1.6 times more likely to have suicidal thoughts and 3.7 times more likely to have made an attempt themselves.

Widows and widowers are especially at risk. A study of Swiss widows showed that suicides among widows of suicide victims were 19 percent higher than their peers, with the highest risk in the first week. A paper in the American Journal of Public Health reported suicide rates among young widows and widowers as anywhere from eight to 50 times higher than the general population.

At the same time, the surviving spouse often has fewer people to talk with to cope with his or her loss.

Ward, like many survivors left behind, felt isolated after her husbands death. She sought help but felt that no one could understand what she was going through.

In a nation that has struggled to confront the militarys suicide epidemic, Ward and other widows grieve in the shadows. You know when you throw a rock into the water? she said. Theres ripples.

Reane Henze collapsed on the floor of her husbands apartment shortly after his suicide, staring at the closet where he had hanged himself, when a call from an unknown number buzzed her phone.

Her husband, Sgt. Christopher Henze, died from suicide March 25, 2013. Earlier that day, at 7:44 a.m., Henze had received a call from her son: Mom, Dad killed himself. She remembers the drive to her husbands apartment took 45 minutes. That much is clear.

Everything afterward is less clear. Like Ward, something in Henzes mind changed after her husbands suicide. She calls it widows brain. Her brain became numb, as if to protect itself. Sometimes shed get lost in thought and realize with a start that she had been sitting in the closet for hours. I just remember it felt like we could have been on Mars, Henze said.

Im not going to remember this conversation, Henze said when she answered her phone. Im sorry, my brain is a mess, I wont remember.

On the other end of the call was someone who had encountered thousands of widows like Henze. Her name was Bonnie Carroll, founder of Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, a national organization that helps military families grieving the loss of a loved one. She had gone through what Henze was about to learn.

Carroll was offering Henze a lifeline, a link to the community of widows who gather in groups and, increasingly, online.

Youre not alone, weve got you, Carroll said.

Finding comfort in others

When Carroll founded TAPS in 1994, after her husband, Army Brigadier Gen. Tom Carroll, died in a plane crash, she said she found comfort in talking with others who had a similar loss.

Its incredibly powerful to connect with others who have a shared experience, Carroll said. It lets you know that you will survive.

TAPS connects grieving family members with mentors with similar experiences. It also holds seminars, phone help lines and other services such as sending messages to widows on their husbands birthdays.

From the very beginning, social media was where Carroll and other widows found each other.

TAPS was founded in 1994, in the early days of the internet, Carroll said. We immediately had an AOL group.

That AOL chatroom was where TAPS widows chatted every Tuesday night. These chats have endured two decades later, albeit on newer technology.

One TAPS employee, Kyle Harper, recalled how she communed with other widows via email listservs in the early 2000s. Living in the middle of Alaska, she did not have access to other widows, save for those on her computer. Her dial-up internet was too slow for Yahoo chat, which other widows were using at the time, so Harper said she would download messages and print them out.

Today, widows can find each other in closed groups on Facebook. On TAPS Facebook groups, people share whats going on in their lives, talk about benefits and encourage each other, without fear of being judged, Carroll said.

For Henze, widows groups on Facebook helped her realize that grief was normal, especially during the first year after losing her husband. It helped knowing others were going through or had gone through what she was experiencing.

She and Ward found their friends and relatives were hesitant to talk about their husbands suicides and were uncomfortable when the subject was brought up. They wanted to talk about what happened, but everyone was afraid of embarrassing themselves.

They tell you how to grieve, Henze said. Someone told me I was obsessing about it, You need to stop talking about this.

There is still an element of shame attached to the act, and there is considerable evidence that the general stigma around suicide spills over to bereaved family members. This can leave survivors increasingly isolated.

We talk to each other to reassure us that what we are going through is not something new, Henze said. We find out that we are never alone in what we experience, no matter how strange or rare it may seem.

Absorbing the loss

Henze met Chris Henze, a newly minted Army private, when they were both 19. Her husband deployed to Kosovo with the 1st Infantry Division in 1999, but he didnt come back the same person, Henze said. He began to withdraw from her and everyone else and began picking up dangerous hobbies such as rodeo, rugby and sword fighting. Some nights, hed wake up the whole house with his screaming, Henze said.

When Chris hanged himself, all he needed to do was stand up, and he would have lived, Reane said.

She felt afterward as if her husbands pain had transferred to her. I dont know how he survived with it as long as he did, Henze said.

In the midst of the grief, Henze said she would be better off locked up in a padded room. I have note after note after note, Henze said. I want to die, I cant do this grief, I cant deal with this, I cant do this. I want to die. I want to die.

On the bad days, the other widows in the Facebook group were there for her.

It does make you feel better, strangely, when someone understands that the pain is so intense that theres nothing you can say to make you feel better, Henze said. Then it feels like they understand.

Retreating from public

Ward still lives in the house in La Vernia. The three birdhouses her husband built for her are falling apart now, but they remain in the backyard, not far from where he killed himself.

Ward tried to stay out of her house as much as possible after her husbands death. The questions came to her when she was home: How could he do that? What drove him to do this? Was it my fault?

The house in La Vernia was supposed to be their dream home after Clay Ward retired from the Army, she said.

There was an openness to Clay that had drawn Sabine in. They had met in 2004 at a cowboy dance hall in Killeen. They danced for a while that night, and then went outside to talk. Sabine said she liked scuba diving, and Clay, although hed never done it, said they ought to dive together. I looked at him like, Really? I just met you, she said.

Clay was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder in 2010. One moment, he would be smiling, and the next, something would trigger his rage. Sabine snapped her fingers. You dont even know what it was. The mood changes. You can feel it.

What hurt Sabine the most during Clays last days was how he closed himself to her and others. The two used to sit on the porch and talk about everything, she said. Then her husband stopped talking. Instead, hed drink. Hed build: a deck, an awning, pretty much the whole backyard. And he would get on his motorcycle Bad Betty, say he needed to clear out his mind and disappear for hours.

In his last days, her husband told Sabine, You dont even know how bad it is to carry that burden.

When her husband died, Sabine felt very alone. She could not make sense of what had happened, and she didnt want others to pity her. She sealed her grief away from others.

This is common among widows, said Carla Stumpf-Patton, who manages suicide survivor services at TAPS.

People can feel very alone in their grief, said Stumpf-Patton, a widow herself, unsure of what help exists, and where. It can be difficult to see hope of how one can survive  until they connect to resources and peers, such as fellow survivors.

After Sabine woke up in a psychiatric hospital, having overdosed on her husbands pills, her daughter asked her, Mom, how could you do this to us? She could only say that it was as if she was no longer in control of herself. She thought of her husband and how he seemed a different person at the end.

Thats when I understood what he did was out of his control and he was so desperate to end the pain he felt, she said. After my own attempt, I forgave him. I wasnt so angry anymore.

Someday, she wants to release her husbands ashes in Fiji, where the couple had always wanted to go diving.

Eventual recovery

More than three years have passed since Henzes husband died. She is the administrator now for a Facebook group of young widows and one of the elder widows in the group. Most are in their 20s and within a year of their husbands death. For them, Facebook is a natural place to gather, Henze said.

Working with the widows reminds her of when she first got online: the same fog, the same questions.

You think, Oh my god, I was there, Henze said. Then you can say, Well heres where I was, and it gets better, it really gets better.

If a widow makes it through his or her first year, the risk of suicide drops, according to the study of Swiss widows. While no grief is the same, TAPS states that it takes on average five to seven years for people grieving a traumatic loss to reach a new normal.

Henze said that about 18 months after her husbands death, she realized her widows fog was lifting.

I just remember thinking, Wow, its been a few days since I cried, Henze said. I was kinda dealing with it.

There comes a time when you stop what if-ing it, said Henze, who is working on a psychology degree from Columbia Southern University.

Part of your grief is you want to help people, you dont want people to be isolated and alone, she said. On Facebook, shes the one inviting new widows into the group and commenting under their posts.

Im starting over and using what I have to help other people, she said, so the roads not so hard for them.

Surviving for a reason

On a breezy afternoon an hour northwest of San Antonio, Ward faced the crowd. The suicide awareness group Mission 22 was dedicating a memorial in Bandera to 20 veterans who had died by suicide. The 10-foot-tall steel sculptures, arrayed in a v-formation, were defined by what was missing. Cut out from each steel slab was the shape of a veteran, dead by suicide. One of those veterans was Clay Ward.

Earlier that day, Sabine Ward had crammed through a 200-question licensing test to become a certified counselor. Ward, in her last semester in a masters program in mental health at the University of Texas at San Antonio, wanted to be the help she couldnt find.

In the crowd were grieving widows, mothers, fathers and friends from all over the country. Throughout the afternoon, they hugged each other as they met. As one San Antonio widow, Karen Riecke, explained, Were the club no one wants to join.

Ward clutched a piece of paper in her hand as she spoke about Clay. When it happened, I thought I was alone. Meeting everyone, and others like me 

Her voice trailed off, and her knees shook. Ward began sobbing as she hastily concluded her speech: Its a daily struggle that no one should have to go through. Thank you for fighting.

Ward said she didnt remember much of the moments after she stepped down from the podium. Another woman embraced her and led her away from the stage. Ward collapsed against the trunk of an oak tree. She sat there, sobbing, with her face, obscured by large sunglasses, facing the sun. Four other widows gathered in a circle around her. They comforted her, told her they loved her, said they were proud of her and said Clay would have been proud, too.

I wanted my voice to be heard, Ward said later. I would like my husbands death not to have been in vain. I know I am still here for a reason.

Ward has a recording of the time her husband said no one could share his burden. The audio was recently remixed by Mission 22 and aired over the radio. Now it says: Know that youre not the only one. Things can get better. You dont have to carry that burden anymore.

The last words of Clay Ward, remixed Mission 22 remixed the last words of veteran Clay Ward to promote suicide-awareness.

jlawrence@express-news.net
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Friday predicted continued gridlock in Washington if Hillary Clinton is elected president, saying the Republicans have set the table for obstruction by promising years of investigations that could lead to a government shutdown and even impeachment proceedings.

Pelosi told The Chronicle editorial board that I wouldnt even be surprised if they tried to take it to impeachment, but they cant because everything theyre talking about is something that happened when she wasnt president.

She was referring to statements by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, who said this week that he had two years worth of material lined up for an investigation of Clintons tenure as secretary of state.

Pelosi compared the situation to how Republicans promised to check then-President Bill Clinton in the days leading up to his 1996 re-election when it appeared that GOP nominee Bob Dole was headed for defeat  much like most polls say Donald Trump is now.

But Pelosi sees one way to avoid the gridlock.

Hopefully, Pelosi said, Hillarys victory will be of such size that that might be a check on (the GOPs) exuberance to have years of investigation.

First Clinton has to win, and her campaign faced a speed bump Friday as FBI Director James Comey told congressional leaders that the agency was examining newly found emails that could pertain to its already concluded investigation of her mishandling classified information by using a private email server.

Pelosi, however, said I dont think its going to make any difference in the election.

Pelosi has no doubt that GOP nominee Trump will fail to win the presidency. No way, aint gonna happen, is how she put it.

Surprisingly, the usually optimistic Pelosi was less definitive about Democrats winning the 30 seats required to regain the majority of the House of Representatives.

Theyre OK, Pelosi said of the chances of a Democratic takeover. She hasnt budged from her year-old prediction that Democrats would win 20 seats  possibly more, depending on voter turnout and the size of Clintons victory.

Ive never seen a political situation where its so hard to handicap, because you just dont know who will turn out and where, Pelosi said.

With election day so close, the campaign and its fallout was the main topic. But the San Francisco Democrat weighed in on other topics, including the Affordable Care Act, which has been in the news recently because of premium spikes for some participants in the open exchanges.

On the affordability of Obamacare: Pelosi, who ushered in the Obama administrations signature legislative achievement, defended its viability despite 2017 premium increases in the exchanges that average 25 percent.

Asked whether it could still be called affordable, Pelosi said, Of course its affordable.

But Trump has gained traction criticizing the law. Major health insurers, including Aetna and UnitedHealth Group, have pulled back their plan offerings, and rates in some states have skyrocketed by 50 percent or more.

Pelosi countered that current premium increases remain historically low, and would have been even higher without the federal health law. She noted that most people who buy their coverage through the state or federal exchanges receive a subsidy to help them pay for their coverage, which helps offset the premiums increases.

Pelosi acknowledged the program could be improved and suffered from its poor rollout in 2013.

It has a bad rap, she said.

Bellwethers on Democrats winning the House: Watch the results from these East Coast states: Maine, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida and Virginia. If the Democrats pick up 10 seats from those states, Pelosi said, its a good sign they have a shot at taking the House.

On her top priority should Democrats win the House: An infrastructure bill that would provide a lot of jobs. That would speak to Trump supporters and others still feeling anxious after the economic meltdown of 2008.

And they have anxiety about the future, Pelosi said. Helping get people jobs would be a way to address the anxiety and anger they feel.

On Paul Ryan and the possibility of Republicans shutting down government: Pelosi used herself as an example of how loyalty works in Congress. She said because she helped Democrats win the House in 2006, they stuck by her when they lost it in 2010 because I was the one who brought them to the prom.

House Republicans dont really owe (Speaker) Paul Ryan anything, she said of the current speaker, who ascended to the position after John Boehner resigned. Ryan doesnt have much political leverage with the 40 or so more-conservative Tea Party House Republicans, who rarely compromise.

Ryan is a lovely person, as was John Boehner. I got along personally with both of them. But they cant deliver their caucus, Pelosi said. So what Im concerned about going forward is: Are they going to shut down government?

On Trump: Its a stunning thing to watch a person with such total lack of knowledge of the subjects hes talking about, Pelosi said. Its like, Where do you get this confidence that youre the empirical imperative? You say it, therefore it must be true. But it has no basis in fact. Its almost dangerous.

On pining for lovely Republicans of years past: Pelosi sprinkled nostalgic compliments of Republicans throughout the interview. Dole, she said, is a beautiful, lovely, patriotic statesman, great American. I love Bob Dole. Said she respects past GOP presidential nominees Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Mitt Romney and former President George W. Bush.

Pelosi said she keeps telling the Bush family and Dole to take back your party. This isnt who you are. This is the Grand Ol Party that did so much for our country. We need a strong Republican Party. We dont need a party that is unstable and racist  or bigoted is more the word.

On homelessness and housing: Pelosi said solving homelessness cant just be about creating more emergency housing  it has to include building more housing stock of all kinds.

San Francisco is almost obscene in the cost of housing, said Pelosi, who the newspaper Roll Call last year said was the 15th wealthiest member of Congress, with a minimum net worth of $29.35 million. My children said to me, Mom, I cant afford to live and have a family in San Francisco.

She called for more public-private partnerships as this is a very big deal in the whole country. And its not going to be solved just by appropriating dollars from Washington.

Joe Garofoli and Victoria Colliver are Chronicle staff writers. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com, vcolliver@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli, @vcolliver
Delivery personnel sort out parcels beside a ZTO Express Delivery vehicle in Beijing. (Photo : Getty Images)

ZTO Express, a Chinese courier company, has raised about $1.4 billion in its initial public offering (IPO) in the U.S. on Thursday, Oct. 27, making it the largest offering in the United States this year, the New York Times reported.



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According to market research firm iResearch, ZTO Express is one of China's delivery companies that helped fuel e-commerce revolution in the world's largest delivery market, with nearly 21 billion packages delivered last year, 70 percent of them coming from online transactions.



ZTO's offering was also bigger than the $1.3 billion raised by Japanese messaging company, Line in July, which also made it the largest U.S. debut by a Chinese company since Alibaba's $25 billion stock sale in 2014.



ZTO belongs to four delivery companies known as the Tongda Operators, who share similar names, business model and origins. Its founders all came from Tonglu County, which is only about 50 miles from Alibaba headquarters in Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province.



Being close to Alibaba has its advantages. According to ZTO's IPO prospectus, the online shops of Alibaba have contributed about 77 percent to ZTO's business in 2015.



"To Xinjiang, Beijing, anywhere in China, all the Tongda Operators are about the same price," according to Liu Song, who runs the Sweet Lisa Flagship Store, a seller of women's apparel on Alibaba's Tmall online shopping platform. Liu ships about 3,000 dresses, blouses and skirts each month, for roughly 53 cents a parcel. In 2011, he paid $1.20 a parcel to ship to Beijing.



"Every year the price is going down," Liu said. "I don't think it can go down any more."



Thousands of delivery people delivery the products for ZTO, as the Tongda Operators only do the sorting and the long haul transportation of the goods. The delivery of the goods, which is the most costly part of the chain, was carried by partners who transport the packages from hubs to the recipients' homes.



This system allowed ZTO to maintain its profit as the delivery fees dropped. In the first half of the year, ZTO earned a net income of about $115 million on revenue of $639 million.



"As the market cost leader, we are not afraid of a price war," James Guo, ZTO's chief financial officer, said. He said that the decline in parcel weight and the introduction of digital waybills have contributed to the falling prices. "In the case of the price war, we can actually benefit from that and gain market share."



People who wanted to open a delivery outlet only need to pay a fee and sign a contract with ZTO or its partners. They will be supplied with the logos, three-wheeled carts and delivery personnel. The partners often determine the prices that will be charged to senders and they are the ones affected by the price war.



Competition is tough in the country's delivery market and even with the presence of the Tongda Operators, which are the biggest, the market is fragmented. Data from the China E-commerce Research Center has estimated that there about 8,000 companies in the market.



But no more than 15 percent market share by volume is held by any courier, iResearch said. In 2011, Deutsche Post DHL withdrew from China's delivery market, leaving FedEx and UPS with tiny shares.



For investors, the only way to gain from this is to bet on the growth of China's e-commerce market and consolidation among businesses. Another thing, ZTO's business model is only suited to China where factors, such as its densely populated cities and the online shopping boom, exist.



Hence, ZTO's IPO in the U.S. is considered unusual among China's express delivery companies, the report said.



On the other hand, ZTO's peers, which include YTO Express, STO Express and Yunda Express, as well as the major competitor SF Express, are going public in mainland China through reverse mergers, in which a company merges its operations into an existing company with publicly traded shares.



On Thursday, Oct. 27, ZTO announced the sale of more than 72 million shares at $19.50 each, with its underwriters given a 30-day option to buy an additional 10.8 million. Goldman Sachs, China Renaissance, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Credit Suisse and J. P. Morgan led the offering.


Gavin MacFadyen, an American investigative journalist who became an early mentor and defender of the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, died Saturday in London, where he lived and spent much of his professional life. He was 76.

The cause was lung cancer, his wife, Susan Benn, said.

Since the 1970s, MacFadyen produced and directed scores of television documentaries on a wide range of subjects, including neo-Nazi violence, child labor, nuclear proliferation and industrial accidents. Sometimes he worked in disguise.

He also co-founded the nonprofit Center for Investigative Journalism in London in 2003, a training program in skeptical reporting, and WhistleblowersUK, a support group for tipsters. He was a director of WikiLeaks and, with his wife and another journalist, John Pilger, formed the Julian Assange Legal Defense Committee.

Assange, an Australian computer programmer, founded WikiLeaks in 2006 and published millions of secret documents, many supplied by Chelsea Manning, a U.S. Army intelligence analyst. Assange has been under investigation by the U.S. government and is wanted for questioning about rape allegations in Sweden. He has found refuge in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London to avoid extradition.

Immediately after MacFadyen's death, WikiLeaks issued this Twitter post: "Gavin Macfadyen, beloved director of WikiLeaks, now takes his fists and his fight to battle God. Sock it to him, forever, Gavin." It was signed "JA."

In his book "WikiLeaks: News in the Networked Era" (2012), Charlie Beckett wrote that MacFadyen "was a core WikiLeaks supporter who had offered the services of interns, facilities and even on occasion his sofa to the team." Assange moved into MacFadyen's London townhouse in 2010.

Elaine Potter, a philanthropist and co-founder of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, based in London, said MacFadyen had been driven by "passion, politics and curiosity."

"He recognized the significance of WikiLeaks and made contact from the moment they arrived on the internet," she said. "He became obsessed with providing support for whistleblowers."

Assange and WikiLeaks have been thrust into the spotlight in recent months by the release of thousands of Democratic National Committee emails amid suspicions by U.S. officials that the files were hacked by the Russian government, possibly to influence the U.S. elections.

But MacFadyen maintained that Western news organizations had uncritically published material provided by the CIA and that the fundamental question was whether the information was true and in the public interest, rather than its source.

"His commitment to exposing the true nature of power was his life force," Benn, his wife, said. "He spearheaded the creation of a journalistic landscape which has irrevocably lifted the bar for ethical and hard-hitting reporting."

She added: "Gavin worked tirelessly to hold power to account. He once said, 'Good journalism is always political journalism.'"

MacFadyen was born Gavin Hall Galter on Jan. 1, 1940, in Greeley, Colorado, and grew up in Chicago. He never knew his father, and he adopted the surname of his stepfather, a medical researcher. His mother was a pianist.

He worked as a union organizer and demonstrated for civil rights before moving to Britain, where he graduated from the London School of Film Technique (now the London Film School).

Afterward, he created a documentary film group to chronicle the political turmoil in the U.S. during the late 1960s for the BBC, covering anti-Vietnam War protests, race riots and the police clash with demonstrators at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968.

He went on to cover the war in Nicaragua between the right-wing Contra rebels and the Marxist Sandinista government in the 1980s.

Collaborating with the director Michael Mann, he played Boreksco, a crooked police officer, in Mann's 1981 debut feature film, "Thief," and was a technical adviser to "The Insider," Mann's 1999 film about Jeffrey Wigand, a tobacco company whistleblower, starring Russell Crowe and Al Pacino.
To the Editor:

Nearly 500 state workers are expected to be laid off at the Department of Developmental Services. This is due to plans, totally ascribed to Gov. Malloy these days, to once and for all privatize all of the services the state provides to people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. Privatization of these services is commonplace in most other states around the country and long overdue in our state.

Individual clients, who currently receive services at the state-run facilities, and the families of those clients are also up in arms about the changes. Change can be scary, so that reaction is not unexpected. However, done right, the changes will be just fine in the end and Malloy has a responsibility to see that happens.

The state employee union, too, is fighting the change. The union has even threatened to take Malloy to court to reverse the change once it happens. That union move is not unexpected because unions look out for their own. If the union does win in court, 10 years from now, the change would be reversed. That would be good for the union but not so good for the clients or the taxpayer.

The reality is I have heard Republicans, too, in state legislature call for the implementation of these plans for years, but I hear no support for them this election season. I am no fan of Malloy, but, election year or not, it seems he could use some bipartisan support on this well-reasoned initiative these days.

Maybe after the election?

Jim Brown

Fairfield
What started as a simple question about a county policy turned into a 30-minute debate among Montgomery County commissioners Tuesday regarding the reimbursement of travel expenses for employees.

"I was hoping somebody could explain to me why we would pay somebody more than they spend," Precinct 2 Commissioner Charlie Riley said. "That's the question I need to understand."

According to County Auditor Phyllis Martin, commissioners adopted a policy earlier this year that reimburses county employees for travel at a rate of $51 a day; and on actual travel days, the rate is 75 percent of that, or $38.25.

The per diem covers meals and incidentals, but not mileage or lodging, which also are reimbursed. Martin said the $51 a day is the amount the Internal Revenue Service will allow to be paid without receipts.

"The thought process behind that is the employee would not need to keep receipts, get back to the office and maybe spend an hour, an hour and a half compiling those receipts in a manner it can be submitted, get approved by their supervisors, then get submitted to the auditor's office and approved and reviewed again before being processed for reimbursement," Martin explained. "What was recommended to you guys, and y'all approved it  was to opt for getting our employees out of the little, bitty pieces of minutia and focus on preforming their jobs."

However, Martin said the city spends about $30,000 a quarter in money paid out above what is actually spent by employees.

"I'm not saying $30,000 isn't significant," Martin said. "What I am saying is how much time do we spend going through those receipts, having a supervisor approve them  then the Auditor's Office and then Commissioners Court."

The issue came to light last month when County Court-at-Law 2 Judge Claudia Laird asked the court to stray from that policy and pay a court reporter $369.90 for recent job-related travel to San Antonio for training. However, that was $52.68 below what the county policy stipulates. In a 3-1 vote, the court approved Laird's request.

Precinct 1 Commissioner Mike Meador was the lone nay vote, saying the county has a policy for a reason and the court should follow it.

During Tuesday's meeting, Precinct 3 Commissioner James Noack asked if the policy could be amended to say "up to $51." But Meador said that defeats the purpose. Meador said the policy actually saves the county money in employee time.

"I don't like it," Precinct 4 Commissioner Jim Clark said of the policy. "I don't like paying out more than they spent."

County Judge Craig Doyal said the court was wasting too much time discussing the issue.

"We have spent enough money talking about this to cover everybody that traveled last year," said Doyal, adding the amount of receipts could lead to needing a person to do that full time, which would cost the county more in salary than it would save in auditing receipts.

In a 3-2 vote, commissioners approved leaving the policy as is. Riley and Clark were the two nay votes.
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Cannon Ball, N.D.

Protesters ousted from private land where they tried to block construction of the Dakota Access oil pipeline burned vehicles and built roadblocks along a North Dakota highway where they faced off Friday with authorities.

Officers with bullhorns commanded protesters to leave the roadway, but the approximately two dozen people stood in defiance with their arms in the air. The confrontation came a day after hundreds of law enforcement officers forced out a larger encampment of activists in what was the most chaotic turn in the months-long protest against the pipeline that the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and others argue could endanger water supplies and disturb cultural sites.

One roadblock on state Highway 1806 was comprised of a burned SUV and sheets of plywood, and another was made up of two burned trucks on a bridge over a creek. Numerous military vehicles and work trucks were parked in the area Friday, and officers in riot gear were present.

Authorities did not immediately have details on damage to the bridge, or on plans to remove the roadblocks, and it wasn't immediately clear whose vehicles were burned. The state Highway Patrol is maintaining its own traffic roadblock further along the highway to protect the public, according to Morton County sheriff's spokesman Rob Keller.

"That is not a safe place to be," he said of the protest area.

Jolene White Eagle, 56, a lifelong Cannon Ball resident, watched as law enforcement officers massed near Friday's blockade and called the police response "nonsense." "It reminds me of something like a foreign country, what's happened here with all the destruction."

Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault condemned Thursday's removal of the protesters, calling the operation "acts of violence against innocent, prayerful people."

"We won't step down from this fight," he said.

The nearly six-hour operation escalated the dispute, with officers in riot gear firing bean bags and pepper spray. No serious injuries were reported. Morton County sheriff's spokeswoman Donnell Hushka said 141 people were arrested. Among those was a woman who pulled out a .38-caliber pistol and fired three times at officers, according to State Emergency Services spokeswoman Cecily Fong. Officers did not return fire, she said.

Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners is working to complete the 1,200-mile pipeline to carry oil from western North Dakota to Illinois, and state officials say no sensitive cultural sites have been found on the route.

The tribe has gone to court to challenge the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' decision granting permits. A federal judge in September denied its request to block construction, but three federal agencies stepped in to order construction to halt near Lake Oahe while the Corps reviewed its decision-making.
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In the weeks leading up to Election Day, The Woodlands Township has been caught in the middle of increasingly contentious campaigning, with heated accusations of misinformation and cronyism targeted at both sides.

On one side, The Woodlands Concerned Taxpayers, a nonprofit group started by former chairman of the township board Bruce Tough, has put forth an aggressive campaign - including mailers, signs, billboards, online ads, robo calls and even TV ads - warning residents about a 70 percent property tax increase should the township incorporate now. The mailers, with an eye-catching red and orange design, endorse one slate of candidates: incumbent Mike Bass (Position 2), Amy Lampman (Position 1), Stuart Schroeder (Position 3) and Chris Grice (Position 4).

On the other side, the Residents Advocates, a group that emerged during last year's election to unite candidates who opposed the controversial Woodlands Parkway extension, have endorsed an opposing slate: incumbent Gordy Bunch (Position 1), John Anthony Brown (Position 3), Bruce Rieser (Position 4) and Brian Boniface (Position 2). The group also received the endorsement of the Texas Patriots PAC, a local tea party group that has sent out mailers countering the information being circulated by Tough's group. A ninth candidate, Bob Leilich (Position 1), is featured on some literature from the Concerned Taxpayers but did not receive an endorsement from either group.

Both Tough and those on the other side have accused each other of spreading misleading information and doing a serious disservice to the community.

Bunch and the other Residents Advocates have called Tough's campaign "scare tactics" aimed at influencing the outcome of the board election. They say that the advertising gives the false impression that incorporation and a property tax increase are in question this election cycle and that Bunch and the other candidates are pushing for immediate incorporation.

Don Norrell, president and general manager of The Woodlands Township, has confirmed that there has not been an official tax rate study conducted to determine what the actual impact of incorporation would be on property taxes.

"The entire Woodlands is being inundated with a message that The Woodlands is trying to incorporate now and a tax rate increase is imminent," Bunch said. "It's a lie."

The Texas Patriots PAC decried a mailer sent by The Woodlands Concerned Taxpayers targeting senior citizens that featured a message from Tough's father, Coulson Tough, warning them about the "sneaky 'Residents' Advocate' group  behind the 'INCORPORATE NOW' lobby effort to raise our local property taxes!"

"It's despicable," said Luke Bowen, with the Texas Patriots PAC. "Their tactic is scaring seniors."

It's a tactic that just might work, according to Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston.

"It doesn't matter what's true, it's what you can get people to believe," Rottinghaus said. "The trigger word in Montgomery County is taxes. That's the easiest way to get people's attention and to rally them to get out to vote.  There is a serious concern that the taxes are too high, especially in places like The Woodlands with high-value homes."

Tough, however, stands by the claims made by his Concerned Taxpayers materials.

"It is informative and educational," Tough said. "Everyone who receives the information has been most appreciative."

But Tough isn't the only one who has been accused of giving out misleading information. The Texas Patriots PAC sent out a mailer listing a number of claims they labeled "facts" in opposition to the information coming from Tough's group.

Residents received a flier in the mail from the Texas Patriots PAC stating that "it is not true that The Woodlands is safe from annexation by Houston until 2057." The statement referred to the regional participation agreement that The Woodlands Township entered into with the cities of Houston and Conroe in 2007 that barred the cities from annexing The Woodlands until 2057. The flier argued that, since the agreement was made by state statute, it could be repealed by state statute, and that The Woodlands has been "on the defense" every legislative session.

But, according to state Rep. Mark Keough, R-The Woodlands, this statement is false.

"The idea that we as a community should be afraid of this happening is unfounded," Keough said.

He explained that the Texas Constitution protects legislation from being applied retroactively. Essentially, even if the law were changed, The Woodlands' agreement with Houston and Conroe would be grandfathered.

"I think the narrative that's going around is causing fear in the community," Keough said.

Tough also rebutted the Residents Advocates' accusations by accusing the opposing groups of using scare tactics themselves, saying that they've promoted a picture of The Woodlands as powerless to protect the community's roads from becoming like heavily trafficked and strip mall-lined FM 1960.

Funding questions

As Woodlands residents have been on the receiving end of a barrage of campaign materials, both groups have questioned the funding behind these pushes.

Representatives of the Residents Advocates and the Texas Patriots PAC suspect that The Woodlands Concerned Taxpayers' advertising effort has been an extremely expensive one, but records of the group's spending are not yet available because it is registered as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization and is not required to report campaign financing.

Tough would not reveal the amount of money spent nor who was funding it, but said the effort is led by himself, his wife Diana Tough and his father Coulson Tough.

"I'm a nonprofit entity and I'm accepting donations, which I have received," Tough said.

Residents Advocates candidates have hypothesized that developers, such as The Woodlands Development Company and parent company Howard Hughes, could be involved in Tough's efforts.

"Like many residents and businesses in The Woodlands, we are receiving communications from all the different sides in the current Township election," read a statement from the development company, which did not respond to specific questions. "We are concerned about our community. Like many other businesses in The Woodlands, we oppose an increase in taxes."

At the polls

As the battle surrounding the township election rages on, voters have turned out in droves to vote early.

The Woodlands has seen the greatest turnout of Montgomery County in the first four days of early voting, with 13,788 people casting votes in the township, accounting for about 25 percent of the turnout in the county.

Cars circled the parking lot of the South County Community Center in The Woodlands most of the week, struggling to find a spot. The line for early voting stretched well outside the building's front doors and nearly to the library next door.

Signs riddled the green space surrounding the parking lot - most relating to The Woodlands Township election and only a few supporting Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. Still, many of the voters were focused more on national politics than local races.

A few locals acknowledged that this year's Woodlands Township election has been more controversial than in previous years.

"It's gotten very ugly," said Cheryl Sanford, a 32-year resident of The Woodlands. "I've never seen it like this."

"It has not been this contentious," said Renata Tyree, a 10-year Woodlands resident. "It's the first time we've had opinions in opposite directions."
NORWALK  Two men were arrested Friday afternoon after one of them allegedly attempted to purchase multiple cell phones at Best Buy on Connecticut Avenue using false identification.

Police were called to the store shortly after 4:30 p.m. when store personnel allegedly determined a form of ID presented by a customer, identified as Amadou Dio Diallo, was false.
Lena Headey attends the premiere of HBO's 'Game Of Thrones' Season 6 at TCL Chinese Theatre on April 10, 2016 in Hollywood, California. (Photo : Getty Images/Alberto E. Rodriguez)

Lena Headey recently channeled her inner Cersei in a custody battle where she appears to have violated a prior agreement. The "Game of Thrones" actress lost her battle to keep her son in the U.K. and was even ordered to shoulder an unexpected cost.



"Game of Thrones" fans would know just how fierce and protective Cersei can be. Portrayed by Headey, the new Queen of the Iron Throne endured many challenges to ensure the safety of her loved ones, as well as the attainment of her goals. Recent events showed that Headey may have similar qualities with her HBO character.



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The British star showed her protective motherly instincts when she decided to keep her son with her in the U.K. The six year old boy is Headey's child with former husband Peter Loughran. The actress even enrolled her son in an England school, a personal preference since she claimed that the U.K. educational system was better than the U.S.



However, Headey was found to have violated a custody agreement where she was expected to have returned her son to the U.S. on Sept. 5. Based on the joint custody agreement, the said trip would have given Loughran his visitation entitlement of 10 days every month.



A court ruling obtained by TMZ revealed a judge's order to have the boy sent back to the U.S. Despite Loughran's demand for his son's immediate return to Los Angeles, the judge approved Headey's request to keep the boy with her until she wraps up "Game of Thrones" Season 7 activities.



In return for the extended custody, the judge ordered Headey to cover her ex-husband's travel costs. Loughran is expected to continue his monthly 10-day visits to see his son in the U.K.



In other news, a special "Game of Thrones" art gallery event will be held in London from Nov. 10 until Nov. 13. The activity will feature sketches from the show's creators, original storyboards and fan-made art work. An HBO press statement obtained by Watchers on the Wall, shared that several jewelry pieces and accessory items used on the show will also be included in the art gallery event.



"Game of Thrones" Season 7 is expected to premiere in summer 2017. Revisit Cersei's wildfire attack in the clip below:






United Way of Midland County has crossed the $4 million mark in this years campaign, reporting pledges totaling $4,062,641, representing 90 percent of the overall goal of $4.5 million.

We have experienced steady progress toward reaching our goal, said Ann Fillmore, executive director of United Way. But we still have a $500,000 gap to overcome. We recognize that many organizations are wrapping-up their campaigns and we continue to receive pledges each day. Falling short of our $4,500,000 goal would greatly impact those we serve in our community.

Many individuals and organizations are doing their part to ensure the programs and services continue to be there for people in need throughout Midland County.

Employees from Dow Chemical and Dow Corning are leading the way. With pledges and special event revenue still coming in, they are reporting donations representing 98 percent of their goal. Additionally, numerous departments are celebrating 100 percent employee participation.

At Dow, we have a long history of supporting the communities where we live and work, said Rich Wells, 2016 campaign chair. I am proud and heartened to see the way that our employees are bringing that commitment to life. I encourage everyone to follow my lead and consider giving a little more this year. Every donation, no matter the size, impacts so many in our community.

Three Rivers Corp. pledged $40,515, driven in part by more than 200 pounds of donuts and 500 miles driven to inspire employees. They are also reporting seven members of Young Leaders United.

Northwood University is also sharing strong results, with pledges of $16,786, a 33 percent increase. Beyond the giving, Northwood is dedicated to a culture of volunteering. The university recently hosted its Go MAD Day (Go Make A Difference), with students and staff volunteering nearly 3,000 hours in a single day.

Wolverine Bank added some fun to its annual campaign, treating employees to a silent auction, candy guessing game, pot lucks, jeans days and a fun baby picture contest for a chance to earn an extra day off. Wolverine was named United Ways Caring Company of the Year in 2016 and reported nearly $18,000 in employee pledges alone.

Midland Cogeneration has raised $20,000 through employee and corporate donations, an increase from 2015. Garber Chevrolet also ran a strong campaign, increasing support by nearly 40 percent in addition to helping inspire customers and the community about the impacts taking place.

Local retirees also are creating a legacy of care for one another and a culture of giving back. Retirees raised nearly $500,000 in support of United Way.

What a statement that makes about our local retirees, Wells said. They are truly an inspiration to us all.

Financial gifts can be dropped off or mailed to: United Way of Midland County, 220 W. Main Street, Suite 100, Midland, Michigan, 48640. To make a donation by credit card or direct bill, call United Way at (989) 631-3670. You can also donate online at eportal.unitedwaymidland.org/give
Song Joong Ki in Running Man (Photo : Twitter)

Rumors are rife that "Descendants of the Sun" star Song Joong Ki will be back in "Running Man" after member Kang Gary left the show.



There is a possibility that South Korean broadcast network SBS is bringing back Song Joong Ki in the aforementioned variety show since Kang Gary has decided to focus solely in his music. Joong Ki was once part of the main cast, but has to leave for his mandatory military service.



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However, Joong Ki is still close with the rest of the "Running Man" members and has made several guest appearances in the show. If rumors are to be believed, the show plans to bring back Joong Ki to boost the ratings of the show. The show's ratings dipped low, but due to its international fan base, the show is saved from being cancelled.



This is not the first time that Kang Gary left the show. He attempted to resign from his post in the main cast following a scandal. However, he was proven innocent and was asked to come back. This time, his departure raised a lot of questions, especially what will happen to the Monday Couple now that its half is gone.



Meanwhile, Song Joong Ki once developed a love line with fellow member Song Jihyo and they were dubbed as the Song-Song Couple (which should not be mistaken with his love team with Song Hye Kyo).



While bringing back Song Joong Ki in the show, producers offered no confirmation yet. The actor is currently busy with the production of his new movie "Battleship Island," which will premiere next year. Moreover, the hit drama "Descendants of the Sun" was confirmed to have a second season and Joong Ki will, once again, don his uniform for Yoo Si Jin.


Council members  and potential outside candidates  are beginning to stake out plans for the upcoming municipal election, which could change the shape of the governing body.

The composition of the City Council here could look considerably different after the May 6, 2017 municipal elections, when all 10 districts and the mayor are on the ballot.

As many as half of the council seats may ultimately be up for grabs. Some incumbents may opt not to run, while others may challenge Mayor Ivy Taylor. Councilman Ron Nirenberg, the center of immense speculation that hell leave his District 8 seat to run for mayor, said in an interview that hes weighing his options.

Im giving the elections next May thoughtful consideration, including running for mayor, he said.

Meanwhile, Councilman Rey Saldana  who has also been the subject of speculation about a potential mayoral bid  added fuel to that fire this week when asked whether he plans to seek re-election to his District 4 seat.

I cant tell you, he said. I just dont know.

Sitting council members who decide to run for mayor give up their seats because theyre prohibited from running for two seats simultaneously.

In District 6, Ray Lopez is serving his fourth and final two-year term, becoming the first councilman to serve eight years since voters relaxed term limits in 2008.

Neither District 9s Joe Krier nor District 10s Mike Gallagher has committed to run for re-election, sparking speculation that both may ultimately decide not to run. Krier said hell announce his intentions by the end of November.

Gallagher said in an interview that hell decide whether to run again before the end of the year.

I have not made up my mind yet, he said. I figure the best time for me to make that decision will be toward the end of December.

Council members Roberto Trevino, Shirley Gonzales and Cris Medina all confirmed this week that they plan to seek re-election. Alan Warrick and Rebecca Viagran could not be reached, but City Hall sources said theyre planning to run again.

Taylor said shes not wading into the composition of the May ballot  or the next council.

Im not going to speculate on who may or may not be on the ballot. Im focused on my re-election and how to best improve our infrastructure, create new jobs and keep our economy growing, she said.

For more on this story, visit www.expressnews.com or read the Saturday edition of the San Antonio Express-News.

jbaugh@express-news.net

Twitter: @jbaugh
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Four people died Friday night when a car they were in crashed head-on into an 18-wheeler on Applewhite Road and burst into flames, according to police.

Officers were sent around 11 p.m. to the 13700 block of Applewhite Road, where they found four people, whose age or race could not be determined, dead in what appeared to be an SUV, said Officer Douglas Greene, a San Antonio Police Department spokesman.
More than 192,000 Bexar County residents have turned out for the first five days of early voting, with each day surpassing the turnouts in the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections.

There were 38,862 votes cast on Friday, close to the weeks daily average of 38,500. The early voting continues through Nov. 4, including Saturday and Sunday. The 43 polls will be open 12 hours on Saturday and six hours on Sunday.

I think this elevator is still going up, said Bexar County Elections Administrator Jacque Callanen. We do expect to see a big Saturday, and from Monday on, those numbers will only increase.

The tally through Thursday represented a 15 percent turnout, she said.

Thats as much turnout as we got, or more, for city elections, the off-season elections, the amendment elections. Its going to be a record breaker, when the Nov. 8 election is history.

This phenomenon is not just Bexar County, she added. All the states large-population counties are showing double-digit turnout increases so far.

Voting on Election Day could be unprecedented, Callanen said, with many voters enjoying the social rituals surrounding voting close to home.

It means something to them. They want to vote in their neighborhoods. They want to vote as a social event. That group of people is still there, she said.

Along with the record turnout, Bexar County has historically high voter registration. Through Friday, registrations totaled 1,049,485, Callanen said.

Visits to numerous Bexar County early polling sites found lines, but not long waits, on Friday.

Weve been breaking records every day, said Marcy Flores, presiding election judge at the Maury Maverick Branch Library, where about 40 people queued up as motorists slowly drove past parked cars hoping to find an empty space.

A line of more than 100 people curled from the side of the John Igo Library on the Northwest Side to the entrance, and it was getting longer after the lunch hour. By then, an average of 1,333 a day had voted there, and election judge Velia Salinas, 92, said she had never seen anything like it since voting started there in 2008.

Staff writer Sig Christenson contributed to this report.

jgonzalez@express-news.net

Twitter: @johnwgonzalez
The 32nd session of the UN Human Rights Council from June to July 2016. (Photo : UNHRC)

The United Nations has ejected Russia from the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), a magnificent triumph against an outlaw country that has either been responsible for or has condoned massive aerial bombings that have killed thousands of Syrian civilians.



It's rare for one of the five permanent UN Security Council member nations to lose any UN election. Russia was accorded one of these rare slaps in the face. It's also the first time since the UNHRC's creation 2006 that Russia has lost an election at that body.



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Russia used its veto power as a permanent UN Security Council member to block the UN from enforcing any measure that would have stopped it from militarily assisting the regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, whose armed forces have taken to murdering innocent Syrian civilians as a matter of course.



That complete disregard for human life is manifest in Russia's and Assad's relentless aerial bombing of the city of Aleppo that has killed close to 500 civilians, many of them children, over the past weeks.



Some 400,000 people have died in the Syrian Civil War.



Russia was defeated in its bid to be re-elected a member of the Human Rights Council, the most prestigious panel in the UN system designed to examine global human rights.



The United States and United Kingdom won seats on the rights panel, as did China, Russia's close ally.



UN Watch, a UN watchdog group, said "the non-election of Russia shows that the nations of the world can reject gross abusers if they so choose."



Dozens of human rights groups campaigned against Russia's bid, citing the massive bombing assault on parts of Syria opposed to al-Assad.



Moscow's refusal to accept Security Council resolutions that sought to end of the war seemed doomed Russia's bid for support for the council seat.



The U.S. State Department through its spokesman said "we continue to believe that UN member states should seek countries that have a strong human rights record to be a part of the council."



From 2017 and 2019, the 14 elected UNHRC members will formulate the UN's official position on conflicts occurring around the world, as well as domestic policies of member states.


I t sounded interesting enough. The kind of story that raises eyebrows and ire. Palo Alto College had spent $80,000 to compete for a management award.

What it turned out to be was money well spent, and a surprising argument for independent accreditation for the schools that make up the Alamo Colleges District.

On the surface, accreditation is a bit of a drab topic, but it is the undercurrent of so much drama and tension at Alamo Colleges, whose five schools touch so many lives and are so crucial to San Antonios workforce.

Lets remember, three of the colleges  Northwest Vista College, San Antonio College and St. Philips College  have not had their accreditation reaffirmed. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges is evaluating how independent these institutions are from the district.

On top of this, Northeast Lakeview College, which was established in 2007, still does not have accreditation. And, of course, six years ago trustees explored a single accreditation for the district.

Academic freedom  or the perceived lack of it  is why a majority of Northwest Vista faculty signed a petition saying they have no confidence in Alamo Colleges Chancellor Bruce Leslie. There have been fights over courses and curricula.

Its against this backdrop that Palo Alto College applied for the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige Performance Excellence Award this year  highlighting its institutional independence.

The award is given out by the president of the United States.

I think it has leverage for grant applications. It has leverage for college rankings. It has leverage for marketing the institution, said Laura Rendon, an education professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Its certainly a big feather in the cap of the institution should it receive the award.

And even if it doesnt, Palo Alto still gets a world-class evaluation that would likely cost much more than the $80,000 the school spent on various costs tied to its application, Rendon said.

Palo Alto, on the far South Side, has quite a story to tell.

More than half its students are not prepared for college and need remedial classes in math, reading and/or writing, the schools award application says.

Still, using Baldrige principles, the school outperforms its peers in many ways. Transfer rates for disadvantaged students are better at Palo Alto than the other Alamo Colleges and junior colleges across Texas. Students are increasingly satisfied, faculty retention is higher than at other Alamo Colleges, reported crime is noticeably lower, and scholarships are up.

This is why Palo Alto won the 2015 Texas Award for Performance Excellence, which opened the door for the Baldrige Award application. A keystone to the application is Palo Altos independence.

Our SACS accreditation is independent of the other Alamo Colleges and the District, ensuring that we manage responsibility for the factors considered in accreditation, the application says.

It even repeatedly characterizes the other Alamo Colleges as competitors.

We operate within a competitive-cooperative environment, particularly regarding our relationship with our four sister colleges, the application says. The other four Alamo Colleges represent a modest level of competition for attracting incoming students.

Isnt this a case for academic independence? Palo Altos President Mike Flores declined an interview request, instead sending a letter that avoided the question.

But Tony Villanueva, president of Palo Alto's American Association of University Professors chapter, was more than happy to run with the argument.

I think what the Baldrige says is we can do things autonomously, independent of District, he said. In fact, when District gets involved, they kind of muddle things.

He pointed to two recent evaluations to support this line of thinking. The first is from the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program, which raised concerns about initiative fatigue at Alamo Colleges.

Based on interviews across the institution, theres a clear sense of initiative fatigue among Alamos faculty and staff, the report says.

The second evaluation came in 2012 when Northwest Vista was also a finalist for the Baldrige Award. Evaluators repeatedly raised concerns about districtwide initiatives bogging down the college, leading to problems such as students not being able to access transcripts.

Multiple gaps exist in the integration among district-wide and district-mandated processes and systems, and those processes native to the college, the evaluation says.

Both evaluations also praise many district-led initiatives, but one has to wonder why after so many years, Leslie and Alamo Colleges cant seem to find the right balance between centralized standards and the academic freedom of Alamo Colleges five schools.

Why is this always an issue?

Its a point Leslie acknowledged in an April guest column in this paper, writing, The complexity of our environment and our unique accrediting structure have challenged us to look carefully at our intentions, strategies and behaviors, and the gap that sometimes exists between them. This gap has caused some who desire to collaborate on solutions, including faculty, to sometimes not feel fully engaged.

In an email, Villanueva described the disconnect in an entirely different way: Their efforts to standardize, privatize and centralize are creating a tension that, in the end, creates distrust and results in a peculiar form of inefficiency that is hard to measure.

From the outside looking in, all of this tends to feel like 1,000 paper cuts. The smallest details can become very big wounds, the smallest actions become outsized symbols.

Whats both sad and amazing is that Palo Alto College has done such great work despite the circumstances. Just imagine what could be done if Leslie and faculty were even remotely on the same page.

jbrodesky@express-news.net
Mark Zuckerberg and Mathias Doepfner were at the presentation of the first Axel Springer Award in February in Berlin, Germany. (Photo : Getty Images/Frank Zauritz -Pool)

Having failed in its mission to take over Snapchat, Facebook has now launched another assault on rival Snapchat. The online social media and social networking giant is currently testing a new product, which is very similar in look and feel as Snapchat.



Facebook announced on Oct. 28, Friday, it has developed an entirely new camera interface as well as messaging feature in its key app that will allow users to send crazy selfies to friends. These selfies will disappear after 24 hours. Dubbed as "the new camera," it will include optional special effects such as facial masks. Prior to its launch, the feature will be made available in Ireland, Business Insider reported.



Advertisement

Similar to Snapchat, the new camera will include augmented reality (AR) selfie masks. The features of the new camera are very similar to Snapchat's Lenses. The new interface will be opened by a camera button positioned above the News Feed, while swiping on the right side of the News Feed will display photo as well as video direct messages with friends.



CEO Mark Zuckerberg has taken a personal interest in developing the camera redesign has been of personal interest to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the report quotes an individual familiar with his thoughts as saying. According to the source, during a recent meeting with Facebook employees earlier this summer, Zuckerberg shared that "the camera is the composer."



Meanwhile, a spokesperson of the social media giant told the website on Friday that the revamped camera design was inspired by two major trends observed by the company. Facebook has observed that compared to the past, people are now sharing more photos and videos and they would like a means to share their photos and videos just with their close friends, and not with everyone.



While Facebook has been trying to copy Snapchat's messaging products, this time there is a major difference. The company has built the new product into its main app, which reportedly has 1.7 million users.



Earlier, the company tried to replicate the Snapchat magic by developing standalone apps such as Poke and Slingshot. Moreover, the new camera will be available with a separate inbox in the flagship Facebook app. In other words users will be able to send their photos and videos without using the Messenger, Recode reported.



It is worth mentioning here that since Snapchat CEO rejected Zuckerberg's attempt to acquire Snapchat, this image messaging and multimedia mobile app has turned out to be a major threat for the social media giant as far as the new mobile-friendly teenagers are concerned. This is the main reason why Facebook as well as Instagram have been endeavoring to clone the fun features of Snapchat fun features, including facial filters and Stories to goofy one-to-one messages.



Watch what the social media is actually up to:






When Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont first proposed legislation to eliminate undergraduate tuition at public universities and colleges, the mainstream laughed. Nearly two years later, the movement has caught fire with millennials nationwide.

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton echoed these sentiments in her platform, saying, Lets make debt-free college available to everyone. And lets liberate the millions of Americans who already have student debt. She also has proposed tuition-free community college.

Serious concerns are raised with such proposals. They would levy adverse effects on our military.

Critics cite economic concerns  that these policies would burden the federal budget, which has already surpassed $19.5 trillion in debt. But another concern is how free college for the lower and middle classes would subvert what is arguably the chief incentive for enlistment, the GI Bill.

The federal government enacted the Montgomery GI Bill in 1944 to provide the financial wherewithal to pursue education through service in the military. As a result, the GI Bill became the modern-day equivalent of buying war bonds for three generations of Americans, in terms of military support.

Years later, military service remains one of the only viable avenues to a debt-free education for a vast majority of working-class America. In its current form, the Post-9/11 GI Bill provides even more benefit and incentive than its predecessor.

According to a 2011 Pew Research Survey, 75 percent of enlisted members of the armed services said they joined to obtain educational benefits. Not surprisingly, the number of service members who feel this way rose from 55 percent pre-2001 as the cost of education continues to rise.

In 1960, education costs per semester averaged $760, while the average American made $10,800 per year. Today, the average national cost per semester is $24,061, and the average American earns $45,000 per year. An increasing number of Americans are either forgoing education or falling thousands of dollars in debt to attend.

The free college proposal would, essentially, strip the GI Bills value and significantly hinder recruiting efforts.

Im a Marine Corps veteran. While serving in Afghanistan and Iraq, casual conversation inevitably turned to why each Marine had enlisted. The answers varied. They ranged from political aspirations and service to the most common answer  educational benefit.

Without the ability to maintain recruiting levels as a result of the devaluation of the GI Bill, our government would have to look to other means of attracting men and women into the armed services. This could lead to uncomfortable or challenging alternatives.

The militarys ability to recruit has long been predicated on the benefits the GI Bill offers lower-class Americans. It not only contributes to military success but to the very existence of a conscription-free force.

During the height of more recent conflicts, difficulties with recruiting and retention led to the controversial stop-loss program. The military unilaterally extended service members contracts to meet the needs of the mission in Iraq and Afghanistan. This program affected 54,494 service members, lasted five months, and was an example of the issues plaguing modern-day recruiting. This, despite the incentive of a GI Bill.

Education reform aimed at tackling affordability and accessibility are necessities to U.S. competitiveness on the global stage. However, such reform must come after careful consideration of the effects  whether it contributes to the undermining of the militarys premier recruiting tool, the GI Bill.

Instituting widespread reform would no longer expressly tie free education to national service and may very well signal a return to military conscription in the United States.

James B. Miller Jr. is the opinions editor for The Mesquite at Texas A&M-San Antonio, where a version of this commentary first appeared. He is a 14-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, with seven operational combat tours.
In its latest effort to improve the lives of those affected by autism, the Kronkosky Charitable Foundation has launched a critical new website that links treatment and services to families in the San Antonio region.

The website, www.autismlifelinelinks.org, is the second step in the Kronkosky Foundations ongoing work on behalf of autism treatment and awareness.

Readers may remember that this summer, the Kronkosky Foundation released a detailed study finding 1 in 79 people in this region is on the autism spectrum, a range of social disorders. That report highlighted the intense shortage of experts in San Antonio who can diagnose and provide life-changing therapy to children.

That therapy is called applied behavior analysis, or ABA. The wait time for ABA can be years, but children with autism dont have that kind of time. With ABA, the sooner, the better.

Enter www.autismlifelinelinks.org, which serves as a one-stop destination for information and services for those families who have found themselves adrift with an autism diagnosis. Through the site, families will only have to fill out one set of forms, not form after form as they move between service providers. They will immediately be placed on waitlists for diagnosis and treatment. Staff will check in with families.

We think this will be a game-changer for families in our area wrestling with autism, said J. Tullos Wells, Kronkosky Foundations managing director, who has led this initiative.

There are about 30,000 people in San Antonio with an autism diagnosis.

On its own, the website, which San Antonio-based TAVHealth created, does not directly affect the agonizing wait times. Thats an issue tied to the regions lack of experts. But the site has the potential to dramatically change what happens during the wait time because families are immediately linked with the autism community, which can provide crucial nonclinical support.

These would be activities and services such as parties, sitters or hairdressers who are trained to work with people with autism. Such community support at least makes the wait period easier.

Even if we can get them on the waitlist, it doesnt mean we can get them through the door for diagnostic service any faster, Helene R. Freymann, executive director of Autism Lifeline Links, said. One of the things the TAV platform allows us to do is to track the waiting lists. To see how many people are in our system. To understand they were enrolled in our system on this day (and reach out to them).

This brings us to the next step in the Kronkosky Foundations incredible efforts on behalf of families with autism. The Kronkosky Foundation is pushing for two key legislative changes next session that could dramatically improve access to treatment for Texans with autism  at no cost to taxpayers.

The first is for Texas to require insurers to cover ABA therapy. The second is to license autism behavioral analysts here so they can bill through Medicaid.

Wells told us that Texas trains behavioral analysts, only to lose crucial workers because of its policies. They go to other states where ABA is better covered.

Texas has disincentives to families getting access to ABA therapies, and thats one of the things we want to fix, he said.

Insurers have been resistant to covering ABA therapy because it is expensive. It costs upward of $50,000 a year, and generally has to be applied anywhere from 25 to 40 hours a week for about two years to make a difference.

Early access to ABA has a positive impact on children and families immediately, said Berenice de la Cruz, chief operating officer at Autism Community Network.

Applied behavior analysis therapy is not a cure, but it does move the needle for many children. To not require insurers to cover the therapy is tantamount to a cost shift. It means that taxpayers and families pay in the form of increased special education costs, diminished work prospects for adults with autism and the possibility of residential care. In that sense, autism affects all of us.

We strongly encourage Bexar Countys delegation to make coverage for ABA therapy a priority this legislative session. Its a legislative opportunity to better lives.
Ive been thinking about what comes after Donald Trump, win or lose. Specifically, what happens in Texas.

My thoughts converge on 1994 California, the beginning of the end of the Republican Partys clout in that state. Before there was immigrant-bashing Trump, there was Californias Gov. Pete Wilson.

Back then, Wilsons chances to win re-election were viewed as dim. But he hitched his wagon to Proposition 187, which would have made undocumented immigrants ineligible for public benefits, including education and health care.

Proposition 187 won; Wilson, a former U.S. senator, was re-elected governor and even tried to ride the measure to the Republican presidential nomination in 1996. And California  once a presidential battleground state and home base of party icon Ronald Reagan  is now the political hue of a field of Texas bluebonnets

A GOP presidential nominee hasnt won in California since 1988. In September, Democrats were 45.6 percent of the states registered voters and Republicans 26.8 percent. Arnold Schwarzenegger was the last Republican to win statewide office  in 2006  but was not viewed as one of the partys fire-breathers. And Democrats have won virtually every other statewide office since 1994.

Proposition 187 was instantly challenged and the law was never implemented, but the damage was done, helped along by subsequent ballot measures banning affirmative action and restricting bilingual education.

The message to the states growing Latino population was crystal clear: Weve found our scapegoat, and her name is Gonzalez.

Though he lacked Trumps invective, Wilsons scaremongering had an effect on other groups  such as college-educated whites (and women) with an aversion to scapegoating.

The William C. Velasquez Institute says that in 2012  the last presidential election year  the Latino citizen voting age population, or CVAP, in California was 6.5 million, 56.6 percent of whom were registered to vote. Latinos were about 27 percent of the states CVAP.

However, CVAP and registration arent the same as turnout. Latinos, according to the Public Policy Institute of California, are only 18 percent of the states likely voters, though they are 38.8 percent of the states population. But the estimate occurs amid reports of heightened interest in this election by Latinos  thank you, Trump.

Texas has been on a similar trajectory  a sizable and surging Latino population (identical to Californias nearly 39 percent), which traditionally disappoints when it comes to turnout. Texas Latinos still lag in those indicators that determine likely voting  income and education. This is important because disengagement from civic life is often a corollary.

So, its fair to wonder why Texas policies seem designed to cement this status.

Im referring here to inadequate funding as the student population of the states public schools becomes majority Latino; an ardor for school vouchers that will further cripple schools; keeping the minimum wage rock-bottom low; crafting the state into a low-tax and low-wage magnet for firms (and bragging about it in job-stealing jaunts to other states); and being totally fine with being a national leader in the number of uninsured residents and on other distressing indicators such as poverty (38th among the states), and teen birth rates (tied with New Mexico at fourth highest).

Income inequality and segregation, thy name is Texas. Bright red Texas. And it has lately been called a toss-up state in the presidential sweepstakes.

If Trump wins Texas by anything other than double digits, this will be telling. If Clinton wins the state, this will be a tectonic shift on the order of Brownsville shoved next door to Amarillo. And the temptation will be to dismiss this as a one-off  because of Trump.

Arguing against that is Proposition 187. Long term, it was a change agent  a defining political moment for California Latinos and Democrats. The question is whether Trump can be that in Texas and elsewhere  and not in any way he intended.

Dear Texas Republican incumbents: With your enthusiasm for border surges, denying undocumented students in-state college tuition, voter ID, gerrymandering and sanctuary city legislation, you have planted Proposition 187-like seeds. And your values-starved backing of racist and sexist Trump could be the Miracle-Gro to aid full blooms. Heck, in policy, youve been Trumpistas before Trump seized the presidential stage.

Texas Latinos who pay attention cant help but get the message. And these stances, along with a declaration of war on abortion providers, mean so will many millennials and college-educated men and women.

Such a bizarre strategy. Stopping the Californianization of Texas has long been a rallying cry of Texas GOP candidates, including its present governor. But the embrace of everything that molded present-day political realities in the Golden State continues unabated in the Lone Star State.

The only mystery is why it hasnt happened already  likely a result of disengaged Latinos, disheartened Democrats, failure to form coalitions, and a spirited delaying action by Republicans. Change is inevitable, but it doesnt have to be deeply divisive.

Texas Republicans, for instance, could spend more time trying to sell their wares to Latinos rather than  with voter ID, gerrymandering and strict restrictions on third-party voter registration  trying to stop Latinos from voting altogether or getting the representation they wish.

Texas GOP leaders can, in other words, moderate.

Oh, wait. Whether transgender Texans can go to their preferred potties will be an issue in the next Legislature. And raising the ante on border security funding will be as well.

Really?

California has an independent redistricting commission. In Texas, the foxes in the Legislature are still in charge of that henhouse and will be in the drivers seat in both state chambers after Nov. 8. So, I have no delusions about overnight seismic change, but neither do I have any about where the trends take us. The question is whether Trump will be an accelerant.

Next week, there may be even more distancing from and disowning of Trump. But Texass power elite set the stage for him. Then many directly supported him or refused to repudiate him. They own him  his backers and his message.

In film lore, Citizen Kanes dying breath was spent uttering Rosebud. The Texas elites last just might be Trump.

o.ricardo.pimentel@express-news.net

Twitter: @oricardopimente
1 Deadly clashes: The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic said 25 people have been killed in clashes between armed groups amid rising tension in parts of the turbulent country. The statement late Friday said 15 fighters were killed Thursday in the communities of Mbriki and Belima on the outskirts of the central town of Bambari. And on Friday, six police and four civilians were killed in an ambush on a main road there. Central African Republic descended into conflict in 2013 when the mostly Muslim Seleka rebels overthrew the Christian president. When the rebel leader left power, a deadly backlash by the Christian anti-Balaka militia against Muslim civilians followed.

2 Egypt violence: A roadside bomb killed two soldiers and wounded four others Saturday in the restive northeastern region of the Sinai Peninsula, security officials said. The bomb struck an armored vehicle carrying soldiers to Sheikh Zuwaid near the city of el-Arish. The four injured soldiers were in critical condition and the death toll could rise. Egypt has battled Islamic extremists in Sinai for years, but the insurgency has grown deadlier and spread into the mainland since the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.
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Endrtimes does not necessarily endorse or agree with every opinion expressed in every article/video posted on this site. The information provided here is done so for personal edification; It's up to the reader to separate truth from error, and to examine everything (like the Bereans) from a Biblical perspective. Let the Holy Scriptures be you guide! - - - FAIR USE NOTICE: These pages/videos may contain copyrighted () material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available to advance understanding of ecological, POLITICAL, HUMAN RIGHTS, economic, DEMOCRACY, scientific, MORAL, ETHICAL, and SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES, etc. It is believed that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior general interest in receiving similar information for research and educational purposes.
Torrential rain caused floods and traffic accidents in towns in central and southern Egypt

Fifteen people have been killed and 47 others injured as a result of torrential rain and flooding in Egypt since Thursday, health officials have said.

Seven people were killed and 23 others injured after heavy rain hit the town of Ras Gharib in the Red Sea governorate, MENA agency reported the provincial health department as saying. Schools in the coastal town, which is around 150 km north of Hurghada, have been indefinitely suspended due to the flooding.

Six people were also killed and 24 others wounded early on Friday when two buses and three other vehicles overturned in floods on a highway in the governorate of Sohag, which lies some 500 km south of Cairo, the health ministry said.

Authorities closed off the road in both directions after many vehicles became trapped in the floods, a provincial official told Al-Ahram Arabic news website.

Twenty-six ambulances were rushed to the scene of the accident, Ahmed El-Ansary, the head of the ambulance authority, told the website.

Two people were also killed by electric shocks resulting from thunder in Fayed, in the Suez Canal governorate of Ismailiya.

Heavy rains caused flooding in several towns in Upper Egypt and along the Red Sea coast on Wednesday and Thursday. Impoverished areas with poor infrastructure have been worse hit.

The capital Cairo has been spared the unstable weather conditions.



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By Gaius Publius, a professional writer living on the West Coast of the United States and frequent contributor to DownWithTyranny, digby, Truthout, and Naked Capitalism. Follow him on Twitter @Gaius_Publius, Tumblr and Facebook. Originally published at at Down With Tyranny. GP article archive here. Originally published at DownWithTyranny



Proposed pipeline routes through the Middle East to gas markets in Europe. The purple line is the Western-supported Qatar-Turkey pipeline. All of the nations it passes through  Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey (all highlighted in red)  have agreed to it  except Syria. The red line is the Islamic Pipeline from Iran through Iraq into Syria. See text below for further explanation. (Source: MintPress News; click to enlarge)

Summary first: We have been at war in Syria over pipelines since 1949. This is just the next mad phase.

Im not sure most Americans have figured out whats happening in Syria, because so much of what we hear is confusing to us, and really, we know so little of the context for it. Is it an insurgency against a brutal ruler? Is it a group of insurgencies struggling for power in a nearly failed state? Is it a proxy war expressing the territorial and ideological interests of the U.S., Russia, Turkey and Iran?

Or something else?

According to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. it is something else  a war between competing national interests to build, or not build, a pipeline to the Mediterranean so natural gas can be exported to Europe. Inconveniently for Syria, that nation lies along an obvious pipeline route.

Which makes it another war between interests for money  something not very hard to understand at all.

Heres Kennedys argument via EcoWatch. This is a long piece, well worth a full read, but Ill try to present just the relevant sections here.

The Historical Context: Decades of CIA-Sponsored Coups and Counter-Coups in Syria

Kennedys introductory section contains an excellent examination of the history of U.S. involvement in Syria starting in the 1950s with the Cold War machinations of the Eisenhower-appointed Dulles brothers, John Foster Dulles, the Secretary of State, and Allen Dulles, the head of the CIA. Together, they effectively ruled U.S. foreign policy.

Kennedy writes (my emphasis):

Syria: Another Pipeline War  Americas unsavory record of violent interventions in Syriaobscure to the American people yet well known to Syrianssowed fertile ground for the violent Islamic Jihadism that now complicates any effective response by our government to address the challenge of ISIS. So long as the American public and policymakers are unaware of this past, further interventions are likely to only compound the crisis. Moreover, our enemies delight in our ignorance.  [W]e need to look at history from the Syrians perspective and particularly the seeds of the current conflict. Long before our 2003 occupation of Iraq triggered the Sunni uprising that has now morphed into the Islamic State, the CIA had nurtured violent Jihadism as a Cold War weapon and freighted U.S./Syrian relationships with toxic baggage. During the 1950s, President Eisenhower and the Dulles brothers rebuffed Soviet treaty proposals to leave the Middle East a cold war neutral zone and let Arabs rule Arabia. Instead, they mounted a clandestine war against Arab Nationalismwhich CIA Director Allan [sic] Dulles equated with communismparticularly when Arab self-rule threatened oil concessions. They pumped secret American military aid to tyrants in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon favoring puppets with conservative Jihadist ideologies which they regarded as a reliable antidote to Soviet Marxism. At a White House meeting between the CIAs Director of Plans, Frank Wisner, and Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, in September of 1957, Eisenhower advised the agency, We should do everything possible to stress the holy war aspect. The CIA began its active meddling in Syria in 1949barely a year after the agencys creation. Syrian patriots had declared war on the Nazis, expelled their Vichy French colonial rulers and crafted a fragile secularist democracy based on the American model. But in March of 1949, Syrias democratically elected president, Shukri-al-Kuwaiti, hesitated to approve the Trans Arabian Pipeline, an American project intended to connect the oil fields of Saudi Arabia to the ports of Lebanon via Syria. In his book, Legacy of Ashes, CIA historian Tim Weiner recounts that in retaliation, the CIA engineered a coup, replacing al-Kuwaiti with the CIAs handpicked dictator, a convicted swindler named Husni al-Zaim. Al-Zaim barely had time to dissolve parliament and approve the American pipeline before his countrymen deposed him, 14 weeks into his regime.

Kennedy then details the history of coups and counter-coups in and against Syria, and concludes this section with this:

Thanks in large part to Allan Dulles and the CIA, whose foreign policy intrigues were often directly at odds with the stated policies of our nation, the idealistic path outlined in the Atlantic Charter was the road not taken. In 1957, my grandfather, Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy, sat on a secret committee charged with investigating CIAs clandestine mischief in the Mid-East. The so called Bruce Lovett Report, to which he was a signatory, described CIA coup plots in Jordan, Syria, Iran, Iraq and Egypt, all common knowledge on the Arab street, but virtually unknown to the American people who believed, at face value, their governments denials. The report blamed the CIA for the rampant anti-Americanism that was then mysteriously taking root in the many countries in the world today.  A parade of Iranian and Syrian dictators, including Bashar al-Assad and his father, have invoked the history of the CIAs bloody coups as a pretext for their authoritarian rule, repressive tactics and their need for a strong Russian alliance. These stories are therefore well known to the people of Syria and Iran who naturally interpret talk of U.S. intervention in the context of that history. While the compliant American press parrots the narrative that our military support for the Syrian insurgency is purely humanitarian, many Syrians see the present crisis as just another proxy war over pipelines and geopolitics. Before rushing deeper into the conflagration, it would be wise for us to consider the abundant facts supporting that perspective.

So much for our supposed interest in humanitarian intervention in Syria. From a Syrian point of view, it has never been thus. It has been about pipelines since 1949, and they understand that, even if we dont.

The Current Conflagration

Kennedy then turns to the present, or the near-present. Refer to the map above as you read:

A Pipeline War In [the Syrians] view, our war against Bashar Assad did not begin with the peaceful civil protests of the Arab Spring in 2011. Instead it began in 2000 when Qatar proposed to construct a $10 billion, 1,500km pipeline through Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Turkey. Qatar shares with Iran, the South Pars/North Dome gas field, the worlds richest natural gas repository. The international trade embargo, until recently, prohibited Iran from selling gas abroad and ensured that Qatars gas could only reach European markets if it is liquefied and shipped by sea, a route that restricts volume and dramatically raises costs. The EU, which gets 30 percent of its gas from Russia, was equally hungry for the pipeline which would have given its members cheap energy and relief from Vladimir Putins stifling economic and political leverage. Turkey, Russias second largest gas customer, was particularly anxious to end its reliance on its ancient rival and to position itself as the lucrative transect hub for Asian fuels to EU markets. The Qatari pipeline would have benefited Saudi Arabias conservative Sunni Monarchy by giving them a foothold in Shia dominated Syria. The Saudis geopolitical goal is to contain the economic and political power of the Kingdoms principal rival, Iran, a Shiite state, and close ally of Bashar Assad. The Saudi monarchy viewed the U.S. sponsored Shia takeover in Iraq as a demotion to its regional power and was already engaged in a proxy war against Tehran in Yemen, highlighted by the Saudi genocide against the Iranian backed Houthi tribe.

Which puts the Qatari pipeline squarely opposite to Russias national interest  natural gas (methane) sales to Europe.

Of course, the Russians, who sell 70 percent of their gas exports to Europe, viewed the Qatar/Turkey pipeline as an existential threat. In Putins view, the Qatar pipeline is a NATO plot to change the status quo, deprive Russia of its only foothold in the Middle East, strangle the Russian economy and end Russian leverage in the European energy market. In 2009, Assad announced that he would refuse to sign the agreement to allow the pipeline to run through Syria to protect the interests of our Russian ally.

That was likely the last straw vis-a-vis the U.S. Which brings us to another pipeline, the so-called Islamic Pipeline (see map above):

Assad further enraged the Gulfs Sunni monarchs by endorsing a Russian approved Islamic pipeline running from Irans side of the gas field through Syria and to the ports of Lebanon. The Islamic pipeline would make Shia Iran instead of Sunni Qatar, the principal supplier to the European energy market and dramatically increase Tehrans influence in the Mid-East and the world. Israel also was understandably determined to derail the Islamic pipeline which would enrich Iran and Syria and presumably strengthen their proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas.

Another, competing pipeline which would run through Syrian territory, but this time carrying Iranian gas instead of Qatari gas. Thus the demonizing of Assad as evil in the mold of Saddam Hussein, instead of just a run-of-the-mill Middle East autocrat, as bad as some but better than others. Kennedy includes a good section on the history of the al-Assad familys rule of Syria, including this information from top reporters Sy Hersh and Robert Parry:

According to Hersh, He certainly wasnt beheading people every Wednesday like the Saudis do in Mecca. Another veteran journalist, Bob Parry, echoes that assessment. No one in the region has clean hands but in the realms of torture, mass killings, civil liberties and supporting terrorism, Assad is much better than the Saudis.

In September 2013, the Sunni states involved in the Qatar-Turkey pipeline were so determined to remove Syrian opposition to the pipeline that they offered, via John Kerry, to carry the whole cost of an U.S. invasion to topple al-Assad.

Kerry reiterated the offer to Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL27): With respect to Arab countries offering to bear the costs of [an American invasion] to topple Assad, the answer is profoundly Yes, they have. The offer is on the table.

Obamas response:

Despite pressure from Republicans, Barrack Obama balked at hiring out young Americans to die as mercenaries for a pipeline conglomerate. Obama wisely ignored Republican clamoring to put ground troops in Syria or to funnel more funding to moderate insurgents. But by late 2011, Republican pressure and our Sunni allies had pushed the American government into the fray.

The rest is a history of provocation and over-reaction  a great deal of both  and chaos and death in Syria. Kennedy provides much detail here, at one point adding:

[Syrias] moderates are fleeing a war that is not their war. They simply want to escape being crushed between the anvil of Assads Russian backed tyranny and the vicious Jihadi Sunni hammer that we had a hand in wielding in a global battle over competing pipelines. You cant blame the Syrian people for not widely embracing a blueprint for their nation minted in either Washington or Moscow. The super powers have left no options for an idealistic future that moderate Syrians might consider fighting for. And no one wants to die for a pipeline.

Ill leave it there, but again, do read the entire piece if you want to truly understand whats going on in Syria, and what is about to go on.

Bottom Line

Bottom line, its as Kennedy said: No one wants to die for a pipeline  but many do and will.

Ill offer three thoughts. One, if we werent so determined to be deeply dependent on fossil fuels, this would be their war, not ours. Two, we are deeply dependent on fossil fuels because of the political machinations of the oil companies, their CEOs, and the banks and hedge funds who fund them, all of whom pay our government officials  via campaign contributions and the revolving door  to prolong that dependence. Were here because the holders of big oil money want us here.

And three, keep all this in mind during the term of the next president. It will help you make sense of the phony warrior-cum-humanitarian arguments were almost certain to be subjected to.

We have been at war in Syria over pipelines since 1949. This is just the next mad phase.
A PHOTOGRAPH illustrating a report on a once proud hotel - The Clonmel Arms Hotel - in the issue of this newspaper (13th October) tells a sad story.

The story of the abandonment and continuing deterioration of an important and attractive building in the town, is one that has concerned citizens for some time. And in the context of the County Councils recent policy on the renewal and rejuvenation of the old centres of Tipperary towns, the condition of this building in Sarsfield Street presents a real challenge.

It also raises issues on the function and powers of Planning Authorities in seeing that the circumstances and conditions under which planning permissions are issued are ultimately fulfilled.

The building - Clonmel Arms Hotel - is significant both commercially, historically and architecturally in the town of Clonmel. Its location, in the heart of the town, is very important. It is a hub. The building started life as a bank - Rialls Bank - built at the turn of the 18th/19th century, at a time coinciding with rising growth and prosperity in Clonmel.

Rialls were already well-established as reputable bankers. This was a time of private banks and many of their contemporaries had not survived a major crash which had occurred in 1770 and later again in 1793. Canon Burke (History of Clonmel) was of the opinion that they survived because they had not spread their papers wholesale after the fashion of the private bankers of the time. (A lesson which Anglo Irish Bank would have been wise to have taken seriously nearly two centuries later!).

Rialls Bank became the Corporations bank, and when Charles Bianconi was looking for capital to start his business, Rialls gave him a loan. According to Bianconi himself, none of the other banks considered him a good risk. He eventually became a millionaire.

When banking became incorporated in the mid 19th century, Rialls Bank was taken over by the Provincial Bank and older residents of Clonmel will remember its attractive public office: the gleaming mahogany counters and interior woodwork, the large windows. The limestone exterior of the banking section of the building is also very attractive, and both this, and the quality of the interior woodwork, illustrate the range of skills in carpentry, cabinet-making and stone-masonry in the Clonmel of the time. (And all of it executed without an electric-tool!).

These are characteristics worth preserving. They give interest and character to a building. But buildings also have an important contribution to make to the attractiveness of the street, and Sarsfield Street is one of the four streets of the medieval town. There was a gate - a barbican - on its southern riverside boundary, the dimensions of which still remained until the 1940s, when the Corporation demolished a very substantial area of wall - the whole, or part of which, may have been a section of the medieval fortifications. There was a theory - but no historical proof - that this was the route which O'Neill's Army took in escaping from the town after the Cromwellian Siege).

Sarsfield Street has had several names over the centuries, including that of Boate Street and Duncan Street. The eastern side of the present street enclosed the old monastic lands of the Franciscan Friary which comprised the area now enclosed by Mitchel Street, Dowds Lane and the river. Much of the development of this eastern boundary - by the Perry and Bagwell estates - was contemporary with the building of Rialls Bank. The last of the Riall family in Clonmel - William Augustus - died in Heywood House in 1916.

All of this, as we dismissively say, may well be just history, but this former bank/hotel is not only important historically in the town, but it is architecturally attractive, and part of Clonmels heritage. It has also been a thriving commercial enterprise, which has brought business and people into the town town centre. And people, as we all know, bring life and money and business. Its proper restoration and development has the potential for the rejuvenation of the town centre - which, the Tipperary County Council has told us (at a public meeting in Clonmel) is one of its pressing objectives.

Yet, the Council, as a Planning Authority, appears to have been helpless in ensuring that the development, for which it has long since given permission, remains unfulfilled. Is this due to the Councils excess supply of patience in its supervision, or is it because our planning legislation needs more teeth? Or do we need to look at the level of property rights contained in our Constitution?

These, it would appear, are not issues of any great political urgency, but they need to be addressed. The pathetic picture of a former thriving hotel - a historic, attractive, once proud building, now becoming ruinous, is a matter of great urgency.

So, elected representatives, both local and national, lets hear your voices. Loud and clear. This building in Sarsfield Street cannot be allowed to continue drifting into a future of daily deterioration and anti-social abuse. Somebody has to shout STOP!
Two of the five finalists in this years Making an Impact competition organised by the Higher Education Authority in conjunction with the Irish Independent are from Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT)  including Newcastle, County Tipperary man Paul ODwyer.

At the final which takes place on Wednesday, 16 November at The Helix, Dublin City University each researcher will have a maximum of ten minutes to make their presentation, followed by a brief question and answer session with an expert panel.

Two awards of 2,500, sponsored by the Irish Independent, will be awarded to two individual winners, one of whom will be picked by the panel and the other by second level students in the audience by vote.

There were over 200 entries from higher education institutions across Ireland and the finalists are charged with effectively communicating their research to a lay audience.

Paul O'Dwyer is a postgraduate researcher at the Department of Applied Arts, Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT). His entry into the competition is titled Institutional Racism in the Irish Workplace.

Paul is from Newcastle and attended the Christian Brothers Secondary School in Clonmel.

His family includes his parents, John and Marian, brother Niall, sister-in-law Caroline, and extended family of aunts, uncles and cousins in Newcastle, Ardfinnan and Goatenbridge in Tipperary.

Prior to starting out as a researcher at WIT, he completed the three year BA (Hons) in Criminal Justice Studies, graduating in October 2015. He received the Humanities Student of the Year award in 2015. He hopes to go on to do further study in Sociology and Ethics and work as a lecturer/consultant.

My Masters is investigating the prevalence of institutional racism in Ireland via Irish workplaces. To do this, I am using a mixed methods approach to my research; a large scale case analysis of complaints brought before the Workplace Relations Commission (formerly the Equality Tribunal and other organisations) and the Labour Court, and participant interviews of Commission staff and legal professionals identified through the case analysis. This original research will be paired with a review of literature that aims to chart the development of institutional racism in general and in Ireland specifically, as well as the various factors that are connected to institutional racism, he said.

Pauls research project is entirely self-funded. I have a number of reasons why I picked WIT to do my Research Masters. One of the most important reasons is the staff available to assist students and researchers, he adds.

Vice President for Research, Innovation and Graduate Studies at WIT Dr Peter McLoughlin commented: WIT is extremely proud of Paul in reaching the final of this years Making an Impact competition. This achievement highlights the breadth and quality of research being carried out at WIT. The competition along with the #LoveIrishResearch initiative reinforces the importance of research and making this research accessible to a wider audience.
WASHINGTON  The mortgage industry is welcoming the Obama administration's possibly final word on housing finance reform, hoping it will serve as guidepost for the future.

The Treasury Department released a paper this week that said reform efforts should focus on providing access to credit and affordable rental housing.

"We're drawing on our experience as the administration enters its final months. We conclude that any future system should meet a simple test: does it provide fair, sustainable access to all Americans?" Antonio Weiss, assistant to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, said in a statement emailed to American Banker about the report.

The Mortgage Bankers Association welcomed the attention the Treasury paper places on affordability, authored by Weiss and Karen Dynan, a Treasury assistant secretary.

"It is probably the one issue that needs the most attention in order for reform to move forward successfully," said David Stevens, the president and chief executive of MBA. "On a larger level, though, the paper further signals the near-unanimity among stakeholders that conservatorship is something that needs to end as we look for a more sustainable, accessible, transparent, and safe model for the future."

The Treasury co-authors note that borrowers with FICO credit scores below 665 are underserved in the market currently.

The minimum credit score on loans guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is 620, "but only 10% of all new mortgages originated across the industry are to borrowers with FICO scores below 665," according to the paper, which is entitled "Housing Finance Reform: Access and Affordability in Focus."

"When a large number of first-time homebuyers cannot buy a home, established homeowners may face a harder time relocating or moving up in the market," the paper says.

Tight mortgage credit also puts pressure on the supply of rental housing. To reach more borrowers in a future system, the Treasury officials want to move toward the cross-subsidization of loans via average-cost pricing.

"The pooling of a large amount of borrower risk allows for cross subsidization between borrowers and more even pricing," said Jim Parrott, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute and a former White House economic advisor.

While historically the two government-sponsored enterprises have used average pricing, recently they have done more risk-based pricing, which increases the cost of credit for borrowers with low credit scores.

The Treasury report recognizes that "affordability is the really the key issue facing housing finance right now," said Mike Calhoun, president of the Center for Responsible Lending,

The costs associated with risk-based pricing along with the re-pricing of mortgage insurance have suppressed credit access.

"This report is an inflection point in the framing what is the pressing issue in the housing finance market," he said.

It is important to return to average-pricing, he added.

As Election Day nears, neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton has issued a paper on housing policy. "Housing is not at the top of their agenda," said Anne Canfield, executive director of the Consumer Mortgage Coalition.
Mark Aplet - Fotolia

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's warning letters about Home Mortgage Disclosure Act obligations has prompted speculation that the regulator once again has mini-correspondent lenders in its sights.

The bureau did not name the 44 mortgage lenders and brokers that it said received letters. But brokers are not required to report HMDA data, nor will they be required to under the revised set HMDA rules that take effect in 2018. So a logical interpretation is that the bureau targeted so-called mini-correspondents, a popular stepping-stone structure for mortgage brokers that want to fund loans in their own names. The mini-correspondent setup has faced regulatory scrutiny amid concerns the business model is used to evade consumer protection laws.

"The company doing the underwriting usually is making the credit decision and reports for HMDA," said Ari Karen, a principal at Offit Kurman and head of the law firm's mortgage compliance department. "If you were a broker and you were not making a credit decision, why would you be getting a letter saying you may have a HMDA obligation?"

"It could be one of two things. It could be mini-correspondents. Or it could be a company, in theory, that just has not been reporting," he said.

HMDA data for the industry's 2015 originations was released in late September. And the CFPB has had an information-sharing agreement with the Conference of State Bank Supervisors since 2011, which would give it access to the quarterly mortgage call reports that nonbank lenders and brokers with state licenses submit to the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System.

"I think what the CFPB did was look at the nondepository mortgage call reports and from there, they saw people who were submitting mortgage call reports and the type of loans they were submitting would qualify as HMDA-reportable loans," said Leonard Ryan, president of compliance technology developer QuestSoft. "Then they compared that to the HMDA list and saw that those 44 lenders had not submitted HMDA, probably because they felt like they were brokers and didn't have a HMDA requirement."

The CFPB did not respond to NMN's numerous inquiries about whether it sent the letter to mini-correspondents. In an email, a spokesperson declined to detail how it selected the letters' recipients, "as that would disclose investigative tactics and methodologies, which are confidential information."

But it wouldn't be the first time the CFPB has put mini-correspondents on notice. The agency published guidance in July 2014, outlining questions it considers with transactions involving mini-correspondent lenders to determine "their true nature."

Mortgage brokers are often attracted to the mini-correspondent model to avoid the qualified mortgage rule's 3% cap on broker points and fees, while also receiving premiums for selling loans they've closed in their own names. Mini-correspondents typically have warehouse line agreements with the entities purchasing their loans, which enables them to operate with limited net worth. Because of this, critics claim mini-correspondents are brokers in all but name and lack the staff and capital to prevent fraud and repurchase bad loans.

In a sample of the letter the CFPB sent to mortgage companies, the agency says it has "information that appears to show that your company may not be in compliance with certain provisions of the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act," and outlines the HMDA reporting obligations for non-depositories.

"We encourage you to advise us of the steps you have taken or will take to ensure compliance with the laws identified above or, if you believe these legal requirements do not apply to you, to provide an explanation," reads the letter from Patrice Alexander Ficklin, the bureau's fair lending director.

The companies that received HMDA letters may have been attempting to straddle the line between operating as a broker and a mortgage banker.

"When it comes to HMDA, they say, 'No, I don't have a HMDA requirement because I'm a broker,' and then on the other side they go and advertise out on the street that they're a direct lender," Ryan said.

In any event, the letter marks the beginning of an intense focus on fair lending compliance by the CFPB.

"If you think TRID was bad, ha-ha. That's all I have to say. TRID was a cakewalk compared to what HMDA's going to be for lenders," said Karen, referring to the TILA-RESPA integrated disclosure rules that took effect in 2015.

"I think most people who are fairly aware of what's going on believe the CFPB already has some type of analysis  that's going to take all that initial data and spit out, 'here are the people who are violating fair lending and in what way,'" he added.

The new HMDA rules add 25 data points and modify 14 others. There are also changes to the thresholds that determine whether a lender has to submit its data. About 940 of the nearly 7,000 financial institutions that currently report HMDA data will no longer be required to when the new rules go into effect, according to an analysis of 2015 HMDA data by QuestSoft. However, roughly 1,240 companies that currently do not report HMDA data will be required to, resulting in a net increase of about 300 lenders.

Most of the increase will come from lenders with more than 100 home equity lines of credit (which are currently optional for HMDA reporting, but will become mandatory under the new rules), as well as nonbank mortgage companies that originate fewer than 100 loans (the current reporting threshold for nonbanks), but more than 25 loans (the new threshold).

"The impacts from a business standpoint of HMDA are going to be so much more significant than simply the changes that come into reporting," said Karen.
Not all festivals are popular across the world but there are some which attract people from around the world and one such is a cattle fair in India. Held in Sonepur in Bihar, this fair is one of its kind, and is celebrated in November-December every year.

Animal lovers from across the nation and from other parts of the world gather here to be a part of this huge festival. The fair or mela showcases animals like dogs, buffaloes, ponies, Persian horses and camels among the rest. Apart from the fair, visitors gather here to buy goods from the stalls that sell items from garments and jewellery to toys, furniture, utensils and other accessories. Various folk shows and games are also some of the major attractions of Sonepur Cattle Fair, for which travellers come from various countries that include Italy, France, Portugal, Japan and Switzerland.

Isn't it a great deal for a cattle fair to attract so many tourists?

Photo Courtesy: Abhifrm.masaurhi

This unique festival is commenced during the time of Karthik Purnima, and is generally celebrated for a fortnight to a month. Apart from attending the fair, devotees flock in during this season to take a dip in the Ganges, as Sonepur is the confluence of two holy rivers Ganges and Gantak.

Other Places to Visit Near Sonepur

Sonepur is located 6km from Hajipur, which is one of the most progressive towns of Bihar. Hajipur has a few attractions worth exploring. They include Kaun Haara Ghat, Nepali Mandir, Mahatma Gandhi Setu, Pataleshwar Mandir and Ranchaura Mandir.

Land of Festivals

Bihar has some unique festivals that you can be a part of. Some of the interesting festivals include Chhath Puja (worshipping the Sun God), Sama Chakeva (winter festival celebrating the migration of birds to the plains from the Himalayas), Bihula (worshipping Goddess Mansa for the welfare of the family) and Madhushravani (for the unity and togetherness of tradition and religions).

How to reach Sonepur

You can reach Hajipur and hire an auto rickshaw or a taxi to reach Sonepur. Here's how to reach Hajipur.

Travel to Bihar this November to witness Asia's largest cattle fair and to experience the colour and culture that stands out from the rest of the world.
How cinnamon affects the brain

Cinnamon may halt the progression of Parkinson's disease

(NaturalNews) Cinnamon is one of the world's most consumed spices. For thousands of years, it has been prized for its medicinal properties and sweet, warming taste. Aside from sprinkling cinnamon on top of your lattes or adding magic to grandma's apple pie, researchers have found that consuming this tasty household spice also might enhance learning skills.Scientists at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago found that increased ingestion of cinnamon significantly improved the memory of "poor learning" mice. Recently, their findings were published in thein an article entitled "Cinnamon Converts Poor Learning Mice to Good Learners: Implications for Memory Improvement."The study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Alzheimer's Association.For the study, lead researcher Kalipada Pahan, a neurology professor at Rush University Medical Center, and his team zoomed in on two key proteins, GABRA5 and CREB, located in the hippocampus region of the brain. The hippocampus is a small part of the brain that generates, organizes, and stores memory. Previous research has shown that lower levels of CREB and higher levels of GABRA5 occur in the brain of poor learners.To see if ground cinnamon could improve the memory of slow learners, the researchers took a group of mice and placed them in a maze with 20 holes. The experiment was focused on watching the mice learn how to locate their target hole.When they tested the mice again after one month of cinnamon feeding, the researchers found that the mice determined to be poor learners had significantly improved their memory and learning skills. They could find their target hole twice as fast.Pahan and his team explained that when cinnamon is ingested the body converts it into sodium benzoate, a chemical compound used to treat brain damage. Furthermore, they discovered that when benzoate entered the mice's brains, it increased CREB, decreased GABRA5, and stimulated hippocampal neurons, which led to improved memory and learning skills."We have successfully used cinnamon to reverse biochemical, cellular and anatomical changes that occur in the brains of mice with poor learning," Pahan said.However, no significant improvements were seen in the mice that were considered good learners. But Pahan added that if these results could be replicated in slow learning students, cinnamon could become one of the safest and easiest approaches to convert weaker students to good learners.Pahan and his colleagues previously found that cinnamon had a positive effect on the brains of mice with Parkinson's disease. When cinnamon transforms into sodium benzoate, it works to protect the neurons, normalize brain cells, and improve communication within the brain, which slows down the progression of the disease.Given their promising results, Pahan and his team - supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health  plan on moving forward with testing in human patients with Parkinson's disease."This could potentially be one of the safest approaches to halt disease progression in Parkinson's patients," Pahan said. "It would be a remarkable advance in the treatment of this devastating neurodegenerative disease," he added.Before starting to add cinnamon to all your dishes, know that not all cinnamon is created equal. Pahan explained that there are two major types of cinnamon available in the United States - Chinese or cassia cinnamon and Ceylon cinnamon. While both metabolize into sodium benzoate, Ceylon cinnamon is much better than Chinese cinnamon. Chinese cinnamon contains coumarin, a molecule that can damage the liver
Egypt described comments made by Iyad Bin Amin Madani, the secretary-general of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) about President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi as regrettable, and a "grave transgression, a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Saturday.

The Ministry added that it plans to file a complaint with the OIC to protest Madanis behaviour.

During comments last week at an OIC conference hosted by Tunisia, the OIC secretary general mistakenly read out Tunisian President Essebsis name as El-Sisi.

In an attempt to correct his mistake, Madani made a joke telling Tunisias Essebsi This is a terrible mistake, Im sure that your fridge has more than water [unlike El-Sisis] Mr. President.

"Such comments are not consistent with the responsibilities and duties of the post of the [OIC] secretary-general, and substantially affect the scope of his work and his ability to carry out his duties," Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said in a statement Saturday afternoon.

The incident has lead Egypt to reconsider its relationship with the Secretariat of the Organization and its Secretary General, Shoukry added.

A few days earlier, at a youth conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, the Egyptian President told the audience [Im] one of you, I swear, for ten years, my fridge only had water and no one heard my voice and Im not from a rich family.

The OIC released a statement on Friday in which Madani apologised for his comments, which he said were humour and didnt intend to offend, in any way, the Egyptian leadership represented by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.

The OICs statement also added that Madani respects El-Sisi whom he has met once before.

The foreign ministrys statement, which was released after the OICs statement, said Egypt is aware of the secretary-generals apology, and we will follow up with the organisation to identify the action that should be taken to correct this issue.

Madani, 70, is a Saudi Arabian diplomat who served as the country's information minister, among other official posts, before his stint on the Saudi-based OIC.

The OIC, which was established in September 1969, comes in second place after the United Nations (UN) as the second largest inter-governmental organization, with 57 state members spread over four continents.

It is composed of three main bodies: The Islamic Summit, Council of Foreign Ministers, and the General Secretariat.

According to their website, the OIC was established as a voice of the Muslim world and ensuring to safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony among various people of the world.

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(NaturalNews) In what freedom fighters across the country are calling a stunning victory against a tyrannical government agency, a jury in Oregon has acquitted all seven defendants involved in the armed takeover of a federal wildlife refuge in January.Cheers broke out in the Portland, Ore., federal courtroom when the jury announced the acquittals of Ammon Bundy, along with brother Ryan Bundy and five others, theThe seven were charged with conspiracy to impede federal workers from their jobs at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, which is located about 300 miles southeast of Portland. Also, the jury could not reach a verdict on even one count of theft for Ryan Bundy.The announcement by the jury did not come without additional drama, however. Upon hearing the jury's decision, Marcus Mumford, one of Ammon Bundy's attorneys, demanded his client be released, even shouting at the judge. That prompted U.S. marshals to tackle Mumford to the ground and use a stun gun on him a number of times before arresting him, thereported.U.S. District Judge Anna Brown said she was not able to release Bundy because he faces federal charges in Nevada, his home state, related to an armed standoff with federal Bureau of Land Management agents at his father Cliven Bundy's ranch in 2014 As reported by , the armed standoff began Jan. 2 and lasted nearly six weeks. The incident brought new attention to the long-running issue of too much federal ownership of lands in the American West. The confrontations at the refuge earlier this year and on Cliven Bundy's ranch in 2014 essentially reignited arguments between private citizens  mostly ranchers  and the federal government that stem from the so-called Sagebrush Rebellion in the late 1970s, when Western states like Nevada attempted to wrestle more control of their own territory from the federal government As noted bythe federal government owns nearly half of the land  47 percent  in the West.Thenoted that even the defendants' attorneys were shocked by the acquittals."It's stunning," said Robert Salisbury, an attorney for defendant Jeff Banta. "It's a stunning victory for the defense. I'm speechless."The U.S. Attorney in Oregon , Billy J. Williams, said in a statement that his office stood by its decision to prosecute the seven defendants."We strongly believe that this case needed to be brought before a Court, publicly tried, and decided by a jury," the statement said.The Oregon case was, in a sense, an extension the tense standoff between federal officials with the BLM and other authorities, and the Bundy's two years ago in Nevada. Cliven, Ammon and Ryan Bundy are all scheduled to go on trial for that standoff early next year.It's not clear what the outcome of the Nevada trial will be. Federal attorneys have said they don't feel like the outcome in Oregon will have any effect whatsoever on the Nevada trial.But defense attorneys involved in the Nevada trial aren't so sure. Daniel Hill, an attorney for Ammon Bundy , says the Oregon acquittal bodes well for his client and the other defendants, all of whom are facing felony weapon, conspiracy and other charges, thereported."When the jury hears the whole story," he told, "I expect the same result."
Be it pregnant women, women of child-bearing age, or those who are planning to get pregnant, all are very cautious in taking vacations and out-of-the-country holidays because of the Zika virus scare. In Canada, a large portion of the locals has canceled their trips just to be safe from the virus.

The Zika virus was originally identified as a mosquito-borne flavivirus in monkeys. The first cases were recorded in Uganda, where the virus was also identified in humans. If infected by the virus, the person usually feels joint and muscle pains, headaches, and skin rash. These are complemented by fever and conjunctivitis, which were normally observed to last for a maximum of 7 days.

Read here: Zika Virus Fact Sheet from WHO

Once detected to have Zika, it eventually affects the developing fetus inside the womb of a pregnant woman or may pose the same threat to those who are planning to have a baby. Their offspring may suffer from a neurological disorder called Guillaim-Barre syndrome or may have smaller heads termed as microcephaly.

With these terrifying effects of the virus, Canadian travelers have been reconsidering their trips, especially if their destinations were reported to have Zika cases. According to Dave Davidson, Barrhaven Travel executive vice-president, his customers had their trips postponed or changed because of the Zika virus. He has even cited a group who planned to have their wedding in Miami and ended up switching back to their original plan of holding it in Jamaica because of a reported Zika outbreak.

In a survey done by Travel Health Insurance Association of Canada, it was found that out of the total population of travelers planning to get pregnant, 35 percent said that they have changed or even canceled their trips upon hearing Zika cases in their chosen destination.

To cover for these conditions, many airlines have now provided additional insurance for their passengers, which includes rerouting, rescheduling, or even refunding of tickets to pregnant women who have previously booked their tickets before the destination was declared to have Zika cases.

Canadians have been victims of the travel-related Zika infections, therefore making them more concerned about their health over their long-planned trips. More than 2,000 pregnant women in the U.S. and its territories have been reported to have Zika, which adds up to the worry of Canadians, especially for their usual trips down south.
Its been more than four years since an 82-year-old Richmond woman was viciously beaten and raped while out for a morning walk, and police said on Friday that they arrested her alleged attacker earlier this month.

Those who knew Sun Kwon, like her apartment director Janet James, said the woman was always smiling. James described her as a very lovely woman who was very sweet, very kind and loved life. She also expressed a sense of relief on Friday after learning that the 34-year-old man, identified as Jonathan Jackson, who police believe is responsible for the fatal 2012 attack is behind bars.

I was wondering if it would ever happen, James said. I'm so happy for the family.

Richmond police say the mother of four and grandmother of six was taking a walk in January 2012 when Jackson assaulted her a few blocks away from her apartment. At the time of the attack, Kwon was packed and excited to take a cruise to Hawaii with her family.

Instead, she was barely breathing when a tire shop employee found her in a parking lot next to a pile of discarded tires, according to Lt. Felix Tan.

An 82-year-old woman being raped and murdered  thats as bad as it gets, he said.

But despite all efforts, police were unable to solve the crime until now. They said Jackson was arrested for possessing a stolen car in September and his DNA sample matched the DNA left on Kwon's body. Thats what led to his arrest two weeks ago. He is now in the Contra Costa County Jail and faces charges of murder, rape and kidnapping.

I hope justice is served, James said.

James said Kwon lived in the same Richmond complex for more than 10 years, and she will never forget her.

The whole community was in shock, James said. You just don't expect something like that to happen to someone 82 years old.

She continued: She was a lovely woman and did not deserve what happened to her."
Kate Rubins is an inspiration to her high school  Vintage High in Napa  and to kids everywhere.

Follow your dream, study a lot of science, and maybe you can end up on the International Space Station.

After 115 days, two space walks, and roughly 48.6 million miles, Rubins is finally coming home.

After a docking ceremony Friday, she and two other astronauts will head to Kazakhstan. From there, its back home for Rubins to, among other things, vote.

I got my absentee ballot sent to low earth orbit, she said. Its incredible what we can make happen up here.

Rubins spoke to her high school from ISS in September. NASA officials call her a great role model, both to young girls, and young boys, said NASAs Brandi Dean. We want everyone to be interested in space.

Thanks in part to Rubins, many of us are.

Scott travels on Twitter: @scottbudman
Murali Gorur of Cupertino covers up his sofa and loveseat with quilts. He says he can no longer look at what lies underneath.

Its an eyesore, Gorur said.

The material on Gorurs furniture is peeling off. It started with little patches, and then it spread.

Obviously, I was a bit disappointed, Gorur said.

Gorur paid $800 for the furniture three years ago at United Furniture Club in Santa Clara. The furniture is made with bonded leather. Gorur says he didnt know what that meant, but says the salesperson told him the material was durable, and would last at least five years. But Gorur says the peeling started after just two years.

If Id known theyd self-destruct within two years of purchase, obviously I wouldnt have purchased them, Gorur said.

When Gorur complained to United Furniture Club, he says the retailer told him the furniture had a one-year warranty, so he was out of luck.

We expect $800 to last us more than two years, Gorur said.

Mercedes Harrison of Oakland paid $1,300 for a furniture set from Jennifer Convertibles three years ago. She says she was led to believe she was buying genuine leather.

It felt and smelled like leather, Harrison said. So we assumed it was leather.

But the sales receipt says bonded leather. Harrison says within two years the furniture started to crack.

If we wanted raggedy furniture, we wouldnt have paid that money, Harrison said.

Harrison felt some relief - shed purchased a furniture protection plan. But her claim was denied, because cracking and peeling isnt covered.

Consumers across the country are having the same problems with bonded leather furniture.

The Responds team at our NBC sister station in Chicago has received more than 700 complaints.

It starts coming off in sheets, one Chicago consumer explained.

The Leather Industries of America is a trade group for leather suppliers. They didnt want to talk on camera for our story, but told us over the phone that marketers of bonded leather are trying to fool consumers into thinking theyre buying real leather.

So what is bonded leather? Not totally leather.

Bonded leather consists of ground up leather fibers that are glued to the underside of a piece of fabric. Then the top layer - often just plastic - is embossed to look like leather.

So on a piece of furniture like Muralis and Mercedes, there is no leather on the surface.

No consumer should be bamboozles like this, Harrison said. Its not good business.

The federal government has guidelines about bonded leather when it comes to accessories like handbags, shoes and belts. On those products, the percentage of leather must be disclosed on a product label.

But when it comes to furniture, there are no guidelines. And according to the Leather Industries of America, bonded leather used in furniture consists of just 15-20 percent leather - sometimes less.

These consumers are frustrated they had to learn a costly lesson, but hope they can help others.

Im glad were making everyone aware of it, Harrison said.

Jennifer Convertibles reiterated that Harrisons receipt says bonded leather, but says she shouldnt be having quality issues after two years. So to try and make it right with Harrison, its offered her $1,000.

United Furniture Club said many factors play into how long its bonded leather will last - like temperature and how the furniture is used. As an act of goodwill, it refunded Gorur $400.
The next time you check your Facebook page, notice the ads.

The social media giant allows advertisers to exclude certain ethnic groups from seeing an ad on their page, ProPublica first reported.

When you open the page to create an ad you can choose a target audience, but you can also choose groups to exclude based on so-called ethnic affinity. It even shows you how many millions of users wouldn't see the ad.

Im very much concerned about anything that's exclusionary in our society especially in today's climate, said Rev. Jethro Moore II, president of the NAACP San Jose/Silicon Valley chapter.

Targeted marketing is not illegal. However, if the advertiser uses the Facebook tool to exclude ethnic groups from housing listings or employment opportunities, attorneys say it would be illegal.

I don't think on its face Facebooks policy is invalid, said attorney Rodney Moore. I think it creates a great risk for the marketplace and a great potential legal liability for Facebook if it in fact is used inappropriately."

Christian Martinez, who heads U.S. multicultural sales at Facebook, took to the company's business page on Friday, and referenced concerns over housing and employment discrimination.

He wrote: Our ad policies strictly prohibit this kind of advertising, and its against the law. If we learn of advertising on our platform that involves this kind of discrimination, we will take aggressive enforcement action."
The French Laundry and famed chef Thomas Keller are named in a lawsuit alleging discrimination against a server because she was pregnant, according to the Napa Valley Register.

The lawsuit was filed last month in Napa County Superior Court by Vanessa Scott-Allen, who recently moved to the Napa Valley after working as a server at Per Se, Keller's acclaimed New York City restaurant, according to the Register.

The newspaper reports Scott-Allen moved to the Bay Area to work at The French Laundry, but the job fell through.

A spokesperson for The Thomas Keller Restaurant Group told the Register the company has a policy of not commenting on pending or ongoing business litigation.

Read the full report at the Napa Valley Register's website.
The 20th Annual Tri-Valley Veterans Day honors all veterans who have served or are serving our nation in the armed forces. This year the parade and the post parade event are dedicated to those who served during the Vietnam War era. This event is one of over 7,000 events being conducted across the United States to mark the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War. Vietnam veteran and Medal of Honor Recipient US Army Major (retired) James A. Taylor will be the parade grand marshal and will be the guest speaker at the post parade ceremony.

When: Sunday, November 6, 2016

Time: Begins at 1 p.m.

Where: Veterans Memorial Hall, Pleasanton
A 40-year-old man was killed when the all-terrain vehicle he was riding slammed into a Washington Heights neighborhood light pole late Friday on the Far South Side.

The crash happened about 11:25 p.m. in the 10500 block of South Green, police said.

Orenthal Clark was taken to Roseland Community Hospital, where he died at 11:40 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiners office. The crash happened near his home.

CPDs Major Accident Investigations Unit is handling the case.
The court also handed 15-year prison terms to 16 people and acquitted 86 others

A Cairo criminal court handed life sentences on Saturday to two supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi and 15-year jail terms to 16 others in the case known as the 2013 Boulaq Abo El-Ela riots.

The court acquitted 86 others in the same case.

A life sentence amounts to 25-years in jail, according to Egypts penal code.

The defendants can still appeal their sentences in front of the Court of Cassation.

The case dates back to August 2013, when violence and riots broke out in the vicinity of Boulaqs police station in central Cairo following the security forces dispersal of supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi at the Rabaa El-Adaweya and Nahda sit-ins.

The defendants were found guilty of murder, joining an armed group calling for the overthrow of the government, use of violence, assaulting citizens, and vandalising public and private property.

They were also convicted of possessing weapons and bombs used for murder, attempted murder, and thuggery.





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A group of Yale students and community activists demanding the university change the name of Calhoun College marched Friday afternoon from the New Haven Green to the Yale presidents office at Woodbridge Hall.

The protestors delivered a letter with their demands to Yale President Peter Saloveys secretary and they taped fliers to the front door.

The difference between the other colleges that are named after slaveholders and (John C.) Calhoun is that Calhoun is known as the countrys biggest proponent of slavery, said organizer Kica Matos, he championed it, he advanced it.

Yale students waged a campaign last year to change the name, but that did not succeed.

In April, Salovey announced Yale would keep the name of Calhoun College, saying the decision was to confront, teach and learn from the history of slavery in the United States.

But the protestors, who at one point had a portion of Elm Street blocked off, argue the residential college needs to be renamed because Calhoun represents racism.

I want things to change you know substantively, I know changing the name is not enough, said Yale junior Cassandra Darrow, who is a Calhoun College resident.

This debate was reignited over the summer when a Yale employees act of civil disobedience made national headlines.

Corey Menafee was criminally charged after smashing a stained glass window depicting slaves in the Calhoun College dining hall. His charges were dropped and Yale rehired him in a new role.

Corey brought the town and the campus together on this issue of racism at Yale, his attorney Patricia Kane said before the march, and the name Calhoun is offensive just as the stained glass window depicting the slaves with cotton.

Menafee made a brief appearance to address the group of demonstrators.

NBC Connecticut requested an interview with President Salovey.

Instead, the Office of Public Affairs issued a statement saying, "We appreciate and respect the views of University and New Haven community members on all issues."

In September, Yale created a committee of faculty, alumni and students to come up with principles to guide the university on renaming campus buildings.

Protestors told NBC Connecticut that is a little too late and it should not take a committee to get rid of what they say is a racist name.
A lawsuit filed in Connecticut this week accuses a former top official for the scandal-plagued Legion of Christ of sexually abusing a boy in the 1990s.

The accused priest served as second-in-command to the founder of the conservative religious order, who molested his seminarians.

The lawsuit is believed to include the first such accusation against the Rev. Luis Garza, who's believed to be living in the Philippines.

A Legion of Christ spokesman said Friday that Garza denies the allegations. Spokesman Jim Fair says Garza said he "will cooperate fully in any inquiry regarding this matter."

The plaintiff's name hasn't been made public. The plaintiff alleges he was abused by Garza and two other priests at a Legion boarding school in Mexico when he was a teenager.

This is not the first time the group has faced allegations of this sort. in 2010, a Vatican investigation determined that the order's founder Rev. Marcial Maciel had sexually molested seminarians and fathered three children by two women.
Meriden police are asking for the public's assistance in identifying a man they said robbed a TD Bank on Friday.

Police said they responded to TD Bank at 733 East Main Street around 4:30 p.m. on Friday for a report of a robbery.

According to authorities, the male suspect implied he had a weapon and demanded money from a bank teller.

The suspect then fled the bank with an undisclosed amount of cash in an unknown direction, police said.

Police are asking anyone with information about this incident to contact Detective Wagner at 203-630-6334.
Donald Trump is accusing the Justice Department of doing everything it can to protect his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.

Trump is pointing to a disagreement between the DOJ and the FBI over its handling of a new batch of emails discovered pertaining to the investigation of Clinton's use of a private email server as secretary of state.

Justice Department officials cautioned FBI director James Comey against sending a letter to Congress informing them of the new emails, asserting that it was inconsistent with department policy intended to avoid the appearance of prosecutorial influence in elections.

But Trump tells a rally crowd in Phoenix, "The Department of Justice is trying their hardest to protect the criminal activity of Hillary Clinton."

He asks, "What's happened to the Justice Department?" and says this is what he means when he says that the "system is rigged."

Trump is also repeating his claim that the development represents the biggest political scandal since Watergate.

He says, "It's everybody's deepest hope that justice, at last, will be beautifully delivered."

Earlier in the day Hillary Clinton attacked FBI director James Comey's decision to reveal a new probe into her email practices just days before the presidential election at a campaign rally in Florida on Saturday.

"It is pretty strange, its pretty strange to put something like that out with such little information right before an election," she said as her supporters cheered.

"In fact, its not just strange, its unprecedented and it is deeply troubling because voters deserve to get full and complete facts," she said. "So we called on Director Comey to explain everything right away, put it all out on the table."

Clinton's campaign also lashed out at the FBI on Saturday, saying there was no indication that a cache of recently discovered emails under review by the agency was connected to the Democratic nominee. Barnstorming the West, Republican rival Donald Trump pounced on the reignited email controversy.

Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta told reporters FBI Director James Comey's letter to Congress about the new emails was "long on innuendo" and "short on facts."

"There's no evidence of wrongdoing," he said. "No charge of wrongdoing. No indication this is even about Hillary."

But on that latter point, Comey in fact said the new trove was "pertinent" to the Clinton email investigation, without explaining how.

A government official told The Associated Press on Saturday that the Justice Department had advised the FBI against telling Congress about the new developments in the Clinton investigation because of the potential fallout so close to the election. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter and discussed it on condition of anonymity.

Justice officials concluded the letter would be inconsistent with department policy that directs against investigative actions that could be seen as affecting an election or helping a particular candidate, the official said.

Landing with a thud, the email issue again threatened to undermine an advantage built by Clinton, the Democratic nominee, over Trump and raised the possibility that the Republican might be able to seize momentum during the final days before the Nov. 8 election.

Trump told a crowd in Golden, Colorado, on Saturday that the FBI's review of Clinton email practices raises "everybody's deepest hope that justice, as last, can be properly delivered." His crowd cheered Clinton's email woes, which Trump has taken to calling the biggest political scandal since Watergate.

Trump also had battleground Arizona on his plate Saturday. Early voting has been underway for weeks and Clinton, who was campaigning Saturday in Florida, has led in preference polls, both nationally and in key swing states.

The FBI is looking into whether there was classified information on a device belonging to Anthony Weiner, the disgraced ex-congressman who is separated from longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin. Comey, in his letter to Congress on Friday, said the FBI had recently come upon new emails while pursuing an unrelated case and was reviewing whether they were classified.

The announcement raised more questions than answers and generated criticism that Comey was injecting a significant development too close to an election. Yet the FBI director also faced the prospect of intense scrutiny if voters learned that he had been sitting on a major development until after the election.

Podesta and campaign manager Robby Mook spoke to reporters in a conference call, following Clinton's hastily arranged news conference on Friday night in a high school choir room in Des Moines, Iowa. In it, she said "the American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately. The director himself has said he doesn't know whether the emails referenced in his letter are significant or not."

But long-term, the development all but ensured that, even should Clinton win the White House, she and several of her closest aides would celebrate a victory under a cloud of investigation.
Fatal house fires kept emergency crews in Dallas and Fort Worth busy overnight.

The Fort Worth Fire Department confirmed a 54-year-old woman was found dead inside of burning home around 10:45 p.m. on Friday night.

Firefighters responded to the 5100 block of Spanish River Trail. The story brick house was fully involved and flames burned shingles on two surrounding homes.

Investigators are still looking for the cause of the fire.

No people died in a house fire in old East Dallas on Friday night but two four dogs perished.

The fire broke out at a home in the 4700 block of Sycamore Street.

Crews from Dallas Fire Rescue found four dogs dead at the scene. Firefighters administered treatment to a fifth dog and was able to save it. Another dog escaped the fire but ran away from the scene.

Dallas-Fire Rescue spokesman Jason Evans said the fire damaged a bedroom and attic space in the home. He said it was caused by an electrical short.

Evans said the homeowners were away from the house at the time.
Fort Worth police want to know who gunned down two men at an apartment complex near the American Airlines Training Facility early Saturday morning.

Officers were called to the 4700 block of American Boulevard at about 4 a.m. Saturday.

Upon arrival they found two men with gunshot wounds inside of a third floor unit of the Crest Oasis Apartments.

One man died at the scene. Paramedics transported the other man, but he died at the hospital.

Police said the crime began as a home invasion because the front door had been busted in.

There are no suspects in this case.

Officers are also trying to find the motive.

The victim's names have not been released to the public.
A Grand Prairie woman spent thousands of dollars to create her dream backyard. But when it was time for the contractor to start the job, she said he was a nowhere to be found.

"We wanted to get a pergola set up in the backyard," Sophia Gray said.

It's exactly what she was looking for to make her dream backyard come to life.

"We love entertaining. We thought this would be a nice area in the back to have a patio," she said.

So when she saw an ad on Craigslist in July from a contractor named "Dino Multinovic," she called him up.

"He said it was going to be a total of $8,000. There was a $4,300 deposit, I wrote him a check for $4,300 and just waited and waited," Gray said.

She waited on him for weeks, and that turned into months.

"I was sick to my stomach. He refused to give a refund because he said he already bought the materials, so I said, 'OK, I want my materials,'" Gray said.

But, that didn't happen. There were no materials, no patio, no pergola, and no "Dino."

"We've been scammed," Gray said.

He disappeared, so Gray went online to see if there were other victims.

"Oh, my goodness, we're not the only one," Terry Hill said. "We put a $2,500 deposit down."

Hill and Gray were among several people who say they lost thousands of dollars to "Dino Multinovic" this year.

Folks from Tarrant, Dallas, Parker, and Ellis counties all say they were cheated by the same man. But NBC 5 Responds tracked down "Dino" and it turns out "Dino" isn't even his real name.

NBC 5 Responds called the contractor, and he admitted his real name is Mario Vila. He said the name "Dino Multinovic" was made up because his real name was smeared by bad reviews online.

He sent NBC 5 Responds an open letter to his customers, saying in part:

"I know it is hard to believe that I am anything but some cold hearted monster, but if you could find it in your heart to meet with me  I would be beyond appreciative."

So we gathered his customers for a meeting with Vila, but he was a no-show.

"Within this group we have (people scammed out of) $8,000, $7,000, $4,300, $2,500, $2,000, and $2,200, and that comes to $26,000 in a very short period of time that this man has taken away from us," Hill said.

Vila said he took deposits from new customers and used the money to finish other jobs and pay back loans.

"It's still stealing, it's still stealing. We all need money but I don't steal from people," said John Cole.

Seven of the victims with whom NBC 5 Responds spoke tried to file charges with their local police or sheriff's office. Five of them took it a step further, contacting their district attorney. They say they were told the issue is civil, not criminal, more of a contract dispute.

"No matter what avenue we go, we keep getting told, "it's civil, it's civil, it's civil." Well then if he files bankruptcy, he's protected," Hill said.

Vila filed for bankruptcy in 2015, where creditors claimed he owed more than $140,000.

"How can he get away with stealing thousands of dollars, and not be charged criminally?" Gray said.

In addition to no charges, his debt is wiped clean.

"The law protects the criminals and not the victims, and it makes me sick," Hill said.

"He's just found a perfect little loophole, that he's in a specific gray area, that he can manipulate the way the law works," Gavin Hill said.

And to the group of victims, it's no longer about the money.

"He needs to go to jail so he doesn't do this to anybody else," Gavin Hill said.

"Not jail, OK, prison! Not the county jail, he needs to go to prison," Desiree Cole added.

The group is banding together to see their case through, determined to hold him accountable.

"Did you honestly think you were going to take my money, and I wasn't going to do anything about it? Did you really think that about me? Seriously? Wrong," John Cole said.

It looks like there's a possibility he may be held accountable. NBC 5 Responds has heard back from the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office, which says its White Collar Crimes Unit is investigating the cases against Mario Vila.
If you attended a Halloween mixer in recent days, the kind of old-fashioned get-together that includes that difficult bite-a-pear-tied-to-a-string game as well as bobbing for apples, you likely participated in a guessing game.

You remember from grade school, of course, that one game that asks how many pumpkin seeds are in a bowl or pieces of candy in a jar or autumn leaves in a wheelbarrow.

Did you guess 500,000, give or take? Wait, we crossed our streams there, because that's the number of people who annually join the West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval, one of the solar system's best-attended holiday shindigs (and maybe even the Milky Way's, surely).

A half million revelers make for Santa Monica Boulevard between La Cienega Boulevard and Doheny Drive each and every year to play a festive part in the "World's Largest Halloween Street Party," a nearly 40-year-old party that sees a number of extravagant and creative costumes that clearly took weeks, and even months, to build.

Some costume themes are a team thing, involving a half dozen (or more) partiers; many amazing outfits are stand-alones, but they do they ever stand out, thanks to ginormous wings or crowns or platforms or some other charming combination of various eye-popping accessories.

And it is all free to see, free to stroll, free to soak it all in, from 6 to 11 o'clock on Halloween night.

The second question, after "what should I be?," is always this: "How do I get there?"

You might know exactly how to reach Santa Monica Boulevard and Doheny. You might have driven there hundreds of times over the years, in fact, but getting there, with hundreds of thousands of people also trying to get there at nearly the same time, is as big a consideration as whether you'll dress as the Hollywood Sign or the Pacific Wheel (complete with lights).

Even Visit West Hollywood, the official visitor site for the city, admits "traffic is a bit of a nightmare." Whatever method of transport you choose, know and accept in your heart that you won't arrive right at the parade's closest curb.

In other words? Comfy sneakers will be your friend, as well as embracing the idea you'll have to cover a few blocks, at least, to reach the hoopla.

The Visit West Hollywood page has a few other important recommendations, like making it a night for the grown-ups only (and definitely leaving the furry, leash-cute family members at home). First-timers, and even those who make it a yearly must-do, should peruse all of the helpful tips from the people who are right there and in the know.

Many get-ups are "risque," says Visit Hollywood, and as for imbibing adult beverages out on the route? Nope, not happening, though many bars are located within walking distance.

We all live in a region known for razzmatazz and spectacle, both, and this colossal, convivial, and very, very popular festival is one of the prime examples of our dedication to exuberant costuming, socializing, and celebrating.

You don't even need to be right about how many candies are in a jar or pumpkin seeds in a bowl or leaves in a wheelbarrow at your next get-together; just knowing that 500,000 people regularly seek to take part in the West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval speaks to its robust, everyone-revel superpowers.
Editor's Note: Californians voted in favor of Prop. 57. See the story here.

An Agoura Hills couple that was burglarized while vacationing is sharing the details of their traumatic experience.

Tamara and Sean Goulden returned from Mexico to find burglars had ransacked their home, stealing thousands of dollars in family heirlooms, jewelry and cash.

"I felt raped, I felt beaten," said Tamara Goulden as she recounted the burglary. "It's so traumatic to go back to that moment realizing what was taken from us."

Nearly three years later, detectives arrested three men for the crime. The arrests were part of a massive multi-agency investigation led by the Torrance Police Department.

In a pre-dawn raid in August, more than 20 suspects, believed to be linked to thousands of Southern California burglaries, were taken into custody.

Many of them are gang members from South LA, according to detectives. Police called it one of the largest criminal burglary rings they've encountered.

"You're talking well over a million, $2 million dollars in loss," said Detective Sean O'Rourke of the Torrance Police Department. "Some of these individuals were involved in 100 burglaries in a year."

NBC4 was given exclusive access into law enforcement's four-year-long investigation, which led to the burglary ring raid. It led them to uncover another enterprise, in which they discovered inmates urging friends and associates to approve Proposition 57.

"Honestly, it was a little alarming," said O'Rourke. "I could see they were communicating with other associates and telling them to - whether it's associates or family members - or a lot of times, other gang members, telling them to vote yes on 57."

NBC4 discovered several social media posts written by current inmates.

This one was posted on Facebook from inside jail from a felon who had been convicted of drug and robbery charges:

"PROP 57 IS HERE IF YALL REALLY CARE BOUT US THEN VOTE. WE DON'T NEED YALL VISIT PICS LETTERS PHNE SEX WE NEED Y'ALL VOTE."

NBC4 is not identifying the prisoner who posted this call to action, but has verified his identity and his criminal record and conviction. Proposition 57 would make approximately 7,000 prisoners eligible for parole after they complete their primary sentence.

Their release would be based on factors like time served and good behavior. In his radio ad supporting the measure, Governor Jerry Brown said, "It allows carefully screened nonviolent offenders, who've completed their primary sentence, to apply for parole, not necessarily get it."

But opponents believe the label "nonviolent" is deceptive. Residential burglary is among the crimes covered, but critics point to other crimes like assault with a deadly weapon and rape of an unconscious person, neither of which are defined as "violent crimes" under California law.

"These are career criminals and you can't just let an individual out like that or else there is chaos on the street," said O'Rourke.

To further their argument, opponents point to similar, earlier initiatives like Proposition 47 and AB 109, both of which facilitated some early prisoner releases, and which they blame for current increases in crimes.

Yet there have been no independent studies to verify those claims. Supporters of early release initiatives insist the measures are proving to reduce prison populations and rehabilitate drug offenders.

Approved in 2014, Proposition 47 reclassified certain drug and theft-related felonies as misdemeanors, which reduced sentences and released thousands of inmates.

NBC4 traveled to San Diego to talk with former police chief Bill Lansdowne, who is a co-author of Proposition 47.

"The old system of lock 'em up and forget them is not successful and it's devastating communities," said Lansdowne. "(Proposition 47) certainly has helped tens of thousands of people labeled as felons."

"They've been able to rebuild their lives," he said.

Other supporters, including probation officers, believe if passed Proposition 57 will end arbitrary releases.

The Chief Probation Officers of California association sent us the following statement in support of Prop. 57:



"The Chief Probation Officers of California support Prop. 57 because probation departments know implementing evidence-based rehabilitation is the best way to protect public safety.Prop 57 will require individuals to earn their release to community supervision, rather than being released arbitrarily either by statute or by a federal judge. We must ensure there is enough room in our prisons to keep the most dangerous offenders locked up while doing what we can to rehabilitate nonviolent offenders through proven programs that reduce recidivism and keep our communities safer."



The Gouldens disagree.



In the Gouldens' case, all three suspects were convicted drug or burglary felons who had been arrested multiple times over several years.



The couple believes they never would have been victimized had the thieves stayed behind bars.



"The world is not safe today, because what happened to me can happen to me again," said Goulden. "There's nothing to stop it."
The death toll from torrential rain and flooding in Egypt in the last 48 hours has risen to 26 people, state news agency MENA reported on Saturday, citing the health and population ministry.

A further 72 people were injured due to flood related accidents over the weekend, according to the ministry.

In South Sinai, nine people were killed and one injured. In Upper Egypts Sohag eight people were killed and 23 injured, while in Beni Suef five people were injured.

In the Red Sea, nine people were killed and 35 others injured.

On Saturday, Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi ordered a total of EGP 50 million (around $5.6 million) to be allocated as compensation to the victims of the floods nationwide, while a further EGP 50 million was allocated for the urgent restoration of infrastructure in areas affected by the floods.

Egypts Prime Minister Sherif Ismail visited the town of Ras Gharib, around 150 km north of Red Seas Hurghada, to survey the damage and discuss with the governor the rebuilding of disaster areas and aid to the victims.

Ras Gharib was hit on Thursday with unprecedented rainfall that reached 120 million cubic metres.

Prime Minister Ismail ordered the irrigation minister to use the expertise of university professors for more studies on ways to limit the effect of future floods.

Since Thursday, heavy rains have caused flooding in several towns in Upper Egypt and along the Red Sea coast.

Impoverished areas with poor infrastructure have been the worst hit.



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Los Angeles city animal shelters will offer free cat adoptions Saturday, as part of feline-friendly promotions coinciding with National Cat Day.

"National Cat Day was created to help bring awareness to the number of orphaned kittens and cats who do not have a home of their own and to encourage cat lovers to honor the cat in their life," a spokeswoman for LA Animal Services said in a statement.

A grant from the ASPCA will be used to cover the adoption fees, which are $76 for kittens under four months old, until the money runs out. Cats over four months old are already free to adopt.

Cats and kittens adopted are all up-to-date on their vaccinations, and are microchipped "in case they get lost and spayed or neutered," according to LA Animal Services.

Those who are unable to make a permanent commitment can also look into fostering kittens and adult cats on a temporary basis.

All six Los Angeles city shelters will be celebrating National Cat Day with the promotion.

To find the nearest animal shelter, visit http://www.laanimalservices.com.
Los Angeles police are investigating a confrontation at presidential candidate Donald Trump's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in an incident caught on video.

The video shows a woman protecting Trump's star after it was damaged by an activist this week and then repaired.

The taunting turns ugly as one person in the crowd takes handmade Trump signs from the woman's cart and rips them up.

The Trump supporter is apparently bumped or tripped and takes to the ground where she stays.

The LAPD is investigating the incident as a possible battery. "The physical contact or the unwanted contact would constitute a battery on the individual," said LAPD Lt. Michael Ling.

Michael Cohn, the Trump organization executive vice president and special counsel to Trump, asked for help on Twitter Friday night to find the woman so Trump can give her a gift.

The LAPD is asking the public for more video and they are looking for the person involved in the confrontation.
A conservative students group's bake sale parodying affirmative action has drawn a crowd of 300 protesters at the University of Texas in Austin.

The Young Conservatives of Texas mounted the anti-affirmative action bake sale on campus about 11 a.m. Wednesday. Items were priced in three tiers, one each for white, black and Hispanic customers.

The Daily Texan, the independent campus newspaper, reported that protesters began to gather about an hour later to debate with the sale participants. Protesters chanted, "Racists go home!"

The sale drew criticism from Gregory Vincent, the university vice president for diversity and community engagement. He accused the Young Conservatives of "creating an environment of exclusion and disrespect" among the university students, faculty and staff."
A man who was shot during an armed robbery in Miami is speaking out as police say the duo behind it may be connected to other South Florida crimes.

Miami Police say 23-year-old Rogelio Punay is lucky to be alive. Punay spent seven days in the hospital and showed off his injuries Friday, which include two shots to his stomach. The bruise on his back is a bullet hole exit wound.

Punay said he was with two coworkers on Southwest 12th Street back on Oct. 12 when the suspect came out from behind a tree on the west side of the MetroRail alley armed with a black semi-automatic firearm, demanding all three victims to hand over all of their valuables.

Punay said he'll continue to share his frightening story if it means catching those responsible for pulling the trigger.

Officers say the case has striking similarities with two other armed robberies this month. The most recent incident happened over the weekend near Roberto Clemente Park, with a victim just 12 years old.

In all three cases the duo responsible got away in a four-door Chrysler. Now City of Miami Police are sharing a flyer and hoping a $21,000 reward leads to a break in these cases.

"We most definitely need the community's help, we need someone that perhaps knows a little more to come forward with the information," Miami Police spokeswoman Kenia Fallat said.

Anyone with information is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.
Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez had cocaine and alcohol in his system when his boat crashed into a Miami Beach jetty, according to toxicology reports released Saturday.

It's not clear whether Fernandez was driving when the boat crashed Sept. 25, killing the 24-year-old baseball star and two of his friends. But Fernandez had a blood-alcohol content level of 0.147, well above Florida's legal limit of 0.08, according to autopsy reports released by the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner's Office.

Associate Medical Examiner Kenneth Hutchins listed the cause of death as "boat crash" for Fernandez, 27-year-old Emilio Jesus Macias and 25-year-old Eduardo Rivero.

Each man had suffered blunt force injuries to his head and body, Hutchins wrote.

Cocaine use would be out of character for Fernandez, and the toxicology reports raise more questions than they answer about what happened that night, said the Fernandez family's Tampa-based attorney and longtime friend, Ralph E. Fernandez.

"That leads me to think, could this be an isolated incident? Yes. Could this have been involuntary? Yes. Why do you think there's still a criminal investigation pending?" said the attorney, who isn't related to the pitcher.

Authorities have interviewed a "highly reliable" witness who said he was on the phone with Fernandez just before the crash and heard the pitcher giving another person directions about where to steer the boat, he said.

"If you tell me that he'd been drinking, I'd say, 'So?' He wasn't driving  and he was very careful about that," Ralph Fernandez said.

Players with Major League Baseball contracts have been tested for performance-enhancing substances since 2004 and violations are announced publicly, but there is no random testing for drugs such as cocaine and players generally aren't suspended for abusing those drugs unless they fail to comply with a treatment program or are convicted for drug use, possession, sale or distribution.

Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said Fernandez's autopsy report was "not even official" and declined further comment before Game 4 of the World Series.

Toxicology reports showed both Macias and Rivero also had alcohol levels below the state's legal limit, while Rivero also had cocaine in his system.

Chris Royer, a Fort Lauderdale lawyer representing family members of Macias and Rivero, told the Sun Sentinel that his clients had been told about the findings and they would make a statement having taking some time to discuss the reports.

Royer did not immediately respond to messages left Saturday by The Associated Press.

The bodies had a strong odor of alcohol on them when they were recovered by divers, and investigators also found evidence the boat was speeding when it slammed into the jetty, according to a search warrant affidavit released this week by the Miami-Dade County State Attorney's Office.

The affidavit said officials also had recovered a receipt for alcohol from American Social Bar & Kitchen, where the trio had been before the crash.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez directed the medical examiner's office to release the autopsy reports Saturday, a day after The Miami Herald sued the medical examiner's office seeking their release.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the state agency investigating the crash, previously refused to release the reports. Gimenez said state officials also refused to join the county as a co-defendant in the Herald's public records lawsuit.

The autopsy reports "will provide invaluable information to FWC investigators as they conduct a thorough and complete investigation," wildlife commission spokeswoman Susan Smith said in an email.

U.S. Coast Guard officials have said they'll examine lighting at the South Beach jetty where the boat crashed. Fernandez, the National League Rookie of the Year in 2013 and a two-time All-Star, owned the 32-foot SeaVee named "Kaught Looking."
Passengers recount escaping from a burning American Airlines flight on a runway at Chicago O'Hare International Airport after the airliner experienced what a federal official said was a rare and serious type of engine failure.

American Airlines Flight 383 to Miami experienced an ``uncontained engine failure,'' in which engine parts break off and are spewed outside the engine, the official said.

"It was really frightening," said passenger Karli Rosen. ""I didn't think i was gonna make it."

But all 170 people onboard did make it and passengers finally reaching South Florida told recall their fiery escape.

"Every one was screaming and running toward the exit," said passenger Trashon Montgomery. ""We went to the back exit, they couldn't get the door open because the pressure. once we got the door open everybody just kind of jumped out."

Relieved travelers say in those terrifying moments, their thoughts turned to their families.

"I've got two kids so it was kind of the end, that's what I thought," Montgomery said. "We're here so we're all good."

Officials said the incident left 21 people injured. Footage from the scene showed passengers coming down emergency slides and hurrying across grass next to the runway as emergency vehicles surrounded the plane.
What to Know Former Suffolk County Police Chief James Burke could receive more than four years in prison for beating and threatening to kill a man

Burke admitted to conspiracy to obstruct justice by covering up the beating, which took place in a Smithtown interrogation room

He requests no prison time because he has been taking care of his mother, who is being treated for lung cancer

A former Long Island police chief who admitted beating and threatening to kill a man who stole sex toys and other items from his department-issued SUV wants to avoid prison so he can care for his cancer-stricken mother.

James Burke, the former chief of the Suffolk County Police Department, could receive more than four years in prison when he's sentenced Wednesday. He pleaded guilty last winter to violating the man's civil rights and then trying to cover it up.

In a letter to U.S. District Court Judge Leonard Wexler, Burke requests no prison time because he had been serving as his mother's primary caregiver. She has been treated for lung cancer and recently learned she had a recurrence of cancer in her lymph node, he told the judge.

"It would be unbearable for me to be in prison as her condition deteriorated and she passes from this earth, severely restricted in my ability to communicate," Burke wrote. "She does not deserve the consequences of dying while her eldest son, who has generally done good for most of his life, is in prison. I beseech you, Your Honor, to consider this situation in rendering your sentence."

The court filing Thursday by Burke's attorney also included more than a dozen letters by friends, family, former police officials and politicians vouching for his character.

Burke, who led one of the country's largest suburban police departments, admitted to conspiracy to obstruct justice by covering up the beating, which took place in a police station interrogation room in Smithtown.

In court documents, prosecutors said the former chief was exacting revenge on a man who broke into his SUV in 2012 and made off with a gun belt, handcuffs, ammunition, a box of cigars, a humidor and a canvas bag that contained, among other items, sex toys and video pornography.

Prosecutors wrote that the 51-year-old Burke "went out of control" after the handcuffed suspect called him a "pervert" during an interrogation  punching, screaming and cursing and threatening to kill the suspect with a heroin overdose.

At least 11 current or former police officers and detectives "who had remained silent about the beating for years" testified before the grand jury that indicted Burke.

The suspect in the SUV theft, Christopher Loeb, pleaded guilty to a weapons charge and was sentenced to three years in prison. He was released last summer. He has sued Burke and the police department, seeking damages.
Police shot a man in the leg in Queens Friday night, officials say.

The FDNY says emergency responders transported a wounded man from 116-80 Guy Brewer Blvd. in South Jamaica just after 9:15 p.m.

The NYPD confirmed it was a police involved shooting but did not immediately offer further details. They say no officers were injured.

The man was taken to Jamaica Hospital and is listed in serious but stable condition with a gunshot wound to the leg.
The decision on when to resume Russia-Egypt flights may be made before the end of the year, Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov said Saturday.

Russia suspended flights to and from Egypt shortly after an Airbus A321 plane en route to St. Petersburg crashed over the Sinai Peninsula soon after taking off from Sharm El-Sheikh on October 31, 2015, killing all 224 people aboard.

"If the Egyptian colleagues invite our commission by December, if the group works rapidly and prepares the corresponding report, we will inform the administration and if the decision is made by the authorities, it [the resumption of flights] can be launched before the winter holidays. But for now these are just assumptions," Sokolov told journalists.

Sokolov noted that the Egyptian authorities implemented almost every airport security measure demanded by Russia with the remaining ones including a biometric system tracking employee access to airports, to be put in place in the coming weeks.



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Survivors of an overnight attack that killed 61 people at a Pakistani police academy described chaotic scenes of gunfire and explosions, with militants shooting anyone they saw and cadets running for their lives and jumping from windows and rooftops.

A Taliban splinter group and an affiliate of ISIS made competing claims of responsibility for the four-hour siege late Monday at the Police Training College on the outskirts of the southwestern city of Quetta.

Most of the dead and the 123 wounded were recruits and cadets, said Wasay Khan, a spokesman for the paramilitary Frontier Corps. Of the three militants who carried out the attack, two blew themselves up with explosive vests and the third was killed by army gunfire, he added.

As the nation reeled and sought to understand how militants were able to carry out such violence, many Pakistanis were reminded of a bloody 2014 attack by the Taliban on an army-run school in Peshawar in which more than 150 people, mostly children, were killed.

Broadcasters on Tuesday showed the aftermath of the attack on the Quetta academy: scorched windows and floors littered with the shoes of the dead and wounded.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif rushed to the scene to meet with survivors, who spoke of the horrors of the surprise attack on about 700 cadets, trainees, instructors and other staff that began about 11:30 p.m.

Cadet Asif Hussain said he had been asleep when gunshots broke out.

"We hid ourselves beneath cots. We had in our mind that if we didn't lock ourselves inside the hall, they will kill us," he said.

The attackers kicked at their door but failed to open it, Hussain said. The gunmen instead fired on them from a window, wounding two cadets before moving to a nearby dorm.

Shortly after entering, one of the attackers detonated his vest inside a hall after firing at cadets.

In the chaos, cadets and trainers ran for their lives, jumping through windows and off rooftops to try to escape.

Troops arrived and "it gave us confidence that we are safe now," Hussain said.

Another recruit, his face covered in blood, told a TV station that the gunmen shot at anyone they saw.

"I ran away, just praying God might save me," he said.

Another witness, Faisal Khan, said he had been chatting with friends when the shooting began.

"We closed the main door and switched off lights," he said.

While most of the casualties were from the academy, some of the soldiers who responded to the assault also were killed, said Shahzada Farhat, a police spokesman in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province.

The Islamic State group posted a claim of responsibility on the group's media arm, the Arabic-language Aamaq news agency. The claim was not confirmed by Pakistani officials and IS did not offer any previously unknown details about the attack.

A little-known breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban, called the Hakimullah group, also claimed responsibility.

In addition, Maj. Gen. Sher Afgan, head of the Pakistani paramilitary force that is primarily responsible for Baluchistan province, said the attackers had received instructions from commanders in neighboring Afghanistan and were most likely from the banned militant group Lashker-e-Jhangvi Al-Almi, which is affiliated with al-Qaida and the Taliban. The Sunni militant group has mainly targeted minority Shiite Muslims whom its members consider to be infidels.

Pakistani officials said they had received intelligence reports that militants had entered Baluchistan province, but there was no indication of possible targets.

Earlier, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, without naming Afghanistan, said enemies of Pakistan were planning attacks in Pakistan from a neighboring country.

Kabul condemned the attack and dismissed the allegations that the assault was planned from bases inside Afghanistan.

"Afghanistan is the biggest victim of terrorism and denounces all terrorist attacks," said Mohammad Haroon Chakhansuri, spokesman for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

Ghani himself also condemned the attack, saying, "Terrorism is a threat throughout the region, which is reflected in the brutal act today in Quetta."

Pakistan maintains that militants fleeing army operations in its tribal regions regularly flee over the border and find safe haven in Afghanistan. For his part, Ghani has criticized Pakistan, saying it has provided shelter to the Taliban, and in particular, the violent Haqqani network.

For over a decade, Baluchistan has been the scene of a low-intensity insurgency by nationalist and separatist groups demanding a bigger share in the regional resources.

Pakistan has carried out several military operations against militants in its lawless tribal regions near Afghanistan, including a major push that began in mid-2014 in North Waziristan, a militant base. The militants have killed tens of thousands of people, seeking to install their own harsh brand of Islamic law.

Later Tuesday, the flag-draped coffins of the slain cadets and troops began being moved from Quetta to their families for burial.

One of the dead, army Capt. Rooh Ullah, was given Pakistan's fourth-highest military award for killing one of the militants before he was slain. Sharif, the army chief, attended a service for him in Quetta before the body was flown to his hometown in the northwest.

Ullah's father told a local TV station that he was proud his son died a "martyr."

In Islamabad, minority Christians lit candles for those killed. They chanted slogans condemning violence and vowing to support the victims.
Police are investigating a reported attempted abduction in Philadelphia late Friday afternoon.

A 9-year-old boy told police he was on 1300 McFerran Street at 4:25 p.m. when a man in his 30s wearing a white shirt that covered his face grabbed his book bag and dragged him into an alleyway. The boy said the man chained him to a fence and began to attack him. The boy told police he then screamed, drawing the attention of neighbors, and the suspect ran away.

The boy was taken to St. Christophers Hospital for an evaluation. Police say the boy's story regarding what happened later changed and at this point they're unsure if it actually occurred. They are currently conducting interviews and looking for surveillance video.
A traffic stop led to a police-involved shooting in Haddon Township, New Jersey.

Investigators say an officer stopped a vehicle on North Route 130 near Alabama Road around 9:40 a.m. As the officer tried to identify him, the driver, a man in his 30s, allegedly fled in his car and crashed into a parked vehicle.

A struggle then ensued between the officer and driver, police said. During the struggle, the driver was shot once in the lower body, according to investigators.

The man was taken to the Cooper Medical Center where he was treated and released.

The officer, who was not hurt, was placed on administrative leave pending the investigation. The driver was arrested in connection to an outstanding warrant.

The Camden County Prosecutors Office is currently investigating the incident.




It was raining hotdogs in Tuckerton, New Jersey, Saturday.

Reports of a gas explosion at North Green Street and Railroad Avenue went out Saturday morning.

The Tuckerton Fire Department went out at 4:45 a.m to a possible car into a building accident or a hot dog trailer explosion.

When Tuckerton Fire Department responded with 3 engines, they discovered a hot dog trailer had exploded.

The trailer was owned by John DePalo for the past six years. Depalo stated he has never had issues with it and rents the trailer to Robert Felicino.

DePalo just received next year's rent for the trailer, but does not have insurance on the property or trailer.

Felicino confirmed he started renting the trailer last year and he has never had issues. The Health Department inspected the trailer last week.

After questioning, Felicino stated he leaves the propane tanks on and does not turn them off at night.

There was no fire, but the responders checked on local residents' safety.

No injuries have been reported, but nearby homes had their windows blown out from the explosion.

After investigators examined the scene, they found the fire originated in the oven. The cause of the explosion was determined to be from free-flowing propane from the propane tank, according to Ocean County officials.
What to Know Negotiations continue to avert a potential SEPTA strike.

SEPTA's current contract expires at midnight on Monday and a walkout could begin at the start of service the next day.

SEPTA released a contingency guide to help customers plan in case of a strike which would affect Philadelphia bus, trolley and subway lines.

UPDATE: The SEPTA union announced they were going on strike after no agreement was reached Monday at midnight. CLICK HERE for new details.



Negotiators for the city's transit system, the nation's sixth-largest, and for 5,700 unionized workers failed to reach agreement on a new contract before a midnight Monday strike deadline. [[399291091, C]]

A strike by city bus, trolley and subway workers began Tuesday since no agreement with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority was reached. [[399268661, C]]

SEPTA released a Service Interruption Guide for customers in the event of a strike. CLICK HERE to read it.

"At this hour, talks are ongoing," SEPTA Media Relations Director Carla Showell-Lee wrote in a released statement Monday. "Weve heard from Governor Wolf, Mayor Kenney and other elected officials  theyre all encouraging us to remain at the bargaining table and get a deal done. SEPTA fully agrees with that approach, and we continue working toward that goal. At this time, discussions have been progressing, however, there are still many unresolved issues. We are hopeful that an agreement can be reached if both parties remain engaged at the bargaining table."

SEPTA said last week that transit officials hope agreement can be reached but urged all riders to come up with alternative plans should a strike occur, and the company released a contingency guide to help customers plan. [[398897641, C]]

A strike would affect Philadelphia bus, trolley and subway lines but not regional rail lines and service in areas outside the city. The city system's daily weekday ridership is about 800,000 trips, or about 400,000 people. More than 60,000 public, private and charter school students use the system to get to and from school. Monday night, the Philadelphia School District announced schools and offices would remain open Tuesday regardless of whether or not there is a SEPTA strike.

Union officials have said the two sides are divided by pension and health care issues but also have highlighted non-economic issues such as schedules, break time and driver fatigue. [[399301521, C]]

In 2014, union members ratified a two-year contract that averted a threatened walkout by bus drivers, subway and trolley operators, cashiers and mechanics. In 2009, a strike by SEPTA workers lasted six days.




The Loft at UCSD is often home to incendiary pairings, and that tradition continued on Monday night when the local trio of bassist Kyle Motl, cellist T. J. Borden and Juan Rubio opened for trombonist Alan Ferbers Quintet, which featured saxophonist Jon Gordon, bassist Matt Pavloka, drummer Mark Ferber and local piano master Joshua White.

Motls trio came out with the wicked force of a category five hurricane, and unfortunately, all sense of dynamics and blend suffered from a ridiculously loud stage mix that proved painful for those of us sitting up close. After making the sonic compensation, the music itself proved to be joyfully atonal, seemingly drawing much inspiration from the post-Albert Ayler tradition of energy-music. Everyone went all in, and therein lies the rub: It would have been a substantially richer experience had someone laid back a little.

Those reservations aside, Motls trio demonstrated a fabulous command of each respective instrument and a relentless pursuit of the moment. Had they chosen to go unplugged, their set might have achieved a zenith of ecstatic communication instead of a struggle for sonic dominance.

After a very short break, the Ferber Quintet took the stage to unveil a glorious set of modern music, beginning with Gordons Sicily, which reminded me a lot of the iconic Woody Shaws music. Gordon soloed with a deep blue wail before tossing the baton to White, whose reservoir of effusive ideas seemed ready to burst, despite the fact that he had just flown into town on a break from his national tour with Rudresh Mahanthappa.

Ferbers original Scenes From an Exit Row, was next, which offered a chance for the leader to explore his cinematic approach to composition and his keen melodic improvising. Gordon knows how to build up a head of steam in thoughtful gradients, and everyone capitalized on the detailed pings of Mark Ferbers ride cymbal.

Pavlokas humorously titled A Zagnut, a Dr. Pepper and a Reason to Live, featured a beautifully poignant bass solo in the upper register, delicate trombone textures and a mind-boggling piano spot that sounded like White might be dealing with more than just 10 digits.

Monks Evidence began with a deftly designed and executed drum solo, leading into a furious groove from Pavlokas bass and swinging commentary from Gordon (who quoted multiple fragments of other Monk tunes) and a tightly knotted White essay that somehow ended up on the theme from Mission Impossible.

Another highlight moment came on Alan Ferbers Magnolia, a haunting ballad that turned first to White, whose pensive voicings were perfect manifestations of the sublime. Ferbers trombone created arrestingly dark and intimate textures while Gordons honeyed tone and architectural ingenuity reminded me a lot of the late Phil Woods.

The Loft at UCSD is back in business with superb jazz content, and the next opportunity for sonic magic is coming on Nov. 3, when trumpeter Stephanie Richards leads a quintet with Chris Speed on saxophone, Michael Dessen on trombone, Mark Dresser on bass and Andrew Munsey on drums.

Unbelievably, this concert is free!

Robert Bush is a freelance jazz writer who has been exploring the San Diego improvised music scene for more than 30 years. Follow him on Twitter @robertbushjazz. Visit The World According to Rob.
San Diego Police (SDPD) have a 26-year-old man in custody after they say he broke into a home at Baxter and Lehrer Drive in Clairemont Friday afternoon.

Police said a woman living in the house saw the suspect and reported he was armed with a gun. The man took off on foot and led officers on a chase through the neighborhood, into canyons and even across busy freeways.

He eventually led police to a canyon along SR-52 under the Interstate 805 where they were able to get him to surrender.

The chase led to a lockdown around 4 p.m. at Creative Performing and Media Arts School on Conrad Avenue. It was lifted just before 4:30 p.m., according to a tweet by San Diego Unified School District.

CPMA is on lock down due to police activity in the area. More udpates to follow.  San Diego Unified (@sdschools) October 28, 2016

Fortunately, one of our officers grew up in this area. He used to hike this stuff as a youngster. So he knew it very well, said SDPD Lt. Andrew Hoffman.

Another officer on scene confirmed this wasnt the first time the home was targeted by a burglar.

Neighbors also told NBC 7 a man broke into the same home last week when the victims young son was home alone. He was apparently sick, so he didnt go to school that day.

Guy opened the screen, went down the stairs where the little boy was. And the guy was holding a knife, said a neighbor who did not want to be identified.

James Accardi also lives near the home that was targeted. He said the victim spoke to him moments after the incident Friday.

I missed it by 30 seconds. I walked into my house and my roommate said 'did you hear the scream?' Someone ran off and jumped the fence, he said.

She looked over the balcony and the guy was staring at her in the backyard, he said.

Accardi said one good thing to come out of these break-ins is neighbors are communicating with each other more. He said he has met neighbors for the first time even after living near them for years.

Police have not confirmed the suspect arrested Friday is also involved in last weeks incident.
A swanky, speakeasy-style spot has opened in Oceanside, tucked inside a restaurant. Eater San Diego shares details, plus other tasty tidbits from San Diegos food and drink scene, including a sweet rundown of the best local shops for doughnuts and chocolate.

Prohibition Era-Inspired Speakeasy Opens in Oceanside

Tucked inside Urge Gastropub and Whiskey Bank in Oceanside is 101 Proof, a new craft cocktail-focused spot with a speakeasy-style vibe. Reservations are recommended for the intimate 35-seat, vintage-themed bar, which offers more than 300 varieties of whiskey. Open from Thursday to Saturday, the speakeasy also features a food menu of decadent dishes including foie gras and bone marrow.

San Diego's Best Doughnut Shops

From mom and pop establishments to innovative, outside-the-box shops, San Diego's current crop of doughnut spots offers everything from classic doughnut styles to small-batch artisan creations. Eater helps you sort through the bunch with a guide to a dozen of the best doughnut destinations.

New Japanese Noodle & Barbecue Concept Coming to Carmel Valley

Joining the newly-opened eateries in The Village at Pacific Highlands Ranch complex is Wokou, which will feature signature ramen dishes and a yakitori menu of grilled skewers, along with a full bar pouring craft beer, sake, Japanese whiskey. The restaurant is scheduled to open by the end of the year.

Where to Eat Chocolate in San Diego

Eater has a rundown of top local chocolatiers who are feeding San Diego's sweet tooth with their delightful creations. Ranging from upscale truffles and confections to single-origin chocolate bars and chocolate-infused drinks, these 10 shops cater to the most diehard chocoholics.

Breakfast Republic Will Expand to East Village

The brunch specialists recently announced a new North County location, which will open next month in Encinitas. Now, even more satisfying: word that Breakfast Republic, which already has outposts in North Park and Liberty Station, will be heading to the East Village neighborhood in early 2017.

Candice Woo is the founding editor of Eater San Diego, a leading source for news about San Diegos restaurant and bar scene. Keep up with the latest Eater San Diego content via Facebook or Twitter, and sign up for Eater San Diegos newsletter here.


The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) hosted a public forum on Thursday evening to discuss changes to air traffic routes over Point Loma.

The controversial proposed change had gotten backlash from many community members rallying about 4,000 homeowners against it. They feared it would add to the air and sound pollution in the area.

We eliminated the probably 45,000 flights per year that would have been flying eastbound over the peninsula, said San Diego Air Traffic Forum Leader, Casey Schnoor. "Was a win for the community."

On Thursday, Point Loma residents gathered to get their first look at the FAAs new departure plan. That plan will push planes more than a mile south of what had been the accepted eastern turn point.

Schnoor and other homeowners who saw the new plan said they were satisfied but have their suspicions, saying they are concerned that planes will still cut the corner early.

The airlines are cheating on the flight path even before it's been implemented in the last year," one homeowner said.

But FAA Spokesman Ian Gregor says heavy air traffic and safety considerations do sometimes cause flights path variations.

Our goal is to always keep as many planes as possible on the published root because that is simply more efficient, Gregor said.

Along with the departure path, the rules of combat in this aerial duel are also about to change. Schnoor says ordinary citizens will sit in on the Airport Noise Advisory Committee.

We've never been able to ask a question get and answer and ask a follow-up question and actually educate each other on our viewpoints, Schnoor said.

For the first time, Schnoor and other members of the Point Loma and Pacific Beach communities formed a subcommittee on the noise advisory board.

The departure path change will begin November 10.
The proposed list of young detainees who may be pardoned would not include those sentenced for terrorism-related crimes

Egypt's parliamentary human rights committee will prepare a list of youth detained for political reasons to be released in accordance with recommendations issued by the first National Youth Conference last week.

In a press statement on Saturday, the chairman of Egypts parliamentary human rights committee Alaa Abed said members of the committee would meet on Sunday to discuss two main recommendations that were issued at the closing ceremony of the first National Youth Conference last Thursday.

The conference, held in Sharm El-Sheikh and attended by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and a number of high-ranking officials, proposed the formation of a national commission of youth to be entrusted with reviewing the cases of young people who are detained pending investigation to see whether they can be pardoned and finally released.

It also promised that the controversial 2013 protest law, which left thousands of demonstrators in jail, would be amended.

Abed told reporters that the committee would discuss the possibility of holding talks with the proposed national youth commission to see what kind of criteria and benchmarks would determine eligibility for release.

"I think all young people who were detained for political reasons can be released in line with the conference's initiative, but those who were detained on terrorist, manslaughter, sabotage, and blaze charges will not be part of this initiative or receive any presidential pardon," said Abed.

Mohamed Al-Ghoul, deputy chairman of the human rights committee, also insisted that "President El-Sisi was quite clear during the conference that there will be no reconciliation with the terrorist group of the Muslim Brotherhood."

"I think that members of this group will not receive any kind of presidential pardon because most of them were involved in terrorist activities," said Al-Ghoul.

President Al-Sisi told the youth conference on 27 October that he has no intention of holding any kind of reconciliation talks with the Muslim Brotherhood.

"This is the decision of the state and not me alone," said El-Sisi, adding that "the Brotherhood group has rejected any kind of participation in the political process in Egypt since 3 July 2013 (the day former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi was ousted from office)."

"If they had accepted participation, their political position would have been different by now," El-Sisi said.

Bahaaeddin Abu Shoqa, the chairman of parliament's legislative and constitutional affairs committee, told reporters on Saturday that "young people who were sentenced to prison terms under final judicial rulings or who were detained on terrorism or sabotage-related charges will not be pardoned under the conference's initiative."

Abed indicated that in the upcoming Sunday meeting, parliament's human rights committee will also discuss opening contacts with the semi-government National Council for Human rights to discuss amendments proposed to the 2013 protest law.

"The Council has already prepared its own package of amendments to this law and we can reach a unified position on this before submitting to President El-Sisi and to parliament," said Abed.



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Even though recent polls show Prop 64 has a wide majority, there is some push back from groups who argue the measure is not about pot, but about money.

Anti-recreational marijuana activists and supporters of medical marijuana came together on Federal Boulevard in a conference Friday, to voice their opposition to Proposition 64 -- the California Marijuana Legalization Initiative.

Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM Action), an organization that promotes healthy marijuana policies that do not legalize drugs, teamed up with medical marijuana advocates from across California in a display of unity against recreational marijuana use.

Although members of SAM Action support medical marijuana, they claim that recreational use is a whole different ball game that will open a new set of problems.

One speaker included Dr. Kevin A. Sabet, Ph.D., a former senior policy advisor at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy under President Obama, and the current head of SAM Action.

"Prop 64 would legalize the advertising of marijuana with candies like gummies and chocolates," said Sabet at the conference. "Today's marijuana is not the marijuana that it used to be-it's much stronger than it was."

Sabet was joined by Darryl Cotton, a leader in the 151 farming movement, which grows five pounds of food for every pound of marijuana. There is no GMO marijuana production or retail sales in 151 farming.

Those in favor of prop 64 argue it will bring more revenue to the state of California. In case the measure passes, local municipalities like the city of Poway are searching for ways to impose temporary bans on the measure.

"There are other municipalities that have said, hey let's tax this and make some money, but in Poway there's things that are more important than money," said Steve Vaus, the mayor of Poway.

According to the San Diego Union Tribune, several other cities across the County have already approved similar emergency ordinances to temporarily ban marijuana, in case the proposition passes.
The population of brown widow spiders has been growing in San Diego County over the past decade, and experts are warning residents to be cautious.

"Ten years ago it was new and exciting and it was very noteworthy," said Greg Slawson of Vector Control. "But they very quickly invaded the county so they are here to stay."

The species of spiders originally from Africa came to Southern California in 2005 and are now considered very common, experts said.

The spiders, a relative of black widow spiders, hide in yards and sheds, and Slawson recommends folks check their shoes if they keep them outside, for instance.

A good rule of thumb is to treat them with the same seriousness as black widows, he added.

Still, brown widow spider bites are extremely rare.

Ive been in the department for 15 years and can count on one hand on how many people have been bitten so it's pretty rare, Slawson said.

Brown widow spider bites can cause pain and redness, headache, nausea and muscle spasms, but are considered far less serious than black widow spider bites, which can cause severe pain.
New emails related to Hillary Clinton that FBI Director James Comey said prompted further investigation were found as part of an ongoing investigation into former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, NBC News and the Associated Press reported.

Law enforcement agencies have been examining online communications between Weiner, the estranged husband of Clinton aide Huma Abedin, and a 15-year-old girl.

NBC News and the AP reported the link to the Weiner case citing unnamed officials.

The emails were found on a laptop that Weiner allegedly used to send inappropriate text messages and pictures to an underage girl, sources told NBC News.

Investigators also discovered Abedin had used the same laptop to send emails to Clinton and now they are checking those messages to see if there was any classified information on them, the sources said.

Asked at a Friday news conference about the email probe's link to Weiner, Clinton said: "You know, we've heard these rumors, we don't know what to believe."

The FBI informed Congress on Friday it is investigating whether there is classified information in new emails that have emerged in its probe of Clinton's private server. The FBI said in July its investigation was finished.

The disclosure, in a letter from Comey, came just 11 days before the presidential election and thrust a political liability back into the headlines that Clinton's campaign thought had been resolved and begun to recede from the minds of voters. The FBI couldn't guarantee its investigation would be finished before Election Day.

Comey said the new emails prompted investigators to take another look at whether classified information had been mishandled, which had been the focus of its criminal investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server.

Donald Trump on Friday seized on the FBI's decision to investigate new messages connected to Hillary Clinton's emails.

Trump opened his rally in Maine by saying he has "great respect for the FBI for righting this wrong."

He said the "the American people fully understand her corruption" and he hopes "justice will finally be served."

Trump, however, did not immediately mention Weiner.

Federal authorities began investigating the former New York congressman in late September after an online news outlet, DailyMail.com, published an interview with a 15-year-old North Carolina girl who said she had exchanged sexually explicit messages with him over several months.

Among other things, the girl said that during a Skype chat, Weiner had asked her to undress and touch herself.

Weiner released a statement acknowledging that he'd corresponded with the girl. In it, he apologized, saying he had "repeatedly demonstrated terrible judgment about the people I have communicated with online."

But he also said he had "likely been the subject of a hoax" and provided an email, written by the girl to a teacher, in which she recanted her story.

Federal prosecutors in both North Carolina and New York were initially involved in the investigation, but agents in New York subsequently took the lead, according to a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

Weiner resigned from Congress in 2011 after it was revealed he had been exchanging sexually explicit messages with multiple women. Abedin announced their separation in August following new sexting revelations.
What to Know Erica Garner blasted the Clinton campaign in a series of tweets for the way they discussed her dad's death in emails released by WikiLeaks

She accused campaign staffers of "exploiting" her father's death to boost Clinton's stance on gun control

Garner endorsed Bernie Sanders for president in a video released in February

Erica Garner slammed Hillary Clinton's campaign in a series of tweets Thursday after new emails released by WikiLeaks showed how the Democratic presidential nominee's staff mentioned the death of her father while discussing language for a newspaper editorial on gun violence this spring.

"I'm troubled by the revelation that you and this campaign actually discussed 'using' Eric Garner ... why would you want to 'use' my dad?" she tweeted. "These people will co opt anything to push their agenda. Police violence is not the same as gun violence."

"I'm very interested to know exactly what @CoreyCiorciari meant when he said 'I know we have an Erica Garner problem' in the #PodestaEmails19," she added.

I'm troubled by the revelation that you and this campaign actually discussed "using" Eric Garner ... Why would you want to "use" my dad?  officialERICA GARNER (@es_snipes) October 27, 2016

These people will co opt anything to push their agenda. Police violence is not the same as gun violence.  officialERICA GARNER (@es_snipes) October 27, 2016

She included links to the emails released by WikiLeaks and accused campaign staffers of exploiting her father's death to bolster Clinton's stance on gun control. The hacked emails show internal communications between campaign staffers discussing the language of an editorial piece on gun violence that ran in the Daily News on March 27.

https://t.co/jzfUl0FbXF In this #PodestaEmails leak @CoreyCiorciari n @NickMerrill plot to use police violence victims to push gun control  officialERICA GARNER (@es_snipes) October 27, 2016

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"I know we have Erica Garner issues but we don't want to mention Eric at all? I can see her coming after us for leaving him out of the piece," Clinton's traveling press secretary Nick Merrill wrote in a March 17 email.

Senior Political Adviser Maya Harris corrected Merrill in a reply: "Eric Garner not included because not killed by gun violence."

"I'm glad you had Maya on your team to explain why you wont (sic) be USING my dad in you (sic) f-----g gun violence piece ... Black woman saved your a--," Garner tweeted.

your sister Maya saved the clinton campaign a lot of embarrassment https://t.co/UOQLaKz7Sn  officialERICA GARNER (@es_snipes) October 28, 2016

"Your sister Maya saved the Clinton campaign a lot of embarrassment," she added in a retweet to Kamala Harris, the sister of Clinton's political adviser.

A spokesperson for the Clinton campaign did not respond to questions regarding the recent tweets.

Garner's father was killed in July 2014 after he was stopped by police for selling loose, untaxed cigarettes and was placed in a chokehold by officer Daniel Pantaleo. A New York grand jury opted not to indict Pantaleo on criminal charges. He has been on modified duty pending the results of a federal probe into whether civil rights charges should be filed in the case.

[NATL] Photos: Protests Across the Nation Against Police Violence
An incident involving an American Airlines plane prompted a major emergency response at O'Hare International Airport, authorities said.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, American Airlines Flight 383 was departing from O'Hare and was headed to Miami when it experienced "a problem during takeoff." American Airlines said the plane had an engine malfunction.

Gary Schiavone, of Demott, Ind., said he was sitting in the middle of the plane, travelling with his wife to visit their daughter in Miami.

We started to take off, we didnt get in the air, it seemed like the right side engine blewbig ball of fire, Schiavone said, adding that window on the plane then cracked.

The pilots aborted the takeoff and passengers exited via a chute as flames were reported, authorities said.

The airline said in a statement that seven passengers and one crew member reported injuries and were transported to area hospitals for evaluation, but fire officials said during a later press conference that as many as 20 people were transported to area hospitals.

Most of those transported suffered minor injuries and were listed in stable condition, according to District Chief Juan Hernandez.

There were 161 passengers and nine crew members on the plane, the airline said.

An incident involving an American Airlines plane prompted a major emergency response at OHare International Airport, authorities said. Trina Orlando reports.

Advocate Lutheran General Hospital said it was treating four people from the scene. Presence Resurrection Medical Center reported three patients from the scene in unknown condition.

The FAA reported that a runway was closed at the airport due to a "disabled aircraft." The FAA initially reported a ground stop at O'Hare after the incident, but the Chicago Department of Aviation said as of 3:30 p.m. three runways were closed at the airport. Ongoing delays were expected, airport officials said.

Chicago fire officials reported an emergency at the scene, saying "aircraft down at O'Hare."

We were 30 seconds into the safety video, about do not grab your luggage in an emergency, Schiavone said, noting that several passengers attempted to get their bags during the emergency evacuation. It could have caused a big problemdont get your luggage in a situation like that.

The incident prompted an extra-alarm response.

https://twitter.com/CFDMedia/status/792088812784611329

The Chicago Department of Aviation said fire officials responded to an aircraft on fire.

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Smoke and fire could be seen at the airport just after 2:30 p.m.

The National Transportation Safety Board said three investigators were being dispatched to Chicago following the fire.

"This could have been absolutely devastating if it happened later, if it happened farther, there's about a thousand variables," said Assistant Deputy Fire Commissioner of Airport Operations Timothy Sampey.

The cause of the fire remained under investigation.

Check back for details on this developing story.

New recordings from the air traffic control tower show a conversation between the cockpit and the tower the moment pilots knew they had a problem.
The suspect in an attempted bank robbery was arraigned Friday in Boston.

Fifty-one-year-old Richard Cassano is accused of trying to rob the City of Boston Credit Union Thursday in West Roxbury.

Police say a detail officer foiled the attempt when she refused to surrender her firearm to the suspect.

She grabbed the suspect and his shopping bag, fearing a weapon could be inside, and chased him out of the credit union. He was apprehended in front of a nearby restaurant in a red sedan.

Cassano, a Dorchester resident, was ordered held on $75,000 bail.
Police have arrested a New Hampshire man who allegedly kidnapped his girlfriend on Thursday.

Londonderry Police confirmed that 22-year-old Victor Rosario of Manchester turned himself in around 8 p.m. Friday.

Earlier in the day, the department announced it had issued an arrest warrant for Rosario, but that he had not yet been recaptured

Rosario was taken into custody on Thursday night in Worcester, Massachusetts after he allegedly kidnapped his girlfriend from ECCO USA in Londonderry on Thursday afternoon. The woman was found safe with him.

He was detained by Massachusetts State Police on Thursday night but later released as the investigation continued.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Londonderry Police at 603-432-1118.
First Lady Michelle Obama said she was "beyond proud" to be part of the commissioning ceremony for the US Navy attack submarine named for her home state of Illinois.

The First Lady is serving as the sponsor of the future USS Illinois (SSN 786), the Navys newest fast attack submarine, and she attended the ceremony at the Naval Submarine Base in Groton Saturday to give the order to "man our ship and bring her to life!"

"USS Illinois is one of the most technologically advanced platforms in the world," Ray Mabus, secretary of the Navy, said in a news release. "This submarine represents not only the Navy's lasting connection to the state of Illinois but also the American innovation and manufacturing skill that have given us such a powerful advantage, making us the most powerful expeditionary fighting force the world has ever known."

The submarine officially became the USS Illinois and began active service at Saturday's ceremony.

The first lady has made supporting military families a priority. As the ship sponsor, she will be involved in the lives of its sailors and families.

It took thousands of shipyard employees in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Virginia to build the $2.7 billion submarine.

The USS Illinois is the 13th member of the Virginia class.

The previous Illinois (BB 7) was a battleship that Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company started building in 1897.

In January 1941, the ship was renamed Prairie State (IX-15) and served through World War II as a midshipmen's training school.
There were some witches out Friday night in Salem, Massachusetts, but it was a slow start to the Witch City's annual extravaganza.

"It's a little windy, it's a little chilly, but nothing that's going to stop us from doing what we want to do," said Julie Minogue, who's visiting from New Jersey. "It's always been a dream to come here and check it out ... I'm happy to be here."

The weather kept the crowds smaller than a traditional Friday night on a Halloween weekend, but Salem Police estimate some 200,000 people will in the downtown area through Monday.

"Halloween in Salem is like everything you would expect," said Scarrie Sinsation, who works at The Magic Parlor. "So don't go out at night, lock your doors."

Police will keep a close eye on all the action, making sure everyone celebrates safely in the city known for its month-long Halloween traditions.

On Halloween night, downtown Salem will be divided up into five sectors, each with its own command staff and team of officers according to Salem Police Captain Conrad Prosniewski.

Despite only six arrests last year, police are not taking any chances.

"I think for the most part people are here to enjoy themselves," said visitor Susan Dushinski. "But like everything else, you're probably going to have maybe one or two that want to act up and they'll take care of them."

Salem Police say if you do dress up, don't make the costume too authentic. Weapons like swords and knives will be confiscated.
The attacks left at least nine dead and two dozen injured

Egypt condemned on Saturday two suicide bombings in Nigeria that left at least nine people dead and 24 injured.

In an official statement, Egypts foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid expressed sincere condolences to the families of the victims.

Abu Zeid stressed Egypts support for the government and people of Nigeria in combating terrorism in the west African country.

On Saturday, Reuters reported that two suicide bombers killed a number of people in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but they bore the mark of Boko Haram militants who have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group in the northeast of the country. Boko Haram have been carrying out a deadly insurgency against security forces and civilians, now in its seventh year.



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A Massachusetts man was arrested on Friday for the alleged rape of a female student at Brockton High School in Brockton, Massachusetts.

Police told the Enterprise that the rape took place during school hours on Thursday, between noon and 1:45 p.m. in a school parking lot.

Following an investigation, a search warrant was put out for Andy Thao, 44, of Leominster. Thao was then arrested in Ayer.

The name of the victim is being withheld but police told the Enterprise that student and Thao had been texting and talking to one another before the alleged rape took place.

Brockton Public School Superintendent Kathleen A. Smith released a statement on the incident Saturday:

"The victim is being supported by school counselors and staff. This is an isolated incident and at no time were other students at risk."

Thao is expected to be arraigned on charges on Monday.
Police are looking for a man who exposed himself to young girls in Brookline, Massachusetts.

According to authorities, three girls were walking by Ward Park in Brookline Village when they saw a man without pants fondling himself. The girls told police he was in his car with his door open.

The Brookline Police Department is increasing patrols in the area after three separate incidents.

Anyone with information is asked to call Brookline Police.
A man who pleaded guilty to giving a 17-year-old girl a lethal dose of fentanyl at a New Hampshire motel has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Mark Ross, of Rochester, pleaded guilty in federal court this year in the death of Evangelique ``Eve'' Tarmey. She died last October after taking the drug at a motel. Ross and her mother, Jazzmyn Rood, were there.

The 42-year-old Ross was Rood's boyfriend. His lawyer says in court documents that Ross feels sadness and remorse, and takes responsibility for her Tarmey's death. He was sentenced Friday.

Rood pleaded guilty to concealing knowledge and giving false information to police. She faces sentencing in December.

A woman facing the same charge as Ross, Leslie Aberle, also pleaded guilty and is scheduled for sentencing in January.
A school bus driver involved in a crash that injured seven children and two adults this week in Quincy, Massachusetts, has lost his license, necn Investigates has learned.

The Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles cited an "immediate threat" in revoking the license of Mark Woods.

The school bus, carrying elementary school students, crashed into a fire hydrant, a telephone pole, a stone wall, a Nissan Pathfinder and a home Tuesday afternoon on Quarry Street.

The patients were all treated and released from South Shore Hospital.

The crash remains under investigation.
A New Hampshire man is facing charges in connection with an alleged road rage incident in Newport.

Police said they received a road rage report on October 23 for the alleged incident that happened two days prior, on October 21 at 6:15 p.m.

The report stated that the driver shot four rounds from a shotgun from his moving vehicle in the direction of the victim. No injuries were reported.

Police were able to locate the vehicle due to distinct traits. When they caught up with the driver inside his house, authorities obtained a search warrant.

Police said the execution of the warrant revealed evidence of the crime. In addition, video evidence was obtained from several sources to assist with identifying 18-year-old Nathaniel Hargreaves.

The Newport resident turned himself into police and was arrested for reckless conduct with a deadly weapon.

Hargreaves posted $10,000 cash bail and is expected to be arraigned on November 8 at the Newport 5th Circuit District Division Court.
Massachusetts police are searching for the driver of a pickup truck following a crash in Auburn.

The crash between the truck and white sedan happened Saturday afternoon at the intersection of Route 20 and South Street.

Police said the operator of the truck fled the scene on foot following the crash.

It was unclear if anyone in the other car was hurt.

The area was expected to be shut down for awhile while police investigated.
Children from local schools have First World War artwork exhibited at Newbury Racecourse

RACEGOERS were treated to a beautiful display of poppies and other First World War-inspired artwork created by children from local schools on Saturday.

In advance of the Worthingtons Armed Forces Raceday, Newbury Racecourse asked primary and secondary schools from across the district to get creative.

The response was overwhelming, with 13 schools and nurseries making more than 1,500 poppies.

In addition, 180 First World War paintings on canvases were provided by pupils from The Downs School near East Ilsley and Downe House School near Cold Ash for racegoers to enjoy throughout the afternoon.

As well as eight thrilling races on the track, the day also featured the launch of the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal for Berkshire and the Vale of White Horse.

The Armed Farces Raceday raised almost 7,000 for the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal, which provides lifelong support for members of the armed forces and their families.

Head of communications at Newbury Racecourse Andy Clifton said: We launched the poppy initiative with local primary schools last year and got a great response, and this year included secondary schools too. Some of the work produced by the pupils was outstanding.

It added greatly to the day, which was a fitting end to a fantastic 2016 flat season at Newbury, with some great racing and plenty of money raised for the Royal British Legion.
Iraqi paramilitaries launched an operation Saturday to retake the town of Tal Afar from the Islamic State group and cut militants supply lines from Mosul to Syria, a spokesman said.

"The operation aims to cut supplies between Mosul and Raqa and tighten the siege of (IS) in Mosul and liberate Tal Afar," paramilitary forces spokesman Ahmed al-Assadi told AFP, referring to IS's main strongholds in Iraq and Syria.

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PBS SoCal KOCE, the home to PBS for Greater Los Angeles and Southern California, announced its broadcast operations will move from Golden West College in Huntington Beach to Los Angeles in mid-November.

The station's new high-tech master control systems and signal transmission line will move to a shared site in the Sawtelle district of L.A., and Centralcast LLC  a centralized master control facility for public television stations  will be the broadcast hub. The move expands PBS SoCal's broadcast capabilities, improves reliability with new critical recovery resources and system redundancies, and reduces operating costs while adding station capacity.

PBS SoCal President and CEO Andrew Russell said the master control switch reflects PBS SoCal's continued upgrades and expansions since it became the primary PBS station for the region. "Nearly six years ago, KOCE became PBS SoCal and stepped into the role as the primary PBS station when KCET left PBS. Over that time, we've accomplished a great deal, thanks in large part to the support of our viewers  who contribute more than 50% of our annual operating budget," said Russell. "This move expands our footprint across the region and strengthens our operations. It also reflects our commitment to being good stewards of public funds, because it makes our operations more effective and efficient. "

Centralcast LLC in Syracuse, NY provides automation services, content recording, storage, synchronization of traffic data, signal monitoring, and a consolidated traffic system providing instant access to programming for public television stations around the country. The move to Centralcast LLC provides PBS SoCal an instant upgrade of costly equipment that depreciates quickly and must be updated often. PBS SoCal will now have access to cutting edge technology, as well the latest broadcast standards and practices. The operations will include satellite equipment, the Centralcast LLC equipment and space for the station's microwave dish, giving line-of-sight microwave signal transmission to Mt. Wilson.

PBS SoCal KOCE is the highest-rated public television station in Greater Los Angeles, and the third most-watched PBS station in the country. The organization's 2015-2016 fiscal year  which ended June 30  was its best fundraising year ever, and the organization has seen a remarkable 304% increase in membership since it became the primary PBS station for the region in 2011. The organization now operates out of regional offices in Century City, Costa Mesa and downtown Los Angeles  empowering its mobile workforce to work seamlessly across the vast region.

About PBS SoCal KOCE

PBS SoCal is the home to PBS for Greater Los Angeles and Southern California. We deliver the full schedule of PBS programs, plus content that is for, about and by the people of Southern California. Our content is available free through three broadcast channels, at pbssocal.org, on our mobile apps, and via connected TV services. And provide the community with early education resources and cultural and educational experiences through partnerships, events and grassroots outreach. PBS SoCal has offices in Century City, Costa Mesa, and Los Angeles. Connect with us at pbssocal.org and on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.

About Centralcast LLC

Centralcast LLC, the nation's leading centralcasting provider to PBS stations in the country, is providing a groundbreaking model for public broadcasting and the first collaboration of its kind within the PBS system. Through the Joint Master Control Center, housed at WCNY Public Media's new Broadcast and Education Center in Syracuse, NY, Centralcast LLC provides broadcast automation services, content recording, and multiple quality control checkpoints for 24 public broadcasting stations in New York and New Jersey as well as PBS member stations in, Hawaii, Philadelphia, Connecticut, Washington State, Utah, North Carolina, Indiana, and many other stations across the county including CREATE NATIONAL, reaching nearly 40 percent of the nation's PBS viewers. Centralcast LLC is proud that it is built and operated for public television stations by public television stations. For more information, go to www.centralcast.org.
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: Global e-commerce giant Amazon is seeing its international margins hit hard, primarily due to big investments in India. Brian T Olsavsky, Chief Financial Officer of Amazon had said during a call with analysts and investors on Thursday that while they (Amazon) were very excited about the investments in India and will continue with the strategy, it was putting pressure on its international margins.

Amazon is in an all out fight with homegrown ecommerce major Flipkart for market leadership. Since 2014, Amazon has pledged to invest $5 billion dollars into the Indian market, Flipkart has only managed to raise around $ 3 billion so far.

By far the biggest individual thing is the investment in India that we continue to make and very excited about it, the initial reaction in India from both the customers and also sellers, said Olsavsky. In the quarter ended September 30, Amazon saw international losses doubling to $541 million, a large part of which was due to Indian investments.

But the drag on margins is not likely to stop Amazon from pouring in the funds necessary to grab leadership position in India. We are very encouraged by what were seeing in India but it is certainly very early on still. Most recent highlights would be the launch of the Prime program in India this past quarter. Its now one of the top selling units based on Amazon.in.... Its hard to compare India to any other country. Its very different in its stage and structure. Being a third-party market has caused a lot of invention on our side, said Olsavsky.

By far the biggest individual thing is the investment in India that we continue to make and very excited about it, the initial reaction in India from both the customers and also sellers

Brian T Olsavsky, CFO, Amazon

Amazon to buy Westland

Amazon will acquire publishing business of Tata-owned Westland for an undisclosed sum.

The acquisition will enable authors of Westland to grow physical and digital book businesses in India as well as expand globally.

CHENNAI: Global e-commerce giant Amazon is seeing its international margins hit hard, primarily due to big investments in India. Brian T Olsavsky, Chief Financial Officer of Amazon had said during a call with analysts and investors on Thursday that while they (Amazon) were very excited about the investments in India and will continue with the strategy, it was putting pressure on its international margins. Amazon is in an all out fight with homegrown ecommerce major Flipkart for market leadership. Since 2014, Amazon has pledged to invest $5 billion dollars into the Indian market, Flipkart has only managed to raise around $ 3 billion so far. By far the biggest individual thing is the investment in India that we continue to make and very excited about it, the initial reaction in India from both the customers and also sellers, said Olsavsky. In the quarter ended September 30, Amazon saw international losses doubling to $541 million, a large part of which was due to Indian investments. But the drag on margins is not likely to stop Amazon from pouring in the funds necessary to grab leadership position in India. We are very encouraged by what were seeing in India but it is certainly very early on still. Most recent highlights would be the launch of the Prime program in India this past quarter. Its now one of the top selling units based on Amazon.in.... Its hard to compare India to any other country. Its very different in its stage and structure. Being a third-party market has caused a lot of invention on our side, said Olsavsky. By far the biggest individual thing is the investment in India that we continue to make and very excited about it, the initial reaction in India from both the customers and also sellers Brian T Olsavsky, CFO, Amazon Amazon to buy Westland Amazon will acquire publishing business of Tata-owned Westland for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition will enable authors of Westland to grow physical and digital book businesses in India as well as expand globally.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Automobile component maker Bosch Ltd. today said that it has resumed operations at its Jaipur plant following the Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board earlier filing notice to suspend operations in the plant for a month.

Bosch had yesterday stated that it would cease operations at its Jaipur plant following a notice by RSPCB for alleged violation of norms pertaining to waste water treatment. The board had revoked the consent given to operate the plant.

"We now wish to inform you that based on representation made by the company, the RSPCB have kept in abeyance the above order for a period of one month. Accordingly, the Jaipur plant will resume routine operations henceforth," Bosch Ltd. said in a BSE filing.

Stating that it would co-operate with the authorities for an early resolution of the matter, it said: "There is no material impact on account of the suspension of operations of the plant for a day." It had, however, stated on Friday that production loss due the closure is approximately Rs 2.5 crore per day.

Bosch said the plant had a licence valid till February 28, 2017. The revocation of the licence was for alleged "non-fulfillment of certain conditions with respect to waste water treatment and re-use of the treated water".

Commissioned in 1999, the company's Jaipur facility is the lead plant for fuel injection pumps for diesel engines. It supplies these pumps to many major automobile manufacturers in India.

NEW DELHI: Automobile component maker Bosch Ltd. today said that it has resumed operations at its Jaipur plant following the Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board earlier filing notice to suspend operations in the plant for a month. Bosch had yesterday stated that it would cease operations at its Jaipur plant following a notice by RSPCB for alleged violation of norms pertaining to waste water treatment. The board had revoked the consent given to operate the plant. "We now wish to inform you that based on representation made by the company, the RSPCB have kept in abeyance the above order for a period of one month. Accordingly, the Jaipur plant will resume routine operations henceforth," Bosch Ltd. said in a BSE filing. Stating that it would co-operate with the authorities for an early resolution of the matter, it said: "There is no material impact on account of the suspension of operations of the plant for a day." It had, however, stated on Friday that production loss due the closure is approximately Rs 2.5 crore per day. Bosch said the plant had a licence valid till February 28, 2017. The revocation of the licence was for alleged "non-fulfillment of certain conditions with respect to waste water treatment and re-use of the treated water". Commissioned in 1999, the company's Jaipur facility is the lead plant for fuel injection pumps for diesel engines. It supplies these pumps to many major automobile manufacturers in India.
By Express News Service

CHENNAI/BENGALURU: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Friday temporarily halted work on the `1,800 crore steel flyover project and sought an environmental impact study on it.

The southern bench of the tribunal in Chennai granted an interim stay against the project for four weeks. Notices were also issued to Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) and Karnataka State Pollution Control Board regarding the project. The Bench, comprising Justice MS Nambiar and expert member PS Rao, ordered the interim petition on environmental grounds following a case filed by Citizen Action Forum (CAF). The petitioners counsel alleged that over 800 trees will have to be cut for the project.

The state government has been pushing for the 6.7km long steel flyover that links Basaveshwara Circle to Hebbal to ease traffic along the road to the airport but there has been stiff opposition from citizen groups and environmentalists.

Vijayan Menon of CAF told Express that the petition had challenged the stance of the state government regarding the project. The government had maintained that environmental clearance was not required for it.

The tribunal, however, has now directed the state to approach the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority and have an environmental impact assessment report done, he said.

Activist Prakash Belavadi welcomed the decision made by the tribunal. He said that pressure from civic groups should be sustained against the project. We should not be complacent. The movement should continue until the project is cancelled, he added.

CHENNAI/BENGALURU: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Friday temporarily halted work on the `1,800 crore steel flyover project and sought an environmental impact study on it. The southern bench of the tribunal in Chennai granted an interim stay against the project for four weeks. Notices were also issued to Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) and Karnataka State Pollution Control Board regarding the project. The Bench, comprising Justice MS Nambiar and expert member PS Rao, ordered the interim petition on environmental grounds following a case filed by Citizen Action Forum (CAF). The petitioners counsel alleged that over 800 trees will have to be cut for the project. The state government has been pushing for the 6.7km long steel flyover that links Basaveshwara Circle to Hebbal to ease traffic along the road to the airport but there has been stiff opposition from citizen groups and environmentalists. Vijayan Menon of CAF told Express that the petition had challenged the stance of the state government regarding the project. The government had maintained that environmental clearance was not required for it. The tribunal, however, has now directed the state to approach the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority and have an environmental impact assessment report done, he said. Activist Prakash Belavadi welcomed the decision made by the tribunal. He said that pressure from civic groups should be sustained against the project. We should not be complacent. The movement should continue until the project is cancelled, he added.
Johanna Deeksha By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Tired of being asked to do a million medical tests or treatment procedures for just a headache? What you need to do is to ask your doctor five basic questions to confirm if you really need them: Do I really need this test, treatment or procedure? What are the risks or downsides? What are the possible side-effects? Are there simpler, safer options? What will happen if I do nothing?



These are the questions the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, an association of medical colleges in the UK, is suggesting that people ask their doctors. The academy put this list together after a research it recently undertook revealed that over 40 procedures and tests commonly advised by doctors are actually unnecessary and pretty much just over-medicalisation.

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As part of its Choose Wisely campaign, the academy is urging people to learn more about medical tests to find out the ones that matter and the ones that are unnecessary and hence simply a waste of money.

While the situation is universal, its effect is more pronounced in India where patients tend to take doctors word over anything and seldom ask for reasons why no tests or treatments should be taken.



Ideally, a patient must ask questions to their doctors which makes the relationship between the two better. But in our country, we accept whatever doctors say. Also, the long lines outside clinics and overcrowded hospitals sometimes force doctors to finish up with a patient fast, said Rex Sargunan, paediatrician and president of the Tamil Nadu Health Development Association.

But, the doctor agrees that in many hospitals, especially the bigger, private ones, some unnecessarily treatment and tests are recommended with the sole aim of revenue. Earlier, this was a service-oriented profession. But as it transformed into a business today, it is undeniable that hospitals conduct unnecessary investigations. There are also cases where the patients ask why a certain test was not conducted. Some are not satisfied till every little test is done, he added.



While agreeing to the general criticism of commercialisation of the healthcare sector, GR Ravindranath, general secretary, Doctors Association for Social Equality, pointed out that there was another probable reason for this: fear of being hauled by courts for incomplete treatment. Ever since public began approaching consumer courts to sue doctors, there is a fear among doctors that prompts them to recommend every test under the sun to rule out all possible diseases, he said.



Not recommending tests might lead to a situation where the court would ask them why a certain test was not conducted, and could lead them to a situation where they are sued for crores of money, he said. Hospitals in many countries have a protocol where they will present several sets of options to the patients  the mandatory ones and recommended ones. Because it is the patient who is making that choice, there is no risk for the doctors in that regard. We do not have such a protocol here and the government is taking little or no steps to make that a reality, he said.



The doctor pointed out the system in place in countries like the UK, where there are separate sets of guidelines put together by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence that protect a doctor from being sued without cause, or helps an investigating team conduct a proper enquiry into the matter. But here, there are no such guidelines or teams, which make doctors vulnerable. In order to prevent such situations, doctors do what is called defensive practice, said the doctor.

Dos and donts

 Take hypertension medicines only if the blood pressure is above 140-159/90-99

 Get a blood test done before doing imaging for polycystic ovaries

 Dont use bronchodilators to treat mild or moderate acute bronchiolitis in children

 Avoid using plaster for small wrist fractures in children

 Attend to hip and shoulder dislocation with sedation and not general anaesthesia

 Dont go for ultrasound to check if the baby is bigger than usual unless the mother has diabetes

 Avoid X-ray images for back pain and minor head injuries

 Reconsider chemotherapy in terminal cases as they only cause pain in the last days

 Go for blood transfusion only in cases of heavy bleeding

For full list of unnecessary treatments, visit www.choosingwisely.co.uk

CHENNAI: Tired of being asked to do a million medical tests or treatment procedures for just a headache? What you need to do is to ask your doctor five basic questions to confirm if you really need them: Do I really need this test, treatment or procedure? What are the risks or downsides? What are the possible side-effects? Are there simpler, safer options? What will happen if I do nothing? These are the questions the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, an association of medical colleges in the UK, is suggesting that people ask their doctors. The academy put this list together after a research it recently undertook revealed that over 40 procedures and tests commonly advised by doctors are actually unnecessary and pretty much just over-medicalisation. saai As part of its Choose Wisely campaign, the academy is urging people to learn more about medical tests to find out the ones that matter and the ones that are unnecessary and hence simply a waste of money. While the situation is universal, its effect is more pronounced in India where patients tend to take doctors word over anything and seldom ask for reasons why no tests or treatments should be taken. Ideally, a patient must ask questions to their doctors which makes the relationship between the two better. But in our country, we accept whatever doctors say. Also, the long lines outside clinics and overcrowded hospitals sometimes force doctors to finish up with a patient fast, said Rex Sargunan, paediatrician and president of the Tamil Nadu Health Development Association. But, the doctor agrees that in many hospitals, especially the bigger, private ones, some unnecessarily treatment and tests are recommended with the sole aim of revenue. Earlier, this was a service-oriented profession. But as it transformed into a business today, it is undeniable that hospitals conduct unnecessary investigations. There are also cases where the patients ask why a certain test was not conducted. Some are not satisfied till every little test is done, he added. While agreeing to the general criticism of commercialisation of the healthcare sector, GR Ravindranath, general secretary, Doctors Association for Social Equality, pointed out that there was another probable reason for this: fear of being hauled by courts for incomplete treatment. Ever since public began approaching consumer courts to sue doctors, there is a fear among doctors that prompts them to recommend every test under the sun to rule out all possible diseases, he said. Not recommending tests might lead to a situation where the court would ask them why a certain test was not conducted, and could lead them to a situation where they are sued for crores of money, he said. Hospitals in many countries have a protocol where they will present several sets of options to the patients  the mandatory ones and recommended ones. Because it is the patient who is making that choice, there is no risk for the doctors in that regard. We do not have such a protocol here and the government is taking little or no steps to make that a reality, he said. The doctor pointed out the system in place in countries like the UK, where there are separate sets of guidelines put together by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence that protect a doctor from being sued without cause, or helps an investigating team conduct a proper enquiry into the matter. But here, there are no such guidelines or teams, which make doctors vulnerable. In order to prevent such situations, doctors do what is called defensive practice, said the doctor. Dos and donts  Take hypertension medicines only if the blood pressure is above 140-159/90-99  Get a blood test done before doing imaging for polycystic ovaries  Dont use bronchodilators to treat mild or moderate acute bronchiolitis in children  Avoid using plaster for small wrist fractures in children  Attend to hip and shoulder dislocation with sedation and not general anaesthesia  Dont go for ultrasound to check if the baby is bigger than usual unless the mother has diabetes  Avoid X-ray images for back pain and minor head injuries  Reconsider chemotherapy in terminal cases as they only cause pain in the last days  Go for blood transfusion only in cases of heavy bleeding For full list of unnecessary treatments, visit www.choosingwisely.co.uk
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: The special teams of domestic intelligence and security service of the United States, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested a 50-year-old Hyderabadi settled in the US, Narsimha Bhogavalli, for his alleged role in a call centre scam in which the accused had swindled hundreds of crores of rupees belonging to the Americans. He was produced before a US magistrate on Thursday.



Narsimha had earlier worked as a software professional at IBM. Later, he floated an IT consultancy firm, Tekdynamics with offices in Texas in US and some places in India.

Narsimha Bhogavalli

Posing as Internal Revenue Service officers, the call centre employees from India used to make calls to American citizens from their call centres located in India. The staff used to threaten Americans that they have dues to be paid to the US government. Assuring the callers that they would pay the dues and other taxes to the government, the agents of call centres in the US had collected the amount from them and transferred the money to Indian branch of Tekdynamics.

A probe by FBI officials has revealed that American citizens were scared when the call centre staff, posing as government officials, demanded immediate payment. To avoid arrest and prosecution, the victims deposited the amounts in the accounts maintained by Narsimha. No sooner had the victims deposited the amount than Narsimha withdrew it and transferred it to the Indian companies that were registered in his name, sources said. Narsimha managed to steal the data of American citizens. Based on the data, the call centre staff in India, called victims posing as US government officials and duped them by collecting huge amounts from them.

HYDERABAD: The special teams of domestic intelligence and security service of the United States, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested a 50-year-old Hyderabadi settled in the US, Narsimha Bhogavalli, for his alleged role in a call centre scam in which the accused had swindled hundreds of crores of rupees belonging to the Americans. He was produced before a US magistrate on Thursday. Narsimha had earlier worked as a software professional at IBM. Later, he floated an IT consultancy firm, Tekdynamics with offices in Texas in US and some places in India. Narsimha BhogavalliPosing as Internal Revenue Service officers, the call centre employees from India used to make calls to American citizens from their call centres located in India. The staff used to threaten Americans that they have dues to be paid to the US government. Assuring the callers that they would pay the dues and other taxes to the government, the agents of call centres in the US had collected the amount from them and transferred the money to Indian branch of Tekdynamics. A probe by FBI officials has revealed that American citizens were scared when the call centre staff, posing as government officials, demanded immediate payment. To avoid arrest and prosecution, the victims deposited the amounts in the accounts maintained by Narsimha. No sooner had the victims deposited the amount than Narsimha withdrew it and transferred it to the Indian companies that were registered in his name, sources said. Narsimha managed to steal the data of American citizens. Based on the data, the call centre staff in India, called victims posing as US government officials and duped them by collecting huge amounts from them.
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: After a man claiming to be a doctor drove off with an Audi car worth `40 lakh in Hyderabad on Thursday, Banjara Hills police, alerted by a phone call, have launched a hunt for the culprit. Special teams have been formed to nab the accused who drove off with an Audi Q3 (AP 28 DR 0005) car during a test drive.

According to the police, at around 11.30 am on Thursday, one Goutham Reddy, who claimed he was a doctor at Apollo hospitals in Film Nagar, entered a K Narendra Kumars pre-owned cars showroom and expressed his intention to purchase an Audi car.

After a chat, Kumar asked his employee Kasi to take Reddy for a test drive in the car. After driving for a while, Reddy reportedly asked Kasi to get out of the car as he wanted to drive the car on his own for some time.

As soon as Kasi got out, Gautham drove off with the car and never returned. Kumar went to the Apollo hospital in Film Nagar to inquire and was shocked to discover that no such person was employed there.

Realising he had been, Kumar lodged a complaint at the Banjara Hills police station. The police booked a case against the accused Gautham Reddy under Section 379 of IPC and started looking for him.

Banjara Hills ACP Uday Kumar Reddy said that the footage from nearby traffic junctions and other shops is being checked to get a sketch of the accused. He also said that the accused had bluffed with his name and did not furnish any identity cards at the showroom. Our teams got a clue based on a phone call of the accused, said the ACP.

HYDERABAD: After a man claiming to be a doctor drove off with an Audi car worth `40 lakh in Hyderabad on Thursday, Banjara Hills police, alerted by a phone call, have launched a hunt for the culprit. Special teams have been formed to nab the accused who drove off with an Audi Q3 (AP 28 DR 0005) car during a test drive. According to the police, at around 11.30 am on Thursday, one Goutham Reddy, who claimed he was a doctor at Apollo hospitals in Film Nagar, entered a K Narendra Kumars pre-owned cars showroom and expressed his intention to purchase an Audi car. After a chat, Kumar asked his employee Kasi to take Reddy for a test drive in the car. After driving for a while, Reddy reportedly asked Kasi to get out of the car as he wanted to drive the car on his own for some time. As soon as Kasi got out, Gautham drove off with the car and never returned. Kumar went to the Apollo hospital in Film Nagar to inquire and was shocked to discover that no such person was employed there. Realising he had been, Kumar lodged a complaint at the Banjara Hills police station. The police booked a case against the accused Gautham Reddy under Section 379 of IPC and started looking for him. Banjara Hills ACP Uday Kumar Reddy said that the footage from nearby traffic junctions and other shops is being checked to get a sketch of the accused. He also said that the accused had bluffed with his name and did not furnish any identity cards at the showroom. Our teams got a clue based on a phone call of the accused, said the ACP.
By ANI

NEW DELHI: Aamir Khan is currently basking in the heaps of praises coming his way for the stupendous trailer of Dangal. His near and dear ones are of the opinion that the incredible word of mouth generated by the trailer of the movie calls for a celebration. Taking into consideration all the positivity, Aamir has decided to treat his family and friends over the Diwali Weekend.

Amidst all the hulaboo surrounding his upcoming release Kaabil, Hrithik Roshan will be taking time off to celebrate the festival of lights with his kids Hrehaan and Hredaan. The actor is known to be a dotting dad and makes the most of his free time by spending it with his two bundle of joys.

Deepika Padukone, who is a synonym to the festival of lights, courtesy her name is travelling back to her roots. It's Bangalore calling for Deepika this Diwali. The actress will be visiting her hometown to bring in the festival. Diwali is a festival which is very close to her heart and the actress leaves no stone unturned to celebrate in the presence of her family.

This Diwali marks to be extremely special for the Dutt household as it is Sanjay's first Diwali post release from Yerwada Jail. The actor and his family have extensive Diwali plans which begin Dhanteras onwards. Sanjay along with wife Manyata, twins Sharaan and Iqra will perform a Pooja for Dhanteras at their residence, the rituals will be attended by his sisters Priya and Namrata Dutt.

It's going to be a Rocking Diwali for Farhan Akhtar, who will be celebrating the festival with his Rock On!! 2 team.

Tiger Shroff, the young actor who nurtures a close bond with his family has ensured to spend time with family and celebrate Diwali. Tiger, who is currently shooting for Munna Michael has made sure to be close to his family this festive season. The actor will partake in all Diwali rituals and Laxmi Pooja with parents Jackie and Ayesha Shroff and sister Krishna.

Shraddha Kapoor is gearing up to celebrate Diwali with friends turned family, her Rock On!! 2 team. She will also spend a part of her day at home in the presence of her family and conduct Diwali Pooja at home. She is conscious of following traditions, and Diwali festivities have been a constant at the Kapoor household.

Kriti Sanon, who is currently in Lucknow shooting for her upcoming film Bareilly ki Barfi is planning to travel to the capital city to bring in Diwali with friends and family. The actress, who has been living an independent life in Mumbai, misses living in the presence of her parents and sister.

Yami Gautam, who is absorbing the love coming her way for her recently released Kaabil trailer, is heading to her hometown, Chandigarh to celebrate the festival with her parents and sisters. Living away from her family, the self made actress visits her folks back home as and when her work schedule permits.

Radhika Apte, the fiesty actress who has been in the news for her supreme performance in the critically acclaimed Parched, has been making the right noise all throughout the year. The actress is flying to London to be with her husband and celebrate the festival of lights privately.

The power packed actor, Rajkumar Rao is too have a working Diwali. After wrapping shoot for Vikram Aditya Motwane's Trapped and Hansal Mehta's Omerta, Rajkumar has ventured into his next film Bareilly ki Barfi.

Prolific producer, Ritesh Sidhwani has extensive plans this Diwali for his friends and family! Ritesh is to turn host for his near and dear ones and is to roll out the carpet this Diwali. The film maker is known for his happening parties and his Diwali bashes are one of the most looked forward to parties in Btown.

The Bareilly ki Barfi Team, have been shooting in Lucknow for the first schedule of the film. The entire team has had a rather unique way of celebrating the festival of lights. Staying true to the film's title and making most of their stay in Lucknow, the Bareilly ki Barfi team is hitting the roads on a barfi purchasing spree.

NEW DELHI: Aamir Khan is currently basking in the heaps of praises coming his way for the stupendous trailer of Dangal. His near and dear ones are of the opinion that the incredible word of mouth generated by the trailer of the movie calls for a celebration. Taking into consideration all the positivity, Aamir has decided to treat his family and friends over the Diwali Weekend. Amidst all the hulaboo surrounding his upcoming release Kaabil, Hrithik Roshan will be taking time off to celebrate the festival of lights with his kids Hrehaan and Hredaan. The actor is known to be a dotting dad and makes the most of his free time by spending it with his two bundle of joys. Deepika Padukone, who is a synonym to the festival of lights, courtesy her name is travelling back to her roots. It's Bangalore calling for Deepika this Diwali. The actress will be visiting her hometown to bring in the festival. Diwali is a festival which is very close to her heart and the actress leaves no stone unturned to celebrate in the presence of her family. This Diwali marks to be extremely special for the Dutt household as it is Sanjay's first Diwali post release from Yerwada Jail. The actor and his family have extensive Diwali plans which begin Dhanteras onwards. Sanjay along with wife Manyata, twins Sharaan and Iqra will perform a Pooja for Dhanteras at their residence, the rituals will be attended by his sisters Priya and Namrata Dutt. It's going to be a Rocking Diwali for Farhan Akhtar, who will be celebrating the festival with his Rock On!! 2 team. Tiger Shroff, the young actor who nurtures a close bond with his family has ensured to spend time with family and celebrate Diwali. Tiger, who is currently shooting for Munna Michael has made sure to be close to his family this festive season. The actor will partake in all Diwali rituals and Laxmi Pooja with parents Jackie and Ayesha Shroff and sister Krishna. Shraddha Kapoor is gearing up to celebrate Diwali with friends turned family, her Rock On!! 2 team. She will also spend a part of her day at home in the presence of her family and conduct Diwali Pooja at home. She is conscious of following traditions, and Diwali festivities have been a constant at the Kapoor household. Kriti Sanon, who is currently in Lucknow shooting for her upcoming film Bareilly ki Barfi is planning to travel to the capital city to bring in Diwali with friends and family. The actress, who has been living an independent life in Mumbai, misses living in the presence of her parents and sister. Yami Gautam, who is absorbing the love coming her way for her recently released Kaabil trailer, is heading to her hometown, Chandigarh to celebrate the festival with her parents and sisters. Living away from her family, the self made actress visits her folks back home as and when her work schedule permits. Radhika Apte, the fiesty actress who has been in the news for her supreme performance in the critically acclaimed Parched, has been making the right noise all throughout the year. The actress is flying to London to be with her husband and celebrate the festival of lights privately. The power packed actor, Rajkumar Rao is too have a working Diwali. After wrapping shoot for Vikram Aditya Motwane's Trapped and Hansal Mehta's Omerta, Rajkumar has ventured into his next film Bareilly ki Barfi. Prolific producer, Ritesh Sidhwani has extensive plans this Diwali for his friends and family! Ritesh is to turn host for his near and dear ones and is to roll out the carpet this Diwali. The film maker is known for his happening parties and his Diwali bashes are one of the most looked forward to parties in Btown. The Bareilly ki Barfi Team, have been shooting in Lucknow for the first schedule of the film. The entire team has had a rather unique way of celebrating the festival of lights. Staying true to the film's title and making most of their stay in Lucknow, the Bareilly ki Barfi team is hitting the roads on a barfi purchasing spree.
Guards thwarted a suicide attack on the Yemeni central bank on Saturday opening fire on the bomber's vehicle and blowing it up before it reached the building, a security official said.

The central bank has been based in the government-controlled second city of Aden since last month, when President Abedabbo Mansour Hadi ordered its relocation from the rebel-held capital Sanaa accusing the rebels of running down its foreign reserves.

Five guards were wounded when the bomber's vehicle blew up around 30 metres (yards) from the bank building, the security official told AFP.

The force of the blast shattered the bank's windows and caused damage to other nearby buildings.

The bank's relocation has been a major blow to the rebels, forcing them to halt salary payments to state employees in the large areas of the country they control.

The move came after a UN report released in August found that the rebels and their allies were diverting about $100 million a month from the central bank, and that its foreign reserves had dwindled to $1.3 billion from about $4 billion in November 2014.

A Saudi-led coalition has been fighting the rebels alongside Hadi's forces since March last year but his writ is still largely confined to the south and areas along the Saudi border.

Government targets in Aden have also been repeatedly hit by jihadists of both Al-Qaeda and its rival the Islamic State group.

The two groups have taken advantage of the conflict between the government and the rebels to bolster their presence across much of the south.

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By The Daily Telegraph

For a man who constructed his reputation around the perfectly engineered stiletto - mathematically balanced, refined proportions, neither too high, nor too pointy - Gianvito Rossi is sanguine about the encroaching hegemony of the trainer, even though he holds it responsible for the ever-widening female foot. "Trainers are part of modern life - and they're better than destroying your feet with badly fitting high heels," is his verdict.

The son of Sergio Rossi - one of the preeminent Italian shoe names from 1966 onwards - Gianvito is well placed to observe women's feet. His mother wore heels as an article of faith. The family home was above the factory - young Gianvito grew up with the sweet, damp tang of leather in his nostrils.

Despite attempting to divert himself with a degree in sociology and political science, Gianvito gravitated back to the family business. After Sergio sold the company to Gucci Group in 2000, there were a few years when father and son no longer worked with shoes.

But Gianvito missed footwear so much he found shoes encroaching on his dreams. There was nothing for it but to launch his own brand. A decade in, he sells in more than 250 stores around the world, turns over euros 61 million a year and has been responsible for three of the most copied styles of recent times: the Portofino sandal, a deceptively dainty looking strappy stiletto; the velvet ankle boot; and the leather-tipped PVC stiletto court shoe, which has been a perennial bestseller since its launch five years ago.

He loves that stiletto - it's a man's ideal of a woman's shoe, he says. But he's also grown very partial to working with velvet. "I think in future all shoe designers may move away from leather a bit," he says.

He feels strongly about the wellbeing of feet. Hence his own (luxurious) trainer collection. And hence his relaxed acceptance of sneaker culture. It is hard, he says, to make a wide shoe elegant, but it's not impossible. "There are a lot of women 50 and under who have destroyed feet," he shakes his head ruefully.

"These are women who started wearing heels from about 1995, when the industry changed. In the past, designer shoes were made by shoe experts with high quality rules and standards and enormous attention was paid to the fit."

Sergio and Gianvito Rossi, for instance, had their own factory in San Mauro Pascoli and produced the shoes for Gianni Versace and Dolce and Gabbana, inter alia. From the late Nineties, as brands pushed for expansion, they took shoe production in-house.

"If you wear badly fitting shoes when you're young, it's terrible for the feet," he continues. "So there are women in their seventies who have beautiful feet. It's the younger generations that have suffered. I see it all the time - they can't really wear heels any more, but their mothers and grandmothers are fine."

Rossi is a stickler for quality, even though his shoes sell for the same - or sometimes less - than other equally elevated brands. Producing still from his own factory, he would rather concentrate on impeccable craftsmanship than bling. Far from making his shoes recede into the background, this attention to form makes them stand out for their elegance and defined silhouettes.

"It's really not that hard to design a crazy shoe," he posits. "You just keep adding more and more detail. But at some point you have to ask, is that elegant or modern?"

Even when shoes reached heights of ostentation a couple of years ago, Rossi's were notable for a sense of luxurious restraint that made them seem both contemporary and timeless. His velvet ankle boot, introduced two years ago and available in 65mm or 85mm heel, is a case in point. It repeatedly sells out.

"Higher is not necessarily better," he says. "And I speak as someone who designs from a man's point of view. But if a woman wears a heel that's too high for her, it distorts her silhouette. The key is balance, and not to be tied to only one style, as women of my mother's generation were. Now you wear sneakers one day, stilettos the next. The main thing is that the woman is wearing the shoe, not the other way around."

For a man who constructed his reputation around the perfectly engineered stiletto - mathematically balanced, refined proportions, neither too high, nor too pointy - Gianvito Rossi is sanguine about the encroaching hegemony of the trainer, even though he holds it responsible for the ever-widening female foot. "Trainers are part of modern life - and they're better than destroying your feet with badly fitting high heels," is his verdict. The son of Sergio Rossi - one of the preeminent Italian shoe names from 1966 onwards - Gianvito is well placed to observe women's feet. His mother wore heels as an article of faith. The family home was above the factory - young Gianvito grew up with the sweet, damp tang of leather in his nostrils. Despite attempting to divert himself with a degree in sociology and political science, Gianvito gravitated back to the family business. After Sergio sold the company to Gucci Group in 2000, there were a few years when father and son no longer worked with shoes. But Gianvito missed footwear so much he found shoes encroaching on his dreams. There was nothing for it but to launch his own brand. A decade in, he sells in more than 250 stores around the world, turns over euros 61 million a year and has been responsible for three of the most copied styles of recent times: the Portofino sandal, a deceptively dainty looking strappy stiletto; the velvet ankle boot; and the leather-tipped PVC stiletto court shoe, which has been a perennial bestseller since its launch five years ago. He loves that stiletto - it's a man's ideal of a woman's shoe, he says. But he's also grown very partial to working with velvet. "I think in future all shoe designers may move away from leather a bit," he says. He feels strongly about the wellbeing of feet. Hence his own (luxurious) trainer collection. And hence his relaxed acceptance of sneaker culture. It is hard, he says, to make a wide shoe elegant, but it's not impossible. "There are a lot of women 50 and under who have destroyed feet," he shakes his head ruefully. "These are women who started wearing heels from about 1995, when the industry changed. In the past, designer shoes were made by shoe experts with high quality rules and standards and enormous attention was paid to the fit." Sergio and Gianvito Rossi, for instance, had their own factory in San Mauro Pascoli and produced the shoes for Gianni Versace and Dolce and Gabbana, inter alia. From the late Nineties, as brands pushed for expansion, they took shoe production in-house. "If you wear badly fitting shoes when you're young, it's terrible for the feet," he continues. "So there are women in their seventies who have beautiful feet. It's the younger generations that have suffered. I see it all the time - they can't really wear heels any more, but their mothers and grandmothers are fine." Rossi is a stickler for quality, even though his shoes sell for the same - or sometimes less - than other equally elevated brands. Producing still from his own factory, he would rather concentrate on impeccable craftsmanship than bling. Far from making his shoes recede into the background, this attention to form makes them stand out for their elegance and defined silhouettes. "It's really not that hard to design a crazy shoe," he posits. "You just keep adding more and more detail. But at some point you have to ask, is that elegant or modern?" Even when shoes reached heights of ostentation a couple of years ago, Rossi's were notable for a sense of luxurious restraint that made them seem both contemporary and timeless. His velvet ankle boot, introduced two years ago and available in 65mm or 85mm heel, is a case in point. It repeatedly sells out. "Higher is not necessarily better," he says. "And I speak as someone who designs from a man's point of view. But if a woman wears a heel that's too high for her, it distorts her silhouette. The key is balance, and not to be tied to only one style, as women of my mother's generation were. Now you wear sneakers one day, stilettos the next. The main thing is that the woman is wearing the shoe, not the other way around."
The surgical strikes have underlined a critical dimension of national securitynational resolve. Thomas Schelling had spoken about the aspect of a nations reputation for resolve. A nation-state like Israel has a fearsome reputation for resolve. Any terrorist strike on its soil would be responded to by immediate retaliation in the form of air attacks, drone strikes or raids. Retribution would be lethal. Similarly, Vietnam has acquired a fierce reputation for steely resolve. It has fought with formidable foes such as France, the US and China. China under Mao Zedong cultivated an equally fierce reputation for national resolve. It launched a million men across the Yalu river in Korea when the Americans failed to heed its warnings and did not stop their advance towards China.



India unfortunately has acquired a reputation as a soft state. Despite being a military and economic power, it was most unwilling to use force to protect its national interests. The historical roots of this aversion go back to our freedom struggle. The British realised the limitations of Mahatma Gandhis non-violent approach and tacitly encouraged it. It was Netaji Bose who strongly advocated that non-violence would not get us freedom. The centre of gravity of the British rule was the loyalty of Indian armed forces to the Raj. Bose wanted to strike at this loyalty. The British Indian Army had grown to the size of 1.3 million men in World War I and 2.5 million in World War II. The loyalty of the Indian troops had not wavered. In the axis powers of World War II, Bose saw an opportunity to throw out the British by using the Kautilyan dictuman enemys enemy is a friend.



Gandhiji virtually drove Bose into exile. Later Bose escaped to Germany and raised the Indesche Legion from Indian PoWs. Then he travelled to Japan in a submarine and took charge of the Indian National Army (INA) and expanded it to 60,000 men in arms. He formed an Indian government in exile, which was recognised by nine countries (including Russia). The battles of Imphal-Kohima were the most fiercely fought in British military history26,000 men of the INA perished in the Burma campaign. Though the INA lost these battles, it won the war for Indias freedom. In a triumphalist gesture, the British put three INA officers on trial in the Red Fort, which enraged the nation and led to large-scale rioting.



What was significant, however, was the impact it had on the loyalty of the Indian in the armed forces of the Raj. In February 1946, mutinies broke out in the Royal Indian Navy, Air Force and finally the Army. The British saw the writing on the wall and panicked. Within a year, they had granted Independence.

Contrary to the contrived national narrative, force played a significant role in India getting freedom. The key decision-maker was Lord Clement Atlee, the then British PM, who went on record to say that it was primarily Bose, INA and the mutinies they inspired that forced Britain to grant Independence. To gain political legitimacy, court historians distorted the narrative of the freedom struggle to deny any role of force and glorified tools of ahimsa. This led to an emphasis on pacifism and cultivated abhorrence for the use of force. India became a soft state and a virtual punching bag for its neighbours.



The armed forces were deliberately under-resourced, which led to the disaster of 1962. Correctives were applied by the Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi regimes who expanded and modernised the armed forces. In the 1971 war, Mrs Gandhi broke Pakistan won a historic victory. After her assassination and then her sons, India went back to being an effete power. For 46 years after 1971, no other PM gave the order to cross the LoC or international border.



In 1980, Pakistan started an asymmetric war in Punjab and took it to J&K and the rest of India. India failed to respond to these provocations. South Asia had gone nuclear, and the civilian leadership terrified itself into complete impotence based on exaggerated fears of a nuclear war with Pakistan. Not just Pakistan, the Cabinet Secretary refused to authorise use of the Indian Navy even against Somali pirates.



It is only recently that surgical raids were launched across the border in Myanmar and PoK. At long last, India has shown national resolve. The surgical strike in PoK was done overtly. It served to call Pakistans nuclear bluff and allayed fears of Chinese military intervention. India must now inculcate a reputation for resolve and the willingness to use military force to safeguard its interests. The surgical strikes cannot be a brave flash in the pan. It must become the new norm in South Asia. Pakistan must be clear that any more Uris will invite strong retaliation at a time and place of Indias choosing.gagandeep.bakshi@yahoo.com

The surgical strikes have underlined a critical dimension of national securitynational resolve. Thomas Schelling had spoken about the aspect of a nations reputation for resolve. A nation-state like Israel has a fearsome reputation for resolve. Any terrorist strike on its soil would be responded to by immediate retaliation in the form of air attacks, drone strikes or raids. Retribution would be lethal. Similarly, Vietnam has acquired a fierce reputation for steely resolve. It has fought with formidable foes such as France, the US and China. China under Mao Zedong cultivated an equally fierce reputation for national resolve. It launched a million men across the Yalu river in Korea when the Americans failed to heed its warnings and did not stop their advance towards China. India unfortunately has acquired a reputation as a soft state. Despite being a military and economic power, it was most unwilling to use force to protect its national interests. The historical roots of this aversion go back to our freedom struggle. The British realised the limitations of Mahatma Gandhis non-violent approach and tacitly encouraged it. It was Netaji Bose who strongly advocated that non-violence would not get us freedom. The centre of gravity of the British rule was the loyalty of Indian armed forces to the Raj. Bose wanted to strike at this loyalty. The British Indian Army had grown to the size of 1.3 million men in World War I and 2.5 million in World War II. The loyalty of the Indian troops had not wavered. In the axis powers of World War II, Bose saw an opportunity to throw out the British by using the Kautilyan dictuman enemys enemy is a friend. Gandhiji virtually drove Bose into exile. Later Bose escaped to Germany and raised the Indesche Legion from Indian PoWs. Then he travelled to Japan in a submarine and took charge of the Indian National Army (INA) and expanded it to 60,000 men in arms. He formed an Indian government in exile, which was recognised by nine countries (including Russia). The battles of Imphal-Kohima were the most fiercely fought in British military history26,000 men of the INA perished in the Burma campaign. Though the INA lost these battles, it won the war for Indias freedom. In a triumphalist gesture, the British put three INA officers on trial in the Red Fort, which enraged the nation and led to large-scale rioting. What was significant, however, was the impact it had on the loyalty of the Indian in the armed forces of the Raj. In February 1946, mutinies broke out in the Royal Indian Navy, Air Force and finally the Army. The British saw the writing on the wall and panicked. Within a year, they had granted Independence. Contrary to the contrived national narrative, force played a significant role in India getting freedom. The key decision-maker was Lord Clement Atlee, the then British PM, who went on record to say that it was primarily Bose, INA and the mutinies they inspired that forced Britain to grant Independence. To gain political legitimacy, court historians distorted the narrative of the freedom struggle to deny any role of force and glorified tools of ahimsa. This led to an emphasis on pacifism and cultivated abhorrence for the use of force. India became a soft state and a virtual punching bag for its neighbours. The armed forces were deliberately under-resourced, which led to the disaster of 1962. Correctives were applied by the Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi regimes who expanded and modernised the armed forces. In the 1971 war, Mrs Gandhi broke Pakistan won a historic victory. After her assassination and then her sons, India went back to being an effete power. For 46 years after 1971, no other PM gave the order to cross the LoC or international border. In 1980, Pakistan started an asymmetric war in Punjab and took it to J&K and the rest of India. India failed to respond to these provocations. South Asia had gone nuclear, and the civilian leadership terrified itself into complete impotence based on exaggerated fears of a nuclear war with Pakistan. Not just Pakistan, the Cabinet Secretary refused to authorise use of the Indian Navy even against Somali pirates. It is only recently that surgical raids were launched across the border in Myanmar and PoK. At long last, India has shown national resolve. The surgical strike in PoK was done overtly. It served to call Pakistans nuclear bluff and allayed fears of Chinese military intervention. India must now inculcate a reputation for resolve and the willingness to use military force to safeguard its interests. The surgical strikes cannot be a brave flash in the pan. It must become the new norm in South Asia. Pakistan must be clear that any more Uris will invite strong retaliation at a time and place of Indias choosing.gagandeep.bakshi@yahoo.com
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Mehmood Akhtar, the Pakistan High Commission official who was caught for espionage on Thursday, was trying to gather classified information on the deployment of Indian security forces along the western coast, according to an official of the Ministry of Home Affairs.



There have been intelligence inputs that Pakistans ISI was planning to send terrorists through the sea route to carry out a Mumbai-type terror attack in India. Akhtars activities and his interests to gather information about the western coast buttress the intelligence inputs, the official said.

Shoaib, the Jodhpur-based passport agent allegedly

involved in the spy ring, being brought to Delhi | Express



Akhtar, who has been declared persona non grata by the Indian government, is said to have confessed to his espionage activities to Delhi Police, which claims to have a video-recording of his statement.

He has allegedly named a few officers of the Pakistani High Commission to whom he was reporting but police are yet to take action against them as there is no direct evidence of their role.

In further developments in the espionage case, the Rajasthan police arrested another member of the spy ring, Shoaib, a passport agent, for allegedly being in contact with Akhtar.Shoiab, who has since been taken to New Delhi to face charges, is said to have visited Pakistan six times, where his maternal grandparents live.



Investigators said they would try to recover data from a phablet seized from Shoaibs possession, which he tried to damage when the police in Jodhpur detained him Thursday evening, and question him along with the two other alleged spies, Subhash Jangir and Maulana Ramzan, arrested in the case.



Delhi Police JCP Ravindra Yadav said, There were some classified documents recovered from him [Shoaib]. A phablet was also found with him. He tried to damage the phablet but we will try to recover the information.



While Subhash and Ramzan had told the police that Shoaib was also present at the Delhi zoo when they were handing over documents to Akhtar, Shoaib told the police that he was at a hotel at that time.

He had stayed in the hotel while the other two went to the zoo for handing over documents. When he saw that the mobile phones of the other two were switched off, he sensed something wrong, said Yadav.

NEW DELHI: Mehmood Akhtar, the Pakistan High Commission official who was caught for espionage on Thursday, was trying to gather classified information on the deployment of Indian security forces along the western coast, according to an official of the Ministry of Home Affairs. There have been intelligence inputs that Pakistans ISI was planning to send terrorists through the sea route to carry out a Mumbai-type terror attack in India. Akhtars activities and his interests to gather information about the western coast buttress the intelligence inputs, the official said. Shoaib, the Jodhpur-based passport agent allegedly involved in the spy ring, being brought to Delhi | Express Akhtar, who has been declared persona non grata by the Indian government, is said to have confessed to his espionage activities to Delhi Police, which claims to have a video-recording of his statement. He has allegedly named a few officers of the Pakistani High Commission to whom he was reporting but police are yet to take action against them as there is no direct evidence of their role. In further developments in the espionage case, the Rajasthan police arrested another member of the spy ring, Shoaib, a passport agent, for allegedly being in contact with Akhtar.Shoiab, who has since been taken to New Delhi to face charges, is said to have visited Pakistan six times, where his maternal grandparents live. Investigators said they would try to recover data from a phablet seized from Shoaibs possession, which he tried to damage when the police in Jodhpur detained him Thursday evening, and question him along with the two other alleged spies, Subhash Jangir and Maulana Ramzan, arrested in the case. Delhi Police JCP Ravindra Yadav said, There were some classified documents recovered from him [Shoaib]. A phablet was also found with him. He tried to damage the phablet but we will try to recover the information. While Subhash and Ramzan had told the police that Shoaib was also present at the Delhi zoo when they were handing over documents to Akhtar, Shoaib told the police that he was at a hotel at that time. He had stayed in the hotel while the other two went to the zoo for handing over documents. When he saw that the mobile phones of the other two were switched off, he sensed something wrong, said Yadav.
By Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR: International carrier Air India (AI) on Saturday apologised for an article published in its in-flight magazine 'Shubh Yatra', saying non-vegetarian dishes are prepared in the kitchen of Jagannath Temple at Puri.

"AI apologises for the error. Our intention was not to hurt sentiments. Shubh Yatra magazine copies have been removed with immediate effect," Air India stated in a tweet.

The article titled 'Devotion Can Be Delicious' in the in-flight monthly magazine stated: 'Said to be the largest in the country, the Jagannath Temple's kitchen in Puri since its inception has had an army of 500 cooks and 300 helpers to serve 1,00,000 people every day round the clock, which means almost 285 varieties of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes are served every day.'

Strongly reacting to the article, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had described it as unfortunate. "The issue will be taken up strongly with the appropriate authority," he said.



Earlier in the day, members of Jagannath Sena, an outfit working for protection and promotion of Jagannath culture, staged a demonstration in front of Jagannath Temple to protest against the article published in the magazine of Air India.



Members of the outfit sat on a dharna in front of the temple demanding strong action against Air India officials for the publication of the article.

BHUBANESWAR: International carrier Air India (AI) on Saturday apologised for an article published in its in-flight magazine 'Shubh Yatra', saying non-vegetarian dishes are prepared in the kitchen of Jagannath Temple at Puri. "AI apologises for the error. Our intention was not to hurt sentiments. Shubh Yatra magazine copies have been removed with immediate effect," Air India stated in a tweet. The article titled 'Devotion Can Be Delicious' in the in-flight monthly magazine stated: 'Said to be the largest in the country, the Jagannath Temple's kitchen in Puri since its inception has had an army of 500 cooks and 300 helpers to serve 1,00,000 people every day round the clock, which means almost 285 varieties of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes are served every day.' Strongly reacting to the article, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had described it as unfortunate. "The issue will be taken up strongly with the appropriate authority," he said. Earlier in the day, members of Jagannath Sena, an outfit working for protection and promotion of Jagannath culture, staged a demonstration in front of Jagannath Temple to protest against the article published in the magazine of Air India. Members of the outfit sat on a dharna in front of the temple demanding strong action against Air India officials for the publication of the article.
By IANS

JAMMU: Pakistani troopers on Saturday started heavy shelling targeting civilians and Border Security Force (BSF) facilities on the International Border in Hiranagar sector and R.S.Pura in Jammu and Kashmir, police said.

"Around 6 a.m., the Pakistan Rangers resorted to heavy mortar shelling and automatic gunfire. The BSF has started retaliating effectively," the police said.

"Shelling and firing exchanges are still going on in both these sectors."

On Friday, heavy shelling and firing exchanges took place in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts and on the Line of Control (LoC) in Mendhar and Machil sectors.

A soldier was killed in Machil sector where the army foiled an infiltration bid. A militants was also killed in this operation.

The Army said the militants had mutilated the soldier's body before withdrawing into the Pakistan side of the LoC.

JAMMU: Pakistani troopers on Saturday started heavy shelling targeting civilians and Border Security Force (BSF) facilities on the International Border in Hiranagar sector and R.S.Pura in Jammu and Kashmir, police said. "Around 6 a.m., the Pakistan Rangers resorted to heavy mortar shelling and automatic gunfire. The BSF has started retaliating effectively," the police said. "Shelling and firing exchanges are still going on in both these sectors." On Friday, heavy shelling and firing exchanges took place in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts and on the Line of Control (LoC) in Mendhar and Machil sectors. A soldier was killed in Machil sector where the army foiled an infiltration bid. A militants was also killed in this operation. The Army said the militants had mutilated the soldier's body before withdrawing into the Pakistan side of the LoC.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: Faced with a problem of plenty, the state government has fixed a support price of `6.24 per kg for onions to aid distressed farmers. The state took up market intervention measures after prices of onions slumped leading to a crisis. The government has already released `50 crore to buy onions at this price.



Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T B Jayachandra said the purchase of onions will commence from November 2 through the market federation.

We have decided to purchase around 23 lakh tonnes of onions. The central government will purchase 1 lakh tonnes. The state will continue to do so until the prices stabilise, he said.

The crop has been cultivated in 3 lakh hectares of land.



Central team to visit on Nov 2



A team of officials from the Union Agriculture and Revenue ministries, headed by their respective joint secretaries, will visit the state on November 2 to assess the impact of drought on crops.



Jayachandra said the state had already sought `3,373.85 crore from the Centre as drought relief. Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda and Revenue Minister Kagodu Thimappa had personally submitted the memorandum seeking assistance for drought relief measures on Thursday. The state has also sought an additional assistance of `120 crore to implement drought relief measures.



Jayachandra also said there was a possibility that another 30-35 taluks would be added to the existing 110 taluks that have been declared as drought-hit.

BENGALURU: Faced with a problem of plenty, the state government has fixed a support price of `6.24 per kg for onions to aid distressed farmers. The state took up market intervention measures after prices of onions slumped leading to a crisis. The government has already released `50 crore to buy onions at this price. Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T B Jayachandra said the purchase of onions will commence from November 2 through the market federation. We have decided to purchase around 23 lakh tonnes of onions. The central government will purchase 1 lakh tonnes. The state will continue to do so until the prices stabilise, he said. The crop has been cultivated in 3 lakh hectares of land.Central team to visit on Nov 2 A team of officials from the Union Agriculture and Revenue ministries, headed by their respective joint secretaries, will visit the state on November 2 to assess the impact of drought on crops. Jayachandra said the state had already sought `3,373.85 crore from the Centre as drought relief. Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda and Revenue Minister Kagodu Thimappa had personally submitted the memorandum seeking assistance for drought relief measures on Thursday. The state has also sought an additional assistance of `120 crore to implement drought relief measures. Jayachandra also said there was a possibility that another 30-35 taluks would be added to the existing 110 taluks that have been declared as drought-hit.
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Friday said that he had no role in the case filed by businessman M K Kuruvilla in the Bengaluru court. He also exuded confidence that he could secure relief from the same court on the ex parte verdict issued.

I will not face any hardship to prove my innocence in the court. The complainant had suppressed all facts mentioned in the plaint submitted to me earlier while I was chief minister, when the petition based on the same issue was filed in the Bengaluru court, Chandy explained at a news conference here on Thursday, adding that he might have been arraigned as an accused by the complainant with a motive that inclusion of the name of the chief minister would help to secure the money allegedly cheated by tricksters in the name of a solar firm. Chandy was the fifth accused in the case. Chandy was away in Dubai on a brief trip, when the court had passed the ex parte decree bracketing him with five more respondents in the case, and asking to pay `1.61 crore, inclusive of interest, together to the complainant.

Its true that I havent taken note of the case in a serious manner or closely monitored it, he admitted. I was aware of the fraudulent transactions in the name of the said solar firm since 2012, on the basis of complaints received. I was not involved in it in any manner. As such, I was not much concerned about the case, he said. I have examined the details of the case. The complainant had not referred to my involvement in the case anywhere in the petition nor the court had observed it in the ex parte decree. There is no mention of me accepting money anywhere in the plaint, Chandy said. The only reference to my name was in an exhibit, listed P.8, on a bank transaction related to a society, he said.

The case was filed on March 23, 2015 by the complainant but dismissed after a week, for non-remittance of requisite fees. Later, on March 19, 2016, the case was filed again with the requisite fees. As per court records, summons were issued to me but was not served. Summons were issued again in the case posted for June 22, but it was served to me only on June 24. I had assigned a lawyer and filed a statement on the very next day. The ex parte tag was removed thereafter and the case was posted to June 30. On the basis of the argument that the co-accused in the case had not accepted the summons, the court permitted to put up an advertisement in a daily. Later, my lawyer represented my plea seeking more time to file the affidavit but the court turned it down. Thereafter, the decree was issued ex parte, he said.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Friday said that he had no role in the case filed by businessman M K Kuruvilla in the Bengaluru court. He also exuded confidence that he could secure relief from the same court on the ex parte verdict issued. I will not face any hardship to prove my innocence in the court. The complainant had suppressed all facts mentioned in the plaint submitted to me earlier while I was chief minister, when the petition based on the same issue was filed in the Bengaluru court, Chandy explained at a news conference here on Thursday, adding that he might have been arraigned as an accused by the complainant with a motive that inclusion of the name of the chief minister would help to secure the money allegedly cheated by tricksters in the name of a solar firm. Chandy was the fifth accused in the case. Chandy was away in Dubai on a brief trip, when the court had passed the ex parte decree bracketing him with five more respondents in the case, and asking to pay `1.61 crore, inclusive of interest, together to the complainant. Its true that I havent taken note of the case in a serious manner or closely monitored it, he admitted. I was aware of the fraudulent transactions in the name of the said solar firm since 2012, on the basis of complaints received. I was not involved in it in any manner. As such, I was not much concerned about the case, he said. I have examined the details of the case. The complainant had not referred to my involvement in the case anywhere in the petition nor the court had observed it in the ex parte decree. There is no mention of me accepting money anywhere in the plaint, Chandy said. The only reference to my name was in an exhibit, listed P.8, on a bank transaction related to a society, he said. The case was filed on March 23, 2015 by the complainant but dismissed after a week, for non-remittance of requisite fees. Later, on March 19, 2016, the case was filed again with the requisite fees. As per court records, summons were issued to me but was not served. Summons were issued again in the case posted for June 22, but it was served to me only on June 24. I had assigned a lawyer and filed a statement on the very next day. The ex parte tag was removed thereafter and the case was posted to June 30. On the basis of the argument that the co-accused in the case had not accepted the summons, the court permitted to put up an advertisement in a daily. Later, my lawyer represented my plea seeking more time to file the affidavit but the court turned it down. Thereafter, the decree was issued ex parte, he said.
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Amid the sabre-rattling by top bureaucrats, including Finance Secretary K M Abraham, who have accused Vigilance chief Jacob Thomas of vested interest, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday expressed full confidence in the top cop.

Nonetheless, the CM, while terming Abrahams complaint against Thomas serious, told the Assembly that there were indeed lapses in the search carried out at Abrahams residence and an explanation had been sought from the official concerned.

In what could be interpreted as a warning against attempts to force out the no-nonsense cop, the Chief Minister said, Attempts to force him out of Vigilance would not be entertained. Making it unambiguously clear that the government wanted Thomas to head the Vigilance wing, Pinarayi further pointed out that there had been no actions from Thomas which were unbecoming of a Vigilance chief. Pinarayi Vijayan was also severe on the CBI regarding its reported willingness to probe the charges levelled against Jacob Thomas. Now, with the CM openly backing Thomas and even going to the extent of saying that the charges levelled against the latter were the result of the nature of his job, top officials who had come out against the Vigilance chief have suffered a setback. Interestingly, the CM while referring to T P Senkumar, who was recently shunted out as State Police Chief, reiterated that the LDF Government did not want him to head the state police.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Amid the sabre-rattling by top bureaucrats, including Finance Secretary K M Abraham, who have accused Vigilance chief Jacob Thomas of vested interest, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday expressed full confidence in the top cop. Nonetheless, the CM, while terming Abrahams complaint against Thomas serious, told the Assembly that there were indeed lapses in the search carried out at Abrahams residence and an explanation had been sought from the official concerned. In what could be interpreted as a warning against attempts to force out the no-nonsense cop, the Chief Minister said, Attempts to force him out of Vigilance would not be entertained. Making it unambiguously clear that the government wanted Thomas to head the Vigilance wing, Pinarayi further pointed out that there had been no actions from Thomas which were unbecoming of a Vigilance chief. Pinarayi Vijayan was also severe on the CBI regarding its reported willingness to probe the charges levelled against Jacob Thomas. Now, with the CM openly backing Thomas and even going to the extent of saying that the charges levelled against the latter were the result of the nature of his job, top officials who had come out against the Vigilance chief have suffered a setback. Interestingly, the CM while referring to T P Senkumar, who was recently shunted out as State Police Chief, reiterated that the LDF Government did not want him to head the state police.
By Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR: Four days after security forces gunned down 28 Maoists in the bordering forests of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, the CPI (Maoist) on Friday said Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and his AP counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu were responsible for the killing of the rebels.

For the first time after the October 24 incident, the outlawed outfit named Naveen in an audio tape which was issued by its East Division secretary Kailasham. A day after the incident, the Red Rebels had threatened Naidu of a befitting reply for the operation which it termed as fake. It had even talked of using suicide bombers.

The death of the 28 Maoists, including some senior cadres including Prithvi, son of Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee secretary Rama Krishna, is seen as a body blow to the outfit which for long enjoyed an unwavering stronghold in the cut-off areas of Chitrakonda reservoir in Malkangiri district abutting AP.

In the audio tape, Kaliasham said both Naveen and Naidu have used Operation Green Hunt to mow down Maoists to protect the interests of corporates as rebels have been resisting mining activities in the region. The outlawed outfit said it would avenge the deaths of its members and sent out a warning to the CMs as well as SP of Vishakhapatnam Rural.

However, Kailasham's audio message was unsure of RK's location. ''We are not sure if he is in police custody or out in open at a safe place. But the cops are believed to have some cadres in their custody from whom information is being extorted and the rebels are being gunned down in staged encounters,'' the message said.

However, Odisha Police sources said the Maoist outfit is rattled which is evident from the fact that it has been issuing separate messages which are incoherent.

''However, RK is not in the custody of the security forces as rumours would have it. Had he been with security forces, Maoist ideologue Varavara Rao would have definitely made a mention about it," the sources added.

Police said an investigation is being undertaken to ascertain how many villagers were allegedly at the spot where the encounter took place on wee hours of Monday. They could be militia, but only an investigation can ascertain it, it said.

With the new audio tape making a veiled threat to Odisha CM, the State Police sources said the security details will be re-looked.

BHUBANESWAR: Four days after security forces gunned down 28 Maoists in the bordering forests of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, the CPI (Maoist) on Friday said Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and his AP counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu were responsible for the killing of the rebels. For the first time after the October 24 incident, the outlawed outfit named Naveen in an audio tape which was issued by its East Division secretary Kailasham. A day after the incident, the Red Rebels had threatened Naidu of a befitting reply for the operation which it termed as fake. It had even talked of using suicide bombers. The death of the 28 Maoists, including some senior cadres including Prithvi, son of Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee secretary Rama Krishna, is seen as a body blow to the outfit which for long enjoyed an unwavering stronghold in the cut-off areas of Chitrakonda reservoir in Malkangiri district abutting AP. In the audio tape, Kaliasham said both Naveen and Naidu have used Operation Green Hunt to mow down Maoists to protect the interests of corporates as rebels have been resisting mining activities in the region. The outlawed outfit said it would avenge the deaths of its members and sent out a warning to the CMs as well as SP of Vishakhapatnam Rural. However, Kailasham's audio message was unsure of RK's location. ''We are not sure if he is in police custody or out in open at a safe place. But the cops are believed to have some cadres in their custody from whom information is being extorted and the rebels are being gunned down in staged encounters,'' the message said. However, Odisha Police sources said the Maoist outfit is rattled which is evident from the fact that it has been issuing separate messages which are incoherent. ''However, RK is not in the custody of the security forces as rumours would have it. Had he been with security forces, Maoist ideologue Varavara Rao would have definitely made a mention about it," the sources added. Police said an investigation is being undertaken to ascertain how many villagers were allegedly at the spot where the encounter took place on wee hours of Monday. They could be militia, but only an investigation can ascertain it, it said. With the new audio tape making a veiled threat to Odisha CM, the State Police sources said the security details will be re-looked.
K Ezhilarasan By

Express News Service

CUDDALORE: Its Deepavali eve. People are busy decorating their homes, rushing to nearby towns to make the last-minute purchases and stock crackers and earthen lamps for the festival of lights. Festive spirit has gone viral, spreading joy everywhere. Untouched by the revelry is Ukkiravel, a resident of Visur, shopping in Panruti.

His bag is devoid of the usual fare of sweets and crackers. He had come down to the town to get framed a photograph of his wife and daughter  the only vestige of the memory of his loved ones he could salvage in the aftermath of the flash flood that washed away his home and family last year. It was Deepavali eve then.

A makeshift hut erected by a

survivor at Visur in Cuddalore



For the residents of Visur, Periyakattupalayam and Kalkunam  the villages that bore the brunt of the flash flood on the eve of Deepavali last year  the festival of lights is a sombre occasion this year. It has brought back the haunting memories of the devastating floods of 2015, a disaster of such magnitude the villagers had scarcely seen. Ukkiravel was among the scores of people, who performed the annual obsequies for their families on the eve of Deepavali on Friday.



When water breached the walls of Pappan Vellavari, a canal, Ukkiravel saw the swift flow wash away his wife Vasuki and daughter Kousalya. He now lives in a hut at the spot, where once his house stood, with his two young sons. I could not save my wife and daughter. Our home was washed away that day. I lost everything, he says, tears welling up in his eyes.



When Pappan Vellavari wreaked havoc in the nearby villages, some fortunate souls managed to access secure positions atop houses, community halls and the safer side of the bridge across the canal. Bhuvaneshwaris six-month-old daughter Thenmozhi and husband Shanmugavel were caught in the flow. However, Shanmugavels selfless love and presence of mind helped avert a tragedy. My husband could not manage to reach the other side, as he was holding our baby in arms.

Battling against the swift current, he managed to find a sack. He put Thenmozhi into it and clutched a rope tied from across the bridge to a tree near my house. He held the sack in one hand while clutching on to the rope for their dear lives. He somehow managed to wade across to safety, says Bhuvaneshwari.

A resident standing outside her temporary tenement, and some of the newly built housing units for the residents of Periyakattupalayam Colony | Express

So what has changed in the intervening 12 months in Visur, visibly the worst-hit, with the floods destroying 30 houses? Apart from the assurance of the district officials to build the victims new houses, nothing much. The affected families still call makeshift huts on the canals fury route their homes.



For Jothi Lakshmi, the trauma of the flash flood has turned into an indelible memory. I cannot express in words the agony we have been living in ever since. We lost everything. Our lifes savings, jewellery, property. Officials promised to build houses after identifying a safer location, but nothing has happened, she adds.



The situation in Periyakattupalayam Colony is not any different. The survivors live in temporary shelters. The toll here was 10. After initially making a beeline for the villages, the flow of good samaritans slowly dried up. Nobody comes here anymore. Even officials seldom carry out inspections. Lighting system at the shelter has failed and the inmates are worried that their kids safety, says Kalyani, a resident.



Though the officials swung into action and started building 75 houses, which will be ready in a month or so, the villagers are not pleased. They say the houses are too small to accommodate an average-size family. The unit they call a house is a hall. How can a family of five live there? The worst part is that the place where these houses are being built is a low-lying area near the canal, says Sheela, another resident.



In Kalkunam village, farmers are worried over the silt deposit brought by last years sudden gush. About 250 acres along Sengal Odai Canal was buried under silt. Farmers spent all their savings to remove it, but still only half of the affected area has been touched. We are unable to carry out farming, says R K Ramalingam, president of Kurinjipadi Uzhavar Mandram.



S Selvam (40), from Ayan Kurinjipadi, spent about `1.25 lakh to remove silt off his seven-acre land. With that kind of money, I could not even remove silt from even half of my property. If this is the condition, how can we take up agriculture? Even if we go ahead with paddy, it will not give much yield, and then we will have bear the losses, he says, anguish written large on his face.

CUDDALORE: Its Deepavali eve. People are busy decorating their homes, rushing to nearby towns to make the last-minute purchases and stock crackers and earthen lamps for the festival of lights. Festive spirit has gone viral, spreading joy everywhere. Untouched by the revelry is Ukkiravel, a resident of Visur, shopping in Panruti. His bag is devoid of the usual fare of sweets and crackers. He had come down to the town to get framed a photograph of his wife and daughter  the only vestige of the memory of his loved ones he could salvage in the aftermath of the flash flood that washed away his home and family last year. It was Deepavali eve then. A makeshift hut erected by a survivor at Visur in Cuddalore For the residents of Visur, Periyakattupalayam and Kalkunam  the villages that bore the brunt of the flash flood on the eve of Deepavali last year  the festival of lights is a sombre occasion this year. It has brought back the haunting memories of the devastating floods of 2015, a disaster of such magnitude the villagers had scarcely seen. Ukkiravel was among the scores of people, who performed the annual obsequies for their families on the eve of Deepavali on Friday. When water breached the walls of Pappan Vellavari, a canal, Ukkiravel saw the swift flow wash away his wife Vasuki and daughter Kousalya. He now lives in a hut at the spot, where once his house stood, with his two young sons. I could not save my wife and daughter. Our home was washed away that day. I lost everything, he says, tears welling up in his eyes. When Pappan Vellavari wreaked havoc in the nearby villages, some fortunate souls managed to access secure positions atop houses, community halls and the safer side of the bridge across the canal. Bhuvaneshwaris six-month-old daughter Thenmozhi and husband Shanmugavel were caught in the flow. However, Shanmugavels selfless love and presence of mind helped avert a tragedy. My husband could not manage to reach the other side, as he was holding our baby in arms. Battling against the swift current, he managed to find a sack. He put Thenmozhi into it and clutched a rope tied from across the bridge to a tree near my house. He held the sack in one hand while clutching on to the rope for their dear lives. He somehow managed to wade across to safety, says Bhuvaneshwari. A resident standing outside her temporary tenement, and some of the newly built housing units for the residents of Periyakattupalayam Colony | ExpressSo what has changed in the intervening 12 months in Visur, visibly the worst-hit, with the floods destroying 30 houses? Apart from the assurance of the district officials to build the victims new houses, nothing much. The affected families still call makeshift huts on the canals fury route their homes. For Jothi Lakshmi, the trauma of the flash flood has turned into an indelible memory. I cannot express in words the agony we have been living in ever since. We lost everything. Our lifes savings, jewellery, property. Officials promised to build houses after identifying a safer location, but nothing has happened, she adds. The situation in Periyakattupalayam Colony is not any different. The survivors live in temporary shelters. The toll here was 10. After initially making a beeline for the villages, the flow of good samaritans slowly dried up. Nobody comes here anymore. Even officials seldom carry out inspections. Lighting system at the shelter has failed and the inmates are worried that their kids safety, says Kalyani, a resident. Though the officials swung into action and started building 75 houses, which will be ready in a month or so, the villagers are not pleased. They say the houses are too small to accommodate an average-size family. The unit they call a house is a hall. How can a family of five live there? The worst part is that the place where these houses are being built is a low-lying area near the canal, says Sheela, another resident. In Kalkunam village, farmers are worried over the silt deposit brought by last years sudden gush. About 250 acres along Sengal Odai Canal was buried under silt. Farmers spent all their savings to remove it, but still only half of the affected area has been touched. We are unable to carry out farming, says R K Ramalingam, president of Kurinjipadi Uzhavar Mandram. S Selvam (40), from Ayan Kurinjipadi, spent about `1.25 lakh to remove silt off his seven-acre land. With that kind of money, I could not even remove silt from even half of my property. If this is the condition, how can we take up agriculture? Even if we go ahead with paddy, it will not give much yield, and then we will have bear the losses, he says, anguish written large on his face.
Saudi-led coalition air strikes killed at least 10 civilians in a battleground town southeast of Yemen's third city Taez on Saturday, the rebels, a medic and a loyalist official said.

The rebel-controlled sabanews.net website said 10 people were killed and seven wounded when the strikes hit residential buildings in the town of Salo where clashes with government forces are raging.

A doctor at the town's public hospital said it had received the bodies of 15 dead and seven wounded.

A local official loyal to the Saudi-backed government said a child and seven women were among 11 people killed when two coalition air strikes hit three homes by mistake.

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By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: A day after police registered criminal cases against agitating Home Guards for violating rules and regulations, a team of police officers on Friday intensified the probe into the incident during which HGs staged a massive protest at Secretariat here on Thursday.



The police team is trying to identify the Home Guards, who allegedly indulged in the activity of shouting slogans at police officials during the protest at the secretariat. As criminal cases were already registered on some home guards for violating the rules, show-cause notices were issued to such staffers.



We served notices to around 500 Home Guards, who had taken part in protests held at Secretariat, seeking their explanation for their behaviour. If the HGs fail to respond within stipulated time, higher officials will initiate action, police officials said.

Meanwhile, the Home Guards, who came to MLA quarters here to meet BJP MLA G Kishan Reddy, were detained by Narayanaguda police on Friday. Around 10.30 am, as many as 20 home guards came to the MLA quarters to meet Kishan Reddy.



On a tip off, police visited the place and detained the home guards. Police said that they took home guards into preventive custody and shifted them to police stations. On the other hand, Opposition parties demand that state government concede to the justified demands of Home Guards.



Leaders of Congress and the Left said it was not proper for the government to impose restrictions on the protests of Home Guards.

Home Guards are asking the government to fulfil the promise made by the CM himself. What is wrong in it? TPCC chief N Uttam Kumar Reddy questioned. Joining chorus with him, CPI State secretary Chada Venkat Reddy too criticised the state government for not addressing the issues raised by the HGs.



TDP Telangana unit working president A Revanth Reddy, in an open letter to the CM, said there were 19,600 Home Guards working in the State. The Home Guards are demanding that the Chief Minister fulfil his promises made to them before elections. The CM should fulfil the promises, he demanded.

HYDERABAD: A day after police registered criminal cases against agitating Home Guards for violating rules and regulations, a team of police officers on Friday intensified the probe into the incident during which HGs staged a massive protest at Secretariat here on Thursday. The police team is trying to identify the Home Guards, who allegedly indulged in the activity of shouting slogans at police officials during the protest at the secretariat. As criminal cases were already registered on some home guards for violating the rules, show-cause notices were issued to such staffers. We served notices to around 500 Home Guards, who had taken part in protests held at Secretariat, seeking their explanation for their behaviour. If the HGs fail to respond within stipulated time, higher officials will initiate action, police officials said. Meanwhile, the Home Guards, who came to MLA quarters here to meet BJP MLA G Kishan Reddy, were detained by Narayanaguda police on Friday. Around 10.30 am, as many as 20 home guards came to the MLA quarters to meet Kishan Reddy. On a tip off, police visited the place and detained the home guards. Police said that they took home guards into preventive custody and shifted them to police stations. On the other hand, Opposition parties demand that state government concede to the justified demands of Home Guards. Leaders of Congress and the Left said it was not proper for the government to impose restrictions on the protests of Home Guards. Home Guards are asking the government to fulfil the promise made by the CM himself. What is wrong in it? TPCC chief N Uttam Kumar Reddy questioned. Joining chorus with him, CPI State secretary Chada Venkat Reddy too criticised the state government for not addressing the issues raised by the HGs. TDP Telangana unit working president A Revanth Reddy, in an open letter to the CM, said there were 19,600 Home Guards working in the State. The Home Guards are demanding that the Chief Minister fulfil his promises made to them before elections. The CM should fulfil the promises, he demanded.
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: A member of the Osmania University Arts College faculty was arrested by the Cyberabad cyber crime police for allegedly sending objectionable emails to a research student who is now in the US.

The accused, Devatala Manohar David Mathews (34), a teacher of Communicative English and a research associate in the Department of English at the University, was arrested on Friday under Section 354 (D) of IPC and Section 66 (C) of the IT Act.

B Manohar David Mathew

Police said the woman, currently pursuing PhD at the University of California in the US, had lodged a complaint stating that she had been receiving e-mails from one David Mathews of Hyderabad for a long time. He was sending her sexual content asking her to have physical relationship with him. Despite her warnings, he did not stop sending e-mails.

During investigation, the police traced the IP address of the e-mails and nabbed David at his home. When interrogated, he told the police that he met her when he was doing M.Phil at the English and Foreign Languages Universityin Hyderabad in 2007. He collected the girls details through social media and harassed her by sending objectionable e-mails seeking intimate relations, police said. Based on the confession, he was arrested.

HYDERABAD: A member of the Osmania University Arts College faculty was arrested by the Cyberabad cyber crime police for allegedly sending objectionable emails to a research student who is now in the US. The accused, Devatala Manohar David Mathews (34), a teacher of Communicative English and a research associate in the Department of English at the University, was arrested on Friday under Section 354 (D) of IPC and Section 66 (C) of the IT Act. B Manohar David MathewPolice said the woman, currently pursuing PhD at the University of California in the US, had lodged a complaint stating that she had been receiving e-mails from one David Mathews of Hyderabad for a long time. He was sending her sexual content asking her to have physical relationship with him. Despite her warnings, he did not stop sending e-mails. During investigation, the police traced the IP address of the e-mails and nabbed David at his home. When interrogated, he told the police that he met her when he was doing M.Phil at the English and Foreign Languages Universityin Hyderabad in 2007. He collected the girls details through social media and harassed her by sending objectionable e-mails seeking intimate relations, police said. Based on the confession, he was arrested.
By AFP

DHAKA: Bangladesh has arrested more than 900 fishermen and deployed the army to patrol its waterways after introducing a temporary ban on catching hilsa in an effort to save the hugely popular fish.

Some 60 percent of the world's hilsa are caught in Bangladesh, but indiscriminate fishing has depleted much of the stock, driving up prices and putting the fish beyond the reach of the poor.

Anyone caught catching hilsa faces at least a year in jail under a 22-day ban that began on October 12, the start of the breeding season.

Armed forces have been deployed to patrol 7,000 square kilometres of rivers, estuaries and sea declared a breeding sanctuary.

"We are patrolling the rivers day and night. It's like a curfew," fisheries department official Iqbal Hossain said from the coastal river district of Patuakhali.

"One mother (hilsa) can lay two million eggs per year. So one can easily understand how big the production will be if the protection drive is successful," said Hossain.

Hilsa is the most sought-after delicacy for 160 million Bangladeshis and another 90 million Bengalis who live in eastern India.

Bangladesh has introduced temporary bans on catching it before, but they have never been enforced this thoroughly.

"A war is ongoing to keep the mother hilsa safe," said Jahid Habib, who is campaigning to save the fish.

Bangladesh has already banned fishermen from catching young hilsa at certain times of the year. Five years ago it banned the export of the fish to India.

Some critics said the drive will hit fishermen in the impoverished country. But Hossain said authorities were giving free rice to 32,000 fishermen during the ban to make up for the financial loss.

DHAKA: Bangladesh has arrested more than 900 fishermen and deployed the army to patrol its waterways after introducing a temporary ban on catching hilsa in an effort to save the hugely popular fish. Some 60 percent of the world's hilsa are caught in Bangladesh, but indiscriminate fishing has depleted much of the stock, driving up prices and putting the fish beyond the reach of the poor. Anyone caught catching hilsa faces at least a year in jail under a 22-day ban that began on October 12, the start of the breeding season. Armed forces have been deployed to patrol 7,000 square kilometres of rivers, estuaries and sea declared a breeding sanctuary. "We are patrolling the rivers day and night. It's like a curfew," fisheries department official Iqbal Hossain said from the coastal river district of Patuakhali. "One mother (hilsa) can lay two million eggs per year. So one can easily understand how big the production will be if the protection drive is successful," said Hossain. Hilsa is the most sought-after delicacy for 160 million Bangladeshis and another 90 million Bengalis who live in eastern India. Bangladesh has introduced temporary bans on catching it before, but they have never been enforced this thoroughly. "A war is ongoing to keep the mother hilsa safe," said Jahid Habib, who is campaigning to save the fish. Bangladesh has already banned fishermen from catching young hilsa at certain times of the year. Five years ago it banned the export of the fish to India. Some critics said the drive will hit fishermen in the impoverished country. But Hossain said authorities were giving free rice to 32,000 fishermen during the ban to make up for the financial loss.
By Associated Press

SENEGAL: The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic said that 25 people have been killed in clashes between armed groups amid "rising tension" in parts of the country.

A statement on late Friday said that 15 fighters were killed on Thursday in the communities of Mbriki and Belima on the outskirts of Bambari.

And on Friday, six police and four civilians were killed in an ambush on a main road.

The U.N. statement adds that on Friday afternoon, anti-Balaka forces attacked eight peacekeeping officials as they made their way toward the local airport. The statement said that a seven-year-old child was injured.

The peacekeeping mission urges armed groups to cease the cycle of violence of recent weeks, which it says goes against the aspirations for peace among the majority of the population.

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 deadly 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.

Earlier this month, fighters with the former Seleka group attacked the northern town of Kaga-Bandoro, with at least 30 killed and 57 wounded in clashes as U.N. peacekeepers confronted them. And in the capital, Bangui, 11 people were killed and 14 injured in violence sparked by the killing of a military official.

SENEGAL: The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic said that 25 people have been killed in clashes between armed groups amid "rising tension" in parts of the country. A statement on late Friday said that 15 fighters were killed on Thursday in the communities of Mbriki and Belima on the outskirts of Bambari. And on Friday, six police and four civilians were killed in an ambush on a main road. The U.N. statement adds that on Friday afternoon, anti-Balaka forces attacked eight peacekeeping officials as they made their way toward the local airport. The statement said that a seven-year-old child was injured. The peacekeeping mission urges armed groups to cease the cycle of violence of recent weeks, which it says goes against the aspirations for peace among the majority of the population. 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 deadly 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. Earlier this month, fighters with the former Seleka group attacked the northern town of Kaga-Bandoro, with at least 30 killed and 57 wounded in clashes as U.N. peacekeepers confronted them. And in the capital, Bangui, 11 people were killed and 14 injured in violence sparked by the killing of a military official.
By The Daily Telegraph

Franco Noriega likes to get home and take his clothes off. "It's just how I live," he says, shrugging. "Go home, take my shoes off, take my clothes off."



Then he starts cooking - experimenting with ingredients he has picked up on his way back to his flat in the trendy Williamsburg area of New York, spending two hours a night chopping and blending. Which sounds a little like dicing with danger, when done in the altogether.



"I've been cooking naked with knives for the longest time, so I feel pretty comfortable chopping," he says.



Now he is making a career of it. Noriega, 27, has been widely dubbed "the world's hottest chef", while more than 200,000 followers digest his delectable daily dishes on Instagram. His most recent post on his YouTube channel, Franco Cooks, has been viewed over 70,000 times in the five days since he sat down, in his very skimpy boxers, to teach us how to cook chia seed pudding.



The former model - catapulted to stardom when fellow Peruvian, photographer Mario Testino, recommended him to Dolce & Gabbana - is riding a viral publicity wave: having opened Baby Brasa in Manhattan's Lower East Side earlier this year, he will open his second restaurant in the West Village in January, quickly followed by a third in his own neighbourhood.



Is there not a risk that, by using his chiselled abs to promote his culinary concoctions, he'll be seen as nothing more than a gimmick?



"It is a risk," he concedes, perched on a stool outside his Peruvian rotisserie. The pocket-sized restaurant specialises in organic free-range chicken with Peruvian spices, but also serves up quinoa salads, jasmine rice with Peruvian corn, and yucca fries.



"But life is full of risk - and that's what makes it interesting."



Noriega is savvy enough to realise that, were a woman to promote her restaurant in a bikini, she'd be pilloried for it. "It's not like I'm posing for this," he insists, of his impossibly chiselled photo feed.

"I live like that. I swam for Peru when I was younger, so was always almost naked - in my Speedos, anyway. And Peru is a hot country, so you wear fewer clothes."



For him, the whole "naked" USP is just good business sense: using the God-given tools at his disposal.

"Can you tell me who this Jamie Oliver guy is?" he asks, having never heard of his British namesake until he was mentioned in an article comparing the two. "Did he cook naked?"

No, no, I say, he used "naked" ingredients - stripped-down, simple food. No fuss. But now he's built an empire, married a model, lives in a huge house in London and has made a fortune from cookbooks and saucepans and things.



Noriega's eyes light up and he nods, keenly - clearly taking mental notes.

Inside the open-plan kitchen, Noriega - now modestly clad in a T-shirt and denim apron - shows me how to whip up his special chicken and lentil superfood salad. He laughs at my massacring of an avocado as I try to concentrate on his CV - and not get blinded by his biceps, or lose a finger - while wielding a massive knife.



It was when he moved to New York a decade ago that he was introduced to Testino, through a family friend. "I was very fortunate, because thanks to Mario I could go straight to the top," he says. "I didn't have to hustle. Immediately I was doing D&G, Burberry, Calvin Klein.



"But I wasn't using my brain. And I saw very quickly that it's different for women - they have much more creative control, and then they can become muses and creative directors as they get older. There are so many successful female models. But I bet you can't name more than five men. We have to do something else."



Besides, the restaurant business was in his blood. When he was a child growing up in Lima, his parents ran a successful chain of them and were always in search of new ventures. Food was a huge part of his life: ingredients such as avocado, quinoa, and ceviche - now considered superfoods in fashionable quarters on both sides of the Atlantic - were simply daily staples there.



Enrolling in New York's International Culinary Center, he sweated for a year in the kitchens to learn his craft. He worked alongside the celebrated French chef Daniel Boulud, owner of the Michelin-starred Daniel and dozens of restaurants in New York and around the world. He grafted at a Peruvian restaurant in Queens, Pio Pio - determined that, when it came to opening his own place, he'd be on top of his game.



He was also determined not to spoil those abs. Ah yes, those abs. As a former professional swimmer (he qualified for the 2004 Athens Olympics, but was injured before they began) and model (something he still does on the side), he's well versed in the importance of healthy eating. "But not just salad. I didn't want to lose weight - just be good to my body."



Nowadays he keeps fit in the gym, by skateboarding across the Williamsburg Bridge into Manhattan, and riding his bike around town. Many of his clients, he says, are men who come in after the gym and want a filling, healthy meal.



His organic, free-range chicken is three times more expensive wholesale than battery-farmed chicken - but he believes it's worth it. Half a bird costs $13 - more than fast-food joints, but still very affordable for New York.



"I don't understand how you can work out and then go and scoff a $10 Thai meal - full of sodium and MSG," he says. "People come here who care about what they eat."



Not surprisingly, he is perfectly happy to strip off for the Telegraph's photographer - despite winter having arrived in New York this week. Endearingly helpful and friendly, he happily flashes the Blue Steel when handed a knife to strike a pose - before breaking back into an easy grin, and putting his T-shirt on again.



And he insists he is still single (though, like many a pin-up before him, swerves the question of whether he's straight). Women do make up the majority of customers, laughs Milan Kelez, his business partner and another Peruvian former model, as two women in their twenties ask to have their photo with him. They make quite a pair.



"People think we're brothers or gay," Kelez says. "But we're just really good friends."

He hands Noriega a new dish to try - patacones, a traditional South American plantain cake, with avocado toppings. They chew on it, intently. "More seasoning," they conclude.



The new restaurants will be much bigger, with around 80 covers in both the West Village and Williamsburg locations. And Noriega has more in store. His YouTube channel may be in his mother tongue - one of the few printable comments under a recent video says: "Watching to improve my Spanish. Honest" - but he is thinking about an English version, and is in talks for a possible television show.



This week he was in Peru, speaking to financiers about more projects. His hope is to have a Baby Brasa - the name comes from "pollo a la brasa", a Peruvian roast chicken dish - in every major city in the US. Perhaps even the UK, I ask, imagining the queue.



"I know that people might come into the restaurant for the first time because of my Instagram," he said. "But when they come back, it's because of the food."

Franco Noriega likes to get home and take his clothes off. "It's just how I live," he says, shrugging. "Go home, take my shoes off, take my clothes off." Then he starts cooking - experimenting with ingredients he has picked up on his way back to his flat in the trendy Williamsburg area of New York, spending two hours a night chopping and blending. Which sounds a little like dicing with danger, when done in the altogether. "I've been cooking naked with knives for the longest time, so I feel pretty comfortable chopping," he says. Now he is making a career of it. Noriega, 27, has been widely dubbed "the world's hottest chef", while more than 200,000 followers digest his delectable daily dishes on Instagram. His most recent post on his YouTube channel, Franco Cooks, has been viewed over 70,000 times in the five days since he sat down, in his very skimpy boxers, to teach us how to cook chia seed pudding. The former model - catapulted to stardom when fellow Peruvian, photographer Mario Testino, recommended him to Dolce & Gabbana - is riding a viral publicity wave: having opened Baby Brasa in Manhattan's Lower East Side earlier this year, he will open his second restaurant in the West Village in January, quickly followed by a third in his own neighbourhood. Is there not a risk that, by using his chiselled abs to promote his culinary concoctions, he'll be seen as nothing more than a gimmick? "It is a risk," he concedes, perched on a stool outside his Peruvian rotisserie. The pocket-sized restaurant specialises in organic free-range chicken with Peruvian spices, but also serves up quinoa salads, jasmine rice with Peruvian corn, and yucca fries. "But life is full of risk - and that's what makes it interesting." Noriega is savvy enough to realise that, were a woman to promote her restaurant in a bikini, she'd be pilloried for it. "It's not like I'm posing for this," he insists, of his impossibly chiselled photo feed. "I live like that. I swam for Peru when I was younger, so was always almost naked - in my Speedos, anyway. And Peru is a hot country, so you wear fewer clothes." For him, the whole "naked" USP is just good business sense: using the God-given tools at his disposal. "Can you tell me who this Jamie Oliver guy is?" he asks, having never heard of his British namesake until he was mentioned in an article comparing the two. "Did he cook naked?" No, no, I say, he used "naked" ingredients - stripped-down, simple food. No fuss. But now he's built an empire, married a model, lives in a huge house in London and has made a fortune from cookbooks and saucepans and things. Noriega's eyes light up and he nods, keenly - clearly taking mental notes. Inside the open-plan kitchen, Noriega - now modestly clad in a T-shirt and denim apron - shows me how to whip up his special chicken and lentil superfood salad. He laughs at my massacring of an avocado as I try to concentrate on his CV - and not get blinded by his biceps, or lose a finger - while wielding a massive knife. It was when he moved to New York a decade ago that he was introduced to Testino, through a family friend. "I was very fortunate, because thanks to Mario I could go straight to the top," he says. "I didn't have to hustle. Immediately I was doing D&G, Burberry, Calvin Klein. "But I wasn't using my brain. And I saw very quickly that it's different for women - they have much more creative control, and then they can become muses and creative directors as they get older. There are so many successful female models. But I bet you can't name more than five men. We have to do something else." Besides, the restaurant business was in his blood. When he was a child growing up in Lima, his parents ran a successful chain of them and were always in search of new ventures. Food was a huge part of his life: ingredients such as avocado, quinoa, and ceviche - now considered superfoods in fashionable quarters on both sides of the Atlantic - were simply daily staples there. Enrolling in New York's International Culinary Center, he sweated for a year in the kitchens to learn his craft. He worked alongside the celebrated French chef Daniel Boulud, owner of the Michelin-starred Daniel and dozens of restaurants in New York and around the world. He grafted at a Peruvian restaurant in Queens, Pio Pio - determined that, when it came to opening his own place, he'd be on top of his game. He was also determined not to spoil those abs. Ah yes, those abs. As a former professional swimmer (he qualified for the 2004 Athens Olympics, but was injured before they began) and model (something he still does on the side), he's well versed in the importance of healthy eating. "But not just salad. I didn't want to lose weight - just be good to my body." Nowadays he keeps fit in the gym, by skateboarding across the Williamsburg Bridge into Manhattan, and riding his bike around town. Many of his clients, he says, are men who come in after the gym and want a filling, healthy meal. His organic, free-range chicken is three times more expensive wholesale than battery-farmed chicken - but he believes it's worth it. Half a bird costs $13 - more than fast-food joints, but still very affordable for New York. "I don't understand how you can work out and then go and scoff a $10 Thai meal - full of sodium and MSG," he says. "People come here who care about what they eat." Not surprisingly, he is perfectly happy to strip off for the Telegraph's photographer - despite winter having arrived in New York this week. Endearingly helpful and friendly, he happily flashes the Blue Steel when handed a knife to strike a pose - before breaking back into an easy grin, and putting his T-shirt on again. And he insists he is still single (though, like many a pin-up before him, swerves the question of whether he's straight). Women do make up the majority of customers, laughs Milan Kelez, his business partner and another Peruvian former model, as two women in their twenties ask to have their photo with him. They make quite a pair. "People think we're brothers or gay," Kelez says. "But we're just really good friends." He hands Noriega a new dish to try - patacones, a traditional South American plantain cake, with avocado toppings. They chew on it, intently. "More seasoning," they conclude. The new restaurants will be much bigger, with around 80 covers in both the West Village and Williamsburg locations. And Noriega has more in store. His YouTube channel may be in his mother tongue - one of the few printable comments under a recent video says: "Watching to improve my Spanish. Honest" - but he is thinking about an English version, and is in talks for a possible television show. This week he was in Peru, speaking to financiers about more projects. His hope is to have a Baby Brasa - the name comes from "pollo a la brasa", a Peruvian roast chicken dish - in every major city in the US. Perhaps even the UK, I ask, imagining the queue. "I know that people might come into the restaurant for the first time because of my Instagram," he said. "But when they come back, it's because of the food."
By AFP

Syrian rebels launched a major assault Friday aimed at breaking a months-long siege of opposition-held districts of Aleppo, as regime ally Russia held off on renewed air strikes.

Fierce fighting, shelling and car bombs that rocked the northern city killed at least 18 regime forces and allied fighters, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, but it was unable to provide a toll for the rebels.

Once Syria's economic powerhouse, Aleppo has been ravaged by the conflict that began in March 2011 with anti-government protests and has since killed more than 300,000 people.

Control of the city, divided between the rebel-held east and the west in the hands of President Bashar al-Assad's forces, is key to securing northern Syria.

Friday's rebel assault comes more than three months into a government siege of eastern Aleppo, where more than 250,000 people live, and several weeks after the army began an operation to retake the rebel-held east.

Rebel groups "announce the start of the battle to break the siege of Aleppo", said Abu Yusef Muhajir, a military commander and spokesman for the Ahrar al-Sham faction.

The assault "will end the regime occupation of western Aleppo and break the siege on the people trapped inside", he told AFP.

Rebel groups now control "most" of the vast neighbourhood of Dahiyet al-Assad, southwest of Aleppo, with the exception of an area close to a military academy, according to the Britain-based Observatory.

Late Friday clashes were continuing in the west and southwest of Aleppo, but had decreased in intensity, according to an AFP correspondent in the rebel areas.

- Fierce clashes -

Moscow says it has not bombed Aleppo since October 18 but the Russian military said Friday it had asked President Vladimir Putin for authorisation to resume air strikes.

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin "considers it inappropriate at the current moment," adding the president thought it necessary to "continue the humanitarian pause" in the war-ravaged city.

Despite Russian air support, the Syrian regime has had limited success in its attempts to seize the whole of Aleppo.

The United States Friday accused the regime of using starvation as a weapon of war -- a war crime under the Geneva Conventions -- stepping up the rhetoric against Assad and his Russian backers.

Rejecting Kremlin claims that attacks on Aleppo have stopped, a US official told AFP "the regime has rejected UN requests to deliver aid to eastern Aleppo -- using starvation as a weapon of war".

Last week, Russia implemented a three-day "humanitarian truce" intended to allow civilians and surrendering rebels to leave the east.

But few did so, and a UN plan to evacuate the wounded failed because security could not be guaranteed.

As the rebels launched their major assault, the Observatory said at least 15 civilians, including a woman and two children, had been killed, and more than 100 wounded in rebel fire on western Aleppo.

The monitor reported fierce clashes on multiple fronts on the western and southern outskirts of west Aleppo, with three suicide car bombs targeting a checkpoint in the Dahiyet al-Assad neighbourhood.

- 'Divine no-fly zone' -

The rebels also targeted government positions east of Aleppo city and in the coastal province of Latakia, including the Hmeimim military base used by Russian forces allied with the regime.

An AFP correspondent in east Aleppo said the assault had boosted morale there, with mosques broadcasting "God is greatest" from loudspeakers.

He said residents burned tyres to create smoke and provide cover against air attack.

Heavy rain put out the fires but also hampered Syrian air operations, creating what one rebel dubbed "a divine no-fly zone".

The Observatory said rebels had also fired rockets at the Nairab military airport and Aleppo international airport, both east of the city and government-controlled.

"The breaking of the siege is inevitable," said Yasser al-Yusef, a member of the political office of the Nureddine al-Zinki rebel group.

For its part, state television said "the army has foiled an attempt by terrorists to attack Aleppo city from several axes with suicide bomb attacks".

State news agency SANA said government planes were carrying out strikes south and west of Aleppo.

The European Union said late Friday its top diplomat Federica Mogherini was heading to Iran and Saudi Arabia for talks on the five-year war.

The diplomatic push comes with no end in sight to a conflict that has aligned regional powers on opposite sides, with Iran backing Assad and Saudi Arabia a key supporter of the rebels fighting to oust him.

Syrian rebels launched a major assault Friday aimed at breaking a months-long siege of opposition-held districts of Aleppo, as regime ally Russia held off on renewed air strikes. Fierce fighting, shelling and car bombs that rocked the northern city killed at least 18 regime forces and allied fighters, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, but it was unable to provide a toll for the rebels. Once Syria's economic powerhouse, Aleppo has been ravaged by the conflict that began in March 2011 with anti-government protests and has since killed more than 300,000 people. Control of the city, divided between the rebel-held east and the west in the hands of President Bashar al-Assad's forces, is key to securing northern Syria. Friday's rebel assault comes more than three months into a government siege of eastern Aleppo, where more than 250,000 people live, and several weeks after the army began an operation to retake the rebel-held east. Rebel groups "announce the start of the battle to break the siege of Aleppo", said Abu Yusef Muhajir, a military commander and spokesman for the Ahrar al-Sham faction. The assault "will end the regime occupation of western Aleppo and break the siege on the people trapped inside", he told AFP. Rebel groups now control "most" of the vast neighbourhood of Dahiyet al-Assad, southwest of Aleppo, with the exception of an area close to a military academy, according to the Britain-based Observatory. Late Friday clashes were continuing in the west and southwest of Aleppo, but had decreased in intensity, according to an AFP correspondent in the rebel areas. - Fierce clashes - Moscow says it has not bombed Aleppo since October 18 but the Russian military said Friday it had asked President Vladimir Putin for authorisation to resume air strikes. But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin "considers it inappropriate at the current moment," adding the president thought it necessary to "continue the humanitarian pause" in the war-ravaged city. Despite Russian air support, the Syrian regime has had limited success in its attempts to seize the whole of Aleppo. The United States Friday accused the regime of using starvation as a weapon of war -- a war crime under the Geneva Conventions -- stepping up the rhetoric against Assad and his Russian backers. Rejecting Kremlin claims that attacks on Aleppo have stopped, a US official told AFP "the regime has rejected UN requests to deliver aid to eastern Aleppo -- using starvation as a weapon of war". Last week, Russia implemented a three-day "humanitarian truce" intended to allow civilians and surrendering rebels to leave the east. But few did so, and a UN plan to evacuate the wounded failed because security could not be guaranteed. As the rebels launched their major assault, the Observatory said at least 15 civilians, including a woman and two children, had been killed, and more than 100 wounded in rebel fire on western Aleppo. The monitor reported fierce clashes on multiple fronts on the western and southern outskirts of west Aleppo, with three suicide car bombs targeting a checkpoint in the Dahiyet al-Assad neighbourhood. - 'Divine no-fly zone' - The rebels also targeted government positions east of Aleppo city and in the coastal province of Latakia, including the Hmeimim military base used by Russian forces allied with the regime. An AFP correspondent in east Aleppo said the assault had boosted morale there, with mosques broadcasting "God is greatest" from loudspeakers. He said residents burned tyres to create smoke and provide cover against air attack. Heavy rain put out the fires but also hampered Syrian air operations, creating what one rebel dubbed "a divine no-fly zone". The Observatory said rebels had also fired rockets at the Nairab military airport and Aleppo international airport, both east of the city and government-controlled. "The breaking of the siege is inevitable," said Yasser al-Yusef, a member of the political office of the Nureddine al-Zinki rebel group. For its part, state television said "the army has foiled an attempt by terrorists to attack Aleppo city from several axes with suicide bomb attacks". State news agency SANA said government planes were carrying out strikes south and west of Aleppo. The European Union said late Friday its top diplomat Federica Mogherini was heading to Iran and Saudi Arabia for talks on the five-year war. The diplomatic push comes with no end in sight to a conflict that has aligned regional powers on opposite sides, with Iran backing Assad and Saudi Arabia a key supporter of the rebels fighting to oust him.
By PTI

United Nations, Oct 29 (PTI) Russia, facing allegations of war crimes in relation to its policies in Syria, lost its seat on the UN Human Rights Council as the UN General Assembly voted to elect 14 members to the Geneva-based organ.



The 193-member General Assembly yesterday elected 14 nations by secret ballot to serve on the Human Rights Council, the United Nations body responsible for the promotion and protection of all human rights around the globe.



Brazil, China, Croatia, Cuba, Egypt, Hungary, Iraq, Japan, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Tunisia, United Kingdom and the United States were elected for three-year terms beginning January 1, 2017. India is a member of the 47-member human rights body and its term will expire in 2017.



Russia was seeking re-election to the human rights body, competing with Hungary, Croatia and Bulgaria for two seats in the Eastern European bloc. Russia was edged out in a close vote, getting 112 votes, just two shy of the 114 that Croatia polled, Hungary got 144 votes.

In Russia's loss, leading human rights organizations saw a strong message to Moscow condemning its policies in Syria.



"In rejecting Russia's bid for re-election to the Human Rights Council, UN member states have sent a strong message to the Kremlin about its support for a regime that has perpetrated so much atrocity in Syria," UN director at Human Rights Watch (HRW) Louis Charbonneau said in a statement.



Geneva-based human rights organization UN Watch described Russias ouster from the Human Rights Council as a "positive outcome" of the election.



UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer said the "non-election of Russia shows that the nations of the world can reject gross abusers if they so choose." Moscow has faced severe international criticism for allying with the Syrian government, carrying out airstrikes to support the Syrian armed forces that have indiscriminately killed and wounded countless civilians.

Over 200,000 people are believed to have died in the Syrian conflict during the last five years.

China, Cuba, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and the UK were seeking re-election to the Council as their terms were set to expire in December this year.

HRW had strongly opposed the candidacy of Saudi Arabia, criticising its "widespread unlawful attacks" on civilians in Yemen.



Charbonneau said that Saudi Arabia, which was re-elected without competition, "doesn't belong on the council in light of its indiscriminate attacks on civilians in Yemen. We'll be keeping all members rights records under the microscope while theyre on the council."



UN Watch said the re-election of China, Cuba and Saudi Arabia, "regimes which systematically violate the human rights of their citizens, casts a shadow upon the reputation of the

United Nations."



Neuer said the world's highest human rights body was now dominated by a "majority of 53 per cent which are non-democracies".

"The UN's election of Saudi Arabia as a world judge on human rights is like a town picking a pyromaniac to be the fire chief," said Neuer.

United Nations, Oct 29 (PTI) Russia, facing allegations of war crimes in relation to its policies in Syria, lost its seat on the UN Human Rights Council as the UN General Assembly voted to elect 14 members to the Geneva-based organ. The 193-member General Assembly yesterday elected 14 nations by secret ballot to serve on the Human Rights Council, the United Nations body responsible for the promotion and protection of all human rights around the globe. Brazil, China, Croatia, Cuba, Egypt, Hungary, Iraq, Japan, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Tunisia, United Kingdom and the United States were elected for three-year terms beginning January 1, 2017. India is a member of the 47-member human rights body and its term will expire in 2017. Russia was seeking re-election to the human rights body, competing with Hungary, Croatia and Bulgaria for two seats in the Eastern European bloc. Russia was edged out in a close vote, getting 112 votes, just two shy of the 114 that Croatia polled, Hungary got 144 votes. In Russia's loss, leading human rights organizations saw a strong message to Moscow condemning its policies in Syria. "In rejecting Russia's bid for re-election to the Human Rights Council, UN member states have sent a strong message to the Kremlin about its support for a regime that has perpetrated so much atrocity in Syria," UN director at Human Rights Watch (HRW) Louis Charbonneau said in a statement. Geneva-based human rights organization UN Watch described Russias ouster from the Human Rights Council as a "positive outcome" of the election. UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer said the "non-election of Russia shows that the nations of the world can reject gross abusers if they so choose." Moscow has faced severe international criticism for allying with the Syrian government, carrying out airstrikes to support the Syrian armed forces that have indiscriminately killed and wounded countless civilians. Over 200,000 people are believed to have died in the Syrian conflict during the last five years. China, Cuba, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and the UK were seeking re-election to the Council as their terms were set to expire in December this year. HRW had strongly opposed the candidacy of Saudi Arabia, criticising its "widespread unlawful attacks" on civilians in Yemen. Charbonneau said that Saudi Arabia, which was re-elected without competition, "doesn't belong on the council in light of its indiscriminate attacks on civilians in Yemen. We'll be keeping all members rights records under the microscope while theyre on the council." UN Watch said the re-election of China, Cuba and Saudi Arabia, "regimes which systematically violate the human rights of their citizens, casts a shadow upon the reputation of the United Nations." Neuer said the world's highest human rights body was now dominated by a "majority of 53 per cent which are non-democracies". "The UN's election of Saudi Arabia as a world judge on human rights is like a town picking a pyromaniac to be the fire chief," said Neuer.
By Associated Press

SEOUL: South Korean President Park Geun-hye has ordered 10 of her senior secretaries to resign amid an investigation that she let an old friend, the daughter of a religious cult leader, interfere in important state affairs.

The announcement by Park's office came before thousands were expected to turn out in anti-government protests planned in Seoul on Saturday over the scandal that is likely to deepen the president's lame duck status ahead of next year's elections.

Park has been facing calls to reshuffle her office after she admitted on Tuesday that she provided longtime friend Choi Soon-sil drafts of her speeches for editing. Her televised apology sparked huge criticism about her mismanagement of national information and heavy-handed leadership style many see as lacking in transparency.

There's also media speculation that Choi, who holds no government job, meddled in government decisions on personnel and policy and exploited her ties with the president to misappropriate funds from nonprofit organizations.

Prosecutors on Saturday widened their investigation by searching the homes and offices of presidential officials suspected of interacting with Choi, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said. Park's office, however, denied that prosecutors searched the Blue House  the presidential office and residence. Prosecutors had previously summoned some of Choi's key associates and raided their homes and workplaces and also the offices of two nonprofit foundations Choi supposedly controlled.

The saga, triggered by weeks of media reports, has sent Park's approval ratings to record lows and the minority opposition Justice Party has called for her to resign. The Minjoo Party, a larger opposition party which has refrained from calling for Park's resignation over fears of negatively affecting next year's presidential vote, said Park's decision to shake up her secretariat was too little and too late and called for stronger changes, including the reshuffling of her Cabinet.

Park's aides on the way out include Woo Byung-woo, senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, and Ahn Jong-beom, senior secretary for policy coordination. Lee Won-jong, Park's chief of staff, tendered his resignation on Wednesday.

Woo has been blamed for failing to prevent Choi from influencing state affairs and has also been embroiled in separate corruption allegations surrounding his family.

Ahn, whose home and office were reportedly searched by prosecutors on Saturday, is under suspicion that he helped Choi pressure South Korean companies into making large donations to the Mir and K-Sports foundations, launched in October last year and January this year, respectively. Choi reportedly masterminded the creation of the two nonprofits, which managed to gather around $70 million in corporate donations over a short period of time, and is suspected of misappropriating some of these funds for personal use.

Park's office said she plans to announce a new lineup of senior secretaries soon.

Choi's lawyer Lee Gyeong-jae said that she was currently in Germany and is willing to return to South Korea if prosecutors summon her. In an interview with a South Korean newspaper earlier this week, Choi admitted receiving presidential documents in advance, but denied intervening in state affairs or pressuring companies into donating to the foundations.

Choi and Park reportedly became friends in the 1970s when Choi's late father, Choi Tae-min, a shadowy religious figure who was a Buddhist monk, cult leader and Christian pastor at different points of his life, emerged as Park's mentor.

At the time, Park was serving as acting first lady after her mother was killed in 1974 by a man trying to assassinate her father, military strongman Park Chung-hee, who would be murdered by his own spy chief five years later.

SEOUL: South Korean President Park Geun-hye has ordered 10 of her senior secretaries to resign amid an investigation that she let an old friend, the daughter of a religious cult leader, interfere in important state affairs. The announcement by Park's office came before thousands were expected to turn out in anti-government protests planned in Seoul on Saturday over the scandal that is likely to deepen the president's lame duck status ahead of next year's elections. Park has been facing calls to reshuffle her office after she admitted on Tuesday that she provided longtime friend Choi Soon-sil drafts of her speeches for editing. Her televised apology sparked huge criticism about her mismanagement of national information and heavy-handed leadership style many see as lacking in transparency. There's also media speculation that Choi, who holds no government job, meddled in government decisions on personnel and policy and exploited her ties with the president to misappropriate funds from nonprofit organizations. Prosecutors on Saturday widened their investigation by searching the homes and offices of presidential officials suspected of interacting with Choi, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said. Park's office, however, denied that prosecutors searched the Blue House  the presidential office and residence. Prosecutors had previously summoned some of Choi's key associates and raided their homes and workplaces and also the offices of two nonprofit foundations Choi supposedly controlled. The saga, triggered by weeks of media reports, has sent Park's approval ratings to record lows and the minority opposition Justice Party has called for her to resign. The Minjoo Party, a larger opposition party which has refrained from calling for Park's resignation over fears of negatively affecting next year's presidential vote, said Park's decision to shake up her secretariat was too little and too late and called for stronger changes, including the reshuffling of her Cabinet. Park's aides on the way out include Woo Byung-woo, senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, and Ahn Jong-beom, senior secretary for policy coordination. Lee Won-jong, Park's chief of staff, tendered his resignation on Wednesday. Woo has been blamed for failing to prevent Choi from influencing state affairs and has also been embroiled in separate corruption allegations surrounding his family. Ahn, whose home and office were reportedly searched by prosecutors on Saturday, is under suspicion that he helped Choi pressure South Korean companies into making large donations to the Mir and K-Sports foundations, launched in October last year and January this year, respectively. Choi reportedly masterminded the creation of the two nonprofits, which managed to gather around $70 million in corporate donations over a short period of time, and is suspected of misappropriating some of these funds for personal use. Park's office said she plans to announce a new lineup of senior secretaries soon. Choi's lawyer Lee Gyeong-jae said that she was currently in Germany and is willing to return to South Korea if prosecutors summon her. In an interview with a South Korean newspaper earlier this week, Choi admitted receiving presidential documents in advance, but denied intervening in state affairs or pressuring companies into donating to the foundations. Choi and Park reportedly became friends in the 1970s when Choi's late father, Choi Tae-min, a shadowy religious figure who was a Buddhist monk, cult leader and Christian pastor at different points of his life, emerged as Park's mentor. At the time, Park was serving as acting first lady after her mother was killed in 1974 by a man trying to assassinate her father, military strongman Park Chung-hee, who would be murdered by his own spy chief five years later.
By The Daily Telegraph

ON THE freezing, windswept streets of Iceland's capital there is little evidence that a motley crew of computer hackers and anarchists could soon form its next government.

As elderly couples and swarms of tourists amble around Reykjavik, not a single outdoor canvasser or campaign poster is in sight.

But inside the headquarters of the Pirate Party by the harbour dozens of volunteers are hammering on keyboards as they spread their anti-establishment message on social media - which they say is where the real election battle is being fought.

With an affluent, friendly population that is smaller than Bristol and a parliament dating back to 930 AD - the world's oldest - this volcanic island may seem an unlikely place for a revolution.

But the fringe group, once dismissed as a joke, has taken by storm Iceland's political scene. The latest polling figures suggest the Pirates will win more than 22 per cent of the vote in today's (Saturday's) general election, enough to form a coalition with up to four other Left-wing parties.

The backlash began eight years ago, when 300,000 voters were devastated by a financial crash roundly blamed on the ruling Independence Party. Then earlier this year came the Panama Papers scandal linking Iceland's prime minister to tax avoidance. He was forced to resign, though he is not suspected of anything illegal.

The Pirate Party has pledged to tear up Iceland's 72-year-old constitution and replace it with a "crowd-sourced" document.

"We are going to bring about the end of representational democracy," says one Pirate candidate, Halldora Mogensen. The 37-year-old points to a polling system on the party's website in which Icelanders would vote on every single policy under a Pirate government.

Another candidate, law graduate Sunna Aevarsdottir, is facing the prospect of becoming Iceland's next justice minister aged 29.

She has spent the past few weeks visiting prisons - Icelandic convicts are allowed to vote - to drum up support.

"We don't want our prisoners feeling isolated from society, we want them to feel integrated," she says.

The Pirates' captain, 49-year-old Birgitta Jonsdottir, is no less radical. The former Wikileaks activist recently offered Icelandic citizenship to the US whistle-blower Edward Snowden.

"The reasons people are voting for strange people like me are much the same across Europe," she tells The Daily Telegraph. "Normal people feel no one listens to them, that they are marginalised and forgotten."

The party enjoys widespread support among the island's youth, but older voters seem less enthusiastic.

"We all know what they are against, but it's not clear what they are actually for" says 56-year-old Bjarni, a worker in Reykjavik's Old Harbour. "It is a question of whether it is worth taking the risk with people who don't have that experience."

That "risk" factor has been seized upon by the ruling

Independence Party.

"As we have been in government for the past three years, then I suppose compared to the Pirates we are the establishment," Birgir Armansson, an Independence party MP, told The Telegraph. "But we have been working hard to fix the economy and many would say it has improved. If a party with very little experience is to take over, then you could say all of that progress will be thrown out of the window."

The suggestion is laughed off by Eirukur Rafnsson, a Pirates campaign manager. "We are different from all the other parties because we don't pretend we know it all - we admit freely that we don't have all the answers," he says. "That's why we are listening to the people."

ON THE freezing, windswept streets of Iceland's capital there is little evidence that a motley crew of computer hackers and anarchists could soon form its next government. As elderly couples and swarms of tourists amble around Reykjavik, not a single outdoor canvasser or campaign poster is in sight. But inside the headquarters of the Pirate Party by the harbour dozens of volunteers are hammering on keyboards as they spread their anti-establishment message on social media - which they say is where the real election battle is being fought. With an affluent, friendly population that is smaller than Bristol and a parliament dating back to 930 AD - the world's oldest - this volcanic island may seem an unlikely place for a revolution. But the fringe group, once dismissed as a joke, has taken by storm Iceland's political scene. The latest polling figures suggest the Pirates will win more than 22 per cent of the vote in today's (Saturday's) general election, enough to form a coalition with up to four other Left-wing parties. The backlash began eight years ago, when 300,000 voters were devastated by a financial crash roundly blamed on the ruling Independence Party. Then earlier this year came the Panama Papers scandal linking Iceland's prime minister to tax avoidance. He was forced to resign, though he is not suspected of anything illegal. The Pirate Party has pledged to tear up Iceland's 72-year-old constitution and replace it with a "crowd-sourced" document. "We are going to bring about the end of representational democracy," says one Pirate candidate, Halldora Mogensen. The 37-year-old points to a polling system on the party's website in which Icelanders would vote on every single policy under a Pirate government. Another candidate, law graduate Sunna Aevarsdottir, is facing the prospect of becoming Iceland's next justice minister aged 29. She has spent the past few weeks visiting prisons - Icelandic convicts are allowed to vote - to drum up support. "We don't want our prisoners feeling isolated from society, we want them to feel integrated," she says. The Pirates' captain, 49-year-old Birgitta Jonsdottir, is no less radical. The former Wikileaks activist recently offered Icelandic citizenship to the US whistle-blower Edward Snowden. "The reasons people are voting for strange people like me are much the same across Europe," she tells The Daily Telegraph. "Normal people feel no one listens to them, that they are marginalised and forgotten." The party enjoys widespread support among the island's youth, but older voters seem less enthusiastic. "We all know what they are against, but it's not clear what they are actually for" says 56-year-old Bjarni, a worker in Reykjavik's Old Harbour. "It is a question of whether it is worth taking the risk with people who don't have that experience." That "risk" factor has been seized upon by the ruling Independence Party. "As we have been in government for the past three years, then I suppose compared to the Pirates we are the establishment," Birgir Armansson, an Independence party MP, told The Telegraph. "But we have been working hard to fix the economy and many would say it has improved. If a party with very little experience is to take over, then you could say all of that progress will be thrown out of the window." The suggestion is laughed off by Eirukur Rafnsson, a Pirates campaign manager. "We are different from all the other parties because we don't pretend we know it all - we admit freely that we don't have all the answers," he says. "That's why we are listening to the people."
By Associated Press

WASHINGTON: The Supreme Court will take up transgender rights for the first time in the case of a Virginia school board that wants to prevent a transgender teenager from using the boys' bathroom at his high school.

The justices said on Friday that they will hear the appeal from the Gloucester County school board sometime next year. The high court's order means that student Gavin Grimm will not be able to use the boys' bathroom in the meantime.

The court could use the case to resolve similar disputes across the country, said Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. "Obviously, for transgender people, the stakes of this case are incredibly high. Whatever the court rules in Grimm may ensure that transgender people are accepted and included as equal members of our society, or it may relegate them to outsiders for decades to come," Minter said.

A lower court had ordered the school board to accommodate Grimm, but the justices in August put that order on hold while they considered whether to hear the appeal.

Grimm, a 17-year-old high school senior, was born female but identifies as male. He was allowed to use the boys' restroom at his high school for several weeks in 2014. But after some parents complained, the school board adopted a policy requiring students to use either the restroom that corresponds with their biological gender or a private, single-stall restroom. Grimm is backed by the Obama administration in his argument that the policy violates Title IX, a federal law that bars sex discrimination in schools.

"I never thought that my restroom use would ever turn into any kind of national debate," Grimm said in a statement issued after the court announced it will hear his case. "The only thing I ever asked for was the right to be treated like everyone else. While I'm disappointed that I will have to spend my final school year being singled out and treated differently from every other guy, I will do everything I can to make sure that other transgender students don't have to go through the same experience."

Gloucester County school board chairman Troy Andersen praised the court for agreeing to hear what he called a difficult case. "The board looks forward to explaining to the Court that its restroom and locker room policy carefully balances the interests of all students and parents in the Gloucester County school system," Andersen said.

The Education Department says transgender students should be allowed to use restrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identities. Among the issues in the case is whether the department's guidance should have the force of law.

Similar lawsuits are pending around the country. The Obama administration has sued North Carolina over a state law aimed at restricting transgender students to bathrooms that correspond to their biological genders.

A federal judge in Texas has sided with Texas and 12 other states in issuing a nationwide hold on the administration's directive to public schools, issued in May. The directive tells schools to allow transgender students to use the bathroom and locker room consistent with their gender identity.

The case probably will be heard in the winter, and it is by no means certain that there will be a ninth justice to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February. Senate Republicans have refused to act on Judge Merrick Garland's nomination to the high court. A tie vote would be a victory for Grimm, who won in the lower courts, but would leave the issue unresolved nationally.

The Supreme Court split 5 to 3 in August to put the court order in Grimm's case on hold. At the time, Justice Stephen Breyer said he was providing a fifth vote to go along with the four more conservative justices to "preserve the status quo" until the court decided whether to weigh in. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented.

Grimm had urged the court not to take up his case.

The school board asked the court to settle the matter now. It said that allowing Grimm to use the boys restroom raises privacy concerns and may cause some parents to pull their children out of school.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond sided with Grimm in April, saying the federal judge who previously dismissed Grimm's Title IX discrimination claim ignored the Education Department's guidance on bathroom use.

The appeals court reinstated Grimm's Title IX claim and sent it back to the district court for further consideration. The judge then issued the order in favor of Grimm.

WASHINGTON: The Supreme Court will take up transgender rights for the first time in the case of a Virginia school board that wants to prevent a transgender teenager from using the boys' bathroom at his high school. The justices said on Friday that they will hear the appeal from the Gloucester County school board sometime next year. The high court's order means that student Gavin Grimm will not be able to use the boys' bathroom in the meantime. The court could use the case to resolve similar disputes across the country, said Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. "Obviously, for transgender people, the stakes of this case are incredibly high. Whatever the court rules in Grimm may ensure that transgender people are accepted and included as equal members of our society, or it may relegate them to outsiders for decades to come," Minter said. A lower court had ordered the school board to accommodate Grimm, but the justices in August put that order on hold while they considered whether to hear the appeal. Grimm, a 17-year-old high school senior, was born female but identifies as male. He was allowed to use the boys' restroom at his high school for several weeks in 2014. But after some parents complained, the school board adopted a policy requiring students to use either the restroom that corresponds with their biological gender or a private, single-stall restroom. Grimm is backed by the Obama administration in his argument that the policy violates Title IX, a federal law that bars sex discrimination in schools. "I never thought that my restroom use would ever turn into any kind of national debate," Grimm said in a statement issued after the court announced it will hear his case. "The only thing I ever asked for was the right to be treated like everyone else. While I'm disappointed that I will have to spend my final school year being singled out and treated differently from every other guy, I will do everything I can to make sure that other transgender students don't have to go through the same experience." Gloucester County school board chairman Troy Andersen praised the court for agreeing to hear what he called a difficult case. "The board looks forward to explaining to the Court that its restroom and locker room policy carefully balances the interests of all students and parents in the Gloucester County school system," Andersen said. The Education Department says transgender students should be allowed to use restrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identities. Among the issues in the case is whether the department's guidance should have the force of law. Similar lawsuits are pending around the country. The Obama administration has sued North Carolina over a state law aimed at restricting transgender students to bathrooms that correspond to their biological genders. A federal judge in Texas has sided with Texas and 12 other states in issuing a nationwide hold on the administration's directive to public schools, issued in May. The directive tells schools to allow transgender students to use the bathroom and locker room consistent with their gender identity. The case probably will be heard in the winter, and it is by no means certain that there will be a ninth justice to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February. Senate Republicans have refused to act on Judge Merrick Garland's nomination to the high court. A tie vote would be a victory for Grimm, who won in the lower courts, but would leave the issue unresolved nationally. The Supreme Court split 5 to 3 in August to put the court order in Grimm's case on hold. At the time, Justice Stephen Breyer said he was providing a fifth vote to go along with the four more conservative justices to "preserve the status quo" until the court decided whether to weigh in. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented. Grimm had urged the court not to take up his case. The school board asked the court to settle the matter now. It said that allowing Grimm to use the boys restroom raises privacy concerns and may cause some parents to pull their children out of school. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond sided with Grimm in April, saying the federal judge who previously dismissed Grimm's Title IX discrimination claim ignored the Education Department's guidance on bathroom use. The appeals court reinstated Grimm's Title IX claim and sent it back to the district court for further consideration. The judge then issued the order in favor of Grimm.
A coalition of Iranian-backed Iraqi Shia militia plans to cross the border into Syria to fight alongside President Bashar al-Assad after "clearing" Islamic State militants from Iraq, a militia spokesman said on Saturday.

Iraqi Shia militiamen are already fighting on Assad's side in the country's civil war, and the coalition is currently participating in an Iraqi government offensive to recapture the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State. The announcement by the coalition, known as Hashid Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization, would formalise its involvement in Syria.

"After clearing all our land from these terrorist gangs, we are fully ready to go to any place that contains a threat to Iraqi national security," Ahmed al-Asadi, a spokesman for the Shia coalition, told a news conference in Baghdad.

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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned against the threat of "terrorist governments" being established in the Middle East and North Africa, during a visit by EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini on Saturday.

"The terrorist actions in Syria and Iraq are a serious threat to the world. If there is not a serious battle against terrorism in the region, we will see several terrorist governments and entities" established in the Middle East and North Africa, said Rouhani, according to the presidency's website.

The Islamic State militant group has spread from its bases in Syria and Iraq to gain a significant foothold in Libya, and has also carried out attacks in Algeria and Egypt.

Mogherini also met with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif during her visit to Tehran for "high-level talks" on the Syria crisis.

The EU official, who was due to fly on to Iran's regional rival Saudi Arabia, was quoted by local media as saying the EU "needed the cooperation of Iran, a key power for solving the region's problems".

Rouhani called on the European Union to put pressure on regional powers to cut support to rebel groups in Syria.

Iran provides financial and military support to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and it accuses Saudi Arabia and Turkey of funding the rebel groups it is fighting.

"The fight against terrorism in Syria and Iraq is the priority," said Rouhani, adding that the territorial integrity of both countries must be preserved.

"Syria's future will be assured only by the Syrians' vote," he said.

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A new initiative to end the Yemeni conflict is rumoured to be on the table. But little indicates it has greater prospects of success than any prior attempt

A source close to the political circles of former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh has confirmed leaks regarding a new initiative that the UN Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed presented to the Houthi-Saleh alliance during a visit to Sanaa Monday.

The source said that the envoy left before obtaining a final response in Sanaa, but that he hopes to return with a few weeks in order to prepare for a new round of settlement talks in the event he receives an agreement in principle.

According to this source, the new initiative contains six points:

Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi will be retained as the legitimate interim president but without authorities. These would be transferred to a vice-president agreed on by all sides and who will be based in Sanaa.

The current Vice-President General Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar, will step down once the settlement agreement is signed.

A consensus government representative of both sides will be formed in Sanaa within a month after the agreement goes into effect.

The constitution that had been adopted before the Houthis seized control of the capital in September 2014 will be amended.

Internationally supervised elections will be held within a year after the agreement is signed.

Houthi-Saleh forces will withdraw from the central areas of the north (Sanaa, Taiz and Hodeida) following the creation of military-security committees in all provinces to oversee the withdrawal of troops from their positions in the field.

The source, speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly from Sanaa, reported that political forces there agreed to the agreement in general, although they expressed reservations with regard to retaining Hadi and concerning constitutional provisions for how the country is divided into federal entities.

Another source, close to the internationally recognised government in exile in Riyadh, also confirmed the reports in a telephone interview with the Weekly. He said that the Houthi-Saleh camp, in spite of mounting differences between its two components over their current working agenda, opposes the continuation of President Hadi in power.

The source also believes that the substance of the new initiative is not entirely new. It contains elements of previous initiatives that either failed or were rejected. In addition, he said, it is not based on the platform of the frame-of-references for the settlement process, namely the Gulf Initiative, UN Security Council Resolution 2216, and the outputs of the Yemeni national dialogue.

The latest initiative bears a close resemblance to the Taif Agreement of 1989 that brought an end to the Lebanese Civil War. This is particularly the case with the question of arms and the question of militias retaining weapons outside the control of the state.

Ould Cheikh Ahmeds initiative makes no mention of arms, in contrast to the last initiative before that. In accordance with the so-called Kerry Plan, the Houthis would be required to surrender their heavy weaponry to a third party. The UN envoys plan only speaks of the security management of parts of Yemen and ending manifestations of warfare after withdrawal from the abovementioned central areas.

The likelihood, therefore, is that the Houthis will rearm themselves after returning to their stronghold in Saada, giving rise to a situation similar to that in South Lebanon with Hizbullah forces.

On the feasibility of the Ould Cheikh Ahmed initiative, the source from Sanaa told the Weekly, If no new obstacles emerge or are imposed, the initiative could become the starting point for new elections. The problems surrounding it do not pose impediments, such as those that had arisen in Kuwait or in the Kerry plan, which called for the surrender of arms to a third party, which is unacceptable.

Local news reports in Yemen suggest that there is a divergence within the Houthi-Saleh alliance over how to respond to the initiative. Signs of tensions emerged during Ould Cheikh Ahmeds recent visit.

For example, it was reported that Saleh insisted that the UN envoy meet with the politburo jointly formed recently by the Houthi Movement and the General Peoples Congress, so as to ensure that Mohamed Abdel-Salam, the Houthi security chief who represents the Houthi delegation, would not meet with the UN envoy separately.

This report comes in the wake of rumours to the effect that Abdel-Salam has established contact with the Saudi security committee with which he had previously struck an agreement, in Dhahran, regarding the creation of committees to monitor a halt to Houthi missile fire from northern Yemen into Saudi Arabia.

This implies that Saleh continues to support the option of threatening the Saudi borders and that the aforementioned Houthi-Saudi agreement could become the focal point of a crisis within the Saleh-Houthi alliance, especially if that agreement had been concluded in secret.

The Ould Cheikh Ahmed initiative provides for an approximately year-long transitional period in which political and military issues would be resolved in tandem. In the opinion of Khaled Alyan, a political analyst and journalist close to Hadi circles in Riyadh, the period is not sufficient.

For example, during the previous elections a crisis emerged over voter registration lists. That matter, alone, following the current war, will take longer than a year and this does not take into account procedural processes and arrangements related to the elections themselves, he said in interview with the Weekly.

He also pointed to other problems, such as the thorny question of the provinces or states, which was the subject of one of Salehs reservations on the new initiative and which is intimately related to the question of amending the constitution.

Ahmed Rafik, an official in the pro-Saleh General Peoples Congress (GPC), agrees that a year is too short. He believes that the transitional process could take at least two years. However, he stressed, as long as both sides reach an agreement on it, then the duration, per se, should not be a problem. On the other hand, he does not expect things to proceed smoothly.

There still remains another round of war before a settlement can be reached, he said. Rafik did not comment on the question of differences between Saleh and Al-Houthi apart from to say, There is a divergence in opinion.

On the prospect of a settlement, Alyan said: What we need to grasp from the experience of the Houthi-Saleh alliance in the context of the current situation in Yemen is that Saleh has a problem with President Hadi. He insists that Hadi must go and the same applies to General Mohsen Al-Ahmar.

His problem is thus political and it can be resolved in conjunction with conciliatory gestures on the part of the Gulf countries and Saudi Arabia in particular, that will guarantee him or his son an opportunity to stage a political comeback in the future government of Yemen.

The Houthi question, on the other hand, is much more complicated. Abdul- Malek Al-Houthi believes that he has an inherent right to rule stemming from the line of the Zeidi imamate and that if there is to be any power sharing this will derive from the magnanimous condescension of the master, not from the ballot box. In addition, he will not agree to surrender arms, because this is what brought him to power and enabled him to secure control over the country.

The chances of the Houthis surrendering their arms are as great as the chances of Hizbullah in Lebanon surrendering a single weapon to the state, Alyan said.

The greatest obstacle to the recent initiative  or any initiative  is the frame-of-reference. Even if Ould Cheikh Ahmed did not base his initiative on the frames-of-reference, having decided to circumvent them temporarily in order to return to them later, the Houthis will be bound by only one frame of reference: Tehran.

Or, as Abdel-Aziz Al-Majidi, editor-in-chief of Al-Shahed, put it, Tehran has to affix its seal to any agreement. It is impossible for any initiative to circumvent this. Recall that [Tehran] decimated the negotiations in Kuwait in the last minutes and not just the last hours. If this context is correct, then we can say that we are looking at an initiative that seeks to normalise (ie reconcile) with the status quo or, more accurately, the coup.

Alyan adds: We need to read the map of the field when assessing any initiative. There are Houthi leaders who have grown rich from the war, in spite of the poverty that grips the country and its people and that they use as a vehicle for their conflict and a means to promote their interests.

Those people who came from the mountains of Saada and had a chance to rule will not give up power easily without demanding a large share of power [in any future arrangement]. Officials from the UN and elsewhere in the world are coming to see them in Sanaa where they are in the seat of power. It is hard to give all that up. Al-Houthi, himself, said as much, We are prepared to fight until the Day of Judgement. 

*This story was first published in Al-Ahram Weekly.

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Car bombs and rocket fire shook Aleppo Saturday as rebels battled to break a suffocating siege by the Syrian regime, accused by Washington of using starvation as a "weapon of war".

The offensive, launched Friday, aims to break through a three-month encirclement of the battered city's eastern districts, where more than 250,000 people live without access to food or humanitarian aid.

"In just a few days, we will open the way for our besieged brothers," rebel commander Abu Mustafa told AFP from the frontline district of Dahiyet al-Assad, on the southwestern outskirts of Aleppo.

Fighting and air strikes pounded nearly all of Aleppo's western outskirts, with the most intense clashes reported in the districts of Al-Zahraa and Dahiyet al-Assad.

Yasser al-Youssef of the Noureddin al-Zinki rebel faction said opposition fighters opened a new front in Al-Zahraa on Saturday with a massive car bombing.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said rebels and allied Islamist militants have unleashed a barrage of rocket fire and at least 10 car bombs since their assault began.

The Britain-based group said two days of fighting have killed at least 30 regime forces and allied fighters as well as 26 Syrian rebels, but it did not give a toll for foreign militants battling alongside the opposition.

At least 21 civilians, including two children, have been killed in rebel bombardment since Friday morning.

Syrian state news agency SANA said rockets fired by opposition groups on Saturday wounded six people including a child in two regime-held districts.

The offensive has seen more than 1,500 rebels from the provinces of Aleppo and nearby Idlib amass along a front stretching for 15 kilometres (nine miles) down the city's western edges.

Their aim is to work their way east through a sprawling military complex, then to the district of Al-Hamdaniyeh to break through government lines.

Fighting on Saturday was so fierce around Al-Zahraa and Dahiyet al-Assad that the explosions and gunfire could be heard across Aleppo's eastern half, AFP's correspondent there said.

"There have not been clashes this intense in Al-Zahraa since 2012," when opposition fighters seized Aleppo's east, said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

He said pro-government forces launched a counter-attack on Saturday and managed to recapture several positions in Dahiyet al-Assad, where rebels had scored a major advance.

An AFP correspondent who visited the district saw deserted streets and extensive damage to buildings battered by air strikes and artillery fire.

Syria's second city, Aleppo has been devastated by some of the heaviest fighting of the country's five-year civil war that began with anti-government protests and has since killed more than 300,000 people.

Much of the once-bustling economic hub has been reduced to rubble by air and artillery bombardment, including barrel bombs -- crude unguided explosive devices that cause indiscriminate damage.

Last week, Russia implemented a three-day "humanitarian truce" intended to allow civilians and surrendering rebels to leave the east, but few did so.

Russia, whose intervention in September 2015 with air strikes in support of President Bashar al-Assad's forces was seen as a game-changer, says it has not bombed Aleppo since October 18.

The Observatory said Saturday that Russian raids have been battering Aleppo's western battlefronts, but confirmed the halt to Moscow's aerial bombing of the city itself was holding.

The Russian military said Friday it had asked President Vladimir Putin for authorisation to resume the raids.

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin "considers it inappropriate at the current moment", adding that the president thought it necessary to "continue the humanitarian pause" in Aleppo.

The United States on Friday accused the regime of using starvation as a weapon of war -- a war crime under the Geneva Conventions.

Rejecting Kremlin claims that attacks on Aleppo have stopped, a US official told AFP that "the regime has rejected UN requests to deliver aid to eastern Aleppo -- using starvation as a weapon of war".

Aleppo's front line runs through the heart of the city, dividing rebels in the east from government troops in the west.

It lies at the crossroads of key transport routes, making it a strategic prize for both sides and a potential bargaining chip for both opposition and regime forces if UN-brokered peace talks are resumed.

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Allegations that Myanmar soldiers are killing, raping and torturing villagers in Rakhine, a restive region that is home to the persecuted Muslim Rohingya, must be independently investigated, rights groups said.

Northern Rakhine has been under a military lockdown since an attack on border guards three weeks ago left nine policeman dead.

The government has blamed the raids on Rohingya rebels and a search for the culprits has seen more than 30 people killed and dozens arrested, according to official reports.

Stories of grave abuse by security officers -- including sexual violence, summary executions and the torching of villages -- have spiralled on social media but are difficult to verify with the army barring rights groups and journalists from the remote region bordering Bangladesh.

On Friday Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch joined calls for an impartial investigation into the allegations, which the UN has called "alarming and unacceptable".

"If Myanmar's security forces are not involved in any human rights violations as the authorities claim, then they should have no trouble granting independent observers access," said Rafendi Djamin, Amnesty's Southeast Asia and Pacific director.

Writing on Facebook Friday, government spokesman Zaw Htay dismissed an article in the Myanmar Times that described reports of a "mass rape" in a Rohingya village on October 19.

"There was information that some attackers were kept in that village. So security was taken very seriously and (the search team) was very careful about being safe and would not think to rape up to 5 women," he wrote.

The government says the October 9 border raids were carried out by hundreds of Rohingya fighters linked to Taliban-trained Islamists.

If true, it would mark a troubling development in a religiously-split region where the stateless Rohingya have languished under years of repression but so far shown little interest in jihadist ideology.

Rakhine has sizzled with tension ever since waves of communal violence in 2012 killed more than 100 and pushed tens of thousands of people, mostly Rohingya, into destitute displacement camps.

Many in Buddhist-majority Myanmar insist the Rohingya are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and viscerally oppose any moves to grant them citizenship.

The recent upsurge in violence deepens and complicates a conflict that already posed a top challenge to a new civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, who has disappointed rights groups by not coming out in stronger support of the Rohingya.

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The US State Department said on Friday that it had voiced concern to Myanmar's foreign ministry about the reported rape of Rohingya Muslim women by soldiers during a recent upsurge in violence against the persecuted minority.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner told a briefing that the United States wanted Myanmar to investigate the reported rapes and hold those responsible accountable.

Toner said earlier that the United States had raised the issue with the Myanmar foreign minister, but the State Department later issued a transcript of the briefing saying it had brought the issue up with "the foreign ministry," not the foreign minister.

Eight Rohingya women, all from U Shey Kya village in Rakhine State, described how soldiers last week raided their homes, looted property and raped them at gun point.

Reuters interviewed three of the women in person and five by telephone, and spoke with human rights groups and community leaders. Not all the claims could be independently verified, including a total number of women assaulted.

Zaw Htay, a spokesman for Myanmar President Htin Kyaw, denied the allegations. The military did not respond to an emailed request for comment about the accusations.

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Portsmouth boy bullied for long hair has plan to donate it

It makes me feel so proud of him, his generous spirit. He cares about others more than he cares about himself sometimes."
New Delhi: Three senior group executives at India's Tata Sons have resigned, people close to the matter told Reuters on Saturday, as management woes appeared to deepen at the $100 billion conglomerate following the stunning ouster of its chairman.



The three executives were members of an executive council disbanded after Tata dismissed chairman Cyrus Mistry on Monday. The council, comprising five senior Tata group executives and Mistry, was tasked with creating long-term value for stakeholders and boosting returns on investment.



Those who quit are group human resources chief N.S. Rajan; group business development and public affairs head Madhu Kannan; and group strategy executive Nirmalya Kumar.



Reuters could not reach any of the three for comment. Tata did not respond to an e-mail request for comment on Saturday.



Reuters reported earlier this week that the other two council executives, Mukund Rajan and Harish Bhat, would take on senior level responsibilities within the Tata group.



One person close to Tata said there was no certainty all the positions would be re-filled as the group's structure is likely to change with Mistry's exit. Another person, however, said replacements could be named as early as next week, though there was no management crisis as each Tata company has its own team of public affairs and business development executives.



But some governance experts say the resignations of senior executives risk increasing the sense of uncertainty at Tata.



"In the short term, obviously there'll be some disruption at the group level" said Shriram Subramanian of InGovern, a shareholder advocacy group. "People leaving at senior levels shows there's a lack of confidence between the two sides, and that needs to be reinstated at the earliest to contain any longer-term damage."



MEDIATION



Disagreements between Mistry and his predecessor Ratan Tata, the family patriarch and now stand-in chairman of the 148-year-old conglomerate, have turned a boardroom battle into a damaging public spat fueled by leaked letters and tit-for-tat accusations.



Mistry alleges corporate governance failures and mismanagement at Tata, which has dismissed the allegations as "malicious".



CNBC-TV18 news channel reported on Saturday that Darius Khambatta, a senior lawyer close to both Tata and Mistry, had initiated mediation talks between the two parties. Khambatta told Reuters he was "not mediating between them," but declined to comment on whether he had met Tata and Mistry.



India's financial crime-fighting agency will look into Mistry's allegations about mismanagement at Tata's aviation ventures, another person familiar with the matter told Reuters.



In a leaked letter to the Tata board, Mistry has said he was opposed to Tata's aviation partnerships with Malaysia's AirAsia Bhd and Singapore Airlines.



In the case of Air Asia, a forensic investigation had found "fraudulent transactions" of 220 million rupees ($3.29 million) involving "non-existent parties", he alleged.



That prepared the ground for a "probe into the allegation of mismanagement of funds," said an official at the national Enforcement Directorate, on condition of anonymity.



The agency was not immediately available to comment. Tata did not respond to Reuters questions on this matter. An AirAsia India spokeswoman said she had no immediate comment.



India's capital markets regulator is already looking into Mistry's allegations related to violations of corporate governance rules at Tata.




The body of a missing young German woman was found Saturday on the slopes of Gran Sasso, the highest peak in central Italy, according to media reports citing local police.

The woman, identified as 27-year-old Elisabeth Matthes, was recovered on a rocky scree at 2,200 metres (7,200 feet) of altitude, to the north of the mountain resort of Campo Imperatore.

Her rucksack was found 200 metres higher up the mountain.

The AGI news agency said the woman had checked into the Campo Imperatore hotel on Monday but had not been there since going out shortly after her arrival.

Staff raised the alarm when she did not come back for dinner, having left some of her belongings in her room.

The hotel is famous as the place where Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was briefly imprisoned in August 1943 before he was liberated in a daring raid by German commandoes.

The area around Gran Sasso, which rises to a peak at 2,912 metres, is popular with hikers in the summer but is considered dangerous walking territory from early October onwards.

AGI reported that the local police had ruled out the involvement of any other party in the woman's death. The corpse was to be evacuated by helicopter with formal identification set to take place on Monday.

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Air India was forced to apologise on Saturday after its in-flight magazine Shubh Yatra carried an article saying non-vegetarian dishes were also served at the Puri Jagannath temple.The article 'Devotion can be Delicious' said, "Jagannath Temples kitchen in Puri since its inception has had an army of 500 cooks and 300 helpers to serve 1,00,000 people every day, round the clock - which means almost 285 variety of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes every day.Devotees in Puri and other parts of Odisha came out in protests forcing the national carrier and its chief Ashwani Lohani to apologise and clarify that it did not mean to "hurt sentiments".""#AI apologises for the error. Our intention was not to hurt sentiments. #ShubhYatra magazine copies have been removed with immediate effect," the airline said in a tweet.The article also carried a picture purportedly of the Jagannath temple's kitchen, though as a matter of tradition it is not photographed.Earlier, when CNN-News18 contacted the magazine editor Jayita Bandyopadhyay she said she will comment after contacting the "expert who wrote the article".Odisha Tourism and Culture Minister Ashok Panda deflected calls for his resignation over the issue saying the magazine belongs to the Central government.
Ahmedabad: On the second day of his Gujarat visit, BJP president Amit Shah held separate meetings with several BJP leaders and MLAs as well as Union Minister Piyush Goyal.



The Minister of State for Power arrived at Shah's residence in the morning and their meeting lasted for almost one and half hours, said BJP sources.



Later, Goyal also met Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani at his residence to take stock of progress in the implementation of LED scheme in the Gujarat, officials said.



Meanwhile, several BJP leaders and local MLAs, including Babubhai Patel and Bhushan Bhatt from here, met Shah at his residence during the day.



Shah, who arrived here on late Thursday night, is expected to stay here till Diwali. His meetings with various party leaders is seen as BJP's exercise to gear up ahead of state Assembly elections, due next year.


New Delhi: A 28-year-old man killed his parents-in-laws and injured his wife, minor daughter and brother-in-law in Malviya Nagar area of south Delhi this evening in a fit of rage.



The accused, identified as Chintu, also sustained severe injuries as he was held and thrashed by neighbours who managed to catch hold of him, said a senior police officer.



Chintu allegedly had strained relations with his wife Renu who had left him and was staying at her parents' place and had even filed for divorce from him, the officer added.



Chintu attacked Renu with a large tent nail at her parents' house in Jatav Basti around 7.45 pm and when his mother-in-law Roshan intervened, he hit her on the head, police said.



His father-in-law Trilok Chand, who was undergoing treatment at AIIMS, died in hospital.



Chintu's daughter Neha, Renu and brother-in-law are currently undergoing treatment at AIIMS where their condition is stated to be critical, said the officer.



While Chintu was attacking his wife Renu, his children Neha (7) and Laddoo (5) started crying for help and in a fit of rage, he pushed Neha off the terrace.



When neighbours heard cries for help from the house, they came and managed to catch hold of Chintu who was trying to flee and beat him up, police said.



He is currently admitted in AIIMS and is in a critical condition, police said.



Renu's family members claimed she was being harassed by Chintu and his family for dowry and upset by their constant demands, she had left him and was staying at her parents' place, said the officer.



Renu and Chintu's families had arrived at an arrangement that she would stay at her parents' house but Chintu didn't accept this arrangement.



In a fit of rage, he attacked Renu and his family.


Chennai: Tamil Nadu woke up early on Saturday to celebrate Diwali with children bursting crackers and adults assisting them and conducting pujas in their homes and temples.



People had special sesame oil bath and wore new clothes. Friends and relatives asked one another the ritualistic question? "Ganga Sthanam Aachha?" - had your bath with the holy water of Ganga river?



"I got up early and had oil bath. Then I visited my mother to get her blessings. My daughter, who is in the US, wished us on the occasion as well," Revathi Vasan, a housewife based here, told IANS.



Neighbours exchanged sweets, savouries and the special Diwali Leghium - a herbal jam.




Lucknow: Samajwadi rockets and Mayawati bombs have flooded the Diwali firecrackers market here with traders seeking to cash in on the highly surcharged political atmosphere in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the crucial Assembly elections barely a few months hence.



Packets containing 'Samajwadi rockets' have the picture of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav feeding sweets to "outsider" Amar Singh, who is being dubbed as a villain in the power game in the ruling party and Yadav clan.



The cover of another cracker packet shows BSP supremo Mayawati staring furiously with words 'Angry Bomb' written next to her photo.



'Akhilesh ki lari unlimited' is another hit item with a string of 1,000 crackers. The packets carry the photograph of the Chief Minister, who is very popular among the youths and has virtually emerged as their 'undisputed' leader in the run-up to the Assembly elections.



"As the state braces for the battle of ballots in early 2017, the current political developments and the mood of the masses have caught our imagination," said a roadside cracker stall owner in Hazratganj, the busy commercial hub in the state capital.



The crackers are being purchased by youths and politicians as well by those finding the items fascinating, as the tussle in the Mulayam family has become the talk of the town.



The strife-torn Yadav clan has left everyone guessing whether Mulayam's family members will celebrate Diwali together with the same mirth and enthusiasm as the crisis in the party appeared far from over.



Usually it is an atmosphere of bonhomie during festivals when the clan's top leaders take a break from the rough and tumble of politics, and assemble in their ancestral village Saifai or in the state capital especially on occasions like Holi and Diwali, besides family functions like wedding ceremonies, engagements and house warming.



Old timers said the family had never missed any celebration at Saifai in Etawah district, notwithstanding political compulsions. But this time, they are keeping their fingers crossed.
Beijing: National Security Advisors of India and China will meet next week to discuss measures to improve bilateral ties which are strained by differences over a host of issues including India's admission into NSG and Beijing's attempts to block UN ban on JeM Chief Masood Azhar.



National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi will meet in Hyderabad in November first week for informal dialogue on the state of bilateral relations, specially the irritants bedevilling the development of ties, officials said.



Besides blocking India's admission into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), China had put a second technical hold on India's move to bring about a UN ban on Azhar. Also India has been protesting over the USD 46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which is being laid through the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).



While India is concerned over the Pakistan factor creeping into India-China relations making the bilateral ties more complex, China too is airing its apprehensions over the movement to boycott Chinese goods in India as well the visit of US Ambassador to New Delhi, Richard Verma, to Arunachal Pradesh, which it considers as Southern Tibet and India s permission to allow the Dalai Lama to visit the area.



Chinese officials say Beijing is apprehensive about India moving closer to US and Japan broadening its strategic and defence ties with both the countries.



Doval and Yang who are the designated Special Representatives of the India-China boundary talks, also periodically meet to discuss the whole gamut of the Sino-Indian relations.



Yang was the former foreign minister of China before he was elevated to the rank of State Councillor of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) after President Xi Jinping took over power in 2013.



In Chinese power structure, State Councillor is more powerful than the Foreign Minister on foreign policy issues.



Both Doval and Yang have been meeting regularly to discuss the problems affecting the bilateral relations.

Officials say that the Hyderabad meeting is not Special Representatives dialogue on border but an informal consultations in which all issues including those relating to the borders may figure.



Their meeting is set to take place in the backdrop of the just concluded plenary meeting of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) which conferred the status of "core leader" on Xi, broadening his power base both in the party and military.



On India s admission into the NSG, both sides held in-depth talks over the issue. India has been pressing China to relent on its opposition saying that vast majority of the 48 member group back New Delhi s case.



China, which is opposing India's membership on the ground that India is not a signatory to Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), says the group need to work out a proposal on the accession on all the non-NPT countries meaning Pakistan's admission too.



After talks with India, Chinese officials also held talks with Pakistan on the same issue.



On the issue of ban on Azhar, China has not reacted to Pakistan's reported move to freeze his bank accounts and keeping him under house arrest. Beijing's technical hold in the UN on Azhar s ban issue is due to expire in December.



Doval and Yang were expected to touch on these issues as well as India s concerns over the ballooning trade deficit which according to Chinese officials touched over USD 51 billion last year in little over USD 70 billion trade between the two countries.



China has been promising to step up investments in India besides opening up markets for Indian IT and Pharmaceuticals.
New Delhi: Samajwadi Party MP Munawwar Saleem on Saturday sacked his personal assistant Farhat who has been held for supplying official documents to Pakistan High Commission official Mehmood Akhtar expelled from the country for running a spy ring out of Delhi.



Farhat, the PA of the Rajya Sabha MP, was detained on Friday night, sources in the Delhi Crime Branch said. His name came up during the questioning of Akhtar who was detained on October 27. Akhtar was let off after interrogation within hours owing to his diplomatic immunity and has since been declared "persona non-grata".



Meanwhile, sources told CNN-News18 that Akhtar has also revealed names of 10 Pakistan intelligence officers working out of the national capital. He used to travel in a Pakistan High Commission car 89 CD 105 to meet his contacts in public places including the Delhi Zoo from where he was nabbed. The car belongs to the trade counsellor at the Pakistan High Commission.



Delhi Police sources said Farhat had given "important documents" related to MEA, defence and shipping ministries for almost two and half years to Akhtar. He used to charge Rs 2 lakh for the job in installments.



Farhat first came into contact with ISI through a Pakistan High Commission official code named 'NK' in 1998 when he had gone to the HC for visa. NK cultivated him and asked him to provide annual reports of Ministry of Science & Technology, Water Resources and Civil Aviation.



NK died in 2000 but before that he was handed over to a certain Rana Sagheer, who later introduced him to IP Shamshed. He was given specific amount per every meeting for handing over documents.







Two others, Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangir, residents of Nagaur, Rajasthan, were also held along with Akhtar. Another accused Shoaib was detained in Jodhpur and brought to Delhi where he was arrested.



Further investigation revealed that Akhtar Joined ISI in February 2013 and was trained in spycraft at the ISI HQ in Rawalpandi. He told investigators that he was in touch with several Indians including an ISRO employee who later broke contact. He was also in contact with a barber in Jat Regiment.



After New Delhi declared Akhtar a "persona non-grata", Islamabad did a tit-for-tat move expelling a staffer of Indian High Commission in Pakistan for "conduct not in accordance with his diplomatic status".




Pakistan High Commission staffer Mehmood Akhtar - accused of espionage - in a confessional video refutes Pakistan's claims that he was man-handled by the Indian officials.



He also revealed his 'contacts' who used to work for him to pass on information about key installations in India.



On October 26, Mehmood was arrested by the Delhi Police on charges of espionage. However, he was let off after interrogation within hours owing to his diplomatic immunity and has been told to return to Pakistan immediately.



He was under watch for almost six months and was held with classified documents and maps related to Indian Army's defence positions.







Here are a few excerpts (CNN-News 18 Exclusive) of his interrogation by the Delhi police:



* Officer: What is your name?



* Akhtar: Mehmood



* Officer: State your full name...



Akhtar: Mehmood Akhtar



* Officer: What do you do?



* Akhtar: Havaldar... Havaldar in Pakistan Embassy



* Officer: How many contacts did you say you have?



* Akhtar: Two right now. One was in Istanbul



* Officer: Speak clearly, do you need water?



* Akhtar: Yes, sir

(hands him water)



* Officer: We know everything. Tell us correctly. You have to answer everything truthfully.



Akhtar: Sir, nothing is hidden from you.



* Officer: You are very smart, I can tell, give us all the contacts.



* Officer: Who are the other people?



Akhtar(audio not clear)



* Officer: What is the name?



* Akhtar: Farhad



* Officer: What is the spelling?



* Akhtar: F-A-R-H-A-D



* Officer: Where did you meet him? Where does he live?



Akhtar: He left



Officer: Where did you meet him?



Akhtar: Mandi House Metro Station


New Delhi: Deported Pakistani spy Mehmood Akhtar has blown the cover of top Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) officers working out of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi potentially compromising their espionage activities in the country.



Delhi Police sources told CNN-News18 that Akhtar has disclosed the name of 10 ISI officers including Colonel Syed Farruq, his deputy Khadim Hussain, a Major Sahid Iqbal and a 'Deputy Director' Dr Mudassir Iqbal, who he said is the senior-most of all. When asked if these were from the ISI or the Army, Akhtar said, "it keeps changing".



Meanwhile, Akhtar returned to Pakistan on Saturday morning after he was declared a "persona non grata" by India. Akhtar along with his three family members arrived at Attari in Amritsar, Punjab, by road and after Immigration and Custom clearance crossed over to Pakistan at 11 AM.



Earlier, in a tit-for-tat move, Pakistan had expelled Surjeet Singh, an Indian employee working at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, for "conduct not in accordance with his diplomatic status". Singh is expected to return to India on Saturday.



Akhtar was released by Delhi Police Crime Branch after a brief detention owing to his diplomatic immunity. He had disclosed that he was working under Farukh Habib, Counselor (Trade), who he claimed was under deputation from Pakistan Military Intelligence. Police sources said that in fact Akhtar had arrived at the Delhi Zoo  from where he was nabbed  in Habib's official vehicle.



One of the prime contacts of Akhtar in India was Farhat, the personal assistant to Samajwadi MP Munawwar Hussein. Farhat has since been nabbed and the Rajya Sabha MP immediately sacked him, and informed Parliament officials to cancel his ID card.



Police sources said Farhat first came into contact with ISI through a Pakistan High Commission official code named 'NK' in 1998 when he had gone to the HC for visa. NK cultivated him and asked him to provide annual reports of Ministry of Science & Technology, Water Resources and Civil Aviation.



NK died in 2000 but before that he was handed over to a certain Rana Sagheer, who later introduced him to IP Shamshed. He was given specific amount per every meeting for handing over documents. After his tenure in India was over, Shamshed handed Farhat over to one Faiyaz, from whom Akhtar took over.



Earlier, MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup while declaring him "persona non grata" had said that Akhtar had told the police that he had joined the Baloch Regiment of the Pakistan Army in 1997 and came on deputation to the ISI in 2013. He was posted in September 2013 to the Pakistan High Commission.
A Border Security Force (BSF) Constable who was injured in a heavy firing on Friday by Pakistan rangers succumbed to his injuries in Machil sector in North Kashmir.28-year-old Constable Nitin Subhash, hailing from Sangli in Maharashtra, succumbed to bullet injuries on Saturday morning in firing by Pakistani security forces, a BSF official said.Subhash had joined BSF in 2008 and is survived by his wife and two sons aged four years and two years.The fresh casualty came hours after terrorists, aided by the cover fire by Pakistani Army, last night crossed the Line of Control in the sector. They killed an Indian army jawan Sandeep S Rawat and mutilated his body prompting the Indian army to warn that "the incident will be responded to appropriately".Four army and three BSF personnel have died in the latest escalation along the boundary with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir.Pakistan Rangers also violate ceasefire in RS Pura and Kathua sectors along International Border today.In Saturday night's attack, one attacker was killed in the incident."In an encounter close to the Line of Control this evening, one solider was martyred and one terrorist was killed. The terrorists mutilated the body of the jawan before fleeing back into Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir under the cover of firing by Pakistan Army," an army spokesman said.He said the incident reflected the barbarism pervading in official and unofficial organisations in Pakistan.Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar have also been informed about this incident.According to Television reports, Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit will be summoned on Saturday.(Inputs from PTI)
Spain's parliament voted conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy back into power Saturday, ending a rollercoaster, 10-month political crisis despite bitter opposition and lingering divisions.

One hundred and seventy lawmakers voted for Rajoy, 111 against, and 68 abstained -- all Socialist MPs, in line with the party's reluctant decision to let its arch-rival govern rather than trigger a third round of elections in the poll-weary country.

Rajoy pledged to plough on with economic policies deeply unpopular with the opposition which blames austerity measures taken in his first term for rising inequality.

"Do no expect me to... damage economic recovery and job creation," the 61-year-old told lawmakers in a tense pre-vote session, referring to Spain's return to growth under his watch following an economic downturn.

"There is no sense in getting rid of all reforms."

The Socialists' decision to abstain drew stinging criticism from its rivals including far-left Podemos, and divided the party so seriously that Socialist chief Pedro Sanchez was ousted earlier this month.

Hours before the vote, Sanchez himself gave a tearful statement to the media, announcing he was quitting as a lawmaker so he would not have to abstain and allow his staunch rival Rajoy to govern.

Hundreds of protesters gathered near parliament amid a heavy police presence, unhappy about corruption and sweeping spending cuts during Rajoy's first term, shouting: "They don't represent us."

"It's going to be the same government, or similar, (as in) the past four years, which was disastrous for Spain," said Carmen Lopez, a 65-year-old retired computer technician.

In the pre-vote session, party leaders strongly criticised Rajoy and one another -- just as they have done for the past 10 months as the country went through two inconclusive elections.

This unstable period saw Spain go from jubilation after polls last December that ended the two-party hold on power as millions voted for two upstart parties -- to disillusion following polls in June that returned inconclusive results once again.

Rajoy's Popular Party (PP) won both elections but without enough parliamentary seats to govern alone. As no political grouping was able to agree on a viable coalition, Spain looked set for more elections.

That changed last weekend when the Socialists opted to abstain in Saturday's confidence vote after weeks of in-fighting that saw Sanchez ousted.

Rajoy's party will only have 137 out of 350 seats in parliament and will face huge opposition, forcing him to negotiate every bill.

He originally came to power in 2011 with an absolute majority.

"You are in the clear minority and under tight surveillance of this lower house. The Socialist party will devote itself to monitoring your every step," Antonio Hernando, the Socialists' parliamentary spokesman, told Rajoy.

Among Rajoy's priorities will be the 2017 budget, which may need at least five billion euros ($5.5 billion) in spending cuts to reduce the deficit in the face of EU pressure.

But further cuts are likely to face stiff opposition both in parliament and on the street.

He will also face rising separatist sentiment in the northeastern Catalonia region.

After the vote, Rajoy sought to strike a conciliatory tone.

"If we all make an effort, we can reach agreements and we have to try and turn this difficult and complex situation into an opportunity," he told reporters.

Political analyst Pablo Simon said his term in office would be the most "turbulent" ever in Spain and could prompt Rajoy to call early elections if he faces gridlock in parliament.

But he predicted it would not be as difficult for Rajoy as some have anticipated.

The Socialists will need time to regroup and will not want early elections, knowing they would fare badly after their very public breakdown, he said.

The PP also has a majority in the senate, and may be able to form pacts with smaller parties in the lower house to see laws through, Simon added.

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Kurukshetra (Haryana): Family mourn the death of Soldier Mandeep Singh who lost his life in an encounter near LoC in Machil sector (J&K) pic.twitter.com/BYocapKEAc

 ANI (@ANI_news) 29 October 2016

Nivedan sarkaar se hai ki ya toh samjado Pak ko; samje toh thik warna khatam kardo, kam se kam roz roz diwali kaali nhi hogi sabhi ki: Wife pic.twitter.com/EplxVz6Id0  ANI (@ANI_news) 29 October 2016

: The barbaric incident at the LoC in Kashmir in which the body of an Indian army jawan was mutilated after being killed by terrorists, aided by the cover fire by Pakistani Army, sparked an outrage on Saturday even as a pall of gloom descended on his native village in Haryana.Union Minister Jitendra Singh condemned the mutilation of the soldier's body as "atrocious" while senior Congress leader Manish Tewari called it "depraved behaviour".The jawan's family members demanded that Pakistan be taught a lesson for harbouring terrorists while former Army officers expressed their sadness. His brother Sandeep Singh demanded that the family wanted 10 Pakistani heads for the price of one.Terrorists, aided by the cover fire by Pakistani Army, last night crossed the Line of Control(LoC) and killed sepoy Mandeep Singh and mutilated his body in Macchil sector of Kupwara district.The family members of the 30-year-old martyr were inconsolable.Several women from Aantehri village in Kurukshetra reached the martyr's house and tried to console Mandeep s widow. The couple had got married two years ago, family members said. Mandeep's widow Prerna is a Head Constable with Haryana police and posted at Shahbad Markanda in Kurukshetra.Mandeep's father said the Indian army should give a befitting reply to Pakistan."It was his duty, he has done it. He sacrificed his life.We should give a befitting reply to Pakistan," he said, adding that he got the news of his son's death when army personnel visited him at his home at 1 AM.Prerna said Pakistan must be taught a lesson for harbouring terrorists.The martyr's neighbours described him as a "go getter" who always had a smile on his face.Subhash, husband of the Sarpanch of the village, said Mandeep was a helpful person who always offered help to anyone who approached him in need."Pakistan should be taught a lesson once for all so that no other family of a soldier has to go through such pain," she said breaking down several times.She said that Mandeep had come for vacation six months back. "He was supposed to visit home again on Diwali but his leave was cancelled in view of the tension on the border at Machil sector."Kurukshetra's Deputy Commissioner Sumedha Kataria also visited the jawan's home and offered her condolences.The martyr's neighbours described him as a "go getter" who always had a smile on his face.Subhash, husband of the Sarpanch of the village, said Mandeep was a helpful person who always offered help to anyone who approached him in need."There can't be anything more atrocious than this (on terrorists mutilated the body of a soldier)," Jitendra Singh told reporters in Jammu."I am always of the view that the human rights of soldiers should enjoy precedence over human rights of anybody else", he said."These are acts of cowardice and these are happening at the time of desperation of the part of the Pakistan army as well as Islamabad. Indian forces are capable of standing upto this challenge."Tewari while condemning the multilation as "absolutely depraved behaviour" said it "violates you as a human being"."There are certain rules of engagement and conduct even in a conflict situation. Pakistan is expected to respect the rules of engagement," he said."I am very sad being a soldier. It is a very sad mentality to take your anger on an injured or dead person," said Maj Gen (retd) B C Khanduri.
New Delhi: Several women activists and female members of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on Thursday insisted that Muslim women are safe under the Shariah laws and there is no need for the government to meddle in their affairs.



"We, the Muslim women from various walks of life, schools of thought and organisations, want to make it clear that the Muslim women are safe and secure under the Muslim Personal Law," Asma Zehra, executive member of the AIMPLB told reporters here.



She said the Muslim Personal Law is well balanced for both men and women and it regards human values, and the ruling BJP is raking up the issue of "Triple Talaq" just for electoral gains.



"As the facts stand today, incidence of divorce among the Muslims is the least and same is the case with polygamy. But, in spite of this, it is projected as if the Muslim men have no other job but to pronounce divorce," she said.



She said that marriage is a contract in Islam, prescribing various conditions, and the women have all the rights to change the terms, and if the terms are not favourable, even the Nikah can be declined.



"If she does not say 'qabool hai' (I accept it), no Nikah can be validated," she said.



Zeenath Mehtaab of the Social Reform Committee, New Delhi, pointed out that the incidence of female foeticide, female infanticide, dowry and ostentatious marriages is the least among the Muslims.



For "the people talking about gender equality and gender justice", President of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Atiya Siddiqui had a few posers.



"Why 50 per cent representation for women is not there in the legislative bodies in India? What is the percentage of women in judiciary, defence forces, IITs and other top institutions," she said.



"We hope that good sense will prevail on the present-day government and the Prime Minister would be magnanimous in withdrawing the affidavit filed before the Supreme Court for interference in the Shariah laws," Zehra said.



A number of other women activists from various states were also present at the conference.


Mumbai: If superstar Aamir Khan will throw a party on Diwali, actor Sanjay Dutt, who was released from Yerawada Central Jail earlier this year, will perform Laxmi Puja and spend time with his family during the festive time.



Some of Bollywood celebrities' Diwali plans are out. Their representative has shared in a statement how they will celebrate the festival of lights:



Aamir will host a private party at his Bandra residence which will have his family and friends in attendance.



Actor Hrithik Roshan will take time off to celebrate the festival with sons Hrehaan and Hredaan.



Actress Deepika Padukone will visit her hometown Bengaluru. Taking a break from her promotional schedule for her upcoming Hollywood release "xXx : Return of Xander Cage", Deepika will visit her parents and sister before filming "Padmavati".



Sanjay will perform Laxmi Puja and spend time with his family. He will also attend megastar Amitabh Bachchan's Diwali party.



Actor-filmmaker Farhan Akhtar will celebrate the festival with his Rock On 2 team.



Actors Tiger Shroff and Shraddha Kapoor will celebrate it with their families and friends.



Actress Kriti Sanon, currently in Lucknow shooting for her upcoming film Bareilly ki Barfi, is planning to travel to Delhi to be with friends and family.



Actress Yami Gautam will also be heading to her hometown Chandigarh to celebrate the festival with her parents and sisters.



Actress Radhika Apte will fly to London to be with her husband and celebrate the festival of lights.



Actor Rajkummar Rao will have a working Diwali as he will be busy on the sets of Bareilly ki Barfi.


Bhopal: Hindu groups held demonstrations against Ae Dil Hai Mushkil in many cities of Madhya Pradesh, Bengal on Friday. However, theatres continued to show the movie which released on the occasion of 'Dhanteras'.



Hindu groups are opposing the film as it features a Pakistani actor Fawad Khan in one important role.



Hindu right-wing groups led by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) had given a call for banning Pakistani artistes working in Bollywood following a terrorist attack on an army camp in Uri sector of Jammu and Kahsmir in September.



Since the Karan Johar directorial features Fawad Khan, calls were made to ban "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" also. However, the movie was okayed for release by MNS after Karan Johar made an appeal to the people to not stall the release of the film and also agreed to donate Rs 5 crore to an army welfare fund.



The Shiv Sena workers held a demonstration outside a cineplex at Tatya Tope Nagar here. But their attempt to storm the theatre was foiled by police.



A Hindu group stopped the screening of the film in a multiplex for some time at Samdareeya Mall in Jabalpur.



Hindu groups held similar demonstrations in Gwalior also.
Actor-Producer Farhan Akhtar has lashed out on MNS who allegedly demanded a 5 crore donation for Army from the makers of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, for a safe release of the film.



Akhtar criticised MNS for demanding filmmakers to contribute Rs 5 crore to Army welfare fund as penance for casting Pakistani artistes in their films, and said that it has set a terrible precedent. During a press conference, the director turned actor made it clear that he does not support such extortion and the government should protect the makers if the film has been made lawfully.







Akhtar is the producer of SRK starrer Raees which marks the debut of Pakistani actress Mahira Khan. Akhtar said, "There is no question of paying any money as the Army has itself denied any money which seems extorted from the producers."



Raees will release in January 2017 and Akhtar believes that the government will provide proper security if or when any unlawful, violent protests against the film occur.
Chandigarh: Ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) patron Parkash Singh Badal on Saturday asked the partymen to contest the forthcoming assembly elections on the development plank.



He asked the party rank and file not to get distracted by opposition parties who were "hell bent upon making false promises with the sole purpose of deceiving the people".



Chief Minister pressed for a positive campaign in 2017 polls, focusing on the work done by the SAD-BJP government during the last about ten years.



Addressing senior leaders including MPs, ministers, legislators, district presidents and other key functionaries, Badal said never had so much been achieved in such a short span of time.



Akali patriarch said the SAD-BJP government had delivered in every aspect of governance.



He made a special mention of the heritage works including the heritage street, partition museum and interpretation centre, saying they had put Amritsar on the world map.



SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal urged the leadership to expose the "false" promises being made by the Congress as well the same manner in which former party leader Giani Zail Singh had promised to give 5 acres of land each to the poor.



"The people did not get even one inch of land", he said and in stark contrast, the SAD-BJP government was focussing on houses for the houseless by allocating five marlas of land for this purpose.



He said debt tribunals were being established in all districts to ensure "all loans" taken by farmers were settled at the earliest.



He said steps were also being taken to ensure farmers did not have to pay any interest on cooperative loans.



Sukhbir said AAP on the other hand was party of "fly by night operators" who were outsiders who did not know anything about Punjab and its people.



"Moreover, AAP's own track record in Delhi where they have failed to implement any of their poll promises speaks for itself", he added.



Earlier,at the start of the meeting the entire leadership observed a two minute silence to mourn the passing away of Charanjit Singh, son of cabinet minister Sikander Singh Maluka.



The meeting was attended by the entire senior SAD leadership including MPs Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Ranjit Singh Brahampura and Balwinder Singh Bhundur, Cabinet Ministers Ajit Singh Kohar, Tota Singh, senior leaders and district presidents.


Lahore: Five Al Qaeda terrorists planning to carry out an attack in Gujranwala city were killed on Saturday by Pakistan police during a raid at a house in Punjab province.



"The militants were hiding in a house in Wapda town. When a CTD team along with police surrounded the house and asked the inmates to surrender," the Counter Terror Department (CTD) said in a statement.



"But the militants opened fire at police. The police team returned the fire. During the shootout five terrorists were killed and three others managed to escape taking advantage of darkness," the CTD said in a statement.



According to CTD, it received intelligence reports that eight militants belonging to Al-Qaeda were planning to carry out an attack in Gujranwala city, some 80km from Lahore, yesterday.



The CTD recovered one Kalashnikov, two pistols, two hand grenades and explosive material from the hideout.


Al Qayyarah (Iraq): Iraqi paramilitary forces launched an operation on Saturday to retake Tal Afar from the Islamic State group, opening a new front in the nearly two-week-old offensive to recapture jihadist-held Mosul.



Forces from the Hashed al-Shaabi, a paramilitary umbrella organisation dominated by Iran-backed Shiite militias, have largely been on the sidelines since the launch of the Mosul operation.



And the western approach to Mosul, a route on which Tal Afar is located, is the only one where ground forces, which have advanced on the city from the north, east and south, are not yet deployed.



"The operation aims to cut supplies between Mosul and Raqa and tighten the siege of (IS) in Mosul and liberate Tal Afar," Hashed spokesman Ahmed al-Assadi told AFP, referring to IS's main strongholds in Iraq and Syria.



Assadi said the operation was launched from the Sin al-Dhaban area south of Mosul and aimed to retake the towns of Hatra and Tal Abta as well as Tal Afar.



The drive toward Tal Afar could bring the fighting perilously close to the ancient city of Hatra, a UNESCO world heritage site that has already been vandalised by IS.



Though it was not mentioned by name, the operation may also pass near the ruins of Nimrud, another archaeological site that has previously been attacked by IS.



The involvement of Shiite militias in the Mosul operation has been a source of contention, although some of the Hashed's top commanders insist they do not plan to enter the largely Sunni city.



Iraqi Kurds and Sunni Arab politicians have opposed their involvement, as has Turkey, which has a military presence east of Mosul despite repeated demands by Baghdad for the forces to be withdrawn.



Relations between the Hashed and the US-led coalition fighting IS are also tense, but the paramilitaries enjoy widespread support among members of Iraq's Shiite majority.



Tal Afar was a Shiite-majority town of mostly ethnic Turkmens before the Sunni extremists of IS overran it in 2014, and its recapture is a main goal of Shiite militia forces.



As the Hashed push on Tal Afar got under way, Iraq's federal police were assaulting Al-Shura, an area south of Mosul with a long history as a militant bastion that has been the target of fighting for more than a week.



"Federal units are assaulting the Al-Shura (area) from four axes and the enemy is collapsing and leaving his defensive positions," federal police commander Lieutenant General Raed Shakir Jawdat said in a statement.



The offensive operations came despite an assertion from the US-led coalition yesterday that Iraqi forces were temporarily halting their advance on Mosul for a period expected to last "a couple days."
Lahore: The Pakistan government on Saturday sacked Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid over the recent "leaked" media report about a rift between the civilian and military leaderships on support to militancy.



The Prime Minister's spokesman Musadiq Malik confirmed that "initial evidence" was against Rashid in the leak of sensitive information of a high profile national security meeting.



"Investigation into controversial story is in the final stage and it will be shared with media in a couple of days. Who was responsible for the leakage of sensitive information to the Dawn reporter will be known soon," Malik said adding "investigation is still underway".



Rashid is a close aide of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and reports suggest that the anti-army information could not have been leaked to the media without his consent.



PTI leader Imran Khan welcomed the ouster of Rashid saying a "darbari" (courtier) of Sharif had gone and others would go soon as well.



In another development, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif left for Dubai along with his family at a time when Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has said it will lock down Islamabad on November 2 to protest against Sharif over corruption allegations.



A rift between the civilian and military leaderships on the powerful ISI's covert support to terror groups in the country was the subject of a news report in The Dawn newspaper.



The widely read daily stood by the story issued on October 6, saying it was "verified, cross-checked and fact-checked".



A travel ban on Cyril Almeida, the journalist who wrote the story, had sparked massive criticism of the government and the military from media houses, journalist associations and civil society.



Almeida's name was put on the Exit Control List but the ban was later lifted after the backlash against the government.



Later the government constituted a committee to investigate the matter.
Washington: US President Barack Obama will launch a campaign blitz for Democrat Hillary Clinton next week as the race against Republican Donald Trump for the White House enters the final stretch.



The Clinton camp announced on Saturday that Obama will make the case for his former secretary of state for three straight days in as many key battleground states.



Obama's appearances could be crucial after the Federal Bureau of Investigation said it was reviewing newly discovered emails that "appear to be pertinent" to the investigation into Clinton's use of private email while at the State Department.



On Tuesday, Obama will stump for her in Columbus, Ohio.



The president will campaign in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Wednesday, followed by swings in southern Florida, including the Jacksonville area, on Thursday.



The three states account for 62 of the electoral college votes needed to reach the 270-vote minimum to win the White House in the November 8 election.



Obama won the states in 2008 and 2012, except in the case of North Carolina, which he won the first time but lost in his re-election bid.



The Clinton team has intensely targeted voter campaigns in those states, where a defeat of Trump would virtually ensure his loss in the election.



Clinton is also scheduled to campaign in Ohio, North Carolina and Florida next week, but has added an unusual stop to her calendar Arizona, a Republican Party stronghold where she is leading in several public opinion polls.



"Arizona is another battleground state that is now on the map," campaign manager Robby Mook told reporters aboard her plane as the candidate flew into Iowa, another swing state that had been leaning toward Trump but where the polls have tightened into nearly a dead heat.



The southwestern state of Arizona, home to the 2008 Republican nominee John McCain, is "a contest that I think we can win and that's why we want to spend some time there," Mook said.



"But it's a toss-up, and so are Ohio, Iowa."
Venezuela's fast-escalating political crisis and Colombia's stuttering peace process dominated discussions at the Ibero-American Summit on Saturday, despite an official agenda about youth, entrepreneurship and education.

Amid a swing to the political right around the region, Peru President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski led calls for heads of state not to ignore Venezuela's troubles.

Venezuela's socialist government is facing an escalation of opposition protests after electoral authorities suspended a referendum on President Nicolas Maduro's rule that could have led to his departure from office.

"The neighboring country is suffering a tremendous economic crisis and also a crisis of political rights and also I would say human rights," Kuczynski, a former investment banker, told the leaders in the Colombian coastal city of Cartagena.

"There's no eagerness to interfere in what happens in other countries," he said. "But there is eagerness to insure all Latin Americans progress and not regress."

Maduro's popularity has plummeted during a deep economic crisis. Maduro was not in attendance at the summit.

Heads of state and officials from around Latin America, as well as Portugal and Spain, were set to release a statement later on Saturday.

Argentina's foreign minister, Susana Malcorra, applauded a recent announcement that the Vatican will mediate talks between the Venezuelan opposition and the government. Venezuela's strife "occupies us and worries us," she said.

Venezuela, despite having the world's largest oil reserves, is mired in a prolonged recession, with many people skipping meals due to food shortages and soaring prices.

Critics say Maduro, 53, has kept a grip on power by side-lining the legislature, arresting opponents and squashing the referendum. He says foes are seeking to topple him illegally.

Colombia, meanwhile, is scrambling to save a hard-won peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

The deal, hammered out over almost four years of difficult negotiations, was narrowly rejected in a plebiscite vote this month. The regional leaders met at the same conference center where the deal was signed in September.

President Juan Manuel Santos has met with the opposition to hear their concerns, and government negotiators are modifying the accord with FARC leadership in Cuba.

"Peace for Colombia will be a reality," Santos said in opening remarks at the conference. "We will not betray the hopes of Colombians or the international community."

Leaders at the summit have repeatedly expressed support for the peace process. The 52-year war has killed nearly a quarter of a million people.

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New York: Wall Street stocks took a sudden turn lower on Friday on news that the FBI had reopened a probe into Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's emails.



US stocks had been comfortably in positive territory prior to news that Federal Bureau of Investigation head James Comey informed lawmakers that he was restarting the probe.



Comey in June sharply criticised Clinton's handling of classified information as Secretary of State on a private email server, but did not recommend charges be brought against her.



Near 17.30 GMT, the S&P 500 was down 0.3 per cent at 2,127.70 after hitting a session high of 2,140.72 shortly before the news broke.










Aden: Yemen's president on Saturday rejected a UN peace proposal for his war-battered country, as rebels said air strikes by his Saudi-led coalition allies killed 17 civilians.



Forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government have been locked since 2014 in deadly battles with Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels who overran Sanaa late that year.



The conflict escalated in March 2015 when Saudi Arabia launched a military campaign to push back the rebels.



The war has left nearly 7,000 people dead, mostly civilians, according to the United Nations which had been struggling to convince the warring parties to implement a ceasefire and revive a stalled political process.



The latest peace proposal submitted by UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed was rejected by Hadi who even refused to receive it as he met the mediator in Riyadh.



The contents of the roadmap which the envoy already presented to the rebels on Tuesday have not been made public.



But informed sources say it calls for agreement on naming a new vice president after the rebels withdraw from Sanaa and other cities and hand over heavy weapons to a third party.



Hadi would then transfer power to the vice president who would appoint a new prime minister to form a government in which the north and south of Yemen would have equal representation.



A statement on the government's sabanew.net quoted Hadi as saying the roadmap "only opens a door towards more suffering and war and is not a map for peace".



It cited Hadi as saying the plan "rewards the putschists while punishing the Yemeni people and legitimacy".



It was unclear how Hadi's Arab backers would react to his refusal, especially after a key coalition member, the United Arab Emirates, hailed the proposal on Thursday as a "political solution for the Yemeni crisis".



In August, US Secretary of State John Kerry outlined a similar plan which offered the Houthi rebels participation in government in exchange for an end to violence and a surrender of weapons to a third party.



Gulf states, most of which are members of the coalition, had "agreed unanimously" with that initiative, Kerry said at the time from the Saudi city of Jeddah.



But Saudi Arabia has not commented on the UN envoy's latest proposal and the rebels have yet to respond.



Warring parties in Yemen are under mounting international pressure to end the conflict that has left the already-impoverished country grappling with increasing cases of malnutrition and a spread of disease.
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(Hong Kong, Beijing)  China UnionPay has forbidden the use of its bankcards for the purchase of life insurance policies offered by Hong Kong firms, closing a loophole that had been used by mainlanders to transfer money overseas as the yuan continues to depreciate.

The government-backed bankcard association firm announced Oct. 29 that all bankcards using its service cannot be used to buy Hong Kong insurance products, whether online or offshore. The embargo targets mainly life insurance, which accounts for the lions share of all insurance sales to mainlanders. Exceptions are made for policies closely related to travel, such as accident and injury insurance policies, which UnionPay considers to be current account transactions.

The restrictions are part of new guidelines the firm released recently to Hong Kong insurers to prevent the abuse of bankcards for investment purposes, in light of a surge in the number of transactions using the same card at some insurance companies, according to the announcement.

Sales of Hong Kong insurance products to mainland customers have increased as they allow people to convert yuan funds into stronger dollars. Their combined value reached HK$ 30.1 billion in the first six months of the year, about twice as much as that for the same period last year, according to data from the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance in Hong Kong. That was more than a third of all new sales by Hong Kong insurers to individuals in the first half of this year.

UnionPays announcement also reaffirmed a $5,000 limit on single overseas payments using a bankcard, which the firm has maintained in accordance with Chinas broad regulatory restrictions on cross-border capital flows.

However, there is no restriction on how many times a bankcard can be used in a given period of time at any individual firm. By swiping the card repeatedly, a buyer could make payments far greater than the regulatory limit.

News about UnionPay closing the loophole by banning the use of bankcards altogether surfaced the day before the firm made the announcement. It drove a mini-boom in sales at some Hong Kong insurance firms, according to their employees.

Buyers from nearby regions such as Shenzhen lined up to buy life insurance using UnionPay cards that evening, for fear they might not be able to do so the next day, the employees said.

Several insurers, including Prudential, AIA, and the Hong Kong branch of the mainlands leading insurance company China Life, had stopped accepting UnionPay card payments on Oct. 29, sources from those companies told Caixin.

You definitely cant use UnionPay cards to buy new insurance now, one of the sources said. But its unclear whether you can keep using UnionPay cards to pay for policies that had already been bought.

Sales of insurance policies against accident and injury are unlikely to be affected much because the payments they require are small and can be covered with cash, the source said.

The new restriction has not yet affected Visa and MasterCard bankcards issued by mainland banks, a source from Prudential told Caixin. There is no guarantee they wont be affected in the future, he said, because both organizations rely on UnionPays network in China to clear yuan payments.

Contact reporter Wang Yuqian (yuqianwang@caixin.com), Calum Gordon (calum@caixin.com)
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(Newser)  There's a kind of pasta in the world that is so hard to find and so difficult to make that you're going to have to travel to the tiny hamlet of Nuoro on the Italian island of Sardinia to get a taste. That's because su filindeu, which translates to "the threads of God" or "God's yarns," is only made by three living women, descendants of a long line of women who for 300 years have passed down the family recipe, reports the BBC. One of them, Paola Abraini, is 62 and wakes at 7am every day to make the pasta. The recipe isn't secret, it's hardso hard that no one else seems able to make it: Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver gave up after trying for two hours this summer; engineers from pasta giant Barilla couldn't get a machine to replicate it.

Su filindeu consists of only three ingredients: durum wheat semolina, water, and salt. "Elasticity is fundamental," explains the Slow Food Foundation, and this is achieved by patting the dough with salted or plain water. "The exact moment when this should be done cannot be exactly defined, it is a sensation that only who is kneading can recognize," it explains. Sections of the dough are then stretched, using the fingers, eight times into angel-hair-like strands and layered on a flat basket called a fundu. The pasta is then sun-dried, and ultimately looks like "tree bark," explain the Pasta Grannies in a video. It's prepared only one way: cooked in mutton stock with pecorino cheese added. "I love it more each day," Abraini says of the pasta. (Read another feel-good story involving pasta.)
(Newser)  It was a photo shared 'round the world: a little boy, said to be from South Africa, drawing with utter concentration. People sharing it joked he was, for example, a grouchy driving instructor or perhaps a stern security guard. The story behind the image was unclearuntil now, reports the BBC. Jake, who was 4 at the time the photo was taken last year, lives in a small village in eastern Ghana. The photo came about because cameraman Carlos Cortes of Chicago had traveled to Ghana with Solomon Adufah, a self-taught artist who was returning to his homeland to teach art and creative studies to children. "I just caught Jake in the moment of his teaching," Cortes says, after much-needed basic supplies such as pencils had been handed out to the kids.

The image was one of hundreds Cortes took as part of an ongoing project to develop a documentary about Adufah, and a trailer is on Vimeo. Adufah shared the image of Jake on Instagram; it went viral and, as Eyewitness News reports, "broke the internet." Adufah worried Jake was becoming a meme when the image had actually captured a heartfelt moment of learning, but he realized all the likes could turn into money for basic school supplies, and his GoFundMe page raised a few thousand dollars in its first day. Neither Jake nor Cortes was aware of the boy's fame until this week. Adufah plans to return to his homeland to provide more resources. "This money could make a huge difference to the kids," he says. (This boy's plea to adopt a Syrian boy has gone viral.)
(Newser)  Travel website TripAdvisor announced Friday that it can now help you book a flight to Cuba, find a place to stay there, and see the attractions it has to offer. The AP reports TripAdvisor is among a few companies to receive licenses from the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control to facilitate travel bookings to Cuba for travelers from the US and outside the US. TripAdvisor said its bookings will include flights, hotels, short-term home rentals, and visits to cultural attractions. "TripAdvisor looks forward to helping travelers all over the world discover Cuba's vibrant history, people, and culture," TripAdvisor president Stephen Kaufer said in a statement. One goal is to build better relations between the Caribbean island nation and the US and their people, Kaufer said. (Read more Cuba stories.)
(Newser)  A rare voter fraud suspect has been arrested in Iowa, though Donald Trump is unlikely to accuse her of trying to rig the election: Terri Lynn Rote, who was arrested Thursday on suspicion of voting twice, is a registered Republican, the Des Moines Register reports. Police say the 55-year-old cast two early voting ballots in Polk County, which includes Des Moines. Two other people suspected of voting twice were reported to authorities, but have yet to be arrested. County auditor Jamie Fitzgerald says these are the first cases of alleged voter fraud that he can remember in 12 years.

"I think it shows that our voting system works in Iowa, that we're able to catch it," Fitzgerald tells the Register, adding that although tensions are running high before the election, there is still a chance that the double votes could have been mistakes. The Blaze reports that Rote was an early Trump supporter who told a reporter in early February that she was planning to caucus for him in Des Moines. Early voting began in Iowa on Sept. 29. (Rudy Giuliani says "dead people generally vote for Democrats.")
(Newser)  The United Nations General Assembly voted Russia off the UN Human Rights Council on Friday, a stunning rebuke to the country which is increasingly being accused of war crimes over its actions in Syria. The 193-member General Assembly elected 14 members to the 47-nation council, the UN's main body charged with promoting and protecting human rights. Russia, which received 112 votes, lost its regional seat to Hungary, with 144 votes, and Croatia with 114 votes. Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin played down the importance of the loss, saying Croatia and Hungary were too small to be "exposed to the winds of international diplomacy," the AP reports.

The US, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, China, Brazil, Rwanda, Hungary, Cuba, South Africa, Japan, Tunisia, and the UK. also won seats on the council. Guatemala was the only country running for a seat beside Russia to not be elected. Human rights groups had called for countries to reject the candidacies of Russia and Saudi Arabia, which has been accused of indiscriminate attacks against civilians in Yemen. Saudi Arabia's election, however, was a foregone conclusion since it was running unopposed for its regional seat. "Next year, UN member states should make sure that all regional groups have real competition so no one is guaranteed victory," a Human Rights Watch spokesman said. (Read more Russia stories.)
(Newser)  If a patent secured by Boeing this week is any indication, the company is eyeing a major change in the way travelers fly. The Seattle Times reports the patent details a passenger plane that takes off and lands vertically like a helicopter via tilting rotors. The rotorshorizontal for takeoff and landingrotate to become propellers during flight. Boeing was one of two developers behind the military's similar V-22 Osprey, which went into service in 2007. However, the Osprey can only carry up to 24 soldiers. And a prototype for a commercial plane that takes off and lands vertically from Bellthe other developer of the Ospreycan only carry nine passengers, according to Business Insider. Boeing's patent calls for a plane that carries 100 passengers.

There are other major differences between the Osprey and the plane shown in Boeing's patent. Boeing's plane would have four engines housed in its wings instead of two engines housed in the tilt-rotors themselves. This means less structural reinforcement is necessary. The wings are also positioned lower than the Osprey's, closer to a traditional commercial plane's, in order to make maintenance and fueling easier. A passenger plane that takes off and lands like a helicopter could allow for more regional commercial flights to leave from small airfields, New Atlas reports. But it's unclear if Boeing actually plans to build the new plane. "Boeing files tons of patents, so this might not even come to fruition," a Boeing spokesperson tells Business Insider. "I'm not saying it won't." (The design could have saved Mike Pence a scare last week.)
By 2025, the United States planned to create robots more than human to be part of the Armed Forces. This was the report by John Basset to the British Spy Agency.

China and Russia, according to Express is the competitors of the US and they plan to be ahead from those countries. With what is happening today, US will be mooted with such plan as they have the capacity to afford the technology.

The use of robots in the US Armed Forces has been clearly surfacing and evolving. The US Navy and Air Force for example are using drones used to spy and Autonomous ships among others.

In 2014, the head of the US Army Training and Doctrine General Robert Conse said that there are things in the operation that can and should only be performed by robots. Further, he said that with lesser people would mean lesser cost of casualties in combat.

By the end of next year, the United States Armed Forces have been planning of cutting down enlistment around 50,000 soldiers. The British Mirror described that this can be an army of robot from killer drones to cyborg soldiers.

In today's time, robots have only played a minor role in warfare. Basically, the very main functions of such in Afghanistan and Pakistan are for disarming bombs and carrying explosives to a specific target.

The advance Humanoid Robots has been closely developed by US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). For the time being, they have the model "Atlas", a two legged robot mainly use for disaster relief.

BBC on the other hand describes this as "The Soldiers that will never sleep". In the years that have passed, the development of this technology was made public. The possibility of robotic warfare may soon be the next frontier in the modern wars. The time is yet to come.
For years, the spread of HIV/Aids virus was linked to a homosexual flight attendant, Gaetan Dugas, or known as Patient Zero. After decades of bearing the label, he is finally cleared of being the person to spread HIV/Aids virus to the United States.

According to BBC, a study that was published in the journal Nature, presented that he was just one of thousands of people infected with the virus in the 1970s. It was also stated in the report that New York was the central hub for the spread of the virus. Aids was only recognised in 1981, when research confirmed that there were unusual symptoms appearing specifically in gay men. Researchers looked further back by analysing stored blood samples with HIV in 1970s.

According to CNN, University of Arizona has a team that developed a method to recreate the genetic code of the virus in those patients. They screened about 2,000 samples from New York and San Francisco and got eight complete HIV genetic codes which gave scientists the necessary information to make a family tree for HIV and trace when it got into the US.

"The samples contain so much genetic diversity that they could not have originated in the late 1970s, one of the researchers, Dr. Michael Worobey, said. He added that "We can place the most precise dates on the origins of the US epidemic at about 1970 or 1971."

Researchers also examined the blood from Dugas. The results confirmed that the virus in his blood was not "father. In short, he is not responsible for the US epidemic.

A science historian at the University of Cambridge, Dr Richard McKay said that "Gaetan Dugas is one of the most demonised patients in history and one of a long line of individuals and groups vilified in the belief that they somehow fuelled epidemics with malicious intent."

Scientists say that HIV might have been transmitted to humans after a chimpanzee infected a person in the early 20th century. The latest general consensus among scientists is that HIV somehow crossed the Atlantic, rapidly spreading through the Caribbean before it ever arrived in the United States, most probably from Haiti.

The research team expects and hopes that this breakthrough and its findings would create better comprehension of how HIV spread, that a single person should not be blamed for any outbreak.

Dugas died in 1984, identified and labelled as Patient Zero.
"Xiaomi Mi Mix" has been surprisingly launched by the manufacturer during its event to launch "Mi Note 2". The phablet has got rave reviews and considered it as an original work and it could be fighting with premium smartphones of major companies. Xiaomi Mi Mix initially got released in China and expected to release in North America soon, as the company executives hinted the same.

The 6.4-inch Xiaomi Mi Mix is designed with the help of French designer Philippe Starck and it has a bezel-less screen, which means that the screen covers almost the entire phone. The phone comes in two variants, the base model is of 4 GB RAM and 128 GB internal memory and the premium model is of 6 GB RAM and 256 GB internal memory and the later has 18-carat gold embossing. The prices of the devices are $510 and $590 respectively in local currency, reports CNET.

It uses a new technology called "piezoelectric ceramic actuator" instead of speakers to deliver the calls due to the bezel-less screen. Xiaomi Mi Mix has palm rejection system on its screen to avoid accidental touches while holding it. The back camera of the phone is 16 megapixel and there is a fingerprint scanner also spotted. The phone with black ceramic body looks stunning and would attract users with its built quality. The battery of Xiaomi Mi Mix is 4,400 mAh and the device has Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 enabled in it, cited by CNBC.

Every #MiMIX comes with an exquisite leather casing Also a 18K gold version that comes beef up with 6GB RAM and a whopping 256GB storage! pic.twitter.com/xFmx5BuuKC  Mi (@xiaomi) October 25, 2016

While comparing to Xiaomi Mi Mix Google Pixel XL screen size is 5.5-inch and users may find it comfortable in holding it. But people who wish the larger screen would choose the former. The display of Xiaomi Mi Mix is PS LCD capacitive touchscreen with 2K resolution and 362ppi pixel density, whereas Pixel XL has HD AMOLED screen with 534ppi, reported by The Guardian.

Also, the operating system of Xiaomi Mi Mix is Android Marshmallow, but for Pixel XL it is the latest Android 7.1 Nougat. Pixel XL has 12.3 MP rear camera and has 4 GB RAM; it also comes with either 32 or 128 GB storage. It also features a front camera of 8 MP, whereas Mi Mix has 5 MP front camera.

When it comes to the misses, Xiaomi Mi Mix could have better front camera considering the selfie fans. Though it claims 4K resolution it is delivering only 2K in reality, while Pixel XL claimed to have the option to shoot 4K videos. Both the phones are not water proof; also Pixel XL doesn't display too much hardware innovation.

The verdict of the phones should be according to perception. People who wanted a premium phablet at an economical rate and best in class hardware can go for Xiaomi Mi Mix. People who would like to choose the real Android platform and Android Nougat experience with Google's own brand can go for Pixel XL.
Fairbanks, AK (99707)

Today

Considerable clouds early. Some decrease in clouds later in the day. High 8F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies in the evening, then becoming cloudy overnight. Low around 0F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.
Washington:

The FBI on Friday said it has reopened investigations into Hillary Clintons use of private email server when she was secretary of state due to likelihood of new information coming to light, immediately drawing praise from the White House frontrunners Republican rival Donald Trump.

FBI Director James Comey, in a communication to the Congressional leadership, said the FBI has learned of new emails that appear to be pertinent to their investigation.

In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to this investigation, Comey wrote in the letter.

I am writing to inform you that the investigative team briefed me on this yesterday, and I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation, Comey said.

The FBIs decision to reopen the investigation was welcomed by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump as a big day soon after the announcement.

The controversial billionaire from New York departed from his prepared speech as he landed for his rally in Manchester in New Hampshire. I have a breaking news for you, he told his cheering supporters, who waited for him for hours today.

FBI has just sent a letter to the Congress that they have found new emails pertaining to the former Secretary of State Hillary Clintons email investigation. And they are reopening the case into her illegal and criminal conduct that threatened the national security of the United States, he said.

I have great respect for the fact that the FBI and the Department of Justice are now willing to have the courage to right the horrible mistake that they made, Trump said and hoped that perhaps finally justice would be done.

This is a big day, he said alleging that the email scandal is bigger than Watergate.  Hillary Clintons corruption is on a scale that we have never seen before.

Other Republican leaders also welcomed the decision. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte said the move shows Clinton and her team committed wrongdoing and jeopardised national security.

House of Representative Speaker Paul Ryan said Clinton has nobody but herself to blame. She was entrusted with some of our nations most important secrets, and she betrayed that trust by carelessly mishandling highly classified information, he said.

This decision, long overdue, is the result of her reckless use of a private email server, and her refusal to be forthcoming with federal investigators. I renew my call for the Director of National Intelligence to suspend all classified briefings for Secretary Clinton until this matter is fully resolved, Ryan said.

Trumps campaign manager Kellyanne Conway called this a great news. A great day in our campaign just got even better. FBI reviewing new emails in Clinton probe, she tweeted.

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UN member states have voted overwhelmingly on a measure that could lead to a ban on nuclear weapons.

On Thursday, the UN Disarmament and International Security Committee voted to approve a resolution that calls for negotiations on a new treaty outlawing nuclear weapons, despite opposition from nuclear-armed nations.

"This treaty won't eliminate nuclear weapons overnight. But it will establish a powerful, new international legal standard, stigmatizing nuclear weapons and compelling nations to take urgent action on disarmament," Beatriz Fihn, executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, said.

Fihn said the vote was a "historic moment" even though convincing countries to eliminate their nuclear weapons will be very difficult.

The non-binding resolution, presented by Austria, Brazil, Ireland, Nigeria, Mexico and South Africa was approved by a vote of 123 to 38, with 16 abstentions. Nuclear powers had lobbied for "no" votes.
Srinagar:

In a 'barbaric' incident, terrorists, aided by the cover fire by Pakistani Army, Friday night crossed the Line of Control and killed an Indian army jawan and mutilated his body in Macchil sector of Kupwara district of Kashmir.

One attacker was killed in the incident which the Indian army said will be responded to appropriately.

In an encounter close to the Line of Control this evening, one solider was martyred and one terrorist was killed. The terrorists mutilated the body of the jawan before fleeing back into Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir under the cover of firing by Pakistan Army, an army spokesman said.

ALSO READ: (Ceasefire violations by Pakistan: BSF soldier martyred in J-K's RS Pura sector)

He said the incident reflected the barbarism pervading in official and unofficial organisations in Pakistan. The incident will be responded to appropriately, he Added.

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Mumbai:

After he seemed to have thrown his weight behind Navi Mumbai civic chief Tukaram Mundhe, against whom a no confidence motion was passed by corporators, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis Saturday refused to meet an all-party delegation seeking removal of the IAS officer from his post.

Earlier in the day, Mayor of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation Sudhakar Sonawane led a team comprising members of Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP to meet Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray at the latters residence here.

After meeting Thackeray, the delegation went to meet Fadnavis at his residence Varsha here, but he refused to meet them and asked them to get an appointment first, a BJP source said.

In the no trust motion passed in the NCP-ruled civic body earlier this week, six members of BJP voted against the resolution which was supported by the NCP, Congress and Sena. Sonawane, who has demanded immediate removal of Mundhe, requested Thackeray to speak to Fadnavis in this regard.

Thackeray reportedly assured the delegation that he would put a word with Fadnavis. The Sena chief told reporters that Fadnavis sould respect the decision taken by the NMMC corporators against Mundhe.

If the CM does not want to respect majority and the decision taken through a democratic way, then he should change rules and withdraw the right of passing of a no-confidence motion from corporators and act according to his own will, Thackeray said.

He said the CM should think about the reasons behind the corporators closing the ranks to bring the no-trust motion against Mundhe.

People of Navi Mumbai were harassed by the Commissioner and hence he was sacked. It was not because they (corporators) have majority in their hand and that they used it for their personal interests, Thackeray said.

Mundhe, popular for his drive against illegal constructions in Navi Mumbai, was accused of autocratic style of functioning and disrespecting corporators by the Mayor.

The CM has to follow the rules. He will implement the resolution. Otherwise, I will have no option than to resign from my post, Sonawane said.

The fate of the motion rests with Fadnavis who heads the Urban Development Department.

The chief minister had yesterday termed Mundhe as very efficient officer and said the state government cannot allow such resolutions to be implemented. Targeting an officer for doing his duty, exposing irregularities and preventing wrong happenings is absolutely wrong, Fadnavis had told PTI.

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New Delhi:

A BSF jawan was on Saturday killed in ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops in Macchil sector along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.



28-year-old Constable Koli Nitin Subhash, hailing from Sangli in Maharashtra, was martyred on Saturday morning in firing by Pakistani security forces, a BSF official said.



Subhash had joined BSF in 2008 and is survived by his wife and two sons aged four years and two years.



The fresh casualty came hours after terrorists, aided by the cover fire by Pakistani Army, last night crossed the Line of Control in the sector.

They killed an Indian army jawan and mutilated his body prompting the Indian army to warn that "the incident will be responded to appropriately".

ALSO READ: (Watch: Terrorists aided by Pak Army kill Indian army jawan, mutilate body in Kupwara of Kashmir)

Four army and three BSF personnel have died in the latest escalation along the boundary with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir.

Pakistan Rangers also violate ceasefire in RS Pura and Kathua sectors along International Border today.

In last night's attack, one attacker was killed in the incident.

"In an encounter close to the Line of Control this evening, one solider was martyred and one terrorist was killed. The terrorists mutilated the body of the jawan before fleeing back into Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir under the cover of firing by Pakistan Army," an army spokesman said.

He said the incident reflected the barbarism pervading in official and unofficial organisations in Pakistan.

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New Delhi:

Rocky Yadav, the son of Bihar MLC Manorama Devi, today surrendered before Gaya district court on Saturday. He is accused of shooting and killing Aditya Sachdeva, a Class XII student who was driving his Maruti car, for overtaking his SUV on May 7 this year near Gaya.Rocky Yadav sent to 14 days judicial custody.

Read: Bihar road rage: Supreme Court stays bail, Rocky Yadav to go back to jail

Police had filed a charge sheet in a Gaya court against Rocky and another accused in connection with the murder. They had also filed charge sheet against Rockys cousin Teni Yadav, his father Bindi Yadav and his MLC mothers bodyguard, Rajesh Kumar, in the murder case.

The state government had put the case on speedy trial and investigation was completed in three weeks and charge sheet filed within a month of the incident.

Read: Aditya Sachdeva murder: Timeline of the case

Rocky is facing two cases - one of murder of Aditya and another under Excise Act for recovery of liquor bottles from the house of his mother. He was arrested from his fathers mixer plant in Gaya on May 10.

His name was included along with his father Bindi Yadav in the case of recovery of liquor bottles which were found when police raided his mothers house looking for Rocky.

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Hyderabad:

Growing awareness on detrimental impact of firecrackers on environment and the call to cast-off Chinese brands seem to have affected the sale of crackers in Hyderabad, with the overall sales falling by up to 50 per cent compared to last two years.

According to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Fire Crackers Association president Sanjay Bhope, the wholesalers in entire Hyderabad and Secunderabad are not selling Chinese crackers.

He said crackers were being sourced from Sivakasi, the traditional fire cracker manufacturing hub in Tamil Nadu.

Bhope, owner of Shanti Fireworks, said Chinese crackers contain potassium and chloride which are not only harmful but are also dangerous to transport.

Apart from the call given on social media to boycott Chinese products across the country this year, there is an increase in awareness among the newer generation (on environment) which is staying away from bursting crackers.

In fact, customers in particular inquire if shopkeepers are selling Chinese crackers. All this has impacted sales of firecrackers this year and when compared to past two years there is a dip of around 50 per cent in sales of crackers in Hyderabad, Bhope said.

Some firecracker shops in the city have also put up banners/posters, saying Chinese fire-crackers are not sold at their outlets, he said, adding some persons, however, continue to sell Chinese crackers in view of huge profit margin.

V Vishwajeet, founder of online seller said the customers have opposed buying Chinese crackers and majority of them first inquire if we are selling the Chinese ones.

We do not encourage selling Chinese crackers though the margin is more. We source locally made crackers from the wholesalers, he said.

Vishwajeet said in view of pollution caused by bursting of crackers, they have taken up planting of saplings on the behalf of customers on every order placed with them.

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Srinagar:

In a tragic incident, unknown people set ablaze a school building in south Kashmir's Anantnag district on October 28, taking the number of such educational institutions destroyed in arson in the current unrest in the Valley to 20, police said.

Iqra Public School at Dooru Anantnag was set on fire by unknown persons, a police official said, adding the upper storey of the building was destroyed.

He said police and Fire and Emergency Services personnel rushed to the spot and doused the flames.The total number of educational institutions destroyed in arson since the unrest began in Kashmir in the aftermath of Hizbul Mujahideen militant commander Burhan Wani on July 8, has gone up to 20.

In another incident, unknown persons set on fire a parked vehicle belonging to a worker of the ruling PDP in Habbakadal area of the summer capital.

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New Delhi:

The Delhi Police on Saturday arrested one more person, Farhat, in connection with the expionage racket in which Pakistan High Commission staffer Mehmood Akhtar was allegedly involved. According to report, Farhat is a close aide of Uttar Pradesh's Samajwadi party leader Munawwar Saleem.



A video released on Saturday showed Pak High Commission staffer talking about Farhat, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, during his interrogation in espionage case. However, Munawwar Saleem denied having any information about Farhat's shadowy deeds.

"I was not aware of Farhat's activities. Farhat was hired 11 months ago after thorough check by the RS secretariate," Saleem said adding that people involved in anti-national activities should be dealt with strictly.



Earlier on Wednesday, a Pakistan High Commission official, identified as Mehmood Akhtar, was detained for his alleged involvement in an espionage racket involving sharing of sensitive defence documents and deployment details of BSF along the Indo-Pak border with Pakistani spy agency ISI.



Hours after India declared a Pakistan High Commission staffer Mehmood Akhtar as persona non-grata for espionage activities, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup revealed Akhtar was caught by Delhi Police with sensitive defence documents including deployment details of BSF along the Indo-Pak border.



Akhtar was asked to leave India within 48 hours.

We've arrested Farhat & have sent him for medical, will later send him for police remand, probe underway: Ravindra Yadav (Joint CP, Crime) pic.twitter.com/BVmENUFyzc  ANI (@ANI_news) October 29, 2016

Two people, identified as Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangir were also arrested for sharing sensitive information and defence documents and deployment details of BSF along the Indo-Pak border with Pakistani spy agency ISI.



Another Pak spy, Jodhpur-based passport and visa agent Shoaib was also detained near his home town Thursday evening for his allegedly involved in espionage racket.

Read More | Espionage racket: Pak High Commission staffer expelled, 3 'spies' held; here is how the last 48 hours unfolded

Here is the video of Akhtar's questioning





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Srinagar:

Curfew was lifted from Srinagar on Saturday leading to improvement in movement of people and transport in the city while restrictions on public assembly were in place throughout the Kashmir Valley.

Curfew has been lifted from the six police station areas of the city where the curbs were imposed on Friday, a police official said.

He said curfew was imposed to maintain law and order in the wake of the separatists' call for a march to Jamia Masjid in Nowhatta area of the city, but was lifted this morning following improvement in the situation.

The official said there were no curbs on the movement of people anywhere in Kashmir, but restrictions on the assembly of public under Section 144 CrPc were in place throughout the Valley.

The lifting of the curbs lead to improvement in the movement of people and transport in the city, he said, adding the number of private cars and auto-rickshaws plying in the city was significantly higher.

Vendors were back on the streets of the city in the TRC Chowk-Batamaloo axis, while many shops were open in the civil lines and the outskirts of Srinagar.

However, normal life continued to remain affected in the rest of the Valley for the 113th day due to the separatist-sponsored strike.

Security forces have been deployed in strength at vulnerable spots and along the main roads as a precautionary measure to maintain law and order as well as to instill a sense of security among the people to carry out their day to day activities without fear.

The separatists have been agitating since Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter with security forces on July 8.

As many as 85 people, including two police personnel, have been killed and thousands of others injured in the ongoing unrest in the Valley.

Around 5000 security forces personnel have also been injured in the clashes. Over 300 persons have been booked under Public Safety Act (PSA).

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New Delhi:

Ailing producer Ravi Shrivastava, whom Aksay Kumar had offered help, died at Seven Hill hospital, Mumbai on Saturday morning.

He had been ill since a long time since both his kidneys had failed.

After reports had appeared in the media, Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar had offered to bear the expenses of his treatment.

Also read: Akshay Kumar offers help to ailing producer who helped him getting a role in 'Saugandh'





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Delhi:

Samajwadi Party's Rajya Sabha MP Munawwar Saleem on Saturday denied on Saturday that he was aware of his personal assistant Farhat's involvment in espionage activities.

Farhat was arrested by the Delhi Police in connection with the spy racket in which Pakistan high commission staffer Mehmood Akhtar was allegedly involved.

"I was not aware of Farhat's activities. Farhat was hired 11 months ago after thorough check by the RS secretariate," Saleem said adding that people involved in anti-national activities should be dealt with strictly.

Read: Pak espionage racket: Samajwadi Party MP Munawwar Salim's close aide Farhat detained by Delhi Police

A video released on Saturday showed Akhtar talking about Farhat, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, during his interrogation in the case.

Hours after India declared a Pakistan High Commission staffer Mehmood Akhtar as persona non-grata for espionage activities, Ministry of

External affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup revealed Akhtar was caught by Delhi Police with sensitive defence documents includingdeployment details of BSF along the Indo-Pak border.

Akhtar was asked to leave India within 48 hours.

Read: Pak HC staffer Mehmood Akhtar asked to leave India within 48 hrs, MEA says he came on ISI deputation in 2013

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Patna:

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar announced on Saturday Rs 11 lakh ex-gratia to the next of kin of BSF head constable Jitendra Singh who was killed in Pak shelling at RS Pura sector in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday.

Expressing deep condolence at the martyrdom of the brave soldier from the state, Kumar said state honour was accorded to the martyred BSF man during his last rites today, he said.

aaaaaa aa BSF aaaa aaaaaaaaa aaaa aa aaaaa aa aaaa. aaa aaaa aaaaa aa aaaaa aaa aaaaa. a Nitish Kumar (@NitishKumar) October 28, 2016

The jawan, a native of Raxual in East Champaran district, was killed in shelling from Pakistan in violation of ceasefire.

The chief minister said in his condolence message that the country would always remember Singh's martyrdom and that the entire state was with his family in this hour of grief.

The last rites of the BSF personnel were performed at his native Siswa village along the Indo-Nepal border. After arrival of his casket, the residents of Raxauls marched on the streets recalling the bravery of the BSF jawan and shouting slogans against Pakistan.

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Dehradun:

The mortal remains of rifleman Sandeep Singh Rawat, who died while foiling an infiltration bid along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir's Tangdhar sector, were consigned to flames on Saturday with full state honours in Haridwar.

A host of dignitaries led by Chief Minister Harish Rawat paid tribute to the martyr as his body was flown in here this morning.

"I salute the martyrdom of a brave father's brave son. Not a day passes these days when a mother does not lose her son for the sake of the nation. All these sacrifices are meant for the nation," Rawat said after laying a wreath on Sandeep's body.

Sandeep's father Harendra Singh Rawat is also an ex-servicemen. Sandeep had joined the sixth Garhwal Rifles of the Army only in January last year.

The Chief Minister said the entire country and the state stood by the family of the martyr in this hour of grief.

"I feel it is time to wage a decisive war against terrorism and Pakistan," Rawat said.

Former chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, state BJP president Ajay Bhatt and the party's Mahanagar president Umesh Aggarwal also paid tribute to the martyr.

A huge crowd came out in the streets as the coffin wrapped in the national flag carrying Sandeep's body was being taken to his Navada residence in the city.

The mortal remains of the martyr were then taken to Haridwar for the last rites and consigned to flames after a guard of honour by the police at Kharkhari cremation ground.

Sandeep had sustained bullet injuries on Thursday while foiling an infiltration bid by terrorists near the LoC in Tangdhar.

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Karachi:

Five people including a woman were killed and six others injured when unknown assailants opened fire on Saturday at a Shia religious gathering here in Pakistan. The incident took place at the home of a Shia Muslim doctor in Karachis Nazimabad area where people had gathered for a religious meeting.



Four men wearing helmets and riding on motorcycles came to the house where the religious gathering was taking place in the month of Muharram and they opened indiscriminate firing on the people standing at the gate, a senior police official said.



Five dead bodies have been brought to the Abbasi Shaheed hospital including that off a woman, Dr Roohina said. She said six other injured people were also brought with bullet wounds and condition of two patients was critical.



SSP West, Nasir Aftab told the media that the residents of the house had not sought security for having the private Majlis. The police was not informed about this religious gathering and there was no security, he said.



Ironically, the house outside which the firing took place is located in a lane just behind the Nazimabad police station and is also close to a Rangers checkpoint.



IG Sindh, AD Khawaja said that the Majlis was taking place at the house of Dr Asad Kohati who was targeted first by the gunmen who came and opened fire and fled away. Shia Muslims are frequently targeted in sectarian violence in Karachi and Quetta, the capital cities of Sindh and Baluchistan provinces.



The attack took place despite the security agencies and law enforcement agencies being on high alert during the month of Muharram when Shia Muslims hold religious gathering throughout the month.

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Islamabad:

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday sacked his information minister Pervaiz Rashid over the recent "leaked" media report about a rift between the civilian and military leaderships on support to militancy.

The prime minister's spokesman Musadiq Malik confirmed that "initial evidence" was against Rashid in the leak of sensitive information of a high profile national security meeting.

"Investigation into controversial story is in the final stage and it will be shared with media in a couple of days. Who was responsible for the leakage of sensitive information to the Dawn reporter will be known soon," Malik said adding "investigation is still underway".

Rashid is a close aide of Sharif and reports suggest that the anti-army information could not have been leaked to the media without his consent.

PTI leader Imran Khan welcomed the ouster of Rashid saying a "darbari" (courtier) of Sharif had gone and others would go soon as well.

In another development, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif left for Dubai along with his family at a time when Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has said it will lock down Islamabad on November 2 to protest against Sharif over corruption allegations.

A rift between the civilian and military leaderships on the powerful ISI's covert support to terror groups in the country was the subject of a news report in The Dawn newspaper.

The widely read daily stood by the story issued on October 6, saying it was "verified, cross-checked and fact-checked".

A travel ban on Cyril Almeida, the journalist who wrote the story, had sparked massive criticism of the government and the military from media houses, journalist associations and civil society.

Almeida's name was put on the Exit Control List but the ban was later lifted after the backlash against the government.

Later the government constituted a committee to investigate the matter.

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Mumbai:

To celebrate the festival of lights, B-town stars plan to spend day with their closed one and some might even throw party for friends and family.

The Bachchans like every year will have their annual Diwali party at their Jalsa residence in Juhu, which will be attended by several Bollywood celebrities.

Superstar Shah Rukh Khan is in Budapest shooting for Imtiaz Alis The Ring but be might fly back to Mumbai to celebrate the festival with his friends and family.

Another Khan of Bollywood Salman, who recently wrapped up the Manali schedule of Tubelight, is expected to be in Mumbai to celebrate Diwali with his loved ones.

His Sultan co-star Anushka is quite excited about celebrating Diwali this time.

I didnt dress up last year. But this year, I am going to wear new clothes. Diwali is about spending time with family. My friends might come over. But I urge all Indians to have a noise free Diwali. Its a festival of lights. We dont have to burst crackers, Anushka told PTI.

For actress Vidya Balan, Diwali is all about brightness and hope.

To me personally I feel that people cleaning their houses symbolises letting go of what was, of baggage and making place for the new or change which is symbolised by the act of buying new clothes, she said.

Walking down memory lane, Vidya reveals, as a child she used to wake up early in the morning, take bathe, wear new clothes, go to temple and burst crackers.

Diwali time was all about meeting relatives, friends and neighbours I cherish those memories. Over the years, while everything else remains same, except waking up that early and bursting crackers. Also one doesnt get the opportunity to visit relatives on that day because you get stuck in traffic, she said on a lighter note.

Unwinding from her hectic promotional schedule for her upcoming Hollywood release, xXx : Return of Xander Cage, actress Deepika Padukone will be visiting her hometown Banglaore to bring in the festival with her parents and sister.

Diwali is the festival of lights, joy and happiness and has always been a very special festival for all of us. So I decided to spend quality time with my family before I immerse myself in Padmavati, she added.

Superstar Aamir Khan, who is receiving positive response to his recently released trailer of the much awaited film Dangal, plans to throw a Diwali bash for his family and close friends.

According to sources, Aamir will celebrate the festival of lights and the love coming in for the Dangal trailer both together.

The actor is to turn host for a private party at his Bandra residence, which will have his family and friends in attendance.

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Kozhikode:

Accusing the Centre of attempting to "impose" the contentious Uniform Civil Code, the Indian Union Muslim League on Saturday announced the party would spearhead a campaign against it.

Speaking at a meeting of the joint council of different Muslim organisations convened here by the IUML, party National Secretary E T Mohammed Basheer said the IUML would take the lead in mobilising public opinion against the Centre over its attempts to "impose" the UCC.

He also said that his party would work for bringing all secular groups under one platform.

"IUML will take the lead in mobilising public opinion against the Centre in its attempts to impose the UCC and also work for bringing all secular groups under one platform," Basheer said.

The IUML leaders who spoke at the meeting alleged that the Centre was trying to divert the attention from various issues affecting the people by highlighting "less important matters such as triple talaq".

The joint council suggested that there was no need for any amendment in the Shariat Law and opined that the Centre's move to implement the UCC was a trap and all the Muslim organisations were similar in their views against its implementation.

Talking to reporters later, Basheer and IUML Treasurer P K Kunhalikutty, MLA, said implementation of the code would undermine the secular fabric of the country.

The meeting took a decision to oppose the code and it would be conveyed to the National Law Commission, which had sent a questionnaire they said.

It was convened to discuss issues related to the BJP-led Central government's move to implement the Uniform Civil Code and to take a decision on how to respond to the questionnaire issued by the Law Commission.

IUML President E Ahmed, MP, National Secretary M P Abdul Samad Samadhani, State Secretary K P A Majeed, besides representatives of E K Sunni fraction, Jamaate Islami, Mujahid Madavoor fraction, Kerala Naduvathul Mujahideen attended the meeting.

Recently, All India Muslim Personal Law Board and various other Muslim organisations had announced that they will boycott Law Commission's process to take views on the UCC.

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New Delhi:

Samajwadi Partys Rajya Sabha MP Munawwar Saleems personal assistant Farhat has been associated with political leaders since 1986, Crime Branch Police sources have said. In 1986, he served as the Personal Secretary of an MP and since then he has been associated with four different MPs, sources said.



The sources further reveal that Farhat used to steal documents related to Parliament and sell it to the Pak ISI. He was paid between Rs 10,000 and Rs 1 lakh for the documents, said sources.



Pakistan High Commission staffer Mehmood Akhtar, expelled by India for spying, had named Farhat as one of his close associates in the crime following which he was arrested.Farhat was picked up from Saleems residence Friday night and detained. He was arrested on Saturday afternoon after prolonged questioning. This is the fourth arrest in the case.

ALSO READ | Pakistan espionage case: SP MP's PA Farhat sent to 10-day police custody



During Mehmoods questioning, Farhat Khans name surfaced as one of his close associates in the espionage racket he was running along with names of some other Pakistan High Commission staffers, said a senior police officer.

TV channels also aired a confessional video of Mehmood Akhtar in which he purportedly named Farhat besides others including Syed Farruq, Khadim Hussain, Shahid Iqbal and Iqbal Cheema, claiming that they were also staffers. In the video, he also said he used to meet Farhat at Mandi House Metro Station.

ALSO READ | Pak espionage racket: Samajwadi Party MP Munawwar Saleem's close aide Farhat arrested by Delhi Police



A crime branch officer said Farhats preliminary questioning has led to certain revelations that need to be further investigated. Names of several other people allegedly involved in the racket have cropped up.

Watch video: Pak espionage racket  I was not aware of Farhat's activities, says Samajwadi Party MP Munawwar Saleem

Delhi Police is also trying to apprehend other members of the espionage ring who, it believes, were in close contact with Pakistan Mehmood Akhtar. The Pakistan High Commission staffer was caught receiving secret documents here on October 26.



Two others, Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangir, residents of Nagaur, Rajasthan, were held along with Akhtar. Another accused Shoaib was detained in Jodhpur and brought to Delhi by the police where he was arrested.



(With PTI inputs)

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Srinagar:

Pakistan armed forces violated ceasefire in Hiranagar, Samba and RS Pura sectors along the LOC on Sunday morning. Pakistan has been on the offensive ever since the surgical strikes took place on terror launchpads situated at Pakistan occupied Kashmir (Pok) after the Uri attacks on Indian armed forces. Four Pakistani posts had been destroyed in massive firing assault along LoC in Jammu and Kashmir, army sources said on Saturday. The sources also added that heavy casualties were inflicted on the Pak side.

Four Pakistani posts have been destroyed in a massive fire assault in Keran Sector, an army official said. Heavy casualties have been inflicted on the Pakistani side, he said, without giving further details.

At 2 AM today Pak started firing in Hiranagar & Samba which continue till 0600 AM intermittently. No loss of BSF or civilians reported.  ANI (@ANI_news) October 30, 2016

The firing assault comes in retaliation to ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops in the Keran sector earlier in the day, in which one BSF jawan and a civilian woman were injured.

On Friday night, terrorists, aided by the cover fire by Pakistani Army, crossed the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir and killed an Indian Army jawan and mutilated his body, prompting the Army to warn that the incident will be responded to appropriately.



Four Army and three BSF personnel have died in the latest escalation along the boundary with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan Rangers also violated ceasefire in RS Pura and Kathua sectors along International Border on Saturday.

ALSO READ | Ceasefire violations along LoC: India giving befitting response to Pak shelling, says Rajnath Singh



Amid the continuing ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops along LoC, Home Minister Rajnath Singh had on Saturday assured the nation that security forces were giving befitting reply to firing from across border and that the country will not bow down before anyone.I want to assure the nation that the security forces are giving befitting reply to the firing from Pakistan. We will not bow down before anyone, he had said.

#JKOps. Four Pak posts destroyed in massive fire assault in Keran Sector. Heavy casualties inflicted @adgpi  NorthernComd.IA (@NorthernComd_IA) October 29, 2016

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FRIENDS and family came from as far away as Canada to celebrate the golden wedding of happy couple Peter and Mary Glenister.

Peter Glenister, 71, and his wife Mary, 69, of Stag Lane ,Great Kingshill, were joined by 57 guests at their anniversary lunch at the Compleat Angler Hotel, Marlow, last Thursday.

Among the guests were family who had witnessed their wedding in 1951 as well as the couple's four children and 11 grandchildren.

"It was a wonderful day especially being able to share it with relatives and friends who came from all over Yorkshire, Devon and our nephew, another Peter Glenister, who travelled from Canada," said Mr Glenister.

"We are proud to say both the youngest and the oldest living Glenisters were in attendance our 18-month-old grandson Thomas and my 92-year-old aunt Olive."

Mr Glenister was born and bred in High Wycombe but met wife Mary, who is originally from Hazlemere, when she moved to Wooburn Green.

"A mutual friend introduced us when I was 19 and Mary was 17. Our first date was at the Old Parish Cinema in Frogmoor," said Mr Glenister. "Two years later we married at Wycombe Parish Church."

Mr Glenister worked in the insurance business and although he officially retired in 1989, continues to work at the family newsagents in Great Kingshill.

Mr Glenister's grandparents, Charles and Ann Glenister, of Flackwell Heath, were featured in the Free Press at their golden wedding in1939 and their diamond wedding in 1949.
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The federal government started rating hospitals this year the way critics rate movies  from one to five stars  the idea being to help patients make better-informed choices about where to seek care.

The system incorporates measures of quality in 64 areas ranging from routine care for heart attacks or pneumonia to the frequency of hospital-acquired infections, and the data has been updated as recently as Oct. 19.

But the rankings did nothing for the reputations of hospitals in southwestern Connecticut, where Danbury and New Milford hospitals earned just one star and no other hospital earned more than three.

Not surprisingly, the rankings have drawn strong criticism from the state and national hospital associations and from the regions hospital administrators, one of whom described them as fundamentally flawed.

We take care of such a variety of medical care needs across the spectrum of a life span  from birth to complicated cardiac surgery to cancer care to organ transplant  to reduce all that to a single set of one to five stars does the public and medical care a disservice, said Dr. Tom Balcezak, the chief medical officer at the Yale New-Haven Health System, which includes Yale-New Haven, Bridgeport and Greenwich hospitals.

Its fundamentally flawed because the measures on which it is based are not appropriately adjusted for the complexities of the patients we care for or the socioeconomic environments in which the patients we care for live in, Balcezak said. The intent of measurement should be to improve and this is additional time that we spend responding to a scorecard rather than focusing on where we have gaps and how to improve them.

Andrea Rynn, spokeswoman for the Western Connecticut Health Network, which includes Danbury, New Milford and Norwalk hospitals, said the network regularly publishes quality and safety information on its website, including data much more current than the federal system uses.

We are deeply committed to the safety of our patients and the highest quality of care, Rynn said. WCHN is a place where patients always come first, where our talented staff takes pride in keeping people well and providing compassionate, safe care when our patients need our help.

The rating system is part of Hospital Compare, an online clearinghouse for data on 4,000 hospitals across the country maintained by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

CMS officials said last week that they continue to work with all stakeholders to improve the compare site to best serve patients and health care consumers in their decision making, but declined to comment further about the star system.

But at the time the system was introduced in July, Dr. Kate Goodrich, the director of CMSs Center for Clinical Standards and Quality, wrote in a blog post that national patient and consumer advocacy groups supported the rating system because it improved the transparency and accessibility of hospital quality information.

In addition, Goodrich wrote, researchers found that hospitals with more stars on the Hospital Compare website have tended to have lower death and readmission rates.

We have been posting star ratings for (other types of) facilities for a decade and have found that publicly available data drives improvement, better reporting, and more open access to quality information for our Medicare beneficiaries, she wrote. We will continue to work closely with hospitals and other stakeholders to enhance the Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating based on feedback and experience.

Until July, hospitals reported their quality data to CMS, but the agency did not give each hospital an overall quality ranking, according to the American Hospital Association.

The ratings do not include data on specialized and cutting-edge care that certain hospitals provide, such as for cancer treatment.

Danbury and New Milford hospitals, which share a license, have a one-star rating. Bridgeport and St Vincents each have two stars. Norwalk, Greenwich, Stamford and Yale-New Haven hospitals all have three.

The rankings have drawn the attention of Connecticuts U.S. senators, Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal, both Democrats, who joined 60 colleagues in writing to CMS in April as it was preparing to make the ratings public.

The senators warned that the star system might be misleading and may not accurately take into account hospitals that treat patients with low socioeconomic status or multiple complex chronic conditions.

Last week, Blumenthals office said many of his concerns were alleviated after he received more information from CMS, but he is still actively monitoring the program.

I look forward to working with all stakeholders to ensure that the tools that CMS uses to assess quality across the healthcare industry are robust and fair, Blumenthal said in a statement.

Murphy agreed in a statement, saying an easy-to-use rating system of hospitals makes a lot of sense for families, but its only as good as the methodology behind it ... I will continue to work with CMS and our local hospitals to ensure transparency and accuracy around the ratings system and continued improvement of care at our local hospitals for patients and their families.

Dr. Mary Cooper, the senior vice president of clinical services at the Connecticut Hospital Association, agreed that the system is flawed.

In trying to make it easier for people to understand, it has made it more complex for people to understand, Cooper said.

But she said that CMS intent was the right one  to try to help patients understand the quality of care offered at hospitals across the state and nation.

When I think back when we're doing public reporting 15 years ago, in the beginning it was flawed as well, I think we have to work with them in order to improve it, Cooper said.
The seven-term incumbent representing the 131st state House district is being challenged by a political newcomer.

Republican incumbent David Labriola, 54, is running against Democrat Scott Flaherty, a 31-year-old bartender who is seeking elected office for the first time.

The district includes Oxford, in which both candidates live, as well as parts of Southbury and Naugatuck.

Labriola, an attorney, is seeking re-election because he enjoys advocating for the people of my district for common-sense solutions to our budget in Hartford.

He also touted his experience, saying that his 14 years as a representative allow him to better serve his constituents.

The entire Legislature runs on seniority,so I will be able to use my seniority to better assist the people of my district, he said.

Flaherty said he has always been interested in politics and that it was time to get involved.

I figured if I kept pushing it off, I might never start, he said. (Labriola) hasnt had an opponent in many terms, and I dont think thats really fair for people who want to have a choice, so I thought Id jump into this race. Im willing to work with both sides because I dont think either party has all of the answers.

Both candidates agreed taxes are too high in the state, especially for businesses.

Labriola said state needs to create an environment that allows small businesses to prosper and is attractive for new companies by easing up on red-tape, over-burdensome regulations and creating a tax structure that allows the businesses to thrive.

Flaherty said Connecticut is a perfect location for any business but that officials need to make changes to entice them to come to the state.

We cant raise taxes any more on corporations and businesses, he said. We actually need to lower them to make Connecticut more competitive with surrounding states.

Another issue that is important to Labriola is preserving the rural character of the communities he represents.

I always advocate on behalf of the farmers of Connecticut because thats my job as their state representative and the work that I find most rewarding is the constituent service that goes on year-round, he said. Thats really the heart of what we do as legislators  to assist constituents with any problems they may have with the state government.

For Flaherty, the opioid crisis needs more attention. He said schools need to do more to educate students about the dangers of heroin and prescription painkillers.

You need to focus on rehabilitation too instead of just arresting people and making it seems like a bad thing, he said. Its an addiction.
Trump hails FBI's decision to re-open Clinton e-mail probe

United States,Politics, Fri, 28 Oct 2016 IANS

Washington, Oct 29 (IANS) Republican Party presidential nominee Donald Trump celebrated the FBI's decision to re-open its investigation into Democratic rival Hillary Clinton's use of a private e-mail server, saying "perhaps finally justice will be done".

While the real-estate mogul was making those remarks at a campaign event in Manchester, New Hampshire, the crowd chanted "lock her up!", Efe news reported

"I have great respect for the fact that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and (the Justice Department) are now willing to have the courage to right the horrible mistake they made," Trump said, referring to the bureau's decision in July not to recommend that the department pursue criminal charges against Clinton for her use of the private server for official business.

The FBI arrived at that conclusion even though its probe revealed that the then-secretary of state and her aides had been "extremely careless" in handling classified information, Director James Comey said then.

"They are reopening the case into her criminal and illegal conduct that threatens the security of the US," Trump told the crowd at the Radisson Hotel in downtown Manchester.

"With that being said, the rest of my speech is going to be so boring," Trump, who also will visit Maine and Iowa on Friday, joked at the rally.

The FBI's decision to re-open the case, communicated in a letter Friday to the chairmen of several congressional committees, comes just 11 days before the November 8 presidential election.

"In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of e-mails that appear pertinent to the investigation," Comey wrote.

"I am writing to inform you that the investigative team briefed me on this yesterday, and I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these e-mails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation," the director continued.

The FBI "cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be significant," Comey told the committee chairmen.

The director said he could not offer a time-frame for completion of the review.

The e-mail controversy erupted in 2015 when it was reported that Clinton had used a private e-mail account for official business throughout her 2009-2013 tenure as secretary of state.

The account operated over a private server located inside Bill and Hillary Clinton's home in Chappaqua, New York.

--IANS

ksk
Ex-Brazil midfielder Felipe Melo on Flamengo radar

Brazil,Sports,Football, Sat, 29 Oct 2016 IANS

Rio de Janeiro, Oct 29 (IANS) Flamengo are among three Brazilian clubs interested in signing Inter Milan midfielder Felipe Melo, according to local media reports.

After playing 28 matches in his first season at the San Siro in 2015-16, Melo has made just two first-team appearances since August, reports Efe.

Flamengo have reportedly been in talks with the 33-year-old's representatives since July while Corinthians and Sao Paulo have also shown interest in recent weeks.

Melo's current contract with Inter Milan expires in August 2017, meaning he will be free to negotiate with other clubs in February.

The former Fiorentina and Juventus player is also understood to have drawn interest from Chinese Super League clubs.

--IANS

gau/vm
VANCOUVER, Oct. 28, 2016 /CNW/ - Alterra Power Corp. (TSX: AXY) announces that its results for the quarter ended September 30, 2016 will be released on Tuesday, November 8, 2016 after market close. A conference call and live audio webcast to discuss the results will be held on Wednesday, November 9, 2016 at 11:30 am ET (8:30 am PT).

Conference Call and Webcast Information for September 30, 2016 Third Quarter Results

Date: Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Time: 11:30 am Eastern Time / 8:30 am Pacific Time

Dial-In Numbers:

North American toll-free number: 1-888-390-0546

Switzerland toll-free number: 0-800-312-635

UAE toll-free number: 8000-357-036-32

United Kingdom toll-free number: 0-800-652-2435

Other international: 1-416-764-8688

Conference ID:

83023975

Audio Webcast:

A live audio webcast can be accessed at:

http://event.on24.com/r.htm?e=1300851&s=1&k=979B89875BB74AE61E1AA1CC9985F641

Playback Available for One Week Following the Call:

North American toll-free and international: 1-888-390-0541 / 1-416-764-8677

Replay PIN: 023975 #

SOURCE Alterra Power Corp.

For further information: Peter Lekich, Corporate Communications, Alterra Power Corp., Phone: 604.235.6719, Email: [email protected]
Five days after he was arrested, a former presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati, is still in custody because he is unable to satisfy his ba...

Five days after he was arrested, a former presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati, is still in custody because he is unable to satisfy his bail conditions.Mr. Abati, a columnist, was arrested on Monday by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on allegations of financial impropriety to the tune of N50 million.When operatives questioned him about how he spent the funds, Mr. Abati reportedly said he disbursed it to media practitioners in his capacity as the spokesman for the Goodluck Jonathan administration.But he said he did not keep records of the disbursement when queried for evidence.The journalist was subsequently granted an administrative bail that requires presenting a senior federal civil servant preferably a director with landed properties in Abuja.He will be released when he meets his bail conditions, a source within the EFCC informed newsmen on Friday.Also in EFCC custody is Bala Mohammed, a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, who was taken into custody shortly after Mr. Abatis arrest on Monday.But Mr. Mohammeds case is said to be more complicated and he may not be released anytime soon.(Premium Times)
The Nigerian military says Nigerians can now celebrate because Boko Haram has been defeated.

The Nigerian military says Nigerians can now celebrate because Boko Haram has been defeated.Speaking with journalists at a media parley in Kaduna on Friday, Rabe Abubakar, spokesman of the defence headquarters, said the insurgents had been totally degraded, decimated and 100 per cent defeated.Today, I am pleased to inform you that we have defeated Boko Haram. It is not an easy feat. Yes, you may hear that an inaccessible village has been attack or that there was an attack somewhere. But, that is the last kicking of a dying group, he said.Abubakar boasted that Nigeria had set a record by defeating insurgency.Check at the history of insurgency in the world, there is no country that has defeated insurgency under six to seven years like Nigeria. Is it Sri Lanka, Mali, Columbia or Somalia? Boko Haram is gone. It does not matter whether its so-called leader, Shekau is alive or dead, he said.The war is not about him as a person, it is about his group and they have been defeated. There is no inch of soil in Nigeria, where Boko Harams flag is hoisted. No more! Boko Haram has been totally degraded, decimated and 100 per cent defeated, and may God never allow such kind of evil to re-appear in Nigeria again.Our success was noticed by Mali which has been battling with its own problem. One of Malis defence chief had to come to Nigeria to ask us how we did it. So, that is to tell you that Boko Haram is gone.Lets celebrate our success in the news, not the propaganda of terrorists and their sympathisers. Yes, we have also had casualties, but its like all conflicts.But, you can see that even developed and well secured countries such as France and Britain are not even totally immune from terrorism.I will appreciate if the press can focus on the good and positive things that make our country great. What do have to gain as a country when we promote headlines that will cause division and plant hatred and violence? This is the only country that we have. If anything happens and you leave this country, no matter where you find yourself, you are a refugee.Abubakar also disclosed that the military was about to launch an operation that would take care of the nuisance of herdsmen once and for all.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday felicitated with legendary newscaster, presenter and first African female to appear on television, ...

President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday felicitated with legendary newscaster, presenter and first African female to appear on television, Anike Agbaje Williams, on her 80th birthday.In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the President said he joined Williams family, friends and the vibrant media profession, in celebrating the broadcaster who he said had a sonorous voice that ruled the industry for more than 30 years, starting out early with the first television station in Africa in 1959, Western Nigeria Television.As one of the pioneer African television broadcasters, better known as Africas First Lady of the Tube, the President believes the veteran journalist worked hard to inform, educate and entertain her listeners, and to also sustain the legacy of Chief Obafemi Awolowo who established the WNTV as a surrogate teacher.The statement read, The President commends the quintessential courage and persistent spirit of Williams who constantly pushed herself to improve on her God-given talent until she reached the pinnacle of her career, carting home many awards even after retirement.President Buhari prays that the almighty God will grant Williams longer life, good health and more strength in her newfound love of singing in the choir after retirement.
The Cameroonian Army has commended the gallant effort of the Nigerian Army in chasing away Boko Haram terrorists from the country. Nige...

Nigeria army

The Cameroonian Army has commended the gallant effort of the Nigerian Army in chasing away Boko Haram terrorists from the country. The Commander Sector 1 of the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF), Brig.-Gen. Bouba Dobekreo said this when he visited General Officer Commanding (GOC) 7 division, Nigerian Army Brig.-Gen. Victor Ezugwu in Maiduguri. Col. Mustapha Anka, spokesman of the division stated this in a statement in Maiduguri.Dobekreo commended army for its gallantry in the fight against Boko Haram insurgency, saying that such action has shown the determination of the Nigerian government to end terrorism. Anka quoted the visitor as saying that the Boko Haram insurgency since its inception had affected the economy of Cameroon, especially as it concerned that Trans Sahara Trade.Dobekreo described the GOC as a strategist, professional and team player, who believed in synergy and cooperation to achieve set objectives.He thanked the GOC for all the support his troops enjoyed from his command, especially in the area of information sharing, and promised to the already existing synergy between the two countries.Dobekreo also described the challenges posed by the terrorists as a test for West African countries to handle security threats in the region by themselves.He called on West African countries to always be security conscious along the borders of the Chad Basin. The Cameroonian Commander promised to stand by Nigeria to end the insurgency in the shortest possible time.Responding, the GOC thanked the Cameroonian Commander and then attributed their success to the relationship between the two countries through collaboration and capacity building in the fight against insurgency. He described the visit as timely, saying it would afford the Commanders the opportunity to sit and re-strategise for the final onslaught against the terrorists.
Again Nigerians are letting the commercial banks off the hook without as much as a slap on the wrist for their role in the current economi...

Again Nigerians are letting the commercial banks off the hook without as much as a slap on the wrist for their role in the current economic recession. In the gang running our banking sector, somehow, we have managed to create a super caste that is above the law.They know that nothing has happened to them in the past when they gambled away shareholders' and depositors' funds, which has now reassured them that there is no price to pay for putting the country on the brink with their cowboys' attitude towards what they should have treated as their responsibility to the rest of us.It is okay for Nigerians and even government officials to engage in the ongoing self flagellation in which there is the acceptance of the blame for not diversifying the economy. It is overlooked that government can only drive the economy towards diversification to an extent while the private sector takes it up from there. In all the years that preceded this eventual fallout I challenge our commercial banks to dare publish their loans portfolio and show which ones deliberately targeted support for local industries and manufacturing.Their preference has always been for extending short term facilities to importers with tenure that averages the time it takes to ship products from the factories in Europe and China to Nigeria. Companies that have to go through the growth process of building factories and manufacturing are automatically not eligible because of the longer tenure. So, in addition to stifling domestic growth the banks also encouraged the offshoring of Nigerian jobs.Next to manufacturing, mortgage would have been another boost to the economy as construction of new homes would have generated employment on a scale that will yield multiplier effects. But not the Nigerian commercial banks for whom 30 years is too long a time to wait for borrowers to exit their mortgage facilities. That is why is common in Abuja, which tends to have the most number of new homes being built, to see repayment period of 24 months for a house priced at 45 million naira.There are interventions funds that are lying dormant with specialized institutions, including the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which have remained unaccessed because our commercial banks cannot be bothered with the concessionary rates stipulated by the institutions providing the credit. The returns have to be able to justify the jet set lifestyle of our overpampered bankers for the loans to be worth processing for our small and medium scale enterprises.In addition, the banks would rather extend jumbo uncollateralized credit facilities to elites pals of the directors than to give same to hardworking businesses. The N6.6 trillion debt held by the Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) is a testament to how Nigerian commercial banks nudged us into this situation without anyone holding them accountable for their actions. Curiously only 6% of the Eligible Bank Assets (EBAs) that AMCON purchased is represents exposure from manufacturing.Those years of granting toxic loans to their associates were conveniently concealed by the practice of round tripping that allowed them to hide steady losses from the public. Sadly, irrespective of CBN intervention, sharp practices around currency speculation is one that the bankers' clique are not willing to let go of as recently proven when the apex bank had to suspend all but one of them from forex sale to bureau de change (BDC).Commercial banks' spurning of CBN's directive goes beyond playing hanky with forex. They also serially disregarded the Treasury Single Account (TSA) until the big stick was again wielded. Their failure to comply with the directive was borne out of a desire to maintain the business as usual regime that ensures corruption continues to thrive. Proof of this is their penchant to hide under the depositors' confidentiality to frustrate the tracking of stolen funds. That stolen funds passed through their systems without alerting authorities to suspicious transactions as required by anti-money laundering laws speaks volume of their commitment to seeing the nation survive.All these serial violations directly affect the economy and in a bad way too. So, even when we blame past government for not implementing safeguards, these commercial banks are in reality responsible for 70 percent of our economic problems because they abdicated their core mandate in preference of speculative activities that add no value to the economy, if anything they made it worse.It is therefore worrisome that these same guys are metamorphosing under the cover of "the private sector", the same one they depleted by starving financing. The bankers or private sector as they have labelled themselves are complaining that there is no economic team. One would expect that they know by now that President Muhammadu Buhari knows the antics of the Lagos gang that gets into public committees to sabotage the government from the inside using privileged information they get in the course of being part of the economic team.The years they were part of the economic team was the same period they used to pervert the system such that policies were manipulated to suit their insatiable acquisitiveness. They practically came up with their own committee which took over regulatory and enforcement roles over from the apex bank  the world over once an industry places self regulation over institutional regulation then there is need to be worried. The killing off of government institutions is not a fluke. If government organs are in place performing functions as prescribed by extant rules and regulations in line with financial manuals there would be no need to accept gate crashers and scams from Lagos to come and meet in Aso Rock under any name.This is the era of change. We know the antecedent of the names demanding economic team. They played roles in previous bank consolidation bazaar that was carefully orchestrated to defraud Nigerians who lost money through Initial Public Offers, and Private Placement platforms and deposits that got threatened. As soon as the last of the banks was done collecting money from Nigerians they crashed the value of the shares and left investors with shreds of tissue paper in their hands, which they were made to believe were share certificates.That and other frauds before and after it were possible because those running the commercial banks have compromised the system through the access they got through being members of the economic team.This latest attempt by commercial banks to again infiltrate the government to surreptitiously become part of the economic team must be resisted. If not by the government definitely by the populace.Jam writes from Abuja.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is currently intensifying moves to gather evidence against the former First Lady, Patience ...

A top operative of the commission said on Friday that the leadership of the commission had initiated a discreet probe of the former First Lady in a bid to assemble evidence against her in the event of her prosecution as a fallout of the commissions decision to freeze $20m traced to her.The source said that the commission had assembled a team of detectives saddled with the responsibility of identifying all houses and property belonging to the former First Lady.It was stated that the operatives had been instructed from the office of the commissions chairman to mark such houses and property as part of the preparation for the prosecution of the First Lady.It was further stated that the operatives were focusing attention on property in Abuja, Yenagoa, Port Harcourt and other cities in the country.The source said, It would not be correct to conclude that the commission has halted the investigation into the activities of the former First Lady.The investigation is progressing and it is being handled by the office of the chairman of the commission.A team of operatives has been assembled to identify all her properties in the country with a focus on Abuja, Port Harcourt and Yenagoa.The responsibility of the team is to mark all such properties in preparation for a possible court action.The EFCC had traced $5m to the personal account of the former First Lady and frozen the account domiciled in Skye Bank Plc last month.The commissions face off with Mrs. Jonathan started when the commission froze the accounts of four companies traced to the Special Adviser to ex-President Jonathan on Domestic Affairs, Waripamowei Dudafa.The four firms identified as Pluto Property and Investment Company Limited; Seagate Property Development and Investment Company Limited; Trans Ocean Property and Investment Company had a total of $15,591,700 in their accounts.However, the commission was brought into a face-off with Mrs. Jonathan when she deposed to an affidavit that the money belonged to her.The former First Lady has since filed a suit at a Federal High Court in Lagos against the commission seeking an order to unfreeze the accounts.She is also demanding $200m compensation from the commission for alleged violation of her rights.The Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, said that he did not have the information on the latest move by the commission as of the time of filing this report on Friday.Meanwhile, the former Special Adviser to former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, Dr. Reuben Abati, might spend the weekend in detention.A source at the commission said that Abati was still struggling to meet the conditions of the administrative bail granted him by the commission on Friday night.
Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), says the apex bank has injected enough forex into the aviation sector, won...

Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), says the apex bank has injected enough forex into the aviation sector, wondering the cause of lamentation by aviation stakeholders.In an interview with THISDAY, Emefiele blamed some of the challenges in the sector on shortage of passengers.He said the situation was not peculiar to Nigeria, and explained that the sharp decline in the prices of oil has had a negative impact on aviation.It is important for me to correct the impression that airlines are closing down or airlines are moving out of the country because of inadequate access to foreign exchange. No one can deny that everyone is finding it hard to get FX these days, given the sharp drop in oil prices and FX inflows. So that may be part of the issue, he said.But the real reason airlines are reducing their flights is a lack of passengers not just in Nigeria but all around the world. As a result of the global economic situation that we find ourselves today, there has been a serious reduction in the number of travellers in different parts of the world. The aviation sector in different parts of the world is confronted by this.I would imagine that rather than travel in a weekend to go and organise a party or go and conduct wedding in Dubai or travel to go and organise party in London, given the situation we find ourselves, people have now learnt that there is a need for them to be prudent in spending money.So, no doubt, we have seen a reduction in the number of travellers. And because there is a reduction in the number of travellers, naturally there is a reduction in the occupancy rate for the airlines.So, that is what has happened. Now, are we giving them forex? You will recall that last week when we did some secondary market intervention through forward, we also considered the aviation sector and we gave them what they needed.We are meeting their foreign exchange needs. So, when people say they dont have foreign exchange, I dont really understand what they are talking about because we have taken the aviation as an important sector in the country.On the reports that the airlines were relocating to Ghana, Emefiele said: Are they suggesting that Ghana has more FX than us? They are facing the same FX shortages like us, if not worse. And by the way, Ghanas FX reserves are probably less than 25 percent of ours here in Nigeria. So, it cannot be correct that the airlines are relocating there.He added that the CBN had disbursed nearly N2 trillion to both public and strategic private sectors of the economy in the last one year.(ThisDay)
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) of being able to successfully ...

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) of being able to successfully conduct elections in Sambisa forest, but not in Rivers State, saying it is an indication of the negative plot by the commission against the state.In a statement made available to newsmen by the Special Assistant to the Rivers State Governor, Electronic Media, Simeon Nwakaudu, Wike gave the comment while speaking during a state dinner for the delegates of the West African Architects Fair from 13 countries on Friday night.It said Wike also described as unfortunate the claim by the leader of the immediate past failed administration in the state that there was no good road to the hometown of a late APC Chieftain , when that administration spent eight years with huge resources accruing to the state , but only embezzled development funds.Governor Wike said that the non conclusion of rerun elections in the state is a fall-out of the grand conspiracy to rig the polls in favour of an unpopular party.He said: Because people want to illegally seize power in Rivers State, that is why you are hearing all these. All these plots is to take Rivers State.Why do you want to take Rivers State when it is not your own? Between March 19th and now, they planned to do elections so that they can get the number of seats to impeach me and put their own man. Since March, everyday they postpone the elections.From May to June to July, August then September. They said October ending, still no election. Now, they say 10th of December and when we get to 10th of December, they may shift it to next year, he said.The governor noted that it was ironic that INEC which conducted successful elections in the north east and Sambisa forest cannot conduct election in Rivers State. Election took place in Borno , election took place in Yobe, election took place in Adamawa where you have deadly insurgency.They were able to conduct elections and votes were counted. They were able to conduct election in Sambisa forest and votes were counted, but they cannot conduct election here in Rivers State, Governor Wike said.The governor said the action of INEC and her collaborators have denied Rivers State representation in the Senate, the House of Representatives and the Rivers State House of Assembly. He said, They continue to postpone the elections in Rivers State.The Senate will be discussing the Petroleum Industry Bill, they will be having the constitutional amendment and the state that produces the oil has no senator and cannot be part of the discussion. Nobody will defend Rivers State in the senate. Nigerians are not worried. Why? Rivers is a minority state.The governor maintained that Rivers State is far more peaceful than other major states in the country, hence it has played host to series of international and national conferences.He said that once elections approach, desperate opposition politicians and their media collaborators induce negative propaganda on insecurity. He added that deliberate anti-development programmes have been slated against Rivers State, pointing out that the state has successfully overcome these plots.We are the only state that applied for bail out, but they did not give to us. We are the only state where they started deducting our funds, when a loan facility has not been given to us, the governor noted.He called on the members of the Nigeria Institute of Architects to partner with Rivers State Government for development designs that will enhance the growth of the state.In his remarks, the President of the Nigeria Institute of Architects, Architect Tonye Braide assured Governor Wike that Nigerian Architects will support his drive towards developing the state.
Jimoh Ibrahim, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo state, has dismissed the reports of violence in the state, saying s...

Jimoh Ibrahim, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo state, has dismissed the reports of violence in the state, saying supporters of Olusegun Mimiko, the incumbent governor, have just been burning tyres.Residents of the state woke up on Friday to see bonfires in different parts.Youth in their huge numbers also trooped to the streets to protest the exclusion of Eyitayo Jegede, candidate of the Ahmed Makarfi faction, from the governorship race.But Ibrahim referred to the incidents as tricks employed by Mimiko.He alleged that the two-time governor used a similar approach prior to his emergence.My attention has been drawn to the ongoing burning of tyres under the pretext of disruption of activities. It was orchestrated by Governor Segun Mimiko, read a statement issued by Ibrahim.In 2009, Governor Mimiko forged security reports of the SSS and the police to deceive the court and tribunal of Justice Nabaruma that there were security issues in the state, leading to cancellation of results in 8 out of 18 local governments of the stateThis is how Governor Mimiko schemed himself into power, but when the late President Umaru Musa YarAdua realised that the forgery story was true, Mimiko was already enjoying constitutional protection as governor.Ibrahim alleged that Mimiko instructed commercial drivers in the state to assemble used tyres and set them ablaze in order to give the impression that there was tension.Yesterday, Mimiko called on the drivers union in the state, whose chairman is his relative, to gather disposed tyres across the state and burn them so as to show that there are security challenges in Akure town, he said.While the tyres were burning, school children were attending their classes, banks were opened, market women and traders were carrying on their economic activities, courts were sitting and more tyres were burning by the side of the road.Regrettably, Mimikos orthodoxy has played out to be fake, empty and unbecoming of a person that occupies the position of the governor of a state.I am happy to note that Mimiko eventually met with President Muhammadu Buhari, a president he had described as unfit to govern Nigeria, and according to Mimiko, the president does not have a school certificate.Regrettably, this tyre burning for sympathy will not work as Ondo state remains peaceful.At his meeting with Buhari, Mimiko accused INEC of attempting to set Ondo on fire.The Makarfi faction of the PDP has also advised the federal government to manage the crisis in the state in order to prevent a recurrence of the political violence which led to the end of the First Republic.
Nigeria's Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has responded to calls by some Nigerians for the arrest of former President Goodluck Jonathan. ...

Jonathan and Osinbajo

Mr. Osinbajo said the Buhari administration does not arrest anybody, anyhow.Answering a question at a session in the United States on Friday, on when Mr. Jonathan would be arrested, Mr. Osinbajo said the Buhari administration was not in the business of arresting just anyone anyhow.He said all the Buhari administration does is to empower the security agencies and the anti-corruption agencies to do their jobs, without the administration trying to teleguide them.He also added that the fight against corruption in the country was not fought on ethnic, hasty or premediated grounds.Corruption is not an ethnic thing, there is an equal representation in the stealing as no one operates with his/her ethnic group alone, the culprits are in every case seen so far, united by greed to steal and not by ethnic or religious interest, he said.He frowned at a situation where for instance as much as $15 billion has disappeared from the national coffers into private pockets, saying no responsible government would wave that aside so as not to offend people.Mr. Osinbajo also said that security agencies in Nigeria have arrested about 800 suspected violent herdsmen across the country.Mr. Osinbajo said this in Houston, Texas in the United States at a Townhall event where he interacted with U.S.-based Nigerians who asked questions live at the event and also via the internet, according to a statement issued by his spokesperson, Laolu Akande.The vice president fielded about 30 questions at a well attended townhall event moderated by Rudolf Okonkwo of Sahara Reporters and Nimi Wariboko of Boston University.Asked about the issue of Fulani Herdsmen attacks in certain states across the country and what the Federal Government was doing to curb the problem, the Mr. Osinbajo said the President has given firm instructions to the security agencies to arrest not only herdsmen who are attacking communities anywhere in the country but anyone of them or anyone at all in possession of firearms.He added that there are about 800 of suspected violent herdsmen in the country that are currently in custody. The vice president however decried the slow pace of the criminal justice system that affects the prompt trial of such suspects.Mr. Osinbajo reminded the audience however that the issue of killings by such violent herdsmen has been a perennial issue especially as grazing lands continue to disappear over the years and the cattle feed on peoples crops on the farmlands. He said that the matter just did not crop up when President Buhari assumed office.Vice President Osinbajo urged against the tendency of interpreting the herdsmen issue as a religious issue, stressing that it is important for all Nigerians to refuse such divisive narratives and tendencies.He reminded his audience that there has always been conflict between herdsmen and communities across the country and that people should disabuse the notion that the problem has just started because President Buhari, a Fulani, is currently at the helm of affairs in the country.Answering a question on the need for community policing, the Vice President said that community policing via state police is indeed a cardinal program of the ruling APC. He said the partys agenda cannot be introduced until there is an amendment to the nations constitution.The current situation where police activities are controlled at the federal level sure has some limitations, he said, adding that  the federal government is currently working to introduce community policing that would be in line with the constitution.Commenting on the recent arrest of judges in the country, Mr. Osinbajo told his audience that impunity could be very dangerous in any sector and that the federal government was only exercising its executive function in attempting to check excesses.He said the important thing was that due process was followed as the judges were released about 24 hours after their arrest and once they had given their statements.The Vice President also responded to a question on the state of the nations economy and attributed the current recession to the loss of about 60 percent of government revenue due to pipeline vandalisation and endemic corruption in the system.He however said that getting back oil production is a sure way to get out of the recession and the federal government is working to sort it out.
The Senate has called for proper investigation of the N2bn worth of cocaine intercepted by the Nigeria Customs Service at the Apapa Tincan...

The Senate has called for proper investigation of the N2bn worth of cocaine intercepted by the Nigeria Customs Service at the Apapa Tincan Island Port in Lagos.The drug, which was intercepted on October 13, 2016, had been handed over to the NDLEA by the Customs.The Chairman, Senate Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes, Senator Joshua Lidani, who led members of the committee on oversight visit to the offices and facilities of the NDLEA in Lagos, called for synergy among security operatives at the seaports.A statement by the Head, Public Affairs, NDLEA, Mr. Mitchell Ofoyeju, on Saturday said members of the committee, who were received by the Director General, Mrs. Roli Bode-George, at the Ikoyi headquarters of the agency, also inspected facilities at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport and the Tincan Island Port commands.Lidani was quoted as saying, We have observed that there is friction and lack of synergy between the Nigeria Customs and the NDLEA at the seaport. At the airport, there is a good collaboration but this is not so at the seaport. Agencies of government must work together in harmony because they have a common goal.Besides, the NDLEA must be properly positioned at the seaports to monitor and intercept narcotics. The suspected cocaine seizure made by the Customs and handed over to the NDLEA on Thursday October 13, 2016, should be properly investigated.The NDLEA said it assured the lawmakers of detailed investigation into the case, saying that investigation had commenced and findings from the investigation would be provided in due course.The agency said the suspected substance tested positive for cocaine, weighting of 214.732kg. The drug was concealed in eight bags, each containing 25 blocks, it added.The statement said the lawmakers, who were not satisfied with the state of facilities at the NDLEA, called for improved funding and provision of logistic support.It quoted Lidani as saying, Our mission is to see how the agencies under our supervision are performing in terms of their mandates. The Senate has oversight responsibility over agencies funded by the government, with a view to identifying areas of waste, challenges and areas where the mandate is being misapplied for appropriate action to be taken.We have discovered that most of the supports for the NDLEA are coming from foreign countries and organisations. This is not good for the country. The problem is ours and we need to tackle it, using our resources while others can only support. The dog unit needs to be expanded to cover all the sensitive areas like seaports and land borders.
The UN has negotiated the release of 876 children, which security forces detained over alleged ties to the Boko Haram sect.

The UN has negotiated the release of 876 children, which security forces detained over alleged ties to the Boko Haram sect.Manuel Fontaine, UNICEFS regional director for Western and Central Africa, told Reuters that the children were held in barracks in Maiduguri, Borno state capital.Though the period they spent in detention was not stated, the rights groups said there was no proper legal process for their arrest.UNICEF said they were not formally charged and some ended up in so-called rehabilitation centres or internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps.We fear that there are still kids who are being at least temporarily detained because they are being released from Boko Haram areas by the army but then kept for a while, Fontaine said.He gave no details of the ages of the children or how long they spent in the barracks.Fontaine also said the conflict, which had killed thousands and displaced more than two million, had separated around 20,000 children from their parents, of which 5,000 had since been reunited with families.Once we get children out, there is a major issue of stigmatisation in the communities, he said.There is a sense that children who have been associated with Boko Haram for a while, could be, and in some cases we have some evidence, are rejected by community and people around them.This was also a problem for the girls freed from the town of Chibok.The army is yet to officially react to the issue.
The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi on Friday ended his visit to Ekiti state with a promise that the Yoruba-speaking states in Nigeria w...

The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi on Friday ended his visit to Ekiti state with a promise that the Yoruba-speaking states in Nigeria would soon have a common anthem in local dialect that will be sung at every public forum immediately after that of the national anthem. The monarch made the pronouncement when he visited Governor Ayo Fayose at the Government House to round-off his two-day official visit to the state.He said the need for such Yoruba anthem had become necessary in view of the need to inculcate the spirit of solidarity, unity, service,love and togetherness on every yoruba person, irrespective of age and status.He said he drew his inspiration about forming a common Yoruba anthem after listening to the one already adopted by Ekiti state many years ago.He also promised to release a book that would further add value to his current peace efforts across the country.He described the state as a model, saying most of the new experience gathered in the state would be adopted and incorporated into the overall yoruba affairs in near future.My ascension to the throne of Oduduwa is not by mistake, it was God, the creator that ordained it and it is my belief that He has a clear role for me, and that role is to bring all my people together and foster peace among themWe yorubas must learn to do only those things that unite us,and not those that separate us because there cannot be growth and development where peace and unity are conspicuously absentThe time has come for us leaders in the country, especially those of us in yorubaland to put supremacy aside,we are all nothing before God, we are just basically human", the Ooni said.In a response, host governor Fayose thanked the Ooni for extending his visit to two days to enable him fraternize more with the Ekiti people and urged him to continue with his tempo of peace amd prayers for the yoruba people and the entire nation.
JERSEY CITY -- A judge today dismissed a lawsuit over a controversial development planned for uptown Bayonne, saying the attorney who filed the suit delayed the case in violation of a court rule.

The Bayonne Planning Board approved the project at the site of Resnick's hardware store at 46th Street and Broadway on April 6. The building is slated to have 91 apartments, 150 parking spaces and commercial space.

Attorney Peter Cresci filed a lawsuit to stop the project on June 6 on behalf of lead plaintiff Greta Martin and 11 other neighbors of Resnick's. The suit claimed, among other things, that the project's plan did not comply with the municipal stormwater ordinance and did not submit an environmental impact study.

But at a hearing today at the Hudson County Brennan Courthouse in Jersey City, Superior Court Judge Francis Schultz said Cresci broke a court rule (4:69-4) meant to prevent such cases from getting backlogged.

More specifically, Cresci never ordered a transcript of the project's Planning Board proceedings, which he was required to do before filing the lawsuit, the judge said.

"It's been five months and you still haven't done anything, and you're just trying to drag this out in gross violation of this rule," Schultz told Cresci.

Cresci objected to Schultz's remarks, repeatedly calling the judge's attention to a July 15 email from the Bayonne Clerk's Office in which Cresci is told that that are no transcripts.

But Schultz noted that the email was dated more than month after Cresci filed his complaint and that Cresci hadn't submitted to the court his original request for the transcript.

Moreover, the judge later made clear, transcripts aren't automatically produced for every public meeting, since transcripts aren't "going to be typed for nobody to read."

Given that norm, asking for a transcript that may or may not exist is different from ordering that one be created and delivered, which would've required putting down a deposit for a stenographer.

"You asked for it, but you never ordered it," Schultz told Cresci, stressing that a lawsuit tying up development can't be unreasonably delayed.

The judge sided with Cresci on an issue debated at an earlier hearing -- that Cresci filed the lawsuit in time -- but ultimately ruled that the attorney's failure to order a transcript doomed the case.

Calling Schultz's decision "unjust," Cresci told The Jersey Journal after the hearing that the battle to stop the project is far from over.

"We're going to ask for an expedited appeal so that none of the work (on the project) can be done," he said, adding that he has also been in touch with outside government agencies who he expects will join the fight.

On the distinction between asking for and ordering a transcript, Cresci questioned why the Bayonne Clerk's Office didn't reach out to a stenographer to process his request for a transcript when the office knew that's what he wanted.

Cresci said the residents he represents are not against development in Bayonne in general. Rather, they are opposed to the specific project planned for Resnick's because it "does not fit in with the landscape of Broadway," he said.

Michael Miceli, attorney for the project's developer, Lance Lucarelli, told The Jersey Journal that Lucarelli plans move forward with the development.

He and Gregory K. Asadurian, an attorney representing the city of Bayonne and the Bayonne Planning Board, both said Schultz made the right decision.

"The rules are there for a reason, and we all have to play by them. And I'm glad that the judge saw it that way," Miceli said.

Jonathan Lin may be reached at jlin@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @jlin_jj. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
To the editor:

Think Pink.

Every October, the staff at US Healthcare Supply come together as a team to raise money and awareness for breast cancer research, and this October was no exception.

Over the past five years, US Healthcare Supply, located in Milford, has organized annual company events to raise money for breast cancer research through various fundraising initiatives, such as, employee bake sales, tricky trays and raffles.

Local merchants in Milford also got involved and supported the cause with donations.

This has been our most successful year to date, and we doubled the amount of money we raised from last year.

Each year, Jon P. Letko, chief executive officer and president of US Healthcare Supply matches every dollar that is raised during the fundraiser and this year the total raised was over $10,000.



US Healthcare Supply will continue efforts to raise money and awareness for breast cancer research.

This devastating disease impacts so many. According to the National Breast Cancer Association, it is estimated that 1 woman will be diagnosed with breast cancer every 2 minutes. That equates to 246,000 women in the United States will be diagnosed per year.

That's an alarming statistic and it's one that impacts Letko. At a young age, Letko lost his mother to breast cancer. In her honor, the Letko family has joined in the fight against this disease in the hopes of one day finding a cure.

US Healthcare Supply donates all of the proceeds they collect to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. This organization uses 91 cents of every dollar donated toward funding cancer research and awareness programs. To date, US Healthcare Supply has raised $27,405.56 for breast cancer research.

US Healthcare Supply would like to thank their staff, as well as the merchants in Milford, for the incredible amount of support they received for this event. Special thanks to Walmart, Phillipsburg, ShopRite of Greenwich and Dunkin Donuts for generously donating prizes, treats and decorations.

The Letko family and staff at US Healthcare appreciate all the generous donations received for the fight against breast cancer and look forward to make next year's Think Pink event an even greater success.

Billie Orlando

Executive Coordinator

Global Healthcare Management
A New Jersey appellate court has denied a convicted Woodbridge man's request to have new DNA testing on item's used in a 20-year-old murder.

Peter Papasavvas, who was convicted by a jury in 1998 of murdering a woman two years earlier who lived nearby, filed a motion in 2014 for DNA tests on two belts "that had been tied around the victim's face," according to the appellate court's ruling earlier this week.

He was appealing an earlier request for DNA testing, which was denied by Superior Court Judge Diane Pincus in 2013. According to the appellate court's ruling, Pincus had determined that even if there was evidence favorable to Papasavvas, it alone would not raise enough reasonable probability for a new trial.

And, the appellate court wrote that after a review, it found "nothing in the record suggesting Judge Pincus misapplied her discretion" and affirmed the initial denial.

In late April 1996, Papasavvas broke into the home of 64-year-old Mildred Place, who lived on West Henry Place in Iselin. He had been fleeing police in only his underwear after they came looking for him earlier at his nearby home, court documents said.

Sometime after 10 p.m., Place had found Papasavvas hiding in her basement, at which point he put her in a sleeper hold to render her unconscious. After passing out from the hold, however, she tumbled down the cellar stairs, causing her to break her neck, "a severe injury that may have caused her death," according to the appellate court documents.

The ruling noted "bizarre and repulsive" evidence found in the case including "very straight scissor cuts of her clothing" that left "exposed her private parts."

According to the ruling, Papasavvas left incriminating evidence when at 11:15 p.m. "he called his home, leaving a record of that call on Mrs. Place's telephone bill." The ruling also said that he "stole (Place's) car and partied in New York with a girlfriend," using her credit cards.

Papasavvas initially was sentenced to death, but the ruling was eventually vacated, and he was resentenced to life in prison with 30 years of parole ineligibility on the charge of murder. That charge is to run consecutively with a 20-year term with 10 years of parole ineligibility on related charges.

Spencer Kent may be reached at skent@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerMKent. Find the Find NJ.com on Facebook.
UPPER FREEHOLD -- A Monmouth County man was killed Friday when he was thrown from his truck after it hit a tree in Upper Freehold Township, authorities said Saturday.

A second person who was trapped in the vehicle was hurt in the crash but those injuries were not life threatening, said New Jersey State Police Trooper Lawrence Peele.

Pronounced dead at the scene was Robert Stinson, 57, of the Clarksburg section of Millstone, Peele said.

Peele said Stinson was driving a 2009 Ford F-250 pickup truck on Emley's Hill Road at 11:41 a.m. when he ran off the left side of the road and hit a tree.

The truck flipped and the force threw Stinson, who was not wearing a seatbelt, out of the vehicle, Peele said.

The front seat passenger, who had been wearing a seat belt, was trapped in the truck for a time before being rescued, he said.

MaryAnn Spoto may be reached at mspoto@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @MaryAnnSpoto. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Sue Marticek loves to tell this story:

A family that turned to her agency for assistance was put out of their home by Hurricane Sandy the year their daughter graduated high school.

The daughter graduated college this year, and they're still not home.

"That put it all in perspective," Marticek said. "Four years! Think about how much life goes by in four years.

"We're trying to help people and solve their problems day in and day out, so the time just goes by and your head is in your work," she said. "But when you step back and think, 'Four years!' It's amazing some of these people (Sandy victims) haven't completely unraveled."

For those who have, though, Marticek and the Ocean County Long Term Recovery Group (OCLTRG) have found ways to get them counseling, just as they have for Hurricane Sandy victims who can't find housing, can't afford rent or housing, need food or clothes, are having trouble navigating the federal and state recovery programs (and who hasn't?), or were ripped off by their flood insurance carrier.

MORE: Recent Mark Di Ionno columns

This weekend marks the fourth anniversary of the storm and the Ocean County Long Term Recovery Group is the last nonprofit agency standing to meet what the executive director calls "unmet needs."

In nonprofit parlance that means the gaps between insurance payouts and government grants and loans. Anyone following the Sandy recovery -- often called "the disaster after the disaster" by people bound in the eternal red tape - knows there are thousands of people out there still waiting to get home or to hoping to become financially solvent.

For Marticek it's been an education -- and one she is anxious to share with anyone who will listen.

She testified at the Louisiana Statehouse two weeks ago following the devastating floods in the Baton Rouge area. She's been called by disaster officials from West Virginia and Houston after floods, and California after wildfires.

Lesson No. 1 is that victims need advocates who will take them through the daunting process of filing insurance claims, applying for government programs and finding charity help.

"It's overwhelming," she said. "People think the only people who get lost in this are older people who aren't internet savvy. Let me tell you, I've had doctors and lawyers who throw their hands up and say, 'I can't figure this out.'"

For Frank and Mary Ellen Azack, the OCLTRG helped them out of a bureaucratic quagmire that left their wrecked house in the Silverton section of Toms River stuck in the mud.

"We got shortchanged by our insurance company," Frank Azack said. "Then we were denied a RREM (Rehabilitation, Reconstruction, Elevation and Mitigation Program) grant. The house was just sitting there. I was living in a small attic apartment, but my wife couldn't stay there because she has multiple sclerosis and couldn't climb the stairs."

Azack met OCLTRG case workers at a Sandy victim information meeting in Toms River in 2014, and things started to move. Marticek's group partnered with the United Methodist Church's volunteer building group called "A Future of Hope" and they took on the Azacks' project - including putting in a lift to make the new elevated home more accessible for Mary Ellen Azack.

"Right now, we hope to be in by Christmas," Frank Azack said. "There is no way we could have gotten through this mess without their help, even if it was just to try to cheer us up when we were having a bad day."

The OCLTRG's funding has come from several charitable sources, including the Robin Hood Foundation, Catholic Charities of Trenton, the Salvation Army, the Ocean First Bank Foundation and others.

Since the storm, the group has spent about $7 million to help people get back on their feet, but the funding sources are drying up.

"A lot of the money for 'unmet needs' is going away,'' said Bridget Holmes, the OCLTRG's assistant director.

Meanwhile, the need continues. The Ocean County group is now taking on cases from Bergen and Essex counties all the way down to Cape May County.

The group is currently helping 170 families navigate their National Flood Insurance Program appeals and another 65 families with basic needs, such as rental assistance, while their homes remain uninhabitable.

"We're getting cases all the time," Holmes said. "We're picking up about five or 10 a week."

Marticek describes her agency as "the gray matter" between government rules and the realities of getting things done.

"My mantra is we all have to work together: government, business and nonprofits," she said. "And many times the nonprofits are in the best position to know the people and their needs because we have the most contact."

And that leads to another story Marticek loves to tell:

A 96-year-old man got so fed up with the state's RREM program that he wanted out. The first builder hired by the state to elevate his home, Seneca-SmartJack, left the program with a trail of unfinished homes.

The man waited for builder No. 2. His 95th birthday came and went, then his 96th.

"I mean, the guy is 96! How long should he have to wait!" Marticek said. "He decided he just wanted to live out his life in his unraised home.

"The state says, 'Fine. You owe us $15,000,' " Marticek said. "They wanted him to pay the design costs of raising the house -- which was never done. He couldn't afford it. And it was wrong."

A few phone calls later, Marticek said, and the state saw the wisdom in avoiding headlines that would have read: "RREM program makes man, 96, homeless."

The man is back home and the costs for the design that was never implemented went away.

Mark Di Ionno may be reached at mdiionno@starledger.com. Follow The Star-Ledger on Twitter @StarLedger and find us on Facebook.
NEWARK--Federal prosecutors returned again and again to the words of Bridget Anne Kelly.

In his summations to a jury that has listened to testimony from 35 witnesses over the past six weeks, assistant U.S. attorney Lee Cortes on Friday repeatedly flashed them on a screen, highlighted in yellow: "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

And he focused on the silence of Bill Baroni, who responded to the desperate calls of a mayor finding himself in the middle of those traffic problems with "radio silence."

At the same time, defense attorneys began their effort to win over the jury by assailing the credibility of David Wildstein, the key witness in the trial of the two former Christie administration insiders charged with orchestrating a scheme of political retribution by shutting down several toll lanes at the George Washington Bridge.

After a six-week trial, prosecutors began closing arguments on Friday, spending nearly four hours in a methodical presentation that characterized the evidence stacked up against Baroni and Kelly as "staggering." They called their insistence on the stand that the pair believed Wildstein was engaged in an actual traffic study as "preposterous."

Prosecutors say the two participated with Wlldstein in a bizarre scheme to close down several local access toll lanes at the George Washington Bridge, causing massive gridlock in Fort Lee over four days in September 2013 as a way to punish Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for not endorsing the governor for re-election.

"They shared an intense commitment to the political success of Gov. Chris Christie. They saw themselves as his loyal lieutenants," Cortes said. "They never attempted to separate politics from their jobs in public service."

Wildstein, who pleaded guilty to federal crimes last year, testified as the prosecution's star witness. He admitted the lane closures were designed as a political retribution plot and that Kelly and Baroni were involved the planning.

Baroni, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Kelly, who served as a deputy chief of staff to Christie, are charged with nine felony counts, including wire fraud, conspiracy, misuse of Port Authority resources and the infringement of peoples' civil rights.

Cortes said the two conspired with Wildstein to break the law. "They used their power as public servants to carry out a personal vendetta. They disrupted the lives of thousands of people who were trying to get to school, to work or to the hospital. Bill Baroni and Bridget Kelly chose personal political revenge over public safety. They chose punishment over public safety."

But defense attorney Michael Baldassare, who represents Baroni, said the entire case was built around a serial liar who would do anything to stay out of jail.

"They didn't sit under a bare light bulb talking about how to screw Mark Sokolich," he aruged. "The notion that Bill Baroni and Bridget Kelly conspired with David Wildstein comes from one place. It comes from the mouth and the mind of David Wildstein."

A leverage point

Wildstein, a former GOP operative who was hired to a $150,000-a-year patronage job at the Port Authority, admitted he was the one who came up with the lane closure plan at the bridge, which he saw as a "leverage point" to use against Sokolich.

In eight days of testimony, Wildstein--who boasted of past dirty tricks, including such exploits as stealing the jacket of U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg before the start of a political debate--said he took his direction of Kelly as his representative in the governor's office, and told jurors that Baroni helped put the bridge plan into play.

Wildstein testified he came up with a bogus cover story to disguise the true purpose of the lane closures, helping draft a press release that claimed it was all part of a traffic study into how to reduce congestion on the main approach to the toll plaza. Baroni and Kelly, who both testified in their own defense, said they believed the traffic study story.

In his closing arguments, Cortes kept repeating the infamous "time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee" email sent by Kelly to Wildstein less than a month before the lane closures began on Sept. 9, 2013.

"Her words mean exactly what they say," Cortes said. "Those words, now frozen in time, were written by Bridget Kelly when she thought no one but David Wildstein would see them. Those words do not say 'time for a traffic study.'"

Cortes challenged Kelly, who testified she used a poor choice of words in the email and had been told the lane closures were part of a legitimate traffic study. She insisted her email referred only to the gridlock that would result from the lane shutdowns intended to reduce congestion on the main approach to the bridge.

As for Baroni, Christie's former top appointee to the Port Authority, Cortes argued his motives were straightforward: Baroni, along with Kelly, conspired to use Port Authority resources to punish Sokolich.

"Bill Baroni knew these lane reductions were not part of a legitimate traffic study," Cortes said. "Let's be clear: There was never any intent to do a legitimate traffic study."

Baroni, who appeared in November 2013 before a legislative committee investigating the motive behind the lane closures, claimed then that the closures were part of a traffic study. Cortes said it was all a "sham," and replayed an edited video of the testimony that showed the Port Authority executive repeatedly saying that there had been "communications failures" with Fort Lee.

"They knew there was no traffic study. They knew that the lane reductions were punitive (and they conspired with David Wildstein," Cortes said.

Cortes attacked Baroni and Kelly's defense, arguing the pair were "high-ranking government officials" when they acted in "spite" to punish Sokolich.

"If you listened to their testimony, you would have thought they were barely interns in the administration," Cortes said.

"They tried to erase themselves from the narrative ... to minimize their role, their awareness and their importance," he said. "They also tried really hard to distance themselves from David Wildstein, their friend and their co-conspirator," he said.

Cortes urged jurors to listen to Wildstein, who spent a week on the stand.

"Keep in mind that his testimony is backed up by documents: Emails, text messages, phone records," he said. "Also, his testimony is backed up by the testimony of others."

In their opening arguments, the defendants' attorneys blasted prosecutors for making "a deal with the devil." They argued that Wildstein was untrustworthy and simply looking for protection from prosecutors to stay out of jail.

In his closing Friday, Baldassare said Wildstein could not be trusted.

"The question in this case is do you trust David Wildstein to make an important decision in your life?," Baldassare said. "If you have reasonable doubt about David Wildstein, it is essentially game over for the prosecution."

Bill Baroni with his attorney Michael Baldassare. (Ed Murray | NJ Advance Media For NJ.com)

He also questioned whether there was any evidence to show there wasn't a traffic study.

"Was it real? Who knows? I submit nobody knows because no one ever established a traffic protocol," Baldassare said. "I know we heard from the engineers who collected data and made recommendations. That sounds like a study."

At the same time, he said testimony of other Port Authority officials painted Wildstein as a feared and hated man who could not be fired because of his claimed connections with Christie. Yet the governor himself was never called as a witness.

"They would never put Chris Christie on the stand. Because all he would have said on that stand is that David Wildstein is a liar," said the defense attorney.

Despite emails that show Baroni did not respond to a series of emails, texts, voicemails and letters from Sokolich in the aftermath of the traffic nightmare in Fort Lee, Baldassare insisted the only evidence suggesting a conspiracy came from Wildstein's own testimony.

Friday was the first day of closing arguments, which are expected to conclude Monday afternoon with attorneys for Kelly.

Closing arguments were delayed a day because of a last-minute discovery that several text messages entered as evidence had an incorrect time stamp. Prosecutors did not account for daylight savings time when they converted the messages. The timing of the emails is significant because Kelly testified as to when she sent the emails which differed from the timestamp on the evidence. After behind-closed-door discussions, the judge agreed to instruct the jury about the mistake and make corrections of the time on the evidence they will receive.

Jurors are slated to begin their deliberations on Tuesday.

Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or on Facebook. Follow NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter.
A Republican voter in Iowa has been arrested after authorities say she tried to cast her ballot twice.

Terri Lynn Rote, 55, of Des Moines, was charged with election misconduct Thursday afternoon after authorities said she tried to vote twice, according to the Des Moines Register.

Citing a police report, the newspaper said Rote, a registered Republican, cast an early voting ballot at the Polk County Election Office and then at a satellite office later that day,

The paper said she is due in court Nov. 7, the day before Election Day.

MaryAnn Spoto may be reached at mspoto@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @MaryAnnSpoto. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
George Washington Bridge Rescue The two detectives who used their training and crisis communication skills to help rescue a man from a ledge atop the George Washington Bridge have been partners in the NYPD's Emergency Service Unit for more than a decade. When they're conducting a rescue together the two detectives know each other's next move, making them a powerful team. An NYPD helicopter caught this rescue from above, a joint operation with the Port Authority Police Department. Posted by NYPD on Saturday, October 29, 2016

FORT LEE -- An NYPD video released Saturday shows the dramatic rescue of a suicidal man atop the George Washington Bridge on Friday morning.

The video, highlighting a pair of NYPD detectives who helped police from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey talk the man down from the span, showed a shirtless Alberto Hernandez first standing on the very top of the bridge and then sitting down after speaking with NYPD Detective Raul Gonzalez.

Gonzalez says in the video that as the incident was unfolding, he was worried that the stiff wind or a misstep by Hernandez would send the man plunging into the Hudson River 600 feet below.

While Gonzalez convinced Hernandez to sit down and then continued to speak with him, Gonzalez' partner, Detective Brandon Watson, moved in and grabbed him.

Watson said the pair, who have been partners in the department's Emergency Service Unit for more than a decade, know each other's moves so well that they don't need much communication between them.

"You start to understand each other and not use as many words," Gonzalez says in the video.

And Watson follows up with his take on the benefit to their long-term partnership.

"Without having to verbally tell someone what I'm going to do, that in itself is golden," Watson says.

Gonzalez said the suicidal man thanked him and asked his name.

"That's why we're all police officers at the end, right?" Gonzalez says. "To help people."

Hernandez, 54, of East Stroudsburg, was charged with interference with transportation, defiant trespass and disorderly conduct.

Authorities said he parked his car in the eastbound lane of traffic before climbing to the top of one of the towers.

He was taken to Bergen Regional Medical Center in Paramus, police said.

MaryAnn Spoto may be reached at mspoto@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @MaryAnnSpoto. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
SEASIDE HEIGHTS -- Gov. Chris Christie used the eve of the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Sandy on Friday to hail the state's recovery process, but a group of hecklers who took exception to his claims accused him of exaggerating the progress.

In a visit to Jimbo's, a Seaside Heights boardwalk restaurant destroyed by Sandy, Christie got shouted down after saying only 1,700 of the 365,000 homes damaged by Sandy are still not repaired to the point of getting the homeowners back in.

Christie's comments came a day after the housing advocacy group Fair Share Housing Center told the Assembly Regulation Oversight and Reform and Federal Relations committees that some 7,000 homeowners, trapped in the morass of a state-run recovery program, are still not back in their homes yet.

"Governor, that's not true," one woman shouted.

That opened a floodgate of cat calls from the crowd, including jeers from Christie critic James Keady and from George Kasimos, founder of the grass roots protest group Stop FEMA Now.

"That is a (bull) number, and you know it," Kasimos yelled. "There's 600 substantially damaged homes in Toms River now."

Chiming in was Keady, a former Asbury Park councilman and a failed state Assembly candidate who Christie infamously told to "sit down and shut up" during a Sandy gathering in Belmar for the two-year anniversary.

"Governor, the day you told me to sit down and shut up, you said that you would meet me any time, any place to debate Hurricane Sandy," Keady said.

Christie's office did not immediately respond to an email seeking clarification of the conflicting figures.

For his part, Christie largely ignored the shouts and instead started speaking briefly with some of the frustrated homeowners, promising them his staff would contact them on Saturday.

When the crowd eventually quieted about 15 minutes later, Christie said he understands their frustration but stressed he told residents after the storm that recovery would be a long process.

He appeared to place much of the blame for the remaining delays on unscrupulous contractors who take money but don't do the work. Christie said he was reticent to change the state's rebuilding program to allow property owners to choose their own contractors in the interest of expediency but did so because of the outcry from Sandy survivors.

Still, he said, the state has made great strides, particularly the Jersey Shore, which saw a record for tourism last summer.

"Let's keep things in perspective on what's been done and what hasn't been done, he said. "365,000 homes in the state... are going to take a while to rebuild. The fact that all those...are back and restored is something that I'm enormously proud of no matter how many people yell and scream."

Christie tried to calm the crowd by offering to have his staff meet with them individually to discuss their problems.

MaryAnn Spoto may be reached at mspoto@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @MaryAnnSpoto. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
By Wendi Weber

Four years ago this week, Hurricane Sandy struck the Atlantic Coast, causing more than 100 deaths in the United States, destroying thousands of homes and devastating coastal communities. There has been healing and recovery, but the memory of Sandy lives on - especially for the many people who are still struggling to rebuild homes and put their lives back together.

Today, Sandy serves as a reminder of the past and a lesson for the future. Science tells us that future will include more intense hurricanes and tropical storms predicted with a changing climate, causing more damage to coastal ecosystems and communities. In fact, a recent study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences predicts disastrous floods like those seen during Hurricane Sandy may hit New York City 17 times more often in the next century.

Hurricane Matthew is a recent reminder of how these storms threaten lives and result in millions of dollars in property damage. They also expose the vulnerability of beaches, sand dunes, and coastal marshes that not only provide habitat for fish and wildlife but protect local communities from flooding.

In the aftermath of Sandy, federal, state and local groups have stepped forward in an unprecedented effort to strengthen natural defenses along the Atlantic Coast, protecting communities and wildlife from future storms. At the heart of this effort is one key concept: resilience.

Resilience means being able to bounce back from stress or damage and return quickly a functioning state. We want to raise resilient kids. We want to be resilient in our careers. Ideally, we want our health and finances to be resilient.

And we want nature to be resilient in the face of damage, stress and unpredictability.

A resilient New Jersey coastline is one that can weather a hurricane without being destroyed, one that can adapt to rising seas and an unpredictable climate, one that can support the wildlife and people who call it home.

How do we make coastlines resilient?

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other Department of the Interior agencies are investing $787 million in federal funding for Hurricane Sandy recovery for hundreds of projects to clean up and repair damaged refuges and parks; restore coastal marshes, wetlands and shoreline; connect and open waterways to improve flood control; and increase our scientific understanding of how these natural areas are changing.

These investments support the goal of President Obama's Climate Action Plan to make communities more resilient to increasingly intense storms predicted with a changing climate. They also create jobs and provide opportunities for fishing, hiking, wildlife watching and other recreational opportunities.

In New Jersey, the Fish and Wildlife Service is investing more than $42 million in 12 projects to open seven miles of aquatic habitat, restore 82 miles of coast, and restore more than 37,000 acres of salt marsh. In 2016, this included removing the 150-foot-long Hughesville Dam on the Musconetcong River as part of a larger effort to restore this 42-mile "Wild and Scenic" River to a free-flowing state. Removing the dam opens up fish passage while improving safety and flooding risks for the local community. With dam removal complete, partners are now working on restoration at the site and monitoring of fish and water quality. In September, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell toured the project.

We're also working on multiple projects to protect New Jersey's beaches and coastlines. This includes restoring badly eroded beaches around Delaware Bay -- beaches that are critical to horseshoe crabs, migratory birds and New Jersey's ecotourism economy. And we've engaged dozens of youth volunteers to help build oyster reef living shorelines that will filter water and buffer the shore from wave energy.

If there's a bright side to Hurricane Sandy, it's that it has helped galvanize natural resource protection efforts around the issue of resilience. With anticipated rising sea levels, more frequent and intense storms, shifting seasons and higher temperatures, we need to continue to work together to better understand and adapt to changing conditions.

Strong natural defenses will help all of us better weather future storms.

Wendi Weber is Northeast Regional director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

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Flying Fish Brewing Company cans their Hopfish IPA in 16-ounce cans at their Somerdale brewery.

(Lori M. Nichols | NJ Advance Media)

By Gene Muller and Eric Olsen

It is fitting that Oktoberfest was first celebrated in Germany, because without its pristine forests there would be no beer. Beer is up to 95 percent water -- and clean water depends on forests.

So if you like beer, you should love trees.

Much of the water for your favorite New Jersey craft brew comes from local rivers, streams and aquifers, and forests play a crucial role in how those waterways function.

Forests store and filter the rain and snow that enter our rivers and streams. They capture rainfall and provide shade to slow evaporation, and tree roots keep soil together so it can hold water like a sponge.

For brewers, caring about forest health is smart business.

That's why more than two dozen breweries around the country, including my own here in New Jersey -- Flying Fish Brewing Co. -- have participated in OktoberForest with The Nature Conservancy to celebrate the connections between forests and beer.

The Flying Fish facility is located just few miles from our main water source for making beer, the Delaware River. But forests way upstream in northwestern New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York State are what determine the quality of the Delaware's water. It is all interconnected, so forests that may be out of sight should not be out of mind.

The main challenge to New Jersey's forests is fragmentation -- when habitat is lost or becomes disconnected because of development. We also have our share of browsing deer and invasive insects. For our Pine Barrens, the threat of an uncontrolled fire always looms. And these threats are made worse by a changing climate.

Organizations like The Nature Conservancy are working to protect and restore critical forests in New Jersey. They have helped conserve more than 55,000 of acres of land and forest across the state.

They are currently working with partners and landowners to create an uninterrupted greenway from the Highlands to the Kittatinny Ridge to safeguard water resources and provide habitat for bobcats, which are endangered here. And they are restoring the lands around the Paulins Kill, the third largest Delaware River tributary in New Jersey, with a goal of planting 50,000 trees in the watershed by 2020.

In New Jersey, we are fortunate to be home to more than 60 craft breweries, and that number keeps growing. Those breweries produce about 80,000 barrels -- or 2.5 million gallons -- of beer each year, and every single one of them is dependent on a natural water source.

Many of these breweries, including Flying Fish, are already operating smart, and increasing sustainable practices that stretch and renew the resources we use to brew. But we all can do better by our beer, and the forests that provide its main ingredient, by helping to raise awareness of the important role forests have in our lives.

Take the pledge to help spread the word about the importance of healthy forests at www.OktoberForest.org.

Gene Muller is owner of Flying Fish Brewing Co.

Eric Olsen is director of Land Conservation at the Nature Conservancy in New Jersey.

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.
PATERSON -- A city man was charged with murder in a shooting that was previously reported as a suicide, cops said.

Police responded to an E. 31st apartment on the night of Sept. 18. where they found a 22-year-old with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Paterson Police Director Jerry Speziale said.

Paramedics from St. Joseph's Medical Center responded and the victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

After further investigation detectives believed someone else shot Floyd Tigney, 22 of Clifton, NorthJersey.com reported.

Authorities would not say why they were not convinced this was a suicide. But after detectives consulted with the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office and New Jersey Medical Examiner's Office they decided to press charges.

Mickel Morgan was charged with murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and unlawful possession of a weapon.

Morgan was arrested on Sept. 19 on possession of a machine gun, according to Bergen County jail records. He remains in custody.

Police are asking anyone with more information in the case to call Det. DeSalvo, Det. Leishman and Det. Sabrina McCoy at the Paterson Police Detective Bureau 973-321-1120.

Fausto Giovanny Pinto may be reached at fpinto@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @FGPreporting. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
WASHINGTON -- In the most recent Quinnipiac University survey, the Libertarian Party ticket of two former Republican governors, Gary Johnson of New Mexico and Bill Weld of Massachusetts, polled 7 percent of likely voters in a four-way race.

Among those under age 35, though, the Libertarians polled 19 percent, just 1 percentage point behind the GOP ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence.

Johnson has tried to appeal to younger voters, especially those who supported Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary, by citing his party's platform positions on issues such as legalizing marijuana

"We favor the repeal of all laws creating 'crimes' without victims, such as the use of drugs for medicinal or recreational purposes," the platform said.

The Libertarians also support same-sex marriage and abortion rights, even though Johnson backed a ban on late-term abortions when he was governor.

At the same time, however, the Libertarians oppose most of the planks that Sanders campaigned on, such as limiting the influence of money in campaigns and taking steps to address climate change.

Here are five planks in the Libertarian platform.

1. Big money could get even bigger.

The Libertarians would eliminate limits on how much donors can give to candidates and remove current bans on corporations and unions giving directly to political party committees and those running for office.

They also would repeal rather than update the Watergate-era laws providing for public funding for presidential candidates agreeing to limit their campaign spending.

"We call for an end to any tax-financed subsidies to candidates or parties and the repeal of all laws which restrict voluntary financing of election campaigns," according to the platform.

2. The rich should pay less.

The Libertarian platform calls for the abolition of the income tax, which falls more heavily on wealthier Americans.

The platform also backs the end of Social Security, which is designed to help the elderly from falling into poverty; and wants to balance the federal budget solely through spending cuts. This would require reductions in programs designed to help the needy, such as food stamps and Medicaid.

"The proper and most effective source of help for the poor is the voluntary efforts of private groups and individuals," the platform said.

3. Repeal laws banning businesses from discriminating

While the platform calls bigotry "irrational and repugnant," it also says government should do nothing to prevent businesses from discriminating on behalf of race, color or creed.

"Members of private organizations retain their rights to set whatever standards of association they deem appropriate, and individuals are free to respond with ostracism, boycotts and other free-market solutions," the platform said.

4. The right to bear arms is sacrosanct.

There should be no background checks, no waiting periods and no limits on gun purchases.

"We affirm the individual right recognized by the Second Amendment to keep and bear arms, and oppose the prosecution of individuals for exercising their rights of self-defense," the party platform said. "We oppose all laws at any level of government restricting, registering, or monitoring the ownership, manufacture, or transfer of firearms or ammunition."

5. The government has no role in addressing climate change.

The Libertarian platform offers no proposals to combat climate change, saying free markets and property rights will lead to efforts to protect the environment without the government getting involved.

"Governments are unaccountable for damage done to our environment and have a terrible track record when it comes to environmental protection," the platform said.

"Protecting the environment requires a clear definition and enforcement of individual rights and responsibilities regarding resources like land, water, air, and wildlife," the platform said. Violators could be sued for damages in court.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook
Miami Marlins star pitcher Jose Fernandez reportedly did a lot of partying in the hours before his tragic death last month.

According to the Miami Herald, Fernandez had cocaine in his system and was legally intoxicated when he and two passengers aboard his 32-foot boat crashed to their deaths off the coast of Miami Beach around 3 a.m. on Sept. 25.

Fernandez' blood-alcohol level was 0.147, close to twice the legal limit in Florida, according to a toxicology report obtained on Saturday by the Herald.

It's still unknown if Fernandez or one of the other victims were captaining the boat when it crashed into rocks in a jetty near the Government Cut and South Pointe Park areas of South Beach.

Fernandez was just 24.

According to the report, neither of the other two victims were legally drunk, but one of them, 25-year-old Eduardo Rivera, also had cocaine in his blood.

Emilio Macias, 27, was the third victim.

The tragedy after Fernandez reportedly decided to go late-night boating following an argument with his pregnant girlfriend.

Fernandez was a native of Cuba who defected with his mother and sister in 2007 while he was in high school. He settled in Tampa, was selected by the Marlins in the first round of the 2011 draft and went on to become of the franchise's best and most popular players.

In a four-year Major league career that was interrupted with a serious arm injury, Fernandez had a 38-17 record with a 2.58 ERA. He was an All-Star in the two seasons in which he was fully heathy, his rookie campaign in 2013 and 2016.

Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has issued a subpoena to Donald Trump. The nine-member panel sent a letter to the former president's lawyers on Friday, demanding his testimony under oath by mid-November and outlining a series of corresponding documents. The decision by lawmakers to exercise their subpoena power comes a week after the committee made its final case against the former president, who they say is the "central cause" of the multi-part effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. It remains unclear how Trump and his legal team will respond to the subpoena, if at all.
Taliparamba's Seethi Sahib Higher Secondary School sets up libraries in all its 69 classrooms | Students, alumni, traders and business houses pitch in to build a bank of 6,000 books
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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.
The internationally renowned painter Frida Kahlo, a master of the self-portrait, is considered one of Mexicos greatest artists.

Kahlo is the inspiration for Fridas Cafe, a cafe and art gallery that just opened in the White Ripple Gallery in Hammonds Hessville neighborhood. It joins Purdue University Northwests CHESS gallery as the second new gallery to open this year in a neighborhood thats rapidly becoming one of Northwest Indianas hubs for the arts.

Fridas Cafe employs 12 people, seats about 40, and plans to have many community events, including open mic nights every other Friday, painting classes, Mexican bingo and a Day of the Dead celebration with a mariachi band.

Owner Maria Cokys-Reyes, who hails from the Mexican state of Durango, said she wanted to expose people to Mexican food beyond the usual offerings of tacos and burritos. Chef Juan Arellano makes pastries, gourmet cupcakes and desserts like churros, crepes, and Mexican sweat bread.

We want people to come in and experience traditional culture, music and art of Mexico, Arellano said.

The cafe at 6725 Kennedy Avenue in Hammond serves many beverage options, including agua frescas, horchata, Bubble Tea, smoothies, Jarritos, Mexican Coke, and Cafe De Olla, traditional Mexican coffee with cinnamon and Piloncillo cane sugar. A unique food menu includes molletes bean and cheese bread, tres quesos Mexican grilled cheese sandwich in a telera roll, and guajalotas, a torta from Mexico City that stuffed two tamales and various toppings into a bolillo roll, which is like a baguette.

Cokys-Reyes is a painter whos family includes a famous sculptor and muralist. She designed the cafes interior and painted the floor and wall herself. The colorfully decorated interior includes many Day of the Dead skulls and replicas of Kahlos painting.

A wall displays works by local artists, and a gift shop includes Dia de Muertos skulls, Mexican jewelry, handbags and other items imported from artisans in Mexico. Cokys-Reyes will also show her own work in the cafe on the first floor of the sprawling White Ripple Gallery complex, which includes several artists studios.

Cokys-Reyes had operated Fridas Restaurant in downtown East Chicago, which closed three years ago. She had been looking for a better location, and is now close to the Purdue University Northwest Calumet campus.

We want to invite students, Arellano said. Were going to give them a discount if they bring their student IDs.

Fridas is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call 219-554-3140 or find it on Facebook.
HAMMOND  Days before they were scheduled to go to trial, four men accused of taking part in a money laundering scheme entered guilty pleas on Friday.

Jack Weichman, 64, of Dyer, who owns the Munster accounting firm Weichman & Associates, entered guilty pleas to two counts of bank fraud, one count of concealing assets during a bankruptcy, one count of wire fraud, and one count of filing a false federal income tax return.

A federal grand jury in May 2015 had initially returned a 34-count superseding indictment charging Weichman with nine counts of bank fraud, 14 counts of bankruptcy fraud, two counts of money laundering, four counts of wire fraud and five counts of filing false federal income tax returns, court records show.

He was accused in 2015 of obtaining more than $3 million from a local bank via his physician clients bank accounts, and secured lines of credit in the name of a client without the clients permission.

Under the plea agreement entered Friday, Weichman, also the owner of Medical Management & Data Services, a medical billing operation, admitting to stealing $10,000 from one of his physician clients during a bank fraud scheme that saw at least $660,000 illegally removed from that clients account.

According to a news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office, Weichman also admitted hiding an almost $2 million dollar tax debt to the IRS from another bank at a time when he was seeking to renew a loan from that bank.

Weichman admitted concealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from his bankruptcy creditors in January 2011, and removing $95,000 from a clients retirement fund on April 25, 2012, by having one of his employees pretend to be the client during a phone call to the retirement fund.

Weichman acknowledged that he failed to report to the IRS at least $100,000 in income.

Weichmans employee, William Bercaw, 69, of Munster, entered his own guilty plea to one count of wire fraud relating to the $95,000 illegally removed from a clients retirement fund account on April 25, 2012.

Bercaw also admitted to fixing withdrawal requests to brokerage offices, causing substantial sums of money to be removed from the clients retirement accounts.

Weichmans son, Ari Weichman, 36, of Schererville, and accounting/tax manager James Schafer, 66, of Lowell, also entered guilty pleas Friday. They were charged in 2015 with conspiring to conceal assets.

They pleaded guilty to one count each of bank fraud, admitting to providing false information to U.S. Bancorp in an effort to secure a loan for Jack Weichmans company, MMDS, by telling US Bancorp that Ari Weichman was the owner and president of MMDS. At the time, Jack Weichman was in bankruptcy.

Court documents show the federal government is offering the plea deals only if all four defendants enter into the agreements simultaneously.

Sentencing for all defendants is set for January 27.
HAMMOND  A motion filed Thursday on behalf of Hammond says the city will not settle a federal civil lawsuit over a man's wrongful conviction in a rape case as long as murder charges against him remain pending.

James Hill, 53, of Gary, was charged in September in Lake Criminal Court in connection with the 1980 slaying of Hammond police officer Lawrence J. Pucalik.

He has pleaded not guilty.

Hill served more than 17 years in prison after a jury convicted Hill and Larry Mayes in 1982 of raping a female Hammond gas station attendant in a robbery that took place one month before Pucaliks death.

Police said Pucalik's homicide and the rape were linked to Hill and Mayes through a blue denim bag used in both crimes.

Judges later overturned their rape convictions on a modern DNA analysis, unavailable in the 1980s, that excluded Hill and Mayes.

Mayes, 67, of Portage, won a $4.5 million settlement from Hammond for his wrongful conviction in a civil lawsuit. Hills civil suit remains pending.

U.S. District Magistrate Judge Paul Cherry in September postponed Hill's previously scheduled settlement conference, after attorneys learned Hill had been arrested on the latest murder charge.

In Hammond's motion to vacate or postpone the Nov. 1 mediation session, attorney Robert Feldt wrote there is an overlap in the investigations and evidence in the 1980 rape and robbery case  the subject of Hill's lawsuit  and Pucalik's homicide.

Hill's attorney, Kevin Vanderground, said Hill is innocent in Pucalik's homicide and questioned the timing of the latest criminal charges.

James Hill did over 17 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. We all agreed on that," he said. "On the eve of that settlement conference, they charged him with another crime he didn't commit."

The Lake County prosecutor's office previously filed murder charges in 2012 against Hill, Mayes and Pierre Catlett, of Harvey.

Those charges were later dropped.
Nearly a dozen Northwest Indiana police officers sent to quell protests over the Dakota Access oil pipeline were deployed to North Dakota under a nationwide compact adopted by all 50 states, a state agency said.

The Emergency Management Assistance Compact allows for professionals of all types to be deployed to other states, according to a spokesman for the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.

"In the recent past, Indiana has sent a variety of public safety professionals at the request of other states, including emergency medical personnel, planners, public information officers, emergency management leadership, safety officers, liaison officers, etc.," according to an email from the department.

When other states seek assistance, officials in Indiana evaluate the request and seek help if possible, the spokesman said. The state making the request must decide whether to accept any assistance Indiana offers and agree to reimburse the cost.

A total of 37 police officers from Indiana have been sent to North Dakota, including 11 from several Northwest Indiana departments, the spokesman said.

The Indiana team includes officers from Department of Natural Resources, Lake County Sheriffs Department, Marion County Sheriffs Department, Brookville Police Department, Griffith Police Department, Hammond Police Department, Michigan City Police Department, Munster Police Department and Schererville Police Department.

Officials have said Indiana tried to respond to such requests, but the state never knows when it might need assistance in return.

Protesters remain

The Associated Press reported Saturday protesters were staying near their encampment, following two days of confrontations that resulted in more than a hundred arrests and a barricade of burned-out vehicles blocking a North Dakota highway.

A handful of people walked along the highway amid cloudy, chilly weather early Saturday as campfires burned at the nearby camp where hundreds of protesters are staying. About half a dozen law enforcement vehicles were parked along the highway near Cannon Ball, a town about 50 miles south of Bismarck.

There was no immediate word on protesters' plans at the site, but an afternoon rally at the state Capitol in Bismarck was expected to feature landowners and community members encouraging supporters to take action however they can. Hundreds of people attended a similar rally in September.

As many as 50 protesters gathered Friday behind heavy plywood sheets and the burned vehicles, facing a line of concrete barriers, military vehicles and police in riot gear. A small group of people, including some observers from Amnesty International, stayed into the evening after protest leaders asked people to return to camp.

Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier described the protesters as "non-confrontational but uncooperative," and credited Standing Rock Sioux tribal members for helping to ease tensions.

Standing Rock has waged a protest for months against the nearly 1,200-mile pipeline being developed across four states by Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners. The pipeline is slated to carry North Dakota crude oil to a shipping point in Patoka, Illinois.

The tribe argues that the pipeline is a threat to water and cultural sites. Protests encampments set up to support of the tribe have grown to thousands of people, with the effort drawing support from Native Americans and other people from around the country, including environmentalists and some celebrities.

The protest escalated Sunday when demonstrators set up camp on private land along the pipeline's path that had recently been acquired by Energy Transfer Partners, The Associated Press reported. On Thursday, more than 140 people were arrested as law enforcement, bolstered by reinforcements from several states, moved in slowly to envelop the protesters.

Kirchmeier said tribal representatives were later allowed onto the private property to remove teepees. Officers arrested one person, but no details were released.

Following Thursday's eviction, some protesters worked overnight to create the two roadblocks.

'All the destruction'

Jolene White Eagle, 56, a lifelong Cannon Ball resident, watched as law enforcement officers massed near Friday's new blockade and called the police response "nonsense."

"It reminds me of something like a foreign country, what's happened here with all the destruction," she said.

The camp cleared on Thursday was located just to the north of a more permanent, larger encampment on federally owned land that has been the main staging area for hundreds of protesters. Many returned to that site Friday to regroup and reunite with others who had been arrested the day before.

There were no immediate plans to try to reoccupy the private land or to build a new camp elsewhere in the pipeline's path, protest camp spokesman Cody Hall said.

"That's something in the air for people to grasp onto, think about, but I don't know if that will happen today," he said Thursday.

A federal judge in September denied the tribe's request to block construction on the grounds that the Army Corps of Engineers improperly issued permits, and North Dakota officials say no culturally significant sites have been found in the area. But on the day the judge ruled, three federal agencies stepped in to order construction to halt on Army Corps-owned land around Lake Oahe, a wide spot of the Missouri River, while the Corps reviewed its decision-making.

Meanwhile, construction has been allowed to continue on private land owned by the developer, with a goal of completion by the end of the year.

___

Associated Press writer Blake Nicholson contributed to this report from Bismarck, North Dakota.
WASHINGTON  The Supreme Court will take up transgender rights for the first time in the case of a Virginia school board that wants to prevent a transgender teenager from using the boys bathroom at his high school.

The justices said Friday they will hear the appeal from the Gloucester County school board sometime next year. The high courts order means that student Gavin Grimm will not be able to use the boys bathroom in the meantime.

The court could use the case to resolve similar disputes across the country, said Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. Obviously, for transgender people, the stakes of this case are incredibly high. Whatever the court rules in Grimm may ensure that transgender people are accepted and included as equal members of our society, or it may relegate them to outsiders for decades to come, Minter said.

A lower court had ordered the school board to accommodate Grimm, but the justices in August put that order on hold while they considered whether to hear the appeal.

Grimm, a 17-year-old high school senior, was born female but identifies as male. He was allowed to use the boys restroom at his high school for several weeks in 2014. But after some parents complained, the school board adopted a policy requiring students to use either the restroom that corresponds with their biological gender or a private, single-stall restroom. Grimm is backed by the Obama administration in his argument that the policy violates Title IX, a federal law that bars sex discrimination in schools.

I never thought that my restroom use would ever turn into any kind of national debate, Grimm said in a statement issued after the court announced it will hear his case. The only thing I ever asked for was the right to be treated like everyone else. While Im disappointed that I will have to spend my final school year being singled out and treated differently from every other guy, I will do everything I can to make sure that other transgender students dont have to go through the same experience.

Gloucester County school board chairman Troy Andersen praised the court for agreeing to hear what he called a difficult case. The board looks forward to explaining to the Court that its restroom and locker room policy carefully balances the interests of all students and parents in the Gloucester County school system, Andersen said.

The Education Department says transgender students should be allowed to use restrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identities. Among the issues in the case is whether the departments guidance should have the force of law.

Similar lawsuits are pending around the country. The Obama administration has sued North Carolina over a state law aimed at restricting transgender students to bathrooms that correspond to their biological genders.

A federal judge in Texas has sided with Texas and 12 other states in issuing a nationwide hold on the administrations directive to public schools, issued in May. The directive tells schools to allow transgender students to use the bathroom and locker room consistent with their gender identity.

The case probably will be heard in the winter, and it is by no means certain that there will be a ninth justice to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February. Senate Republicans have refused to act on Judge Merrick Garlands nomination to the high court. A tie vote would be a victory for Grimm, who won in the lower courts, but would leave the issue unresolved nationally.

The Supreme Court split 5 to 3 in August to put the court order in Grimms case on hold. At the time, Justice Stephen Breyer said he was providing a fifth vote to go along with the four more conservative justices to preserve the status quo until the court decided whether to weigh in. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented.

Grimm had urged the court not to take up his case.

The school board asked the court to settle the matter now. It said that allowing Grimm to use the boys restroom raises privacy concerns and may cause some parents to pull their children out of school.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond sided with Grimm in April, saying the federal judge who previously dismissed Grimms Title IX discrimination claim ignored the Education Departments guidance on bathroom use.

The appeals court reinstated Grimms Title IX claim and sent it back to the district court for further consideration. The judge then issued the order in favor of Grimm.

___

Associated Press writer David Crary in New York contributed to this report. Durkin reported from Richmond.
A man, who police say had a gun, is recovering after being shot by police inside a Queens housing complex.

It happened around 9:30 Friday night at the Baisley Park Houses on Guy R. Brewer Boulevard.

Investigators say a plainclothes lieutenant and an officer were doing patrols in a building when they came across 38-year-old Jamel Ethridge.

"As they entered the second floor stairway, they encountered a male with a firearm in his hand," said NYPD Assistant Chief David Barrere, commanding officer for the Queens South patrol. "During this encounter both the lieutenant and the officer fired their weapons, striking the perpetrator one time in the left leg. The perpetrator was transported to Jamaica Hospital."

Police say they told Ethridge to put down the gun before opening fire.

He's now in the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Authorities recovered a 9-millimeter handgun from the scene.

Police say Ethridge has an extensive criminal record that includes charges for attempted murder and criminal possession of a firearm.
Events marking Sandy's fourth anniversary are being held throughout the city.

The non-profit Rebuilding Together NYC is helping several homeowners still struggling with the aftermath of Sandy today, offering free repairs to low income families in Gerritsen Beach, Brooklyn.

One woman says without their help, she was desperate. She did not qualify for the city's backlogged Build it Back Program.

"It's a godsend, ever since Rebuild Together had come to the house, and said they were going to help us," said Sandy victim Denise Garrett. "They promised they were not going to leave us stranded any longer and they are here to help. And it's a wonderful, wonderful thing and we are very grateful."

More than 40 people in the city were killed as a result of Sandy, two-dozen of them on Staten Island.

The storm surge and winds destroyed thousands of homes and caused billions of dollars in damage.
In that regard, the Swiss-born Mr. Obrist, 48  who never formally studied art history  is hard to beat. Legendary for the insomniac relentlessness of his globe-trotting schedule, he travels to visit artists and museums 52 weekends of the year and is the co-founder of the Brutally Early Club, a discussion group that periodically convenes in cities such as London, New York and Paris at 6.30 am. Mr. Obrist is a curator of artists thoughts and intentions more than what they do and make, though he is an enabler of that as well, the keepers of the list write. The British digital artist Ed Atkins (number 50 in the Power 100) was given a one-man show by him at the Serpentine in 2014.

In July, Mr. Obrist published his Lives of the Artists, Lives of the Architects, echoing Giorgio Vasaris famous 1550 Lives, which the would-be curator read at the age of 17. Those same biographies underpin the threatened A-level History of Art syllabus studied by British 17 year-olds, who many view as choosing a soft option.

Mr. Obrist is becoming the Vasari of our digital age. His ongoing Interview Project on tumblr.com has over 2,000 hours of interviews with influential individuals across a range of cultural disciplines. He is the co-founder of 89plus.com, a research project that curates and promotes the work of more than 6,000 artists born in or after 1989. He has 147,000 followers on Instagram, where he systematically posts images of handwritten messages artists doodle at the end of interviews with him.

Social media is an additional layer of research for me and it will never replace studio and exhibition visits, Mr. Obrist said in an email. Digital consumption only gives people a bigger desire than ever to engage with art in person. Visitor numbers at the Serpentine Galleries, where he has been a director since 2006, increased last year to 995,335 from 912,746 in 2014.

Technological savviness and a multifaceted approach distinguish the highest climbers in this years Power 100. To be sure, there are the usual suspects of the commercial gallery scene, such as Iwan & Manuela Wirth (at 3), David Zwirner (4) and Larry Gagosian (6). But above them at number 2 is the politicized Polish curator Adam Szymczyk, the director of next years 14th quinquennial Documenta art exhibition, which for the first time will be held in Athens as well as its hometown Kassel in Germany.

Image Hans Ulrich Obrist, the artistic director of the Serpentine Galleries in London. Credit... Roe Ethridge

The most powerful artist, at number 7, is the Berlin-based Hito Steyerl, whose immersive video installation, Factory of the Sun, was on show from February to September at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles, having represented Germany at the previous years Venice Biennale.
Sophia Cranshaw, an MTV producer, director and writer who was honored for her campaigns against genocide, the stigma of mental illness and other sweeping social crises, died on Monday in Manhattan. She was 45.

Her death was confirmed by a spokeswoman for Viacom, the parent company of MTV, who said the cause was breast cancer.

Ms. Cranshaw won the Governors Award Emmy in 2006 for Campaign for Darfur, a public service announcement narrated by Alicia Keys calling for action against the genocide and the abuse of women and girls in Western Sudan.

MTVU: Half of Us, which focused on the prevalence and dangers of depression among college students, won a Peabody Award in 2007. Ms. Cranshaw was the writer, co-director and co-producer of that project, which used the tagline The pain is real  dont ignore the signs and included statements of personal experience from musical celebrities like Pete Wentz and Mary J. Blige.
Whos dead? No one but the victims, or so it seems, as The Fall returns. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies bloodies up Jane Austens classic as Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy battle the undead. And 48 Hours examines a case cracked by a butt dial.

Whats Streaming

THE FALL on Netflix. Season 2 of this British serial-killer thriller ended with its resident psychopath, Paul Spector (Jamie Dornan), bleeding out in the arms of Stella Gibson, Gillian Andersons chilly, enigmatic police investigator, brought in to ignite a stalled murder case in Belfast, Northern Ireland. But is he truly dead? Of course not  but he might as well be as the third and final season begins with a mortally wounded Spector being prepped for surgery. Now the creator of the series, Allan Cubitt, needs to move the story forward another six hours with his killer caught and clinging to life, Mike Hale wrote in The New York Times. My advice: Keep an eye on the nurse who fits Spectors victim profile.

Whats on TV

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES (2016) 9 p.m. on Starz. Jane Austens classic is updated by way of Seth Grahame-Smiths 2009 novel, which arms Elizabeth Bennett (Lily James) and her Mr. Darcy (Sam Riley) with wordy barbs and deadly weapons as they fend off some flesh-eating undead. Alas, despite appealing actors, handsome drawing rooms and impressive estates, the storys lone joke and its grinding literalness grow dull, Manohla Dargis wrote in The Times.
The revelation that the federal authorities had found a trove of emails related to their investigation into Hillary Clintons private email server appear to be the latest fallout from an unlikely source: Anthony D. Weiner, a Democrat who once represented New York in Congress and also ran for mayor.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been investigating the contact by Mr. Weiner, whose political career collapsed a few years ago because of his online indiscretions, with a 15-year-old girl in North Carolina. On Friday, federal law enforcement officials said that emails related to the case involving Mrs. Clinton had been found on a computer belonging to Mr. Weiner, whose estranged wife, Huma Abedin, is a top aide to Mrs. Clinton.

Here are key moments in Mr. Weiners long fall from grace.
Every time Americans start thinking nothing more can surprise them in this presidential campaign, something detonates to prove them wrong. So it was that on Friday, 11 days from Election Day, the F.B.I. director, James Comey, sent a cryptic letter to Congress saying, In connection with an unrelated case, the F.B.I. has learned of the existence of emails that appear pertinent to its investigation of Hillary Clintons private email server.

Whose emails? About what? Do they have any connection to Mrs. Clinton herself? Mr. Comey wasnt saying. Indeed, he appeared to have no idea. He went on to inform Congress that the F.B.I. cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be significant, nor could he even predict how long it would take the F.B.I. to figure that out.

In a rare moment of bipartisan agreement  if not mutual interest  the campaigns of both Mrs. Clinton and Donald Trump demanded, quite correctly, that Mr. Comey provide more information, and fast.

According to numerous reports on Friday evening, the new emails were discovered during the bureaus investigation of Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of Huma Abedin, an aide and confidante of Mrs. Clintons. Mr. Weiner is being investigated in connection with illicit text messages he sent to a 15-year-old girl in North Carolina.
In the sprawling 19th District, in the Hudson Valley and Catskills, Zephyr Teachout, a Democrat, is running against John Faso, a Republican who was the Assembly minority leader. Ms. Teachout, a Fordham law professor and author, is an expert on political corruption and the corrosive influence of money in politics. She gained national attention as a political novice for her surprisingly potent bid to unseat Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the 2014 Democratic primary. Her campaign is focused on fighting corporate monopolies and dirty money, protecting the environment and cutting red tape for small businesses and farms. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a kindred spirit, has endorsed her.

Mr. Faso, well known and respected in this district, has a lifetime A rating from the National Rifle Association. He wants to support the local economy by speeding up environmental reviews of big projects and cutting corporate taxes. Mr. Faso says he disagrees with Mr. Trump on several issues but refuses to say whether or not he will vote for him. Ms. Teachout is the better candidate for this era of gridlock and disillusionment. She promises to be the strong voice for change in Washington that so many angry voters are demanding.

The race in the 24th District, in Syracuse and surrounding areas, pits a one-term Republican, John Katko, against Colleen Deacon, a Democrat and former aide to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Ms. Deacon has strong endorsements, including from President Obama and Emilys List. But Mr. Katko deserves re-election. He is a rare breed of Republican, an independent thinker who has bucked his party in crucial ways. He opposed its efforts to undo President Obamas administrative actions protecting young immigrants from deportation and its reckless campaign to destroy the Affordable Care Act. He acknowledges that climate change is real and caused by humans. Congressional Quarterly recently called him the eighth most independent House Republican.

Hes wrong on some issues  he tried to stall the funding of Planned Parenthood, stopped short of offering unauthorized immigrants a path to citizenship and opposed the nuclear deal with Iran. But  and this is important  he passes the Trump test; that is, he finds Mr. Trumps remarks about women offensive, disgusting and inexcusable and says he wont vote for him. Asked by the Syracuse.com editorial board how he felt about being on the same ballot line as Mr. Trump and Ms. Long, Mr. Katko said, Thats why God made Scotch. Washington needs more Republicans like him.

THE HOUSE, FROM NEW JERSEY

New Jerseys Fifth District, covering parts of Bergen, Passaic, Sussex and Warren Counties, has had the misfortune of being represented for nearly 14 years by a founding member of the ultraconservative, antigovernment Freedom Caucus, Scott Garrett. He voted recently against helping 9/11 first responders. He infuriated fellow Republicans by refusing to contribute to the National Republican Congressional Committee because it backed gay candidates. He opposes abortion rights and same-sex marriage.

His Democratic opponent, Josh Gottheimer, was a Microsoft executive and a speechwriter for President Bill Clinton. He says he wants to work for more civility and productivity in Congress, for comprehensive tax reform, for better constituent services and for government investment in the district, something his opponent often rejects on ideological grounds. Mr. Gottheimer would serve the district far better than Mr. Garrett.

NEW YORK STATE SENATE

The Ninth District, in Nassau County, was dominated for years by Dean Skelos, the former Senate leader, and now a convicted felon and living symbol of all that is rotten in Albany. Todd Kaminsky, a Democratic member of the Assembly and a former prosecutor, won the seat in a special election this spring, narrowly beating a Republican lawyer, Chris McGrath. Mr. McGrath, who is running again, said he would oppose limits on outside income for legislators, a practice that too easily creates conflicts between public and private interests. We recommended Mr. Kaminsky in the special election and believe he should remain in that seat.

The Seventh District, also in Nassau County, is an open seat. Adam Haber, a school board member and businessman (real estate and restaurants), is the Democrat running against Elaine Phillips, the Republican mayor of the tiny village of Flower Hill. Both are worthy candidates, but Ms. Phillips gets extra credit for her environmental efforts, working after Hurricane Sandy to combat erosion and groundwater pollution and to protect the area from flooding. The League of Conservation Voters has endorsed Ms. Phillips, and so do we.
Video Audio Time code Shot of landscape. Title: Deh\u2019Subz, Afghanistan Girls walking to school. Title: Razia Jan Founder, Zabuli Education Center Title: The Zabuli Education Center is the village\u2019s first school for girls. Razia: Slow down! Cant you see there are kids? Is that necessary, brother? 0:00:00 0:20:00 0:39:00 Pashtana drawing on chalkboard, students laughing Class beginning. Nazima enters. Student: Oh, Pashtana! Pashtana: My fianc\u00e9 is tall with a giant head. I try to hold his hand but I cannot reach. Student: Pashtana! I\u2019m telling you, Teacher Nazima is coming! Nazima: Behave yourselves, girls. 0:50:00 Interview with Pashtana Title: Pashtana 7th Grade Pashtana: My biggest hope is to finish school. That\u2019s how my life will turn the corner, and ill be on my way. The best way I can help my mother with her problems is to graduate as soon as possible. But I\u2019m worried there are people around me who will try to stop me. 01:15:00 Pashtana fetching water Pashtana home with family Pashtana: My mother says as long as we\u2019re clean, it doesn\u2019t matter that we wear old clothes. My mother has good morals. Pashtana: Mother, is the tea ready? Fatema: Yes. Pashtana: On my way to school Uncle Mawon stopped me and told me to wear the burqa. He said school is no good for me. What should I say to him? Fatema: Ignore him. Just focus on your studies. I don\u2019t want you to end up blind like me blind to everything happening in the world. As long as I\u2019m alive I won\u2019t let anyone stop you. It doesn\u2019t matter what your uncle says. I registered you with the blood of my heart. It is a great school. 01:47:00 Little boy in street, tank drives by. Bell ringing and children going to class. Man riding bicycle. Interview with Said. Title: Said Village Elder Said: When this school was fist built people were very suspicious about it. There were people who wanted this to be an all-boys\u2019 school. Of course, there were people who wanted to destroy the whole school. Even a few weeks ago they said boys should share it. 03:18:00 Girls checking bags at school entrance Pashtana and others enter room with Nazima and others Bag checker: Hey, don\u2019t go without being searched. Did you get searched? Nazima: Welcome. Welcome, girls. Sit down. One of you here, one of you there. We\u2019ve asked you girls to come here because you all have fianc\u00e9s. Pashtana, you\u2019re engaged too? Pashtana: To my Uncle\u2019s son. Nazima: Is he your first cousin? Is he in school? Pashtana: I don\u2019t know. I\u2019ll only accept him if he\u2019s in school. I won\u2019t marry him unless he graduates from high school. Nazima: Is that why they want you to stop coming to school? Pashtana: Yes 03:43:00 Interview with Pashtana Pashtana: God says all humans should be educated and keep learning as long as they can. I dropped at my brother\u2019s feet and begged him to stay in school. I don\u2019t want anything else. I\u2019ll do anything. I\u2019ve done a lot for my family and now I need some loyalty. If you don\u2019t let me go to school then just kill me. That would be much better for me. 04:32:00 Men pushing bikes down road. Shot of landscape. Razia enters 9th grade class Close-ups of student reactions to Razia\u2019s story Razia holds flower and speaks to class. Razia: You\u2019re so loud that I can hear you voices outside. Student: We were studying. Razia: Forgive me, I\u2019d like to talk to the girls this period. Razia: I once visited with a girl in London. Student: Teacher Malakhat? Razia: No, Malala. The girl from Pakistan who was shot. She was a teenage girl just like you. She was on a bus home from school. Taliban gunmen stopped the bus. They asked the girls, \u201cWhich one of you is Malala?\u201d Everyone was silent. But because everyone looked they knew it was her. They shot her. Student: Why did they shoot her? Razia: She spoke out and said, \u201cI have the right to study.\u201d \u201cI have the right to laugh.\u201d I have the right to play.\u201d \u201cAnd I have the right to study anything I want.\u201d That\u2019s why the Taliban shot her. Nobody has the right to prevent girls from getting an education. Studying is not a sin. 05:19:00 Landscape. Pashtana looking out window. Title: One day on the way to school Pashtana tried to kill herself by eating rat poison. Pashtana: When my fianc\u00e9\u2019s father came to the house to see me he was so angry with me. He asked me, \u201cWhy did you do this?\u201d \u201cIt would\u2019ve been better if the poison had killed you.\u201d 07:06:00 Zia in his office. Title: Zia Headmaster Zia: Auntie. Call Pashtana from her class. Pashtana\u2019s is in 7th grade. Zia: This is a big problem for us. Woman: I know- they took her straight to the hospital from here. Thank God she\u2019s okay. Zia: Come in. Pashtana: May I come in? Zia: Please sit down. It\u2019s a problem for us that you ate poison and then came to school. So tell me from the beginning exactly what happened. Pashtana: My uncle told me I couldn\u2019t go to school. He said, \u201cNow that you\u2019re engaged you can\u2019t go to school anymore.\u201d \u201cNobody in our family goes to school.\u201d \u201cI\u2019ll do anything,\u201d I told him. \u201cI\u2019ll even wear the burqa if you want me to. When I said this they started beating me. I ate the poison because when they were beating me I knew they\u2019d never let me go to school. Zia: Everybody says the Zabuli School is a very good school. If something bad happened then what would people say? There are girls in 7th, 8th, and 9th grade who are engaged and they don\u2019t like their fianc\u00e9s. Their families have forced them to get engaged as well. They might hang themselves in the bathroom and die. Our reputation in this village would be destroyed. I don\u2019t need students like that here. Pashtana: Please, sir. I won\u2019t do it in the future. I\u2019m so sorry. I will never ever do this again. I\u2019ll ask my family to come in. I\u2019ll ask my mother. Please, don\u2019t expel me. Zia: I will call them. Pashtana: Please, Honorable Headmaster all of my hope is in this school. Zia: They must guarantee me before you\u2019ll have permission to be here. You may go now. 07:49:00 09:01:00 Pashtana leaving school. Landscape. Man opens gate. Title: Two Weeks Later Meeting between Pashtana\u2019s mother and Razia. Razia: Your daughter, Pashtana, tells me you\u2019re having some family problems. What\u2019s going on? Fatema: Pashtana was forced to get engaged. I told her this happens to everyone. At least it\u2019s your cousin, not a stranger. Razia: You should be proud of your daughters. They\u2019re doing very well in their lessons. Fatema: That\u2019s great. Relatives tell me all the time that my daughters should not be in school. But I don\u2019t listen. I\u2019ll let them do whatever they want to me. But I won\u2019t let them prevent my daughters from going to school. 10:21:00 Announcing students\u2019 grades. Distributing report cards. Nahid: Dear students, please be quiet. Pay attention. We are announcing your results. Nahid: Smile. You\u2019re getting your report card. Teacher: Pashtana? Pashtana is ranked fifteenth. Congratulations, my dear. 11:38:00 Interview with Pashtana Pashtana: When my father said I could go to school I thanked God that I\u2019m still alive. Plus, my friends would be sad because I\u2019m the funny one in class. 12:25:00 Girls filing out of school Fade to black Razia: I can see the changes among these girls. I think the confidence that they have, the courage that they have. And it\u2019s so powerful for me to look at that and feel that yes, there is a success, there is a success in these girls lives. 12:25:00
On Nov. 8 I will be going to the polls and voting, without hesitation or disinclination, for Hillary Clinton. But what a treacherous and unforgivable act this will be for my father, who will no doubt be supporting the only presidential candidate he believes has any chance of saving the United States from almost certain ruin: Alyson Kennedy.

You have probably never heard of Alyson Kennedy until now, and neither have you heard of her running mate, Osborne Hart, unless you happen to be a member of the Socialist Workers Party, as my father has been for the past 50 years, or you happen to have passed in recent months a folding table on a city street and been handed campaign literature explaining that the only way forward is to organize independent working-class struggles that point toward overturning the dictatorship of capital. This is the exact sentiment, word for word, that my family subscribed to when I was growing up, a sentiment that can be traced all the way back to Marx, and that held great power over me as a child, and that holds some power over me still, but that seems to hold no power over almost anyone else, including the working class.

Its worth noting that Ms. Kennedy is a white woman, and Mr. Hart is a black man. But lest you think the Socialist Workers Party is opportunistically mimicking the Democratic Party, you should know that it has a long record of nominating women and nonwhite men for national office. Forty-four years before Barack Obama, there was Clifton DeBerry, and before Mrs. Clinton, there was Linda Jenness in 1972. The party once even nominated a man born in a foreign country and a woman under the age of 35, running together on the same ticket, neither of whom, needless to say, would have been constitutionally eligible to assume office if they had somehow managed to get elected.

How many votes has any Socialist Workers Party candidate received? Sometimes a few thousand, sometimes tens of thousands, once 90,000, but that was 1976. No matter. The objective is not to amass votes but to participate in politics using whatever means the capitalist system has allowed so as to eventually be able to overthrow the capitalist system. To vote for a Socialist Workers Party candidate is not necessarily a protest vote, or at least not the kind we have come to associate with third-party candidates like Gary Johnson or Jill Stein, but rather it is a protest vote insofar as ones entire existence is a state of protest  which was certainly true for my family.
CHICAGO  About 20 people were taken to hospitals with minor injuries Friday after an American Airlines jet preparing to take off for Miami caught fire on the runway at OHare International Airport, officials said.

There was a big ball of red flames, said Gary Schiavone, who said he was onboard the plane, heading to Florida for a family visit.

Mr. Schiavone said people onboard were going, Oh my God, lets get out of here  when the fire started around 2:35 p.m. He credited flight attendants and the pilots for avoiding a catastrophe and managing the organized chaos. About 170 people were onboard, and many used an emergency slide to evacuate.

One runway remained closed Friday evening as fire crews extinguished hot spots, but operations at OHare, one of the worlds busiest airports, had otherwise returned to normal. Fire Department officials said the injuries, including some bruises, seemed to have occurred when people were evacuating the plane.
WASHINGTON  James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director, faced a dilemma on Thursday when deputies briefed him about the discovery of a trove of emails that might be linked to the inquiry into Hillary Clintons private email server that was closed months ago.

Mr. Comey could immediately inform Congress about the emails, which were found in an investigation into former Representative Anthony D. Weiner. That unusual step, months after Mr. Comey had cleared Mrs. Clinton of any criminal wrongdoing in the email case, would risk accusations that he was unfairly harming her presidential campaign less than two weeks before the election.

Or he could delay any announcement and examine the new emails more closely, risking criticism that he had suppressed important new information if it came out after the election, despite his pledges of transparency in the investigation.

Mr. Comey, a Republican appointed by President Obama three years ago, decided that he could live with criticism of his judgment, aides said. So on Friday morning, the F.B.I.s congressional liaison emailed a letter from the director to the chairmen and ranking members of eight congressional committees  virtually ensuring that it would be quickly publicized by eager Republicans.
To the Editor:

Re $2,500: A Fair Price for Hamilton (The Upshot, Economic View, Oct. 23):

N. Gregory Mankiws piece on why he is thrilled, just thrilled, to pay $2,500 for a ticket to Hamilton requires the minting of a new term: richsplaining.

He gets to see Hamilton and deigns to explain to the rest of us from his lofty and well-paid perch in Cambridge why we should all be in love with our dictated-by-the-immutable-laws-of-the-free-market oppression. Its why people hate classical economics, classical economists, and Harvard classical economists in particular.

Peter Scotto

South Hadley, Mass., Oct. 23
Perhaps it was the lack of sleep, but I recently found myself having a full-fledged meltdown, prompted by an email signature. Specifically, my own email signature (or lack of one): that little one-line signoff that comes at the end of your iPhone message, telling the person on the other end that youve sent the message from your mobile device.

Sure, there was a time it may have been appropriate, even cool, to tout the default Sent from my iPhone, a programmed plug-in (and a genius little bit of branding). But these days, that one-liner signals only one thing: bore.

So instead, you must come up with something witty. Sent from a bumpy tarmac, you might write, followed by a custom GIF. Envoi de mon iPhone, if you want to be fancy (and French).

The director Shonda Rhimes famously signs her emails with Sent from the room where it happens, followed by a bite-size statement on work-life balance, noting that she will not respond to emails after 7 p.m. The writer Roxane Gay signs off, Sent from a magical awesome telephonic device from the future. You might call it an iPhone.
PG: Which president does Hillary most remind you of?

RM: Fascinating! Its so hard not to factor gender. Which dude is she most like?

DKG: It would have to be someone who had a lot of experience in different forms. Teddy Roosevelt probably came to the presidency with most experience: police commissioner, Civil Service commissioner, state legislator, governor, vice president, president. Bush Sr. also had a lot of title positions and brought an array of experiences.

RM: But theres often an alienation factor when people  like Hillary or Bush Sr.  come to you with all those experiences. Theyre no longer seen as a person to have a beer with. It makes it harder for people to empathize with them. I think George H. W. Bush suffered from that enormously.

DKG: They become personages rather than people.

PG: Have you met the candidates?

RM: I met Hillary in a professional capacity. I interviewed her. But what happened off-camera was almost more interesting. I dont think of her as an extrovert, but when we were done, she met every single person on set, my entire staff, the whole floor, including the cleaning crew. Shook hands, took pictures. She was being kind to people who had an interest in her. But to see her do that, willingly, at the end of her 11th event of the day, that surprised me.

PG: And Trump?

RM: Ive only spoken to Trump on the phone. He was warm and charming. I enjoyed talking to him. But a funny thing happened when I was negotiating with his staff. They insisted that the conversation was off the record. I could never even refer to the fact that it had happened. But at the end of it, Mr. Trump said: Well, this has been a good conversation. You can run it. I said: Im not taping it. Your people said I couldnt even refer to it. And he said, This wasnt on TV?

PG: I bet youre a go-to person for candidates, Doris, with your presidential patina?

DKG: I was on the radio when my Roosevelt book came out, talking about how most of the action takes place on the second floor of the White House. Roosevelt invited all these people to live with them during World War II: His foreign policy adviser moved in and never left; Lorena Hickok, who had a crush on Eleanor; Princess Martha from Norway. Winston Churchill would stay for weeks at a time. So, I said, Im obsessed with all the great conversations they must have had in their bathrobes.
An audience member at the Metropolitan Opera sprinkled a powdery substance  what the police said may have been the ashes of his mentor  into the orchestra pit during an intermission of a performance on Saturday, setting off a police investigation and the cancellation of the rest of that opera and a production that evening.

The police said at a news conference on Saturday night that they had identified the audience member, a man, through video surveillance footage and interviews with witnesses he spoke to before the afternoon performance of Rossinis Guillaume Tell.

John J. Miller, the deputy police commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism for the Police Department, provided few details about the man or his mentor other than to say the man was from outside of New York and that the police were trying to contact him. The man told other patrons he was there specifically to sprinkle the ashes during the performance, the police said. Mr. Miller said the act may have been a violation of the citys health code but that there was no criminal intent.

The episode, which unfolded around 4:30 p.m. during the second intermission of the opera at Lincoln Center in Manhattan, prompted the company to cancel the rest of the show and Saturday nights performance of LItaliana in Algeri. The Met will reopen on Monday.
Police officers patrolling a public housing complex in Queens shot an armed man in the leg on Friday night after he failed to obey their orders to drop his gun, the police said.

The officers, a plainclothes lieutenant and a housing police officer, were on an interior patrol of the Baisley Park Houses at Guy Brewer Boulevard and 116th Avenue in Jamaica because there had been a shooting there two days earlier, Assistant Chief David Barrere, commanding officer of the Queens South patrol, said at a news conference early Saturday morning.

About 9:20 p.m., as the officers entered the second-floor stairwell of a building, they saw a man with gun, the police said. They ordered him to drop it, but he ignored them, and the two officers fired their weapons, Chief Barrere said. One shot hit the man, identified as Jamel Ethridge, in the left leg. He was taken to Jamaica Hospital Center, where he was in stable condition early Saturday.

The police recovered a loaded 9 millimeter handgun at the scene. The investigation is continuing.

Mr. Ethridge, 38, has an extensive arrest history that includes charges of attempted murder and criminal possession of a firearm, Chief Barrere said.
Earlier this month, the United States hit a new benchmark in an already historic presidential campaign: For the first time in the countrys history, 200 million Americans are registered to vote. Over the past eight years, more than 50 million people have registered. That could mean that more Americans are voting for the first time this year than ever before.

Your first time voting  waiting in line, taking a possibly illegal selfie with your ballot, getting an I Voted sticker  is as American a fall pastime as watching grown men run at each other headfirst for hours at a time. And voting is habit-forming: Research shows that your first election can have a strong impact on how you think about politics for the rest of your life.

This has been a weird election for everyone, but especially for people who are voting for the first time. In conversations I had with more than 50 first-time voters, the same word came up again and again when I asked what they thought about their options this year: Disappointing. While a large share of voters I talked to said they would be voting for Hillary Clinton, many saw their vote as more of a bulwark against a President Trump than anything else.

One of the most striking stories to come out of this election may be the number of immigrants Donald J. Trump inspired to earn their United States citizenship so they could vote against him. Idania Barousse, 36, is a pastoral associate at a Catholic church in San Jose, Calif., that serves a congregation of Hispanic immigrants. She immigrated to the United States from Nicaragua when she was 14 and obtained her green card shortly after. Despite living in the United States for more than two decades, she has never voted.
In one of the most emotionally wrenching presidential races in living memory, Donald J. Trumps support is as level as a pond. In polls, it is holding steady around 41 percent, right where it was after the first debate in late September. This plateau has persisted through the second and third debates with his opponent, Hillary Clinton, and the revelation of his recorded boasts of sexual assault. Even the stunning public rebuke of Mr. Trump by the parents of the Iraq war hero Capt. Humayun Khan in late July was followed by a swing of just a few percentage points, quite small by historical standards. Why has Mr. Trumps support not collapsed further in the face of some fairly damning revelations?

Such high stability in polls is not new. It started several decades ago. One measure of the stasis of modern campaigns is how much each partys support in polls changes over the course of a campaign. From 1952 to 1992, the average range  the difference between maximum and minimum levels of support  was 17 percentage points. Since 1996, the range has dropped to 8 points. Mr. Trumps range is 4 points, from 39 to 43 percent.

At his lowest point, Mr. Trump still had more support than George McGovern, who got the smallest percentage of the popular vote by a major party candidate in the postwar era in 1972, with 38 percent. Mrs. Clintons average margin over Mr. Trump of five points has been enough to make her the first candidate to maintain a durable lead in an open presidential race since Dwight D. Eisenhower defeated Adlai Stevenson in 1952. So the bigger question is not about Mr. Trump, but why the last six presidential campaigns became so stable.

The answer is polarization. The same forces that propel a radical candidate to a partys nomination also provide a floor through which he is unlikely to fall. Mr. Trumps ascent is the culmination of trends that began in the 1990s, when Newt Gingrich introduced the Contract With America, and adopted tactics like government shutdowns and impeachment. More than any national figure since Sarah Palin, Mr. Trump embodies these attitudes.
There is every reason to be skeptical of these findings. Like magic spells cast by a modern-day Merlin, they sound much too good to be true. Why should brief interventions carry so much punch when more intricate and costly strategies  everything from summer school to single-sex education  are often less effective?

Innovative social-psychological thinking, not magic, is at work here. These interventions focus on how kids, hunched over their desks in the back of the classroom, make sense of themselves and their environment. They can be brief but powerful because they concentrate on a single core belief.

There are three strategies represented here. The first, pioneered by the Stanford social psychology professor Carol Dweck and illustrated by the initial example, aims to change students mind-sets by showing them that their intelligence can grow through deliberate work. Ive written about Dr. Dwecks theories as applied to college students, but they are just as successful with students in middle school.

The second uses constructive critical feedback to instill trust in minority adolescents, a demonstrably powerful way to advance their social and intellectual development.

The third intervention  and in some ways, the most powerful  invites students to acknowledge their self-worth, combating the corrosive effects of racial stereotypes, by having them focus on a self-affirming value.

These interventions are designed to combat students negative feelings. Im dumb, some believe; I dont belong here; the school views me only as a member of an unintelligent group. The first two experiences give students the insight that brain work will make them smarter. The third invites them to situate themselves on the path to belonging or to connect with their values in a classroom setting. The goals are to build up their resilience and prepare them for adversity.

The impact, in all these studies, is greatest on black and Latino students. That makes sense, since as adolescents they are far more inclined to see teachers as prejudiced and school as a hostile environment. As these youths come to feel more secure, they are likely to make a greater effort. Success begets success. They start earning As and Bs instead of Cs, they take tougher classes and connect more readily with like-minded students.
On Nov. 4, 2008, I was 26 years old and had just started working on an oral history project at a museum in Brooklyn. A co-worker and I were asked to interview people at polling places, to memorialize their thoughts about an election that might put the first African-American president in the White House.

We were too shy to actually stop and talk to people. So, instead, we decided to use this as an escape from the office. We drove through Crown Heights, watching as mothers dragged their children into polling places, men huddled on corners to talk, old people walked in groups. Crown Heights pirate radio station played Arrested Developments Revolution three times in a row, followed by James Brown singing Say It Loud  Im Black and Im Proud.

Later that night, I persuaded a friend to ditch a gig working the coat check at an election night party on the Upper East Side. Do you really want to say you were checking the coats of rich white people on a night like this? He came with me to a bar in Prospect Heights. It was packed with people, watching results projected on a screen. Right before they were to announce who had won Pennsylvania, the organizers turned off the feed. We want to commemorate this moment with a historic photo, they said. An artist famous for taking group nude shots in meaningful places, Spencer Tunick, was there. He wanted to take one now.

If you want to watch the rest of the election here, you have to get naked and be in this photo. Hes going to take it right at the moment they declare Pennsylvania. I looked at my friend. He looked at me. We burst out laughing and both began to unbutton our clothes. At the moment Barack Obamas win for the state was declared, we were lying on the sticky barroom floor, trying not to think about germs, holding New York For Obama-Biden signs above our heads, alongside other naked bargoers  black, white, brown, old, young, straight and gay.
Readers React

I heartily agree with Edwin Andrewss premise that there is peril in the efforts of some (especially Republicans) to suppress voter participation. And I mostly agree with his three stated changes to our system to support more participation: an explicit constitutional right, automatic registration upon turning 18, and a full weekend to vote. However, his discussion brought to mind something that has bothered me for a long time. And that is the appalling ignorance of so many Americans. A more informed electorate would be less likely to swallow lies and false promises.

Like Mr. Andrewss mother, my husband is a naturalized citizen. Three years ago, when I was helping him study for his citizenship test, I realized that he was going to know more about how our government works than most high school and college graduates who were born here. So, let me be the devils advocate. Eighteen-year-olds should not automatically be registered. Perhaps they should have to pass a simple civics test, like the one for naturalization. The test could be taken as many times as necessary to pass  the idea isnt to impede but rather to educate. Yes, we need more voters, but, just as important, we need better informed voters. If more of our citizens had as good an understanding of basic civics as my foreign-born husband, our candidates might be held to a higher standard.

DAPHNE CASE

Norwalk, Conn.

If we really believe in the importance of voting to democracy  and are not merely paying lip service to look politically correct  why shouldnt voting become a mandatory responsibility of American citizenship, just as jury duty, paying taxes, having health insurance, obeying a police officer, attending school and registering with the Selective Service are? When upward of 95 percent of the eligible population is participating in the electoral process, government becomes more responsive to the citizenry and less reactive to special interests.

GODFREY HARRIS

Los Angeles

Here are a few more ideas to ensure that the voices of all Americans are heard:

1) Let felons  even incarcerated felons  vote. Felons are citizens, too, and to the extent we can bring them back into civil society, we should. Voting should be an expectation of citizenship, not a privilege for the worthy.

2) Sync elections. Four-year terms should all be voted on in the presidential cycle. Two-year terms should all be voted on in the congressional cycle. No off-cycle elections unless theres a darn good reason.

3) Pay a $25 bonus for voting. Preferably a check in the mail, but it could be a tax credit. Everyone loves to be paid for his or her time, and this is a very modest way to drive turnout much higher.

4) Along with automatic registration upon turning 18, give everyone a national photo ID. Let people vote with it where they live on Election Day, and update the address at the polling place. Upload the data after the election and investigate any double-voting. Prosecute anyone who lies about his or her residence.
Few current observers seem to recall the wrath that greeted Bill Clintons ascension. To the left, Clintonism implies accommodation and calculation. But to the right in 1992, it meant usurpation. Reaganism held almost religious significance, and its reign was supposed to be transformative and permanent. For the One True Way to be restored, Clintonism had to be delegitimized.

That delegitimization ushered in the politics of party restoration at whatever cost, governance and country be damned. This led first to an attempted legislative coup in 1998 and then to a judicial coup in 2000. And to all the more recent outrages of birtherism, government shutdowns, delayed Supreme Court confirmations and, ultimately, the rise of a would-be autocrat as a party nominee.

But political restoration was only one head of the Cerberus. The other  wounded male prerogative  was personal and sexual. The 1990s produced a generation of men who felt (and still feel) left behind by a society redefining power and success in terms of ornament and celebrity and demoting the value of industry and brawn, while simultaneously challenging mens value as family providers. Though women werent the source of mens pain, the antagonist conjured up by aggrieved men I talked with in those years had a feminine face, and very often that face was Hillarys.

A startling aspect of the rage that greeted Bill Clinton was how much of it was aimed at the women he entrusted  or tried to entrust  with power. When I was investigating one of the early skirmishes of the Clinton years, the burning of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Tex., which right-wingers attributed to Clintons F.B.I., I was treated to the fervent rants of Patriot men, aimed not at Mr. Clinton but at what I came to think of as the Three Witches of Waco: Attorney General Janet Reno (Renos master is Satan, a Third Continental Congress militiaman told me), the gun-control advocate Sarah Brady and, most of all, Hillary Clinton. Her anti-male conspiracies were legion: redirecting their tax dollars to bankroll womens rights around the globe (She gave away a million dollars to each first lady she visited in Africa to get educated), using their Social Security to pay for abortion, and calling the shots at the White House.

Republican ideological absolutism, nourished by masculine insecurity, created an amalgam corrosive to pragmatic politics. For Hillary Clinton, its meant being demonized for traits that have little to do with her character. Not only by right-wing politicians, who found the Hillary-with-horns specter a convenient recruitment tool, but by the culture at large. Even the supposedly liberal mainstream media still seek out any bit of evidence that can be chiseled to fit that prefab 1990s narrative  and if she denies the caricature, shes called a liar. Her famous hiddenness is, at heart, her refusal to cop to the crime of purloined male authority. A Spy magazine story in 1995 made that theft succinct: a cover image of a grinning Hillary, her skirt billowing up as in the old Marilyn Monroe photo, to reveal male briefs bulging with a penis. Across her legs ran the headline: Hillarys Big Secret.
Willard Dix is one of the crankiest observers of the college admissions process I know; hes also one of the smartest. He worked at Amherst, his alma mater, then advised college-bound students at a private secondary school in Chicago. He now blogs about higher education.

I asked him on the phone the other day about the dizzying proliferation of college rankings beyond those by U.S. News & World Report, each using its own methodology and emphasizing different metrics. If a tone of voice can approximate an eye roll, his did.

You can slice and dice it any way you like, but this isnt like Consumer Reports, which tests something to see if it does or doesnt work, he said. The interaction between a student and an institution is not the same as the interaction between a student and a refrigerator.

I cant improve on that quip. But I can explain it in terms of what rankings do and dont reveal and how high school seniors, who are right now in the thick of figuring out where they want to apply, should approach them.
We were still married then. It was 2008, and we bought an abandoned farmstead in the mountains of North Carolina, on the backside of Tennessee. We loved its 300-year-old trees  enormous white oaks with great gnarled arms  and my husband loved that it was off the grid.

In recent years, hed begun subscribing to survivalist magazines, buying a generator and stocking up on food, sleeping bags and weapons. It turned out there was a whole subculture out there, people who were predicting imminent disaster and planning for social upheaval, using online chat rooms to compare their setups. For him, our farmstead was perfect, because it was far from the road, and it was hidden.

My husband was a person who felt safer with loaded guns in the house, and I was a person who felt safer without loaded guns in the house. It was becoming clear to me that only one of us was going to be able to feel safe. Unfortunately for me, I had agreed to the guns years before, when I was young. I was in love, and I didnt yet know the way that distrust could insinuate itself into a marriage.

The farmhouse huddled at the bottom of a hollow: where the wind and the sun couldnt reach. We beat back the foliage and poison ivy and wrested open the door, then waited for our night eyes and saw that we were in a large poplar-floored kitchen. It was an eyeful of disarray: dishes strewn across the floor, a wooden high chair on its side, a feed store calendar from 1973. We opened the fridge  I dont know why, but we did  and it was full of food, all of it black.
Mark Perry of the conservative American Enterprise Institute argued that the report undercut the woeful conventional wisdom about a shrinking middle class, because the middle class is actually moving up the income ladder, not down. Matthew Yglesias of Vox resorted to Dickenss sunnier side: We are currently living through the best of times.

But the question remains: best for whom? Poorer households did get a bigger raise, proportionally, than the rich did last year. But that looks like a bug, not an enduring feature of the American economy. The data does little to suggest that the American economy has managed to overcome its perhaps most debilitating weakness: inequality.

Despite last years gains, the bottom 60 percent of households took a smaller share of the income pie than four decades ago. The bottom 20 percent took in only 3.4 percent of all income  compared with 5.6 percent in the mid-1970s. The richest 5 percent of Americans, by contrast, have done much better for themselves  taking in about 22 percent of the nations income, 6 percentage points more than they did in 1975.

Americas inequities can be sliced in different ways. For instance, champions of the nuclear family will underscore the reports finding that married couples in which both spouses work saw incomes rise by nearly $4,000 last year  to almost $104,000 at the median, the highest ever.

The problem is that the two-earner family is not as iconic as it once was, falling as a share of all families over the past two decades. The families that have been growing are those headed by a single woman. Last year their incomes rose sharply  to $34,126. Sure, that was a big jump on 2014. But they were still making less than they were 15 years before.
For years, many local and state governments failed to pick up the slack when the money from Washington dried up. Lawmakers didnt push for higher taxes, fearing a backlash from voters. This has had terrible consequences, as major systems, like the Washington Metro, Bostons T and New Jersey Transit, shortchanged maintenance budgets and suffered high-profile accidents, shutdowns and other problems. Only this month did New Jersey agree to raise its gas tax by 23 cents a gallon to help pay for improvements, the first such increase since 1988.

The ballot proposals this year would raise local sales, property and other taxes and use the money to develop new rail systems and dedicated bus lanes for communities without public transit, as well as repair existing infrastructure. The most ambitious of these efforts is Los Angeles Countys Measure M, which will raise the local sales tax and spend $120 billion over 40 years on expanding mass transit and fixing highways and bridges. Seattle will vote on an initiative called ST3 that will expand train and bus lines over 25 years for about $54 billion. Officials in the San Francisco area are asking voters to spend $3.5 billion to rebuild the aging Bay Area Rapid Transit system. There are also transportation proposals in Atlanta; Broward County, Fla.; Columbus, Ohio; Detroit; Indianapolis; and Wake County, N.C.



Cities like Dallas, Denver, Phoenix and Salt Lake City offer some good examples of the progress possible when money flows to mass transit. And in car-centric Southern California, Los Angeles Metro has built an extensive network. Residents in that county voted in 1980 to dedicate money from a half-cent sales tax to bus and train service. The system now has 105 miles of rail and serves 1.5 million riders every day. If more than two-thirds of voters now say yes to Measure M, a 1-cent sales tax will pay for 100 more miles of rail. The tax will pose a burden on the poor, but officials note that mass transit tends to benefit lower-income families by making it easier and cheaper for them to get to work. The strongest support for this is among the most transit-dependent, said the citys mayor, Eric Garcetti.

In an ideal world, the federal government would be doing more to support these local initiatives by, for example, providing matching funds. This would help cities like Los Angeles and Seattle and encourage others to expand existing systems. During this campaign season, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and some congressional candidates have talked a lot about improving infrastructure. It will be up to the next president and Congress to make good on those promises.
For decades, shareholders in my co-op in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, have hired building maintenance staff to do private handyman jobs on their own time, like installing shelving and making repairs. Last summer, the co-op board changed the house rules. Building employees can no longer do such jobs because of concerns about liability and misuse of co-op time. Many shareholders are upset. Can co-ops dictate what employees do in their private time and whom shareholders hire?

We all need someone to install light fixtures from time to time. Why troll the Internet for a handyman when you could hire the porter?

Many buildings consider the perk an amenity that actually enhances the value of the apartments and fosters good relations between the shareholders and building staff, said Andrew J. Wagner, a real estate lawyer in the New York office of Anderson Kill.

But the arrangement could cause problems for the building. What if the employee is injured, or damages the apartment while installing a ceiling fan? The co-op, as the property owner, could be liable, Mr. Wagner said. For this reason, the board is within its rights to prohibit the practice.
Susan Lindquist, a molecular biologist whose conceptually daring work with yeast proteins opened new avenues to understanding gene functioning and degenerative diseases like Parkinsons and Alzheimers, died on Thursday in Boston. She was 67.

The cause was cancer, her husband, Edward Buckbee, said.

Dr. Lindquist devoted most of her career, first at the University of Chicago and later at the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Mass., to studying how proteins changed shape during cell division to carry out genetic functions.

This process, known as protein folding, can go awry, causing such neurological disorders as Parkinsons, Alzheimers and Huntingtons chorea, as well as cystic fibrosis and some cancers. Certain malformed proteins, known as prions, enlist recruits and attack the brain in the class of diseases called spongiform encephalopathies, which include Creutzfeldt-Jakob in humans and scrapie and mad cow disease in animals.

Her research demonstrated that protein-folding errors occurred in all species and that biological changes could be passed from one generation to the next through proteins alone, without the participation of RNA or DNA  a process previously thought to be impossible.
Mr. Dugass name emerged when Randy Shilts, a journalist who himself later died of AIDS, published his best-selling history of the epidemic, And the Band Played On. Through interviews, he found the real name of the mysterious Patient O, for outside California, in a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention linking 40 men with AIDS on two coasts. Although Mr. Shilts never claimed that Mr. Dugas was the nations first case, alarmist journalism during his book publicity tour created the image of a libertine who, as one headline screamed, Gave Us AIDS.

The debunking of the Dugas myth raises a moral question: Is it right to hunt down the first case in any outbreak, to find every Patient Zero?

That quest has become a regular feature of health journalism. We now know that a toddler playing in a bat-infested tree in the Guinean village of Meliandou may have sent Ebola spinning across West Africa in 2014, and that a 5-year-old, Edgar Hernandez of La Gloria, Mexico, a pig-farming town, was probably the worlds first case of swine flu in 2009.

Should they all be publicly named and vilified like Mary Mallon, the Irish cook who became known as Typhoid Mary and died after 23 years quarantined on an island in the East River in New York? Or like Dr. Craig Spencer, who caught Ebola through medical heroism in Africa, infected no one and yet was accused of endangering all New York? Or like Kaci Hickox, the Ebola nurse quarantined in New Jersey though she didnt even have Ebola?

Of course not, many ethicists argue. They disapprove of stigmatizing any patient, and the best preventive is to not hunt one down.
WASHINGTON  Year after year, both in his messy personal life and his brazen theft of classified documents from the National Security Agency, Harold T. Martin III put to the test the governments costly system for protecting secrets.

And year after year, the system failed.

Mr. Martin got and kept a top-secret security clearance despite a record that included drinking problems, a drunken-driving arrest, two divorces, unpaid tax bills, a charge of computer harassment and a bizarre episode in which he posed as a police officer in a traffic dispute. Under clearance rules, such events should have triggered closer scrutiny by the security agencies where he worked as a contractor.

Yet even after extensive leaks by Pfc. Bradley Manning in 2010 and Edward Snowden in 2013 prompted new layers of safeguards, Mr. Martin was able to walk out of the N.S.A. with highly classified material, adding it to the jumbled piles in his house, shed and car.

A federal judge in Baltimore ruled on Friday that Mr. Martin, 51, must remain jailed on charges of stealing government documents and mishandling classified information over two decades. Prosecutors say they will add new charges under the Espionage Act. Mr. Martin, whose arrest in August was disclosed by The New York Times this month, has admitted to taking the material but denies giving secrets to anyone else.
PHOENIX  Arizona was shaping up to be one of the more unlikely battlegrounds of the 2016 campaign when a political bombshell appeared to explode last week: The Obama administration revealed that the cost of midlevel plans on the Affordable Care Acts health insurance marketplace here would increase next year by 116 percent on average.

Senator John McCain, running for re-election against the headwind of Donald J. Trump, took the bad news as a gift, highlighting it in a new television ad that begins, When you open up your health insurance bill and find your premiums are doubling, remember that McCain strongly opposes Obamacare. Other Republican candidates here also seized on the rate increases, counting on the issue to buoy them with Election Day imminent and Mr. Trump losing ground in the Republican-dominated state.

But as with everything related to the Affordable Care Act, it is complicated. The rate increases had been predicted for months as insurer after insurer announced plans to drop out of the marketplace here. Very few Arizonans are directly affected. Voting has already begun, and the political environment has been largely fixed for months, defined by deep divisions over immigration, Hillary Clintons emails and Mr. Trumps fitness for office.

The rate increases, in fact, are unlikely to be a deciding factor.

Leslie Rycroft of Scottsdale, who works in human resources, is paying $1,100 a month this year for a United Healthcare plan that has a $13,000 deductible for her family of four. Their income was a little too high to qualify for a subsidy, she said. When she looked at her options on HealthCare.gov last week, she said she was absolutely horrified to see only one insurer, Health Net, offering plans that started at $2,200 a month. Its beyond ridiculous, she said. All of a sudden you are paying $26,000 a year, Ms. Rycroft said, just for catastrophic health insurance.
THE MESSAGE: The ad makes the case that Mrs. Clinton has spent her career preparing for this moment while Mr. Trump has spent his enriching himself and is unfit to be president, because of both to his past record and his recent statements.

THE TAKEAWAY: The tone of the ad is more negative than in those candidates generally produce in the campaigns closing days, but it is softened somewhat by having Mr. Freeman, and not Mrs. Clinton, deliver the attacks. It also seeks to reinforce what the Clinton campaign has been trying to convey as it courts both Democrats and Republicans that Mr. Trumps campaign is all about himself and for his own ego, while Mrs. Clintons is about children and the future.

Changing channels ...

Microtargeting Trump

The Trump campaign has yet to run a Spanish-language advertisement, but in sensing a new pocket of support among Indian-Americans, the candidate himself speaks Hindi, or at least tries to, in a new ad targeting them. Ab ki Baar Trump Sarkar, Mr. Trump says, although the Sarkar seems to be taken from another take. The ad is tracked by what sounds like traditional Indian music, but features so many cliches and shoddy graphics that many Indian-Americans initially took to social media wondering if it was a spoof.

Greatest Hits

Priorities USA calls it Trumps Symphony, but what follows is probably music to the ears only of Democratic political operatives and supporters. Over the course of 30 seconds, the primary super PAC supporting Mrs. Clinton seeks to cram in every caustic comment and controversial policy from Mr. Trumps 17 months as a presidential candidate into one ad. From calling Mexicans rapists to his sexually aggressive comments, the ad closes with big white text on a black background: We can end this.

Daisy Style

A new super PAC, formed by former Democratic Senator Bill Bradley and called the 52nd Street Fund, exploded onto the airwaves in Ohio, with an ad that opens with a split-second view of a mountainscape, before a flash and mushroom cloud eviscerate the vista as a narrator notes that a nuclear explosion could kill a million people. A news clip follows, of Mr. Trump being questioned about the use of nuclear weapons. The ad has the feel of the famed Daisy ad from 1964, which warned of the consequences of a Barry Goldwater presidency. That was intentional: The group announced during the week that its name was derived from a poem about World War II that President Lyndon Johnson read during the famed Daisy ad from 1964.
GOLDEN, Colo.  Donald J. Trump has found a new reason to question the legitimacy of the 2016 election  ballots  and he wasted little time here on Saturday before taking issue with the voting system in this largely vote-by-mail state.

I have real problems with ballots being sent, Mr. Trump said, pantomiming a ballot collector sifting envelopes and tossing some over his shoulder while counting others.

If you dont have a ballot, they give you another one and they void your one at home, he told the crowd at an afternoon rally, explaining how voters could go fill out their ballot at the back of the venue here. And then, of course, the other side would send that one in too, but, you know, we dont do that stuff. We dont do that stuff.
T20 World Cup: 'He Was Superb in Warm Up Match, Lot of You Weren't There'-Rahul Defends Rahul

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Hurt Prithvi Shaw Posts Emotional Insta Story After Snub from Team India; 3 Other Players Follow Suit
Whatever shortcomings Mrs. Clinton may have as a candidate, Saturdays coordinated effort showed that the political organization that she, her husband and her allies had built over decades remained potent and would not let what seemed like victory erode easily. By midday, Mr. Comey, a Republican appointed by President Obama and confirmed nearly unanimously by the Senate, found himself in its cross hairs.

Encouraged by Mrs. Clintons senior aides to reframe the story and make it about Mr. Comeys actions, liberal groups such as the Congressional Black Caucus demanded that he release more information. Other surrogates were emailed talking points prodding them to deem it extraordinary that 11 days before the election a letter like this  with so few details  would be sent to 8 Republican committee chairmen. (Ranking Democrats on the committees also received copies.)

Mr. Comey has not publicly commented on the investigation, other than with the letter saying that more emails were being examined. He also wrote an email to F.B.I. employees explaining that he felt he had to inform Congress even though the agency did not yet know the significance of this newly discovered collection of emails.

With Mrs. Clinton leading Donald J. Trump in nearly every battleground state, Clinton advisers were emphatic that they would not be thrown off stride. They said they would not change any political strategy, television advertising or campaign travel plans.

For months, the F.B.I. had investigated whether Mrs. Clinton had broken any laws by using a private email server while she was secretary of state. This past summer, Mr. Comey said that Mrs. Clinton had been extremely careless by allowing sensitive information to be discussed outside secure government servers, but that the agency had concluded that Mrs. Clinton had not committed a crime. The investigation was closed.

But on Friday, Mr. Comey notified Congress that the agency had discovered emails, possibly relevant to the investigation, that belonged to Mrs. Clintons top aide, Huma Abedin. The emails were discovered on the computer of Ms. Abedins estranged husband, Anthony D. Weiner, during a separate investigation into allegations that he had exchanged sexually explicit messages with a teenager.
Mrs. Clinton has always been circumspect about Mr. Weiner and her feelings toward him. She has steadfastly supported Ms. Abedin, 40, as the younger woman stood by her husband, despite the public ridicule and career damage that resulted from his behavior. The Clintons have never publicly criticized Mr. Weiner.

It was only two months ago that Ms. Abedin announced that she was separating from her husband, after she learned that The New York Post planned to publish a story reporting that Mr. Weiner had sent a picture of his crotch to a woman online as he lay next to the couples 4-year-old son in bed. Mrs. Clinton was vacationing in the Hamptons at the time and stayed away from the story.

Privately, aides to Mrs. Clinton suggested on Friday that Ms. Abedin would remain alongside Mrs. Clinton for the final, breakneck stretch of the campaign. But some senior Democrats are now wondering whether, if Mrs. Clinton is elected, she will be able to bring Ms. Abedin along with her for what was once widely expected to be a senior role in the White House.

Mrs. Clintons loyalty to Ms. Abedin (and vice versa) stems from the decades they have spent working closely together, beginning when Ms. Abedin was a 19-year-old intern to the first lady in the 1990s.

At the State Department, Ms. Abedin served as deputy chief of staff to Mrs. Clinton. Emails released by the State Department captured the closeness of their relationship. A jet-lagged Mrs. Clinton once emailed Ms. Abedin at 12:21 a.m. to take her up on an offer to come over to Mrs. Clintons house for a chat. Just knock on the door to the bedroom if its closed, she wrote.
Most of the stolen emails were exchanges between her and Mr. Podesta, her former boss at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank that Ms. Tanden now leads. Mr. Podesta is a longtime friend, and Ms. Tandens tone is often that of a colleague grousing in the break room.

In the exchanges, Ms. Tanden can be fiercely protective of Mrs. Clinton. When Jennifer Palmieri, communications director of the Clinton campaign, wrote a sharply worded letter raising concerns about coverage of Mrs. Clinton in The New York Times, Ms. Tanden cheered. The letter is great, she wrote to Mr. Podesta  adding a sentence laced with profanities directed at the newspaper.

But she could also be direct about other members of Clintonworld and the candidate herself.

When news media reports began identifying potential members of Mrs. Clintons campaign team last year, Ms. Tanden warned of griping among Democrats about racial and gender balance among Mrs. Clintons staff picks. Im not the diversity police but there is grumbling on the 4 white boys running next presidential cycle, she wrote in January 2015. So I recommend rolling out some people who look like the rest of America soon!

In May 2015, New York Citys mayor, Bill de Blasio, emailed Ms. Tanden and Mr. Podesta to let them know that he was scheduled to appear on the MSNBC show Morning Joe and would likely offer his opinion of Mrs. Clintons policy vision.

I find him a bit insufferable, Ms. Tanden wrote to Mr. Podesta. (The mayor was frozen out over the ensuing months and denied a prime speaking slot at the Democratic convention this summer.)
MODESTO, Calif.  This should have been a victory lap for Speaker Paul D. Ryan. Summoned by his party to heal its fractious majority in the House, Mr. Ryan grudgingly agreed to lead. Asked by House members to help them win re-election, he raised money by the millions and traveled thousands of miles to campaign at their side.

But with elections not even two weeks away, Mr. Ryan finds that his feuding with Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has threatened not only the largest Republican majority in the House since the 1930s, but also his speakership itself.

For Mr. Ryan, the arc of the past four years  from vice-presidential pick of Mitt Romney to object of Mr. Trumps scorn  represents perhaps the best measure of the chaos the Trump candidacy has wrought within the party.

In the weeks since Mr. Ryan said that he would no longer defend Mr. Trump or campaign for him, he has heard some mutinous rumblings among his members  a smattering of dissent that may mean little unless Democrats can claim about 20 seats in this election, at the upper end of analysts predictions.
Watching them debate is like seeing an old married couple rehash the same argument year after year after year, said Andy Smith, the director of the Survey Center at the University of New Hampshire. No one wants to see that anymore, he said.

The extended nature of this particular matchup is due in large part to the dynamics of the district  and to the tenacity of two party outsiders who see, in alternating elections, a path to victory. New Hampshires First District is one of a shrinking number of swing districts, with a large number of independent voters and perhaps a slightly Republican tilt. Ms. Shea-Porter, first elected when she was a little-known social worker, has done better during presidential election years, and Mr. Guinta in midterm elections. It is hard to keep the seat  but also hard to suffer a resounding defeat.

Ms. Shea-Porter first won the seat, which had previously been controlled by Republicans for decades, in 2006, amid a swell of antiwar sentiment that helped Democrats around the country. She held on to it in 2008, when President Obama was elected, but lost it to Mr. Guinta, a former mayor of Manchester, in the Tea Party wave of 2010. Ms. Shea-Porter recaptured it as Mr. Obama won re-election in 2012, but lost it, again to Mr. Guinta, in 2014. This time around, polling shows Ms. Shea-Porter with a clear advantage. A WMUR Granite State poll released this month showed her with 43 percent support among likely voters, and Mr. Guinta with 29 percent.

Voters are probably sick and tired of these two candidates running against each other, said David Wasserman, the House editor of The Cook Political Report. The race essentially becomes a function of turnout as a result.
Richard A. Pittman, a Marine who earned the Medal of Honor for charging into a North Vietnamese ambush under heavy fire and fending off dozens of enemy troops in 1966, died on Oct. 13 in Stockton, Calif. He was 71.

His death was confirmed on the Congressional Medal of Honor Societys website. It did not specify a cause, but he had open-heart surgery some years ago, a family member said.

On July 24, 1966, Mr. Pittman was a lance corporal in Company I, Third Battalion, Fifth Marines, First Marine Division. His unit was moving down a narrow jungle trail near the demilitarized zone when Marines ahead of his position were attacked by a larger, concealed enemy force.

Lance Corporal Pittman grabbed a machine gun and belts of extra ammunition and rushed ahead, firing into the enemy position. He destroyed two enemy automatic weapons and kept advancing, into what the Medal of Honor citation described as a withering hail of enemy mortar and small-arms fire to reach wounded Marines 50 yards up the trail.
Mr. Thu Ya, who said he was planning to sleep in a tent on Friday in a neighboring village, spoke by phone on Friday to Saw Nang, a reporter for The New York Times in Mandalay, Myanmar:

On the night of Oct. 9, I was fast asleep. Suddenly I heard the sound of a gun at 3 in the morning.

At first I thought it was a firecracker. But finally I realized that it was a gun shooting. The sound was coming from the Border Guard post.

I woke up my family and ran away, passing through the farm. We could not carry anything with us because we just had to run away to save our lives.

We ran to the west of the village. I heard the sound of guns shooting until early dawn.

When we reached the western Kyee Kan Pyin villages, we had to stay two or three families in one house together. After two or three days, we went back to our home.

Then the village administrator, U Zaw Phyo Tun, told everyone in the villages that we had to destroy our fence. If not we would be arrested. So we destroyed our fence. We slept one night in our home.

The next day U Zaw Phyo Tun called two imams to meet with supervisor Thura San Lwin of the Border Guard force. The imams said they were told by Mr. Thura San Lwin that all the villagers from Kyee Kan Pyin must leave our homes and go away. If not they will beat, torture and kill us with guns, they threatened.
Its deception, so people sit back on their couches, he said. Greeks have to wake up. They handed over the public wealth, he added, referring to the governments plans for state privatizations. Now theyre coming to take our houses.

Such protests have blocked dozens of repossessions in recent weeks. Auctions began in September, when Greek lawyers returned to work after a nine-month strike over cuts to their pensions.

In a speech in Parliament this month, Mr. Tsipras defended his governments efforts to protect homeowners. He said there had been only 500 repossessions this year and none in 2015, when his leftist Syriza party came to power, compared with thousands under previous governments.

Greek notaries and the association of Greek borrowers said the numbers were higher, though they did not have exact figures.

The head of the borrowers association, Vangelis Kritikos, said about 50,000 properties would be up for repossession next year. People are panicking, he said. Every day we get about 500 calls.

After violent clashes in Thessaloniki at a planned foreclosure auction in the first week of October, Greek notaries said they would no longer attend auctions for primary residences and urged the government to pass a law categorically protecting them.

The deputy finance minister, Tryfon Alexiadis, declared a ban on foreclosures of primary residences with a taxable value of 300,000 or more. Strong words aside, the authorities stopped short of legislation. According to the political opposition and other critics, that was because creditor representatives were in Athens and would have objected.
Protesters gathered outside Parliament ahead of the vote. The demonstrators, numbering about 4,000, according to the police, held signs questioning the legitimacy of Mr. Rajoys re-election and denouncing his conservative Popular Party as corrupt.

Mr. Rajoy, 61, has stayed in charge of the party despite losing general elections to the Socialists in 2004 and 2008. He finally became prime minister on his third attempt, when his party won an absolute majority in 2011.

Since then, Mr. Rajoy has maintained a firm grip on the leadership of the Popular Party, even as his personal popularity has suffered amid high unemployment and a series of corruption scandals centering on his party.

The Popular Party won the most votes in Junes election but, with just 137 of the 350 seats in Parliament, fell well short of a majority. The Socialists came in second, with 85 seats, their worst-ever result, but still sufficient for them to remain the largest left-wing political group, ahead of the far-left Podemos party.

In the coming weeks, Mr. Rajoy will present a budget for 2017 that will be the first major test of his ability to pass legislation without a parliamentary majority. He will be under pressure to make budgetary concessions to regional and left-wing parties, but his spending will be curtailed by deficit targets imposed by the European Union.
The American-backed coalition fighting the Islamic State in Iraq may have missed a chance to head off the attack by deferring a plan to take Hawija, a nearby Islamic State enclave. Hawija appears to have been the jumping-off point for some of the militants involved in the Kirkuk assault.

Officials said that there had been some intelligence reports earlier in the week that the government center might come under attack. But what ended up unfolding went far beyond what officials had expected, said the governor of Kirkuk Province, Najmiddin Karim, who trained as a neurosurgeon in the United States and has dual Iraqi and American citizenship.

About 100 Islamic State fighters had moved from towns like Hawija to an area near Daquq, where they were met early on Oct. 21 by seven trucks, apparently operated by drivers familiar with Kirkuk.

The fighters raced to several tactical spots in the city, including the tall buildings outside the emergency police headquarters, where they used snipers to bottle up the Kirkuk security forces, officials said. Still other militants took up positions in the Snowbar Hotel, which gave them a commanding view of the heavily secured government areas.

The governor called Lahur Talabani, the head of a Kurdish intelligence service, who with his brother Polad, the counterterrorism force officer, rushed to Kirkuk from Sulaimaniya.

But the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, appeared to have anticipated that reinforcements would come from Sulaimaniya and had ambushes planned, firing rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons at the relief force and prompting it to take a more circuitous route, officials said. The Islamic State also began to run suicide car bomb attacks at front-line pesh merga forces, in an apparent effort to pin down those Kurdish troops so they could not be used for the defense of Kirkuk.

Not all of the Islamic State attackers were Sunni Arabs from Iraq. The attackers apparently included some Kurds and some foreign fighters from Yemen, Polad Talabani said.
ERBIL, Iraq  The city of Tal Afar, a former Ottoman outpost not far from Mosul that has a mostly ethnic Turkmen population and has been home to a corps of Islamic State leaders, on Saturday became the focus of a growing struggle between Turkey and Iran for influence in northern Iraq.

That is because Iraqs Shiite militias, some of which receive support from Iran, began on Saturday to move west of Mosul, a trajectory that would essentially cut off Islamic State fighters in the city from their bases in Syria. The Shiite militias move toward Tal Afar could also draw Turkey deeper into the already complex battlefield around Mosul.

As the two-week-old campaign to reclaim Mosul, Iraqs second largest city, from the Islamic State grinds on in outlying villages, the role of the Shiite militias, controversial because of their history of abuse toward the Sunni population, was part of a delicate set of negotiations involving the Iraqi government and the American-led coalition. Iraqs prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, agreed to allow the militias a secondary role of sealing off the desert areas west of Mosul, but not entering the city itself.
Mr. Thiel has been an important player in Silicon Valley since the first dot-com boom, but he has recently taken on a much more public role. He was born in Germany and came to the United States as an infant when his father, a chemical engineer, found work here. He was raised in Silicon Valley and went to Stanford, where he developed the views in his first book, The Diversity Myth, about the multiculturalism debate on campuses, written with the entrepreneur David O. Sacks.

In 1998, Mr. Thiel helped found the online payments company PayPal, an immediate success. He was the first outside investor in Facebook. Forbes estimates his net worth at $2.7 billion. Last year, he became a part-time partner at Y Combinator, a loosely defined advisory position.

A handful of others in Silicon Valley have similar investing track records. Where Mr. Thiel really separates himself from his peers is his skepticism that Silicon Valley is building a better world for all. His investment firm, Founders Fund, used to begin its online manifesto with the complaint, We wanted flying cars; instead we got 140 characters, a reference to Twitter. Now it says simply, What happened to the future?

San Francisco, Manhattan and Washington, D.C., are doing well, but the presidential campaign has laid bare the angst of many other places. Feelings of decline are rampant. Most of the millennials have lower expectations than their baby boomer parents, Mr. Thiel said. Where I differ from others in Silicon Valley is in thinking that you cant fence yourself off. If it continues, it will ultimately be bad for everybody.

The polls have been saying Mrs. Clinton is likely to win. If that happens, there will be a very big need to push back on the sort of happy but misleading consensus about things, Mr. Thiel said. There will be an important role for me and others to somehow play in speaking truth to power.

To an extent, that is. It would be a mistake and inappropriate to instantly demonize Hillary and to try and sabotage her presidency, he said. That would be repeating what happened in 2008, when the Republican Party did exactly that to President Obama.

That is the larger discussion Mr. Thiel intends to be involved in. Another, more local discussion is already underway about his role in Silicon Valley.
G.M.O.s Were Supposed to Increase Crop Yields

Canada and Western Europe grow different varieties of rapeseed (canola), but Canadian farmers have adopted genetically modified seed, while European farmers have not. Still, the long-term yield trend for both areas is up.
Bright pink, yellow and blue sticky notes with d escriptions of a picture hidden underneath covered portions of a wall at Pick Elementary School on Thursday.

One note read, disgusting, and was underlined for emphasis. Others said eight legs, girls hate it and kills small bugs. And one gave away what lied beneath the notes  spider.

Students at Pick Elementary participated in writing exercises this week that were displayed throughout the halls as part of the school's Week of Writing. Some were challenged to give clues to hidden photos and others created alliterations and anagrams.

Students also learned to write and mail a letter, and they responded to a prompt each day after the morning news.

We found different ways to show students in this one week that writing comes in a whole different variety of forms, said Principal Debbie Brooks. Hopefully they can find their voice through words in one of those genres as they grow up.

The initiative was birthed out of the schools strategic plan for the year to increase the volume of reading and writing, Brooks said. A writing committee was formed at the beginning of the year and developed creative ways to get students interested in writing.

What we hope is, doing it early in the year like this now will encourage this to grow throughout the year and get our students reading and writing, Brooks said.

Along with equipping students, the strategic plan involves helping train teachers to further encourage writing and reading in students. Brooks said professional development sessions held throughout the year will focus on the subject areas.

Childrens author Jo Kittinger visited each grade Thursday to help engage students in reading and writing. She spoke to students about the writing process, fiction and nonfiction writing, her different books and where she gets story ideas.

I hope they see that its more than just an assignment in class, Kittinger said, who travels around to schools across the nation. Even if they dont pursue writing as a career, writing is such an important part of any job thats an upper level job I think its just vital that they get a good grasp on writing.

The week culminated in an open house Friday where parents and other stakeholders were invited to see students work on displays throughout the halls.
LOS ANGELES  The families of two men among 13 people killed when the bus they were riding from a desert casino to Los Angeles slammed into a slow-moving truck have sued the bus company and the estate of its driver, who died in the crash.

The families of Gustavo Garcia and Tony Mai sued USA Holiday and the estate of owner and driver Teodulo Elias Vides for negligence and wrongful death Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

The lawsuit is the first in the crash that occurred before dawn last Sunday on Interstate 10 near Palm Springs as the bus returned to Los Angeles from the Red Earth Casino.

Vides was traveling at freeway speeds when he plowed into a tractor-trailer truck that was moving at 5 mph because of utility work, the California Highway Patrol said.

He did not appear to brake before the crash and the trailer became embedded in the front of the bus, where most of the dead were found.

Passengers were dozing when the collision occurred just after 5:15 a.m. Thirty passengers and the truck driver were injured.

Attorney David Harris, who filed the suit, said lawyers are looking into an account from a man who said the truck was stopped and its driver appeared to be asleep without his hazard lights on.

The witness said both directions of freeway had been shut down for 15 to 20 minutes before the crash. The witness, who Harris would not name, said another car had swerved to avoid the truck just before the bus collision.

The truck driver, Bruce Guilford, is not named in the lawsuit. He did not return a telephone message left seeking comment at his Georgia home. His wife, Sharon, said she had not heard such an account from him.

Harris said the witness spoke with the California Highway Patrol. A spokesman for the highway patrol, Officer Mike Radford, said he could not confirm or deny the truth of the alleged witness statement.

Attorneys are also looking into any connection the bus driver had with the casino.

It appears they knew of this tour operation, Harris said. Were not sure if there was any profit sharing, but were going to look into that.

Efforts to reach the bus company or Vides family for comment were unsuccessful. The casinos general manager did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

The crash is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board, which is looking into possible mechanical issues on the bus and what Vides did in the hours leading up to the crash to see whether alcohol or fatigue or some other factor might have contributed.

They are also looking into the actions of the truck driver and other factors, such as warnings drivers would have had about utility work being conducted during the night.

Southern California Edison Co. said in a statement that it was involved in a facilities upgrade project off the I-10 when the incident occurred. It said the CHP and California Department of Transportation were responsible for traffic control to ensure safety.

Southern California Edison referred additional questions to the highway patrol and the NTSB. Neither had any information that was immediately available.

Garcia, 62, who was also known as Gustavo Green, and Mai, 50, were both from Los Angeles.

The bus was one of many that shuttle gamblers from the Los Angeles area for short trips to casinos a few hours away.
SANTA ANA  Orange County Superior Court Judge William D. Claster said he is leaning toward ruling in favor of Fullertons plan to acquire parcels of West Coyote Hills before they are developed, but will make a final decision Monday.

The plan, approved unanimously by the City Council in November, preserved 60 percent of the 510-acre Chevron-owned property as open space, and gave the city and other preservation groups until early 2017 to purchase portions of the remaining land at an agreed upon appraised value.

Parcels that arent bought will be developed with up 760 homes, a commercial center and 10 miles of new trails.

Friends of Coyote Hills, which for years has fought against developing the property, filed suit shortly after the plan was approved, arguing the city violated state law and ignored the 2012 voter-approved Measure W, which overturned the citys original development agreement with Chevron-owned Pacific Coast Homes.

Attorneys for the Friends of Coyote Hills and its partners said the development agreement voters shot down was the lynchpin for future approvals and therefore West Coyote Hills should remain undeveloped.

Clasters tentative court ruling, issued earlier this week, favors Fullerton, saying the development agreement never legally existed because of Measure W, and thus could not be terminated. Attorneys for both sides made their final arguments to Claster Friday before his final ruling.

The measure gave the city and Chevron the right  not the duty, city attorneys argued  to end the agreement during future negotiations, Claster said. The measure had no impact on the other approvals  amendments made to the citys general and master specific plans and environmental impact report certification, he said.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7724 or bwhitehead@ocregister.com
WASHINGTON  FBI Director James Comey decided to inform Congress that he would look again into Hillary Clintons handling of emails during her time as secretary of state for two main reasons  a sense of obligation to lawmakers and a concern that word of the new email discovery would leak to the media and raise questions of a coverup.

The rationale, described by officials close to Comeys decision-making on the condition of anonymity, prompted the FBI director to release his brief letter to Congress on Friday and upset a presidential race less than two weeks before Election Day. It placed Comey again at the center of a highly partisan argument over whether the nations top law enforcement agency was unfairly influencing the campaign.

In a memo explaining his decision to FBI employees soon after he sent his letter to Congress, Comey said he felt an obligation to do so given that I testified repeatedly in recent months that our investigation was completed.

Of course, we dont ordinarily tell Congress about ongoing investigations, but here I feel I also think it would be misleading to the American people were we not to supplement the record, Comey wrote to his employees.

The last time Comey found himself in the campaign spotlight was in July, when he announced that he had finished a months-long investigation into whether Clinton mishandled classified information through the use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state. After he did so, the denunciation was loudest from Republican nominee Donald Trump and his supporters, who accused the FBI director of unfair bias toward Clintons candidacy. There was also grumbling within FBI ranks, with a largely conservative investigative corps complaining privately that Comey should have tried harder to make a case.

This time the loudest criticism has come from Clinton and her supporters, who said Friday that Comey had provided too little information about the nature of the new line of investigation and allowed Republicans to seize political ground as a result. The inquiry focuses on Clinton emails found on a computer used by former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D), now under investigation for sending sexually explicit messages to a minor, and top Clinton aide Huma Abedin, who is Weiners wife. The couple has since separated.

It is extraordinary that we would see something like this just 11 days out from a presidential election, John Podesta, the chairman of Clintons presidential campaign, said in a statement. The Director owes it to the American people to immediately provide the full details of what he is now examining. We are confident this will not produce any conclusions different from the one the FBI reached in July.

Officials familiar with Comeys thinking said the director on Thursday faced a quandary over how to proceed once the emails, which number more than 1,000 and may duplicate some of those already reviewed, were brought to his attention.

Comey had just been briefed by a team of investigators who were seeking access to the emails. The director knew he had to move quickly because the information could leak out.

The next day, Comey informed Congress he would take additional investigative steps to evaluate the emails after deciding the emails were pertinent to the Clinton email investigation and that the FBI should take steps to obtain and review them.

In July, Comey had testified under oath before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that the FBI was finished investigating the Clinton email matter and there would be no criminal charges. Comey was asked at the hearing whether he would review any new information the FBI came across.

My first question is this, would you reopen the Clinton investigation if you discovered new information that was both relevant and substantial? Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, asked Comey during the hearing.

Its hard for me to answer in the abstract, Comey replied at the hearing. We would certainly look at any new and substantial information.

In the Friday memo to his employees, Comey acknowledged the FBI does not yet know the import of the newly discovered emails. Given that we dont know the significance of this newly discovered collection of emails, I dont want to create a misleading impression, Comey wrote.

An official familiar with Comeys thinking said that he felt he had no choice.

What would it look like if the FBI inadvertently came across additional emails that appear to be relevant to the Clinton investigation and not at least inform the oversight committee that this occurred? the official said. What would be the criticism then? That the FBI hid it? That the FBI purposely kept this information to themselves?

The official said the decision came down to which choice was not as bad as the others.

Comeys action has been blasted by some former Justice Department officials, Clinton campaign officials and Democratic members of Congress.

Without knowing how many emails are involved, who wrote them, when they were written or their subject matter, its impossible to make any informed judgment on this development, said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, who called the release appalling.

However, one thing is clear: Director Comeys announcement played right into the political campaign of Donald Trump, who is already using the letter for political purposes. And all of this just 11 days before the election, Feinstein said.

Matthew Miller, a former Justice Department spokesman in President Barack Obamas administration, said the FBI rarely releases information about ongoing criminal investigations and does not release information about federal investigations this close to political elections.

Comeys behavior in this case from the beginning has been designed to protect his reputation for independence no matter the consequences to the public, to people under investigation or to the FBIs own integrity, Miller said.

Miller and other former officials pointed to a 2012 Justice Department memo saying that all employees have the responsibility to enforce the law in a neutral and impartial manner, which is particularly important in an election year.

Miller said he had been involved in cases related to elected officials in which the FBI waited until several days after an election to send subpoenas. They know that if they even send a subpoena, let alone announce an investigation, that might leak and it might become public and it would unfairly influence the election when voters have no way to interpret the information, Miller said.

Nick Ackerman, a former federal prosecutor in New York and an assistant special Watergate prosecutor, said Comey had no business writing to Congress about supposed new emails that neither he nor anyone in the FBI has ever reviewed.

He added: It is not the function of the FBI director to be making public pronouncements about an investigation, never mind about an investigation based on evidence that he acknowledges may not be significant.

In Comeys note to employees, he seemed to anticipate that his decision would be controversial.

In trying to strike that balance, in a brief letter and in the middle of an election season, there is significant risk of being misunderstood, Comey wrote.

The Washington Posts Tom Hamburger contributed to this report.
SANTA ANA  A 52-year-old man was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Friday for attacking his neighbor and her small dog as they walked in Irvine last year.

Craig Andrew Ledbetter of Irvine pleaded guilty to two felony counts of attempted murder and elder abuse, and two misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty and resisting an officer, according to the Orange County Dsistrict Attorneys Office.

On Sept. 29, 2015, the woman, who was 75 at the time, was walking her familys mini poodle on Rockwood in the Woodbridge community at about 2:45 p.m., when a screaming and naked Ledbetter ran up to her and knocked her to the groud, authorities said.

Prosecutors said Ledbetter got on top of the victim and punched her in the face and chest. He then stood up and repeatedly kicked her in the head. He took the dog by the leash and swung the dog over his shoulder.

Witnesses called 911 and police responded to the scene. Officers had to use a Taser to subde Ledbetter and arrest him, authorities said.

The victim suffered serious injuries, including bleeding in the brain, a dislocated left arm and eye injuries, prosecutors said. Her dog was not injured.

Authories said it was not immediately clear what provoked the attack.

Contact the writer: kpuente@ocregister.com
Newport Beach officials are suing the Federal Aviation Administration over planned changes to local flight paths, saying the impacts on residents near John Wayne Airport havent been adequately reviewed.

The lawsuit filed Thursday with the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals targets the Metroplex project, an ambitious FAA effort to modernize air traffic control systems at six major airports and 15 smaller airports across Southern California.

The lawsuit alleges that the FAA fast-tracked its own environmental review in order to quickly move forward with the proposed upgrades. The city is asking a judge to temporarily halt the project in order to conduct a more comprehensive environmental analysis.

The court challenge  which accuses the FAA of failing to fully investigate the environmental impacts of implementing new departure, arrival and approach procedures at local airports  is Newport Beachs latest effort to minimize the impact of flights in and out of John Wayne Airport.

Wed like the FAA to give us more information about the possible impacts of these changes, Newport Beach Mayor Diane Dixon said in a city statement about the lawsuit. It is also vitally important to us that we understand how the (FAA environmental assessment) may be used to design departures in the coming years.

Our goal has always been to do all we can to protect our residential neighborhoods from noise and air quality impacts associated with John Wayne Airport, she said.

FAA spokesman Ian Gregor declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing the agencys policy not to discuss pending litigation.

Jet noise, flight paths and pollution from John Wayne Airport are a perennial concern for coastal residents.

A letter sent to the FAA on behalf of the city last year describes the impact of aircraft operations at the airport as the most significant threat to the quality of life of Newport Beach residents.

John Wayne Airport currently operates under a settlement agreement among the county, the city and airport-noise groups that was first approved in 1985. The airport has been called one of the scariest airports in the country due to the steep takeoff aircraft execute to quickly get high above homes and airport noise sensors.

Beginning as early as November, the FAA plans call for a shift from a ground-based air traffic control system to a satellite-based, GPS system. The agency says the overhaul is needed to replace a decades-old, often-inefficient system, as well as to lay the groundwork for future upgrades.

The more precise satellite systems are meant to allow air traffic controllers to more closely monitor the flow of aircraft, Gregor said.

In other words, they can reduce flow along a specific route to help prevent delays, or they can increase flow because more capacity is available, Gregor said. This is only possible if they know with great certainty where a plane will be on its route at a given time.

The Metroplex project would result in some air route changes, FAA officials acknowledge. As a result, some areas are expected see slight noise increases, others slight noise decreases and others no change at all.

City officials have said they believe the proposed changes would result in flights departing from John Wayne Airport flying generally down the middle of Upper Newport Bay, over the Newport Dunes and across Balboa Island and the Peninsula.

But the FAAs own environmental analysis has determined that the Metroplex project would have no significant impact on airport adjacent communities, according to findings released by the agency in early September. Along with the internal review, FAA officials say they took into account thousands of public comments and around 90 public and stakeholder meetings.

In the lawsuit, attorneys for the city allege that the FAA has ignored its concerns over the projects impact on noise, air quality, greenhouse gas emissions and cybersecurity. The court complaint also contends that the FAA has released only vague description of the proposed changes, making it difficult for city officials and residents to evaluate the local impact.

Most glaringly, the (FAA environmental analysis) contained no evidence to support a conclusion of no significant impacts from changes in flight patterns resulting from the project, Attorney Whitman Manley wrote in the lawsuit.

Contact the writer: semery@scng.com
After Orange County sheriffs officials were ordered to turn over all the records they had kept on jailhouse informants, deputies stopped keeping one set of secret records and made plans to start a new one, according to evidence released in court Friday.

That revelation from the 31/2-year-old court order prompted the judge in the case, Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals, to publicly chastise Sheriff Sandra Hutchens.

If the Orange County sheriff was sincerely trying to unravel this mystery, I cant see why we havent gotten to the bottom of it, Goethals said.

It seems as if the sheriff believes that she can have documents and she can decide whether or not she can turn them over. Thats not the sheriffs place.

Although Goethals ordered the Sheriffs Department to turn over its informant logs in 2013, the department only recently turned over the first 1,157 pages of the once-secret notes.

Sheriffs officials and investigators for the Orange County District Attorneys Office said Friday they cant find any new informant records, prompting the pointed words from Goethals.

Deputy County Counsel Elizabeth Pejeau, representing Hutchens, who was not in court, assured the judge that her client is conducting a diligent search for the records.

Hutchens said in an interview that she is turning over everything she can find.

I am not aware of any other logs that exist, she said. I have no reason to withhold anything that would not cause security issues in our jails. I cant find something I dont know about.

Unraveling what was in the deputies notes, and determining the extent of the countys use of jailhouse informants, is part of an ongoing effort to restart the penalty phase of the trial of Scott Dekaai, who pleaded guilty to killing eight people in Seal Beach in 2011.

Dekraai faces the death penalty in the punishment phase of his trial, which Goethals took away from the Orange County District Attorneys Office last year and gave to California Attorney General Kamala Harris. The state is appealing that decision.

At the same time, Orange Countys justice system has become the subject of a nationally-watched debate over prosecutorial ethics, stemming from the repeated illegal use of jail informants and the withholding of evidence from defense attorneys, as in the Kekraai case.

Assistant District Attorney Dan Wagner told the judge Friday that his office has looked at thousands of sheriffs computer files without finding what the judge called the successor logs.

Everybody is keenly aware that kind of document needs (to be brought) forth if it exists, Wagner said.

Goethals and Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders say there is plenty of reason to believe a second set of logs was kept by special handling deputies who work with informants.

For one thing, the first set of notes  part of which were mistakenly turned over to Sanders without being adequately redacted  contains a January 2013 passage that says the log will be discontinued and a new document will be created for important information, Sanders said.

For another, Hutchens lawyers have argued the secret log contained information important to running the jail and its informants. Goethals said Friday if that were true, it stands to reason they would not end one log without starting another.

Its more likely than not there is additional responsive information out there, Goethals said. Maybe it is a needle in a haystack, but its a needle that needs to be found.

Sanders had urged Goethals to go further and order police and prosecutors to turn over the second log by Friday afternoon.

They sit here as if we have no idea there is a replacement log when we know theres a replacement log, Sanders said.

Goethals set a Nov. 10 meeting to revisit the issue of the successor log and to determine how many pages of redacted notes will formally be given to Sanders.

Contact the writer: tsaavedra@scng.com
Like a good crime novel, the WikiLeaks disclosures are beginning to tie up all the loose ends of the long and mysterious story of Hillary Clintons private email server.

The key revelation is a 12-page memo about the intertwined finances of the Clinton Foundation and the Clintons personally. It was written by Doug Band, a longtime aide and associate of former president Bill Clinton and founder of business consulting firm Teneo. The memo discloses details of what the Clintons were doing when President-elect Obama said they couldnt do it anymore if one of them was going to be secretary of state.

It was then, after the 2008 ethics agreement was reached, that Mrs. Clinton had aides set up a private email server in her home in Chappaqua and declined a state.gov account. Years later, when the State Department asked Secretary Clinton to turn over her official records, she and her legal team deleted 33,000 emails she deemed personal.

The subject line of Bands memo, dated Nov. 16, 2011, was Background on Teneo and Foundation Activities. He sent it to two lawyers from the firm of Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett LLP, which was hired by Chelsea Clinton to review the governance of the foundation after she got an inside look at its finances. Copies were sent to President Clinton, Chelsea, board members Terry McAuliffe and Bruce Lindsey and special advisor John Podesta.

Throughout the past almost 11 years since President Clinton left office, Band wrote, I have sought to leverage my activities, including my partner role at Teneo, to support and to raise funds for the Foundation. This memorandum strives to set forth how I have endeavored to support the Clinton Foundation and President Clinton personally.

In a nutshell, Band used glittering foundation events to pitch potential clients, and he urged clients to donate to the foundation and hire the former president for paid speeches and lucrative advisory positions.

Money and gigs came in from clients like Coca-Cola, UBS and Dow. Another Teneo client was Laureate International Universities. Teneo partners have helped manage this relationship, which is very time-consuming, Band wrote. Laureate pays President Clinton $3.5 million annually to provide advice and serve as their Honorary Chairman.

Band said he personally secured more than $50 million in for-profit activity for President Clinton, along with $66 million in future contracts. Justin Cooper and I have, for the past 10 years, served as the primary contact and point of management for President Clintons activities, he wrote, listing those activities as politics, business, foundation work, speeches, travel, books and family/personal needs.

Band, who called Chelsea a spoiled brat, wasnt happy at all to be questioned by lawyers from Simpson Thacher. Chelsea wrote in an email on Nov. 1, 2011, Doug called and yelled and screamed at my Dad about how could he do this to Justin and him, he would be nothing without him, etc.

Chelsea wasnt happy at all with the way Band and Cooper treated her father. Multiple people shared with me how upset they were at hearing how Justin referred to my father in the last week  in very derogatory ways, she emailed Podesta and others on Nov. 4, writing that her father had been told of multiple examples of Teneo hustling business at CGI [Clinton Global Initiative].

Still, the former president signed on as an adviser to Bands firm a short time later. I dont believe in coincidences, Chelsea wrote cryptically in an email to Podesta.

The Simpson Thacher review found serious problems with the foundations governance, including the complete lack of a required policy on conflicts of interest. Chelsea worried in a Dec. 2011 email that the foundations non-profit status might be at risk.

Before Doug Band was a consultant, hed been the body man for President Clinton, the person who traveled with him everywhere. In 2012, Band hired Huma Abedin, the woman who travels everywhere with Hillary Clinton, to work for Teneo. In her simultaneous government job as deputy chief of staff, Abedin dutifully checked with Band to see whether people who sought meetings with Secretary Clinton were legit CGI people, according to a Dec. 4, 2012, email sent from Abedins State Department account.

Hillary Clinton was no bystander. Emails from Abedin about a $12 million donation to the foundation from the king of Morocco show the concerns of the staff about the appearance of Clintons personal request for the money and her promise to appear at a CGI event to be held in Morocco in May 2015. She created this mess and she knows it, Abedin wrote.

Its perfectly clear, as President Richard Nixon used to say. Corporations and foreign governments seeking favorable treatment from the U.S. State Department were courted for cash. Access to government officials was leveraged to bring in money for the foundation and the Clinton family bank account. Hillary Clinton hid her correspondence on a private email server, hired BleachBit-wielding contractors to destroy subpoenaed evidence, claimed memory failure 39 times in an FBI interview, and tolerated a choir of staffers pleading the Fifth Amendment without firing anybody.

If it was a crime novel, this would be the final chapter.

Susan Shelley is a columnist for the Southern California News Group. Reach her at Susan@SusanShelley.com and follow her on Twitter: @Susan_Shelley.
If California voters decide to legalize recreational marijuana on November 8, local governments across the state should make sure not to ruin the party.

In addition to legalizing marijuana, Proposition 64 could create a windfall of revenue for state and local governments. Prop. 64 includes a 15 percent tax on marijuana at the point of sale (in addition to state and local sales taxes) along with a $2.75 per ounce tax on growers.

Those are actually more modest marijuana taxes than what other states have approved. The tax plan contained in Prop. 64, pro-marijuana activists say, could help California avoid some of the pitfalls that Colorado, Oregon and Washington dealt with in the aftermath of legalization. Each of those states initially imposed tax rates in excess of 25 percent (Oregon had the highest initial rate, 37 percent), but all three already have taken steps to reduce their taxes on weed.

Higher tax rates, those states found, kept the marijuana industry partially in the shadows. Californias lower tax rate should help to bring the states robust black market for weed into the light. Thats good for consumers, good for businesses and good for the states tax coffers.

California isnt alone in learning this lesson. States considering legalization this year are all aiming at lower tax rates. Voters in Arizona and Nevada, like those in California, will decide on Nov. 8 if they want to legalize recreational marijuana and tax it at 15 percent. A marijuana legalization initiative in Maine would set taxes at 10 percent, and Massachusetts proposed 3.75 tax rate would be the lowest in the nation for recreational weed, if voters approve it.

In California, state officials arent sure how much revenue the tax would produce  it would depend on a wide range of factors, including how permissive local governments decide to be  but the Tax Foundation says the tax will produce at least $646 million annually. That could grow to more than $1 billion in annual revenue within a few years, according to an analysis from the Los Angeles Times.

Thats more than six times the amount that Colorado collected from its marijuana taxes in 2015, a sign of just how massive the marijuana market in California could be.

The first $25 million would be earmarked for law enforcement and public health expenses related to legalization, and the rest would be spent on drug education and treatment programs, environmental projects and DUI enforcement.

Still, local governments could throw a wrench into Californias weed-revenue-infused future. CalCann Holdings LLC, a consulting firm that helps marijuana-related businesses navigate tax and regulatory policies in California, says there are essentially three types of cities that might impose additional taxes on growers and buyers.

Progressive cities expected to welcome the marijuana industry will likely set low rates  like the 2.5 percent tax rate currently applied to medical marijuana in places like Berkeley and Stockton  with the intention of drawing recreational weed out of the black market and creating new economic opportunities.

Local governments opposed to legalization could try to reverse state voters decision by outlawing recreational marijuana (Prop. 64 gives local governments that authority, if legalization is approved statewide) or by piling on punitive taxes to keep marijuana businesses away. Thats a short-sighted approach that would hold back local economies and maintain existing black markets, but its a mistake local governments would be permitted to make.

The third group of cities is the most interesting  and potentially the most worrisome. According to CalCann Holdings, some deeply indebted California cities might see marijuana legalization as the proverbial goose that lays golden eggs. They could be tempted to pass high local tax rates on marijuana as a way to pay for new spending projects or to plug budget holes in things like notoriously underfunded pension programs. Thats a temptation they would be wise to avoid.

Eric Boehm is a reporter for Reason magazine and Reason.com.
This week, there was crazy lightning and thunder in Orange County and we snapped the photos to prove it. Also making news was a devastating bus crash in Palm Springs, Jimmy Buffett says goodbye to Irvine Meadows and exciting new restaurants opening in Orange County. Check out what else you may have missed:

9 trees ignited after being struck by lightning in Orange County

In all, nearly 2,000 lightning strikes were recorded in Southern California, mostly in Orange, Riverside and north San Diego counties. Read more

Photos: Jimmy Buffett fans have one last party at Irvine Meadows

There are times in a mans life when he simply must put on a grass skirt with a coconut bra  or, perhaps, an inflatable pink flamingo costume. And thats OK. Read more

13 killed, 31 injured, in tour bus crash on 10 Freeway near Palm Springs

Thirteen people died and 31 were injured  most of them as they slept  when a tour bus slammed into the back of a semi-truck on Interstate 10 near Palm Springs before dawn Sunday. Read more

Why Prop 64 is about more than just smoking marijuana

Proposition 64, on its surface, poses a simple question: Should people be free to smoke pot in California? But the 62-page initiative on the Nov. 8 ballot asks voters to determine much more than that. Read more

Photos: New Huntington Beach air show is a treat for aviation fans

The Huntington Beach Airshow, in the works for two years, brought high-flying acrobatics, precision jet flying and planes filled with history for aviation enthusiasts. Read more

Driver, 25, dies after his car hits tree in Huntington Beach

Investigators believe the Camry was traveling southbound on Magnolia when it veered onto the center divider and struck the tree. Read more

Here are the 6 most exciting new restaurants opening in Orange County

Weve entered that time of year when long-anticipated food venues are scrambling to get open before Christmas. Read more

Owner of Huntington Beachs Castle House is dead-set on scaring Halloween visitors

On Halloween night, Dominic Menaldi expects upward of 5,000 people to troop through his Huntington Beach house, known locally as the castle house. Read more

Man arrested, suspected of being YouTuber jumping off Orange County landmarks

A Laguna Niguel man has been charged with trespassing on suspicion of jumping into the ocean and a pool from private property and then posting videos of the incidents on YouTube, authorities said Wednesday. Read more

Flip or Flop stars Tarek, Christina El Moussa under fire after complaints about their flipping classes

People interviewed said class leaders offered some instruction, but a lot of time was spent pushing them to buy more classes. Read more
Construction companies, architects and other individuals contributed nearly $140,000 last month to support a Capistrano Unified School District bond measure that promises upgrades and repairs to all district schools, despite opposition from local cities and elected officials.

Campaign disclosure forms reveal the Yes on M, Save Capistrano Unified School District 2016 committee received $140,080 in contributions from Sept. 25 to Oct. 22, raising the yearly total to more than $290,000.

Some of the top contributors last month included Cordoba Construction, Ledcor Construction, PJHM Architects, Eric Davy Arhcitects and DLR Group. These contributors gave more than $50,000 to support Measure M, records show.

As the Yes on M committee nearly doubled its contributions last month, its spending increased, too. Records reveal the committee spent nearly $95,000 on voter guides, signs and other businesses in less than a month, while increasing its war chest to more than $150,000.

The spike in contributions comes less than two weeks before the Nov. 8 election, in which at least 55 percent of Capo Unified voters must vote in favor of Measure M for it to be approved. Though the bond measure has won support with some teachers and the Capo Unified Board of Trustees president, Amy Hanacek, it has picked up more criticism in the wake of the Aliso Viejo City Council adopting a resolution opposing the $889 million bond measure.

Aliso Viejo Mayor Mike Munzing had been opposed to the measure for months, after co-signing a letter in July opposing Measure M with five other South County mayors, an assemblyman, a state senator and an Orange County supervisor.

Munzing and three other council members supported a city resolution stating a majority of the City Council opposes Measure M on Oct. 19 as several Capo Unified trustees sat in the audience. Councilman Ross Chun dissented.

A majority of the council expressed concern on whether the taxy levy associated with the bond might increase. Other concerns included how oversight committees would be set up and whether Aliso Viejo taxpayers would get an equal share of repairs for the money they will contribute.

Though $889 million in bonds could be issued through Measure M, Capo Unified taxpayers, except those in Rancho Mission Viejo, could pay back about $1.8 billion including interest if all bonds are issued. Rancho Mission Viejo was not included because Capo Unified decided to focus on current facilities needs.

Measure M aims to repair classrooms, remove asbestos and upgrade safety and security at schools across the district. The bond measure could impact more than 50 schools in the district.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7844 or snewell@scng.com
BEIRUT  A coalition of Syrian insurgent groups said it had begun a major offensive on Friday to break the monthslong siege of eastern parts of Aleppo by government and Russian forces, and at least 15 people were reportedly killed in fighting in government-controlled parts of the city.

Observers reported heavy gunfire, mortar fire, car bombs and other explosions in the city, where as many as 275,000 people are living in desperate conditions. Black smoke from burning tires rose above the city, evidently in an attempt to obscure the view of pilots flying Russian warplanes overhead.

The new offensive was a strong sign that rebel groups vetted by the United States were continuing their tactical alliances with groups linked to al-Qaida, rather than distancing themselves as Russia has demanded and the Americans have urged.

Russia has reserved the right to attack anyone working with al-Qaida-linked groups, saying there is little distinction between them. The rebels argue that they cannot afford to shun any potential allies while they are under fire, including well-armed and motivated jihadis, without more robust aid from their international backers.

Aleppo, once the most populous city in Syria, has been the site of some of the heaviest fighting in the nearly six-year civil war. President Bashar Assads government forces, backed by Russian firepower, have surrounded rebels who are holed up in the eastern quarters of the city and have held the area in a siege since July.

The insurgents have a diverse range of objectives and backers, but they issued statements of unity on Friday. Those taking part in the offensive include the Levant Conquest Front, a militant group formerly known as the Nusra Front that grew out of al-Qaida; another hard-line Islamist faction, Ahrar al-Sham; and other rebel factions fighting Assad that have been vetted by the United States and its allies.

In addition to the 15 fatalities, 100 people were wounded by shells fired by the rebels at government-controlled neighborhoods, largely in western Aleppo, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group based in Britain.

A military airport to the east of Aleppo was attacked, as was a government position to the west of the city, the rebels said.

The insurgent advances southwest of Aleppo are crucial because the area includes a supply route that the government seized in July. The rebels took it back in August, only to lose it again. They had promised recently that they would mount another counterattack.

Eleven of the roughly 20 rebel groups conducting the offensive have been vetted by the CIA and have received arms from the agency, including anti-tank missiles, said Charles Lister, a senior fellow and Syria specialist at the Middle East Institute in Washington.

A spokesman for the CIA declined to comment on any armed assistance to the rebels, which, although it has been well publicized, is also still technically a covert program.

Lister and other analysts said the vast majority of the U.S.-vetted rebel factions in Aleppo were fighting inside the city itself and conducting significant bombardments against Syrian government troops in support of Qaida-affiliated fighters carrying out the brunt of front-line fighting.

The unfortunate truth, however, is that these U.S.-backed groups remain somewhat dependent upon the al-Qaida-linked groups for organization and firepower in these operations, said Genevieve Casagrande, a Syria research analyst at the Institute for the Study of War in Washington.

In addition to arms provided by the United States, much of the rebels weaponry comes from regional states, like Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Lister said, including truck-borne multiple-rocket launcher systems and Czech-made Grad rockets with extended ranges.

The fighting comes after a weeklong lull during which Russia unilaterally declared a cease-fire and issued a widely ignored call for civilians and rebels to leave the eastern districts of Aleppo through humanitarian corridors, as warplanes dropped leaflets warning that anyone who stayed could be killed.

The government and its allies accused the rebels of forcing Aleppo residents to stay, and of using them as human shields. Rebel groups rejected that charge, saying the corridor was not safe without U.N. guarantees, and they refused to agree to evacuations unless humanitarian aid was also delivered to the besieged areas.

The United Nations and the Red Cross sought to arrange aid deliveries and medical evacuations, and officials expressed frustration that the government and the rebels could not come to an agreement.

The Syrian foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, met with Sergey V. Lavrov of Russia and Mohammad Javad Zarif of Iran in Moscow on Friday to discuss conditions for suspending hostilities.

Earlier attempts at a cease-fire fell apart, and the United States halted talks with Moscow on Aleppo, with Secretary of State John Kerry accusing Russia of war crimes.

Moallem said in Moscow that government forces could agree to another humanitarian pause in hostilities, but only in exchange for a pledge from the rebels that civilians would be allowed to leave the city.

We are ready to again repeat this attempt after we receive guarantees that confirm that the countries supporting these terrorist organizations are prepared to act so that civilians could use the cease-fire, Moallem said.

Kerry has continued to reach out to Syrian rebel groups. A State Department spokesman, John Kirby, reiterated on Thursday the United States long-standing criticisms of Russia, saying that Moscow was pursuing a self-defeating strategy.

If thats their intention, to reduce Aleppo to rubble, he said, then they will do nothing more than encourage the opposition to keep fighting, make a cessation of hostilities all the more elusive if not impossible, and bolster the rise of extremism in Aleppo as well as prolong a war that should not be.

He continued, You would hope that the Russians would see thats clearly not in their interest.
Green Street Advisors President Craig Leupold has been promoted to chief executive of the Newport Beach research company that specializes in real estate investment trusts.

Leupold has been with Green Street for 23 years.

Mike Kirby, the co-founder of Green Street Advisors, will continue to play an active role, leading the firms research efforts as chairman and director of research. He and former partner Jon Fosheim founded Green Street in 1985.

Jim Sullivan, a 22-year veteran of the firm, becomes president of Advisory & Consulting. He had been managing director of Green Streets Advisory Group since 2014. Leupold and Sullivan intend to expand the firms product offerings and services, as well as its geographic reach across borders.

Dawn M. Bridges was hired as director of information technology at KTGY Architecture + Planning in Irvine. Bridges brings to KTGY more than 20 years of experience in architecture-engineering-construction and technology management. She most recently served as global program manager for enterprise application services at Jacobs, a Fortune 500 company and provider of technical professional and construction services.

Ken Gaitan has been hired at Money360 in Ladera Ranch as regional director of the companys Western region. Gaitan brings nearly 30 years of commercial real estate experience to his role and has closed more than $3.5 billion in commercial real estate transactions during his career. Gaitan has served in senior production and management roles for firms such as Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, CBRE and Newmark Grubb Knight Frank.

TRANSACTIONS

The Anaheim Concourse industrial property on North Miller Street has been sold to Bentall Kennedy, a commercial property investment firm, for $188 million. The property, at nearly 1 million square feet, was completed last year and includes seven, Class A industrial buildings that are mostly leased.

CBRE Group, which represented the property sellers, declined to name existing tenants. In the sale, lease rollovers were staggered, with the first one expiring in January 2021, and less than 20 percent of the projects square footage to roll in any given year through 2026.

CBRE representatives Darla Longo, Barbara Emmons, Michael Kendall, Rebecca Perlmutter, Brad Bierbaum and Ryan Peterson represented the sellers, Panattoni Development Co. and Clarion Partners, on behalf of a separate account managed by the firm. Val Achtemeier of CBRE arranged financing for the project on behalf of Bentall Kennedy.

This acquisition offered the opportunity to secure almost 10 percent of the Class A industrial product in the largest industrial market in Orange County in a single transaction, said Bentall Kennedys Ashley Powell, head of transactions for the Western region.

Overall industrial vacancies in the Greater Los Angles and Southern California market are hovering at 1.8 percent.

Irvine-based BKM Capital Partners, a fund manager with a focus on multitenant light industrial investments, has acquired Andover Executive Park, an 11-building multitenant industrial business park in Tukwila, Wash., for $19.8 million. The acquisition comes on the heels of BKMs acquisition of Tukwila Commerce Center, which is adjacent to the Andover property. BKM plans to implement a series of capital improvements to the business park, including upgrades to the buildings roofs, exterior paint, landscaping, facades and signage, as well as adding creative exterior accents and introducing interior common areas.

Marcus & Millichap has closed the sale of Hacienda Plaza, a 77,610-square-foot mixed-use retail/medical office property in Santa Ana, for $16.7 million, or $215 per square foot. Built in 1976, the property is across from Santa Ana City College. A 28,800-square-foot retail/medical building fronts Seventeenth Street, and a 29,310-square-foot medical/warehouse building fronts 19th Street. The buyers and seller are private 1031-exchange investors. Michael Lawrence and Michael Woolbright, both in Marcus & Millichaps Newport Beach office, represented the seller. Ron Duong, also in the Newport Beach office, represented the buyer.

NGKF Capital Markets has completed the sale of Newport Irvine Center, a three-story, 76,837-square-foot office building in Newport Beach. Terms were not disclosed. The property at 3300 Irvine Ave. was 87 percent occupied at the close of escrow. Paul Jones, Kevin Shannon, Blake Bokosky and Robert Griffith of NGKF represented the seller, as well as the buyers, Newport Beach-based Cress Capital and New York-based C-III.

MILESTONES

NUVIS Landscape Architecture of Costa Mesa received the Award of Excellence for its Owens Lake Land Art project at the American Society of Landscape Architects, Southern California Chapters 2016 Quality of Life Design Awards. Perry Cardoza, the firms executive vice president, oversaw the project. The Quality of Life Design Awards event was held this month at Disneys Grand Californian Resort in Anaheim. Two hundred landscape architects, green industry and other allied professionals participated.

Vivante on the Coast has been recognized by the 55+ Housing Council of the Building Industry Association of Southern California as part of its 22nd annual SAGE Awards. The awards recognize professionals, projects and programs that have contributed to the enhancement of life for California residents age 55 and over. Vivante, on the border of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, includes 145 assisted and independent living residences with a variety of studios, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom floor plans ranging in size from 450 to 1,800 square feet.

Send submissions to sgowen@ocregister.com
Less than a month after OPEC announced a plan to collectively reduce oil production to boost prices, it appears that the deal may be falling apart.

Originally, all 14 member nations and Russia had agreed to work together to reduce production, but now nations are asking for exemptions from the pact.

Iraq, Nigeria, Iran and Libya have all suggested that they should be able to produce at current levels while the other nations cut back, which could lead to squabbling amongst member nations.

Markets are now believing that the deal will ultimately fall apart, which would continue the global oil glut. These expectations knocked oil prices near the lowest price of the month, trading Friday for $49 per barrel.

Soggy oats market boils higher

Oat prices have exploded this week, gaining over 10 percent in just three days on concerns about the quality and availability of Canadas crop.

Canada is the worlds largest exporter of the grain, but cold, wet weather in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan has essentially halted harvest. A quarter of the crop is still in the field, and some fear that it may not be harvested until next spring.

Furthermore, wet conditions are hurting the quality of the oats, which could render them unsuitable for human consumption. Fears of limited supplies boosted prices to a three-month high at $2.40 on Friday.

While sometimes ignored by traders, oats are thought to be a harbinger of future moves in the corn market by the adage corn follows oats.

Should that prove true again this year, a rally in corn would be a welcome relief to U.S. farmers who are finishing this years harvest.

Strong economy helps copper

The U.S. economy is growing at a rate of 2.9%, the highest figure in two years, according to the U.S. governments third-quarter estimate on Friday.

This sign of strength helped cement coppers 10 cent gain this week, trading Friday near $2.20 per pound.

Copper is an essential component in cars, houses and electronics, making it extremely sensitive to economic growth.

Globally, inventories of copper are shrinking, especially in China, a further sign of demand for the red metal.

For consumers, this weeks price rally shouldnt be a major concern. Even after the rise, copper prices are still less than half of their 2011 peak over $4.60 per pound.

Walt and Alex Breitinger are commodity futures brokers in Silver Lake, Kansas. They can be reached at 800-411-3888 or paragoninvestments.com.
The Nebraska Supreme Court has indefinitely suspended an Omaha attorney who it said failed to properly represent or communicate with his clients.

The suspension of David W. Tighe was recommended by the courts Counsel for Discipline, which examined three 2013 cases that pointed to attorney misconduct.

Tighe failed to file necessary paperwork for a bankruptcy client, who learned that she had not been discharged from debt when creditors continued to contact her.

As a result, Tighe was suspended by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Orders were filed for reciprocal discipline in U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska and then the Nebraska Supreme Court. Tighe failed to respond to multiple orders or gave inadequate answers.

In two criminal cases, clients filed grievances alleging that Tighe had failed to provide them with all of their paperwork. Tighe did not respond when asked to address specific questions or allegations.

The Supreme Court said Tighe must serve at least a year of the suspension before he can apply for reinstatement. If reinstated, he would have to be on probation for at least two more years.
LINCOLN  Jeffrey Hessler lost an appeal Friday that claimed he should not have been allowed to plead no contest to a sexual assault charge later used to put him on death row in a separate murder case.

Hessler, 38, has been sentenced to die for the Feb. 11, 2003, abduction, rape and murder of 15-year-old Heather Guerrero of Gering. At the same time that he confessed to Heathers murder, Hessler also told authorities he had raped a second teenage girl, from Scottsbluff, six months earlier.

One reason the confession to the first rape was significant was that it gave the prosecution an avenue to use the case to argue for an aggravating circumstance, an element necessary to secure a death sentence.

Hesslers defense team advised him to plead no contest to the earlier sexual assault before his murder trial. They planned to make a double jeopardy argument that they hoped would disqualify the earlier rape conviction as an aggravating circumstance.

His trial lawyers told Hessler their theory was untested, but faced with confessions and DNA evidence that proved Hesslers guilt, their strategy was to try to keep him off death row. Hessler also told his lawyers that he did not want to go to trial on the

earlier rape charge.

Ultimately the strategy failed and the sexual assault conviction was used by the prosecution during the sentencing phase in the murder case.

In his post-conviction motion, Hessler argued that he received ineffective legal assistance in the rape case because his lawyers should have argued that he was mentally incompetent to make the plea. Hessler had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, depression and paranoid delusional disorder.

Scotts Bluff County District Judge Randall Lippstreu reviewed the testimony of three psychiatric professionals who had met with Hessler. Despite Hesslers illness, all three said he understood what was happening and was able to assist in his defense. His own trial lawyers gave similar testimony.

The district judge ruled that Hessler failed to prove that he was incompetent and therefore overruled his motion.

The Supreme Court upheld the lower court and also rejected other error claims raised by Hessler in the same case.

The high court has previously affirmed Hesslers death sentence on direct appeal.

More recently, Hessler has filed a different motion that challenges the constitutionality of Nebraskas sentencing procedure in death penalty cases. That claim is based on a U.S. Supreme Court decision in a Florida death penalty case.
Omaha Public Library wants to help readers find new books or at least books new to them. Every month in this space, library employees will recommend reading based on different writing genres or styles.

Today, library staff suggests several spooky books just in time for Halloween. Find these and more at your local branch or omahalibrary.org.

Ali Bousquet, youth services librarian at South Omaha Library: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz. This book is listed as juvenile nonfiction, but the stories are seriously spooky. The stories are a mixture of urban legends, original tales and even some songs. The creepy illustrations by Stephen Gammell really set this book apart. Schwartzs book is spooky enough for even the most sophisticated fifth-grader.

David Dick, clerk at Charles B. Washington Library: The Dealings of Daniel Kesserich by Fritz Leiber. This is a science-fiction horror story about time travel that Leiber wrote while young, but it was not published until after his death. George Kramer goes to a small California town for the funeral of a friends wife. He happens upon the notebook of his old college roommate, Daniel Kesserich, and strange things begin to occur. A weird story of disappearances, grief, paranoia and angry mobs follows.

Carol Erkens, adult services librarian at Benson Library: Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake. It is a young adult book, but somewhat gory and graphic in the first couple of chapters. Its not for little kids or young teens. There is a sequel, Girl of Nightmares  another well-written book and conclusion to the set.

Mark Sorensen, library specialist at W. Dale Clark Library: North American Lake Monsters by Nathan Ballingrud. Short stories have long been fertile ground for horror. Ballingruds first collection is top-notch: dark but familiar, full of the monsters we fear, love and can become. The stories have a blue-collar heart, a strong sense of place and plenty of gut-wrenching scares.

Sorensen also picked The House With a Clock in its Walls by John Bellairs and The Cabinet of Curiosities by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. In House, Bellairs perfectly captured a certain dusty Gothic flair for middle-grade readers. Orphan Lewis Barnavelt is sent to live with his mysterious uncle, whose house hides a cursed clock ticking down the minutes to Doomsday.

In The Cabinet, Preston and Childs long-running Agent Pendergast series has never been creepier than this early entry. Construction opens a century-old hidden tunnel in New York, revealing dozens of bodies bizarrely mutilated and displayed. Before the dust has settled, new victims appear with similar wounds. The murder investigation becomes a deadly search through the secrets of both the citys history and the human body.

Lynn Sullivan, library specialist at W. Dale Clark Library: The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. The reader is left to wonder if the governess is teaching living children, ghosts, or if she has she lost her sanity. The mind can scare itself more easily than anything else can.

Sullivan also recommended Haunted Heartland by Beth Scott and Michael Norman. This is a collection of ghost stories from the Midwest. It includes the Ghost of Nebraska Wesleyan, about secretary Colleen Buterbaugh, who witnesses a snapshot of a bygone day when the music teacher, Ursula, dies of a heart attack while at work. The description of the school grounds, Ursulas office and, most of all, the complete silence give the tale authenticity.
No Limits, Nebraskas youth-led tobacco prevention movement, is accepting applications for the No Limits Fall Summit, which will be held Dec. 10 and 11 at the Carol Joy Holling Youth Camp near Ashland, Nebraska. Youths ages 12 to 18, in seventh through 12th grades, will explore how the tobacco industry targets young people and what they can do to counter it. The events theme, Same ol dog. Same ol tricks, focuses on Big Tobaccos persistent use of manipulative tactics to recruit teens to be new customers.

The summit is free and includes transportation to the Carol Joy Holling Youth Camp. Youths can attend as an individual or as a member of a group. A group sponsor is encouraged but not required.

Space is limited and applications will be evaluated on a competitive basis. Applications must be submitted by Nov. 9. More information and application forms are available online at NoLimitsNebraska.com or by contacting Molly Kincaid, No Limits program coordinator, at 866-394-8336 or email info@NoLimitsNebraska.com.

Other community events include:

Small business workshop this week on franchising

Experts from the Small Business Administration, SCORE and the Nebraska Business Development Center are hosting a series of workshops on best practices for building and maintaining a small business.

This weeks free class  Is Franchising a Good Fit For Me?  will be Thursday at noon at the Military Veteran Services Center, 2108 Harvell Circle, in Bellevue.

To register, email MVSC@bellevue.edu or go online to frannet.com/microsites/bmartin/local-events/nov11seminar.

Deadline nears for agricultural donation contestTime is running out for Nebraska farmers to enroll in the Americas Farmers Grow Communities program, which gives growers a chance to win a $2,500 donation to direct to their favorite local eligible nonprofit organization. The deadline for farmers to apply is Nov. 30. Grow Communities will donate more than $3 million to nonprofit organizations in 2017. Winners will be announced in January. Nebraska farmers can enter for a chance to win online at GrowCommunities.com or by calling 877-267-3332.

Girl Scouts to hold leadership conference

Girl Scouts Young Womens Leadership Conference will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 5 at the University of Nebraska at Omahas Mammel Hall, 6708 Pine St.

All girls in ninth through 12th grades can explore their leadership potential at this daylong conference featuring dynamic speakers and empowering sessions. Join other teens from across the state to discover, connect and take action to make the world a better place.

Keynote presentation and book signing by New York Times best-selling author Rainbow Rowell.

Ticket prices are $15 for girls in ninth through 12th grades; $10 for adults. Ticket cost includes breakfast, lunch, supplies and a T-shirt. For more information, call 402-779-8221.

North Omaha community Impact Luncheon planned

The North Omaha Community Care Council will host its fourth annual Community Impact Luncheon celebrating 20 years of service to the community on Nov. 18. The event will begin at 11:30 a.m. at Girls Inc. of Nebraska, 2811 N. 45th St. The luncheon will honor not-for-profit social service agencies, outstanding youth activism and commercial collaboration in service to the north Omaha community.

Dr. Donna Steward, a licensed psychologist with Boys Town Behavioral Health Clinic, is the keynote speaker. She will discuss behavioral health and creating healthy communities.The luncheon will honor awardees in three categories: Nebraska Childrens Home Society will receive the Spirit of Business Award; Marshall Taylor and Annette Taylor from The Aframerican Bookstore will receive the Spirit of Advocacy Award; and Ghawayne Calvin will receive the Spirit of Youth Award.

The luncheon also serves to celebrate and raise awareness of the quiet, effective service of the council NOCCC to the north Omaha community.Individual tickets are $35 per person. Optional corporate packages also are available. Ticket prices include lunch, door-prize drawings and take-home information from many of the councils NOCCC associate organizations along with tours of the newly opened Girls Inc. health facility.

Registration and payment are due by Nov. 11. Registration is available online only at northomahaccc.org or on Facebook: facebook.com/NorthOmahaCommunityCareCouncil.
LINCOLN  The economist who estimated that Nebraska spends $14.6 million annually on the death penalty challenged the biggest critic of his findings to a public debate.

Creighton economics professor Ernie Goss said in a Friday letter that Attorney General Doug Peterson has repeatedly misrepresented his cost analysis. Peterson has released his own research that he says shows that the death penalty costs a small fraction of Goss estimate.

Goss invited Peterson to a public forum where both could present their research so voters can analyze the data and decide for themselves what the economic costs of Nebraskas death penalty are.

In response, Petersons spokeswoman issued a press release saying the attorney general is confident in Nebraskans ability to determine the facts when they vote on the death penalty.

Peterson, who supports the death penalty, has assailed the $16,000 study that Goss did on commission for Retain a Just Nebraska, an organization working to preserve the Legislatures 2015 repeal of capital punishment. On Nov. 8, voters will decide on a referendum on the repeal legislation.

Peterson said one flaw of the Goss analysis stems from its reliance on studies conducted in other states that show that death penalty cases generate higher defense costs, take more court time to resolve and generate more appeals than cases that result in life in prison.

Nebraskas costs are lower than other states, Peterson argued, because the state sets a high bar for death penalty prosecutions and ultimately sends a relatively small number of killers to death row.

Goss said his $14.6 million estimate was derived from an economic equation that factored in justice cost data reported by Nebraska counties to the U.S. Census Bureau. The analysis has a margin of error of half a percent, he added.

The Goss report can be found at retainajustnebraska.com, while Petersons research is on his website at ago.nebraska.gov/media/news/view/101182/nebraska-facts-about-nebraskas-death-penalty.
LINCOLN  An effort to maintain public access to iconic rapids on the Niobrara River is moving forward, slowly.

Members of the council that oversees the scenic portion of the river have voted to keep exploring the opportunity to participate in a purchase of the Rocky Ford rapids.

However, the Niobrara Councils motion, adopted Oct. 20, falls short of committing the group to purchase the 20-acre site or to launch a fundraising drive for such a purchase.

Instead, the council established a five-member, ad hoc committee to continue exploring participating in a purchase.

At this point, were just going to see where this committee takes us and what they turn up. I think the price is still pretty high, said Dallas Dodson of Valentine, Nebraska, a member of the river council.

The future of Rocky Ford, one of Nebraskas few Class III rapids and a popular take-out point for canoe and float trips, has been up in the air for several months.

The outfitter who owns the site had arranged a sale to the National Park Service, but that plan was scuttled in April by objections from Nebraskas congressional delegation and members of the council about federal ownership of land in the ranching area.

This month, a longtime member of the Niobrara Council, rancher Brad Arrowsmith, bought Rocky Ford, saying he hoped to hold onto the property until the Niobrara Council could raise enough money to purchase it. That way, he said, the site would be managed locally.

Arrowsmith purchased the 19.7-acre site for $522,000, according to Keya Paha County records. That didnt include buying out the canoe outfitting business, Dodson said, which could hike up the price considerably.

The National Park Service was prepared to pay $2 million for the land, which includes cabins, a concession stand, a campground and a lodge, and a canoe outfitting business.

Whether the Niobrara Council could raise that kind of money is unclear. The council, a 15-member group of local landowners and local officials, was set up to provide local input on managing the Niobrara, a national scenic river. It owns no land, has a staff of two and has never embarked on such a fundraising venture.

Dodson, who made the motion to create the ad hoc committee, said hed like to get more information about several issues, including who might be willing to manage Rocky Ford and what exactly it would cost. A report is expected at the councils next meeting on Dec. 15.

Steve Thede, the superintendent of the scenic river for the National Park Service, said last week that his agency would still be interested in managing the site if that became the plan.

Our interest is providing public access to Rocky Ford, Thede said. Wed like to find a way to make that work.

Tim McCoy, a deputy director with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, said his agency hasnt been approached about its interest in managing the site. The council is still working its way through what it wants to do, he said. Were trying to be respectful of that.

Advocates for purchasing Rocky Ford say it is an iconic site that should be owned by the public. A purchase would maintain public access and create the possibility of a park that could rival Smith Falls State Park, which is a few miles upriver.

Public access is important because much of the land along the popular canoe waters of the Niobrara River is privately owned. So float trips must either pay access fees, work through a private outfitter or otherwise gain permission to launch a canoe or camp.
Updates from Friday: Protests at Dakota Access pipeline site draw to a peaceful close after day of clashes]

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CANNON BALL, N.D. (AP)  Law enforcement officers dressed in riot gear and firing bean bags and pepper spray evicted protesters Thursday from private land in the path of the Dakota Access oil pipeline, dramatically escalating a months-long dispute over Native American rights and the projects environmental impact.

In an operation that took nearly six hours, hundreds of armed state and local police and National Guard troops  some on foot and others in trucks, military Humvees and buses  pushed past burning barricades to slowly envelop the camp.

No serious injuries were reported, though one man whose leg was hurt received treatment from a medic.

Donnell Hushka, a spokeswoman for the Morton County Sheriffs Office, said 117 protesters had been arrested.

Among them was a woman who pulled out a .38-caliber pistol and fired three times at officers, narrowly missing a sheriffs deputy, according to State Emergency Services spokeswoman Cecily Fong. Officers did not return fire, she said. Protesters insisted that they were unarmed.

Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said the camp had been cleared by nightfall although police were still dealing with protesters on the perimeter. Though officials earlier said they planned to turn the site over to private security, Kirchmeier said police would stay for now.

Were not leaving the area, he said. We are just going to make sure that we maintain a presence in the area so the roadway stays open, and to keep individuals from camping on private land.

Opponents of the pipeline over the weekend set up camp on private land owned by Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners, which is working to complete the 1,200-mile pipeline to carry oil from western North Dakota to Illinois. The route skirts the Standing Rock Reservation, and the tribe says it could endanger water supplies and disturb cultural sites. The State of North Dakota says no sensitive cultural sites have been found in the area.

The tribe has gone to court to challenge the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decision granting permits at more than 200 water crossings. A federal judge in September denied their request to block construction, but three federal agencies stepped in to order construction to halt on Corps-owned land around Lake Oahe, a wide spot of the Missouri River, while the Corps reviewed its decision-making.

Construction was allowed to continue on private land owned by the developer, with a goal of completion by the end of the year.

Thursdays operation to push out the protesters began a day after they had refused to leave voluntarily. Law enforcement officers repeatedly asked protesters to retreat, at one point using a high-pitched whistle that they said was intended to control and disperse protesters.

The camp cleared on Thursday is just to the north of a more permanent and larger encampment on federally owned land that has been the main staging area for hundreds of protesters, including Native Americans from across North America, environmentalists and some celebrities.

Many protesters openly defied the officers, while others took part in prayer circles and burned sage.

Protesters erected a barricade on a bridge on County Road 134 north of Cannon Ball. After setting fire to the barricade they moved to Highway 1806, where hundreds of law enforcement officers from multiple departments appeared with armored vehicles to move them south on the highway to their main camp.

There were tense moments when the gunshots were heard and officers piled onto a person.

The protesters eventually made their way back to their main camp. Just north of the camp there were several vehicles on fire, but it was unclear whom they belonged to or who started the fire.

Cody Hall, a spokesman for the protesters, vowed that a new camp would be built elsewhere in the pipelines path, but on federal land.

Its going to take a lot to move them (protesters) from there, he said.

Authorities said protesters set fire to four large pieces of construction equipment.

Aaron Johnson, 50, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux in South Dakota, said he and other protesters werent happy with the days outcome. I came here for peace and prayer, he said. When somebody sets something on fire, thats not peace and prayer.

World-Herald staff writer Chris Machian contributed to this report.
CANNON BALL, N.D.  A day after 142 people were arrested and three shots were fired at law enforcement officers, another protest ended peacefully Friday where a controversial crude oil pipeline is being built.

A couple of hundred protesters again faced off with riot-gear-clad law enforcement officers on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation along the Missouri River south of Bismarck.

But this time, the use of pepper spray and military-style Humvees was averted when elders of the Standing Rock Tribe brokered a truce on a bridge littered with burnt-out vehicles and police barricades.

Miles Allard, who has allowed protesters since April to camp on land that he owns with his wife, said he intervened because of concerns that people were going to get hurt.

I told them to back off and wed back off, Allard said. Their main concern was to get people off the highway. ... My main concern was prayer and nonviolence.

Late Thursday night, after a violent clash that ended with arrests and the clearing of a new camp on land owned by the builders of the Dakota Access pipeline, protesters erected a blockade on a bridge just south of Thursdays confrontation.

The burnt shells of two large trucks, an SUV and a highway sign served as the backdrop for a new face-off on the bridge just after noon. Dozens of law enforcement officers in riot gear and with guns drawn faced off with dozens of protesters.

But about 1 p.m., the deal was brokered. Some protesters initially refused to retreat from the bridge, and some clashed physically with fellow protesters over their aggressive taunts and the playing of loud and profane rap music. But by 3 p.m., the face-off was virtually over.

The bridge, on a state highway that leads from the reservation to Mandan, North Dakota, remained closed Friday night pending an examination of the bridge by state highway officials.

The scene Friday was in stark contrast to the day before, when dozens were arrested, cuffed with zip ties and held in dog-kennel-like enclosures inside a county garage until they could be housed in area jails.

Several vehicles were set ablaze on Thursday, one woman fired three shots at law enforcement officers while being arrested and a security guard for the pipeline company pointed an assault rifle at protesters.

It was unbelievable that law enforcement officers were not shot yesterday, said Capt. Brian Niewind of the North Dakota Highway Patrol. A woman pulled a .38 pistol as she was being arrested, he said, and fired in the direction of officers.

No one was struck, but a handful of law enforcement officers were treated for minor injuries. It was not disclosed who was injured. Eleven Nebraska state troopers have been helping with law enforcement at the protest site since Sunday.

Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said an investigation continues into the guard with the assault rifle.

Law enforcement officials expressed thanks that Standing Rock elders were willing to work out a nonviolent end to protests on Friday, and insisted that only the force necessary to uphold the rule of law was used on Thursday.

The actions of a few forced us to use force in some instances. That was not our goal, Niewind said. He said law enforcement postponed arresting some protesters  for refusing to depart from private property  until they were done praying or had completed a ceremony in a sweat lodge.

But some protesters said the response on Thursday  which included some shots of nonlethal bean bag and sponge rounds, use of riot sticks and handcuffing of elders  was excessive.

Some accused the pipeline security guard of firing shots into the air in an attempt to prompt law enforcement to open fire on the protesters on Thursday.

Joe Heath, a volunteer lawyer at the protest camps who is chief counsel for the Onondaga Nation in upper New York, said the legal team is considering federal civil rights lawsuits against law enforcers.

Whats the rush to protect this corporate land? he asked. Where else in America would this happen when you have a peaceful protest?

Law enforcement officials at a Friday press conference said their investigation determined that the pipeline employee did not fire his weapon, and that he had acted in self-defense when confronted by some protesters.

Late Friday, officials at the main camp of protesters were attempting to banish a group of loud, aggressive young men whom they blamed for setting the fires and blocking the bridge.

Standing Rock tribal leaders have consistently called for protests to be peaceful, even though they have sought to halt construction of the 1,200-mile pipeline, which cuts diagonally across Iowa, before it can cross the Missouri River.

A mix of Native Americans and environmentalists from across the country have converged on North Dakota since this summer to oppose the $3.8 million Dakota Access project. They say that it puts at risk drinking water supplies used by millions along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers and that the construction is desecrating sacred sites on treaty land that was once part of the Standing Rock Reservation.

Advocates say that pipelines are the safest and most economical way to move crude oil, that the pipeline has extra safety features and that it will solve an oil transportation problem for oil produced via fracking in North Dakota.
Whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump wins the White House, its the American people who will have lost, Chuck Hagels bleak assessment of this presidential election cycle suggests.

Both candidates have really disappointed and failed this country, Hagel said Friday.

Hagel, who represented Nebraska for two terms in the U.S. Senate, spoke to The World-Herald between sessions at this weeks Vietnam War symposium at his alma mater, the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

He said he will definitely cast a ballot on Nov. 8. In fact, he said, he hasnt missed an election since his first in 1968  and he filled out that ballot while sitting on a tank in Vietnam.

But even with the election a little more than a week away, Hagel said he hasnt decided which candidate to back.

A Republican, Hagel served as secretary of defense for President Barack Obama, a Democrat, but Hagel said he viewed that job as nonpartisan. He noted that his Senate voting record was far different from Obama or Vice President Joe Biden, and said hes not prepared to abandon the GOP he joined all those years ago.

Im not willing to give up and walk away from what the Republican Party used to be, what I think was a balanced, wise, insightful philosophy about government, he said. The Republican philosophy about government is more necessary today than maybe its ever been, starting with engagement and trade and alliances, strengthening those and reaching out.

He has harsh critiques of both presidential candidates.

Besides Trumps personal issues, Hagel said, the businessmans rhetoric represents an insular, dishonest world view that spurns international alliances and economic trade  the opposite of traditional Republican values. And Trumps statements about imprisoning Clinton if he wins are simply irresponsible and dangerous, Hagel said.

More broadly, he faulted congressional Republicans for continuing dysfunction in blocking anything the Obama administration tries to do  while adding that the administration has brought some of that on itself by failing to engage Capitol Hill.

Republicans seem to be flailing, without a unifying political philosophy, he said.

I think the Republican Party is in immense trouble and its going to be a while before it sorts itself out, he said.

In contrast, Democrats have a clear direction they want to take the country, he said, but unfortunately its the wrong direction  toward the far left.

Hagel pointed in particular to Clintons 180-degree turn on the trade agreement known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which she now says she opposes.

She is pandering to a far left of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and the liberals, Hagel said. Is that the kind of president you want?

Beyond policies, Hagel said, hes troubled by many aspects of Clintons email controversy, ranging from her statements about the need for different public and private positions to suggestions of quid pro quo-style transactions.

That whole culture inside the Clinton crowd really does bother me, Hagel said.

Elections should be about hope and governing, he said.

This election has been about the lowest common denominator of doom, Hagel said. They dont talk about hopeful things.

The next four years will be rocky, he said, but America will come through this. Ultimately, he said, the American public will demand a fresh approach.

Our country is so much better than whats being shown today and so much better than our leaders, he said.
WASHINGTON  Newly discovered emails found on a computer seized during an investigation of disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner thrust the controversy over Hillary Clintons use of a private server back into the presidential campaign less than two weeks before the election.

Officials said the discovery prompted a surprise announcement Friday by FBI Director James Comey that the agency would once again be examining emails related to Clintons time as secretary of state.

In a letter to lawmakers, Comey said the FBI would take appropriate investigative steps to determine whether the newly discovered emails contain classified information and to assess whether they are relevant to the Clinton server probe.

Later on Friday, Clinton called on FBI officials to release any and all information they have regarding the new batch of emails the agency has said it is reviewing.

We are 11 days out from perhaps the most important national election of our lifetime, Clinton told reporters after a campaign rally in Des Moines. Voting is already underway in parts of our nation, so the American people deserve to get the full facts immediately. The director himself has said he doesnt know whether the emails are significant or not. Im confident whatever they are will not change the conclusion reached in July.

The emails, numbering more than 1,000, were found on a computer used by both Weiner, D-N.Y., and his wife, top Clinton aide Huma Abedin, according to law enforcement officials with knowledge of the inquiry who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The correspondence included emails between Abedin and Clinton, according to a law enforcement official.

Federal officials have been examining sexually suggestive online messages that Weiner allegedly exchanged with a teenage girl. The link to the Weiner investigation was first reported by the New York Times.

Comeys announcement appears to resume the FBIs probe of Clintons server, which previously ended in July with no charges.

The announcement could reshape a presidential race that Clinton, the Democratic nominee, has been leading in most public polls. It was immediately hailed by Republican nominee Donald Trump, who told supporters at a New Hampshire rally that perhaps, finally, justice will be done. The crowd responded with pumped fists and chants of Lock her up! Lock her up!

Clinton told reporters Friday night in Iowa that she learned of the newly discovered emails only after the letter to Congress was made public.

Im confident whatever (the emails) are will not change the conclusion reached in July, she said. Therefore its imperative that the bureau explain this issue in question, whatever it is, without any delay.

Asked about the connection to Weiner, Clinton said: Weve heard these rumors. We dont know what to believe.

Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta called it extraordinary that we would see something like this just 11 days out from a presidential election.

Officials familiar with the inquiry said it was too early to assess the significance of the newly discovered emails. It is possible, they said, that some or all of the correspondence is duplicative of the emails that were already turned over and examined by the FBI.

Comey made a similar point in his letter, sent to congressional committee chairmen, saying that the FBI cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be significant.

The letter, which was three paragraphs long, contained few details.

He wrote that the FBI, in connection with an unrelated case, had recently learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the Clinton investigation.

Comey wrote that he was briefed on the new material Thursday. I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation, he wrote.

An FBI spokesman on Friday declined to elaborate, and a spokesman for Attorney General Loretta Lynch declined to comment.

Comey provided no details about the unrelated case that resulted in the discovery of the new emails.

The official said that Comey, once told about the find, felt an obligation to inform Congress, since he had previously told lawmakers that the investigation had been completed.

Abedin, who has worked for Clinton since the 1990s, is vice chairman of Clintons presidential campaign. She exchanged thousands of emails with Clinton while serving as her deputy chief of staff at the State Department. She, like Clinton, used an email address routed through the private server.

Neither Weiner nor an attorney for Abedin responded to requests for comment.

Weiner, who represented a New York City congressional district, resigned from his House seat in 2011 after he accidentally tweeted an explicit photo of himself that he had intended to send to a supporter.

Abedin and Weiner were married in 2010, with former president Bill Clinton officiating. Abedin announced this past August that she was separating from Weiner following a report in the New York Post about another sexting incident.

The federal inquiry into Weiners contact with the teenager was sparked by a September report in the Daily Mail tabloid.

When Comey announced the FBIs findings in July, he said that Clinton had been extremely careless in her handling of classified material, which was found among the emails exchanged on her private server.

He said then that his investigators had found evidence of potential violation of laws governing the handling of classified information.

But he said no reasonable prosecutor would bring charges because investigators had not found evidence that there had been intentional mishandling of classified material, or indications of disloyalty to the United States or efforts to obstruct justice.

Comey had come under enormous pressure from Republicans for his recommendation to bring no case against Clinton. Trump has repeatedly cited the decision as a sign of corruption endemic to Washington institutions and has promised that, if elected, he would reopen the investigation.

Podesta on Friday cited the political pressure on Comey in questioning the directors actions, saying that Republicans had been browbeating career FBI officials to revisit their conclusion in a desperate attempt to harm Hillary Clintons presidential campaign.

Democrats said Friday that the lack of detail from the FBI allowed Republicans to mischaracterize its actions. Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon told CNN that Comey was unleashing a wildfire of innuendo.

The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, issued a blistering statement Friday expressing shock at the FBIs vague announcement, which she said played right into the political campaign of Donald Trump.

Some lawmakers saw the announcement as a potential game changer for the election.

A total bombshell, said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., a member of the House Homeland Security Committee. King predicted that the FBI would not close its inquiry before the election and said he believed that Comey wanted the public to know of his move regardless of the outcome.

But there was confusion about the FBIs announcement and immediate calls from lawmakers in both parties for additional information.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a frequent Clinton critic, called the letter unsolicited and, quite honestly, surprising.

Congress and the public deserve more context to properly assess what evidence the FBI has discovered and what it plans to do with it, Grassley said.

This report contains material from the Associated Press.
Guilty, on all counts.

That a dozen jurors returned such a strong verdict against murderer Anthony Garcia is a testament to quality police work and prosecution. The evidence was overwhelming: a conversation with a stripper about killing a child. Purchases placing Garcia in Omaha on the day two of the four murders occurred. Online searches for directions to key addresses. Documents being chemically destroyed in his house, including a letter detailing his firing from a medical residency program, signed by one of the murder victims.

By the time the case ended up in court, the outcome seemed unavoidable, given the volume of evidence. But turn the clock back to March 2008 to understand how far investigators had come.

Omaha police detectives were stumped after the slayings of an 11-year-old boy and his familys house cleaner in the Dundee neighborhood. It took a second pair of murders across town, five years later, of a husband and wife preparing for a post-retirement move, before pieces of the puzzle began to come together, sparking a new line of questions and a massive investigative response.

Four people lost their lives in brutal fashion:

 Shirlee Sherman, a house cleaner finishing work before picking up her grandchild from kindergarten.

 Roger Brumback, a doctor and grandpa who had devoted his life to children and the elderly.

 Mary Brumback, a lawyer and grandma who penned weekly letters to her daughter.

 And Thomas Hunter, a math and science loving, Xbox-playing sixth-grader.

After the Brumbacks were killed, Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer created a task force of local, state and federal authorities to focus on the killings. They spent thousands of hours combing for clues that might link the four deaths. They found that link in an Indiana man fired years earlier from the Creighton University medical residency program, overseen by the slain boys father and the doctor who was killed.

Anthony Garcia.

After Garcias arrest in July 2013, Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine and his deputy, Brenda Beadle, began their heavy lifting. They had a case to make  and made it resoundingly.

Every person who touched the case deserves a nod of gratitude from a city that breathed a collective sigh of relief on Wednesday. That includes Douglas County District Judge Gary Randall, who had a hard job managing the courtroom drama.

They should have seen the people in the bars and businesses in Dundee who huddled around TV screens to see the verdict announced after 15 days of testimony and six hours of closing arguments. Or the customers and employees in Dundee storefronts hugging and high-fiving.

Garcia chose to take the lives of four people who led meaningful lives, loved by family and friends, including a boy with more life and dreams ahead of him than behind.

Garcia evaded justice for years  until a storm of evidence developed through dogged, professional work by police and prosecutors did him in. As we move forward we are left to remember the victims, and there is no need to mention or worry about Anthony Garcia any longer, Schmaderer said after the trial. Thats the gift police and prosecutors gave the city.

Justice.
No morality, he should be ashamed: Union minister RK Singh slams Nitish for dumping BJP

TMC welcomes Nitish's decision to ditch BJP, says \"no political party in NDA is safe\"

Bihar: Nitish Kumar swears in as CM for 8th time; Tejashwi Yadav to be Dy CM

After tiff with Akhilesh, Shivpal looks for new friends

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Oct 28: Concerned over the debilitating power struggle in Samajwadi Party, the Mulayam Singh Yadav- Shivpal Yadav camp today continued efforts to cobble together a grand alliance in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, with the latter meeting RLD chief Ajit Singh.

Shivpal, who heads the Uttar Pradesh unit of the party, called on Ajit Singh, whose Rashtriya Lok Dal has areas of influence in western parts of the state, apparently to invite him to SP's silver jubilee celebrations on November 5.

The meeting came against the backdrop of talk of attempts at replicating Bihar's grand alliance experiment in UP.

Shivpal had recently pitched for coming together of 'Lohiawadi', 'Charan Singhwadi' and 'Gandhiwadi' forces to defeat the "communal" BJP in the assembly polls due early next year.

Speculation rife after SP's Shivpal meets Congress poll strategist

Samajwadi Party, which was initially part of Bihar's grand alliance, had walked out of it after it was offered only a handful of seats to contest the assembly elections there.

The grand alliance of JD(U), RJD and Congress had, however, scripted a glorious electoral victory, defeating the BJP-led NDA. Shivpal had recently blamed his estranged cousin Ram Gopal Yadav for Samajwadi Party's decision to walk out of the alliance in Bihar.

Ram Gopal, a Rajya Sabha member, has been backing Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in his fight against Shivpal. Ram Gopal was recently sacked from the party amid escalating tension between the rival camps.

Given the unusual belligerence shown by Akhilesh Yadav, the party apparently wants to fortify its position by bringing in new friends.

Carrying an invitation from Mulayam, Shivpal has been meeting "socialist friends" in the national capital.

On Wednesday, Shivpal had called up Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar and met senior leaders of the party Sharad Yadav and K C Tyagi.

Sources in the JD(U) and the SP said the idea behind the invite was to stitch up an alliance in Uttar Pradesh, where a resurgent BJP and Mayawati's BSP look set to pose a tough challenge to the ruling party.

"I have come to invite Ajit Singh for SP's foundation day. All secular parties do not want the BJP to enter Uttar Pradesh. It is an effort to bring together all Lohiawadis and Charanwadis. If it succeeds, we will stop the BJP (from coming to power)," Shivpal told reporters after meeting the RLD chief.

"RLD has welcomed the statement of Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav, calling for a coalition of parties against communal forces in Uttar Pradesh," RLD general secretary Trilok Tyagi said, but added "no decision has been taken yet".

Interestingly, RLD has already announced a coalition with Janata Dal (United), Sharad Pawar-led NCP and ex-BSP leader RK Chaudhary's BS4 for the Uttar Pradesh polls.

The mega alliance has decided to project Ajit Singh's son and former Mathura MP Jayant Chaudhary as its chief ministerial candidate.

PTI
BSF trooper killed, three civilians injured in Pakistan firing on LoC

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Srinagar, Oct 29: A Border Security Force (BSF) trooper was killed and three civilians injured on Saturday in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district as Pakistan troops again violated the LoC ceasefire, police said.

Police said Pakistan army resorted to unprovoked firing at Indian positions in Keran sector of the Line of Control (LoC) in Kupwara.

"A BSF trooper was killed and three civilians injured in Pakistan army's unprovoked violation of bilateral ceasefire in Keran sector today (Saturday).

"The army has retaliated effectively and intermittent firing exchanges were going on in the area when last reports came," police said here.

Terrorists kill army jawan, mutilate his body along LoC

The injured civilians have been shifted to hospital for treatment, they said, while identifying the killed BSF trooper as constable Nitin Subhash of Maharashtra.

Though the LoC, which divides Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan ss predominantly manned by the army, there are also some BSF posts on it.

IANS
Defence Ministry decides to 're-look' into issue of pay parity

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Oct 29: The Defence Ministry has decided to "re-look" into the issue of parity between armed forces and their civilian counterparts after a controversial letter issued on the subject this month led to severe heartburn in the military.

A panel within the Defence Ministry is likely to be set up.

The Defence Ministry will re-look into the issue that has been left pending for so many years, Defence Ministry sources said today.

The panel will go though all documents concerning the issue, including the decision of the Group of Ministers in 2009 ratified by the Union Cabinet.

The 2009 GoM decision and ratification by the cabinet had corrected this anomaly but it seems it was not brought to the attention of the authorities when decision on the October 18 letter was taken and even when a re-look was taken following the uproar.

Incidentally, two days after Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar promised to look into the concerns of the military personnel, the Ministry had yesterday issued a statement saying there has been no down gradation or any change in the existing equivalence of the Service ranks whatsoever.

"The existing functional equivalence as clarified in 1991 and further reiterated in 1992, 2000, 2004 and 2005 has only been re-affirmed," the statement said.

It, however, failed to placate the armed forces, including retired officers.

As per the circular issued on October 18, an army Major General (rear admiral in the navy and vice-marshal in the air force) was to be on par with a principal director in the Armed Force Headquarters (AFHQ) Civil Service.

A Brigadier/Commodore/Air Commodore (with about 24 years of service) was to be equivalent in rank to a director (with about 14 years of service), and a Colonel/Captain/Group Captain to a joint director in the civil service, sources in the armed forces said.

So far, a colonel was equated with a director. A Brigadier did not have a clearly defined equivalence in the civilian hierarchy. However, they were treated at par with a deputy director-general. A major general was treated as the equivalent of a joint secretary.

In the letter of 1992, it was clearly mentioned that a Major General was equivalent to a Joint Secretary and equivalent ranked civil officers in the Service Headquarters.

Defence Ministry sources said that a Joint Secretary is equal to a Principal Director in the Services Headquarters in terms of pay band.

However, sources in the Services say that the Ministry should put it in writing that a Joint Secretary is equivalent to a Principal Director.

They fear that with the letter of October 18, a Joint Secretary in the MoD will go a notch higher than a Major General.

PTI

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Saturday, October 29, 2016, 8:52 [IST]
Defence personnel to get disability pension under old formula

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Oct 29: Under attack for introducing slab-based disability pension, Defence Ministry today said armed forces personnel would continue to get such pension based on percentage system till the Anomaly Committee came out with a report on the issue.

There was widespread criticism from opposition parties and the military establishment over a letter issued on September 30 which had introduced a slab-based system, as recommended by the 7th Pay Commission, for determining the disability pension for defence forces.

Following this, the Ministry had referred the matter to the Anomaly Committee. However, there was confusion as to what system would be used to determine disability pension.

Till the Committee comes out with a report, existing percentage system will be used to determine disability pension, defence sources said. Earlier, the Defence Ministry had said the 7th CPC had recommended a slab-based system for determining disability pension, which was accepted by the government.

Govt notifies new disability pensions rule for armed forces

A percentage-based system was followed under the 6th CPC regime for calculating disability pension for defence forces personnel as well as civilians. What the military personnel are upset about is that civilians will continue to be paid pension according to the earlier "percentage system", which means that a civilian employee will get higher disability pension than his military counterpart.

PTI
Indian armed forces ready for major counter-attack as Pak continues to provoke

India

oi-Vicky

Bengaluru, Oct 29: With the army chief of Pakistan, General Raheel Sharif trying for an extension, the Indian armed forces are taking no chances. The sudden rise in the number of incidents along the Line of Control and the International Border is an indication that the army chief of Pakistan is attempting to send out a message.

India is, however, taking no chances. While the army prepares for a major offensive following the death of the Indian jawans, on the other hand, the Navy too is planning a major drill in the Arabian Sea starting next week.

There is high alert along the border areas already. Both the Army and the Indian Air Force are in a high state of readiness. The Navy too will undertake a major drill.

The defence ministry has also delegated emergency financial powers to the three service vice chiefs. This was done to make for the deficiencies in the ammunition and spares stockpiles.

Also read: Terrorists kill army jawan, mutilate his body along LoC

Will hit back

Meanwhile the army has warned of action against Pakistan following the death of an Indian jawan on Friday. The body of the soldier was mutilated by terrorists who later escaped to Pakistan occupied Kashmir by using cover fire provided by the Pakistan army.

A statement from the army read, "This barbaric act will invite an appropriate response." The government has given the army and the Border Security Forces the green signal to hit back hard at the Pakistan army in case there is provocation.

In one meeting that was held recently, the National Security Advisor had told the BSF to hit back at Pakistan in case of unprovoked firing. The NSA, Ajit Doval had said, "If they fire one, you fire two."

OneIndia News
Fact Check: Snake coiling itself around Army sniper is from Indonesia, not India

Army hits back, destroys four Pakistani posts in Keran; inflicts heavy casualties

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Srinagar, Oct 29: A day after an Indian soldier's body was mutilated by terrorists who escaped back into Pakistani side under covering fire from Pakistani troops, the Indian army said on Saturday it had hit back, destroying four Pakistani posts and inflicting "heavy casualties".

The posts were destroyed in a massive fire assault in Keran sector of Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara, said the army's Northern Command.

"Heavy casualties were inflicted on the other side," it said.

Sepoy Mandeep Singh, who was killed in the gunfight with the infiltrators on Friday, was beheaded by the terrorists who fled back to Pakistan-administered Kashmir under covering fire from Pakistan Army.

The Indian Army had said an "appropriate response" will be given.

This is not the first time Pakistan has mutilated the bodies of Indian soldiers.

Read More: Indian armed forces ready for major counter-attack as Pak continues to provoke

During the Kargil war in 1999, Captain Saurabh Kalia, Sepoys Arjunram Baswana, Mula Ram Bidiasar, Naresh Singh Sinsinwar, Bhanwar Lal Bagaria and Bhika Ram Mudh of 4 Jat Regiment were captured by Pakistani troops and brutally tortured.

The soldiers had their ear drums pierced with hot iron rods, eyes punctured and genitals cut off. The autopsy of the bodies also revealed that they were burned with cigarettes butts. Their limbs were also chopped off, teeth broken and skull fractured during the torture. Even their nose and lips were sliced off.

In another incident, on January 8, 2013, Pakistani soldiers entered Indian territory in Krishna Ghati sector of the border and killed two Indian soldiers - Lance Naik Hemraj and Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh. Indian officials said both the bodies were mutilated, and Hemraj's body was decapitated.

Just before retiring, former army chief General Bikram Singh, who headed the Indian Army when the incident happened, had said India gave a "befitting reply".

General Dalbir Singh, just after taking over as the Army chief, had then said if a similar incident occurred the Indian Army's response "will be more than adequate in future".

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 or 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 his name, date of birth, rank and service number if applicable.

IANS
40 down and counting: Forces on the verge of wiping out Pakistani terrorists in Valley

Indian Soldier's body mutilated: Time to bring back ten heads from Pakistan as Sushma had said

India

oi-Vicky

New Delhi, Oct 29: On January 14 2013, Sushma Swaraj had said, "if we don't get Hemraj's head, we should get ten of theirs. She was reacting after Lance Naik Hemraj Singh's body was decapitated after Pakistan resorted to firing on January 8. Today there is a similar situation.

On Friday night, in an encounter close to the Line of Control, one soldier was martyred while a terrorist was killed. The terrorists mutilated the body of the soldier before fleeing back to Pakistan occupied Kashmir under the cover of firing by Pakistan army.

The incident has been viewed very seriously and retaliation in the strongest form is round the corner, army officials say. The army spokesperson said that the incident reflected barbarism in the official and unofficial organisations in Pakistan. The incident will be responded to appropriately he also said.

10 Pakistani heads= Martyr Jawan Hemraj's head, says Sushma

Back in 2013 when a similar incident occurred, the wife of the martryed soldier, Hemraj had gone on indefinite fast at Shernagar in Uttar Pradesh. They demanded that the head of the soldier be found and returned.

Sushma Swaraj who is today the external affairs minister had visited the house of the soldier. She demanded that the head of the soldier be returned, if not we must get ten heads of soldiers from Pakistan.

1990s are back in J&K as terrorists go on rampage targeting schools

The then Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh had assured Sushma that action would be taken and the opposition would be kept in the loop. India had also warned at that time that such a cowardly act was unacceptable and a repetition of such acts would not be tolerated.

OneIndia News
ISRO official under scanner for passing information to Pakistan spy

India

oi-Vicky

New Delhi, Oct 29: An ISRO official is under the scanner after the Delhi police bust a spying ring being run right out of the Pakistan High Commission.

Mehmood Akthar, the staffer in the high commission at Delhi who was declared non persona grata on Thursday revealed that he had sourced information from an ISRO official.

The Delhi police which has a recording of his confession, however did not reveal the name of the official. It is under investigation and the details will be made available after further investigation, the investigating officer said.

Akthar said that he had several persons in India from whom he would source information. The Delhi police has arrested three persons in connection with this spying ring so far.

Meanwhile the police is verifying the bank accounts of three other accused-Shoaib, Subhash Jahangir and Maulana Ramzan. The trio were arrested after Akthar was questioned. The police feel that a lot of answers lie in the bank transactions of these persons.

There is information about money being transferred to some persons in exchange for information. Investigations suggested that Ramzan was paid Rs 50,000 a month to gather and pass on sensitive information relating to the Defence sector.

OneIndia news

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Story first published: Saturday, October 29, 2016, 8:17 [IST]
Jharkhand CM Raghubar Das greets people on Diwali

India

oi-PTI

Ranchi, Oct 29: Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das today greeted the people on the occasion of Diwali, wishing for them happiness, prosperity, peace and wisdom.

He also appealed to the people to light a candle for the country's martyrs to express their feelings for them, an official statement said here.

Stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was observing the festival of lights in Uttarakhand among jawans, Das called upon the people to pay gratitude to jawans and homage to the martyrs.

PTI
Stampede at Vaishno Devi shrine: Jitendra Singh rushes to Katra to take stock of situation

Jitendra terms mutilation of soldier's body as 'atrocious'

India

oi-PTI

Jammu, Oct 29: Terming the mutilation of a soldier's body by terrorists as "atrocious", Union Minister Jitendra Singh today said human rights of soldiers should take precedence over anybody else's rights.

"There can't be anything more atrocious than this," Singh told reporters here. "I'm always of the view that the human rights of soldiers should enjoy precedence over human rights of anybody else", he said.

Yesterday, terrorists, aided by cover fire by Pakistani Army, crossed the Line of Control and killed an Indian army jawan and mutilated his body in Macchil sector of Kashmir's Kupwara district.

"Gradually the entire world is coming around to India's point of view. Pakistan stands exposed. Pakistan has failed to reconcile with the idea that Jammu and Kashmir is a part of India," the Union Minister said.

Indian Soldier's body mutilated: Time to bring back ten heads from Pakistan as Sushma had said

He said the nation was confident that the security forces and the government were capable of responding to any kind of threat at the borders, he added.

"The longer Pakistan continues to remain in denial mode the more it is going to harm itself," he added. In a similar action in 2013, Pakistani soldiers had beheaded an Indian soldier and mutilated another's body in Jammu and Kashmir's Mendhar sector.

PTI
Winter makes an early entry in Kashmir with snowfall, heavy rain

Mehbooba Mufti gets notice to vacate official bungalow 'meant for J&K CMs'

Accession Day: Valley lights up on this day when J&K became part of India

In Pics: Curfew lifted in Srinagar after protests on Friday

India

oi-Sandra Marina Fernandes

Oct 29: Curfew was lifted from Srinagar on Saturday to improve the movement of people and transport in the city after restrictions were imposed on Friday.

On Friday, curfew was imposed in six police station areas in the city in the wake of protests called by the Separatists. Curfew was imposed to maintain law and order in the wake of the separatists' call for a march to Jamia Masjid in Nowhatta area of the city.

Several raised slogans during the protests to against the killing of civilians and arrest of youth, in Srinagar.

Here are some images from Srinagar:

Security jawans stands guard during curfew Security jawans stands guard during curfew in downtown Srinagar on Friday. Authorities imposed curfew in parts of Srinagar to thwart separatists' call for a march to the historic Jamia Masjid People protest against the killing of civilians in the Valley Protesters raise slogans on Srinagar-International Airport Road during a protest against the killing of civilians and arrest of youth, in Srinagar on Friday. Separatists call for protests in Srinagar Security jawans stand guard during curfew in downtown Srinagar on Friday after separatists called for protests in the city. Umar Farooq was seen protesting alongwith his supporters Moderate Hurriyat Chairma Mirwaiz Umar Farooq with his supporters try to break the police cordon around his house in Srinagar on Friday Kashmir has been on the boil since July 9 this year Policemen stand guard during curfew outside Jamia Masjid in Downtown Srinagar on Friday.

OneIndia News
Rahul Gandhi writes to PM, asks to implement OROP

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Oct 29: Rahul Gandhi on Saturday questioned Modi government's resolve to work for soldiers' welfare, asking the Prime Minister to first implement the 'one rank, one pension' scheme in a meaningful way and redress their pay anomalies and other grievances.

The Congress Vice President wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he was saddened at the decisions of the government taken in the last few weeks "which are far from reassuring the soldiers and has caused them pain instead".

Steps should be taken to send a message to soldiers on Diwali expressing "our gratitude both in words and in deed", Rahul said in his letter to the Prime Minister who has launched a campaign through which people can send their Diwali greetings and messages to soldiers guarding the nation's frontiers to boost their morale.

The PM will celebrate this Diwali with ITBP personnel at one of the remotest border posts in Uttarakhand. "Just days after our soldiers conducted the surgical strikes, the disability pension system was converted to a new slab system, that in many instances drastically reduces the pension received by these brave men in case of a disability," the Congress leader said.

"OROP must be implemented in a meaningful way to satisfy ex-servicemen and the anomalies in the 7th Pay Commission must be addressed at the earliest, because soldiers should not have to struggle to claim what is surely due to them on behalf of a grateful nation," Rahul said, claiming that some decision of the government have "adversely affect the morale of our armed forces".

Also read: PM Modi to celebrate Diwali with ITBP men along China border

The Prime Minister had earlier accused Congress of not taking the OROP issue seriously by earmarking a paltry sum of Rs 500 crore for it. Rahul said, "As a responsible democracy we must make sure that the brave soldiers who put their lives on the line for each one of us, feel the love, support and gratitude of 125 crore people."

"I therefore urge you Prime Minister to ensure that our soldiers get their due whether it is regarding compensation, disability pension, or parity with civil employees," he said.

Rahul said that the roll out of 7th Pay Commission continues to keep the defence forces at a disadvantage and further exacerbates the disparity between them and civil employees.

"As we celebrate Diwali, and rejoice in the victory of light over darkness, let us send this message to our soldiers that our gratitude is expressed both in words and in deed. This is the very least we owe to those who give up their today to secure our tomorrow," the letter further said.

PTI
Maharashtra: Y plus security for 41 MLAs and 10 MPs of CM Shinde camp to continue

Rs 5 cr to Army welfare fund never decided at meeting: Maha CM

India

oi-PTI

Mumbai, Oct 29: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today said the contribution of Rs 5 crore to the Army Welfare Fund by filmmakers was "never decided" at the meeting he had mediated between MNS chief Raj Thackeray and director Karan Johar to ensure smooth release of "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil".

Karan Johar's film "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" had faced protests by MNS for casting Pakistani actor Fawad Khan. The film's smooth release, scheduled to open on October 28, was ensured after a meeting among the Film Producers' Guild, the producers, and Raj Thackeray, mediated by Fadnavis last week.

It was agreed upon at the meeting the film makers would contribute Rs 5 crore to the army welfare fund, which sparked strong reactions from Opposition and some army veterans.

Replying to a question whether he will monitor the filmmakers' contribution demanded by the MNS, now that the film has released, Fadnavis said, "Such a decision (filmmakers' contribution of Rs 5 crore) was never taken at the meeting.

Even producers' guild chief Mukesh Bhat has said that I had told the producers that there was no compulsion to accept the MNS demand."

Under fire for "brokering" a deal between producers of "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" and Raj Thackeray, Fadnavis had earlier said he had opposed the offer of Rs 5 crore contribution from the film makers to the Army Welfare Fund.

ADHM controversy: Army rejects 'penance' fund; asks not to politicise armed forces

"When the issue of Rs 5 crore came up, I intervened and made it clear to the Film Producers' Guild that they need not have to agree to it. I also told them that the contribution has to be made voluntarily.

However, it was the producers decision to accept it," Fadnavis had said explaining his stand. "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil", a romantic drama, which stars Ranbir Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Anushka Sharma, got a smooth opening yesterday at theatres across the state.

PTI
How the flame of Azadi was kept ablaze by the tribal community: PM Modi explains

Modi government under attack: SC slams Centre on judges' appointment; opposition targets BJP

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

New Delhi, Oct 29: The Supreme Court on Friday rapped the Centre for sitting over the top court collegium's recommendations on appointment of judges to various High Courts, prompting the opposition to attack the Narendra Modi government for what it said was deliberate weakening of the country's democratic institutions.

A bench of Chief Justice TS Thakur, Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice L Nageswara Rao observed that the government's inaction amounted to paralysing and locking out the judiciary.

"We had a situation when there were judges but no courtrooms; today, we have courtrooms but no judges... it is not anybody's ego but the institution that suffers," the Chief Justice of India (CJI) said as he asked Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi to play a constructive role in the capacity of the leader of the Bar.

The CJI's observations were echoed by former Attorney General Soli Sorabjee and a former apex court judge.

"If we don't appoint judges in time, justice will inevitably be delayed. It will be denied actually. There is no justification on the government's part for this delay," Sorabjee said.

"I think the Chief Justice is absolutely justified in expressing his indignation at the delay in the appointment of the judges by the government after the collegium has cleared the names," he added.

Former Supreme Court Judge Ashok Ganguly said if the courts cannot redress people's grievances due to lack of judges, then "it creates a crisis".

"On an average, most high courts are working with 30 to 40 per cent vacancies. It is a great impediment in the administration of justice. Even if all the vacancies are filled, that will not be adequate. It is an institutional deadlock," Ganguly said.

On the political front, the Congress mounted a bitter attack on the Narendra Modi government, accusing it of systematically and deliberately weakening the country's democratic institutions, including the judiciary.

"During the last two-and-a-half-years of its rule, this government has been systematically and deliberately weakening the democratic institutions, including the judiciary," said Congress spokesman and senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

"We condemn this government's attempt to erode and undermine another pillar of our democracy. Now, we are seeing its attempt to demean, control or embarrass the judiciary. It is sad that the issue of Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) is being used by the government as an instrument of blackmail," he said.

Janata Dal-United spokesman K.C. Tyagi said the delay in the appointment of judges was an attack on the institution of judiciary.

"They are attacking the judiciary. This is not for the firt time that the Chief Justice has expressed his displeasure over the delay in judicial appointments. A few months back, he even cried while raising this issue, but the government is not ready to listen," Tyagi said.

When contacted, BJP spokespersons refused to comment on the issue.

OneIndia News
Pak off the FATF grey list doesn't mean it's not under scrutiny anymore: MEA secretary

Imran Khan again targets Pakistan's establishment on Day 2 of protest march; govt rules out talks over snap polls

Amid turmoil at home, Pakistan PM Sharif to visit China to felicitate Xi for his record win

Pakistan: PTI, headed by Imran Khan, cancels Oct 29 rally; wants Nawaz Sharif's resignation

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Islamabad, Oct 29: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) cancelled a rally scheduled for today, with leader Shireen Mazari saying the resistance by PTI workers was kept to a minimum, media reports said.

"A rally was scheduled earlier for Saturday for public mobilsation, but now that the public is already mobilised following the government crackdown, we see no further need to hold the rally tomorrow," Dawn online quoted a PTI official as saying.

Shedding light on the future course of action, Mazari said responsibilities between PTI leaders have been divided and a "huge number of workers will reach Islamabad on the scheduled date from across the country".

As the party plans to focus on its November 2 sit in, Mazari said, "PTI's sit-in is to ensure the prime minister's resignation. We will not become part of any undemocratic or unlawful move."

On Thursday, Islamabad Police stormed a PTI youth convention and arrested over 200 party workers for protesting against the government following which, PTI Chairman Imran Khan gave a call for countrywide protests against the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government.

The PTI is protesting alleged money laundering by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family in the wake of the Panama Papers leak and is demanding his resignation.

IANS
Pak off the FATF grey list doesn't mean it's not under scrutiny anymore: MEA secretary

Imran Khan again targets Pakistan's establishment on Day 2 of protest march; govt rules out talks over snap polls

Amid turmoil at home, Pakistan PM Sharif to visit China to felicitate Xi for his record win

Pak PM Sharif sacks close side over news report on rift with army

International

oi-PTI

Islamabad, Oct 29: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today sacked his information minister Pervaiz Rashid over the recent "leaked" media report about a rift between the civilian and military leaderships on support to militancy.

The prime minister's spokesman Musadiq Malik confirmed that "initial evidence" was against Rashid in the leak of sensitive information of a high profile national security meeting.

"Investigation into controversial story is in the final stage and it will be shared with media in a couple of days. Who was responsible for the leakage of sensitive information to the Dawn reporter will be known soon," Malik said adding "investigation is still underway".

Rashid is a close aide of Sharif and reports suggest that the anti-army information could not have been leaked to the media without his consent.

PTI leader Imran Khan welcomed the ouster of Rashid saying a "darbari" (courtier) of Sharif had gone and others would go soon as well.

In another development, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif left for Dubai along with his family at a time when Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has said it will lock down Islamabad on November 2 to protest against Sharif over corruption allegations.

Pakistan is bluffing about surgical strikes, says Germany

A rift between the civilian and military leaderships on the powerful ISI's covert support to terror groups in the country was the subject of a news report in The Dawn newspaper.

The widely read daily stood by the story issued on October 6, saying it was "verified, cross-checked and fact-checked". A travel ban on Cyril Almeida, the journalist who wrote the story, had sparked massive criticism of the government and the military from media houses, journalist associations and civil society.

Almeida's name was put on the Exit Control List but the ban was later lifted after the backlash against the government. Later the government constituted a committee to investigate the matter.

PTI
Ukraine grain deal: UN says shipments are still going out

UN slams attack on Russian Embassy in Damascus

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

United Nations, Oct 29: The UN Security Council has "condemned in the strongest terms" another mortar shelling on the Russian embassy in the Syrian capital of Damascus, which caused significant material damage.

The 15-nation UN body, in a press statement issued Friday night, recalled the fundamental principle of the inviolability of diplomatic and consular premises as well as the obligations of host governments to take all appropriate steps to protect diplomatic and consular premises against any intrusion or damage, and to prevent any disturbance of the peace of these missions or impairment of their dignity, Xinhua news agency reported.

The fundamental principle and obligations were provided by international conventions including the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, the statement said.

Two mortar shells coming from the Jobar district in Damascus, an area controlled by anti-government forces, hit the embassy on Friday morning compound located in the central al-Mazra area of the Syrian capital, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

"It was a lucky coincidence that casualties were avoided," a statement from the ministry said.

The embassy building suffered "material damage" in the attack, with four of the Russian diplomats' cars being hit, the statement added.

This was the third time in October that the Russian embassy was shelled from militant-controlled areas.

Both previous attacks, which took place on October 4 and 13, damaged the embassy building but caused no casualties, reports said.

IANS
Are Pakistan high commission staffers running terror modules too?

New Delhi

oi-Vicky

New Delhi, Oct 29: It was not just a spy ring that was operated from the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi. Fresh leads during the investigation have revealed that the staffer in the Pakistan mission was also involved in building a module in a bid to carry out a terror strike.

Mehmood Akthar, a staffer in the Pakistan mission was detained, questioned and released after it was found that he was running a spy ring. Further investigations have led the police to find that he was in touch with few persons and was trying to set the stage for a major terror attack in India.

An investigating officer says that this is the extent of the information they can provide for now. It is clear that the staffer was not just running a spy ring, but was also attempting to set up a module that could strike along the West Coast.

What is ironical is that this is the second time in three years that a Pakistan mission has been caught trying to set up terror modules. The last time was in Sri Lanka under consular officer, Amir Zubair Siddiqui.

Intelligence Bureau officials explain that the ISI picks people out of their agency and sends them to the high commissions. The job assigned to them is to build up a network of spies and gather as much sensitive information as possible.

If one were to look at the Sri Lanka case, there it went beyond spying.

Also read: From Jaish terrorists to Pak mission officers, how do they get Aadhar cards?

In the Sri Lanka case, it was found that the consular officer, Siddiqui had not only built a network of spies to gather information on India, but also set up a full-fledged module. It was also found that he had hired several Sri Lankan Muslims to carry out reconnaissance in South India.

The tip off about a major attack being planned in Chennai came following the arrest of two persons in Chennai by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). One of the persons arrested, who operated under the name Arun, spilled the beans about the entire modus operandi.

He revealed that it was Siddiqui in the high commission who had ordered this operation. Further probing also revealed that Siddiqui's job was to set up a full fledged module in South India apart. It was also learnt that he had brought in a charity outfit to open shop in Sri Lanka so that a base for the Lashkar-e-Taiba could be built.

India had sought action against Siddiqui and had even moved to question him. However Pakistan immediately took him out of the mission and packed him off home.

OneIndia News
An American Airlines jet blew a tyre at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago on Friday, sparking a fire and prompting the pilot to abort takeoff before passengers were evacuated from the plane via emergency chute. Watch video to know more.
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Militarily Armed Police

(Image by Unicorn Riot TV) Details DMCA



While elite media wait for the resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline to go away so they can return to presenting their own chin-stroking as what it means to take climate change seriously, independent media continue to fill the void with actual coverage.

One place you can go to find reporting is The Intercept (10/25/16), where journalist Jihan Hafiz filed a video report from North Dakota, where the Standing Rock Sioux and their allies continue their stand against the sacred site--trampling, water supply--threatening project.

Hafiz reports that after a morning of prayer, Standing Rock activists

were attacked by police forces who used pepper spray and beat protesters with batons". Dozens of officers, backed by military trucks, police vans, machine guns and nonlethal weapons, violently approached the group without warning.

As the demonstrators attempted to leave, the police began beating and detaining them. Several Native American women leading the march were targeted, dragged out of the crowd and arrested. One man was body-slammed to the ground, while another woman broke her ankle running from the police. The military and police trucks followed the protesters, as nearly a hundred officers corralled them into a circle. Among the arrested were journalists--including Hafiz--a pregnant 17-year-old and a 78-year-old woman.

Once jailed, Hafiz and others were refused phone calls and received no food or water for eight hours. Women were strip-searched, two women fainted from low blood sugar and another had her medication taken away.

On her release, Hafiz was told, "Your camera is being held as evidence in a crime."

That crime, of course, would be journalism. And it's hard to believe law enforcement would feel so cavalier about treating it that way if more reporters were actually committing it.



Protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline

(Image by Fibonacci Blue) Details DMCA



Since the last time FAIR checked on how much coverage corporate media were giving the Dakota Access struggle (FAIR.org, 9/22/16), ABC and NBC have ended their blackout, airing one story apiece on their national news shows: NBC's Today show (10/11/16) had 71 words about the arrest of actor Shailene Woodley at the site, and ABC's Good Morning America (10/23/16) ran 70 words on how "a protest over construction of an oil pipeline turned violent."

For news from Standing Rock, people would do better to follow #NODAPL on Twitter, and check out resources like SacredStoneCamp.org and Indian Country Today.
Hotel Business News and Analytics

Important! This article is written by orangesmile.com editors and is protected by copyright law. The article can only be re-used with a direct link to www.orangesmile.com

NEWS BLOCKS:

Branson Wants to Open Hotels in Space

Famous British entrepreneur Richard Branson wants to open no less than the first spaceline in the world with his Virgin Galactic, so theres nothing strange that he plans to add a place where his space ships could fly to. In his recent interview to Mashable UK, Branson, who is the founder of the Virgin Hotels, said that hospitality industry would change in a hundred of years. Humans will colonize other planets, such as Mars, and will open hotels there.



Branson calls the idea of opening hotels in space sexy. He sees this accommodation in space as a place made of smaller pods. People will fly to the planet and stay in these pods, where they wake up in the morning and rest at night. During the daytime, hotel guests will run little spaceships to enjoy the view of the Moon or other planets. Branson would like to be among pioneers of deep space exploration. The 66 year old entrepreneur owns Virgin Galactic company that develops its own space plane, SpaceShipTwo. This September the space ship undertook a test flight in the Mojave Desert in California. This was the first test run after the unfortunate flight in 2014, when a pilot was killed during the test. Currently, the company is working over providing safe flights to space, but it is still not known when commercial flights start on regular basis. It is known, however, that a ticket to space will cost US$250,000, which is significantly cheaper than multi-million tourist permissions to visit the International Space Station.

29.10.2016Stay 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.
Measure 97 would be the biggest tax increase in Oregon's history, generating an estimated $3 billion a year for public education and other state services.

The initiative would levy a 2.5 percent tax on many companies' Oregon sales over $25 million. But Measure 97 exempts some types of businesses and applies differently to others.

The measure's backers say Oregon's business taxes are unusually low, and argue Measure 97 would make large companies pay their fair share for state services. Opponents call the initiative a hidden sales tax, and say consumers would end up paying some of the bill.

It's a complex, unusual initiative. Here are some answers to the questions we frequently hear about the tax.

Are Oregon's business taxes really so low?

Yes, at least relatively speaking. Businesses pay 37.6 percent of Oregon's state and local tax revenue, according to estimates by the Council on State Taxation. That compares to 45 percent nationally.

As a share of total economic activity in the state, Oregon businesses' tax bills are the lowest in the nation.

Those rankings reflect the absence of an Oregon sales tax, which in other states is paid by both consumers and businesses. They also reflect a relatively high personal income tax (which helps compensate for the low business taxes) and Oregon's unusually robust economic output, skewed upward by one extremely large manufacturer: Intel.

A May study by the nonpartisan Legislative Revenue Office found Measure 97 would move Oregon businesses' share of the state's total tax burden to 45.4 percent, on par with the national average.

What happens to the economy if voters raise business taxes?

The legislative study found both positive and negative effects. Oregon would still see employment growth, about 145,000 jobs over five years. But without Measure 97, the state could expect more than 165,000 new jobs, the study found. That's the net effect of more public sector jobs and slower growth in private sector jobs.

Overall, the study said Measure 97 would be a very modest drag on the economy, slowing growth in income, employment and population. In each case, though, growth under Measure 97 would still be within 1 percent of current forecasts.

The study also said additional investment in education could provide a long-term economic boost.

What would consumers pay?

Unlike a conventional sales tax, paid by shoppers, Measure 97 levies taxes on businesses.

Measure 97's authors say the big businesses subject to the tax would absorb the whole cost, insulating consumers. Many others, including Gov. Kate Brown -- a Measure 97 supporter -- say it's evident businesses would pass on some of their higher costs.

Economists say how much businesses pass along would depend on their market power. Cable television companies, for example, may pass along much of the cost. Private utilities such as Portland General Electric have regulated monopolies and a legal right to pass along higher costs - including taxes - to ratepayers.

Other states exempt wholesalers from consumption and sales taxes, or they tax wholesale trade at a lower rate. Because Measure 97 does not, some economists expect a "pyramiding" effect in which added costs are stacked atop one another for some products and services.

Conventional sales taxes in other states usually exempt food from taxation. Measure 97 does not. So if businesses do pass along higher costs, it could produce higher grocery bills.

The legislative study -- which was based on an approximation of Measure 97 -- concluded it would both dampen wage growth and raise prices. The effect varies depending on household income:

Households making less than $48,000 a year would see a 0.9 percent decrease in after-tax income. For a household making $34,000 to $48,000 a year, that's $563 less.

Oregon's annual median household income is roughly $61,000. For families in that range, Measure 97 means $613 less, a 0.8 percent decline in income.

The cost would rise in higher income brackets, but the proportion of the impact would decline. For wealthy households, with after-tax income topping $206,000, Measure 97 would cost nearly $1,300 a year - a 0.4 percent hit.

Where does the money go?

Measure 97 could give lawmakers $6 billion more to spend in Oregon's next two-year budget, growing the state's general fund by a third. The measure says it will fund "public early childhood and kindergarten through twelfth-grade education, healthcare; and, services for senior citizens."

Some of the money would go elsewhere, though. The Oregon Legislative Counsel concluded that under Oregon law about $250 million in Measure 97 revenue from gas stations and similar businesses must go to the state Highway Fund.

Because Measure 97 isn't a constitutional amendment, the Legislature could spend the money any way it chooses. As a practical matter, though, lawmakers would likely spend most of the money as prescribed. In the current budget, more than three-quarters of state spending goes to education or social services.

What about rising public pension costs? How much of Measure 97's revenue would that eat?

Some of Measure 97's revenue could help offset a more than $800 million spike in pension costs that followed the Oregon Supreme Court's ruling last year that tossed out prior pension reforms. That's creating a substantial part of the budget deficit Measure 97 would address.

Who supports Measure 97?

It's an initiative, put on the ballot by public employee unions. They maintain their ballot measure would rectify a tax imbalance in Oregon, in which businesses pay a steadily smaller share of state revenue.

The biggest contributors to the "Yes" campaign are public employee unions, especially the teacher's union. The "Yes" campaign has raised more than $12 million. Another union-backed effort, which is supporting Measure 97 and six other ballot measures, has raised more than $1 million this year.

Who's against it?

Retailers are the biggest contributors to the "No" campaign - Costco, Safeway/Albertsons (the two grocers share an owner) and Fred Meyer. The "No" campaign has raised a little more than $25 million.

OK, who would pay the tax?

Of roughly 250,000 businesses registered in Oregon in 2013, the legislative study found that 951 would qualify based on their corporate status, sales volume and income. The study concluded the 100 largest taxpayers would pay two-thirds of the burden.

Here are some industries with the largest potential tax increases under Measure 97, according to the study:

Wholesalers

Retailers

Health care

Within industries, the tax will apply differently to different types of companies. The measure applies to one kind of business (known as a C-corporation) but exempts two others (S-corporations and "benefit companies.")

There are many distinctions among the various types of companies, and different tax implications for each corporate status. For our purposes, think of it this way:

C-corporations frequently have many investors, like a publicly traded corporation.

S-corporations have few owners. Sometimes that's a family-owned business, but it can also be a large business controlled by one person or company.

A "benefit company" is a special category of business under Oregon law, established to create public benefits in addition to profits for the owners.

Is there a list of which companies would be subject to Measure 97?

No. State officials have private tax data that shows the corporate status of each company in the state, but say that information is not subject to the state's public disclosure laws.

So except for large, public companies that disclose their corporate status to investors (most all of those are C-corps), there's no way to know for sure.

Safeway, for example, initially claimed its corporate status exempts it from Measure 97. Then it reversed itself and said it is subject to the initiative. Because Safeway is a privately held company, there's no way to know for sure which statement is accurate.

What about Oregon's biggest companies - Intel, Nike, Precision Castparts and Lithia Motors?

All are subject to Measure 97. But it would affect one of them very differently.

Measure 97's tax generally applies only to sales that take place within Oregon. So Intel, Nike and Precision Castparts - which sell almost all their products to customers outside the state - will likely pay very little under Measure 97. (The tax could affect Intel indirectly, though, if the equipment companies that supply its Hillsboro factories raise prices.)

It's a different story with Lithia, a Medford company that operates a chain of auto dealerships. In its last quarterly report, Lithia warned investors the Oregon initiative represents a risk factor that would raise the company's Oregon tax bill from $3.3 million to $34 million. Lithia reported $183 million in profits last year.

"This tax may have a disproportionate effect on us as certain Oregon dealers we compete against may not be organized as C corporations and would not be subject to this tax," Lithia wrote in its quarterly report.

Why are tech companies so upset about Measure 97?

The initiative taxes most companies based on their sales within Oregon. But it treats software and other services businesses very differently.

Through a quirk of existing state law, Oregon companies' software appears subject to Measure 97 taxes - no matter where companies sell the software.

Gov. Brown has acknowledged the issue and proposed that legislators create an exemption for software and services if Measure 97 passes so those industries are treated the same as others.

Lawmakers have indicated they would do that, but it's impossible to know for sure what would happen as they began weighing trade-offs around other changes to the law.

What happens if Measure 97 fails?

Oregon projects a shortfall of $1.35 billion in its next budget. Without additional revenue, Brown says state agencies would have to cut their budgets by 10 percent.

Measure 97 is the only proposal on the table, right now, to supply additional revenue. Lawmakers have periodically discussed broad tax reform, and, as recently as last spring, some had discussed a legislative alternative to Measure 97.

Those talks are sure to resume if voters reject Measure 97, but it's not clear they have a better chance of success than prior efforts.

Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated Lithia's estimate of the tax impact of Measure 97. The company says the initiative would increase its Oregon tax liability from $3.3 million to $34 million, not from a range of $3.3 million to $34 million.

-- Mike Rogoway

mrogoway@oregonian.com

503-294-7699

@rogoway
1clinton.JPG

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a news conference at Theodore Roosevelt High School in Des Moines, Iowa, Friday, Oct. 28, 2016.

(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

By Francis Wilkinson

If Hillary Clinton wins the election on Nov. 8, as seems likely, and Republicans retain control of at least the House of Representatives, which also seems probable, there will be countless areas of contention between the president and the GOP majority. But there will also be one powerful goal they share: driving the last, bedraggled moderates, and even a few frustrated conservatives, clear out of the Republican Party.

Donald Trump has done his best to send moderate suburban women fleeing. His campaign vacillates between a general theme of Men Behaving Badly and the more specific genre of Men Behaving Badly Toward Women. His uncanny surrogates Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich remain staples of the cable shows, with Gingrich this week seeking to duck questions about Trump's alleged sexual predations by chastising Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly for being obsessed with sex.

We don't yet know the nature of the war Trump and his campaign chief Steve Bannon intend to wage against the party after November. But the anticipated civil strife will not be a cleanly drawn affair, with Trumpists on one side and sensible conservatives on the other. It will be a battle between pro-Trump reactionaries and anti-Trump reactionaries. The increasingly marginalized GOP professional class, and the neoconservative GOP foreign-policy establishment, will be battling both, seeking to regain lost ground amid a fog of war.

Both Trumpists and anti-Trumpists believe the U.S. faces an existential crisis that requires suspending "business as usual" -- that is, democratic norms and practices -- to empower themselves. The quantifiable distinction is that the anti-Trumpists also want to destroy the welfare state while the Trump faction wants to appropriate it.

Don't expect more than a handful of congressional Republicans -- hello, Senator Lindsey Graham -- to acknowledge the party's responsibility for its presidential fiasco. With the election almost two weeks away, some appear already to have moved beyond it, focusing on new and better ways to make their party a compelling purveyor of lunacy.

It's not just the reckless talk of "impeachment," which conservative media and some Republicans have started even before their target ("Lock her up!") is elected.

More pressing, it seems, is the need to crush House Speaker Paul Ryan on the grounds that he's insufficiently "conservative" -- a word that has lost all meaning inside the GOP.

In a Bloomberg Politics survey of voters who lean or identify as Republican, 51 percent said Trump better represents their idea of the GOP compared with 33 percent who said Ryan does. One quarter of the party thinks the 70-year-old Trump should be its public face even if he loses.

Perhaps views will shift in the event of a Trump defeat. But as Norman Ornstein detailed in the Atlantic, Ryan's hold on power is precarious. In one of the most remarkable quotes of a remarkable season, a Ryan loyalist, Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma, told Bloomberg View columnist Al Hunt that perhaps it's time Ryan moved on. "As his friend," Cole said, "it may be best for him to wrap up business and think about his future."

Making Ryan walk the plank, as they did with John Boehner before him, might make sense if the party planned to move in a more moderate direction. The opposite is the case. Ryan's ideology demands shrinking Washington to a fraction of its size and cutting aid to tens of millions. Many of his colleagues lack Ryan's eye for detail; they simply want to burn something, anything down.

Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is readying kindling. In The Washington Post this week, the Trump agnostic -- Chaffetz will vote for Trump but won't endorse him, a kind of conservative metaphysics -- promised "years" of investigations into President Hillary Clinton. It's almost as if Chaffetz is unaware that previous years of investigations have led his party to the very threshold of President Hillary Clinton.

Governing is not the GOP's thing; oversight, Chaffetz told The Post, is "where the action is." Meanwhile, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan said he wants his Select Committee on Benghazi, the eighth congressional committee to investigate the topic, to continue into the next Congress. Why should Chaffetz get all the action?

A Trump failure at the polls may also require new improvisations concerning the Supreme Court. Seeking to regain reactionary mojo lost to Trump, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz this week suggested that perhaps deceased Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia shouldn't be replaced at all. Arizona Sen. John McCain had previously raised the notion of blocking all Clinton court nominees -- as Republicans have blocked Obama's nominee for most of the year -- before McCain backtracked.

The problem, of course, is that Republicans keep losing presidential elections but still want the power over court nominations that the Constitution awards to the winner. Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley of Iowa has said his Republican colleagues can't stonewall forever. But Grassley is not a courageous man; he will cave if pressure is applied.

To the extent that there is a GOP strategy at work, beyond massive resistance to what America, circa 2016, actually is, it banks on the peculiar unpopularity of Clinton. She is not well liked, and she is even less well trusted. Republicans are hoping to erode her shaky support, and hound and harass her into despair.

But the presidency is a powerful platform. And Clinton, her self-damaging penchant for secrecy aside, is a more skilled politician than many realize. Trump's crusade to alienate a record number of college-educated white women voters seems likely to succeed. A vicious war waged by congressional Republicans against the first woman president may do for women what unscrupulous attacks against the nation's first black president appear to have done for nonwhite voters: moved most of them beyond the GOP's reach.

Republican attacks on a new president will take place while the party's own factions are busy clawing at the broken husk of the GOP. It will likely be an energizing time for the party base, which will want revenge for an election it has been told is rigged. Fox News and Breitbart should be lively.

But many old-school conservatives will be on the outside looking in at the madness. And suburban married women, a Republican constituency, and even some of their college-educated Republican husbands, may find themselves acquiring an unexpected affinity for pantsuits.

Wilkinson writes on politics and domestic policy for Bloomberg View.

For more columns from Bloomberg View, visit http://www.bloomberg.com/view.

(c) 2016, Bloomberg View
'I MUST BE MISSING SOMETHING': Regarding "Oregon standoff defendants found not guilty in 'unbelievable, truly astonishing' verdict," (Oct. 27):

I'm sorry, but I just need more information here. These people who basically took over the Malheur refuge seem like criminals to me. What they did looks like a crime and smells like a crime -- yet, somehow, they will be walking free. I must be missing something here. Do we need to change our laws to prevent this from happening again? I am fearful that this just opens the doors for this to happen anywhere.

Deb Young, Southeast Portland

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WHITE PRIVILEGE: The Malheur mob? If they were black, they'd all be dead.

Peggy Corbin, Bend

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'CLEAR AND OBVIOUS CRIME': It is astonishing to me how the occupiers of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge were found innocent of their charges with the mountain of evidence against them. We saw on the news videos of the occupiers using government vehicles, trashing government files, threatening law enforcement with firearms, keeping government workers from doing their jobs and more, all while occupying our refuge. If we are allowed to do anything we darn well please on government land, what's to stop me from going to where Bundy grazes his cattle on BLM land and shooting his cattle because he is preventing me from enjoying BLM land to recreate? I am appalled that these crooks got away with this clear and obvious crime. We are all in clear and present danger due to this decision, as are Native American lands, which were also vandalized by these crooks. So much for a justice system. Disgusting system is more like it.

Jean Cohen, Southeast Portland

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GOVERNOR'S RESPONSE: Hooray, hooray! Finally, some justice is served. I am so proud of that jury I could give them all a big hug. Gov. Kate Brown's comments were horrible. How is she so sure they were guilty? Did she attend the trial? Her comments give the voters a real insight into what kind of person she is. According to her, they were guilty without any doubt, and she was not at the trial.

Nancy Bernert, Oregon City

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ELEMENTS OF A GUN CRIME: Regarding "How the jury reached its verdicts in the Oregon standoff case," (Oct. 27): Let me get this straight. According to Judge Anna Brown's jury instructions, conviction on the charge of possessing a firearm in a federal facility requires three elements: Possession of the firearm; acting knowingly; and acting with the intent to use the firearm in the commission of a crime.

So when I enter any federal building (say the courthouse where the Malheur trial was held) and smuggle in a gun that I intend to use only in self-defense, the guards can't charge me with anything when I pull it out during the trial because I have an open carry permit? This is nuts.

Charla Hatton, Northwest Portland

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'THE COUNTRY WE LIVE IN': Guess what, fellow Americans? The judge and jury have said that you are idiots to be afraid when people with guns show up at your workplace to take it over. After all, this is public property! Aren't you being a ninny? Go to work, anyway! If you get shot ... well, that's the risk you take if you live in a free society where we have a Second Amendment. If your blood pressure rises or you lose your lunch, it's because you are a coward. Get a gun and at least defend yourself if you feel threatened. This is the country we live in!

Linda Sneed, Wilsonville

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BUNDY GANG SHOULD BE IN JAIL: The Bundy gang is acquitted. Armed men spouting anti-government rhetoric at a wildlife refuge headquarters are not considered intimidating to the employees of the refuge? Were federal employees supposed to go to work and cause a confrontation with potential fatal consequences?

Now that the trial is over, and these armed thugs get to walk away scot-free, we the people are left paying for their "protest." The cost of the cleanup to Malheur headquarters is over $6 million dollars. Offices were ransacked, employee files perused and data taken from federal computers. Trenches were dug in several places at headquarters and used for toilets and garbage dumps.

I saw firsthand the damage done. I helped cover and reseed these trenches. Lands sacred to the Paiutes had trenches dug through them.

Where is the justice in this? Why are there no consequences for this vandalism to my public lands?

I am so angry. The Bundy gang should be in jail, and they should have to pay for the cleanup of the mess they created.

Bonnie Boone, Southwest Portland

*

'I THANK THE JURY': So many are thrilled to hear the not guilty verdict in the "Oregon standoff" case involving Ammon Bundy and six others. It was a huge victory for "we the people" standing up to our corrupt government for our liberties. I thank the jury!

It just goes to show the unnecessary brutality of our government sending in many U.S. marshall's to tackle Ammon Bundy's attorney, Marcus Mumford, when he asked the judge why Mr. Bundy would not be released and asked the marshalls to see the paperwork on the order.

Sorry to hear this great victory for "we the people" was a disappointment for our current governor, Kate Brown.

Judy Fralia-Mantello, Beaverton

*

MORE FEARFUL OF OCCUPIERS: The jury's verdict finding the federal land occupiers in Harney County not guilty of armed trespass and interference with federal activities is a dangerous step encouraging people with a rancid interpretation of the Constitution and a greedy notion of how the West was "won." I am far more fearful of these vigilantes running amok in the U.S. than I am of "foreigners." Their behavior is based on threats of violence and a twisted notion of how this country was founded and how it is supposed to operate.

Keith Tillstrom, Southeast Portland

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THE MESSAGE FROM MALHEUR: Let's see ... were the Bundys acquitted because they are Mormon and not Muslim? Were they acquitted because they are from Nevada and not Mexico? Were they acquitted because they are white and not brown or black?

When I taught a course on prejudice, I asked my students, "What do you call of group of white men standing on a street corner?" The answer was usually "a group," "crew" or "a team." When asked what to label a group of black or brown men in the same scenario, the answer was usually, "a gang."

The inherent racism in the Malheur National Wildlife Sanctuary conspiracy case should remind us that cultural bias exists throughout our society. I'm sure the jury members believed they were making their decisions solely on the evidence presented to them. However, a significant part of that evidence was the defendants themselves. The jury could not ignore the physical appearance of the defendants. The jury saw them, heard from them, and drew conclusions based on this tangible but ignored reality. Unlike the other physical evidence, the appearance of the defendants was not called to the jurors' attention because their race was considered irrelevant. It was not -- any more than the racial makeup of the jury.

This decision presents carte blanche approval for other like-minded people to do what the Bundys have done: take up arms to demonstrate their opposition to what Neil Wampler calls "a corrupt and predatory federal government."

I can only imagine the message sent to supporters of Donald Trump.

Bob Harris, Albany

*

PUBLIC LANDS AND THE MALHEUR TAKEOVER: I almost fell over when I read the front page of the Friday Oregonian. Not guilty! Does this verdict on the takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge mean that all ranchers, miners and loggers can go onto any federal land (owned by me and other law-abiding, taxpaying citizens of the United States of America) and, with the intimidation of guns, hold a protest because they disagree on what our land should be used for?

We have a good government system that allows us to vote and choose what these lands are used for, and I, for one, want land set aside where wildlife can thrive. Other countries don't have strict laws regarding the need to protect landscape and wild species so that their children's children may enjoy them. Maybe the protesters (anarchists) would enjoy that freedom in another country.

I do not want my country to be ravaged by cattle just so I can have another burger with my fries. I'll gladly eat fish!

Rhonda Cartan, Washougal (Washington)

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'WERE THESE JURORS BLIND?': I am shocked. It is incomprehensible how a juror can find the occupiers "not guilty." The videos clearly show the occupiers with weapons on the refuge (against the law). Blocking the entrance road with armed guards so no one could go to work. Damage done by the occupiers. Looks to me like Judge Anna Brown dismissed the only juror who was thinking clearly. All of this evidence was clearly shown on video. Were these jurors blind? This verdict can have negative effects on future trials of similar lawbreaking events.

Larry Ulrich, Bend

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'A DARK AND SOLEMN DAY': Unbelievable. The moronic "Keystone Outlaws" who courageously "invaded" a federal bird sanctuary armed with weapons and a stated resolve to fight to the death were acquitted by a jury in Oregon, despite a ridiculous amount of undisputed evidence of guilt. The damages caused to this public facility were in the millions of dollars -- yet the perps walk free. Not only are the criminals free, they have become "heroes" to those who would use our publicly owned and managed lands for their own profit. America owns and manages these lands for the access and benefit of all. Anyone remember the dust bowls of the 1930s caused in part by laissez-faire mismanagement of the land? These criminals must be stopped, lest anarchy spread throughout the west. The jurors should ashamed of themselves. It is a dark and solemn day in America's system of justice.

Richard Everstine, Greenwood Village (Colorado)

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'BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS': The jury in the refugee takeover trial has made a horrible mistake in declaring the rural terrorists not guilty. The message they sent is that armed men can use threats of violence to get what they want, and they will suffer no negative consequences. This will directly lead to more extreme takeovers which will progress to gun battles, leaving the jury members with blood on their hands.

Don Anderson, Northwest Portland
Shawna Cox began a long drive home to Utah, bearing Legos for her grandson's birthday party Saturday.

Jeff Banta watched a Donald Trump rally on Fox News while waiting for a ride out of Oregon.

David Fry was outside the federal courthouse in downtown Portland, protesting.

As the dust settled from Thursdays' acquittals of seven refuge occupiers, some of the defendants tried to bring a little normalcy to their lives while making plans for the future.

"I feel great," said Banta, 47, a construction worker and carpenter. "How would you feel if you found out you don't have to go to prison?"

Two of the occupiers who were acquitted - Ryan and Ammon Bundy - remained in custody. They face trial in Nevada on charges stemming from their alleged roles in a 2014 stand-off with federal officers.

Three of the acquitted occupiers said that will be another place to take a stand in support of their cause.

"We're gonna go and get the Bundys out of jail in Nevada," Cox said.

Cox, 60, a Utah business owner, said the verdict she heard brought her to tears. Along with a few dozen other defendants, Cox was charged with conspiring to impede federal officers. Almost a dozen have pleaded guilty, and some are still awaiting trial.

Cox disparaged the prosecution's attempt to make the Civil War-era charge stick.

"They made it up, and that's the best they could do because there wasn't any law that was broken," Cox said.

For 41 days starting in January, a rotating cast of dozens, some armed, occupied the headquarters of the federally-managed refuge in Southeast Oregon. They demanded that federal lands be handed over to local control. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees working for the refuge stayed home throughout the standoff.

Cox, describing the ensuing trial as part of a war between good and evil, said the jury's verdict was a miracle. But there's still corruption and government overreach to fight, she said.

Banta was free during the trial. He stayed in a hotel room that his attorney said cost $4,000 for his two-month stay.

Banta, one of the last four holdouts of the refuge, said the time since the verdict was ready Thursday has been a blur. He said he wasn't sure if it had truly sunk in yet.

He got dinner with Fry, another acquitted defendant, the night before and said they remarked together -- while Fry ate clam chowder and he ate a cheeseburger -- how grateful they were to the jury. He said he never felt they were guilty, but was nervous about who would be selected for the jury in the Portland trial.

"Before all this, all I kept hearing was, 'The jury is going to be filled with nothing but liberals and no one here likes you,'" Banta said with a laugh. "But I guess we proved all those people wrong. I thought the jury was fair and open-minded."

Fry said he will also be on his way home soon, to Ohio. Fry, 28, was the last hold-out at the refuge, giving himself up to authorities only after dramatic negotiations broadcast to thousands of people online.

Fry said it was "mind-blowing" to be free after spending months in what he described as a cage.

Fry said U.S. Marshals threw him against a wall and on the floor after he refused to be handcuffed on the way from the courtroom to jail pending release Thursday. Fry wasn't seriously injured, and a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals office in Portland declined to comment on Fry's claim.

He appeared downtown where a barbecue was held for acquitted occupiers. He wore a white pin on his sweater that read, "Not guilty."

Another defendant, Kenneth Medenbach, said he broke out in tears Thursday after learning about the verdict from a Salem Statesman Journal reporter.

Medenbach was not at the courthouse but at home in Crescent, staying in bed and taking antibiotics for a blood infection. He was also found not guilty of stealing government property.

Despite the emotion he felt, he wasn't surprised by the verdict. He said God called him to join the occupation.

"Why would he call me to do something and not be successful at it?" Medenbach said.

Medenbach said the verdict has emboldened him to continue to advocate for federal land to be handed over to local control. He said he's going to speak with county commissioners and legislators.

"I'm pretty jazzed," he said. "Now I know what I have to do next."

-- Fedor Zarkhin

503-294-7674; @fedorzarkhin

-- Everton Bailey Jr.

ebailey@oregonian.com

503-221-8343; @EvertonBailey
Supporters call Thursday's acquittal of seven Oregon refuge occupiers a victory for protest movements of all kinds, even if the affinity that patriot groups claim isn't returned by activists of other banners.

The patriot groups voiced sympathy for such diverse potential allies as the Standing Rock Sioux, who are challenging federal land use decisions in North Dakota, and Black Lives Matter activists in Baltimore, who have taken on law enforcement's abuse of authority.

Jon Ritzheimer, a U.S. Marines veteran from Arizona who was part of the core group of occupation organizers, said Thursday's verdict bolsters the free speech rights of those other causes.

"It's going to be good across the board for everyone, even those who disagreed with us or viewed us with contempt," said Ritzheimer, who pleaded guilty earlier this year in the occupation case.

The 41-day occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon led to charges against 26 protesters and set off a fierce discussion of protest tactics within the patriot movement.

In the months since, people who were not charged in the Oregon case have tried to build bridges with organizations that might seem surprising for a movement considered politically conservative and mainly white.

Members of the patriot community recently reached out to the Standing Rock Sioux, who are opposed to a federally approved pipeline they say could harm the tribe's water supply. Authorities have arrested 142 members of the Native American coalition that is occupying private land.

"They asked us not to come," Joseph Rice, a leader of the Josephine County Oath Keepers, a patriot movement group, said of activists in North Dakota. "They want no weapons out there."

In a statement, a spokeswoman said the tribe "supports protectors at the camp who are unarmed, peaceful and engaged in prayer and are there to protect the water and sacred lands."

Tribal leaders near the Malheur refuge strongly opposed the occupiers' actions, which happened on historical native lands. But patriot groups across the country have gravitated to the Standing Rock Sioux.

Scott Woods, a West Virginia militia leader, said he would consider going to North Dakota if a militia called for help and he had permission to come with a gun.

"We are not going to walk into a situation where we can't defend ourselves," Woods said.

But he underscores the common ground: "Clean water is probably important to everyone."

Free speech and guns

Some who opposed the occupation initially as too radical changed their minds. Thursday's verdict helped cement the idea that occupiers' actions got Western land use issues heard.

At least one of the Malheur jurors said Thursday's decision to acquit came because the occupiers' intent was not to keep federal employees from their jobs, as prosecutors alleged, but to send a political message.

Activists said it felt like vindication to people who feel the government too often oversteps.

"The jury determined this group of people had every right to do what they did - freedom of speech and freedom of assembly," said Gary Hunt, who runs the patriot website Outpost of Freedom. "The right to redress their grievances was their motivation. The First Amendment was well-protected."

Ritzheimer, the occupation defendant, went further, saying the Oregon occupation showed armed protesters have a place in the history of civil rights demonstrations.

"We got to sit in the front of the bus a bit longer because we had a gun on our hip," he said.

Jaime Spears, an activist and mother of five from St. Augustine, Florida, agreed.

"I believe this will encourage others to use their voice and take a hard stand," said Spears, who visited the refuge during the occupation and sat in the Portland court for part of the trial.

By "hard stand," Spears said, she means civil disobedience that comes out of a sense of being bullied and unheard despite letters, phone calls and petitions.

She says carrying a gun is not the same as threatening someone with it. But the Oregon occupation did make her wonder whether images of firearms could undermine the cause.

"It made it into something it wasn't," Spears said. "We realized that the mainstream media would never ever ever cover our message as long as we had weapons."

Common cause?

Teressa Raiford of Don't Shoot PDX doubts that Thursday's verdict has anything to do with her First Amendment rights as an African American.

"It wasn't a civil rights case that was won for all Americans," Raiford said. "If we had shown up to occupy a public building with guns, they would have killed us."

Raiford said authorities give people of color far less benefit of the doubt.

"We can't send our kids to parks to play with toy guns," she said. "If a black man puts a gun in the back of his truck to go hunting, the neighbors are probably going to call the police on him."

Don't Shoot protesters held a tense protest adjacent to a gathering of occupation supporters Friday in downtown Portland.

Questions of race continue to dog the patriot movement, even as its members say they want to connect with minority communities who have grievances against the government.

Patriot movement broadcaster Bob Powell said he went to North Dakota, unarmed, but the reception was hostile.

"There's a lot of racism out there," he said. "I almost got my butt kicked even after I explained that I was there to help them tell their story."

Another patriot movement activist was asked to leave after a Confederate flag was spotted in his truck, Powell said.

Ritzheimer, who said he supports the Standing Rock Sioux, said he thinks tribal activists could learn from the Malheur occupation.

"They should file a redress of grievances," he said. "There's more to it than to just stand there in the road."

Deb Jordan says she went to Baltimore's anti-police protests and "stood with the people there." She went with her boyfriend and business partner, Pete Santilli.

She said the response from some in her patriot movement audience was, "We're never going to trust you guys again. You're traitors."

But many came around, she said.

Jordan said Santilli, a self-described journalist whose charges in the Oregon standoff case were later dismissed, made livestreaming a hallmark of contemporary protest.

"We're the wave of the future," Jordan said. "There's no doubt that at Malheur we were winning the information war."

-- Carli Brosseau

cbrosseau@oregonian.com

503-294-5121; @carlibrosseau
Wesley Kjar says he was Ammon Bundy's bodyguard for five days of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation in January. But unlike Bundy, Kjar was not a part of the federal trial that ended with seven acquittals Thursday.

That's because Kjar pleaded guilty four months earlier.

"Of course I regret the plea now," said Kjar, 32. "Wouldn't you?"

More than two dozen people were indicted in connection with the 41-day armed refuge occupation that gripped the country. Kjar was one of 11 people who pleaded guilty to some charges in exchange for lesser sentences.

During a phone interview Friday from his home in Salt Lake City, Kjar said he would like to now withdraw his guilty plea, but isn't sure if it's still an option. And he fears that if he succeeded in withdrawing the plea, he might be found guilty and sentenced to prison.

Kjar is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 5 to six months probation after pleading guilty in June to conspiracy to impede officers of the United States. He said he was arrested at gunpoint in February in Utah, after the occupation ended, and later told he faced up to six years behind bars.

Kjar said he didn't even know a federal jury was deliberating in the Portland trial when he began getting texts from friends Thursday informing him of the not guilty verdict.

"Now you're good too, right?" one text read. Then he shook his head and started to feel a wave of regret.

"Nope, I'm not good too," Kjar said. "They were acquitted, but I'm still being prosecuted. I didn't get a wink of sleep last night."

Wesley Kjar, 32, pictured on right, beside Ammon Bundy, at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Jan. 4, 2016.

Ammon Bundy, his brother Ryan Bundy and five co-defendants were found not guilty Thursday of conspiring to prevent federal employees from doing their jobs through intimidation, threat or force during the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge throughout January and into February. The Bundy brothers and occupiers Jeff Banta and David Fry also were found not guilty of having guns in a federal facility. Kenneth Medenbach was acquitted of stealing government property, and the jury was deadlocked on Ryan Bundy's charge of theft of FBI surveillance cameras.

Another 7 co-defendants await trial in February 2017. One defendant had charges dismissed.

One occupier, LaVoy Finicum, was killed by law enforcement when officers moved in to arrest him, the Bundys and a group of other occupiers on Jan. 26.

"I'm happy that they are able to continue on with their lives," Kjar said. "But I'm also filled with great, great sadness for the death of LaVoy and the loss of my life, because now I'm a felon."

Another defendant who took a plea deal, Jon Ritzheimer, said in an interview Friday that the not guilty verdict in Portland was a "triumph of the people."

He now says he's planning to meet with his attorney next month to examine his options. But he declined to elaborate on what he felt Thursday's not guilty meant for his case.

"I need to continue to demonstrate that I accept responsibility under the terms of the plea agreement," he said.

Ritzheimer, 33, pleaded guilty in August to the same federal conspiracy charge Kjar did. Both men have no prior criminal history and have agreed to not possess any firearms as part of their plea agreements.

Ritzheimer, who lives in the Phoenix area, is scheduled to be sentenced on May 8. A federal prosecutor said during Ritzheimer's plea hearing that he faces 2.5 to 3 years in prison under sentencing guidelines, but that the government would recommend the low end of that range.

Prosecutors said Ritzheimer was one of the leaders of the armed takeover.

He surrendered to the FBI in Arizona on Jan. 26 and was brought back to Oregon. A judge in March released him from custody and allowed him to return home while his case was pending.

Kjar said after his role in the occupation ended, he met with members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Utah to ask them to intervene.

He said he felt like it was all for naught after he was arrested.

Kjar said as part of his release agreement, he can't have any contact with any of the other defendants in the occupation case. He also can't be around anyone with firearms that aren't locked in a safe or anyone who possesses a knife more than three inches long, he said. He wouldn't be able to possess firearms as a felon.

He's missed out on hunting trips and some friends have avoided talking to him altogether, he said.

"It's tough," Kjar said. "Everyone has guns in Utah."

He now sees the acquittal of his fellow occupiers as "a win for human rights."

"I'm not a militia guy, I'm not an extremist or any of the things I've been painted out to be, but I do think you have to have the right to protest your government," Kjar said.

"But it's also so frustrating to see that I could have been done with all of this," he said, "but I'm not."

Carli Brosseau of The Oregonian/OregonLive staff contributed to this story.

-- Everton Bailey Jr.

ebailey@oregonian.com

503-221-8343; @EvertonBailey
When U.S. Marshals physically subdued attorney Marcus Mumford at the finale of the Oregon militants' trial, the encounter created a buzz across the legal community with experts saying they'd never seen anything similar happen before.

Marshals tackled and used a Taser on Mumford, Ammon Bundy's defense lawyer, following the Oregon standoff leader's acquittal in the federal conspiracy case Thursday. The agency said in a news release Friday that Mumford had become "upset and aggressive" in court after the jury verdict.

The federal agency is conducting a review of the marshals' actions, according to Thadd Baird, supervising deputy of the U.S. Marshals Service. But he declined to discuss any further specifics about the highly unusual use of force.

"The overwhelming consensus in legal circles is that any kind of altercation between law enforcement and lawyers in a courtroom is virtually unheard of," said Kateri Walsh, spokeswoman for the Oregon State Bar. "It just doesn't happen."

Mumford had been arguing that his client should be released from custody immediately, but U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown said Bundy had a hold on him from a pending federal indictment in Nevada.

Mumford yelled at the judge, and suddenly six to seven marshals closed in on him, surrounding the attorney at the defense table. The judge told them to move back, but soon after, the marshals grabbed Mumford.

They yelled at Mumford to stop resisting while the judge ordered everyone out of the courtroom.

The encounter was the culmination of a trial that included several contentious moments between Mumford and Brown. At one point last month, Brown threatened Mumford with contempt of court if he continued asking questions about the fatal police shooting of Robert "LaVoy" Finicum.

The Marshals service provides security in U.S. District Court. Mumford was arrested Thursday by the Federal Protective Service, part of the Department of Homeland Security. He was cited on accusations of failing to comply with a federal lawful order and causing a disturbance and given a Jan. 6 court date.

Mumford was released from custody nearly two hours later and spoke to reporters outside the federal courthouse. One asked whether Mumford believed the marshals acted appropriately.

"No!" the Utah-based attorney replied. He could not be reached for comment Friday.

The description of Thursday's events also led other lawyers to question whether the marshals had been too heavy-handed.

"My understanding is he just raised his voice," said Carrie Leonetti, a University of Oregon law professor who previously worked as a federal public defender in California.

Leonetti said the marshals likely considered the number of people in the courtroom before taking action, but also questioned their using a weapon against the lawyer.

"They need to be proportional to the threat," she said.

Leonetti said it would be more common for an attorney who wasn't following orders to be held in contempt, not taken down.

"I cannot think of a time when courtroom security officers have used force against a lawyer," she said.

Leonetti said the marshals' actions have an "unfortunate appearance of retaliation," but she believes their response came from training.

"The optics of tackling the lawyer who won - the optics of that are unfortunate in any situation," Leonetti said.

Tung Yin, a Lewis & Clark Law School professor, also said he'd never heard of force being used against an attorney in court.

"I would say it is multiple standards of deviation away from the norm," he said.

Yin said the courtroom scene appeared to highlight how invested Mumford had become in his client's case - he shouted arguments instead of putting them in writing.

Prisoners in Nevada, at least, were paying attention, according to Deb Jordan, a self-described advocacy journalist who is the girlfriend and business partner of Pete Santilli.

Santilli was initially charged in the Oregon standoff case, but prosecutors dropped their conspiracy indictment against him the day before trial. He has a pending case in Nevada and is being held in jail there.

Jordan said she spoke to Santilli about how the inmates in Nevada reacted to authorities using a Taser on and arresting Mumford.

"They all just started laughing," she said. "Fight to the end! Never say die! It's been such a circus from the beginning. They just kind of chuckled and said, "Perfect ending.'"

Maxine Bernstein and Carli Brosseau of The Oregonian/OregonLive contributed to this report.

-- Rebecca Woolington

503-294-4049; @rwoolington
It was ironic that Thursday's shocking not guilty verdicts in the Oregon standoff trial came on the same day soldiers and officers in riot gear arrested 141 protesters supporting the Standing Rock Sioux tribe in North Dakota.

Online memes compared the refuge occupiers' favorable verdict to the militarized force use against Native Americans attempting to block construction of an oil pipeline across their ancestral land.

But the comparison isn't that simple.

The rough treatment of pipeline protesters deserves criticism, but don't fault law enforcement at the refuge for their attempts not to escalate a tense situation. The FBI treated the Bundy brothers and their friends differently because they were holed up on a remote and pretty empty piece of property filled with weapons, and no one wanted to see another Waco or Ruby Ridge.

When protesters are armed, it changes things.

Social media also has been buzzing with this observation: If the refuge militants had been Muslim, brown or black, things would have played out differently.

That's, honestly, an interesting question.

In the 1960s, the Black Panthers began carrying firearms and observing police around Oakland, California. No one was killed, but that's when then-California Gov. Ronald Reagan signed a law that banned the right to open carry.

It was a different time, but that double standard still exists.

It's legitimate to wonder, too, if there's a liberal or conservative double standard, depending on your point of view. For people on the left and right sides of the aisle: if the tribes at Standing Rock armed themselves and stood their ground, would you support the effort?

Your gut reaction shouldn't depend on whether you believe the protesters' message is worth fighting for.

Unfortunately, this trial may have opened the door for others to attempt an armed occupation without consequence. Any number of disenfranchised groups -- be it the Oath Keepers, Three Percenters, Black Lives Matter, Occupy Wall Street or Standing Rock -- may be emboldened by this. Imagine the consequences: Many people didn't like seeing Occupy protesters damaging public space by camping in Portland's parks, but they weren't necessarily frightened by it.

Had they been armed? I don't know what would have happened, but it could have been deadly.

Oregon standoff participants argue they had a peaceful protest, but there is nothing peaceful about openly displaying a weapon. It always conveys the message: "I have the ability to kill you while exerting very little effort." Even in testimony, Ammon Bundy said he and his friends carried weapons so they would be taken seriously; without guns, he said, the participants would have been carted off to jail. (Something which is, it's worth noting, a generally accepted consequence of civil disobedience.)

But Bundy knows exactly what it means to carry those guns. Guns bring the threat of violence. Guns mean intimidation.

Maybe it was because of the militants' firearms, or their message against federal ownership of land, but prosecutors opted to treat the Bundy gang not as protesters with a grievance but as seditionists against the United States government.

Prosecutors didn't seek charges that carried less severe sentences: things like trespassing, destruction of property or simply carrying a firearm in a restricted area. Instead, they tried the seven defendants on charges of "conspiracy to impede officers of the United States." It's a rarely-used law passed in 1861, just after the outbreak of the Civil War, which appears to have been intended to thwart conspiracies against the overthrow of government. Even the weapons charges against four defendants were tied to possessing firearms in the course of the conspiracy, so they had to be convicted of the conspiracy charges for the gun charges to stick.

The jury, however, determined the government was overreaching with its conspiracy charges, and upon reflection they may have gotten it right.

Again, ask yourself, if Black Lives Matter protesters who threw cans at police were facing up to six years in prison for "conspiracy to impede officers of the United States," would your opinion change?

It's a shame Bundy and his buddies won't face anything in relation to the damage they inflicted upon the refuge and the fear they brought to the community around it, but prosecutors didn't give the jury much to work with.

Federal officers acted with restraint at the refuge. Federal prosecutors, though, were overzealous in the courtroom.

-- Samantha Swindler

@editorswindler / 503-294-4031

sswindler@oregonian.com
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Legislation that would create permanent housing for Native American fishing tribes has moved to a congressional committee where lawmakers are attempting to hammer out a compromise, members of Oregon's delegation said Friday.

U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley and U.S. Rep Earl Blumenauer said they hope a deal can be reached that would prompt immediate planning for homes for tribal members who live along the Columbia River to fish for salmon.

But they also expressed concern that Republicans who control the U.S. House of Representatives may water down or stall the primary piece of a legislative package to improve tribal housing.

Five bills have been introduced so far. One cleared the full Senate, but has slowed in the House, where Republicans are pitching an alternative.

The Oregonian/OregonLive first reported this past spring about the deplorable living conditions along the Columbia River. The federal government pledged to build permanent housing for Native American fishing tribes 80 years ago when three Columbia River dams were built. Since then, members of the Warm Springs, Yakama Nation, Umatilla and Nez Perce tribes have been living in squalor without sufficient drinking water, electricity or sanitation services. Most fishing families live in tattered tents or rusted trailers. Only a few permanent homes have been built along the river.

Merkley and Blumenauer hope to change that and they spoke to the Oregonian/OregonLive editorial board on Friday about their plans.

"I don't think I've ever seen an issue in which so many pieces have been launched at the same time," Merkley said. "I think if we continue to work both sides of this, I think we'll have at least a few successes."

Tribal leaders said Friday they are hopeful the summer's momentum will continue.

"We hope that it doesn't become another empty promise," said Charles Calica, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs vice-chairman.

Both Merkley and Blumenauer said that the future for the tribes could also hinge on the outcome of the Nov. 8 elections. One piece of related legislation would help clean up and improve the 31 existing tribal fishing sites.

It could be added to a spending bill during the lame duck session. Congress will have to pass legislation soon to avoid another government shutdown.

But ultimately, funding for the housing and infrastructure, as well as bills concerning current safety and sanitation conditions, will be left up to a new president and the post-election Congress.

"I think it'll be easier to pass things like this with a stronger group of Democratic voters in the chamber," Blumenauer said.

Merkley and Blumenauer visited the sites after the investigation appeared in The Oregonian/OregonLive. They promised to take action this year.

Merkley was able to find enough support in the U.S. Senate.

"In this case, I feel like we've been able to persuade and move people that this is a broken promise we need to address," Merkley said.

But the House is mired in bottlenecks, the two lawmakers said. On top of the inaction that has characterized Congress for years, some Republicans want to limit how much legislation could be allocated to the Columbia River tribes.

Blumenauer introduced an amendment to the Water Resources Development Act that was identical to the Senate's. Republican leaders created their own version of the amendment that wasn't endorsed by the tribes. The House version calls on the U.S. Government Accountability Office to study what the government responsibility is at Bonneville, The Dalles and John Day dams. From there, Congress would then likely send the issue to the Army Corps.

"We think that unduly delays and ignores what we already know, so want to take the Senate language," Blumenauer said.

The Senate version calls directly on the Army Corps, which is the agency that is ultimately responsible for providing housing, to study the Bonneville and John Day dams. The Corps already has authorization to build houses to replace what was lost when The Dalles Dam was built.

Washington Republicans Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler and Dan Newhouse are on board with the Oregon Democrats' plan. They are asking the upcoming committee of Senate and House members to accept the Senate version of the bill. Their second choice is to move forward with the House's proposed study and get the ball rolling on the Senate's Army Corps authorization in the meantime.

Rep. Greg Walden, Oregon's lone Republican in Congress, did not respond Friday to a request for comment. He was instrumental in helping obtaining the few houses that were built along the Columbia River at Celilo Village.

Merkley and Blumenauer hope that a compromise can be reached when the House and Senate meet to iron out final language on the Water Resources Development Act.

If so, the Army Corps would be authorized before the year's end to start studying how many houses are needed to fulfill the promises made to Northwest tribes and how much those would cost and where.

"That's gives a lot of hope and inspiration to people, that we will get back to the river to practice fishing that my grandfather taught me," Calica said Friday.
coal trains

Yakama Nation leaders stand near Wishram, Washington, as a coal train runs by in April 2012. The Yakama asked the federal government for a comprehensive review of coal exports, citing pollution, impacts on tribal fishing grounds on the Columbia River and a "breathtaking" increase in train traffic.

(Darla C. Leslie/Yakama Nation Review)

SEATTLE -- A federal judge in Seattle has found that BNSF Railway could be held liable in a lawsuit claiming that coal spilled from trains pollutes waterways if environmental groups can show at trial that such discharges actually occurred.



Ruling in the case brought by seven environmental groups against the railroad, U.S. District Court Judge John Coughenour said Tuesday that coal particles and dust that fall directly into waterways from passing trains are "point sources" of pollution under the federal Clean Water Act.



However, Coughenour declined to immediately find BNSF liable for any violations, saying significant facts remain in dispute. He denied requests from both sides for summary judgment and set the case for a Nov. 7 trial.



Seven environmental groups sued the railroad in 2013, arguing that it violated federal environmental law by allowing its trains to discharge coal and other pollutants into Washington state rivers and waterways without a permit.



BNSF spokeswoman Courtney Wallace said Wednesday the company is confident in its legal arguments and that its coal-loading rule eliminates most coal dust issues at the mines and throughout the region.



Hundreds of uncovered trains carrying coal from Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming traverse Washington state each year. The trains carry coal to export terminals in British Columbia, Canada, Centralia and other locations. More trains are expected if a proposed coal-export terminal is built in Longview.



The Sierra Club, Spokane Riverkeeper, Friends of the Columbia Gorge and others allege that coal chunks and coal dust fall off BNSF trains through holes in the rail cars, when coal trains encounter rough tracks, or get blown from open-top rail cars during high winds or fast speeds.



The coal breaks apart easily and contains mercury, arsenic, uranium and other toxins harmful to fish and human health, the lawsuit alleged. The discharges occur despite the use of topping agents or other suppressants, it adds,



The groups say they look forward to proving their case about the environmental harm from coal dust.



"This opens the door for the court to see the evidence collected across the Northwest of the impacts of these trains on our lakes and rivers," said Jerry White Jr. of Spokane Riverkeeper.



The railroad issued rules in 2011 that require coal to be loaded in a bread-loaf shape to reduce issues with wind and then sprayed with one of several approved topper agents or an alternative to control dust.



A rail facility that opened last year in Pasco also added another layer of dust control by spraying trains carrying coal and petroleum coke with a topping agent at the facility, Wallace said.



Coughenour agreed with BNSF that coal released to land and from land to water aren't considered a pollution point source. But coal that goes directly into water and coal dust that comes from passing trains directly above or adjacent to waters are pollution sources, the judge said.



BNSF also argued that federal interstate commerce laws pre-empt the relief that the environmental groups are seeking. The judge postponed that decision until after a possible finding of liability at trial.



Court documents show that in 2014 BNSF generated nearly $5 billion in revenue from the transportation of coal, which represented about 22 percent of its total freight revenue. Ninety percent of that coal originated in Power River Basin.

-- The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- The FBI is investigating whether there is classified information in new emails uncovered during the sexting investigation of disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of one of Hillary Clinton's closest aides.

FBI Director James Comey told Congress in a letter that the emails prompted investigators to take another look at whether classified information had been mishandled, which had been the focus of its recently closed, criminal probe into Clinton's use of a private email server. Comey couldn't guarantee that the latest investigation would be finished before Election Day.

Comey did not provide details about the emails, but a U.S. official told The Associated Press that the emails emerged through the FBI's separate sexting probe of Weiner, who is separated from Clinton confidant Huma Abedin. She served as deputy chief of staff at the State Department and is still a key player in Clinton's presidential campaign.

Federal authorities in New York and North Carolina are investigating online communications between Weiner and a 15-year-old girl. The U.S. official was familiar with the investigation but was not authorized to discuss the matter by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The disclosure came less than two weeks before the presidential election and thrust a political liability for Clinton back into the headlines that her campaign thought had been resolved and had begun to recede from the minds of voters. The FBI said in July its investigation of Hillary Clinton's private email server was finished.

John Podesta, the chairman of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, said Comey should immediately provide more information to voters.

"It is extraordinary that we would see something like this just 11 days out from a presidential election," Podesta said in a statement. "The director owes it to the American people to immediately provide the full details of what he is now examining."

Comey stressed in his letter that the FBI could not yet assess "whether or not this material may be significant," or how long it might take to run down the new investigative leads.

"In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation," Comey wrote. "I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation."

It was unclear what the emails contained, who sent them, or what connection they might have to the yearlong investigation the FBI closed in July without recommending criminal charges. The FBI probe focused on whether Clinton sent or received classified information using a server in the basement of her New York home, which was not authorized to handle such messages. Abedin was interviewed by the FBI as part of its investigation.

Comey said in July that his agents didn't find evidence to support a criminal prosecution or direct evidence that Clinton's private server was hacked.

Podesta said he was confident the new information will not produce any conclusions different from the one the FBI reached in July.

Comey, who has talked often about the FBI's need to be accountable to the public, promised extraordinary transparency about the investigation and during intervening months has authorized the release of investigative files from the case, which are normally kept confidential.

That stance also left Comey, a career federal prosecutor who has served under both Republican and Democratic administrations, open to criticism from leaders in both parties that he was trying to influence the outcome of the presidential race.

Clinton campaign supporters were already suggesting the FBI director was putting a thumb on the scale. Had he waited until after Nov. 8 to announce the discovery of the new emails, however, Comey would surely have faced criticism for sitting on major news until after the new president had been selected.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the department learned about the FBI letter from news reports and did not get any notification from the FBI. Toner pledged the department would "cooperate to the full extent that we can."

White House spokesman Eric Schultz declined comment beyond reiterating President Barack Obama's support for Clinton.

Republicans immediately pounced on the news, hoping to shake up a presidential race where most polls appear to show Republican nominee Donald Trump lagging well behind Clinton.

House Speaker Paul Ryan said Clinton has "nobody but herself to blame."

"She was entrusted with some of our nation's most important secrets, and she betrayed that trust by carelessly mishandling highly classified information," Ryan, R-Wis., said in a statement. "This decision, long overdue, is the result of her reckless use of a private email server, and her refusal to be forthcoming with federal investigators. I renew my call for the Director of National Intelligence to suspend all classified briefings for Secretary Clinton until this matter is fully resolved."

Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said the FBI's decision reinforces the committee's view that the more that is learned about the server, "the clearer it becomes that she and her associates committed wrongdoing and jeopardized national security."

Speaking to cheering supporters at a rally in New Hampshire, Trump used Comey's new letter to attack Clinton.

"We must not let her take her criminal scheme into the Oval Office," said Trump, who has pledged to "lock up" his political rival if elected. "Perhaps finally justice will be done."

-- The Associated Press
As part of Red Ribbon Week at Marrington Elementary School, members from the Military Working Dogs Team and Drug Demand Reduction Program put on a special demonstration with their "drug and attack" dogs designed to encourage the students to make positive choices and remain drug free.
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It was literally lights out when Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette showed up in Coleman to campaign for Roger Hauck, who is running to represent the 99th District in the Michigan House.

The plan was to have a Meet n Greet at Bean Me Up in downtown Coleman on Thursday morning. However, upon arrival, the century old building was without electricity. But, even with dark skies outside, that didnt stop the upbeat Schuette from supporting Hauck, who is in the midst of a hard-fought campaign with Democratic candidate Bryan Mielke.

All I know is that on Nov. 8, Roger Hauck is going to be the next state rep. He works hard. Hes conservative and its going to be lights out on the other guy, said Schuette as he spoke aided by a worklight and lamp.

Hauck was grateful for the opportunity to appear with Schuette.

Bill has a busy schedule across the whole state and to take out time to come to Coleman makes me feel good, Hauck said.

The Beal City native was glad for the exposure in Midland County as he attempts to win the seat for the district that covers Edenville, Geneva, Greendale, Hope, Ingersoll, Jasper, Mills, Mount Haley, Porter and Warren townships in Midland County along with all of Isabella County.

Im glad we came to Coleman because before I started campaigning I wasnt that familiar with the districts in Midland. Coleman reminds me of where I grew up: a farming community; people that work in the shop, hard working people. Im glad we met here, Hauck said.

Schuette was there to help raise awareness about the candidate.

My mission here today is to pour some coffee for Roger Hauck and let everybody know in Midland County, in the western part particularly, about him. This election is critical, its about the future. The other side wants to go back to the old days, the lost decade when we were out of luck and out of jobs and deep in debt. He is going to be part of a new Michigan and its about going higher and going further. Not going backward, Schuette said.

Bean Me Up Coffee owner Ann Marie Monaghan was ecstatic about the opportunity to exhibit her backing of the GOP along with the building that was built in 1905.

It gives me a chance to let people know where I stand politically. In the coffee shop, you talk, if it is brought up, you can talk about it. It was nice for me to support the policies that mean a lot to our family. Plus, this building is pretty awesome. Not that you can see it, Monaghan said, laughing.

In between scrambling to serve coffee, Monaghan took time out to show her appreciation for Haucks candidacy.

Weve been very proud of Rogers campaign. Hes been honest and done a very good job without belittling Mielke, she said.

Mielke has also received support from high-ranking Democrats. On Oct. 14, U.S. Sen. Gary Peters was in Mount Pleasant to knock on doors with Mielke.
To the editor:

I take issue with two editorials published on Sunday, Oct. 16. First of all the Midland Daily News endorsement for president of the United States. Putting aside differences in opinion, your arguments were poorly presented. You eliminate Mr. Trump for president on his so-called sexual offense scandals based on verbal accusations that have never been tested in court. The women who supposedly experienced these events many years ago failed to come forward at the time. Suddenly sexism becomes the great decider of presidential qualification so why not disqualify Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy and Bill Clinton. Since many Republican leaders are not supporting Trump and Paul Ryan is reluctant to support him, therefore Trump is unelectable. However, you forget one thing: It is the people who decide this election and many voters are upset with the Republican leadership, the corrupt news media and the disaster of the unlawful Obama administration.

So now that you have degraded Donald Trump, you endorse Hillary Clinton as the default candidate. You believe Hillary is qualified to be the first woman president. How absurd that you would ignore her agenda platform, incompetence in office, habitual lying to the people (i.e. Benghazi victim family members), criminal misconduct (i.e. home server), illegal investment deals and phony foundation activities. I believe Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are personally responsible for the deaths of four U.S. citizens in Benghazi, Libya. Hillary failed to provide proper security for our people there and ignored bringing them home when threats to their safety escalated. President Obama refused to send in military support when the attacks were reported to his administration. Hillary Clinton is a disgrace to the offices she has held and your paper is endorsing her by default. Such insanity is beyond logical understanding. If you think Paul Ryan would keep Hillary Clinton in check you are sadly mistaken. Supposedly conservatives control both houses of government but refuse to use their authority to rein in President Obama and will likely continue that response with Secretary Clinton.

Now how about Norbert Bufkas grandiose recommendations of Hillary. He believes that she is trustworthy just because she has not been convicted of a crime. Trustworthiness is based on the individual view of a persons actions. Hillarys habitual lying has demonstrated that she cannot be trusted. She has been caught many times via fact checking and media coverage. How about her story about landing under sniper fire in Bosnia in 2008? As to her speeches to Wall Street, she is entitled not to make them public and Donald Trump is entitled not to release his tax return. As to her misuse on a private server, she did break the law as it is written; this is not just an accusation, it was a criminal act. She placed our national security in jeopardy. The FBI gave her a pass on the private server activities and the Department of Justice gave their approval. If some of her Secretary of State predecessors misused their email, then everyone, including Hillary Clinton, should be required to face a special prosecutor under oath and give an account of their actions. As for Benghazi, she was derelict in her duties as Secretary of State and should be tried in a court of law by a jury of her peers.

So where are the examples of all the great accomplishments of Hillary Clinton as a public federal servant to the citizens of the United States? She doesnt have anything to show for all her years of service, unless you consider the success of her Red button reset with Russia, which in itself was a massive failure. Hillary is not a true leader; she is a corrupt politician with her own secret liberal agenda that will only add to the decline of the United States of America.

TONY AND DONNA CINADR

Midland
To the editor:

Earlier this year, I was upset to see how poorly Michigan scored on a ranking of transparency and accountability for state governments in our country. Government needs to work for the people who fund it (we, the taxpayers). Lansing politicians have put us in this position  politicians who want to protect their own nest eggs and the status quo. We have to elect leaders that understand this and will work to change it.

I support Roger Haucks plan to make our government more transparent. Roger isnt a politician and hell stand up for our community, not Lansing insiders. Roger supports reforming Freedom of Information Act laws to so that our legislature and governor play by the same rules as our cities and townships. Roger wants to ensure that citizens have the most access to government records, including spending, salaries and campaign contributions.

Its crucial that we know whos pulling the strings in state government. Im voting to send Roger Hauck to Lansing so he can pull back the curtains and shed some more light on those who work for us.

DEBRA LATHAM

Weidman
Updated : Mar 10, 2020 in Culture

Some Things You Need to Know About Pakistani Culture - In the previous article I discussed the history, the system of government and its economy,
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon apologized Tuesday over the Halloween crowd crush that killed at least 156 people. "As the mayor of Seoul who is responsible for the lives and safety of c...
BLOOMINGTON  More than 4,500 miles from home, Risto Soramies spent time Friday sharing photos and catching up over a pot of chili with his second family.

More than fifty years ago, Soramies left his home near Helsinki, Finland, to spend a year studying at Bloomington High School while living with Wilma and Arnold Eddings and their children Phil, Mike and Sandy.

Bloomington was the place chosen for me (though the exchange program). I won the lottery, said Soramies at Mike Eddings Bloomington home.

This marked his fourth return trip to visit his American host family since graduating from BHS in 1965.

My first thought seeing him this time was, Boy, youve been gone a long time. Its nice to see you home, said Wilma Edding. He just seemed to fit in with the family so naturally.

He was never a guest, always a brother, said Mike Edding.

I felt the same way, said Soramies.

Like his host siblings, 18-year-old Soramies was expected to complete chores and be home before curfew.

After high school madrigal practice, Soramies would go out for a cup of coffee with his friends. Wilma Eddings reminded him to be home by midnight.

That night, he came running up to the door with two minutes to spare, Wilma recalled with a laugh.

Soramies said America was quite a thing to see back then. He said the BHS class size of 450 was enormous compared to his Finnish school and the newly constructed building was super modern and unimaginable.

Finland was recovering still from the Second World war. We didnt have hunger or anything like that, but life was a lot different, he said. Living with the Eddings was a very good time for me. I was very well taken care of, as you can imagine.

After his year-long stay, Wilma Edding recalls driving Soramies to the bus that would begin his trip home.

I remember thinking, I know his mother wants him, but I sure hate to see him go, she said. It was like saying goodbye to a son we had a short time, but a lot time in our hearts.

After returning to his home country, Soramies served in the Finnish military and was sent to do missionary work among Turkish migrant workers in Germany until 2000.

He was ordained in 2013 and now serves as the first Bishop of the independent diocese, Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland.

Soramies always calls his host parents on birthdays, holidays and anniversaries. The Eddings are celebrating 71 years together in November. He sends them photos of his 12 grandchildren.

He said his time in Bloomington widened his view of the world.

"You learn to know another culture and it becomes a part of you," said Soramies. Not that Im less of a Finn than I was before, it just changes your whole world view.

After Soramies, Wilma and Arnold Eddings continued to host high school and college students from several countries.
NORMAL  First Student busing company is hosting a job fair Saturday to recruit bus drivers for McLean County Unit 5 school district.

The event, which includes lunch, will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at First Student, 701 W. College Ave., Normal.

The starting wage for drivers is $16 an hour and the Cincinnati-based company is offering a $2,000 sign-on bonus. Applicants must be at least 21 years old with a valid driver's license for at least three years and must pass a background and drug check and physical performance test, according to the company's website. Drivers receive five paid holidays and paid Commercial Driver's License training.

Interested individuals can meet current drivers and managers at the event. Applications and interviews can be completed on site.

For more information about bus driving jobs through First Student at Unit 5, call 309-557-4287.
BLOOMINGTON  Two proposals from YWCA McLean County have been selected among the Top 200 for consideration for the State Farm Neighborhood Assist Program.

If online voters determine that those proposals are among the top 40, YWCA will receive $50,000 to develop the programs.

The first proposal is for a one-on-one mentoring program for formerly incarcerated women in the YWCA Labyrinth program. Trained, volunteer mentors would provide support to help the women stay focused on their goals, assisting in their reintegration into the community.

The second proposal is for a racial justice training program. Presentations would be customized for audiences, would be piloted with YWCA staff and then taken in to schools.

"This training will give teachers and administrators insight into how the systems in place disproportionately affect students of color and the tools to empower those students," YWCA said in a statement. "The training will allow students and teachers to learn together about systemic oppression and how to challenge it. Eventually, the program, with trained volunteers leading, will educate businesses, city officials and more."

State Farm Neighborhood Assist grant applications are narrowed  from thousands received  to 200 proposals. With the 200 announced, popular vote determines the 40 awardees.

To vote, go to www.neighborhoodassist.com and search for "Mentoring Formerly Incarcerated Women" or "Racial Justice Training for McLean County." Voting ends 10:59 p.m. Nov. 4.

Each person receives 10 votes per day. Anyone with a valid email address may vote. The top 40 vote-getters each receive $25,000. Grant recipients will be announced on the website Nov. 30.
The boy was kept in the closet for three years before he was found dead due to possible abuse and his siblings knew about it. The dreadful incident was well-kept that even Jose Pinzon, the boy's stepfather, had no idea of the occurrence.

On the day of Yonatan Daniel Aguilar's death, Moses Castillo, LAPD detective who was supervising the case, had Pinzon and the 11-year-old boy's siblings placed inside a room for observation. The stepfather immediately confronted them regarding the boy's death but one of them said that he did not know because he was always at work, Los Angeles Times reported.

It has been reported that among the three children, two of them slept on a bed just outside the closet door, where the boy was found dead. It was found out by the authorities that Veronica Aguilar, mother of the victim, forbade her other three children from saying anything.

The boy was found wrapped in a blanket in their Echo Park home. Reported death findings reveal that the boy's body was covered in pressure sores, foam was found in his nose and there were medicinal cups of pink and red liquid near his body, hence, the presumption that the child was abused.

In the spring of 2012, the teachers reportedly submitted 2 separate reports - he went to school with a black eye and that he was hoarding for food - and after that, the little boy disappeared. No further reports were received by the Department of Children and Family Services officials and they also had no legal right to make an inquiry about his whereabouts without any reports.

Before the boy's death, there were 6 reports of possible abuse or neglect between 2009 and 2012, which the county DCFS reportedly responded to. The boy's risk for abuse was marked high 4 times but the social workers did not formally open a case because the allegations of abuse were found not conclusive, NBC San Diego learned.

Aguilar is currently imprisoned at the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood with a $2 million dollar bail. She could face a sentence of 15 years to life imprisonment if found guilty of the boy's death.
Two hundred fifty Syrian kids headed like dough by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or ISIS in a bakery machine and burned six other men in an oven machine, a Syrian mom recalled. The children killed were not above 4 years old while the other six victims were the ones working in a bakery.

In a one-on-one interview with Dr. Yvette Isaac, one of the advocates of Roads of Success, which is a humanitarian organization, Alice Assaf fearfully detailed all the massacres committed by extremist militants in Douma two years ago. Some of the children were even beheaded right in front of their parents, Assaf said as the interview starts.

"They (ISIS) caught some 250 kids and kneaded them like dough in the bakery dough machine," Assaf continued. Specifically the children were place in a dough mixer and then were kneaded.

The oldest of the massacred kids was only 4-year-old. Before the massacre though, Assaf recalled that the IS had already burned six strong men working at the bakery and burned them inside the oven.

Children younger than four were also tossed by ISIS from top of the balconies in attempt to drive away Syrian army. "And when the Syrian army attempted to fight back, ISIS began throwing children as young as four off the top of balconies in a bid to scare soldiers away," Mirror quoted Alice as saying.

Assaf's son, George, was also murdered after the boy refused to change his name to a male Muslim name. The boy was asked by her mom to hide but he refused and said that he did not want to hide. "You are the one who taught me to follow what Christ said' - 'whoever denies me before man, I will also deny before my father who is in Heaven,'" New York Post quoted Alice as recalling his son's last words.

Islamic State has been murdering systematically Christians and non-Muslims in the Middle East, aiming Christians in Syria and Iraq. Reports have surfaced about the rebel destroying and burning Christian relics including pulling down a cross from top of a Christian church.
While it's been established that Facebook is a mammoth advertising tool, the social media network is getting some serious legal flak for the discriminatory nature of its platform for advertisers. Facebook's ethnic affinity feature now allows advertisers to display ads only for people of a certain race. Apart from this, they also took a swipe at Snapchat's signature features by testing them out on the main Facebook app.

Technology website Ars Technica created a test ad on housing using this controversial tool. Their ad succeeded in excluding Facebook users with an ethnic affinity that's Hispanic, Asian-American, or African-American. Their interview with human rights lawyer John Reiman reveals that this feature is illegal and goes against the Fair Housing Act.

While all this is going on in the advertising sphere, Facebook's main app also amplified their messaging and camera functionalities with Snapchat-like features. The highly successful breakthrough video chat app Snapchat introduced the signature digital masks, scene reanimations, and concept of disappearing images or videos. The tested features on Facebook have not rolled out globally and were only tested in Ireland, but they allowed Halloween themes digital masking on Facebook Live and Halloween emojis on Facebook reactions this month.

Facebook's influence straddles a lot of industries, including the nuances of U.S. politics. They recently influenced millions of young people to register as voters for the upcoming Nov. 8 election. Aside from this, Facebook is also going to use its sphere of digital influence to help people get ready for the election by showing a sample ballot and outlining the platforms of the presidential candidates.

Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg personally acknowledges the influence of his social media network to the world. He habitually posts on his Facebook page about his advocacies and how he is using Facebook to make some change to the world. Recently, he publicly greeted fellow tech mogul Bill Gates on his 61st birthday and expressed his excitement to "many more years of changing the world."
Earlier today Patently Apple posted a report titled "Apple Executives Continue to Hold the Philosophy that Touch Screens Aren't Right, but Not Everyone Agrees." I was late getting the report out this morning because I was taken aback at how much negative press the Apple event was generating. The day after a Steve Jobs event and the press was buzzing about Apple for hours, days and weeks. The euphoria was like nothing that I've ever seen. Every event we were on the edge of our seat waiting for that gotcha moment when something cool would be announced or the 'One more Thing' would be uttered. Apple was on fire and everything Jobs touched turned to gold. Apple was toppling Microsoft and the world still didn't even see it coming. If was such an electifying era. Yesterday was yet another boring event. Today, there was hardly a story to read except for the negatives ones for the most part.

What made it worse was that Apple's event was coming after a successful Microsoft event. If anything I was more pumped hoping that Apple was really going to hit it out of the park with it's new MacBook Pro and new iMac. Oh ya, Apple was going to show Microsoft up and crush them with true innovation. Ouch. We got a TV app that no one outside the U.S will be able to use and a nifty tiny little modern F-Key bar replacement. And .. well, that's it. That's what we waited four and a half years for.

The back to back events seemed to show that one company was damn hungry to innovate and win back their market while the other show was slow and too focused on a single new feature that didn't impress most. Maybe in the long run it will. But on the surface without the 'Touch Bar' extending to the iMac's keyboard and more new things to get excited about, it was deafening how small that single innovation felt like.

MIT was first up to kick Apple today with a report titled "Microsoft Is Looking Like the New Apple." The report stated that "This week, one giant technology company looked like an innovator, launching a sleek new suite of forward-looking hardware to help media professionals work more effectively. Another added a row of buttons to an existing computer. In the past, Apple would have been the formerfor the moment, at least, that role has shifted to Microsoft."

The report further noted that "At an event in New York on Wednesday, Microsoft unveiled the sleek, futuristic-looking Surface Studio: a 28-inch all-in-one PC that converts into something akin to a digital drafting table. Reclined at about 20 degrees, it can be used with a dedicated stylus and so-called Surface Diala small puck that adds a mechanical means of interacting with the touchscreen.

Microsoft also launched a new set of tools to create art in 3-D, which the company imagines people will view using its HoloLens. Or, perhaps, a VR headset, given that Microsoft also made good on its promise to help make the devices ubiquitous. It's been working with HP, Dell, Lenovo, Asus, and Acer, and promised that all will soon all ship VR headsets for $300.

Apple, meanwhile, showed off its latest hardware offering on Thursday: an updated version of its MacBook Pro laptop. Withdrum roll, pleasea new row of buttons. They are, admittedly, very smart buttons. Actually a slim second screen, they adapt depending on which program is being used, and there's also Apple's fingerprint-sensing Touch ID built in to enable login, payments, and other secure operations.

More important than price is what the announcements signal about what the companies are trying to achieve. Microsoft is now attempting to push the boundaries of what computing looks like, by trying to change the way we interact with desktop devices and providing the tools for us to become more involved with the virtual world.

Apple, meanwhile, appears to be stuck in a rut. As we've explained before, it seems to be struggling to look far beyond its existing products. Instead, it's simply adding new features to already successful devices rather than reinventing our relationship with technology."

Over at BGR, they posted a report titled "Developers and creative pros are blasting Apple's new MacBook Pro." The report tore into Apple by stating that "Apple's new MacBook Pro has created quite a stir in the Mac community, with many developers and creative professionals expressing outrage and frustration that Apple has seemingly created a Pro machine that is decidedly underwhelming and watered down.

Apple pissing off the pro community is an especially interesting dynamic because, as many seasoned Mac observers can attest, Apple managed to survive some of its darker days in the early to mid 90s precisely because the Mac was the computer of choice for a wide swath of creative professionals."

Business Insider took a shot at Apple today in a report titled "For crying out loud, Apple, just build a touchscreen Mac already." The report concluded "It's time for Apple to take the next step, swallow its pride, and join the PC world in offering a laptop with a touchscreen that's actually useful."

The Next Web posted a report titled "All the disappointments from Apple's MacBook Pro event." The report noted that "Apple announced a refresh of its MacBook Pro line-up yesterday, and aside from one major feature, it was mostly an iterative update.

That's disappointing, given how long it's been since Apple last overhauled the design and hardware of its flagship laptop. Plus, it was just the previous day that Microsoft stunned the tech industry with its innovative Surface Studio, which represents the company's forward-thinking approach to computing.

Ultimately, it's clear that this is not Apple's finest hour. The company did its best to talk up its new products on stage yesterday with flashy visuals and fancy voiceovers, but the wishy-washy presentation only served to expose Apple's inability to innovate as it once did."

Forbes posted a report titled "Apple's New MacBooks: Out Of Touch Or Just In Time?" MacDailyNews picked this story up and retitled it "Apple Will Remain Loyal lto the Mac until Mac users Die Off." There was a lot of anger from some. One comment on the report was as folllows:

lol"Apple will remain loyal to the Mac until Mac users die off"

Apple is killing the Mac Users they are not waiting for them to die off.

Nowhere is this more evident than in what Apple choose to call PRO in all their devices! Its a shame, its a Huge and Disastrous Mistake.

I hope i am proven wrong when the next iMacs and Mac Pros are released way sooner than later.. hell its already way late.

Wake-up Apple you are losing your core reputation and followers next thing you know no one will give a shit anymore.

Where is all that R&D money going?.. jet black? two cams? touch strip? they Ignore battery case? the pencil that never stays with its device and is missing elementary functions. ..with the most stupid charge solution?. mouse with weird charge port?

No Pro products?..10 billion$ plus r&d and growing and growing for fashion? and Apple Dogma? Where is the Wonder ? the wonder we all loved.

Of all the events I've seen, this one seemed to set a lot of people off. After watching the Microsoft event the day before I was really pumped for the Apple Event yesterday thinking Apple would outshine Microsoft hands down. Unfortunately when I saw Cook winding down the event I was thinking, really, that's it?

For many pros, as we've shown in this report, the event was a real let down. A sign that after four and half years the Pros got left behind. They see Tim cook and gang pushing all things iOS. Cook said to the Telegraph in 2015, "Why do you need a PC anymore?" Some feel that after seeing Apple's only move in four and half years being so anemic, that the writing for Pros is on the wall.

Remember that it was Steve Jobs who set Apple on this path; who set this mentality down playing PC's or Mac's as trucks in a world of cars. It's no longer a mass product, move on. But for Pros, those that were the ones who kept Apple afloat when they were about to go under, the most loyal of the loyal, now feel slighted and yesterday's event didn't impress them in the least. Microsoft's focus on the creative pro community is unique because they're really tapping into the Mac communities core and appealing to them. They just might win that niche if they stay committed to this group as Apple focuses on all-things iOS.

Yet I still believe there's one more event to come in the first half of 2017 with updates to the iMac, Mac Pro and more. Apple was likely waiting for the new i7 core processors for desktops that got pushed back by Intel. Apple's next event could be the home run we were hoping for yesterday and it could be a way to end that doubt that's lingering in the pro community that Apple just doesn't give a damn about them anymore.

Writing about Apple's patents every week, I'm able to see so much innovation on the drawing board. So to those that felt let down by yesterday's event, keep the faith and wait for Apple's next event for the heavy hardware to come. I think the air will be recharged and the fire in-their-belly return.

Will that really come to be? I believe it could. If I'm wrong, then the fall out that we've witnessed over the last 24 hours will exponentially explode and it could push Apple's pro community to call it quits and jump ship. Today we've heard just a few testimonies that it's already begun. But it could just be the tip of the iceberg. I hope the captain makes the right call soon.

About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Those using abusive language or behavior will result in being blacklisted on Disqus.
Europe Capitalizes on the Iran Deal

10/29/16

by Eldar Mamedov (source: LobeLog)







As Washington think-tanks, with some notable exceptions, keep churning out papers advising the next American president to double down on containing Iran, the European Parliament adopted a report on October 25 that is strikingly different in tone and substance. Drafted by the UK Labour Party politician Richard Howitt , the motion received overwhelming support in the house: 459 votes in favor, with 174 against and 67 abstentions. It outlines a set of recommendations for the EU and its member states to fully capitalize on the opening provided by the historical nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1.

The report praises the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) as a success of a multilateral diplomacy, which has already boosted economic and trade connections between Europe and Iran. The report calls on both the EU and Iran to build on this opening by expanding cooperation in counter-terrorism, environmental protection, academic and cultural exchanges, and aviation and maritime safety.

The report is notable also for the respectful and constructive tone it uses. Although by no means short on legitimate criticisms of Iran, it avoids the kind of bashing that can only provoke angry reactions and further alienation. For example, it recognizes the complexities of Iran's internal politics and does not seek to take sides in Iran's domestic political debates. It acknowledges the long history of relations between Iran and various European countries as a foundation to further expand ties. Instead of blasting the "repressive theocracy," it states that "Iran's revolutionary legacy and constitution as an Islamic Republic" should not be an obstacle to finding common ground on issues of democracy and human rights, where possible. These are novel formulations for an official position of an elected Western body on the Islamic Republic, and convey an intention to have a dialogue of equals.

Lingering Opposition

Despite the overwhelming support the house has given the report, a minority of MPs expressed vocal opposition. Some of the criticisms reflect what rapporteur Richard Howitt called "the lobbying interests" of forces opposed to the nuclear agreement with Iran in the first place: right-wing pro-Israeli organizations, Saudi Arabia, and the exiled Iranian dissident group Mojaheddin-e Khalk (MEK), which was on the EU terror list until 2009 and removed on technicality. The hawkish American Jewish Committee blasted the report for allegedly "giving Iran a free pass on human rights and support for Assad regime," although it somewhat mitigated its criticisms when the EP adopted the last-minute amendment condemning Iran for its "calls for destruction of Israel and denial of Holocaust." MEK, meanwhile, managed to convince enough MPs to consider an amendment calling to investigate the 1988 massacres of political prisoners in Iran-a crime indeed, but one that Iranians themselves, and not foreign legislative bodies, are best placed to address. However, the house ultimately rejected this amendment.

A different kind of opposition emerged from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE), traditionally the third pillar of European politics, after Christian democrats and social democrats. Although ALDE does not oppose the nuclear agreement as such, it rejected the report on the basis that it was "weak" on human rights and "has not preconditioned" any improvement of relations with Iran on tangible progress in this area.

These criticisms do not hold water. The report has no fewer than 34 references to human rights in its 51 paragraphs. It contains very detailed, carefully crafted wording on the death penalty and on the rights of women and religious minorities. It also makes a clear appeal to Iran to release all political prisoners. In the process of drafting the report, the rapporteur and his team consulted extensively with credible human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.

But pre-conditioning any cooperation on specific, unilaterally imposed benchmarks could have easily undermined any prospects for progress, for example, by leading the Iranians to cancel talks with the EU on human rights scheduled for November 9 in Brussels. Crucially, these talks involve the Iranian judiciary, the bastion of the conservatives and the main source of the human rights violations. As Howitt said during the debates on his report, "those who say they support human rights, but would jeopardize our leverage to influence them, should examine their own consciences."

As to the regional situation, the report is careful not to take sides between Iran and its antagonists, such as Saudi Arabia. The critics would have liked to see a strong condemnation of Iran's support for the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria and the removal of clauses that acknowledge the EU and Iran's common interest in fighting the so-called Islamic State. Instead, the report acknowledges that by following the JCPOA the EU now has increased its leverage over Iran while maintaining ties with Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and other traditional Western allies in the region. The EU is thus in a unique position to play the role of an honest broker in the conflicts ravaging the region, from Syria to Yemen.

Indeed, it is disingenuous for the critics to claim that they support the nuclear agreement while at the same time putting so many conditions to any cooperation with Iran. The irony is that such an approach would not only squander an opportunity to build a new relationship with Iran but also undermine the nuclear deal itself. The JCPOA is not something once achieved and put in the freezer until the regime in Iran changes-which, one suspects, is the real agenda of many of the critics of the report. For the agreement to survive, all sides need incentives to comply, and that requires trust. This process would be so much more difficult to accomplish in the absence of a broader rapprochement.

Glimmers of Hope

There are signs that the pragmatic approach espoused by the report works. Contrary to the war of words that usually followed EP resolutions in the past, the Iranian foreign ministry welcomed the report as a positive indication that the EU seeks closer relations with Iran. Of course, the reactions of other factions within the regime are yet to be seen. As the string of totally unacceptable arrests and harassment of dual Western-Iranian nationals shows, influential forces that thrive on confrontation exist in Iran as well as in the West. But ultimately, this is how diplomacy works - by taking patient, reciprocal steps, that strengthen moderates on all sides and eventually lead to the demise of old enmities.

This most recent statement reflects a broader European approach to relations with Iran. Just as the EP was debating the Howitt report, the EU lifted sanctions on Bank Saderat, which, however, remains on the OFAC (US Treasure's Office of Foreign Assets Control) black list. The EU Commissioner for humanitarian aid and crisis management Christos Stylianides, meanwhile, was in Tehran on the same day committing additional 6 million euros to help Afghan refugees in Iran, bringing the total EU humanitarian support to 12.5 million euros in 2016.

These steps by the EU executive and the parliament reinforce the upward trend in the EU-Iran relations. This rapprochement will enable both sides not only to pursue common interests but also to address problematic issues such as human rights and some aspects of Iran's regional policies without derailing the relations. Given the investment the EU has already made in these relations, it won't likely follow the new US president if he or she chooses to heed the advice of hawkish Washington-based think tanks and return to the policy of sanctions and isolation of Iran. And that's another reason why the next American president would be wise to disregard such advice.

This article reflects the personal views of the author and not necessarily the opinions of the European Parliament.



About the Author

Eldar Mamedov has degrees from the University of Latvia and the Diplomatic School in Madrid, Spain. He has worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia and as a diplomat in Latvian embassies in Washington D.C. and Madrid. Since 2007, Mamedov has served as a political adviser for the social-democrats in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament (EP) and is in charge of the delegation for inter-parliamentary relations between the EP and Iran.
EU's Mogherini discusses Syria crisis In Tehran: Iran rules out military solution

10/29/16

Source: Press TV; photos by Islamic Republic News Agency

President Hassan Rouhani has reiterated Iran's stance that the crisis in Syria should be resolved through "political" means only. "All should know that the Syrian issue has no military solution and must be resolved through diplomatic means," Rouhani said in a meeting with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in Tehran on Saturday October 29, 2016.



President Hassan Rouhani (R) meets EU's Federica Mogherini in Tehran





"In this regard," the Iranian president said, "the EU's increased activity to create security and peace in Syria with the cooperation of regional countries will be effective."

Rouhani further said terrorist activities in Syria and Iraq pose a threat to the whole world, calling on the EU to use its "political influence" to put pressure on the regional sponsors of terrorist groups and block financial support for them.

He warned that the Middle East region and North Africa will in the future witness the establishment of several terrorist governments "if the terrorists are not seriously confronted."





President Rouhani further said fighting terrorism and safeguarding the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Syria is important to the Islamic Republic.

Mogherini, for her part, underlined the need for cooperation between Tehran and the EU in the settlement of regional conflicts, including in Syria, saying that diplomacy can help solve such crises.

Earlier Saturday, Mogherini met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to discuss bilateral ties between Tehran and the EU as well as the latest developments in Syria.







FM Javad Zarif welcomes EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini



Zarif hailed EU's "constructive" role in the Syrian peace process and expressed the Islamic Republic's readiness to forge closer relations with the bloc.

Mogherini arrived in Tehran on Friday night to hold talks with senior Iranian officials about the ongoing crisis in Syria.

Mogherini's trip to Tehran comes after Iran's foreign minister participated in a day-long trilateral meeting with his Russian and Syrian counterparts, Sergei Lavrov and Walid al-Muallem, in Moscow on Friday.





Zarif said the three countries should reinforce cooperation in the campaign against terrorism. He called for measures to stop the delivery of military equipment to foreign-backed Takfiri militants wreaking havoc in Syria.

Since March 2011, Syria has been gripped by a militancy that it blames on some Western states and their regional allies, particularly Saudi Arabia.

Iran has been providing military advisory assistance to the Syrian government in its campaign against terrorism. Russia has been carrying out airstrikes against terrorist positions in Syria on a request from Damascus.
U.S. Prosecutors Charge Two With Smuggling Military Items To Iran

10/29/16

Source: RFE/RL



One of the men is accused of trying to smuggle rubber O-rings,

which can be used in aircraft hydraulic systems and landing gear (file photo).

U.S. prosecutors have charged two men in connection with a plot to smuggle millions of dollars of military aircraft parts and other items to Iran.



The Justice Department said in a statement on October 28 that Zavik Zargarian and Vache Nayirian were arrested earlier in the week outside Los Angeles for allegedly violating laws barring such trading with Iran.



The U.S. embargo bars the export of goods, technology, and services to Iran with few exceptions.



The department said Zargarian tried to negotiate with an undercover U.S. agent to obtain military aircraft parts, and later had discussions about items used in F-16 and F-18 fighter jets.



Prosecutors said Nayirian was trying to export to the Iranian air force thousands of rubber O-rings, which can be used in aircraft hydraulic systems and landing gear.



The men have both pleaded not guilty.



Based on reporting with AP, Reuters

Copyright (c) 2016 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
Matt Dunn and Rainer Lohmann are among the top researchers at the University of Rhode Islands Graduate School of Oceanography, but its tough to tell based on the condition of their lab space. After large rainstorms, a 100-liter tank that Dunn, a graduate student, uses to conduct research on detecting toxic forever chemicals in water is often overflowing due to...
When vacationing in Southern California, tourists often think of visiting sites such as Disneyland, San Diego and Hollywood.

Could the San Jacinto Valley soon be added to that list? Local officials sure hope so.

To promote tourism, a group of 12 travel bloggers recently visited Hemet and San Jacinto to spread the word about what to see and do to their thousands of followers.

They toured locations such as the Ramona Bowl, Idyllwild, Estudillo Mansion, Western Science Center and Diamond Valley Lake.

They even had a Twitter party, where they reached thousands of followers, organizers said.

Using #VisitSJV, comments included Amazing week in @VisitSJV with absolutely wonderful hosts! Cant wait to return! and 5 attractions that will make you smarter in the San Jacinto Valley.

Bloggers came from as far as Alaska, Michigan and Iowa, but perhaps none were more impressed than the writers from Southern California.

Julie DenOuden, who writes the Girl on the Move blog, was surprised by what she found about 85 miles away from her Huntington Beach home.

Having now been here, I will encourage people I know to visit, she said as she sailed on Diamond Valley Lake. Its totally worth the drive once you get here.

DenOuden, who writes about healthy travel and being active, admitted she had low expectations for the community, but she was pleased to find hiking and biking trails.

The visit Oct. 19-22 was the bloggers second. A third is planned around the Ramona Pageant in April.

Trips are made at no cost to the city. The bloggers paid their travel expenses, and merchants and restaurants picked up the costs for lodging and food.

The bloggers had to apply for the trip and were picked based on the size of their readership. The only requirement was that they write at least two articles.

But there are no barriers on what they write. Although the tour doesnt include the more unsavory parts of the community, the bloggers can be honest about their experiences.

I just want authentic experiences and reviews, said Leslie McLellan, who organized the event.

Travel and food blogger Deb Thompson of Michigan said if she isnt honest, she will lose readers, and she and the other bloggers depend on a large audience so they can sell advertisements on their sites.

Bringing in travel writers is nothing new for communities like Temecula and Riverside, which actively market their tourist locales like Old Town Temecula, the Temecula Valley Wine Country and the Mission Inn.

The San Jacinto Valley has limited experience in the field. The impetus for these trips started when Lake Arrowhead-based McLellan met Thompson at a conference.

McLellan, who is paid by Hemet as a tourism consultant, invited Thompson to the area. That ended up being a five-week trip, and Thompson has been back three times since.

Thompson said she touts the valleys weather and affordability.

The cost of visiting this region of Southern California is very reasonable, she said. My dollars are going to go a lot farther.

She spoke of Hemet being a hub, as its located about an hour from many popular attractions including the beach, the mountains, Palm Springs, San Diego and Los Angeles.

And theres another plus, bloggers say.

People are always surprised how warm and caring the community is, Thompson said. The people always draw me back.

Hemet City Councilwoman Linda Krupa is a member of a loose-knit tourism committee with McLellan, San Jacinto Mayor Andrew Kotyuk, former Hemet Councilwoman Lori VanArsdale and Hemet-San Jacinto Valley Chamber of Commerce President Michael Carle.

Krupa said having the bloggers spread the word about the area results in increased tourism.

Its an economic development engine that drives people to the valley.

She said there is anecdotal evidence that people have visited the community after reading travel blogs as the city has increased its efforts to market itself on social media and through the website visitsanjacintovalley.com.

People say theres no return on investment when you do social media; thats not true, McLellan said. There was about $65,000 worth of publicity the last time.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9086 or cshultz@scng.com
Three finalists  including one Inland administrator  vying to become Norco Colleges next president will be featured in community forums next month.

Craig Follins, Virginia Parras and Bryan Reece are candidates to replace Paul Parnell, who was the schools president from 2012 until January, when he became chancellor at the State Center Community College District. Monica Green has been serving as the colleges interim president. Reece is a vice president at Crafton Hills College in Yucaipa.

The free public forums are at Norco College in the Center for Student Success, Room 217. Guests can ask questions and make suggestions to the candidates, a college news release states.

The forum for Parras is set for 12:50-1:50 p.m. Thursday. The second meeting will be led by Follins from 12:50 to 1:50 p.m. Nov. 10. Reece will preside over the last forum, set for 12:50-1:50 p.m. Nov. 15.

Follins has a doctorate in educational administration from the University of Texas. His candidate bio submitted to Norco College lists him as a special assistant to the Alamo Colleges Chancellor in Texas.

Follins has held administrative posts at other colleges, including Northeast Lakeview College in Texas, Olive-Harvey College in Illinois, Cuyahoga Community College in Ohio and Texas-based Victoria College and Houston Community College.

Parras earned a doctorate degree in business administration from Walden University in Minneapolis. Founder and CEO of Parras Grande & Associates, LLC, Parras was president of City College of San Francisco from July 2014 to July 2015. Parras has been an administrator at Houston Community College and held several leadership positions within the National Association of Chartered Associations, the news release states.

Reece earned his doctorate degree in political science at USC. He is vice president of instruction at Crafton Hills College in Yucaipa and has 26 years of experience at community colleges. He has held administrative positions at Cerritos College, is a published author and frequently speaks on technology and teaching-related issues, the release states.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9644 orponeill@scng.comTwitter: @PE_PatrickO
Two measures giving Perris officials the ability to regulate and tax marijuana dispensaries in the city will come before voters Nov. 8.

Measures J and K were approved for the ballot by the City Council in June.

Measure K would allow marijuana dispensaries to operate in industrial and commercial zones with a valid city permit, but those dispensaries would not be allowed within 600 feet of houses, churches, parks, schools and community recreation centers.

It specifies that in order to get a permit, operators must go through a screening process that includes criminal background checks on all employees, agree to random inspections and keep detailed records. Permits must be renewed annually.

Measure J would allow the city to tax marijuana dispensaries and impose a maximum tax rate of 10 percent of monthly proceeds from them. The council would be able to determine what the actual tax rate will be but could not exceed the 10 percent set by the measure.

The measures are targeted at medical marijuana dispensaries but could govern recreational dispensaries if California Proposition 64 legalizes the drug.

Perris City Councilman Mark Yarbrough said the measures were in part designed in anticipation of that possibility.

We might as well be in a position where we can control and regulate it and benefit from that revenue instead of letting it go directly to the state, he said.

An impartial analysis by Perris city attorney notes that taxation could bring in from $875,000 to $1.2 million yearly.

Joshua Naggar, an attorney who represents some Inland marijuana dispensaries, brought the measures to the council. He noted that Perris already has a number of dispensaries operating under state guidelines.

He said J and K would not only allow the city to collect tax revenue from them, but would also create an environment in which problem dispensaries could be weeded out.

If you permit one they have access to business laws that can shut the bad ones down, he said.

One council member said she was concerned about the possibility that marijuana use might become more widespread as a result of the measures.

Councilwoman Rita Rogers, the lone dissenter on the vote to put the measures on the ballot, said she feels they could bring more harm than good.

As a grandmother, Im very concerned about the use in our community, she said.

If the measure passes I think it would need to come back to the council again to discuss some stringent rules and regulations, Rogers said.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9693 or agroves@scng.com
Updates with identity of person who was killed.

An Oceanside man was killed and three others were injured Saturday morning, Oct. 29, when a sedan and a pickup collided on Highway 74 south of the Lake Hemet campground in the San Jacinto Mountains, according to officials.

The crash was reported at 10:33 a.m. at Courtesy Drive.

California Highway Patrol Officer Kevin Poulter said a Ford Fiesta was traveling east on Highway 74 when it ran into a pickup truck that was making a left turn from the westbound lane.

A person identified by the Riverside County Coroners Office as Stanley Vandyke, of Oceanside  who Poulter said had been in the Fiesta  was pronounced dead at the scene, according to officials. The coroners office had not released Vandykes age as of Saturday evening.

Two other people inside the Fiesta and the driver of the pickup were also hurt. All were taken to the hospital to be treated, according to Poulter.

Motorists were re-routed around the crash, onto Butterfly Peak Road to Tunnel Spring Road to Barbara Lee Drive.
In October 1918, plans were made to have a Liberty Fair and parade in Los Angeles to promote and sell Liberty bonds to finance American involvement in World War I.

As part of the opening of the fair, it was arranged to have a large contingent of planes fly from the flight school at March Field (later March Air Force Base). The Curtiss JN-4 training airplanes would fly in formation over the Liberty Fair, land, refuel and then proceed back to March Field.

On Oct. 9, the Riverside Daily Press reported the flight would consist of 10 units of 10 planes each. On their way to Los Angeles the planes would fly over Riverside. Two days later, the paper reported that the pilots had been practicing formation flying for some time and various communities in Riverside County got to see them overhead. Just the next day, 30 planes flew in formation over Winchester, getting in a final bit of practice before the big flight.

Unfortunately, the Liberty Fair and parade were canceled because of the threat of the Spanish influenza epidemic. However, it was decided to go ahead with the formation flight.

At 10:30 on Oct. 11, 103 planes left March Field. Given that many of the pilots were still in training and how early it was in aviation history, surprisingly all of the planes made it to Los Angeles with no problem.

Judge John Gabbert, in his video reminiscences Riverside, My Riverside, published by the Life Society of UC Riverside Extension before he died in 2013, remembered being in bed sick on the morning of Oct. 11 when he heard a buzzing in the distance that grew louder and louder. He got out of bed and went to the window and saw planes stretching across the sky. Business in Riverside was suspended when the planes came over so the whole city could witness the spectacle.

Once the planes reached Los Angeles, they dropped leaflets on that city that said, What if we were Germans? Buy Liberty bonds!

The planes landed at Venice and El Segundo airports for refueling and oiling. They left at 4 p.m. for the return trip, arriving about 5 p.m. at March Field.

The flight was a record-breaking event.

Previously, the largest number of planes to have flown together was 68 over New York City. Newspapers of the time reported that the flight of 103 airplanes was the largest number to that point to ever fly over one area, either in the United States or at the battlefront in Europe.

Even today, almost 100 years later, 103 planes flying in formation would be quite the sight to behold.

If you have an idea for a column, email backinthedaype@gmail.com.
CLARIFICATION: A previous version of this story incorrectly described the average ratio of police officers to residents in large West Coast cities.

Riverside Police Chief Sergio Diaz has heard the complaints: police were called but didnt arrive for hours, or they never came at all.

The primary complaint I get is, When I called your officers did a good job, but  it took em a long time to get there, Diaz said.

To explain why, he points to police staffing. After reaching a peak of nearly 400 sworn officers in 2007, the department is down to about 350, as the citys population swelled from fewer than 300,000 people to an estimated 322,000.

Diaz and city council members say theyd like to hire more cops, but cant do so without more money. Thats why city leaders are pushing Measure Z, a 1-cent sales tax increase on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Measure critics dont dispute the need to beef up the police ranks, but say theres no guarantee as to how additional sales tax dollars  about $48 million a year  would be spent. Some argue that the city could shift money from overtime for existing staff into hiring new officers, or ask voters for a more modest tax increase and be clear about what it would buy.

Because there are so many problems with (Measure) Z, it needs to be voted down, resident Kevin Dawson said.

That doesnt mean the citys going to die tomorrow, he said. It means they need to regroup and come back with a reasonable request.

PRIORITIZING CALLS

At the start of this budget year in June, Diaz eliminated 17 sworn positions and 11 civilian jobs to help the city avoid a deficit. They were unfilled posts, but Diaz says that doesnt mean they were unnecessary.

Its false savings in a way, because the workload doesnt go away, he said.

The staffing decline started years earlier. Diaz said the budget was always the main reason. Previous city administrations would say they were authorizing a certain number of positions but not approve funding for all of them, so there wasnt money to hire.

Councilman Mike Soubirous, a retired California Highway Patrol officer, said prior councils thought they could delay hiring and boost the ranks later, but this year officials were told they faced a financial crisis.

Today, an average of about 18 to 30 officers work patrol on each of three daily shifts in a city of about 322,000 people.

That puts about four to six officers in each of the citys four quadrants. That doesnt include traffic officers, detectives, problem-oriented policing officers and other specialized jobs. Those patrol officers are going on an average of about 675 calls a day.

Thats why an officer isnt always available to respond to a lower-priority call such as a burglary that happened hours ago or a dispute between neighbors, Diaz said. A couple major incidents such as a chase or shooting could consume most of the officers on duty.

I dont think our police department is in a position to have a proactive stance, Soubirous said. All youre doing is mopping up the mess.

Soubirous said he hears from people who say the police dont respond when they call. Recently, he was following a carload of people who were peering into mailboxes in his neighborhood, but he gave up after a police dispatcher told him no officers were available, Soubirous said.

Until recently, Chani Beeman and other residents of North Hill near Fairmount Park had similar complaints about police.

People were dealing drugs from a neighborhood home, items were stolen from yards and porches, and someone was setting fires in the brush that residents worried would spread to houses. But when they called police, the response was underwhelming, Beeman said.

When you never come or it takes three hours, its not a motivating thing, said Vincent Erviti, who moved to North Hill in 1999.

Frustrated, they formed a neighborhood watch and started their own patrols. Earlier this month, Beeman said police service improved, perhaps because of her Facebook post or calls to a lieutenant and her councilman.

ROOM TO IMPROVE

What can improve police response?

Diaz wants to restore the positions cut this year, then start hiring six cops and one dispatcher a year until he has has at least 400 sworn officers. Adding those seven positions would cost about $1.5 million a year.

Theres no industry standard for how many cops cities should have per 1,000 residents, Diaz said, FBI statistics show the average for larger West Coast cities is 1.8 officers per 1,000 people.

Riverside doesnt need the 580 officers that ratio would dictate, Diaz said, but We need more than we have now.

Hiring more police may depend on voters approval of Measure Z, officials say.

If we dont have an increase in revenue,  I dont see it getting better, Soubirous said.

Critics of the measure, which would come up for another vote after 20 years, see another way.

The question is do we have a real crisis or a manufactured crisis, Dawson said. The department might be able to afford more officers if it spent less on overtime, salaries and benefits for current staff, he said.

Mary Humboldt, a longtime city resident who opposes Measure Z, said that although she hasnt needed to call police in decades, she has thought for years that the city should hire more officers to reduce overtime costs.

The city would have a good shot at passing a quarter-cent sales tax increase that was specifically for public safety, she said. Measure Z is a general tax and can be used however the council chooses.

Councilman Mike Gardner said if the measure passes, hell lobby to put at least some of the money toward hiring cops.

There is no question, police responses are not as quick or as thorough as I think anybody would like them to be, he said.

While it takes up to two years to get a new officer trained and on the job, with more money the city could use overtime as a short-term approach, he said.

As to response times, he said, if the measure passes, I think within a few months (residents) would begin to see a difference.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9461 orarobinson@scng.comTwitter: @arobinson_pe
As the child of migrant farm workers in the 1940s and 50s, Tomas Rivera struggled to read and speak English.

He likely never imagined he would someday become chancellor at UC Riverside and the first minority in that post in the University of California system. Nor did he foresee that UCR would have a library named for him and an annual conference honoring his work as a writer and educator.

As in many great stories, there was in Riveras life a turning point that set the child on his future path: One summer, he met a kindly librarian who helped him discover the joy of reading.

Riveras life and legacy are the focus of this years Cinema Culturas Film Fest Inland Empire and annual Tomas Rivera Tribute conference, two intertwined events this weekend that include films about Latino experiences and cultural contributions.

The tribute kicked off Thursday at the Riversides Culver Center of the Arts with a performance of Tomas and the Library Lady, a musical based on a childrens book about the young Riveras meeting with a woman who encouraged him to love books.

Rivera, born in 1935 in Texas, served as UCRs chancellor from 1979 until his death in 1984.

The Rivera family  Tomas; his younger brother, Enrique; their parents and grandfather  were migrant farmworkers who followed seasonal work from Texas to Iowa.

As depicted in the play, the boys mother fretted about having taken Tomas out of his school in Texas, but she didnt know he was having nightmares about a cruel teacher who berated him for having trouble with English.

Sent on an errand, the boy was drawn to the library, where the German-born librarian took an interest in him. She helped him with English and reading, and he taught her words in his native Spanish.

She probably wants to help Tomas because she herself understands what its like to be a migrant, said Sarah Garcia, 21, a UCR student actor who played the library lady.

When the family gets ready to leave Iowa at the end of the summer, the librarian gives her young friend a blank book in which to write his own stories, foreshadowing Riveras career that included a novella and several books of poetry.

Melanie Queponds, a 22-year-old UCR student who directed the play as part of the UCR Latina/o Play Project, said its hard to find plays by and about Latinos  even though nearly half of Riverside residents belong to that community.

Latino culture doesnt always include exposure to theater, so the play is an apt way to commemorate Riveras achievements, Queponds said.

He came from a migrant family, he barely knew English and then he became a professor and led this giant university.

Riveras friend and colleague Carlos Cortes, UCR professor emeritus of history, wrote a tribute to Rivera hell perform Sunday.

Besides being the first minority chancellor at a UC campus, Rivera was also UCRs only chancellor from the humanities, Cortes said. The role traditionally goes to someone with a background in the social sciences or hard sciences.

Even with the busy schedule of a university administrator, Rivera would visit elementary schools to talk to kids about the importance of education, Cortes said.

Nationally, he was symbolic for this huge breakthrough, Cortes said. But he also brought a whole sense of humanity to the campus  where every individual counted.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9461 orarobinson@scng.comTwitter: @arobinson_pe
The upcoming election could have lasting implications on Menifees lead governing office.

Menifee voters will decide whether to increase term lengths for elected mayors, as well as whether to limit the number of consecutive terms one can serve.

Measure EE, if approved, would switch the mayors term from two years to four. The ordinance would take effect immediately, extending the term of whichever mayoral candidate is selected Nov. 8. The mayor would still be elected at-large, unlike the district-based council seats.

Voters will also decide on Measure FF, an ordinance that would impose a two consecutive term limit on the mayors office. After at least a two-year gap period, the past-mayor would be eligible to run again, the ordinance states.

Incumbent Mayor Scott Mann, currently serving his second term, is competing against retired software salesman Neil Winter in the Nov. 8 election. Both men see advantages in switching to a 4-year term, such as less time campaigning and a sense of stability within city government.

This provides stability and continuity in leadership, Mann said. Its very difficult to run every two years across the entire city, very expensive. You dont get a chance to set a long-term agenda and govern with your colleagues in the right way.

Winter said two years isnt adequate if you have a good mayor.

The Menifee mayor is paid $9,000 per year, while city council members receive $7,800 annually.

Other council members are already held to a two-term limit. Mann said Measure FF is on the ballot because the language of Measure Z  which set term limits for council members  was unclear regarding at-large mayors.

Mann said he is opposed to term limits because if someone is not doing a good job, the voters will make a change.

Winter said term limits are important to reinvigorate the council with fresh ideas and passionate candidates.

It was surprising that two (council) districts up for election went uncontested, and I think that says a lot about residents not wanting to get involved with politics, Winter said. I think the people are better served with term limits. Allowing them to make changes sooner will create a sense of community and may promote more people to take an interest in local politics.

Jennifer Allen, deputy city clerk, said officials have not received any letters in support or opposition of either measure.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9644, poneill@scng.com, @PE_PatrickO
Two contenders of the December elections, the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have clashed over the claims of the latter that the government will lead the country once again to the load-shedding era known in our local parlance as dumsor early next year.



Addressing a press conference last Wednesday, the Policy Advisor to the largest opposition party, Mr Boakye Agyarko, accused the government of failing to demonstrate that it could control the energy crisis.



But the Deputy Minister of Power, Mr John Jinapor, in response to the criticisms, punched holes into the claims of the NPP that the country would recede to the days of the energy crisis in 2017, because of a projected 700 MW deficit as a result of factors like drop in gas supply to reduction in power imports.



The Deputy Power Minister said contrary to the NPPs predictions, the country had so much electricity at the moment that it was not even operating some of its plants in order to conserve power.



Dumsor has been fixed and will be a thing of the past. It may have its challenges at the distribution level in terms of one transformer or the other but we have enough contingency plans to resolve that.



In that last few days, there were some issues with transformers but it has been resolved. Barring any unforeseen circumstance, we should see adequate supply of power to Ghanaians, he told the Daily Graphic.



Redundant power



As I speak to you, we have redundant power and some of our thermal plants have been shut down to conserve them. An example is the Kpone Thermal Power Plant (KTPP) which runs on diesel. The Tema Thermal1Power Plant (TT1PP) and the Cenit Thermal Power Plant, with a combined capacity of more than 400 MW could be pushed into the grid when required, but because we have abundant supply of power, we are conserving them, he said.



He also said the second Karpower Barges 450 MW, Asogli Phase Two, 180MW and a third project would add up to about 370 MW( next month) could add an extra 1000MW to the countrys energy needs.



 The Akosombo Dam which had the potential to run six turbines but was running three, in spite of this, the water level in the dam had risen significantly and continues to rise.



The water level had risen to more than 250 feet (ft). We are way above the minimum operating level and has the laxity to operate all six and even the Bui Dam, we dont operate all the three, even though it is also high, he said.



Gas from Nigeria



Mr Agyarko was reported to say that Gas supply from Nigeria was cut in June 2016 and may not resume soon due to the governments failure to pay outstanding debts in excess of $160 million,



But Mr Jinapor shot down the claim and said gas supply from Nigeria could resume in a few weeks to supply gas to the Asogli Plant as the government had met its Nigerian gas creditors to restructure the countrys indebtedness.



He could, however, not state the exact amount the country owed but said the amount would be spread for three to five years, explaining that We want to have flexible payment terms so that we do not overburden the system.



FPSO shut down



Mr Agyako stated that per the partys projection gas supply from the jubilee field will also stop as the FPSO is expected to shut down for repairs for a period between three to six months, a situation that would cripple the Asogli and AMERI plants and prevent them from generating adequate electricity.



But responding to the claim, the deputy minister said steps had been taken to ensure that the ministry was taking steps to ensure that in the event the FPSO had to shut down, it would not create a power deficit.



He was, however, quick to point out that several options, including the short term, which was to hold the FPSO in place with two tugboats to continue production was the case now, while taking steps to deal with the Turret problem, including working on turrets, at the current location of the FPSO or taking it to a port.



He said the ministry was waiting for the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation to decide on the option and how long it would take.



Power import



The NPP also said that temporary stability in power supply has been anchored on imports [from Cote dIvoire] of an average of 160 megawatts, mainly hydro power, which will not be available when the dry season sets in.



While Mr Jinapor admitted that the country imported power from Cote dIvoire, he said it was purely a strategic decision to conserve the countrys hydro dams and reduce cost to consumers. We do sometimes take power from Cote dvoire from their hydro source because hydro is cheaper than thermal. It only makes economic sense to conserve your thermal plants and reserve your diesel and tap a bit of their hydro potential.



He pointed out that Ghana was a member of the West Africa Power Pool, which enjoins countries in the subregion to share energy, hence Ghana exporting power to Togo, Benin and Burkina Faso, as well as supplying power at the distribution end to the northern part of Cote dIvoire through the Northern Electricity Company (NEDCo).



What we do is that we take the power at a high voltage, we process it and give them power at low voltage which is the distribution level.



When you take it at the high level it is cheaper. We are adding value to the power and selling to them. It is like taking a raw material, adding value to it and then selling it, he explained.



Chinese agreement



Mr Agyarko has also suggested that the energy situation would worsen because of a dangerous agreement government was reaching with China.



We can disclose that the Mahama Cabinet has recently given approval to a proposal which they hope will entice the China Development Bank to reactivate the remaining $2 billion of the $3 billion Chinese loan, he alleged.



However, Mr Jinapor pulled out stitches in the claim, insisting that cabinet had not given approval for such a deal but what rather came up was the sale of the bi-products of the gas, which was just one of many other considerations that came up but had not been endorsed by Cabinet.



We intend to use our gas to fire our thermals plants so that our energy sector uses indigenous gas for both the private sector and state-owned companies, he said.



Load shedding



Ghanas most recent epileptic power supply started in 2012 and lasted for almost four years, crippling businesses and putting homes in darkness but several interventions by the government ended the crisis late last year. Before that similar crisis has been recorded in the 1980s, 1998 and 2007.

Source: Graphic.com.gh









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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.
Atheists in Kenya are demanding that the word 'God' in the National Anthem be expunged.



They argued that having the word God in the first stanza of the anthem does not promote the spirit of inclusivity since not all Kenyans believe in God.



They argued that Kenya is a secular state and therefore singing the national anthem with the word God is in contravention of the Constitution.



As non-believers, we feel that the National Anthem is not representative of us, and goes against the spirit of the Kenyan Constitution. Removing God from the National Anthem will make it inclusive, Harrison Mumia, President of Atheists in Kenya, said in a statement.



The National Anthem starts with Oh, God of all creation and is recited as a national prayer for prosperity, love and unity.



It is a song taught to every child in each school and is considered to be the unifying factor in the country.



The anthem is sang in numerous occasions for instance before the opening of any official function.



Nonetheless, Atheists in Kenya complained saying they feel left out when the anthem is recited.



Atheists want to feel proud when we sing or listen to the national anthem. This pride must arise from a sense of unity with shared values and ideals. The word God disenfranchises atheists from this unified ideal, Mr Mumia said.



He said the petition will be presented to Parliament, which ironically has its own prayer that mentions God severally.



Almighty God, who in Your wisdom and goodness have appointed the offices of leaders and parliaments for the welfare of society and the just government of the people, we beseech You to behold with Your abundant favour, us Your servants, whom You have been pleased to call to the performance of important trusts in this Republic, the Parliamentary prayer reads in part.



The group has in the past engaged in bouts with the government from the issue of its registration to admitting members.



It was registered in February 18, only for the certificate to be suspended by Attorney-General Githu Muigai in May following opposition from religious groups.



In a statement then, Prof Muigai said the organisations fate will be determined by the Supreme Court.

Source: Source: nation.co.ke









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An All-Yoruba Congress has been scheduled to be held in Kumasi between 9th and 11th March 2017, organisers have announced during a press conference held at the Accra International Press Centre yesterday.



The media programme simultaneously kicked off activities prior to the main event next year.



In his address to the media, Alhaji Musa Baba, President of the Yoruba Community in Ghana said the programme was mooted by elders of the large population of the ethnic group across the country.



The elders want to, through such a congress, showcase the rich Yoruba culture and to prevent the youth from losing touch with their ancestry according to Alhaji Musa Baba who is one of the close to a million Ghanaian Yorubas born in the country.



The congress will also afford Yorubas in Ghana the opportunity to travel to one big town where, especially the youth, will mix together and engage in all forms of contests, singing, dancing, dressing, cooking and what have you. It will also afford Ghanaians the opportunity to appreciate the true Yoruba culture. This will surely promote unity between the Yorubas and Ghanaians that will lead to national unity and cohesion, he said.



He announced that organizers have sought and received the blessings of the traditional authorities of the Yorubas in the persons of the Alafin of Oyo and the Ooni of Ife who are the two most powerful Yoruba rulers.



Many Yorubas from Nigeria and the Diaspora will troop to Kumasi for the programme; an opportunity to showcase the country to those coming here for the first time.



As to why the programme is being held in Ghana and Kumasi in particular, he said the country has the largest concentration of Yorubas and their descendants outside Nigeria, the population put at conservatively a million. Kumasi, considered central location in the country will afford Yorubas from the Northern regions and South to converge upon a central location with little or no inconvenience, he said to a question.



The chairman of the conference Alhaji Sidiku Buari who is a descendant of Yoruba migrants but a Ghanaian by birth recalled how he and others of Nigerian extraction have contributed immensely towards the development of the country.



I am an athlete of repute having competed in international competitions in the early 70s for Ghana. In one such instance, I ran an event in which a single point was needed to define the difference between the winner and the loser. I made that difference to make Ghana beat Nigeria he said.



Alhaji Gafaru, a retired soldier and a Ghanaian of Yoruba extraction showed his decorations from his long service in the Ghana Armed Forces.



It is also expected that the about two hundred years of the history of Yorubas in this country would be adequately highlighted through such a congress and subsequent ones.



Present at the conference were Alhaji Razak El Alawa, a veteran Ghanaian journalist also of Yoruba extraction and a former Press Secretary to the late President Hilla Limann, Sidiku Buari, former President of MUSIGA, Chiefs of Yorubas in Kasoa, Ashaiman, Konongo and a representative of Chief Brimah family in Accra.

Source: Daily Guide









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The National Media Commission has appointed Dr Kwame Akuffo Anoff-Ntow as the new Director-General (DG) of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC).



His appointment takes effect from November 1, this year.



He takes over from Major Albert B. Don-Chebe (retd), who was appointed as the state broadcasters DG for a three-year term, effective May 14, 2013 but decided not to return to the corporation after taking his accumulated leave in February this year, largely because of worker agitations.



Major Don-Chebes first term was to expire in May 2016.



The Deputy DG of the corporation, Mrs Francis Ashietey-Odunton, has been in charge over in an acting capacity since March this year.



A statement issued by the commission and signed by its Chairman, Mr Kwasi Gyan-Apenteng, said: Dr Anoff-Ntow has close to two decades of professional experience in broadcasting as a practitioner and scholar.



His professional experience spans public broadcasting at GBC, as well as consulting for other media and communication interests across the world, it said.



It said as a trained television producer/director, he had produced, directed and executively produced many television programmes across several genres.



Dr Anoff-Ntows background



Dr Anoff-Ntow, therefore, comes to the role of Director-General with intimate knowledge of editorial and operational workings of global public broadcasting, it said.



As a member of the International Public Television (INPUT) forum, Dr Anoff-Ntow has undertaken many projects around best practices in public broadcasting and media.



He was one of the 16 programme experts from around the world who planned and led sessions at INPUT international conferences in Germany, Switzerland and South Africa.



As a communication scholar, his research interests include newsroom journalistic practices, the political economy of public broadcasting in Africa, communication policy and the politics of visual representation.



He holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Communications Studies from the University of Calgary in Canada, where his doctoral thesis topic focused on Public Broadcasting and the politics of media in Ghana: a case study of GBC.



He is a member of the Ghana Journalists Association, the Canadian Communication Association and sits on the board of the African Centre for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA).



Dr Anoff-Ntow takes over at a time workers of the corporation are embroiled in a turf war with the corporations board members and some management members who have been locked out on two occasionsJuly 13, 2016 and September 30, 2016.



GBC red flags



In February this year, workers of the GBC raised red flags against the board members, citing mismanagement of the corporation and recruitment of some workers through the back door.



They accused the board of appointing some management members to micromanage GBC, a situation that did not create a conducive atmosphere for the growth of the corporation.



The local union and the workers have since then appealed to the Ministry of Communication and the National Media Commission (NMC) to intervene.

Source: Daily Graphic









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President John Dramani Mahama has provided $6 million (GH23m) to cater for the expenses of his Presidential Special Task Force set up to pursue the release of the outstanding balance of $2 billion from the controversial $3 billion Chinese loan.



According to a Cabinet Memo in possession of the Daily Statesman, the $6million covers three main cost components, with the areas of expenditure listed to include Catered breakfast for Ghana team and visiting guests at negotiating venue; catered snacks for day-long meeting breaks; catered lunch for Ghana team and visiting guests as (sic) negotiating venue; courtesy dinner for visiting CDB team upon closure of negotiation meetings.



Chinese fried rice is the most popular food served for lunch and dinner in a typical Chinese restaurant, while among the popular snacks is prawn crackers.



Membership of the Presidential Task Force, which is currently in China, consists of Ato Ahwoi (Chairman), Amarquaye Armar (Vice Chairman), Cassiel Ato Forson (Deputy Minister of Finance, member), Ambassador William Ntow Boahene (member) and Ambassador Anani Demuyakor (member).



Other important areas of expenditure for the Task Forces travel to Beijing include Hotel costs in Beijing for team members, as well as per diem for subsistence (DSA); Local Beijing in-city transportation for team from Hotel to CDB scheduled events or trips, comparable projects familiarization visits, etc., that tends to be mandatory in the course of negotiation visits.



The mandate of the taskforce is principally to see to the release of the $2 billion. They are to first of all see to the release of the $500 million for the three projects already agreed and also for the release of the remaining $1.5 billion, which, according to a May 2016 Decisions Memorandum, The President would determine the utilization of the $1.5 billion that will remain after the commitments above are made.



It was in March 2016 that the President agreed to pay the amount of $6 million. He instructed that the Ghana Infrastructure Fund should be responsible for the funding of the work of the Task Force established by the President to pursue the $3 billion loan, and as a consequence of GIIF taking over GoG obligations, for GIIF to allocate an amount equivalent of $6 million to fund the work of the Task Force.



Meanwhile, the there is no sure sign that the Chinese will agree to reactivate the Chinese Development Bank facility.



In October 2015, the President set up the Task Force to re-engage CDB with the aim of utilizing the remainder of the US$3 billion CDB loan.



The $3 billion commercial loan was hastily signed, against the advice of the Parliamentary Minority, under a master Facility Agreement between the Government of Ghana and the CDB on December 16, 2011, following parliamentary approval in July 2011.



Since then, $1 billion has been released. $850 million was used for the Ghana Gas project in a deal that was awarded to Sinopec, a Chinese firm, without a competitive tender.



In addition, a whopping $150 million was also awarded to the Chinese to install IT Enhanced Surveillance Project to provide aerial security for the oil and gas enclave in the Western Region. Experts say the entire ICT infrastructure could have been done with $50 million, if it was not sole-sourced.



The agreement meant Ghana allowing the Chinese to lift 13,000 barrels of the countrys share of crude oil from Jubilee Fields everyday. Even then, the Chinese saw that as insufficient.



The hastily signed facility, as was warned by the opposition New Patriotic Party, suffered persistent disagreement between GoG and CDB, with the Chinese refusing to release any more funds.



Finally in 2015, the Mahama Cabinet approved a recommendation to reduce the facility to $1.5 billion to cover the two projects already under development and three, pending subsidiary agreements.



The three were: (1) spending $200 million to build just 12 fishing landing sites, (2) using $100 million in a dangerously discretionary manner as loans for SME Projects Incubation and (3) spending another $200 million on a scheme described as Accra Intelligent Traffic Management Project.



However, CDB did not agree to the Cabinet decision and refused to disburse any funds beyond the $1 billion.



When Cabinets decision was transmitted to CDB, CDB in turn decided to reduce the facility to US$1.0Billion to cover the two projects that were under development, and crystallize it at that amount, as in the CDBs opinion, the 13,000 barrels per day of crude oil that GoG had committed to the repayment of the Facility was not even sufficient to support the repayment of the committed US$1.0Billion, a Cabinet Memo signed by Finance Minister Seth Terkper discloses.



Several other offers from the Ghana Government in 2014 went unheeded, until last year when Government saw a glimmer of hope, leading to the set up of the special Task Force.



The Mr Terkper confirms this in his memo to Cabinet: At a meeting in Beijing in July 2014, GoG offered other resources such as LPG for CDB consideration; however, this was turned down by CDB. In April 2015, however, CDB by letter dated 30 April 2015, informed GoG that they would consider the suitability of LPG only after their own due diligence to determine its suitability as security for repayment of the Facility.



Further communication between GoG and CDB stalled at that point, until the appointment of the new Presidential Special Task Force, which revived discussions with CDB on the outstanding issues.







Source: The New Statesman









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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Creepy clown threat is no joking matter Updated: 2016-10-28 07:26 By Earle Gale(China Daily Europe)

People in the UK are reeling from a spate of incidents in recent weeks involving sinister clowns.

Apparently, the craze for dressing up as a brightly colored but scary clown originated in the US and subsequently spread to Britain, other European countries, Africa and beyond. I doubt it will take off in China, where circus clowns are less well-known and the irony would be lost.

Recent UK reports include an account from a mother of six in West Yorkshire who says three clowns - one with a knife - tried to snatch her 3-month-old baby from her car. She said they only failed to make off with her daughter because they could not unbuckle the baby seat. That's equal parts creepy and Keystone Cops.

Another account comes from a young woman in Hamilton, Scotland, who said she was chased by two clown-costumed men brandishing weapons.

And another, from sleepy Bury St Edmunds, in Suffolk, describes a man in a clown suit wielding a machete as he chased two teenage girls while threatening to harm them.

Other recent stories include a clown with a chainsaw chasing students across a university campus, and solitary clowns standing menacingly on bridges and hillsides before disappearing from view.

So far, thankfully, there do not appear to have been any confirmed reports of people being physically harmed.

But damage has been done, nonetheless. Many children are now terrified of being harmed by a clown.

It is a shocking situation because clowns are supposed to be the decorated pranksters that make a trip to the circus worthwhile. They entertained us at birthday parties. They cheered up children on hospital wards. They made us laugh out loud with their mute stunts and funny tricks, their shaping of balloons into animals, and their tripping over their big feet while slamming one another in the face with shaving-foam-filled pies.

They were the personification of fun and innocent naughtiness and children the length and breadth of the UK used to want to be just like them.

Now, a charity that runs a help line in the West Midlands for children in difficulty says it was telephoned 26 times in one week by youngsters who were terrified of killer clowns.

It really is high time we took a step back from the madness to assess the situation.

These are not killer clowns, only people jumping on the bandwagon of a new trend, others who scare too easily and maybe a handful of idiots who are using the situation to indulge in the fantasy of having power over others.

There is no doubt, we in the media have a role to play in making all of this go away - after all, it was we who stoked it up in the first place. And parents need to calm their kids and remind them that there have been rambunctious teenagers since the dawn of time and always will be.

Almost all of the clown incidents being reported are overreactions to sad little copycats who are probably filming their unoriginal exploits so they can post video online and boast to their all-too-easily impressed friends.

And, for the minority of clowns who don their masks with darkness in their hearts, I urge the courts to treat them harshly. Maybe they should get community service, so they can pay back society through, say, a sponsored long-distance cycle ride on a miniature bike or by allowing people to hit them on the head with massive polystyrene mallets. Better yet, let's use an oversized cannon to blast them right out of the Big Top.

The author is an editor for China Daily UK. Contact the writer

at earle@mail.chinadailyuk.com

(China Daily European Weekly 10/28/2016 page11)
Communications director of the governing National Democratic Congress Solomon Nkansah has stated that Christians in Ghana who choose the NPP in the upcoming polls will not be forgiven by God.



In a video on social media, the NDC communicator is heard warning Christians against choosing the NPP flagbearer over the NDC's John Dramani Mahama in the December polls.



According to Solomon Nkansah, God does not approve of leaders who are divisive and intolerant, traits he claims the NPP flagbearer and candidate for the 2016 elections exhibits.



He described Nana Akufo-Addo as a hypocrite for touting his love for Ghana while he hounds out members of his party who express dissenting views.



" If you're a christian who claims to be a member of the NPP because of Christ, the almighty will not forgive you because God's idea of a great king is one who presides over a peaceful nation."



The NPP flagbearer has been described severally by his opponents as a divisive and intolerant leader. It follows the suspension of some three party executives who were said to have acted contrary to provisions in the party's constitution.









Source: Ghanaweb









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 President of the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs, who doubles as the Paramount Chief of the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Area, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin, has warned members of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the government to desist from claiming that they have provided the residents of Kyebi with potable water.



According to the Okyenhene, it saddens him to hear the NDC activists campaigning on radio that it was President Mahama who provided water to Kyebi residents, stressing that it's not true.



Osagyefuo Amoatia made this observation when President Mahama, as part of his re-election campaign tour of the Eastern Region, paid a courtesy call on him at the Ofori Panin Fie at Kyebi, on Thursday.



He stated that government upgraded and expanded the mechanical system but did not construct the entire water supply system.



We have been having water for a long time, he indicated.



He expressed gratitude to the government for constructing the road from Apedwa to the Kyebi Township and also called on present and future governments to be genuinely concerned about the plight of Ghanaians and refrain from politicising everything.



The Kyebi Water Project was initiated by the previous Kufuor administration in June 2008 with funding from the Austrian government.



It was completed in 2011 under the NDC government, headed by President John Evans Atta Mills.



The delay in completing the project was as a result of the muddiness of the Birim River caused by illegal mining (galamsey) activities. It therefore became necessary for the project to be redesigned.



At the time of inaugurating the project, President Mahama said because River Birim had been heavily polluted, officials of the Ghana Water Company had to use excess chemicals to treat the Birim water before it became consumable, adding that his government funded the building of the water system.



President Mahama, who had described Kyebi as the headquarters of 'galamsey,' assured the residents that the mining sector would be given a boost in the next NDC government when given the nod, adding that part of the enhancement process of small-scale mining would be given a facelift to end the illegal mining menace in the country.



According to him, the fight against illegal mining had been a challenge and that to address it effectively, the government had started reviewing the mining regulations in the country.



He said as part of the exercise, the government had classified the mining sector into large, medium and small-scale which would successfully regulate the sector.



The president explained that all small-scale miners would be made to form cooperatives that would comprise at least 21 members to access regulated concessions to mine.



By so doing the cooperatives will be urged to save some small amounts for a period of time to enable them access equipment that they could use to reclaim the land after mining, he said.

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 Ghana Armed Forces has denied media reports that it has assigned men to protect President John Mahamas brother, Ibrahim Mahama.



Media reports have suggested that soldiers have been detailed to guard the Presidents brother after pictures of him in the company of soldiers while on a health walk emerged on social media.



But in a statement to clarify the matter, the Armed Forces Command condemned the act and assured that the necessary action is being taking to address the issue.



The Military High command has taken a serious exception of the bad conduct in respect of soldiers who participated in a health walk and were alleged to have been providing close protection to Mr. Ibrahim Mahama.



The Military High Command wish to state that it has not assigned any soldier as body guard to Mr. Ibrahim Mahama. The soldiers in question were assigned as part of the security detail at the flagstaff House, the statement signed by Director Public Affairs Colonel Aggrey-Quashie noted.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Chris Hemsworth might just be one of Australias most solid blokes, and his latest Instagram offering goes a long way to prove why thats the case.

In the image, the Thor star stands alongside Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi. In their hands is a sign, affirming their support for protesters at North Dakotas Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, who are rallying to stop the development of a massive oil pipeline they claim will damage water supplies and disturb burial grounds in the region.

A photo posted by Chris Hemsworth (@chrishemsworth) on Oct 27, 2016 at 6:49pm PDT

Hemsworth added something else in the images caption, though. Seemingly spurred by his support for First Nations protesters, Hemsworth admitted and apologised for an insensitive act of cultural appropriation that has been bothering me for sometime.



Last New Years Eve I was at a Lone Ranger themed party where some of us, myself included, wore the traditional dress of First Nations people. I was stupidly unaware of the offence this may have caused and the sensitivity around this issue. I sincerely and unreservedly apologise to all First Nations people for this thoughtless action. I now appreciate that there is a great need for a deeper understanding of the complex and extensive issues facing indigenous communities. I hope that in highlighting my own ignorance I can help in some small way.

During Americas peak costume-wearing season, smacking down his own ill-advised get-up has significant impact, and it lends credence to the idea Hemsworth aint just voicing his support of the protesters for shits and gigs.

His apology has already received some pretty solid support from people who are stoked to see such a prominent figure cop to an all-but-unknown indiscretion. No word on his depiction of an ancient Norse god, though



Source: Chris Hemsworth / Instagram / New York Times.

Photo: Chris Hemsworth / Instagram.
Donald Trumps going to go wild with this one.

For months, Hillary Clinton has been fighting off claims she used private email servers while United States Secretary of State. Data securitys a big deal (you wouldnt let your mum read your chat history, right?)  especially when youre in one of the worlds most powerful roles. Having top secret conversations saved at home could mean the countries enemies could score access  which is kind of a big deal.

Fast forward to July  when the FBI cleared Hillary Clinton of criminal wrongdoing. They said she had messed up badly, but they werent going to put her in jail, as Trump repeatedly demanded. The problem kinda went away, though it has featured heavily in right-wing election rhetoric. With talk about Donald Trumps vile locker room talk about women dominating the headlines, Clintons been having it fairly easy.

Of course, it would take an (alleged) dick pic to ruin it.

Enter Anthony Weiner. Hes the one-time husband of an important Clinton staffer, and a real class act. The ironically-named former politician has been in trouble time after time for sending explicit pics over the internet  and it cost him his job in the senate. His wife Huma Abedin stuck with him at first  then dumped his sleazy arse after he admitted doing it a second time.

Now, heres where things get bad for Hillary. The FBI is investigating Weiner for allegedly sending pics of his genitals to a 15-year-old girl. During that investigation, theyve seized electronic devices belonging to the former husband and wife  and have reportedly found even more classified emails which shouldnt be there.

Today, the FBI said theyre now looking back into the Clinton email saga, which adds more fuel to Trumps Crooked Hillary nickname.

Trumps remained strangely quiet, but his fans are calling for blood.

If Hillary wins this is the next 4 years. Scandal, scandal, scandal. Investigations. Lies. Just like Bills second term.  CNN Is SuperHitler (@NolteNC) October 28, 2016

It is absolutely bizarre watching Hillary making a speech slandering Trump like the FBI doesnt have her under investigation#LockHerUp  Jared Wyand ???? (@JaredWyand) October 28, 2016

Clintons now calling for the FBI to explain exactly what theyre looking into, and saying that the email situation has already been resolved.

Heres the full Clinton press conference. Less than 5 minutes long https://t.co/MqilQGP7Pe  Joe Perticone (@JoePerticone) October 28, 2016

The American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately. The (FBI) director himself has said himself he doesnt know whether the emails referenced in his letter are significant or not.

Its worth noting that Hillarys only at the fringe of this investigation, but with the election only 11 days out, Trumps going to be smelling blood.

So yeah, the election couldnt get any weirder. Keep it in your pants, guys.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

Photo: Getty Images / Chip Somodevilla.
Police have blocked off a road in Sydneys North Shore after someone found a fing hand grenade in a storage unit. Emergency services got the call just after 10:30, with reports of a WWII hand grenade with the pin still in (luckily).

Police officers and fire crews have now blocked off Sailors Bay Road  and theyre waiting on the bomb squad. People in the neighbouring homes havent needed to be evacuated, which will give them a hell of a story at the pub tonight.

Theres a chopper circling:

North Bridge: Crime scene established around a house on Sailors Bay Road. WWII grenade discovered at property. #NorthBridge #7News pic.twitter.com/UkOIWp9rds  7 News Sydney (@7NewsSydney) October 29, 2016

Its expected that the road may be closed for some time, so try and avoid the area. Probably not worth risking it, no matter how good the Snapchat story would be.

Source: NSW Police.

Photo: 7 News.
Its no secret the worlds warming. Maybe youre hitting the surf a day or two earlier, or just keen to flash a little skin in July (you brave soul you). New data from the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO has shown us the harsh reality of what life might be like in the world of tomorrow. Spoilers: its bloody hot.

No one moves to Melbourne for the climate  but if we dont stop pumping out CO2 like its another Chainsmokers remix, itll basically become a beachside town. Heating up by a whopping 4.2C itll put the city into the leagues of Forbes, Condobolin and Pingelly, which Ive just learnt is a place. Crack open a tinnie  youre gonna need it.

Sydneys got it even tougher. Rising be the same temperature, locals will feel the heat of Northern Queensland with an average of 27C. If youre a fan of rum  youre in luck: Bundaberg will feel like home, so get yourself geed for supporting the inevitable winners of the 2090 State Of Origin.

Already most of Australia is a degree up since 1910  which might make those full body swimsuits a little more bearable.

On the plus side  with sea temperatures rising by 3.1 degrees, youll have no excuse to ever pull your prune-like butt out of the surf.

To make it simpler, the CSIRO have put together a beaut little video showing how were all basically fukt.

Australia & the surrounding oceans have warmed by around 1C since 1910. Read more in #StateoftheClimate https://t.co/SYRaM5q4y1 @CSIROnews pic.twitter.com/EOW22lhU4e  BOM Australia (@BOM_au) October 27, 2016

Long story short, we should probably cut down on climate change. Try turning off your second TV every once in a while (its months before Game of Thrones comes back anyway)

Brush up on the report at the CSIRO website HERE.

Source: CSIRO

Photo: Anchorman
Jennifer Hawkins has been dragged into the quagmire that is Donald Trumps presidential campaign, with a newly-resurfaced video that shows him publicly humiliating her at a corporate event in Sydney.

Trump appeared at the National Achievers Congress in October 2011, where he referenced the former Miss Universe during a keynote address, that touched on the very Trump-like topic of getting revenge on your enemies.

Get even with people. If they screw you, screw them back 10 times as hard. I really believe that, he said to the cheering audience of presumptive achievers, some of whom paid a cool $1200 to be there and have lunch with him afterwards.

Ill give you an example: Jennifer Hawkins, he continued. Wheres Jennifer? Wheres she sitting? Get over here, Jennifer. He proceeded to tell the audience about his plan to get even with Hawkins, because of a misunderstanding the previous day.

He said:

I was so angry at her yesterday. Seriously, as I said, I thought that she dissed me. I thought that my Jennifer  Im going around saying shes my favourite Miss Universe, but I think I like the new one better, Jennifer. So I go around saying shes the greatest  then when I came here, there was no Jennifer Hawkins to introduce me.

Hawkins insisted that thered been a miscommunication of some sort, but Trump took the mic back and continued:

I was actually going to get up and tell you that Jennifer is a beautiful girl on the outside, but shes not very bright. That wouldnt have been true, but I would have said it anyway  Because I said, You know what, it would be great. I havent seen Jennifer in a couple of years. Shes so great and she did so well, and shes a big star here, and I helped her make it  I own the Miss Universe pageant. And I heard that she wouldnt introduce me.'

He then went on to make sexual innuendos about Hawkins, before she asked if she could take a seat.

This isnt the first time Trump has been called out for his conduct around women, and its not even the first time hes behaved disgustingly around a Miss Universe winner, mocking Alicia Machado about her weight and calling her Miss Piggy.

Watch a section of the Trump-Hawkins video below:

Source: Courier Mail.

Photo: Brownie Media / Getty.
Despite plenty of rumours that Bob Dylan wasnt actually all that bothered over his Nobel Prize in Literature  with numerous reports indicating he barely acknowledged the honour and wasnt even replying to emails from the Swedish Academy  it turns out he actually does care.

Hes apparently broken his silence, claiming that the award left him speechless. The news about the Nobel Prize left me speechless, he told Sara Danius, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy. I appreciate the honor so much. Dylan reportedly told the UKs Daily Telegraph that he intended to pick up the award in person, if it were at all possible.

Its hard to believe. Whoever dreams about something like that? the paper quoted him as saying. The author notes that Dylan was genuinely bemused at the attention given to his silence over the matter, which is extremely Bob Dylan.

Responding to the Academys assertion that his lyrics evoked the work of classic playwrights and poets, Dylan agreed. I suppose so, in some way, Dylan says of Daniuss comparison. Some [of my own] songs  Blind Willie, The Ballad of Hollis Brown, Joey, A Hard Rain, Hurricane, and some others  definitely are Homeric in value.

He continues. Ill let other people decide what they are. The academics, they ought to know. Im not really qualified. I dont have any opinion.

Lets see if he has time in his schedule to physically accept one of the worlds great honours. You know. If hes not doing anything else or whatever. No biggie.

Source: Vanity Fair.

Photo: Getty Images / Michael Kovac.
Azealia Banks has doubled down on her allegations against Russell Crowe in a tearful interview with Access Hollywood, claiming once again that he choked her and used racial slurs while ejecting her from his Beverly Hills Hotel suite.

Those present on the night, including rapper and filmmaker RZA, have contradicted her version of events, but speaking to Alex Hudgens, she maintained that Crowe attacked her when the situation in his room became heated.

Every time, every time something like this happens Im always like being blamed for, like, wanting this kind of attention, she said, while overcome with emotion.

Like who the fuck wants to tell somebody they got spat on? she continued. You know, thats humiliating. And Im just like really, really humiliated.

Banks claimed that, after several hours of drinking together, Crowe mocked one of her videos, and when she returned fire, the situation escalated. She denies, however, that she attempted to attack another party guest with a glass.

I had a glass in my hand because I was drinking, she explained. As to why Russell snapped and ejected her, she said maybe it was the moonshine, maybe it was the rejection, maybe it was the jokes 

You can watch the interview below:

Source: Access Hollywood.

Photo: Access Hollywood / YouTube.
A silver lining in cross-Straits ties Updated: 2016-10-29 08:56 By Zhu Songling(China Daily)

Hung Hsiu-chu,chairwoman of the opposition Kuomintang Party in Taiwan, gives an interview at a radio station inTaipei, Taiwan, on 23 June 2015.

Hung Hsiu-chu, chairwoman of the opposition Kuomintang Party in Taiwan, is scheduled to embark on a five-day trip to the Chinese mainland on Sunday. Her first visit to the mainland since becoming the Kuomintang leader in March will first take her to Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu province, where the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum is located, and then to Beijing.

Both sides of the Taiwan Straits are working on the details of Hung's itinerary. She has already confirmed her participation in the Beijing-based Cross-Straits Peace and Development Forum, which will be jointly hosted by nongovernmental organizations from the mainland and Taiwan on Nov 2 and 3.

As cross-Straits exchanges, official and grassroots both, have continued to wane since Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen, also the chairwoman of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, assumed power in May, Hung's visit to the mainland could serve as a silver lining in cross-Straits relations.

The primary aim of her visit is to deepen interaction between the Communist Party of China and Kuomintang in accordance with the common political foundation of the 1992 Consensus and help improve cross-Straits relations.

In other words, despite the high-level interaction being essentially confined to the two parties, its implications extend much beyond that. As An Fengshan, spokesman for the mainland's Taiwan Affairs Office, said on Wednesday, Hung's trip to the mainland will have a positive impact on maintaining cross-Straits peace and stability.

A lot depends on how the mainland sees the island's political situation and cross-Straits ties in the long run and what's on the agenda of the parties' leaders. If the meeting between the two parties is held, as many observers expect, it would deliver a key message that the mainland stands firm on its one-China principle and opposition to separatist moves in Taiwan irrespective of which party governs the island.

Exchanges between the CPC and Kuomintang are possible because the latter also upholds the 1992 Consensus. And the change in the theme of this year's CPC-KMT forumfrom "Trade, Economy and Culture" to "Peace and Development"reflects the demands of the changing times.

The peaceful development enjoyed by both sides for the past eight years has more or less come to a halt since Tsai became the Taiwan leader five months ago. Rebuilding peace and trust is supposed to be a priority in cross-Straits relations, because without peace and trust, trade and cultural exchanges would simply not proceed.

During Hung's visit to the mainland, both sides are expected to consolidate their adherence to the 1992 Consensus, which Tsai has not yet consented to, and address thorny issues facing cross-Straits ties. As such, the island's divisive public opinions should be fairly evaluated.

That Tsai and her DPP won this year's leadership election does not necessarily mean they can turn a deaf ear to those who are against the "independence" campaign and in favor of a peaceful cross-Straits relationship.

The Kuomintang leader is qualified to represent their appeals and seek consensus with the mainland's governing party, which should be taken seriously by the Tsai administration.

The author is a professor at the Institute of Taiwan Studies, Beijing Union University. The article is an excerpt from his interview with China Daily's Cui Shoufeng.
dieruff-high-school-building

Dieruff High School in Allentown.

(Lehighvalleylive.com )

ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- Authorities say a dozen people have been charged in a fight near an eastern Pennsylvania high school that left two youths with serious injuries.

Police say the 16-year-old victims suffered concussions, bruises and cuts after they were kicked, punched and pistol-whipped Tuesday afternoon near Dieruff High School in Allentown.

Investigators said the fight began with an argument in the lunchroom after one of the students threw something at another boy. After an argument, they agreed to meet in an alley to fight after school.

Police made seven arrests initially but said they recovered a cellphone showing five more people taking part in the assault.

Three adults and nine juveniles have been charged in Lehigh County with aggravated assault, conspiracy and riot.

Lehighvalleylive.com reports:

Two of the juveniles, who police say were armed at the time, are being held in a juvenile facility in Morgantown, Berks County.

One boy used a gun during the assault, and a loaded .380-caliber handgun was found in his backpack, according to police. A loaded .22-caliber handgun was found in the pants of a second boy. Prosecutors have not identified either juvenile.

The pair have been charged with possession of a firearm by a minor, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon; [District Attorney Jim] Martin in a news release said the they will "likely" be charged as adults in their cases next week.
Restaurant Inspections.jpg

(PennLive)

Many midstate food establishments are inspected each week and come through with no problems.

But some in Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon and Perry counties had violations during inspections conducted from Oct. 2 to Oct. 8.

Inspectors in Cumberland County visited several schools in this period.

At one Lancaster County business, there were fine metal dust and metal shavings on pizza-oven rollers and conveyor chain because of equipment damage, while another failed to notify the department of an imminent health hazard.

A Lebanon County business was offering infant formula for sale after its sell-by date.

In York County, inspectors found live and dead roaches in a school kitchen.

Inspectors revisited the Central Perry Community Senior Citizens Center, where they found a few problems on a previous inspection.

And at a Dauphin County establishment, there were rodent dropping too numerous to count in the kitchen and two dead rodents in the bar area.

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture oversees restaurant inspections in the state. Inspection reports are "snapshots" of the day and time the inspections took place. In many cases, violations are corrected on site prior to the inspector leaving.

Click on the links below to see how restaurants and other food establishments in the region fared:
Why open development is still important Updated: 2016-10-29 09:04 By Robert Lawrence Kuhn(China Daily)

The name plate of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone on a gate of the Waigaoqiao free trade zone in Shanghai. [Photo provided for China Daily]

Why is "Open Development" the fourth of the Five Major Development ConceptsPresident Xi Jinping's guiding strategy to transform China's economy and societywhen "opening-up" has been the core of China's policy for almost four decades?

In the 1980s, opening-up meant allowing overseas capital to manufacture low-cost products with cheap labor. Now that China has become the world's second-largest economy, but faces complex structural problems such as industrial overcapacity and higher labor costs, a new kind of opening-up is required.

What exemplifies China's new kind of opening-up? Free trade zones, the Belt and Road Initiative and Chinese companies going abroad.

I visited Shanghai to explore China's first free trade zone, established in 2013. What's the FTZ's impact on opening-up? I met the then chairman of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, Shen Xiaoming, also secretary of the Party's Pudong committee (he is now deputy Party secretary, Ministry of Education). I began by asking: Why are we still taking about "opening-up" when reform and opening-up started in 1978, 38 years ago?

"The same wording conveys different meanings today," Shen said, offering four aspects. "First, in 1978, 'opening-up' went in only one direction: we were only bringing in, not going out. Today, we both bring in and go outtwo directions. Second, our original 'opening-up' meant importing overseas capital. Today, opening-up includes technology, trade facilitation, financial system reform, and more. Third, we used to depend on cheap labor and attracting overseas companies. Today, we forge our competitiveness in trade and systems. Fourth, opening-up back then was under strict government regulation. Today, the market plays a decisive role."

I asked Shen how the Shanghai FTZ exemplifies opening-up?

"The very core of an FTZ is to open up," he said. "We push for more reform through opening-up. For example, the concept of a 'negative list'where the government specifies industry categories that are not allowed and you can do whatever you like as long as it is not on the list. The FTZ needs to be the 'ice-breaker': make breakthroughs and solve problems that used to seem unsolvable. The central government uses the FTZ as a 'field test' for new policies and a 'pressure tester' for international rules that may not work in China."

In 2015, China's foreign trade topped 24 trillion yuan ($3.54 trillion), unimaginable during the original opening-up. Now new FTZs have been established in Tianjin (for Beijing and Tianjin municipalities, and Hebei province), Guangdong province (coordinating with Hong Kong and Macao) and Fujian province (trade with Taiwan, the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road). More FTZs are in the works in six provinces and Chongqing municipality.

At the same time, China is building new models for international cooperation. In Xi's Belt and Road Initiative, China works with other developing countries, including some of the least-developed countries, to form a community of common interests seeking mutual prosperity. Building infrastructure is fundamentalroads, high-speed rail, seaports, airports, power plants and telecommunications. These are what developing countries need and this is where Chinese companies can compete. Leveraging domestic experience and economies of scale, China offers quality construction, reasonable prices, attractive financing and rapid timetables.

China is also opening up, when Chinese companies purchase foreign companies, acquiring technology, management, brands, markets and channels of distribution.

China is not further opening up to please foreigners. It is doing so as a domestic necessity. Today opening-up means much more than it meant three decades ago; it now means making it easier, faster and better to do all kinds of business.

Opening-up also means foreign companies should enter more industries in China, and have fewer restrictions, so that intensified market competition will pressure Chinese companies to innovate and improve. The ultimate winners? Chinese consumers!

In short, China's new kind of opening-up means expanding the mind and enabling China's economic transformation.

The author is a public intellectual, political/economics commentator, and an international corporate strategist. He is also host of Closer to China with R.L. Kuhn, a weekly show on CCTV News (Sundays 9:30 am and 9:30 pm).
Turkey prices face inflation, avian flu ahead of Thanksgiving

Michiganders are encouraged to plan ahead and order early if they are in search of a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner.
The specified legacy item Id was not found.

for Sale - Petpeoplesplace.com
'ASIAN' = MUSLIM 99% OF THE TIME





The politically correct term 'Asian' is used by the leftist UK media as a way to cast suspicion on a wider group of people and take some of the negative attention away from the group usually responsible for committing the heinous acts.

A perfect example would be the Muslim grooming gang epidemic which are constantly referred to by the press and authorities as 'Asian' grooming gangs.

It isn't people from China, Japan or any Far Eastern Asian place.

Nor is it Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists,Christians Etc....

They are Muslims!!!!
Towards Plose Hutte - Sass de Putia and Odle Group

Start Bear trail

Bear trail

Bear trail indication

Alpeggio

Gondola Paganella and Brenta Group

I Love Dolomiti

Paganella summit

Molveno and Brenta Mountain group

Molveno, Andalo, Paganella

Towards end bear trail. Last downhill

Molveno, Andalo, Paganella

Molveno Lake gondola

Molveno, Andalo, Paganella

Molveno lake

Uphill Plose Hutte

Seeing Odle

Horse and Odle Mountain Group

Talking with horse

Uphill Plose Hutte

Searching Plose Hutte

Plose Hutte

Odle Group

Towards Plose Hutte

Towards Plose Hutte

Sass de Putia

Downhill to Brixen

Downhill to Brixen

Downhill to Brixen

Downhill to Brixen

Downhill to Brixen

Summit Kronplatz

Gondola from Riscone

"Panettone" summit

Man Mizo

Mountain around "panettone"

Brunico

Brunico

Bike Park

Bike Park

Bike Park

Bike Park

Bike Park

Bike Park

Bike Park

Bike park

Bike Park

Bike Park

Bike Park

Bike Park

Bike Park

View from Panettone Plan de Corones

CAI HUTTE

Kneipp

Uphill to Vallandro Hutte

Barrack WWI near Vallandro Hutte

View on Cristallo

Landro LAke and Cristallo Mountain

Trail for Vallandro Hutte

Prato Piazza

Vallandro Hutte

trenches WWI near Vallandro Hutte

Cristallo D'Ampezzo from Vallandro Hutte

trenches WWI

Barrack WWI

Barrack WWI

uphill for Strudelkopf

3 Cime di Lavaredo

Strudelkopf

Weg 34 Val Chiara

Weg 34 Val Chiara

Weg 34 Val Chiara

Weg 34 Val Chiara

Weg 34 Val Chiara

Weg 34 Val Chiara

Weg 34 Val Chiara

Weg 34 Val Chiara

Val Chiara

Val Chiara

Val Chiara

Val Chiara

Val Chiara

on the wall

Tunnel in Val Chiara

Val Chiara,

Tre Cime di Lavaredo from Val Chiara

Val Chiara

Tunnel Railway

Bike Trail for Cortina

Bike Trail for Cortina

Old Ospitale Station Railway

Tunnel old railroad Cortina-Dobbiaco

Trail to Cortina

Trail to Cortina

Trail to Cortina

Averau Mountain

Tofana di Rozes

5 Torri

View from 5 Torri

View from 5 Torri

Lagazuoi and Castelletto. Scene from the WWI

Climbing on 5 Torri mountain

Towards Cortina

Towards Cortina

Towards Cortina

Towards Cortina

Ghedina Lake

Towards Cortina

Faloria work in progress

Faloria

From Faloria over Cristallo d'Ampezzo

Faloria Down hill

Son Forca Hutte

Cristallo d'Ampezzo

Son Forca Hutte

Cristallo d'Ampezzo

Cristallo d'Ampezzo

Cristallo d'Ampezzo

Bike trail for Cortina

Croda da Lago and down Cortina

Beer after Riding in Cortina

Canazei Town and Marmolada

Superenduro

Superenduro

Superenduro

Selfie from Park and Ride holiday.

Wandering, like vagabonds, through the Dolomites, simply fulfilling a curiosity, ever more enchanted and fascinated whilst admiring the many summits, peaks, valleys, and even the sun itself. The smell of the grass and the freshness of the forests, enjoying the laughter of friends seated round a table in a mountain refuge, diving into a plate of pasta and washing it down with an icy cold Radler, a locally made sweet brew, which goes down a treat.An entire winter spent studying maps, searching for points from which to link mountains and trails in order to test our abilities for adapting to different terrains. Time spent looking for hotels, checking opening times for the numerous mountain facilities, studying trails and their current conditions, taking care of the logistics while budgeting to keep down costs - including those unforeseen which always seem to spring up last minute. All this, together with the curiosity and fascination of the unknown were the elements and therefore essence of our trip; this characterized the planning phase of the Park&Ride project.Park&Ride is not about looking for the perfect trail, but about rediscovering and living the mountain bike experience in nature itself. An adventure to share with your mates. Changing landscapes, terrains, towns and refuges daily. Parking the van, only to discover new riding locations which give sense to our collective and vast riding experiences. Planning includes studying the numerous bike parks in which to explore. Yet, I must also mention the unexpected walking trails and cycle paths which date back to the Great War, now abandoned and forgotten which added to the trip immensely, the sights which leave one breathless, speechless, even perplexed and stunned, questioning whether such places can and really do exist, also if the bad weather conditions helped contributed to this sense of surrealism.The peace and quiet calms the mind yet the desire to go further insists. It is not easy to drag ourselves from the views. The sun gives colour and the clouds disappear making nature appear happy again after being submerged in rain for days. We tell ourselves we have brought summer to the mountains.The different gradients are overcome by using the chairlifts, the distances by pedaling. The slopes and descents are long and immerse in the forest, ever more diverse are the terrains, the roots, rocks, counterslopes. We follow the trails, inventing nothing and respecting what nature has given us. Wandering through the mountains for hours, discovering corners of the world - unexpected in their vastness and magnitude. We feel no hunger, thirst or tiredness, everything seems strangely lighter all of a sudden.The Lake Molveno welcomes us in the late afternoon after having completed the Bear Trail. We are sorry to have come to the end of the first part of the adventure but content that it could not have started better.The second day begins with us loading the van with luggage and our bikes, we are on autopilot doing so which saves us time. The maps we consult are easy to use, and even bike repairs and general maintenance, rare as it was, was quick and painless. La Plose Mountain Bike Park awaits, yet first the summit must be reached. The Plose Refuge, at 2447 metres above sea level, has amazing views as we wander along the paths on our way to the summit. Unfortunately the trail we had planned to use to head back down the mountain was still covered in snow hence forcing us to use another more direct way to the Bike Park, another 500 metres further down. We were in awe of the quality of the track, the ride down was impressive and gratifying. Here we met fellow biker Stefan, a guy with whom we immediately found friendship and congeniality.Pedaling up 2000 metres is initially tiring but gradually becomes enjoyable as the air entering our lungs brings us relief and pleasure. The animals free to roam in their pastures, confident yet never wary, leave us feeling serene, at ease, and the climb becomes an excuse for both the eyes and the soul to also roam free.The next leg of the trip was to get to Riscone, a short and pleasant drive along the Val Pusteria valley. The Plan de Corones Bike Park hotel was where we stayed the night. By morning, Mother Nature had decided to surprise us with a sudden increase in temperature, granting us our first days of summer in the mountains.Kronplatz is rather like a 'panettone' at 2275 metres above sea level, with a 360-degree view of its surroundings at the summit, one can see as far as the Austrian Alps. It is one of the first Alto Adige Bike.The park amazed us with its perfectly designed trails, the diverse compressions which seem to challenge gravity itself; somewhat like an amusement park carousel. Letting go of the brakes gets easier as your heart seems to be suddenly catapulted into your throat! Perfectly formed curves, loops, and waves which almost suck you into their vortex. Some descents are easy to make the Garmin display drop to 2500 metres.The Kneipp path leads to an icy valley pool which, after a full days' riding in 35 degrees Celsius, stimulate our circulation and our senses. We immerse our legs in the cool, invigorating waters, walk over the smooth stones, stretch our muscles, and regain ourselves from our exhaustion.We arrive in beautiful Brunico, allowing ourselves a relaxing stroll through the main street before heading on to the foothills of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo, also called the Drei Zinnen, the three distinctive peaks.Opening the windows in the early morning to such magnificent monoliths is something no words can describe but the view immediately transports us to another dimension. Having packed our climbing gear, some of us headed off for some easy climbing at the rock face adjacent to the hotel; some variation to the Park&Ride adventure which renders this experience unique, showcasing the potentiality and diversity the Dolomites offers visitors. All outdoor activities are possible and catered for. A prelude to what we were about to face the following day.From Val di Landro at 1400 metres we skirt round the lake, make our way up to the Vallandro Refuge at 2040 metres, to then head to the summit of Strudelkopf at 2308 metres. Riding through the trenches, tunnels, and walkways surrounding the refuge leads us to picture what hardships they must have faced during the battles of the first World War. The Strudelkopf summit is truly breathtaking. We are as high as Tre Cime yet it seems almost possible to reach out and hold them. We see the Dolomite mountain chain, including the Dolomite Ampezzane, Cristallo peaks, and Tofane group, which surrounds Austria. We look excitedly down the trail awaiting us.Val Chiara descends rapidly to Val di Landro. Stuck in a ravine created over thousands of years, we have basically no idea if this area is bike-friendly. Only part of the track is secured and considered safe. The only thing left to do is head on down it. We leave behind us an old WW1 military base-camp and adventure down the abyss to Val Chiara. What began as awe and euphoria at taking on a real mountain trail, soon has us thinking how careful we must be in view of the fact we have no trail expert amongst us and this particular terrain needs very technical skills for such passages with tight corners. The trail crosses a dry creek bed as it leads to new scenery. We are forced in part to continue on foot. Part of the track is exposed to the elements, the rest equipped with ropes, footbridges, and wooden steps. Somewhat disconcerting at times, we are forced to carry our bikes while ever watchful of the exposed rocks and massive drop under our feet. We come to a tunnel and see etched into a rock that the path continues normally ahead. A few more wooden steps before we are once again back in the saddle and on the trail.The slope evens out quickly and we find ourselves sheltered by Val di Landro and recognise the rock face we had climbed the evening before. The sun, still high in the sky, the lush surroundings and the desire to continue encourages us onwards towards our final destination for the day Cortina DAmpezzo.This bike trail from Passo Cimabanche, was originally the old Dobbiaco-Cortina rail track, last used in 1964. We are traveling over Dolomite history itself - over old bridges, lit railway tunnels to old, abandoned railway stations like the one at Ospitale.Certainly this bike trail is one of Italy's most beautiful; it winds through pristine forests, crystal clean lakes and streams, and mind-blowing scenery. We arrive in Cortina, not the Cortina we are used to but still a sleepy village not yet awoken to the hustle and bustle of the 2016 tourist season.Our guide is an old friend from Rome who, for decades has been riding round this valley and offers to take us on a long tour through the mountains surrounding Cortina. The gondolas and chairlifts are working, allowing us to reach heights easily yet still giving us plenty of opportunity to pedal down the long trails down to Le 5 Torri, (literally the Five Towers) Fanes, Cristallo, Tofane passing lakes like the Aial or Ghedina.The full course of the trail is almost 70 km and about a 4000 metre decline. It would take a lot of effort to forget such a memorable day. Leaving Cortina with heavy hearts we set off for the last stop of our Park&Ride adventure, Canazei.The rain appears but we are not concerned for Saturday morning the sun returns to light our way over the long trails of the Superenduro circuit, quite wet but still beautiful. We are taking this day easy whereas many other bikers are busily trying out and perfecting their skills for the Superenduro race to be held the following day. Our intention is not to study the trails for the race but to really enjoy the Dolomites and the last leg of our Park&Ride adventure. Tomorrow we are homeward bound so we concentrate on fully immersing ourselves in the views and scenery these mountains, the summits and peaks, ravines and valleys offer us.It is with fond memories today we recall these days, this intense experience. An experience necessary to better understand ourselves and perfect for inspiring and stimulating us. A life enriching experience. Despite the difficult moments, we chose to continue with our plan, safe in the knowledge that sharing this passion with good friends means overcoming any hardships.Memories that shall remain with us for many lifetimes to come.Words and Photography: Fabio Maraca\ Translated by Melissa Flynn
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We have a protester! By the way, were you paid $15,000 to be a thug? Republican nominee Donald Trump yelled at a black man from his lectern during a rally Wednesday evening in Kinston, North Carolina.

Trump went on suggesting that the man had been paid by Hillary Clinton to protest Trump. But it turns out, as usual, Trumps paranoia got the best of him and he kicked out his own supporter, a man named C.J. Cary who happened to be wearing a GOP badge and holding a letter supporting Trump but urging him to stop being so offensive.

Watch here via Raleighs News & Observer:

The News and Observer reported, Cary says he wanted to deliver a note to Trump urging him to be less offensive and more inclusive to four demographic groups: black people, women, people with disabilities and college students. Cary, an African-American, says hes an ex-Marine who also worked in Afghanistan as a civilian for the U.S. Army.

The irony is no doubt lost on the Trump crowd that this man came to urge Trump to be more inclusive of African Americans and he got called a paid thug and kicked out. So the answer to his plea seems to be, Never gonna happen.

Cary was wearing a GOP badge and his letter slammed Hillary Clinton and President Obama.

Leave it to Donald to shrink his own tent even more. It wasnt enough that he tossed out a baby, now hes going after his few minority supporters.

Some things never change.

Image: screencap of video from Raleighs News & Observer

h/t Vox
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Former DOJ spokesman for Eric Holder Matthew Miller, a self described recovering flack from DOJ, DSCC, schooled Republican FBI Director James Comey for violating his power and lambasted him for commenting on a case within 60 days of an election.

The department and the FBI have very strict rules about when they can comment on ongoing cases and Director Comey has violated those rules going back to his original press conference when he closed the case, Miller said on CNN. But this latest example violates a long standing practice which is that the department goes out of its way not to do anything that can be seen as trying to influence an election in the closing days of an election, and usually they interpret the closing days to be seen as the last 60 days let alone the last 11 days.

Watch here:

Miller also held school on Twitter about Comeys abuse of power, which has led to Hillary Clinton having to defend against a negative:

I wrote a piece in July on why Comey's public comments about Clinton were such an inappropriate abuse of power. 1/ https://t.co/G8croz4qWZ  Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) October 28, 2016

He flagrantly violated DOJ rules with his press conference. Then went on to break new ground discussing details of the case to Congress2/  Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) October 28, 2016

Followed by quickly releasing FBI 302's, something they rarely do, and which I doubt they will do for future high-profile cases. 3/  Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) October 28, 2016

Each time, he either violated or seriously stretched DOJ rule & precedent. Press conference was the original sin, & it begat the rest. 4/  Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) October 28, 2016

But today's disclosure might be worst abuse yet. DOJ goes out of its way to avoid publicly discussing investigations close to election. 5/  Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) October 28, 2016

Not just public discussion either. Often won't send subpoenas or take other steps that might leak until after an election is over6/  Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) October 28, 2016

Why? Because voters have no way to interpret FBI/DOJ activity in a neutral way. Who is the target of an investigation? What conduct? 7/  Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) October 28, 2016

This might be totally benign & not even involve Clinton. But no way for press or voters to know that. Easy for opponent to make hay over. 8/  Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) October 28, 2016

Which takes us back to the original rule: you don't comment on ongoing investigations. Then multiply that times ten close to an election. 9/  Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) October 28, 2016

For whatever reason (& there are many theories), Comey continues to ignore that. But only for Clinton. 10/  Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) October 28, 2016

FBI is undoubtedly investigating links between the Russian hack, Manafort, & the Trump campaign. But aren't commenting on it. Good! 11/  Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) October 28, 2016

Miller points out, This just smells worse and worse the more we learn, linking to this:

Emails "were not to or from Clinton" and appeared like info FBI already had. WTF??? https://t.co/YS6jWfwGzi  Ken Gude (@KenGude) October 29, 2016

The problem with Comeys actions isnt that he is investigating Hillary Clinton; the problem is he is violating long standing rules that prohibit federal employees from doing anything that could be seen as political near an election. It is an established rule that ongoing investigations arent commented on for obvious reasons.

This is quite simply not done. Comeys reasons for doing this are unclear, and perhaps when he provides more information his decision will make more sense. But its troubling that we are seeing such a consistent breakdown of tradition and rules/agreements of law surrounding the Trump campaign, which seems to have lowered the bar all around.
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Earlier this week Friday Fox Follies, under the assumption the explosive, and bizarre battle between Megyn Kelly and Newt Gingrich, would be this weeks lede, I had already tricked up an opening paragraph. In case you missed it, thats when he got personal, accused her of being obsessed by sex and she told him that he should work on his anger issues. This weeks column would have been about how the Fox audience continues to splinter as they take sides in the presidential election. The NYT calls em Megyn Moments; I call them fissures in what had been assumed to be the bedrock foundation of the Fox News Channel: its unthinking audience.

Then came word that Rupert Murdoch was playing hardball as Kellys contract negotiations break out into the open. That paragraph, lovingly crafted, went out the window. But, lets see what this fight was about because heat is always better than light for ratings, as Trump Congratulates Newt Gingrich For Getting His Butt Kicked By Megyn Kelly. Watch:

As Kelly garners headlines for her feminism or lack thereof, Rupert Murdoch seems desperate to keep her. Her contract expires next year and Rupie opened up to the Wall Street Journal  of which he is owner  to partially cajole Kelly and partially to threaten her into extending her contract.

Megyn Kelly Seeks Salary North of $20

Million in Contract Talks With Fox News

If they are going to make a network that is going to be a post-Ailes/post-Trump, it will be around Megyn Kelly, Chris Wallace and Shep Smith, and they are going to have to throw Hannity and OReilly overboard, said Andrew Tyndall, a television-news consultant, of other hosts at the network.



That isnt going to happen, promised Mr. Murdoch. Were not changing directionthat would be business suicide, he said.



Mr. OReillys contract is also up at the end of next year, and Mr. Murdoch said, were going to want Bill to stay with us. Mr. Hannitys contract isnt up until 2020.



Ms. Kelly has forged close ties to Mr. Murdochs sons, particularly Lachlan Murdoch, who is co-executive chairman of Fox and has taken an active role in contract talks, people close to the situation said.

Fox would like to settle this before the election and before Kellys book is released, both of which could only strengthen her position in the negotiations if all goes well.

From the The Power of Megyn Kellys FeminismEven if She Doesnt Call It That, by The Daily Beasts Tim Teeman:

Imagine, then, her mix of satisfaction and maybe ennui as she scrolled across some of the praise-ridden screeds out today: How Megyn Kelly Became an Improbable Feminist Icon (Vanity Fair); Megyn Kelly Has Become The Biggest Example of White Feminism At Work (Pajiba); and Aw CrapHeres Proof That Megyn Kelly Is Kind of a Feminist Role Model Now (The Stir).



Note the grudging headlines. Because of Kellys employer, and because she has not fought the good feminist fight in a conventional, left-wing context throughout her career to date, the F-word mantle is being conferred upon her with something of a scowl.



This, in itself, reveals a kind of blinkeredness on the part of Kellys critics: It is perfectly possible to work for a right-facing institution and not be 100 percent right wing yourself, or spout the prevailing dogma of the TV station you work for. (Full disclosure: I worked for The Times of London, a British, Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper, for over 13 years.)

Aside from the fact that when she tilts Right, she tends to tilt alt-right, the biggest knock on Kelly is that shes too hard-edged. Marshall McLuhan spoke of the Medium Cool of tee vee, but Kelly comes across as the opposite of warm and fuzzy. This makes her less attractive to other networks. Shes hoping to change that impression when she co-hosts Live with Kelly Ripa (The Kelly & Kelly Show?) the morning after the election. Think of her as a designated hitter, trying to knock Murdochs hardball right out of the park.

STILL WATTERS STILL: A few weeks back FFF reported on a racist Watters World in which the White Privileged Pencil-Necked Geek made fun of Asians. This week Asian American groups meet with Fox News personnel over awful Jesse Watters segment:

Paul Cheung, president of AAJA, told the Erik Wemple Blog that the meeting was productive. I think they heard what the communitys reactions are, he said of the session at New Yorks Museum of Chinese in America. Approximately 130 Asian American groups and allies have signed an open letter to Fox News regarding the unfortunate episode, said Cheung.



Ron Kim, a New York state assemblyman in attendance, told this blog that a representative from The OReilly Factor and a senior representative from the news side of the channel attended the meeting. Together they played a good cop, bad cop routine, said Kim. The gentleman from OReillys show was defending what they were doing and trying to explain that this is a part of the opinion section of Fox News and sometimes edgy humor can go too far, said Kim.



Once again, the specter of Fox Newss vaunted news-opinion divide presents itself. As weve noted before, this is a convention borrowed from the newspaper industry to justify Fox News hosts such as Sean Hannity openly campaigning for Donald Trump, Steve Doocy of the morning show Fox & Friends spreading harmful innuendo into the public square  and OReilly allowing his protege to spread racist stereotypes all about Chinatown.

Under the rubric that paybacks a bitch, a Comedian Gives Jesse Watters a Taste of His Own Medicine:

But thats par for the course for Fox News where On Fox Business, Bigoted Lou Dobbs Claimed Trump Is Victim Of Globalist Mormon Mafia and clearly bigoted Fox News Contributor To Headline Hate Group Conference On The Politically Incorrect Truth About Sexuality.

SPEAKING OF BIGOTS: Lets not forget that it was The Falafel King who unleashed Jesse Watters on an unsuspecting populace, minding its own business. Thats why I celebrate WashPo Wemples snarkiest column yet:

Uncovered: Bill OReillys code of journalistic ethics

OReilly proves hes a bigot regularly, even as he continues to defend his decades-long vanilla milkshake buddy, Donald Trump, or rants about the head of the F.B.I.

This week the notoriously thin-skinned Loofah Lad gets into it with WaPos Jennifer Rubin [who] Battles OReilly in Amazing Segment: You Parrot What Trump Tells You! Watch and read along:

OReilly flipped out, but Rubin was ready. She had an entire list ready to go of things OReilly has done over the course of the campaign to help bolster Trumps case while everyone else was stunned at how he could defend it.

Rubin said that OReilly even made excuses for lock her up. OReilly declared he did no such thing. Rubin looked through her list to find the examples, and when she said she didnt have the precise wording on her, OReilly took it as an out and again denied the charge.

However, NewsHounds says Columnist Jennifer Rubin Spectacularly Bungles Her Chance To Prove Bill OReillys Pro-Trump Bias, worth a read.

THE TRUMP DUMP: Or, how else did Fox News help cover for Agent Orange this week?

Thank goodness theres only another 11 days of this nonsense and Fox News can devote all the time it spent defending Trump to tearing down President Elect Hillary Clinton.

Aside from snarking about Fox News, Headly Westerfield also is also working on a poignant series about Grand Avenue, Coconut Grove, Miami, Florida.
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Hillary Clinton did a quick presser in Iowa to respond to questions about the FBI Director James Comeys decision to appear to violate the Hatch Act 11 by participating in political activities 11 days before an election.

Secretary Clinton put pressure on Comey to explain himself saying, Weve heard these rumors, we dont know what to believe. That is why it is incumbent on the FBI to tell us what they are talking about.

Watch here:

Video: Hillary Clinton calls on FBI to release all of the info it has & explain the issue in question without delay https://t.co/rg57U1RqPf  Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) October 28, 2016

The American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately. The director himself has said he doesnt know if the emails referenced in his letter are significant or not, the Democratic nominee said.

Thats why its incumbent on the FBI to tell us what theyre talking about, Clinton said.

Clinton pushed for more information to be released without delay. She said she found about the investigation from reports and that she wasnt given advance notice. Clinton said she had not been contacted by Comey on this issue.

When asked what she would tell voters about her emails, Clinton responded, I think people made up their minds a while ago about the emails.

This might be the right place to mention the 22 million emails the Bush administration lost and the private RNC servers they used, as context for how important this issue really is to Republicans as a value.

Kristen Welker asked if Clinton was afraid that this could sink her campaign, to which Secretary Clinton responded with a big laugh:

"Are you worried this could sink your campaign, Secretary Clinton," a reporter shouts as HRC walks out. Clinton only lets out a big laugh.  Ruby Cramer (@rubycramer) October 28, 2016

The Republican FBI Director James Comey wrote the House on Friday to inform hopeful Republicans that they had found new emails relating to Clintons private email that begged further investigation.

It turns out the emails didnt come from Clintons server and there doesnt seem to be any there there, except for giving Republicans a reason their base needs to get out to vote.

Federal employees are forbidden from participating in political activities under the Hatch Act, and this is why a complaint has already been lodged against Comey.

Hillary Clinton laughed because what else is she supposed to do at this point. How many years on is this? Republicans have mined this hopeful scandal for so long its DOA. The press has followed Republicans lead with the absurd email story- a story as ridiculous as it is common, and a story that was never a story until Clinton did it.

Republicans and some in the press think this might sink the Clinton campaign. So they think America would rather put Putins puppet who laughs about sexually assaulting women in the White House than someone whose emails weve all read now and found nothing much but gossip.

Yeah, I dont think so.

Dead story was dead before it started, but that wont stop it from being spun into blood match.
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The reason why the Clinton email scandal is getting pushed 11 days before the election has nothing to with Trumps DOA White House bid, and everything to do with helping Republicans keep control of Congress.

On the surface, the sudden revival of Hillary Clintons emails looks like an October surprise designed to help Republican nominee Donald Trump. The problem with this theory is that both Democrats and Republicans acknowledge that Trump is toast.

Unless Hillary Clintons emails say, LOL. I was the shooter on the grassy knoll, there is nothing that would stop her from winning the election. In fact, the emails FBI Director was investigating did not come from Clinton or her server. They seem to have very little to do with Hillary Clinton or her presidential campaign.

The emails are like catnip to Republican voters, who have been promised for years that if they keep sending Republicans to Congress, theyll bring down a Democratic president, and that is the real reason behind the email scandal revival.

For the next ten days, Republican Congressional candidates are going to be able to campaign on investigating Hillary Clinton. The Republican candidates can pretend like Trump doesnt exist because their new pitch to voters is, Vote for me and Ill bring down Hillary.

Donald Trump is a lost cause. Millions of ballots have already been cast in swing states. Trump is being out organized and trounced by Clinton on the ground.

To understand the real value of the email scandal to the Republican Party, look down the ballot.

The Hillary Clinton email scandal is nothing more Republican get out the vote operation to save their majorities in Congress.
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On Saturday, the press began to figure out that they had been conned by Republicans again, but not before the Clinton email news lead in swing state newspapers.

The Clinton email news leads in almost every single one of the big swing state papers this morning, observes Politico reporter Gabriel Debenedetti.

The Clinton email news leads almost every single one of the big swing state papers this morning  pic.twitter.com/t3rEOwHNmM  Gabriel Debenedetti (@gdebenedetti) October 29, 2016

The FBI investigation!!!! spread like wildfire last night. This is the result of the press, once again, taking Republican smoke and claiming theres fire.

This observation isnt mine along. The Washington Posts Greg Sargent pointed out that there is only an upside and no penalty for doing this  for both Republicans and the press:

This is how GOP hype-ahead-of-the-facts gets rewarded by media's willful perpetuation of smoke/fire effect. Zero penalty. Only upside. https://t.co/vm0ZLTrACL  Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) October 29, 2016

Even though early polling shows there hasnt been an impact in swing states, and even though the majority of Americans have already made up their minds, each time her emails are brought up Hillary Clinton falls in the polls.

A Gallup poll showed that emails are the most Americans have heard about Clinton. Not that she is the most qualified candidate in modern history or how her policy on paid family leave might impact them  but the emails that she was already cleared on.

Even though one result of the Comey letter has been to energize Clinton supporters, at a time when she was facing a likely win that can create complacency, this still isnt an acceptable practice.

Republican FBI Director James Comey finds himself in the hot seat today after sending a letter that has no precedent, obviously would impact an election that was then just 11 days out and is now 10 days out, and actually bore no information well, thats inaccurate. The letter bore inaccurate smoke and innuendo that has already been cleared, but the damage has already been done.

While Ron Fournier and others suggested that Democratic objections to this unprecedented violation of the rules by Comey was just more partisan folly, the truth is even more disturbing.

By even suggesting that objecting to violating a longstanding rule is partisan, we are allowing the press to enable Republicans to continue pretending there is no reality.

In reality, no matter which side of the aisle you are on, its a rule not to comment on ongoing investigations that could impact an election. The reasons for this are obvious and the potential ramifications for abuse are terrifying for both parties  for instance, its obvious that the FBI is investigating the Trump campaign for coordination with Russia, but we dont headline that because the FBI hasnt commented on that, because

To do so would violate the rule not to interfere with elections.

So its really quite frightening to hear people claim objecting to violating this rule is partisan, even as the Trump campaign is benefiting from the adherence to said rule. If the rule applies to Donald Trump, it should apply to Hillary Clinton.

Asking that this value be applied to both sides is not partisan.

We must stick to reality. We must not allow our need to appear objective cause us to fall so far down the rabbit hole that we enable Republicans to keep drinking the no-fact Kool-Aid.

The press did the Republican smoke is a real fire thing all through President Obamas terms, at one point claiming he was implicated in Benghazi emails because a reporter allowed a Republican aide to read him said emails  and of course, it turned out that the emails didnt say what the aide told the reporter. But that was learned much later and as everyone knows, a lie travels faster than the truth.

And now American voters in swing states who read papers will think the FBI is investigating Clinton.

So Comeys letter did damage Hillary Clinton. Even if she wins the election, the letter damaged her and down ballot Democrats.

The media never learns. They take Republican smoke and innuendo and treat it as fact, every time. They look like fools to those who know there was no there in the Comey letter, but the average voter doesnt live for political updates.

The irresponsible damage is done.
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In a conference call with reporters, Hillary Clintons campaign manager said that FBI Director Comeys letter is backfiring and energizing Clintons volunteers to work harder and her supporters are voting in even bigger numbers.

Clinton campaign chair John Podesta called Comeys letter long on innuendo, short on facts. Podesta said the more information that comes out, the more this seems overblown. Podesta went off on Rep. Jason Chaffetz for distorting the facts and undermining his own legitimacy by claiming that the investigation was reopened. Podesta said that Comey had provided selective information that allowed partisans to distort the facts.

Podesta said theres no evidence of wrongdoing, no charge of wrongdoing. He said if all the media reports are true, about the investigation having nothing to do with Hillary Clinton, its hard to see how this amounts to anything.

Hillary Clintons campaign chair called on Comey to provide answers to be public.

Clinton campaign manager Robbie Mook said that the Comey letter is motivating Clinton volunteers and supporters:

Based on the anecdotes I am hearing from out team on the ground, this situation has created an urgency and intensity among our volunteers and activists that was already high because we are so close to the election. Our volunteers are rallying around Hillary They know what a fighter she is.

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They are turning out, not only to have her back but to rally our supporters to turn out and vote, as early voting goes into full swing. Were not just seeing this in our offices, on the ground, but also in our online, in the online space as well. I think this is; we already had momentum and wind behind our back going into yesterday. I think that this has only increased the momentum that were feeling among our activists on the ground.

Later Mook suggested that the Comey letter is helping the Clinton campaign by adding fuel to their early voting fire. It is likely that the Comey letter will backfire on Republicans and motivate Democrats to get out and support their nominee.

An early report from a pollster in two swing states saw no impact from the letter on voters. Hillary Clinton may end up benefiting from Comeys actions because the FBI Director might have gotten rid of the one thing that could have beaten her.

With one written paragraph, James Comey may have destroyed Democratic complacency.
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President Barack Obama did not have to do anything wrong for Republicans to want to throw him in jail, or to impeach him. Hillary Clinton doesnt have to have done anything wrong either, apparently, for Congress to appoint a special prosecutor to take her down once elected  because a bunch of emails had nothing to do with her.

At least, that and completely ignoring the facts, was the theme on Fox News last night, though to be fair, other mainstream media outlets werent much better yesterday.

Megyn Kelly, fresh from a stint of pretending to be a feminist in a face-off with Newt Gingrich, suggested to Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Bob Goodlatte (R-WV) that given the FBI revelations of a complete lack of evidence that Hillary Clinton has done anything wrong, what needs to happen is a special prosecutor.

MEGYN KELLY: Let me ask you this. If she gets elected on November 8th, this isnt going away. So what needs to happen, [a] special prosecutor? She cant investigate herself as the president-elect.



BOB GOODLATTE: Well, first of all, we have said from the outset that the House Judiciary Committee would follow the truth wherever it leads, and we have done that throughout the summer, asking a number of questions about how this investigation by the FBI was being conducted. We will continue to do that. We dont know whats going to happen now. We dont know whats going to happen after the election. So its pure speculation what will happen afterwards. A special prosecutor, remember, is appointed by the Attorney General of the United States. So, you have to decide whether thats going to be a fairer investigation than the one being conducted by the FBI under the direction of Director Comey right now. And the Judiciary Committee will certainly stay engaged in this and continue our investigation.

Democracy is a fragile thing. It is to Goodlattes credit that he declined the call to draw up articles of impeachment in 2014 and that he cautioned Megyn Kelly that a special prosecutor is appointed not by the House but by the Attorney General. However, the GOP-led House has been far too engaged already in undermining our democracy.

What holds this country together is an idea and an agreement among all parties that it works. Republicans have decided it only works if theyre in charge, and this has brought us to the point where we threaten to jail our adversaries, appoint special prosecutors if they win, or vote to impeach them outright, as Trumps pet snake at CNN, Jeffrey Lord, called for last night:

Two points, Anderson. One, with 11 days left, this makes Donald Trumps argument exactly to the point here, you sum up the argument in terms of her judgment, her paranoia and all of the rest. The second thing, Anderson is, and this is the really disturbing thing, lets just say for the sake of the argument she wins the election, this isnt going to stop. There will be a move to impeach her the moment her hand comes down from that Bible. This is going to go on and on and on and on and frankly, I mean thats something the American people need to consider now.

It is not difficult to see where this will lead. Hillary Clinton has committed no crimes. Far from being a miscarriage of justice, though it is that as well, this is a miscarriage of reason and sanity.

This sort of talk is just further evidence that Donald Trump comes from the same vile brew as Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell and the rest of the party. During the McCarthy era, the House took it upon itself to be both judge and jury. Last night, it was Fox News egging the House on for more of the same.

This sort of talk is deplorable, it is reprehensible, and it is dangerous  and strikes at the very heart of our democracy.
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*The following is an opinion column by R Muse*

Although this campaign season has been interesting, to say the least, there is something happening one never thought would occur. After spending nearly eight years demonizing, obstructing, and criticizing every and anything about the President of the United States, Republicans desperate to save their jobs are beginning to tout their imagined close ties to the Democratic President whose approval rating and popularity are growing.

It is hypocritical, to say the least, and at some point a result of a toxic Republican candidate for the presidency, but for some GOP candidates it is a very dangerous strategy. If any Republican believed President Obama would allow them to take advantage of him after spending eight years assailing him as illegitimate and corrupt, they were sadly mistaken and underestimated the commander in chiefs tolerance during an election.

The President is using the final two weeks before the election to decimate Republicans for either belated rejection or continued support of Donald Trump. President Obama is also reminding Republicans that Donald Trump is the endpoint of eight years of [GOP] toxic hostility. It may be a tad of an exaggeration to claim that Obama seems determined to spend the last two weeks of the election laying waste to every Republican who ever crossed him, but he is getting some well-placed and well-warranted shots at Republicans.

Two Republican hypocrites hoping to take advantage of the Presidents approval ratings have been some of his harshest critics; so it likely stunned the President that they are boasting working closely with the man they obstructed, opposed, and attempted to get rid of.

Ohio Senator Rob Portman had the temerity to run a campaign ad boasting about working closely with the President to break the grip of heroin addiction. President Obama took the time to excoriate Portman for,

Finally withdrawing his support from Donald Trump, but only After looking at the polling. Now that its politically expedient. But he has supported him up until last week? So I guess it was OK when Trump was attacking minorities, and suggesting that Mexicans were rapists  and insulting Gold Star moms, making fun of disabled Americans. I guess that didnt quite tip it over the edge. Why was that OK? And now he says he will vote for the vice-presidential nominee instead, except that guy still supports Donald Trump.

The President was a little more exercised after learning that the man who called the President one of the most corrupt presidents in modern times, California Republican Representative Daryl Issa, is sending out campaign mailers with the Presidents face on them and boasting about his close work with President Obama to protect victims of sexual assault.

Daryl Issa is in a fairly competitive race compared to past elections and he certainly has earned the Presidents wrath after obstructing progress and wasting taxpayer money on Issa-created scandals. During a fundraiser in La Jolla California Sunday last, the President assailed Issa for having the audacity to use a campaign mailer with the Presidents image on it. The President said,

Issas primary contribution to the United States Congress has been to obstruct and to waste taxpayer dollars on trumped-up investigations that have led nowhere. This is now a guy who, because poll numbers are bad, has sent out brochures with my picture on them touting his cooperation on issues with me. Now that is the definition of chutzpah.

As remarked by Tim Murphy at Mother Jones, President Obama is not just evening up the score with Republicans who made his tenure miserable, He is attempting to have the last word on the personal and political fights of the last eight yearsto take the conspiracy theories and obstruction that dogged his presidency from day one and throw them back in Republicans faces.

The President clearly has a lot of words to harangue Republicans with. He said,

Heres the thing. For years, Republican politicians and the far-right media outlets have pumped up all kinds of crazy stuff about me. About Hillary. About Harry. They said I wasnt born here. They said climate change is a hoax. They said that I was going to take everybodys guns away! They said that while we were doing military exercises that weve been doing forever, suddenly this was a plot to impose martial law. This is what theyve been saying for years now! So people have been hearing it they start thinking well maybe its true! And if the world theyve been seeing is Im powerful enough to cause hurricanes on my own and to steal everybodys guns in the middle of the night and impose martial laweven though I cant talk without a prompterthen is it any wonder that they end up nominating somebody like Donald Trump?

And the fact is that there are a lot of politicians who knew better. There are a lot of senators who knew better but they went along with these stories because they figured you know what thisll help rile up the base, itll give us an excuse to obstruct what were trying to do, we wont be able to appoint judges, well gum up the works, well create gridlock, itll give us a political advantage. So they just stood by and said nothing and their base began to actually believe this stuff. So Donald Trump did not start this. Donald Trump didnt start it, he just did what he always did which is slap his name on it, take credit for it, and promote it. Thats what he always does. And so now, when suddenly its not working and people are saying wow this guys kind of out of line, all of a sudden these Republican politicians who were okay with all this crazy stuff up to a point suddenly theyre all walking away. Oh, this is too much. So when you finally get him on tape bragging about actions that qualify as sexual assault and his poll numbers go down, suddenly thats a deal-breaker. Well what took you so long! What the heck! What took you so long! All these years!

The Mother Jones piece made out like President Obama is seeking retribution, or revenge against Republicans for their impropriety as legislators over the past eight years. Without knowing what goes on in the Presidents head to motivate his campaign rhetoric; that is a hard call to make with any surety. Barack Obama does not strike one as being vindictive.

The President is, though, an accomplished campaigner and as his tenure in the White House is winding down and Republicans are struggling to find an identity apart from Donald Trump, it is prudent of the President to remind voters exactly what Republicans are about and what they are about is precisely why Donald Trump is their standard bearer; and why Republicans are hypocrites for both abandoning Trump and embracing the man they obstructed and tried to remove from the White House.
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Trump warned his supporters that the US Postal Service is trying to steal the election for Hillary Clinton in Colorado.

Video:

At a rally in Golden, CO, Trump said:

I have real problems with ballots being sent. Does that make sense?

Like people saying, Oh, heres a ballot. Heres another ballot. Throw it away. Oh, heres one I like. Well keep that one.

I have real problems, so get your ballots in.

Trump also accused election officials of throwing away ballots, as his rally was a mixture of claims of voter fraud and baseless speculation about Hillary Clintons emails.

Donald Trump appears to be losing his mind. He also seems to think that accusing the US Postal Service and election officials of stealing the election for Hillary Clinton is going to motivate Republicans to vote.

Consider the contradiction in Trumps message. The Republican nominee tells his supporters that the US Postal Service is throwing away ballots, while at the same time he is urging them to mail in their ballots.

If their ballots are going to be thrown away by USPS, why should Republicans bother mailing their ballots in?

It is this sort of incoherent gibberish that makes no sense. Trumps inability to stay disciplined and on message is also one of the biggest reasons why Republicans on pace to lose this election.

Donald Trumps descent into paranoid senior citizen continues to play out in front of the entire nation, as the Republican nominee for president believes that his letter carrier is out to get him,
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If youre a woman whos worked in any business where youre forced to try to appease the massively sensitive ego of a sexually aggressive, vulgar man in power, you will know exactly whats about to happen in this video.

Donald Trump uses sexual shaming and humiliation of women as simplistic revenge for the slightest felt spurn. And theres a newly surfaced video via Ryan Grim at Huffington Post that shows the Trump Humiliation game in action.

In the video, Trump publicly sexualizes and shames the 2004 Miss Universe winner from Australia, Jennifer Hawkins as revenge. Before he does it, Trump tells the audience, Get even with people. If they screw you, screw them back 10 times as hard. I really believe that.

Watch this newly surfaced 2011 corporate speech here via Huffington Post (major trigger warning if youve been there):

Watching this you see the Trump modus operandi in action. This is the sting felt by numerous women who report spurning Trumps advances. The harassment as revenge. The sexual shaming.

Trump sets the audience up for the Roman Gladiator moment of public sexual offering by priming them with his belief that you should screw people back if they screw you. The sexually angry verb foreshadows whats to come, because he is going to screw Jennifer Hawkins in public, when she realizes that because its public, she cant further humiliate him by saying no or objecting without facing huge repercussions.

Trump says hes going to give them an example of his revenge theory, Jennifer Hawkins.

Trump orders Hawkins to the stage. The audience cheers and jeers, delighting in the upcoming shaming of the beautiful girl. Its to be a public spanking. So much fun.

First of all, how beautiful is Jennifer, Trump asks, claiming ownership of Jennifer as an object while playing magnanimous daddy who dishes out praise and approval before the spanking. The message: He can make or break her. She better play nice.

Warning shot, This is about getting even.

Trump tells the audience that he was mad at Hawkins because she allegedly dissed him by declining to introduce him at the event in Sydney. He tells the audience how mad he was, and then says, as shes crossing the stage, Shes my favorite Miss Universe. So she thinks maybe this isnt going to be as bad as she fears.

But then he stabs her publicly for the first time, But I think I like the new one better.

The audience loves it. He is going to feed them the sexual humiliation of a beautiful woman because she wasnt a good girl. She reaches him and they clasp hands while she smiles through the shame knowing she has no choice and wanting to be a good sport.

Hawkins tries to make light of the situation while appeasing Trump, playing along with his game because she has to, but there will be no easy way out of this one. It wont be enough to fawn over him in front of the audience. She will have to pay.

I was actually going to get up and tell you that Jennifer is a beautiful girl on the outside, but shes not very bright, Trump tells the audience, signaling that Hawkins is a piece of meat to be dissected by him publicly for her refusal to give him anything he asks for.

That wouldnt have been true, but I would have said it anyway, Trump proudly tells the audience. This is his alpha male routine, except in real life, the alpha male doesnt have to abuse money and power he inherited in order to win the girl. But in the mind of little men like Trump, this makes him a winner.

Trump points out that Hawkins is a big star now, but he helped her make it and then dissed him. He owns her. She must comply or face his wrath. Hawkins tries to say that she did introduce him, but Trump pushes her away from the microphone. This public shaming will be done from Trumps POV only. No need for Hawkins to assert her personhood.There will be no defense allowed, because shes already guilty.

And you know what? She came tonight, she came  came, she came, she came, Trump says gleefully like the drunk pervy uncle everyone tries to avoid at Christmas. He waits for the audience to join him in his sexual shaming, and they do. They get it. Hee heee. So clever. Came. Knuckles dragging on the floor clever.

See, so they have the same filthy minds in Australia, Trump says.

Trump grabs Hawkins around the waist and forces a kiss on her, just like he bragged about doing on the Bush tape.

Hawkins reflexively turns away and puts her arm between them. The kiss misses its mark and lands on her cheek. She is hoping this is good enough humiliation for him, but putting her foot down on actual mouth contact. Shes allowed herself to be publicly humiliated to appease him, and pretended to fawn over him as required, but she will not, cannot, allow the kiss. The repulsive kiss.

Im telling this story as I imagine it to be from her point of view, although she has refused to comment. Of course she refused to comment, women are told they will be blackballed if they comment. The world is full of men like Trump, and they stick together. See Roger Ailes. Women have to play along and appease and if that doesnt work, they have to allow themselves to be sexually assaulted and humiliated just a little bit in public, especially if they said no in private.

I can only do this because I have lived it, somewhat like this, in public. And I have tried to appease the ego of the assaulter in order to keep my job, while denying him his assumed entitlement to my body.

From talking to so many women during this election, I know that Im not alone. I know that many other women will watch this and know. They will feel the creep of fear and revulsion, the deer in the headlights cringe that takes over when you know that you are about to be humiliated as a sexual object because you refused him or refused to appease the ego of the powerful man in charge by behaving like a sexual conquest. How dare Hawkins have her own life and be unwilling to change all of her plans in order to introduce Trump.

And other people will watch this humiliation and enjoy it, setting you up to be humiliated even more. They will laugh about it and gossip about it, which is the social punishment women face when they reject a man like Trump. Ironically, if you give in youre not humiliated. Its only if you say no that you are set up to be publicly flogged as a sex object.

Its not just the unwanted kiss, although that is disgusting and assault, much like Donald Trump bragged about doing on the Billy Bush bus tape. Its the public humiliation and denigration.

Its the way the woman is forced, in front of thousands of people, to try to smile her way through his ambush of verbal and physical assaults as he takes revenge.

Its the way she tries to make it okay, to sweet-smooth his ego in order to get out of the line of fire, and in return he shames her by suggesting he made her come and then grabs her for an unwanted kiss.

If there is any good to come out of the total crapfest of the Trump candidacy, perhaps it is a raised awareness that women are people, and that this kind of thing is horrific but its not all Trumps fault. Its the cultures fault because it takes a willing audience to successfully publicly sexually shame a woman.

In fact, this is shades of what Trump did to Hillary Clinton in the stalking debate, after which he announced that looking at her from behind he was not impressed.

Neither are we by you, Mr. Trump. Neither are we.
Dorchester County has put the 1 percent sales tax back on the ballot on Nov. 8 for a proposed 15-year continuation, and several parties have their own opinions on the benefits or detriments of the referendum. Read moreDorchester Countys 1% sales tax back on the ballot as critics, supporters weigh its impact
Electric vehicles arent a panacea. They dont reduce traffic congestion or the need to spend billions of dollars repairing and expanding our highways, the way mass transit, ride sharing and more walkable and bicycleable communities can. To the contrary, they make it more difficult to pay for the necessary upgrades, because despite some modest steps, politicians here and elsewhere have been unwilling to change our tax laws to ensure that vehicles using little or no gasoline pay their fair share for those improvements. Read moreEditorial: SC electric vehicle expansion helps state in multiple ways
SAN FRANCISCO  Anyone looking for a book about driverless cars  smart, wide-ranging, nontechnical, easy to understand  was pretty much out of luck until "Driverless: Intelligent Cars and the Road Ahead" was published in September.

The authors, Hod Lipson and Melba Kurman, have a reputation for clear, succinct writing about emerging technologies. It's geared toward nonexperts, but scientists, engineers and computer programmers can learn new things too.

Lipson is a roboticist and professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University, where he directs the Creative Machines Lab.

Kurman, a former product manager and industry analyst at Microsoft, is an author and speaker with a specialty in technology and its effect on our daily lives and the economy.

If driverless cars deliver as promised, that effect will be wide and deep.

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The two answered questions via Skype. Here's a transcript, edited for length and clarity.

Q: When will driverless cars become commonplace?

Lipson: The answer is not a crisp date. It's a range that maybe starts in the next five years and ends 30 or 40 years from now, when all the cars are driverless. It'll be the majority maybe 20 years from now.

Kurman: There are about 250 million active cars in the United States alone. This is going to be a gradual switchover.

If you look at when horses were phased out by engines, there wasn't a snap transition, there was a phase-in that took several decades.

Lipson: People are often asking when this is going to happen from a technology point of view. The bigger question will be when will the states and the insurance companies approve (driverless cars). The technology part we're comfortable saying within the next five to 10 years.

When will people be ready, when will legislation be ready? That's a question of political policy.

Q: Why have driverless cars suddenly come on the scene?

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Kurman: There has been a convergence of several different enabling technologies, including a branch of artificial intelligence called deep learning. We finally have the data and computing power and the sensors able to process inputs fast enough so robots can finally "see."

The other part is cultural. It's part Google lighting a fire under the automotive industry. And young people are very comfortable with technology. Many really don't want to drive much and a generation is coming up now that will be thrilled to give up the wheel.

Q: Your book notes that no one has yet developed a hard safety metric, for either semi-autonomous or driverless cars.

Lipson: The fact is there's no clear guidelines, no clear goal.

It's actually pretty simple: Just come up with one figure that will inform people how safe a driverless car is compared to the average human driver.

If the government could say something simple and crisp  for example, when the car is twice as safe as the average human driver, then you don't need a human driver  so that consumers know the car is safe.

And companies  automotive, software, big and small, startups  everybody will know what the target is. Insurance companies will be able to start calculating things. Everybody will be able to move forward.

Kurman: We believe the U.S. federal government should be more proactive about leadership (on a safety metric).

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Q: Surveys show many people still think human drivers will be safer than robot cars.

Kurman: Humans are terrible drivers. Every week worldwide an estimated 28,000 people die in car crashes.

Lipson: That's a huge number. It's like a nuclear bomb of Hiroshima scale going off every month.

Q: So a safety metric would help these skeptical consumers see the light?

Lipson: We all need to rally behind this. There's so much benefit behind driverless cars, not just safety.

This is really technology that will enable so many other things to happen: environment, real estate, rearrangement of urban living, transportation for the aged and the disabled. So many new things are going to be enabled by these technologies. It's really like going to the moon  you have to make sure it happens now.
More than 90 percent of Rochester Community and Technical College nursing students passed the national exam required to be a registered nurse.

The college announced 91.58 percent of associate degree candidates passed the National Council of State Boards of Nursing exam, or NCLEX-RN, on their first try, according to the college. This puts the college in the top five of Minnesota's associate degree nursing programs with tenths of a percent separating each of the top five colleges' pass rates, according to RCTC.

Additionally, 90 percent of RCTC's practical nurse candidates passed the national exam, NCLEX-PN, on their first attempt.

RCTC's practical nursing program ranked in the top 10 of all those in Minnesota, with the second largest number of nursing students taking and passing the NCLEX-PN exam among the 28 programs statewide.
Last week, three Mayo High School students asked the school board to add a day off to the Rochester Public Schools calendar for a major Muslim holiday.

With the growing number of Muslim students in the school district, leaders should consider the addition of one day to celebrate the "most religious" holiday, Eid al-Adha, said the students.

The holiday commemorates Ibrahim's (Abraham in the Bible) willingness to submit to God by sacrificing his son. Its celebration is based on the lunar calendar, and observance drifts from year to year.

While it typically is celebrated as a three-day holiday, the three 15-year-olds  Muntaas Farah, Elham Osman and Siham Abdi  asked the district to give students one day off.

Though the district excuses students for religious celebrations and observances without question, the students say missing classes puts them at a disadvantage and forces them to choose between their faith and their schoolwork  a difficult decision.

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"It's something that the school district hasn't taken into account," Abdi said, noting the many Muslim students in the district. "We've always had this dilemma of going to school or celebrating Eid."

As honors students, the girls said making up missed class time can be very difficult for them, and they don't want to have to make the choice between celebrating a holiday or making it to class.

School board chairman Gary Smith said it wasn't a "typical request" but said he appreciated that it was made. He added the board likely will discuss the matter in the future; it just hasn't had time yet.

"That's just one issue -- that's a whole area that we'd have to take a look and see what, if anything, we'd do different," Smith said, noting it would prompt discussion of the addition of other religious holidays.

There is no overarching Minnesota Department of Education regulation on this. It's all managed locally, said MDE's director of communications, Josh Collins. Schools throughout the rest of the state don't have a policy specifically for Muslim holidays.

A charter school in St. Paul, St. Paul Academy and Summit School, has a day built in for the observance of Eid al-Adha.

St. Paul Public Schools has a policy that discourages observance of holidays, except when required by law, according to its school district policy.

Smith said there could be a way to address this through policy changes so students don't have to feel as though they're making a choice between their faith and school.

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"I can't answer (if it's plausible). I think we owe it to them to at least think about that and if it's plausible or not first," Smith said.
The latest campaign finance reports filed with the city of Rochester show a significant lead for incumbent Council President Randy Staver over challenger Sean Allen.

Funding reported by two political action committees and spent in the at-large council race still outpaces the fundraising of either candidate.

Staver's campaign reported contributions of $17,605 in the last filing period, from Aug. 3 through Friday. Contributions to date for Staver's campaign total $30,280.

Allen's campaign reported contributions of $2,167 in the latest period, from July 29 through Friday. His campaign total stands at $17,742.

Staver's campaign had the benefit of a big fundraising day  the campaign reported 11 contributions totaling $3,525 on Sept. 13. A private event benefited the campaign, campaign treasurer Mark Koehler previously told the Post Bulletin.

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The Staver campaign's report also noted $2,800 of in-kind contributions: $933.33 from Joey Powers on Sept. 16; another $933.33 from Nick Powers on Sept. 22; and $933.34 from Melissa Walker on Sept. 25.

Koehler was not available for comment Friday afternoon.

Staver had contributions from several recognizable Rochester residents, including from Mayor Ardell Brede, who donated $150 on Sept. 13.

Other Staver donors included Thomas Hexum, Daniel Penz, Mark Kramer and Merl Groteboer, who donated $1,000 each. Developers Peter Gerrard and Paul Gerrard contributed $500 each, and Gerald Powers donated $1,000,

Contributions to the Allen campaign slowed significantly from his last reporting period. From Feb. 20 through July 27, Allen's campaign raised $12,875. From then until Friday, the campaign raised $2,167.

Two political action committees supported Staver's campaign with independent spending. Minnesota's Future spent $22,159 for Staver, and the National Association of Realtors fund spent $16,184 for Staver, a total of $38,343 in independent spending.

Finance reports for candidates in other wards were expected either later Friday or next week, according to city clerk Aaron Reeves.

The campaign team for Ward 6 candidate Annalissa Johnson filed its report early Friday afternoon. It showed contributions of $2,225 from July 26 through Friday  outpacing the fundraising of the citywide Allen campaign.

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"We are proud of our grassroots campaign," said Paul Sims, a Johnson campaign staff member. "Annalissa believes in fiscal responsibility, and we have only asked for what we thought we needed to get our message out."
Twin Cities artist Kater is a man of mystery  with a cult following.

While he keeps his identity secret, he's amassed a large online community of collectors who snap up his limited-edition prints. If you can imagine how Dr. Seuss would paint after having a nightmare, then you have some idea of Kater's style.

For someone who wants to keep his identity secret, he loves to talk. On an early fall day, Kater led a tour through a glassblowers' studio on Chester Street in St. Paul, just over the river from downtown, between Hwy. 52 and the downtown airport.

"Yeah, these guys are glassblowers that I just met," he said, speaking in a surfer-dude style born of his childhood in Hawaii. "They just invited me into their space, just to paint a mural for fun. And then after an hour I was like, 'You wanna do a show here?' And he was like, 'Yeah!'"

The show, his first-ever gallery event, will take place Saturday. Halloween is his favorite time of the year.

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He loped around the studio space, pointing out areas where he's been hard at work. The wall of one room is painted with a skull, a village embedded in its eye sockets. It's just for a background, though.

"This is going to be like a room of clocks," he said. "I'm going to have like 50 clocks on the wall. And they are all going to be like pieces of mine that I have put clock mechanisms in."

Next door, a ghoul rides an irritated-looking ostrich. Kater described the painting's style as Dr. Seuss by way of Ralph Steadman.

It's been quite a trip to this point in Kater's career. As one of the few white kids in his school in Hawaii, he felt pretty isolated. When he was 13, a fellow student called Malcolm asked him a question that changed his life.

"And he's like, 'Do you do graffiti?' And I was like, 'Yeah, I do graffiti.' Because I just wanted a friend. I'd do graffiti, I'd ride horses, whatever you want, dude. And he's like, 'We're going out after school.'"

They headed up into the dry canals in the hills above where he lived. He found it was covered in what some would call graffiti, and others, art.

"It almost upset me," he said. "I was so inspired and upset at the same time. It was such a strange feeling. To see artwork that people put their time and energy into, that was like amazing, that no one could see or appreciate, that was hidden under these walls."

The experience launched his artistic career, and a fair bit of running from the cops. He eventually moved to Minnesota to attend the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, where he had more brushes with the law before deciding to go straight.

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"Getting arrested, spending time in jail, I can't help people while I am in jail. I can't feed someone while I'm in jail," he said. "I can't love someone while I'm in jail."

He eventually decided to focus on murals and dropped out of MCAD. It was tough. He lived in his car for a spell. However, he discovered a market for his work online.

He pulled up a computer to check his Facebook page, Kater the Alchemist. It's where he sells prints, canvases and other items, including enameled collector pins.

"Oh, the new pins just dropped!" he said. "There are pins that I made that I have never seen before. ... Someone just sent me these."

The pins, like all his artwork, will be snapped up.

"These are all the posts from today," he said, scrolling down through item after item. "We've been blowing up, so to say."

Kater will paint a canvas and make prints, usually 20 to 60 of them. He'll auction the canvas and sell the prints for a fixed price. They move fast. He pointed to one recent sale: "We sold like 55 prints in 11 minutes," he said. "It was the fastest that we have ever sold the prints."

What's remarkable about this is that none of the people collecting his art know Kater's identity. He said anonymity is important.

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"And I'll tell you why," he said. "You are forced to look at Kater art as just the art, because you have no idea who I am. So when you lose that aspect of the art, it's just about the artwork."

There are close to 3,000 people who follow Kater's Facebook page. One of them is Daniel Schwartz, 19, a college student from Long Island, N.Y.

"Let me just do some quick math, because I just did buy a couple the other day," he said. "I'd say I have between 20 and 25 pins, and I want to say I have roughly the same number of prints, actually."

Schwartz has been collecting Kater's work since the beginning of the year. The subject matter appeals to him, as does interacting with Kater's online fan base.

"I think it's more so the community, honestly," he said. "There are some really stand-up people that I would go so far as to call friends of mine, even though I have never met them."

Jackie Aitken, who works in the oil industry in Houston, Texas, said there is "definitely something mystical" about Kater's pieces.

She has roughly 60 prints, 50 pins, 20 ink sketches and two Kater canvases. She acknowledged Kater's work isn't for everyone, but she finds looking at the pieces she has inspirational. She particularly likes the gnarled, scowling faces he paints.

"It's like your old grumpy uncle that wasn't the most attractive person, but there was something calming about him," she said. "And I always felt that way about Kater's work."

She's had a tough time recently, undergoing treatment for cancer. She has tried to make sure she has a full set of Kater's prints, and other Kater fans, knowing her situation, have bought prints for her. She recently got word that she's cancer-free, and said what she calls "the Kater family" has been a huge support for her.

"Discovering Kater and the whole community and all of the art has played a massive part in keeping me sane over the past year," she said.

Even while preparing the gallery for Saturday's show, Kater has been working on a mural visible to anyone driving west on Interstate 94 in Minneapolis. The Rayito de Sol Spanish preschool sits above the freeway near the Hennepin-Lyndale exit. Kater and some friends covered the side of the building with an image of the planet Neptune in alignment with the sun.

"Use the pink to go from the purple back to blue," Kater advised one of his colleagues.

Tens of thousands of people pass the mural every day, which delights Kater even as he paints.

"Still managing to stay anonymous. How funny is that, right? Being hidden in plain sight," he said with a laugh.

One question that remains unanswered is whether he will actually be at the gallery show on Saturday  and if he is, whether he will be identifiable. It is Halloween, after all.
WASHINGTON  Last week, the U.N.'s premier cultural agency, UNESCO, approved a resolution viciously condemning Israel (referred to as "the Occupying Power") for various alleged trespasses and violations of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Except that the resolution never uses that term for Judaism's holiest shrine. It refers to and treats it as an exclusively Muslim site, a deliberate attempt to eradicate its connection -- let alone its centrality -- to the Jewish people and Jewish history.

This Orwellian absurdity is an insult not just to Judaism but to Christianity. It makes a mockery of the Gospels, which chronicle the story of a Galilean Jew whose life and ministry unfolded throughout the Holy Land, most especially in Jerusalem and the Temple. If this is nothing but a Muslim site, what happens to the very foundation of Christianity, which occurred 600 years before Islam even came into being?

This UNESCO resolution is merely the surreal extreme of the worldwide campaign to delegitimize Israel. It features the BDS movement (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions), now growing on Western university campuses and some mainline Protestant churches. And it extends even into some precincts of the Democratic Party.

Bernie Sanders tried to introduce into the Democratic Party platform a plank more unfavorable to Israel. He failed, but when a couple of Clinton campaign consultants questioned (in emails revealed by WikiLeaks) why she should be mentioning Israel in her speeches, campaign manager Robby Mook concurred, "We shouldn't have Israel at public events. Especially dem activists." For whom the very mention of Israel is toxic.

And what to make of the White House's correction to a press release about last month's funeral of Shimon Peres? The original release identified the location as "Mount Herzl, Jerusalem, Israel." The correction crossed out the country identifier -- "Israel."

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Well, where else is Jerusalem? Sri Lanka? Moreover, Mount Herzl isn't even in disputed East Jerusalem. It's in West Jerusalem, within the boundaries of pre-1967 Israel. If that's not Israel, what is?

But such cowardly gestures are mere pinpricks compared to the damage Israel faces in the final days of the Obama presidency. As John Hannah of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies recently wrote (in Foreign Policy), there have been indications for months that President Obama might go to the U.N. and unveil his own final status parameters of a two-state solution. These would then be enshrined in a new Security Council resolution that could officially recognize a Palestinian state on the territory Israel came into possession of during the 1967 Six-Day War.

There is a reason such a move has been resisted by eight previous U.S. administrations: It overthrows the central premise of Middle East peacemaking -- land for peace. Under which the Palestinians get their state afternegotiations in which the parties agree on recognized boundaries, exchange mutual recognition and declare a permanent end to the conflict.

Land for peace would be replaced by land for nothing. Endorsing in advance a Palestinian state and what would essentially be a full Israeli withdrawal removes the Palestinian incentive to negotiate and strips Israel of territorial bargaining chips of the kind it used, for example, to achieve peace with Egypt.

The result would be not just perpetual war but incalculable damage to Israel. Consider but one example: the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, destroyed and ethnically cleansed of Jews by its Arab conquerors in the war of 1948-1949. It was rebuilt by Israel after 1967. It would now be open to the absurd judicial charge that the Jewish state's possession of the Jewish Quarter constitutes a criminal occupation of [BEG ITAL]another country.[END ITAL]

Israel would be hauled endlessly into courts (both national and international) to face sanctions, boycotts (now under color of law) and arrest of its leaders. All this for violating a U.N. mandate to which no Israeli government, left or right, could possibly accede.

Before the election, Obama dare not attempt this final legacy item, to go along with the Iran deal and the Castro conciliation, for fear of damaging Hillary Clinton. His last opportunity comes after Election Day. The one person who might deter him, points out Hannah, is Clinton herself, by committing Obama to do nothing before he leaves office that would tie her hands should she become president.

Clinton's supporters who care about Israel and about peace need to urge her to do that now. It will soon be too late. Soon Obama will be free to deliver a devastating parting shot to Israel and to the prime minister he detests.

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Charles Krauthammer is a columnist for the Washington Post.
Last week, a community leader call Rochester a "dumpy little Midwestern town."

I love Rochester, it's my hometown and the place I choose to call home even though my job is based in St Paul. During a recent week, I spent just shy of 20 hours volunteering with organizations, events and on boards to give back to this community, and I'm just one of many who are committed volunteers for the betterment of this community. I invest my time and money living in this community because it's full of passionate, innovative and kind people that make this a great place to live, learn, work and play.

It's very disconcerting that Javon Bea made this comment at Destination Medical Center-related meeting to envision a better downtown, as reported by the Post Bulletin's own Andrew Setterholm.

This comment and line of thought validates the concerns of those who are not supportive of DMC, that the changing nature of our community is without care or concern for those of us who call Rochester home.

How can the Heart of the City committee or DMC reimagine our community for growth if we are only focusing on patients or visitors? We should be upset that this individual has such a poor perspective of Rochester, but we should be deeply concerned that his perspective is a part of decision making for DMC project areas as a committee member, regardless of DMC staff distancing themselves from his comments on social media.

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We need to focus on building a city where people want to live, a city for those of us who call it home and then Rochester will become a great place for people to visit.

His most recent comments of this "dumpy" city likely offend nearly all 110,000 residents of Rochester and should have elected officials, DMC staff and Heart of the City organizers considering his removal from the committee. After all he was appointed by the mayor, and I believe there are still 80 other interested candidates who actually believe this is a good city on the verge of being a great city with the help of DMC and the residents of this community to make it a reality.

My hometown deserves better community leaders who want to leverage Rochester's assets to be a world-class destination and a great place to live.

Kelly Corbin, of Rochester, is a member of the Post Bulletin Community Editorial Advisory Board.
When Rep. Greg Davids met with the Post Bulletin Editorial Board, we saw a more serious incumbent than we did two years ago. Is that because the Preston Republican has felt the sting of a gubernatorial rejection of his tax bill or because he feels he's facing a bigger challenge in the November election?

In his 12th term, Davids served as the House Taxes Committee chairman, shepherding the bill through a two-year development period to include bipartisan measures ranging from a reduction in the state's commercial and industrial tax to creating the nation's first student loan forgiveness program. The bill passed with an impressive 89 percent of the legislative vote but was never signed.

Davids claims governor used a fixable error in the measure to push a different agenda. The governor has said the error could be costly and required a special session, which never happened. It's hard to determine which stance is right, but the scenario feeds the us-versus-them game Davids too frequently plays.

Davids' challenger, Spring Grove DFLer Thomas Trehus says he liked parts of the tax bill, especially relief for farmers, but noted an early proposal to eliminate commercial and industrial taxes went too far. Trehus supported the change to drop the tax on the first $100,000 of value to help small businesses without creating large corporate tax breaks.

The two candidates are divided along party lines: Davids wants to reduce spending and cut taxes, while Trehus says the state must support programs to strengthen the state, especially rural communities.

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At the same time, both show moderation, allowing them to share common goals.

Trehus, a current Spring Grove School Board member, emphasizes the need to increase education spending to strengthen schools and encourage former students to return to outstate communities. Davids points to the student loan forgiveness measure he supported to lure professionals from other states.

They also seem to walk a tricky line in Minnesota's political landscape. Touting the importance of overcoming the growing rural-urban divide, they also reject some ideas a too focused on the metro. Davids opposes light rail as being a burden on outstate taxpayers, and Trehus says too much commercial and industrial tax relief offers more benefit to metro-area businesses.

Trehus, who served a year working for U.S. Sen. Al Franken after graduating with a political science degree from the University of Minnesota, is what we'd want from any southeastern Minnesota graduate who returns to the area. He jumped into local service by running for the school board and playing an active role in the district's referendum.

With an agenda that includes increased education funding, support for broadband expansion and improved road and bridge funding, Trehus said he wants to make small towns and rural communities more successful.

Outside of broadband, Davids hit many of the same points from a more conservative angle, citing concerns about education and transportation funding but also a desire to reign in spending.

One divide between the candidates is in addressing legislative reform aimed at reducing last-minute decision-making in St. Paul.

While Davids said the current practice might not be the best, he believes lawmakers will always seek to push limits in negotiations.

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Trehus, on the other hand, said he'd seek to give legislators at least 24 hours to review bills before a vote. At the same time, he said it comes down to leadership. Taking a card from Davids, he played the us-versus-them game. "They've shown they can't govern," he said of Republicans in the House. "They literally can't govern."

Voters in District 28B have a difficult choice to make, and it could come down to which party's ideology has more support in the district.

The Post Bulletin Editorial Board, however, is giving its endorsement for House District 28B to Greg Davids largely because he is a proven leader who is willing to listen to other lawmakers and consider issues outside his party. That effort is seen in the tax bill. Though it failed to achieve the governor's support, it included measures to serve the entire state.

Trehus may be one of the best young candidates we've seen, and the Spring Grove school district should be thankful to have his voice in its community. However, the region needs to retain some of its leadership as the Minnesota Legislature continues to struggle with is proper direction.

Davids can provide that, and we hope he continues to become more serious about bipartisan efforts for the good of the entire state.



Learn more

The Post Bulletin Editorial Board endorsements are offered to provide one view of candidates for local and regional offices.

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We encourage you to do your own research as you get ready to vote.

To find out more about the candidates in House District 28B, visit their websites:

 Greg Davids

No website

 Thomas Trehus

www.thomastrehus.com

For information on polling places and sample ballots, visit the Minnesota Secretary of State website at www.sos.state.mn.us .
The size of Minnesota Senate District 28 becomes clear when talking to the two men seeking to represent it. Incumbent Jeremy Miller and challenger Jon Pieper offer unique perspectives that seem rooted in their parts of the district.

Miller, part of the fourth generation running Wm. Miller Scrap Iron & Metal Co., often uses Winona-based examples when discussing the issues. Pieper, owner of Lanesboro's Old Village Hall restaurant and a tree farm, tends to draw from small towns.

Local Government Aid

Looking at Local Government Aid highlights the point, even as the candidates taking tones that seem to flip parties.

Miller, a Republican serving his sixth year on the Senate, is an advocate for increasing LGA. While his party counterparts frequently deride increases as failing to lower property taxes, he takes a different perspective. "If we don't continue to support Local Government Aid, the result will be higher property taxes, because the costs will get passed on locally," he said, noting he voted for a $20 million increase in the tax bill that failed to receive the governor's signature.

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Pieper, a Democrat, agrees, noting taxes already have risen due to decreased state aid, pointing to Lanesboro's decision to add a local-option sales tax, as well as increasing property taxes, to support the cost of local services. However, he said the formula that governs state aid distribution must be reviewed. Seeming to take a page from the Republican playbook in recent years, he asked: "Is the amount that Minneapolis getting fair to outstate Minnesota?"

Perhaps it's the diverse perspectives of such a large district or simply the nature of the two candidates, but both frequently show a willingness to seek middle ground on topics. As a result, the candidates mirror each other on many priorities. Both want to see state commercial property taxes reduced and cite education funding concerns. They agree the state needs to tackle mental health concerns and find a path toward a more productive legislature.

Perspectives

At the same time, differing perspectives on campaign issues may offer the greatest divide.

In June, Pieper's campaign literature accused Miller of missing 80 votes the last week of the 2015 legislative session. Pieper destroyed the fliers after it was proven Miller missed 77 votes throughout the entire 2015 legislative session.

Three months later, Pieper told the Post Bulletin Editorial Board the mistake hasn't been an issue, saying it was simply in the number  77 rather than 80.

Miller, however, notes the bigger issue is the accusation of missing votes in the session's last week, when key decisions are made. In that week, Miller voted on 75 of the 76 roll-call votes held, being excused from one due to a perceived conflict of interest.

"He still missed 28 percent of the votes," Pieper said.

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Another divided perspective comes from this year's bonding bill. The Senate's first draft failed, largely along party lines. Pieper said if Miller had joined fellow Republican Carla Nelson in breaking with his minority party, the bill would have passed, along with funding for the Lanesboro dam.

Miller told our editorial board he voted against the early bill because it failed to include full funding for the dam, leaving the city of Lanesboro to find nearly $1 million. The later version, which failed to pass in the last hours of the session, included the added funds.

Bigger picture

These are the issues that can make campaigns tricky. Outcomes are never black and white. However, in both cases, Miller appears to be looking at the larger picture.

While Pieper notes Miller's votes still tend to be conservative, especially on social issues, we acknowledge Miller's work to engage other views in the Senate. By founding the Purple Caucus, he has worked to bring bipartisan discussions to the forefront.

"The whole point of the Purple Caucus is to bring Republicans and Democrats together," he said noting the group formed in 2013 to help build relationships and seek answers across party lines.

Four years ago, we noted Miller stood counter to his party in some respects, including voting against a "Right to Work" amendment. This year, looking forward, we see him willing to do the same for what he thinks is the best interest of his constituents.

When we asked if he would support the creation of a state-issued driver's license, Miller said he's struggled with the issue, but noted he leans toward supporting something after law enforcement officials encouraged him to consider public safety and the need to ensure all drivers are trained and licenses, regardless of their status. "It's a difficult balance," he said.

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That demonstrated willingness to consider the bigger picture is why the Post Bulletin Editorial Board is endorsing the re-election of Jeremy Miller in Minnesota Senate District 28.



Learn more

The Post Bulletin Editorial Board endorsements are offered to provide one view of candidates for local and regional offices.

We encourage you to do your own research as you get ready to vote.

To find out more about the candidates in Minnesota House District 28, visit their websites:

 Jeremy Miller

Friendsformiller.com

 Jon Pieper

Pieperforsenate.com

For information on polling places and sample ballots, visit the Minnesota Secretary of State website at www.sos.state.mn.us .
A reader points out the irony of Hillary Clinton complaining about timing of the reopening of the FBI investigation. In 1992, the reader reminds me, President Bush was gaining on Bill Clinton as Election Day approached. But just four days before the election, the special counsel, Lawrence Walsh, obtained a new indictment of former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger.

Weinberger had been indicted earlier in the year. But the new indictment cited a Weinberger diary entry that contradicted something President Bush had said.

The Clintons seized on the new indictment, howling about a culture of corruption that supposedly pervaded the administration. Bushs poll numbers declined and Bill Clinton won the election.

Shortly after the election, a federal judge threw out the new indictment because it violated the five-year statute of limitations and improperly broadened the original charges. President Bush then pardoned Weinberger.

Keep this history in mind during the coming days when you hear Democratic hacks talking about how awful it is for law enforcement officials and/or prosecutors to interfere in the presidential election process.
The Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, says the Federal Government has licensed six slots of the 2.6 MHz Spectrum for the deployment of 4G-LTE services in its efforts to broaden broadband penetration in Nigeria.

Mr. Shittu said this on Friday in Kaduna at the 4th National Council of Communication Technology.

He said broadband penetration in Nigeria has reached 20.95 per cent, and internet penetration has reached 47.44 per cent, which makes Nigeria second in ranking in the African continent.

There is the need to increase Nigerias Foreign Direct Investment of $38 billion, the minister said.

Mr. Shittu disclosed that processes have commenced for the licensing of broadband services on the 5.4 GHz spectrum bank and allocation of 70/80 GHz band (E-Band).

On the theme of the meeting, which is ICT as a Focal Point For Economic Diversification, the minister said ICT can be re-engineered to help the Nigerian economy come out of recession.

According to him, ICT innovation and entrepreneurship, and the broadening of investment opportunities is one of the key avenues for increasing internally generated revenue in any economy.

The minister said the challenge was how to harness the opportunities thrown up by the new economy powered by ICT to address the issues of revenue, investments and cost savings.

Mr. Shittu said he had facilitated the draft of a Sector Strategic Plan for 2016-2020, to chart a short term framework for the sector.

Through Galaxy Backbone, Government has provided internet access to about 400 MDAs, over 11,000 nodes of wireless LAN to all MDAs at the Federal Secretariat.

More than 40,000 email addresses for Government officials under the gov.ng &mil.ng domains.

This has ensured that government data is hosted locally on a secured website with data back-up to MDAs and 200 servers hosting 94 MDAs, he said.

In the area of spectrum management, Mr. Shittu said the Ministry of Communications has issued and renewed a total of 668 licenses from November 2015 to September 2016, generating about N500 million as government revenue. (NAN)
A lengthy ownership tussle triggered by a 2011 takeover of one of Nigerias top pension administrators, has sparked fresh allegations of fraud and forgery.

First Guarantee Pension Limited was taken over by the regulator, the National Pension Commission, PENCOM, in defiance of multiple court orders and directives from the nations Attorney General.

The decision has remained in place for five years amid conflicting claims that the commission lacks powers to take over pension administrators.

Now, some shareholders are accusing the Director-General of the National Pension Commission, PENCOM, Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, of failing to render accounts of the FGPL, in violation of the Companies and Allied Matters Act which mandates yearly filings of a companys financial report.

They also accuse an official appointed by PENCOM to run the firm of forgery.

Mrs. Anohu-Amazu turned down repeated requests for interview over months. She did not also respond to questions sent to her office through PENCOMs spokesperson. She also declined responding to letters, telephone calls and text messages from PREMIUM TIMES for this report.

History of controversy

The controversy began in March 2011 after FGPL sacked Wilson Ideva as its managing director.

Three weeks after Mr. Idevas removal, PENCOM wrote to the management of the firm, informing it of a pending stress test to evaluate the companys viability.

The notification curiously came less than a month after FGPL had been given a clean bill of health by the same regulator.

In February 2011, shortly before Mr. Ideva was fired, PENCOM had declared FGPL the most improved pension fund administrator.

The rating was based on the companys performance in 2010, the year it paid out its first ever dividends to shareholders since entering market in 2004.

Mrs. Anohu-Amazu was the Company Secretary/Legal Adviser at PENCOM at the time. (She was appointed acting director-general in 2012, and later confirmed as director-general in 2014.)

In June 2011, PENCOM released its report of the stress test, and predictably, the verdict was damning.

Titled: Target Examination Report of First Guarantee Pension Limited, the report accused the FGPLs directors of malfeasance, and moved to replace them with an interim management.

The seven-man Board of Directors of the company at the time comprised Orlando Ojo, chairman; Nze Duru, vice chairman; Derrick Roper, director; Tsegba Tsengu, director; Johan Henn, director; and Frank Nweke, an independent director.

It is not clear what role the removal of Mr. Ideva exactly played in the unfolding events.

But a year later after he was fired, Mr. Ideva was hired by a rival PFA, Premium Pension Limited, which is run by the family of the Pencom Director-General, Chinelo Anohu-Amazu.

Defying the Courts

After initial efforts to negotiate failed, South African Novare Holdings, which is one of FGPL shareholders, instituted a court action to restrain PENCOM from interfering in the affairs of FGPL and its shares.

On August 11, 2011, the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court ordered PENCOM to stay all actions.

The presiding judge, Justice Donatus Okorowo, ordered all parties in the case to maintain the status quo pending determination of the substantive suit.

But on August 15, 2011, PENCOM, defied the ruling and dissolved the management of FGPL and appointed an interim management committee.

The regulator appointed Funmi Oluwo as the compliance officer, while names of FGPL original directors remained at the Corporate Affairs Commission as the genuine managers of the company.

Ms. Oluwo was later named secretary/legal adviser of the firm on December 12, 2011.

Analysts say the emergence of Ms. Oluwo contradicts Section 296 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act which says a secretary shall be appointed by the directors.

But on August 17, 2011, the then Attorney-General of the Federation, Bello Adoke, wrote to PENCOM, urging it to respect the court orders.

Without compliance, Mr. Adoke sent a reminder on September 8, 2011. PENCOM continued to administer FGPL.

Illegal take over?

Aggrieved shareholders say the takeover of the company was illegal. They argue that Section 82 of the Pension Act requires that the regulator, PENCOM, presents the findings of its stress to the evaluated PFAs board for action.

They also argue that the commission lacks the powers to take over a PFA. Other analysts back that claim.

Unlike the CBN, PENCOM does not have the power to sack the board of a company, said Liborous Oshoma, a Lagos-based lawyer.

The essence of the administration is the fund. Without the fund the company effectively becomes carcasses. So that is why the system is made so complicated that it is almost impossible for a PFA to mismanage money.

The only thing PENCOM could do if theres any misconduct on the part of a PFA is to have negotiation. Where that fails, then you can be talking about moving assets away but not the board.

The respective Section 88 of the PENCOM Act 2004 says Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law without prejudice to the penalties stipulated under this Act, the Commission shall, in addition to the penalties stipulated under this Act, cause to be removed from office any director or officer of a pension fund administrator or custodian that violates the provisions of sections 60 and 86 of this Act.

An amendment of that law after the 2011 takeover, gave explicit powers to the commission to appoint replacements.

A PREMIUM TIMES review of court documents and FGPL filings at the Corporate Affairs Commission show cases of arbitrariness.

The first is the appointment of Ms. Oluwo as secretary by FGPLs Head of Corporate Services, Nneka Amobi.

Analysts say the decision violates CAMA and memorandum and article of the FGPL, as the appointment of a company secretary/legal adviser is a responsibility of companys board, not a staff.

More so, Ms. Oluwos appointment came with conflicting designations, highlighting the controversy surrounding PENCOMs decision.

On December 13, she signed a letter as the compliance officer of FGPL, and two days later, wrote to the Corporate Affairs Commission as acting company secretary/legal adviser.

Three days after, Ms. Oluwo described herself in letters to regulators as company secretary/legal adviser, compliance officer and acting company secretary/legal adviser.

Forgery too

Shareholders say In the December 15 letter, Ms. Oluwo submitted a forged CAC2 of FGPL with names of individuals who signed as directors of the company.

In that filing, PENCOM altered the shareholding structures of FGPL and completely removed Novare Holdings shares and substantially reduced the shares of other shareholders, BP Outsourcing and Grand Towers.

They also say that on July 13, 2012, Ms. Oluwo forged the resolution of shareholders of FGPL purporting to change the Directors of FGPL at a meeting held at Valencia Hotel Abuja same day. This was filed with the Corporate Affairs Commission.

If you check the CAMA Act youll see that what Pencom did in connivance with Ms. Oluwo amounts to forgery, Mr. Duru said.

Sections 234 and 237 of Companies and Allied Matters Act say such decisions shall only be passed at general meetings.

This was done in defiance of an earlier order by another judge of the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court restraining the holding of an Annual General Meeting of FGPL scheduled for July 13, 2012 at Transcorp Hilton Hotel.

The judge, Okechukwu Oke, relied on Section 217 and 218 of Companies and Allied Matters Act which outlined the requirements for convening shareholders meeting.

He restrained Ms. Oluwo from holding the AGM, and ordered that she desist from substituting the names of FGPL original directors.

Ms. Oluwo declined comments for this story, saying she is only an employee of the company working under instructions from her superiors.

Shareholders kick

On July 18, less than a week, Mr. Okorowo delivered his judgement in the Novare Holdings vs. Pencom case.

In his ruling, Mr. Okorowo slammed PENCOMs takeover of FGPL and the actions of Ms. Oluwo as prejudicial and ordered them to reverse their activities.

The FGPL shareholders have taken steps to retrieve control of their firm from PENCOM, including sending petitions to President Muhammadu Buhari.

The shareholders urge the president to order full investigation into the activities of PENCOM in the affairs of FGPL for the past five years that it had failed to render account to the shareholders as well as all the infractions and abuse of court process.

The shareholders at a requisitioned emergency general meeting on March 28, 2016 appointed George Ozodinobi as the chairman of FGPL. But PENCOM thwarted the move and refused to hand over to him.

Mr. Ozodinobi told PREMIUM TIMES that the takeover has adversely affected the performance of FGPL in the market.

People are stuck with FGPL now because PENCOM has made it impossible for them to change their PFA in defiance of the law, he said.

Novare Holdings has, once again, approached the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court to reverse the elimination of its shares in FGPL.

The shareholders also accused Mrs. Anohu-Amazu of plotting to transfer FGPL portfolio to Premium Pension, where her brother, Victor Anohu, is a director.

Mrs. Anohu-Amazus mother was also a long time director in Premium Pension before stepping down after two terms.

The reason why theyre frustrating us is because they want to collapse our company into Premium Pension which is their family business, Mr. Ozodinobi said.
U.S. President Barack Obamas Special Representative to Muslim Communities, Shaarik Zafar, was in Nigeria recently as part of his maiden visit to sub-Saharan Africa to meet with government officials and civil society representatives on issues of promoting educational and economic opportunities and accountable governance. At the end of a workshop on anti-corruption tools for religious leaders, Mr. Zafar spoke exclusively with PREMIUM TIMES Bassey Udo and Sani Tukur on the role of religious leaders in combating corruption, promoting accountability, and encouraging transparency. Excerpts:

PT: You were in Kano for the workshop on corruption with religious leaders. How did it go?

Zafar: First, let me say it was terrific honour and privilege to visit Nigeria, both in Abuja and Kano in the north. I am the Special Representative to Muslim Communities. I report to President Obama and Secretary (John) Kerry. My job is to engage with Muslim communities around the world. A lot of the 1.6 billion Muslims around the world are here in Nigeria. You cant be everywhere. You have to prioritize.

So, its obvious to anybody why one would want to be in Nigeria. It is an important country, with a large Muslim population, the largest economy in Africa. The visit to Kano was so interesting, because we saw a city that is over 1,000 years old, terrific history and tradition. I had the privilege of meeting His Highness, the Emir of Kano, Mohammed Sanusi II, as well as the state governor, Abdullahi Ganduje.

We had a range of very good conversations with religious leaders. The reason we were there was for a workshop on anti-corruption; engaging with religious leaders. U.S. is a secular government. But we are a very deeply religious country. Nigeria, obviously, is a very religious country. Religious leaders in both of our countries play pretty important roles in society.

This was an opportunity to engage them on the fight against corruption, which is something we identify with Nigeria. President (Muhammadu) Buhari has the kind of vision that is very important, and we want to play a supporting role on that. We also felt the religious leaders obviously have crucial roles to play.

So, it was a pretty successful workshop. They were very animated to participate in the workshop. I am sure from next month we will begin to see some progress.

PT: What were your takeaways from all these engagements?

Zafar: I think there is an enormous amount of pride in all of this. Its a terrific country, and its understandable. There is a recognition of those challenges. It is not only the recognition of the challenge, but one they want to do something about.

For example, during the meeting, the religious leaders were not simply admiring the problem, or complaining about the problem of corruption. They rolled up their sleeves, men and women, most of them Christians, and decided to tackle the problem head on.

To me what that underscores is a willingness to improve the country for all Nigerians. That came away very clearly.

The tradition and history of the North was something that was terrific. I had the privilege to be in the Emirs palace, the previous palace and other cultural locations; the very traditional home. Thats something I wish more Americans would have the opportunity to experience.

PT: On the willingness of the religious leaders to come together and work together to tackle the problem of corruption, how is the U.S. going to help in this regard?

Zafar: This is a Nigerian-led effort. The U.S. is not coming to help. Rather it is an effort where Nigerian Muslims have recognised the challenge of corruption. We have convened them. This is the second time. There was a previous workshop in the South, with the idea to establish the basic understanding about what is corruption.

How can they talk to their constituencies about the problem? Unless you are able to define the problem, you may not be able to solve it. The very first step is getting them to be able to explain to their constituents what the challenges are.

Our approach to partnering with and assisting Nigeria and other countries tackle corruption; the framework is very basic. The first is P  prevention.

We want to prevent a problem from taking place. That means helping financial institutions, banks, others have regular institutions in place to ensure monies are not diverted. We have a saying that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. But corruption does happen.

Then, you need to prosecute. Thats the second P. You need to send a message not only to the people that committed the crime, but others who could be considering doing the same thing.

Then the third P  pursue. We are working with Nigerians in getting money back that has been transferred to other countries. But, its a slow process. It could be very frustrating. But, we are very much committed.

Finally, we want to be a good partner, the last P. That means, while we want to encourage more American companies to invest in Nigeria, which is incredibly important, we will also make sure they are not paying bribe and complying with a foreign practices in business.

Those are the four Ps. But, the most important P is people. That is kind of in the heart of our workshop. I believe they will be able to engage their constituents on the current issues and empower them to ask questions to their governments.

People or citizens in any country; your country, my country, should feel comfortable to reach out to government and ask them about the budget. How much of the budget is going to health? How much money is going into social services?

They should feel empowered to ask questions to such a level that the government feels compelled to respond. On that front, I think this workshop is going to make the difference on people. I am optimistic that it will. This is not going to be issue. This is something we should see as a challenge.

But, let me tell you what is at stake. PriceWaterCoopers released a report recently. This is not U.S. government. This is one of the most prestigious important consultancy firms in the world. They said in that study that if Nigerias level of corruption can reduce to the level of Malaysias (we are not talking about eliminating corruption), it would add $500 billion to Nigerias gross domestic products (GDP) by 2030.

What do you think about that? How many hospitals can be built? How many children can be vaccinated? How many kids can be educated? How many kilometres of roads can be built? Thats what is at stake.

So, I am also realistic. This is going to take time. There is no silver bullet. This is not the only engagement with religious leaders. This is one of a number of approaches. We think its an important one. Thats why we are supporting it.

PT: Nigeria is a secular state like the United States. How does the U.S. deal with issues of its federalism and religion?

Zafar: I am not familiar with issues of federalism. I know much of the powers are with the state governments. But, the states are very independent. The question is not who controls the power between federal and state governments? Rather it is: whats the proper roles for federal and state governments?

Each country is going to make its own decision on what they want. The U.S. system works for the Americans. I believe the Nigerian system will work for Nigeria.

America is deeply religious country, but under a secular government. Many of the founders of our country faced religious persecutions. We found that the best way to protect religion is not to leave it with government.

So, in U.S., when you leave the house, your religion comes with you. So, you have the full right to practice your religion. I work in the seventh Floor of State Department where Secretary Kerry is. Every Friday, I and all those who want to pray can walk down four, five, six stairs to pray.

So, religious freedom in many respects are first freedoms. So, if a state government or state institution is preventing the practice of religion, the job of the federal government is there to protect it. I am not asking because of the situation in the North. I dont believe religious freedom in federalism are inconsistent. Its possible to have a federal structure that fully appreciates a people who are given the freedom of choice to worship as they think.

PT: The challenge of cyber extremism is huge. It has not really come to Nigeria. But, the threat is real. May be the right time is now to prevent our youth from being indoctrinated in extremism through cyber networks.

Zafar: The reason extremists use social media, like the internet, is very simple. First, they are arousing a lot of people very easily. The sites are very stable, meaning they dont crash. Even those based in places like Russia, are still relatively stable. But, also what they are allowed to do is that they use the sites young people are using.

In most cases, you will think they are dash. Most of their materials are in Arabic and Russian languages. But, they are recruiting in Hindi, English and other languages. They are trying to recruit young people using the internet. There is much we can do about that.

First, empower parents. Just as sexual predators, pedophiles recruit young people online. You dont blame the community and parents. You try to inform the parents on what is happening. We need an honest conversation with another expert on that phenomenon here in Nigeria. We need to be mindful what we tell religious leaders and parents about what is happening, by sharing information.

We need to look at ways to counter that narrative. Government still has credibility to represent the Muslim communities. What I have to say about Islam as a religion as a government official is absolutely irrelevant. What we need to do is to empower religious leaders and other people who are credible to go online.

Oftentimes, how do religious leaders communicate? Its through sermon. As extremists, they realise that the attention span of the people is shrinking. As young people, they are not going to pay attention to an hour-long sermon. Thats why they communicate through short videos.

And so what we need to get are those people who have the credibility and have stories to tell. Nigerian Muslims have stories to tell. Sometimes we need help to tell your stories.

Beyond countering them, we have to perform alternative positive thinking. Young people who have been frustrated, or living in poverty, or do not have the opportunity to leave Nigeria to either Syria or Iraq. What these extremists do is to offer a false mission. It is completely false, because it is a myth.

We need to inform, empower parents and others. We need to help counter by proactively investing in the positive. If we do that, then we can preventive.

PT: The leader of the Shiite Movement in Nigeria, El-Zakzaky, has been in detention for months now on the orders of the government. During your meetings with government officials and leaders in the Northern part of the country, did you have the opportunity of talking to them about the issue?

Zafar: Yes, we raised the issue. In U.S., we believe freedom of religion is paramount and the people should be able to fully practice and organise their religion as a matter of human rights. I made that very clear.

PT: What did the government say?

Zafar: I am not going to speak for them. Thats not my job. But, we had an honest and candid conversation. They asked me: What is the perception of American Muslims of Shiites? What I told them was that the U.S. has perhaps the most diverse Muslim community anywhere in the world.

A third of them are African-American Muslims  Malcom X, Muhammad Ali, truly great Americans and great Muslims who just passed away recently.

When you have Shiites, Sunni, Sufi, and people like me from Pakistan, South Asia, Iranians and others, this is incredibly diverse community. Everybody is Muslim at the end of the day. That, to me, is something that is a strength.

Just take a step beyond these Muslims. U.S. has race, ethnicity, religion, nationality as part of our citizenry. This is a national asset. That makes our country stronger. If you look at the number of start-ups in the Silicon Valley, something like 34 per cent come from people who are living in the background. This is the strength economically, socially and politically.

The same is true for Nigeria. Nigeria has an incredible amount of diversity. Over 370 something languages of different ethnic groups. The fact that Nigeria exists is a testimony to the strength of the Nigerian people. Its not easy. But, people get along. That diversity is something that is great about Nigeria.

So, whether you are Shia, Sunni or Sufi or Christian; whether you are Catholic, Anglican or Pentecostal, you should have freedom of worship.

PT: Recently, Secretary Kerry was here to meet with the Muslim community. Now, you are here for the same purpose. Why is the U.S. government interested in Nigeria?

Zafar: This is a very easy question. Its not only Muslim communities, but on Nigeria. This country is incredibly important to the U.S. relations. It is the largest economy in Africa. It has the largest population in Africa. It has so much potential. It is incredibly important as security and economic partner.

President Obama had a very important meeting with President Buhari when he visited the U.S. for the UN meeting.

Then, Secretary Kerry came. Now, I have the opportunity to meet with the Emir. But, I was also meeting with Christian leaders as well. Apart from the Bishop of Kano, I also met with the Christian leaders.

Lets be honest, one thing the U.S. is concerned about is the troops operating in the North East. Terrorism is a shared challenge.

The reason we are engaging is that we have a shared interest in tackling this problem. But, we are engaging religious communities, including Muslim communities, not because they are a problem, but because they represent so many opportunities.

PT: Talk more about the opportunities.

Zafar: May be the opportunity to fight corruption, which is incredibly important. When you think of the role religious leaders play in anti-corruption, promoting health, vaccination, development, education, religious leaders, including Muslim religious leaders, have a big role to play.

This is not a silver bullet. This is an important strategy in the U.S. programme to address the challenge. But, when Secretary Kerry visited, a meeting was held with religious leaders in the South, including Christians, and southern legislators immediately after the Secretarys trip to the North.

So, its not meeting one religious group over another, but looking at the countrys problem and the best way to tackle it. We are very sensitive about these issues.

This is our second workshop on fighting corruption. The first one we did was actually in the South, and because it was successful in the South, we decided to do it in the North. So, it is important to let the people know this is something that is in their interest, because this is too important a country to focus on one religion over another. It has nothing to do with Nigerias domestic politics.

PT: In your meetings with the religious leaders, what were your takeaways about the situation in Nigeria?

Zafar: There was no separate conversation between Christians and Muslims. We had one conversation. And I had only one takeaway, which is that the many men and women in that room, whether Muslims or Christians, were very committed to tackling corruption. There was no difference between the Christians and Muslims. They were all Nigerians united to fight against a common enemy. They realised there is a problem they must do something about.

PT: During your meeting with government officials, could you share with us your recommendation on how the El Zakzaky and Shiites crisis could be resolved?

Zafar: This is a Nigerian issue that can be solved through a Nigerian solution. My view is that you can have freedom of religion and freedom of association and also have the rule of law and security. They are not distinct.

The U.S. has such a multiplicity of faith, including Shiites, like in other countries, with incredible diversities. We should not always, on the basis of security, prevent people from practicing the very basic and fundamental right to religion. As a first principle, I think it is not only possible, I think it is the right thing to do.
The Nigerian Military will soon launch an operation to tackle security challenges posed by herdsmen across the country, the Acting Director of Defence Information, Rabe Abubakar, has said.

Mr. Abubakar, a Brigadier General, made the disclosure at a media session in Kaduna. The session discussed the role of the media in national security.

We are coming out with another operation code named Operation Accord to address the issue of herdsmen clashes, Mr. Abubakar said.

He said the military had carried out 13 operations to ensure peace and order across the country.

The defence spokesman assured that the military would not allow any individual or group to destabilise Nigeria.

We will not spare any security threat in any part of the country, we will contain it; national security will not be compromised, he said.

Today, no Nigeria territory is under the control Boko Haram, no illegal flag foisted on our land.

We will synergise with other security agencies to secure the remaining Chibok school girls, and everyone who is under Boko Haram custody.

He urged the media to support the military in the course of its duties in protecting Nigerias territorial integrity and its people.

Mr. Abubakar stressed that the media remained a veritable tool of mass mobilization and enlightenment of the populaces on what the military was doing to secure the country

Media is an important organ that we cannot ignore especially during security operations.

The essence is to collaborate and synergise to make citizens understand what the Armed Forces is doing to keep Nigeria one as a nation.

National security is not about guns and uniforms, it is beyond that, our concern is the safety of our citizens and their property, so that one can move freely without any security threat, he said.

He tasked journalists to be professional and patriotic in the discharge of their duties, and desist from promoting hate speeches capable of inciting violence.(NAN)
The chairman, Kogi Chapter of Wuro Miyetti-Allah Association, Ibrahim Abubakar, has been assassinated by unknown gunmen who invaded his residence in the early hours of Saturday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the unknown gunmen numbering about eight, invaded the Peace Community, Road 3, Ganaja road, Lokoja residence of Abubakar at about 2:05 Saturday morning.

Residents of the area, who spoke with journalists, said they heard gunshots from the residence of the chairman of Fulani socio-cultural group. The shots lasted over an hour.

They said the gunmen passed through unfamiliar routes to gain access to the deceaseds residence beating the C Division Police Station route where they could have been spotted and questioned.

A neighbour who identified himself simply as Musa, said there were some strange faces in the vicinity much earlier before the incident, not knowing they had a sinister motive.

Musa said the gunmen shot at the door to the room of one of the deceaseds two wives and gained access into the house, machete the deceased on the neck and other parts of the body and later shot him severally.

A medical practitioner with the Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja, Sam Alhassan, who lives a stone throw from the victims residence said: I was in my room which is just steps away to his house and I started hearing gunshots.

Then I rose up from my bed and looked through the window. I saw a group of bandits in two lines. At least I saw eight people, and they started shooting, shooting and shooting, he said.

The next thing that I saw was that a bullet hit the overhead tank and water started running down. Later I and my family went quiet for a while; then the wife of the deceased came out shouting, they have killed my husband.

Mr. Alhassan said he later came out with his landlord and went into the deceaseds house to ascertain the truth; only to find him lying in the pool of his blood with machete cuts and bullet holes in his lifeless body.

The medical practitioner said it was unclear if the gunmen took cash or property from the house.

He, however, called on security agencies to be proactive in crime prevention and detection mandate to avoid loss of innocent lives.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Williams Aya, told NAN that the command had got the report, adding that the incident was a clear case of assassination.

Mr. Aya said investigation into the matter had commenced adding that the Police was yet to make any arrest in respect of the assassination. (NAN)
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has responded to calls by some Nigerians for the arrest of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Mr. Osinbajo said the Buhari administration does not arrest anybody, anyhow.

Answering a question at a session in the United States on Friday, on when Mr. Jonathan would be arrested, Mr. Osinbajo said the Buhari administration was not in the business of arresting just anyone anyhow.

He said all that Buhari administration does is to empower the security agencies and the anti-corruption agencies to do their jobs, without the administration trying to teleguide them.

He also added that the fight against corruption in the country was not fought on ethnic, hasty or premediated grounds.

Corruption is not an ethnic thing, there is an equal representation in the stealing as no one operates with his/her ethnic group alone, the culprits are in every case seen so far, united by greed to steal and not by ethnic or religious interest, he said.

He frowned at a situation where for instance as much as $15 billion has disappeared from the national coffers into private pockets, saying no responsible government would wave that aside so as not to offend people.

Mr. Osinbajo also said that security agencies in Nigeria have arrested about 800 suspected violent herdsmen across the country.

Mr. Osinbajo said this in Houston, Texas in the United States at a Townhall event where he interacted with U.S.-based Nigerians who asked questions live at the event and also via the internet, according to a statement issued by his spokesperson, Laolu Akande.

The vice president fielded about 30 questions at a well attended townhall event moderated by Rudolf Okonkwo of Sahara Reporters and Nimi Wariboko of Boston University.

Asked about the issue of Fulani Herdsmen attacks in certain states across the country and what the Federal Government was doing to curb the problem, the Mr. Osinbajo said the President has given firm instructions to the security agencies to arrest not only herdsmen who are attacking communities anywhere in the country but anyone of them or anyone at all in possession of firearms.

He added that there are about 800 of suspected violent herdsmen in the country that are currently in custody. The vice president however decried the slow pace of the criminal justice system that affects the prompt trial of such suspects.

Mr. Osinbajo reminded the audience however that the issue of killings by such violent herdsmen has been a perennial issue especially as grazing lands continue to disappear over the years and the cattle feed on peoples crops on the farmlands. He said that the matter just did not crop up when President Buhari assumed office.

Vice President Osinbajo urged against the tendency of interpreting the herdsmen issue as a religious issue, stressing that it is important for all Nigerians to refuse such divisive narratives and tendencies.

He reminded his audience that there has always been conflict between herdsmen and communities across the country and that people should disabuse the notion that the problem has just started because President Buhari, a Fulani, is currently at the helm of affairs in the country.

Answering a question on the need for community policing, the Vice President said that community policing via state police is indeed a cardinal program of the ruling APC. He said the partys agenda cannot be introduced until there is an amendment to the nations constitution.

The current situation where police activities are controlled at the federal level sure has some limitations, he said, adding that  the federal government is currently working to introduce community policing that would be in line with the constitution.

Commenting on the recent arrest of judges in the country, Mr. Osinbajo told his audience that impunity could be very dangerous in any sector and that the federal government was only exercising its executive function in attempting to check excesses.

He said the important thing was that due process was followed as the judges were released about 24 hours after their arrest and once they had given their statements.

The Vice President also responded to a question on the state of the nations economy and attributed the current recession to the loss of about 60 percent of government revenue due to pipeline vandalisation and endemic corruption in the system.

He however said that getting back oil production is a sure way to get out of the recession and the federal government is working to sort it out.
Five days after he was arrested, a former presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati, is still in custody because he is unable to satisfy his bail conditions, PREMIUM TIMES understands.

Mr. Abati, a columnist, was arrested on Monday by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on allegations of financial impropriety to the tune of N50 million.

When operatives questioned him about how he spent the funds, Mr. Abati reportedly said he disbursed it to media practitioners in his capacity as the spokesman for the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

But he said he did not keep records of the disbursement when queried for evidence.

The journalist was subsequently granted an administrative bail that requires presenting a senior federal civil servant preferably a director with landed properties in Abuja.

He will be released when he meets his bail conditions, a source within the EFCC informed PREMIUM TIMES Friday.

Also in EFCC custody is Bala Mohammed, a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, who was taken into custody shortly after Mr. Abatis arrest on Monday.

But Mr. Mohammeds case is said to be more complicated and he may not be released anytime soon.

PREMIUM TIMES learnt that the EFCC has procured a remand order from a court to hold Mr. Mohammed for a while.

He faces allegations of land racketeering which EFCC said came in several petitions from citizens who dealt with Mr. Mohammed while he was a minister.

Mr. Mohammed was said to have sold government land to private individuals and received pay for the transaction in cash. PREMIUM TIMES could not independently verify those allegations claims.
Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, has said some of his colleagues in the North-east were making false claims about the situation of internally displaced persons and destruction wrecked by Boko Haram insurgents in their states.

Mr. Shettima said the governors were exaggerating the impact of the insurgency in their domains to rake in donations from philanthropists and international donor agencies.

He spoke on Friday in Government House, Maiduguri when he hosted a delegation of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), led by its deputy regional director for West and East Africa, Beatrice Mutali.

The governor said his state was the epicenter of the insurgency and suffered over 80 percent of the destruction by Boko Haram.

He said he was worried that some sister states not much touched by the insurgency were allegedly lying to draw donors attention.

Mr. Shettimas allegation came in the wake of the passage of a bill by the National Assembly for the establishment of the Northeast Development Commission (NDC).

The commission is expected to coordinate the rehabilitation of communities in the region devastated by the insurgency and provision of support for the victims.

Deliberation of the bill at the National Assembly featured a heated debate and other intrigues over the location of the headquarters of the proposed commission, before Maiduguri, the Borno State capital was eventually agreed on.

Ahead of the takeoff of the commission, interest groups in the region have also started jostling for positions on its board with a view to potentially influencing its activities in the areas of determination of projects and disbursement of funds.

Expressing his gratitude to the UN system for its interventions, Mr. Shettima said the state had not been getting its fair share of the supports coming from the international donor agencies because of bogus claims he said were being made by other states.

We truly appreciate your efforts. But we really need you to step up your activities in the state because Borno, most sadly, is the nerve center of Boko Haram; but when it comes to goodies, you will be seeing states that suffer the least, exaggerating the sufferings inflicted on their society by Boko Haram as if such a thing is a badge of honor.

To me, I am not proud to say Borno state is the nerve center of Boko Haram. But states where, one, two or three local government are occupied by Boko Haram will exaggerate it and say up to ten of their local government areas had been occupied by Boko Haram; or you hear them saying 15 local government areas were conquered by Boko Haram in Adamawa state, or in Yobe state or in Taraba state.

People are even exaggerating the numbers of IDPs they have. And mind you, if you go to Adamawa, the IDPs are from Borno state; just like if you go to Cameroon, the Nigerian refugees there, 95 percent of the IDPs are from Borno state; so also in Niger Republic. But it is not for me to say they should be denied any support.

However any support you give us, you are just here to complement our efforts. We in Borno are very proud and self-contented people. We will never beg any organisation or group for support; rather we will implore on them on a pedestal of equality to assist our people in these our hours of need.

The governor lamented the toll of the insurgency on children and women, who constitute the most vulnerable groups in society.

Women and children bore the brunt of this madness called Boko Haram; women are the victims of gender-based violence, and they really need psycho-social support to overcome their trauma, said Governor Shettima.

Just a couple of weeks ago, the Nigerian military handed over to us over 500 kids and brutalized women; they were wives and kids of Boko Haram combatants. But my personal take on it is that these women and children were as much victims of Boko Haram as any other people in our community because most of them were married off to the Boko Haram members not in their own volition.

They were literally kidnapped and held as sex slaves of Boko Haram. And the kids are utterly blameless; you cannot ostracize those kids; you cannot maltreat or profile them as Boko Haram kids so they should not have access to education and so on.

After the de-radicalization programme, we are poised to see that they are reintegrated into the society, they are sufficiently empowered, and we will provide equal opportunity for the kids, the governor said. The UNFPA team visited Mr. Shettima to present a review of the organisations operations and interventions in the state.

We are going to scale up our efforts in the psycho-social supports, gender based violence and humanitarian services, the leader of the delegation, Ms. Mutali said.

The UNFPA said it trained 170 health workers, 55 doctors and midwives on maternal and child healthcare in the past few months. It has also distributed 129 reproductive health kits, comprising 1,413 cartons of assorted family planning commodities, and given priority to health facilities in the state.

The UNFPA said it has also provided 32,600 dignity kits to rural women, especially young girls to restore their dignity. It said a total of 7,297 victims of Boko Haram were given psycho-social counseling as well as skills acquisition and empowerment.

Before the liberation of the communities held by the Boko Haram around the northeast, 21 of the 27 local government areas of Borno state were under the control of the insurgents, while Borno and Yobe states lost control of two council areas each to the Boko Haram.
Aisha Buharis dexterity to call attention of her husband and party faithful to germane issues that need redress has in recent days opened up yet another debate in our political space for all sort of narratives.

I am not so much concerned by those with genuine intentions, whatever position they might have taken in this debate.

However, I take it as a duty to correct an impression created by some amateur sponsored writers, who come up with glaring malicious conjectures against the wife of the President.

I would not have bothered to respond to Umar Saad Hassans article, published in the Cable online newspaper of October 21, 2016, on this matter. But, the consequences of ignoring this mischievous information authored by someone who, supposedly, is a lawyer by profession, would be too much.

For the avoidance of doubt, Aisha Buhari was never known to be poor, or a liability to her husband. She is an educated woman who cherished the sanctity of her family long before her husband ventured into serious politics.

She was well trained and equipped by her husband, who probably had the vision that this day would come when he would be called upon again to service his nation as president.

It is quite horrendous when people wake up to dish out despicable information on a simple message Aisha Buhari passed to help her husband succeed in his current task as president.

Hassan only brought his cognitive capacity to ridicule on an issue like this, by claiming Aisha Buhari has family problems with her husband, especially with the president coming out to tell the whole world that his wife still belongs to his heart (other room).

Therefore, it amounts to crass and inept thought to say that Aisha Buhari risks divorce to address issues party members as well as fair-minded Nigerians have been saying secretly and even in the open.

Hassans analysis of the first ladys fashion exposed his intent. It only takes an intelligent reader to digest few lines of his write-up to get a clear picture of his mindset and those he is speaking for.

Hassan must definitely be one of those idle lawyers ready to do anything to satisfy his paymaster, or an interest, even if that thing was a violation of some basic ethics or moral obligation that is the hallmark of his profession.

How else can Hassan explain to anybody that Aisha Buharis costumes became such a headache to a serious-minded man, who is not a stylist, to the extent of valuing her outfits to events since her husband became the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

It was beamed live on national television networks how Aisha stood by her husband when he was being sworn in to office and her costume stood out.

The fact that the Cartier Wristwatch she wore was valued by some people to cost over 34,000 is only a simple logic that this woman was not poor. Hassans jaundiced scrutiny simply amounted to a deliberate attempt to malign the First Lady and misinform the general public.

It was meant to allude to insinuations that her costumes to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and the African First Ladys Submit had anything to do with her husbands office.

By any standard, Aisha is a natural beauty, who studied and practice body beautification. Combining this with her affluence testifies that her admirers are genuine people who know what it takes to look good.

Aisha Buhari has, despite not holding the official title of The First Lady, been doing more than enough for the women-folk and the downtrodden, especially the starving children in the internally displaced persons (IDP) camps through her non-government organization, NGO.

She has achieved a number of local and international recognitions by reputable organizations on these selfless services without any record of interference or haughty influence on any of her husbands appointees.

Its very unfair for Hassan to link her to any ugly narrative he was trying to relating to nepotism. Its naive to see nepotism in speaking for the silent members of the presidents supporters if you didnt notice the moral burden on the part of some of your Kano people, including your sister, Mariam Uwais, and Aisha Abubakar from Sokoto who ordinarily shouldnt be part of this government, even if they were offered.

Where conscience prevails, Amina Mohammed, Minister of Environment, should have also declined her appointment if I am not betrayed by the records on how she was instrumental to the probing of Mr. Buhari on Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) during the Obasanjo regime.

My take is that she spoke out, not with the intent of disrespecting her husband, and Mr. President is fully aware of that.

You dont know, or love her husband more than she does. She could have joined hands and played along with those elements she was indirectly referring to, and she would have been handsomely rewarded far above what you think she wanted for speaking out.

As you said, it takes a woman with extra courage to go public, especially if married in a conservative Muslim North.

However, this is a complete different ball game for a woman who wants to be heard that few elements in the corridors of power are trying to hijack and shut out others who initiated and nurtured this vision together with her husband, the president.

She has spoken for the sake of her husband, her children, and her generation who would be scrutinized when this administration is long gone.

She will continue to attract more admirers like myself who value her beauty and disposition to truth.

I rather cant be fooled by paltry slogan sponsored by some people who are completely bereft of conscience. They feel threatened by her sincere comment and become so uncomfortable by her rising status, despite their lies to delineate her. We are not fooled by Aisha Buhari, rather we adore her for being real.

Aisha Abdullahi writes from Malaysia
The Kaduna State Police Command on Saturday said it had arrested 14 suspects who allegedly attempted to disrupt Friday prayer at the Sultan Bello Mosque, Kaduna.

The Commands Public Relations Officer, Aliyu Usman, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna that the suspects were arrested with machetes and knives.

Mr. Usman, however, said the Friday prayer was observed peacefully.

Attempts to cause breach of the peace by some miscreants was professionally handled and thwarted by a team of policemen dispatched to the mosque.

The policemen deployed were to provide protection to the worshipers and they thwarted an attempt to cause chaos, Mr. Usman said.

He said the suspects would be charged to court as soon as investigation was completed.(NAN)
Substituted governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ondo State, Eyitayo Jegede, has called on his supporters who thronged the streets on Friday to protest his substitution, to embrace peace.

The former Attorney General and Justice Commissioner, in a statement on Friday, said the miscarriage of justice was a temporary setback.

Thousands of his supporters and members of the Ahmed Makarfi faction of the party trooped out to the streets of Akure and set bonfires, to to protest Mr. Jegedes replacement with Jimoh Ibrahim.

The substitution was done by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

I passionately appeal to the people of Ondo state to embrace peace at this period which is one of the trying times for our democratic process which will soon pass away, Mr. Jegede said.

Lets keep our eyes on the big day ahead as we continue our campaigns.

He expressed optimism that the Appeal Court will correct the anomaly and restore his mandate.

I am confident the Appeal Court will do the needful in addressing this anomaly, he said.

My mandate remains intact and irreplaceable by any conspiracy as we fulfilled all legal requirements that brought us to where we are today.

We are unmoved, undeterred and not intimidated with God on our side.

But his opponent, Mr. Ibrahim, said the protest was carried out by the drivers union who engaged in burning tyres in the state capital.

According to him, the burning of tyres was a ploy to deceive the nation and give the impression that there was chaos in the state.

He said the protest was orchestrated by the state governor, Olusegun Mimiko, to create the impression that there was insecurity.
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The GSMA today announced that it has elected Sunil Bharti Mittal, Founder and Chairman, Bharti Enterprises, as Chairman for the two-year period from January 2017 through December 2018. As GSMA Chairman, Mr. Mittal will oversee the strategic direction of the organisation, which represents nearly 800 of the worlds mobile operators, as well as more than 300 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem. Bharti Airtel was the host of the inaugural GSMA Mobile 360  India event in New Delhi this week, as well as a meeting of the GSMA Board. A highlight of the week, GSMA Chair-elect Mr. Mittal led the GSMA Board delegation at a meeting with the Indian Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi on Wednesday afternoon. In a broad-ranging discussion, the meeting highlighted the pivotal role of mobile in delivering the government's Digital India vision of broadband as a utility for every citizen, bringing digital and financial inclusion to every corner of the country.The GSMA also elected the new members of the 26-member Board and re-elected Mari-Noelle Jego-Laveissiere, Executive Vice President, Innovation, Orange Group as Deputy Chair for the two-year period.Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal said, I am delighted to be elected as Chairman of the GSMA, and look forward to working closely with the rest of the Board, the GSMA leadership team and our entire membership to address the critical issues facing our industry and our customers. In a relatively brief period of time, mobile has had a transformational impact on individuals, businesses, industries and societies, contributing significantly to local economies and improving the lives of billions around the world. I am excited about what the next chapter holds for us, as we work to connect everyone and everything to a better future.In my new global role, I am excited to support the ongoing mobile broadband revolution in India to boost the Governments Digital India Program and its vision of broadband access for all, added Mr. Mittal.The first Indian to be elected as Chairman of the prestigious global telecom industry board, Sunil Bharti Mittal took over as Chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) early this year. He already serves on the Boards and Councils of several reputed international bodies and think-tanks like the World Economic Forum (WEF), Telecom Board of International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Broadband Commission, Harvard Universitys Global Advisory Council - Board of Deans Advisors at HBS, International Advisory Panel of the Monetary Authority of Singapore and Prime Minister of Singapores Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council. He is also a Trustee of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and on the Board of Qatar Foundation Endowment.The GSMA Board has 26 members, including 25 operator representatives from the worlds largest operator groups as well as smaller, independent operators with global representation. The GSMAs Director General Mats Granryd also serves on the GSMA Board. The GSMA Board for the 2017-2018 term comprises:GSMA Chairman Mr. Jon Fredrik Baksaas will step down from the Board at the end of 2016, after holding this position for the past three years. Mr. Baksaas was elected as a member of the GSMA Board in 2008.With nearly 4.8 billion individuals around the world subscribing to mobile services, it is the most pervasive and fast-growing platform of users ever built. It is now accessible to billions in both developing and developed markets, providing life-enhancing services and enabling new socio-economic opportunities for all, commented Baksaas. The mobile industry is at the very heart of the worlds digital transformation, driving efforts to make the world a better place, in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. It has been a true privilege to serve on the GSMA Board for eight years, the last three as Chair. I wish the new Board and Chair, Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal, the very best of luck as the GSMA focuses on extending global platform capabilities, such as GSMA Mobile Connect, to billions of users around the globe.
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As Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi urged the people of India to send Diwali greetings to Indian army religious leaders of differenr religions celebrate Deepawali with soldiers of Indian Armyon Wagah border. President of Parmarth Niketan Rishikesh Swami Chidanand Saraswati ji, Founder President of Ahimsa Vishwa Bharti Jainacharya Dr. Lokesh Muni ji, President of All India Imam Organisation Imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi Sahib and representatives from Sikh religion embarked a march with national flag in their hands in the presence of soldiers who are famous for their valor and duty. Then they performed prayer for the unity and peace of the nation and blessed the soldiers.Swami Chidanand Saraswati join the occasion said that Indian army has remarkable contribution towards establishing unity of the country, they dedicatedly work for this. Soldiers guard our borders so that citizens of the country can live peacefully. We are happy that on the appeal of Prime Minister Mr. Modi people of the country are sending Diwali wishes to Indian soldiers.Jainacharya Dr. Lokesh Muni giving Diwali wishes to soldiers and their family members said that when the whole country is celebrating Diwali soldiers on the borders should not feel they are alone. People of whole country will light diyas in their houses in honor of our soldiers. Today leaders of different religion have proved that religion teaches us patriotism by marching together with national flag in their hands. Nation comes before religion.He said that continuous firing is going on at the borders of the country. At such moment religious leaders came to Wagah border to celebrate Deepawali with Indian army shows that religious gurus care for every citizen of the country whether they are soldiers guarding the borders or common men celebrating Diwali in their homes.Imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi Sahib on the occasion said that Diwali festival is not confined to one religion or community. Like soldiers of Indian army who irrespective of their religion, caste or region together guard the safety of the country similarly every citizen of India celebrate Diwali together.Representatives from Sikh religion were also present on the occasion.
Parwan Water Project be Declared a National Project- Chief Minister

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New Delhi, Chief Minister of Rajasthan Smt. Vasundhara Raje met the Union Minister for Water Resources and River Development Ms Uma Bharati on Thursday at New Delhi. The CM demanded that proposed water project on Chambal river and its subsidiary Parwan be declared as national project. Also, permission be granted for payment of the centre's contribution for the project and then allow the state government to start work. She said that adopting Pressure Irrigation Technique in the project, which would result into increased irrigated area, would cost the project about Rs. 7848 crore.

Smt. Raje informed the Union Minister that the state government forwarded a proposal for Rajasthan Water Sector Restructuring Project in Desert Area (RWSRP) having project cost of Rs. 3,291.64 crore to the central government. She asked for urgent approval of this project to the Union Finance Ministry so that the process for grant of loan from the BRICS Bank could be completed fast.

The CM also requested the Minister for grant of early TAC clearance from the Central Water Commission for Rajasthan Water Sector Livelihood Improvement Project, for renewal or rejuvenation of 183 irrigation sub projects in 25 different districts of Rajasthan. Estimated project cost of this scheme is Rs 3,461 crore.

Smt. Raje further demanded for a whole-time member of Rajasthan in Bhakhra Beas Management Board. Informing the Minister about various hurdles in Rajasthan getting its share of water from Sutlej-Beas and Ravi rivers the CM requested her to issue directions for Punjab and Haryana states so that Bikaner canal could be provided water through India Gandhi Nahar Project. She also raised the issue of scarce supply of water to Bharatpur district through Yamuna canal and demanded for directions to be issued to Uttar Pradesh and Haryana states.

The Chief Minister said that Rs. 19.38 crore were due towards the Centre for 32 Repair, Rennovation, Re-store of Water Bodies schemes under the Har Khet Pani Project. Completion of all these schemes was due by March 2017, she added. She also demanded for approval of another 36 schemes for Repair, Rennovation, Re-store of Water Bodies under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojna and sanction of Rs. 39.82 crore for these.

Union Minister of State for Water Resources and River Development Shri Vijay Goyal, former Union Minister Shri Nihal Chand, Rajasthan's Water Resources Minister Dr. Ram Pratap, Additional Chief Secretary Water Resources Shri OP Saini also attended the meeting.

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CM Meets Union Rural Development Minister

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New Delhi. Chief Minister of Rajasthan Smt. Vasundhara Raje met the Union Minister for Rural Development Shri Narendra Singh Tomar on Thursday at New Delhi. The CM demanded for relaxation in norms for financial support to drinking water supply projects in habitations affected by fluoride and salinity. She said that in view of the special circumstances of the state Rajasthan be granted Rs. 2,232 crore as 50% of the project cost towards central government assistance. Estimated cost of the project is Rs 4,463 crore.

Smt. Raje argued for rethinking on the pattern of central assistance to the projects of supply of water to fluoride-affected habitations. She said that for polluted water regions central assistance should be provided in total for creating basic infrastructure for projects as the scale of assistance considering one person a unit was not practical.

The CM said that state government was running surface drinking water schemes for 15,180 habitations in the state by spending Rs. 15,470 crore. Of these, 2,649 habitations are affected by fluoride. Till September 2016, about Rs. 9,000 crore were due towards these schemes and another Rs 5,000 crore for other schemes. She said that the central government must resume its assistance, which had been stopped, for all such schemes. She suggested that making safe drinking water available to remote areas in Rajasthan was a tough task as about 30% of the water pollution affected habitations of the country were situated in Rajasthan. Here 6,858 habitations were affected by fluoride, 13,007 by salinity, 1,042 by nitrate and 12 habitations were affected by iron-content pollution, she added.

Drawing a parrallel with West Bengal Smt. Raje suggested that the Union Ministry provided Rs. 8,000 crore for drinking water to this state. Considering similarities, Rajasthan be provided central assistance for drinking water as a special state.

On this, the Union Minister Shri Tomar assured the CM of affirmative action on the state's demands for relaxation in norms for central assistance considering Rajsathan's special circumstances.

Rajasthan's Public Health and Engineering Department Minister Smt. Kiran Maheshwari, Principal Secretary PHED Shri JC Mahanti, Resident Commissioner of Rajsathan Shri Rohit Kumar and other senior officials attended the meeting.

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Highrise Buildings Should Not Be Approved Near Airports - CM

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New Delhi, Chief Minister of Rajasthan Smt. Vasundhara Raje met the Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Shri Jayant Sinha on Thursday at New Delhi. The CM suggested the Union Minister that due to security concerns Airport Authority of India (AAI) should not permit highrise buildings in the areas surrounding Jaipur, Jodhpur and Udaipur airports. Even if NOC was granted, it should be in consultation with the local administration, she said.

Smt. Raje underlined the need for allotment of and for constructing a VIP terminal near State Hanger in Jaipur. She also suggested for an agreement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for direct air travel services for Jaipur by Emirates Airlines. She said that as per an agreement between India and UAE signed in year 2007, airlines were authorized to operate air travel services for Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Cochin, Hyderabad, Thiruanantpuram, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad.

The CM said that Emirates Airlines was willing to start a direct flight from UAE to Jaipur, for which the 2007 agreement needed to be reviewed. This flight service would benefit Rajasthani staying in Arab countries a lot and relations of both the countries would strenthen.

Smt. Raje further demanded for resuming the air travel services on Delhi-Jodhpur,-Mumbai and Delhi-Jaipur-Udaipur-Aurangabad-Mumbai sectors, which were closed since long. She asked for restart of Air India flight services connecting various cities of Rajasthan. She also highlighted the need for connecting state's capital Jaipur with other parts of the country through air services.

The CM and Shri Sinha also discussed the possibilities of use of airstrips all across the districts in Rajasthan for the central government's 'Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik' scheme.

Principal Secretary General Administration Department Shri PK Goyal attended the meeting.

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ATLANTIC CITY  Looking for a job that will be exciting and different every day but also require working nights, weekends and holidays?

Welcome to the world of casino hotel food and beverage management.

Make sure you have a passion for this, Renee Fleifel, assistant vice president of food and beverage at Tropicana Atlantic City, told students in Stockton Universitys food and beverage management class during a tour Thursday. There are a lot of hours and holidays. We dont stop.

Rummy Pandit, who teaches the Stockton course and is director of the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute for Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism at Stockton, said he wanted students to get a real-life view of what they were learning.

How much are homes selling for near you? Transactions are from county property records. Settlement dates are listed; deed filings may

The tour also provided an inside view of how Atlantic Citys casino hotels are adapting to the local economy and a more competitive gaming market. The Tropicana staff let students look at a profit-and-loss statement and talked about how and where money can be lost and recouped.

Chef Demetrios Haronis, director of culinary operations, talked about the challenges of feeding more than 10,000 people a day, ranging from designing and costing out menus to being prepared for frequent health inspections, dealing with inebriated customers and keeping cooked rice fresh for sushi.

The vinegar in sushi rice helps controls bacteria, he said. Its tested every two hours.

Haronis is involved in developing the new restaurant for celebrity chef Jose Garces. He talked about give and take with architects and designers to create a restaurant that is efficient for cooking while providing the maximum space for customers.

Who gets the final say? asked student Thomas DeNardo, 20, of Jackson Township, Ocean County.

Its the seats that make the money, not the kitchen space Haronis said.

The most expensive thing in your restaurant is an empty seat, said Mario Chiong, Tropicana food and beverage manager. You never get that money back.

Haronis shared with students the Health Departments 18-page food establishment application.

You should learn a little about everything, even reading blueprints, he said.

Landmark A.C. restaurant owners honored by local civic group ATLANTIC CITY  The Metropolitan Business & Citizens Associations annual installation a

Fleifel, who started at Caesars as a shift supervisor in 1991, said the career is exciting and creative, from designing menus to creating new cocktails and ice carvings.

But it also requires a familiarity with spreadsheets to track sales and the ability to adapt quickly if something is not working.

Students asked how food and beverage operations are different in a casino.

Chiong, who previously worked for Sheraton, said working in a casino hotel is much different from a regular hotel because of the additional revenue and clientele. Casino revenue can help cover losses in other areas, and casino operations offer more food and beverage comps to customers.

But, he said, todays competitive market has made food and beverage more important in attracting customers.

Food and beverage are not just an amenity anymore, he said. Now they are a partner, part of the support system.

Jim Ziereis, assistant vice president of hotel sales, brings in the conventions and special events.

My job is to find the Sunday-through-Thursday business, he said.

That may range from 500 people for the recent New Jersey School Boards Conference to 20 guests for a smaller meeting, adding up to some 500 groups each year.

Ziereis said while the market is challenging, the properties that are investing in themselves are doing well. Tropicana has invested about $90 million in the past two years.

You have stay fresh, renovate the rooms, spend on nongaming, he said.

People vote with their wallets, Chiong said.

All of the speakers said building a good team and respecting the employees are crucial to service industry success.

You will be successful if your employees back you up, Fleifel said. They have helped me advance. Never embarrass an employee in public.

Taylor Marcine, 21, of Beachwood, Ocean County, is interested in event planning and how that generates revenue for a site. She asked about contracts between Tropicana and private restaurants, such as those in The Quarter. Haronis said they are leased sites and Tropicana works to fill niches with its own restaurants.

Most of the students have had some job experience in the industry, though only a few at a casino.

Atlantic Cape Career Center named for Morey family CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE  The Morey family has hired thousands of people in Cape May County to 

DeNardo said he appreciated the inside view and being able to talk to people working in management levels of food and beverage.

It can be intimidating, Chiong told the class. But it can also be the most fun job youll have in your life.
ATLANTIC CITY  The Atlantic City Police Foundation honored a local hero Friday afternoon during its first Atlantic City Heroes luncheon in the city.

Cathy Burke, dubbed the lady of the hour and greeted by a standing ovation, was honored with the inaugural Hero Award at The Palm restaurant for her contributions and ongoing support for the foundation and Police Department.

Its a really special honor for me to receive this award, Burke said. What the foundation does is the best example of police-community performance.

Burke, a co-owner of the Irish Pub on St. James Place, grew up and has lived in Atlantic City for years and is known in the community for her support for police.

Police know firsthand from our citizens what is necessary in our neighborhood, Burke said. That concept is so necessary today, especially today.

The 11:30 a.m. event drew more than 200 people to honor her and raise money and awareness for the department.

Police Capt. James Sarkos, the foundations vice chairman, said Burke has been an ongoing supporter in the community and thanked her.

Had it not been for her, we wouldnt have been able to start the police foundation, he said Friday. Were very fortunate to have her.

The restaurant also honored Burke with a cartoon image of her placed on the wall of the dining room in the restaurant.

Money raised from the luncheon is going toward non-budgeted Atlantic City police programs, such as protective vests, training and community outreach.
TRENTON  A bill that would pay the college tuition of students who attend a two-year college then transfer to four-year school received mix response at a state Assembly Higher Education Committee meeting Thursday.

Assemblyman Gary S. Schaer, D-Bergen, Passaic, a primary sponsor, said the bill will attack a problem with dire consequences.

To make it personal, I live in Passaic and students from my district cannot afford to go to college, he said. They can barely afford to graduate high school, and many have to drop out and work to support their families.

The bill would apply to students eligible for the New Jersey Tuition Aid Grant program. Students accepted into four-year colleges would then agree to attend a less expensive two-year community college first.

The proposed program is estimated to cost $3.48 million for a four-year cohort of students, including grants to more students. Schaer said the plan is cost-neutral, since it would take existing TAG funds and distribute them differently.

The grants would cover tuition, but not fees or other expenses. Students would also be expected to apply for federal aid.

David Rousseau, vice president of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in New Jersey, expressed support for the goal, but he suggested that instead, the state fully fund the TAG program over a longer period of five to six years.

Steve Young, executive director of the Council of New Jersey State Colleges Local, a coalition representing unions at 11 state colleges and universities, including Stockton, said that while the bill can work, some changes are needed.

The reality is state funding needs to improve or tuition will be raised even more. Rousseau said.

Michael Klein, executive director of the Association of State Colleges and Universities, testified against the bill.

My most substantive complaint is that this bill is not in the best interests of the students, Klein said. Studies from Harvard University, among others, examined equivalent students who took different paths. What they found was if students start at a less rigorous school and then transfer, it takes them longer to graduate. Rather than looking at tuition from a year-to-year perspective, it is important to calculate how long it is likely to take a student to graduate, because that is the students true cost.

This bill was part of a five-bill package designed to make college more affordable that was introduced in September. The other four bills in the package were released by the committee Thursday.
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PISCATAWAY  Hurricane Sandy showed how vulnerable coastal communities are to storm-related destruction, and models of sea-level rise have made clear the vulnerability will only increase, said speakers at Rutgers Universitys Taking Chances symposium Friday.

But politicians have not taken the long view, and they havent considered ways to deal with storms other than rebuilding, the speakers said. The symposium is one of many Sandy-related events this week, leading up to the fourth anniversary of the Oct. 29, 2012, storm.

Short-term pressure to rebuild bigger and better in the same places has dominated the discussion, a panel of policy experts stressed.

That pressure comes from the tourism industry and homeowners understandably desperate to get back into their homes, said Rutgers associate professor Karen M. ONeill, co-editor of a book on the aftermath of Sandy called Taking Chances: The Coast After Hurricane Sandy.

But increasingly, those owning coastal properties are the wealthy, and the panel predicted that trend will continue.

My conclusion is the real choice is not between rebuilding or retreating, but between gentrification or retreating, said Clinton J. Andrews, Rutgers professor of urban planning and policy development. The people wont be the same people who were living there who get to rebuild in most cases.

Low- and moderate-income people are being priced out of rebuilding, he said, in some cases forced to sell damaged homes or empty lots at a deep discount, only to see wealthier people build much larger homes there.

Andrews said society needs to let the federal pendulum swing back towards self-sufficiency and stop thinking that simply elevating houses is a viable long-term solution.

It gets us over the next storm, maybe, but not over the long-term sea-level rise, said Andrews.

Rutgers scientists have predicted a likely 1.5-foot sea-level rise by 2050, effectively drowning many of the wetlands that provide buffering against storm surges and leaving roads and utilities underwater much of the time in some places.

People simply arent looking realistically at risk, said Daniel J. Van Abs, Rutgers associate professor of practice for water, society & environment.

The most significant thing we have not done, we are still not doing, is a recognition of risk, said Van Abs, the other co-editor of Taking Chances. Unless you are willing to recognize risk, there is no particular incentive to take action.

The panel recommended looking at ways to begin working collaboratively on a regional level to plan for moving residents out of the most vulnerable areas, including by consolidating municipalities east to west.

At the same time, many of those who are trying to rebuild in areas hard hit by Sandy are still not back in their homes, according to representatives of the New Jersey Organizing Project. The nonprofit was formed to help people negotiate the complex flood insurance and federal emergency funds systems.

They spoke at a state Assembly Regulatory Oversight and Reform and Federal Relations Committee hearing Thursday and at a Tuesday night Sierra Club of New Jersey forum in Brick Township called Are We Stronger Than The Next Storm?

Forty thousand primary homeowners were impacted by the storm (with significant damage), and 15,000 applied for the RREM program, Amanda Devecka-Rinear, director of the New Jersey Organizing Project, said at the Sierra Club forum.

The state Department of Community Affairs administers the Rehabilitation, Reconstruction, Elevation and Mitigation program with $1.1 billion in federal funds.

Eligible homeowners whose primary homes were damaged by Sandy got up to $150,000 in grants to pay for construction projects such as raising homes that were not covered by other funding sources.

Of them, 8,000 remain (in the program) today. What happened to the other 7,000, I dont know, she said. Only 4,000 have completed construction and elevation projects. The other 50 percent are not finished. Obviously we need to do better.

Devecka-Rinear said many have simply given up on negotiating the complex insurance and assistance programs or were inappropriately told they didnt qualify. She is lobbying for legislation that would let people still caught in Sandy-related financial problems put off paying their mortgages on damaged properties for a time, instead extending the length of their mortgages.

Our concern is that not only has the state not learned from Sandy, but that these policies will leave us at risk during the next storm, said Sierra Club Director Jeff Tittel.

He said the state has rolled back controls over development in environmentally sensitive coastal areas, in spite of models that predict a 1-3 foot sea-level rise by 2050.

When asked at the Sierra Club forum how anyone can justify rebuilding in highly vulnerable, exposed coastal areas, former Asbury Park Press reporter Kirk Moore said soon there will be strong financial pressure against doing so.

People want to live near the water, said Moore, who is now associate editor at WorkBoat magazine and field editor for National Fisherman magazine. Banks and insurance companies will walk away, and only the super-wealthy who can self-insure will be able to live there.
TUCKERTON  An accidental propane explosion inside a food truck oven early Saturday was heard for miles, but no one was injured, officials said.

The blast about 4:45 a.m. at Railroad Avenue and North Green Street damaged some nearby houses, according to a post on Tuckerton Fire Department's Facebook page.

The trailer, Fuggettoboutit Lunch Wagon, was a hot dog stand Joseph DePalo said he has owned for about six years, according to the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office. The food stand was destroyed, leaving a "large debris field," according to the fire department.

DePaolo leases the business to Robert Felicino, who told authorities he had paid next year's rent a week ago. DePaolo said he doesn't carry insurance on the property or trailer, according to the Prosecutor's Office.

Felicino said he leaves the propane tanks on overnight and the Health Department inspected the trailer this past week, according to the Prosecutor's Office.

Investigators believe the blast was an accident caused by free-flowing propane that may have been ignited by an electrical spark from an appliance, according to the Prosecutor's Office.
ATLANTIC CITY  Its a rainy day in September, and Arizona Avenue is again underwater.

Chris Macaluso, 25, watches the flood waters rise over the sidewalk. Then he does what he always does when this happens. He logs onto Twitter.

What a trash lake this is, he tweets at city officials, with a video showing a tipped-over trash can, lumber and other debris floating down a river thats normally a road.

Imagine if there was a hurricane, another tweet says, this one showing contractors in nearly knee-high water chasing the lost lumber.

The tweets get the attention of the city, itself drowning financially.

Working to find funding to clear drains, the citys Planning & Development Department replies.

Residents such as Macaluso are dealing with frequent flooding that submerges some streets when theres rain or a full moon. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted Atlantic City would have the fifth-highest number of nuisance-flooding days this year among cities where tidal flooding is an issue.

With Absecon Island sinking and sea levels rising, Atlantic City finds itself on the front lines in the battle against climate change. The city has big plans to address the issue, including a sea wall, a revived Baltic Avenue Canal and bulkheads along the back bay.

And the seaside gambling mecca, desperately trying to reinvent itself, sees flood resiliency as a possible economic driver. Theres talk of making Atlantic City an international research center on climate change.

But the city faces unique challenges in dealing with flooding. Atlantic City is broke and has limited funds to address issues such as Arizona Avenue, where water regularly comes out of storm drains, according to residents.

The problem we are going to see in Atlantic City is back bay flooding, said Rouzbeh Nazari, an engineering professor at Rowan University who has studied Atlantic City. Sea-level rise will be an ongoing challenge. We have this nuisance flooding, sunny-day flooding thats now happening. For those, we really have to think about long-term protective measures.

Weeks after Hurricane Sandy slammed the shore, costing the resort $75 million in damage and lost revenue, the city and the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority drafted a report proposing storm-mitigation projects. Four years later, nearly all of those projects have some level of funding.

We work in a lot of communities, all coastal communities, and projects that are needed, many of them havent started, said grant writer James Rutala. But in Atlantic City, progress is being made. This recovery is already starting. Big projects take five to 10 years to happen. In Atlantic City, most of the projects are under construction or in design.

Construction of a sea wall and new Boardwalk is under way along the Inlet. The three-phase, $45 million project is expected to be completed in 2017. It will produce a continuous Boardwalk running to Gardners Basin. The project was designed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and has received federal, state and municipal funding.

Work on the Baltic Avenue Canal is beginning after a six-month delay due to contamination issues. The canal, built more than a century ago, is an underground channel with inoperable flood gates. The city wants to install new, electronically controlled gates. That will help increase its capacity by controlling water flowing in from the bay while pumping out excess rain water out. Both gate projects could be completed by late next year, City Engineer Russell Cipolla said.

The projects first phase, fittingly, involves installing a gate at Atlantis Avenue, a street named after a fictional city swallowed by the sea.

Other projects  such as a Chelsea Heights bulkhead  are in their infancy.

The citys efforts to become more flood-proof reduced flood insurance premiums by 5 percent for policyholders in the city through the National Flood Insurance Program Community Rating System, officials said. The city is trying to get a 20 percent to 25 percent discount based on a new submission.

Taking advantage of vulnerability

Coastal communities worldwide are dealing with sea-level rise. As Atlantic City tries to diversify its economy, a number of officials have suggested transforming the resort into a hub for resilience and climate change.

Atlantic City is perfectly positioned to be in the forefront based on its central location along the East Coast, its conference space and hotel rooms, its vulnerability to storms and flooding and its unique coastal urban environment, wrote Planning and Development Director Elizabeth Terenik in a city white paper titled Resilience as an Economic Driver in Atlantic City.

The Atlantic County Economic Development and Action Plan and Atlantic Citys Five-Year Recovery Plan both mention making the city a climate-change research center. City Council recently passed a resolution, sponsored by Councilmen Frank Gilliam, Aaron Randolph and Kaleem Shabazz, to support the concept.

Phase one of this plan, already underway, involves partnering with universities. Stockton University, which will have a campus in the city by 2018, could bring a coastal-research center. Rowan Universitys Environmental and Engineering program would also be a natural fit, according to the citys fiscal plan.

The city also wants to attract meetings, conferences and training programs focused on coastal resilience. One such conference, for the New Jersey Association for Floodplain Management, took place at Ballys Atlantic City last week. Nazari, the Rowan professor, was a speaker there.

I expect the next disaster to be on the back bay rather than the waterfront, Nazari said.

Reminders of Sandy

Arizona Avenue provides proof that the back bays are especially vulnerable. The street was completely submerged hours after rain and high tide ended Sept. 30, the second time that month a reporter saw the street drown.

Every time it rains, Jose Valdez, 16, said of the streets frequent flooding. His familys black SUV was parked on the sidewalk.

Macaluso said water streams out of storm drains here. News reports that mention surge, high tide and full moon are alarm bells, reminding residents of Sandy, he said.

It scares the living daylights out of people, Macaluso said. Its almost like PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).

City officials are aware of Arizona Avenues issue but acknowledged the citys financial problems limit what they can do.

We have to prioritize a whole lot more with the limited amount of funds that we have, so it puts us in a very difficult position, Cipolla said.

The cash-strapped city sometimes receives grants to cover project construction costs but may not have the money to pay for the projects design, Terenik said.

In August, Macaluso attended a Ducktown Neighborhood Association meeting to ask officials about the flooding.

Atlantic County Freeholder Frank Formica told him a new bulkhead is needed and drains need to be replaced. Check valves in the drains have been broken for 25 years, he said.

Later, a resident asked about a local liquor store.

It goes underwater every time a large dog urinates, Formica said.
LoBiondos there for constituents

Personally, I find Rep. Frank LoBiondos comment concerning his planned write-in vote for Mike Pence rather puerile. With that said, LoBiondo stands head and shoulders above his challenger, Dave Cole.

LoBiondo doesnt just talk the talk, like Cole. He walks the walk. Every person, no matter race or ethnicity, gets personal attention and help from LoBiondo.

He is a champion of veterans and those who unfortunately have physical disabilities. He has shown through the years that he is a leader who genuinely cares about his constituents.

Although at times I may disagree with him, he will definitely get my vote. He is a credit to the citizens of his district.

Ron Hill

Egg Harbor City

LoBiondo decided too late not to vote for Trump

By the time Rep. Frank LoBiondo finally announced on Oct. 8 that he would not vote for Donald Trump, more than 100 braver, more self-reliant Republican politicians (including senators, representatives and governors) had already withdrawn their support  many of them months ago.

Trumps inexcusable behaviors over the past year  imitating a disabled reporter, criticizing John McCain for being captured, praising Vladimir Putin as a great leader, announcing he would bring back waterboarding (and a hell of a lot worse), insulting the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, claiming black Americans are living in hell, and tweeting rants at all hours of the night  had driven them away.

LoBiondo witnessed all these too, of course, and more importantly represented us in Trenton and Washington while Trump ripped off Atlantic City and small businesses throughout the area in the 1990s.

He should have been among the first to step forward to disavow Trump.

LoBiondo has served in the House for 22 years, yet he remains virtually invisible in Washington, riding along on cruise control term after term. The independent GovTrack regularly ranks him among the least active representatives from New Jersey and in the entire Congress.

Southern New Jersey deserves a congressman who has the energy, dedication and 21st-century know-how to stand up in Washington and get things done.

Voting for Cole would help end the do-nothing Congress.

Jack Connor

Port Republic
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.




- The center provides end-to-end customer experience solutions to leading firms in the banking & financial services, telecommunications and industry sectors

BOGOTA, Colombia, Oct. 28, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Atento S.A. (NYSE: ATTO), the leading provider of customer relationship management and business process outsourcing services (CRM BPO) in Latin America, and one of the three top providers worldwide, has inaugurated its customer relationship center of Telares, in Bogota. This center brings to four the total number of Atento centers located in city of Bogota.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150506/214260LOGO

According to Miguel Matey, Director of Atento Americas North Region, "With the inauguration of this new center in Bogota, our company continues to increase its presence in the country, offering advanced customer experience solutions to companies who operate in the Colombian market." Miguel Matey added, "Colombia is also a country that can offer important competitive advantages and plays a key role in Atento's strategy to provide customer experience solutions to companies operating in the US market and who wish to manage their customer services from Latin American countries."

Atento's modern facilities in Telares occupy approximately 11,170 m2 built over three floors. The facilities have training rooms, a canteen, rest and recreation areas, a data center as well as a biometric access control system. It is one of the most advanced centers in Colombia for providing end-to-end customer experience solutions. The center will provide jobs for approximately 2,000 agents and is fully accessible for people with disabilities.

For Miguel Jose Lopez, Managing Director of Atento Colombia, "Centers such as Telares reflect Atento's commitment to offering end-to-end customer experience solutions adapted to the needs of companies operating in highly competitive environments. Environments where excellent customer experience increases consumer satisfaction and becomes the most effective distinguishing factor against the competition." Miguel Jose Lopez added, "It is an honor for us to inaugurate this center in the presence of our clients and the main economic authorities of the country."

Atento has over 8,000 employees in Colombia, more than 50 leading clients in different sectors and operates in four cities: Bogota, Pereira, Bucaramanga and Quibdo.

About Atento

Atento is the largest provider of customer relationship management and business process outsourcing (CRM BPO) services in Latin America, and among the top three providers globally, based on revenues. Atento is also a leading provider of nearshoring CRM/BPO services to companies that carry out their activities in the United States. Since 1999, the company has developed its business model in 14 countries where it employs more than 150,000 people. Atento has over 400 clients to whom it offers a wide range of CRM/BPO services through multiple channels. Atento's clients are mostly leading multinational corporations in sectors such as telecommunications, banking and financial services, health, retail and public administrations, among others. Atentos shares trade under the symbol ATTO on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). In 2015, Atento was named one of the Worlds 25 Best Multinational Workplaces by Great Place to Work for a third consecutive year. For more information visit www.atento.com

Related Links

http://www.atento.com



SOURCE Atento S.A.
The panda bus filled with the cute Pandamen and extremely cool virtual reality devices is like a brand-new Chengdu business card. The successful drive into Germany and Poland has attracted strong attention from the native citizens, tourists, newspapers, television stations, and social media networks.

This is the first time Chengdu VR city advertisement video will make its appearance in middle Europe. Chengdu became the first city to bring cultural communications to middle European countries with VR technology. Chengdu's Pandamen have suddenly become "International Online Celebrity" during the activity period, and occupy the hot search rankings of Facebook, Instagram and other international SNS (Social Networking Services).

This activity wishes for all people to break the boundaries of time and space, and make a special "Intimate Contact" with Chengdu through VR virtual experience. Meanwhile, the enthusiasm and inclusion of Chengdu is also shown to the whole world through a series of thematic displays and roadshow activities. Particularly worth mentioning is the train pattern on the body of the bus, as it symbolizes the "Chengdu-Europe" Rail Express that connects Chengdu and Europe.

Contact: Liu Zhong, +86-15928669390, liuzhongv001@126.com

SOURCE Chengdu Association For Cultural Exchanges With Foreign Countries
DUBAI, UAE, October 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

DMCC announce partnerships with the Shanghai Gold Exchange; Agricultur al Bank of China ; Mega Capital & Yunnan State Farms Group

DMCC, Dubai's Government authority on trade, enterprise and commodities and the world's number one Free Zone, concluded Dubai Week in China, Shanghai, with three significant commodity trade agreements and its "Made for Trade. Together" in Shanghai Forum.

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DMCC's event attracted over 130 senior government officials, business leaders and financial institutions including His Excellency Abdulla Al Saleh, Under Secretary of the UAE Ministry of Economy for Foreign Trade and Industry Affairs; Consul General His Excellency Ibrahim Al Mansouri, Consulate General of The United Arab Emirates of Shanghai; Jiao Jinpu, Chairman, Shanghai Gold Exchange; Gautam Sashittal, Chief Executive Officer, DMCC; Matthew Pang, Managing Director of Mega Capital; and Zhonghua Chi, General Manager of Yunnan State Farms Group.

Gautam Sashittal, Chief Executive Officer at DMCC, said:

"The DMCC partnership agreements we announced at Dubai Week in China, Shanghai, today, is evidence of the deep links between China and Dubai, and the growing role the Dubai trade has in bringing our world's closer. China is Dubai's number one trading partner. The relationships that we have cemented here with the Shanghai Gold Exchange, Agricultural Bank of China, Mega Capital and Yunnan State Farms Group will further underpin the role that DMCC is playing in boosting the commodities trade along the West to East corridor - connecting directly into China's Belt and Road Initiative."

During the Dubai Week in China event, DMCC signed three significant commodity partnerships:

The Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) announced the first yuan-denominated gold future product to be offered outside of China , obtaining a license from the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) to list Shanghai Gold Futures in Dubai using the Shanghai Gold Benchmark Price.

, obtaining a license from the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) to list Shanghai Gold Futures in using the Shanghai Gold Benchmark Price. The Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) also announced that Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) has become the first market maker for the Shanghai Gold Futures contract to be listed on its exchange.

(ABC) has become the first market maker for the Shanghai Gold Futures contract to be listed on its exchange. DMCC signed an agreement with Mega Capital Halal (MCH), a Hong Kong -based holding company, to import coffee annually from China's Yunnan State Farms Group to Dubai for world distribution. The agreement will see MCH export Chinese Arabica beans from the Yunnan State Farms Group to Dubai . DMCC will also develop a Coffee Centre. Based on the highly successful DMCC Tea Centre, which has enabled the UAE to become the largest re-exporter of tea in the world.

DMCC also launched the latest in a series of reports on 'The Future of Trade', hosting a roundtable of experts to discuss the ways that trade is changing the world. The report focus heavily on the potential for digitalisation to impact trade, stating that as many as 350 million businesses would begin exporting goods for the first time if they were to adopt an end-to-end digital strategy.

There was also considerable interest in DMCC's Free Zone, named the Global Free Zone of the Year 2016 by The Financial Times fDi Magazine for the second year running, and its Business Panel debate 'Making Business Happen in Dubai. Together'.

Panel Speakers representing leading Chinese companies based in the DMCC Free Zone in Dubai, Zhu Jianchao, Vice president/Chief Engineer; China State Construction Engineering Corporation; Wu Qing, Administration Manager, PowerChina; Robert Wang, Technical Director, Hikvision; and Timothy Chong, Director, Mega Capital; shared their views on why DMCC is such a pro-business place, and how Dubai's world-class infrastructure, connectivity and partnership approach create a unique environment for Chinese companies to drive growth in the Middle East, Africa and beyond, and opportunities to forge closer ties between the twin cities of Dubai and Shanghai.

DMCC. Made for Trade.

http://www.dmcc.ae

SOURCE DMCC
IRVINE, California, Oct. 28, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Resolve Systems - The Incident Resolution Summit, a unique executive event focused on innovation and transformation efforts in IT Operations, Automation, and Security Operations, had its European debut in London last week. Resolve Systems, the global industry leader in accelerating incident resolution, continued as principal sponsor of the event and led collaborative discussions with industry trailblazers and disruptors.

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Headliners of the two-day summit focused on sharing best practices on topics such as: new models for incident resolution, actionable intelligence with automation, effective security incident response, critical incident management, and cyber security. Speakers included, Aleem Cummins representing the SplunkTrust, Jennifer Arcuri, Founder and CEO of My Hacker House and Tedx Speaker and Lee Bonham, Business Change Architect from Amadeus. Participants in attendance ranged from a variety of industries and companies including: TalkTalk, Fujitsu, KPMG, Accenture, Sky, Updata, BT, and Splunk.

Aleem Cummins former Group Data Analytics CTO of Computacenter and SplunkTrust member shared that, "There is an inherent need for an event like the Incident Resolution Summit that fosters an environment for disruptors in IT Operations and Security Operations. Companies need to evaluate their technology investments and prioritize human-guided automation processes as part of their new norm."

"Hearing industry leaders share their thoughts and experiences on systemic challenges and needs solidifies Resolve's position on automation," said Zahi Yaari, Managing Director of Europe at Resolve Systems. "There is an inherent opportunity for network, service, and security organizations to make an impactful mark within their organizations by leveraging human-guided automation and incident resolution tools Resolve delivers."

The London summit follows the successful inaugural Incident Resolution Summit held in Austin, Texas earlier this year with over 100 companies in attendance. For more information on upcoming 2017 events visit www.resolutionsummit.com.

Media

Resolve Systems

949-954-6592

marketing@resolvesystems.com

About Resolve Systems

Resolve Systems is the global leader in accelerating incident resolution for enterprise IT operations and cyber security operations that utilizes a unique combination of intelligent incident response, actionable dashboards, and human-guided automationsTM in a single, scalable platform. Headquartered in Irvine, California with Operations in EMEA, Resolve Systems has Fortune 500 customers around the world. For more information, please visit www.resolvesystems.com.

Related Links

http://www.resolvesystems.com



SOURCE Resolve Systems
DOHA, Qatar, October 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Dr Joao Luiz Pippi Salle, Division Chief of Paediatric Urology at Sidra Medical and Research Center (Sidra), recently performed life changing surgery on two children born with severe birth defects, exemplifying Qatar Foundation's (QF) spirit of collaboration and cross cultural support.

Utilising his extensive clinical expertise to set new standards in patient care for those suffering from the rare urological condition, bladder exstrophy, Dr Salle operated on a 19-month old from Central Asia and a 17-month old from Ghana last week, carrying out one of the most complicated medical procedures practiced today.

Dr Salle explained: "I'm very fortunate to be part of Sidra's growing team of world-leading specialists who now have a unique opportunity to harness the latest research innovations and technologies available in the medical field. It was certainly the case five or ten years ago, that this region perhaps lacked facilities to treat conditions such as bladder exstrophy. Instead, parents had to make the difficult, and expensive choice, to seek treatment in the US or Europe. Thanks to our collaboration with HMC, and support from Qatar Foundation, we've been able to position Qatar as one of the few countries that can provide complex urological surgeries. I believe this will prove a game-changer and will highlight Qatar's ambition to be at the vanguard of medical innovation in the region and globally."

Dr Salle personifies Sidra's commitment to innovation and specialist medical research. He is a member of the distinguished 'Bladder Exstrophy Global Care Team', a joint collaboration between the Association for Bladder Exstrophy Community (A-BE-C) and a small international team of dedicated paediatric surgeons committed to treating the condition.

"Many children born with bladder exstrophy live in places where there are no local urologists trained to properly treat conditions like this. There are, in fact, very few medical centres in Africa equipped to correct this rare condition. In an attempt to address this gap in global services, Sidra teamed up with the A-BE-C and Qatar Foundation to help children in these situations."

Bladder exstrophy affects 1 in 50,000 babies, and depending on the type of exstrophy, sufferers can be born with complex urological structures including a malformation of the bladder and improperly formed pelvic bones. Repair of the bladder requires highly complex surgical reconstruction. A child with exstrophy may undergo multiple procedures, lengthy hospitalisations and many repeated outpatient visits and treatments.

Dr Salle reinforced the importance of forming strategic partnerships and collaborations with organisations such as A-BE-C in providing meaningful solutions to global medical challenges. "It's vital we seek out and embrace collaborations with people like Pamela Block, Executive Director of A-BE-C, who has made it her life's mission to help those suffering with bladder exstrophy. Through mutual co-operation we can achieve so much at Sidra. We have some of the finest facilities and medical professionals in the world and by simply opening our arms and hearts to those who need our help, we can create an unrivalled, international medical legacy right here in Qatar," he continued.

Apart from his medical prowess, Dr Salle has been recognised internationally for his humanitarian contributions, receiving the Herbie Fund Doctor of Year in 2011 for his treatment of under-privileged children around the world.

As an enthusiastic educator, Dr Salle revealed: "One of my life's greatest ambitions is to pass on everything I know to the upcoming generation of doctors and surgeons, so that we can continue to advance discoveries in bladder exstrophy to treat patients around the world. Not only does this have global humanitarian value, but it augments and positions Qatar as a beacon of learning, discovery and exceptional care, and I'm immensely proud to be part of that endeavour."

Dr Salle's ambition reflects Sidra and QF's dynamic research and education environment, which aspires to diffuse knowledge and inspire innovation around the world with the aim of providing the highest quality healthcare and pioneering medical research for the benefit of generations to come.

SOURCE Qatar Foundation
This is the first time Chengdu VR city advertisement video will make its appearance in middle Europe. Chengdu became the first city to bring cultural communications to middle European countries with VR technology. Chengdu's Pandamen have suddenly become "International Online Celebrity" during the activity period, and occupy the hot search rankings of Facebook, Instagram and other international SNS (Social Networking Services).

This activity wishes for all people to break the boundaries of time and space, and make a special "Intimate Contact" with Chengdu through VR virtual experience. Meanwhile, the enthusiasm and inclusion of Chengdu is also shown to the whole world through a series of thematic displays and roadshow activities. Particularly worth mentioning is the train pattern on the body of the bus, as it symbolizes the "Chengdu-Europe" Rail Express that connects Chengdu and Europe.

Contact: Liu Zhong, +86-15928669390, [email protected]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161029/434036

SOURCE Chengdu Association For Cultural Exchanges With Foreign Countries
MIAMI, Oct. 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- On October 28, Council of Americas (COA) presented the 22nd BRAVO Business Awards at a gala that honored eight distinguished recipients for their excellence and leadership in the Americas. Hosted for the first time by COA, the awards ceremony, held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Miami, brought together close to 400 business, policy, and civil society leaders in recognition of these exceptional individuals who have shaped and continue to transform the hemisphere.

The 22nd BRAVO Business Awards recipients are former President of Brazil Fernando Henrique Cardoso, BRAVO Legacy Award; Mexico's Secretary of Finance and Public Credit Jose Antonio Meade, Innovative Leader of the Year Award; President of Chevron Africa and Latin America Exploration and Production Company Ali Moshiri, Lifetime Achievement Award; Founder, President, and CEO of MercadoLibre Marcos Galperin, Visionary CEO of the Year; Arca Continental CEO Francisco Garza Egloff, CEO of the Year; Miami Dade College President Eduardo J. Padron, Civic Leader of the Year Award; Humanitas360 Institute President Patricia Villela Marino, Humanitarian of the Year Award; and the City of Medellin, Colombia, Transformational City of the Year Award, accepted by Mayor Federico Gutierrez Zuluaga.

"We are thrilled to be able to recognize the lasting legacy of this outstanding group of honorees. Their leadership, vision, and unwavering commitment to the Americas have created a better, more prosperous, and more integrated region than ever before," said Americas Society/Council of the Americas President and CEO Susan Segal. "Nothing could be more fitting than honoring these new BRAVO Business Awards recipients in Miami, the crossroad of the Americas."

Prior to the 2016 BRAVO Business Awards ceremony, the Council of the Americas Symposium, a one-day conference, convened close to 400 leaders from business, government, multilateral institutions, as well as non-governmental organizations, to discuss critical issues in the Western Hemisphere including energy, the economic landscape, and entrepreneurship.

For more information on the BRAVO Symposium and Awards, please visit bravobusiness.com.

Sponsors of the Council of the Americas Symposium and 22nd BRAVO Business Awards include: HSBC, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Burson-Marsteller, AES, CAF  Development Bank of Latin America, The Boston Consulting Group, Bombardier, Chubb, Emerson, Microsoft, and Softtek. Partners include ProMexico, CNN, the Financial Times, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and The Miami Herald.

The Symposium was organized in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank.

Press inquiries:

Victoria Peris | [email protected] | 1-305-347-4343

AS/COA Media Relations | [email protected] | 1-212-277-8384 or 1-212-277-8333

Council of the Americas (COA) is the premier international business organization whose members share a common commitment to economic and social development, open markets, the rule of law, and democracy throughout the Western Hemisphere. The Council's membership consists of leading international companies representing a broad spectrum of sectors, including banking and finance, consulting services, consumer products, energy and mining, manufacturing, media, technology, and transportation. Its sister organization, Americas Society (AS), is the premier forum dedicated to education, debate, and dialogue in the Americas. Its mission is to foster an understanding of the contemporary political, social, and economic issues confronting Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada, and to increase public awareness and appreciation of the diverse cultural heritage of the Americas and the importance of the inter-American relationship.

SOURCE Council of the Americas

Related Links

http://www.as-coa.org


BEIJING, Oct. 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- This week, Chinese cross-border e-commerce marketplace DHgate.com passed the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) annual review for the fifth year in a row, in recognition of the reliability and safety of their payment system. DHgate.com was also the ninth enterprise in China, and the only e-commerce enterprise in China to become Visa QSP verified, and additionally, earlier this year also passed the MasterCard Payment Facilitator, indicating their ability to act as a third party payment service provider for receiving order from foreign cards.

DHgate.com has distinguished itself within the cross border payment arena, possessing a strong risk control and payment system; ensuring safe, quick and convenient online payment for foreign currencies. DHgate.com offers over 30 payment methods, including diversified international payment methods like Visa, MasterCard and American Express, and local payment methods for Singapore, the UK, France, Germany, Russia, Holland, Australia, etc.

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) annual review is conducted by the PCI Security Standards Council, which according to their website, is a global open body formed to develop, enhance, disseminate, and assist with the understanding of security standards for payment account security. The Council's founding members, American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB International, MasterCard, and Visa Inc., have agreed to incorporate the PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) as part of the technical requirements for each of their data security compliance programs.

A representative from DHgate.com said: "DHgate.com has passed the annual PCI DSS review five years in a row, which demonstrates our payment system's stability and reliability. Our users' personal information is protected under our top-of-the-line security system. Thus, buyers can use their credit cards to complete transactions, without hesitation." Sellers have also benefitted from this development. "Since buyers' trust in our platform is increasing, in turn, buyers trust our sellers more, leading to more trade between the two parties. Customers then share their experiences with others, bringing more buyers to the platforms, increasing sellers' orders."

ABOUT DHgate.com

DHgate.com is the first to market and the biggest transactional cross-border B2B e-commerce marketplace in China, aiming to provide global buyers with quality products at competitive prices. Founded in 2004, DHgate.com has approximately 10 million global buyers from 230 countries and regions, with 1.4 million global sellers offering 40 million products. DHgate.com's business enables buyers to directly access global manufacturers of the world's top brands with rich product selections. DHgate.com is an all-in-one platform with integrated services for international logistics, cross-border payments, internet financing, etc. DHgate.com's US, UK, Spain, and UAE product distribution warehouses allow for 24 hour delivery and convenient product returns & refunds, bringing great convenience to buyers at http://www.dhgate.com.

SOURCE DHgate.com

Related Links

http://www.dhgate.com


WASHINGTON, Oct. 27, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, NCLR (National Council of La Raza) released the results of two national polls of Latino voters that measured their views on key economic and health care issues, as well as voter attitudes toward the presidential candidates and whether Latinos plan to vote this election. Premier Hispanic polling firm Latino Decisions conducted the polls October 719 and surveyed 1,000 respondents for each, with oversamples of Latino millennials, as well as voters in the key swing states of Florida, California and Texas.

Despite an election season peppered with anti-Latino, anti-immigrant rhetoric that could have dampened Hispanic enthusiasm, 88 percent of those surveyed nationally said they were "definitely voting this election." Favorability ratings of both major party candidates demonstrated stark differences between the twoDemocratic nominee Hillary Clinton holds a 68 percent total favorability rating versus 18 percent for Republican candidate Donald Trump. Seventy percent of those surveyed said they were planning on voting for Clinton, and only 17 percent indicated they would vote for Trump.

The economy and health care, two key issues for Latino voters, were covered extensively in the polls, and the surveys measured attitudes on issues such as jobs, college affordability, Social Security, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and increasing access to health coverage for more people.

Overall, respondents held a positive outlook on the national economy, with 68 percent saying the economy is improving or has remained the same. At the same time, their personal finances are sometimes uncertain, with 46 percent saying it was sometimes difficult each month to make ends meet. Latino millennial voters were among the most optimistic about their personal financial situations, with 63 percent saying they think they will be financially better off a year from now, compared to only 36 percent of non-millennials. The survey respondents demonstrated strong support for creating more and better-paying jobs, with 87 percent indicating it was very important, and 23 percent saying this should be the first economic issue that a new Congress and administration address. Survey respondents also expressed support for the Social Security program85 percent indicated that it was very important to keep the program strong (71 percent of millennials and 96 percent of non-millennials).

"While the survey shows that Latinos are fairly optimistic about the state and future of the economy, there is a high level of insecurity about both their short- and long-term financial well-being, including their ability to obtain better-paying jobs, afford college or technical school, access tax supports for homeownership and child care, and have a secure retirement," said Lindsay Daniels, NCLR Associate Director of Economic Policy. "These issues resonated across the board, even with Hispanic millennials, who account for nearly half of projected Latino eligible voters. The community wants a new administration and Congress that will address their economic concerns, and we look forward to working with policymakers who understand that a more prosperous America is one that incorporates Latino priorities."

On health care issues, Latinos demonstrated strong support for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), with 71 percent saying it is either working well and should stay as is, or is working well and can be improved by efforts to lower out-of-pocket costs. Since the implementation of the ACA, the Latino uninsured rate has dropped from 24.3 percent in 2013 to a historic low of 16.2 percent today. With the passage of ACA, important consumer protections were put in place, including prohibiting insurance companies from denying coverage based on preexisting conditions; an overwhelming number of respondents to the survey90 percentbelieve it is important to ensure this provision remains in place.

In polling voters in Florida and Texas, two states where the governors have refused to expand their Medicaid programs, resulting in more than 600,000 Latinos being denied health coverage, 80 percent of Floridians and 81 percent of Texans say their respective states should expand Medicaid. Latinos polled said that Medicaid was an issue that would sway their support for a particular candidate; when asked if the support of Medicaid expansion would influence their vote, Texas Latinos responded 82 percent in the affirmative and 78 percent of Floridian Latinos agreed.

"The Affordable Care Act has put new options on the table for millions of Americans, including Latinos, and has improved the quality of coverage for millions more. Today's results show strong support among Latino voters for building upon the gains of the ACA, including expanding Medicaid and identifying opportunities to ensure the law works for even more people. We also see strong support for investments that better position children to be healthy and succeed, via measures like Head Start and school-based health centers," said Steven Lopez, Manager of the NCLR Health Policy Project. "The health and well-being of our country is linked to that of the Latino community and Latino voters are looking to the next administration and Congress to shape agendas that reflect Latino health policy priorities."

NCLRthe largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United Statesworks to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans. For more information on NCLR, please visit www.nclr.org or follow along on Facebook and Twitter.

CONTACT:

Camila Gallardo

[email protected]

(305) 215-4259

SOURCE National Council of La Raza

Related Links

http://www.nclr.org


BRIDGEVILLE, Pa., Oct. 28, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, Department of Community and Economic Development Secretary Dennis Davin and representatives from ACTION-Housing, Inc. toured in-progress weatherization work to highlight the importance of the Weatherization Assistance Program in recognition of the 40th anniversary of the U.S. Department of Energy's National Weatherization Day on October 30.

"As cold weather approaches, many families across the commonwealth are turning up their thermostats," Secretary Davin said. "For low-income families, the winter months can quickly become a financial burden. Through the department's Weatherization Assistance Program, we are providing assistance to combat that challenge by providing permanent solutions to reduce energy costs and increase safety year round."

The Weatherization Assistance Program reduces energy costs for low-income eligible households by increasing the efficiency of homes through a federal allocation received from the U.S. Department of Energy, which in turn is allocated to local agencies statewide. As part of the program, an energy audit of the home is conducted to determine air flow and leakage and weatherization measures are chosen to best reduce the home's energy usage. Measures may include weather-stripping, insulation placement, and window or door repair. The federally-mandated statewide average to be spent on individual weatherization work per home is $7,105.

Eligible applicants include low-income individuals, at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, with priority given to higher risk residents such as the elderly, disabled individuals, families with children, and high energy users.

"ACTION-Housing started implementing this program 35 years ago," said Larry Swanson, executive director of ACTION-Housing, Inc. "What started as inspection audits has evolved into truly life-changing work. Since its inception, we have fixed an estimated 41,000 homes. This program allows us to alleviate the burden of utility bills for our clients, and we continue to eradicate many unsafe living conditions. Naturally, this kind of work gives birth to compelling stories."

Another critical element of WX is DCED's partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) through which DCED receives a separate allocation of 15 percent of the statewide Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP Crisis) for the repair or replacement of furnaces during heating emergencies.

"Through our federally administered Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, we are able to help keep Pennsylvanians safe and warm during the cold winter months," DHS Secretary Ted Dallas. "You, or someone you know, could be eligible for LIHEAP. Apply today at COMPASS.state.pa.us or by visiting your local county assistance office."

Since 1977, DCED in collaboration with its local partners, have weatherized more than 535,176 homes and responded to 114,620 heating crisis emergencies. To commemorate National Weatherization Day's 40th year, Governor Tom Wolf signed a proclamation to formalize the observation throughout Pennsylvania, bring further awareness to DCED's Weatherization Assistance Program, and further demonstrate the administration's commitment to creating strong, stable communities.

For more information on DCED or the Weatherization Assistance Program, please visit dced.pa.gov.

MEDIA CONTACT: Heidi Havens, 717-783-1132

SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development

Related Links

http://www.state.pa.us


VANCOUVER, Oct. 27, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Incorporated (NYSE and TSX: RBA), the world's largest industrial auctioneer and a leading equipment distributor, invites interested parties to participate in its third quarter 2016 earnings conference call, occurring on Thursday, November 10, 2016 at 11:00 am Eastern time / 8:00 am Pacific time / 4:00 pm GMT. During the call company executives will discuss Ritchie Bros.' earning results and answer questions from analysts and institutional investors. The Company's third quarter 2016 earnings results will be released after NYSE and TSX markets close the day prior, on November 9, 2016.

Analysts and institutional investors may participate via conference call, using the following dial-in information:

1-888-231-8191 (toll-free North America )

) 0-800-051-7107 (toll-free UK)

1-647-427-7450 ( Toronto & overseas long-distance)

Please ask to participate in Ritchie Bros.' third quarter 2016 earnings call, and quote conference ID

10175032 if prompted.

Media and other interested parties may listen to the conference call via webcast, by selecting the third quarter 2016 earnings call webcast link at https://investor.ritchiebros.com.

Please note that there will be presentation slides accompanying the earnings call. The slides will be displayed live on the webcast, and will be available to download via the webcast player or at https://investor.ritchiebros.com/events-and-presentations the morning of the call.

A replay of the conference call can be accessed after 2:00 pm Eastern time / 11:00 am Pacific time / 7:00 pm GMT until December 10, 2016 at 416-849-0833 or 1-855-859-2056 (using passcode 10175032#).

About Ritchie Bros.

Established in 1958, Ritchie Bros. (NYSE and TSX: RBA) is the world's largest industrial auctioneer, and one of the world's largest sellers of used equipment for the construction, transportation, agriculture, energy, mining, forestry and other industries. Ritchie Bros.TM asset management and disposition solutions include live unreserved public auctions with on-site and online bidding; EquipmentOneTM, an online auction marketplace; MascusTM, a global online equipment listing service; private negotiated sales through Ritchie Bros. Private Treaty; and a range of ancillary services, including financing and leasing through Ritchie Bros. Financial Services. Ritchie Bros. has operations in 19 countries, including 44 auction sites worldwide. Learn more at rbauction.com, EquipmentOne.com, mascus.com, rbauction.com/privatetreaty and rbauction.com/financing.

SOURCE Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers

Related Links

http://www.rbauction.com


NEW YORK, Oct. 28, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Tyson Foods, Inc. ("Tyson" or the "Company") (NYSE: TSN) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court, Southern District of New York, and docketed under 16-cv-08108, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons or entities who purchased or otherwise acquired Tyson securities between November 23, 2015 and October 6, 2016 inclusive (the "Class Period"). This class action seeks to recover damages against Defendants for alleged violations of the federal securities laws under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act").

If you are a shareholder who purchased Tyson securities during the Class Period, you have until December 16, 2016 to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at [email protected] or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll free, ext. 9980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and number of shares purchased.

[Click here to join this class action]

Tyson, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a food company worldwide. Through its Chicken segment, Tyson raises and processes chickens into fresh, frozen, and value-added chicken products. The Company sells its products through its sales staff to grocery retailers, grocery wholesalers, meat distributors, warehouse club stores, military commissaries, industrial food processing companies, chain restaurants or their distributors, live markets, international export companies, and domestic distributors, as well as through independent brokers and trading companies.

The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose material adverse facts about the Company's business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Tyson systematically colluded with several of its industry peers to fix prices in the broiler-chicken market; (ii) the foregoing conduct constituted a violation of federal antitrust laws; (iii) consequently, Tyson's Chicken segment revenues during the class period were the result of illegal conduct; and (iv) as a result of the foregoing, Tyson's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On September 2, 2016, the market had its first inkling of Defendants' fraud, when food distributor Maplevale Farms, Inc. ("Maplevale") filed an antitrust class action complaint in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against Tyson and several other poultry producers, including Pilgrim's Pride Corporation, Perdue Farms, Inc., and Sanderson Farms, Inc., alleging that Tyson and the other companies named in the complaint had conspired since 2008 to manipulate the prices of broiler chickenschickens raised specifically for meat productionby coordinating and limiting production and exchanging detailed information about prices, capacity, and sales volume, in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act, 15 U.S.C.  1-7 (the "Sherman Act").

Between September 7, 2016 and October 7, 2016, eight more class action complaints were filed against Tyson and other poultry companies in the Northern District of Illinois, on behalf of individual consumers and indirect purchasers of broiler chickens, all alleging that Tyson had engaged in the price-manipulation scheme described in Maplevale's complaint.

On October 7, 2016, Pivotal Research ("Pivotal") downgraded Tyson from "Hold" to "Sell." Explaining the downgrade, analyst Timothy Ramey directed investors' attention to the allegations of price manipulation by Tyson and its industry peers and described the Maplevale complaint as "powerfully convincing."

On news of the downgrade, Tyson's share price fell $6.63, or 8.91%, to close at $67.75 on October 7, 2016. From the filing of the Maplevale action on September 2, 2016 to Pivotal's downgrade on October 7, 2016, Tyson's share price fell $8.69, or 11.37%.

The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Florida, and Los Angeles, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com

CONTACT:

Robert S. Willoughby

Pomerantz LLP

[email protected]

SOURCE Pomerantz LLP

Related Links

http://www.pomerantzlaw.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
Jammu, Oct 24 : An eight-year-old boy and a BSF trooper were killed in fresh Pakistani firing early on Monday that also damaged at least 50 villages in Jammu region, officials said.

The Border Security Force (BSF) retaliated and the exchange of fire continued for hours. Intermittent exchange of fire was on till Monday evening at various places along the 230-km border in Jammu district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Police said the mortars from Pakistan Rangers landed in residential areas damaging at least a dozen houses, crops and livestock in the border areas. A police station and a police vehicle were also damaged.

"A BSF trooper, Sushil Kumar, and an eight-year-old boy were killed in heavy shelling and automatic gunfire by Pakistan Rangers," a police spokesperson said here.

Another BSF trooper and seven civilians were injured.

"Over a dozen residential houses were damaged by mortar shells fired by Pakistan troops. A large number of shells landed in agricultural fields in the affected villages damaging standing crops and vegetables."

The firing by Pakistani border guards was the latest in a series of violations of the 2003 ceasefire agreement with India, the spokesperson said.

He alleged that the Pakistani side resorted to unprovoked shelling from 2 a.m. in the R.S. Pura, Pargwal and Kanachak sectors.

But the Pakistan military alleged that the Indian border guards killed two civilians, including a year-old girl, in unprovoked firing early Monday.

A statement from Pakistan's military media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said the firing from the Indian side left a civilian, Mohammed Latif, and a minor, Haniya, dead. Seven civilians were injured.

In Jammu, the BSF identfied the slain trooper as Head Constable Sushil Kumar, a resident of Kurukshetra in Haryana. He was inducted in the force in 1992.

He was the second BSF trooper killed in the cross border firing in the last three days.

On Sunday, a constable, Gurnam Singh, succumbed to his injuries in firing by Pakistani snipers that took place on Friday. Gurnam Singh belonged to Bhalesar village of Jammu's R.S. Pura.

The BSF launched a counter-offensive on Friday and claimed to have killed seven Pakistan Rangers and a militant across the border.

On the Indian side, residents in the border villages of Jammu said they spent another sleepless night as shells from Pakistan burst in the agricultural fields close to their homes.

Border forces of the two countries have been regularly trading fire as India-Pakistan ties soured first in July after an ongoing unrest erupted in the Kashmir Valley following the death of a militant commander.

The unrest has left at least 92 Kashmiris dead since July 8.

The ties deteriorated further after militants killed 19 Indian soldiers at a military base in Uri of Jammu and Kashmir on September 18.

In response, the Indian Army on September 29 carried surgical strikes at terror launch pads, killing an unspecified number of militants and their sympathisers in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Since then, the forces of the two countries have regularly targeted each other's military posts along the International Border and the 740-km-long LoC that divides Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
Brussels, Oct 24 : Belgium cannot sign a key EU trade deal with Canada, Prime Minister Charles Michel said on Monday.

The deal has been suspended because of objections from one of its regions, Wallonia, BBC reported.

Michel's statement appeared to dash hopes the Ceta deal could be signed by EU leaders and Canada on Thursday.

"We are not in a position to sign Ceta," Michel said after talks with regional leaders broke down.

It is the EU's most ambitious free trade deal to date but Belgium needs the regions' approval to sign it.

Michel said he had told European Council President Donald Tusk that Belgium could not sign Ceta.

The European Commission had set Belgium a Monday deadline to make its decision on the deal agreed with Canada in 2014, after five years of negotiations.

Wallonia, a staunchly socialist region of 3.6 million people, wants stronger safeguards on labour, environmental and consumer standards.

Its fears echo those of anti-globalisation activists, who said Ceta and deals like it give too much power to multinationals -- power even to intimidate governments.

There have been big demonstrations in several EU countries against Ceta and the TTIP trade talks between the EU and the US.

On Sunday, the European Commission presented a new clarification to Wallonia on the mechanism for settling disputes with investors.

The rules for trade arbitration are one of the thorniest issues in the deal.

According to a media report, the latest EU document did not satisfy the Walloon politicians.

Canada and the EU would eliminate 98 per cent of tariffs under Ceta, which was negotiated over five years between 2009 and 2014.

Supporters said this would increase trade between them by 20 per cent, and would especially help small businesses.

Critics said the deal threatens product standards and protects big business, allowing corporations to sue governments.
Varanasi, Oct 26 : Five persons were killed and more than half-a-dozen injured in an explosion in Varanasi, police said on Wednesday.

"Prima facie, the explosion appears to have been triggered by a fire in a stockpile of illegal firecrackers, ahead of Diwali," senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Nitin Tiwari said.

Two of the dead were identified as Aamna and Sarfaraz, while others are yet to be identified.

A National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team was at the spot and a search was on to rescue those feared buried under the debris, an officer said.

The incident took place around midnight on Tuesday in a two-storey building on a deep inside lane near the Pitarkund trisection, here.

Rescue and relief operations were underway and at least two persons were still feared buried under the debris. The condition of one woman rescued is said to be critical.

Senior officials including the divisional commissioner, district magistrate, senior superintendent of police and additional security forces were at the spot, a state Home Department official told IANS.

The house, where the explosion took place, belonged to Mohammed Haneef that is adjacent to a grave yard.

Haneef lived with his sons -- Rasheed, Hameed and Habeed, along with more than 20 tenants. The explosion was so massive that one of roofs was blown away, the police said.
New Delhi, Oct 26 : Alleging that Uttar Pradesh's ruling Samajwadi Party is only concerned with "amassing wealth", the BJP on Wednesday demanded answers from the Akhilesh Yadav government over "complete lack of healthcare system" in the state.

"The Samajwadi Party (SP) came to power in the state making many a promise, but it has only indulged in making wealth for itself and totally neglected the health of the people," BJP's national secretary Shrikant Sharma told the media here.

"People are dying of dengue, malaria and chikungunya because of the complete lack of healthcare system in the state. There are neither enough primary health centres nor doctors," the BJP leader said.

Sharma also cited Tuesday's observation of the Allahabad High Court, wherein it asked the Uttar Pradesh government why imposition of President's Rule cannot be recommended in the state for its failure to contain the dengue menace.

"It's not the BJP which is saying, rather it is the high court which has pointed to the Akhilesh Yadav government's complete failure on the healthcare front. We, therefore, demand answers from the Chief Minister to explain this complete lack of healthcare system in the state," said Sharma.

He also accused the Samajwadi Party and the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) of a nexus with criminals and the mafia, and asserted that if the BJP comes to power in the state, it will probe all scams under the previous regimes.

"Be it the SP or the BSP, they come to power because of their nexus with criminals and the mafia. That is why they never act against them. If the BJP comes to power, we will first act against them.

"We will also probe all scams under the SP and the BSP regimes and whoever is found guilty will be punished," added Sharma.
Washington, Oct 28 : The US has said that India and Pakistan need to solve issues among themselves following heightened tensions over the expelling of diplomats.

"We've seen the reports of these decisions. These are sovereign decisions that nation-states make, and these are issues that we're going to leave to India and Pakistan to work out," US State Department spokesman John Kirby said on Thursday during a press briefing.

Hours after Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit in New Delhi on Thursday to protest against Mehmood Akhtar, a visa officer at the Pakistan High Commission, who India accused of spying, Islamabad retaliated with a similar move.

In the evening, Pakistan Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry summoned Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale in Islamabad and declared Indian High Commission official Surjeet Singh as persona non grata and asked that he leave the country by Saturday.

Pakistan denied the espionage charges levelled against Akhtar as "false and unsubstantiated", and alleged that Indian police "manhandled" him.

"These are issues that we believe India and Pakistan need to discuss, need to talk about, need to work out between themselves," Kirby added.
New Delhi, Oct 28 : India on Friday condemned Pakistan's move of declaring persona non grata an officer posted in its high commission in Islamabad.

"Government notes with regret the government of Pakistan's decision to declare Surjeet Singh, Assistant Personnel and Welfare Officer in the High Commission of India in Islamabad, persona non grata and expel him and his family members," the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement.

"No justification has been provided by the government of Pakistan except for the completely baseless and unsubstantiated allegation that his activities were not in keeping with diplomatic norms," it stated.

"The government condemns Pakistan's step."

Pakistan's move came hours after Indian authorities detained a Pakistani High Commission official, Mehmood Akhtar, in New Delhi on Thursday on charges of running a spy network.

The Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar summoned the Pakistani envoy Abdul Basit and asked that Akhtar, a visa officer, be sent back within 48 hours.

On Thursday evening, in what was obviously a retaliatory move, Pakistan Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry summoned Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale in Islamabad and declared Indian high commission official Surjeet Singh as persona non grata and asked that he leave the country by Saturday.

"It is obvious that the step is an afterthought following yesterday's apprehension of Pakistan High Commission staffer Mehmood Akhtar in Delhi while indulging in anti-India activities," the External Affairs Ministry statement said.

"Pakistan's action further confirms that it continues to be in denial of its anti-India activities, including cross-border terrorism," it added.
Washington, Oct 29 : Republican Party presidential nominee Donald Trump celebrated the FBI's decision to re-open its investigation into Democratic rival Hillary Clinton's use of a private e-mail server, saying "perhaps finally justice will be done".

While the real-estate mogul was making those remarks at a campaign event in Manchester, New Hampshire, the crowd chanted "lock her up!", Efe news reported "I have great respect for the fact that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and (the Justice Department) are now willing to have the courage to right the horrible mistake they made," Trump said, referring to the bureau's decision in July not to recommend that the department pursue criminal charges against Clinton for her use of the private server for official business.

The FBI arrived at that conclusion even though its probe revealed that the then-secretary of state and her aides had been "extremely careless" in handling classified information, Director James Comey said then.

"They are reopening the case into her criminal and illegal conduct that threatens the security of the US," Trump told the crowd at the Radisson Hotel in downtown Manchester.

"With that being said, the rest of my speech is going to be so boring," Trump, who also will visit Maine and Iowa on Friday, joked at the rally.

The FBI's decision to re-open the case, communicated in a letter Friday to the chairmen of several congressional committees, comes just 11 days before the November 8 presidential election.

"In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of e-mails that appear pertinent to the investigation," Comey wrote.

"I am writing to inform you that the investigative team briefed me on this yesterday, and I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these e-mails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation," the director continued.

The FBI "cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be significant," Comey told the committee chairmen.

The director said he could not offer a time-frame for completion of the review.

The e-mail controversy erupted in 2015 when it was reported that Clinton had used a private e-mail account for official business throughout her 2009-2013 tenure as secretary of state.

The account operated over a private server located inside Bill and Hillary Clinton's home in Chappaqua, New York.
Brussels, Oct 29 : Leaders of the European Union (EU) and Canada will meet here over the weekend to sign the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), European Council President Donald Tusk announced.

"Mission accomplished! Just agreed with (Canadian) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to hold EU-Canada Summit this Sunday," Tusk said on Twitter on Friday.

Canada's premier was originally scheduled to travel to Brussels on Thursday to sign the CETA, as the pact is known, but the summit was postponed as the Belgian federal government worked to overcome the objections of one of the country's regional parliaments, Efe news reported.

The parliament of the Wallonia region voted earlier Friday to drop its opposition to CETA.

Under Belgium's federal system, the approval of each autonomous region is needed for international accords, while EU regulations require that all 28 member-states agree.

Lawmakers representing the 3.5 million mainly French-speaking territory of Wallonia voted 58-5 to accept CETA with the proviso that the European Court of Justice would examine the Investor-State Dispute Settlement, or ISDS, provision of the document.

A common feature of international trade pacts, ISDS allows private corporations to challenge national governments over legislation deemed to damage their real or expected profits.

While the ISDS mechanism will remain a part of CETA regardless of the finding of the European Court, the Walloon administration received additional guarantees from the Belgian federal government.

"We have a better treaty. It's not perfect, but it's a better treaty," Wallonia's minister-president, Paul Magnette said.

Belgium's EU partners agreed to the terms the Brussels government reached with Wallonia.
United Nations, Oct 29 : The UN Security Council has "condemned in the strongest terms" another mortar shelling on the Russian embassy in the Syrian capital of Damascus, which caused significant material damage.

The 15-nation UN body, in a press statement issued Friday night, recalled the fundamental principle of the inviolability of diplomatic and consular premises as well as the obligations of host governments to take all appropriate steps to protect diplomatic and consular premises against any intrusion or damage, and to prevent any disturbance of the peace of these missions or impairment of their dignity, Xinhua news agency reported.

The fundamental principle and obligations were provided by international conventions including the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, the statement said.

Two mortar shells coming from the Jobar district in Damascus, an area controlled by anti-government forces, hit the embassy on Friday morning compound located in the central al-Mazra area of the Syrian capital, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

"It was a lucky coincidence that casualties were avoided," a statement from the ministry said.

The embassy building suffered "material damage" in the attack, with four of the Russian diplomats' cars being hit, the statement added.

This was the third time in October that the Russian embassy was shelled from militant-controlled areas.

Both previous attacks, which took place on October 4 and 13, damaged the embassy building but caused no casualties, reports said.
New Delhi : Hard to believe, but Mosul, currently in the news, would have been ours today had Atal Bihari Vajpayee not played spoilsport.

After their invasion of Iraq in April 2003, Americans realized fairly early that a full- fledged occupation for an unspecified period was not possible without allies taking responsibility to administer large swathes of the ancient land.

Seldom has a US ambassador been more effective than David Mulford was. It took very little persuasion for External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, Defence Minister George Fernandez and Army Chief N.C. Vij to fall in line.

Ships were readied, battalions shortlisted, Generals chosen for India's first imperialist adventure since the Cholas. We were going to rule a part of that country which alone of all the 52 Muslim nations had stood by us at the UN, Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) and elsewhere on the Kashmir issue.

I suppose it must have been self-interest which caused us to turn turtle on Iraq as soon as the Americans were in occupation of the country.

Our ambassador to Baghdad, B.B. Tyagi, even risked his life. Iraqi resistance had identified him as a diplomat who was supportive of the occupation. No wonder I was once ushered into his presence while he sat in bed, his legs outstretched, eyes wide open as in a daze, his hands on automatic weapons by both his sides. It was a frame for a possible Woody Allen war film.

Just as the first US representative, Paul Bremer, was convinced that the occupation would be a cakewalk, so was South Block and, indeed, Tyagi.

Bremer, a devout Roman Catholic, had turned up with a batch of priests who smacked their lips at the prospect of saving souls in a post Saddam Iraq. It turned out that antique smugglers did rather better, cleaning out the Baghdad museum on America's watch.

South Block, like Bremer, had assumed that once Saddam's yoke was lifted from their necks, Iraqis would turn up in droves to hug the Americans.

In anticipation of Iraq's immediate future in American hands, South Block parked Tyagi in a three-star hotel in Amman where he spent mornings, afternoons, evenings watching CNN and BBC for the American progress in Iraq. The irony was that Lyse Ducet of the BBC was herself in occupation of the terrace of Amman's Intercontinental Hotel watching her Arab staff count their worry beads, waiting for the American flag to be fluttering over all of Iraq.

Were this to happen, Tyagi would helicopter into Baghdad's Green Zone and offer his credentials to Bremer or his Iraqi nominee.

Just imagine, New Delhi was all but ready to open its embassy with the American occupiers of a country which had given unstinted support to India always, particularly against Pakistani machinations at the UN.

This being the state of affairs, who could blame the US for being so confident of India's enthusiastic willingness to partner them and take charge of Kurdish Iraq. It had very nearly happened, had Vajpayee not decided to show spine - just in the nick of time.

He kept his head while those around him were losing theirs. On April 9, American marines brought down Saddam Hussain's statue and exactly the media which is lined up behind Hillary Clinton attributed the statue's fall to popular rage.

Vajpayee kept his counsel. On April 18, he turned up in Srinagar. Remember, the armies of India and Pakistan were in an eye-ball to eye-ball confrontation after the December 13, 2001 terror attack on Indian Parliament.

The fall of Saddam's statue had registered differently with Vajpayee - this scale of Western triumphalism was a source of anxiety for him. An "awesome" power has arisen. In the new situation, regional quarrels had to be composed, he said. Dramatically, he extended his hand of peace to Pakistan.

This was the beginning of the process which led to India and Pakistan signing an agreement in Islamabad on January 4, 2004 that forbids the use of a country's territory for cross-border terrorism. The word was not kept by Pakistan, but that is another story.

The "Shining India" campaign mounted by the BJP recoiled on it during the May 2004 elections. But for India-Pakistan relations, it was an unfortunate turn. When Vajpayee became the External Affairs Minister in the 1977 Janata government, he had made up his mind on Pakistan: "We cannot change our neighbours."

Among his first foreign visits was to Pakistan in February 1978. The bus journey to Lahore in February 1999, and the January 2004 visit which resulted in the agreement against cross-border terrorism, were audacious. But there were reverses.

He was able to cushion the reverses because of his cross-party stature nationally and his standing with the RSS. But he persisted because he had grasped the triangle in which the country had trapped itself since 1947 - Srinagar-New Delhi, India-Pakistan, Hindu-Muslim are one complex of issues. Unless a holistic view is taken of this triangle to outline suitable policy, eternal social strife would remain the nation's lot.

Vajpayee had the vision to pull India back from the brink on Iraq. Just imagine, what would have been our fate had ships carrying Indian troops actually set sail.

The troop build-up against Pakistan after the Parliament attack was also a calculated move. The sole superpower was in place to pull the protagonists back from the brink. It is just as well that neither Russia and China (nor the US) paid much credence to the "surgical strikes". In the absence of an overarching superpower, real "surgical strikes" may cause the situation to spiral out of control.

(Saeed Naqvi is a senior commentator on political and diplomatic affairs.The views expressed are personal. Hecan be reached on saeednaqvi@hotmail.com)
Islamabad, Oct 29 : Indian High Commission official Surjeet Singh, who was declared persona non grata by Pakistan in a retaliatory action two days ago, left the country with his family on Saturday, a media report said.

Surjeet Singh was declared persona non grata on October 27 and told to leave Pakistan in 48 hours by the Foreign Office, Geo News reported.

Singh's expulsion orders came within hours of India asking that a Pakistani High Commission official leave India for allegedly running a spy ring.

Pakistan Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry had summoned Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale in Islamabad on Thursday and declared Surjeet Singh as persona non grata and asked that he leave the country by Saturday.

The Pakistani Foreign Office in a statement said: "The Foreign Secretary expressed deep concern over the activities of the Indian official that were in violation of the Vienna Convention and the established diplomatic norms."

The action came hours after Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit in New Delhi that day to protest against Mehmood Akhtar, a visa officer at the Pakistan High Commission, who India accused of spying.

Basit was told that Akhtar had been declared persona non grata and should leave India by October 29.

Pakistan has denied the espionage charges levelled against Akhtar as "false and unsubstantiated", and alleged that Indian police "manhandled" him.

Akhtar was accused of obtaining Indian defence documents. He was released as he is entitled to diplomatic immunity. India asked him to leave the country in 48 hours.

India said that Akhtar was the "kingpin" of a spying network that was active for 18 months.

The Pakistan Foreign Ministry said the Akhtar was detained for three hours on "false and unsubstantiated" charges of espionage before he was returned to the mission.

Pakistan also noted that Akhtar's detention violated the Vienna Convention.

India categorically denied that the accused officer was mistreated.
Visakhapatnam, Oct 29 : A five-wicket haul by Amit Mishra coupled with half-centuries from Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma saw India thrash New Zealand by 190 runs in the fifth and final One-Day International (ODI) here on Saturday.

Chasing a target of 270 runs, New Zealand collapsed for a mere 79 with Mishra returning figures of 5/18.

This was the second five-wicket haul for Mishra, who took home the man of the match award. The leg-spinner was also adjudged the man of the series for a total haul of 15 wickets over the five ODIs.

India thus won the five-match series 3-2.

Among the other Indian bowlers, Axar Patel notched up figures of 2/9 in his 4.1 overs while Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah and debutant Jayant Yadav picked up a wicket each.

Earlier, half-centuries by Kohli and Rohit helped India post a decent total of 269/6.

Both Kohli and Rohit were off to slow starts before going for the big shots once they got their eye in.

Kohli scored 65 runs off 76 deliveries with two boundaries and a six while Rohit smashed five boundaries and three hits into the stands on his way to a 65-ball 70.

Leg-spinner Inderbir Singh Sodhi and pacer Trent Boult bagged a couple of wickets each for New Zealand. James Neesham and Mitchell Santner claimed a wicket each.

Opener Ajinkya Rahane brought India's first runs on the board with a boundary through the off-side. The second boundary came in similar fashion as the right-hander clobbered a widish delivery from Boult.

However, just like in the earlier matches of the series, Rahane could not build on a good start as he hit a Neesham delivery to Tom Latham at short midwicket to return to the pavilion with a 39-ball 20.

Rohit Sharma was off to a slow start before getting into his groove with a six over long-off off James Nisham.

Rohit was lucky to be handed a reprieve when on 66 when he was dropped by Ross Taylor at short midwicket off Neesham's bowling.

The Mumbai batsman could not however, make too much use of the opportunity as he was soon dismissed after mistiming a pull off Boult's bowling.

Santner trapped Dhoni leg before with a beautiful delivery.

Manish Pandey lasted all of four balls before holing out with a loose shot.

Kohli followed him to the dressing room soon after while trying to go after Sodhi. The Indian vice-captain came down the track to Sodhi's half-volley but only managed to find Martin Guptill at long-off.

Kedar Jadhav and Axar Patel produced a 46-run stand off 39 balls to give some late momentum to the hosts' innings.

Jadhav scored 39 off 37 deliveries with two boundaries and a six. Patel smashed 24 runs off 18 balls before being bowled by an accurate yorker by Boult.

In reply, the New Zealand innings suffered a setback in the very first over when Yadav bowled opener Martin Guptill with a beautiful delivery that uprooted the off-stump.

Bumrah accounted for the other Kiwi opener Tom Latham as an attempted flick through midwicket took the leading edge and found debutant Jayant Yadav at mid-on.

Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor tried to stem the rot with a 35-run partnership. But the visitors ran into trouble when Williamson, Taylor and Bradley-John Watling departed in quick succession.

Yadav notched up the distinction of claiming a wicket on his ODI debut when he trapped Corey Anderson leg before. Mishra then dismissed James Neesham and Tim Southee in the 20th over to leave the Kiwis reeling at 74/8.

An Indian victory was only a matter of time from there.
Kolkata, Oct 29 : Fireworks lit up the night sky and lakhs of people visited the marquees and famous temples, as West Bengal celebrated Kali Puja on Saturday with religious fervour and gaiety.

The famous Kali temples at Kalighat and Dakhineswar drew sea of devotees since Saturday morning for offering prayers to the goddess on the auspicious day.

Kali Puja is held on the new moon day of the month of Kartik in the Bengali calendar.

A countless number of devotees stood in long queues at the Tarapith temple near Birbhum district's Rampurhat to seek blessings of the goddess, considered a form of goddess Durga.

The puja rituals would continue well past midnight, according to the almanac.

As per tradition, people of all ages celebrated Kali puja with fireworks, a day ahead of Diwali.

Crackers of all kinds, sizes and hues -- torches, sparklers, flowerpots, rockets -- spread cheer among revellers triggering colourful sparks against the night sky.

People decked up in their best thronged hundreds of community marquees in the city and the districts where the goddess was worshipped.

Apart from community pandals, Kali Puja is also performed in residences.

As in earlier years, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is also performing Kali puja with due solemnity at her residence in south Kolkata's Kalighat.

According to old texts, Kali Puja was introduced in Bengal during the 18th century by King Krishnachandra of Navadvip in Nadia district.

The puja is also held in various Hindu crematoria.

Security has been beefed up in and around the city to avoid any untoward incident.
Riyadh, Oct 29 : The President of Yemen, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, rejected the new United Nations peace initiative on Saturday which required him to step down and hand over power to a Vice President.

Xinhua news agency quoted Hadi as saying in a statement that he refused to receive the peace initiative from the UN envoy, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, who he was meeting in Riyadh.

The initiative required that he step down as President of Yemen and allow power to be transferred to a Vice President which rebel groups would help choose.

He said the ideas that were presented as a roadmap to peace would do nothing but plant the seeds of war, and would reward coup d'Atat participants and damage the Yemeni people and the country's legitimacy.

According to Hadi, all state leaders, politicians, parties and civil organisations had rejected the initiative.

This latest attempt at peace followed a failed 72-hour ceasefire that ended last week, having been violated by both sides.

Yemen's civil conflict broke out in 2014 when Shiite Houthi rebels took control of the capital Sana'a, forcing the Yemeni government to relocate to the southern city of Aden.
On Saturday November 5th, Austin adults will hang up their suits and hop on a tricycle to race for charity. Presented by Kung Fu Saloon, the Rock Rose district will be holding a tricycle race and obstacle course with proceeds benefitting Azleway Children's Services, a faith-based organization providing opportunities through quality services to children and families

The Rock Rose/NORTHSIDE district have emerged as Austins second downtown and so far have not disappointed in making North Austin weird. The familiar names have been bringing their original ideas and competitive spirit to the Domain since earlier this year with a Burger Cook-Off, street-wide concerts and festivals.

Teams of 5 can sign up to participate online at http://www.rrtrike.eventbrite.com and pick up their registration packets (and breakfast tacos) beginning at 11 am in front of Kung Fu Saloon. Registration will be open until races begin at 12 pm. A percentage of proceeds will be directly donated to Azleway, a central Texas-based organization that focuses on bettering the lives and services of placing children in the best situations.

Azleway is a great cause that we are excited to support, said owning partner, Benjamin Cantu. Along with our monthly Drink 4 a Cause events, were always looking for local organizations to support and partner with.

The event comes shortly after the debut of the areas newest addition, Northside. Nine years after launching, the Domain is well on the way to becoming complete. With an addition of more than 20 shops and restaurants, it seems that this final phase will seal the Domain as Austin continued.

Kung Fu Saloon opened its first downtown Austin location in 2009 with a full bar and 20 vintage arcade games. The company has since expanded to Houston, Dallas, and North Austin. They will open their first location out of the state of Texas in November of 2017. They plan on bringing their charitable and competitive spirit to the Nashville area and hope to continue partnerships with the existing forces in that community. Kung Fu Saloon is always looking for nonprofits to partner with. To nominate an organization, please contact Jessica(at)kpghospitality(dot)com. Please visit http://www.KungFuSaloon.com. Follow on social media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kungfusaloon Twitter and Instagram: @KungFuSaloon
"The OWL 3G radio is a low cost solution to monitor residential propane tanks and comes with an industry best, 10 year battery warranty

Technology Assurance Labs, announced today that it added a new OWL 3G cellular radio for remote tank monitoring to complement OWLs existing fixed wireless solution. The new radio will be unveiled at the upcoming November LPGas Summit Nov 14 -16 in Orlando, Florida.

Ken Stauffer, Co-Founder of Technology Assurance Labs, explains this is a great addition to OWLs portfolio of wireless monitoring devices. The OWL 3G radio is a low cost solution to monitor residential propane tanks and comes with an industry best, 10 year battery warranty.

The OWL 3G cellular radio transmits tank level data daily to the dealers OWL software portal which is accessed via any device (laptop, smartphone, or tablet) with a web browser or via an application programing interface (API) for back office systems. OWL radios and software not only monitor tank usage, but also offer a Pay As You Go service. Pay As You Go allows dealers to invoice customers monthly based on real usage, thereby increasing the dealers ROI and winning competitive bids.

OWL

About Technology Assurance Labs:

Technology Assurance Labs, formed in March 2003, is a privately owned LLC headquartered in, Orlando, Fla. It is an independent laboratory, serving equipment vendors, venture capital groups, and service providers with services such as technology planning and management, network and system design, and technology testing. It has also developed RFID products for the rail industry and M2M wireless sensor products for the propane and gas metering industry. For more information please visit http://www.talabs.com.

About OWL

Overhead Wireless Logic System, The OWL 3G radio is a low cost solution to monitor residential propane tanks and comes with an industry best, 10 year battery warrantyover a given area using licensed spectrum. The first OWL products developed are targeted to the propane and natural gas industry, but other sensors in development include temperature, liquid pressure, soil moisture, etc. http://www.owlsite.net

Media Contacts:

Technology Assurance Labs Contact:

Ken Stauffer, Co-Founder,

732-688-0516

kstauffer(at)talabs(dot)com
CERNET Education and OESIS Group announce the launch of an online platform and service to meet the significant Chinese student interest in US secondary school education. A school to school network, OESIS-X, offers Chinese high school students the ability to take diploma credit carrying courses, online in China, from prestigious US-based high schools.

The courses, known in the US as sheltered courses for their integration of ESL support into the regular curriculum, have been formulated and recognized for over 20 years by US Colleges, in order to meet the ESL needs of the 4.5 million Spanish speaking students in US schools. OESIS-X, is bringing these courses to the Chinese market through the OESIS network of over 500 prestigious US independent schools and the extensive CERNET network in China. Independent schools place significant emphasis on quality instruction and so these courses will offer synchronous online live teaching from the US and classroom support in China.

Yidong Zhu, President of CERNET Education, said today: Chinese students are looking for ways to burnish their credentials when applying to US high schools and Colleges. These diploma-credit carrying courses offer not only quality education but evidence in the form of a transcript that they are culturally capable of succeeding in US learning contexts. The OESIS network brings schools with not only great reputations, long histories, and College credibility but also an understanding of online learning and Chinese students.

Sanje Ratnavale, President of OESIS Group said today: In CERNET Education, we have an institutional and governmental partner in China with unmatched technology resources, educational credentials and most importantly legs on the ground that can support this initiative across China. Given their presence in the US, they also represent a partner that understands the needs and requirements of the US market. We are excited to launch OESIS-X, our school to school platform into China.

Ray Ravaglia, the Founder of Stanford Online High School, said today: The bedrock of online learning is no different to learning on campus. It is the quality of the instruction online from accredited sources with sterling reputations matched with tailored curriculum that carries the day. Speaking as a board member of OESIS Group, we believe we have found an approach that we think can work well for all parties.

Steve Loy, Head of School of Rutgers Prep School, a 250-year-old school in New Jersey, said today: We have been involved in bridge programs, accreditations, teacher training and exchanges in China for many years. We are excited to be part of OESIS-X because it brings together a well-supported package of benefits and resources for all involved.

Richard Branson, Head of School of Indian Creek School in Maryland, said today: These sheltered courses will deepen our Blended Learning portfolio of already close to 20 courses. Having attended OESIS Shanghai in April and hearing the significant Chinese government statements about the importance of online learning for Chinese schools, we are ready to invest our people, resources and reputation in this pioneering initiative.

Christopher Brueningsen, Head of School of the Kiski School, a Boys Boarding School in Pennsylvania established in 1888, said today: We are excited about offering our Integrated Math (Algebra 1/Geometry) classes and Pre-Calculus classes in a sheltered format with OESIS-X because we have been doing online courses for over 5 years. OESIS-X is the first properly structured online initiative that we have seen that offers us all the elements necessary to extend our brand externally in the online.

Mark Davis, Head of School of St. Lukes School (CT), an 88-year-old independent school in Connecticut, said today: St. Lukes School has been pleased to partner with OESIS and learn from OESIS since its inception. Our growing cohort of blended courses - including mastery-based courses in Latin and Engineering  seem perfectly aligned with the goals and platform of OESIS-X. Not only that, but the opportunity for our teachers to work in partnership with Chinese teachers means that these and other courses we develop in the future will accelerate the professional growth of our teachers while also serving the needs of Chinese students.

About CERNET Education

CERNET (China Educational and Research Network) is China's first and largest national academic Internet backbone, and currently the second largest network backbone in China. CERNET is supported by the Chinese government and directly managed by the Ministry of Education. Its clients include more than 2000 universities, research institutions, and education centers, reached by more than 25 million end users.

CERNET Education is the biggest subsidiary Corp of CERNET. It has been focusing on international and online education since its inception. Its infrastructure in both China and US has enabled thousands of students to participate in US schools. CERNET Educations mission is focused on global education.

About OESIS Group

OESIS Group is an innovation network of over 500 prestigious independent schools. Its mission is to catalyze the considerable 21st century opportunities for independent school growth. It operates conferences and symposia across the world with its anchor events being in Los Angeles, Boston, London and Shanghai and offers research on blended and online education. OESIS-X is its school to school platform.

For Further information:

At CERNET:

Ellen Xiong

http://www.cerschool.edu.cn/

At OESIS Group:

Sanje Ratnavale

http://www.oesisgroup.com
American Residential Services (ARS), a Memphis, Tenn. based, privately-held national provider of air conditioning, heating and plumbing services, announced their top-performing service centers at their Annual Managers Meeting held earlier this month in Las Vegas.

"We are an industry leader in HVAC and plumbing services because of our hard-working employees and local management teams," said Dave Slott, President and Chief Operating Officer of ARS. "It's an honor for us to recognize and reward our top performers.

Don Karnes, Chief Executive Officer of ARS, added, Our Annual Managers Meeting is a chance for us to enjoy the fellowship of our management team, and most importantly to share best practices and new initiatives that fulfill our vision to maintain a best-in-class customer service experience.

Top-performing service centers and employees include:



General Manager of the Year was awarded to Lance Fernandez from Yes! Las Vegas. Fernandez respects his employees and customers as exhibited by the daily teamwork in his branch. He is passionate about seeing his people grow and achieve both personal and professional goals by offering guidance and support. The Yes! Las Vegas branch is a leader in its division and for 2016 is best in class across ARSs entire vast network. Yes! Las Vegas has also earned an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and a 5 star rating with Review Buzz.

Customer Service / Quality Branch of the Year  Plumbing was awarded to Rescue Rooter of Salt Lake City. Tracy Nevin has been with ARS for 11 years and went from plumber, plumbing repair specialist, branch sales manager, and now holds the position of General Manager. The branch has a BBB rating of A+.

Customer Service / Quality Branch of the Year  HVAC was awarded to Columbus Worthington Air in Columbus, Ohio. General Manager, Clint Schreck, has been with the company for a combined 13 years. The branch has a BBB rating of A+, and a VOC score of 9.41.

Home Depot Branch of the Year  Plumbing was awarded to Rescue Rooter in Riverside. General Manager, Jon Swartz, has been with ARS for 26 years. The branch services 19 Home Depot stores, averages $76K in sales per store, and has a company leading 32% close rate.

Home Depot Branch of the Year- HVAC was awarded to ARS of Miami. Cyril McInnis, General Manager, has been with ARS for over 3 years. The branch services 11 Home Depot stores, and averages $285K in sales per store.

Corporate Support Award was awarded to Mario Rodriguez. Mario has been with ARS for 20 years and represents the epitome of customer service. Every day, he is working behind the scenes to make sure the office operates at optimum levels. Mario is known for his great work ethic, positive attitude, patience, and smile.

Safety Branch of the Year  West Division was presented to Yes! Las Vegas. The branch ranks #1 in the average rank across three key metrics including, $0 in work compensation expenses for this year, a perfect score in their DriveCam coaching effectiveness, and a perfect audit score.

Safety Branch of the Year  Southern California Division was awarded to RightTime Services in Orange County. Brian Remington, the General Manager, has been with the company for over 4 years. The branch ranks among the top ten for claims expense % of revenue and the frequency of distracted driving is consistently better than the company average.

Safety Branch of the Year  Texas Division was presented to ARS of DFW. The General Manager, Wes Hardin, has been with the company for 9 years and since taking over the role, he has engaged in all aspects of operations  especially focusing on safety. The branchs DriveCam coaching effectiveness is consistently at or above 85% and they earned an audit score of 95%.

Safety Branch of the Year  Southeast Division was presented to ARS of Orlando. Tom Seal, the General Manager, has been with ARS for 5 years. The branch ranks in the top 10 for claim expense % revenue, has cut the distracted driving frequency by more than 50%, and the DriveCam coaching effectiveness is consistently at or above 85%

Safety Branch of the Year  Central Division was awarded to Rescue Rooter of Columbus. Jason Norris, the General Manager, has been with the company for 14 years. The branch is consistently among the top 5 branches in the company for Pledge Management and DriveCam Effectiveness. The branch also has an audit score of 89%, tied for first place in low work compensation claim frequency, tied for first in claim expense percentage of revenue, and has had zero claims expense over the last 12 months.

Overall Safety Branch of the Year was awarded to ARS of Omaha. John Aliano, the General Manager, has been with the company for 31 years. The branch ranks in the top 10 for all three safety metrics. They earned an audit score of 95%, the DriveCam coaching effectiveness is consistently at or above 95%, and the distracted driving frequency is .03%.

Most Improved Branch Profit Dollars was presented to Yes! Las Vegas, which had a 38% profit growth.

Largest Revenue Increase  Plumbing was presented to Rescue Rooter of Atlanta. Cathy Brooks, the General Manager, has been with ARS for 17 years. This year, the branch began servicing many new Home Depot stores taking the total count to 28. The branch also grew brand awareness by participating in the FOX TV show HOME FREE. Their revenue increased $1.4 million, or 59%.

Largest Revenue Increase  HVAC was awarded to Columbus Worthington Air. The branch made strides by bringing on a second line of equipment which helped drive higher margins and more options for customers. They also enhanced management structure to support the bigger organization and the division staff. Also, the general manager and sales manager completed a pricing and margin analysis to uncover opportunities. HVAC revenue increased $2.2 million, or 27%.

Turn-Around Branch of the Year was awarded to ARS of Miami. The branch felt an immediate need to reassert more focus on the customer and improve associate morale. Efforts were made to re-establish their relationship with Home Depot. Cyril McInnis also hired a new sales manager, added customer support resources, and engaged his branch associates to support their local community. Year-to-date branch revenue is up $1.1 million, or 32%.

Highest Margin Branch  Plumbing was presented to Rescue Rooter of Atlanta. The General Manager, Cathy Brooks, participates in dispatch of technicians daily, assuring the right tech goes to the right call. Brooks is also in constant communication with the technicians and teaches them to always provide impeccable service. The branch has an overall profit margin of 27%.

Highest Margin Branch  HVAC/Combo was awarded to Yes! Las Vegas. Lance Fernandez, the General Manager, conducts daily technical training, PROS training, and sales training. Fernandez is known for being a very strong leader and a positive influence on the employees and results of the branch. The branch has an overall margin of 26%.

Most Profitable Branch in Dollars  Plumbing was awarded to Rescue Rooter of San Diego. The General Manager, Kevin Kellington, has been with ARS for over 32 years. Kellington is involved in job pricing and post job costing, and he understands his contribution. The branch leads the division in commercial sales with 3 full time CARs and a monthly average of over $325K. Revenue has increased 9% to $9.2 million.

Most Improved Combo Shop Gross Profit  Plumbing was awarded to ARS of North Houston. Ken Althoff, the General Manager, has been with ARS for over 3 years. Althoff restructured the plumbing operation in the service center, and as a result, profitability improved significantly this year. The plumbing service line in the Houston branch has revenue of $9.9 million.

Most Profitable Branch in Dollars  HVAC/Combo was presented to Yes! Las Vegas. The branch installs over $100K a day and continues to perform quality work, provide great customer service, and keeping crews and technicians motivated. The branch has revenue of $20.7 million.

Most Improved Region was presented to the Southern California Region. Roxanne Flores, the West Zone Controller, has been with ARS for over 12 years and was instrumental in the Regions turnaround. The region continues to develop branch management teams and holds a very strong sales culture by maintaining a great relationship with Home Depot. They saw revenue grow 8% to $36 million.

Highest Profit Margin Division (EBITA) was awarded to the Central Division. Mark Thompson, Division Vice President, has been with ARS for 2 years. The divisions team has generated results in all critical areas of Key Performance Indicator measurement with consistent performance. The Divisions overall margin was 15% for 2016.

PROS/NPS  West Zone was awarded to Rescue Rooter San Diego. At the branch, headed up by Kevin Kellington, PROS training has been incorporated into the DNA of the business and each service experience. They are leaders in embracing sales metrics and the improvement of weekend staffing and productivity. The branch earned a Net Promoter Score of 57.4 and a 9.2 average (on a scale of 1 to 10).

PROS/NPS  East Zone was awarded to ARS of Myrtle Beach. The General Manager, Jason Poucher, has been with the company for 14 years. He provides a great team environment because he is passionate about his job and the people he works with. The branch earned a Net Promoter Score of 67 and an 8.7 average (on a scale of 1 to 10).

Division of the Year was presented to the Central Division. Under Mark Thompson, the division has seen a revenue growth of 10% to $85 million. The division has enthusiasm and a well-balanced vision which creates a winning team environment.

ABOUT AMERICAN RESIDENTIAL SERVICES: Based in Memphis, Tenn., privately-owned ARS operates a network of more than 70 locally-managed service centers in 22 states, with approximately 5,500 employees. The ARS network features industry-leading brands including, A.J. Perrin, Aksarben ARS, Allgood, Andys Statewide, ARS, Aspen Air Conditioning, Atlas Trillo, Beutler, Blue Dot, Brothers, Columbus Worthington Air, Conway Services, Efficient Attic Systems (EAS), Florida Home Air Conditioning, Green Star Home Services, McCarthy Services, Rescue Rooter/ Proserv, Rescue Rooter, RighTime Home Services, RS Andrews, The Irish Plumber, Unique Services, "Will" Fix It, Yes! Air Conditioning and Plumbing, and Yes! Efficient Attic Systems. United by Exceptional Service, the ARS / Rescue Rooter Network serves both residential and light commercial customers by providing heating, cooling, indoor air quality, plumbing, drain cleaning, sewer line, radiant barrier, insulation and ventilation services. Each location has a knowledgeable team of trained specialists, who have undergone rigorous drug testing and criminal background checks. Providing exceptional service and ensuring the highest standards of quality, ARS has the experience to do any job right  the first time, with all work fully guaranteed.
Director of Corporate Communications Karen Thomas We are pleased to appoint Karen as our first director of corporate communications. She has a wealth of experience in communications, and her leadership ability will be invaluable in driving APCONs engagement with external and internal audiences.

APCON, a leading provider of intelligent network monitoring and security solutions, today announced the appointment of Karen Thomas to director of corporate communications. This newly created role, based at APCONs regional center in Plano, Texas, is part of the companys ambitious growth plan and expansion of its executive team.

We are pleased to appoint Karen as our first director of corporate communications. She has a wealth of experience in communications, and her leadership ability will be invaluable in driving APCONs engagement with external and internal audiences, said Richard Rauch, president and CEO of APCON. Karen has the relevant international experience to support the companys successful growth into Europe and Asia.

As a member of APCONs executive team, Thomas is charged with overseeing the companys global media relations, analyst relations, brand management, internal and executive communications, and digital and social media platforms. Working closely with the executive and marketing teams, Thomas will provide strategic guidance to enhance APCONs marketing programs to grow the companys worldwide presence.

As CIOs, CISOs and IT managers spend more time on threat detection and response, network visibility solutions will continue to be at the heart of their threat intelligence and risk mitigation strategies, said Thomas, director of corporate communications. APCON has a long history and strong reputation in providing solutions for networks. It is a great privilege to be a part of APCONs highly successful leadership team and a fast growing company.

Thomas joined APCON in 2013. She is a British citizen with a career that spans more than two decades, including marketing and communications positions in the U.K., France, Germany and the U.S. for information technology, aerospace and defense companies. Thomas holds a Bachelor of Arts with honors from Huddersfield University.

About APCON

For more than 20 years, APCON has consistently delivered smart, stable and scalable technology solutions that provide an unparalleled level of confidence to service providers and businesses seeking total data center visibility and security. Its customers range from midsize companies to Fortune 1000 enterprises in more than 40 countries. APCON assures superior network monitoring while supporting traffic analysis and streamlined network management and security. For more information, visit http://www.apcon.com or follow us on Twitter @apcon.
The 19th International Symposium Video Ticket is only available for purchase through November 6, 2016. This entire line-up of speakers and presentations will not again be offered through SPD University. Its programs are developed by the leading authorities on Sensory Processing Disorder.

STAR Institute for Sensory Processing Disorder announced the launch of the 19th International 3S Symposium Video Ticket broadcast on SPD University. The sold out in-person 3S Symposium is taking place November 4-5 in Seattle, Washington. The Video Ticket is only available for purchase from October 20th  November 6th and will be accessible for viewing November 11th  December 11th. The 3S Symposium Video Ticket allows professionals in the field of Sensory Processing Disorder, individuals and parents of children with an SPD diagnosis to attend from a distance.

This entire line-up of speakers and presentations will not again be offered through SPD University. Its programs are developed by the leading authorities on Sensory Processing Disorder. The e-learning courses for professionals and parents are available 24/7 on SPD University.

The Video Ticket broadcast will feature select presentations from world-renowned SPD and autism experts including Dr. Lucy Jane Miller, Dr. Sarah Schoen, Dr. Elysa Marco, Dr. Yvonne Swinth, Rosemary White, Dr. Connie Karsari, Amy Laurent, Sandra Schefkind, Rachel Schneider, Virginia Spielmann, and STAR Institute clinical faculty as they present the latest research and strategies.

During this sold out conference, we are excited to offer the 3S Symposium Video Ticket for the fourth year in a row. This broadcast allows STAR Institute to educate parents and professionals on the latest research findings and treatment strategies to those who cannot attend in person, said Dr. Sarah Schoen, Director of Education at STAR Institute. The Video Ticket is a popular and valuable educational opportunity for this years conference titled Evidence-based Practice: Evaluation and Treatment of SPD.

Past attendees find the 3S Symposium to be an inspirational event like no other:

Worth every penny! Thank you for such an amazing, energizing, and inspirational experience.

Thank you for putting this wonderfully supportive symposium [together]. This is my first time and I am glad I persuaded my hospital how important this symposium [is]. Additionally, I loved the lunch format. I met some great people.

This was a wonderful course. The speakers were excellent with good knowledge. Presentations were informative and easy to follow. They all spoke well and provided treatment strategies along with education. Could not have asked for a better conference.

About STAR Institute for Sensory Processing Disorder:

The STAR Institute for Sensory Processing Disorder, a Colorado 501(c)(3), is the world leader in treatment, research, and education for Sensory Processing Disorder, a neurological condition that disrupts the daily lives of more than 4 million Americans. The STAR Institute is the premier treatment center for children, adults and families living with Sensory Processing Disorder, feeding disorders, and other sensory conditions associated with ADHD, autism, and other developmental disorders. Dr. Lucy Jane Miller, founder of STAR Institute, is widely recognized as the leader in Sensory Processing Disorder research worldwide. For more information about the Greenwood Village, Colorado clinic, visit http://www.spdSTAR.org or call 303-221-7827.
NEW YORK  Oct. 28, 2016  Global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP will host its ninth annual Womens Business Forum Friday, Oct. 28 in New York City. The invitation-only event provides the opportunity for prominent women in leadership from private, non-profit, and public sectors to discuss issues of mutual interest, share individual experiences, and gain insights into achieving professional success.

The 2016 program, themed Changing the Landscape  Women Making an Impact on Business, Government, and Society, features notable speakers participating on panels and sessions focused on several distinct areas of impact. Topics include:

Women Creating the New Normal

Impacting Society through Philanthropy and Service

Forging Public-Private Partnerships

Advancing Women in Technology

The Changing Landscape of Broadcast Media

Interactive Workshop on Influence + Impact

"The Women's Business Forum is an exciting opportunity for open discussion about issues important to women who are making a difference in all areas of life. We are very thankful to the speakers who are joining us; they are extraordinary role models and are allowing us to share their stories, their voices, and their visions," said Nancy A. Mitchell, Co-Chair of the Forum's Planning Committee and a Regional Operational Shareholder at Greenberg Traurig.

"Working with our speakers and guests has been nothing short of inspirational," said Laura S. Norman, Co-Chair of the Forum's Planning Committee and a Shareholder at Greenberg Traurig. "Diversity and inclusion is good for business and this forum shines a spotlight on that fact and embodies the firm's commitment to the development and advancement of our women attorneys and clients."

Forum speakers will include:

Susan Bethanis

Cheryl McKissack Daniel

Jennifer Hyman

Karen Ignagni

Irene Hirano Inouye

Hon. Melinda Katz

Michele Coleman Mayes

Missy Owens

Tanya Rivero

Reshma Saujani

Darcy Stacom

Susan Stautberg

Sally Susman

Mehrnaz (Naz) Vahid

Ursula Wynhoven

For a complete list of 2016 Womens Business Forum speakers, please click here.

Saujani will receive the Diana P. Scott Integrity in Action Award, dedicated in memory of former Greenberg Traurig shareholder, Diana P. Scott, who was an early leader in the firms Womens Initiative. Award winners are women recognized by peers for her work in closing diversity and gender gaps as well as outstanding leadership.

Greenberg Traurig participants will include:

Farah S. Ahmed

Tricia A. Asaro

Hilarie Bass

Elana Broitman

Margaret Isa Butler

Brian L. Duffy

Kristine J. Feher

Leslie R. Katz

Vicki Kennedy

Obiamaka P. Madubuko

Nancy A. Mitchell

Laura S. Norman

Whitney Magee Phelps

Toby S. Soli

For a complete list of Greenberg Traurig participants from the 2016 Womens Business Forum, please click here.

Greenberg Traurig began its Womens Business Forum series in 2007, as part of the firms long-standing commitment to the advancement of women and Greenberg Traurigs Women's Initiative. Panelists are generally high-level female executives, including chief executive officers, chief operating officers, presidents, managing directors, and senior vice presidents from various Fortune 500 companies. The event provides an opportunity for women business leaders to develop, maintain, and expand a career and business development network.

The forum rotates host cities every year, providing a setting for professional women to share ideas, develop new skills, as well as meet mentors and business contacts. Greenberg Traurigs commitment to its women lawyers success includes a firmwide womens affinity group encompassing recruiting, retention, and business development. The firm regularly collaborates with like-minded organizations to address these issues on a broader scale in a variety of industries and communities.

About Greenberg Traurig, LLP

Greenberg Traurig, LLP is an international, multi-practice law firm with approximately 2,000 attorneys serving clients from 38 offices in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The firm is No. 1 on the 2015 Law360 Most Charitable Firms list, second largest in the U.S. on the 2016 Law360 400, Top 20 on the 2015 Am Law Global 100, and among the 2015 BTI Brand Elite. More information at: http://www.gtlaw.com.
Columbia Southern University held commencement ceremonies on Oct. 28 in Orange Beach, Ala.

More than 700 Columbia Southern University graduates were cheered and applauded as they walked across the stage in celebration at commencement ceremonies with family and friends on Friday in Orange Beach.

It was a great experience! I love the school, said Pensacola Fla. Police detective Gilbert Galloway Jr., who graduated with his fiancee Christian Allen. He completed his online masters in public administration along with Allen who earned the same degree.

Overall, this is a good school and I encourage anyone to give it a try. I never thought I would get a masters degree. I want to push further in life and now I am looking at getting my doctorate next, Galloway added.

During the ceremonies, CSU President Robert Mayes presented the Distinguished Faculty of the Year Award to adjunct professor Dennis Phalen. The award honored Phalen for his outstanding contributions to students.

The keynote speaker for the ceremonies was What Would You Do? TV host and journalist John Quinones, who spoke about his past and offered graduates advice about their future.

As you move through life, be concerned with your character not your reputation, Quinones said. Its your character that really matters because that is who you really are. Your reputation is what other people think you are which is often based on their own flawed perceptions and faulty assumptions.

He also talked about growing up poor in San Antonio, becoming a migrant farmworker at 13, and going on to understand the value of education by going to undergraduate and graduate school. Learn the value of family coming together to get things done.

Among his final words to the 2016 CSU graduates, Quinones reminded them that money and material things alone will not make you happy.

the love of discovery, the joy of adventure, the satisfaction of helping others, making a difference in peoples lives, giving a voice to people who dont have one --now there is the true reward, he said.

Graduates also heard from local guests Orange Beach City Administrator Ken Grimes and Alabama State Rep. Randy Davis.

The event was broadcasted live stream and can be viewed here http://www.columbiasouthern.edu/commencement/video.

CSU offers online certificate and degree programs in various fields such as human resource management, organizational leadership, fire administration, criminal justice and business administration. For more information about CSU, visit http://www.columbiasouthern.edu or call 800-977-8449.
AsSeenOnTV.pro The Serge Normant collection is for women who appreciate high style. Past News Releases RSS

AsSeenOnTV.pro, its Product Managers and Kevin Harrington, one of the original Sharks from hit reality series Shark Tank, are pleased to announce the launch of a new DRTV campaign with Serge Normant.

Famed Editorial Hair Stylist Serge Normant has developed a Hair Care Collection that gives women high performance products to make dream hair a reality. These luxurious, innovative products are the result of countless photo shoots that have graced thousands of magazines and red carpets globally. These products were specifically formulated with exotic ingredients in mind: ingredients that are known to deliver high performance style and the ability to strengthen hair. Aspirational in quality, achievable in reality: the Serge Normant collection is for women who appreciate high style, obsess over glossy magazines and long to make dreamy red carpet and cover looks a reality.

As part of its DRTV campaign with AsSeenOnTV.pro, Serge Normant will be appearing in 30 and 60 second spots set to air nationwide and feature the original Shark himself, Kevin Harrington. AsSeenOnTV.pro is comprised of an award-winning team of producers, writers, videographers, and editors as well as industry veterans dedicated to finding the latest, most innovative products and ideas, and putting them on the DRTV map.

About Kevin Harrington

As the inventor of the infomercial, founder of As Seen on TV, and one of the original Sharks on Shark Tank, Kevin Harrington has worked with some of the worlds biggest celebrities and launched some of the best-selling DRTV campaigns in history. Since producing his first 30-minute infomercial in 1984, Harrington has been involved in over 500 product launches that have resulted in over $5 billion in sales. Now, in his latest venture with AsSeenOnTV.pro, Harrington is on the hunt for the best new products and ideas, bringing them to homes everywhere through personalized DRTV campaigns featuring the Shark.

About AsSeenOnTV.pro

Headquartered in South Florida, AsSeenOnTV.pro is a full-service production, branding, and marketing company that specializes in direct response television, short- and long-form commercials, and brand building. Based out of a 25,000+ sq ft, state-of-the-art studio, the companys creative team handles every aspect of production from script to screen to airing. For nearly two decades, AsSeenOnTV.pros veteran staff of writers, producers, videographers, and editors has amassed more than 50 Telly Awards, thousands of prestigious clients, and over $20 million in television placements.

For more information on Serge Normant, please visit http://www.sergenormant.com.
Today, more and more people are becoming disillusioned with the faith, beginning to question things and leaving the church.

Joyce Stewart grew up in the Christian faith. A few years back, God asked her if she would be willing to surrender to him everything she believed and start over. She agreed to the challenge and in God is Love: A Spiritual Journey from fear to LOVE, (published by Balboa Press) Stewart shares with readers how God led her into deconstructing everything she believed about God, Christianity, the Bible, Jesus, sin, love and many other topics.

This book is about how most of peoples lives, relationships and Christian beliefs are rooted in fear, rather than love, and yet they are unaware of this because they have accepted it as normal. Stewart believes that it is this fear that prevents people from having loving relationships with God, themselves and others. In this book Stewart explains how to release your fears and live from a place of love.

Today, more and more people are becoming disillusioned with the faith, beginning to question things and leaving the church. The young people are looking for authenticity and dont like the hypocrisy they see in the church and among Christians, Stewart points out. There is a shift going on from being a rule-based religion to a love and grace-based religion. Some churches and denominations are embracing this and others are fighting it. My book addresses these issues.

Through the publication of God is Love, Stewart would like readers to give themselves permission to question things, to have the courage to examine their own relationships and beliefs to see where they are motivated by fear instead of love and then choose to live from love rather than fear. This book will give the reader a different perspective on Christianity.

God is Love

By Joyce Stewart

Hardcover | 6 x 9in | 178 pages | ISBN 9781504366090

Softcover | 6 x 9in | 178 pages | ISBN 9781504366076

E-Book | 178 pages | ISBN 9781504366083

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

About the Author

Joyce Stewart is an accomplished psychotherapist, writer and speaker, with a masters degree in clinical social work. She spent years working in the foster care system as a case manager and counselor. In 2007, she started her own private practice, Inside Out Ministries in Illinois. In 2015, Stewart moved to Southern California and started Holistic Healing Consulting where she provides holistic and spiritually based counseling, mentoring and education. She previously published Interconnected by God, Healing for your Spirit, Soul and Body.

Balboa Press, a division of Hay House, Inc.  a leading provider in publishing products that specialize in self-help and the mind, body, and spirit genres. Through an alliance with indie book publishing leader Author Solutions, LLC, authors benefit from the leadership of Hay House Publishing and the speed-to-market advantages of the self-publishing model. For more information, visit balboapress.com. To start publishing your book with Balboa Press, call 877-407-4847 today. For the latest, follow @balboapress on Twitter.
San Francisco's Leading CPA Firm for Inheritance & Estate Tax Planning Among the contentious issues in the US presidential election is the issue of inheritance taxes.

Safe Harbor LLP (http://www.safeharborcpa.com/), a San Francisco CPA firm specializing in inheritance and estate tax issues, is proud to announce an update to its informational page on estate tax planning. Many San Francisco residents have substantial assets and can face rising estate or inheritance taxes if they do not plan well. The firm has also released a new 2016 inheritance tax guide available on the website.

Among the contentious issues in the US presidential election is the issue of inheritance taxes, explained Chun Wong, CPA, managing partner at Safe Harbor LLP. Many San Francisco residents have property or business interests that are close to, or even exceed, many asset thresholds vis-a-vis the estate tax. Our newly updated page has basic information, including a 2016 inheritance tax guide.

To download the 2016 estate planning guide, visit http://www.safeharborcpa.com/estate-planning-san-francisco/. To view the newly updated information page on estate tax issues for San Francisco Bay Area residents, visit http://www.safeharborcpa.com/estate-tax/.

Estate Tax Planning: Working with an Accountant Can Save Money for Descendents

Recent demographic and political changes in the United States have increased the likelihood of a rise in the estate tax. No one knows for certain, as the political situation in the USA is fluid to say the least. That said, contentious debate about estate taxes in both California and in the USA as a whole, should service as the proverbial "wake up" call to those who have significant assets. The tax man cometh. By working with a skilled accountant, however, estate taxes can be minimized if not avoided altogether. This type of estate planning, with an eye towards taxation, allows a person or couple to pass down significant assets to their heirs, contribute to charity, and provide many other wonderful asset transfers while minimizing the legal bite of the government. The newly updated page and 2016 estate planning guide now available by Safe Harbor LLP should be required reading for anyone who faces this problem. Even better, interested parties should reach out to a qualified CPA firm for customized advice. No two estates, after all, are the same.

About Safe Harbor LLP  a Professional CPA Firm in San Francisco

Safe Harbor LLP is a CPA firm that specializes in accounting and tax services for individuals and businesses throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and greater California. Safe Harbor CPAs helps both individuals and businesses with tax preparation, IRS audit defense, and audited financial statements. The firm prides itself on friendly yet professional service and utilizes state-of-the-art Internet technology to provide quality customer service.

Safe Harbor CPA

http://www.safeharborcpa.com

Tel. 415.742.4249
In January 2017, Penguin Press will publish Homesick for Another World, the debut collection of stories from Ottessa Moshfegh. The author of two novels, McGlue (Fence, 2014) and Eileen (Penguin Press, 2015), the second of which was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize, Moshfegh is a young writer whose acclaim matches her talent. Like her novels, the stories in Homesick follow characters on the margins: men and women with a warped kind of beauty in Americas ugliest settings. In McGlue, the character in question is an alcoholic sailor accused of murder. In Eileen, its a secretary at a boys detention facility. Now, with Homesick, Moshfegh further articulates and expands the worldview that her novels established, expressing hard truths rather than glossing over them.

Moshfegh currently lives in Los Angeles, where she is at work on a new novel, about sleep and awakenings, she saysan exploration of the New York art world in the year leading up to 9/11. Ive been saying that Im two-thirds done for eight months now, she jokes, so at this point Im still drafting. The 14 stories in Homesickmany of which appeared in The Paris Reviewtook her four years to write.

The ideas for Moshfeghs stories often begin with an abstract sound, like a single musical note that then morphs into a song. Discounting Eileen, a novel that she meticulously planned, Moshfegh doesnt prethink anything, and one of the joys of reading her work is following the dark corridors she creates and finding false walls that turn out to be doors. The collections first story, Bettering Myself, about an alcoholic schoolteacher, begins with the protagonist puking in a nuns bathroom, and ends with a beatific image of sunshine. Many of the stories that follow are built on comparable contradictions, depravities that become endearments and vice versa.

There are a variety of characters and problems in the book, Moshfegh says, but the one thing the protagonists all have in common is the sense that theres a mainstream reality, and their paradigms dont match with that reality. If the collection has an organizing principle, its that abstract tension, the juxtaposition between her characters perceptions and reality. Like the titular narrators in Eileen and McGlue, the protagonists in Homesick tend to perceive themselves as outsiders looking in, outcasts who yearn for a happiness that seems readily available to everyone but them. This pining is what unites lovelorn arcade patrons in China (Mr. Wu) and bereft widows on the Upper West Side (The Beach Boy). Its the self-revealing journey to an unreachable place.

Moshfegh doesnt pity her characters. I love my characters, but I dont like them, she says. I dont love them like family. I love them like spirits that haunt me. Theyre just there, and I have to accept them. Moshfegh views many of her characters as comic figures, especially those whom she hadnt intended to be comedic. In No Place for Good People, one of Homesicks funniest stories, a well-meaning volunteer for the mentally disabled attempts to take his charges to Hooters, only to discover that the location has been rebranded as a Friendlys. The mordant wit recalls the films of Todd Solondz, and not a single story in the collection is without it.

Though Moshfegh harbors concerns that shes written a book about white people (she is half Croatian, half Iranian), Homesick features a multitude of voices that cross class and gender lines. The Surrogate follows a white woman who poses as an Asian companys vice president to appease American investors, and The Weirdos details a contentious relationship between an apathetic Los Angeles woman and a struggling actor with an affinity for crystal skulls. The deeply ethical narrator of No Place for Good People barely resembles the fatalistic recreational drug user in Slumming, but their exploits and voices are equally memorable, unmistakable parts of the moral universe that Moshfegh has constructed. Each story functions as a refutation of that deeply American narrative of I once was lost, but now Im found, which Moshfegh calls horseshit, and really dangerous.

The biggest departure in Homesickstylistically if not thematicallymay be the last story, A Better Place. It concerns a young girl whose brother convinces her that if she kills the right person, she can return to the other place that she misses so much. Moshfegh recalls that the storys writing felt like dictation, like it was already formed inside me. The final version reflects the storys compositionit unfurls with the kinked logic of a dream that borders on nightmare. Moshfegh was thrilled when she finished it, she says, but also confused: Finishing something, anything, is so strange. Its celebratory and alsodeath. Its not really mine anymore.

As she nears completion of her new novel, Moshfegh has been thinking a lot about the end of the story collection, as well as the implications of the success of her work. The weeks leading up to the Man Booker were particularly strange, forcing her to look back to Eileen instead of forward to Homesick. Its funny having a conversation that you thought was over, because its not the same conversation anymore, she says. Moshfegh was stunned by the debates that Eileen gave rise to, including discussions about womens issues and the thriller tag. She thought that she was just creating an interesting character. Why would anyone be challenged? she says.

Otherwise, the impact of success on Moshfegh seems overwhelmingly positive. She feels the acclaim that Eileen and McGlue received has enabled her to expand the scope and vision of her fiction, and made her less conservative with the issues shes willing to take on. In general, it just feels absolutely fantastic, she says. Not because I have the validation of a bunch of strangers, but because I know my work is resonating, and it kind of resonates back to me.

As a teenager, Moshfegh traveled to visit her grandparents in Zagreb, Croatia, where her uncle also lived. One day, for reasons she understood later, Moshfeghs uncle took her on a bus ride to a cemetery high on top of a mountain. And on the way back, he gets on the bus, turns to me, and says, You see that path there? Walk down it. And he just left me there. Moshfegh remembers feeling betrayed and abused, furiously planning what shed say to her uncle as she wound down the dirt path through the forest to the city.

Then I started looking around, Moshfegh says. And I thought, well, that tree is really beautiful. This is actually amazing. And when I got home I was exhausted, and I didnt even mention it to my uncle. She likens the experience to the creative challenge, but its also an apt metaphor for her fiction. Her stories and novels exhaust in a way that purifies, haunting their readers with welcome spirits. Its like taking a bus to the top of a mountain, and having to walk the path back down, Moshfegh says. You have to do it. How are you going to do it? What are you going to discover?

Carmen Petaccio reviews literary fiction for Publishers Weekly. He lives in Austin, Tex.
Were launching our Best Books feature in this issue, with coverage kicking off on the cover, which features Colson Whitehead, whose Underground Railroad was one of the most-talked-about novels of the year, and continuing on p. 18, where youll find our top-10 picks for the year, and another 140 titles across multiple categories, for both adult and young readers. Check out our Web feature for more, including profiles of and interviews with some of our Best Books authors.

From the Newsletters

Tip Sheet

This weeks best new books.

Childrens Bookshelf

Its a great time to be a bossy baby: we get the scoop on the Boss Baby movie and picture book sequel.

Religion BookLine

Talking with megaselling Christian-fiction author Karen Kingsbury.

Global Rights Report

Which books are getting snapped up across the globe? Check out our latest roundup of international hot book properties.

Sign up for these and other great free newsletters at publishersweekly.com/newsletters.

Blogs

ShelfTalker

A bookseller offers her favorite opening lines for middle grade and young adult novels published so far this year.

Podcasts

Week Ahead

PW senior writer Andrew Albanese on the sudden ouster of U.S. Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante, and what it means, and doesnt mean, for the future of copyright.

More to Come

Heidi MacDonald talks to Best American Comics series editor Bill Kartalopoulos about this years edition, guest editor Roz Chast, the evolution of short graphic fiction, and how selections for the book are made.

The most-read review on publishersweekly.com last week was Difficult Women by Roxane Gay (Grove).

PW Radio

Chef Nancy Silverton discusses her new cookbook, Mozza at Home: More than 150 Crowd-Pleasing Recipes for Relaxed, Family-Style Entertaining (Knopf), which was one of our best books of 2016. Plus, PW deputy reviews editor Gabe Habash goes behind the scenes on this years Best Books selections.
New Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden made her first big move last week, ousting Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante. In an October 21 memo, Hayden abruptly removed Pallante from the Copyright Office, which falls under Haydens purview, and reassigned her to a senior advisor position at the Library of Congress. Pallante, however, declined the new assignment and resigned on October 24.

Her departure was met with shock and dismay in the content industries, where Pallante was seen as a strong ally.

We are disappointed to see Pallante go, read a statement from the Authors Guild. Under Pallante, the Copyright Office operated under and embodied the principle that copyright exists to benefit the public by incentivizing new works of authorship, and that the rights of individual creators need to be respected.

The sudden removal of Pallante has stoked fears within the content industries, including among publishers, over the future of U.S. copyright policy. In Billboard, Robert Levine, author the book Free Ride: How the Internet Is Destroying the Culture Business and How the Culture Business Can Fight Back, observed that Hayden is perceived to favor looser copyright laws, citing Haydens past role as president of the American Library Association, which Levine characterized as an organization that lobbies for greater public access to creative works, sometimes at the expense of creators.

Levine also called out the Obama Administrations close ties to technology companies, which, he asserted, value exceptions to copyright over the rights of creators and copyright owners.

But multiple observers familiar with both the Copyright office and the librarys operations told PW that Pallantes ouster was not necessarily rooted in any specific disagreements over copyright policy. Rather, it most likely was a matter of Hayden getting the Librarys house in order. Pallante, the sources noted, has strongly urged lawmakers to remove the Copyright Office from under the purview of the Library of Congress and make it an independent agency, with the register becoming a Senate-confirmable presidential appointee.

 If Congress wants to remove the Copyright Office, it can do so, explained one source. But, for now, it is part of the Library of Congress. 

If Congress wants to remove the Copyright Office, it can do so, explained one source, who did not want to be identified. But, for now, it is part of the Library of Congress. The source added that Hayden couldnt be expected to lead the Copyright Office forward with a subordinate pushing Congress for the agency's independence at the same time. At press time, LoC officials had not yet commented.

Another close observer, who also did not want to be identified, agreed and said there was no shadowy Silicon Valley plot to remove Pallante and jam in a more tech industry-friendly Register, as some reports have suggested.

In a statement, Hayden said the library is planning a national search to find Pallantes permanent replacement. And according to Billboard, Hayden has already approached the heads of several copyright trade groups about serving on a search committee.

Authors Guild officials stressed that any search committee should include creators, and expressed hope that the new register would continue the Copyright Offices long tradition of championing and serving the interests of individual creators.

Emily Sheketoff, executive director of the ALAs Washington Office, also weighed in, saying ALA stands ready to assist in recruiting a new register who is committed to shaping a copyright system that balances the fair protection of copyrighted information, and the broadest possible use of that information to foster innovation, education, and creativity of all kinds.

In the interim, associate register of copyrights Karyn Temple Claggett will lead the Copyright Office.

Taking Sides?

Pallante had served various roles at the Copyright Office since 2008, and had been Register since 2011. Among her posts prior to joining the Copyright Office, she was executive director of the National Writers Union (1993-1995), and assistant director of the Authors Guild (1991-1993).

Though sources said disagreements over copyright policy were likely not the driving factor in her removal, Pallante was seen as a somewhat polarizing leaderstrongly supported and praised by the content industries, while criticized by Silicon Valley, public advocacy groups, and to some degree, the library community.

The Copyright Office really could use new leadership, wrote one critic, Mike Masnick, on the popular copyright blog TechDirt. Masnick suggested that Pallantes legacy as register is marred by controversial positions, including her strong support of the ill-fated Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and other bad ideas on copyright reform. Masnick, however, conceded that Pallante wasnt as bad as some critics made her out to be, and also had some good ideas. But, but he concluded, it does seem like todays Copyright Office needs someone who isnt just representing Hollywoods viewpoint and recognizes that copyright itself is supposed to benefit the public first and foremostsomething Pallante denies.

The question now is what happens nextand perhaps, more the to point, what might happen in Congress? In a joint statement, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte and Ranking Member John Conyers, who oversaw a recently concluded series of hearings on copyright reform, called Pallantes departure a tremendous loss. The new register, they noted, should be dedicated to protecting creative rights and modernizing the Copyright Office.

In a separate statement, Senator Orrin Hatch said Pallantes departure underscores the long-standing challenges associated with housing the Copyright Office in the Library of Congress.

Could Pallantes departure spur Congress to finally appropriate sufficient resources to modernize the Copyright Office, which virtually everyone agrees is badly needed and long overdue? Hayden herself said she intends to build on the work Pallante did in terms of modernizing the Copyright Office for the digital age.

Or, might Pallantes removal push Congress to consider removing the office from the Library of Congress altogether? Pallante was certainly held in high esteem by lawmakers. But sources expressed doubt that in the current political climate Congress would seek to create a new federal bureaucracy for copyrightwhich is the domain of Congressthat would be headed by a presidential appointee.

At the very least, ALAs Sheketoff observed that Pallantes removal suggests that the future of the U.S. Copyright Office is a high priority for at least one government officialCarla Hayden.
Bloomsbury Buys bin Laden Book

In a world rights acquisition, George Gibson at Bloomsbury bought Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levys The Exile. The book, subtitled The Explosive Inside Story of Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda in Flight, tells the story, Bloomsbury said, of the decade Osama bin Laden spent in hiding following the attacks on 9/11. It chronicles, the publisher elaborated, how bin Laden evaded intelligence services and Special Forces units and is told through the eyes of an array of witnesses, including members of bin Ladens family and his deputies and military strategists, [as well as] Al Qaeda wives and children. The authors, both journalists, worked for the Sunday Times and the Guardian and have written previous books together, including The Siege: 68 Hours Inside the Taj Hotel (Penguin, 2013). The Exile is slated for May 2017.

Tony-Winner Shange Takes Latest to Davis

For her 37 Ink imprint at Simon & Schuster, Dawn Davis nabbed world rights, at auction, to Ntozake Shanges poetry collection Enuf. The author, best known as a playwrighther most frequently produced work is For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/ When the Rainbow Is Enufhas won a number of awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, Tony Award, and an Emmy. She was represented by Rob McQuilkin and Lexi Wangler at Lippincott Massie McQuilkin, and the book, McQuilkin said, will draw from six of Shanges previous poetry collections, as well as her aforementioned play. Enuf is scheduled for a November 2017 release.

Gratton Takes Slaughter to McElderry

Ruta Rimas at Simon & Schusters Margaret McElderry Books took world rights, in a preempt, to a YA novel by Tessa Gratton (the Blood Journals series) called Slaughter Moon. Laura Rennert at Andrea Brown Literary, who represented Gratton, described the book as a dark fairy tale for the 21st century. The title is set in a remote town called Three Graces, where, every seven years, a male teen is essentially sacrificedhes sent into a neighboring forest to face the devilin order to maintain the peaceful status quo. Rennert explained that this tradition is thrown into whack when three teens with their own complicated loyalties, loves, and motives head into the forest. Once in the woods, the devil they find is not the one they expect, and the secrets and lies they uncover turn the town and their hearts inside out. Slaughter Moon is set for summer 2018.

CSNY Revealed at Da Capo

Rock journalist David Browne sold a biography of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young to Ben Schafer at Da Capo Press. The book, currently untitled, will join a lengthy list of biographies that the author, a contributing editor at Rolling Stone, has written of rock bands and rock stars, including Fire and Rain: The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, and So Many Roads: The Life and Times of the Grateful Dead. Slated for spring 2019 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the release of Crosby, Stills & Nashs self-titled debut album, the book will, Da Capo said, stand as the first true narrative biography of a band that came to represent the highs and lows of the 60s dream. Schafer took world rights in the deal from Erin Hosier at Dunow Carlson & Lerner.

Fine Gets Wild at Harper

Harpers Erin Wicks won North American rights, at auction, to Julia Fines debut novel, What Should Be Wild. Stephanie Delman at Sanford J. Greenburger, who brokered the deal, called the book a modern gothic fairy tale that explores the power of folklore, coming of age as a woman, and the impact of loss. The novel follows a girl named Maise Cothay who, Delman said, was born from the womb of her dead mother and has the power to kill and restore life with her slightest touch. Having been locked away in her familys estate, Maise finally ventures outside upon the death of her guardian, and winds up entering an enchanted forest. Fine teaches writing at DePaul University and is a recent graduate of Columbia College Chicagos M.F.A. program.

Correction: An earlier version of this story referred to the town in Slaughter Moon as Three Gates; it's called Three Graces.
The 2014 arrest and subsequent death sentence of Palestinian poet Ashraf Fayadh in Saudi Arabia spurred outcry among free speech advocates. Yet even Arabic readers had difficulty finding Fayadhs 2008 poetry collection, Instructions Within, after it was banned in Saudi Arabia. That will change on November 1, when indie poetry press the Operating System will publish the book in the U.S. in a parallel-text edition featuring both the original Arabic and its English translation.

Lynne DeSilva-Johnson, founder and managing editor of the Operating System, said that she sought out Fayadhs work for publication. The book exists because I felt it was important to do, and to do in a certain way, and sought out how to make it happenfirst through Ariel Resnikoff [and the University of Pennsylvanias] Kelly Writers House, who led me to Mona Kareem, who agreed to [translate] it, she said. My hope was that I could upend that process, directly soliciting, commissioning, and encouraging vital, original work into being that might not get published otherwise.

The process of translating the book was complicated, particularly because there were no digital copies of the manuscript available. This forced DeSilva-Johnson to seek out an Arabic-fluent team of around 10 people to transcribe a PDF scan of the original book in preparation for translation. But DeSilva-Johnson saw the extra effort as worthy of the goal: a victory for Fayadh and for free speech, and a jumping-off point for the Operating Systems efforts to support lost, persecuted, and otherwise-silenced voices.

Instructions Within, which was translated by Kareem with assistance from Mona Zaki and Jonathan Wright, is printed back to front, replicating the manner of printing for books written in right-to-left languages such as Arabic. It is the inaugural volume in the Operating Systems Glossarium: Unsilenced Texts and Modern Translations series, established in early 2016 to publish contemporary translations along with little-known, unknown, and out-of-print texts.

DeSilva-Johnson stressed the importance of the back-to-front printing: This is a very common way of reading a book to all these people in the world, many of whom are persecuted. Youre seeing Arabic on the page, which is very unusual for you, and youre also having to hold this book in a way that is disorienting. And I think thats really important.

Fayadhs death sentencefor apostasy, or heresy, as determined by Islams sharia lawwas based on the testimony of a prosecution witness who claimed to have heard him blaspheming against Allah, as well as on the contents of Instructions Within. The sentence was overturned in February 2016 after a campaign led by writers, artists, and more than 60 international arts and human rights groups pressed Saudi authorities and Western governments to oppose the sentence. PEN America executive director Suzanne Nossel observed that the Fayadh case demonstrates how raising awareness of at-risk writers and spotlighting their creative contributions can spark the world to action.

As befits a book rooted in the promulgation of freedom of speech, proceeds from the collection will benefit English PEN (an early backer of Fayadh), which will publish a U.K. version of the Operating Systems translation in cooperation with the press.

As for the Operating System itself, its operations are lean. Aside from Kareem (the principal translator of Instructions, who received $1,000 compensation for her work), all Operating System employees work pro bonoincluding DeSilva-Johnson, who often puts in 60 hours of work per week while also holding down a day job. Initial print runs on most volumes are small, in part because the press is self-funded, turning profits from one book into funding for the next. In Fayadhs case, the first printing is 1,000 copiesalthough DeSilva-Johnson notes that the press reprints quickly, sometimes every two weeks, if demand is high. Small Press Distributors handles distribution, and the press will soon turn to Ingram for its POD services.

Next up for the Operating Systems Glossarium series are three works by Cuban writers: Gregory Randalls To Have Been There Then, a translated memoir of revolutionary Cuba, and two dual-language books of poemsone by Chely Lima, a transgender Cuban man now living in Miami, and another by Israel Dominguez, whos long been involved with Mantanzas-based independent publishing house Ediciones Vigia.
ROCK ISLAND -- Authorities want to know why more than 1,500 absentee ballot applications in Rock Island County were not collected and returned to the county clerk's office.

Rock Island County State's Attorney John McGehee on Friday afternoon confirmed the Rock Island County Sheriff's Department, the Illinois Attorney General's Office, the U.S. Postal Inspector Service and his office are investigating the incident.

"If something was being done to try and suppress the vote, it is a violation of the election code, which is a felony," Mr. McGehee. "That's why this is an ongoing investigation to see if anybody is doing that or not."

Mr. McGehee said he was alerted this week that 1,511 absentee ballot applications were never returned to county election officials. Instead, they sat languishing in a Rock Island post office box.

Rock Island County Clerk Karen Kinney said she caught wind of something amiss when her mother told her she received an application for an absentee ballot and thought Ms. Kinney sent it to her.

"I said, 'I didn't mail that to you,'" Ms. Kinney said.

Ms. Kinney said she then called the U.S. Postal Service and discovered a post office box in Rock Island was receiving absentee ballot applications -- but the applications were not being collected or sent to her office.

"I think it's an attempt at voter suppression," Ms. Kinney said.

In Illinois, third party organizations can send voters applications requesting a mail-in ballot. The Illinois Attorney General's Office cautions voters to remain alert and monitor if they actually receive a ballot in the mail.

Mr. McGehee said authorities are investigating who rented the post office box.

"We're still trying to figure that out," he said. "We're not sure if it's actually the name of an organization. There are different groups doing different things.

"There may have been some people waiting for that ballot to come and it never did come -- because the ballot (application) has been sitting somewhere and nobody has processed it and given it to the clerk."

Mr. McGehee said Rock Island County is among a few Illinois counties where unprocessed absentee ballot applications have been found. Ms. Kinney said there have been similar issues in Kankakee County.

According to Mr. McGehee, all of the absentee ballot applications found in Rock Island have been turned over to Ms. Kinney's office, which was processing them on Friday. Mr. McGehee said voters who have not received a requested mail-in ballot can still vote during the early voting period or on Nov. 8.

Ballots must be signed and postmarked by election day to be counted in the election, according to the Illinois Attorney General's Office.

Anyone with questions can call the Rock Island County Clerk's Office at 309-786-8683 or 309-558-3571.
MOLINE -- Calling himself a "political junkie," Illinois Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Todd Maisch Thursday said he's ready to see Nov. 9.

"It's a pretty poisonous political environment right now," Mr. Maisch said, during a meeting with our editorial board. "But it's not too early to look toward to when the legislature comes back and gets back to work."

Mr. Maisch listed some of the Illinois chamber's top priorities once the legislature returns, after the Nov. 8 elections.

"The first one is to return to fiscal sanity," he said.

Illinois has been in the national news because of its budget troubles, and needs to do something "big and bold to counter that narrative or what the narrative will be."

A lack of a state budget, workers' compensation reform, and property tax concerns tops his list, he said.

"Workers' Comp reform is one of our biggies," Mr. Maisch said. "It is hugely important. and is a national barometer of whether Illinois can make changes to its business climate.

"We're re-branded it to 'Definitive Workplace Injury,' " he said, to help better distinguish between work-related injuries and cases involving some pre-existing conditions.

People who walk in the door already suffering from some unrelated injuries, but get their full claims paid makes the state's system more expensive than in other states, leading to a wide cost disparity.

"It's a real big-dollar issue," he said.

Mr. Maisch also believes property taxes will generate a ton of discussion, adding that he would consider putting that topic ahead of Workers' Comp causation, aka Definitive Workplace Injury.

He believes strong bipartisan support will help remedy both issues.

As far as the budget situation, Mr. Maisch said the state chamber is pushing and hoping for a big deal to come through.

"The need for a capital bill is the last on our list," he said. "A safe roads amendment is absolutely necessary."

Other important discussions legislators should consider, Mr. Maisch said, involve prevailing wage classifications and exemptions, and education funding, that he called one of his least favorite issues over his last 22 years "because I've seen so much work go into it, and so little change has happened."

Some of his education funding concerns deal with making it outcome-based and including a workforce development component.

"Shouldn't high school seniors, as a condition of graduation, need to spend 30 hours in a workplace, or learning about a workplace," Mr. Maisch said.

New federal "Every Student Succeeds Act" -- ESSA -- guidelines introduced as a successor to the "No Child Left Behind Act" also "scares the heck of me," Mr. Maisch said. Each state reportedly will develop their own academic standards, and they could be pretty "loosey-goosey," he said. "We will have to hold the states' feet to the fire with them."

Mr. Maisch also favors offering small business owners more tax relief by immediately reimbursing capital expenses and offering new training-expense credits.

"We're bullish on Illinois, but know we have some challenges," he said. "There's an overall uncertainty of the state's political and economic climate to deal with, and we have to get out of the election first."
SILVIS -- Police officer Dave Rice said he felt honored enough when his CPR skills helped an Anchor Lumber customer get back on his feet.

Hospital and city leaders, however, thought he deserved much more.

Silvis Mayor Tom Conrad plans to reward Officer Rice and Anchor Lumber employee Tyler Calloway, who helped in the patient's recovery, with proclamations declaring Nov. 5 in their honor. He also plans to present them with tokens of appreciation.

The presentation will take place during the city council's 6:30 p.m. meeting.

Officer Rice and Mr. Calloway also were honored Friday at Genesis Medical Center-Illini campus, in Silvis, and will receive an additional salute from the hospital Thursday, Officer Rice said.

Officer Rice, 49, is a Silvis native and has been a member of the city's police department for 24 years. The school resource officer and patrol officer recently completed his required CPR re-certification.

He said he has used his CPR training several times to help people since first learning it in high school, but never was paid so much attention for it.

He called the attention was "unwarranted," saying he only was doing his job and only doing what other people would do.

Officer Rice said he got a call Oct. 4 for a person in the lumber yard. When he arrived, Officer Rice found a guy named "Terry" on the ground. He directed Mr. Calloway to begin chest compressions while he got a ventilation bag and defibrillator.

Officer Rice said he was "freaked out" a bit when the victim suddenly started talking to him.

"Everything worked out," Officer Rice said. "I'm happy enough just to know this guy's still up and walking around with his family."
Some people warn against talking about either politics or religion.

The Rev. Gregory Michel enjoys mixing them together.

"I like to talk about the issues," said Rev. Michel, pastor at St. Matthew Lutheran Church, in Milan "I enjoy talking about religion and politics."

He said he remains careful not to overstep bounds governed by the Internal Revenue Service that prohibit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations from campaigning for specific candidates. During October, he has led an adult Bible study titled "Called to vote: A Christian's Approach to Elections" at 9:15 a.m. Sundays at the church, 115 12th Ave. W., Milan.

"Whether you're certain of whom you're voting for this November or still deciding whether to vote at all, this study is for you," he wrote in church bulletins to encourage attendance. "While this month-long study will not provide a voting guide -- it won't lead you to a specific candidate or party platform -- it will spark thoughtful and Biblical conversation about voting in a government such as ours, as well as our duty as Christian citizens."

The Rev. Scott Culley, co-senior pastor at Faith Walk Outreach Center in Silvis, said it saddens him to hear some Christians say they're not going to vote. That's not what Scripture calls us to do, he said.

"We're not to just sit back and say nothing," he said. "We are to practice an active faith and the duties that go along with that."

At 7 p.m. Nov. 2, his congregation's regularly scheduled Wednesday night Family Disciple Worship Hour at 1450 Avenue of the Cities, will become a full prayer service for all federal, state and local candidates.

"We never endorse a specific candidate," he said. "We look at everyone who would support the issues we find important. But we want to pray and ask God for direction about who He can work with.

"I think it's important that every Christian should know what their Biblical values are," he said. "As long as we know our values, we can begin to see the good in both parties."

He cited 1st Timothy 2:1-4 which, according to a New International Version of the Bible, reads: "I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people  for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth."

In 2006, Rev. Culley ran for the Rock Island County Board but lost to incumbent Democrat Bill Armstrong. Rev. Culley said it was a learning experience when he canvassed about 800 different homes.

"I found out that a lot of people care about what is going on, but many times were uninformed," he said. As long as churches don't endorse specific candidates or platforms, they can help voters stay informed.

God's word addresses issues such as poverty, hunger and caring for others, Rev. Michel said, but doesn't prescribe what candidates we should vote for.

"God doesn't have preordained candidates, and it is not the church's job to legislate that," he said. "But you cannot divorce faith from the public realm, and can still take your faith into the voting booth.

"What I try to tell them is, we have to use the common sense and reason God gives us when making those decisions," he said.

For example, voters who agree with the church's pro-life, womb-to-the-tomb stance should research political candidates' opinions, according to Revs. Michel and Culley.

Rev. Michel's adult Bible study uses advice from the Rev. Ken Schurb, a Lutheran-Missouri Synod pastor, which reminds voters "we go to the polls informed by God's Word and our own best thinking. But we should never forget to distinguish between the two.'"

"Our duty as Christians is to be informed," Rev. Culley said.

Rev. Michel said some of his church members initially weren't very receptive of the voting Bible story.

"They were discouraged or put off by what's happening, particularly on the presidential front," he said. Members wanted to keep the church as a "refuge where they could escape everything they hear during the week," he said.

Yet, political campaigns open doors to discuss topics such as bearing false witness against your neighbor or other Golden Rule type of discussions, according to Revs. Culley and Michel.

Rev. Michel said he tries to emphasize that regardless who gets elected, it's important to remember God actually is the one in charge, and that people who get elected are His servants.

"We shouldn't despair, nor think that all hope is gone," he said.

Nor should voters remain upset by decisions, or badmouth candidates or their supporters, Rev. Culley said.

"As Christians, we are to build each other up, not tear them down," he said.
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HBO has revamped its Florida-based operations and broadcasting centre to meet the growing demands of the Latin American audience.

From this centre, HBO Latin America controls distribution and operations across the region, broadcasting 106 24/7 feeds over satellite to 30 Latin American countries, and programming and storing 1,500 hours of content per month.Through this expansion, HBO Latin America intends to be ready for the increasing content demand through coming years.The Time Warner company has been testing the standalone over-the-top (OTT) service HBO Go in Mexico and Colombia, and intends to boost independent access to its video-on-demand (VOD) catalogue throughout the entire region in 2017.This expansion supports our growing needs in the region, as well as the necessity of adopting new distribution technologies, pointed out Emilio Rubio, CEO, HBO Latin America Group . Through the new centre, HBO is more than ready to be at the forefront and keep delivering the best content experience to its subscribers.The revamped broadcasting centre comes just as HBO celebrates 25 years of operations in Latin America. HBO has become synonymous with TV best productions. From The Sopranos to Game of Trhones, our content has been part of pop culture and has changed the way of telling stories in the region, added Simon Sutton, president, HBO International.
The New York Times, October 26, 2016

By Rod Nordland and Jawad Sukhanyar

KABUL, Afghanistan  Gunmen who claim to be followers of the Islamic State killed 23 civilian hostages in a remote province in western Afghanistan, officials said on Wednesday.

The killings on Tuesday in Ghor Province were the most recent indication that the extremist organization, also known as ISIS or ISIL, has been gaining adherents in new parts of the country, even as the authorities have successfully moved against its strongholds in the eastern province of Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan.

Provincial police and government officials in Ghor said the killings were carried out by a former Taliban unit with 150 members who had defected from that insurgent group and declared allegiance to the Islamic State. The Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid quickly disassociated his group from the deaths, posting a message on his Twitter account saying the killings had nothing to do with the mujahedeen, a term referring to Taliban fighters.



The bodies of some of the 23 civilians killed by Islamic State militants in Ghor Province, Afghanistan. (Photo: Agence France-Presse/Getty Images) The bodies of some of the 23 civilians killed by Islamic State militants in Ghor Province, Afghanistan. (Photo: Agence France-Presse/Getty Images)

The Ghor police chief, Mustafa Mohseni, said the former Taliban unit had clashed in recent days with a pro-government militia, which managed to kill the extremists commander, a man known as Farooq, who had led them since before they abandoned the Taliban.

The fighting took place outside Feroz Koh, formerly known as Chaghcharan, the provincial capital of Ghor. As the insurgents retreated, they rounded up 23 civilians in the area, and on Tuesday executed them, Chief Mohseni and other police officials said. Chief Mohseni was not sure of the number killed, but another police official in Ghor put it at 23. The authorities found out about the killings from local elders who were contacted about the return of the victims bodies for burial.

The militants had attacked villages on the outskirts of the provincial capital but met strong resistance from pro-government militiamen, backed by fighters from the National Directorate of Security, Afghanistans intelligence agency, officials said.

It was a retaliatory act brutally carried out by those so-called Daeshis, said Sayed Nader Shah Bahr, a member of Parliament from Ghor, referring to followers of the Islamic State. They killed 23 shepherds and took away with them about a thousand sheep belonging to those they killed.

Before pledging allegiance to the Taliban and later the Islamic State, Farooq, the commander, was known as the head of an armed criminal gang notorious for sheep-rustling, local officials said.

Ghor is far from Afghanistans main locus of Islamic State activity, in parts of Nangarhar Province, where the extremists have been subjected to American airstrikes as well as government military action in the past two years. Many of the Islamic State fighters in that area also appear to be former Taliban insurgents who have since pledged to follow the Islamic State in the Khorasan, a term referring to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The American military claimed in August to have killed the founder and leader of the Islamic State in the Khorasan, Hafiz Saeed Khan, in an airstrike. Government officials have said that scores of the groups fighters in Nangarhar have been killed in military operations as well.

Islamic State groups were also operating in the southeastern province of Ghazni and the southwestern province of Helmand last year, but they were reported to have been largely defeated by Taliban insurgents in those areas.

This year, however, Islamic State militants appear to have turned to suicide bomb attacks in urban areas. In January, a bombing outside the Pakistani Consulate in Jalalabad killed seven, and in July, a bombing against ethnic Hazaras at a protest in Kabul killed 80 people. The Islamic State claimed to have carried out both attacks.
Reuters, October 28, 2016

An airstrike in Afghanistan on Friday hit the home of a Taliban commander in the eastern province of Nangarhar and caused several civilian casualties, government and insurgent spokesmen said.

The strike targeted the home of Mawlawi Mohammad Alam, a Taliban commander in the Sherzad district, said Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor, adding that there were casualties but he could not confirm numbers.

A police official said the strike was carried out by an unmanned aircraft and killed four people inside the house.

A dozen wounded civilians, among them seven children and five women, were taken to the local hospital, said Najibullah Kamawal, the director of provincial health services, four of them in critical condition.

U.S. forces had carried out a strike in Sherzad on Friday in defense of "friendly forces", a spokesman for the NATO-led Resolute Support mission said in Kabul, the capital, but gave no details. Reports of civilian casualties would be investigated, he added.

"We take all allegations of civilian casualties seriously and will work with our Afghan partners to review all related material," Brigadier General Charles Cleveland said in an emailed statement.

In a statement, the Taliban said American and Afghan forces had carried out a ground attack on Mohammad Alam's home, followed by an airstrike, in which two civilians were killed and more than 30 wounded.

The United States has unleashed many raids against Islamic State and al Qaeda militants in eastern Afghanistan, most recently on Sunday, when officials said two al Qaeda leaders were killed in the neighboring province of Kunar.

However, new combat rules issued this year have also given U.S. commanders greater scope to attack Taliban militants, pushing up the number of airstrikes sharply.

(Reporting by Rafiq Sherzad and Hamid Shalizi in KABUL; Writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
At a summit on October 20, the European Union stepped back from the threat of sanctions against Russia for its role in bombing civilians in the Syrian city of Aleppo. The EU's inability to arrive at consensus in the face of a Russian-supportedand, in some cases, Russian-instigatedhumanitarian catastrophe begs the question, how bad does it need to get in Aleppo for Europe to do something?
Venezuelan politics manage to keep getting more chaotic. One thing is clear: Venezuela is no longer a democracy but rather an increasingly illiberal regime. But it's not clear what comes next, nor how best to help Venezuelans fix the hot mess that their politics have become.
Property details:

INVEST IN THE WEST You're bidding on the down payment for 1.25 acres of land in Navajo County, Arizona, just north of I-40 in Sun Valley. This parcel can be reached via dirt road east of Sun Valley Rd and south of Liberty Rd (see maps). It is a short drive away from the Petrified National Forest and the towns of Holbrook, Joseph City, and Winslow. The property is zoned residential, but is also an ideal place to camp or park your RV! Payment options: FINANCING: $1,350 Property can be financed on ...

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VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Oct 28, 2016) - B2Gold Corp. (BTO.TO)(NYSE MKT:BTG)(NAMIBIAN:B2G) ("B2Gold" or the "Company") will release its third quarter and year-to-date 2016 results before the North American markets open on Thursday, November 3, 2016.

B2Gold executives will host a conference call to discuss the results on Thursday, November 3, 2016 at 10:00 am PST / 1:00 pm EDT. You may access the call by dialing the operator at 416-340-2218 or toll free at 866-225-0198 prior to the scheduled start time or, you may listen to the call via webcast by clicking http://www.investorcalendar.com/IC/CEPage.asp?ID=175345. A playback version of the call will be available for one week after the call at 905-694-9451 or toll free at 800-408-3053 (passcode:9532466).

About B2Gold Corp.

Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, B2Gold Corp. is one of the fastest-growing intermediate gold producers in the world. Founded in 2007, today, B2Gold has four operating mines, one mine under construction and numerous exploration projects in various countries, including Nicaragua, the Philippines, Namibia, Mali and Burkina Faso. Construction of B2Gold's Fekola mine in southwest Mali is on schedule and on budget, and is projected to commence production in Q4 2017. As a result, B2Gold is well positioned to maintain its low-cost structure and growth profile.

Based on current assumptions and updates to B2Gold's current year guidance and long-term mine plans, the Company is projecting consolidated gold production of between 535,000 to 575,000 ounces in 2016; between 520,000 to 570,000 ounces in 2017; and (significantly increasing to) between 900,000 to 950,000 ounces in 2018, with the inclusion of the anticipated first full year of production at the Fekola mine.

ON BEHALF OF B2GOLD CORP.

Clive T. Johnson, President and Chief Executive Officer

For more information on B2Gold please visit the Company website at www.b2gold.com.
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Kendall Jenner is speaking out about her controversial ballet photo shoot.

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The 20-year-old model and "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" star said on her website on Thursday that she wasn't trying to "offend" anyone with her ballerina-inspired spread in the October issue of Vogue Spain.

"It's so funny that people are getting pregnant and married -- or having crazy drama -- but my drama is ballerinas being upset at me! With my Vogue Spain shoot, I didn't even know I was going to be a ballerina until I went into hair and makeup," Jenner wrote.

"I never said I knew ballet and I didn't practice beforehand. I just show up there to do my job!"

"I have so much respect for women who do their jobs really well and would never purposely try to offend anyone. It confuses me how people can get that upset when there are so many important things going on in the world. But, it's obviously not going to stop me from working hard and being me," she said.

Jenner, who was also featured in a ballet-inspired video for Vogue Spain, faced heavy backlash after the issue debuted in September.

Dancers and dance instructors, including "Dance Moms" star Abby Lee Miller, criticized the model for her incorrect form and improper dress.

"[I] cannot be a fan of this shoot," Miller wrote in a since-deleted comment. "There are so many amazing dancers in the world... Kendall Jenner is not one of them!"

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Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source!

Jenner is known for her modeling work with Chanel and Balmain, and will walk for a second time in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in December.

Close friends and fellow models Gigi Hadid and Bella Hadid will also take part in the show.
Camfil Dual 9 Pleated Panel Air Filters Extend Life Expectancy, Reduce Energy Consumption, Save Labor, Protect Equipment and Ventilation Systems, and Maintain their Rated Efficiency through their Entire Time of Use

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN / ACCESSWIRE / October 29, 2016 / Camfil, a world leader in air filtration and clean air solutions, recently announced the release of the 30/30 Dual 9 Air Filter, a revolution in the air filtration industry.

"Today's low cost pleated filters only have a maximum life expectancy of three months, and significant reduction of their filtration performance over that same time period," said Armando Brunetti, Executive Vice President for Camfil Americas. "The 30/30 Dual 9 Air Filter offers 9 to 12 months of life expectancy with a game-changing MERV-9-A efficiency."

The 30/30 Dual 9 Air Filter is designed with improved filter media that utilizes a proprietary progressive dual-layer blend with identified by white fibers on the upstream side and green on the downstream side. The media also features a sustained mechanical particle capture principle to maintain MERV 9-A efficiency, operating at the lowest average pressure drop of any filter of its category in history.

The 30/30 Dual 9s long loading curve ensures maintained lower resistance to airflow throughout the life of the filter. When compared to standard low first cost pleated panels, the energy savings alone can be multiple times the cost of the 30/30 Dual 9 air filter.

"We're using a radial shaped pleat and an advanced higer gage welded wire support grid to ensure the longest possible life, lowest resistance to airflow, and maximum particle holding capacity," Brunetti continued. "This is the first support system and frame with strength designed for a full 9 to 12 months of unremitting operation."

The air filter's improved life expectancy means that industrial consumers will only need one filter in 9 to 12 months instead of three. That translates to less annual expenditures on freight, storage, coil cleaning, and maintenance time in change-outs. The 30/30 Dual 9 with a MERV 9-A efficiency rating outperforms and outclasses all other pleated panel filter, and provides cost savings.

Story continues

"We're pleased to be the only company that offers a 9 or 12-month lifetime guarantee," Brunetti concluded. "Camfil combines proven technology consumers can count on from the company that invented the pleated panel filter. With unique technology, proprietary materials, and outstanding performance, a paradigm shift is about to happen."

About

Camfil is the world leader in air filtration and clean air solutions, with 23 production plants and R&D centers in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. For more information, visit us online at www.camfil.us or call us toll-free at 888.599.6620.

Media Contact

Lynne Laake

888.599.6620

Follow Camfil AIr Filters on Facebook

Camfil Air Filters on Google+

Camfil Air Filters on Twitter

Source: http://cleanair.camfil.us/2016/10/26/camfil-introduces-the-3030-dual-9-air-filters/

SOURCE: Camfil USA, Inc.
Andreas Fuhrmann/Record Searchlight Redding Police Chief Robert Paoletti talks to Dianna and Tom Kivat of Redding Friday during the Badges and Bear fundraiser for the Shasta Family YMCA at Black Bear Diner in Redding.

SHARE Andreas Fuhrmann/Record Searchlight Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko talks to Dennis Johnson of Shasta Lake City Friday during the Badges and Bear fundraiser for the Shasta Family YMCA at Black Bear Diner in Redding.

By Amber Sandhu of the Redding Record Searchlight

Law enforcement officials were on hand Friday morning at the Black Bear Diner at Hilltop Drive, serving customers coffee and breakfast for a good cause.

The event, Breakfast with Badges and Bears, was held for the second year in a row to benefit Shasta Family YMCA programs.

"It's just a great interaction with the public here It's nice to support the YMCA," said Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko.

Bosenko spent the morning with a coffee pot in hand making sure each customer was well-served. Officials with the Shasta County Sheriff's Department, California Highway Patrol, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Anderson and Redding police departments also helped serve and clean up.

Anderson residents Valerie and Terry Speelman, stopped by the diner for some morning grub before they made their journey up to Oregon to see family. Initially surprised to see so many uniforms at breakfast, they were told about the YMCA fundraiser by an officer who poured them some coffee.

"I think it's really nice," Valerie Speelman said.

YMCA Human Resources Director Bonnie Salyer said last year's event raised $3,200, and this year they hoped to raise more. The funds will go toward YMCA programs such as child care, camps, swim lessons and a financial assistance program that assists people unable to afford membership. She said the Black Bear Diner agreed to match the tips and 20 percent of its morning sales.
Jim Schultz/Record Searchlight Virginia Anderson, shown Friday in Shasta County Superior Court, saw her trial begin after the selection of a seven-woman, five-man jury.

SHARE Jim Schultz/Record Searchlight Virginia Anderson is facing up to eight years in prison if convicted of the charges against her. Jurors were shown Friday an aerial photograph of the accident scene taken shortly after the April 30, 2014, crash. Hayley Riggins

By Jim Schultz of the Redding Record Searchlight

Virginia Lyn Anderson finally began standing trial Friday in connection with a suspected DUI crash that killed 27-year-old motorcyclist Hayley Riggins in 2014.

Anderson's trial got underway after a seven-woman, five-man jury was chosen to decide her case after nearly a week-long jury selection process.

Longtime truck driver Mikel Murphy witnessed the fatal crash from the cab of his large 18-wheel sand and gravel truck. He testified he saw Anderson blow through a red light at Placer Street and Buenaventura Boulevard on April 24, 2014.

"She kept on going through," he said, noting he viewed the crash from his truck's large windshield, which he likened as a "big screen TV." "I was thinking to myself, 'where are you going?'"

Shasta County Deputy District Attorney Laura Smith said Anderson was driving under the influence of methamphetamine and other drugs when she ran a red-turn arrow at the intersection and turned directly into the path of Riggins, riding southbound on her motorcycle.

Despite wearing a helmet, Riggins, the mother of a then 1-year-old daughter, Kadence, suffered traumatic head injuries and died April 30, 2014, after being taken off life support without regaining consciousness.

Murphy, the first prosecution witness to take the stand, said he was driving behind Anderson when he saw her enter the intersection against a red light.

"I'm sure the light was red," he said. "It was already red when she began to go through."

Murphy said Riggins tried to avoid the collision but hit the back of Anderson's white 1990 Honda Accord.

"She went flying through the air and ended up in the middle of the intersection," said Murphy, who drives for Axner Excavating Inc., and has been a truck driver for more than 40 years.

During opening statements, Senior Deputy Public Defender Ashley Jones, representing Anderson with Senior Deputy Public Defender Stacey Madsen, cautioned jurors about rushing to judgment and to first hear all the evidence before making up their minds.

And, she said, there have been unreliable statements made regarding the crash and that police performed a flawed investigation, saying they "rushed, ignored and lost certain pieces of evidence."

She said she is also planning to call an accident reconstruction expert to the witness stand to refute prosecution claims that Anderson is at fault for the accident.

Redding Police have said Anderson, an unlicensed driver whose criminal history includes a 1996 arrest for methamphetamine possession, admitted using methamphetamine and other drugs before the crash.

She faces up to eight years in prison if convicted of the charges against her.
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Turtle Bay offers Sunday discount

Admission to Turtle Bay Exploration Park will be discounted to $2 per person on Sunday thanks to a sponsorship from J.F. Shea Construction, park officials announced.

The $2 admission is for all ages to the entire park Sunday. Park hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Food donations will lower library fines

Users of Shasta Public Libraries who have overdue fines can erase or lower their debts by donating cans of food starting Monday through Nov. 21.

The Redding, Anderson and Burney branches will participate in the annual Food for Fines program. Patrons can exchange one can of food for $1 off their library fines, up to $10 per person.

Library users who don't have any fines can still participate in the giving by putting cans in a Pay It Forward box, library officials said. Those canned items will be used to reduce the fines of other patrons.

Shasta County Libraries hopes to exceed last year's total of 1,000 donated items.

The cans will be given to One SAFE Place's Sierra Center, Anderson-Cottonwood Christian Assistance and the Burney Food Co-Op, in addition to distribution for holiday programs.

The branch libraries can only accept canned foods  no damaged, expired or glass items. The donations cannot be used toward lost or damaged books or collection accounts.

To learn more, call the Redding Library at 530-245-7250 or go to www.shastalibraries.org/Food forfines.

Free flu shots given Sunday

A no-cost drive-thru flu clinic is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday at the Tehama District Fair grounds in Red Bluff, the Tehama County Health Services Agency said.

The clinic originally was scheduled for Oct. 15, but was canceled due to stormy weather. Tehama County health officials recommend going early to get a flu shot Sunday in case the clinic has to close early due to bad weather.

You don't have to be a Tehama County resident to get the free flu shot.

Seminar planned on fly fishing

Shasta Trinity Fly Fishers will present a free fly fishing seminar 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 6.

Students need to be 13 or older. Rods and reels are available for those who need them. The location will be announced later.

Sign up by contacting Gerry Martin at 530-242-1026 or gerry.martin@sa rens.com.
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If you're a high school student deciding where to apply for college or the parent of a student, you've probably done a fair amount of research. Even so, there are some schools that may have escaped your notice, such as MCPHS University, LIU Brooklyn, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and Babson College.

You say you need Google to learn where some of those schools are located? That's the point: Excellence and prestige aren't synonyms. And what do these relatively obscure institutions (take no offense, proud alums) have in common? They got the highest score, 100, on a recent evaluation by the Brookings Institution. That puts them right up there with a school you may have heard of  Harvard. It's in Massachusetts.

Brookings tries to calculate the "value added" by each school, distinguishing the student characteristics that foster success from the benefit provided by the school itself. Bill Gates became the second-richest person in the world after studying at Harvard (though he didn't graduate), but he probably would have been very successful even if he had gone somewhere else. Brookings wants to identify the schools that give their grads the biggest boost. We've long supported evaluating student progress (not just student achievement) as a metric for judging K-12 schools. Why not colleges too?

Other rankings, however, yield different results. The Wall Street Journal's list puts Stanford at No. 1, followed by MIT and Columbia. U.S. News gives the top spot among "national universities" to Princeton, with Harvard and the University of Chicago just below.

The Economist magazine of Britain recently came out with its rankings  based, it says, "on a simple, if debatable, premise: The economic value of a university is equal to the gap between how much money students subsequently earn, and how much they might have made had they studied elsewhere."

In this it resembles the Brookings approach, but with different results. The top three schools are Washington and Lee, Babson and Villanova. Among those in the top 10 are Bentley, Otis College of Art and Design, Lehigh, Alderson Broaddus and California State University at Bakersfield.

But career earnings are not necessarily the best way to assess a school. The Wall Street Journal says most of the elite institutions don't score particularly well on student engagement, which means their students "may not have the most enriching educational experiences." The best place for student engagement, according to the Journal? Dordt College.

Nor are past results any guarantee. Schools change over time. The ingredients that fueled the class of 1991 may have diminished or disappeared by the time the class of 2021 arrives. And, The Economist notes, "It is also possible that the highly ranked colleges simply got lucky."

These different rankings should serve notice to kids and parents that many factors contribute to how much a student will learn, how much the student will enjoy college, and how he or she will fare afterward. Many of those factors, however, are unpredictable but important  such as how much you'll like your professors or your roommates or your social life.

All this should come as solace to young people who don't get in, or can't afford, the school they most desire. We know three who got to attend the colleges of their dreams  and transferred elsewhere after their first semesters. We know others who settled for their second or third choice and now feel deeply fortunate that circumstances put them there.

What a student gets out of college depends primarily on what the student puts in. If you get accepted at MCPHS or Rose-Hulman, good for you, and likewise if you'll be enrolling at Stanford, Texas Tech or Beloit. Whether you get a good education or have a rewarding experience or make a successful career depends a lot on you. And it never hurts to be lucky.

This editorial originally was published in the Chicago Tribune.
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The scandal-ridden presidential election is obscuring important California news that will affect us all, regardless of political party.

Religious freedom is withering under a steady attack from hostile politicians and militant cultural activists. The latest salvo in California comes in the form of Senate Bill 1146, which took dead aim at the very first freedom enumerated in the Bill of Rights.

Initially, SB 1146 would have put religious universities at risk of lawsuit for essentially teaching religion. It sounds absurd, and it is, but the early drafts of the bill would have allowed students to sue these universities for enforcing basic Christian teachings on their campuses, such as outlawing same-sex married couples to cohabitate in dorm rooms.

I lobbied the author to make his bill less onerous. I worked with the religious colleges to develop a strategy to push back against it as well, and after a late push by their coalition, the bill's author eliminated the worst provisions of the legislation and it now requires religious colleges merely to inform their students of the school's ability to get a waiver from federal Title IX requirements, which exempts them from certain discrimination laws. It's a scarlet letter of sorts, and step one in a process where something is identified, isolated, then demonized.

Still, a relative victory for the colleges for now, but why were they targeted in the first place?

Understand that not a single student is forced to attend one of these universities, but many of the students who do attend do so precisely because of the rules and teachings that SB 1146 wants to ultimately outlaw. The students choose to be there.

But increasingly, religion and secular, progressive values are in coming into conflict, and for the anti-religion brigade in the Legislature, religion should always be the loser, even in churches and religious colleges.

Just think of some recent actions in this state to see which way the wind is blowing. In California (as always, a "leader" in such things), state judges were excluded from participating in the Boy Scouts  on their own time, in their private lives  because of the Scouts' position on gay troop leaders.

Christian student groups were derecognized by the California State University system because they would not allow non-Christians to hold official positions in the groups, whose entire existence is dedicated to Christian teachings.

California troubled youth camps can qualify for oversight exemptions in California  unless they use religion as part of their programs. Then the state demands oversight, as if religion itself is a danger the state needs to monitor.

The state needs to turn a mirror on itself. Religion, the foundation of these universities under attack, is built on grace, love, forgiveness and redemption. It is the government that is an ugly combination of intolerance and punishment.

California supposedly prides itself on its multiculturalism but that is a phony, empty platitude. Christianity, which has underpinned western society for millennia, is viewed more and more as an obstacle to civil rights for gays and nothing more. It's one culture that is not to be celebrated.

Gay marriage and transgender bathrooms were wild or unheard of ideas 20 years ago, to name just two issues. The journey from radical to acceptable to orthodoxy is being compressed into shocking timelines, and those changes, all hostile to religion, are backed by the full power of the state.

If you don't believe me, ask the Oregon bakery owners who were forced to pay nearly $150,000 in damages because they would not participate in a gay wedding. Where are their rights?

We all deserve to live lives openly with dignity and respect, and it's shameful that gays and lesbians once had to lead fearful, closeted lives because they dreaded society's ostracism. But is society more just when the oppressed become the oppressors? Because that is our direction in California. Although the author of SB 1146 reined in his ambition this year, he has expressed his desire to go back and look at the subject again next year. That intent should send a chill down the spine of religious institutions from Eureka to San Diego.

When the Mayflower landed on American shores four centuries ago, it carried in it dissenters who wished only to worship as they pleased, without the state punishing them for their beliefs. Freedom of religion is the defining principle of America's birth. Those Mayflower Pilgrims are lucky they aren't trying to land their ship in the modern Golden State; it's a hostile port for religion.

California must not conjure up new rights for some by stripping away the core, established, and expressly guaranteed rights of others. Despite the ugly implications of SB 1146, belief is not bigotry.

Sen. Ted Gaines represents the 1st Senate District.
Mistry indeed followed standards of corporate governance so that it should not create any controversies at a later date

Former chairman of Tata Sons, Cyrus Mistry had asked all the Tata group CEOs in October 2013 to cease all business relations with his fathers Shapoorji Pallonji group in order to avoid any conflict of interest charges against him at a later date.

A source close to the development said, the SP group, which is one of Indias oldest construction companies, lost sizeable business with the Tata group cutting their business relations with them. The SP group is run by Shapoor Mistry, elder brother of Cyrus.

In his communication to the CEOs, Mistry said the Tata group had always prided itself to adhere to the highest standards of corporate governance in India for over a century.

In adherence to the same philosophy, and to avoid the perception of a potential conflict of interest, I believe that as long as I am the executive chairman, it would be appropriate that the Tata group of companies no longer engage with the Shapoorji Pallonji group for any engineering and construction contracts, Mistry said.

The current contracts can continue till its expiry, Mistry had said asking his letter to be placed before the respective companies board and implemented across group companies.

An email sent to the Tata group and the SP group did not elicit any response.

Analysts said the letter shows Mistry indeed followed standards of corporate governance so that it should not create any controversies at a later date.

The SP group earns $4 billion in revenues each year and Cyruss father Pallonji Mistrys wealth is estimated at $14.5 billion based on his holding in Tata Sons and in his own group.

87-year Pallonji Mistry, who is not keeping good health, has already announced that his wealth will be divided into two equal parts between his two sons.

Mistry, who joined the Tata group in December 2012, was unceremoniously asked to leave as the chairman of Tata Sons on Monday and was replaced by former chairman, Ratan Tata as Interim Chairman. The Tata group had said Mistry was removed for under performance and trust deficit with the Tata Sons board.

But in his letter to the Tata Sons board sent on this Wednesday, Mistry said during his term, the operating cash flows of the group grew at the rate of 31 per cent compounded per annum.

The Tata Group valuation from 2013 to 2016 increased by 14.9 per cent per annum in rupee terms as compared to the BSE Sensexs annual increase of 10.4 per cent over the same period.

The Tata Sons networth has increased from approximately Rs 26,000 crore (Rs 260 billion) to Rs 42,000 crore (Rs 420 billion), after considering the impairments. This has significantly strengthened our balance sheet, enhancing our ability to absorb further shocks from restructuring in the companies, Mistry said.
Experts say the impact is limited to investors and potential employees and may ease out in the next few months

The 148-year-old Tata Group, India's largest and among its oldest conglomerates, is in the middle of a boardroom battle quite unlike what it has seen this far. On Monday, the group's chairman, Cyrus Mistry, was sacked from his position, and his predecessor Ratan Tata reinstated for now.

In the intervening time, there have been statements and counter-statements made by both sides. Not all of them have been pleasant, with Mistry claiming he was a "lame duck chairman" and Tata saying that his words were "unforgivable".

The falling out between Tata and Mistry, one a member of a much-respected business family and the other the son of the largest single shareholder in the Tata group, has taken many by surprise.

Brand experts say the episode is unfortunate.

"This could have been handled in a far better way. There has been an impact and I would pin it on to the trust one has had in the Tata brand. I think that has been shaken up a bit," N Chandramouli, CEO, TRA, which brings out the annual Brand Trust Report, says.

The Tata brand has consistently ranked the number one on most India brand valuation reports.

In the latest Brand Finance report released this July, the Tata brand retained its number one slot despite falling 11 per cent in terms of brand value to $13.7 billion.

At that time, Brand Finance had indicated this was on account of its vulnerability in the steel market and its huge exposure in UK post Brexit.

On TRA's Brand Trust Report, however, Chandramouli says the trajectory has been a bit more chequered, with the Tata name coming in at number two in 2010 and 2011, then slipping to fifth position in 2012 when Ratan Tata retired as chairman.

"It regained ground again in 2013 after Cyrus Mistry took over as chairman of the group and steadily slipped to number fourth and fifth in 2014 and 2015 as Mistry struggled with what he describes as legacy issues at the group, Chandramouli says.

But brand experts such as Harish Bijoor and Alok Nanda believe the blip on the Tata brand is a temporary one.

"A boardroom hiccup has a habit of affecting temporary brand equity. Yes, it is not savoury when it comes to the fore, but I believe the consumer brand equity has not been affected at all by this episode.

The investor brand equity has been ruffled, followed by employer brand equity at the top level, but the biggest impact has been at the political level with people taking sides. I think all of this will abate in the course of time," Bijoor says.

Nanda says that potential employees may be nervous of joining the Tata group given the manner in which Mistry's ouster has unravelled. "But if the group stays the course and is able to keep its attention on performance, I think it should be able to bounce back," he says.

Photograph: Vivek Prakash/Reuters
Nano's production though continues unhindered despite mounting losses

Apart from the Nano, the Manza and Vista have been amongst the most noted car brands that Tata Motors rolled out in the last decade.

Servicing customers of sedans and hatchbacks were introduced only after the rollout of the mini car Nano in 2008. After the initial buzz, demand for both the brands (known formerly as Indigo Manza and Indica Vista) nosedived just like the Nano.

After years of sustained poor performance, the company was forced to pull both models out of production lines. Nanos production though continues unhindered despite mounting losses.

In 2015 Nano sales jumped 24 per cent to 21,012 units compared to 16,901 units sold in the previous year. The sudden jump was due to the launch of an upgraded version which was priced higher than the outgoing model.

The excitement quickly faded in the ensuing quarter when Nano sales nearly halved to 2,352 units in April-June compared to 4,529 units sold in the same quarter last year.

In March itself Nano sales dipped to 732 units, far from the 20,000 units per month envisaged earlier, according to data provided by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.

Last year Tata Motors even tried to shed the cheap car tag and reposition the Nano as a smart city car on the lines of Marutis hugely popular Alto and Hundais Eon.

With the launch of GenX Nano, featuring a boot, improved styling and an automatic gearbox the car saw a sharp mark up in cost to the tune of 50 per cent.

Despite all these changes, Nano sales remain disappointingly low even as buyers flock in encouraging numbers to Renault showrooms to buy the Kwid, a tall and stylish, 800cc hatchback which the French company launched more than a year ago.

Company insiders and market watchers believe that the cheap car tag aside, the negative publicity received during its initial days when pictures of fire engulfed Nano started to flood the internet became a pivotal point of consumer rejection.

Safety issues concerned the Nano buyer the most during that period, said a Mumbai-based analyst.

Tata Motors however left no stones unturned when it came to marketing and sales. Several schemes including two-wheeler trade-ins, attractive lending options, cash discounts, free service maintenance, small Nano kiosks in the rural areas, multiple freebies, to name a few were rolled out to draw customers to showrooms.

One of the biggest causes of worry for the Nano was the companys near failure to tap its overseas demand. Before its commercial launch in India the then chairman Ratan Tata shared his plans to take the car to developing markets of South East Asia, Latin America and Africa.

The car however has reached the shores of only Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh.

The Nano product development concept called for a car below Rs 100,000 but the costs were always above this. This product has consistently lost money peaking at Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion). As there no line of sight to profitability for the Nano, any turnaround strategy for the company requires to shut it down. Emotional reasons alone have kept us away from this crucial decision, said Cyrus Mistry is the letter sent to the directors of Tata Sons.

A mail sent to Tata Motors seeking comments on issues raised by Cyrus Mistry remained unanswered.

Tata Motors exhausted all means to make the car a commercial success. Karl Slym, the former managing director of Tata Motors said in an interview to Business Standard, Nano is like an open canvas for us. We have the option of positioning it on the lines of the (Volkswagen) Beetle or the (BMW) Mini.

Photograph: Amit Dave/Reuters
Pakistani troops on Saturday targeted Indian security positions in Kathua, RS Pura and Keran sectors along the International Border and Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, injuring a Border Security Force jawan while another BSF jawan was killed accidentally while retaliating to the cross-border shelling and firing.

A BSF jawan was injured in fresh shelling by Pakistan troops in Keran sector, a senior official of the force said.

He said the jawan was admitted to a medical facility for treatment.

"The unprovoked Pakistani aggression is being effectively retaliated," he added.

A woman Shaheena Begun was injured in Keran sector along the LoC in Kashmir in shelling by Pakistani troops on Saturday morning, officials said.

They said the Indian army retaliated the "unprovoked" Pakistani aggression "in equal measure".

Pakistan Rangers also indulged in cross-border firing and shelling in RS Pura and Kathua sectors along the International Border.

BSF constable Nitin Subhash Koli sustained grievous injuries on Friday evening when an explosion inside the chamber of the long range weapon led to a recoil while he was firing in retaliation to ceasefire violation from across the LoC in Machchil sector, BSF IG-Kashmir Vikash Chandra said.

"Subhash was injured due to recoil and was admitted to a medical facility where he succumbed late last night," the official said.

Initially, a top BSF official had said that the jawan was killed in firing by Pakistani troops.

Subhash, 28, hailing from Sangli in Maharashtra, had joined BSF in 2008 and is survived by his wife and two sons aged four years and two years.

In Macchil sector, terrorists, aided by the cover fire by Pakistani Army, had on Friday night crossed the Line of Control in the sector. They killed an Indian army jawan and mutilated his body prompting the Indian Army to warn that "the incident will be responded to appropriately".

Four army and three BSF personnel have died in the latest escalation along the boundary with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir.

In Friday night's attack, one militant was also killed.

IMAGE: A villager showing remains of mortar shells fired from across the LoC by Pakistan at a village Mankot Poonch district in Jammu on Saturday. Photograph: PTI Photo
Rocky Yadav was not traceable after the Supreme Court cancelled his bail granted by the Patna high court. M I Khan reports.

Rakesh Ranjan alias Rocky Yadav, who allegedly shot dead a Class XII student for overtaking his SUV in Bihar, on Saturday surrendered in the Gaya civil court.

Rocky -- who was not traceable after the Supreme Court on Friday cancelled his bail granted by the Patna high court -- arrived at Patna airport on Saturday morning from Delhi and surrendered in the Gaya court, a district police told Rediff.com.

Rocky, son of suspended Janata Dal-United MLC Manorama Devi and Bindi Yadav, was granted bail by the high court on October 19 in Gaya road rage case which was challenged by the state govenrment in the apex court.

Rocky surrendered in the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADJ)-(IX) Suresh Prasad Mishra who sent him to jail.

He gave himself up before the court after remaining in hiding since Friday after the Supreme Court order.

"I have immense faith in the judiciary. The allegations levelled against me are baseless and concocted.... I have full faith in the court," he told reporters in the court premises while being taken to the jail by police.

Manorama Devi too expressed her full faith in the judiciary.

Rocky had allegedly shot dead a Class XII student Aditya Sachdeva for overtaking his car on May 7, 2016.

Police had filed a chargesheet in a Gaya court against Rocky and another accused in connection with the murder. They had also filed chargesheet against Rocky's cousin Teni Yadav, his father Bindi Yadav and his MLC mother's bodyguard, Rajesh Kumar, in the murder case.

The state government had put the case on speedy trial and investigation was completed in three weeks and chargesheet filed within a month of the incident.

Rocky is facing two cases -- one of murder of Aditya and another under Excise Act for recovery of liquor bottles from the house of his mother. He was arrested from his father's mixer plant in Gaya on May 10.

His name was included along with his father Bindi Yadav in the case of recovery of liquor bottles which were found when police raided his mother's house looking for Rocky.

With inputs from PTI

IMAGE: Rocky Yadav surrenders himself in court in Gaya on Saturday. Photograph: PTI Photo
The barbaric incident at the Line of Control in Kashmir in which the body of an Indian Army jawan was mutilated after being killed by terrorists, aided by the cover fire by Pakistani Army, sparked an outrage on Saturday even as a pall of gloom descended on his native village in Haryana.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh condemned the mutilation of the soldier's body as "atrocious" while senior Congress leader Manish Tewari called it "depraved behaviour".

The jawan's family members demanded that Pakistan be taught a lesson for harbouring terrorists while former army officers expressed their sadness. His brother Sandeep Singh demanded that the family wanted 10 Pakistani heads for the price of one.

Terrorists, aided by the cover fire by Pakistani Army, on Fridya night crossed the Line of Control and killed sepoy Mandeep Singh and mutilated his body in Macchil sector of Kupwara district.

The family members of the 30-year-old martyr were inconsolable.

Several women from Aantehri village in Kurukshetra reached the martyr's house and tried to console Mandeeps widow. The couple had got married two years ago, family members said. Mandeep's widow Prerna is a Head Constable with Haryana police and posted at Shahbad Markanda in Kurukshetra.

Mandeep's father said the Indian Army should give a befitting reply to Pakistan.

"It was his duty, he has done it. He sacrificed his life. We should give a befitting reply to Pakistan," he said, adding that he got the news of his son's death when army personnel visited him at his home at 1 am.

Prerna said Pakistan must be taught a lesson for harbouring terrorists.

"Pakistan should be taught a lesson once for all so that no other family of a soldier has to go through such pain," she said breaking down several times.

She said that Mandeep had come for vacation six months back. "He was supposed to visit home again on Diwali but his leave was cancelled in view of the tension on the border at Machil sector."

Kurukshetra's Deputy Commissioner Sumedha Kataria also visited the jawan's home and offered her condolences.

The martyr's neighbours described him as a "go getter" who always had a smile on his face.

Subhash, husband of the Sarpanch of the village, said Mandeep was a helpful person who always offered help to anyone who approached him in need.

"There can't be anything more atrocious than this (on terrorists mutilated the body of a soldier)," Jitendra Singh told reporters in Jammu.

"I am always of the view that the human rights of soldiers should enjoy precedence over human rights of anybody else", he said.

"These are acts of cowardice and these are happening at the time of desperation of the part of the Pakistan army as well as Islamabad. Indian forces are capable of standing upto this challenge."

Tewari while condemning the multilation as "absolutely depraved behaviour" said it "violates you as a human being".

"There are certain rules of engagement and conduct even in a conflict situation. Pakistan is expected to respect the rules of engagement," he said.

"I am very sad being a soldier. It is a very sad mentality to take your anger on an injured or dead person," said Maj Gen (retd) B C Khanduri.

IMAGE: Family mourn the death of Mandeep Singh who lost his life in an encounter near LoC in Machil sector. Photograph: ANI/Twitter
Rahul Gandhi on Saturday questioned Modi government's resolve to work for soldiers' welfare, asking the prime minister to first implement the 'one rank, one pension' scheme in a meaningful way and redress their pay anomalies and other grievances.

The Congress vice president wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he was saddened at the decisions of the government taken in the last few weeks "which are far from reassuring the soldiers and has caused them pain instead".

Steps should be taken to send a message to soldiers on Diwali expressing "our gratitude both in words and in deed", Rahul said in his letter to the Prime Minister who has launched a campaign through which people can send their Diwali greetings and messages to soldiers guarding the nation's frontiers to boost their morale.

The PM will celebrate this Diwali with Indo Tibetan Border Police Force personnel at one of the remotest border posts in Uttarakhand.

"Just days after our soldiers conducted the surgical strikes, the disability pension system was converted to a new slab system, that in many instances drastically reduces the pension received by these brave men in case of a disability," the Congress leader said.

"OROP must be implemented in a meaningful way to satisfy ex-servicemen and the anomalies in the 7th Pay Commission must be addressed at the earliest, because soldiers should not have to struggle to claim what is surely due to them on behalf of a grateful nation," Rahul said, claiming that some decision of the government have "adversely affect the morale of our armed forces".

The prime minister had earlier accused the Congress of not taking the OROP issue seriously by earmarking a paltry sum of Rs 500 crore for it.

Rahul said, "As a responsible democracy we must make sure that the brave soldiers who put their lives on the line for each one of us, feel the love, support and gratitude of 125 crore people."

"I therefore urge you prime minister to ensure that our soldiers get their due whether it is regarding compensation, disability pension, or parity with civil employees," he said.

Rahul said that the roll out of 7th Pay Commission continues to keep the defence forces at a disadvantage and further exacerbates the disparity between them and civil employees.

"As we celebrate Diwali, and rejoice in the victory of light over darkness, let us send this message to our soldiers that our gratitude is expressed both in words and in deed. This is the very least we owe to those who give up their today to secure our tomorrow," the letter further said.

Rahul greeted the prime minister on Diwali and hoped the new year brings peace, prosperity and happiness for the people of the country.

He told the prime minister that the soldiers risked their lives each day to defend the nation and "it is our duty to show them that we care for them and their families, not only through our words, but also through our actions".

Rahul also accused the government of downgrading the status of military officers vis a vis their civilian counterparts through a letter of October 18, 2016.

He said the OROP implemented by government does not fully meet the genuine demands of ex-servicemen and they have been forced to come out on the streets to make their voice heard on this vital issue.
National Security Advisors of India and China will meet next week to discuss measures to improve bilateral ties which are strained by differences over a host of issues including India's admission into Nuclear Suppliers Group and Beijing's attempts to block United Nations ban on Jaish-e-Mohammad Chief Masood Azhar.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi will meet in Hyderabad in November first week for informal dialogue on the state of bilateral relations, specially the irritants bedevilling the development of ties, officials said.

Besides blocking India's admission into the Nuclear Suppliers Group, China had put a second technical hold on India's move to bring about a UN ban on Azhar. Also India has been protesting over the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor which is being laid through the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

While India is concerned over the Pakistan factor creeping into India-China relations making the bilateral ties more complex, China too is airing its apprehensions over the movement to boycott Chinese goods in India as well the visit of US Ambassador to New Delhi, Richard Verma, to Arunachal Pradesh, which it considers as Southern Tibet and Indias permission to allow the Dalai Lama to visit the area.

Chinese officials say Beijing is apprehensive about India moving closer to US and Japan broadening its strategic and defence ties with both the countries.

Doval and Yang who are the designated Special Representatives of the India-China boundary talks, also periodically meet to discuss the whole gamut of the Sino-Indian relations.

Yang was the former foreign minister of China before he was elevated to the rank of State Councillor of the ruling Communist Party of China after President Xi Jinping took over power in 2013.

In Chinese power structure, State Councillor is more powerful than the Foreign Minister on foreign policy issues.

Both Doval and Yang have been meeting regularly to discuss the problems affecting the bilateral relations.

Officials say that the Hyderabad meeting is not Special Representatives dialogue on border but an informal consultations in which all issues including those relating to the borders may figure.

Their meeting is set to take place in the backdrop of the just concluded plenary meeting of the ruling Communist Party of China which conferred the status of "core leader" on Xi, broadening his power base both in the party and military.

On Indias admission into the NSG, both sides held in-depth talks over the issue. India has been pressing China to relent on its opposition saying that vast majority of the 48 member group back New Delhis case.

China, which is opposing India's membership on the ground that India is not a signatory to Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, says the group need to work out a proposal on the accession on all the non-NPT countries meaning Pakistan's admission too.

After talks with India, Chinese officials also held talks with Pakistan on the same issue.

On the issue of ban on Azhar, China has not reacted to Pakistan's reported move to freeze his bank accounts and keeping him under house arrest. Beijing's technical hold in the UN on Azhars ban issue is due to expire in December.

Doval and Yang were expected to touch on these issues as well as Indias concerns over the ballooning trade deficit which according to Chinese officials touched over $51 billion last year in little over $70 billion trade between the two countries.

China has been promising to step up investments in India besides opening up markets for Indian IT and Pharmaceuticals.

IMAGE: Ajit Doval with Yang Jiechi. Photograph: PTI Photo
Pakistan high commission staffer Mehmood Akhtar, expelled by India for spying, had named Samajwadi Party's Rajya Sabha MP Munavvar Saleem's personal assistant Farhat as one of his "close associates" in the crime following which he was arrested.

Farhat was picked up from Saleem's residence on Friday night and detained. He was arrested on Saturday after prolonged questioning. This is the fourth arrest in the case.

Farhat was produced before a Delhi court which sent him to police custody for ten days for custodial interrogation till November 8.

"During Mehmood's questioning, Farhat Khan's name surfaced as one of his close associates in the espionage racket he was running along with names of some other Pakistan high commission staffers," said a senior police officer.

TV channels also aired a confessional video of Mehmood Akhtar in which he purportedly named Farhat besides others including Syed Farruq, Khadim Hussain, Shahid Iqbal and Iqbal Cheema, claiming that they were also "staffers". In the video, he also said he used to meet Farhat at Mandi House Metro Station.

A crime branch officer said Farhat's preliminary questioning has led to "certain revelations" that need to be further investigated. Names of several other people allegedly involved in the racket have cropped up.

Delhi Police is also trying to apprehend other members of the espionage ring who, it believes, were in close contact with Pakistan Mehmood Akhtar. The Pakistan high commission staffer was caught receiving secret documents here on October 26.

Two others, Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangir, residents of Nagaur, Rajasthan, were held along with Akhtar. Another accused Shoaib was detained in Jodhpur and brought to Delhi by the police where he was arrested.

IMAGE: Pakistan high commission staffer Mehmood Akhtar.
The 'surgical strikes' by India have made the army in Pakistan look unprepared.

To prove itself the army will need to hit back: It could be in Kashmir or outside, says Aditi Phadnis.

India can't stop congratulating itself at the success it has had in isolating Pakistan as the vanguard of terror and everything evil.

At both BRICS and BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation), India studiedly singled out its closest neighbour to ignore, freezing it with contempt, not even mentioning it by name.

The BIMSTEC meeting was structured and designed to invite everyone in the neighbourhood but Pakistan -- almost as though by pretending it isn't there, it will go away and take all its problems with it.

Ordinary Indians like filmmaker Anurag Kashyap are understandably angry. It was after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Lahore and his oh-so-friendly outreach to Nawaz Sharif's family that Karan Johar decided to make Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, starring Pakistani actors. And now, because we want the film to show in India, we are enemies of the nation, he is asking.

This begs the bigger question: India has been almost too successful in isolating Pakistan. So if there is another attack -- as there is bound to be -- given the nature of the relations -- what will Narendra Modi do? The people now expect a 64-inch chest.

Indian people are not the only ones confused. Things are no better across the border.

It could be a coincidence, of course. But isn't it odd that the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf should choose to launch another agitation against Nawaz Sharif just days before Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif is to relinquish office (November 28)?

In deference to elections to the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan on October 30, the PTI has postponed till November 2 a sit-in over Nawaz Sharif and his family's wealth abroad as revealed in the Panama Papers.

The Panama Papers came to light months ago. So why the sit-in now?

That's not the only question. The 2,000-plus list of those in Pakistan who have maintained dealings with M/s Mossack Fonseca, has on it Nawaz Sharif's children and relatives of the two wives of Shahbaz Sharif (the chief minister of Punjab and Nawaz Sharif's brother).

But it also includes ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Her nephew Hassan Ali Jaffery and former interior minister Rehman Malik are said to have co-owned Petrofine FZC. The family of Osman Saifullah, a senator for the PPP, has registered 34 offshore companies.

In delicious irony, Saifullah is a serving member on a body that is deliberating on Pakistan's tax reforms programme, such as it is. But these individuals are not the target of PTI's ire.

It is only Nawaz Sharif and his government.

The sit-in event itself is designed to paralyse life in Islamabad. It did so quite effectively the last time around when Khan and Pakistan Awami Tehreek chief Tahirul Qadri together set Pakistan's nerves jangling and reduced the government to a cowering, pitiful mess after a protest against the Pakistan Muslim League's electoral malpractices that shut Islamabad down for nearly six weeks.

At the time the chatter in Pakistan was that the army was using the two groups to settle its scores with the government.

This time too, Khan is staging a protest just before the COAS is due to retire. It is sure to make the government look ineffectual.

Khan is saying that he and his supporters will not budge from Islamabad until Nawaz Sharif comes clean on his family's hidden wealth. The siege could go on forever unless the army steps in.

General Raheel Sharif has said he does not want an extension and also that he does not want to become Field Marshal.

But there is no doubt that Uri and the 'surgical strikes' by India have made the army in Pakistan look gauche and unprepared.

To prove itself the army will need to hit back: It could be in Kashmir or outside.

Retaliation for the strikes is also imperative for domestic political reasons -- for it will give Raheel Sharif a chance to correct the balance that has suddenly tilted heavily in favour of the elected government.

In order to prevent that and ensure the army is kept at arm's length, Nawaz Sharif is reported to be considering replacing both the COAS and the Director General Inter Services Intelligence just to bring the forces down a peg or two.

The Pakistan daily Dawn told us how Prime Minister Sharif, at a meeting with the COAS, asked him to call off his dogs and berated him for his incompetence.

Although it was denied four times by the government, intelligence suggests the report is absolutely accurate.

The only question is how quiescent Nawaz Sharif was in the planning of the Uri attack and whether he distanced himself from it only when it went bad.

The prime minister's confidence stems from other sources as well. He is confident that he cannot be disturbed, barring active intervention by the army.

In the 342-member lower house of parliament, his party has 188 MPs. Even if the two Opposition parties -- the Pakistan Peoples Party (46) and the PTI (34) -- join hands, they cannot depose him.

Moreover, in the next general elections due May 2018, Sharif has a better chance of returning to power than the PPP, which is in a torpor.

In the circumstances, either the COAS goes quietly, accepting the ceremonial rank of Field Marshal or he decides to do a Musharraf with a little help from friends like PTI.

We have till November 30 to find out.

For India-Pakistan relations the next 30 or so days are going to be the most dangerous.

IMAGE: Soldiers at the site of a terror attack in Kashmir this year. Photograph: Danish Ismail/Reuters
Apple rolled out three new MacBook Pros last month. They look interesting! Especially when it comes to that multifunctional Touch Bar that lives above the keyboards on the two higher-end models.

They're also expensive. The most affordable new model starts $1,499, and doesnt include the Touch Bar. The other 13- and 15-inch models start at $1,799 and $2,399, respectively.

Lots of people dont want to pay that. But lots of people also want a Mac. That could make the cheapest MacBook model Apple now sells, the 13-inch MacBook Air, seem appealing.

After all, if you look at Apples Mac page, its now the only notebook thats available for less than $1,000.

apple macs

That said, you shouldn't buy it. Though theres always a certain allure to buying an Apple product, you can get better for your dollar in late 2016.

Its been more than 600 days since the MacBook Air received a significant refresh. (Apple quietly updated the base model from 4GB of RAM to 8GB this past April, but thats it.) The company did not respond to a request for comment on whether or not a one-to-one update is coming, but considering how it pitched the Touch Bar-less 13-inch MacBook Pro as superior to the Air on Thursday, you probably shouldnt hold your breath.

In any case, that age shows today. What was once a significant leap forward for notebook design has been surpassed on all fronts. There are several thinner and lighter laptops available now. Their bezels are slimmer to boot.

MacBook Air

The entry-level MacBook Air runs on a 1.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 chip. For a few hundred dollars more, you can go up to a stronger 2.2GHz Core i7 processor. Both of those processors sound fine, and for the most part they are, but theyre the 5th-generation Broadwell chips Intel launched in 2015. Were on the 7th generation (Kaby Lake) now.

That doesnt mean the Air can't do most everyday tasks. Much like the iPhone and iOS, the MacBook can get more out of lesser specs because Apple intertwines hardware and software so tightly. But its still not great. Fine is not what you want when youre shelling out $1,000 for a new computer.

Story continues

Its a matter of futureproofing. You dont buy a laptop for today  you buy it for three or four years down the road. In 2019, youll want a Kaby Lake or Skylake (the 6th-gen chip found in the most recent MacBook Pros) machine more than a Broadwell one. Worse, the Air is notoriously stubborn about letting you upgrade other components like the RAM or hard drive.

macbook air steve jobs

Along those same lines, the MacBook Air has no USB-C ports. While well all miss Apples old MagSafe connector dearly, theres a reason why the company put four of these things on its new MacBook Pros: Its very obviously where all laptops are headed. Its where all non-iPhone smartphones are headed too. Its faster, its more versatile, and most future accessories are going to use it. Unless youre on a budget, its a must-have today.

The worst offender, though, is the MacBook Airs display. With a resolution of 1440x900, it is simply not up to par for a $1,000 laptop in 2016. There are notebooks that cost less than $600 with sharper screens, letting you see more things at once. Resolution isnt everything, but even then, the Airs colors, brightness, and viewing angles are all just decent by todays standards. Full disclosure: I look at it everyday for work. It's just not enough.

macbook air

To be clear, the MacBook Air isnt a bad laptop. Its sturdily built, its battery is great, its keyboard is above-average, and its trackpad is second-to-none. Its just a laptop from 2015. If any other company launched it for $1,000 or more today, itd be roundly ignored. Everyone else has caught up.

This makes it all the more frustrating that Apple opted not to update the device last month. The way to make the MacBook Air appealing again seems simple: Refresh the processor, and update the screen to full HD. There is a big, vocal group of people who do not want to adjust to the super-thin keyboard on the new Pro models. But Apple is a business, and updating the Air would likely cut into the margins made by the iPad Pro and the new MacBook Pros.

Yes, that new MacBook Pro looks and feels fantastic. For now, though, if you dont want to pay that kind of premium, its time to leave Mac behind. Try a Dell XPS 13, Razer Blade Stealth, HP Spectre x360, or  if youre really strapped for cash  Asus Zenbook UX305UA instead.

NOW WATCH: The Apple of China just unveiled a phone thats more powerful and better looking than the iPhone





More From Business Insider


Morgan County Election Board reviews financial records

The Morgan County Election Board met Friday to review the campaign finance reports of local candidates running for office.
FBI Director James Comey testifies during a House Judiciary hearing on

FBI Director James Comey notified Congress on Friday that the bureau is reopening its investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server, a decision he explained in a letter to his employees.

In the letter, obtained by The Washington Post, Comey said he felt an "obligation" to tell Congress about the investigation because he "testified repeatedly in recent months that our investigation was completed."

The bureau made its decision to reopen the investigation after learning of "the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation," according to the letter Comey sent to Congress.

Here's Comey's full note to his employees:

"This morning I sent a letter to Congress in connection with the Secretary Clinton email investigation. Yesterday, the investigative team briefed me on their recommendation with respect to seeking access to emails that have recently been found in an unrelated case. Because those emails appear to be pertinent to our investigation, I agreed that we should take appropriate steps to obtain and review them."

"Of course, we dont ordinarily tell Congress about ongoing investigations, but here I feel an obligation to do so given that I testified repeatedly in recent months that our investigation was completed. I also think it would be misleading to the American people were we not to supplement the record. At the same time, however, given that we dont know the significance of this newly discovered collection of emails, I dont want to create a misleading impression. In trying to strike that balance, in a brief letter and in the middle of an election season, there is significant risk of being misunderstood, but I wanted you to hear directly from me about it.

Comey told Congress that the team in charge of looking into Clinton's server briefed him Thursday on new emails it found "in connection with an unrelated case."

Story continues

The emails were uncovered after the FBI seized devices belonging to Huma Abedin and her husband, former congressman Anthony Weiner, The New York Times reported, citing law enforcement officials. Prosecutors issued a subpoena for Weiner's cellphone and other records in late September amid allegations that he had been sexting with a 15-year-old girl.

Natasha Bertrand contributed to this report.

NOW WATCH: Trump says 'every poll' shows he won the second debate, but scientific polls suggest he lost





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CHOCOLATE, WINE TASTING AND SAVORY TREATS

Los Aficionados, support group of The Grace Museum, is having a wine tasting fundraiser for the museum on Tuesday. The wine will be supplied by Pope Valley winery and the treats by Cordells. The event is set for 4 to 6 p.m. in the Ballroom at the museum, 102 Cypress St.

Cost is $45 per person and seating is very limited.

Call The Grace Museum for reservations to see if spaces are still available, 325-673-4587.

50TH ANNIVERSARY GALA

Nationally recognized speaker Jenny Broughton, women and children's advocate, will be featured at Harmony Family Services 50-Year Anniversary Dinner at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in the main banquet room at Hunter Welcome Center on the Abilene Christian University campus.

For 50 years Harmony Family Services has provided care for at-risk children and youth and support services for families in Abilene, Taylor County, and the surrounding counties.

To order tickets to the gala, call Harmony Family Services at 325-672-7200 or contact the nonprofit agency via its website: www.harmonyfamilyservices.org.

TOT SPOT

Tot Spot offers children ages 3 to 5 and their parents or guardians the opportunity to expand their large imaginations through hands-on activities and gallery games. Classes take place on the first Thursday and Friday of every month (Nov. 3 and 4) at The Grace Museum, 102 Cypress St.

After the program, children with an accompanying adult may enjoy the art and history galleries as well as the children's museum. Admission to Tot Spot is free for museum members, and $5 per participating child for nonmembers.

Reservations are required 24 hours ahead of the session desired. Classes are limited to 20 participating children. Call the museum at 325-673-4587 to rsvp.

FROZEN AT THE NCCIL

Fans of pop-up books will have a special opportunity to hear Matthew Reinhart, best-selling author and creator of the Star Wars, Transformers, DC Superheroes and Cinderella pop-up books in a book signing and gallery talk at 6 p.m. Thursday at the National Center for Children's Literature, 102 Cedar St. Reinhart has engineered two new pop-up books, Lego and Frozen.

Don't forget that the NCCIL offers free art activities and hands on fun from 1 to 4 p.m. every Saturday afternoon and during each ArtWalk.

The current exhibit is "Travels with Brian Floca" which spotlights the works of the award-winning artist. Visit http://nccil.org to find out more about the artist. The exhibit will be on display through Jan. 28.

Mail information to Jan Woodward in care of "Around Town," Abilene Reporter-News, P.O. Box 30, Abilene, TX 79604. Email address is jan.woodward@reporternews.com or fax information to 325-670-5242. Deadline for submission is noon seven working days before publication.
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CRAFT SHOW AND MINISTRY FAIR

The Son Flower women's ministry of First Church of the Nazarene will host its third annual craft show, bake sale and ministry fair today.

The event, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., will be at the church, 2849 Beltway South.

More than 45 local crafters will have Christmas and Thanksgiving items for sale.

FAMILY FALL FESTIVALS

Southwest Park Baptist Church, 2901 S. 20th St., will host its annual Family Fall Festival from 6 to 8 p.m.tonight. The event will have fun activity booths with candy prizes and a cakewalk and concessions available for purchase with proceeds going to international missions. A costume contest will be held for preschool and grade schoolchildren at 7 p.m. There is no charge for the evening of safe, family fun. For more information, please call the church office at 325-692-3296.

Trinity Baptist Church and the YMCA of Abilene are sponsoring a free community Fall Festival from 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday. There will be jump houses, games, trunk-or-treat, prizes, train rides, food, and more.

Belmont Baptist Church, 2117 Palm St., is having a Fall Festival on Sunday, October 30th, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Sunday. There will be a Bounce House, hot dogs, Frito pies, and candy. Everyone is invited to attend. Everything is free.

TRUNK OR TREATS

First Christian Church, 1420 N. 3rd St., will have a Trunk or Treat from 5 to 7 p.m. Sunday in the parking lot of the church.

First Central Presbyterian Church, 400 Orange St., will have a Trunk or Treat at 5 p.m. Sunday.

Berry Lane Baptist Church, 1515 Lakeside Drive, has set a Trunk or Treat for 6 to 8 p.m. Monday at the church. There will be free hot dogs, chips, dinks, popcorn, face painting and lots of candy.

St. James United Methodist Church, 3100 Barrow St., will hold a free Trunk or Treat Extravaganza from 3 to 5 p.m. today in the church parking lot. Wear your Halloween costume and join all the fun  games, activities, hot dogs, prizes, and plenty of treats. Cast your vote for the best pumpkin carving. For more information call the church office at 325-692-0263.

ALL SAINTS' DAY

A Service of Evensong will be offered at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Nave of the Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest, 602 Meander St. Evensong is a sung service of evening prayer. We welcome all for this special service.

All Saints' Sunday will be celebrated at the church on Nov. 6 with a Festival Holy Eucharist with Holy Baptism at the 10:30 a.m. service. The Children's Choir will sing, and there will be a processional of memorial banners as the church remembers the faithfully departed.

NEW BEGINNINGS LUNCHEON

A luncheon to support the New Beginnings ministry will be held Nov. 10 in Hunter Welcome Center on the campus of Abilene Christian University.

Admission to the luncheon is free, but donations will be accepted. Table sponsorships are available for $100 per eight-person table. Each sponsored table will have the business or individual name on it. And, the sponsor will be mentioned during the program. Deadline for sponsorships is Nov. 5.

Contact Missy Denard at 325-665-5538 or Lori Mellinger at 903-312-2555 to inquire about sponsoring a table. Or email newbeginningsabilene@hotmail.com. New Beginnings provides transitional housing and lifestyle development for women on probation or parole.

KINGDOM HALL BIBLE STUDY

Jehovah's Witnesses invite residents to study the Bible with them in weekly sessions at 1 p.m. Sundays and 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays. The Kingdom Hall is located at 2018 Highland Ave.

UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST FELLOWSHIP

The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 1541 Sayles Blvd., welcomes people of any and all beliefs to hear The Great Courses DVD "Questions of Value". Professor Patrick grim, State University of New York at Stony Brook delivers his 10th lecture "Cultures and Values  Questions of Relativism" at 11 a.m. Sunday.

Send news of your religious organization or group to Religion Editor, Abilene Reporter-News, P.O. Box 30, Abilene, Texas 79604; fax it to 325-670-5242; or email it to jan.woodward@reporternews.com. Deadline is noon Monday.
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Encourage your pastor to tell us the upcoming week's sermon topic. It's FREE, and it's open to churches throughout the Big Country. Email it to publishme@reporternews.com by 2 p.m. each Tuesday. Please put "sermon" in the subject line. Include the topic, who will deliver it, a short synopsis, when services begin and the name and street address of your place of worship.

Belmont Baptist Church, 2117 Palm St.

Services: 10:45 a.m. and 5 p.m. Sunday

Speaker: Jimmy Griffith

Topic: (a.m.) "The Fruit of the Spirit is Kindness" (Galatians 5:22); (p.m.) Fall Festival from 5-6:30 p.m.

Synopsis: (a.m.) One of the things we teach our kids is to be kind. Yet we adults often struggle with this fruit of the Spirit. (p.m.) Tonight is the fall festival. We will have a bounce house, hot dogs, Frito pies for everyone and candy for the kids. Everyone is invited to attend. Everything is free. Come join the fun.

Christian Science Society, 1201 S. Pioneer Dr.

Services: 10:30 a.m. Sunday

Topic: "Everlasting Punishment"

Synopsis: As a counter to the belief of everlasting punishment, this week we will look at God's everlasting kindness, mercy and love. This is not to say that there is no punishment for sin but rather that God corrects and governs us. Our task is to reform and repent or change our actions. God's abundant mercy has been shown to man through the ages and continues today. It is God's mercy and love for us that is everlasting.

Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest, 602 Meander St.

Services: 8 and 10:30 a.m. Sunday; 1 p.m. Swahili prayer service

Speaker: N. Luke Back

Topic: "Twenty-fourth Sunday After Pentecost" (Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12, Luke 19:1-10)

Synopsis: Our Gospel is the story of Jesus' acceptance of Zacchaeus, the tax collector, and the transformation of his life.

First United Methodist Church, 202 Butternut St.

Services: 8:45 and 11 a.m. Sunday

Speaker: Jeff V. Zirkle

Topic: "God's New Thing People" (Isaiah 43:18-21, Matthew 28:19-20, I Peter 2:9-10)

Synopsis: What new thing is God doing in your life, family or church? God's new thing is helping people believe in Him, belong in Christian community, bring others to His heart and build the kingdom of God on earth as is in heaven. We will celebrate the amazing young adult awakening in Scotland and learn how we can engage, influence and impact our culture with God's new thing vision and plans.

Northwest Church of Christ, 1141 N. Willis St.

Services: 10:30 a.m. Sunday

Speaker: Neil Hall

Topic: "Mind, Body and Spirit  How We Can Improve These Connections"

Synopsis: God created our mind, body and spirit. By looking at His creation and the guidance He has given us, we can improve all three. Because of worldly influences, our minds fail to consider many of God's truths. We want to consider some of these and how we can, by accepting God's way, improve our mind, body and spirit connection thereby improving our life and our outlook on life as a whole.

Oakridge Church of Christ, 3250 Beltway South

Services: 10 a.m. Sunday

Speaker: Steve Smith

Topic: "Are Demons Real Today?"

Synopsis: Monday is Halloween, and we all make lots of fun of demons. Should we?

Woodlawn Church of Christ, 841-A North Judge Ely Blvd.

Services: 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Sunday

Speaker: Larry Fitzgerald

Topic: "Haunted by Doubt"

Synopsis: Are you struggling with doubt in your life of faith? You might be surprised that some of the most godly people in history have had this same struggle. The Bible has a prescription for working through your doubt. This is the message of hope this Sunday.

Wylie Baptist Church, 6097 Buffalo Gap Road

Services: 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Sunday

Speaker: Donny Harbers

Topic: "Deity on Display: A True Witness" (John 3:22-30)

Synopsis: John was a true witness because he wasn't in it for himself; he was in it to build the kingdom of Christ. As a true witness, everything he did was done to move people's eyes away from him and move them to Jesus. When we have this attitude, then Jesus will increase. He will be magnified. He will be glorified. He will use you like you can never imagine.
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By Timothy Chipp of the Abilene Reporter News

The Texas Education Agency seeks public input as to how it should implement a new federal education law, once it gets its hands on it.

Called the Every Student Succeeds Act, the new K-12 education law replaces the George W. Bush-era No Child Left Behind law by returning many of the education controls to the state governments, including aspects of accountability, funding and school improvement.

Part of the law requires states consult with all interested parties in forming some of the Texas-specific portions of the law, including parents, business owners and community members. Education Commissioner Mike Morath announced last week the TEA will accomplish this task through an online survey.

"The passage of ESSA has created a unique opportunity to inform Texas' education policy," Morath said. "However, we need input from all parts of our state to ensure that, under ESSA, all students in Texas can receive a high-quality education that prepares them for the future."

There are nine questions on the survey, available through SurveyGizmo at www.surveygizmo.com/s3/3003630/ESSA-Public-Input-Survey. The first two are identification questions, asking respondents to identify the category they fall in  parent, business leader, teacher, etc.  and what region of Texas they reside.

After entering those responses, the survey asks participants to consider what aspects of education they'd like to see the state focus on under the new federal guidelines.

For instance, Question 3 asks to rank the top three choices for measuring school quality and school success. There are a eight choices, plus an option to write in a response other than the preloaded options.

Other questions in the survey include what graduation rate the state should use as its long-range target, what students need to be successful in the world and a blanket query asking for more information about the plan that isn't gathered from the predetermined questions.

The survey period will run through Nov. 18.

TEA will review input collected during the survey period and consider how best to incorporate into the state plan. A final plan is required to be submitted to the federal government by July.

Twitter: @TimothyChippARN
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By Brian Bethel of the Abilene Reporter News

It's Lights Out on Halloween once again for sex offenders under the supervision of the Taylor County Community Supervision and Corrections Department.

"(Lights Out) is a mandatory counseling session that is held on Oct. 31 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. for all sex offenders under our jurisdiction," explained Mike Wolfe, the department's director.

The department oversees an area encompassing Taylor, Callahan and Coleman counties, Wolfe said.

Offenders who have to work during the prescribed time don't escape scrutiny.

"There are two probation officers that are on duty while this is going on Monday night, and they will go out and physically verify that those people are at work," Wolfe said.

Drug screening also is done on "everyone who comes in the door," he said.

There are about 90 sex offenders under the department's supervision.

"What we do only applies to those who are on probation," he said.

The name of the yearly session comes from the original Lights Out in 2004, but it bears little resemblance to that first attempt, Wolfe recalled.

"What we did on that particular Halloween is we sent about 20-25 probation officers out checking the sex offenders' homes to make sure their lights were out  that way no trick-or-treaters, anything like that," he said.

But a staff member at a Halloween party at her child's school saw one of the offenders there later in the night.

"We started making them come to us," Wolfe said.

The first couple of years, the sex offenders required to attend complained about Lights Out because of its mandatory nature, Wolfe said.

"They really didn't understand why we were doing it," he said. "But now they understand why it actually benefits them. It puts them in a place where we know where they are  we're eyeballing them. Those who have gone to work, we're eyeballing them. They truly by and large understand why we're doing it and the benefit to not only the community but to (themselves)."

Lights Out almost always has 100 percent participation, he said.

"The very, very few times that someone has not shown up, that violation was reported to the court, and the court dealt with it accordingly," Wolfe said.

The counseling session helps law enforcement, he said, removing offenders from the equation during the prescribed hours and allowing officials to better concentrate resources "where they need to be."

Wolfe encouraged parents and others to consult the Texas Public Sex Offender Registry, which contains data on a wider variety of sex offenders. Taylor County has 424 sex offenders listed.

"You can look at it by name, you can look at it by address, (and) they've also got some interesting mapping software," he said of the DPS registry. "I think it's never a bad idea to know who you live next door to."

The DPS registry is located at: https://records.txdps.state.tx.us/sexoffender
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This just in...
Russia resumed its military blockade of Ukrainian ports on October 30, halting the supply of grain supplies largely headed to low-income nations and reigniting fears of a spiral in global food prices.

The United States immediately criticized Russia's actions, accusing it of "weaponizing food" to gain leverage in its failing invasion of Ukraine.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.

Russia announced a day earlier it would suspend its participation in a UN-brokered deal that allowed Ukraine, one of the world's breadbaskets, to export grain after accusing Kyiv of staging a drone attack against its Black Sea Fleet. Ukraine has rejected the accusations.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on October 30 that he was "deeply concerned" about Russia's decision to halt its participation in the July deal, which helped reverse skyrocketing food prices that threatened to put millions at risk of starvation.

Guterres said he would delay his departure for the Arab League summit in Algiers by one day to work on saving the grain deal.

Ukraine's Infrastructure Ministry reported on October 30 that 218 ships involved in grain exports are currently blocked -- 22 loaded and stuck at ports, 95 loaded and departed from ports, and 101 awaiting inspections.

Ukraine's grain exports are a key revenue source for the country, whose economy has been decimated by Russia's eight-month war. They are also a critical source of food for countries in Africa and Asia.

Earlier in the day, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Russia to resume its participation in the deal, warning it was "exacerbating" an already dire food crisis impacting largely poor countries.

"Any act by Russia to disrupt these critical grain exports is essentially a statement that people and families around the world should pay more for food or go hungry. In suspending this arrangement, Russia is again weaponizing food in the war it started," he said.

In a post on Twitter, European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell also urged Russia to revert its decision.

The July deal allowed Ukraine to resume exports of grain, other foodstuffs, and fertilizer, including ammonia, through a safe maritime humanitarian corridor from three of its Black Sea ports.

To implement the deal, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, and the UN set up a Joint Coordination Center (JCC) to inspect vessels headed to and from Ukraine traveling along the corridor. Turkey played a major role in brokering the agreement.

Russia on October 30 announced it was suspending its participation in the JCC, including inspecting ships off Istanbul. Earlier in the day, Turkey said the JCC would continue inspecting ships on October 30 and 31.

The JCC had inspected 11 shipments on October 30 with more than 100 waiting for clearance.

Analysts have been warning for the past two months that Russian President Vladimir Putin would look for an excuse to pull out of the deal to pressure the West over its continued military aid to Ukraine.

Kyiv has used that military aid with effectiveness, driving the Russians back in the northeast, east, and southeast since launching a counteroffensive in September.

"Given Ukraine's successful counterattack, the fighting there isn't going Russia's way. Putin, who is used to engaging in dialogue from a position of strength, finds he does not have so many ways of putting pressure on the West at his disposal. Threatening to torpedo the grain deal is one of his few remaining options," Aleksandra Prokopenko, an independent analyst, wrote in a September 16 note posted on the website of Washington-based think tank Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

In a video address after Russia's announcement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the move "a completely transparent attempt by Russia to return to the threat of large-scale famine for Africa and Asia." Zelenskiy called for Russia to be expelled from the Group of 20 leading global economies (G20).

U.S. President Joe Biden called Moscow's decision "purely outrageous."

The July 22 grain deal was intended to last 120 days with the option for renewal on November 19 "if no party objects," the UN said on October 28.

Moscow has asked the UN Security Council to meet on October 31 to discuss the reported attack on its Black Sea Fleet at the Crimean port city of Sevastopol in the early hours of October 29.

Russia's Defense Ministry said drones were used in the attack and that one Russian ship, a minesweeper, was damaged.

Ukraine's Infrastructure Ministry said Kyiv would try to continue using the Black Sea shipping corridor as long as possible.

Russian Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev said on Russian state television that Moscow was prepared to "supply up to 500,000 tons of grain to the poorest countries free of charge in the next four months."

With reporting by Reuters
Ciudad Juarez Mexico crime cartels violence drug trade

In mid-June, 150 armed men descended on a small community called La Tuna in the central highlands of Mexico's Sinaloa state, looting homes and leaving multiple people dead.

The gunmen, who are believed to have been affiliated with the Beltran Leyva Organization (BLO), also forced Consuelo Loera, the mother of Sinaloa cartel chief Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, from her home.

It now appears that the attack on La Tuna was a jumping-off point for a clash of cartels that has caused violence to spike throughout much of Mexico and injected uncertainty into the future of one of the country's most powerful cartels.

The attack in La Tuna came about six months after Guzman himself was recaptured in northwest Sinaloa state, six months after he pulled off his second jailbreak in July 2015.

The attack was also reportedly led by Alfredo Beltran Guzman, "El Chapo" Guzman's nephew and the oldest son of Alfredo Beltran Leyva, the imprisoned head of the BLO, which was allied with the Sinaloa cartel until internal suspicions sparked a bloody feud in 2008.

el chapo home fixed

In mid-August this year, the brief kidnapping of Guzman's sons by elements of the Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG) underlined the growing rivalry between Mexico's two most powerful cartels.

It reportedly took the intervention of high-level cartel leaders and former leaders as well as the federal government to secure the release of the sons and avoid a larger war between the CJNG and the Sinaloa cartel. Even though they were returned unharmed a few days later, their abduction is an ominous sign for their father's cartel.

That kidnapping, according to Mexican journalist Anabel Hernandez, could be considered the first time we saw that Guzman "no longer controls even his own house."

Story continues

The events this summer, and recent attacks in and around Sinaloa state mean "maybe we are for the first time seeing the true fall of Chapo Guzman with all the consequences that this may bring," Hernandez, an expert on Mexico's narco world, told Aristegui Noticias.

"And this is not a fall brought about by the government but by his own family," Hernandez added, referring to the involvement of Alfredo Beltran Guzman.

According to Hernandez, Alfredo Beltran and the remnants of the BLO are allied with the ascendant CJNG, which is clashing with the Sinaloa cartel in several parts of the country, particularly on the west coast and in Tijuana in Baja California.

DEA Map cartel territory in Mexico

"Right now there's only two major drug cartels in Mexico: Sinaloa cartel, which ... remains the most powerful, and then the Jalisco New Generation cartel," Mike Vigil, a former head of international operations for the US Drug Enforcement Administration, told Business Insider. The CJNG emerged around 2010, originating from a cell of the Sinaloa cartel based in southwest Mexico around Jalisco state.

The CJNG has expanded rapidly, but most of its growth was initially in the southwest and southeast. As the cartel's ambitions have grown, however, it seems to have turned its sights on valuable territory held by the Sinaloa cartel.

"It's not very lucrative for them to move from coast to coast, east to west. They've got to move northward and take control of some of the lucrative corridors coming into the United States," Vigil told Business Insider.

Tijuana US Mexico border crossing

"And what is the most lucrative corridor along the 2,000-mile Mexican border? That's the Tijuana-San Diego corridor, which is the busiest land port of entry in the world," he added.

Earlier this year, reports described low-level clashes in and around Tijuana between elements of the Sinaloa cartel and the CJNG, which has allied with what is left of the Arellano Felix Organization, a criminal group ousted from control of the area by the Sinaloa cartel in the 2000s.

Organized-crime-related competition in the city has driven a defined spike in homicides there since early last year. (Baja California Sur, south of Baja California, has also reportedly seen a rise in organized-crime-related violence, as the CJNG moves on the Sinaloa cartel's interests.)

Clashes involving the Sinaloa cartels and CJNG have also stricken parts of Mexico along the Pacific coast.

Homicides in Tijuana through Sept. 2016

In Guerrero, fighting over lucrative opium and marijuana cultivation and trafficking routes has driven violence up.

Acapulco, a picturesque beach town on the state's coast, has been so marred by violence that it's been called "Guerrero's Iraq."

In the tiny state of Colima, spiraling violence has been attributed to fighting over the port of Manzanillo, a strategically valuable port for any trafficking organization.

The homicide rate in Colima, home to about 700,000 people, is nearly 60 per 100,000 people, close to five times the national rate.

Sinaloa state itself appears to be ground zero for attacks on the Sinaloa cartel's interests.

The 853 homicides the state has seen through September this year are almost as many as the 993 the state registered through all of 2015.

And of those 853 homicides recorded in the first months of this year, 588, or 68.9%, were organized-crime related, according to one report.

A late-August report from Sinaloa newspaper Riodoce, the Sinaloa cartel, led by Ivan Archivaldo Guzman, one of El Chapo's sons, has been preparing for war with the CJNG in areas that cartel controls in Sinaloa and Jalisco states.

In days between the Guzman sons' kidnapping and that Riodoce report, several people were executed in Sinaloa, one of whom was left with a message threatening "El Mayo" Zambada and El Chapo himself. A few days later, one of Zambada's nephews was killed.

An assault launched on a military convoy at the end of September added another layer of complexity to this burgeoning cartel clash.

Mexico's most violent states Jan Sept 2016

Military vehicles were transporting a wounded suspect (allegedly a cousin of "El Chapo" Guzman) to the state capital, Culiacan, when they came under attack from a large contingent of heavily armed men. Five soldiers were killed and several more wounded.

Authorities suspected that Guzman's sons were behind the attack, trying to free the prisoner, but they denied it through their father's lawyer, and the perpetrator remains unclear.

While she said it wasn't clear who was behind the ambush, Hernandez suggested Alfredo Beltran Guzman, of the BLO, could have organized it to cause turmoil on Guzman's home turf.

Whomever the culprit, the attack attracted attention, as the Mexican government deployed 2,000 soldiers to the area in mid-October.

That brought the total force in central Sinaloa state to 6,000 troops tasked with enforcing the rule of law  though officials have said military personnel there spend much of their time dismantling synthetic-drug labs that continue to crop up there.

'V iolence is often bad for business'

Violence has cropped up in many parts of Mexico, but the fragmented nature of the fighting, and of the combatants, differentiates it from past periods of conflict.

Acapulco Guerrero Mexico drug cartel criminal violence murder

"The Sinaloa and CJNG organizations understand that violence is often bad for business," James Bosworth, CEO of the regional-analysis firm Southern Pulse, told Business Insider in late August. "That means we'll see state by state flareups over the coming months and years, but it's unlikely to be a national level cartel war."

And despite the number of organized-crime-related clashes around Mexico, it's not clear that the CJNG and the Sinaloa cartel are behind or involved all of them. The ongoing fragmentation of criminal groups is likely to blame for some of the upswing in lethal violence Mexico has seen over the last year.

In places like Guerrero and Michoacan, a wide array of regional groups are competing for influence (though some of them are allied with either the Sinaloa or CJNG cartels.) In Chihuahua, home of Ciudad Juarez, rising violence has been attributed to Sinaloa infighting and a resurgent Juarez cartel.

Ciudad Juarez Chihuahua Mexico crime violence homicide drug cartel killings

In northeast Mexico, particularly Tamaulipas, brutal warfare between the Zetas and Gulf cartels has largely given way to fighting between factions of the Zetas cartel, which has often flared up near the Texas border.

Some of this fragmentation, at least in western Mexico, may have been kicked off by Guzman's first capture in early 2014, a moment that appears to bookend a few years of Sinaloa cartel dominance in the country.

"Right around mid-2014, we started to see the [homicide] numbers going back up, and I think it was directly related to the capture of Chapo Guzman," David Shirk, a professor at the University of San Diego, told Business Insider in September, adding:

"There was sort of Pax Sinaloa once the Sinaloans kind of achieved access to the routes they wanted and were able to kind of defeat their many enemies on many fronts ... But then, of course, just in the last two years or so, we've seen that whatever it is  either capturing Chapo Guzman was a sign of weakness or it weakened him ... that was a bad omen for Mexico."

"As much celebrated as it was by [current President Enrique] Pena Nieto, it meant that ... that things were going to change, and you don't want things to change when violence is going down."

Total homicides in Mexico went up in 2015, and 2016  which has seen record monthly homicide totals in each of the last three months  seems poised to hit homicide levels not seen since 2011, the peak of cartel fighting under former President Felipe Calderon.

Felipe Calderon mexico military

Pena Nieto's administration was heralded for the reductions in violence Mexico saw in 2013 and 2014, the first two years of his six-year term in office.

But in recent months, as homicides continue to rise, his government doesn't seem to have pursued a meaningfully different anti-crime response than his predecessor, Calderon.

' Uncertainty means blood '

Going forward, it's likely that Mexico will see continued violence, driven by the often-confused conflict in the criminal underworld.

el mayo sinaloa

The CJNG appears poised to keep climbing to the top of the narco scene, seizing control of the methamphetamine trade in the country and corrupting local police and government officials.

For the Sinaloa cartel, the outlook is less certain.

In the aftermath of Guzman's January arrest, it was thought Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada would take the reins, though the nature of the cartel's leadership structure and its health aren't clear.

Mexico's cartel landscape in general have always been somewhat inscrutable, and the internal dynamics of the Sinaloa cartel in particular have often been hard to gauge because it is something of a decentralized organization, with factions that are thought to act somewhat independently.

Unfortunately, the best way to evaluate the goings-on in Mexico's criminal underworld has often been examining the destruction those groups leave in their wake.

"The bigger divide appears to be between the CJNG and Sinaloa Cartel, which appear to be increasing their conflict with each other," Bosworth, of Southern Pulse, told Business Insider. "The conflict with [the CJNG] seems to be escalating," Vigil said in mid-October.

In the aftermath of Guzman's most recent capture, "what we know is that the result for the Sinaloa cartel has been newfound uncertainty, and uncertainty in a monopolistic, violent, organized-crime marketplace is bad," Shirk added. "Uncertainty means blood."

NOW WATCH: There's a terrifying reason people are warned to stay inside at 5:45 p.m. in parts of Mexico





More From Business Insider


At least six people died in clashes between government forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, officials said on October 28.

The surge of deaths in the two-year conflict came 10 days after German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande tried to breathe life into a stalled peace process during talks with Russia's Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Berlin.

"Over the past 24 hours, as a result of fighting, one Ukrainian serviceman was killed," Kyiv's military spokesman Andriy Lysenko told reporters, accusing the separatists of "a sharp intensification" of attacks.

The separatists' news agency said at least two of their fighters were killed and another six wounded on October 27.

The TASS news agency reported that four separatist fighters were killed and nine wounded.

The separatists also reported the death of three civilians and the wounding of 18 others by Ukrainian shelling near Donetsk.

The Berlin summit failed to resolve one of Europe's bloodiest conflicts since the Balkans wars of the 1990s, with the leaders only agreeing to come up with a "road map" for peace by the end of next month.

The fighting has claimed over 9,600 lives since the conflict began in 2014.

Based on reporting by AFP and TASS


India and Pakistan traded accusations that each had killed civilians in cross-border shelling in Kashmir on October 28.

Pakistani officials said that three civilians, including a young girl, were killed as Indian troops shelled villages along the Line of Control, while Indian officials said two civilians died when Pakistani shells hit India's side of the contested border.

The Indian Army also charged that militants at the Line of Control mutilated the body of an Indian soldier they'd killed before crossing back into Pakistan under cover of fire from Pakistani Army posts.

"This act will invite an appropriate response," the Indian Army said.

The reports of bloodshed came just a day after New Delhi and Islamabad expelled each other's diplomats over the rising tensions in Kashmir.

Shelling by both sides in the divided and disputed Himalayan region has been going on since gunmen killed 19 Indian soldiers in September at an army camp in Kashmir, an attack India blamed on Pakistan-based militants.

Indian-administered Kashmir has also been rocked by street protests which began after the July killing of a militant leader there. Indian officials have blamed Pakistan for fanning that unrest.

Based on reporting by AP, AFP, dpa, and Reuters


Iranian-backed Iraqi Shi'ite militias say they have started an offensive against the extremist group Islamist State (IS) west of Mosul, assisting the operation to take back the city.

Jaafar al-Husseini, a spokesman for the Hizbullah Brigades, said they launched an offensive on October 29 along with other militias toward the town of Tal Afar.

Tal Afar was a Shi'ite-majority town before it fell to IS in 2014.

Husseini said Iranian forces are advising the fighters and Iraqi aircraft are providing airstrikes.

Iraqi forces launched a massive operation to retake IS-held Mosul on October 17.

The involvement of the Shi'ite militias is likely to cause alarm in Turkey as Tal Afar has a sizeable ethnic Turkmen population.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said last week that his country will take measures if there is an attack against Tal Afar.

"Ethnic and sectarian balances must be taken into account in Mosul and Tal Afar," Cavusoglu was quoted as saying on October 26.

Based on reporting by AP, Reuters and Anadolu


Moldovas presidential election appears to be headed toward a runoff, preliminary results showed early on October 31.

With nearly 99 percent of votes counted, pro-Moscow candidate Igor Dodon of the Socialist Party is winning with 48.7 percent.

He needed to win an outright majority to avoid a runoff on November 13.

Dodon's main pro-EU challenger, Maia Sandu of the Party for Action and Solidarity, has 37.9 percent.

The Our Party candidate, Dmitri Ciubasenco, was far behind with 6 percent of the votes.

Turnout was almost 49 percent -- well above the 33 percent mark needed to make the election valid.

The October 30 election contest -- the first time Moldovans have directly elected a president by popular vote in 20 years -- is widely seen as pitting those who support integration with the European Union against those who want closer ties with Russia.

VOX POP: EU Or Russia -- What's Best For Moldova?

Dodon, a 41-year-old economist, has said he wants to throw out Chisinau's 2014 EU Association Agreement and join the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union.

Sandu, a former education minister and head of the Party for Action and Solidarity, wants instead to build on Brussels' Association Agreement with Chisinau by pushing ahead with reforms the EU says are necessary to strengthen its chances for membership.

"Whatever the results, we want to change the political class and we will continue with this project," Sandu told reporters at the offices of her party in the capital, Chisinau, hours after polls closed on October 30.

"When I say change I mean real change," she added.

The Central Election Commission in Moldova said voting was being monitored by more than 3,200 Moldovan observers and 562 more from abroad.

But Pavel Postica, from the monitoring mission of the Moldovan NGO Promo-lex, which promotes democratic values, said monitors had not been able to observe the voting process in about a dozen polling stations.

"The thing we are most worried about is that in over 13 polling centers, our monitors or the monitors of other organizations had problems observing the voting process," Postica told reporters.

"In other 2,017 polling centers, where we have monitors, there were no problems," he said.

Some residents of Moldovas breakaway region of Transdniester also voted in the October 30 poll by crossing into Moldova proper to vote in some 30 polling stations.

RFE/RLs Moldovan Service reports that some 3,500 voters from the self-declared Transdniester separatist state had voted by mid-afternoon local time, most of them in the village of Varnita.

All residents of the self-declared entity are considered Moldovan citizens by Chisinau and many continue to hold Moldovan passports.

Russia has thousands of troops stationed ostensibly as peacekeepers in the mainly Russian-speaking territory of Transdniester, which broke away in 1990 following a short war that killed several hundred people.

WATCH: Moldovans Vote For President In Pivotal Election

Ahead of the October 30 vote, leading candidate Dodon received an unusual endorsement from one of Moldova's leading church figures.

Religious Intervention

Metropolian Vladimir of the Moldovan Orthodox Church publicly backed Dodon in a sermon on October 28 -- the first time in years that the church has waded into electoral politics at this level.

Though Moldovans are overwhelmingly Orthodox Christian, the Moldovan Orthodox Church competes for influence in the country with the Romanian Orthodox Church, a rivalry that mirrors the country's linguistic, ethnic, and cultural divides.

Also lurking in the background is tycoon Vlad Plahotniuc, who is considered Moldova's most powerful businessman and whom critics say has outsize influence on domestic politics.

Plahotniuc is the chief financial backer of the majority ruling Democratic Party, whose candidate Marian Lupu dropped out of the race just days ahead of the vote.

Plahotniuc gave no hint of whom he voted for in a post on his Facebook page that showed him dropping his ballot in the box. He wrote, "I voted for the candidate who does not need my support."

Moldova is one of Europe's poorest countries and has been hit by a string of high-profile corruption scandals.

Polls show the 2015 banking crisis sapped many Moldovans' enthusiasm for European integration. It also prompted the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to suspend financial aid, though the fund recently said it would resume its program.

The October 30 election marks the first time since 1996 that the country's president is not being chosen by parliament.

The move to a direct popular vote for president follows a ruling by Moldovas Constitutional Court earlier this year.

With reporting by RFE/RLs Moldovan Service, Reuters, AFP, and AP
Members of the OPEC oil cartel have gathered for two days of meetings with Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and other major non-OPEC producers to discuss a potential cut in global output.

The meeting among technical experts in Vienna, Austria, on October 28 produced no immediate agreement. Iran and Iraq reportedly pressed their case for being exempt from a production cut, allowing them to continue recovering from wars and economic sanctions, which have held back their output.

Granting exemptions for Iran and Iraq, as well as for Nigeria and Libya, which are also embroiled in battles against insurgencies, would mean that other major producers like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Russia would have to cut their production more deeply to reach OPEC's goal of an overall reduction of about 750,000 barrels a day.

Worries that OPEC will fail to reach such an ambitious accord weighed on oil markets on October 28, sending premium crude prices below $50 a barrel in New York and London trading.

OPEC hopes to get the cooperation of Russia and other producers outside the cartel and then roll out details of the planned production cut at a meeting on November 30.

Based on reporting by Reuters, CNBC, and Wall Street Journal


A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman has blamed U.S. forces for a near-miss of planes over Syria earlier this month.

U.S. officials said this week that a Russian plane came close enough to a warplane from the U.S.-led coalition for its wake to be felt by the other pilot.

The officials said the incident, which occurred October 17, did not appear to be threatening, but rather caused by the Russian pilot losing "situational awareness."

But Major General Igor Konashenkov on October 29 dismissed that assertion, saying an American E-3 radar plane had unexpectedly descended during the October 17 incident.

He said that brought the American plane within 500 meters of a Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jet.

With scores of aircraft flying sorties over Syria, the Russian and U.S. military operations in Syria have communication procedures to reduce the risk of mishaps or midair collisions.

Still, the incident also follows more intentional close encounters between Russian and American planes.

Last month, a Russian fighter jet came within 10 feet of an American spy plane over the Black Sea.

Based on reporting by AP, AFP, Interfax


Dozens of Russians read aloud the names of the victims of Stalin's purges, an annual demonstration that comes amid a shift in thinking about the Soviet leader.

The event took place October 29 under cold, dreary skies outside the Moscow headquarters of Russia's main security agency, the successor to the feared KGB.

The names, ages, and professions of some 30,000 people killed at the peak of Stalin's so-called Great Terror, in 1937-1938, were read out by activists and ordinary Russians.

The annual "Returning The Names" ceremony is organized by one of Russia's oldest and best known rights organization, Memorial, which has come under increasing pressure.

WATCH: A Video Stream Of The 'Returning The Names' Commemoration Ceremony In Moscow

The group has been listed by the government as a "foreign agent," a designation that puts restrictions on its operations. The label also bears connotations of a designation used during Soviet times to repress opposition activists and dissidents.

Russians have long had mixed feelings about the Soviet dictator, criticizing him for the creation of the system of Gulag labor camps and the purges of the 1930s. But many also hail his leadership during the fight against Nazi Germany during World War II.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has also suggested that Stalin was a greater leader than history has made him out to be.

Also in conjunction with October 29 ceremony, Memorial released a list of political prisoners being held, a number the group said had doubled in recent years.


Russian officials have cried foul at being voted off the United Nations' Human Rights Council and vowed to regain Moscow's seat in a bid next year.

"We need a break," said Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin on October 28 after the vote, noting that Russia was beaten out by Croatia and Hungary.

"Croatia and Hungary, fortunately because of their size, they are not as exposed to the winds of international diplomacy. Russia is quite exposed," Churkin said.

Moscow's diplomat took solace from the fact that the vote was close, with Croatia getting 114 votes compared to Russia's 112 and Hungary's 144. The three countries were competing for two regional seats on the council, which monitors and investigates rights violations worldwide.

"It was a very close vote," he said. "We have been there a number of years, I'm sure next time we're going to get in."

Some Russian lawmakers interviewed by Russian media blamed the unexpected ouster on the United States and its allies in Europe, saying they worked behind the scenes to deal a diplomatic blow to Moscow as part of a campaign to punish Russia for its actions in Syria and Ukraine.

While U.S. officials have not claimed responsibility for the move, they privately told reporters they were pleased at the message it sent to Moscow.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry thanked UN members for including the United States among the 14 countries elected to the council, and said: "As with all fora, the Human Rights Council is only as strong as its members."

More than 80 human rights groups had made no secret that they were targeting Russia, and expressed satisfaction with the vote.

"UN member states have sent a strong message to the Kremlin about its support for a regime that has perpetrated so much atrocity in Syria," said Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch.

Despite also being targeted by human rights groups for an ouster like Russia, Saudi Arabia won reelection to the council. China, Cuba, and Egypt -- three other countries often cited for having dubious rights records -- also won seats.

"The non-election of Russia shows that the nations of the world can reject gross abusers if they so choose. This makes the election of Saudi Arabia, China, and Cuba even more preposterous," said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer.

With reporting by AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa, and TASS
Tajikistan has officially started the construction of the Rogun Dam, a massive project that, if completed, would be the world's tallest and should give the Central Asian nation a stable energy supply.



Italian construction conglomerate Salini Impregilo won a $3.9 billion contract to build the structure, whose opening ceremony on October 29 was attended by President Emomali Rahmon.



At this inaugural event, explosions were used to block the main riverbed of the Vakhsh River, marking the first substantial step toward building the dam.



The Rogun plant is slated to start generating power by late 2018.



The ceremony came a day after a malfunction at Tajikistan's biggest hydro-power plant caused a nearly three-hour blackout across the country.



Tajikistan, one of the poorest former Soviet republics, is heavily dependent on hydroelectric power and regularly experiences electricity outages.



Authorities say the Rogun Dam will be able to provide electricity for the whole country. They say the dam could also provide parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan with cheap electricity.



Uzbekistan has voiced concern that the dam in Southern Tajikistan will reduce water flows to its cotton fields..

With reporting by Tohir Safarov


WASHINGTON -- It was a bare-knuckle U.S. presidential campaign featuring allegations of nefarious dealings with a Russian autocrat and claims that Washington elites conspired to keep an antiestablishment candidate out of the White House.



Hillary Clinton versus Donald Trump in 2016? Try the 1828 election pitting incumbent John Quincy Adams, whose was accused of prostituting his chambermaid to Russia's Tsar Alexander I in exchange for political favors, against Andrew Jackson, whose supporters claimed he was robbed of the presidency by a "corrupt bargain" four years earlier.



Mudslinging, of course, has been a part of American presidential elections for more than 200 years. In the 1800 election, after all, a newspaper opposing Thomas Jefferson warned that "murder, robbery, rape, adultery, and incest will all be openly taught and practiced" if he were elected.



But with the confluence of invective, allegations of past sexual misconduct, and visceral disdain between the two candidates, several historians say the current campaign, between Clinton, a former senator and secretary of state, and wealthy businessman Trump, has reached new lows in terms of placing character attacks ahead of issues.



"There's no question that this is the dirtiest race we've seen in modern American history. You'd have to go back to earlier times in our history to find a race quite like this," Allan Lichtman, a professor of political history at American University who has correctly predicted the winner of the popular vote in every U.S. presidential election since 1984, told RFE/RL.



The perception of the campaign as a race toward the gutter is due largely to Trump and his raucous and rapid political rise, according to presidential historians interviewed by RFE/RL.



A brash real-estate developer and former reality-TV star who has never held elected office, Trump has embraced trash-talking and shunned political decorum like no other U.S. presidential candidate in modern history.



In addition to the personal insults he has hurled at Clinton, journalists, and an array of critics, Trump has threatened to jail his Democratic rival if he is elected and refused to say he would recognize the outcome as legitimate if he loses.



"I've never seen a candidate in my lifetime who was as vulgar, as abrasive, as crude. You know, Richard Nixon was pretty bad, but these were on tapes that were hidden that were not part of the public conversation," said Robert Dallek, a U.S. presidential historian and author of an acclaimed biography of President John F. Kennedy.

'Most Depressing Election'

This style has arguably burnished his reputation as an outsider capable of upending politics-as-usual in Washington. In a New York Times/CBS poll in September, 48 percent of respondents said that Trump could "bring about real change in the way things are done in Washington," compared to 36 percent for Clinton, a former first lady, U.S. senator, and secretary of state.

Clinton is no stranger to rough-and-tumble politics, and operatives working for her campaign were recently caught discussing how to stir up violence and mayhem at Trump rallies by using undercover provocateurs.



And while she has repeatedly sought to portray herself as above the melee in the mud, her campaign has repeatedly seized on fodder provided by Trump in its effort to paint him as unfit for the highest office in the land -- most notably a leaked 2005 video in which Trump is heard making lewd comments about women suggesting predatory behavior, and a series of accusations by women who say the Republican nominee sexually assaulted them.

WATCH: Trump And Clinton Spar On The Campaign Trail

While important issues such as immigration, tax policy, and national security have not been entirely absent from the campaign, the battle for the White House between Clinton and Trump has for a potentially crucial segment of voters turned into a referendum on the candidates' respective characters.



"It's one of the most bitterly fought and, I would say, in terms of addressing the issues that face this country, it's one of the most depressing elections in my lifetime and maybe in the whole history of the two centuries of this republic," says David Kennedy, a Pulitzer Prize-winning professor of U.S. history at Stanford University.



'No Regard' For Normal Conventions



David Greenberg, a professor of history, journalism, and media studies at Rutgers University, disagreed with assertions that issues have taken a backseat to mudslinging in the run-up to the November 8 election. Trump, he said, is an "issue-driven" candidate, with his hard-line stance on immigration and promise to build "a great wall on the southern border" at the forefront.



He drew comparisons with the election in 1800, when supporters of Jefferson accused his opponent, John Adams, of having a "hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman."



Adams' backers, meanwhile, responded with a racially charged leaflet describing Jefferson as "a mean-spirited, low-lived fellow, the son of a half-breed Indian squaw, sired by a Virginia mulatto father."



"In 1800, there were real issues at stake underneath the rhetoric, and it was kind of not hard to see that even though it took a personal form, Americans were arguing about questions like what kind of an economy they wanted, what kind of national government and freedoms versus central planning they wanted, [and] major issues in foreign policy," Greenberg told RFE/RL.



He said the malicious tone openly embraced by Trump personally is merely an "intensification of this negativity" that has long pulsated through U.S. presidential elections.



"[Trump] has taken the rhetoric and the posture of being an outsider coming to blow up the Washington establishment to such an extreme -- and he's embodied that in such an extreme way -- that he has shown kind of no regard at all for the normal conventions of politics," Greenberg said.



"It's rare for the candidate himself to be so unconcerned with being statesmanlike," he added.



'Nasty Woman' And Kremlin 'Puppet'



Clinton has launched fierce broadsides at Trump throughout the campaign as well, of course, perhaps most relentlessly concerning his treatment of women following the leaked audio featuring his lewd comments and the accusations of sexual assault, which Trump vehemently denies.



This line of attack, said Dallek, was likely "irresistible" to Clinton, a political veteran who over the past three decades has survived myriad political and sex scandals involving her husband, former President Bill Clinton, before becoming the first female candidate for a major party in a U.S. presidential election.



Clinton has also hammered Trump over the cyberattacks and e-mail leaks targeting the Democratic National Committee and prominent current and former American political figures that have embarrassed her party and which Washington has officially accused the Russian government of orchestrating.



In their third and final debate, Clinton accused Russian President Vladimir Putin himself of ordering the cyberattacks in order to help Trump, who has spoken favorably of the Russian leader and voiced a desire to ease battered bilateral ties with Moscow. Both Trump and the Kremlin have called accusations of a Russian cyberoperation to ensure his election absurd.



Compared to their previous two debates, the October 19 showdown was a more issue-focused affair. But the sniping and acrimonious rhetoric nonetheless surfaced throughout, with Trump at one point muttering into the microphone that Clinton is a "nasty woman."



Clinton, meanwhile, suggested Putin sees Trump as a potential Russian "puppet" in the White House, to which Trump immediately fired back: "You're the puppet!"
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A Henrico County woman who allegedly killed her former lesbian partner in the victims town house walked into Richmond polices 1st Precinct after the slaying and confessed she had killed her girlfriend, court papers say.

Soon after, Richmond police called Henrico police to advise they had a woman in custody  identified as Sheena Yolanda Wilson, 33  who was later charged with murder in Thursdays fatal stabbing of Ava Latae Tucker, 26. Wilson was covered in blood when she surrendered, Richmond police said.

After Henrico police were alerted, Henrico Sgt. K.L. Motley was assigned to check on Tuckers welfare and when he responded to the womans address in the 800 block of Pleasant Street, he found her town home locked. The officer forced his way inside and found blood throughout the apartment, according to an affidavit for warrant to search the premises.

Motley then located a woman dead upstairs with obvious signs of trauma, the affidavit says.

During a search of the town home, investigators recovered a knife with red stains inside a sheath, according to an inventory of items seized.

Police also recovered multiple swabs of red stains, a piece of fabric, a cellphone and power cord, assorted clothing with red stains, a plant grinder and two baggies and a pill bottle with suspected marijuana, the search warrant says.

Henrico police spokesman Lt. Chris Garrett said Wilson also lived in the 800 block of Pleasant Street, but he declined to say whether she was living in the same town house with Tucker.

Wilson, who is charged with second-degree murder, made a brief appearance Friday in Henrico Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court via video hookup from the county jail. A judge appointed Wilson an attorney and scheduled a Jan. 20 preliminary hearing date. She is being held without bond.
Paul Krugman

Nobel Memorial Prize-winning economist and New York Times op-ed columnist Paul Krugman slammed the FBI's "disgraceful" announcement Friday that it will reopen its investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of state.

"It's bad enough having the media do the 'raises questions,' substance-free innuendo thing. Worse when the FBI director does it. Disgraceful," Krugman, a Clinton supporter, wrote on Twitter.

"Comey needs to provide full info immediately. Otherwise he has clearly made a partisan intervention, betraying his office."

James Comey, the FBI director, wrote in a letter to congressional leaders on Friday that investigators had learned of "the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation" that compelled agents to continue their probe, which had ended in July with no charges recommended against Clinton.

"The FBI cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be significant," Comey wrote. "And I cannot predict how long it will take us to complete this additional work."

Krugman condemned how Comey handled the entire ordeal, calling his behavior "inexcusable" and "grotesque."

He added that "so far this is a story about Comey and his behavior. We know nothing at all about what if anything this has to do with HRC."

View some of his tweets:

Comey probably not trying to elect Trump. But is he trying to help R senators? If he just leaves this hanging, that will be best guess  Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) October 28, 2016

If we don't hear more from Comey, we just have to conclude that he was trying to swing election. And *that* should be the story.  Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) October 28, 2016

Journalist Twitter is full of shock at FBI behavior here. That same shock should make it into news reports; not doing so misleads public  Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) October 28, 2016

No, Comey needs to realize that he can't be cute. This is the second time he has put a finger on the scales without charges. Not OK. https://t.co/qLjPZqE0dA  Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) October 28, 2016

"The announcement has done measurable damage to the Clinton campaign," Krugman continued. "Which was predictable. Comey behavior inexcusable. If Pete Williams is right, this is probably nothing important. Yet here we are, with a potentially huge political impact. The bed has been fouled, and can't be un-fouled."

Story continues

NBC's Williams had reported earlier that none of the new emails had been found on Clinton's private server.

So does it even have anything to do with HRC? Will we even find out before 11/8? But all the public hears is "emails/Clinton/FBI" Grotesque. https://t.co/uxnUDkmNTT  Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) October 28, 2016

So this may be a nothing burger -- that could swing the election, for the Senate if not the WH. Great work, FBI. https://t.co/9j8AAE96qC  Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) October 28, 2016

Krugman was not alone. Many quickly condemned the FBI's handling of the announcement that it would reopen the investigation.

"I have zero faith that anyone will handle this responsibly," former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau wrote. "It's insane. [Comey] at least owes the country a press briefing  anything more than a vague letter."

"Director Comey should give a more complete explanation. Is this reviewing newly found emails? Is this reopening? Too much at stake," wrote John Weaver, the former campaign strategist for Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

Democratic National Committee Interim Chair Donna Brazile called Comey's letter "irresponsible."

"The FBI has a solemn obligation to remain neutral in political matters  even the faintest appearance of using the agencys power to influence our election is deeply troubling," she wrote in a statement.

Comey explained why he sent the letter to Congressional leaders in a separate letter to his employees on Friday, acknowleding that "in a brief letter and in the middle of an election season, there is significant risk of being misunderstood."

"We dont ordinarily tell Congress about ongoing investigations, but here I feel an obligation to do so given that I testified repeatedly in recent months that our investigation was completed," Comey wrote. "I also think it would be misleading to the American people were we not to supplement the record."

Reports emerged later on Friday that the new emails, numbering in the thousands, were uncovered after the FBI seized devices belonging to top Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her estranged husband, Anthony Weiner. Prosecutors issued a subpoena for Weiner's cellphone and other records in late September amid allegations that he had been sexting with a 15-year-old girl.

In a press conference on Friday evening, Clinton implored the FBI to release more information about the newly discovered documents.

The American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately," she said.

NOW WATCH: The FBI is back on the Clinton email scandal because of Anthony Weiner





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Donald Trump and his surrogates have recently pointed out that the national voter registration rolls include the names of 1.8 million dead people. This ominous observation is accompanied by an insinuation that busloads of the dead will be showing up on Election Day to cast ballots for Hillary. The election will be rigged, and rigged by those in rigor mortis.

In this certifiably crazy election cycle we are now talking about how the no longer living might vote. Even if you cant stand either candidate or stomach much more of this campaign, it might be fun to think about the dead vote.

Years ago, when I lived in Illinois, I wrote a parody of a political science project on the dead voters in Mayor Daleys Chicago. My fictional researchers said that commentators were premature when they assumed that the dead vote was evidence of corruption. Before social scientists could reach that conclusion they would need empirical data. Someone would have to contact the dead and ask them why they voted for the Democratic ticket and that would require sophisticated seance survey techniques.

My fictitious researchers concluded that the dead have many reasons to vote for Democratic candidates. The seance survey subjects complained that they are a disenfranchised group  the real silent majority  forced to reside in segregated and overcrowded conditions outside the center of the city.

They suffer discrimination. Most of the dead are unemployed; only a few collect Social Security. They get very little respect. It has to hurt when people compare you to a doornail.

And then there are the subtle forms of discrimination. Sure, some of your best friends are deceased, but would you let your son or daughter marry one of them?

My invented political scientists were not really surprised that the dead were inclined to vote for the party that traditionally helps the downtrodden and the disadvantaged. They observed that only the dead are actually able to endure presidential debates from beginning to end. I concluded my parody with the observation that the small number of dead voters in Chicago was probably the vanguard of what would someday become the nations largest underground movement.

***

Yes, it is easy to make jokes about the dead vote.

But Trump and his cohort are not joking. They are literally saying that the election will be illegitimate, stolen, and the product of fraud because the other side will bring out their dead.

Is it true that voter rolls often have the names of people who are no longer alive or no longer living at a listed address? Of course it is. Keeping the rolls up to date is a difficult and often underfunded task all across the country. In a large, diverse and dynamic nation voter registration rolls will never be perfect.

Are there isolated counties, or precincts, or periods in American history when corrupt officials have used errors in voter registration to cast illicit votes? Of course there are. In close elections, or in jurisdictions where political machines control entire communities, those illicit votes have made a difference.

But it is a long way  a very long way  from those observations to the accusation that the forthcoming presidential election will be decided by zombie voters. We are protected in this country by federalism that divides our voting laws into 50 different systems, and then divides them further by empowering local officials to supervise election procedures. There are so many levels of government involved in American voting that the national manipulation of election results is nearly impossible.

Actual scholars (not the comic kind I invented for my parody) have conducted serious studies of voter fraud and repeatedly concluded that proven cases of fraudulent in-person voting are exceedingly rare. It happens, but in numbers so small that it could never tilt the outcome of a national election unless that election  like the one in Florida in 2000  was decided by a razor-thin margin. And in those rare cases, where the result is essentially a tie, every conceivable error in voting procedures, intentional or accidental, matters in determining the outcome.

So, when Trump or his supporters rattle off the number of deceased persons on voter registration rolls, are they giving us an accurate number? Yes, they are. When they imply that imperfect registration rolls will mean that the election cant be legitimate, are they pointing to a real problem? No, they are not.

The thing you need to know about the dead people whose names are still on voter registration rolls is that they very rarely vote. And there is a reason why they very rarely vote. Theyre dead.
You may have heard  how could you not?  that pop star Justin Timberlake snapped a ballot selfie while voting in Tennessee on Monday and posted it online.

Hey! You! Yeah, You! I just flew from LA to Memphis to #rock the vote!!! No excuses, my good people! There could be early voting in your town too, Timberlake, 35, wrote to his 37 million Instagram followers. Thats right  37 million.

Timberlakes selfie didnt show how he voted, but Hes with Her. He was host of a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton in August.

He rocked the vote all right. His selfie was seen round the world, and it could have landed him in jail. In Tennessee, its against state law to use a mobile device to take photos or videos in a polling place.

Fortunately, the sensible district attorney in Memphis issued a statement saying: No one in our office is currently investigating this matter nor will we be using our limited resources to do to so.

In the universe of potential problems at the polling places, ballot selfies are minor irritants, indeed. Theyre innocuous and fun, the latest manifestation of the urge to share all on social media, and they encourage people to get out and vote. What could go wrong?

More than you might think.

We didnt always have a secret ballot and, until the late 1880s and early 1890s, American elections were rife with corruption.

Party bosses and local officials provided ballots with only some candidates names, helped voters mark their ballots and gave voters a corn kernel or button, proving they voted right. The voter could exchange the token later for money.

As states adopted the secret  or Australian  ballot, named for where it originated, in the late 19th century there was less opportunity for vote buying and coercion. You could say how you voted, but no one knew for sure.

To continue ensuring a secret ballot in the 21st century, some states have passed laws banning ballot selfies.

Its illegal in 16 states to take pictures of ballots at polling places, legal to do so in 21 states and the District of Columbia, and legally unclear in the rest, the Associated Press reported. The situation in the states is fluid, however.

In Virginia, for example, it was illegal in previous elections to take pictures of ones ballot but will be OK this time, Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring said last month. You can also use your phone to look up information, but not to call someone.

In much of the Deep South, including Alabama and North Carolina, its illegal to take pictures of ballots or in polling places. Texas and California are among states where its unclear, according to the AP.

The American Civil Liberties Union and other free speech advocates have fought state laws prohibiting ballot selfies with some success. A federal appeals court ruled in August that New Hampshires ban on ballot selfies unconstitutionally limited the right of free speech.

A federal district court granted a preliminary injunction Oct. 24 against Michigans ban on selfies, so voters can snap away Nov. 8. With so many different laws, the issue likely will be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

But critics like law professor Rick Hasen of the University of California-Irvine, author of the Election Law Blog, warn that ballot selfies could bring a return of buying and selling votes and of coercion from employers, unions and others.

While vote-buying cases do pop up from time to time, no corroborating evidence of vote buying or voter coercion from the 20th or 21st centuries was presented in the New Hampshire case, the appellate court said.

Quoting from a 1957 U.S. Supreme Court opinion by Justice Felix Frankfurter, the appeals court wrote that prohibiting ballot selfies was like burning  the house to roast the pig.

Technology undeniably has changed how we communicate, and we must protect our right to self-expression. But nobody wants to make it easier for someone to intimidate, coerce or buy voters.

Its dismaying that the ubiquitous selfie might turn back the clock and undermine our shaky confidence in honest elections. Too many people are already trying to do that.
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
CHARLOTTESVILLE  Attorneys for University of Virginia administrator Nicole Eramo have rested their case against Rolling Stone, whose publisher said Friday that he does not stand by the magazines retraction of the article that instigated a $7.5 million lawsuit.

It was a long day in Charlottesvilles federal court on Friday as

Eramos attorneys finished presenting their evidence in the defamation lawsuit filed against Rolling Stone, publisher Wenner Media and author Sabrina Rubin Erdely, who penned the now-retracted A Rape on Campus.

At the center of the article was the story of Jackie, a then-student who claimed she was gang-raped at a fraternity house during her freshman year at UVa. When Jackies claims were debunked by media outlets and an investigation by Charlottesville police, the magazine issued several apologies before officially retracting the article in April 2015.

In the final hours of Fridays proceedings,Rolling Stones counsel asked Judge Glen Conrad to dismiss the case, arguing that Eramo had failed to prove several key components of her defamation claim. While Conrad agreed to toss one line of the suit, the rest is set to move forward on Monday.

Hours earlier, a 10-person jury heard the taped deposition video of Jann Wenner, the co-founder and publisher of Rolling Stone. The magazine mogul echoed the sentiments of several others from Rolling Stone: While Jackie was not credible, the fundamentals of the story still hold water.

While this argument has been key to Rolling Stones defense, Wenner took it on with near-defiance to some of Eramos counsels questioning, going as far as saying that 70 to 80 percent of Erdelys article was still valid.

When asked specifically about the retraction of the article, Wenner made a somewhat shocking departure from the statements of others at Rolling Stone.

We have never retracted the article and dont intend to, Wenner said.

Asked about the Dec. 5, 2014, editors note appended to the top of the article, in which Rolling Stone said it had lost faith in Jackies story, Wenner stated it was a full retraction of our support of all of Jackies stuff.

In the video, Eramos counsel then asked Wenner to read the note at the top of Rolling Stones April 2015 retraction, laughing as he realized it was contradictory to what he had just said. He went on to say that the retraction, penned by then-managing editor Will Dana, was inaccurate and that he did not stand by it.

The questioning eventually turned to the apologies the magazine had issued in the wake of its article, during which time Wenner, like others from Rolling Stone in their own testimonies, was asked if Eramo had been personally damaged by the discredited piece. Like the others, Wenner said he believed that Eramo was among the UVa administrators referenced in one of the apologies.

Asked if Eramo specifically had been damaged, Wenner said he did not know but asked if he could apologize personally to Eramo, who was in the room. He then did so, stating, believe me, Ive suffered as much as you have.

He then spoke at length about the state of affairs at Rolling Stone after the article was discredited, calling it a traumatic thing for us to deal with, and saying that although he had told The New York Times that Erdely would remain under contract with the magazine, he later terminated that contract.

Shes a long-time employee, very valuable to us, Wenner said, adding that she had a track record of good work, but for one mistake. Her being let go, he said, was part of a recovery process.

He then spoke about Dana being let go in July 2015, saying that the then-managing editor had fallen into a funk after the retraction from which he did not recover.

I cannot run the company with devastated, traumatized people, Wenner said.

Friday also featured the deposition video of Pat Lampkin, a UVa administrator who was in the conversation surrounding Erdelys request to interview Eramo for her then-impending piece. Asked why Erdelys scheduled interview with Eramo was eventually rerouted to UVa President Teresa A. Sullivan for comments, Lampkin simply responded, We thought that was adequate.

We didnt think we needed to provide anyone else, Lampkin said. We thought giving the president was giving the universitys perspective.

Dana also provided a video deposition during Fridays proceedings, but, as expected, he echoed the sentiments of Erdely and deputy managing editor Sean Woods, each of whom testified earlier in the trial. Dana said he too believed in Jackies claims because she had agreed to use her real first name, and because false rape allegations are so statistically rare; for Dana, it was hard to imagine that someone would put themselves out there with so much to lose.

He added, having worked with them for a long time, that he had full faith in the judgment of Erdely and others working on the story.

I did not question a lot of the decisions they were making, Dana said. My faith always was that these guys had it.

He still took full responsibility for what happened, saying that he and his team should have worked harder to ferret out [Jackies] fabrications. Had they done so, they could have protected her from herself.

Dana said that while he had been let go from Rolling Stone, he had no hesitation in agreeing to testify in the case, regardless of the cooperation provision that he signed on his way out. Asked if hed also signed a non-disparage provision, Dana again said yes.

After Eramos counsel completed the presentation of their evidence, Rolling Stone moved to have the case dismissed on a variety of grounds; namely, they alleged that Eramo had not proven her case to the requisite standard of proof and that she had not shown evidence that Erdely and the magazine published the article while knowing that Jackies claims were false  a standard known in this case as actual malice.

After hours of battling out their points, Conrad eventually agreed to dismiss one statement from the lawsuit. In Erdelys piece, she wrote that experts agreed that the university should have notified or started an investigation into the allegations, as explained by Rolling Stone attorney Liz McNamara after Fridays hearing.

Eramo had argued that the statement was one of several in the piece that were defamatory. Conversely, McNamara said Friday that the statement was the overarching thesis of case.

The rest will now go before a jury, which will reconvene Monday morning.
Although have been reacting to Fed rate hike expectations with the release of each economic evidence, chances are high that the FOMC stands pat in the November meeting for reasons more than one.

CLICK HERE for a PREVIEW of next week's ECONOMIC EVENTS

2016 being the election year and the 2-day November meeting coming in ahead of the November 8 elections, the central bank might prefer the change of guard at the helm to be complete. Some even suggest any drastic move immediately after the elections is unlikely, as the central bank drafts policy moves with the medium term in mind and therefore would prefer the dust to settle down on the elections before any policy maneuver.

Another reason could be the lack of the Chair's press briefing in November, which is used as a platform to substantiate the Fed's rationale for a particular policy action.

Review of Week Ended October 27

Economic data released during the just concluded week may have been far from convincing concerning a sustained, steady and strong recovery. Preliminary goods trade data showing a narrower deficit for September and an increase in core capital goods shipments bode well for the third quarter GDP data. However, the durable goods orders report did reveal weakness going forward, given weak core capital good orders.

Private sector activity readings from Markit were buoyant and jobless claims unexpectedly fell. The housing market readings of the week, namely new home sales and pending home sales, were strong. That said, consumer confidence data was found wanting.

After the mixed week, investors brace for another week of hectic activity on Main Street. Here is the cheat sheet of the unfolding week's key economic data

CLICK HERE for a PREVIEW of next week's ECONOMIC EVENTS

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Economic News

What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more.
The European Union and Canada leaders will sign a crucial trade deal that took years of negotiations to finalize, at a summit in Brussels on October 30, the European Commission said Saturday.

The trade agreement known as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is expected to strengthen ties between the EU and Canada by creating jobs and growth through boosting trade and economic relations.

The European Commission described CETA as "the most far reaching agreement ever concluded by the EU in the area of services and investment".

Several deadlines for signing the landmark deal, which took nearly seven years of negotiations, passed as the EU failed to reach a consensus among its member countries.

The latest opposition to the pact had come from Belgium, where Wallonia and other French-speaking communities blocked the pact over concerns that it could damage local interests, leading to last-minute talks by Belgian lawmakers.

The EU required endorsement from all of its 28 member countries to sign CETA. As approval by the Belgium parliament was pending, a signing summit planned for October 27 had to be called off.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to attend the summit on Sunday.

CETA will remove over 99 percent of trade tariffs between the EU and Canada and increase bilateral trade by EUR 12 billion per year, the European Commission said in a statement.

On the first day of its implementation, Canada will eliminate duties worth EUR 400 million for goods originating in the EU the figure will rise to more than EUR 500 million a year once all trade tariffs are phased out.

Further, the trade deal will not affect governments' powers to regulate in the public interest, especially with regard to environmental and social standards, meaning EU food safety regulations, including those on genetically-modified products or the ban on hormone-treated beef will continue.

Both parties will also sign the Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) during the October 30 summit that deepens bilateral cooperation on foreign policy.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Economic News

What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more.
Hillary Clinton

Wildly conflicting reports have emerged over the last 24 hours about what new information the FBI may have found, after the agency announced that it was revisiting the investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server upon finding new emails amid an investigation into former Rep. Anthony Weiner.

There's no clear consensus as of yet whether the emails were sent by Clinton herself, to Clinton, whether they were from her private server, or even whether any of the emails were new.

Here's a breakdown of what has been reported thus far:

Los Angeles Times: "The emails were not to or from Clinton, and contained information that appeared to be more of what agents had already uncovered, the official said, but in an abundance of caution, they felt they needed to further scrutinize them."

The Washington Post: "The correspondence included emails between Abedin and Clinton, according to a law enforcement official."

CNN: "The emails in question were sent or received by Abedin, according to a law enforcement official."

The New York Times: "Senior law enforcement officials said that it was unclear if any of the emails were from Mrs. Clintons private server."

ABC News: "These emails were not sent by Hillary Clinton, and the FBI has no evidence of wrongdoing by her, according to a source familiar with the investigation."

The Wall Street Journal: "Many of the emails were discovered on a laptop used by both Ms. Abedin and Mr. Weiner, according to people familiar with the matter. In searching the laptop, investigators found thousands of emails, and they determined earlier this week that some of the emails involved Ms. Abedin discussing work issues."

FBI director James Comey said in a letter to Congress that he could "not yet assess whether or not this material may be significant."

However, he said he agreed with his investigative team's recommendation that the case be revisited to determine whether any of the emails discovered contained classified information. In a subsequent letter to employees, Comey explained that he wanted to clarify previous testimony to Congress that the investigation had concluded.

Story continues

Election Day is in 10 days.

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By SA Commercial Prop News - Jones Lang LaSalle

Jones Lang LaSalle reports that retail real estate investment remained strong throughout the summer, despite the volatile European recovery and economic headwinds that continued to face the sector.

Direct investment in retail real estate in Europe during the third quarter of 2011 reached 6.7 billion, up from 4.9 billion in Q2 2011 and significantly up on the 3.8 billion transacted in Q3 2010. Total investment volumes for the year to date now stand at 20.4 billion, up by 45% over the same period last year, almost on a par with total 2010 volumes and far exceeding full year volumes of 12.3 billion in 2009.

Appetite for retail remained strong, accounting for 30% of all commercial real estate transactions in Q3. Shopping centers remain dominant within the sector, accounting for 66% of total retail investment volumes.

The majority of investment activity remained focused in the UK and Germany, accounting for 50% of total volumes over the quarter. Transaction volumes in the Czech Republic totaled 603 million, boosted by the largest transaction of the quarter, Meyer Bergman and Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plans purchase of Forum Nova Karolina in Ostrava and Forum Usti Nad Labem for 300 million from Multi Development.

Poland, one of the growth markets of last quarter, continued to see healthy transaction volumes in Q3 (510.5 million), boosted by the 237.5-million purchase of a 50% interest in Galeria Mokotow in Warsaw by Unibail-Rodamco and Blackstones purchase of Magnolia Park in Wroclaw for 222.5 million.

Combined, Poland and the Czech Republic represent Central and Eastern Europe's retail investment powerhouses with combined investment volumes of 1.7 billion in the year to date, up significantly on full year volumes of 1.4 billion and 323 million for 2010 and 2009 respectively.

James Brown, Head of EMEA Retail Research commented, Looking forward to 2012, the economy and the retail industry in particular, are facing significant headwinds across Europe. Caution will remain at the forefront of consumer, retailer and real estate investor minds going forward into next year.

"Prospects vary greatly across Europe at both country and city level. The multi speed recovery applies as much to cities as countries, and in some instances the outlook at country level masks the extent of out-performance within some major European cities.

Jeremy Eddy, Head of EMEA Retail Capital Markets adds, There is a danger that investors are becoming too generic and not looking at asset fundamentals but discounting opportunities due to macro concerns at country level. We believe that attractive opportunities still exist, even in the troubled southern European economies; each opportunity, however, needs to be assessed on a micro level, based upon the specific attributes of the asset.

Jeremy Eddy, continues, Whilst the European recovery remains extremely volatile the demand for prime retail assets remains strong. The depth of equity which we are currently witnessing in our sales processes highlights the continued demand for core product and the lack of reliance upon the debt markets, which clearly remain challenging.

"We expect demand for prime retail to remain relatively strong during Q4 and forecast an outturn for 2011 to exceed 28 billion, up by at least 35% on last year and significantly above 2009 (12.3 billion)."
Salesforce (CRM) CEO Marc Benioff is bullish on philanthropy. His companys foundation co-founded the Pledge 1% in December 2014. The NGO encourages companies to pledge 1% of employee time, equity, product or profit to improve communities around the world.

Benioff is well-known as a philanthropist with his personal wealth as well: he and his wife have signed the Giving Pledge, an effort started by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett to get the extremely wealthy to give away more than half of their wealth during their lifetime or in their wills.

During Benioffs keynote address at the 2016 Intel Capital Global Summit in San Diego this week, he was asked about how hes able to attract millennials, especially given the competition from sexy-sounding startups. The millennial generation, though often stereotyped as entitled and selfie-obsessed, is actually quite generous  85% gave charitably in 2014 and 70% volunteered their time in 2014, according to the National Philanthropic Trust.

Benioff said young professionals find Salesforce an appealing place to work precisely because philanthropy is baked into the companys culture. He said that hes not only driven to provide efficient, consumer-focused technology but hes also trying to have a big impact on the world and the way that other companies are doing business.

In fact, over 1,000 companies including Yelp (YELP), Twilio (TWLO), Docusign, Harrys, and Yahoo Finance parent company Yahoo (YHOO), have decided to join the pledge.

The chief executive of Pledge 1%, Amy Lesnick, describes this initiative as early-stage philanthropy  that companies of any size and across all industries can use their platform to make the world a better place.

Millennials want to come in and know that your company is just not about selling product and making product and creating product. They want to know that your company is going to do something for others, Benioff said.

He said Salesforces emphasis on giving back to the community doesnt impede its ability to prosper.

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Thats our message at Salesforce: yes, were going to be successful, yes were going to innovate, create, and were going to have great customer relationships, he said. But lets just make sure that we keep in our minds that were going to do something for other people as well.

Melody Hahm is a writer at Yahoo Finance, covering entrepreneurship, technology and real estate. Follow her on Twitter @melodyhahm.

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By SA Commercial Prop News

Private equity real estate funds face a challenging fundraising landscape in 2012 as investors grow more cautious about coughing up fresh capital amid growing global economic uncertainty, Preqin said on Thursday.

The research firm's December survey of 180 institutional investors from North America, Europe and Asia found 53 percent do not expect to make new commitments this year, while 11 percent said they might considering doing so.

The remaining 36 percent said they did plan new property fund commitments in 2012. At present, 450 funds are in the market seeking an aggregate of $165 billion, Preqin said.

The 47 percent of respondents that said they expected to, or were considering, making new fund commitments in 2012 compares with 51 percent in a similar survey of about 100 investors taken by Preqin at the end of 2010.

"The wider economic uncertainty is a factor for a lot of these investors, and they're being overly cautious and not looking to make new commitments," Andrew Moylan, manager of Preqin's real estate data, told Reuters.

"Also, a lot of institutions have capital tied up in existing fund commitments ... there's not a slew of capital coming back that they need to reallocate," he said, adding investors would likely focus on funds with strong track records.

For 2011, Preqin said 114 funds raised $44.4 billion, down from $45.4 billion the previous year and far below 2008, when the sector pulled in $140.8 billion.

Sixty-three funds with a primary focus on the North American market raised commitments of $28.1 billion, while 26 European funds collected $8.9 billion, and 25 Asia and rest of world-focused funds garnered $7.4 billion, Preqin said.

In 2011, it took an average of 16.3 months to close a fund, against 16.1 months a year earlier. The biggest fund to close was the Lone Star Real Estate Fund II, which raised $5.5 billion.
A first-of-its-kind journey along India and Pakistan border

What binds the two most talked about nations - India and Pakistan together? What makes the
wish Peter Szulczewski

Wish, the stealthy e-commerce company that's challenging Amazon, has filed to raise a new round of funding, according to a Delaware filing posted by research firm CB Insights.

According to the Oct. 24 filing for its parent company ContextLogic, the company has authorized new shares to be sold, although the size of the round, investors, and valuation are not disclosed.

A person familiar with the round told Business Insider that's the round is almost closed and could be announced within the next few months. The capital will be going toward shortening delivery times and improving discovery on the Pinterest-like site.

The Delaware filing does include a nice deal sweetener, however.

A provision in the Delaware filing cites that investors in the current get special liquidation preferences. That means if Wish sells for less than it's valued in this round, the latest investors will get all of their investment back before any earlier investors see a penny. It basically limits the downside for this round of investors.

These types of preferences are not uncommon, but are a concession by the company  Wish wouldn't offer these terms if it didn't think it was necessary to raise these funds.

The filing also sets conditions on an IPO, saying that preferred shares held by investors only convert to common shares if the company raises at least $500 million at a $6 billion valuation.

Wish has been described as the e-commerce company Fab was supposed to be. It sells cheap but stylish products by optimizing social channels like Facebook and Instagram. The result is super cheap products, like $9 dress shirts or a $15 smartwatch, that often take weeks to deliver.

The company has reportedly previously raised close to $600 million and been valued at $3 billion or more by investors. But it hasn't gotten much press because CEO Peter Szulczewski doesn't want or need any. When we first reached out to Szulczewski, in December 2014, he wrote that he was "humbled and a bit surprised" to find himself on Business Insider's radar, since he and the company "try to keep a very low profile." Last year, Recode reported that the company was spending over $100 million on Facebook ads, making it one of the social network's largest advertising customers.

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Dear Editor,

An article on the Samoa Observer reported that an aggrieved party was appealing a case in court because the judge did not disclose that he had affiliations with one of the biggest churches in Samoa, this Church being the party that won the case.

Earlier this year the Court of Appeal accepted an appeal from an aggrieved family who was challenging the bias of one of the judges who heard their matter in the Land and Titles Court.

The background to this matter was that the aggrieved family had, after years of fighting for justice at the Land and Titles Court, finally had to bring proceedings to the Supreme Court.

After the Land and Titles Court judge had earlier declared his conflict of interest because he was related to the other party, this same judge then proceeded to hear the matter a few years after his declaration.

The aggrieved family asked for another judge but this judge continued to hear the case.

The concerning issue is that this aggrieved party had to fight the matter in Court three times (the Land and Titles Appeal Court, the Supreme Court and then Court of Appeal) for a Court of Law to finally acknowledge that there was clearly something wrong with a conflicted judge hearing and determining a matter.

It was only when the family went to the Court of Appeal of Samoa that a Court finally acknowledged that the family was right; they had a right to an independent and impartial judge.

In the dramatic saga in which key figures of the government arm of law and order are involved, a key figure in government that now holds the two roles of prosecution and defender of government is a cousin of the half sibling of a key figure in government that is prosecuted in this dramatic saga.

A judge hearing one of these prosecutions has family connections to two people who are key witnesses in support of this key Government figure being prosecuted, without seemingly having declared these family connections.

One may argue that in Samoa, everyone is related somehow and therefore necessity provides that judges must continue to sit on these hearings; otherwise the role of the judiciary will be defeated.

However Samoa is growing and so is its judiciary; that excuse has now become old and used.

There are many, many judges of the Land and Title Court, and the Supreme Court and District Court now have an unprecedented number of judges.

Surely there would be at least one judge with no close affiliations with the parties?

And people will always question the ruling of that judge and trust in the system will be no more!

Its time to stop making excuses that we are a small country, and start upholding that principles of natural justice and transparency and accountability that our small country is well known for preaching to our neighbours.

Otherwise, this Commission of Inquiry into the Lands and Titles Court, which dangerously muddles the line between the executive and the judicial arms of the State, becomes justified.

And who knows, maybe that Inquiry might even be extended to include the higher hierarchy!

Inoino i le le faia o le amiotonu.

A.P.T

Samoa
For Nora Tuliese, from the village of Tufulele-Uta, her life consists of many long walks in the sun.

Age 39, despite her village road being in a very bad state, she makes her way to the main road to pick and drop off her children to and from school every day.

The problem with living where she lives is that the buses schedule doesnt match well with the peoples schedule and taxis refuse to make the trip up to the area.

And according to Nora, those lucky enough to own a car wont be lucky for long because the cars will be ruined very fast after a few cruises along the village road.

As you can see, our road here is really bad, she said.

I am concerned with the children who have to walk back home from school. In the morning is not that bad because its not too hot but the road is an issue.

We do have a bus that comes on our road but it comes back before the children finish school. They have no other choice but to walk back home.

I have to take my children every day because I get worried. No matter how hot the sun is, I have to walk still.

With transport options being very limited, the foot-mobile is the popular choice for villagers living in the area. The only concern is the risks the children are exposed to when walking.

Thats the biggest problem with living far away from the main road, she said.

Bus schedules not matching up with the childrens schooling, and without cars we have no other choice but to walk and get hammered by the hot sun every single day.

Sometimes the children would wait around near the main road for the late bus to come in the evening; its not safe for them to wait down there so thats why I go down myself to get them.

We also need our road to be fixed because not many taxis want to drive up here because of its state.

Nora jokingly said that every car introduced to the road will end up being in the same state as the road.

The funny thing is, it doesnt matter if we get a car, she said.

With a road in this state, the car will be ruined in no time then we are right back where we left off; walking in the hot sun.

Its not easy walking this far.

Aside from transport issues, another problem is the dust from the road.

Another problem with having a road like this is the dust, Nora said.

When cars come up and down or if the wind blows then the dust goes everywhere. It ruins our washing we hang outside and it causes children walking alongside the road to inhale the dusty air from both the road and cars.

We really need to fix our roads. We have made so many requests to the government but right up till now, we dont know where our request has gone.

I am tired of signing requests and yet nothing comes. This has been our life for 10 years now.
Silivaai Luamanuvae, a faafafine from the village of Salelologa, Savaii, loves his life.

Its not without challenges but hes not complaining.

Silivaai, 36, says faafafine play an important role in the villages.

To tell you the truth, we play an important role in the life of Samoa, he told the Village Voice.

The only thing thats sad is people in Samoa are too quick to judge and slow to listen. For us, its very hard to explain ourselves and it always seems like everyone just doesnt want to listen to our side of the story.

No matter how much good we faafafines do in life, it just takes one mistake for all of it to be forgotten. No one cares how long we try and do well; they just wait for us to make a mistake.

We just let it happen because everyone is entitled to their opinions about us.

Silivaai says that one of the benefits of having faafafine around is that they can do any job asked of them.

But one Silivaai takes seriously at home is to show as much respect as possible to those he loves.

I dont know about others but for me personally, respecting those in my family is the most important thing I know, he said.

No matter what, I show respect in everything I do. Thats how I was brought up and thats what I know is right. When I am in front of my parents; I would dress respectfully and do nothing to disrespect them.

This is not just for faafafines, but whatever my parents do, I try and learn as much as I can while I have the chance. Whatever my father does I will also do and the same goes for my mother.

I can do the role of both a male and a female in the family and that is a plus for me. Thats one thing thats great about us; I can work in the plantation and also wash dishes.

Silivaai is just happy to be able to express himself freely everywhere he goes.

People are different with how they express themselves, he said.

For me, doing my hair this way and wearing what I feel like wearing brings me happiness. This is the style I am comfortable with and I dont want to change in any way.

I have grown accustomed to styling myself like this and I have no shame in it.

Silivaai shared that his family showed a lot of support for him growing up. He was free to live his life the way he wants.

As I grew up in my household, the only thing I knew was to respect others, he said.

My parents never neglected me or went against any of my choices in life. They let me live my life peacefully as a faafafine; the only person I was afraid of was my brother.

He was the only one who would force me to stop acting and dressing like a girl. Other than that, my life has been ok and free.
Sheraton hosted a networking function on Friday night to thank their business partners and members of the local community for long lasting alliances.

Guests were hosted to a spectacular dinner in style at the Sheraton Aggie Greys Hotel and Bungalows on Beach Road, Apia.

Sherrilyn Charles, Sheratons Complex Director of Sales and Marketing, said the gathering was very important to the five star hotel.

Tonight is just a business networking function, he said.

I am the director of sales and marketing here at this property, Sheraton Samoa Hotel and Bungalow. I have only arrived five weeks ago so its really important for me to get to know all the local business people.

Its also important for me to get to know all the government people. Its important for the local Samoan community for me to work very successfully with them into the future.

Ms. Charles couldnt stress enough on the importance of business partners to the hotel industry.

The business community is very important to us, she said.

To be honest its actually pivotal. As you know, this is a very iconic property especially the hotel here. There is a lot of history and cultural attachment to the locals.

So for us its important to give back to the community as well. You know that the local community is the heart of the island so we really need to get the business from them and look after them as well.

With no programme limitations, everyone enjoyed as the function went on and the wine flowed.

Tonight is very much about networking, Ms. Charles said.

I have brought all my sales here; both the sales team of the resort and the hotel. We would just really like to get to know everyone.

That is really the objective; we dont have a programme. We just want everyone to have a good evening and enjoy themselves.

Its nice for the local community to get together as well and this is a nice place to do it.

Ms. Charles concluded with a wessage of thanks to all those who stuck with Sheraton Aggie Greys throughout the years.

A very big thank you to our business partners for their support to date, she said.

We hope that we will have ongoing support from the local community. Certainly all throughout this whole time with the hotel being closed; we have had really good support.

A big thank you from all of us to you.
Members of the business community  especially in the tourism industry  have been warned about the antics of a woman convicted and sentenced to jail in New Zealand a decade ago for fraud.

The alarm bells have been rung by a local businesswoman, who contacted the Samoa Observer, wanting to alert unsuspecting members of the public.

The woman, who asked for her name to be withheld until an investigation by the Police is completed, claims that she is a victim of Tracey Anne Gordon.

I just want people to know that this woman Tracey is not who she says she is, said the businesswoman. She is very nice and a good talker but shes not who people think she is."

She is not to be believed that she has money because she passed on a forged cheque to me which the police are investigating."

I know there are several other hoteliers to whom she has not paid accommodation and she is going around to other hoteliers.

The businesswoman accused Ms. Gordon of preying on people and owing people money.

Like I said, I just want people to be warned that she is a schemer and owes money to other businesses in hotels in New Zealand.

Repeated attempts to contact Ms. Gordon for a comment were unsuccessful. An email sent to her was not responded to. She was also contacted on a phone number she had used to contact one of the businesses but there was no answer.

A message left with one of the accommodations she stayed with for a week was not responded to at press time.

But Ms. Gordon already owes some local businesses money.

The Sinalei Reef Resort is one of them. Contacted for a comment, Manager Sose Annandale confirmed Ms. Gordon owes them money for accommodation but the matter has been referred to a lawyer.

It is in the hands of the lawyer at the moment, said Ms. Annandale.

Asked how much money she owes, Ms. Annandale said: I really prefer not to disclose that. Its awkward because Samoa is a small place and everyone is related to someone.

Ms. Gordon is apparently wanted in New Zealand for leaving an Auckland hotel out of pocket after she left behind a debt of NZ$18,000.

According to a report on The NZ Herald on 3 September 2016, Ms. Gordon sentenced to jail a decade ago for fraud and has a string of ill-fated ventures behind her, including one her own lawyer described in court as "fairyland stuff".

The story says that Ms. Gordon left The Surrey Hotel in February telling staff she was going to San Francisco on business.

She stayed on and off at the hotel in Grey Lynn for more than two years and regularly paid her bills using her father's credit card.

But her father, marine explorer Keith Gordon, told the hotel they should have asked him before the credit card was used the last time, and he cancelled the payment, hotel manager Denise King told the Herald.

Tracey Gordon had grand plans, said King. She told staff that she was trading in aviation fuel and she offered a staff member a job as her personal chef on a yacht she planned to buy.

"She was going to buy an apartment at the Stamford [Hotel], another in Sydney. The apartments were worth millions and she would have the brochures to back her up." King said she never saw evidence of the purchases or big business deals being concluded.

Gordon, 49, was sentenced to jail a decade ago after admitting eight charges of fraud. A Herald report about the case described her as petite, smartly-dressed, a forger and a thief with a penchant for Hilton hotels.

King said she wrongly assumed Gordon's father would pay his daughter's last bill because he always had previously.

"This time, he said, 'you should have called me,'" said King. "It's almost like he'd had enough of her."

The police have told King it is a civil matter. "It's a very bitter pill to try to have to swallow."

"We feel we have been 100 per cent ripped off. Her father is not part of it in any way but he could have warned us that he was no longer going to pay her bills."

Keith Gordon did not return the Herald's call.

The Herald has seen an email trail in which Tracey Gordon acknowledged the hotel debt and claimed payment had been delayed by a stroke she had suffered. In a later email she said it was further delayed by a typhoon that had interrupted her travel.

King had heard nothing from Gordon since August 5 until the Herald contacted Gordon this week.

Gordon told the Herald in an email Thursday that the bill would be paid "in full in the next two days". She claimed the delay in paying the six-month-old bill was due to verification of some charges, "which is why my dad had to contact Amex to withhold the payment".

King said the content of the bill had not previously been questioned. Regarding the latest promise of payment, King said, "I'll believe it when I see it."

Tracey Gordon was convicted in January 2006 on eight charges of fraud, including using and altering documents and obtaining $128,000 by deception from 2001 to 2004.

The Auckland District Court officially confirmed her sentence included a reparation order and jail.

Her lawyer told the court in 2005 that Gordon had "difficult personal characteristics", was gullible rather than devious and her frauds were unsophisticated.

Those left out of pocket back then painted a picture of a fabulist. "I don't think your average human being could think up the stories and the tales and make them sound as plausible as she does," one said.

Her frauds stretched across three continents. Those stung included family, former friends and men met in bars. She claimed to be an investment banker, to have an in on high-yield low-risk deals and she liked to stay at five star hotels at the expense of others.

"She'd say she needed some cash to pay her hotel and that she was waiting for some funds to transfer, or her father's credit card, or she couldn't get hold of her father, so I would give her some money," American Chris Oliver said at the time. He claimed to have lost $117,000 but charges against her that involved him were dropped after Gordon revealed in court they had been in a relationship.

Ten years later, she had some interesting yarns to tell those who cared to listen at The Surrey Hotel.

And then Gordon was gone.

Now it appears she has surfaced in Samoa.
The first Samoan woman to become the Vice President of the Land and Titles Court, Faamausili Tuilimu Magele Solonaima Tauiliili-Brown, is calling it a day.

The 70-year-old is retiring after 16 years of defying the odds in a position predominantly held by men. Looking back on her time, she tells the Sunday Samoan she is contented.

She is grateful to the almighty God for his guidance, provision and she is equally grateful for the support she received from her family, government, supporters and people who prayed for her.

During an interview with the Sunday Samoan, Faamausili admitted she had no plans to be a Judge.

But a personal experience with the L.T.C changed that.

The first time I sat in the L.T.C. was during the hearing of a matter concerning a matai title that was held by my uncle (in 2003), she recalled.

The verdict from the presiding Judge was we were no longer heirs of the title yet my uncle had held the title for 50 years. It (decision) broke my heart because we were defeated.

That motivated me (at 55 years old) and I said to God, I want to be a judge because I am passionate about the truth and I felt that the decision was not right.

That was the reason why when I saw the advertisement in 2004, decided I will apply for the position.

From 178 applicants, Faamausili prevailed. But she wasnt handed the role on a silver plate.

The work she did before prepared her for what was to come.

Before Faamausili moved to Samoa in 2003 to set up Lafitaga, a non government organisation social service provider in Apia, she had lived in New Zealand for 30 years.

She was the founder of the Lafitaga Organisation there which served over 170,000 Pacific people by providing counseling, motivation in schools, parenting, immigration assistance and other community work. The N.G.O. in N.Z. still exists, working with other small N.G.Os in the country.

For all that work, Faamausili was awarded the Queen Service Medal in 2001. She was also recognised as a Justice of the Peace in New Zealand.

So when she applied for the job, she had quite powerful backing with former N.Z. Prime Minister, Helen Clarke and former Minister, Lilomaiava Phil Goff, being her referees.

When her application for L.T.C was successful, Faamausili decided to close the Lafitaga organisation in Samoa. She was the second woman Judge from Leaupepe Faimaala and she was excited to work.

I truly believe in the proverb e au le inailau tamaitai (women achieve what they set out to achieve), she says with a smile.

But becoming a Judge wasnt enough, she wanted more. Her next mission was to be the first woman Vice President.

I told myself I am not here for a picnic I want to be the first woman Deputy President, said Faamausili. Apparently the men (judge) did not want a woman to be appointed to the position and I wanted to change that.

So one morning in 2008 the Chief Justice driver approached me that the C.J. wanted to talk to me. I thought to myself what have I done.

I was surprised when I got there and the C.J. told me the Judiciary has decided that I am the Deputy President. I cried and I said what about my brother Judges that came before me.

The response I got was, the appointment used to be on seniority but now its on merit.

The C.J. said to me it was my decision and all appointments are from God. I believed that it was from God and I told myself; how could I reject this honour from God.

She said the rumour mill was vicious, with some people saying the decision was biased.

I was called the space filler, she recalls. It was because when a Court didnt have enough Judges on the bench, I always volunteer to sit in so that the matter can proceed and not be delayed.

That is how I got that name but I kept in mind how costly it is for people traveling from overseas to attend a matter and how it feels when these matters are postponed again. I have been there and done that.

Its not always easy to adapt to a new working environment especially when you have lived in New Zealand for so long. Although she was Samoan, having lived in another country with people share a slightly different world view on matters is sometimes difficult.

When I came I would say to my brother judges complimenting them that they looked nice but our men are not used to it, Faamausili said with a smile.

They think that when you say those things you wanted something from them. I would buy their ties and fix their lavalava because when we sit on the bench, I want to look good and I wanted them to feel the same.

They didnt like me doing that from the beginning but in the end I guess they didnt mind. I respected them and they respected me. I wasnt doing it for anythingI wanted people to see us on the bench and be well presented with my brother Judges.

One of the highlights of her time was when she presiding over a matter between two senior Deputy Presidents. Faamausili said she would never forget that case.

I was the Deputy Judge chairing a case between two senior Deputy Presidents, she said.

So you can imagine how I felt that these were senior D.Ps and I was fairly new in the job.

I dont think that had happened before and I dont think it would happen again.

How she dealt with the matter, Faamausili said you do what is right.

I think if you can be at peace when you are asleep and God knows that you had done your utmost best with the decision you delivered, then he is pleased and I have to be bold to do that.

We cant please everyone and unfortunately not everyone can win.

Part of the L.T.C Judges work is to inspect land boundaries especially in land dispute cases.

One case Faamausili had to deal with was about land on the Manono mountains.

To me, I kept in mind one of the questions asked by C.J. during my interview. He asked me what would I do if there was an inspection on a mountain where some elderly judges cannot make it up there, she recalls.

My response was if they cannot go up there they should not make a decision. I thought of what I had said on that day when we went up the mountain. I felt my heart coming out of my chest but I made it up there and knew that whatever decision we make it would be the right one because I have seen it and I was there.

For 16 years Faamausili has been on the bench, she has enjoyed every bit of it.

I really believe it was an appointment from God, she said.

When you know it is from him, you wake up in the morning, you go to work happy and you enjoy it.

When I first went in L.T.C for my uncles case, I knew then how important this position is because it will affect those who are not born and those that have already passed away.

I think if you want a job because of something that happened to you its obvious that its important to you and you need to work hard for it.

At the age of 70, Faamausili said she is praying for Gods guidance and to give her direction to her a new adventure.

The grandmother took her love for God to her role as a Judge where she would say prayers in Court before every case.

On one occasion at the Faamasino Fesoasoani (FF) Court, she had asked the Police that she would like to say a prayer first before Court proceeds.

I have to say a prayer because I am stupid and I want God to help me with my work, she said.

First time I did that  police were silent. Third time I said a prayer there was a loud amen from police at the end of the prayer. You have to be bold and God had put me there so how can I not put him first?

I say a prayer in Court because I know that the people involved just want to hurt each other (not physically) and saying a prayer always helps to calm any tension between them.

Faamausili retired from her work two weeks ago.

Now that she is retired, she said she was asked to re-open the Lafitaga in Samoa but she is giving it some thought.

In the meantime, she wants to visit her grandchildren in New Zealand.

Married to Michael Brown, Faamausili is from the villages of Malie, Afega, Iva Savaii and Fasitoo.

She was born in Tokelau where her mother was a nurse.
Jorge Ramos has not personally experienced a lot of the crime plaguing Tijuana this year, but that doesnt mean he doesnt think about it.

The 25-year-old entrepreneur, owner of the Das Cortez coffee shop in the Hipodromo section of the city, said the safety elements of Tijuanas newest apartment building, Aguascalientes 3917, are part of the reason he decided to move there with two friends in August.

Yet, that was just one factor. The apartment building is turning heads in Tijuana because of its ultra-modern features, while looking like a mix between a Soviet-era government building, submarine and an American prison.

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Theres nothing like this in Tijuana, Ramos said Thursday.

Aguascalientes 3917 took four years to build and cost at least $3 million for 21 apartments. Rent is $1,000 a month for two-bedroom units that range from 1,593 to 1,732-square-feet, and $1,500 for three-bedrooms that range from 1,614 to 2,561-square-feet.

It was 100 percent occupied in roughly a month, said Tijuana leasing agency Probien.

Aguacaliente 3917 apartments in Tijuana. Front of apartment building. (Alejandro Tamayo / San Diego Union-Tribune )

One of its most distinctive features is red submarine-looking doors constructed on site. The massive doors for each apartment have antique-style maritime portholes to see who is knocking or ringing at the door. It also has two deadbolt locks and an additional metal bar to push into place for additional security.

The entrance to the complex is a brick and steel barrier with guards. A metal fence is raised to allow residents in. Metal spikes, an updated version of the broken glass used for security on Tijuana walls, cover the roof, walls and anywhere else crooks might find themselves. Theres also plenty of security cameras to catch any nefarious activity.

Apartment units have an industrial feel on the inside, with floors made of concrete and steel used heavily throughout.

The complex was the vision of owner Angel Fernandez, who declined to be interviewed for this article. Probien said the San Diego man is a frequent international traveler who took inspiration from various things he saw on his travels.

Every front door comes with two deadbolts, a metal bar and a porthole. (Alejandro Tamayo/The San Diego Union-Tribune )

Its hard to say exactly where he picked up his ideas, but some of the more colorful elements include barn doors leading to a toilet, exposed brick walls with steel coat racks sticking out, pipes painted bright yellow, blue and red, as well as tile covered seats in the showers.

This building is like reading a book or starting a new journey, said Edilia Pena, marketing manager at Probien.

She said 80 percent of renters at the complex are young couples without children. Some work in San Diego County, but others are business owners in Tijuana. She estimated the average age of residents at Aguascalientes 3917 to be a range of 28 to 38 years old.

Pena said the design attracts renters that are more open to new concepts, as well as added security.

Construction manger Pablo Padilla said there was roughly 60 workers on site during the busiest building times. He said the most difficult part was the construction of a nearly 50-foot retaining wall on the propertys south side that buttress homes in the Chapultepec neighborhood where the complex is located.

Two distinctive beams, with metal spikes on top, connect from the complex to the retaining wall.

Outside the apartments. (Alejandro Tamayo/The San Diego Union-Tribune )

The site had been a vacant lot for many years, Probien said.

There is limited access to data on Tijuanas average rent, but Aguascalientes 3917 is clearly high for the border town. On Craigslist, two-bedroom houses can be rented for as little as $350 a month, but they arent new construction and dont have nearly the same security features. Rents in for new condominium buildings can run as high as $1,300.

In September, the average rent in San Diego County was $1,743 a month and $2,303 a month for anything built in the last seven years, said MarketPointe Realty Advisors.

The average two-bedroom in the county was going for $1,821 a month and was 971-square-feet, nearly half the size of Aguascalientes 3917s two bedroom-units.

Probien said the property was not marketed toward Americans, although its nothing new that San Diegans often seek lower rent in Tijuana. Anyone interested in renting there might have to wait for a while  the current tenants signed 12-month leases.

Metal spikes surround the entire complex. (Alejandro Tamayo/The San Diego Union-Tribune )

phillip.molnar@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1891 Twitter: @phillipmolnar

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More than 50 people took to streets in downtown El Cajon Friday morning to raise awareness about domestic violence.

Community members carried signs that read Hands Arent For Hitting, You Deserve More and Love Shouldnt Hurt, and chanted Stop the violence, stop the hate, as they marched to Prescott Promenade in the heart of the city.

Domestic violence survivor Talia McGuire-Haywood told the crowd at the park the story of meeting her future abuser when she was 14 and getting pregnant by him at 17.

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McGuire-Haywood said she was frequently hit by the man, had a gun pointed to her head and was not allowed to work. She said she went through years of emotional, verbal, physical and financial abuse before finally finding the strength to leave him after their second child was born.

What got me out was when my 3-year-old said, Mommy, is that the way boys treat girls?  McGuire-Haywood said. That did it for me.

McGuire-Haywood, 38, said she found the outside support and help she needed once she made the decision to leave the dangerous relationship. She said she wanted people in similar situations to take advantage of those same resources.

If youre in (an abusive) situation, look for help with people who can help you, people who will help you, she said.

Some of the groups are around-the-clock and confidential, including:

The National Domestic Violence Hotline (800-799-7233, the hotline.org)

Community Resource Center (877-633-1112)

Womens Resource Center (760-757-3500)

Center for Community Solutions (888-385-4657)

According to the San Diego Domestic Violence Council, there were 16 domestic homicide victims in San Diego County in 2015. The suspect in each case was a current or former intimate partner.

There were 18,000 domestic violence incidents reported to law enforcement agencies in the county last year. That is a 6 percent increase from 2014, and up 12 percent from 2011. The group reported, however, that domestic violence incidents in El Cajon decreased by 20 percent from 2011 to 2015.
After years of practicing lockdown drills to prepare for the threat of school shooters, public schools across San Diego County are deploying a new strategy: run, hide or fight.

The County Office of Education is training school employees to make split-second decisions in the event of an attack, equipping them with a range of options to evade, and if necessary, confront, violent intruders. At least one district, Escondido Union School District, has already contracted with a national security program to learn new responses to school shootings.

Up until this time, there has always been a single option strategy: lockdown  get out of sight, where the bad person cant see, said Tim Ware, school intervention manager for Oceanside Unified School District.

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Its a good start, but its not enough, school officials concluded. Law enforcement authorities agreed.

They want teachers and school staff to know when its safe to evacuate students, how to not only lock down classrooms but also barricade them, and how to divert and disarm an assailant who gains entry.

Sometimes lockdown is the right strategy, Ware said. But the run, hide and fight is all about additional options.

School shootings have occupied a terrifying place in the nations consciousness since at least 1999, when Columbine High School students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold murdered 12 students and a teacher at the Colorado campus using sawed-off shotguns, bombs and other explosives. The horror deepened in 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza fatally shot 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

San Diego has had its own school attacks. In 1979, 16-year-old Brenda Spencer shot eight children and a custodian at Cleveland Elementary School, killing two. Charles Andrew Andy Williams killed two students and wounded 13 at Santana High School in Santee in 2001. And in 2010, 42-year-old Brendan ORourke injured two children when he shot into a crowd of students at Kelly School in Carlsbad.

Educators, law enforcement and security experts have used each terrible event to examine how students and teachers can best protect themselves should an attack occur.

The well-publicized Columbines and Sandy Hooks  the victims did exactly what theyd been told to do, but that put them right as a sitting ducks, said Jeff Geyer, safety and environmental manager for Vista Unified School District. And thats what we want to avoid.

Around 2008, the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies started exploring ways to expand options for such emergencies, said Bob Mueller, director of student attendance, safety, and well-being for the County Office of Education. In 2013, the federal government included run, hide and fight, in their guide for creating high quality school emergency operations plans, he said.

The problem was, school officials lacked direction on how to implement those concepts.

How does that second grade teacher decide what action to take, and what considerations should I take having all those little kids with me? Mueller asked.

In January the County Office of Education began drawing up its own guidelines, coordinating with educators, school psychologists and local law enforcement officials to update training programs. They strived to offer advice for action without creating undue alarm, Mueller said.

Instead of just the panic of the internal fight or flight stuff, we assess the situation, and by giving the adults the tools to assess the situation, make logical decisions, said Geyer, who was part of the team that developed the material.

The county office will start training school staff next week.

Meanwhile Escondido Union School District has made parallel preparations with a national security program called ALICE, which stands for alert, lockdown, inform, counter, evacuate.

During staff training, Escondido teachers and administrators learned specific steps in dealing with an armed intruder.

For instance, if a shooter is on the opposite side of campus, getting out may be the first choice, said Michael Taylor, assistant superintendent for business services with Escondido Union. If thats not possible, classes should lock down, but do so defensively.

Teachers and students should barricade the door with furniture or other objects. If the door opens outward, they can jam the hydraulic closure to prevent entry. Students should disperse throughout the classroom instead of huddling together, Escondido staff learned.

The idea is to not give the shooter an easy target, Taylor said.

If the shooter breaks in, ALICE trainers taught staff to blindside the person by hurling objects. That relies on the universal tendency to flinch at thrown objects, and buys time to disarm the attacker, Taylor said.

Escondidos staff is completing online instruction now. In January the district will begin hands-on training for staff, and eventually introduce the system to students.

I think folks are definitely engaged, Taylor said. They feel so much more empowered, and they feel that they can do something.

deborah.brennan@sduniontribune.com Twitter@deborahsbrennan
A man stabbed multiple times Friday night in a neighborhood near San Diego State University told police he was attacked by four people dressed up as clowns.

The man, who police did not identify, said he got into an argument with someone as he was riding his skateboard in the neighborhood, police said. When he was about to leave, the group in clown costumes attacked him, authorities said.

The man showed up at a local hospital with gashes to his left cheek and the back of his right shoulder and two cuts to his lower abdomen, police said.

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None of the wounds are life-threatening.

The man did not provide any further details about the stabbing or the suspects, police said.

The investigation is continuing.

david.hernandez@sduniontribune.coom

Hernandez writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune

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Catholic diocese tackles family, marriage issues at rare synod

When Lulu Valdivias priest asked her to survey local Catholics, she heard from congregants at multiple parishes about the beauty and realism of marriage.

Things got real in a hurry.

Parishioners shared intimate secrets with Valdivia, a delegate to the Diocese of San Diegos synod on marriage and family life. A nurse confessed her addiction to drugs and alcohol. The parent of a suicidal teen fretted, What did I do wrong? A wife broke down while admitting her husband forces her to have sex with other men.

This lady said to me, You think I can go to my priest with something like that?, Valdivia said.

She can, insisted Bishop Robert McElroy. In May, the 62-year-old prelate convened a synod  a meeting of church experts  to explore marriage and family issues.

While modeled on a recently concluded Vatican synod on the same topic, this effort has been focused on the dioceses estimated 1.4 million believers in San Diego and Imperial counties.

This has been very much a learning process for me, McElroy said, about how the laity wrestles with these issues.

The last time the San Diego diocese convened a synod was 1976. Rocky was playing in movie theaters, a gallon of regular gas cost 59 cents and a Georgia peanut farmer was aiming for the White House.

Much has changed in the intervening 40 years, including the definition church expert. While senior priests and theologians are still present in the synod, they no longer dominate. The average age of the 125 delegates is 42. Most are lay people plucked from the pews of the dioceses 100 churches.

That makes sense, McElroy said: Marriage and family is where the laity has the expertise.

Delegates have been collecting suggestions from the faithful since spring. Theyll submit their final recommendations to the bishop on Sunday, after a final eight-hour session of prayer, discussion and contemplation.

Some of the proposals: Marriage and family classes for all young Catholics, not just engaged couples; recognizing weddings, anniversaries and births in church bulletins or announcements from the pulpit; a welcoming approach to unmarried couples, whether straight or LGBT; exploring possible avenues for divorced and remarried Catholics to receive the Eucharist and other sacraments.

Believers, delegate Valdivia stressed, need to celebrate the beauty of loving unions and happy families. They should also embrace the reality that parishes also include wounded, struggling members.

Valdivia, a 46-year-old mother of two, quoted the woman whose husband shared her with other men.

Asked how she was doing, the woman replied, Do you really want to know the truth?

The church, Valdivia said, must answer Yes.

Squaring the circle

Marriage and family are universal experiences, yet San Diego sometimes experiences them differently.

Consider the term single parent.

In most places, McElroy said, that means parents who never married, or are divorced, or whose spouse has died. Here, we have all of that. But also we have those who are deployed and those who are deported.

Bishop Robert McElroy is shown at the Pastoral Center Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune )

The bishop noted this insight didnt come from the diocese; it came from the synods listening sessions, conducted in groups large and small since May.

The 125 delegates were divided into five groups, each with a separate challenge:

 To witness to both the beauty and realism of the Catholic vision of marriage and family life.

 To form a culture of invitation and hospitality to unmarried couples.

 To welcome, nurture and form children.

 To provide authentic pastoral support for those who are divorced.

 To bring spiritual depth to family life.

These topics are broad enough to encompass many issues. Too broad, some traditionalists insisted.

Bishop Robert McElroy reveals himself as a dangerous Cultural Marxist, wrote a reader of California Catholic Daily, an online publication, promoting cohabitation and sodomy.

McElroy admits that some of his goals may seem contradictory.

A large number of young people live together, he said. We have a huge message that needs to be projected, a message of non-judgmentalism.

At the same time, he added, we did not want to signal that living together was fine.

How does the church square that circle?

Maybe it cant, McElroy acknowledged, but the message has to be one of Christian love.

We are not the church of judgment, he said. We are the church that calls people to follow Christ.

For Thomas McKenna, this sounds like a diocese trying to adapt to the times rather than adhere to age-old teachings.

The bishop has been vague on those things, said McKenna, who leads Catholic Action for Faith and Family and attends San Diego's St. Therese of Carmel, and I think that is a problem.

He has to assert what the churchs teachings are.

Evolving explanations

Catholics belong to a global faith, yet they worship locally.

For most people, noted Monsignor Richard Duncanson, pastor of Rancho Santa Fes Church of the Nativity, the church is all about what happens in the parish.

As a synod delegate, Duncanson was assigned to the working group examining marriages beauty and realism.

The question was, he said, what can we do at the parish level to celebrate the richness of marriage?

One popular proposal: Pair newlyweds with older couples who can counsel and support them, in good times and bad.

While that doesnt challenge church teachings, Duncanson noted this suggestion emerged from an unfamiliar, almost radical, process.

This, he said, is the first time weve ever had this kind of invitation to get our thoughts on any topic.

Some proposals appear to contradict church teaching  for instance, allowing some divorced and remarried Catholics to partake in communion. Yet Duncanson insisted this is not a break with doctrine.

Church teaching is unchangeable and divinely revealed, he said, but our understanding and our relationship to that teaching is ongoing. Our way of explaining it evolves.

As part of that evolution, delegates grappled with the role of the inner forum  also known as the conscience.

Discussions of the inner forum were a little bit ambiguous, to be fair, said Nicholas McAfee, a 21-year-old delegate representing John Paul the Great University in Escondido. Its internal decision making as opposed to the external practice.

While that sounds abstract, it could have concrete applications for divorced and remarried Catholics. The inner forum may reveal that the failed marriage was, in theological terms, invalid  even if a church tribunal has denied an annulment.

This has to be an honest reckoning, McElroy said: What do I really think God is calling me to do? It cant be wishful thinking.

The great enemy of conscience, the bishop said, is rationalization.

But McElroy also quoted Pope Francis: The Eucharist is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.

Family members

Many of the delegates recommendations will find broad support among the faithful  encouraging young adults to attend Mass; supporting parochial schools; hosting 12-step meetings; enlisting therapists for parishioners enmeshed in addiction or abusive relations.

Others, though, may expose divisions in the pews. One thorny issue: the status of LGBT Catholics.

Our belief is that all people who are gay or lesbian or transsexual or bisexual, all those who face issues of sexuality, they are all members of our family and the family of God, McElroy said.

Church doctrine regards homosexual acts as sinful and forbids same-sex marriage. At the same time, Pope Francis has demonstrated a more open, less judgmental approach.

How do we deal with people in irregular unions, Pastor Duncanson wondered, the gay and lesbian loving relationships? How do we recognize the good there without recognizing this as a marriage?

This is a welcome conversation, said Patrick Ambrosio, vice president of the San Diego chapter of Dignity, a national LGBT Catholic group.

Dignity was founded in San Diego in 1969. Yet contact between the local group and its home diocese had been virtually non-existent until recently.

Last summer, Ambrosio said, the diocese invited Dignity to attend a Catholics Night at a Padres home game.

Thats one of the first communications weve ever received, Ambrosio said. Ever.

McElroy said all parishes need to welcome LGBT worshippers. Some  the bishop cited Hillcrests St. John the Evangelist  have developed a reputation where LGBT worshippers feel particularly welcome. And thats a very good thing.

McKenna, though, is concerned that many Catholics are confused about sexual morality, ignoring bans on all sexual activity outside marriage.

The church cant change its moral positions, he said. The church is not going to adapt to your violations.

The synods final recommendations may not please everyone. Regardless, Valdivia felt the months spent listening to her fellow Catholics will build a more open and inclusive church.

"When you reach people with trust and love and an attitude that comes from the Holy Spirit, she said, youll find there is an urge to open up.
Election Day.

Its like an oasis in the distance as we crawl through blistering sand.

Its the mission of the media to call out questionable ads but, lets face it, were outmatched by the sheer volume in North County.

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Today, my two favorite fudged ads, sundaes for political junkies with a sweet tooth.

SHOCK AND AUDIT  Voters in the Tri-City Healthcare district must have been astonished by a recent mailer in support of three candidates  challengers Marggie Castellano and Leigh Anne Grass as well as incumbent Rosemarie Reno.

The ad, paid for by the Service Employees International Union United Healthcare Workers West PAC, urges voters to turn our hospital around and cast ballots for the slate.

Under a headline, We All Make Mistakes: Just Not This Often, the mailer goes on to say this: An audit uncovered Tri-City Medical Centers billing of Medicare patients had an error rate of nearly 10 times the acceptable rate. A simple bar graph juxtaposes a tall red column representing a 44 percent Medicare billing error rate against a small green 5 percent bar, the acceptable rate.

At the bottom is a link to a June 29 story by Union-Tribune medical reporter Paul Sisson.

If accurate, this audit would indicate systemic hospital fraud. Wow!

So whats going on here?

Basically, the SEIU has opened a can of worms.

Last year, former Tri-City CEO Tim Moran ordered an audit of the billing practices of the emergency room.

The summary of that review, provided to the Union-Tribune after Tri-City declined a records request, were, to put it mildly, shocking.

In a review of 625 claims, Synergistic Systems found a Medicare billing error rate of 44 percent by ER doctors.

Within a day or two of the audits release, Tri-Citys board cut Moran loose with a severance package worth some $600,000.

Tri-City insisted there was nothing to see here.

According to not one, not two, but three audits, hospital officials asserted, the Tri-City Emergency Medical Groups billing was well within the range of acceptable error, officials said. Morans audit was dismissed as an outrageous outlier.

That qualification did not make it into the union ad.

Its widely understood that SEIU, along with doctors and nurses, wanted Moran out. How ironic it is that Morans audit is being used by the union to promote the notion that something is rotten in the state of Tri-City.

Its in the public interest, writes Sean Wherley, the union PAC spokesman, to use relevant information, such as an audit, as part of a campaign for the healthcare district board. Tri-City Medical Center has a long history of mismanagement and patient-care problems. The board took the right step by dismissing its former CEO earlier this year, and we believe the next step is to elect a group of board candidates who are committed to improving patient care and being more responsive to the communitys needs.

In other words, the audit is a good window, but the guy, the possible whistleblower, who ordered it opened should have been dismissed, period.

Wittingly or not, this union ad pulled the most toxic worm out of a can of worms labeled Tim Moran.

To put the audit back and shut the lid, to restore faith in its integrity and its decision to get rid of Moran, Tri-City should give all the ER audits to an independent expert and let the chips fall where they may.

Dont take it from me.

Take it from the union.

FACTS OF LIFE  Supervisor Dave Roberts has decried the ugliness of the campaign to unseat him, but it looks as if hes put on the brass knuckles.

In a campaign mailer, the Roberts campaign informs voters that (Encinitas Mayor) Kristin Gaspars company broke her patients trust. The exhibit of this serious charge is a 2006 lawsuit alleging negligence, medical malpractice and elder abuse on the part of Gaspar Physical Therapy, the business Gaspars husband runs and she has served as financial officer.

Referring to the settled lawsuit, the Roberts mailer claims Gaspar Physical Therapy compensated its victims.

According to court documents, however, the lawsuit was settled without payment, an outcome not usually associated with victims.

Physical therapist Paul Gaspar, Kristin Gaspars husband and a candidate for Encinitas mayor, is, to put mildly, upset at what he considers a defamatory slur on his business.

This is how I put food on the table, he tells me.

An attorney representing Kristin Gaspar, Gaspar Physical Therapy and an associate sent Roberts a cease-and-desist letter that concludes with this ominous warning:

I formally demand that you immediately retract the defamatory statements, in writing, and publish the retraction to all persons to whom you have mailed the hit piece in question. Your failure to do so will only serve to cause further damage for which you will be held 100% accountable, personally.

Scary? To a non-politician, maybe. To a politician, par for the course.

I can think of only one local post-election libel suit  Lynn Schenk vs. Susan Golding  that went anywhere. That case resulted in a relatively small payment of $150,000 by an insurance company that left both sides claiming victory after a four-year battle.

In politics, a menacing cease-and-desist letter can be an invitation to double down on the attack.

In its response to my call for comment, the Roberts campaign happily mentioned Donald Trump four times, which has to earn points for single-minded ingenuity:

Threatening to sue someone because you dont like what they say is a page from the Donald Trump playbook.This is no surprise. Gaspar bragged about her vote for Trump in the primary. A few months later, she backpedaled as one Trump supporter after another declared him to be toxic. Like Trump, Gaspars business has dodged back taxes. Shes also had to settle legal claims of elder abuse, malpractice, and negligence. These are facts.

This sort of campaign messaging, Id submit, is one reason why people hate politics.

A lawsuit that goes nowhere can be pumped into a REALLY SCARY FACT.

Roberts is in an ugly dogfight over his own ethics and treatment of victims in his office.

Its inevitable perhaps that in the closing weeks his campaign would go to the edge to turn the tables on Gaspar, to give as good as it gets.

Thats politics as the clock runs out.

logan.jenkins@sduniontribune.com
The superintendent of the Grossmont Union High School District has been organizing calling sessions among his staff and students to help pass Measure BB, the agencys third major bond proposal in the past dozen years.

According to electronic records obtained by U-T Watchdog, Superintendent Tim Glover directed principals, vice principals and others to schedule three-hour shifts of up to 20 people each to work at a phone-banking operation at Grossmont Center mall.

The callers  students during weekdays and district employees on weekends, according to the records  follow a script urging voters to support the $128 million bond proposal on the Nov. 8 ballot.

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In a prepared statement, Glover said the work is being performed as part of a wide-reaching volunteer effort to raise new money to improve schools.

It is normal and customary in school districts to create a volunteer opportunity to support a bond measure, the benefits of which will support the entire district, he wrote. Staff members are valuable stakeholders and key ambassadors who best know and understand the critical needs at each of their schools as well as district-wide.

Glover called the campaign a teachable moment for students and said their efforts are rewarded with non-academic community service credits.

We encourage community involvement and community service as well as participation in the political process for our students, he wrote. Students care about their facilities as much as staff and parents do.

Messages that Glover sent his staff indicate he is directing employees to sign up for shifts. He says he will backfill with district office staff if campus employees fall short of signing up 20 people per team.

The messages include a request for specific names of people who will show up and the shifts they will work, and suggest respondents reply to Glovers personal email account. The shifts he wants filled are to be held this weekend and next.

California law generally does not allow the use of public resources for campaign activity, although it also contains provisions protecting the free speech rights of government employees.

Whether its legal for a superintendent to rally troops for a bond measure campaign might depend on whether district equipment was used, whether messages were sent from school property, and whether employees were unduly influenced by a superior.

Nick Marinovich, who served on the districts bond oversight committee until 2014, said the messages cross a line because Glover supervises the people he is contacting  and does not specify that the request is voluntary.

Its totally inappropriate to do this electioneering stuff, he said. Its putting employees in a very difficult position.

The records obtained by U-T Watchdog show Glover indicated food would be provided to shift volunteers, including vegetarian meals for those who do not eat meat.

The Yes on BB campaign provides food and snacks for the volunteers, Glover said. All funds used for the purchase of these food items have been donated directly to the campaign.

The same committee pays for gift cards that are raffled off to phone-bankers during many of the shifts, he said.

School board President Robert Shield did not respond to questions about the activities of his top administrator. Spokeswoman Catherine Martin issued a statement saying the work on behalf of Measure BB is strictly voluntary and not conducted with public resources.

Weve been careful to adhere to the law, Martin wrote. The notion that anyones job was dependent upon participating in a phone bank is simply untrue, so false its ridiculous.

Jay Wierenga of the California Fair Political Practices Commission, the state office in charge of enforcing election laws, said he could not speak to campaign activities within the Grossmont Union High School District.

The Political Reform Act makes it clear that anything emanating from a public entity regarding a campaign must be information, not advocacy, he said.

Measure BB would provide the 22,000-student district with $128 million to spend on repairs and improvements officials say are critical to its mission. East County voters approved a $274 million bond in 2004 and a $417 million bond four years later.

Disputes over how previous bond proceeds were spent resulted in a lawsuit that continues to cost district taxpayers.

Alpine parents sued Grossmont Union High School District for not building a new high school in their community, arguing it was a promised under the previous borrowing. The district prevailed at trial and the case is being appealed.

Outgoing Grossmont school board member Priscilla Schreiber, who has been on the losing end of divided votes, said she was not surprised to learn of the political mustering.

Ive been on the board for 16 years and they have done illegal electioneering in the past, she said. Ive had conversations with Dr. Glover to warn him about this stuff. He said, We can do information-only. We cannot campaign.

Schreiber said she saw stacks of Yes on Measure BB cards during a recent visit to Valhalla High School. She also cited pro-BB signs on other campuses that spell out the amenities the measure would pay for if it is passed by voters.

The concept is Please vote for this so we can do these things, said Schreiber, whose last board meeting will be Nov. 15.

The storefront phone bank at Grossmont Center is being funded by Yes on BB committee, a group that has collected more than $265,000 in recent months from contractors, engineers and other professionals who stand to benefit if Measure BB passes.

Erickson-Hall Construction Co., for example, donated $25,000 to the committee Aug. 17, one month after it received a $3.8 million contract to reconstruct a classroom/administration building at Chaparral High School.

The Escondido contractor, which also co-hosted a Yes on BB event in August at which Glover was a special guest, said there is no connection between the donations and contracts.

There are bonds we support where we dont get work, said Penny Lawlor of Erickson-Hall. The school district has a very competitive contracting process and we have to compete on a competitive basis.

Measure BB requires approval from 55 percent of district voters to pass.

jeff.mcdonald@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1708 @sdutMcDonald
The superintendent of the the Chula Vista Elementary School District has been named a Latino leader in education by a local elected official.

Francisco Escobedo was among 16 community leaders recognized by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez at the Latino-Filipino Fiesta held Oct. 24 at the Chula Vista Library.

The schools chief was honored with a California State Assembly 80th District 2016 Latino Leader Award for changes he has brought to Chula Vista since taking the helm of the states largest elementary school district six years ago.

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From revamping school wellness policies to address childhood obesity, to fighting to support arts education, the innovative Dr. Escobedo and his district continue to garner recognition and lead the statewide conversation on programs that ensure every child has the opportunity to achieve, Gonzalez said.

Escobedo said the award is a reflection of the hard work being done throughout the district, where he said the achievement gap between English learners and other student groups has narrowed. He said opportunities for parents to be involved in their childrens education and take leadership roles has increased, and arts and wellness programs have been made a priority.

The predominantly Hispanic K-8 district serves nearly 30,000 students at 45 schools, including seven charter schools.

State testing shows district students outperform their peers at the county and state level.

We are at the forefront among school districts when it comes to student academic achievement, he said.

Escobedo, 55, has been in education for 28 years. He has worked the entire time in South County for the South Bay Union, National and Chula Vista school districts. He holds a doctorate in educational leadership through a partnership between UC San Diego and San Diego State University.

In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month and Filipino-American History Month, Gonzalez recognized 16 South County leaders in business, arts and culture, community service, civic engagement, Latino empowerment, labor, health, career pathways and education.

Follow me @HuardSDUT
Sally Kristen Ride was the first American woman in space, and throughout her life, she used that distinction to advocate for greater inclusion of women and people of color in the sciences.

After being launched into fame in 1983, the astronaut eventually moved to La Jolla, where she then taught physics at UC San Diego for nearly two decades. Ride died in 2012  at age 61  after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

In 2001, Ride had co-founded with Tam OShaughnessy the educational company Sally Ride Science, with the aim of encouraging youths, particularly girls, to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

UC San Diego took over the endeavor last year and transitioned it to nonprofit status. OShaughnessy, 64, recently moved to Atlanta but plans to continue serving as the executive director of Sally Ride Science at UC San Diego.

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She talked with The San Diego Union-Tribune this week about Rides life and legacy. The following is an edited version of that conversation.

Q: What would Sally Ride have thought about Fridays commissioning in San Diego of a research vessel named after her?

A: I think shed be thrilled. There are so many connections  Scripps (Institution of Oceanography) and being female and having the first academic research vessel being named after a woman. Thats just keeping with what she was all about her whole life.

Even the fact that Margaret Leinen is the first permanent female director of Scripps, and that she and Margaret where friends.  She probably would want to sign up for an expedition.

Q: What was Ride most proud of in her career?

A: She took her role of being the first American woman in space very seriously, and knew that she was a role model basically to the rest of the female astronaut core.  She got very interested in why young people in our country arent interested in math and science, because she always thought it was so fascinating and fun. And when we started our company Sally Ride Science, she just poured herself in.

She had never lent her name to anything, and she was proud to give her name to our company and use the clout that she had to bring in investors, bring in corporate sponsors. Once she became famous in 1983, then every year shed get endorsement opportunities and the chance to make big bucks, and she just didnt go there at all.

Q: Was there a moment in Rides life that helped define how she looked at the world?

A: When she became an astronaut  the historic flight was June 18, 1983  I remember her telling me that she floated over to one of the small windows in the space shuttle, Challenger, and looked back down at Earth. Even though youre 200 miles above Earth, youre kind of right on top of it, so you see big swaths of the ocean and land.

She was just amazed and floating and excited and looking, and then she looked out over Earths horizon and she saw this very thin, fuzzy blue band kind of hugging the horizon. And she realized that was Earths atmosphere, and it just looked so thin and fragile to her. It kind of changed her. It made her much more of a true environmentalist. She was very committed to trying to inform people about global climate change.

Q: You werent just Rides business partner, but also her life partner. What made you decide to make your relationship with Sally public after her death, and what has been the publics reaction?

A: The week before Sally died, I spoke to her about holding a celebration of her life with our best friends, colleagues and of course family members. She liked the idea. We talk about where to hold it. ... She said that shed been thinking about the celebration and that she thought it should be held at Torrey Pines Lodge, the home of Sally Ride Science Academy. I loved that idea and thats where I held the celebration after Sally died on July 23, 2012.

After Sally and I settled on the place, I went back downstairs to prepare supper. I realized that I had no idea how to present myself at the celebration  so I went back upstairs and talked to Sally about this. I told her I didnt know what to do. Should I be honest and tell everyone that we were a couple  together for more than 27 years, a same-sex, loving couple?

She thought for a few seconds and then said, You decide what you want to say. Whatever you decide will be fine. 

So I decided to be honest and in fact, I wrote the obituary that we posted on the Sally Ride Science website that went viral around the world. I think Sally wanted me to be brave for both of us.

The publics response to learning that Sally was gay and had a longtime female partner was extraordinarily positive. I received more than 250 letters all respectful and supportive, and the national press was 99.9 percent positive!

Q: Years from now, what do you think Rides legacy will be? And what do you see as your contributions to helping to carry that out?

A: I think Sallys legacy will be three-fold: Sally was the first American woman to fly in space. And Sally was a champion of human rights  and Sally was an independent thinker and true to herself. Sally followed her heart and her interests/passions, and they led her to great adventures and to a life of great happiness and accomplishment.

I feel like I have taken care of Sallys legacy by organizing and being the vision behind: the celebration of her life at the Torrey Pines Lodge, the national tribute to Sally at the Kennedy center in D.C., giving the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum a large number of Sallys belongings from across her life, and securing a good home for our company at UC San Diego.

Twitter: @jemersmith

Phone: (619) 293-2234

Email: joshua.smith@sduniontribune.com
A $2.5 million donation to UC San Diegos Scripps Institution of Oceanography will expand its expertise in countering the effects of climate change, furthering the legacy of former Scripps director Edward Frieman.

The gift from Friemans widow, Joy, will create endowments for a faculty chair and two fellowships in climate sustainability, to carry on the work he pioneered at the institution.

He had been one of the early people to talk about the fact that climate change was going to occur, when nobody else was saying the word, Joy Frieman said. He was involved very early in predicting that we were going to have to face this in the U.S. and the world.

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The donation includes $1.5 million to establish the Edward A. Frieman Endowed Presidential Chair in Climate Sustainability, and $500,000 each for an endowed postdoctoral fellowship, and a graduate fellowship at Scripps Oceanography. The UC system will provide a $500,000 match for the presidential chair, and the institution is seeking additional donations to complete funding for the three positions.

The gift from Joy Frieman will enhance the Center for Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation at Scripps, formed last year with a $5 million donation from Del Mar energy executive Richard Hertzberg and his wife Carol.

With the new position, Scripps Oceanography Director Margaret Leinen said, we can have additional faculty at the most distinguished level that will be working on issues of climate change impacts and adaptations.

The new center has launched a major effort to study sea level rise in Southern California, using temporary increase in water levels associated with last years El Nino to model future effects on the California coastline, Leinen said.

That allowed us to provide information to the port, the cities throughout the region, and the naval base, to allow them to develop ideas about how well adapt to sea level rise in the future, she said.

The center will also explore how global warming affects the states water supply, and how it is driving changes to the California Current.

Were very interested in being able to unravel what part of it is climate change, and how will that affect fisheries, including commercial and recreational fishing, and the ecology of our area, Leinen said.

Edward Frieman served as director of Scripps between 1986 and 1996, after holding top-level posts in industry, government and academia. He spent 25 years as a physics professor at Princeton, and served from 1979 to 1981 as assistant secretary of the Department of Energy. He became executive vice president for research at the private firm Science Applications International Corporation, but left that position to lead Scripps Oceanography in 1986.

As head of Scripps, Frieman led efforts to develop instrumentation and systems of observations that allow scientists to monitor vast sections of the ocean and atmosphere, Leinen said. And he fostered collaboration with other research agencies and international science bodies, such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

During that time, Frieman traveled frequently to Washington D.C. to secure research funding, his wife said, but he still made time for family. The couple had each been widowed and when they wed, she had two girls and he had three boys. They immediately adopted each others children, and formed a joint family of seven.

Frieman joined his wife as a member of the La Jolla Music Society, and exercised his own musical talents at home.

Ed had a wonderful ear for music, so he could pick up almost anything and just rattle it off in the piano, she said. He used to play a lot of jazz I think he could really relax by playing the piano.

Frieman died in April 2013, at the age of 87. The endowments, Leinen said, serve Friemans interest in using science for the public good.

If Ed were alive, I think he would believe this was just the right area, Leinen said. He was really interested in ensuring that science was enabling people to make great decisions.

deborah.brennan@sduniontribune.com Twitter@deborahsbrennan
A man stabbed multiple times told police he was attacked by four people dressed up as clowns in the College Area Friday night.

The man, in his 30s, said he got into an argument with someone across the street from him as he was riding a skateboard. When he was about to take off, the group in clown costumes attacked him, police said.

The man showed up at a hospital with a gash to his left cheek and the back of his right shoulder, as well as two other cuts to his lower stomach, police said. None of the wounds were considered life-threatening.

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Police were called to the hospital about 9 p.m. The man did not provide any other information about the stabbing or suspects.

Related  Interactive map of clown incidents nationwide

Twitter: @D4VIDHernandez
A man was arrested after he police said he stabbed his sisters roommate in the back early Saturday morning, San Diego police said.

San Diego police were called National Avenue and 30th Street in Logan Heights about 3:11 a.m. after receiving reports of a stabbing and vehicle theft, said Officer Tony Martinez.

A 27-year-old woman was found bleeding from the back from a stab wound that was described as non-life threatening. Four or five hours later police arrested Cesar Lopez, 22, in connection with the incident.

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paul.sisson@sduniountribune.com

(619) 293-1850

Twitter: @paulsisson
A fight in a San Ysidro motel room turned violent when a man stabbed a woman with a broken piece of glass and poured bleach on her, police said.

The woman was stabbed three times in the buttocks, and the man suffered chemical burns to his lungs from the bleach fumes, police said. The pair drove themselves separately to a hospital.

The two were arguing in their Valli Hi Motel room when one of them broke a glass bottle. The man grabbed a broken piece of glass and stabbed the womans right buttocks with it, police said. He also grabbed bleach and doused the woman.

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She went to a hospital where she was treated and later released. The man, who also drove himself to a hospital, was being treated for his burns, which were not considered life-threatening, police said.

One of them reported the fight at the motel off San Ysidro Boulevard near Sunset Lane about 6:30 p.m. but police said the incident occurred earlier in the day.

Police had not made any arrests.

Twitter: @D4VIDHernandez
A third man suspected of gunning down an Oceanside police officer in 2006 pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of first-degree murder, about a year and a half after investigators and a cold case prosecutor took a new look at the case.

Police arrested 26-year-old Jose Compre on Thursday morning, but havent said what prompted the fresh investigation or what new evidence may have emerged.

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He is accused in the fatal shooting of Officer Dan Bessant, who had been helping fellow Officer Karina Pena during a traffic stop in a gang-plagued neighborhood about 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 20, 2006. Two other gang members have already been convicted in Bessants death.

Compre faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted in the special circumstances case. Because he was 16 at the time of the shooting, he is not eligible to face the death penalty.

During a brief hearing Friday in a Vista courtroom, Superior Court Judge James Mangione set Compres bail at $5 million and ordered the media not to photograph the defendants face. He is due back in court for a status hearing and bail review on Nov. 9.

Authorities have long suspected that Compre and two other teenage gang members  Meki Gaono and Penifoti P.J. Taeotui  stood in front of Compres home under the cover of darkness and opened fire on the two officers.

Gaono and Taeotui were eventually convicted of murder and sentenced to life without parole. But the case against Compre was weak, and a judge dismissed it before trial.

Authorities have said new evidence led to Compres new arrest, but have declined to say what it may be. The search warrant documents in the case have been sealed.

Deputy District Attorney Tom Manning, who runs the district attorneys cold homicide unit, said Friday that, over the last year and a half, his unit has worked with Oceanside police and county sheriffs investigators on the case.

New evidence came about, new leads came about, and it led to the arrest warrant signed by the judge yesterday, Manning said.

The prosecutor declined to say what prompted the fresh look. Manning handled the initial case 10 years ago, when he was with the district attorneys gang unit in North County.

Its not clear how Compre has spent the last decade, but records indicate he was charged in January with felony marijuana possession and child endangerment, after police found marijuana at his home, where his toddler was present. Compre pleaded guilty and was sentenced to probation.

Manning called Compres new arrest welcome news for everyone in the community.

When a police officer is killed, it threatens the safety and security of all citizens in the community, he said.

During the original case, prosecutors contended the three gang members had been hanging out and drinking when they spotted the police activity about 400 feet down the road, at the corner of Arthur Avenue and Gold Drive.

After watching for a few minutes, Gaono, then 17, propped up a rifle on a mailbox, peered through the scope and fired. With that, Taeotui and Compre, both then 16, also started shooting, according to authorities.

A bullet from Gaonos gun caught Bessant under his left arm pit, just outside of his protective vest, and pierced his heart.

At the time of the shooting, casings from three guns were found in front of Compres home.

One of those casings had been fired from a 9 mm pistol  a gun not found for another 15 months, when a neighbor stumbled across it wrapped in a shirt and tucked behind his shed, which was just over the fence from Compres backyard. The gun was caked with dirt and yielded no usable fingerprints or DNA.

The attorney who represented Compre in the initial case has said her client was not present when the shots were fired, and no evidence tied him to the attack.

teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUT
A railroad company that leases the San Diego Metropolitan Transit Systems 70-mile-long Desert Line railway has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, federal court records show.

Pacific Imperial Railroad Inc. agreed in 2012 to lease from MTS the agencys dilapidated stretch of track along the U.S.-Mexico border between Campo and Plaster City, just west of El Centro. Parts of the curvy track dip into Mexico.

Under the companys 50-year-lease to rebuild and run the the railroad, it agreed to pay MTS $1 million per year  plus an additional 7 percent of gross revenue once freight starts moving on the line. The lease includes an option to extend the agreement another 49 years.

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For years, Pacific Imperial has been beset by management turmoil and allegations of fraud. Delays including lengthy negotiations for a sublease derailed the original timeline for repairs, and actual work on the tracks has not yet begun.

Pacific Imperial filed a voluntary petition for bankruptcy on Oct. 13 in federal court, records show. The filing says the company has $1.7 million in cash, with about $8.2 million in unsecured debt.

In May, Pacific Imperial reached a sublease agreement with Baja California Railroad, Inc., granting Baja the right to reconstruct and run 60 of the 70-mile railway for the term of Pacifics 50- to 100-year lease with MTS.

In a statement, MTS said it believes the bankruptcy filing gives Pacific Imperial a path forward to resolve creditor and shareholder disputes while continuing to make progress on improvements to the Desert Line. It said Baja California Railroad will continue work on reconstruction efforts as planned, and all provisions of Pacifics lease with MTS are still in effect.

Pacific Imperials reorganization plan includes an offer for Baja California Railroad to purchase Pacifics rights under its lease with MTS, which would ensure that the Desert Line remains in capable, responsible hands and that reconstruction progress would continue without disruption.

morgan.cook@sduniontribune.com
Candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have been sounding off about the loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs and how trade agreements that promise to make things better could really make things worse. Each one has argued that if elected, she or he will strengthen the manufacturing economy and bring back jobs. But making good on those promises is easier said than done.

Right now, there is a job crisis in America  but thats not because of a lack of manufacturing job openings. The crisis is about too few workers to fill those jobs. If the next president does bring jobs back to these shores, he or she may have to bring back workers, too.

While there are clearly trade-induced shifts in the job market that have affected some workers and major U.S. manufacturing industries  such as in furniture, textiles, and some parts of the steel and automobile industries  America has competed handily overall as a global player. In fact, since 1980 U.S. real manufacturing exports have increased fourfold, according to the Presidents Council of Economic Advisors.

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Obviously, the composition of Americas exports has changed. Perhaps of greater interest is that, thanks to the rise of the U.S. knowledge economy, the service sectors exports have set the higher pace for U.S. trade. Trade in that sector has grown sixfold since 1980. The share of service-related exports increased from 18 percent in 1980 to 30 percent in 2014, while manufacturings share held right at 60 percent.

Of course, we shouldnt forget that there are winners and losers when manufacturing exports are considered. Textiles and apparel are down; electrical machinery and aircraft are up. On the national level, the gains outweigh the losses. Services, which include finance, insurance, intellectual property rights, construction management and health care, are booming.

Clearly, the skill and educational requirements that equip one for manufacturing dont easily lend themselves to the expanding service sector. And thats where the rub comes in. Worker transitions do not come easily.

So Americas real job crisis, it seems, is not about manufacturing jobs, or even job losses more generally. Its about finding a way to connect displaced workers with employers who are already looking to hire people with the right skill set.

Recent data show a growing gap between job openings and job hires since 2014. The current gap is 100,000 unfilled jobs. Apparently, there are just not enough qualified workers to fill the posts.

So what happens, if by some magic, a newly elected political leader does generate or bring back more job openings? The gap would only get larger, unless the happy leader also delivered workers with the right skills to fill the jobs. In the current environment, the U.S. challenge is not about jobs, generally speaking, it is about job dislocations in particular locations and equipping people for the changing world of work. The first step in solving the real problem is to stop focusing on the wrong one.

Yandle is a Mercatus Center adjunct professor of economics at George Mason University. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.
Yuengling beer. Its now Americas favorite/least favorite, depending on your political taste.

This week, the East Coast beer company, which bills itself as Americas oldest brewery, threw itself into the political fray by publicly announcing its support for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. The endorsement has left a bitter taste with some patrons in places like Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, where a Yuengling boycotts is underway, and left other people excited about drinking the beer.

During a tour of the Pennsylvania-based D.G. Yuengling & Son brewing company on Monday, one of Trumps sons met with fifth-generation owner Richard Yuengling Jr. to tout the presidential candidates support of businesses in the U.S. It was then that Yuengling offered the endorsement.

Our guys are behind your father, Yuengling said, according the Reading Eagle. We need him in there.

https://twitter.com/EricTrump/status/790673947096387584

And since then, people have been frothing with emotions.

Reactions were mostly negative  with people saying theyd boycott the beer and other saying it was no longer welcome at their bar  but others stuck by the brand.

David Perruzza, a bar manager at a Washington D.C. gay bar, posted a video on YouTube saying his bar would no longer serve Yuengling because it supports Trump and, by extension, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence who he says is against the gay community.

Pennsylvania state representative Brian Sims shared the same distaste for Yuengling and said hes boycotting the beer as well. Sims Facebook post was shared more than 6,000 times.

The debate continued on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/therealezway/status/791423147241242624

https://twitter.com/dje432/status/791357664492134401

https://twitter.com/jalexander/status/791304090865299456

https://twitter.com/Nfowler0115/status/792149889509629952

https://twitter.com/ColbyOleksy/status/791696008472358913

https://twitter.com/Americooligan/status/791422393873031168

Let us know where you stand on this debate. Or just let us know what your favorite beer is.

Email: luis.gomez@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @RunGomez
Improving quality of life for others

In the Ramona Sentinel a few issues ago a Mr. Patterson had a wonderful oldster observation. He wrote: Ive been wondering for some time why so many people in town seem so serious or angry. A smiling face and good disposition can make my day.

Isnt it a revelation to learn that we can improve the quality of life for others by merely managing our own expressions?

Actually, doing this may also serve to improve our own quality of life. Since the saying You get what you give is found in every generation, it must be true.

Edalee Orcutt Harwell

Ramona

November board elections

Local citizens will soon speak out on the future composition of numerous important boards in the upcoming election. All candidates running, and thereby choosing to serve, should be complimented for volunteering for community services.

Voters are urged to consider all options but to pay particular attention to those who have exhibited a meaningful record of result-oriented accomplishments as community servants. Effective members must work collaboratively to make intelligent and financially responsible decisions which consistently benefit those they represent. Proven experience in this process counts and is readily transferable from one public body to another. Please examine each persons credentials as well as prior accomplishments toward the goal of providing the best possible leadership team of experienced and fiscally responsible decision-makers for each entity.

It is essential that board members possess the requisite skill sets to work collectively and harmoniously toward enacting prudent policies and practices and arriving at constructive decisions which ultimately benefit all they represent. We have a civic duty as voters to elect the very best and most qualified candidates.

Terry Welke

Ramona

Outrageous mural

Aviator Charles Lindbergh was once a hero with his solo flight to France, but like Benedict Arnold he betrayed his own country when he went to Berlin to accept a medal for aviation from Hermann Goering, Hitlers right-hand man. At one point, Lindbergh considered moving to Berlin. He was a longtime anti- Semite. Also, he spoke about not mixing inferior blood with the Aryan race. In fact, his own hometown in Minnesota removed his name from a landmark water tower because they wanted to disassociate themselves from this hero.

Its outrageous that Ramonans are celebrating this traitors life with a three-story mural of Lindbergh. Its a slap in the face to every American, especially Jews, to honor this dishonorable man.

Peter W. Quercia

Ramona

Fall Fundraiser success

The Little Peoples Learning Center of the Ramona United Methodist Church would like to thank the following vendors for making our first annual Fall Fundraiser such a success:

Kris Tokunaga; 31 bags and Tupperware, Carol Swepston; Fabric Baskets, Bonnie Bowe Baby, Tabitha Minich; Usborne Books, Becky Smith Honey, Cara McElwee, Lula Roe; womens and Childrens clothing, Christina Honadle; Succulents, Louise Bernd; knitted and crocheted items, Imen Rorholm; Clean Body Co., Sue Thomas; Fruits of My Labor Jams and Jellies, Brenda Keller; Origami Owl Jewelry, Kammey Cousar; vegan soaps, Molly Burke; Scentsy Candles, Doris Nixon; childrens clothes, Mary Bowen Davis; Self Defense, Faith Branney; hooded bath towels, Ramona Girl Scout Troop; and the Ramona United Methodist Mens and Womens groups.

All your time and effort is greatly appreciated.

Karen Johnson, on behalf of

The Little Peoples Learning Center Board

email: editor@ramonasentinel.com
MIDDLE EAST

Lebanon

Expected Council Action

In November, Special Coordinator for Lebanon Sigrid Kaag and a representative of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations will brief Council members in consultations on the Secretary-Generals report on the implementation of resolution 1701, which called for a cessation of hostilities between the Shia militant group Hezbollah and Israel in 2006. The Council will also receive the semi-annual briefing on the latest report on the implementation of resolution 1559.

The mandate of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) expires on 31 August 2017.

Key Recent Developments

In recent months, the situation along the Blue Line, the border demarcation between Lebanon and Israel, has been generally calm, but progress has remained limited on each partys outstanding obligations under resolution 1701. There has been no headway towards a permanent ceasefire, and violations of resolution 1701 continue to occur regularly.

On 19 September, Lebanon sent a letter to the Council containing a summary of alleged Israeli violations of resolution 1701 committed during the month of August. The letter accuses Israel of committing 22 land violations, 29 sea violations and 79 air violations during the month.

Six Arab Israeli citizens were indicted on 6 October for smuggling explosives from Lebanon into Israel in cooperation with a Hezbollah plot to plant bombs in the Haifa area, according to the Israel security agency Shin Bet. Also, in September, Shin Bet, Israeli police and the Israel Defense Forces arrested several residents of the Alawite village of Ghajar for allegedly assisting Hezbollah by smuggling explosives and gathering intelligence.

Lebanon continues to face challenges to its stability and security, both internally and along its borders with Syria, including from extremist groups and arms smugglers. The activities of Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias along the border continue to pose a threat to the stability of the region.

On 16 October, Hezbollah fighters attacked militants of the Sunni terror group Al Nusra Front who were stationed on the outskirts of the northeastern Lebanese border town of Arsal, targeting them with artillery shells. Militants belonging to Al Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant who are hiding in the rugged border region in the northeast are targeted by the Hezbollah and the Lebanese Armed Forces on a near-daily basis.

Meanwhile, Lebanon has not yet elected a president to fill the vacancy left by Michel Sleiman, whose term ended on 24 May 2014. However, on 20 October, Lebanons leading Sunni politician and former prime minister Saad al-Hariri announced that he would back Michel Aoun, a Hezbollah ally, to be president, a move that could help resolve the crisis if it wins support from all main factions. Hariri and Aoun must garner enough support to attain a two-thirds quorum of parliament members in a vote scheduled for 31 October. At press time, this meeting had yet to take place.

The Council renewed UNIFILs mandate for an additional year on 30 August in resolution 2305 without any major changes and requested the Secretary-General to conduct a strategic review of UNIFIL by February 2017. Negotiations on the resolutions text, drafted by France, were straightforward. A few Council members sought the addition of information on the scope and objectives of the strategic review, expressing concern that the review ought not to distract the mission from its tasks. However, the final text did not specify the scope of the review.

On 11 October, Indonesia announced that it is set to deploy 850 peacekeeping soldiers to UNIFIL in December. The team will include 18 women. Indonesia is the largest contributor to UNIFIL among the 40 participating countries, with a total of 1,296 personnel.

On 4 October, Philippe Lazzarini, UN Deputy Special Coordinator and Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon, and Fouad Fleifel, Secretary-General of the Council of Ministers of the Government of Lebanon, signed the UN Strategic Framework for Lebanon (UNSF). The UNSF represents the UNs cooperative framework for support to Lebanon for the period 2017-20, outlining the vision of the UN in Lebanon in support of Lebanons security, political, human rights, development and humanitarian priorities.

Key Issues

The main issue is that whileten years after the adoption of 1701the situation is relatively calm, there has been little progress on its key objectives, as detailed by the Secretary-General in his report.

A central issue is that Hezbollah and other non-state actors continue to maintain weaponry that directly hinders the governments exercise of full authority over its territory, poses a threat to Lebanons sovereignty and stability, and contravenes its obligations under resolutions 1559 and 1701. In that context, the ongoing crisis in Syria, with Hezbollahs involvement on the side of the regime, and the flow of arms from Syria to Hezbollah remain of great concern.

Another issue is the inability of Lebanon to elect a president, which has paralysed the countrys parliament and rendered it incapable of passing critical legislation. This has in turn impaired Lebanons ability to address the growing security, economic, social and humanitarian challenges facing the country.

Options

Given that the Council has relatively recently adopted a comprehensive presidential statement outlining various concerns regarding Lebanon, a further Council outcome at this time seems unlikely.

Council Dynamics

The Council has been united in its position that UNIFIL contributes to stability between Israel and Lebanon, especially considering the current Syrian crisis. Council consensus includes support for Lebanons territorial integrity and security, condemnation of acts of terrorism on Lebanese territory and recognition of the crucial role the Lebanese Armed Forces play in responding to security challenges. The Council has also repeatedly expressed its united concern at the vacancy in the presidency and resulting political paralysis.

France is the penholder on Lebanon.

UN DOCUMENTS ON LEBANON

This was a resolution extending the mandate of UNIFIL for one year. This resolution expanded UNIFIL by 15,000 troops and expanded its mandate. This resolution urged withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon, disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias, extension of the Lebanese governments control over all Lebanese territory and free and fair presidential elections. This was a presidential statement that stressed the importance of Lebanons electing a president by May 2017 in order to maintain stability. This was on the implementation of resolution 1701.
Tens of thousands of people packed Taipei's streets on Saturday in Asia's biggest gaypride parade, wearing colorful costumes and carrying rainbow flags as they called on Taiwan's new government to legalize same-sex marriage.

Supporters waved handmade placards with slogans like "How long will tongzhi have to wait?" - referring to the Chinese term for someone who is gay - as they circled downtown Taipei.

Some took the opportunity to dress up, donning a variety of outfits including swimsuits, wedding dresses and loincloths usually worn by Japanese sumo wrestlers.

Many of the attendees were hopeful that same-sex marriage would soon become a reality under the pro-gay ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which is in control of parliament for the first time.
A salmonella "superbug" found in a domestic cat in Sydney has experts concerned that it could infect humans and livestock.

The bug, discovered in a pet cat admitted to a veterinarian for a stomach infection, is resistant to several classes of drug, including carbapenems, the treatment Australian hospitals consider their last line of defense against salmonella.

"This is the first time that a salmonella strain with resistance to most antimicrobial drugs has been reported in any Australian domestic animal, and it is a significant concern to public health," said Dr. Sam Abraham in a statement. The Murdoch University researcher is leading a team that is assessing the risks posed by the bug.

"What makes this bacteria a superbug is because it has picked up a piece of DNA that gives this bacteria super powers, or resistance, to about nine classes of drugs that we usually use to treat humans and animals," Abraham told ABC.

Salmonella is a foodborne bacterial disease of the intestinal tract that causes symptoms such as vomiting, nausea and diarrhea for up to a week. Raw meats and poultry, fish, raw eggs and some types of produce are typical sources of the bacteria. In some cases, salmonella can spread from the intestines to the blood stream and result in death if not treated with antibiotics.

RELATED: 'Nightmare' Infection Found in US for First Time

The recent outbreak was contained within the Sydney veterinary facility, and thus far there have been no cases of the bacteria jumping to humans. However, of eight cats that were tested for the superbug at the facility, three were carrying it, two of which had not had direct contact with the sick cat.

"This outbreak was well contained, but the positive results from the other cats indicate that the bacterial species may be highly transferable," said research team member Dr. Richard Malik, from the University of Sydney.

Abraham said the last instance in Australia of such strong antimicrobial resistance was seen in a seagull colony off New South Wales.

"We are not sure how these birds were infected," he said, "and we are not ruling out the possibility of such resistant bacteria occurring in the natural environment."

The researchers stressed the rare nature of the new salmonella strain.

"This level of resistance is highly unusual in bacteria isolated from animals," said Darren Trott, of the University of Adelaide. "In a recent nationwide survey, we found no carbapenem resistance in bacteria from either companion animals or livestock."

"This cat was definitely very unlucky and had been living a pretty rough life before admission to the facility," Trott added.

WATCH VIDEO: Why The 5 Second Rule MIGHT Be True
Recently, a thirteen year old girl in India died after fasting for 68 days. She was a devout follower of Jainism, a religion that celebrates radical self control and restriction.

Jainism is an ancient religion concentrated in India. Followers of Jainism don't worship one all-knowing creator god, like Christianity and Islam. They believe the universe is made up of jiva, meaning souls or consciousness, and ajiva, meaning time, space, physical matter and everything else without a soul. Watch the video above to learn more about this fascinating religion.

Learn More:

BBC: Jainism at a Glance

The New York Times: India Police Pressed to Act in Girl's Death After Fast

Pew Research Center: The Global Religious Landscape
Press Release

October 27, 2016 De Lima seeks repeal of antiquated Revised Penal Code Sen. Leila M. de Lima today sought a repeal of the 84-year-old Revised Penal Code (RPC) and proposed a measure that would replace it with a Criminal Code of the Philippines to make it responsive and relevant to the country's criminal justice system. De Lima filed Senate Bill No. 1227 which seeks to ordain and institute a new Criminal Code of the Philippines that would modernize, update, and codify the country's basic penal law, including the present RPC's provisions that were amended or repealed. "This 84-year-old law, despite its antiquity, is still being enforced in our country. Since most of the provisions of the RPC have been amended, and a number of them had been replaced, there is an imperative need for this Code to be updated," she said. "This legislative measure does not only update and codify the current penal laws of the country, but likewise incorporates the international best criminal law practices," she added. In 2011 when she was justice secretary, De Lima created an inter-agency Criminal Code Committee tasked to study, assess and consolidate a simple, updated and modern criminal law to provide clarity in law enforcement and improve administration of justice. The Committee, in partnership with Hanns Seidel Foundation of Germany, produced the draft Criminal Code of the Philippines which is also hoped to result to an increased access to justice, especially for the marginalized sectors. The Committee was composed of representatives from the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the government, such as the Supreme Court, the two Houses of Congress, Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Immigration, Public Attorney's Office, Office of the Government Counsel, Office of the Solicitor General, Parole and Probation Administration, and Land Registration Authority, among others. "An effective administration of criminal justice system could only be attained if it can efficiently address the maladies of the society and curb the perpetration of crimes that is anathema to an orderly and peaceful community," De Lima pointed out. Among the salient provisions of the bill are the following, to wit: Changes to universal the jurisdiction of crimes instead of the current jurisdiction based on territory, given the evolving nature of crimes, especially transnational organized crime;

Simplifies the approach to criminalization based on conduct and not mental state;

Simplifies the categorization of crimes by eliminating the frustrated stage of commission of crime and accomplices in the degree of participation;

Classifies crimes into three (3) main categories, namely Crimes against the State, Crimes against Persons, and Crimes against Property, instead of 13 categories under the existing RPC;

There is no longer a splitting of criminal and civil action with the civil remedy always embedded in the criminal action;

A new scale of penalties composed of five "levels", and a level for "life imprisonment" aimed at simplifying the sentencing process, Using this new scale, crimes can be classified easily according to their gravity, along with the corresponding alternative. It also eliminates Latin/Spanish terms for penalties;

Modifying circumstances are now generically aggravating or mitigating without need of specific characterization for purpose of trial;

Prescription of crime and service of sentence is now combined;

Does away with gender discrimination crimes, such as adultery and concubinage;

Creates a Criminal Justice Policy and Research Center under the Department of Justice that would serve as the primary research arm of the government in evaluating and advocating for reforms in the framework and philosophy of the criminal justice system.
Press Release

October 28, 2016 CHAMPION OF LABOR RIGHTS AND EDUCATION

Villanueva releases first 100 days accomplishment report at JIL's 38th anniversary celebration Senator Joel Villanueva has released his first 100 days accomplishment report during the 38th anniversary celebration of Jesus Is Lord (JIL) at Luneta Grandstand in Manila on Friday. In his first 100 days since the opening of the first regular session of the 17th Congress, Villanueva has filed over 100 bills and resolutions focusing on fulfilling his vow to the Filipino people--to create more jobs, increase workers' take-home pay and provide quality education. "Being chosen by 18,459,222 voters to represent them in the Senate is no easy task. By the time I was elected, I have already prepared myself to assume this huge responsibility to do my job well and fulfill my mandate to serve the people. I do not want to fail the Filipino people. I want to give them what they truly deserve and that is to ensure that they have decent jobs," Villanueva said. Creating more jobs Popularly known as "TESDAMAN", Senator Joel Villanueva has proven himself as a champion of labor rights and skills training through the programs he started in TESDA which generated over 9 million jobs. In his latest mandate to the people as a senator, he continues to do more as can be seen through his bills and other initiatives. He was also given the chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment, and Human Resources Development, and the Committee on Youth. Just a day after he took his oath as a newly-elected senator, Villanueva filed bills aimed at generating more jobs, addressing the job-skills mismatch and improving the tech-voc sector. These measures include the Enterprise-based training Act (SB 208), Philippine Qualifications Framework (PQF) Act (SB 211), and Revised Apprenticeship Program Act (SB 213). In his first privilege speech, he acknowledged the extent of job-skills mismatch in the country and proposed solutions to address the problem which recent surveys cited as one of the causes of youth unemployment. The situation prompted the senator to file Senate Resolution No. 129 directing the Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources Development to review the state of job-skills mismatch in the country. Among his recommendations to resolve the issue are: 1) partnering with industry associations; (2) strengthening our enterprise-based training; (3) expanding our technical vocational education and training; and (4) institutionalizing the Philippine Qualifications Framework or PQF. "If our people have relevant skills: they will have more choices; they will be right for the job; the pursuit of happiness can be real for them. Sama-sama po tayo sa paglikha ng mga batas para tuldukan na ang job-skills mismatch sa bansa at palawakin ang oportunidad para sa mga manggagawang Pilipino," Villanueva emphasized in his speech. This October, Villanueva reiterated his call to end "endo" in his second privilege speech wherein he emphasized the need for a balanced and more holistic legislation to address the plight of contractual workers. "Sinabi po ni Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte na kung may panukalang batas para mahinto ang ENDO, pipirmahan n'ya po ito kaagad. Kung gayon, kailangan lang po ay magkasundo ang lahat ng mga stakeholders sa lalong madaling panahon sa mga mekanismo para matigil ang pang-aabuso sa mga manggagawa, mapatigil ang ENDO, at sa kabilang banda, mapatatag ang ating mga negosyo at patuloy tayong makalikha ng trabaho," Villanueva said. Increasing Workers' Take-Home Pay In line with the public's clamor to increase wages which was cited as the most urgent concern based on the recent Pulse Asia survey, Villanueva filed Senate Bill No. 1062 which restructures the income tax imposed on individuals. The senator acknowledged the failure to adjust the personal income tax structure since 1997 which has pushed taxpayers into higher tax brackets thereby resulting to workers paying a larger portion of their incomes to the government. His proposed bill is eyed to reduce the tax burden of workers and address our country's top marginal rates which is one of the highest in the ASEAN region. "Our country should not be left behind our richer ASEAN neighbors. What we need is a taxpayer-friendly system that would give more purchasing power to our workers. If the passage of this bill will be certified as urgent, concerns on wages will be alleviated and our workers will receive a higher take home pay" Villanueva said. End 'ENDO' Villanueva has also taken a strong stance against "endo" or the 555 scheme. As the Chairman of the Committee on Labor, he initiated a hearing to discuss the prevalent and abusive labor practices in contractualization. It was attended by top government officials from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), labor groups, members of the academe, and the private sector. Recognizing the existence of 600,000 job order personnels in the government and more than 400,000 contractual workers in the private sector, the senator believes that more stringent laws must be passed and strictly implemented to ensure a decent and humane labor condition for our workers. Consequently, the senator filed bills aimed at protecting employees from both the public and private sector. Among these measures are Security of Tenure Act (SB 1164) that would give permanent appointment to all government casual/contractual employees with three years of continuous service, and End ENDO Act (SB 1116) which proposes amendments to the Labor Code such as the prohibition of labor-only contracting, disallowance of unfair labor practice of the contracting employer, limiting of contractual services to highly specialized fields, and regularization of project and seasonal employees for the duration of the project or season. On October 13, Villanueva concluded the inquiry on 'endo' after three successful hearings. He assured the stakeholders of a legislation that will promote a balance between the efficiency of employers and the equity of workers. The senator also cited his recommendations on the proposed law addressing 'endo' and ensuring security of tenure for workers. Among the key features are: 1) the limiting of contractualization to specialized sectors; 2) ensuring that contractors have sufficient capital for the salaries and benefits of workers; 3) having transparent separation terms and affront payment of termination fees to employees; 4) ensuring that workers receive regular salaries and benefits, and uphold their right to organize; 5) simplification of employee classification to "regular" and "probationary"; and 6) the imposition of appropriate penalties to discourage bad practices of contractualization. "Our workers are the lifeblood of our economy. They have been neglected for many years now. We have to ensure that we adopt a law that will regularize these workers and make certain that they will receive social benefits and protection. Our goal is to ensure that they receive what is due them" Villanueva said. Making a stance on national issues Villanueva's focus on creating more jobs, protecting workers' rights and providing quality education has not kept him from making a critical stance on important national issues. Following the issuance of the President Rodrigo Duterte's Executive Order on Freedom of Information (FOI), the senator immediately urged the members of Congress to follow suit. He subsequently filed the FOI Act or An Act Promoting and Enforcing the Right of People to Information (SB 1014), a measure which he has long been pushing for ever since he was a Representative of CIBAC Partylist. He also participated in a Senate hearing on emergency powers in which he urged the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to speed up its crafting of a traffic plan that will be the basis of the Chief Executive once he is given emergency powers to solve the tremendous traffic in Metro Manila. Along with this, he filed the Telecommuting Act (SB 1032) which proposes the possibility of work from home which may not only reduce traffic congestion but also promotes work-life balance and productivity. Aside from these initiatives, Villanueva has also expressed his support on the government's war against illegal drugs during his participation in the hearing of Senate Committee on Justice on extrajudicial killings. However, the senator has also emphasized that the government's intensity on its drug war must be coupled with the same pursuit in probing unjustified killings and to look into more viable solutions to address the drug problem. "I have long been supportive of the government's war on illegal drugs. However, we must recognize that there is no quick fix solution to our drug problem. Drug dependence is a disease fueled by poverty and lack of opportunities. Fixing our economy will contribute more to addressing the drug problem," Villanueva noted. The senator has further recognized the role of youth in keeping up with the government's drive to curb the proliferation of illegal drugs. As such, Senator Villanueva filed the Youth Drug Abuse Resistance Education and Prevention Program (Y-DARE) Act which targets to educate the youth on the personal and social consequences of substance abuse and drug dependency. Moreover, Villanueva has also been proactive in addressing the needs of his hometown in Bocaue, Bulacan. Recently, he led the turnover ceremony of dredging equipment that will mitigate the decades-long flood problem in the province. Last September, Bulacan was hit by heavy rains which forced the evacuation of 1,559 individuals or 356 families from various towns in Bulacan. With the help of the said equipment, the dredging operation of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is believed to increase the carrying capacity and flood spill of the Bocaue River which serves as one of Bulacan's natural catch basins for floodwaters coming from central and northern Luzon's mountainous areas. Up For More Action Apart from measures seeking for the improvement of the labor sector, Villanueva has also filed a wide range of bills. Among these are: An Act Restructuring the Income Tax Imposed on Individuals (SB 1062), Philippine Extractive Industries Transparency Initiave or the FOI of the mining sector (SB 1125), Pedestrian Safety Act (SB 1126), Youth Suicide Prevention Act (SB 1163), and No Garage, No Car Act (SB 1165). Other labor-centered bills which the senator hopes to pass into law are the Parental Leave Act (SB 1064), Labor Empowerment Assistance Program (LEAP) Act (SB 1130), and Financial Literacy for Workers Act (SB 210). "This is just the start. There will be more bills and resolutions to file and we are not going to stop until all Filipinos are spared from abusive labor schemes and given quality education . I am confident that with the cooperation of our fellow Filipinos, we would soon create a positive change in our country," Villanueva said.
Press Release

October 29, 2016 Cayetano to Goldberg: what's your business in monitoring, criticizing PH officials' affairs

Says nothing suspicious about China trip Senator Alan Peter Cayetano shot back at outgoing US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg over the latter's recent remark that he and Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade made an "unpublicized" trip to China prior to President Rodrigo Duterte's state visit to Beijing. Cayetano on Friday (October 28) was invited as a resource person in a press briefing at Malacanang, wherein he was asked about his reaction to Goldberg's claims. In response, the senator confirmed his trip to China earlier this year, but clarified that it was at his own discretion and not that of the President. Cayetano emphasized that there was nothing suspicious about the trip being "unpublicized" because unlike the president, public officials are not obligated to issue departure and arrival statements every time they leave the country. "First of all, Sec. Tugade and myself, we're not the President. We don't have departure or arrival statements so what does he mean by unpublicized trips? The reality is that it is only the president's trips that are publicized," Cayetano said. "I'm a senator. I don't need the President to tell me to do something. If he tells me to do something, I will follow. But as a senator, I can meet my counterparts, I can travel. There is such a thing as inter-parliamentary relations," he explained. Cayetano further questioned what the US Ambassador's business was in monitoring his and Sec. Tugade's affairs. He also called out Goldberg for engaging in "rumor-mongering" and for giving false information when he made an unverified remark about Tugade's visit to China. "Sec. Tugade had a lot of invitations. Any DOTr Secretary is invited by China and Japan, automatically. But Secretary Tugade... I heard him a lot of times saying, 'I will not go abroad until I form my team. And my priority is forming the DOTr team'," Cayetano said. "That's why hindi siya sumama sa mga trips until matapos ang kanyang team. And may sarili siyang plano because Secretary Tugade doesn't want to be supply-driven... Gusto niya munang pag-aralan muna kung ano bang kailangan natin," he added. The senator also echoed the remarks of foreign relations personalities whom he talked to and claimed that Goldberg's action was considered as a breach of protocol, as it was something that "a professional diplomat would not do unless you want to do something with that country." "It was a surprise to us because they [the US] were angry a few years ago and they put some people in jail and they took US visas from a lot of Filipinos because we were spying on them. So is this an admission now that they are spying on us?" Cayetano asked. "Was there anything wrong, malicious of me going anywhere... to China?... I did not publicize but I also met with him. Did he talk about my talk with him? Is there anything fishy, suspicious? Wala. But the way he threw it in the interview was like his parting shot." US messenger a big part of the problem "One of the problems is the US and Ambassador Goldberg refuse to admit that he is part of the problem," Cayetano said as he described how the Philippines' relationship with its long-time ally is significantly being affected by the United States' interference in the country's policies and political affairs. The senator revealed that during the national elections last May, Goldberg took the time to personally meet the candidates and reported updates to the US government afterwards. But Goldberg was not able to meet with Duterte because the Ambassador apparently kept on changing the schedule. The senator also pointed out how Goldberg interfered with the country's national polls by making a comment about a highly politically charged issue, which could have affected the discretion of the 3.5 million Filipino-American voters in the US. "[Ambassador Goldberg] continued to treat Malacanang as if he can tell the Philippine President what to do... The messenger was part of the problem... He's interfering with our local politics, with how things are being run here," he stressed. Cayetano said he plans to issue a full report regarding the issue at the right time and that he would write a letter to Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay to complain and protest Goldberg's actions.
The project sounded like a win-win: The city would allow a developer to construct an apartment building in the Excelsior with more density than zoning laws allow in exchange for the developer making half the units permanently rent-controlled.

But Supervisor John Avalos said political gamesmanship is behind the whole deal, and he accuses Mayor Ed Lee of being in on it.

On Thursday, Avalos filed a complaint with the Ethics Commission against Ahsha Safai, the candidate seeking to replace Avalos as District 11 supervisor. Avalos supports Kimberly Alvarenga in the upcoming election.

Avalos complaint says Safai highlighted the 104-unit project in his campaign communications  he spoke to The Chronicle about it  but didnt disclose that he had a financial relationship with SST Investments, the projects developer. SST was a client of Safais consulting firm, Kitchen Cabinet Public Affairs.

Avalos also accuses Safai of failing to register as a lobbyist. He said Safai acted as an intermediary between SST Investments and the mayors office. Safai served on the San Francisco Housing Authority Commission.

As an unregistered lobbyist (Safai) is concealing his actual relationship with his clients and city government, a conceit that enables him to claim that he is negotiating community benefits and delivering city resources and services as a neighborhood activist rather than as a candidate, Avalos said in a statement.

Also on Thursday, former Ethics Commissioner Paul Melbostad filed an ethics complaint against Lee, accusing the mayors office of improperly using public resources to support Safai.

In particular, the Recreation and Park Department advertised a public meeting about Balboa Park by inviting neighbors to meet with the department  and Safai  to discuss a plan to allow off-leash dogs. That was a blatant misuse of public resources, Melbostad said in a statement.

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Deirdre Hussey, a spokeswoman for the mayors office, dismissed the complaints as baseless. We should be celebrating new rent-controlled apartments and affordable housing and urging others to follow suit, not filing baseless political complaints.

Safai said: Im not going to apologize for helping develop affordable housing and the first rent-controlled units in my district in several decades.

 Emily Green
An Oakland family was terrorized by police at home in December and a subsequent coverup by the Oakland Police Department only heightened the familys fear and anxiety, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in federal court.

The lawsuit names the city of Oakland and five Oakland police officials: four men who were alleged to have been involved with the December incident and one lieutenant who allegedly withheld information from the family.

About 9:30 p.m. on Dec. 7, a man pounded on the door of Nemesio and Olga Cortezs home in Oaklands Redwood Heights neighborhood, according to the lawsuit and police reports. The man, later identified as Oakland police Officer Cullen Faeth, allegedly assaulted both Cortezes before being arrested in front of their home.

A second man who ran up the couples driveway and appeared to have a gun fled the scene and has never been identified. The lawsuit alleges that he, too, is an Oakland police official.

Later that night, Oakland police twice visited the home to interview them and, the Cortezes say, persuade them to downplay the incident, according to the lawsuit. The Cortezes say they didnt learn that the man who had tried to enter their home was a police officer for several weeks, and then only after Olga Cortez, an Alameda County probation officer, had heard rumors about him.

The conduct was pretty outrageous the night of Dec. 7, said attorney John Burris, who is representing the family. But the cover-up, that goes to the integrity of the department.

Officials with the Oakland Police Department and the city attorneys office did not respond to requests for comment late Friday afternoon.

The lawsuit describes in detail the events of the night, which have been widely reported. In addition to the lawsuit, the couple earlier this year filed a claim against the city of Oakland seeking more than $25,000 in damages and accusing the Police Department and its officers of committing assault, battery, trespassing, infliction of emotional distress, negligence and negligent hiring.

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The lawsuit names Faeth and three other police officials: Sgt. Joe Turner, Officer Trevor Stratton and Officer Bryan Budgin. One of those three is believed to be the man who fled the scene, and the other two were in a car that helped him escape, the lawsuit says. All four men were placed on paid leave after the incident, according to attorneys for the Cortez family.

The fifth individual named in the lawsuit is Lt. Ronald Holmgren. According to the suit, after Olga Cortez heard rumors that police officials were involved, she spoke with Holmgren, who confirmed that two officers mistakenly went to her house to look for a party, according to the lawsuit. When Olga Cortez told him how terrified her family had been, Holmgren said she was being silly, the lawsuit states.

Erin Allday is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: eallday@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @erinallday
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The Oakland Public Ethics Commission is suing a top Oakland elected official  City Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney  saying the councilwoman repeatedly failed to produce records for an investigation into whether she used her office for personal gain.

The ethics commission turned to the Alameda County Superior Court on Oct. 5, saying McElhaney, who faces re-election in a little over a week, led them on for months, breaking promise after promise to turn over records the commission is seeking as it investigates whether the council president thwarted a town house development by influencing a planning commissions vote on her neighbors property.

McElhaney did not return phone calls Friday. A court date on the case has been scheduled for Nov. 7, the day before election day.

The probe began in February 2015 and is centered on findings by a civil grand jury in Alameda County that determined McElhaney broke city and state ethics rules by interfering with the approval process for five town house units next door to her West Oakland home. The grand jury report released in June said the councilwoman inappropriately wielded her influence by contacting a department head to argue objections to the project in January 2014. Oaklands planning and building chief, Rachel Flynn, then pressured the property owner to severely modify the design, reducing the number of town houses from five to four and diverting views away from McElhaneys house and toward the freeway.

McElhaneys interventions delayed and ultimately derailed the project, the report said, and the property owner is now offering the lot for sale.

The grand jury found that McElhaney had a material financial interest in decisions related to the town house project, given its proximity to her house and its effect on her privacy.

As public servants, elected officials are precluded from seeking to influence a decision in which they have a financial interest, the report said.

The ethics commission filed an administrative subpoena on July 22, demanding that McElhaney release documents in her control for its investigation, according to its suit. But McElhaney missed the commissions Aug. 10 deadline to turn over documents. On Aug. 11, after the commission threatened court action, McElhaney asked for a deadline extension and was granted one for Aug. 26, which she also missed. She then missed deadlines on Aug. 29, Sept. 1 and Sept. 2.

The commission is asking the court to force McElhaney to produce the documents.

Though McElhaney has largely declined to speak with the news media about the alleged ethics violations, she wrote a column defending herself in the San Francisco Bay View newspaper on June 23.

I did not behave unethically or attempt to use my office to influence the outcome, McElhaney wrote. She said she intervened in the project on behalf of other concerned neighbors in her West Oakland district, and that they experienced the same disregard and indifference that has become painfully characteristic of how tenured West Oakland residents are treated.

Councilwoman Desley Brooks, who frequently spars with McElhaney, is pushing her colleagues to censure the council president. But the council has declined to take action on the allegations until the commissions investigation is complete.

Council members Dan Kalb, Larry Reid, Abel Guillen, Rebecca Kaplan and Annie Campbell Washington could not be reached Friday to discuss the case, which has jolted City Hall at a time when five council members are fighting to keep their seats.

Only Councilman Noel Gallo spoke up, calling the commissions lawsuit the ultimate embarrassment  not just for McElhaney, but for the entire legislative body.

When people read about this, they dont see Lynette, they see all of us, Gallo said.

The squabble in City Hall has emboldened McElhaneys lesser-known rival for the West Oakland District Three seat, a community activist named Noni Session.

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At an Oct. 18 City Council meeting, Session seized the opportunity to pounce on a well-liked incumbent.

The grand jury got it right, she said during the public debate over Brooks motion for a censure hearing. The grand jury identified the unethical use of power and position to (get) an outcome.

McElhaney was absent for much of the council meeting that night, though she showed up at the very end  after a reporter tweeted video footage of her mingling at a party down the street.

Still, some political analysts doubt that the fallout will hurt McElhaneys re-election bid, given her popularity among constituents: An October Chamber of Commerce poll of 600 likely voters showed McElhaney with a strong lead of 35 percent support compared with Sessions 10 percent, with 53 percent of voters undecided.

It remains to be seen whether an opponent has enough money to put out mailers or advertising that will make a real issue out of this, said San Francisco State University Professor Joe Tuman, who ran unsuccessfully for Oakland mayor in 2010 and 2014. He questioned whether Session has the campaign resources to capitalize on a scandal.

Session could not be reached for comment Friday.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan
At 3 p.m. on Dec. 3, 1849, a tall, powerfully built man made his way through the throng in Portsmouth Square. His name was William Taylor, and he was a Methodist minister who had arrived in town 2 months earlier to spread the word of God to the most ungodly, blasphemous, hard-drinking, Sabbath-breaking collection of reprobates to be found anywhere in North America.

Taylor climbed up on a carpenters bench in front of one of the gambling houses that lined the square and, in a voice so powerful it could be heard for blocks around, began to sing. Hear the royal proclamation, the glad tidings of salvation! Taylor thundered. Jesus reigns, he reigns victorious, over heaven and Earth most glorious!

Nothing like this had ever been heard in San Francisco. Was someone going to preach in the plaza? Men rushed out of the gambling houses to see what was going on. By the time Taylor had finished his hymn, he was surrounded by a dense crowd.

Looking at the throng with a fearless expression, Taylor began to speak.

Gentlemen, if our friends in the Atlantic states, with the views and feelings they entertained of California society when I left there, had heard that there was to be preaching this afternoon on Portsmouth Square, in San Francisco, they would have predicted confusion, disorder and riot; but we, who are here, believe very differently, he said.

He pointed to the American flag that waved above the square. One thing is certain: There is no man who loves to see those stars and stripes floating on the breeze, and who loves the institutions fostered under them  in a word, theres no true American  but will observe order under the preaching of Gods word anywhere, and maintain it, if need be. We shall have order, gentlemen.

In a few masterful sentences, Taylor had simultaneously appealed to his listeners patriotism, their reverence for religion and their desire to uphold their good name against the calumnies of Easterners. Now, having won their attention, he turned to his sermon.

I apprehend that for the last 12 months at least, you have all been figuring under the rule of loss and gain, he told the Forty-Niners. Now, I wish most respectfully to submit to you a question under your favorite rule.  The question may be found in the 26th verse of the 16th chapter of our Lords Gospel by St. Matthew. Shall I announce it? What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his soul?

For the next hour, Taylor recalled in his book Seven Years Street Preaching in San Francisco, perfect order was observed, and profound attention given to every sentence of the sermon that followed.

It was the first street sermon ever preached in San Francisco, and the first of 600 that the tireless Taylor would give in the city.

Born in Virginia in 1821, Taylor had been sent to California in 1848 by the Methodist General Conference to evangelize and erect a church. On the sea journey to California, his wife, Anne, gave birth to a girl they named Oceana.

When he arrived in San Francisco, Taylor realized that rents were so exorbitant that the $750 the church had scraped together for a years housing would cover less than two months. So he took a boat to the East Bay, hiked up to the redwood groves and cut 3,000 shingles, which he traded for enough milled lumber to build a house at Jackson and Powell streets. He erected a church nearby and established a seamans bethel, or chapel, near the waterfront.

Taylors Sunday routine was not for the weak of spirit  or vocal cords. He preached at 9 a.m. to his church class, then at 10 on the waterfront, then at the seamans bethel at 11, the State Marine Hospital on Rincon Point at 2:30, Portsmouth Square at 4, and the bethel again at 7. He estimated that he gave 100 of his sermons standing on top of whiskey barrels.

His audiences frequently had up to 1,000 men. The city was so small, he noted, that his royal proclamation from Portsmouth Square tapped the drum of nearly every mans ear in town.

Although he was sometimes heckled and interrupted by drunks, nonbelievers or gamblers irritated that he was costing them customers, Taylor never lost an audience or was forced to abandon his sermon. Once a tipsy man seized Taylor by the collar, but regretted it when the 6-foot-tall, 200-pound preacher gave him such a shaking as muscles, developed at a curriers beam, can give.

Taylor won near-universal respect in San Francisco not only for his eloquent and fearless preaching and his manly demeanor, but also for his good works. He went every day to the City Hospital, a hideous dumping ground where ill and dying men lay in their own filth. He took a special interest in seamen, and wrote an eloquent piece denouncing the mistreatment to which they were routinely subjected, in particular the widespread practice of shanghaiing.

Seven Years Street Preaching in San Francisco, published in 1856, became a runaway best-seller, selling 20,000 copies. The story of a man of God who had ventured fearlessly into the city that was a byword for vice and sin, the very Sebastopol of his Satanic majesty, proved irresistible.

The book remains a uniquely valuable document about the inner life of the early city. Taylors clear-eyed stories about intensely personal encounters with Forty-Niners, and his dispassionate recounting of deathbed scenes of exaltation and despair, make the book as close to a psychiatric examination of early San Franciscans as exists.

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In one characteristically haunting scene, Taylor visits a dying man who tells him, Before you came in here I had some peace, but you have knocked me all into a kink, and if you will just go away, I think I can die in peace.

In 1856, Taylor left San Francisco, continuing an evangelical career that would take him to England, Europe, New Zealand, India and South America. In 1884, he became missionary bishop of Africa. He died in 1902.

The three authors of the 1855 classic The Annals of San Francisco summed up Taylors legacy in San Francisco: He has exerted a very great influence upon the wandering masses, recalling them often when they least expect it, to a recollection of the days when they worshiped in their native villages, when life was younger, and hope fresher, the thoughts purer, and the heart lighter, and thus putting before their downhill wheels a trig to save them from ruin.

Gary Kamiya is the author of the best-selling book Cool Gray City of Love: 49 Views of San Francisco, awarded the Northern California Book Award in creative nonfiction. All the material in Portals of the Past is original for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: metro@sfchronicle.com

Trivia time

Previous trivia question: What is the largest street clock in San Francisco?

Answer: The Albert S. Samuels clock at 844 Market St.

This weeks trivia question: Besides Earth, what is the only planet not to have a San Francisco street named after it?

Editors note
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Earlier this year, the Chinese Historical Society of America in San Francisco got a remarkable present from New York  a gift of its own history.

The gift is a museum show called Chinese American: Exclusion/Inclusion, an exhibition of art, artifacts and stories that ran in New York last year. When the show closed in spring of 2015, the sponsoring New-YorkHistorical Society gave it to the San Francisco group.

The show is big league. Its interactive, with films, family histories, art and all the modern museum tricks.

Stories at the push of a button, said Sue Lee, executive director of the San Francisco group. It opens at 10 a.m. Saturday for an open-ended run at the Chinese Historical Societys headquarters in Chinatown.

And its welcome as a gracious gift. Our story is overlooked in this country, Lee said. People dont know it.

One reason for that, Lee said, is that the Chinese immigrant story has been overwhelmed by other stories. It hasnt been told that well, she said.

Her organization was founded in 1963 and remains small. We dont have the resources to do a show like this ourselves, Lee said.

The exhibition cost $2.5million to mount when it opened in Manhattan in fall of 2014. The show was a hit. The New York Times called it vigorous and imaginative.

The theme of the show is how the Chinese went from being kept out of the United States by racist laws to becoming part of the country. We are a chapter in American history, Lee said.

Amy Osborne/Special To The Chronicle

The story begins with trade  the tea the American patriots dumped in Boston Harbor came from China, and so did George Washingtons table china. The first U.S. trade mission to China dates from an 1784 voyage, by the sailing ship Empress of China, from New York to Canton. The Americans exported furs, lead, wine and ginseng and imported silk, tea and china goods.

These days, of course, American stores are full of Chinese imports.

But the big impact came with the Gold Rush in 1849, an event that transformed California. Like other immigrants fleeing poverty and war, Chinese came in the thousands. Though they provided the labor that helped build the first railroad across the country, they were not welcomed.

This is the story that is most familiar to other Americans. Much of it is centered around San Francisco  Denis Kearney, the sandlot orator and his battle cry The Chinese must go!, the anti-Chinese views of California Gov. Henry Haight (as in San Franciscos Haight-Ashbury), San Francisco magazines and newspapers showing Chinese as disease-ridden menaces to white Americans.

This all led to the passage by Congress of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which lasted in effect until 1943. Under that law, Chinese Americans had to prove they had a right to be in this county and to carry identification at all times.

The show also has a creditable replica of the immigration station on Angel Island, where Chinese were interrogated by government officers.

Many prospective immigrants used false identities to get into the country in that period, claiming to be the children of Chinese immigrants who had become U.S. citizens. They were called paper sons, and their descendants live in this country now. Lees grandfather was a paper son.

But around a corner of the exhibition, the story shifts to the growth of an American Chinese community. Here, Lee said, The exhibit is not so much about Chinese as it is about America.

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This part of the show is a bit New York-centric, telling family stories that begin in China, continue to a one-room apartment in Hells Kitchen and wind up where an immigrants grandson is a federal judge. There is also a graphic novel by Bronx-born Amy Chin tracing her family back to a Chinese village.

Amy Osborne/Special To The Chronicle

To add a bit of California flavor, the Chinese Historical Society included a dozen watercolors by Jake Lee that show 19th century Chinese American life in the West. The paintings, which once graced the wall of Johnny Kans San Francisco restaurant, are treasures of the historical society collection.

Still the history of Chinese America is not well known. People still dont know the story. They sometimes tell me I speak excellent English, said Pam Wong, who was born in San Diego and is deputy director of the Chinese Historical Society. They think we are all new immigrants. We are not.

Carl Nolte is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. His column appears every Sunday. Email: cnolte@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @carlnoltesf

Art, artifacts

Where: Chinese Historical Society of America, 965 Clay St., S.F.

Open: Noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekends.

Admission: $15 adults; $10 seniors and students; free under 2.
San Francisco has many problems for which it seems there are no solutions. So its a relief theres one problem that could be helped with a single, simple fix: the byzantine and exasperating public school assignment system.

The system bends over backward to promote racial and ethnic diversity in the classroom, and its not only ineffective, its also unfair to the minorities it purports to help.

Its time to go back to basics: Let students attend schools in their neighborhood.

As school board member Rachel Norton has said, the latest version of school choice, which has been in effect since 2010, favors white parents who are well off, speak English, are computer savvy and have ready access to transportation.

At present, school assignments are based on a series of factors. A student gets first priority to attend a school if he or she has a sibling already at the school.

Its the second priority that causes the problems.

Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle 2016

Second priority for school choice goes to students who live in census tracts where the student population has the lowest test scores.

We all know the school board members hearts are in the right place. They want to give students from disadvantaged communities access to the best-performing schools. The Census Tract Integration Preference also is designed to increase diversity in the schools.

But in practice, the system is being gamed by affluent white families who buy homes in neighborhoods with low CTIP scores so that they can get their kids into the best, top-ranked public schools in the city.

The result, as even the school board admits, is a less diverse school district. As The Chronicles award-winning series last year showed, racially isolated schools (meaning schools with more than 60 percent of one racial group) increased from 23 to 24 since CTIP was enacted.

Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle

So last year Norton and Sandra Fewer, who will leave the board in January, put forth a proposal that would have made attendance area the second qualifier for school assignment. In simplest terms, that would mean the second priority would be your neighborhood school.

That proposal lost at the board on a 4-3 vote in June. And now, with four seats up for election on Nov. 8, its important to ask the nine candidates for the board where they stand on neighborhood schools.

Some, such as current board President Matt Haney, have said theyre open to the idea, although he voted against it last year. Others, such as Norton, Ian Kalin and Trevor McNeil, are in favor. Mark Sanchez, principal at Cleveland Elementary School in the Excelsior, has said that using neighborhood priority would actually make his school more diverse.

Encouraging neighborhood schools would be a small change, but the ramifications could be huge.

For starters, the school district prides itself on school choice. Parents can opt for language immersion schools, for instance, or schools with demonstrably high academic scores.

Thats fine. And even if there was a change to make neighborhood schools the second priority, families could still apply to other schools.

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But the unintended consequence of the current system is that it encourages school shopping and doesnt help diversity. Numbers from 2014, for instance, showed three elementary schools with student populations that were more than 50 percent white.

Would neighborhood choice make that statistic worse? No. The district said in a 2010 policy report that under a neighborhood system some schools might be less racially concentrated and many schools might have a more robust enrollment.

Theres a sense of community that comes from students in the neighborhood attending the same school. Families get to know each other. Students could walk to school or at least have a shorter commute than going to the far side of town.

Most of all, there would be a sense of predictability. If a family was interested in attending the school in their neighborhood, it would have that option.

It makes too much sense to not happen.

C.W. Nevius is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. His columns appear Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Email: cwnevius@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @cwnevius
The San Francisco School Board needs to make a decision.

Are its members attempting to create an idyllic, shining school district where every classroom is a model of diversity and parents happily send their kids to schools miles away from home because it is the socially responsible thing to do? Or do they want to reflect the wishes of the families who are deeply unhappy with the current system of school choice?

They answered that question Tuesday night with a 4-3 vote against allowing families more say in choosing schools in their neighborhoods. That leaves in place the unpopular system that uses census tracts and achievement scores to assign students to schools.

The board patiently explains that families who are unhappy with the system are merely chronic complainers not willing to do the right thing.

So if this were a business, the board would be saying: Although many of our customers do not approve of what we are doing, they are wrong, and we are going to continue to do it until they understand that they are mistaken.

Certainly, the numbers are incontestable. Nearly one-third of white, school-age students in San Francisco have opted out and are attending private school. Families routinely cite the byzantine school assignment system as a reason to leave the city and live somewhere where choosing a kindergarten isnt a full-time job.

In response, school board members Rachel Norton and Sandra Fewer put forth a proposal to make neighborhood schools (attendance areas in school board lingo) the second metric for school preference. Currently, the second choice is based on census data and achievement test scores. The first is whether a sibling attends the school.

It is, according to the districts data, a minor change. Statistics say it would impact just a few schools  only 39 students in the 2014-15 school year would have been affected  and might actually make some of them more diverse.

And yet the idea has been opposed fiercely. Norton and Fewer have scheduled it for a vote more than once but have held off in the hope that some board members  perhaps Shamann Walton, who supported flipping the second-choice criteria to attendance areas when he was running for office  would vote in favor.

Who knows? Norton said before the Tuesday night vote. Maybe we will be surprised.

Nope. He voted against. Tuesdays result was another opportunity to explain to parents that they should pipe down and let the experienced hands handle this.

Interviewed for The Chronicles recent schools project, school board member Jill Wynns, who has been on the board for more than 20 years and has adamantly opposed any neighborhood component to school choice, said the system is working remarkably well.

Really? Because despite efforts, more schools are racially segregated than ever.

The board has answers to all of this, of course. Among them:

Parents want diversity and will put up with long commutes and a lack of neighborhood interaction to support it: In his video interview for The Chronicle project, school board member Matt Haney said, when he talks to parents about priorities, more often than not I hear diversity.

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Thats odd because before the 2012-13 school year the district surveyed 10,405 families who were asked to rank a series of issues from most important to least. Overwhelmingly the issues listed as most important were neighborhood safety, academic reputation, and teachers and principals.

Among 15 choices, diversity was ranked 10th for incoming kindergarten and high school families and eighth for middle school families. In every case diversity was not rated as high as near home.

Maybe the system isnt working right now, but just give the board a little time to make a few adjustments: Theyve had time. Theres been more than a decade of tweaking and tinkering with numbers and fiddling with metrics. It isnt working.

Minority and low-income families appreciate the opportunity for school choice and are using it to improve their lot in life: In reality, those families are the least likely to dive into the confusing, difficult system of school choice. As Fewer said in her interview for The Chronicle series: Latino and Chinese-Asian parents are choosing to send their kids to schools near their homes.

The real irony is that the school board continues to admit that the system isnt working. In fact, their data show that their policies have resulted in more segregation, not less.

But trust them. They know whats best.

C.W. Nevius is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. His columns appear Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail: cwnevius@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @cwnevius
When Corinne Cole bought her first hearing aids more than 20 years ago, they cost about $3,000 per ear. When she bought another set eight years later, they were around the same price.

When Cole needed to replace her current devices, she decided to research her options in hopes of avoiding another painfully expensive purchase.

Its just a lot of money to be spending for hearing devices, said Cole, 60, of Moraga, whose early hearing loss was probably due to a severe ear infection as a child. Its hard even for the people who have money, who can afford it. But what if you cant?

Her search led her to iHear Medical Inc., a San Leandro startup that is offering hearing aids for $300 apiece. The devices, approved by the Food and Drug Administration, are discreetly tucked into the ear canal.

Cole picked up her new set this month. So far, she believes the quality is at least as good as her expensive aids, and she finds them easier to adjust for sound.

While more than 37.5 million Americans  at least 15 percent of adults  suffer from hearing loss, studies show that 80 percent go untreated. Electronic hearing aids, which have been around since the 1950s, have undergone technological advancements. Still, many people opt not to use them for various reasons, a major one being cost.

Hearing aids cost an average of $2,300 per ear, according to a 2015 report from the Presidents Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. The problem is not, for the most part, the hardware, which can be cheap. Rather, associated costs like research and development and a lifetime of servicing get folded into the price. Also, only about a half-dozen companies dominate the hearing aid manufacturing business.

Compounding the problem, hearing aids often have to be replaced every five or six years.

Insurers typically dont pay for the devices or for many associated services, though they may cover aspects of audiology testing. They take their cue from the federal Medicare program for the elderly, which doesnt cover hearing aids, hearing exams or the costs of fitting the devices.

Theyre expensive, and I dont think theres a lot of coverage, said Mark Beach, spokesman for AARPs Sacramento office.

Californias Medicaid program for the poor, Medi-Cal, offers limited coverage for hearing aids: Its capped at $1,510 for most beneficiaries. So many of the newer, more advanced devices may still be unaffordable. Those insured through the Veterans Health Administration generally get better coverage for hearing aids than those with other types of insurance.

The lack of access to the devices has consequences beyond just remaining hard of hearing.

You have individuals who have lost their hearing over time, and dont necessarily know that. It can affect their personality and how they interact with people around them, said Holly Walls, chief operating officer at Sertoma, an organization focused on improving hearing health. That can lead to depression, increased risk of falls and other health issues.

In August, Sertoma started a program to offer free, refurbished hearing aids to those who need them, Walls said. She said individuals who are working may be asked to contribute a small fee.

UnitedHealthcare is one of few health insurers that offer discounted hearing aids to both members and nonmembers through its hi HealthInnovations program, which uses its bulk purchasing power to get price cuts of up to 70 percent. Some members may get complete coverage for their devices.

Dr. Lisa Tseng, founder of the program, said untreated hearing loss can lead to more permanent loss if the brain loses the ability to understand sound. Hearing is muscle, she said, If you dont use it, you can lose it.

Other companies are trying to bring down the price of hearing devices.

Audicus, a New York company that started in 2012, cuts out the middlemen and reduces the cost by selling directly to the consumer, with hearing devices starting around $400. Costco offers competitively priced hearing aids. Other companies, including Jacoti and Embrace Hearing, also have lower-cost options.

But Adnan Shennib, iHears president and founder, says his company is the first to offer an FDA-approved hearing aid thats accompanied by a cheap online testing process, also FDA-approved, that customers can do by themselves, at home. The $49 process, which the company began offering in July, includes hearing tests and custom calibration of the hearing aid.

This is a growing trend in health care in general, Shennib said. People are saving money by doing it themselves.

The company, which raised $5 million from venture capitalists and other firms two years ago, is now seeking $15 million more for product development. The company plans to start mass-producing its hearing aids next year, said Shennib, who declined to release information on the number of iHear customers.

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An entrepreneur with more than two decades of experience in the hearing business, Shennib knows a thing or two about expensive hearing aids. He developed Lyric, the first extended-wear hearing aid, which is considered the most expensive device at a subscription rate of about $3,500 per set per year.

While he said theres a place for a device that can be worn for months at a time, he said hearing should also be affordable.

We challenged ourselves to (take) the opportunity to develop hearing technology for the masses, he said, instead of the 1 percent who could afford it.

Victoria Colliver is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vcolliver@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @vcolliver

Choosing a hearing aid

About 1 in 3 people between the ages of 65 and 74 has hearing loss, and nearly half of those older than 75 have difficulty hearing, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. If youre considering buying a hearing aid, here are some tips:

Understand the product: There are several different types of hearing devices, from analog and digital hearing aids to personal sound amplifiers, or over-the-counter listening devices, and other products that are not actual hearing aids. Different styles of hearing aids are designed for different types of hearing loss.

Select a hearing aid provider: You may be evaluated by a doctor, audiologist or hearing-aid specialist. Check to make sure the providers license is current, or look for complaints.

Shop wisely: The Hearing Loss Association of America offers a checklist to help with the buying process.
The latest company to offer American investors a piece of Chinas Internet boom has thousands of couriers on electric carts who speed garments, lipsticks and electronic devices to customers homes.

ZTO Express is one of a host of delivery companies that have emerged in China to ferry packages from merchant to consumer to propel the countrys vast e-commerce revolution. China is now the worlds largest delivery market; nearly 21 billion packages were sent last year, roughly 70 percent originating from online transactions, according to market research firm iResearch.

That concept enabled ZTO to raise a greater-than-expected $1.4 billion in an initial public offering of stock on Thursday, the largest IPO in the United States this year, according to Dealogic. But by the close of trading in New York, its shares on the New York Stock Exchange had tumbled 15 percent, to $16.57, a concerning signal for new listings, which have been challenged this year.

The offerings size eclipsed the $1.3 billion that Japanese messaging company Line raised in July. That also makes it the largest American IPO by a Chinese company since the $25 billion stock sale in 2014 by Alibaba Group, the Chinese e-commerce giant that has underpinned the rise of delivery companies.

ZTO is one of four Chinese delivery companies that ferry a bit more than half of all packages in China. The companies, known as the Tongda Operators, share similar names, business models and origins, and all the founders hail from Tonglu County, about 50 miles south of Alibabas headquarters in Hangzhou, in the eastern province of Zhejiang. Proximity to Alibaba has been a boon for business; Alibabas online shops accounted for about 77 percent of ZTOs business in 2015, according to the companys IPO prospectus.

To Xinjiang, Beijing, anywhere in China, all the Tongda Operators are about the same price, said Liu Song, who runs the Sweet Lisa Flagship Store, which sells womens apparel on Alibabas Tmall online shopping platform. From Chinas southern city of Guangzhou, Liu ships about 3,000 dresses, blouses and skirts each month, for roughly 53 cents a parcel. In 2011, he paid $1.20 a parcel to ship to Beijing.

Every year the price is going down, Liu said. I dont think it can go down any more.

Though ZTO depends heavily on the legions of delivery people who zip around Chinese cities delivering makeup, clothes and gadgets, it doesnt employ them. The Tongda Operators run only the sorting and long-haul transportation network, leaving last-mile delivery  traditionally the most costly link in the chain  to partners who ferry packages from hubs to homes.

That has helped ZTO maintain profit margins as prices charged to customers decline. ZTO earned a net income of $115 million on revenue of $639 million in the first six months of this year.

As the market cost leader, we are not afraid of a price war, said James Guo, ZTOs chief financial officer, while also noting that the decline in parcel weight and the introduction of digital waybills explained some of the falling prices. In the case of the price war, we can actually benefit from that and gain market share.

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Almost anyone can open a delivery outlet by paying a fee and signing a contract with ZTO or one of its partners. Then come logos, three-wheeled carts and delivery personnel to start carrying packages. These partners set the prices charged to senders and are the ones being squeezed by a price war.

Though the Tongda Operators are the biggest, Chinas delivery market is fragmented and cutthroat. It has an estimated 8,000 companies, according to 2015 figures from the China E-Commerce Research Center. No single courier holds more than 15 percent market share by volume, according to iResearch. Deutsche Post DHL pulled out of the domestic delivery market entirely in 2011; FedEx and UPS have a tiny share.

ZTOs business model is particular to China, with its densely populated cities and its online shopping boom. It is a business model probably unsuited for many other countries, so the bet for investors is on growth in Chinas e-commerce market and eventual consolidation in the delivery space.

An American initial public offering like ZTOs is unusual among Chinas express delivery companies. ZTOs immediate peers  YTO Express, STO Express and Yunda Express, as well as premium competitor SF Express  are going public in mainland China using what are called reverse mergers, in which the company pours its operations into an existing company that has publicly traded shares.
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A man was stabbed in the chest in Sonoma County Friday morning after a fight over a cigarette between two men and one of their girlfriends, police said.

Sonoma County Sheriffs deputies responded about 11 a.m. to a fight between two males in the middle of a street in an unincorporated area west of Santa Rosa near the 3300 block of Fulton Road, according to Lt. John Molinari.
Yet another October surprise rocked the presidential race Friday with the FBIs revelation that it was reopening the Hillary Clinton server case. Its statement was spare and vague, but instantly escalated the level of invective and innuendo in an election that has had much of each.

The FBI is promising to weigh the latest crop of messages months after it closed an earlier investigation that failed to produce charges against Clinton, who used a private server while secretary of state.

Republicans already are lambasting her, though details of the latest FBI inquiry were sketchy. House Speaker Paul Ryan, seizing on the FBI announcement, called for a suspension of the customary classified briefings for the Democratic nominee.

Even before the latest development, some members of Congress had been signaling that they wont accept a possible Clinton win by denying a Supreme Court appointment and launching unending investigations of her.

Get ready for dug-in opposition that will worsen Washingtons gridlock and paralyze government in new ways.

Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, is furthering the GOP stance against a White House replacement for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia  who died in February.

Incredibly, Cruz is suggesting theres precedent for letting the nine-member court continue with eight judges. His remarks follow months of the Republican-run Senates pointed refusal to consider Merrick Garland, nominated by President Obama.

If Clinton wins the White House, she would be expected to stick with that nominee or offer one of her own, obliging the Senate to hold hearings and act, not stall any longer. Cruzs daft idea essentially dismisses the whole process, upending the high courts proper composition and canceling a presidential power. Fortunately, Republicans arent entirely behind the Cruz plan, but its unclear how theyll treat a Clinton nominee after nearly a years wait for a replacement jurist.

The other looming threat is a House investigative committee headed by Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican. Hes promising to aim his panel at Hillary Clintons record as secretary of state with unlimited inquiries fueled by a wave of emails supplied by WikiLeaks. Its a recipe for turmoil designed to hobble a Clinton administration with a slanted wave of attacks.

One answer to this obstructionism could be a sweeping win for Clinton. A decisive victory would render moot Donald Trumps suggestion that he wont necessarily accept the results.

The FBIs amorphous announcement put a cloud over the campaign that is unlikely to dissipate before election day. FBI Director James Comey has an obligation to the American people, as a matter of fairness, to offer a clearer sense of the nature and severity of the issue his agency is pursuing.
It was wise of ODC Theater to schedule Embodiment Projects Seed Language for the closing weekend of Welcome Home @ 40, the theaters 40th anniversary celebration: This kind of potent, powerful, epic dance theater deserves the last word.

Co-produced by ODC, where Embodiments artistic director Nicole Klaymoon is in creative residence, Seed Language opened its three-performance run with a world premiere on Friday, Oct. 28.

Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, Seed Language combines dramatic monologues with an alchemy of dance styles including hip-hop, waacking, locking and contemporary to revitalize issues that, in the words of BLM co-founder Alicia Garza, are at risk of being reduced to a hashtag.

The script comes straight from the mouths of social-justice activists and everyday Bay Area folk, from lightning rods like Garza and former Black Panther leader Ericka Huggins (both were in the opening-night audience) to 11-year-old Mariah Hardeman and an anonymous Haight Street police officer.

Several of the nine dancers double as actors, and very fine ones at that, voicing the real-life characters words down to each um, like and inflection. Tristan Cunningham opens the show as Garza, in a verbal barrage that can be distilled to the central message that black lives have been murdered since we were brought here as slaves.

In a monologue that quotes Joy Degruy, author of Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, Sheila Russell describes the legacy of trauma that has rippled through a dozen generations of African Americans. But as Mika Lemoine says in the words of a white student-activist, whiteness offers an escape hatch from validating that perspective, unspoken permission to excuse oneself from the table of mutual understanding.

Lemoine then launches a waacking solo of profound beauty and emotion, eventually getting absorbed into a Matrix-inspired hip-hop ensemble performed to Daft Punks Son of Flynn. Throughout the work, actors repeat monologue phrases, like live samples, turning prose into a form of poetry.

The entire company is unified in its cause; nearly all of the nine racially diverse dancers are also active in community organizing, youth education or social justice. Each is also unique in physicality, technique and expression. Malcolm Jefferson has the freestylers kinetic hypermobility and projects a tender vulnerability; George WuKong Cheng is power and precision in B-boy moves. Amber Nicole Julian draws lyricism out of hip-hop, while Rama Mahesh Halls smallest movement is ripe with emotion. Dante Animal Rose and Jon Lee complete the first-rate cast, while Amara Tabor-Smith emerges in a vivid cameo not to be scooped here.

The vocal quartet MoonCandy, led by Valerie Troutt, performed Troutts original songs and move through the work like a Greek chorus. Would you harbor a lesbian  Muslim  heretic  me? they ask. We got a right to stay alive, they demand. The simple and superbly effective set decoration is little more than a black cube that serves as a dais, JennyBs color-infused downlights and video by Carl Gresther and Joe Stillwater.

In lesser hands, this content could easily become tedious and pedantic. But Klaymoon, whose career is dedicated to promoting social justice through dance theater, paces the work beautifully over two hours (though intermission is a welcome breather). She finds touches of humor amid the struggle, and embeds the monologues in dance that is by turns abstract and representative.

This is an intense performance, a bit like taking a defibrillator jolt to the soul. There is a lot to grapple with, and the myriad perspectives that Seed Language brings into the forum allow no easy answers. We are asked to examine our own lives in response.

Seed Language also is exquisitely subtle in its way. When Jefferson lies prone, hands behind his back as though cuffed, he juxtaposes the police officers matter-of-fact description of reaching for her weapon. More dancers enter, and civilians and officers dance in an arc from uneasy harmony to opposition. Klaymoon has woven opposing perspectives together and left the threads tangled  as in art, so in life.

Claudia Bauer is a Bay Area freelance writer and critic. Email: datebook@sfchronicle.com

Seed Language continues 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29, and 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 30. ODC Theater, 3153 17th St., S.F. $20-$30. www.odcdance.org www.embodimentproject.org
A prominent San Francisco attorney returning to his home in El Cerrito on Thursday evening was confronted by an assailant who shot him to death, police said.

Officers responding to 911 calls just before 9 p.m. found James Gilliland Jr., 62, on his front porch on the 2600 block of Mira Vista Drive, in the hills east of Interstate 80. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.

Gillilands wife, Victoria, was inside the home at the time, but investigators have not located any eyewitnesses. They were canvassing for surveillance footage in the neighborhood Friday morning, said El Cerrito police Lt. Robert De La Campa.

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Gilliland had apparently been returning from a social engagement, and had just parked his car when he was shot, De La Campa said. The killer, he said, fired approximately six shots from a handgun.

We dont know the motive yet, the lieutenant said.

It was not known whether Gilliland was stalked or followed, whether he was the victim of a robbery, or whether the victim and gunman knew one another, De La Campa said.

A few residents remembered seeing a white car, and someone running, around the same time as the shooting, he said. Others said they heard loud gunshots.

I heard the shots, but honestly I didnt make the connection to gunshots, said neighbor Roberta Binarelli. I thought it was fireworks. I thought, What are they celebrating?

Other residents said Gilliland was a familiar face in the neighborhood and at a nearby church. He was regularly seen walking a large black dog and maintained a free take-one-leave-one book box in front of his home for the benefit of passersby.

Man, I cant believe that, said neighbor Bruce Easley. When I got up this morning and saw the activity, it just clicked.

Gilliland was a partner at Kilpatrick Townsend and Stockton LLP in San Francisco, where he headed litigation from 2013 to 2015. Specializing in patents, copyright and antitrust, he represented companies including Oracle, Sony, Williams-Sonoma and Levi Strauss and Co.

Susan Spaeth, the firms managing partner, said Gilliland was an absolute pillar.

"He was our trusted colleague and close friend, as well as a mentor and role model to so many, she said in a statement. Jim will be missed deeply. He was truly a great lawyer, and his many clients trusted him with their most difficult cases.

In addition to his work with the law firm, Gilliland served on the board of directors of Roses in Concrete, an Oakland charter elementary school. Its founder and chairman, Jeff Duncan-Andrade, recalled Gilliland as such a humble dude and so giving of his time and expertise.

His legal acumen was incredible. He read every document for us. ... He insisted on excellence, and he would catch every mistake, Duncan-Andrade said. He was a lawyer  the best of what that word means. Not stereotypical. But I was most impacted by his humility.

In an interview earlier this year with the Law360 news service, Gilliland was asked how he attracted new clients.

On occasion, (I) tell clients that I am not the right person for a job, he said. One potential client said he was looking for the meanest SOB in town. I said he should not hire me, because that is not how I handle cases. He didnt.

Investigators urged anyone in the area with surveillance camera footage to call (510) 215-4400 or email investigations@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us.

Kimberly Veklerov and Steve Rubenstein are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com, srubenstein@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov, @SteveRubeSF
An Oakland family was terrorized by police at home in December and a subsequent coverup by the Oakland Police Department only heightened the familys fear and anxiety, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in federal court.

The lawsuit names the city of Oakland and five Oakland police officials: four men who were alleged to have been involved with the December incident and one lieutenant who allegedly withheld information from the family.

About 9:30 p.m. on Dec. 7, a man pounded on the door of Nemesio and Olga Cortezs home in Oaklands Redwood Heights neighborhood, according to the lawsuit and police reports. The man, later identified as Oakland police Officer Cullen Faeth, allegedly assaulted both Cortezes before being arrested in front of their home.

A second man who ran up the couples driveway and appeared to have a gun fled the scene and has never been identified. The lawsuit alleges that he, too, is an Oakland police official.

Later that night, Oakland police twice visited the home to interview them and, the Cortezes say, persuade them to downplay the incident, according to the lawsuit. The Cortezes say they didnt learn that the man who had tried to enter their home was a police officer for several weeks, and then only after Olga Cortez, an Alameda County probation officer, had heard rumors about him.

The conduct was pretty outrageous the night of Dec. 7, said attorney John Burris, who is representing the family. But the cover-up, that goes to the integrity of the department.

Officials with the Oakland Police Department and the city attorneys office did not respond to requests for comment late Friday afternoon.

The lawsuit describes in detail the events of the night, which have been widely reported. In addition to the lawsuit, the couple earlier this year filed a claim against the city of Oakland seeking more than $25,000 in damages and accusing the Police Department and its officers of committing assault, battery, trespassing, infliction of emotional distress, negligence and negligent hiring.

The lawsuit names Faeth and three other police officials: Sgt. Joe Turner, Officer Trevor Stratton and Officer Bryan Budgin. One of those three is believed to be the man who fled the scene, and the other two were in a car that helped him escape, the lawsuit says. All four men were placed on paid leave after the incident, according to attorneys for the Cortez family.

The fifth individual named in the lawsuit is Lt. Ronald Holmgren. According to the suit, after Olga Cortez heard rumors that police officials were involved, she spoke with Holmgren, who confirmed that two officers mistakenly went to her house to look for a party, according to the lawsuit. When Olga Cortez told him how terrified her family had been, Holmgren said she was being silly, the lawsuit states.

Erin Allday is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: eallday@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @erinallday
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San Franciscos Department of Building Inspection has filed two notices of violation against Millennium Tower, saying the owners made unauthorized repairs to address issues caused by the buildings sinking.

The department found spalling and leaking in the underground parking garage, as well as repairs that had been done without permits. DBI ordered the building owner to obtain permits for the work already done and provide an engineering report on the condition of water intrusion and cracking in the garage walls.

A second violation charges that two ramps on the Millennium complexs ground floor  one connects the 58-story condominium tower to the adjacent 11-story podium, and the other goes to the rear porte cochere  are steeper than the maximum slope allowed by state building codes. The handrails were also found to be out of compliance. Both must be corrected within 90 days.

Building Inspector Daniel Lowery said that the slope of the ramps had clearly become steeper during settlement and that the owner had tried to correct the problem.

The ramps would not have been at that slope at the time of final inspection when the building opened in 2009, he said. It appears that they have been altered without a permit.

The luxury high-rise has sunk 16 inches and tilted 2 inches at the base, prompting a number of lawsuits. Homeowners have sued the developer, saying the foundation, which uses 90-foot piles rather than the 225-foot piles that would have reached bedrock, is insufficient.

The developer, Millennium Partners, has blamed the Transbay Joint Powers Authority for causing the settlement by dewatering soil around the adjacent Transbay Transit Center, which is under construction.

The Millennium Tower Homeowners Association, which owns the building, said it assumed that any necessary permits were being properly pursued by Millennium Partners and that it understands that they are getting the necessary permit for the garage repair today.

Millennium Partners spokesman P.J. Johnston said the developer will work with the association to address these types of issues, which commonly arise with large buildings. We will ensure that all proper permits are secured.

The latest notices of violation were released publicly the same day Supervisor Aaron Peskin held his second hearing on construction defects at the tower. Peskin fired dozens of questions at DBI officials and questioned a recent report by Millennium engineer Ronald Hamburger that downplayed concerns about the buildings safety. The report contradicted a 2014 draft by the same engineer warning that settlement would cause foundation damage that would otherwise be avoided during a moderate quake.

It looks like (the report) has been extremely lawyered, which I hope gives you all a lot of concern, Peskin said.

Resident Jerry Dodson said he had long thought the work done to the two ramps seemed decidedly suspicious.

The real reason was Millennium Partners wanted to cover up that the building was sinking on the tower side and not on the other side, he said. That it was done without permits or oversight is disturbing.

J.K. Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SFjkdineen
The merged luxury group Yoox Net-A-Porter Group wants to be as mobile as its shoppers.

Since the two joined last year, CEO Federico Marchetti has invested in new technology, added services like seaplanes to drop off rush orders to the Hamptons, and plans to expand same-day services in key markets like Dubai. The worlds largest online luxury retailer, the company has created a television shopping app with Apple TV and is making a big push into the Middle East and China.

One of my biggest objectives is to transform the company into a mobile-only company, said Marchetti, formerly CEO of Yoox in Milan. Its a new luxury conglomerate of the digital era.

Marchetti expects that business from smartphones and tablets will account for three-quarters of sales by the end of 2020. Right now, its less than half. And these shoppers spend big. Its 2.6 million customers plop down an average of $366 per order.

The global luxury business has become competitive online. Neiman Marcus bought MyTheresa, a fashion e-commerce site last year, while Saks Fifth Avenue is offering more services for its online shoppers. And sites like Rent the Runway let customers rent designer outfits.

But Yoox Net-A-Porter is optimistic. Its plans call for net revenue growth of 17 to 20 percent every year through 2020. Thats much higher than the 2 to 3 percent global luxury growth forecast from consulting firm Bain & Co. through that same year.

Yoox Net-A-Porter, which delivers to customers in more than 180 countries, generated sales of $1.88 billion in the fiscal year that ended in March. Marchetti says that the customers designated as EIPs (extremely important people) make up about 2 percent of its customer base but account for more than a third of annual revenue.

Marchetti says Yoox and Londons Net-A-Porter, both founded in 2000, are complementary. He organized the company into three separate businesses  current season, under Net-A-Porter and the mens brand Mr. Porter; offseason, which is under the Outnet and Yoox businesses; and online flagship sites that include Giorgio Armani and Jimmy Choo.

Net-A-Porter is a fashion-magazine themed site focused on regular prices, and the merchandise comes in elaborate black bags with ribbons. Yoox and Outnet sell out-of-season goods, frequently at discounts, but Marchetti calls the experience much higher-end than shopping at a designer outlet mall.

Geographically, Net-A-Porter was much stronger in the U.S., the United Kingdom and Hong Kong, while Yooxs strength had been in Continental Europe, Japan and Asia. The combined companys largest market is the United States, accounting for nearly one third of annual sales, followed by the United Kingdom and Italy.

Net-A-Porter is becoming a one-stop shop for fashion consumers, and a source of editorial content. And Yoox is a force in technology with a deep understanding of brands and websites, said Robert Burke, president of his namesake New York luxury consulting business.

Marchetti is investing in technology that will improve customer service and delivery speed. The company is adding same-day service in Dubai, Tokyo and Milan to the areas it already serves: London, Hong Kong, New York City and the Hamptons on Long Island. The summer seaplane service in the Hamptons did very well, he said. A few years ago in China, Yoox began offering a kind of butler service for online shoppers  a courier waits outside the door for 15 minutes so customers can try on their purchases. If they dont like them, the items go back with the courier.

The company is also fine-tuning apps and adding new ones. It created an app for Yoox.com that features a new text search allowing shoppers to better find the half a million products available. The Mr. Porter site has an app that allows people with Apple TV to use their iPhones or iPads to buy merchandise that appears on videos that are on its weekly digital magazine. And its opening a tech hub in London next year to accelerate its move into mobile shopping.

Marchetti brought in brands like Prada and Montcler that had a limited presence on the Web, and for the winter holidays hes starting to introduce fine jewelry and watches at Net-A-Porter and Mr. Porter.

We have the highest quality in terms of packaging, in terms of presentation, pictures, proximity with other brands, he said. We respect their pricing. We respect their markdown strategy.

The company is also working to integrate the experience of the physical flagship stores of brands like Valentinos Fifth Avenue with their online presence.

You can have it at your home in three hours, he said.
A Richmond man has been arrested in connection with the 2012 murder and sexual assault of an 82-year-old El Cerrito woman, police said Friday.

Jonathan Jackson, 34, was arrested in Antioch Oct. 11 and charged with murder, rape, kidnap, kidnap with the intent to rape and several other sexual assault enhancements in the death of Sun Kwon.

As a department, we are relieved that the violent predator who preyed on someone as vulnerable as an 82 year-old grandmother has been taken into custody, so that nobody else will be victimized by him, police said Friday in statement. We hope that Sun Kwon's family find some relief and closure with this arrest.

Kwon was walking near the Big O Tires store at 10733 San Pablo Ave. in Richmond on the morning of Jan. 28, 2012, when she was attacked, Richmond police Lt. Bisa French said in a report.

A manager at the store found Kwon, a grandmother of six, bloodied and lifeless next to a pile of discarded tires. She survived the initial assault but died from her injuries on July 31, 2012, police said.

Kwon was hospitalized after suffering severe head injuries and a sexual assault. Detectives had collected DNA evidence at the crime scene, which they submitted to the Contra Costa County Crime Lab.

A breakthrough in the case came in September when the crime lab informed detectives it had a match on the submitted DNA evidence.

Jacksons DNA had recently entered the system when he was required to submit a sample following an arrest in an auto-theft case. That led to the match and the issuing of an arrest warrant.

Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno
Fairfield police on Saturday were investigating the shooting death of a San Francisco man.

The 26-year-old man was shot Friday night in a Fairfield apartment, police said.

Officers responding to 911 calls about shots fired found the man suffering from multiple gunshot wounds inside the residence on the 500 block of Alaska Avenue near Woodside Court.

Paramedics transported the victim, who wasnt immediately identified, to a nearby hospital, where he later died, police said.

Fairfield police did not state if any arrests were made. Anyone with information on the homicide may contact officers at (707) 428-7600, or leave a tip at (707) 428-7345.

Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov
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One Washington teen is realizing that stardom on social media is not always what it is carved up to be.

Usually when a family gathers for pumpkin carving the occasional seed throwing fight is about the most excitement you can expect.

But in a video posted to Facebook and YouTube earlier this week, Rachel Ralphs of Vancouver, Wash., made the mistake of sticking her head into a pumpkin she and her family carved, which she promptly gets stuck.

"I bet I can fit my head in it." Were the words Ralphs uttered before becoming a viral sensation.

The video was posted by Ralphs' mother Kristy Packer Ralphs, whose Facebook video post quickly shot above 100K views. The YouTube video was at more than 260,000 views Friday afternoon.

In the video post Rachel first shows off her new Halloween look, then quickly begins to notice something amiss. The bulk of the four-minute video on Facebook then shows Ralphs' many attempts to remove the pumpkin.

RELATED: Twitter beaten to a pulp with reaction to 'The Walking Dead' season 7 opener

At times she is aided by her laughing brothers, but alas, all of Ralphs attempts end with shoulders slumped, arms dangling and her standing, with a pumpkin stuck on her head.

The whole time you can hear her yelling instructions on how her brothers can get her out. While they, in turn, shout their own instructions.

Ultimately her dad is summoned after one of the funnier lines ever heard in a viral Facebook video.

"Sam go tell dad that Rachel has her head stuck in a pumpkin."

In all Rachel takes it all in good fun, joking along with the rest of them as they try to remove the pumpkin.

RELATED: Baby goes viral on Facebook after video shows her crying every time mom, dad kiss

In a second video posted after the pumpkin is removed, Rachel says she did because she thought it would be "funny."

Something which the rest of the internet seems to agree with.
This article originally appeared on Red Tricycle.

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A Day of the Dead celebration sounds too somber for a kids bash? Trust us, this festive affair is full of life. Native to Mexico, this joyful tradition boasts colorful costumes and vibrant beats. El Dia De Los Muertos has become a true staple in the Bay Area. Starting end of October until the first week of November, get your little skeletons ready to shake and shatter with all these kid-friendly activities and workshops.

Connie Guerrero/ Dia de los Muertos Redwood City

San Francisco

Day of the Dead Masks with Presidio Trust

Families can get spookily creative during Dia De Los Muertos mask making and learn all about the Presidios connection to Mexico. This event is free to all ages, but RSVP is required.

When: Sat. Oct. 29Sun. Oct. 30, 2016, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Where: Presidio, The Presidio Officers Club, 50 Moraga Ave., San Francisco, Ca

Cost: Free but you have to RSVP

Ages: All Ages

Online: Day of the Dead Masks with Presidio Trust.

Childrens Creativity Museum

Day of the Dead at CCM

Celebrate the Day of the Dead with a variety of kid-friendly workshops at the Childrens Creativity Museum. Create sugar skulls, paper banners and marigolds and even make your own mini-altar that lights up with LEDs.

When: Sat. Oct. 29Sun. Oct. 30, 2016 at 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Where: SOMA , Childrens Creativity Museum, 221 Fourth St., San Francisco, Ca

Cost: Free with paid museum admission ($12)

Ages: All Ages

Website: creativity.org/diadelosmuertos

Day of The Dead SF

SFs Day of the Dead Procession 2016

Celebrate in skeletal stylethis annual parade for Dia de los Muertos is one of the most festive in the country with skeleton and costumed community members joining up for a march of the dead! Think skeletons on parade would be somber? Think again! Music, dancing, songs, and another chance to use those Halloween costumesall are welcome to join the parade which culminates in a community Day of the Dead altar show at Garfield Park. Many participants bring candles or instruments and pictures of their dearly departedshow kids a way to honor their ancestors and have fun doing it. The procession begins at 7 p.m. at 22nd and Bryant and the Festival of Altars is from 4-11 p.m. at Garfield Park (26th and Harrison).

When: Wed. Nov 2 at 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. The procession begins at 7 p.m.

Where: Mission, Garfield Park, 26th and Harrison, San Francisco, Ca

Cost: Free

Ages: All Ages.

Online: dayofthedeadsf.org/informacion-general-general-information/

The Mexican Museum

Dia de los Muertos at The Mexican Museum

Celebrate Day of The Dead with your crew at The Mexican Museum. Your little one(s) can get a real calavera or skull-mask painting done by professional artists. Dont forget your camera! Or let them decorate their own mask with papier-mache (this is a limited activity so get there early) and win a contest for the most creative mascara (mask). The museum will also supply art tables where the family can make personalized, mini-altars for loved ones who left us. A lovely and lively way to show little minds that loved ones who passed away are still very close to us. A lot of heart is going into this festival located at Fort Mason Center.

When: Sun. Oct. 23, 2016, 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Where: The Mexican Museum, Fort Mason Center, 2 Marina Boulevard, Building D, San Francisco, CA 94123.

Cost: Free

Ages: All Ages

Online: mexicanmuseum.org

Mercedes-Romero via SF Symphony

Community Concert at the SF Symphony

Celebrate the Day of the Dead with a special event at Davies Symphony Hall. Join Grammy Award-winning ensemble La Santa Cecilia for their infectious music combining Latin rhythms, rock, tango, jazz, and klezmer along with Mariachi Flor de Toloache, the first and only established all-female mariachi band in New York, and the Women of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. Arrive an hour early (1 p.m. for the matinee, 7 p.m. for the evening performance) and enjoy art installations adorning the hall, along with traditional crafts, interactive altars, and more. Want to enjoy a superb brunch with your little skeletons? Join the Dia de los Muertos Brunch. For more information call 415-503-5500.

When: Sat., Nov. 5 at 2 p.m. or 8 p.m.

Where: Civic Center, Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco, Ca

Cost: $10$90 depending on seats and times.

Ages: The symphony recommends ages 7 and up, but younger kids are welcome!

Online: Community Concert at the SF Symphony

17th Annual Day of the Dead Show at SOMA Arts

Bring the kids to SOMA Arts to explore this years Day of the Dead exhibition, A Promise Not To Forget. Check out the colorful altars, multi-dimensional art installations and see how local artists view the cycles of life and death.

When: You can visit (for free) during gallery hours, from Oct. 7 through Nov. 5. Hours are: Tues.Fri., noon7 p.m., Sat., 11 a.m.5 p.m. & Sun., 11 a.m.3 p.m. On Sat., Nov. 5, 6-9 p.m.

Note: There will be a closing night ceremony on Sat. Nov. 5, 6 -9 p.m. featuring special performances and live music (tickets are $7-$10 sliding scale for closing night event only).

Where: SOMA, SOMA Arts, 934 Brannan St., San Francisco, Ca

Cost: Free. However the closing night ceremony is not free of charge. Get tickets here.

Ages: All Ages

Online: somarts.org/promise/

OMC

East Bay

Dia De Los Muertos Community Celebration at Oakland Museum of California

The OMC comes alive with craft activities, food, dance, musical performances, colorful offerings, and ceremonies, bringing the community together to pay homage to lost loved ones. Aztec dancers and Days of the Dead committee members will lead a procession to open the daylong celebration, which has grown to become one of the most popular Days of the Dead events in the East Bay. The family-friendly afternoon will feature demonstrations of Mesoamerican arts and cooking.

When: Sun. Oct 16, noon  4.30 p.m.

Where: Oakland, Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St., Oakland, Ca

Cost: Advance tickets are $11.95 for adults, $8.95 for students/seniors/youth, and $4.95 for youth ages 9-17. Day-of tickets are $15.95 for adults, $10.95 for students/seniors/youth, and $6.95 for youth ages 9-17. Entry is free for children 8 and under and OMCA Members, and includes Museum admission. Advance tickets will be available at museumca.org/visit.

Side note: In case you were wondering, the Museums Days of the Dead exhibition that the museum used to feature will not be held this fall and will resume on a biennial schedule beginning in 2017.

Ages: All Ages

Online: http://museumca.org/2016/22nd-annual-days-dead-community-celebration

The Unity Council

Fruitvale Dia De Los Muertos Festival

This vibrant outdoor festival will celebrate its 21st year. Enjoy world-class live music, family friendly games, rides and activities plus explore the artistic installations to commemorate the Day of The Dead. There is a childrens pavilion with carnival rides and local vendors will be selling authentic food, drinks and other festival favorites.

When: Sun. Oct. 30, 2016. Time to be announced. Check their events site for updates.

Where: 3301 E12th Street, Oakland, Ca 94601

Cost: Free

Ages: All ages

Online: http://unitycouncil.org/dia-de-los-muertos/

Dia de los muertos Redwood City

Penninsula

Redwood Citys Dia de Los Muertos

Honor the dead with a parade and party in downtown Redwood City and help raise funds for the library! With plenty of free kids activities, food, music, vendors, and crafts this event could go all night (but it wont). Welcome speech and procession starts at 6:30 p.m.

When: Sun. Nov. 6, 2016 at 5 p.m.

Where: Downtown Redwood City, 1018 Main St., Redwood City, Ca

Cost: Free

Ages: All Ages

Online: http://www.circulocultural.org/diademuertos/

Mike/ Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/konvo/

South Bay

7th Annual Day of the Dead at Calvary Cemetery

Calvary Catholic Cemetery 7th Annual Dia de Los Muertos celebration is a lively affair that takes place on Saturday Oct. 29 this year. Honor relatives and loved ones who have passed and join the community with rituals, music, dance, a community altar where you can place photos and memorabilia along with tons of fun for the kids. Crafts, face painting, bounce houses, a costume parade (11:45 a.m.) and even trick-or-treating.

When: Sat. Oct. 29, 2016 at 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Where: San Jose, Calvary Cemetery , 2650 Madden Ave., San Jose, Ca

Cost: Free

Ages: All Ages

Online: catholiccemeteriesdsj.org/events/dia-de-los-muertos.aspx

MVCC

Marin

Dia de Los Muertos with MVCC

Mill Valley Recreation joins the joyful celebration of dearly departed family, friends and pets during the Day of the Dead Mexican festival. Join this festival by celebrating at the Community Center. The Center will have fun decorating, sugar skulls, face painting, snacking on traditional pastries and creating your own memory box. Also, drop in on October 24th and view the Centers Day of the Dead exhibit by local artist Marsha Heckman.

When: Sat. Oct. 29, 2016, from 10:30 a.m. -1:00 p.m.

Where: Mill Valley Community Center, 180 Camino Alto, Mill Valley, Ca

Cost: Free

Ages: All Ages

Online: http://www.cityofmillvalley.org/index.aspx?recordid=26090&page=506



San Rafaels Day of the Dead Celebration

Take it to the streets of San Rafael for a community-wide Day of the Dead celebration. The 28th annual event includes cultural performances and live music and delicious food along with arts, crafts and more. The Bay Area Discovery Museum hosts art workshops for kids plus there will be face-painting and a spirited procession.

When: Sat. Nov 5, 2016 at 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Procession starts at 6 p.m.

Where: Albert J. Boro Community Center, 50 Canal St., San Rafael, Ca

Cost: Free

Ages: All Ages

Online: http://www.dayofthedeadsr.org/

Are you a die-hard Day of the Dead fan? Share with us your favorite spots to celebrate in the comments below.

Sabine Klensch

Red Tricycle fuels the parenting universe with daily inspiration for family fun. We believe the best memories are created when families do fun things together and we believe every day is an opportunity to create new stories. Our mission is to help every parent feel like a rock star by inspiring them to do fun things with their kids. Each month Red Tricycle reaches eight million parents with ideas that are aspirational and actionable that you can do at home, in your city or wherever your adventures take you.
WASHINGTON  Americans in the health insurance markets created by President Obamas law will have less choice next year than any time since the program started, a new county-level analysis for the Associated Press has found.

The analysis by the Associated Press and consulting firm Avalere Health found that about one-third of U.S. counties will have only one health marketplace insurer next year. Thats more than 1,000 counties in 26 states  roughly double the number of counties in 2014, the first year of coverage through the program.

With insurance notices for 2017 in the mail, families are already facing difficult choices, even weighing whether to stay covered.

At this point we are at a loss, said Ryan Robinson of Phoenix. We dont know what the next step is. He and his wife, Nicole, only have plans from one insurer available next year, and the company doesnt appear to cover an expensive immune-system medication for their 11-year-old daughter.

Phoenix is the market hardest hit by insurer exits, shrinking from eight carriers to one. With many other communities affected, however, the problem of dwindling choice may create even bigger political headaches than the rising premiums announced last week.

Largely as a result of the Affordable Care Act, the nations uninsured rate has dropped to a historically low level, less than 9 percent. But the program hasnt yet found stable footing, and it remains politically divisive. Insurer participation rose in 2015 and 2016, only to plunge.

Dwindling choice could be a trickier issue than rising premiums for the Obama administration and advocates of the 2010 law, including Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Most customers get financial assistance, and their subsidies are designed to rise along with premiums, which are increasing an average of 25 percent in states served by HealthCare.gov. But there is no comparable safety valve for disruptions caused by insurers bailing out.

Rising premiums get all of the political attention, but lack of choice between insurers could be a bigger problem for consumers, said Caroline Pearson, a senior vice president with Avalere.

Five states  Alaska, Alabama, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Wyoming  have one participating insurer across their entire jurisdictions. Only Wyoming and South Carolina had faced that predicament this year.

Citing big financial losses, several marquee insurers sharply scaled back their participation for next year. United Healthcare exited from more than 1,800 counties, and maintains only a minuscule presence, according to the analysis. Humana nearly halved the number of counties where it offers plans.

Insurers say enrollment was disappointing, patients were sicker than expected, and an internal system to help stabilize premiums didnt work well. The Obama administration says insurers are correcting for initially pricing their plans too low.

The upheaval in the health insurance markets has consumers scrambling to figure out options. Sign-up season starts Nov. 1 and ends Jan. 31.

In Phoenix, Ryan and Nicole Robinson are at the epicenter of the health laws latest troubles. Maricopa County has seen the most insurers bail out, and premiums for a benchmark plan are spiking 145 percent next year, beyond any other major market on HealthCare.gov.

Ryan Robinson, who works in sales, said the familys premium will go from $821 to $1,489. But what the Robinsons most worry about is that neither of their daughters two medications appears to be covered by the remaining insurer. That includes an immune-system drug costing about $5,000 a month.
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 Just as Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton appeared to be sailing to an election day victory, carrying a lengthening list of House and Senate Democrats in her wake, her email problems came roaring back Friday in a classic October surprise that Republicans said could upset the race.

FBI Director James Comeys letter Friday to congressional leaders announcing that his agency is again investigating emails related to Clintons use of a private email server as secretary of state came as a shock to both parties.

Republican nominee Donald Trump, Republicans in Congress and the GOPs House and Senate campaign arms jumped on the news, calling for a full investigation of Clintons reckless conduct and demanding in new fundraising letters that Democratic candidates lower on the ballot unendorse her.

The announcement provides a much-needed boost for Donald Trump, said GOP consultant Ford OConnell. Whether its a decisive game-changer, we dont know, but it certainly seems to be helping.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, a big Clinton backer and the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, reacted with outrage  not to any suggestions of Clinton wrongdoing, but to Comeys making public such speculative information that Comey conceded had not yet been yet reviewed.

One thing is clear: Director Comeys announcement played right into the political campaign of Donald Trump, who is already using the letter for political purposes, Feinstein said in a statement.

Clinton urged the FBI to explain this issue in question, whatever it is, without any delay.

The American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately. Lets get it out, she said.

In his letter Friday, Comey said the new emails, found on a computer used jointly by longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her estranged husband, Anthony Weiner, a disgraced former New York congressman, prompted investigators to take another look at whether classified information had been mishandled. An earlier FBI probe found that Clinton and her State Department colleagues had been careless in their handling of sensitive classified information, but that, as Comey said at the time, no reasonable prosecutor would bring criminal charges in the case.

Comey did not disclose how many emails were involved in the latest discovery but said further investigation was warranted.

In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation, Comey wrote. I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation.

Comey noted that the FBI could not yet assess whether or not this material may be significant or how long it might take to run down the new investigative leads.

The emails reportedly emerged as federal authorities in New York and North Carolina investigated online communications between Weiner and a 15-year-old girl. Weiner was caught in 2011, 2013 and again in 2016 sending sexually explicit text messages and photographs of himself undressed to numerous women using the alias Carlos Danger.

A senior law enforcement official said the emails belonged to Abedin and were backed up on Weiners computer, the New York Times reported. It was unclear what the emails contained or what connection they might have to the FBIs earlier investigation of Clintons use of a private email server.

With a week and a half before election day and many voters already having cast ballots, it remains to be seen whether the news will damage Clinton enough to salvage Trumps flailing campaign.

It presents a pall of uncertainty just when the Clinton campaign is trying to nail down a victory and when the Trump campaign is struggling for air, said San Jose State University political scientist Larry Gerston.

Comeys acknowledgment that the newly discovered emails may lack significance gave Democrats some breathing room, but the issue strikes at the heart of Clintons biggest weakness, voter perceptions that she is untrustworthy. Against any opponent other than Trump, who is routinely caught in lies and fabrications, the revelations would certainly be damaging.

While congressional Republicans expressed indignation, most were careful to stop short of labeling Clinton a criminal.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the Bakersfield Republican who abandoned a bid for House speaker last year after admitting that the long-running Benghazi, Libya, investigations that initially revealed Clintons use of a private email server were politically motivated, issued a statement saying the FBIs decision once again showcases her fundamental lack of judgment and disregard for protecting and handling our nations highly classified secrets.

Trump showed no such restraint.

Hillary Clintons corruption is on a scale we have never seen before, he said in a statement. We must not let her take her criminal scheme into the Oval Office.

Trump praised the FBI and Justice Department for having the courage to right the horrible mistake that they made in failing to charge Clinton with criminal wrongdoing earlier.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi dismissed the news during a visit to The Chronicle on Friday. I dont think its going to make any difference in the election, she said.

Clinton, in a brief statement to reporters Friday evening, noted: The director himself has said he doesnt know whether the emails referenced in his letter are significant or not. Im confident whatever they are will not change the conclusion reached in July.

Earlier in the day, John Podesta, Clintons campaign chairman, suggested that Comey is responding to pressure from Trump and his GOP allies, whom he accused of baselessly second-guessing the FBI and, in both public and private, browbeating the career officials ... in a desperate attempt to harm Hillary Clintons presidential campaign.

It is extraordinary that we would see something like this just 11 days out from a presidential election, he said.

Some former prosecutors also questioned Comeys judgment in making public a letter on such an explosive issue days before the presidential election with no clear evidence that the emails are significant and providing no chance for Clinton to respond.

Nick Akerman, former assistant U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York, said Comey acted totally inappropriately.

Its not the FBI directors job to be making public pronouncements about an investigation, never mind about an investigation based on evidence that he acknowledges may not be significant. The job of the FBI is simply to investigate and to provide the results of its investigation to the prosecutorial arm of the U.S. Department of Justice.

GOP strategist OConnell said the odds of a Trump victory rose more than six points on ElectionBettingOdds.com, a political odds-making website, although the gain still left the GOP nominee with only a 23 percent chance of winning.

The Associated Press

contributed to this report.

Carolyn Lochhead is The San Francisco Chronicles Washington correspondent. Email: clochhead@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @carolynlochhead
ATLANTA  Six months into a deepening drought, the weather is killing crops, threatening cattle and sinking lakes to their lowest levels in years across much of the South.

The very worst conditions  what forecasters call exceptional drought  are in the mountains of northeast Alabama and northwest Georgia, a region known for its thick green forests, waterfalls and red clay soil.

Here at my farm, April 15 was when the rain cut off, said David Bailey, who had to sell half his cattle, more than 100 animals, for lack of hay in Alabamas scorched northeast corner.

Weve come through some dry years in the 80s, but I never seen it this dry, this long, Bailey added. Theres a bunch of people in a lot of bad shape here.

The drought has spread from these mountains onto the Piedmont plateau, down to the plains and across 13 southern states, from Oklahoma and Texas to Florida and Virginia, putting about 33 million people in drought conditions, according to Thursdays U.S. Drought Monitor.

In Mississippi, a man died when his farm field burned out of control, authorities said Friday. In Alabama, blazes have charred more than 12,000 acres in the past 30 days.

There are places getting ready to set records for most numbers of days in a row without rain. Its a once-in-100-year kind of thing for this time of year, said John Christy, Alabamas state climatologist.

The South has historically enjoyed abundant water, which has been fortunate, because much of its soil is poor at holding onto it. But the regions booming growth has strained this resource. A legal battle between Georgia and Florida over water from rivers and their watersheds goes before a federal court official Monday, and the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to review his recommendations.

The dry weather is only making things worse.

Were 10 days away from a drought at any given time, Christy explained. Unlike the Midwest and other places in the country, we are closer to a drought than almost any place else.

Parts of northern Georgia and Alabama have now seen their driest 60 days on record, Thursdays national drought report showed.

If the drought persists, authorities said it could lead to the kinds of water use restrictions that are common out West, but havent been seen in parts of the South in nearly a decade.

During a major drought in Georgia in 2007, police in Atlantas suburb of Alpharetta were given the power to criminally cite anyone watering their lawns. In Alabama that year, people were fined for watering on the wrong day and many homes became infested by thirsty ants and cockroaches.

At the height of the 2007 drought, then-Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue prayed for rain with hundreds of residents at the state Capitol. The Georgia Department of Agriculture is reviving the practice: It has announced plans for a Monday Pray for Rain gathering with the state agriculture commissioner and Republican U.S. Rep. Doug Collins in the northeast Georgia town of Lavonia.

In west Georgia this month, the Tallapoosa River dropped below the intake the Haralson County Water Authority uses to provide water to at least four small towns. Some major cities are spending big to prevent future water shortages: Atlanta has begun a $300 million project to store 2.4 billion gallons of water  a months water supply  and pipe it under the city.

This summer was particularly hot as well as dry, with 90-degree temperatures day after day that evaporated what little moisture the soil had left, said Bill Murphey, Georgias state climatologist.

This summer was the second-hottest on record in Atlanta, where seasonal rains still havent arrived: During the past 30 days, just over two-tenths of an inch of rain has fallen in Atlanta, 94 percent below normal, and in Cartersville, about 45 miles northwest of Atlanta, the weather service has recorded no rain at all.
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Courtesy of Cheryl Cook-Kallio

East Bay Assembly seat hopeful Cheryl Cook-Kallio and two other Democratic legislative candidates picked up arguably the biggest endorsements they could: a nod from President Obama on Thursday. Gov. Jerry Brown also endorsed the three Assembly candidates, all Democrats who face Republicans in contested seats.

Obamas endorsement comes as Democrats attempt to regain a supermajority in the Legislature, a two-thirds threshold that gives them the power to raise taxes and put constitutional amendments on the ballot without a single Republican vote. Democrats need to hold onto their current seats while picking up two from Republicans to win back a supermajority in the Assembly. Senate Democrats hold 26 seats and need to gain one more to get to two-thirds.
David Byrne is carefully answering a question about how various pursuits  art, writing, photography, film, theater and, of course, music  feed his life and support each other. He is seated in a faux study hall  a hyper-real version of a 1950s homeroom painted in hues of mint and cream, complete with a world globe on the teachers desk and black chalkboards all around.

Wow, its a confusing life, he says. Im obviously proud of the work I did with Talking Heads. I wanted to be able to go do things like this as well, which luckily I have been able to do.

This is one of four environments that make up the sets for The Institute Presents: Neurosociety, an immersive work at Pace Art + Technology in Menlo Park that draws on Byrnes varied interests, particularly theater. Actors wont perform onstage, but will lead the audience through interactions in facsimiles of a heavenly all-white lounge, the aforementioned classroom, a room that feels like a local history museum, and  the grand finale  a TV game show studio.

The work, which he conceived with British technology investor Mala Gaonkar, publicly introduces yet another passion of Byrnes: science. When I was a teenager, I applied to Carnegie Mellon, he says. I wanted to do art and science, and they said, No, we dont do that. We wont let you do both.... (But) to me, I didnt see a huge difference in terms of the creativity.

The Institute Presents is based on the research of 15 cognitive neuroscience labs at major universities around the world. Gaonkar and Byrne would both read papers, books, whatever, Byrne says, and then talk with one another and go, Oh, heres a good one. What do you think about (what) this lab did? Would that work translate into this project? We just went through that for a year or so of collecting.

The ambition (was) to do a piece of some sort. We knew that we wanted it to be kind of an immersive thing where people would come into a space ... and they would be the subject.

They developed a loose narrative that will take groups of 10 people through a series of experiences. Each room is the backdrop for scripted interactions that mimic psychology experiments but remove them from the laboratory. Though the new work was not fully installed as of this writing, Gaonkar and Byrne led a tour through episodes dealing with decision-making and ethics.

In design, the installation is distantly related to a participatory theater piece Byrne produced in 2013 at New Yorks Public Theater, Here Lies Love. That work takes place in a discotheque, with the audience moving around to platforms above the dance floor. It went to the National Theater in London, which is where Gaonkar and Byrne met.

For The Institute Presents, Byrne worked with his small New York studio team of assistants. They later enlisted a set designer and builders through Berkeley Repertory Theatre and American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.

Gabriella Angotti-Jones/The Chronicle

Ive done theatrical projects and music tours and things like that, Byrne said. The idea was, do it so that people can experience it. We pretty early on realized, OK, its going to have to be small groups of people that go through.

So in a certain sense its already got something in common with a lot of immersive theater. And I think it might have been me who said, I think each experiment has its parallel in the real world, or outside of the science world.

Its all very colorful and a bit arch. But theres clearly a serious side to experiments that ask us to make political judgments based only on photographs, or require us to make ethical choices with limited information.

There is an aspect thats meant to bring in a sense of fun and maybe a little humor, he allows. It sends a signal to people that this is going to be fun. Were not getting a lesson taught here. ...

I shy away from that, because it seems like thats a preachy, didactic kind of thing. Although there is a level of that here, I keep pulling away from it. Part of the problem-solving on our end is not just how to make it work for 10 people at a time, but how people will intuitively start to process the things that happen, think about how they might apply to their lives, without being told, Now were going to explain to you what happened and what it means.

Of course they want to know some explanation. They want to know why you see your hand get giant in the dark. How can you so easily be in the body of a doll? But beyond that, were wary of connecting too many dots. Its more fun when they start to connect them themselves and see what they come up with.

Im a little skeptical about making political statements in pop songs, Bob Dylan notwithstanding, he says. If its really about a specific issue, youre trying to make a point, youre trying to convince people, sometimes thats better done as an op-ed page or an essay, and thats the format it should take. ... If you do it as a song, it can come across as kind of preachy, and its not very good. Or Ive tried other things where you do it in an ironic way, and sometimes it can subvert itself, and you end up with Bruce Springsteens Born in the USA, where people think its a patriotic anthem.

Trying to understand our emotional and moral actions  or, more to the point, our reactions  in scientific terms smacks of determinism. Is there a place for free will?

Its a great thing to bring up, Byrne says, but we couldnt find a good experiment that would work with a lot of people, and (that) people would intuitively get what it was about without being told  Oh, boy. It does seem like a lot of our decisions and our behavior is, maybe not deterministic, but determined by our unconscious.

The good news is that, from what I can tell, its not absolutely fixed. Our biases have changed. Our reaction to women having a vote, or slavery, or all of these things, you name it, have changed completely in the space of, whatever, 100 years or less. ... Were not doing lessons, but thats what Im getting.

Charles Desmarais is The San Francisco Chronicles art critic. Email: cdesmarais@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Artguy1
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On the same day seven defendants celebrated their acquittal in the armed takeover of a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon, law enforcement officers dressed in riot gear and firing bean bag rounds arrested 141 oil pipeline protesters camped out in North Dakota.

The sudden developments in the two protests drew an unsettling contrast for many between the treatment of mostly Native American citizens at an encampment near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation and the heavily armed occupiers who held the federal government at bay for weeks in remote, southeastern Oregon.

How is it that people who were seen on national media with guns having a standoff with police officials were acquitted ... and were being treated like were terrorists? said Cody Hall, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota and a spokesman for the pipeline protesters.

Yet experts on public land policy who have watched both situations unfold cautioned it is too soon to draw conclusions about either protests outcome  and pointed to broad yet important themes that underlie movements otherwise separated by hundreds of miles and an ideological chasm.

Both the Standing Rock Sioux and the Oregon occupiers consider themselves marginalized groups fighting to preserve a way of life. Both movements feel disenfranchised and are disillusioned with federal land policy, said Gregg Cawley, a University of Wyoming political science professor.

At that level, even though all the details are different, theyre very similar, Cawley said. If you step back far enough ... then you can start seeing some parallels here.

Ammon and Ryan Bundy, neither native to Oregon, seized the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in January in a protest against the imprisonment of two ranchers convicted of setting fires on public land. More than two dozen others eventually joined the 41-day occupation, which grew into demands for the U.S. government to turn over public lands to local control.

On Thursday, jurors acquitted the brothers and five others on felony charges that included conspiracy and possession of a gun in a federal facility.

In North Dakota, hundreds of Standing Rock Sioux tribal members and their supporters have held a monthslong campaign to protest the Dakota Access oil pipeline, which would skirt the reservations northern border. The tribe says the 1,200-mile pipeline will damage its water supply and endanger sacred sites.

The same day the Bundys were acquitted, law enforcement officers in North Dakota arrested 141 people who recently moved their encampment from a public plot to land in the pipelines path that is owned by its developers. The protesters face misdemeanor charges, including trespassing and engaging in a riot.

Public land policy experts cautioned its too early to make meaningful comparisons between Standing Rock and Oregon.

These folks on the pipeline have just been arrested, but we don't even know if any of that is going to hit a trial, said John Freemuth, of Boise State University. I certainly think the tribes will have a point if they find themselves arrested and in jail and these Oregon guys get off.
Everything was looking up for Hillary Clinton. She was riding high in the polls, even seeing an improvement on trustworthiness. She was sitting on $153 million in cash. At 12:37 p.m. Friday, her campaign announced that she planned to campaign in Arizona, a state a Democratic presidential candidate has carried only once since 1948.

Twenty minutes later, October delivered its latest big surprise.

The FBI director's disclosure to Congress that agents would be reviewing a new trove of emails that appeared pertinent to its investigation into Clinton's private email server  an investigation that had been declared closed  set off a frantic and alarmed scramble inside Clinton's campaign and among her Democratic allies, while Republicans raced to seize the advantage.

In the kind of potential turnabout rarely if ever seen at this late stage of a presidential race, Donald Trump exulted in his good fortune. "I think it's the biggest story since Watergate," he said, adding, "I think this changes everything."

He promised to batter Clinton as a criminal in the race's final week and a half. And Republican House and Senate candidates gleefully demanded to know whether their Democratic opponents were sticking by Clinton.

Inside Clinton's campaign, advisers spent much of the day trying to gather information about what email kept by her closest aide, Huma Abedin, could have triggered the FBI's new interest, and to respond to neutralize any new threat from Trump.

Late Friday, Clinton herself said in Des Moines, Iowa, that the American people "deserve to get the full and complete facts," demanding that FBI Director James B. Comey Jr. "release all the information that it has."

"Even Director Comey noted that this new information may not be significant," Clinton added. "So let's get it out."

With early voting well underway, and Clinton benefiting from Trump's weekslong slide in the polls, Democrats' concerns were tempered  more in the realm of apprehensiveness than panic.

"We just don't know what this is all about, which is worrisome," said former Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, a battleground state that voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, but where Trump has held a small lead in several recent surveys. "We have to see what news comes in the next three or four days before we can say if this will make a real difference with voters."

But Harkin and other Democrats, looking past Election Day, expressed concern about the potential impact on Clinton's ability to govern if she won the presidency while still under investigation. "I don't think there would be a constitutional crisis," Harkin said, "but of course, you never know."

In the final stretch of a turbulent campaign, the characteristically cautious Clinton had finally begun to radiate self-assurance  even ebullience  as she made her closing arguments to voters. For the first time, she had seen a steady rise in the number of voters telling pollsters that they liked and trusted her.

As Trump faltered in the face of allegations of sexual assault and harassment, Clinton's campaign received encouraging reports from early voting and voter registrations.
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Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge

Cnet rating: 5 stars out of 5

The good: The Edge has a gorgeous larger curved screen and larger battery than the otherwise identical standard S7. It really is something special. The extra navigation tools can be useful when used judiciously.

The bad: When you pile on these extra tools, they slow you down rather than speed you up. Its pricier than other good phones.

The cost: $600 (refurbished) to $780

The bottom line: The gorgeous Galaxy S7 Edge makes the best Android phone that much better.

Samsung Galaxy S7

Cnet rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

The good: Polished design. Awesome camera. Long battery life. MicroSD storage slot and water-resistant (again).

The bad: Annoyingly reflective. Smudge magnet. Plastic-looking selfies even with no filter. No removable battery, which isnt surprising, but is still a compromise compared with 2014s S5.

The cost: $480 (refurbished) to $680

The bottom line: The fast, powerful, beautiful S7 phone is 2016s all-around phone to beat.

OnePlus 3

Cnet rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

The good: The OnePlus 3s sharp camera, powerful processor and enduring, quick-charging battery make a knockout combo when you factor in its low price.

The bad: The camera has a distinct bulge. Power users may be disappointed that the phone doesnt have a swappable battery or expandable storage.

The cost: $399 to $495

The bottom line: The OnePlus 3 is the best budget Android phone, with a premium look and feel, and performance fast enough to go head-to-head with any high-end handset.

Google Pixel

Cnet rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

The good: The Pixel has a fantastic camera, especially in low light. It is elegantly designed. Google Assistant takes one of the most natural, human approaches to answering your voice.

The bad: The display is dim in outdoor sunlight and its cameras Lens Blur feature is shoddy. Its splash resistant rather than dunkable, and its pricey compared to previous Google Nexus devices.

The cost: $650

The bottom line: If youre wary of Samsung or looking for a worthy iPhone alternative, the Pixel is the high-end Android phone to get.

The following Cnet staff contributed to this story: Jessica Dolcourt, Lynn La and Laura K. Cucullu. For more reviews of personal technology products, visit www.cnet.com.
John Locher/Associated Press

Update, 10:55 p.m.: X-rays on Patrick McCaws left ankle were negative. His status for Sundays game at Phoenix is unclear.

NEW ORLEANS  Warriors guard Patrick McCaw is not expected to return after leaving Friday nights game against the Pelicans in the first half with a left ankle sprain, according to a team spokesman.
BENTO RODRIGUES, Brazil  Spreading below lush mountains, this valley is rich in mineral wealth, including veins of gold and one of the largest iron ore deposits in the planet, discoveries that turned the area into Brazil's mining country and the birthplace of one of the world's top producers of minerals.

But to some residents, the industry turned on them a year ago when a dam holding back a giant pond of mine waste broke open, unleashing a tsunami of mud that killed 19 people, buried entire towns and polluted hundreds of miles of rivers, streams and forest land. The 1,200 people made homeless when nearly 500 houses, clinics, schools and bridges were wrecked still live in temporary housing waiting to be moved back to new settlements.

This place used to be a paradise. It was the most beautiful thing youve ever seen, Geraldo de Oliveira said as he walked in the ravaged village of Paracatu where his home was destroyed. It makes your eyes water. We lost the place we loved so much. he said.

Families whose lives were upended by the tragedy of Nov. 5, 2015, say they feel betrayed by the company behind it  Samarco, which is a joint venture of two of the worlds mining giants, Vale of Brazil and BHP Billiton of Australia. Most residents are still waiting for Samarco to pay for their lost possessions and build new towns for them.

They also are fighting the construction of an emergency dike that would flood part of what is left of the village worst hit when the mine burst at the Fundao iron mine. The company and government say the barrier is needed to prevent more mineral waste from spilling into the Doce River.

As much as people blame Samarco, they know mining has created thousands of jobs and provided millions in tax revenues, underscoring the influence that multinational corporations often have in otherwise poor, rural areas where they operate. After the collapse of the basin, local media reported that 13 federal lawmakers and 20 state representatives appointed to special committees to oversee recovery efforts had received hefty donations from Vale, the huge Brazilian company that began in the now devastated valley 250 miles north of Rio de Janeiro.

Over four decades, Samarco and Vale built clout in the area, creating thousands of jobs in the municipality of Mariana and in the neighboring towns and villages that were struck the hardest. In 2014, Samarco and Vale paid Mariana about $26 million in royalties  nearly twice the amount the city raised in taxes. Only a few months before Brazil's worst environmental disaster, Samarco had been hailed as a model company by a prestigious business school and mining magazine in the region for its efforts on saving water and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

In Bento Rodrigues, a village in Mariana now submerged under a thick layer of mud, people described occasional handouts from Samarco for street fairs and even private parties.

The company was well-liked here. We thought it was among the best and felt comfortable, said Antonio Pereira Goncalves, a taxi driver who on a recent morning walked by the village and pointed out his green bathroom as the only room still standing after the mud smashed his home. But they were distracting us so we didnt see there was a bomb.

Prosecutors brought manslaughter and environmental damage charges against 21 Brazilian and foreign mining executives on Oct. 20, saying the waste dam that failed was a ticking-time bomb.

The Fundao dam showed clear signs that it could break, said Jose Adercio Leite Sampaio, a federal prosecutor in the attorney general's office in Minas Gerais state.

That office also has filed a $43 billion civil suit seeking social, environmental and economic compensation over the failure of the dam, likening the disaster to BP's Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Brazil's environment ministry, meanwhile, has levied seven fines totaling $94 million over the disaster and the government of Minas Gerais has imposed fines of $36 million. Samarco has not paid anything while it contests the amounts.

In addition to worrying about waste still in the basin being washed into the river during the rainy season, officials also fear that iron ore tailings stacked along dozens of miles of rivers in the valley could end up in the water and add to the killing of plants and fish. They contend Samarco hasnt taken appropriate actions to restore the area.

Maury de Souza Jr., the company's chief officer for sustainable projects, says Samarco has spent about $320 million to reforest river banks, to build dikes for containing mine waste and pay benefits for people affected by the disaster  it pays the minimum wage for one household member and an additional sum for every dependent.

Owing billions to bondholders, Samarco has missed recent interest payments and is considering restructuring its debt. BHP Billiton and Vale were hoping Samarco would restart operations later this year but the company has not gotten the required licenses. Meanwhile, BHP Billiton, the world's biggest mining company, said the disaster cost it $2.2 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30 in extraordinary expenses related to the dam failure. However, a recent rebound in iron ore prices may offset damages for the giant companies, which have mines around the world. On Thursday, Vale reported an increase in its third quarter earnings driven by the price rise.

Since Samarco suspended work in the area, the Mariana municipality has seen its revenues drop by nearly a half.

People who lost their homes in the wrecked villages of Bento Rodrigues and Paracatu are living all across the cobbled-stone city of Mariana waiting to be relocated to new rural villages. Many feel like prisoners in their temporary city apartments, telling of former homes in the countryside where children could walk freely in the pepper fields and see farm animals.

Paracatu looks ransacked. The entire village is brushed the color of clay. A church has a brown tidemark halfway up its towers. Desks on the second story of an elementary school are buried in mud. Barbie dolls, stuffed animals and comic books are scattered all over as if a tornado had just raged through.

Maria do Carmo Pereira Ramos wept on a recent evening as she told that because of the destruction, she refuses to go back to Paracatu, where she was born and raised. She read a poem and sang a song about the suffering of the people after the dam burst.

Our history was taken along with the mud, she read. Paracatu and Bento Rodrigues will never be what they were.

Marinalva dos Santos Salgado suffers from anxiety and takes sleeping pills to get rest at night and stop thinking of her destroyed property and of the 19 people who died.

I have this dream where I don't know who is dead and who is alive, she said.
KABUL  Every day that Dil Agha works at his backbreaking job at a brick kiln on the outskirts of Afghanistans capital Kabul, from before sunrise to well after sunset, he digs himself deeper into debt.

He knows he will never be able to pay back what he owes to the kiln owner who lent him a few thousand dollars for a family emergency, and that when he dies, his children will inherit the burden that will ensure his family remains enslaved for generations.

He is one of hundreds of people that the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission calls the slaves of the 21st century. They toil as indentured laborers at brick kilns that make millions of dollars a year for their owners. The law is powerless to help them and a government official says many in the government are too fearful to speak out.

Rafiullah Baidar, the spokesman for the AIHRC said families like Dil Aghas have been stripped of their human rights  to education, health care, and decent working conditions, to name only a few.

All those people working in the brick kilns are the slaves of the 21st Century, he said. They are like prisoners; this horrible situation is a complete violation of their human rights.

For the past 15 years, Afghanistan has been the recipient of billions of dollars in aid, most from the United States, to fight an insurgency and rebuild the country after decades of conflict. The countrys leaders were in Brussels this month to secure pledges of another $15 billion through to 2020. And yet the economy is not growing, the war is suspended in stalemate, and corruption is rampant.

For people like Dil Agha  who is 23 years old with a wife and three children  the government appears incapable of creating jobs to help them build normal lives.

Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world, with a huge wealth divide: at the top are billionaires, at the very bottom are people like those working at the kiln in the Deh Sabz district, on Kabuls eastern outskirts.

Here, most of the workers are from poor villages in the eastern province of Nangarhar. The kiln boss, also from Nangarhar, lent them money after visiting the village and offering financial help to anyone who needed it.

People working here say the kiln boss then offered them jobs during the warm-weather months, April to October, to repay their loans. The pay depends on productivity but workers say it ranges from $15-$23 per day.

Before they return to their villages for the winter, the manager usually lends them more money so they can buy enough food and fuel to survive the winter months. By the time they return to the kiln for the spring, they owe the manager here, Hashmat Ali, even more money. And so the cycle continues.

Ali is unmoved. This is how it works, he said. If something happens to a family or the father dies, his children have to work and pay the debt.

How it works in reality is much more complex: the land on which many of Kabuls 442 brick factories operate is owned by oligarchs and former warlords who operate above the law, said a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

All brick kilns in Kabul belong to powerful people and warlords, he said. First they give loans to very poor people and then make them work as brick-makers and use them as their slaves.

Each month, the Deh Sabz districts 350 kilns produce an average of 700,000 bricks, which in a six-month season totals 4.2 million each. Thats 245 million bricks from just one district of Kabul, all made by indentured laborers, some of them children as young as 4 or 5 years old.

Ali said the bricks are sold to construction projects across the country, at 500 afghanis (about $7.5) per thousand raw or 3,200 (about $48) afghanis per thousand baked. This means huge profits for the landowning warlords.

Dil Agha and his family are among hundreds of families who live in these unimaginably harsh conditions, a constant downward spiral of misery and debt they can never escape.

Until we can find a fundamental solution for their financial problems, create job opportunities according to the laws of the country, find ways to free them from dependency on those money lenders, we wont be able to solve their problems, Baidar said.

Far from helping the kiln workers, the government has little idea how many people are involved either in Kabul or across the country. Hashmat Ali and others like him appear to be operating with impunity in a legal no-mans land.

The National Environment Protection Agency seems to be the only regulatory body that has moved on the kilns  and then only to protect the environment, according to the agencys head of monitoring and evaluation, Nek Mohammad.

We managed to move them outside the city to protect the environment, but still that area is not suitable as they create so much pollution, harming the air and environment, he said.

For Dil Agha, the quality of the air he breathes is the least of his concerns. He and his brothers borrowed 650,000 Pakistani rupees, the equivalent of about $6,100, four years ago to pay for medical treatment for their grandmother, who suffered kidney problems, and a sister who had broken her leg.

Since then, they have so far only managed to pay back $1,500.

My little son has no future. When he grows up he will have to make bricks to help pay off my debt, Dil Agha said. If I wasnt in debt, I could send him to school to get educated so he could have a good future, help himself and us as well.

But now his future is making bricks, so his future is ruined.
PARIS  French President Francois Hollande vowed Saturday to shut down a bulging migrant camp in Paris, after his government moved 5,000 people from a camp in northern France in an overdue effort to tackle the migrant crisis.

The makeshift camps in Calais on the English Channel and in the French capital have become visible symbols of the countrys struggle to accommodate migrants and refugees seeking better lives in Europe.

Hollande also urged Britain to do more to help underage migrants in Calais, a port city that has long been a magnet for desperate travelers from the Mideast and Africa trying to reach British shores.

We cannot tolerate camps, Hollande said, calling the street encampments not worthy of France. We will evacuate the camps in Paris, because it cannot be a long-lasting solution.

He played down concerns that the closure of the Calais camp last week has driven its residents to the sidewalks of Paris, notably near the Stalingrad subway station. Most migrants recently amassing around the station are part of a new migratory current coming from Libya these last weeks and months, Hollande said.

Migrant camps routinely sprout up in Paris, are cleared out, and then sprout up again. Paris regional authorities say 19,000 migrants have been shifted to temporary housing since June 2015.

Hollande insisted that France would shelter asylum-seekers and deport those without the right to asylum. The migrants in Calais and Paris include war refugees, as well as people fleeing poverty and seeking jobs.

Hollande said 5,000 migrants were evacuated from the Calais camp last week and transferred to some 450 reception centers around France. He met Saturday with migrants taken to a center in Doue-la-Fontaine in western France.

About 1,500 underage migrants remain in Calais in a special shelter.
TULKARM, West Bank  She knew that once she put on the explosive belt, there would be no turning back. She knew it would rip her limb from limb, reducing her to a bloody pulp. She knew it would leave her only daughter an orphan.

But she also knew this: It would kill Israelis. Hopefully, a lot of them. And that was reason enough to do it.

Shifa al-Qudsi was a suicide bomber, or at least tried to be. A Palestinian hairdresser driven to anger, despair and hopelessness, she volunteered to carry out an attack on Israelis that would strike a blow, she thought, for her beleaguered people. I wanted to seek revenge, she said.

But she was arrested before she could act and today, after six years in an Israeli prison, Qudsi has transformed herself from a would-be deliverer of death into a messenger of peace. Now working with a group that brings Palestinians and Israelis together to advocate an end to the conflict between their peoples, she tries to channel the rage that took her to the brink into a nonviolent movement for change.

Qudsi offers a window into the world of terrorism amid a fresh wave of attacks by Palestinians. Mainly wielding knives rather than bombs, these new generation attackers are nonetheless also committing suicide for their cause, since they know they are likely to be shot by Israeli soldiers.

Qudsi understands the kind of thinking that makes sacrificing oneself seem like a rational response to deep feelings of grievance. They occupy your home, your land, they kill your relatives and your people  of course youre upset, she said. You have no other option but to seek revenge.

Now 40, she smoked as she reflected on her life in this corner of the West Bank occupied by Israeli forces for nearly 50 years. Looking back, she still embraces the resentment if not the methodology.

I dont feel bad that I made that decision, she said of her brush with self-immolation. But now I reject suicide attacks. God decides when we will live and when we will die. Now my jihad is to send out a message to the world. The world must know the Palestinians land is occupied. We are people who want peace, just peace.

She has come to know Israelis who share her views as part of Combatants for Peace, an organization of former Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters reaching across lines that separate them. I want to stop the bloodshed, Qudsi said.

The group is featured in a new documentary, Disturbing the Peace. But old suspicions die hard, and Qudsi was not permitted by the Israeli authorities to attend the Jerusalem premiere in July, nor allowed to travel to the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem to obtain a visa to attend a showing early this month at the Hamptons International Film Festival on Long Island. The movie will debut in New York City on Nov. 11, and she still hopes to attend.

If viewed warily by the Israeli authorities, Qudsi is not accepted by everyone at home either. Palestinian attackers are celebrated in the West Bank as martyrs, and their families receive compensation from the Palestinian Authority. Cooperation with Israelis, even like-minded ones, is often deemed betrayal.

After the second intifada, or uprising, began in 2000, the conflict found her. Two cousins were shot. The sound of explosions gave her daughter nightmares. Her brother, Mahmoud Adnan al-Qudsi, tried to mount a suicide attack, only to be arrested.

The night before her attack in April 2002, Israeli security forces, tipped to the plan, burst into her house. According to the Israeli authorities, Qudsi was interrogated for three days before being charged and convicted of conspiracy to commit premeditated killing and possession of explosives. She said she was beaten in prison.

While locked up, Qudsi rethought her course. Although still angry at Israelis, she began reading the writings of Mohandas Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. She met a female Israeli prison guard who treated her with respect. Thats what made me feel that not every Israeli is the same, she said.

Released in 2008, she joined Combatants for Peace. Among those she met was Chen Alon, an Israeli military officer who spent time in jail after refusing to serve in the occupied territories.

Alon was shocked by her story. I could identify with everything except the decision  the terror, the hopelessness, the idea that this was the only thing that could provide a future for her daughter, said Alon, now a theater director and lecturer at Tel Aviv University. I dont accept it, but I can understand it.

I told her that a suicide attack is a crazy attack, he continued. And she told me right in front of the group, Youre saying that because you have tanks and helicopters. You think this because you can bomb us from the air. But when you dont have anything in hand to protect yourself, these belts are the only weapon we have.

That, he added, made me think, Wow, I didnt think about it this way. 
SEOUL  Thousands of South Koreans took to the streets of the capital Saturday calling for increasingly unpopular President Park Geun-hye to step down over allegations that she let an old friend, the daughter of a religious cult leader, interfere in state affairs.

The evening protest came after Park ordered 10 of her senior secretaries to resign over a scandal that is likely to deepen the presidents lame duck status ahead of next years election.

Holding candles and signs reading Whos the real president? and Park Geun-hye step down, the protesters marched through downtown Seoul after holding a candlelight vigil near City Hall. Police estimated about 12,000 people turned out for the biggest antigovernment demonstration in Seoul in months.

Park has lost her authority as president and showed she doesnt have the basic qualities to govern a country, Jae-myung Lee, from the opposition Minjoo Party and the mayor of the city of Seongnam, told the protesters from a stage.

Park has been facing calls to reshuffle her office and Cabinet after she acknowledged on Tuesday that she provided longtime friend Choi Soon-sil drafts of her speeches for editing. Her televised apology sparked intense criticism about her mismanagement of national information and a heavy-handed leadership style that many see as lacking in transparency.

Theres also media speculation that Choi, who holds no government job, meddled in government decisions on personnel and policy and exploited her ties with Park to misappropriate funds from nonprofit organizations.

Prosecutors on Saturday widened their investigation by searching the homes of presidential officials suspected of interacting with Choi and receiving their office files from the Blue House  the presidential office and residence. Prosecutors had previously summoned some of Chois key associates and raided their homes and workplaces, as well as the offices of two nonprofit foundations Choi supposedly controlled.

The saga, triggered by weeks of media reports, has sent Parks approval ratings to record lows, and the minority opposition Justice Party has called for her to resign. The Minjoo Party, a larger opposition party, has refrained from calling for Parks resignation over fears of negatively affecting next years presidential election.

Chois lawyer Lee Gyeong-jae said that she was currently in Germany but would return to South Korea if prosecutors summon her. Choi has acknowledged receiving presidential documents in advance, but denied intervening in state affairs.

Chois late father and Parks mentor, Choi Tae-min, was a Buddhist monk, cult leader and Christian pastor at different points of his life.
BEIRUT  Syrian government forces launched a counteroffensive Saturday under the cover of air strikes in an attempt to regain control of areas they had lost to insurgents the day before in the northern city of Aleppo, activists and state media said.

Meanwhile, insurgents launched a fresh offensive on the city, a day after embarking on a broad ground attack aimed at breaking a weeks-long government siege on the eastern rebel-held neighborhoods of Syrias largest city.

The insurgents were able to capture much of the western neighborhood of Assad where much of Saturdays fighting was concentrated, according to the Syrian army and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Observatory said the new offensive by Syrian troops and their allies went under the cover of Russian and Syrian air strikes but government forces did not succeed in regaining control of areas they lost. The group said the fighting and air strikes are mostly on Aleppos western and southern edges.

The Syrian army command said troops and their allies are pounding insurgent positions with artillery shells and rockets adding that all kinds of weapons are being used in the fighting.

The Aleppo Media Center, an activist collective, reported air strikes and artillery shelling of areas near Aleppo. The AMC and another activist collective, the Local Coordination Committees, said rebels entered the village of Minian west of Aleppo on Saturday after intense fighting with government forces.

Later Saturday, the rebels said they launched an attack on the Zahraa neighborhood in western Aleppo to try and capture it from government forces. The attack began with a massive explosion that struck government positions on the front line, said Yasser al-Yousef of the Nour el-Din el-Zinki group, a main faction in Aleppo.

A reporter inside the city for the Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV channel confirmed that the rebels have attacked the Zahraa neighborhood. As he spoke from the roof of a building, sounds of heavy exchange of gunfire could be heard in the background.

The Syrian army said troops were repelling the attack on Zahraa. It said the offensive began when the insurgents detonated a vehicle and shelled the area.

The Observatory said the fighting was continuing intensely after sunset, saying government forces detonated explosives and bombs they planted earlier in the area in an attempt to repel the offensive on Zahraa.

The Observatory said that since Friday some 30 troops and members of Lebanons Hezbollah group were killed in the Aleppo fighting.

East Aleppo has been subjected to a ferocious campaign of aerial attacks by Russian and Syrian government warplanes, and hundreds of people have been killed in recent weeks, according to opposition activists and trapped residents.

The new offensive by insurgents is the second attempt to break the governments siege of Aleppos opposition-held eastern districts, where the U.N. estimates 275,000 people are trapped.
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SHURA, Iraq  State-sanctioned Shiite militias joined Iraqs Mosul offensive on Saturday with a predawn assault to the west, where they hope to complete the encirclement of the Islamic State-held city and sever supply lines from neighboring Syria.

Other Iraqi forces aided by U.S.-led air strikes and heavy artillery meanwhile drove Islamic State fighters from the town of Shura, south of Mosul, where the militants had rounded up civilians to be used as human shields.

The twin thrusts come nearly two weeks into the offensive to retake Iraqs second largest city, but most of the fighting is still taking place in towns and villages far from its outskirts, and the entire operation is expected to take weeks, if not months.

The involvement of the Iranian-backed Shiite militias has raised concerns that the battle for Mosul, a Sunni-majority city, could aggravate sectarian tensions. Rights groups have accused the militias of abuses against civilians in other Sunni areas retaken from the Islamic State, accusations the militia leaders deny.

The umbrella group for the militias, known as the Popular Mobilization Units, says they will not enter Mosul itself and will instead focus on retaking Tal Afar, a town to the west that had a Shiite majority before it fell to the militants in 2014.

Jaafar al-Husseini, a spokesman for the Hezbollah Brigades, said his group and the other militias had advanced 4 miles toward Tal Afar and used anti-tank missiles to destroy three suicide car bombs that were heading toward them.

He said the U.S.-led coalition, which is providing air strikes and ground support to the Iraqi military and Kurdish forces known as the peshmerga, is not playing any role in the Shiite militias advance. He said Iranian advisers and Iraqi aircraft were helping them.

Many of the militias were originally formed after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to battle American forces and Sunni insurgents. They were mobilized again and endorsed by the state when Islamic State swept through northern and central Iraq in 2014.

Iraqi troops approaching Mosul from the south advanced into Shura after a wave of U.S.-led air strikes and artillery shelling against militant positions inside the town. Commanders said most of the militant fighters withdrew earlier last week with civilians, but that U.S. air strikes had disrupted the forced march, allowing some civilians to escape.

After all this shelling, I dont think we will face much resistance, Iraqi army Maj. Gen. Najim al-Jabouri said as the advance got under way. This is easy, because there are no civilians left.

But hours later, a few families who had hunkered down during the fighting emerged. The government has urged people to remain in their homes, fearing a mass exodus from Mosul, which is still home to more than 1 million people.

The Mosul offensive involves more than 25,000 soldiers, Federal Police, Kurdish fighters, Sunni tribesmen and the Shiite militias.

Iraqi forces moving toward the city from several directions have made uneven progress since the offensive began Oct. 17. They are 4 miles from the edge of Mosul on the eastern front, where Iraqs special forces are leading the charge. But progress has been slower in the south, with Iraqi forces still 20 miles from the city.
JOHANNESBURG  After thieves broke into her car, a white South African motorist lashed out at the responding black police officers. She called black people plain and simple useless before unleashing the most offensive racial slur around.

Not the N-word, but the K-word: kaffir.

The word is South Africas most charged epithet, a term historically used by whites to denigrate black people and considered so offensive that it is rarely said out loud or rendered fully in print.

Because of her racist tirade, caught on video early this year, the driver, Vicki Momberg, is on trial and will probably face a hefty fine. Because of her rant and several others like it, lawmakers in South Africa, where the wounds of apartheid remain raw, are moving to make hate speech a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

This week, South Africa released a draft law that would criminalize racism by referring future hate speech cases to criminal courts instead of the civil courts where they are currently heard.

The recent racist utterances and many other incidents of vicious crimes perpetrated under the influence of racial hate, despite our efforts over the past two decades to build our new nation on these values, has necessitated further measures, Justice Minister Michael Masutha said at a news conference Monday.

The governments move has ignited a fierce debate. Criminalizing hate speech, opponents say, would have a chilling effect on another hard-won victory: freedom of expression. Under the proposed law, hate speech would be broadly defined as direct or electronic communication that advocates hatred, incites violence or causes contempt or ridicule.

A first-time offender could be punished by up to three years in prison, and a repeat offender could face imprisonment of up to 10 years.

Beyond the stiff penalties, critics say, the proposed law would also distract from the real problems in South Africa, where blacks have political power but where economic power and cultural influence remain disproportionately in the hands of whites, who account for only 9 percent of the population.

Race and racism should be understood as structural problems, problems of inequality, to be resolved through a program of justice and not criminalization, said Joel Modiri, a lecturer in jurisprudence at the University of Pretoria. Here you have a black-majority society that is essentially demanding protection from a white minority. Its revealing the deeper problem that you have a majority in this country that is fundamentally powerless.

By adopting such a law, South Africa would join Britain, Canada, France, Germany and other countries where hate speech is a crime.

But it would move further away from the United States, a country with which it shares a history of racism by whites against blacks. In the U.S., the First Amendment protects almost all expression, no matter how offensive.
New York police fire officer who placed Eric Garner in deadly chokeholdReutersPublished:August 19, 2019Updated:August 19, 2019 6:11 PM EDTNew York City students and youth activists participate in a news conference and rally to commemorate the lives of Eric Garner and Delrawn Small, both of whom were killed by police in different incidents, on August 08, 2019 in New York City.Spencer Platt / Getty ImagesNEW YORK  The white New York City police officer who used a deadly chokehold on Eric Garner during a 2014 arrest was fired on Monday, five years after video of the encounter fueled nationwide protests against police brutality.Daniel Pantaleo, 34, was fired two weeks after a department judge found him guilty of reckless assault for using a banned chokehold while trying to arrest Garner, an unarmed black man, on suspicion of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes.Garners dying words, I cant breathe!, on a Staten Island sidewalk became a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement that aimed to call attention to police killings of unarmed black people.Police Commissioner James ONeill announced his decision to accept the judges recommendation and fire Pantaleo at a news conference on Monday.He spoke at length in unusually emotional remarks, saying he had empathy for Pantaleo, who had been following orders from his supervisors to crack down on loose cigarette sales, and that he expected police officers would question his decision.Ive been a cop a long time, and if I was still a cop, Id probably be mad at me, I would, for not looking out for us, ONeill said, referring to more than three decades he served as a uniformed officer.Pantaleos use of a banned chokehold on July 17, 2014, even if only for a few seconds, meant that he could no longer effectively serve as a city police officer, ONeill said.In this case, the unintended consequence of Mr. Garners death must have consequences of its own, he said.Garners family and civil rights activists said the decision was long overdue. The head of the powerful city police officers union decried what he said was a politicized firing that left officers feeling abandoned.It is absolutely essential that the world know that the New York Police Department is rudderless and frozen, Patrick Lynch, president of the Police Benevolent Association, told a news conference, standing in front of a department flag that had been symbolically inverted. The job is dead, Lynch said.He sent a letter to union members telling them to adhere closely to the patrol guide and avoid making arrests until a patrol supervisor has been summoned to the scene unless there was a threat to life and safety.Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, had long sought to distance himself from the case. Criticism over how long the process has taken nonetheless dogged him as he campaigns around the country to be the Democratic party nominee in next years presidential election.There was a fair and impartial process and justice was done, de Blasio told a news conference.At a news conference uptown with the civil rights leader Al Sharpton, Garners daughter Emerald wore a T-shirt with MURDERER emblazoned across the front.Officer Pantaleo  well, now I can say Daniel Pantaleo  is a murderer, she said. I wear my emotions on my sleeve and now I wear it on my chest.Garners family have been frustrated that Pantaleo never faced prosecution and say other officers and supervisors involved in the arrest should also be punished.Pantaleo, you may have lost your job, but I lost a son, Garners mother, Gwen Carr, told reporters outside the police departments headquarters in lower Manhattan.NYC cop should be fired for fatal chokehold in Garner arrest, judge rulesHundreds protest in NYC after cop avoids charges in chokehold deathA grand jury in Staten Island declined to indict Pantaleo on state criminal charges in 2014. The U.S. Department of Justice examined the case for years, but announced in July it would not prosecute Pantaleo, saying there was not enough evidence that he breached Garners rights.In 2015, New York City paid a $5.9 million settlement to Garners family to avoid a civil lawsuit.Pantaleo himself has not publicly discussed the arrest, and his whereabouts on Monday were unclear.Hes away now, and I told him to stay away, Stuart London, Pantaleos lawyer, told reporters, without elaborating. Pantaleo would challenge his firing, London said. Obviously, he is disappointed and upset but has a lot of strength.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The Meals on Wheels of Staten Island's annual Luncheon saw a record number of attendees flock to LiGreci's Staaten, Friday afternoon, the dining spot that's become a staple in West Brighton.

More than 250 people turned out to celebrate the not-for-profit mission of Meals on Wheels of Staten Island, Inc., to provide two nutritious meals each day, delivered through volunteers and staff drivers, to elderly homebound residents who are unable to shop or prepare their own meals.

Honored with the Louis R. Miller Distinguished Service Award were: Dr. William J. Fritz and Dr. Bonnie J. Fritz, with the Angela Padavano Community Service Award, Sam and Lizette Farag and with the Corporate Citizenship Award, Empire State Bank, Philip Guarnieri, chief executive officer.

Rampulla & Associates, Architects and Victory State Bank were acknowledge for their generous support of the event.

Dr. Gracelyn F. Santos served as chairperson of this year's successful event.

"Thank you for your support of Meals on Wheels of Staten Island, which leads the effort to make sure the elderly people in our community receive nutritious meals and the human connection they need to help them live independently," said Dr. Santos. She adds: "Their mission would not be possible without your continued generosity and I join Joseph Tornello, president/CEO, Liberta Macco, vice president and the entire Luncheon Committee and the Board of Directors in thanking you."

"On this 44th annual Meals on Wheels Luncheon we're taking the opportunity to honor some wonderful members of our community, who give of themselves not only to the Meals on Wheels mission of service, but all who serve the community of Staten Island, said Joseph Tornello, president of Meals on Wheels.

Dr. William J. Fritz is the seventh president of the College of Staten Island. As an internationally renowned geologist and a fellow of the Geological Society of America, he has published extensively on both modern and ancient explosive volcanoes and is an expert on the geology of Yellowstone National Park.

Said Mr. Fritz: "Staten Island has welcomed us in the nine years we've been here. At the College of Staten Island, we are focused on the younger generation. But we also have a food pantry for students who do skip meals because of circumstances. So we share a common ground with Meals on Wheels."

Dr. Bonnie Fritz has over 25 years of experience in higher education focusing on high impact programs designed for student success. Prior to her work in higher education, she taught middle school and secondary English in rural, urban, public, and private school in Florida and Georgia.

Mr. Farag is the founder and president/CEO of Worldwide Electronic Corporation of Staten Island, an engineering firm that he opened in 1976 that specializes in communications, navigation and commercial electronics serving the shpping industry, hospitals, the Navy and carious city state and not for profits.

He is a member of a great number of charitable organizations on Staten Island and has chaired many fundraisers.

Mr. Farag also credited the Meals on Wheels Board of Directors and its president Joseph Tornello and the work of those who came before him, such as the late Louis R. Miller and Jerry and Stella DeLuca.

Mrs. Farag has traveled extensively and lived in several countries. Her work experience is also internationally varied. When in France she held a positon in a French aviation company, in Spain for importers of Egyptian cotton goods and in Israel for a bank. She donates her time to several not-for-profits and organized the Middle East Luncheon at the Rotary Club of Staten Island as a special event with her husband Sam.

Mrs. Farag was delighted to be among the honorees and receive recognition for her kinds deeds. "Congratulations to all and God Bless," said she.

In 2004 Empire State Bank began operations as a full-service community oriented bank with the goal of providing customers with high quality personalized banking services, innovative financial products and competitive rates.

Through Philip Guarnieri, its CEO, the start-up bank has grown to contain over $150 million in assets and has become a banking leader in the small business community.

In accepting his award, Mr. Guarnieri pointed out: "When I receive an award I always like to acknowledge my my staff, who are out in the community. This organization has great need and we'd like to continue to help," said he.
Hillary Clinton,Robby Mook,Nick Merrill

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, right, accompanied by campaign manager Robby Mook, second from right, and traveling press secretary Nick Merrill, second from left, departs after speaking at a news conference at Theodore Roosevelt High School in Des Moines, Iowa, Friday, Oct. 28, 2016. Clinton is calling on the FBI to release more information about its review of emails that may be related to its investigation into her private server. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

(Andrew Harnik)

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- A new shock hit Hillary Clinton's campaign Friday in the unpredictable and often unbelievable presidential race: The FBI is looking into whether there was classified information on a device belonging to the estranged husband of one of her closest aides.

Adding to the drama of the stunning revelation: The FBI uncovered the emails during a sexting investigation of Anthony Weiner, the disgraced ex-congressman who is separated from longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin.

Hillary Clinton has called on the FBI to immediately release all information it has on the newly discovered emails and feels confident that the new emails will not change the FBI's conclusion that she should not face prosecution.

The news arrived with Clinton holding a solid advantage in the presidential race. Early voting has been underway for weeks, and she has a steady lead in preference polls. But the development all but ensures that, even should she win the White House, the Democrat and several of her closest aides would celebrate a victory a under a cloud of investigation.

It was a day that thrilled Republicans eager to change the trajectory of the race, none more so than GOP nominee Donald Trump.

"Hillary Clinton's corruption is on a scale we have never seen before," Trump said while campaigning in battleground New Hampshire. "We must not let her take her criminal scheme into the Oval Office."

Democrats, still confident Clinton will prevail in 11 days, were enraged by the decision of FBI Director James Comey to disclose the existence of the fresh investigation in a vaguely worded letter to several congressional leaders.

It wasn't until hours later that word emerged that the source of the new emails was Weiner, the former congressman under investigation for sending sexually explicit text messages to a teenage girl.

"Director Comey admits 'the FBI cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be significant,'" said California Sen. Dianne Feinstein. She added, accusingly, "The FBI has a history of extreme caution near Election Day so as not to influence the results. Today's break from that tradition is appalling."

It also it reignited persistent worries among Democrats that electing the former first lady will restart a cycle of scandal and investigation that could rival the final portion of her husband's term in office.

Congressional Republicans have already promised years of investigations into Clinton's private email system. And that's only one of the email-related controversies facing her. The tens of thousands of confidential emails from Clinton campaign insiders that were hacked -- she and the government say by Russia -- and then released by WikiLeaks have provided a steady stream of questions about her policy positions, personnel choices and ties with her husband's sprawling charitable network and post-presidential pursuits.

The Clinton campaign demanded more information about the FBI's unexpected announcement, with Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta saying in a statement that Comey "owes it to the American people to immediately provide the full details of what he is now examining."

Clinton's running mate, Tim Kaine, said the vague FBI statement just 11 days before the election, with details leaking out to the news media, "is very troubling." He, too, called for a quick, full accounting.

In his Friday letter to congressional leaders, Comey wrote only that new emails have emerged, prompting the agency to "take appropriate investigative steps" to review the information that may be pertinent to its previously closed investigation into Clinton private email system.

The FBI ended that investigation in July without filing charges, although Comey said then Clinton and her aides had been "extremely careless" in using the system for communications about government business.

The agency, which did not respond to questions about Comey's letter and did not lay out a timeline for the review, is also investigating the recent hacks of Podesta's emails.

For her part, Clinton remained silent, ignoring shouted questions from reporters and not addressing the subject at her public events in Iowa. Flying on her campaign plane when the news broke, she was traveling with Abedin, the estranged wife of Weiner.

As Clinton and her campaign have been pounded by allegations and embarrassing revelations related to the hacked emails, they've largely avoided engaging in the details. Instead, they've focused on blaming the Russians.

"These are illegally stolen documents," Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said on her campaign plane. "We're not going to spend our campaign fighting back what the Russians want this to be about."

That may be because Clinton hasn't yet felt the political pressure. Recent surveys show her retaining her lead in national polls and making gains in some swing states. In fact, her campaign announced plans to hold a rally in Arizona next Wednesday, a traditionally red state put in play by Trump's deep unpopularity among minority voters, Mormons and business leaders.

To the frustration of many in his party, Trump has struggled to consistently drive an attack against Clinton, often turning to personal denunciations of private citizens he feels have wronged him, like the Gold Star family of Captain Humayun Khan, a Muslim-American soldier killed in action.

That may be changing: He quickly pounced on the email news, seeing an opportunity to press the argument he's long tried to make against Clinton: that she thinks she's above the law and that she put U.S. security at risk by using her personal email.

After weeks of declaring the race "rigged" in favor of his opponent, he declared Friday he has "great respect" for the FBI and the Department of Justice, now that they are "willing to have the courage to right the horrible mistake that they made" in concluding the investigation earlier.

White House spokesman Eric Schultz urged the FBI to "follow the facts, wherever they lead." President Barack Obama plans to travel to support Clinton nearly every day that's left in the campaign.

"He's going to be proud to support her from now until Election Day," Schultz said.
CITY HALL -- A new $250 million water tunnel from Brooklyn to Staten Island will be activated by Mayor Bill de Blasio on Saturday, four years after Hurricane Sandy caused extensive damage and delays to the project.

The new siphon is considered a critical backup that can deliver as much as 150 million gallons of drinking water to the borough in the aftermath of a disaster.

"Our city is better prepared to tackle 21st century threats like Sandy today than ever before," de Blasio said in a statement. "This water tunnel is one measure that will help Staten Island spring back to action in the event of a disaster that would disrupt the water supply."

De Blasio will tour the tunnel's Tompkinsville side on Saturday morning. The new siphon competed pressurization and water quality testing this fall and will serve as an alternate feed for Staten Island's drinking water.

Staten Islanders now use about 50 million gallons of water a day carried from upstate New York through New York City Water Tunnel No. 3 and the Richmond Tunnel. That will still be the main water supply for Staten Island.

The new tunnel replaces two old siphons built just under a century ago that were the borough's primary water connection until the Richmond Tunnel was completed in 1970. Those siphons were the backup connections until being removed by the Port Authority's harbor deepening project.

SANDY DAMAGE DELAYS

Work on the project started in August 2011 and a tunnel boring machine had gone about 1,600 feet toward Brooklyn from the North Shore between July 2012 and Oct. 28 of that year, when operations were suspended before Sandy struck.

The unfinished tunnel and the Staten Island shaft of the project were both flooded with sea water. The tunnel boring machine was also severely damaged.

The city said this happened because the shaft was open. During the 18-month shutdown caused by the storm surge, the city put resiliency measures in place to prevent future damage.

Plans were redrawn. Infrastructure, including the chlorination station, was moved out of the area where there is at least a 1 percent chance of flooding every year, known as the 100-year floodplain.

The tunnel boring machine was able to resume work again on April 14, 2014, after repairs and once water was removed from the tunnels and shafts.

Before Sandy, the machine had put in place 389 of 2,349 concrete rings to line the tunnel wall. Excavation finally completed in February 2015.

NEW WATER MAINS

The project also includes 6,545 feet of new water mains on Staten Island along Van Duzer Street, Victory Boulevard, Front Street and Murray Hulbert Avenue. Construction of the chlorination station is still incomplete.

"New York City has one of the most sophisticated -- and cleanest -- water systems in the world, and it's a testament to the Department of Environmental Protection's great work," Rep. Dan Donovan (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) said in a statement. "Thanks to this project, Staten Island will continue to have a safe and resilient water supply."

De Blasio's decision to highlight the tunnel's completion on Saturday is in contrast with how he's marked Sandy's landfall in years past.

On the third anniversary of the storm last year, de Blasio went to New Dorp Beach and promised that the Build it Back housing recovery program would complete work on single-family homes by the end of 2016.

The city won't meet that deadline.

Increasing construction costs have also left a $500 million hole in Build it Back's budget that taxpayers must shoulder, despite the program serving less than a third of roughly 20,000 homeowners who originally applied for help.
Reichard Donovan NY1.jpg

Richard Reichard and Rep. Daniel Donovan debate on NY1. (Screen capture)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Less than two weeks before the election, Rep. Daniel Donovan and challenger Richard Reichard squared off in a televised debate, sponsored by NY1 and the Staten Island Advance, talking about the economy, Obamacare, heroin, transportation and more.

Representing not only themselves and their respective campaigns leading up to the Nov. 8 election, both candidates were also asked to speak for their party and presidential candidate.

During the 30-minute debate, the Republican Donovan and the Democratic Reichard sat shoulder-to-shoulder, answering questions from NY1's Amanda Farinacci and the Advance's Rachel Shapiro, with NY1's Anthony Pascale moderating.

Both want Congress to focus on fixing the economy, which includes job creation and tax reform.

But each had a different response when asked whether they would work with a president from the opposing party.

"If Donald Trump happens to be elected, yes, I would support him because basically you have to support the results of an election," Reichard said, taking a dig at Trump's comments that he's unsure whether he'll accept the outcome of the election if he loses.

Donovan noted he has already worked across the aisle in Congress with people like Democrat Sen. Charles Schumer on things like extending the 9/11 first responders health care program.

"Whoever wins the presidency, our nation's going to be OK," Donovan said.

Adding that since Clinton is from New York, he hopes she'll pay special attention to needs of the New York delegation in Congress.

Agreeing again that the tone of the presidential race is unfortunate, and debate of important issues have been drowned out, they again disagreed on the details.

Reichard blamed the tone on Trump and the media's coverage, saying Clinton talks about issues.

Donovan said both candidates are to blame for focusing on things "that the public doesn't care about."

The pre-taped debate came a day after it was announced that Obamacare premiums would increase an average of 25 percent next year. However, federal subsidies given to about 85 percent of those enrolled in Obamacare will also increase.

Reichard acknowledged there are issues with the health care program that must be fixed.

"Obamacare has given coverage to millions of people, so let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater," he said.

Donovan disagreed, citing the individuals and business owners who can't afford the premiums at the current rate, let alone a 25 percent increase.

"This is such a disaster that providers are leaving the system," he said, citing Health Republic Insurance of New York, the largest nonprofit cooperatives created under Obamacare, pulling out of the exchange.

Donovan wants to replace it, Reichard wants to repair it.

Asked about addressing the heroin and opiate crisis, Donovan noted he recently introduced a bill designed to limit the use of the drug fentanyl, the very strong opiate often used to lace heroin.

He also touted the passage of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act earlier this year that gave federal funding to local anti-drug programs.

Reichard gave no response for what he would do to address the epidemic if elected, rather he used his response time to criticize Donovan and the GOP in Congress for not taking action more quickly and effectively.

The two candidates agree on some sort of gun control -- both support universal background checks, closing the internet and gun show loopholes.

The two men each want to see federal transportation funds for a North Shore bus rapid transit and a West Shore light rail.

But they differ on whether there should be a wall with Mexico -- "In a form," Donovan says, "No," Reichard says.

Donovan opposes congressional term limits and Reichard supports them.

The full debate aired on NY1 Friday at 6:30 p.m. and will re-air Saturday and Sunday at 2:30 p.m..
NWS SANDY QUINCY

A home built high on Liberty Avenue in Ocean Breeze, where most homeowners took a state buyout.

(Staten Island Advance)

It has been four years since a storm named Sandy engulfed neighborhoods on Staten Island, severely damaging homes and driving people from them.

And it has been four years where we have been critical of what seemed a great idea at the time -- Mayor Mike Bloomberg's Build It Back program.

The program was heralded then as a no-cost-to-the-homeowner way to get houses repaired and people back in them.

It hasn't turned out that way. Mayor Bill de Blasio set a deadline -- the end of this year -- to have everyone back home. But he had to admit just days ago that the city will never meet that goal. In addition, it has been revealed that the city had to add $500 million to an underfunded Build It Back program.

Not surprisingly, in a town where in many quarters Bill de Blasio has become the punching bag for just about every problem we encounter, he is taking the hit for Build It Back's failings.

There is much blame to spread around. But to lay it all at Mayor de Blasio's doorstep is just plain wrong.

With all due respect to Mayor Bloomberg, and his administration -- one we think will be among the best New York City has seen -- Build It Back's failings began as it started.

Timing is everything. A cliche, perhaps, but one packed with truth after Sandy.

The storm ravaged New York at the very end of Mike Bloomberg's third and last term. He was counting the days until "freedom." And his staff, or what was left of it, was no doubt scrambling for new jobs. After all, they were out of work come Dec. 31.

Build It Back never had a chance to get traction in the final days of Bloomberg. When a brand new administration moved in, although maintaining a strong commitment to the program, it was unreasonable to think they could get it off the ground immediately.

And so it languished, despite good intentions and promising campaign speeches.

Frankly, we had our own issues in how the entire situation post-Sandy was approached, as did Borough President James Oddo. When the borough president was Councilman Oddo, he was neck-deep in working on Sandy recovery.

Mr. Oddo, then-Councilman Vincent Ignizzio and the Advance repeatedly called for a new model for the waterfront. Both Council members explored storm-safe construction and came up with a plan where storm victims could be temporarily relocated until new homes were built for them in the most storm sensitive areas of the borough.

The Advance repeatedly called for better community planning, if there was to be a silver lining in the dark cloud called Sandy.

The calls went unheeded, and we are where we are now.

"If you put this Sandy recovery debacle at the feet of the de Blasio Administration you completely ignore the reality and truth that bad decisions made by the Bloomberg Administration in the weeks and months folliwing Sandy sent us down this awful path," the borough president has said.

Three months after the storm, the two councilmen traveled to New Orleans to see how the aftermath of Katrina was handled. There, Mr. Oddo says, officials spoke candidly about what they got wrong.

Messers. Oddo and Ignizio did not keep that news to themselves, sharing it with anyone who would listen when they returned.

As is so typical in New York, people might have listened. But they really didn't care. Just the way no one in New York has taken a single lesson in community planning after the opening of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Then, we saw what wide-scale, unchecked development meant in the 1960s and '70s. And we saw it again in the 1990s and early 2000s, as if it never happened before.

If we do not recognize the mistakes made after Sandy, and then decide how to avoid them, they are certain to happen again.
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Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f0300930)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e71c2378)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f0300930)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e71c2378)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f02de6b8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e71c2378)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e71c2378)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e71c21f8)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f02c8778)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f02c8778)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948

/var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f03176c8)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f0d23ee8)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f03176c8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f0d23ee8)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f06b0380)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f0d23ee8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f0d23ee8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e71c27c8)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f0d1d860)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f0d1d860)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
Googong will be transformed into a creepy graveyard this Halloween, complete with spiders, chains and ghouls - but definitely no creepy clowns.

Boogong, claimed as the Canberra region's biggest Halloween event, will have a haunted house, kids disco, roving performers, delicious food, and fireworks to finish off the night.

Director of complete events group, Matt Mahoney, sets up the BooGong haunted graveyard. Photo Elesa Kurtz Credit:Elesa Kurtz

The event is tailored to all ages and has a big focus on fun, hands-on activities  with just the right amount of scary.

After a successful opening event last year with an estimated 8000 attendees, organisers say thousands of revellers are expected to don their favourite costume and flock to Beltana Park, Googong to partake this year.
The majority of Australians may no longer know the significance of what they did, but for 44 years workers from the Snowy Mountains Scheme have met at an Ainslie park to remember their roles in the country's greatest engineering feat.

On November 6, the now elderly workers will meet again at Corroboree Park for the final time.

From left, former scheme workers Artur Baumhammer, 81, Denis Woodhams 84, and Dorothy Karman 83. Credit:Jamila Toderas

Denis Woodhams, 84, an engineering geologist who moved from England in 1956 to work on the scheme, said the difficulties of tough working conditions  98 per cent of the project was underground  and temporary accommodation brought the diverse workforce together.

"It was a different existence, we had to depend on one another, and a camaraderie built up among people of many origins," he said.
Fishing and tourism on the far south coast of New South Wales is under threat from a controversial super trawler, according to the peak body for recreational fishers.

The Geelong Star is a large scale factory fishing vessel approved by the federal government to fish for small pelagic species which include mackerel, sardine and redbait from Brisbane down to Tasmania and across to Perth.

The Geelong Star, a controversial factory fishing trawler. Credit:Jonathan Mallinson

However, according to Australia Recreational Fishing Foundation managing director Allan Hansard, the trawler has chosen to catch its quota in places popular for recreational fishers, including off the coast of Bermagui, Narooma and Batemans Bay.

Mr Hansard believes even just the sight of the boat close to shore in these popular areas is driving tourists away.
For this to happen President Obama would have to quickly find enough votes in congress to ratify the deal in the period between the November 8 elections and when the term of the newly elected congress and president take effect. Despite Ciobo's optimism this is most unlikely. Ciobo and his Canadian counterpart Chrystia Freeland have made it clear that there is no scope for re-negotiation. It would seem, then, that the TPP is dead. But there is another possibility  Clinton is elected and changes her mind about ratification.

(Trump is unpredictable but in the unlikely event that he wins there seems little chance that he would proceed with the TPP.) It is worth observing Clinton has criticised the TPP provisions in relation to pharmaceuticals. When the US-Australia Free Trade Agreement was agreed in 2005, Australian critics argued its provisions benefited the big US pharmaceutical companies. In the TPP negotiations, Australia won concessions, reducing from 12 years to eight years the data exclusivity period the big pharmaceutical companies wanted for patents. The compromise was seen as a small victory for consumers, unlike the provision on copyright Australia agreed to in the Australia-US FTA.

To benefit among others the Disney film empire, which was due to see its Mickey Mouse rights expire, the Australia-US FTA included a provision to have copyright extended from 50 to 70 years. Not only did Australia accept this clause in the US agreement, it pushed the US line in its negotiations with other countries in our region, such as Korea. Since the Australia-US FTA was negotiated, trade between the two countries has grown considerably but the US remains the major beneficiary. Over the last three years US exports of goods and services to Australia has been 2.3 times the size of ours to them. In 2015 our exports to the US were worth $22.1 billion but we imported $48.1 billion, leaving a net deficit of $26 billion, up 10 per cent on the previous year.

Around the globe, a major concern with the so-called free-trade agreements is that they are not simply about trade. They also enshrine investment rights, impact on environmental standards, working conditions and even packaging and labelling. Consumer organisation Choice and others argue that the Australian government should not ratify any international treaty containing an Investor-State Dispute Settlement Mechanism. The ISDS mechanism gives large corporations a means to challenge and overthrow government regulations requiring ingredient or country of origin labelling, or banning the importation of products that are dangerous. Much of the criticism of the free-trade treaties is due to the fact not everyone benefits from the deals. One-time presidential candidate Bernie Sanders put it bluntly when he said, "I do not believe in unfettered free trade. I believe in fair trade which works for the middle class and working families, not just large multinational corporations."

Purist economic theory proclaims the benefits of free flowing capital, labour and goods and services. But the free flow of capital also enables the rampant tax evasion and avoidance exposed in a number of recent leaks, including the Panama Papers. The economic theory might show that each and every country in a free-trade agreement benefits from the deal but ordinary people, who lose their jobs as a result, do not cheer when they hear that the rich elite in their country are the winners. The theory also does not take account of the social impact of mass migration and the backlash that fuels support for Donald Trump and contributed to the Brexit vote. Even in Australia, conservative economists who said during the mining boom that we should have greater wage flexibility to encourage labour flows have now lost their enthusiasm for migration.
Asylum seekers who attempt to reach Australia by boat will never be allowed to enter the country, even if they are genuine refugees and seek to come as tourists decades later, under legislation to be introduced by Immigration Minister Peter Dutton when Parliament returns.

The lifetime ban would apply to all adults detained at the Manus Island or Nauru detention centres from July 19, 2013 - including those who have chosen to return home. Children who were brought by their parents or unaccompanied would be exempt.

The government has long maintained that asylum seekers who come by boat would never be settled in Australia but the introduction of a lifetime ban on all visas, including for tourism, is tougher than expected.

Mr Dutton signalled the measure was partly designed to stop refugees from marrying Australians and subsequently coming to the country on a partner visa, which he deemed "not acceptable".
A member of Barnaby Joyce's frontbench team has publicly voiced concerns about the National's continued acceptance of tobacco company donations as senior party figures also agitate for a ban.

David Gillespie joined the frontbench after the July 2 election as Assistant Minister for Rural Health, a portfolio that gives him responsibility for the Turnbull government's policies on tobacco.

Nationals deputy Fiona Nash is leading the push to stop tobacco company donations. Leader Barnaby Joyce has left the door open to change. Credit:Andrew Meares

The former physician admits he is "conflicted" about his party's stance.

"I spent my whole professional life getting people off the smokes and I haven't changed my opinion in that regard," Dr Gillespie told Fairfax Media. "It would be an unusual person who just turned around and started accepting help from the purveyors of the product you've been trying to get people to quit."
Megyn Kelly. Credit:Getty Images Normally, the three hosts are seated on a couch in the studio. Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade wear sober business suits and sit either side of Ainsley Earhardt, who wears the uniform of Fox women  a bright, tight, short dress. But this morning, Doocy is broadcasting from the muddy grounds of Washington University in St Louis, where the debate was held the previous night. Perhaps that is the reason the banter between the hosts is a little stilted by breakfast TV standards. Or it could be because Earhardt only recently took over from the previous host, Gretchen Carlson, who sued Fox News creator and former chief executive, Roger Ailes, for sexual harassment, which in turn led to him being dynamited out of his throne by Lachlan and James Murdoch. Some thought MSNBC host Rachel Maddow's apparent scoop on Trump's leaked 2005 tax return made him look good. Credit:Getty Images Carlson's lawsuit, which was settled for $US20 million, had also accused Doocy of harassing behaviour, including a pattern of "mocking her during commercial breaks, shunning her off-air, refusing to engage with her on-air  and generally attempting to put her in her place". To further complicate the conservative media ecosystem, Ailes is now advising Trump on messaging and debate prep.

Still, Fox & Friends sticks to its formula through the off-camera turmoil. Guests come and go, interviews last a minute or two. All participants are certain that Trump won the debate, though Karl Rove, the brains behind George W. Bush, suggests he did little more than arrest a crisis. The video of Trump boasting on an Access Hollywood tape about grabbing women  released, sensationally, three days prior  is referred to only obliquely and occasionally. Stephanie Ruhle. Credit:Getty Images MSNBC hosts make lawyerly cases against trump. i agree with much of it but the cumulative effect is deadening. Trump's latest campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, is beamed in from Trump Tower. Trump is "ebullient" after the debate, she says. Asked about the tape, she says Trump regrets the "locker room talk" but that his words are not nearly as serious as Bill Clinton's deeds. The panel nods along. This line of defence will collapse in days to come as evidence mounts of Trump's deeds. There is general consensus that Trump won the encounter with Clinton, that his threat to have her jailed was a good laugh line, and certainly not a threat to the democratic order as it is being described on other stations. Trump's running mate Mike Pence, the hardline Christian Governor of Indiana, makes an appearance. This is an important interview because rumours began to circulate during last night's debate that he was going to quit the campaign in disgust at Trump's behaviour.

"That's just absolutely untrue," he says. The real story today, he says, is that Trump has "stepped up, won the debate against all odds  shown humility, shown contrition". The three co-hosts keep straight faces as Pence is afforded another unmediated minute or so to run through his talking points. "I'm proud of my running mate," he says. Just in case the message  that everything really is fine  is lost on anyone, Jeanine Pirro lobs in for a chat in the mud with Doocy. "Judge Jeanine" is a former judge and New York district attorney, author of the evocatively titled To Punish and Protect and Fox News law and order commentator. She serves as a sort of Greek chorus for the morning's analysis. She speaks simple words in short furious bursts. Clinton, Pirro asserts, corrupted the Department of State, the Justice Department and the FBI. What's more, she committed perjury and destroyed evidence. Bill Clinton was a serial sex offender. "I am ashamed of what they have done. I have been in law enforcement for 30 years." It just so happens she that has known Donald Trump for exactly that long, too. "He has always been a gentleman. I didn't meet him once or twice. I know the man." She ends with a glare down the barrel of the camera. "To those politically correct Republicans," referring to those who have abandoned Trump, "Shame on them." JOSEPHINE "There's a wonderful line by James Baldwin," says Eddie Glaude jnr. "He says civilisations aren't ended by wicked people, they're actually ended by the spineless." Glaude, the chair of the African-American Studies department at Princeton University, is sitting on one side of the expansive glass desk in the New York studio of MSNBC's Morning Joe. There's no couch on this breakfast show, no women in tight dresses, and no loyal friends of Donald Trump.

"The spineless", in Glaude's view  the ones he says are risking civilisation  are the Republicans who, after endorsing Trump knowing full well who he is and what he represents, are only now choosing to dis-endorse him over the Access Hollywood tape. "I was horrified," Glaude continues, pivoting to talking about the debate. "I saw the slow death of democracy by a thousand cuts of the stupid and the vile  when we talk about the state of our country and the state of our democracy, Donald Trump represents the bottom." Not so far from their studio, I'm watching this unfold on television from my ground-floor Brooklyn apartment. I'm nursing an emotional hangover from the debate, as well as a bowl of the oatmeal I paid way too much for at yuppie health food emporium Whole Foods. I live in a different America to Fox News, as far from Trumpland as you could get. New York City hasn't voted for a Republican president since Calvin Coolidge in the 1920s, and the state of New York is a lock for Democrats. My own neighbourhood, Clinton Hill, is racially diverse and middle-class, dotted with "Clinton Hill for Hill Clinton" posters. Appropriately then, I'm spending the day watching the channel considered Fox's ideological antipode, MSNBC. It's a reputation the network has earned thanks to an evening schedule packed with opinionated, popular progressives such as Rachel Maddow, the lesbian Rhodes scholar who helms its highest-rating prime-time show. MSNBC has the most consistently liberal audience of any US cable news network, according to a 2014 Pew survey, and is widely distrusted by conservative voters.

It's not as outrageously partisan as Fox: Joe Scarborough (Morning Joe himself) is actually a former Republican congressman, albeit one who vigorously denounced Trump over the Muslim ban, and there are plenty of conservatives among their regular guests. (Trump declared war on the show this year over its unfriendliness to him; he threatened to "spill the beans" on the show's hosts being a secret real-life couple.) But there is a cohesive sense of urbane, rational political insiderism: of journalists talking to other journalists, academics or professional political spinners; the kinds of people who drop James Baldwin into conversation. In other words, these are the "elites" of Trump's nightmares, the "lamestream" media embodied. No one here is praising what Trump said last night per se, but Scarborough contends his aggressive performance was effective, and will triage his campaign. "I know everybody in the press hates Donald Trump, he's horrible, blah blah blah  I'm just giving you the political reality," he says, acting his assigned role of Republican translator in enemy territory. "[Trump] delivered the attack on the Clinton machine that the Republican base and middle-America have been waiting for." Donny Deutsch, an advertising executive and regular commentator on the network, contends Trump flat-out lost. "This is no longer about politics, this is a gender war." As footage of Trump lurking behind Clinton at the debate rolls, he says "the words didn't mean anything. Every woman in America who has ever been held down, oppressed, harassed  there is something in them, a nerve, that so transcends everything else. If you're not seeing that, you're missing it." NICK Fox's audience tapers off and ages substantially during the day. Fox & Friends is followed by a couple of barely distinguishable news programs. Though there is plenty of news about, only the election breaks through. Advertisements for gold are on high rotation. (Fox's endless predictions of Big Government economic armageddon attracts gold bugs and doomsday preppers.)

I become so bored I send a tweet to the fake account of William Devane, a star of the gold ads. (He doesn't respond.) Devane is one of those actors from the '80s whose face you know in your bones. In the gold ads he is always doing something wealthy, white and independent of spirit, like flying a light plane or riding a horse on a manicured pasture. At midday, Outnumbered comes on. It's a talk show that looks like a Roger Ailes fever dream. A different male guest each day, always described as #oneluckyguy, sits in the centre of the couch surrounded by four women hosts, all in the Ailes uniform with their legs crossed or knees pressed heroically together. Today's guest, Fox's own Bill O'Reilly, sits as a bloke on a train might. He is here to flog a new book, Killing Reagan, part of his endless series of historical page-turners. Ailes used to hate the way O'Reilly so shamelessly flogged his merchandise on Fox, but Ailes is gone now. The afternoon bleeds on, one show barely distinguishable from the next. The commentators veer right and the footage of Trump's foul display on hot mic  which was on high rotation everywhere else before I went into my Fox sequester  is never aired. Finally, at 5pm, the pace picks up with the afternoon talk show The Five. In his book on Fox News, The Loudest Voice in the Room, reporter Gabriel Sherman, who has led coverage on the crises that have recently wracked the station, describes how the show was created. "[Ailes] said [to a close friend], 'I wanted a Falstaff, and that's Bob Beckel. I need a leading man, and it's Eric Bolling. I need a serious lead and that's Dana Perino. I need a court jester and it's Greg [Gutfeld], and I need the leg. That's Andrea Tantaros.' " Tantaros is now suing both Ailes and O'Reilly for harassment, and is gone from the show. Beckel  who, as the Falstaff of the ensemble, was the panel's token Democrat  has also left. (He was unceremoniously dumped in the middle of a stint in rehab.)

Gutfeld, the jester, is still there. He gets to wear jeans and sneakers under his suit jacket and his speciality is a knowing scripted tirade against liberal scolds. This afternoon he is having a go at those who fretted over Trump's declaration that he'd have Clinton jailed. "Oh! The media freaked out about this, that Trump is really a wannabe tyrant bent on settling scores. It could be right. He might have that in him. But what he said is actually what a lot of people think about Hillary. Why is she getting away with this? How is this possible? It was a good moment for him. "But then she just grinned as the polls widened knowing there are more shoes to drop, and each will overshadow her own retched failures as she smirks her way back to the Oval Office." Kimberly Guilfoyle  smart, fast and cheerily hard right  is Tantaros's replacement. She sits at the end of the desk, where you can see her leg. JOSEPHINE "Is grabbing a vagina or using your power to kiss a woman, whether she wants it or not, an act of grace?" asks Stephanie Ruhle, leaning into her anchor's desk. (Unlike her Fox colleagues, she's filmed from the waist up.) On the split screen, Republican vice-presidential candidate Mike Pence, wearing a furrowed expression and an American flag pin, bears the indignity of the question in the way a man running with Trump simply must. It's a little after 9am and MSNBC has mercifully moved from breakfast television to the long stretch of "breaking news" that will fill my television screen from now until 5pm. Ruhle, a ginger-haired host who could be a distant cousin of Leigh Sales in both appearance and tenacity, is hammering Pence on how a devout Christian man like himself can suggest Trump has shown appropriate contrition for the Access Hollywood comments and deserves "grace".

"Donald Trump made it clear that those were words, only words, last night," replies Pence. "That he hadn't engaged in any of that behaviour, and I believe him." Later in the day, at a rally in North Carolina, Pence will invoke this interview as well as Ruhle, the journalist who questioned his faith. "I was on television this morning with MSNBC," he begins, and the Republican crowd breaks out in spirited booing, the very name of the network proving tasty bait. MSNBC's daytime line-up was once sprinkled with progressives pundits, but in 2015, facing low ratings and an extraordinary impending election, the station pulled its daytime opinion shows in preference of eight hours of continuous "breaking news". What that actually means is that experienced journalists like Stephanie Ruhle helm hour after hour of election coverage. Correspondents from PolitiFact pop up every hour or so to adjudicate on claims made at the debate the night before. Trump comes off poorly. His claim that Clinton once laughed at a child rape victim is labelled as false, as is his statement that Muslim neighbours saw bombs all over the apartment of the San Bernardino attackers (who killed 14 people in the Californian city in late 2015) but didn't come forward to prevent the terrorist atrocity. Clinton's assertion that Trump's words have been used to recruit terrorists is labelled true, but her attempt to distance herself from Barack Obama's infamous "red line" with Bashar al-Assad in Syria is debunked as mostly false. Trump's threat the night before to throw Clinton in jail is treated with the utmost seriousness and concern throughout the day. Legal correspondent Ari Melber earnestly points out this will "not only violate the rule of law and the non-partisan approach we take to it, but might even be an impeachable offence".

Most of the news is pretty straightforward but there is the occasional reminder of just which America you're in. For one, there's the network's daily unscientific web poll, which delivers results with distinctly North Korean margins. Today's topic is whether GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan should withdraw his endorsement of Trump. A cool 94 per cent of MSNBC viewers say yes at first mention, hardening to 96 per cent an hour later. There's virtually none of what Australians might recognise as breaking news during these eight hours. You know: scripted reports, interviews with real people, dispatches from the field. The mounting death toll in the American South from Hurricane Matthew barely rates a mention. There is, instead, only the election. "She tried to take it high and he tried to take it low  He was so utterly unpresidential," a Clinton representative says in an interview. "She is most likely a felon," says a Trump representative 15 minutes later. It's so tedious I can barely stand it. On my phone, flicking through Twitter, I can see there is plenty of other news around today, but a cable news devotee wouldn't know it.

I may find it stultifying, but the endless campaign has proved a ratings bonanza for MSNBC and its competitors. The heavy lifting of journalism  that is, election-influencing scoops on Trump's taxes or Clinton's use of a private email server  has come from print and digital organisations such as The Washington Post and The New York Times. But ratings on cable are way up nonetheless, with both MSNBC and Fox surpassing their own previous high ratings records in the last quarter. They may be the only ones enjoying this election. NICK It is the evening that matters. Roger Ailes created a line-up of after-sundown talent that so dominated the competition it not only made the Murdoch empire an estimated $US1.5 billion last year, it gave him significant control over the Republican Party. David Frum, a former speechwriter for George W. Bush, lamented back in 2010, "Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us and now we're discovering we work for Fox. And this balance here has been completely reversed. The thing that sustains a strong Fox network is the thing that undermines a strong Republican Party." There are many who believe that it was bullying by Fox of moderate Republicans that drove the party so far to the right that it became vulnerable to Trump's populist takeover. Fox's chief bullies are the angry Irishmen, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity. (O'Reilly's temper tantrums are glorious, and well worth a Google.) The two men have been joined in the prime-time line-up by Megyn Kelly, a lawyer turned journalist. O'Reilly begins each show with a monologue called the "Talking Points Memo", which serves not only to introduce his themes, but to suggest that all you have heard before is fluff. Now you are in the presence of greatness. Now is the time to listen. "As the debate wound to a close, there were two things that became apparent to fair-minded people," O'Reilly says towards the end of his monologue. "Hillary Clinton did not hurt herself and will remain the frontrunner, but Donald Trump, in a very difficult spot, was able to stand his ground  and that in itself, after all that happened over the weekend, is a major victory  he is still in it."

Next up is Megyn Kelly, who attracted the attention of even the liberal media with her performance during the last election night in 2012. Kelly was hosting a panel with Karl Rove as a guest. At 11pm, Fox's tally room called the election for Obama, and Rove, in touch with Mitt Romney's campaign on his phone, refused to accept the call. As the talent locked horns on air, producers came up with a plan. Kelly would leave the desk and walk to the station's analytics to consult the experts with cameras in tow. "This is Fox News," a source told Gabriel Sherman in a report he wrote for New York magazine, "so anytime there's a chance to show off Megyn Kelly's legs, they'll go for it." Confronted with the facts, Rove looked like an old fool while Kelly dominated the moment. She has been a star ever since, though liberals who thought at that point she might moderate the conservative slant at Fox News have been disappointed. Her power at the station was recently affirmed when she added her voice to the chorus of those who complained about harassment by Ailes. If Kelly was on board, it seemed, Ailes must go. And that's how it panned out. Tonight, she runs a clip from the hardline former GOP speaker Newt Gingrich, who has recorded himself looming over a webcam. Gingrich has some words of wisdom for wobbly Republicans: those who do not fight for Trump are helping install Clinton, which "would be a great disservice to the future of the country and the future of our children and grandchildren". Kelly cheerily flicks the apocalyptic comments to former governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee, the Christian hardliner who Trump knocked out of the Republican nomination race early on. She suggests to Huckabee that if he doesn't get behind Trump and "fight tooth and nail", it could cause recriminations within the party for years to come. "That's exactly right, Megyn," says Huckabee obediently. He later adds, "[Trump's] like Captain Quint in the original movie Jaws. He's vulgar, he's salty, he might even get drunk  he's the guy who's gonna save your butt and save your family. And so at the end of the day, when he kills the shark, you're happy about it.

"Now, Hillary is the shark. She's gonna eat your boat, she's gonna have open borders, immigration out the kazoo, and so the choice is, do you vote for Captain Quint, who's gonna save your family, or do you vote for the shark?" (Huckabee doesn't know Jaws well enough. Captain Quint ends up being eaten.) By this point I've finished my Chinese takeaway and counting the minutes. Just Sean Hannity's 10pm slot is left  the meanest of the whole bunch. While others on Fox seem to be hedging their bets in this election  perhaps symptomatic of both the absence of Ailes and the manifest weakness of the Republican Party's candidate  Hannity is practically driving the Trump Train. Reza Aslan, an Iranian-American public intellectual, recently called Hannity a Fox News "pretty boy" and likened his adulation of Trump to a teenage girl with a crush. You can imagine how that went down. Tonight, though, Hannity is in a good mood, thrilled by Trump's performance in the debate. Trump, he says at one point, is a "great, great man" and he has a bunch of Trump representatives lined up to agree with him, starting with Kellyanne Conway, who I'd last seen near dawn. The two are finishing each other's sentences. "He was calm and measured," she trills. Hannity smiles and nods. "And funny! Funny!" he says. "That's the man I've known for years."

The former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani is up next, declaring the debate a knockout blow by Trump and excoriating Clinton for her "vicious, nasty" attacks on him. Then Mike Pence is back, then Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee. It all starts to blur. JOSEPHINE Rebecca Traister is almost shaking with outrage. "The dynamics there, of this person [Clinton], whatever you think about her, who's in this historic role of being the first woman to get this close to the American presidency, and she's having to wrestle this troll," says Traister in the middle of a long, evocative jag on the debate. "She's working through the muck of misogyny." Traister is a writer for New York magazine and an incisive feminist author, and tonight she's a guest on All In With Chris Hayes, one of MSNBC's flagship opinion programs. She and the bespectacled young host are in furious agreement about the appalling gender dynamics at play in last night's debate, the intimidating way Trump spoke to his opponent, lurked behind her and also his stunt of bringing Bill Clinton's accusers to the arena. "There is a reasonable feminist conversation to be had about Bill Clinton  his sexual power abuses," says Traister. "Donald Trump does not care about that feminist conversation. He wanted to humiliate her." It's approaching 8.30pm, I'm eating pho I ordered online and we are in the home stretch. All evening on MSNBC, progressive hosts make lawyerly cases against Trump, backed up with poll data and character witnesses such as Traister. I agree with much of it but the cumulative effect is deadening.

Hayes opens his show tonight with a damning editorial on Trump's sinking polls and the woes of the Republican Party. "Donald Trump's job last night was to attempt to wipe away the effects of that shocking video  and somehow reverse his disastrous slide in the polls," says Hayes, speaking directly to the viewer. "Trump, by nearly all accounts, failed in that mission." The chaos in the Republican Party, and Trump's sexism, is almost entirely the same theme on The Rachel Maddow Show an hour later, with a long riff on the likelihood that more damning video evidence of Trump will come out. "It's fair to say that everybody's just waiting for the other shoe to drop, in terms of more nuclear material like this," Maddow says, referring again to the Access Hollywood tape. She then runs through a series of Trump's sexist comments and plays a long clip of Trump on shock jock Howard Stern's show in 2005 being asked if he would stay with his wife Melania if she were disfigured in an accident. "How do the breasts look?" Trump responds. Maddow frames this not just as offensive but a potential threat to America's standing: "Imagine how those [comments] could be used against him not just personally but against the country if he were president?" But after 10pm, on The Last Word With Lawrence O'Donnell, there is something that breaks the monotony. It's another hit on Trump but at least a more creative one. Khizr Khan, the father of a slain Muslim-American soldier whose dignified denunciation of Trump stole the show at the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia in July, is a guest. At the debate the night before, Trump had claimed Khizr's son Humayun would still be alive today if he were president.
Every year there is always that one fashion item you "must" own, such as Birkenstocks or a handbag that costs more than Greece's national debt. This year that coveted prize is a Carla Zampatti zebra print jacket.

The acclaimed designer is no stranger to dressing high profile women, but she's now the the go-to label for some of the most famous (and infamous) red-headed women.

Julia Gillard, Pauline Hanson and Sarah Ferguson all wearing Carla Zampatti. Credit:Twitter/Fairfax Media

Zampatti's monochrome design, a piece from her spring-summer 2016 collection, has been spotted on former prime minister Julia Gillard, Senator Pauline Hanson and Sarah Ferguson. All three have worn the jacket during the past fortnight.

Gillard debuted the look, albeit the longer cape version that retails for $1199, this month when she spoke at the memorial for slain British MP Jo Cox. The Zebra Cloaked Desire Cape was a signature piece of Zampatti's latest collection that landed in stores recently.
The Church of Scientology has defended the use of NSW schoolchildren in an ad promoting the church, as the self-described "advanced organisation" goes on a marketing drive following the opening of its $37 million Asia-Pacific headquarters on Sydney's north shore.

The children, from Newtown's Athena School appeared in advertisement for the church alongside their principal Fiona Milne in July.

In the ad Mrs Milne said she "wasn't going to let children suffer how I'd suffered in the classroom", so she implemented the "clear" teaching techniques of L. Ron Hubbard in the classroom. Mrs Milne declined to comment on whether the school had obtained parental permission for the ad.

The church has strenuously maintained the school and the church are separate organisations. The school teaches the "Way to Happiness" philosophy of Scientology leader L. Ron Hubbard, but does not disclose that philosophy's link to the church on any promotional material.
The Australian Red Cross Blood Service has urged blood donors not to abandon it over its leak of 550,000 donors' personal details, one of the largest data breaches in Australia's history.

Blood Service spokesman Shaun Inguanzo apologised to donors for the data leak but said the need for blood was urgent.

Australia has seen a decline in the number of people signing up to become new blood donors over the past 10 years, 87,000 annually down from 127,000.

"In Australia, we need a blood donation every 24 seconds, or 25,000 each week," he said.
Michelle Reynolds was dumped in bushland by Wayne Jones. Credit:Frank Redward As a magistrate was still getting his head around the prosecution's case against Senior Constable Roberts, which he later remarked "should never have started", the worst possible news surfaced in court. The same violent offender whose drug supply charges had strangely evaporated 14 months earlier had since become the subject of another serious criminal case at Coffs Harbour. Michelle Reynolds, who was murdered by Wayne Jones in a motel room. Credit:Janie Barrett "Sorry your honour  I just have a question," said a court assistant about what first appeared to be a mix up with files. "The case  is for a murder charge."

"We all looked around in disbelief," recalled Senior Constable Roberts. Michelle Reynolds with one of her young sons. Credit:Janie Barrett "The man whom I had charged, who should still have been inside, and for whom I was now in court, had killed someone. I was absolutely devastated." On April 4, 2011, Senior Constable Roberts and a colleague were patrolling Sydney's Kings Cross where they observed Jones and three young women in a situation that prompted concerns of underage prostitution. Senior Constable Roberts then observed Jones "clearly and without obstruction" place both his hands down the front of his pants and remove "a plastic item" before transferring the object into the co-accused's hands" which she swiftly stuffed down the front of her shorts. Glen Roberts (left) with Megan Gale and unknown colleague.

They called for back up and a a female officer searched the girl and located the package inside her pants which contained bags of heroin, ice and marijuana. However, back at the station, the seemingly straightforward arrest started to unravel when the 21-year-old woman divulged that she had been assisting Newcastle-based detectives with classified intelligence about Jones and his bikie gang associates, describing scenes involving big silver cases and "pounds of drugs" laid across tables. "He is part of the Nomads ... they all are," she said. The woman went on to explain how the previous evening Jones had rounded her and two teenage girls up, conducted an ice deal at a service station and then bashed her and forced her to drive, unlicensed, to Sydney for the purpose of prostitution. The drugs that led to the arrest of Wayne Jones in 2011. "He had sexual intercourse with me even though I tried to stop him ... and then after that he forced me to do two jobs otherwise he was going to do it again." She also alleged he had raped one of the other girls. Throughout the interview, the woman said she was "scared", adding: "Once he overdosed me on heroin and just left me there. Other days he just belts me."

Years earlier, Jones had smashed a woman so hard with a car "club lock", it caused the left side of her face to collapse. He received a seven and a half year sentence with a non-parole period of four and a half years. He was still on parole for that horrific attack when the drug exchange took place. He was now served with three drug possession charges, one count of dealing with suspected proceeds of crime and an additional charge of supply of an indictable quantity of drugs, which carries a maximum 15 year prison term. Yet six months on, some shadowy element in the police force set wheels in motion to withdraw all those charges and have Jones freed. In turn Senior Constable Roberts was suddenly accused of lying about what he'd observed on the night and was charged with "fabricating false evidence with intent to mislead judicial tribunal". When the case was heard in Sydney's Downing Centre in April 2013, it emerged that the prosecution's case against Senior Constable Roberts hinged on one statement from a senior constable who said Roberts had told her he "hadn't actually seen" the drug transaction that led to Jones being charged.

Yet two pivotal pieces of evidence, which the force had failed to produce for two years, proved otherwise. The first, an official record of interview in which Jones' co-accused acknowledged she personally saw Senior Constable Roberts witness the exchange. "I know you saw me," she said, adding: "I spotted that." The second testimony came from the female constable called to the sceneto search the three women. In her statement, which police did not disclose, the officer recalled Senior Constable Roberts saying: "I've seen her hug the accused and possibly put something down the front of her pants." Under the Director of Public Prosecutions Act 1986, police are legally bound to "disclose" to the DPP "all relevant information, documents or other things obtained during the investigation" that might reasonably be expected to assist the case for the prosecution or that of the accused person. Magistrate Graeme Curran said it was that "critical" evidence that not only favoured the "truthfulness" and "accuracy" of Roberts' observations, but "founded" the supply charges then laid against Jones. "For reasons which just remain completely inexplicable and quite strange  this document was not provided to the DPP. This is despite a request that it be made available to the DPP."

He added: "It seems quite exceptional, quite unacceptable, and as far as I am concerned, quite inexcusable in relation to the conduct of this matter before the court." NSW Greens justice spokesman David Shoebridge said on Saturday: "This was either the grossest incompetence or, these actions were conducted with the clear intent of delivering a serious miscarriage of injustice. Either way, the consequences have been deeply tragic." Senior Constable Roberts has had plenty of time to speculate on why someone in the force freed Jones and then attempted to "throw him under a train". But central to the grief that still consumes him is the question of what might have unfolded, had he never made the arrest that night. "I'm still plagued by the thought that I may have saved the lives of those three young girls, but I cost another woman hers." On Saturday, the force released a statement to Fairfax Media acknowledging "the seriousness of this issue."

How the bizarre sequence of events unfolded Feb 2003: Wayne Jones bashes a woman so hard with a car "club lock", the left side of her face collapses. He already has convictions for armed robbery, possession of a pistol and numerous drug-related charges. At the end of the year, he receives a 7year sentence with a non-parole period of 4years. Apr 2011: Kings Cross Senior Constable Glen Roberts witnesses a drug exchange involving Jones and a woman who he allegedly brought to Sydney to prostitute. Jones' parole is revoked and he is returned to jail. It emerges the woman has been forwarding classified intelligence about Jones' involvement with a major drug supply and the Nomads motorcycle gang. Oct 20: All charges against Jones are withdrawn. He is freed. Nov: Within weeks of being released, Jones is charged with possessing a knife in public, driving while disqualified, dealing with proceeds of crime and possessing identity information to commit an indictable offence. He again avoids jail and is placed on good behaviour bonds, the last of which expires on November 18, 2014.

October 10, 2012: Senior Constable Glen Roberts is charged with "fabricating false evidence with intent to mislead judicial tribunal". December 11-17: Jones tortures, bashes and strangles Central Coast mother Michelle Reynolds in a Coffs Harbour motel room, then dumps her battered body in bushland. June 6, 2013: A judge dismisses the case against Senior Constable Roberts and is scathing of police after they were found to have concealed "critical" evidence from the DPP that verified the detective's "truthfulness" and the case against Jones. Loading October 2014: Jones is sentenced to minimum 20 years jail for murder.
The bushland where the body of Michelle Reynolds was dumped. Credit:Frank Redward In December 2012, Jones checked into a Coffs Harbour motel where, high on ice, he hog-tied Ms Reynolds, beat her unconscious, poured a corrosive chemical over her stomach, then strangled her to death using a piece of cloth. Ms Reynolds' former partner Glenn Winterbottom went into shock when he was advised this week of the bombshell news of the police's mishandling of the case. The Coffs Harbour motel where Wayne Jones murdered Michelle Reynolds. Credit:Frank Redward "I'm devastated, no words can describe how I feel," he said from his Central Coast home.

"My four beautiful boys, how are they going to feel when they find out about this? They are going to want answers, because they want answers now." Glenn Winterbottom, who has just found out his former partner and mother of his children, Michelle Reynolds, would still be alive if police had not dropped drug charges against the criminal who went on to murder her. Credit:Janie Barrett For a monster like that to be set free after all those charges. This is conspiracy stuff. The truth must be told. Michelle Reynolds' former partner Glenn Winterbottom He added: "This does not make sense. For a monster like that to be set free after all those charges. This is conspiracy stuff. The truth must be told." Ms Reynolds' sister Kath told Fairfax Media: "My sister has lost her life and her boys have lost a mother because of these people ... and they cannot bring her back."

Four sons left with their mother: Michelle Reynolds before her tragic death. Credit:Janie Barrett On Saturday, the force released a statement to Fairfax Media acknowledging "the seriousness of this issue and the family's concerns", adding: "At this stage we cannot comment any further." Ms Reynolds and Mr Winterbottom shared 10 happy years together. While they later separated, their bond was cemented through four "wonderful" boys, who had meant "everything" to Ms Reynolds, Mr Winterbottom said. Michelle Reynolds and one of her four boys. Credit:Janie Barrett "Michelle was such a loveable person. Despite going our separate ways, I still loved her and always will. She was one of those people with a real heart of gold."

He described a woman who was never happier than when she was hanging with her children, enjoying an afternoon at the beach or belting out songs at karaoke nights alongside family and friends. Her sister Kath, meanwhile, described her as a "free spirited" person who placed "trust and faith in everyone". However, in the weeks before she died, loved ones sensed something was not quite right. It soon emerged she had begun taking amphetamines. On December 7 that year, her family reported her missing to police. Unbeknown to them, she had travelled north with Jones and checked into a Coffs Harbour motel room where, in a "drug-fuelled rage", he burned her, broke her nose and eventually strangled her. He later ordered take away pizza while her body lay beside him. The next day, he wrapped her bloodstained body in bedsheets, bundled her into a taxi and instructed the driver to take him on a tour of potential real estate opportunities on the outskirts of town, where he got rid of the body in bushland.

In sentencing Jones, Justice Richard Button said he had dumped Ms Reynolds "in the same way that some citizens dump their unwanted household refuse". Mr Winterbottom points out that Jones had only appeared in Ms Reynolds' life in the weeks leading up to her tragic death and that, had he still been in jail, "there is no way she would ever have met him". He said that only now did he realise the significance of a throwaway remark a DPP official had made to him, as Jones was being sentenced to a minimum of 20 years behind bars: "He said to me that [Jones] 'should never have been out'. When I asked why he had said that, he refused to go any further." How the bizarre sequence of events unfolded Feb 2003: Wayne Jones bashes a woman so hard with a car "club lock", the left side of her face collapses. He already has convictions for armed robbery, possession of a pistol and numerous drug-related charges. At the end of the year, he receives a 7year sentence with a non-parole period of 4years.

Apr 2011: Kings Cross Senior Constable Glen Roberts witnesses a drug exchange involving Jones and a woman who he allegedly brought to Sydney to prostitute. Jones' parole is revoked and he is returned to jail. It emerges the woman has been forwarding classified intelligence about Jones' involvement with a major drug supply and the Nomads motorcycle gang. Oct 20: All charges against Jones are withdrawn. He is freed. Nov: Within weeks of being released, Jones is charged with possessing a knife in public, driving while disqualified, dealing with proceeds of crime and possessing identity information to commit an indictable offence. He again avoids jail and is placed on good behaviour bonds, the last of which expires on November 18, 2014. October 10, 2012: Senior Constable Glen Roberts is charged with "fabricating false evidence with intent to mislead judicial tribunal". December 11-17: Jones tortures, bashes and strangles Central Coast mother Michelle Reynolds in a Coffs Harbour motel room, then dumps her battered body in bushland.
The government was on Saturday scrambling to contact property owners affected by an administrative error that Labor has branded "a stuff-up of monumental proportions", where at least 140 new owners were not told they would be in the path of a future motorway before they bought.

And the government was forced to deny any link between the error and the ongoing outsourcing of services in the agency responsible, Land & Property Information, which is set to be privatised.

The Minister for Finance, Services and Property, Dominic Perrottet, on Friday night revealed that buyers were given incorrect information when they did their due diligence with the government agency, potentially exposing the government to millions in compensation claims.

The error affects at least 140 properties purchased between June 27 and October 24 of this year that are in or near the planned F6 extension corridor in Sydney's south and the Werrington Arterial project.
It's been at the centre - literally - of student life at the University of Sydney for decades, but the famed jacaranda tree occupying the main quadrangle collapsed overnight, prompting an outpouring of tributes on social media.

The tree has been a source of superstition for students since it was planted in 1928, with folklore declaring that if a student had failed to begin studying before the famous jacaranda's first bloom appeared they would fail their exams.

The fallen jacaranda tree at the University of Sydney. Credit:Nicola Borton

It has also been the backdrop for thousands of graduation and wedding photos over its 88-year lifetime. (Send us your historic photos of the University of Sydney jacaranda tree)

The 18-metre wide jacaranda, planted by professor EG Waterhouse, was one of 1931 trees officially listed in 2005 as being of historic or environmental significance on the City of Sydney's Significant Tree Register.
Scientists will trial shark-detecting sonar technology in a great white shark nursery off Port Stephens in the hope it could prove a much-needed breakthrough to stop the spate of North Coast shark attacks.

The independent trial of the Clever Buoy sonar technology this week will determine whether it is reliable enough to be used at the popular beaches that have seen repeated shark attacks. Trials of eco-barriers at beaches in Ballina and Lennox Heads have failed because of rough conditions.

University of Technology, Sydney, marine biologist William Gladstone said six video cameras will be dropped into the shark-infested waters for six weeks to monitor the Clever Buoy's sonar beam to test whether it correctly detects every great white shark swimming past.
Every few minutes a giant freight truck, a bus or a car swerves  often across double lines  to avoid smashing its wheels into cracked-up sections of highway or large potholes jagged enough to shatter rims.

Workmen shovel asphalt into the worst of the craters only to see trucks pound their efforts to mush within hours.

These are the wrecked main roads of Victoria's far south-west: arterials for tourists, locals and $2 billion worth of exports being freighted each year to the busy port of Portland.

They are the worst roads in all of Victoria, the RACV's roads and traffic manager, Dave Jones, declared this week.
The boat belonging to a missing fisherman has been washed up on a beach between Lancelin and Cervantes, 200km north of Perth.

Jeff Doyle set out from Bunbury on an overnight fishing trip on Monday, October 17. His wife reported him missing the next day.

Jeff Doyle's boat has been found on a beach between Lancelin and Cervantes, 200km north of Perth. Jeff Doyle set out from Bunbury on an overnight fishing trip on Monday, October 17. His wife reported him missing the next day. Credit:WA Police

Police say his 8.6 metre cabin cruiser, Obsession II, was found on a beach north of Wedge Point on Saturday morning. There is no sign of the 61-year-old.

Forensic officers, local police and water police have been sent to the scene, which is more than 300 kilometres from the starting point of Mr Doyle's expedition.
The edict from the Vatican this week forbidding the faithful from keeping the ashes of departed loved ones at home, or scattering them somewhere nice, no doubt came as a shock to many.

After all, it's unlikely that most Catholics, when sorrowfully dealing with cremated remains, imagined they were legitimising anti-Christian "pantheism" or "nihilism", as charged.

Urn models on display at a funeral parlor in Rome. Credit:AP

The issue of how best to respect the remains of the dead has long been a subject of fluid sensibilities. In the 13th century, for instance, French church authorities issued a law that banned the popular pastime of dancing in cemeteries. The selling of beer therein was also discouraged.

Ideas for the treatment of ashes demonstrate that cultural protocols are highly relative, and also sometimes sit uncomfortably with the ambitions of the living.
A recording of the radio conversation between pilots and air traffic controllers has revealed the dramatic moments when one of the engines of an American Airlines jet carrying 161 passengers burst into flames at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

The recording of the radio traffic shows how quickly the incident unfolded just seconds before American Airlines Flight 383 was about to take off for Miami early on Saturday morning (AEST).

A matter of seconds after the Boeing 767 was cleared for take off, an air-traffic controller said: "American 383 ... stopping on the runway."

"Roger, roger, fire," the pilot replied.
Beijing: Filipino fisherman were able this week to fish in waters near the disputed Scarborough Shoal without being chased away by Chinese vessels, the Philippines said Friday, suggesting signalling a potential deal between China and the Philippines on the South China Sea.

The news comes about a week after President Rodrigo Duterte made a high-profile visit to Beijing, praising his Chinese hosts while calling for a "separation" from his longtime ally, the United States.

In the run-up to Mr Duterte's visit, there were rumours that Beijing and Manila were close to a deal on fishing rights at Scarborough, which China has controlled since 2012, however the trip ended without any agreement announced.

Earlier this week, however, Mr Duterte hinted that Filipino fisherman "may" be able to return. "We'll just wait for a few more days," he said - he may have been right.
Donald Trump has repeatedly criticised the FBI but on Friday praised them. Credit:AP In this case, the politics are already very much a part of this process, the investigation was already known about, and either decision Comey made could have had fear-reaching political implications  in this election and beyond. What's more, there were just 11 days left in the election when Comey made the announcement on Friday. That is certainly an "extraordinary" set of circumstances that Comey had to wrestle with, so he made an extraordinary  in the truest sense of the term - decision. The alternative for Comey here was to say nothing about the newly discovered emails. That would certainly have been the easier course in the near-term, because it wouldn't have inserted the FBI into the final days of the campaign. Hillary Clinton. Credit:AP But what if there did turn out to be something of real substance that altered his evaluation of this case, and it didn't come out until after the election and after Hillary Clinton was elected president? Imagine the scandal that would arise if and when it was discovered that the Justice Department had these emails before the election and chose to sit on them.

If that did happen, the Justice Department could certainly defend itself by citing that longstanding policy of not commenting on ongoing investigations. Just following protocol, it would say. But that defense almost definitely wouldn't pass muster with half the country. And let's not forget how many people think Clinton's private email server is a very legitimate issue; a poll after Comey's July announcement showed 56 per cent of the country thought Clinton should have been charged with a crime. It's hard to overstate what a massive scandal this would be. Of course, if this decision ultimately helps Donald Trump come back and win the presidency, that will also cause huge blowback. But at least in that case, the FBI couldn't be accused of covering something up; its sin would be in being too forthcoming. Democrats view this as Comey  a Republican appointee who is no longer a registered member of the GOP  bowing to political pressure that has been applied by Republicans. Donald Trump has been crying foul about a "rigged" political system for months, and his supporters are eating it up. He's also been arguing for months that Clinton should be in jail or a special prosecutor should look at the case again, which his supporters also eat up. That is the backdrop on which Comey had to make this decision, and there's no way the politics could be avoided. Law enforcement decisions should be independent of politics in an ideal world, but that's just wasn't plausible in this case. The public's confidence in the legal process is at stake.
In her book Hard Choices, Hillary Clinton's doorstop of a book about her time as secretary of state, Clinton first mentions her aide Huma Abedin on the second page, describing her as "the savvy, indefatigable and gracious young woman who has worked for me since my time in the White House".

No one in Washington, DC, was surprised by the warmth of the reference. The strength and significance of their relationship is well known. For a long time it has seemed clear that should Clinton win office Abedin is destined to become one of the most powerful people in a capital where access to the president is the clearest yardstick of clout.

Her current post is vice-chairwoman of the Clinton presidential campaign.

It has also been clear too that Abedin's estranged husband, Anthony Weiner, might well be indefatigable, but cannot reasonably be called either savvy or gracious.
Donald Trump is polling poorly with voters under 30. Credit:AP The way John Della Volpe, Harvard University's Institute of Politics' polling director, puts it, Clinton's "complicated relationship, to put it mildly, with this generation, is beginning to thaw." "She's made a pretty remarkable improvement in my eyes based on where she was before the conventions." That difficult relationship was evident throughout the Democratic primary, where Clinton lost young voters to her rival, the septuagenarian, socialist outsider Bernie Sanders, despite direct and at-times awkward ploys for the youth vote from Clinton, like an appearance on the hit comedy Broad City. That poor showing, coupled with low favourability ratings and a couple of polls showing very high levels of support for the third party candidates, created a panic among Democratic supporters about Clinton's ability to connect with this group.

But less than two weeks from election day she's in a strong position. Della Volpe puts this down to a couple of factors. One is Clinton's performance in the debates  the first time many young voters actually saw her make her pitch. Focus groups revealed young people thought Clinton won the arguments on all the issues that mattered to them, and they walked away with a clearer understanding of what her plans actually were compared to Trump. Another factor has been some embarrassing mishaps by Johnson, the main third party challenger. A former governor of New Mexico who backs marijuana legalisation, Johnson was riding high on discontent with the major party nominees back in September. But a couple of cringe-worthy interviews  one in which he responded to a question about the humanitarian crisis in Syria by asking "What is Aleppo?"  knocked some of the wind out of his sails. But an even bigger factor than these developments in Clinton's edge with millennials is the fact that her campaign has better connected, while Trump has turned off even many young Republicans.

Millennials are the most diverse generation of adults in America, only 51 per cent are white. They skew progressive on most social issues  even a majority of millennial Republicans support policies like same-sex marriage and legalising marijuana  and among youth of colour, issues like racism, police brutality and immigration are hugely important. They are economically insecure, with men of all races and young white women believing they will be economically worse off than their parents (a small majority of black and Latina women thought they would be better off). On these issues, plus more traditional youth issues like the cost of higher education and the economy, Trump's policies and rhetoric have proved unsuccessful. "When we look at how young people react to his comments about women, or immigrants or African-Americans, they generally have pretty negative reactions," says Matthew Luttig, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Chicago who works on the GenForward survey project. "They also tend to disagree with most of his policy positions, whether it's about taxes, or free trade or his position how to address issues of policing. Consistently when we've asked which candidate would handle some policy issue, every time they've selected Hillary Clinton." It's not a case of most young voters being a lock for the Democrats either  Romney lost the youth vote overall in 2012 but he did win young white voters.

But only 23 per cent of likely white voters under 30 say they'll vote for Trump, according to the GenForward poll. His vote among likely black voters of the same age group is almost non-existent  only 3 per cent in the same survey, and it's low with young Latinos too at 13 per cent. Some campus Republican groups have even taken the extraordinary step of disavowing Trump publicly. "The rhetoric he espouses  from racist slander to misogynistic taunts  is not consistent with our conservative principles," the Harvard Republican Club said in a statement in August. It was the first time since 1888 the group turned their back on the party's nominee. This is not to say young minority voters have absolute faith in Clinton. Luttig said they're not likely to turn out for her in the same high numbers they did for Obama, even though the ones that do will overwhelmingly choose her. "Part of is probably just the certain level of enthusiasm that young people of colour had for voting for the first African-American president, that's just not here when voting for Hillary Clinton," said Luttig.

Unlike older generations, there isn't a huge gap in the way young men and women say they'll vote. In the primaries, it was noted in much reporting that young women preferred Sanders. This became a point of derision for some older feminists, with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright telling one rally that younger women erroneously believed womens' struggle was over. "It's not done," she said in February. "There's a special place in hell for women who don't help each other!" Another student Fairfax Media spoke to this week, Brenna, a 21-year-old from California, said she voted for Sanders in the primary and that student debt was her biggest concern. She had to turn down an offer from the arts school she wanted to attend because she couldn't afford the $US40,000 (around $53,000) a year tuition: "I'd love to see somebody do something about that soon." She's now planning to vote for Clinton (who has embraced much of Sanders' higher education policy), and says the fact Clinton would be the first woman president is a bonus, but not a deciding factor. "I don't think it's a reason to vote for somebody," Brenna said, "but I think it's a cool, groundbreaking thing."
GREAT BAY (DCOMM):--- Influenza, better known as the flu, is a highly contagious viral infection. Unlike the common cold, influenza can cause severe illness and life-threatening complications such as pneumonia and bronchitis, which often require hospitalization.

The flu is dangerous for elderly people (65-years and over), pregnant women, and very young children (aged six months and over) as well as for people with underlying medical conditions (severe asthma, lung or heart disease, low immunity, diabetics). The aforementioned can be considered the high-risk group and it is highly recommended that they get their flu shot.

The Collective Prevention Service (CPS), a department within the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labour (Ministry VSA), is urging those who fall within the high-risk group to get their flu shot before the flu gets you.

The aforementioned persons should visit their family physician to get the flu shot. Vaccination offers effective protection against influenza. Vaccines need to be given each year as flu viruses are always changing.

There are three different types of influenza viruses that infect humans: influenza A, B and C. Only influenza A and B cause major outbreaks and severe disease, and these are included in seasonal influenza vaccines. Influenza spreads from person to person through the air by coughing or sneezing, or by direct contact with the virus on hard surfaces or peoples hands.

The flu usually differs from a cold as symptoms develop suddenly, and can lead to complications such as chest infections and pneumonia  particularly among the elderly and young children.

Flu symptoms tend to develop abruptly one to three days after infection, and can include: tiredness, high fever, chills, headache, coughing, sneezing, runny noses, poor appetite, and muscle aches.

Most people who get the flu will suffer from mild illness and will recover in less than two weeks. However, some people can develop longer-term health problems, including pneumonia, bronchitis, chest and sinus infections, heart, blood system or liver complications, which can lead to hospitalization and even death.

For more information, you can call CPS 542-2078 or 542-3003.
SiLiCON CARiBE the award-winning Caribbean Tech Media and Events brand, will stage the first annual Caribbean Bloggers Week across the Region and Diaspora, from December 5th to 10th, 2016. It will celebrate and showcase the power of Digital Influencers of the Caribbean + Caribbean descent, who are Bloggers, Podcasters, Instagrammers, YouTubers and other types of Digital Creatives.

The event which is staged 90% online, will profile and interview emerging and rockstar Digital Influencers; publish educational how-to and how-I-did articles from expert bloggers; release The Status of Caribbean Blogosphere Trend Report; launch an Official Caribbean Blog directory plus host two Twitter Chats. The week will culminate with Blogger Meetups hosted by top Caribbean Bloggers in Kingston, Port of Spain, New York, and London.

Caribbean Bloggers Week is our newest event and our intention is that it inspires the increased development, marketing, and distribution of more original Caribbean Digital Content. You see, it is of great value that more of us, come to understand the value and opportunity of owning a blog, an independent digital media platform, for which you can set your own agenda. A platform where you can produce text, audio, photo and video digital content, build an engaged and loyal audience and achieve amazing things, including a profitable business, said Ingrid Riley, Founder of SiliconCaribe.

SiliconCaribe is the multi award-winning Caribbean Tech Blog thats been chronicling and showcasing how the Caribbean does Tech by covering Caribbean Technology News, Startups, Mobile Trends, Digital Culture and Digital Business since 2007. The Media entity has also staged over 90 different type of Caribbean Tech events for Entrepreneurs and Creatives.

Under this years theme, The Power of Digital Influence," Caribbean Bloggers Week is on a mission to raise the visibility and viability of Caribbean Content Creators, Tastemakers, and Marketers and increase the understanding and collaboration between them and the Caribbean and Global brands.

Ive been blogging here at SiliconCaribe.com for just over 9 years myself, and one of the things that I truly love about blogging paired with social media, is the ability to create great content, engage and build a loyal audience and become an authority in your space, which is the foundation of digital influence, says Riley.

Caribbean Bloggers Week online and in person schedule of activities, will also examine how Digital Influence is growing in the Caribbean and Diaspora, the current trends, who are some of rising and leading digital influencers; what makes them so powerful ( their reach, resonance, and relevance); how they already are reshaping how entire industries work and how marketing budgets are being spent.

ABOUT SILICONCARIBE

SiliconCaribe is Caribbean Tech Media and Events Brand, thats been chronicling and showcasing how the Caribbean does Tech since 2007. Every month readers from primarily the Caribbean, United States and Europe read the blog that covers Caribbean technology, innovation, startups, social media, mobile, digital business and digital culture.

SiliconCaribe is also the leading producer of Caribbean technology events for Startups, Caribbean Businesses and the Caribbean Tech Industry and Diaspora. The entity has produced over 80 Tech Meetups+ Pitch events, three Caribbean Tech Conferences, three Caribbean Hackathons, Mobile App Competitions, Online Twitter Chats and one Startup Weekend.
CHARLES CITY  After a trip to a local cemetery, a group of Charles City eighth-grade students are tackling real-life projects to meet some of its needs.

Charles City Middle School teachers have created a group project this year where small teams of students band together to draw up a plan to address an issue of their choice at Riverside Cemetery.

Eighth-graders are an energetic work force, said teacher Ryan Rahmiller.

For the project, Jeff Sisson, a board member from Riverside Cemetery, suggested needed projects like upgrading its chapel, advertising a perpetual urn program, and creating a memorial to honor veterans.

The idea is a way to meet core standards in math, social studies/history and language arts, Rahmiller said.

Group projects across the eighth-grade at the school include building a memorial for children who died from diphtheria during a 19th century outbreak, extending a bike path near the cemetery and renovating its chapel.

Each project has to have a proposal, cost estimate and fundraising plan.

The deadline is open-ended.

We intend for them to have a product here, Rahmiller said. We eventually want them to showcase what they did to an adult group.

While looking for a way to memorialize veterans of all wars at Riverside Cemetery, Payton Severins group ruled out incorporating a giant tank, because it was too expensive.

Another idea to use a helmet and rifle was discarded because it would exclude other service branches.

Theres quite a few ideas that just got shot down, said Severin, 13.

Their compromise was an encased tri-folded flag with a to-be-determined quote.

Cost estimates are not yet known.

At first, I didnt know what to think of (the project), said Evan Bjelica, 13.

Finishing it makes me feel closer to my community, he said.
St. Joe County floats new site for Portage Manor group home

The county plans to sell Clay Township Park to the township for a nominal fee, rather than continue to lease it.
MASON CITY  Fire Chief Al Dyer will be sworn in at Tuesdays City Council meeting.

Dyer had been fire chief in Lincoln Park, Michigan, since 2014 and on that department for 22 years. He also served as fire marshal and director of emergency management in Lincoln Park, a city of approximately 35,000 near Detroit.

Dyer succeeds Bob Platts, who retired earlier this year. The Mason City Fire Department will also swear in Dyer during a ceremony 10 a.m. Tuesday on the apparatus floor at the department, 350 Fifth St. S.W.

In other business, the council will consider Mayor Eric Bookmeyers proposal for term limits for volunteers serving on boards and commissions.

Under Bookmeyers proposal, no one will serve more than five consecutive terms with one exception. Boards and commissions whose members serve six-year terms  the Library Board and the Airport Commission  terms will be limited to three terms.

From a fundamental level, the vast majority of private and non-profit boards operate with the understanding that three consecutive tours of duty is a reasonable standard, Bookmeyer wrote in a memo to council members.

Merit is valued over seniority or rank, he wrote. Hence, fit non-governmental organizations embrace fresh approaches and energy to move the fall forward in a productive manner.

When the council discussed term limits at a recent workshop, Councilman Bill Schickel pointed out that there are no term limits for elected officials. He questioned the need for term limits for boards and commissions when the mayor has the option of not reappointing them.

The council meets at 7 p.m. in the Mason City Room of the public library.

At the end of the meeting, the council is expected to go into closed session to discuss union contract negotiations.
Georgetown, SC (29440)

Today

Areas of fog early, then partly cloudy this afternoon. High 79F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Considerable cloudiness. Low 57F. Winds light and variable.
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MASON CITY  Interest in construction or expansion of CAFOs  confined animal feeding operations  in North Iowa has more than doubled in the past two years and may be close to tripling by the end of this year.

Statistics from the Region 2 field office of the Department of Natural Resources, located in Mason City, show 95 permit applications or site approvals through Oct. 25, compared to 70 for all of last year and 43 for 2014.

Of the 95 this year, 53 are permit applications and 42 are site approvals for smaller operations where no permit is needed.

Cindy Garza, environmental engineer for the Region 2 field office, said once her office issues a final construction permit, the state considers the site approved.

Upon completion, she said, owners are required to submit construction certification and new well logs. After state officials receive those documents, they send an authorization letter to the owners.

The overall trend is up for this part of the state, Garza said, adding it is hard to pinpoint a reason. There are so many factors in this business, and we are not privy to all of them.

The Region 2 office covers Butler, Cerro Gordo, Floyd, Franklin, Grundy, Hamilton, Hancock, Hardin, Humboldt, Kossuth, Mitchell, Webster, Winnebago, Worth and Wright counties.

CAFOs were at the heart of a controversy in Mason City earlier this year when a $240 million Prestage of Iowa pork processing plant was proposed for Mason City.

Opponents were concerned about, among other things, the possibility of CAFOs emerging throughout the countryside, creating environmental hazards and hurting property values.

On May 3, the Mason City Council voted 3-3 to reject a development agreement with Prestage, thereby killing the project.

Prestage then took its plans to Wright County where the Board of Supervisors approved a plan to have the plant built near Eagle Grove.

In Cerro Gordo County there are about 50 existing CAFOs, mostly in the southern part of the county with one permit issued for a new one, according to Assistant Administrative Officer John Gibbons.

Permits authorized or approved for new construction throughout the area include: N & N Pork in Kossuth County; Frye Pork Resort LC and Windmill Place in Wright County; Eagle Pork 10 in Winnebago County; Valley Finisher Farm in Mitchell County; Dozer in Franklin County; Guerdet Farms in Kossuth County; Christiansen Pork in Winnebago County and River Edge LLC in Cerro Gordo County.

The River Edge application was approved over the objections of the Cerro Gordo County Board of Supervisors.

In August, supervisors, citing environmental concerns, recommended denial of the River Edge application for a hog processing operation near Ventura. The state Department of Natural Resources approved the application despite the countys recommendation because River Edge met the requirements in a state matrix used to evaluate confinement applications.

The state matrix was approved by the Legislature in 2002, the creation of a bipartisan group of 12 legislators.

The county appealed the DNR decision to the Environmental Protection Commission which sided with the DNR. County officials have the option of taking an appeal to district court, their last recourse.

Administrative Officer Tom Drzycimski said Friday no decision has been made yet on challenging the commissions vote.

This wasnt the first time Cerro Gordo supervisors tried to exercise local control. In 2002 they approved an ordinance establishing a one-year moratorium on the building of confinement facilities with exceptions for expansions of up to 15 percent on existing facilities and exemptions for open feed lots.

By creating the moratorium, their intent was to stop the construction of a proposed chicken processing plant near Ventura as well as other large commercial operations without harming family farms.

Worth County had a similar ordinance that was challenged in court and eventually struck down by the Iowa Supreme Court. That prompted Cerro Gordo supervisors to repeal its moratorium, realizing it wouldnt hold up in court.
CSIRO's Parkes radio telescope in Australia spotted the first signs of a FRB. Follow-up observations identified its location and host galaxy, the first determination for an FRB.

When the SETI community adopted protocols for telling the world that ET exists, people mostly got their news from radio, TV and newspapers.

The year was 1989. The internet was a nascent U.S. military-backed project known as ARPANET  the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was 5.

"There was no mention of the internet or social media because they didn't exist," said Arizona attorney Leslie Tennen, a member of the International Academy of Astronautics' SETI Permanent Committee.

The protocols stipulate that the discoverer of a signal from an extraterrestrial civilization notify each of the parties to the "Declaration of Principles Concerning Activities Following the Detection of Extraterrestrial Intelligence" before going public with the news.

RELATED: Kepler's 'Alien Megastructure' Star to Spill SETI Secrets?

"This is designed so that a candidate signal can be tested and confirmed," Tennen said at the International Astronautical Congress in Mexico last month.

The privilege of making the announcement, according to the protocols, is reserved for the discoverer. But in the age of Twitter, Tennen is not sure that confidentiality would be maintained.

"It's difficult to imagine a discovery that would have a greater impact and consequence on society than the announcement of a confirmed detection of intelligent extraterrestrial beings," Tennen said. "The person making the announcement would be an instant international celebrity, never again to have a moment's peace."

The allure of fame may bring pressure on someone to announce the discovery before it is confirmed. Plus, today there are many more researchers involved in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, or SETI, most of whom have not agreed to follow the voluntary protocols.

The discoverer might, in fact, be someone's personal computer analyzing data for SETI@Home, a distributed computing project backed by the University of California, Berkeley.

"The risk of unauthorized disclosure increases with the number of people having access to the information," Tennen said.

RELATED: No, That 'Interesting' SETI Signal Wasn't Aliens

With the rise of social media, Tennen said it is time to revamp the SETI post-detection protocol.

One idea is to designate a single point of information for public release. "We foresee it more as a clearinghouse fir information, not as a censor of the information," Tennen said.

"Of course, this presumes that the information is not going to be embargoed by the government. If that happens then we've got a whole different situation and this discussion takes a completely different track," he added.

The original protocol was developed by the International Academy of Astronautics, with support from the International Institute of Space Law. It was presented to the United Nations' Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, which adopted the doctrine as part of its official record, and endorsed by six major international space societies, said Paul Shuch, author of "Searching for Extraterrestrial Intelligence: SETI Past, Present and Future."

The doctrine was revised in 2010, still with no mention of the internet or social media.

Astronomer Dan Werthimer, co-founder and chief scientist for the SETI@Home project, said he believes the protocol should avoid stipulating a particular technology be used to publicize detection of a candidate signal.

"These applications and technologies change so quickly," Werthimer wrote in an email.

"All the information known about the candidate signal should be made public as soon as the candidate signal is independently confirmed," he added. "This info should be easily available to the scientific community, as well as the public, in all countries."

Astronomer Seth Shostak, senior scientist at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif., said there already have been many claims of a signal from ET, some of which were made by "uninformed" persons. "I'm less worried than reconciled," Shostak said.

Originally published on Seeker.
Donna L. Mullen

CHARLES CITY  Donna L. Mullen, 76, of Charles City, died Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016, at the 9th Street Chautauqua Guest Home in Charles City.

A memorial service will be held 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 1, at Hauser Funeral Home in Charles City with Pastor Janet Dorenkamp, Hospice of North Iowa Chaplain, officiating.

Family and friends will gather one hour prior to the service at the funeral home on Tuesday, Nov. 1.

Hauser Funeral Home in Charles City is in charge of local arrangements.
H illary Clinton has demanded that the FBI release full details of the new investigation into her emails.

The questions surrounding Mrs Clintons email flared up again on Friday when FBI director James Comey wrote in a letter to the US congress that new emails have been found which may relate to the previous investigation into Mrs Clintons private server.

The FBI said it was investigating whether there was classified information on a device belonging to Anthony Weiner, the disgraced ex-congressman who is separated from long-time Clinton aide Huma Abedin.

Reacting to the announcement Mrs Clinton held a last-minute press conference in a high school choir room in Des Moines, Iowa.

She challenged FBI director James Comey to release the full details of the new investigation, citing the crucial phase of the White House race.

"We are 11 days out from perhaps the most important national election of our lifetimes. Voting is already under way in our country," Mrs Clinton said.

"So the American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately.

"The director himself has said he doesn't know whether the emails referenced in his letter are significant or not."

Mrs Clinton said neither she nor her advisers had been contacted by the FBI about the new inquiry.

Hillary Clinton email probe: Donald Trump hails decision to investigate new emails

The news arrived with Mrs Clinton holding a solid advantage in the presidential race.

Early voting has been under way for weeks and she has a steady lead in preference polls, both nationally and in key battleground states.

Donald Trump leapt on the FBI's disclosure, accusing Mrs Clinton of corruption "on a scale we have never seen before".

"We must not let her take her criminal scheme into the Oval Office," Mr Trump said during a rally in New Hampshire.

Mrs Clinton's campaign was enraged by Mr Comey's decision to disclose the existence of the fresh investigation in a vaguely worded letter to several congressional leaders.

"It is extraordinary that we would see something like this just 11 days out from a presidential election," said John Podesta, Mrs Clinton's campaign chairman.

Congressional Republicans have already promised years of investigations into Mrs Clinton's private email system.

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. Florida John Raoux/AP Secret Service agents rush Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump off the stage during a campaign rally in Reno John Locher/AP Hillary Clinton smiles holding a mask onboard her campaign plane on Halloween Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images Supporters of Donald Trump pose with a Hillary Clinton character during a campaign rally at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas John Gurzinski/AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump holds a rainbow flag given to him by supporter Max Nowak during a campaign rally at the Bank of Colorado Arena on the campus of University of Northern Colorado Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Hillary Clinton speaks during a campaign event at The Manor Complex in Wilton Manors, Florida Getty Images A Donald Trump supporter's pet bulldog is decked out in campaign stickers Jason Connoll/ AFP/Getty Images Hillary Clinton joins Jennifer Lopez at a campaign concert in Miami, Florida Brian Snyder/Reuters A Donald Trump mural covering a building in Miami, Florida Rhona WiseAFP/Getty Images Hillary Clinton, accompanied by first lady Michelle Obama, greet supporters during a campaign rally in Winston-Salem Chuck Burton/AP A crowd gathers to watch as Donald Trump's vandalised star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is cleaned up Frederic J Brown/AFP/Getty Images Hillary Clinton delivers birthday cake to reporters on her campaign plane Justin Sullivan/Getty Images A Donald Trump look-a-like walks with bikini-clad women in Times Square. 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

And that is only one of the email-related controversies facing her in the campaign's closing days.

The tens of thousands of confidential emails from Clinton campaign insiders that were hacked - her campaign blames Russia - and then released by WikiLeaks have provided a steady stream of questions about her policy positions, personnel choices and ties with her husband's sprawling charitable network and post-presidential pursuits.

The FBI ended that investigation in July without filing charges, although Mr Comey said at the time that Mrs Clinton and her aides had been "extremely careless" in using the system for communications about government business.

As Mrs Clinton wrapped up her short comments to reporters on Friday, she was asked whether she thought the new investigation would sink her campaign.

She walked away, responding only with a hearty laugh.

Additional reporting by Associated Press
L ondoners fed up of the Killer Clown craze which has recently caught the imagination of the countrys intellectually challenged can vent their frustrations this week as a south London paintball centre offers the chance to hunt and shoot clowns.

UK Paintball are hosting a series of hour-long shooting sessions in a bid to turn Killer Clowns into killed clowns. Teams will be armed with a gun and paintballs, and sent into the 50-acre wood to hunt and splatter their targets.

Watch the video above to see how the Standard got on.

Those headed to the established south London site, at Whyteleafe South  around 40 minutes from Victoria  will be dressed up in army fatigues and protective wear, and sent out to the woods, which are decorated with various obstacles and hiding points, including a fort and piles of discarded oil barrels.

The 'Killer Clowns' take cover / Michael Clarke

The happily exhausting sessions are set to run for one week from Halloween but will be extended if enough Londoners are keen to clown around.

Sessions will cost 250, based on a team of 10 paying 25-a-head, and can be booked at ukpaintball.co.uk The price includes all equipment.

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OSAGE  Mitchell County farmers recently enjoyed hot meals in the field, courtesy of the Rock Creek Watershed Project.

The Rock Creek Watershed project was developed to address Iowas Nutrient Reduction Strategy, assisting farmers in the watershed with voluntary implementation of conservation practices such as bioreactors, wetland reconstruction, no-till/ strip till, and cover crops.

Project coordinator Tracy Church reached out to businesses in the Osage area to participate in the Feeding Farmers That Feed Us event as a way to say thank-you to farmers adopting the practices.

Local businesses were asked for donations to purchase meals from local restaurants at a discount rate. The meals were delivered to the farmers in the field during harvest, with the goal of being able to feed all the farmers in the watershed.

Church travels throughout the Rock Creek Watershed looking for farmers harvesting their crops.

Her first stop was at Steve Jensens farm, where he was unloading a grain cart. Jensen gladly accepted meals for himself and his workers.

This is wonderful, I want to thank everybody responsible for this, from the bottom of my heart, he said. A warm meal is always greatly appreciated.

While waiting for Jensen to complete his unloading, Church said, I never stop a farmer in their combine. I only stop them when they are hauling. Ive learned that.

Church surprised Calvin Thompson while he was unloading his combines grain tank.

This is just another harvest like any other harvest, but you cant beat this, Thompson said, as he shut off his combine, enjoying his unexpected hot meal.

Because of the donations we received, we will be able to feed approximately 150 farmers in the watershed, Church said.

The generosity of the community has helped to enhance the spirit of a group that is working hard to better our soil and water.
S toke Newington may just be the trendiest place to live in the capital right now. Each week, it seems like another smart cocktail bar, design boutique or destination restaurant is opening up on Church Street, and these days, youd be lucky to snap up a house around Clissold Park for less than 1 million.

But Stokey hasnt always been artisan coffee shops and gentrified dining, and this collection of photographs shows how parts of the area have changed over the years.

Local historian Amir Dotan has collected an array of photographs of buildings from Stoke Newington-past, overlaying them with Google Street View snapshots of how the area looks today.

Over the past three years I've collected hundreds of digital copies of old photos and drawings of Stoke Newington, Dotan told the Evening Standard.

Now when I walk down its streets I can't help visualising how most of them looked over the years.

I wanted to convey that and better illustrate to others who are interested in Stoke Newington's history just how much it has changed as grand Victorian churches, large department stores, some pubs and cinemas that dominated the local scenery disappeared due to WW2 bomb damage and urban development. 

Dotan, who has been living in Stoke Newington for the past 15 years, says that he scours eBay, archives, books and private collections to find photographs and drawings of the area from the past.

Every time I think I have uncovered all of them I stumble upon a newly discovered one, so it's great fun and a never ending collection in a sense, he jokes.

(Amir Dotan/@HistoryOfStokey ) / Amir Dotan/@HistoryOfStokey

Using Google Street View, he then painstakingly matches up each building with the road that it once stood on, using Photoshop to bring both scenes together.

I have a graphic design background, so the main challenge was less about technically superimposing the old images, but more finding the matching angle on Google Street View, Dotan explains.

It's not as straightforward as it may seem, but its great fun and very rewarding.

Follow us on Twitter: @eslifeandstyle
F our people have been stabbed in a knife attack at a train station in Frankfurt.

German police confirmed that at least four people were injured after being stabbed at Hauptwache station in the city just after 5pm local time today.

The perpetrator is now on the run, officials added.

A message on Frankfurt police's Twitter feed read: " There was a knife assault at the #Hauptwache in #Frankfurt. Thats why so many colleagues [police officers] and rescue workers there."

All four victims have been taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

The incident occurred at the B-level of the train station in the centre of Frankfurt.

Dramatic images shared on social media showed police officers and ambulances at the station and pools of blood on the floor of the concourse.
P olice have launched an investigation after a 50-year-old man was stabbed at a Tube station in east London.

The man was travelling on a Central Line service at 1.20am on October 22 when he got into an argument with a group of teenagers, British Transport Police said.

The victim and the other passengers got off the train at Snaresbrook station but as they approached the barriers the man was stabbed in the leg.

He was rushed to hospital with a serious knife wound and has since been discharged.

Investigating officer, DC Jon Howlett, said: Violence will not be tolerated on our transport network and a thorough investigation is underway to identify the offenders. Incidents of this nature are extremely rare.

A minor dispute appears to have escalated into a physical confrontation, in which the victim sustained a serious injury.

I would like to speak to anyone was in the area around the time of the incident or was on the Tube and saw the offenders and victim prior to the assault.

The offenders are a group of boys aged in their mid to late teens.

Anyone with any information should contact call 0800 40 50 40 or text 61016 quoting reference 225 28/10/2016.

Alternatively contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.


A toddler has been burnt after being hit by a firework in east London.

The two-year-old suffered a burn on their foot today after idiots hurled bangers round Clarence Place, Hackney.

Sargeant Adam Turvey told the Standard that the incident, which happend around 8.30pm, was being investigated as common assault.

Police later confirmed that the child was fine and had suffered a small burn on their foot.

However, those responsible for throwing the rocket "ran away seconds later", police said.

The incident marked the 11th call over firework safety officers were forced to attend today.

Sgt Turvey said: "All of the calls we have received about fireworks being thrown have described youths as suspects.

"I would urge parents to ensure that their children are not buying fireworks, or getting people to buy fireworks on their behalf.

"Any children found in possession of certain fireworks are liable to be arrested."

Earlier this week, footage emerged of a gang of youths hurling fireworks at cyclists on a housing estate in the area.

The 20-second clip appears to show a group of around seven young men, clad in dark clothing, throw bangers at two cyclists as they pass a block of flats in Springfield, Hackney.

The video, shared on Twitter by Shomrim NE London, was taken just before 10pm on October 22.

Mark Hazelton, group manager for community safety at London Fire Brigade branded the actions incredibly dangerous.

He said: Using fireworks in this way is incredibly dangerous and can cause serious injury or worse. People should never throw fireworks and should never put them in their pockets.

It is far safer to go to organised displays rather than lighting fireworks yourself. If you do choose to host your own display, it is vital to follow the Firework Safety Code.

Dr Fenella Wrigley, Medical Director at London Ambulance Service, added: Around November 5, our ambulance crews will treat a number of patients, children and adults, ranging from those with minor burns to those with more serious, life-threatening injuries.

It is easy to forget how dangerous fireworks, bonfires and even sparklers can be. Sparklers get five times hotter than cooking oil and a rocket can reach speeds of 150mph.

Fireworks used properly are safe and accidents are avoidable. However, they can cause devastating injuries or even death if safety precautions are not followed or judgement is impaired through alcohol consumption."

Members of the public are urged to call 101 if you see anybody throwing fireworks or people whom you believe are too young to be in possession of fireworks.
P rotesters have set up a sofa and are serving tea in a blockade outside a busy bank branch in Piccadilly Circus today.

Campaigners from Friends of the Earth stood outside the glass windows of the central London Barclays branch and held signs and teapots as they protested against fracking.

The protest is a bid to stop council-approved plans for company Third Energy, which is largely owned by Barclays, to begin fracking in Ryedale, north Yorkshire.

The protesters, including some who dressed up in high-vis workmens outfits and hard hats, held signs which read keep Ryedale rural, NO fracking.

Anti-fracking: The protest is targeting Barclays bank, which largely owns a company which plans to frack in Yorkshire. / James Cracknell.

Campaigners also gave out biscuits imprinted with anti-fracking messages.

Other signs read: Dont keep calm and stop fracking.

The sit-in, at the busy London intersection, was noticed by many passers-by, some of whom shared what they had seen on social meida.

Stephen Rockman said on Twitter: Cops, protesters, Barclays & touristshard tell whos more bemused.

The protest was organised by Frack Off London and Divest London.

The sit-in began at 11.45am and saw Ryedale resident Nicky Hollins and her 13-year-old daughter sit in a mock-up of their living room.

Hard hats: The campaigners donned high-vis jackets and workman gear. / Megan Vaughan

Photos from the crowded scene also showed officers from the Met Police standing by.

The protest is part of a week of similar action, with sit-ins also held outside branches in Cambridge, Manchester and Hastings.

North Yorkshire County Council gave permission to Third Energy to frack in May this year.

The Standard has contacted Barclays for comment.
A row has broken out over a "boutique" darts club which is set to open yards from the British Museum.

Flight Club, which describes itself as a "social darts venue", was granted permission to open in a former wine bar in Albion House, New Oxford Street by Camden Council despite objections from residents in Bloomsbury.

Bosses behind the venue opened their first site in Finsbury Square last October to give "Britains most loved pub game a stylish new home".

So far the company says 200,000 visitors have stepped up to the oche.

It is now planning a new expansion in Bloomsbury, with more venues expected across the capital.

Fears: Residents in Bloomsbury feared the venue could increase noise and anti-social behaviour / Flight Club

But the bid was met with strong resistance from residents' group the Bloomsbury Association amid fears it would lead to an increase in noise and crime.

Stephen Heath, writing on behalf of the Bloomsbury Association, said: "The Bloomsbury Association recognise that there is a need to balance commercial and residential interests in the area to allow it to thrive.

"Equally, though, we are concerned that increased licensable activity has a detrimental impact on the residential population because it increases the level of noise in the area during a period when people would like to be able to sleep, and it may increase incidence of anti-social behaviour too."

Flight Club bosses responded by telling residents "we are not a nightclub" as it promised to work with the community to address concerns.

Approved: But Camden Council accepted the application with plans to open a site next spring / Flight Club

Steve Moore CEO and co-founder of Flight Club said Were incredibly excited to be working towards the launch of our second site.

"This is a fantastic opportunity for more Londoners to enjoy social darts.

"Well be working closely with the council and community to ensure that we provide the best experience in this new venue and become part of the local community, not a nuisance to it.

"Were not only proud of the great atmosphere we create for our customers, but also how closely we work with local residents and businesses to ensure their concerns are addressed and they view Flight Club as beneficial to their community.

"This approach has served us well with our existing location and is something well be continuing at Bloomsbury and any future sites."

The company said it hoped to open in Bloomsbury by spring 2017.
A man and child were rushed to hospital after they were hit by a police motorcyclist in Earls Court this morning.

The crash happened on Old Brompton Road shortly after 10am.

Police say their injuries are not life threatening.

The police motorcyclist, who was also taken to hospital, was one of two Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection officers on a routine patrol.

Old Brompton Road: The scene of the crash

Emergency services, including the London Air Ambulance, arrived at the scene at around 10.15am.

Paramedics treated the patients before taking them to hospital as a priority.

The fire brigade cleared a fuel spillage from the accident.

The Old Brompton Road is closed with delays in both directions between Finborough Road junction and Eardley Crescent.
H eathrow's third runway faces its first legal challenge only days after the government gave it the green light.

A residents group in Teddington, southwest London, has accused the chairman of the airports commission, Sir Howard Davies, of bias over his decision to recommend the third runway to government.

In a letter to the Department of Transport the group said Sir Daviess recommendation should be disregarded because of his paid role as an advisor to a Heathrow shareholder.

Teddington Action Group said Sir Daviess did not declare his role at GIC Privates Ltd in the commissions register of interests.

The group challenges the legality of ministers accepting the recommendation of the airports commission.

There are expected to be more legal challenges to Heathrows expansion.

Friends of the Earth have already written to the DfT criticising the way it handled the decision.

According to The Times the letter accuses the government of substantive procedural flaws by announcing that a third runway will be built before parliament has scrutinised the decision.
A former Australian Miss Universe has said Donald Trump always treated her with respect.

Jennifer Hawkins, who won the pageant in 2004, when it was owned by Mr Trump, said she has a lot of respect for the presidential candidate describing him as an inspiration.

Her comments come after video footage emerged of an awkward exchange between the pair in Sydney in 2011.

In the video Mr Trump accuses Ms Hawkins in front of 10,000 people at the National Achievers Congress in Sydney of initially refusing to introduce him.

Ms Hawkins blames a "miscommunication" with her management.

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. Florida John Raoux/AP Secret Service agents rush Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump off the stage during a campaign rally in Reno John Locher/AP Hillary Clinton smiles holding a mask onboard her campaign plane on Halloween Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images Supporters of Donald Trump pose with a Hillary Clinton character during a campaign rally at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas John Gurzinski/AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump holds a rainbow flag given to him by supporter Max Nowak during a campaign rally at the Bank of Colorado Arena on the campus of University of Northern Colorado Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Hillary Clinton speaks during a campaign event at The Manor Complex in Wilton Manors, Florida Getty Images A Donald Trump supporter's pet bulldog is decked out in campaign stickers Jason Connoll/ AFP/Getty Images Hillary Clinton joins Jennifer Lopez at a campaign concert in Miami, Florida Brian Snyder/Reuters A Donald Trump mural covering a building in Miami, Florida Rhona WiseAFP/Getty Images Hillary Clinton, accompanied by first lady Michelle Obama, greet supporters during a campaign rally in Winston-Salem Chuck Burton/AP A crowd gathers to watch as Donald Trump's vandalised star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is cleaned up Frederic J Brown/AFP/Getty Images Hillary Clinton delivers birthday cake to reporters on her campaign plane Justin Sullivan/Getty Images A Donald Trump look-a-like walks with bikini-clad women in Times Square. 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

The video, released by Huffington Post, shows Ms Hawkins raising her forearm between her and Mr Trump as he kisses her on the cheek.

He gets laughs from the crowd with a double entendre and she tells Mr Trump that he has embarrassed her before leaving the stage.

Ms Hawkins, who Mr Trump has described as his favourite Miss Universe, is a successful businesswoman who has praised him as an inspiration.

"Donald and his family, I have to say, have always been respectful to me, and that's all I can really say," the 32-year-old said in Melbourne on Saturday as she was questioned by media in her role as an Australian department store ambassador.

"I've seen what's been going on in the news, but really what is there for me to say other than that he respected me during that time in my life and I have a lot of respect for him because of that," she added, referring to the 2004 pageant.

Ms Hawkins has cancelled media interviews since early October, when video emerged of Mr Trump engaged in vulgar conversation about women before an Access Hollywood appearance in 2005.

Mr Trump told the Sydney audience in September 2011 that he had prepared to denigrate Ms Hawkins in his speech if she had not turned up to introduce him.

He said Ms Hawkins owed him for her success.

"Get even with people. If they screw you, screw them back 10 times as hard and I'll give you an example: Jennifer Hawkins," Mr Trump said.
A Swiss mother and her boyfriend have been arrested after two child prisoners were allegedly held hostage in their Spanish home for seven years.

The couple are thought to have moved to Alicante, Costa Blanca, in March 2009 but the girl and boy, now aged 17 and 15, never left the premises, the Spanish Civil Guard said.

The pair were only discovered when the girl sent a desperate email calling for help, officials confirmed.

Police visited the home on numerous occasions but the youths were only found when the daughter managed to gesture to an office and attract his attention.

The mother, who denies the allegations, claimed there were no children living in the house.

The daughter alleges they were constantly abused and threatened by their 49-year-old mother who beat them and threatened to kill them.

She said her mother's partner, a 30-year-old Swiss man, knew what was happening but ignored it.

Hostage report: Police have released images of the home were two teenagers where allegedly held hostage for seven years / Spanish Civil Guard

A spokesman for the Spanish Civil Guard said: On receiving the email, we launched what was effectively a race against time.

The sister and brother lived completely isolated from society.

They did not speak Spanish, communicating only in English, and never went to school.

Investigations were hampered as the family often moved home and had lived in six different properties in Alicante over seven years, police said.

Police investigation: Officers visited the home on numerous occasions / Spanish Civil Guard

The girl said she and her brother were denied medical treatment except for once seeing a doctor for a stomach complaint last year.

She claimed they were denied access to the outside world and weren't allowed to communicate with anyone except the family.

The mother was arrested on suspicion of domestic abuse, causing injuries and illegal detention.

Her partner has been charged with aiding and abetting.

The two teenagers were initially taken to a children's centre in Alicante but the 17-year-old girl has since gone back to Switzerland .

The 15-year-old boy has been allowed to go back to his home with the court's consent.
What happened to the baluchithere?

A Star-Herald reader, Peg Bixler, wanted to know.

This unique and only one of a kind special exhibit of a 20-million-year old giant rhino is here somewhere in Scottsbluff, she wrote in a recent letter.

I figured that I might be able to find out.

First, a little background. The baluchithere, also known as baluchitherium, is an extinct hornless rhino thats believed to be the largest land mammal that ever lived, weighing 10 to 20 tons and standing about 18 feet tall at the shoulder. It had an eight-foot neck. Its legs were like tree trunks, its skull the size of a hog. Bones of the beast have been found in central Asia, in the hills of Baluchistan, where it roamed more than 20 million years ago. Fortunately for our ancestors, it didnt eat meat. It vanished millions of years ago, possibly out-competed by ancestors of the elephant or devoured by now-extinct predators.

At one time there was a full-sized model of a baluchithere at Morrill Hall at the University of Nebraska. It was destroyed in 1992 because it contained asbestos. But before that happened, Ron Kephart tried to talk the university into letting him have it.

There was no way they were going to let it travel across Nebraska with all that asbestos, he recalls.

At the time, Kephart was manager of Wildlife World, also known as the WyoBraska Natural History Museum, housed in a former railroad depot building next to the Union Pacific railroad tracks in Gering. It was founded in 1989 by the late Don Steen, an executive at what used to be known as Jirdon Agri Chemicals. Steen was a world traveler and avid outdoorsman who had bagged a lot of big game and had it stuffed. During his career as a hunter and collector, Steen had assembled an array of about 650 taxidermy mounts, representing 380 species from six continents, and set up the museum as a place to display them. Kephart tended the collection, painting vivid dioramas as part of the displays, and figured the baluchithere would have made an impressive addition to the collection.

Kephart also did some woodcarving and sculpting. These days he works in metal and has become well known for his popular renderings of fish, butterflies, birds and other subjects. When he couldnt persuade the university to give up the mega rhino, he decided to build one of his own out of fiberglass. It loomed over the rest of the Wildlife Worlds furry menagerie. Eventually, ownership of Steens entire collection, including the depot building and the baluchithere, passed to the Riverside Discovery Center.

I dont know if they tried to keep it intact or anything about it, Kephart said.

Today, Wildlife World is closed. Some of the stuffed animals have found new homes at Riverside Discovery Center, which has plans of one day building a Childrens University as one of its attractions, where visitors could enjoy the mounts as well as the zoo animals.

Kepharts baluchithere stands 19 feet tall and is 30 feet long. I suspected it hadnt gone far. I inquired to see if RDC still had it. Turns out its still inside the depot building.

I got a little excited about that. Jen Mitchell, education curator at the zoo, arranged to let me visit the depot building to photograph it. There was one hitch: The depot has been turned into a dark, spooky maze for RDCs Halloween fundraiser, Night at the Haunted Museum. I had to push my way through dangling plastic sheeting, with only a few black-light beams to guide my way. The baluchithere was in there, towering over displays of ghosts, goblins and the remaining stuffed critters that havent been relocated yet.

The good news is that the baluchithere, from what Ive been told, isnt going anywhere. The bad news: The baluchitheres not going anywhere  at least not as long as the depots still standing. The silent behemoth is too massive to move. In discussing the RDCs future, the board of directors has looked at possibly having somebody create another one just like it.

If youve never seen the legendary beast, the Night at the Haunted Museum will give you an opportunity to get a peek while supporting the zoo. The final run is Oct. 28-31 from 7 to 10 p.m. Tickets are $8 per person. Proceeds help to cover the cost of feeding the animals.

If we support the zoo, the time might come when Baluchithere II towers over a gaggle of gaping kids. That would be a fitting future.

As Bixler wrote: The Baluchithere is a great attraction for our community.
You may have noticed the Egyptian-themed murals on the upper perimeter of the Iredell Museums building on Court Street.

The murals are doing double duty as replacement for the buildings windows and as a way to celebrate its 60th anniversary and promote the popular Margaret the Mummy exhibit.

The panels were created by ALX DLRG, a local artist known for controversial downtown murals depicting Prince and Muhammad Ali.

Margaret is attracting tourists to downtown Statesville, says Melinda Herzog, executive director of Iredell Museums. Our renovations will not just be an investment in our museum, but also in the continuing development and success of downtown Statesville.

Iredell Museums plans to create a more permanent home within the museum for Margaret with the replica of a traditional Egyptian burial room called a mastaba. Construction is expected to begin within the next year, Herzog said.

Margaret the Mummy was also a draw to the museum decades ago.

Margaret was very important to a lot of children years ago, and those children are now grandparents, Herzog said. We want to introduce Margaret to the next generation.

Here are five things to know about Statesvilles oldest resident, Margaret the Mummy:

1.) A TRIBUTE TO MARGARETS LIFE: The six panels portray elements that would have been present during Margarets lifetime. The panels include portraits of Anubis, Ramesses and Margaret along with representations of Egyptian symbols.

2.) HOW SHE GOT HERE: A representative of Iredell Museums brought Margaret to Statesville from Crozers Theological Seminary in Upland, Pa., in 1957. She had been part of a missionary preparation exhibition and would have been studied by many students, including Martin Luther King Jr.

3.) WHATS IN A NAME?: Because no name was depicted in the hieroglyphs on her cartonnage (a coffin made of linen, plaster and resin) Margaret was named in a competition among Statesville children in the 1980s.

4.) HER ROYAL ORIGINS: Characteristics of her burial, including her cartonnage and hieroglyphs, indicate that Margaret was in the top 8 percent of Egyptian society.

5.) AWAY FROM THE PUBLIC EYE: After traveling to exhibitions in Alabama and Charlotte, Margaret underwent conservation work to restore and preserve as much original material as possible. After the restoration, Margaret went back on exhibition.

Then, flooding of the old museum site in 2004 forced Margaret into storage until March of this year. After 12 years, she reappeared just in time for the 60th anniversary of Iredell Museums.

Iredell Museums

134 Court St., Statesville

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Romanian Foreign Affairs Minister, Lazar Comanescu, and his Ukrainian counterpart, Pavlo Klimkin, reiterated on Saturday during a joint press conference in Sighetu Marmatiei the need to strengthen the bilateral relations as well as Romania's support granted to the neighbour state on its path towards the EU.

"We had a very good opinion exchange on the manner in which our bilateral relations evolve. We agreed to continue to work together on strengthening the relations between Romania and Ukraine. We have discussed in this framework about consolidating the transborder cooperation, so we may give the possibility to our citizens on both Tisa River banks to be able to interact of a closer manner. We have obviously discussed about the possibility of developing our economic cooperation, but also about the topical issues on the European agenda, and I want to emphasise here the importance which we grant to a strong support between the EU and Ukraine, a strong closeness to the EU," Lazar Comanescu said.

Comanescu reiterated Romania's support for the effort of solving the armed conflict in the east of Ukraine.

In his turn, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister appreciated Romania's support and mentioned that the meeting at Sighetu Marmatiei has been more than symbolical.

At the same time Klimkin praised the support granted to his country in the European context, and the fact that the Maramures County administration received children from the areas affected by war in recreation camps.

The two ministers participated on Saturday in Sighetu Marmatiei in the unveiling of the bust devoted to Ukraine's national poet Taras Shevcenko in the park in front of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the city.

Local administration representatives, Maramures County Prefect Sebastian Luput, representatives of the Ukrainian communities of Maramures also attended the event.

AGERPRES
JEFFERSON CITY  At the heart of Amendment 3, a constitutional amendment to raise Missouris cigarette tax by 60 cents, is a promise that the money will go towards early childhood education, something backers say state lawmakers have failed to adequately fund.

Language in the amendment says the revenue generated shall not be diverted to any other purpose. An ad released by supporters of the controversial measure Friday argues that this is precisely why Jefferson City politicians are fighting it.

But Rep. Scott Fitzpatrick, Missouris House budget chair, recently reminded proponents of the tax hike on Twitter that the legislature still has to appropriate the money.

@RYH4KMO @BradKetcher sorry folks but conservation doesn't stand appropriated and neither will A3 funds. #moleg still has to appropriate.  Scott Fitzpatrick (@FitzpatrickMO) October 25, 2016

He pointed toward language in the constitution that says no money shall be withdrawn from the state treasury except by warrant drawn in accordance with an appropriation made by law.

He also compared the early childhood fund the amendment creates to the Missouri Conservation Commission, which has a dedicated tax stream  the legislature cant spend the money on anything else, but they have the discretion whether or not to appropriate the money at all.

"We have declined to appropriate money for things they request," said Fitzpatrick, R-Shell Knob.

The tobacco tax amendment requires that at least 75 percent of the funds collected go toward grants intended to increase access to early childhood education programs. No less than 10 percent and no more than 5 percent is to go toward hospitals or health care facilities for early childhood initiatives, like health and development screenings for kids, but cannot go to any facilities that provide abortions.

And no less than 5 percent and no more than 10 percent of the funds are to go toward programs to help Missouris pregnant mothers or youth to quit smoking or prevent smoking altogether.

But the amendment gives very little direction in terms of specific policy, Fitzpatrick said.

Its not like the Amendment 3 proposal states in the text that the money is supposed to be used for Parents as Teachers, Fitzpatrick said, citing as an example a program that helps parents with their child's development before school begins. Were going to have to make those determinations.

As to whether or not lawmakers will withhold the money brought in by Amendment 3 if it passes, Jane Dueker, the attorney representing its backers, said she was hopeful the legislature wouldnt block proposals and let the money sit in a fund.

If they tried, it would come down to a constitutional showdown, she said.

Its a logistical question. Is it theoretical they could do that? Yes, but that would be violating the constitution and the will of the people who voted for this, Dueker said.

Linda Rallo, co-founder of Raise Your Hand for Kids, the backers of the initiative, called the appropriation by the legislature "a formality," saying their power is limited because they can't act against the constitution.

"If the legislature refused to appropriate the funds, there would likely be litigation regarding the issue," Rallo said.

Voters will weigh in on the proposed cigarette tax increase on Nov. 8.
WASHINGTON  The FBI is investigating whether there is classified information in new emails uncovered during the sexting investigation of disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of one of Hillary Clinton's closest aides.

FBI Director James Comey told Congress in a letter that the emails prompted investigators to take another look at whether classified information had been mishandled, which had been the focus of its recently closed, criminal probe into Clinton's use of a private email server. Comey couldn't guarantee that the latest focus of the investigation would be finished before Election Day.

Clinton said Friday that "the American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately. She urged the FBI to "explain this issue in question, whatever it is, without any delay."

"Let's get it out," she said.

Comey did not provide details about the emails, but a U.S. official told The Associated Press that the emails emerged through the FBI's separate sexting probe of Weiner, who is separated from Clinton confidant Huma Abedin. She served as deputy chief of staff at the State Department and is still a key player in Clinton's presidential campaign. The two separated earlier this year after Weiner was caught in 2011, 2013 and again in 2016 sending sexually explicit text messages and photographs of himself undressed to numerous women.

Federal authorities in New York and North Carolina are investigating online communications between Weiner and a 15-year-old girl. The U.S. official was familiar with the investigation but was not authorized to discuss the matter by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The disclosure came less than two weeks before the presidential election and thrust a political liability for Clinton back into the headlines that her campaign thought had been resolved and had begun to recede from the minds of voters. The FBI said in July its investigation of Hillary Clinton's private email server was finished.

Comey stressed in his letter that the FBI could not yet assess "whether or not this material may be significant," or how long it might take to run down the new investigative leads.

"In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation," Comey wrote. "I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation."

Clinton, in a brief statement to reporters Friday evening, noted: "The director himself has said he doesn't know whether the emails referenced in his letter are significant or not. I'm confident whatever they are will not change the conclusion reached in July."

It was unclear what the emails contained, who sent them, or what connection they might have to the yearlong investigation the FBI closed in July without recommending criminal charges. The FBI probe focused on whether Clinton sent or received classified information using a server in the basement of her New York home, which was not authorized to handle such messages. Abedin was interviewed by the FBI as part of its investigation.

Comey said in July that his agents didn't find evidence to support a criminal prosecution or direct evidence that Clinton's private server was hacked.

Matthew Miller, a former chief spokesman for the Justice Department, was dismayed by the timing of Comey's letter.

"Longstanding DOJ and FBI practice is you don't say anything publicly close to an election that can possibly influence that election," Miller said.

Comey, who has talked often about the FBI's need to be accountable to the public, promised extraordinary transparency about the investigation and during intervening months has authorized the release of investigative files from the case, which are normally kept confidential.

That stance also left Comey, a career federal prosecutor who has served under both Republican and Democratic administrations, open to criticism from leaders in both parties that he was trying to influence the outcome of the presidential race.

Clinton campaign supporters were already suggesting the FBI director was putting a thumb on the scale. Had he waited until after Nov. 8 to announce the discovery of the new emails, however, Comey would surely have faced criticism for sitting on major news until after the new president had been selected.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the department learned about the FBI letter from news reports and did not get any notification from the FBI. Toner pledged the department would "cooperate to the full extent that we can."

Speaking at a Clinton rally in Florida, President Barack Obama also steered clear of the issue. White House spokesman Eric Schultz declined comment beyond reiterating Obama's continuing support for Clinton.

The ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, said Comey's letter was particularly troubling because it left so many questions unanswered.

"Without knowing how many emails are involved, who wrote them, when they were written or their subject matter, it's impossible to make any informed judgment on this development," said Feinstein, D-Calif. "The FBI has a history of extreme caution near Election Day so as not to influence the results. Today's break from that tradition is appalling."

Republicans immediately pounced on the news, hoping to shake up a presidential race where most polls appear to show Republican nominee Donald Trump lagging well behind Clinton.

House Speaker Paul Ryan said Clinton has "nobody but herself to blame."

"She was entrusted with some of our nation's most important secrets, and she betrayed that trust by carelessly mishandling highly classified information," Ryan, R-Wis., said in a statement. "This decision, long overdue, is the result of her reckless use of a private email server, and her refusal to be forthcoming with federal investigators. I renew my call for the Director of National Intelligence to suspend all classified briefings for Secretary Clinton until this matter is fully resolved."

Speaking to cheering supporters at a rally in New Hampshire, Trump used Comey's new letter to attack Clinton.

"We must not let her take her criminal scheme into the Oval Office," said Trump, who has pledged to "lock up" his political rival if elected. "Perhaps finally justice will be done."

Prior to seeking public office as a Republican, Trump was a supporter of Clinton's past campaigns for president and senator. Records show the New York billionaire also contributed at least $4,300 to former Rep. Weiner's Democratic campaigns.
An old movie was on the tube. I may have dozed off. I looked up and there was Shame. You called? he said.

Startled, I said huh? Oh, that. It was the TV. I was watching Shane. Alan Ladd, Jack Palance. You must have heard Brandon De Wilde: Shane! Come back! Famous scene. Sorry about the confusion. Where have you been?

I left years ago, said Shame. It was Nixon who did it.

Things are worse now, I said.

Youre telling me, said Shame. First thing I see when I get back is this memo where a guy brags about lining up consulting contracts and speaking gigs for the ex-president of the United States. Bill Clinton, Inc. he called it. The guy was rounding up donations to Clintons foundation and getting Clinton a little taste while he was at it. How does that go on? Wheres the mans pride?

Its never been much of a problem for him, I said.

Whatever happened to Harry Truman? The guy wouldnt take a dime if it meant cashing in on the presidency.

He died, I said. These days politicians are all about cashing in.

Shameful, said Shame. The story only comes out because a bunch of people swiped personal documents. Thats shameful, too.

They think they are being noble, I said, serving a higher cause.

And whats this I hear about the vice president challenging the Republican presidential nominee to a fight?

Its true, I said. Joe Biden said if hed been in high school, he wouldve loved to take Donald Trump behind the gym. And Trump said hed be happy to meet him.

But theyre not in high school. Theyre in their 70s. I mean, wheres the dignity of the office?

Shame, I said, dignity and pride are pretty rare these days.

I see this guy, Newt Gingrich, on television, telling this blonde woman .

Megyn Kelly, I interrupted.

Yes, hes telling her shes all hung up on sex and then he goes on talking about sexual predators and finally she tells him to take his anger issues elsewhere. I mean, since when do men talk like that? To women? In public?

Shame was rolling now.

And this guy, Trump. He goes to the Gettysburg National Cemetery and talks about suing women whove accused him of groping them. Fourscore and multiple allegations ago. Youre telling me this guy is the presidential nominee of a major political party?

A lot of them are just as disappointed as you are, I said.

And this whole conversation was started because the guy was caught on tape 11 years ago talking about kissing women and grabbing them by their, excuse me, private parts, and he can get away with it because he is a star?

Well, yes. He didnt know the tape was rolling.

I dont care, said Shame. Men dont talk that way, at least they shouldnt.

Im afraid youve been gone too long, Shame. You should spend some time watching television.

Like that Shane movie you were watching? Shame asked.

No, that was made in 1953. Harry Truman was just out of office, not cashing in. You have to watch the current stuff. For example, have you ever heard the name Beyonce? Have you heard some of the lyrics to popular music?

Moon, June, that sort of thing? asked Shame. Should I check it out, spin some platters?

You have been gone awhile, havent you? Never mind. Youd hate the heck out of it.

Dont say heck,  said Shame. I come back, flip on the TV, and all I see are political commercials. Where are those people getting all the money for that stuff? Its worse than Nixon.

Well, politics is expensive these days. People give them hundreds of millions of dollars.

Pardon the expression, but arent they ashamed to take all that money? Doesnt it mean theyre bought and paid for?

They say not.

In my day, you take someones money, it means youre in his debt. His bread I eat, his song I sing and all of that. If he wants a favor, you have to pay him back.

They say not. They say they merely share mutual interests.

Pardon my French, but baloney, said Shame. Say some nut shoots up a schoolyard full of children, and theyve taken a bunch of money from the gun lobby. Are you telling me theyre not going to stand up to their contributors?

It happens. Guns, bankers, oil companies, people who run up the price of life-saving drugs, whatever, whoever. A lot of it never becomes public.

Incredible, said Shame. Wheres their pride? Their integrity? Wheres their me  shame?

Im afraid your time has passed, Shame. People find you inconvenient. They think youre old-fashioned. You dont pay. You dont play. Youre bad television.

Im leaving, said Shame. And this time Im not coming back.
The political balance of the U.S. Senate could hinge on Missourians vote on Nov. 8. The nation is watching the neck-and-neck race between Republican incumbent Roy Blunt and Democratic challenger Jason Kander, Missouris secretary of state.

Blunt, 66, is the consummate Washington insider. While that can work to Missouris benefit, he has repeatedly ignored conflicts of interest and allowed family lobby-related business interests to interfere with his legislative responsibilities. He embraces Donald Trumps candidacy. Blunt defines the Washington problem, not the solution.

Its time for him to go. Missourians cannot continue electing divisive politicians like Blunt, hoping theyll heal the nations wounds.

This newspaper endorses Kander, 35, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan with a clear moral standard. Kanders moderate political bent can help quell the partisan extremism ripping Washington apart.

Blunt has had chances to make big differences, but has failed. In 2013, he joined a small minority of 22 senators, all Republican, voting against reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. In the aftermath of the massacre of 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012, Blunt voted against measures to impose reasonable background checks and limit sales of military-style assault weapons.

Blunt talks a lot about gun rights. Kander can easily assemble an assault weapon blindfolded while discussing why the Second Amendment would not be imperiled by reasonable regulations. Kander has carried military assault weapons in war and understands their killing power, especially when equipped with high-capacity magazines. They do not belong in the hands of civilians, as respected special operations military officers have argued.

Blunt walks in lockstep with the lobbyists whose dollars he gladly rakes in. Missourians should demand a senator capable of thinking independently of lobbying groups like the National Rifle Association. (Blunt, by the way, is the top recipient in Congress of NRA money.)

Blunts campaign ads assert that he understands the experience of war veterans. How so? He received three deferments to avoid serving in the Vietnam War. Kander, by contrast, interrupted his own career to serve in Afghanistan. He understands military and veterans issues from the viewpoint of someone whos been there.

Blunt, by contrast, joined 41 Republican senators in 2014 voting against a proposed $21 billion in Veterans Administration spending at a time when veterans reportedly were dying while waiting for medical appointments.

Nothing speaks louder about the need to break the Washington stalemate than the controversy surrounding Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland. Blunt refuses even to sit for a chat with Garland, simply because a Democratic president nominated him.

Ideological extremists have made a mess of Washington. Kanders voice of moderation is what the Senate needs to end the partisan rancor.
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?
The logo of the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA is seen at a gas station in Caracas, Venezuela on June 30, 2016. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins/File Photo

By Marianna Parraga

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Unpaid debts and broken promises are making Venezuelan oil giant PDVSA an outcast in several Caribbean countries where it had been a guest of honor.

The state-run company's crumbling finances are causing operational disruptions across one of its most essential regions, according to internal company documents, six sources with knowledge of its operations, and Thomson Reuters vessel-tracking data.

Business partners in the island nations of Curacao, Bonaire, Jamaica and the Bahamas are turning away from the firm as debts pile up to tugboat operators, ship brokers, maritime agencies and terminal owners, the sources and documents show.

The company's problems include blocked loading operations in the Bahamas and threats from the governments of Curacao and Jamaica to replace PDVSA as a partner of refineries in both places. Many vessels are also anchored offshore, blocked from discharging cargoes at ports because PDVSA has not paid suppliers and business partners.

The mounting Caribbean problems are adding to a broader crisis for PDVSA, which is already reeling from declining production, low crude prices and an unprecedented economic downturn at home. The company saw operating cash flow plummet by 63 percent, to $2.1 billion, in the first quarter compared to the same period a year earlier, according to its most recent financial report.

PDVSA's Caribbean operations represent a quarter of its global refining capacity and serve as a loading hub for a third of its exports of crude and fuel oil.

For a graphic on PDVSA's facilities in the Caribbean, see: http://tmsnrt.rs/2dEYaRb

"PDVSA has absolutely lost ground in the Caribbean," said Lisa Viscidi, director of Energy, Climate Change and Extractive Industries at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, noting falling oil sales in the region for the past two years.

PDVSA did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

In the latest mishap, a PDVSA fuel-oil cargo bound for Asia has been trapped in the Caribbean sea for more than a month after a court ordered the detention of the tanker "Hero" in Curacao, according to sources with direct knowledge of the situation and Thomson Reuters vessel-tracking data.

Curacao's port authority barred the ship from leaving on Sept. 18 after a unit of Core Laboratories won the court order to force payment of delinquent debts, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. PDVSA had allegedly failed to pay the unit, Saybolt, several million dollars for months of oil testing services.

Mark Elvig, general counsel for Core Laboratories, declined to comment.

REVERSAL OF FORTUNE

The problems reflect a stark reversal for a company that has been a trusted partner of governments in the Caribbean.

About a decade ago, Caribbean countries laid out red carpets for PDVSA executives, who came offering cheap oil under the Petrocaribe program that leftist President Hugo Chavez launched to win allies as a bulwark against Washington.

Petrocaribe worked well for years, as poor islands curbed the impacts of rising global oil prices and Venezuela bartered oil for everything from medical services to black beans.

PDVSA had used Caribbean facilities to offset frequent outages and incidents plaguing its storage, refining and port networks in Venezuela. The region offers vast storage capacity, ample refineries and crude blending facilities, and deep water docks to load Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) for trips to Asia.

But the relationships of the past are now increasingly strained as suppliers and service providers go unpaid.

"PDVSA's cash flow problems are impacting routine operations," a trader at a private company that has worked with PDVSA in the Caribbean told Reuters on condition of anonymity. "You only accumulate several million dollars in debt for port services by not paying for months or even years."

The company has slashed its operating budget to $45 million monthly from $145 million monthly in 2015, the PDVSA trading team source said. That budget pays for all trade activities in Venezuela and overseas, the source said, including tanker cleaning, routine inspections, storage, brokerage, freight costs, port services and oil imports.

REFINERIES AT RISK

The tanker detention came days after Curacao's government signed a memorandum of understanding with Guangdong Zhenrong Energy, indicating the Chinese firm could soon replace PDVSA as the operator of the Isla refinery in 2019.

Officials in Curacao have said the move follows years of frustrated efforts to persuade PDVSA to invest $1.5 billion to upgrade Isla.

"We have decided not to wait any more and look for alternatives," said Ben Whiteman, the island's Prime Minister, in a broadcasted speech in September.

The island's government declined a Reuters request for comment, and the Chinese firm did not respond.

PDVSA said in a September news release that the renewal of its lease is not up for negotiation yet.

Isla is strategically important because its lease contract includes the Bullenbay terminal, with 17.75 million barrels of storage and blending capacity. Bullenbay is where PDVSA receives the imported light oil it mixes with its own extra heavy crude to create an exportable blend.

Also in September, Winston Watson, general manager of Petrojam - Jamaica's state company that owns the Kingston refinery - said he was fed up with PDVSA's foot-dragging on upgrading the plant.

"If they say no, then I guess we would have to go to the market and seek another investor," he said of PDVSA to lawmakers in parliament, according to a transcript.

Petrojam and the Jamaican government did not respond to requests for comment.

LATE RENT, STRANDED SHIPS

Another setback came in the Bahamas. For about a month starting in mid-September, PDVSA was blocked from loading cargoes at the massive BORCO terminal because of late rent payments for storage tanks, according to one of the PDVSA sources and a ship broker.

The BORCO standoff contributed to an ongoing decline in PDVSA's exports - and its ability to generate cash - just as payment delays snarled its imports.

In September, PDVSA's crude exports suffered an annual decline of 12 percent to 1.55 million barrels per day, according to Thomson Reuters Trade Flows data.

U.S.-based Buckeye Partners, which operates the terminal, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Near other Caribbean and Venezuelan ports, about a dozen tankers carrying around 2.5 million barrels of light crude and products - including two cargoes supplied by BP - have been stuck at sea for weeks at a time, waiting for payment from PDVSA before discharging, according to traders from private firms and vessel tracking data.

In May, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro made an official visit to Jamaica and sought to reassure Caribbean dignitaries of PDVSA's long-term health.

"Be confident," he said. "Venezuela has faced situations even more difficult than the one we are passing through."

(Reporting by Marianna Parraga in Houston, with additional reporting by Sailu Urribarri in Aruba, Rebekah Kebede in Kingston and Alexandra Ulmer and Andrew Cawthorne in Caracas; Editing by Terry Wade and Brian Thevenot)
Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda (C) smiles as she arrives for Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta's appearance before the International Criminal Court in The Hague October 8, 2014. REUTERS/Peter Dejong/Pool

By Ed Cropley

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa and Burundi's decision to quit the International Criminal Court (ICC) and an attack by Gambia against its supposed 'Caucasian' justice are likely to embolden other African states to leave the world's only permanent war crimes tribunal.

Although criticizing the Hague-based institution for perceived anti-African bias has long been a favorite pastime for many African leaders, in most cases it amounted to pandering to a domestic audience without much real intent.

That has now changed, with the precedent established of local politics justifying actual withdrawal.

With South Africa - a continental heavyweight and key backer of the ICC in the late 1990s - making clear it could no longer tolerate the court's denial of immunity to sitting leaders, the departure gates have been flung open.

All eyes are now on Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, the ICC's chief tormentor who made history in 2013 by becoming the first sitting head of state to appear before the court, on charges of crimes against humanity.

The case relating to Kenyatta's alleged role in post-election violence in 2008 in which at least 1,200 people died collapsed in 2014 for lack of evidence.

But in January this year, with charges still hanging over his deputy, William Ruto, Kenyatta took to the floor at the African Union (AU) to call for a "roadmap for withdrawal" for Africa's 34 ICC members.

Supporting South Africa's subsequent stance, Kenyatta took aim in particular at Article 27 of the ICC's 1998 Rome Statute which affirms the "irrelevance of official capacity" - in other words, nobody, no matter how powerful, is above the law.

Kenyatta, who faces another election next year, then played the global security card, saying this compromised Kenya's ability to fight Islamist militancy, a genuine concern in the wake of a major attack in 2013 on Nairobi's Westgate mall.

"We've had to contend with the ICC pursuing weak, politicized cases. This has become a huge distraction from our duty serve our people and this continent fully. That is not what Kenya signed up for when we joined the ICC," he said.

"USELESS PEOPLE"

Kenya's parliament has passed two resolutions since 2010 calling for withdrawal, but government spokesman Manoah Esipisu said the cabinet was still deciding - in the wake of South Africa's move - whether to go ahead.

"It is accurate to say that a decision of the executive is pending," he said.

Neighboring Uganda, whose President Yoweri Museveni labeled the ICC "a bunch of useless people" at his inauguration in July, is already shaping up for a fresh push at the next AU summit in January for an African exodus.

"The ICC deserves what's happening to it now," junior foreign affairs minister Okello Oryem said.

"Our argument has always been that there's a need for the whole of Africa to withdraw from the ICC. We hope that matter will come up at the next AU summit and then we'll be able to pronounce ourselves."

RUNNING FOR COVER?

Most worrying for the ICC, which has been fighting to counter the allegations of anti-African bias and 'neo-colonialism', is that local or regional politics stood behind the three recent decisions to pull out.

Although Gambia, which derided the ICC as the 'Infamous Caucasian Court', does not yet appear to have sent its formal divorce papers, President Yahya Jammeh, who has been accused of serial rights abuses since seizing power in a 1994 coup, is unlikely to back off ahead of an election in December.

While also citing ICC neo-colonialism, Burundi's move followed the ICC's opening of an initial probe into the rape, torture and murder of hundreds of people during an 18-month political crisis.

South Africa's decision can be traced back to visit a year ago by Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir when Pretoria flouted its obligations to arrest him under an ICC warrant for alleged war crimes.

It even violated a domestic court order in allowing Bashir to leave, a clear demonstration of the shift in Pretoria's foreign policy under President Jacob Zuma from the international idealism of Nelson Mandela to plain African realism.

The ICC admits it is rattled but is determined to keep going, and in particular to counter the allegations of anti-African bias.

"We must remain strong," chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, a Gambian, told reporters in The Hague this week. "This is a challenge we see now. We will see it more. It is not going to go away."

To date, all but one of the court's 10 investigations have been in Africa and its five convicted suspects are from Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and Mali.

However, it argues that many of these cases were brought by African governments themselves, not outsiders, and that it has 10 preliminary investigations into alleged atrocities elsewhere in the world, including in Afghanistan, Colombia, Iraq, the Palestinian Territories and Ukraine.

"Even if half the African countries leave, it would be very unfortunate and damaging to the concept of international justice but it won't shut the court down," one ICC official, who did not want to be named, told Reuters.

"This was bound to happen when dictators  for the most part that's what they are  decide to run for cover."

(Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols, Edmund Blair, Elias Biryabarema, Thomas Escritt and Anthony Deutsch; Editing by Giles Elgood)
OPEC logo is pictured ahead of an informal meeting between members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Algiers, Algeria September 28, 2016. REUTERS/Ramzi Boudina/File Photo

By Henning Gloystein

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices dipped early on Friday, weighed down by lingering doubts over whether OPEC can coordinate a crude production cut big enough to rein in oversupply that has dogged markets for two years.

International Brent crude oil futures were trading at $50.39 per barrel at 0033 GMT, down 8 cents from their last close.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 5 cents at $49.67 a barrel.

Traders said there were significant doubts that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) would be able to rally its members and non-OPEC producers, especially Russia, around a significant cut in output.

"With both Iraq and Iran saying they won't be part of the cuts for various reasons, and Russia talking freezes not production cuts, the onus will fall on Saudi Arabia to pull any deal together," said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at brokerage OANDA in Singapore.

"OPEC's Nov. 30 meeting suddenly seems like a long way away with seemingly half of the group wanting exemptions now," he added.

(Reporting by Henning Gloystein; Editing by Joseph Radford)
BELGRADE (Reuters) - More than 1,000 migrants, trapped in Serbia after fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Central Asia, have occupied a derelict warehouse in the capital Belgrade, where they are preparing to tough out a bitter Balkan winter.

More than 100,000 migrants have passed through Serbia this year, from countries such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, to seek sanctuary in the wealthy countries of northern Europe. But border closures have left many stranded.

"We want to go to Italy, Germany, France, but the border is closed at Hungary and Croatia," said Najib, who said he was from Afghanistan.

Around him, men warmed their hands on camp fires, as smoke drifted up into the high rafters, and others perched on car tyres as they washed at a makeshift sink in a vain attempt to keep away the filth of the tumbledown building.

Last year, hundreds of thousands of refugees swept through the Balkans, prompting countries to throw up near-impenetrable barriers to block them. More than 6,400 refugees are trapped in Serbia, 1,200 of them in this warehouse, aid workers say.

Some who had made it further north said they were beaten by police at the Hungarian border and sent back to Belgrade. Many had Serbian documents telling them they had no grounds to remain - but few have the means to return home.

"Here, look at this place, it's very dirty. I become sick," said Imrar Khan, 17, who left Pakistan three months ago. Dozens of migrants bed down in rows between piles of garbage in the warehouse, near the city's central station.

Authorities blame people traffickers for much of the influx. Since the beginning of the year, they have prevented 5,000 illegal border crossings and charged 356 people with the smuggling of around 2,000 people.

(Reporting by Thomas Escritt; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
People walk past a campaign billboard of Ivory Coast's ruling party ahead of the referendum for a new constitution, in Abidjan, Ivory Coast October 27, 2016. REUTERS/Luc Gnago

By Joe Bavier

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's President Alassane Ouattara hopes Sunday's referendum on a new constitution will finally turn the page on years of crisis and bloodshed.

But as he scrutinized newspaper front pages pinned up at a roadside in the commercial capital Abidjan, Brice Bosse, 44, wasn't buying it.

"I don't think this referendum should happen," said the construction worker. "They rushed this through, and no one even knows what's in it."

Ivorians, along with the investors who have poured into French-speaking West Africa's largest economy since its civil war ended in 2011, crave stability.

But rights groups and diplomats say a process that could have helped heal a deeply divided society has instead rushed out a document that few Ivorians have had time to read, much less debate.

"It looks like a fait accompli," said one Abidjan-based diplomat. "You can say what you like about the text, but the process could have been more transparent. It's a missed opportunity."

The authorities say they have respected the legal timetable for the referendum process, and that a vote on the constitution must be held before legislative elections in December.

Opposition groups are boycotting the vote, accusing Ouattara of tailoring the text to consolidate his power.

And with no public debate, many on both sides are falling back on adversarial positions that caused nearly a decade of bloodshed and economic stagnation.

"This constitution formalizes the colonization of a big part of our country by people who have come from somewhere else," Innocent Anaki Kobena, a minister under former President Laurent Gbagbo, told a crowd in Abidjan's Port Bouet neighborhood on Wednesday.

Most of his audience were Gbagbo supporters whose refusal to accept Ouattara's 2010 election win sparked a war that killed over 3,000. Gbagbo is now in The Hague, on trial for crimes against humanity.

"LIKE A VOLCANO"

The constitution drafted under military rule after a 1999 coup has been at the heart of Ivory Coast's prolonged crisis.

It said presidential candidates must have both parents be Ivorian - a deliberate swipe at northerners, many of whom, like Ouattara, have family ties that straddle the borders with Burkina Faso and Mali. It was used to disqualify him from poll in 2000.

The new constitution scraps that rule - only one parent must be Ivorian, it says. It also creates a post of vice president and a senate.

Rights groups are worried that it allows future changes to go ahead with a two thirds majority in parliament, a body now heavily dominated by Ouattara's allies.

"If a president has a majority in parliament, he can do whatever he likes with the constitution. That, for us, is problematic," said Nathalie Kouakou Yao N'Guessan, the head of Amnesty International in Ivory Coast.

Civil society groups lobbied for a delay of the vote on the text, which was drafted behind closed doors. They were rebuffed.

So by voting day, Ivorians will have had just two and a half weeks to consider the proposed 184-article charter.

Human Rights Watch this week accused the authorities of clamping down on opposition to the constitution by closing newspapers, breaking up demonstrations, detaining political leaders and blocking their access to state media.

Government spokesman Bruno Kone denied all the accusations.

Brice Bosse fears the referendum will only deepen divisions between Ivorians. He plans to stay at home on Sunday.

"Just because no one's shooting doesn't mean the war is over," he said. "It's like the fire from a volcano. The fact it's under the surface doesn't mean it's not there."

(Editing by Tim Cocks and Andrew Roche)
UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 6-K

REPORT OF FOREIGN PRIVATE ISSUER

Pursuant to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16 of

the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

For the month of October, 2016. Commission File Number: 001-14446

The Toronto-Dominion Bank

(Translation of registrant's name into English)

c/o General Counsels Office

P.O. Box 1, Toronto Dominion Centre,

Toronto, Ontario, M5K 1A2

(Address of principal executive offices)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under cover of Form 20-F or Form 40-F:

Form 20-F  Form 40-F 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(1): 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(7): 

FORM 6-K

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

THE TORONTO-DOMINION BANK DATE: October 27, 2016 By: /s/ Cynthia Sargeant Name: Cynthia Sargeant Title: Associate Vice President, Legal

EXHIBIT INDEX

Exhibit Description 99.1 Press Release dated October 27, 2016 - TD Bank, Americas Most Convenient Bank CEO Mike Pedersen to Retire

Exhibit 99.1

TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank CEO Mike Pedersen to Retire

TORONTO,ON and CHERRY HILL, NJ October 27, 2016  TD Bank Group (TSX and NYSE: TD) today announced that Mike Pedersen, President and Chief Executive Officer of TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, has informed the Bank of his intention to retire in the summer of 2017.

TD has named Greg Braca, current Head of Corporate and Specialty Banking, as Chief Operating Officer of TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank effective November 1, 2016, reporting to Pedersen. TD also announced its intention that Braca will succeed Pedersen as President and CEO on June 1, 2017. Pedersen will remain an advisor to the Bank for a period of time following this date.

It has been an honor to lead a Bank that is so focused on taking care of its customers, communities and colleagues, Pedersen said. Greg is an inspirational leader and I look forward to working with him during this seven-month transition period.

Pedersen started his career with TD Bank Group in Toronto as Group Head, Corporate Operations, in 2007. He succeeded Bharat Masrani, as President and CEO of TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank in 2013. Under his leadership, the US business has outgrown the competition and made excellent progress.

I want to thank Mike for leading the Bank through some of the most challenging economic conditions in US history. Through it all, he championed the customer experience, gave back to our communities and inspired our next generation of leaders," said Bharat Masrani, Group President and CEO, TD Bank Group. Greg is emblematic of the deep bench we have at TD. He lives and breathes the TD brand and will continue to build on our momentum in the US.

Braca joined TD in 2002, and has played a key leadership role in the Bank's growth, particularly in the Metro New York region. Prior to his role as Head of Corporate and Specialty Banking, he served as the Head of Retail and Commercial Banking in New York, and was instrumental in building out the Bank's Consumer and Small Business, Government Banking and Middle Market Lending businesses in this key growth market.

I look forward to working with Mike during the transition and partnering with the senior leadership team to deliver on our vision for the Bank, said Braca. TD Bank's vibrant culture and commitment to customers have enabled us to become a top 10 bank in the United States. Our strong brand, differentiated customer experience and dedicated colleagues will help us build upon this success.

About TD Bank Group

The Toronto-Dominion Bank and its subsidiaries are collectively known as TD Bank Group ("TD" or the "Bank"). TD is the sixth largest bank in North America by branches and serves approximately 25 million customers in three key businesses operating in a number of locations in financial centres around the globe: Canadian Retail, including TD Canada Trust, TD Auto Finance Canada, TD Wealth (Canada), TD Direct Investing, and TD Insurance; U.S. Retail, including TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, TD Auto Finance U.S., TD Wealth (U.S.), and an investment in TD Ameritrade; and Wholesale Banking, including TD Securities. TD also ranks among the world's leading online financial services firms, with approximately 10.8 million active online and mobile customers. TD had CDN$1.2 trillion in assets on July 31, 2016. The Toronto-Dominion Bank trades under the symbol "TD" on the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges.

###

For further information:

Media: Maria Saros, Corporate and Public Affairs, 416-983-4093, [email protected]

Investors: Gillian Manning, Investor Relations, 416-308-6014, [email protected]
3 powerful MICE events in Nov. View(s):

Sri Lankas MICE sector is going to be busy next month with three major conferences in the largest-ever grouping of business visitors in a single month.

The events kick off tomorrow October 31 when Colombo hosts the all-important French travel agents congress till November 5 with the participation of over 300 agents and others.

This is followed by a major religious summit organised by the Bishops Conference of Sri Lanka with another 300 guests including eight Cardinals and 176 Bishops from South East Asia from November 28 to November 4 in Negombo. Tourism Minister John Amaratunga referred to the event as religious tourism when he addressed hoteliers in Colombo on Tuesday.

The third event is a mega meeting of representatives of Lions clubs in South Asia, Africa and West Asia in November 30 to December 3 in Colombo involving 2,500 delegates, the largest gathering-ever for a single MICE event.
Auditor General to appoint audit firms for state companies By Bandula Sirimanna View(s): View(s):

Sri Lankas state-owned companies (state owned enterprises  SOEs) have been brought under the scrutiny of Auditor General (AG)s Department with authority, for the first time, to select and appoint private auditors for auditing of accounts.

In some cases earlier the Auditor General got the assistance of private auditors which were however selected by the Public Enterprises Department of the Finance Ministry.

However under new powers vested under the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, the AGs department can on its own appoint private audit firms to handle audits of SOEs under its (AGs) supervision.

For this purpose, the department recently called for Request for Proposals (RFP) from audit firms to carry out audits in accordance with Sri Lanka auditing standards on the financial statements of SOEs in which the Government has a 50 per cent or more stake.

According to the RFP criteria published in a newspaper advertisement recently, those government companies are registered or deemed to be registered under the Companies Act No 7 of 2007.

A senior department official said so far they have received proposals from 14 audit firms. Firms that satisfy the criteria will also have to face a competitive test on quality standards before the selection is made.

The official disclosed that some Finance Ministry  appointed audit firms earlier had been functioning as auditors of government companies for long periods. Citing one example, he noted that the same audit firm has been given the responsibility for auditing at Sri Lankan Airlines for more than 30 years.

Under the present set up a single audit firm will not be allowed to serve as the auditor in a government-owned company for more than three years.

These companies are functioning under the Companies Act and therefore they have to prepare annual accounts which are certified by a recognised private audit firm and file the annual accounts in the Company Registrars office.

Earlier, the government had no control over these accounts as there are no provisions in the Companies Act or any other act where the Auditor-General could get involved.

Those audit firms were used to give favourable audit reports for their clients, hiding actual facts, contributing to corruption and not releasing a report to their clients disadvantage and raising these issues, he added.

This situation has now been changed with the enactment of 19th Amendment to the Constitution which has brought those companies under the purview of the AGs department he said. The closing date for submitting RFPs to the AGs department is November 11.
Cloud of uncertainty in tourism industry over arrests View(s):

The recent arrest of two tourism industry professionals, later released on bail was strongly condemned by Tourism Minister John Amaratunga during an address at the annual general meeting of the Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) on Tuesday.

Some hoteliers (trade personalities) have been remanded unreasonably through no fault of theirs while there are others responsible (and no action taken), the Minister told the meeting.

He didnt mention any names but the reference was to two directors at Sri Lanka Tourism representing the interests of tourism trade chambers who are both respected members of the industry.

The issue was over the approval of a 5 million-rupee project at Sri Lanka Tourism (SLT) during the last regime which it is alleged was for a political purpose. However the former chairman of the SLT and its Managing Director have either not made a statement or been arrested though their responsibility is much higher than the other two private sector-represented directors, official sources said.

Another top trade personality, also a former director representing private sector interests, is now in France fearing arrest if he returns. Outgoing THASL President Hiran Cooray, who faced a similar situation, said he was thankful to the minister for coming to his rescue and also noted, Sir we need your help to bring him (the travel trade CEO) back from France. No names were mentioned.

The sources said the arrests and some likely ones were creating a negative impact in the industry and outside Sri Lanka.
Nihal Hettiarachchi & Company awarded Audit Firm of the Year  Medium Category at the South Asian awards event View(s):

Nihal Hettiarachchi & Company (NH & Co) received an award as the Audit Firm of the Year  Medium Category at the recently held South Asian Partnership Summit & Business Awards (SAPS) 2016, presented by World HRD Congress and endorsed by the Asian Confederation of Businesses.

The ceremony was held at Waters Edge with a participation of leading corporate sector firms and officials from several South Asian countries, the company said.

Commenting on the award, Nihal Hettiarachchi, Senior Partner of NH & Co., stated that Its a great privileged to get awarded as the best medium category audit firm of the year. This is the result of the hard work directed towards the endurance of the firm in those early days.

NH & Co., was established in 1984, and currently provides professional services with its six partners, bringing together a unique combination of multidisciplinary experience and knowledge gathered over the years in public practice.
Packed in Ceylon tag for blended Ceylon teas on the cards By Sunimalee Dias Minister boosts RPCs future View(s): View(s):

The Government is expected to introduce a number of measures to ensure the regional plantation companies (RPCs) in the tea sector would increase their income levels and production capacities in addition to opening the doors to tea blending.

A re-introduction of the fertiliser subsidy for the RPCs is being worked out by Plantations Minister Navin Dissanayake who is positive of regaining this facility in the next budget. He made these observations during an interview with the Business Times at the Ministry office at Battaramulla on Thursday.

Noting that tea is particularly hit and that is the reason why they would be looked at favourably in this regard, he also said that they were trying to establish a piecemeal approach in bringing back glyphosate, the weedicide for the tea plantations.

Minister Dissanayake believes his approach would work and stated that the existing ban on the use of glyphosate on agricultural lands could be lifted solely for the use on commercial tea plantations for a period of three years until the industry is ready to turn to organic weedicide.

Moreover, a state- appointed committee is studying the lease agreement between the RPCs and the government with the likelihood of offering a more flexible deal in future.

Stringent monitoring mechanisms would be adopted in future by the Sri Lanka Tea Board (SLTB) to ensure good tea quality.

In addition, lands currently used for supplementary crops can also be used for palm oil production within the existing regulatory framework, the minister said.

He noted that exerting pressure and regulation on the plantation companies was not a good move and added that there is no red light on palm oil production. Responding to environmental concerns the minister said I dont go by weird environmentalists, adding that there is no hard evidence to prove it could amount to soil erosion.

In this respect, the state has obtained the services of an agricultural specialist and financial specialist to address these issues and obtain a snapshot of the companies respectively.

Blending Ceylon Tea

With a committee established recently to study the proposals for tea blending in Sri Lanka, the government has already received offers from two international tea packaging firms with British labels with each investing US$70 million for packing teas for export, the minister said.

Minister Dissanayake described this as an investment that should not be missed and an opportunity for Sri Lanka.

Discussions are underway to shift the operations of tea blending by these firms currently carried out in other countries to Colombo, the minister said.

He pointed out that the government would ensure these firms could be established within the Board of Investment (BOI) zones with the ability to purchase a certain amount of locally produced teas from the Colombo auctions that would be later packaged and exported as Packed in Ceylon.

Meanwhile, commenting on the plight of the tea pluckers and estate workers, the Minister noted we have to really give some social dignity to the estate plucker.

With more recognition they should be equipped with more skills. While there is no glamour in this job the only assurance they have is that unlike other labourers these workers are guaranteed 25 days of work per month, Minister Dissanayake said.

Promoting Ceylon Tea

Tenders are currently being called for the selection of an international agency to carry out media buying, which is obtaining the content to advertise in the international media.

Since the SLTB does not have the necessary capacity to deal with this kind of work it was thought best to select an external agency to commence the tea promotion campaign in December this year, the minister said.

The first television advertisement had been worked out by the advertising agency appointed in this regard at a cost of US$700,000 which was released in June to a targeted audience in the US as a pilot project.

No arrears, talks on new model begin in 2017

Plantations Minister Navin Dissanayake on Thursday told the Business Times that the government would not agree to pay any arrears on the wages to the plantation workers as agreed by the companies and the trade unions.

He noted, this cannot be done and asserted it was mentioned during the negotiations that the arrears of the wages agreed upon last week will not be paid to the workers. The Collective Agreement entered between the trade unions and the RPCs had taken over a year to finalise when it should have been concluded in April 2015.

The minister pointed out that as agreed in the recently signed Collective Agreement the trade unions, the RPCs and the government would be sitting down to begin discussions on the new outgrower model, a clear departure from the present ages-old structure on the plantations that had been established by the British colonials who started tea growing in the country.
PMs committee to examine tea blending By Sunimalee Dias View(s): View(s):

The Government has appointed a committee to study the impact of blending tea for re-export from Sri Lanka, a controversial issue that has dogged the industry for many years due to opposing views.

The committee has been appointed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and would be headed by the National Policies and Economic Affairs Ministry Secretary M.I.M. Rafeek. This stakeholder committee would look at developing a national policy on the aspect of tea blending in Sri Lanka.

However, the government is looking at this cautiously as it should not compromise the Ceylon Tea brand, Sri Lanka Tea Board Chairman Rohan Pethiyagoda explained to the Business Times.

Also a member of the committee, Mr. Pethiyagoda said that the committee was appointed a few weeks ago and is likely to meet for the first time in early November.

The mandate of the committee is to advise the government on whether blending tea in Sri Lanka could be allowed and if so on what conditions the import of such teas and blending for re-export could be carried out, he said.

Industry stakeholders would be consulted at every level, it was noted and a comprehensive advisory document would thereafter be submitted to the PM who has also cautioned that there should be no negative impact to the industry whatsoever. Some top exporters like Dilmah have urged against Colombo becoming a blending hub saying it would dilute the Ceylon Tea brand.

Dilmah founder Merril J. Fernando recently urged the authorities to set up a special Tea Authority which will work out a 5-year plan to revive tea and establish a meaningful marketing plan to take Ceylon Tea back to all previously Ceylon Tea dominated nations and take control of all existing institutions geared to the interests of tea (the same can be replicated for rubber and coconut industries among others).
US$10 billion Hambantota Development up for Chinese grabs View(s):

The US$10 billion Hambantota Development project contracts including the Mattala Airport and Hambantota Port are set to be offered to Chinese investors willing to make high investments stipulated by official authorities bypassing the tender process, several local representatives of foreign investors alleged.

Chinese Ambassador in Sri Lanka Yi Xianliang has recommended several Chinese investors to the Cabinet Appointed Negotiating Committee (CANC) which is entrusted with the task of awarding Hambantota Development project contracts, it is reliably understood. The Hambantota project consists of new oil refineries, a power generation plant and industrial zones on 1500 acres.

Official sources said with a government decision to convert debt into equity necessary priority will be this given to this aspect in selecting a party. Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrema has been discussing with some Chinese companies and also the government of China about the possibility of forming public-private partnerships, in which part of the debt will become equity held by the Chinese companies.

Sri Lanka has also requested China to swap some of the $8 billion it owes for equity in infrastructure projects and offered to sell stakes to Chinese firms. Several Chinese investors recommended by Ambassador Xianliang have expressed their interest for some of the project contracts including the Hambantota Port at a hurriedly-convened CANC meeting in Colombo recently, the sources revealed.

Chinese investors were asked at the close doors meeting chaired by two high-level veteran advisors of the government to accept a stake up to 80 per cent of total Hambantota project cost. Some investors who expressed willingness to take less, at 60- 65 per cent of the stake had been rejected by the two veteran advisors, sources said. If the terms and conditions of the Chinese investor are not satisfactory, the other proposals received as per the Expressions of Interests will be evaluated, officials disclosed.

Contacted for comment on this system of awarding project contracts to Chinese investors, Colombo University Senior Economics Lecturer Dr. Lalithasiri Gunaruwan noted that project contracts should not be awarded in haphazard manner. Strategic studies should be conducted by experts on the feasibility of such projects before trying to secure Chinese investments, he said adding that the government should not antagonize India by giving priority to China in this endeavour. The challenge is to find a balance between these two large countries and not take the side of one country, he said.
AAVA may come, AAVA may go but AAVA must be destructed, pronto View(s):

Red flare warning as new northern terror group claims responsibility for Sundays revenge attack

The tragic death of two university students in Jaffna after police opened fire when they failed to stop at a checkpoint brought to light this Tuesday the existence of a new Tamil terror grouping which claimed responsibility for the sword attack on two police intelligence officers in Chunnakam on Sunday.

Calling themselves AAVA Gangsters, they said it was a revenge attack for the death of the two undergraduates. Posters on Jaffna walls which appeared on Tuesday warned the police and the public to expect such incidents in the future as retaliation against activities that were destroying the culture and society of Jaffna. It said: We, as Tamils cannot witness the destruction of our culture in Jaffna which is considered the land of culture of Tamil Eelam.

After six years of relative peace in the north, this is the first instance when a supposedly organised terror grouping  children of the Tiger  has risen and publicly revealed their existence. Unlike their sire which came striped with its all or nothing Eelam demand and burst onto the scene in the early 80s by robbing banks, the aspirant cubs have raised their tails as good Samaritans: vigilantes forced to draw their sword to protect women from rape and violence and safeguard villages from robberies and crime and save Jaffna culture from desecration.

Their subterfuge is obvious yet ominous. They have come forward as the peoples protector, as the moral paramilitary force to wage war on those who despoil Tamil culture; and will justify every dastard deed they commit on the basis that they are acting as the guardians of the Tamil people.

The existence and emergence of this new terror grouping will also raise protests in the south against the Governments planned withdrawal of the military presence in the north and may slow down the governments efforts to meet its international obligations to the UNs Human Rights Commission; and have less to say of the progress made in returning normalcy to the north with only a token military presence as required by the world body. Whether the hitherto unfamiliar AAVA is merely a front created and operated by still unidentified hands to achieve still unknown agendas are still strange factors that must be thoroughly delved into by the Governments intelligence agencies.

Not for the first time have foreign powers, whether near or far, sought to throw a spanner in Lankas internal workings and thereafter claim the right and ability to fix it. The Government should probe this aspect as well and determine who is backing the new movement that has sprung like a poisonous mushroom from a seedy bed of rotting hate.

The lesson of the eighties, when Indiras India gave military training to Tamil terrorist cadres and safe haven to wanted Tigers on Tamil Nadu soil and thereafter assumed a commanding position to not only interfere in Lankas internal sovereign affairs but also invade her territory at will and attempt to violate her territorial integrity as well, should serve as a constant reminder  30 years later  of how vulnerable this small island nation is to fall victim to the sinister stratagems of external forces.

When the Tamil Tigers first raised their heads above the undergrowth 40 years ago, the defence authorities laughed and mocked at the very idea that they could ever pose a threat to national security and thus greatly underestimated their capacity to grow. Having experienced the tragic outcome of that grievous folly of treating the movement as a laughable boy scouts brigade, it will be unpardonable if an overconfident defence establishment should now commit the same error twice. The first cost us 30 years of blood and tears. The second may cost Lanka the surrender of one third of her territory to establish a Tamil Eelam.

Now that AAVA has announced its arrival in the north, it is the bounden duty of the Government to give it a quick send off to the burrowed den from whence it emerged. And, by sincerely addressing the just grievances of the Tamil minority, seal its lair permanently.

AAVA may have come, they may have attacked but the collective will of Lanka must ring aloud that they, and any other loose missile like them, will be destructed, never to return again. Violence must be nipped in the stem. Not allowed to burst into flower.
COPE, counter-terror and the karmic effect View(s):

There is a whiff of victory in the air. We are being told that this Fridays report of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) on the bond fraud of the countrys premier financial institution, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka was a singular gain for democracy.

An artful crafting of a win

Former Central Bank Governor, Arjuna Mahendran was found by the COPE to be directly responsible in allowing a dealer linked to his son-in-law to massively profit from the Banks bond auction of public funds last year. As we may remind ourselves, this deal occurred once again early this year despite the public outrage that it gave rise to, the first time around. The gargantuan profits thus collected are a matter of record.

Regardless, the wilder and more obnoxious surmises were to the effect that the COPE report was a direct result of democratic changes ushered in by the Unity Government. This is, of course, far from the truth. Let us distance ourselves from this sublimely artful crafting of a win when what is evidenced is quite the converse.

It is only in a political culture as thoroughly subverted as ours that a new Government, promising that it would reverse Rajapaksa wrongs, could so airily and so quickly embroil itself in a daylight robbery of public funds. Yet, to put it plainly, the issue was not merely the bond deals themselves but what transpired within the ranks of government in relation thereto.

Was there a political scheme in play?

In a concerted move, United National Party (UNP) stalwarts once advocating the strictest financial probity from election platforms disgracefully tied themselves up in knots attempting to justify the deal and exculpate their partys choice as the Governor at the time. Early on, a committee of party lawyers absolved Mahendran of wrong doing. As extracts of ongoing COPE proceedings on the matter were published last year, editors were threatened with parliamentary privilege under the Prime Ministers imprimatur.

These same developments took place with aggravated force this year as this sorry scandal dragged on. The Auditor Generals integrity in respect of negative observations on the bond scandal was challenged within government ranks and high officials of the Bank declined to present documentation before the COPE. At each and every step, obstacles were mounted.

And as the beleaguered Chair of the COPE presented his report to the House this week, what was left unsaid by him spoke more than his actual words. Clearly this was far more than the reprehensible conduct of one individual. Overridingly, the public perception was of a political scheme in play, going beyond the simplistic view that this was just a result of party loyalty towards a Government appointee.

Looking beyond the legal ramifications

At this point, the legal culpability of the former Governor is none too clear with the COPE using terms such as reasonable suspicion. In other words, the insistence of UNP parliamentarians in including copious footnotes in the report tells an obvious tale, given that the report will now be referred to the Attorney General for legal action. Is the objective then to weaken the legal accountability of the former Governor?

At one level, if the Attorney General becomes inactive, his prosecutorial discretion may be challenged in judicial review, provided that legal arguments therein are carefully formulated. Precedent exists in this regard though even our best judges have traditionally been reluctant to intervene except in regard to the most grievous prosecutorial lapses. There is little doubt therefore that the real test lies in the courts, not in the mere fact of the tabling of a COPE report. This has been the case even in the past with equally excellent reports collecting dust in some drawer.

But to focus on the legal angle would be a mistake. The Government may well remind itself that the popular tide turned against the Rajapaksas not due to spectacular court verdicts. That same relentless logic applies here as well. The damage already done to its credibility is irreparable.

A reflection of wider questions for debate

So, exercising a modicum of honesty, let us step back from this deceptive idea that somehow, Fridays proceedings should lead us to shout hallelujah In that same breath, onetime UNP crusaders for good governance and now run-of-the-mill party loyalists need to be richly castigated.

Indeed, this unhappy fiasco reflects wider questions confronting us. Are Sri Lankans supposed to be thrilled and clap rapturously when politicians imperil governance and then, facing public resistance, withdraw precipitously? A recently proposed amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure Act preventing suspects from accessing legal counsel forthwith upon arrest is a case in point. Disturbingly, a proposed draft legal and policy framework to replace the Prevention of Terrorism (PTA) Act infringes even more severely on civil liberties.

As a friend observed caustically to me recently, if this counter-terror framework had been law in 2014, the Prime Minister and the President would have been the first to be caught up under clause three, sub-clauses one and two, of attempting to illegally cause a change of the Government of Sri Lanka through interalia, endangering of the lives of the public.

Squandering the constituency of change

If these attempts had taken place during the last decade, the uproar would have been deafening. In contrast, the cautious tip-toeing around the very same questions by Colombos champions of good governance is increasingly being viewed with suspicion and cynicism. Political change was brought about last year, not merely in the voting booths of the capital or in volatile and highly irresponsible social media spaces. Even taken at the highest point of impact, these convulsions would not have sufficed by themselves to change the political tide.

Rather, the real change-makers were ordinary citizens from far flung corners of the country who reacted with extraordinarily powerful anger against the racism, chauvinism and corruption of the Rajapaksa regime. This was the true courageous heart of Sri Lankan citizenry despite it being beaten down for decades by ethnic and civil warfare and monumental misrule. But due to the ridiculous antics of the Unity Government, this critical constituency of support is being eroded day by day.

This betrayal (at several levels) of that courageous public yearning towards better governance by the current political leadership is unforgivable. Absent immediate course correction, an inevitably karmic outcome awaits the despicably brazen tomfoolery that we see now.

Nothing more needs to be said, really.
COPE stirs hope but questions View(s):

loom over whats next By Chandani Kirinde- Lobby Correspondent

Being Chairman of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) in Sri Lankas Parliament hasnt always been easy. One of its former Chairmen, now Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, had to cross over to the United National Party (UNP) in 2007, following explosive revelations in his COPE report about corruption in government institutions under the Mahinda Rajapaksa administration, made him deeply unpopular within his own party. This week, current COPE Chairman JVP MP Sunil Handunnetti was confronting similar problems. His 55-page report, along with annexures running into nearly 2,000 pages, on the now infamous Central Bank (CB) Bond transaction, was finalised after hours of bickering with UNP MPs in COPE, who had strong disagreements on some of the contents of the Report. The final outcome was one report but two interpretations of events that transpired on February 27, 2015, the day the CB accepted bids for its Treasury Bonds (TB).

Sixteen COPE members including its Chairman endorsed the Report without footnotes, among them were members of the JVP, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) ,the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and members of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), some of who are ministers in this Government.

However, nine members of the UNP endorsed the Report with footnotes contradicting the position taken by the other 16 members, on the role played by former CB Governor Arjun Mahendran, in relation to this transaction, as well as showing that some of the allegations of undue interference by Mr Mahendran were, in fact, based on misconstrued information, while certain other matters required further investigation, before the finger of blame can be pointed at the former Governor. However, they all agreed to recommendations of the Committee.

So far, two out of three Committees that inquired into the TB issue, as well as the Auditor Generals (AG) Report on the matter have concluded that Mr Mahendran played a role in facilitating Perpetual Treasuries, a company in which is son-in-law had an interest, to gain an unfair advantage in the transaction.

In the Report tabled in Parliament on Friday, the members found that the former CB Governor was directly responsible for the questionable TB transaction, and recommended taking legal action against him and other relevant officials of the CB, and steps be taken to recover the monies due to the public.

A report compiled by former COPE Chairman D.E.W. Gunasekera, who looked into the issue in early 2015, also concluded there was wrongdoing on the part of the former Governor. A Committee of lawyers appointed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in March 2015, concluded there was no was evidence to the effect that the former Governor had any direct participation with regards to decisiosn taken on the TB issue, but noted the bidding pattern of Perpetual Treasuries on that day was unusual, and said the matter warrants a full scale investigation by a proper government authority.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who spoke in Parliament on Friday, said the Handunnetti Report was a victory for Parliament and for the yahapalanaya government. We have been fighting for Parliament to have control of public finances and we have achieved that. This Report is a victory for Parliament. We have managed to get crooks to embrace yahapalanaya with this, he said.

The lead up to the presenting of Fridays Report to Parliament was filled with high drama behind closed doors, with the COPE Chairman walking out of one of the meetings, under pressure from UNP MPs eager to see a report that showed the former Governor in a more favorable light, submitted as a final report. Joint Opposition (JO) group member later told reporters at a press briefing that the AG too had been put under duress by UNP members of the Committee, to change the contents of his report, a charge denied by them.

An attempt by MP Handunnetti to explain the reasons for his walkout of the COPE meeting held on October 24, was shot down after several Government MPs said that, by revealing matters that happened during closed door discussions would compromise the dignity of the members and the House.

We have certain principles in the entire Westminster system and certain traditions and practices. The present Chairman has conducted himself honourably and the fact that he left that day under stress is understood by all of us. But for some MPs to have a different opinion and for that to be reflected in the Report is perfectly all right, said Leader of the SLMC, Minister Rauff Hakeem, also a COPE member.

Deputy Minister Sujeewa Senasinghe, another COPE member, also expressed his displeasure that information of what transpired within the Committee had been leaked to the media. It is against the conventions of the House to release information of proceedings of the Committee which are held in camera. We should summon these media organisations to the Committee and find out how they got such information, he said.

Mr. Senasinghes suggestion to summon journalists before the Committee for reporting on a story which had gained wide public interests, runs contrary to measures the COPE Chairman has recommended to increase the effectiveness of COPE in his report submitted to the House on January 26, 2016. In it, MP Handunnetti has called for amendments to the clauses in the Parliamentary (Powers and Privileges ) Act, that prohibits the publishing of proceedings of Parliamentary committees, and to open investigation activities of Parliamentary committees to the media, and to provide the power to discuss the facts revealed during investigations, inside and outside Parliament, before the reports are tabled in the House.

The present government has taken pride in the fact that it took a principled stand by allowing two Opposition legislators to head the two most important committees of the House, namely COPE and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). This certainly augurs well for democracy and is a refreshing change from the former administration, where two Cabinet members presided over the two Committees.

But, for a government that came to power pledging transparency and accountability, it has been found sorely wanting. The National Audit Act has been lying in cold storage for months and no solid steps taken to introduce it to the House. In the absence of the enabling legislation, the setting up of the National Audit Commission too is stalled. Having the Commission in place would strengthen the hands of the Auditor General, and give him wide ranging powers to punish those who rob public finances.

There is no doubt that, however much UNP members within COPE try to salvage their reputation from what transpired in the lead up to the presenting of the TB issue report, the perception of an attempt at a coverup has already caused them much damage. And while the Prime Ministers promise to forward the Report to the Attorney General for further action, looks a step in the right direction, given the fact that many such reports sent to the AG have just remained there untouched, will not do much to increase the peoples faith in the system.

It was based on the findings of a COPE report presented by former COPE Chairman Wijedasa Rajapakshe, who inquired into the privatisation of the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation (SLIC) and several other such deals under the administration of former President Chandrika Kumaratunga, that resulted in public interest litigation being filed in the Supreme Court. Subsequently, the Court held the sale of SLIC was irregular, officials responsible for it penalised and monies due to the State recovered. There is hope that the contents of this COPE report too could provide the citizens of this country to initiate legal action on their own, rather than wait for the Government to do it.
Fiscal reforms imperative for sustained growth Lankan economists consensus View(s):

Economists who addressed the 30th Annual Sessions of the Sri Lanka Economic Association on October 21st and 22nd on the theme Fiscal Reforms: An Imperative for Sustained Economic Growth agreed that the country could not go forward without fiscal reforms and fiscal consolidation. Fiscal reforms were imperative to enhance government revenue, reduce the fiscal deficit and provide the fiscal space for developmental expenditure for sustained high economic growth.

Strategy

Economists pointed out that bringing down the fiscal deficit progressively to 3.5 per cent of GDP by 2020 by increased government revenue rather than a reduction of expenditure was imperative. Increased revenue was essential to reduce the fiscal deficit and contain the increasing public debt as well as for investment in development, especially in education and health and care of the ageing population.

Fiscal consolidation would enable a gradual reduction of the public debt to sustainable levels and arrest a possible debt crisis to which the economy is heading. Fiscal reforms that achieve these objectives were vital for sustained high economic growth. It would not be possible to attract foreign direct investment or to make adequate public investment in developing the economys competitiveness without fiscal consolidation.

Presidential address

In his address, the President of the Sri Lanka Economic Association (SLEA), Prof. A.D.V. de S. Indraratna said that a series of policy and structural reforms, on trade and other real sectors, would be necessary, in order to reduce the budget deficit, fill the serious resource gap and reverse the economy to a growth trajectory to have sustained inclusive development, which should be the ultimate aim. Professor Indraratna was of the view that of these, fiscal reforms are an imminent imperative. However he cautioned that one should not think that fiscal reforms are sufficient or overlook the fact that they must be accompanied by incentive and structural reforms especially with respect to trade and other real sectors, the regulatory environment and access to credit by small and medium entrepreneurs.

Governor Coomaraswamy

The chief guest at the annual sessions, Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy, the Governor of the Central Bank said that the priorities for achieving high sustained growth included strengthening macroeconomic fundamentals, structural reforms that improve the competitiveness of the economy and improving the doing business environment. He analysed the extent and character of the fiscal problem and emphasised that the reduction of the fiscal deficit was imperative.

This most urgent challenge, he argued, was not possible by the reduction of total expenditure, though some wasteful expenditure such as losses in state owned enterprises were needed. On the other hand, development expenditure had to be increased to enhance growth and the competitive capacity of the country through investments in high quality education and improvements in health. He also emphasised the need to have the fiscal space to take care of the rapidly ageing population.

Revenue

The increased revenue he said must come from increased tax revenue. The taxation reforms that are beige undertaken he hoped would increase the current low government revenue of only 13 per cent of GDP to about 15 per cent next year and increase it to about 20 per cent in 2020. This would enable the reduction of the public debt and debt servicing costs that are a severe fiscal constraint.

Balance of Payments

Dr. Coomaraswamy was hopeful of an improvement in the balance of payments and the foreign debt situation as there were no maturity of foreign loans in 2017 and 2018 and a surplus in the current account is expected this year. He described the next two years as bonus years that would enable an easing of the external debt burden.

Role of IMF

Governor Coomaraswamy said there was much misunderstanding on the role of the IMF. He pointed out that had the IMF not been there, we would still have had the problem and we would have had to undertake fiscal and other reforms. The involvement of the IMF, he said, reduced the pain of the measures that were taken. The assistance of the IMF had been useful in building international confidence, easing the external finances and providing a breathing space to revive the economy.

IMF view

The Resident Representative of the IMF, Dr. (Mrs) Eteri Kvintradze who was the guest of honour at the annual sessions gave a succinct analysis of the fundamentals of the fiscal problem and stressed that fiscal consolidation efforts need to be focussed on revenue generation instead of expenditure compression. She made a most powerful point that it was not whether fiscal targets can be met that matters but whether they are achieved in a growth friendly manner where social and infrastructure spending is fully implemented.

Dr. Kvintradze advocated increased revenue collection though tax reforms and effective taxation, reduction of losses in public enterprises through state enterprise reforms and privatisation and increased expenditure on developmental needs. She said there were far too many tax exemptions that eroded tax revenues.

She observed that at this critical juncture in the countrys development when the private sector has to play an important role, it was essential to have a predictable, fair and automated tax system that reduces uncertainties for investment.

Summing up

The collection of much higher tax revenues and prudent public expenditure were needed to achieve the fiscal deficit target. It was stressed however that fiscal consolidation must be achieved through higher government revenue and reduction of unproductive expenditure to enable enough fiscal space for much higher public investment that would generate sustained high economic growth. The ideas, suggestions and proposals at the Annual Sessions should be valuable for formulating the Budget for 2017.

The keynote address by former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank W.A. Wijewardena and the speakers at the several technical sessions were of the view that fiscal consolidation was vital for sustained high growth. The technical sessions that followed had important in-depth analysis of the fiscal problem, the closely related issue of debt sustainability and reforms in trade policy that will be discussed in next sundays column.
Independent commissions and all the brouhaha View(s):

Last Sundays perceptive editorial in this newspaper on President Sirisenas sudden and unexpected critique of some independent commissions and its implications might have touched many a raw nerve. The fact is that however annoyed or disturbed they may be that editorial which also provided interesting background to the wielding of political power, spoke some home truths.

Obviously the President himself and those around him, especially some who have been in many a camp and are now trying to cozy up to the new leader, were quick to realise the damage done. That is why the government sounded the retreat before long though it covered itself with a thick layer of camouflage either by blaming the media for misreporting the Presidents remarks or by trying to re-interpret the presidential comments in a light more amenable and less critical than they clearly were.

President Sirisenas outburst- as many media have called his performance at the SLFI- had neither the torment and rage of Shakespeares King Lear or the puns and double entendres of Donnes metaphysical poetry that requires incisive analysis. He said what he said and there is little need to hold a semantic autopsy.

What has perhaps been underplayed by those who have commented on what is considered by many as a serious presidential faux pas is where and to whom he actually addressed his remarks. The audience consisted of ex or serving security forces personnel or their relatives who were receiving deeds to houses or other benefits granted to them and senior officers of the services.

But the presidential anger was directed more at politicians and officials outside the immediate audience. It was surely the ideal platform from which to hoist the flag in the defence of Sri Lankas military heroes. Whether President Sirisena intended all along to say what he did or was carried away by the occasion we do not know.

But the immediate reaction of those in uniform would have been a mighty hurrah even if not publicly expressed. What the president said at the time-on the basis of media reports on the same day or the next  seemed to convey one thought. Senior service personnel should not have been hauled up before the judiciary as were the three former navy commanders who had served the country in times of need.

Whether the name of former defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa who was also summoned to court in connection with the same case  the Avant Garde affair- was mentioned in the course of that speech I do not know. Even if it was not what seemed to have caused some consternation was a photograph of a wedding reception hosted by a Sirisena sibling that showed Gotabhaya being shown by the Sirisena sibling to the table already occupied by the President and the Prime Minister.

As they still say a picture is worth a thousand words and this was and reactions of the three could convey different meanings to different people  Gotabhaya smiling broadly, the President with a smile on his face looking at the standing Rajapaksa and the Prime Minister rather glum and staring ahead.

Besides the accusation that some officials in independent commissions were working to a political agenda  whose agenda was not mentioned  the President also criticized investigators for holding certain military intelligence officers accused of involvement in the murder or the disappearance of journalists in custody for an extended period.

Another presidential grouse was that he is not kept informed of the state of investigations in bribery and corruption cases. His argument was that since he appointed high officials to these independent commissions he should be privy to what is going on. Such arguments make the president an easy target. One must readily concede that President Sirisena shortly after coming to power worked hard to get the 19th Amendment to the constitution passed in parliament. It needed deft handling and political negotiations. It was under this amendment that the independent commissions were re-established having been dropped during the Rajapaksa administration.

As British Prime Minister Theresa May famously said about what her countrys decision to leave the EU entailed, Brexit means Brexit. Maithripala Sirisena who promised during the presidential campaign to restore the independent commissions and did so under the 19th amendment should have said independent commission means independent commission.

If an independent commission is to remain independent as one was made to believe during the election campaign then they should be left untouched by political diktat and interference. The fact that the President appoints the officials to these bodies does not mean he has a divine right to intervene or interfere in their working. It is not like the president appointing a secretary to a ministry. The fact that they are called independent commissions gives them far more leeway to pursue their allotted tasks without external meddling unless they deviate sharply or exceed their mandate.

To extend the presidential logic that since he appoints officials he should be kept informed, it is also true the President is elected by the people. Voters could demand the right to be informed of what the government is doing or intends to do. Obviously governments cannot function that way without ending up in a right royal mess (FRCS).

It should apply to independent commissions as well unless the word independent is merely a sop to fool foreign busy bodies as well as the local people who voted for change only to find it has been just an exchange. I am not quite certain whether the President meant to say that investigators delving into various allegations including murder and corruption against security forces personnel should wear kid-gloves and deal with them as gently as with a new born child.

Again I cannot be certain that there was a presidential hint that senior armed forces personnel should be left untouched as they had fought for the unity and integrity of the country and should therefore be safeguarded.

Some consider this a presidential move to have his cake and eat it. If it is so it will call for a particular brand of political gymnastics. When the common candidate and his bandwagon of supporters promised genuine democracy based on the rule of law and a corruption-free, clean society, people believed it. His victory in the elections last year partly testifies to that.

But one cannot promise the return of the rule of law and also encourage, as it were, selective justice that places some in society above the rule of law. It is true, and it cannot be denied, that the armed forces fought to eliminate the threat of secession and terrorism.

But just as a doctor picks up a stethoscope, a lawyer the civil procedure code, the soldier picks up his weapon. That is the tool of his trade or vocation. The soldier is chosen to fight an enemy and is taught to do so. This is not to denigrate the armed forces but a simple fact of life-each person according to his profession.

If soldiers and officers, in service or out, blatantly not accidentally or without meaning to, violate the law they must be held accountable, accountability being also what was promised to the voter.

Those military personnel who were questioned and even held in custody were with regard to civilian killings, nothing to do with the duties of a soldier unless such duties include killing and physically assaulting journalists. If any military personnel are proved guilty are they to be exonerated or will those preliminary investigations end before it reaches the courts.

Not to be outdone by some other ministerial colleagues who try to explain away that initial presidential speech that made yahapalanaya supporters sit up holding their heads, Sri Lankas man for all seasons who some call Matara Mangala and still others Mantra Mangala (why I dont know), also got his oar stuck into the muddy waters.

Briefing the media on an issue relevant to his ministry, the minister was asked about the controversial presidential remarks.

Drawing from his depleting reservoir of pearls of wisdom Samaraweera advised the media to judge the government by its actions and not by its statements.

So there you are. In one fell swoop he pressed the delete button and wiped out millions of words uttered by the leaders of the present government, its ministers, officials and sundry hangers-on, all those statements put out by the presidential media division and some newly set up state institution that is also to issue statements on government activities lest an ignorant and illiterate media get it all wrong.

Some might say he was doing a service but not for the same reason that others wanted to see all that rubbish disappear into cyber space or end up in dear Hilary Clintons computer. I doubt that Mangala Samaraweera will ever play Portia. But he seems to be telling us, as Portia did How far that little candle throws it light/ So shines a good deed in a naughty world.

But looking for all those good deeds, now thats a different matter. Perhaps we buy ourselves stocks of candles-with VAT of course.
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Image: Masterfile





The world around us will soon be engulfed by machines that affect our living spaces, our bodies, and our experience of light and sound, powered by a novel combination of semiconductors and miniature engines. Tasks as basic as charging a smartphone or cooking an eggand as complex as scanning for colon cancer or powering flying drones on long journeysstand to be transformed.



Sensors gave machines the ability to perceive things like light, altitude, and moisture by converting stimuli into ones and zeros. The coming revolution will be filled with what are called actuators, which do the reverse. They allow machines to simplify our world by converting those ones and zeros back into some form of force, such as light or magnetic waves, or even physical pressure that can push objects. The actuator, like the sensor before it, is part of technologys relentless quest to make machines do more and more things with greater and greater efficiency, as epitomized by the microprocessor, the most efficient information device ever made.





CLICK TABLE TO ENLARGE







Weve spent the last five decades building the brains of the computer, says Paul Saffo, a Stanford University adjunct professor in the mechanical engineering department, referring to the perfecting of the microprocessor. Now its time to give those brains the corresponding brawn to affect our world.



You can basically look at anything thats bulky and make it smaller and cheaper, says Saffo.



The future is about how we do more and more work with less physical stuff.



As a result, whole industries will be reshaped. The market for fossil fuels, for example, will suffer a new setback, as power for your electric vehicle can be delivered from a simple charging plate that works in much the same way your Apple Watch gets juiced up in its cradle. The life-sciences market will have to adjust to a world where tests can be performed and therapies delivered from a capsule you swallow to detect cancer. And robots that use actuators to move parts with great precisionand can be recharged wirelesslywill take on more manufacturing tasks.



Winners in this faster, better, smarter world will be companies such as Applied Materials AMAT in Your Value Your Change Short position (ticker: AMAT), the worlds largest maker of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, which is developing ways to engineer novel materials to move energy more efficiently. And old analog-chip companies, such as Integrated Device Technology (IDTI) will gain new relevance for their ability to master the movement of power. Newly public stars, such as wireless-energy firm Energous WATT in Your Value Your Change Short position (WATT), could gain prominence as their wares become reality. Many more of the companies shaping the actuator revolution arent yet public.

Take a bulky device like a microwave oven. In a conference room at the offices of chip maker NXP Semiconductors PI in Your Value Your Change Short position

You cant cook an egg in a microwave. The magnetron, the device that emits the microwaves, blasts the egg with such force that it bursts. Vizas appliance, which looks like a conventional microwave oven, has been retrofitted with a power amplifier, a chip that NXP has sold for years. It is used in cellular base stations to send RF signals to your phone.

In an oven, the power amp is an actuator that stimulates the molecules in food with microwave radiation.

But it is able to continually vary the intensity of that radiation, unlike the uniform radiation of the magnetron, and dial it back when a substance is more delicate. Out of the oven comes the transformed egg in its little dish. A single bite reveals it is firm, not succulent, but also not rubberysomewhere between a boiled egg and a coddled egg, and entirely edible.

IF IT CAN COOK AN EGG, the power amp can cook entire meals, say Viza and his colleague, Paul Hart, the manager of NXPs RF chip business. They call it high-def cooking. The magnetron today delivers power in an on or off fashion, says Viza. With NXPs chip, you can control the power and distribute the energy for the food in different temperature zones [simultaneously], applying different heat for vegetables, meat, bread, what have you.

This is not a new technology, per se. NXP has been selling power amps for years. But it wasnt until 2014 that the company was able to make one efficient enough to convert electricity to heat in a fashion matching the exacting standards of appliance makers.

Shares of NXP are up about 20% in the past six weeks amid speculation the company will be bought by wireless-chip maker Qualcomm QCOM in Your Value Your Change Short position (QCOM). The deal may be announced as soon as this week.

Unlike the NXP chip, some actuators will need a breakthrough in semiconductor material. One of the most promising is made of a compound of gallium and nitride, referred to as GaN. Its far more efficient than silicon at converting the movement of electrons into energy radiating outward.

GaN has acquired more and more fans. A start-up called Soraa, based in Fremont, Calif., has used the technology to develop new kinds of LED light bulbs that emit light with a much broader spectrum. Under their glare, colors appear much richer than with typical LED lights.





Few are as passionate about GaN as Alex Lidow, co-founder and CEO of an El Segundo, Calif.based start-up called Efficient Power Conversion, or EPC. Lidows outfit is promoting GaN for an astonishing number of innovations. One is a pill being developed by Check-Cap HEK in Your Value Your Change Short position

An NXP-powered portable microwave oven, developed with Wayv; inside the Check-Cap colonoscopy pill, showing an X-ray source and Xray detectors.

The EPC GaN chip is placed in the Check-Cap pill that the patient swallows, with no fasting required. Once inside the body, the GaN chip detects photons bouncing off the colon wall as the tissue is exposed to X-rays. Those photons can be used to produce a contour map of the colon in 360 degrees. The photon data is sent to a wireless receiver the patient wears.

After two to three days, on average, the pill leaves the body (the way most stuff does), and the patient takes the wireless receiver to the doctor for analysis. (The capsule doesnt need to be recovered.)

Polyps protrude inward into the colon, and those irregularities can be displayed when we look at that map, explains Densel of the polyp and tumor hunting. The Check-Cap test is expected to cost around $600, compared with $1,200 or more for a colonoscopy, not including the anesthesiologists fee.

Check-Cap is preparing a series of clinical studies, to culminate with a Food and Drug Administration study in 2018, which could be completed the following year. The company has enough cash to take it through next year after doing a registered direct public offering of shares in August, says Densel. Check-Cap, it bears noting, is still a development-stage company with a stock market value of just $23 million.

EPC is working with another firm, whose name Lidow cant disclose, that is developing an artificial heart powered wirelessly, eliminating the need for wires extruding from the organ into the patients body.

The prototype countertop microwave oven, designed by NXP and Frog Design, could be the only cooking appliance one needs.

Another use is being developed by Israeli start-up BlueWind Medical, a subsidiary of Rainbow Medical. BlueWind makes a neurostimulation device that wraps around nerve endings and tunes out pain by generating a minute electric field at the synapse. It can be activated by patients for up to eight hours a day to relieve pain via a wireless controller outside the body, and is meant to be an alternative to taking opioids.

Few things seem as visionary, though, as Lidows faith that the cord that plugs your laptop into the wall will become a thing of the past. We will start seeing the end of power cords within 10 years, he says. I dont know anyone who likes a power cord.

EPC has deals with most of the companies making whats called wireless power. One is the aforementioned Integrated Device Technology, which makes parts for magnetic inductance. By sending a charge to a magnetic coil, energy can be passed to another coil placed in contact with it. Thats the way your Apple Watch gets power from resting on a small pendant.

DT in Your Value Your Change Short position To date, IDT has sold over 70 million chips, for such wireless-charging devices, giving it the dominant share of the electronics inside them.

INDUCTANCE HAS A LOT OF RUNWAY, says Sailesh Chittipeddi, IDTs chief technologist. I would say a few more phone guys adopting it will get it in the several-hundred-million-unit range, he says.

As with the sensors, cars will be an important test bed. Vehicles are filled with more and more electronics, such as the giant 17-inch video dashboard in a Tesla, and on-board cameras. All that brings with it more wires to connect all the chips. Almost a third of a vehicles weight is the wiring between all of its parts, says Chittipeddi.

The [side view] mirror controls can be powered by inductance instead of wires, he says. Vehicle makers are going to be looking to reduce their cost by moving to wireless technologies wherever possible.

More ambitious is something called magnetic resonance, which can operate without contact. Here, Lidows firm is working with a number of outfits, including WiTricity of Boston. Its founder, Marin Soljacic, a professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, figured out a way to tune magnetic coils to transmit energy between them far more efficiently, says CEO Alex Gruzen.

WiTricity has a deal with a major notebook manufacturer for the capability, coming soon, he says. It is also working with auto makers to deliver kilowatts of power wirelessly. Imagine a pad on the floor of your garage where your car just starts charging automatically as you roll over it, at a distance a foot and a half from the floor to the bottom of the chassis, Gruzen says.

IDTs and WiTricitys focus on charging by contact, or charging at small distances, isnt sufficiently ambitious for some. The aforementioned Energous, run by wireless and semiconductor veterans, believes that by using RF power, similar to NXPs oven, it is possible to send charges zipping all the way across the room at distances of up to 15 feet from your device.

Charging in this way wouldnt be as fast as a cable, but it need not be, if transmitters are embedded in every surface around you and you can constantly tap into them. In that case, from the time you are driving in your car to the time youre sitting in your office, to the time youre relaxing at home, youll be receiving power for your wearable device or your phone, says Energous CEO Steve Rizzone.

Youll be continually topping off your device by sipping power, and there will be fewer times when you get all the way to zero and need desperately to plug into the wall.

There are doubters. Some are professional, like VP of technical intelligence, Jim Morrison at Chipworks, a division of TechInsights, who says wireless power is as much as five years away. Its too futuristic, its not at all cost-effective today, he adds.

Then theres the Seeking Alpha Website, which contains some Ph.D. thesisstyle refutations of Energous technical claims.

Rizzone speaks carefully. Short sellers have been an issue, he says. They are very smart, and theyve put together just enough accuracy to sound credible and create a level of concern, but we continue to overcome these issues. Indeed, the stock has more than doubled this year and is up 56% since its March 2014 debut.

Because in the end, the technology is real, its safe, and we will receive FCC approval, Rizzone says.

The first products using Energous technology, which are scheduled to ship in the first quarter of next year, are contact-based chargers; contactless versions, with the ability to span a room, will follow, he says, sometime late next year.

From RF cooking to GaN pills in your system to wireless charging, all these things will be helped or hindered by the way theyre fabricated, which is a job for Applied Materials, the worlds largest vendor of tools to Intel (INTC) and other chip makers. For example, automobiles have heads up displays in which an image is projected above the dashboard. They use tiny mirrors that are like infinitely small mechanical structures with moving parts, called micro-electromechanical systems.

Car makers would like to have such mirrors made on the same piece of silicon as the control circuitry that drives the mirrors because it would save power. But to date, it hasnt been possible.

Applied has developed a way to integrate the two using another elemental combination, silicon and germanium, which it says is ready to be demonstrated to customers now.

That kind of innovation is typical of the increasing role of materials engineering in making novel devices, says Om Nalamasu, Applieds chief technologist. In the late 80s, most semiconductors used half a dozen elements, says Nalamasu. Today, we are using half the periodic table!

WHAT HAPPENS AS ACTUATORS, the sinews of the machine, combine with its eyes and ears, the sensors? Humans will see extreme benefits, especially in health care, but machines themselves may see the most advantages.

For people, a sensor could detect ones brain waves, and translate thought into a signal that makes an actuator move a limb, perhaps in the case of spinal or nerve damage. Its similar to how scientist Stephen Hawking types on a computer by moving his eyes.

More tangible is the prospect that electric vehicles, freed by wireless charging, will pilot themselves via sensors to the nearest charging station, with no need for a human to plug them in. Such a system of constant charging would obviate the need for high-capacity batteries, making it easier for electric power to compete with gasoline in transportation. It would also obviously further the progress of driverless vehicles.





Similarly, robots with actuators built into them to manipulate objects could take over even more factory work. And flying drones could travel greater distances as charging stations on the ground beam power to them in midflight via RF transmissions.

INVESTORS HAVE BECOME OBSESSED with the financial potential of apps on a phone that have all come about due to sensorsthings like tracking your fitness routine, monitoring the weather in your location, and finding nearby businesses. But those investors are about to be surprised by the follow-on to the sensor, the actuator. Its ability to change the everyday environment will make the world around us as intriguing as the digital world inside our phones, and perhaps even more promising for investors.
Looking over your shoulder View(s):

My dear Mahendran,

I thought of writing to you, although I am not sure where to send this letter to because some are saying you have taken wing to Singapore, which is your home country anyway. I hope you do return to our shores because there is a lot of unfinished business here, as you may have heard in recent days.

Now, I am no expert on banking or economics and the only bond I was interested in until recently was James Bond and his movies but now everyone on the street is talking about treasury bonds because of you. At least, you have done your bit to popularise financial instruments in the country!

Pardon me, Mahendran, but this bond issue had me confused from the start. At first I thought people were objecting to you even before you had begun work only because you were a citizen of Singapore. As that country did not allow dual citizenship, you could never be Sri Lankan, your critics had argued.

The Green Man had other ideas and gave you the top job in the big bank anyway. Then, many thought that if you were as smart as they said you were, they shouldnt deprive our big bank of having a good boss just because he carried a Singaporean passport and that you must at least be better than Cabraal.

It turns out that you were better than Cabraal  in more ways than one! Only a few months after you started on the job people smelled a rat and started making allegations against you. By the time the second big election was held in August, your conduct had become a major political issue.

Even at that time, there were many who wanted the Green Man to get rid of you but he didnt do that. The Greens did win the election but it was only by the slimmest of margins and they didnt win an overall majority. Many said that if not for the bond issue, they would have got that majority.

The Green Man then appointed a committee of lawyers who looked into this bond issue. They said you had no direct involvement in it. I dont know why we needed a committee to tell us that. It was obvious that you were not directly involved  it was your son-in-law who was doing all the bidding!

The matter was then taken before the highest court in the land. You must have been quite good at what you did because even they couldnt find fault with you. Everyone seemed to agree that although the company owned by your son-in-law was making massive profits, it was not because of you!

They tell us that the company he headed made a profit of five billion rupees in just one year. Do you realise, Mahendran, that this amounts to about two hundred and fifty rupees for every man, woman and child in the country? Why, with that money they could have kept Mihin Air afloat!

I am not sure what possessed the Green Man to try and re-appoint you as the Governor when your first term expired. Maithri seemed to have lost his marbles a bit these days but on that issue he was firm and, even with the Green Man breathing down his neck  he saw to it that Indrajith got the job.

After all that fuss, the chaps in COPE took over. You must have thought that it would be yet another of those inquiries which would be swept under the carpet, but mark my word, the rathu sahodarayas and that tenacious Sunil did a very good job of work in getting to the bottom of this, once and for all.

Finally, even the Greens seem to have deserted you, Mahendran. After making a big din at the COPE, they were all lining up this week to sign a report which recommended legal action against you. I suppose they didnt want you to cling on to your job and reputation at the risk of losing theirs.

Looking back, Mahendran, I dont think you should be too upset even if you may have difficulty in coping with the COPE report. In just eighteen months as Governor, you have achieved what no other Governor has done during their entire period in office and become a household name in the country!

If yahapaalanaya is alive and well we must expect to see you being marched to the FCID. Then, you can proudly pose for the cameras, handcuffed hands held high, like many of those Diyawanna members do, before you are released on bail. Ah, hope springs eternal, doesnt it, Mahendran?

Yours truly,

Punchi Putha

PS: I think this whole saga is worthy of the next Bond movie. You were imported from another country and given a top job but still you felt that the world is not enough. So you decided to get to work with a view to a kill (ing). You must have believed that what you did was for your eyes only and you would be allowed to simply live and let die. But now, with even the Greens saying that you are at fault, it must have scared the living daylights out of you and you must be hoping to die another day!
The dramatic bond issue: How COPE went beyond bioscope View(s):

After some 18 months of strenuous debate and the UNPs defence of former CBSL governor

But footnotes added by UNP MPs as riders

By Our Political Editor

At no time before has the United National Party (UNP) used its might so strongly in Parliament to try and block what it perceived was a report not to its liking.

The first occasion was in June last year. The previous Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) had completed its probe on the controversial Central Bank bond issue of February 2015. Its then Chairman, Communist Partys D.E.W. Gunasekera was to table the report but the seventh Parliament was dissolved on June 26, 2015 by President Maithripala Sirisena. The Committee, like all other appointed parliamentary committees, became defunct and the report was rendered invalid. That report had already made some adverse findings on the Central Bank for the handling of the bond issue of 2015.

Yet, the 19-page 2015 COPE document which was not official, had received wide play in the media. The Sunday Times was even reported to the Speaker for breach of Parliamentary Privileges by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on charges that it published the contents of that report. The report made indictments on the then Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran and his son-in-law Arjun Joseph Aloysius. It said that Governor Mahendran and Perpetual Treasuries Limited, a company held by his son-in-law Aloysius (who resigned two months before the transaction) but was still co-owner of the holding company had a related party transaction. However, President Sirisena did not grant an extension of service to Mahendran as Governor when his term expired in June last year amid high drama. The President had wanted the Deputy Governor appointed but the Prime Minister was insistent that Mahendran continue; then, there was a name sent from the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) when the President was adamant he would not extend Mahendran; that name was sent back asking for more names and eventually the current holder of the post, Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy, was chosen as the compromise choice. Mahendran was thereafter inducted to the PMO and was a member of official delegations that travelled abroad with the Prime Minister and was introduced to heads of state in the glare of television cameras.

As criticism against the National Unity Government mounted, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe charged at a news conference on July 7 last year that the Gunasekera document was illegal and breached the Parliamentary Privileges Act. He charged that Gunasekera had committed a major fraud by distributing a document as part of a report.

The eighth Parliament of Sri Lanka, after the August 2015 parliamentary elections, picked the Janatha Vimukthi Peramunas (JVP) Sunil Handunetti as the new COPE Chairman. The task of probing the same Central Bank bond issue of February 2015 fell on him and the new members. For 14 long months they deliberated, examined evidence of Central Bank officials, Auditor General Gamini Wijesinghe among many others.

Their report was reaching finality. Tensions began to grow at COPE meetings as leaks in the media highlighted goings on. An internal report of the Central Bank, published in the media, came out with a bombshell stating that Perpetual Treasuries made an after-tax profit of Rs. 5 billion from the bond issues, the one under probe and others. The Bank reacted by trying to find out how its internal report leaked, but the damage was done. There was renewed public agitation to expose those involved.

Some of the UNP members in the Committee, some more than others, took on an aggressive posture after it became clear the emerging findings were going to embarrass the party. They had hoped that Chairman Handunetti would agree to go over the final draft paragraph by paragraph and delete what they wanted. They were strongly critical of the affable Auditor General Wijesinghe and declared his testimony could not be accepted. They were accused of using aggressive language, abusing their privileges as MPs on the AG who took things in his stride. One of the UNP MPs said it was merely a debate they had with the AG. It was quite clear that the independent AG had done a critical, forensic study of the bond issue and faulted the former Governor.

However, eight of the 14 members present at a meeting (argued as the majority then) had already placed their signature on the final draft. The UNP members, particularly Ajith Perera, Harsha de Silva and Sujeewa Senasinghe  all deputy ministers  protested. They were to tell the Chairman that they would table dissenting reports. So much so, Handunetti told the Sunday Times last week he would have to allow even if all 26 members of the Committee were to present dissenting reports. At one point, the pressure from the UNPers was so high that he walked out in protest, said Handunetti. He was determined and tabled the report this week though the English and Tamil translations were not ready.

At this stage came a significant turn of events. It transpired that both in the case of the COPE and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), there was no provision (in the Parliamentary Standing Orders) for members to present dissenting reports. Nor was there any provision for them to appoint an interim Chairman. Soon after Handunettis walk out, the UNP MPs had in fact named Abdulla Mahroof (UNP) as the interim Chairman. This, however, had no legal effect. Handunettis JVP referred to this as a byescope (a cheap movie) punning on the word COPE, and said attempts to hijack COPE were futile. Harsha de Silva, however, told Parliament that he ran behind Chairman Handunetti and pleaded with him to return to the chair.

With the news that no dissenting reports were permitted, nor even an interim Chairman possible, public resentment (including ordinary UNP supporters) mounting and the media taking the message even overseas that it appeared the ruling UNP was filibustering, its members began to backtrack.

De Silva expressed regrets if there were any hurtful remarks against the Chairman. Ajith Perera went as far as to say the COPE had found fault with former CBSL Governor Mahendran but defended the Government. But what made this sudden turnaround from the UNP come about even if all the above factors were stacked against them?

The first indication emerged at the weekly ministerial meeting last Tuesday. Minister Rauff Hakeem paved the way for Prime Minister Wickremesinghe by raising a question. He wanted a discussion on where the Government stood on the CBSL bond issue. Wickremesinghe went on to make a statement. He said when the issue had first been brought out, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (earlier deputy in the PMs office) Harsha de Silva had written to the Central Bank asking for statistics on bond issues. The CBSL had replied providing those details only up to the end of 2008. The Premier said he believed that no approvals have been given by the Monetary Board of the CBSL for private placements during the period thereafter.

He said there was the danger of the entire issue (that would include transactions by Mahendran) becoming illegal if this was the position. Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake was to point out that the amounts involved in the period after 2008 would be in the region of more than four trillion rupees. Wickremesinghe said he had asked the Attorney General to look into the matter and give his opinion. The idea was to regularise the issue. Thereafter, he would make a public statement, said Wickremesinghe. As a senior Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Minister, who did not wish to be identified declared after the ministerial meeting, We want to see whether such a move is intended to absolve Mahendran. As far as we are concerned, the issue is not over and will not be over with the impending opinion of the Attorney General. Apart from those remarks, it also raises a question on why that lacuna was not detected when issues were raised last year. Another minister claimed that Nivard Cabraal, Governor of the Central Bank under the Mahinda Rajapaksa administration, had obtained written authority from the Monetary Board for bond issues even after 2008. He said he was in possession of a copy.

In this backdrop, a source said, the UNP consulted legal opinion. That led to their members agreeing to the COPE report subject to the inclusion of footnotes that placed on record their position. Thus, they have placed on record for future use, possibly during an investigation, what their position would be. During consultations that got under way thereafter, Chairman Handunetti agreed to the UNP stance on the matter. They would be incorporated as footnotes. The Committees own findings were further fine-tuned to keep to legal parameters. Thus, Handunetti declared at a news conference on Friday, that all members of the Committee had agreed to the recommendations. All but one as anti-corruption crusader Ranjan Ramanayake of the UNP ducked the whole issue by saying he had just returned from Japan and was not able to study the final draft. Handunetti said no changes had been made to it. Some voted without the footnotes included whilst others did so after their inclusion, he pointed out.

We carried out investigations under the powers vested in Parliament. This is a 55-page report. The annexures and documents being tabled have another 1,900 to 2000 pages, he told the news conference on Friday. He said the report covers the allegations about financial misappropriation that had taken place in the issue of Treasury bonds from February 2015 to May 2016 period. Handunetti revealed that the following 16 members accepted the report without the footnotes. Sunil Handunnetti (Chairman), Rauff Hakeem, Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, Dayasiri Jayasekara, Lakshman Senewiratne, Lasantha Alagiyawanna, Anura Dissanayake, Chandrasiri Gajadeera, Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Bimal Rathnayake, Weerakumara Dissanayake, S. Shritharan, Gnanamuthu Srineshan, M.A. Sumanthiran, Nalinda Jayathissa, Mavai S. Senathirajah  from the SLFP, JO, JVP, TNA and the SLMC.

Those who accepted it subject to the inclusion of the footnotes, he said, were: Ravindra Samaraweera, Wasantha Aluvihare, Harsha De Silva, Ajith P. Perera, Ashok Abeysinghe, Hector Appuhamy, Sujeewa Senasinghe, Harshana Rajakaruna, and Abdullah Mahroof  all of the UNP.

If the previous D.E.W. Gunasekera COPE document, which was never tabled in Parliament but widely publicised, concluded that Arjuna Mahendran and his son-in-law Arjun Joseph Aloysius were involved in a related party transaction, the official Handunetti report this week, some 17 months later, had a stronger conclusion. It said; The Committee observes that evidence has been disclosed that there has been reasonable doubt to the fact that the former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran made an intervention or used pressure in the transaction of bonds that took place on February 27, 2015, which were examined by the Committee.

The report adds: The Committee observes that it has been disclosed there is reasonable doubt that some of the transactions lack transparency and the manner the transactions took place causes damage to the credibility of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Also, it is observed that one of the primary dealers, Perpetual Treasuries obtained large financial profits in the sale of bonds.

Therefore: In order to recommend penalties and other directives against the Central Bank officials and Institutions responsible for the transactions and in order to recover the losses incurred by the public and Government, the Committee emphasises that legal action should be initiated against the persons and institutions responsible for the transactions.

The Committee also recommends a post-supervision system to ensure that penalties and other directives issued are implemented. In order to ensure to prevent the recurrence of similar issues the Committee recommends that necessary checks and balances are maintained and other necessary steps are taken. To ensure that the Central Bank maintains the necessary checks and balances and to ensure the post-supervisory steps are implemented, the Parliament should directly intervene as it has the fundamental responsibility on public finance.

The Committee emphasises that it is the responsibility of Parliament to recover the losses incurred by the Government and to act under existing laws and the Central Bank and related institutions should give an assurance to Parliament that a suitable mechanism is implemented to prevent the recurrence of such incidents. The Committee also recommends that the Executive should appoint a special supervisory team to observe the calling and awarding of tenders of the Central Bank to raise funds.

The Committee recommends that a recognised institution with legal powers should investigate and necessary measures should be taken to prevent the recurrence of similar situations in which the credibility and transparency of the Central Bank was seriously affected by allowing a single institution  Perpetual Treasuries gaining undue profit as a Primary dealer. The Committee recommends that state financial institutions should be given priority in raising funds through bonds and the Central Bank manual and other documents should include relevant clauses.

The Committee strongly believes that it is the responsibility of the Central Bank as soon as possible to ascertain if the Government has suffered losses through this transaction and Perpetual Treasuries, as a Primary dealer has obtained large profits during a short period which should be investigated by a mechanism fully empowered to do so.

The Committee recommends that a post-supervisory mechanism be established to supervise the markets of the primary dealers and secondary market to prevent financial irregularities in future. The Operations Guide of the Public Debt Department which has not been updated so far, should be updated immediately with mention that state institutions should be given priority in raising funds by the sale of bonds.

Former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran is directly responsible for the particular bond transaction and the Committee recommends that legal action should be taken against him and the relevant officials of the Central Bank. The Committee recommends that the Exchange Control Act and other laws should be amended in order to protect the credibility of the Central Bank and ensure transparency.

The Committee believes that it is the firm belief that all documents, information and evidence (though some of the information is sensitive) should be submitted as soon as possible keeping with the Constitutional powers on control of state finances. Accordingly, the Committee is making these recommendations and submitting the recommendations of the Auditor General and his findings to parliament with the firm belief that there will be an open discussion in Parliament on this report.

Here are highlights of some of the footnotes given to COPE Chairman Handunetti and published in the report:

The 9.48 percent interest was determined by the Central Bank interest rates and not determined independently based on market rates. (Ref. page 22)

In the morning on February 27, 2015 (the day of the bond issue) the Operational Committee decided that the regulation that if a bank deposits money for more than three days in the Central Bank the interest rate will be reduced from 6.5 per cent to 5 per cent was removed. Thereby it was restored to 6.5 per cent. (Ref page 22)

The time has been extended beyond 11.00 p.m. for one buyer. That is for the HSBC for Rs. 100 million until 11.04.26 p.m (Ref page 23)

The evidence recorded shows that the Central Bank called up primary dealers on the previous day and checked with them about purchase of (bonds) for around Rs. 10 billion. Perpetual Treasuries too received a telephone call. Perpetual Treasuries auctioned for Rs. 3 billion at 12.5 per cent, Rs 5 billion at 12.75 per cent and Rs. 5 billion at 13 per cent and shortly before the auction instructions were sent on email to the Bank of Ceylon on February 27, 2015 at 10.48 am. The Bank of Ceylon sent out the bids at 10.57.22, 10.57.41 and 10.57.57 respectively to the Central Bank. According to records the HSBC bid was sent at 11.06 a.m. (Ref page 23).

The decision to increase the sum to be raised from Rs one billion to Rs 10 billion was taken based on a professional decision by a team, according to Chairman of the tender committee P.Samarasiri. (Ref page 24)

According to Superintendent of the Public Debt Department the former Central Bank Governor had not said Do it, but instead had given the idea why dont you go for ten? Even in the Auditor General report it is mentioned that the former Central Bank Governor had told Ms Seneviratne Why dont you go for ten ? and there is no other evidence contrary to that (Ref page 24)

There is no evidence that former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran or Deputy Governors Dr Nandalal Weerasinghe and Ananda Silva made inquiries or intervened in the particular auction (Ref. Page 37)

As is clear, the thrust of these footnotes is to make clear that Mahendran has not been responsible of any impropriety.

The bond issue is undoubtedly one of the issues over which tensions between the SLFP and the UNP, the two principal partners of the Government, have grown high. The UNP is confident that it can, through the documentation Deputy Minister Harsha de Silva has received, prove its case that its man Arjuna Mahendran is not to blame. However, it is another story with the SLFP. Some of the frontliners have come out strongly calling for action against the former Central Bank Governor and the alleged irregularities in the transaction. At least in this, the pro-Sirisena and the pro-Rajapaksa groups in Parliament appear to be on the same platform.

We are asking for a debate on the COPE report before the November 10 budget, Joint Opposition Leader Dinesh Gunawardena told the Sunday Times yesterday. He said the Opposition groups would not allow the bond scam to be a forgotten issue. We are also writing to President Sirisena asking him to appoint a Presidential Commission of Inquiry to probe the matter, he added.

JVP leaders said that they would not permit the UNP to succeed in protecting Mahendran and sacrificing his son-in-law only. Others point out that COPE cannot give directives to a private company like Perpetual Treasuries so when the UNP tries to clear Mahendran and give the go-ahead to prosecute Aloysious only, there may be legal obstacles in that exercise.

As is clear, the COPE report is meant for Parliament. Any further action on the findings could see the emergence of a resolution. A country and its people await the next phase on a controversy that has gone on for over a year.
Corruption and political agendas View(s):

For the third consecutive week, the issue of corruption came to the fore of public debate. The President fired the first salvo referring to the politicisation of the Governments anti-corruption drive. His remarks caused consternation within the ranks of his National Unity Government, especially the main coalition partner, the UNP.

The President was being accused of trying to politicise the process himself by sending smoke signals that he was unhappy with the manner in which his own SLFP ministers were being questioned by the Bribery Commission for past misdeeds. These were his close political fellow travellers who have abandoned his bete noir former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and he needed their support very badly, after all.

This snowball has begun to roll gathering momentum and to all but knock over the UNP now with the 2015 Central Bank bond scandal. It is the widely held public view that the party hierarchy was straining every sinew to protect a family that was directly culpable in this mega scandal.

The double-standards in the Governments anti-corruption drive have been badly exposed by both the SLFP and UNP leadership. (It was a rather nihilistic approach adopted in investigating the bond scam. So much so, wild allegations have begun to surface and circulate justifiably or not that the UNP itself benefited financially from what the Parliamentary Oversight Committee (COPE) has found was a massive racket directly involving the then Governor of the Central Bank and his son-in-law.)

Why only this particular matter had to go before a Parliamentary committee when others went to the specially set up Police Financial Crimes Investigations Division (FCID) is a valid question. The Bribery and Corruption Commission began its own inquiry last year, never to be heard of again. Many felt, even then, that this was merely an exercise to sweep things under the carpet and spin out the problem hoping it would go away. It did not, and instead, the foul stench of rotting garbage permeates the air.

Others might argue that given the fact that the FCID and the Bribery and Corruption Commission were tainted with a political flavour at the time, a Parliamentary committee was the better option. The COPE report, however damning, is only limited to making its recommendations, contentious as they are, to the whole of Parliament. There it sits. Now come the calls for a Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry (which can take another month of Sundays of investigations). (That report too will also be limited to making recommendations while the perpetrators of this monumental crime will be basking in the sunshine.)

The UNP hierarchy may want not to know it, but the party has received a huge setback in public confidence, its once pristine image in tatters. Some compare it to the Bofors scandal that enveloped and later ruined the reputation of the then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi as Mr. Clean.

One of the early mistakes the UNP made was not to investigate the Central Banks sordid affairs that took place before it took charge in January 2015. There was a basic reason to overlook this. The newly appointed man at the helm and his immediate family had cosy business dealings with the previous dispensation. Thus, there were no inquiries into bond scams of the pre-2015 times, the pyramid schemes, the Commonwealth Games and Greek bonds, and the hiring of lobby firms and purchase of property in the United States. Not for nothing did the Central Bank of yesteryear acquire the nick-name, along with the Colombo Stock Exchange, as The Laundry.

All this, by default, has come back to haunt the UNP, as its coalition partner in the Government of National Unity has openly, and now more vigorously come to distance itself from this particular sequence of events at the Central Bank.

The way some Cabinet Ministers spoke in Parliament this week when the COPE report on the 2015 Central Bank bond issue was being discussed must make it clear to the UNP that these strictures were surely under the direction of a higher authority who has quite categorically said that he has given a blank cheque to his party secretaries to work towards forming their own SLFP Government in the near future.

The UNP has painted itself into a corner on this issue, quite unwisely. What a fate to have befallen the UNP to defend one man and his son-in-law against all the odds.

More burdens on people,more perks for MPs

This week, Parliament approved a gut-wrenching blow on the ordinary people of this country by raising the Value Added Tax (VAT), an indirect tax that hits every citizen in many different ways.

Nobody likes taxes. Yet whether one likes it or not, taxes are needed to run a country. But finding revenue also comes with saving expenditure. When the humble citizens are asked to pay higher taxes, they expect it to be shared by all and that some people are not more equal than others.

Just as Parliament passes an enhanced VAT into law, its members from all sides of the floor have joined hands in stoutly defending moves not only to give to themselves duty-free vehicles, but allow any one of them to sell these vehicles pocketing the millions of rupees that ought to go to the Treasury and the common purse. The pithy Sinhala idiom handa athey thiyanokota kaagen ahannada (when the ladle is in your hand, whose permission do you need to serve yourself) is so apt. They seem to have no pangs of conscience to trouble them in doing what they do.

At a time when the call is for the common folk of this country is to tighten their belts even further than they already have, this is a pathetic, condemnable show by the very people who should set an example in sharing the burdens of the state.

Furthermore, MPs have been given the go-ahead to incorporate Foundations in their own name and collect gifts and donations in other words, bribes, to collect money for their future political campaigns in the guise of doing social service work in their constituencies. This is the very culture that the UNP leader once frowned upon and banned in his party, while in Opposition. But that was once upon a time.

Some MPs have also been given the option of choosing an SUV or half a million rupees a month in lieu thereof for travelling. Are all these santhosams to keep them happy, and earn their vote to pass the proposed new Constitution Bill, while the ordinary folk will be even more hard-pressed to pay their grocery, medical and phone bills?

Can the Finance Minister say to the public how much the ordinary people have to pay for the upkeep of their Right Honourable MPs. If not, why not?
The 2nd Animal Defenders youth event View(s):

The Otara Foundations Animal Defenders conducted its second event for children earlier this month, this time for kids aged 11 to 16.

More than 160 children who took part in the Foundations themed art competition about the life of animals at the Dehiwala Zoo attended this event, at which the best artistic renditions won cash prizes.

Nine children were rewarded with three first prizes of Rs 25,000 each, three second prizes of Rs 10,000 each and three third prizes of Rs 5,000 each at this event at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute. As in the preceding event, the second Animal Defenders Art Exhibition and prize giving also included short presentations from experts on topics such as Human Animal Conflict and Wonders of the Animal World as well as an interactive art workshop themed Having fun with colour. The children also had the opportunity to have their photographs taken in front of a themed photo wall.
The 43rd annual Royal-Thomian Regatta and the 47th annual Boat Race, where traditional rivals Royal College and S. Thomas College battle it out for the T. Noel Fernando Memorial Trophy, was held recently on the waters of the Beira Lake at the Colombo Rowing Club. Captured here are images from the event. Pix by Amila Gamage
Mistake View(s):

flash fiction This short story highlights the issue of poverty and the preconceptions that are often tied up with it in a very human story. Please send in your Flash Fiction stories to Madhubashini Dissanayake-Ratnayake, C/O the Sunday Times, No. 8, Hunupitiya Cross Road, COlombo 2

After walking around the class to make sure that all the students were doing the sums, Renuka returned to her seat behind the table. She put her hand into the side pocket of her hand bag for the red pen. Several pens and pencils came out. Among them there was her seven year old son, Dineths favourite pencil. It was a lovely pencil with a cute monkey wearing a tiny hat fastened at one end. It was given to him by an uncle who recently returned from abroad. She had put it in her bag with the other things.

Supun, the brightest girl in the class came to the table with her Mathematics book. Her uniform had become yellowish due to over washing. But her hair. Teeth and nails were neat and clean. Renuka raised her head after marking the sums. All were correct. She saw that pencil in Supuns hand. Suddenly Renuka remembered that she had to take a short leave and looked at her wristlet. Only five minutes for the bus. She returned Supuns book and hurriedly collected the things on the table. She put some into her bag and others into the drawer of the table. She requested the teacher of the adjoining class to have an eye on her class too and left.

In the evening Dineth asked about the pencil. She checked inside her bag, it was not there. She remembered Supun with the pencil in her hand and also her own hurry to leave. Dineth began to cry. She consoled him promising to bring it the following day.

The following morning, when she entered the classroom Supun, the early bird was arranging the vase with fresh flowers. Luckily two of them only were in the class. Renuka first checked the drawer. It was not there. Then she patiently asked,

Supun, where is that pencil?

I left it on the table, madam.

It was not there. You took it. Didnt you? Give it back. My son is crying without it.

No, madam, I didnt.

Dont tell lies. Thief! Renuka shouted.

Two large drops of tears began to run down Supuns cheeks.

Cunning girl Renuka thought.

Supun went to her desk. One by one the other students came in. The whole day Supun was quiet and thoughtful. Renuka too avoided her eyes. When the last bell rang, Renuka called Supun and said,

I know the pencil is with you. Bring it tomorrow. If not I will come and tell your mother.

Supun was frightened very much. Renuka left while Supun was staring at her.

In the evening it was very difficult for Renuka to calm down her son. He was uncontrollably crying. She felt so sorry for him and angry with Supun.

At night she was sleeplessly tossing in the bed. After a long time her eye lids felt heavy. Suddenly, a nightmare made her jump out of the bed. She put on the light, opened the hand bag and pulled out the inner lining. Her guess was correct. There was a hole in it. She felt the bottom of the bag. She touched something like a stick. Renuka made the hole little bigger with a pair of scissors, put her fingers through it and took the pencil out.

She looked at Dineth. He was breathing deeply. His face had swollen due to crying.

Two large eyes began to flash against her. She let the tears run down her cheeks.

The following morning she entered the class expecting the usual scene. Supun was not there. One by one the other children came in.

Where is Supun? she asked.

She didnt come. She is not well. Amali replied.

Renuka felt a burning in her heart. After school she went to Supuns house with Amali.

It was a cadjan thatched single room with a small veranda. Supuns mother was weaving cadjans in front. She invited them in.

Where is Supun? Renuka asked.

She is sleeping, madam. She has a headache. I will call her.

She dusted two chairs for them to sit and went in. Renuka heard her saying something in a low tone.

She looked at the door. Supun slowly dragged her feet towards her.

Renuka stood up and approached her saying,

I found the pencil, Supun. I am very sorry.

Supun burst out with a loud sob. Renuka hugged her tightly. Supun buried her face in her teachers bosom crying. Tears ran down Renuks face wetting Supuns head.

After a long time Renuka saw the other two looking at them wide eyed.

Kumari Weerasooriya,

Polgolla.
Movie on a mountaineer View(s):

Shivaay, another action thriller from Bollywood, released coinciding the Diwali festival is now being screened at theatres in Colombo and suburbs.

Produced and directed by Ajay Devgan, the film stars Sayyeshaa Saigal, grand daughter of Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu and Erika Kaar and Devgan himself.

According to Indian media within days of release of Shivaays poster, the film got into legal problem as a complaint got filed against actor Ajay Devgan. The protest was in connection with the poster of Shivaay which allegedly hurt Hindu communitys sentiments. The complainant said the poster of the movie showed Devgan climbing Lord Shivas figure with shoes on, which hurts the sentiments of the people having faith in Lord Shiva and Hinduism.

The film revolves around a Himalayan mountaineer who is an innocent and yet is capable of transforming into a mean destroyer when he needs to protect his family.

Started in November 2014 major part of the shooting of the film was done in Mussoorie, Bulgaria and Hyderabad.

Shivaay is a CEL release.
Shadowing marketing and publicity mechanisms View(s):

Pictures and text by Dilantha Dissanayake

Bangalore based Mirra Arun has been engaged in movement art since 2002. While she has been trained in contemporary dance and is a qualified yoga teacher and choreographer, she works extensively in dance education. She is concerned about the ever growing consumerism that is a part of the everyday life of people around the world while also drawing influence from her day to day surroundings.

Her piece According to Official Sources presented at the Colombo Dance Platform recently was a satirical look at the way marketing and publicity mechanisms control the mind and behaviour of an individual. She explored themes of sensationalism, representation and objectification.

She enters the stage wearing a red coat, black top with leggings and has a power cord extension wrapped around her neck, once she presses the switch on, she shouts, but where is the aeroplane. This is then repeated several times, suddenly she places herself at the front of the stage, directly in the middle. While in the Salambhasana Sirsasana pose or yoga tripod headstand she recites news facts. A humorous laugh engulfs the crowd when she asked, nobody knows what happened to Brad and Angelina once again asking but where is the aeroplane in a monotonous news casters voice.

She then begins to swing the cord around, twirling it around like a ringmaster at a circus, her look complete with the red blazer. This is followed by more anecdotes and the occasional blast of commercial pop music. Towards the finale she takes off the red coat rolls up her leggings and transforms in to a sort of runway model. She whips out a can of deodorant and proceeds to empty the contents around the stage in a swirling motion.

Next she extends her right hand out as if to motion the carrying of a waiters tray. She prances around the stage very methodically around the outer edges often cutting the 90-degree corners rather sharply. She then picks up the empty can of deodorant and walks off stage, giving it to the first member of the audience she sees. This person does not take the bait so she leaves it on the persons lap and then finds another member of the audience. This person is then led to the stage and positioned directly in the centre, she then walks away as the lights go off and the unsuspecting participant is left rather bewildered. The audience breaks out into a fit of laughter and the person on stage returns to his seat.

Mirra explained briefly what went through her mind when she composed the performance. When I started watching Charlie Chaplin I used to laugh out loud, when I watched the movie again and again as an adult I started crying. I realised it was dark humour. For me that was the best form of portraying contemporary dance, why does everything have to be sad? Everyone would question why I have a wire around my neck and I stopped contextualising, I just like the wire, she says
Fishing: Catch and with what View(s):

Small scale operators say unfair methods affecting their livelihood

By S. Rubatheesan

The Fisheries Ministry has decided to introduce new regulatory mechanisms for fishing methods and fishing gear when issuing permits for fishing in the aftermath of violent clashes between fishermens groups in Kalpitiya last week, a senior Ministry official said.

Following a meeting with representatives of two rival groups, Minister Mahinda Amaraweera directed us to bring in amendments to the existing regulations to sort this matter out with concerned parties, Director General M.C.L.Fernando who is responsible for issuing fishing licences told the Sunday Times.

Last week, two factions of fisher folk employing different fishing methods took to the streets bringing traffic on the Puttalam- Kalpitiya road to a standstill.

The verbal agitation developed into a violent clash between the two groups, with a lorryload of fish being transported set on fire along with five motor cycles. After the violence was brought under control with the deployment of the Special Task Force (STF) and police, a group of fishermen set on fire five fishing boats moored on the shore at Kalpitiya.

Fishermen carrying out their operations on a small scale alleged that the use of illegal fishing methods such as hambili, laila, and surukku by another group of fishermen operating on a large scale affected their livelihood significantly with their catch reduced considerably.

However Mr. Fernando ruled out the claim that the hambili net which is widely used by the fishermen in the Kalpitiya area is illegal. It is a very productive fishing method and we have issued 53 licences to Kalpitiya fishermen and issued more than 200 permits to fishermen on the Eastern coast, he said.

In 2015 the Fisheries Ministry had banned the practice of all purse seine fishing methods but later permits were issued with a slight modification of nets after strong protests from the fisher community. Later on the fishermen went to the Supreme Court and got a positive verdict directing the Minister and the Director General to issue renewable permits for fishermen.

Since a 1987 gazetted regulation legalised such fishing, I had to withdraw my circular banning them. The new amendments will be focusing on regulating this issue, he said.

The rival group claimed that the use of laila and surukku fishing nets would destroy the rich marine resources in the deep sea while also posing a threat to the mangrove environment.

Fishermen who engage in the hambili fishing method argued that their mode of fishing is not banned by the Fisheries Ministry as the Fisheries Department which is tasked to issue licences to local fishermen issued 53 such fishing permits to them this year alone.

The hambili fishing method which comes under purse seine fishing uses a large wall of netting deployed around an entire area or school of fish. When a school of fish is located, a skiff encircles the school with the net. The lead line which is floating on the surface is then pulled in, pursing the net closed , preventing fish from escaping by swimming downwards.

Anton Dias, President of Our Lady of Sorrows Rural Society, a fishing village in Battalangunduwa countered the allegations of illegal fishing saying that the nets used by them are modified as instructed when fishing permits were issued.

Earlier the size of the net gun was one and half inches. After research studies done by the ministry, we were instructed to increase the size of the eye of the net to two and half inches to avoid small fish types getting caught, he told the Sunday Times.

At least 423 boats are engaged in fishing using hambili nets roughly 25 metres long and 225 metres wide with a net gun size of two and half inches.

Fishermens leader Dias also alleged that fishermen from Chilaw, Negombo, and Talawila come to the Kalpitiya sea for fishing and are supporting the small scale fishermen to protest against them.

Meanwhile the small scale fishermen alleged that fishermen who use the hambili net wiped out the entire catch before it reached its allocated region  ten kilometres from the shore. Last year the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA), the research arm of the ministry recommended the ministry ban all harmful methods of purse seine fishing and remedial methods proposed.

A comprehensive report finalised by then head of the marine research division Dr.R.R.P.Maldeniya noted how the rich marine resources in the Kalpitiya lagoon have been exploited by fishermen with harmful fishing methods.

Since our fishing resources are limited around the island, there should be effective fishing methods in place to protect the marine life species and its diversity in the sea, the report noted.
Fishing crisis: Top level talks but undercurrents of scepticism View(s):

By Sandran Rubatheesan

Ministerial level talks between India and Sri Lanka to resolve the long standing fisheries disputes are scheduled to be held next Saturday in New Dehli.

Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera and Fisheries Minister Mahinda Amaraweera will meet Indias External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

The ministerial meeting will be preceded by talks between fishermens association representatives of the two countries. A ten-member Sri Lankan delegation will leave for New Delhi on Wednesday for talks with Tamil Nadhu fishermens representatives, with the focus on poaching in the Palk Strait.

A workshop will be held at the Fisheries Ministry today to brief the Sri Lankan fishermens delegation on the theme and thrust of the talks.

Mannar Fisheries Cooperative Union leader N.M. Aalam said that during tomorrows workshop they hoped to come to a common stand on the issues to be taken up.He ruled any concession whereby Indian fishermen would be given a grace period to fish in Sri Lankan waters.

The Sunday Times learns that the Fisheries Director General and other key fishermens leaders who took a strong stand at earlier talks have been left out of the delegation for the new round of talks due to political pressure.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) also played a significant role in selecting fishermen leaders from North and East omitting some key fishermens leaders.

Meanwhile Jaffna Fishermens Association leader Naganathy Ponnambalam who took part in all previous fishermen level talks but has been left out this time said, he believed next weeks talks would produced little or nothing.

We appreciate Indias assistance to our people in development and other areas but we would request India not to deny us our livelihood, he said.
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Jaffna killings: Students want to meet President View(s):

By Chris Kamalendran

The Jaffna University Students Union, through the Universitys Vice Chancellor, is seeking an immediate appointment with President Maithripala Sirisena to ask for a fair inquiry into the alleged police killing of two undergraduates and for reasonable compensation to be given to their families.

Meanwhile, more than 5,000 university students have been boycotting lectures since Thursday in protest against the alleged killings of 23-year-old Natarajan Kajan and 24-year-old Pounraj Sulakshan.

Jaffna University Science Faculty dean Ratnam Vigneswaran said the students from the universitys seven faculties had been boycotting lectures since Thursday after submitting a petition to Vice Chancellor Vasanthy Arasaratnam. Academics and the staff, however, were reporting for duty, though students continue to boycott lectures, he said.

The students union is also appealing that the National Police Commission should intervene to ensure an impartial inquiry.The two students were killed on the night of October 20 in Kokkuvil, six kilometres from Jaffna town. Initially, police claimed that the two victims died of injuries suffered after their motorbike crashed into a wall. The Judicial Medical Officers report on the deaths revealed that the rider had a bullet wound in the chest while the pillion rider suffered head injuries after the motorbike crashed into the wall.

It later transpired that a group of police officers on patrol had allegedly opened fire on the students after they had allegedly ignored signals to stop. Police though, made no mention of the shooting initially and claimed the two students had been killed in the accident.

Five police officers have been arrested and interdicted over the incident. They are now in remand. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is conducting further investigations.
Jaffna student killing: Academics, civil society call for police reforms and tough measures View(s):

Condemnation continued to pour in yesterday over the killing of two Jaffna University students allegedly by policemen on patrol, with university teachers and civil society activists calling for police reforms and tough measures to prevent recurrence.Twenty-four-year-old Wijayakumar Sulakshan of Kandarodai in Jaffna and 23-year-old Nadarasa Gajan of Kilinochchi were killed on October 21 when police allegedly fired on their motorcycle for failing to follow instructions to stop.

University teachers in a statement said the police officers who were tasked with the responsibility of maintaining public peace had arbitrarily assumed powers of authority that went far beyond their function.The university teachers demanded steps should be taken to make police accountable to the public for acts of violence and urged the review of the decision to arm the police.

The academics noted that although the end of the war and the change of government in 2015 created relatively greater democratic space where discussion, debate and dissent could thrive, the situation on the ground was far from rosy.

There is little evidence of improvement in peoples lives, and aggressive neo-liberal economic policies pushed through in the name of development and reconciliation are a matter of grave concern. There is no policy on resettlement and rehabilitation and the marginalised people are in a perpetual state of destitution; arbitrary arrests and disappearance are still not uncommon; and the experience of the people demonstrates that the post-war period is still entrenched in violence and the questionable conduct of those in governance and the armed forces, the statement said.

Calling for a speedy inquiry into the killings, the academics urged the Government to begin a demilitarisation process in the North and East that falls within a broader exercise of demilitarisation in the rest of the country. They also called for a repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act and said new legislation to replace it should conform to democratic principles.

Signed by 113 individuals and 12 organisations, the civil society statement pointed out that the relevant policemen were only arrested after an outcry by local groups in response to an initial cover-up attempt. They demand an independent, impartial and fast-tracked judicial process.

The incident also highlights the role of the police and the shortcomings of their conduct, a point also highlighted by the Inspector General (IGP) Pujith Jayasundara, their statement says. We call on the authorities to urgently revisit specific law and order arrangements and security procedures, including on the use of firearms, in the north and east, as part of an overall assessment of procedures in Sri Lanka.

We also note the issues of police inaction, delays and abuses require systemic changes and as such call on the authorities to initiate reforms within the police, security and justice sector, they maintain. It is also paramount that the National Police Commission inquires into this incident and initiates necessary reforms and action within the police.

They expressed concern about discussions among authorities to broaden the powers of the police in the guise of counter terrorism and reduce checks and balances, contrary to the need for reforms within a rights framework and in adherence to Sri Lankas commitments to protecting the rights of all its citizens.

They expressed support for the peaceful protests that occurred across Sri Lanka in response to the killings, saying there was a critical and urgent need for justice and the immediate end to the existing culture of impunity. The authorities must heed this call, they said.
Six prisoners escape in Negombo View(s):

Six convicted prisoners escaped from the Dalupotha Open Prison in Negombo in the early hours on Saturday.

The prisoners had escaped after breaking open their ward.

Prison Spokesman H.M.T.U. Upuldeniya told the Sunday Times that the Prisons Department had alerted police to arrest the escapees.

All the escaped prisoners are youths who had been serving sentences for drug offences and theft.
Taking Lanka from darkness to light View(s):

A state ceremony to mark the festival of Deepawali was held at Temple Trees on Friday. President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Tamil National Alliance leader R. Sampanthan, Minister D.M. Swaminathan and others wearing traditional shawls are seen observing Deepawali rituals. Opposition Leader Sampanthan in his speech thanked the National Unity Government for taking the country from darkness to light  the theme of Deepawali.

Pic by Amila Gamage
Tax holiday: Brakes on Volkswagen project in Sri Lanka View(s):

The much heralded multi-million dollar investment by the troubled German car manufacturer Volkswagen has run into further problems with the Finance Ministry refusing a tax holiday to the local collaborator.

The Ministry has said tax concessions cannot be extended to Senok Automobiles, which has entered into an agreement with the Board of Investment (BOI) as it was after April 26, 2016, the cut-off date for tax holidays. Only those projects which had won approval before that date were being offered tax holidays.

Senok Automobiles proposed to assemble Volkswagen cars and has been given land in Kuliyapitiya for this purpose.

The Sri Lankan company had entered into an agreement with Deutsche Autombiles (Pvt.) Ltd for the manufacture of Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs).
An old Turkish connection restored View(s):

Over a hundred years old, it had been carefully stored away until a meeting Turkish ambassador to Sri Lanka Tunca Ozcuhadar had with Hamza Macan Markar a few months ago. Mr. Macan Markar decided then to make a gift to the Turkish Embassy of this ceremonial uniform worn by his grandfather, the illustrious Sir Mohamed Macan Markar when he was Hony. Consul for Turkey from 1903 to 1915.

The uniform in question, which had been in a somewhat fragile condition is today, beautifully restored and was proudly displayed at the 93rd National Day celebrations of the Republic of Turkey held at the Galle Face Hotel on Friday, October 28. This week until November 4, it can be seen at the Galle Face Hotel as it hosts the Turkish Food Festival.

The rectangular rusted old trunk in which it was sent to Ceylon by the Ottoman Empire is also on display but the uniform in its full splendour reposes now in a glass case  the black jacket with brass buttons (with crescent and star) and traditional Turkish embroidery on both sleeves, collar and centre-back and trousers with silk piping. The other components of the consuls full regalia are placed alongside: a brocade balteus which helps the wearer to carry a sword and two pairs of white leather gloves, one long, one short, the ceremonial sword and the scabbard.

Ambassador Tunca Ozcuhadar is gratified to have it at the Embassy, a symbol of the enduring and mutually respectful ties between the two countries. Earlier this year, I met with Sir Macan Markars grandson, Mr. Hamza Macan Markar. During our meeting he generously gifted the Embassy his grandfathers ceremonial uniform. More than 100 years ago, Sir Macan Markar had worn this uniform during ceremonies in his official capacity. I am thankful to the Macan Markar family for this marvellous piece of history that represents the long historical ties between our people for generations, the ambassador said in a statement released to the Sunday Times.

The restoration of the uniform was handled by a team from the Department of Archaeology: under the guidance of Director General Dr. Senarath Dissanayake, Anusha Kasthuri, Diveesha Athukorale, Anuradha Fernando and Sanduni Koshila worked to carefully remove the decayed lining, replacing it with poplin, removing too engrained dust with painstaking care.

The Ottoman Empires links with this island go way back. According to the book Ottomans and Sri Lanka Moors the first Lankan Consul to Turkey was Hussain Lebbe Maricar prior to 1890 who was followed by his son Maricar Abdul Majid after whom came Mohamed Macan Marker who held the post from 1903 -1915, being Vice Consul for Turkey in Galle prior to that.

The Twentieth Century Impressions of Ceylon records it thus:

The Turkish Vice-Consul at Colombo is Mohamed Macan Markar, Effendi, head of the firm, O.L.M. Macan Markar, jewellers and gem merchants. He is only twenty-eight years of age and is said to be the youngest consul of the East. A native of Galle, he was educated at Wesley College, Colombo and at the completion of his course there he joined the business established by his late father, of which he is now the principal. He is a member of the Galle Municipal Council and a Mohemedan. At the time of the writing of this book, he was on pilgrimage to Mecca, his consular duties being in his absence performed by his younger brother Macan Markar Samsideen, another member of the firm. Mr. H.A Ebrahim Didi is Turkish Consul in Galle.

Among the records displayed by the Turkish Embassy is also a photograph of Mr. Macan Markar on a visit to Istanbul in 1909 taken with officials of the Turkish Foreign Ministry showing him in this ceremonial uniform wearing too a fez cap, which is typically Turkish.

The Sri Lanka Moor Geneaology which has an extensive chapter on him states that in 1907 when the Hijaz Railway was launched connecting Mecca and Medina, Ceylon Muslims presented at the Grand Mosque at New Moor Street an address of thanks to the Turkish Consul Muhammad Macan Markar for submission to the Sultan of Turkey. A photograph of those who attended this function is still available.

After his years as Consul for Turkey, Mohamed Macan Markar continued to play a prominent role in society. Elected the first Muslim member of the Legislative Council in 1924, he was member for the Batticaloa South electorate in the State Council from 1931-1936 and Minister of Communication and Works. He was knighted in 1938. A member of the Colombo Municipal Council from 1940-43 and a founder member of the All Ceylon Moors Association, he was appointed a Senator in the first Parliament of Ceylon and remained so until his death in 1952. His fame as a jeweller travelled far beyond the islands shores, even gaining the approbation of Royalty.

Though it is his role in public life and sterling contributions to education for which he is still gratefully remembered by the nation with even a road in the capital named after him ( Sir Mohamed Macan Markar Mawatha), his ties to Turkey no doubt remained close to his heart for he named the gracious mansion in Kollupitiya he built as his family home Villa Stamboul, after Istanbul, then capital of the Ottoman Empire.
Looking at vulnerable populations View(s):

Lankan researcher to study the ethical challenges involved in health research in humanitarian crises

By Smriti Daniel

Sitting among the members of a displaced community in Puttalam a few years ago, Dr. Chesmal Siriwardhana found himself thinking about the ethical problems around health research. To get to this point  where he was able to meet people who had been driven out of their homes by the LTTE, had been displaced for many years, and were now considering a return to their lands in the north of the island  Siriwardhanas researchers had run the compulsory gamut of not just one but two ethics review committees. With their focus on mental health issues, the team first had to conceive, analyse and list potential ethical issues that the study could throw up, and then convince the committees that they would do no harm to the people they were speaking to. And yet out in the field, new ethical dilemmas would often arise.

With this particular study for instance, researchers had a plan for what to do if they discovered a participant in the study presented an active suicide risk or had a serious mental illness, but there was always a surprise. For instance, confidentiality of the interviews was considered sacrosanct, and researchers were supposed to speak to people strictly on a one-on-one basis. But they hadnt counted on a pattern intrinsic to social interactions in Sri Lanka. Though they would sit down with one interviewee, others would invariably butt in, and often there would even be cross-talk between various participants. Researchers couldnt ask the third (and frequently fourth) parties to leave at the risk of offering insult, placing the team in a quandary.

Siriwardhana, currently a senior lecturer in the Public Health Faculty of Medical Science at Anglia Ruskin University but soon to take up a new post at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, says working with the communities themselves has always offered its own lessons: What we noticed was that when collecting data, the challenges that actually came up were often very different from what we had envisaged. Being out in the field always challenged our assumptions.

It is with this in mind that a team of researchers was awarded 417,000 from Elrhas Research for Health in Humanitarian Crises (R2HC) programme to analyse the ethical challenges involved in health research in humanitarian crises in Afghanistan, Nepal, Lebanon, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka and Ethiopia. The Sri Lankan-born Siriwardhana is the lead investigator and will work with his colleagues at Medecines Sans Frontieres, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Dublin City University, HealthNet TPO and other partners in relevant countries.

Siriwardhana knows this discrepancy between anticipated challenges and what researchers actually encounter during data collection is an extremely common occurrence and yet, he says, many like him have no means of sharing what they have learned. There are no real systems in place for a comprehensive review at an institutional level and no dedicated networks for researchers to catalogue the ethical challenges that present themselves during field work. This means whatever learning there may have been is wasted, as researchers often go in to a new context only to inadvertently repeat the same errors made by teams before them.

We want to establish a mechanism that allows researchers to share information about what happens in the field, says Siriwardhana. He sees this as particularly important for studies done in the aftermath of humanitarian crisis, when aid agencies are conducting routine data collection. Though this is not typically considered research, Siriwardhana says these rapid assessments include all sorts of evaluations, some of which could inadvertently cause harm to communities already made deeply vulnerable by the catastrophe they just suffered.

The team has chosen countries in various stages of crisis, some acute, some chronic, and some considered post-crisis and undergoing the long process of recovery. Some like Nepal and Sri Lanka are dealing with the fallout from both natural disasters and long conflicts.Siriwardhana has highlighted how critical such research is in the wake of serious natural disasters, wars that are fuelling an ongoing refugee crisis on an unprecedented scale and even in coping with global epidemics like the Ebola. We have seen so many of these crises in recent years and there is a corresponding increase of research attention, however a focus on ethics is important to prevent exploitation of vulnerable populations affected by these crisis situations, he said.

The R2HC programme is funded equally by the Wellcome Trust and DFID, with Elrha overseeing the programmes execution and management. For Siriwardhanas team, who first applied in 2014, getting this funding has been a challenge but they are now ready to get to work. They will potentially be speaking to people involved in every stage of the research, from the lead investigators of various teams, to the participants and fieldworkers as well as members of various ethics review committees. They are going in aware of the power imbalances that do exist in many of these projects, not just between participants, researchers and regulatory bodies, but in the very fabric of north-south collaborations.

However, the researchers are taking care to emphasise this is not an exercise in pointing fingers. Says Siriwardhana:This is not about looking for mistakes, this is about learning lessons and sharing for future improvements.The goal is to use established clinical audit principles and practices to improve current ethics practices. Post-study, the data and analysis will be used to create a post-research ethics analysis (PREA) tool, allowing researchers to share their experiences from the field and learn from those of others.

Once developed and tested, the English language version of the PREA tool will be made freely available for translation and adaptation for other non-humanitarian settings. It will be supported by an online site that will bring together existing and evolving ethical guidance on health research in humanitarian crises. Constantly evolving, the site will enable active information sharing on a range of ethical challenges linked to specific cultures, geographical regions, humanitarian crises types, research designs and collaborations.

Ultimately, Siriwardhana says their goal is to make a mobile application complete with videos and educational material that is available freely in different language versions. The goal is for this process to be incorporated into the ethics review process itself, implying a fundamental change in approach to health research.

It is crazily ambitious, admits Siriwardhana. The team are anticipating country specific challenges, but they hope that the research community will see how essential this work is. After all, their success will be determined in part by whether people at every step along the research chain are willing to ask themselves some tough questions and truly evolve in their practice. We want to create as much discussion as possible, says Siriwardhana.
Achieving durable reform in Sri Lanka View(s):

By Mark Freeman and Asanga Welikala

Time and again, countries that have experienced repression and armed conflict have an opportunity to transition to a better future. Yet, only a minority succeeds. The challenges may appear obvious, but the path forward is rarely so. And, as the initial optimism generated by the 2015 elections comes to an end, the Sri Lankan case is proving no exception.

Many Latin American states overcame military dictatorships, but still experience very high levels of violence and inequality. The transitions in many former Soviet states produced authoritarianism and massive expropriations of state property. Many African states collapsed into anarchic civil war in the 1990s while trying to transition away from despotism. Many post-authoritarian Asian countries have experienced positive economic growth, but remain plagued by corruption. And today, many states in the Arab region struggle to create stable and accountable governments  and curb open armed conflict  despite widespread demand for change.

One recurring problem, now on display in Sri Lanka, is the size and complexity of reform programmes. Often, too much is attempted too quickly in what are highly complicated, and often highly combustible, environments. Achieving individual public goods  democracy, improvements in public services, rapid growth and so on  cannot happen without significant trade-offs elsewhere. Yet despite this, many transitional governments continue to get caught up in the illusion that all good things go together, acting as though their transitions window for deep reform will last indefinitely.

Particularly problematic is the fact that governments with ambitious reform agendas, such as in Sri Lanka, rarely devote adequate attention to integration  i.e., a continuous adjusting of the optimal sequencing and interrelationship between all of the legitimate reforms they want to achieve. Integration of this sort too often ends up being nobodys job, with the consequence that well-intended actions in one area of priority easily risk derailing the others  or the transition as a whole.

This is precisely the risk that Sri Lanka cannot afford to run.

As is well known in policy circles, the current government has been working since last year on a number of signature initiatives on which it has promised to deliver important results, including constitutional reform (CR), transitional justice (TJ) and broad-ranging economic reform (ER). Indisputably, the former two are crucial to ensuring that the social divisions that have plagued the country do not recur.

But the challenges of reconciling these priorities are far from straightforward, because in managing its limited political capital, the government is bound to satisfy competing interests of a wide range of different actors. For example, Tamils expect federalism and internationalised justice, the Sinhalese majority expects national reconciliation within a unitary structure, and the Muslim communitys CR and TJ interests lie somewhere in between. All groups have different sets of economic circumstances and expectations.

These divergent interests ought to be reconcilable. However, for that to happen, 1) the government coalition must stay intact, as it is arguably the prerequisite for Sri Lankas transition to a more inclusive polity, and 2) effective messaging must be developed to ensure ongoing, cross-community support.

In the near term, the government will also have to succeed in a life and death constitutional referendum. For that, only a victory that is deeply supported by the Sinhalese majority and broadly supported across other communities can avoid the immediate end of the government, or its conversion into a lame duck administration. As such, until the referendum takes place, everything within the CR process  and likewise, everything on the TJ and ER fronts  must be handled in a way that strengthens the odds of a solid victory.

While good progress is apparently being made within the Steering Committee of the Constitutional Assembly with regard to CR, it is unclear to what extent those outside of the elite-level discussions  such as Members of Parliament and Provincial Councillors  are aware of these developments. As a recent survey by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) demonstrates, a quarter of Sri Lankans are unaware there is even a CR process taking place, while three-quarters of the population have not heard of the Constitutional Assembly.

These statistics should provoke deep concern, as a referendum campaign for a new constitution cannot be successfully conducted unless all sections of the ruling coalition are behind it, and even more importantly, the public is informed and engaged about the rationale and substance of reform.

Of equal import is the fact that other politically intertwined decisions and processes are currently in the process of culmination  including a new national budget, fresh local elections, the imminent TJ task force report (and subsequent UN report-back process), and the various anti-corruption inquiries.

As such, an integrated framework for reform has become a political necessity. If the idea of an integrated approach is accepted in principle, it must be further elaborated into a workable strategy as a top priority. At the very least, there must be an informal but high-level working group, representing all sections of pro-reform opinion within the government, the broader political community, and civil society, that can regularly meet to discuss emerging issues, share information, solve problems, coordinate action, and consider adjustments to the strategic direction of the transition.

Such an approach is especially vital for Sri Lanka given that the unity government is made up of rival political parties. This gives rise to inevitable tensions within the government, and the prospect of reform will be fatally affected if these are not managed successfully. The Presidents recent public criticisms of the manner in which certain corruption inquiries are conducted points to a lack of internal coordination within the government. Similarly, there have been conflicting public opinions expressed by the highest levels of the leadership about the means and ends of the TJ process.

Sri Lankas democracy was robust enough to mandate reform not once but twice in 2015. Such an historic opportunity as the country has today must not be squandered for want of an integrated framework and forum for regular discussion that are equal to the ambitious tasks the government has set for itself.

(Mark Freeman is the Executive Director of the Institute for Integrated Transitions (IFIT). Asanga Welikala is Lecturer in Public Law at the University of Edinburgh, and Research Fellow at the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA).)
Two years ago, it was reported that the Brooklyn Brewery was eyeing Staten Island for the location of a new production facilitybut the Staten Island Advance is now reporting that the company may be lured upstate instead.

The brewery was originally scouting a site on Staten Island's West Shore as part of a planned industrial development on a former potential NASCAR raceway site, but withdrew after negotiations didn't work out. The brewery then began looking for other possible West Shore sites that could house a 200,000-square-foot facilitybut the company was also looking other sites in the mid-Hudson as possible locations.

In May, Brooklyn Brewery cofounder Steve Hindy told the Wall Street Journal that the company was negotiating for a large production facility on Staten Island. "We're exporting a lot of beer. By being in Staten Island near the port, we'll reduce our transit costs significantly," Hindy said. At the time, the company was doing the majority of its brewing in Utica.

But the Advance reports that the brewery is "getting a deal they can't refuse" to locate upstate, where operating expenses, land, and labor costs are much lower than in the five boroughs. A source reportedly told the Advance that the New York state government is trying to lure the company upstate, a claim that state representatives have denied.

"State support is solely based on the merits of a project and its economic impact, and any claim that we offer different incentives based on location is entirely false," Empire State Development spokesman Jason Conwall told the Advance.

Brooklyn Brewery representative Eric Ottaway clarified that a decision has not been reached regarding the location. "We have evaluated multiple sites in New York City, upstate, and other areas throughout our search," Ottaway told the Advance. "We continue to evaluate all our options and have not made a final determination yet. We do, however, anticipate making a final decision by the end of the year."
Paengaroa-based packhouse Kiwi Produce has taken out the 2016 Bennetts Proactive Supreme Award at the Te Puke Business Excellence Awards.

Established in 1986 as a specialist kiwifruit packhouse, prepacker and distributor, Kiwi Produce now operates six fully monitored coolstores, employ 60 staff during peak season, and packs more than two million trays of locally grown fruit for domestic and export markets annually.

Organised by the Te Puke Economic Development Group, chief executive Mark Boyle says six awards were presented during the annual celebration held at the Te Puke Town Hall on Friday night.

The 2016 Awards Programme has been an outstanding success. Nominees this year were an interesting mix with contestants from the corporate sector, SMEs, a school and a local church.

Our judging panel were very impressed with the quality of management, vision and passion of the nominees. The continuing support for the event is solid with outstanding sponsors, enthusiastic business owners and managers and highly motivated staff that make these businesses tick.

Along with the presentation of the awards, the evening featured guest speaker Sir Bob Harvey who delivered a world class presentation on leadership and shared with the crowd his story, his learnings and his thinking on the attributes of strong leadership.

Mark says despite Te Puke being a relatively small district with some 17,000 people, Te Puke EDG has continued to deliver a first class awards programme that matches other business awards in the main cities of New Zealand.

Te Puke can be very proud of its successes.

THE 2016 TE PUKE BUSINESS EXCELLENCE AWARDS WINNERS:
68 Socialist MPs abstained in Saturday's vote clearing the way for a conservative PP minority government. | Former PSOE leader Pedro Sanchez gave up his seat, calling for a party congress as soon as possible. | Thousands gathered in the streets to protest at the election of Rajoy

Mariano Rajoy, on Saturday. AFP

After a final debating session in Spain's Congreso on Saturday the members of Spain's Congreso voted to allow conservative candidate and until now acting prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, to form a government.

The PP leader Rajoy's bid to lead the government for another term of office succeeded, ending the country's long political deadlock, with 170 votes in favour, 111 against and 68 abstentions.

Of the PSOE members, the majority complied with their party's instructions to abstain in this second round of voting, as decided at last week's committee meeting headed by the caretaker commission currently at the helm of the Socialist party.

Fifteen Socialists failed to toe the party line and voted against Rajoy's bid, mainly members from the party's branches in Catalonia and the Basque Country.

Pedro Sanchez

Earlier on Saturday, former PSOE leader Pedro Sanchez gave up his seat as a member of Congreso, calling for a party congress as soon as possible to elect a new leader.

He said that now, as one of many grassroots party members, he would fight for the right of all members to vote for a new leader to "recuperate" the Socialist party.

Protests

Meanwhile thousands of people answered calls to "surround Congreso" to protest at the investiture of Mariano Rajoy, permitted by the Socialist abstentions.
More than half of the New York City listings on Airbnb violate the new law banning advertisements for short-term rentals on the home-sharing website, according to a new analysis released on Friday.

An analysis by data research firm ValuePenguin, 57 percent of Airbnb's NYC listings are for short-term rentals for entire apartments. As of last week, it's illegal to advertise entire apartments on Airbnb for rentals that are less than 30 days. It was already illegal to rent entire apartments on Airbnb for less than 30 days (although this happened anyway).

Violators can be fined up to $7,500 for flouting the new law on multiple occasionsfines for first- and second-time offenders are $1,000 and $5,000 respectivelyand lawmakers said the law is intended to target large-scale illegal hotel operators who are taking apartments off the market, not tenants who occasionally rent out their own homes.

ValuePenguin's analysis found that gentrifying neighborhoods are rife with illegal listingsaccording to the site, East Williamsburg has 314 full apartment listings that could net upwards of $2 million in fines, and there are 214 illegal listings in Gramercy, Greenwich Village, and the East Village that could net an additional $1.6 million in fines.

Avkash Kana, an Airbnb host who recently advertised his East Harlem apartment on the site, told the Post he was "outraged" he may have to pay steep fines before attracting a single tenant.

"I haven't even done anything, and according to these laws I've already done something illegal," he said. "So how does that work? If I post something on a blog and mention Airbnb, are you going to say that's illegal and has to be taken down? These laws are a complete violation of our freedom of speech."

The new regulations are complaint-based, meaning officials from the Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement will only be made aware of lawbreakers that are reported to them by residents. The OSE won't be combing through Airbnb's listings to find potential violators, and Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal has said the OSE "weren't set up to pick off individual tenants."
DANUBE, N.Y. -- A driver who crashed into a tow truck on the NYS Thruway Friday, leading to the death of a man, has been arrested.

Matthew Jarvinen, 31, of Bridgton, Maine, was charged with aggravated unlicensed operation and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, misdemeanors, said Trooper Jack Keller, a spokesman for the New York State Police.

The crash occurred at 8:15 a.m. on Interstate 90 east in the town of Danube, between the Herkimer (Exit 30) and Little Falls (Exit 29A) exits.

Two tow trucks with a Thruway maintenance truck were on the shoulder of the highway removing a vehicle from a previous accident. Jarvinen was driving a Ford Escape when he sideswiped one of the tow trucks and hit Thruway worker Ronald C. Deming.

The Escape became airborne after hitting the other tow truck and then ended up in the center median. Deming died at the scene. Jarvinen suffered minor injuries.

Jarvinen was to be arraigned in Danube Town Court Friday night. Keller said troopers are continuing to investigate and more charges may be pending.

Jarvinen was convicted in 2009 of bank robbery in Maine. He walked into a bank in Cornish, Maine and handed a teller a note that said "give me all the money in the drawer, I don't want to have to hurt you, but I will if I have to." He fled with about $3,280. He was released from prison earlier this year.

In 2008 Jarvinen was charged with stealing a truck and trailer containing a 1937 Packard 120 convertible in showroom condition, which was valued at $120,000.
Man shot to death on Syracuse's South Side

The Syracuse Police Department investigates the fatal shooting of a 35-year-old man Saturday morning in the 200 block of McKinley Avenue.

(Samantha House)

UPDATE: Syracuse homicide victim identified; police seek help in case

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A man was shot to death early Saturday morning on Syracuse's South Side.

The Syracuse Police Department rushed to the 200 block of McKinley Avenue at 4:48 a.m. after a shooting and gunshots were reported, said Sgt. Richard Helterline. When officers, the Syracuse Fire Department and American Medical Response paramedics arrived, they found a wounded 35-year-old man, he said.

The man was pronounced dead by paramedics shortly after. Until the man's family is notified, his name will be withheld, Helterline said.

Officers also found a woman, 26, who had been shot in the leg, Helterline said. Her injury is not considered life-threatening, Helterline said.

There is no suspect information.

"It is very early in this investigation, and additional information will be released when it becomes available," Helterline said.

When responders were first dispatched to the scene, the incident was reported as either a shooting or a stabbing, according to police scanner reports.

As responders headed to the scene, residents called 911 and reported hearing gunshots in the area. Responders were urged to use caution.

Police asked anyone with information about the homicide to call (315) 442-5222 or submit tips anonymously through the SPD Tips app.
The law has been hazy on the burning question of whether taking a ballot selfie is legal in NYC. While both the city and state Board of Elections say that photographing a marked ballot is illegal, civil rights lawyer Norman Siegel told us in April, "I would argue that the First Amendment should allow the citizen to take a selfie." Now, two state lawmakers from Manhattan want to clear things up and just allow ballot selfies once and for all. Finally, we'll be able to up our game from boring ol' "I Voted" sticker selfies!



Stickers are great, but they give anyone a sticker! (Jen Chung / Gothamist)

Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal and State Senator Brad Hoylman announced on Friday that they will introduce the #IVoted Billwhich would legalize ballot selfiesnext month. The issue has gained steam after Justin Timberlake went to Tennessee, voted and Instagrammed a ballot selfie to encourage his followers to voteonly for the press to point out that it's illegal to post such images in the state. Tennessee authorities won't prosecute him, but he still deleted the selfie.

While some officials have argued that showing a marked ballot could be interpreted as intimidation to vote or not vote for a candidate, a press release from Rosenthal and Hoylman suggests that allowing selfies might actually encourage voter participation because of social media:

Across the United States, voter turnout is notoriously low. Only 57.5% of all eligible voters nationally cast their ballot in the 2012 presidential election. Turnout was slightly worse in New York, with only 53.1% voting for president in 2012. Eighteen states, including New York, currently prohibit voters from taking photographs of their ballots. New Yorks prohibition originated as a protection against voter coercion, including employers coercing their employees to vote for or against a certain candidate. The bill, which will be formally introduced in mid- to late-November, will remove the prohibition against ballot photographs, but maintain the protection against intimidation and coercion. Social media has revolutionized the way that we do everything, and can and should be used to help encourage civic participation. Young people, who are dramatically underrepresented at the polls, but increasingly people of all ages, use social media sites, such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat, to promote products and people. Why not use social media as a tool to help promote voter turnout?

Rosenthal said, "I can hashtag just about anything on social media, but not the fact that I voted by showing my completed ballot. Voting is the most important exercise in a free and democratic society, and we in the government should do all that we can to encourage voting. Allowing people to celebrate online the fact that they participated in our democracy will help increase voter turnout and civic participation."

"Its called participatory democracy for a reason. It just doesnt make sense that in the 21st century, New Yorkers cant share their participation in voting, the most fundamental act of our democratic process, on platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram," said Hoylman. "Our election laws need to be updated to end this anachronistic ban."

Last month, a federal court ruled that a New Hampshire law banning ballot selfies was stupid, "Digital photography, the Internet, and social media are not unknown quantitiesthey have been ubiquitous for several election cycles, without being shown to have the effect of furthering vote buying or voter intimidation."

BTW, Justin Timberlake has totally learned his lesson:
SALINA, N.Y. -- A husband and wife are accused of embezzling more than $3,000 from the Liverpool Little League while they were its president and treasurer, the Onondaga County Sheriff's Office said.

Alisa Pezzino, 51, and Christopher Pezzino, 49, both of 7364 Tomwood Drive, Salina, were each charged by detectives Thursday with third-degree grand larceny and first-degree falsifying business records.

Alisa Pezzino is the former president of the Liverpool Little League and Christopher Pezzino is the former treasurer.

Sgt. Jon Seeber, a spokesman for the sheriff's office, said the little league's board members contacted authorities after they "discovered several discrepancies" in the group's finances.

The couple is accused of using the little league's credit card to pay for personal expenses totaling more than $3,000 including groceries, restaurant bills and bar tabs. Seeber said the couple is also accused of stealing money from concession stand sales.

Seeber said the thefts began in January and continued until being discovered in late August or early September.

Alisa and Christopher Pezzino were arraigned in Salina Town Court before Judge Andrew Piraino and released. They are scheduled to appear in court again on Dec. 14.

A man who answered a phone number for the couple Friday night said it was the wrong number and hung up.
Internet bots have many useful online purposes, but they have a dark side, too, as three researchers demonstrated in their analysis of Twitter traffic during the first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

Bots are used to automate functions on the Net. For example, if you belong to several social networks, you could use a bot to post a photo to all of them at once, saving the time of logging onto each network and posting the pic individually.

What the researchers found was that bots also can be used to amplify support on Twitter.

Manufactured Support

The researchers tracked how automated accounts were tweeting messages with hashtags associated with the candidates. For example, #makeamericagreatagain or #draintheswamp for Trump; #imwithher for Clinton. They found that one-third of all tweets using pro-Trump hashtags were created by bots and one-fifth of all Clinton hashtags were generated by automated accounts.

How might that affect public opinion?

They act as a prosthesis for small groups of people to affect conversation on social media, said Samuel Woolley, director of research at Political Bots, a project to assess the effect of automated advocacy on public life. Woolley coauthored the report on debate bots with Bence Kollanyi of Corvinus University and Philip N. Howard of Oxford University

The effect of that prosthesis can be multiplied by news media.

A lot of conversations on social media, especially those followed by journalists, are about whats trending and what candidate has a lot of support online, Woolley told TechNewsWorld, but what we found was that a lot of traffic surrounding Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton is actually manufactured.

The researchers do not know who is behind the bots, but the practice isnt new.

We know that in the past, Republican and Democratic candidates in the United States have been connected to either social media management or content management firms or astroturf activists that have built bots for the candidates, Woolley said.

Gravy for Nation-States

Such bots were used in the 2008 special election to fill Ted Kennedys Massachuetts Senate seat in 2008, according to a 2010 study by two researchers at Wellesley College, Panagiotis Takis Metaxas and Eni Mustafaraj.

A conservative group in Iowa, the American Future Fund, set up nine Twitter accounts that sent 929 tweets and reached more than 60,000 people with messages accusing the Democratic candidate in the race, Martha Coakley, of being anti-Catholic, the researchers found.

Nation-states arent above using such tactics either.

Political actors and governments worldwide have begun using bots to manipulate public opinion, choke off debate, and muddy political issues. Political bots tend to be developed and deployed in sensitive political moments when public opinion is polarized, Woolley and his colleagues wrote in their report.

We know for a fact that Russia, as a state, has sponsored the use of bots for attacking transnational targets, Wooley pointed out.

Other governments do it, too. Weve had cases in Mexico, Turkey, South Korea and Australia, he added. The problem is that a lot of people dont know bots exist, and that trends on social media or even online polls can be gamed by bots very easily.

Distorting Democracy

Bots arent just a Twitter problem  theyre an Internet problem.

The proportion of bots to humans on the Internet is about 50-50, said Tim Matthews, vice president of marketing at Imperva.

Any task that is repetitive or mundane or can be simply automated is a likely candidate for a bot to take over, he told TechNewsWorld, so its not surprising to see more and more bots being used in social media for that reason.

Bots have many good uses. For example, Web spiders are bots used by search engines to keep their indexes current. However, in a political context, they can have undesirable effects.

These sorts things can distort democracy if used for purposes of propaganda, but they can be used to support democracy if theyre used for beneficial reasons, Woolley said.

That said, there has to be some kind of regulation of this  whether by the platforms themselves or government or advertisers, he added. At the moment, theres a lot of fake political speech online, and it can definitely affect the way that people perceive politics and democracy.

Tech-Support Scams

Tech support scammers raked in US$1.5 billion in 2015, based on Microsofts estimates, and the problem is getting worse, suggests a recent report from Malwarebytes.

Once carried out by telemarketers making cold calls, these scams now operate through tech support lines listed on websites, or they use pop-ups to get victims to call, the report notes. Instead of receiving help, users find their computers held for ransom.

These tech support scams arent easy to spot, the report notes. Their tactics have become so advanced that almost anyone could fall for their tricks.

Further, getting on a tech support scammers call list can be a descent into cold call hell for a consumer.

It got so bad, I canceled my landline, said Jean-Philippe Taggart, a senior security researcher with Malwarebytes Labs.

I wasnt getting any more phone calls except those from people pretending to be from Microsoft telling me that my computer was infected, he told TechNewsWorld.

From Cold Calls to Ransomware

When consumers began hanging up on the scammers cold callers, they changed their tactics. They moved to targeted advertising that masquerades as error messages, Taggart explained.

When consumers browsed certain websites, a pop-up ad resembling an error message appeared on the screen with instructions for calling support. Once contact was established, the scammers used social engineering to wring money from the consumers.

Now some tech support scammers have gone beyond pop-ups.

Theyre starting to use malicious software, Taggart said.

Theyll buy a spot in a software bundle to have their software installed with legitimate offerings in the package.

The software will lock up your computer, so the victims are no longer people who lack computer savvy, Taggart explained. If you get one of these attacks as a vector, youre stuck. You cant use your computer until you call fictitious tech support.

Breach Diary

Oct. 17. StartPage, a European meta search engine, announces its dropping Yahoo search from its website because of Yahoos lack of openess about privacy and a massive data breach in 2014.

Oct. 17. Katy Independent School District in Texas warns 78,000 students and staff members their personal data is at risk due to a data breach.

Oct. 19. Czech police announce they have arrested a Russian citizen in Prague wanted by the FBI in connection to 2012 data theft of 117 million passwords at LinkedIn.

Oct. 18. Redbus, an Indian online travel ticketing platform, confirms data breach that may have compromised more than 4 million accounts. Company advises all its users to reset their passwords.

Oct. 18. Veracode releases State of Software Security report, which includes finding that about 97 percent of Java applications contained at least one component with a known vulnerability.



Oct. 19. Federal Reserve, FDIC and OCC issue notice of proposed rulemaking seeking comments on a set of enforceable cybersecurity standards for banks with more than US$50 billion in assets.

Oct. 20. National Payments Corporation of India reports some 3.2 million payment cards have been compromised in massive ATM security breach.

Oct. 20. Weebly, a San Francisco-based website creation company, starts notifying more than 43 million customers their personal information is at risk due to data breach that occurred in February.

Oct. 21. Kenya Commercial Bank dismisses reports earlier in the week that it was the victim of a data breach. It says the reports were based on malicious information aimed at upsetting its customers.

Oct. 21. Baystate Health in Springfield, Massachusetts, announces personal data of 13,000 patients is at risk from data breach in August.

Oct. 21. John McAfee tells CSO Online that his sources on the Dark Web lead him to believe that Iran was behind the hack of the Democratic National Committee in July.

Upcoming Security Events
Facebooks Trending Topics section recently has carried a number of trending stories that were either indisputably fake or profoundly inaccurate, The Washington Post reported this week.

The news feed six weeks ago ran a false story claiming Fox News had fired anchor Megyn Kelly for being a closet liberal who supported Hillary Clinton. Facebook removed the story, apologized, and promised to do better.

It appears that despite that commitment, the Trending Topics section is not yet problem free.

Trending Tall Tales

In an experiment conducted over several weeks following Facebooks promotion of the fake Megyn Kelly story, the Post recorded which topics were trending for it every day, on the hour, across four accounts.

That turned up five trending stories that were indisputably fake and three that were profoundly inaccurate, Caitlyn Dewey reported.

Theres no way to know whether those were the only false or highly inaccurate articles that made the Trending Topics feed during the experiments run.

If anything, weve underestimated how often Facebook trends fake news, Dewey wrote.

Further, news releases, blog posts from sites such as Medium, and links to online stores such as iTunes regularly trended, the experiment revealed.

The issue which has long bedeviled journalism is speed versus accuracy, noted David Abrahamson, a professor of journalism at Northwestern Universitys Medill School of Journalism.

In the brave new social media world, speed is everything, and veracity seems to not be regarded as too important, he told TechNewsWorld.

In the Fake News Pot

On Aug. 31, a story about an administrator at Clemson University kicking a praying man off campus trended, The Washington Post noted. The university debunked that story.

On Sept. 8, Facebook promoted a breathless account of the iPhones new and literally magical features, sourced from the real news site Firstposts satirical Faking News Page.

On Sept. 9, a story claiming the Sept. 11 attacks were a controlled demolition trended.

Several days later, Facebook promoted a story about the Buffalo Bills from the satirical site SportsPickle.

Facebooks Responsibility

Facebooks role in distributing news and information is unclear.

The pivotal issue is whether Facebook is a common carrier, suggested Michael Jude, a program manager at Stratecast/Frost & Sullivan.

Facebook will have to ensure the stories it carries are factual only if they represent themselves as an objective news site, which they dont, he told TechNewsWorld.

The company makes it very clear that there are things theyll decide shouldnt be carried and that theyll take off their site, Jude said. Likewise, they dont have to ensure what they carry is accurate. They havent guaranteed that theyd be objective.

On the other hand, Facebook should be held to the same standards as other news organizations, given that an increasing number of people are getting their news from its site, contended Medills Abrahamson.

But who will judge when the number of eyeballs is the holy grail? he asked.

Humans vs. Algorithms

Human editors in Facebooks Trending Topics department recently came under fire for applying an anticonservative bias to the feeds content. Facebook denied the allegations, but also took some steps to reassure critics, replacing its human editorial team with a process that relied on algorithms.

When you take human judgment out of the loop, even though its flawed and can be biased, you cant guarantee the veracity of any of the sources, Frosts Jude remarked. Thats why newspapers traditionally had editorial boards whose members had a wide range of philosophies and political persuasions.

Further, people are better than machines at adapting to situations in which others are trying to game them, suggested Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

To make adjustments in algorithms, systems have to be rewritten, he told TechNewsWorld.

Machines cant inherently learn yet that theyre being tricked, Enderle pointed out.

No one, to my knowledge, has ever deeply studied the accuracy of human editors, Medills Abrahamson said, but they do traditionally take their evaluative function seriously, which Facebook News apparently does not.

Possible Fixes for Facebook

Facebook should bring back people until they can apply deep learning to their automated solution or otherwise make it far harder to trick, said Enderle.

Deep learning could catch fake sites and those running malware  and, based on user behavior, could downrate sites that are likely fake, he added. It also could scan sites like Snopes to identify recurring fake stories early.

The first thing Facebook should do is care, declared Medills Abrahamson. Instead, the firehose meme seems to apply.
Microsoft this week released an updated version of its Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit as an open source Beta.

The deep learning system is used to speed advances in areas such as speech and image recognition and search relevance on CPUs and Nvidia GPUs. It also works with Microsofts Azure GPU offering.

The Microsoft computer scientists who developed the toolkit initially were looking for a tool to speed up and improve their own research. Initially called Microsoft/CNTK, it morphed into an offering that Microsoft customers and flagship product groups depend on for a wide variety of deep learning tasks, the company said.

Deep learning is an artificial intelligence technique developers and researchers use to process large amounts of data, called training sets. The software teaches computer systems to recognize patterns from inputs such as images and sounds.

The toolkit is available on GitHub via an open source license.

The toolkits scalability and availability as an open source project are both pluses that should spur interest and use, noted Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT.

What It Does

With the update, Microsoft changed the name from CNTK to Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit to reflect an offering that is more broadly based and has new capabilities, said Microsoft spokesperson Casey Johnson.

Our vision is to democratize artificial intelligence for every person and organization. We made Cognitive Toolkit open source so it is easily available to every developer who wants to build great AI applications, she told LinuxInsider.

The latest version of the toolkit includes new functionality that lets developers use Python or C++ programming languages in working with the toolkit. With the new version, researchers also can do a type of artificial intelligence work called reinforcement learning.

Who It Targets

Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit is designed for researchers and developers who need machine learning and neural network tools to create artificial intelligence applications, Microsoft said. The toolkit provides users with greater flexibility and extensibility.

The upgrade delivers better performance than previous versions. The improvements focus on speed when working on big datasets across multiple machines. That speed boost is needed to support the deep learning process across multiple GPUs used to develop consumer products and professional offerings.

The toolkits ability to work across multiple servers is a key advantage over other deep learning toolkits, according to Microsoft. When used on bigger datasets, other software products are subject to performance degradation. Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit has built-in algorithms to minimize that computational slowdown.

The toolkit helped the Microsoft Artificial Intelligence and Research team create a technology that recognizes words in a conversation as well as a person does, according to Microsoft.

Mixed Bag

It appears that Microsoft has made substantial progress in speech recognition accuracy, Pund-ITs King told LinuxInsider.

On the minus side, it is a fairly narrow solution in and of itself, he suggested. Other cognitive ecosystems, such as IBMs Watson, offer far richer and deeper resources for developers.

However, the toolkit is another expression of the support for open source that has really blossomed at Microsoft since Satya Nadella become CEO, said King.

Thats all to the good. Practically speaking, though, the company delivered the toolkit as a Windows-only solution. That limits it to a fraction of the number of developers who otherwise might take it up.
Not that it isnt scary enough  but if you look at both candidates, who have had their images destroyed largely by technology (tapes and emails)  there is a huge warning inherent in the process.

Email really wasnt a big thing until the late 1990s and even having your own email server wouldnt have been likely before 2005, let alone thinking through the security aspects. The Trump tape, which wasnt indexed based on the off-air segment, would have been nearly impossible to find before it was digitized and indexed.

Its likely neither of these issues would have come up before Obama first ran for office, because you couldnt have found the footage in a reasonable amount of time and linking a third-party server into the government system would have been far more difficult. (Yes, you did have folks using personal email services like Hotmail but not their own server.)

Increasingly, videos like Trumps are being indexed, digitized and archived in a way that makes them easier to be found, and now  take a breath  your social media, email, and increasingly videos of you (often recorded by people you dont know) are going through an even more robust process.

As you watch Billy Bush lose his job and likely his career, he could be the canary in a coal mine. What Im suggesting is that theres an increasing likelihood that what happened to him, as well as to Trump and Clinton, could happen to you or your kids in the not-too-distant future.

Ill share some thoughts and close with my product of the week: an app that actually could make your IoT stuff work as promised.

A Digitized World

We talk a lot about digitizing our life, and weve had several attempts at life cameras. What many people dont realize, though, is that our lives already are being digitized on a massive scale. Weve recently learned about the government program that was scanning and indexing correspondence on Yahoos email service, and you have to know there is virtually no chance this is an isolated instance, and that there have been a number of initiatives to capture, digitize and index our cellphone calls.

Social Media already starts out being public, and there is already an initiative in place to make scanning social media accounts a requirement for entry into the U.S. It is certain that social media is being scanned regularly  and with vast improvements in facial recognition, pictures and videos taken by our friends, family and strangers are being scanned and, increasingly, connected to us.

What many do not realize is that it isnt only new stuff that is being digitized  it is old stuff as well. So there is an increasing chance that  as in Trumps case  something you did years ago eventually will be connected to your name.

It kind of makes me wonder what will happen in the next major election, because we are just at the tip of the iceberg now. It is very likely that in the next eight years, and certainly in the next 18, much of our past lives will be available to anyone who wants to do the research  whether we like it or not.

The End of Politics as We Know It

One of the questions really struck me in the last presidential debate: whether it was OK for a politician to have conflicting public and private opinions. While Clinton drifted into some screwy Abraham Lincoln response, she never really answered the question. However, in the new world that we are getting a glimpse of, there may be no private for most of us, and certainly not for politicians.

As we saw four years ago with the smartphone leak of a Romney talk, the idea that anyone will be able to say something in an event, even a private one, that wont be on some social network within hours increasingly will be obsolete.

So, regardless of whether it is right, it likely will be untenable for folks running for office to have two opposing opinions (with the private opinion being the real one) because this common dishonesty simply wont remain private. Email really never has been secure. I was auditing it back when it was first created in the 1980s, which suggests there always are eyes on email, and what you write could  and likely will  be used against you.

Given the lack of honesty, almost to an extreme level, it is also clear that this election is fueling ever-more-powerful real time fact checking. Given that the fact checkers currently have no controls placed on them, I expect some abuse. However, the ability to maintain lies for even a few minutes soon may be obsolete, as more and more folks learn to live-search information on candidates comments during their speeches and debates.

It wouldnt surprise me if in future debates, some streaming services run fact-checked responses in real time right next to video of the candidate talking.

I wonder if we also shouldnt apply a qualitative metric, though. For instance, lets say you have two politicians one lies 80 percent of the time but the 20 percent that is truthful is on issues where your life is at risk, and you have another politician who is honest 80 percent of the time but the 20 percent that is false is on those same life-threatening issues.

Its not just the amount of dishonesty but how much damage it does that is important. By the way, there is no subtle reference to Trump or Clinton here, as I clearly havent done the qualitative analysis on either that would allow me to drive this point home. (That would be more than a full time job this year.)

Wrapping Up: Final Thoughts

We likely should be looking more at what happened to Billy Bush and what is happening to Hillary Clinton than to Donald Trump. Billy effectively was fired for something he did 11 years ago, as a result of a process that largely didnt exist when Obama was first elected.

All three cases also should represent a warning to everyone that what you say or write will have legs that could last your lifetime, and come back to haunt your career decades in the future. It is likely time that we all started acting like we are always on stage, because we actually are. Privacy effectively died last decade.

There are a couple of good things that I think came out of this event. Suddenly, people all over the country are taking an interest in the physical abuse of women, something that has been ignored too long. The connected male behavior is being called out, not as status-building guy thing, but as the reprehensible behavior it is.

Though unintentionally, Trump and Billy Bush may have made a good chunk of the world much safer  or at least accelerated the process of making it safer  for women. Millions of women now are speaking up about their own abuse, making many of us realize we hadnt been aware of how big this problem was.

This could go a long way toward making men change this unacceptable behavior. If you have kids, this likely should be  and for many it already is  a topic of discussion, and that too is a good thing.

So, Donald Trump may have made the country greater, but sadly it was unintentional. It strikes me that if he took this issue and owned it, pivoting to offer massive support for womens issues like this, and if he were believably contrite, he then might turn the leak into an asset (and he has distanced himself from the party platform). Apparently he isnt that guy, which is why I expect hell lose.

Ive been pretty unimpressed with the IoT efforts to date. Most of this connected crap simply doesnt interoperate, and the point was never to just turn things off and on with your cellphone but to connect them so theyd act automatically.

For instance, it would be nice if they were capable of changing the settings on your home heating and cooling system, turning off your lights, and arming your alarm when everyone is away from home. It would be great if you could give your Amazon Echo a command like Alexa Good Night and have it adjust all of your electronics  alarm systems, sensors, and appliances (like firing up your dishwasher)  for what you want done while you sleep.

Right now, doing that automatically should be possible but for the most part it isnt, because few things talk to each other.

Well, Stringify, which unfortunately only works on iOS (theyll have Android by year end), is effectively the Rosetta Stone for IoT devices.The Rosetta Stone was kind of a universal translator for ancient languages, and Stringify is a platform created to connect simply the huge diversity of devices that are out there.

It can connect your Alexa to things that Alexa cant yet address directly, and it actually works better with Insteon that Insteons own controller software, along with 600-plus other IoT platforms like Nest.

Sadly it doesnt yet work with all of the tech in my own house, like ADT Pulse Security, the advanced Emme home heating and cooling solution or Blossom smart sprinkler controller. (This is my subtle way to get these on Stringifys to do list.)

Still, of all the solutions currently in market, it is the most comprehensive. If you are building a solution in your own home, starting with this and picking from its supported list should give you an integrated solution that early IoT adopters will envy for years.

Stringify fixes a massive problem with IoT at the moment, and if you are on iOS, this would be an excellent place to start. These folks currently are my gold standard with regard to IoT implementation, and thus Stringify is my product of the week.
And so it begins...like a car crash that noone wants to look at, but all are irrresistably drawn to, we are all going to be transfixed by th...
Nintendo fans, mark Jan. 12 on your calendars, as the Nintendo Switch 2017 presentation will be held on that date.

Ever since Nintendo unveiled the Nintendo Switch last week, the hybrid console has generated a massive amount of interest and speculation. While the announcement video provided a good glimpse of what the Nintendo Switch is capable of, there were still a lot of questions remaining for gamers and investors alike regarding the upcoming video game system.

With a March 2017 release date, it might be a long wait for both gamers and investors before Nintendo officially announces more details on the Nintendo Switch. Fortunately, the wait is not as long as expected, with the company revealing plans for the Nintendo Switch Presentation 2017 on Jan. 12, U.S. time.

The event, which was announced through a press release and told to financial analysts in a presentation by Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima, will reveal major details regarding the Nintendo Switch. It will be held at the Tokyo Big Sight, also known as the Tokyo International Exhibition Center, which is the biggest convention center in Japan.

Those who are interested in the Nintendo Switch will not have to book a flight to Japan and look for a way to get invitations to know the console's details in real time though, as the event will be livestreamed globally. The exact time of the event will be communicated by Nintendo through its social media channels.

What will the presentation reveal about the Nintendo Switch? According to the press release, Nintendo will be announcing the lineup of games that will be launching alongside the console, along with its specific release date.

Perhaps more importantly, however, is that Nintendo will be announcing the price of the Nintendo Switch at the event. Rumors have claimed that the console will have a base price tag of $299 that will go up to $399 when it is bought as part of a bundle. Such a price tag will also allow the Nintendo Switch to better compete with Sony's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One.

Following the Nintendo Switch Presentation 2017, sampling events will be held across the United States and Europe for invited customers, partners and media. There will be other hands-on events that will be open to the public, which will be announced at a later time.

A recent financial briefing by Nintendo revealed that about 2 million units of the Nintendo Switch will be shipped within the company's fiscal year, which ends on March 31, 2017. This is lower than the 3 million units that Nintendo shipped at launch for the Wii U, which could mean that there will be a shortage of supply for the Nintendo Switch on its release.

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Star Wars Episode VIII is still a ways off, but already plenty of rumors and plot details are circulating around the web. One home for all these spoilerific details is Making Star Wars. The site is working hard to gather up all the latest information regarding Episode VIII, and this latest report seems to indicate that there are still plenty of surprise in store when it comes to the soldiers of the First Order.

Possible spoilers for Star Wars Episode VIII below! You've been warned!

According to the latest report from Making Star Wars, the Imperial Guard will be back in a new form in Rian Johnson's upcoming film. In Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi the red-robed Imperial Guard could be seen escorting the Emperor around and wielding staff weapons.

Making Star Wars says the First Order will have their own spin on the intimidating guards, only this time they'll be sporting cuffed sleeves and wearing armor underneath. It also sounds like they'll be getting a new helmet of some sort, as the site reports the guards to be wearing "strange visors."

It makes sense that the Imperial Guard will be back in the second part of Disney's new trilogy. If the original Imperial Guard served as Emperor Palpatine's escorts, it's likely they could be seen guarding Supreme Leader Snoke in Episode VIII. Kylo Ren will likely be visiting Snoke in the film to "complete his training", so it seems like the perfect opportunity for the Imperial Guard to make an appearance.

But it's not just the Imperial Guard set to steal the show. Making Star Wars also reports there there will be a new "featured" Stormtrooper in the film set to take center stage in the same way that the baton wielding FN-2199 did in The Force Awakens. This trooper, referred to as "The Executioner", is said to wield a baton weapon that features three spinning blades. Half of this trooper's helmet is also reported to be painted black. The site writes that they've heard Finn may go one on one with this trooper as well, only this time Han Solo won't be around to provide backup.

Another little tidbit detailed in the report is that while the First Order Stormtroopers will largely be identical to that of the troopers in The Force Awakens, the mouth piece on the helmets are said to have been redesigned so that they are closer to that of the Stormtrooper helmets in the original trilogy.

So there you have it! No major revelations that ruin all the fun, but a few little pieces of information that will help fans get over the long wait. The still untitled Star Wars: Episode VIII is set to arrive in theaters in December of 2017.

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Google has its Pixel smartphones loaded with many powerful specs and features, such as the camera and Android 7.1 Nougat, but some problems are already showing up.

Reports from Pixel and Nexus phone owners are piling up that the devices are showing unstable Bluetooth pairing and connectivity.

Bluetooth In-Car Connectivity

Specifically, it looks like an increasing number of users are having trouble connecting their phones to their smart cars via Bluetooth. What is more, once the phones finally connect to the cars, the link is unstable and can break at any moment.

At the time of the writing, it is only speculation on what is causing the problem to occur, and Google has not made any official statement about the background of the issues.

Some believe that the Pixel and Pixel XL are to blame, but others point out that the issue might lie with Android 7.1 Nougat, as the Bluetooth connectivity issue happens in the Nexus devices sporting the latest Google OS, as well.

It is best to wait for Google to address the problem publicly, as the company already notes that is looking into the matter. On the bright side, the Pixel manufacturer started to get feedback from the Pixel user community and is working on a fix.

Bluetooth Music

Users are observing that some of the devices that can connect to their cars via Bluetooth maintain the link while playing music, but as soon as a call comes in, the connection bombs.

Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P Bluetooth Problem

It may be that the problem lies within the software more than the hardware.

The reason for this is that handsets that are running on Nougat, such as the Nexus phones, are facing the same problems that have been plaguing the Pixel and Pixel XL. In the Nexus 5X and the Nexus 6P, Google rolled out the Android 7.1 Nougat developer preview earlier in October.

Google did not specify whether the 5X or the 6P are facing the problem, but chances are that it is both. Here is a helpful guide to fixing other common Nexus 6P issues.

Conclusion

Those who cannot seem to connect their Android 7.1 Nougat-running phones to the car's Bluetooth system have to muster some patience. Google is putting the pedal to the metal to find what is causing the issues and promised to deliver a fix as soon as possible.

Until then, Pixel and Nexus owners might have to rely on their handsets' speakers for loud music while driving.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Rising human activity is destroying global vertebrate wildlife populations, which have seen a 58 percent drop in the last 40 years, according to a report by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

The report titled "Living Planet Report 2016: Risk and Resilience in a New Era" scanned the population decline in wildlife between 1970 and 2012.

Covering 14,000 vertebrate populations of 3,700 species during the period, the report also took inputs from the Zoological Society of London and the Global Footprint Network.

Slamming the rising human activity as responsible for the declining numbers, the WWF report warns that wildlife populations will drop further by two-thirds in 2020 unless immediate intervention is made.

The report notes the drastic decline in the numbers reported in mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish. The most palpable drop in animal population has been in the lakes, rivers and freshwater systems by 81 percent.

Wildlife Population Decline: 'A Wake-Up Call'

Carter Roberts, president and CEO of WWF, says the report offers a wake-up call that for a considerable number of years, humans have treated Earth "as if it's disposable."

"We created this problem," adds Roberts. "The good news is that we can fix it. It requires updating our approach to food, energy, transportation, and how we live our lives. We share the same planet. We rely on it for our survival. So we are all responsible for its protection."

The WWF report looks at human activity as an all-pervasive term denoting habitat loss, wildlife trade, pollution and climate change.

"It's pretty clear under 'business as usual' we will see continued declines in wildlife populations. But I think now we've reached a point where there isn't really any excuse to let this carry on," says Mike Barrett, head of science and policy at WWF.

Main Drivers Of Destruction

According to the WWF report, increasing demand for food and energy is augmenting threats to wildlife and indirectly hurting human life as well.

Blaming rising global food production as the primary cause for destroying habitats and overexploitating wildlife, the report notes that agriculture has taken up one-third of Earth's land area and is consuming 70 percent of all freshwater.

This is not only driving animals to doom but is also hurting humanity indirectly, as the invasion of natural resources goes unabated.

Calling a rethink on the part of individuals, businesses and governments in terms of production and consumption, the report asks for a systemic change whereby a higher value can be attached to the natural environment.

WWF's Living Planet Report is a biennial exercise that serves as an assessment of the state of the world's wildlife. It studies thousands of species of birds, fish, mammals, amphibians and reptiles, forming 6 percent of the total vertebrate species in the world. The data used in the research includes peer-reviewed studies, statistics from the government and surveys by NGOs.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
European Union privacy chiefs want Facebook to put a stop to storing and processing user data from its WhatsApp messaging service. The EU regulators are undergoing an investigation into privacy policy changes made by the social media company this August.

On Friday, Oct. 28, privacy chiefs belonging to the EU's 28 nations sent out an e-statement to Facebook. In the statement, they expressed "serious concerns" over the fact that Facebook archives user data belonging to WhatsApp users and uses the info in ways that are not part of the original terms of service users agreed to when they signed up for the service.

WhatsApp Will Respect Applicable Law

EU watchdogs are not stepping away from questioning the methods deployed by American tech companies, as probes were deployed against Alphabet, Facebook or Microsoft.

Current coercion methods are still rather unconvincing, but this is prone to change as new EU rules will go into play in 2018. One such new law will enable the EU to penalize misconduct from tech companies with 4 percent of the enterprise's yearly sales.

WhatsApp responded to the e-mail statement by saying that it is cooperating with data protection authorities in order to sort things out.

"We remain committed to respecting applicable law," the company noted.

It also underlined that it has been in talks with EU privacy regulators since before the contested update from this summer.

Yahoo Massive Hacking Case

The EU panel, which is dubbed The Article 29 Working Party, also addressed the fact that Yahoo's accounts were hacked in 2014, placing the email credential of 500 million users into hackers' hands. The hacking was estimated as being the largest data breach in digital history, and its implication can be spine-chilling.

The EU watchdogs urged Yahoo to take action and warn its European users of possible negative impact the massive hacking could have had.

The panel also noted that it is worried about purported invasion of privacy from U.S. intelligence agencies, which benefited from Yahoo's help. Rumors surfaced that Yahoo allows the surveillance of its customers' emails by U.S. intelligence agencies, which caused the panel to firmly ask the company to demonstrate the legal basis of these actions, as well as the compatibility with EU law.

Yahoo declined to make any official comment on the situation.

Both the Yahoo and the WhatsApp issues are scheduled to be discussed by the panel at its first meeting, which will take place this November.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
While Google has previously announced that the Google Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones purchased from its store are bootloader unlocked, those exclusively sold by Verizon have been denied such feature. The carrier, however, has been beaten in that game as developers have successfully cracked its bootloader.

Two developers registered at XDA as beaups and jcase, who are also behind the SunShine bootloader unlock tool, claimed to have discovered a method to pry the bootloader in the Verizon Pixel phones open.

The method was in the form of the dePixel8 tool, which can work not just for Verizon Pixel phones but also for EE in the United Kingdom. Unlike previous unlock tools, which rely on scripts that can automatically unlock Android bootloader, the solution merely bypasses the security mechanisms that the carrier has embedded in it.

The bootloader unlocking process is straightforward. A user only needs to install fastboot and adb on a PC, which will then enable the user to issue three commands that forces the phone to unlock the bootloader.

During this process, another command has to be typed: "fastboot flashing unlock". Once this has been entered, an unlock bootloader option will be available. The entire affair is reportedly so easy that it is barely fun for beaups and jcase.

The good news is that the dePixel8 is available for free. The only potential drawback is that the developers will not provide any form of support or, at least not obligated to provide one. What this means is that Pixel users cannot expect help if something goes wrong. Here, it is also helpful to note a key disclaimer: it is not the developer's best work.

dePixel8 is released for HTC Pixel phones. Its not my best work, but it works..usually https://t.co/wTtXLBbW4f @jcase @TheRootNinja  beaups (@firewaterdevs) October 28, 2016

The SunShine workaround could embolden a group of Pixel owners to unlock their bootloaders because this process effectively opens a Pixel smartphone to a host of new functionalities. This is primarily demonstrated in the way a new custom ROM could be flashed into the device.

Those who are new to unlocking their phones' bootloader, however, are better served if they try to learn about Android SDK and commands. There are numerous sources available online that can help in this area.

If users encounter problems or, worse, have bricked their devices in the process, there is no need to worry. Google has just released the Pixel phones' factory images that will let them manually restore their handsets to their original state.

Verizon has not issued any statement regarding this issue. There is also no available information whether the carrier is working to address how dePixel8 bypasses its security mechanisms around the Pixel phones bootloader. Unlocked devices, however, will no longer receive the seamless updates feature in Android 7.0 Nougat.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Own the AT&T variant of the BlackBerry Priv? Up in arms about the niggling "No Service" problem?

If you answered yes to both these questions, you will be pleased to learn that the Canadian company is paying heed to your plight and has promised a fix for the issue.

For the unfamiliar, several owners of the BlackBerry Priv - the AT&T variant of the handset - have been experiencing a "No Service" bug since mid-September, just a couple of months after the handset started getting Android Marshmallow. Because of the bug, users were unable to receive texts and emails on their BlackBerry Priv.

The only resolution for AT&T BlackBerry Priv users, albeit a temporary one, was to reboot the handset. However, this workaround too was not effective as the "No Service" message would still show up on the top left side of the display - the status bar of the device - right after one rebooted their BlackBerry Priv.

On Friday, Oct. 28, BlackBerry confirmed that it is working in tandem with U.S. network operator AT&T to hasten the rollout of the fix for the "No Service" bug that has been plaguing some users of the carrier's variant of the BlackBerry Priv smartphone.

While the company acknowledged that it had zeroed in on what was causing this problem, it did not disclose any details on the root cause.

"The root cause for this issue has been identified, and a solution will be made available shortly as BlackBerry is working with AT&T to expedite the release of a software fix. As soon as this available the knowledge base article will be updated, as well as this thread so everyone is aware," noted a BlackBerry representative on its official support forum. "Thank you for your patience and support while this issue was investigated!"

Considering the issue occurred in mid-September and it is nearly the end October, BlackBerry has been quite tardy in pushing out a software fix to Priv owners. As a result, several owners of the handset who have had enough of the innumerable workarounds and restarting the handset as a solution have possibly shifted to alternate smartphones.

If you are among those who have hung around patiently for a software fix to be made available for the AT&T BlackBerry Priv, then the wait is now nearly over. While BlackBerry hasn't given a time window for the bug fix, we are assuming that it will push out the update in a couple of days.

To stay in the loop on when the fix hits the AT&T BlackBerry Priv, keep an eye on the BlackBerry Knowledge Base article for updates.

Photo: Maurizio Pesce | Flickr

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A lot can happen in a week, but this week is really special as we have had so many interesting announcements and launches from tech giants including Apple and Microsoft.

This week, we saw the launch of the much awaited and rumoured MacBook Pro by Apple and Apple TV, while Microsoft showcased its Surface Studio, Surface Dial, Beefed-Up Surface Book, and Windows 10 VR Headsets. Xiaomi too, didn't stand behind as the Chinese technology company showcased a Bezel-less smartphone dubbed as Mi Mix which is designed by Philippe Starck and the much rumoured Mi Note 2.

Along with this, the week was pretty speculative as we came across a number of rumours and tips about a lot of smartphones and laptops. We also listed out top bluetooth speaker under INR 10,000 while we did video reviews of two Brainwavz earphones - Blu-200 and M2.

While a top 10 listicle would definitely not be enough to sum up this week, here's our try as we put in 10 best stories we have covered this week in consumer technology.

1. Apple Refreshes Its MacBook Pro With A Fancy Touch Bar

At its special Mac event, Apple unveiled leaner and meaner MacBook Pro line-up. The Cupertino-based company's new laptop features a relatives better Retina display that supports wider colour gamut. At 500 nits, it is also the most bright screen on the MacBook yet. Apple also claims that the display consumes 30 percent less energy than before. The Macbook Pro also comes with Touch ID for security and convenience. Integrated into the power button, the Touch ID comes in handy for quickly unlocking the device, switch user accounts, and initiate secure purchases by simply reading your fingerprint.

Read The Full Story Here

2. Microsoft Windows Event: Complete Coverage

At its Windows 10 event, Microsoft presented its vision for operating system that runs on variety of devices. The Redmond-based company added a new product category under its Surface line-up. After taking on the iPad with its Surface slate and Macbook with a powerful Surface Book, Microsoft decided to go after the iMac by unveiling its first all-in-one computer. The company also revealed its plans to roll out relatively more affordable VR (Virtual Reality) headsets that use some of the Hololens technologies. Its basic digital graphics tool Paint got a major makeover.

Read The Full Story Here

3. Microsoft Beefs Up Its Surface Book With Latest i7 Processor

Microsoft's Surface Book convertible laptop has received a significant hardware upgrade. The software giant has beefed-up the device with the latest Intel Core i7 processor. Microsoft claims that it has reworked the GPU to double the machine's graphics performance. At the same time, the Surface Book i7's battery has been improved by 30 percent. You can now expect it to run 16 hours on a single charge. If you were hoping for a cosmetic change, you are in for disappointment, as the new model looks exactly like the original Surface Book. There are quite a few changes under the hood though. The convertible laptop now has two fans to dissipate heat generated by the GTX 965M graphics card. The machine also squeezes in a larger battery.

Read The Full Story Here

4. Microsoft's Surface Studio Makes Desktops Cool Again

Microsoft's Surface brand is known for interesting PC hardware. The Redmond based company has already changed the perception towards tablets and laptops with its Surface slate and Surface Book. This time around, the software giant is changing the way we look at the desktop computers. The Surface Studio boasts of a 28-inch display. At 192 PPI, the pixels deliver the life scale. For instance, 12-point font on the display is identical to 12-point font on a printed page. The PC features an integrated 5-megapixel camera with low-light capabilities. In the audio department, you get 2.1 channel speakers powered by Dolby Audio. There's also an infrared camera to power Windows Hello retina scan feature.

Read The Full Story Here

5. Brainwavz M2 Unboxing And Review [Video]

Brainwavz M2 seems to be the elder brother of the M1 that we reviewed earlier on our website. As we can see, everything right from the package to the earphone design and build quality slighlty reminds us of the Brainwavz M1. Yes, slight differences are there, but somehow M1 was the one that came to our mind as soon as we got our hands on to this. So, with this note in mind, lets first dive into the box and see whats inside it.

Watch The Full Review Here

6. Brainwavz Blu-200 Unboxing & Review [Video]

The retail packaging includes a pair of Blu-200 bluetooth earphones itself, a hard case that can protect the earphones, ear hooks, velcro cable tie, micro USB charging cable, 3 sets of Silicon ear tips, and a pair of comply foam tips. We also get an instruction manual and warranty card. We get a 24 month warranty with this earphone. The hard carrying case we get is pretty much similar to what we have seen earlier with other Brainwavz earphones. The build quality of the earphone looks pretty good, with flat cable and a premium scratch free rubberised material near the volume controls and microphone.

Watch The Full Review Here

7. Top Bluetooth Speakers Under Rs 10,000

With more and more people turning to their Smartphones for content consumption, music systems are fast becoming a rare sight. Manufacturers too are aware of it and rather than swimming against the current these audio equipment brands are rolling our products that complement a smartphone. So if you are planning to purchase a budget Bluetooth speaker this festive season, check out these options.

Read The Full Story Here

8. Xiaomi's Mi Mix Smartphone Is Designed By Philippe Starck

Along with the Mi Note 2, Xiaomi has unveiled the Mi MIX smartphone. Mostly considered as a Chinese brand that apes Apple, this time around Xiaomi has developed a phone with the help of the renowned French industrial designer Philippe Starck. The genius has been known for designing the minimalistic Tic & Tac clock. To achieve a seamless outlook, Starck has removed the earpiece from the device. For the propagation of sound, the Mi MIX uses a piezoelectric ceramic driver that works through the glass. In other words, it does not require an opening. Xiaomi has also replaced the regular proximity sensor with ultrasonic technology. The front-facing camera has been moved to the bottom. This has enabled the Chinese-company to drastically reduce the bezel size. Thanks to its full ceramic body, the Mi Note 2 looks quite impressive.

Read The Full Story Here

9. Microsoft's Surface Dial Comes Straight Out Of A Sci-Fi Movie

It is tough to forget Steven Spielberg's crime thriller Minority Report. Set in 2054, the movie envisions huge computers that work with elaborate hand gestures rather than conventional interaction or input methods. As you can see in the image below, the computer's screen reacts to Tom Cruise's hands to trigger more interface elements. Back in 2002, audience found that quite impressive. While we are a long way from creating the machines from Minority Report, I must say that we are inching toward it. Take for instance, Microsoft's Surface Studio. It features a big touch sensitive screen. Okay, not quite as huge or transparent as shown in the movie. However, it works with natural gesture with simultaneous support for up to 10 touch-points.

Read The Full Story Here

10. Microsoft Announces Windows 10 VR Headsets

Windows 10 was built keeping mixed (augmented) reality in mind. Time and again, Microsoft showcased its vision of fusing virtual objects in real world using the Hololens. While that gadget remains out of grasp for mere mortals, the software giant has now announced cheaper consumer ready mixed reality headsets. Microsoft's hardware partners such as HP, Lenovo, Dell, Acer, and ASUS will ship the VR headsets come 2017. These gadgets will require the upcoming Windows 10 Creators update scheduled to roll out early next year. Microsoft claims that these VR accessories will work with affordable laptops and PCs.

Read The Full Story Here

Top 10 Stories
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced Monday that he agreed with Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to resume the cooperation agenda between both nations. | Read More
HANOI, 28 October 2016: Indonesias ambassador to Vietnam says more tourism products and direct air services should be offer to boost the countries tourism demand.

Local media quoted Indonesias Ambassador, Ibnu Hadi, saying his embassy was considering how to introduce solutions to promote tourism development cooperation between Indonesia and Vietnam.

Indonesia is an attractive destination for Vietnamese tourists due to its ancient history, culture and pristine beaches, he said.

However, every year, only 50,000 Vietnamese tourists visit Indonesia and just 70,000 Indonesian tourists visit Vietnam, he claimed, adding that the figures were modest in comparison to the potential the two countries offer.

We will help to connect Vietnam Airlines with airline companies in Indonesia, with the hope we can introduce direct flights between the two countries.

He hopes that the first direct flight from Hanoi to Jakarta and to Bali will start soon, but there have been no announcements so far from any airlines on launch dates.

The embassy will also work with the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism and Vietnam Airlines to organise fam trips between the two countries to encourage tourism growth.

For the first nine months of the year, 51,381 Indonesian travellers visited Vietnam increasing 11.2% over the same period last year, according to the government statistics office.

Vietnam is emerging as one of the fastest growing aviation and tourism markets in ASEAN and is expected to overshadow Thailand in terms of outbound travel growth over the next five years.
Gov. John Bel Edwards' chief budget architect said Friday that he fears Louisiana won't meet its income forecast this year, heaping new financial problems on a state already facing a $313 million deficit from last year.

"We've got big problems on the horizon," Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne told lawmakers. He said economists have been tracking tax collections this year, and "It's not looking real good."

The Edwards administration notified the joint House and Senate budget committee that the state closed the books on the financial year that ended June 30 having spent $313 million more than it collected in revenue, partly because business taxes fell below estimates.

But Dardenne said he expects more bad news. Recent rounds of tax increases aimed to raise $1.5 billion for this year's spending, but this year's collections also appear to be lagging behind expectations.

"The revenue that was raised, despite how big it was, wasn't enough to fund the budget," he told the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget.

The Edwards administration asked state agencies and public colleges this week to draw up scenarios for coping with cuts of 7 percent to 10 percent in the state general fund revenue they get. That's money from general tax collections  not their fines, fees and other dedicated financing sources.

Such a reduction would be an across-the-board cut, but Dardenne said he doesn't expect the governor will support that approach and will want to be "more selective" in how he and lawmakers take back money that has already been promised and appropriated for the current year.

The Edwards' administration and lawmakers are looking at possible use of Louisiana's "rainy day" fund to close some of the gap. Questions remain, however, about whether the savings account can be tapped under its constitutional limits. And even if used, cuts still will be needed.

The deficit from last year has to be closed in the current 2016-17 budget year, along with any other gaps that appear.

On top of the lagging tax collections, the state also will have to come up with $48 million to pay the costs of responding to the mid-August flooding that ravaged south Louisiana. No source of financing has been identified yet for those unforeseen expenses.

Even as lawmakers brace for more bad financial news, they agreed to give the private operators of LSU's charity hospitals and clinics another $135 million this year, as part of the reworked privatization deals struck by the Edwards administration.

None of that money is direct state financing, however: It's federal Medicaid money, matched with dollars from the LSU medical schools and local community hospitals.

Though no one cast a vote in opposition, several Republican lawmakers in the House raised concerns about the implications of boosting spending on the hospital privatization deals and services to nearly $1.3 billion, a 6 percent increase over the last fiscal year.

State Rep. Tony Bacala, R-Prairieville, said he worries that state health department spending has grown to $12 billion in a Louisiana operating budget totaling $28 billion. He said the governor and legislature need to consider what's sustainable, given Louisiana's continuing financial problems.

The health department "can't be so much more important than every other function of state government," Bacala said.
Advocate staff file photo by MARK SALTZ -- The Baton Rouge Diocese has issued a statement criticizing the La. Supreme Court ruling that suggests a priest may be forced to reveal what is confessed privately.
Ascension Parish's top election official has taken to social media to try to allay the concerns of parish residents worried about possible voting machine fraud.

Ascension Parish Clerk of Court Bridget Hanna urged residents on Facebook this week to use the AVC Advantage and AVC Edge voting machines, not paper ballots, when they vote Nov. 8. She assured residents she has "total confidence" in the electronic voting machines from Dominion that the state and parish have used for 20 years.

Hanna, a Republican, said she made the Facebook post Tuesday afternoon in response to repeated calls, email and other comments from voters concerned that Louisiana is using a particular type of voting machine linked to billionaire George Soros, a backer of liberal causes and a supporter of Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Some internet websites are peddling the fake notion that those machines, which Hanna said are not the kind used in Louisiana, could skew voting results in favor of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

"I felt like we needed to let voters know we believe in our system here in Louisiana, and I dont have concern about it," Hanna said in a brief interview about her post. Louisiana voting machines are not even connected to the internet.

Hanna's post says that she has been "overwhelmed with all of the comments, messages & calls I am getting about voter machine fraud."

Hanna noted that voters who choose paper ballots in attempt to safeguard their vote will deny themselves a say in state and local elections since paper provisional ballots are only available for federal elections.

In Ascension, that would mean not voting in the Gonzales and Donaldsonville city elections, a justice of the peace race and on state constitutional amendments.

One source of voter concern, Hanna said, has been online media accounts that Soros has ties to the maker of the Smartmatic voting machines. The news accounts claimed 16 states, including Louisiana, use the machines when, in fact, none do.

In addition to her statement, Hanna posted an account from the fact-checking site Snopes that noted while Soros serves on the same nonprofit board with the Smartmatic chairman, Soros has never had any ownership stake in the company.

Finally, she shared a letter from Secretary of State Tom Schedler also attempting to allay voter concerns.

"Our systems are tested, and we are on high alert for any irregularities which might be detected," he wrote.

Hanna's comments come almost a year after she presided over one of the closest parish president races in recent memory when then-parish administrator and Gonzales City Councilman Kenny Matassa beat businessman Clint Cointment by 117 votes.

Cointment accepted the results after the post-election check of the voting machines to certify the results. He offered Hanna his vote of confidence this week on Facebook.

"Thanks, Bridget, I had no worries about the integrity of the voting process in Ascension, thanks for clarifying," Cointment wrote.

The concerns haven't seemed to stem early voting, which began Tuesday and ends Nov. 1. Waits have lasted as long as an hour and, through mid-morning Friday, early votes totaled 4,765.

BRAC says no to Council on Aging, yes to BREC

The Baton Rouge Area Chamber, the economic development engine of city-parish government, has released election endorsements asking voters to reject a new Council on Aging tax but to continue funding the parish wide park system.

The Council on Aging's property tax would more than double the size of the agency's budget after the agency had a less-than-stellar audit this year. Proponents say it would help the Council to expand its services to more seniors, but opponents argue the Council on Aging does not need a dedicated tax for its services.

"While BRAC supports services being provided to seniors of the parish, the size of this new tax compared to previous funding levels, coupled with recent financial issues at the agency, are causes for concern," the chamber wrote.

The BREC property tax is a renewal of an existing tax that goes toward park maintenance and upkeep.

"Continuing excellent parks and recreation facilities and services is a key component of BRACs focus on quality of place initiatives that attract and retain a talented workforce," the chamber wrote.

Still no resolution to lawsuits against city from ex-parish attorney's husband

The city-parish is yet again ponying up more money for lawsuits related to former city-parish employees Eiad Odeh and his wife Mary Roper, who have each filed lawsuits against the local government.

The Metro Council voted this week to extend its contract with attorney Murphy Foster as he defends the city-parish against Odeh's lawsuit. Foster can now be paid up to $157,500 for his work on the suit.

Odeh sued the city-parish in December 2014 seeking damages for what he described as racial discrimination and defamation. Odeh, of Arab descent, claimed that his co-workers routinely called him a terrorist.

He and his wife's legal battles against the city have been long, costly and well-publicized after the Metro Council fired Roper from her parish attorney position in 2014. They accused Roper of mismanaging her office.

Roper then filed multiple lawsuits against the city's administration and Metro Council members, alleging them of defaming her and violating public records laws. Her lawsuits also have not been fully resolved.

Advocate staff writers David J. Mitchell and Andrea Gallo contributed to this article,
We often hear that East Baton Rouge Parish, and Louisiana, are rarely on the good lists or are near the bottom. I am proud to announce that 
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The new Legislative Assembly has broken ground with a female majority, but when it comes to multicultural diversity it is still a story of overwhelmingly white rule.

Could it be all in the name?

Liberals Candidate for Ginninderra Elizabeth Kikkert is one of only three new MLAs with a non-Anglo surname. Credit:Jay Cronan

The Canberra Times used the research tool favoured by Andrew Leigh, the federal MP for Fenner, in his book, The Luck of Politics, and found 88 per cent of the new Assembly (22 members) had a name with English, Scottish, Irish or Welsh roots.

Dr Leigh, formerly an economics professor at the Australian National University, found some evidence that ethnically identifiable  non-Anglo  names were penalised at the ballot box when he analysed all federal election candidates since Federation.
The Turnbull government has quietly begun a review of Australia's safe-drinking guidelines after the "low risk" level of alcohol intake was halved overnight amid accusations of nanny statism.

The five-yearly review of the guidelines, running behind schedule, was kicked off by the government this month with the selection of a 14-member panel to scrutinise the guidelines for the National Health and Medical Research Council.

There are rumblings the process is captive to anti-alcohol public health advocates who will ensure the review maintains or even stiffens the current standards.

The alcohol industry is calling on federal Health Minister Sussan Ley to rethink the composition of the alcohol working committee  where some members have links to the pro-abstinence temperance movement  before its work starts.
Juliette Binoche is jumping from arthouse movie theatres and the stage to big-budget blockbusters  and blaming her children for the move. She has just completed shooting the liveaction adaptation of the comic Ghost in the Shell, alongside Scarlett Johansson.

The 52-year-old has two children  a 23-year-old son, Raphael, whose father is professional scuba diver Andre Halle, and a 16-year-old daughter, Hana, whose dad is actor Benoit Magimel. They've now reached the age where they're having a say in her career, Binoche says.

Juliette Binoche had leaped into comedy and big-budget blockbusters. Credit:Victoria Stevens/Snapper Media

"My children asked me to go and make Godzilla and Ghost in the Shell. Ghost was shot in New Zealand and I felt being away for a month and a half on the other side of the world was too much, especially after I'd been away touring Antigone on stage. I felt like it was too long a trip, and they couldn't come. But they gave me permission."

It was also the first time that she has made a Hollywood sci-fi blockbuster. Godzilla doesn't really count, because her character lasted five minutes before being killed off. But "it's a new world, and I love having a peek into new worlds."
Among the many queries about fascinators and designer frocks she fields every Derby Day, this year Myer ambassador and former Miss Universe Jennifer Hawkins inevitably faced the awkward question  "What about Donald Trump?"

She denied reports she had been cancelling interviews in recent weeks to avoid commenting on Trump's increasingly controversial campaign amid allegations of sexual impropriety from the presidential candidate.

"It's not that I've been avoiding the subject it's just that I've been busy selling my house and focusing on my work. Sure, I've seen what's been going on the news, but really what is there for me to say other than that he respected me during that time in my life and I have a lot of respect for him because of that ... that's really all I have to say about it," she said.




Mark Colvin dining with his mother Anne in Carorle, Italy. I can honestly say that I never received or even asked for a story or an inside-track from my father  let alone got "fed" one  but in those rumour-driven days there were plenty who might have made assumptions. Especially as my father, whom I hadn't seen since we parted in Ulan Bator, [Mongolia where he was British ambassador but really head of mission for MI6] was now living and working in a very senior job in Washington, DC, and I had plans to visit him later in the year. A younger Mark Colvin. Credit:Sneaky Mag I hadn't taken a lot of leave since I'd joined the ABC in 1974: I had enough backed up to take eight weeks off. I'd also saved enough to buy a round-the-world ticket, and a two-week Eurail pass. I would begin with my first visit to the USA, starting on the west coast, moving on to New York, then spending some time with Dad in Washington.

I set off at the beginning of the Sydney winter, headed for San Francisco to visit my friend Roger Allebone. Then it was New York, where I stayed a couple of nights in the YMCA before running into an old English friend, Jamie McDonald, now working in finance, who let me stay in his flat for a couple of weeks. Journalist and author Mark Colvin. And I had lunch with my dad. We'd arranged for me to stay with him in Washington for a fortnight before I headed across the Atlantic. But, he told me on the phone ahead of my arrival, we needed to talk. Thanks to the conversation with my mother earlier in the year, I had a fair idea what we'd be talking about. His venue, characteristically, was an old-fashioned, London-style "gentlemen's club". I had not known such things existed in New York, but fortunately I'd packed a suit and tie in my round-the-world travel case, so I was duly admitted to the stately premises of the Knickerbocker Club. There we ascended to a high-ceilinged dining room with tall windows looking directly across 62nd Street to Central Park. The tables, covered in thick white linen and set with heavy silver cutlery, were widely spaced, and the tone hushed. My father liked these places anyway, but you could see why he frequented them professionally, not just socially: discretion was guaranteed and our conversation could not be overheard.

It was a strange reunion. It was the first time I'd seen my father since we'd parted at the Ulan Bator railway station five years before, but the personal pleasure of seeing each other again was a little overshadowed by what we had to talk about. Over lamb cutlets and claret, he told me that I had to be clear that what he was about to say was secret, not to be revealed to anyone, and that if I could not agree to this condition, I wouldn't be able to come and stay with him. There would be colleagues from the London office staying with him at the same time, and people coming for dinner, about whom and around whom I would have to be very discreet. Of course I agreed: there wasn't much of a choice involved. So then he explained to me that his title, councillor (political) at the British embassy in Washington, was just "cover". He was in fact the head of station for what I would know as MI6, but what the organisation itself preferred to call the SIS  the Secret Intelligence Service. Dad outlined the differences between the SIS and the domestic intelligence service MI5. The SIS had an "intelligence-gathering" remit, with no powers to work inside the UK, while MI5 had the job of "counter-intelligence", defending the country on its own soil from the depredations of foreign spies, mainly of their mutual enemy, the Soviet KGB. He also explained that British intelligence agencies and their members were known as "The Friends" and the CIA as "The Cousins", and that his job in Washington was to liaise between "Friends" and "Cousins": between the SIS's home in London and CIA headquarters at Langley, Virginia. His position was an extremely senior one. Did I know the name Kim Philby? Of course. Well, Philby had been his predecessor in the job during the 1950s, before he was unmasked, and his betrayal had come close to destroying the relationship between the two agencies. My father's was therefore now an extremely senior, delicate and closely watched job. It had taken two decades to rebuild after the damage done to US trust by the defection of the Cambridge spies.

Master spy Harold 'Kim' Philby at his mother's home with the British press. I had read enough John le Carre to have an idea of some of this already, but hearing it from the horse's mouth was the end of a long process of guesswork and confirmation. We parted after lunch with a promise that he'd pick me up at Washington National Airport (since renamed after Ronald Reagan). Two weeks passed quickly in Washington for me. Dad took me to lunch a couple of times at one of his clubs. I forget its name, but it was another of those gentlemen-only establishments done up to look like the interior of an English stately home. There I got a glimpse into another aspect of his job: making connections with the media. We were having a drink before lunch when a man called Rowland (Rowley) Evans came over. For decades, Evans and his writing partner Robert Novak put out a hugely influential, widely syndicated column called "Inside Politics". They were both fierce Cold Warriors with strong Republican connections, and their usually anonymous sources gave them a lot of scoops. The familiarity and warmth of Rowley Evans' conversation with my father that day left me in little doubt that Dad was one of those sources. It was also clear enough that it was a two-way street: Evans was not just a conduit for planted stories (part of what are known in MI6 as I/Ops), but also, in the opposite direction, a source of gossip and political intelligence for Dad. Clearly, Evans usually knew a lot more gossip and information about Washington political and strategic matters than he could actually print. From conversations at the time, I know that Dad was also a contact of Jack Anderson, who wrote the "Washington Merry-Go-Round" column, and who was revealed in a 2010 book to have bribed, blackmailed, extorted, bugged and lied in order to get stories.

Knowing of these relationships left me forever sceptical of all stories involving defence, intelligence and national security that rely on anonymous sources. They're too often tainted, and subsequent events, like The Spectator (while I was Europe correspondent during the Balkans war) running two articles by a pseudonymous MI6 agent in Bosnia, have done nothing to change my mind. Another friend of my father's was Allen Weinstein, then writing his massive and influential book Perjury, about the McCarthy-era case of the accused spy Alger Hiss. I'd read a little about the extraordinarily convoluted course of this case but only enough to pigeonhole Hiss in my mind in the same category as others targeted by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Weinstein's investigations of the case were even then causing huge ructions on the left, because, in exemplary fashion, he had chipped away at the detailed factual foundations of Hiss' defence, finding a host of contradictions which pointed more strongly than ever to the man's probable guilt as a Soviet spy, a KGB "mole" high in the US State Department. Staying at the house when Allen came to dinner were two MI6 colleagues of my father's from London. In retrospect, I see myself that night as callow and arrogant. I was foolish enough to regurgitate some half-remembered and thinly understood material I'd read or heard about the Petrov Affair of the early 1950s, and suggested that the evidence that ASIO produced about infiltration of the Labor Party was still regarded by some in Australia as a put-up job by the Prime Minister, Robert Menzies. Russian diplomat Vladimir Petrov and wife Mrs Evdokia Petrov. The pair defected in 1954.
Family, friends and locals will pay their respects to a bus driver who was burnt to death, at a vigil in Brisbane's south on Saturday.

Manmeet Alisher, 29, was killed when an "incendiary device" was thrown at him while he was letting passengers on at Moorooka on Friday morning.

A 48-year-old man, described by police as "compliant" was arrested at the scene and charged with murder and eleven counts of attempted murder late on Friday night.

A vigil for Mr Alisher, an Indian immigrant, has been organised for 5.30pm at Luxworth Place, Beaudesert Rd, Moorooka.
He's the besieged Labor minister whose pampered pooches were chauffeured around the state in a taxpayer-funded government car.

But Victorians have also footed the bill to transport Steve Herbert around the globe, with the jet-setting politician spending more than $100,000 for four trips to Asia and Latin America.

Government documents show that since April last year, taxpayers forked out an estimated $113,100 to send Mr Herbert and one staff member on four international trips.

The most expensive was a $39,000 "education trade mission" to Brazil, Colombia and Peru last year, followed by a $30,000 trip to China in June and July this year to "identify further education opportunities".
A 40-year-old woman has crashed her car into a McDonald's in Melbourne's north.

Emergency services were called to a McDonald's outlet on the Hume Highway in Campbellfield about 11.30pm on Saturday night after reports a car had crashed into a building.

At the scene, police discovered the driver of a Toyota RAV4 had driven through the window of the fast-food store after losing control of the car.

Do you know more? Email scoop@theage.com.au
Almost every hour a health worker is bitten, spat at, punched, abused or threatened while trying to care for patients in Victorian hospitals.

Public hospitals and the ambulance service have made the number of these reports public for the first time, providing the clearest picture yet of the threat faced by doctors, nurses and other workers.

A still from a 2015 anti-ice campaign. There were 8627 reports of occupational violence in hospitals in the year to July.

There were 8627 reports of occupational violence in hospitals in the year to July, and of those 1166 cases resulted in staff injury or illness, an analysis of health services' annual reports reveals.

That means the equivalent of three hospital staff each day last year were hurt by violence. But Health Minister Jill Hennessy believes this is still not the full picture.
When Jessica Eshel heard a new national disability scheme was coming, she vowed to advocate on behalf of her sister Antonella, 41, who has an intellectual and other complex disabilities.

She pored over NDIS brochures, went to information sessions and spoke to the carers at Antonella's group home about the kind of support she needed to live a full, happy life.

Jessica Eshel and her sister Antonella, who has complex needs and is now worse off every fortnight. Credit:Simon Schluter

So she was shocked when, after a brief conversation with an NDIS planner on the phone, Antonella's finished plan arrived in the letterbox. No meeting, no consultation.

"It's so basic, it's like a five-year-old wrote it," she says. "My sister is complex needs, she needs a high level of support."
Police are investigating a suspicious fire that engulfed a factory in Melbourne's north in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Firefighters arrived at Foden Avenue, in Campbellfield, just after 5am to find the factory well alight.

Police and firefighters are the scene of the suspicious fire. Credit:Patrick Herve

It took 30 firefighters approximately an hour to bring the blaze under control.

Do you know more? Email scoop@theage.com.au
Telstra has apologised for an NBN outage affecting thousands of Victorians on Saturday.

People have taken to social media to vent their frustration.

Reports of Telstra service outages peaked about 7pm with several hundred complaints on the Aussie Outages website.

Jeana Jee posted: "What's going Telstra on hold for 45 min NBN out in Brunswick."

Clive Kempson wrote: "Our nbn Telstra service has been down since mid afternoon, rang Telstra and did a lot of mucking around. Asked the tech is there a network problem but got told not that he knew of. In Clyde North, VIC."
Bangkok: Myanmar security forces have shot scores of people, raped women, burnt the Koran and looted and burnt shops and houses in western Rakhine state in the biggest upsurge in violence against Rohingya Muslims in four years, according to multiple reports.

The United States and United Nations have voiced their concern and human rights groups are demanding a prompt impartial investigation into the escalating violence almost one year after the party of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi won power in the country also known as Burma.

The Myanmar Times has cited credible reports that dozens of Muslim women have been raped by security forces, including 30 in a single village. Some were as young as 16.

Reuters quotes eight Rohingya women, all from U Shey Kya village, describing in detail how soldiers raided their homes, looted property and raped them at gun point last week .
Washington: It seems wholly appropriate that this depressing election could be undone by a man drummed out of Congress years ago for his habit of sending dick-pics to women he met online.

If you don't like this sort of language please don't read on. It's hard to write about the current campaign without it.

The only time the race has veered out of the gutter is when it has buried itself in someone's pants or up someone's skirt.

Way back in the relatively innocent days of the primary, Donald Trump was first moved to talk about his penis. "Look at those hands, are they small hands?" the then front-runner said mid-debate, raising his paws for all to see.
Hospital offers safe option to dispose of meds, narcotics Los Robles Health System is working to crush the opioid drug crisis by raising awareness about the dangers of opioid misuse and the importance of safe and proper disposal of unused or expired medications. Crush the Crisis will take place...

Alzheimers Foundation to host free conference The Alzheimers Foundation of America will host a free virtual educational conference from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tues., Nov. 15. The event is part of the foundations 2022 national Educating America Tour. The conference, which is free and open...

Authorities warn about rainbow fentanyl Victims often arent aware theyre taking it

The Ventura County Office of Education and state health officials have issued a warning to schools and families about rainbow fentanyl, a form of the potentially fatal synthetic opioid that comes in bright colors. Rainbow fentanyl can be found in...

Cancer support community to host remembrance event Cancer Support Community Valley/Ventura/Santa Barbara invites family members and friends of those who have died from cancer to attend the second annual Evening of Remembrance from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thurs., Nov. 3 at Cancer Support Communitys Garden of Hope,...
Coming soon - The Cultural Voyager Dedicated to anyone who pursues culture as a major part of their vacation experience.
Fox News anchor Bret Baier landed an exclusive joint interview with Donald Trump and Mike Pence on Friday. Unfortunately for everyone involved, the sit-down was taped just two hours before FBI Director James Comey sent his bombshell letter to Congress about Hillary Clinton-related emails.

Because of its problematic timing, that interview, which aired during the 6 p.m. hour on the east coast, helped highlight the abrupt change in Trumps rhetoric since news broke that the FBI would be reviewing additional emails found on Clinton aide Huma Abedins laptop in connection with the Anthony Weiner sexting case.

The system is rigged when Hillary Clinton is allowed to run for president, because what she did is criminal, Trump told Baier Friday morning. The FBI rolled over and the Department of Justice rolled over. For extra emphasis, he added moments later, When she's allowed to run for office, the FBI rolled over. Asked if he could lose this election without it being rigged, Trump declined to answer.

Those comments were strikingly different from the ones Trump made onstage at a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire just a few hours later. After telling his supporters about the new FBI probe and declaring, Perhaps finally justice will be done, Trump launched into his standard stump speech. (But not before telling them, "The rest of my speech is going to be so boring. Should I even make the speech?")

When Trump got to his section about the increase in Obamacare premiums, he said, seemingly by force of habit, it was just one more way the system is rigged. But then he stopped himself. "But with what Ive just announced, he said, referring to the FBI news, it might not be as rigged as I thought, right? The FBI, I think they're going to right the ship, folks. I think they're going to right the ship. And they're going to save their great reputation by doing so."

All it took for Director Comey to get back in Trumps good graces was the announcement that the FBI would be reviewing some newly discovered Clinton emails  not that it was reopening the investigation into her private email server, as both Trump and Pence said in their initial remarks on the issue. It was a remarkable reversal from back in July when Trump was tweeting about Comey as part of the rigged system against him, let alone what he said on Fox.

The decision to inch away from the rigged claims was also apparent in an appearance by Trump surrogate Rudy Giuliani on CNN with Wolf Blitzer this afternoon. Whereas less than two weeks ago, Giuliani was saying he would have to be a moron to think that the election wont be rigged against Trump, he had a very different outlook on that question following the FBI letter.

Do I agree that that original investigation and the way it was handled by the Justice Department was entirely unethical? he asked rhetorically. Yes, I would agree with that. Would I call it rigged? I dont know if I know exactly what the definition of rigged means.
NAPLES, ItalyWhen Italian anti-Mafia police discovered two precious Van Gogh masterpieces worth $100 million wrapped in a bed sheet under the stairway of a mobsters house near Naples last month, Dutch art detective Arthur Brand wasnt surprised.

But what did surprise Brand, who works as a private art consultant helping collectors spot forgeriesin addition to his sleuthing as a stolen art hunterwas that there wasnt also a Rembrandt in the cache.

Brand first heard eight years ago that the Neapolitan Camorra had a cache of stolen paintings, including the two Van Gogh works stolen from the Vincent Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in 2002. At the time, Italian investigators were trying to crack a drug ring between Dutch and Italian criminal gangs and a South American drug cartel in Venezuela.

The Camorra and other criminal gangs dont steal precious art per se. Instead they acquire it, generally when someone owes them a lot of money or when they commission its theft if they think they can artnap it and get a hefty ransom for its return from a private owner or museum.

Brand says they often dont even know the value of the art when it comes to them, but they almost always have affiliates who are versed in the value of art and ancient artefacts.

In Sicily, the Cosa Nostra makes a lot of money from the acquisition and sale of ancient antiquities, a business they and the Camorra have recently expanded to the acquisition of art from terrorists in Libya.

Thats why most art that is found in the hands of criminal gangs is not hanging on a mobsters wall but rather hidden in the basement or under a stairwell, as was the case with the Van Gogh pieces.

Brand said that the Camorra gang members, who were unwittingly wire-tapped during the drug trafficking investigation, discussed the two Van Goghs and an unidentified Rembrandt they apparently obtained from Dutch criminals.

Brand, who works with private detective Sander van Betten, is often hired by museums and governments to negotiate with art thieves as he did to help secure some of Hitlers lost art last year.

The two have a hunch that the Rembrandt they were referring to is part of the private collection worth $500 million that was stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990, which is second on the list of the FBIs top 10 art crimes.

He said that cops involved in the Venezuelan drug bust unsuccessfully tried to smoke out the Camorra by hinting that they knew about the stolen art.

As it happened, Italian police working on the Venezuelan drug investigation held a press conference two months before they and Dutch authorities made several major arrests tied to drug dealings at the Tamanaco Hotel in Caracas in 2009.

The police had apparently hoped their subtle hint would cause local mafiosi in Naples to scramble to get rid of the stolen art or that one of their well-placed informants or a turncoat would tip them off.

Instead, there was radio silence. Strangely, two months before they took all these people in, they held a press conference to announce that the two Van Goghs were in Italy, Brand told The Daily Beast. Because they were wiretapping all these people, they tried to bait them into talking about it or doing something about it. But it didnt work.

At the press conference, the cops didnt mention the Rembrandt, which could have caused the Camorra to separate it from the Van Gogh pieces, especially if they thought the local authorities were on the trail of the stolen art.

Brand said that in the criminal world, the worth of a major work of art is about 10 percent of its real value because there is no way to sell it without causing suspicion.

He said criminal organizations generally end up with the art as collateral, often sold up the criminal chain of command after being stolen by small time thieves.

They are normally stolen from criminals far from the top who think, Gee, why do we steal a car for ten thousand when we can steal a painting for ten million, Brand said. Most often it is done without much forethought.

Only 5 percent of stolen art is ever recovered, primarily because those who have it cant sell it, so they end up hiding it away, as in the case of the Van Gogh pieces.

When they try to liquidate its value, as one criminal gang did this week in Italy by putting a 15th century manuscript up for auction, they often get caught and the art is confiscated.

Sometimes people like Brand act as intermediaries between the criminal gangs and authorities, essentially trying to save the art by negotiating its safe return.

Brand has worked with terrorists and tomb raiders, criminals and members of the former Irish Republican Army when they were into art thievery.

Artnapping requires intense negotiation and we always try to negotiate a good deal for everybody to get the pieces back safely, Brand said. If you arrest someone for having stolen art and the painting is not under his bed, there could be a chain of command that leads to the destruction of the piece and thats risky. The Van Goghs were found by luck. You wont ever get art back by arresting people.

Fabrizio Parrulli, commander of Italys Patrimony Police said that having people like Brand involved in negotiations was crucial.

If we want to save the art or artifacts, we often have a better chance at recovery if third parties are involved in negotiations with criminals, he told The Daily Beast. If the priority is truly to save the art from destruction, the art has to be treated almost like humans are in negotiating a safe return.

Brand said he is sure the Camorra still have the Rembrandt.

Two months before the Van Goghs were found, Brand and Van Betten decided they would focus on the old tip from the Venezuelan drug raids.

We were thinking about how to proceed. We have a very good London-based person who is close to the Camorra who was able to verify that the gang still had all the paintings, he said. The police beat us to the Van Goghs, but the Rembrandt is still out there. I think we can find it.
On Friday afternoon, FBI Director James Comeywho seems to, in the words of The Waterboy, not have what they call the social skillsreleased his own October surprise.

Comey dropped a statement on Hillary Clintons never-ending email probe, stating: In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation, adding, the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation. The news came as a surprise to many, since Comey had held a bizarre press conference close to four months ago stating that no charges would be brought against Hillary over her use of a private server during her tenure as Secretary of State, concluding that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case.

Quoting an FBI official close to the investigation, the Los Angeles Times reported, the emails were not to or from Clinton, and contained information that appeared to be more of what agents had already uncovered but in an abundance of caution, they felt they needed to further scrutinize them. The emails, it turns out, came from a device connected to Anthony Weiner, who is currently being investigated for his inappropriate sexting with a 15-year-old girl across state lines. Weiner is the former husband of Huma Abedin, Hillarys longtime aide.

Voting is underway, so the American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately, Hillary said of Comeys vague letter during a news conference in Iowa. She added she was confident whatever [the emails] are will not change the conclusion reached in July.

So, during Fridays edition of HBOs Real Time, host Bill Maher gave his unique take on the latest development in Hillarys Emailgate.

I think it is rather appropriate that this election is so close to Halloween, because what happens in every scary movie? You think you killed the monsteryou killed him ten timesand then a tiny, orange hand comes out of the grave. Believe me: for Hillary, tonight was Nightmare on Email Street, he quipped during his monologue.

Maher then gave some background on how the hell Anthony Weiner (alias: Carlos Danger), a frequent panelist on his Real Time program, could be playing such a consequential role in this election.

Anthony Weiner is under investigation for sexting with a underage girl across state lines, so the FBI seized all his computers. He is marriedor was marriedto Huma Abedin, who is Hillary Clintons aide, and they were using the same computer, said Maher. Which begs my first question: Why is Huma using Anthonys computer? If theres one thing she didnt want to go near, it would be his computer. So Hillarys emails are intermingled with Anthony Weiners sexting? No wonder she had her server wiped! Id have had it boiled. He continued: This is the world we live in now: Hillary Clintons aides estranged husband is a freak, so we get to read Hillary Clintons emails. I wish Hillary would send a text to Donald Trump. Maybe then we would get to see his taxes.

The big issue with Comeys letter is how little information was actually contained in itjust a surfeit of vagueness and innuendo which was, as expected, immediately seized on by the Trump camp and various other Republicans with longstanding vendettas against the Clintons.

And you know, we dont know whats in these emails! Maybe nothing. James Comey, the Director of the FBI, hes the one who made this announcement today. He said they appear pertinent, but I cant say that theyre significant. Well take your time, man! Theres nothing riding on it! joked Maher.

Of course, you know, Trump and Cruz and the whole gang on the right are all making hay on this about its corruption and criminal conduct, he added. Only Republicans could look at an investigation into sexually propositioning a minor and say, Yeah, did you find anything really disgusting? Like mishandled emails? Something that would really revolt people? So once again, Hillarys political fortunes are driven by out of control cocks. Right? This poor woman. I mean, first it was her husbands, then it was Donald Trumps, and now its Anthony Weiners. Or what she calls it: My basket of deplorable horndogs. Late Friday night, Comey explained his decision to release such a vague, politically damaging letter 11 days before the general election. He did so in a text to FBI agents that was later obtained by various news networks.

It read: Of course, we dont ordinarily tell Congress about ongoing investigations, but here I feel an obligation to do so given that I testified repeatedly in recent months that our investigation was completed. I also think it would be misleading to the American people were we not to supplement the record. At the same time, however, given that we dont know the significance of this newly discovered collection of emails, I dont want to create a misleading impression In trying to strike that balance, in a brief letter and in the middle of an election season, there is significant risk of being misunderstood, but I wanted you to hear directly from me about it. Well, it seems FBI Director Comey did about as much as he could to create a misleading impression. The American people deserve better.
For two weeks after the Nobel Prize in Literature was announced, Bob Dylan kept the world hung up in his silence.

Per Wastberg, wasn't happy about that. He chaired the committee that gave Bob Dylan the Nobel Prize in literature. After Dylan didnt respond, Wastberg told Swedish TV that Dylans silence was impolite and arrogant.

That was Wastbergs interpretation and he wasn't alone. It says more about his expectations than about Dylan. Poets should be polite and decorous, I guess. But was Rimbaud polite? Was Allen Ginsberg decorous?

What did Dylan say to earn this rebuke? Nothing.

Thats the potency of silence.

Dylans silence seemed to anger so manyand thats the beauty of it. It was a gift from the heart of poetry.

Poets know and understand silence. They know its potency as sovereign to the word. There are places where words just cant do any good. The psalmist went deepest with that question, when he addresses the ultimate: to you silence is praise.

But silence is also necessary. W.B. Yeats understood silence as the decisive moment of creativitythe zero point, the beginning, before new words come. It is the just-before where a poet or any artistor any humanmoves upon silence before something new and creative emerges:

Like a long-legged fly upon the stream Her mind moves upon silence.

A poets silence is something to contemplate, not condemn.

Yeats gave us a beautiful image of the stillness of contemplationthe long-legged fly on the clear flowing water, the current at the surface and the life active below. This is what a poet does, moves on silence delicate as a water-skater. This is how poets listenhow we all might learn to listen if we would just give up our noise.

The noisy news would scare off any water-skaterthe news about Dylans no. The instant interpretations of his silence reveal more about the interpreters than they do about the silence. It cant be understood so quickly, its a purely poetic gesture.

What did it mean we incessantly wanted to know. We couldn't let go of it. Was it arrogance or modestyindifference to the world or attention seeking? Or all those things? Or none.

Now Dylan has said he might show up in Stockholm. In a way its a shame. I thought Dylans silence much more interesting than any Nobel Prize speech he could possibly give. In his case the award is nearly superfluous. That's how Leonard Cohen sees it: Giving Dylan a Nobel is like pinning a medal on Mount Everest for being the highest mountain.

Dylan has always eluded his audience as much as hes engaged it. Dont follow leaders / Watch the parkin meters. Hes asked us to consult our own inner sense: You dont need a weatherman / To know which way the wind blows.

If some read his gesture as contempt, that contempt redoubled itself in response, all because he didnt hop to and instantly respond to a prize he never sought.

Those who criticize what they can't understand don't see that Dylan already gave us the most beautiful possible response to an award that carries such a heavy load of expectations.

Silence, like any good poem, cries out for interpretation. Dylan has always understood that poetry is not just for the page, that the real writing is upon the heart. Because he's deep into the roots of song, he's understood how poetry can soak in deeply until it reshapes our listening. A lot of modern poetry has lost that great capacity. Maybe we lost it when poetry divorced itself from song, when it could no longer be memorized, and therefore was no longer memorable.

But some poetsDylan and Cohen and Joni Mitchellremembered the old ways, the deep ways of song, remembered that poetry was meant for memory, to be carried in consciousness as great lines of poetry are always carried, and as songs are carried, too. They remembered that the roots of poetry are in song and the deepest source of song is silence. Thats where it all begins. Great writing is listening, a listening that begins with silence.

So we saw all the lesser poets and non-poets and haters of poetry condemn Dylan in the name of literature, when really all they craved was their own place in the spotlight he seemed to shun. They projected their own calculations onto his silence, and often what we heard from them sounded surprisingly cynical or self-serving.

Dylan isnt really a poet, hes a musician, said the proud poet with few readers. Hmmph, said the would-be Nobel Prize winner in literature who has to wait another year. Too bad some worthy but out-of-print author wont get that boost in sales, said the publishers.

It was a grand occasion to deprecate a guy who took a deeply original path in poetry. And by the way, as Amit Chadhuri pointed out in the Guardian, Dylan isnt the first songwriter to win a Nobel. That was Rabindranath Tagore in 1913.

If you want to understand Dylans silence, look at what hes sung about it. Early on, singing of a lover, but really also of his own soul:

My love she speaks like silence Without ideals or violence

Seems like Dylans silence provoked plenty of folks who hold up ideals of whats right and properwith lots of violence.

She doesnt have to say shes faithful Yet shes true, like ice, like fire

In Love Minus Zero, No Limit, Dylan gave us his own differential equation of the ratio of love to silence. Words limit and define. Sometimes they betray. Saying you are faithful doesnt make you faithful, proclaiming you are true doesnt make you true. In some situations, silence is the best way to speak.

The world reacted in its noisy, worldly way. Dylan was attacked for being himself, for doing what he wants to do, which apparently is not to fly to Sweden in the cold and dark of winter. Maybe Dylan would prefer to do what he does best: writing new songs and singing them.

He rides on the silence like the long-legged fly until he hears the words that come alive in him, words that come up with their own musicas they did for Yeats and William Blake, as they did for Emily Dickinson.

Against that silence is clamor. The clamor of fame, the clamor of others expectations. He tries to ward it off, to keep himself attuned to his inner silence. Dylan told us about his priorities back when he first had to deal with fame, back when he was famous long ago.

He told us who he was, and that he was going to be who he was not enslave himself to my expectations or yours.

If you dont like his silence, its not because he never told us. If you dont get his attitude, you havent been listening:

Well, I try my best To be just like I am But everybody wants you To be just like them They sing while you slave and I just get bored

I aint gonna work on Maggies farm no more No, I aint gonna work on Maggies farm no more

Now that hes broken his silence and may be heading to Stockholm, I cant wait to hear what he has to say next.

Rodger Kamenetzs books include The Jew in the Lotus, The History of Last Nights Dream and To Die Next To You. kamenetz.com
In a normal election year, a normal candidates close aide who caused even minor embarrassment to a campaign so near to Election Day would be whisked away as quickly as possible to avoid becoming a distraction.

But Huma Abedin is not simply a close aide, shes a critical member of Hillary Clintons tiny inner circle that protects and  at times  enables the deeply flawed and secretive Democratic nominee.

So despite FBI Director James Comeys announcement that the bureau is reviewing emails from Abedins time at the State Department reportedly found on a laptop she shared with her soon-to-be ex-husband Anthony Weiner (confiscated as a part of the FBIs investigation into allegations he sexted with a 15-year-old North Carolina girl), the campaign made clear over the weekend that shes not going anywhere.

John Podesta, the chairman of the Clinton campaign, told reporters on a conference call that Abedin had been nothing but cooperative with investigators and sat for hours of depositions last summer as part of the civil lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch.

"There's nothing that she's done that we think calls into question anything that she's done with respect to this investigation we fully stand behind her," Podesta said.

But the new information that the FBI found State Department-related email on her home laptop also calls into question whether Abedin in fact turned over all of the devices she used to send and receive email while working at State. For her part, Abedin reportedly told the FBI she didn't know her emails were on the laptop.

On June 28, 2016, Abedin said under oath in a sworn deposition that she looked for all devices that she thought contained government work on them so the records could be given to the State Department. (These records were subsequently reviewed by the FBI.)

How did you go about searching for what records you may have in your possession to be returned to the State Department? Attorney Ramona Cotca for Judicial Watch asked her.

I looked for all the devices that may have any of my State Department work on it and returned  returned  gave them to my attorneys for them to review for all relevant documents. And gave them devices and paper, Abedin answered.

Cotca then asked Abedin specifically what devices she gave her attorneys.

If memory serves me correctly, it was two laptops, a BlackBerry, and some files that I found in my apartment, Abedin said, adding the BlackBerry was associated with her Clintonemail.com account.

Abedin maintained that she was not involved in the process of what records on her devices would be given to the State Department.

I provided them [her attorneys] with the devices and the materials and asked them to find whatever they thought was relevant and appropriate, whatever was their determination as to what was a federal record, and they did. They turned the materials in, and I know they did so.

Abedin was asked whether she supplied her login, password and other credentials to her Clintonmail.com account so that her attorneys could eyeball all of the emails that were on that account Abedin said she had.

Pressed how she was sure, Abedin said, I cannot answer that question.

Abedin said her practice was to rely on her State Department email through her laptop and BlackBerry for the vast majority of my work but acknowledged her personal account was a de facto business account too.

I used that for the Clinton family matters and, frankly, I used it for my own personal e-mail, as well, she testified.

Abedin helped set up a private email address for Clinton at the start of her tenure as Secretary of State, according to State Department emails. In one email, Clinton wrote Abedin on Nov. 12, 2010: ...I dont want any risk of the personal being accessible.

Asked about this exchange in her deposition, Abedin said she interpreted Clintons words to mean the Secretary of State hoped personal matters would not accessible to anybody.

I would imagine anybody who has personal e-mail doesnt want that personal e-mail to be read by anybody else, Abedin said.

Asked whether the decision was made to deliberately avoid public disclosure through the Freedom of Information Act, Abedin responded, I absolutely do not believe that no.

When told she used her Clintonmail.com address for State-related matters, Abedin didnt deny it.

Yes. There were occasions when I did do that, correct, she said.

But Abedin said she rarely deleted emails when it came to her official State Department email account or her personal Huma@Clintonemail.com.

My practice with my Clinton e-mail was similar to what I had with my State account, which is that I left everything in  in the Inbox, and I transitioned to a new e-mail once the Secretary's office was set up, her personal office post State Department. And I was  and I no longer used Clinton e-mail.

Abedin added that just before she left the State Department and ceased using her Clintonemail.com account, she couldnt recall how many [e-mails] were returned  I certainly dont recally how many was on  was on the account. I just left everything on what  on the system, I guess.

It appears that Abedin amassed emails on her computers and government-issued BlackBerry that she thought were automatically purged.

The e-mails on my State Department system existed on my computer, and I didn't have a practice of managing my mailbox other than leaving what was in there sitting in there.

So for my BlackBerry, if I exceeded the limit, I think it auto deleted. But, no, I didn't ... go into my e-mails and delete State.gov e-mails. They just lived on my computer.

Abedin said she didnt keep any paper printouts of any of the correspondence that may have been deleted or otherwise lost.

Honestly, I wish I thought about it at the time. As I said, I wasn't perfect. I tried to do all of my work on State.gov. And I do believe I did the majority of my work on State.gov.

And many of the instances where I was on Clinton e-mail, it was because I had forwarded something from a State.gov account into Clinton e-mail, and in other instances from my Clinton e-mail I was communicating with somebody who was on a State.gov account, and it was captured through there. I did the best I could to do everything right. It did not occur to me to print and file.

Abedin was asked if she had any concerns about Clintons use of her private email server for State Department business.

I assumed it was allowed, Abedin answered. It didnt occur to us.

Judicial Watch followed up, asking why no one inquired with a State Department official in charge of managing records to make sure it was allowed.

We all wish we could go back and that not be the case, Abedin, a wish that must only be greater 10 days before voters decide her bosss fate.

Editor's Note, 10/31: Thie story has been updated with Abedin's reported response.
I am a brown, liberal, reform Muslim. I have survived violent neo-Nazi racism and served as a former War on Terror political prisoner in Egypt, witnessing torture. Yet, in a trip that takes us through the looking glass, the largely white American non-Muslim progressive leadership at the pro-civil liberties group Southern Poverty Law Center (SLPC) has just published a journalists field list naming me as an anti-Muslim extremist.

Through the counter-extremism organisation Quilliam that I founded, I have spent eight years defending my Muslim communities in Europe, Pakistan and beyond from the diktats of Islamist theocrats. I have also argued for the liberal reform of Islam today, from within. But, in a naively dangerous form of neo-Orientalism, the SPLC just arrogated to itself the decision over which debates we Muslims may have about reforming our own religion, and which are to be deemed beyond the pale.

Let us call it Islamsplaining.

In a monumental failure of comprehension, the SPLC have conflated my challenge to Islamist theocracy among my fellow Muslims with somehow being anti-Muslim. The regressive left is now in the business of issuing fatwas against Muslim reformers.

Its not as if theres any shortage of Muslim extremists who want me dead. They exist in numbers so plenty that former jihadists have even taken to calling in to my live LBC radio show to confess to once having made plans to assassinate me. Europe has witnessed around 6,000 of our fellow Muslims leave to join ISIS. Here in Europe, amid jihadist assassinations and mass terror attacks planned with military precision, we truly are in the thick of it. Meanwhile, from the comforts of sweet Alabama comes this edict that liberal Muslims working to throw open a conversation around reforming Islam today are somehow to be deemed anti-Muslim extremists.

To be forced to defend oneselfagainis an inherently undesirable position to be in. Many have already admirably come to my defense, and more are no doubt forthcoming.

But there are certain things that are too important to leave to others. To be able to successfully do what I care deeply about  working toward the emancipation of my Muslim communities from the oppressive yoke of theocrats  it is crucial that reforming liberal Muslims like me are not smeared as anti-Muslim. After all, it is in the theocrats interests to have us labeled so. It is only they who argue that any internal criticism is but heresy. In a Muslim version of the Inquisition, the punishments meted out by these jihadists to Muslims they accuse of heresy are by now so well known that they require no introduction.

Another set that benefits from the smear that reforming liberal Muslims are not Muslim enough are the often xenophobic, sometimes racist, but always anti-Muslim, bigots. By advocating that every Muslim is a jihadist in waiting, and must be expelled from the West, these bigots suppport the very religious segregation that Islamist theocrats call for.

ISIS has called this eliminating the gray zone. We reforming liberal Muslims and ex-Muslims who sit between Muslim and anti-Muslim bigots disrupt the narrative of both these extremes. It is no surprise then that as well as being attacked by Islamists, I have been labelled a closet jihadist by people like Glenn Beck on Fox News, and on various other anti-Muslim online platforms. Imagine for a moment how besieged we reformers feel.

Anti-Muslim extremists often complain that there are no moderate Muslims challenging extremism. Then liberal reform Muslims and ex-Muslims stepped up to this challenge, only to be labelled as anti-Muslim extremists by those we had hoped were our allies, and who we now call the regressive-left. They are those who talk of progressive values: feminism, gay rights and free speech, and who criticise Christian fundamentalists within their own communities. A long time ago, we liberal reform Muslims had high hopes for this group. Just as they challenge the conservatives of their own Bible belt we thought they would support our challenge against our very own Quran Belt. How wrong we were.

Too many on the left not only abandoned us, but took to openly attacking us for advocating these very same progressive values among our own  extremely socially conservative  communities. Ironically, my life epitomises every one of the grievances the regressive left pays lip service to when refusing to entertain rational conversation around Islam. I have faced violent neo-Nazi racist hammer and machete attacks. I am a jailed survivor of the War-on-Terror torture era in Egypt.

Unlike many of these first world keyboard virtue-signallers, I can instinctively identify genuine anti-Muslim bigotry and discrimination. This bigotry must be challenged, alongside the bigotry peddled by Muslim theocrats.

But the solution cannot be to stare too long into the abyss, becoming the very Nietzschean or McCarthyite beast we seek to defeat.

As well as opposing left-wing UK government ministers whove supported ethnic and religious profiling, I have opposed President Obamas targeted killings and drone strikes. I challenged U.S. Rep. Peter King in the UK Parliament on his obfuscation and justification for torture. I have repeatedly spoken out against extraordinary rendition of terror suspects and against detention without charge of terror suspects. I have supported my political party, the Liberal Democrats, by backing a call to end the UKs Schedule 7, which deprives terror suspects of the right to silence at our ports of entry and exit, something I have personally been subjected to while having my DNA forcibly taken from me.

I have criticized the UK governments counter extremism plans where I think they are too state heavy, and I have called for their reform where needed. I have spoken out repeatedly against Trumps populism. I have argued in favor of a motion that Islam is a religion of peace, at an Intelligence Squared debate in New York. And I hosted Morgan Freeman in a New York mosque. I have battled racist callers to my national LBC radio show who advocate mass deportation of ethnic minorities. On that same show, I have defended my fellow Muslims from bigots who think we are all here to take over.

Anderson Cooper has said that mine is a voice I urge you to hear. 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl considers my story absorbing and my work important. Kate Allen, UK head of Amnesty International has said my life involves a passionate advocacy of human rights and that she was moved beyond measure. Former UK Prime Minister David Cameron sought my advice regularly while in office. And against this assault by the Southern Poverty Law Center I have the support and acknowledgement of the UK's only watchdog against anti-Muslim hate run by Muslims themselves, Tell Mama UK.

And despite all this, white non-Muslim self-appointed inquisitors at a civil liberties organisation somehow found it acceptable to list me as an anti-Muslim Extremist.

But think about it.

If despite the above, and the fact that I have memorised half of the Quran, what hope is there for an unknown Mo who wants to push back against extremism within his community? Such silencing tactics work.

I am no anti-Muslim extremist. I am not your enemy. What I do require is your patience. For it is due to precisely this concern of mine for universal human rights for Muslims, that I vehemently oppose Islamist extremism and call for liberal reform within our communities, for our communities. For we Muslims are the first victims of Islamists and Muslim fundamentalists. I am no Muslim representative. I am no religious role model (yes, I had a bachelors party) but I am Muslim. I am born to Muslim parents in a Muslim family. I have a Muslim son. The Muslim experience of liberal, reforming and dissenting Muslim and ex-Muslim voices is every bit as valid, every bit as relevant, and every bit as authentic as anyone else that is touched by this debate. We exist. Allow us to speak. Stop erasing our experiences.

Beyond that, just as one does not need to be brown to discuss racism, one does not need to be Muslim to discuss Islam.

If there was anything we liberals should have learnt from McCarthyism, it is that compiling lists of our political foes is a malevolent, nefarious, and incredibly dangerous thing to do. And this terrible tactic, of simplifying and reducing our political opponents to a rogues gallery of bad guys, is not solely the domain of the right. As the political horseshoe theory attributed to Jean-Pierre Faye highlights, if we travel far-left enough, we find the very same sneering, nasty and reckless bullying tactics used by the far-right. Denunciations of traitors, heresy and blasphemy are the last resort of diminutive, insecure power-craving fascists of all stripes. Compiling lists is their modus operandi.

In todays climate of vigilante violence, far-right and Islamist terrorism, being included on such lists can forever change the lives of any one unlucky enough to be deemed from high above as anti-Muslim. Unaccountablebut never mind for they are righteousleftists are conferring upon themselves the power to irrevocably alter peoples lives at the click of a mouse button, at the expense of we who live this struggle.

This particular list also makes a major category error, as these white American leftists conflate genuine (according only to my own humble view) anti-Muslim bigots with academic, journalistic and intellectual critics of Islamincluding beleaguered ex-Muslim voices like Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Unlike Ayaan, they have never had to suffer the quadruple discriminatory pressure of appearing Muslim, brown, female, and losing ones faith. I call these the minority within Muslim minorities.

And setting aside my disdain for naming any individuals on lists, to include me alongside Pam Geller is patently absurd. Pam Geller furiously opposed the Park51 Manhattan mosque project. I supported it. Pam Geller supported the anti-Islam British protest group EDL. By facilitating the resignation of its founder Tommy Robinson, I helped to render it leaderless until it practically fizzled out. Pam Geller has expressed skepticism about the existence of Serbian concentration camps. I have repeatedly referred to the genocide in Bosnia as having been a primary factor in my own anger and radicalisation as a youth. Pam Geller has called for Islam itself to be designated a political system, and to lose its constitutional rights as merely a religion. I am a Muslim who set up an organisation that campaigns to maintain a separation between Islam, and the theocratic Islamists who seek to hijack my religion. Need I go on?

Its not as if SPLCs methodology in naming individuals as anti-Muslim has been flawless until now. In October 2014, the Center posted an Extremist File that included Presidential nominee Dr. Ben Carson. The SPLC had to later issue an apology. It is for this reason I can proudly say that the only list I have ever been erroneously accused of producing, was a collection of Islamist groups namesnot individuals I hasten to addthat I disagreed with yet pushed the government not to ban. And they listened.

There is no good way to compile lists. Jihadist terrorists in Bangladesh also had a list. This appeared in 2013 and named 84 atheist bloggers, in other words secular free-thinkers. By the end of 2016 ten of them had been assassinated. Such a fascist tactic had been mirrored by a UK-based anti-fascist group, Hope not Hate. In 2013 Hope not Hate compiled a similar list that included the Danish author, journalist and Islam-critic Lars Hedegaard. He was later subjected to an assassination attempt, too.

No. Nothing good ever comes from compiling lists. And so I say to the Southern Poverty Law Center: You were supposed to stand up for us, not intimidate us. Just imagine how ex-Muslim Islam-critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali must feel to be included in your list of "anti-Muslim" extremists. Her friend Theo Van Gogh was murdered on the streets of Amsterdam in 2004. And back then there was another list pinned to Theos corpse with a knife: it too named Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
CHISINAU, MoldovaThis countrys leading presidential candidate, Igor Dodon, is a unique politician, for a post-Soviet republic. He actually admits that his goal is to fight democratic values. Full stop. No pretense. On the eve of the countrys presidential elections, Dodon told The Daily Beast he knows exactly what kind of president he wants to be: A dictatorial leader, the same as Putin.

Taking The Daily Beast on a tour of the photo gallery at his office, Dodon points at the most recent photographs of him and Russian President Vladimir Putin, and also of Dodon and Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church. The candidate said the patriarch gave me his blessing just a few weeks ago.

Rare has the leader of an independent country presented himself so boldly as the protege of outsiders. Before the presidential campaign Dodon, who is the leader of Moldovas Socialist Party, made it a point to go to Moscow for his political and religious anointing.

Speaking at his office in downtown Chisinau on Thursday, Dodon, a stout 41-year-old, waved a big ruler, cutting the air as if with a sword, stressing his points with each slash.

The only difference between me and Putin right now, he said, is that I am not the president, yet, as soon as I become one in a few days, I will run Moldova just the same way Putin runs Russia, I assure you.

His voice was quiet but firm. In the current anarchy that we see around, Moldova immediately needs an iron fist, a strong vertical of power.

This tiny post-Soviet country, one of Europes poorest nations, is stuck between Romania and a breakaway self-proclaimed Republic of Transnistria, which is backed by Moscow. Right now it desperately depends on the West. Nearly one third of its 3.5 million population live on less than $100 a month, while local mafia in bureaucrats suits continue to rob the state.

Two years ago about $1 billion, 12 percent of Moldovas GDP, disappeared from the banks, and investigators are still struggling to find out the truth about this high-profile scam.

Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland, called Moldova a captive state in the hands of its oligarchs. In July, the International Monetary Fund promised to provide Moldova with $179 million loan, but only if the government carries out economic reforms. Instead of doing that, the government, ruled by a billionaire, a sort of Moldovan Donald Trump named Vlad Plahotniuc moved to choose a pro-Russian authoritarian leader.

Do you find the U.S. presidential campaign shamefully stained with discrediting leaks? Try to get into the shoes of Dodons main rival, a pro-Western presidential candidate named Maya Sandu.

A petite woman with big intelligent eyes, the 44-year-old Sandu says she wakes up at 3 a.m. every morning to check on the Internet what new blackmailing scandals the press came up with to discredit her.

What dirt might they dig on a Harvard-educated economist who had experience working at the World Bank and was a former minister of education? Well, she is single and therefore she must be a lesbian, her critics screamed. Somebody remembered that during her term of as minister of education she ordered religious icons taken down at one school.

After Sandu with Angela Merkel and European Parliament members last week, local tabloids distributed one more bit of scandalous news: in exchange for Europes support at the elections, Sandu promised German chancellor to let thousands of Syrian refugees into the country.

"After my meeting with Merkel all state channels claimed that I had promised to receive 30,000 migrants from Syria in Moldova, Sandu told The Daily Beast. Even the current minister of transport distributed this news.

"I rushed to tell the nation on television that it was a total lie, that Merkel had no intention of discussing the immigration issue with me," said Sandu, whose campaign has focused on fighting poverty, corruption and oligarchs. But Sandus voice was not heard, and voters remembered the fabricated news.

I realize that Dodon would drag us into the Soviet past and that Sandu is our future with Europe, but her promise to let in Syrian refugees makes me seriously concerned, says Yekaterina, a landlady in Chisinau. But I really like that Sandu is honest and transparent.

For the last three years Maya Sandu has been living in a modest flat on the $150,000, a very good straightforward salary by local standards, which she earned from the World Bank. I really do hate corruption and I am going to fight it without any compromises, she told The Daily Beast.

Is Washington supporting her? Seem not. Sandu said she was disappointed to see U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland posing for pictures with the oligarch Plahotniuc. I hope Americans understand that Plahotniuc likes to play a game; if the pro-Russian Dodon wins, he is going to manipulate with the West for two years before parliamentary elections, pushing for loans in ex-change for protecting Moldova from Russia, Sandu said.

Her main competitor, Dodon, was confident, that he was going to beat her. His plan is to drive Moldova away from Europe, out of the European Union association agreement it has now. I hate oligarchs, corruption and poverty, I am going to put Plahotniuc and his mafia team behind bars, he said. I hate them as much as Sandu does, but unlike her I am definitely against all so-called European values that she tries to promote, Dodon says. I am against any LGBT in this country and she supports it. We are an Orthodox country.

Moldovan politics seems to be grounded firmly in duplicity. Our country was strongly pro-Western for seven years but all this time Americans were allied with the most corrupt shadowy leader, Plahotniuc, who now pretends that he backs the pro-Western Sandu, while in fact his people ordered the regions to vote for Dodon, independent analyst Mark Tkachuk told The Daily Beast.

On Sunday, Moldova will have to choose between two different worlds. Even if Sandu loses, she says she is determined to continue her fight against the crooks.

I believe that women politicians are much often more courageous, than men, she said, adding: I wish Hillary Clinton a victory in the U.S. presidential raceand I will ask her for help in fighting corruption and the mafia in Moldova.
Its open season for Americas extremists.

Thats the signal sent by an Oregon jury after they acquitted seven armed anti-government demonstrators Thursday, legal observers say. The group had been charged for their occupation of a federal wildlife sanctuary earlier this year.

Led by militiaman Ammon Bundy, they began their 40 day siege with the promise that they were willing to kill and be killed, if necessary, to protest government control of land.

It all takes place in the context of a wild presidential campaign, during which Donald Trump has legitimized radical anti-government sentiment, such as his claim that the presidential election was rigged against him. And it also occurs during a time of rapid, nationwide proliferation of these extreme groups.

The Oregon jury made the decision to acquit the seven individuals despite there being ample evidence that they were guilty: they were cleared despite ample photo and video evidence of their occupation, and their public declaration that they would be carrying it out.

The verdict has deep implications that will stretch far beyond the eastern side of Oregon, where the standoff occurred, as it could embolden Americas most radical anti-government activists all across the nation.

The number of extreme anti-government groups have have exploded since President Obama took office, from 150 groups to now well above 1,000, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Many of these individuals have deep seated fears of a possible Clinton presidency if Trump were to lose, that could spark God knows what kind of violence or domestic terrorism, said Heidi Beirich, who heads the SPLCs Intelligence Project, an initiative which tracks the nations hate and hardline anti-government groups.

Now a jury has let them walk for taking over public lands by force. The signal to these folks is that they are right and the government is wrong that is a frightening situation, she added. This is a growing movement that is probably going to grow more due to this verdict because they have shown they can use armed interventions and not be punished for them.

And it was all part of the plan.

I personally heard Ammon Bundy state clearly and unapologetically that his intent was to use the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge as an example to other groups that are on the edge that they can seize federal property and that the government will back down, said Peter Walker, a University of Oregon professor who is writing a book on the standoff.

Prosecutors are still pressing other charges against militia members involved in the siegethey must be asking, is something deeper going on here? said Tung Yin, a professor at Lewis & Clark Law School. Perhaps theres more of that [anti-government] feeling than we expected, and maybe that explains the verdict.

Trump has been a catalyst for the growth of these radical anti-government groups, Beirich claimed, because hes given legitimacy to racist sentiments about immigrants and Muslims, and radical anti-government thinking.

Conservative talk radio has also been at the forefront of bringing coverage of these anti-government protests into the public eye.

News talk radio, one of its areas where it has tremendous potency is in covering stories that the mainstream media may not talk about, may not even know about. This story goes back to constitutional rights, who owns what insurgency against the government, gun rightsall of those juicy issues, said Michael Harrison, editor of Talkers, a talk radio trade publication.

Former Rep. Joe Walsh, now a nationally syndicated radio host, hinted earlier this week at violence if Clinton won the presidential election.

On November 8th, Im voting for Trump, he wrote on Twitter. On November 9th, if Trump loses, Im grabbing my musket. You in?

Mainstream conservative talk radio hosts do not typically condone or suggest violence. But even as many hosts have riled up their audiences with anti-government talk, some are now struggling to contain the blaze they have lit.

I am quite sure that a lot of talk show hosts are doing a lot of soul searching on where they stand on civil disobedience, because of the discussion of revolution, bloodshed and insurrection in the aftermath of this election. A lot of hosts have expressed concern to me. Most talk show hosts do not want to come down on the side of violence, Harrison said.

The repercussions of these sorts of radical anti-government standoffs are deadly serious.

Despite the acquittals, the siege in Oregon was not without consequences: as the standoff wound down, an Arizona rancher named LaVoy Finicum appeared to reach for his waistbandand was shot and killed by law enforcement.
We should have known, I guess, that it wasnt going to be that easy. The woman one third of America thinks is probably a murderer just wasnt going to waltz her way into the White House, even against Donald Trump. And now, after what FBI director James Comey did Friday, we know that Hillary Clinton is going to have to dig down deeper than she ever has and fight like she never has.

Shes been there beforein February 1992, when a bombshell revelation about Bill Clinton and the Vietnam-era draft looked like it was going to finish him off. But that was as the candidates spouse, not the candidate. Well circle back to that story, because it has application to this moment.

But first: where does this stand as of Saturday morning. Heres what we know:

1. How Comey could release such a letter without even having read the emails is astounding. Youve read by now or at least seen reference to former Justice Department spokesman Matthew Millers Friday afternoon tweetstorm savaging Comey for violating department protocols by doing something like this so close to an election (60 days out is the usual limit, Miller said). This new information, as Miller noted, might not even involve Clinton. Or it might involve her but be completely benignsome email exchanges with Huma Abedin that has nothing whatever to do with classified information. Comeys a Republican, of course, and Republicans and conservatives have hammered him every day since he announced no indictment of Clinton back in July. Looks like it worked, even if the move was made to protect himself and his career.

2. Even if you think it was defensible for Comey to do this 11 days before an election, its virtually impossible to think that the way he did it was responsible. His letter was vague as to be open to all kinds of dire interpretations, and its hard to imagine that wasnt intentional. The actual, real-life summary of what happened yesterday is: FBI is investigating Anthony Weiner, and there may or may not be some emails on his laptop that have to do with Clinton, and we have no idea how many or what they said. But the wording of Comeys letter allowed Republicans to exclaim that the FBI had reopened its investigation into Clinton, which so far overstates what has happened here. Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah and others tweeted that right after they got the letter via email, and it set the tone of the hyperventilating coverage Friday starting around 1 pm.

3. That said, the Clinton campaign pushback in the first 12 hours was hard and effective. I have up on my screen the home pages of The New York Times and The Washington Post. The headlines arent just about New Clinton Email Scandal Erupts, which one might have expected. The Times leads with how the story Jolts Race but also notes that Clinton demanded Friday night that Comey release everything the bureau knows and adds a sidebar that Comey is under fire for his handling of this. The Washington Post home page is even more circumspect, with three headlines saying Clinton urges FBI to explain; Comey under fire; and Clinton campaign blasts decision (a fourth headline emphasized Trumps delighted reaction). That kind of homepage treatment tells us the phase one pushback was pretty effective in making journalism, after that initial rush, say hey, wait a minute.

4. Today, Saturday, is critical. There are a few key questions that need firm answers, questions to which weve all read all kinds of answers, depending on who was doing the leaking. One, how many emails to Clinton are we talking about? One reads about thousands, but if you read closely thats a reference to the number of emails on the laptop, not the number from Abedin to Clinton. Was that 100, or 50, or three?

Then theres this paragraph from the Los Angeles Times write-up Friday: The emails were not to or from Clinton, and contained information that appeared to be more of what agents had already uncovered, the official said, but in an abundance of caution, they felt they needed to further scrutinize them. Seriously? Not even to or from her? If thats true, why are we even hearing about this?

Comey now has to provide answers to all these questions soon. Like today or tomorrow. And then well just have to see. If its all benign, I think most of the toothpaste that splattered out Friday afternoon can actually be squeezed back into the tube. And if its not, then Clinton may well be in deep trouble.

And what if its somewhere in betweenif theres even one email that has the State and intelligence bureaucracies haggling over whether one little kernel of information about opposition groups in Burundi should have been classified? Sometimes, even when theres only smoke, people die of smoke inhalation. In that kind of circumstance, Clinton will have to step up and frame this conversation the way she needs it to be framed.

This takes us back to 1992. On February 6, exactly 12 days before the New Hampshire primary, The Wall Street Journal broke the story about Bill Clintons famous letter to that Arkansas ROTC colonel thanking him for helping him avoid the draft and using that phrase about accepting the risk of being drafted so as to maintain his political viability. It was devastating. Clintons poll numbers were dropping, as he later recalled, like a turd in a well.

Some aides counseled withdrawal, but Bill was having none of that. He campaigned nonstop and told voters in essence, dont let the media and others decide this for you, and dont let it be about past actions. Its about your future. It worked well enough for him to finish second to Paul Tsongas (a near favorite-son candidate), which counted as a moral victory. George Stephanopoulos wrote in his memoir that Clinton persuaded voters that the best way to strike a blow against the obsession with scandal was to vote for the candidate most plagued by scandal.

The difference is that the draft letter was 23 years old, while the email story is decidedly not. But the need to shift the conversation in that general direction is very much the same. Shes been tough in this race, as I noted recently. But shes clearly going to have to get tougher still.
In the spirit of the popular rallying cry, The South Will Rise Again, the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) recently announced that they would spend $5 million on a 17,000 square-foot museum to be built in Elm Springs, Tennessee, the location of their national headquarters. The announcement comes amidst the most sustained assault on Confederate iconography, including monuments and battle flags as well as the grand opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. At the completion of this museum, according to Lieut. Commander Paul Gramling, it will be out of the reach of the long arm of political correctness. This will be ours.

The SCV failed to point out, however, that there is already a museum devoted to the Confederacy located in its former capital of Richmond, Virginia. It is also a museum that many SCV members now largely reject as having distorted the history of the Confederacy and the South and betrayed the men and women who sacrificed in its name.

What eventually became known as the Museum of the Confederacy opened its doors in 1896 as the Confederate Museum. Organized by the Confederate Memorial Literary Society and staffed entirely by womenmany of whom had been involved in commemorative activities going back to the end of the warthe museum preserved important artifacts within the walls of President Jefferson Daviss former executive mansion, including the Great Seal of the Confederate States of America. The mansions rooms were divided between the former Confederate states, including Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, which never formally seceded from the United States. Prominent widows and daughters of Confederate leaders, such as Winnie and Varina Davis, served as regents and vice-regents for individual rooms and functioned as living reminders of the war.

Display cases were crammed with artifacts and artworks with few identifying labels and no attempt at interpretation. Many simply assumed that the objects spoke for themselves as evidence of unfettered bravery and sacrifice on both the home front and the battlefield and the unquestioned loyalty of its slave population. In addition to monument dedications and veterans reunions, the museum united white Southerners through the Jim Crow era of the early 20th century and served both veterans and their descendants in the newly formed Sons of Confederate Veterans, who viewed it as a bastion of true history and as a shrine to the Lost Cause.

Financial and structural concerns forced the organization to undergo a self-assessment in the early 60s at the height of the Civil Rights movement and Civil War centennial. A professional executive director was brought in and funds were raised for a new museum, which in 1970 was re-named The Museum of the Confederacy. A later executive director described the shift behind the name change and new building: We are the museum of the Confederacy, not for the Confederacy.

This reorientation toward a more professional interpretation of the Confederacy and the South occurred during a resurgence of interest at museums and historic sites in the African-American experience coming out of the 60s. Colonial Williamsburg took the lead by focusing exhibits on the other half of its population and in 1979 introduced the first black re-enactors to its homes and streets and challenged visitors with recreations of slave auctions. Other sites followed, such as Carters Grove and Monticello.

Major exhibits in the 80s, supported in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities and built on firm academic ground, pushed the MOC further away from its original mission and sowed the seeds of discontent among SCV members and others, even though they continued to support the museum and hold annual events on site. The debut of Before Freedom Came in 1991 earned the MOC national acclaim owing to its comprehensive examination of slavery complete with leg irons and photograph of a slave whose back revealed the work of his masters whip. Most importantly, the exhibit reinforced that slavery was a key aspect of secession, the creation of the Confederacy and the Civil War.

The exhibit traveled to the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center in Wilberforce, Ohio, and the museum witnessed a sharp interest in visitation, including African Americans. The first African American was added to the board of trustees in 1991. Not everyone in Richmonds black community and beyond was pleased with these steps. One local activist argued, This is sort of like [if] the Museum of the Holocaust was located in some Nazi shrine. For others the name of the museum itself proved to be an obstacle.

The growing rift between the MOC and SCV emerged for all to see in 2007 as the museum contemplated a name change and a move to Lexington, Virginia to escape declining visitation owing to urban sprawl. Their own internal survey revealed that the word Confederacy carries enormous, intransigent, and negative intellectual baggage with many. For them, Confederacy, and by association, the Museum of the Confederacy, the report went on to note, now symbolizes racism. Brag Bowling, former past commander with the Sons of Confederate Veterans, called the potential renaming an abomination and a failure of leadership from the top down at the museum. Another SCV member suggested that a few left-wing ideologues want to rewrite the history of the entire war to say that the South was evil. People who come there, come to see the relics of the South, he said. They dont want another politically correct watered-down museum that does not give hard viewpoints.

The MOC kept its name, but remained in the SCVs crosshairs after opening a satellite site at Appomattox in 2012 and refusing to fly the Confederate battle flag in front of the building along its Reunification Promenade. During the opening ceremony a plane flew overhead bearing a Confederate battle flag and a banner that read, Reunification by bayonet SCV 1896. Former SCV commander-in-chief Michael Givens characterized the decision as part of a turn away from the historically correct and toward the politically correct. The situation deteriorated further when it was learned that the Appomattox museum included a life-size cut out of Ru Paul wearing a Confederate flag dress as part of an exhibit on the history and memory of the battle flag. All of these protests overlooked the fact that the MOC preserves and exhibits the largest collection of wartime battle flags.

For many in the SCV the final insult came in 2013 when the MOC merged with Richmonds American Civil War Museum at Historic Tredegar, along the James River. In addition to fears that the MOC might lose its identity, its new partner was already saddled with accusations of being politically correct owing to its expansive interpretation of the Civil War from multiple perspectives. The agreement also resulted in a co-CEO leadership structure represented by Waite Rawls III of the MOC, a descendant of Confederate soldiers, and Christy Coleman, the first African American president of the American Civil War Museum, who worked previously at Colonial Williamsburg. Heritage Defense Coordinator for the Virginia SCV, Frank Earnest, announced that his organization was prepared to go to war to prevent the merger.

The MOCs new partnership has placed it on a promising path that will allow it to reach a public eager to understand our nations civil war and its continued impact on our society. On the other hand, the SCVs new museum complex will serve as a refuge for the dwindling number of people who hold tightly to a romanticized view of slavery and the Confederacy in a cause that Ulysses S. Grant correctly referred to in his personal memoir as one of the worst for which a people ever fought, and one for which there was the least excuse.

Kevin M. Levin is a historian and educator based in Boston. He is the author of Remembering the Battle of the Crater: War as Murder (2012) and is currently at work on Searching For Black Confederate Soldiers: The Civil Wars Most Persistent Myth for the University of North Carolina Press. You can find him online at Civil War Memory and Twitter @kevinlevin.
With Halloween upon us, it occurred to me that there are some pretty scary things that business is dealing with at present.

Overtime ruling

The Wage and Hour Division of the US Department of Labor has released the final ruling on the overtime change for exempt employees. The threshold has been raised to $913 per week or $47,476 per year salary. This was raised from $455 per week or $21580 per year in salary. The scary part of this is the impact to businesses whose salaried exempt employees are encouraged to volunteer for nonprofits, work events, and attend their events and programs. With the higher threshold, they may not allow this in the future.

Many of the larger businesses in Helena are amazing in supporting the nonprofits and other organizations by allowing their employees to help or attend as part of their jobs. It also will affect many nonprofits whose top employees do not exceed this threshold but their job sometimes requires more than 40 hours per week. This ruling is set to take effect on Dec. 1, however there is a slight possibility that Congress may delay that until mid-year of 2017. Be sure to check out the details at https://www.dol.gov/WHD/overtime/final2016/ or check with an HR expert to discuss the changes. Also, you should be checking the Montana laws for which of your employees can actually be classified as exempt. You may have misclassified employees by making them exempt.

Health care costs seeing dramatic increases

The Affordable Care Act is seeing some less-than-desirable results this fall with many insurance companies having to increase premiums by 35-60 percent in order to stay ahead of claims and keep their doors open. I have discussed this with a fair number of business owners who are debating whether to continue to provide health benefits or to just pay the fines on tax day. An employer from our membership who pays 100 percent of their 35 plus employees' insurance just received a 51 percent increase. The company simply doesnt have the budget to add that extra cost. If they are paying $650 per person, the 51 percent increase drives the cost per employee to $981.50  an $11,585 impact to the business. They plan to look to the employees to share the increase and are dreading that scary conversation with their staff. Many individuals who are on the ACA open market are also seeing increases in their premiums, even though they have very high deductibles. Health insurance is so very important with the high costs of health care, however, with a high deductible ($5000-$10,000) this still puts the person in jeopardy financially if they have a severe injury or illness.

Lack of workforce to fill openings

We are still seeing an extremely low unemployment rate ranging from 2.7 to 3.4 percent. This is very scary for business owners and employers as they have two choices in their recruitment plans. The first choice is to work on recruiting good help from their competitors and fellow businesses. They need to build the case that they are a better place to work with higher pay and better benefits. Or the other option is to spend more on advertising and try to attract workers from outside the area or even outside the state. Riding along with the issue of attracting new workers to Helena is the problem of having enough affordable housing to accommodate them.

Scary times for business owners. However, Helena has also enjoyed the most stable economy of the larger cities in Montana for many years. Our businesses are survivors, entrepreneurs and innovative. I am confident they will find a way to keep moving in a positive direction!

Enough scary talk  be sure to have a safe and fun Halloween!

Cathy Burwell is the president/CEO of the Helena Area Chamber of Commerce.
Firefighters need leaders they can trust to represent them

The Bryan Firefighters Association, International Association of Firefighters Local 1204, representing more than 125 professional firefighters in the city of Bryan, enthusiastically endorses Andrew Nelson, Reuben Marin, and Prentiss Madison for Bryan City Council.

As advocates for the public safety of our great residents and the responders who risk our lives daily for others, we have the obligation as an organization to support those who support public safety. The safety of our residents, their families, and the visitors of the city of Bryan are our number one priority.

After our association spoke with each candidate in this year's election, we choose those who do not put residents' safety in jeopardy. Andrew Nelson, Reuben Marin and Prentiss Madison all have a strong support for public safety, core services, neighborhood infrastructure and community outreach.

As public safety professionals, we know what it takes to provide prompt, quality service to our community. It takes strong leadership, experience, and a belief to act always in the best interest of the people you serve. Andrew Nelson, Reuben Marin and Prentiss Madison all embody those attributes and this is why we believe they should be elected to represent the city of Bryan.

We risk our lives every day. All we ask in return is a leadership we can trust.

DANIEL BUFORD

President Local 1204

Bryan Firefighters Association

Mayoral candidate always responds to phone calls

Mary Kaye Moore is one of the best candidates for mayor that Bryan ever has had, and she is certainly the better candidate in this year's mayoral race.

Moore brings 22 years of experience in municipal government, beginning as division manager of customer services at BTU and culminating as Bryan's city manager for five years. Her skills as a trained mediator would serve well for steering our fractious city council. Moreover, as a certified public accountant, Mary Kaye has the expertise to speak on the budgetary matters that frequently occupy the city council.

Her opponent, Andrew Nelson, is no slouch either, and is well on his way building an impressive resume. But that resume is one dimensional. Enough business people have been elected on the weight of their entrepreneurial success that we should have learned already that government does not run like a business. What is he going to do? Sell Bryan to College Station before we go bankrupt?

The most direct comparison between the candidates is their responsiveness to the residents of Bryan. Karen Hall (Eagle, Oct. 18) finds herself in good company among the many voters who have attempted to solicit more detail from Nelson about his candidacy only to be left hanging.

In contrast, Mary Kaye Moore responds quickly to phone and email inquiries from voters, she always is willing to meet with voters, and whenever I have seen Mary Kaye at public events she ends up staying late to talk with Bryan's residents to learn what they want for their city.

Mary Kaye Moore's experience and her responsiveness to the people of Bryan make her the obvious choice for mayor.

JOHN MILLER

Bryan

Mayor hopeful would persue good growth and development

If the residents of Bryan want a mayor of impeccable integrity and extensive experience working for the city of Bryan as city manager and in many other roles, then the choice is clear: It is Mary Kay Moore.

Unlike recent decades, we will have a mayor who would pursue desirable growth and development in Bryan while ensuring new development does not have an undesirable impact on existing residential neighborhoods.

TOM and DIANNE HILDE

Bryan

Hopeful served College Station before he began his council race

Joe Guerra, candidate for College Station City Council, Place 4, was serving our community before his candidacy began.

Our neighborhood reached out to Joe Guerra early this year while battling improper development. The development would have a detrimental impact on our small neighborhood and we needed an expert on our side. With very sort notice, Joe quickly became instrumental in helping us maintain our neighborhood's integrity, but he didn't stop there.

His enthusiasm for smart, responsible growth and neighborhood integrity soon caught the eye of fellow neighborhoods that also were being threatened by traffic impact and big developers.

Joe's contributions saved many neighborhoods and I believe this is his passion. Relevant education and experience as well as philanthropy efforts are why Joe Guerra has earned a vote for city of College Station Council, Place 4.

CHRISTI BLAIR

College Station

Focused on the future while respecting the past

As a College Station property owner, I am writing in support of Barry Moore for College Station City Council, Place 4.

I have known Barry and his family for years and have seen firsthand their commitment to this community.

I am honored to serve on the board of the Bubba Moore Memorial Group, a local non-profit organization named in honor of Barry's uncle. Barry was born here and chose to bring his young family back home to the Brazos Valley. Barry has proven to be a consensus builder in his time on the Planning and Zoning Committee and would bring that same leadership to College Station City Council.

We need leaders who understand the job and are focused on our future while respecting our past. Barry is uniquely qualified to do both.

Please tell your friends to get out and vote for Barry Moore for Place 4 on the College Station City Council.

DANIELLE L. FIFER

Bryan

College Station candidates have plenty of experience

It's rare to get a consensus on anything, but I believe when six former mayors and the College Station Police Association endorse a candidate for city council, it speaks volumes.

I first met Linda Harvell years ago at one of the many council meetings she attends and have spoken with her numerous times since then.

To mention just a few of her qualities: She is smart, capable, dedicated, compassionate, passionate about serving this area and recognizing those who serve and have served this city and country (police, firemen and veterans) -- and has a great sense of humor (definitely not stodgy).

It comes as no surprise that with her knowledge and experience, she has the support of so many of those who have been and remain actively involved in making College Station a better place to live. We are fortunate to have her running for office, as well as Joe Guerra Jr. with his 27 years of transportation planning and engineering experience. We would be even more fortunate as a city facing serious growth issues that have and will continue to impact our streets and neighborhoods and the quality of life we enjoy here in the Brazos Valley if these leaders are elected.

Please join me in voting for the eminently more qualified candidates for College Station City Council: Linda Harvell for Place 3 and Joe Guerra Jr. for Place 4.

NAN CROUSE

College Station

Education, availabilty of the arts are critical

In College Station, we are fortunate to have many qualified individuals who are interested in community service, and one of those is John Nichols, candidate for mayor.

We have known John for more than 40 years, both as a colleague at Texas A&M University and as an individual who is a supporter of the arts. He has served as president of the Brazos Valley Symphony Society and as chair of that organization's Derby Day fundraiser.

Educational opportunities and availability of the arts are essential in attracting new residents to our city. John has served on the College Station City Council and numerous other community organizations, and has gained knowledge on how to get things done to move our city forward while maintaining a high quality of life.

John possesses a unique combination of integrity, experience and leadership. We urge you to support John Nichols for mayor.

CREIGHTON and JEANNIE MILLER

College Station

Voters are facing the upheaval of cultural standards

America is facing something more consequential than a presidential election but clearly reflected in the campaigning. We are witnessing a upheaval of fundamental cultural standards. It is not a change for the better. It does not signal progress but regression to a primitive era: crude, fearful and tribal.

The causes of this retreat from reason to raw emotion are debatable but history suggests that a figure often emerges in such volatile times to champion the lowest aspects of human nature, promising magical solutions to problems real or imagined. In 2016 that figure is a candidate for president. His message is that behavior hitherto considered repugnant is now OK.

It's OK to be willfully ignorant, to mock the disabled or infirm, to ridicule women's appearance, to condemn all immigrants as rapists and murders, to belittle POW's and those struggling with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, to impugn a judge's integrity based on his ethnicity, to brag about grabbing women's genitals, to promote wacky conspiracy theories, to threaten a political opponent with jail and to undermine the legitimacy of the electoral process.

Meanwhile, with every degrading statement, every step backward into barbarism, supporters excuse the culprit because he's a member of their tribe. Elected partisans respond to his latest gutterspeak with only a timid "tut-tut and but." He may be a crude, dangerously ill-informed bully but by golly he's one of us!

We're left to wonder if there's any level of disgraceful behavior, any violation of the canon of common decency sufficient to silence the "buts" and at long last compel an "enough?"

Most of us are merely witnesses to the unraveling of civil society; some are accomplices. Perhaps after Nov. 8 they will recognize the indelible stain of their complicity.

TOM KISKE

College Station

Presidential candidate kept lying for seven years

Lengthy study of Lying Donald Trump's lying finally revealed to me how really evil, negative, divisive, prevaricating, harmful, and morally bankrupt his leadership of the "birther" movement really was and is. Generating ever-deepening hatreds and hostilities and mistrust toward our president was the goal and result. Obama's name was not just besmirched, it was ruined by Lying Donald in the eyes of nearly half of the American population.

From 2010 until now, Lying Donald said President Barack Obama was born in Kenya, was not qualified to be president, was a usurper and master manipulator, was not to be trusted, was "illegitimate," was not "an American, " was probably a Muslim, was a traitor, etc. Lying Donald didn't like Obama, ridiculed him, and taught increasing millions of Americans to hate Obama and to oppose him whenever they could.

By 2011, Donald was giving more anti-Obama "birther" speeches than anyone else! And the birther movement was the "training wheels" Lying Donald used to "become a politician," to learn to play to the crowds and foment hatred, division, and hostilities on cue.

Recent polls show 72 percent of registered Republicans "still doubt" the president's place of birth. Lying Donald has a 54 percent majority of GOP voters believing our president is not a Christian (he is) and 66 percent of Trump's supporters think Obama is Muslim.

After seven years of bad-mouthing and running down Obama relentlessly. Lying Donald told the truth with three short sentences, two of which were lies. Basically, Lying Donald announced that Hillary started it and he "finished" it. Really, Lying Donald? That's it? That's all? No apologies? For five years after you received the "proof" you said you wanted, you continued to lie, to belittle, to discount, to deny, and to foment dissensions, hatreds and great hostilities among many, many millions of duped, otherwise patriotic, Americans.

J.R. COLE

College Station
New neighborhood pizza place serves up unique offerings in Burlington

Located at 400 S. Leebrick St., Revel Bakery is giving its customers an East Coast dining experience with New Haven-style pizza.
The Independent Record is relocating its offices after more than 58 years in downtown Helena.

Several of the newspapers management and business staffers have already moved into its building at 2222 Washington St., and the newsroom staff is relocating this week. The downtown office at 317 Cruse Ave. will remain open until renovation work is completed in the Washington Street building, which is expected to happen within the next few months.

The downtown building was completed in May 1958, and the IR opened its Washington Street building in November 2002 to house its printing presses and distribution operations.

The second floor of the Washington Street building originally housed the offices for Montana Magazine and Farcountry Press. Most of that office space has been vacant since Lee Enterprises sold Farcountry Press in March 2011 and moved the Montana Magazine headquarters to Missoula, which created an opportunity for the IR to house its entire Helena staff under the same roof.

Management chose to keep the Washington Street building open because all of the newspaper's printing and distribution operations already take place there.

It doesnt make sense for us to continue to keep two half-empty buildings open, and the printing presses wont fit in our downtown building, so we are moving all of our staff into the Washington Street building, editor Jesse Chaney said. The new office space is newer and much more attractive, but we will miss working in the heart of downtown Helena.

The Independent Record traces its lineage back to December 1865, when the Montana Radiator published Helenas first newspaper. A series of sales and mergers over the next several decades led to the creation of todays Independent Record in November 1943, and Lee Enterprises bought the newspaper from Anaconda Copper Mining Co. in 1959.

The Independent Record can be reached by phone at 447-4000.
One-day Buddhist retreat upcoming

Flowing Mountains Sangha, an Open Way community of mindful living in the tradition of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, will host a Day of Mindfulness on Saturday, Nov. 12, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Covenant United Methodist Church, 2330 East Broadway. The theme is Four Truths/Four Tasks: Its A Practice. Lineage-holding Zen Teacher and senior student of Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh, Rowan Conrad from Missoula, will guide the day. The Day of Mindfulness will include sitting and walking meditation, a Dharma talk, and discussion.

Rowan received Zen teaching transmission from Hanh in 2004. He regularly leads practice at Open Way Mindfulness Center in Missoula, across the northwest region, and in Canada.

For more information or to register, please email flowingmountains@gmail.com or call 495-0290. Registration is requested for event planning purposes, and no fee is charged for attending the event. Donations in support of the teacher are accepted. Participants should bring their own cushion and pad if sitting on the floor, as well as a vegetarian sack lunch for a mindful midday meal together. Tea and water will be provided.
Halloween revelers headed to the Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport on October 28, 2016 for Howl-O-Ween.Guests enjoyed a haunted hayride, magic shows, face painting, fortune tellers, dancers and more. Were you SEEN?
Liquidation does not mean punishment, subjugation, conquest, or even execution. Liquidation means extermination merely on the basis of otherness. Whoever is different will be liquidated, works like a poison, a constant temptation to human thought, destroying or at least menacing it. Josef Pieper, The Four Cardinal Virtues

One of the most distinctive and, I would say, unprecedented features of contemporary western culture is the sociological phenomenon of neighboring individuals living in distinct social networks, engaging in myriad cultural practices, learning in diverse educational institutions, and communicating in idiosyncratic imaginative and conceptual idioms. Our neighbors often live within radically divergent and virtually airtight intellectual, moral, and spiritual universes, holding beliefs utterly incompatible and irreconcilable with our own. Western culture, then, is a misnomerit is, rather, a culture of cultures.

One unfortunate ideological upshot of this unique situation is a prima facie, a priori public incredulousness regarding anyone having the whole truth. It is no wonder that the Roman Catholic Church, whose Founder claimed the whole truth about His very person, is tolerated in western society only when lost in translation, as one denomination among others, a and juxtaposed with other equally a-rational belief expressions in a multicultural boutique. Indeed, any dogmatic belief system, in fully untranslated form, appears as a dangerous and inhuman cult, an intolerable opponent of the indisputable reign of freedom and pluralism.

Although I think our contemporary pluralistic situation, which Glenn Olsen has accurately named deep pluralism, is certainly unprecedented, I do not think it is an unprecedented evil. Of course, the existence of a pluralism of truths is not a good thing, for there is only one truth, and error is the result of sin. Pluralism, in short, must be seen, per se, as a grave defect of spiritual, intellectual, social, and political order. Pace neoconservatism, religious pluralism is not the ideal for politics, not the best we can hope for this side of paradise, not the most prudent accommodation to the real world. The Churchs perennial political ideal of the reign of Christ the King simply does not permit such resignation to sin and worldliness.

Yet, this tragic pluralism has been mysteriously permitted by God, and, as I shall try to explain in this essay, I think it provides Catholics with a unique opportunity for intellectual and spiritual growth. Indeed, pluralism itself can be, if interpreted and utilized correctly, a potent catalyst for the New Evangelization. Modernity, as I shall try to show, is both the cause and the cure of its own intellectual and spiritual disease, one that can be describes as a descent into partial thinking.

Feeling the Pull

To borrow from the thesis of Charles Taylors recently published masterpiece A Secular Age, with the peculiar consciousness shift that constitutes the essence of modernity comes a heightened capacity intimately to feel the pull of other world-views and belief systemsespecially those we might otherwise deem unworthy of attraction. Modern secular pluralism provides an unprecedented opportunity for individuals to experience the other from the inside, that is, not just as an abstract possibility of thought and practice, as is possible in all ages, but intimately, as a living, breathing, concrete, coherent (or perhaps not so coherent), historical tradition. Alasdair MacIntyre describes this immersion in other traditions as akin to learning a second conceptual and imaginative language, judging it indispensable for the authentic understanding and practice of ones own tradition. Moreover, without such immersion, we lose the capacity to recognize and correct the defects in our own tradition, rendering us ineffective as participants in its further development.

By encountering the partial truths in other traditions, we are more able to recognize partial truths as partial, both within other traditions and our own tradition, and in our minds appropriation and understanding of our own tradition. The tradition of which we are a member may indeed be the true tradition, providing supreme access to the whole truth, yet it can be perceived and grasped by us in a partial, tendentious, or distorted way. Encountering the truths in other traditions can serve to expose that false dichotomy in our mind that leads us to interpret other positions as nothing more than full-fledged errors, and our own position as nothing less than the whole truth. Our position might very well be the closest to the whole truth, but as finite, fallible, sinful creatures, our grasp of it is partial.

Modernity can cause a loss of the capacity to feel the pull of those parts of the truth one requires to regain wholeness, but it can also cause the growth of this capacity. As Pieper suggests in the quote above, the modern tendency to liquidate the other is far from being a sign of loyalty and devotion to the truth. Rather, it indicates a totalitarian solipsism of the self, an intellectual narcissism or self-inflicted, epistemological violence that translates all ones experience of the other into the same. When this occurs, any part of the truth that one had genuinely recognized and possessed loses its healing properties as truth, becoming deadly. Instead of a part of truth, it functions now as a full-fledged error, and one becomes blind to precisely those other parts of the truth that could render him whole again. In other words, truth, when embraced partially but interpreted holistically, becomes error, becomes a lie.

If the diseased mind could learn to see the parts as parts, and not simply hateful errors to condemn and fear and from which to escape at all costs, he could see the prison into which his soul has fallen. As Platos cave suggests, liberation from intellectual prison can only occur through the dawning upon our intellects of the light of the whole, the Good, who is both that by which all knowledge occurs, and the knowable par excellence. And for our non-angelic, discursive, fallen intellects, this can only occur through a persistent, and often excruciating, dialectical comparison of whole and part, a dynamic exemplified by Plato in his dialogues and brought to near perfection by St. Thomas in his Summa Theologiae. It is a kind of ongoing intellectual crucifixion, with modernity as Calvary.

None of this is meant to suggest that there arent full-fledged, pernicious errors in the world, as distinct from merely partial truthsindeed, there more and worse ones than ever before. Nor am I suggesting that Catholicism is not the whole truth, objectively speaking. But often what we perceive to be absolute error is only a partial truth distorted by being removed from the whole; and often what we perceive to be the whole-truth is only an exaggeration of a partial truth. Finally, the partial truths we often reject as unworthy of our consideration are precisely those we need to embrace for the completion and correction of our thinking. In short, strategic and prudent, intellectual immersions in our pluralistic milieu, always preceded and followed by extensive and intensive periods of nursing at the bosom of the Holy Mother Church, as it were, is, I think, a necessary program to enable us to recognize the partialness of our own and others appropriation of the truth, effectively to help end the reign of relativistic pluralism and bring about a new Christendom, and to transcend whatever in modernity that holds us back from union with God.

As Catholics, of course, we do have the whole truth, so why risk plunging ourselves into pluralism, into alien traditions that we know to be fundamentally in error? We must recognize that the Church alone sees and possesses the whole truth (at least implicitly and latently; the expression and recognition of the whole truth by the Magisterium is time-bound and discursive, being historically mediated and occasioned, as Cardinal Newman has taught us). We the Churchs members, however, are always, subjectively speaking, approaching this whole truth, butand this is the peculiar evil of modernity and pluralismwhat we often think to be the whole truth is only our own partial appropriation of it, and, even worse, a part pretending to be the whole. This is the spiritual disease of modernity, and Catholicism is, as always, the cure of all spiritual maladies, but the occasion for the remedy is to be found in modernity itself.

Catholics in a pluralistic society are uniquely gifted to accomplish the healing, whole and part dialectical exercise we have described, for we possess both the whole, by grace through the Church, and the part, through open and humble dialectical encounters with our neighbors and our own partial truth fragments. Fragmentary, partial knowledge, unrecognized as fragmentary and partial and substituting for comprehensive, holistic knowledge, is the intellectual condition of our fallen nature, and the besetting bane of modernity; but with the intrinsic help of grace, the extrinsic help of the Magisterium, and our cooperation through courageous philosophical analysis and dialogue combined with contemplation, we can ascend, at least partially, to the whole which awaits us personally in the Beatific Vision.

The remainder of this essay shall consist of some particular examples of modern disease of partial thinking. In the first set of examples: the fall of Lucifer, the sin of Adam and Eve, and the Pharisees rejection of Christ; I shall try to illustrate the way in which an especially partial yet subjectively significant truth, when eclipsing an eminently more fundamental truth, becomes a fundamental error. In the second set of examples: relativism vs. absolutism and modernity vs. anti-modernity; I shall try to show that when comparably equal, complementary partial truths are pitted against each other as contraries, with each posing as self-sufficient wholes, even these parts are lost, leading to a totalitarianism of the psyche by which the only cure, a radical, vulnerable openness to the other, is perceived as the carrier of the disease.

Lucifer

Did an embrace of a partial truth lead Lucifer to fall from heaven? Of course, an angel, an intuitive, not discursive, intellectual being never cam, in a literal sense, grasp truth partially; yet I think there something analogous to partial thinking in the angelic intellect. Firstly, as St. Thomas teaches, an angel receives knowledge of the supernatural order through the mediation of angelic intellects higher than itself. Thus, an angel in the choir of powers could not receive knowledge of Gods plan for the salvation of man, for instance, through the intellect of an angel in the choir of archangels, but from principalities, cherubim, seraphim, etc. Secondly, spirit is superior to matter. Gods plan, as Lucifer may have heard it, was to reveal and effect the supernatural plan of salvation through the lowly intellect of a human being by uniting spirit and matter, nay, divinity and matter. Now, since the purpose of creation is to give glory to the most superior being, and since Lucifer was, as it is supposed, the second highest being, then how could it be anything but grave disorder to unite divinity with anything less than an angelic nature? And how could it be that a human woman, Mary, could possibly merit second place, as it were? Finally, is it, and could it ever be absolutely certain that this being calling himself God actually was what he claimed to be. As Miltons Satan asks, did any of the angels actually witness creation, including their own?

Such critical analysis and skepticism, in itself, is not outlandish or inherently malicious, for as Pope Benedict XVI has made especially clear, it is incumbent on man to bring all claims to the bar of reason, even the claims of God Himself. Truth cannot contradict itself. However, for an unfallen angel, things are quite different. For an angel to have reasoned this way (whatever it would mean for an non-discursive angelic intellect to reason) is unspeakably malicious and perverse. This is not because his logic was flawedangelic logic is always impeccablebut because to doubt God in an unfallen state, no matter the pretext, is already to have fallen into an abyss of unreality. Before the existence of evil and error in the world, there could be absolutely no reason not to submit to the plan of God the instant it is revealed, and the very hesitation to do so is tantamount to the creation of evil and error, the origin of hell. Prudent deliberation about the proper course of action to take in any given situation is, for us fallen men, an indispensable means to virtue, but for an unfallen angel, any hesitation or doubt regarding the will of God is the gravest of evils, a violent ripping of ones being away from the bosom of reality, the rejection of the whole for the nothingness of the isolated part.

It is true that once one begins to think about the possibility of not submitting to Gods plan, the reasons justifying such a possibility seem quite reasonable, indeed, supremely reasonable and courageous! This is precisely the partial truth, so to speak, that Lucifer grasped, but the price paid for it was the loss of the immensely larger truth of the perfect goodness and infinite reasonableness of God. The origin of such angelic Socratic questioning, however subtle and coherent, was not intellectual error, but willful malice, the sin of disbelief, which, as Josef Pieper maintains, is the rejection of Gods revelation with full knowledge of it as the revelation of God. In this case, it was the rejection of the truth of the identity of God and Love. Such disbelief, by the highest and thus most lovingat least potentiallyof Gods creatures, would be unthinkable if it were not revealed to us by the Church.

Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve had not yet obtained the fullness of human happiness or perfection in their short sojourn in paradise; for, like us, only in heaven would their lives be brought to complete fullness. All creatures, from the most humble to the most exalted, were to constitute their ladder to this eventual fullness, both through contemplation: the stars, the order of nature, each other; and by consumption: the bountiful and unimaginably delicious fruits and vegetables provided by the Lord God for their sustenance and delight. Yet, they were not permitted to consume or even contemplate every creature, and for no other reason than that the only other rational being they knew, the one who called himself God, willed it so. And they had met another rational being who suggested that by not consuming every fruit, they would be depriving themselves of the fullness of realityafter all, if some of the creatures could bring them some fulfillment, then all of the creatures would bring them all fulfillment. What could possibly justify their missing out? Gods command, in order to be reasonable, must be open to only one interpretation, that it was a command meant to be disobeyed.

Moreover, the fruit forbidden them was, by Gods very description, particularly necessary for their fulfillment, for it alone could provide the complete knowledge of reality, both good and evil, the fulfillment of their souls as capax omnium would seem to require. Without it, they would only know the good aspects of reality, not nearly the whole picture, and thus be deprived of the completeness of being and thus fulfillment. Finally, their unfallen and thus infallible intellects, as well as their perfectly ordered emotions, perceived this fruit immediately and upon reflection as good, pace the suggestion of God that it was, in some way, evil; indeed, completely good, and thus it would seem a sin not to bring it to the perfection for which it was made by being consumed by man.

In short, why obey such a command? Admittedly, one can see in these arguments some justification for at least some hesitation on the part of Adam and Eve when confronted with the temptation to eat the forbidden fruit. The essential problem with these arguments, however, is not their absurdity, incoherence, or implausibility, for they exhibit none of these attributes in themselves, but their partialness. They are true statements, but only if taken our of the existential and ontological context in which Adam and Eve found themselves. This is God who gave the command, and they are His creatures; in that context, all the partial truths become lies. By the mere existence and consideration of these arguments in their souls, Adam and Eve had already lost the whole truth. How else to explain how it could possibly seem reasonable to disobey God in order to obey Him, to perfect themselves by severing themselves from the source of perfection?

As the whole began to fragment in front of their eyes, to disobey God was at first only a hint of a possibility, then a valid consideration, and finally a categorical imperative. Like Lucifers disbelief in the identity of God and love, Adam and Eve, by an autonomous act of their own free will, and without any trust-lessening occasion on the part of God, lost their trust in Him. Immediately, their integral perception of the whole truth, insofar as a finite, unfallen human could perceive it, became fragmented, and the whole in whose light the fragments of truth could be seen as only fragments, and thus as unworthy of isolated consideration, was lost to them, as well as to us, until the time of the descent of the Whole Himself into His now fractured world.

Saul

The final and perhaps most illustrative example of how fundamental error can arise through the holistic embrace of partial truth is the Pharisees rejection of Christ, particularly, one named Saul. Pope Benedict XVI has brought out the plausibility and power of the Pharisees indictment against Christ in his discussion of Rabbi Jacob Neusners book in his masterful Jesus of Nazareth. In essence, the threat Jesus posed to Judaism was far worse than any that came before. Throughout the history of Judaism there were always foes to its survival, those who would lessen its God-pleasingness: subversive teachers, heretics, fanatics, traitors, worldlings, indifferentists, blasphemersbut never before did one man embody the very antithesis of Judaic belief, the utter transcendence and holiness of God. Jesus, by his claim to be the definitive and full embodiment of God, threatened to destroy the Jewish peoples claim to be such, and by his defiant abrogation of Jewish laws, he would dismantle the cornerstone which underlay the entire edifice of Jewish culture, tradition, society, and life, the Sabbath.

In his book, the Pope pulls no punches in his characterization of Neusners argumentit is powerful, and Benedict depicts it so with the utmost respect and sympathy. Saul was only acting upon the force of the arguments truth when he persecuted the infant Church, for this mans power to destroy the Chosen People of God required a violent and ruthless extermination, as violent and ruthlessand even more justifiably soas Joshuas, Gideons, or Davids extermination of the much lesser threat of the Jerichoites, Madianites, and Philistines. However, as the trenchant, ironclad arguments of Lucifer and Adam and Eve splinter into fragments when applied to the infinite solidity of Gods holiness obviously embodied in the Carpenter from Nazareth, the Pharisees perspective, seemingly Gods very own, insofar as Israel was His very bride, was the epitome of blindness. From one angle, Jesus was the very antithesis of God, but from every other angle but this one, Jesus could be no one other than God. As Benedict argues, the Pharisees perspective, including their desire to destroy Jesus and persecute His followers, was the epitome of loyalty, piety, courage, and devotion to Godif Jesus was only a human being. If he was God, however, then their virtues become vices, and the Jews, as St. John calls those Hebrews who rejected Jesus, become, not Gods Bride, but the devils prostitute, not the Church of Yahweh, but the synagogue of Satan.

Saul was a prisoner to such partial thinking, and nothing but an unforeseen, undesired-indeed, violentencounter with who, to his diseased spirit and intellect, was the radically other, a Jewish man claiming to be God, could liberate him. If Saul had been allowed to remain in the isolated, blinded world of the Jewishdom of his day, the way in which some traditional Catholics would like to remain in the isolating Christendoms of their neuroses, fears, and gnostic certainties, his blindness would never have been revealed to him, and he would never have become St. Paul, the apostle to the Jewish other, the Gentile. Christ Himself had to break Saul out of his partial thinking, which was not redolent of authentic Mosaic Judaism but a rabbinical, proto-Talmudic fanaticism of purely human origin. This had to occur in a violent way against his will, but we have the chance to invite Christ freely into our minds, by inviting the salvific othersones that we would rather not meet into our intimacy as they are providentially forced upon us by Our Lord in our modern pluralistic worldas neighbors.

The three examples above illustrate the way in which blindness to an otherwise overwhelmingly significant truth can ensue when a not insignificant, but considerably less important, partial truth is embraced in an exaggerated, exclusivist manner. For the most part, this is not the kind of error that believing Catholics fall into, but it is important to see illustrations of the basic dynamic in order better to understand its more subtle version, namely, the fall into the prison of partial truth through the embrace of false philosophical dichotomies.

This is the first essay in a two-part series, which originally appeared in Second Spring (Vol. 14, Spring, 2011).

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Editors note: The featured image is Portrat von Wally by Egon Schiele, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
If co-worker Zach Mayhew is typical, then young adults have a powerful passion for Franks hot sauce.

How often does Zach consume Franks? Daily, he says.

Zach and his roommate buy Franks by the gallon.

One of his friends says Zach has Franks with everything.

Zach is a huge fan of the Danish Baker in Dannebrog. He orders the beef pizza, which he tops with ranch dressing and Franks.

Its great pizza, he says. When you add Franks and ranch, it puts it over the top.

Many young people are fond of the cayenne pepper sauce, which is actually called Franks RedHot. Most people just call it Franks hot sauce.

Zach adds it to chili, tacos, sandwiches, spaghetti and macaroni.

When he makes chicken wings in the Crock-Pot, he adds Franks. Then he adds Franks again.

Dining on ramen noodles, he throws in Franks and shredded cheese. Zach bought a lot of ramen noodles recently.

I had to spice them up some way, he says.

Zachs mother and cousin keep Franks on hand just for him.

He wouldnt put it on dessert. Even Zach has limits. But he hasnt found an entree yet that wouldnt benefit from Franks hot sauce.

Zachs roommate, Clint Simmons, likes Franks as much as he does. Thats why we buy it by the gallon, he says.

Zach, 31, pours ranch dressing on his spaghetti. That doesnt sound quite so odd when you learn that he mixes Alfredo in with his meat sauce.

How much does Zach love the Danish Baker? Hes glad they have pizza just on Thursdays. Otherwise, hed be tempted to visit too often.

The Danish Bakers beef pizza doesnt need his little addition. But it enhances the flavor so much, he says.

Zach believes everyone has at least a few odd tastes.

As an example, he points to his cousin Matt, who loves ranch dressing on banana bread.

It started as an accident, Zach says. But Matt grew to love it.

Zachs family has hosted a foreign exchange student from Germany. That young man puts ketchup on everything.

He also tops pizza with mustard.

To me, that sounds criminal.

Its actually not bad, Zach said.

Seeing the young German in action encouraged Zach to experiment with his taste buds. Zach believes everyone should try unusual combinations.

A good topping brings out the flavor in things, Zach said, referring to ranch dressing, ketchup, Franks hot sauce and mustard.

Of all the things Zach tops with ranch dressing, lettuce isnt one of them. Zach doesnt eat salad.

He always doesnt like onions. I tried them once, and Im over them.

Like many young adults, at Wendys, Zach dips his french fries in his Frosty.

Zach knows what he likes. He thinks the people at a sandwich chain need to standardize their toasters. He prefers his sandwiches extra toasted.

When you serve Zach cake and ice cream, he likes to chop them up and eat them together.

Another interesting trait: He adds Grape-Nuts to ice cream.

Like many mothers, Zachs mom must think her son is just an overgrown kid.

Zach is like most other men in that he likes to talk about food. That discussion has predictable results.

After all this food talk, Ive got to go find lunch, he said, dashing out the door.

Jeff Bahr is a reporter for The Independent. He may be reached at jeff.bahr@theindependent.com.
A very important event is two days away -- no, not Halloween. It is the 499th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. On Oct. 31, 1517, Martin Luther, a priest and theology professor, sent his 95 Theses to the Archbishop of Mainz and nailed them to the church door.

These were 95 questions or propositions to be argued in a formal academic disputation. Luther wished that both scholars and religious leaders would come together to address these topics. Most of the 95 theses dealt with indulgences directly or tangentially.

A little background on indulgences: When one confessed a sin, the priest could immediately restore ones relationship with God, but a temporal penance was also required. If one did not complete his/her temporal penance prior to death (temporal penances could take many years to complete), the remainder of the penance would have to be served out in purgatory. An indulgence could be purchased to lessen (but not eliminate) the time you or a loved one would spend in purgatory.

At this time, Pope Leo X was desiring to build the St. Peters Basilica, and to raise funds for the project he was offering a special indulgence, a plenary indulgence, which would remove all of ones (or a departed ones) temporal punishment. A saying developed from priests selling these indulgences, As soon as a coin in the coffer rings, a soul from purgatory springs.

In the "95 Theses," Luther questioned the Popes power or authority over souls in purgatory. Luther wasnt the first to do this. In the 14th and 15th centuries Jan Hus and John Wycliffe also raised this question. Luther more than questioned though, he stated that the Pope could only release people from punishment that he himself had imposed -- denying the Pope had any power over purgatory. Luther also argued that indulgences led people away from true repentance, causing a belief they could buy their way out. He employed metaphor and wordplay to describe the treasures of the gospel as nets to catch the wealthy, whereas the treasures of indulgences were nets to catch the wealth of people. Finding no biblical basis for indulgences, Luther couldnt even understand why the existed (and had for hundreds of years).

Theses 81 to 91 were presented as questions from congregants rather than his own questions or criticisms. These were difficult objections the laity raised, with no ready answers. For example, given the Pope was exceedingly wealthy, they asked, Why doesnt the Pope just pay for the Basilica himself? But the most piercing question for Luther was, How should I answer those who ask why the Pope does not simply empty purgatory if it is in his power; why does an indulgence have to be bought?

Boiling down Luthers and other reformers like John Calvins and Ulrich Zwinglis objections, they largely rested on how the authority and power of the church was being used. So on this anniversary, bringing the question into the 21st century, maybe we should reflect on how we use power -- our personal power.

What? You say, Nay, we have no power. We dont craft laws and legislation (well, given were in the state capital, some of us do). We dont have enormous wealth to fund or influence significant events (medical discoveries, charitable programs, improving education, etc.). We are too old -- or too young. We dont poses the right skill set. We are from the wrong socio-economic strata, or gender, or race. We dont hob-knob with the big names.

Oscar Wilde would disagree with you, he says we all have the power to make people happy: Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go. More seriously, we may not be superheroes (or even middling heroes), but we have more power than most of us acknowledge.

We may not be wealthy, but we spend money. We have power in where, how, and on what we spend it. How we interact with people is a power we poses. Do we acknowledge those we come into contact with as children of God? Is our first response confrontation whenever we encounter an opinion or perspective differing form ours? Do we endeavor to put a smile on anothers face? Do we uplift others, or put them down? And, we have a vote.

The reformers basic complaint was whether the church used its power for the glory of God, or the church? So, on this Reformation Day, are we using our power for our glory, or Gods glory? Is our power employed for our personal gain (financial, status, comfort, fame, etc.)? Are we using our power for others, the least of these my children?

If we are not particularly pleased with our answers, maybe we should embark on our own reformation, either on 10/31/2016 -- or today.
As discussed at Mondays Public Safety Committee meeting, the Edwardsville Fire Department will be partnering with the American Red Cross for their smoke detector program, also known as the Red Cross Home Fire Campaign.

The Red Cross will be providing the EFD with 24 10-year lithium battery smoke detectors, which will be given to those in need. The detectors and installment will be free of charge.

This will be the first year the EFD is participating in the program, and Fire Chief Rick Welle said the goal is to reduce fire-related injuries.

The American Red Cross has a program trying to reduce the number of injuries and deaths due to fire. So theyve come up with a smoke detector program that theyre working in conjunction with the local fire departments. The Red Cross will provide us with the new 10-year lithium battery style, single station smoke detectors that when were out and we see that someone is in need. . . If we agree to install the smoke detectors, then the American Red Cross has agreed to keep us provided with smoke detectors under a grant. So its more or less an exchange program that were going to start with 24 detectors that well have available, Welle said. We were already at a point where we were giving away some smoke detectors and/or installing them. We will continue with a battery program for those that have the type that still take the 9-volt batteries rather than the long-life lithium which is what the new smoke detectors would be. The idea is just to improve fire safety in the homes of our community for those people who are in need of that assistance.

The mission of the campaign, as stated on the Red Cross website, is to reduce death and injury by installing free smoke detectors for those who need them.

Citizens can receive the detectors either during a call when the EFD is on-site at their home or they can also call and make a request.

Welle said the department is finishing up the remaining details, but the detectors will be issued soon.

Im going through the process of the paperwork for the agreements between the department and the American Red Cross now. We just have to make a few more calls and well be issued the smoke detectors and well immediately be looking for more ways that we can help, he said.

The department will be starting out with 24 lithium battery detectors; however, if there are more requests for detectors, Welle said more can be given by the Red Cross if needed.

Were starting with 24, but the Red Cross has pledged, through the life of the grant, that they have assured us that all we have to do is contact them and they will replace the detectors we have already installed with more so that if there continues to be a need, they will continue to furnish them for us, he said.

After recently conducting Fire Prevention Week and putting on several demonstrations, Welle said the EFD hopes to continue making a positive impact and spread awareness about fire dangers with this program.

We still, on occasion, come across households that do not have working smoke detectors or any smoke detectors at all. If its a situation where they are either financially unable to go out and get detectors or if theyre in a position where they would have difficulty installing them themselves, thats the role the fire department would take on this to make sure that this truly life-saving devicesmoke detectors are absolutely essential in everyones homeand thats the role we will be playing. As a result, long term, we hope to see a continued reduction both in Edwardsville and across the country, in fire deaths and fire injuries.

Although lithium-battery smoke detectors are more advanced than older smoke detectors, Welle said they are not required, although he does recommend them, given that they are easier to maintain.

Technology has improved to where now, instead of having to frequently check on and replace the batteries of the smoke detector with the ten-year lithium batteries, or its a sealed unit where you dispose of the entire smoke detector and replace the smoke detector at the end of that ten years. We are seeing now that a lot of people have older smoke detectors that have gone beyond their life expectancy, even with replacing the batteries. So if you were going to replace them, certainly the 10-year lithium style is one thats available and the other style is available as well. Its not required; its just a matter of convenience, he said.

As the program gets closer to being launched, Welle said on behalf of the EFD, We are very happy to find out that the American Red Cross had this program. Certainly prevention is a huge part of our jobs in the fire service and the Red Cross has always been a great partner with the fire service and were looking forward to meeting goals of the American Red Cross and the fire service by reducing injuries and fire deaths.

To learn more about the Red Cross Home Fire Campaign, visit www.redcross.org. If you or someone you know is need of a smoke detector or would like guidance as to how to install it, contact the Edwardsville Fire Department at 618-692-7541.
Build an unforgettable memory this holiday season at the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago. Christmas Around the World and Holidays of Light return November 17, 2016. This years colorful theme will be inspired by one of worlds most iconic toysLEGO, the focus of the Museums temporary exhibit, Brick by Brick. Christmas Around the World and Holidays of Light offer guests a magical and playful experience among dozens of ornately decorated trees encircling the Museums Main Floor.

At the center of the Museums domed covered Rotunda stands the 45-foot-tall Grand Tree, adorned with more than 30,000 twinkling lights. LEGO-inspired ornaments and trimmings also decorate the tree. Flags from around the world have also received the brick treatment, as customized LEGO versions of each flag will be hung high above the exhibit space. Guests can also enjoy festive holiday music and snow falling every half hour inside the exhibit.

Surrounding the Museums Main Floor, more than 50 12-foot trees and displays beautifully decorated by volunteers from Chicagos ethnic communities represent diverse cultures and holiday traditions from around the world. This custom began for local families in 1942 as a United Nations Day salute to the Allies during World War II, and in its first year, only a dozen trees lined the Museums halls. Now the exhibit has grown into a forest of dazzling trees and homemade displays, created by dedicated volunteers. Christmas Around the World runs through January 8, 2017.

Trees and Traditions

Each of the 50 Christmas Around the World trees and displays offer insight into the diverse customs that exist during the holiday season or the culture of a particular country, including the following:

India

The Indian tree features hand-crafted dolls dressed in traditional attire of different regions throughout India. Hand-carved wooden replicas of Indian musical instruments and ornaments with beautiful mirrored and sequined embroidery also adorn the tree. Indias Christian community celebrates Christmas by attending midnight mass and decorating their homes with ornate nativity scenes, lights and clay lamps perched atop their roofs.

Mexico

Dia de Los Reyes (Kings Day) is celebrated throughout Mexico on January 6. Children receive gifts left by the Magi. This celebration is represented through the pinatas on Mexicos tree, while poinsettias are the traditional flower during the Christmas season. To pay homage to the different regions of Mexico, dolls are dressed in various traditional garments.

Switzerland

The Swiss tree features traditional decor, including hand-blown glass ornaments from Swiss shop Glasi Hergiswil, candles, tinsel and lights. Wrapped gifts are placed underneath the tree, as is a creche featuring little figurines from the Nativity scene. As families celebrate on Christmas Eve, a beautiful angel, dressed in white with a golden crown, appears to announce the arrival of the Christ child. Upon her arrival, the family lights the candles on the Christmas tree as she distributes gifts to the children.

Holidays of Light

This digital display highlights the holidays that celebrate light or enlightenment. Holidays of Light focuses on the traditions of the Chinese New Year, Diwali (a Hindu and Sikh festival), Kwanzaa (celebrated by African Americans), Ramadan (celebrated by Muslims), Hanukkah (a Jewish holiday), Visakha Puja Day (a Buddhist holiday), and St. Lucia Day (a Swedish tradition). Guests can view Holidays of Light in a gallery located on the Museums Main Floor.

Festive Performances and Other Holiday Fun

Guests can enjoy lively performances from all corners of the globe throughout Christmas Around the World. More than 60 cultural groups representing six of the worlds continents will perform native dances, sing, tell folklore and share various holiday traditions in the Museums Main Auditorium inside the West Pavilion. These talented groups are all local, coming from across the Chicagoland area as well as northwest Indiana. Performances will take place on November 19, 20, 25-27; December 3, 4, 10, 11, 17, and 18. A full schedule will become available at msichicago.org in November.

Stop by Holiday Lane where Santa will be making special visits during Christmas Around the World! Children can meet Santa before his epic Christmas journey on November 26 and 27; December 3, 4, 10, 11, 17 and 18. Guests can also make their own brick-inspired ornaments on site on select weekends this holiday season.

Also opening this November, step inside the whimsical imagination of the author and illustrator of Where the Wild Things Are. MSIs newest temporary exhibit, Where the Wild Things Are: The Works of Maurice Sendak opens November 10. Explore original artworks by Sendak, including sketches, illustrations and works on paper. Presidents, illustrators, friends and celebrities also share their words about the renowned authorhow he inspired them, influenced their careers and touched their lives.

Dont forget to make a stop at the Holiday Shop, full of great gifts and festive trinkets for family and friends, including unique ornaments representing cultures around the world and a one-of-a-kind snow globe sold exclusively at MSI!

Christmas Around the World, Holidays of Light and Where the Wild Things Are: The Works of Maurice Sendak are included in Museum Entry, as are all cultural performances. An additional, timed-entry ticket is required for Brick by Brick. Visit msichicago.org for details and to purchase tickets. Brick by Brick is sponsored by ArcelorMittal.

The Museum is open every day, 9:30 a.m. - 4 p.m. The Museum will offer extended hours until 5:30 p.m. on the following days this holiday season: November 19, 20, 25 - 27; December 3, 4, 10, 11, 17 - 23 and 26 - 30. The Museum is closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Christmas Around the World photos are available for download at http://bit.ly/2cb8vWX. Please credit J.B. Spector/Museum of Science and Industry.
After years of stops and starts, the iconic Corsair plane that sits near the entrance to Edwardsville Township Park will finally be restored soon.

Trustees approved a $30,000 contract with Flight Deck Veterans Group, a nation-wide non-profit based in Tennessee that specializes in restoring aircraft as part of its mission of veterans serving veterans and passing on the history and legacy of veterans and flight deck operations, according to a release from the township.

It will take five days for them to get the project completed, Township Supervisor Frank Miles said Wednesday. We expect them to start within the next 30 days.

First on the agenda is for the Township to figure out which period of service the plane will be restored to and then to work with the group on exactly how to make that happen.

The plane has a storied past.

Miles said they have learned from the group that the plane - officially a U.S. Navy A-7E Corsair - took her maiden cruise in 1975 off the deck of the USS Nimitz, where it was stationed until 1980. Two years later, the plane served on the USS JFK, and from 1984 to 1996 she served on the USS Saratoga. All those deployments were Mediterranean cruises, Miles said.

This agreement is the culmination of a multi-year project to restore our historic aircraft, Miles said in the press release.

In late 2013, we were approached by a small group of Township residents who were interested in restoring the aircraft. We established a Community Fund with the Edwardsville Community Foundation so residents could make tax deductible contributions.

In the spring of 2016, the township launched Mission: Preservation, the Campaign to Restore the Plane. It was a three-pronged approach to raising the necessary funds to restore the aircraft to display and ready condition. That definition comes from the U.S. Naval Aviation Museum, which loaned the plane to the Township.

The campaign has really rallied the community around the project and brought new volunteers and veterans to the project as well, Miles said.

The plane was helicoptered into Township Park about a quarter century ago from Scott Air Force Base. The engine had been removed at Scott, and after it arrived in Edwardsville the late Township Supervisor Robert Stille installed a female mannequin in the cockpit, propping her up with a stack of phone books.

The most recent effort to attempt a fix-up came after some aviation experts - actually Edwardsville residents who worked for Scott Air Force Bases TRANSCOM unit - looked the plane over, offered suggestions, and drew up specs to have the plane painted and refurbished.

But they got transferred from the area.

Then earlier this year the township began contacting local businesses in an effort to get corporate sponsors. They set up several dine-out nights with local restaurants, and they partnered with Global Brew to host a Fall Fest in Township Park to benefit the project.

In all, businesses and individuals have contributed nearly $20,000 to the project.

Edwardsville Township will kick in the remaining $10,000, Miles said.

The Flight Deck Veterans Group is excited to help the community bring this historic aircraft to life, said Jared Ashley, CEO and Founder of the Flight Deck Veterans Group. We are honored to be part of this project.

The group has restored historic aircraft around the country. Their projects have included an F-14 Tomcat on display on the historic USS Yorktown in Charleston, S.C., and the Fast Eagle 102, the first F-14 Tomcat to shoot down another aircraft in combat. The latter is on display at the Commemorative Air Forces High Sky Wing in Midland, Texas.
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Linkedin Mari Pangestu Jakarta  Sat, October 29, 2016

We often forget the important role that ASEAN unity has played in ensuring regional stability and peace, which has enabled ASEAN economies to pursue economic development and cooperation through various free trade agreements (FTAs).

There is the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC); FTAs with six East Asian countries (China, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India); and the current negotiations of the East Asia Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to consolidate all those agreements.

As a result, most intra-ASEAN trade is at zero percent and a significant portion of ASEAN trade with the six East Asian countries is also already at zero. We can also travel visa-free to each others countries. ASEAN is the eighth-largest regional organization in the world with 600 million people, growing at an average of around 5 percent.

Intra-ASEAN trade accounts for 25 percent of trade and investment, and intra-East Asia trade accounts for two-thirds, while intra-ASEAN tourism accounts for 46 percent and intra-East Asia tourism accounts for two-thirds of tourist travel.

While ASEAN economic integration has been criticized as being too slow and not ambitious enough, it is at least still an ongoing process compared to what is not happening in other regional agreements or even at the World Trade Organization (WTO). Furthermore, international commitments including under the AEC have shaped and continue to influence national reform programs and in the growing antiglobalization and anti-elite world, there have at least been no major reversals.

We cannot take this unity for granted if ASEAN does not resolve the challenges it faces as it approaches 50 years in 2017. What are the changes and innovations needed going forward? As Eisenhower fellows meet in Bali this weekend, these are some of the questions they are pondering.

The challenges are first the slow recovery in the global economy, and especially important for ASEAN is the impact of the slowdown and structural changes in China. Second is increased antiglobalization, anti-immigration and anti-elite sentiments, peaking with Brexit, and the political stance adopted across the globe including in the US and evident in ASEAN.

In turn these tendencies have affected the appetite for bold reforms and international cooperation on various issues that need international collective action such as climate change, trade policy and international investment. Third, disruptive technologies that on the one hand increase efficiency and inclusiveness can lead to a loss of jobs and impact traditional industries.

Fourth is ASEANs increased urbanization and demographic shifts. There is aging in Northeast Asia and Thailand on the one hand, and on the other hand a demographic bonus in the rest of ASEAN and India of young productive people who will need jobs.

What changes are needed? To remain relevant, ASEAN must be able to speed up and widen the scope of regional economic integration, including addressing technological disruptions and the freer flow of people that will be beneficial to all members. At the same time it must be able to address the anti-openness movement with concerns rooted in the perceived lack of spread of the benefits of economic integration between and within countries.

Various surveys in ASEAN show that less than 50 percent of businesses have heard of the AEC. The utilization rate of FTAs is only around 40 percent and only a small percentage of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) participate in international trade.

Young people in ASEAN probably also do not have any idea about the ASEAN community, even though they enjoy the outcomes: We can find J.CO donuts in Singapore and Extra Joss in the Philippines.

In fact, they could be seen as similar to their European counterparts. A recent survey of millennials in Europe by the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) found that millennials saw their future in globalization and the continued importance of the EU, but did not trust that the elites or politicians could deliver the right kind of globalization for them  of quality growth (health and environment being important) and inclusiveness.

Therefore, change is needed not just in what ASEAN should do, but also in the way ASEAN operates and communicates. Political leaders need to be in tune with the needs of the people, including of youth, and to be able to truly discuss these challenges openly at ASEAN summits. At the same time to be truly people-oriented and inclusive as the vision of the ASEAN community states, the process must be made open, inclusive and participatory from the beginning  not at the end of the process of shaping the ASEAN community.

Alongside innovations are needed to make the process more open and to have more transparent evaluations of impacts. One example is the AEC Scorecard, which could be made more transparent or have an independent evaluation.

Innovation through the role of technology in terms of structural changes that need to happen, the way to communicate messages as a means for inclusiveness and delivering digital dividends so that the benefits of economic integration are more widely spread are also key. For innovation and creativity to thrive, there has to be supporting physical connectivity, soft infrastructure of talent, a conducive innovation climate and access to networks, finance and industry.

In turn this will allow SMEs and creative-preneurs to be integrated. The outsourcing of many services and tasks to a wide range of clusters all over ASEAN could be a new method. An innovative approach is also needed to manage disruptive technologies so that there is net job creation and the creation of new industries and opportunities.

These changes and innovations are just a glimpse of what needs to be done. It is the beginning of a serious conversation that must happen from political leaders down. Lets not lament the loss of ASEAN unity when it is too late or when it is gone. Lets get going on the changes and innovations that we must make to ensure ASEAN unity  otherwise we will be living in an unthinkable world without ASEAN.

__________________________

The writer served as trade minister from 2004 to 2011, and as tourism and creative economy minister from 2011 until October 2014
The witching hour is upon us and the Lewis & Clark Humane Society residents are ready to join in the spooky fun! Among them, Buddy, a lovable Rottweiler mix, is ready to find a home to haunt. Will you adopt this ghoulish guy?

This devilishly fun canine loves the simple things in life. Neighborhood walks, the smell of fall leaves and warm snuggles on the couch are just some of Buddy's favorite autumn activities. Laid-back and carefree, Buddy just wants to find someone to cuddle with. Buddy gets along with older kids and dogs. This handsome 7-year-old has been at the shelter far too long, and we hope he can find a home for the holidays. Because of his age, Buddys adoption fee is just $37.50!!

Joining Buddy in his search for a forever home is Jordan, a young and spirited hound searching for her boo this Halloween weekend. Shes a smart little lady who knows how to perform a trick for a treat.

Sit, down and sit pretty are just a few of the tricks in Jordans arsenal, and shed love to continue learning new things. Best described as an energetic sweetheart, Jordan is looking for someone who wants to explore the outdoors. Jordan would like to find a home without kitties!

Stop by Tread Lightly (335 N. Last Chance Gulch) today from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to meet these two goofy ghouls!
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Linkedin Evi Mariani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, October 29, 2016

If there was a contest to select a poster girl for diversity and minority rights, I am sure I would be on the shortlist. I am a ChineseIndonesian, I grew up Catholic and ended my teenage years not subscribing to any religion, and I am a woman.

And although my family is middle class, we are not a wealthy Chinese-Indonesian family.

I am not only still standing, exuding all my minority charms but I speak about these issues a lot. I write about it too, and not only to defend Chinese-Indonesians rights, but also other minority groups like Ahmadis, Shiites and Papuans.

I once considered myself a liberal and didnt have any problem with it until lately when liberals, most of them educated middle-class people and my friends, have made a glaring omission of the universal principle of human rights.

These people are avid supporters of Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama, a Chinese-Indonesian and a Christian, thus their rhetoric of pluralism has been cheapened by some peoples attempts to usher Ahok into victory in the gubernatorial election next year.

Their campaign that Ahoks triumph would be a victory for pluralism leaves a bad taste in my mouth, especially because Ahok has actually done little to protect freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and pluralism. His only commendable action was saying public schools in Jakarta were prohibited from making the hijab mandatory.

Others laud him for his bravery against hard-line group the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) and many of my friends cheered when Ahok said the FPI should be disbanded without realizing that it was actually a violation of the Constitution, Article 28I paragraph 1 on freedom of assembly and expressing opinion to be exact.

But these people were silent when the FPI wrought havoc in December last year, raiding private cars in the Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM) cultural center in Central Jakarta to find the FPIs archenemy, Purwakarta Regent Dedi Mulyadi. Then Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Tito Karnavian (now the National Police chief ) refused to reprimand his subordinates who allowed this to happen before their eyes. And Ahok said nothing about that.

From November 2015 until March this year, under Titos leadership there were at least five incidents threatening freedom of assembly and expression in Jakarta, most of which involved the FPI or other firebrand groups. While Tito seemed to condone the actions, Ahok, as the No. 1 person in Jakarta, was silent.

And liberals continue to promote Ahok as a symbol of pluralism, only because he was seemingly brave in facing the FPI, but under closer scrutiny has actually done nothing except stand still, exude his minority charms and fire expletives from his mouth. I can see that this could be cathartic because he defies the stereotype of mousy, prostrate Chinese-Indonesians in the face of hard-liners.

But really, I could do that too if I had tanks and a Mobile Brigade (Brimob) troop at the ready every day in front of my office and three layers of security in my gated community. Actually, all my life I have been to places known for their anti-Chinese sentiment unescorted.

The liberals focus so much on the FPI, which is actually a fringe organization that should have been kept on the fringe. This focus feels increasingly wrong amid rampant evictions in Jakarta and obvious violations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which Indonesia has ratified.

Ahoks neo-developmentalism, at the expense of an economic minority who happens to be the majority religion and ethnicity wise, has bulldozed homes and displaced children and women, who always bear more of the brunt of this tragedy. It is also a systematic dispossession of the poor.

It seems that your liberal human rights do not have the capacity to extend compassion to the citys economic minority.

The liberals have been whitewashing all this by saying that the urban poor are treated humanely because they are moved to low-cost rental apartments equipped with sitting toilets, shiny mosques and garbage chutes, while dismissing the fact that these people have been uprooted from an economically strategic location to one with much less economic activity. They have also dismissed the fact that the forced evictions themselves have been brutal and done without dialogue, a requirement even in the framework of the neoliberal World Bank.

They actively vilify the poor with unjustified labels like robbers of state land, while at the same time taking pride in themselves as defenders of minority rights.

This is a glaring omission, very middle-class biased and dangerous for the future of Jakarta, a city already segregated by economic caste.

These are the same people who shared the World Bank report about inequality on social media and lauded Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati when she delivered a speech about inequality and structural poverty, all the while encouraging Ahok to evict more people. He has already vowed to clean Jakarta from the great unwashed before the Asian Games in 2018. This means thousands more families are to undergo dispossession and displacement and they say Ahoks victory means the victory of pluralism.

I used to be proud of calling myself a liberal. Now, I am not so sure anymore.

The author is staff writer with The Jakarta Post. The views expressed are her own.
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Linkedin Sebastian Partogi (The Jakarta Post)  Sat, October 29 2016

Coralie Charriol, vice president and creative director of Charriol, gives us a glimpse of the creative process behind luxury timepieces and what makes them tick.

Early this October, Swiss luxury timepiece and jewelry brand Charriol launched its latest collection, Forever, featuring watches embellished with a diamond-patterned lattice motif around the case and bangles with twisted steel cables in PVD coating. In Indonesia, the products are distributed by Jamasia Infinite Luxury.



The family business was founded by Philippe Charriol in 1983 and mainly catered to mature women aged 50 and up, who constituted 80 percent of the companys market segment. One of the brands most well-known collections is Saint Tropez, a watch product line for women launched in 1986.



Working as the brands vice president and creative director is Coralie Charriol, Philippes daughter. Based in New York and Geneva for the past 10 years, she has designed 15 jewelry lines and 10 collections of leather goods for Charriol. She also plays an important role in the development of the watches.



J+ recently sat down with her to understand the nuts and bolts of watchmaking (including snippets of conversation about jewelry too) during her visit to Jakarta to promote the Forever line. Here are excerpts from the interview, edited for clarity and length.



Can you describe your creative process?



Well, the process is kind of boring, as is the case in any manufacturing process. However, there are two bookends to the process, the most exciting elements: the exciting day when an idea comes to you and the moment when you see the product get sold in stores, when somebody actually wants it and buys it. But, in the middle, it is a headache (laughs).



Talking about ideas, where did you get the inspiration for this latest collection?



Actually this one is inspired by a song called Forever Young by Rod Stewart. I like it a lot. When I listen to it, I kind of go, yeah, of course I want to be forever young! So that is the feeling I want to give people with my designs.



Im influenced by music, by song lyrics or melodies that make me feel good. For instance, when I listened to Beyonces Crazy in Love, that was one of the things that precipitated the creation of Malia, our Valentines Day collection we launched a while ago.



The song then made me think of Malia, a Hawaiian name, because I was born there. Hawaii is a place where people feel free, because you just think of vacations, fun and pina coladas whenever the name comes up.



You said that you and your father raced cars. Im intrigued; did that also inspire your watchmaking?



Actually, I only did it for a year 15 years ago and havent done it again since. My father still does and he started years ago at the age of 50. I guess the activity taught me about fearlessness, the idea of I can do it.



How do you develop a product line?



Twice a year, we hold a meeting among sales staff and executives to assess which of our products sell and which ones dont. We also talk about trends with our in-house designers. We choose to evolve products that sell instead of creating new products. We will add new variations on existing products to give people choices. For instance, we update our Saint Tropez line every couple of years. First we modify the dials and then the sizes.



What are the most current trends in luxury timepieces and jewelry right now?



Right now, you see colors everywhere. Thanks to advanced technology, you can impose any color on cable to make jewelry or watches. Although colors are attractive, at the end of the day, gold, steel and rose gold will always remain timeless, because you can wear them with any outfit. Right now people also like to combine different things; they like to be eclectic in order to capture the complexities and complications of their personalities for the whole world, because now personal imagery is very important.



What about digital watches?



Its hard to fight with digital, because they spend millions of dollars on advertising. We, however, will not go digital. Nor will we insert digital elements into our watches. Our strength lies with jewelry, or watches with jewelry. The next generation might not need wristwatches anymore. People, however, might still want to buy these wristwatches as a status symbol or to celebrate a professional achievement.



Are there any challenges in running a creative family business?



Challenges can come from the creative side. If you have only one family member whos creative, thats good; you can just appoint that person to be the creative head. When everybody in your family is creative, however, that can spell trouble because you will start to lose direction with competing ideas. When thats the case for you, its best to hire an outsider creative head to make sure that nobodys fighting and that everybody goes with one vision.

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Linkedin Suherdjoko (The Jakarta Post) Semarang  Sat, October 29 2016

As candidates in mayoral and regency elections kicked off their campaigns on Friday, Central Java Police have underlined their commitment to safeguarding the concurrent regional elections, with plans to deploy some 4,700 personnel.

Police said the officers deployed would be backed up by around 1,250 military personnel and nearly 28,000 community members.

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Linkedin Ina Parlina (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, October 29 2016

One perk of controlling the countrys largest media network is that if you are arrested on graft allegations, you can present your side of the story to a huge audience and immediately launch an attack against officials responsible for the legal moves.

That is what happened on Friday, the day after the East Java Prosecutors Office detained former state-owned enterprises minister Dahlan Iskan, who is also the media mogul behind the Indo Pos network.

Dozens of newspapers in the network published the same headline on Friday focusing on the Corruption Eradication Commissions (KPK) move to probe the head of the East Java Prosecutors Office, Maruli Hutagalung.

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post)  Sat, October 29 2016

WORDS TERTIANI ZB SIMANJUNTAK PHOTOS DONNY FERNANDO

All eyes were on the works of the latest batch of Indonesia Fashion Forward (IFF) designers on the opening day of Jakarta Fashion Week 2017, with their designs setting the trends for next year.



The designers of five labels received short courses to propel them further in the local and international fashion industry, joining 40 of their seniors who regularly release new collections and are steadily entering global markets with mentoring from London-based fashion business incubator Centre for Fashion Enterprise.



The incubation program of the Jakarta Fashion Week organizer is in collaboration with the British Council and the Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf).



We were given the knowledge to create effective branding to enter the international market. Our mentors introduced us to overseas buyers and, most importantly, local manufacturers so its no longer necessary to import materials, said Rani Hatta, who was picked to join the fifth installment of the incubation program after making her debut with her eponymous label at the fashion festival last year.



Joining Rani were the designers of the Paulina Katarina, Bateeq, Day and Night and BYO labels that made the runway their commencement stage, bringing a fresh look to the local fashion scene for Spring/Summer 2017.



Indonesia Fashion Forward continuously makes us proud, said Svida Alisjahbana, the founder and chairperson of Jakarta Fashion Week. The alumni have left their marks in the international arena by taking part in international trade shows, being involved in the exchange platform with fashion festivals overseas and by being eligible to enter prestigious international fashion design contests.



IFF alumni include labels and designers Major Minor, Tex Saverio, Yosafat Dwi Kurniawan, Dian Pelangi, Albert Yanuar, Patrick Owen, Peggy Hartanto, Jii by Gloria Agatha, Billy Tjong, Norma Hauri, I.K.Y.K and Jenahara. Another alumni, Toton Januar, won Asias International Woolmark Prize this year and will compete at the international level in Paris early next year.



According to Svida, candidates for the program must show professionalism and an eagerness to forge a stronghold in the industry through a branding strategy.



Were not going to choose a me, myself and mine designer in this program. The designer has to be backed by a solid team of people to ensure a sustainable production, she said.



This program is the right post for the government to invest in the fashion industry instead of facilitating a famous label to become a global brand in an instant. It should be a long-term investment which may not show results in two to five years, but it would give the right direction to the local industry.



RANI HATTA



The Muslim wear designer established her label in 2013, and represented the country at the Bangkok International Fashion Fair and Bangkok International Leather Fair 2016 in March.



She joined IFF in the modest wear category, but it was not reflected in her new collection, titled Youth, which was rebellious and a bit aggressive. She created 16 designs of oversized wear embellished with pleats, eyelet rings and layers in a monochromatic palette. The collection consists of turtleneck sweater-dresses, pleated skirts, vests, tailored bomber jacket, jogger pants and hoodie. It uses an assortment of materials such as neoprene, bonded fabric, polyester, scuba and synthetic leather.



PAULINA KATARINA



Behind the Bali-based label are siblings Surya Paulina Kuhn and Ratna Katarina Kuhn, whose products have been sold in Jakarta, Singapore and Australia since its inception in 2012. The label was a finalist in the CLEO Fashion Awards 2015 in the Most Innovative Local Brand category.



Known for their premium wear products, for the fashion festival they presented Wanderlust  a collection of casual but elegant outfits for semi-formal or leisure occasions, dominated by undertone colors of blue and white.



DAY AND NIGHT



It was all about black and white when Yelly Lumentu released her label in 2012. It is famous for her quirky but wearable designs with unique details that led to her winning the Most Innovative Local Brand at CLEO Fashion Awards 2015.



Her latest collection, Double Take, presented monochromatic style in simple cutting for a chic and neat look, so subtle that only the wearer or one who looks close enough could tell the exquisite details of embroidery and frills of each outfit.



BATEEQ



Since 2013, designer Michelle Tjokrosaputro has modernized the presentation of batik in fashion by focusing on colors and motifs  a fusion of traditional garments and global appeal.



Entering IFF in the premium wear category, Bateeq came out with Catena, translated as a continuous form of chain link, with inspiration derived from batik motifs Salur (vine), the flowery Kembang Kanthil and lively Fajar Menyingsing (sunrise). Using cotton poplin fabric, jersey, viscose, satin and organza, the collection is created to cater to the need for one outfit to suit all occasions in a day.



BYO



Accessories designer Tommy Ambiyo Tedji won the Most Promising Accessories Brand at CLEO Fashion Awards last year for his exploration of material, concept and design in creating clutch and purse designs with a futuristic aesthetic.



For the fashion week showcase, Tommy also created gowns using the same material and design with the clutch; instead of a zipper or buttons, he used a magnetic strap to hold the outfit together. In some of his designs, the bags could be attached to the back of the outfit.



While the use of magnet runs the risk of a fashion faux pas, as occurred on the runway, Tommy succeeded in wowing the audience with his take on Ridley Scotts 1979 sci-fi film Alien.

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, October 29 2016

Government and businesses should team up to improve the quality of local human resources to anticipate the influx of foreign workers after the implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), which allows a free flow of skilled workers among its 10 member countries.

Indonesian Human Capital Forum (FHCI) chairman Herdy Rosadi Harman said proper investment in the human capital sector, particularly through primary education, would help the country prepare its pool of talent to compete with overseas workers.

Students, for example, should learn about character building from primary school, as this will help them prepare mentally for future competition, including in the labor market, Herdy said on the sidelines of the 2016 Indonesia Human Capital Summit in Jakarta on Thursday.

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Linkedin I Wayan Juniarta (The Jakarta Post) Ubud, Bali  Sat, October 29 2016

Messages on the importance of inclusiveness and tolerance in this increasingly connected-yet-divisive world were amplified in scores of discussions and art performances at the 13th Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (UWRF) here.

Early in the morning on Friday, a prominent Balinese spiritualist, Prabhu Darmayasa, who had just launched his interpretation of the Indian classic Bhagavad Gita (Song of God), pointed out that one way to tackle religious-related problems, including radicalism, hate and violence, is by realizing the essence of religion.

The essence is spiritual liberation and happiness. By treating religion as a box that confines us, we would not achieve that essence, he said.

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Linkedin Donny Syofyan (The Jakarta Post) Padang, West Sumatra  Sat, October 29 2016

A new phenomenon behind the demographics in Indonesia is the increasing number of young people. As of recently, the younger age cohort (15-24 years) accounted for 25.6 percent of the population and this proportion will increase until 2030.

This figure is also similar to past experiences in countries with growing economies in South and Southeast Asian (Economist, 2013; Banerji et al. 2013).

Along with better economic impacts, increasing numbers of young people in the country provides major capital for leadership. Countless young figures occupy various top positions across the country.

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Linkedin Dylan Amirio and Grace D. Amianti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, October 29, 2016

Despite holding the accolade of being Southeast Asias largest economy, Indonesia continues to face the basic problem of low financial literacy, but now the government wants to change that.



Husnul Asikin tended his stall located amid the beautiful rolling tea fields of Puncak in West Java. The 33-year-old sells refreshments from herbal cigarettes to coffee, and tea picked fresh from the highlands not far above.



However, unlike at other such stalls, people can save their money at Asikins place, a service made available by his status as a BTPN Wow! agent.



One of Asikins regular customers, 43-year-old tea seller Susanti, said she had been saving money for her eldest sons education, depositing between Rp 3,000 (23 US cents) and Rp 200,000 per visit.



Asikin said that before he became an agent for 139 customers in and around his area, people living there had never really used bank services and those who did had to travel several kilometers to the nearest bank branch to conduct even the simplest transaction.



The services offered by Asikin are part of a larger effort called the Laku Pandai program initiated by the Financial Services Authority (OJK) in March 2015 to reach out to the unbanked and unbankable by recruiting laypersons as banking agents and offering simple, basic services.



As many as 13 banks have registered in the program. They comprise private and state-owned lenders, conventional and sharia banks, and regional development banks, including Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Nasional (BTPN).



By June, the program had already enrolled more than 104,000 agents and managed 1.63 million savings accounts, worth Rp 63 billion.



However, that is not enough as the OJK is seeking to launch a National Savings Movement. The campaign will be officially launched by President Joko Jokowi Widodo on Oct. 31.



OJK head of banking supervision Teguh Supangkat said the campaign was expected to raise awareness about banking and improve financial literacy in Indonesia, where only 36 percent of adults have bank accounts, according to the World Banks 2014 Global Findex database.



This figure is actually a significant improvement from the 20 percent in 2011, but only 22 percent of the poorest population in the country has access to bank accounts, the data show.



The OJK has set a rather ambitious target for the Laku Pandai program, with the nationwide total of savings forecast to reach Rp 2.6 trillion by the end of this year and a total of 27 banks participating in the program.



Teguh acknowledged various challenges faced by both the regulator and banks in publicizing Laku Pandai given the vastness of the archipelago, with so many islands isolated from banking access.



The geographical challenge was especially highlighted by the Asian Development Bank Institute in its Financial Inclusion in Asia report, published in 2014.



The geographic diversity and mass population pose natural obstacles to financial inclusion. The remote location of small islands and the limited banking potential of their inhabitants discourage banks from reaching out and providing financial services, it said.



In addition to banks, the efforts to improve financial literacy are also being carried out by other financial institutions, including life insurer Prudential Indonesia through its Cha-Ching program.



It has been conducting the program since 2012 and visits schools to teach students the basic concepts of earning and saving money.



Separately, economists have welcomed the upcoming National Savings Movement.



Samuel Asset Management economist Lana Soelistianingsih suggested the campaign should target senior high school students as they were mature enough to know that they should start saving money for their future needs.



People who live in villages should also be the governments concern. They should be informed that money for saving should be allocated once they receive their wages, she said.



Enny Sri Hartati, the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef) executive director, said the government needed to diversify efforts in a bid to reach a greater proportion of the population currently without access to banks. (wnd/fac)

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, October 29 2016

What is surel? I have never heard of that word before, said 20-year-old college student and avid internet user Juan Putranto in Bandung, West Java, when asked about the Indonesian word for email.

As the country celebrated the historic moment when Indonesian youths affirmed their identity as Indonesians, known as Youth Pledge Day, which falls every Oct. 28, todays youth  mostly digital natives  are struggling to speak the local equivalents of the foreign words that have become part of their lives.

Juan is not alone in his confusion, as most Indonesians are more exposed to the English version of information technology (IT) terms instead of the Indonesian counterparts. Therefore, words like linimasa (timeline), tetikus (mouse) and daring (online) seem peculiar to them.

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The interim director of VA Montana Health Care System is now the permanent director, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced Friday.

Kathy Berger, who has helmed the agency on an interim basis for about four months, was named the permanent director on Friday. VA Montana manages the health care, in whole or in part, of more than 47,000 actively enrolled veterans.

Berger was not available for comment Friday, but Ralph Gigliotti, Veterans Integrated Service Network 19 director, praised her leadership and experience.

We are excited to bring Dr. Berger on board in a permanent capacity as director of VA Montana Health Care System, he said in a statement. She has served exceptionally well as acting director for the past four months and we look forward to great things for Montana in the future under her direction.

Berger took the interim role following the resignation of former director John Ginnity and amid calls from Montanas congressional delegation and many veterans to improve access to health care in the state.

Across the country, the VA has suffered a series of agency-rocking scandals surrounding wait times and false record-keeping.

In Montana, wait times, workforce shortages and difficulties accessing alternative providers for rural patients have frustrated veterans and elected officials. In September, a judge ruled a senior Montana VA official retaliated against an employee who filed a patient safety report over an operating room error.

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., a vocal advocate for veterans issues and the top Democrat on the subcommittee that funds the VA, said in a statement that VA leadership vacancies have served as a barrier for veterans seeking care.

I have met with Kathy, and I believe she has the tools necessary to meet the responsibility of taking care of our veterans. Kathy has a lot of work ahead of her, and I will continue to work with her and the staff at VA Montana to ensure the folks who served this nation are able to access the care they have earned," he said.

Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., has also been outspoken on veterans issues and issued a statement Friday.

The appointment of a new VA Montana Director is welcome news for Montanas veterans and I wish Dr. Berger the best, he said. Now that our veterans have a new director I look forward to seeing a commitment and change to ensure their needs are not only being met, but that Montanas veterans receive the best possible care.

Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., praised the hiring as he had earlier advocated for a woman to be appointed to the position. Veterans deserve a system supporting them and their families rather than additional burdens, he said in an email.

(Berger) has my congratulations along with my sincerest commitment to do all I can to help address the issues facing Montana's veterans, Zinke said. I'm happy to see the Administration heard my call to appoint a woman to the leadership position. I'm confident she will shake things up for the better.

Along with her interim role in Montana, Berger has directed the Sheridan VAHCS in Sheridan, Wyoming, since 2015. She previously served as chief of Quality, Performance and Patient Safety at the Lexington, Kentucky VAMC.

Berger served in the Air Force for nine years, stationed at three bases stateside and was the officer in charge while on deployment to Saudi Arabia.

She holds associate's and bachelor's degrees from Northern Kentucky University, a master's in health care administration from California College of Health Sciences and a doctor of nursing practice from the University of Kentucky, according to a biography provided by the VA Montana Health Care System.
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, October 29, 2016

What is surel? I have never heard of that word before, said 20-year-old college student and avid internet user Juan Putranto in Bandung, West Java, when asked about the Indonesian word for email.

As the country celebrated the historic moment when Indonesian youths affirmed their identity as Indonesians, known as Youth Pledge Day, which falls every Oct. 28, todays youth  mostly digital natives  are struggling to speak the local equivalents of the foreign words that have become part of

their lives.

Juan is not alone in his confusion, as most Indonesians are more exposed to the English version of information technology (IT) terms instead of the Indonesian counterparts. Therefore, words like linimasa (timeline), tetikus (mouse) and daring (online) seem peculiar to them.

A recent university graduate, Danang Permadi, 24, said he actually knew about the word daring, but he was more familiar with online because he used the English translation more regularly.

No one has ever used daring among my peers, family and even at university. I only know the word from randomly browsing the internet, he told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Indonesian youths are also unfamiliar with Indonesian IT words like salin dan tempel (copy and paste), serambi (platform), peramban (browser), peladen (server), lebar pita (bandwidth), narablog (blogger) and unduh (download).

The use of the Indonesian language by young people is well specified in the Sumpah Pemuda (Youth Pledge), the 88th anniversary of which fell on Friday. One of the verses of the pledge reads We, Indonesian youths, will carry high our national language, Bahasa Indonesia.

But as the world becomes more globalized and new words are coined to catch up with new technologies, are there really Indonesian youths out there who would say lebar pita instead of bandwidth?

The government has done its job in promoting the use of the Indonesian language on a daily basis through the Language Development and Training Agency under the Culture and Education Ministry.

The agency periodically publishes the Indonesian Language Dictionary (KBBI), available in book and online versions, and its representatives are present in 30 provinces across the country.

But any efforts to convince youths to use their mother language appear insufficient as they obtain most of their information from the internet, where English is the dominant language, University of Indonesia linguist Mohammad Umar Muslim told The Jakarta Post.

Language is constantly evolving. The internet has made Indonesian youths see foreign languages as more prestigious than their mother language. The more popular a foreign word is among youths, the harder it is for young people to use its Indonesian version, Umar said on Friday.

Media researcher Ignatius Haryanto reaffirmed the linguists view. As technology advances, people get more information as well as new words. Sometimes words are too technical, making them hard to be translated into Indonesian, he said.

Haryanto added the media should play a role in promoting the Indonesian language, including the IT terms coined by linguists.

The media should also use proper Indonesian, he said. (adt)
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Linkedin Susannah George (Associated Press) Shura, Iraq  Sat, October 29, 2016

Iraqi forces pushed into a town south of Mosul on Saturday after Islamic State fighters fled with civilians used as human shields, as state-sanctioned Shiite militias joined the offensive by opening up a new front to the west.

Iraqi troops approaching Mosul from the south advanced into Shura after a wave of US-led airstrikes and artillery shelling against militant positions inside the town. Commanders said most of the IS fighters withdrew earlier this week with civilians, but that US airstrikes had disrupted the forced march, allowing some civilians to escape.

"After all this shelling, I don't think we will face much resistance," Iraqi army Maj. Gen. Najim al-Jabouri said. "This is easy, because there are no civilians left," he added. "The big challenge for us is always the civilians."

Lt. Col. Hussein Nazim of the militarized Federal Police, which is leading the advance from the south, said some civilians, mainly the elderly and infirm, might still be in the city, but that the use of heavy artillery and airstrikes was a standard tactic.

"We must strike like this before we move in or else we will be easy prey for Daesh," he said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

Iraqi forces launched a massive operation to retake militant-held Mosul last week. The offensive to retake Iraq's second-largest city, which is still home to more than 1 million people, is expected to take weeks, if not months.

State-sanctioned Shiite militias meanwhile launched an assault to the west of Mosul aimed at driving IS from the town of Tel Afar, which had a majority Shiite population before it fell to the militants in the summer of 2014. They will also try to secure the western border with Syria, where IS shuttles fighters, weapons and supplies between Mosul and the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of its self-styled caliphate.

The involvement of the Iranian-backed Shiite militias has raised concern that the battle for Mosul, a Sunni-majority city, could aggravate sectarian tensions. The militias say they will not enter the city itself.

Jaafar al-Husseini, a spokesman for the Hezbollah Brigades, said his group and the other militias were advancing with the aid of Iranian advisers and Iraqi aircraft.

He said the US-led coalition, which is providing airstrikes and ground support to the Iraqi military and Kurdish forces known as the peshmerga, is not playing any role in the Shiite militias' advance.

In Baghdad, meanwhile, a suicide bomber targeting an aid station for Shiite pilgrims killed at least seven people and wounded more than 20, police and hospital officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to brief reporters.

No one immediately claimed the attack, but IS often targets Iraq's Shiite majority, which the Sunni extremists view as apostates deserving of death.

The Mosul offensive involves more than 25,000 soldiers, Federal Police, Kurdish fighters, Sunni tribesmen and the Shiite militias, which operate under an umbrella organization known as the Popular Mobilization Units.

Many of the militias were originally formed after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to battle American forces and Sunni insurgents. They were mobilized again and endorsed by the state when IS swept through northern and central Iraq in 2014, capturing Mosul and other towns and cities.

Iraqi forces moving toward Mosul from several directions have made uneven progress since the offensive began Oct. 17. They are 4 miles (6 kilometers) from the edge of Mosul on the eastern front, where Iraq's special forces are leading the charge. But progress has been slower in the south, with Iraqi forces still 20 miles (35 kilometers) from the city.

The UN human rights office said Friday that IS has rounded up tens of thousands of civilians in and around Mosul to use as human shields, and has massacred more than 200 Iraqis in recent days, mainly former members of the security forces.

The militants have carried out mass killings of perceived opponents in the past and boasted about them in grisly photos and videos circulated online. The extremist group is now believed to be cracking down on anyone who could rise up against it, focusing on men with military training or past links to the security forces.

There have been no major advances over the past two days, as Iraqi forces have sought to consolidate their gains by clearing explosive booby-traps left by the extremists and uncovering tunnels they dug to elude airstrikes.

Associated Press writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Irbil, Iraq, and Joseph Krauss in Baghdad contributed to this report.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, October 29, 2016

The Jakarta governor and deputy governor hopefuls have vowed to campaign peacefully during the lengthy lead-up to the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election.

The three candidate pairs, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyno-Sylviana Murni, Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama-Djarot Saiful Hidayat and Anies Baswedan-Sandiaga Uno, declared their commitment to peaceful rallies at an event held by the Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPUD) at the National Monument (Monas) in Central Jakarta on Saturday.

The campaign period started on Oct. 28 and will run until Feb. 11, before voting day on Feb. 15.

The candidates agreed to four points read out in the declarations. The candidates and their respective supporters stated that they were ready to uphold democratic, peaceful elections with integrity, create regional development and maintain the unity of Indonesia based on the state ideology of Pancasila and the Constitution. Moreover, the candidates must obey regulations and accept the election results.

Kompas.com reported that the declarations were followed by the signing of documents by all six candidates, marking their commitments. The candidates joined hands and sang "Padamu Negeri" (To You, My Country) to end the ceremony.

Thousands of people gathered at Monas to witness the declaration, which marked the official start of the campaign for the Jakarta gubernatorial election. (rin)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, October 29, 2016

Jakartas gubernatorial candidates have promised to uphold diversity and peace during the 2017 election campaign.

The candidates visited the National Monument (Monas) in Central Jakarta with their families on Saturday and declared publicly their desire for a clean campaign.

Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono and his running mate Sylviana Murni said they were committed to following the rules outlined by the Jakarta General Elections Commission and to refrain from engaging in smear campaigns.

Jakarta is a melting-pot city. We want Jakarta to be open to difference. Jakarta belongs to all of us, not just the middle-class, Agus told journalists.

Supporters of Agus-Sylvi flocked to the location, dressed in black shirts and caps, while occasionally shouting Agus-Slyvi, one! referring to the pairs ballot number for the election.

Agus wife Annisa Pohan and his younger brother Edhie Ibas Baskoro were also seen at the event.

Anies Baswedan arrived next on a classic Vespa, accompanied by his two children, followed by his running pair Sandiaga Uno and their supporters wearing white T-shirts.

Meanwhile, incumbent Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama and his running mate Djarot Saiful Hidayat were decked out in their trademark checkered shirts.

The peaceful rally was enlivened by parades featuring election-themed floats. The parade started from Monas and continued on to Jl. MH Thamrin and Hotel Indonesia traffic circle before circling back to Monas.

The rally marked the start of the campaign period, set to take place from Oct. 28 to Feb 11, 2017. (win/rin)
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Linkedin Tama Salim (The Jakarta Post) Amman, Jordan  Sat, October 29 2016

Indonesia stands to benefit from multitrack diplomacy to boost its global standing, as non-state actors, including philanthropists can help world problems such as the current refugee crisis. Indonesian banker-turned-philanthropist Dato Sri Tahir visited the Middle East this week in support of international efforts to end the Syrian refugee crisis.

Tahir pledged on Wednesday through his Tahir Foundation a US$1 million donation to the Jordan arm of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to help Syrian refugees.

For his efforts in the education and healthcare sector, Tahir has been nominated and accepted to become a UNHCR eminent advocate, to be officiated by UNHCR Filippo Grandi in Dubai on Nov. 17.

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Linkedin Binaj Gurubacharya (Associated Press) Kathmandu, Nepal  Sat, October 29, 2016

It started with a photograph of a smirking, young man wearing a heavy-metal band T-shirt and selling tea on the streets of Kathmandu. It has become a wildly popular blog chronicling street life in the Himalayan nation of Nepal.

Inspired by the similar project "Humans of New York ," Nepalese photographer Jay Poudyal has posted biographies and photographs for more than 800 Nepalis including villagers, bureaucrats, schoolchildren, housewives and students since launching his blog three years ago.

"Stories of Nepal ," with 270,000 followers and growing, has become a mission for the 37-year-old college dropout: to highlight the heroism of Nepal's common men and women as they struggle against widespread poverty, natural disasters and a government widely seen as corrupt.

"I was searching for purpose of life," Poudyal said in an interview with The Associated Press, admitting to past struggles with alcohol and drug abuse. "When I started doing this, it was like a calling for me."

Each morning, Poudyal takes to the streets of his native Kathmandu to chat with people, share jokes or heart-wrenching memories, and snap their photos. Occasionally, he'll drive his motorcycle to a nearby village, or take a bus to a community farther out along Nepal's mountain roads.

The blog has led to some freelance photography work, which he said gives him enough income to get by and still focus on the blog.

"I really love the freedom," he said. "When you plan something, you are limiting the possibilities. But when you are just walking, when you are keeping yourself very open, there is so much that comes in which you are not expecting."

In this Oct. 17, 2016 photo, Nepalese photographer Jay Poudyal walks through Basantapur Durbar Square to look for subjects in Kathmandu, Nepal. Each morning, Poudyal takes to the streets of his native Kathmandu to chat with people, share jokes or heart-wrenching memories, and snap their photos, telling their tales on his popular blog Stories of Nepal. Occasionally, hell drive his motorcycle to a nearby village, or take a bus to a community farther out along Nepals mountain roads.(AP/Niranjan Shrestha)

Poudyal tries to make more than half of his stories about women. That's in line with his goal of giving a voice to the most marginalized in Nepal, a mostly patriarchal society best known as the home of Mount Everest.

For one story, posted last week, Poudyal photographed a man he came upon sitting alone in a crowded Kathmandu square surrounded by old palaces and temples. They spoke for an hour, with the photographer recording the man's tale of how he missed his wife, who had died three years earlier and left him to raise their four children.

Later, Poudyal met truck driver in a narrow stone-paved alley, and heard about how he had just been shopping for new clothes for his family. The man, smiling wide and holding up a bag of rice he had purchased, said he was heading home with the gifts before a Hindu festival celebration.

"When I am listening to the stories, I go into that emotional space, and the struggle, the pain, suffering or the happiness, hopes and aspirations, it sort of also becomes mine," Poudyal said. "Sometimes I am laughing with the person who is telling me a story, sometimes we are both crying."

But hearing so many stories of woe sometimes takes its toll, even in a country that has endured a bloody communist insurgency, a massacre inside the royal palace, the abolition of a centuries-old monarchy, and most recently, a devastating set of earthquakes that killed thousands in 2015.

"I don't think I have leant the art of detachment yet," Poudyal said. "At times I don't want to go out of the house, and I just want to draw the curtains and just do nothing."

Then he watches the news and sees how it subverts individual people into the generalized narrative, and feels compelled to go out again and tell their stories.

"I feel like it is my responsibility to somehow bring out these stories of these individuals that failed to reach mainstream media," he said.

The son of a jewelry trader, Poudyal and his two brothers and two sisters grew up in a middle-class neighborhood of Kathmandu. His struggles with alcohol began when he was a teenager. He later spent four years attending a college in Thailand before dropping out without a degree.

He went to Australia, searching for something to do, but instead reached a low point in drug and alcohol abuse and depression. He recalled begging in the streets of Melbourne for money to buy cheap wine.

He returned to Nepal in 2009, got a job as a graphic artist for an advertising agency and got married to his girlfriend of many years. But his depression only got worse.

"I drove in my scooter and I wanted to jump off a cliff and end it all, but something stopped me," he said. Instead, he rode home crying and told his wife he needed help, leading him to spend three months in drug rehabilitation at a clinic in the Nepalese capital.

A few months after finishing rehab, he started "Stories of Nepal" in October 2013.

As its popularity grew, he also used the blog to raise funds for some he had photographed. He managed to raise $14,000 to help the eastern village of Ghumthang recover from the 2015 earthquake by buying food and medicine, building temporary shelters and a primary school. A year later, he raised about $700 in two hours for a girl's mother who lost the family's savings when the quake started a fire that destroyed everything inside her stone hut.

The project has brought him praise from around the world. One 73-year-old follower named Doug Hall, from Chichester, New Hampshire, said Poudyal's work gave outsiders a sense "of life in the early 21st century in Nepal."

"One is better able to understand the pain of women left behind when their husbands emigrate for jobs, of the pride in small accomplishments, of the emotional toll of caste discrimination, of the beauty of childhood friendships," Hall said in an email to the AP.

Another follower, airline pilot Pratistha Karki from Kathmandu, said the blog was inspiring.

"When the only people to have media space are celebrities and politicians ... 'Stories of Nepal' has let an everyday Nepali participate in the major Nepali discourse," Karki said.
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Linkedin Nurul Fitri Ramadhani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, October 29 2016

The upcoming deliberations over an election bill could become an existential battle for smaller parties, with major parties, again, pushing for a higher electoral threshold.

The bill, which was submitted by President Joko Jokowi Widodo earlier this month, retains the threshold for political parties to be able to get seats at the House of Representatives at 3.5 percent of the votes in the legislative election, as stipulated in prevailing legislation.

Big parties, however, said they believe that the bar should be set higher, at between 7 and 10 percent, saying the country would be more politically stable with fewer factions.

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, October 29, 2016

Indonesia's sixth president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has been given a new house in the elite area of Mega Kuningan, South Jakarta, an official said on Friday.

The house, which was given to Yudhoyono by the state, was based on a 1978 law on the financial and administrative rights of the President and Vice President and a 2014 presidential decree on house procurement for former Presidents and Vice Presidents, State Secretariat spokesman Mashrokan said.

"The handover of the new house was conducted by the State Secretariat to SBY [Yudhoyono] on Oct. 26," he said as reported by kompas.com.

State Secretariat secretary Setya Utama represented State Secretary Pratikno in a symbolic handover ceremony with the former president.

The house in Mega Kuningan was built in the past year, Mashrokan said, refusing to give further details on the value of the dwelling.

The aforementioned regulations stipulate that former presidents and vice presidents are entitled to receive proper residences after serving their time in office.

The two-time president and the former first lady Ani Yudhoyono currently live in their own house in Cikeas, Bogor, West Java, where the Democratic Party chairman often holds meetings and press conferences. (rin)
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Linkedin Stefani Ribka (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, October 29 2016

Taiwan expects to boost its bilateral trade with Indonesia through the introduction of the so-called New Southbound Policy by its new government.

The policy, adopted under the leadership of President Tsai Ing-wen, who was inaugurated in May, aims to strengthen Taiwans cooperation with nations in South and Southeast Asia, as well as Australia and New Zealand, in multiple sectors.

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Linkedin Grace D. Amianti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, October 29, 2016

With two months remaining until the end of the second phase of the tax amnesty, the government is making an all-out effort to attract prospective taxpayers to participate in the countrys flagship program.



After the kick-off of the programs second round on Oct. 1, officials from the Finance Ministrys Directorate General of Taxation said they had been intensifying their approach to various business and professional associations to help them promote the program.



Tax office spokesperson Hestu Yoga Saksama said his institution was trying to be more proactive in reaching out to taxpayers, including by seeking support from business associations to help their members manage and submit the necessary paperwork for joining the tax amnesty.



We will meet them [the groups] one by one by proactively coming to the nearest tax offices and campaigning at all of our regional tax offices, he said on Thursday.



The tax authority has so far been focusing its approach on individuals who own small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as well as professionals with a relatively high income, such as doctors, lawyers, artists and accountants.



Individuals who own SMEs with their own names or through companies were the largest contributors to the tax amnestys second phase as the program offered a low penalty rate of 0.5 percent if their total assets were below Rp 10 billion (US$770,000) with a turnover not exceeding Rp 4.8 billion a month.



From Oct. 1 to earlier this week, the tax office received the participation of almost 32,000 taxpayers in the program with penalty payments reaching a total of Rp 716 billion.



The SMEs penalty rate, which will remain flat throughout the program until it ends in March 2017, was lower than ones set for the big taxpayers that face higher rates in the second and third phases.



Southeast Asias largest economy has been struggling to find alternative sources of state revenue as it feels the pinch of a global economic slowdown and plunging energy prices.



To help plug the widening state budget deficit, the government is expecting to collect over Rp 165 trillion in penalty payments from the nine-month tax amnesty, which kicked off in July.



The tax office said it was confident in luring SMEs as it tries to facilitate them with new rules. The SMEs, for example, are allowed to submit handwritten reports instead of electronic ones if their assets are below 10 items in their asset declaration letter (SPH) or below 20 if combined with their existing annual tax form (SPT). The new rules also allow SMEs to submit their SPH reports collectively through representatives, including their business associations.



They dont need to submit their reports to tax offices by themselves and our officers in the regional offices will actively approach their business groups, Yoga said.



Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry deputy chairman Suryadi Sasmita also called all business owners to take the opportunity to participate in the tax amnesty as soon as possible and expected a large number of them to submit themselves before the end of November.



Showing the governments strong intention, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati recently campaigned for the tax amnesty to a number of doctors and hospital managements, followed by a similar event for practitioners in the mining industry.



During those events, Sri Mulyani said practitioners in the health and mining industries were part of those with low tax compliance, so they should take the opportunity to join the program.



According to the tax authoritys data, companies in mining and the oil and gas sectors have had low tax compliances, even during the commodity boom during 2010 and 2011.



Out of around 3,000 mining companies, more than 2,000 have been disobedient, which was reflected in the mining sectors low ratio of institutional income tax (PPh) that stood at around 8 percent during the commodity boom. Last year, the figure declined to 2.8 percent as the sector was hit by a commodity prices slump.

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Linkedin Andreas Nathaniel Marbun (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, October 29 2016

I do not want to argue about the considerations behind the premeditated murder conviction of Jessica Kumala Wongso on Thursday.

Neither do I question the need for the national media to broadcast the final hearing live, as they did every time the Central Jakarta District Court heard the case (see Ika Krismantaris piece Stop the drama, give fair trial a chance, please! in The Jakarta Post on Sept. 7).

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post)  Sat, October 29 2016

The months-long court drama of a murder case involving Jessica Kumala Wongso, the broadcast of which beat even the most popular soap operas on local TV channels, concluded on Thursday, at least for now, with a panel of judges convicting her of premeditatedly killing her friend Wayan Mirna Salihin.

With the crime blamed on her, Jessica has to serve a 20-year prison term as demanded by state prosecutors. The court should have given the benefit of the doubt and should have had a brave heart to acquit her of the murder charges.

The verdict is not an end to the story. It should not be  for the sake of justice that has clearly eluded Jessica. There were blatant infringements of the principles of a fair trial that warrant an appellate court hearing for her.

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, October 29 2016

The Turkish government is set to open a cultural center in Jakarta, as many Indonesians are interested in learning about the countrys language and culture.

There is a most welcome and increasing demand by Indonesian society for Turkish language courses and Turkish culture, the Turkish ambassador to Indonesia, Sander Gurbuz, said during a reception to commemorate the 93rd Turkish National Day on Thursday in Central Jakarta.

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Linkedin Jim Gomez (Associated Press) Manila, Philippines  Sat, October 29, 2016

The Philippines and the US are trying to verify a report that Chinese coast guard ships have left a disputed shoal, allowing Filipino fishermen back to the rich fishing area that China seized in 2012, triggering tensions in the South China Sea.

Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the Philippine coast guard has reported that Chinese ships have not been sighted at Scarborough Shoal in the last three days, but he added the report has to be validated.

Lorenzana told The Associated Press that the Philippine air force plans to conduct aerial surveillance of the shoal off the northwestern Philippines as early as Saturday to check the situation.

China took effective control of Scarborough in 2012, after a tense standoff with Philippine vessels. Since then, Chinese coast guard ships have been driving Filipino fishermen away from the area, while farther south in the Spratly Islands, China went on to construct seven man-made islands despite protests from other claimants.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the US was still assessing reports that Chinese boats have left Scarborough Shoal, and Filipinos have resumed fishing there.

"We hope it is certainly not a temporary measure. We would like it to be a sign that China and the Philippines are moving toward an agreement on fishing access at Scarborough that would be in accordance with the July 12 arbitral decision," Toner told reporters.

A year after China took control of Scarborough, then-President Benigno Aquino III took the issue to international arbitration. In July, a tribunal ruled that China had violated Filipinos' right to fish in their traditional fishing grounds. It also invalidated Beijing's sweeping territorial claims in the South China Sea. China ignored the ruling and its coast guard continued to block Filipino fishermen from the shoal.

Current Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has attempted to improve relations with China. After visiting Beijing last week, he said without elaborating that Filipino fishermen "may" be able to return to Scarborough after he discussed the territorial rift with Chinese leaders.

He said he insisted in his talks with Chinese leaders that the shoal belonged to the Philippines, but that the Chinese also asserted their claim of ownership.

"If the Chinese ships have left, then it means our fishermen can resume fishing in the area. We welcome this development," Lorenzana told reporters. "Our fishermen have not been fishing there since 2012. This will return to them their traditional source of livelihood."

Associated Press writer Matthew Pennington in Washington contributed to this report.
(editorial, lead article)

Vote for and build the

Socialist Workers Party!

Join party to challenge capitalist exploiters



Militant/Eric Simpson

Vote for the Socialist Workers Party, the working class party,party on Nov. 8. Join with the party to discuss with other workers a way forward for our class, before and after the election.

And join us Nov. 3-12 as party members along with workers and youth weve met in recent months use the new book The Clintons Anti-Working-Class Record: Why Washington Fears Working People to present this course in discussions on porches and in kitchens, in labor and social struggles. This political work is at the heart of the SWPs activity today.

Alyson Kennedy, the partys candidate for president, was a coal miner and member of the United Mine Workers for many years. She has helped lead union battles, built the fight against police brutality and defended a womans right to choose abortion. Vice-presidential candidate Osborne Hart, who has worked in meatpacking, on the railroad and at Walmart, has opposed imperialist wars and fought for Black rights for decades. Both champion the Cuban Revolution, pointing to the revolutionary internationalist accomplishments of workers and farmers there as an example for working-class fighters everywhere.

Dont throw away your vote on the capitalist parties of exploitation, depression and war. Their rule relies on you holding your nose and backing the lesser evil. But there is no lesser evil. Democrat Hillary Clinton is a warhorse veteran of a bourgeois political family and a leader of imperialist aggression who has used government positions to enrich herself and her $400 million family foundation. She oozes contempt for workers she writes off as deplorable and irredeemable.

Republican Donald Trump is a coarse, demagogic billionaire landlord who acknowledges the economic crisis facing workers, but says the answer is to enrich the bosses, push American interests and scapegoat immigrants and Muslims. Both parties promote the lie that we Americans  workers and capitalists  have common interests.

No matter who is elected, the slow-burning depression conditions will worsen, imperialist wars will metastasize and the need for the working-class road to power will be posed more sharply.

The propertied rulers respond to the world contraction of production and trade the only way they can, by attacking the working class  the source of their profits  trying to drive down wages and working conditions here and around the world, divide us and erode our confidence. Ultimately, capitalisms crisis drives the rulers toward the kind of imperialist world slaughter they unleashed twice in the 20th century, seeking to arise triumphant from the mass destruction of human beings and productive capacity.

Both Republicans and Democrats will continue to carry out the ruling families war against workers at home and abroad. Both will continue the trillion dollar modernization of Washingtons nuclear weapons arsenal, increasing the danger of annihilation.

The Socialist Workers Party explains that only the working class can stop capitalisms march toward economic catastrophe and world war.

The Cuban Revolution shows that ordinary working people can wage and win a struggle to form a workers and farmers government, end the dictatorship of capital and join the world struggle for socialism. Workers here can do the same, becoming different people along the way.

This is a fight worth fighting, a life worth living.

On Nov. 8, pull the lever for Kennedy and Hart, and for the candidates for federal and state office listed below. If the SWP has been kept off the ballot where you live, write them in.

Vote Socialist Workers Party! Join the Socialist Workers Party!




(front page)

Join SWP in 10-day effort to deepen reach to workers

The Socialist Workers Party National Committee has launched a 10-day political campaign, Nov. 3-12, to introduce working people to the just-published book The Clintons Anti-Working-Class Record: Why Washington Fears Working People by Jack Barnes, the partys national secretary. The SWP is urging workers and young people whove met party members at their doors or at political actions in recent months, and whove become interested in the SWPs working-class response to the capitalist crisis, to join in.

This 10-day campaign is a special, concentrated effort that will help strengthen the political campaigning on porches and doorsteps in working-class neighborhoods thats at the center of the activity of Socialist Workers Party members day in and day out in cities, small towns and rural areas across the U.S.

Whichever candidate  Democratic or Republican  is named the winner Nov. 8 and installed in the White House in January, the capitalist crisis and political discussions among workers and farmers about its consequences for our families will continue to deepen. The elections themselves can and will solve nothing, because there are no solutions under capitalism. Workers are looking to understand the roots of the joblessness, police killings, speedup and many other crises we face, and how we can fight effectively against the ongoing assaults by the bosses and their government  and win.

Thats why the working-class explanation and political course presented by SWP leader Jack Barnes in the new book are so necessary. He tells the story of the anti-working-class legacy of Bill and Hillary Clinton during their eight years in the White House from 1993 to 2001, and why that record foretells whats in store for working people in the months and years ahead. The three articles by Barnes were published in earlier versions in 2001 and 2008, but the words read as if they were spoken today.

This week party members and others will take the introduction to the book printed in this issue of the Militant to workers doorsteps. Well begin reading the book together and discussing what it says about our future and the need to build the SWP. Well take time off work during the 10 days to maximize our reach and geographical spread.

In order to concentrate on this political campaigning, SWP members in cities across the country are not organizing Militant Labor Forums on Friday, Nov. 4. Thats one of the nights you can join them in going out and talking with workers in your area.

The book will be sold at a special price of $5. Socialist workers are organizing to get 1,000 copies into the hands of working people and others over the 10 days, and keep going from there.

Barnes explains the roots and the scope of todays grinding worldwide contraction of production and hiring, the capitalist financial crisis and Washingtons bloody and expanding wars. He points to opportunities to build a working-class party to combat the consequences for working people of this global capitalist calamity.

The propertied families and their hired political servants consider working people to be deplorables, even irredeemable, as Hillary Clinton put it during a September fundraising talk in New York. But as Barnes explains, the capitalist rulers have no answers to the crisis of their economic and political system  based on exploitation and oppression  and a growing number of them sense the class-struggle explosions that loom ahead. They fear our potential power.

On Friday, Nov. 11, the Socialist Workers Party will organize special Militant Labor Forums across the U.S. to celebrate the 2016 SWP election campaign and the partys year-round propaganda activity to use the new book and other party material to talk with workers about the SWP and its program.

We will show people the Militant and two other new books: Are They Rich Because Theyre Smart? Class, Privilege, and Learning Under Capitalism, also by Jack Barnes, and Is Socialist Revolution in the US Possible? A Necessary Debate Among Working People by SWP leader Mary-Alice Waters.

To join in, contact the nearest Socialist Workers Party branch, listed in the directory on page 4. Or order a bundle of books from pathfinderpress.com.
(front page)

NY police killing of mentally ill Deborah Danner

sparks outrage

Above, Scott Heins for Gothamist Protest in Bronx, New York, Oct. 19, near where cop killed Deborah Danner. As far as I know schizophrenia is not a fatal disease, she wrote. But when cops were called while she was in distress, they shot her. Inset, Deborah Danner.

NEW YORK  Were hurt, were neighbors, protesters chanted as they marched through the streets of the Castle Hill neighborhood in the Bronx Oct. 19 against the killing of 66-year-old Deborah Danner by New York Police Department cop Hugh Barry. Danner was shot after neighbors called for help when she began acting erratically the night before.

Danner suffered from schizophrenia. Its only saving grace, if you will, she wrote four years earlier in a poignant essay, is that as far as I know its not a fatal disease.

But the cops who answered the distress call were fatal. Claiming Danner was brandishing a bat while naked in her bedroom, Barry shot her twice, killing her.

Jennifer Danner was outside the apartment waiting to help when her sister was gunned down. She had been there before when authorities were called to take her sister to the hospital.

Danners neighbor Harold Deamues saw her shortly before the cops arrived. I knew they were here for her, he told the Gothamist. Theyve come up at least 20 times. Deamues, his wife and their baby daughter were among those who joined the protest the next night.

The case echoes the cop killing of Eleanor Bumpurs, another emotionally disturbed woman, in 1984. The cops were called by the New York City Housing Authority, which was trying to evict Bumpurs because she was behind on her rent. Officers stormed her Bronx apartment, said she had a knife, and shot her.

Bumpurs was killed by police with a shotgun, Danner wrote in her 2012 essay, because they were not trained sufficiently in how to engage the mentally ill in crisis.

Shantel Bumpurs, Eleanors granddaughter, was one of those who spoke out against the killing of Danner. My family went through the same troubles but nothing has changed, she told the New York Daily News.

Seeking to defuse protests, both Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner James ONeill took their distance from the killing. Our officers are supposed to use deadly force only when faced with a dire situation, de Blasio said. Its very hard for any of us to see that that standard was met.

What is clear in this one instance, we failed, ONeill said.

Barry, who was sued twice for police brutality in the last four years, has been placed on modified duty. The Bronx district attorney said he will investigate.

The Patrolmens Benevolent Association and other cop groups have campaigned for Barry to be exonerated and praised, including putting a full-page ad in the Daily News.

The cops who shot Deborah Danner should be charged and prosecuted, Jacob Perasso, Socialist Workers Party candidate for U.S. Senate from New York, told fellow protesters he spoke with at a rally in Newark, New Jersey, against police killings Oct. 24. Protests against killings like this across the country have forced authorities to take some steps to rein in their cops. Working people need to keep joining together to demand action.

Sheila Reid, whose son Jerame was killed by Bridgeton, New Jersey, cops in 2014, and Hawa Bah, whose son Mohamed was shot dead by NYPD cops in 2012 after she called for help when he was depressed, plan to join Perasso at a speakout against the killing of Danner at the New York Militant Labor Forum Fri., Oct. 28.





Related articles:

Calif. cop convicted in death of Andrew Thomas







Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home




(front page)

Toilers in Mideast pay price for war moves by Washington and Moscow

Iraqi government troops and Kurdish peshmerga forces advanced towards the eastern outskirts of the city of Mosul, capturing towns and villages, in the first week of a U.S.-backed offensive to wrest control of the city from Islamic State. The battle, which began Oct. 17, is sharpening conflicts between capitalist rivals in the region.

Some 30,000 Iraqi and Kurdish forces, backed by U.S. airstrikes and special operations troops, are battling some 5,000 Islamic State fighters. Up to 1.5 million civilians are estimated to be in Mosul.

At the same time, a Russian aircraft carrier headed to the Syrian coast, increasing Moscows airstrike capacity in support of the regime of Bashar al-Assad as it battles anti-Assad forces in eastern Aleppo.

As these military moves unfold, workers and farmers in the region pay the price. In Syria alone half the prewar population has been killed or driven from their homes. Almost 5 million have left the country.

While the regimes and other bourgeois forces in the region jockey for position, seeking to gain backing from either Washington or Moscow, Washington continues to pursue a new cease-fire agreement with Moscow. This course reflects recognition that U.S. imperialism is weaker today, with greater limits on its ability to use raw military might to assert its interests in the region.

The Turkish government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, posing as the defender of Mosuls Sunni population, continued to demand a role for its troops and planes in the assault in Iraq, an intervention opposed by Baghdad. U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter visited Ankara and Baghdad Oct. 21-22 in an attempt to broker a support role for Turkey, a NATO ally. The Iraqi government of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, already alarmed at Ankaras territorial incursions, rejected the proposal.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu threatened Oct. 25 to send ground troops into the battleground if there is a threat posed to Turkey. The next day he warned of action against Iraqi Shiite militias poised to join Iraqi troops in a battle to drive Islamic state from Tal Afar, a city west of Mosul with a predominantly ethnic Turkmen population.

Tehran backed Baghdads opposition, warning Ankara not to violate the sovereignty of Iraq.

Over the opposition of Abadi, up to 800 Turkish troops, along with tanks and artillery, are already in Iraq at a base close to the Iraqi town of Bashiqa near Mosul. They have been training peshmerga forces and some Sunni Arab fighters. Peshmerga forces captured the town and surrounding territory from Islamic State Oct. 23 as they advanced toward Mosul. Ankara reported its forces had given artillery support to the peshmerga in the battle.

To allay fears of reprisals by Shiite militias or Kurdish forces against the mainly Sunni Arab population in Mosul, Baghdad has said that only its army units will enter the city. But the government is dominated by Shiite factions, and many of its troops converging on Mosul are flying Shiite flags.

Up to a million people could be displaced by the fighting in Mosul, which would bring the total driven from their homes in Iraq since 2014 to over 4 million.

Some 327,000 refugees displaced by wars in the region have fled across the Mediterranean to Europe from North Africa so far this year. At least 3,800 have died trying, making 2016 the deadliest year yet.

French authorities began demolishing the makeshift camp in Calais known as the Jungle Oct. 24, seeking to relocate some 8,000 migrants to smaller settlements in towns across France, away from the coast where they have been trying to get to the UK. The French government and bourgeois opposition parties have whipped up anti-Muslim sentiment in the wake of Islamic State-backed terror attacks in Europe, and the attempt to move the migrants inland has sparked debate and protest in areas designated for resettlement.





Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home




SWP: We need to change class in power, build a

new society

NEW YORK  Socialist Workers Party presidential candidate Alyson Kennedy campaigned with supporters in working-class neighborhoods in New York and northern New Jersey during her Oct. 15-18 visit here. She also spoke with rail workers at Penn Station and across the Hudson River at the North Bergen, New Jersey, CSX yard.

Jacob Perasso, SWP candidate for U.S. Senate from New York, who is a freight rail conductor, joined her.

Some companies think short-term, engineer Mike Crump, 35, told Kennedy. It makes the numbers look good for a while, but costs them more in the long-term. You cant run a freight train with a one-man crew.

The bosses are doing this in all industries because of the crisis of the capitalist system, Kennedy responded. Theyre trying to increase their rate of profit, which has fallen since the 1970s. In coal mining they cut corners on safety, increase production with fewer workers and use the bankruptcy courts to get out of health care coverage for retirees.

We need to change the class in power. We could use the wealth workers and farmers produce to address many of the needs around the world. You never hear Clinton or Trump say that capitalism is the problem.

Before he left Crump signed up for a Militant subscription and set up a time to talk more and get the book Are They Rich Because Theyre Smart? Class, Privilege, and Learning Under Capitalism by Socialist Workers Party National Secretary Jack Barnes.

Amtrak conductor Sean Carter told Kennedy a co-worker signed him up for a subscription to the Militant, which he likes. Workers are more open to taking the paper because of what is happening in the world, Kennedy said.

In this system everyone tries to push everyone else out of the way, Carter said. We need to reform everything, including how politics is now. Lots of people dont trust the government.

Going door to door in Ozone Park, Queens, Kennedy met John Charlie, 21, a union construction worker who said he is leaning toward Trump, but with little enthusiasm.

Neither Trump nor Clinton has any answers for working people, Kennedy told him. Trump raises the problems workers face, like joblessness, while he talks demagogically against the government and blames immigrant workers for the economic crisis. Clinton says that workers are deplorable and racist.

Im not a racist! Charlie said. I work with workers from Mexico. They get $8 an hour, while I get $20 for the same work because Im in a union and they arent. I feel bad about that. When they get sent to work 20 floors up without a safety harness, they do it. I can refuse to do unsafe work. Its getting worse all the time.

Whoever is elected Nov. 8, nothing will change. Clinton and Trump will do what the billionaire families want them to do, she continued. Workers have to organize a movement of millions to take political power from them and begin to build a society based on human solidarity, not the vicious values of capitalism.

Perasso met Frank Vega while campaigning in part of Staten Island that was flooded when Hurricane Sandy hit in 2012. The first floor of all the houses on this block were flooded, Vega said. It took three years to get the insurance company to cover rebuilding it.

Vega, a retired carpenter who is Puerto Rican, is angry about the impact of the capitalist crisis on the island. I tried to retire there, he said, but the cost of living is too high.

Perasso told Vega about the solidarity trip he and Kennedy recently took to Puerto Rico, including to the Ponce area he hails from. I wish more people knew about Alyson Kennedy and that she had been part of the debates, Vega said. I dont like Trump or Clinton. Im going to vote for Kennedy.





SNOHOMISH, Wash.  When Socialist Workers Party gubernatorial candidate Mary Martin spoke at Snohomish High School Sept. 27, Tabitha Osborne-Rich signed up to campaign for Martin and the SWP presidential ticket of Alyson Kennedy and Osborne Hart.

Osborne-Rich joined Martin knocking on doors here Oct. 24. A Boeing aerospace worker named Doug told them rent increases are gouging working people in his neighborhood. He blamed Republicans for the worsening conditions the working class faces and said he plans to vote for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

When Doug told Osborne-Rich it was good to see a young person involved in the issues, she replied, Its real for me. I work at a fast-food restaurant after school and the wages are low. I see how hard my father works to make a living. We have relatives living with us so we can help each other. I like very much what the SWP stands for and says about what regular citizens can do.

After campaigning, Osborne-Rich decided to subscribe to the Militant and pick up a copy of Are They Rich Because Theyre Smart?

Pat Scott, an SWP supporter who designed the new Kennedy-Hart campaign button, joined Martin going door to door Oct. 22 in Federal Way near Seattle. Several people recognized Scott, who has cashiered at Walmart for 16 years.

Jim Kirwan, a retired postal worker and unionist, told them hes leaning toward voting for Trump because he thinks Clinton is corrupt, but I dont really like what Trump says either.

Martin and Scott explained workers need their own party, and that only mobilizations independent of the capitalists will put working people in power.
Alyson Kennedy addresses oil workers union

Militant/Mitchel Rosenberg

PHILADELPHIA  Alyson Kennedy, Socialist Workers Party candidate for U.S. president, addressed some 30 members of United Steelworkers Local 10-1 here after their Oct. 20 union meeting. She expressed solidarity with the local against concessions demanded by CEO Philip Rinaldi on behalf of the owners of the Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery. Rinaldi sent a letter to Steelworkers members and nonunion employees Sept. 7 announcing a 50 percent increase in health care costs and the freezing of pensions, both violations of the USW contract.

Kennedy talked about her experiences as a coal miner and member of the United Mine Workers of America, and some of the lessons she learned fighting off attacks by the coal operators. The capitalist candidates have no solution to the deepening crisis stemming from their falling rate of profit, she said. So they attempt to squeeze more from workers and conduct their wars to control markets around the world.

Following her talk, Kennedy and campaign supporters joined USW members for pizza. Three workers got copies of Are They Rich Because Theyre Smart? to learn more about the partys program.

 MITCHEL ROSENBERG
BILLINGS -- U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., raised the issue Friday of a secret plan to shut down Colstrips oldest units in 2017, much earlier than has been disclosed to the public.

In a letter to Talen Energy CEO Paul Farr, the Republican senator said hes heard from constituents that the decision has already been made to shut down Colstrip Units 1 and 2 next year, but that the company is delaying the announcement.

Daines asked Farr to disclose whether the State of Montana is also in the loop on quiet plans to close the units.

"It's imperative for Units 1 and 2 to stay open as long as possible, Daines said. It's also important for those who will be impacted by the closure of Colstrip to have the most up-to-date information about closure plans."

Daines staff confirmed that by Friday evening, Farr hadnt replied to the senator. Talen did respond to The Gazette late Friday.

"There has been no decision on a shutdown date for Colstrip Units 1 and 2, nor have any agreements been reached with any parties," said George Lewis, Talen spokesman. "We will respond more fully to Sen. Daines in an appropriate time frame. Until the response is prepared we will have no further comment about the letter."

State Sen. Duane Ankney, R-Colstrip, said his community doesnt want to be blindsided by an early closure. Whats publicly known is that the southeast Montana power plants oldest units will close on or before 2022, a concession made last summer in a pollution lawsuit settlement between Talen, the Sierra Club and the Montana Environmental Information Center.

If the units closed next year, more than 100 families dependent on power plant jobs would be caught flat-footed, he said.

I definitely believe that there has been a date set and theyre going to get the election out of the way and all this and then theres going to be a date announced, Ankney said. One way or another, its absolutely essential that they come up with a date. These people in Colstrip need to know so they can have a plan.

Ankney said he didnt know if the State of Montana was aware of an undisclosed 2017 closure date.

Daines sent a copy of his Farr letter the Montana Public Service Commission, the states utility regulator. PSC Chairman Brad Johnson called for disclosure from Talen. The PSC denied having any discussions with Colstrip owners about a 2017 closure.

If a backroom deal has been made to shut down Colstrip units 1 & 2 sooner than the 2022 date previously agreed upon, then we must know as soon as possible, Johnson said in a press release. An unexpected, early shuttering of Colstrip Units 1 and 2 could affect the utility lines servicing the power plants other two units.

In a public records request filed Friday, The Gazette asked Gov. Steve Bullocks office to disclose any conversations concerning Colstrip between the governor, his staff and members of Talen Energy or its major shareholder Riverstone Holdings of New York City.

Bullock, in a written statement, accused Daines of playing political games in support of Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte.

"It is unfortunate Sen. Daines is waiting until now, days before an election where his former boss is on the ballot, to engage on the issue of Colstrip," Bullock wrote. "Unlike the senator, I've been working closely with PSE and Talen Energy to keep Colstrip open and operating, and called both CEOs to my office for a public meeting. That's where we learned that Talen is losing millions of dollars on Units 1 and 2. We asked them to continue to operate as long as possible while we work with all stakeholders to look for solutions. To politicize this now, as Sen. Daines is doing, is offensive to the workers and families of Colstrip."

The governor did not say whether hes aware of plans to close Colstrips oldest units next year, or whether he requested any announcement of the closure be delayed.
A church in California is combating racism using a radical 12-step programme akin to drug and alcohol programmes.

The Congregational Church of Sunnyvale is encouraging people to attend and share their attitudes and experiences in order to end racism.

Attendees begin the meeting exactly how youd imagine.

Im Bonnie and Im a racist, says a woman at a session filmed by CBS News

The session has attendees from different races, religions and walks of life who all share their biases to try and learn more about themselves and their attitudes.

Pastor Ron Buford, who runs the programme, told the film-makers: Black Lives Matter has made a wonderful impact in so many ways, but this is a different approach.

Instead of talking about other peoples racism, to say its me.

The structure of the course is based on the 12-step Alcoholics Anonymous programme, in which the first step is admitting you have a problem.

The Sunnyvale Church isnt the only one running a support group of this nature. Churches across the US are starting to try out the programme created by Buford in the hopes of changing attitudes in what has been a tumultuous time for race relations in the country.
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DECATUR  Terrance J. Wilson of Decatur is being held on $100,000 bond on felony charges for allegedly holding up at gunpoint an employee and patron at the Romantix Adult Store.

About 2:15 a.m. Oct. 7, officers were dispatched to the store, 2015 N. 22nd St., on the report of a robbery.

Within a few minutes, they located a man fitting the description given by the victims in the vicinity of Garfield Avenue and 21st Street, one block west of the store.

The male, later identified as Wilson, 24, "ran from officers as they gave him verbal commands to stop," said a probable cause affidavit by Decatur patrol officer Jason Danner. He continued to ignore their orders, but was apprehended after running around a large building.

The victims were asked to observe the suspect. They both identified him as the person who robbed them.

The 62-year-old male employee told police that the suspect entered the store, wearing a dark bandana to cover his face, a red T-shirt with a Chicago Blackhawks logo and black sweatpants.

He brandished a dark pistol and demanded money from the employee and the customer, a 56-year-old man. The employee gave him $20 of his own money and about $85 from the cash register. The customer yielded about $21. Then the robber ran from the business.

The police found Wilson with a loaded Taurus .38 special revolver. He was carrying $128, with bills of the same denominations as the ones reported as stolen. Wilson did not possess a Firearm Owner's Identification Card.

In a police interview, Willson "admitted to possessing the revolver but denied committing the armed robbery."

"When confronted with all the evidence against him, he still continued to deny any involvement in the robbery," Danner wrote in his statement.

Wilson has convictions in three criminal cases in Tennessee, in 2012 and 2013 for unlawful possession of a weapon and theft under $500. He served 30-day jail terms in each of the weapon cases, a probation term for the theft conviction.

In his Decatur case, he was arraigned Oct. 14 on two counts of armed robbery, each punishable by six to 30 years in prison, plus a 15-year firearm enhancement, if convicted. He is also facing a felony charge of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.

Wilson is due in circuit court Wednesday for his preliminary hearing.
Indian Navy tall ship open for visitors at the Phuket Deep Sea Port

PHUKET: The elegant three-masted tall ship INS Sudashini added a touch of 19th-century glamour to the Phuket Deep Sea Port at Ao Makham when it arrived this week on a courtesy call.



By The Phuket News

Saturday 29 October 2016, 10:59AM

The Indian Navy ships will be open for people to visit this Sunday morning (Oct 3) between 9am and 11.30am.

The Indian Navy ships will be open for people to visit this Sunday morning (Oct 3) between 9am and 11.30am.

The Indian Navy ships will be open for people to visit this Sunday morning (Oct 3) between 9am and 11.30am.

The Indian Navy ships will be open for people to visit this Sunday morning (Oct 3) between 9am and 11.30am.

The Indian Navy ships will be open for people to visit this Sunday morning (Oct 3) between 9am and 11.30am.

The INS Sudashini will be open for people to visit this Sunday morning (Oct 3) between 9am and 11.30am.

Three other Indian Navy ships, the INS Tir, INS Sujata and ICGS Varuna, arrived alongside the INS Sudashini at the Phuket Deep Sea Port last Thursday (Oct 27).

The Indian Navy ships will be open for people to visit this Sunday morning (Oct 30) between 9am and 11.30am.

After the Indian Navy squadron arrived on Thursday, Mr Abba Gani Ramu, Deputy Chief of Mission for the Embassy of India, Bangkok, led officials in signing a memorial book to pay their respect to His Majesty the late King Bhumibol Adulajev.

Today (Oct 29) Indian Navy officials are giving free medical treatment to children at Baan Nam Bor school between 9am and 12pm.

All 337 naval crew members will leave the port to join a PASSEX exercise on October 3, which is aimed at strengthening cooperation between the Thai and Indian Navies. The exercise will be led by Capt DJ Revar, commander of the INS Tir.
More Tranlee 'zero baht' tour company assets up for grabs at second auction

PHUKET: Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) has announced a second auction in Phuket next Tuesday (Nov 1), for items seized by the AMLO in raids on the now-defunct 'zero baht' Tranlee Tour company.

Saturday 29 October 2016, 12:23PM

Six tour boats and 33 tour buses and estimated to be worth B43 million will go under the hammer at the auction. Photo: AMLO

AMLO Secretary-General Chaiya Siriphankul said that there will be a total of 39 items, including six tour boats and 33 tour buses and estimated to be worth B43 million, will go under the hammer at the auction at the offices of Phuket City Municipality next Tuesday (Nov1) from 10am onward. Bargain hunters can examine the assets prior to the auction on October 31 at Sangaroon Pier, Boat Lagoon, Region 8 Police Office, and at the Translee Travel Company. Any assets left from this action will be auction off again the same time and place over Nov 2-4.
Phuket Red Cross calls for blood donations to honour HM the late King

PHUKET: The Phuket Regional Blood Centre (PRBC) and the Provincial Red Cross are inviting everyone to donate blood next month in honour of HM the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej who passed away at Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok at 3:52pm on (Oct 13).

health

By Yutthawat Lekmak

Saturday 29 October 2016, 09:00AM

Blood can be donated in honour of HM the late King.

PRBC Chief Pornthip Ratchak told The Phuket News on Wednesday (Oct 27), A special blood donation event will be held next month where all suitable candidates can donate blood to those in need. This is one way for people to show HM The late King our love, loyalty and respect in everything that he has done for us. This is a good opportunity for people who live in Phuket to donate blood to honour HM the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who passed away on October 13, she said. People who donate blood for the first time on this day will each receive a broach from the Phuket Regional Blood Centre, she added. The mobile blood-donation clinics being held throughout November will be as follows: November 1: Phuket Town - in front of Hoteltravel.com (Choktipvilla Village Chalong), 1pm-4pm. November 3: Thalang - in front of the Customer Service desk, Tesco Lotus Thalang, 12pm-6pm. Phuket Town - Tesco Lotus Samkong (in front of Uniqlo),12pm-6pm. November 8: Patong - Robinson Jungceylon, 10am-3pm. Rawai - Makro, 12pm-4pm. November 10: Phuket Town - Phuket Vocational College, 9am-3pm. November 11: Phuket Town - Srinagarindra the Princess Mother School, 10am-3pm. November 14: Koh Kaew - Isuzu, 1pm-4pm. Phuket Town - Mission Hospital, 1pm-4pm. November 16: Thalang - Phuket Agricultural Research and Development Centre, 10am-3pm. November 18: Phuket Town - Phuket Regional Blood Centre, 8.30am-3pm. November 21: Talang  Cherng Talay Administration Office, 10am-3pm. Phuket Town - King Carl Kustaf Room (3nd floor), Bangkok Phuket Hospital, 1pm-5pm. November 23: Phuket Town - Homepro Village Chalong, 12pm-4pm. November 25: Phuket Town - Phuket Wittayalai Sschool, 9am-3pm. November 29: Phuket Town - Kan-Kroa Hall, Satree Phuket School, 10am-2pm. For more information call the PRBC at 076-251178 ext 2 or 081-9588854.
DECATUR -- With a big smile and friendly voice, Krystle Callarman was the perfect choice to lead Planned Parenthood Decatur Health Centers new program.

The Safer Sex Intervention Program is the first of its kind in Illinois. It includes one-on-one meetings with a health educator -- Callarman -- and focuses on education on condom use and birth control methods.

The program began in March and already has close to 200 participants -- ages range from 12 to 23, though most are between 17 and 20.

To find participants for the program, Callarman reads over the appointment list at the Planned Parenthood clinic every morning and identifies anyone who might benefit. She approaches them in the office either before or after appointments.

I just sit down with them and tell them a little about the program, Callarman said. Its a chance for them to talk to someone whos not a doctor or a nurse, but someone who they can trust and build a relationship with -- especially younger ones who might not have a parent or older sibling to talk to.

Callarman has an 80 percent acceptance rate among the Planned Parenthood clients she has asked to participate.

Could you say no to this face? Callarman said, laughing.

If the patient agrees to become part of the program, they sign a consent form. After an initial one-on-one meeting, follow-up depends on the situation: Sometimes its calls or texts, while other times its more face-to-face meetings.

A lot of them like knowing someones out there checking up on them, but they dont necessarily want to have to ask someone to check up on them, Callarman said. "They know I'm available if they need me."

She said many younger patients are uncomfortable talking about sex with adults. She tries to bridge that gap and make them face their fears.

Its pretty common for them to be embarrassed to talk about condoms, STIs and things like that, Callarman said. But we take them to a private area and show them how to put a condom on a plastic model. They walk in here not knowing how to put one on, but they know how to when they walk out of here.

But Callarman doesnt just talk birth control. She talks to participants about sexually transmitted disease rates, peer pressure and how drugs and alcohol relate to sex.

We talk to them about where peer pressure comes from, and how to avoid it, or respond to it if they experience it, Callarman said.

Callarman also tries to help improve their life situation when necessary. Shes directed 18 to 25 people to GED classes or further education, and has also made referrals to Growing Strong Sexual Assault Center and Heritage Behavioral Health Center. She also sits in on appointments at the Planned Parenthood clinic if a participant asks.

Callarman is available to participants by phone, text or email. She said the personal touch is the key to reaching participants.

A lot of times, they open up to me and tell me the story about why theyre there, Callarman said. For a lot of them, theyve just had sex for the first time or theyre getting ready to have sex for the first time and want to get on birth control, but they dont necessarily want to talk to their parents or doctor about it.

And some of them have been sexually active for a while, but havent been practicing safe sex. Every patient is different, so I try to talk to them and give them the information they need.

Julie Aubert, Planned Parenthood Youth Services Program manager, said the best move she made with the program was hiring Callarman as health educator.

They relate to her, Aubert said. She makes them feel comfortable and safe, and thats the most important thing.

Each participant is in the program six months. Callarman said as the first groups time is coming to an end, shes seeing progress among the participants.

In my follow-ups, a lot of them are telling me they feel more confident that they know the facts and feel more comfortable talking to their boyfriend about it, Callarman said. I think its a beneficial program, and I hope it helps the age range were reaching change the way theyre thinking and talking about sex.

The process to begin the program began before Callarman or Aubert even began working at Planned Parenthood. The grant was awarded by the Illinois Department of Public Health, effective July 1, 2015, and the program also received funds from private philanthropy.

Aubert began working at Planned Parenthood in November 2014, and was immediately thrown in the mix for planning the implementation.

We met with the Teen Health Coalition and with our clinic staff, and we went to Wisconsin, where they had a Safer Sex Education Program already established, Aubert said. We had to go out of state because there isnt a program like this anywhere else in Illinois. Were the only one.

Decatur is one of seven Planned Parenthood clinics in downstate Illinois -- Decatur, Springfield, Champaign, Bloomington, Peoria, Pekin and Ottawa -- in addition to the nine in Chicago and its suburbs.

Decatur, because of its high teen birth and sexually transmitted infection rates, was chosen as a guinea pig for the rest of the state.

The idea was that if we could get it established and successful in the Decatur area, Planned Parenthood would put it in other areas, Aubert said.

She said the curriculum was developed from the ground up, using an evidence-based program and adapting it to the staff and clients in Decatur.

Weve stayed valid with evidence-based protocol, but modifications were allowed and weve made some, and are still making them, Aubert said.

She said the next step will be evaluating the results of the program and tweaking it to help it make a difference.

Well look at the impact by comparing the results of the patients who were in the program with the ones who didnt enter it, Aubert said.

Though theres only one male currently in the program, Callarman said she hopes to see more in the future.

As word gets out we have male services, I think that number will go up, she said.
Residents advised to be on alert for flash floods as heavy rain continues

PHUKET: Phuket Vice Governor Theera Anansaereewittaya ordered officials this morning (Oct 29) to be on 24-hour alert and be prepared to handle floods following heavy downpours last night which caused minor havoc across Phuket.

transport

By Eakkapop Thongtub

Saturday 29 October 2016, 01:30PM

The heavy rain is set to continue today and tomorrow according a Thailand Meteorological Department (TMD) forecast. Photo: Ekkapop Thongtub

The heavy rain is set to continue today and tomorrow according a Thailand Meteorological Department (TMD) forecast. Photo: Ekkapop Thongtub

The heavy rain is set to continue today and tomorrow according a Thailand Meteorological Department (TMD) forecast. Photo: Ekkapop Thongtub

The heavy rain is set to continue today and tomorrow according a Thailand Meteorological Department (TMD) forecast. Photo: Ekkapop Thongtub

The heavy rain is set to continue today and tomorrow according a Thailand Meteorological Department (TMD) forecast. Photo: Ekkapop Thongtub

The heavy rain is set to continue today and tomorrow according a Thailand Meteorological Department (TMD) forecast. Photo: Ekkapop Thongtub

The heavy rain is set to continue today and tomorrow according a Thailand Meteorological Department (TMD) forecast. Photo: Ekkapop Thongtub

The heavy rain is set to continue today and tomorrow according a Thailand Meteorological Department (TMD) forecast. Photo: Ekkapop Thongtub

VThe heavy rain is set to continue today and tomorrow according a Thailand Meteorological Department (TMD) forecast. Photo: Ekkapop Thongtub

The heavy rain is set to continue today and tomorrow according a Thailand Meteorological Department (TMD) forecast. Photo: Ekkapop Thongtub

The heavy rain is set to continue today and tomorrow according a Thailand Meteorological Department (TMD) forecast. Photo: Ekkapop Thongtub

The heavy rain is set to continue today and tomorrow according a Thailand Meteorological Department (TMD) forecast. Photo: Ekkapop Thongtub

The heavy rain is set to continue today and tomorrow according a Thailand Meteorological Department (TMD) forecast. Photo: Ekkapop Thongtub

The heavy rain is set to continue today and tomorrow according a Thailand Meteorological Department (TMD) forecast.

Vice Governor Theera arrived at Bangyai Canal this morning to investigate the water level which has increased considerably since recent downpours.

Along with Phuket City Mayor Somjai Suwansuppana, Vice Governor Theera inspected the flooded area in front of Government Savings Bank after reports of the water level increasing at Bangyai Canal

Vice Governor Theera said he ordered officials to quickly work in the area hasten drainage and to help residents who affected by the flood water.

He also ordered officials to warn residents living high-risk areas to be vigilant in watching for any flash flooding and asked residents to report to officials in case of any emergency.

Heavy rain last night also caused floods in many parts of Phuket Town and also in Patong, where water rundown from the hills regularly contribute floods in the town.

Areas affected by flooding in Phuket Town included Surin Road, Daorung junction and along Chao Fa East Rd  where traffic was stand still temporary in early hours. Villa California, Villa 3 and several other along Chao Fa East Rd were also affected.

In Patong, Government Saving Bank Junction was also flooded and Soi Nanai had some minor lands slide due to the very heavy rain.

Many roads in Patong including Na Nai Rd and Taweewong Rd were affected by the flood. It took Patong Municipaity officials more than an hour to clear dirt and debris from the roads.

In front of Patong Hospital and Patong Police Station, traffic were temporary paralyzed, with both small and large vehicles unable to pass through the area.

The Thailand Meteorological Department has forecast high air pressure from China which will blanket northern Thailand and decreasing temperatures which will cause more fog in the mornings.

From October 29 to 30 the high pressure system will move southward towards Malaysia.

These conditions are likely to cause increased rainfall in Southern Thailand, mainly along the west coast, most southern regions can expect a 60 per cent chance of rainfall, especially Phuket, Ranong and Phang Nga. Waves are expected to be up to two metres. TMD warns residents living in these provinces to be alert for any flash flood.
11AAA semis will be awesome and more from HS football quarterfinals
Adding to the drama of the stunning revelation: The FBI uncovered the emails during a sexting investigation of Anthony Weiner, the disgraced ex-congressman who is separated from longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin.

Clinton said late Friday she was confident whatever the FBI may find would not change its conclusion from earlier this year: that her use of a private email system as secretary of state did not merit prosecution.

"We don't know the facts, which is why we are calling on the FBI to release all the information that it has," the Democrat said. "Even (FBI) Director (James) Comey noted that this new information might not be significant, so let's get it out."

The news arrived with Clinton holding a solid advantage in the presidential race. Early voting has been underway for weeks, and she has a steady lead in preference polls. But the development all but ensures that, even should she win the White House, the Democrat and several of her closest aides would celebrate victory under a cloud of investigation.

It was a day that thrilled Republicans eager to change the trajectory of the race, none more so than GOP nominee Donald Trump.

"Hillary Clinton's corruption is on a scale we have never seen before," Trump said while campaigning in battleground New Hampshire. "We must not let her take her criminal scheme into the Oval Office."

Democrats, still confident Clinton will prevail in 11 days, were enraged by Comey's decision to disclose the existence of the fresh investigation in a vaguely worded letter to several congressional leaders.

"The FBI has a history of extreme caution near Election Day so as not to influence the results," said California Sen. Dianne Feinstein. She added, accusingly, "Today's break from that tradition is appalling."

It wasn't until hours after Comey's letter emerged that word came that the source of the new emails was Weiner, the former congressman under investigation for sending sexually explicit text messages to a teenage girl.

"We don't know what to believe," Clinton said, adding, "Right now, your guess is as good as mine, and I don't think that's good enough."

The development also reignited persistent worries among Democrats that electing the former first lady will restart a cycle of scandal and investigation that could rival the final portion of her husband's term in office.

Congressional Republicans have already promised years of investigations into Clinton's private email system. And that's only one of the email-related controversies facing her. The tens of thousands of confidential emails from Clinton campaign insiders that were hacked  she and the government say by Russia  and then released by WikiLeaks have provided a steady stream of questions about her policy positions, personnel choices and ties with her husband's sprawling charitable network and postpresidential pursuits.

In his Friday letter to congressional leaders, Comey wrote only that new emails have emerged, prompting the agency to "take appropriate investigative steps" to review the information that may be pertinent to its previously closed investigation into Clinton's private email system.

The FBI ended that investigation in July without filing charges, although Comey said then that Clinton and her aides had been "extremely careless" in using the system for communications about government business.

The agency, which did not respond to questions about Comey's letter and did not lay out a timeline for the review, is also investigating the recent hacks of the emails of John Podesta, Clinton's campaign chairman.

As Clinton and her campaign have been pounded by allegations and embarrassing revelations related to the hacked emails, they've largely avoided engaging in the details. Instead, they've focused on blaming the Russians.

"These are illegally stolen documents," Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said earlier in the day. "We're not going to spend our campaign fighting back what the Russians want this to be about."

That may be because Clinton hasn't yet felt the political pressure. Recent surveys show her retaining her lead in national polls and making gains in some swing states. In fact, her campaign announced plans to hold a rally in Arizona next Wednesday, a traditionally red state put in play by Trump's deep unpopularity among minority voters, Mormons and business leaders.

To the frustration of many in his party, Trump has struggled to consistently drive an attack against Clinton, often turning to personal denunciations of private citizens he feels have wronged him.

That may be changing. He quickly pounced on the email news, seeing an opportunity to press the argument he's long tried to make against Clinton: that she thinks she's above the law and that she put U.S. security at risk by using her personal email.

After weeks of declaring the race "rigged" in favor of his opponent, Trump declared Friday he has "great respect" for the FBI and the Justice Department, now that they are "willing to have the courage to right the horrible mistake that they made" in concluding the investigation earlier.

White House spokesman Eric Schultz urged the FBI to "follow the facts, wherever they lead." President Barack Obama plans to travel to support Clinton nearly every day that's left in the campaign.
An opportunity for foodies and beer lovers to get lost in a world of food and drink from a hand-selected range of food trucks and breweries from around New Zealand.
SEATTLE (AP)  Researchers who track the endangered population of orcas that frequent Washington state waters said Friday that three whales are missing or believed dead since summer.

The most recent death of a 23-year-old female known as J28 and likely her 10-month-old calf drops the current population to 80, among the lowest in decades, according to the Center for Whale Research on Friday Harbor, which keeps the whale census for the federal government.

A 42-year-old female whale was reported missing during the center's July 1 census.

Center senior scientist Ken Balcomb said orcas, particularly mothers and their babies, are struggling because they don't have enough food, a primary factor in the population's decline.

He and others called for four dams on the Lower Snake River to be breached to open up habitat for salmon. They said the best opportunity to save the orcas is to restore runs of salmon eaten by the killer whales.

"We know what we need to do, feed them," Balcomb said at a news conference on the Seattle waterfront surrounded by supporters who held signs calling for the dams to come down.

Those opposed to removing the Lower Snake dams say they provide low-cost hydroelectric power and play a major role in the region's economy.

J28 was believed to have died in the Strait of Juan de Fuca sometime last week, leaving behind a 10-month old whale that won't likely survive without her, Balcomb said. The mother appeared emaciated in recent weeks, he said.

The number of southern resident killer whales has fluctuated in recent decades, from more than 100 in 1995 to about 80 in recent years, as they have faced threats from pollution, lack of prey and disturbance from boats. They were listed as endangered in 2005.

The whales have a strong preference for chinook salmon, which are typically larger and fatter fish, but those runs have been declining.

"There's no reason these dams couldn't be breached," said Jim Waddell, a retired engineer with the group DamSense who spoke at the news conference.

In May, in a long-running lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon in Portland rejected the federal government's latest plan for offsetting the damage that dams in the Columbia River Basin pose to salmon.

The judge ordered the government to come up with a new plan by March 2018. He said he would not dictate what options the government must consider in the new plan, but he noted that a proper analysis under federal law "may well require consideration of the reasonable alternative of breaching, bypassing, or removing one or more of the four Lower Snake River Dams."
PORTLAND, Ore.  The stunning acquittal of seven people who occupied a federal wildlife sanctuary in Oregon was a rejection of the prosecution's conspiracy case, not an endorsement of the defendants' actions in the armed protest, a juror said Friday.

But sympathizers who believe such resistance to the government is justified could feel emboldened by the verdict, which might invite more confrontations in a long-running dispute over Western lands.

Worried that Thursday's verdict could lead to more land takeovers, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell on Friday urged all government employees to "remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity." She said she was "profoundly disappointed" in the jury's decision.

William C. Fisher, an activist from Boise, Idaho, who once camped by a memorial to occupier LaVoy Finicum at the site where he was shot dead by police, predicted that the verdict would encourage others to act.

"I think a lot more people will be revolting, rebelling and standing up against what we see as a tyrannical government," Fisher said.

The 41-day takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge last January in remote eastern Oregon was part of a larger debate about the use of federal lands in the West. The militants led by Ammon Bundy, a small business owner from Arizona, wanted to hand the refuge over to local officials, saying the federal government should not have dominion over it.

The U.S. government owns nearly half of all land in the West, compared with only 4 percent in the other states, according to the Congressional Overview of Federal Land Ownership.

One of the jurors in the case asserted Friday that the panel was not endorsing militancy to resolve those issues.

The juror, identified only as Juror No. 4, wrote in an email to The Oregonian/OregonLive that the verdicts were a "statement" about the prosecution's failure to prove a conspiracy charge "and not any form of affirmation of the defense's various beliefs, actions or aspirations."

Bundy, his brother Ryan Bundy and five others were charged with conspiring to impede federal workers from their jobs at the refuge.

One of the jurors questioned whether criminal trespassing charges could have been filed instead. But Laurie Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and a former federal prosecutor, said trespassing is only a misdemeanor and prosecutors wanted felony convictions.

They had few other options to seek serious charges because the defendants never attacked anyone, Levenson said.

Rather than attempting to retake the land and risking a gunbattle, authorities took a cautious approach. They closed nearby roads and stayed miles away while urging the occupiers to abandon the land.

"This may be a case of no good deed goes unpunished," Levenson said. "The upside of not confronting them was it was less likely there would be violence. The downside was it was less likely that they could use the assault charge."

The standoff finally ended when the Bundys and other key figures were arrested in a Jan. 26 traffic stop outside the refuge. That's when Finicum was killed. Most occupiers left after his death, but four holdouts remained until Feb. 11, when they surrendered following lengthy negotiations.

Bundy remains in jail because he still faces charges in Nevada stemming from an armed standoff at his father Cliven Bundy's ranch two years ago.

Joel Hansen, Cliven Bundy's attorney, said Friday that he thinks the jury in Oregon "saw through the lies of a government which is trying to prove these Bundy brothers and their compatriots were some kind of terrorists."

In Hansen's view and some others in the rural West, ownership of public land is a constitutional question that has not been settled.

"There is a seething anger among those who use the land because of the oppressive management of the land in the West," Hansen said. "It's the ranchers, the loggers, the miners, the Indians. It's all part of tyrannical oppression. Their goal is to manage them out of business to get them off the land."

The jury's decision came on the same day that officers in riot gear evicted protesters from private land in the path of the Dakota Access oil pipeline in rural North Dakota. Authorities fired bean bags and pepper spray as they surrounded the camp of demonstrators, who have spent months embroiled in a dispute over Native American rights and the environmental effects of the project.

The Oregon occupiers had chosen, perhaps inadvertently, a part of Oregon where locals and the feds had a recent history of working together. Few who live near the sanctuary welcomed the occupiers.

Not long before the takeover began on Jan. 2, locals and federal officials had determined the fate of large swaths of land, Harney County Judge Steve Grasty, the top local administrative official, said last summer.

The High Desert Partnership in Harney County, a group that includes the Bureau of Land Management, the Nature Conservancy and timber business owners, had been working quietly to determine land stewardship, which Jewell credited in her statement on Friday.
India is offering to buy hundreds of fighter planes from foreign manufacturersas long as the jets are made in India and with a local partner, air force officials say.

A deal for 200 single-engine planes produced in Indiawhich the air force says could rise to 300 as it fully phases out ageing Soviet-era aircraft - could be worth anything from $13-$15 billion, experts say, potentially one of the country's biggest military aircraft deals.After a deal to buy high-end Rafale planes from France's Dassault was scaled back to just 36 jets last month, the Indian Air Force is desperately trying to speed up other acquisitions and arrest a fall in operational strength, now a third less than required to face both China and Pakistan.

But Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration wants any further military planes to be built in India with an Indian partner to kickstart a domestic aircraft industry, and end an expensive addiction to imports.

Lockheed Martin said it is interested in setting up a production line for its F-16 plane in India for not just the Indian military, but also for export.

And Sweden's Saab has offered a rival production line for its Gripen aircraft, setting up an early contest for one of the biggest military plane deals in play.

"The immediate shortfall is 200. That would be the minimum we would be looking at," said an air officer briefed on the Make-in-India plans under which a foreign manufacturer will partner local firms to build the aircraft with technology transfer.India's defence ministry has written to several companies asking if they would be willing to set up an assembly line for single-engine fighter planes in India and the amount of technology transfer that would happen, another government source said.

"We are testing the waters, testing the foreign firms' willingness to move production here and to find out their expectations," the person said.

Operational gaps

India's air force originally planned for 126 Rafale twin-engine fighters from Dassault, but the two sides could not agree on the terms of local production with a state-run Indian firm and settled for 36 planes in a fly-away condition.

Adding to the military's problems is India's three-decade effort to build a single-engine fighter of its own which was meant to be the backbone of the air force. Only two of those

Light Combat Aircraft, called Tejas, have been delivered to the air force which has ordered 140 of them.The Indian Air Force is down to 32 operational squadrons

compared with the 45 it has said are necessary, and in March the vice chief Air Marshal B.S. Dhanoa told parliament's defence committee that it didn't have the operational strength to fight a two front war against China and Pakistan.

Jet makers respond

Saab said it was ready to not only produce its frontline Gripen fighter in India, but help build a local aviation industry base.

"We are very experienced in transfer of technology - our way of working involves extensive cooperation with our partners to establish a complete ecosystem, not just an assembly line," said Jan Widerstrm, Chairman and Managing Director, Saab India Technologies.

He confirmed Saab had received the letter from the Indian government seeking a fourth generation fighter. A source close to the company said that while there was no minimum order set in stone for it to lay down a production line, they would expect to build at least 100 planes at the facility.Lockheed Martin said it had responded to the defence ministry's letter with an offer to transfer the entire production of its F-16 fighter to India.

"Exclusive F-16 production in India would make India home to the world's only F-16 production facility, a leading exporter of advanced fighter aircraft, and offer Indian industry the opportunity to become an integral part of the world's largest fighter aircraft supply chain," Abhay Paranjape, National Executive for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Business Development in India said in an email.

US top supplier

Lockheed's offer comes on the back of expanding U.S.-India military ties in which Washington has emerged as India's top arms supplier in recent years, ousting old ally Russia.Earlier this year Boeing also offered India its twin-engine F/A-18 Hornets, but the level of technology transfer was not clear.

India has never previously attempted to build a modern aircraft production line, whether military or civilian.

State-run Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) has assembled Russian combat jets including the Su-30, but these are under licensed production."We have never had control over technology. This represents the most serious attempt to build a domestic base. A full or a near-full tech transfer lays the ground for further development," said retired Indian air marshal M. Matheswaran, a former adviser at HAL.

He said the Indian government would be looking at producing at least 200 fighters, and then probably some more, to make up for the decades of delay in modernising the air force.
National Security Advisors of India and China will meet next week to discuss measures to improve bilateral ties which are strained by differences over a host of issues including India's admission into NSG and Beijing's attempts to block UN ban on JeM Chief Masood Azhar.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi will meet in Hyderabad in November first week for informal dialogue on the state of bilateral relations, specially the irritants bedevilling the development of ties, officials said.

Besides blocking India's admission into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), China had put a second technical hold on India's move to bring about a UN ban on Azhar. Also India has been protesting over the USD 46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which is being laid through the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

While India is concerned over the Pakistan factor creeping into India-China relations making the bilateral ties more complex, China too is airing its apprehensions over the movement to boycott Chinese goods in India as well the visit of US Ambassador to New Delhi, Richard Verma, to Arunachal Pradesh, which it considers as Southern Tibet and Indias permission to allow the Dalai Lama to visit the area.

Chinese officials say Beijing is apprehensive about India moving closer to US and Japan broadening its strategic and defence ties with both the countries.

Doval and Yang who are the designated Special Representatives of the India-China boundary talks, also periodically meet to discuss the whole gamut of the Sino-Indian relations.

Yang was the former foreign minister of China before he was elevated to the rank of State Councillor of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) after President Xi Jinping took over power in 2013.

In Chinese power structure, State Councillor is more powerful than the Foreign Minister on foreign policy issues.

Both Doval and Yang have been meeting regularly to discuss the problems affecting the bilateral relations.

Officials say that the Hyderabad meeting is not Special Representatives dialogue on border but an informal consultations in which all issues including those relating to the borders may figure.

Their meeting is set to take place in the backdrop of the just concluded plenary meeting of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) which conferred the status of "core leader" on Xi, broadening his power base both in the party and military.

On Indias admission into the NSG, both sides held in-depth talks over the issue. India has been pressing China to relent on its opposition saying that vast majority of the 48 member group back New Delhis case.

China, which is opposing India's membership on the ground that India is not a signatory to Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), says the group need to work out a proposal on the accession on all the non-NPT countries meaning Pakistan's admission too.

After talks with India, Chinese officials also held talks with Pakistan on the same issue.

On the issue of ban on Azhar, China has not reacted to Pakistan's reported move to freeze his bank accounts and keeping him under house arrest. Beijing's technical hold in the UN on Azhars ban issue is due to expire in December.

Doval and Yang were expected to touch on these issues as well as Indias concerns over the ballooning trade deficit which according to Chinese officials touched over USD 51 billion last year in little over USD 70 billion trade between the two countries.

China has been promising to step up investments in India besides opening up markets for Indian IT and Pharmaceuticals.
With love and symbols of love at almost every nook and corner of the French capital, it's hard to imagine that Paris, a romantic-at-heart city, was hit by a dastardly attackone of the worst on a European targetjust about a year ago.

It was November 13, 2015 when simultaneous shootings and explosions at multiple locationsbars, a concert hall and the Stade de France killed at least 130 people and injured over 250 in Paris. This gave a blow to tourism in this top global tourist destination.

Cut to October 2016, Parisin breathtaking colours of the fall adding to the romanticism in the airis buzzing with people from all nationalities. Indians, especially honeymooners, can be spotted aplenty.

India's Ambassador Mohan Kumar said: "For us, the biggest vote of confidence in France that we could give was that after the attacks, half a million people from India have come here."

Last year, the French embassy had announced that an estimated 300,000 Indians visit Paris every year, adding to the vibrancy of the city of light.

Whether you are at the foot of the towering 324-metre Eiffel Towerone of the most frequented seven wonders of the worldor at the busy cafes and restaurants, or even taking a boat ride on the Seine, you will spot Indians in hordesbuying ice creams and souvenirs, snuggling and cuddling, taking dramatic selfies and soaking in the architectural marvels of the city.

Even on an official trip that went a tad awry, Paris ended up leaving me with a smile on my face with its little wonders.

A spot on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower was encircled as "Place to kiss" and couplesold and youngseemed to be making the most of it. The cherry on the top is a cafe right thereget two flutes of champagne and packets of chips for 20 euros, and take in the stunning view of Paris.

There are traces of romance even in little colourful locks that find place on grills and chains at bridges and walkways of Paris. Look closely and you would see they are like a promise sealed with names of the lovers written across them with the date when the lock was placed. Such locks have become a trend in many major capitals.

Sweet!

Oh well, the sweet reminds me of the variety of delights that you can savour all through Paris. The hot waffles, crepes, hot chocolate and coffee are a bliss in the chill and rain. There's also hot mulled wine and smoking hot paninis and bread savouries that you can settle for while on the move.

And then there are the ice cream and sorbetsdefinitely notches better than the India Gate routine a Delhiite is used to.

With not enough time to say a Hello to dear Monalisa at The Louvre or to explore the interiors of the majestic medieval Notre-Dame Cathedral, I came back satiated with experiences small, but significant.

A boat ride on Seine under the night sky proved why the 'city of light' tag goes well with Paris. Also enjoyable were walks around the Champ de Marswhich took my breath away with its green stretch dotted with trees of fall-coloured yellow, green, red and orange treesthe famous Avenue des Champs-Elysees and a view of the Arc de Triomphe.

Watching the triumphal arch from the busy Champs-Elysees street where people were thronging shops and dining al fresco despite the rain, was almost symbolic of how Paris has moved on from the deadly terror attacks. A salute to the city. It deserves it.

As a memory from Paris, I picked a leaf off the street.

It looks like one right out of a scene from Aditya Chopra's Mohabbatein. And while the filmmaker is getting ready to release his "Befikre" -- widely shot in Parisit doesn't hurt to say what a truly befikre (carefree) city Paris isin every which way.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called on the FBI Friday to release "the full and complete facts" about its review of emails related to her personal server, media reports said.



"Voting is underway, so the American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately," CNN quoted Clinton as saying at a news conference in Iowa.



"It is imperative that the bureau explain this issue in question, whatever it is, without any delay," she added.



These are her first public comments since FBI Director James Comey told lawmakers earlier on Friday that the bureau is reviewing new emails tied to her personal server.



The newly discovered emails are part of an investigation into Anthony Weiner.



Wiener, a former New York Democratic congressman, recently separated from top Clinton aide Huma Abedin after he exchanged sexually explicit text messages with an underage girl.



The FBI is investigating to see if any of the new emails will have an impact on the recently closed investigation into Clinton's server.



The Democratic presidential candidate however said she was "confident" that the emails "will not change the conclusion reached in July".



Taking advantage of the opportunity, Trump said at a rally, "Hillary Clinton's corruption is on a scale we've never seen before. We must not let her take her criminal scheme into the Oval Office."



In July, a year-long investigation by the FBI in its email probe, ended with no criminal charges against Clinton and the Justice Department closed the investigation.
New Braunfels, TX (78130)

Today

Considerable cloudiness. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 74F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy. Low around 60F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.
Pub landlord Barry Openshaw, 43, from Southport was doing just that when he took part in a social media chat on Facebook and Twitter, hosted by Volkswagen at #YourVW.

He waxed lyrical about the golden Seventies Beetle 1300  his fathers pride and joy  in which he and his brother Keith, who later emigrated to Canada, travelled thousands of miles before it was eventually given away.

Barry posted pictures of their idyllic time when their fathers health was also better.

Beetlemania: Barry Openshaw and his mum in the 1970s.

Barry with his restored version of the same car on Southport beach.

Of 1,700 responses, VWs UK bosses decided this was the one that touched their heartstrings most.

Unable to trace the original Beetle, they restored one of the same vintage to pristine condition to hand over to the family.

The story has been filmed and is to be told online next week alongside stories of other VW owners.

Barry, general manager of the Christie Fields pub-restaurant in Manchester, said his father Ron and late mother Jean had owned and run the original VW Beetle for 16 years before giving it away to a local mechanic.

Barry has been trying to find it for years: My dad bought the Beetle back in 1973, it was a unique colour because it was gold! It felt quite special.

Barry's story has been filmed and is to be told online next week alongside stories of other VW owners.

Memories: Barry said, 'Theres just something about it that takes me back to my childhood.

He used to take me Southport. He used to sit me on his lap and I used to steer the car, just up the beach.

He added: My oldest brother, Keith, courted his wife in that car. He got married and moved to Canada. My dad gave the car away eventually, and I never saw the car again.

'Theres just something about it that takes me back to my childhood.

Of the replacement Beetle he said: I feel humbled to have this Beetle. Its absolutely gorgeous, and looks like new. It really takes me back to my time as a kid in the 70s.
London's IPO market has been decimated since the EU referendum, resulting in the number and value of companies listing falling to its lowest its level in four years.

Fresh research shows just 43 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange in the first nine months of the year, its lowest level since 2012.

This week alone stock market listings worth more than 15billion were scrapped or shelved as nervous investors fretted about the global outlook.

Lights out: London used to be the IPO capital of the world but has struggled since Brexit

British software giant Misys failed to drum up enough support for its 5.5billion float, while the boss of O2 revealed the telecoms firm would not pursue its own stock market listing this year  and added that it might not happen at all.

The only firm to successfully get away over the last five days was medical research firm ConvaTec, which makes colostomy bags and wound dressings, but its shares were priced at 225p each - at the bottom end of the 225p to 275p range outlined by the company.

While last week both waste management firm Biffa slashed their IPO prices in order to keep their London listings on track.

Earlier this month, doughnut maker Krispy Kreme announced it was being bought by its American parent instead of going ahead with a London stock market listing thought to be worth about 200million.

Other high profile IPOs to have been pulled this year include food distributor Brakes Group and most recently Pure Gym.

Attention will now turn to price comparison website Gocompare, which is planning to split from insurer Esure and float with a value of 650million. Software firm CHP Consulting is also looking at a 300million listing.

Down: Just 43 IPOs have taken place in the first 9 months of the year, lowest level since 2012

All this means that just 13 companies have launched on the main market since the start of the year and 43 overall - once the 30 listed on AIM have been added.

And according to Henderson Global Investors, the referendum made an already slow year worse.

It took more than a month for the first listing to occur after the vote and signs are that the pre-referendum jitters still exist.

In total just eleven IPOs have taken place since the referendum, with only five on the main market in the last three months.

Colin Hughes of Henderson, said: 'The chilling effect of the Brexit vote noticeably cooled companies' enthusiasm to list on the stock market, and we have yet to see IPO activity reheat despite market conditions settling somewhat.'

He added: 'It's actually surprising activity was not even quieter ahead of the vote, and that perhaps reflects the unexpected Leave result in the referendum. It's not necessarily bad for investors in the short term  it means it's a buyers' market: new listings have to compete for investor cash and that means keener prices.'

Of the IPOs that have taken place this year, most were in the financial sector. These include Metro Bank, Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banking Group along with CMC Markets, the spread-betting company.

Consumer goods and services companies also propped the figures up, following the listing of Countryside Properties and b2b media firm Ascential.

MAIN MARKET LISTINGS 2016 1. HOLLYWOOD BOWL 2. INNOVADERMA 3. TBC BANK 4. SEC SPA 5. MOTORPOINT 6. TOOPLE 7. FORTERRA 8. METRO BANK 9. COUNTRYSIDE PROPERTIES 10. ASCENTIAL 11. CMC MARKETS 12. CLYDESDALE AND YORKSHIRE 13. CONVATEC

And while the main market has struggled this year, AIM has enjoyed a slightly more fruitful period.

The total value of companies listing on AIM in 2016 so far is up 47 per cent on the same period a year ago.

Analysts said smaller companies have traditionally been less sensitive to market conditions.

They added that owners are usually looking for additional capital and strategic shareholders to support growth, also making them less price sensitive than their main market rivals.

In contrast main market listings usually come with a overly demanding private equity owner who will demand the best valuation for the stock.

But analysts said the overall trend was a worry, adding that an economy without fresh listings meant less options in the long run for investors.

Hughes added: 'New listings play a crucial long-term role in our financial system.

'They allow entrepreneurs to realise cash from companies they have built, and to access deep pools of additional capital to drive growth.

'They replace companies that have been de-listed or acquired, or which have simply gone into decline at the end of their life-cycle.
Royal Bank of Scotland has admitted it could be forced to pay compensation over allegations it deliberately destroyed businesses.

As the taxpayer-backed lender reported another quarterly loss, chief executive Ross McEwan conceded entrepreneurs who claim they were victims of its global restructuring group (GRG) might end up with payouts.

The now-closed GRG was a crack turnaround unit intended to help businesses that struggled to pay their debts.

Admission: Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Ross McEwan

But it has been claimed that the division instead pushed firms into administration so it could seize their assets to bolster RBSs ailing balance sheet. The Financial Conduct Authority is soon to publish a much-delayed report into the groups practices.

McEwan yesterday accepted GRG had sometimes fallen short of the banks standards, although he insisted there was no evidence of systematic wrongdoing.

No money has been set aside to settle claims against it in this quarters results. However, he left the door open to possible payments for those found to have suffered at its hands.

When we did our first review of this business nearly three years ago, we said we didnt get it all right  I dont think theres any new revelation here, he said.

On the issue of any compensation, we will work with the FCA and see where that comes out to.

He was speaking after NatWest owner RBS revealed a 469m loss for the three months to September 30, down from a 940m profit for the same period a year earlier.

The bank continues to be dogged by problems dating back to the financial crisis, which swallow up any profits from its day-to-day banking operations. This quarter, it would have made a 1.3bn profit if it had not faced legal and restructuring charges.

RBS was rescued by the Government with a 46bn bailout in 2008 and is still 71.5 per cent state owned.

When the rescue package was put together to save the lender, European Union chiefs demanded part of its network was sold to improve competition. It is now scrambling to dispose of 300 branches as soon as possible  and yesterday admitted the EU deadline at the end of next year could be missed.

This could lead to a fire sale overseen by Brussels, although that is widely viewed as unlikely with most expecting a compromise or extension instead.

RBS intended to float the branches on the stock market under the name Williams & Glyn, but abandoned the plans in August. Santander was then rumoured to be considering a bid for the network, but is now understood to have backed off.

Clydesdale Bank has emerged as a new suitor, but McEwan said no deal would be done before the cut-off date.

RBS said the saga had cost it another 301m.

The bank also set aside an extra 425m for lawsuits, fines and other charges relating to past bad behaviour, including a payment to the US National Credit Union Administration for toxic bundles of mortgage debt. Investors are expecting a far higher bill for a similar settlement with the American Department of Justice.
Ferrexpo shares plummeted after its second largest shareholder struck while the iron was hot and cashed in almost half its shares.

Czech billionaire Zdenek Bakala and his business partners offloaded 69m in an apparent bid to reap the benefits of the iron ore companys recent good fortune.

Ferrexpo shares have jumped more than 400 per cent this year, having slumped in 2015, and hit a two-year high two weeks ago after rising pellet prices improved its production outlook. An insider suggested Bakala, 55, who has worked for Credit Suisse First Boston in New York, London and Prague, was most likely looking to cash in on the positive results.

The shares were sold through Wigmore Street, an investment vehicle owned by Bakala and BXR Group. Bakala, who has a fortune of 1.2bn, which he amassed through investment in banking and coal mining, is one of the founders of BXR.

He set up the Czech Republics first private investment group, Patria Finance, in 1994 and has a series of philanthropic projects to his name. Ferrexpo founder Kostyantin Zhevago, who still owns a 50.3 per cent stake in the company, is the youngest self-made billionaire in Europe. Shares in Ferrexpo fell 18.6 per cent, or 23.75p to 104p.

The FTSE 100 finished 0.14 per cent, or 9.69 points higher at 6,996.26 and the FTSE 250 was 0.36 per cent, or 63.51 points better off at 17,644.83.

Student housing provider Unite saw its shares plunge after the Home Secretary unveiled a crackdown on international student visas.

The FTSE 250 company fell 3.35 per cent, or 19.5p to 562.5p after analysts at Morgan Stanley cut its rating from overweight to underweight, fearing the new restrictions on overseas students could leave university halls empty. Amber Rudd raised the prospect of new restrictions earlier this month, including a two-tier visa rule under which university prestige and the quality of the course studied would determine students rights to work in the UK.

Elementis was the biggest riser in the FTSE 350 after it revealed trading was in line with expectations despite challenging market conditions. The chemical company said its overall performance in the three months to September 30 was positive and sales had improved among most of its divisions.

Sales of speciality products were up 6 per cent, compared with the same period last year, coatings were up 5 per cent and personal care up 38 per cent.

Elementis, however, admitted sales in its Chromium division were 4 per cent lower than the same period last year due to the strong dollar.

Paul Waterman, chief executive, said: In Chromium, although the environment internationally remains challenging, contribution margins in North America and the rest of the world were stable.

Shares were up 11.14 per cent, or 23.9p to 238.4p.

Analysts at Berenberg raised Just Eats target price to 600p from 530p. It was enough to send the online food delivery companys shares up 5.6 per cent, or 28.5p to 535p.

Investors attention will turn to Morrisons next week when the supermarket unveils its latest results. Like-for-like sales are expected to be up for the fourth time in a row at 1.5 per cent, driven by the retailers improved food range, but lower than the 2 per cent growth it bagged in the second quarter.

HSBC analyst David McCarthy applauded management for strengthening the balance sheet, which he said will help protect the grocer in a tough trading environment. But he said the company remained in a weak strategic position amid its sector peers.

Shares were down slightly at 0.1 per cent, or 0.3p to 226.1p.

Oil companies were given a boost with Global Petroleum jumping 8.3 per cent, or 0.12p to 1.62p after it moved a step closer to securing permission to explore the Adriatic.
Free home deliveries could be under threat after last Fridays landmark legal case against taxi firm Uber, industry bosses have warned.

The claim against Uber, brought by the GMB union, could force the firm to classify its 40,000 UK drivers as members of staff, which would significantly raise costs for the business.

Unions are now planing to press their advantage and target delivery groups that also use drivers and other staff classified as self-employed  a potential earthquake for the transport groups involved in the online shopping revolution.

Under threat: Free home deliveries could be under threat after last Fridays landmark legal case against taxi firm Uber, industry bosses have warned

One source close to the case said the union was now considering a case against a leading British delivery group.

Private delivery companies including Yodel, Hermes and UK Mail all use self-employed drivers as a key part of their business.

Separately, Leigh Day  the lawyers acting for the Uber drivers and the GMB union  have contacted food delivery group Deliveroo about its employment practices.

Delivery firms have long been accused of exploiting workers who are classed as self-employed, meaning they are not entitled to paid leave for holidays or sickness and may not earn the National Living Wage.

One senior executive at a leading delivery group said a shift to treating all drivers and delivery workers as staff would put up costs, which would mean retailers thinking again about whether they can afford to offer free delivery. The executive said: Moving to a fully staffed business is fine, but there will be a price.

Steve Garelick, a branch secretary at the GMB, said: Its going to have an effect on everyone. The consumer is actually getting too much of a good deal.

Classifications: The claim against Uber, brought by the GMB union, could force the firm to classify its 40,000 UK drivers as members of staff

Retail analyst Richard Hyman agreed that the Uber ruling, if upheld, would add a further cost burden to delivery services.

But he believes retailers are already under such competitive pressure that they will be unable to pass on the extra costs to customers. But he added: Eventually the consumer will be hit because there will be more retail job losses.

The status of many delivery workers was highlighted at the end of 2014 when delivery group City Link went bust and it emerged that about

1,000 drivers were classified as self-employed and not entitled to redundancy payments.

Scope: Private delivery companies including Yodel, Hermes and UK Mail all use self-employed drivers as a key part of their business

The so-called gig economy of self-employed workers has boomed in Britain with the number of people classed as self-employed rocketing from 12 per cent of workers to 16 per cent in the past eight years.

About 4.8 million are now designated as self-employed  almost as many as the 5.3 million working in the public sector.

The GMB and lawyers Leigh Day brought the employment tribunal case on behalf of 19 Uber drivers and argued successfully that they were in effect staff employees of Uber because they were controlled by the company.

Uber has always insisted it is not a taxi company but a technology platform which allows drivers to work for themselves.

The Uber ruling could also add to company pension costs because if self-employed contractors are in future classed as staff they will be eligible for company schemes. Employer pensions have become compulsory under Government auto-enrolment rules.

Dave Chaplin, chief executive of ContractorCalculator, which provides 100,000 self-employed workers with advice and information, said the tribunals ruling blows the Uber business model out of the water.

He said it will be a disaster for UK plc, but also admitted that Ubers business model had caused a race to the bottom.
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.
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.
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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Penumbra, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and markets medical devices in the United States and internationally. The company offers aspiration based thrombectomy systems and accessory devices, including revascularization device for mechanical thrombectomy, such as Penumbra System under the Penumbra RED, JET, ACE, 3D Revascularization Device, and Penumbra ENGINE brands, as well as components and accessories; neurovascular embolization coiling systems to treat patients with various sizes of aneurysms and other neurovascular lesions under the Penumbra Coil 400, POD400, PAC400, and Penumbra SMART Coil brand names; and neurovascular access systems designed to provide intracranial access for use in a range of neurovascular therapies under the Neuron, Neuron MAX, Select, BENCHMARK, BMX96, DDC, and PX SLIM brands. It also provides neurosurgical aspiration tools for the removal of tissue and fluids under the Artemis Neuro Evacuation Device brand; aspiration-based thrombectomy systems for vascular applications under the Indigo System brand; and detachable embolic coil systems for peripheral embolization under the Ruby Coil and Ruby LP brand names. In addition, the company offers microcatheter for the delivery of detachable coils and occlusion devices under the LANTERN brand; and detachable, microcatheter-deliverable occlusion devices designed primarily to occlude peripheral vessels under the POD (Penumbra Occlusion Device) brand, as well as immersive computer-based technologies and immersive therapeutics to promote health, motor function, and cognition under the Real Immersive System brand; and a complementary device for use with Ruby Coil and POD for vessel occlusion under the Packing Coil and Packing Coil LP brands. The company sells its products through direct sales organizations and distributors. Penumbra, Inc. was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Alameda, California.
NextEra Energy, Inc. is the largest electric utility holding company in the US. It operates a network of power generation and distribution facilities that include fossil-fuel-generated and green energy. As of mid-2022, the company was capable of generating 58 GW of electricity with nearly 60% of the load produced by green sources including wind and solar. In their view, going green isnt an option, its the solution. NextEra Energy has been recognized multiple times as a leader in clean energy and ESG practices and was ranked the #1 electric and gas utility on the Forbes list of Most Admired Companies.

The company is the result of several mergers that begin with FPL Group. FPL Group is now a subsidiary of NextEra Energy and the third-largest provider of electricity in the US servicing nearly half of Florida. FPL and its affiliates are the single largest provider of renewable energy generated from wind and sun. The group changed its name in 2010 following a decision to shift focus onto renewable energy sources.

Today, NextEra Energy, Inc through its subsidiary FPL serves about 12 million people in eastern and southwestern Florida. The company employs nearly 14,900 people who service 5.8 million accounts. The company is in business to generate, transmit, and distribute electricity to retail and wholesale clients. Electricity is generated through wind, solar, nuclear, natural gas, and coal-fired facilities.

The company is also engaged in the construction and operation of new facilities, specifically renewable power generation, storage, and delivery facilities, and can offer custom solutions tailored to any need. Offerings include tailored services to assist businesses with their transition to clean energy.

NextEra Energy also owns and operates 7 nuclear power stations in Florida, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin generating power for the wholesale market.

Unlike other companies that are targeting net-zero emissions, NextEra Energy has a plan to reach real zero and is investing heavily to reach that goal by 2045. The company had invested nearly $50 billion in green energy infrastructure and initiatives by mid-2022. The plan is to first work on reducing its own emissions and then take its knowledge and expertise to the world.
The following companies are subsidiares of Accenture: 2nd Road, ?What If!, ?What If! China Holdings Limited, ?What If! Holdings Limited, ?What If! Limited, ACN Consulting Co Ltd, AD.Dialeto (Digital Agency acquired by Accenture), AFD.TECH, AGS Business and Technology Services Limited, AIG Shared Services Business Processing Inc, ASM Research Inc., ASM Research LLC, ATAN, Accenture (Botswana) (Proprietary) Limited, Accenture (China) Co. Ltd., Accenture (Shenzhen) Technology Co. Ltd., Accenture (South Africa) Pty Ltd, Accenture (UK) Limited, Accenture 2 Business Process Services S.A., Accenture 2 LLC, Accenture A/S, Accenture AB, Accenture AG, Accenture AS, Accenture Africa Pty Ltd, Accenture Agencia Interativa Ltda, Accenture Australia Holding B.V., Accenture Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, Accenture Australia Pty Ltd, Accenture B.V., Accenture BPM Operations Support Services S.A., Accenture BPM S.C.R.L., Accenture BPS Services S.p. z o.o., Accenture Branch Holdings B.V., Accenture Bulgaria EOOD, Accenture Business Services for Utilities Inc, Accenture Business Services of British Columbia Limited Partnership, Accenture Business and Technology Services LLC, Accenture C.A., Accenture Canada Holdings Inc, Accenture Capital Designated Activity Company, Accenture Capital Inc, Accenture Central Europe B.V., Accenture Chile Asesorias y Servicios Ltda, Accenture Cloud Services GmbH, Accenture Cloud Software Solutions Limited, Accenture Cloud Solutions Australia Pty Ltd, Accenture Cloud Solutions LLC, Accenture Cloud Solutions Pty Ltd, Accenture Co Ltd, Accenture Co. Ltd, Accenture Communications Infrastructure Solutions Ltd, Accenture Company Ltd, Accenture Consulting Pty Ltd, Accenture Consulting Services Ltd Tanzania, Accenture Consultores de Gestao S.A., Accenture Consultoria de Industria e Consumo Ltda, Accenture Consultoria de Recursos Naturais Ltda, Accenture Credit Services LLC, Accenture Customer Services Distribution SASU, Accenture Customer Services Ltd, Accenture Danismanlik Limited Sirketi, Accenture Defined Benefit Pension Plan Trustees Limited, Accenture Defined Contribution Pension Plan Trustees Limited, Accenture Delivery Poland S.p. z o.o., Accenture Dienstleistungen GmbH, Accenture Digital Holdings GmbH, Accenture East Africa Limited, Accenture Ecuador S.A., Accenture Egypt LLC, Accenture Enterprise Development (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Accenture Federal Services LLC, Accenture Finance II Limited, Accenture Finance Limited, Accenture Finance and Accounting BPO Services S.p.A., Accenture Finance and Accounting Services S.r.l., Accenture Financial Advanced Solution & Technology S.r.l., Accenture Flex LLC, Accenture GP LLC, Accenture Global Capital Designated Activity Company, Accenture Global Engagements Limited, Accenture Global Holdings Limited, Accenture Global Services Limited, Accenture Global Solutions Limited, Accenture GmbH, Accenture HR Services S.p.A., Accenture Healthcare Processing Inc, Accenture Holding Brasil Ltda, Accenture Holding GmbH & Co. KG, Accenture Holdings (Iberia) S.L., Accenture Holdings B.V., Accenture Holdings France SASU, Accenture Hungary Holdings Kft, Accenture Inc, Accenture Industrial Software Limited Liability Company, Accenture Industrial Software Solutions Kft, Accenture Industrial Software Solutions SA, Accenture Insurance Services B.V., Accenture Insurance Services LLC, Accenture International B.V., Accenture International LLC, Accenture International Limited, Accenture Japan Ltd, Accenture Korea B.V., Accenture LLC, Accenture LLP, Accenture Lanka (Private) Ltd, Accenture Limited, Accenture Lithuania UAB, Accenture Ltd, Accenture Ltda, Accenture Maghreb S.a.r.l., Accenture Managed Services SRL, Accenture Management GmbH, Accenture Marketing Services LLC, Accenture Marketing Services Limited, Accenture Middle East B.V., Accenture Minority I B.V., Accenture Mozambique Limitada, Accenture Mzansi Pty Ltd, Accenture NV/SA, Accenture NZ Limited, Accenture Nova Scotia Unlimited Liability Co., Accenture OOO, Accenture Operations GmbH, Accenture Operations S.p. z o.o., Accenture Operations Services Private Limited, Accenture Operations Services Sdn Bhd, Accenture Outsourcing S.r.l., Accenture Outsourcing Services S.A., Accenture Oy, Accenture Panama Inc, Accenture Participations B.V., Accenture Participations II Limited, Accenture Peru SRL, Accenture Post Trade Processing SASU, Accenture Post-Trade Processing Limited, Accenture Process (Mauritius) Ltd, Accenture Pte Ltd, Accenture Puerto Rico LLC, Accenture Qiyun Technology (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd, Accenture S.C., Accenture S.L., Accenture S.R.L., Accenture S.p. z o.o., Accenture S.p.A., Accenture SASU, Accenture SG Services Pte Ltd, Accenture SRL, Accenture Saudi Arabia Limited, Accenture Sdn Bhd, Accenture Service Center SRL, Accenture Services (Mauritius) Ltd, Accenture Services AB, Accenture Services AG, Accenture Services AS, Accenture Services GmbH, Accenture Services Morocco SA, Accenture Services Oy, Accenture Services Pty Ltd, Accenture Services S.p. z o.o., Accenture Services SRL, Accenture Services and Technology S.r.l., Accenture Services s.r.o., Accenture Single Member S.A. Organization Information Technology & Business Development, Accenture Solutions Co. Ltd, Accenture Solutions Private Limited, Accenture Solutions Pte Ltd, Accenture Solutions Pty Ltd, Accenture Solutions S.p. z o.o, Accenture Solutions Sdn Bhd, Accenture State Healthcare Services LLC, Accenture Sub II Inc, Accenture Sub III Inc, Accenture Sub LLC, Accenture Systems Integration Limited, Accenture Sarl, Accenture Tanacsado Kolatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Accenture Technology Solutions (Dalian) Co. Ltd., Accenture Technology Solutions (HK) Co. Ltd., Accenture Technology Solutions (Thailand) Co. Ltd, Accenture Technology Solutions - Solucoes Informaticas Integradas S.A., Accenture Technology Solutions GmbH, Accenture Technology Solutions Oy, Accenture Technology Solutions Pty Ltd, Accenture Technology Solutions S.A. de C.V., Accenture Technology Solutions S.r.l., Accenture Technology Solutions SASU, Accenture Technology Solutions SRL, Accenture Technology Solutions Sdn Bhd, Accenture Technology Solutions Slovakia s.r.o., Accenture Technology Ventures B.V., Accenture Technology Ventures SPRL, Accenture Tecnologia Consultoria y Outsourcing S.A., Accenture Uruguay SRL, Accenture Vietnam Co. Limited, Accenture Zambia Limited, Accenture do Brasil Ltda, Accenture plc, Accenture s.r.o., Acceria, Acquity Group, Adaptly LLC, Adaptly UK Limited, AddVal Technology, Adqptly, Advantium Inc., Advoco, Agilex Technologies Inc., Alfa Consulting, Allen International, AlphaBeta Advisors, Altevie Technologies S.r.l., Altima, Altima (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Altima Asia Ltd, Altitude, Altitude LLC, Altius Consulting Limited, Altius Data Solutions Private Limited, Analytics 8 LP, Analytics 8 Pty Ltd, Analytics8, Aorui Advertising (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Apis, Apis Group Pty Ltd, Appaloosa Technology SASU, AppsPro, AppsPro, Arca, Arca Ingenieros y Consultoria S.L., Arca Telecom S.L., Ariba - BPO, Arismore, Artio People (Payroll) Pty Ltd, Artio People Pty Ltd, Aspiro Solutions (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Automation Partners Pty Ltd, Avanade (Guangzhou) Computer Technology Development Co. Ltd., Avanade Asia Pte Ltd, Avanade Australia Pty Ltd, Avanade Belgium SPRL, Avanade Canada Inc, Avanade Consulting Poland S.p. z o.o., Avanade Denmark A/S, Avanade Deutschland GmbH, Avanade Europe Holdings Limited, Avanade Europe Services Limited, Avanade Finland Oy, Avanade France SASU, Avanade Holdings LLC, Avanade Hong Kong Ltd, Avanade Inc, Avanade International Corporation, Avanade Ireland Limited, Avanade Italy S.r.l., Avanade Japan KK, Avanade Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Avanade Middle East Limited, Avanade Netherlands B.V., Avanade Norway AS, Avanade Poland S.p. z o.o., Avanade Schweiz GmbH, Avanade South Africa Pty Ltd, Avanade Spain S.L., Avanade Sweden AB, Avanade UK Limited, Avanade do Brasil Ltda , Avanade Osterreich GmbH, Avenai, Avieco, Axia Ltd., BABCN LLC, BCS Consulting, BCT Solutions, BCT Solutions Pty Ltd, BENEXT, BPO Servicos Administrativos Ltda, BRIDGE Energy Group, BRIDGEi2i, Beacon Consulting Group Inc., Beijing Genesis Interactive Technology Co. Ltd., Beijing Zhidao Future Consulting Co. Ltd, Benext, Berico Technologies LLC, Bionic, Bionic Solution LLC, Blue Horseshoe, Boomerang Pharmaceutical Communications, Bow & Arrow, Bow & Arrow Limited, Brand Learning, Brand Learning Group Limited, Brightstep AB, Byte Prophecy, Byte Prophecy Private Limited, CAS, CRMWaypoint, CS Technology (Australia) Pty Ltd, CS Technology (UK) Limited, CS Technology Group LLC, CS Technology LLC, CadenceQuest Inc., Callisto Integration Europe B.V., Callisto Integration Europe Limited, Callisto Integration LLC, Callisto Integration Ltd, Capgemini - North American health practice, Capital Consultancy Services Inc, Certus Solutions Consulting Services Limited, Certus Solutions Ltd, ChangeTrack Research Pty Ltd., Chaotic Moon Studios, Chengdu Mensa Advertising Co. Ltd., Cimation, Cirrus Connect Australia Pty Ltd, Cirrus Connect Limited, Cirruseo, Clarity Insights, ClearEdge Partners, Clearhead, Clearhead Group LLC, ClientHouse GmbH, Cloud Sherpas, Cloud Sherpas (GA) LLC, Cloud Sherpas Japan G.K., Cloud Sherpas New Zealand Limited, Cloudeasier SAS, Cloudpoint Limited, Cloudsherpas Inc, Cloudworks, Cloudworks Consulting Services Inc, Cloudworks Technology LLC, Computer Research and Telecommunications LLC, Concrete Desenvolvimento de Sistemas Ltda, Concrete Solutions, Concrete Solutions Ltda, Context Information Security, Context Information Security LLC, Context Information Security Limited, CoreCompete LLC, CoreCompete Limited, CoreCompete Private Limited, Corliant Inc., Creative Drive LLC, Creative Drive US LLC, CreativeDrive, CreativeDrive Digital Content Services (Shenzhen) Co Ltd., CreativeDrive EMEA Limited, CreativeDrive Singapore Pte Ltd, CreativeDrive UK Group Limited, Cutting Edge Solutions Limited, Cygni AB, Cygni Norrsken AB, Cygni Stockholm AB, Cygni Syd AB, Cygni Vast AB, Cygni Ost AB, Cygni Ostersund AB, DAZ Systems Inc, DAZ Systems LLC, DAZSI Systems (India) Pvt. Limited, DI Futures Corporation, Data Essential SARL, Davies Consulting, DayNine Consulting, DayNine Consulting (New Zealand) Limited, DayNine Consulting LLC, Declarative Holdings LLC, Decora Marketplace LLC, Decorado Marketplace Ltda-EPP, Defense Point Security, Deja vu Security, Design Strategy and Research de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Designaffairs LLC, Digiplug S.A.S., Digital Results Group LLC, Double Digit Limitada, Double Digit Pty SA, Droga5, Droga5 LLC, Droga5 Studios LLC, Droga5 UK Limited, Duck Creek Technologies, ESR Labs, ESR Labs AG, EdenOne Solutions Limited, Edenhouse ERP Holdings Limited, Edenhouse Solutions Limited, Enaxis Consulting, Enaxis Consulting LP, End to End Analytics LLC, End-to-End Analytics, Endorphin Medici (M) Sdn Bhd, Energuia Web S.A., Energy Management Brokers Limited, EnergyQuote JHA, Enimbos, Enimbos Global Services S.L., Enkitec, Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions LLC, Enterprise System Partners, Enterprise System Partners B.V., Enterprise System Partners Bilisim Danismanlik Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, Enterprise System Partners Global Corporation, Enterprise System Partners Limited, Enthusian Pty Ltd, Entropia, Entropia (M) Sdn Bhd, Entropia Holdings Pte Ltd, Entropia Intercraft Sdn Bhd, Epylon, Ergo, Espedia S.r.l., Ethica Consulting Group, Ethica Consulting S.p.A., Evopro Group, Exactside Limited, Experity, Exton Consulting, Exton Consulting Spain Strategy&Management S.L., Exton Germany GmbH, Exton International SAS, Exton Italia S.r.l., Exton SAS, FGM LLC, Fairway Technologies Inc, Farah BidCo Limited, Farah MidCo Limited, Farah Topco Limited, Filmproduction ApS, First Annapolis Consulting Inc., First Annapolis Consulting LLC, Fjord, Focus Group Europe, Formicary, Founders Intelligence, Fruendo S.r.l., FusionX, Future State Consulting LLC, FutureMove (Beijing) Automotive Technology Co. Ltd., FutureMove Automotive, FutureMove Automotive Co. Ltd., GRA Supply Chain Pty Ltd, Gagel Group S de R.L. de C.V., Gapso Servicos de Informatica Ltda, Gapso Servicos de Informatica Ltda., Genfour, George Group Consulting L.P., Gestalt LLC, Gevity, Gren utvikling AS, H.B. Maynard and Co. Inc., HRC Retail Advisory, Hagberg Consulting Group, Hahntel Ltda, Halo Partners LLC, Hamilton Holding Company S.A, Hangzhou Aiyunzhe Technology Co. Ltd., Happen, Happen GP Limited, Happen Limited, Headspring, Hjaltelin Stahl, Hjaltelin Stahl A/S, Hjaltelin Stahl K/S, Hytracc Consulting AS, Hytracc Consulting AS, Hytracc Consulting Malaysia Sdn Bhd, IBB Consulting, ICM.S S.r.l., IMJ Corp, IMJ Corporation, INSITUM, IQSP Consulting LLC, IT One Company Limited, ITBS Servicios Bancarios de Tecnologia de la Informacion SL, Icon Integration, Icon Integration (NZ) Limited, Icon Integration Pty Ltd, Imagine Broadband (USA) Limited, Imagine Broadband USA LLC, Imaginea Inc, Imaginea Technologies LLC, Industrie IT (Hong Kong) Ltd, Industrie IT (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Industrie IT Group Pty Ltd, Industrie IT Pty Ltd, Industrie&Co, Infinity Works Consulting Limited, Infinity Works Holdings Limited, Infinity Works Management Limited, Infinity Works Midco Limited, Informatica de Euskadi S.L., Innotec International EAD, Innotec International S.p. z.o.o., Innotec Marketing GmbH, Innotec Marketing International Ireland Limited, Innotec- Marketing Spain S.L, Insitum Consultoria Argentina SRL, Insitum Consultoria S.A. de C.V., International Biometric Group LLC, International Biometric Group UK Limited, Intrepid, Intrepid Futureworks Sdn Bhd, Intrigo Systems Inc, Intrigo Systems India Pvt. Limited, Intrigo Systems LLC, Inventor Technology Ltd, InvestTech, Investtech Systems Consulting LLC, ItSafer Continuity Services S.L., JKD Consulting LLC, Javelin Group, K Comms Group Limited, KSC Studio LLC, Kaper Communications Limited, Karma Communications Debtco Limited, Karma Communications Group Limited, Karma Communications Holdings Limited, Karmarama, Karmarama Comms Limited, Karmarama Limited, King James Group, Knowledge Rules Inc., Knowledgent, Knowledgent Group LLC, Kogentix, Kogentix LLC, Kogentix Limited, Kogentix Singapore Pte Ltd, Kogentix Technologies Private Limited, Kolle Rebbe, Kolle Rebbe GmbH, Kream Comms Limited, Kunstmaan, Kurt Salmon, Kurt Salmon Canada LTD, Kurt Salmon US LLC, LEXTA, LINKBYNET, LINKBYNET Indian Ocean (L.I.O) Ltd, LabAnswer, Lexta GmbH, Lexta UK Limited, Lien par le reseau Inc, Lien par le reseau infrastructures Inc, Lin Bo (Shanghai) Network Technology Co. Ltd., Link By Net SAS, Link By Net SRL, Link By Net Vietnam Company Limited, Linkbynet East Asia Ltd, Linkbynet Singapore Pte Ltd., Loud & Clear Creative Pty Ltd, Lumenup S.A., MAXIM Systems Inc., MCG US Holdings LLC, Mackevision CG Technology and Service (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Mackevision Japan Co. Ltd., Mackevision Korea Ltd, Mackevision LLC, Mackevision Medien Design, Mackevision Medien Design GmbH, Mackevision Singapore Pte Ltd, Mackevision UK Limited, Maglan, Maglan Information Defense Technologies Research Ltd, Maihiro, Matter, Maud Corp Pty Ltd, Maxamine International, Measuretek LLC, Media Audits Ltd., Media Hive, Mediasenz Pty Ltd., Meredith Specialty LLC, Meredith Xcelerated Marketing, Meredith Xcelerated Marketing LLC, Meridian Informed Purchasing Ltd., Mindtribe, Mistral Wind Operations  Servicos Empresariais Unipessoal Lda., MobGen, Mortgage Cadence LLC, Mortgage Cadence an Accenture Company, Most Champion Ltd, Mudano, Mudano Limited, Myrtle Consulting Group LLC, N3, N3 (Dalian) Business Consulting Co. Ltd., N3 Brazil Consultoria em Marketing Ltda, N3 Germany GmbH, N3 LLC, N3 North America LLC, N3 Results Australia Pty Ltd, N3 Results Ireland Limited, N3 Results Japan G.K., N3 Results Limited, N3 Results Malaysia Sdn Bhd, N3 Results Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., N3 Results S.A.S., N3 Results Singapore Pte Ltd, N3 Results Unipessoal Lda, NYTEC, Nanjing Demeng Advertising Co. Ltd., Nashco Consulting, NaviSys Inc., Nell'Armonia Israel Ltd, Nell'Armonia SAS, Nell'Participation SAS, NellArmonia, Neo Metrics Analytics S.L., Neo Metrics Chile S.A., New Content, New Content Editora e Produtora Ltda, New Energy Group, News Imaging LLC, NewsPage, NewsPage (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, NewsPage Pte Ltd, Northstream, Novetta Holdings LLC, Novetta LLC, Novetta Solutions LLC, Novetta Topco LLC, OCTO Technology, OPS Rules Management Consultants, Octagon Research Solutions Inc., Octo Technology Pty Ltd, Octo Technology SA, Odgaard ApS, Olikka, Olikka Pty Ltd, Olympus Systems Corporation, Openmind, Openmind S.r..l., Openminded, Openminded SAS, Operaciones Accenture S.A. de C.V., OpusLine, Orbium, Orbium AG, Orbium Consulting Limited, Orbium Inc., Orbium Ltd, Orbium Pte Ltd, Orbium Pty Ltd, Origin Digital, PCO Innovation, PLM Systems S.r.l, PRION GmbH, PT Accenture, PT Asta Catur Indra, PT Kogentix Teknologi Indonesia, PacificLink Group, Paja Finanssipalvelut Oy, Parker Fitzgerald Inc, Parker Fitzgerald International Limited, Parker Fitzgerald Limited, Parker Fitzgerald PTY Ltd, Parker Fitzgerald Services Limited, Parker Fitzgerald Solutions Limited, Pecaso Ltd., Pegasus Production A/S, Pegasus Production K/S, Phase One Consulting Group, Pillar Technology, Pollux, Pollux Automation Mexico S.A. de C.V., Pollux Canada Inc, Pollux S.A.S., Pollux USA LLC, Pragsis Bidoop, Pragsis Bidoop UK Limited, Pramati Technologies Europe Limited, Pramati Technologies Private Limited, Presence of IT Workforce Management North America LLC, PrimeQ, PrimeQ Australia Pty Ltd, PrimeQ Ltd, PrimeQ NZ Pty Limited, Procurian Inc., Prof. Homburg GmbH, Proquire LLC, PureApps Ltd., Qi Jie Beijing Information Technologies Co. Ltd., RBCP Fund 1-A Vapor Blocker LLC, RBCP Platform Vapor Blocker I LLC, REPL Consulting LLC, REPL Consulting Limited, REPL Digital Limited, REPL Group K.K., REPL Group Pty Ltd, REPL Group Worldwide Limited, REPL Pte Ltd, REPL Software Limited, REPL Technology Limited, Radiant Services LLC, Random Walk Computing Inc., Reactive Media Pty Ltd., Real Protect, Realworld OO Systems Ltd., Redcore, Redcore (New Zealand) Limited, Redcore Group Holdings Pty Ltd, Redcore Pty Ltd, Revolutionary Security, RiskControl, Root LLC, Rothco, Rothco Limited, S3 TV Technology Ltd., SALT Solutions GmbH, SEC Servizi, SOPIA Corp., Sagacious Consultants, Salt Solutions, Sandbox Studio LLC, Sapling Bidco Limited, Sapling Midco Limited, Sapling Topco Limited, Schlumberger Business Consulting, Seabury Aviation & Aerospace (UK) Limited, Seabury Consulting, Seabury Corporate Advisors LLC, Seabury Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Search Technologies BPO Inc, Search Technologies International LLC, Search Technologies LLC, Search Technologies Limited, Securiview SAS, Sentelis, Sentor Managed Secuirty Services AB, Servicios Tecnicos de Programacion Accenture S.C., Seven Seas Business Ventures LLC, Shackleton, Shackleton Chile S.A., Shackleton S.L.U., Shanghai Baiyue Advertising Co. Ltd., Shun Zhe Technology Development Co. Ltd., SigInt Technologies LLC, Silveo, Silveo Consulting India Private Limited, Simian Pty Ltd, SinnerSchrader, SinnerSchrader AG, SinnerSchrader Content GmbH, SinnerSchrader Deutschland GmbH, SinnerSchrader Praha s.r.o., Sirvart S.A., Sistemes Consulting S.L., Skylink SAS, Soltians Limited, Solutions IQ LLC, SolutionsIQ, SolutionsIQ India Consulting Services Private Limited, Somers Ventures Ireland Limited, Somers Ventures LLC, Spacelink SAS, Storm Digital, Structure Consulting Group LLC, Sutter Mills, Synership LLC, Systor AG, T.A. Cook, TXF LLC, Tambourine, TargetST8, Tech - Avanade Portugal Unipessoal Lda, Tecnilogica Ecosistemas S.A., Tecnilogica, The Brand Learning Partners Limited, The Callisto Integration Corporation, The Monkeys, The Monkeys Pty Ltd, The Myrtle Group, Total Logistics, Tquila, Trivadis, Trivadis AG, Trivadis Austria GmbH, Trivadis Denmark AS, Trivadis Germany GmbH, Trivadis Holding AG, Trivadis Partner AG, Trivadis Services AG, Trivadis Services SRL, Troop Studios Pty Ltd, VanBerlo, Vector Acquisition Company LLC, Vector Topco LLC, Verax Solutions, Vertical Retail Consulting (Shanghai) Ltd, Vertical Retail Consulting Ltd, Vivere Brasil Servicos e Solucoes SA, Vivere Brasil Solucoes De Credito Ltda., Wabion GmbH, WaveStrike LLC, White Cliffs Consulting LLC, Wire Stone, Wire Stone LLC, Wise Partners SAS, Wolox, Wolox Colombia S.A.S, Wolox LLC, Wolox Mexico S.R.L de C.V., Wolox S.A., Wolox SpA, Workforce Insight, Workforce Insight LLC, Yesler, Yesler LLC, Yesler Limited, Yesler Singapore Pte Ltd, Zag, Zag Australia Pty Ltd, Zag Limited, Zag USA LLC, Zebra Worldwide Australia Pty Ltd, Zebra Worldwide Group Limited, Zebra Worldwide Media Pty Ltd, Zenta, Zenta Global Philippines Inc, Zenta Mortgage Services LLC, Zenta Recoveries Inc, Zenta US Holdings Inc, Zestgroup, Zielpuls, Zielpuls (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Zielpuls GmbH, avVenta, designaffairs, designaffairs Business Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., designaffairs GmbH, designaffairs group China Co. Ltd., dgroup, i4C Analytics, iDefense, solid-serVision.com GmbH, and umlaut.

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The Boeing Company is the worlds largest manufacturer of airplanes and commands more than 50% of the market in some channels and categories. The company and its family of subsidiaries design, develops, manufacture, sell, service, and supports commercial jetliners, military aircraft, satellites, missile defense, human space flight, and related services worldwide. The company operates through four segments including Commercial Airplanes; Defense, Space & Security; Global Services; and Boeing Capital providing products and services to end-users in 150 countries.

Boeing got its start in 1910 when William E. Boeing developed a love for aircraft. Soon after he takes his first plane ride which leads him to build a hangar and begin construction of his first plane. The onset of WWI helped spur the companys growth but business was cut drastically in its wake. The start of WWII was another milestone for the company and one that led to its current position of dominance. The company was incorporated in 1916 and is based in Chicago, Illinois. Boeing employs over 140,000 people in 65 countries making it one of the most diverse employers on the planet.

The Commercial Airplanes segment is built around the iconic 7-series which includes the 737, 747, and 787. The segment provides commercial jet aircraft for passenger and cargo requirements, as well as fleet support services for regional, national, and international air carriers and logistics and freight companies. In terms of global volume, the company estimates about 90% of all air freight is carried aboard one of its jets. This segment also includes the Dreamliner family of planes. The Dreamliner is a game-changing airplane for many carriers as it opens up the potential for new one-stop destinations because of its capacity and range.

The Defense, Space & Security segment develops and manufactures a range of systems including manned and unmanned aircraft, missiles, missile defense systems, satellites, communications equipment, and intelligence systems for governments. Among the many iconic brands within this segment are the AH-64 Apache, Air Force One, B-52, C-17 Globemaster, Chinook, F/A-18, and the V-22 Osprey VTOL aircraft used by the Marines.

The Global Services segment offers a range of products and services that include supply chain and logistics management, engineering, maintenance, upgrades, conversions, spare parts, pilot and maintenance training, technical and maintenance documents, and data analytics to its commercial and defense customers.

Boeing is also a leader in innovation, leveraging its many decades and avenues of experience to further aerospace and defense technology. Among the many innovations is the MQ-25 Stingray which will be the worlds first autonomous aircraft. The Stingray is only one of many areas of research that also include drones and undersea vehicles.
On Friday, Exxon Mobil Corp issued a warning that it could be forced to end close to 20% of its future gas and oil prospects as it yields to the steep decline in energy prices around the world.

Under an investigation by New York state and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission over accounting practices as well as the impact of future regulations for climate change on its business, Exxon disclosed that close to 4.6 billion barrels of crude in its own reserves, for the most part in Canada, might be too expensive to drill.

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alerts:

Exxon faces both near- and long-terms issues as it looks to exploit the complete value of its vast gas and oil portfolio that runs from Texas into the Caspian Seas, along with delivering the high dividends that shareholders have become accustomed to since it was Standard Oil.

Today the business suffers amidst a plunge of two-years in the prices of oil with a barrel currently trading at $50. CEO Rex Tillerson said he believes the $50 rate for a barrel of crude could linger due to shale producers in the U.S. ramping up production as soon as the price makes a move upward, prolonging the current crude glut and putting a strong ceiling on any upswing in price.

Earlier in 2016, Exxon lost the rating of triple-A bond that it held from S&Ps Rating Services for 86 yards, a creditworthiness standing that was shared by only two other companies Johnson & Johnson and Microsoft Corp. In 2015, Exxon did not find sufficient new gas and oil to replace the amount it produced for only the first time in 17 years.

Exxon is by itself amongst major oil businesses in that it has not written down its future wells value as prices dropped. It announced that it follows practices that are conservative when booking reserves.

It is now planning to examine assets to test, under rules that follow accounting standards, whether they are worth any less than what it is carrying them for on the books.

Exxon said the reserves reductions of 20%, which are separately governed by rules in the SEC, might be necessary due to the average price in 2016 by the end of this year, though higher November as well as December prices could mitigate the amount of that decline.

On Friday, during an investor call, Exxon would not discuss any potential write off in reserves or write downs in accounting in detail expect of the statement released.
Documentary in the works looking into the disappearance of Fitchburg's Amos Mortier
Looking for deals at annual Pittsburgh airport auction

More than 800 appeared and about 700 participated in annual event last month.
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SHARE Photos by Sarah Johnson/Times Record News Kevin Hollemans, resident director of Phased IN with his wife, Shari, meets weekly with the young men of the supervised independent living facility to go over their goals from the previous week to see how they're progressing on challenges they've encountered. Together, new, short-term goals are set for the next week. The Phased IN facility on Maurine Street will soon house only women and the men will move to a renovated facility on Bailey Street. Shari Hollemans prepares a meal that is served on Thursdays to residents of the Phased IN facility on Maurine Street. Along with cooking lessons, residents learn life skills like job hunting and budgeting. Hollemans said every step is a victory, even setting a simple goal of receiving a state identification. Most importantly, the young men receive spiritual growth at Phased IN after aging out of the foster care system at age 18.

By Sarah Johnson

For four years, Phased IN has been a refuge for kids who age out of the foster care system at age 18. Instead of potentially living on the streets or "couch surfing," these young men and women are taken in at dormlike facilities run by Evangel Temple and given life skills, education opportunities, job prospects or something as simple as a state ID card or learning to grocery shop.

Above all, they're given the love of Christ.

"We understand that God mandated us to care for orphans and we take that seriously," Lolita Baker, Phased IN administrator, said. "We are not just interested in helping our kids finish school, find a job and learn life skills. We care about their spiritual growth. These kids come to us broken and hopeless. They're believing that they're going to receive more of what the world has already given them  rejection. Over and over again they have been rejected and cast aside. But over time, we see that the love of Christ, through us, begins to heal those wounds."

Out of the many success stories Baker has witnessed since the facility opened in 2013, she recalled one in particular.

"One of our young men came to our campus after aging out at 18," Baker said. "He did well at first and then got a major case of what I'll call 'teenager-itis.' He experienced some success and all the sudden, knew everything, and no longer needed our help. So, he left our campus after only a few months. Two weeks later, after he missed a few meals and had slept on the streets more times than he liked, he wrote the most amazing letter to Pastor Kile (Bateman) asking for another chance."

Of course, Bateman said yes.

"So, this young man moved back in, got on track, and found a job making great money with one of our community partners," Baker said. "I'd like to tell you here that all was well, but the truth is that he had a return case of that teenager-itis again. He moved out again only to crash and burn a few months later."

Once again, the teenager asked to come back "home" and once again, he was shown grace and welcomed back. And this time, the he got it.

"His dream had always been to serve in the Navy," Baker said. "When he first came to Phased IN, he was not able to score high enough to get in. You see, though our residents are usually 18 or 19 years old when they come, developmentally and mentally they are about 13 or 14 or even younger, depending on when the trauma occurred. So, this was a really big deal for him. Now, he's prospering and was able to finally score well enough to enlist. He leaves in just a couple of weeks for basic training. Not only that, because of the relationships he's built, he will be pursuing an adult adoption. He's found his forever family."

That's Baker's favorite part of his story, because that's really what Phased IN is all about  family.

And there are some pretty big things happening for the Phased IN family. The current campus on Maurine Street will become the future girl's dorm as soon as the new boy's dorm is renovated on Bailey Street.

"Then we'll set our sights on a single mother's facility, which is desperately needed," Baker said. "We've already cleared the land at our current campus to get it ready for a fresh build. So, we'll have our girls and single mothers all on one campus on Maurine. Our total capacity for girls will be about 20 to 24, depending on the final building plans, and about the same at our boy's campus for a total of up to 48 served."

If it were up to Baker, it would be ready today.

"We have the plans and we have the heart," she said. "We just need the funds. God knows exactly where those are, and I believe they'll come in right on time."

Evangel Temple has stepped out in faith and hired new resident directors for the Bailey campus. Tyrone and Verna Eugene are ready to begin helping offer hope and a future to these kids. Once the building on Bailey is complete, the Eugenes will reside on that campus just as Kevin and Shari Hollemans do at the Maurine campus.

Phased IN is primarily funded by generous church donations and community support. When the facility entered into a vital partnership with the State of Texas, Phased IN started receiving a minor reimbursement that is passed on to the residents for their care and needs such as food, personal products and transportation costs.

Phased IN began as a ministry within Evangel Temple, but grew to become a 501c3 nonprofit. The relationship between Evangel Temple, the community and Phased IN remains strong.

"We have a Together Thursday that pairs mentors with residents to facilitate caring adult relationships within the community," Kevin Hollemans said. "Volunteers have helped renovate the campus, as well as provide supplies such as toiletries on occasion. During the holidays, we also have caring families in the community that include our residents in their family environment and celebrations. It encourages and helps them feel that they belong during what may be a difficult time of year."

Without a place like Phased IN, now one of seven supervised independent living programs in Texas, life would look bleak for these teenagers.

"It really becomes about survival for these kids," Baker said. "Living on the streets usually results in drug abuse, jail, and even sex trade for basic needs. Without someone stepping in and providing a safe place where they can learn to take care of themselves responsibly, then they learn to survive by whatever means possible."

Baker said it's an amazing thing to watch hope return to these kids' eyes after living at Phased IN.

"We pray for them and with them," she said. "We help them connect with a local church. They begin to really understand that they are valuable to God, discover who they are in him and undo the years of hurt they've endured."

For more information about Phased IN, call Lolita Baker at 691-1400.
SHARE District 4 City Councilor Tim Ingle

By Christopher Collins of the Times Record News

Wichita Falls mayoral candidate Tim Ingle has reversed course  at least partially  on criticisms he directed at his opponent during a television news interview this week.

Ingle's remarks in the interview were prompted by a story published Monday by the Times Record News. The exclusive story revealed that city councilor and mayoral candidate Stephen Santellana is a business partner with a felonious city contractor, and also that Santellana voted to award a bid for city work to the contractor, despite the relationship.

With the newspaper's revelations in hand, Ingle agreed to the TV interview, when he questioned the legality of Santellana's actions.

"When (city councilors) voted unanimously on that contract, we were voting for money to go to (Santellana)," Ingle said in the interview. "So I don't think that's very fair to us because it makes it look like we're rewarding a councilor, an elected official. Does (Santellana) provide him with subcontractors? Does (Santellana) get a portion of that?"

The work in question  about $95,000 for the demolition of 25 properties in Wichita Falls  was awarded to Chad Wilson of Wilson Contracting in March. Although Santellana is a business partner with Wilson in a separate venture called Summit GC LLC, it doesn't appear as if his vote on the bid violated the city's rules governing direct or indirect conflicts of interest.

After Ingle made the remarks in the TV interview, he was asked by city attorney Kinley Hegglund to clarify the statements, Ingle told the Times Record News on Friday. Ingle then took to Facebook to make a clarification.

In the Facebook post, Ingle wrote, "I did think that due to (Santellana's) relationship with the contractor, there might have been a monetary advantage. But after further review, I realize he did not gain financially from the vote."

Ingle continued by writing that Santellana "did nothing legally wrong in his vote last March," though he persisted in his opinion that it's unethical for a councilor to award work to a friend and business partner.

Ingle told the newspaper Friday that he had "no idea" whether the recent controversy has helped him in the polls. Early voting closes Friday, and the general election will be held Nov. 8.
Drug awareness events coming to Wichita Falls

The Life Decisions Program is aiming to raise awareness of the deadly dangers of fentanyl.
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Last week, the U.N.'s premier cultural agency, UNESCO, approved a resolution viciously condemning Israel (referred to as "the Occupying Power") for various alleged trespasses and violations of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Except that the resolution never uses that term for Judaism's holiest shrine. It refers to and treats it as an exclusively Muslim site, a deliberate attempt to eradicate its connection to the Jewish people and Jewish history.

This Orwellian absurdity is an insult not just to Judaism but to Christianity. It makes a mockery of the Gospels, which chronicle the story of a Galilean Jew whose life and ministry unfolded throughout the Holy Land, most especially in Jerusalem and the Temple. If this is nothing but a Muslim site, what happens to the very foundation of Christianity, which occurred 600 years before Islam even came into being?

This UNESCO resolution is merely the surreal extreme of the worldwide campaign to delegitimize Israel. It features the BDS movement (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions), now growing on Western university campuses and some mainline Protestant churches. And it extends even into some precincts of the Democratic Party.

Bernie Sanders tried to introduce into the Democratic Party platform a plank more unfavorable to Israel. He failed, but when a couple of Clinton campaign consultants questioned why she should be mentioning Israel in her speeches, campaign manager Robby Mook concurred, "We shouldn't have Israel at public events. Especially dem activists." For whom the very mention of Israel is toxic.

And what to make of the White House's correction to a press release about last month's funeral of Shimon Peres? The original release identified the location as "Mount Herzl, Jerusalem, Israel." The correction crossed out the country identifier  "Israel."

Well, where else is Jerusalem? Sri Lanka? Moreover, Mount Herzl isn't even in disputed East Jerusalem. It's in West Jerusalem, within the boundaries of pre-1967 Israel. If that's not Israel, what is?

But such cowardly gestures are mere pinpricks compared to the damage Israel faces in the final days of the Obama presidency. As John Hannah of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies recently wrote, there have been indications for months that President Obama might go to the U.N. and unveil his own final status parameters of a two-state solution. These would then be enshrined in a new Security Council resolution that could officially recognize a Palestinian state on the territory Israel came into possession of during the 1967 Six-Day War.

There is a reason such a move has been resisted by eight previous U.S. administrations: It overthrows the central premise of Middle East peacemaking  land for peace. Under which the Palestinians get their state after negotiations in which the parties agree on recognized boundaries, exchange mutual recognition and declare a permanent end to the conflict.

Land for peace would be replaced by land for nothing. Endorsing in advance a Palestinian state and what would essentially be a full Israeli withdrawal removes the Palestinian incentive to negotiate and strips Israel of territorial bargaining chips of the kind it used, for example, to achieve peace with Egypt.

The result would be not just perpetual war but incalculable damage to Israel. Consider but one example: the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, destroyed and ethnically cleansed of Jews by its Arab conquerors in the war of 1948-1949. It was rebuilt by Israel after 1967. It would now be open to the absurd judicial charge that the Jewish state's possession of the Jewish Quarter constitutes a criminal occupation of another country.

Israel would be hauled endlessly into courts to face sanctions, boycotts and arrest of its leaders. All this for violating a U.N. mandate to which no Israeli government, left or right, could possibly accede.

Before the election, Obama dare not attempt this final legacy item, to go along with the Iran deal and the Castro conciliation, for fear of damaging Hillary Clinton. His last opportunity comes after Election Day. The one person who might deter him, points out Hannah, is Clinton herself, by committing Obama to do nothing before he leaves office that would tie her hands should she become president.

Clinton's supporters who care about Israel and about peace need to urge her to do that now. It will soon be too late. Soon Obama will be free to deliver a devastating parting shot to Israel and to the prime minister he detests.

Charles Krauthammer's email address is letters@charleskrauthammer.com. He writes for The Washington Post Writers Group.
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If Donald Trump's presidential campaign were one of his beauty pageants, instead of a "Miss Congeniality" consolation prize there would have to be a "Mr. or Ms. Deplorable." According to my score card, the winner is Rudy Giuliani.

Trump is the master of ceremonies, so he's ineligible. The competition among his enablers has been fierce. There are so many worthy candidates for the Deplorable sash that it's a shame only one aide or surrogate can win.

Begin with Mike Pence, a committed Christian, who disingenuously tells audiences that his running mate is "a good man." Pretty deplorable.

Then there's Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, who let Trump steal his party and then became one of Trump's vassals.

Chris Christie might get some points for his self-inflicted double humiliation: First he got embarrassed by Trump in the primaries, then he became the first also-ran to give the usurper his endorsement. Christie is smart; he must see Trump for the dangerous ignoramus he is. He has told friends he hoped Trump could be taught and molded. Whatever his motive, history will judge Christie's role among Trump's inner circle as both cynical and deplorable.

And of course there is Kellyanne Conway, Trump's campaign manager. She has a kind of genius for assembling random words into very long sentences, which she wields against journalists' questions the way a Jedi knight uses a light saber to deflect incoming fire. Somehow she is serenely unfazed by direct contradiction. After the first debate, for example, she said Trump had displayed the "presidential virtue" of restraint by not mentioning Bill Clinton's affairs. But when Trump brought Clinton's accusers to the second debate, well, she said that was presidential, too.

Serious contenders, all. But my runner-up for Mr. Deplorable is the inimitable Newt Gingrich. His over-the-top grandiloquence puts him in another league.

One recent illustration came Saturday when Trump went to Gettysburg and delivered a much-hyped "major" speech  mostly a repackaging of previously announced policies. The only real change, far as I could tell, was that now he expects the U.S. taxpayer to pay for his promised border wall, with Mexico later dunned for reimbursement. And the headline was that Trump, disgracefully, had used such a hallowed setting to threaten lawsuits against the women who say he groped or forcibly kissed them.

The irrepressible Gingrich tried to spin this debacle into something for the ages. "Trump's most important speech, maybe the best reform speech since [Ronald] Reagan in 1980," he called it. That's not hyperbole, it's hallucination.

On Tuesday, Gingrich haughtily berated Fox News host Megyn Kelly for supposedly giving too much coverage to Trump's alleged sexual predations  and not enough to Hillary Clinton's email problems. Kelly patiently explained that the accusers' stories are clearly newsworthy. "You want to go back through the tapes of your show recently?" Gingrich demanded. "You are fascinated with sex and you don't care about public policy."

Yes, the Gingrich oeuvre of deplorability is rich and deep. But for sheer mean-spirited lunacy, it is Giuliani who deserves to wear the Mr. Deplorable tiara.

He all but sewed up the title at the Republican convention with a speech that was neither spoken nor shouted, but shrieked. The former New York mayor described a nation cowering in fear of jihadist terrorism and rapidly sinking into utter ruin.

"There's no next election," he screamed. "This is it! There's no more time left to revive our great country!"

When FBI Director James Comey decided "no reasonable prosecutor" would file charges against Clinton over her emails, Giuliani went ballistic. On Wednesday, he had a verbal brawl with CNN's Chris Cuomo about that subject. Giuliani insisted on a conspiratorial theory about Clinton's exoneration that is hard to briefly summarize; suffice it to say his scenario requires either clairvoyance or time travel.

Giuliani called one rambling Trump address "the best speech that any Republican, at the least, has ever given," which I guess includes Lincoln. He has repeatedly claimed, with zero evidence, that Clinton suffers from some serious undisclosed illness. He has even devoted time and energy to feuding with Beyonce.

You win, Mr. Mayor. Congratulations are not in order.

Eugene Robinson's email address is eugenerobinson@washpost.com. He writes for The Washington Post Writers Group.
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Amsterdam

In late autumn, the worn, Art Deco facades of Amsterdam's oldest mills blend seamlessly into the vibrant red foliage shrouding the Mohawk River.

Come December, the structures are decidedly more pronounced. Their rustic towers dot the rolling hills of western Montgomery County, jutting menacingly into the barren skyline like relics of what once was; remnants of industry near the Erie Canal.

Not far away, in downtown Amsterdam, a new $17 million footbridge is flanked to the north and south by a century-old castle and the now-closed Wrestling Hall of Fame. The former will soon open as a bed and breakfast; the latter will house apartments and business space.

At first glance, Amsterdam's outlook seems dire. More than 24 percent of the city's 18,000 residents live in poverty, compared with 15 percent in New York, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Population has decreased by more than half since its peak of 35,000 in 1930, with those 65 and older now representing 16 percent of the population.

Most worrisome of all, only 15 percent of the city's population 25 and older have a bachelor's degree  a far cry from New York's 33 percent rate and the 29 percent national rate, according to census data. That figure all but confirms the area's undesirability to the demographic groups needed to sustain a long-term and viable economy.

But from certain vantage points  and with the right eyes, some say  sights of salvation abound.

Left with the resources and infrastructure from manufacturing's heyday  and like other Rust Belt cities that saw employment dwindle and opportunity vanish with the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs  Amsterdam officials are grappling with the immediate and long-term future.

To move forward, though, they first had to acknowledge the finality of the past.

Bringing back certain types of "manufacturing, for us, is going to be extremely difficult if not impossible," Michael Villa said in his 2014 campaign for the mayoralty he would later win. "Industrial (manufacturing) left decades ago."

Understanding that, officials have instead pivoted to an unprecedented expansion of downtown. The hope is they can draw businesses and young people to the area, thus combating the chronic out-migration of college-educated professionals felt by towns across upstate New York. So far, more than $63 million in private and public investment has poured into the effort.

The Mohawk Valley Gateway Overlook Bridge, funded through the 2005 Rebuild and Renew New York Transportation Bond and completed in August, is one part of a "larger idea: A new north-south axis to replace the east-west-downtown core that was lost to urban renewal," Villa said at the unveiling.

"I see a new heart of Amsterdam," the mayor added.

Thus far, it's already paid off in massive ways for small-business owners on the south side of the Mohawk River, who because of their isolation, had never enjoyed the benefits of downtown.

"I've actually had a lot of people walk by and stop in to inquire," said Gina Marie Semkiw, who owns a boutique cake shop at the foot of the bridge. The growth in business has her considering expansion in the spring, she said.

On nearby Bridge Street, one store  Mary Jane's Market  has seen 30 to 40 percent more customers since the bridge opened in August, said Paul Parillo, who owns the store with his wife, Mary Jane.

"We've seen a very positive influence," he said. "It's the added business that keeps us thinking positively and willing to invest more."

The downtown expansion, Parillo said, will bring back the "center core" that "has been missing in Amsterdam for a long time.

"I'm very pleased to see the direction (downtown) is heading," he added.

For Villa, who since taking office last year has had to stave off his own detractors, the bridge's success vindicated his vision for the city, if only temporarily.

"You can see the beginning of the transformation," Villa said.

"You see the south side as a place where economic growth is not only possible, but will happen."

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Even the naysayers "are starting to turn around," said Danielle Whelly, economic develop specialist for Montgomery County.

Whelly also noted ongoing viability assessments for a culinary incubator on the river's easternmost border. Officials are "trying to get a good grasp on the area and needs" before moving forward with the study, funded through a $75,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

More than anything, though, officials agree on the need for one thing: a hotel.

Downtown Amsterdam was home to a Holiday Inn until 2013, though pressure from the 2008 recession and a drop in local tourism ultimately sunk the owners. Soon, that property will offer assisted living and employ 75 with well-paying jobs, said Jody Zakrevsky of the local Industrial Development Agency.

"People are starting to take notice of downtown," Zakrevsky said, noting that his two-person agency has developed a "sort of comprehensive approach" in coordination with other departments to handle an influx of state and federal grants.

"That's a good problem to have," Whelly chimed in.

Still, officials are wary to celebrate just yet. They know the odds are still stacked against them.

The regional EDC says as much: "Deteriorating infrastructure, a surplus of abandoned properties, scattered areas of blight and the long-lasting repercussions felt by community members in the wake of a collapsing economy can cause the revitalization efforts of this once booming city to feel at times like an overwhelming task," its 2016 progress report says.

"While remarkable strides have been made in recent years, Amsterdam is still in great need of assistance to propel the community through some of the last uphill strides."

Villa, ever the optimist, sees it slightly differently: "We're just starting to turn the corner."

rdownen@timesunion.com  518-454-5018  @robert_downen
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Albany

It takes an awful lot to overshadow a voice as powerful, dynamic and engaging as Carrie Underwood's, but her set designer managed to do it.

At the Times Union Center on Thursday night, it seemed as though every single arena-rock bell and whistle was built into the stage for Underwood.

It was an overblown, nothing-succeeds-like-excess, over-the-top, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink extravaganza.

More Information Review Carrie Underwood with Easton Corbin and the Swon Brothers When: 7 p.m. Thursday Where: The Times Union Center, 51 S. Pearl St., Albany Highlights: The savage revenge song "Before He Cheats," the encore of "Smoke Breaks" and the lone less-is-more moment, "I Will Always Love You" Length: Underwood 105 minutes; Corbin 35 minutes; Swon Brothers 25 minutes See More Collapse

In addition to the rotating circular stage in the middle of the arena, there were two runways stretching out in opposite directions, bisecting the floor. And at the end of each runway was another slightly smaller circular stage. All three of the stages could be hydraulically raised and lowered individually.

The main stage, in fact, had a smaller circular stage in the center that operated independently, while three cylindrical video screens overhead rotated throughout much of Underwood's 105-minute performance.

At times  during "Church Bells" (with Underwood pounding away on a pair of oversized tom-toms) and a pared-down rendition of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You"  her eight-piece band wasn't visible at all, as they were lowered beneath the stage.

At other times  during "Two Black Cadillacs," for example  most of the band played on the center stage, while guitarists were raised a dozen feet into the arena on each of the side stages, as banks of swirling red lasers sliced across the rink.

From the rockin' opener ("Renegade Runaway") to the final encore of "Something in the Water" (with Underwood alone on stage drenched in a rain-storm special effect), it seemed as though each of the 22 songs in her show had a different stage set-up. And the stages, as well as Underwood and her band members, were in constant motion all night long.

A white grand piano was featured on one of the side stages for just one song, as Underwood hopped up on it to sing "What I Never Knew I Always Wanted." For "Cowboy Cassanova," Underwood appeared standing atop an oversized spark-shooting jukebox. During "All American Girl," she ran around with a hand-held video camera.

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Opening act Easton Corbin rose up out of the center stage, and the other openers, the Swon Brothers, came dashing across the runway to join Underwood for a fiddle-fueled romp through Alabama's "Mountain Music," only to disappear at the end of the song like Alice through the rabbit hole.

Underwood's intro song was AC/DC's "Back in Black," and her outro was Guns 'N Roses' "Knockin' on Heaven's Door."

During a costume change, Underwood's artfully distressed black T-shirt read, "Rock Star Chic," matching her sequin-encrusted black skinny jeans.

In the words of Waylon Jennings, "Are you sure Hank done it this way?"

Greg Haymes is a frequent contributor to The Times Union.
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[October 28, 2016] ICYMI: The Intercept - "Big Pharma Paid LGBT Groups and Others That Opposed California Drug-Price Ballot Measure (Prop. 61)"

Today, The Intercept published an article by investigative reporter Lee Fang titled "Big Pharma Paid (News - Alert) LGBT Groups and Others That Opposed California Drug-Price Ballot Measure," also know as Proposition 61, the California Drug Price Relief Act. In the article, Fang notes that two competing San Francisco-based LGBT Democratic groups - "the leftist Harvey Milk Democratic Club and the centrist Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club," both "announced in September that they would be opposing Proposition 61, the high-profile initiative to lower drug prices." "Unknown to many activists in the city," Fang wrote, "this act of political camaraderie appears to have been rewarded by the pharmaceutical industry, which cut each club a $5,000 check from a fund set up to defeat the drug price initiative. Neither LGBT group, both of which have sent voter guides to city residents, revealed the donation on their website." Fang added, "The money was disclosed in filings made on Thursday that showed 19 different civic oganizations, from the Foreign Legion to a bilingual voter guide organization, taking drug industry funds and endorsing No on Prop 61." "Over half a million dollars flowed to groups sending out a variety of voter guides urging a vote against Prop 61," Fang revealed. "The practice of selling voter guide endorsements, though shunned by many consultants, is a common trick for interest groups seeking to buy the appearance of widespread support."



The Intercept also notes that "Three of the veterans groups that endorsed No on Prop 61 and appeared in a television advertisement against the measure - the American Legion of California, Veterans of Foreign Wars of California and the Vietnam Veterans of America CA (News - Alert) State Council - all received direct payments from the PhRMA fund, the filings reveal. Other veterans groups that have campaigned against the initiative, including the American GI Forum, also received drug industry money." Read the article in its entirety here: https://theintercept.com/2016/10/28/lgbt-drug-price/

"We've been highlighting the bought-and-paid-for opponents of 61 for months," said Garry South, lead strategist for Yes on Prop. 61. "Most of the opposition to Prop. 61 comes from Big Pharma itself, who has bankrolled the entire effort to save their drug profits, or from groups that have serious financial ties to the drug lobby. Californians aren't fooled. They can't be bought and paid for like so many of these so-called advocacy groups that are acting as shills for Pharma." For more details on the financial links to the drug industry of those opposed to Proposition 61, visit www.FollowTheDrugDollars.com Prop. 61 is the only vehicle available in this election year for Californians to address the high cost of life-saving drugs. Proposition 61 would require the state of California to negotiate with drug companies for drug prices that are no more than is paid for the same drugs by the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs (DVA). Unlike Medicare, the DVA negotiates for drug prices on behalf of the millions of veterans it serves, and pays on average 20-24 percent less for medications than other government agencies, and up to 40 percent less than Medicare Part D. Prop. 61 empowers the state, as the healthcare buyer for millions of Californians, to negotiate the same or an even better deal for taxpayers, saving the state billions. www.Yeson61.com

Paid for by Yes on Prop. 61, Californians for Lower Drug Prices, With Major Funding by AIDS Healthcare Foundation and California Nurses Association PAC. FPPC ID#1376791 View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161028005939/en/

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Two candidates seeking NLCS Board District 2 seat

In this year's general election, two candidates are seeking election to the district two seat on the NLCS board: Adam Parsley and Michael Patton.
The lawyer representing Columbia County in state and federal lawsuits over eminent domain says auto repair business owner John Gruber is costing taxpayers money, with a barrage of litigation that wont, in the end, get the results that Gruber says he wants.

Mark Hazelbaker said Gruber has been acting on unsound advice in his ongoing litigation with Columbia County and other defendants (including the city of Portage) over the countys acquisition of Gruber Automotive, 208 E. Edgewater St., for construction of a parking lot to serve the new Administration and Health and Human Services buildings, going up on opposite sides of the Portage Canal.

Both the county and the city, he said, have moved for dismissal of the federal lawsuit. A similar suit against the county and other defendants, filed in Columbia County Circuit Court, is pending, with a scheduling conference set for Nov. 7 in Dodge County Circuit Court.

Mr. Gruber, who says hes a friend of the taxpayer, is causing taxpayer money to be spent at an alarming pace, over nothing, Hazelbaker said.

Columbia County Corporation Counsel Joseph Ruf said last week that Hazelbaker  whom the county had hired to negotiate the acquisition of two land parcels for the $45.51 million building project  is representing Columbia County in the federal litigation, after county officials agreed to waive his conflict of interest.

The conflict: Hazelbaker is also a defendant in the same lawsuit.

Hazelbaker said its a common tactic, but ultimately an ineffective one, to sue the opposing partys lawyer, in an effort to force the opposing party to hire other outside counsel.

Ruf said its too early to know yet how much time and money Columbia County will spend in addressing Grubers lawsuits. He also said its likely that any money the county spends for the litigation wont come from the $45.51 million that the County Board agreed to borrow for the new three-story Administration Building, the two-story HHS building, extensive remodeling of the courthouse and smaller projects for the countys Highway and Solid Waste departments. (Expenses related to property acquisition is one of the authorized purposes for which the borrowed money can be spent.)

But the litigation is not, in any way, slowing or stopping the canal-side construction. The Administration Building is on track to open in June 2017, and the HHS Building  which will be the temporary location of the court-related offices during the courthouse renovation  is scheduled to open in July 2017.

Hazelbaker said he hadnt been served with notice of Grubers most recent addition to his litigation, filed last week in Columbia County Circuit Court.

The filings are assigned the case number of his Columbia County case, but the allegations in them relate to the federal case.

Among the newest contentions is that Hazelbaker cost Gruber a $1,500 sale because he frightened away a customer during an Oct. 13 visit to Grubers place of business.

According to the legal papers filed Oct. 21 in Columbia County Circuit Court, Hazelbaker walked into Gruber Automotive while Gruber was with a customer in the process of accepting agreement to rebuild a transmission for payment of $1,500.

The papers said Hazelbake stated he was upset over being sued in federal court and he created a disturbance that was abusive, boisterous and unreasonably loud, causing the customer to flee the business

Hazelbaker said he remembers the visit as having a tone of civility, though he has told Gruber that he intends to seek sanctions from him for filing the federal lawsuit, which he said has no factual basis and no basis in law.

In fact, he said, he still hopes to negotiate a settlement for Grubers property that will satisfy Gruber.

I want to keep the lines of communication open, he said.

Gruber continues to occupy and operate his business, although it has been deeded to Columbia County. The countys Condemnation Commission awarded him $140,000 for the property, and the county has deposited the money with the circuit court, where it will stay until the matter is resolved.

Hazelbaker said Gruber has never presented him with an amount that he thinks the property is worth. Gruber had expressed intention to hire an appraiser who would analyze the propertys value as a business.

But if Gruber keeps filing legal actions against the county, Hazelbaker said, then the county is forced to spend money to defend itself.

Every dollar that Columbia County spends on this frivolous lawsuit, he said, is a dollar that they shouldnt have to spend.
Take a look at the stories from around our area and world that are making news today.

Paul Ryan has little margin for error in Speaker vote: Scott Wong of The Hill writes: "Republican lawmakers who voted against Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) for Speaker arent saying whether theyll vote for him in a new election next year. Nine House Republicans rejected Ryan in the special election to replace Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) one year ago Saturday. Eight of them will have a chance to vote for Ryan again. Rep. Dave Brat (Va.), one of the eight, said his public criticisms of Ryan have never been personal. Like he did last year, Brat plans to present all leadership candidates five policy requests on things like trade, immigration and regular order. Hell support those candidates who pledge to uphold those policies. 'Whoever signs off on those, Ill vote yes,' Brat said. Reps. Randy Weber (Texas), Ted Yoho (Fla.), Thomas Massie (Ky.), Louie Gohmert (Texas), Paul Gosar (Ariz.), Walter Jones (N.C.), Bill Posey (Fla.) and Curt Clawson (Fla.) are the other Republicans who voted for Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.) in last years vote. Aides to Weber, Yoho and Massie said they did not know how their bosses would vote in the next Speakers election. Spokespersons for Gohmert, Jones, Posey and Gosar did not respond to emails seeking comment, though Gosar has been openly critical of Ryan for working with Democrats to pass a stopgap government-funding bill. 'Howd that work out for John Boehner?' Gosar, a member of the far-right Freedom Caucus, told The Hill in September." Read more.

Who is Ron Johnson? Wisconsinites chime in on why the incumbent lacks name recognition: Laurel White of Wisconsin Public Radio writes: "In political campaigns, the incumbent lawmaker typically has higher name recognition than their challenger, but this year's race for one of Wisconsin's U.S. Senate seats is flipping the script. According to the latest survey from Marquette University, 23 percent of registered voters in Wisconsin say they 'don't know enough' about incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson to have an opinion about him. Only 16 percent say the same about his challenger, former Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold. On a crisp fall Saturday, Dane County Farmers Market patrons with varying levels of political knowledge and interest added weight to those statistics. Madison resident Pam Drow laughed when asked to outline Johnson's policy accomplishments or political positions. 'I know Ron Johnson is a grandpa because I saw the commercial where he changed the baby's diaper,' Drow laughed. Maggie and Patrick Pecher echoed Drow's sentiment as they sat perched on a curb near the Capitol Square in Madison eating a bag of market-fresh cheese curds. 'Well, umm ' Patrick Pecher said. 'Hes old,' Maggie Pecher offered to fill her husband's silence. Anything else? 'I couldn't say anything. I don't know,' Maggie said. 'I dont know what he's accomplished.'" Read more.

Off the charts unbelievable: Will acquittal of Oregon refuge occupiers embolden extremists, militias?: Fred Barbash of the Washington Post writes: "'I had been telling my client you can count on being convicted,' said Matthew Schindler, a lawyer for one of the men on trial for the armed takeover of Oregons Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. 'You dont walk into a federal court and win a case like this. It just doesnt happen.' But win they did and even Schindler thought it 'off the charts unbelievable,' he told the Seattle Times. 'I fear this ruling will embolden other militants to use the threat of violence and I worry for the safety of employees at our public land- management agencies,' said John Horning, executive director of WildEarth Guardians, in a statement. 'It is entirely possible there will be threats or intimidations from militants that believe such actions are justified by this verdict.' As Leah Sottile reported for The Post, the trial for the leader of the armed occupation, Ammon Bundy, his brother Ryan and five others took six weeks. The verdict  not guilty of federal conspiracy charges  came in five days. While Ammon and Ryan Bundy face charges in Nevada for a 2014 standoff with Bureau of Land Manager officers at the familys ranch, and seven additional defendants face their own trial, the others walked free." Read more.

Peter Theron once again running for Congress in Democratic stronghold: Dylan Brogan of Isthmus writes: "Peter Theron is at it again. As he did in 2014, the Madison Republican is challenging Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Black Earth) to represent the 2nd Congressional District, which includes all of Dane County. He was trounced by Pocan two years ago, losing by more than 30 points. This campaign, hes telling voters 'enough with the new normal.' 'The new normal is subpar economic growth. We are told this is just the way its going to be from now on. We can do better,' says Theron during a phone interview with Isthmus. 'To articulate that message, a conservative needed to run. And thats me.' This is Therons fourth bid for U.S. Congress. In 2008, he lost to then U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin. He was bested by fellow Republican Chad Lee in a competitive primary race in 2010 (Lee was defeated by Baldwin in the general). The last two election cycles, Theron has been the only Republican to challenge Pocan, a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Theron is a professor of mathematics at Madison College. This semester hes teaching intermediate algebra. He holds a bachelors degree in statistics from Princeton University and received a doctorate in mathematics from UW-Madison." Read more.

Driver in fatal Uber crash charged with homicide: Ashley Luthern of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes: "The 23-year-old man who fled the scene of the fatal Uber crash that killed three women in Milwaukee last weekend told a friend he had been driving drunk at the time, according to a criminal complaint released Thursday. After Jasen Randhawa crashed a Lexus SUV into the Uber car, he and his passenger ran from the wreckage and got into a taxi, where Randhawa made similar statements, the complaint says. A recording system inside the cab captured him saying he left his keys inside the SUV he'd been driving 'because I'm bleeding and I have a DUI and we just crashed the (expletive) out of it.' Randhawa planned to report the car stolen and claim the thieves were driving it at the time of the crash, according to the friend he called. That friend was at a restaurant when Randhawa arrived in the taxi. His friend then drove Randhawa home to Mequon, where they saw police cars waiting outside the house. As a result, they decided to return to downtown Milwaukee, the complaint says." Read more.

Have you seen this man? On campaign trail, Rick Scott goes missing: Jeremy Wallace of the Miami Herald writes: "Across the nation, governors who arent even on the ballot are using their political muscle to drag fellow Republicans to victory in a year in which Donald Trump has created uncertainty at the top of the ticket. In Maryland, first-term Gov. Larry Hogan is hitting the trail for key congressional races. In Wisconsin and Ohio, Scott Walker and John Kasich have done bus tours and are frequently with Republican senators battling for re-election. But in Florida, where U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and other Republicans are fighting for their political lives, Gov. Rick Scott is missing from the campaign trail. When asked by the Herald/Times if he had any campaign stops planned, Scott replied: 'Theres none on the calendar.' Two years ago, Rubio and other congressional candidates joined Scott on a campaign bus tour when he battled Democrat Charlie Crist for re-election. This year, however, not even Trump has been able to lure Scott onto the trail. Trump has made 19 campaign stops in Florida since the end of July. Scott didnt attend any of them." Read more.

Mike Pence 'really grateful' after LaGuardia plane scare: Katie Kindelan of ABC News writes: "'Im just really grateful, really grateful for some quick action,' he said. 'Not only by the pilots but also by first responders who were literally, it seemed like they were on the scene at LaGuardia before the plane even came to a halt.' According to the FAA, there were no injuries among the 37 people on board the Boeing 737. The charter aircraft's slide off the runway at around 7:40 p.m. prompted a temporary closure of the entire airport. 'We just immediately felt heavy braking on the runway and the plane fishtailed a little bit,' Pence said of the accident. 'Just for a few seconds you could feel us bouncing off and with mud splattered up on the windows we figured we were off the runway.' Pence, a father of two, said the accident reminded him of advice from his son, Michael. 'My son is a Marine Corps aviator, and Michael always tells us, Every landing you walk away from is a good one,'' Pence said." Read more.

Donald Trump isn't opening his checkbook to save his campaign: Teddy Schleifer of CNN writes: "If Donald Trump were to honor his pledge to spend $100 million of his own money on his campaign, he would have to invest and spend $44 million at breakneck speed. And even then, Republicans warn, it would not do much good. Trump, the billionaire businessman whose outsider appeal was bolstered by his seeming ability and desire to self-fund his campaign, only gave $31,000 to his effort over the first three weeks of October. This after as recently as Wednesday the Republican presidential nominee insisted he will cross the $100 million threshold by the end of the election, something GOP allies have urged him to do for months to resuscitate his stumbling campaign and augment their capabilities on the air and the ground. Now, though, it may be too late. If Trump cut the massive check to hit the magic number -- and that's an enormous if -- he is essentially left with two bad options, observers say. He could try in vain to hire last-minute organizers or beef up data capabilities, but those fixed operations take months to develop." Read more.
GUNFIRE CONFRONTATION ALONG THE STREETCAR ROUTE SHUT DOWN THE STREETCAR LAST NIGHT!!!

"Police say 911 call was a disturbance for a man "beating his girlfriend", say suspect had sharp object. Police say man has at least 2 gunshot wounds and was shot because he didn't comply with commands."









"The Kansas City Streetcar isnt currently running as officers secure and investigate the scene." Thankfully, this morning the toy train is currently back online.

And once again our blog community has been proven correct as growing Kansas City violence impacts the toy train streetcar line . . .A description of the altercation that took place near the most dangerous part of the route and where the hobos usually catch a ride around the 400 block of Grand Avenue:News links:Buried in local news stories . . .And so . . .This town's cycle of violence continues to impact every aspect of local life and not even this town's prized transit line is safe.Developing . . .
The FBI needs to find out whether newly discovered emails connected to one of Hillary Clintons longtime aides contain classified information but she remains the best choice for president, Democrat Russ Feingold said Friday.

The FBI announced Friday afternoon that it will investigate whether theres classified information in emails uncovered during a sexting investigation involving former congressman Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin. Its unclear whats in the emails or whether Clinton herself might be tied to them, but word of the investigation has reignited worries among Democrats that putting Clinton in the Oval Office could restart a cycle of scandal.

Republicans who have been bristling as Democrats pressure their candidates to disavow Donald Trump have jumped on the announcement. Trumps Wisconsin campaign director, Pete Meachum, said voters deserve to know if state Democrats will stand by Clinton, saying Wisconsin residents are tired of Clintons corruption.

Feingold is trying to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson. Feingolds campaign spokesman, Michael Tyler, said the FBI needs time to gather all the facts. He added that Clinton herself has acknowledged she made a mistake in how she handled her emails and has said she would have done things differently.

Feingold told reporters in Madison on Friday that FBI Director James Comey is a professional and is doing his job. He said Clinton not only understands the need for transparency but supports it.

We need to make sure this is thoroughly reviewed to the end, Feingold said.

He stressed that he believes Clinton is still a better candidate than Trump.

Johnsons official government office issued a statement praising the decision to open a new investigation, calling the move an important step toward accountability and transparency.

Later Friday his office issued a news release saying Johnson, who chairs the Senates homeland security council, had asked Comey to have his staff brief his office by Nov. 4 on the investigation and whether any information was exposed to U.S. enemies.

The other big congressional race in the state features Democrat Tom Nelson and Republican Mike Gallagher in a battle for an open seat in northeastern Wisconsins 8th Congressional District. Nelson has been working for weeks to play up Gallaghers refusal to disavow Trump.

The National Republican Congressional Committee, which has spent nearly $1 million opposing Nelson, tried to turn the tables on Nelson with a news release questioning whether Nelson would continue to stand by Clinton in the face of the new investigation.

Nelsons campaign spokesman, Ethan Susseles, said the campaign was still learning what the FBIs announcement means. Nelson has always had serious concerns about Clintons email use but he still believes Trump is too dangerous to be president.
MISSOURI DEMOCRATIC OFFICIALS ARE SHOCKED BY THE GOP SLATE TOUTED BY THE KANSAS CITY STAR AND THE EDITORIAL PAGE BETRAYAL HAS EVOKED OUTRAGE AMONG PROGRESSIVE RESIDENTS!!!

"The Star has sold out their readers. For years they have supported the Democratic Party and working people across the State. But now they're losing readership and attempting some kind of Conservative make-over out of desperation. I hate to ruin the surprise but it's not going to work. Instead, their last remaining readers are going to see this for what it is: A ploy and a cheap corporate attempt to try and find more readers. Instead, what they've done is turn their back on the most active voters and the Democratic majority in Kansas City, MO. They no longer represent this community. And they really don't know much about how this election is going to play out at the state level."

Kansas City Star Missouri Secretary of State Endorsement: "Jay Ashcroft has a better background and the experience to run this important office, and he has demonstrated more proactive thinking in ways to improve the way the office operates."

Kansas City Star Missouri Treasurer Endorsement: "We believe Eric Schmitt is more focused on the most crucial tasks this stewardship office requires.

Kansas City Star Missouri Attorney General Endorsement: "We tip to Josh Hawley, whose willingness to take on corruption in both political parties is much needed in Jefferson City."

ALL OF THESE ENDORSEMENTS ARE CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS RUNNING AGAINST A DIVERSE COALITION OF FAR MORE QUALIFIED FEMALE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES!!!

Robin Smith for Secretary Of State, Judy Baker For Missouri Treasurer And Teresa Hensley For Missouri Attorney General.

NOW THAT THE HARD RIGHT TURN BY THE KANSAS CITY STAR IS CLEAR . . . WILL THIS HELP THE DAILY NEWSPAPER WIN BACK READERS OR IS IT SIMPLY A CORPORATE PLOY SIGNALLING HARD TIMES FOR DEAD TREE MEDIA???

Today, Democratic Party denizens throughout Missouri have been shocked by a slate of Conservative Republican endorsements for a slate of statewide offices.Remember that our blog community was theand now the strange election season of 2016 reveals a new Republican leaning daily newspaper at the statewide level.Accordingly . . .Here's the word . . .Here's the offending endorsement list . . .To be fair,but these GOP nods have created a firestorm today among Missouri Democratic Party insiders.We've clipped the endorsements and candidates for reference . ..Perspective:Running opposite of these GOP dudes . . .From left to right . . .And so, we ask this question to our blog community . . .You decide . . .
The return of the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum so they might be displayed in their original location "would be the best choice," the director of the Palace Museum in Beijing's Forbidden City, Dr. Shan Jixiang, said

The return of the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum so they might be displayed in their original location "would be the best choice," the director of the Palace Museum in Beijing's Forbidden City, Dr. Shan Jixiang, said in an interview with the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA) General Director Michalis Psilos on Saturday.

"All nations with ancient civilisations share the same desire: that scattered cultural heritage should return home," Dr. Shan said. "The best choice, when an object has been preserved, is that it should appear in its original location. Its initial origins are the best home. I think that China, Greece and other countries with ancient civilisations must unite and join hands for the return of objects that have been taken from our countries," he added.

Dr. Shan said that he had visited Greece many times and observed Greek cultural affairs with great interest, including matters relating to the protection of cultural heritage and museum management in Greece. He noted the very good level of cooperation between the Palace Museum and Greek museums in preserving cultural heritage, as well as the very high Greek standards in this area.

"We are fortunate to have the assistance of the Greek agency for preserving cultural heritage and the Greek government," he said, expressing a desire to further broaden cooperation with Greek museums.

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




Negotiations between Athens and the countrys creditors will continue from a distance for the next couple of weeks with November 14 as the reference date

Negotiations between Athens and the countrys creditors will continue from a distance for the next couple of weeks with November 14 as the reference date, as that is when the heads of the creditors representatives will return to Greece. The aim is that up until November 14 significant progress will be made in matters relating to the second review so the process can be wrapped up by the end of next month.

Of course that is the good scenario, as there is always the risk that the negotiations will last much longer and the government will again find itself rushing to complete the review by the end of the year, settle the issue of the national debt and conclude the talks regarding the International Monetary Funds role in the bailout program.

The first round of talks on the second review was completed on Thursday with no issues closed and several matters pending on all fronts of the creditors inspections.

Four main issues are outstanding on the fiscal front. The first concerns the financing of the Solidarity Social Income, with Athens claiming it is secured for 2017 and that for 2018 there is a 400-million-euro gap to be covered by the spending review across the public sector. The creditors, on the other hand, see problems both for 2017 and 2018, and cite a World Bank proposal for reducing the tax-free threshold to 5,000 euros per annum  which the government will not discuss.

The second issue regards the 2017 forecasts, with the creditors asking for more data following the revision of the figures for 2015 and the failure to slash defense spending. The third is about the midterm fiscal plan, with Athens insisting on reducing the primary surplus target for 2019 from 3.5 percent of gross domestic product to 2 or 2.5 percent, but the creditors are not discussing that. The final fiscal issue on the table is the special salary system for civil servants that is supposed to apply as of January 1, 2017.

Other open fronts are the labor issues  where there is considerable distance between the creditors and Labor Minister Giorgos Katrougalos  and the management of bad loans, where the main difference is as to whether there could be a haircut on companies dues to the state.

Read more here.

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US Vice-President Joe Biden was quoted by the Cyprus News Agency on Thursday as saying that Barack Obama will touch on the increasing thorny issue of the Greek debt, during the latters visit to Athens

US Vice-President Joe Biden was quoted by the Cyprus News Agency on Thursday as saying that Barack Obama will touch on the increasing thorny issue of the Greek debt, during the latters visit to Athens next month.

Biden was asked the question at the conclusion of an OXI Day Foundation gala on Thursday evening in Washington D.C.

I never found in my personal relationships any other group of people who are more loyal and courageous than Greeks, Biden said.

Oxi means no in Greek, and Oxi Day is commemorated as a national holiday in Greece on Oct. 28, in honor of Greeces entry into WWII on the sides of the Allies. Greek leader Ioannis Metaxas refused an ultimatum by fascist Italy in the early morning hours of Oct. 28, 1940, ushering Greece into the second world war. Obama will arrive in the Greek capital a week after the US presidential election.

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
According to a confidential document, German magazine Spiegel claims to have in its possession, EU member states refuse to send specialised staff to help Greece deal with the numerous refugees hosted in the country, citing overcrowded hotspots and enraged migrants in the reception facilities. The EU-Turkey refugee agreement provides for the deployment by EU member-states of specialised staff to the overstrained first entry countries of Greece and Italy to alleviate their burden. The document, which derives from the European Council, describes the situation in the hotspots in Greece as unstable that could create problems to the national staff, the EU services and NGOs.

Greece has been bearing the brunt of the refugee and migrant flows from the Turkish coasts, with the economically strained country trying to pool whatever resources it has to successfully deal with the dire situation of processing asylum applications and readmissions of refugees and migrants to Turkey. Speiegel points out that even though the EU wants migrants whose asylum applications are rejected to be returned back to Turkey, currently the procedures are stalling as the Greek authorities are overwhelmed by the sheer number of people.

An illustration of this is that on the island of Lesvos every 9 employees are assigned to examining the asylum applications of 6,000 refugees and migrants! The EU member-states have responded to very small degree to requests for the deployment of specialised staff so far, the magazine underlines. A German politician for the Greens said the conditions on the Greek islands are shameful for the EU.

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
Belgium's medical community, in a show of solidarity with Greek patients and doctors, has decided to donate six incubators for very premature babies to Thessaloniki University Hospital

Belgium's medical community, in a show of solidarity with Greek patients and doctors, has decided to donate six incubators for very premature babies to Thessaloniki University Hospital. Belgian university doctors delivered the gift, which is given in the framework of the campaign "No to Grexit in health" launched last year.

The campaign was carried out by ULB University Medical School in Brussels, Medecins du Monde, Erasme University Hospital, and Saint-Pierre University Hospital, with the support of many other Belgian hospitals.

"It is clear that with this gesture we do not solve the medical crisis in Greece. But we want to actively help the Greek doctors, who are suffering from a lack of equipment and support," said ULB Rector Yvon Englert. "Some of these incubators can save the lives of newborns, of future European citizens," he added, noting that Belgian doctors will continue to press the country's political authorities to protect the Greek budget for health.

He noted that Belgian hospitals and medical staff started to collect funds after it became known that the health sector in Greece was suffering from significant shortages in staff and equipment due to cuts in public spending. According to the ULB University Medical School, these shortages "pose a serious threat to access, quality and safety of healthcare services."

The campaign succeeded in collecting 147,000 euros, which in addition to the incubators will be used to finance a project to equip health centres in northern Evia and support the new Medecins du Monde PolyClinic in Piraeus, focused on mental health.

Read more here.

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The UN Secretary-Generals presence in Mont Pelerin, in Switzerland, where the leaders of the two communities in Cyprus will be engaged in discussions mainly on territory, is a sign of his interest

The UN Secretary-Generals presence in Mont Pelerin, in Switzerland, where the leaders of the two communities in Cyprus will be engaged in discussions mainly on territory, is a sign of his interest to set the tone for the work they would be doing during the rest of the time, Ban Ki Moons spokesperson Stephane Dujarric has said.

On Friday, Bans Special Advisor for Cyprus Espen Barth Eide announced that the SG will be present at the opening of the negotiations in the Swiss resort between on November 7.

Dujarric said that Ban would be there just for the opening but pointed out that obviously if he needs to participate again, he is always available and always would do whatever he can to move the process forward.

He said that the meetings in Mont Pelerin are being organised under the auspices of Special Advisor Eide and that the SG is extremely pleased with the work that Eide has been doing.

He [the UN SG] has been asked by Mr Eide to be there at the opening to show his personal involvement, to show his personal interest in moving the issues forward. So I think its a sign of, not only of the interest of the Secretary-General, but a sign of Mr Eide that the presence of the Secretary-General at the opening was very important in order to set the tone and hopefully a positive tone for the work they would be doing during the rest of time, Dujarric pointed out.

The leaders of the two communities in Cyprus, President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, have been engaged in UN peace talks with the aim to reunite the island, divided since the 1974 Turkish invasion, under a federal roof.

The two leaders decided earlier this week to continue their intensive negotiations in Mont Pelerin, November 7-11.

Source: CNA

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
Britains vote to leave the European Union will have a negative impact on gross domestic product in Germany

Britains vote to leave the European Union will have a negative impact on gross domestic product in Germany, a survey by an economic think tank has predicted. It expects exports to shrink considerably next year.

The UKs pro-Brexit vote and its economic repercussions would shave around 0.25 percentage points off growth in Germany in the coming year, a study cited by the "Rheinische Post" daily said Tuesday.

The survey by the IW Cologne Institute for Economic Research feared that Britains planned exit from the European Union would hit Germanys shipments abroad. It expected exports to fall by 9 percent in 2017 year on year due to a much weaker pound.

Last year, German companies exported goods worth about 89 billion euros ($97 billion) to the UK, making Britain the third most important destination for German shipments.

No winners

IW researchers also suggested that British exports to Germany would likely fall by around 3.5 percent.

One of the German companies to suffer most from Brexit will be carmaker Opel. Opels euro-based accounting has meant its incurred heavy direct losses when selling vehicles to the UK because of sterlings steep fall.

In July, Opel CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann said Brexit-linked risks would amount to some 363 million euros this year alone.

Source: Reuters, dpa

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




Sonic Foundry, the Madison company that morphed from music-editing software to streaming video, is diving into the health tech field  at least, indirectly.

Sonic Foundry has signed a strategic partnership with Noordhoff Health, a Dutch company that provides training and education to health care professionals.

A division of Noordhoff Publishers, Noordhoff Health offers services to more than 4,000 hospitals, nursing schools and health care organizations in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Noordhoff says it will use Sonic Foundrys Mediasite technology to create and sell a package of 100 training videos to health care organizations, and will offer its clients Mediasite Video Cloud subscriptions to produce their own content.

Our new partnership with Noordhoff Health is exciting because it massively expands our footprint in European hospitals and health care organizations. Countless providers and educators from over 4,000 European organizations are using our technology to create their own training videos, and ... our product captures will be preserved and used for years to come, Sonic Foundry executive vice president Rob Lipps said, in an email.

Theres no estimate from the company on the potential financial impact of the Noordhoff arrangement, but its not Sonic Foundrys first health- related partnership.

In Wisconsin, for example, the Marshfield Clinic uses Mediasite to record staff training sessions. In Madison, ABC for Health holds live webcasts via Mediasite to educate Wisconsin residents about health care and government issues.

Madison Vaccines

reports early results

Initial results of the first 13 patients in a clinical trial for a prostate cancer vaccine developed by Madison Vaccines Inc. show the patients immune response is higher and theyve suffered no adverse health effects.

The Madison company presented its early findings at the annual Prostate Cancer Foundation Scientific Retreat in Carlsbad, California on Thursday.

The phase 1 study of MVI-118 is being conducted at the UW-Madison under the direction of Douglas McNeel, whose laboratory developed the vaccine.

Although these are very early findings, it is encouraging any time we get news that one of our treatments may be helping in the fight against prostate cancer, said Richard Lesniewski, Madison Vaccines president, in a news release.

A second location, at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, will also start enrolling patients to test the vaccine.

Madison Vaccines is developing two vaccines against prostate cancer. The second, MVI-816, is in a phase 2 study and is aimed at men with signs of a cancer recurrence.

Healthfinch swoops

forward with Swoop

Madison startup healthfinch says its Swoop app, being tested on athenahealths platform, has graduated from pilot status to the main Marketplace after meeting requirements for technical performance and customer satisfaction.

Swoop, healthfinchs primary product, automates the workflow for prescription refill requests. Since it became available on athenahealth, eight health systems have begun using the app, healthfinch said.

Athenahealth is an electronic health records company and a competitor to Verona-based Epic Systems Corp.

Cologuard draws honors

Exact Sciences Cologuard blood and stool DNA test for colorectal cancer has won the 2016 10th Annual Prix Galien USA Award for best medical technology product, awarded by the Galien Foundation.

The prize recognizes biomedical and technology product achievement associated with improving the human condition, the organization says. Cologuard was up against products from companies that included Boston Scientific Corp. and Johnson & Johnson.

BrightStar invests in Moxe

BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation says it has invested in Moxe Health, a Madison health IT startup that facilitates patient data exchange between health care providers and insurance companies.

BrightStar did not say when the $250,000 investment occurred but it preceded finalizing a $5.5 million funding round for Moxe Health earlier this month, led by Safeguard Scientifics, a Philadelphia venture capital firm.
Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry has opened its seventh international office in the Chinese city of Shanghai as part of its strategy to reach out to promising markets and promote the emirate as a global business and trade hub.



The inauguration came on the sidelines of the chambers participation in Dubai Week in China, a Falcon and Associates event held in Shanghai which was co-hosted by Invest Shanghai and supported by the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce (SMCC).



Earlier this month, the chamber had opened its sixth representative office in Nairobi, Kenya, and currently operates offices in Baku, Addis Ababa, Accra, Maputo, and Erbil.



In his inaugural address, Hisham Al Shirawi, the second vice-chairman, Dubai Chamber, said: "China is our top trading partner and we have worked hard to strengthen trade relations with the country over the last decade. The opening of the Shanghai office, our first in China, is a testament of our efforts to improve trade relations with the country and Southeast Asia."



"The move also falls in line with objectives outlined under the Dubai Plan 2021 to strengthen the emirates status as a leading business hub and an attractive investment destination," he stated.



Dubais non-oil trade with China has grown steadily in recent years and amounted to Dh176 billion ($48 billion) in 2015. There are currently 2,829 Chinese companies registered with Dubai Chamber.



We are confident that establishing a presence in this market will lead to new relationships and partnerships with Chinese businesses and bring about mutual benefits and economic growth. It will also help Chinese companies to expand their reach to markets in Africa, using Dubai as an access point, he added.



Al Shirawi pointed out that Dubai and China both enjoyed a strategic geographic location and easy access to surrounding markets in the GCC and East Asia.



"The UAE is located along China  Central Asia  West Asia economic Corridor that passes through the CIS region, a priority investment and trade region for Dubai," he said.



Chinas plans to recreate the Silk Road through the One Belt One Road initiative have boosted its trade flows with Central Asian countries and beyond. Therefore, the UAE and Dubai play a critical role as an investment and trade hub along the New Silk Road with strategic access to the Middle East and Africa (MEA) and South Asian markets, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
China Fortune Land Development (CFLD) said it has been awarded the contract to build a new industrial city in Egypts new administrative capital.



The country's new capital will come up in an area between Cairo and Suez, a city along the Suez Canal. Once completed, the new administrative capital, which will serve as Egypt's new political and financial centre, will effectively drive the development of the Suez Canal Economic Belt and the Red Sea Economic Belt.



This is the company's first major project in Africa, stated Zhao Hongjing, the president of CFLD International, after signing the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Mostafa Madbouly, Egypt's Minister of Housing, Utilities and Urban Development, and Dalia Khorshid, Minister of Investment in Cairo.



The signing ceremony was held in the presence of Egypts Prime Minister Sherif Ismail, the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, the Minister of Trade and Industry and other officials.



Prior to this, Egyptian President Abdul Fattah Al Sisi welcomed CFLDs plans to develop and construct Egypt's new administrative capital, expecting CFLD to play an instrumental role in the development of Egypt's infrastructure and urban development plans.

This signals a breakthrough for CFLD in the African market, as this marks a positive move forward in its global plans, noted Hongjin.



On the industrial city's strategic importance, the Chinese official said: "Facing Europe in the north and Asia in the east and adjoining Africa in the south, Egypt is the place where the League of Arab States is headquartered. This strategic position makes Egypt a key node under the 'One Belt One Road' strategy and a bridgehead via which Chinese enterprises go out for trans-continental development."



Egypt is an important gateway for African and Middle East countries and China has become Egypt's largest trade partner, with a trade volume amounting to $12.9 billion in 2015 alone, he added.



In September last year, China and Egypt signed the China-Egypt Industrial Capacity Cooperation Framework Agreement.



As per the terms of the MOU, Phase Two of Egypt's national strategic project - new administrative capital initiative- will see CFLD integrate the urban planning, construction and the operation to build this city with a high degree of industrial agglomeration, urban functionality, all within a sustainable ecological environment.



President Sisi said: "CFLD is superior in industrial planning, industrial investment promotion, and urban development, construction and operation and in the future, the two sides can deepen cooperation by complementing each other's superior resources."



"This is a good development opportunity for Egypt," stated Hongjing as CFLD is ramping up its efforts to get involved into the industrial and financial planning of the new administrative capital, support the economic development of Egypt, and build a one-stop service platform for global investment in Egypt.



"The establishment of this new industrial city in Egypt is, undoubtedly, an important step in the global deployment of CFLD's new industrial cities. The signing of this MOU is another positive result of 'the One BeltOne Road' strategy. It is of great significance to deepening China-Egypt industrial capacity cooperation and promoting regional economic development," he added.-TradeArabia News Service


Dubai Investments, a leading, diversified investment company listed on the Dubai Financial Market, has won the international Best Enterprise award from Europe Business Assembly (EBA), an independent UK-based corporation promoting economic, social and humanitarian collaboration.



Khalid Bin Kalban, the managing director and chief executive of Dubai Investments, received the Manager of the Year award from EBA in recognition of his vision and leadership.



The awards were handed over during European Awards Night held recently at Cannes, France, as part of EBAs Excellence in Quality Summit and Management Forum, said the company in a statement.



Dubai Investments was recognized for its overall performance, strong reputation, utilization of modern technologies in its operations and successful marketing strategy, it stated.



It was also conferred honorable membership of the International Club of Leaders (ICL) community and a certificate from Thames Valley of Commerce, UK.



On the win, Bin Kalban said: "It is a great honour to receive the Best Enterprise and Manager of the Year awards on an international platform. The awards are major endorsements of Dubai Investments commitment to innovation and growth strategy; and a motivation to aspire for new levels of excellence."



During the ceremony, awards were also handed over to successful companies and officials from across the globe for their significant contributions to economies and overall social development.



The EBA awards are an ongoing initiative to highlight the achievements of leading organizations and their leaders, who through their hard work and exceptional business acumen support exchange of ideas and experiences amongst the international community in the various areas.-TradeArabia News Service


The Saudi Aramco confirmation that its internal auditing activities that took place a few years ago had revealed irregularities in the transaction comes as a follow-up to recently published reports by the media about a corruption case involving Embraer SA.



With significant and extensive assistance from the Saudi Ministry of Interior authorities, Saudi Aramcos internal investigations established that a former Saudi Aramco employee was involved in receiving a bribe in return for facilitating the purchase of three aircrafts from Embraer, said a statement from Aramco.



These findings led the company to apply maximum disciplinary actions against its former employee per its policies. The matter was further referred by the company to the relevant national authorities and concurrently Saudi Aramco suspended all business dealings with Embraer since that time, it stated.



The case dates back to 2012 when Saudi Aramco conducted an internal audit process of a transaction which led to identifying certain violations. This prompted Saudi Aramco to proactively initiate an internal investigation with the cooperation of concerned authorities in Saudi Arabia, said the oil giant in its statement.



Following the investigation, Saudi Aramco took appropriate measures against the ex-employee and referred the case to competent government authorities and co-operated in revealing all entities involved in this case.



Saudi Aramco also cooperated with international agencies which were conducting similar investigations into Embraers transactions. This cooperation also contributed to revealing the circumstances of the case and its international network, it stated.



Although Saudi Aramco has ceased all future dealings with Embraer and excluded them from any future business, the company is taking appropriate legal measures against Embraer over the aforementioned violations upon the completion of the ongoing investigations by all other agencies, it added.-TradeArabia News Service
Come November of each year, thousands descend upon Jamaica, in the city of Negril, to attend the world's pre-eminent marijuana festival, the High Times Cannabis Cup.

An American writer, by the name of Steven Hager, activist, and strong proponent for the legalization of marijuana founded the festival back in 1987. According to Hager, the conception of the event is for a harvest celebration that promotes the personal cultivation and use of Cannabis. Amsterdam was originally announced as the host city, which was an obvious choice thanks to its liberal drug laws.

For those travelers interested in attending, a Cannabis Cup pass includes entry to the expo for the duration of the festival along with admission to all seminars, concerts, ceremonies and a free shuttle from your hotel to all Cannabis Cup-related activities. You also get a gift bag, a special Cannabis Cup T-shirt and program guide outlining the schedule of events.

The core of the Cannabis Cup is the Expo, which basically in aspect, is just like a business or trade convention but crossed with a gamers convention and a summer open field concert. They hold cultivation seminars, booths for showcase and sales of smoking paraphernalia, food stalls, and live music performance. Some famous celebrities actually grace this event and participate, such as Snoop Dogg, who has attended the festival in recent years. And festival activities are not limited to the Expo, as various side excursions are offered by several hotels and resorts in Negril.

The festival expanded internationally in recent years to the areas in the United States wherein marijuana use has been legalized. Initially, in the form of the High Times Medical Cannabis Cup, and then as simply, the High Times Cannabis Cup. The first event took place in San Francisco back in 2010, then in Los Angeles, Denver, Seattle and Portland.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
Dark Tourism is a term specific to tourist destinations that have themes of death, destruction and decay. For some, there is a strange thrill and fascination in visiting these kinds of sites, whereas others simply enjoy the history and stories trapped within those walls. Here are some of the best "dark tourism" sites around the world.

1. Auschwitz-Birkenau, Poland

One of the Nazis' most infamous death camps, the site was one of the largest prisons, where people were forced into labor, inhumane experiments and mass genocide. The State Museum and memorial are devoted to the 1,100,000 people who were murdered in these camps alone during World War II.

2. Killing Fields, Cambodia

During the reign of the Khmer Rouge, many Cambodian civilians were slaughtered, one of the worst genocides in the 20th century. There are many photos of emaciated corpses here, victims of torture and murder, and rusty blood spatter stains still dot the checkered tiles of the site's decommissioned prisons.

3. Pripyat, Ukraine

According to National Geographic, the site was deemed unsafe for human settlement for 24,000 years. Pripyat in the Ukraine was the hardest hit during the Chernobyl power plant disaster and tourists can visit the Exclusion Zone which is the abandoned area above the reactor, as well as the ghost town, where nobody lives but resident's personal belongings and mementos are scattered and untouched.

4. Pompeii, Italy

Having been a travel destination for 250 years, Pompeii is most likely the original dark tourism site, according to The Telegraph. The site is sunny but eerie, with ruins of its Roman past, and even its sleeping inhabitants caught in the eruption immortalized in ash forever.

5. Hiroshima, Japan

Besides all the beautiful sights and good food Hiroshima has to offer, one of the most important landmarks in this city is the A-Bomb Dome, part of Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park in dedication to the tens of thousands of people who died during America's atomic bomb attack in 1945. In addition, a Children's Peace Monument has also been put up featuring folded paper cranes sent by people from all around the world.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
Did you know that there are countries where most of its citizens are generous? Sounds like a good idea to visit.

Generosity means sharing your resources to other people, spending your time, strength and money to serve the not-so-fortunate ones. Being in a place where everyone is willing to give without complaining is such a heaven-on-earth experience.

According to Charities Aid Foundation's World Giving Index, the three most generous nations this year are Myanmar, United States and Australia.

Dr. John Low, CAF Chief Executive , said, " The world is becoming ever more generous - with more people giving time, money or helping others than previously recorded in the seven years of the CAF World Giving Index."

"Since its inception in 2010, the CAF World Giving Index has been based on three measures: Have you given money to a good cause; have you helped a stranger; or have you volunteered your time. This adds up to a unique global reference - the only comparative study of generosity across 140 countries," he added.

Other countries in the list are New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Canada, Indonesia, United Kingdom, Ireland, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Kenya, Netherlands, Norway, Turkmenistan, Malta, Iceland, Bhutan, Kuwait and completing the top 20 is Denmark.

In a report by Traveller it states why Myanmar tops the list, "The high scores are likely to be a result of Theravada Buddhism practiced by a large proportion of the population in Myanmar, whereby followers donate to support those living a monastic lifestyle - a practice known as Sangha Dana."

The survey is intended to inspire society to give and change lives of communities around the world. CAF orchestrated the study. It is one of the top international charities registered in the United Kingdom.

Heroism is innate in everyone's heart, it's contagious. Knowing and mingling with the people who cares about the welfare of others is such a good experience.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
In nine lawsuits filed Friday, a state conservation group is challenging the approval of nine high-capacity water wells by the state Department of Natural Resources, demanding that the agency return to more stringent environmental standards that were in place before they were loosened to appease agricultural interests.

Clean Wisconsin wants permits issued last month for nine high-capacity wells in central Wisconsin to be rescinded. It also wants a court ruling stating that the DNR has the authority to address the individual and cumulative effects of high-capacity wells on the states lakes, rivers and streams, which the group says are being drained by over-pumping in areas like the states Central Sands region.

Regulations governing DNR reviews of well permits were loosened after a legal opinion issued in May by state Attorney General Brad Schimel.

Clean Wisconsin filed the lawsuits over six well permits in Portage County that were given DNR approval and three others in Waupaca, Waushara and Barron counties. The nine were among about 25 approved by the DNR on Sept. 30, said Katie Nekola, general counsel for Clean Wisconsin, and are considered the most egregious by the group.

Carl Sinderbrand, lawyer for Clean Wisconsin, said that the DNR hadnt previously approved the wells, which are for vegetable farms, because they clearly would adversely affect water near them.

The state has a constitutional responsibility to protect our public water, our lakes and our streams, Sinderbrand said. Our state government isnt doing that and they havent been doing it for a long time. And its getting worse.

Sinderbrand said the lawsuits are to force the DNR to do its job. By giving these well applicants permits they are effectively giving away the publics waters to private industry without compensation. We own the water, not any of these big ag companies.

The Pleasant Lake Management District is co-petitioner in one of the lawsuits, which challenges DNR approval of a 900-gallon-per-minute well in the town of Coloma in Waushara County.

In May, Schimel issued a formal opinion at the request of Republican state lawmakers which said that a 2011 state law rolled back the DNRs authority on high-capacity wells by barring state agencies from setting or enforcing any environmental standard that isnt explicitly spelled out in state statutes.

Following that opinion, the DNR said it would no longer consider the cumulative impact of nearby wells on the aquifer or surface water when deciding whether to issue a permit for a well, and it will no longer impose monitoring requirements on well operators.

The DNR also said that well operators could seek reconsideration of conditions placed on well permits issued since June 8, 2011, the date that a state law was enacted which sharply reduced the power of state agencies in deciding how to implement laws.

According to the lawsuits, in July 2011, the state Supreme Court said that the DNR must consider environmental impacts of proposed high-capacity wells when given sufficient scientific evidence of potential harm. The state Division of Hearings and Appeals also found in 2014 that the DNR has authority and duty to consider both individual and cumulative effects on state waters from high-capacity wells, the lawsuits state.

DNR spokesman James Dick said the agency hasnt fully reviewed the lawsuits, but DNRs actions regarding all of our high-capacity well permit applications were taken in accordance with Act 21 and with the guidance of the attorney generals recent opinion regarding our authority to issue those permits.

Dick said that as of June, there were 187 pending high-capacity well permit applications. Since then, 151 permits have been issued. He said the DNR hasnt seen an increase in new high-capacity well permit applications since the DNR changed its policy.

The lawsuits, as they are filed now, are assigned to eight separate Dane County judges, but Nekola said its anticipated that the cases will be consolidated and heard by a single judge.

State Journal reporter Steven Verburg contributed to this report.
Attempted first-degree intentional homicide charges were filed Friday against a man who police said fired a gun at an officer two weeks ago after luring officers to the area with gunshots.

Cornelius U. Britton, 21, was also charged with first-degree reckless endangerment and intentionally pointing a firearm at a police officer for the Oct. 6 incident in the 5800 block of Russett Road on Madisons Southwest Side.

Britton was jailed on $250,000 bail after appearing Friday in Dane County Circuit Court. He has been in custody since Oct. 7, when he was arrested after trying to run from police, according to a criminal complaint.

In addition, Britton was charged with two counts of first-degree reckless endangerment and two counts of discharging a firearm toward a vehicle for shots that two people told police Britton fired at them after robbing them on Oct. 4 on Britta Parkway, the complaint states.

According to the complaint:

Police were sent to the 5800 block of Russett Road about 9:30 a.m. on Oct. 6 after a report that gunshots were fired in the area. An officer, identified in the complaint only by initials, was checking for shell casings near an apartment building when she heard five gunshots coming from another apartment building at 5802 Russett Road. She ducked because she thought the shots were close.

Investigators found two shell casings on the sidewalk in front of 5802 Russett Road and bullet fragments in the front yard of 5806 Russett Road.

A woman whose children Britton often watched while she worked told police that he was at her home that morning, but left. She told police that a neighbor came over and asked whether she had heard gunshots, and then Britton was back in her apartment and a police officer was outside. The neighbor also asked Britton if he heard shots, and he said he hadnt. After the officer pulled up, the neighbor told police, Britton said he had something to do and walked out the back door. The neighbor said he then heard more gunshots.

The next morning, police were called back to the apartment building because a gun had been found by residents in the buildings basement. The state Crime Laboratory found that bullets and cartridges recovered from the Oct. 4 robbery incident and the Oct. 6 shooting on Russett Road were both fired from that gun.

Police spotted Britton the night of Oct. 7, and he ran into the basement of his mothers apartment building on Raymond Road, but came out without incident moments later. Britton was not supposed to be at his mothers home, because she told police he had threatened her with a gun in September. On Friday, Britton was charged with domestic disorderly conduct for that incident.

While in custody, police said, Britton made unsolicited comments about Officer Adam Kneubuhler, the neighborhood officer in the area. He also said to the officers in the room that he was going to kick both your (expletive). Several times he said, Well get even on the street!
Chandigarh: City Mayor Arun Sood will attend the seventh Regional 3R Forum Conference in Adelaide, Australia, from November 2 to 4. The conference is being organised by the United Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD). The governments of Australia and Japan are jointly organising the forum on the industrial waste management.  TNS
Two people were robbed at gunpoint in Fitchburg early Saturday morning while sitting in their car, police said.

Fitchburg police said the two victims were in their car on the 5600 block of Norfolk Drive around 4:30 a.m. when two men approached the car with a long gun. The victims exited the vehicle and the robbers took the cash that was in the vehicle, police said. The robbers then fled.

The robbers are described as two black men with average builds wearing black pants and black hooded sweatshirts. One is around 6 feet to 6 feet 2 inches tall, and the other is around 5 feet 10 inches to 6 feet tall.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Fitchburg Police Department at (608)270-4300 or Madison Area Crime Stoppers at (608)266-6014.
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 29

Fine quality of heroin and cocaine worth Rs 70 lakh has been recovered by the crime branch with the arrest of three drug traffickers, including two Nigerian nationals, from different parts of the city.

Nigerian national Darlington Chiemezie, who lives in south Delhi Mehrauli, was under scanner due to reports on his drug trafficking activities.

He was caught by a crime branch team near Chattarpur CNG station and 104 gm of cocaine was recovered from his possession, said Ravindra Yadav, Joint CP (crime branch).

Darlington was in India for the second time for drug trafficking activities on the direction of his fellow country man Tony.

He recently procured drugs from another Nigerian Cheema for supply in RK Puram, Mehrauli and adjoining areas in south Delhi.

A Nizamuddin resident, Dhobir, was caught near the railway bridge on Bhairon Road, while going to deliver drug. Heroin weighing 170 gm was recovered from his possession.

Another Nigerian national Israel Echem, was caught by the team on a tip off, near Outer Ring Road, Tilak Nagar Mod, and heroin weighing 260 gm was recovered from him on October 25.

Israel came to India on his maiden visit six months back. He came in touch with his fellow countryman John, who was in drug trafficking, and started supplying drugs to his contacts due to his need of money.

Three held for making extortion calls

A joint team of the special staff and police have arrested three extortionists, who were making extortion calls for Rs 25 lakh to a complainant.

A few days back, complainant Rahul Aggarwal of south extension (part-II), filed a complaint alleging that he received a call on his mobile and the caller introduced himself as Rehman and demanded Rs 25 lakh from him and also threatened him of dire consequences if the money was not paid.

Keeping in view the sensitivity of the case, special staff, south district was assigned the task to locate and arrest the culprits involved in crime.

During the course of investigation, details of all the employees working under the complainant were collected and verified. The complainant was taken into confidence and advised to bargain with the caller, if further call was received.

After four days, the complainant settled the deal for Rs 15 lakh. At the same time, the police team continued its efforts to get clues about the culprits and developed criminal intelligence which revealed that one of his employees namely Raghav Chauhan, was involved in the crime.

During interrogation, Raghav initially tried to mislead the police, but later he broke down and confessed his involvement in the crime.

On the instance of Raghav, his two accomplices namely Anshul Mishra and Astitva Singh were also arrested.
Nitish Sharma

Tribune News Service

Ambala October 29

The call for boycott of Chinese goods during the festive season has evoked a mixed response. While social media campaigns have urged consumers not to buy goods made in China, many argued dearth of options in goods made in the country.

Kumud Dhingra, an importer and trader, said, No major impact has been seen. People demand products made in India but have to purchase Chinese products because they have no option. If you ask a trader to remove Chinese items, 90 per cent of the shelves would go empty. There are some alternatives but consumers still prefer Chinese products because they have better finishing and are cheap. He admitted there was a decline in fresh orders and importers avoided trips to China.

DK Anand, a trader, said, The call for boycott Chinese goods failed to have an impact. Until the government imposes a ban or comes out with strict laws nothing would happen.

On the contrary, small traders claim the sale of Chinese products has declined by over 25 per cent.

Anup Jain, a wholesaler, said, The demand of Chinese products has decreased. People enquire before buying. The importers are pushing small traders to convince consumers that the products were made in India and not China. They are not at fault as the orders were placed months ago while the campaign was started recently.

Mahesh Kumar, a consumer, said, Until you start manufacturing and provide an alternative, how can you stop someone from buying Chinese goods?

Another consumer, Rajender Nath, said, I have decided not to buy Chinese products and will ask others to do so.

Health teams to check adulteration in sweets

Panipat: The Health Department has appointed seven teams to check food adulteration during the festive season. Of these three would collect samples in urban areas while the remaining would take samples in rural areas of Samalkha, Bapoli, Madlauda and Israna, said Dr Dhankar.

A large quantity of mawa is supplied from Shamli and Muzaffarnagar districts in UP. Sources said the chances of adulteration in milk products would be more during the festive season. The CID wing of the police recently raided a shop on the Sanoli Road on receiving information that spurious milk products were supplied from UP.  TNS
Ajay Banerjee and Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar/ New Delhi

The Indian Army claimed it destroyed four Pakistan outposts in the Keran sector in a massive fire assault on Saturday, as it opened a vociferous retaliation to Pakistan troops firing across the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.

"Heavy casualties inflicted," the Indian Armys northern command said.

New Delhi has been monitoring developments in Tangdhar, Mendhar and Kupwara all of this week. Seven posts of Pakistan Army in these sectors have suffered heavy casualties.

The heavy shelling has also caused the dry grass on the lower hills on Pakistans side to catch fire.

An Indian assessment shows that Pakistan has lost some 23 soldiers  both its Army and the Rangers  in the past few days, a number it arrived at using human intelligence gathering on the other side and the technical surveillance.

Indian Army has its posts all along the 749 km-long LoC and the troops have been told to retaliate with full force to any cross-border firing.

The development comes less than a day after militants mutilated and beheaded an Indian soldier in Machil under the cover of Pakistans firing.

BSF trooper killed

A trooper of the Border Security Force (BSF) was killed in Kashmir's Machil sector on Friday evening and another was injured in Keran on Saturday in truce violations by Pakistan.

BSF constable Nitin Koli of Sangli, Maharashtra, was killed during the intervening night of Friday and Saturday immediately after militants carried out an attack close to the Line of Control (LoC) in Machil sector in which a soldier was killed and his body was mutilated before militants fled across to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The BSF constable was killed in the ceasefire violation by Pakistan, a BSF spokesman in Srinagar said.

The Indian side responded to the ceasefire violation. Sources said the firing had stopped.

"One of the BSF jawan has been injured in the exchange of fire," a senior security official said.

Keran also witnessed heavy exchange of firing since Saturday morning.

A civilian was injured during the day in the cross border shelling in the area. However, her condition is stated to be stable. The intense shelling has caused panic in the area.

Earlier the day, Army had said the Indian Army's response had been firm, intense but military-like.
Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, October 29

Amid raging anger after recovery of badly mutilated body of an Army jawan in the Machil sector of Kupwara district of north Kashmir, Union Minister of State (MoS) in the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh today hoped that the External Affairs and Defence ministries would take cognisance of the barbaric act.

I am not qualified to give a statement on the behalf of the ministries concerned, but I am sure that the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and Defence Ministry would take cognisance of this heinous crime, Jitendra Singh said after visiting border areas of Kathua, Samba and Jammu district, adding that I am not directly concerned with the matter.

Jitendra Singh, who reached Jammu this morning from Delhi, straightway went to the shelling-affected areas of the Jammu region and interacted with soldiers and villagers. He said the Centre would take every step to mitigate miseries of the border people. He lauded border residents for working like soldiers without uniform. The morale of the border residents is high. They are more concerned about thwarting the designs of the enemy, rather than be concerned about their own safety, he observed after touring border areas.

When his reaction was sought about a barbaric incident, in which terrorists, aided by the cover fire by Pakistani Army, on Friday night crossed the Line of Control and killed an Indian Army jawan and mutilated his body in the Machil sector of Kupwara district of Kashmir, Jitendra Singh said, Nothing can be more heinous than this act of terrorists.

Taking a dig at those who raised bogey of human rights of terrorist and other anti-national elements, Jitendra Singh said that this barbaric incident had exposed those who raked up rights issue on every incident. Those who lack courage to call Burhan Wani as a terrorist, those who lack courage to condemn mutilation of Army soldier have not right to speak about human rights, he said.

It was high time, Jitendra Singh said, that the nation rose up to call the bluff of the so-called human rights protagonists and the pseudo-intellectuals, who sought to promote their politics at the cost of an Indian Army jawan, but when you ask them a straight question, whether Burhan Wani was a terrorist or not, instead of saying Yes or No in reply, they invariably come out with long platitudes, philosophies and postulations.

The barbaric killing of the Army jawan has exposed the duplicity of all those who keep raising the bogey of human rights, especially in the Valley, but now they have maintained a criminal silence on mutilation of the body of a soldier. The entire nation is angered with this heinous act, he added.
Manika Ahuja

It is a movie made with a small budget, but it sure made a grand entry when it got selected as the first ever feature film sent by Cameroon to the Oscar Awards (89th Academy Awards) in the Best Foreign Language Film category, not so long ago. And now, as the film Yahan Ameena Bikti Hai, which won the hearts of the African audience prepares to tee its way to Indian theatres, the protagonist for the film, Rekha Rana, cannot stop gushing how she never expected it (the project) to garner the sort of response that it did!

Tentatively slated for an April release next year, the film draws from a real-life incident, which grabbed global attention. It is based on an unfortunate incident that happened in Hyderabad, where a young girl was sold to a 70-year-old Arab man. The story flows in a play-in-a-film format and juxtaposes real life with the reel, the Tara actress drops a hint about the films plot.

Believe and achieve

Just four films old and earning international accolades and global recognition, the latest addition being the Best Actress Award from Cameroon International Film Festival in 2016. What is it that keeps her going? Rana giggles and gleefully responds, I have won as many as 18 international awards in the Best Actress category to be precise. If you ask me what keeps me going...well, Id say it is a combination of my firm belief in myself and the zeal with which I do my work that sail me through.

Passion for acting

Having fine-tuned her acting skills with a course in New York Film Academy, not so long ago, Rana, shares that one thing she credits the most for boosting her confidence and polishing her finesse, No prizes for guessing, I am talking about theatre! It taught me the art of facing a live audience and helped me emote in front of the camera, better.

Ask her to name one of her plays, that is close to her heart, and fetched her great appreciation, and pat comes the reply, Jis Lahore Nahin Dekhya. It is a play in Urdu and Punjabi. Set in the backdrop of Indo-Pak Partition, the play weaves the story of a Punjabi girl and a Pakistani boy. It was very well-received.

Absorb the message

Coming over to the sort of response she anticipates for her film (Ameena...) from film buffs back home, I hope our film succeeds in leaving an impression on the minds of the cine-goers back here in India, just like it did overseas, which will happen if the audience understands the depth of the subject and absorb the good message that it seeks to disseminate. After all, though we collaborated with an African production house MD4 for this project; the concept is very Indian in its essence.
New Delhi, October 29

The Congress on Saturday rubbished and rejected Chinas warning to India not to allow the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh in January next year.

It said the Tibetan spiritual leader is free to travel independently to any part of India and that Beijing has no right to question it.

China can have its own opinion. We all believe that the Dalai Lama is a guest in India and that he can travel freely, independently to any portion that is within the territorial jurisdiction of India. Arunachal is an integral part of India, Congress leader Randeep Surjewala told ANI.

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Surjewala urged the government to send a strongly worded message to China.

No other country, no other individual, definitely not China, has the right to question the complete integrity and union of the state of Arunachal Pradesh with the union of India. We have indelible rights over the land as also over the territory of Arunachal Pradesh as it a part and parcel of India. The government should send a strong message to China, he said.

The Dalai Lama is scheduled to visit Arunachal Pradesh early next year at the invitation of Chief Minister Pema Khandu.

China considers the Dalai Lama a splittist who seeks to separate nearly a quarter of the land mass of the Peoples Republic of China.

India is very clear about the severity of the Dalai Lama issue and the sensitivity of the China-India border issue. Under this circumstance, the Indian side invited the 14th Dalai Lama to visit the disputed territorial area of China and India, which could only severely damage the peace and stability in the border area of China and India and China-India relationship, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told media at a daily briefing in Beijing.

Asserting that China resolutely opposed the Dalais visit to disputed territorial area of China and India, Kang called on New Delhi to honour its commitment to China on the issue of Tibet, which is a political commitment, abiding by the important consensus on the issue of border.

Do not take any actions that could further complicate the border issue, do not provide a stage for the anti-China separatist activities by the 14th Dalai Lama; therefore, the healthy and stable development of China-India relationship can be maintained, Lu added.

China had admonished the United States on Monday for sending its ambassador to India Richard Verma to a contested stretch of land on the India-China border, warning that a third partys meddling would only complicate the dispute between Beijing and New Delhi.

The disagreement between nuclear-armed China and India over parts of their 3,500-km (2,175-mile) border led to a brief war in 1962.

The countries have moved to control the dispute, but repeated rounds of talks have failed to make much progress.

India says China occupies 38,000 square km (14,600 sq miles) of its territory on the Aksai Chin plateau in the west, and is also suspicious of Chinas support for its arch-rival, Pakistan.

Tensions occasionally flare over the disputed border. In August, China was angered by Indias plans to place advanced cruise missiles there. ANI
New Delhi, October 29

Years of procuring Pakistani visas for people in Rajasthan helped Sohaib Nagaur to come in touch with the ISI in the Pakistani High Commission in Delhi and eventually become a Pakistani spy.

Nagaur was the third of the Indians caught following the handover of classified Indian military secrets to a Pakistani High Commission official who has since returned home after being declared persona non grata.

As Nagaur was in constant touch with the Pakistan High Commission staff as a visa agent, he was easy prey when the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) decided to recruit him.

That is how the 26-year-old came in contact with Mehmood Akhtar, who worked in the visa section of the Pakistani High Commission.

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Nagaur in turn gave birth to a team of spies whose job was to elicit information about Indian Army and Border Security Force (BSF) installations along the Rajasthan and Gujarat border.

On Wednesday, Delhi Police trapped Akhtar when he was receiving military documents from Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangir, who, like Nagaur, were both from Rajasthan. All three men are now in police custody.

Nagaur, however, escaped on Wednesday but was caught on Thursday evening from the Jodhpur railway station. On Friday, Delhi Police got his custody for 11 days from a court.

On Thursday, the Pakistani, Akhtar, was ordered to leave India. Pakistan retaliated by expelling an official from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.

Joint Commissioner of Police Ravindra Yadav said Nagaur had come to Delhi along with Maulana and Jangir on Tuesday by Sampark Kranti train and checked into a hotel in Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi.

When Maulana and Jangir went to meet Akhtar near the Delhi zoo, Nagaur remained in the hotel.

When he realised that Maulana's and Jangir's phones had been switched off, he smelled trouble, left the hotel in a hurry and returned to Rajasthan by train.

Investigators close to the case said on the condition of anonymity that Nagaur had formed a well-knit group of seven to eight spies excluding Maulana and Jangir on the direction of Akhtar.

All the spies were on the payroll of Akhtar, the officer said.

"For three to four years, Nagur was in touch with people in Pakistan High Commission and ISI agents," the officer said.

Nagaur was tasked to give details of Army and BSF deployment on the Gujarat and Rajasthan border besides recruiting spies.

Police said Nagaur had coughed up information which was concealed by Maulana and Jangir.

"They will be confronted during further questioning," the officer said.

The investigators are tying to find out why Nagaur visited Pakistan in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2009 and 2012.

"He has visited Pakistan around half a dozen times. He said his mother and maternal uncle lived there. He may have met ISI agents during his visits," one of the investigators said.

Police have recovered some secret documents and a phablet  a smartphone having a screen that that is typically between a smartphone and a tablet computer.

Naguar had tried to destroy records from the phablet but detectives are trying to retrieve the data.

Police plan to question his father and four brothers who run a garment shop in Jodhpur.  IANS
Beijing, October 29

National Security Advisers of India and China will meet next week to discuss measures to improve bilateral ties which are strained by differences over a host of issues, including Indias admission into NSG and Beijings attempts to block UN ban on JeM Chief Masood Azhar.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi will meet in Hyderabad in November first week for informal dialogue on the state of bilateral relations, especially the irritants bedevilling the development of ties, officials said.

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Besides blocking Indias admission into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), China had put a second technical hold on Indias move to bring about a UN ban on Azhar. Also India has been protesting over the USD 46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which is being laid through the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

While India is concerned over the Pakistan factor creeping into India-China relations making the bilateral ties more complex, China, too, is airing its apprehensions over the movement to boycott Chinese goods in India as well as the visit of US Ambassador to New Delhi, Richard Verma, to Arunachal Pradesh, which it considers as Southern Tibet and Indias permission to allow the Dalai Lama to visit the area.

Chinese officials say Beijing is apprehensive about India moving closer to US and Japan broadening its strategic and defence ties with both the countries.

Doval and Yang who are the designated Special Representatives of the India-China boundary talks, also periodically meet to discuss the whole gamut of the Sino-Indian relations.

Yang was the former foreign minister of China before he was elevated to the rank of State Councillor of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) after President Xi Jinping took over power in 2013.

In Chinese power structure, State Councillor is more powerful than the Foreign Minister on foreign policy issues.

Both Doval and Yang have been meeting regularly to discuss the problems affecting the bilateral relations. PTI
Beijing, October 29

National Security Advisors of India and China will meet next week to improve to bilateral ties that have taken a hit in the past few months, particularly over differences over India's admission into NSG and Beijing's attempts to block UN ban on JeM Chief Masood Azhar.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi will meet in Hyderabad in November first week for informal dialogue on the state of bilateral relations, specially the irritants bedevilling the development of ties, officials said.

Besides blocking India's admission into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), China had put a second technical hold on India's move to bring about a UN ban on Azhar. Also India has been protesting over the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that have being laid through the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

While India is concerned over the Pakistan factor creeping into India-China relations making the bilateral ties more complex, China too is airing its apprehensions over the movement to boycott Chinese goods in India as well the visit of US Ambassador to New Delhi, Richard Verma, to Arunachal Pradesh, which it considers as Southern Tibet and India's permission to allow the Dalai Lama to visit the area.

Chinese officials say Beijing is apprehensive about India moving closer to US and Japan broadening its strategic and defence ties with both the countries.

Doval and Yang who are the designated Special Representatives of the India-China boundary talks, also periodically meet to discuss the whole gamut of the Sino-Indian relations.

Yang was the former foreign minister of China before he was elevated to the rank of State Councillor of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) after President Xi Jinping took over power in 2013.

In Chinese power structure, State Councillor is more powerful than the Foreign Minister on foreign policy issues.

Both Doval and Yang have been meeting regularly to discuss the problems affecting the bilateral relations.

Officials say that the Hyderabad meeting is not Special Representatives dialogue on border but informal consultations in which all issues including those relating to the borders may figure.

Their meeting is set to take place in the backdrop of the just concluded plenary meeting of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) which conferred the status of "core leader" on Xi, broadening his power base both in the party and military.

On India's admission into the NSG, both sides held in-depth talks over the issue. India has been pressing China to relent on its opposition saying that vast majority of the 48-member group back New Delhi's case.

China, which is opposing India's membership on the ground that India is not a signatory to Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), says the group need to work out a proposal on the accession on all the non-NPT countries meaning Pakistan's admission too.

After talks with India, Chinese officials also held talks with Pakistan on the same issue.

On the issue of ban on Azhar, China has not reacted to Pakistan's reported move to freeze his bank accounts and keeping him under house arrest. Beijing's technical hold in the UN on Azhar's ban issue is due to expire in December.

Doval and Yang were expected to touch on these issues as well as India's concerns over the ballooning trade deficit which according to Chinese officials touched over USD 51 billion last year in little over USD 70 billion trade between the two countries.

China has been promising to step up investments in India besides opening up markets for Indian IT and Pharmaceuticals. PTI
With a little more than a week before Election Day, more than 3.5 million voters are registered so far in Wisconsin. Thats 61,630 more than as of this time in 2012, with 70 percent of the increase coming in counties that President Barack Obama won four years ago, according to data from the state Elections Commission.

Dane County has 22,463 more registered voters than four years ago, far and away the largest increase among the states 72 counties and nearly three times as many as the Republican strongholds of Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington counties combined.

Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell said the increase in the states liberal stronghold is likely due to a combination of population growth and expanded early voting options in Madison and other local municipalities after a judge struck down laws limiting early voting hours.

Andrea Kaminski, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, said a Dane County coalition including the League and the NAACP has been extremely active in registering people, much more so than Ive seen in previous years. Other groups have also registered voters, she said.

There has been an increase of 4,140 registered voters in Milwaukee County since 2012, though Neil Albrecht, executive director of the City of Milwaukee Election Commission, said city data show an increase of 29,343 registered voters so far compared with 2012. His numbers dont include more conservative parts of Milwaukee County outside the city.

I believe the data is the cleanest it has ever been  we follow all state protocols for removing ineligible voters, deceased voters, duplicate records, voters that have moved, etc.  but have also seen tremendous amounts of voter registration activity in Milwaukee, particularly through this summer, Albrecht said.

Some Republicans have suggested that GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump could cause a surge in new voters drawn to Trumps populist message. Sachin Chheda, a Democratic strategist, said he doesnt see any evidence in the registration data that supports that hypothesis. Republican strategist Mark Graul said turnout might be a better indicator of voter intensity.

The statewide registration database was created in 2006. There were 3.5 million registered voters as of the final October 2008 tally, and 15,046 fewer at the end of October 2012. Every two years, names are removed from the list if they havent voted in four years and dont respond to a letter the state sends out.

The overall increase in voter registration this year could be partly due to a mailing sent out in late September to 1.24 million people with a drivers license or ID card but who were not registered to vote, said state Elections Commission spokesman Reid Magney.

Online registration, approved by the Legislature this past session, wont be available until January. But for the first time this year, voters were able to complete part of their registration through the website myvote.wi.gov. Since June, about 20,000 completed registration information that could be printed and sent to a local clerks office on the site, Magney said.

The deadline for registering to vote by mail was Oct. 19, but Magney said registrations will continue to trickle in as unregistered voters take advantage of in-person absentee voting. Madison has already shattered early voting records compared with final 2012 numbers.

Voters can still register at their polling place on Nov. 8. They must be residents of their ward for at least 10 days and bring a document with a current address, such as a drivers license or a utility bill.
Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Kurukshetra, October 29

A pall of gloom descended on the native village of army jawan Mandeep Singh, who was killed by terrorists in Machil sector in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday.

The family members of the 30-year-old were inconsolable.

Several women from Aantehri village here reached the jawans house on Saturday and tried to console Mandeeps widow. The couple had got married two years ago, the family said.

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Deputy Commissioner Sumedha Kataria also visited the jawans home and offered her condolences.

The martyrs neighbours described him as a go-getter who always had a smile on his face.

Subhash, husband of the sarpanch of the village, said Mandeep was a helpful person who always offered help to anyone who approached him in need.

Mandeeps widow Prerna is a head constable with Haryana Police and is posted at Shahbad Markanda here.

Mandeep joined 17 Sikh Regiment as a sepoy in 2008 and got married in 2014

His father Phool Singh, a truck driver, said the government should give a free hand to the army to tackle the menace from Pakistan. He said Mandeep had called him around 10 days ago and promised to him to come home on Diwali.

His brother Sandeep Singh said, Give me a chance to join the army. I would avenge his death.

His cousin Jagbir Singh, an ex-serviceman, said it was an act of cowardice and urged the government to take revenge.

The mortal remains of Mandeep will reach the village by 5pm and would be consigned to the flames later.

Mandeeps sacrifice came within a week after Sushil Kumar (47), a BSF constable was martyred in Jammu district. He also hailed from Kurukshetra district and belonged to Pehowa town. With PTI
R Sedhuraman

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, October 28

The Supreme Court today directed the Centre to clear its Collegium proposals on appointment of high court judges without waiting for finalisation of the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP).

Edit: Locking courts out

A three-member Bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur told Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi that the government had no right to sit over the proposals indefinitely awaiting a fresh MoP.

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The Bench said there was no logic in the governments MoP theory as it had anyway accepted some of the recommendations of the Collegium by appointing HC judges under the old MoP.

The Bench made the remarks while going through the Centres status report on the appointment of HC judges based on the proposals of the Collegium, comprising five seniormost judges of the SC headed by CJI Thakur. The Centre had filed the report in compliance with the court order on two PILs over the delay in judicial appointments.

A five-member Constitution Bench headed by Justice JS Khehar that restored the Collegium system by striking down the law for setting up a National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) had clarified that appointment of judges would not have to await finalisation of a fresh MoP by the Centre in consultation with the SC Collegium as the vacancies had mounted to about 50 per cent of the sanctioned strength in most of the HCs, the Bench pointed out. The MoP under revision had been in use for more than 20 years and there was nothing wrong in following this procedure till a fresh one was put in place to ensure greater transparency and accountability in the appointment process, the Bench said. Justices DY Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao are its other members.

Further, the Collegium at the SC and HCs had tightened the norms for choosing and approving the candidates to ensure that only deserving lawyers were selected, the Bench said.

Pointing out that half of the courtrooms in most of the HCs were locked due to the vacancies, the Bench said the Centre appeared to be hell-bent on bringing the judiciary to a grinding halt.

You seem to be waiting for a system change and expecting us to capitulate. We wont let this happen, the Bench told the Centre. There was a time when judges had no courtrooms, but now courtrooms had no judges, it lamented.

Initially, it threatened to summon the Secretary responsible for processing the proposals, but changed its mind after the AG pleaded for posting the PILs for hearing after the Diwali break. The PILs will be taken up again on November 11.

The Bench, however, clarified it would be compelled to re-convene the Constitution Bench if the deadlock over the appointments persisted. If the government had reservation over any of the recommendations, it should return the names to the Collegium for reconsideration, instead of sitting over it, it said.

Any ego clash or confrontation would be detrimental to national interest, it clarified. Even as the MoP is stuck over the differences between the government and the Collegium over its provisions, Justice J Chelameswar has stopped attending the SC Collegium meetings demanding that its proceedings be recorded.
Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 28

Ahead of the Assembly poll in Punjab, the SAD-BJP government has appointed the brother-in-law of Baba Gurinder Singh Dhillon, head of the Radha Soami Dera, Beas, as Adviser to CM Parkash Singh Badal. He has been accorded the status of minister.

Parminder Singh Sekhon, the fifth adviser to the CM, is the brother of Dera chiefs wife. He is married to the daughter of former Advocate General HS Mattewal, Badals one-time aide. Sekhons appointment at the fag-end of the government tenure is significant. The Beas dera has a massive following, with devotees across the state.

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The Dera, which has never come out in support of a political party, has had a pro-Congress tilt with several Congress men among Dera chiefs circle of friends. Hence, the importance of a kin of the Dera chief being allotted a prominent position in the government cannot be ignored. Sources in the SAD say the move to have Sekhon as the CMs adviser was orchestrated by Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia.The latter has been engaging with the Dera leadership over the past few years.

A management expert, Sekhon has had the experience of working with corporate entities in India and abroad. Also, he has been involved in the welfare of Sikhs in Singapore through the Khalsa Club Association.
SANAA, October 29

At least 17 civilians were killed in Yemen's southwestern province of Taiz on Saturday by a Saudi-led coalition air strike that struck a house, local officials and residents said.

The raid targeted a house in the al-Salw district, the sources said, an area of Taiz where Houthi rebels and government forces backed by the coalition are fighting for control. Taiz is Yemen's third largest city with an estimated pre-war population of 300,000.

The Saudi-led coalition has been fighting Houthi rebels and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who hold much of the north of Yemen including the capital Sanaa, since March 2015 to try to restore the internationally-recognised President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power.

The exiled Hadi on Saturday rejected a UN peace proposal to end the turmoil saying the deal would only be a path to more war and destruction.

Speaking after meeting UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheickh Ahmed in Riyadh, Hadi said the agreement would "reward the rebels and penalise the Yemeni people and legitimacy, according to the government-controlled Saba news agency.

According to a copy of the proposal seen by Reuters, the plan would sideline Hadi and set up a government of less divisive figures.

The deal would involve removing Hadi's powerful vice-president, Ali Mushin al-Ahmar Ahmar from power and Hadi agreeing to become little more than a figurehead after a Houthi withdrawal from the capital Sanaa.

Hadi fled the armed advance of the Iranian-allied Houthi movement in March 2015 and has been a guest of neighbouring Saudi Arabia ever since.

A UN Security Council resolution a month later recognised him as the legitimate head of state and called on the Houthis to disarm and quit Yemen's main cities. But the Houthis and their allies in Yemen's army have said he will never return.

The conflict in Yemen has killed at least 10,000 people and unleashed one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.  Reuters
AL-SHURA/BAGHDAD, October 29

Iraqi Shi'ite militias said on Saturday they had launched an offensive towards the west of Mosul, an operation that would tighten the noose around Islamic State's Iraq stronghold but could inflame sectarian tension in the mainly Sunni region.

The battle for Mosul is expected to be the biggest in the 13 years of turmoil unleashed in Iraq by the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled former president Saddam Hussein, a Sunni Muslim, and brought Iraq's majority Shi'ite Muslims to power.

A spokesman for the Shi'ite militias, known as the Hashid Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) forces, said thousands of fighters "started operations this morning to clean up the hotbeds of Daesh (Islamic State) in the western parts of Mosul".

The city is by far the largest held by the ultra-hardline Sunni Islamic State and its loss would mark their effective defeat in Iraq, two years after their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a cross-border caliphate in parts of Iraq and neighbouring Syria from the pulpit of a Mosul mosque.

The Shi'ite militias aim to capture villages west of Mosul and reach the town of Tal Afar, about 55 km (35 miles) from the city, the Hashid spokesman said. Their goal is to cut off any option of retreat by Islamic State insurgents into neighbouring Syria or any reinforcement for their defence of Mosul.

The Iran-backed and battle-hardened paramilitaries bring additional firepower to the nearly two-week-old campaign to recapture Iraq's second largest city from the jihadist group.

Iraqi soldiers and security forces and Kurdish peshmerga fighters, backed by a US-led air coalition and thousands of Western military personnel, have been advancing in the last 13 days on the southern, eastern and northeastern fronts around Mosul, which remains home to 1.5 million people.

The United Nations has warned of a possible humanitarian crisis and a potential refugee exodus from Mosul  though the start of operations on the city's western flank could leave Mosul's civilians with no outlet to safety, even if they are able to escape Islamic State control.

Villagers from outlying areas around Mosul have said that women and children were being forced to walk as human shields alongside retreating Islamic State fighters as they withdrew into the city this week.

Iraqi and Western military sources say there had been debate about whether or not to seal off Mosul's western flank. Leaving it open would have offered Islamic State (IS) a chance to retreat, potentially sparing residents from a devastating, inner-city fight to the finish.

Some civilians fleeing Mosul have used the roads to the west to escape to Qamishli, in Kurdish-controlled northern Syria.

Others, from villages just outside Mosul, have exploited the chaos to flee in the other direction.

"Some people fled the other day so we took a chance. Daesh fired two bullets at us but they missed and we made it," said Ahmed Raad, 20, from the village of Abu Jarbuaa northeast of Mosul, who had found refuge at a peshmerga base.

The International Organisation for Migration said on Saturday 17,520 people have been displaced so far during the Mosul operation  excluding thousands of people forced back into the city by Islamic State.

Slow progress in the south

Thirty kilometres (20 miles) south of Mosul, Iraqi rapid response forces entered the Sunni town of al-Shura, once a significant base for Islamic State where the jihadists enjoyed strong support.

An intelligence officer said that most of the Islamic State insurgents appeared to have pulled back north towards Mosul, leaving just a small number to try to slow the advancing security forces.

Captain Abbas Shakir, speaking at the western edge of the town, said IS fighters had built up defences in the east and the south. "The enemy was surprised by our entrance from the west... They dropped their weapons and fled," he said.

Shakir said that security forces had taken the centre of al-Shura and raised the Iraqi flag, killing 50 to 60 Islamic State insurgents. The remaining jihadists were firing from the eastern edge of the town, and security forces responded with artillery fire and air strikes.

Nearly two weeks into the Mosul campaign launched by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, troops advancing along the Tigris river valley are much further from Mosul than Kurdish peshmerga fighters and an elite army unit advancing from the east.

Saturday's announcement by the Shi'ite militias added another force to the coalition of fighters seeking to crush Islamic State in Iraq, but will also raise concerns about the role the Popular Mobilisation fighters will play.

Targeting the Islamic State-held town of Tal Afar, close to Turkey and home to a sizeable ethnic Turkmen population with historic and cultural ties to Turkey, will alarm Ankara.

But before it was seized by Islamic State the town also had a strong Shi'ite presence, and its location on the road west to Syria gives it strategic importance to the Iranian-backed militias who have supported President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's five-year-old civil war.

Hashid spokesman Ahmed al-Assadi said Turkish forces, who are training Sunni tribal combatants in a camp northeast of Mosul to join the offensive against Islamic State, were in no position to obstruct the Shi'ite militia advance.

He also said the Popular Mobilisation forces, who have already fought in support of Assad in Syria, would cross the border into Syria to support him again once they had "cleared" Islamic State from their own country.

The Popular Mobilisation force, formed in 2014 to help push back Islamic State's sweeping advance, officially report to Abadi's Shi'ite-led government, but have very close links to Iran.

Human rights groups have warned of possible sectarian violence if the Shi'ite paramilitaries seize areas where Sunni Muslims form a majority, which is the case in much of northern and western Iraq.

Amnesty International says that in previous campaigns, they committed "serious human rights violations, including war crimes" against civilians fleeing Islamic State-held territory.

In July, the United Nations said it had a list of more than 640 Sunni men and boys reportedly abducted by a Shi'ite militia in Falluja, a former militant bastion west of Baghdad, and about 50 others who were summarily executed or tortured to death.

The Abadi government and the Popular Mobilisation forces say a limited number of violations had occurred and were investigated, but they deny abuses were widespread and systematic.  Reuters
Islamabad, October 29

Pakistani Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid has been removed from office over a newspaper leak that sparked a rift between the army and the government earlier this month, the prime minister's office said on Saturday.

Two sources from the Information Ministry told Reuters that Rashid had stepped down from his post until an inquiry confirms whether he was the source for a newspaper article detailing the discussion in a top-level national security meeting.

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"Evidence available so far points to a lapse on part of the Information Minister, who has been directed to step down from office to enable holding of an independent and detailed inquiry," a statement by the prime minister's office said.

The inquiry is seeking to identify the source of the Dawn article, published on October 6, which gave an account of a tense, high-level security meeting held between military and government officials.

Government and diplomatic sources say the Dawn article soured relations between Sharif's ruling PML-N party and the military, with army officials blaming PML-N for the leak and demanding the source be punished.

Relations between the civilian government and military have often been strained in a country where several prime ministers, including Sharif himself, have been ousted in coups.

Quoting anonymous sources, the Dawn article said civilian government officials called for the military not to interfere if civilian authorities tried to arrest members of anti-India militant groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba.

India has long accused Pakistan's military of sponsoring these groups to foment unrest in Indian-administered Kashmir and elsewhere, a charge that Pakistan denies.

The office of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has repeatedly rejected the article as inaccurate and the journalist who wrote it was at one point temporarily barred from leaving the country.

On Saturday, the Prime Minister's office said the October 6 story was "planted" and termed it a "breach of national security". Dawn newspaper editors have stood by the story and its author.

The committee being set up to investigate the leak includes senior officers from the ISI, the most powerful intelligence agency in Pakistan. Military Intelligence and Intelligence Bureau agencies will be in involved in the committee.

The military on Friday said top PML-N leaders  including finance minister, interior minister, and Sharif's brother  met the army chief Raheel Sharif, who is not related to the prime minister, to discuss the Dawn leak. The head of ISI was also present

Rashid did not respond to Reuters requests for comment. The military could not be immediately reached for comment.  Reuters
United Nations, October 29

Russia, facing allegations of war crimes in relation to its policies in Syria, lost its seat on the UN Human Rights Council as the UN General Assembly voted to elect 14 members to the Geneva-based organ.

The 193-member General Assembly yesterday elected 14 nations by secret ballot to serve on the Human Rights Council, the United Nations body responsible for the promotion and protection of all human rights around the globe.

Brazil, China, Croatia, Cuba, Egypt, Hungary, Iraq, Japan, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Tunisia, United Kingdom and the United States were elected for three-year terms beginning January 1, 2017. India is a member of the 47-member human rights body and its term will expire in 2017.

In Russias loss, leading human rights organisations saw a strong message to Moscow condemning its policies in Syria. In rejecting Russias bid for re-election to the Human Rights Council, UN member states have sent a strong message to the Kremlin about its support for a regime that has perpetrated so much atrocity in Syria, UN director at Human Rights Watch (HRW) Louis Charbonneau said in a statement.

Geneva-based human rights organisation UN Watch described Russias ouster from the Human Rights Council as a positive outcome of the election.

UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer said the non-election of Russia shows that the nations of the world can reject gross abusers if they so choose.

Moscow has faced severe international criticism for allying with the Syrian government, carrying out airstrikes to support the Syrian armed forces that have indiscriminately killed and wounded countless civilians. Over 200,000 people are believed to have died in the Syrian conflict during the last five years. China, Cuba, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and the UK were seeking re-election to the Council as their terms were set to expire in December this year.

HRW had strongly opposed the candidacy of Saudi Arabia, criticising its widespread unlawful attacks on civilians in Yemen.

UN Watch said the re-election of China, Cuba and Saudi Arabia, regimes which systematically violate the human rights of their citizens, casts a shadow upon the reputation of the UN.  PTI
MONONA  A Monona woman was presented the Purple Heart on Friday for her uncles service during World War I  one of 100 medals a national nonprofit hopes to present to the families of those who died in the war before the 100th anniversary of the United States entering the war.

At a ceremony in Shirley Robinsons home, three valor guards for Purple Hearts Reunited unveiled Army Pvt. Walter Morey Seversons Purple Heart to Robinson and her family.

Purple Hearts Reunited was founded four years ago by Purple Heart recipient Army National Guard Capt. Zachariah Fike, with the goal of reuniting service members and their families with their military medals that had been lost or stolen. Upon discovery that he already recovered 100 awards for World War I veterans, Fike decided the organization would find the families of these veterans and return their awards before the 100th anniversary of the U.S. entering the war on April 6, 1917.

Robinson, 84, said she never knew much about her paternal uncle. She knew he died while enlisted during World War I, but her father  Seversons brother Bennett  was young, with few memories of his oldest brother. Robinson did remember visiting and tending to Seversons grave in Angelica, in northeastern Wisconsin, every Memorial Day with her family. Seversons mother would tell her sons and grandchildren to remember the sacrifice he gave to serve his country.

After hearing about Seversons Purple Heart just six days before the ceremony, Robinson spent the week reflecting on her family and the generations that came before her.

It made me remember that the people who lived then didnt have much, but they were willing to give everything, Robinson said. Thats what (Severson) did. His family was very, very poor, so he enlisted to send money to his family.

Severson was awarded the Lady Columbia Wound Certificate upon his death at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C., in 1918. His official cause of death is unknown, but Robinson believed he died of the influenza that was an epidemic at the time. Lady Columbia certificates were awarded to those who died while on active duty, and when the military began issuing Purple Hearts in 1932, families with certificates could apply for and receive the Purple Heart for the veteran they lost.

Seversons family never applied to receive the award  former military police officer Mike Brennan with Purple Hearts Reunited said many families at the time didnt  and his family lost track of the certificate. Purple Hearts Reunited found it listed for sale by a collector on eBay, and bought it.

Brennan said most of the medals and awards they obtain come from collectors, many of whom are reluctant to allow the awards to return to the families they were awarded to. He said the collectors will more than triple their prices if they know Purple Hearts Reunited is attempting to take the medal off the market.

Brennan, who received his sons Purple Heart after he died in Afghanistan, travels across the country to present families of veterans with lost Purple Hearts because he can connect with the families losses.

You see the emotional attachment to the medal, and you see the familys reaction. Its like youre bringing a piece of that person back to life, Brennan said. It may be one of the only things a family ever gets back.

Brennan said there are five to 10 more Purple Hearts to be presented to Wisconsin families before their deadline in April, and he along with Sgt. Jason Johns and Sgt. Gregg Haak, who was also at Robinsons home, will present those awards as well.

Its a project thats unlike anything that anyones doing out there, Brennan said. Its a heck of a task because theres a lot of these and we need to travel all over the country to make this happen.

Robinson said she found out about the award only Saturday and was shocked that she would be presented the award. To her, Purple Hearts Reuniteds effort to return 100 medals is a testament to American values.

To think that they value people that served our country in a war that was before we were alive, that to me is what makes our country great, Robinson said.
OKLAHOMA CITY  The Retail Liquor Association of Oklahoma has abandoned efforts to get its version of a liquor modernization state question on a future ballot.

The group was unable to obtain the 123,725 signatures needed by the deadline to get State Question 791 on a ballot, Bryan Kerr, president, said Friday.

We were not going to get the required signatures in time, Kerr said. We had thousands and thousands that signed that wanted the alcohol laws changed in a different way than what State Question 792 provides.

Kerr said he didnt know specifically how many signatures the organization lacked.

We decided to suspend the campaign and try to defeat State Question 792 and come back with a bigger and better plan afterwards, he said.

In a message to members, Kerr said it was a good trial run for any initiatives that they may put forth in the future to get consumers what they want and to create a more equitable marketplace for retail package stores.

The measure would not have been placed on the Nov. 8 ballot, but could have been on a future ballot had circulators been successful and any challenges been unsuccessful.

State Question 792 will be the only liquor modernization measure on the Nov. 8 ballot. It is among seven state questions voters will decide.

State Question 792, if approved by voters, would allow grocery and convenience stores to sell cold, strong beer and wine. State Question 791 would have done the same thing, but had different limitations.

State Question 792, which lawmakers put on the ballot, would also allow package stores to sell items that are currently prohibited, such as mixers and ice.

Kerr and his organization have vowed to pursue a legal challenge should State Question 792 pass.

Alex Weintz, a spokesman for the campaign supporting State Question 792, said he is confident it would withstand a legal challenge.

Many if not all of the changes have already been adopted across the rest of the nation, Weintz said.

I am confident all of these proposals are constitutional and the courts will see it that way, he said.

He said State Question 792 has been polling well, but the group is continuing to get its message out.State Question 792 is the only wine and beer modernization effort on the ballot, Weintz said. It is the only chance we have to update the states prohibition-era laws. But I also think State Question 792 was always the better plan. It was a more comprehensive modernization proposal. And I think voters realized that and that is why State Question 791 never got off the ground.

Twitter: @bhoberock
Updated: An ABC spokesperson has today confirmed to TV Tonight that Lateline will be returning in 2017 with no changes.

Earlier: The future of Lateline appears to be in doubt after new ABC Managing Director Michelle Guthrie avoided confirming its return in 2017.

Speaking last night at the Wheeler Centres New News event, Guthrie was pressed on whether the show was returning.

Without directly answering host Margaret Simons, she spoke more broadly about content within ABC.

Is the mission of Foreign Correspondent to come up with a half hour weekly program? No. The mission of Foreign Correspondent is to explain whats happening in the world to Australians and give it context and analysis, she said.

The way I think about it is its getting away from individual programs and individual output and thinking about it more as What is our mission? What are we here to do and how can we do that effectively, and how do we have the dexterity to do that across different platforms -frankly some of which may not have even been invented yet? And to audiences whoever they are, wherever they are?

Pressed on the question of Lateline returning in 2017, she replied, Ive given you the answer.

As I said, it is about having the overall perspective of What are we trying to do?'

ABC will reveal its new and returning titles for 2017 on Wednesday.
Aussie writer Shane Brennan has set up another crime drama project at CBS.

The NCIS: Los Angeles creator has created, written and executive produced Here & Now.

In Here & Now, after a near death drowning accident, a Boston homicide detective develops retrograde amnesia which causes him to forget the last five years of his life.

Brennan recently donated $1m to a new initiative for Australian writers, Scripted Ink.

Source: Deadline
Donald Trump is a clear menace to our democratic form of government, the rule of law and my James Madison bobblehead. The teenage Ted Cruz could recite the entire Constitution from memory. Trump wouldnt know it from Two Corinthians.

But its not exactly safe to entrust your copy of the Constitution to Hillary Clinton, either. You might get it back with some parts missing or mutilated  like the First Amendment and the Second.

When it comes to gun rights, Clinton has taken a position appreciably to the left of Barack Obamas. From his first presidential campaign, he has assured gun owners he respects their cherished prerogatives and would never take away their weapons.

When the Supreme Court issued its landmark 2008 decision in D.C. v. Heller, he applauded it. I have always believed that the Second Amendment protects the right of individuals to bear arms, Obama said.

Not Clinton. When asked in June whether she endorses that interpretation, she conspicuously declined to do so. For most of our history, there was a nuanced reading of the Second Amendment, until the decision by the late Justice Scalia, she groused.

Asked whether she agrees that an individuals right to bear arms is a constitutional right, Clinton replied, If it is a constitutional right, then it, like every other constitutional right, is subject to reasonable regulations. If?

In her final debate with Trump, Clinton was asked again about the Heller decision. She reiterated her opposition, insisting that what the District of Columbia was trying to do was to protect toddlers from guns, and so they wanted people with guns to safely store them. She eventually said, I also believe theres an individual right to bear arms.

So Clinton rejects the Supreme Court decision that established constitutional protection for that right  but now agrees the right has constitutional protection? As former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan once said, If I seem unduly clear to you, you must have misunderstood what I said.

She and Obama both favor universal background checks for gun purchases, a ban on assault weapons and denying guns to anyone on the federal no-fly list. But her cramped view of the Second Amendment suggests she would favor additional curbs that she knows the Supreme Court would not abide.

Clinton seems to think that a new justice or two might set the Second Amendment right. On the First Amendment, however, she sees the Supreme Court as a lost cause.

Her target is the 2010 Citizens United decision, which established the right of corporations and labor unions to participate in electioneering. In the debate, she said it has undermined the election system in our country because of the way it permits dark, unaccountable money to come into our electoral system.

But all the decision did was to prevent the government from suppressing speech about political matters. The justices noted that under the law it struck down, it would be a felony for the Sierra Club, within 60 days of a general election, to run an ad urging the public to disapprove of a Congressman who favors logging in national forests. The court ruled that speech doesnt lose protection merely because it comes from corporations  a category that includes many advocacy groups.

Such expression would be censored if Clinton had her way. She proposes a constitutional amendment to overturn the decision  which would be the first time in our history that the Bill of Rights would be altered to restrict our freedoms.

The idea has drawn opposition from the American Civil Liberties Union, which says, Our system of free expression is built on the premise that the people get to decide what speech they want to hear; it is not the role of the government to make that decision for them.

Her alarms about dark money  contributions to politically active groups that dont have to reveal their donors  are misplaced. In the 2014 campaign, 77 percent of political spending was fully disclosed, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, up from 45 percent in 2010.

What Clinton omits is that Congress could require more transparency from these groups if it wanted to. The Citizens United decision doesnt forbid such regulation. The obstacles are political. But the same obstacles stand in the way of her constitutional amendment.

Trump and Clinton make me miss Al Gores famous Social Security lockbox. Over the next four years, it would be the perfect place to keep the Constitution.
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).
Ukrainian Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko has said he sees no arguments against submission of case against fugitive president Viktor Yanukovych to court.

The Minister said this on the air of 112 Ukraine TV channel.

"The only option when Yanukovych can be convicted in presentio is if he appears soon in Ukraine. We do not see such prospects so far. Therefore, the position of the Prosecutor General is right. First major cases should be submitted to court by the end of the year, after three years of investigation. Those prosecutors, who do not want or cannot do that, cannot enter into discussion. Conviction in absentia is not some kind of innovation which does not exist in other countries. This procedure is necessary to establish the facts, gathered by the investigation, and seize property and assets of Yanukovych," Minister Petrenko said.

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The EU-Canada summit will be held in Brussels tomorrow, October 30.

An Ukrinform correspondent in Brussels learnt this from the European Council.

"The summit will become an opportunity for signing the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA), the press service noted.

In addition, the leaders of the European Union and Canada will discuss the issues of foreign policy and international security, in particular the situation in Ukraine, Russia, Syria, carrying out operations in response to crisis situations, climate change, migration and the fight against terrorism.

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The Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) calls on Ukrainians around the world to urge Dutch PM Mark Rutte to unblock full and unconditional ratification of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.

This is said in the UWCs statement, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

The Ukrainian World Congress calls on Ukrainians and friends of Ukraine around the world to urge via social media sites Prime Minister Mark Rutte to unblock the full and unconditional ratification of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, the statement reads.

To do this, message #NetherlandsWithUkraine should be spread. This matter is imminent and we need your support NOW! Thank you in advance for your support, the UWC adds.

The Congress reminds that Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, will be announcing the decision of the Netherlands regarding the ratification of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement before 1 November 2016.

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This Is How Spotify Could Become A Next Generation Record Label [Mark Mulligan]

"Spotifys future is going to be much more than being the future of music retail," says industry analyst Mark Mulligan, who expects "Spotify to lay the foundations for a bold platform strategy that has the potential to change the face of the recorded music business as we know it."

__________________________________________

By Mark Mulligan of MIDiA

One of the themes my MIDiA colleague Tim Mulligan (the names no coincidence, hes my brother too!) has been developing over in our online video research is that of next generation TV operators. With the traditional pay-TV model buckling under the pressure of countless streaming subscriptions services like Netflix (there are more than 50 services in the US alone) pay-TV companies have responded with countless apps of their own such as HBO Go and CBS All Access. The result for the consumer is utter confusion with a bewildering choice of apps needed to get all the good shows and sports. This creates an opportunity for the G.A.A.F. (Google, Apple, Amazon, Facebook) to stitch all these apps together and in doing so become next generation TV operators. Though the G.A.A.F. are a major force in music too, the situation is also very different. Nonetheless there is an opportunity for companies such as these to create a joined up music experience that delivers an end-to-end platform for artists and music fans alike. Right now, Spotify is best placed to fulfil this role and in doing so it could become a next generation label. I added the quote marks around the word label because the term is becoming progressively less useful, but it at least helps people contextualise the concept.

Creating The Right Wall Street Narrative

When news emerged that Spotify was in negotiations to buy Soundcloud I highlighted a number of potential benefits and risks. One thing I didnt explore was how useful Soundcloud could be in helping Spotify build out its role as a music platform (more on that below). As I have noted before, as Spotify progresses towards an IPO it needs to construct a series of convincing narratives for Wall Street. The investor community generally looks upon the music business with, at best, extreme caution, and at worst, disdain. To put it simply, they dont like the look of low-to-negative margin businesses that have little control over their own destinies and that are trying to sell a product that most people dont want to buy. This is why Spotify needs to demonstrate to potential investors that it is working towards a future in which it has more control, and a path to profitability.The major label dominated, 17% gross operating margin (and 9% loss) 9.99 AYCE model does not tick any of those boxes. Spotify is not going to change any of those fundamentals significantly before it IPOs, but it can demonstrate it is working to change things.

The Role Of Labels Is As Important As Ever

At the moment Spotify is a retail channel with bells and whistles. But it is acquiring so much user data and music programming expertise that it be so much more than that. The role of record labels is always going to be needed, even if the current model is struggling to keep up. The things that record labels do best is:

Discover, invest in and nurture talent Market artists

Someone is always going to play that role, and while the distribution platforms such as Spotify could, in theory at least, play that role in a wider sense, existing labels (big and small) are going to remain at the centre of the equation for the meaningful future. Although some will most likely fall by the wayside or sell up over the next few years. (Sonys acquisition of Ministry Of Sound is an early move rather than an exception.) But what Spotify can do that incumbent labels cannot, is understand the artist and music fan story right from discovery through to consumption. More than that, it can help shape both of those in a way labels on their own cannot. Until not so recently Spotify found itself under continual criticism from artists and songwriters. Although this has not disappeared entirely it is becoming less prevalent as a) creators see progressively bigger cheques, and b) more new artists start their career in the streaming era and learn how to make careers work within it, often seeing streaming services more as audience acquisition tools rather than revenue generators.

The Balance Of Power Is Shifting Away From Recorded Music

In 2000 record music represented 60% of the entire music industry, now it is less than 30%. Live is the part that has gained most, and the streaming era artist viewpoint is best encapsulated by Ed Sheeran who cites Spotify as a key driver for his successful live career, saying [Spotify] helps me do what I want to do. Spotifys opportunity is to go the next step, and empower artists with the tools and connections to build all of the parts of their career from Spotify. This is what a next generation label will be, a platform that combines data, discovery, promotion (and revenue) with tools to help artists with live, merchandise and other parts of their career.

How Spotify Can Buy Its Way To Platform Success

To jump start its shift towards being a next-generation label Spotify could use its current debt raise  and post-IPO, its stock  to buy companies that it can plug into its platform. In some respects, this is the full stack music concept that Access Industries, Liberty Globaland Pandora have been pursuing. Here are a few companies that could help Spotify on this path:

Soundcloud: arguably the biggest artist-to-fan platform on the planet, Soundcloud could form a talent discovery function for Spotify. Spotify could use its Echo Nest intelligence to identify which acts are most likely to break through and use its curated playlists to break them on Spotify. Also artist platforms like BandPage and arguably the biggest artist-to-fan platform on the planet, Soundcloud could form a talent discovery function for Spotify. Spotify could use its Echo Nest intelligence to identify which acts are most likely to break through and use its curated playlists to break them on Spotify. Also artist platforms like BandPage and BandLab could play a similar role.

Indie labels: Many indie labels will struggle with cash flow due to streaming replacing sales, which means many will be looking to sell. My money is on Spotify buying a number of decent sized indies. This will demonstrate its ability to extend its value chain footprint, and therefore margins (which is important for Wall Street). It could also do a Netflix and use its algorithms to ensure that its owned-repertoire over performs, which helps margins even further. But more importantly, indie labels would give Spotify a vehicle for building the careers of artists discovered on Soundcloud. Also the A&R assets would be a crucial complement to its algorithms.

Tidal: Spotify could buy Tidal, taking advantage of Apples position of waiting until Tidal is effectively a distressed asset before it swoops. Though Tidal is most likely to want too much money, Spotify could buy Tidal, taking advantage of Apples position of waiting until Tidal is effectively a distressed asset before it swoops. Though Tidal is most likely to want too much money, its roster of exclusives and its artist-centric ethos would be a valuable part of an artist-first platform strategy for Spotify.

Songkick: In reality Songkick is going to form part of Access Deezer focused full stack play. But a data-led, live music focused company (especially if ticketing and booking can play a role) would be central to Spotify driving higher margin revenues and being able to offer a 360 degree proposition to artists.

: Arguably the most exciting music innovation of the decade, Musical.ly would give Spotify the ability to appeal to the next generation of music fans. The average age of a user is 20, for Spotify it is 27. Spotify has to be really careful not to age with its audience and music messaging apps are a great way to tap the next generation in the same way Facebook did (average age 35) did by buying up and growing messaging apps. (e.g. Instagrams average age is 26).

Pandora: A long shot perhaps, but Pandora would be a shortcut to full stack, having already acquired Ticket Fly, Next Big Sound and Rdio. If Pandoras stock continues to tank (the last few days of recovery notwithstanding) then who knows.

In conclusion, Spotifys future is going to be much more than being the future of music retail. With or without any of the above acquisitions, expect Spotify to lay the foundations for a bold platform strategy that has the potential to change the face of the recorded music business as we know it.

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A university has reportedly banned its students from using the Samsung 7 phones after reports of its batteries exploding causing some injuries as well as fires.

Based on all the news about the Samsung 7 handset, the University took a step ahead before anything untoward might happen by issuing a ban against the use of the said device. The institution cited fire-related accidents as the main reason for imposing the ban in its campuses and living halls. They also advised students and staff to immediately power down their handsets to prevent any accidents and injuries.

The Samsung Galaxy 7 has recently received a lot of flak because of its faulty batteries which reportedly caused a series of explosions and injured a number of customers. It has been reported that 70 percent of the Samsung 7 phones in the market have faulty batteries. This has caused the company to recall its phones from the market and stop its production for good.

The company also advised those who have Samsung 7 phones in their possession to turn them off immediately and stop using them to prevent any further accidents. It has also initiated a voluntary replacement program where Samsung 7 owners will be given a refund or have their handset swapped with another Samsung product. The steps how to do this can be found in the company's website.

The university has been encouraging their students and staff to follow the recall process the company has issued. Meanwhile, there are more universities in Europe and in North America which have been following suit and banned the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 from their campuses as some sort of advance precaution.

Aside from educational institutions, major airline companies have also refused to carry the said handsets on their flights. Some of these airline companies include Lufthansa, Air New Zealand, and Air Berlin.
Android 7.0 Nougat rolled out to many ofthe Android handsets, and here's a full list of smartphones that get - and will get - the update!

Android 7.0 Nougat for Xiaomi handsets

Xiaomi will soon launch a new UI version, MIUI 9, and the first handset to taste the Nougat will likely be the Mi 5. Although the Apple of China has not confirmed it yet, Mobipicker has learned that other handsets to get the newest OS version include Note 4 and Mi Max.

For Redmi 3 series, Mi Pad 2, Mi Note, Redmi Note 3, and Mi 4c - these smartphones are getting the update on the second half of 2017.

Android 7.0 Nougat for Samsung handsets

A few of Samsung flagships are currently being tested for Nougat compatibility with Beta version. Hence, it is expected to arrive later this year. The devices that will get the update include Galaxy S7 series, S6 series, and Note 5.

Android 7.0 Nougat for HTC handsets

HTC has confirmed that it will roll out Android Nougat update for a few of its handsets: HTC One, HTC One M9 and HTC 10. The company has not made official announcement of the exact date but there is a huge chance that it will be released in November.

Check here for a full list of Motorola handsets that are ready for Android 7.0 Nougat update

Android 7.0 Nougat for Huawei, Honor and LG handsets

Huawei Mate 9 details have been circulating through the web recently, including in GSM Arena. It is said to carry Android Nougat out of the box. It may take a few months before Huawei begins the update roll-out for older devices. Judging from the previous pattern, Honor devices are likely to get the update in March 2017.

LG has been quiet about the Nougat update status for its handset but the wait may not be long as it could roll out the newest OS version as early as January 2017.

Android 7.0 Nougat for Nexus handsets

Happy are those with Nexus devices as Google promise to release the final version of Nougat 7.1 in December. Handsets receiving the update will include Nexus 5X, Nexus 6 series, Pixel series, Nexus 9 and Android One. Find out here on how to get Android 7.0 Nougat update for Nexus 7 tablet.
If you haven't figured out the differences between Redmi 3, 3S and 3S Prime - be prepared to add another device in the list to be compared. According to leaks, it could likely be the Redmi 4.

Xiaomi Redmi 4 specifications leaked

The Redmi 3 series has not yet accumulating the attention like Mi Mix with its edgeless screen, but Xiaomi is rumored to gear up for Redmi 4. A Chinese source claims that Redmi 4 will rock 5-inch screen and 4,100 mAh battery. Powering the handset, a Snapdragon 625 chipset will be paired with 32 GB of internal storage and 3GB of RAM.

The report suggests a 13 MP rear shooter and 5 MP front shooter equipping the device. Judging from the previous handsets, the upcoming Redmi 4 might come with metal unibody and a sleek design with color options possibly in silver, gray and gold.

Xiaomi Redmi 4 specs are similar to Xiaomi 3S Prime

Comparing the leaked specs to the ones in Xiaomi 3S Prime, there are a few similarities in both devices. As listed in GSM Arena, the difference lies on the chipset but the others seem to be the same. Will this be a Redmi 4 device or is it just another Xiaomi 3S series? We'll find out soon.

Xiaomi Redmi 4 release date

Many reports suggested a September release date but turned out it was a wrong speculation. The specs leak has no indication that the device launch is imminent. And to remind you with another leak - two Xiaomi devices, with almost identical specs, are spotted in TENAA website - suggesting a green light for the handsets to be launched soon in China.

If these are not the same devices, then the faithful should expect more variants of Xiaomi phones flooding the market simultaneously.

Xiaomi Redmi 4 price

There is no official product or pricepoint announced but judging from the specs, the Redmi 4 is nothing like the Mi5 dubbed as the cheaper variant of Galaxy S7. According to Android Authority, Redmi 4 could likely be priced between $105 and $190.

Meanwhile, check out Redmi 3S Prime review!
Dozens of women have spoken up against a University of Wisconsin student. Alec Cook was arrested last week for reportedly sexually assaulting a female student.

The New York Times reported that Cook, 20, was arrested and accused of attacking a 20-year-old woman at his apartment in downtown Madison on Oct. 12. The arrest prompted more women to stand up and talk about how they were sexually assaulted by the alleged serial rapist.

"I saw the news story and was empowered by another girl being able to tell what happened to her, that I thought I could now finally tell," one of the victims told a police detective. Another revealed that Cook assaulted her last year.

The University of Wisconsin student has been formally charged on Thursday in four sexual assaults. In his apartment, a black leather book was found. It was there that he wrote how he met women and what he liked about them.

"The entries went on to document what he wanted to do with the females," Madison police investigator, Grant Humerickhouse, said. "Disturbingly enough, there were statements of 'kill' and statements of 'sexual' desires."

According to The Huffington Post, Cook's attorney believes that his client has become a victim of "character assassination" on Facebook and other media. He has been suspended from the university.

The University of Wisconsin issued an official statement about the incident. It was shared by Dean of Students Lori Berquam last Friday, Oct. 21.

"We are committed to providing supportive and prompt responses to students who have experienced sexual assault," the dean wrote. "Students have many options and services available to them on and off campus, including mental health counseling, victim advocacy, off-campus legal assistance, and access to the criminal and campus disciplinary systems."

Services available to victims are free. They can get in touch with the Title IX Coordinator, The Dean of Students Office as well as the University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Department.
A Friend To Musicians And Creators, U.S. Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante, Pushed Out

Much needed major copyright reform seemed on track until Friday when the U.S. Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante was suddenly pushed aside. Many in the music industry are expressing concern over the move; with some seeing the mighty hand of Google pulling strings at the highest level of government.

_______________________________________

Maria Pallante abruptly exited her role as the U.S. Register of Copyrights and is moving to a new advisory post. The change as made by Carla Hayden who was just confirmed to head the Library of Congress, under which the Register of Copyrights serves.

Pallante, who had served since 2011, will now serve as a senior adviser for digital strategy for the Library of Congress. Staffer Karyn Temple Claggett will serve as acting register of copyrights.

Locked Out Of Her Computer

According to Billboard, "Pallante was locked out of her computer this morning, according to two sources who spoke with Library employees. Earlier, [the nominal head of the Library of Congress] had called several members of Congress to tell them about her decision. Later, she called the heads of several media business trade organizations to give them the news, according to one who received such a call."

Music Industry Reaction

The surprise Friday announcement was met with concern from many in the music industry.

We are surprised and concerned by todays news, which comes at a time when the office and others are considering many potential changes to the copyright system and law, said Keith Kupferschmid, the CEO of the Copyright Alliance in a statement.

Some artist advocates see more nefarious forces behind the firing  corporate lobbyists, led by Google.

"This firing is virtually unprecedented in US history," writes David Lowery. " The Librarian of Congress generally leaves the Register of Copyrights to run the affairs of the copyright office. However in the last two months the main Google mouthpiece in Washington DC Public Knowledge has been clamoring for her head."

"Make no mistake, this is Google flexing its considerable pay-to-play muscle," says Chris Castle. "The timing is predictable  Google fires Pallante days before a general election, in the waning days of the Obama Administration. They dont give a good goddamn about whether its the Library of Congress or the Vulcan Science Academy. They control the players and theyll do what they want especially when they think no one is looking. "

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Aint gone hurt nobody, we just dancin yall was the refrain of the night at LAX Nightclub inside Luxor Hotel and Casino on Thursday, Oct. 27 as Kid n Play returned for The Pajama Jam 2 (Photo credit: Powers Imagery).

Photo credit: Powers Imagery.

The iconic 90s duo, made up of Christopher Play Martin and Christopher Kid Reid, kicked off the venues Halloween weekend festivities as headliners in its Throwback Thursday series. Delivering hits including Aint Gone Hurt Nobody, Last Night, and Kid vs. Play (the Battle), the artists took the packed house on a trip back to the better days of hi-top fades, eight-ball jackets, and the Funky Charleston.

Photo credit: Powers Imagery.

LAX Nightclub was decked out to the nines for The Pajama Jam 2 with exclusive Throwback activations, which included rooms with foosball tables and 90s arcade games, while House Party 2 was played on the venues main LED-screen. The hit film celebrates the 25th anniversary of its release this month.

Every Thursday at LAX Nightclub, DJs spin favorite hits from the 80s and 90s, with several memorable Throwback performers hosting select nights throughout the year.

Halloween weekend festivities will continue as Eric Forbes commands the dance floor Friday, Oct. 28 with his explosive, high-energy open style format. Saturday, Oct. 29, music industry visionary and legend Scott Storch will host and perform at Vampires and Vixens, LAX Nightclubs Halloween costume party. $10,000 in prizes will be awarded in the events costume contest.


Tivoli Village marked an important milestone for the lifestyle property today with a celebratory ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by public officials, Tivoli tenants and community supporters.

Hundreds of people turned out to be among the first to explore the extended layout including the beautiful center piazza featuring floral sculptures with sections of landscaped greenery along with the stunning four-story Restoration Hardware.

Tivoli executives were joined by several public officials including Las Vegas City Councilman Bob Beers and the Mayor of Las Vegas Carolyn Goodman, who also delivered a proclamation on behalf of the city. The variety of speakers pointed to the economic impact of the property, acknowledging Tivolis commitment to small business and its ability to attract highly-acclaimed national retailers such as RH.

Officials also applauded the role Tivoli has played for the surrounding neighborhoods acting as a true community gathering place.

Today the community and all those involved along the way have come together to celebrate a major milestone in the history of Tivoli Village, said Noam Ziv, CEO of IDB, It has been incredibly rewarding to see our vision finally come to fruition and I look forward to the future and what it holds for this wonderful property.


CRUSH at MGM Grand Hotel & Casino will offer a traditional Thanksgiving menu on Thursday, Nov. 24 (Photo credit: Jim Decker).

Prepared by Corporate Executive Chef William DeMarco, CRUSHs Thanksgiving dinner will include sliced turkey breast with sausage, bacon and root vegetable stuffing, complemented by creamy mashed potatoes and cranberry jelly, priced at $29 per person.

Guests also may choose from a selection of flavorful side dishes including roasted chestnuts and Brussels sprouts, maple-glazed yams, sweet potato gnocchi served with a sage brown butter and blistered green beans and beech mushrooms, each priced at $8.

Since no Thanksgiving dinner would be complete without pie, CRUSH will serve pecan, apple and pumpkin pie, priced at $8.
The ladies of FANTASY and the men of Australias Thunder from Down Under will be visiting the popular Las Vegas attraction, CSI: The Experience at MGM Grand Hotel & Casino on Thursday, Dec. 15 from 3:00 PM  5:00 PM. The cast members from the two hit Strip shows will be competing in a crime solving competition. The first of the two teams to correctly solve one of the CSI: The Experience crimes wins.

The lovely ladies and stunning studs will also be posing for pictures for a minimum donation of $5.00. For $10.00, CSI: The Experience will take and print out the photos on-site. Money raised from the photos will be donated to 98.5 KLUCs Annual Toy Drive which benefits HELP of Southern Nevada.

CSI: The Experience at MGM Grand places guests in the role of a crime scene investigator as they solve one of three true-to-life mysteries. Spanning 12,000 square feet and featuring numerous hand-made props, CSI: The Experience comes to life through a captivating multi-media environment featuring dazzling special effects, meticulous crime scene recreations and two state-of-the-art crime labs. Since opening in 2009, CSI: The Experience has become one the top attractions Las Vegas has to offer. In August 2011, The Experience welcomed its 300,000th guest, and the numbers continue to grow.

WHEN: Thursday, December 15th

3:00 PM-5:00 PM

WHERE: CSI: The Experience at MGM Grand

In the Studio Walk Located along City Walk

3799 Las Vegas Boulevard South

Las Vegas, Nevada 89109
In this photo provided by passenger Jose Castillo, fellow passengers walk away from a burning American Airlines jet that aborted takeoff and caught fire on the runway at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on Oct 28, 2016. (Photo source : Jose Castillo via AP)

The blaze broke out on American Airlines Flight 383 - with 161 passengers and nine crew on board - as the plane was on the runway at one of the nation's busiest airports.

"We transported about 20 patients with minor injuries to several hospitals," Juan Hernandez of the Chicago Fire Department told a news conference.

He described the injuries as bruises and ankle injuries incurred as passengers exited via emergency slides.

"We are taking care of our customers and crew and are re-accommodating our passengers on another flight to Miami this evening," American Airlines said in a statement.

The cause of the incident was not immediately clear, with the Federal Aviation Administration and the airline offering conflicting information.

The FAA said the plane suffered a tire blowout, but spokesman Tony Molinaro told AFP that that information was preliminary and based on initial reports from the plane's pilots.

In a separate statement, American Airlines blamed the incident on an "engine-related issue."

Timothy Sampey, with the Chicago Fire Department's airport operations, said the fire was in one of the plane's engines.

"There was substantial fire on the starboard (right) side of the aircraft," he said. "There was substantial fuel leak."

Officials did not explain the cause of the leak, saying it would be determined by the ensuing investigation.

Bystanders posted photos and videos on social media showing black smoke billowing from the airliner.

One video showed passengers coming down emergency slides and running away from the aircraft, with black smoke and flames visible on the right side of the plane.

Emergency crews surrounded the jet, which appeared to be intact on the runway, though its right side and right wing were charred.

The FAA said it was investigating the incident and the National Transportation Safety Board had been notified.

Service was not interrupted at O'Hare, but the FAA said delays were expected.
Migrants gather with their belongings near the makeshift building used as a school as they prepare to spend the night after the dismantlement of the "Jungle" camp in Calais, France, October 27, 2016. Photo source: REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer

As bulldozers raze the sprawling camp in the northern French port city of Calais this week, busloads of children have been arriving in Britain.

With the UK promising to take in hundreds more, local authorities face the challenge of resettling these youngsters - many of whom have fled war and poverty in countries like Afghanistan, Eritrea and Sudan.

But media reports say one in four local authorities have refused to take in any children of the Jungle.

One London borough, Hammersmith and Fulham, has been at the forefront of efforts to bring them to Britain under the so-called Dubs Amendment passed in May, vowing to accommodate 15 in total.

While children with family ties in Britain have the right to claim asylum here, the Dubs legislation allows vulnerable youngsters with no such ties to seek refuge.

Taking 15 of the 1,500 children housed temporarily in shipping containers in the Jungle may not seem like many.

But Hammersmith and Fulham hopes its example will encourage other local authorities to follow suit, as Paris and London squabble over who is to blame for their plight.

'DRIVEN MAD BY FEAR'

Stephen Cowan, the borough council's leader, visited Calais in August with other London officials and was shocked by what he saw.

"You had this acute urine stench that hit you in the back of the throat," he told AFP, describing the "dusty, intimidating environment".

One child in particular struck him: a nine-year-old boy from Afghanistan who was "shivering" despite the summer heat.

"He looked overcome with stress. I asked the interpreter why he was shivering and he said: 'This boy has been driven mad by fear'."

The boy told Cowan: "I want somewhere where I will be safe at night and I will not be hurt anymore."

Moved by the experience, Cowan pledged that his plush west London borough would find homes for such vulnerable children - though not all residents have supported the initiative.

A week before the camp was razed, the borough allowed 13 social workers to go to Calais to assess the needs of unaccompanied minors.

CHAOS AND TEARS

Social worker Rebecca Harvey recalled "chaotic" scene on arriving the day after police used tear gas during clashes at the camp.

She and her colleagues worked with an interpreter to take down key details: where the children were from, their state of mind and health, and hopes for the future.

One 13-year-old boy said he had left his home in Afghanistan after his father was beheaded and his mother shot dead in front of him by jihadists.

At the camp, "he was living in a tent with a man he didn't know and crying all the time.

"He said he just thought every day 'maybe it would be better if I threw myself under a truck and I didn't have to suffer anymore'," Harvey told AFP.

"His story was not unique by any stretch of the imagination."

Since mid-October, more than 200 children have arrived in Britain from Calais and more transfers are due in the coming days, the Home Office interior ministry says.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has said all minors "with proven family links in Britain" will eventually be transferred there, and that London has committed to reviewing all other cases where it is "in the child's interest" to settle across the Channel.

On Thursday, the first five of Hammersmith and Fulham's quota - boys aged 11 and 12 - arrived in London to register for asylum and were placed immediately into foster care.

With foster places scarce in the area, the authority has secured them homes, using government funding, outside the borough where carers are more readily available.

There they will be provided with access to education, health care, and support services including English language tuition, a council spokesman said.

The challenge now is to find "safe houses" in Britain, France or elsewhere in Europe for "every single one" of the 1,500 children remaining in Calais, said Cowan.

"Those children can't be allowed to get lost."
Representatives sign PPP co-operation agreement to promote apparel and footwear sustainable development.

- VNS Photo Vu Hoa

The co-operation, which is the first of its kind in Viet Nam, marks a new step in promoting the sustainable development of the apparel and footwear sectors in terms of economy, society and environment.

Participants in the PPP co-operation were the Department of Light Industry under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Viet Nam Environment Administration under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the International Co-operation Department under the Ministry of Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs, the Viet Nam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS), the Viet Nam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association (LEFASO), the Viet Nam Cotton and Spinning Association (Vcosa), multinational companies such as Marks & Spencer, and IDH Sustainable Trade Initiative.

The agreement was under the Race to the Top (RttT) programme with supports from all members.

RttT has been an initiative of the Global Green Growth Forum (3GF), the Dutch and Danish governments, multinational companies including GAP, Nike, Marks & Spencer, Levi Strauss & Co, Sustainable Apparel Coalition, IDH, Better Work and producers.

The programme aimed to provide support to apparel and footwear products and the application of global sustainable production in Viet Nam.

The agreement would see the co-operation of all members to enhance environmentally-friendly production, improve productivity, reduce negative effects on the environment and promote dialogue among labourers.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Flavio Corsin, IDH Viet Nam country director said the programme expected to improve the economic and social benefits and reputation for the Government, the industries, workers and communities.

RttT would create a supportive policy and regulatory environment for sustainable apparel production while encouraging manufacturers and mills to invest in environmentally-friendly technology, he said.

Under the agreement, participants would quarterly meet up to review outcomes.
Imports of pre-painted galvanized steel have increased dramatically, it said. In the first eight months of the year they stood at 386,000 tonnes, up 200%. The market share of local producers is now just 53%, 11% lower than 12 months ago.

Any industry in a market where nearly half of all products are imported will not be able to develop, VSA said. The price of Chinese pre-painted galvanized steel is about VND6.7 million (US$300) cheaper per ton than Vietnamese products, or 31%, and Vietnamese products simply cant compete.

Domestic manufacturers must also cope with a wide range of trade defense cases in foreign markets such as Malaysia, Thailand, the US, and Australia.

In documents sent to the government, VSA said it has been four months since the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) decided to investigate imported pre-painted galvanized steel and determine if safeguard duties were warranted. Delaying the investigation further is of great concern to the association.

On May 24 the Vietnam Competition Authority (VCA) received a proposal on safeguard methods for imported pre-painted galvanized steel from one law company and three domestic manufacturers. After considering the proposal, on June 6 it decided it had legal basis. On July 6 it issued Document No. 2847/QD-BCT on investigating the imported pre-painted galvanized steel.

The products to be investigated had the following HS codes: 7210.7010, 7210.7090, 7212.4010, 7212.4020, 7212.4090, 7225.9990, 7226.9919, and 7226.9999. The investigation was to determine the extent of damage incurred from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2015.

According to Ordinance No. 20 on the dumping of imported goods into Vietnam, MoIT can decide to impose safeguard duties prior to completing an investigation if it finds that a delay to imposing such duties would cause irreparable damage to the domestic industry.

The domestic manufacturers lodging the May proposal said that in 2013 the importation of pre-painted galvanized steel reached almost 130,000 tonnes and then 240,000 tonnes in 2015, an increase of 84.5%. Imports have originated from China, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand, but China accounts for over 80%.

They suggested safeguard duties of 30% and recommended they be imposed for four years.

MoIT announced in March that some imported steel billets and steel bars would be subject to safeguard duties of 22.3% and 14.2%, respectively. Its decision came from inspections conducted in December 2015 that revealed the imports had a negative impact on domestic steel production, in particular the production of steel billets and steel bars, due to their lower prices. If the situation continued domestic production would stagnate.
Photo by ORLANDO SENTINEL

A young girl delights in meeting President Barack Obama as he greets supporters at a rally for the Hillary Clinton campaign at the University of Central Florida on Friday in Orlando, Fla.


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Creamer "stepped away" from his campaign gig at "American United for Change" as soon as Project Veritas r olled out the secretly-recorded videos - but not a word came from his wife Jan Schakowsky, who led a protest outside a Republican fundraiser the same day Donald Trump cancelled a scheduled rally in Chicago, fearing violent protesters.

After all, Schakowsky's husband Bob Creamer did not only spend time in prison for bank fraud and tax troubles, he was caught in several undercover videos appearing to admit his part in stirring up violence and illegally coordinating with the Clinton campaign .

CHICAGO - Husbands are causing Clinton insiders lots of headaches these days, and there's no question IL Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky can identify with Clinton aide Yuma Abedin's recent spousal embarrassments.

People that saw Schakowsky leading the anti-Republican protest in March coinciding with the cancellation of the Trump rally continue to be frustrated. They eagerly distribute photos of the congresswoman holding a sign in front of the Palmer House saying, "Trump, Cruz, Rauner - the Gang of Hate" with her husband's "Americans United for Change" website address across the bottom.

Before the March protest, Schakowsky's office sent out the following email:

Donald Trump, Bruce Rauner, and Ted Cruz are going to descend on Chicago to spread their message of intolerance, racism, and hate. We need to stand up to their disgusting rhetoric and remind them that Chicago wont tolerate the garbage they are spewing.

Her involvement with her husband's efforts and no accountability for her activities have voters in the 9th CD frustrated.

Theres no question that the protest led by Jan Schakowsky in front of the Palmer House was designed to incite violence. I was there. The protesters were totally rabid. They blocked traffic on the street and blocked the entrance to the building. Its a miracle that fights didnt break out," Mark Glennon told Illinois Review. He wrote about his experience the next day on WirePoints.

Since Schakowsky's husband's connections to the violence that day became public, Republican opponent Joan Lasonde called on Schakowsky to step down. Lasonde pointed to the tax dollars spent on law enforcement and security that Creamer and Schakowsky demanded during the protests.

More evidence of the congresswoman's involvement in the demonstrations showed up on Facebook:

and

A protest is planned outside of Schakowsky's office next Tuesday - once again calling on the lawmaker to resign for her part in her husband's dirty tactics and for law enforcement to prosecute criminal activities recorded on Project Veritas' videos.

More info about Tuesday's protest HERE.
Syrian government forces and their allies launched a counteroffensive Saturday under the cover of airstrikes trying to regain control of areas they had lost to insurgents the day before in the northern city of Aleppo, activists and state media said.

The government had reported it pushed back a large attack on the south and west of the city, but the rebels and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said insurgents had taken control of an entire suburb in the southwest corner of the city.

Syrian rebels continued their efforts Saturday to shake Aleppo from the government's siege, as airstrikes hit the edges of the divided city.

Rebel commander Abu Mustafa told the French News Agency, "In just a few days, we will open the way for our besieged brothers."

The Observatory said Friday rebel shelling in west Aleppo killed 15 civilians and wounded 100.

On Thursday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for an investigation into an airstrike on a school in Syria that killed nearly 30 people, most of them children.

"If deliberate, this attack may amount to a war crime," Ban's office said in a statement.



Former British prime minister Gordon Brown, who is the U.N. special envoy for education, also called for a war-crimes investigation of the incident.



It really is now incumbent on the Security Council to investigate this, to prosecute if there is a war crime, to get the International Criminal Court on board for this, and to have an investigation, Brown told VOA in an interview.



Warplanes carried out six strikes Wednesday on a village in rebel-held Idlib and hit a school complex, leaving six teachers and 22 of their students dead, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Either Russia or Syria to blame

Both the observatory and the White House have said that either the Syrian or Russian governments were responsible for the attacks.



"We dont know yet that it was the Assad regime or the Russians that carried out the airstrike, but we know it was one of the two," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

Russian defense ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Russian warplanes were not in the airspace over the school at the time in question. Russian news agencies also quoted him as saying that images of the damaged site photographed by a Russian unmanned aircraft indicated the damage was not due to an airstrike.



Western diplomats at the United Nations backed calls for an independent investigation.



Its an appalling attack. We condemn it, British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told reporters. It is a good idea to establish a proper investigation. I hope the whole of the Security Council would be able to support that, and I hope the whole the Security Council would also support proper accountability for whoever is deemed to have been responsible for such an outrageous attack, he added.

'Barbarian acts'



If this is not a war crime, frankly, what is a war crime? French Ambassador Francois Delattre asked reporters. We must hold the perpetrators of those barbarian acts accountable. We will be firm on that. We will also keep up the pressure on the Syrian regime and its allies to stop the bombing.

The United Nations says some two million Syrian school-aged children are out of school and 52,000 teachers have left their jobs. Since January, there have been up to 40 attacks on schools in the war-torn country, and one-third of all schools are unusable because they have been damaged, destroyed or occupied.
The majority of protesters trying to block the building of an oil pipeline through Native American land in the U.S. state of North Dakota returned to near their base camp Saturday morning after two days of escalated tensions between them and the police.

About a half dozen law enforcement vehicles remained parked near the site Saturday morning.

Friday, the day after protests escalated and resulted in over 100 arrests, just over 50 people returned to the site where barricades were set ablaze on a bridge over the Missouri River  the main source of water for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

Protesters were "nonconfrontational but uncooperative," said Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier, thanking members of the Standing Rock tribe for helping to ease tensions.

Native Americans and their supporters say the Dakota Access Pipeline will put the local water supply at risk and damage areas sacred to the tribe.

Protests had been intensifying since July, when a permit was obtained to route the pipeline beneath the Missouri River at Lake Oahe, less than 1 kilometer from the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation.
Ethiopias tourism sector is suffering. The impact of a year of violent protests and state of emergency has led to a decline in tourists visiting the country. Ethiopia had been showing signs of becoming a popular new tourism destination in recent years, attracting people not only for its historical sights, but also for its reputation as one of the safest African countries.

Rock churches in the historical town of Lalibela, in northern Ethiopia, attract thousands of tourists each year. But the six-month state of emergency declared three weeks ago by the government to deal with months of protests is scaring away tourists.



Belayneh Mengesha is a Lalibela tour guide who was born and raised in the town. He says October is usually the start of the high season but not this year.

Unfortunately, because of this problems happening in some parts of the country, some just have already cancelled their trips to Ethiopia, said Mengesha.



Belayneh also says tourism is a source of income, directly or indirectly, for many citizens of Lalibela. Meaning that any decrease of visitors affects the entire community, even though Lalibela has not been hit by the protests and demonstrations.



Oromo and Amahar demonstrators took to the streets to protest the land disputes with the government.



Bram van Loonsbroek flies air balloons over the Oromia region and had to cancel several flights after the state of emergency was declared. He says customers are concerned about their safety and want to stay away from ares with unrest.

We dont have anything to do with potential land discussion. Because we land, we pack the balloon and we are back again," said Loonsbroek. "We do give some landing fee to the farmers. And thats what we try to do to comfort the passengers to explain simply how we work.



Ethiopia has seen the number of tourists steadily increase in the last decade. But any development disturbing the reputation of a tourist destination takes a long time to rebuild. The ongoing protests in Ethiopia resulted in clashes with security forces and hundreds of deaths.



Stephen Richer is of Skal International, a global association promoting tourism. He says because it can be so easy for rumors and misinformation to spread, authorities need to be transparent and clearly communicate the situation so visitors can make good decisions.

So for example, the Ebola was in West Africa and how people stopped going to South Africa, because they didnt know the facts," said Richer. "So there is a messaging challenge here, which is, start telling people right away what is accurate. Dont sugarcoat it.



Several tour operators say they have about 50 percent less business than last year and some actually welcome the state of emergency in the hope that the protests will quickly stop and tourists will return.
There is a growing sense that by the time Iraqi forces finish wresting control of the key city of Mosul from Islamic State fighters, few if any of the terror group's top leaders will be there.

The consensus by a variety of current and former intelligence officials comes despite persistent claims in recent weeks from Iraqi officials that IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is holed up in a bunker or tunnel somewhere in the city.

In contrast, U.S. military and intelligence officials have been cautious about discussing the IS leader and his whereabouts. Still, they say it is clear some IS leaders have left Mosul and emphasize a string of strikes in recent months have dealt "significant blows" to the terror group.

"The intelligence community has made great strides in developing practices, tradecraft and information to methodically target and eliminate key ISIL figures," a U.S. counterterrorism official told VOA, using an acronym for the terror group. Tradecraft refers to espionage techniques and technologies.

IS spokesman killed

One of the biggest blows against IS leadership came August 30, when a U.S. airstrike targeted and killed IS spokesman and external operations planner Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, one of several high-value IS members the U.S. had been tracking at the time.

Since then, U.S. and coalition airstrikes have killed several other mid- to high-level IS officials, targeting dozens in Mosul alone.

"You might say the most dangerous job in Iraq right now is to be the military emir of Mosul," U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in prepared remarks before the opening of an anti-IS coalition meeting in Paris Tuesday.

"Our hope and our belief is that it has had an effect on their ability to command and control their troops," a defense official told VOA, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

But the official added that many of the IS leaders being targeted are tactical commanders who would be responsible for staying in the city to direct its defense.

Additionally, former intelligence analysts argue that the IS terror group's history would suggest top officials, such as Baghdadi, will not unnecessarily put themselves in harm's way.

"If you look at ISIS, if you look at al-Qaida, AQI, the predecessor organization  whenever there's a huge battle, usually the major leader, like [Abu Musab al-]Zarqawi, they're never around," former CIA analyst Aki Peritz said.

"The leaders are not in the martyrdom business," said Peritz, now a senior fellow at George Washington University's Center for Cyber and Homeland Security. "They hold on to their lives much more dearly than they do [the lives] of their colleagues."

Not consistent with messaging

Officials and analysts add keeping key, high-level leaders in a place like Mosul, the self-declared caliphate's Iraqi capital, would also be inconsistent with the terror group's messaging, which has been urging followers not to come to Iraq and Syria but to instead take up arms wherever they are.

"They understand the inevitability that their caliphate is going to fall," said Daveed Gartenstein-Ross with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. "They've moved on to being an insurgency or a terrorist group."

Losing Baghdadi, the group's most recognizable and charismatic figure, as Mosul falls could hurt IS over the long term, leaving the remnants of the group in Iraq and Syria, as well as its affiliates, without a central figure around which to rally.

For now, though, it is likely that rumors that Baghdadi is hiding in Mosul will endure, if only for Iraqi propaganda purposes.

"People who have lost family members  fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers  to the depredations of Islamic State, they want to go after them. They want vengeance or justice," Peritz said. "If you know a great evil, a person that's responsible for so much suffering in your country, is in this one city, it might actually psych up your troops to go after him."
Four people were stabbed Saturday in an attack inside the Hauptwache rail and subway station in downtown Frankfurt, German police said.

Frankfurt police confirmed via Twitter that all four victims had been taken to the hospital with stab wounds, without giving further details of their condition.

Police were investigating how many people were involved in the stabbing. The motive for the attack was not clear, officials said.

Germany was struck by a series of attacks this summer. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for two attacks in late July, one on a train near Wurzburg and another at a music festival in Ansbach that wounded 20 people. Police fatally shot the assailants in both incidents.

Two other attacks, including a deadly mall shooting in Munich, were unrelated to Islamic extremism, according to police.
French President Francois Hollande said Saturday that he would close a migrant camp in Paris, after his government emptied the camp known as "the jungle" near Calais earlier in the week.

The makeshift camp near the port city of Calais, where migrants awaiting resettlement elsewhere lived in dire conditions, became a high-profile symbol of Europe's worst refugee crisis since World War II.

"We cannot tolerate camps," Hollande said, calling the street encampments "not worthy" of France. "We will evacuate the camps in Paris, because it cannot be a long-lasting solution" for migrant refugees who escape war and poverty in their countries of origin.

"France also has, regarding Europe, a responsibility, which is to ensure the control of external borders, because we cannot let in migrants who do not have the right to stake their claims," he said. "However, we must take in refugees who are victims of persecution in their own countries, and we know them  Syrians, Iraqis, Afghans, Sudanese. ... That is part of our duty, and we must do it under conditions which are worthy of France."

Hollande urged Britain to take in 1,500 unaccompanied minors from "the jungle" as officials stepped up efforts to demolish the almost-deserted Calais camp.

The president said he had spoken with British Prime Minister Theresa May to ensure that British officials would "play their part" in welcoming them to Britain.

Hollande said 5,000 migrants had been evacuated from the Calais camp in the past week and transferred to 450 reception centers around France.

Anti-immigrant sentiment in Britain and France has complicated efforts to address the long-running Calais migrant drama.
The presidential candidate of Ghanas opposition Progressive Peoples Party (PPP) says a court decision Friday that orders the Electoral Commission to put him on the December 7 ballot should strengthen the electoral bodys ability to equitably apply the countrys electoral laws ahead of the polls.

Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom was one of more than 10 presidential candidates disqualified by the commission for failing to meet stipulations in the documents they filed to contest the December polls.

But the PPP challenged the disqualification, and a court reversed the commission and ruled that Nduom could join the race if he corrected errors in his original application.

A little bit more faith

In an interview shortly after the courts ruling, Nduom told VOA his party planned to meet commission officials next week to begin revising the documents it must file. He also said the ruling could encourage citizens to have a little bit more faith in the Ghanaian system and institutions.

I have said right from the beginning that what had happened to me was an attack on our democracy, on our freedoms, and on our still infant democracy, and that it was also an attempt to belittle the institutional structures that we have in Ghana, Nduom said.  ... The judge essentially told the Electoral Commission that what had been given to me by the law, they had tried to take away.

This is a victory not for me or for the Progressive Peoples Party, but for the people of Ghana, he added. And it asserts our legal rights, a right given by the constitution of the republic and the right given by the political parties law. And for me that is what is important and good.

Yes, I am happy that I get an opportunity to get back on the ballot. I am very happy about that because Ghana needs a party other than the NDC [National Democratic Congress] and the NPP [New Patriotic Party], to balance things out and to ensure that the people of Ghana have a choice to make, and a good choice at that.

Nduom said his Progressive Peoples Party has been leading a crusade to ensure the Electoral Commission is impartial and independent in carrying out its constitutional mandate to organize and administer peaceful, transparent and credible presidential, legislative and local elections.

Critics of the commission say its reputation was damaged by Fridays court ruling. Others, however, said the ruling strengthens the commissions ability to be fair and impartial.

I believe in the latter, Nduom said. This must lead to the strengthening of the Electoral Commission, and I am hoping that the Electoral Commission itself believes as we do that all of its laws must be applied strongly across the board without fear or favor. When that is done, I think that Ghana would be well. So I am hoping that this gives them a bit of a push, but in the right direction, a positive one.

For those who are arguing in all kinds of strange ways, Nduom said, well, that is up to them, but the law is the law, and the law is important. And if you want to be a strong country, a country that develops just like the people of the United States have developed, it must be based on law and order, and all institutions must comply with the law. Once we do that, I think then we get the fundamental foundation for other things to happen. So I am happy for that and I hope we are not going to be enemies of the EC.

Also on the ballot

Nduom now joins incumbent President John Dramani Mahama from the ruling NDC, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party, Ivor Kobina Greenstreet of the Convention Peoples Party and Jacob Osei Yeboah, an independent candidate, on the presidential candidates list.

Former first lady Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, the presidential hopeful of the opposition National Democratic Party, has filed a separate court petition challenging her disqualification. She told VOA the Electoral Commission failed to uphold the law, which requires notification to a political party of any possible errors in its nomination documents.
Unknown gunmen on motorcycles Saturday fired on a Shi'ite Muslim religious congregation in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi, killing at least five people and wounding several others.

Eyewitnesses told reporters the attackers managed to flee the scene. There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the bloodshed in the country's largest city and commercial hub.

The attack came days after three suicide bombers stormed a police training center in the southwestern city of Quetta. More than 62 young recruits were killed, while another 120 were wounded.

The Islamic State terrorist group claimed responsibility for Monday's assault.
Voters in Iceland are going to the polls Saturday for parliamentary elections.

Analysts say the anti-establishment Pirates Party will likely form a new center-left coalition.

The incumbent government is expected to receive a drubbing, following the 2008 financial crisis and this year's international tax scandal revealed in the Panama Papers. Large anti-government protests after the release of the Panama Papers forced Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson to resign. Several politicians were named in the tax fraud case.

Although the current government of the conservative Independence Party and the centrist Progressive Party survived the scandal, it nevertheless promised an early vote in October instead of next April.

The country's young people seem attracted to the Pirates, which campaigns for public transparency, institutional reform, individual freedoms and the fight against corruption.

Voting results are expected shortly after the polls close, but no party is expected to win a majority. The ruling government will be determined after coalition negotiations.
A follower of the Islamic State group was responsible for an attack this week on a Kenyan police officer outside the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, the group's Amaq news agency said Saturday.

A knife-wielding man whom police described as a criminal was shot dead outside the embassy Thursday after he attacked and injured a Kenyan police officer.

"The person who carried out the stabbing of a guard outside the American Embassy in Nairobi last Thursday was a soldier of Islamic State responding to calls to target coalition countries," Amaq said.

Kenya's police spokesman said at the time that the motive was unclear and that an investigation had been launched. The spokesman could not immediately be reached Saturday.

Islamic State previously claimed an attack in Kenya in September by three women who were shot dead after they tricked their way into a police station in Mombasa and tried to torch the building, according to police. Police in Kenya have also previously said they detained sympathizers of the group.

But experts said it wasn't clear how close the connection was between groups and individuals proclaiming allegiance to the Islamist group and the Islamic State organization in its Middle East heartland of Syria and Iraq, where it is increasingly under pressure from regional and international forces.
A new national poll released Saturday morning showed Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's lead over Republican rival Donald Trump had narrowed significantly even before the FBI disclosed it had new evidence about use of her private email server as secretary of state.

The ABC News/Washington Post tracking poll showed Clinton clinging to a slim 47 percent-to-45 percent lead over Trump among likely voters, a dramatic decline from her commanding 50 percent-to 38-percent advantage less than a week ago.

FBI Director James Comey announced Friday that his agency was looking into whether there was classified information on a communications device that belonged to Anthony Weiner, the disgraced former congressman whose estranged wife is longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin.

The latest poll results that showed Clinton losing ground were based on four nights of interviews that began Monday and ended Thursday, a day before the FBI said it had new evidence about Clinton's email server.

The previous four-night tracking poll that showed Clinton ahead by 12 percentage points was conducted October 20-23.

The most recent findings attributed Trump's gains to more enthusiasm among Republicans, even before Friday's news about Clinton. The previous tracking poll showed 75 percent of registered Republicans were classified as likely voters, compared with 81 percent in the most recent poll.

The most recent poll results were based on interviews with 1,148 likely voters. The poll had a margin of error of 3 percentage points in either direction.

The latest news about Clinton may reinforce existing views about her trustworthiness. Earlier news accounts about her emails caused Clinton to fall in the polls during earlier points in her campaign. A Fox News poll released several days ago found that only 30 percent of likely voters viewed Clinton as trustworthy.

The Fox poll numbers were equally dismal among voters who said they were Clinton supporters. Thirty-two percent of those respondents deemed Clinton honest or trustworthy.

Another new survey showed voters divided about American democracy and the presidential candidates' respect for it.

The survey, conducted by the Pew Research Center, found that 56 percent of registered voters thought Trump had little or no respect for the "nation's democratic institutions and traditions," compared with 43 percent who said Trump had a great deal or fair amount of respect for them.

The survey also found that 83 percent of Clinton supporters thought it was important for the loser of the election to recognize the legitimacy of the winner of the presidency, a sharp contrast to only 48 percent of Trump supporters.

On the question of whether news organizations should be free to criticize political leaders, 72 percent of those in Clinton's camp thought they should, compared with 49 percent of those in support of Trump.

The survey also found an overwhelming majority of Clinton supporters, 86 percent, thought people have the right to nonviolent protest, while 69 percent of Trump's supporters thought so.

There was more agreement among supporters of the two candidates when asked whether the rights of people with unpopular views should be protected. Eighty-two percent of Clinton's supporters responded affirmatively, compared with 71 percent of Trump's.

The survey found a nearly equal percentage of supporters of both major party presidential candidates agreed that national U.S. elections are open and fair. Ninety-three percent of Clinton's supporters agreed, compared with 91 percent of Trump's supporters.
Authorities in Pakistan have come under severe criticism for a crackdown on political activists trying to hold an anti-government demonstration, but allowing a proscribed radical Islamist group to rally in the heart of the nation's capital.



The opposition political party, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) led by cricket star-turned-politician Imran Khan, plans to converge on Islamabad Wednesday to stage a rally to demand Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif step down over allegations of corruption.



But the government banned all political and religious processions in the city Thursday and unleashed a preemptive nationwide crackdown to try to stop PTI activists and leaders from marching on Islamabad, detaining hundreds of people.



Roads leading to Islamabad remained partially blocked with shipping containers while police used batons to disperse PTI supporters trying to head to the city.

Khan confined



Khan has also been confined to his residence near Islamabad along with senior party leaders meeting there, though he has vowed to show up and lead the November 2 rally in the city.



But while PTI supporters battled the police all day Friday and late into the night, the Sunni-based Islamic party - Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) - rallied in a central part of Islamabad despite the government ban on such gatherings.



Interior Ministry officials, however, justified the religious rally, saying it was an annual congregation for the ASWJ that had formally sought permission in advance.



But the religious rally provoked harsh criticism of the government for allowing what a proponent of religiously-inspired extremism to congregate in the capital at a time when Pakistan is being asked to rein in Islamist groups allegedly using its soil to stage terrorist attacks in Afghanistan and India.



Islamabad denies accusations of allowing use of its soil for terrorist activities against any country. Instead, it cites a long-running counterterrorism military campaign that killed thousands of terrorists in recent years, and killed of tens of thousands of Pakistanis in retaliatory terrorist attacks.

Double standard?

Human rights groups and media commentators accused the Sharif government of applying double standards and raised questions about Pakistans commitment to containing violent extremism, to which ASWJ is linked.



Some of the groups leaders are declared fugitives from the law.

Leader of the of the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party, Bilawal Bhutto, also criticized the Sharif government for targeting political opponents instead of going after what he called Taliban extremists and their facilitators as well as financiers in the country.

What message are you sending to the people of Pakistan? What message are you sending to the world? Are we, or are we not fighting terrorism, I would like to know. Is he (Sharif), or is he not fighting extremism in Pakistan? Bhutto asked while speaking to reporters in Karachi Saturday.

He did not directly refer to the religious congregation in Islamabad.



Some critics said the Islamist assembly in the capital was also against the so-called National Action Plan the government has devised jointly with the military to counter terrorism and extremism in Pakistan.

The plan outlined steps to neutralize religious groups perceived to be supporters of militants threatening the state of Pakistan.



Sharif has been under public pressure and criticism since early this year when his family members were named as holders of offshore bank accounts in leaked financial documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.



The prime minister has since defended his financial record through speeches in parliament and on national television, rejecting charges of any financial wrongdoing in building the overseas assets. But Khan insists Sharif has lost the moral authority to rule, and demands legal action against him.
In Turkey, the removal of mayors accused of supporting the PKK Kurdish rebel group, and the PKK's targeting of their government-appointed replacements are prompting growing concerns about democracy in the countrys southeastern, predominantly Kurdish region.

A religious ceremony gives Bilal Ozkan, the state-appointed trustee, or mayor, a chance to meet the people of Diyarbakirs Sur district. The image of the Turkish flag, once all but invisible in this stronghold of Kurdish nationalism, now symbolizes Ozkans rule.



He was appointed by the interior ministry after Surs elected mayor was accused of supporting the Kurdish separatist group PKK. Tight security accompanies Ozkan wherever he goes, with the PKK declaring him a target. Ozkan says he is undaunted by the threat.



Let us say that there is an assassination, the state would never give up, he says. If any appointed mayor dies, perhaps in couple of hours another state employee will come and take over. There is no ground for the terrorists and other plotters to have hope. He says he feels extremely safe in his homeland, in his country.



The PKK has started assassinating local members of the ruling AKP Party in response to the more than 20 elected mayors removed from office. The killings have been strongly condemned by Turkey' pro-Kurdish HDP party. But the HDPs parliamentary group leader, Idris Baluken, warns of dangerous consequences if the policy of removing mayors continues.



He says Kurdish people are full of anger against this operation against mayors. There is a big energy gathering. Just like gas in a mine, it awaits a flame that would erupt into a societal explosion. The AKP's dangerous policies can result in much bigger tension and much more serious reaction, Baluken says.



Despite such warnings, the co-mayors of Diyarbakir were arrested this week on charges of supporting terrorism. But Sur trustee Ozkan insists there is no need to win over the people.



He says there is a high percentage of support by ordinary citizens and no resistance on their part. The terrorists are the only ones who do not want the trutees work to be carried forward, he says.



Ozkan is promising a major restoration program to revitalize tourism, devastated by months of fighting between the government and Kurdish rebels in Sur. Some people who fled the fighting are returning, but there is little expectation that peace is close at hand as this internet cafe owner explains.



He says, we are not expecting anything. There is nothing here. There is no hope. There is no expectation things will improve. There is now war, civil war. Wherever you look you see an incident, a clash, bombs exploding, people get killed. "Only Allah knows how this will end," he said.



For many people in Sur who have seen so much violence, it appears peace remains illusive.
Russia failed to win re-election to the U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday, a action seen as a rebuke for the countrys military support of the Syrian government.

In a secret ballot, the 193-member General Assembly elected 14 members to the 47-nation council, which is the main U.N. body charged with promoting and protecting human rights.

Hungary, which received 144 votes, and Croatia, with 114, beat out Russia, which received 112 votes. The three countries were competing for two regional seats on the council.

Russia has been there years

Russias U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin played down Moscows loss.

It was a very close vote, Churkin told reporters, saying Moscow had faced stiff competition. Croatia, Hungary  they are fortunate because of their size they are not as exposed to the winds of international diplomacy; Russia is quite exposed.

We have been there a number of years. Im sure next time were going to get in, he added. Russias current term on the council ends December 31.

More than 80 human rights organizations had lobbied U.N. members to vote Russia off the council for its support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syrias nearly six-year civil war.

In rejecting Russias bid for re-election to the Human Rights Council, U.N. member states have sent a strong message to the Kremlin about its support for a regime that has perpetrated so much atrocity in Syria, Louis Charbonneau, U.N. director at Human Rights Watch, told The Associated Press. Next year, U.N. member states should make sure that all regional groups have real competition, so no one is guaranteed victory.

Saudi Arabia still in

The groups also lobbied against council member Saudi Arabia, which has been criticized for its military campaign in Yemen. However, Saudi Arabia remains on the council.

In addition to Hungary and Croatia, the United States, Egypt, Rwanda, Tunisia, Iraq, Japan, Saudi Arabia, China, South Africa, Britain, Brazil and Cuba were elected to the Human Rights Council.
Iraqi forces advanced into a town south of Mosul Saturday as an Iraqi Shi'ite militia joined the offensive by opening up a new front to the west.

Iraqi troops approaching Mosul from the south advanced into Shura after a wave of U.S.-led airstrikes and artillery shelling against militant positions inside the town.

Commanders said most Islamic State (IS) fighters withdrew earlier this week, using civilians as human shields, but that U.S. airstrikes had disrupted the forced march, helping some civilians to escape.

Iraqi soldiers and Kurdish forces, known as peshmerga, are advancing on Mosul from the south, east and north, capturing villages and disarming Islamic State booby traps.

To the west of the city, Iraq's state-sanctioned Shi'ite militias, backed by Iran, have launched an assault aimed at driving IS from the town of Tal Afar to try to secure the western border with Syria.

That could cut-off critical weapons and supply routes between Mosul and the Syrian city of Raqqa, an IS stronghold.

There are concerns the militias could inflame sectarian tensions in the Sunni-majority city, but commanders have said they will not enter the city itself.

According to U.N.-cited reports IS has forcibly taken civilians into Mosul. The reports say that in just two days earlier this week, IS-fighters killed more than 250 people who resisted or who were previously members of Iraqi security forces.





More than 17,500 people have fled their homes toward government-held areas since the Mosul operation began, the International Organization for Migration said Saturday. That number is expected to sharply rise as the battle continues.

Iraqi forces launched a massive offensive to retake militant-held Mosul last week, Iraq's second-largest city, home to more than 1 million people. The battle for Mosul is expected to take weeks, if not months.
Somali regional authorities in Puntland are vowing to retake a town captured by pro-Islamic State militants this week.

The president of the region, Dr. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, said his administration would push back against the militants, who faced little opposition when they took over Qandala.

Puntland always defended itself, and is going to defend itself, he said. Daesh cannot hold on to Qandala; they will not maintain control. That is a pledge I make to you, he said, using an Arabic term (Daesh) to refer to the Islamic State group.

Military officials in Puntland, an autonomous region in northeastern Somalia, were caught by surprise when the militants seized Qandala, a traditional symbol of staunch resistance to foreign occupation. They are discussing how to respond to the threat by the militant group that apparently was taken lightly by Somali administrations.

Qandala is 90 kilometers east of Bosaso, Puntlands main port and the economic hub of Puntland. Since it lies between rugged mountains and the Gulf of Aden, it is seen more vulnerable to attack from the sea.

Since Qandala was captured, Puntland security officials have deployed gunboats to the area to intercept any shipments by militant groups in Yemen, military sources said.

Weapons from Yemen

A leading security and intelligence expert says militants allied with Islamic State chose Qandala because the small fishing port is just a few hours from the coast of Yemen.

A former director of the Puntland Intelligence Agency, Abdi Hassan Hussein, says there was strategic planning behind the capture.

They constantly receive experts or trainers from Yemen, and shipments of weapons and other materiel. This is why they selected that strategic area, Hussein said.

Its tough to reach by land, its a mountainous area, and its not suitable to drive there, the intelligence expert added. Sheikh Mumins tribe lives in that area, and they may get more support from the clan. Proclaiming that he wants to establish an Islamic region in the whole of Africa may get him some sympathizers or supporters.

Sheikh Abdulkadir Mumin is the leader of the pro-IS group that captured the town. Last month the United States designated him as a global terrorist. A year ago Mumin pledged allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Militancy growing

During the past year, Mumins group has been busy evading attacks by rival militants from al-Shabab, while also seeking recruits and finding a space to grow. Hussein believes that they have achieved that.

One year is complete; they are marking the anniversary. They had very few numbers but right now they have 200 to 300 fighters, he said.

Mumin defected from an al-Shabab camp that controls a small hideout in a mountainous area known as Galgala, southwest of Bosaso. Despite several military offensives and defections, al-Shababs fighters are still in Galgala, so the emergence of pro-IS militants on the other side of Bosaso in Qandala expands the war and Puntlands front lines against militancy.

Fighting Daesh will be tougher than fighting al-Shabab, Hussein said.

Potentially there is more of a threat coming from this group [led by Mumin]. They are more active than al-Shabab, and they may get more recruits and more funds than al-Shabab, he added.

As we learned from the al-Shabab units fighting in Galgala, they started with few numbers and right now have increased. Its very tough to defeat these militants, given the limited resources available to Puntland.

Qandalas historical significance

Qandala dates back to the 1850s, according to Somali historians. It has a beautiful beach, 20 kilometers of sand dunes along the sea, and rich fishing grounds. The former Somali government built one of its biggest fish factories in the town.

The pro-IS militants entered the town Wednesday, forcing government officials and a small number of forces to flee.

Video taken by the militants purported to show a fighter hoisting a black flag on top of a historic building erected by Italian colonial rulers early in the last century. The same building served as a prison for a Somali rebel who was arrested by Italian soldiers in 1914 for lowering the Italian flag and burning it.

That freedom fighter of the last century, Ali Fahiye Gedi, became known as the flag-burner and a symbol for other Somalis who fought against Italian colonial rule.

The militants video of pro-IS fighters entering Qandala Wednesday showed them being greeted by an elderly, obviously frightened man. The towns schools closed the next day, and for the first time in Qandalas history, its residents fled, leaving the town on foot and by boat. It may take the emergence of another flag-burner to stop the threat of militancy in Somalia.

Ismail Mohamed contributed to this report.
South Korea's president is embroiled in a scandal over allegations she has allowed a friend to have access and input into important state affairs.

Park Geun-hye's approval ratings have plummeted amid calls for her resignation since revealing she gave drafts of her speeches for editing to Choi Soon-sil, who holds no government security clearance or post. Records indicate Choi also received confidential documents, including files on Japan and North Korea.

Park, who has a little more than a year left in office, has apologized and has vowed to stay in office.

Media reports have speculated Choi used her influence with the president to persuade companies to donate money to her own two charities, and used those charities for her own benefit.

Also of concern, Choi's father presided over a religious cult. Lawmakers say they are concerned Choi has draped herself in her father's religious mantle. The head of the main opposition party said Choi's influence with the president is like discovering you are being ruled by a "terrifying theocracy."

Choi has been living in Germany since September when reports of her possible influence on the president first became public. Her lawyer says she is willing to return to South Korea for questioning.

President Park was befriended by Choi's late father in the 1970s when Park's father, Park Chung-hee, was South Korea's military leader.

Choi Tae-min was a shadowy religious figure. The young Park and the older Choi grew even closer after the death of Park's mother in 1974, accidentally killed by the country's intelligence chief who was actually aiming at the military leader. The current president became the acting first lady after her mother's death.

Would-be assassin Kim Jae-gyu, who was eventually executed, said in court proceedings one of his motives for the shooting was to keep the elder Choi away from Park's daughter, Geun-hye.

Park Chung-hee himself was assassinated by his own spy chief in 1979, 18 years after coming to power in a coup.
Two suicide bombings killed at least nine people and injured 24 others Saturday morning in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, the heart of the seven-year-old insurgency by the Boko Haram militant group.

The Nigerian military said one of the bombs went off in front of a camp holding more than 16,000 people who have been displaced by unrest in the region. The second blast occurred minutes later outside a state-owned fuel depot.

No one immediately claimed responsibility but the bombings were similar to previous ones carried out by Boko Haram.

Boko Haram has been trying to establish an Islamic State in northeastern Nigeria and has killed thousands and displaced more than two million others since the insurgency began.

The militant group has recently stepped up attacks after a lull that lasted months due to a leadership struggle.

Since Boko Haram first took up arms against the Nigerian government in 2009, trade routes and farming activity has been disrupted.

UNICEF estimates some 50,000 children are at risk of starving to death if they don't get food and nearly 250,000 others are severely malnourished.

Although Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has led a successful military campaign against the militant group since he assumed office last year, Boko Haram is still capable of executing deadly attacks.

The violence is not limited to northeastern Nigeria, as it is spilling into Niger, Chad and Cameroon.


At least three soldiers were killed and several others wounded Saturday when rival Somali government forces clashed in the southern Somali town of Baidoa, officials and witnesses said.

Clashes erupted when a regional soldiers unit clashed with another unit from a rival subclan over a dispute between two candidates for Somalia's upcoming lower house election, multiple sources told VOA.

"The clashes broke out this morning when two units of our regional soldiers clashed. At least three soldiers have died and four others are injured. Another unit of our troops were sent to go between them, and the fighting is now over," Abdifitah Ibahim Geesey, regional administrative security minister, said.

Geesey declined to give details on what triggered the clash between the troops.

Mohamad Aden Malaq, a witness, said he saw the bodies of three soldiers and four wounded people at the Baidoa hospital.

Located about 250 kilometers northwest of Mogadishu, Baidoa is the capital of Bay region and the current base of Somalia's South West State.

Analysts have said disputes over the election preparations and results may ignite similar clashes between supporters of opposing candidates.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people who fled from Qandala, a Red Sea town that was seized by pro-Islamic State militants on Wednesday, arrived Saturday near Bosaso, Puntland's commercial port town.

Said Waberi Abdirahman, who organized humanitarian aid for those who fled Qandala, told VOA on Wednesday that he had witnessed increased human suffering in the coastal regions.

"We have witnessed about 600 families in Buru village, 60 kilometers east of Bosaso, including mothers with infants, who fled from the militants for their life. They walked [through] about 50 miles of hard terrain and mountains," Abdirahman said.

He said other Buru residents fled Saturday after two military ships neared the shore and fighter jets flew over the city.

Somalia has been without a functioning central authority since the 1991 ousting of strongman Mohamed Siad Barre. Subsequent governments have not been able to maintain control.
A U.S. government monitoring agency says that more than two dozen programs that cost more than $2.3 billion were unsuccessful overall as implemented in Afghanistan.

The findings were released on Saturday by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), which is responsible for reviewing billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars spent or allocated to help rebuild the war-torn country.

The audit focused on the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) Measuring Impacts of Stabilization Initiatives (MISTI) project that was launched in 2012 to monitor and evaluate ongoing stabilization programs.

The SIGAR report said that insurgents targeted programs in areas where the Afghan government was in control while USAID faced a host of systemic challenges in implementing and conducting oversight of the stabilization projects.

The report said the company contracted to implement MISTI, told SIGAR it could not properly locate where USAID conducted stabilization activities because of the inaccurate geospatial data it received, and as a result, could not begin conducting verification work.

The audit quotes USAID officials as telling SIGAR that they do not have any agency or mission-level policies to govern or guide the collection, maintenance, use, or sharing of geospatial data.

Unless the problem is addressed, USAID will continue to operate with inaccurate, problematic geospatial data, not knowing where its program activities are being conducted, the audit warned.

This will continue to limit the agencys ability to provide effective oversight and to mitigate potential fraud, waste, and abuse in connection with its programs in Afghanistan."
The U.S. Supreme Court will take up bathroom rules for transgender students, the first time the high court has agreed to hear a case involving transgender rights.

The case involves Gavin Grimm, 17, who was born a female but identifies as a male and is suing to win the right to use his schools boys bathroom.

Grimm was allowed to use the boys restroom at his Virginia high school for several weeks in 2014, but the school board changed its policy after some parents complained.

Ruling by June

Supreme Court justices agreed to hear the Gloucester County School Boards appeal of a lower court ruling that would allow Grimm to use the boys restroom. They put the lower court ruling on hold until they could consider the matter, meaning Grimm will not be able to use the boys bathroom during his final year in high school.

The high court will hear the case and rule before the end of June.

Gloucester County School Board Chairman Troy Andersen welcomed the courts decision to hear the case.

The board looks forward to explaining to the court that its restroom and locker room policy carefully balances the interests of all students and parents in the Gloucester County school system, Andersen said.

In a statement following the Supreme Court announcement, Grimm said, I never thought that my restroom use would ever turn into any kind of national debate. The only thing I ever asked for was the right to be treated like everyone else.

The Supreme Court currently has eight justices instead of the normal nine, following the death this year of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia. With four conservative justices and four liberal ones, the court is evenly divided.

Other lawsuits

Transgender bathroom use has been hotly debated in schools, courts and state legislatures across the United States. Lawsuits similar to Grimms are pending around the country.

The Obama administration in May directed the nations public schools to allow transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity or risk losing their federal funding. Twenty-one states have sued to overturn the directive.

The states argue that changes to federal school policies should be left up to Congress, not the White House. The Justice Department has rejected that argument, saying that federal civil rights laws, which bar discrimination on the basis of sex, provide the legal foundation for the departments guidance.

The political battle over transgender bathrooms came into the spotlight earlier this year when city officials in Charlotte, North Carolina, passed an anti-discrimination ordinance including a provision allowing transgender people to use bathrooms corresponding to the gender with which they identify.

State legislators in North Carolina overruled the city with a law requiring transgender people to use public restrooms matching the gender listed on their birth certificates.

The statewide debate entered the national discussion when the U.S. Justice Department said the North Carolina state law violated the federal Civil Rights Act, and declared it could not be enforced.

The Justice Department and North Carolina have sued each other over the issue.
Lamiya Hachi Bashar, whose face was severely disfigured in a land mine explosion while fleeing Islamic State enslavement, never dreamed her story of survival would inspire others.

The Yazidi woman said she was stunned after she was named Thursday as one of the recipients of the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought and expression.

"I am very excited that I was awarded this prize," Bashar told VOA from Germany, where she lives as a refugee. "I hope this will help bring more attention to the suffering of our people."

Bashar's story gained international attention in May when Voice of America wrote about her languishing in northern Iraq without proper medical care.

Bashar and 12 members of her family were taken prisoner after IS invaded their village in 2014. Bashar, 18, said she was sold five times as a sex slave and faced mental and physical abuse. She escaped from IS in April but lost her sight in a blast from a land mine explosion during the flight. Her face was severely burned and injured.

Following the VOA report, several organizations and individuals reached out to help. A German-based aid group, Air Bridge Iraq, stepped in and resettled her in Germany, where she has since received several surgical procedures to repair her face.

Bashar has permanently lost the sight in her right eye, but vision has returned to her left. She is receiving laser therapy to heal facial wounds. Air Bridge Iraq is working with the German government to permanently settle her in the country.

"My face is recovering and I am feeling better every day," Bashar told VOA. "I am so happy to be in Germany and I hope to go back to school as soon as possible."

As she worked through a complex set of surgeries and learned how to adapt to life in Germany, Bashar began speaking out about her plight and that of Yazidi women.

She became an active member of a Yazidi advocacy organization called Yazidi Friendship Group and traveled across Europe to tell her story. Bashar met with government officials and humanitarian organizations pleading for support to rescue Yazidis who are in IS captivity.

"She gave a speech at the European Parliament and a lot of the attendants started crying while listening to her tragic story," Mizra Dinnayi, head of Air Bridge Iraq, said.

In announcing the award, the European Parliament issued a statement praising Bashar for her public advocacy.

"Bashar has been active in raising awareness of the plight of the Yazidi community and continues to help women and children who were victims of IS enslavement and atrocities," the statement said.

The Sakharov Prize comes with a 50,000-euro ($55,000) award. Bashar and Nadia Murad, who is also a Yazidi woman and the second recipient of the prize, hope to use the award money and their publicity to promote the plight of other Yazidi victims.

"I hope we can better help displaced Yazidis in camps and rescue the ones that are still under" IS control, Bashar said.
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Promotions and New Recruits at the Gibraltar Port Authority

The Gibraltar Port Authority (GPA) has announced that its latest recruits have successfully qualified as Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) Operators following an extensive period of training in the UK.

Yannick Baglietto, Sean Robba and Kyle Sivers have just returned from the South Tyneside College near Newcastle following an intense 7 week course which provided their VHF radio, radar and VTS training before their successful final assessment at the college last week. The three new recruits are now fully qualified to keep watch in the VTS operations room and join their other colleagues maintaining the 24-hour coverage of BGTW, ensuring the navigational safety of vessel movements in and around the Port of Gibraltar. CEO and Captain of the Port, Commodore Bob Sanguinetti said that he was delighted to welcome the new VTS operators, after undergoing intensive professional training at one of the leading maritime colleges in the UK.

The recruiting and training of the VTS operators follows the recent promotion of Paul Howard and Stefan Rothwell to Port Officers. The Minister for Tourism, Employment, Commercial Aviation and the Port, the Hon Gilbert Licudi QC, stated that he wished to congratulate officers Paul Howard and Stefan Rothwell on their well earned promotion, and would like to formally welcome the three new VTS operators to the GPA. Ahead of the Port Offices forthcoming move to their new premises at Windmill Hill, this, once again, reinforces the Governments commitment to maintaining the highest standards of safety in our very busy waters.

(from left to right: VTS Operative Kyle Sivers, Commodore Bob Sanguinetti  CEO and Captain of the Port, VTS Operative Sean Robba and VTS Operative Yannick Baglietto)
GFSC to Launch Major Probe into Enterprise Insurance and its Directors

The Gibraltar Financial Services Commission has announced a major investigation into Enterprise Insurance Company plc (Enterprise) and its board of directors. The GFSC has reason to believe that it may have been significantly and consistently misled about Enterprises true financial position.

In their statement, the GFSC had the following to say, "The extent of the financial collapse of Enterprise is unprecedented. Insurance companies must be run in a sound and prudent manner and must safeguard the interests of policyholders. The nature and extent of this insolvency demonstrates that this has not happened in this case, resulting in extensive losses with serious harm to consumers in all the countries in which Enterprise operated and to a wide range of creditors.

Our investigation will focus on the apparent failure of the board to adequately govern the company and to report the companys true financial position to the Commission. The extent of this insolvency raises major questions about the competency and integrity of the Enterprise board.

We have invited the directors who hold regulated positions in other companies to voluntarily stand down from those other positions while under investigation.

The GFSCs Director of Legal Enforcement and Policy Peter Taylor said: The GFSC is shocked by the extent of the collapse of Enterprise. We have reason to think we may have been seriously misled. Given the magnitude of the debt reported by the Provisional Liquidator and his view as to the serious contraventions by the company, we have major questions of the Enterprise board. . The board is ultimately responsible for Enterprises actions and owe a duty to the company and to policyholders to ensure it does not cause harm or suffer losses such as we see here. We consider it is critical for the reputation of Gibraltar to determine the extent to which any of the directors need to be held to account for what has occurred. We must get to the bottom of what has happened here and we will.

We are in the initial stages of our investigation and while we have deep and serious concerns we need to await the outcome of all our enquiries. I stress that the GFSC has not made any findings or reached any conclusions at this stage.

The detail of any GFSC investigation is confidential. Any formal action arising from our investigation in this case will be announced in due course. We will be able to discuss what has happened here following the outcome of our inquiries and any resulting formal actions."
Sea Master Lodge and Charles Bruzon House Are Ready For Occupation, Say Govt

The Chief Minister and the Minister for Housing have toured the two new housing developments for elderly citizens, Sea Master Lodge and Charles Bruzon House, both of which are now ready for occupation.

The 142 flats in these developments incorporate the latest accessibility features, such as colour contrasts in the kitchen to assist the visually impaired, non-slip tiles and panic buttons. The buildings design also takes account of the special needs of wheelchair users and includes communal areas which are intended to create a convivial family home atmosphere, far removed from that of a hospital or care institution.

Minister Sacramento explained that much had been learned from the problems experienced at the Bishop Canilla and Albert Risso housing schemes. She said: We carefully considered all the comments received and we have avoided making similar errors to those made in the older estates. Our emphasis has been on creating the best possible homes for elderly persons, paying attention to reasonable individual needs. We wanted to provide a space where people could be comfortable and safe: we also wanted to avoid obvious pitfalls which would need to be rectified later at considerable cost.

Minister Sacramento said there had been close consultation with several agencies and professionals including the Care Agency and the Occupational Therapist, to ensure that elderly comfort and safety were major considerations from the design stage. She also expressed her delight with the quality finish of these two fit-for-purpose developments and looked forward to people moving in.

She continued: A great deal of thought has gone into these two housing projects. We have avoided the past mistakes incurred by the previous administration. We have encouraged communication between different agencies, with the Housing Department and other professional bodies to achieve the best possible results.

As a Government we have to make the best use of tax-payers money to provide quality homes for senior citizens, making sure from the outset that things are done properly so that we do not have to spend more time and money in the rectification of problems. Sea Master Lodge and Charles Bruzon House do just that.

The Chief Minister said, I am delighted that the elderly people of our community will soon be able enjoy these beautiful homes. Every consideration has been given to their design and advice has been sought from all the relevant agencies. As I toured the flats this morning I was extremely impressed with the quality of the workmanship in both developments and I must congratulate the construction company for all its work. Our elderly residents deserve the best and I am delighted that they will soon be able to enjoy the very highest standards of accommodation. These rental homes also free up large government tenancies which can be taken by younger families which need those larger flats. That's why the development of one rental home for the elderly in effect provides two homes into the government tenancy system."
The Convent Christmas Fair

The Convent will once again host its Christmas Fair in the historical setting of the Convent to raise money for locally registered charities.

It will be held on Thursday 24th November 2016, between Midday and 7pm.

Entrance is 2 for adults and children 12 years and under will get in free.

This years support will go to The Calpe House Charitable Trust, a charity that impacts on such a wide cross section of the community.

The doors open at 12 noon, and once inside you will find 40 seasonal stalls. Many are run by local charities as a part of their own fund raising effort, offering an array of crafts, gifts, Christmas cards and decorations.

In the Cloister you will find a cafe offering refreshments throughout the afternoon.

Jazz Friends will be playing Festive music throughout the afternoon, culminating in St. Paul's School Choir singing Christmas carols at 6 pm.

Mulled wine and mince pies will be provided by the Red Cross Committee for you to enjoy whilst you listen to the singing.

Santa will also be in his Grotto from 2pm offering gifts for the children.

The fair will host two great raffles. The first, a Honda PCX 125cc motorcycle kindly donated once again by Bassadone Motors; Tickets cost 2 each and will be available at the Fair, and also at The Piazza on Thursday 10th November. The second, on the day will offer many prizes donated by local businesses. Both raffles will be drawn at 6.30 pm on the day.

There is something for everyone, so come along and join the Christmas Spirit whilst supporting local charities.
Photo: Getty Image Archive

Ever since the Smiths split up in 1987, fans of the seminal English rockers have hoped for any kind of setting that would reunite the quartet for a performance or two. The bands front man, Morrissey, and guitarist, Johnny Marr, have never given any indication such a thing would occur  no half-a-billion-dollar temptations here  but for the first time, we have confirmation that talks about a reunion have actually occurred. In an excerpt from Marrs new memoir, Set the Boy Free, published today in The Guardian, Marr described a 2008 meeting with Moz in Manchester, their first in about a decade. We chatted, as we always did, about the records we loved, and eventually we moved on to that subject. There had been rumors for years that the Smiths were about to re-form, and they were always untrue. I had never pursued any offer, he wrote. Suddenly we were talking about the possibility of the band re-forming, and in that moment it seemed that with the right intention it could actually be done and might even be great.

Marr says the talks were indeed serious, so much so that they planned to meet up again soon to flesh out the specific logistics. I was genuinely pleased to be back in touch with Morrissey  for four days it was a very real prospect, he continued. We would have to get someone new on drums, but if the Smiths wanted to re-form it would make a hell of a lot of people very happy, and with all our experience we might even be better than before. (The Smiths original drummer, Mike Joyce, sued Marr and Morrissey for unpaid royalties in 1996.) However, when he tried to get in contact with Moz again shortly after their meeting, he never received any response. I went to Mexico with the Cribs [an indie-rock band he was working with], and then suddenly there was radio silence, Marr wrote. Our communication ended, and things went back to how they were and how I expect they always will be.

At this point in his life, Marr doesnt believe a Smiths reunion will ever happen. I think its run its course, he told The Guardian in an interview that coincided with the book excerpt. I dont feel unfriendly in any way towards Morrissey  theres just no need for it. One of the things we had in common was that we lived for work, and were too busy doing what were doing now. He would know, he knows so much about these things.
Michael Polish and Kate Bosworth Photo: Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for Christofle

The life and work of actress Sharon Tate is set to be the focus of a new biopic starring Kate Bosworth, according to Deadline. The film will be adapted from Greg Kings book Sharon Tate and the Manson Murders by Bosworths husband and frequent collaborator, Michael Polish, who will also direct. Reportedly, the biopic will be heavy on the Sharon Tate and lighter on the Manson murders part. It will look at Tates career, marriage and other relationships she had in Hollywood, instead of focusing solely on her grisly 1969 death at the hands of the Manson family killers. At the time of her death, Tate was married to director Roman Polanski and was about to give birth to his son; she was only 26. In subsequent years, she became a beautifully tragic symbol of the death of the free-love generation, whose talent as an actor was overshadowed by her connection to the Manson story. How  or if  Bosworth and Polish handle that inevitable and sad Manson murders part remains to be seen  the pair are shopping the film to the American market now.
Managers at a few local costume shops say clown masks, Harley Quinn costumes and Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton masks are hot sellers this Halloween season.

Harley Quinn, by the way, is the Jokers girlfriend in DC Comics Batman series and a character in the Suicide Squad movie.

Her wardrobe is the No. 1 trending Halloween costume on Google, according to marketwatch.com.

Our most popular by far is Harley Quinn, said Marcus Vigil, assistant manager of the Spirit Halloween location at 4318 W. Waco Drive.

Youngsters are sold on Shimmer and Shine, a couple of animated characters, and we have a whole political section that is doing well, Vigil said.

Shanna Whyburn, manager of Wicked Wallys Halloween Costumes at 409 Westview Village, said she had four or five masks of both Trump and Clinton and sold all of them in short order. Adults are clamoring for the Ghostface or Scream mask, while pre-teens, teens and young adults are going for superheroes and Harley Quinn, Whyburn said.

Suspicious characters wearing scary clown masks have been linked to mischief and threats nationwide, attracting the attention of law enforcement. But the stigma attached to such get-ups apparently has failed to put a damper on the sale of clown masks locally, shop managers said.

Young guys, because of the clown problems, tend to like clown masks, said Jeff Logan, who manages Wallys Party Factory at 1200 Richland Drive.

As for men, they typically choose whatever women want them to wear. Its easier than having to put a lot of thought into their selection, Logan said with a laugh.

He said Halloween brings out the urge among some to let their hair down and dress in provocative apparel.

One customer planning to celebrate Halloween as Kim Kardashian wanted an exaggerated derriere, he said.

The PAW Patrol cartoon is creating interest in its canine characters who wear uniforms meant for humans, Logan said.

Judy Goode, who manages Violets Costume on Boys Ranch Road, said shes seeing demand for reliables, including Mickey Mouse, Sponge Bob and Hello Kitty.

Mobile surveying company Pollfish asked 1,000 Americans to share information about their Halloween dress-up plans and found connections to workplace dynamics, according to an email from the company.

For example, those dressing up as Superman are probably the class clown of the office. Those planning to go out as pop culture-related characters such as Lady Gaga are likely considered leaders in the workplace. People choosing traditional Halloween characters such as zombies, ghosts or vampires could be considered the office wise guys or gals, and those wearing animal costumes or historical figures are the shy ones at the job site, the survey found.

Contrasting local sentiment, This year, politician is the least popular Halloween costume overall, with 4 percent planning to dress as Trump or Hillary, according to the companys email.

Glassybaby at The Findery

A Seattle-based company called Glassybaby, whose artisans make products of hand-blown glass, will have representatives at The Findery, 501 S. Eighth St., on Monday to conduct a daylong sale, with 10 percent of its proceeds going to the local Salvation Army, spokeswoman Amy Kugler said.

Glassybaby was founded in 2001 by Lee Rhodes, a three-time cancer survivor, who during her chemotherapy treatments met patients who could not afford basic needs such as bus fare, child care or groceries. She launched Glassybaby with the idea of helping those in need, with a tenth of all proceeds donated to help people, animals and the planet heal, according to a press release. To date, Glassybaby has donated more than $5 million to more than 400 nonprofit organizations.

Kugler said products are made in Seattle and Berkeley, California, and primarily are sold at shops such as The Findery. The stop in Waco is part of a Texas tour that includes visits to stores in San Antonio and Austin, she said. Glass products, including votives, come in more than 400 colors.

Waco insurer honored

Waco-based Insurors of Texas is among 254 independent insurance agencies chosen among 1,800 nominees nationwide for the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America 2016 Best Practices Study group.

To qualify, a state association affiliated with the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America or an insurance agency must first nominate the agency, which then must qualify based on outstanding customer retention, growth, stability and financial management, according to an Insurors of Texas press release.

The award reflects the quality service all of our employees provide to our customers each day, Insurors of Texas President George Chase said in the press release.

The company, which employs 35 people, is located at 225 S. Fifth St. in downtown Waco.

Gaineses in the news

Fixer Upper stars Chip and Joanna Gaines have hit the covers of Parade and People magazines.

They also revealed a few details of their plans for the historic Elite Cafe building on Wacos traffic circle during an interview with Southern Living.

The Elite Cafe is going to be a breakfast joint. Ive always been a breakfast connoisseur, Chip Gaines said in the Southern Living interview. I always do a heavy, bigger breakfast, but Jo is the exact opposite.

She was kind enough to come with me on this one, and we are going to do up a breakfast joint here in town. . . . If I took you in there today, youd be like, Oh, this is so clean, everything smells so great. Those are a few benefits of a little bit of elbow grease and hard work on the front end. Now, everybody that comes in tells me how smart I was to have bought this property. Six months ago, I wasnt getting as many encouragements. But the restaurant has some serious history that were going to tap into.

State of the City, County

The Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce will host the fifth annual State of the City and County Address from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday in the Letterwinners Lounge at McLane Stadium, according to a press release from the chamber.

Waco Mayor Kyle Deaver and County Judge Scott Felton will talk about downtown and urban development, challenges facing city and county government and the financial health of each entity, chamber public policy director Jessica Attas said, according to the press release.

Its encouraging to see how the community anticipates this annual event and engages with our elected officials for the betterment of Greater Waco, Attas said in the press release. We are especially excited to provide this forum for our community to hear from Mayor Deaver in his first such address as our newly elected mayor.

Most tickets for the event have been sold, but Attas said anyone still interested in attending should call the chambers Monica Gonzales at 757-5600.
Ellie Fowler wants Moody residents to enter the community library without fear of a mouse sighting.

This building will never be beautiful, said Fowler, Moody Community Library board chairwoman.

Library board members have launched a fundraising effort to raise $100,000 to $300,000 during the next five years to build a library that serves the area more like a community center.

Built in 1916, board members say the library off Fifth Street in downtown Moody has long exceeded its expected lifespan, and future maintenance costs will far outweigh costs associated with a new structure.

Most of the buildings in the citys downtown area have flat roofs, including the library, which can lead to leakage problems, board vice president R.S. Gates said.

Between 300 and 350 people visit the library every month, which is open 20 hours a week, board fundraising chairperson Jane Gates said.

The numbers are even higher during summer months, when the library offers a variety of childrens programs, Fowler said.

R.S. Gates said the board wants a more up to date library with offerings in technology and other services. Gates said the board thinks the future of libraries holds far more than books.

Fowler said board members envision a library with space for a community room, tables for patrons to play games, more space to utilize technology and the librarys free Wi-Fi.

R.S. Gates said they would also like to dedicate an area of the new building for a makerspace to allow visitors to teach and learn new skills. Last year, a group used part of the library to make pillow cases they donated to Child Protective Services.

Fowler said the library is a hub for activities in Moody, and the board wants to expand on that role.

Internet access at the library is one of its most-used resources, R.S. Gates said.

If youre in Waco, you just go over to Target or sit outside Sams Club or something like that, he said. Out in the Moody area there is no public Wi-Fi.

$50,000 grant

The library recently received a $50,000 grant from the Tocker Foundation, which allowed board members to purchase some new furniture, Jane Gates said.

Books, movies and furniture have been moved to one side of the library while the room where the new furniture will go gets a new paint job ahead of the furnitures expected arrival Thursday, she said. The new furniture will be moveable and carried over to the new location, she said.

Were in an old building downtown, and its in bad shape, Jane Gates said. Weve tried to locate other places downtown where we could build and havent found anything.

Jane Gates said the board has met with the nearby First United Methodist Church, which has agreed to sell a plot it owns for the new library.

The library, which has one full-time employee, operates on $7,500 from the city, $5,000 from McLennan County and through donations, fundraisers and grants.

Jane Gates said she hopes once the land is officially purchased, the board can begin to apply for grants for a new building and is already seeking local donations.

Contributions to the project can be made to Moody Community Library Capital Projects Fund, Waco Foundation, 1227 Valley Mills Drive, suite 235, Waco, Texas, 76710.
A new Construction Science Academy may help solve a national labor shortage in the building industry and at the same time, contribute to the financial stability of Waco ISDs Greater Waco Advanced Manufacturing Academy.

Officials hope the new program attracts new students to the academy.

I honestly foresee this program being the main driver of GWAMA within five years, said Scott Bland, president of the Heart of Texas Builders Association. Bland has pushed for the new construction science academy.

The Waco ISD board of trustees approved the new program during its meeting Thursday. It will be the fourth program GWAMA offers and is expected to start August 2017, according to district documents. The three other programs include a welding academy, a precision metal manufacturing academy and a robotics and electronics academy.

In its first year with one instructor, the program is expected to bring in as many as 80 students, GWAMA director Dale McCall said. The extra effort to recruit new students is part of the schools goal to offset the September expiration of the almost $6 million federal grant that helped GWAMA get off the ground in its first three years, McCall said.

The school serves 185 sophomores, juniors and seniors from 15 school districts. Officials hope to have an enrollment of 250 to 300 students for next year. At capacity, the school can hold 400 students, and the money brought in by additional enrollment will help the academy sustain itself, McCall said earlier this month.

Thats encouraging to us because there was the concern we would be taking students from within our own and drawing students out of welding to come to construction science, McCall said. Were actually reaching students who arent part of the manufacturing or who hadnt shown interest in manufacturing.

As of Oct. 18, 506 construction jobs existed in Waco on the job search website Monster.com, and the new academy is a perfect opportunity to put skilled workers in those spots, Bland said. When the housing market collapsed in 2007, construction workers began to leave the industry, he said.

A great need

That (recruitment) is what brought us to GWAMA in the first place. They had space in the facility that was being unused, and more than enough space to do our program, and they needed the students, Bland said. We have a greater need than for any program that exists in GWAMA right now. Were not a single-sourced industry. In construction, you have so many industries for students to get involved in  plumbing, electrical, heating and air conditioning, masonry, general construction, etc.

At least 52 percent of homebuilders experienced a labor shortage in June 2015, and the average age of trade professionals is 58, according to the National Association of Home Builders. The percentage of homebuilders who experienced a labor shortage in 2015 was up from 46 percent in 2014.

In the new academys first year, students will learn basic tool use and safety measures. In the second year, students could learn more in-depth skills related to plumbing, electricity, heating, masonry and carpentry. By the last year, students would be eligible for a paid internship in a specialized area, where they could work four days in the field and one day in the classroom, Bland said.

Those kinds of opportunities can help students who dont want to attend college or need help paying for college land an entry-level position making anywhere from $40,000 to $60,000, Bland said.

Several local businesses and community leaders have sent either letters of support or financial commitments to the district so far, according to district documents.

All of our industry members are always asked to recruit, so theyre always looking to recruit via school board members in their districts, principals they know in their district, students they know in their districts, McCall said. We want all of our industry partners to be recruiting at whatever level they feel comfortable with.

The letters include support from Congressman Bill Flores, state representatives Charles Doc Anderson and Kyle Kacal, Overhead Door Company of Waco, Barron Environmental Service and Technologies, the Magnolia Foundation and others.

That was a big emphasis for us as a business community to want to have paid internships their senior year to keep our talent here, Bland said. The thing about our industry is we cant be outsourced. Even in slow times, theres still a need for commercial construction and residential construction. I cant build your house in China. I cant build your house in Mexico. I cant build it in Canada. It has to be built here. Our industry is sustainable. The program is sustainable. It gives GWAMA what it needs, so its a win-win.
For decades, Robert Hicks of Robertson County has had a scholarly obsession with the Camino Real de Los Tejas, the trail that Indians, Spanish explorers, Mexican authorities and Texan settlers carved through the wilderness.

Now hes going on the warpath against the National Park Service to defend what he thinks its correct route.

The park service, along with state and Robertson County leaders, are preparing to put up signs for the Camino Real de Los Tejas National Historic Trail along U.S. Highway 79 in Robertson County. Congress in 2004 designated the trail, actually a network of parallel routes running more than 2,500 miles from northwestern Louisiana to San Antonio and on to the Rio Grande.

But when it came to Robertson County, the NPS got the route wrong, Hicks alleges in an Oct. 11 lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Waco.

(The National Park Service) and (Texas Department of Transportation) are armed and ready to erect permanent highway signage in the county wrongly declaring and anointing official national historic trail status to this imposter route while possessing not a single shred of historical evidence to hide its nakedness, he states in the lawsuit, which he filed pro se, without help of attorneys.

It will inflict irreparable harm to the plaintiff and to the American people now, tomorrow and forever into the future, the lawsuit states.

It so happens that Hicks preferred route passes near his family land east of Calvert, which he calls El Camino Real Ranch. The route veers north from there to Groesbeck in Limestone County, then east to Teague and Fairfield in Freestone County before hooking back up with the NPS-designated trail.

Hicks said he doesnt have documentary evidence, such as explorers diaries or centuries-old maps, to establish that route. Nor does he have archaeological evidence, such as eroded wagon trails or artifacts.

But, he says, the National Park Service doesnt have that kind of evidence for its route either. He says that route is arbitrary and illogical, passing through flood-prone creeks, dense woods and unstable sugar sand.

Hicks has been developing his theory of the route since he began researching the Camino Real in 1969, based on the terrain mounted explorers would have chosen. He said explorers would have relied on native guides to lead them along the highest ground with the most open prairie and the fewest streams to ford.

We dont have any Spanish diaries, and we dont have any artifacts, he said. So we have to ask, where is the logical place they would have gone, knowing its easier on horseback to go through prairies than woodlands.

Hicks has given presentations on the trail in Freestone and Limestone counties, winning favorable press attention and leading local officials to consider posting signs commemorating the Camino Real through the area.

The park service this June sent a letter to Freestone Countys county judge cautioning her not to install such signage.

The letter came from Aaron Mahr, superintendent of the NPS National Trails Intermountain Region, which is based in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

In an interview this week, Mahr said he was unaware of Hicks lawsuit but was disappointed to hear of it. He said he has spoken with Hicks many times and thinks the Robertson County resident raises interesting points about the geography of possible trail routes.

But Mahr said Hicks is asking the NPS to do a major rerouting that would change the scope of what Congress ordered in 2004.

An act of Congress

The authorized routes were based on studies NPS and the state of Texas did in the 1990s, and major changes would literally require an act of Congress, Mahr said.

The National Park Service is not the deciding entity, he said. We can make minor modifications to it, but when we make modifications, they have to be based on solid archaeological or documentary evidence.

He said he would encourage Hicks and communities with historical attractions not directly on the designated trail to work with the NPS to promote that history.

Mahr said that in establishing national trails its rare to find someone with Hicks passion and persistence in advocating for a certain route.

But for Hicks, the Camino Real is worth making a big deal.

The El Camino Real was absolutely a major component in us getting the Louisiana Purchase, Texas annexation and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, he said. Ive told people its Americas greatest untold story.

Beginning in the 1680s, Spanish explorers and colonists began using existing Indian trails to travel among provincial capitals and missions. The route stretched from Los Adaes in western Louisiana to Nacogdoches, then southwest to San Antonio. The Tejas in the name referred to a tribe of native Americans for which the state was later named.

The route remained important to the Spanish and Mexican governments over the next century and a half as they struggled to settle the sparsely populated expanses of present-day Texas.

It was along this network of trails that Moses Austin traveled to San Antonio to seek an empresario grant in 1820, resulting in the first Anglo colony, which was soon established by his son, Stephen F. Austin. Soon thereafter, parts of the trail were used by other Anglo settlers and Americans coming to fight at the Alamo.

Hicks, 66, who traces his ancestry in the area to the 1830s, said he grew up hearing stories about the trail, and his studies have led him as far afield as Louisiana and Spain.

I have an intimate knowledge of it, he said. Thats what has always scared the National Park Service, because I do know history.

Lance Simmons, district engineer for the Texas Department of Transportations Bryan-College Station district, has visited Hicks and gone on some field trips around Robertson County with him.

Passion for history

It was fascinating, Simmons said. He has a passion for history.

Simmons said TxDOT is installing the trail signs with funding from the NPS and Robertson County, but it doesnt control the trail route.

Were following the lead of the National Park Service, he said.

Robertson County Judge Charles Ellison said Hicks arguments sound reasonable, but he doubts anyone can know the true alignment of the original Camino Real. He intends to go forward with the NPS route.

Theres a lot of different theories, Ellison said. Theres merits on both sides.

Hicks said a local acquaintance recently compared him to Native American protesters blocking the Dakota Access pipeline, and he didnt disagree.

Im not trying to fight every battle, Hicks said. Im just saying, Im drawing a line in the sand in this county. Unless you can show me any kind of evidence that Im wrong, Im going to fight for it. If they can show me that, well, I guess Ill have to pick out a well-fattened crow to eat.
Washington: There's a lot of handwringing at the FBI, but director James Comey can't pretend that the impact on the Clinton campaign of his cryptic little letter to Congress on Friday could be other than that described by Democratic National Committee chairwoman Donna Brazile: "Like an 18-wheeler smacking into us."

Senior Justice Department officials, reportedly including US Attorney-General Loretta Lynch, told Comey that his payload of political TNT wasn't a good idea, that this wasn't how you do business.

But the record shows that Comey knows what he's saying as much as what he's not saying in the matter of Hillary Clinton and her very stupid private email server, the existence of which was aptly described by one of her own disbelieving sidekicks as "f---ing insane".

In his exhaustive, year-long initial investigation, Comey came up empty in the search for evidence of criminal wrongdoing  which is as much as he should have said in his July announcement, which Clinton had hoped would be the end of the matter.
The following companies are subsidiares of Illinois Tool Works: A V Co 1 Limited, A V Co 2 Limited, A V Co 3 Limited, ACCU-LUBE Manufacturing GmbH - Schmiermittel und -gerate -, AIP/BI Holdings Inc., Accessories Marketing Holding Corp., Advanced Molding Company Inc., Allen France SAS, Alpine Engineered Products, Alpine Systems Corporation, Anaerobicos S.r.l., AppliChem GmbH, Avery Berkel France, Avery India Limited, Avery Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Avery Weigh Tronix, Avery Weigh-Tronix Finance Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix International Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix LLC, Avery Weigh-Tronix Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Properties Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Suzhou Weighing Technology Co. Ltd., Azon Limited, B.C. Immo, Beijing Miller Electric Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Berkel Ireland Limited, Berrington UK, Brapenta Eletronica Ltda., Brooks Instrument B.V., Brooks Instrument GmbH, Brooks Instrument KFT, Brooks Instrument Korea Ltd., Brooks Instrument LLC, Brooks Instrument Shanghai Co. Ltd, Buell Industries Inc., CCI Realty Company, CFC Europe GmbH, CS Australia Pty Limited, CS Mexico Holding Company S DE RL DE CV, Calvia Spolka z Ograniczona Odpowiedzialnosci, Capital Ventures Australasia S.a r.l, Capmax Logistica S.A. de C.V., Celeste Industries Corporation, Coeur, Coeur Asia Limited, Coeur Holding Company, Coeur Inc., Coeur Shanghai Medical Appliance Trading Co. Ltd, Compagnie Hobart, Compagnie de Materiel et d'Equipements Techniques-Comet, Constructions Isothermiques Bontami C.I.B., Crane Carrier Company, Denison Mayes Group Limited, Despatch Industries, Diagraph Corporation Sdn. Bhd, Diagraph ITW Mexico S. de R.L. De C.V., Diagraph Mexico S.A. DE C.V., Dongguan Ark-Les Electric Components Co. Ltd., Dongguan CK Branding Co. Ltd., Duo Fast de Espana S.A.U., Duo-Fast Korea Co. Ltd., Duo-Fast LLC, E.C.S. d.o.o., E2M Production B.V.., E2M Technologies B.V.., E2M Technologies Inc.., ECS Cable Protection Sp. Zoo, ELRO Grosskuchen GmbH, ELRO Holding AG, ELRO-WERKE AG, Elro Group, Eltex-Elektrostatik-Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Envases Multipac S.A. de C.V., Eurotec Srl, Exhibit 21, FEG Investments L.L.C., Filtertek De Mexico Holding Inc., Filtertek De Mexico S.A. de C.V., Filtertek SAS, GC Financement SA, Gamko B.V., Gun Hwa Platech Taicang Co. Ltd., HOBART Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Hartness International, Hobart Andina S.A.S., Hobart Belgium B.V., Hobart Brothers International Chile Limitada, Hobart Brothers LLC, Hobart Dayton Mexicana S. de R.L. de C.V., Hobart Food Equipment Co. Ltd., Hobart International Singapore Pte. Ltd., Hobart Japan K.K., Hobart Korea LLC, Hobart LLC, Hobart Nederland B.V., Hobart Sales & Service Inc., Hobart Scandinavia ApS, Hobart Techniek B.V., Horis, ILC Investments Holdings Inc., ITW AEP LLC, ITW AOC LLC, ITW Aircraft Investments Inc., ITW Ampang Industries Philippines Inc., ITW Appliance Components EOOD, ITW Appliance Components S.A. de C.V., ITW Appliance Components S.r.l.a, ITW Appliance Components d.o.o., ITW Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, ITW Australia Property Holdings Pty Ltd., ITW Australia Pty Ltd, ITW Automotive Components Chongqing Co. Ltd., ITW Automotive Components Langfang Co. Ltd., ITW Automotive Japan K.K., ITW Automotive Korea LLC, ITW Automotive Parts Shanghai Co. Ltd, ITW Automotive Products GmbH, ITW Automotive Products Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Bailly Comte, ITW Befestigungssysteme GmbH, ITW Belgium B.V., ITW Brazilian Nominee L.L.C., ITW Building Components Group Inc., ITW CER, ITW CP Distribution Center Holland BV, ITW CS UK Ltd., ITW Canada Inc., ITW Celeste Inc., ITW Chemical Products Ltda, ITW Chemical Products Scandinavia ApS, ITW China Investment Company Limited, ITW Colombia S.A.S., ITW Construction Products AB, ITW Construction Products AS, ITW Construction Products ApS, ITW Construction Products CZ s.r.o., ITW Construction Products Italy Srl, ITW Construction Products OU, ITW Construction Products OY, ITW Construction Products Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW Construction Products Singapore Pte. Ltd., ITW Construction Services Manila Inc., ITW Contamination Control B.V., ITW Contamination Control Wujiang Co. Ltd., ITW Covid Security Group Inc., ITW DS Investments Inc., ITW DelFast do Brasil Ltda., ITW Denmark ApS, ITW Deutschland GmbH, ITW Diagraph GmbH, ITW Dynatec, ITW Dynatec Adhesive Equipment Suzhou Co. Ltd., ITW Dynatec GmbH, ITW Dynatec Kabushiki Kaisha, ITW EAE B.V., ITW EAE Mexico S de RL de CV, ITW EF&C France SAS, ITW EF&C Selb GmbH, ITW EU Holdings Ltd., ITW Electronic Business Asia Co. Limited, ITW Electronic Components/Products Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW Electronics Suzhou Co. Ltd., ITW Epsilon Sarl, ITW Espana S.L., ITW European Finance Co. Ltd., ITW European Finance II Co. Ltd., ITW European Finance III Co. Ltd., ITW FEG Hong Kong Limited, ITW FEG do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW Fastener Products GmbH, ITW Fluids and Hygiene Solutions Ltda., ITW Food Equipment Group LLC, ITW GH LLC, ITW GSE ApS, ITW GSE Inc., ITW Gamma Sarl, ITW German Management LLC, ITW Global Investments Holdings LLC, ITW Global Investments Holdings Y Compania Sociedad en Comandita por Acciones, ITW Global Investments Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Europe GmbH, ITW Global Tire Repair Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Japan K.K., ITW Graphics Asia Limited, ITW Graphics Thailand Ltd., ITW Great Britain Investment & Licensing Holding Company, ITW Group France Luxembourg S.ar.l., ITW HLP Thailand Co. Ltd., ITW Holding Quimica B.C. S.L. Sole Shareholder Company, ITW Holdings Australia L.P., ITW Holdings I Limited, ITW Holdings II Limited, ITW Holdings III Limited, ITW Holdings IV Limited, ITW Holdings IX Limited, ITW Holdings Inc., ITW Holdings V Limited, ITW Holdings VI Limited, ITW Holdings VII Limited, ITW Holdings VIII Limited, ITW Holdings X Limited, ITW Holdings XI Limited, ITW ILC Holdings I Inc., ITW IPG Investments LLC, ITW Imaden Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW India Private Limited, ITW International Holdings LLC, ITW Invest Holding GmbH, ITW Ireland Holdings Unlimited Company, ITW Ireland Unlimited Company, ITW Italy Holding Srl, ITW Japan Ltd., ITW Korea LLC, ITW LLC & Co. KG, ITW Limited, ITW Lys Fusion S.r.l., ITW Materials Technology Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW Meritex Sdn. Bhd., ITW Metal Fasteners S.L., ITW Mexico Holding Company S. De R.L. de C.V., ITW Mexico Holdings LLC, ITW Morlock GmbH, ITW Mortgage Investments II Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments III Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments IV Inc., ITW Netherlands Administration BV, ITW Netherlands Beta B.V., ITW Netherlands Finance Alpha BV, ITW New Universal LLC, ITW New Zealand, ITW Ningbo Components & Fastenings Systems Co. Ltd., ITW Novadan Sp. Z.o.o., ITW PPF Brasil Adesivos Ltda., ITW Packaging Technology China Co. Ltd., ITW Participations S.a r.l., ITW Pension Funds Trustee Company, ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Japan Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Korea Limited, ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids OOO, ITW Performance Polymers ApS, ITW Performance Polymers Wujiang Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers and Fluids Group FZE, ITW Peru S.A.C., ITW Poly Mex S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Polymers Sealants North America Inc., ITW Pronovia s.r.o., ITW Pte. Ltd., ITW Qufu Automotive Cooling Systems Co. Ltd., ITW Real Estate Germany GmbH, ITW Residuals III L.L.C., ITW Residuals IV L.L.C., ITW Rivex, ITW SMPI, ITW SPG Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Simco-Ion Shenzhen Co. Ltd., ITW Slovakia s.r.o., ITW Spain Holdings S.L., ITW Specialty Film LLC, ITW Specialty Films France, ITW Specialty Materials Suzhou Co. Ltd., ITW Sverige AB, ITW Sweden Holding AB, ITW Test & Measurement Equipment Shanghai Co. Ltd, ITW Test & Measurement GmbH, ITW Test and Measurement Italia Srl, ITW Test and Measurement Services Industry and Trade Ltd., ITW Texwipe Philippines Inc., ITW Thermal Films Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW UK, ITW UK Finance Beta Limited, ITW UK Finance Delta Limited, ITW UK Finance Gamma Limited, ITW UK Finance Limited, ITW UK Finance Zeta Ltd., ITW UK II Limited, ITW Universal II LLC, ITW Welding, ITW Welding AB, ITW Welding GmbH, ITW Welding Products B.V., ITW Welding Products Group FZE, ITW Welding Products Group S. DE R.L. De C.V., ITW Welding Products Italy Srl, ITW Welding Products Limited Liability Company, ITW Welding Produtos Para Solgdagem Ltda., ITW Welding Singapore Pte. Ltd., ITW de France, ITW do Brasil Industrial e Comercial Ltda., Illinois Tool Works Chile Limitada, Illinois Tool Works ITW Nederland B.V., Illinois Tool Works Inc., Impar Comercio E Representacoes Ltda., Industrie Plastic Elsasser GmbH, Inmobiliaria Cit. S.A. de C.F., Innova Temperlite Servicios S.A. de C.V., Innovacion y Transformacion Automotriz S.A. de C.V., Instron Brasil Equipamentos Cientificos Ltda., Instron Foreign Sales Corp. Limited, Instron France S.A.S., Instron GmbH, Instron Japan Company Ltd., Instron Korea LLC, Instron Shanghai Ltd., Instron Thailand Limited, International Leasing Company LLC, Isolenge - ITW Sistemas de Isolamento Termico Ltda., Itw Spraytec, KCPL Mauritius Holdings, Kester, Kleinmann GmbH, Krafft S.L., Loma Systems, Loma Systems BV, Loma Systems Canada Inc., Loma Systems sro, Lombard Pressings Limited, Lumex Inc., Lys Fusion Poland Sp. z.o.o., M&C Specialties Co., MAGNAFLUX GmbH, MEHB Holdings Limited, MGHG Property LLC, MTS 2 LLC., MTS 3 LLC., MTS China Holdings LLC, MTS Europe Holdings LLC, MTS Holdings France S.a.r.l., MTS Japan Ltd.., MTS Korea Inc.., MTS Systems China Co. Ltd., MTS Systems Corporation, MTS Systems Danmark ApS., MTS Systems Europe B.V., MTS Systems Finance C.V.., MTS Systems Germany GmbH, MTS Systems Holding B.V.., MTS Systems Hong Kong Incorporated, MTS Systems Limited, MTS Systems Norden Aktiebolag, MTS Systems S.r.l, MTS Systems., MTS Systems.., MTS Sytems Do Brazil, MTS Testing Solutions India Private Limited., MTS Testing Systems Canada Ltd., Manufacturing Avancee S.A., Meritex Technology Suzhou Co. Ltd., Meurer Verpackungssysteme GmbH, Miller Electric Mfg. LLC, Miller Insurance Ltd., NDT Holding LLC, NOVADAN APS, North Star Imaging Inc., Nova Chimica S.r.l., Orbitalum Tools GmbH, PENTA-91 OOO, PR. A. I. Srl, PT ITW Construction Products Indonesia, Pacific Concept Industries Limited Enping, Panreac Quimica S.L., Paslode Fasteners Shanghai Co. Ltd., Peerless Machinery Corp., Polyrey, Premark FEG L.L.C., Premark HII Holdings LLC, Premark International, Premark International LLC, Prolex Sociedad Anonima, QSA Global Inc., Quimica Industrial Mediterranea S.L., R&D Engineering A/S., R&D Prague s.r.o., R&D Steel ApS., R&D Test Systems A/S., R&D Tools and Structures A/S., RDGDK Engineering Private Limited, Ramset Fasteners Hong Kong Ltd., Rapid Cook LLC, Refrigeration France, S.E.E. Sistemas Industria E Comercio Ltda., ST Mexico Holdings LLC, Sealant Systems International Inc., Sentinel Asia Yuhan Hoesa, Shanghai ITW Plastic & Metal Co. Ltd, Simco Japan Inc., Simco Nederland B.V., Societe de Prospection et dInventions Techniques  SPIT, Speedline Holdings I Inc., Speedline Holdings I LLC, Speedline Technologies GmbH, Speedline Technologies Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Speedline Technologies Mexico Services S. de R.L. de C.V., Stokvis Celix Portugal Unipessoal LDA, Stokvis Danmark ApS, Stokvis Holdings S.A.R.L., Stokvis Promi s.r.o, Stokvis Prostick Tapes Private Limited, Stokvis Tapes B.V., Stokvis Tapes Benelux B.V., Stokvis Tapes Deutschland GmbH, Stokvis Tapes France, Stokvis Tapes Hong Kong Co. Limited, Stokvis Tapes Italia s.r.l., Stokvis Tapes Limited, Stokvis Tapes Limited Liability Company, Stokvis Tapes Norge AS, Stokvis Tapes Oy, Stokvis Tapes Polska Sp Z.O.O., Stokvis Tapes Shanghai Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes Sverige AB, Stokvis Tapes Taiwan Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes Tianjin Co. Ltd., Stolvis Holdings II S.A.R.L., Subsidiaries, Technopack Industria Comercio Consultoria e Representacoes Ltda., Teknek China Limited, Teknek Japan Limited, Teksaleco Ltd., The Miller Group Ltd, Thirode Grandes Cuisines Poligny, Tien Tai Electrode Co. Ltd., Tien Tai Electrode Kunshan Co. Ltd., Unichemicals Industria e Comercio Ltda., VR-Leasing Sarita GmbH & Co. Immobilien KG, VS European Holdco BV, Valeron Strength Films B.V., Veneta Decalcogomme S.r.l., Versachem Chile S.A., Vesta, Vesta Global Limited, Vesta Guangzhou Catering Equipment Co. Ltd, Viltronics Soltec, Vitronics Soltec B.V., Wachs Canada Ltd., Wachs Subsea LLC, Weigh-Tronix Canada ULC, Weigh-Tronix UK Limited, Wilsonart International Holdings LLC, Wynn Oil South Africa Pty Ltd., Wynn's Automotive France, Wynn's Belgium BVBA, Wynn's Italia Srl, Wynn's Mekuba India Pvt Ltd, and Zip-Pak International B.V..

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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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By WestKyStar & Paducah City Staff Oct. 29, 2016 | 09:18 AM | PADUCAH, KY

Paducah Mayor Gayle Kaler says, Healthy, vibrant neighborhoods are the foundation of a healthy community. The revitalization of the Fountain Avenue Neighborhood came about through collaboration and the strategic use of programs and partners. Paducah is proud to be recognized by the Kentucky League of Cities for our efforts in Fountain Avenue, a neighborhood that is now reborn.





"Our awards are an ongoing way KLC can recognize the great work officials and employees are doing, year after year, in our Kentucky cities," said Jonathan Steiner, KLC executive director/CEO.





The Enterprise Cities Award recognizes city projects or programs making a true impact on their communities. The award program sponsor, Collins & Company, Inc., will provide $1,000 for each winning program to help continue its success.





Launched in 2007, the multi-year Fountain Avenue Neighborhood Revitalization project had as its goal the rehabilitation of a 20-block neighborhood. When revitalization commenced, approximately 80 percent of the structures were in disrepair. The neighborhood has been improved with an increase in home ownership, dozens of new or rehabilitated structures, and a decrease in the crime rate. City and state incentive programs have spurred development.





Since 2007, 36 new homes have been constructed in the neighborhood. So far, 84 existing homes have seen rehabilitation investments of more than $10,000 with 47 of those homes having investments of more than $50,000. There has been more than $13 million in public and private reinvestment in the neighborhood. Fountain Avenue, Park Avenue, North 13th Street, and the alley between Monroe and Jefferson comprise the boundaries of the neighborhood.





KLC has prepared an eight-minute video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_pF1CLufqM) honoring all the 2016 award winners. For more information about KLC, visit www.klc.org.





For more information about the Fountain Avenue Neighborhood including available lots and homes, call the Planning Department at 270-444-8690 or visit www.fountainave.com.



The Kentucky League of Cities (KLC) will honor the City of Paducah with an Enterprise Cities award for the Fountain Avenue Neighborhood Revitalization project at the Tuesday, November 1 City Commission Meeting at 5:30 pm at City Hall.Sadieville, Kentucky Mayor and KLC President Claude Christensen will be at the meeting to present the award along with KLC Community Development Manager Tad Long.
Graves County Sheriff identifies and is looking for truck theft suspects
By The Associated Press Oct. 28, 2016 | 05:43 PM | FRANKFORT, KY





Governor Matt Bevin has released 13 pages of emails about a disputed road project after the state legislature's top Democrat sued him 11 days before an election.House Speaker Greg Stumbo filed the lawsuit Friday morning in Franklin Circuit Court. Stumbo asked for the emails as part of his investigation about whether Bevin delayed the road project to punish a Democratic state lawmaker for refusing to switch parties. Bevin has denied any wrongdoing and said the project was poorly vetted and rushed by the prior administration.Last week, Bevin released some emails, and had said the 13 previously unreleased pages were "exempt from disclosure." Stumbo has insisted all of the emails should be public.The lawsuit and the investigation come as Republicans and Democrats battle for control of the state legislature. The scuffle has highlighted the tension surrounding Kentucky's elections for the state House of Representatives, the last legislative chamber in the South still controlled by Democrats. Republicans need to pick up four seats to win a majority for the first time since 1920.
Rita Redmond was a true lady who felt that every pupil had something to gift to the world
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October 29, 2016

FBI Director Comey Asks President Putin: Is Anthony Weiner Yours?

By: Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Western Subscribers

An absolutely astonishing Security Council (SC) report circulating in the Kremlin today details an extended telephonic conversation held Thursday between President Putin and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey wherein Americas top law enforcement officer asked Russias leader Is Anthony Weiner yours?, to which Putin replied, You should ask Aleksandr Poteyevand that led, less than 24 hours after this call ended, to Hillary Clinton being placed, once again, under FBI investigation. [Note: Some words and/or phrases appearing in quotes in this report are English language approximations of Russian words/phrases having no exact counterpart.]

According to this report, Director Comeys call to President Putin was in regards to the Foreign Intelligence Service (FIS) this past Tuesday advising all Federation security and intelligence organizations to cease all contact and cooperation with the FBIand that we detailed in our report titled Russia Breaks All Contact With Hillary Clintons Ministry Of TerrorOnce Called The FBI.

With many/numerous joint terrorism and international criminal investigations currently ongoing between FIS agencies and the FBI, this report continues, Director Comey expressed his concerns to President Putin that the ending of them would/could cause dangers/alarms to both the Federation and United Statesto which President Putin agreed, and in a bid to ease Russian-US war tensions publically stated after this call ended that Russia is not going to attack anyone, thats ridiculous.

Though not the main/central focus of their conversation, this report notes, President Putin did become annoyed/perturbed when Director Comey asked him about former US Congressman Anthony Weiner (aka Carlos Danger) while seeming to allege that he was in some way a Russian spyand that President Putin bluntly replied to by reminding Director Comey that the correct person to ask that question to was former Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) officer Aleksandr Poteyev, whose location could be found by asking the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

SVR officer Poteyev, this report details, was the overseer/director of a Federation honeypot intelligence operation operating in the United States whose mission was to discover/unmask high ranking American elite politicians, bankers, businessmen, etc., preying upon young Russian girls brought to that country to perform pedophile sex acts.

Once these sexually deviant elite Americans who preyed upon these young Russian girl children were identified by the SVR, this report explains, they were put under electronic surveillanceand once being notified of this, many of them volunteered to assist the Federation in other meaningful ways.

This highly successful SVR operation was, however, destroyed, this report continues, when SVR officer Poteyev turned against the Federation and became an operative for the American CIAwho this past July, immediately after FBI Director Comey announced Hillary Clinton would face no charges for her crimes, was suddenly declared dead (without any evidence) by the CIA, but that the SVR knows is not the truth.

Master SVR intelligence officer Anna Kushchyenko (in the US known as Anna Chapman) just prior to her and other SVR operatives/specialists being betrayed to the CIA by Poteyev, this report continues, had identified US Congressman Anthony Weiner as being a pedophile and targeted him for extreme/radical electronic surveillancebut whose mission was ended on 27 June 2010 with her arrest by US authorities.

The SVRs extreme/radical electronic surveillance of Congressman Weiner was justified, this report explains, due not only to his being a sexual deviant, but, also, because his wife, Huma Abedin, was the top aide to then US Secretary of State Hillary Clintonwhom the Federation has long noted is an existential threat to the entire world.

This report doesnt mention in its unclassified portions if the SVR continued their electronic surveillance of Congressman Weiner, but does allude to the CIA picking up this investigation where intelligence officer Anna Kushchyenko left offand as evidenced by the CIAs outing him as a sexual deviant 11 months later in May 2011.

Russian SVR Master Spy Anna Kushchyenko (aka Anna Chapman)

To why the CIA turned the SVRs Congressman Weiner surveillance operation against Hillary Clintons top aide Huma Abedin, this report further notes, was due to Secretary Clinton, in 2011, ordering the killing of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi (and the destruction of Libya)who was a major CIA asset and had allowed, since 2004, this US spy agency to use his country to interrogate (actually torture) high value Islamic terror leaders.

Within 24 hours of President Putin directing FBI Director Comey to look for answers about Congressman Weiners association with Russia by asking Aleksandr Poteyev (really the CIA), this report continues, Director Comey notified the US Congress that his investigation into Hillary Clinton was being re-openedand was due to the mysterious/magical appearance of tens-of-thousands of secret Hillary Clinton emails discovered on the computer of former Congressman Weiner, and that led Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein to state that a real bombshell had been discovered otherwise the FBI wouldnt have dared begin this whole sordid process again.

To how the Obama regimes FBI, CIA and Department of Justice (DoJ) will untangle the Hillary Clinton catastrophe theyve ensnared themselves, and the American people, into this report doesnt even venture an opinion onbut it does conclude by noting that the chaos enveloping America right now includes not only their presidential election, but Attorney General Loretta Lynch stunningly pleading the 5th Amendment in a letter to the US Congress this week over the payment of $1 billion in cash to Iran, and a terrifying new US Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure set to go into effect on 1 December that will legalize the ability of the US government to hack into computers in any jurisdiction, even in foreign nations.

Leading any ordinary American, one would think, to ask of themselves the same thing Donald Trump has been asking: Why not vote for me, what the hell do you have to lose?after all, with Hillary Clinton having already been caught on tape talking about rigging one election, whose to say she isnt about to do it again?

Other reports in this series include:

Russia Confirms Supercomputer Findings Showing Donald Trump Landslide Victory

Russia Asks CIA: Why Did Hillary Clinton Just Buy $137 Million Worth Of Illegal Arms?

Russia Breaks All Contact With Hillary Clintons Ministry Of TerrorOnce Called The FBI

Kremlin In Turmoil After Clinton Foundation CEO Requests Urgent And Immediate Asylum

Putin Issues US Election Theft Warning, Orders Military To Protect Trump At All Costs

Hillary Clinton Destroys Americas Free Energy HopesForever

Russia Names Hillary Clinton As Murder Suspect In Death Of Top UFO Researchers

Hillary Clintons Sudden Move Of $1.8 Billion To Qatar Central Bank Stuns Financial World

LA Detective Suicided To Protect Top Hillary Clinton Donor NBA Superstar Derrick Rose

Video Showing Bill Clinton Rape Of 13-Year-Old Girl Plunges Presidential Race Into Chaos

Maryland Doctor Who Treated Hillary Clinton For Blood Clot On Brain Mysteriously Dies

Red Notice Terror Warning Issued After Hillary Clinton ISIS Spy Captured In Britain

Wikileaks Under Dire Threat Over Proof Hillary Clinton Destroyed Eye Doctor To Hide Brain Trauma

Russian Red Alert Issued After Hillary Clinton Labels All American Parents Sex Criminals

Hillary Clinton Disappearance Leaves Russian Intelligence Experts Puzzled

US Again Ignores Russian Warning As Islamic Terror Hits New York City, New Jersey And Minnesota

Hillary Clinton Makes Millions To Destroy Samsung So Apple Can Sell More iPhones

Putin Issues Global Alert: The American Establishment Is Merciless, Donald Trump Could Soon Die

Hillary Clinton To Make Millions After Obama Orders All Wild Horses In American Killed

Hillary Clinton Placed In Hospital As Blackout Of Truth Descends Upon America

Concentration Camp Model Created By Hillary Clinton In Africa Warned Is Coming To America

Florida Earthquake Reported Caused By Obama-Clinton Attempt To Destroy Israeli Sub

Hillary Clinton Heart Failure Event Warned Just Months Away

Putin Asks Obama Why US Media Shutdown Donald Trump Speech At Black Church, Gets No Reply

US Congress To Begin Immediate Impeachment Of Hillary Clinton If She Wins Presidency

Hillary Clinton Secret Sexmail Destroys Top US Army Commander

Hillary Clinton Colostomy Bag Cover-up Consumes US Media Giants, Puts Debates In Doubt

White House Emails Reveal Largest Plot Ever Discovered To Destroy America

New York Times Hosts Top Secret Meet To Cover-up Hillary Clinton Health, Destroy Fox News

Putin Erupts Over Million Dollar Spy Payments To Hillary Clinton

US Secret Service Swarms Top Hospitals As Hillary Clinton Brain Surgery Fears Rise

Panic Grips America, Shuts Down NSA, After Russia Reveals It Has All Hillary Clinton Phone Calls

Hillary Clinton Total Terror Descends Upon Disabled Mother Who Discovered Her Link To ISIS

Russia Debates Response To Shocking Hillary Clinton Link To Crimea Terror Attack

Father Of Doctor Treating Hillary Clinton For Dementia Mysteriously Dies

Hillary Clinton Night Of The Long Knives Killing Spree Claims Life Of Attorney Shawn Lucas

Hillary Clinton Gains Millions From Plot Linked To Top US General Fueling War With Russia

Moscow Raid Proves Hillary Clinton Plot To Destroy Boeing, Ship 80,000 US Jobs Overseas

Hillary Clinton Orders ISIS Attack Cover-Up In Germany, American Press Stunningly Obeys

Clinton Threat To Destroy Everyone Throws Washington Into Chaos

Bush Family Rushes To Hillary Clinton Side After Top UN Official Set To Testify Against Her Found Dead

Husband Of Prosecutor Investigating Bill Clinton For Child Sex Charges Gunned Down

October 29, 2016  EU and US all rights reserved. Permission to use this report in its entirety is granted under the condition it is linked back to its original source at WhatDoesItMean.Com. Freebase content licensed under CC-BY and GFDL.

[Note: Many governments and their intelligence services actively campaign against the information found in these reports so as not to alarm their citizens about the many catastrophic Earth changes and events to come, a stance that the Sisters of Sorcha Faal strongly disagree with in believing that it is every human beings right to know the truth. Due to our missions conflicts with that of those governments, the responses of their agents has been a longstanding misinformation/misdirection campaign designed to discredit us, and others like us, that is exampled in numerous places, including HERE.]

[Note: The WhatDoesItMean.com website was created for and donated to the Sisters of Sorcha Faal in 2003 by a small group of American computer experts led by the late global technology guru Wayne Green (1922-2013) to counter the propaganda being used by the West to promote their illegal 2003 invasion of Iraq.]

[Note: The word Kremlin (fortress inside a city) as used in this report refers to Russian citadels, including in Moscow , having cathedrals wherein female Schema monks (Orthodox nuns) reside, many of whom are devoted to the mission of the Sisters of Sorcha Faal.]

Donald Trump Landslide Victory Races World War III To Finish Line

They Are Going To Come For YouWhy Are You Helping Them?

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Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 29/10/2016 (2194 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In excerpts from his newly released book Abandoned Manitoba  Residential Schools to Bank Vaults to Grain Elevators (Great Plains Publications), author and historian Gordon Goldsborough explains how the project took root and sheds light on a long-forgotten Second World War training site.

Introduction

The online service called Reddit is essentially a forum where people can share and discuss topics of mutual interest. Almost any subject, no matter how arcane, can be found on Reddit. One of its forums I peruse occasionally is called Abandoned Porn. No, it is not about what you may be thinking. In Abandoned Porn, you will finds thousands of photos, taken all over the world, of places and objects that are abandoned.

Houses, ships, aircraft and factories; they are all there. I am especially intrigued by photos taken inside shopping malls, those denizens of the 1970s that are fast disappearing. It is hard to describe why it is fascinating to see things that were once cherished in an advanced state of decay. But much as I enjoy looking at the photos on Reddit, I also find them frustrating because they almost never provide the backstory I crave. WHO created these things? WHEN did they thrive? WHY were they abandoned? WHAT does their abandonment tell us?

Abandoned Manitoba was recently launched. Goldsborough explores the rise and fall of sites around the province and how they fit into Manitoba's History.

To me, there is a lot to be learned from studying abandoned things. In my opinion, telling the story of these lost and discarded places imbues them with deeper meaning. For me, abandoned places tell us something interesting and informative about the past; what worked and what obviously didnt. Hence this book. Here, we will visit places around Manitoba that, for one reason or another, no longer serve the function for which they once existed. We will hear their stories and, hopefully, delve more deeply into little-known and forgotten aspects of our provinces rich history.

For the past several years, I have been mapping historic sites all over Manitoba. The project started innocently enough. My wife, who at the time was working for an environmental consulting firm, was asked to investigate sites for potential wind-farm development in the vicinity of Deloraine. I had not visited that part of the province in some time, so I tagged along.

Given my long-standing interest in local history, I thought I could visit some interesting places in and around the town. I did some research in advance and learned there was an abandoned bank vault near to Deloraine. In 1883, it had been built by brothers A. P. Stuart and F. T. Stuart in the newly established village before the railway arrived in that part of the province.

Deloraine, which had been named for the Scottish hometown of its postmaster, consisted of a store, Land Titles office, grist mill, blacksmith shop, two churches, six agents of various kinds, a law office, a school and several houses. When the Canadian Pacific Railway arrived in 1886, it passed to the north of Deloraine. In late 1886, most buildings were moved to the new townsite three kilometres away. But the vault, being made of stones and therefore, very heavy, could not be moved, so it was abandoned, having served its function for a mere three years. Other buildings abandoned were the mill and town hall (used also as a school). In 1895, the site of what has come to be known as Old Deloraine was sold as farmland. The vault ended up in the middle of a livestock paddock. The farmer, recognizing its historical interest in showing what befell many Prairie towns founded before the arrival of the railway, built a fence around it to protect the structure from damage from his cattle. And there it sat for decades. In 1974, he carried out some restoration work to repair the mortar holding together its stones.

Wanting to see the bank vault at Old Deloraine, I asked about it at the front desk of our hotel. They had never heard of such a thing and advised me to check at the town office. In turn, the towns office staff had vague recollections of the vault and sent me off in the general direction. After an hour or two of fruitless driving around the countryside, asking in vain for directions several times, I was ready to admit defeat. Making one last effort, I drove into the driveway of a nearby farm and knocked at the door of the farmhouse. Do you know where I can find an old bank vault, I asked the surprised farmer who answered, who no doubt wondered why someone was knocking in the middle of the afternoon. To my relief, he gestured towards the nearby barn and invited me to walk around behind it. And there it was! The structure measured about eight feet tall, perhaps 21/2 metres deep and 31/2 metres wide, made of fieldstones held together by mortar.

Goldsborough examines some of of the content at the museum at the now-closed Rapid City Museum.

There must be an easier way to do this, I thought, as I drove back to Deloraine. In this day and age, with the GPS becoming ubiquitous in so many aspects of our lives, with GPS mapping capability becoming commonplace in our cars and smartphones, it should be easy to find historic places in obscure locations. I was familiar with GPS equipment, having used it for years in my scientific work. At that time, Google Maps was newly available, making it easy for people to create and display all sorts of information on maps that were available widely and freely. All I needed to get going on this project was one final enticement.

My start came in the form of a challenge. The Manitoba Historical Society, for which I volunteer, had been given a grant to promote awareness of small, rural museums. Soon after the grant was received, the person who had spearheaded the application got a job outside the province and left the society holding the bag. Do the project, or give back the grant, we were warned. How do we go about fulfilling the terms of the grant, we wondered? I was reminded of my thoughts on mapping historic sites and proposed a customized Google Map showing the locations of the museums could be useful, especially if it also showed noteworthy places along the route to those museums. In that way, someone with a passion for local history could indulge in their interests as they travelled, stopping at noteworthy monuments, buildings, cemeteries and other places on the way to the destination. Initially, I thought perhaps there would be a few hundred of such sites on the map. But thats when the obsessive aspect of my personality kicked in. Who was I to presume what someone might find interesting? Why not include a wide range of sites and give people the ability to selectively show only those matching their personal preferences? In that way, a museum trip could become a truly customized experience. That was my objective and the beginning of a project that continues today.

So far, my friends and I have mapped 6,200 sites around the province, with no end in sight. Thinking back to the bank vault that got me started, I can now report having found four other abandoned vaults, at Arden, Pilot Mound, Holmfield and Red Deer Lake. Many of the sites we have mapped are still in active use, although their historical nature may not be clear. For instance, innocuous buildings in many of our communities often conceal a fascinating past. Making more people aware of this past, so they can have a deeper appreciation of where we have been as a guide to where we are going, is my motivation. Sometimes, nothing conveys a story better than a site that is abandoned because it emphasizes in a very visceral way that change has occurred: at one time, the abandoned site was valued. Now it is not. That change in attitude is the basis for a story I want to tell here.

The elusive bank vault in 'Old Deloraine,' now a farmyard southeast of the town.

In this book, I present a small selection of the abandoned places I have visited over the past several years. But first, I should explain how I define the sorts of places we will be visiting. Abandoned is not quite the right word, but I am hard-pressed to come up with a better one. Essentially, my conception of abandoned is it is a place that no longer serves the function for which it was originally designed and which is underused. I do not mean to imply these places were abandoned through wilful malice. And not all of the places we will be visiting are completely unoccupied and decaying. A euphemism I often hear about old buildings is they are being used for storage but, in truth, most of them are filled with stuff that will never be removed. (In that sense, some might say my messy office is abandoned.) So I will embrace three criteria for sites to be profiled here:

1. The site should have some vestige of its former use. Quite often, when I visit the site of some former building, I find absolutely nothing left: no concrete rubble, no remnants of an access road, no commemorative monument. I will exclude such places here. I think it means something to be able to see authentic history, to walk in the hallway of an abandoned building, or to KNOW with certainty you are standing where someone else stood years ago.

2. The site must be special, either one-of-a-kind or a particularly good representative of a class of sites. For example, there were over 2,000 one-room schoolhouses that operated in Manitoba during the 20th century, and several hundred still stand today, in varying stages of disrepair. I will not be showing you all of them. Instead, I will pick one, or maybe two, really interesting ones and, if your curiosity is piqued, maybe you will be enticed to go out in search of others. I can help with directions.

3. The site must demonstrate something interesting or important about Manitoba history. For example, there are lots of vacant houses in rural Manitoba, and I am sure there is a sad story for each and every one. But unless someone noteworthy lived there, or there is something important the house shows us, or the building is in some way architecturally unique, I will not bore you with all those stories.

Goldsborough and his friends have mapped 6,200 sites around the province... so far.

I am challenged occasionally about the wisdom of promoting awareness of abandoned sites, on the grounds it may attract those with malicious intent or who may be injured while trespassing at a site with dubious structural integrity. I respond in two ways. First, everyone should act responsibly. For their part, owners of abandoned sites should be aware they are responsible under the law for ensuring there are no obvious hazards on their property that could harm trespassers. Putting up a no trespassing sign is a good start. But this does not put the onus solely on them. Those keen to see things on private property should obtain permission before making any attempt to enter. Trespassing is bad for everyone, especially those who may follow you. Otherwise, be content to view a site from afar, on public property such as roads and rights-of-way.

My second response to the naysayers is security through obscurity is never a good strategy. People are deluding themselves if they think not talking about a site makes it secure in this age of instantaneous, global communications. Sooner or later, if there is something interesting about a place, someone will find out and spread the word via places such as Reddit. Likewise, I think it is highly unlikely vandals will use this book as a basis for finding targets. If nothing else, vandals are lazy and will not drive for hours merely to cause wilful damage when there are easier, closer places to go. (In my experience, most vandalism is caused by locals, not visitors.) And to the potential treasure hunters, I say this: do not visit the places profiled in this book with expectations of booty. The treasure in these places is not that they are monetarily valuable  most are not  but that they tell us something important about Manitoba. In this spirit, I encourage you to go out and explore our beautiful province. Along the way, learn, share, respect, and, above all, enjoy the experience!

Paulson Bombing & Gunnery School

The former RCAF hangar near Chater was one of two relief facilities for the Service Flying Training School No. 12 in Brandon.

PAULSON, Man.  You would be hard-pressed to see them as you drove past this site on the south side of Highway 20, 11 kilometres east of Dauphin, but they are clearly visible from the air: clumps of trees that are curiously straight-edged and form a large, open triangle. This triangular forest, sitting in the midst of 640 acres of prime farmland, now invades the runways of a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) base what was once the largest of its kind in Canada for training pilots, observers and gunners. It is the former Paulson Bombing & Gunnery School.

From the earliest days of the Second World War, it was clear control of the skies would be essential for military victory on the ground. The federal government of William Lyon Mackenzie King saw an opportunity to support the war effort while keeping a large number of Canadians at home by hosting training facilities of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. At its height in 1943, the plan operated 107 schools and 184 ancillary facilities at 231 sites in nine provinces. Manitobas contribution included two Air Observers Schools (Winnipeg and Southport), the Central Navigation School at Rivers, a Wireless School (Winnipeg), Elementary Flying Training Schools (Neepawa, Portage, and Virden) and Service Flying Training Schools (Brandon, Carberry, Dauphin, Gimli and Souris). Specialized training in bombing and gunnery was provided near Macdonald, northwest of Portage la Prairie, and at Paulson.

The Paulson School was known officially as Bombing and Gunnery School No. 7, but its informal name came from the nearby Paulson siding on the Canadian National Railway. Located about 13 kilometres east of Service Flying Training School No. 10 south of Dauphin (now the Dauphin municipal airport), the site was chosen for its proximity to Lake Dauphin, just 11/2 km away to the northeast. The idea was novice aircrews could take off from Paulson and practise attacks on floating rafts in the lake while instructors on the shore would keep close watch on them.

The cracked concrete floors of the six large aircraft hangars are still visible.

Construction of the Paulson facility began in late 1940, and most buildings were completed by January 1941. Six large aircraft hangars and a drill hall were constructed by the Claydon Construction Company of Winnipeg. Other buildings at the site  most with green walls and brick-red roofs  included barracks and mess halls for officers and enlisted men and women (each group with separate space), a 10-bed hospital, dental clinic, garages and workshops, recreation and dance hall, fire station, and stores surrounding a large parade ground. Two large concrete tanks held water for drinking, cleaning and firefighting. A small sewage-treatment plant on the north edge of the base sat beside a 25-yard range where machine-guns aimed at a concrete wall, known as a stop butt. A railway spur line transported cargo and personnel to and from the site. The total cost of construction was about $1.25 million. The RCAF took command from civilian contractors in early June 1941, and the base reached full operational status later that month. Initially powered by diesel generators, electrical power lines from the Manitoba Power Commission arrived in early November. The base operated 24 hours a day with an operating staff of 150 to 200 people. The first classes began in late June 1941.

The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan brought thousands of men and women from all over the British Commonwealth  Canada as well as Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, plus a large number of Americans  to Manitoba. (Canadian women were not fully integrated into military units and instead served in a Womens Division of the RCAF.) A man who enlisted in the RCAF spent three weeks learning basic drill procedures at one of three Manning Depots, including one at Brandon. Then, he spent four weeks at an Initial Training School where he learned military discipline, air force law and the theory of flight and mechanics.

Based on his aptitude, he was routed into one of three branches of service, as a pilot, observer or gunner and wireless (radio) operator. A prospective pilot went to one of the 27 Elementary Flying Training Schools across the country, many of them operated by civilian companies affiliated with flying clubs, where he spent seven weeks learning the basics of flying before heading to one of ten Service Flying Training Schools to receive a further 12 weeks of advanced flight instruction. Meanwhile, an observer went to one of 10 Air Observer Schools where he spent 12 weeks learning the nuances of air navigation, photography and reconnaissance, while wireless operators (who doubled as on-board gunners) received 18 weeks of training in the operation and care of communications equipment. Observers also spent four weeks of advanced training at Air Navigation School. The three branches reunited at one of 10 Bombing and Gunnery Schools across the country: pilots for two weeks, air observers for six weeks and air gunners for four weeks. After six months of training, they were ready for deployment.

Remnants of the Paulson Gunnery School include the range's 'stop butt' in the background and support columns from the aircraft hangars in the foreground.

The Paulson School operated into early 1945. As it became clear the war was drawing to a conclusion, numbers of staff at the base diminished. The final aircrews received their wings on Feb. 2, 1945, and the school closed a couple of weeks later. By April 1945, civilian employees were let go, and the remaining military personnel were transferred elsewhere. The skies that had droned with the roar of aircraft for nearly four years fell silent.

Eventually, all but one of the buildings at the Paulson Bombing and Gunnery School were sold and moved away or were demolished. It is rumoured a large quantity of small equipment, for which there was no further need, was simply buried in a hastily dug pit. The land, with its network of paved roads and runways still intact, was sold to a local farmer. When I visited the site in June 2015, the only remaining building was an officers mess, which had been moved from its original site to the farmers yard for use as storage space. Roads around the grounds were cracked and mostly overgrown with vegetation, so much so when the farmer gave me a tour, it seemed to me he was driving his truck across bumpy prairie. (The occasional manhole cover, sewer drain or fire hydrant did, however, give me pause.) The concrete floors of the six huge hangars and several of the smaller buildings were still readily visible, as was the sewage-treatment plant and the gunnery ranges stop butt. Plants had sprouted through cracks in the runways, growing into the triangular forest, and the land around the runways was mostly sown to agricultural crops. A site once devoted to swords has reverted to plowshares.

Today, some 70 years after the end of the Second World War, visible signs of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan training facilities are being slowly erased from Manitobas landscape. Runways at Carberry, Chater, Eden, Hartney, Macdonald, Oberon and Petrel have been removed or, like Paulson, are overgrown. Those at Dauphin, Gimli, Neepawa, Netley, Rivers, Souris, Southport, Virden and Winnipeg have been converted to civilian uses. Once numbering in the hundreds, and designed for short-term use during what was hoped would be a short war, few British Commonwealth Air Training Plan buildings survive. Well-preserved specimens form the basis of an excellent museum at Brandon. A remarkably intact hangar, now used to store farm equipment, stands at one of Brandons relief fields, northeast of Chater and a cluster of decaying barracks  used to film For The Moment, a 1993 Hollywood movie (starring a young Russell Crowe) about airmen training in rural Manitoba  remain at the decommissioned CFB Rivers. But a maintenance building from the former Carberry base I saw during a visit in mid-2015 was slated for demolition. So long as the inconspicuous remains of the Paulson Bombing and Gunnery School persist, the memory of Manitobas role in Second World War aviation will not be lost.

Goldsborough is a University of Manitoba aquatic ecologist and an active member of the Manitoba Historical Society. He published two previous books and hosts a weekly radio series on CBC called Abandoned Manitoba
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 29/10/2016 (2194 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For those who like their Jane Jacobs served neat and short, here, for the first time, is a comprehensive tasting menu of smaller creations by the visionary American-born Canadian urbanist (journalist, historian, economist, activist, etc.), unfiltered and undiluted.

Served chronologically and spanning Jacobs seven decades of evolving theory on how cities function and can function better, the offerings in Vital Little Plans include articles from Vogue in the 1930s, Harpers Bazaar in the 40s and Architectural Forum in the 50s.

There are interviews (see Jacobs bristle in a 1993 one-on-one with Canadian journalist David Warren); an early website commentary (1995); and speeches (including one she delivered at a 2001 conference of Canadas large city mayors in Winnipeg).

Adrian Wyld / The Canadian Press files Author Jane Jacobs was revered as a visionary and denounced as a troublemaker.

There is her foreword to a 1952 State Department Loyalty Security Board interrogatory inquiring into her affiliations (she was a target of Cold War campaigns to expose Communists but was, in fact, an independent thinker). There is also an excerpt of a book, unfinished when she died in 2006.

Jacobs writing is clear  expressed simply, sometimes lyrically, down-to-earth and based on observation and research  but it is not simple. Some pieces, given their complexity (particularly her economic theories), take time to digest.

The knowledgable editors masterfully provide context in a style as engaging as Jacobs own. Samuel Zipp is a historian and academic of American and urban studies at Rhode Islands Brown University; Nathan Storring is a curator and designer based also in Providence and New York City, with Ontario roots.

Their five part introductions, prefacing different stages of Jacobs writings, describe her life and times concurrent with those works. The writings are balanced between her New York City and Toronto periods.

Their annotations, readily accessible at the foot of the page, succinctly identify persons referenced by Jacobs (tombstone data, career background, their relationship to her) and explain diverse concepts such as New York Citys long-gone pneumatic mail tube system, new towns and the Canadian Senate. They cross-reference singular Jacobs ideas, pointing to other of her works, inside and out of Vital Little Plans, where those thoughts originated, are expanded upon, shift and connect.

The collection includes Jacobs 1992 new foreword to her most famous book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, republished 31 years after rocking city planners, architects and the public in 1961.

That seminal work appears on the dust jacket of Vital Little Plans as part of an extended subtitle: The Short Works of Jane Jacobs, Author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities. This is doubly curious.

Surely anyone interested in this meaty new volume will have already heard of Jacobs, so Death and Life is hardly a lure. Could a person possibly know that work but not Jane Jacobs?

The editors suggest she may be fading from memory. A reason, they say, for now publishing Little Vital Plans is to retrieve her voice for readers whove forgotten it or never knew it in the first place.

Jacobs is everywhere in 2016. In addition to Robert Kanigels Eyes on the Street: The Life of Jane Jacobs, another biography, Becoming Jane Jacobs by Peter L. Laurence is due, as well as another Jacobs collection, Jane Jacobs: The Last Interview and Other Conversations.

This year, on the weekend closest to Jacobs May 4 birthday, tens of thousands of citizen-explorers across six continents plied local neighbourhoods to celebrate her and her ideas. It was the 10th annual edition of Janes Walks, the urban walking tours inspired by Jacobs ideas.

Vital Little Plans encourages us to read Jacobs. Short samplings are easier to appreciate and, unlike a select work from her varied collection, provide the full palette of her thought.

We can walk away satisfied with more than mere tropes, good as sidewalk ballet and eyes on the street will always be.

Gail Perry is a co-founder of the Winnipeg Architecture Foundation and co-creator of a local Janes Walk, Plane Jane: A Walk to the Airport.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 28/10/2016 (2195 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Pallister government has told the University of Manitoba and its professors to extend their collective agreement by one year at zero per cent to stabilize public pay levels.

Word broke Friday afternoon when U of M president David Barnard and U of M Faculty Association president Prof. Mark Hudson said in a joint statement that the Pallister government has directed them to extend collective agreements one year at zero per cent.

The two sides at the U of M were in their second day of mediation in a bid to avert a 7 a.m. strike deadline Tuesday. Mediation will continue throughout the weekend.

BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS The U of M Faculty Association will set up picket lines at 7 a.m. on Nov. 1 if there is no agreement on a new deal.

Finance Minister Cameron Friesen later issued a statement in which he said the government has a responsibility to issue parameters to fix the provinces finances, but the statement made no mention of a zero per cent increase, and the premiers office would not elaborate.

The Manitoba Government and General Employees Union has called for an emergency meeting with Premier Brian Pallister to find out whats happening.

It wasnt clear what other public-sector bargaining units would be affected or what the Tories would do if the order is ignored.

The university and UMFA said in a joint statement, Bargaining has been presented with an unexpected complication, but both parties are resolved to continue discussions.

Said Barnard: Over the past several days, the province has made clear to the university that it has established fresh mandate parameters that seek co-operation in achieving a compensation pause throughout the public sector. Public bodies, including the University of Manitoba, are being asked to extend existing contracts for an additional year at zero per cent in order to stabilize publi- sector compensation levels.

We now find ourselves in the unusual circumstance of having a newly articulated provincial mandate regarding public-sector compensation levels that will have a profound impact on the final compensation levels that we will be able to negotiate, despite having already made what we believe to be a fair and reasonable offer on Sept. 13, Barnard said.

The (U of M) is indeed challenged by these circumstances coming at the end of what has been a difficult but advancing series of discussions since March 2016.

Hudson said in the joint statement: This 11th-hour action represents illegitimate government interference in a constitutionally protected process of collective bargaining.

Mediation continues, and our focus is to advance our members priorities through that process. The U of M is an independent body whose board must have the autonomy to engage in all aspects of negotiation, said Hudson. The province has unnecessarily endangered a complex negotiation through this misguided interference, and its action has jeopardized the educational goals of every U of M student.

UMFA is currently exploring legal options and continues to focus on negotiating a fair deal for its members.

New Democrat MLA James Allum, a former education minister, said its clear the government is interfering with collective bargaining at the U of M.

Thats sending a chill right across the province, he said. Its quite a shocking development.

Allum said governments are entitled to set mandates of the wage increases with which theyd be comfortable, but not at the 11th hour of bargaining.

I cant speculate on the actions theyre (Tories) going to take, said Allum. Were looking for exactly how theyre going to react.

MGEU president Michelle Gawronsky said Friday afternoon: The government has not told us anything about a unilateral wage freeze. Just yesterday (Thursday) , the premier said in the legislature, I have tremendous respect for collective bargaining. And all summer he told our members that he would not be interfering in the bargaining process.

We need to hear from the government directly, and thats why we are requesting an emergency meeting with the premier. We need assurance from the province that the bargaining will be fair and free from interference, Gawronsky said.

Because a mediator has imposed a media blackout, said Barnard and Hudson, they wont comment this weekend. Neither the university nor the union will say who in the government issued the order.

Our negotiations comprise many issues of grave importance to valued faculty members, and these will be addressed as the mediation process continues this weekend, they said in their joint statement.

Both parties recognize the impacts a strike can have on students and will work diligently to avoid such an outcome before the Nov. 1 strike deadline. The university administration and UMFA take our responsibility to the larger University of Manitoba community very seriously. We are united in caring deeply about the universitys mission to create, preserve and apply knowledge contributing to the well-being of this province, Canada and the world.

Their contract expired March 31.

The university has offered seven per cent over four years; for one-third of faculty still eligible for incremental raises, the total package would be 17.5 per cent over four years. UMFA has asked for a 6.9 per cent overall increase over one year, with improvements in benefits.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 28/10/2016 (2195 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon police have caught a Brandon Correctional Centre inmate who escaped earlier today.

Sgt. Earl McNutt said police used the Dog Unit to track the inmate to First Street North and Kirkham Crescent, where he tried to evade police before being arrested.

Police were initially called to BCC at 2:47 p.m. after jail security realized a prisoner had escaped.

File photo An inmate who escaped from Brandon Correctional Centre on Friday was caught by Brandon Police Service.

Police declined to give the inmates name, but described him as aboriginal in appearance with a slim build and medium height.

An ambulance and several first-responder vehicles were at the jail shortly after 4 p.m. and McNutt said the man, who was believed to have escaped in a grey shirt without any pants or shoes, was expected to be hurt.

He may have sustained an injury during the escape, McNutt said.

The prisoner is expected to be in Brandon court tomorrow. He was in jail in relation to "violent offences," according to McNutt.

As of Oct. 20, there were 340 inmates at BCC. As of August 2014, the jails capacity was 252.

 The Brandon Sun
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 29/10/2016 (2194 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When Lindy Norris was building her career in business development, she noticed a distinct absence of spaces where young professional women could connect socially and informally network. When she brought this up among a group of similarly ambitious, career-driven girlfriends over wine one evening, they had noticed it, too.

To fill that gap, Norris, then 27, founded Athena Leadership. Named for the Greek goddess of wisdom, encouragement, strength, civilization and inspiration  all the badass stuff, Norris says  Athena Leadership is a membership-based, non-profit organization aimed at providing leadership development, networking and mentorship opportunities to young women in Manitoba.

The organization celebrated its fifth anniversary this month. And next week, it will host Changeleaders, Manitobas first millennial leadership conference.

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Candace Hodgins-Harder (left), Lindy Norris (seated) and Christine LaForge (right) at the Fairmont Hotel, site of their upcoming conference.

On Nov. 2, 400 young people (both men and women) will hear from speakers  such as keynote Nicole Verkindt, the founder and president of Canadian technology company, OMX, and a Dragon on Next Gen Dragons Den  on a variety of topics, including the power of mentoring, resilience and career planning.

Most conferences with millennial in the title are usually about millennials; how to work with them, how to retain them. This conference is for millennials. Norris says Changeleaders will be less about broad-strokes inspirational speeches and more about practical advice. The point is to arm attendees with tools to hone their leadership skills. Were really focused on the So what? and the Whats in it for me? said Norris, who organized the event along with conference chairwoman Candace Hodgins-Harder and vice-chairwoman Christine Laforge and the rest of a volunteer committee.

.

With Changeleaders, Athena Leadership is filling another gap. The evening conference, which will be held at the Fairmont Winnipeg, sold out in five business days. Its clear from that response  as well as the response to SheDay 2016, which also sold out in a matter of days  there is a voracious appetite for these kinds of conferences. And Changeleaders is one way the organization can reach young professionals outside of its 35-woman membership base.

Athena Leadership hosts a new-member night once a year, usually in the spring, where prospective members can learn more about the organization and apply for membership. One of the benefits of a membership is access to the mentor talks; 35 Winnipeg business owners, executives and creative types have all served as mentors. These talks are meant to be candid and revealing, so much so that everyone signs a non-disclosure agreement. They share challenges and opportunities. Theres a sincere trust there, Norris says.

The organization also offers an annual scholarship, the Athena Leader of Tomorrow Scholarship, for women ages 17-24.

As Hillary Clinton vies for the most powerful leadership role in the world, conversations about glass ceilings, gender bias and, of course, the likeability of female leaders have been reignited. Through its programming, Athena Leadership actively challenges another stubborn stereotype about women pursuing leadership roles: that women are inherently competitive with each other.

Surrounding yourself with the best people doesnt make you look worse by comparison. It makes you better

Constellations are a big part of Changeleaders branding, the idea being that the conference will bring hundreds of stars together to form one powerful constellation. But the imagery also reminded me of American writer Ann Friedmans now-famous Shine Theory. Friedmans idea is simple but revolutionary: surround yourself with shiny women, and youll shine brighter, too. Surrounding yourself with the best people doesnt make you look worse by comparison, Friedman wrote in her oft-quoted essay. It makes you better.

Women want to connect with each other; thats why Athena Leadership exists. Paraphrasing Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Norris says more and more millennials  men and women both  are looking at their careers as jungle gyms as opposed to ladders. We already know millennials are purpose- and passion-driven, but theres a desire to connect, she says.

There are lots of seats at the table. Theres enough work and enough clients to go around. If everyone is pushing each other forward, we can change our community.

jen.zoratti@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @JenZoratti
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 29/10/2016 (2194 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Its been a turbulent few years in western Canadian grain marketing as farmers, grain handlers and the transportation network adjust to working with an open market.

Although the reality has fallen somewhat short of producer expectations, few would favour going back to the single-desk monopoly.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

The open market may be imperfect, but as the saying goes, even imperfection has its own beauty.

However, some recent number-crunching by agricultural economists suggests the open market could use a little regulatory help to function as it should.

University of Manitoba agricultural economist Derek Brewin is part of a group of economists following how the farmers fared during their first few years in the first open market for wheat since 1942.

Theyve been tracking the basis, which is the difference between the export price and the price paid to the farmer.

The theory was that in an open market, competition for market share by the major grain handlers would drive those basis levels to the narrowest efficiently possible. In the first year after the Canadian Wheat Board was dismantled, that seemed to be the case.

The wheat export basis shrunk to just under $54 per tonne, its lowest level in years, presumably because the major grain companies pulled out all the stops in a bid to get farmers delivering through their terminals.

But then the crop of 2013 came in, a bin-buster by any measure. The record crop was followed by a brutally cold winter that further bogged down an already sluggish transportation network.

Basis levels soared, increasing by nearly $80 per tonne. Some argue that was a natural, market-based response rationing access to the transportation system, but as Brewin notes, there were still huge volumes of grain moving through the system  albeit slowly.

When Brewin compared the 2013-14 experience to 2008, the last time a huge crop hit the system, it gets even stranger.

In 2008, farmers harvested a crop that was 24 per cent bigger than the previous year and ending stocks increased by 68 per cent. In 2013, the crop was larger than the previous one by 34 per cent and ending stocks increased 148 per cent.

However, basis levels dropped 10 per cent in 2008. In 2013, they increased 148 per cent.

The basis has remained unnaturally wide by historical measures ever since. Tallying up the volume of grain moved in 2013 and 2014 multiplied by the wider basis, Brewin figures farmer returns were collectively down by $3.5 billion.

The question becomes, where did that money go? The railways didnt get it. Their ability to extract extra revenue from the system is capped by the so-called Maximum Revenue Entitlement.

There were lots of extra costs associated with the delayed shipments, such as demurrage, storage charges and quality losses. But those numbers arent high enough to explain such a wide difference.

The only logical conclusion is that the grain companies pocketed windfall profits  because they could. After all, 81 per cent of the grain-handling business is done by six grain companies in Western Canada. The big three  Pioneer, Viterra and Cargill  control 60 per cent.

However, he cant prove it because with the exception of Viterras owner, Glencore, these companies are privately traded; their books arent open for review.

Another caveat is that his work is based on spot prices posted at port, which may not accurately reflect the prices paid to farmers who sold under contracts.

The fact that grain handling, historically a narrow-margin business, has become more profitable isnt necessarily a bad thing. It might attract new players and new investment to the sector.

That said, Brewin thinks farmers would benefit from measures that increase market transparency, such as mandatory price-reporting legislation similar to the United States. There, companies must report how much they sold and at what price on sales over certain volume.

Its a real loss to Canada if we cant reflect the export price back to the farmer in the most efficient supply chain we can build, he said.

Laura Rance is editorial director for Farm Business Communications. She can be reached at laura@fbcpublishing.com or 204-792-4382.
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This article was published 28/10/2016 (2195 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Legal recreational marijuana could create an impact of close to $23 billion annually on the Canadian economy, according to a new survey by Deloitte.

The most extensive market survey ever done on the potential economic impact of legalizing marijuana  about 5,000 adults from across the country were surveyed earlier this year  paints a picture of an industry that could have as much market impact as the entire alcohol industry in Canada.

The survey showed that 40 per cent of Canadians support legalizing marijuana, 36 per cent are opposed and 24 per cent are undecided.

Irrespective of the size of the pros or cons, the Deloitte report makes it clear that it is likely to be a substantial commercial opportunity for government and the private sector.

Former Liberal cabinet minister Anne McLellan is chairing a task force that will advise the Trudeau government on strategies on implementing a legalization plan. The group is to report by November, with the understanding that legislation could be introduced in the spring.

Mark Whitmore, a vice-chair at Deloitte and one of the leaders on the project, said Deloitte did not take a position one way or another, but the company does represent some of the licensed medical marijuana producers in the country and as a result has already had some exposure to the industry. It produced the report on its own account. It was not commissioned by a client.

We thought it was an important opportunity for Canadian businesses and government, as they contemplate potentially legalizing recreational marijuana, to have a fact base, he said. It gives a sense as to what the opportunities are and what the challenges are as they contemplate what their role will be going forward.

Deloitte used some assumptions from the experience of several of the jurisdictions in the U.S. that have already legalized marijuana to come up with some of the numbers.

The survey found that 22 per cent of adult Canadians use marijuana and another 17 per cent would consider doing so if it was legalized.

Deloitte figures that this percentage of Canadian consumers participating in the market could alone result in as much as $5 billion per year to start  the size of the Canadian beer market. If you then added those who said they are likely to consume if legalized, it could be as high as $8.7 billion  the amount Canadians spend annually on wine.

Factoring in all of the ancillary businesses like security, transportation and other things, the potential economic impact gets up to about $22.6 billion.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS legal recreactional marijuana could be a $23 billion business, according to a report by Deloitte.

This gives people a range finder, Whitmore said. Its existing now, but its all underground. Think of another industry popping up almost as big as the beer business. The opportunity is sizable. This can help people get their head around how big it can be and the impact it can have on the Canadian economy.

Whitmore said he was a little surprised that there was not a clearer margin in support of legalization, but the response was definitely leaning in that direction.

The support was pretty much even across the country. Not surprisingly perhaps the support was greatest in B.C., with 42 per cent in favour and 33 per cent opposed to legalization. The lowest level of support was in Alberta where 39 per cent are opposed and 36 per cent in favour. In Manitoba and Saskatchewan the split was 41 per cent in favour and 36 per cent opposed.

There was a mixture of opinions as to where Canadians believe marijuana should be sold. Pharmacies were most often cited, at 24.7 per cent; privately owned marijuana retailers and new government-owned retailers were preferred by 17.9 and 17.6 per cent, respectively, and existing government-owned liquor retailers were suggested by 16.3 per cent.

The report said this doesnt necessarily mean pharmacies are ideal. More to the point, the nding indicates that Canadians in general see recreational marijuana as distinct from alcohol and tobacco and want the buying environment to be highly regulated, as opposed to marijuana being available at liquor, convenience or grocery stores.

Whitmore said the findings clearly indicate there is a sizable number of people who do not support legalization but he wonders if that will change once it becomes a reality.

In B.C., their views and positions have evolved as they have seen more of the product grown or sold or dispensed or used in the community, he said. Its hard to know where it will go but I wonder if that is maybe a bit of a hint. As people hear more about how government is trying to approach it and they see where it is going could they get more comfortable with it. That is a possibility.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca

DELOITTE When you factor in ancillaries such as security, transportation, etc., the potential economic impact of legalizing marijuana approaches $23 billion in Canada.
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This article was published 29/10/2016 (2194 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

People most affected by Alzheimers disease will soon have a state-of-the-art place to live.

Thanks to local trucking magnate Paul Albrechtsen, it is more than halfway to becoming a reality.

The Riverview Health Centre Foundation has kicked off a $7.6-million capital campaign to build an Alzheimer Centre of Excellence at the Riverview Health Centre.

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Paul and Mary Lou Albrechtsen at the gala fundraiser for the Alzheimer Centre of Excellence at Riverview Health Centre. Their contribution is kick-starting the project.

When completed, the 60-bed unit, which is currently split into two, 15-bed areas, will be split even further  into groups of five residents.

Residents will have access to a new area offering therapeutic and recreational support.

At a gala this week, guests gave a standing ovation when the foundation announced Albrechtsen is donating $4 million to the new facility.

Its a good thing to give to this somebody has to be first to put their foot forward to help, he said.

Unfortunately, I know quite a few people who have had Alzheimers. As I have said before, it is better to give with a warm hand than a cold hand.

Albrechtsen was born in Denmark and came to Canada in 1954 with $50 in his pocket.

He went to Virden to work as a mechanic, but before long he bought his first truck to haul oil and water for the drilling industry there.

Albrechtsen went on to own 1,100 trucks under the brands Pauls Hauling, Gardewine and Westcan Bulk Transport in Alberta.

He has donated to Riverview in the past, as well as other institutions, including the St. Boniface Hospital and the Reh-Fit Centre.

We are very pleased and grateful to Paul Albrechtsen, said Norm Kasian, president and CEO of the Riverview Health Centre.

This is needed for this community. With people living longer, the average age of admission to Riverviews personal care beds is 86, and virtually everyone has some dementia.

In the next 20 years, the number of people with dementia will double or triple.

This is a huge issue for the health-care system.

Dave Schioler, chairman of the capital campaign, said its nice to get that kind of kick-start to the campaign.

(The facility) is going to be very interactive for the residents and better for the families, too.

Kasian said what was state of the art two decades ago isnt now.

When we designed the building over 20 years ago, we looked at best practices around the world, he said. But now we realize we did the incarcerated model  15 people in a 15-bed unit, and they dont leave it.

When this is done, the quality of life for them should be significantly better.

Sheldon Mindell, the foundations executive director, said there will be fewer locked doors for residents to encounter within their living area, easier access to the outdoors throughout the year and more use of natural and artificial light.

Mindell said there will also be voice-cueing messages for residents, including letting them know when they are going into the right or wrong room.

When they go into the washroom, theyll be cued with a voice that could say brush your teeth, he said.

We did a lot of research. This will be great for residents, for the staff and for families.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
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This article was published 29/10/2016 (2194 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg man who was shot several times while defending 26 Canadian students from armed robbers in Dominican Republic was awarded the Star of Courage in Ottawa Friday.

Lester Lehmann, now 67, was presented the distinction by Canadas Gov. Gen. David Johnston at a ceremony in Rideau Hall.

The ceremony also recognized acts of bravery by 42 other Canadians, including eight other Manitobans.

Fred Chartrand / The Canadian Press Lester Lehmann receives the Star of Courage from Gov. Gen. David Johnston during the Bravery Awards at Rideau Hall in Ottawa Friday.

Lehmann was one of only two Canadians to receive the Star of Courage, the second-highest award for bravery.

Lehmann was shot nine times in the incident, which occurred Jan. 31, 2014, when he confronted two armed robbers at the apartment complex he managed in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, which was hosting 26 students from the Division scolaire franco-manitobaine who were on a humanitarian mission.

Four female students and their female teacher were briefly held at gunpoint. Lehmann suffered gunshot wounds, extensive blood loss, a broken knee and a shattered arm.

In part, the citation, presented to Lehmann Friday morning, read:

Two men were trying to access the hotel rooms where the students were staying. When Mr. Lehmann confronted the assailants, they beat him and left him injured. Undeterred, he grabbed a bat and charged after the men, hitting one of them on the head and knocking him down. The other suspect shot Mr. Lehmann several times before he fled the scene, dragging his unconscious partner with him.

At the time, Lehmanns family described his eventual recovery as a miracle.

The doctors in Dominican Republic have never seen anyone survive nine gunshots, his daughter-in-law Eugenia (Geni) Lehmann told the Free Press.

Lehmann required reconstructive surgery on his arm and leg, which were shattered by gunshot wounds.

Eight other Manitobans were awarded the Medal of Bravery, which recognizes acts of bravery in hazardous circumstances. Some had previously been honoured. They included:

 Derron Brown and Bryan Henzel of Winnipeg

On Aug. 5, 2012, Derron Brown and Bryan Henzel rescued three people from a burning recreational vehicle following a head-on collision in Winnipeg. The men helped two passengers out through a rear window before entering the smoke-filled cabin to free the injured driver and bring him to safety.

 Audrey Hicks and Brynn Shore of Arnes

On June 1, 2014, lifeguards Audrey Hicks and Brynn Shore rescued two men whose sailboat had capsized into the cold waters of Lake Winnipeg near Arnes. Navigating a canoe through rough waters, the women paddled for half an hour to reach the victims, but the waves caused them to overshoot their position. They finally reached the men and hauled them into the canoe. The two women then fought against the waves that threatened to tip their overloaded boat and successfully reached the shore.

 Paul Peters of Winnipeg, Danny Prive of Ile des Chenes and Ernest Quick of Narol

On Oct. 18, 2012, Paul Peters, Danny Prive and Jason Quick rescued a man from a burning truck in Winnipeg. The driver of a pickup truck had collided with and become trapped between two other vehicles, which had caught fire. To add to the danger, several jerry cans had toppled over and spilled fuel on the ground. Despite the risk involved, Messrs. Peters, Prive and Quick jumped on the hood of the pickup, pulled off the damaged windshield and helped the driver escape.

 Gordon Tourand of Winnipeg

On Sept. 18, 2014, building manager Gord Tourand put his own safety at risk to evacuate the occupants of a hotel during a devastating fire in Dauphin. After the flames broke out in the early morning hours, Mr. Tourand went to every room in order to evacuate the residents, many of whom were elderly. Undeterred by the thick smoke, he then returned inside the dwelling and attempted to put out the flames before the smoke forced him to retreat.
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 29/10/2016 (2194 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There seems to be some anger and confusion out there.

Thats not breaking news, of course, but it kind of was Tuesday when I wrote about a series of emails I had received from people upset about the enforcement of reduced-speed school zones on days when kids arent in school.

The citys photo-radar patrols had been out there on Thanksgiving Day snapping away at motorists going over the 30 km/h prescribed in 171 school zones.

Gordon Sinclair Jr. Dr. Andrew Morris has taken his own stand on school zones where drivers can be dinged even on school holidays.

They have every lawful, if not logical right to be out there, of course.

The signs clearly state September through June, 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m, Monday through Friday.

And Thanksgiving Day was a Monday.

Yeah, but as I was saying  and all those fined motorists were shouting  the schools were closed, just as they are on Saturdays and Sundays when the lower speed doesnt apply.

Hence some of the confusion. And anger.

After all, isnt the speed zone intended to keep kids safe? Or is it more about the cash than the crash?

Oh, and Thanksgiving Day isnt the only holiday Monday that was a giving day for some motorists and a getting day for the city. So was Labour Day. In fact, they were even out on Sept. 1, when the school year hadnt even fully started. All of which moved a gentleman of my acquaintance named Andrew Morris to write after reading Tuesdays column.

I am sure that your piece about this issue touched many Winnipeggers, the local cardiologist began. It was certainly pertinent to me! I received a radar speeding ticket the day after Labour Day at 1600 hours. The school was dark, and the area was deserted. Although it was not a holiday, it was a school holiday. The school staff confirmed it was an administrative day and that there had been no children at the school. My thoughts were those you expressed in your article: is the goal to generate revenue or to protect children? I was suspicious, and I didnt like my answer.

So Dr. Morris went online and researched school zone legislation in other Canadian cities.

I quickly found signage from B.C. The speed limit is in effect on school days and not Monday to Friday. I checked with authorities in B.C. who confirmed that is, indeed, the case.

Then he contacted the office of his representative on city council, John Orlikow.

My suggestion was the obvious one  amend the signage and let logic and common sense triumph over the widespread suspicion currently extant in the community.

When I spoke to Orlikow Thursday, he acknowledged he was looking into what the city might do about the issue. And, by extension, trying to see what he could do about all the confusion and anger.

Actually, theres more confusion  and contradiction  on display in Orlikows area of the city. Its there where one K-to-8 school on Lindenwoods Drive East  Linden Meadows by name  has a reduced-speed school zone of 30 km/h, yet another one not far down the street  Ecole Van Walleghem  isnt offered that same protection. The reason; Ecole Van Walleghem is close to Lindenwood Drive, but it doesnt directly abut that busy residential street, and many of the kids cross with the assistance of a guard and patrols. Oh yes, theres an adjacent and designated playground, too, with a swing set that is close to the street. The playground is unfenced and unprotected by a lower, 30 km/h speed zone.

It doesnt make coherent safety sense to me.

Which brings us to the city of Calgary; what it used to do about traffic safety for children and what it does now.

Back as recently as three years ago, that Alberta city had reduced school-zone signs that included the words on school days. So if it was Labour Day or Thanksgiving Day, the lower speed limit wouldnt apply. At that time, Calgary had 180 school zones and 1,500 playgrounds.

Then, on July 22, 2014, Calgary city council did away with that wording and did away with school zones as they were known. Instead, the city combined school zones with playground zones.

Now theyre all designated playground zones, from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Every day of the year.

Calgarys stated reasoning: Having only playground zones, it helps to provide a clear message to motorists, promote uniform motorist behaviour and increase safety for pedestrians and motorists.

So now theres no confusion in Calgary.

Parents are happy because their kids should be safer.

Police are happy because public safety is more clearly served.

And, of course, the city should be happy about all of that, plus all that traffic ticketing cha-ching opportunity, 365 days a year.

Its all so much less confusing, isnt it?

Whats still a little bit hard to understand is how Calgary figured it out. And Winnipeg still hasnt.

gordon.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca
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This article was published 29/10/2016 (2194 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was old school meets new school.

Last summer, East St. Paul had summer students do the age-old practice of going door to door, but for a unique purpose: collecting peoples email addresses.

The rural municipality put together a data bank of more than 1,000 electronic addresses in a community of 3,000 homes. It now communicates regularly with citizens via information bulletins, including regularly surveying residents on local issues.

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES West St. Paul Mayor Bruce Henley. The municipality has collected more than 1,000 email addresses, representing more than half its residents.

East St. Paul, West St. Paul and St. Clements, which co-ordinate planning along the northern Red River corridor, were honoured last week with a national award for their inclusive style of governance. The RMs were runners-up for Organization of the Year from the International Association for Public Participation Canada at a ceremony in Montreal last week.

Its a new way of governing, said DJ Sigmundson, chief administrator for the RM of St. Clements. It used to be youd tell people that politicians are elected to lead and make decisions. Now we see more and more engagement and consultation.

Sigmundson used the example of Winnipegs past efforts to debate a city-wide composting pickup service.

You get a bad headline that says it will cost $200 per cart, and you cant recover. This is trying to put consultation in front of the debate.

St. Clement has accumulated 1,200 email addresses, which is 25 per cent of households. It allows the RM to correspond and survey residents directly. People also get regular updates on municipal projects.

St. Clements has hired a dedicated communications person to mostly handle communication with residents; West and East St. Paul share a communications staffer.

West St. Paul has more than 1,000 email addresses, representing more than half the households in the RM, said Mayor Bruce Henley.

In the old days, people would get two to three municipal newsletters per year. Now, taking advantage of technology, people in West St. Paul get emails two, three, sometimes four times a week, said Henley.

Its a new way of governing. It used to be youd tell people that politicians are elected to lead and make decisions. Now we see more and more engagement and consultation DJ Sigmundson, chief administrator for the RM of St. Clements

Its not just small, capital-region municipalities trying to engage with constituents. Calgary is considered a leader, using programs such as bangthetable.com where people voice their views on civic issues. The City of Winnipeg is just getting its feet wet with a new department of engagement and has posted several online surveys.

Its not limited to new technology. When the new council for East St. Paul took over, it inherited an engineers report to flood-proof eight homes and do sewer backup for 50 homes and two schools. The engineers report called for ripping out hundreds of trees and pounding steel sheets into the embankment of Bottomley Creek.

But residents didnt want that. The new council went back to the engineer and asked for more options and kept up regular consultation with residents.

Here we are now, and weve just signed the fifth and last easement, and it doesnt include steel sheets but nice retaining walls that are like rock-filled berms, said East St. Paul Mayor Shelley Hart. I think thats the way people expect to be communicated with nowadays. I think change is afoot.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca
Opinion

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This article was published 29/10/2016 (2194 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The first report of murder broke that morning across southern Manitoba, a blood-soaked headline blaring from the early edition.

It was the Winnipeg Telegram that had the scoop, and Free Press editors were fuming. At the turn of the 20th century, life in booming Winnipeg was catalogued by a clutch of newspapers, most of them gleefully partisan and engaged in red-hot rivalry: the Free Press, the Telegram and the Winnipeg Tribune.

Decades later, in his 1950 memoir, Canadian journalist Arthur R. Ford would recall how, on his first day at work for the Telegram, an editor pulled him aside. A day without scooping the Free Press was a day ill-spent, the editor declared in no uncertain terms.

Winnipeg Free Press 1895

It was perfectly legitimate to commit about every deed, except murder, to accomplish this end, Ford recalled, and this was true: later, Free Press reporters would recall clambering through ventilation systems and crowding bathroom stalls to eavesdrop on official business.

So circa 1904, breaking news about a grisly murder in St. Vital was an eye-popping get for Wilson Blue, the Telegrams police reporter. The facts of the case, though now uncertain and hard to trace definitively, were said to be full of horrors. The story was replete with names and gory details.

That morning, the editor of the Free Presss evening edition flew into the office in a fury. He dispatched a reporter to St. Vital  then a francophone village outside Winnipeg  by a team of horses. There were few phone lines then, so editors sat and waited. The reporter never called.

Around noon, Tank Stevens rolled out of bed. His first name was not really Tank, but so prodigious was his drinking, colleagues called him that instead. He was the Free Presss top police reporter, so he kept hours on the nighttime shift; he was also something of a prankster.

When Stevens strolled into the Free Press newsroom, an editor pounced, demanding to know how the Free Press could have been so trounced. How is it, the editor demanded, the Telegram could have produced such a sensational scoop?

Stevens began howling with laughter. Then he explained how a heinous murder never happened.

The night before, Stevens turned up at the bar at the Mariaggi Hotel, opposite the Telegramsoffice. It was a hot drinking spot for journalists, and Stevens arrived on a mission: to get revenge on Blue, who had recently beat him on several stories.

At the bar, Stevens feigned exhaustion. Hed been working all day on a big story, he told Blue. Huge. As the booze flowed, the Free Press reporter slipped more details, each progressively more gruesome. Blue bought more rounds, until he had pried every last apparent fact out of Stevens.

Blue raced across the street to the Telegram office and announced hed outfoxed his rival. There was no way to confirm the details, but in the loose world of the eras journalism, that seemed to matter less than it would today. He banged out a story about the murder, and editors splashed it on the page.

Outside, a group of Free Press night staff lingered. They waited for the Telegrams morning edition to come out, curious to see if Stevens ruse had worked. When the paper arrived, still warm from the presses, they saw the screaming headline and laughed. Then they went home to bed.

Only problem: they forgot to tell the Free Press night staff the scoop was just a prank.

So this is how it goes that among the forgotten lore of Manitoba is a lurid murder that never happened. It was also not the only such event; in his memoir, As the World Wags On, Ford recalled other such fabrications.

Many of them came via a reporter named Reginald Robinson, who was often called the Winnipeg Liar. He freelanced for local media, but mostly for American papers, where he played up a fantasy of the pioneer West.

Robinson found almost no tale would go challenged, so he began crafting fictions of Manitobas troubles.

In one case, Ford wrote, Robinson sent a pitch about the drowning of four hunters. A telegraph operator misheard the words, and transmitted as four hundred. American editors replied with frantic hunger for the tale.

To feed their interest, Robinson crafted a tale about a steamer sinking in Lake Winnipeg, killing 400 weekend revellers with an Icelandic Sunday school. The story featured interviews with traumatized survivors.

As the World Wags On isnt easy to find; the University of Manitoba holds a copy. Stevens prank was mentioned again in the Free Press, in a 1972 centennial edition, likely also taken from Fords book.

Here, we pause for an obvious disclaimer: these tactics would never fly in journalism today, and by no means do I endorse them. (Besides, it would be tremendously difficult now to invent a major boating disaster, though having spelunked in some of the Internets more wild-eyed corners, perhaps I speak too soon.)

Yet the stories of Winnipegs early newspaper culture, passed down through word of mouth and preserved in haphazard bunches, capture something precious. Not the fabrications, the booze or the aggressively male-dominated culture: those will remain in historys trash heap.

But the vibrancy of those early newspaper wars and the puckish independence: these things live at the heart of Winnipegs history. They are testament to a time when civic spirit was in full bloom and everything was possible once you got the scoop.

In one month, Nov. 30, the Free Press will mark its 144th birthday. In the time since William Fisher Luxton published the first edition of the paper in 1872, this city and our industry have felt waves of change.

Yet we are still here, which is something. The ink and pixels of this paper are heirs to generations of colourful characters; they have tended a fire that has burned throughout Winnipegs history. Its no secret recent years have dumped buckets of cold water on our industry, but that flame is not extinguished yet.

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca
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This article was published 29/10/2016 (2194 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A French pop superstar is in Winnipeg, but shes not here for a concert.

Mylene Farmer, who was born in Pierrefonds, Que., in 1961 before moving to France as a child, became a recording star in France in the 1980s and sold more than 30 million records with music that pushed the envelope, covering themes such as lesbianism, violence and religious impertinence.

When it came to sexually adventurous content, Farmers videos in the 1980s and 90s made a practiced provocateur such as Madonna look like Debbie Gibson.

Amy Sussman / Invision files Sting and Mylene Farmer pose for a portrait at MSR Studios in New York in 2015.

But Farmers first love has always been acting. (At the beginning of her career, she reportedly took the name Farmer in tribute to tragic Hollywood star Frances Farmer.) She comes to Winnipeg to act in the horror film Incident in a Ghost Land for French director Pascal Laugier, whose main claim to fame is the harrowing Quebec-lensed horror film Martyrs.

Farmer stars as Colleen, a mother who inherits a house from her aunt, but when she and her two young daughters arrive, they are confronted by murderous intruders. Sixteen years later, the two adult daughters, whose pronounced personality differences were exacerbated by the trauma, return to the house to encounter further disturbing events.

The two grown daughters will be played by Crystal Reed (Teen Wolf) and Canadian actress Anastasia Phillips (of the TV series Bomb Girls). The younger versions of the daughters are played by Emilia Jones (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) and Taylor Hickson (Deadpool).

Writer-director Laugier made waves in the horror genre with the 2008 thriller Martyrs, which was also about two young women caught in a violent confrontation, connected to a childhood trauma suffered by one of the women.

The film was hailed as an example of the New French Extremity movement with Laugier earning a place alongside other taboo-breaking French filmmakers, including Alexandre Aja (High Tension), Catherine Breillat (Fat Girl) and Gaspar Noe (Irreversible).

Incident in a Ghost Land, a France/Canada co-production, started principal photography Friday and continues for seven weeks until mid-December, shooting in Winnipeg and the town of Balmoral, 50 kilometres north of the city. The film is produced by the French company 5656 Films, Highwire Pictures and Winnipeg company Inferno Pictures.

Its produced by Clement Miserez and Jean-Charles Levy, (who also produced the 2011 Winnipeg-lensed thriller Faces in the Crowd with Milla Jovovich), along with Scott Kennedy and Ian Dimerman.

Dimerman, of Winnipegs Inferno Pictures, hails the film as a true, co-operative Canada/France co-production and says it should be ready for theatrical release in the latter half of 2017.

Asked if the film will be as extreme in content as Martyrs, Dimerman would only say: Youll have to come to the theatre to find out.

randall.king@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @FreepKing

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This article was published 28/10/2016 (2195 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba Hydro executives say the public utilitys debt outlook is dire, and they hinted once again  this time to a legislative committee  they will seek significantly higher rate increases from electricity consumers in the future.

President and CEO Kelvin Shepherd said cost-control measures wont be enough to dig Hydro out of the massive debt it will incur as it completes two megaprojects and replaces aging hydro-transmission infrastructure.

In an interview after a 3-hour appearance Friday before the legislative assemblys standing committee on Crown corporations, Shepherd said even if the utility were able to hold operating cost increases to zero, it would still require a rate hike above the 3.95 per cent increase it sought this past year.

photos by RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Manitoba Hydro CEO Kelvin Shepherd says smaller, incremental rate hikes wont help as much as a significant hike upfront.

I think cutting costs and finding ways to operate efficiently are prudent, and its something weve got to do, Shepherd said.

But it cant be solved just by (reducing) costs. There arent enough costs in the company to really fully address the issue. Its just too big a debt issue.

At one time, Hydro thought it could bring its debt to acceptable levels with annual consumer rate hikes of 3.95 per cent for 15 years. That plan has gone out the window.

Hydro officials will appear before the Public Utilities Board next year with a new rate request. Hearing dates have not been set.

Hydro had applied for a 3.95 per cent rate hike for the fiscal year beginning April 1. The PUB ordered an interim rate hike of 3.36 per cent that took effect Aug. 1.

Shepherd said gradually increasing consumer electrical rates may not be the best approach to get the debt problem under control.

In an interview, he suggested it would be best for Hydro to receive a significant boost upfront rather than gradual increases over time.

The committee heard Hydros debt could increase to $25 billion from the current $13 billion in the next few years as the Keeyask generating station and the Bipole III transmission line are completed.

Shepherd promised Hydro would take a balanced approach to solving its debt problem, one that includes cost savings while minimizing rate hikes.

He said Hydro has shed the equivalent of 400 full-time staff during the last three years. It will continue to reassess staffing needs.

Well bring forward what we think is a plan that is in the best interests of Manitobans as well as Manitoba Hydro, he said.

In a presentation to MLAs at the beginning of the session, Hydro executives said that, for a variety of reasons, the utility did not make as much progress on Keeyask dam construction this past summer as it would have liked.

Hydro has determined the project could be delayed 21 to 31 months, potentially boosting its cost to between $7.2 billion and $7.8 billion from $6.5 billion.

In answer to a question from NDP MLA Andrew Swan, Hydro board chairman Sanford Riley revealed the cost of a recent Boston Consulting Group examination of the Keeyask and Bipole projects cost $4.2 million.

Riley said given Hydros financial situation, a drought that reduced its capacity to generate electricity would plunge Hydro into even greater debt. Its been more than a decade since drought has been a factor in the utilitys operations, but it could strike at any time, he said.

Were living on borrowed time, he said.

Riley said the finances of Hydro and the provincial government are inextricably linked.

If a credit downgrade occurred that drove the cost of borrowing up by one percentage point for both, the cost to Manitobans would be in the neighbourhood of $500 million a year, he said.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca
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This article was published 29/10/2016 (2194 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Re Moon found a new home in the Peaceful Village.

Moon, 21, lived most of her life in refugee camps in Thailand before she came to Canada 10 years ago with her mother, four older brothers and an older sister.

When she started attending Gordon Bell High School, she was welcomed into the Peaceful Village.

JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Re Moon, 21, works with adult tutors and mentors in the Peaceful Village after-school program.

The main program of the Manitoba School Improvement Program  one of United Way Winnipegs core-funded agencies  the Peaceful Village provided Moon with a safe place to belong and meet people, opportunities to grow and a network of resources.

Coming to a new country is difficult, and participating in a program like this you get to meet a lot of new people from different cultures and different beliefs, and you get to learn a lot of things from them. It helped me so much, said Moon, whose father died in 2002. While her mom was able to bring six of her children to Canada in 2011, she sponsored her eldest, Moons brother, and his family to come to Canada two years ago.

Students can go to the Peaceful Village after school starting in Grade 9. At the centre  located at Gordon Bell  students work with adult tutors and other mentors to get help with their homework, go on educational and fun field trips and participate in projects that explore their artistic passions.

Going there gives you something to do after school, and they take you to many places on field trips that might not be possible if I didnt participate in the program, Moon said, noting waterslides, movies and the Red River Exhibition were among her field-trip experiences.

The Village provide assistance and opportunities for newcomers such as Moon to adjust to life in Canada as well as offering various resources and supports for at-risk youths.

Moon said she learned to play the piano as part of her passion project, a skill that continues to bring her joy. She also made some enduring friendships.

I met a student from the University of Winnipeg, and to this day, I still communicate with her. I say it is a true friendship. She helped me so much, and I still maintain that open communication, she said.

By attending the Village, students can earn scholarships of $1,000 per year to be used for post-secondary education.

Moon, who attended for four years, said she earned $4,000, which covered nearly half of her tuition to earn a college diploma in accounting and payroll administration. She was hired as an administrative assistant by the Manitoba School Improvement Program.

Coming to a new country is difficult, and participating in a program like this you get to meet a lot of new people from different cultures and different beliefs, and you get to learn a lot of things from them. It helped me so much  Re Moon

I say that I am so lucky, Moon said, adding she plans to go back to school as soon as she decides what she wants to study. I have so many ideas.

Executive director Daniel Swaka said the Peaceful Village is one of five Manitoba School Improvement Program learning centres operated in school communities. The others are at Hugh John Macdonald School, Acadia School/Fort Richmond Collegiate, Glenlawn Collegiate and the programs building at 357 Bannatyne Ave. He said about 600 students are served by the programs.

We know that our newcomer youth really need that support, but our learning centres are open to all to come in, Swaka said. Our main goal is academics, but we carry that out with different strategies. We want our students to attend school regularly and we want them to build academic skills in literacy and numeracy, and we want them to build friendships with other people in their school and that sense of belonging.

In its Three Years for a Better Winnipeg plan unveiled earlier this fall, United Way Winnipeg has committed to connecting 1,800 more kids with mentors. If you would like to help create more mentorship for kids, please donate to United Way online at www.UnitedWayWinnipeg.ca/give or call 204-477-UWAY (8929).

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 29/10/2016 (2194 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

RECENTLY, five inmates died while in custody at the Winnipeg Remand Centre, sparking protests and questions. As a mother, grandmother and concerned Manitoban, I would like to express my heartfelt sympathies to their family and friends. I can only imagine how frustrated they must be by the lack of answers about how their loved ones died.

As the president of Manitobas largest union representing more than 2,300 correctional officers in our province, I am also expressing the officers sympathy and shared desire for clarity regarding these deaths.

The Manitoba Government and General Employees Union (MGEU) has been actively encouraging the provincial government, through Manitoba Justice, to meet with the families and share the results of their investigations. Having said that, it is important that we all suspend judgment about what happened in each case until all the facts are known.

Our members understand why these deaths can be seen as representative of a much wider, historic problem in our province. MGEU correctional officers are well aware, for example, that 70 per cent of inmates under their charge are aboriginal Manitobans. This reality is part of the shameful legacy of Canadas treatment of aboriginal people. There is no denying the role of this history in shaping the challenges facing our criminal justice system, or that solutions lie in the principles outlined by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.

One of the commissions calls to action is engaging in trust-building dialogue. We believe this is a good first step and have extended an invitation to those expressing deep concerns about inmate treatment to sit down and talk with the Manitobans whose job it is to keep inmates, themselves, their co-workers and the Manitoba public safe.

Without question, the issues facing Manitobas correctional system are profoundly challenging and complex. It is a system often overlooked, one most of us only think about when we must.

I would argue this is such a time. Over the last few years, Ive spoken out often and repeatedly about the need for better training, equipment and resources for corrections officers. Weve been urging the province every chance we get to address chronic overcrowding of our correctional facilities, which routinely operate at 125 per cent over capacity, leaving little room for rehabilitation supports.

Several reports exist that provide a road map to improving Manitobas jails and shed light on many of the aspects of the system were concerned about. The adult capacity review committee produced a report four years ago that MGEU correctional officers participated in producing. A number of the recommendations in that report have not been acted upon  chiefly, the recommendation to build a replacement for the crumbling Dauphin Correctional Centre, which has been in use for more than a century. Correctional officers also recommended significantly increasing investment in mental-health and drug courts, bringing remand counts down and investing in programs that address mental-health challenges and addictions.

The auditor general also produced a report, Managing the Provinces Adult Offenders, which spoke to improving aspects of our correctional system. On Monday, the auditor general will deliver a progress report to a legislative committee hearing on the progress the government has made on these recommendations.

A recent report from the Public Service Foundation of Canada described our correctional system as the mental-health system of last resort, an inhumane way to deal with people who need treatment and supports. Correctional Service Canada data indicate 62 per cent of offenders entering federal penitentiaries are flagged as requiring mental-health assessment or service. Improved mental-health care is urgently needed for inmates struggling with mental illness (both diagnosed and not), for those in the community at risk of entering the criminal justice system and for correctional officers who experience traumatic events and exceedingly stressful conditions at work.

None of this can be fixed overnight. The lack of trust expressed by those protesting outside the Winnipeg Remand Centre in recent weeks is felt by more than just family and friends of the inmates who lost their lives.

We are calling on the provincial government to not turn away from these deaths and to move forward in new and positive ways. They fund our correctional facilities. They are the only ones who have the ability to call investigations or inquests. Those in mourning and correctional officers themselves are all counting on this government to show leadership when it comes to tackling the issues inside our jails.

Michelle Gawronsky is the president of the Manitoba Government and General Employees Union.
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 29/10/2016 (2194 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When Mayor Brian Bowman took office, he maintained he was going to make changes to the executive policy committee. One of his election promises was to have EPC voted in by council. He had to break that promise because the City Charter doesnt allow for that. Instead, EPC had to be appointed by the mayor. On the day he was sworn in, Mr. Bowman then pledged he would aim for greater input from council and a more collaborative council after EPC is selected.

No doubt there are a number of city councillors who are wondering what happened to that pledge.

There are many, including this editorial board and Couns. Russ Wyatt (Transcona) and Ross Eadie (Mynarski), who think a governance review is long overdue at city hall. Mr. Wyatt tabled a notice of motion in September, with Mr. Eadie seconding it, that pushed for changes to the city organizational bylaw to allow for a full, comprehensive and independent review and performance assessment.

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Mayor Brian Bowman

The key here, though, is that it must be an independent review, one without any interference by city hall bureaucrats or the mayors office.

This review is sorely needed. The last time the citys governance structure was changed, Susan Thompson was mayor. She dismantled the Board of Commissioners and gave more power to the mayors office. At the same time, she brought the City of Winnipeg  kicking and screaming  into modernity. The governance structure had been changed in 1972 in order to rein in then-mayor Steve Jubas powers, but it continued long after he left the political stage. When Ms. Thompson came into power, she implemented the recommendations found in the Cuff report  named after George Cuff, an Edmonton consultant hired to independently review how the city was working  and replaced the board with the chief administrative officer and five managers. In essence, the power was placed back in the hands of the mayor and council.

However, a lesson learned from the debacle in Toronto is that placing too much power in the hands of the mayor doesnt always work. As political scientist Aaron Moore has argued, Rob Fords unexpected win in 2010 meant his city council went along with many of his plans, but eventually his support waned and loyalists, including members of his own executive council, turned on him.

Mr. Moore argues the difference in the Toronto case is that those defectors could keep their positions on the executive council and their roles as committee chairs despite the ire of the mayor. In Winnipeg, as Janice Lukes (South Winnipeg-St. Norbert) has found out, you disagree once too often with this mayor and you will be bounced from the inner circle and lose any power.

After mayor Sam Katzs time at city hall and as concerns began to grow about cost overruns on the new police station and some inexplicable decisions about the construction of a new fire hall, plus a generous compensation package for exiting chief executive Phil Sheegl, Winnipeggers were looking for a change. Mr. Bowman seemed open to that when first elected. He wanted collaboration. Everyone was optimistic. That optimism is long gone. Mr. Bowmans idea of collaboration is people agreeing with him, not making compromises or listening to other points of view. Either this city learns lessons from the past or we could repeat history.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 29/10/2016 (2194 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When Susan Benesch began looking at how speech could incite mass violence, her research took her to far-flung places such as Kenya and Burma.

Lately, shes been unable to ignore a case study at home in the United States.

The American University law professor and Harvard University faculty associate has grappled for months with whether Donald Trumps rhetoric constitutes dangerous speech as she has come to define it. She has examined election-year speech before, but only abroad where the risks of mass atrocities were great.

JABUB BOTSFORD / WASHINGTON POST Susan Benesch, a law professor at American University, researches dangerous speech and how to prevent it from leading to violence.

But with Trump claiming that the election system and the media are rigged against him, his messages have the type of undertone that increases the risk of violence between groups, she said.

Benesch, 52, has dedicated the past six years of her life to developing and testing a framework for identifying dangerous speech. To rise to that level, at least two of these five indicators must be true:

 A powerful speaker with a high degree of influence over the audience.

 The audience has grievances and fears that the speaker can cultivate.

 A speech act that is clearly understood as a call to violence.

 A social or historical context that is propitious for violence, for any of a variety of reasons, including long-standing competition between groups for resources, lack of efforts to solve grievances or previous episodes of violence.

 A means of dissemination thats influential in itself, for example because it is the sole or primary source of news for the relevant audience.

Trumps speech is very difficult in the sense that he is so often slippery with it, Benesch said. The meaning is so often ambiguous.

But when Trump said his supporters could use the Second Amendment against Hillary Clinton, it seems to me impossible that people didnt understand that as a reference to violence, she said. Or when he suggested Clinton and President Barack Obama were founders of the Islamic State, something he alluded to again at last weeks final debate, that was a hallmark of dangerous speech to describe an in-group member as the enemy, she said.

And now, with Trump trafficking in the conspiracy theory that if he loses the election it will be because of a rigged system against him, hes definitely laying the groundwork for potential unrest after the balloting. Direct incitement of violence is illegal, but Trump falls short of calling for any kind of civil disobedience. Because of that, its still a grey area that surrounds whether Trump does use dangerous speech.

Trump may well be undermining the extent to which his supporters trust the essential institutions and practices of U.S. democracy, Benesch said. Some of them  those who are most susceptible to being inflamed by such messages  may therefore be more likely to commit violence. However, the United States is not in danger of mass intergroup violence, in my view. It is deeply irresponsible, though, since it can undermine some Americans belief in our own democratic institutions, which can make them more susceptible to dangerous speech going forward.



Benesch, who was born and raised in New York City, said she comes from a lineage of immigrants, refugees and people who were killed because other people had been taught to hate them, but thats all the personal detail she will divulge. She is eager to discuss her work, but, perhaps because she is an expert in speech, is precise in what she shares, careful not to make generalizations or overstatements.

She credits spending much of her adult life immersed in the mass atrocities people commit against one another all over the world  first as a foreign correspondent for the Miami Herald in Latin America and then as a human rights lawyer  for her drive to understand why and how people turn to violence.

As a young lawyer, she did international work in the aftermath of the ethnic conflicts in Yugoslavia and Rwanda in the 1990s. As they pored over whom to prosecute for the terrible crimes, Benesch was drawn to the question of whether one could detect warning signs for genocide before one occurred. People do not wake up in the morning and simultaneously decide to kill their neighbours, she thought.



For Benesch, its important people understand the type of speech she wants to counter is different from hate speech, which she says is a broad category for which there is no agreed-upon definition. An advocate for free speech, she does not believe hate speech can or should be silenced. In fact, its one of the central reasons she sought to differentiate dangerous speech.

Theres no way to say definitively when speech led to genocide or mass atrocities, because there are many contributing factors, or conversely whether Beneschs efforts to counter that speech has succeeded in quelling what would have otherwise been a mass violence situation. But she has anecdotal evidence that leads her to believe both are significant factors.

After the results of the 2007 presidential election in Kenya were disputed, there were attacks in which 1,000 people were killed and 500,000 were displaced. In the lead-up to it, political leaders used incendiary language about other ethnic and tribal groups. One group, for example, said those in another were like weeds that needed to be pulled out so there would be only one tribe here, Benesch wrote in a research paper.

Benesch did her first field study for the Dangerous Speech Project in Kenya leading up to its next presidential election, held in March 2013. While there, she helped oversee several projects that sought to diminish the effect of dangerous speech, including one writing four episodes of a popular Kenyan courtroom comedy in which the actors discredited inflammatory statements. The 2013 election produced little violence.

She is continuing to study how to effectively respond to dangerous speech. Now, shes looking at the effect shaming the speakers or using humour to minimize them may have.

Her work has inspired others to take up the cause. This year the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum published a guidebook on countering dangerous speech, and its author credits Benesch as the inspiration for it.

Rob Faris, director of the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard, where Benesch is a faculty associate, described her work as innovative in how it attempts to delegitimize dangerous speech rather than try to stifle it, thus protecting freedom of speech.

Her framework is still intended to discourage large incidents of violence. While she has tested some theories on dangerous speech online, her strategies are unlikely to weed out lone mass shooters or even terrorist recruits because theyre too isolated.

In any given time, in any society there is a subset of people who hold extreme views and are willing to resort to violence, and I dont think one can suppress that or expect to wipe it out, Benesch said. What Im more concerned about is the large mass of people who are malleable, who can be influenced.

 The Washington Post
On Oct. 18 the Drug Endangered Children Program in Buffalo County accepted a $1,574 check from the Buffalo County 4-H program. All 14 4-H clubs across Buffalo County participated in the 2016 Buffalo County 4-H Countywide Service Learning Project, in which members learned about the impacts children endangered by drugs experience.

Over 400 4-H youth members and volunteers also created comfort bags for those same drug endangered children. Each comfort bag contained items including clothing, pillow, book and personal hygiene items, aimed at providing young people a more comfortable transition when they are removed from a home affected by drugs. The comfort bags delivered throughout the summer of 2016 to program professionals are already in use.

The $1,500 donation now accompanies the comfort bags so that the programs social workers and law enforcement officers may purchase additional items for children in need or purchase materials needed for supporting drug endangered children in Buffalo County.
Frank Pomeroy does not know what his wifes health insurance premium is going to be next year.

Hes not sure he wants to find out.

Pat Pomeroy is one of 250,000 Minnesotans who get their health insurance through MNsures individual market, in which premiums are expected to spike by 50 to 70 percent next year.

Frank, a retired Winona police chief, is covered through Medicare, but it will be a couple more years before Pat will join him. In the meantime, as premiums for individuals climb here and across the country because of ongoing issues with the federal Affordable Care Act, the couple expects to pay at least $400 more per month for her insurance than last year.

Everyone seems to know about this, but nobody seems to be doing anything  how horrible is that? Frank said. On top of the premium, the deductible on Pats plan is likely to double, he said. You cant afford to use the policy. You cant afford to get sick.

The flaws with MNsure  Minnesotas health insurance marketplace under the Affordable Care Act  have dominated headlines out of St. Paul in recent weeks.

Republicans in the state Legislature have amplified their calls to overhaul MNsure or to scrap it in favor of the federally run insurance exchange.

Gov. Mark Dayton, who has largely defended the Affordable Care Act, said this month the program is no longer affordable. Dayton said he does not blame MNsure for the premium hikes in Minnesota, pointing out its the insurance companies that are setting rates and enrollment caps.

These are unsustainable programs, said Jeremy Miller, a state senator and a Republican representing Winona, Houston and Fillmore counties. MNsure and the Affordable Care Act, while well-intended, werent thought out very well. Minnesotans are suffering as a result.

The people being hurt the most are self-employers and early retirees  those who arent insured through their jobs and those who make too much money to qualify for Medicaid.

Of the 250,000 Minnesotans in the individual market, a little more than half qualify for tax credits that can help negate the impending premium spikes.

My focus the next three months is making sure the people who qualify for the tax credits actually get them, Allison OToole, CEO of MNsure, said during a visit to Winona Thursday. On the website, you can see if you qualify in about five minutes. Im recommending that to my family members. Its a smart thing to do.

The real crisis affects those on the individual market who make too much money to qualify for tax credits  $50,000 per year for an individual and $97,000 per year for families. They make up about 2 percent of the state's population.

MNsure has also had to address rumblings that some people might be left without any insurance options.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, the states largest insurer, dropped out of the individual market this summer, citing financial losses. In addition to setting enrollment caps, other insurance companies have minimized the size of their coverage areas by dropping out of rural swaths of the state.

When open enrollment begins Tuesday, people in southeast Minnesota will have two options: enrollment-capped Medica and uncapped Blue Plus.

The Department of Commerce says everyone will have an option, OToole said.

To stabilize the individual market and get insurance companies to come back, OToole said, more healthy people need to enter the market. That would ease the burden insurance companies bear in covering those who cost more to insure.

Miller and his Republican colleagues have proposed solutions for struggling Minnesotans in the meantime: an insurance cooperative they say would help farmers, and additional tax credits they say would help everyone.

Some want to completely repeal MNsure, and some wont admit that changes need to be made, Miller said. Both are unrealistic. We need to keep whats working and revise, scrap or reform the parts that arent working.

MNsure doesnt have much power to change itself. OToole said it is up to lawmakers to find legislative solutions, and that it is up to the Minnesota Department of Commerce and insurance companies to negotiate the cost of individual plans.

Health care is complex, and the environment is always shifting, OToole said.

I think its going to take a combination of approaches. If there was a silver bullet, I think wed know about it by now.
State Assembly candidates separated themselves on a number of issues, including education, taxes, transportation funding and legislative redistricting reform during a forum Thursday night in Baraboo.

The hour and a half discussion at the University of Wisconsin-Baraboo/Sauk County campus was the first and only meeting between 81st District incumbent Rep. Dave Considine, D-Baraboo, and his Republican challenger, David Moore of Wisconsin Dells.

VIDEO: 81st Assembly candidate forum Wisconsin 81st Assembly candidates Dave Considine and David Moore participate in a public fo

We need to stop subsidizing people that choose private schools, said Considine, a farmer and retired special education teacher with the Baraboo School District, in response to a question about education funding.

He was referring to Republicans expansion of the states voucher program, which provides public funds to help parents pay tuition at private schools, including religious schools.

Considine said although he takes no issue with private schools, he does not believe they should be subsidized by taxpayers. And he criticized Republicans massive cuts to the University of Wisconsin System.

Moore took issue with Considines characterization of the voucher program as stealing money from public schools. He said he supports parental choice.

If (parents) think a school meets the needs of their particular child better, they should be able to send them there, said Moore, a pastor at Keystone Baptist Church and member of the Sauk County Board.

He said K-12 schools and the UW System should be funded as a package, and agreed that cuts to the university system have probably been a little deeper than they needed to be.

Considine said public education funding  specifically mental health treatment for young students  would be his top priority if reelected. Moore said his number one objective would be to resolve a budget stalemate involving state transportation funds.

The best way to address the transportation funding crisis, Moore said, is to ensure that counties and towns get first priority. He said the state should then look at long-term solutions, keeping everything on the table, including unpopular alternatives such as a toll system.

Lawmakers under former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle boosted transportation revenue significantly by repealing automatic adjustments to the gas tax and increasing vehicle registration fees. But most of the increase has gone to major projects in southeastern Wisconsin, and state transportation aid to local governments has remained flat, according to the nonpartisan Wisconsin Taxpayer Alliance.

Revenue from the gas tax and registration fees has remained stagnant in recent years, and lawmakers have delayed major projects to minimize debt.

Considine said the state should not continue to borrow for transportation projects, and that rural roads should be prioritized. He suggested that farmers who use them should be taxed a small percentage on their diesel fuel.

I dont mind paying for those roads, Considine said, adding that the tax could generate nearly $40 million mainly from large-scale operations, and would have a minimal impact on small farms. And by the way, the damage that some of that heavy equipment does on those roads is huge.

Moore called Considines suggestion a horrible idea, saying there should be no new taxes until the state has fully prioritized transportation spending.

With regard to the drawing of legislative boundaries, Moore declined to say he would push for reform legislation that would establish a nonpartisan redistricting process similar to the Iowa model.

Im not going to pledge to do anything when I havent seen it, Moore said, adding that such models are impractical because they cant actually be nonpartisan. He said Democrats might not be as interested in seeing such reforms if they were in control of the Legislature.

Considine said he has aggressively pursued reform legislation that would establish a non-partisan panel in charge of approving new district borders following each 10-year Census. That will remain a priority if he is reelected, he said.

Although he initially pledged to serve only three terms, Considine said he now hopes to serve four. Thats because he wants to be a senior Democratic Caucus member following the next Census, so that he can ensure his own party does not attempt to gerrymander districts the way the Republican-controlled Legislature did in 2011.

Gerrymandering occurs when lawmakers manipulate district boundaries in unusual ways so as to ensure that a particular partys candidates get elected. Iowas model established a non-partisan panel of judges that can approve or reject redistricting undertaken by state lawmakers.

If you look at Iowa, its blocks, Considine said. Its beautiful blocks, following rivers and other things. Its well done.

Thursday nights forum was sponsored by the UW-BSC Student Government Association, hosted by the Baraboo Area Chamber of Commerce, and moderated by Baraboo News Republic Editor Todd Krysiak.

Moore and Considine will square off in the Nov. 8 election. The 81st Assembly District roughly encompasses the eastern half of Sauk County. It also includes portions of Columbia, Dane and Iowa counties.
In recorded interviews, an emotional Sauk County homicide defendant admits to a stabbing outside a Baraboo tavern, but says he did it in self defense.

The knife wasnt mine. OK? said 29-year-old Jae M. Robinson of North Freedom in an interview with a detective. The guy that died, it was his knife. He attacked me with the knife. Yes, we wanted to fight and everybody wanted to fight. Im not saying that.

The recorded interviews and videos of officer interactions with Robinson were submitted as evidence and included in his public case file. The Baraboo News Republic obtained copies following an open records request with the Sauk County Clerk of Courts.

In one video, taken shortly after Robinson was detained, he asks an officer if he can look at his cell phone. The officer tells Robinson, whose hands are cuffed behind his back, to wait.

Robinson later becomes agitated when another officer tells him authorities have obtained a search warrant to sample his DNA. He begins to swear at officers and call them names.

As Robinson is led from the room, he appears to remove the cell phone from his pocket and kick or stomp on it. Authorities later obtained a search warrant to conduct a forensic examination of the phone.

Robinson is one of four defendants facing felony charges of first-degree intentional homicide and substantial battery in relation to an Oct. 4, 2015, brawl that took place at the corner of Walnut and Lynn streets in Baraboo. The fight left 36-year-old Anthony Inman of North Freedom dead from multiple stab wounds. His friend, Anthony Peterson, 32, of Mauston, was seriously injured.

Robinson chokes up during an interview in which he tells authorities that he did not bring a weapon to the fight. He said Inman chased him down, and that the two struggled over a 6-inch butterfly knife with a blue handle that initially was in Inmans possession.

I dont know why I did it, Robinson says in the interview. It was just the heat of the moment He was trying to stab me.

At least one other witness told police that Robinson armed himself with a tire iron prior to the fight. Robinson did not deny that allegation during the interview, saying it may or may not have happened. He said many details were fuzzy because he was so intoxicated.

In one video, Robinson attempts to guide firefighters to a location near the Baraboo River where he said he threw the knife. No knife was found in that location.

Authorities said they did find a knife at the scene where the fight took place, but that it did not appear to be the one used to stab Inman.

A doctor told authorities Inman was stabbed more than 20 times. And Robinson asked officers about that during one of the recorded interviews.

Like multiple times? he asked. Like double-digit times?

The medical examiner also said Inman had been bashed in the side of the head and that he had a superficial slice wound from the front of his neck to below his left ear.

Robinson is slated to be the first of the four murder defendants to go to trial. A 10-day jury trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 23.
Fall brings temperate weather, changing colors, falling leaves and  if the nannies in New Jersey have anything to say about it  backbreaking labor.

Neighborhood advocacy groups across the state have been working to prohibit the use of leaf blowers, which they say are too noisy and disrupt the peace and quiet of their neighborhoods.

Earlier this year, Maplewood, New Jersey, banned leaf blowers used by commercial businesses for the summer, largely because residents objected to the loud noises. Now, activists in Princeton are working to ban leaf blowers for the same reason.

Quiet Princeton, an organization of local Princeton residents opposed to anything breaking the peace of the New Jersey town, has pushed for a reduction in leaf-blower noise. There are existing regulations on the books about leaf-blower noise, but thats not enough for Quiet Princeton.

Back in the 90s an effort was made in Princeton to ban leaf blowers outright, but it failed, Tony Lunn, a Quiet Princeton activist, told Mercer Space, a publication of Community News Service.

Princetons current ordinance calls for landscapers to be as quiet as possible, but its subjectivity has the activists upset. No one would think this reasonable, Lunn said. Some have attempted to get a 65-decibel limit written in as the legal regulation.

In Maplewood, the city is holding hearings to expand the summer leaf-blower ban. An Oct. 18 Township Committee meeting had many residents voicing their hatred for leaf blowers.

Why should they be able to disrupt my quality of life as a taxpayer so my neighbor can have a few blades of grass blown around? one resident said, according to NJ.com.

A prohibition limited to commercial leaf blowers means the burden falls disproportionately on landscaping companies, rather than, say, neighbors doing their own landscaping work. Other than driving up the cost for landscaping work, this is a burden for the manual laborers as well  many of whom are unlikely to be able to afford to live in a posh suburb like Maplewood, where the median household income is over $100,000 per year.
Donald Trump would not tell Chris Wallace that he would go away quietly if he lost the election during last weeks debate. The mass media newshounds turned this talking point into a battle over the peaceful transition of power rather than what it should be about a conversation regarding the need for voter ID and voter protection laws.

Wisconsin finally adopted a voter ID law that has been challenged repeatedly by the left. Most recently, One Wisconsin Institute filed at the least the fifth lawsuit against Wisconsins voter ID law last year. The voter ID law has been mostly upheld and even the latest ruling against portions of the law, which did not strike down the actual requirement to show and ID at the polls, is likely to be overturned.

Why do they challenge these laws? The socialist progressive movement of this country has adopted the community organizer approach to influencing our political system. They have adopted the ends justify the means approach of the movements most successful leader, Saul Alinsky. In other words, voter ID laws limit avenues for cheating.

Alinsky wrote the progressive playbook, Rules for Radicals. When it comes to ethics, he taught The third rule of ethics of means and ends is that in war the end justifies almost any means... This approach essentially advises his followers to abandon moral or ethical considerations if it means they can successfully accomplish their objective. Voter ID is a legal obstacle that prevents the dead in Chicago from voting.

Project Veritas recently released an undercover video of an interview with New York City Democratic Commissioner of the Board of Elections Alan Schulkin at a United Federation of Teachers 2015 holiday party where he admits there is widespread voter fraud.

In the video, Schulkin says, People dont realize, in certain neighborhoods, they bus people around to vote. He continues with, They put them in a bus and go poll site to poll site. When asked which neighborhoods, he initially did not answer. When asked by the undercover reporter if Schulkin meant black and Hispanic neighborhoods, he added, And Chinese, too.

Schulkin also reported, There are thousands of absentee ballots. I dont know where they came from.

We saw this come into play here during the recall elections after Act 10 was enacted. In Milwaukee and Racine, there were numerous reports of busloads of people, mostly from out-of-state, being dropped at various polling locations and casting ballots. Ive even seen a cell phone video showing white vans with Florida license plates parked in stalls reserved for absentee voters outside of Milwaukees City Hall. I am sure theyre just rentals.

The election tampering extends beyond voting, too. There is also massive intimidation. In another Project Veritas undercover video, Scott Foval, who worked for Americans United for Change, openly admits the Hillary Clintons campaign pays DNC, DNC pays Democracy Partners, Democracy Partners pays the Foval Group, the Foval Group goes and executes the (expletive) on the ground when referring to the provocation of Trump supporters at rallies. Protesting at Trump rallies is freedom of speech; inciting violence isnt.

The left will tell you this stuff simply isnt happening, but how would they know? The major news networks either arent covering this or theyre covering it up. Other than FOX News, no one else reported on any of this until, according to the Media Research Center, CBS mentioned the Foval story on Oct. 20, 2016. Even then, according to the report, CBS claimed there is theres no indication Clintons campaign paid for it or even knew about it. Maybe CBS should show the entire video and let us decide.

It is the typical bait and distract journalism we have seen out of the mass media for this entire election cycle. When Al Gore lost the election in 2000, no one questioned his right to challenge the election results. No one questioned Al Frankens challenge in Minnesota during a legal battle that lasted eight months in 2008.

If this race is close, or there is clear voter fraud, Donald Trump should not cede his right to challenge the results. If Clinton wins in a landslide, as the media is predicting, then there is no argument and he should concede. Why would Trump give up that right before the votes have even been counted?

If we can reduce or eliminate voter fraud while protecting voters from intimidation, then Chris Wallace never has to ask the question again.
Sauk Prairie will get a glimpse of one of the two eclipses that will occur over the next thirty days. The total solar eclipse is only visible over the Atlantic Ocean ending toward the North Pole on March 20, and the total lunar eclipse is best seen in western North America on April 4. However, the partial phase of the lunar eclipse will greet those who rise before the sun on the morning of April 4.

The Full Moon occurs on April 4 at 7:05 a.m., but the moon sets just before this, around 6:40 a.m., as the partial eclipse is ongoing. The partial phase begins around 5:17 a.m., as the moon slips into the deeper part of Earths shadow and begins to turn a bit red. The moon will become close to completely eclipsed around 6:34 a.m., just as it is setting. This will make for a strange and wondrous view for those awaking to the day to find a blood red moon setting in the west.

At the same time that the moon is setting, the sun is rising in the east. Sunrise will continue to arrive earlier every morning and sunset later every evening from the spring equinox on March 20 through June. Spring arrives precisely on March 20 at 5:45 p.m.

Spring planets and constellations

On March 21, a day after the new moon and eclipse graces the far north, a crescent moon returns to the sky just after sunset. The moon will be right beside Mars, and the next night the moon rises a bit higher to float beside Venus. On March 29 the moon will be high in the sky and not far from Jupiter. The moon and Saturn keep close quarters around April 8, but they dont rise until after midnight.

Back in the west, Venus draws attention as it shines at magnitude -4 and stays above the horizon for three hours. In early April, Venus closes in on the star cluster the Pleiades in the constellation Taurus. This grouping of stars is setting in the west while the spring constellations rise in the east. Leo, Virgo, and Libra rise up from the horizon, carrying along a slew of distant galaxies that can be viewed through large telescopes. Ursa Major, the Big Dipper, is taking on its spring look, with the bowl of the dipper turning upside down as it sends spring showers to Earth.
Dollar General Corporation, a discount retailer, provides various merchandise products in the southern, southwestern, Midwestern, and eastern United States. It offers consumable products, including paper and cleaning products, such as paper towels, bath tissues, paper dinnerware, trash and storage bags, disinfectants, and laundry products; packaged food comprising cereals, pasta, canned soups, fruits and vegetables, condiments, spices, sugar, and flour; and perishables that include milk, eggs, bread, refrigerated and frozen food, beer, and wine. The company's consumable products also comprise snacks, such as candies, cookies, crackers, salty snacks, and carbonated beverages; health and beauty products, including over-the-counter medicines and personal care products, such as soaps, body washes, shampoos, cosmetics, and dental hygiene and foot care products; pet supplies and pet food; and tobacco products. In addition, it offers seasonal products comprising holiday items, toys, batteries, small electronics, greeting cards, stationery, prepaid phones and accessories, gardening supplies, hardware, and automotive and home office supplies; and home products that include kitchen supplies, cookware, small appliances, light bulbs, storage containers, frames, candles, craft supplies and kitchen, and bed and bath soft goods. Further, the company provides apparel, which comprise casual everyday apparel for infants, toddlers, girls, boys, women, and men, as well as socks, underwear, disposable diapers, shoes, and accessories. As of February 25, 2022, it operated 18,190 stores in 47 states in the United States. The company was formerly known as J.L. Turner & Son, Inc. and changed its name to Dollar General Corporation in 1968. Dollar General Corporation was founded in 1939 and is based in Goodlettsville, Tennessee.
GSK plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the creation, discovery, development, manufacture, and marketing of pharmaceutical products, vaccines, over-the-counter medicines, and health-related consumer products in the United Kingdom, the United States, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Pharmaceuticals, Pharmaceuticals R&D, Vaccines, and Consumer Healthcare. The company offers pharmaceutical products comprising medicines in the therapeutic areas, such as respiratory, HIV, immuno-inflammation, oncology, anti-viral, central nervous system, cardiovascular and urogenital, metabolic, anti-bacterial, and dermatology. It also provides consumer healthcare products in wellness, oral health, nutrition, and skin health categories. The company offers its consumer healthcare products in the form of nasal sprays, tablets, syrups, lozenges, gum and trans-dermal patches, caplets, infant syrup drops, liquid filled suspension, wipes, gels, effervescents, toothpastes, toothbrushes, mouthwashes, denture adhesives and cleansers, topical creams and non-medicated patches, lip balm, gummies, and soft chews. It has collaboration agreements with 23andMe; Lyell Immunopharma, Inc.; Novartis; Sanofi SA; Surface Oncology; Progentec Diagnostics, Inc.; Alector, Inc.; and CureVac AG., as well as strategic partnership with IDEAYA Biosciences, Inc. and Vir Biotechnology, Inc. The company was formerly known as GlaxoSmithKline plc and changed its name to GSK plc in May 2022. GSK plc was founded in 1715 and is headquartered in Brentford, the United Kingdom.
The following companies are subsidiares of Bristol-Myers Squibb: 1096271 B.C. ULC, 345 Park LLC, A.G. Medical Services P.A., AHI Investment LLC, AbVitro LLC, Abraxis BioScience Australia Pty Ltd., Abraxis BioScience Inc., Abraxis BioScience International Holding Company Inc., Abraxis BioScience LLC, Abraxis BioScience Puerto Rico LLC, Acetylon Pharmaceuticals Inc., Adnexus, Adnexus a Bristol-Myers Squibb R&D Company, Allard Labs Acquisition G.P., Amira Pharmaceuticals, Amira Pharmaceuticals Inc., Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Apothecon LLC, B-MS Generx Unlimited Company, BMS Benelux Holdings B.V., BMS Bermuda Nominees L.L.C., BMS Data Acquisition Company LLC, BMS Forex Company, BMS Holdings Sarl, BMS Holdings Spain S.L., BMS International Insurance Designated Activity Company, BMS Investco SAS, BMS Korea Holdings L.L.C., BMS Latin American Nominees L.L.C., BMS Luxembourg Partners L.L.C., BMS Omega Bermuda Holdings Finance Ltd., BMS Pharmaceutical Korea Limited, BMS Pharmaceuticals Germany Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals International Holdings Netherlands B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Korea Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Mexico Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Netherlands Holdings B.V., BMS Real Estate LLC, BMS Spain Investments LLC, BMS Strategic Portfolio Investments Holdings Inc., Blisa Acquisition G.P., Bristol (Iran) S.A., Bristol Iran Private Company Limited, Bristol Laboratories Inc., Bristol Laboratories International S.A., Bristol Laboratories Medical Information Systems Inc., Bristol-Myers (Andes) L.L.C., Bristol-Myers (Private) Limited, Bristol-Myers Middle East S.A.L., Bristol-Myers Overseas Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (China) Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (Israel) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (NZ) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Proprietary) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (Singapore) Pte. Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Taiwan) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (West Indies) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb A.E., Bristol-Myers Squibb Aktiebolag, Bristol-Myers Squibb Argentina S. R. L., Bristol-Myers Squibb Australia Pty. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Axia Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb B.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb Belgium S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Business Services Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada Co., Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada International Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Delta Company Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Denmark Filial of Bristol-Myers Squibb AB, Bristol-Myers Squibb EMEA Sarl, Bristol-Myers Squibb Egypt LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Epsilon Holdings Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Farmaceutica Ltda., Bristol-Myers Squibb Farmaceutica Portuguesa S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb GesmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb GmbH & Co. KGaA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holding Germany GmbH & Co. KG, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings 2002 Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Germany Verwaltungs GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Ireland Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Pharma Ltd. Liability Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Ilaclari Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb India Pvt. Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb International Company Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb International Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb Investco L.L.C., Bristol-Myers Squibb K.K., Bristol-Myers Squibb Kft., Bristol-Myers Squibb Luxembourg International S.C.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Bristol-Myers Squibb MEA GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb Manufacturing Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Marketing Services S.R.L., Bristol-Myers Squibb Middle East & Africa FZ-LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Norway Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Nutricionales de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb Peru S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma (HK) Ltd, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma (Thailand) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Holding Company LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Ventures Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Polska Sp. z o.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Products SA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Puerto Rico Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Puerto Rico/Sanofi Pharmaceutical Partnership Puerto Rico, Bristol-Myers Squibb Romania S.R.L., Bristol-Myers Squibb S.A.U., Bristol-Myers Squibb S.r.l., Bristol-Myers Squibb SA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Sanofi Pharmaceuticals Holding Partnership, Bristol-Myers Squibb Sarl, Bristol-Myers Squibb Service Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Services Sp. z o.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Spol. s r.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Theta Finance Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Trustees Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Verwaltungs GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb de Colombia S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb de Costa Rica Sociedad Anonima, Bristol-Myers Squibb de Guatemala S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb/Astrazeneca EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Pfizer EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Sanofi Pharmaceuticals Partnership, Bristol-Myers de Venezuela S.C.A., CHT I LLC, CHT II LLC, CHT III LLC, CHT IV LLC, CR Finance Company LLC, Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals, Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals Inc., Celem LLC, Celem Ltd., Celgene, Celgene A.B., Celgene AS, Celgene Ab (Finland), Celgene Alpine Investment Co. II LLC, Celgene Alpine Investment Co. III LLC, Celgene Alpine Investment Co. LLC, Celgene ApS, Celgene B.V., Celgene BVBA, Celgene Brasil Produtos Farmaceuticos Ltda., Celgene CAR LLC, Celgene CAR Ltd., Celgene Chemicals Sarl, Celgene China Holdings LLC, Celgene Co., Celgene Corporation, Celgene Distribution B.V., Celgene EngMab GmbH, Celgene Europe B.V., Celgene Europe Limited, Celgene European Investment Company LLC, Celgene Financing Company LLC, Celgene Global Holdings Sarl, Celgene GmbH [Austria], Celgene GmbH [Germany], Celgene GmbH [Switzerland], Celgene Holdings East Corporation, Celgene Holdings II Sarl, Celgene Holdings III Sarl, Celgene Ilac Pazarlama ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Celgene Inc., Celgene International Holdings Corporation, Celgene International II Sarl, Celgene International III Sarl, Celgene International Inc., Celgene International Sarl, Celgene K.K., Celgene Kft., Celgene Limited [Hong Kong], Celgene Limited [Ireland], Celgene Limited [New Zealand], Celgene Limited [Taiwan], Celgene Limited [UK], Celgene Logistics Sarl, Celgene Ltd, Celgene Luxembourg Sarl, Celgene Management Sarl, Celgene NJ Investment Co, Celgene Netherlands B.V., Celgene Netherlands Investment B.V., Celgene Pharmaceutical (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Celgene Pte. Ltd., Celgene Pty Ltd, Celgene Puerto Rico Distribution LLC, Celgene Quanticel Research Inc, Celgene R&D Sarl, Celgene RIVOT LLC, Celgene RIVOT Ltd., Celgene RIVOT SRL, Celgene Receptos Limited, Celgene Receptos Sarl, Celgene Research Incubator At Summit West LLC, Celgene Research S.L.U., Celgene Research and Development Company LLC, Celgene Research and Development I ULC, Celgene Research and Development II LLC, Celgene Research and Investment Company II LLC, Celgene S. de R.L. de C.V., Celgene S.L.U., Celgene S.R.L., Celgene SAS, Celgene Sarl AU, Celgene Sdn Bhd, Celgene Services Sarl, Celgene Sociedade Unipessoal Lda, Celgene Sp. Z.o.o., Celgene Sro [Czech Republic], Celgene Summit Investment Co, Celgene Switzerland Holding Sarl, Celgene Switzerland II LLC, Celgene Switzerland Investment Sarl, Celgene Switzerland LLC, Celgene Switzerland Sarl, Celgene Tri A Holdings Ltd., Celgene Tri Sarl, Celgene UK Distribution Limited, Celgene UK Holdings Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing II Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing III Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing Limited, Celgene d.o.o., Celgene sro [Slovakia], Celmed LLC, Celmed Ltd., ConvaTec Divestiture, Cormorant Pharmaceuticals, Cormorant Pharmaceuticals AB, Crosp Ltd., Delinia Inc., Deuteria Pharmaceuticals Inc., DuPont Pharmaceuticals, E. R. Squibb & Sons Inter-American Corporation, E. R. Squibb & Sons L.L.C., E. R. Squibb & Sons Limited, EWI Corporation, EngMab Sarl, F-star Alpha, FermaVir Pharmaceuticals L.L.C., FermaVir Research L.L.C., Flexus Biosciences, Flexus Biosciences Inc., Forbius, Galecto Biotech, GenPharm International L.L.C., Gloucester Pharmaceuticals LLC, Grove Insurance Company Ltd., Heyden Farmaceutica Portuguesa Limitada, IFM Therapeutics, Impact Biomedicines Inc., Inhibitex, Inhibitex L.L.C., Innate Tumor Immunity Inc., JuMP Holdings LLC, Juno Therapeutics GmbH, Juno Therapeutics Inc., Kosan Biosciences, Kosan Biosciences Incorporated, Linson Investments Limited, Mead Johnson (Manufacturing) Jamaica Limited, Mead Johnson Jamaica Ltd., Medarex, Morris Avenue Investment II LLC, Morris Avenue Investment LLC, MyoKardia, O.o.o. Bristol-Myers Squibb, Oy Bristol-Myers Squibb (Finland) AB, Padlock Therapeutics, Padlock Therapeutics Inc., Pharmion LLC, Princeton Pharmaceutical Products Inc., Receptos LLC, Receptos Services LLC, RedoxTherapies Inc., Route 22 Real Estate Holding Corporation, SPV A Holdings ULC, Seamair Insurance DAC, Signal Pharmaceuticals LLC, Sino-American Shanghai Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited, Societe Francaise de Complements Alimentaires(S.O.F.C.A.), Squibb Middle East S.A., Summit West Celgene LLC, Swords Laboratories, VentiRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., Westwood-Intrafin SA, Westwood-Squibb Pharmaceuticals Inc., X-Body Inc., ZymoGenetics, ZymoGenetics Inc., ZymoGenetics LLC, ZymoGenetics Paymaster LLC, iPierian, and iPierian Inc..

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Avery Dennison Corporation manufactures and markets pressure-sensitive materials and products in the United States, Europe, Asia, Latin America, and internationally. The company's Label and Graphic Materials segment offers pressure-sensitive label and packaging materials under the Fasson, JAC, and Avery Dennison brands; graphics products under the Avery Dennison and Mactac brands; and reflective products under the Avery Dennison brand. This segment provides its products to the home and personal care, beer and beverage, durables, pharmaceutical, wine and spirits, and food market segments; architectural, commercial sign, digital printing, and other related market segments; construction, automotive, and fleet transportation market segments; traffic and safety applications; and sign shops, commercial printers, and designers. The company's Retail Branding and Information Solutions segment offers brand embellishments, graphic tickets, tags and labels, and sustainable packaging solutions, as well as creative services; radio-frequency identification, visibility and loss prevention, brand protection and security, shelf-edge, and price ticketing and marking solutions; and care, content, and country of origin compliance solutions. It serves retailers, brand owners, apparel manufacturers, distributors, and industrial customers. The company's Industrial and Healthcare Materials segment provides tapes and other pressure-sensitive adhesive-based materials and converted products, mechanical fasteners, and performance polymers under the Fasson and Avery Dennison brands; and tapes under the Yongle brand for wire harnessing and cable wrapping. It serves automotive, electronics, building and construction, electrical, general industrial, personal care, and medical markets. The company was formerly known as Avery International Corporation and changed its name to Avery Dennison Corporation in 1990. Avery Dennison Corporation was founded in 1935 and is headquartered in Mentor, Ohio.




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Praise For Fire Safety Project For Teenagers in Chirk

This article is old - Published: Saturday, Oct 29th, 2016

Senior police officers have visited a project designed to reduce fires and redirect the energy of youngsters towards productive and worthwhile activities.

Organised by North Wales Fire and Rescue Service, the Phoenix Project works with people aged 13 to 17 to educate them about about the importance of fire safety and the consequences of deliberate fires and hoax calls.

During the five day course young people engage in fire and rescue service activities such as hose running drills, fighting fires and search and rescue. They also learn useful day to day skills such as consequences of their actions, manual handling, risk management and fire safety.

North Wales Police Supt Sian Beck and Inspector Dave Jolly went along to a course in Chirk to see the project in action and to show a clip of a new film being made in to raise awareness of the dangers of deliberate fires in Wrexham.

North Wales Fire and Service have joined up with North Wales Police to create a film aimed at 10-16 year olds to raise awareness of the dangers and consequences of the impact of deliberate fires in the Wrexham area.

Supt Sian Beck said; The Phoenix Project is a great example of a multiagency approach to encourage positive behaviour among young people.

Arson has been a recurring problem in Wrexham for a number of years. There is a significantly higher level of deliberate fires in the county compared to the rest of North Wales over the past five years.

We hope that the proactive schemes such as the phoenix project and educational films made in the community for the community will help reduce the incidents or arson in our area.

Paul Scott, Community Safety Manager for Wrexham and Flintshire, said: The Fire and Rescue Service has a powerful draw for young people which gives us the opportunity to try and influence behaviour.

The Phoenix project offers a unique experience to build on qualities we as a Service work towards such as respect, communication and trust.

The week has involved a blend of classroom learning where the youngsters were taught safety in the home, then drill yard activity where we promote working together as a team, assessing risk and adhering to instructions.

The aim of the course is to assist the youngsters in becoming more motivated and positive about themselves, which in turn has the effect of making them better citizens.We are hoping that these young people will feel that they have gained something positive from the Phoenix project and feel that it will be of benefit to them in the future.

Its great to see North Wales Police involved in the project and were committed to working in partnership to tackle the issue of deliberate fires in the Wrexham area.
Social Enterprise Making a Difference in Wrexham

This article is old - Published: Saturday, Oct 29th, 2016

A local social enterprise, which has already had great success in India, is moving from strength to strength in Wrexham.

Wrexhams Assembly Member Lesley Griffiths recently met with Jo Clay, founder of Empower  Be The Change, to hear more about the positive impact the enterprise is having in the local area.

Empower has successfully secured almost 5,000 from the Santander Discovery Foundation to help run a volunteer to employment project.

The program aims to help individuals gain key employability skills through accredited training, volunteering and mentoring. Every participant on the program will have the opportunity to take up an international volunteer placement in India and/or become a program mentor.

Empower have started work with pupils at St Christophers school and recently hosted a PR event with Santander, Lesley Griffiths and the beneficiaries of the grant, 14 of the school pupils aged 15-18 year olds. Each participant will gain an ILM qualification in Effective Team Member skills before being supported into community volunteer placements.

Jo commented: The project bridges an important gap between formal qualifications and training to the practical softer skills individuals require to successfully enter and sustain volunteer placements and employment.

Empower has created this project in response to feedback from local organisations and we are already looking into opportunities to expand this model to more groups and community organisations across the region.

Jo originally started her venture with Vi-Ability, setting up international work placements to support people in the rural communities of South India, but moved away to set up her own social enterprise. The overriding aim of Empower  Be The Change is to create a society where people are more willing to support each other and the communities in which they live and work.

Lesley Griffiths AM has praised Jos efforts and said: Since I last met with Jo, her enterprise has received further recognition from Wales Council for Voluntary Action, winning their International Volunteer of the Year award two years in a row.

She passionately believed her ideas could be transferred from India and be successful in Wrexham.

Jo was determined to make a difference and Empower is certainly offering not only a wide range of opportunities for volunteers, but also vital services for vulnerable people here in Wrexham.

Individuals interested in volunteering or community groups interested in supporting volunteer placements can find out more information by logging onto Empower  Be The Change website or contacting Jo at empower.founder@gmail.com
Stay Safe This Halloween Urges Welsh Ambulance Service

This article is old - Published: Saturday, Oct 29th, 2016

The Welsh Ambulance Service is calling on Halloween revellers to make sure they enjoy their spooky celebrations in safety this year.

The Trust is asking people to make sure that Halloween results in plenty of treats  and not a trip to the emergency department by looking after each other and being respectful of others.

Last year a total of 1,220 calls were made to the service over the course of October 31.

The Trust is inviting the public to support NHS Wales Choose Well campaign, so that the emergency services are available to those who need them most urgently this Halloween.

Richard Lee, the Welsh Ambulance Services Director of Operations, said: If youre going out trick or treating there is sometimes an opportunity for anti-social behaviour to occur and we would ask people to think first, especially if theyve got elderly neighbours.

Halloween is often the start of firework season and we would encourage people to please be careful and look after themselves as they can be very dangerous if used irresponsibly.

With Halloween and Bonfire Night coming so closely together it can be a busy time of year for the ambulance service and we want people to help us prioritise calls for those who need our care most urgently.

Before you decide to call 999 stop and think about whether a more appropriate service is available, such as your GP, GP Out of Hours, your nearest pharmacy or Minor Injuries Unit, and calling NHS Direct Wales on 0845 46 47 where health advice is available 24 hours a day.
An August 2016 report, No Life For A Child: A Roadmap to End Immigration Detention of Children and Family Separation, by human-rights researchers from the International Human Rights Program at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law criticizes successive Canadian governments for their brutal and illegal practice of locking up immigrant and refugee children.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) routinely detains all undocumented migrants and refugees who are considered a flight risk or a danger to the public and those whose identities cannot be confirmed, including children and adolescents.

Infants, children and teenagers are generally kept in federal immigration holding centers in Toronto and Laval, Quebec. Designed for adults, these facilities resemble medium-security prisons, with little privacy or freedom of movement, and little to no access to education and exercise, says Not Life for a Child.

According to the report, between 2010 and 2014, an average of 242 children were cruelly and arbitrarily detained annually in immigration detention centers, often after rejected refugee claims, in violation of Canadas international legal obligations.

However, the researchers caution the true number of detained children is actually much higher, since the Canadian governments statistics exclude children who were being held because their parents were in custody and were not themselves subject to a detention order. The detained children came from all over the globe, including some from Syria and other war-ravaged regions.

Those in detention have not been convicted of any crimes, nor have they even been charged with a crime. They exist in legal limbo, but are treated like convicted criminals.

Significantly, the study confirms that the detention of child refugees has proceeded apace under Justin Trudeaus Liberal government. Earlier this year, two 16-year-old boys were held in solitary confinement, in one case for three weeks, at the Toronto holding center.

The reports findings explode the Trudeau governments attempt to posture as a friend of refugees. When he assumed power last year, Trudeau made a calculated appeal to the widespread public sympathy for the plight of refugees by announcing the acceptance of 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of February. He posed for pictures at Torontos Pearson Airport when he greeted the first plane-load in December.

The Liberals election pledge amounted to a drop in the bucket given that millions have been displaced by the US-fomented war in Syria. Moreover, it was made up largely of refugees who were being privately sponsored by charities and other groups. In the months since, reports have emerged of many refugees struggling to get by and having to rely on food banks and donations to survive.

The Liberals hypocritical refugee-friendly pose was meant to form a demonstrable contrast with the previous Harper Conservative government, the better to press ahead with a reactionary agenda of expanding militarism abroad and implementing austerity at home.

Trudeaus Liberals are no less responsible for creating the conditions for the refugee crisis than the Harper Conservatives. Under the previous Chretien-Martin Liberal governments, Canada joined the war in Afghanistan, which laid waste to the country and forced hundreds of thousands to flee, and whilst in opposition the Liberals enthusiastically supported Canadas leading role in the NATO war on Libya, which left the country in ruins and largely under the control of Islamist militia.

In the year since Trudeau came to office, Canada has expanded its role in the US-led war in Iraq and Syria, where millions have been forced to flee their homes, and it is planning military interventions on the impoverished African continent to prop up authoritarian regimes in the name of the war on terror.

The Liberals have also sent warships to the eastern Mediterranean to assist NATO in enforcing the European Unions brutal refugee deterrence program, which has claimed the lives of thousands who have drowned horrifically in the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas.

Children have been hit particularly hard by the refugee crisis. Estimates suggest they represent around a quarter of all migrants and refugees worldwide. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates there are now more than 60 million refugees worldwide.

The Global Detention Project has called Canada, with its mandatory detention laws, an outlier on detention for immigrants and refugees among industrialized democracies. The conditions in which adults and children are kept are miserable, as shown earlier this year when a group of refugees went on hunger strike at their detention facilities. Trudeaus Public Safety Minister, Ralph Goodale, refused to meet with them. (See: Canada: Refugees mount hunger strike to protest indefinite detention).

Immigration detention in Canada is harsh and arbitrary for the explicit purpose of deterrencei.e. discouraging migrants from coming to Canada by making it known they will be subjected to harsh treatment.

There are strict rules, regimented daily routines, and significant restrictions on privacy and liberty. Children in detention are under constant and invasive surveillance. They have inadequate access to education, insufficient opportunity for recreation and play, and receive poor nutrition and healthcare.

"They are the equivalent of medium-security prisons. There's barbed wire, there are routines that people have to follow in terms of mealtimes. They're not nurseries. They're not designed as daycare centers. These are, in effect, prisons," said Samer Muscati, director of the International Human Rights Program at the University of Toronto. "It's the worst sort of place you can put a child in." He described meeting parents who said that their children's first words were "search" or "shift change."

At the press conference held to release the report, Rachel Kronick, a child psychiatrist at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal and an assistant professor of psychiatry at McGill University, who contributed to the research, said, "Life in immigration detention is woefully unsuited for children." She said the reports findings are clear and well documented. "Our research concluded that it is never in the best interests of children to be separated from their parents. Nor is it ever in the best interests of [a] child to be detained,Migrant children's right to health must be protected. Children who are detained or separated from their families experience extreme psychological distress.

The report was based on interviews with detained refugees and asylum seekers, as well as mental health experts, social workers, legal professionals and children's rights activists. Organizations and individuals endorsing the cessation of the barbaric practice of detaining children include the Canadian Pediatric Society, the Canadian Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists, the Office of the Ontario Child Advocate, and the president of the Canadian Bar Association.

The report notes that Canadas current practices relating to the detention of children are in violation of its international legal obligations.

These terrible conditions have been created by the passage of ever more draconian refugee legislation by successive governments. Under the Chretien-Martin Liberal government, a law was passed that strips anyone who arrives in Canada via a safe third country of the right to even apply for refugee status.

In 2012, the former Harper government tabled the draconian Refugee Exclusion Act (Bill C-31), which legalized mandatory incarceration for refugees designated as irregular arrivals. Under this law, which was presented as a way to reduce the flow of bogus refugees and people-smuggling, migrants, including children, can be detained for a year pending a governmental review of their case.

This legislation, now being implemented by the Trudeau Liberals, effectively strips refugees of basic democratic rights, including freedom from arbitrary detention, the right to freedom and security, and habeas corpus.

Also in 2012, the Conservatives enacted the Protecting Canada's Immigration System Act which further limits the rights of refugee claimants to appeal a rejected claim, including eliminating any right of appeal for those from so-called safe countries. It also mandated biometric identification procedures for those applying for a Canadian visa.

The authors also recommend:

Trudeaus refugee welcome and the real agenda of Canadas new government

[15 December 2015]
Socialist Equality Party candidates for president and vice president, Jerry White and Niles Niemuth, have held a series of widely-attended meetings on the West Coast and in New York over the past several days. The meetings are part of a tour culminating in the November 5 conference in Detroit, Socialism vs. Capitalism and War.

On Wednesday, White spoke to a meeting of more than 100 students, workers and young people attended at San Diego State University in Southern California. Another meeting was held the following night at the University of California, San Diego, and White and SEP National Secretary Joseph Kishore are speaking at a meeting today in Berkeley.

On Thursday, Niemuth addressed an audience of nearly 40 students at the State University of New York at Geneseo, located south of Rochester in the western portion of the state. Niemuth also spoke in Syracuse on Wednesday and is holding meetings in Rock Island and Chicago, Illinois over the next week.

The central focus of the SEP election meetings has been on the danger of war, which is not being discussed during the 2016 election campaign between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. The SEP candidates have spoken about the right-wing character of the Clinton campaign, the significance of the rise of Trump and his fascistic program, and the experience of the candidacy of Bernie Sanders.

In his remarks at SDSU, White noted the way in which Clinton and the Democratic Party have sought to deflect all criticism of the corrupt relations between the candidate and Wall Streetas exposed in the email leaks from WikiLeaksby charging that Trump is an agent of Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Whites presentation was followed by a lively question and answer period on such issues as the SEPs position on the Middle East, climate change, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, and what to do on election day. A common theme in both meetings in San Diego was the role of identity politics and Black Lives Matter, leading spokesmen of which have come out openly in support of Hillary Clinton.

White urged those attending to vote for the SEP on November 8. The SEP candidates have official write-in status in the state.

During the question period at the meeting in Geneseo, Niemuth addressed the connection between war abroad and domestic repression, including police violence at home, as well as the SEPs demand for free public education at all levels and student-loan forgiveness. He also clarified the class nature of the Venezuelan and Cuban governments, which are bourgeois-nationalist, not socialist.

Isabel, a sophomore majoring in history and creative writing, told the WSWS after the meeting that the 2016 elections are a joke and that she enjoyed the meeting because it discussed the historical background of American imperialism. Its scary because millions of people are dying because of American imperialist actions, and people dont understand the historical reasons for that. 

Tonight provoked me to think about it more. It should be a bigger focus about what were talking about, but Im confused about why so many people think its a positive thing to be aggressive. In the upper echelons I understandits imperialist, it gets them power and money. This meeting really makes me want to read about Russian history and socialist and communist history.

Hundreds of workers and young people from throughout the US have registered for the November 5 conference, which is being held at Wayne State University in Detroit. (Details at socialismvswar.com). These include workers and youth who have attended meetings and others who have registered online.

Many have left comments upon registering. Kelsey, in Detroit, Michigan, wrote that she is attending the conference because the Earth and our lives are more important that profits. I want to work towards dismantling the systematic oppression and destruction of the human race.

Patrick, in Chicago, Illinois, said that he was attending because the SEP is the only political organization discussing the major issues in our world: wealth inequality and endless war. The powers-that-be have devoted the 21st century to the slaughterhouse, and its time for them to be stopped.

Andy, from Downers Grove, Illinois, wrote: I am attending the conference to push for an anti-war movement and to promote socialism in order to create a more free and equal world, while Viraj from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania said he was traveling to Detroit to learn more about socialism and to know the main differences between capitalism and socialism.

Jim, from Ontario, Canada, wrote simply: I am attending because I want socialismnot a nuked, dead planet.

Gladyes, from Flint, Michigan, explained: Im coming! This is the only party that is going to bring change to the working men and women. The SEP is the only party that is really going to make a difference. Whether it's Clinton or Trump, we're going to war. They're really the same party. That's why I'm coming!

For more information and to register for the November 5 conference in Detroit, click here .
The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) and International Youth and Student for Social Equality (IYSSE) in Sri Lanka are conducting an extensive campaign for the forthcoming Colombo public meeting on the US elections. Entitled The threat of world war and the US presidential election, the event is on October 30 and will be addressed by US SEP presidential candidate Jerry White via the Internet.

Thousands of World Socialist Web Site articles on the US elections have been distributed by campaign teams in Colombo and surrounding suburbs as well as in the central hill districts and in northern Jaffna.

The Sri Lankan media, which presents little on international developments, has only published a few reports and articles on the US elections. An editorial in the Daily Mirror, a leading English-language daily in Sri Lanka, recently declared that the US presidential election would not bring about earth-shaking change for the people of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The comment is a desperate attempt to hide the explosive political issues underpinning the American elections and their international consequences.

By contrast, Sri Lankan workers, young people and university students have held animated discussions with SEP and IYSSE campaigners. Many were keen to discuss the crucial political issues in the electionthe crisis of American capitalism, Washingtons increasingly aggressive attempts to reassert its global hegemony, the danger of a third world war, and the growing radicalisation of the working class. We publish below some selected interviews.

Kalhara, a science faculty student, said: A war situation has developed all around the world. This is something that weI mean our generationhas never seen before. You are the only group explaining the connection between the American election and threat of a world war. Its very important.

He agreed that both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, candidates of the Democratic and Republican parties, represented the American ruling class and would continue Washingtons ongoing wars. He said the military destruction in Syria and Iraq were terrible crimes.

Kalhara rejected claims that a Clinton victory would boost the rights of women internationally. Referring to the late Prime Minister Sirima Bandaranaike and former President Chandrika Kumaratunga, he said: We live in a country were two women leaders ruled for decades. Did it even slightly change the plight of ordinary working woman of Sri Lanka?

A campaign team spoke with science faculty students at Colombo University. One student said: Trump is a fascist and Clinton is very unpopular but cant we say that a Clinton victory would be less dangerous than Trump winning? Another student added: Trumps Islamophobia could bring massive destruction both outside and inside America.

SEP and IYSSE supporters said that while Trump represented fascistic tendency, Clinton was a representative of the American military intelligence complex and directly responsible for US war crimes internationally.

Reading the SEP campaign leaflet, another student said: We understand the necessity for another anti-war movement. No country can escape [Washingtons] war drive. Even the regime-change that happened [in Sri Lanka] on January 8 [2015], was driven by international influences.

A female student said that previous anti-war movements fizzled out and asked how another new anti-war movement could succeed. Her question sparked an important discussion about the popular opposition to US-led invasion of Iraq war in 2003.

SEP campaigners pointed out that this movement was dominated by pro-capitalist organisations and pseudo-left formations and directed towards the United Nations. A new movement must be built on internationalist and socialist principles, they explained.

Another student said it was important that the WSWS and SEP were bringing these international issues and political ideas to the attention of students. There should be room for open political discussions within the universities.

Dhanu, also a Colombo University student, said: I was interested in the first round of US election candidate nominations and thought that [Bernie] Sanders would win [Democratic Party nomination]. Recently there was a meeting about the US presidential election at Colombo University organised by Rotary Club. Its main concern was the impact of the American elections on Sri Lanka. But it is very important to approach this election in an international manner and look at it from the standpoint of the working class.

Fathima, a Wayamaba University student from Sri Lankas north-western province, said that Clinton and Trump represented the interests of big business. Through the media Ive seen that workers and youth in America are facing a large-scale attack. Poverty and unemployment has increased, she said.

I saw Trump campaigning against immigrants and saying only Americans. This is not good and causes all sorts of problems for minority communities. Tamils and Muslims in Sri Lanka are facing the same kind of problems.

Fathima said that Clinton represented the interests of big banks and the financial elites and said American imperialism was responsible for the war in Syria and the conflict in Libya. There was no difference between Clinton and Trump, she said, and added: This is the first time, however, Ive heard about a socialist candidate contesting this election, and about the WSWS. I will follow the WSWS.

Nihal is a social worker and involved with residents at Wanathamulla in Colombo who are being threatened with eviction by the government. What we know about the American election is from the media, he said.

Whoever becomes president will not make any difference. The US State Departments policies will continue. All theyre concerned about is the security and interests of the elite. Theyll do anything to achieve this, irrespective of whether it causes a war or any other issues that create problems.

Spun, a Sri Jayawardenepura University graduate, said: I closely follow the US elections and, after listening to the debates, now understand the crisis of the US ruling elite. I was motivated to follow the elections because the decisions taken by the ruling elite of this major power are impacting other countries. After hearing you, I now realise that the changes occurring within the US working class are important for the socialist movement of our countries. The campaign for a real socialist candidate is a very powerful message.

The SEP and the IYSSE in Sri Lanka urge all those who are seeking a genuine alternative to imperialist war and capitalist austerity to attend the meeting and support the fight for an anti-war movement based on a socialist program, the only progressive alternative for the working class and oppressed masses of the Indian sub-continent and elsewhere.

Meeting details:

Date & Time: Sunday October 30, 3.00 p.m.

Place: Sausiripaya, 123 Wijerama Mawatha, Colombo 07.
Directed by Ewan McGregor; screenplay by John Romano, based on the novel by Philip Roth

Is it not a rare merit to know how to take the measure of ones epoch?Balzac

American Pastoral is an adaptation of Philip Roths 1997 novel of the same title. Australian director Philip Noyce (Rabbit-Proof Fence, The Quiet American) was long associated with efforts to get a film version of Roths novel made. When Noyce finally dropped out (for unknown reasons), Scottish actor Ewan McGregor, who also plays the lead role, took over the directing responsibility. This is his first opportunity to direct a feature film.

American Pastoral, film and novel, follows the life and eventual terrible misfortune of Seymour Swede Levov (McGregor), the son of a glove manufacturer in Newark, in the 1960s and 1970s. The Swede obtained his nickname, in Roths words, from his anomalous face, The insentient Viking mask of this blue-eyed blonde born into our [Jewish] tribe.

Both book and film employ a framing device. When he learns of the Swedes death from cancer in 1995 at 68, Nathan Zuckerman (David Straithairn in McGregors film), a character who appears in numerous Roth novels and often serves as a sort of alter ego for the author, sets out to uncover Levovs tragic story. Zuckerman serves as our guide and narrator.

The Swede, we learn, fully embraced (and symbolized) the promise of postwar America. A star athlete and golden boy in high school, idolized by fellow students and apparently by everyone in his neighborhood, Levov seems destined to lead a charmed existence. He takes over the successful glove-making business from his father, Lou (Peter Riegert), and marries a former Miss New Jersey, an Irish Catholic beauty, Dawn Dwyer (Jennifer Connelly). They have a blonde-haired daughter, Meredith or Merry (played by three actresses, the final one being Dakota Fanning), and move into their dream home, a large stone house, in tranquil, untrafficked (Roth) Old Rimrock, New Jersey. Dawn even decides, as a hobby, to raise cattle.

Merry, however, proves a difficult child. For one thing, she stutters badly. A therapist suggests the girl is intimidated by her good-looking and successful parents, by her beautiful mother in particular. To win attention, to drive Dawn crazy, to manipulate her perfectionist family, she stutters. When the Swede points out to the therapist that Merry is made miserable by her stammering, the doctor replies, The benefits may outweigh the disadvantages.

All sorts of emotions are swirling around in the Levov family. In one disturbing scene, the 10- or 11-year-old Merry turns to her father and says, Kiss me, daddy. Kiss me the way you k-k-k-kiss mother.

As she grows older, under conditions of the growing, homicidal US involvement in Vietnam, Merrys disharmony with her surroundings and family takes on a more pronounced political coloring. As a young girl, in 1963, she is traumatized by television images of a Buddhist monk in Saigon setting himself on fire in protest against the US-backed, South Vietnamese government. Doesnt anybody care? she wonders out loud. A few years later, she screams at President Lyndon B. Johnson when he appears on the television screen, Fucking liar!

Meanwhile, Newark is disintegrating, economically and socially. Large-scale rioting erupts in 1967, and the Swede and one of his black employees do what they can to prevent the companys building from being torched. Merry, still only a teenager, is more and more restive (and abusive) at home. She begins making forays into New York City, where she evidently meets with extremist radicals of one stripe or another. Back in Old Rimrock, she rails against her parents for their wealth and self-satisfaction. Her mother says simply, She hates me. Shockingly, in February 1968, Merry plants a bomb in the local post office that kills a man.

The girl goes into hiding from the police and FBI. The Swede looks everywhere for her, to no avail. The ensuing pressures damage both he and his wife. Dawn has a nervous breakdown, and, ultimately, an affair.

Five years later, the Swede finds Merry, now a follower of the ancient Indian religion, Jainism, which preaches non-violence, non-attachment to material possessions and suppression of all desire and will. She lives in filthy, dangerous conditions in an abandoned building in Newarks inner city. Her father tells Merry that you have taken punishment into your own hands, and that the government would not have treated her so badly. He beseeches her to change her conditions, but she is prepared to accept with utter submissiveness whatever fate has in store for her. The perfect postwar existence envisioned by the Swede and his wife has become an unbearable nightmare.

John Romanos screenplay and McGregors film use only a portion of Roths expansive novel. They concentrate on the Swedes refusal, no matter what the circumstances and no matter how insane his daughter seems, to give up on Merry. McGregor and Fanning are moving in their final scenes.

This film version of American Pastoral does not delve deeply into American life and discontent in the 1960s. It tends to take events such as the Vietnam War, the Newark riots, the general crisis of the inner cities, the decline of American manufacturing, Weathermen-type terrorism and other momentous developments largely for granted. They are little more than the scaffolding on which the film attempts to hang its father-daughter love-tragedy.

Since the dramatic social events are hollowed out for the most part, drained of their greatest significance, it is not surprising that the results on screen are limited, generally humdrum and often unpersuasive. It does not help matters that McGregor is a talented but somewhat passive actor, and that he has brought that passivity to his directing. American Pastoral is oddly flat and uninvolving for the most part, despite the convulsions it represents.

The performers do their best. Connelly is fine as the well-meaning, beleaguered wife and mother. She has become a much better actress. Peter Riegert is amusing as businessman Lou Levov, one impossible bastard, as his other son, Jerry (Rupert Evans), describes him in the novel. Fanning is very good in those sequences that make sense. McGregor is weaker than usual, but one can imagine that directing his first film must have made serious demands on him. He never strikes one as a Jewish manufacturer from Newark, Nordic-looking or otherwise, nor does the film as a whole smack much of the city or the era.

But American Pastoral is not generally successful because of another, more elemental problem, the novel itself and the fact that it does not genuinely hold together.

For the most part, American Pastoral is a wonderfully written, rich, funny and deeply sad work. Roth is at the top of his game here. A host of characters make their appearance, and most of them receive humane and understanding treatment, even tenderness, when that is possible. He writes persuasively about relations between the sexes, between the generations, between Jews and Catholics, between blacks and whites. He writes about love and friendship.

Roth writes about many things, including amusingly/painfully about the difficulty of ever getting other people right: You fight your superficiality, your shallowness, so as to try to come at people without unreal expectations, without an overload of bias or hope or arrogance, as untanklike as you can be, sans cannon and machine guns and steel plating half a foot thick; you come at them unmenacingly on your own ten toes instead of tearing up the turf with your caterpillar treads, take them on with an open mind, as equals, man to man, as we used to say, and yet you never fail to get them wrong. You might as well have the brain of a tank.  And yet what are we to do about this terribly significant business of other people, which gets bled of the significance we think it has and takes on instead a significance that is ludicrous, so ill-equipped are we all to envision one anothers interior workings and invisible aims? Is everyone to go off and lock the door and sit secluded like the lonely writers do, in a soundproof cell, summoning people out of words and then proposing that these word people are closer to the real thing than the real people that we mangle with our ignorance every day? The fact remains that getting people right is not what living is all about anyway. Its getting them wrong that is living, getting them wrong and wrong and wrong and then, on careful reconsideration, getting them wrong again. Thats how we know were alive: were wrong. Maybe the best thing would be to forget being right or wrong about people and just go along for the ride. But if you can do thatwell, lucky you.

One might argue that Roths novel is a profound book about nearly everything except its central subject, postwar American life.

The book simply doesnt add up. Merry as a character doesnt add up. Its not good enough to make her the monster daughter, the angry, rebarbative spitting-out daughter. The Swede complacently imagines that he can pick up and leave Newark and live in the semi-countryside, with his beauty queen wife, and raise a perfect child, and that everything will go on like that forever. Instead, according to Roth, the daughter and the decade [the 1960s] end up blasting to smithereens his particular form of utopian thinking. The daughter transports him out of the longed-for American pastoral and into everything that is its antithesis and its enemy, into the fury, the violence, and the desperation of the counter pastoralinto the indigenous American berserk.

The Swede is our Kennedy, a man whose discontents were barely known to himself, a man awakened in middle age to the horror of self-reflection. All that normalcy interrupted by murder. However, it is never entirely clear whether the Swede, in some sense, deserves his fate, because he is so deluded and misguided about life, or whether he has simply been unfortunate enough to spawn a psychopath.

In any event, what is this indigenous American berserk? Roth wont agree of course, but what seem to him entirely mad acts of individual violence are nothing more, in the end, than particular expressions of the savagery of social relations as a whole in America. The most democratic republic has always generated the most ruthless class struggle, and features a ruling elite that is essentially criminal from head to toe. It is official, everyday, state-sponsored and state-organized violence that powerfully communicates itself and sways the most vulnerable members of American society.

The novel passes lightly over the bloody Newark riot of July 1967, which lasted for six days and brought the National Guard onto the citys streets. The upheaval is largely seen from the standpoint of the small businessman who fears his windows will be smashed. Roth has the right to adopt whatever point of view he likes, but can he see no connection between the ferocity of the riot, whether he approves of it or not, and the general state of American society? (Or was this simply more of the American berserk?) Was the turmoil an aberration, a race riotor an expression, occurring in one of the most economically devastated industrial cities, of the real state of things in the country? And social inequality is far deeper and economic decline far more advanced today than in 1967.

Roth waxes indignant at Merry the murderer. His attitude toward her is extreme, almost violent. Her actions in the novel are certainly indefensible. But the Weather Underground and similar organizations, disoriented and politically bankrupt, managed to kill a handful of people (including several of their own members) over half a dozen years. The US government and military, on the other hand, murdered 3 million to 4 million Vietnamese and wounded or maimed millions more; destroyed countless villages and communities in massacres such as the one in My Lai; dropped 8 million tons of bombs (more than twice the amount dropped on Europe and Asia in World War II); used 20 million gallons of herbicide, including Agent Orange; shot napalm, which generates temperatures of 1,500F to 2,200F, from flame-throwers 

Roth, born in 1933, was shaped by the Cold War, anti-communism, illusions in American democracy and economic might more than he may realize. He did not permit himself in writing American Pastoral to come nearly close enough to the anger and shame that masses of young people in particular felt about the unspeakable crimes committed in their namesand, yes, some did nearly go mad over it.

Sadly, Roth took the easy way out in his often remarkable novel and turned Merry into a one-dimensional madwoman. This was Roths bit of the [liberal-]philistines tail.
In an extraordinary and unprecedented action, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has stepped into the 2016 presidential campaign only 11 days before Election Day, sending a letter to Congress announcing new investigative steps related to Hillary Clintons use of a private email server.

The three-paragraph letter by FBI Director James Comey to eight congressional committees on Friday is remarkably vague. It states that in connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation of Clintons personal email server, which, Comey notes, he had previously told Congress was completed.

He states that he has agreed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation. He acknowledges that the FBI cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be significant.

The obvious question that arises is why, given the fact that the FBI has no idea whether these additional emails contain any significant information relative to the Clinton email case, the agency should make them a public issue within days of the election. Media commentators noted that the letter violates a longstanding informal FBI ban on making politically sensitive announcements within 60 days of a US election.

Following the report of Comeys letter, the news media, citing unnamed federal law enforcement officials, said the emails in question were found on a laptop computer shared by Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her husband, former Representative Anthony Weiner.

Weiner is under FBI investigation for allegedly sending sexually explicit text messages to an underage girl. Abedin announced her separation from Weiner earlier this year after the latest episode involving Weiner and sexually explicit Internet activity became public.

Comeys letter was hailed by Donald Trump and Republican Party spokesmen as tantamount to an official reopening of the FBI investigation and rescinding of the decision announced by Comey in July that no charges would be brought against the Democratic presidential candidate.

Clinton spoke to the press briefly Friday evening, demanding that the FBI provide more information about the substance of what it was reviewing, including whether there was any connection to her use of a private email server. She pointed out that more than 15 million people have already voted and that many millions more will be going to the polls over the next week as early voting continues. In response to questions, she indicated that the FBI has not contacted her and that she first learned of the letter through the media.

It is at this point impossible to determine with precision the motivation behind Comeys letter and the political forces for which he is speaking. However, his attempt to present the letter as a politically disinterested response to the discovery of new information lacks any credibility.

This direct intervention into the election by the top police-intelligence agency can only be an expression of deep crisis and profound tensions within the American ruling class and the state. The election as a whole has been dominated by the growth of social anger and antiestablishment sentiment, yet it has ended in a contest between two right-wing representatives of the richest 1 percent who are despised by huge sections of the electorate.

It has plumbed the depths of political debasement on the part of both candidatesthe fascistic billionaire Trump seeking to channel discontent along the most right-wing, chauvinist and racist channels; the multimillionaire Clinton relying on sex scandals and a McCarthyite attack on Trump as an agent of Russian President Vladimir Putin to bury incriminating revelations of corruption and lying and to swing public opinion behind a policy of military escalation and confrontation with nuclear-armed Russia.

The entire process has been surrounded by an aura of violence and a breakdown of public confidence in the political system. It has unfolded under conditions of deepening economic crisis, mounting international tensions and worsening crises for US imperialism around the world, i.e., the ongoing debacle of Washingtons war for regime change in Syria, the signs of disarray in the anti-Chinese pivot to Asia, the emergence of open conflicts with imperialist allies in Europe, particularly Germany.

The convergence of these crises is generating bitter conflicts within the American ruling class over policy questions, magnified by fears of a rising tide of social opposition at home.

Whether the intention of Comeys letter was to inflict fatal damage to Clintons candidacy, shore up endangered Republican majorities in the Senate and House, or fire a shot across the bow against an incoming Clinton administration, it makes clear that the next administration will be mired in crisis from the day it takes office.

One former Justice Department official suggested that Comey was under intense pressure from within the FBI over his previous declaration that no competent prosecutor would bring charges against Clinton over her use of the private server. If true, this means that sections of the federal police agency are in open revolt against the candidate who may shortly become their nominal commander-in-chief.

The FBI intervention on the eve of the 2016 election represents an acceleration of a trend in US politics that first came to the surface in the series of Republican-led investigations into the Bill Clinton administration, culminating in his impeachment in 1998. This was followed by the stolen election of 2000, when the Supreme Court intervened and by a 5-4 majority halted the recounting of ballots in Florida in order to award the White House to George W. Bush, the loser in the popular vote.

The two-party system in the United States has always been an instrument of class rule, dominated by corporate America. The unprecedented growth of social inequality over the past four decades has widened the gulf between the political system and the great majority of the population. More and more, official political life revolves around palace intrigues, in which the media and the military-intelligence apparatus play critical roles. The methods of scandalmongering, calculated leaks and political stink bombs prevail.

One thing is clear: none of these strokes and counterstrokes between rival capitalist factions has anything to do with defending the democratic rights and social interests of working people. As far as the capitalist two-party system is concerned, the American people are merely an object of manipulation, to be stampeded by demagogy and scandal.
US-backed Islamist rebels, dominated by the Al Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front, launched a counteroffensive against Syrian government troops Friday in Aleppo.

The offensive was preceded by the indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas in government-controlled western Aleppo. Russian General Sergei Rudskoi reported that 43 civilians were killed and 96 wounded in the days prior to the offensive in rocket and mortar attacks.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported at least 115 people were killed and wounded on Friday alone. In one attack, rebels fired Grad missiles at al-Nayrab airport. Outside of Aleppo, an air base in Latakia where Russian aircraft operate from also came under rebel attack.

Making clear the central role being played by Al Qaeda-linked forces, a military spokesman for the Fastaqim faction told the Associated Press, All the revolutionary factions, without exception, are participating in the battle.

Charles Lister, a Syrian expert at the Middle East Institute in Washington, told the New York Times that 11 of the 20 groups involved in the offensive had been vetted by the CIA and provided with antitank missiles and other weaponry. He acknowledged that the American-supplied weapons were being used to carry out the bombardments, while Al-Nusra forces fought on the front line.

This did not stop the US and European media from generally reveling in the counteroffensive, with the Washington Post reporting breathlessly that, following a smothering Syrian blockade and round the clock air strikes aiming to starve and shock rebel-held areas of Aleppo into surrender, the counterpunch had now been launched. Only later did the article observe that the military action had been accompanied by indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas of western Aleppo.

Despite the new offensive, Russian President Vladimir Putin refused a request by the militarys general staff to resume air strikes in eastern Aleppo. Russian and Syrian warplanes have observed a ten-day pause in the strikes, which they say is aimed at allowing civilians and militants to leave the city and bring in humanitarian supplies. Putins spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, still sought to press for a deal with Washington by urging the US to separate moderate rebels from the extremist fighters. However, he added that Russia reserved the right to launch renewed attacks if the situation on the ground required it.

It is now clear that, as with the brief ceasefire in September, the US-backed rebels used the pause in fighting to regroup and prepare a counterattack.

Washington has no intention of retreating from its goal of regime change in Syria, which is part of its broader agenda to consolidate its hegemony over the energy-rich Middle East and sideline its chief rivals, above all Russia and China.

The anti-Russian campaign led by the US with charges of war crimes in Aleppo continues to gather pace. On Friday, The UN Human Rights Council narrowly voted to block Russias membership on the body. Western media outlets and politicians have been incessantly denouncing the Russian and Syrian governments for committing war crimes over recent weeks during their attacks on the Islamist positions in the east of Aleppo.

Washingtons hypocrisy over war crimes is staggering. It is in the process of leading an all-out assault on Iraqs second largest city with an estimated civilian population of 1.5 million people. Officials from the UN and aid organizations have warned that the assault threatens to trigger the largest humanitarian catastrophe in recent times.

But in stark contrast to its denunciation of Russian and Syrian attacks on eastern Aleppo as war crimes, the shelling of civilians by US allies in Mosul is being hailed as a liberation and civilian casualties are being blamed on unscrupulous ISIS fighters using residents as human shields. In reality, mounting reports indicate that there is a de facto collaboration in place between US-led forces in Iraq and the jihadi militants, who are being permitted to leave Mosul through a western route and cross the border into Syria to fight Assad.

At a meeting of Russian, Syrian and Iranian foreign ministers in Moscow yesterday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem indicated that Russia could intervene militarily to cut off this escape route, telling the media, Im happy to hear from Mr. Lavrov the confirmation that well prevent ISIL from reaching Raqqa.

Were such an intervention to take place, it could serve as another flashpoint between Washington and Moscow.

Just how close the situation in Syria is to all-out war was revealed yesterday when the US military announced that American and Russian aircraft have repeatedly been involved in near misses during operations.

The chief of US Air Force Central Command, Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian, stated that on October 17, a US and a Russian jet flew within half a mile of each other in northwestern Syria. Both planes were flying at night and without lights. Harrigian added that such incidents were occurring approximately every ten days and had increased over the past six weeks since the breakdown of the ceasefire agreement reached by Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in September.

It was close enough [so that] you could feel the jet wash of the plane passing by, another US official said of the October 17 incident. The US pilot was unable to contact his Russian counterpart via radio, meaning the two sides only discussed the incident the following day.

This revelation underscores that Washingtons aggressive intervention into the Syrian civil war is on the verge of inciting a broader conflict. US imperialism, which initiated the five-year-old war with the aim of overthrowing the Russian-backed Assad regime in Damascus, leads a coalition of NATO allies, including Germany, France, Britain and Canada, all of whom have aircraft flying in the region.

For its part, Russias defensive intervention, aimed at propping up Assad, has seen Moscow deploy aircraft and advanced missile technology to the country, increasing the likelihood of a catastrophic conflagration. Even regional powers, such as Turkey, have conducted provocative air raids into northern Syria, prompting Damascus to issue a warning that further incursions by Turkish aircraft would lead to planes being shot down.

In a provocative statement that provided some indication of how tense relations have become, National Intelligence Director James Clapper said of Russia Tuesday, I wouldnt put it past them to shoot down an American aircraft if they felt that was threatening to their forces on the ground.

The US sought to ratchet up tensions further Thursday, seizing on an alleged air strike on a school in Idlib province to pin the blame on either Russian or Syrian aircraft. White House spokesman Josh Earnest declared, We dont know yet that it was the Assad regime or the Russians that carried out the air strike, but we know it was one of the two. Even if it was the Assad regime that carried it out, the Assad regime is only in a position to carry out those kind of attacks because they are supported by the Russian government.

UN humanitarian aid head Christopher OBrien joined in, stating that 35 children had been killed and accusing Moscow of war crimes.

Predictably, nothing was said about the shelling of a school in government-controlled western Aleppo Thursday in which six children died.

The Russian Ministry of Defense responded by rejecting any involvement in the alleged attack in Idlib, posting pictures that appeared to show that no air strike had in fact been conducted and that the attack likely came from the ground. The photos showed no damage to the roof of the school and no craters in the area. Moscow called for an international investigation into the incident, a proposal ignored by the US and its allies.
Samoas biggest private sector employer, Yazaki Eds Samoa, announced on October 10 that it will close its local plant in 2017, after 25 years in operation. The Japanese-owned car component manufacturer, which produces electrical harnesses, employs 740 people in the capital, Apia.

The shutdown is a direct result of the destruction of the Australian car industry and underscores the assessment made by the Socialist Equality Party on October 6 which explained that the closure of Fords Australian plants demonstrated the need for a global auto workers strategy to defend jobs and living standards.

Yazaki is a supplier to General Motors (GM) and Toyota, both of which are in the process of shutting down. Ford Australia closed its two remaining auto plants this month, ending production in the country after 91 years. When GM and Toyota close next year, it will end the countrys auto assembly and related parts industry, resulting in an estimated loss of up to 150,000 jobs.

The ruthless restructuring of the auto industry is being enforced in one country after another by governments and unions, for the benefit of a tiny financial and corporate elite, with devastating consequences for workers internationally.

Yazaki Samoa Employees Association president Uelese Tupuola made it clear the unions would fully collaborate with the company to axe the plant. Weve always known at the back of our heads that this day will come but we tried to keep an open mind about the result, Tupuola said.

Co-ordinator of the Samoa First Union, Jerome Mika, said it was a good opportunity for the government to look at legislating redundancy provisions, which do not exist in the Employment Relations Act. Mika praised Yazakis president Craig ODonohue as very genuine and falsely claimed that the management-union talks would ensure workers are looked after.

The company is preparing a minimal severance package, but workers who resign to find other jobs before the shutdown will miss out on any payment. ODonohue declared that although the closure may not be favourable, Samoan workers had to remember how happy we should be for the experience that we have and we still have to go.

This is staggering hypocrisy. Yazaki is yet another example of how transnational companies treat workers as disposable commodities. They shift production to exploit ever-cheaper labour, playing workers in one country off against their fellow workers in others, lowering wages and destroying the conditions of workers everywhere.

The plant was established in 1991 when Yazaki transferred its operations from Melbourne, taking advantage of Samoas labour market flexibility and poverty-level wages. The Samoan government beat off competition from Fiji and Indonesia, offering 15-year tax holidays and long-term property leases at low rents. Exports were conducted under a concessional arrangement that gave duty-free access to the Australian and New Zealand markets.

Yazaki, which became a major supplier of harnesses to the global auto industry, made millions from the exploitation of its workforce. In Samoas first industrial strike in 1993, Yazaki workers protesting sweatshop conditions and 1.24 tala [US 48 cents] an hour wages were defeated through government collusion and the use of scab labour. According to the Samoa Observer, todays wages average just 130 tala [$US51] a week. The companys profits have typically ranged up to $US3 million annually.

Like auto workers in Australia and elsewhere, Yazaki workers can expect to be pitilessly flung onto the scrapheap. The Samoan government declared that business closures are a reality that governments around the world must face. The government will continue to promote Samoa as an attractive option for foreign investment while proactively seeking more seasonal work for Samoans in New Zealand and Australia.

Over the past two decades Samoa has been opened up to foreign investment and trade through pro-market reforms with the ruling Human Rights Protection Party at the forefront of cutting business taxes, privatising public assets, removing trade barriers and slashing public services.

The Yazaki plant closure will have a devastating impact on the tiny Pacific island state, which has a population of just 190,000. At its height, the plant employed more than 2,000 workers and made up over 20 percent of the manufacturing sectors total output. It produced around 70 percent of Samoas exports and 6 percent of the countrys gross domestic product.

Thousands will be hit by the job losses and subsequent downturn. According to the Asia Development Bank (ADB), 27 percent of Samoans live below the national poverty line. Only 29.4 percent of those aged over 15 years is formally employed, with the majority are dependent on development aid, remittances from overseas, tourism, agriculture, subsistence farming and fishing. Samoa ranks among the worst in the world for diseases of poverty such as diabetesthe rate of adult obesity is 42 percent.

Responsibility for the dire social conditions that exist throughout the Pacific lies with the imperialist powers that have dominated the region for the past centurySamoa was a New Zealand colony for over 50 years after its seizure from Germany in World War I. The effects of colonial rule have left all the Pacific Islands acutely under-developed and dependent on imports. Trade and commerce statistics overwhelmingly favour Australian and New Zealand interests and those of transnational companies that control banking, mining, oil and fishing.

The axing of Samoas most important manufacturing plant comes alongside recent cuts in the New Caledonia nickel industry and a deepening economic crisis in Papua New Guinea. In its July 2016 Pacific Economic Monitor, the ADB forecast that due to the precipitous downturn in commodity prices, the South Pacific region will see economic growth sharply decline from 7.0 percent, recorded last year, to an average of 3.9 percent in 2016. Samoas growth is predicted to drop even further, from 3.5 percent this year to 2 percent in 2017.

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United Nations aid agencies warned Friday that Yemen, after 18 months of savage bombardment in a US-backed war waged by Saudi Arabia and its fellow oil monarchies, is facing a catastrophic crisis threatening mass starvation.

More than 10,000 people have been killed since the Saudi regime began its bombing campaign in March 2015. Millions more have been displaced, and urban areas and essential infrastructure have been reduced to rubble.

According to statements issued by UN agencies, over 14 million Yemenis, more than half the population, is now living in hunger, while 7 million are on the verge of starvation.

In a press briefing in Geneva Friday, the UN childrens agency UNICEF said that at least 370,000 children are at risk of severe malnutrition, and without urgent treatment will die. Fully 1.5 million children are malnourished.

The World Food Program (WFP) reported that almost half the children of Yemen are already suffering irreversibly stunted growth due to malnutrition. An entire generation could be crippled by hunger, said the WFPs Yemen director, Torben Due.

The UN agency found that at least 10 of the countrys 21 governorates are on the brink of famine.

It is really a dire situation on the ground. When you see mothers who have little to eat themselves and they see their children slipping away, it just breaks your heart, said WFP spokeswoman Bettina Luescher. It really is shocking and horrible to see this in the 21st century.

The threat of mass starvation is compounded by a rapidly spreading cholera epidemic, which has recorded 1,410 cases in just the three weeks since the outbreak was first detected.

This human tragedy is not merely the byproduct of a war waged by the wealthy and parasitical Gulf monarchies, backed by Washington, against the poorest nation in the Arab world. Rather, it is this wars intended effect.

The supposed aim of this war is to reinstate what is routinely referred to as the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, a stooge of Saudi Arabia who was placed in power through a 2012 election in which he was the sole candidate. He was supposed to step down in two years, but unilaterally extended his term and then, amid charges of wholesale corruption, was forced to flee the country after the Houthi rebels, based in the north and supported by elements of the military, took over the capital of Sanaa.

The Saudi regime, fearing any opposition in the region, refused to accept the rise of the Houthis, a political movement based on the Zaidi Shia group, which has enjoyed limited support from Iran.

In addition to a murderous bombing campaign that has targeted schools, hospitals, residential neighborhoods and factories, the Saudi-led coalition of Gulf sheikdoms, backed by the US Navy, has also imposed a sea blockade that has choked off the impoverished countrys supplies of food and medicine. Before the war, Yemen imported 90 percent of its food. The blockade has sent the price of food and other basic necessities soaring out of reach of much of the population.

There is also mounting evidence that air strikes have been deliberately targeted at destroying the countrys ability to provide its own food. The British daily Independent cited a study by London School of Economics researchers who documented 357 bombing targets in the countrys 20 provinces, including farms, animals, water infrastructure, food stores, agricultural banks, markets and food trucks. Their conclusion: ...the Saudis are deliberately striking at agricultural infrastructure in order to destroy the civil society.

In other words, with the aid of US imperialism, Saudi Arabia and its allies are attempting to starve an entire population into submission in what constitutes one of the great war crimes of the 21st century.

The UN reports came just days after Reuters photos from a Yemeni hospital of a starving 18-year-old girl, literally reduced to skin and bones, gained some international attention.

The photographs recall nothing so much as the horrific images that came out of Biafra in the late 1960s, when the Nigerian government waged a genocidal war to suppress the secessionist territory. That attempt to starve a people into submission is credited with spawning the modern-day human rights movement, with its plethora of NGOs and its overriding imperialist hypocrisy.

There is no such international reaction to the crimes carried out against the people of Yemen, however, which are largely ignored by the Western media and supported by the ruling parties not only in Washington but also the United Kingdom and all the other imperialist powers.

The media and the UN agencies have euphemistically referred to the slaughter being inflicted upon the Yemenis by the Saudi monarchy and the Pentagon as the forgotten war. In reality, the immense human suffering inflicted by this war of aggression has not been forgotten, it has been deliberately blacked out by those in Washington and Riyadh who are determined to deepen it to the point of mass murder in order to achieve their strategic objectives.

Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the United Nations, who made a lucrative career posturing as a human rights champion, was one of the leading proponents within the Obama administration for US support for the war against the people of Yemen. She has also been one of the principal defenders of the Saudi regime within the United Nations, which on Friday re-elected the blood-soaked monarchy to its human rights council.

Power, who has led the demonization of Russia over alleged war crimes in Aleppo, has, for obvious reason, shown no such sympathy for those dying from starvation and US bombs in Yemen.

Since the beginning of the war, the Pentagon has provided logistical and intelligence support, including the aerial refueling of warplanes, without which the Saudi bombing campaign would be impossible. Moreover, the US has poured a whopping $115 billion in arms into the kingdom since Obama took office, resupplying bombs and missiles dropped on Yemeni homes, schools and hospitals.

Following an October 8 Saudi bombing of a funeral, killing over 140 people, the Obama administration and the Pentagon issued hollow statements about US support to Riyadh not being a blank check and Washingtons military backing being reevaluated so as to better align with US principles, values and interests.

Within days, however, a spokesman for the US Central Command told reporters that nothing had changed, and that the US was continuing to provide aerial refueling of Saudi warplanes so that they could strike their targets in Yemen. Then on October 12, the US Navy fired Tomahawk cruise missiles at Yemeni installations in retaliation for what it claimed were failed missile attacks on a US warship.

Earlier this week, US Central Command Chief General Joseph Votel flew to Riyadh for talks with Saudi officials, including the regimes defense minister, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Votel told reporters that he wanted to hear Saudi concerns and that it was important to maintain confidence in the relationship.

The threat of the war in Yemen not only continuing, but seeing a more direct US military escalation is likely to intensify in the aftermath of the US presidential election.

Michael Morell, the former acting director of the CIA and key adviser to Hillary Clintons campaign, spoke on Tuesday before the Center for American Progress, the think tank founded by the Clinton campaign chairman, John Podesta, calling for a more aggressive US policy to punish Iran for its malign behavior in the region.

Morell, who has previously advocated bombing Syrian government positions and carrying out military actions to make Russia pay a price for its presence in that country, claimed that Iran is shipping arms to the Houthis in Yemen. He said he would support having the US Navy boarding their ships and if there are weapons on them to turn those ships around.

In other words, the preparations are being made for a far wider US war in the region, with the threat that it will spill over into a global conflict.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Tim Kaine is in Tallahassee Friday as the final push for the White House gets underway.

Hillary Clinton's running mate has arrived in the capital city just days after Donald Trump made his sweep through traditionally blue Leon County.

Friday's trip makes this Kaine's second visit to Tallahassee. Last time, he visited Domi Station and Florida A&M University.

This time, he spoke to hundreds in the State Ballroom at Florida State University alongside former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and her husband retired astronaut Mark Kelly.

They encouraged the crowd to vote early and to volunteer for Hillary Clinton's campaign. Giffords said Clinton's plans on gun control are the key reason why she supports her.

"Speaking is difficult for me, but come January, I want to say these two words: Madame President. Thank you very much," said Giffords.

Kaine also touched on several areas where he and Hillary Clinton plan to focus if they win the election, from education and the economy to equality and energy concerns.

Students at the event said that they felt that Kaine's experience in government qualified him to be Hillary Clinton's running mate.

FSU Student Nikita Sibley explained, "I like how he's been on all forms and levels of government. He was a city councilman, he was a mayor. He was a governor, a lieutenant governor, and now a senator. So, I think he knows how to deal with things locally and also statewide, so I think he's really good."

However Kaine's main message to the audience was if Hillary can take Florida, she might just win the White House.

"If Hillary Clinton wins Florida, Hillary Clinton will be president. There is not a path for Donald Trump to be president without Florida," asserted Kaine.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - State officers said that they are ensuring that the public will be safe on Halloween by increasing security on sex offenders across the state.

The Florida Department of Corrections announced in a press release that they will be working with local law enforcement agencies throughout the state to make sure that sex offenders under felony supervision are not participating in Halloween festivities.

During designated trick-or-treat hours, FDC probation officers contact with sex offenders under their jurisdiction and watch over local communities.

They said that safety efforts will also include surprise visits by probation officers, frequent neighborhood monitoring, and increased surveillance at motels and treatment facilities that sex offenders use.

Secretary Julie Jones said, At the Department, our top priority on Halloween is always the safety of Floridas communities. FDCs increased presence and vigilance, along with our collaboration with local law enforcement, will ensure that Floridas children and their parents are able to enjoy safe and peaceful Halloween activities.

In addition to the increased security, sex offenders under supervision have also been given strict instructions about their restrictions:

 Do not give out candy or other treats.

 Turn off porch lights, close blinds.

 No outside decorations to attract children.

 Do not answer the door to trick-or-treaters.

 Do not dress in costumes or masks.

 Do not attend Halloween parties where children will be present.

Officers warned that offenders who do not remain in compliance with the terms of their supervision will be subject to immediate arrest.

They said that Florida citizens can search for sex offenders located in or near their neighborhoods by visiting the Florida Department of Law Enforcements Offender Search webpage here.
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No matter how we look at it, General Michel Aoun is bad news. The 128 members of Beiruts parliament will convene next Monday to elect Lebanons next president. If he is declared the winner, the 81-year-old devious general will be the countrys 17th president. But despite the deals which have already been loudly announced in the media, it is unclear whether Aoun will obtain a two-third majority, as required by the constitution.

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Lebanon has not had a president for two and a half years now. The last one, Michel Suleiman, packed his belongings and went home without thinking twice on the day his term came to its conclusion. Since then, the parliament has convened 37 times but has failed to reach an agreement on who will be the next president. The two large blocsof Hezbollah and of the Future movement led by Saad Hariritossed names in the air, scattered bribes and made threats, but failed to gather a sweeping majority.

Michel Aoun (Photo: AFP)

At some point, when he decided to team up with the moderate camp in Lebanon, Aoun grabbed microphones and demanded a thorough treatment against the Syrian Army that invaded Lebanon. But when the Syrian regiments deployed in Beirut, he fled to the French Embassy compound. Ten months later, he managed to arrange himself an escape deal. For 10 years, he indulged himself in Paris, and when the last Syrian soldier was banished from Lebanon, he returned and announced that there was no change in his plans. One of these days, he swore, he will enter the marble Baabda Palace.

With a million and a half refugees from Syria, Hezbollah fighters patrolling the airport, Revolutionary Guards guides and advisors of Western and Arab intelligence agencies, Lebanon has lost its sovereignty. And the eyes are following the huge arsenal of missiles and arms shipments that keep arriving from Tehran.

The past year has been bad for former Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri. His patrons in Saudi Arabia canceled their economic sponsorship and forbade Riyadhs rich residents to vacation in the luxury hotels and nightclubs in Jounieh's promenade. Hariri, whose billionaire father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, was assassinated last decade by Syrian messengers and Hezbollah agents, vowed that Aoun would never set foot in the presidential residence. But in Lebanese politics, reality is stronger. Last Thursday, Hariri surprisingly announced his endorsement of the general.

Sound complicated? On Friday night, Hezbollah Chairman Hassan Nasrallah got Hariri in further trouble when he declared that he would not oppose his appointment as prime minister. The announcement was aimed at exposing the depth of the deal: give me Aoun as president, and I will give you the desired position even if you didnt ask for it.

Like in Israel, the Lebanese presidents official authorities are strictly ceremonial. But if Aouna former army commander and a well-connected political figureis elected, he is the one who (like Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey) will select the prime minister and ministers and dictate the foreign affairs. As far as Israel is concerned, it will mean quite the headache: Iran will expand its foothold in Lebanon, no one will bother to demand that Hezbollah disarm and hand its weapons over to the state, and the the Saudis will be furious, as Israels alert level concerning Lebanon will move one step up.
We recently learned that the government is making it difficult for Palestinian Authority workers from Gaza to reach the PA offices in Ramallah. Why is Israel making things difficult for Fatah-affiliated PA workers who coordinate between Gazas residents and Israel? And does it have anything to do with the expected report about Operation Protective Edge?

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Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman has suggested quite a few times to destroy the PA, led by Mahmoud Abbas. Some deny there is such a policy and that what is happening is a security check. In any event, there is some logic in the system.

It may be time to stop harassing the residents of Gaza; our decade-long experience shows it is not helping (Archive Photo: Reuters)

First there was coriander. After Hamas took power in Gaza, Israel decided to restrict trade in the strip. Exports from Gaza were completely banned, while heavy restrictions were imposed on imports. For security reasons, of course. Coriander, which was on the list of banned products, is a known security risk. As part of these restrictions, exporting carbon dioxide to the Pepsi factory in Gaza was also banned. Because from soda one can make something.

The initial explanation for this policy was the desire to encourage the people to rebel against Hamas, which is clinging to power via outright military dictatorship. If the economic situation is bad, so goes the theory, the people will rebel. As there is no shortage of weapons in Gaza, an uprising may even topple Hamas.

Almost a decade later, it seems the people understood the precise opposite of the intended message. The Israeli blockade of Gaza (and, to a lesser extent, the Egyptian one) is the weapon being used by Hamas to explain why the economic situation in Gaza is so direan unemployment rate of more than 30 percent and an average standard of living lower than that among Israels poorest population. Israel is being blamed for this, while its current explanation is that Hamas is the one responsible.

But how is Hamas responsible? When an organization launches a rocket at Sderot, the defense minister announces that Israel sees Hamas as responsible, and in response, Israel bombs Hamas terror facilities in Gaza. There is something extremely backward about this cycle, which has been repeating itself for years: The more terror facilities we bomb, the more terror facilities remain for a future bombing.

We have bombed so many terror facilities in Gaza that there is only one thing that has not been hit. Lieberman promised that as soon as he is appointed defense minister, he will take care of the elimination of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. Yet this does not appear to be on the agenda. Other leaders are still with us, as well, to continue this never-ending quarrel. And even the allegedly ephemeral organizations are not really harmed.

This only serves to show us that the price of the war on terror is being paid by Gazas residents, who are only involved in it by because of the power of the dictatorship controlling them. Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and the rest of the ephemerals are alive and well.

How is this happening? How is the Hamas government as stable as the Netanyahu government? And how is it that Haniyeh had yet to meet the Creator of the universe, despite the defense ministers promise? Because the situation is convenient for both governments: The one in Jerusalem and the one in Gaza.

It is not an act of love. Both governments, it seems, feel comfortable with each other. The rhetoric contains deep hatred. They will destroy the Zionist terror, and we will destroy the Hamas terror. But in practice, the quarrel allows both governments to prove that there is no solution.

A peaceful solution may be impossible, but the question is who is paying for its absence. Is the Hamas government paying? Of course not. Leaks from the report on Operation Protective Edge reveal that its authors found that Hamas military power has not been worn out at all. It may therefore be time to stop harassing Gazas residents. Our decade-long experience shows it isnt helping.
Everyone keeps asking me what was the purpose of our trip to New York.

The answer is in two exhibitions of my sons drawings taking place in the city. One exhibition is being displayed in the Park Avenue Synagogue (PAS) gallery, one of the most interesting institutions of NY Jewry. The second exhibition, a display of Hadars work, is being presented at the United Nations. Two exhibitions have brought Hadar into the Jewish public opinion discourse in New York and into the global public opinion in the UN corridors.

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Hadars exhibition at the PAS was inaugurated on September 15, in an event organized by the Israeli Consul-General in New York, Danny Danon. Many people gathered at the gallery in the evening hours, walking between Hadars paintings, looking at his drawings, stopping by the T-shirts he illustrated with his sharp humor, and standing amazed in front of an enlargement of an interpretation he wrote on Moshe Chaim Luzzattos book, Mesilat Yesharim (The Path of the Just).

From the right: Leah and Simcha Goldin, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon and Hadar Goldin's twin brother, Tzur, with a picture of Hadar at the UN (Photo: Kobi Gideon, GPO)

For me it was a very touching event, seeing my sons work, so far away from our country, receiving such a warm and close welcome, and especially the understanding that Hadar now represents the Israeli soldier in the eyes of the worlds Jews. As the congregation Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove and Danny Danon said when speaking about the young man  an artist, a scholar and a fighter  who was killed during the battle for Gaza and whose body is being held by Hamas: His image and his work have gone on to represent the special nature of the Israeli soldier against the enmity, smear and poison being thrown at IDF soldiers by BDS, Muslims who hate Israel, representatives of the radical left and those who wish to remove the State of Israel from the map of the world.

The UN display is completely different.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara with Leah and Simcha Goldin at the exhibition (Photo: Kobi Gideon)

Hadar was killed during the humanitarian ceasefire initiated by US Secretary of State John Kerry, who was joined by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Together, they relayed to the Israeli leadership Hamas agreement to launch a ceasefire that would apply not only to rockets fired across the border, but also to the organizations activity inside the Strip. Kerry and Ban issued a joint announcement and a written statement. Hamas violated this ceasefire. Hadar, Liel Gidoni and Benaya Sarel, three soldiers in the Sayeret Givati Reconnaissance Company, were killed, and my sons body was taken by Hamas and has been held by it ever since, for over two years.

In a public interview, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal denied that the organization had agreed to this comprehensive ceasefire. As soon as I got up from the Shiva, I attempted to put this issue on the international agenda. Either Mashaal is lying, I said, or Kerry and Ban are lying. In any event, they are responsible for returning Hadar to his country.

'You shouldnt,' I was told at the time by officials in the highest ranks. 'The prime minister is in the midst of a conflict with Kerry and US President Barack Obama on the Iranian nuclear program,' they explained. 'Your demand will drown in this dispute, and the secretary of state wont pay any attention.' We agreed.

In the past two years, we tried to reach the UN secretary-general three times to demand his responsibility, and he avoided us repeatedly. We sent a letter, we met with his chief of staff, and finally, several months ago, we met with him at the prime ministers residence. In this meeting, my wife Leah accurately presented the situation to him and demanded that the UN take responsibility, and we even handed him a letter with a request that he appoint a special representative from the UNs committee on missing persons to investigate the fate of Hadar and fallen soldier Oron Shaul . He expresses his sincere condolences, agreed to take the letter and flew off.

Hadar Goldin's paintings. Can't be avoided (Photo: Kobi Gideon, GPO)

Now my wife, my son and I have embarked on a journey to New York, to the UN General Assembly. For two consecutive weeks, representatives of the entire world visit the city as guests of the organizations institutions and hold discussions on every issue related to the world and what is taking place in it: Border conflicts, hunger, diseases, slavery, etc. Thousands of people will walk through the corridors of the UN, and this is the time to present our matter. We decided that during this time, we must create something that would help us fight the cynicism, the hypocrisy and the weakness of the United Nations, and put the issue of our enemies inhumanity on the global agenda. We presented the idea to Danny Danon , our tireless ambassador to the UN, and he and his delegation managed to get approval to display Hadars work throughout the entire General Assembly.

I am now standing at the display in this huge building and looking into my sons eyes, which are looking back at me with his eternal smile. Hadar, an Israeli officer, is presented with his paintings and his story along 50 meters of the busiest corridor in the UN building, which has elevators on one end and a cafeteria on the other. Our friend, curator Elinor Milchan Barak, took advantage of this large space in order to create a huge fist which is shoved into the faces of the people passing through the corridor without any ability to avoid it.

Three huge portraits of Hadar hang in the hallway, one at the beginning of the display, one at the end of the display and another in the middle, overlapping with the three pillars supporting the corridor and serving as three pillars of earnestness and a smile holding the exhibition. Hadar, a giant smiling at you with a captivating look, once as a fighter in a flak jacket, once as a cadet at the graduation of his officers course at the Bahad 1 military training base, and once  happier than ever  during his engagement.

Between the portraits are Hadars paintings, capturing and wrapping you in a flow of vivid colors. A painting he made at the age of 14 in Cambridge  musicians playing delightfully on a rainy day a painting he made for his fiancee, Edna  a couple on the beach alongside a fisherman fishing stars under the halo of the moon  a child drawing in a rivers water and a piper in an oasis near Eilat.

I stand and look at people with neckties stopping in front of the smiling eyes or the appealing pictures, and suddenly realizing that they are looking at a pro-Israel display, which presents the Israeli soldier as a smiling officer, an artist, a moral, courteous, determined and earnest person, rather than his regular image at the UN  a brutal soldier. Amazed, they read the captions on the wall and understand that our inferior, inhuman enemy is their enemy too.

This hallway is also a station for photographers and reporters from all around the world, who sit there prepared to jump at any event or important figure. They are all staring at Hadars drawings, trying out their cameras focus, repeatedly taking pictures of them.

Hadar Goldin (L) and Oron Shaul, whose bodies are being held in Gaza. 'We are proud Israeli families demanding action against Hamas'

Our delegation at the UN organized many meetings for us with every possible delegation. We climb up elevators, sit in spacious rooms, covered by windows from every side, overlooking Manhattans breathtaking view, skyscrapers and a river. We meet with delegations ambassadors, with ministers from important countries, with special deputy ministers for Middle Eastern affairs. They are all courteous, they are all sensitive. In all these meetings, we raise the issue of Hadar and Oron being held by Hamas, and Leah presents the following question to everyone: 'What do you think about this act?' They all express their opinion that its horrible, that its inhumane, that its barbaric and should be condemned and of course stopped. They all define the issue as humanitarian, because the return of fallen soldiers on both sides after a battle is a clear humanitarian act. They all agree.

'How do you plan to help?' Leah asks.

While I cannot present the conversations and answers in public, there are two things I can describe in writing: The quality of the coffee and my conclusions.

The Italian coffee was of course the best, followed by the French and German. All the rest are far behind, and last is the English tea which was served with biscuits.

The conclusion is that they all have a painful link to terror. One minister has a son Hadars age who is in the army, another has twins who were in the middle of a terror attack and survived, a German minister served in Afghanistan and had to deal with the killing of soldiers under his command, a British minister lost his brother in a battle with al-Qaeda, a French minister is involved in activity against Islamic terror, and of course a Swiss one who tells you that everyone is suffering and that you have to listen to the other side. They all agree that terror must be dealt with, and they are all waiting for the breakthrough that will show them the way.

As a family, we feel we managed to create some movement in the countries stagnation, but there is still a need for someone to instruct them how to operate. The Western states appear to be talking about the values that have shaped them for centuries, and are now afraid to launch a battle on their behalf.

This is of course the place to ask the following question: Will the State of Israel prove once again that it has the courage to deal with terror, or will it trail after the others? Will the State of Israel present the issue as an anti-humanitarian matter with the required solution being uncompromising pressure on Hamas until it gives in to our values? Or, will the State of Israel join the others, the general choir of the hypocrisy of an artificial and immoral separation between humanitarian gestures, which serve and strengthen the enemy?

In this context, I must mention the New York's Jewish leadership.

On September 19, determined people gathered on the corner of 43rd Street and Tudor City in order to voice their opinion about Hamas evil acts and call for a resolution that will be submitted to the UN to amend the situation. This resolution is being orchestrated by Rabbi Michael Miller of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), a strong Jewish organization in New York, in cooperation with members of Congress, representatives of the New York City Council, representatives of the State of New York and the Israeli consul. They are all calling on the UN to work to release Israeli citizens held by Hamas and return Hadar and Orons bodies to their families.

These are moral and responsible people who are presenting to the world a brave resolution against evil, and who believe in the power of joining forces in order to root out evil. Its not a question of politics or of religion, they said. Its a question of right or wrong, and this is wrong. We can distinguish between good and bad. We are holding the Bible in one hand and a great constitution in the other hand, and we will warn against any evil. Consul Danny Dayan spoke bravely and excitedly about human dignity.

Prime Minister Netanyahu addresses the UN General Assembly. Why isnt it standing at the forefront of the campaign against Hamas terror? (Photo: AFP)

In the spirit of the exhibition, the display and the resolution of the bold and the determined, we waited for the highlight of the effort  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus address to the UN General Assembly . We sat at the sideline of the auditorium  my wife and I, Hadars parents, and his twin brother Tzur, who fought 700 meters away from him during Operation Protective Edge.

As usual, the prime ministers speech was edited splendidly, focusing on the State of Israels increasingly important role among the worlds nations, among moderate Arab states and among African countries. This trend, the prime minister is convinced, will position Israel in its appropriate place in the UN as well, in accordance with its real nature and positive roles, and will keep away the choir of detractors comprised of most of the organizations member states. When the prime minister went on to describe Israels immoral enemies, he said: Thats the same Hamas terror organization that cruelly, unbelievably cruelly refuses to return three of our citizens and the bodies of our fallen soldiers, Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin.

Why doesnt the prime minister, on this historical occasion, mention the UNs role and responsibility in the ceasefire? Why doesnt he demand that US Secretary of State Kerry take responsibility? Why doesnt the prime minister represent the unequivocal demand to return the bodies in the institution which is perpetuating this situation? Why isnt the prime minister standing at the forefront of the campaign against Hamas terror? Where is the young head of the Israeli delegation to the UN who sought to stand at the forefront of the war on terror and to lead Western democracies against the most dangerous threat? Where is the Jabotinsky-style valor and glory that our leadership should use against Hamas?

We, the Goldin and Shaul families, are not miserable families groaning under Hamas cruelty. We are proud Israeli families demanding a battle against Hamas. Action. A way which will lead to a change in the passive trend against barbaric, inhumane organizations which are grabbing Western states by the throat.

This journey to New York made it clear to us that like in Israel, both Jews abroad and the worlds leadership are yearning for leadership that will deal with this challenge.
A terrorist attempted to run over and stab soldiers near a checkpoint in the settlement of Ofra near Ramallah early Saturday morning. No IDF forces were injured in the attack.

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Following the attempted vehicular assault, soldiers opened fire at the terrorist's vehicle, prompting him to exit the vehicle with a knife and attempt to stab the soldiers. IDF forces opened fire severely wounding the terrorist. The terrorist, 30, was evacuated to Hadassah Medical Center in Mt. Scopus.

Weapon recovered from the scene (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

Soldiers from the Kfir Brigade, who are responsible for the sector, set up the checkpoint in response to an attempted attack that occurred Friday in which a terrorist opened fire in the direction of Ofra causing no damage and wounding no one. Security forces found shell casings and the IDF and Shin Bet are investigating if there is a connection between the two attacks.

The two attacks come during a particularly eventful weekend which saw two other attempted attacks thwarted by security forces.

A 23 year-old Palestinian from Hebron was arrested following the discovery of a knife after a body search was conducted. Border Police became suspicious of the man's behavior and conducted the search after the man refused to stop. Following his arrest and questioning, it was revealed that he planned to carry out a stabbing attack at the Cave of the Patriarchs.

In addition to the attempted attack in Hebron, two eight year-old Palestinian children from Beit Fajjar carrying knives were detained by IDF forces by the border fence near the settlement of Migdal Oz in Gush Etzion. During questioning, the children said an adult man gave them the knives and told them to carry out an attack. They were transferred to Palestinian police.
BAGHDAD -- State-sanctioned Shiite militias have launched an attack on ISIS west of the Iraqi city of Mosul but reiterated that they would not enter the Sunni majority city.

Jaafar al-Husseini, a spokesman for the Hezbollah Brigades, said they launched an offensive Saturday along with other militias toward the town of Tel Afar, which had a Shiite majority before it fell to IS in 2014. He says Iranian forces are advising the fighters and Iraqi aircraft are providing airstrikes.

Al-Husseini says the militias will focus on Tel Afar and on securing the western border with Syria.
BEIJING -- A senior US official has urged China to work with the US to close a loophole on North Korean coal imports that Washington believes has been "critical" to propping up the isolated country's finances.

Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Beijing on Saturday ahead of talks with Chinese officials that Chinese coal imports from North Korea contributed to $1 billion in revenue for Pyongyang last year. The US has been seeking new UN sanctions to stymie North Korea's economy and force leader Kim Jong Un into abandoning his nuclear and missile programs.
ADEN -- A car laden with explosives blew up near the headquarters of Yemen's central bank in the southern city of Aden on Saturday and five people were injured, local security sources said.

Security guards fired at the car as it moved at high speed towards the bank's building and it then blew up, they said.

The blast caused minor damage to the building in a central district of Aden known as Crater and two cars nearby, one belonging to security guards and the other to a private citizen, caught fire and burned.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
The families of Turkish activists killed in a 2010 Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship say they will not drop their legal cases despite a deal between Turkey and the Jewish state.

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Nine Turks died when Israeli naval commandos stormed the "Mavi Marmara," which was part of an aid flotilla to break a naval blockade of the Gaza Strip. One more died in the hospital in 2014.

Photo: AFP

Ties between Israel and Turkey crumbled after the raid, but in June they finally agreed to end the bitter six-year row after months-long secret talks.

Israel had offered an apology over the raid, permission for Turkish aid to reach Gaza through Israeli ports, and a payout of $20 million to the families of those killed.

Turkish officials confirmed the amount was transferred to the justice ministry account last month.

Under the deal, both sides agreed that individual Israeli citizens or those acting on behalf of the government would not be held liable.

Families of the victims however say they will press on with their legal battle until the alleged perpetrators are brought to justice.

Cigdem Topcuoglu, an academic from southern Adana province, said her husband was killed as the couple embarked on the ship.

"We are certainly not accepting the compensation," she told AFP in Istanbul. "They will come and kill your husband next to you and say 'take this money, keep your mouth shut and give up on the case'. Would you accept that?"

In total, there were six ships in the flotilla that were boarded in international waters about 130km from the Israeli coast.

Life sentences sought

After the deal with Israel, an Istanbul court on October 19 held another hearing in the trial of the four former Israeli military commanders, though it was later adjourned to December 2.

Turkish prosecutors are seeking life sentences for former military chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi, former navy chief Eliezer Marom, former military intelligence head Amos Yadlin and former air force intelligence chief Avishai Levy, who went on trial in absentia in 2012.

"We have no intention to drop the lawsuits," Topcuoglu said.

Turkish activists attack IDF soldiers on the Marmara (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

Human rights lawyer Rodney Dixon said the criminal case against the accused must go on "at all costs".

"We are strongly supporting the case here in Turkey and our very firm plea to the court has been that they must continue with the case," he said.

"The so-called agreement between Israel and Turkey is not a treaty that is enforceable. It is unlawful under international law, under the convention on human rights and Turkish law."

'Lawlessness'

Families say they were not informed of any details about the deal with Israel and they have not received any money.

Ismail Songur, whose father died in the raid, said: "Nobody from the Turkish government asked our opinion before they struck a deal. "Unfortunately the Turkish government is becoming a part of the lawlessness carried out by Israel."

Photo: AFP

"Even if families of the victims accept the money, that would not affect the case," said Gulden Sonmez, one of the lawyers in the trial and also a passenger on the ship.

"That is a criminal suit, not a suit for compensation. The $20 million is an ex gratia payment. It's a donation and cannot be accepted as compensation."

Activists throwing objects at IDF soldiers (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

A vocal advocate of the Palestinian cause who regularly lambasts Israeli assaults in Gaza, Turkish President Recep Tayyip in June caught many by surprise when he criticised the 2010 aid mission to Gaza, only a few days after his government reached an accord with Israel.

"Did you ask then-prime minister to deliver humanitarian aid from Turkey?" he said in comments seen as veiled criticism of the Turkish Islamic charity IHH that organised the flotilla.

Bulent Yildirim, head of the IHH, said the legal case would never end. "Those who believe the case would drop will be disappointed."
BAGHDAD -- A coalition of Iranian-backed Iraqi Shi'ite militia plans to cross the border into Syria to fight alongside President Bashar al-Assad after "clearing" ISIS militants from Iraq, a militia spokesman said on Saturday.

Iraqi Shi'ite militiamen are already fighting on Assad's side in the country's civil war, and the coalition is currently participating in an Iraqi government offensive to recapture the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State. The announcement by the coalition, known as Hashid Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization, would formalise its involvement in Syria.

"After clearing all our land from these terrorist gangs, we are fully ready to go to any place that contains a threat to Iraqi national security," Ahmed al-Asadi, a spokesman for the Shi'ite coalition, told a news conference in Baghdad.
DIYARBAKIR -- Three Turkish soldiers were killed and five others were wounded by mortar fire from Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants near the southeastern town of Cukurca, security sources said on Saturday.

Soldiers who were on an operation in Cukurca in Hakkari province bordering Iraq and Iraq returned the fire, sources said. Operations were under way to hunt down the militants.
SANAA -- At least 17 civilians were killed in Yemen's southwestern province of Taiz on Saturday by a Saudi-led coalition air strike that struck a house, local officials and residents said.

The raid targeted a house in the al-Salw district, the sources said, an area of Taiz where Houthi rebels and government forces backed by the coalition are fighting for control. Taiz is Yemen's third largest city with an estimated pre-war population of 300,000.
Yemen's president in exile has turned down a UN peace deal aimed at ending the country's devastating conflict, saying it "rewards" Yemen's rebels. The proposed peace deal gives Shiite rebelswho seized the capital in 2014 and eventually forced President Abed-Rabbo Mansour Hadi out of Yemena share in the future government. It also reduces some of the president's powers in exchange for a rebel withdrawal from major cities.

Hadi made his remarks during a visit by the UN Envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on Saturday. The statement said Hadi told Ahmed that peace is only attainable when the rebel "coup" is reversed, based on a UN Security Council resolution that stipulates the rebels must lay down their weapons and withdraw from cities as a precondition to any peace agreement.

The conflict in Yemen has left more than 10,000 dead and injured and displaced nearly 3 million people. The Arab world's poorest nation had already been suffering from high rates of malnutrition, and the war and a blockade imposed by a Saudi-led military coalition has pushed the country deeper into starvation and turmoil.
Thousands of people marched Saturday at a demonstration in Kafr Qasim, marking 60 years since the massacre that occurred in the central-Israel city, in which 48 Israeli Arabs were gunned down by Israeli Border Police soldiers. They demanded that the Israeli government officially acknowledge the tragic incident.

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"We are residents who do not like revenge. We seek to live respectfully. In the Kafr Qasim massacre, they wanted to banish us, but we will stay here and not forget or forgive the murderers of our fallen. Once again, we demand that the Israeli government acknowledge the massacre and expose the motives that caused the murder of 49 people in cold blood," Kafr Qasim Mayor Adel Badir said.





Thousands marched, marking 60 years since the massacre (Photo: Lior Paz)

The Kafr Qasim massacre occurred on October 29, 1956. That day, the Israeli government issued a curfew on several towns, including Kafr Qasim. Israeli Arabs were living under a regime of martial law at the time.

At about 5pm, several dozen locals attempted to return home, unaware of the curfew. They were then shot at by members of the Israel Border Police. 48 people were killed, including 19 men, 6 women, and 23 children under the age of 18. Arab Israelis often cite the number of those killed as 49, due to one of the women who were killed being pregnant at the time.

The protest in Kafr Qasim

The Border Police soldiers who fired the deadly shots were tried and convicted in a case that set a legal precedent for a "blatantly illegal order"an fundamentally immoral order that, if received, a soldier must refuse to carry out.
Deputy Minister for Regional Cooperation Ayoob Kara (Likud party) created a diplomatic incident with Italy this week when he stated that the recent earthquakes that rattled the country less than two months after the quake that shook central Italy in August, killing nearly 300 people and injuring hundreds more were due to the recent controversial resolutions passed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) , which were perceived as anti-Israel.

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The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a statement condemning Kara's words, calling them inappropriate and saying they were should never have been uttered. The MFA further stated that the ministry, as well as Kara himself, wish to apologize for his remarks. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet with Kara to clarify matters.

Deputy Minister Kara (Photo: Yaron Brener)

Kara's remarks came during an official visit to the Vatican, in which the deputy minister headed an Israeli delegation and met with Pope Francis. Following the earthquake on October 26, which could also be felt in Rome, Kara published a strange statement hinting that it may have been divine punishment for the UNESO resolutionsand for Italy's decision to abstain from the vote.

Italian officials fumed at the remarks, leading the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry, as well as the Israeli embassy to Rome, to quickly issue an apology.

On a somewhat related note, Italian President Sergio Mattarella is scheduled to land in Israel on Saturday evening for a visit planned before the incident.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be calling a vote of coalition party leaders on Sunday, in order to further his plans to close down the upcoming Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC)the body that was set to replace the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA).

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The meeting will not produce any official decision, but will clarify the positions of government leaders on the matter ahead of a possible vote next week on a bill proposed by MK David Bitan (Likud), which would essentially keep the IBA in place and cancel the IPBC's establishment.

Moshe Kahlon (L) and Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)

Netanyahu supports Bitan's bill and is expected to be joined by Yisrael Beytenu and United Torah Judaism (UTJ) leaders Avigdor Lieberman and Yaakov Litzman. On the other hand, Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett and Shas leader Aryeh Deri are expected to oppose the bill. Finance Minister and Kulanu Leader Moshe Kahlon has not explicitly commented on the bill himself, but has in the past expressed his opposition to stopping the transition of the IBA to the IPBC.

Aryeh Deri (L) and Naftali Bennett, both oppose Bitan's bill (Photo: Yoav Dudkevitch)

Netanyahu will likely be able to push the bill through a Knesset vote if Coalition members in general (and not just the party leaders) support it. Even the opposing voices of Minister of the Interior and of the Development of the Negev and Galilee Areyh Deri (Shas) and Minister of Education Naftali Bennett (Bayit Yehudi) are not necessarily a complete obstacle, since the two have not treated the expressed an unwavering stance against it. Even so, if the PM finds out that he does not have a majority of Coalition leaders on his side, he may decide to present a "softened" version of the Bitan bill to the Knesset that would not outright prevent the IPBC transition, but merely delay its progress or demand reforms within it.
An 18-year-old Israeli died of electrocution on Friday, while vacationing in the Sinai Peninsula. The event happened as a storm hit Sinai and nearby Eilat.

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After the hut where the young man was staying was flooded during the local storm, he tried to fix an electrical outage while his feet were wet, which led to his electrocution. He was fatally injured as a result and was rushed to a hospital, where he eventually died of his wounds.

The flooding in Egypt (Photo: EPA)

The Foreign Affairs Ministry acknowledged the man's death, and added that they are waiting for the family to identify him, before returning the body to Israel.

While Sinai has in recent weeks seen a surge in Israeli visitors, particularly over the holiday of Sukkot, most have already returned to Israel. Those who remained in Sinai experienced the massive floods that caused damage both in Sinai and Eilat.

Eilat Airport halted all flights Friday morning due to the storm floods, resuming flights on around noon. Major roads were blocked due to flooding, with cars stuck in giant puddles.

Eilat also saw 33mm of rain on Friday, particularly unusual considering that the city's yearly rain average stands at 25mm. In just two hours, the amount of rain that fell on the coastal city almost equaled the average rainfall Eilat normally experiences throughout the winter season.
A shooting attack took place on Israel's Highway 60 Saturday evening, near the West Bank settlement of Karmei Tzur. Ruth Gillis, whose husband, Dr. Shmuel Gillis, was killed in shooting attack on Highway 60 in 2001, reported to authorities that her car was shot at by a vehicle driving by. IDF forces are searching for the attacker. No one was hurt in the attack, and no property damage was caused.

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Scene of the attack on Highway 60, Saturday. (:   ")

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"I was just at the exit from Karmei Tzur on my way to Route 60, when I see a masked terrorist in front of me, shooting at me with a weapon," Gillis said. "I saw the terrorist clearly. I immediately drove toward Gush Etzion Junction where I alerted security forces, who started scanning (the area). It's a bad feeling, this thing is a very serious event. I thank the almighty; a miracle happened here."

The scene of Saturday's shooting attack (Photo: Judea and Samaria Search and Rescue)

This was the second terrorism attack in a 24-hour period, as on Friday night a man attempted to run over soldiers at a vehicle checkpoint near Ofra in the West Bank. He then exited the vehicle with a knife in his hand, attempting to stab the soldiers. They shot and severely wounded the attacker. No one else was hurt.
A follower of Islamic State was responsible for an attack last week on a Kenyan police officer outside a US embassy in Nairobi, the group's Amaq news agency said on Saturday.

A knife-wielding man whom police described as a criminal was shot dead outside the US Embassy in Nairobi last Thursday after he attacked and injured a Kenyan police officer.
LIVE-2 Inning |01-5

ENGLAND VS NEW ZEALAND

ENG 179/6 VS 135/6 NZ

New Zealand need 45 runs in 15 balls at 18 rpo
Maiduguri: Two suicide bombers killed at least eight people on Saturday in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, the heart of a seven-year-old insurgency by Islamist Boko Haram militants, the military said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the attacks bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram which has been trying to set up an Islamic state in the northeast, killing thousands and displacing more than two million people.

In one attack a woman who blew herself up at 0600 GMT in front of the Bakasi camp for displaced persons on Maiduguri`s outskirts, killing five men and wounding 11 women, the Army said in a statement.

At about the same time another female suicide bomber blew herself up while trying to enter a fuel depot of state oil firm NNPC, killing three persons, the army said.

Residents saw bodies being carried into an ambulance by government emergency services.

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 neighboring countries, has recaptured most of the territory.

The group still stages suicide bombings in the northeast, as well as in neighbouring Niger and Cameroon.
Chicago: Pilots were forced to abort a takeoff and evacuate passengers from a burning American Airlines flight on a runway at Chicago O'Hare International Airport after the airliner experienced what a federal official said was a rare and serious type of engine failure.

American Airlines Flight 383 to Miami experienced an "uncontained engine failure," in which engine parts break off and are spewed outside the engine, the official said. The official wasn't authorized to speak publicly about the incident and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The danger of such a failure is that engine pieces effectively become shrapnel and can cause extensive damage to the aircraft.

Flames and heavy black smoke poured from the side of the Boeing 767 jet as it sat on the runway Friday after the aborted takeoff.

Officials said the incident left 21 people injured. Footage from the scene showed passengers coming down emergency slides and hurrying across grass next to the runway as emergency vehicles surrounded the plane. The right wing was drooping toward the ground and appeared to have partially melted.

Passenger Sarah Ahmed told WLS-TV the plane was speeding down the runway when she heard an explosion and saw flames and black smoke.

She said everyone on the right side of the aircraft jumped from their seats and moved to the left side.

"People are yelling, 'Open the door! Open the door!' Everyone's screaming and jumping on top of each other to open the door," Ahmed said.

"Within that time, I think it was seven seconds, there was now smoke in the plane and the fire is right up against the windows, and it's melting the windows."

The pilots reported an engine-related mechanical issue and aborted the takeoff, according to American Airlines spokeswoman Leslie Scott.

The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that the plane made an emergency stop around 2:35 pm after experiencing a problem during takeoff.

An earlier FAA statement said the plane had blown a tire, but officials later deleted that information from the statement.

Chicago Deputy Fire Commissioner Timothy Sampey said 20 passengers suffered minor injuries as they used the emergency chutes to evacuate.
Patna: A day after the Supreme Court put on hold a Patna High Court order that granted him bail, murder accused Rakesh Ranjan alias Rocky Yadav on Saturday surrendered in a Bihar court.

"Rocky, who arrived in Patna from Delhi on Saturday morning, surrendered in the Gaya Civil Court," a district police official said.

Rocky`s parents were also present in the court.

A district official in Gaya said Rocky was absconding soon after the Supreme Court cancelled his bail on Friday.

Rocky`s mother Manorama Devi, suspended Janata Dal-United MLC, told a police team that visited her house to arrest her son following the Supreme Court cancelled his bail that he will surrender in the court soon.

Rocky was accused of fatally shooting student Aditya Sachdeva after his Swift car overtook Rocky`s Land Rover on May 7.

Rocky was arrested on May 11.

Blocking implementation of the Patna High Court`s October 19 order that granted Rocky bail, an apex court bench of Justice SA Bobde and Justice Ashok Bhushan had yesterday observed: "The charge sheet has already been filed in the case and this may go against you."

The charge sheet has named Rocky and another man as co-accused in the murder case.

Seeking cancellation of Rocky`s bail, the Bihar government`s petition contended that "he has shot dead a young boy on the highway because he could not tolerate a small Swift car overtaking his big and imported Land Rover."

(With IANS inputs)
Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday announced Rs 11 ex gratia to the next of kin of BSF head constable Jitendra Singh who was killed in Pak shelling at RS Pura sector in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday.

Expressing deep condolence at the martyrdom of the brave soldier from the state, Kumar said state honour was accorded to the martyred BSF man during his last rites today, he said.

The jawan, a native of Raxual in East Champaran district, was killed in shelling from Pakistan in violation of ceasefire.

The Chief Minister said in his condolence message that the country would always remember Singh's martyrdom and that the entire state was with his family in this hour of grief.

The last rites of the BSF personnel was held at his native Siswa village in Raxual along Indo-Nepal border.

After arrival of his casket, the residents of Raxaul marched on the streets recalling the bravery of the BSF jawan and shouting slogans against Pakistan.
Reykjavik: Icelanders voted on Saturday in a snap election that could see the anti-establishment Pirate Party form the next government in the wake of the Panama Papers tax-dodging scandal and lingering anger over the 2008 financial meltdown.

Voters are expected to punish the incumbent coalition after the Panama Papers revealed a global tax evasion scandal that ensnared several senior politicians and forced former prime minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson to resign.

Although the current government of the conservative Independence Party and the centrist Progressive Party survived the scandal, it promised a snap election six months before the end of its term in spring 2017.

"We`re loosing support (because of the) big anti-establishment (feeling)," Birgir Armannsson, member of parliament for the Independence Party, told AFP.

The Pirate Party -- founded in 2012 by activists, anarchists, and former hackers -- has been campaigning for public transparency, institutional reform, individual freedoms and the fight against corruption.

Three separate polls, released a day before the election, showed that the Pirate Party could gain up to 21 percent of the vote and the Left-Green movement up to 16.8 percent.

Each of the polls, conducted by the University of Iceland, research company MMR and Gallup, indicate the incumbent conservative coalition government will most likely be voted out.

The final election results will be known shortly after polling stations close but because no party is expected to have a majority Iceland`s fate will only be known after coalition negotiations.

The Pirate Party could become the parliament`s second largest party and form the nation`s second centre-left government since Iceland`s independence from Denmark in 1944. The Social Democrats and Greens ruled in a coalition between 2009-2014.

In any negotiations to form a government, the Pirate Party is expected to have leverage over the Independence Party and the leftist Green movement could for the first time hold the balance of power.

Co-founded by former WikiLeaks spokeswoman Birgitta Jonsdottir, the Pirate Party has reached a pre-election agreement with three other leftist and centrist opposition parties, including the Left-Greens, the Social Democrats and the Bright Future Movement, to form a coalition government.

Together, they could have more than 50 percent of the votes, according to the latest polls, which however also show a high proportion of undecided voters.

"We think that these parties can cooperate very well, they have many common issues. I think it will be a very feasible governmental choice," Katrin Jakobsdottir, leader of the Left-Green movement told AFP.Although Iceland, a volcanic island with a population of 332,000 people, has returned to prosperity since its 2008 financial meltdown with GDP growth expected to be above four percent this year due to tourism and the recovery of its financial system, the nation`s young people distrust the political elite.

The crisis eight years ago saw Iceland`s three biggest banks and its oversized financial sector collapse.

The nation was plunged into a devastating economic collapse and forced to seek a bailout from the International Monetary Fund.

A string of bankers were jailed, the failed banks were temporarily nationalised and then sold, and foreign investors had to accept write-downs on their debt holdings.

Olafur Hardarson, professor of political science at the University of Iceland, attributed the Pirates` rise in popularity to voters` anger at the 2008 meltdown.

"They have managed to focus on the anti-politics and anti-establishment feelings of a lot of voters that have been frustrated in Iceland since the bank crash," Hardarson told AFP.

Einar Hannesson, a 42-year-old labourer, said he would be voting for the Pirates because they offered change.

"I want change. I don`t like everything that the Pirates are proposing, but if we want change, it`s the best party," he said.
Reykjavik: Determined to put the Panama Papers scandal and the 2008 bankruptcy behind them, Icelanders will vote on Saturday in a snap election that could see the anti-establishment Pirate Party form a new centre-left coalition.

Voters are expected to punish the incumbent government after the Panama Papers revealed a global tax evasion scandal that ensnared several senior politicians and forced former prime minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson to resign.

Although the current government of the conservative Independence Party and the centrist Progressive Party survived the scandal, it promised a snap election six months before the end of its term in spring 2017.

"We`re loosing support (because of the) big anti-establishment (feeling)," Birgir Armannsson, member of parliament for the Independence Party, told AFP.

The Pirate Party -- founded in 2012 by activists, anarchists and former hackers -- campaigns for public transparency, institutional reform, individual freedoms, and the fight against corruption.

It draws much of its support from younger voters and spokeswoman Birgitta Jonsdottir says it has also "studied the mistakes of Syriza and Podemos", leftist parties in Greece and Spain that tapped into anger about austerity cuts imposed during the eurozone debt crisis.

The results will be known shortly after polling stations close but because no party is expected to have a majority Iceland`s fate will only be known after coalition negotiations.

If the Pirate Party does well, it could form the nation`s second centre-left government since Iceland`s independence from Denmark in 1944. The Social Democrats and Greens ruled in a coalition between 2009-2014.

In any negotiations to form a government, the Pirate Party is expected to have leverage over the outgoing Independence Party and the leftist Green movement could for the first time hold the balance of power.

Co-founded by former WikiLeaks spokeswoman Jonsdottir, the Pirate Party has reached a pre-election agreement with three other leftist and centrist opposition parties, including the Left-Greens, the Social Democrats and the Bright Future Movement, to form a coalition government.

Together, they could have more than 50 percent of the votes, according to the latest polls, which also show a high proportion of undecided voters.

"We think that these parties can cooperate very well, they have many common issues. I think it will be a very feasible governmental choice," Katrin Jakobsdottir, leader of the Left-Green movement told AFP.Although Iceland, a volcanic island with a population of 332,000 people, has returned to prosperity since its 2008 financial meltdown with GDP growth expected to be above four percent this year due to tourism and the recovery of its financial system, the nation`s youth distrusts the political elite.

The crisis saw Iceland`s three biggest banks and its oversized financial sector collapse.

The nation was plunged into a devastating economic crisis and forced to seek a bailout from the International Monetary Fund.

A string of bankers were jailed, the failed banks were temporarily nationalised and then sold and foreign investors had to accept write-downs on their debt holdings.

Olafur Hardarson, professor of political science at the University of Iceland, attributed the Pirates` rise in popularity to voters` anger at the 2008 collapse.

"They have managed to focus on the anti-politics and anti-establishment feelings of a lot of voters that have been frustrated in Iceland since the bank crash," Hardarson told AFP.

Voter Einar Hannesson, a 42-year-old labourer, said he would be voting for the Pirates because they offered change.

"I want change. I don`t like everything that the Pirates are proposing, but if we want change, it`s the best party," he said.
Kurukshetra: A pall of gloom descended on the native village of Army jawan Mandeep, who was killed by terrorists in Macchil sector in Jammu and Kashmir yesterday.

The family members of the 30-year-old martyr were inconsolable.

Several women from Aantehri village here reached the martyr's house today and tried to console Mandeep`s widow. The couple had got married two years ago, family members said.

Kurukshetra's Deputy Commissioner Sumedha Kataria also visited the jawan's home and offered her condolences.

The martyr's neighbours described him as a "go-getter" who always had a smile on his face.

Subhash, the husband of the Sarpanch of the village, said Mandeep was a helpful person who always offered help to anyone who approached him in need.

Mandeep's widow Prerna is a Head Constable with Haryana police and posted at Shahbad Markanda here.

Mandeep's sacrifice came within a week after Sushil Kumar (47), a BSF constable was martyred in Jammu district. He also hailed from Kurukshetra district and belonged to Pehowa town here.

Kumar was killed as Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire, resorting to heavy shelling and firing from automatic weapons in several sectors along the International Border in Jammu district on October 24.

Mandeep's widow Prerna said Pakistan must be taught a lesson for harbouring terrorists.

"Pakistan should be taught a lesson once for all so that no other family of a soldier has to go through such pain," she said breaking down several times.

She said Mandeep never shared the details about his posting.

"He did not share much details thinking that it will make us unduly worried," Prerna said.

She said that Mandeep had come for vacation six months back.

"He was supposed to visit home again on Diwali but his leave was cancelled in view of the tension on the border at Machil sector," she said.

Mandeep is the youngest of three sons of Phool Singh, a truck driver.

Singh said Army should be given a free hand to deal with nefarious designs of Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Mandeep's body is likely to reach the village in the evening.

The entire village mourned the sacrifice of the 'son of the soil', and have decided not to celebrate Diwali festival.
Srinagar: Hours after an Indian soldier was mutilated in a horrific attack on the border, the Army hit back and destroyed at least four Pakistani border posts in a late night massive fire assault on Saturday.

The posts were destroyed in a massive fire assault in the Keran sector of Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district, the army's Northern Command said.

Heavy casualties were inflicted on the other side, it said.

Also Read: Indian soldier's body mutilated: Martyr Mandeep Singh's family wants 10 Pakistani heads

The development comes after terrorists from Pakistan on Friday killed a soldier and mutilated his body near the LoC in Kupwara's Machhal sector.

The attackers have fled to Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) after the attack, helped by covering fire from Pakistani troops.

In a brief statement, the army had said "appropriate response" will be given.

Also Read: Pakistan terrorists mutilate Indian soldier's body in cross-LoC attack; Army vows 'appropriate response'

"In a despicable act, terrorists mutilated the body of an Indian army soldier before fleeing into PoK, supported by covering fire from Pakistani Army posts.

"This barbarism is a true reflection which pervades official and non-official organisations across the border.

This act will invite an appropriate response," it said after the attack.

The Pakistani troops have stepped up attacks in the past few weeks, targeting Indian security positions in Kathua, RS Pura and Keran sectors on the border.

Also Read: Congress demands befitting reply over mutilation of soldier's body

This is not the first time Pakistan has mutilated the bodies of Indian soldiers.

During the Kargil war in 1999, several soldiers of 4 Jat Regiment were captured by Pakistani troops and brutally tortured.

The soldiers had their ear drums pierced with hot iron rods, eyes punctured and genitals cut off.

The autopsy of the bodies also revealed that they were burned with cigarettes butts. Their limbs were also chopped off, teeth broken and skull fractured. Even their nose and lips were sliced off.

The Third Geneva Convention makes it illegal to torture prisoners.
New Delhi: Air India as well as its chief Ashwani Lohani on Saturday apologised for an error in the article on Puri Jagannath temple which was published in its in-flight magazine, saying the carrier did not intend to "hurt sentiments".

It was mentioned in the article titled 'Devotion can be Delicious' that non-vegetarian dishes are also served at the temple.

"#AI apologises for the error. Our intention was not to hurt sentiments. #ShubhYatra magazine copies have been removed with immediate effect," the airline said in a tweet.

This comes against the backdrop of protests against the article in Odisha.

"I, #AI CMD Ashwani Lohani, offer my apologies regarding the article on #ShubhYatra. Corrective action has been taken regarding the same," the airline said in another tweet adding that the author has also provided a written apology.

Further, Air India said it would not publish any articles by the author without disclosing the name.

"Said to be the largest in the country, the Jagannath Temple's kitchen in Puri since its inception has had an army of 500 cooks and 300 helpers to serve 1,00,000 people every day, round the clock, which means almost 285 varieties of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes every day," the article published in this month's magazine had said.
United Nations: A UN General Assembly committee has adopted a resolution to launch negotiations next year on a new treaty outlawing nuclear weapons, even as India abstained saying it is not convinced the move can lead to a comprehensive instrument on nuclear disarmament.

The General Assembly's First Committee, which deals with disarmament and international security, adopted the draft resolution yesterday on nuclear disarmament negotiations.

Through the resolution, the General Assembly would reiterate that the universal objective of taking forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations remains the achievement and maintenance of a world without nuclear weapons.

The resolution emphasises the importance of addressing issues related to nuclear weapons in a comprehensive, inclusive, interactive and constructive manner, for the advancement of multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations.

It also decided to convene in 2017 a United Nations conference to negotiate a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination.

The resolution was adopted with 123 votes in favour, 38 against and 16 abstentions.

Permanent Representative of India to the Conference on Disarmament DB Venkatesh Varma said India has been "constrained" to abstain on the resolution and it is "not convinced" that the proposed conference in 2017 "can address the longstanding expectation of the international community for a comprehensive instrument on nuclear disarmament.

He said continued dialogue and consultation is necessary to bridge the current divides on nuclear disarmament which remain "deep and substantive".

"India attaches the highest priority to nuclear disarmament and shares with the co-sponsors the widely felt frustration that the international community has not been able to take forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations. We also share the deep concern about the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons," Varma said in the explanation of vote.

He said India did not participate in the open-ended working group which met in Geneva during 2016 and so it reserves its position on its report and the recommendations.

"India has supported the commencement of negotiations in the Conference on Disarmament on a Comprehensive Nuclear Weapons Convention, which in addition to prohibition and elimination also includes verification. International verification would be essential to the global elimination of nuclear weapons, just as it has been in the case of the Chemical Weapons Convention. Progress on nuclear disarmament in the CD should remain an international priority," he said.

India has asserted that there is no question of it joining the Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear weapon state.
Kurukshetra/Jammu: A pall of gloom descended on the native village of an Indian Army jawan, whose body was mutilated after being killed by terrorists, in Haryana.

The barbaric incident at the Line of Control in Kashmir on Friday night also sparked an outrage.

Amid the latest escalation of ceasefire violation, Sepoy Mandeep Singh's family members demanded that Pakistan be taught a lesson for harbouring terrorists.

The martyr's brother Sandeep Singh demanded that the family wanted 10 Pakistani heads for the price of one.

The family members of the 30-year-old martyr were inconsolable.

Terrorists, aided by the cover fire by Pakistani Army, last night crossed the Line of Control and killed sepoy Mandeep Singh and mutilated his body in Macchil sector of Kupwara district.

Several women from Aantehri village in Kurukshetra reached the martyr's house and tried to console Mandeep`s widow. The couple had got married two years ago, family members said. Mandeep's widow Prerna is a Head Constable with Haryana police and posted at Shahbad Markanda in Kurukshetra.

Mandeep's father said the Indian Army should give a befitting reply to Pakistan.

"It was his duty, he has done it. He sacrificed his life. We should give a befitting reply to Pakistan," he said, adding that he got the news of his son's death when army personnel visited him at his home at 1 am.

Prerna said Pakistan must be taught a lesson for harbouring terrorists.

"Pakistan should be taught a lesson once for all so that no other family of a soldier has to go through such pain," she said breaking down several times.

"Nivedan sarkaar se hai ki ya toh samjha do Pakistan ko; samjhe toh thik, warna khatam kar do. Kam se kam roz-roz Diwali kaali nhi hogi sabhi ki (I request to the government either tell Pakistan to behave; if it does not listen then wipe it out. At least we will not have a black Diwali everyday)," the martyr's wife said

She said that Mandeep had come for vacation six months back. "He was supposed to visit home again on Diwali but his leave was cancelled in view of the tension on the border at Machil sector."

Kurukshetra's Deputy Commissioner Sumedha Kataria also visited the jawan's home and offered her condolences.

The martyr's neighbours described him as a "go getter" who always had a smile on his face.

Subhash, the husband of the Sarpanch of the village, said Mandeep was a helpful person who always offered help to anyone who approached him in need.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Jitendra Singh condemned the mutilation of the soldier's body as "atrocious" while senior Congress leader Manish Tewari called it "depraved behaviour".

"There can't be anything more atrocious than this (on terrorists mutilated the body of a soldier)," Jitendra Singh told reporters in Jammu.

"I am always of the view that the human rights of soldiers should enjoy precedence over human rights of anybody else", he said.

"These are acts of cowardice and these are happening at the time of desperation of the part of the Pakistan Army as well as Islamabad. Indian forces are capable of standing up to this challenge."

Tewari, while condemning the multilation, as "absolutely depraved behaviour" said it "violates you as a human being".

"There are certain rules of engagement and conduct even in a conflict situation. Pakistan is expected to respect the rules of engagement," he said.

"I am very sad being a soldier. It is a very sad mentality to take your anger on an injured or dead person," said Maj Gen (retd) BC Khanduri.

(With PTI inputs)
New Delhi: Amid the continuing ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops along LoC, Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday assured the nation that security forces were giving "befitting reply" to firing from across the border and that the country will not bow down before anyone.

"I want to assure the nation that the security forces are giving a befitting reply to the firing from Pakistan. We will not bow down before anyone," he told reporters here.

Singh said if countrymen were celebrating Diwali, it was because of the security personnel guarding the borders.

The Home Minister said people must have faith in security forces who are foiling the evil designs of enemies.

Terrorists, aided by the cover fire by Pakistani Army, last night crossed the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir and killed an Indian Army jawan and mutilated his body, prompting the Army to warn that the "incident will be responded to appropriately."

Four Army and three BSF personnel have died in the latest escalation along the boundary with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Pakistan Rangers also violated ceasefire in RS Pura and Kathua sectors along International Border today.
Jammu: Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Saturday met BSF troops along the International Border (IB) and praised them for guarding the borders with utmost dedication and bravery.

He interacted with the jawans and greeted them on the eve of Diwali. He also distributed sweets among them and applauded the commitment and dedication of BSF.

Singh, who visited a border villages in?Rapura in Samba district, reached out to BSF troops in the area, a senior BSF officer said.
New Delhi: The Delhi Police on Saturday arrested the personal assistant of a Samajwadi Party's Rajya Sabha MP after questioning in connection with the espionage racket in which a Pakistan High Commission staffer was expelled from the country and three persons were arrested.

MP Chaudhary Munabbar Saleem's PA Farhat was detained by Crime Branch on Friday night.

After his arrest, Saleem removed Farhat from the post.

Talking to news agency ANI, Saleem said that he had appointed Farhat a year back after due parliamentary checks.

He further extended all support during the probe.

Ravindra Yadav, Joint Commissioner of Police (crime), said that Farhat has been sent for medical. He will be later sent to police remand.

Responding to the development, Minister of Culture Mahesh Sharma said: We should be worried as a minister is involved in any such case, but he is ready to coordinate.

Mehmood Akhtar, a visa officer at the Pakistan High Commission, was arrested on Wednesday. However, he was released hours later due to diplomatic immunity.

In a statement, Akhtar had revealed the name of Farhat. Reports said that Farhat had provided Ministry of External Affairs documents to the Pakistani spy.

The Delhi Police is also trying to nab other members of the racket who, it believes, were in close contact with Pakistan High Commission staffer Mehmood Akhtar who was caught receiving secret documents here on October 26.

Two others, Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangir, residents of Nagaur, Rajasthan, were held along with Akhtar. Another accused Sohaib was detained in Jodhpur and brought to Delhi by the police where he was arrested.
New Delhi: Mehmood Akhtar, the Pakistan High Commission official who was caught for espionage, has claimed that he sourced sensitive information from an official associated with the prestigious Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

The Indian Express has quoted police sources as saying: On being asked about his informers and sources, Akhtar disclosed the names of other ISI agents posted in the Pakistan High Commission and the name of an official with ISRO who provided sensitive details to him.

Meanwhile, news agency PTI quoted a Home Ministry official as saying that Akhtar was trying to gather classified information on the deployment of Indian security forces along the western coast, possibly to carry out a strike similar to the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.

"There have been intelligence inputs that Pakistan's ISI was planning to send terrorists through the sea route to carry out a Mumbai-type terror attack in India. Akhtar's activities and his interests to gather information about the western coast buttress the intelligence inputs," the official said.

Before being let off because of diplomatic immunity, Akhtar confessed to police about his role in the spy ring. The Delhi Police has also done video-recording of his statement.

In his statement to police, Akhtar admitted that he was part of the spy ring for more than a year. He has named eight officers of the Pakistani High Commission whom he was reporting to with all the information but police were yet to take action against them as there was no direct evidence as of now.

The video-recording of his statement at the Delhi Polices Inter-State Cell office in Chanakyapuri shows Akhtar trembling as police begin interrogating him in Hindi, reported the daily.

He was uncomfortable at first but after drinking some water he calmed down. Officers told him they already knew about his operation and were only trying to corroborate the information they had, the daily quoted a source as saying.

Sources added that Akhtar disclosed the names of Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangir  also arrested on Thursday  and revealed names of other alleged informants in India, including that of the ISRO official.

Acting on a tip-off, the Delhi Police on Wednesday nabbed Akhtar, along with Ramzan and Jangir, at Delhi Zoo while a visa agent from Rajasthan, Shoaib, had managed to escape.

Shoaib was detained near Jodhpur on Thursday evening and after being brought here, he was arrested.

While Akhtar was on Thursday declared persona non grata, Subhash and Maulana have been arrested on charges of passing on sensitive information and defence documents and deployment details of BSF along the Indo-Pak border.

They were later sent to 12-day police custody.
New Delhi: The Delhi Police on Friday night detained one more person who allegedly worked for a junior Pakistani diplomat, declared persona non grata by India for running a spy ring.

Samajwadi Party's Rajya Sabha MP Munabbar Saleem 's personal assistant Farhat was held by the Crime Branch in connection with the espionage racket in which three persons have already been arrested.

A senior Crime Branch officer said Farhat's interrogation is underway.

Mehmood Akhtar, a visa officer at the Pakistan High Commission, was arrested on Wednesday. However, he was released hours later due to diplomatic immunity.

In a statement, Akhtar had revealed the name of Farhat. Reports said that Farhat had provided government documents to the Pakistani spy.

Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party has said that it will seek an explanation from the MP on the matter.

Akhtar, detained on Wednesday and let off because of diplomatic immunity, had served in the mission for over two years during which he recruited Indians to spy for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, Delhi Police Joint Commissioner Ravindra Yadav said on Thursday.

He was caught near the Delhi Zoo receiving defence-related vital information from two Indian nationals, Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangir, who were also allegedly working for the ISI, Yadav said.

One more person, Shoaib Nagaur, was arrested in Jodhpur on Thursday evening. The three are residents of Rajasthan and were being interrogated.
New Delhi: An aide of Samajwadi Party MP Munawwar Saleem on Saturday sent to 10-day police custody by a Delhi court following startling discloser about his involvement in an espionage racket.

Farhat Khan, a personal assistant of the SP leader, was arrested by the crime branch of Delhi Police on Friday night. He was appointed by the MP about a year ago.

Duty Magistrate Arun Kumar Garg sanctioned his custodial interrogation till November 8.

The investigating officer told reporters that Khan has to be confronted with other arrested men to unearth the larger conspiracy and nab others.

The officer said that preliminary questioning has led to certain revelations that need to be further investigated as other names have cropped up.

During the proceedings today, police alleged that more persons are likely to be apprehended and more documents and other evidence to be recovered with the help of the accused.

It has emerged that the accused was in direct touch with the Pakistani High Commission staffer who was recently expelled from the country. The two used "code words" during conversations.

Police also said that Khan was in regular touch with Pakistani intelligence operatives for the last 18 years and was leaking sensitive documents and information.

"Farhat Khan was in touch with Pakistani intelligence operatives for the last 18 years. He used to be paid Rs 20,000 for the information and documents he shared with them," said a senior police officer.

Pakistani visa officer Mehmood Akhtar was expelled from the country on charges of running a spy network following his brief detention on Wednesday. He was released due to diplomatic immunity.

Police said Akhtar had his bases covered and was gaining information about the government as well as security deployment in border areas.

Akhtar had named Farhat as one of his "close associates", following which the latter was picked up from Saleem's residence last night and detained.

He was arrested this afternoon after prolonged questioning. This is the fourth arrest in the case.

TV channels also aired a confessional video of Mehmood Akhtar in which he purportedly named Farhat besides others including Syed Farruq, Khadim Hussain, Shahid Iqbal and Iqbal Cheema, claiming that they were also "staffers".

Meanwhile, the SP leader has promised all support to the police in the probe.

Currently, Delhi Police is trying to nab other members of the racket who were in close contact with Pakistani staffer. Akhtar was caught receiving secret documents here on Oct 26.

Two other accused, Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangir, both residents of Nagaur in Rajasthan, were also held along with Akhtar. Another accused Sohaib was detained in Jodhpur and brought to Delhi by the police where he was formally arrested.

(With agency inputs)
Srinagar: Hurriyat Conference and its leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani have been blamed for the lengthy shutdown in the Valley with the schools bearing the brunt of a Talibani-style diktat.

Over the past three weeks, at least 23 schools were reportedly burnt down in a desperate bid to keep up the ante by separatists, hoping to hit hard where it hard most.

The opening of the schools is an emotive issue for the parents in the valley since it is directly linked to the career and future of their wards.

On Saturday, scores of parents take reportedly took out a massive protest rally in Srinagar accusing the Hurriyat Conference of spoiling the future of their children by forcing shutdown in the Valley.

They demanded a quick end to the ongoing 'hartal' in Kashmir.

"Schools must open. Geelani's grand-daughter wrote her exams. Why are they spoiling the future of our kids," India Today quoted one of the parents, who staged protest in Srinagar, as saying.

"Geelani saab keeps his family safe and exploits the poor people like us. I fear for my life that is why I have covered my face to talk to you," another parent was quoted as saying.

They also alleged that they were being forced to follow the instructions of separatists.

The Kashmir Valley has been tense for some three months after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8 in an encounter with security forces.

Slamming the Hurriyat for the plight of the schools, J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said that separatists want to snatch books from children and replace them with stones.
Jammu: In a "barbaric" incident, terrorists, aided by the cover fire by the Pakistani Army, on Friday night crossed the Line of Control and killed an Indian Army jawan and mutilated his body in Macchil sector of Kupwara district of Kashmir.

The Indian Army said that an "appropriate response" will be given.

After committing the heinous act, terrorists fled back to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar have been briefed about the incident.

Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar will summon Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit in this regard, reported CNN-News18.

In a brief statement, the Army said a gunfight took place close to the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir's Macchil sector on Friday evening, in which one soldier and a terrorist were killed.

"In a despicable act, the terrorists mutilated the body of the Indian Army soldier before fleeing into PoK, supported by covering fire from Pakistani Army posts.

"This barbarism is a true reflection which pervades official and non-official organisations across the border. This act will invite an appropriate response," it said.

Earlier on Friday, the Border Security Force said that at least 15 Pakistan troopers were killed and 20 others injured in retaliatory shelling and firing on the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir.

BSF, which primarily guards the International Border with Pakistan, said it had also foiled two infiltration bids in Samba district two days back. Besides, BAT (Border Action Team) attacks from Pakistani side along the Line of Control have also been thwarted during the past 24 hours.

(With Agency inputs)
Srinagar: A Border Security Force (BSF) jawan was on Saturday accidentally killed while he was retaliating to ceasefire violation by the Pakistani troops in Macchil sector of Kupwara district along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.

The incident took place hours after terrorists, aided by the cover fire by the Pakistani Army, on Friday night crossed the Line of Control in the sector and killed an Indian Army jawan and mutilated his body.

One attacker was killed in the incident which the Indian Army said will be "responded to appropriately".

Pakistan Rangers also violated ceasefire in RS Pura and Kathua sectors along International Border today.

Elaborating on the incident which took place this morning, BSF IG (Kashmir) Vikash Chandra said that constable Nitin Subhash sustained grievous injuries last evening when an explosion inside the chamber of the long range weapon led to a recoil while he was firing in retaliation to ceasefire violation from across the LoC.

"Subhash was injured due to recoil and was admitted to a medical facility where he succumbed late last night," the official said.

Earlier, a top BSF official had said that the jawan was killed today in firing by Pakistani troops.

28-year-old Subhash, hailing from Sangli in Maharashtra, had joined BSF in 2008 and is survived by his wife and two sons aged four years and two years.

Four Army and three BSF personnel have died in the latest escalation along the boundary with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir.

Two civilians were killed and as many injured yesterday after Pakistani troops had pounded civilian areas and forward India posts with 120 mm mortar shells and automatic weapons in Jammu, Kathua, Poonch and Rajouri districts.

BSF yesterday said that it killed 15 Pakistani soldiers till now in retaliatory firing along IB.
Srinagar: Curfew was on Saturday lifted from Srinagar leading to improvement in the movement of people and transport in the city here while restrictions on public assembly were in place throughout the Kashmir Valley.

Curfew has been lifted from the six police station areas of the city where the curbs were imposed yesterday, a police official said.

He said curfew was imposed yesterday to maintain law and order in the wake of the separatists' call for a march to Jamia Masjid in Nowhatta area of the city, but was lifted this morning following improvement in the situation.

The official said there were no curbs on the movement of people anywhere in Kashmir, but restrictions on the assembly of public under Section 144 CrPc were in place throughout the Valley.

The lifting of the curbs lead to improvement in the movement of people and transport in the city, he said, adding the number of private cars and auto-rickshaws plying in the city was significantly higher today.

Vendors were back on the streets of the city in the TRC Chowk-Batamaloo axis , while many shops were open in the civil lines and the outskirts of Srinagar.

However, normal life continued to remain affected in the rest of the Valley for the 113th day due to the separatist-sponsored strike.

Security forces have been deployed in strength at vulnerable spots and along the main roads as a precautionary measure to maintain law and order as well as to instill a sense of security among the people to carry out their day to day activities without fear.

The separatists have been agitating since Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter with security forces on July 8.

As many as 85 people, including two police personnel, have been killed and thousands of others injured in the ongoing unrest in the Valley.

Around 5000 security forces personnel have also been injured in the clashes.

Over 300 persons have been booked under Public Safety Act (PSA).
Arnia: Stating that the situation in Jammu and Kashmir is "explosive" in the wake of continuous cross-border shelling, National Conference Saturday appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to celebrate Diwali with the "abandoned" dwellers along the International Border and LoC in the state to "set an example".

NC's Provincial chief Devender Singh Rana said the situation was "explosive" in the wake of continuous shelling and urged politicians to "rise above political affiliations and seek solution to problems".

"Diwali falls on Amawasya (new moon day) and let the Prime Minister light a lamp to end the darkness of borders, the silence of which is intermittently interrupted by mortal shells and heavy artillery, sending chill among the residents, who are running helter-skelter with women, old, ailing and children for safety," Rana said during party delegation's visit to the affected border villages here.

Rana hoped that the Prime Minister will see for himself how the state BJP leaders and political executives of the government have virtually abandoned the residents, who are struggling to survive the onslaught.

"We are sure the Prime Minister will feel the trauma and agony of the suffering people whose woes have been aggravated by the bunch of BJP exploiters here," he said, adding, the Prime Minister can set an example by being with the residents in distress and feel their pain.

He assailed the BJP's total indifference towards residents of the forward areas at this crucial hour of border crisis and asked where the political executives of Jammu and Kashmir have vanished.

"At a time they should have been with the suffering people, the BJP ministers and leaders, who were making beeline during elections, were not visible anywhere," Rana said.

"The callousness of administration towards residents is a classic example of the duplicity and deception of the BJP, which has mastered in exploitation," he said.

The Provincial President said the border skirmishes were no solution to problems and hoped that positive steps would be taken to de-esclate the tension and hostility that is proving hazardous for the villagers along the International Border and Line of Control.

"We sincerely hope that the atmosphere of jingoism will be a temporary phase and the two countries would engage themselves in meaningful dialogue," he said and added that the victims of hostilities have always been the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Rana and other senior party leaders called for adequate arrangements, health care and other facilities at the make shift camps for border residents, who were forced to leave their homes and hearths due to intermittent shelling.
Mumbai: Pakistan violated ceasefire by using mortar shells in Kathua sector of Jammu and Kashmir at around 7:20 AM. The BSF retaliated with small arms, ANI quoted the Border Security Force as saying.

Pak violated ceasefire by using mortar shells in Kathua sector of J&K at around 7:20 AM. BSF retaliated with small arms. No casualties: BSF  ANI (@ANI_news) 29 October 2016

Pakistan also violated ceasefire in Hiranagar and Abdullian in RS Pura sectors of the state, ANI reported.

A terrorist on Friday mutilated the body of an Indian soldier after killing him and then fled into PoK. He was supported by cover fire from Pak army posts, the Indian Army said.

The army said a gunfight took place close to the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir`s Machhal sector on Friday evening, in which one soldier and a terrorist were killed.

"In a despicable act, the terrorists mutilated the body of the Indian army soldier before fleeing into POK, supported by covering fire from Pakistani Army posts.

"This barbarism is a true reflection which pervades official and non-official organisations across the border. This act will invite an appropriate response," it said.

The development comes even as the Border Security Forces have killed at least 15 Pakistani soldiers in the past one week in retaliatory cross-border firing.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and the PMO have been briefed about the situation on the border.
Thiruvananthapuram: Veteran CPI-M leader and former chief minister VS Achuthanandan on Saturday applauded the Kerala government`s battle against corruption.

"Corruption is being dealt with very sternly and I hope it will be taken forward," Achuthanandan told reporters.

Achuthanandan was responding to the actions of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau led by Director General of Police Jacob Thomas, who in the past two days raided the residences of two top IAS officers holding the rank of Additional Chief Secretary.

Both Finance Secretary KM Abraham and Labour Secretary Tom Jose are being probed on the directives of a vigilance court following complaints that they possess assets more than their known sources of income.

Incidentally, Jose is the President of the IAS Officers Association and these raids occurred a day after the association representatives called on Chief Secretary S.M. Vijayanand and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

On Saturday, Vijayanand said he was yet to get a report from the vigilance. "Once the report is received, appropriate steps will be taken."

Jose was to meet the media on Saturday. He is said to be now considering taking legal action. Abraham has written to Vijayan against Thomas.

Vijayan has promised that action will be taken if it was found that the vigilance inspection at Abraham`s home was done in an inappropriate manner.

On Friday, an officer who raided Abraham`s house here was served a show cause notice.
Imphal: Unidentified attackers on Saturday set off a medium-intensity Improvised Explosive Device (IED) at Gandhi Avenue, the main commercial hub of Imphal, police said.

Though it damaged glass panes of some buildings, there was no casualty, the police said.

The blast occurred at around 7.30 am in a narrow lane at Gandhi Avenue beside an automobile spare outlet.
Kolkata: The political honeymoon between the CPI(M) and the Congress in West Bengal is over with the parties, who were alliance partners in this year's Assembly poll, fielding their own candidates in the coming by-polls without so much as a dialogue between the two.

The state will witness by-polls in two Lok Sabha constituencies and one Assembly constituency on November 19.

After the disastrous performance of the Congress-CPI(M) alliance in the last Assembly poll, the CPI(M) was under fire from both its central leadership and Left Front partners.

CPI(M) politburo member and Left Front Chairman Biman Bose while announcing the list of candidates said they had not discussed anything with the Congress and told the party workers that it will fight the elections on its own.

The state Congress leadership, which was keen on continuing the alliance in the state, decided to hit back at the Marxist party and fielded its own candidates for the bypolls.

The CPI(M) state leadership cited their helplessness in carrying forward the alliance in the state as the party's central unit was against it.

"We wanted to continue this alliance, but our central committee was against it as forging an alliance or seat adjustment, which was done in last Assembly polls, is seen as a violation of party line adopted in the party congress," a senior CPI(M) central committee leader from Bengal told PTI.

However, he said, the party would conduct joint protest and agitations with the Congress, if they agree, but confirmed there would be no alliance.

The Congress, infuriated by the CPI(M)'s decision to go it alone has decided not only to field candidates but also to rethink whether to continue joint agitation programmes.

"They didn't even bother to inform us. Why should we go and beg before them for an alliance. We know it very well that if the CPI(M) and the Congress fight separately it will help TMC. Now it is for the CPI(M) to take the call as nothing can succeed unilaterally," state Congress president Adhir Chowdhury said.

According to CPI(M) state leaders, joint agitation and programmes with the Congress will prepare the ground for an alliance in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

"If we just go for an alliance without any joint movements, people will consider us opportunists," the CPI(M) leader said.

The state Congress leadership is, however, adamant on rethinking whether to continue the alliance or not.

The alliance between the CPI(M) and Congress failed to have much impact in the last assembly polls, as TMC single handedly won 211 seats with the alliance getting just 76 seats.

The TMC, which too had announced the list of candidates, said they were least bothered whether the alliance exists or not.

"Let them do whatever they want to. Did they achieve anything through the alliance they had forged in the last Assembly polls? The people have given a befitting reply to the opportunism. The people are with Mamata Banerjee and it will be reflected again in by-poll," TMC national vice-president Mukul Roy told PTI.

The TMC had got a shot in the arm as Greater Cooch Behar People's Association (GCPA) had extended its support to the party for the upcoming byelection in the Cooch Behar Lok Sabha seat.

The BJP, which had recently inducted controversial former CPI(M) leader Lakshman Seth, who was perceived to be the man behind the Nandigram trouble, too has announced its list of candidates and is hoping to make the most from the four-cornered contest in the bypolls.
Aden: A car laden with explosives blew up near the headquarters of Yemen`s central bank in the southern city of Aden on Saturday and five people were injured, local security sources said.

Security guards fired at the car as it moved at high speed towards the bank`s building and it then blew up, they said.

The blast caused minor damage to the building in a central district of Aden known as Crater and two cars nearby, one belonging to security guards and the other to a private citizen, caught fire and burned.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

It was believed to be the first attempt to target the central bank since President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi`s decision in September to appoint a new governor and move its headquarters from the capital Sanaa, controlled by Houthi rebels, to the southern port city of Aden, where his government is based.

Hadi is backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition that has been trying to roll back gains made by the Iran-aligned Houthis since 2014 and restore the president to power.
Manila: Chinese vessels have left the contested Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, a Philippine official said Saturday, less than a week after President Rodrigo Duterte visited Beijing pledging closer ties.

The firebrand leader used the trip to vaunt his move away from traditional ally the United States in favour of Beijing -- which was previously at loggerheads with Manila over the maritime dispute.

China took control of the Scarborough Shoal, 230 kilometres (140 miles) from the main Philippine island of Luzon, in 2012, driving Filipino fishermen away from the rich fishing ground, sometimes using water cannons.

In a case brought by former president Benigno Aquino, the Philippines won a resounding victory at an international tribunal earlier this year over Beijing`s extensive maritime claims in the area, infuriating the Asian giant.

But Duterte has made a point of not flaunting the ruling and President Xi Jinping told the Philippine leader on his recent visit that there was no reason for hostility and difficult topics of discussion "could be shelved temporarily".

"There is no sign of Chinese coastguard vessels in the area. While we do not have any official explanation for this, it sends a positive signal regarding relations," Duterte`s spokesman Ernesto Abella told AFP Saturday, referring to the shoal.

"This is a welcome development especially for Filipino fisherfolk."

Duterte had hinted at the possibility of a Chinese withdrawal directly upon his return from Beijing last week, saying: "We`ll just wait for a few more days. We might be able to return to Scarborough Shoal."

On Friday, Defence Minister Delfin Lorenzana said: "If the Chinese ships have left then it means our fishermen can resume fishing in the area."

However the foreign affairs department said they had yet to verify that Chinese vessels had left the shoal.

A report by television network GMA7 said fishermen from the northern province of Pangasinan had returned to shore Saturday with "a huge load of big species of fish" caught at Scarborough Shoal.
Jerusalem: Preservation experts have opened for the first time in at least two centuries what Christians believe is Jesus`s tomb inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

Some of the historic work was witnessed by AFP photographer Gali Tibbon who captured images of the site believed to contain the rock upon which Jesus was laid in around 33 AD as it was uncovered as part of ongoing restoration at the site.

A marble slab covering the site, among the holiest in Christianity, was pulled back for three days as part of both restoration work and archaeological analysis, experts on the scene told AFP.

It was the first time the marble had been removed since at least 1810, when the last restoration work took place following a fire, and possibly earlier, said Father Samuel Aghoyan, the church`s Armenian superior.

A painting of Jesus can be seen in the narrow area above where the marble slab was removed.

Debris and material was found beneath the marble and was being further studied, Aghoyan said.

"It is moving in a sense, something we`ve been talking about so many centuries," Aghoyan told AFP.

National Geographic has been documenting the restoration work which is being carried out by a team of Greek specialists.

It reported that "the exposure of the burial bed is giving researchers an unprecedented opportunity to study the original surface of what is considered the most sacred site in Christianity"."My knees are shaking a little bit," Fred Hiebert, an archaeologist-in-residence at the National Geographic Society, said in a video on the magazine`s website during the work at the shrine.

A shrine was built in the 19th century over the site of the cave where Jesus is believed to have been buried before his resurrection, and it is visited by throngs of tourists and pilgrims each day.

Earlier this year, a major restoration project began on the site, surrounded by a structure called an edicule and located at the centre of the church in Jerusalem`s Old City, underneath its dome.

The project required the agreement of the various Christian denominations that share the church, which also contains the area where Jesus is believed to have been crucified and his body anointed.

The restoration project is expected to be completed around March 2017, in time for Easter, and the site has remained open to visitors for nearly the entire time, although the ornate edicule has been surrounded by scaffolding.

Its marble slabs have weakened over the years, caused in part by the thousands of people who visit daily.

The shrine is being painstakingly dismantled and rebuilt, the Custody of the Holy Land, which oversees Roman Catholic properties in the area, has said previously.

Broken or fragile parts are to be replaced while marble slabs that can be preserved will be cleaned, and the structure supporting them will be reinforced.

The work is being funded by the three main Christian denominations of the Holy Sepulchre -- Greek Orthodox, Franciscans and Armenians -- and by public and private contributions.
Lahore: The Pakistan government on Saturday sacked Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid over the recent "leaked" media report about a rift between the civilian and military leaderships on support to militancy.

The Prime Minister's spokesman Musadiq Malik confirmed that "initial evidence" was against Rashid in the leak of sensitive information of a high profile national security meeting.

"Investigation into controversial story is in the final stage and it will be shared with media in a couple of days. Who was responsible for the leakage of sensitive information to the Dawn reporter will be known soon," Malik said adding "investigation is still underway".

Rashid is a close aide of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and reports suggest that the anti-army information could not have been leaked to the media without his consent.

PTI leader Imran Khan welcomed the ouster of Rashid saying a "darbari" (courtier) of Sharif had gone and others would go soon as well.

In another development, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif left for Dubai along with his family at a time when Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has said it will lock down Islamabad on November 2 to protest against Sharif over corruption allegations.

A rift between the civilian and military leaderships on the powerful ISI's covert support to terror groups in the country was the subject of a news report in The Dawn newspaper.

The widely read daily stood by the story issued on October 6, saying it was "verified, cross-checked and fact-checked".

A travel ban on Cyril Almeida, the journalist who wrote the story, had sparked massive criticism of the government and the military from media houses, journalist associations and civil society.

Almeida's name was put on the Exit Control List but the ban was later lifted after the backlash against the government.

Later the government constituted a committee to investigate the matter.
Jerusalem: A Palestinian attacked Israeli troops with his car and then with a knife in the occupied West Bank before being shot and seriously wounded, the army said on Saturday.

The attack happened late on Friday near the Jewish settlement of Ofra, northeast of the city of Ramallah, an Army statement said.

The assailant attempted to run over soldiers with his car, prompting them to open fire. He then got out of the vehicle brandishing a knife and troops fired again, seriously wounding him, the statement said.

There has been a spate of car-ramming and knife attacks in Israel and the Palestinian territories, most of them in the West Bank or annexed east Jerusalem.

Analysts say Palestinian frustration with the Israeli occupation and settlement-building in the West Bank, comatose peace efforts and their own fractured leadership have fed the unrest.

Israel says incitement by Palestinian leaders and media is a leading cause.

Human rights groups have accused Israeli security forces of using excessive and often lethal force in tackling the violence, most of which has been carried out by lone-wolf assailants, many of them young.

Internal reviews by the army of two fatal shootings of attackers earlier this month found that the use of deadly force could have been avoided, public radio reported on Tuesday.

Since October last year, the violence has claimed the lives of 235 Palestinians, 36 Israelis, two Americans, a Jordanian, an Eritrean and a Sudanese, according to an AFP count.
Sanaa: Saudi-led coalition air strikes killed at least 10 civilians in a battleground town south-east of Yemen`s third city Taez on Saturday, the rebels, a medic and a loyalist official said.

The rebel-controlled sabanews.net website said 10 people were killed and seven wounded when the strikes hit residential buildings in the town of Salo where clashes with government forces are raging.

It said rescue workers were still recovering bodies from under the rubble.

A doctor at the town`s public hospital said it had received the bodies of 15 dead and was treating seven wounded.

A local official loyal to the Saudi-backed government said a child and seven women were among 11 people killed when two coalition air strikes hit three adjacent homes by mistake.

"All those in the houses were killed," he told AFP.

The Saudi-led coalition has come under mounting international criticism for the high civilian death toll from the bombing campaign it launched in support of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi`s government in March last year.

An October 8 strike that killed more than 140 people attending a funeral ceremony for the father of a rebel leader in the capital Sanaa drew condemnation even from close Western allies.

The town of Salo has been the scene of fierce fighting for months as pro-Hadi forces attempt to advance towards Taez, where the government garrison is almost entirely surrounded by the rebels and dependent on a single supply line from the south.

The rebels have been attempting to block the advance which would allow reinforcements to be brought up directly along the main road from the government`s headquarters in second city Aden to the south.

Thousands of people have been forced from their homes by the fighting.

The rebel news agency said that those killed in Saturday`s air strikes were among them.

Nationwide, three million Yemenis have been driven from their homes since the Saudi-led intervention began.

Nearly 7,000 people have been killed, most of them civilians and, more than than 35,000 wounded.
Bangkok: Thousands of Thais streamed into the gates of Bangkok`s Grand Palace on Saturday as the public was granted its first chance to enter the throne hall where the body of late King Bhumibol Adulyadej is lying in state.

Bhumibol, who died aged 88 two weeks ago, was adored by many of his subjects and seen as an anchor of stability in a kingdom rocked by political turmoil.

His passing has thrust the country into a year of official mourning, with many Thais wearing only black and white since his death and TV channels devoting hours of airtime to footage from his 70-year reign.

For the past two weeks crowds have massed outside the Grand Palace, a compound of shimmering temples and pavilions in Bangkok`s old quarter, to pay tribute before a portrait of the late monarch.

But Saturday was the first time the public has been allowed to enter the ornate throne hall where his body is lying in a coffin, out of sight, near a gilded urn.

"I have been waiting here since 1:00 am," said Saman Daoruang, an 84-year-old sitting in a massive queue that snaked around a large field outside the palace.

Like many in the crowd, Saman camped out under a tent on the grassy parade grounds, having arrived in Bangkok by train from northern Nakhon Sawan province.

"But I wasn`t able to sleep because I was so thrilled and proud to come here," he told AFP, clutching several portraits of the monarch.

An initial plan to limit visitors to 10,000 per day was dropped Saturday after crowds swelled to 100,000, according to a monitoring centre outside the palace.

However, Sansern Kaewkamnerd, a government spokesman, urged people "not to rush to come in the early days" as the throne hall would be open for "a long time".

Thailand`s arch-royalist military government, which came to power in a 2014 coup, has encouraged mass displays of devotion for the late king and arranged a flurry of the free bus, train and boat rides to move mourners to the capital.

It has also stepped up its enforcement of lese majeste -- a law that punishes criticism of the monarchy with up to 15 years in prison per infringement.

All media based in Thailand must self-censor to avoid falling foul of the law.

The legislation has also severely curbed public discussion about the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, who has yet to attract the same level of devotion as his father.

In a move that surprised many and veered from tradition, the 64-year-old asked to delay his proclamation as king in order to grieve with the nation, according the junta.

The government has not provided a clear timeline for when he will formally ascend the throne.
Istanbul: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Saturday said his government would ask parliament to consider reintroducing the death penalty as a punishment for the plotters behind the July coup bid.

"Our government will take this (proposal on capital punishment) to parliament. I am convinced that parliament will approve it, and when it comes back to me, I will ratify it," Erdogan said at an inauguration ceremony in Ankara.

"Soon, soon, don't worry. It's happening soon, God willing," he said, as attending crowds chanted: "We want the death penalty!"

Capital punishment was abolished in Turkey in 2004 as the nation sought accession to the European Union.

After the failed bid to unseat Erdogan on July 15, the leader had threatened to bring the death penalty back for the coup plotters, stunning EU leaders.

Relations between Brussels and Ankara have been strained since Turkey responded to the coup by launching a relentless crackdown against alleged plotters in state institutions, amid calls from the EU to act within the rule of law.

Today, Erdogan scoffed at the West's warnings on the death penalty.

"The West says this, the West says that. Excuse me, but what counts is not what the West says. What counts is what my people say," he said, during a ceremony to inaugurate a high-speed train station in the Turkish capital.

More than 35,000 people have been arrested in the crackdown unleashed after the failed coup, according to official data.

Ankara accuses exiled Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen of masterminding the coup -- a claim he denies.

Erdogan's government has also repeatedly called on the United States, where Gulen lives, to extradite him.
Istanbul: An influential Turkish opposition lawmaker was shot and injured Saturday by unidentified assailants who attacked him in a restaurant, according to the Anadolou news agency.

Bulent Tezcan, deputy leader of the CHP party, was in a stable condition in hospital following the attack in which he was shot in the leg with a handgun, the agency reported.

The incident happened in a restaurant in Aydin, southwest Turkey. Tezcan was taken to hospital shortly afterwards.

The attackers fled the scene following the incident.

The motive of the attack was not immediately known, but tensions in Turkey are soaring following a failed coup attempt in July as well as a series of attacks blamed on both outlawed Kurdish organisations as well as the Islamic State group.

In August the motorcade of CHP chief Kemal Kilicdaroglu came under attack and was shot at by unidentified men who used automatic weapons.

Three soldiers were injured during the incident in northeast Turkey.

Tezcan was previously been injured during a brawl in the Turkish parliament in 2014.
Columbia: The United States ordered the relatives of staff members in its consulate in Istanbul to leave the country Saturday, warning that "extremist groups" are targeting American citizens for attack.

The order was announced in the second travel warning that the State Department issued for Americans in Turkey in only a week, reflecting US concerns about "increased threats from terrorist groups."
Aden: Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi on Saturday rejected a peace proposal presented to him by UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, a presidency source told AFP.

Hadi "received Ould Cheikh Ahmed and refused to take the UN proposal" handed to him by the envoy, the source said.

Contents of the roadmap which the envoy presented to the rebels on Tuesday have not been made public, but according to informed sources its terms include easing Hadi out of power.
An explosion followed by a fire rocked BASF's plant in Ludwigshafen, where 36,000 people work on October 17, 2016

The BASF chemical giant on Saturday said a firefighter injured in an explosion at its plant in western Germany earlier this month had died, pushing the death toll up to four.

"This morning, one of the BASF firefighters who was critically injured in the October 17 explosion ... succumbed to his wounds," BASF said in a statement.

An explosion followed by a fire rocked the chemical giant's plant in Ludwigshafen, where 36,000 people work.

Another seven people were critically injured and 22 others slightly wounded.

BASF employs over 100,000 people around the world and had sales of more than 70 billion euros ($76.77 billion) in 2015.

The firm's worst accidents lie many decades in the past, including a 1921 explosion in a Ludwigshafen ammonia factory that killed 585 people and a 1948 accident on the same site in which 207 were killed and 3,800 injured.
North Carolina is one of many states in which telcoms lobbyists have gotten the state house to ban towns and cities from selling high-speed internet to the public  even in places where the cable/phone duopoly refuses to supply broadband.

FCC Chairman and decidedly non-dingo babysitter Tom Wheeler pushed through FCC rules invalidating these state laws, only to have Republican lawmakers and telcoms lobbyists use the courts to win back the right to force people to buy internet service from cable or phone companies, or do without if neither wish to supply internet to them.





The town of Wilson, North Carolina was one of the places whose municipal fiber ISP was threatened by the court decision, but after a close read of the rule, they've decided that since they're only banned from selling broadband, they can safely give it away for free. Wilson is offering free broadband to people outside the town limits, whose rural homes are not adequately served by Big Telco, and who were hammered hard by Hurricane Matthew.

The plan is to offer the service for free for six months and hope that during that time the state legislature  the same one that passed the awful, nonsensical "bathroom bill"  will come to its senses and strike down the ban on municipal internet service. Lotsa luck.

The North Carolina state law imposes several limits on the ability of municipalities to offer communications services. However, the law defines the services as those offered "for a fee." Offering free Internet access apparently would not violate the law. Greenlight is not offering free cable TV service to the non-residents because of how expensive that would be. But for phone and Internet service, Greenlight's wholesale providers agreed to waive their fees during the six-month period. "While the short-term fix is not perfect, it was the only alternative we had to disconnecting our neighbors," Wilson Mayor Bruce Rose said. "Taking broadband service from the people of Pinetops would have been a terrible blow, especially when they are still recovering from Hurricane Matthew." The free service will be terminated before the six months are up if the state legislature changes the law.



City ISP makes broadband free because state law prohibits selling access

[Jon Brodkin/Ars Technica]

(via /.)
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By Sushant Mehta: Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Fawad Khan, Imran Abbas, Lisa Haydon

Direction: Karan Johar

Rating: (3.5/5)

Firstly a confession, I hate Karan Johar's brand of cinema. KJo's films are formulaic, overtly melodramatic and downright suffocating with an overload of fake, forced emotions. But Ae Dil Hai Mushkil is unlike any of his earlier films.



Ae Dil Hai Mushkil is an honest film, in many ways KJo's biggest risk in terms of the story and screenplay. There is real fear at the heart of this romantic drama, the fear of losing the one you love.

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ALSO READ | Ae Dil Hai Mushkil box office collection: Ranbir-Anushka starrer sees a cracking first day

ALSO SEE | SHIVAAY vs AE DIL HAI MUSHKIL FULL COVERAGE

It might seem like the characters have deliberately been designed to unsettle the audience with uneasy yet stimulating emotional exchanges, but all of them have a very relatable and charming vulnerability about them.

Ranbir Kapoor is Ayan, a sensitive man-child who falls in love, and I mean completely, all out, gone - in love with Alizeh (Anushka Sharma), who in many ways liberates Ranbir from living in the shadow of his rich father. Alizeh is brash, she knows how to have a good time and has that sarcastic sense of humour that one attains after going through a heartbreak. You know there's that one love of your life that you can't completely get over, no matter how hard you try. For Alizeh that love is Ali, her 'tabaahi' - Fawad Khan - who after all the hullabaloo, has performed well in exactly three scenes that he has in the film.



When Ae Dil Hai Mushkil begins, the script seems a little contrived. Ranbir is underplaying his character to the max, Anushka is trying hard to come across as a happy-go-lucky character, but as the film progresses, you get used to both the characters. Anushka is in top form and Ranbir visibly submits himself to the script and the director. Always true to his craft, this is another ace performance by Ranbir.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan enters the frame post intermission. Her passionate and steamy affair with Ranbir is much more than just a rebound relationship. Ash plays Saba the 'shayara' (poetess). This is Aishwarya's best performance in a long time. She delivers the Urdu dialogues splendidly, and proves that she too is capable of a standout performance whenever she receives a genuine script. Talking about the script, Karan Johar wrote this film himself and you can see shades of his personality in each character, the introverted crybaby Ranbir, quick-witted Anushka Sharma, uppity Lisa Haydon, who by the way is really good in her small cameo.



As you might know by now, Shah Rukh Khan has a special appearance in the film. He is completely overshadowed by both Ranbir and Aishwarya. SRK brings back memories of KJo's '90s and 2000s blockbusters as he delivers his dialogues in his classic superstar mode, but unfortunately for him, that era is long gone. On the other hand, KJo has reinvented himself with Ranbir at the helm of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, it's like the official passing of the baton from the yesteryear superstar to the new-age sensation.

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I'm going with 3.5 out of 5 for Karan Johar's Ae Dil hai Mushkil. What is love? Imagination.

--- ENDS ---
American Airlines flight 383 bound for Miami caught fire at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport just when it was about to take off. While no one was seriously hurt, seven passengers and one flight attendant were taken to hospital for minor injuries.

Soot covers the fuselage of an American Airlines jet that blew a tire, sparking a fire and prompting the pilot to abort takeoff before passengers were evacuated from the plane via emergency chute, at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago; Photo: Reuters

By Reuters: An American Airlines jet caught fire moments before it was due to depart O'Hare International Airport in Chicago on Friday, prompting the crew to abort takeoff and evacuate passengers via emergency chutes, authorities said.

Although no serious injuries were reported, seven passengers and one flight attendant were taken to hospital for minor injuries.

The takeoff of American Airlines Flight 383, a Boeing 767 bound for Miami with 161 passengers and a crew of nine, was prompted by an "engine-related issue," the airline said in a statement.

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The Federal Aviation Administration cited a blown-out tire reported by the flight crew as the plane was rolling down the runway before takeoff was aborted.

Neither the FAA nor the airline mentioned a fire.

Also Read: Emirates flight from India crash-lands, catches fire at Dubai airport as landing gear fails

FOOTAGE SHOWS FLAMES, CLOUDS OF BLACK SMOKE

But footage from Chicago's ABC News affiliate station, WLS-TV, showed an American Airlines jet on the ground with flames and large clouds of black smoke billowing from one side of the aircraft, which had its emergency slides deployed. Passengers milled about watching the blaze as fire trucks poured water on the flames.

Smoke rises after an American Airlines jet (background) blew a tire, sparking a fire and prompting the pilot to abort takeoff ; Photo: Reuters

A video clip posted on Facebook by Hector Gustavo Cardenas, who was on the plane, shows passengers shouting at each other to hurry as they move down the aisle to the emergency exit slide.

"15 Seconds later would have been on the air and would have been a good bye..." he wrote on Facebook.

The Chicago Department of Aviation confirmed in a statement that the city fire department responded to an aircraft fire involving American Airlines Flight 383 and that the passengers were off the plane. It said no crash was involved.



From India Today magazine: Horror in the sky

7 PASSENGERS, 1 FLIGHT ATTENDANT TAKEN TO HOSPITAL FOR MINOR INJURIES

The company said seven passengers and one flight attendant were taken to a hospital for evaluation of minor injuries.

An American Airlines spokeswoman said the injuries were typical of those associated with evacuating a commercial jet, such as muscle sprains, and that none involved burns or smoke inhalation.

The incident forced the closure of at least three of the airport's eight runways, the city Aviation Department said.

By about two hours after the incident, the airport had experienced 130 delays of departing flights and 170 inbound flights, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware.com

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As the mishap unfolded, tower controllers at O'Hare began ordering inbound aircraft to abort their landing approaches and "go around," initially closing all runways so emergency vehicles could reach the stricken aircraft, according to audio recordings of the main tower frequency posted by the website liveatc.net.

Asked by the pilot of one inbound plane to explain the maneuver, a tower controller is heard saying, "Vehicles have rights to all the runways right now because an American engine burst into flame on the rollout," the tapes showed.

Operations later resumed on the north side of O'Hare airport, one of the world's busiest, according to web tracking sites and a live feed of tower conversations from liveatc.net.

In September last year, a British Airways jetliner engine caught fire in Las Vegas as the plane was about to take off for London, forcing all 172 passengers and crew to escape as smoke and flames engulfed the aircraft.

Also Read:

Two Indigo planes in near-miss over Guwahati, six injured

Singapore Airlines engine trouble sets wing on fire, 241 evacuated safely

Air India flight makes emergency landing in Mumbai, all passengers safe



--- ENDS ---
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to revisit disability pension and OROP decision to remove the flaws.

By Indo-Asian News Service: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that decisions taken by the government over the past few weeks had adversely affected the morale of the armed forces and caused them "pain and hurt".

In a letter written to the prime minister on Friday and released to media on Saturday, Rahul said that he was saddened by actions taken by the government in the last few weeks and urged that soldiers should be shown care not only through words but actions.

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READ: Government rejects reports claiming disability pension cut for soldiers

'GIVE RIGHT MESSAGE TO SOLDIERS'

"As we celebrate Diwali, and rejoice in the victory of light over darkness, let us send this message to our soldiers that our gratitude is expressed both in words and in deed. This is the very least we owe to those who give up their today for secure our tomorrow," he said.

Rahul Gandhi called upon PM Modi to address "anomalies" in the 7th Pay Commission as regards the armed forces and implement the one rank, one pension (OROP) in a meaningful way.

READ: Kejriwal writes to PM Modi: Roll back disability pension decision, revamp OROP



"I am writing to bring to your attention several reports emerging in the media about decisions taken over the last few weeks by the government, that I believe adversely affect the morale of our armed forces," he said.

"I am saddened that in the last few weeks actions taken by the government, far from reassuring the soldiers, have indeed caused them pain and hurt," he said in the letter. WATCH:







RAISES DISABILITY PENSION, OROP

Rahul noted that just days after the Indian army conducted surgical strikes on terrorist launching-pads over the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, "the disability pension system was converted to a new slab system, that in many instances drastically reduces the pension received by these brave men in case of a disability".

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi wrote a letter to PM Modi on Saturday.



He said the roll out of the 7th Pay Commission continues to keep our defence forces at a disadvantage and "further exacerbate the disparity between them and civil employees".

"And finally, contrary to what was promised, OROP as implemented by your government, does not fully meet the genuine demands of our ex-servicemen and they have been forced to come out on the streets to make their voice heard on this vital issue," Rahul said.

Rahul Gandhi's letter to PM Modi.

--- ENDS ---
Celebrated today, a night before Kali Pujo, Bhoot Chaturdashi is quite similar to Halloween in all its eerie, ghost-induced glory.

By India Today Web Desk: How fascinated were you with Halloween as a kid? Did Headless Nick's Deathday party intrigue you, or was it Beetlejuice, or Goosebumps' creepy Jack-O-Lanterns? Did you ever wish you could go around the neighbourhood trick-o-treating, demanding candy?

Now, many have reservations about celebrating a Western holiday. While there's no proper reason to feel that way (unless it includes wasting food or hurting someone, neither of which Halloween does), there could be middle path for this.

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We Indians have a Halloween day of our own.

No, we are not talking about Diwali, or Kali Pujo, but the day before that. It's called, as many Bengalis would know, Bhoot Chaturdashi.

Also read: HappyDiwali: Did you do these things this year?



WHAT IS BHOOT CHATURDASHI?

Celebrated a night before Kali Pujo, Bhoot Chaturdashi is all about warding off the evil spirits. It doesn't quite include going trick-o-treating for candies, but it does include eating 14 kinds of leafy greens, and instead of Jack-o-lanterns, we light 14 lamps.

These 14 lamps are set around the house, especially in the dark corners, to chase the (if you believe) dark spirits away. Many also believe that the number of lamps represent the 14 forefathers. If you have a Bong friend, ask them and they will tell you all about the idiom Choddo Purush (14 forefathers).

You can sense how inspired Bengalis are with Bhoot Chaturdashi with this song from movie Bhooter Bhabishyat (Future Of The Past/Ghost), dedicated solely to ghosts celebrating Bhoot Chaturdashi at a haunted house:





HOW IS BHOOT CHATURDASHI SIMILAR TO HALLOWEEN?

First and foremost, both deal with the dark and eerie beliefs of a ghost world.

Another similarity between the two is the belief of the descention of the dead. According to its mythology, on Halloween, the 'gateway' between the dead and the living opens. Hence, allowing the dead to crawl your streets.

Quite similarly, on Bhoot Chaturdashi, it is believed that the last 14 forefathers of a family visit their living relatives on this. (Ahem, yeah.)

Then, there's the custom of light to keep away evil: one has gutted pumpkins, the other has 14 oil lamps.

Also, if you look at it this way, both Halloween and Bhoot Chaturdashi include the healthy custom of using vegetables in the day's rituals and then consuming them at a day-end fest. For example: again, Jack-o-lanterns come with an assortment of pumpkins dishes, while Bhoot Chaturdashi has the 14 sorts of leafy greens.

Also read: 7 reasons why you should give up bursting crackers this Diwali in Delhi



Source: Giphy Source: Giphy

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WHAT'S THE STORY BEHIND BHOOT CHATURDASHI?

There are many fables around this day. According to one, Bhoot Chaturdashi started with slacker Brahmin many, many years. He and his wife never cleaned and tidied their house, and so, in the garbage spill all over the place, ghosts had started living.

One day, when he got the shock of his life upon seeing a spectre rise from a pile of trash in his house, he and his wife learned a lesson. On that day, they cleaned their home, and purified it by sprinkling clean water off 14 kinds of leafy greens around the house.

There is also a belief, especially in rural Bengal, that tantriks were known to kidnap children the night before Kali Pujo and sacrifice them the next day to gain dark magic powers. So, Bhoot Chaturdashi is also often believed to be a custom to keep the children safe by keeping them busy at home with leafy green food and other rituals.

Also read: #BeTheirSuperhero: Make this Diwali a safe one for your pets



Source: Giphy



Bhoot Chaturdashi is not as big a deal as Halloween, and it doesn't have all the candies. But it does have the ghosts, the fun that comes from all that's eerie, all the folklores about ghosts... Well, their stories are more about vampires and werewolves, while ours about petnis and pishach.

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But look at it this way, in a parallel world where all's dark and dead, vampires and petnis are the same thing, maybe even cordial, fence-sharing neighbours.

Happy Bhoot Chaturdashi!

Source: Debasrita Sarkar/ Flickr

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Good Friday morning!

Our WaPo-ABC tracking poll had the race Clinton 47, Trump 44 this morning.

Aaron Blake and I will be putting out our updated electoral map ratings after this chat.

The Post is doing a live election night show with yours truly.

And, the Nats just inked Gio Gonzalez for another year.

Big week!

Let's chat.
Birds in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala have tested positive of avian influenza AH5N8, which according to the World Health Organisation, is considered less risky of being transmitted to humans.

Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi have not reported any mortality of birds in recent times. Photo: PTI

By Press Trust of India: The bird flu situation "is under control and there is no need to panic" as state governments are taking steps to prevent spread of the disease, the Centre said today.

Also read: Bird flu scare: Here's what you need to know about the virus



UNDER CONTROL

Birds in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala have tested positive of avian influenza AH5N8, which according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), is considered less risky of being transmitted to humans. But the government is taking no chances and is reviewing the situation on a daily basis.

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Also read: India's poultry farming regulations under scanner in lieu of bird flu outbreak in Delhi



"The situation is under control and there is no need to panic," Animal Husbandry Secretary Devendra Chaudhry said after reviewing the overall situation of avian influenza in the country.

Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi have not reported any mortality of birds, he said in a statement.

On October 27, only one mortality in wild bird was reported from Sanjay Jheel, Shakti Sthal, New Delhi. "The control and containment operation is over in Rajpura in Patiala district, Punjab. Surveillance is being carried out."

Also read: Delhi bird flu update: Delhi zoo, Deer Park to be shut until normalcy returns



PREVENTIVE MEASURES UNDERTAKEN

In Kerala, the secretary said that the state government has initiated control and containment operations from October 26 at epicenter village Ramankary and Thakazhy in Alappuzha district and culling process is on.

One scientist from Southern Regional Disease Diagnosis Laboratory (SRDDL), Bengaluru has been deputed to Kerala as a Central Observer to oversee and guide the control and containment operations, he said.

The state governments have been directed to be vigilant and ensure the surveillance of the disease and take all bio- security or preventive measures, he added.

Watch video here

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Taking advantage of the high economic growth rates in the region is a key goal for many investors to move beyond just investing in Singapore. There are numerous ways for investors to approach this, all with their own pros and cons. We takes a look at three of these ways:

The Direct Approach



For investors in Singapore, one approach to accessing regional markets is direct investment in those markets or in the stock exchange listings in those markets. Cross-border investment is relatively easy and major established stock exchanges exist in most of Singapores neighbouring countries, including:

Thailand, Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET)

Malaysia, Bursa Malaysia (MYX)

Indonesia, Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX)

Philippines, Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE)

Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HOSE) and Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX)

Investing directly on regional exchanges has the benefit of being less expensive than investing in these countries through a Singapore-based intermediary. Investing in a Singapore-based management fund that then reinvests in a regional market comes with the cost of having to pay for an additional layer of management fees.

However, direct investment in regional markets does come at the risk presented by varying degrees of financial and regulatory standards. Unless International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are universally adopted in a country, the underlying accounting standards can differ greatly from those in Singapore. This can mean that looking at the same figure (ie revenues) for a Singaporean versus a Vietnamese company can actually not be comparative, as local rules can allow different inclusions in the figure.

Additionally, many of the regional markets around Singapore do not have the same stringent regulatory frameworks in place. This can result in losses for an investor who assumes regulatory standards, for example auditor independence, are universal.

The SGX Approach



As one of the larger stock exchange listings in Asia, the Singapore Exchange (SGX) holds a large number of foreign listings, with companies in other regional markets using the SGX in order to raise capital. With over 200 foreign listings on the SGX, half of which are Chinese, Singapore-based investors can utilise their home exchange to invest in regional markets directly.

Story continues

A key benefit to this is that a foreign company that wants to list on the SGX has to follow the same financial reporting and regulatory framework as any other Singapore-based company that is listed. This ensures a degree of security for Singapore-based investors in terms of reducing some risks faced when investing directly in other regions financial markets.

The drawback of this approach to investing in regional markets is the nature of the companies that will choose to list on the SGX. Most of these companies will already be large and relatively mature, which means that they will not generate the significant year-over-year growth seen in many smaller growth phase companies. While they may generate better returns than a comparable company in Singapore, due to a generally faster growing underlying economy, the significant growth targeted by investing in regional markets likely wont be obtained.

The Fund Approach



Another approach to accessing regional markets is through using investment funds that focus on investments in those markets. There are funds that not only focus on specific regional markets, for example an Indonesian focus, but also on specific industries that span regional markets, for example healthcare. With this approach, a Singapore-based investor can invest with a locally based fund manager who uses his or her expertise to evaluate the investment prospects of specific regional markets.

A key benefit of this is that an informed investment manager can mitigate some of the risks associated with investing directly in regional markets. Specifically, the manager should have good understanding of the financial and regulatory frameworks that exist in the relevant markets. A bit of research with a fund manager is always recommended, however, to ensure this is the case as essentially that is what the manager is being paid to provide.

The fundamental downside to investing with any fund manager is that the manager comes at a price. Any fund manager requires a fee, which is typically based on either the size of your overall investment or the returns that the manager generates. These fees can quickly eat away at the overall returns of an investment portfolio, so its important to have a clear understanding of not only the fees the fund charges but also how those fees stack up against competing funds.

(By Jeffrey Glen)

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- Now might be a good time to consider investing in a few Singapore stocks

- Japanese Real Estate in the Eyes of a Singapore Resident
2016 in coming to a close and it is now time for you to look at your investment portfolios. Heres a look at four sectors for you to consider investing in come 2017 in Singapore:

Consumer Staples







Source: Unsplash

Source: Unsplash

According to a recent survey by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Singapores economy is expected to grow by 1.8% next year, instead of the 2.1% stated in a similar survey conducted in June. However, the latest survey also showed that private consumption was one area of optimism.

The survey saw an expected uptick in private consumption from a 2.5% growth rate to a 3% growth rate in 2017, one of a few domestic industries that saw an increase in expected growth compared to the June survey.

This makes consumer staples, which is the largest destination for domestic private consumption, a key sector to focus on in 2017. Investors should consider taking a closer look at companies that produce these essential products, such as food, beverages and household items.

Construction







Source: Unsplash

Source: Unsplash

The same MAS survey showed a still optimistic view being taken as to the expected growth in the construction industry in Singapore. While the expected growth did decline to 3%, from 3.3% in June, this still sees construction tied with private consumption as the biggest driver for growth in the Singapore economy. Domestic demand is expected to drive a lot of this growth.

There is also a great deal of planned government expenditure on infrastructure, such as expansions to the Mass Rapid Transit network and healthcare facilities.

Investors would be well-advised to consider the domestic construction industry and particularly companies related to work in the sectors that can expect government expenditure windfalls. While construction isnt necessarily a new or flashy industry, investment is a game of returns and the economic consensus for this industry is positive.





Reinsurance Industry







Source: Unsplash

Source: Unsplash

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One aspect of the financial services sector that is expected to see significant growth in 2017 is the reinsurance segment. This year has seen a compound annual growth rate of 17.5% so far and there doesnt seem to be any sign of this slowing down.

A key driver to the sector has been government incentives for reinsurers as Singapore seeks to become a leader in the market and a regional reinsurance hub. Natural disasters throughout the region in 2016 has further reinforced the drive for insurers to offload some of their risk to reinsurers, for greater and greater shares of the premiums they charge.





Domestic Exports







Source: Unsplash

Source: Unsplash

Key sectors to focus on in 2017 arent solely those that can be expected to grow the most during the year. One sector in Singapore that is expected to see a decline is the non-oil domestic exports market. In the MAS survey, this is the only sector in Singapore that is expected to decline in 2017 (3.6% compared to 2.1% in the June survey). The outlook for this sector is not good as it is not expected to recover from the declines it already experienced in 2016.

A down market sector provides a number of opportunities for investors to act upon.

Firstly, an investor currently holding investments in the domestic export sector may want to consider reassessing their position and divesting themselves of the holding. Secondly, put options can be used by investors who want to bet on a further decline in the sector. Finally, when a sector sees a general decline, the opportunity can arise to invest in undervalued companies.

This strategy can sometimes take time to develop, but it can see investors getting a good return as the sector recovers and the underpriced companies adjust to a more accurate valuation.

(By Jeffrey Glen)

Related Articles

- ARE SINGAPORE BLUE CHIPS A GOOD INVESTMENT?

- Now might be a good time to consider investing in a few Singapore stocks

- 5 Singapore Exchange (SGX) stock picks for 2016
Singapores property market has been in decline for the last three years. A number of factors have led to a prolonged slump in residential, commercial, and industrial real estate. Capital values are down and so are rentals.

Before the fall in real estate values took hold in 2013, the country had seen a sustained increase in prices in the five-year period beginning in 2008. Alarmed by this continuous appreciation in prices, the government introduced several cooling measures to control values.

These had an immediate effect and led to a reversal in the growth in prices. The decline in prices that took hold in 2013 continued into 2014 and 2015. In the first two quarters of 2016, residential, retail and office property values continued to register declining values. But this seems to have picked up in the second half of the year.

Thankfully, there are many ways of investing in real estate.

REITs to the rescue



Amid the gloom in the real estate sector, real estate investment trusts have



Source: Thinkstock/Getty Images

Source: Thinkstock/Getty Images

remarkably well.

The SGX S-REIT Index of Singapore Exchange-listed REITs registered a return of 12.2% from the beginning of January to early July this year. This is significantly better than the 7.6% return recorded by the MSCI World REIT Index in the same period.

Singapores REITs, which are also known as S-REITs, enjoy several advantages that have led to a growing level of investor interest.

Why are REITs successful in a declining property market?







Source: Thinkstock/Getty Images

Source: Thinkstock/Getty Images

A REIT is essentially a fund that pools the money invested by individuals and other investors and buys income-generating real estate assets. The property that is purchased could include shopping malls, offices, industrial buildings and hotels.

These purchases yield rental income that is then distributed at regular intervals to investors.

REITs have been extremely successful because of a number of reasons:



Investors can get the benefits of owning property without having to spend time on all the documentation and procedural matters that are normally associated with real estate transactions.

Additionally, they can decide the amount that they want to invest. They can invest as much or as little as they want. Usually, property investment requires large sums of money.

Another important advantage is that it is possible to liquidate REIT holdings immediately. On the other hand, selling real estate that you own is a long-drawn and cumbersome affair.

Purchasing REITs allows for diversification of the real estate portfolio. A REIT can continue to perform well even if one of its investments does not turn out as planned.

REITs that focus on a particular sector, say commercial property or hotels, provide the opportunity for making targeted real estate investments.

Their regular cash flows from rentals allow investors to get a periodic return. If a REIT wants to retain its tax-exempt status, it is required to distribute at least 90% of its taxable income each year. This rule ensures that investors can expect a steady dividend inflow.

The income that is distributed to investors as dividends by REITs is tax-exempted.

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Can REITs continue to perform well?



Ultimately the success of a REIT depends on the value and income-generating capacity of the underlying properties that it owns. Even the best-managed REITs will not be able to provide a sustained level of returns in the face of a falling real estate market.

But S-REITs have expanded beyond the countrys shores. About 36% of the value of S-REITs is accounted for by foreign assets.





chart: Singapore-listed property assets

Source  The Financial Times

For example, Frasers Logistics & Industrial Trust raised US$672 million by listing Australian properties on the Singapore Exchange. This was the biggest IPO fundraising exercise in Singapore in more than three years.

Another company, Manulife Financial Corp, raised US$519 million by listing US properties in Singapore in May. This S-REIT is backed by three office buildings in Atlanta and Los Angeles.

Manulife, which is Canadas largest life insurance company, had tried to launch a US$420 million issue in Singapore in 2015 but withdrew citing unfavourable market conditions. By a stroke of bad luck, the issue had been planned at the time of the market crash in China and the financial crisis in Greece.

REITs that invest in properties outside Singapore give investors the opportunity to benefit from real estate markets around the world. This is especially important when the Singapore property market is plagued by overcapacity and falling rents.

Global companies find Singapore an ideal destination to launch REITs because of the depth of the market in the city-state. Singapores REIT market is the second largest in Asia. Only Japans market is larger.

According to a report in the Financial Times, the market capitalisation of S-REITs is $68 billion, compared with a market cap of $894.7 billion for all Singapore-listed companies.

Investors in Singapore are fortunate to have the option of investing in the countrys S-REITs. Foreign assets give the REITs the ability to provide returns despite a lacklustre local property market.

When Singapores real estate market finally turns around, investors will gain as about two-thirds of S-REIT holdings are in local properties.

(By Ravinder Kapur)

Related Articles

- What is happening in Singapore property markets?

- Singapore residential market: Is it worth investing at the moment?

- Factors to consider before purchasing commercial property in Singapore
Twenty-five people were killed, six of them gendarmes, in two days of violence around the town of Bambari in the troubled Central African Republic, the UN force MINUSCA said Saturday. Six police and four civilians were killed in an ambush by armed men Friday morning, while on Thursday, 15 people died in fighting on the town's outskirts between the former Muslim Seleka militia and Christian vigilante groups known as "anti-balaka" (anti-machete), it said in a statement. In a further incident, anti-balaka fighters on Friday attacked eight members of MINUSCA as they were heading to Bambari airport, the force said. A seven-year-old child was injured. The UN force said there had been a "rise in tension in certain regions," citing "confrontation between armed elements of the ex-Seleka and anti-balaka" groups. It called on the armed groups to end "the cycle of attack and reprisal." Bambari lies in central CAR, about 250 kilometres (150 miles) northeast of the capital Bangui. The bloodshed is the latest bout of violence to strike the CAR, a former French colony that is one of the world's poorest countries. It occurred in the runup to the formal end on Monday of a French military mission, Operation Sangaris, sent to help the UN stabilise the country. MINUSCA is seeking to support the administration of President Faustin-Archange Touadera, who was elected in February. The CAR's descent into sectarian bloodshed began after the March 2013 ouster of president Francois Bozize, a Christian, by the mostly Muslim Seleka rebel alliance. This triggered revenge attacks and a spiral of atrocities between Christian and Muslim groups in which thousands were slaughtered and around a tenth of the population of 4.5 million were displaced. Earlier this month, 30 people were killed and 57 wounded when Seleka fighters staged an attack in the central town of Kaga Bandoro. A few days later, 11 people were shot dead in a camp for displaced people in Ngakobo, northeast of Bangui. On October 24, four civilians were killed when protests against the UN peacekeepers, called by a coalition of civil society groups angered by the rise of armed militias, turned violent.
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When you run a business, its important to always keep an eye on the future if you want your business to grow and improve. Members of our small business community understand what it takes to keep businesses moving forward. Here are some of their top tips.

Make Sure Your Small Business is Prepared for the Holidays

The holiday season is quickly approaching. And small businesses need to prepare early. In this Plousio post, Bryanna Larrea shares some steps you can take to make sure your business is ready for the busy holiday season.

Use Visual Content to Impact Your Social Media Presence

Visuals can make a big impact on social media, especially on platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. But there are some things to keep in mind when developing those visuals. Sam Makad shares some information about using visuals to make an impact on social media in this post on The Sociable.

Build Trust With Your Prospects

Trust is so important when it comes to making sales and building a customer base. And having that trust can keep your business successful going forward. David Lowbridge includes some tips for building trust in this Two Feet Marketing post. And the BizSugar community discusses it further here.

Get Scared by These SEO Horror Stories

Halloween is just around the corner, which means many people will be enjoying scary stories. But there are some scary stories that can provide lessons to your business, like the SEO horror stories detailed in this Search Engine Journal post by Amanda DiSilvestro.

Budget for Your Account-Based Marketing Programs

If you want to start any account-based marketing programs, you need to be able to plan for that type of program. That means you also need to have a set budget in mind. Peter Isaacson includes some tips for budgeting for those programs in this Marketing Land post.

Read These Small Business Magazines

Small business magazines and other publications can help you build your knowledge base and expertise for the future of your business. In this Fundera Ledger post, Georgia McIntyre lists 16 small business magazines every entrepreneur should read. You can also see commentary about the post from BizSugar members here.

Use Healthy Habits to Boost Your Productivity

Being healthy might not seem like something that can have a big impact on your business. But developing healthy habits now can actually boost your productivity going forward, as detailed in this Techlofy post by Saher Naseem.

Prepare for These Holiday Shopping Trends

There are a lot of different trends to consider when it comes to the holiday shopping season. And your business likely isnt fully prepared for all of those trends just yet. But you can gain some insights about those trends in this Kissmetrics post by Sherice Jacob.

Win With a Goal-Oriented Mindset

If you want to keep your business moving forward, you need to have goals. And with a goal-oriented mindset, you can continually experience wins in your business. This post by Martin Zwilling of Startup Professionals Musings goes into more detail. And BizSugar members comment on the post here.

Ensure Your Blog is an Asset and Not a Hindrance

You likely already know that blogging can be a great tool for small businesses. But if you want it to have a positive impact on your business going forward, you need to be sure that your blog is an asset and not a hindrance, as Pradeep Kumar points out in this Hellbound Bloggers post.

If youd like to suggest your favorite small business content to be considered for an upcoming community roundup, please send your news tips to: sbtips@gmail.com.
Credit: evolvtechnology

(Tech Xplore)From Nairobi to Paris to London to Manhattan, everywhere, really, anything can happen when terrorists are loose and at work. Concert halls, sporting events, bus stations, airportsany site drawing in large crowds is a potential target for those who want to cause terror, death, property destruction, blows to the economy.

Body scanning for explosives and other harmful devices has become one tool for public and private officials seeking to avert acts of terror.

Now comes news that a system designed to deliver very fast body scanning is planned for trials at US travel hubs. The system could certainly play a role in preventing mass casualty events at concerts, malls, airports, train stations.

How fast? Fast as in travelers walking through the gates without having to stop. Fast as in people able to carry all the things they would normally carry, such as phone, keys and wallet through the security gates.

Thomas McMullan in Alphr said the scanners can do the job "in a fraction of a second."

Seattle-based Mark Harris writing in The Guardian, named transport hubs that include Los Angeles and Washington. The Denver airport said its pilot project with Evolv had yet to be finalized. The test in LA is due to run next month for three or four days

These will be the first public trials for the Evolv sentry system. Evolv Technology is the company behind the system.

This is a Massachusetts-based company with an expert group of people including those who joined the company with experience in the physical security space for years.

The team believes that if we are going to try to provide better security without disrupting people's everyday pace of life, then it should be accomplished with the latest sensors, software and analytics.

Is that it for the system? No. Harris said that a security guard with a tablet is nearby and the guard sees either an "all-clear" sign, or a photo of the person with suspicious areas highlighted.

ZDNet's Liam Tung said, "If there is a concealed firearm or bomb strapped to the person's waist, the image will mark where the prohibited item is located on the body."

The Evolv sentry system, according to The Guardian, uses millimeter-wave radio frequencies, just as airport scanners do, along with computer vision and machine learning. ZDNet's Tung said the equipment operates in the 24GHz to 30GHz range.

Reports said the system can do over 800 people an hour.

Harris explained how the technology works.

The scanner has a camera that takes a photo of each person passing through. An AI system has been trained to spot distinctive scattering patterns from objects. Solid state micro-antennas are used to steer radar beams over anyone walking through the gate, and to pick up reflections. That data is fed into this AI system.

What about privacy issues?

"We never build an image that would enable anyone to see anatomical details, so there's no naked peepshow in the first place," says Michael Ellenbogen, Evolv's CEO, in The Guardian report. "None of the raw data is stored and none of the data we do keep is traceable to an individual."

 2016 Tech Xplore
By Press Trust of India: The BJP today hit out at the Aam Aadmi Party government, alleging that disrespecting Indian soldiers and supporting traitors had become its habit and asked if the party "wanted to speak Pakistan's language".

"It has become Delhi government's habit to disrespect the Indian soldiers and support the traitors. When Uri happened and 18 Indian soldiers were killed, we avenged their deaths by killing four of theirs." Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay asked at an event here.

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"What else were they (Indian Army) supposed to do? But will you question them (the Army) about how and why of the operation? Do you want to speak Pakistan's language? Hafeez Saeed's language? Their media's language?" he asked.



BROKEN POLL PROMISES



Upadhyay also appealed to people to "take revenge" from the AAP leaders who have "ushered Delhi into darkness" and claimed that the party had "cheated" the people of Delhi and taken decisions "in contrast" to their poll promises.

Also read: Weight lifting: Delhi issues guidelines to schools for bringing down weight of bags

"AAP came to power promising to regularise contract workers, including safai karmachari, doctors, teachers and nurses. But (after coming to power), forget regularisation, they issued a letter barring these employees from being regularised and in fact suggested that they be removed altogether in phased manner," he claimed.

Upadhyay also exhorted BJP workers to reach out to a wide section of voters before the municipal polls next year and inform them about the various schemes launched by the Centre.



Also read: Illegal casino busted in Delhi, 8 persons, including 4 girls, arrested

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Policy

Coalition Launches Campaign Aimed at State Lawmakers to Promote K12 Digital Citizenship

A national coalition of groups oriented toward children and media launched a new campaign Friday to encourage state lawmakers to promote digital citizenship in schools, according to Education Week and other sources.

Common Sense Kids Action  the advocacy arm of the nonprofit Common Sense Media  will lead the campaign. Other groups involved include Media Literacy Now, the Digital Citizenship Institute and the National Association for Media Literacy Education.

The goal is to impel adoption of new legislation requiring the formation of state-level advisory committees responsible for finding ways to help students use classroom technology safely and ethically while becoming knowledgeable consumers and creators of online media and information.

Together, the groups in the coalition hope to persuade 20 states to pass new digital citizenship legislation in 2017.

The coalition is circulating model legislation based on a bill passed by Washington state this year  the first comprehensive digital citizenship legislation in the country, according to Common Sense Kids Action.

As the internet, social media and digital devices have become omnipresent, theyve presented children with new opportunities to connect with others, engage in school and take part in civic and public life. However, they also expose children to the risks of cyberbullying, harassment and explicit images and messages that are too intense for them to handle.

To reflect that reality, digital citizenship should cover both media literacy and responsible online behavior, according to Education Week and many experts and educators.

Common Sense Media has produced free curricular materials for schools, to empower students to think critically, behave safely and participate responsibly in todays digital world.

To learn more about this issue, visit the Common Sense Kids Action site or peruse the Washington state digital citizenship legislation.
-Kenya Defence Force (KDF) have launched retaliatory attacks on al-Shabaab camps in Gedo region, Somalia

After the deadly attack on a Mandera hotel that left 12 people dead, Kenya Defence Force (KDF) have launched attacks on several camps belonging to terror group al-Shabaab who had claimed responsibility for the killings.

KDF fighter jets have bombed al-Shabaab camps in Gedo region.

READ ALSO: Kenyans react with anger over Afya House scandal

KDF fighter jets launched several airstrikes on al-shabaab camps near Bardere city in Gedo region on Friday, October 28.

According to reports several militants were killed in the airstrikes.

KDF launched several attacks on al-Shabaab camps in Somalia.

A local resident of Bardere said the airstrikes had began in the morning and had sent the residents into panic.

READ ALSO: Wajir man responsible for botched up US embassy attack

KDF fighter jets launched several airstrikes on al-shabaab camps near Bardere city in Gedo region on Friday, October 28.

READ ALSO: Police officer and businessman hospitalised after exchanging gunfire

On Tuesday, October 25, al-Shabaab militants raided a hotel in the town in a bloody attack that left 12 people dead.

Among those killed in the gruesome attack were actors who were planning to perform school set plays in the county ahead of the KCSE exams.

Watch below a video KDF fighter jets.

Source: TUKO.co.ke
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  An effort to temporarily halt drilling across part of one of the nations largest natural gas fields has been rejected by a federal appeals court, leaving environmentalists to push their case against hydraulic fracturing in district court.

A coalition of environmental groups sued the Bureau of Land Management in 2015, accusing the agency of failing to study the effects of fracking on local communities, the areas cultural resources and the environment as it approved dozens of drilling permits in the San Juan Basin over a five-year period.

The groups appealed to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals when a federal judge rejected their request to put drilling on hold while the merits of their case were heard.

The appeals panel backed the lower court in a ruling issued Thursday, finding that the groups did not present any argument or evidence to warrant a halt to drilling in the region.

The lawsuit challenges the Bureau of Land Managements approval of some 260 drilling applications, citing violations of the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act.

Environmentalists contend land managers were basing their decisions to grant permits on an outdated resource management plan that took into account traditional drilling techniques rather than todays horizontal drilling and fracking to reach previously inaccessible pockets of fossil fuels.

The Bureau of Land Management is in the process of amending its management plan for the San Juan Basin in the face of an expected shale oil boom, but the judges noted that the recent uptick in development still falls within the agencys expectations.

Jeremy Nichols with WildEarth Guardians said the ruling was a setback but vowed the groups would continue with their case.

They may have won this court ruling, but if theyre interested in winning integrity and public trust and demonstrating genuine care and consideration over the impacts of fracking to tribal interests, clean air and climate in the region, they need to step up, Nichols said.

The lawsuit also argues that the San Juan Basin, which stretches into southern Colorado, encompasses dozens of prehistoric Native American great houses connected by hundreds of miles of ancient ceremonial roads. While the Chaco Culture National Historical Park represents the heart of the area, the complaint states numerous archaeological sites lie well outside park boundaries.

Native American groups, archaeologists and environmentalists have been pushing for officials to consider the cultural significance of the area as they reviews permit applications.

The agency said Friday it could not comment on the ongoing litigation, but noted that no leasing has occurred within 10 miles of Chaco park in recent years.

The agency announced last week it was planning an expanded review of management in the region to address the concerns.

Efforts to lease parcels near the park first drew fire in 2013. Those under consideration were several miles from the park and adjacent to existing oil and gas operations. The agency followed up in January 2014, saying no parcels near the park would be put up for bid.
UNITED NATIONS  The General Assembly voted Russia off the U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday, a stunning rebuke to the country which is increasingly being accused of war crimes over its actions in Syria.

The 193-member General Assembly elected 14 members to 47-nation council, the U.N.s main body charged with promoting and protecting human rights.

Russia, which received 112 votes, lost its regional seat to Hungary, with 144 votes, and Croatia with 114 votes.

Russias U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin played down the importance of the loss.

It was a very close vote and very good countries competing, Croatia, Hungary. They are fortunate because of their size, they are not exposed to the winds of international diplomacy. Russia is very exposed. Weve been on council a number of years, Im sure next time well get in, he said.

Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, China, Brazil, Rwanda, Hungary, Cuba, South Africa, Japan, Tunisia, the U.S. and U.K. also won seats on the council. Guatemala was the only country running for a seat beside Russia to not be elected.

Human rights groups had called for countries to reject the candidacies of Russia and Saudi Arabia, which has been accused of indiscriminate attacks against civilians in Yemen. Saudi Arabias election, however, was a foregone conclusion since it was running unopposed for its regional seat.

In rejecting Russias bid for re-election to the Human Rights Council, U.N. member states have sent a strong message to the Kremlin about its support for a regime that has perpetrated so much atrocity in Syria, said Louis Charbonneau, U.N. director at Human Rights Watch. Next year, U.N. member states should make sure that all regional groups have real competition so no one is guaranteed victory.

Britains Human Rights Minister Baroness Anelay said she was delighted with her countrys re-election to the council.

The UK has been a strong advocate of the vital work of the Council since its inception, and we are honored to continue to serve as a member, Anelay said in statement.
SANTA FE  The national political spotlight is returning to New Mexico, if just for a few hours. GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump will hold a Sunday evening campaign rally in Albuquerque.

The Republican nominee, who also visited the Duke City for a May rally that drew 8,000 people and touched off raucous late-night protests, will hold the public rally at 7 p.m. at Atlantic Aviation, 2505 Clark Carr Loop SE, by the Albuquerque International Sunport, according to Trumps campaign website. People can register for tickets here. Gates will open at 4 p.m.

A senior Trump aide said the campaigns internal polling shows the race between Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton to be a dead heat in New Mexico, despite numerous previous polls that showed Clinton holding a comfortable lead.

Registered Democrats significantly outnumber Republicans in New Mexico, and President Barack Obama, a Democrat, won the state  and its five electoral votes  by a comfortable margin in both 2008 and 2012.

A Journal Poll conducted in late September showed Clinton receiving the support of 35 percent of likely state voters, compared with 31 percent for Trump. Former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Partys presidential nominee, pulled in 24 percent among voters surveyed for that poll.

Clinton has not held any public campaign events in New Mexico during this years election cycle, though several high-profile backers  including former Democratic rival Bernie Sanders and her husband, former President Bill Clinton  have stumped for her in the state.

Meanwhile, Trumps decision to hold a campaign rally in New Mexico just nine days before the Nov. 8 election is also sure to increase scrutiny of Gov. Susana Martinez, a two-term Republican who did not attend his May rally in Albuquerque.

Trump criticized the governor during that event, and Martinez responded by saying she would not be bullied into supporting a candidate.

More recently, Martinez said this month that she would not support Trump for president after a leaked 2005 videotape showed the Republican presidential nominee boasting about kissing and groping women without consent, though she stopped short of saying she would not vote for him.

Trump is also appearing in other Southwestern states this weekend. He will be in both Colorado and Arizona today and will make a stop in Las Vegas, Nev., earlier in the day Sunday, according to his official campaign website.
According to some defence experts the operation seemed to be the handiwork of a BAT (border action team), which typically consists of terrorists and Pakistan Army regulars.

By Alok Ranjan: Taking barbarism to new heights militants backed by Pakistan on October 28 mutilated the body of an Indian Army soldier close to the LoC in the Machil sector. One militant was killed and another, who was possibly involved in this shameful act, fled back to PoK.

"Barbarism is a true reflection which pervades official and non-official organisations across the border. In a despicable act, the terrorist mutilated the body of an Indian Army soldier before fleeing into PoK, supported by covering fire from Pakistan army posts," army said.

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Indian Army has promised a response to this barbaric action. "This act will invite an appropriate response," army said.

According to some defence experts the operation seemed to be the handiwork of a BAT (border action team), which typically consists of terrorists and Pakistan Army regulars.

Earlier to this recent instance of an army jawan mutilated, in January 2013 Pakistan's Border Action Team breached the LoC and beheaded Lance Naik Hemraj and badly mutilated the body of Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh on January 8, 2013.

This incident bound to further escalate tensions along the LoC and the international boundary in Jammu and Kashmir.

After India carried out the surgical strike inside PoK on September 28 more than 60 incidents of ceasefire violations have been reported.

On October 28 the cross border firing intensified along the International border and the line of control across 9 sectors of Jammu.

Additional Director General, Border Security Force (BSF) Arun Kumar said in the last one week Indian border guards have killed at least 15 Pakistani soldiers in retaliatory firing.

Official figures show that three Army jawans and four BSF men have been killed since the Indian Army's surgical strikes on terror launch pads in PoK on September 29.

Here are some instances of Indian soldiers mutilated by Pakistani perpetrators: During the 1999 Kargil conflict Captain Saurabh Kalia was tortured by his Pakistani captors who later handed over his badly mutilated body to India. February 2000: Infamous Pakistani terrorist and al-Qaida member Ilyas Kashmiri had led a raid on the Indian Army's "Ashok Listening Post" in the Nowshera sector to kill seven Indian soldiers. Even then, Kashmiri had taken back to Pakistan the head of a 24-year-old Indian jawan, Bhausaheb Maruti Talekar of the 17 Maratha Light Infantry. June 2008: A soldier of the 2/8 Gorkha Rifles lost his way and was captured by a Pakistani Border Action Team (BAT) in Kel sector. His body was found beheaded after a few days. January 2013: One soldier was beheaded and another killed by Pakistani troops after they crossed over into Indian territory in the Mendhar sector of Jammu and Kashmir. October 28, 2016: A soldier was mutilated by a militant in Kupwara's Machil near the Line of Control while the army was engaged in cross-border firing with Pakistan's army.

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A list of Indian soldiers killed during Pakistan firing post surgical strikes:

1. October 28, 2016: One more BSF Nitin Subhash from Maharashtra martyred in operation during cover fire in Kupwara area in Machhil sector.

2. October 28, 2016: Army soldier 26-year-old Mandeep Singh was mutilated by a militant in Kupwara's Machil near LoC while the army was engaged in cross-border firing with Pakistan's army.

3. October 27, 2016: Rifleman Sandeep Singh Rawat laid down his life while fighting infiltrating militants in Trangdhar sector of Kupwara district.

4. October 27, 2016: BSF Head Constable Jitendra Kumar was martyred during CFA violation in RS Pura and Arnia sectors along the International Border in Jammu district.

5. October 23, 2016: BSF jawan Sushil Kumar was martyred during a ceasefire violation by Pakistan along the International Border in RS Pura Sector.

6. October 22, 2016: BSF jawan Gurnam Singh who was injured on October 20 was martyred.

7. October 16, 2016: Army sepoy Sudees Kumar was martyred due to sniper fire at a forward post in Balakote sector (Poonch district).

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What is Pakistan's Border Action Team (BAT)?

Pakistan's border action team (BAT) is a group of Special Forces with some highly trained terrorists specifically employed for trans-LoC action. In Pakistan, the SSG (special services group) forms the core of BAT. Its primary task is to dominate the LoC by carrying out disruptive actions in the form of surreptitious raids. These raids are carried out after perfect planning and cautious scouting as well as high assurance of success.

Major districts of Jammu and Kashmir vulnerable to ceasefire violations

As reported by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir, 590 villages having a population of 5,32,144 are located between 0-5 km from Line of Control (LoC)/International Border (IB) in the five border districts of Jammu Division i.e. Kathua, Samba, Jammu, Poonch and Rajouri. Out of these, around 448 villages of districts of Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Poonch and Rajouri are vulnerable to ceasefire violations.





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New Mexicos winter outlook promises more of the same dry, warmer-than-normal weather the state has been locked in for the past few weeks.

And while the extended summer has been great for camping, hiking, picnicking and tailgate parties, the continuance of this pattern through the winter does not bode well for a state that needs all the moisture it can get. Its not very good news, said Andy Church, meteorologist with the Albuquerque office of the National Weather Service. The northern mountains will have the best chance of average or slightly-below-average precipitation. The farther south you go, the drier it will be. The northern mountains will have the best chance for average or slightly-below-average snowpacks, and the best chance for lower-than-average snowpacks is in the southwest mountains.

Snowpacks are vital sources of New Mexico surface water that runs in rivers and stream, and is important to irrigators, some municipal water systems and endangered species such as the silvery minnow.

The winter outlook comes as no surprise to David Gensler, water manager for the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, which delivers irrigation water to 70,000 acres of cropland.

I have been hearing this drumbeat for some time now, he said. Its always more fun to be heading into winter with a forecast of wet and cold, but we get what we get. The thing is, you never know. Whatever the forecast is, there is still plenty of room for optimism.

The conservancy district will wind up this irrigation season on Monday with more than 36,000 acre-feet of water in storage in northern New Mexico reservoirs. An acre-foot is the amount of water it takes to cover an acre to a depth of one foot.

Weve got some water to work with, Gensler said.

Certainly, winter temperatures will plummet from the record-defying high 70s and mid 80s that have become common in the state this month. Dont count on having a cookout in your backyard on Super Bowl Sunday Feb. 5. But dont count it out, either.

Church said temperatures will be above average for the months of December, January and February. The average temperature for Albuquerque during those months, Church said, is 38.5 degrees. Thats arrived at by averaging out high and low temperatures.

During the winter of 2015-16, Albuquerques average temperature was 39.7. In fact, Church said, since the late 1990s, most Albuquerque winters have been average or warmer. There have been exceptions. For example, Church said the average Albuquerque temperature in the winter of 2009-10 was 36.6.

Total average precipitation in Albuquerque for December, January and February is 1.34 inches.

This past winter, Albuquerque got 1.40 inches, but that was mostly from a December snowstorm, Church said.

Despite the predictions for a warmer, drier winter, Church said a snowstorm or two, or three, is not out of the question for the coming winter.

Hopefully, we will get some cold air intrusions, some backdoor cold fronts to make some snow, Church said. That can happen in December, but it is more common in January and February.

Wet spring?

The best news to be wrung out of all of this is that the abnormally warm and dry conditions may not endure past this coming winter.

Such conditions are the product of La Nina, the direct opposite of El Nino. El Nino (it translates to Little Child) is a moisture-laden weather pattern caused by excessively warm sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean. A strong El Nino pattern made 2015 the fifth-wettest year in New Mexico history before wimping out sooner than expected early this year.

La Nina (Little Girl) happens when sea surface temperatures in the central Pacific Ocean drop to lower-than-normal levels. La Nina often follows hard on the heels of a potent El Nino year and you can chalk up the predictions for a dry, warm winter this season to the Little Girl. However, La Nina typically lasts between 10 and 12 months, and that may not be the case this time around.

(Forecast) models disagree on how long it will last, Church said. Most climate scientists think that La Nina will be weak and fairly short-lived, and that we will transition out of it pretty rapidly in the spring and summer.
SANTA FE  New Mexico voters hoping to cast a ballot for a write-in candidate in this years presidential election are out of luck.

And when it comes to voting for write-in candidates for other offices here, its not as simple as picking any name and penciling it in  at least, if you want your vote to count.

Only votes for eligible write-in candidates  those who have actually filed in advance of a deadline  are counted under state law.

In other words, Mickey Mouse could not be elected to office in New Mexico, no matter how many write-in votes the friendly rodent might get, if he had not filed a declaration of candidacy.

Overall, New Mexico is one of at least eight states that do not allow write-in ballots for the office of president.

While the state does not explicitly bar write-in candidates from running for president, there is effectively no way for such candidates to qualify for the ballot in New Mexico, said state Bureau of Elections Director Kari Fresquez.

Thats because state laws only allow for presidential candidates nominated by political parties  both major and minor  and for independent candidates to land on the ballot.

The statute does not provide for a method for presidential electors to be nominated for a write-in candidate, Fresquez told the Journal on Friday.

Write-in candidates can qualify to run for all other elected offices in New Mexico, she added.

However, the write-in option only appears on the ballot  with a corresponding bubble for the voter to mark and space for a name to be written  in races that feature at least one qualified write-in candidate.

New Mexico has several qualified write-in candidates for this years Nov. 8 election, and theres a rare situation in a race for a northern New Mexico Public Education Commission seat.

That race, for the PEC District 10 seat, features two qualified write-in candidates  Tim Crone and Anthony TJ Trujillo  and no other candidates.

While unopposed write-in candidates generally have to receive a certain amount of votes to be declared victorious, there will be no such vote requirement in that race since there are two qualified write-in candidates.

Bureau of Elections Fresquez said that theres been some confusion in media reports about that detail of the Public Education Commission race, but said she wasnt aware of any widespread voter confusion regarding write-in candidates.

I dont know of any specific confusion from county clerks, and we have provided guidance and training regarding the handling of write-in candidates to them, Fresquez said Friday.

Despite the labyrinth of rules, there is some leeway when it comes to misspelling write-in candidates names: As long as the written name  it cant be just a last name  can be reasonably determined by a majority of members of a precinct board, the vote will be counted.

Write-in rules

 Does not allow write-in candidates in presidential race.

 Write-in candidates in other offices must file for office on 23rd day after primary election.

 Votes for write-in candidate must be cast in writing  no using stamps or stickers.

 When the name of a write-in candidate is written, at least two initials and a last name are required.

 Just writing a candidates name isnt enough; voters also have to fill in the bubble next to the write-in option on the ballot.
SAN FRANCISCO  Voters next month in five states, including California, will decide whether to expand the legal use of recreational marijuana to almost a quarter of the American population, a move that could prove to be one of the most consequential shifts in U.S drug policy since the 1930s.

Passage in California, where polls show it has wide support, would make pot legal along the entire West Coast and give momentum to efforts to lift the ban nationwide. The state, the most populous in the U.S. with 39 million residents, was the first to allow medical marijuana two decades ago. In all, nine states will consider marijuana-related ballot measures on Nov. 8, which could more than double the $7 billion market for pot products by 2020.

If this passes in California, and particularly if it passes in the other four states, its lights out for marijuana prohibition, said Troy Dayton, chief executive officer of The Arcview Group, an Oakland-based company whose 550 investor members have poured $85 million into 131 cannabis companies.

Attitudes toward legalizing marijuana in the U.S. may have reached a tipping point. Opinion polls show a majority of Americans support it. Thats a dramatic shift from decades past  partly the result of a new generation reaching voting age and nearly half the adult population trying pot. Failed drug policies that jail nonviolent users and growing evidence that its less harmful than cigarettes and alcohol have fueled calls for a change.

Law enforcement and medical groups are among those opposing legalization, citing increases in cannabis-related traffic deaths and pot use by minors in states that allow it, such as Colorado, where dispensaries outnumber Starbucks cafes. While President Barack Obamas Justice Department in 2009 told federal prosecutors not to pursue criminal charges against people who use or supply the drug for medical purposes in states where its legal, its still considered a controlled substance under federal law.

Colorado and Washington paved the way for legalization in 2012, and Oregon and Alaska followed in 2014. Its also on the ballot in Massachusetts and Maine, as well as Arizona and Nevada, home to Las Vegas, which draws more than 41 million tourists a year. Half of U.S. states allow medical use of marijuana, and three more, including Florida, look to add to that tally.

Legalizing marijuana in Massachusetts means it may be available in Boston  a major hub along the Northeast corridor, a train ride away from Manhattan and the first major market for legal pot on the East Coast.

Californians have rejected recreational marijuana twice before, in 1972 and 2010. Support has swelled this time, with 60 percent of likely voters saying they will approve it compared with 50 percent six years ago, according to a September Field Poll.

Sean Parker, the billionaire former president of Facebook Inc., has donated $8.8 million to the campaign to pass legalization in California. Its supported by the states lieutenant governor Gavin Newsom. California Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, opposes it.

Expanding recreational marijuana comes with risks, opponents say. Pot use in states where its legal has led to higher arrest rates of minors and more pot-related hospitalizations, according to an October report by Smart Approaches to Marijuana, an Alexandria, Va.-based group opposing legalization.

The thrust of these initiatives is not personal liberty and social justice, its really money, said Jeffrey Zinsmeister, the groups executive vice president. Its an addiction-for-profit model thats being sold to voters. Their profits depend on selling as much of an addictive product as possible.

If approved, the California measure would levy a $9.25 per-ounce tax on cultivated pot and 15 percent sales tax on marijuana retail products. Local governments could tax even more.

Legalization and taxation in the Golden State could eventually generate at least $1 billion in annual revenue for California and its municipalities and has already fueled an industry ready to take advantage of the market for pot products.

Were in this transition from the legacy world of commercial marijuana  legal, quasi-legal, gray market, illicit  to the future, which is fully institutionalized, said Adam Bierman, CEO at MedMen, a Los Angeles-based cannabis management company which in June announced the MedMen Opportunity Fund, a $100 million investment fund.

Still, marijuana remains an illegal substance under federal law, creating gray areas for pot businesses operating in states where its allowed. U.S. banks citing the federal law have refrained from doing business with pot establishments, even though the U.S. Treasury Department in 2014 issued guidelines allowing them to offer accounts and other services.

Thats left sellers to operate as all-cash businesses and use cash to pay thousands in state and local taxes and fees each month. Pot advocates say additional states legalizing the drug may put pressure on Congress to remove the designation.
By PTI: New Delhi, Oct 28 (PTI) The CIC has directed the PMO to produce one representative file related to foreign travels of the Prime Minister after the top office refused an RTI applicant access to these documents citing safety concerns.

The case relates to Commodore (Retd) Lokesh Batra who had sought details related to the expenditure incurred on foreign travels of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his predecessors, which the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had denied citing sections of the RTI related to security.

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The Prime Ministers Office (PMO) had refused the information citing personal safety.

Chief Information Commissioner Radha Krishna Mathur has now directed the PMO to peruse the files to ascertain whether there was any security concerns in the records on the basis of which information can be denied.

"The Commission observed that without perusal of the file, it cannot be decided that whether the sought for information contains security related information," Mathur said, directing the Ministry to produce one representative file before it.

Batra stated before the Commission that the case involves substantive public interest as the bailout amount, reported to be in thousands of crores of rupees, being given to Air India is the money of tax payers.

He referred to his RTI application and stated that he was seeking information on four points regarding details of expenses incurred on air travel by Air India in respect of foreign visits of the incumbent Prime Minister and former Prime Ministers, the laid down instructions, process/procedure/steps involved in chartering flights for PMs foreign visits and later filing flight returns and raising bills/invoices and clearing bills on completion of the visit, copy of bills, etc.

Batra told the Commission that the PMO website as on September 13, 2016 was showing that the bills are under process for payment or have not been received for journeys undertaken by the PM during the period between June 15, 2014 and September 8, 2016.

He said there is a need for reforms by understanding the causes of long delays in payments to Air India.

In its response, the PMO had told Batra that the record pertaining to flights of the PM contain information which has security issues and hence it is exempted from disclosure under section 8(1)(g) of the RTI Act.

The External Affairs Ministry had earlier said the matter falls under the category where the disclosure of information would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India and security interests of the State and hence, attract the provision of section 8(1)(a) of the RTI Act.

It said in view of security reasons, the file inspection by the appellant cannot be allowed. PTI ABS GSN GSN

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Gardai have arrested a man in connection with a four-year investigation into human trafficking.

The man, aged 38, will appear at Dublin District Court this evening charged in connection with the investigation into human trafficking of Polish nationals into Ireland for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

He was arrested in Dublin earlier this afternoon.

This is the second person to face charges in the investigation, a man in his 30s was charged at Athlone District Court under Human Trafficking legislation on Wednesday, October 26.

During the course of the investigation into the organised crime gangs, which started in February 2012, a number of female victims were identified and interviewed by Gardai.

They are continuing to get support from Ruhama and the HSE.

Five people were arrested and detained under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act, 2007.

They were released without charge and a comprehensive investigation file was forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The world's largest marine reserve will be created in the ocean next to Antarctica, the countries that decide the fate of the frozen continent have decided.

The historic agreement comes after years of diplomatic wrangling and high-level talks between the US and Russia, which has rejected the idea in the past.

Supporters of the reserve say it sets a precedent for numerous countries working together to protect a large swath of ocean, which falls outside any single nation's jurisdiction.

The agreement covers an area about twice the size of Texas in the Ross Sea.

The deal was clinched after 24 countries and the European Union met in Hobart, Australia, this week. Decisions on Antarctica require a consensus among the 25 members, a hurdle which has confounded past efforts.

The US and New Zealand have been pushing for a marine reserve for years. They first submitted a joint proposal in 2012, but it was rejected five times before Friday's agreement.

Ukraine, China and Russia had expressed concerns in the past, with Russia becoming the final hold-out before the deal was made.

The marine protected area covers 617,000 square miles. There will be a blanket ban on commercial fishing across about three-quarters of that area. In the remaining ocean zones, some commercial fishing will be allowed.

A small amount of fishing for research purposes will be allowed throughout the protected area.

Several countries fish in the waters surrounding Antarctica for lucrative toothfish, which are often marketed in North America as Chilean sea bass.
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A personal assistant of SP MP Munawwar Saleem is the latest catch from the Pakistani spy ring that was busted by Delhi Police early this week.

By India Today Web Desk: One more suspected Pakistani spy was arrested on Saturday by the Delhi Police crime branch. Farhat, personal assistant to Samajwadi Party's Rajya Sabha MP Munawwar Saleem was arrested on the charges of spying for Pakistan.

The details of his involvement are not known yet. Police is questioning the suspected Pakistani spy.



Delhi Police had busted a spy ring involving officials of the Pakistan High Commission. Pakistani diplomat Mehmood Akhtar was nabbed by the police. Akhtar confessed that there was a spy ring being run in India to obtain defence secrets.

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Read | 46 arrested since 2013: Timeline of Pakistan's spy game in India



Meanwhile, the third accused, Shoaib Hassan arrested for spying for Pakistan High Commission staffer Akhtar was sent to 11-day police custody by a Delhi court. Delhi Police is now questioning Shoaib Hassan to extract further details about the espionage ring.

READ: Pakistan spy game busted: Women, money used to lure Indian officers, Pak high commission staff involved

PAK HC STAFFER RAN THE SPY RING



On Thursday, Delhi Police achieved a major breakthrough after a strenuous vigil for over six months when it nabbed three persons for passing sensitive and secret information about the security establishment of the country.

It emerged during the questioning that the police had actually nabbed a Pakistan High Commission official, who identified himself as Mehmood Akhtar. Further inquiry established his identity.

Akhtar was held along with two Indian citizens identified as Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangir. The three were arrested from Delhi zoo, where they had as per pre-scheduled arrangement.

READ: Another Pakistani spy working for ISI arrested in Rajasthan



AKHTAR WORKED FOR ISI

During questioning, Akhtar told the Delhi Police officials that he worked for the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and his posting with the Pakistan High Commission was part of his job.

Akhtar told the police that there were as many as 14 other officials in the High Commission working as ISI agents. He had named each of the staffer working as spies in the Pakistan High Commission.

READ: Exclusive: Crime Branch probing role of two mysterious women in ISI spy ring

It has been learnt that Akhtar confession was recorded. In the video Akhtar talks about securing secret files about deployment of Indian armed forces and paramilitary forces in the border areas.

Akhtar also revealed that women were also involved in the espionage ring. Police suspect that women were used as honetraps to get information from key defence officials.

ALSO READ:



Inside story of Indian Army's daring surgical strikes against Pakistan





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SEIU 87 president Olga Miranda who is also Vice President of the San Francisco Labor Council has a political director Ahsha Safai who is an illegal lobbyist for developers. His firm is Kitchen Cabinet Public Affairs. Miranda is also AIPAC's favorite labor "leader" and spoke at the AIPAC national meeting.

Olga Miranda's SEIU Local 87 Political Director Ahsha Safai Running For Supervisor Is Unregistered Lobbyist For SST Investment Through Safais consulting firm, Kitchen Cabinet Public Affairs and is Illegally Backed By Corrupt Mayor Ed LeeKitchen Cabinet Public AffairsEthics complaints fly at City Hall over District 11 candidateBy Emily GreenOctober 28, 2016 Updated: October 28, 2016 6:45pmPhoto: Michael Macor, The ChronicleSan Francisco candidate for Supervisor District 11 Ahsha Safai is seen along Broad Street in San Francisco, California on Tues. Sept. 27, 2016.The project sounded like a win-win: The city would allow a developer to construct an apartment building in the Excelsior with more density than zoning laws allow in exchange for the developer making half the units permanently rent-controlled.But Supervisor John Avalos said political gamesmanship is behind the whole deal, and he accuses Mayor Ed Lee of being in on it.On Thursday, Avalos filed a complaint with the Ethics Commission against Ahsha Safai, the candidate seeking to replace Avalos as District 11 supervisor. Avalos supports Kimberly Alvarenga in the upcoming election.Avalos complaint says Safai highlighted the 104-unit project in his campaign communications  he spoke to The Chronicle about it  but didnt disclose that he had a financial relationship with SST Investments, the projects developer. SST was a client of Safais consulting firm, Kitchen Cabinet Public Affairs.Avalos also accuses Safai of failing to register as a lobbyist. He said Safai acted as an intermediary between SST Investments and the mayors office. Safai served on the San Francisco Housing Authority Commission.As an unregistered lobbyist (Safai) is concealing his actual relationship with his clients and city government, a conceit that enables him to claim that he is negotiating community benefits and delivering city resources and services as a neighborhood activist rather than as a candidate, Avalos said in a statement.Also on Thursday, former Ethics Commissioner Paul Melbostad filed an ethics complaint against Lee, accusing the mayors office of improperly using public resources to support Safai.In particular, the Recreation and Park Department advertised a public meeting about Balboa Park by inviting neighbors to meet with the department  and Safai  to discuss a plan to allow off-leash dogs. That was a blatant misuse of public resources, Melbostad said in a statement.Deirdre Hussey, a spokeswoman for the mayors office, dismissed the complaints as baseless. We should be celebrating new rent-controlled apartments and affordable housing and urging others to follow suit, not filing baseless political complaints.Safai said: Im not going to apologize for helping develop affordable housing and the first rent-controlled units in my district in several decades. Emily GreenSF supervisor hopeful and SEIU 87 Olga Mirand's Political Director Ahsha Safai touts tenure at troubled agency with corrupt bullyBy Heather Knight, John Wildermuth and Joe GarofoliOctober 12, 2016 Updated: October 12, 2016 3:38pmPhoto: Rich Pedroncelli, Associated PressIMAGE 1 OF 2San Francisco philanthropist Tom Steyer, left, tweets that an attack from low-energy Donald Trump is a compliment.Like any legitimate candidate for supervisor in San Francisco, Ahsha Safai has a website explaining his background and why he should be elected to represent District 11. Interestingly, he includes his stint with the San Francisco Housing Authority. But anybody whos followed city politics in recent years knows that isnt exactly a good thing.True, Safai worked as a project manager and administrative analyst for the public housing agency from 2000 to 2003. But in 2010 he was appointed to the commission that oversees the agency by then-Mayor Gavin Newsom  the commission that was so ineffective Mayor Ed Lee removed almost the entire bunch, Safai included, three years later.In 2013, The Chronicle revealed several improprieties at the agency, including favoritism in awarding contracts, employee lawsuits alleging discrimination, and financial problems so bad the federal government rated it among the two worst public housing agencies in the state.Public housing residents complained of wretched living conditions, including rats and cockroach infestations, mold and mildew, and elevators in high-rises that regularly broke down and stranded elderly and disabled people in their apartments.An audit of the agency by Harvey Rose, the Board of Supervisors budget and legislative analyst, blamed the commission for allowing the financial condition of the authority to reach a critical point, largely as the result of its own inadequate oversight.Lee replaced almost everyone on the commission, and the new group fired executive director Henry Alvarez, who is now working as a management consultant in Texas.Safai now says the commission was very qualified, but that Alvarez intentionally hid information from it so it had no chance to right the ship.We did the best we could with information we were provided as commissioners, Safai said.The tumult resulted in new leadership, turning over management of the properties to nonprofits, and better maintenance on elevators and buildings.I look at every time in my life as being positive, Im not a negative person, Safai said. At the end of the day, the agency is better for it. Heather KnightEmail: hknight [at] sfchronicle.com jgarofoli [at] sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hknightSF, @jfwildermuth, @joegarofoliAIPAC Zionist Supporter Olga Miranda President of SEIU 87 Janitors union: Campaign for D11 candidate Ahsha Safai or pay $150- She Also Backs Corrupt SF Mayor Ed LeeAhsha Safai is a candidate for the District 11 seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. (Courtesy Ahsha Safai)By Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez on October 4, 2016 1:00 amIf youre a San Francisco janitor in SEIU Local 87, you may soon face a choice: Pay the union $150, or campaign for Ahsha Safai, candidate for District 11 supervisor.Whether you consider that to be extortion of already overburdened workers, or a fair way of ensuring union participation, depends on who you are.On Guard obtained the Aug. 18 meeting minutes of Local 87, which represents more than 4,000 private sector custodial workers. Its president, Olga Miranda, has also stumped heavily for Safai.His candidacy comes at a crucial time, when five seats on the Board of Supervisors are up for grabs. Any two of them going to the moderates could tip the balance of power on the board back toward Mayor Ed Lees allies. Continue Reading Below[advertisement][advertisement]Safais and opponent Kimberly Alvarengas campaigns have split unions in this town on either side, seen by the Labor Councils no endorsement in District 11  a clear peacekeeping move.Safai earned $9,000 or $19,000 (depending on the year) for his work as a political consultant at Local 87 until 2012. He then began to independently consult for the union as a contractor (for about the same range of cost) and billed it through his consultancy company, Kitchen Cabinet Public Affairs.Is this pay-to-play? Some Local 87 members sure do think so.Local 87s minutes describe members in the meeting proposing Measures for members that did not show up to picket lines  motion to penalize members who did not show up @ [sic] Rallies during contract time will be fined $150/day or doing campaign activity for candidates endorsed by Local union.I can see a future with Supervisor Safai right now: Comment at the Board of Supervisors, or you owe me $150. Curb your wheels, or you owe me $150!Essentially, if youre not out on the picket line, youve got to help Safai campaign against Alvarenga  or pay up.Ive worked as a political coordinator for SEIU for 14 years and I havent heard of such a thing, Gabriel Haaland of rival union SEIU 1021 told me.Now, granted, Haaland supports Alvarenga, but he was still adamant.Its the most odd thing Ive ever heard in my life, he said.That choice rankled longtime Local 87 members Elsa Almanza and Juan Avila, who I spoke to during the San Francisco Democratic Party boards meeting last Wednesday.Hes not a trustworthy person, Avila said of Safai. Almanza added, He doesnt do anything related to organizing the members.As you can imagine, Safai and Miranda, the unions head, rebuffed the idea there was anything untoward about offering this odd choice.Safai said the idea that people had to campaign for him or pay money was a distortion of the truth because members were given options and that this is not something unique to my campaign. The union has done this in multiple situations in the past.Miranda said their union is very small, so it needs mechanisms to make members accountable.She brought up a fair point: Her union only racked wins against tech companies like Airbnb, Uber and Square for better treatment for custodial workers because they picketed.Miranda said if her members had a problem with stumping for Ahsha, I would not have been re-elected. She touted her win for Local 87s presidency last week as proof that our members trust us.SEIU Local 87 would benefit from a candidate who has its issues at heart on the Board of Supervisors, she said. For instance, a past proposal to extend hours on parking meters in the Financial District was harmful to janitors, she said.It benefits us to be involved politically, Miranda said.Seeing how hard theyve stumped for Safai, youd better believe it will.* * *Cue the tiniest of violins for politicians looking to circumvent campaign finance laws, as the Democratic County Central Committee voted last Wednesday to advocate for California lawmakers to restrict the DCCCs campaign contributions to $500 and to add that limit to its bylaws. Previously, contributions were unlimited.The resolution was authored by Petra DeJesus  hats off to her.During last Junes election, DCCC candidates racked up more than $2.3 million in donations because of a fundraising loophole: If youre running for supervisor, youre beholden to a $500 contribution limit. But if you also run for DCCC at the same time, you can easily pocket $10,000 or more from a contributor.Judson True, an aide to Assemblymember and incumbent candidate David Chiu, said Chiu supports the DCCC resolution and is exploring a bill for next year, but much work is still to be done.Its a start.On Guard prints the news and raises hell each week. Email Fitz at joe [at] sfexaminer.com , and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @FitztheReporter.Political Director Of Janitors SEIU 87 Under President Olga Miranda Is House Flipper And Supporter Of Corporate Controlled Ed LeeThe story Ahsha Safai doesnt tell in his campaign for supervisorHe's a real-estate speculator, house flipper, and gets almost half of his money from the real-estate industry -- so why is he getting progressive support?BY TIM REDMOND - Jul 14th 1715 16Ahsha Safai is running for supervisor in District 11 as a labor activist who has the support of some of the citys unions  and is building some support among what is generally considered the progressive community. John Burton has endorsed him. Its possible that the Democratic County Central Committee, which progressives fought hard to control, could wind up giving him at least a secondary nod.Hes well known among city insiders as a former city employee and Housing Authority Commissioner, and ran against incumbent John Avalos four years ago.Theres a lot to Safais resume that isnt in his campaign materialBut theres a lot about his record that hasnt received much attention. Safai is a real-estate speculator who made a big chunk of cash buying a house that was in foreclosure and flipping it. He makes most of his money  more than $100,000 a year  from a consulting firm that works with landlords. Nearly half of the money he has raised so far, our analysis shows, comes from the real estate industry.And while he doesnt list Mayor Ed Lee among his endorsements (nobodys listing Lee these days since hes so unpopular) Safai has long been a Lee supporter and donated to the mayors 2015 re-election.Here are some things weve found researching Safais history: In 2004, he was sued for fraud in a real-estate deal that wound up with Safai buying a house that was in foreclosure at what the suit alleges was an artificially low price and flipping it for a profit of close to half a million dollars.According to the lawsuit, Safai and his associates took advantage of a woman who was facing the loss of her property. Mary McDowell, who was working as a parking control officer in San Francisco, was living at 78 Latona Street in the Bayview when the bank that held her mortgage filed a notice of default.She owned four other properties that were also in foreclosure.Two real-estate sales people arrived at her home unsolicited in December, 2003, and told her they would buy her property and pay her enough to cover the notes on the other places she owned so she could avoid all the foreclosures.The lawsuit alleges that the real-estate broker didnt properly list the home on the Multiple Listing Service but instead brought McDowell an offer for $375,000  far less than market value, according to the complaint. McDowell was frightened and intimidated into accepting the offer, and the house was sold to Ahsha and Reza Safai.McDowell eventually dismissed the case, her lawyer told me, because the defendants were dragging this out forever in court and she decided she had had enough. Attorney C. Brent Patten said that no court ever determined whether Safai or the others had done anything wrong.Safai in legal filings denied all the allegations.But whatever the legality, Safai wound up buying a house that was in foreclosure at what turned out to be an excellent price. In 2005, according to the real-estate service Property Shark, the median sale price for housing in that neighborhood was $336 a square foot. Safai paid $177 a square foot for the 78 Latona St. property.City records show that he and Reza Safai spent $60,000 renovating the place, and sold it less than a year later for $800,000.So Safai was part of a group that bought a house in foreclosure from a woman who was in financial trouble and flipped it quickly for a short-term profit. That could be perfectly legal  lots of people have made lots of money buying properties in foreclosure and selling them for a quick profit.But house-flipper is not part of his public resume.Safai describes himself as the political director for SEIU Local 87, and had played his union connections into a number of endorsements. But forms he filed while he was on the Housing Authority Commission show that the vast majority of his income comes from his consulting firm, Kitchen Cabinet Public Affairs, that did work for one of Lees main consultants and at least one high-end landlord.Safais economic interest statements for 2012 and 2013 show that he earned less than $10,000 as political director for Local 87, but more than $100,000 as principal in Kitchen Cabinet Public Affairs.On his website, he describes that outfit as working with nonprofits, community-based and political organizations throughout the Bay Area building community and revitalizing neighborhoods.And indeed, some of his clients include Local 87, the Teamsters Union Local 350, and Mission Housing Development Corp. Also on the list: SST Investments, a landlord that operates high-end apartments, and Left Coast Communications, the consulting firm that ran the somewhat legally dubious Run Ed Run campaign.Clients also included Jacobs Engineering and KJ Woods Construction. Safai is the real-estate industrys guy. A 48hills analysis of campaign contributions filed so far shows that nearly half his money  45 percent  came from real-estate development, construction, landlords and landlord lawyers, and big downtown companies.Among his supporters: Janan New, director of the Apartment Association; David Gruber, who holds the landlord seat on the Rent Board, Russell Flynn (one of the biggest landlords in the city), David Wasserman (an eviction lawyer), Oz Erickson (a big developer), Mary Jung (lobbyist for the Association of Realtors), and Jim Lazarus (who works for the Chamber of Commerce).The fact that a candidate takes money from special interests doesnt always mean that candidate will do what they want. But its pretty clear from the preponderance of money that the people who have been making big money from evictions, displacement, and the destruction of neighborhoods think Safai is the one who will represent their interests at City Hall. He is a supporter of Mayor Ed Lee. Not a single politician in June used the mayors endorsement; in fact, polls show that more than half of San Franciscans would vote against someone associated with the immensely unpopular mayor.Safai doesnt list Lees endorsement on his website either. But hes clearly a fan: In 2015, when 46 percent of the voters chose candidates with no name recognition, no electoral experience, and no real campaigns over the incumbent, Safai donated $250 to the Lee campaign.That suggests that he endorses the agenda that the mayor has promoted: A tech boom that has created the worst displacement crisis in modern history.Safai didnt return messages left with his campaign. He will try to avoid a lot of these issues as he seeks progressive support. But its all there, on the record. And its worth thinking about.Research assistance for this story was provided by Don Ray and Sofia Aguilar.SEIU 87 Pres Olga Miranda Poster Child From Labor For Israel and ZionistsMy trip to AIPAC 2014by rabbiegerMarch 5, 2014I have just returned from 2 1/2 days in Washington D.C. I was attending the annual AIPAC Policy conference along with 15,000 others who love Israel. AIPAC is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. This important organization builds bridges and support for the State of Israel with the United States. AIPAC educates Congress and our elected leaders and works to strengthen the relationship between Israel and the U.S. AIPAC works effectively on college campuses with campus student leaders to combat the Anti-Israel fervor and the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement aimed at Israel. They educate and reach African American leaders, Hispanic leaders and Christian leaders and educate them about the strategic importance of Israel and a side of the story that they may not have heard before. As we heard from the President of the Washington local SEIU 87, a dynamic Latina, named Olga Miranda said, I never knew Israels story until AIPAC introduced me to it. I merely repeated what I heard on the news. Today I know there are two sides to every story. I am pro-Israel and I am the face of AIPAC.While I have attended local AIPAC events I had never been to the annual policy conference. We heard from an array of speakers including Hon Isaac Herzog, the head of Israels Labor Party, Sen. John McCain, Sen. Charles Schumer, and Sen. Robert Menendez, head of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, Secretary of State John Kerry and Israels Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. It was amazing to me in a town so divided by partisanship to see the House Majority whip Rep Eric Cantor (R) stand side by side with the House Minority Whip Rep. Steny Hoyer (D) and together talk about their common and strong support of the Israel -U.S. relationship. Hoyer couldnt resist chiding the Jewish Cantor that he had been to Israel more times!One of the most powerful presentations came from Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida and Pnina Tamano-Shata (Yesh Atid) the first Ethiopian Member Knesset. Side by side they each recounted a similar story of being refugees: one from Cuba and one from Ethiopia and their journeys to become legislators and all they had in common. The common values of freedom and democracy and opportunity of Israel and the United States were never more evident.All of this and many workshops on everything from the peace process, the war in Syria, Israels technology revolution, Iran, fighting Boycotts of Israel, the rise of Anti-Semitism in Europe, climate change and water issues in the US and Israel and so much more; workshops for Christians, students, Latinos, LGBT receptions and how to lobby Congress. Tuesday of the conference is devoted to lobbying your Congress person and Senators for Israel.I also learned despite some critics that AIPAC is real bi-partisan. There has been a lot of critique on the left that AIPAC became a Republican stronghold. I didnt get that. It was clear they were committed to bi-partisanship both in representing Israels political spectrum and the here in the U.S. Yes there are partisan Jews on both sides of the aisle. But as someone who is center left on Israel, meaning I believe strongly in states for two people, a Jewish democratic Israel side by side with a Democratic Palestine both who can live in peace and security, I did not feel out of place at all. Other progressives were there and I believe it is important to gather there so that the entire spectrum on Israel is represented and is part of the solution for a healthy Israel -U.S. relationship!I learned a lot in a short period of time. I hope next year some of you will join me for AIPAC Policy Conference 2015. It is March 1-3, 2015. Registration is already open. If you love Israel and you want the US and Israel to remain strong partners for peace, freedom, trade, innovation, democracy, and security then you want to be a part of AIPAC. Join me there. I have already registered. How about you? If you want to register or view the videos from the conference here is the link: http://www.aipac.org by JOEL B. POLLAK4 Mar 20143During Fridays final plenary session at the Policy Conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), thousands of pro-Israel activists were addressed by Olga Miranda, president of Local 87 of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). In the course of describing her pro-Israel views, she led the crowd in a chant of Si, se puede! (Yes we can!), and asked those present to support immigration reform in the U.S.Those sentiments were more partisan than anything the conference had heard over three days. And the SEIU is is one of the most partisan organizations in American politics, serving as the Obama administrations front line in pushing Obamacare and other policies. Occasionally, SEIU leaders have aligned with the most radical of the anti-Israel organizations: in fact, Local 73 was investigated in 2010 for ties to the Hamas terror organization.Yet Miranda was onstage to testify about how she had changed her mind about Israel, especially once she visited Israel and saw the other side of the story. Israel is the only thing I ever admitted to being wrong about in fourteen years, she said. She singled out Israels immigration policy: In Israel, immigrants are humans (as opposed to the U.S., where they are criminalized for wanting to provide food for their families.)The audience gave her speech a standing ovation. Mirandas was a timely message about the power of persuasion for activists about to embark on visits to Capitol Hill, and perhaps nervous about convincing skeptical members of Congress to hold firm on Iran.It was also a message to Israels left-wing critics, some of whom led protests on day one of the conference (and at least one of whom was arrested a day later in Egypt for trying to enter Gaza).Yet AIPAC is hardly doing as much to court conservatives. There were no speakers from the Tea Partythe SEIUs foe in the political trenchesto talk about what Israel meant to members of that movement, for example.That may reflect a subtle political bias that persists in spite of AIPACs strenuous efforts at bipartisanship. More importantly, it reflects the undeniable political reality today that conservative support for Israel is not in doubt.The confrontational approach of the Obama administration towards Israel has presented a unique challenge for AIPAC over the past five years. Those Democrats who addressed the conferenceSens. Chris Coons,Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY)2%, and Bob Menendez, plus Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lewwere at pains to assure the activists of their partys support.AIPAC is trying to help them do so, without alienating the conservatives in its midst.
In opposition to the renters in the David vs. Goliath renter protection campaigns taking place in the Bay Area, are the greedy landlords, speculators, realtors & realtor associations, and apartment associations that are spending a ton of money to have the notorious California Apartment Association (CAA) run some massive campaigns against Bay Area renters seeking renter protections. The massive campaigns and big money being spent by the CAA are corrupting the political process in the Bay Area, and are obscene in breadth, and scope!

Corrupting influence of big money against rent controlBy Lynda Carson - October 29, 2016Oakland  Renters need renter protections including rent control and just cause eviction protections just to have the right to pay their rent, including the right to fight back against unscrupulous landlords involved in price gouging, and eviction-for-profit schemes. Renters are not asking for too much when demanding the right to fight back against unscrupulous millionaire landlords who are terrorizing them by trying to scare them out of their apartments, just to raise the rents on their rental units.With the announcement by Zillow that the median rent in Oakland is presently $3,000 a month , it reveals that rent control is needed more than ever to curb the voracious appetite of greedy landlords, speculators, realtors and Wall Street investment firms taking advantage of renters with their over market rate rentals in Oakland, and the Bay Area.That's why renters and tenant advocates across the Bay Area are urging voters to vote for strong renter protections during the upcoming November election in the cities of Richmond San Mateo , and Mountain View In opposition to the renters in the David vs. Goliath renter protection campaigns taking place in the Bay Area, are the greedy landlords, speculators, realtors & realtor associations, and apartment associations that are spending a ton of money to have the notorious California Apartment Association (CAA) run some massive campaigns against Bay Area renters seeking renter protections. The massive campaigns and big money being spent by the CAA are corrupting the political process in the Bay Area, and are obscene in breadth, and scope.The big money of the CAA and its wealthy campaign contributors have spent a fortune of money in TV and radio attack ads, mailers, newspaper ads, printers, politicians, campaign consultants, and polling recently, in the effort to convince voters to vote against renter protection ballot measures that can be voted on in November, in 6 Bay Area cities.Records reveal that between 1/1/2016 and 9/24/2016 the CAA-Issues Committee took in $829,398 in campaign contributions from big monied landlords and speculators that do not want renters to have any renter protections, including $50,000 from KW Multi-Family Management Group, LLC, $150,000 from Prometheus Real Estate Group, Inc, owned by a billionaire family, $50,000 from wealthy landlord & speculator Tod Spieker, $25,000 from Tower Alameda LP, $85,000 from Woodmont Real Estate Services, LP, $40,000 from Mountain View Housing Council, $45,000 from Vasona Management, Inc, $25,000 from ACCO Management CO, $20,000 from the Tan Group, and $100,000 from Equity Residential, a very wealthy firm out of Chicago.According to public records , and these are not all the public records available, however it reveals that the California Apartment Association Issues Committee has recently spent $250,000 in TV attack ads with Cabletime, around $52,000 in TV & radio attack ads with Firestar Productions, $17,000 in radio attack ads on KCBS Radio, $8,500 in radio attack ads on KFOG Radio, $17,200 in radio attack ads on KGO Radio, $17,000 in radio attack ads on KNBR Radio, and $10,500 in radio attack ads with Weller Media Services against renter protection ballot measures.Additionally, the CAA-Issues Committee spent around $412,250 for TV radio attack ads, campaign literature and mailings, and $20,000 for polling and survey research with Media & Associates, INC, against renter protection ballot measures.The CAA-Issues Committee also spent around $16,000 with Tony Sciliani for campaign literature and mailings against renter protection ballot measures in the Bay Area.Records also reveal that the CAA-Issues Committee also spent an additional $71,530 in opposition to Measure Q in San Mateo, a renter protection ballot measure.Additional records also reveal that the CAA-Issues Committee also spent an additional $61,721 in opposition to Measure L in Richmond, a renter protection ballot measure.More records reveal that the CAA0Issues Committee also spent $138,028 in opposition to Measure V in Mountain View, a renter protection ballot measure.Records also reveal that the CAA-Issues Committee also spent $56,353 in opposition to Measure R in Burlingame, a renter protection ballot measure.Additionally, records also reveal that the CAA-Issues Committee also spent $59,983 in opposition to Measure M1 in Alameda, a renter protection ballot measure.In comparison, today in Alameda around 50 people or more with the Alameda Renters Coalition will be going around town handing out 10,000 door hangers, and they will be talking to people in the effort to convince voters to vote for Measure M1, on November 8, a renter protection ballot measure.The big money being spent by the CAA to oppose the grass roots efforts of tenants and activists promoting renter protections in the Bay Area, are obscene and are corrupting the political process.Meanwhile, in Alameda mass evictions have been occurring due to a lack of strong renter protections, and the Alameda Renters Coalition is urging voters to vote against Measure L1, and to vote for Measure M1 as the way to protect renters and stabilize communities in their city.In Oakland Measure JJ is on the ballot in November and if voted into law it will help to protect renters by strengthening existing renter protection laws. Voters are urged to vote YES on Measure JJ to help stabilize communities in Oakland, and slow down greedy landlords involved in price gouging and eviction-for-profit schemes.The struggle for renter protections in Richmond has been an epic battle against the lies and deceit of the California Apartment Association (CAA) , and its corrupting influence on local politicians Activists are urging voters to vote on Measure L as a way to stop landlords involved in price gouging and eviction-for-profit schemes in Richmond. Measure L makes the landlords accountable for their actions when engaging in price gouging . If passed by the voters in November, Measure L would help to stop the mass evictions taking place in Richmond that are condoned by Mayor Tom Butt, and Councilmembers Nathaniel Bates and Vinay Pimple.In the City of San Mateo, renters and activists collected more than 11,000 signatures to place a renter protection ballot measure on the ballot for November 8 that includes rent control and just cause eviction protections. Activists are urging the voters in San Mateo to vote on Measure Q as a way to stabilize communities and protect families from displacement.In the City of Mountain View renter protections are also on the ballot. Activists and renters are urging voters to vote on Measure V to protect over 14,000 households, including families, teachers and nurses from rent price gouging and eviction-for-profit schemes. Activists are urging renters to vote for Measure V, and to vote against weak renter protection measure placed on the ballot by the City Council.Renters and activists have also had a fierce battle in Burlingame over renter protections and activists are urging voters to vote for Measure R in November. If passed by the voters Measure R will provide rent stabilization and just cause eviction protections to help stabilize communities and protect families from displacement of their housing due to speculators, realtors, and greedy landlords.Renter protections will be on the ballot in 6 cities during November in the Bay Area. No matter how hard the landlords and the California Apartment Association are trying to stop the renters movement, tenant advocates across the Bay Area are urging renters to vote on strong renter protections during the upcoming November elections in the cities of Richmond San Mateo , and Mountain View . The activists are urging people to vote no against any weak proposals placed on the ballot by the City Council in Alameda, and Mountain View.Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com >>>>>>>>>>>>
The High Court has reserved judgement on whether a Harvard professor of constitutional law should give evidence in a case taken by Denis O'Brien.

The businessman claims statements made by certain TDs in the Dail about his banking affairs were not protected by absolute privilege.
WHAT have popular RTE broadcaster Miriam OCallaghan, model agent Celia Holman Lee, former supermodel Christie Brinkley, and actress Raquel Welch got in common?

They are all mature women with fabulous long locks who wear hair extensions to give their crowning glory a boost.

So commonplace have extensions become among older women, that you might well add your best friend or next-door neighbour to that list, if you think they are having a good hair day.

As we age, our hair on average gets thinner and more brittle and extensions can not only add length, but shape, style, colour and volume.

Christie Brinkley, aged 62 last February, is quoted as saying she finds extensions good for her thinning hair and also if you just want to feel luxurious.

And our own Miriam OCallaghan has openly attributed her bouncy blonde locks to being a fan of bonded real-hair extensions.

The trend for more mature women to go short in the past, was largely due to the deterioration in hair quality, but with extensions a woman can now look like she has the same fullness, if she wants to wear it longer, says Michael Corcoran, stylist and senior educator at the Peter Mark hair salon chain.

A lot of older women say, Im trying to grow my hair but when it gets to this point, it tends to split, I can never get it past that level so I need to get it cut. Extensions get you that strong glossy line you are looking for, he says.

When Peter Mark introduced hair extensions for the first time a few months ago, they found a new fan in 65-year-old Celia Holman Lee, says Corcoran.

We were many years at Peter Mark looking for the perfect product for us and we found Rapture hair extensions, made from ethically sourced human hair and using a lightweight hypoallergenic tape system which attaches to your hair, meaning no beading or bonding or dragging on your natural hair, he says.

So Celia, who goes to many glamorous events has gone from bonded to our tape extensions.

But for those of us who lead a less glamorous life, are they beyond our reach, time-wise and financially? Corcoran doesnt think so.

First of all, he argues, although many of their mature clients wear them as a semi-permanent fixture, others just take them out and wear them for special occasions, such as a wedding, to add style and volume, or simply as fillers even to a short bob to get a more glamorous effect.

For clients who wear the extensions daily, they last up to six months before they invest again in a new batch of hair. Over that time, they have to come back to the salon to get them repositioned and renaturlaised, (140 each visit) depending on their individual needs.

A full head consists of five packets of extensions, (60 per pack and 40 for labour, per pack) but the number of packs depends on each individual. For a full head, that comes to 720 for six months in all  a big investment by any standards.

But, if you only wear them for special events, then the extensions (which you keep at home) last much longer and after the initial investment you fork out only for the salon visits before and after your glamorous event, getting them installed and removed.

For those who wear them semi-permanently though, there is also some maintenance at home.

Your main focus is always to protect your bonds because then you get longer out of them, says the stylist.

Wash hair only once or twice a week, which is the general recommendation whether you have extensions or not and use a sulphate-free shampoo and conditioner. Then style and look after, as you would your own hair.

Its a far cry from the weekly perm at the hairdressers of days gone by.

But Corcoran says: When I was younger my grandmother was 60 and she looked like a stereotypical grandmother. My own mother now is 63 and a grandmother and that glamour is 100% where she is  she is very much still into how she looks.

There are some stunning looking 50-year-old, 60-year-old and 70-year-old women going around so I dont think the attitude is there any more that if you are an older woman you have to have this short little hair cut and put your rollers in at night time when youre going to bed and take them out in the morning and brush your hair.

He points to the glamorous long locks of 76-year-old Raquel Welch and with his expert eye says, she most definitely, 100%, has fillers in there as well.

Look at Jane Fonda, [aged 78], he adds. Its still a short hair cut, but its worn in such a flicked-out glamorous way. I think sometimes mature women are showing the younger ones how its really done  with that extra touch of class as well.

Fab grannies

Hot Granny, Fabulous at 50, 60, and Beyond! Mel Walsh, 9.27

Yes, hot and granny are two words that can go together and the hot part is not about the menopause, but about being with-it and on top of the world, according to the author, who urges all of us over 50  actually whether we are grannies or not  to play, explore, laugh, love and learn.

One of her tips is that we should get more involved with whats happening today and tomorrow  keeping ourselves interested and interesting.

The tone is light and humorous with illustrations to match, as Walsh covers topics such as looking after ourselves, our health and our looks; partaking in family life including how to charm the tots and pursuing our passions and dreams. A nice reminder for any new granny that life can get even better.

Silver Surfer

Check out the yoga facelift video

In order to carry a positive action, we must develop here a positive vision  Dalai Lama

Dance Delight

If dance can keep you youthful  and passionate, then 82-year-old Valda Setterfield, who performed recently in Corks Firkin Crane and last weekend at Samuel Beckett Theatre, Dublin, is an example to us all.

The New York legendary dancer/actor starred in choreographer John Scotts Irish Modern Dance Theatre version of Shakespeares masterpiece, Lear, which featured a gender-reversed cast, as she gave a profoundly moving performance depicting the Kings gradual descent into madness.

The imitable British-born Setterfield is noted for her work with her husband, choreographer and director, David Gordon, now aged 80, and as a soloist for Merce Cunningham who was at the forefront of the American Dance scene for over 50 years. She has also performed in films by Woody Allen .
FOR most people in this country the break-up of the refugee camp in Calais this week was something happening over there. The camp, which was in existence for more than seven years and was known as the Jungle, was home to between 6,000 and 8,000 refugees from war-torn counties in Asia and Africa.

Among them were hundreds of unaccompanied minors who had been separated from their parents somewhere along the journey from their former homes right across a continent.

Last year there was a partial break-up of the camp, after which a reported 200 minors have been unaccounted for. Can you imagine a town the size of, say, Nenagh, Co Tipperary, in which 200 children go missing?

Before last weeks break-up, there were 544 unaccompanied minors in the camp. It is as yet unclear as to how many of them have been accounted for and rehoused elsewhere.

The camp grew out of efforts by large groups who had fled to Europe intent on going all the way to Britain. They made it across land through a number of countries, right to the edge of mainland Europe, where things came to a standstill, near the mouth of the Channel Tunnel. Since then, some managed to get smuggled across the Channel, but most saw their dream die in the squalor.

Why the big attraction for Britain? For some, it was the nirvana where they would be reunited with family who went before them. Others saw it as the best chance of a new life, particularly in terms of already having at least a grasp of the language. Whether they would have been received with open arms is another matter, but when youve been through what those people had, such matters are mere detail.

Over the course of the last week, the refugees have been bussed out of Calais and relocated to 451 reception centres  mainly large, disused buildings in towns and villages across northern France.

In some quarters, the reception has been appalling. The New York Times reported from the village of Croisilles, which is 120km from Calais.

We dont want them! the demonstrators shouted at the arrivals.

The report went on: This is our home others yelled at the darkened, disused retirement home where the migrants are being housed. Inside the building a young Sudanese man pressed his face to the window and looked out at the angry crowd, bemused.

The report pointed out that there were others who showed compassion for people who still had nowhere to call home. But put yourself in the shoes of those refugees, having fled from the destruction of their homes, and probable death, to be met with a barrage of insults demanding that they clear off somewhere else and become somebody elses problem.

While few in this country could relate to being treated with such inhumanity, many of those who fled the Famine in the middle of the 19th century would have no problem relating to it.

While all of that is happening over there, the events of the last few days should have brought home that over there is no longer as far away as it used to be.

For decades we were accustomed to scenes from squalid refugee camps in outposts of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.

Calais is practically on our doorstep, Greece and Italy not much further away. All are countries to which we are linked politically and economically.

It is no longer sustainable to pretend that the phenomenon of migration is something that can be filed away as tugging at our collective consciousness, but not impacting on daily lives.

Yet that appears to be the stance in official circles. The Irish government agreed last year to receive 4,000 refugees, of which 2,622 were to come from Italy and Greece, which has hosted most of those fleeing war in Syria in particular.

As of last week, just 69 from Italy and Greece have been relocated here, according to the Department of Justice. Ports in Italy and Greek islands are teeming with those who have fled for their lives, yet apparently there are insurmountable issues in processing them fast enough for this country to take up its complement.

The lack of urgency is highlighted by the fact that the relocation is being handled by the Department of Justice. Is it appropriate that a department primarily concerned with security is organising the States reaction to a humanitarian crisis?

In the absence of leadership, it might be expected that the opposition would hold the Government to account for its inaction, or possible apathy, in dealing with this issue. But apart from a few individuals here and there, the opposition largely sees little political capital to be made on the issue so it passes up on its responsibilities.

As always, the body politic reacts where pressure is applied and it would appear that other matters are preoccupying the general public right now.

There are pockets of compassion that hark back to a time when the country as a whole had a reservoir of compassion for those fleeing death and destruction.

Last year, 800 families pledged to house unaccompanied minors in their homes, but the lack of urgency to act has made the offers redundant.

Such generosity needs to be harnessed, because it does hint at the possibility of greater engagement by the general public if some leadership was provided.

One way or the other, burying heads in the sand about migration will only suffice for so long. The current cause is mainly war. There will always be those who are fleeing persecution of one sort of another in parts of the world where human rights are routinely abused or ignored.

More than any of that, though, it is inevitable that migration will in the future be fuelled by climate change. A foretaste of what is to come has been experienced in parts of Africa and Asia over the last two years through the climate phenomenon knowns as El Nino.

East Africa, in particular, has been badly hit by weather that oscillates between drought and excessive rains, which combine to destroy any prospects of harvesting food from the land.

That has caused hardship now, but if trends continue the day will fast arrive when large tracts of the globe will become inhabitable. That will deliver major changes to the whole character of migration.

We can, in this country, prepare for the future and deal more effectively and compassionately with the present.

In the absence of political leadership the onus to lead falls on civic society.

Hopefully, more urgency will be shown by all of us to locate, and act on, a collective compassion that has been sadly lacking up to now.
A survey by the Delhi State Legal Service Authority reveals that police stations take more than 10 days to send biological and chemical evidence to forensic laboratories,something that needs to be done within 48-72 hours. Some police stations in fact took over 100 days to send the samples.

Out of 466 biological samples and 380 chemical samples collected since January this year, few police stations took more than 100 days in sending the forensic samples to the labs.

By Sneha Agrawal: There is a delay of more than 10 days in sending biological and chemical evidence to forensic laboratories against the standard operating procedure which mentions that it has to be 'within a reasonable' time that is usually considered to be between 48-72 hours, according to the findings of Delhi State Legal Service Authority (DSLSA).

The Delhi High Court is hearing a public interest litigation on various aspects of the working of the criminal justice delivery system.

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On the directions of Delhi High Court, Delhi State Legal Services Authority (DSLSA) inspected 22 police stations in 11 districts to gauge the ground reality of the evidence locker (mal khanas) where the biological and chemical samples are stored before they are sent to the forensic labs after the Delhi Police filed an affidavit on the procedure it adopts for the storage of samples.

SURVEY REVEALS THE TRUTH: OVER 100 DAYS TO SEND THE SAMPLES TO LABS

According to the survey, out of 466 biological samples and 380 chemical samples collected since January 2016, the delay of more than 10 days was found in 48.88 per cent and 64.30 per cent, respectively.

There were police stations that took more than 100 days in sending the samples to the labs.

Biological samples include blood, blood stain, semen, semen stain, saliva, urine, sweat, faecal material among others. The chemical samples include those used in crimes such as bride burning, arson and fire, acid attacks, poisoning, drug abuse, alcoholism, etc. Out of 22 police stations, four of them had not stored in biological samples in minus four degrees Celsius.

In Shakarpur police station only one biological sample out of 23 samples were stored at the required temperature.

Dharmesh Sharma, additional sessions judge and member secretary of DSLSA told Mail Today "The biological and chemical samples have different life. The SOP says it has to be sent 'within reasonable time.' Which is why the inspection team decided to see the cases where there is a delay of more than 10 days. In poisoning cases, chemicals are such that they react and give diluted results. Which is why the best time to send the same is 48-72 hours and there are several judgments to support this," he said.

Speaking to Mail Today, a police official requesting anonymity, also claimed that the FSLs do not accept the samples except in urgent cases or those cases that come from the higher authorities.

It was observed that there was a rampant and unexplained delay in sending the specimen to the forensic labs.

THE REASONS BEHIND THE DELAY

The officials said that no satisfactory explanation was received from the police officials on the delay.

However, some of the reasons that were cited were nonavailability of adequate staff for the evidence lockers, cases where accused was absconding or the victim was untraceable. The report said that the police officials were not provided any gloves or any tweezers nor there was a provision for storing tissue samples in formalin and saline water.

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Surprisingly, the incharge of the evidence lockers (Malkhana Mohrars) were not aware of the use of formalin and saline water for storing the tissue samples. The evidence lockers lacked the air tight containers.

Upon inspection it was revealed that entire sample collected by the investigation officer is sent to the forensic labs.

There was no mechanism of retaining portion of the sample which could be sent to another laboratory for a second opinion or cross checking. Interestingly, it was found remnants received back from the FSL were not being kept back in the safe environment.

Also Read:

What's the delay? Delhi govt awaits report on bird samples, as death toll continues to rise



--- ENDS ---
The arrests were the latest sign of rising tensions in the vast central African nation. By Eduardo Soteras (AFP)

29.10.2016 LISTEN

Kinshasa (AFP) - A dozen activists who do not want President Joseph Kabila to remain in power in the Democratic Republic of Congo were arrested Saturday after a sit-in at the African Union headquarters in Kinshasa, an AFP journalist said.

The arrests were the latest sign of rising tensions in the vast central African nation, where the opposition does not want Kabila's grip on power to continue beyond the expiry of his term on December 20.

The arrests occurred despite repeated condemnations from human rights organisations in the fraught nation.

"Arrests were made at the central station and the Bon Marche neighbourhood," police spokesman Ezekiel Mwana Mputu said, referring to the detention of the activists.

Some 30 activists affiliated to the Filimbi movement, whose name means "whistle" in Swahili, chanted slogans calling on Kabila to step down.

Police officers confiscated their banners as they gathered in front of the seat of the AU, braving pouring rain.

"We came to remind the AU that it holds great responsibility in the constitutional coup d'etat that was decided by the (participants in the) dialogue, with its full agreement," protest organiser Carbone Beni Wa Beya said.

"December 19 will be the last day of President Kabila's mandate, in accordance with the constitution," he added.

Shortly afterwards, the activist was detained.

The dissident was referring to an AU-facilitated "national dialogue", which last week reached a deal to keep Kabila in power until 2018 by postponing this year's vote.

The opposition rejected the deal, with the main dissident coalition -- "Rassemblement" (Gathering) -- branding the talks a ploy by Kabila to stay in power beyond the end of his term.

Kabila first took office in 2001, and in 2006 a new constitutional provision limited the presidency to a two-term limit which expires in December.
President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah Al Sisi arrives to address the United Nations General Assembly on September 20, 2016 in New York City. By John Moore (Getty/AFP/File)

29.10.2016 LISTEN

Cairo (AFP) - Egypt on Saturday condemned the Saudi head of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation for mocking its President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in comments that provoked outrage among Egyptians.

OIC Secretary General Iyad Madani, a former Saudi minister, had mixed up Sisi's name with that of Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi.

"Mr President Beji Caid al-Sisi. Essebsi sorry. This is a big mistake. I'm sure your fridge has more than water, your excellency," he told the Tunisian leader at a conference.

He was referring to widely derided comments made by Sisi this week in which he claimed that his fridge only had water in it for a decade.

Madani's remark was "a serious encroachment against a founding member state of the organisation and its political leadership," Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said in a statement.

"Such remarks do not conform with the responsibilities and the duties of the organisation's secretary general position, and fundamentally affect his ability to carry out his duties," he added in the statement in English.

Madani, who has headed the 57-member bloc since 2014, has apologised, saying in a statement he meant no "insult to the Egyptian leadership".
Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Two suicide bombings rocked Nigeria's northeast city of Maiduguri on Saturday morning, killing at least nine people and injuring scores of others, emergency services said.

"Two suicide bombers riding in motorised rickshaws this morning detonated their explosives 10 minutes apart, with one of them targeting the Bakassi IDP (internally displaced persons) camp on the outskirts of the city," Mohammed Kanar, spokesman for Nigeria Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), said.

"Nine persons lost their lives with twenty-four persons injured and evacuated to various hospitals," NEMA said in a statement posted on Twitter.
Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) remains a public health crisis. As per WHOs Global TB Report 2016, 480,000 people fell ill with MDR-TB in 2015, with 3 countries - India, China, and Russia - carrying the major burden and together accounting for nearly half of all MDR-TB cases globally.

Detection and treatment gaps continue to plague the MDR-TB response. In 2015, only 1 out of every 5 people needing treatment for MDR-TB were able to access it and only 52% of those who started MDR-TB treatment were cured.

These sobering statistics remind us of our urgency to continue the fight to develop better, faster and affordable treatments that will finally bring this pandemic under control, said Dr Mel Spigelman, CEO of TB Alliance, which is working to advance several promising regimens to tackle all forms of TB.

The current MDR-TB regimen lasts for 2 years or more. It includes medicines and injectables that are not only toxic but also come at a cost that is higher than what many patients and healthcare systems can afford. Even the new 9 month MDR-TB regimen that has recently been endorsed by WHO, though shorter, does include 4 months of injectables.

However new results from 2 clinical studies conducted by TB Alliance point to an emerging paradigm, where countries may soon have the short, all-oral, and affordable drug regimens needed to treat all people with TB. Late stage clinical results from these two studies were unveiled yesterday at the 47th Union World Conference on Lung Health in Liverpool.

THE NC-005 STUDY

The NC-005 study investigates an oral, injection free regimen that purports to treat both drug-sensitive and MDR-TB with a short, simple, safe, and affordable treatment. A Phase 2b, 2 month study tested various combinations of BPaMZBedaquiline (B), Pretomanid (Pa), Moxifloxacin (M) and Pyrazinamide (Z). It was conducted at 10 sites in 3 countries (Uganda, South Africa, and Tanzania). A total of 240 patients were enrolled in the study 180 patients with drug-sensitive TB received BPaZ and 60 patients with MDR-TB received BPaMZ. The study also investigated a simpler dosing scheme for bedaquiline, which could lead to fewer pills and an overall less complicated treatment for patients.

NC-005 showed that the best regimen was a combination of all four drugs, BPaMZ, which was examined in an arm of the trial. Data showed that at the end of 2 months, clinical study participants receiving BPaMZ cleared TB bacteria from their sputum 3 times as quickly as those on the standard treatment regimen. Almost all participants had culture conversion after the 2 months of treatment. This is the fastest rate of culture conversion that has ever been seen and indicates the potential of BPaMZ to treat all forms of TB-drug-sensitive as well as MDR-TB with the same regimen. The regimens appeared safe. The study showed that it was possible to simplify the dosing of Bedaquiline and found that a daily dose of Bedaquiline (200 mg) is at least as active and safe as the labelled dose. This will allow for simpler daily dosing with the regimen and to be combined in a fixed dose combination.

The BPaMZ regimen is being tested to see if it can cure the vast majority of TB patients in as less as 3 months. If successful, the regimen could reshape the treatment landscape of TB, especially for people with MDR-TB, who currently face an arduous 9-24 month treatment journey that is too often unsuccessful. The results of NC-005 could pave the way to a global Phase 3 trial.

THE NIX-TB STUDY

('Nix' means to put an end to)

It is estimated that 9% of all the MDR-TB patients suffer from extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) that is resistant to at least four commonly used anti-TB drugs. XDR-TB is often considered a death sentence. Most XDR-TB is not treated at all because of the cost and complexity of the treatment. Of those who do receive treatment, less than one third get cured.

In May 2015, TB Alliance and partners launched the worlds first clinical study the Nix-TB Study-to test a new XDR-TB drug regimen called BPaL, consisting of Bedaquiline (B), Pretomanid (Pa), and Linezolid (L) in patients who have no other treatment options. It is the first study to test an all-oral drug regimen, comprised of drugs with minimal pre-existing resistance, that has the potential to shorten, simplify, and improve treatment for XDR-TB.

Nix-TB is an open-label study that is being conducted at 2 sites in South Africaat Sizwe Hospital in Johannesburg and at Brooklyn Chest Hospital in Cape Town. Additional sites to expand the study are planned.

Patients who have XDR-TB, or have failed their current MDR-TB treatment or who have side effects of their current MDR-TB treatment, are enrolled.Till to date, 50 patients have been enrolled in the study, including patients as young as 14 and those who are co-infected with HIV with a CD4 cell count of 50 or higher.

Initial data from the study shows the promise of BPaL to treat XDR-TB in only 6 months - Bedaquiline (400 mg daily for 2 weeks followed by 200 mg twice a week), Pretomanid (200 mg daily) and Linezolid (1200 mg daily) given orally for 6 months with the option to extend treatment to 9 months for participants who do not culture convert within 4 months. Patients are assessed at regular intervals with the aim of being cured in 6 months. After completing treatment, participants will be monitored for two years to ensure they do not relapse.

The interim results (between April 2015 and July 2016) on the first 15 participants enrolled in the study, of whom 7 were HIV positive, showed that 12 of them completed 6 months of therapy. The majority were culture negative by week 8 and no patient needed an extension of treatment. As of July 1, 2016 there have been no clinical or micro biological relapses.

As of now, 30 patients have completed 6 months of treatment and all have negative cultures of their sputum. There have been no relapses to date, although the study is still ongoing. The rest of the patients are in various stages of treatment and follow-up. 4 patients have died, but this is a substantially lower mortality than ever reported before.

The early results of this greatly simplified and shortened all oral regimen for XDR-TB appear to be encouraging in terms of both efficacy and safety. The regimen appears safe but requires medical supervision. Linezolid, which has been used off-label to treat MDR-TB, has considerable toxicity but was managed in a clinical study setting.

This is the first injection-free regimen for XDR-TB that, if successful, could transform XDR-TB treatment, with patients being cured by taking a relatively short, simple, oral and effective regimen. Importantly, the regimen would also reduce the complexity and cost of the treatment to a fraction of what it is today, facilitating the global implementation of XDR-TB treatment in resource-poor nations.

These regimens can be deployed in the context of currently available or forthcoming diagnostics. These regimens may revolutionise and markedly reshape the treatment landscape for TB by offering a common therapy for virtually all people with drug-sensitive and drug-resistant TB, and a closely related treatment for those with extensively drug-resistant TB.

Shobha Shukla, Citizen News Service - CNS

(Shobha Shukla is providing thematic coverage from the 47th Union World Conference on Lung Health, Liverpool, United Kingdom, with kind support from TB Alliance (Global Alliance for TB Drug Development). Follow her on Twitter @Shobha1Shukla)
28.10.2016 LISTEN

( From Desmond Davies, London Bureau Chief )

The Hague, Oct. 28, GNA - The decision by Burundi, South Africa and The Gambia to deposit instruments of withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC) with the UN Secretary General demonstrates that the stand-off between the Court and African countries is far from over, according to a leading light on Africa and international justice, Evelyn Ankumah.

Ghanaian-born Ms Ankumah, founder and Executive Director of Africa Legal Aid, an influential international non-governmental organisation specialising in contemporary legal and political issues in Africa, based in Maastricht in Holland, added: 'As a fervent advocate of international criminal justice, I am of course deeply disappointed about the decisions to withdraw.

'I will not deny that I am worried about a possible spill over effect.'

She was speaking in The Hague on Wednesday at the launch of a massive tome, The International Criminal Court and Africa: One Decade On, which she edited.

With a foreword by 96-year-old Benjamin Ferencz, the last surviving prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi war criminals, and a preface by Navi Pillay, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the book's contributors are a veritable collection of international law experts, including ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.

The three African countries have decided to leave the ICC because they claim that it is biased against the continent because all but one of the cases before the Court are from Africa.

In an annexed declaratory statement, South Africa said that being part of the ICC

compromised its efforts to promote peace and security in Africa, in particular citing what it described as 'fundamental differences' between the African continent and many ICC member states on the issue of immunity for heads of state.

Rome Statute Article 27 prohibits immunities for leaders and senior government officials.

South Africa, along with Djibouti and Uganda, failed to execute an ICC arrest warrant for the President of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, who is accused of war crimes by the Court.

As a result the governments of Djibouti and Uganda were referred by the ICC to the UN and the ICC's Assembly of States Parties (ASP) for their failure to arrest President al-Bashir when he visited these countries, while South African activists took action against their government in the country's Constitutional Court.

In the case of Djibouti, it recently came under the ICC spotlight following violence by government security forces against opponents of President Ismail Omar Guelleh, culminating in the death of 19 civilians, including a six-year-old child, last December.

The run up to April's presidential election, which President Guelleh won for a controversial fourth term, was marked by violence against members of the opposition parties.

The president has been under pressure, both locally and internationally, to open up the

democratic space, but he has been reluctant to do so.

Uganda was an avid supporter of the ICC but now President Yoweri Museveni is a strong critic of its activities in Africa.

In all this, Ms Ankumah sees something positive about the ICC.

'We may regard the decisions to withdraw positively,' she said 'States do not decide to withdraw from a lame duck Court that has no practical value.

'If the ICC were a powerless court, or if Burundi, South Africa and Gambia had nothing to fear from the ICC, there would be no need for them to step out', Ms Ankumah added.

She continued: 'The politically bold decisions to withdraw from the Rome Statute

demonstrate and confirm that the ICC has evolved as a Court that truly matters.

'While four convictions in more than 10 years may not seem a lot, it is plain that the ICC is not a Court that just barks.

'It is a Court that may actually bite.

'The entire criminal justice system set in place by the Rome Statute still needs improvement', Ms Ankumah noted.

'Among other things, it needs improvement in the area of state cooperation.

'I realise it sounds somewhat cynical, but the mere fact that some states wish to step out is a sign of the ICC's success.

'It demonstrates that the Court is living up to its mandate,' she added.

'Of course, the withdrawal decisions are worrisome.

'I sincerely hope that the South African Constitutional Court will conclude that the decision to withdraw, without first securing a resolution of parliament, indeed is unconstitutional.

'it seems odd to me that a decision as fundamental as withdrawal from the ICC can be adopted without the consent of the representatives of the South African people in parliament.

'The side-stepping of parliament seems at odds with the country's post-Apartheid tradition of advocating democracy, fundamental rights and justice,' Ms Ankumah said.

Touching on the point that African critics of the ICC have been making - the failure of the ICC to chase leaders from powerful and influential states or any other non-African who might be suspected of being involved in international crimes - she said: 'That response, however, is flawed, I believe.

'In essence such response means that if we cannot bring one person before the ICC, then no one should be brought before the Court.

'In essence such reasoning implies that if one person cannot be held criminally accountable, no one should. 'It means giving up international criminal justice.'

She went on: 'International criminal justice, and thus the ICC, is crucial for promoting justice in Africa and for Africans.

'It is an essential tool to promote accountability in Africa, and it may contribute to building democratic governmental structures in African states.'

Debates on the ICC should therefore involve all members of our societies, and not just the ones occupying political positions.

'The international community, including the ICC, can contribute to peace and justice in Africa, but ultimately the desired changes needed in African systems of governance must be effected by Africans themselves,' Ms Ankumah added.

The International Criminal Court and Africa: One Decade On acknowledges the arguments of African opponents of the Court.

But the authors, in the main, discount these criticisms by using their expert knowledge to argue that the world should not be pessimistic about the ICC and that there is an optimistic outlook for the future of international criminal justice and the Court.

GNA
Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - Twenty-five people were killed, six of them gendarmes, in two days of violence around the town of Bambari in the troubled Central African Republic, the UN force MINUSCA said Saturday.

Six police and four civilians were killed in an ambush by armed men Friday morning, while on Thursday, 15 people died in fighting on the town's outskirts between former Muslim militia and Christian vigilante groups known as "anti-balaka" (anti-machete), it said in a statement.
Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - Twenty-five people were killed, six of them gendarmes, in two days of violence around the town of Bambari in the troubled Central African Republic, the UN force MINUSCA said Saturday.

Six police and four civilians were killed in an ambush by armed men Friday morning, while on Thursday, 15 people died in fighting on the town's outskirts between the former Muslim Seleka militia and Christian vigilante groups known as "anti-balaka" (anti-machete), it said in a statement.

In a further incident, anti-balaka fighters on Friday attacked eight members of MINUSCA as they were heading to Bambari airport, the force said. A seven-year-old child was injured.

The UN force said there had been a "rise in tension in certain regions," citing "confrontation between armed elements of the ex-Seleka and anti-balaka" groups.

It called on the armed groups to end "the cycle of attack and reprisal."

Bambari lies in central CAR, about 250 kilometres (150 miles) northeast of the capital Bangui.

The bloodshed is the latest bout of violence to strike the CAR, a former French colony that is one of the world's poorest countries.

It occurred in the runup to the formal end on Monday of a French military mission, Operation Sangaris, sent to help the UN stabilise the country.

People gather at a camp for internally displaced people in Kaga Bandoro, on October 18, 2016 after 30 people were killed when Seleka fighters staged an attack in the town

MINUSCA is seeking to support the administration of President Faustin-Archange Touadera, who was elected in February.

The CAR's descent into sectarian bloodshed began after the March 2013 ouster of president Francois Bozize, a Christian, by the mostly Muslim Seleka rebel alliance.

This triggered revenge attacks and a spiral of atrocities between Christian and Muslim groups in which thousands were slaughtered and around a tenth of the population of 4.5 million were displaced.

Earlier this month, 30 people were killed and 57 wounded when Seleka fighters staged an attack in the central town of Kaga Bandoro.

A few days later, 11 people were shot dead in a camp for displaced people in Ngakobo, northeast of Bangui.

On October 24, four civilians were killed when protests against the UN peacekeepers, called by a coalition of civil society groups angered by the rise of armed militias, turned violent.
The President of the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs, who doubles as the Paramount Chief of the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Area, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin, has warned members of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the government to desist from claiming that they have provided the residents of Kyebi with potable water.

According to the Okyenhene, it saddens him to hear the NDC activists campaigning on radio that it was President Mahama who provided water to Kyebi residents, stressing that it's not true.

Osagyefuo Amoatia made this observation when President Mahama, as part of his re-election campaign tour of the Eastern Region, paid a courtesy call on him at the Ofori Panin Fie at Kyebi, on Thursday.

He stated that government upgraded and expanded the mechanical system but did not construct the entire water supply system.

We have been having water for a long time, he indicated.

He expressed gratitude to the government for constructing the road from Apedwa to the Kyebi Township and also called on present and future governments to be genuinely concerned about the plight of Ghanaians and refrain from politicising everything.

The Kyebi Water Project was initiated by the previous Kufuor administration in June 2008 with funding from the Austrian government.

It was completed in 2011 under the NDC government, headed by President John Evans Atta Mills.

The delay in completing the project was as a result of the muddiness of the Birim River caused by illegal mining (galamsey) activities. It therefore became necessary for the project to be redesigned.

At the time of inaugurating the project, President Mahama said because River Birim had been heavily polluted, officials of the Ghana Water Company had to use excess chemicals to treat the Birim water before it became consumable, adding that his government funded the building of the water system.

President Mahama, who had described Kyebi as the headquarters of 'galamsey,' assured the residents that the mining sector would be given a boost in the next NDC government when given the nod, adding that part of the enhancement process of small-scale mining would be given a facelift to end the illegal mining menace in the country.

According to him, the fight against illegal mining had been a challenge and that to address it effectively, the government had started reviewing the mining regulations in the country.

He said as part of the exercise, the government had classified the mining sector into large, medium and small-scale which would successfully regulate the sector.

The president explained that all small-scale miners would be made to form cooperatives that would comprise at least 21 members to access regulated concessions to mine.

By so doing the cooperatives will be urged to save some small amounts for a period of time to enable them access equipment that they could use to reclaim the land after mining, he said.

From Daniel Bampoe, Kyebi


The National Democratic Congress legislator for the Wa Central constituency, Rashid Pelpuo has said President John Maham is not scared of any presidential candidate in the December 7 general elections.

This he said is because President Mahama has won the hearts of many Ghanaians with his changing the lives of Ghanaians and transforming Ghana agenda hence he would be retained in December 7 to continue his good works.

Actually President Mahama doesn't have a problem and the NDC doesn't have a problem with anybody coming on the fray.

We have done enough for Ghanaians to see and Ghanaians have shown commitment with us. if you see all the people following us and all the comments being made by supporters of NDC and well-wishers, you would see that Ghanaians have grown beyond the fact that people go into the presidential race with ideas which sometimes are not practicable, we are have demonstrated practicability and we have shown that we can do it and is evident for everybody to see. We are not threatened by Dr. Nduom, not NPP, not PNC; we not threatened by anybody at all, he added.

Mr. Pelpuo made the comment on Citi FM's news analysis programme, The Big Issue when the Progressive People's Party's (PPP) victory against the Electoral Commission in court was being discussed.

Rashid Pelpuo

The EC disqualified about 13 presidential nominees from this year's election citing issues with their nomination forms; a decision some of the political parties are protesting in court.

Meanwhile, an Accra High Court which heard the PPP's case ordered the EC to allow the party to correct errors in their nomination forms.

Pelpuo also noted that the PPP's victory shows that Ghana's democracy has matured.

Yesterday's ruling was a landmark ruling that tells about the fact that our courts are working, rule of law is part of our lives and that our democracy is alive and kicking and that at any point in time we can be confident that we have a court to rely on and that when people feel aggrieved by decisions by an arm of government or a constitutional body, they can always appeal and have hearing and sometimes can have their grievances addressed in their favour. So it was a good time for us to celebrate our democracy and to also celebrate our courts, he added.



By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana

Follow @AlloteyGodwin
Communications Minister says the powers of the Electoral Commission (EC) has not been undermined, although the High Court has quashed the disqualification of the Progressive People Partys (PPP) presidential aspirant.

In Dr Omane Boamahs view, the court by its action has only consolidated and classified the powers of the EC.

Speaking on Joy FM/MultiTVs news analysis programme, Newsfile, the Minister indicated that the court only sought to tell the petitioner, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom that, I do not have the power to indicate how the EC should go about its job in terms of what you are asking for".

So basically, it is saying that the EC should give you [Dr Nduom] the opportunity and go through the processes that he would have gone through. So the power of the EC is clearly appreciated even per the ruling, he added.

Dr Nduoms hope of contesting this years presidential elections was almost dashed when the EC disqualified him together with 12 other aspirants following some discrepancies on their nomination forms.

In Dr Nduoms case, the EC said one of his 432 subscribers, Richard Aseda, endorsed the nomination papers in two separate districts in the Central and Volta Regions.

Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom

The businessman argued he was unfairly treated because the error could easily be corrected, but his appeals to the EC Chairperson, Mrs Charlotte Osei to have him correct those errors yielded no results.

He proceeded to court and in the court's October 28 ruling, presiding judge, Justice Eric Kyei Baffuor instructed the Commission to give Dr Nduom an opportunity to correct the errors on his nomination papers.

Related: Read full judgement: EC should have allowed Nduom to correct mistakes

According to the judge, the EC did not adhere to their own regulations spelt out in the Constitutional Instrument (CI 94).

Some people following the ruling have questioned the competence of the EC Chairperson Charlotte Osei.

Related: Nduoms win not hope for other disqualified candidates  lawyer

Counsel for the petitioner, Ayikoi Otoo said the EC Chair only demonstrated her inexperience when she disqualified his client.

But Dr Boamah says it is erroneous and it will not serve the interest of anyone to caricature the EC in the manner in which people are seeking to do.

In a response to what this means for the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) since it is likely that Dr Nduom will be on the ballot paper on December 7, Dr Omane Boamah said his party is not perturbed.

He is confident that regardless of who is or isnt in the race, the NDC is marching on to victory in December.

For us in NDC we have contested some of these candidates over and over. We know their strengths and how they are competing. We are ready to contest the elections and we are going ahead with our campaign.

He assured that government will continue to provide the necessary support for all stakeholders involved in the electioneering process to ensure that the polls go on smoothly.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Naa Sakwaba Akwa | [email protected]
The banned CPI (Maoist) has called for bandh in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra on November 3 to protest against the Malkangiri encounter in which 30 Maoists were killed.

By Ashish Pandey: Protesting against the recent Malkangiri encounter, which the joint team of Andhra Pradesh's elite anti-Maoist force Greyhound and Odisha police carried out eliminating 30 Left wing extremists including several senior leaders, the banned CPI (Maoist) has called for bandh in five states on November 3.

In a statement issued by Maoist's Central Committee, Pratap, a self-styled spokesperson, has given the bandh call in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.

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RED REBELS SUFFERED DAMAGE IN ENCOUNTER



In the statement, Pratap confirmed that the red rebels had suffered huge damage after the massive encounter in the deep forests of the Andhra-Odisha border.

Also read:Odisha: 27 Maoists killed, commander of Greyhound team killed in encounter

The banned organisation also alleged that PM Modi led-central government, along with Odisha and Andhra Pradesh governments, were favouring Bauxite mining in the tribal area against the will of the locals.



CPI-M SECRETARY RELEASED AUDIO TAPE



Yesterday, CPI (Maoist) East Division Committee secretary Kailash had released an audio tape holding the Chief Ministers of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh responsible for the encounter.

The early Monday morning encounter completely wiped out the top Maoist leadership in the strategically-important Andhra-Odisha Special Zonal Committee of the banned organisation.

Also read: Top Maoist leader Ramakrishna arrested after Malkangiri encounter, claims CPI-M secretary

The joint operation carried out by the Andhra Pradesh's elite anti-Maoist force Greyhound and Odisha Police killed 30 Maoists, including east division secretary Appa Rao alias Chalapathi, his wife and Maoist leader Aruna, the military head of the AOB zone, Gajarala Ashok alias Uday, the son of central committee member Ramakrishna alias RK identified as Munna.

--- ENDS ---
APCACG to be launched on November 20
29.10.2016 LISTEN

By Emmanuel Asante Attakora, GNA

Accra, Oct 28, GNA - The Young Adult Fellowship (YAF) of the Adabraka official Town Church (AOTC) has organised a prayer retreat as part of celebrations marking their 10th anniversary at the church premises, Adabraka.

YAF, a generational group for males and females from 30 to 40 years in the Presbyterian church of Ghana is focused on promoting the spiritual, moral and social wellbeing of the young adults of the church.

The prayer retreat which was dubbed: 'Ghana My Motherland' brought people from different political parties and churches to join hands in prayer purposely for the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections in Ghana slated for December 7.

The programme which is well attended by Pastors, Reverends and men of God, and which was also graced by the parliamentary candidates from the various political parties for the Klottey Korle constituency was also to get opinion leaders to speak word of peace to all present.

Frank Banafo Addo, YAF President, noted in his welcome address the tension in Ghana during elections, necessitated their action to celebrate their wonderful 10th anniversary with a prayer retreat and a sensitisation programme to caution the youth and Ghanaians in general about the importance of peace in the country.

Reverend T.S. Akunor, Minister in-charge, AOTC, in his exhortation cautioned political parties to be wary of utterances that would incite Ghanaians to foment trouble and urged them to accept the outcome of results in good faith.

'I am sounding a word of caution to our political parties to be wary of whatever comes of out their mouth when they mount the campaign platforms.

'Your studio discussions should bring people together and be geared towards nation building and eschew over ambitious promisesyou will account for them one day.'

In a prayer session by Rev Edward Agyekum Kufuor, Beacon Light Temple, Action Chapel International led the congregation in prayer for the youth, politicians and the nation.

In a peace message, the parliamentary candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the area, Dr Zanetor Rawlings, said peace was the most important in the lives of all Ghanaians and must be protected.

'If we are seeking for peace in Ghana, then we must add truthfulnessour campaigns on the various platforms should be characterised by the truth and respect for others.

'We have to exhibit self and mutual respect in all our campaigning.

'The campaign of insults must be a thing of the pastchildren and women have suffered the most in all the countries plagued by conflicts so please ask for peace from any politician that comes to you for your vote' she added.

On his part, the parliamentary candidate for the Convention People's Party (CPP), Mr Opare Addo noted that God had already intervened for Ghana and the 2016 elections would be conducted peacefully.

He cautioned all politicians to abide by the laws of Ghana and elections to avert any troubles.

'No politician is a super being, no one is above the lawno politician from any political party has the mandate to misbehave and create problems in Ghana' he said.

Independent parliamentary candidate, Nii Noi Nortey echoed the peace campaign message saying, 'the youth are the embodiment of peacetoday being a YAF day we must not allow ourselves to be used to perpetrate violence.'

Mr Philip Addison, parliamentary candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) stated that all aspirants have committed to a peaceful election from the Electoral Commission and the police service.

'Our supporters are taking a cue from usand we must ensure that we accept the outcome to encourage our supporters to also do same.'

GNA
These detractors also fear Mr. President Kalyppos unhealthy choice may further complicate Dr. Steve Mallorys prognosis.

Dr. Mallory is Mr. President Kalyppos private physician who, in turn, moonlights as the publishing editor of Africa Watch Magazine.

NPP Campaign in Jeopardy: Akufo-Addo Has Cancer, goes one of Dr. Mallorys prognoses.

Yet we all know in spite of Dr. Mallorys negative prognoses, the wobbly political dentures of Mr. President Kalyppo cannot hurt Kalyppo breast-tits.

That is to say, his wobbly political dentures cannot bite. That is why they suckle on the carnal tenderness of Kalyppo straw-tits.

That also explains why he brought in the Serbian and South African mercenaries through the backdoor, reportedly to train partisan terrorists as his forbear did.

Put simply, the solid foundational roots of the wisdom teeth of Mr. President Kalyppos detractors cannot bite, let alone make any lasting impact on the dodgy economy.

As a matter of fact it is these tired, slumberous and forgetful political dentures Madam Buhari talked about recently.

It is also why they cannot sell a convincing political manifesto, to win the hearts and minds of the masses, capable of dragging the country out of its economic quagmire.

It is for this grinding failure of political strategy, that Ghana has become a Kalyppo Republic, a country that is more interested in sexual politics than in development economics and development sociology.

That is not to say Mr. President Kalyppo is a dog that must be fed bones. He is a man, a Kalyppo made of the scandalous bones of All-Die-All-Die and Yen Akanfuo.

Rather, he deserves a Kalyppo farewell than the anonymous grave of Shakespeare. No wonder his detractors, both within his own ethnocentric party and without, think his excessive consumption of Kalyppo is most likely to give him transient tachypnea of the newborn. Yet, he also deserves busts of fresh air outside the political claustrophobia of his mock coffin. Now Mrs. President Kalyppo tells her husband:

He is yet to tell me but I have decided as his wife, that if things continue like this up to 2019, I will not go out and campaign and ask any woman to vote like I did before. I will never do it again.

But he has never been there yet let alone run for the next elections. What do you think?

TABLOID GOSSIP: FOOD FOR THOUGHT

They say Mr. President Kalyppo is a legal luminary, a learned public figure without a law certificate, without the benefit of a law school, an absence of a law certificate which is only as good as Mr. Youthful Presidents Russian education. No wonder judges barter justice for tubers of yam.

Another rumor goes that Mr. Youthful President is an unlearned public figure with a certificate from the University of Ghana. No wonder the Russians are messing up Aleppo, the manufacturing birth-site of Mr. President Kalyppo. No wonder the racist South African Gandhi has found a home at the University of Ghana.

All these rumors do not take account of Mr. President Kalyppos looking in the mirror of Ayi Kwei Armahs The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born and hating the image he sees there. He wants to go for cosmetic surgery, to turn him into a political pizza called Mr. Ayaricough.

Mr. Ayaricough, one of Mr. Mr. President Kalyppos closet political pallbearers, now claims his nagging cough has resolved into a slip of the tongue, this, when it came up that he had spent six million US dollars on his political campaign thus far. He presented with a slip of the tongue when the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) came knocking on his door, to seek answers.

Now, since Mrs. President Kalyppo cannot be found, Mr. President Kalyppo may as well marry Akua Donkor for a change. The two then may partner for the general elections.

It goes without saying, then, that cross-dresser Nketia cannot use age to bar Mr. President Kalyppo from taking part in the general elections, even as his anorexic configuration makes him an older cynosure of public gossip, of banter.

In the meantime cross-dresser Nketias lean, dried, smoked-herring physique is itself the butt of a joke.

THE FATE OF THE WOBBLY POLITICAL DENTURES OF MR. PRESIDENT KALYPPO

Here is Madam Aisha Buhari, Mrs. President Kalyppo:

The president does not know 45 out of 50 of the people he appointed and I don't know them either, despite being his wife of 27 yearsSome people are sitting down in their homes folding their arms only for them to be called to come and head an agency or a ministerial position

Political and conjugal betrayal, some say of her rhetoric forthrightness. She was talking about the Akyem Mafia that has taken over Mr. President Kalyppos ethnocentric party. This Akyem Mafia represents his wobbly political dentures which are already buried deep in his mock coffin.

It is this same Akyem Mafia that nearly succeeded into chasing the elephant of duopolistic ethnocentrism into the bush, to a state of permanent opposition, of atrophied political presence.

Yes, when the mask of Mr. President Kalyppos finally comes off, only then will it reveal the crooked face of humanity waiting outside the corridor of power, to give the people a repeat of the same political gimmicks and hypocritical songs his political detractors have been feeding the people.

Our duopoly represents these wobbly dentures of political and moral inaction. And it is the same wobbly political dentures Mr. President Kalyppo is going to use to sweet-talk his way to the presidency.

Any political woman who has had Mr. President Kalyppo suckle at her Kalyppo straw-tits knows for sure, that popular sovereignty is going to hand him her Grafenberg spot on a silver platter. Perhaps more important than anything else, our entrenched kleptomaniacal democracy and cyclical political buffoonery revolve around this schadenfreude duopoly called the Grafenberg spot.

This schadenfreude duopoly in turn feeds on a tickling sensation derived from technocratic ignorance, bureaucratic bottlenecks, de-conscientiztion of the collective consciousness, lack of knowledge of the self, mass poverty and illiteracy, political corruption, impunity and stifling of moral nudation.

In fact, our Ghanaian duopoly has different names but it is the same monster wearing those different nominal addresses. They are all vying for the Flagstaff House, the headship of Kalyppo.

These wobbly political dentures are shared between Mr. Youthful President and Mr. President Kalyppo, as they do in relay races, without regard for the transmission of political germs.

No wonder political ephebiphobia, moral sissification, and emotional adulcentrism/adultism are at the center of our stationary though sealed political-economic concentrism.

We seem to lack a sense of direction insofar as the political geometry of our collective destiny is concerned.

This mock coffinwhich harbors the bug of body dysmorphia which Mr. Youthful President intends for Mr. President Kalyppos genetic consumptionhas become a spoken metaphor for anarchy, underdevelopment, ethnocentrism, intolerance, ethnocracy, ethnic chauvinism, and outright rejection of public order. It is this haunting partisan mock coffin Rev. Owusu Bempah sees in his drunken dreams and thinks some green ogre-assassins are after Mr. President Kalyppo.

What a Kalyppo Republic!

Perhaps, this is why we seem to remain in the same place yet moving in concentric circles to nowhere.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

A viable third force is required to do away with the trite partisan duopoly which Kalyppo Republics Fourth Republic ushered in at the dawn of its electoral politics. This dispensation is long overdue.

One of the primary reasons being that the two major political parties are more alike than they are dissimilar in their management of Kalyppo Republic. This may also partly explain why Kalyppo Republic finds itself in a revolving crying-state of developmental limbo, crushing under the Sisyphean weight of bureaucratic ineptitude, official slothfulness, and public corruption.

But, alas, the citizens of Kalyppo Republic are partly to blame for this state of affairs as they have consistently failed to provide the necessary critical mass required to overturn any semblance of duopoly.

Mass poverty and illiteracy, indoctrination and pollution of the popular mind, superstition and ignorance, corruption, sycophancy, un-patriotism, and the like have all conspired to entrench this schadenfruede duopoly in the body politic of Kalyppo Republic.

Democracy, freedom (of speech, press, and association), and electoral politics have all become convenient avenues to anarchy, underdevelopment, nihilistic hopelessness, quick enrichment, disregard for public decency, free range (open defecation), religionism, galamsey and galamsey-related pollution of lands and waters and forests, armed robbery, and uncompromising pursuit of materialism.

Hard work, patriotism, respect of the law and for ones neighbor, and delayed, or deferred, gratification, collective responsibility, and conscientization are not longer facets of our social ethos and eidos.

Instead, we have allowed bystander apathy to imprison the public conscience and to allow society to degenerate into a civilization of moral bankruptcy.

Our kind of schadenfreude politics, unfortunately, lends itself to these anti-social social forces behind the scheming perpetuation of the status quo.

Change, which must be seen as a constant motif of the richness of the human condition and existence, is the only viable riposte to this societal rot of moral standards.

But that change must not leave one corrupt hands in another corrupt hands. Change, must surely constitute itself into a facet of substantive underpinnings of a patriotic conscience. It takes a critical mass of conscientization to bring about a revolution of patriotic conscience in the push for change.

This sentiment of moral responsibility is the province of popular sovereignty which, alas, the politicians of Kalyppo Republic are easily able to buy off in their uncompromising push for the entrenchment of partisan incumbency.

CLOSING REMARKS

Mr. President Kalyppo may not be a demagogue in the likeness of Donald Trump but he is sure as hell, a conning political mannequin with his trademark Locally Acquired Foreign Accent (LAFA), an instrument of rhetorical feint the citizens of Kalyppo Republic are captivated by.

This Mr. President Kalyppos foreign accent syndrome (FAS) is very strange indeed, a strange phenomenon that appears to occur only in the Akyem-Aleppo part of Kalyppo Republic, the other birthplace of Mr. President Kalyppo. It is painfully disappointing when the virago-like Mr. President Kalyppos working memory cannot distinguish between September 7 and December 7, both of 2016.

Citizens of Kalyppo Republic usually measure intelligence by how much fluent and linguistically, or grammatically, sophisticated an individual is. Grammar and intelligence seamlessly resolve into oneness in Kalyppo Republic though we know this relational equivalency is not always the case.

It has not occurred to these citizens that, it is also possible such persons may be relying on fluency and linguistic sophistication to cover up their serious deficiencies in other areas of human endeavor, from the standpoint of rational pragmatism and political empiricism, both however viewed outside the ideological circumference of doctrinaire inflexibility and fawning sycophancy.

Thus, human agents of rhetorical fluency and linguistic sophistication may be mere articles of mouthpieces trying to project cognitive inferiority and technocratic deficits, as it were shrouded in the mystery of flowery, exotic articulation in the public space.

Even those with powerful visions of technocratic patriotism, coupled with rhetorical fluency and linguistic sophistication, are eventually swallowed up by the omnipresent cyclone of public corruption. None in the contemporary political dispensation of Kalyppo Republic therefore appears immune to this canker.

Implied in the penultimate paragraph is the overriding truth that neither Mr. President Kalypo nor Mr. Youthful President is exempt from this generalization, of the normative indictment of mortal fallibility. This view, we believe, should make for a sustained dialectical cynosure meant exclusively for electorate contemplation!

The devil, namely the lesser of two evils, they say, is in the details. On the other hand Mr. President Kalyppos public intentions to stake a claim to the Flagstaff House, Mr. Youthful President and his supporters say, will be consummated only after the final burial of his mock coffin.

Could this augury be true? Could the Flagstaff House be his mock coffin? We will never know for sure except to remind all and sundry to wait and see!

Need we say more?

End of series!

REFERENCES

BBC Africa. (October 14, 2016). Nigeria's President Buhari: My Wife Belongs in Kitchen. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-37659863

Connor Gaffey. (October 14, 2016). Nigerias First Lady: I May Not Back Husband Buhari At Next Election. Retrieved from http://www.newsweek.com/nigerias-first-lady-i-may-not-back-husband-buhari-next-election-509835

Ghanaweb. Ghana Votes On September 7? Alleged 'Slip' By Akufo-Addo Sets Social Media Ablaze. October 27, 2016.
A governance expert says Ghanaians must be interested in finding out how political parties are financed, their campaign funds and their account filing and reporting to the Electoral Commission (EC).

The Executive Director of Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), Dr Emmanuel Akwetey says it is worrying how political party financing has become a no-go area in Ghana and the parties do not want to open up about it.

Party financing has been the reason for chancellors losing their post, retired prime ministers jailed and some former presidents made to resign in some countries around the world.

In other jurisdictions, political parties are funded from the public purse to counter the parties being put under by private individuals and organisations who sponsor their campaigns. It is also a measure to holding governments accountable.

Adding his voice to the call on Joy FM/MultiTVs news analysis program Newsfile Saturday, Dr Akwetey said no one knows how political parties become so rich in government when they were having difficulties in opposition.

He comments come off the back of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO)'s recent invitation to the Presidential aspirants of the All People's Congress and Progressive People's Party (PPP).

EOCO issued a letter to PPP's Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom asking him to explain the source of the over GHc1.7 million he used to pay filing fees at the Electoral Commission (EC) for himself and his party's parliamentary candidates.

The Office is also demanding answers on the source of funding of APC after its Presidential Candidate, Hassan Ayariga, claimed on an Accra-based radio station that he expended over $6 million to procure vehicles for his campaign.

In a statement, EOCO stated The office has analysed your statements and comments made to the media and circulated on social media. In one such statement, you are heard to say that you expended over $6 million to procure vehicles, among others. The statement is of great interest to the office.

The PPP said they were not going to pay any mind to the invitation.

Dr Akwetey who is against the issue of monetisation of politics further argues that There is the need for us to move forward the EOCO initiatives and ask ourselves what happens to parties when they fail to compile with the law on filing and reporting truthfully."

I am not sure EOCO is the institution to deal with that and I am not sure it is the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) but could there be a part of the Ghana Police Services could handle that like Germany, Israel and the UK who are constantly looking into party finances.

He said that is the bigger picture that EOCOs invitation was painting and charged that it should be across the board and not only pick on the two parties.

Story by Ghana| Myjoyonline.com
29.10.2016 LISTEN

With many Ghanaians of legal age, being enticed from left to right with all sorts of political frills and promises, leaves one to wonder where all this fanfare is taking the country as whole.

The NDC led government over the past 4yrs under the leadership of President John Dramani Mahama has left many Ghanaians with mix feelings, especially due to the energy crisis that the nation was plunged into i.e. #dumsor , and the challenges that the average Ghanaian faced midst these challenges . The resilience of the Ghanaian spirit never led the leadership astray, instead it encouraged NDC government to focus on its Infrastructural ambitions that would lay the foundation for a Ghana where young and old would have equal opportunities for growth.

Nationwide, the physical evidence of the gargantuan infrastructural development that Ghana as a country has gain, thanks to the NDC led government would be undermined by some sympathisers who are just bent on one thing and one thing only , and that is to see Nana Akuffo Addo as president, would argue that these infrastructural developments does that put money in their pockets, forgetting that Ex-president Kuffour sang the same song about the importance of strengthening our institutions which come about from infrastructural developments.

In a recent visit to Ghana by some Europeans it became evident that social media as followed by hundreds of thousands of people , is not painting the right picture of the beauty of Ghana today as compared to the Ghana they knew a decade ago.

The politics of today's Ghana seems to be hijacked by a man who's dream of becoming President of the Republic of Ghana sterns from what his father supposedly told him over half a century ago , and his cronies who can't seem to see further than their personal political aspirations let alone think about Ghana as a whole. Because common sense teaches us all that CONTINUITY is everything.

Change is indeed coming to Ghana, and it will be the ultimate prize for Ghana's largest opposition party when they are hit with the realisation that Ghanaians today are fed up with the lack of Continuity when it comes to the developmental path the nation is placed onto , since every elected government is keen to change direction and thereby hindering our growth as a nation . The December 2016 elections would be a turning point for Ghana when they vote for CONTINUITY, and that Change in how we do things as Ghanaians would be the ultimate prize for the NPP party.

Long live Ghana , long live our collective prosperity.

A. Dodoo

Member of NDC Holland
29.10.2016 LISTEN

Prophet Dennis Whole has just come out to clear the waves that, he never in any way said he would burn his Bible if Mahama does not win the upcoming presidential elections.

In his recent phone interview with FrederickNoamesi.com, the Founder of Great Unction Worldwide Chapel riposted that his September interview on Ahotor 92.3 FM in Ghana during one of his visits has been twisted by the Christian World GH to what he did not say.

According to the renowned Prophet, Christianworldgh.com carried a publication with the headline I Will Burn My Bible If Mahama Doesnt Win  Prophet Dennis Whole which was a total twist of what he actually.

He said

Yes I said President Mahama will win and there is no doubt about that and I will still repeat myself here without fear or favor, I know what I am talking about because I know what I have seen, President Mahama will win with a bigger main, but my message was twisted on the headline, I never said I will burn my Bible but I rather said I will throw it away, there is difference between burn and throw so that one was not captured well.

On the outcome of Ghanas presidential election, the Nairobi based prophet still holds to his strong affirmations that John Dramani Mahama will win with a greater margin this time around.

I think I have to say this about the elections for Ghanaians and the World at large to know, as I have already said earlier, this election must not go for a second round and the sitting president will win with a greater margin.

He advised the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and other political parties to seek more spiritual interventions than manifestos and campaigns.

Prophet Dennis Whole has finished a 3 day power packed ministrations in South Africa and returned to his base in Nairobi, Kenya.

Suource: konkonsagh.biz
29.10.2016 LISTEN

On 25 October 2016 the Daily Graphic reported that two Chinese nationals Li Wen Qieng, 28 and Mo Sin Shan, 35, were arrested on 22 October 2016 for allegedly destroying land belonging to the Ghana Cocoa Board at Wassa Saman in the Wassa Mampong District of the Western Region.

According to the report, the Deputy Intelligence Manager of COCOBOD, Mr Wisdom Amehame, said a security guard of the Seed Production Department of the COCOBOD spotted the two, who had erected canopies and were using two bulldozers to clear the land for mining.

He alerted the Intelligence Department of COCOBOD and with the assistance of the police, the two were arrested. However, the two were released on bail because the Wassa Akropong Police could not get anyone to translate from Chinese to English for the suspects to be interrogated.

The report went on: Mr Amehame said the two [Chinese nationals] then went back to the parcel of land and continued with the clearing of about 4.5 acres that night.

The attention of officials of COCOBOD was once again drawn to the activities of the two and they once again caused the arrest of the suspects. [This time] with the help of an interpreter, they were able to find out that the two had come into the country by the invitation of a Ghanaian, popularly known as Wonder of Wonder Mining Company Limited. Wonder was the person who led the two to the land of the COCOBOD, for them to start their illegal activity  mining for gold. Wonder was also the person who stood bail for the two [Chinese nationals] when they were first arrested. But upon the re-arrest and interrogation of the two,Wonder got the hint that he had been found out, and therefore absconded.

This story illustrates the sheer incompetence and unconcern with which the galamsey calamity that is destroying our water-bodies and farms are viewed by some of the state institutions of Ghana that should be protecting our natural heritage from being wantonly despoiled by foreigners with the active connivance of unpatriotic Ghanaians.

As soon as the story made it to the internet a puzzled Ghanaian asked: [so] "Briefing the media, the Deputy Intelligence Manager of COCOBOD, Mr Wisdom Delali Amehame, said a security guard of the Seed Production Department of the COCOBOD spotted the two who had erected canopies and were using two bulldozers to clear the land for mining?

Haba, they drove bulldozers and their camping gears into the forest and no one found this suspicious until they despoiled the lands? A bulldozer? How did they get it into such hinterlands? The Police and all the folks at Wassa never heard the booming noise of bulldozers in their backyard?

The puzzled Ghanaian went on:

We are just our own enemies! No wonder they even got 'Mr Boy Wonder' to bail them, a native local, inviting foreigners to come and exploit us! What can one say? Has no-one ever told our Police that foreigners infringing our laws, deserve no bail? Scratch you head  this is not an isolated case. Chinese rationals have taken over parts of Denkyira, doing petty trading as well as being gold dealers and of course galamseying. And no one seems to know what to do with them. I bet that before dealing in gold, one must be a registered dealer. But I very much doubt if the Chinese dealers are holding the right documentation. Ghana eha ye de papa!! (Ghana is a very sweet place!)

In all seriousness the inspector-General of Police would do well to order an immediate enquiry into the circumstances under which these galamsey operators were granted bail. In particular the IGP should please note that the name of the Ghanaian who stood bail for the Chinese nationals is conspicuously missing from the report of the incident. Should we suspect that the police are deliberately shielding Mr Wonder of Wonder Mining Company?

And in his briefings to the media why didn't the Cocobod intelligence official manage to disclose the name of Mr Wonder to them? Was he not curious about the identity of a Ghanaian who had brought people all the way from China to steal the property of the Cocobod his employer?

It must be fully understood that no-one can stand bail for another person without his name and residential address being provided to the police as a condition for the bail being granted. Yet in this case which could have been used by the police and the Cocobod to educate the public about the national calamity unfolding before our very eyes in the form of the galamsey epidemic, the principal culprit so far has been protected from being named and shamed!

That's a dereliction of duty of the first order, because, in fact, Mr Wonder, the Ghanaian, can be charged with more serious crimes than the Chinese nationals. First of all, he has engaged in conspiracy  conspiracy to procure foreign personnel and equipment for engaging in an unlawful purpose, to wit  stealing and vandalising land and property (cocoa seedlings) belonging to the state of Ghana.

He can also be charged with aiding and abetting the commitment of a crime, to wit  the wanton vandalisation of a state installation.

I now turn my attention to the Ghanaian media which reported the arrest of the Chinese nationals. Am I to understand that the standards of journalism have become so low that not even one of the people who have written about the incident had their curiosity aroused with regard to who the Mr Wonder o9f the story really is?

After all, there is a clue lying in front of their very eyes  the name of his company, Wonder mining Company! The office of the Registrar of Companies would take two minutes to let them know whether such a company has ever been registered and if so, who are the directors of the company and what their addresses are!

I am even more disappointed with our News editors and Features editors. For here is a classic example of a story that must be followed up, if ever there was one.

I hereby urge my colleagues in the media to adopt the ending of galamsey as a campaign story that's worth every ounce of their time and attention. For if we sit down unconcerned and allow all our water-bodies to become dried up because they have been turned upside down and our cocoa and food farms have also b1een plundered and rendered inoperable, the Chinese will return to their country and help it to overtake the United States as the world's leading economic power. And we shall be reduced to begging them for food and even  ordinary water to drink. And they would be within their rights to deny us both  and even to laugh at us. For few people can have any sympathy for those who stupidly allow their own habitat to be wantonly destroyed.
In an effort to tackle the global health burden of injuries, the Tampere Declaration presents a golden opportunity for government agencies, ministries, governments, injury prevention practitioners, among others to firmly provide solutions to causes of injuries.

The participants of the 12th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, held 1821 September 2016 in Tampere, Finland, called for strong, coordinated whole-of-government and whole-of-society action to reduce the impact of injuries and violence.

Recent injury and violence-related policy discussions in the United Nations General Assembly and the World Health Assembly, which resulted in adoption of several resolutions, including on the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011 to 2020 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its seventeen interdependent Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), attest to the serious nature of the problem.

The inclusion of injury and violence-related targets in the agenda reflects the recognition by world leaders that injuries and violence are a threat to sustainable development, and shows a growing global commitment to tackling these issues, yet the problem continues to persist, claiming many lives.

Despite increasing attention and commitments, more than 5 million people still die each year attributed to injuries and violence. Injuries are a leading cause of death among young people globally. Tens of millions of people suffer injuries that require medical treatment and often hospitalization, and injuries may lead to lifelong disability.

These injuries result from road traffic crashes and other transport, work, burns, drowning, falls, and poisonings, as well as acts of interpersonal violence, suicide and self-harm, including those involving firearms.

Injuries and violence have a substantial physical and psychosocial health impact on individuals. They cost nations a significant proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) and have a negative economic impact on the injured, their families, and their communities.

The burden of injuries and violence, along with their underlying causes and risk factors, are not randomly distributed throughout the world. Nearly 90% of injury and violence-related deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries.

Within many countries, people of poorer economic status have higher risk of injuries and injury-related deaths than wealthier individuals. Injury prevention and safety promotion are important tools for reducing avoidable inequalities in outcomes and achieving health equity.

Evidence and experience show that the vast majority of injuries and violence are predictable and preventable. Multisectoral approaches to preventing injuries and violence and limiting their consequences have resulted in dramatic and sustained reductions in morbidity and mortality in some settings.

These approaches include changes to policy and legislation in the health sector and beyond and behaviour change programmes, and incorporate both individual- and population-level interventions. Such evidence-based interventions are likely to save costs.

Therefore participants at the conference calls on leaders to develop multisectoral national action plans to implement policy, programmes and legislation for injury and violence prevention and control, with clear targets and monitoring mechanisms.

"Designate focal points and create units for injury and violence prevention within the Ministry of Health, and other ministries as relevant to the national context, for example the Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Labour; strengthen the capacity of relevant ministries to work across sectors in a collaborative and coordinated manner, the declaration states.

The declaration also underscored the need to invest in injury prevention and safety promotion and develop innovative funding mechanisms as well as ensure universal access to essential pre-hospital and facility-based emergency care services.

Dr Etienne Krug, the Director of the WHO Department for the Management of Non-communicable Diseases, Disability, Violence and Injury Prevention says nobody can solve the problem alone, emphasising the need for multi sectoral approach.

"It is not the police alone who can fix it, it is not transport ministry alone, it is not health alone, the really needs to be a collaboration between the different sectors to make sure that we tackle the issue, he says.

The declaration calls adaptation, implementation and monitoring of proven strategies at national and local level to reduce risk factors and prevent injuries and violence, including but not limited to legislation, regulation, enforcement, environmental modification, and safety equipment and standards.

It calls also for raising awareness and improving health literacy through communication and dissemination of information on the impact of injuries and violence, and effective prevention and control strategies. Integrate injury and violence prevention into other health and safety advocacy platforms, the declaration adds.

Dr Sally-Ann Ohene, Disease Prevention and Control Office at WHO Country Office for Ghana states that collective efforts is required to tap into various agencies or sectors strengthens to implement actions to promote safety.

"The issue had been who the convener is and the health ministry should serve as the convener even though health ministry does not address the risk factors such as poor roads, legislation, to bring the stakeholders together so that the conversation can start. WHO has been instrumental in trying to organise these stakeholders together, and it can be done, she notes.

Again, the declaration emphasises the need to build community capacity to identify local injury and violence priorities and to take effective action to prevent injuries and violence and improve outcomes. Develop local platforms to engage multiple stakeholders in dialogue and advocacy, such as those created through the Safe Communities movement, it notes.

Moreover, the declaration equally mentions the importance of strengthening standardised national and community- and facility-based data collection on fatal and non-fatal injuries and violence, in order to reveal the true magnitude and allow more effective development and monitoring of prevention and control initiatives. "Collect and disaggregate data sufficiently, and use it to analyse gender, socioeconomic and other inequities that underlie patterns of injury and violence.

"Encourage improved external cause of injury (in addition to diagnosis) coding, utilisation of standard core data sets for injury. Fund research that expands the scientific evidence base for both prevention and improved outcomes for the injured, including research on risk factors and underlying causes, the declaration states.

Ms Ayikai Poswayo, Programme Director at AMEND, a nongovernmental organization in sub-Saharan Africa says NGOs have a very important role to play because they can help bring more of the voices of the people to the fore.

"We also need government because they set the policies, agenda and determine where the money goes so if civil society, governments and private sector, if we are all able to work together, then for instance the private sector can also bring in funds to work together for a greater good, she adds.

The declaration also calls for strengthening capacity building for injury prevention and safety promotion, including education, training and professional development to facilitate effective research, policy development, provision of care, system organisation and coordination, advocacy and data collection.

It also encourage the participation of civil society and the private sector in injury and violence prevention. Review actions of industry to ensure they promote injury and violence prevention consistent with current evidence.

By Samuel Hinneh Courtesy: ICFJ-WHO Safety 2016 Reporting Fellowship Program
Employees of Tigo, CIMG Telecom Company of the Year, climaxed their 2016 Breast Cancer fund raising and awareness campaign with a buffet lunch. Led by the Ghana Leadership team, they donated various sums. The money raised will be used to support some underprivileged Breast Cancer patients.
The flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Akufo-Addo, has taken a dig at President John Mahamas capacity to lead the country.

Nana Addo stated that he (John Mahama) can't do the job, hes struggling.

Nana Addo made the remarks at a rally in the Okai Koi Central constituency today (October 29).

According to Nana Addo, The people saying that the Volta Region is their World Bank should stand aside, everyone in Ghana is looking for change. One thing that all Ghanaians know is that John Mahama cannot do the job, hes struggling. They will say a lot of things against me but I am not bothered.

Nana Addo also said that he won't make promises that he knows cannot be fulfilled.

I won't promise anything that I know I can't deliver, I won't lie to Ghanaians. Their Green books shows roads that they say they have constructed but those roads are in a very bad shape. When you vote for me, I will do all the things I have promised.

Nana Akufo-Addo started his campaign tour of Accra today and is scheduled to go to Okai Koi Central, Okai Koi South and Ablekuma South constituencies.

He also met with the Chief Imam earlier today before addressing the supporters.

His campaign train has so far been to the Western, Volta, Ashanti, and the Greater Accra Regions.



Jeffrey Owuraku Sarpong/citifmonline.com/Ghana
The Member Secretary of the Delhi Commission for Women has allegedly stopped the release of salaries of all contractual staff for the past two months. This has resulted in the commission mulling over closing its mobile helpline and rape crisis cell.

By Mail Today: The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) on Thursday said it is being forced to mull closing its mobile helplines and the rape crisis cell, as the Member secretary to DCW, appointed by the L-G, has allegedly stopped releasing salaries of the staff.

"Alka Diwan, who was appointed to the Commission in October, has stopped the release of salaries of all contractual staff for the past two months," DCW officials said.

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Non-payment of salaries would result in stopping the programmes of the commission-181 Women Helpline, Rape Crisis Cell, Mobile Helpline among others, they added.

BLACK DIWALI FOR DCW

Its Chairperson, Swati Maliwal, took to Twitter to vent her anger saying: "Black Diwali for DCW. Entire contractual staff including acid victims and orphans not paid two month salary. New MS (Member Secretary) appointment not as per DCW ACT. She is serving government officer, works part time in DCW. Disobeys decisions and attacks our autonomy."

She further tweeted: "Worried 181, Rape Crisis Cell of DCW may soon stop as staff may leave. 52 staff get less than `25,000. MS refusing to advertise posts also. Staff of DCW worked round-the-clock even on Saturdays to help women and girls in distress. Not paying them salary on Diwali is inhuman."

These staff members come from extremely vulnerable backgrounds and cannot afford to work for long without salaries, DCW officers added.

This opens a new front in the ongoing war between AAP and the L-G. DCW has faced constant attacks in the past few months with the Anti-Corruption Branch raiding it on Rakshabandhan, August 18.

Also Read:

FIR filed against Swati Maliwal over DCW recruitment scam

DCW raid: PM Modi, LG hell bent on removing Swati Maliwal, says Kejriwal

Kejriwal attacks PM Modi for ACB raid at DCW office, says it's bad

DCW chief Swati Maliwal takes on Barkha Singh on work issues





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World Vision Ghana has presented 96,695 copies of reading books and playing kits to the Kintampo South District Directorate of GES.

The books which would benefit over 30,000 pupils from 100 primary school and KGs in the district would significantly improve reading competences of the school children.

World Vision Ghana strategic objective is that by the 2021, world vision Ghana would have contributed immensely to the sustained wellbeing of 4,555,809 people including within families and communities especially the most vulnerable.

This according to organisation will be achieved through several social interventions in the various sectors such as WASH, education, health, nutrition, food security and advocacy.

Presenting the books, the Northern Regional Operations Manager of the World Vison, Pius Narh, said in order to improve the reading and writing skills of pupils, World Vision Ghana in collaboration with Open Learning Exchange Ghana implemented the Ghana Reads Project in four primary schools in the Kintampo South District.

The project he said provided digital reading materials for the beneficiary that enables the children to practice their reading proficiency independently.

According to Mr. Narh, under that project 140 reading tablets and four laptops were provided to the beneficiary schools.

The Regional Operations Manager continued that over 100 teachers were trained in reading improvement methodology whilst 100 teachers were also trained in the literacy boost methodology focusing on the core reading competences.

Mr. Narh revealed that under its Kintampo Cluster piloted project, the Literacy Boost Project has enhanced reading skills among lower primary pupils as results from the end-line assessment indicated.

The Cluster Manager, Paul Kofi Twene, said his outfit expects to see significant improvement in reading competences of the children next year during their monitoring.

He therefore charged the teachers to educate the school children to make good use of the books and also teach them how to take good care of the books for them to last long for other children to benefit in the future.

Mr. Twene said World Vision would continue to support initiatives and activities that will contribute to improve reading in particular and education as a whole in the district.

He entreated parents and care givers to pay much attention to their childrens education, adding quality education is a key to poverty eradication.
Universe Aid Foundation, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has embarked on a massive de-worming project in Mamprugu Moagduri District in the Northern Region.

The programme which took place on Thursday 27th October saw over 1,000 residents being de-wormed for intestinal worms.

Intestinal worms produce a wide range of symptoms, including intestinal manifestations (diarrhoea, abdominal pain), general malaise and weakness, and also chronic intestinal blood loss that results in anaemia.

According to the latest World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates, more than 880 million children are in need of treatment for these parasites.

The foundation, upon realising the effect of worms in the country, decided to embark on a free de-worming project to eradicate the harmful effects of worms among citizens.

Over 1,000 residents in some households across Yizesi village were de-wormed.

Abdullah Jamaludeen, Executive Secretary of the NGO, said he was very impressed with the support the Member of Parliament Hon. Mustapha Ussif accorded them, and the commitment and cooperation of Chiefs, Opinion Leaders and residents.
Introduction

The passage of the Mental Health Act in 2012 was an important milestone for Ghanas mental health system, considering the systems lunatic history. In the ensuing paragraphs, this article offers a brief narrative about the history of mental health in Ghana, highlights certain important legislative issues which needs to be addressed and discusses why the implementation of the Mental Health Act will be an additional burden to an overwhelmed mental health system.

History of Mental Health in Ghana

Attempts to regulate mental health in Ghana date back to the latter part of the 19th Century. In 1888, the Lunatic Asylum Ordinance (LAO) was enacted under the governorship of Sir Griffith Edwards. This ordinance was rather draconian, as it labelled the mentally ill insane and ensured their arrest and imprisonment. Such was the zeal and fervour to carry out the provisions of the Ordinance that by the close of the century, the special prison in which the mentally ill were reposed, had become congested. This called for the construction of a lunatic asylum in 1906. This asylum is the present Accra Psychiatric Hospital.

In 1951, the Accra Psychiatric Hospital had its first Psychiatrist in the person of Dr. E.F.B Foster, a native of Gambia. He continued reforms undertaken by his predecessors Dr Maclagan (1929-1946) and Dr. Wozniak (1947-1950) and furthered steps to eradicate the prevailing injustice and make the facility more humane. He transformed the lunatic asylum into a hospital. Indeed, this semantic transformation was an imperative response to the equity and justice question: if mental illness is just like any other illness, then why should the mentally ill be treated differently from the others? Under the leadership of Dr. Foster, more Doctors and Nurses were trained in addition to other initiatives to improve the hospital. The Accra Psychiatric Hospital was the only established Psychiatric facility in West Africa in the early 50s. Two additional psychiatric hospitals were built in 1950 and 1970 respectively.

After Ghanas independence in 1957, part of a comprehensive plan for the health sector was the construction of five new mental health hospitals supported by Psychiatric units to accommodate about 1,000 people. At the time, Ghanas population was below eight million.

The ordinance still remained enforceable until the enactment of the Mental Health Act 1972 (NRCD 30), which focused on institutional care taking into account the patient, the property of the patient and voluntary treatment.In 1983, under the Provisional National Defense Councils (PNDC) regime, improvement of psychiatric services especially at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital became a concern. A committee which was formed in this regard, saw the need to integrate mental health within the larger health sector. Their recommendation led to the creation of a Mental Health Unit within the Ministry of Health.

Currently, there are only three Public Psychiatric Hospitals (Accra, Pantang and Ankaful) in the country, all located in the Southern part of the country with 1200 beds altogether. There are about six privately operated ones. From 1957 to date, 59 years and counting, the strategic vision for five new mental health hospitals is yet to be realised.

Mental Health Legislation: Inconsistencies and Illogicalities

In 2004, the mental health bill (now an Act) was introduced in Parliament. The bill took into account modern trends, standards and best practices and also made provisions for the regulation of public and private mental health facilities in the country. The bill spent eight (8) years on the shelves of Parliament before being passed into law. Below are some legislative issues before and after the passage of the bill into law:

Though the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, article 15, paragraph 2 states that no person shall...be subjected to (a) torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, (b) any other condition that detracts or is likely to detract from his dignity and worth as a human being, we have not yet included the offense of torture, as defined in article 1 of the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, in our Criminal Code, 1960 (Act 29). Denial of adequate food, shackling to trees or metal objects and arbitrary flogging are some of the cruel, daily experiences of some mentally ill persons. These practices are tantamount to torture.

Human Rights Watch, in its 2012 report, Like a Death: Abuses against Persons with Mental Disabilities in Ghana found that persons with mental disabilities in Ghana often experience a range of human rights abuses in some prayer camps and hospitals. These patients are ostensibly sent to these institutions by their family members, police, or their communities for help. Abuse takes place despite the fact that Ghana has ratified a number of international human rights treaties, including the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which was ratified in July 2012. The abuse includes denial of food and medicine, inadequate shelter, involuntary medical treatment, and physical abuse amounting to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

The findings by Human Rights Watch were similar to an earlier graphic narration of human rights abuse at the Accra Psychiatric hospital by Anas Aremeyaw Anas.

The Mental Health Act provides for the establishment of a Mental Health Tribunal to oversee, among others, human rights violations. However, implementation of this Tribunal is still in the pipeline. For this Tribunal to function effectively we must train Health Lawyers to help interpret, advocate and enforce the Mental Health Act, and to protect patients rights. But according to Doku, Wusu-Takyi and Awakame (2012), "the law faculties of the University of Ghana and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, do not offer elective courses of study in Health law hence lawyers trained in Ghana qualify without exposure to health law training, let alone mental health law. So the threat of non-fulfilment of the mandate of the Tribunal or breach of patients rights is real.

Our Criminal Code, 1960 (Act 29) criminalises suicide. Section 57 of Ghanas Criminal Codes states that, whoever attempts to commit suicide shall be guilty of misdemeanour, making suicide and corruption criminal mates. Meanwhile, a content analysis of media reports on adolescent suicide in Ghana showed that from January 2001 through September 2014, a total of 44 adolescent suicides were reported; 40 cases were completed suicide and four were attempted suicides. Barely three months ago, a Police Officer in uniform, who is supposed to know the laws of the land better, committed suicide after killing his mother-in-law and two children. If the criminalisation of suicide serves to deter people from attempting the act, then it needs a second look; because suicide is the product of clinical depression and destructive thinking.

In other jurisdictions, the illogicality inherent in the criminalisation of suicide has been recognised and appropriate steps have been taken. For example, The Indian Government was moved to take steps to reform its national health policy when the countrys suicide rate hit 258,000; the highest number of deaths by suicide globally according to the World Health Organisation (2014). The Indian Government decriminalise the act of suicide, with the aim of improving possibilities for discussion and intervention around suicidality.

Another Burden?

There are fears that the aforementioned legislative issues will add to the catalogue of existing burdens our mental health system is carrying. Already, 3.2 million Ghanaians are estimated to have mental disabilities (disorders); 650,000 are reckoned to have severe mental disabilities. For the treatment of both mild and severe mental disabilities, the country has 600 (demoralised and poorly paid) severe mental disabilities. For the treatment of both mild and severe mental disabilities, the country has 600 (demoralised and poorly paid) Psychiatric Nurses and 12 practicing Psychiatrists; all contained in three under-funded Public Psychiatric Hospitals (all located in the Southern part of the country).

Though the Mental Health Act seeks an orderly resolution of these heavy burdens, it is unlikely that it will achieve this in the foreseeable future. Unless there is flexibility and innovation in our approach toward mental health issues . A notable example is the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between the Ghana Health Service and BasicNeeds Ghana. Using the mental health and development model, this partnership has made mental health care accessible; providing medicines and counselling in primary care settings (homes) to 43,312 people with mental disorders and epilepsy in the Northern parts of the country and, delivering economic opportunities to families affected by mental illness through 253 self-help groups.

Conclusion

In principle, the Mental Health Act is an essential document which keeps pace with modern developments in the delivery of mental health services, protects the human rights of mentally ill persons and ensures orderly conduct of public and private mental health facilities. But the reality is that, to date, we have mad persons, male and female, roaming the streets of Ghana naked. Instead of the proper treatment and rehabilitation of these persons, we have a Criminal Code which fails to overtly prohibit all manner of torture against the mentally ill but puts them among tycoons of corruption; and an educational system which cannot nurture Specialised Lawyers to serve as advocates for their human rights.
I heard my president promising one district ten tractors. I took it upon myself to do a little research about this.

We have 216 districts in Ghana. 216*10= 2,160. This means we are going to have 2,160 tractors in Ghana. Good news...! Good news... ! Yeeiiiiii Choo boi Yei, Choo boi Yei.... (for a populist appeal of course!).

I came to costing.

I checked online and other sources to check the cost of a tractor. With the aid of some experts in Agric and the internet, I realised one tractor with 100 to 150 HP including Loader and backhole attachment cost $190,000.00. (Please, this cost is minus the normal ntwobo for NDC government officials on all deals).

In effect, $190,000*2160= $410,400,000.00 (Four Hundred and Ten Million, Four Hundred Thousand Dollars).

In current currency conversion which is $1=C4, it means in Ghana Cedis the cost of all the tractors will be 1,641,600,000.00 Cedis (One Billion Six Hundred and Fourty One Million Six Hundred Thousand Ghana Cedis).

Total cost in each district will be 760000*10= 7,600,000 Ghana Cedis (7.6 million Ghana Cedis).

After all these research and analysis, I further asked myself, what exactly are the people of Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Tema Municipal etc going to use ten tractors for? (Hmmm, you can help me answer this later with your comments).

Can someone convince me, 7.6 million Ghana cedis cannot build one factory that can employ a minimum of 100 people in Ghana? This is possible! Remember, they are saying One District One Factory is not possible.

They will spend 7.6 million Ghana Cedis in each district purchasing tractors!

My conclusion

When desperation sets in whatever you are doing, you just say things without due diligence and whoever the gods wants to kill, they first make him mad!

Desperation has set in the NDC campaign because of the good policies like One District One Factory, One Village One Dam in the North, One Constituency One Million Dollars every year for development etc the NPP is putting before the good people of Ghana.

Ghanaians, governance is about choices and priorities. The government of the day decides where to spend the countries resources and for what purpose.

NDC decides to pay crook judgement debt whiles NPP decides to pay Nurses and Teacher Trainee allowances.

NDC decides to buy tractors for districts (which of course, as I'm writing, I don't know what some districts are going to do with ten tractors), NPP decides to build factories which suit the needs of the people, give employment and for exports.

My fellow Ghanaians, the best option for Ghana in the upcoming elections is NPP. Please let's vote against NDC for they have no tangible policy to fix the unemployment we the youth are facing. Let's vote Nana, Let's vote NPP. Nana bba. #Im4change..... #Im4Nana

Gabriel Asante

Department of History and Political Studies

KNUST-Kumasi
Jose Mujica is the immediate past President of Uruguay who served from 2010 to 2015. He has been described by the international media as "the world's poorest president," simply because of his practically austere lifestyle even as president. This sage, regardless of his presidential status, lived like a pauper though he was actually not broke. His way of life is really bizarre. Well, he is a certifiable maverick who stays true to his eccentric ideals in our highly sophisticated world. As the President of Uruguay, he rejected the presidential palace offered him and lived together with his dear wife on a small farm outside the capital city. Besides, he actually cherishes that kind of queer living even in our technologically advanced world. For I believe he is the wisest politician in the world today, and we ought to learn from the following 5 vital lessons his way of life teaches us.

(1) Poverty is all about avarice and not lack of material gains:

Ha-ha, that is actually a paradox. The lexical meaning of poverty is "the condition of having very little money and possessions." However, Jose Mujica believes otherwise; ironically claiming that poor people are those who are really avaricious, and not those who merely lack material things. He once declared, "My definition of poor are those who need too much. Because those who need too much are never satisfied." In fact, cupidity is a sarcastic proof of poverty since it ensnares one in the rat race. Mr. Mujica emphasises that money and possessions should make us feel secure, content, comfortable and modest, and not the exact opposite.

(2) Philanthropy is simply priceless:

The greatest philanthropists in world history include Warren Buffet, Andrew Carnegie, Bill Gates, John D. Rockefeller, Li Ka-shing, Henry Ford, Chuck Feeney etc. They have donated billions of dollars each out of their individual fortunes in their lifetimes. Yet how Jose Mujica does his philanthropy is incredibly amazing though monetarily insignificant. When he was the President of Uruguay, he consistently gave about 90% of his monthly salaries equivalent to $12K to charity. He stressed that he did not actually need those amounts, so he donated majority of them to the homeless and small entrepreneurs.

(3) Politics is a call to selfless service and not amassing of wealth:

In the African continent especially, politics is mostly about amassing wealth at the expense of the masses' supreme welfare. Many selfish African politicians gleefully practise sheer corruption with impunity just to rob nations of money and possessions. They are in the minority representing the majority, but they abide in economic paradise while their people abide in economic hell. But Jose Mujica is famed for asserting that, "Some people love money and get into politics. If they love money so much, they should get into commerce, industry, or do whatever they want  it's no sin. But politics is for serving the people."

(4) It pays to experience struggles in life:

Jose Mujica was a Uruguayan guerrilla in the 1960's and 1970's. He was later arrested, even shot 6 times in the process, and later incarcerated for 14 years until he was set free when Uruguay returned to democratic rule. He faced real sufferings and hardships in prison as a convicted criminal. Interestingly, the prison-bound experiences were a turning point in his entire life. He once revealed that, "My years in jail were a bit like a workshop for my [life]  that actually forged my way of thinking and my values." No wonder he has extreme care for the deprived, less privileged and have-nots in the Uruguayan society.

(5) The world needs equity and not equality:

Equity and equality are similar, but they are not the same  know the slight difference! In socialist philosophy, equity is ensuring fairness in every situation while equality is giving people the same things. So inequalities in society will forever be a social problem as long as we undermine the significance of equity. Jose Mujica believes that all manner of persons should be treated fairly without favour. He once remarked that, "...If we lived within our means by being prudent, the 7 billion people in the world could have everything they needed...But we think as people and countries, not as a species."

Source: sirarticle.blogspot.com
The Convention Peoples Party plans to crucify the governing National Democratic Congress and the opposition New Patriotic Party in the December polls to win the presidency.

Addressing party supporters at the launch of the partys manifesto dubbed Apam foforo at the Academy of Arts and Sciences, the partys flagbearer, Ivor Greenstreet announced the partys strategy to snatch power from the two leading parties.

The central committee of the party agrees with the national chairman of this campaign known as crucifixion and resurrection. And that means we are going to crucify the NDC and the NPP. Sowe want you to go back knowing what kind of change we are talking about.

This is how our change is going to be.. Our friend and our brother H.E John Dramani Mahama, we are sorry but your time is up and our father Nana Akuffo Addo of the NPP, Nana we are sorry, before the change comes we will block the two of them and change, he added.

Enough of NDC, NPP lies

Ivor Kobina Greenstreet further called on Ghanaians to reject the NDC and the NPP in the upcoming general elections saying both parties have nothing good for Ghanaians except lies .

We must bring back our dignity as a nation. A nation without dignity is susceptible to abuse and corruption and that is what we see before us today in all spheres of our nation's life. We are abused by our leaders who fail to care for our people and our society have become endemic to corruption. 24 years of the NDC and the NPP, 24 years of arguments, vindictiveness, rancor and darkness, it's okay. We have had enough.

NDC and the NPP are the same; we have had enough of them. NDC and NPP merely continue to offer us what they've been offering us for 24 years and that is their greatest specialty; lie upon lie. And there is a special word to describe continues lies because continues lies is no longer is called a lie and that special word is mendacity, he added.



By: Caleb Kudah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
It is often said, A prophet is never recognized in his own land. The people of Tamale have done the opposite of this, showing their appreciation to their son from the savannah part of the country.

H.E John Dramani Mahama will go down in history as the first Northerner to have served a full term and on the verge of going second term, due to his historical development across the nation. The Northerners during the JM Appreciation walk, confirm that they have had its fair share of the national cake.

This is a president whose commitment to the Muslim fraternity, ensured that the hustle and painful experiences, that Muslims go through, to perform Hajj becomes a thing of the past.

In an emotional and historic moment, Muslim pilgrims were airlifted from Tamale to Mecca. This single visionary act has changed the fortunes of subsequent pilgrimage which was evidential in the 2016 hajj.

Indeed this was equally possible because the foresighted President, John Dramani Mahama, determined to have the Tamale airport upgraded to international status.

Tamale is now open to the international air travel business which comes with enormous economic and business benefits.

Gone are the days when the 3 northern sectors were stereotyped as only farmlands.

The new Buipe Cemetery factory that is on stream, will create multiple streams of jobs, it will give people in and around Tamale authorship of their own cement for their construction purposes. It adds to the competitive market of cement production and cut cost of construction where all cement were transported from the southern sector which attracted extra cost.

To keep the educational prowess of the northern sector, his investment in education saw the Tamale Polytechnic engineering department receive a facelift in equipment and other auxiliary inputs. Soon this institution will be recognized as a Technical University.

Health sector achievement of His Excellency John Dramani Mahama is just wordless, and again the people of Tamale and its enclave were not left out. Currently the Tamale teaching hospital got 400 capacity expansion to make sure the health care of the people are given a topmost priority.

The Fufulso Sawla asphalted road have brought a great relieve to the people of Tamale and beyond. The number of hours one needed to spend just to travel along this area has been reduced drastically. This is indeed the true meaning of changing lives and transforming Ghana.

One of the indigenous business of the people of the region is shea butter, this business has always had foreign exchange potential and once again H.E John Dramani Mahama saw to the establishment of Buipe Shea factory. This will create added value to the indigenous business of the people and make it one of the revenue generation means for the people. This goes a long way to better the lives of the people in and around Tamale.

These coupled with many other interventions like the sharp upgrade and expansion that LEAP, NHIS e.t.c have benefitted the people of Tamale.

It is only that Natural that the crowds seen in Tamale this Saturday have come out saying Thank-you and JMToaso.

Nana Ohemaaba

Greenbook Ghana Initiative
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By Godwill Arthur-Mensah, GNA

Shama (W/R), Oct. 29, GNA - The New Patriotic Party (NPP) would establish an outboard motor assembling plant in the Shama District if given the nod to govern the country.

It would also scrap import duties on fishing inputs in order to make fishing materials more affordable for fishermen in the country.

Mr Ato Panford, the NPP parliamentary candidate for Shama Constituency, said this during a recent parliamentary candidates' debate held on the theme: 'Election 2016- Prioritizing Fisheries and Oil and Gas Governance Issues for Inclusive Development'.

The event was organized by the Centre for Democratic Development-Ghana and Friends of the Nation, in Shama.

The event, funded by OXFAM and Ghana Oil and Gas Inclusive for Growth (GOGIG), also provided a platform for the parliamentary candidates to present their party key manifesto commitments on fisheries, the oil and gas sector.

The NPP candidate said an NPP government would strengthen and enforce the Fisheries Act 2002 (Act 625) and establish a coastal guard unit that would collaborate with the Ghana Navy, to protect the country's territorial waters from illegal fishing practices.

An NPP government, he said, would also establish a Coastal Development Fund to support fishermen through the provision of alternative livelihood programmes that would make them financially-independent and self-sustainable.

Mr Panford said the NPP government would also ensure transparency in the distribution of the premix fuel, adding that more sale points of the commodity would be established.

Mr Gabriel Kodwo Essilfie, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate and incumbent Member of Parliament for the area, said the NDC government considers the fishing sector as a very critical industry.

He said some social interventions the NDC government had undertaken to improve the sector include the distribution of more than 2,000 subsidised outboard motors to fishermen, the expansion of the Bosumtwi-Sam Fishing Harbour which would enable large fishing vessels to berth.

He said the government under President John Mahama has ensured transparency in the distribution of premix fuel, introduced the fishermen's insurance programme and would soon complete the construction of a Fisheries College at Anomabo in the Central Region.

Dr Papa Essuman, the Progressive People's Party (PPP) parliamentary candidate, said the party would establish factories that would use fisheries resources and their by-products to produce animal feeds, glue, soap and which would create jobs for the people.

He said a PPP government would allocate a special quota of the petroleum revenues to the Region for developmental projects because the inhabitants of the region would suffer most in the event of any disaster from the oilfield.

Earlier, Mr Mohammed Mohammed Nasiru, a Consultant of the CDD-Ghana, said the election was about the choice of a political party with the best ideas, policies and programmes that would enhance the livelihoods of the citizenry and it must be done devoid of insults and acrimony.

He urged the supporters of the participating political parties in this year's polls to desist from any act of violence and personality attacks and rather focus on issues that would enhance the living conditions of the people.

The members of the public were given the opportunity to ask the parliamentary candidates questions ranging from youth unemployment, lack of transparency and accountability in the sale of the premix fuel, scholarship for fishermen children, among others.

The debate was moderated by Mr Solomon Kusi Ampofo, the Programme Coordinator of the Friends of the Nation.

GNA
Accra, Oct.29 GNA - Mr Julius Debrah, the Chief of Staff, has called on governing board of the National Population Council (NPC) to ensure that the institution adheres to its expected mandate.

He said the board must also ensure that the NPC adheres to its core mandate as the highest advisory body to government on population matters.

Mr Julius Debrah said this when he inaugurated a 23-member governing board of the National Population Council at the Flagstaff House in Accra.

The country's first population policy and programme was developed in 1969 to ensure better population planning and management for development.

The policy defined government strategy on population issues as well as affirmed its commitment to adopt and implement appropriate plans and programmes.

The policy focused on managing population resources in a manner consistent with government's ultimate objective of accelerating the development of the country of improving the quality of life of Ghanaians.

However, the pace of achieving this objective over the last 47 years has been held down by an unacceptably high level of population growth rate.

Mr Debrah expressed confidence that the reconstituted governing board of the National Population Council would help achieve the task ahead during its tenure.

Dr William Ahadzi, Chairman of the Board of the National Population Council, said the board would continue with the current effort at fertility regulation to reduce the population growth rate.

He said the board would also develop appropriate policies in response to the new population concerns.

GNA
The three accused, identified as Monu, Harish and Pawan Kumar Sharma, used to extort money after luring people by posing as part-time job providers.

By Anuj Mishra: Delhi police has busted an extortion racket in the city with the arrest of three people. The three accused, identified as Monu, Harish and Pawan Kumar Sharma, used to extort money after luring people by posing as part-time job providers.

On 22nd October, victim Avdhesh Kumar had lodged a complaint at the Seemapuri Police Station that he had been extorted by a group of miscreants after being lured into paying a sum of money on the pretext of getting a part-time job in Seemapuri.

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On 20th October, the complainant was asked to come to the IHBAS Hospital gate and later told to reach GTB Hospital. A person called Monu Panchal took Avadhesh to a flat in Dilshad colony and asked him to pay Rs 2,000 for registration. Avdhesh paid Panchal Rs 2,000.



MODUS OPERANDI



It was revealed during the investigation that the accused was to lure innocent people by promise them part-time of full-time jobs. Calling innocent people at their locations, tricking them into being involved with a girl and implicating them in fake rape cases after taking their nude pictures on threatening them to undress was their standard modus operandi.

Also read: Delhi Police crackdown on drug trafficking racket, three African nationals arrested

Soon after, two people claiming to be from Seemapuri Police Station entered the flat and started beating the complainant. The duo said that the DCP, ACP and other officers were approaching here soon, they noted down the name and address of Avdhesh, the complainant. After this, both of them forced Avdhesh to take off his clothes. When he removed his clothes, they took his nude photographs, took away his wrist watch, golden ring and four ATM cards.

They threatened him to reveal the pin codes of the ATM cards to withdraw Rs 22,500.



MISCREANTS THREATEN COMPLAINANT



The miscreants returned all the ATM cards to Avdhesh. After this, the miscreants threatened Avdhesh to pay up 5 lakh rupees five, otherwise they would fix him in a rape case, for which they had photographs and the girl's word to testify. When Avdhesh expressed his inability to pay the amount, the culprits returned him his wrist-watch and asked him to run away.

During the course of investigation, the three accused revealed the names of three of their accomplices. Efforts are being made to nab them.

--- ENDS ---
By Edmund Quaynor, GNA

Kibi (E/R), Oct. 29, GNA - President John Dramani Mahama, on Thursday cut the sod for the rehabilitation of the second phase of the Apedwa junction to Bunso junction road.

Already, the first phase of the road, which covers 12 kilometers from Apedwa junction to Kibi and the Kibi Township has been completed.

The second phase is an 18-kilometre stretch from Kibi through Asiakwa to Bunso junction.

At a mini rally at Kibi, the President called for a peaceful election on December 7, adding that it was God who appoints a President adding that God had already chosen a President for Ghana.

He said God had given the victory to the NDC and expressed the hope that Ghana would go through another peaceful election on December 7 and urged the electorate to come out and vote to affirm God's choice.

Mr Bismark Tawiah Boateng, Eastern Regional Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), said since 2008 people who wore the NDC T-shirt in Kibi were attacked and warned that the attacks would not be entertained. GNA
29.10.2016 LISTEN

By Patience A. Gbeze, GNA

Accra, Oct. 29, GNA - Ghanaians has been urged to use non-violence approach to resolve disputes and conflicts.

Mr George Amoh, Director of Programmes, National Peace Council, who made the call, said there is the need to channel all conflicts or dispute through the appropriate authority to resolve amicably.

He said: 'it is time we do retrospection to resolve and never to destroy ourselves when it is an election period'.

He was speaking at a day's peace seminar organized by the National Peace Council (NPC) in collaboration with the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) and the Electoral Commission for party representatives in the Ga South Constituency.

Mr Amoh expressed the hope that the nation would have credible and peaceful elections this year.

He said elections are just transient thing - 'they come to meet us and will go and we will continue to live and why should we destroy ourselves'.

He said it pays to stay together and Ghana cannot lose that because as 'we have lot of things to show to people out there'.

He also called on the public to trust and respect institutions mandated to carry out democratic exercises to ensure public confidence.

'If you are in opposition and you destroy the institutions put there to govern, tomorrow when you are in government, you will find it difficult to work with same institutions.

'Political parties came to meet us and it is not worth it to lay our lives down for these parties,' he said.

Mr Kwabena Apea Ayeh, Ga South District Electoral Officer, said the EC is holding itself in readiness at all levels to conduct this year's election peacefully.

He said 13 candidates including four females are contesting the seats in the three constituencies in the Ga South Municipality.

The Constituencies are Bortianor/Ngleshie Amanfro, Weija Gbawe and Obom-Domeabra.

He said out of the 13 contestants, the oldest is 60 years old while the youngest is 30 years old.

Mr Ayeh said the EC has trained its officers to attend to those who do not have their voters identification cards but have their names in the voters register.

He said the EC and the political parties have also agreed at IPAC meeting to use the manual verification form should the Biometric Verification Device (BDV) fail.

'Those who form the queue to vote before five o'clock will be allowed to vote before counting starts,' he said and urged all political parties to educate their members to reduce the number of rejected ballot papers this time.

He said all polling stations would have a back-up BDVs to address any technical failures and urged the public to trust the EC and give it the necessary support to carry out its mandate satisfactorily.

The representatives from National Democratic Congress, National Patriotic Party, PPP and CPP were present at the seminar.

GNA
By Kwamina Tandoh/Rachael Dwamena, GNA

Accra, Oct. 29, GNA - DHC International Ghana Limited, a subsidiary of DHC International in Vietnam, dealers in furniture, interior-design and decoration as part of its corporate social responsibility has presented medical items, toiletries and food items to the Accra Psychiatric Hospital.

The items worth GH2,500.00 include adult diapers, examination gloves, gauze, spirit, detergents, hand sanitizer, bleach and bags of rice and beans.

Mr Chinedu Seed Christopher Okere, Regional Chief Executive, DHC International of Africa, expressed the organisation's commitment to support the needy and the less privileged in the society.

'We live in a society where there is constant pressure so mental illness has become rampant.

'We need to start looking at the psychiatric hospitals as a place where we need to invest because it could be our child, staff, wives or even ourselves and once we do all these things we can be confident of living in a society.

'Now the biggest challenge we have is to take care of our care-givers and a care-giver is very important in our society and we need to take care of them by providing them with the tool and equipment they need for the work," he said.

Mr Okere said DHC would also provide industrial hands on training for the physically challenged and pay school fees for brilliant but needy in the society.

'We want to play our role because we are making money in the system, we must be able to participate in helping the system grow so for us it is not about profit but also giving', he said.

He pledged more support for the hospital, to enable the staff to effectively deliver their services to mankind.

Ms Beatrice Nyarko, Principal Nursing Officer, who received the items on behalf of the Hospital, said the donation was timely and would make a favourable impact on the health delivery efforts of the hospital.

She commended the organisation for the gesture and called on other benevolent institutions and philanthropist to support the hospital.

GNA
By Iddi Yire, GNA

Accra, Oct. 29, GNA - The Ghana Association of Savings and Loans Companies (GHASALC) has called on members to embrace technology to deliver value-added services to customers.

This would enable them to drive financial inclusion and withstand the growing competition in the financial sector.

Speaking at the Association's annual general meeting (AGM), the Chairman of GHASALC, Mr Kofi Ampofo Agyapong, said technology had come to make things easier for everyone and the banking sector was no exception.

'It is in the wake of technology that has pushed us to believe that digital financing is indeed here to drive financial inclusion to a whole new level. Savings and loans companies therefore do not want to be exempted from this new technology,' he said.

Speaking on the AGM's theme: 'Digital Financing: The new dawn in banking towards unlimited opportunities for Savings and Loans', Mr Agyapong said GHASALC was more than willing to seek and create the platform of opportunities and to collaborate with institutions or stakeholders who were ready to take the digital financing path.

'I am very optimistic that in subsequent years we will see positive collaborations between savings and loans companies towards the implementation of more beneficial digital financing methodologies that will further improve financial intermediation in our sector,' he said.

The Association's total assets doubled from GH112,282 in 2014 to GH225,032 in 2015 while membership subscription saw significant improvement from GH59,560 in 2014 to GH72,000.00 in 2015.

Total income jumped from GH140,577 in 2014 to 285,502 in 2015, resulting in a net surplus of GH90,265.

With increasing staff members, activities including workshops and training for members, the Association's total expenses which stood at GH95,829 in 2014 increased to GH160,995 in 2015.

The Association, with input from all levels, has now put together a five-year strategic plan from 2015 to 2019 which is now fully operational.

Eunice Brako Marfo, the Executive Secretary of GHASALC, said the secretariat was working hard to continue growing the image and strength of the association through the building of stronger network with national and international affiliates who have growing interests in the sector.

'I can attest to the numerous study tours from Uganda on two different occasions where sampled members were introduced to both regulators and practitioners in Uganda," she said.

"The brand has also gradually exposed the sector to investors who have particular interest in savings and loans companies because of their relative capacity, structure, methodology, and strength in operating as financial institutions in Ghana,' she added.

GNA
By GNA Reporter

Accra, Oct. 29, GNA - The Ghana Construction Awards has announced the list of nominees for its second edition.

This follows months of a rigorous selection process after entries were made by construction companies all over the country.

The event is slated to occur at the Kempinski Hotel in Accra on November 5.

A statement signed by Mr Akin Naphtal, Chief Executive Officer of InstinctWave and copied to the Ghana News Agency, said 'The Ghana Construction Awards is powered by InstinctWave, organisers of the highly successful Ghana Information Technology and Telecom Awards, West African Telecom Summit & Expo and Africa Brand Conference-UK'.

The statement said the Awards night will bring together some of the top guns in the industry to celebrate the achievements of the construction sector and its contribution to Ghana's infrastructural development. This year's edition is under the theme: 'Celebrating Excellence for National Development'.

Mr Naphtal said 'the Ghana Construction Awards presents an opportunity 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.

'It's the platform where the industry's best and most innovative are celebrated for their outstanding achievements,' he said.

The nominees were officially announced to the media after the Board of Trustees of the awards had reviewed all entries.

Mr Naphtal said more nominees will be announced in the coming days as the Board continues in its work of ensuring that the best construction companies are rewarded.

He said special recognition awards will also be given to deserving individuals and organizations for their sterling contribution to the industry.

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 and 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 - TakoradiViaKojokrom 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 and 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)

TettehQuarshie Roundabout Overhead Bridge

(ASONA ENTERPRISE LTD)

Aboadze Costal Projection WorksPhase 1 (2 Kilometer Stretch)

(XARA Developers)

Construction of Shops And Offices for the Tema Development Corporation

(BEROCK VENTURES)

Sekondi - TakoradiViaKojokrom Suburban Railway Line

(TEAM ENGINEERING SpA Ghana)

Health, Sanitation & Safety Excellence Award

Berock Ventures

Amandi Construction

David Walter

QueirozGalvAo

Materials Distributor Of The Year

K. GyasiLtd

ATALA Ltd

Asuogyaman Company Ltd

Builders Accessories Ghana Ltd.

Residential Development Award

XARA Developers

PW Ghana

Devtraco

RegimanuelGray 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

QueirozGalvAo

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

QueirozGalvAo

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 DAcor & Tiles Ltd

H & M Timber Ltd

Orca DAcor

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

QueirozGalvao

PW Ghana

Xara Developers GNA
Youve done more harm than good to me: BBN's Phyna breaks down in tears as she addresses fans, video trends
2016 Man Booker prize winner Paul Beatty said he was not too concerned about the possibility of Donald Trump as the next US President.

By Srijani Ganguly/Mail Today: Author Paul Beatty, who became the first American to win the 2016 Man Booker prize for his novel The Sellout, isn't too bothered about the possibility of a Donald Trump presidency.

What concerns him more are incidents of racial prejudice that have tainted the United States, especially in the past few years.

"I'd prefer not to think about a Trump presidency, or anyone else's for that matter. It's the low-profile instances of discrimination, injustice, and violence that concern me the most," says the author whose latest book is a satire on the racial politics of his country.

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Out of the entire plot of his award-winning novel, one particular incident sticks out the most.

Also Read | Paul Beatty becomes first American to win Booker Prize

Also Read | Donald Trump groped, kissed us: Women come out to debunk 'locker room talk' claim

THE STRIKING SCENE FROM THE AWARD-WINNING NOVEL 'THE SELLOUT'

The protagonist - an African-American man - is at a zoo in Washington DC when he overhears a racially tinged exchange between a woman and her boyfriend. All three are in front of the primate cage, looking at the gorilla when the woman exclaims that the gorilla looked quite "presidential". Her boyfriend reads out the gorilla's name - Baraka - and she begins to laugh, only to spot the protagonist and become remorseful. She attempts to apologise but a Freudian slip gets in the way.

"Some of my best friends are monkeys," she tells him, making the protagonist laugh. Beatty has a way with words, turning this incident in the novel into the most uncomfortable and concise metaphor for the US today.

"It's a country which, the protagonist in another instance comments, isn't 'as comfortable as it looks'."

What the protagonist of The Sellout aspires to might seem hard to obtain as well. In fact, his ideas seem uncommonly absurd.

Also Read: 5 things you need to know about first-ever American Man Booker prize winner Paul Beatty

In the book, after the town Dickens (the fictional setting of the novel) is unceremoniously erased from the records of the country, the protagonist reinstates slavery to get the town back on the map.

Satire, says Beatty, has "the power to let us know that we're all in this mess together". And The Sellout, through its incredibly peculiar plot and humorous anecdotes, accomplishes that with aplomb.

Also Read:

Hillary Clinton's win would result in spread of ISIS, says Donald Trump

US presidential debate: Trump says he may reject election result, Hillary calls remark horrifying

Stop whining, Obama tells Trump over election rigging claims

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India, US would be 'best friends' if I am elected President, says Donald Trump

Donald Trump rakes up H-1B visa again, says 'will protect jobs for Americans'

--- ENDS ---
The FBI's disclosure that it is investigating more emails as part of a probe into Clinton's use of a private email server gave fresh energy to Trump.

By Reuters: US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump shifted quickly on Friday to take advantage of a new twist in Democrat Hillary Clinton's long-running email saga, seeking a much-needed boost in the campaign's waning days.

The FBI's disclosure that it is investigating more emails as part of a probe into Clinton's use of a private email server gave fresh energy to Trump.

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CORRUPT, CANNOT BE TRUSTED

At rallies in New Hampshire, Maine and Iowa, Trump hit hard on his message that Clinton is a corrupt leader who cannot be trusted and he pulled back a bit on his charge that the political system is rigged against him.

Trump called the new development part of "the biggest political scandal since Watergate," the 1970s scandal that forced the resignation of Republican President Richard Nixon.

Trump abruptly changed his tune after repeatedly attacking FBI Director James Comey in the last three months for not indicting Clinton for her handling of classified information while US secretary of state from 2009 to 2013.

"As you know, I've had plenty of words about the FBI lately, but I give them great credit for having the courage to right this horrible wrong. Justice will prevail," Trump said in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Also Read: Trump says Clinton policy on Syria would lead to World War III

CRITICISES CORRUPT POLITICAL CLASS

Trump has spent weeks railing about a "rigged system," accusing the Clinton campaign of coordinating attacks on him with the US news media after a 2005 video surfaced of him boasting about groping women.

"It might not be as rigged as I thought," Trump told a crowd in Manchester, New Hampshire.

By Cedar Rapids, however, he was still criticizing "the corrupt political class" and calling the news media dishonest.

At each stop, Trump's supporters cheered loudly and chanted "lock her up" when the New York businessman talked about Clinton's new headache, a sign that his boosters see the importance of some good news for his campaign with 10 days left until the Nov. 8 election.

Also Read: Michelle Obama campaigns for her 'girl' Hillary Clinton, takes Trump to task

SOME DISTANCE TO GO

Trump noted that he is competitive in opinion polls nationally and in some states where the election is likely to be decided, but admitted he has got some distance to go.

The new disclosures, he said, might help him.

"We have gaps but we are really moving and I just wanted to say that because I don't know what's going to happen now," he said.

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Also Read: Donald Trump vs Hillary Clinton: Epic Rap Battle shows how ugly the rivalry could get

Opinion: Trump, Hillary or media - who's the biggest victim of US Presidential poll?





--- ENDS ---
- The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has accused Mark Zuckerberg of removing the radio Biafra Facebook group, London, from the social media platform

- IPOB says Facebook has made itself the wiling tool of repressive regimes and psychopathic murderers in power

- The group warns that Zuckerberg will face divine retribution for siding with President Buhari

IPOB warns that Mark Zuckerberg is incurring the wrath of God by siding with Buhari.

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has accused the chief executive officer of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, of helping President Muhammadu Buhari to continue the mass murder of innocent Biafrans.

READ ALSO: Buhari appointed his sister to try Kanu's case - IPOB

IPOB spokesman, Emma Powerful, who made the accusations in a statement on Saturday, October 29, also alleged that Zuckerberg removed the radio Biafra Facebook group, London, from the social media platform on the instructions of Buhari.

Radio Biafra London before its shut down by Zuckerberg who visited Buhari recently, was the biggest and most vibrant discussion forum on facebook with nearly 1 million members, Powerful said.

READ ALSO: IPOB demands Buhari sack ahead of Nigeria's disintegration

Why a man whose family benefited from the freedoms and opportunities the land of the free USA had to offer can turn around to brutally suppress freedom of speech and expression is beyond human understanding.

The group said Facebook had made itself the wiling tool of repressive regimes and psychopathic murderers in power such as Major-General Muhammadu Buhari the Nigerian ruler.

IPOB warned Zuckerberg that he had sided with the devil by cutting a deal with Buhari, noting that it was the day that he made the deal with president that his Facebook satellite was destroyed at the launch pad.

The group described the destruction of the Facebook satellite as the handwork of God, warning that Zuckerberg will face divine retribution for siding with Buhari.

"The God we serve will set an example with you that mankind may know that HE is the God of Biafrans. If you do not turn back from your evil ways.

Look at Nigeria today and know that Gods anger is upon her and her leaders because they dared to arrest Nnamdi Kanu. Satlink Israel lost their satellite because Buhari persuaded them to remove Radio Biafra satellite radio broadcast from their services.

Nobody comes against IPOB and survives it. We urge you to retrace your steps and reinstall Radio Biafra London Facebook group, the group said.

In another development, IPOB has lashed out at Igbo elders for associating with its planed All Igbo Summit scheduled to hold in Uturu Abia state in November.

Vanguard reports that in a statement signed by Mr. Emma Powerful who is the media aide of the pro-Biafra group, it said it was not in support of the summit and insulted the elders who it said are only concerned about what they can get from Abuja.

IPOB insisted that Nnamdi Kanu was its only recognised leader and that the quest for Biafra was its only focus.

Source: Legit.ng
Bladder infections are the most common type of urinary tract infection (UTI), but any part of your urinary tract can become infectedthe urethra, bladder, ureters, and kidneys. Your age, habits, or health conditions can make a UTI more likely.

Health care professionals use your medical history, a physical exam, and tests to diagnose a bladder infection. If you have repeat infections, your doctor may order additional tests to find the cause of your infection.

Symptoms of a bladder infection may include a burning feeling when you urinate. Most infections in women are caused by bacteria from the bowel that reach the urethra and bladder. Most infections in men are the result of problems that restrict normal urine flow, such as an enlarged prostate.

Experts dont think eating, diet, and nutrition play a role in preventing or treating bladder infections. If you have any type of UTI, talk with a health care professional about how much to drink each day to help prevent or relieve your infection.

Treatments for bladder infections and other UTIs may include antibiotics and drinking lots of liquids to help flush bacteria from your urinary tract. Changes in habits, hygiene, or birth control method may help prevent another infection.

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) and other components of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) conduct and support research into many diseases and conditions.

This content is also available in:

The urinary tract is the bodys drainage system for removing urine, which is composed of wastes and extra fluid. In order for normal urination to occur, all body parts in the urinary tract need to work together in the correct order.

This content is provided as a service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health. The NIDDK translates and disseminates research findings to increase knowledge and understanding about health and disease among patients, health professionals, and the public. Content produced by the NIDDK is carefully reviewed by NIDDK scientists and other experts.



The NIDDK would like to thank:

Ann E. Stapleton, MD, FIDSA, FACP, University of Washington School of Medicine
Some 22 years after the Rwandan Genocide of 1994, The Uncondemned mixes firsthand accounts and courtroom footage to revisit a historical moment that would set a precedent in international law. At a time when the realms of public discourse have opened to include discussions of rape, its causes and its consequences, this documentary frames the moment that it would first be prosecuted as a war crime. In doing so, The Uncondemned provides a chance to understand the import of what a small group of young, inexperienced lawyers accomplished: adding rape to the list of crimes that fall under genocide.

Its estimated that in the span of just a few months in 1994, hundreds of thousands of Tutsi were murdered by the ruling Hutu Power in Rwanda. Later that year, the United Nations sought to prosecute war criminals when it established the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. One of the cases it would hear involved Jean-Paul Akayesu, the bourgmestre (or mayor) of Taba accused of partaking in and making possible the rape and killing of thousands of Tutsi in his township.

Director-writer Michele Mitchell, a journalist by profession, honors those who elevated the profile of rape as a crime and who brought that charge against Akayesu. Through on-camera interviews, we learn that those who helped prosecute the case were young (in their 20s and early 30s), idealistic, inexperienced and driven. Co-prosecutors Pierre Prosper and Sara Darehshori recall the unprecedented nature of their work. Nobody had prosecuted a genocide case in an international trial, and war crimes hadnt been tried since 1946. Even in presenting their case, they would have to face courtroom conflicts in which their training in U.S. law would run up against a mix of judicial foundations.

Three of their key witnessesknown at the time of trial as Witnesses JJ, NN and OOform the films backbone and reason for being. In sharing their stories with Mitchell, they give a face to a historical moment and recollect the role they played in the case against Akayesu. Through their words, rape is examined as an act that destroys people from the inside. Its use during this military conflict was a means of controlling a population by breaking its spirit through intimidation, the threat of harm and debilitating shame. One of the most enlightening testimonials declares that the rapists succeeded in damaging the souls of their victims, leaving survivors who were alive but shadows of themselves.

As we watch and listen to these women share their experiences, we get a sense of the inner strength they had to call upon to feel comfortable with their own dignity. Mitchells choice to forgo narration and let the principals and images carry the story is key to its power. Not all of the footage reinforces or seems to fit with the interviews, but the vistas filmed by co-director Nick Louvel drive home the distance between the beauty of the landscape and the awful way human beings were treated on that land.

The film makes one want a fuller context, for a view that pulls back and shows more of what led to the conflict, the actors involved, and what made the bloodshed possible when the world had already been watching and anticipating the violence. But what The Uncondemned lacks in breadth, it makes up for with a linear storytelling approach to the trial, one that gives related events the power of drama. Mitchells film intends to inspire, empower, frustrate and disturb. And by those criteria, it succeeds. In presenting this story at a time when women continue to suffer in high-profile global conflicts, this look at what it means to fight for justice shows the good that is possible even in extraordinary circumstances.

Directors: Michele Mitchell, Nick Louvel

Writer: Michele Mitchell

Starring: Godelieve Mukasarasi, Victoire, Mukambanda, Serafina Mukakinani, Cecil Mukarugwiza, Pierre Prosper, Sara Darehshori, Patricia Sellers, Lisa Pruitt

Release Date: Oct. 21, 2016
The Black Scholars Community of San Jose State University presents the inter Council For Mothers of Murdered Children.

By: Inter Council for Mothers of Murdered Children

Anationofflaws cove

Contact

Inter Council For Mothers of Murdered Children

***@intercouncilmmc.com Inter Council For Mothers of Murdered Children

End

-- Several Mothers will form a speakers panel at San Jose State University on Monday November 14th from 6 - 9 pm. The Panel is hosted by the Black Scholars Community of San Jose State University. They will speak on their experiences as woman who have lost family members through Police Action. The panel is made up of Anita Wills, Dionne Smith, and Cyndi Mitchell. Anita Wills is Writer, Author, and Activist who along with Dionne Smith founded the Inter Council For Mothers of Murdered Children. A Press Conference will be held from 6 to 6:45 pm.Anita Wills speaks on the Murder of her 19 year old Grandson Kerry Baxter Junior, Dionne Smith speaks on her murdered 16 year old son James Rivera Junior (Stockton California), and Cyndi Mitchell Speaks on her murdered Brother Mario Romero. The three women have traveled throughout America speaking on the experience of burying their loved one in a climate where Police have almost no accountability.Ms. Wills is the author a book titled A Nation of Flaws JustUs in the Homeland. The book includes a history of Policing and a profile of some of the (mostly black and brown), women and men killed by police. Ms. Wills will give a brief Presentation and signing of her book after the Panel Sharing. The book is also available through Amazon.com in Paper Back and Amazon Kindle.A Nation of Flaws JustUs in the Homeland; https://www.amazon.com/ NATION-FLAWS- JUSTUS-HOMELAND/ dp/13... Inter Council For Mothers of Murdered Children's Website; http://www.intercouncilmmc.com
Jeep CJ series is one of the most iconic car model the world as seen - It was on sale in India as well, thanks to Mahindra
Indias iconic motorcycle maker, Royal Enfield has been planning on launching a new range of motorcycles for quite some time now. These new bikes will be powered a new family of twin cylinder, more powerful engines. This is being done so as to target new range of customers across the globe.

Two such larger cc Royal Enfield motorcycles have been on test for quite some time. These two bikes have now been teased in a new video by none other than Siddhartha Lal. Watch the teaser video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sNeOcDspw4

Not much is known about this new Royal Enfield motorcycle. Spy shots reveal that the bike is based on a modified Continental GT chassis, with conventional shock absorbers in the front and rear. It also gets disc brakes in the front and rear with dual channel ABS. Peak torque is expected to be in the range of 50-60 Nm.

Last year, while announcing the companys results for Q2, FY 2016-17; Royal Enfields big boss, Mr Siddhartha Lal had confirmed that they will launch a completely new motorcycle this year. Currently, Royal Enfield manufactures motorcycles which are powered by 350cc and 500cc engines and are available in the price range of Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh. The launch of this new RE, will help them reach a wider audience in the market. Royal Enfield aims at biting into the share of Harley Davidson Street with the launch of this new 650 cc twin cylinder motorcycle.

In an interview with Car and Bike, this is what Mr Siddhartha Lal had to say about the 650cc RE  It will be absolutely highway worthy and therefore it will bring us out of a niche segment in a lot of faster international markets. Even in markets like Brazil and all, where we are going to, which have quicker roads than India, our futuristic motorcycles will help us in being extremely highway-friendly and worthy.

The company is also investing heavily to get a new production line ready, to meet the growing demand. Sales of Royal Enfield motorcycles have grown exponentially over the years, and continue to do so. In addition to this, the company is also investing huge money in R&D.

India is no longer a price conscious market. We already have the likes of Ducati, Harley Davidson, Triumph, Suzuki, Honda, Yamaha superbikes on offer in the country, and their sales are on the rise. So in order to keep pace with the growing market, it is only logical that Royal Enfield too increases their number of variants and compete with the best in business.
By Tanseem Haider: Crime Branch has busted an interstate gang of drug peddlers with the arrest of three persons. The three accused have been identified as Israel Echem resident of Nigeria, Darlington Chiemezie and Mohammad Dhobir both residents of Hazrat Nizamudin, Delhi.

About 430 grams fine quality heroin and 105 grams of fine quality cocaine were recovered from their possession.

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An information was received by Police that an Nigerian national identified as Israel Echem is indulged in supply of heroin in Delhi. The information further entailed that he would come near Outer Ring Road. Mahaveer Nagar - Tilak Nagar Mod, Delhi for supplying huge consignment of heroin to someone.

A trap was laid and Echem was apprehended at the instance of the informer. During cursory search of Israel Echem, 260 gm heroin was recovered from his possession.

Also read: Notorious drug supplier arrested who once escaped by faking death

He has been staying in India for the last six months. He was received by his fellow country man John, who was already into drugs trafficking. John lured Israel Echem to join him and supply his drugs to his contacts. Israel was in dire need of money, so he accepted John's offer and started supplying heroin to the contacts of John.

ANOTHER NIGERIAN ARRESTED

In the second incident, an information was received that another Nigerian national Darlington Chiemezie is indulged in supplying of cocaine. The police informed that he would come come near Chattarpur CNG Station, Delhi to deliver cocaine to his contacts.

On the basis of this information, a trap was laid near Chattarpur CNG Station and Darlington Chiemezie was apprehended. During cursory search of Darlington Chiemezie, 104 gm cocaine was recovered from his possession. This is his second visit to India.

Also read: China tells India 'educate your travellers' after 5 Indians held for smuggling drugs



Police said that he indulges in drug trafficking in India on the direction of his fellow countrymen, Tony resident of Nigeria and recently he procured drugs from Cheema, also a resident of Nigeria. He used to deliver the contraband in the area of South Delhi.

In the third incident, A trap was laid near Railway Bridge, Bhairon Road, Delhi and Mohd. Dhobir was apprehended. During cursory search of Mohd. Dhobir, 170 gm heroin was recovered from his possession.

Also read: Interstate drug trafficking ring busted, heroin worth 1 crore recovered



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Microbes have a remarkable ability to adapt to the extreme conditions in fracking wells, according to a study published in the October issue of Nature Microbiology.

Scientists led by researchers at Ohio State University found that microbes actually consume some of the chemical ingredients commonly used in the fracking process, creating new compounds which in turn support microbial communities below ground. The process allows the microbes to survive in very harsh environments that include very high temperatures, pressures, and salinity.

The work, based on samples from hydraulically fractured wells in Pennsylvania and Ohio, helps scientists understand the complex interactions among microbes -- important for understanding the planet's environment and subsurface. The findings also help scientists understand what is happening in fracking wells and could offer insight into processes such as corrosion.

David Hoyt, a scientist within the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, was part of the team that ferreted out the geochemical indicators of microbial activity.

The team studied microbes in fracking fluid from more than a mile and a half below the ground surface. Researchers measured the metabolic byproducts excreted by the microbes, which can tell scientists what compounds the microbes are producing, where they are drawing energy from, and what they need to stay alive.

The sampling of a microbial community's byproducts or metabolites gives insight into the community the same way a blood test yields information about a person's health, eating habits, and lifestyle.

"A thorough look at the metabolites of a community allows us to detect what chemical changes are occurring over time, how they support microbial life in the deep subsurface and what are the common biochemical strategies for these microbes that prevail across different shale formations," said Hoyt, a biochemist.

Consequences for methane levels, corrosion Using multiple samples drawn from the two wells over a 10-month period, the team identified 31 different microbes in fluids produced from hydraulically fractured shales. The team found that fractured shales contained similar microbial communities even though they came from wells hundreds of miles apart in different kinds of shale formations.

The complex mix -- with some microbes producing compounds that others use or feed upon -- produces some interesting outcomes. One particularly interesting compound, glycine betaine, is what allows the microbes to thrive by protecting them against the high salinity found in the wells. Other microbes can subsequently degrade the compound to generate more food for the bacteria that produce methane. Yet another process may produce substances that contribute to the corrosion of the steel infrastructure in wells.

The scientists even discovered a new strain of bacteria inside the wells which it dubbed "Frackibacter."

The scientists say more work is needed to understand the implications of the study. Microbial action is central to how much carbon enters Earth's atmosphere and for understanding how chemicals in the ground change and move. Studies like this one that contribute new information about microbial communities could have implications beyond fracking.

"The study highlights the resilience of microbial life to adapt to and colonize a habitat structured by physical and chemical features very different from their origin," said corresponding author Kelly Wrighton, assistant professor of microbiology and biophysics at Ohio State.
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are a major problem worldwide. Molecular biologist Changsheng Wu explored innovative methods of developing new antibiotics more simply and more easily. He also discovered a new type of antibiotic.

New functions

More and more bacteria are threatening to become resistant to the antibiotics currently available. The problem is even so great that diseases like tubercolosis that had almost been eliminated are occurring again. The results of Changsheng Wu's research, carried out at the Institute of Biology (IBL) under Professor Gilles van Wezel and Dr Young-Hae Choi, provide hope in the search for new antibiotics. Wu showed, for example, that by applying modern analytical methods, molecular structures can be linked to biological and physical functions. Unique biological compounds can then be created in the lab. These new compounds encompass new activities and sometimes completely new functions that do not occur in nature, and that can impact every aspect of human life.

Actinomycetes

In developing antibiotics and other medical-natural applications, use is made of micro-organisms belonging to the group of actinomycetes (soil bacteria from which most of our antibiotics come, Ed.). Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS), the newest method of unravelling the genetics of organisms, shows that the potential of these actinomycetes is far from being fully utilised. So-called dormant bacteria occur, that is bacteria that are not made under standard growing conditions and that are therefore never discovered by industry. The big challenge now facing scientists is to activate these antibiotics (to awaken their potential, as it were), in order to be able to screen them and where possible apply them as medicines in the clinical environment.

The new molecule Lugdunomycine

During his PhD research, Changsheng Wu discovered a number of different molecules with new chemical structures. Many of these were similar to already known molecules, but a pioneering discovery is that of Lugdunomycine: an antibiotic with antibacterial properties to combat gram-positive bacteria such as Bacillus subtilis and the multiresistant MRSA. It is only very seldom that a molecule is discovered that in terms of structure is so different from known molecules, which emphasises the importance of Changsheng Wu's research. These and other examples show that using a combination of methods can make it easier to discover new molecules. At the same time, it is possible to identify genetic information responsible for the biosynthesis route.

Co-cultivation

In his work, Wu combined different methods of cultivating micro-organisms using NMR metabolomics (in simple terms, a method of detecting the intermediate and end-products of cultivating cells or tissues). His research showed that co-cultivation, developing two or more micro-organisms in the same medium, in this case a fungus and a Streptomyces bacterium, can generate new compounds.

Multidisciplinary approach

Wu now advocates that scientists who are involved in the search for new antibiotics should have the necessary biological knowledge and practical genetic tools in their repertoire. Far-reaching multidiscipliniary cooperation between scientific experts, in his opinion, offers the best chance for making sure the search for new antibiotics is successful.
Research by a Texas Tech University behavioral analyst who works with therapy dogs suggests using canines as a reward for completed tasks could be useful.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is one of the most widely and deeply researched topics in child development as researchers constantly look for answers into not only its cause but the best way to treat the problematic symptoms of the disorder once diagnosed.

Effects of the various types of ASD include deficits in social communication and interaction, repetitive or restricted behavior, sensory issues and cognitive delays. These traits prevent children on the spectrum from performing or completing tasks in the same timeliness or fashion as other children.

Often, in order to get children with ASD to complete tasks, a reward-based system is implemented, where the child is given a toy or some other form of reward. But the offer of a reward doesn't always guarantee completion of the task.

One Texas Tech University researcher is part of a team taking a unique look at this system by providing access to therapy dogs as the reward, allowing students who complete certain academic tasks to spend time with the pooch, with the hope that potential interaction further motivates them to complete those tasks.

"It is a reward-based program," said Alexandra Protopopova, a behavioral analyst and assistant professor in companion animal science in the Department of Animal & Food Sciences. "There is a second component to it, however, in that dogs, just by being dogs, may alleviate stress. Potentially, the dogs create a more pleasant environment and offer emotional support during academic sessions."

"So, by mediating that stress level, the dogs may improve learning and potentially improve other outcomes as well as being a reward for the child ruing work."

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Protopopova is an expert in behavior issues with dogs across a wide array of subjects, from interaction with children with ASD to analyzing what behaviors are more attractive for potential adopters and ways to bring those behaviors out to improve adoption rates.

But she said the methods and philosophies of how behavior works in animals is, at the core, the same as it is in children, and it is that connection that made this current research both attractive and interesting.

"With an iPad or toy as a reward, a child might become bored over time," Protopopova said. "With a dog you might see the exact opposite situation over time where the child grows attached to the dog and the quality of the reward grows as well."

Emotional interaction

Upon arriving at Texas Tech, Protopopova had a colleague in the College of Education, professor Jeanne Donaldson, who is now at Louisiana State University, and wanted to immediately connect the college and the Burkhart Center for Autism Education and Research with the Department of Animal & Food Sciences. The most natural way to make that connection, she said was to incorporate therapy dogs with the research being done involving applied behavior analysis in children with disabilities.

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"Social behavior and social interaction has been an often neglected component of these kinds of programs," Protopopova said, "and that is something researchers have attempted to improve, that social behavior and communication. There is some evidence that dogs or animals in general occasionally could bring out that social connection. That part of the research is definitely attractive to us."

Measuring the effectiveness of using therapy dogs as a reward for academic performance in children with ASD was performed in two areas. The first was done biologically; stress responses were detected through the collection of saliva. Breanna Harris, a research assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, used salivary cortisol, a stress hormone, to determine a student's stress level in regard to anticipating interaction with the dog.

The second aspect of measuring effectiveness was done by observing the rate of work in the children and how motivated the children were to engage in academic tasks. Each child was given an individual task based on his or her education level, so those tasks involved the same things they were learning in school at the time or what parents had indicated the child needed extra help with.

A control condition was created where there were not rewards and children received praise only for engaging in academic tasks. A second control group saw children work toward receiving inanimate leisure items such as iPads or toys, which Protopopova said have been proven through prior research to be effective motivational tactics.

Two other control conditions involved the therapy dogs. One condition involved the dogs being used as a reward for work performed and would be present only after that work was completed. The second condition was what Protopopova termed more of the typical animal assisted intervention where the dog was continuously present in the room.

The conditions where there was no reward at all and where the dog was constantly around proved to be the most ineffective methods of motivation, researchers found. The two conditions where there were rewards provided upon completion of the work were the most effective; being rewarded with spending time with the therapy dog proved the most effective for some children.

"In fact, for most of the children, this was very useful as a reward because the dog motivated them quite a bit to do the work," Protopopova said. "We did find, surprisingly to me, that one participant did in fact work where we hypothesized he wouldn't during a session where the dog was present but not as a reward."

Improvement over time

Single-use incidents of using the therapy dog show one thing, but the researchers wanted to determine whether prolonged exposure to the availability of a therapy dog as a reward for performing work continues those results.

For that reason, in this first study, children stayed in the program for anywhere from four to nine months to see if using the same dog repeatedly fosters the child's attachment to the dog.

Prior to the child beginning the program, he or she is given a behavioral preference assessment where the child is asked to choose his or her favorite thing in the room, whether it's a toy, an electronic device, a dog, etc. They also were given the choice of performing the academic test instead. At the end of the program, the child is tested again with the same assessment to see if their preferences had changed.

"We wanted to see how all these preferences for inanimate objects or activities changed," Protopopova said. "Right now we are still collecting the final pieces of data because we're still finishing up with a couple of participants. We don't yet have the clear answers there, but it's not as straightforward as we imagined, either. For some of the children, we did not see the attachment we hypothesized, or at least any evidence of it in our data so far. But it's too early to tell."

Protopopova said one of the advantages of this study is its single-subject design where each child's program or sessions are designed specifically for that child's needs. That will allow, if the program is used outside of an educational setting, for other children to enter the program with a focus on their unique behaviors and what is best to encourage them to learn difficult academic or self-care tasks in a non-stressful learning environment.

She said one family in the original group took the data gathered about their child and obtained a dog and will train it as a service dog because of the benefits the data showed for their child.

"This is definitely a strength," Protopopova said. "Instead of a group design and us concluding that the average child would benefit from some procedure, which is not really that meaningful to individual families, we can give each family specific answers whether their child would or would not benefit from a dog."

One major question to come out of the preliminary research, she said, is whether using a shelter dog to encourage behavior can be used to determine the severity of the disability. Does it work on children who are higher- or lower-functioning?

Protopopova and other researchers are beginning another one to answer new questions that rose from the original, smaller study.

The larger study will involve at least 30 children, and they are actively recruiting children to enter the study. Those children must be between the ages of 2 and 14 with autism spectrum disorder and/or other developmental disabilities.

The hope is the larger study will allow the research to be used in schools and centers on a regular basis.

"There we can answer more generalized questions," Protopopova said. "How useful is this and who is it most useful for? Can we tell which children are going to benefit and which ones will not? So when we get those answers we are going to be a bit closer to really giving that program out to schools to say, 'we have strong evidence that it will be useful for this person or not for this person."
For many years, doctors, scientists and researchers have urged that clinical drug trial data be shared to accelerate medical advances in treating multiple diseases. But two years after free patient data became available in a major data-sharing project, the biggest surprise is how little it is being used.

"Given the risks patients are taking and given the data being collected, there's an ethical imperative to make maximum use of it," said Brian L. Strom, chancellor of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences. "That's why it's frustrating that more people are not using it and we don't fully know why."

Strom is lead author of a paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine that explores the unexpectedly low usage of the free data. Since GlaxoSmithKline began making anonymous patient data available in May 2013, 177 research proposals were submitted and access granted to 144 by an independent review committee headed by Strom. No applications were denied; 33 were withdrawn after requests for more information.

GlaxoSmithKline funded millions of dollars to launch the data-sharing system and make data available from 1,500 of its drug trials. The clinicalstudydatarequest.com website was set up in 2014 and data from other pharmaceutical companies was added, bringing the total to 2,800 trials from 13 companies, including Astellas, Bayer, Lilly, Novartis, Roche and Sanofi.

To date, only one research paper using the data has been published. To find out why the data is so underused, Strom and co-authors surveyed the 144 participating investigators, but only 24 responded. More than half of them said they were still analyzing data. From the responses, the authors gleaned that two years may be too little time to judge the data-sharing system, which researchers can apply to access via the website. Some survey respondents said it is difficult to work with the data behind a secure network firewall and would like a simpler way to share data.

"We may need to make it easier for people to use the data, but we don't know if that is the issue," Strom said. "Before we invest an enormous amount of money to expand data-sharing to include academic data as well, we should learn from our experiences in order to do it right."

One positive outcome: Concerns that the data would mostly be used by researchers looking to disprove original findings and in lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies were not borne out, Strom noted.

Management of the Clinical Study Data Request system was turned over to The Wellcome Trust, a global charitable foundation that supports scientists and researchers, at the end of 2015. It is one of a few clinical data-sharing programs.

Strom suggested a more extensive survey of participants may better reveal why researchers are not accessing data that so many agree could help speed medical innovations.

"We can't assume that just making the data available is going to lead to enormous use of it," Strom said. "This suggests we should take a timeout and look at how to do it right."
This Halloween, you're not likely to see many trick-or-treaters dressed as spiders. Google Trends pegs "Spider" as the 87th most searched-for Halloween costume, right between "Hippie" and "The Renaissance." But don't let your guard down. Spiders are everywhere.

More than 46,000 species of spiders creepy crawl across the globe, on every continent except Antarctica. Each species produces a venom composed of an average of 500 distinct toxins, putting the conservative estimate of unique venom compounds at more than 22 million. This staggering diversity of venoms, collectively referred to as the venome, has only begun to be explored.

Among the handful of brave scientists studying spider venom are Greta Binford at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon and Jessica Garb at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. Both of these researchers analyze the protein structures of various venom chemicals in search of clues that can explain why some are lethal, while the vast majority are thought to be relatively harmless.

The scientists also use molecular biology tools to compare the genomes of spiders that have extremely noxious venoms, including the black widow and the brown recluse, to those of spiders with non-poisonous venoms, such as the house spider. "For some reason I tend to gravitate to these really dangerous spiders like the black widow," says Garb. "But they're amazing. With their shiny black body adorned with the red hourglass, they're actually quite elegant."

Binford is similarly drawn to deadly spiders, despite the inherent danger. "I grew up on a farm in Indiana and had the luxury of exploring and turning over rocks and being curious," says Binford. "Any feelings of being scared or grossed out by spiders were rapidly replaced by my feelings of awe for how amazing and diverse these creatures are."

The data being collected by Garb and Binford and their colleagues have the potential to increase our understanding of the evolution of spider venom and contribute to the discovery of new medicines, anti-venoms and insecticides. In addition, because many of the deadlier spider venoms produce their toxic effects by overstimulating the production of brain signaling molecules, this research may uncover novel tools for neuroscience research.
Arctic sea ice, the vast sheath of frozen seawater floating on the Arctic Ocean and its neighboring seas, has been hit with a double whammy over the past decades: as its extent shrunk, the oldest and thickest ice has either thinned or melted away, leaving the sea ice cap more vulnerable to the warming ocean and atmosphere.

"What we've seen over the years is that the older ice is disappearing," said Walt Meier, a sea ice researcher at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "This older, thicker ice is like the bulwark of sea ice: a warm summer will melt all the young, thin ice away but it can't completely get rid of the older ice. But this older ice is becoming weaker because there's less of it and the remaining old ice is more broken up and thinner, so that bulwark is not as good as it used to be."

Direct measurements of sea ice thickness are sporadic and incomplete across the Arctic, so scientists have developed estimates of sea ice age and tracked their evolution from 1984 to the present. Now, a new NASA visualization of the age of Arctic sea ice shows how sea ice has been growing and shrinking, spinning, melting in place and drifting out of the Arctic for the past three decades.

"Ice age is a good analog for ice thickness because basically, as ice gets older it gets thicker," Meier said. "This is due to the ice generally growing more in the winter than it melts in the summer."

In the early 2000s, scientists at the University of Colorado developed a way to monitor Arctic sea ice movement and the evolution of its age by using data from a variety of sources, but primarily satellite passive microwave instruments. These instruments gauge brightness temperature: a measure of the microwave energy emitted by sea ice that is influenced by the ice's temperature, salinity, surface texture and the layer of snow on top of the sea ice. Each floe of sea ice has a characteristic brightness temperature, so the researchers developed an approach that would identify and track ice floes in successive passive microwave images as they moved across the Arctic. The system also uses information from drifting buoys as well as weather data.

"It's like bookkeeping; we're keeping track of sea ice as it moves around, up until it melts in place or leaves the Arctic," said Meier, who is a collaborator of the group at the University of Colorado and the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, the center that currently maintains the Arctic sea ice age data.

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Ice in motion

Every year, sea ice forms in the winter and melts in the summer. The sea ice that survives the melt season thickens with each passing year: newly formed ice grows to about 3 to 7 feet of thickness during its first year, while multi-year ice (sea ice that has survived several melt seasons) is about 10 to 13 feet thick. The older and thicker ice is more resistant to melt and less likely to get pushed around by winds or broken up by waves or storms.

The motion of sea ice is not limited to its seasonal expansion and shrinkage: Except for coastal regions where sea ice is attached to the shore, the sea ice cap is in almost constant movement. The primary driver of sea ice movement in the Arctic is wind and there are two major features in the Arctic circulation: the Beaufort Gyre, a clockwise ice circulation that makes ice spin like a wheel in the Beaufort Sea, north of Alaska, and the Transpolar Drift Stream, which transports ice from Siberia's coast toward the Fram Strait east of Greenland, where the ice exits the Arctic basin and melts in the warmer waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

"On a week-to-week basis, there are weather systems that come through, so the ice isn't moving at a constant rate: sometimes the Beaufort Gyre reverses or breaks down for a couple weeks or so, the Transpolar Drift Stream shifts in its direction ... but the overall pattern is this one," Meier said. "Then the spring melt starts and the ice shrinks back, disappearing from the peripheral seas."

The new animation shows two main bursts of thick ice loss: the first one, starting in 1989 and lasting a few years, was due to a switch in the Arctic Oscillation, an atmospheric circulation pattern, which shrunk the Beaufort Gyre and enhanced the Transpolar Drift Stream, flushing more sea ice than usual out of the Arctic. The second peak in ice loss started in the mid-2000s.

"Unlike in the 1980s, it's not so much as ice being flushed out -though that's still going on too," Meier said. "What's happening now more is that the old ice is melting within the Arctic Ocean during the summertime. One of the reasons is that the multiyear ice used to be a pretty consolidated ice pack and now we're seeing relatively smaller chunks of old ice interspersed with younger ice. These isolated floes of thicker ice are much easier to melt."

"We've lost most of the older ice: In the 1980s, multiyear ice made up 20 percent of the sea ice cover. Now it's only about 3 percent," Meier said. "The older ice was like the insurance policy of the Arctic sea ice pack: as we lose it, the likelihood for a largely ice-free summer in the Arctic increases."
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They may not know it, but the animals of the Antarctic Ocean just got a lucky break. On Friday, world leaders meeting at the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources announced that part of the ocean around Antarctica - namely the Ross Sea - would become the largest-ever marine sanctuary. Known formally as a marine protected area (MPA), the area would be closed off to fishing and hunting, making life much, much better for the animals there.

Dodo Shows Soulmates Dog Goes Everywhere In His Dad's Kangaroo Pouch

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The new MPA is about 600,000 square miles. That's roughly the size of France and Spain combined, or a little smaller than Alaska. This is good news for the hundreds of thousands of animals who live in the chilly Antarctic waters, including orcas, whales and birds.

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One animal who'll benefit is the emperor penguin. About 240,000 of these distinctive-looking birds currently live in the Ross Sea region, but the population has been under threat because of overfishing and ice loss, which is a result of climate change. Then there's the minke whale - the smallest baleen whale in the world. While minkes don't spend all of their time in Antarctica, thousands migrate down during the summer months to feast on fish and krill. With the sanctuary's "no fishing" rule, minkes will have more food to eat.

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Hopefully the sanctuary will also put a stop to whaling. That said, Japanese fishermen have previously hunted whales in protected areas, including the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, another protected area off Antarctica that was declared off-limits by the International Whaling Commission. Other Antarctic animals that would be protected by the new sanctuary include Adelie penguins, orcas, Weddell seals and Antarctic petrels.

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The move was applauded by conservation groups, many of whom have spent years campaigning on behalf of the animals who live in the Ross Sea. "This is a moment of optimism for the incredible wildlife of Antarctica and is a shining beacon of hope for ocean conservation everywhere," John Tanzer, leader of oceans practice, WWF International, said in a media release. "We will take that hope and move to protect more of the ocean off Antarctica and around the world because this has never been more urgent."

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The director has refused to give in to the bullying of the MNS for casting Pakistani actor Mahira Khan.

By India Today Web Desk: The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's (MNS) demand that every producer featuring a Pakistani actor in their films must contribute Rs 5 crore to the Army Welfare Fund was widely criticised, with many equating it with extortion.

Farhan Akhar, co-producer of yet-to-be-released film Raees starring Pakistani actor Mahira Khan, refused to give in to the MNS' demand. In retaliation, the MNS has threatened the makers of the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer.

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ALSO READ: Mahira Khan to finish shooting for Raees at secret location?

MNS cine wing president Ameya Khopkar told Mid-Day, "Release nazdik aane do phir dekh lenge (Let the film's release come closer, we will look into it). By the way, where were these people when the decision of donating Rs 5 crores was taken? Suddenly everyone is waking up."

Farhan has been vocal about not giving in to these demands. News18 quotes him as saying, "There is no question of paying any money as the Army has itself denied any money which seems extorted from the producers."





In an interview to The Indian Express, the Dil Chahta Hai director said, "It's not even the government telling you what you should be doing and not doing. So who are you listening to? You are listening to the people who are threatening you with violence."

He added, "The only word, I think, that comes to mind is unfortunate, because it has set a terrible precedent."

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Looks like Bob Dylan and the Nobel Academy are going to patch things up.

Two weeks after being awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature, the folk-pop icon and infamous crank finally made a public comment about the honour on Friday  and gave the Nobel committee frustrated by his long silence a vague assurance that he would turn up in Stockholm to accept his prize on Dec. 10.

Absolutely, he told American music writer Edna Gunderson in an exceedingly rare interview published in The Telegraph newspaper to coincide with an exhibition of his art at Londons Halcyon Gallery next week. If its at all possible.

For awhile, it appeared that Dylan might never acknowledge his Nobel Prize at all. Save a brief flicker on his website proclaiming him Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature that was deleted within 24 hours, hed previously given no indication that he was even aware hed won the award.

The Nobel people have publicly groused that they couldnt get through to the man at all to determine whether or not he would actually be there on Dec. 10 to claim the roughly $1 million being dangled his way, let alone that he would honour the caveat that he must deliver a lecture on literature  or, perhaps, a concert  within six months to qualify for the money. Last weekend, an angry member of the academy even went so far as to tell a Swedish newspaper he thought Dylan was impolite and arrogant.

In the Telegraph interview, Dylan gives no reason for his failure to pick up the phone, only offering dryly: Well, Im right here.

Hes not a total ingrate, mind you, telling Gunderson being named a Nobel laureate is amazing, incredible. Whoever dreams about something like that?

The whole drama couldnt really have played out in a more fittingly Dylan-esque fashion. And the most amusing thing about it is arguably how predictable it was.

One could guess that it must have been ruffling a few stodgy old feathers when Dylan was announced as the recipient of the Nobel Prize in the first place, but who could have guessed that in the end most of the feathers being ruffled would be those of the Nobel Academy itself.

Oh, well, good on Dylan. He deserves it. Hes one of the few artists to emerge from the rock n roll era who is truly held in as high esteem as a poet as he is a musician.

The Nobel committee would certainly seem to agree; a great majority of its 18 members voted for the 75-year-old folk icon, the Nobel academys permanent secretary, Sara Danius, told press gathered in Stockholm after the award was bestowed upon Dylan for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition. And she quickly put down the suggestion that the Nobel Prize had somehow shattered its traditional definition of literature by granting a musician the honour.

Well, it may look that way, she said in an interview posted to Twitter. But really, we havent, in a way. If you look back, far back, 2,500 years or so ago, you discover Homer and Sappho. And they wrote poetic texts that were meant to be listened to, they were meant to be performed, often together with instruments. Its the same way with Bob Dylan. But we still read Homer and Sappho and we enjoy it. And same thing with Bob Dylan. He can be read and should be read, and is a great poet in the grand English poetic tradition.

This is true. While countless pop lyrics are basically throwaways that fall flat divorced of the music  no ones ever going to give Pitbull a Nobel Prize, for instance  Dylans stand up on the page as well as they do on record. He wouldnt have made it this far with that face, lets face it, if hed never had anything to say.

No, Dylans command of language is almost unparalleled in popular music. Only perhaps Leonard Cohen is held in similar regard as a poet, and the words to such Dylan classics as Blowin in the Wind and The Times They Are A-Changin have filtered into the background of our popular consciousness so much over the years that their genius is almost taken for granted.

So, with that in mind, lets have a look back at some of Dylans finest wordsmithery. Obviously, its a deep well, so we stopped looking at 1965. Youre free to peruse the rest of the Nobel bibliography on your own.

A Hard Rains A-Gonna Fall (1963).

This ageless, questing anthem, found on Dylans second album, The Freewheelin Bob Dylan, presents such a stunning, surreal onslaught of bloody, Biblical imagery its hard to pick a favourite verse. But the climax is positively breathless after what comes before.

Im a-goin back out fore the rain starts a-fallin

Ill walk to the depths of the deepest black forest

Where the people are many and their hands are all empty

Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters

Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison

Where the executioners face is always well hidden

Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten

Where black is the color, where none is the number

And Ill tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it

And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it

Then Ill stand on the ocean until I start sinkin

But Ill know my song well before I start singin

And its a hard, its a hard, its a hard, its a hard

Its a hard rains a-gonna fall

Positively 4th Street (1965).

All rights belong to Bob Dylan

The mournful melody to Positively 4th Street camouflages a pretty vicious indictment of false loyalties and false friendships. Whatever unfortunate soul it was who had a lotta nerve / To say you are my friend really got a blast from Dylan here.

No, I do not feel that good

When I see the heartbreaks you embrace

If I was a master thief

Perhaps Id rob them

And now I know youre dissatisfied

With your position and your place

Dont you understand

Its not my problem

I wish that for just one time

You could stand inside my shoes

And just for that one moment

I could be you

Yes, I wish that for just one time

You could stand inside my shoes

Youd know what a drag it is

To see you

Subterranean Homesick Blues (1965).

Bob Dylan can be caustic, but Bob Dylan can also be very funny. Sometimes he can be caustic and funny at the same time. Full of free-associative whimsy but also on point as social commentary, Subterranean Homesick Blues falls into the caustic and funny category.

Ah get born, keep warm

Short pants, romance, learn to dance

Get dressed, get blessed

Try to be a success

Please her, please him, buy gifts

Dont steal, dont lift

Twenty years of schoolin

And they put you on the day shift

Look out kid

They keep it all hid

Better jump down a manhole

Light yourself a candle

Dont wear sandals

Try to avoid the scandals

Dont wanna be a bum

You better chew gum

The pump dont work

Cause the vandals took the handles

Masters of War (1963).

No discussion of Dylans lyrical accomplishments would be complete without an anti-war song. Masters of War takes such a dim view of those who would send others off to fight that it ends with Dylan wishing death upon those masters and promising to stand oer your grave / Til Im sure that youre dead.

You fasten the triggers

For the others to fire

Then you set back and watch

When the death count gets higher

You hide in your mansion

As young peoples blood

Flows out of their bodies

And is buried in the mud

Youve thrown the worst fear

That can ever be hurled

Fear to bring children

Into the world

For threatening my baby

Unborn and unnamed

You aint worth the blood

That runs in your veins

Desolation Row (1965).

Artist: Bob Dylan

This 11-minute epic from Highway 61 Revisited is basically the young Dylans The Wasteland, so its rather fitting that he directly references T.S. Eliot in the penultimate verse. The utterly inscrutable passage quoted below, however, might best encapsulate Dylans twisted gifts, finding a strange kind of profundity in abject absurdity.

Einstein, disguised as Robin Hood

With his memories in a trunk

Passed this way an hour ago

With his friend, a jealous monk

He looked so immaculately frightful

As he bummed a cigarette

Then he went off sniffing drainpipes

And reciting the alphabet

Now you would not think to look at him

But he was famous long ago

For playing the electric violin

On Desolation Row

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When Marie-Eve Emond started designing clothes, she wanted her friends to actually be able to afford them.

But that wasnt easy.

I wanted to have the highest quality possible, said the Montreal-based designer behind the Betina Lou clothing line, available in Toronto at Coal Miners Daughter and Victoire. To do that and keep her prices affordable  around $200 for a dress or jacket, she would have a very narrow profit margin. The challenge includes balancing quality and quantity and costs  rent, staff, supplies, keeping clothes ethically-made in Canada, and getting noticed in the first place.

Fashion is a competitive field with a huge range of price points. Independent Canadian designers have to eke out a living somewhere between the high end haute couture market of say, Giorgio Armani, and the lower end fast-fashion factories the likes of H&M, all in the relatively small Canadian market.

The goal is to find the sweet spot and then convince Canadian fashion lovers to shop locally.

Canadian designers have to be really smart. Were already up against some very well-known brands and a lot of these brands have huge margins and enormous marketing budgets, said Michelle Germain, the founder of Shopgirls, a Toronto clothing boutique that sells Canadian-designed clothing. She is also a co-designer of a clothing line called Ninety-eight. We have to pay attention to the quality of the product ... and the longevity of the styles were designing.

Germain says the real difficulty is convincing Canadian shoppers to look for local designers when theyre in the market for a new outfit or that special garment.

Its like Canadians wont support Canadian designers until theyre recognized somewhere else, she said. Toronto designer Jeremy Laing, for example, didnt truly gain popularity until he presented his collection in U.S. fashion shows and earned praise from U.S. media.

Its like (consumers) need that kind of validation, Germain said.

Adding to that is the sticker shock that hits shoppers who enter a store stocked with local independent designer pieces when they are accustomed to the fast fashion prices they see at stores such as Joe Fresh and H&M.

Design experts say these shoppers are missing the bigger picture.

Affordability  its a weird term, said Henry Navarro, an assistant professor with Ryersons School of Fashion.

Navarro stresses that when talking about the cost of a piece of clothing, consumers must think holistically, looking beyond the price tag.

When you get something for a really low price, the question is, How is that possible?  he said. Who was exploited or what was exploited in order for that price to be so low.

Factors that come into play when an independent designer prices a garment include: where the garment was made, the quality of the product, payment to staff, landlords and marketers and miscellaneous overhead costs.

Thats an educational component that consumers, in general, often times dont fully grasp, he said.

And while incidents such as the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh, which killed more than 1,000 workers, put exploitative outsourcing for clothing into the headlines, customers continue to shop with the price tag foremost in mind, said Navarro.

He says there is a gap in the availability of affordable clothes altogether in the Canadian design market. Partly contributing to this is the fact that some design students are lured by perceived glamour and prestige into designing for the high-end fashion market exclusively, skipping affordable clothes altogether, he said.

But there is a sweet spot: when the items are well made and not exorbitantly priced, customers are willing to pay more. And designers like Emond are juggling to hit it.

(My customers) prefer to buy less and keep it for a longer time, said Emond, whose business is now seven years old. Her designs are carried locally at Coal Miners Daughter and at Victoire Boutique on Ossington Ave. They dont change style every three months, so they can invest in a piece of clothing a bit more.

Emond said her clientele are young, creative professionals who want good quality, everyday clothes  read: timeless, not trendy  and who care about buying ethically made items. All her clothes are made in Quebec, and are sold at 20 retailers in Canada, the United States and Hong Kong, as well as her storefront in Montreal. Most garments are priced between $100 and $200.

While some designers might be tempted to increase their prices in the hopes of widening their profit margins, Emond knows that strategy could backfire, alienating her loyal consumer base.

Still, it is tough for Canadian designers to get noticed on the international stage.

The cancellation of Toronto Fashion Week, announced this summer, seemed to mark a step back for Canadian designers, too. While the cost of entering such an event made it prohibitive for independent designers without some kind of financial backing to participate, it is the loss of a showcase for Canadian fashion.

Even though it elevates the profile of a line ... its a really expensive event, said Hayley Gibson, the Toronto-based designer behind the Birds of North America clothing line, who never participated in Toronto Fashion Week because it would have cost her thousands of dollars to book a show.

For these small independent designers, a big boost in notoriety and sales can come if a high profile person, such as the Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton or Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, wears your label. During the royal couples September tour of Canada, Middleton wore a $1,195 coat by Toronto-based designer Bojana Sentaler. It sold out within hours.

But not everyone wants the Kate effect.

Its kind of a mixed blessing, that sort of thing, said Gibson. There would be nothing worse than being swamped with orders and having to put out an inferior product.

Gibson admits the thought of instant fame is appealing. Im sure it would skyrocket your profile, but she is more interested in the long game  establishing a loyal clientele who will love her clothing in the long-term.

But behavioural shifts take time, as Shopgirls owner Germain has noted.

Well have customers come in with Michael Kors bags ... and they probably spent $400 on that ugly bag, said Germain. And theyre complaining about a $150 shirt thats made in Toronto. Come on, man.

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HAWAII ISLAND, HAWAII-Were walking down a gravel road toward the spot where lava is pouring into the ocean like cake batter into a pan. Its about seven kilometres away and were transfixed by the giant billow of steam caused when lava hits the water.

The ocean is to our left and fields of black lava stretch up the mountain to our right. A few helicopters circle tourists over the 4,100-metre peak, showing off a crater bubbling with lava. A line of smoke runs down the mountain where sparse trees have burst into flames because of the 1,200 C molten rock running in a tunnel underneath.

Its going to be one heckuva hike.

Were at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the east side of Hawaii Island and home to one of the most active volcanoes in the world.

Kilauea has been erupting since 1983 and it upped its game last summer with 61g, a flow that goes right into the ocean. This is how Hawaii was formed in the first place but a few million years ago no one was around to watch the Big Island get bigger.

About 1.8 million people come to see the volcano every year, many driving to the lava lake at the top of the mountain. Since 61g started flowing into the ocean, visitors can rent a bike or hop on a boat to see the ocean entry. But they cant get too close. Debris crashes around, lava that looks like solid ground can fall into the ocean and that pretty plume is polluted with toxins, such as hydrochloric acid.

We avoid the ocean entry, taking a hard right off the road to hike the black lava up toward the peak.

The goal is for us to get really close to moving lava, says our guide Dominik Stauber, co-owner of Hawaii Outdoor Guides.

Were well equipped for the task. Stauber has set us up in lightweight packs with all the snacks and equipment we need for the 20-kilometre trek. Hes insisted, with a raised eyebrow, that we each pack six bottles of water.

We put on our black gloves, open up our hiking poles and start walking on the black.

This is where the hunt happens, he says. The first few steps are tentative  it feels like youre walking on a macaron and you might crash through to the gooey part in the middle. But the footing is sure and the shapes beneath our feet are fantastic: spooning blobs, Buddhas, mermaids, massive ropes and a giant blanket dropped by some careless god (geologists describe the lava formations with more technical terms, such as pahoehoe, aa lava and Peles Hair).

We stop now and then to take down a bottle of water, rest and notice the shiny blue flecks in the black rock were sitting on. Stauber hauls out his binoculars to look for orange and see where other groups are heading (one of the best ways to hunt lava is to look for the selfie-takers).

We find it, coming around a bend (another Buddha) to spot a toe of lava peeking out under a bed of black a couple of metres away. We move back a little to cooler ground so the soles of our shoes stop smoking. The toe bursts and the lava starts creeping toward us.

It sizzles. We gasp.

When its really hot, the lava can move about a foot a minute. But after a few metres, the flow stops as suddenly as it starts. It cools down fast when it hits the deep freeze of the 28 C air, Stauber explains. After we take a few (hundred) pictures of boiling rock creeping out of cracks in the earths crust, we get our headlamps ready and start hiking out.

The black lights up as the sun fades. The Buddhas and mermaids lie sparkling in a giant treasure chest of silver and gold.Lava contains silica  glass  that reflects the light from our headlamps and the stars (the newer the lava the shinier, because the glass hasnt been broken down yet). We lie on our backs to enjoy the other light show, the thick blanket of stars, and the plume glowing orange in the dark. Theres a shooting star. And another.

Back on the gravel road, people returning from the ocean entry zoom past us on their bikes. I admit Im jealous of their wheels as we trudge toward the parking lot, our headlamps bobbing in the dark. But as I take another swig from my fifth water bottle and turn around for a last look at that orange in the distance, I know I wouldnt trade that hike for anything.

Jennifer Allford was a guest of the Island of Hawaii Visitors Bureau and its partners, which didnt review or approve this story.

When you go:

Get there: Most people fly to Kona International Airport on Hawaii Island, but Hilo International Airport is an option. Either way, you will likely have a couple of stops along the way, such as Vancouver or Los Angeles and Honolulu.

Stay: I stayed at Hilo Hawaiian Hotel in Hilo and Sheraton Kona Resort and Spa at Keauhou Bay (most of the resorts on the island are around Kona). Its about 2.5 hours from Kona to Hilo.

Active lava flow hike: The hike with Hawaii Outdoor Guides costs $179 (U.S.) per person, minimum age 18 and maximum 14 guests per group. Theyll pick you up from your hotel in Kona or Hilo, or either airport, for an extra charge. Its about 45 minutes from Hilo to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

Dont pocket the lava: Hawaiians believe the island is still alive and growing and that the lava contains a special energy (mana). Lily Dudoit, who gives cultural tours of lava artifacts around the Sheraton Kona, says you shouldnt take any home: It comes down to one simple fact. It belongs here.

Do stop for poke: Youll need some protein before your hike. Try the Suisan Fish Market in Hilo for poke  rice (brown or white) with two types of cubed, flavoured raw fish. I can recommend the mango habanero and spicy ahi.

Snorkel, but not with the dolphins: Searching out dolphins to snorkel with is illegal in the U.S. (but not enforced much). You can see plenty of dolphins on your way to snorkelling with Body Glove in Kona, a certified Dolphin Smart outfit.

Do you research:gohawaii.com/hawaii-island

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Drive 14,830 kilometres over nine weeks in a subcompact car and the veneer flakes off romantic notions of a classic U.S. road trip.

Im 15 kilograms heavier. Border cops make me sweat as if its their Olympic discipline. My relationship is tested with every traffic jam. I love you becomes more question than statement.

Still, the freedom to go wherever, whenever is thrilling. I gather my weight in potato chips and hit the road.

For every World Heritage Site, the U.S. has 10 outlandish roadside mini-attractions, such as the worlds biggest chandelier in Cleveland, Ohios Playhouse Square. Its exactly what a Midwest city suffering from heavy industry decline needs  a giant outdoor light fitting.

A few kilometres east is the manicured home where Jerry Siegel created Superman. Neighbours roofs are collapsing and Black Lives Matter murals are a reminder segregation still exists.

Next, I visit Cincinnati, Ohios American Sign Museum, a visual history of the commercialism that conquered the globe in a neon plague, from the faint glow of mom-and-pop diners to buzzing bulbs of behemoths, such as McDonalds.

To the south, monolithic Houston, Tex., has a house of 50,000 beer cans. A gust and they clatter and ding like a dulcet conference of wind chimes. No wonder the home opposite is for sale.

Im surprised by the depth of Texas culture beyond kitschy, redneck stereotypes. On San Antonios leafy river walk, uniformed airmen celebrating graduation wave to tourists in canal boats.Downtown markets are a flurry of faded cowboy boots, black San Antonio Spurs jerseys and a rainbow of striking prayer flags.

Driving west on Arizonas I-10 highway, Im surrounded by chalk-red sandstone hills and vast heat-hazy plains. Id barely notice if teleported 15 kilometres in either direction on the looping, deja vu-inducing road.

A billboard asks, What is the Thing?

Sixteen kilometres pass. Another sign. The Thing  the mystery of the desert.

The road is empty and nondescript except for these ads. Sixteen more kilometres. What is the Thing?

The deja vu is in overdrive. Finally, The Thing  next exit.

By keeping The Thing a secret, you can begin to understand my frustration, taunted for 400 kilometres of lonely highway by the apex of head-scratching roadside attractions.

Further north is Bedrock City, a dilapidated Flintstones theme park last popular sometime in the stone age. Yabba dabba do visit for five minutes. A sign says the brave ride free  they dont, its $5 (U.S.), but its good value for the enthralling absurdity.

Now for a bigger, bolder, adult theme park  Las Vegas. Staying at the Bellagio penthouse, I try rivalling The Hangover movie. No tiger appears in my room but I do meet former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper at comedian Jerry Seinfelds show. Unfortunately, what happens in Vegas . . .

And I do brush with semi-dangerous wildlife, a baby alligator, outside New Orleans, La. A sixth-generation Lafitte, La., native known only as Capt. Randy motors through Bayou swampland.

I didnt go to no school. My education was out here, he says, a hearty laugh accompanying his soothing drawl. Id rather deal with the snakes here than in the city.

Its always more appealing to see animals in their natural habitat. Not far from San Diego Zoo in California, sleepy sea lions kindly share La Jolla Coves beach, and the odd ice cream cone.

Up the Pacific coast in San Francisco, cars bounce their suspension through the Mission District between walls of lucha-libre wrestling masks and eclectic southeast Asian restaurants. Its like a kids colouring book brought to life. Sometimes they go outside the lines, but thats OK.

Reaching Oregon, I might be growing up. I shun big-city bars for nature. Snow is piled 4.5 metres roadside at Crater Lake. Peering over frosty treetops near avalanche warnings, I gaze at the peaceful water formed by a collapsed volcano. The next day, I go whale-watching in 30C heat, forget sunscreen and return looking like an embarrassed lobster. Scratch that growing up thing.

No sight, not even Yosemite National Parks waterfalls and Big Sur, Calif.s ocean panorama, compare to the Grand Canyon. I wake at 3 a.m. to reach the south rim by sunrise. The cold blackness lifts and the sky bursts fiery orange and whirling blues.

Wide-eyed, a Japanese tourist and I look at each other and knowingly exhale. Simultaneously, like were in a sitcom, our heads turn to a commotion behind us. A frenzied group, including our partners, are looking the opposite direction from the most spectacular view because a deer is grazing metres away. We stand chuckling, neither of us able to understand the others accent, united in incredulity.

Just like people at the Grand Canyon, the U.S. can be perplexing. Thats why its road-trip utopia. Its not always logical but its never boring. The only constant from day to day, place to place, is someone trying to add bacon to my meal.

David Bateman is a Scotland-based journalist.

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REYKJAVIK, ICELAND  After stormy years for their country and amid stormy weather, Icelanders voted Saturday in a national election that offers a choice between continuity and many shades of change, with the radical Pirate Party seeking to unseat the centre-right government.

Founded four years ago by an assortment of hackers, political activists and Internet freedom advocates, the Pirate Party has made big gains among Icelanders fed up with established parties after years of financial turmoil and political scandal.

Polls suggest the Pirates are vying with the centre-right Independence Party to become the biggest group in the volcanic island nations parliament, the Althingi.

They currently hold just three of the 63 seats, and Pirate lawmaker Birgitta Jonsdottir said she could never have fantasized or dreamed about its current poll numbers.

If people are ready, we are ready, Jonsdottir said after casting her vote at a Reykjavik school on a blustery day.

The election was called after Prime Minister Sigmunder David Gunnlaugsson resigned in April amid public protests over his offshore holdings, revealed in the Panama Papers leak.

The tax-avoidance scandal outraged many Icelanders, who suffered years of economic upheaval after the countrys banks collapsed within a week of one another during the 2008 global financial crisis.

If people are sick of living in this turmoil that we have been having here in Iceland, where you never know what tomorrow is going to bring, they should put their trust in the Pirates, Jonsdottir said.

Change is beautiful. Theres nothing to worry about, she said. We are ready to do whatever people trust us to do.

Individual parties rarely win outright in Icelands multiparty system. Saturdays vote is likely to produce either a centre-right coalition involving the Independence and Progressive parties that have governed since 2013, or a left-of-centre coalition involving the Pirates, the Left Green Movement and others.

A wind-lashed volcanic island near the Arctic Circle, Iceland has become known for large street protests that ousted one government after the 2008 financial crash and dispatched another in April. It also has strong policies in support of social equality and womens rights.

But Icelanders  infused with a spirit of Viking self-sufficiency  also have a strong conservative streak that leads some to mistrust the Pirates.

Theyll make chaos, was the verdict of fishmonger Marselius Gundmundsson.

Another unpredictable factor is Vidreisn, or Revival, a new centre-right party founded by former Independence Party members that advocates Iceland joining the European Union. It is performing strongly among conservative voters seeking a change from the old parties.

We want to improve things in Iceland, said party leader Benedikt Johannesson. We are a free-trade party, a pro-Western party, an open society party.

Paul Fontaine, news editor of newsmagazine Reykjavik Grapevine, said the 2008 crisis and the wave of popular protest that followed broke the mould of Icelandic politics.

Icelanders, like many Europeans and North Americans, have grown pretty weary of establishment politics, whether theyre on the left or the right, he said. I think that explains a large share of the Pirate Partys support.

The election debate has focused on the economy and voters desire for political reform.

The Pirates promise to introduce direct democracy, subject the workings of government to more scrutiny and place the countrys natural resources under public ownership.

The party also seeks tough rules to protect individuals from online intrusion. Jonsdottir, the Pirates most prominent voice, is a former ally of WikiLeaks who has called on Iceland to offer citizenship to National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden.

Opponents claim the inexperienced Pirates could scare off investors and destabilize an economy that is now recovering, with low unemployment and high growth.

Wed rather be naive than corrupt, Jonsdottir said.

The Pirates have no experience of government, and some voters seeking change say they are sticking with established parties like the Left Greens or the Social Democrats.

Gunnar Andresson, a teacher, said he sympathized with the Pirates but voted Social Democrat.

He said the Pirates believe in a good cause, but I dont think they are ready yet.

Youth worker Birkir Vidarsson and his partner, Johanna Jonsdottir, decided to gamble on the Pirates.

We are brought up with being afraid of new things, Vidarsson said. Thats very Icelandic.

But with the Pirates being the second-biggest right now (in opinion polls) ... I think strategically its the right move.

About 245,000 people are eligible to vote in the sparsely populated North Atlantic nation. Polls close at 10 p.m., with partial results due early Sunday.

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MONTREALAs the child of a Senegalese diplomat, Assane Kamara was accustomed to finding his place in unfamiliar lands. In his 24 years, he had lived in Ivory Coast, Haiti, Dominican Republic and Madagascar.

But his privileged upbringing veered off course in 2014, prompting his worried mother to launch a search for her son, and leading her from the family home in Dakar, the Senegalese capital, to Friday prayers in an Edmonton mosque.

As she forced him to return home, a member of the Kamara family said that the questions swirled. What had become of the young man sent for an education at Quebecs Universite de Sherbrooke? Why had he cut contact with his family and moved to western Canada? And who were the devout Canadian Muslims he now counted as his closest friends?

In the months following the intervention, three of those friends  Samir Halilovic, Zakria Habibi and Youssef Sakhir  would flee Canada to try and join Daesh, the Islamic terror group in Syria and Iraq.

Today, Kamara sits in a Dakar jail facing terrorism charges that were laid in February 2016, based on allegations he had planned to join a jihadist group, Henry Boumy Ciss, a spokesperson for Senegals National Police, told the Star.

It was Kamaras mother who asked police to investigate, Boumy Ciss said.

The charges against Kamara have not been tested in court. His Senegalese lawyer did not respond to repeated requests for comment for this story, which is based on interviews with police, friends and family of Kamara and those of his Canadian acquaintances.

Under questioning by Senegalese police, Kamara is alleged to have identified Halilovic, Habibi and Sakhir as people with whom he had ties in Sherbrooke, Boumy Ciss said.

RCMP national security investigators are now asking questions about other Canadians who may have crossed paths with Kamara when he lived in Canada, according to a Kamara family member. One of Kamaras friends claims the Mounties asked him to work as an informant. Taken together, the information gives a rare glimpse into a probe that has gone across the country and around the world, but is still unresolved more than two years after it began.

An RCMP spokesperson refused to comment on the case, or to even confirm it is investigating what happened in Sherbrooke.

Generally, only in the event that an investigation results in the laying of criminal charges would the RCMP confirm its investigation, the nature of any charges laid and the identity of the individual(s) involved, wrote Staff Sgt. Julie Gagnon.

Kamaras saga began when he moved to Canada to study at Universite de Sherbrooke in the fall of 2010, according to a member of the Kamara family who spoke on condition that he would not be identified by name. The Star could not independently verify the family members account.

While at Sherbrooke, Kamara met Sakhir, Habibi and Halilovic. They were part of a larger group whose members stood out for their religious devotion. On occasion, they would stay up through the night to practice reciting the Quran, said the Kamara family source.

After falling in with the group, Kamara completely changed his lifestyle, the family member said.

He was enrolled as an economics student. In one 2013 project he was part of a group that conducted a financial analysis and drew up an investment plan for the iconic company Canadian Tire. But he also declared that capitalism was haram, or forbidden by his faith, the family member said.

He also began speaking more and more about religion and the obligation to live under Shariah, or Islamic law.

One of his friends at the university, who did not want to be identified because of the sensitivity of the case, said Kamara became more focused on religion but showed no signs of extremism.

Being diligent with prayers does not necessarily mean that you are radical, the friend said in an interview. Generally, it is in someones speech or in discussions about their intentions that you can judge whether someone is radical . . . . With me he did not have that.

Another classmate, Rais Kibonge, said Kamara often juggled school commitments with the activities of the Muslim Student Association. He described Kamara as extremely polite and gentle and recalled once being invited to a conference on Islam  an offer that Kibonge, a practicing Catholic, declined.

The last time Kibonge saw Kamara was in the fall of 2013 as students were returning to school. Kamara was at a Muslim Student Association kiosk distributing introductory books on Islam to passing students, Kibonge said.

That was the last I heard of him.

Kamara seems to have abandoned his studies in 2013. His student visa had expired and he fought with an older brother with whom he lived in Sherbrooke, Que., according to the family member.

In early 2014, he moved to Edmonton and began working in construction. Sakhir, a psychology graduate, also moved to Edmonton, as did Habibi, who found work as a security guard.

Kamaras stay in western Canada lasted several months. With little word from him, his worried mother flew to Canada from Dakar and began searching for her son, the family member said.

She stopped first in Sherbrooke and spoke to some of his friends before travelling to Edmonton.

With few leads, she assembled a team of people and dispatched them to mosques in the city for Friday prayers, according to the family source.

One of them caught word of a young Senegalese man who was new to the community. They were directed to the front of the mosque. Kamara was leading the prayer service, the family member said.

According to Boumy Ciss, the Senegalese police spokesman, Kamaras mother would later file a statement with police as to what had happened.

It emerged that her son, a student in Canada, had abandoned his studies to join a group made up of fundamentalists, wrote Boumy Ciss, citing the statement.

Kamaras mother convinced her son to come home to Senegal. But in the months that followed,Sakhir, Habibi and Halilovic slipped out of Canada and onto the RCMPs radar.

As far as Zakria Habibis family knew, he was on a summer trip to Turkey.

A missing person notice posted on Facebook by the family said he left Canada on July 13, 2014 and cut contact four days later.

He is the type of person to always give us news which is why we are so concerned, said the notice.

On Sept. 10, 2014, his dormant personal Facebook page came alive one last time with a brief message: Alhamdulillah (Praise God) Im okay.

Habibis family declined an interview request.

Youssef Sakhir was friendly and loved engaging in philosophical conversations, said Kibonge, the former university student who worked with him at a Sherbrooke call centre.

In April 2014, he posted photos of his black bass guitar on a Facebook site, offering to sell it for $400. On Aug. 31, 2014  following is disappearance  there was a post on his Facebook page that he had been married.

When contacted by the Star, Sakhirs mother said she has had no contact with her son since his disappearance in the summer of 2014.

When Samir Halilovic disappeared, he had been writing for two years on Twitter about the plight of Muslims across the Middle East and the necessity of an Islamic caliphate governed by Sharia law. In 2012, he wrote that his father had challenged his extremist views on Islam.

In May 2014, Halilovic posted a picture to a Facebook site seeking to sell a blue designer ball gown for $300. Then, on June 4, 2014, Halilovic took out a $725 loan, according to a statement of claim obtained by the Star that was filed in a Quebec court after he defaulted on repayments. About a month later, he left the country.

Kamara told a family member that Halilovic married after arriving in Syria. He is also believed to have died in Syria, though that could not be independently verified.

Halilovics parents did not respond to an interview request.

News that Halilovic, Sakhir and Habibi had disappeared attracted media attention in Sherbrooke as the RCMP began searching for them and meeting with the families of the young men.

The news also reached Kamara in Dakar, who was living at the family home, according to his family member.

In January of this year, his mother approached police when she learned about a trip Kamara had arranged to Tunisia, said Boumy Ciss, the Senegalese police spokesperson.

The woman told investigators in her statement that her son, Assane Kamara, had left for Tunisia to join the ranks of the jihadists, Boumy Ciss said.

Kamara was detained in Tunisia and a few days later returned to Dakar, according to the family member. The next day, police officers arrived at the family home to arrest Kamara on charges of criminal association with a terror group, glorification of terrorism and involvement in terrorist financing.

Kamara is awaiting trial, Boumy Ciss said.

Senegalese news reports citing unnamed police investigators also said that officers had recovered financial statements showing that Kamara received money from a number of individuals, including Harris Catic, another friend from Sherbrooke.

Catic told the Star in a written exchange that he has not provided financial assistance to Kamara since his return to Senegal in 2014, although he did send a Ramadan gift to his old friend.

I sent a present by the normal mail for Ramadan to thank Assane for having taught me the Arabic alphabet and for having taught me how to recite certain verses of the Quran, Catic wrote.

He also says he has had no contact with Habibi, Halilovic or Sakhir since their disappearance in the summer of 2014.

I would like to help you but I am of no use in this case.

Catic now fears he is being watched by the RCMP.

Catic says that he submitted a passport application to the federal government on June 17, 2015, and had hoped to visit his father and other family members in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

When I applied for the passport, two (RCMP) agents came to meet me in a restaurant and they came solely to ask me to work for them as an informer, or a spy  call it how you wish, he wrote.

I refused their offer and Im still waiting for my passport.

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THUNDER BAY, ONT.Their lives, in many ways, ran on parallel tracks. Two men from reserves in northern Ontario, each with a spotted history of run ins with the law.

But it was jail that brought Adam Capay and Sherman Quisses together. Their lives intersected in the most sinister way.

One of them is now dead, and the other has risen to national prominence as the poster boy for the cruelties of solitary confinement. Capay has languished in segregation at a Thunder Bay prison for four years as he waits to go on trial, a revelation that has provoked shock and outrage across the country. Yet he also stands accused of murdering Quisses in a jailhouse spat on June 3, 2012.

Quissess aunt Zelda, who lives in the remote community of Fort Hope, feels a mix of sympathy and anger at the sudden attention paid to her nephews accused killer.

To be honest, I feel he deserved the treatment that he got. But as a caring person, I do feel sorry for him too, she said. I guess when you do something, you have to face the consequences of whatever you did to a person, the crime you committed. You have to face it.

What actually transpired is up for dispute, but whats known for sure is that Quisses died and Capay was charged with first degree murder. The day it happened, a bunch of inmates dared Capay to eat a fat beetle that was scuttling around, according to one prisoner who was at the Thunder Bay Correctional Centre that night.

He ate it, recalled the prisoner, who was listed as a witness on court documents. I guess something in that spider juice made him go crazy.

Later, at around 1 a.m., the prisoner woke in his bunk in an open range dormitory. He asked that the Star protect his identity, for fear of reprisal over what he saw: Capay scuffling with Quisses, who lay in his bunk a few beds down. It all happened really fast, said the prisoner. I thought they was just fighting.

The Crown alleges that Capay, who was weeks shy of turning 20, used some sort of instrument to attack and puncture Quissess carotid artery, according to court documents. The 35-year-old man bled out through his neck and died.

From that gruesome scene, suffering has spun out in all directions. Quisses died just a week before his release, his family says. He left behind a young son, Tristan, and a host of other grieving relatives.

Meanwhile, Capay was transferred to the Thunder Bay Jail, a maximum security prison in an ashlar sandstone fortress where an estimated 90 per cent of inmates identify as indigenous. Earlier this month, Ontario Human Rights Commissioner Renu Mandhane toured the jail and witnessed Capays condition, after the local union president and corrections officer Mike Lundy told her she had to know. She learned that Capay has been in segregation since 2012; 23 hours a day, alone beneath glaring lights in a plexiglass cell. Mandhane told the Star last week that she spoke with Capay, who is now 24. He told her he couldnt tell night from day, and showed her scars from his attempts at self-harm.

The story has summoned calls from Mandhane and others to put an end to solitary confinement at provincial jails. Breese Davies, a criminal defence lawyer in Toronto, called Capays treatment unconscionable in light of how the United Nations has deemed solitary confinement for 15 straight days to be a form of torture. On Friday, Ontario Regional Chief Isadore Day posted a statement on Facebook describing how he visited Capay this week. I'm so pissed off at the system and what it has done to so many of our people and what it continues to do today, he wrote. There is no rhyme or reason for what Adam Capay is going through.

In response to the revelations, Ontarios corrections minister, David Orazietti, pledged an external review of the corrections system as a whole and insisted this week that the provinces goal is to use segregation only as a last resort. Thats on top of the review announced earlier in October, scheduled to be finished by next spring, that will aim to find ways to reduce the use of segregation at provincial jails. It also comes 19 months after another solitary confinement review was called by Oraziettis predecessor, current-Attorney General Yasir Naqvi, whom Lundy claimed to have told about Capay last January, when he visited the jail. Naqvis review, concluded this month, was done internally and resulted in a new rule to cap consecutive days in segregation at 15 instead of 30.

On Wednesday, Orazietti put out a statement saying Capay had been moved to a different cell, which has lights that can be dimmed and access to showers and a television. Lundy told the Star that, contrary to Oraziettis statement, Capay remains in segregation and was only moved due to construction in the prison. Whats going to happen when constructions finishedhes going right back to where he was, Lundy said on Friday.

Capays parents and siblings, who live on the Lac Seul First Nation near Sioux Lookout, did not want to speak with the Star, on instructions from Capays lawyer. He is still accused of killing Quisses, and they dont want to say something that could harm his case. The trial has been postponed three times since he was charged in June 2012: once for a psychiatric assessment, which deemed Capay fit to stand trial; again when he challenged the makeup of his jury as unconstitutional for a lack of diversity, a motion he lost; and then when he fired his first lawyer just before proceedings were to begin again this fall.

His new lawyer, Tony Bryant, told the Star: We are doing our upmost to represent Mr. Capay in the defence of his first degree murder charge and to take all possible steps to ensure that his rights are protected.

Rob Sakamoto was one of Capays teachers at the Queen Elizabeth District High School in Sioux Lookout. He said that Capay was in and out of youth detention centres over the years, but that is not uncommon for many young people in the communities around that town. We as a society, like Adam, need to own the role we have played in the past, what we are doing in the present, and our responsibility to support First Nations communities on their path to healing in the future, he said. Youth like Adam deserve better.

For Quissess family, the massive profile of Capays confinement has brought up complicated feelings. I dont know why so many feel sorry for him. He took my nephew away from me, said his aunt, Jessie during an interview at her Thunder Bay apartment. I loved Sherman, my boy, so much. I raised him when was a baby, she said, tightly clasping her hands with tears in her eyes.

Speaking with the Star in downtown Thunder Bay, Quissess son Tristan, now 18, said he remembers every detail from the day his father died. He was playing video games back home in Neskantaga First Nation when his aunt called for him upstairs to tell him his dad was stabbed in jail. Tristan and his mother rushed to take the next flight to Thunder Bay. Hours later, he was standing over his father, who was now hooked up to life support at the hospital with bloodstained bandages wrapped around his neck. I touched his cold hand and said farewell dad, Tristan said.

Four years later, the grade 12 student is on track to graduate next June. He plans to become a police officercops and robbers was one of the favourite games he used to play with his dad  and ultimately, one day, leave Thunder Bay.

Life is hard on the reserve, you know, life is hard being First Nation, he said. To work as a police officer in Toronto or Ottawathats my dream because that society is peaceful compared to life on the reserve.

Four years after Quissess death, his alleged killer is still waiting to go on trial in the Thunder Bay Jail. Earlier in October, the Ontario Human Rights Commission released a report that concluded there is an alarming and systemic overuse of segregation at Ontario jails. Between October and December 2015, more than 4,100 inmates spent at least one day in segregation; more than 1,500 of them38.2 per centhad a mental health alert on file. Nearly a quarter of segregation placements in the report exceeded two weekswith 15 days being the UN threshold for torture.

In 2013, a ruling from the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario ordered that inmates put into segregation receive a handout that spells out their rights while in solitary confinement. The handout stipulates that a review of their segregation must be done every five days, while another review that includes the inmates mental health needs and explores any alternatives to solitary confinement, must be done for every 30 days of continuous segregation. For each 30-day review, the prison superintendent must report on an inmates segregation to the Assistant Deputy Minister of Institutional Services.

In Capays case, this would mean that the assistant deputy minister should have received dozens of reports on his segregation.

The Thunder Bay Jail superintendent, Bill Wheeler, and the acting superintendent Deborah McKay, did not respond to questions about Capays confinement, or whether the handout protocols were followed in Capays case. The assistant deputy minister, Christina Danylchenko, did not return calls or emails from the Star, either.

Spokespeople for the corrections ministry and Minister Orazietti also did not respond to questions about solitary confinement, Capays case, and the segregation protocol.

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A reader wrote after my last column on the Belgians and the Canada-EU trade deal. Hi Paul: Just a note to express disappointment.

Yeah, well, get in line.

Vern in Alberta, the emails author, wished I would speculate just what the Canadian populace would think if they knew non-voting multinational corporations are trying to get the right to sue governments if they perceive a loss of profit due to government actions.

Vern concludes: Please write this up if your leaders permit. I guess were about to find out. I didnt even ask my leaders. I just started typing. Were all Thelma and Louise up in here today.

Vern was describing the controversy over so-called Investor-State Dispute Settlement provisions in CETA, and indeed in a number of modern international trade treaties. These provisions do indeed provide for ways a company from here, if it sets up shop over there, to seek legal redress if the Government of Over There changes its laws in a way that hurts our companys competitive situation. Sauce for the gander: they give the same rights to companies from over there that want to do business here.

I dont need to speculate how people would react to all this. Many obviously dont like it. Already four years ago, 50 municipalities across Canada had passed resolutions asking to be exempted from CETA. Similar investor-state provisions have provoked widespread backlash against TTIP, the proposed trade deal between the United States and the EU. (Its not a perfect comparision: TTIP is almost certainly doomed anyway, because the Americans arent offering trade benefits to match the gains they seek in Europe.)

But outrage at these investor-state provisions is easy to understand. Foreign multinational comes to town, sues our elected government because it doesnt like the rules. Whats to like?

My answer is that the investment is whats to like. Thats why the latest generation of trade agreements seeks to promote investment and competition in services, not just trade in goods.

Think about it, for a moment, from a companys perspective. Not a faceless Darth Vaderesque billionaire multinational corporation, but the kind of widget company your cousin might own. Making its first foray into a foreign market. Worried that, if it manages to compete fair and square, widget companies over there will lobby their governments to change the rules. Your cousin will wish he had recourse. These trade deals are designed to provide it.

But even as I make the argument I know Im asking people to show goodwill to corporations, often large ones, and to people in government who seem eager to smooth their path. And who has a surplus of goodwill toward big corporations and their friends in high places?

I could point out that CETAs investor-state provisions have been substantially improved since Chrystia Freeland became Canadas trade minister, to increase transparency and impartiality. I could quote Pascal Lamy, former World Trade Organization head, who told the French magazine LExpress: When you read CETAs text and compare it to other bilateral treaties that didnt cause problems, its by far  by very far, really  the most protective of states right to regulate.

I could do all that, but the fact is that big corporations generate a lot of mistrust these days. And why wouldnt they, after Wall Street collapsed at the end of 2008 and most of the companies responsible were able to get relief from the Bush and Obama governments?

CETA isnt out of the woods. The deal among Belgian institutions that was the fruit of Freelands walkout from Brussels provides many opportunities to walk away from the treaty later. It may simply be that there is an upper limit on the economic integration international treaties can provide, and that public suspicion of corporate power helps set that ceiling.

This could mean trouble for the Trudeau government on another front. Next week Finance Minister Bill Morneau will announce plans to attract private investment in federal infrastructure projects. The goal is to multiply each federal dollar by four or five, using money from, mostly, pension funds.

But Robert-Falcon Ouellette  a Liberal MP from Winnipeg  has been derisive of the scheme, calling it a massive transfer of public funds toward the private funds in order for them to make money  a subsidy towards business.

The notion that private and public interests might coincide is in low repute these days. Much of Justin Trudeaus agenda depends on aligning the two. It is not guaranteed to work.

Paul Wells is a national affairs writer. His column appears Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

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OTTAWACanada took a long hard look at sending a military commander and soldiers to lead international peacekeeping troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo at the request of the United Nations.

It was early 2010. And the Canadian government was angling  in vain, it would turn out  for a rotating seat on the powerful UN Security Council.

By May, the former Conservative government of prime minister Stephen Harper had turned down the request.

Canada would not send soldiers to lead or boost a UN mission that was struggling to stabilize a massive country where government and army corruption was endemic, rebel attacks rocked the east, and violence to control Congos vast mineral riches flared.

The government offered only a brief explanation: Canada is fully engaged in Afghanistan until 2011. That is what we are concentrating on for now.

However, with Africa back on the radar, the Star conducted interviews and reviewed nearly 1,000 pages of heavily redacted documents obtained under the Access to Information Act to put together a picture of why Canada gave the UN the cold shoulder, and to shed light on the looming decision facing the current Liberal government.

Its clear that in 2010 it wasnt simply a question of military resource constraints. The military said it had enough.

Instead, it came down to a political decision by Harper to avoid what looked certain to be a military and political quagmire for years to come.

Sources say Harper and his cabinet took the view that Canadian soldiers should not be sent to function as domestic or counterterrorism police in countries that were effectively at civil war where there was no end in sight.

Another source puts it differently. Deepak Obhrai, parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs at the time, said: Let me tell you, the Harper doctrine was very clear on these things  if youre not effective, he does not see why we should be going out there.

Six years later, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau boasts that Canadas back on the world stage.

He, too, is angling for a seat on the Security Council, but he has decided to recommit Canadian troops to UN peace operations. Ministers and public servants are analyzing where to deploy up to 600 Canadian soldiers and 150 police.

Three ministers say a decision has not yet been made. But it seems several African hot spots beckon: the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, South Sudan, or the Central African Republic.

All present opportunities, challenges and risks from Canadas perspective.

Last time around, that is exactly what the public servants, deputy ministers, military leaders and government officials analyzed.

There had been at least three requests from the UN for Canada to contribute a commander to the Congo mission, according to the documents. The UN also indicated it needed 13 helicopters, intelligence assets, and a C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft for a mission that was  and remains  the largest deployment of peacekeeping troops in the world, where some 20,000 military personnel wear blue helmets.

The UN asked Ottawa to send a deputy police commander for its police mission in Congo. In addition, the European Union, which also had a police operation there, asked Canada for a police commander and officers.

At least one senior Mountie, who had previously worked with the EUs mission, urged the RCMP to accept.

However, an RCMP briefing memo was grim:

The conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been one of the bloodiest, longest-running struggles in the world, with a death toll surpassing that of Iraq and Afghanistan combined.

Belligerents on all sides commit horrific human rights violations and use sexual violence as a weapon of war. The front lines of the conflict are blurred, with many actors with varying loyalties.

The RCMP called the overall security situation in the country stable, but unpredictable, particularly in the east

Then, as now, Congo President Joseph Kabila faced elections and was fighting to keep power. He demanded the UN reduce its troops and he strong-armed his opposition critics.

Today, Kabila is defying a constitutional two-term limit and vying for a third. The UN reported last week that Congolese police, armed forces and the Republican Guard had used excessive  including lethal  force to quell demonstrations in September when at least 53 people were killed and 143 injured over two days, and more than 299 were unlawfully arrested.

The assumption in 2010 by military and foreign affairs officials was that a Canadian commander would need Canadian troops under his direct command. The lesson of retired lieutenant-general Romeo Dallaires 1994 experience in Rwanda had been learned.

Officials urged that the request for a force commander and the possibility of a larger troop contingent in 2011 be considered separately.

According to Andrew Leslie, who was then the commander of Canadas army, the Department of National Defence believed the deployment was not only doable, but easily managed and worth doing.

Now an elected Liberal MP and government whip, Leslie said the military had ample capacity to take on a new deployment, putting the skills honed in Afghanistan to work in another country that needed stabilizing. It could show allies that Canada was prepared to help in other global hot spots.

At first, Michael Kaduck, director of peace operations and fragile states policy at Foreign Affairs, wrote that the mission was potentially an attractive offer in line with Canadas priorities in the region.

In a widely distributed memo, he nevertheless urged a hard look at what civilian, military and police support Canada could offer, what impact it would have on Canadas engagement in UN missions in Haiti, Darfur and South Sudan, and what kind of political support such a mission would require and for how long.

We need to consider the overall question of whether this is the right UN mission for Canada, now and in post-2011, wrote Kaduck.

At that time, Canada had just 12 soldiers posted to the UN in Congo, mainly as legal advisers to improve the military justice system and the Congolese capacity to investigate and prosecute the rampant sexual violence.

For months, the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade analyzed the UN request under criteria for when Canada should intervene in fragile states and conflict zones. It sought input from its many branches, Canadas international development agency CIDA and from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Candice Dandurand, a civilian deployment officer at foreign affairs, firmly supported sending Mounties to the EU mission, according to a March 17, 2010 email. She said it dovetailed with Canadas support of the UN mission to fight rampant sexual and gender-based violence, and had the backing of the departments Africa branch and the Canadian embassy in Kinshasa, the capital.

Other advisers identified challenges: Canadian allies were represented at mission headquarters, but there were no formed contingents of allies on the ground. The bulk of the UN forces came from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Uruguay and South Africa.

Canada had already contributed more than $250 million on the Congo mission since its start in 1999, and had spent $124 million over the previous decade in humanitarian and development aid, and could build on its work.

There had been progress as a result of Canadas efforts, but advisers said much more is needed.

The DRC is a fragile but not a failed state.

The analysis weighed more questions: whether Congo was a direct and/or indirect threat to Canada or its allies, whether it was a source of organized crime or terrorism, whether Canada had a major strategic interest, such as a key bilateral relationship, at play and whether engagement carried implications under international law, including tribunals such as the International Criminal Court.

The answers to those questions and others are blacked out.

Andrew Leslie fills in some of the gaps.

He says the Canadian Forces saw the regions instability as a potential recruiting ground for Al Qaeda and were keen to help stabilize it. He says government officials also considered the extensive business interests of the Canadian mining industry, and the fact that China was increasingly influential in the country.

Leslie was dispatched in February 2010  before the UNs request was formalized in March  on a reconnaissance trip.

Leslie says the military had boosted its ranks of reservists and regular members by 3,000 members in the three years up to 2009. I knew, and we knew, that we would have had capacity in 2010 . . . to launch into the DRC  not in the same scale as in Afghanistan but in a meaningful way . . . and we could have sustained it, of course.

It was viewed as a mission that was definitely interesting. If the government of Canada wanted us to do it, we would do it.

The militarys enthusiasm didnt impress the Harper government.

In the view of two former senior Harper government officials, the military was always keen to deploy, no matter what.

The government insiders spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about cabinet-level discussions at that time.

One told the Star that the UNs request, like many that came to the Harper government, amounted to a dangerous mission that threatened to put Canadian lives on the line in a country where there was little peace to keep, and no clear end in sight.

The Conservative prime ministers skepticism was a big change from 2006 when Harper first travelled to Afghanistan and told Canadian troops that they were, serving in a UN-mandated, Canadian-led security operation that is in the very best of the Canadian tradition, providing leadership on global issues, stepping up to the plate, doing good when good is required.

Others explain the governments thinking differently.

Obhrai said in an interview the government had no appetite for the mission because it had concluded Canadian troops could not be effective in achieving Canadian goals. It was thought the more appropriate intervention would be to offer logistical support to African Union forces, which the Conservatives did. As well, given widespread human rights abuses, including by government forces, it would have been absolutely disastrous, said Obhrai.

Who are you supporting? Which side are you going with? The side that you want to go with are (sic) also being accused of human rights abuses.

Whatever misgivings Harper had were soon underscored.

At Foreign Affairs, plans for a team of department and RCMP officials to travel to Congo were put on hold because Canadas then-governor general, Michaelle Jean, was on an official four-country visit to Africa, including Congo and Rwanda  at Harpers request.

Jeans mid-April trip revealed just how much displeasure had been generated by the Harper governments decision to reduce the number of African countries eligible for aid, and how little enthusiasm there was for Canadas attempt to win a Security Council seat.

While she was there, a senior UN official in Congo made a direct public appeal to Canada to help. Soon after Jean returned to Ottawa, it was rebuffed. The government decided to turn down the request for a commander.

Late on April 29, 2010, Canada notified the UN of its decision, and Defence Minister Peter MacKay reassigned Leslie to lead a study of how to transform the Canadian Forces.

I think they (the former government) were tired of the Afghan war, Leslie now says. That they were tired of either soldiers going overseas and getting hurt . . . or even worse. I think they were tired of spending money on these missions, and they were a tired team.

Yet even after refusing the UNs request, officials continued to study the possibility of deploying to Congo in the following year. The Foreign Affairs and RCMP team finally travelled to Congo in mid-May.

What the group saw there was eye-opening.

Handwritten notes from one unidentified official documented a lack of infrastructure, starvation deaths in prison and a dismal judicial system unable to keep pace with sex-crime investigations. Gomas one judge faced a backlog of 8,000 cases. The country had fewer than 1,200 judges and needed at least 5,000.

Its difficult, due to redactions, to say if the final recommendation to cabinet was in favour of a deployment of more Canadian military and civilian resources.

But Leslie believes the bureaucratic analysis shifted to accommodate the political signal that the government was averse to the mission.

Today, he still believes Canada should engage in an African mission, although as a member of the Privy Council, he will not say where he thinks Canada can be most effective.

Obhrai, one of the Conservative partys leadership contenders, says the problems that were obvious in Congo in 2010 are evident to this day, and the same risks exist no matter what troubled nation in Africa Trudeau might be looking at.

He said his advice to Trudeau: Dont do it.

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The figures spewing from ticker machines on October 29, 1929, stunned thousands of Torontonians gathered at the citys brokerage offices into hushed, tearful silence.

One Toronto man even fainted. He was quickly dragged into the back of a brokerage office and left to recoveron his ownwhile his companions rushed back to the stock board to watch their investments evaporate.

On the Toronto Stock Exchanges trading floor, the chaos was likened by the Star to the Battle for Bull Run, with the scampering for cover and finding no cover.

A mob shoved its way onto the frantic trading floorso vast the TSX buildings doors couldnt closeadding their voices to those of the men on the floor desperately trying to sell stocks. Sellers flooded ticket kiosks as trading opened, brokers shrieked down phone lines, and tickers lagged behind trading by at least an hour.

Within a half-hour of the opening bell, Black Tuesday became the worst trading day in the history of both the TSX and the Standard Stock and Mining Exchange (SSME).

Losses have been enormous and fortunes wiped out overnight. Individuals who were rated millionaires one day are almost paupers today, the Star reported. 16 companies listed on the TSX had over $1 million shaved off their record highs for 1929.

Markets in the 20s were so prosperous that stock buyers typically paid only about 10 to 15 per cent of a stocks worth, up front. But world markets in 1929 were quickly becoming volatileand investors in late October began frantically trying to sell their stocks en-masse.

As the bottom fell out of the world market, sellers demanded stock buyers pay out in full. Between 5,000 to 10,000 such margin calls were made by feverish brokers in Toronto alone, according to the Star.

One recently-bankrupt local trader told the Star hed paid out, went home, fell asleeponly to have his broker rouse him at 1 a.m. for more money. Rumour had it another unfortunate Toronto trader was called up for $200,000 [about $2.7 million today].

The Stars front-page headline on October 30, 1929, was surprisingly optimistic: STOCK MARKETS SHOW GENERAL IMPROVEMENT

Marginal gains lifted the spirits of Torontos stock traders in the coming days and weeks. The SSME, in particular, began seeing monumental growth from October until early January.

One company, Nickel Hill Syndicate, was worth about $100 a share in early January, according to a major national newspaper. A few weeks later, they were quoted at around $7,000.

And on January 31, 1930, eleven prominent Toronto brokers were arrested on charges of criminal conspiracy to defraud the public. Roughly two dozen brokers and investors would eventually face the musicpart of an attempt by the Ontario government to clean up brokerage conditions.

October 29 wasnt the only crash that month; several other crashes, particularly on October 4, harried investors and brokers in Toronto and elsewhere.

But even days before Black Tuesday, major Canadian news servicesincluding the Starwere utterly convinced that the October 4 crash was the worst things could get.

Canadian stocks had been squeezed of the last drop of moisture and were parched now for buying, anticipated one Star financial news wire story.

A few weeks later, the Star reported desperate people continued to besiege lawyers and mortgage brokers to secure loans for the cars they now couldnt afford. Government agencies began examining the implications of the crash.

Canadian bankers, amazingly enough, insisted they were in excellent shape. The aftermath of Black Tuesday, however, drove Toronto (and much of the Western world) into the worst economic slump of its historythe Great Depression.

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CALAIS, FRANCEPeering through the gates that separate converted shipping container housing from the sprawling migrant camp known as The Jungle, Tony and Abdul, both 16 and from Sudan, are deciding what to do next.

They have been stuck in the squatter camp outside Calais for seven months despite frequent attempts to get to the U.K. Once, while trying to climb the fence shielding the Eurostar train, Tony was caught by police, sprayed with tear gas and detained for six days.

The warren of tents and shacks that has served as their makeshift home went up in flames this week. Desperate residents ignited tents after French authorities arrived with sledgehammers and heavy equipment to shut it down.

Today is the end of The Jungle, Fabienne Buccio, the head of the Pas-de-Calais region, told French broadcaster BFMTV on Wednesday.

More than 4,400 adult migrants were bussed to reception centres, where they were promised a bed, medical attention and a chance to apply for asylum in France.

Tony decided to stop running. He registered his fingerprints and was granted access, along with some 1,500 other minors, to the temporary reception centre  now at full capacity. Another 200 or so with family in the U.K. were given permission to cross the channel.

But Abdul was turned away, and told to reapply. In the wake of violence that has overtaken what is left of the camp, Tony wouldnt let his best friend sleep outside alone. The village atmosphere, where refugees and volunteers once started shops, restaurants and schools, had darkened with fights, thefts, fires and explosions.

Auberge des Migrants, an NGO, estimates that hundreds of migrants, many of them minors, continue to sleep rough, and large numbers have returned to The Jungle, despite claims by regional authorities that the camp was empty.

Aid workers say the process has been rushed, and fear a repeat of the chaos that ensued when another part of the camp was dismantled eight months ago. At least 120 minors disappeared, out of what was then a population of a few hundred  far fewer than were counted in The Jungle earlier this month.

According to the European police agency, Europol, more than 10,000 unaccompanied refugee minors have gone off the radar in the last two years. Some have fallen prey to criminal networks and human traffickers.

I think its a myth to say that creating a container camp dedicated to minors and destroying everything around it will stop people from passing through (to the U.K.), says Solenne Lecomte of Calais Legal Centre.

We already have lots of minors telling us, If I dont get through to the U.K. with family reunification or the Dubs amendment (which allows some migrants without family to enter the U.K.), Ill just leave.

Thats the sentiment of Jenny, a petite 16-year-old with an irrepressible smile. My future is in the U.K., she said shortly before The Jungle was cleared.

Jenny, not her real name, left Eritrea when she saw government officials going door to door, calling up young people for military service  typically a lifelong, mandatory role in a country known as the North Korea of Africa.

Crossing the Sahara dessert she saw people die of thirst. Then her ordeal truly began. Traffickers kidnapped her and three other teens, raping them over a period of two days and two nights. She was released into the refugee camps of Bani Walid in Libya. Now, she doesnt walk alone at night, and feels faint when she is by herself.

And yet, Jenny made it on to a crowded boat that crossed the Mediterranean to Italy, the U.K. in mind as her personal promised land. But she is running out of patience. My friends all went in two buses (to the U.K.), why not me?

Aid workers are wary of what they feel is a hasty government plan hatched just months ahead of presidential elections.

Camps are formed all the time, and the state arrives and breaks down everything, says Christian Salome, president of Auberge des Migrants. We find people in public parks, under bridges. No, The Jungle was not ideal, but its better than sleeping under a bridge.

He and other advocates say the weeklong government operation will not stop a migration route that has been used for decades.

Salome believes that of the 8,000 or so people evicted from the camps this week, maybe half can be convinced of giving up their hope of reaching England, and staying in France instead. The rest will be back here in a few months.

For migrants who have family in the U.K., speak English and who know they can find work in the black market, the pull is irresistible.

Jenny is one of them.

Heading into the night among groups of 10 to 15 people, she and her friends seized large tree trunks and dropped them in the middle of a bypass near their camp to stop traffic, in the hopes of scrambling into trucks headed for Britain.

It has never worked, but if the asylum process fails, Jenny will keep trying.

Tony also hopes to make it to the U.K. But after living in camps for internally displaced persons in Darfur, and being enslaved by Libyan traffickers, he now simply wants to settle somewhere safe.

Anywhere in Europe is fine, he says. I just want to take a shower, change my clothes, and call my family. And feel like Im living a good life.

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By the end of election day Nov. 8, the overwhelming majority of American voters will have flushed Donald Trumps squalid presidential candidacy down the sewer. That much is virtually certain.

But what is also certain is that this wont be the end of it. Like a poison running through the bloodstream, this insane Trump insurgency will continue to haunt Americas democracy for years to come.

So who is to blame?

Decades from now when history passes its final judgment on who enabled this madness, there will be many defendants in the dock.

There will, of course, be Trump himself and the extreme right wing, neo-fascist crowd  that shadowy basket of deplorables, as Hillary Clinton described them  that directs his candidacy from the backrooms.

But there will be many more.

There will also be the cowardly political class that has allowed itself in recent years to be bought and sold like cattle by American billionaires. Their complicity in making Trump possible has coarsened and corrupted the American political process to a dangerous degree.

And, not to be forgotten, there will be the millions of unthinking Americans  in an otherwise generous country  who have parked their brain at the door by indulging their baser instincts against Muslims, women and minorities.

But at the head of the line and in a dock by themselves will be the people running the U.S. commercial television networks  the owners, managers and senior journalists.

To their lasting shame, they have enabled the unlikely Trump candidacy to happen and to flourish not out of public service or journalistic honour  but out of greed. It has made them loads and loads of money.

Or as CBS head Leslie Moonves of CBS said: It may not be good for America, but its damn good for CBS. That, to put it mildly, is an understatement.

As Donald Trumps standing sank in the polls, he blamed it on media bias. As recently as last Thursday, he whined: The media poisons the mind of the American voter. They really do.

Well, if they do, it is not in the way that Trump means.

In recent days, there have been reports revealing how little U.S. television airtime has actually been devoted to coverage of policy in this campaign, how much uncritical airtime has been devoted to Trumps speeches and rallies compared with his competitors and  perhaps most significantly  how many billions TV networks earned from the Trump phenomenon.

Lets start with the money, since that now drives Americas democratic process.

The Washington Post reported this week that, largely as a result of round-the-clock Trump coverage, CNN will approach $1 billion in gross profit in 2016, a milestone unseen in its 36-year history. Fox News and MSNBC are also expected to have their most lucrative years.

CNN, in particular, has been ridiculed for handing its airtime over to repetitive Trump rallies  particularly when Trump started to build his image. Twice, when CNN hosted a debate among Republican contenders, it followed its live coverage not by switching to commentators for analysis, but to one-on-one interviews with Trump himself.

Perhaps the most damning indictment of U.S. TV journalism comes from the highly respected Tyndall Report, which has tracked the nightly flagship news programs for decades. In the U.S. broadcast media, these programs largely set the news agenda.

In its most recent report, Tyndall reveals that these programs have virtually abandoned the coverage of issues and policy compared with previous campaigns. In 2008, the last time both parties nominated new candidates for the White House, the NBC, ABC and CBS newscasts devoted 220 minutes to issues coverage.

This year, it is down to only 32 minutes among the three networks so far. According to the Tyndall Report, they have ignored most key issues: No trade, no health care, no climate change, no drugs, no poverty, no guns, no infrastructure, no deficits. To the extent that these issues have been mentioned, it has been on the candidates terms, not on the networks initiative.

Are we therefore surprised that so many Americans are so uninformed about what is at stake?

We can only be consoled that Americas silent majority  its informed adults  will show up on Nov. 8 to end this nonsense, at least for now.

Tony Burman is former head of Al Jazeera English and CBC News. Reach him @TonyBurman or at tony.burman@gmail.com .

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In a democracy, elections matter. But our political parties are not perfect reflections of public sentiment or sagacity.

As Winston Churchill observed, Democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.

At this time, on this continent, Donald Trump has demonstrated the perennial problem of party politics: He won the Republican presidential nomination fair and square, despite being monumentally unqualified for the high office he seeks.

At this time, in this province, the Progressive Conservative Party is also illustrating the recurring reality of electioneering: A 19-year-old pro-lifer  without real life experience  won his partys nomination for an upcoming Niagara-area byelection, despite being demonstrably unqualified for the elected office he seeks.

The difference?

Trump seems destined to be demolished as the wider electorate takes stock of the reckless selection made by Republican delegates blinded by pro-life precepts and anti-diversity prejudices.

Not so in Niagara, where voters in next months byelection are less likely to repudiate the nomination of an atypical teenager by a cohort of myopic Tories fantasizing about a pro-life, anti-sex-ed province: Niagara West-Glanbrook remains a safe PC seat, long held by former party leader Tim Hudak until he stepped down after the 2014 election,

What does this mean for the rest of Ontario?

For public consumption, the temptation is to celebrate local democracy in action. Predictably and reflexively, PC leader Patrick Brown hailed the unexpected triumph of Sam Oosterhoff  likely to be his newest MPP  as a breath of fresh air, a new voice for youth, and a reward for hard work.

In public. Privately, however, his upset victory has upset many in the party who know better than to embrace a darling of social conservatives at the very time Brown is belatedly trying to distance himself from fringe politics.

Most upset, of course, is the party president, former Tory MP Rick Dykstra  a longtime Brown crony from their time together as backbenchers in Ottawa  who was beaten out for the byelection nomination. Hand-picked by Brown to be his eyes and ears at party headquarters, Dykstra was blindsided by a teenager  leaving his credibility and competence in question: if he cant win a nomination race against a 19-year-old in Niagara, how can he engineer the defeat of the Liberal election machine province-wide in 2018?

Dykstras humiliation is all the more painful for Brown, who paid a heavy price for anointing his old pal as party president last year: The backroom manoeuvring triggered a falling out with veteran campaign manager Nick Kouvalis, one of the savviest strategists in Canada. Now, the PCs lack an energizing campaign manager and are stuck with a dead duck as party president.

Thats the reality of democracy. A party is as easily crippled by cronyism as it is hijacked by outside interests  as demonstrated by the intemperate Trump in the U.S., or the pious Oosterhoof in Niagara. Federal Liberal ridings have also been captured by pro-lifers from time to time, and anti-sex-ed activists played an outsized role in a recent Scarborough byelection.

True, a few New Democrats in their early 20s were elected when the federal party swept Quebec in 2011. But they were accidental MPs, put forward as placeholders in long-shot ridings. Oosterhoff, by contrast, had the hubris to contest a safe Tory seat as his career path to the legislature.

That speaks to his mastery of tactics  or more precisely, those in his campaign who knew how to tap into a pool of thousands of parishioners from his traditional church, buttressed by pro-life diehards and anti-sex-ed crusaders. But its hard to justify the legislature as a place for on-the-job training.

Oosterhoff presumes to be a peer of doctors, nurses, teachers, an electrician, and a nuclear physicist who sit as MPPs on behalf of constituents with real-life problems. Work inexperience aside, his educational attainment consists of being home-schooled  meaning he has never interacted with classmates in the public system, yet condemns the updated sex-ed curriculum that our students need.

Living with his parents, he has never faced a hydro bill, and doubtless never paid income taxes (Trump, too). But he can look forward to earning more than most teenagers when he collects an MPPs salary of nearly $120,000 a year.

Democracy is good. Leading in the polls, Ontario Tories can taste power  but they can also smell trouble ahead.

Just ask the Republican Party.

Martin Regg Cohns political column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. mcohn@thestar.ca , Twitter: @reggcohn

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This Halloween will probably be different from previous years: Clowns have made headlines for weeks now, but not in a good sense. Now, there are fears in Europe and the United States that things could get much worse this weekend.

On Friday, the German Interior Ministry made the issue a priority, with Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere announcing a zero tolerance policy. Speaking to Chemnitz-based newspaper Freie Presse, de Maiziere said only a swift reaction by authorities would prevent imitators.

This has nothing to do with harmless Halloween activities, anymore, said de Maiziere, indicating that police officials would be on high alert over the coming days, in particular.

After spreading in the United States, sightings of creepy clowns have been on the rise in Europe, where the phenomenon is new and researchers as well as authorities are struggling to find an appropriate response.

Although Europeans often associate Halloween with American traditions, it dates back to an ancient Celtic festival.

Scaring others has a long tradition, especially during Halloween, German psychologist and threat management expert Jens Hoffmann told the Die Welt newspaper. But this has now gotten out of control; there is a major bandwagon effect.

According to an analysis by Die Welt, there have been at least 30 attacks, robberies or assaults by offenders in clown costumes over the past weeks in Germany. Similar increases in incidents were registered in other parts of Europe, including in the United Kingdom.

Some bars in the U.K. have announced that they will exclude customers wearing clown costumes on Halloween, and more police officers than usual will be sent on patrol on Saturday night as a preventive measure.

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MEXICO CITYHollywood movies, zombie shows, Halloween and even politics are fast changing Mexicos Day of the Dead celebrations, which traditionally consisted of quiet family gatherings at the graves of their departed loved ones, bringing them music, drink and conversation.

Mexicos capital was holding its first Day of the Dead parade Saturday, complete with floats, giant skeleton marionettes and more than 1,000 actors, dancers and acrobats in costumes. Lourdes Berho, CEO of the governments Mexico Tourism Board, said 135,000 people were expected to attend.

But that impressive spectacle has never been a part of traditional Day of the Dead celebrations.

The idea was born out of the imagination of a scriptwriter for last years James Bond movie Spectre. In the film, whose opening scenes were shot in Mexico City, Bond chases a villain through crowds of revelers in what resembled a parade of people in skeleton outfits and floats.

Its a bit of a feedback loop: Just as Hollywood dreamed up a Mexican spectacle to open the film, once millions had seen the movie, Mexico had to dream up a celebration to match it.

When this movie hit the big screen and was seen by millions and millions of people in 67 countries, that started to create expectations that we would have something, Berho said. We knew that this was going to generate a desire on the part of people here, in Mexicans and among tourists, to come and participate in a celebration, a big parade.

Mexico City authorities even promised that some of the props used in the movie would appear in the parade. The government board sponsoring the march called it part of a new, multi-faceted campaign to bring tourists to Mexico during the annual Day of the Dead holiday.

Add to this the increasing popularity of Zombie Walks around Day of the Dead, and the scads of Halloween witches, ghouls, ghosts and cobweb decorations sold in Mexico City street markets, and some see a fundamental change in the traditional Mexican holiday.

Johanna Angel, an arts and communication professor at Mexicos Ibero-American University, said the influences flow both north and south. She noted that U.S. Halloween celebrations are now including more Mexican-inspired candy skull costumes and people dressed up as Catrinas, modelled on a satirical 19th century Mexican engraving of a skeleton in a fancy dress and a big hat.

I think there has been a change influenced by Hollywood, Angel said. The foreign imports are what most influence the ways we celebrate the Day of the Dead here.

Traditionally, on the Nov. 1-2 holiday, Mexicans set up altars with photographs of the dead and plates of their favourite foods in their homes. They gather at their loved ones gravesides to drink, sing and talk to the dead.

In some towns, families leave a trail of orange marigold petals in a path to their doorway so the spirits of the dead can find their way home. Some light bonfires for the same purpose, sitting around the fire and warming themselves with cups of boiled-fruit punch to ward off the autumn chill.

These days, many cities set up massive, flower-strewn altars to the dead and hold public events like parades, mass bicycle events and fashion shows in which people dress up in Catrina disguises.

Some say the changes dont conflict with the roots of the holiday, which they say will continue.

Samuel Soriano, a 35-year-old insurance executive, decorates his Mexico City home Halloween-style (think giant spiderwebs and inflatable tombstones) and each year hands out candy to about 100 trick-or-treaters. But in his dining room, he has a more traditional Dia de los Muertos shrine with portraits of departed loved ones, candles, decorative skulls and marigolds.

We decorate for the sheer pleasure of it and to see the smiles on childrens faces, Soriano said. We also celebrate Day of the Dead ... Theres no reason to see it as a contradiction.

On a recent Zombie Walk  in which hundreds paraded through Mexico City in corpse disguises one week before the Day of the Dead  most participants said it was just good, clean fun.

We are not fighting against our cultural traditions, Jesus Rodriguez, one of the organizers, said as he waved a fake plastic arm he was gnawing on. On the contrary, if you take off the zombie*s flesh, there are skeletons, there are Catrinas.

Yet Mexicos traditional view of the dead was never ghoulish or frightful. The dead were seen as the dear departed, people who remained close even after death. Could the outside influences threaten that?

I dont think that will change, Angel said. I think Mexico maintains the sense of remembering the dead with closeness, not fright.

Indeed, Mexicans still enjoy the graveside celebrations. Some cemeteries grow so packed and rowdy that authorities have been forced to ban alcohol sales at nearby stores.

And Mexicans have changed the holiday themselves, without outside influences, making it a time to express social protest.

Many have erected public shrines for the nearly 30,000 disappeared in Mexicos drug war. In downtown Mexico City in recent years, prostitutes have put on skull masks and erected a shrine to murdered prostitutes.

Day of the Dead  itself an amalgam of Spanish and pre-Hispanic beliefs  seems likely to survive, despite the rapid changes, in a festival-loving country that has long managed to successfully absorb many outside influences.

Any opportunity for a festival is welcome, Angel noted, and with any influences from at home or abroad and in all possible combinations.

As the arm-gnawing zombie Rodriguez put it, We love these days, Day of the Dead, Halloween and Zombies, that is the reason why this crowd is here year after year.

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A woman in Iowa was arrested this week on suspicion of voting twice in the general election, court and police records show.

Terri Lynn Rote, a 55-year-old Des Moines resident, was booked Thursday on a first-degree charge of election misconduct, according to Polk County Jail records. The charge is considered a Class D felony under Iowa state law.

Rote was released Friday after posting $5,000 bond. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Nov. 7.

The Des Moines Register reported that Rote is a registered Republican who cast two ballots in the general election: one at an early voting ballot at the Polk County Election Office and another at a county satellite voting location, according to police records.

Rote told Iowa Public Radio that she cast her first ballot for Donald Trump but feared it would be changed to a vote for Hillary Clinton.

"I wasn't planning on doing it twice  it was spur-of-the-moment," Rote told the radio station. "The polls are rigged."

A phone number was not listed for Rote and she did not immediately respond to a message sent to a Facebook account in her name.

Leigh Munsil, an editor for the Blaze, noted on Twitter that Rote was the same woman who had caucused for Trump earlier this year.

In addition to Rote, the Polk County Auditor's Office reported two other people to police last Wednesday on suspicions of voter fraud, the Register reported. In the other two cases, those people cast mail-in ballots and also voted in person at one of the state's early-voting locations, according to the paper.

No arrests were made in the two other cases, the paper reported.

Polk County Auditor Jamie Fitzgerald told the Register that it was the first time in 12 years he could remember having to report possible voter fraud.

"I think it shows that our voting system works in Iowa, that we're able to catch it," Fitzgerald told the paper, adding that the reported instances could have been honest mistakes but "that's not for me to decide."

Polk County is the most populous county in Iowa with 430,640 residents, and it includes Des Moines, the state's capital. Early voting in Polk County began on Sept. 29. Fitzgerald's office has been posting regular updates on Twitter about the progress of early voting in the county.

Polls show an extremely close race between Clinton and Trump in Iowa, a traditional swing state. According to a Quinnipiac University poll released two days ago, Clinton and Trump are now tied in Iowa with 44 per cent of the vote each. In September, the same poll had showed Trump leading Clinton, 44 per cent to 37 per cent.

In the closing weeks of the 2016 presidential race, Trump has repeatedly claimed  in speeches and on Twitter  that the election process is "rigged," presumably against him.

The Republican candidate's surrogates, too, have amplified those allegations. Two weeks ago, former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani insisted Democrats overwhelmingly engage in voter fraud because they "control the inner cities."

Last week, Eric Trump said on ABC's "This Week" that his father would accept election results, but only if it was a "fair" election. He backed his statement up with statistics that the Trump campaign has often used to claim that there is "widespread voter fraud." Numerous outlets, including The Washington Post's Fact Checker, have debunked such claims.

Though there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud occurring in U.S. elections, nearly half of Americans believe that voter fraud occurs at least somewhat often, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll released in September.

Both candidates made appearances in Iowa on Friday, in an effort to gain crucial votes in the battleground state. After two campaign rallies, Clinton held a brief news conference where she criticized FBI Director James B. Comey for not disclosing more details about why it was making a new inquiry into her private email server.

"We are 11 days out from perhaps the most important national election of our lifetimes," Clinton said in Des Moines. "The American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately."

Later Friday, Trump held a rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he cheered the FBI's decision.

The system "might not be as rigged as I thought," Trump told the crowd.

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Volcanoes in the land of fire and ice. Iceland is one of the volcanically most active places on earth.
Erta Ale lava lake - is it currently safe to travel to Ethiopia?

Wed, 26 Oct 2016, 21:44 21:44 PM | BY: INGRID 21:44 PM | BY: INGRID

Observing Erta Ales active lava lake in February 2008

Silhouette of photographer at the rim of the lava lake

A lava bubble bursts through the lakes thin silvery crust

Vibrant green and yellow at Dallol in December 2010

The intense nighttime glow already observable from the base camp in November 2010 promised a very active lava lake on arrival...

Lava spattering over the crater rim which can hardly contain the active lake in November 2010

also signals the return of adventurethe otherwise too hot Danakil dessert and its colourful Dallol geothermal system and large salt lakes.Many of our customers are thereby understandably worried about the, where after almost one year of protests the government declared theon October 8. So what are these protests and political instability about?certain parts of, or should one currently avoid all travel throughout this vast country?composition of the almost 100 million Ethiopians which together comprise about 80 ethnic groups each with their own language, culture and traditions.During Ethiopias long and rich, this large variety of ethnic groups was mostly ruled as a kingdom or other form of authoritarian regime where a central government exerted power over the country and its people. The four largest ethnic groups are the Oromo (34,4%), the Amhara (27,0%), the Somali (6,22%) and the Tigray (6,08%). Since the 19th century it were mainly the Amhara who had the power of government and ruled Ethiopia, thereby being the only African state who successfully withstood attempts of colonisation by European states. A short period of a communist regime came to end in the 1990s and following the first multi-party elections Ethiopia has since been governed mainly by the Tigray.Over thehas known aand development boost under this current Tigray government which however doesuphold the principles ofand human rights. They did organise and oversee many improvements of the national road system, the railways, the telecommunication network, mining, ... which were mostly financed by international companies from China. And given the countrys rich history and very diversified fauna and flora, tourism also picked up immensely in the past decade(s) - so much thatHowever, thisof the country also means that there were plans in 2015 to take some of the Oromo land around Addis Ababa to allow further expansion of the countrys capital. Thetherefore started tothis (further), and although these plans have since been retracted by the government, protests have not died out. Being the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, the Oromo had a political tradition of democracy before they came under the regime of the old Ethiopian kingdom, and they want the current mainly Tigray and authoritarian government to step down and introduce /restore a democracy., also by individual Olympic athletes this summer, and in the mean time the Amhara (second largest ethnic group) seem to have joined ranks with the Oromo protesters. There have beenwhere the local law enforcement shot at the mass of protesters, or thatdue to a stampede that followed counter measures from the law enforcement. Media have been restricted and journalists have been imprisoned for anti-government reporting.At the moment, the central government still has power throughout Ethiopia. Thevisited the capital on October 11 and urged the Ethiopian government to open up their politics as she, not hiding her support to the latter. How this situation will evolve, no one can tell - it can be anything between a peaceful solution and a civil war. The latter is however less likely to happen now that Ethiopia has been more intimately involved in international politics and that so many outside international companies have been investing so much in this beautiful country.Looking at the, the only change is that they advise against any unnecessary travel in the Oromo and Amhara regions and that one should just be extra watchful when traveling to other areas and the capital, Addis Ababa. The Afar region where the largest part of our Danakil expedition takes place, has for decades been a do not travel there area with regards to international travel advice, due to the ongoing Ethiopian-Erithrean conflict. Since the deadly assault on travelers on Erta Ales caldera rim on 17 January 2012, the government did take many measures to ensure travelers safety and a better cooperation with the local Afar people. Together with asphaltation of the main road and construction of new roads, this led to an exponential increase of travelers and tourists visiting the Danakil in the past 5 years.with whom we organise our Danakil expeditions . They informed us that last weeks cultural tours in the northern part of Ethiopia (where the protests are) went as smoothly as usual and that theand increased the overall safety in the country. Theis furthermore actively discussingandwith them instead of having the situation further escalate. Earlier this month there have also been(ETO) to both domestic and international travel organisers explaining that the short state of emergency inof Ethiopian citizensHence, regarding the. We will, off course, keep following the situation closely and if we think that it is no longer safe to travel to Addis Ababa, or into the Danakil, or to Mekele, we will not hesitate to cancel any of our upcoming guaranteed Danakil expeditions and thereby fully refund the money paid to Volcano-Adventures.
Exceptional Excellent Very Good



(Deb Lindsey/For The Washington Post)

Italy and France offer some nice wines to help us transition to cooler weather this week, including a lovely sangiovese, a mineral white from Sicily and two noteworthy sauvignon blancs from the Loire Valley. For good measure, heres a lovely pinot gris from Virginia  limited availability, but worth a road trip, with scenery as a bonus.

 Dave McIntyre

Gregorina Sangiovese Superiore 2013

Romagna, Italy, $20

A lovely, spicy and racy sangiovese, it has tart cherry flavors and a hint of cocoa. ABV: 13 percent.

Distributed by Lanterna: Available in the District at Ace Beverage. Available in Maryland at the Italian Market in Annapolis, Vino Volo in Bethesda, Wine Harvest in Potomac.

Domaine du Loriot Menetou-Salon 2015

Loire Valley, France, $19

This is terrific sauvignon blanc, crisp and mineral, with a saline bite to the finish that makes it an ideal partner to seafood. ABV: 12 percent.

Distributed by Dionysus: Available in the District at Cleveland Park Wine and Spirits, Rodmans. Available in Maryland at Balduccis and Bradley Food and Beverage in Bethesda, Wine Source in Baltimore. Available in Virginia at Balduccis (Alexandria, McLean), J. Emerson Fine Wines & Cheese in Richmond.

Francis Blanchet Pouilly Fume Vieilles Vignes 2015

Loire Valley, France, $21

Pouilly Fume lies in Sancerres shadow, having many of the same qualities but less glamour (and a lower price). Value hunters, take note. This sauvignon blanc, from the ripe 2015 vintage, is mouth-filling with orchard fruit flavors, and perhaps less mineral than we might expect from the Loire in a cooler vintage. ABV: 12.5 percent.

Distributed by Dionysus: Available in the District at Cleveland Park Wine and Spirits, MacArthur Beverages, Rodmans; on the list at Kapnos. Available in Maryland at Balduccis and Bradley Food and Beverage in Bethesda, Rodmans (White Flint), Wine Source in Baltimore; on the list at Kapnos Kouzina in Bethesda. Available in Virginia at Balduccis (Alexandria, McLean), J. Emerson Fine Wines and Cheese in Richmond.

Slater Run Vineyards Pinot Gris 2015

Virginia, $19

From a new winery in Upperville, in Virginias Fauquier County, this wine had me puzzled: Its labeled pinot gris, suggesting Alsace as its model, but its fresh acidity suggested the lighter Italian pinot grigio style. Yet as the wine warmed up (another reminder not to drink our white wines too cold from the refrigerator), I noticed its body and a sly, sneaky richness. Delicious. ABV: 12.5 percent.

Distributed by Virginia Wine Distributing: Available in Virginia at Local Taste in Upperville (the winerys tasting room).

GREAT VALUE

Nicosia Grillo 2015

Sicily, Italy, $13

Crisp and citrusy, this wine reveals a hint of Meyer lemon. Pair it with antipasti such as olives, lighter pasta dishes or fish. ABV: 12.5 percent.

Distributed by Lanterna: Available in the District at Ace Beverage; on the list at Bibiana. Available in Maryland at the Italian Market in Annapolis, Wine Harvest in Potomac.

Availability information is based on distributor records. Wines might not be in stock at every listed store and might be sold at additional stores. Prices are approximate. Check Winesearcher.com to verify availability, or ask a favorite wine store to order through a distributor.
One single firecracker produces enough pollution which is as much as smoke coming out of as many as 464 cigarettes. This is beyond the safety limits prescribed by the World Health Organization.

By India Today Web Desk:

This starts with a question - will you send your kids to a room filled with smoke from 500 cigarettes? We think the answer is no, of course.

Burning of a popular firecracker called 'snake tablet' in Diwali is equivalent to lighting up 464 cigarettes, which probably kids and firecracker enthusiasts are unaware of.

Read how pollution has gone up. Haze descends in Delhi ahead of Diwali; air turns hazardous.





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Six infamous firecrackers -- the the snake tablet, the string of 1,000 crackers, fuljhadi (sparkler), the string sparkler, the anar (flower-pot), the chakri (spinning firecracker) -- emit particulate matter 200 to 2,000 times the safety limits set by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The safety limits are according to a 2016 study by Pune's Chest Research Foundation and students from the Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences of the University of Pune.

Reuters: People ignite fireworks during Diwali celebrations.

The study found that the snake tablet produced the highest amount of hazardous particulate matter, followed by the laad, pul-pul, fuljhadi, chakri and anar firecrackers.

Read how Chinese firecrackers are dangerous, those made in India are safe: Chennai residents.





The snake tablet when burnt for about nine seconds produced particulate matter which was equivalent of smoke emanated from 464 cigarettes. The string of 1,000 crackers comes second which when burnt for 48 seconds produced particulate matter equivalent to 277 cigarettes.

Reuters: Fire crackers fired by Indian Border Security Force soldiers burst in the sky during Diwali.

The particulate matter is considered dangerous to humans since it can reach the deepest portions of the lung.

It is declared as a class 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer and is also linked to heart diseases and respiratory ailments.

Its tiny size gives it the ability to accumulate in human organs and blood. Children with weak immune and respiratory responses are particularly vulnerable to it.

Reuters: Workers make firecrackers at a factory for the Diwali festival.

"Children, in particular, burn the fuljhhadi, the pul-pul and the snake tablet barely a foot or two away from them. While burning these they inhale a large number of smoke particles that reach deep into their lungs," Sneha Limaye, senior scientist at the Chest Research Foundation, told IndiaSpend, according to an IANS report.

Also Read: Salt lamps, eco-friendly idols some smart ways for a pollution-free Diwali

Firecrackers not only release particulate matter but also other harmful gases, such as nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide.

A 2014 study found that air pollutants were two to six times higher during Diwali than on normal days.

Reuters: More than a million children from the age of three upwards are employed by firecracker manufacturing units. Reuters: More than a million children from the age of three upwards are employed by firecracker manufacturing units.

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"The extremely high levels of air pollutants generated during the burning of firecrackers worsens conditions like asthma, allergic diseases of the eyes and nose, respiratory tract infections, pneumonia and heart attacks," Sundeep Salvi, director of the Chest Research Foundation wrote.

--- ENDS ---
Dear Readers: Halloween is on Monday, and while it is a fun time for all, it can be scary for your pets. Here are some hints to help:

 The constant ringing of the doorbell, strange costumed people and unusual noises and lights can be terrifying for pets. Comfortably contain animals in a quiet part of the house. Make sure they are microchipped and tagged with current information in case they do escape.

 Costuming your pet is adorable, but make sure the animal is comfortable. A cute bandanna or bow is an appropriate nod to the holiday. Ensure that your pet wont get tangled in this.

 Candy is terrible for animals, especially chocolate, which can cause vomiting and diarrhea. Whats a good treat? Carrot pieces, apple slices and dog biscuits.

 Keep decorations electric cords picked up and away from animals so they wont chew on them.

Have a fun and spooky Halloween, and keep your pets safe on this night and every night!

Dear Readers: Kate D. in San Antonio sent a picture of her new rescue, Effy, donning a Halloween costume: a mouse surfing on a piece of candy corn! Effy is sweet and smart: She will sit on command!

Dont animals enrich our lives? We love them so much! To see Effy and our other Pet Pals, visit Heloise.com and click on Pet of the Week. If you have a furry and funny feline (or canine) that youd like to share, send a picture to: Heloise@ Heloise.com.

Dear Heloise: I was confused about where to put the litter box, and then I got an idea, which worked for both me and my cat.

Cats like privacy, so I removed one door from my bathroom vanity and put up a lace curtain. The box fits, and the cat has privacy.

This might not work for everyone (removing the door from the vanity) but its a space-saver and privacy-maker for me and my cat. And the door can always be rehung.

L.P., via email

Dear Heloise: I work as a dental assistant, and for my patients and me, here are some hints to make our time together more pleasant:

 Please brush your teeth right before the appointment. Fresh breath is always appreciated.

 Be on time or a little bit early for your appointment. This affects everyone: other patients, the doctors and you.

 Stay off the cellphone at the office. Even texting is distracting.

D.A., via email

Dear Heloise: In my microwave, I had a shelf that I hardly ever used, and I moved it to my cabinet. I now use it for all my lids to my pots and pans. Sure is a good organizer.

Evelyn B., Greenbrier, Ark.

Dear Heloise: When I give my little kitten, Susie, her favorite toy (a paper bag  never plastic), I make sure the handles are cut off so it wont go around her neck. She makes me laugh with her playful antics!

Simone G. in Louisiana

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.
Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl,archbishop of Washington, greets workers before a blessing of the Trinity Dome at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

It was a holy moment at high altitude.

With his miter nearly brushing the 159-foot ceiling, Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl stood atop 620,000 pounds of steel and scaffolding Friday morning to bless the dome of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

If we were to have a hymn to open this entire celebration, I think it would be Nearer, My God, to Thee,  joked Wuerl, the archbishop of Washington. This is about as close as we are going to get physically to that experience.

The unusual ceremony marked not only the completion of the scaffolding on which Wuerl stood but also the beginning of the end of 100 years of construction on the countrys largest Catholic church, where Pope Francis canonized a Spanish missionary last year.

The plain gray plaster walls of the dome, which the cardinal splashed with holy water, are the last item on a century-old checklist.

A mosaic that was blessed by Pope Francis is propped up against the scaffolding inside the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Since the church in Northeast Washington opened, unfinished, in 1959, the unadorned Trinity Dome has seemed out of place in the increasingly ornate building. (Two smaller domes were completed in 2005 and 2006.) With the scaffolding now in place, workers will spend January through August installing a massive mosaic. Church officials hope to have it on display by Christmas next year.

The Italian-made mosaic will consist of more than 14 million pieces  in more than 1,000 colors  of Venetian glass and will feature images of Jesus, Mary and the 13 American saints. It will span 18,300 square feet of the dome surface.

It will be a wonder to behold, Wuerl said during the ceremony.

For many in attendance, however, the real wonder was already underneath their feet.

Jon Tung watched the proceedings with a mixture of pride and relief. As the structural engineer, he had nervously watched as the project slowly took shape. Eight huge steel beams were erected inside the renowned sanctuary. Then, in a single day, a 180-ton platform was hoisted 60 feet above the nave.

This is the most complex project Ive ever worked on, Tung, 45, said. There were a lot of sleepless nights.

Descending a staircase, he gestured toward a handful of visitors wandering the pews six stories below, oblivious to the construction above them. You can imagine the worst-case scenario, Tung said.

A construction worker stands amid the sprawling scaffolding after the blessing of the construction on the Trinity Dome. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Eight floors of scaffolding were then built on top of the platform, all the way to within eight inches of the churchs ceiling.

Its an incredibly, intensively engineered structure, said Roger A. Jetton, president of Scaffolding Solutions. His company brought in the 20,000 interlocking pieces from Glasgow. It took 30 workers more than five weeks to build the maze of metal. Im very proud, he said.

So was Rafael Aleman, one of the workers who assembled the scaffolding. Before the ceremony, the cardinal stopped by to shake Alemans calloused hand.

Thank you for what youre doing, Wuerl said.

Youre welcome, answered Aleman, a 39-year-old Catholic who was born in El Salvador and lives in Richmond. This job was unlike the power plants and factories he usually works on, he said. Its the house of God.

Aleman and his co-workers had sent videos of themselves working in the shrine to their families, who werent allowed to visit. Well bring our families to see it when its done, he said.

At the beginning of the ceremony, Monsignor Walter R. Rossi, the rector of the basilica, prayed in English and Spanish for the safety of the workers on the $20 million project. With its many pieces and colors, he said, the mosaic would reflect the most diverse congregation in the country.

Wuerl said he had first come to Catholic University, the shrines home, 66 years ago as a college student. When the dome is finished, he said, visitors of all faiths will be enveloped in a beauty they might otherwise never experience.

Near the end of the service, the cardinal made an unusual request of the several dozen construction workers, priests, nuns and reporters on hand.

Touch the dome before you go down, because youll never get a chance to touch it again, he said.

Joseph Chee, a member of the blue-robed choir that sang at the event, took Wuerl up on the offer  and then some.

With a black pen, the 23-year-old scrawled his initials on the gypsum plaster, which will be stripped over the next month so that concrete can be added ahead of the mosaic. He then marveled at the scaffolding beneath him. Its like they are building a spaceship up here, he said.

Chee, who graduated from Catholic University in 2015 and lives nearby, said the shrine felt like a second home to him. For a long time, he wasnt sure if the dome would ever be completed. Now he had faith.

It will be nice to see my home when it is done, he said.
Arlington County voters headed to the polls Nov. 8 will have few choices when it comes to the school board: Just two candidates, both endorsed by the Arlington County Democratic Party, are running for two at-large board positions.

Nancy Van Doren (Donna Owens Photography)

Incumbent Nancy Van Doren and newcomer Tannia Talento would be part of a board that faces some challenges. The high-achieving district is struggling with overcrowding, a byproduct of a surge in enrollment, which is expected to grow from about 26,000 to 30,000 students in the next five years.

The school system is on track to build a new middle school in Rosslyn and retrofit an aging school to make it suitable for additional middle school students. It also plans to build a new elementary school and remodel some facilities. And the board will be redrawing enrollment boundaries for the districts three comprehensive high schools in the coming year.

Voters also will weigh in on a $139 million school bond referendum, borrowed money that would be used to construct and remodel school buildings.

Van Doren, 56, who is the school board chair, was appointed to the panel in 2014 to fill a seat vacated by Noah Simon, who stepped down so he could spend more time with his family.

Van Doren, the former president of the Thomas Jefferson Middle School PTA, was elected that fall to serve the rest of the term.

In her two years on the board, Van Doren, a strong advocate of career and technical education, helped draft a capital improvement plan that addresses the school systems projected enrollment growth. She also helped develop a program to serve children with dyslexia.

Van Doren supported the opening of Arlington Tech, a novel four-year program for high school students centered on hands-on courses.

[New tech program would push hands-on learning for teens]

Van Doren, who previously worked in corporate communications for an insurance company and in business development for a newspaper, has a lengthy record as a school volunteer, serving on numerous parent advisory committees.

She said Arlington must focus on boosting achievement among its lowest performers, including English-language learners and special-needs students, while building out school facilities to accommodate enrollment growth.

Tannia Talento (Terry Belt)

The biggest challenge is continuing to improve outcomes for all Arlington students, because I think we are so close to actually closing the achievement gap, Van Doren said.

Talento, 40, is the daughter of Guatemalan immigrants. She grew up in the D.C. area, attending schools in the District, Virginia and Maryland.

She said she decided to run for school board because she recalled her own experience as a student at Suitland High in Prince Georges County.

As a high school student, she said, she cared for her ailing mother, helped raise younger siblings and worked part time.

When she thought she needed to drop out because of family responsibilities, she went to her counselor, who told her to tough it out, she recalls. Instead, Talento called the county Board of Education, where someone told her about an alternative program that would allow her to graduate a few months late.

I really had to advocate for my education, Talento said.

Talento went on to work as a clerk, research assistant and legal secretary at a D.C. law firm. She attended night classes at Northern Virginia Community College, but she did not receive a degree.

In 2009, she left her job at the law firm to focus on raising her daughter and son, who now attend Washington-Lee High School. At that time, she also became involved in parent advisory committees.

Talento has served on committees that advise the superintendent, including a mathematics advisory committee, a committee that focused on education for English-language learners, and others that gave input on planning and curricula. She also has helped struggling students navigate the school system, teaching them to advocate for themselves, she said.

Talento said she hopes to focus on building a better relationship between the school district and immigrant parents, who may struggle with English or lack an Internet connection, making it difficult for them to connect with teachers and school officials.

She also hopes to boost awareness of mental-health issues in the school community if she is elected.
The District

Woman killed in 3-car crash; driver charged

A woman was killed in a three-car crash Saturday afternoon on Eastern Avenue in Northeast Washington, D.C. police said.

A car traveling south collided with two northbound cars near Division Avenue NE. The woman who was killed was the driver in one of the northbound cars, D.C. police said. Her vehicle was struck in the rear by the southbound car after the other northbound car was struck. The woman was not identified.

The driver of the southbound car fled but was found and charged with leaving after colliding, said Aquita Brown, a D.C. police spokeswoman. The matter remained under investigation, she said.

It was not clear why or how the southbound car entered the northbound lanes.

 Martin Weil

MARYLAND

Man found dead after re in Oxon Hill home

A man was found dead in an Oxon Hill home Friday night after a fire erupted on the first floor, and Prince Georges County authorities on Saturday were investigating to determine his identity and the cause of the blaze.

The fire was reported at 11:30 p.m. in the 6700 block of Belfast Place, near Bock Road. Assistant County Fire Chief Alan Doubleday said that the fire was mainly in the living room and that a woman escaped unhurt. Firefighters quickly extinguished the flames but the man, about 80, was found in a hallway.

His identity was not available. The cause of the fire was under investigation, Doubleday said.

 Tom Jackman

Police: Man kills girlfriend, shoots self

Police said that a man killed his 18-year-old girlfriend before trying to kill himself in Anne Arundel County.

Police said they think the man, a Baltimore resident, killed his girlfriend, Kayla Yow, on Friday in her Glen Burnie apartment before critically injuring himself. Police said that he is under guard at a hospital and will be charged.

A relative had asked police to check on the man at his girlfriends apartment after he sent concerning text messages, police said.

Police said a handgun was recovered.

 Associated Press

VIRGINIA

Credit-card fraud alleged at coffee shop

Two operators of an Arlington County coffee shop were arrested Friday and charged with felony counts related to the alleged cloning of customers credit cards, which were then used to purchase hundreds of thousands of dollars in prepaid gift cards.

Arlington police said the scheme occurred at Caffe Aficionado, at 1919 N. Lynn St. in Rosslyn. They alleged that Adiam Berhane, 44, and Clark Donat, 44, both of Arlington, were responsible for fraudulently redeeming the gift cards. ARLNow.com reported that authorities raided the coffee shop Friday morning and took Berhane and Donat into custody.

Police said they heard in November from someone without Arlington ties whose records showed attempted transactions there. Berhane and Donat were both charged with money laundering and two counts of conspiracy to commit credit-card fraud, police said. Anyone who thinks they may have been defrauded at Caffe Aficionado is asked to contact the Arlington police financial crimes unit at financialcrimes@arlingtonva.us.

 Tom Jackman
Opponents of Question B, the Montgomery County ballot proposal for term limits, received two big infusions of cash this month, according to campaign finance reports filed Friday.

Service Employees International Union Local 32 BJ, which represents about 7,000 commercial office cleaners who live and work in the county, contributed $5,000 to No on B, the political committee organized to oppose term limits. The measure would amend the county charter to restrict council members and the county executive to three consecutive terms.

Another donation, for $1,500, came from County Executive Isiah Leggetts campaign committee. Leggett (D), serving his third term, has announced he will not run again.

No on B reported a total of $11,000 in the bank through Oct. 23.

Im pleased where we stand, No on B chair Tom Moore said in an email Saturday.

[Ballot fight on term limits a low-budget affair]

Voters for Montgomery County Term Limits reported just under $2,200 in contributions and $4,600 in the bank. Major donors were developer James Gingery ($1,000) and Howard Cohen ($500), head of Federal Health Counsel, a health lobbying firm. He lives in Potomac, according to federal lobbying reports.

Spokeswoman Ann Hingston said the pro-term-limits group was not discouraged by the nearly 3-to-1 gap in cash on hand.

It doesnt worry us at all. We still have checks coming in, Hingston said, adding that those donations will be reflected in subsequent reports. The committee has picked up endorsements from the Montgomery County Civic Federation, an umbrella organization of neighborhood groups, and the Parents Coalition of Montgomery County.

Both sides are using the money primarily for yard signs, fliers, T-shirts and other relatively low-cost campaign items.

Local 32 BJ is the second union to take a formal position against term limits. The Montgomery County Education Association, which represents about 12,000 classroom teachers, educators and support staff, is recommending a no vote in its Apple Ballot, which is mailed to registered Democrats and distributed at the polls.

This is simply a Republican/Trumpian war on competent government, 32 BJs vice president, Jaime Contreras, said of the pro-term-limits push. Because they cant win at the ballot box, they are trying to obstruct, which is a direct and unacceptable threat to democracy.

[Will government-loving Montgomery adopt term limits?]

Local 32 BJ, which has a predominantly Latino membership, has pushed hard for a bill sponsored by County Council member Hans Riemer (D-At Large) that would require large employers to provide janitors a minimum workweek of 30 hours so that they can qualify for employer-provided health care. While some union members could acquire insurance through the Affordable Care Act, undocumented immigrants in the rank-and-file are not eligible. The bill is pending.

The large donation is also a response to Help Save Maryland, a group critical of current immigration policies whose founder, Brad Botwin, was active in gathering signatures for the ballot measure. The group has been described as a nativist-extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Two operators of a popular Arlington County coffee shop were arrested Friday and charged with multiple felony counts related to the alleged cloning of customers credit cards which were then used to purchase hundreds of thousands of dollars in prepaid gift cards.

Arlington police said the scheme occurred at Caffe Aficionado, at 1919 N. Lynn Street in Rosslyn. They alleged that Adiam Berhane, 44, and Clark Donat, 44, both of Arlington, were responsible for fraudulently redeeming the gift cards. ARLNow.com reported that authorities raided the coffee shop Friday morning and took Berhane and Donat into custody. The coffee shop has been open for three years in Rosslyn and was planning a second location in the Watergate complex in Washington according to the Prince of Petworth blog.

Police said they received a tip last November from a person with no ties to Arlington whose credit card records showed attempted transactions in the county. The police said Berhane and Donat were both charged with money laundering and two counts of conspiracy to commit credit card fraud, and were being held in the Arlington jail. Anyone who believes they may have been defrauded at Caffe Aficionado is asked to contact the Arlington police financial crimes unit by email at FinancialCrimes@arlingtonva.us.
A man was found dead in the hallway of an Oxon Hill home Friday night after a fire erupted on the first floor, and Prince Georges County authorities on Saturday were investigating to determine his identity and the cause of the blaze.

The fire was reported at 11:30 p.m. Friday in a house in the 6700 block of Belfast Place, just east of Bock Road in Oxon Hill. Prince Georges Assistant Fire Chief Alan Doubleday said the fire was contained mainly to the living room of the one-story house, and that a woman was able to escape with no injuries. Firefighters quickly extinguished the flames but discovered an approximately 80-year-old man lying in a first-floor hallway. Doubleday said he was pronounced dead at the scene.

An autopsy will determine how the man died and help confirm his identity. Doubleday said the fire initially did not seem suspicious but that the county fire marshals office was investigating the cause. A working fire alarm sounded in the basement of the home but apparently not on the first floor, Doubleday said. Damage to the home was estimated at $100,000.
The Darlington Memorial Fountain in Judiciary Square was dedicated in 1923 to honor D.C. lawyer Joseph J. Darlington. The statue, by sculptor C. Paul Jennewein, was controversial when it was erected. (John Kelly/The Washington Post)

In 1923, the lawyers of Washington realized that they had a problem. A lot of people in town had decided they were creepy perverts.

How were they to convince the local citizenry that this was not the case?

The uproar arose when a new fountain was installed in November. The fountain honored a District lawyer named Joseph J. Darlington. Born in 1849 in South Carolina, Darlington came to Washington to study at the law school of Columbian University (known today as George Washington University). He eventually became one of the citys keenest legal minds, and when he died in 1920, at age 71, he was considered the dean of the Washington bar.

Friends and colleagues immediately pooled their money to build Darlington a fitting monument. What was lowered in place atop a plinth at Fifth Street NW and Indiana Avenue in Judiciary Square was a naked lady and a deer.

Tawdry is how Judge William DeLacey described the statue. Repulsive, said the Rev. John C. Ball of Metropolitan Baptist Church. The Rev. John E. Briggs, pastor of Fifth Baptist Church, where Darlington worshiped, denied that he had termed the statue a blasphemy but said that Darlington wouldnt have liked it.

Tawdry and repulsive were some of the first comments made about the Darlington Memorial Fountain. (John Kelly/The Washington Post)

The Washington Post interviewed a lawyer who quipped that perhaps the statue was meant to symbolize a woman summoned by the U.S. Marshals for hunting without a license  and without clothes.

As the uproar grew, the secretary of the Districts bar association felt it necessary to stress that the money to erect the statue came from private contributions. If his group had been involved, he said, it is possible that the present statue would not have been approved. In other words: Dont blame us.

Even those observers who averred that the statue was art, and not smut, said it was still inappropriate.

George Julian Zolnay, a prominent sculptor, said, True art invariably is a matter of fitness. He didnt mean fitness as in toned abs, but as in a specific link to the person honored. If Darlington had been a hunter, Zolnay said, the Diana-like statue might have been suitable. But what did a naked maiden standing next to a fawn have to do with one of Washingtons most powerful attorneys?

This controversy erupted 22 years after the dedication of the memorial Answer Man wrote about last week, the statue of prominent Mason (and Confederate general) Albert Pike. Standing across Judiciary Square from the Darlington fountain, it was what a lot of people back then thought a monument should be: a big, honking likeness of a dead person. For many, the Darlington memorial was altogether too weird. Its a sentiment not dissimilar to the criticism that Maya Lins Vietnam Veterans Memorial faced.

[Why is Confederate general Albert Pike memorialized at Judiciary Square?]

Frank Hogan  head of the Darlington memorial committee and founder of what became the powerhouse D.C. law firm Hogan Lovells  finally decided it was time to set the record straight. Although the statue was privately funded, he explained, it needed the approval of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts. The commission did not want merely an effigy of a man, but something artistically beautiful.

A half-dozen sculptors had entered the design competition. Each was furnished with a dossier of Darlingtons professional accomplishments and, more important, his personal characteristics. Darlingtons constant charities  his thoughtfulness, tenderness, philanthropy, consideration of others  were more worthy of being permanently enshrined than his greatness as a lawyer.

And thats what the winning statue, by German-born sculptor C. Paul Jennewein and approved by Darlingtons two daughters, was meant to symbolize.

Art can lose something when you have to explain it, but Hogan planked out the statues meaning for anyone too dense to get it. The beautiful maiden, he said, represented Gods best human handiwork. She symbolized humanity at its finest: considerate and tender. So tender, in fact, that a deer had come to the maidens side for care and succor, just as, Hogan implied, a defendant might come to a lawyer.

Yes, the maiden was nude, but thats the better to represent her as she came from the hands of her Creator, rather than the hands of a dressmaker.

Seventy years later, another Jennewein piece was to cause controversy. A bare-breasted maiden hed created for the Justice Department distracted John Ashcroft so much that the attorney general ordered it hidden behind curtains.

Within the larger controversy of the naked lady in Judiciary Square was a smaller one: When Jennewein arrived to inspect the statues installation, he saw that it had been set up facing the wrong direction. He ordered the workers to lift it and rotate it 180 degrees.

Darlingtons colleagues had to chuckle. The old lawyer had won many cases, but more than a few were overturned in the U.S. Court of Appeals, the building that the gold-bottomed maiden was now mooning.

Twitter: @johnkelly

Send your questions to answerman@washpost.com.

For previous columns, visit washingtonpost.com/johnkelly.
As per the Tollywood grapevine, Kannada superstar Shiva Rajkumar has been roped in to play an important role in Tollywood superstar Nandamuri Balakrishna's 100th film Gautamiputra Satakarni.

By India Today Web Desk: Ever since the release of the first look posters, Gautamiputra Satakarni has created a wave among the audience. With the shooting progressing at a rapid pace, reports suggest that the Kannada superstar Shiva Rajkumar has been approached to play an important role in the film.

ALSO READ: Kaashmora movie review- Something about Karthi's film is lost in transition

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ALSO READ: Karthi exclusive interview Part 1- I want to make films I want to watch, not store them in my library

ALSO READ: Karthi on Mani Ratnam's Kaatru Veliyidai- Nice to be back where I began



The filmmakers are also planning to release the trailer of Balakrishna's hundredth movie in 100 theatres across the globe in the first week of December.



Earlier to this, the makers also revealed the teaser of the film, which received humongous reception from the audience and has clocked over two million views on YouTube.

Gautamiputra Satakarni is an upcoming historical Telugu film starring Nandamuri Balakrishna essaying the ruler.

Directed by National award-winning director Krish Jagarlamudi, the film chronicles the life history of ruler Gautamiputra Satakarni.

Produced by Y Rajeev Reddy, the film is made on a lavish budget of Rs 70 crore, which will have war sequences akin to Baahubali.

Also, the highlight of the film is the climax, which is touted feature over 1000 junior artists, 300 horses and 20 chariots.

The film also stars Shriya Saran, Hema Malini and Kabir Bedi in lead roles and the music is composed by Devi Sri Prasad.



--- ENDS ---
A double crossover, a juncture where trains change tracks, outside Rhode Island Avenue station. Metro will replace the crossover during its 10th SafeTrack surge, a rail service shutdown from NoMa to Fort Totten. (WMATA photo by Larry Levine)

On Monday, the Washington region marks the first weekday of what is likely to be Metros most challenging SafeTrack project  a 25-day shutdown on a segment of the Red Line affecting about 200,000 peak trips daily on its oldest and busiest line.

This latest safety surge  the 10th of 15  targets tracks from the Fort Totten to NoMa stations  meaning that no trains will pass through the area. The Brookland and Rhode Island Avenue stations will be closed, as will the Rhode Island Avenue Metro garage.

The project involves the same area affected by the Beach Drive closure in Northwest Washington, so officials are concerned that should Red Line riders return to their cars in large numbers, this surge could create a traffic nightmare unseen with previous ones.

As Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld said at a news conference outlining the agencys plans, this surge has one of the largest rider impacts of all the surges we have done and will do.

Unlike the previous two surges involving the Red Line, this one, which began Saturday and ends Nov. 22  the Tuesday before Thanksgiving  is happening while schools are in session.

As transportation officials have been warning for months, Surge 10 is the big one.

Major, major disruptions and delays, said Al Roshdieh, director of the Montgomery County Department of Transportation, as he described the potential effect of the shutdown.

He and other officials spent much of last week raising the alarm, warning commuters that roads already clogged because of the Beach Drive closure could degenerate into total gridlock come Monday morning.

[Beach Drive closure likely to cause abysmal traffic in Northwest D.C.]

Metro is providing shuttle buses to ferry riders between the four affected Red Line stations, but riders should be prepared for crowds and long waits.

Red Line riders headed to downtown Washington from Silver Spring can transfer to the Green and Yellow lines at Fort Totten, but Wiedefeld said he expects that those trains will be running at maximum capacity.

Because of the challenges of reversing trains in the middle of the line, capacity along the Red Lines western end is expected to decrease by 40 percent. That means nearly a month of six-minute headways between trains during rush hour on the western stretch of the line.

The tenth surge in Metros long-term maintenance overhaul known as SafeTrack runs Oct.29 through Nov. 22 on the Red Line. Take a look at how it will affect your commute. (Claritza Jimenez,Danielle Kunitz/The Washington Post)

We will provide more eight-car trains on the Red and the Green lines to deal with as much traffic as we can, Wiedefeld said. But its important to note that that cannot handle all the traffic we anticipate.

[SafeTrack comes to Metros oldest and busiest line starting this weekend]

The best options, officials said: telecommute or travel during off-peak hours. If thats not possible, they advise people to forgo Metro and find other forms of public transit.

Roshdiehs advice for Maryland commuters: Take a MARC train to Union Station and bypass the Red Line entirely. To that end, Montgomery County distributed a limited number of free one-way tickets last week to encourage Red Line users to give the commuter rail system a try.

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) encouraged District residents to consider using Metro buses or the D.C. Circulator as alternatives.

Last week, Metro staffers fanned out at Red Line stations to distribute fliers in English, Spanish, Chinese, Amharic and French warning students and parents to plan for some tough mornings.

Starting Monday, Metro employees will be outside affected stations after school and during peak travel periods to direct confused commuters and students. Metro also will add three empty buses outside the Rhode Island and Brookland stations around dismissal time to deal with the crush of students heading home. Those are in addition to the general buses Metro is running along the closed stretch of rail.

Bowser said parents and students must have a backup.

Please make a plan to get to school, and think about the additional time that youre going to need, she said, encouraging people to experiment with the bus, even if theyre loyal to Metro. You may even find a one-seat ride to get you to school instead of getting on the Red Line. But we need people to start thinking about that right now.

[Want to ride the bus during SafeTrack but dont know how? Read this.]

Metro is adding buses on the 80 route, which travels from Fort Totten to Union Station to the Kennedy Center, and the P6, which ferries riders from the Rhode Island Avenue station through downtown and to Anacostia.

There also will be extra buses on the L2, which traces parts of the western side of the Red Line, as well as the S9, which shuttles riders from Silver Spring through Columbia Heights to Franklin Square in downtown Washington.

Montgomery Countys Ride On will run free Red Line shuttles from the Silver Spring and Takoma stations to the Fort Totten station, where commuters can take the Yellow or Green lines to head downtown and avoid the Red Line.

Since the beginning of October, several D.C. Circulator routes  the Woodley Park-Adams Morgan-McPherson Square, Georgetown-Union Station and Dupont-Georgetown-Rosslyn lines  have started running at 6 a.m., an hour earlier than usual, to prepare for the Red Line surge.

[D.C. Circulator extends hours to help Red Line riders during SafeTrack]

Capital Bikeshare is offering $2 rides for nonmembers, and it is setting up a bike corral at Union Station.

Driving yourself in your own car should be your Plan C, said Leif A. Dormsjo, director of the District Department of Transportation.

Even so, for those who do choose to drive, Dormsjo said DDOT is re-timing traffic signals to accommodate for extra congestion. Traffic control officers will be deployed to handle busy intersections.

There will be extended parking restrictions along busy corridors from 7 to 10 a.m., and from 4 to 7 p.m. DDOT also has suspended roadway construction on more than 20 blocks around the city, to prevent unnecessary barriers to traffic flow.

Although Metro plans to add buses to four major routes that augment Red Line service, the agency is limited in how much it can boost capacity on those bus lines. At the outset of SafeTrack, the agency dedicated a team of bus operators to provide extra service; because this surge involves a complete rail segment shutdown, most of the extra buses are already scheduled to be used to shuttle people between the Fort Totten, Brookland, Rhode Island Avenue and NoMa stations.

Our ability to beef up existing routes service is greater on surges where we dont also have to serve closed stations, Metro spokesman Dan Stessel said.

Surge 10 is coming at a precarious time for SafeTrack. According to Metro officials, in recent weeks fewer riders have been heeding their warnings to avoid stations and segments of the system affected by the surges.

Ridership fell significantly at stations affected during the first five surges, with the number of diverted passengers exceeding Metro projections. But more recently, ridership in surge zones has crept back up. People appear to be tuning out the message and ignoring the warnings.

I think there is a risk as people start to understand this work that they start being complacent, SafeTrack Director Laura Mason said at a Metro board meeting this month. We need people to do different things, because buses cannot replace a rail car full of people.

Wiedefeld said he is optimistic that commuters are paying attention for this, the mother lode of all surges.

When they see that its a total shutdown, Wiedefeld said, tens of thousands of people a day understand what that means.

Dormsjo said its critical that people recognize that this shutdown is no run-of-the-mill episode of single-tracking.

Weve got an optimistic view that people are paying attention, Dormsjo said. But we need to get peoples focus on this.

[How will Metro know if SafeTrack is working?]

Despite the expected traffic woes, Wiedefeld appeared excited to get started. This project is addressing a critical and complex interlocking that lies along one of the oldest stretches of tracks in the system  and its a part of the rail network that has long been avoided because of the logistical difficulties involved in conducting maintenance.

For that reason, Wiedefeld said, we cant wait to get in to do this work any longer.

And now that Metros round-the-clock maintenance crews have had five months of experience, officials say theyre better prepared to use their 25 days of unfettered access to complete as much work as possible.

Over the course of the SafeTrack surges, [Metro] has become more efficient at mobilizing its workers to make the most of available track time, Metro board member Kathryn Porter (Md.) said.

Even so, major concerns remain about the quantity and quality of work performed during SafeTrack. Inspection reports from the Federal Transit Administration have raised concerns that some of the work being done has been inadequate or required follow-up.

[Federal reports reveal concerns with quality of Metros SafeTrack repairs]

But last week, Wiedefeld argued that Metro has been learning from past surges, maintenance crews are more adept at performing high-quality repairs and that the scope of Surge 10 has evolved in recent months to address a wider range of issues.

Just as in other surges, crews will be racing to replace as many of the basic track components as possible  thousands of new fasteners, bolts and wooden rail ties.

But the work on the interlocking will be informed by similar maintenance performed on an interlocking near the Twinbrook station during Surge 7.

The plan to replace significant amounts of cable is a result of recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board.

Contractors have been hired to perform some of the structural work on the Rhode Island Avenue station building  the necessity of which became apparent only two months ago, after falling concrete led to the closure of the station for a weekend.

[Falling debris closes Rhode Island Ave. Metro station for the second night in a row]

We pushed very hard to get this thing done very quickly, Wiedefeld said. In a perfect world, you would study it for a year and come up with this. We didnt have that luxury.

So basically, we had to jump into this thing, he said. Weve all learned along the way about how we can do this better.

Michael Laris contributed to this report.
Whats scarier: running into your dentist on Halloween  and being reminded of the horrors youre visiting on your teeth  or being a dentist? It cant be much of a treat to decide that professional responsibility requires you to drop toothbrushes into the maws of sugar-seeking ghosts and pumpkins.

But have some compassion, Rachel Tepper Paley writes on Bon Appetits website. Its not like Halloween, a holiday devoted to society-sanctioned cavity worship, makes life easy for a person whose life work is oral hygiene.

Paley talked to a few dentists to find out what the holiday looks like to them, and she found that some pay particular attention to the days just after Halloween.

Alex Naini, a Vienna, Va., dentist, offers neighborhood kids money, toys or books in trade for some of their haul, then sends the candy to troops overseas. She does give out candy, but nothing too sticky. She throws in some apples, she told Paley, in an attempt at good dental karma.

At his office, CJ Wagner, a pediatric dentist in Fox Point, Wis., gives kids Halloween-themed toothbrushes. At home, he hands out candy he and his wife like so at the end of the night they can gather up the leftovers and enjoy all the things that a dentist should not have in his house.

After Halloween, its smart to sort your candy. Dentists told Paley that you can enjoy your sugar but that you should stay away from hard candy and gooey sweets. Go for soft chocolate and peanut butter cups, perhaps, with thorough tooth-brushing, flossing and mouth-rinsing at the end of the evening and the days ahead.

Maybe your dentist isnt so spooky after all, as long as you keep a toothbrush at hand.
To run around on ice without slipping, you may want to try shoes with Vibram Arctic Grip soles, designed to mimic the clawed paws of polar bears. (REUTERS)

Robot mall cops, a vaccine for dengue and 98 more of the greatest innovations of the year are highlighted in the November/December issue of Popular Science.

The magazines annual roundup of The Best of Whats New provides a snapshot of the latest, coolest, most-cutting-edge products and concepts  or, what the next generation of teens will likely think of as Oh, that boring stuff?

Thanks to the tech of 2016, todays kids can experience gee-whiz features from birth. It all starts on the ride home from the maternity ward in a 4moms Self-Installing Car Seat, which contains 20 sensors, including accelerometers and gyros, that work with motors to level the seat and tighten the straps.

When fever strikes, a concerned dad can check his childs temperature with the no-touch Withings Thermo. It takes more than 4,000 readings from the temporal artery with just a simple pass across the forehead. And when boys and girls get that first cavity? Dentists can anesthetize them with a couple of squirts of Kovanaze nasal spray instead of a painful shot.

To unwind, they can rock out with Ossics X headphones, which adapt to a listeners anatomy to create ultrarealistic audio effects. They can fly to Belgium and take a seat on the Mack Rides Pulsar, a roller coaster that splashes into a lake at 60 mph. They can run around on ice without slipping because theyre wearing shoes with Vibram Arctic Grip soles, designed to mimic the clawed paws of polar bears.

And they can complain that theres nothing to eat in the fridge even if theyre not at home: The Samsung Family Hub Refrigerator boasts three internal cameras.

Thats when parents can turn to another innovation circa 2016.

Intelligentx Brewing calls itself the first artificial-intelligence brewmaster. Using a machine-learning algorithm, it crafts beers using online feedback from drinkers. Cheers to the future.
From bright planets to shooting stars, the autumnal heavens provide an array of visual cosmic candy.

As evening begins now, find Venus and Saturn hanging out in the southwest at dusk. On Tuesday, the moons young sliver desires to join the planetary fun, since it is to the right of the two planets.

Splendid Venus beams bright at -4.0 magnitude, looking like a spotlight in the heavens, while Saturn is a little more dim at zero magnitude. By Wednesday night, that slice of moon joins the planets in the west, but our lunar companion glides away by Thursday. Venus continues to hang out throughout November and into the holidays, but Saturn  thanks to celestial mechanics  seems to duck into the suns glare after Thanksgiving.

Its a party at Mars! The social butterfly first-quarter moon drops in on the Red Planet this coming weekend. Find the two in the south-southwest in the evening in the constellation Sagittarius. A zero-magnitude object now, Mars gets slightly dim as November progresses. On the other hand, the moon gets a little chunkier with each day.

A few hours before the dawns early light, Jupiter rises after 5 a.m. now in the eastern sky, chilling in the constellation Virgo. By mid-November, the gaseous giant planet rises about three hours before the sun, which means that for early-morning joggers and dog walkers, the planet will be high in the east-southeastern sky at -1.7 magnitude (bright).

If youre up before the sun warming the oven on Thanksgiving morning, step away from the giblets and check out the waning last-quarter moon hanging above Jupiter in the southeast. The moon is below Jupiter the next morning for the Black Friday shoppers.

Catch a few meteors in mid-November, as two small showers  the Northern Taurids and the Leonids  offer shooting stars across the sky. The Northern Taurids peak Nov. 12-13 with about 15 meteors an hour, which means you will be lucky to spot one or two. The Leonids peak Nov. 17-18  generally after midnight  with about 20 an hour, but you will see only two or three, even if you stare at the heavens.

Good news: You get an extra hour to sleep Sunday morning, as we officially turn our clocks back Nov. 6 at 2 a.m. for the start of standard time.

Down-to-Earth events:

Wednesday: Understand our planets energy, water and carbon cycles. Creating the Science of Global Ecology, a lecture by astronaut Piers Sellers, deputy director of NASAs Sciences and Exploration Directorate. At the Carnegie Institution for Science, 1530 P St. NW, 6:30 p.m. Free; registration required. carnegiescience.edu/events.

Saturday: Late autumn gives way to crisp nights, so enjoy the last Exploring the Sky event this season, hosted by the National Park Service and the National Capital Astronomers. In Rock Creek Park, near the Nature Center in the field south of Military and Glover roads NW. 7 p.m. capitalastronomers.org.

Saturday: Shooting Rockets at the Aurora, a talk by NASA physicist Marilia Samara, at the University of Maryland Observatory in College Park. Relish the night heavens through telescopes afterward, weather permitting. 8 p.m.astro.umd.edu/openhouse.

Nov. 7: Stars Tonight at the David M. Brown Planetarium, 1426 N. Quincy St., Arlington, next to Washington-Lee High School. 7:30 p.m. $3. friendsoftheplanetarium.org.

Nov. 12: Why the Earth and Mars Are So Different, a talk by NASA planetary scientist Pamela Conrad, a key researcher on the Mars rover Curiosity. She will speak at the regular meeting of the National Capital Astronomers, at the University of Maryland Observatory in College Park. 7:30 p.m.capitalastronomers.org.

Nov. 13: The Northern Virginia Astronomy Clubs regular meeting, 163 Research Hall, George Mason University. 7 p.m. novac.com.

Nov. 18: Exciting Possibilities for 21st Century Aviation: NASAs X-Plane Program, a lecture by NASAs Jaiwon Shin, of the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, hosted by the Philosophical Society of Washington, at the John Wesley Powell Auditorium, next to the Cosmos Club, 2170 Florida Ave. NW. (At the corner of Massachusetts and Florida avenues.) 8 p.m. philsoc.org.

Nov. 19: Falling Into a Black Hole, at the Montgomery College planetarium, Takoma Park, 7 p.m. montgomerycollege.

edu/departments/planet.

Nov. 20: Mars: Why Is There Air? a talk by NASA researcher Tim Livengood at the University of Maryland Observatory in College Park. Afterward, enjoy the night sky through telescopes, weather permitting. 8 p.m. astro.umd.edu/openhouse.

Friedlander can be reached at postskywatch@yahoo.com.
You want to use the best products to clean your teeth, but how can you choose from among the dozens of types available? Start with the fundamentals of what an effective toothpaste should contain: fluoride to strengthen enamel and a mild abrasive such as calcium carbonate or micronized silica to remove food debris and surface stains.

Beyond the basics, knowing which ingredients work as promised can be challenging. Here, five types of substances you might find in your toothpaste, the benefits theyre said to deliver, and a reality check on their effectiveness:

Detergents such as sodium lauryl sulfate and cocamidopropyl betaine make toothpaste foam up as you brush.

Reality check: Even though theyre called detergents, they dont bolster the cleaning power of toothpaste. And some people sensitive to the substances could develop canker sores or experience peeling of mouth tissue after as little as one use.

Whiteners include hydrogen peroxide, which is claimed to bleach teeth, and polyphosphates (such as pyrophosphates), said to keep highly pigmented food and drink from staining enamel.

Reality check: Whiteners arent concentrated enough or in contact with the tooth surface long enough to be effective, says Karen A. Baker, an associate professor at the University of Iowa College of Dentistry in Iowa City and an expert on toothpaste ingredients. And polyphosphates may cause canker sores and other mouth lesions.

Desensitizers are touted for their ability to relieve the discomfort of sensitive teeth. For example, potassium nitrate reduces tooth-nerve sensitivity. Stannous fluoride fills in exposed dentin, keeping food and drinks from stimulating nerves.

Reality check: Used regularly, desensitizers can ease sensitivity, but Consumer Reports experts recommend seeing a dentist first. You need to know whats causing your sensitivity, says Ruchi Sahota, a spokeswoman for the American Dental Association. Your dentist might suggest a desensitizing toothpaste or, for persistent discomfort, an in-office treatment such as concentrated fluoride. If that doesnt help, you might need a filling, a crown, an inlay or bonding, or a root canal to address the underlying cause of sensitivity.

Triclosan, an antimicrobial in Colgate Total toothpaste, is said to fight plaque and the gum inflammation of gingivitis.

Reality check: A 2013 review from the independent Cochrane Collaboration found that toothpaste with triclosan and fluoride reduced plaque and gingivitis more than fluoride-only products. But a 2016 review of studies from the University of California at San Diego reported that triclosan may contribute to antibiotic resistance and disrupt hormones and immunity; it also has been linked to tumors in mice. In September, the Food and Drug Administration banned the use of triclosan in soaps and body washes but allowed it to remain in some products, including toothpaste. Consumer Reports chief medical adviser, Marvin M. Lipman, says that unless your dentist recommends toothpaste with triclosan, theres enough concern now with triclosan ubiquity and safety that it makes sense to avoid it on your own, even if there is some demonstrable value at reducing plaque and gingivitis. For gingivitis, Consumer Reports consultants advise that you consider a mouth rinse with stannous fluoride, cetylpyridinium chloride or the essential oils thymol, menthol, eucalyptol and methyl salicylate. Your dentist may also recommend a prescription chlorhexidine rinse.

Xylitol increases saliva production; its claimed that this reduces the growth of cavity-causing bacteria in the mouth.

Reality check: According to a 2015 Cochrane review, some studies suggested that toothpaste with fluoride and xylitol, a nonsugar sweetener, may be more effective than fluoride-only toothpaste at preventing cavities. But most of the studies were very small and poorly done, and even brushing several times daily wont deliver enough xylitol to provide benefit. And if swallowed in large amounts, xylitol could cause bloating, gas and diarrhea.

The takeaway? The toothpaste you choose should have an American Dental Association seal of acceptance; that means the ADA considers it safe and effective. But there isnt any one best product, says Jay W. Friedman, a pioneer in the development of quality standards for dental care. Instead, find a toothpaste you like that does not cause irritation, he recommends. Then brush your teeth twice each day and floss daily.

Copyright 2016. Consumers Union of United States Inc.

For further guidance, go to www.ConsumerReports.org/Health, where more detailed information, including CRs ratings of prescription drugs, treatments, hospitals and healthy-living products, is available to subscribers.
The cow protection organisations with RSS and VHP will be holding an event in the memory of those who were killed in 1966 in front of the Parliament as they agitated for a nationwide legislation against cow slaughter.The right-wing groups are hoping to revive the movement.

By Siddhartha Rai: In BJP-ruled India, the Right-wing is looking at the past through the Right-wing lenses.

In yet another attempt to "contest Congress hegemony" on Indian history and rephrase the way the past has been written and remembered, a number of cow-protection organisations with express or remote affiliation to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the VHP are coming together to hold a memorial for those killed in 1966, 50 years ago, in front of Parliament as they agitated for a nationwide legislation against cow slaughter.

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The 50th anniversary would be commemorated at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on November 6.

Apart from top religious figures from the Hindu community, Baba Ramdev too is expected to attend the programme.

Even as the gathering is expected to be huge, an even bigger event is already planned for the 51st year of the firing incident the next year, in 2017.

Also Read| BJP worker ferrying cows beaten to death by gaurakshaks in Karnataka

WHAT HAPPENED IN 1966

On November 7, 1966, thousands of gau-rakshaks, including sadhus (Hindu saints) and other religious leaders had staged a massive march to storm Parliament demanding a law to ban cow slaughter across India.

The police fired upon the rampaging crowd that had left several dead. It also saw then Union home minister Gulzari Lal Nanda resigning.

Cow-protection bodies with remote affiliation to the RSS and the VHP are coming together to hold a memorial for those killed in 1966 in front of Parliament as they agitated for a nationwide legislation against cow slaughter.

While there is a clear rift between the Rightists and the opposition camps in the way the incident is remembered, the former consider Nanda as the hero, who chose to relinquish his office over the atrocity committed on the gau-rakshaks, and attribute it to his love for the cause.

The opposition remembers the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as the hero, who not just fired Nanda, but also did not budge to the pressure for the demanded legislation.

Meanwhile, the Right-wing camp is ready to recast the event as it remembers it now.



EVENT ORGANISED BY GAU RAKHSHAKS, RSS, VHP

The event is organised by several Hindutva and pro-cow protection organisations from across north India, including Goraksha Andolan of KN Govindacharya.

The event is also being supported by the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP).

Top VHP leader Champat Rai, who was an eyewitness to the firing, shared his experience with Mail Today.

"I was then a young man, a student of BSc, and was there when the firing happened. I remember Atal Bihari Vajpayee was addressing the gathering. Several people died. Home Minister Gulzarilal Nanda was a conscientious person and so he resigned, in reaction to what Indira Gandhi had committed."

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EVENT FOR NOT JUST HINDUS, BUT ALSO FOR MUSLIMS SUPPORTING COW PRESERVATION

"VHP is not just supporting the commemorative event, but we are participating in the event. This event, however, is not only that of the Hindus, but is also of the Muslims who believe in preserving the cow," Rai said.

Rai claimed that while the memory of the event has been kept alive by certain Hindu and cowprotection organisations by observing its anniversaries in some form or the other, this year's event is significant as it would be the 50th anniversary.

"Fifty years have passed, but not many today remember of know of the event. That is because the Congress has decimated the memories through its own propaganda and suppressed the truth. Time has come to tell the truth. We have kept the fire of the memory burning, it is time to make it into a torch," said Rai.

Also Read:

WATCH: 4 youths stripped, tied and hit with belts by Sena leader-led cow vigilantes

RSS Muslim wing to hold national Islamic convention in Agra in support of Modi









--- ENDS ---
POLITICIANS FROM both political parties complain about the ever-increasing amount of time they have to spend raising money. Constituents wonder whose interests  theirs or those of major donors  are served by elected officials. But for all the talk about money in politics, there is no movement on the national level toward solutions. By contrast, across the country this fall voters will have a chance to express their opinion and, in some cases, approve substantive state and local reforms.

Voters in four states  California, Missouri, South Dakota and Washington  will vote on statewide ballot measures dealing with abuses in the campaign finance system. The measures range from support for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United (Californias Prop 59) to establishing limits on campaign contributions for state and judicial candidates, committee and political parties (Missouris Amendment 2). On the ballot in South Dakota is whats come to be known as the Anti-Corruption Act (Initiated Measure-22) that would put limits on donations from parties, political action committees and lobbyists, require more transparency and institute other reforms. Voters in Washington state will vote on two referendums: Initiative 735, calling for the overturn of Citizens United, and Initiative 1464 with a menu of changes that includes some public financing and a bar on large campaign contributions from lobbyists and public contractors.

Voters in several local communities also will vote on campaign finance and ethics issues. One notable ballot initiative in Howard County would amend the county charter to allow for public financing of future candidates running for county executive and council. Question A would create the option of a public matching program for candidates who show broad support and agree to limit their donations to small donors who are Howard County residents.

The measure is patterned after a small-donor program established in Montgomery County in 2014. It resembles national legislation that has been pushed  sadly without success so far  by Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.). Howards effort is unusual in that public funding programs rarely go as stand-alone measures to the voters but instead are usually packaged with other reforms. Supporters hope passage would set a precedent that would inspire other counties, in Maryland and elsewhere.

These initiatives, if successful, would show a growing demand to free elections from big money and special interests. That in turn might spur some response in Washington.
Regarding the Oct. 20 front-page article As Egypts economy withers, specter of social unrest grows:

Transforming and adapting an entire national economy to the modern era is an enormous challenge. We know Egypt can no longer postpone the tough decisions needed to revitalize its economy. To move Egypt into the future, the government has launched a massive economic restructuring. One shouldnt expect this to be easy or smooth. But the governments resolve and determination are unshakable.

To spur growth, we are implementing market-driven reforms to energy subsidies and investment laws. We are modernizing the taxation system and legislation to fund health and education, increase the efficiency of social welfare programs and provide targeted cash subsidies to the most vulnerable segments of society. Ongoing infrastructure projects, such as the Suez Canal Economic Zone, will stimulate the economy, create jobs, and provide needed water and sanitation, roads and railways, hospitals and schools and thousands of housing units in the least developed urban areas.

To strengthen international investors awareness of these important strides, Egypt is working with the International Monetary Fund and has reached a staff-level agreement that reflects its confidence in our economy.

The principal objective of all our policies is to build a new, modern economy that meets the legitimate demands of the Egyptian people for stability and prosperity. Therefore, the government has also initiated an intensive public discussion to ensure public support of its reform agenda.

Yasser Reda, Washington

The writer is ambassador of the

Arab Republic of Egypt to the United States.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Marylands largest locality, is a bastion of liberalism whose do-gooder instincts occasionally trump common sense. Thats the case with the proposal by County Council members who would mandate the sale of $65 million in oil, natural gas and coal company stocks held by employee pension funds.

The idea behind the divestiture scheme is to strike a symbolic blow against fossil fuel consumption, which the legislations sponsors rightly identify as the principal culprit behind climate change. A number of other left-leaning cities and localities around the country, notably San Francisco, have adopted similar steps, although Montgomerys measure would go further than most by ordering divestment rather than suggesting it.

The problem with such symbolism is that its no more than a feel-good gesture  a hypocritical one  that would achieve no actual reduction in carbon consumption while imposing very real costs on the countys pension fund, on which tens of thousands of retirees depend. The hypocrisy of selling off fossil fuel firm stocks  just $65 million out of pension funds worth $4.3 billion  is that Montgomery, like every other locality in the United States, would continue to consume fossil fuels for countless purposes: to run police cars, ambulances and fire engines, and to heat and cool county-owned buildings, to name just a few.

Whats more, selling stock in select individual companies, identified by a national movement called 350.org, would be an exercise in arbitrary investing. After all, the countys pension funds would continue owning shares in index funds, private equity firms and other holdings that might include businesses whose profits stem directly or indirectly from the use of oil, gas and coal. Purifying an investment portfolio of such positions  and determining which positions merit divestment, and according to what criteria  would be a nearly eternal project.

Thats not a suitable project for a public pension fund, whose trustees have a fiduciary duty to maximize earnings for the benefit of tens of thousands of present and future retirees, not plunge into complex philosophical or scientific examinations of corporate fossil fuel consumption. (Were they to attempt it, they might find that some major fossil fuel firms are also undertaking major research and development projects in sustainable energy.)

The last time the county enacted a divestiture measure was in 2008, when council members unanimously ordered its pension fund managers to dump stocks tied to Sudan over its human rights outrages in Darfur. That modest step  a handful of equities in small firms were sold  resulted in some $230,000 in transaction fees. Divesting the funds of fossil fuel holdings would cost much more.

And why single out those companies when so many others do so much harm? Coca-Cola? A major contributor to obesity. Volkswagen? An emissions cheater. Pfizer? It deprives the U.S. Treasury of untold millions of dollars by relocating its legal domicile overseas. Blameless corporations are nice if you can find one, but whos to judge which transgression merits divestiture?

The irony is that Montgomery is a leader among local governments in real, not symbolic, policies to reduce carbon consumption. Better stick to those and leave symbolism aside.
THE SELF-DEFEATING passivity of President Obamas policies in the Middle East may have reached its apotheosis earlier this month at a National Security Council meeting that he chaired. On the table were options for responding to the bloody and criminal assault on the Syrian city of Aleppo, including grounding the Syrian air force with missile or air strikes, or supplying more advanced weapons to CIA-backed rebels. In the end, Mr. Obama chose neither to approve nor reject the measures; instead, he decided not to decide. History will record that as 250,000 people and their homes and hospitals were subjected to systematic bombing with white phosphorus and bunker-busters, and hundreds of children were reported killed, this U.S. president was unable even to affirmatively choose not to respond.

The political exhaustion evident in that episode extends to U.S. policy throughout the Middle East. Although U.S. air and special forces are backing an Iraq-led offensive to recapture the Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State, the administration has declined to arbitrate the crucial question of how the city  and Iraq  will be secured and governed after the battle is over. It is doing next to nothing to end the civil wars in Libya and Yemen, and its only strategy for Syria is the discredited figment that Russia and Iran will support a political transition that strips the Bashar al-Assad regime of power.

Mr. Obama long ago gave up more than the most token opposition to gross human rights abuses by U.S.-supported governments in Egypt and Bahrain, which, perceiving the free pass, have stepped up repression of secular liberals, human rights activists and even U.S. citizens. And while he is said to be considering a speech or U.N. resolution laying out terms for a Palestinian state, the absence of any preparatory diplomacy would likely cause such action to be regarded in the region as legacy-seeking grandstanding rather than as a contribution to peace.

The consequence of this policy collapse is that the next U.S. president will be confronted by a pressing need to revitalize and reshape U.S. engagement in the Middle East. Though many Americans share Mr. Obamas evident desire to write off the region, it remains vital to U.S. interests  as a source of energy, as well as of terrorism, destabilizing flows of refugees, potential nuclear proliferation and crimes against humanity.

As The Posts Greg Jaffe recently reported, there is broad bipartisan consensus in the U.S. foreign policy community on the need for a more assertive policy. A new report by the Center for American Progress, a Washington think tank closely associated with Hillary Clinton, usefully lays out some parameters. It suggests using airpower in Syria to protect civilians and U.S. partners; promoting devolution of power to regions in Iraq, along with a continuing U.S. military presence; steps to counter Irans negative influence and ensure nuclear deal compliance; practical measures to ease tensions between Israelis and Palestinians; and renewed U.S.engagement on pluralism, values, and universal human rights, including making them a priority in the presidents meetings with heads of state.

The next administration, the report argues, needs to avoid becoming stuck in a cycle of reaction without a set of clear long-term strategic priorities. Instead, it should seek renewed American leadership in the region by working with partners to outline an affirmative agenda for the next decade. In short, whats needed is a president who recognizes the need for American leadership in the Middle East.
Back in March 2014, just after the Russian invasion of Crimea, Russias most famous state television broadcaster presented the international situation in stark terms. Russia, Dimitry Kiselyov told his millions of viewers, is the only country in the world that really can turn [the] USA into radioactive ash. Against a backdrop of mushroom clouds and throbbing nuclear targets, he spoke ominously of how President Obamas hair was turning gray  I admit this can be a coincidence  and the increasing desperation of a White House that truly feared that nuclear war might break out at any moment.

Now its October 2016, and Kiselyov, who also heads Russias state-owned news agency, is at it again. Impudent behavior toward Russia has a nuclear dimension, he warned ominously on Oct. 9. In the same program, he again featured photographs of Obama. Kiselyov said that there had been a radical change in the U.S.-Russian relationship, and he added a threat: Moscow would react with nerves of steel to any U.S. intervention in Syria  up to and including a nuclear response. If it should one day happen, every one of you should know where the nearest bomb shelter is. Its best to find out now, another television channel has advised.

What a difference two years makes: The U.S. government, and the U.S. public, brushed off Russias nuclear narrative the first time it was presented. But this time around, the language sounds different. We are in the middle of an ugly presidential election. More important, we have a Republican presidential nominee who regularly repeats propaganda lines lifted directly from Russian state media. Donald Trump has declared that Hillary Clinton and Obama founded ISIS, a statement that comes directly from Russias Sputnik news agency. He spouted another debunked conspiracy theory  the Google search engine is suppressing the bad news about Hillary Clinton  soon after Sputnik resurrected it.

Now Trump is repeating Kiselyovs threat, too. Youre going to end up in World War III over Syria if we listen to Hillary Clinton, he said this week. Just like Kiselyov, he has also noted that Russia has nukes and  perhaps if Clinton is elected  will use them: Russia is a nuclear country, but a country where the nukes work as opposed to other countries that talk.

Why is Russian state media using such extreme language? And why is Trump repeating it? The Russian regimes motives arent hard to understand: It wants to scare Russians. The economy is much weaker than it was, living standards are dropping and with it support for President Vladimir Putin. A ruling clique that stays in power thanks to violence and corruption is by definition nervous, and so it is using its media monopoly to frighten people: Only Putins regime can protect you from U.S. aggression.

During a speech in Charlotte, Oct. 26, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said that the strategy of his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton to address the war in Syria could lead to World War III. (The Washington Post)

The regime surely wants to scare us, too, and persuade us to abandon Syria. If the United States and Europe throw in the towel, then Russia will be free to help the Bashar al-Assad regime impose the same kind of solution that Russia used in Chechnya more than a decade ago: kill tens of thousands of people, flatten the landscape, destroy all political alternatives and then start again, with a Russian-backed dictator. In the interim, the war has its uses: It has increased the destabilizing flow of refugees to Europe, broadening political and economic chaos that Russia believes serves its interests.

The Russians also have a major interest in our election. Since last summer, when Russian hackers tried to spoil the Democratic National Convention with leaked emails, its been clear that Russia prefers the Republican nominee, a man who has repeatedly stated his admiration for Putin and his dislike of U.S. allies. From personal experience, the political technologists who design the regimes information campaign know that fear and hysteria can persuade people to vote for an authoritarian candidate. It costs them almost nothing to try to create fear and hysteria in the United States. It might not work  but it might pay off big.

There is one more possible motive. Whatever the outcome on Nov. 8, political uncertainty will follow: the months of transition, a change of White House staff, perhaps even the violent backlash that Trump may incite. This could be an excellent moment for a major Russian offensive: a land grab in Ukraine, a foray into the Baltic states, a much bigger intervention in the Middle East  anything to test the new president.

If thats coming, Putin needs to prepare his public to fight much bigger wars and to persuade the rest of the world not to stop him. He needs to get his generals into the right mind-set, and his soldiers ready to go. A little nuclear war rhetoric never fails to focus attention, and Im sure it has.

Read more from Anne Applebaums archive, follow her on Twitter or subscribe to her updates on Facebook.
One more week, give or take.

It seems nearly impossible that an election season that began approximately four years ago is nearing its end. After almost two years of speeches, rallies and raunch, this presidential campaign has become just another sound in the white noise of life. Like Groundhog Day, or perdition, it seemed it never would end.

Ever.

Now, suddenly, only days remain before we vote. Wait, no, Im not ready! Wheres the one I want to vote for? Can it be true that either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States? For real? Is this really all weve got?

Next, dread settles in. OMG, I have to vote. Yes, of course, you have to vote. And yet, for whom? Anxiety is up, meditation is in. Depression is commonplace. Disenchantment is pervasive. All congeal into a sort of cataclysmic sense that the best of times are behind us.

Where, we wonder, is the individual who compels us to cheer for the good that unites us, the virtue that defines us, the strength that sustains us and the faith that tomorrow will always be better? Where is the sunny, aspirational leader who understands the frustrations of Trump supporters and the sense of left-behindness of people on both left and right?

It is sad but true that none comes to mind. More disturbing, we have to understand that great leaders may forever be in short supply given that decent people decide public service isnt worth the total surrender of ones autonomy and privacy. Who can blame them? Thus, our next president will be chosen not with the enthusiasm of a well-informed electorate but with the forlornness that comes of having no better option.

Surely, there are many who find either Clinton or Trump satisfactory.

Those who would embrace a third term of Barack Obama, or who have longed to witness a woman become president, may manage to summon a spring to their step. Those who see Trump as the answer to political gridlock, the menace of terrorism and an economy that benefits only the lucky few may be able to muster more than a slog to the ballot box.

But for the countless millions in the middle, who can find neither solace nor excitement in the prospect of either candidate, Election Day approaches as a sunset without the promise of a sunrise. Morning in America has become mourning in America.

No wonder.

Already House Republicans have promised to immediately initiate yet more investigations into whatever remains unexplored in Clintons life. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, says he has enough material for at least two years worth of taxpayer-funded witch hunting. This was even before it was reported that the FBI was investigating more emails recently retrieved from Clinton associates.

Some Senate Republicans have promised to thwart any and all Supreme Court nominations from a President Clinton. This, when they ought to be holding hearings on Judge Merrick Garland, nominated by Obama in March, while theres still time. Not only would Republicans demonstrate (for a change) that theyre serious about governance, and not just obstruction, but theyd be wise to accept a relatively moderate judge while the option remains.

Clinton, meanwhile, shouldnt presume to have a mandate if she wins. Shed owe more than a slice of her victory to Trump, who offended so many potential voters that she benefited big-league by the comparison. Rather than winning, shed be accepting the triumph of Trumps defeat.

She also should make haste to keep her promise to be the president for all Americans and address the concerns that caused Trump supporters to rise out of their despair and rally for a reality TV star. Theres no use repeating her campaign quip that America is already great.

As for Trump, he seems to have recognized that its time to move to the next item on his bucket list, possibly as king of a new media empire from which hell come combed to judge the quick and the dead. He has already stopped major-donor fundraising, as well as ceased spending his own lucre, and he spent vital time this week at the grand opening of his new hotel in Washington rather than go stumping in swing states. He and his cohort of family members, all poised with great big scissors to snip a red ribbon for the gawking crowd, seemed to be players in a muted celebration for the ringmaster of razzle-dazzle  presaging, perhaps, what appears likely to come.

Read more from Kathleen Parkers archive, follow her on Twitter or find her on Facebook.
MARYLANDS SYSTEM of cash bail for criminal defendants is unjust and in serious need of change. Thats the judgment of two state commissions that have studied the matter, as well as outside experts in criminal justice. But efforts to reform a system tilted in favor of those with the money to buy their freedom have failed because of opposition from lawmakers under the sway of the bail bond industry. A recent opinion by Marylands attorney general challenging the constitutionality of the system should lead, finally, to the change.

A nonbinding letter of advice from the office of Attorney General Brian E. Frosh (D) to five delegates who had sought an opinion concluded that holding people in jail because they cant afford bail would likely violate due process and prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment. The opinion, a prediction based on prior court rulings, said that judges and court commissioners must impose the least onerous conditions necessary to ensure that a defendant show up for trial and ensure public safety. That means taking into account the ability to pay.

You cant imprison someone for poverty, Mr. Frosh told the Baltimore Sun. For one guy, $1,000 bail is no big deal. For somebody else, they might not have 100 bucks, much less $1,000. Most disproportionately affected are African Americans and Hispanics, and the effects can be devastating. Studies have shown that defendants in jail awaiting trial are more likely to plead guilty, even if they are innocent. Those who end up being acquitted or having their charges dropped often lose their jobs, because they didnt show up for work. And those who make bail by using bail bondsmen are often stuck with years of paying off the debt regardless of the outcome of their cases.

Two factors should determine whether criminal defendants are jailed while awaiting trial. Do they pose a threat to the community, and might they skip out on their trial? The District of Columbia and Kentucky have successful pretrial release programs that dont rely on cash bail. Systems based on empirical risk assessment have proved to be more reliable predictors of defendant behavior than seat-of-the-pants decisions from judges and court commissioners. The significant savings from not jailing people is a bonus.

The delegates who requested the opinion said they hope to use it to spur the upcoming General Assembly to abolish the cash bail system. Their chances are uncertain, given how formidable opposition has been from an industry known in Annapolis for its generous campaign contributions. Mr. Frosh, aware of those obstacles, is not pinning all his hopes for change on lawmakers. He has formally asked the state judiciarys rules committee to consider changes that would guard against defendants being held in pretrial detention solely because they lack financial resources. The committee, whose subcommittee is set to meet Nov. 3, hopefully will recommend adoption of the reforms to the Court of Appeals.
In 1936, President Franklin Roosevelt defeated Kansas Gov. Alfred Landon in 46 of the 48 states, thereby creating the jest, As Maine goes, so goes Vermont. Eight decades later, New England has gone from the Republicans last redoubt in a bad year to their least receptive region in any year. Its six states have made 36 decisions in the past six presidential elections and the score is Democrats 35, Republicans 1  New Hampshire supported George W. Bush in 2000. Republicans hold just two of New Englands 21 House seats, and two of 12 Senate seats, those of Maines Susan Collins and New Hampshires Kelly Ayotte.

Just nine months ago  time flies when youre having fun  Donald Trump won his first victory in this states primary. Ayotte could become an especially regrettable part of the collateral damage his campaign is doing to the party with which he is temporarily identified. But she probably will survive his undertow and win a second term, partly because she is almost everything people say they want in politics: She is neither old nor rich nor angry.

She is 48 and often finds life amusing, as she recently did concerning former Democratic senator Evan Bayhs problem. He is trying to convince Indiana to return him as a senator to Washington, where he has lived and prospered since voluntarily leaving the Senate in 2011. When he was recently asked the address of his Indiana condominium, he was stumped. Ayotte, laughing, says, I probably couldnt tell you my address in Washington. There she lives in a basement apartment, returning on weekends to New Hampshire, where her husband runs a small landscaping and snow-removal business.

This year, New Hampshire has what has become an American rarity, a choice between two grown-ups. Ayotte is the states former attorney general. Her opponent, Maggie Hassan, 58, is ending her second term as governor. Both women have approximately 100 percent name recognition and benefit from what an Ayotte aide calls three degrees of separation: Almost everyone in this small state has, or knows someone who has, met or otherwise had contact with the two.

Which works to Ayottes advantage. She is running by running 5K races, bagging groceries, riding all-terrain vehicles in the woods and generally smothering the state with retail politics. Hassan, whose challenge is to give voters a reason to fire Ayotte, is relying heavily on negative ads, especially ones criticizing Ayottes path to her current position of refusing to vote for Trump.

But paid ads often do not dent three degrees of separation knowledge. Sixty-four percent of voters say Ayottes path to separation from Trump makes no difference to them. This week, UMass Amherst/WBZ released a poll of likely voters, including those leaning toward a candidate, that showed Ayotte with a four-point lead. Which must reflect the fact that, in a survey of eight swing states, New Hampshire had the largest portion of voters (9.7 percent) intending to vote both for Clinton and for a Republican Senate candidate.

New Hampshire campaigning is costly because candidates must advertise on Boston television, which is watched by almost 85 percent of New Hampshire voters. Of the states 1.3 million residents, the 720,000 who will vote for senator are the targets of the $125 million  $173.61 per vote  that will be spent on the Senate contest by Nov. 8. Ayotte will be outspent on television by $20 million  by $10 million in the last two weeks  but in this politics-saturated state, broadcast political ads may be the equivalent of wallpaper  semi-seen but not really noticed.

For 36 years, the Senate seat Ayotte occupies has been held by representatives of a distinctive New Hampshire Republicanism. Warren Rudman for two terms and Judd Gregg for three brought flinty fiscal Puritanism to bear on the federal governments mismanagement of its fisc. New Hampshire currently has a Democratic senator, a member of Congress from each party and a close contest for governor, so were Ayotte to lose, the state could be entirely blue, which does not suit the prickly (Live Free or Die) and purple spirit of a state where an estimated 40 percent of voters are registered independents. In this years crowded New Hampshire Republican primary, Ohios Gov. John Kasich finished second to Trump. Today, only 17 percent of those who supported Kasich support Trump. The center-right of the Granite State seems likely to decide this race, giving rise to the saying, As New Hampshire goes, so goes the Senate.

Read more from George F. Wills archive or follow him on Facebook.
I have spent much of my weekends of late at gatherings in houses of worship discussing some aspect of the presidential election. Never has 19th-century Episcopal rector Phillips Brookss prayer Open wide the eyes of my soul that I may see good in all things been more tested.

This election season has brought out the worst. The meanness and outrageous lies are revolting, a far cry from Brookss declaration to live so honestly and fearlessly that no outward failure can dishearten . . . or take away the joy of conscious integrity.

The spirit of joy and gladness, never abundant in political campaigning, is totally absent today.

Let me not lose faith in other people.

Its hard to keep faith with a presidential hopeful who labels immigrants killers and rapists  and who calls for the total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.

Its also hard to come to terms with the Donald Trump who falsely said about President Obama, He doesnt have a birth certificate, or if he does, theres something on that certificate that is very bad for him. Now, somebody told me  and I have no idea if this is bad for him or not, but perhaps it would be  that where it says religion, it might have Muslim. And if youre a Muslim, you dont change your religion, by the way.

With gestures, Trump mocks people with disabilities  You ought to see this guy, he said about my former Post colleague Serge Kovaleski, who has a congenital condition that limits his joint movement.

Trump the narcissist: I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldnt lose voters.

Trump the misogynist, speaking of himself: Women find his power almost as much of a turn-on as his money.

However, its what Trump inspires in others that prompts prayers of deliverance.

The yearlong surge in anti-Semitic hate targeting Jewish journalists has been stunning. A total of 2.6 million tweets containing language frequently found in anti-Semitic speech were posted across Twitter between August 2015 and July 2016 as coverage of the presidential campaign intensified, according to an analysis by the Anti-Defamation League. More than 19,000 of these were aimed at journalists; about two-thirds came from just 1,600 accounts.

The ADL data show that the harassment has been driven by rhetoric in the 2016 presidential campaign. The ADL also identified individuals and websites in the white supremacist world that have played a role in encouraging the attacks.

This from the ADL: These aggressors are disproportionately likely to self-identify as Donald Trump supporters, conservatives, or part of the alt-right, a loosely connected group of extremists, some of whom are white supremacists. Continuing, The words that appear most frequently in the 1,600 Twitter attackers bios are Trump, nationalist, conservative and white. 

The ADL noted that this doesnt imply that the Trump campaign supported or endorsed the tweets, only that Trumps self-styled supporters sent the ugly messages.

Dont mess with our boy Trump or you will be first in line for the camp, read a message to Politico reporter Hadas Gold  a message which, reported The Post, came with a photograph of her face, with a Nazi-style yellow star superimposed and a bloody bullet hole Photoshopped onto the middle of her forehead.

What is it about Trump?

David Duke, the Louisiana white supremacist and former KKK leader, has touted Trumps candidacy and even recorded automated calls on Trumps behalf.

I frequently find in my email inbox racially offensive messages, usually from writers hiding behind pseudonyms. Its been going on for years, and it, too, has intensified with the presidential election.

Preserve me from minding little stings: Brooks.

The Twitter slurs are obviously intended to be hurtful. But inflicting pain is secondary to what the bigots want to achieve. Their abuse is intended to intimidate and scare. They would like nothing more than to instill a kind of fear that discourages their targets  journalists  from doing their jobs.

It is that objective that journalists, regardless of race, religion, ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation and, yes, political views, must defeat. The will to do so found in Brookss plea, give me strength to live another day; Let me not turn coward before its difficulties.

Nov. 8 cant come soon enough.

Brooks asked that he become a cup of strength to suffering souls. That, Donald Trump is not.

Read more from Colbert Kings archive.
The Oct. 24 World article Brazils Lula has lost his luster but not his fans failed to discuss the political motivations of the Lava Jato (Car Wash) prosecutors and the judicial abuse taking place in Brazil. The reality is that the Car Wash prosecution has produced absolutely no evidence against former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, despite various charges having been brought against him. At the end of the article, a student was quoted as saying the allegations against Mr. Lula cant all be a lie, but, again, the prosecution has yet to produce any evidence.

Mr. Lula is a victim of lawfare, through which the prosecutors are manipulating the law to persecute him, with the sole intention of trying to stop him from running for president.

As the article noted, a recent poll showed that Mr. Lula would receive a substantial amount of support from Brazilians if he stood in the 2018 election.

Cristiano Zanin Martins, Sao Paulo

The writer is Luiz Inacio Lula da Silvas lawyer.
The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) said that irrespective of whoever wins the auction of Hotel Taj Mansingh, the iconic hotel building will not be demolished.

By Baishali Adak: Naresh Kumar, chairperson, New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), said on Friday, "Whoever Taj Mansingh goes to after the auction, we will ensure that the hotel building is not demolished. We hope that it remains an iconic landmark of Lutyens' Delhi."

He was reacting to media queries on Delhi HC's order of October 27, allowing NDMC to auction the prestigious hotel.

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A bench of Justices, led by Pradeep Nandrajog and Pratibha Rani, also refused Ratan Tata-owned IHCL (the Indian Hotels Company Limited) - which runs Taj Mansingh now - the 'Right of First Refusal (ROFR)' when it is finally opened for bidding.



Doubts on whether the 11-storey hotel may be pulled down, emerged after several prospective bidders rued that "it is quite old and does not meet the brand specifications of any luxury hotel."

Also Read: Delhi High Court dismisses Tata's plea against auction of Taj Mansingh, says IHCL has no right for hotel's renewal

WHO WILL BE THE NEW OWNER OF HOTEL TAJ MANSINGH?

Reportedly, several hospitality companies have approached the municipality. Among domestic players, this includes the likes of Bharat Hotels, EIH, Hotel Leela, ITC, Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), Neesa Leisure Ltd, Taj GVK Hotels and Resorts Ltd, Pride Hotels, The Park Hotels, Lemon Tree, Royal Orchid and Concept Hospitality Pvt Ltd.

Interested international hotel players include Four seasons, Accor, Intercontinental, Wyndham, Hilton, Marriott, Starwood, Hyatt, Carlson and Kezidor.

Reportedly, many asked if the new licensee could "demolish and rebuild Taj Mansingh." Importantly, IHCL said on Friday that it plans to challenge the Delhi HC decision in Supreme Court, in a filing to BSE.

Also Read: Tatas fight for rights over iconic Taj Mahal Hotel on Mansingh Road

Naresh Kumar said, "There are many interested parties, including international chains of hotels. We want to ensure that it goes to someone who meets the standards set by Ratan Tata's IHCL. It's a big Indian hospitality company with properties overseas. There is no denying that."

Mail Today had reported on January 29 this year that NDMC was in the process of evaluating all the assets of Taj Mansingh Hotel in preparation for its much-delayed auction.

Its consultant, SBI Capital Markets, was ironing out the finer details.

Also Read:

Why did Mistry stop being blue-eyed boy of Ratan Tata? All you need to know in 10 points





--- ENDS ---
On Oct. 28, the FBI announced new inquiries related to Hillary Clintons private email server. The Fix's Aaron Blake breaks down reactions to the announcement and explains why it matters to her presidential campaign. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

On Oct. 28, the FBI announced new inquiries related to Hillary Clintons private email server. The Fix's Aaron Blake breaks down reactions to the announcement and explains why it matters to her presidential campaign. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

PHOENIX--- Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump declared Saturday that the silent majority is back, as he predicted victory in a presidential race roiled by new questions of Democrat Hillary Clinton's legal jeopardy over her use of a private email system.

Trump seized on FBI Director James B. Comeys announcement Friday that he is at least temporarily continuing an inquiry he had previously declared closed. Democrats frantically demanded answers about the scope of Comeys additional inquiry and questioned the timing and motives of his announcement.

As youve heard, it was just announced yesterday that the FBI is reopening their investigation into the criminal conduct and the illegal conduct of Hillary Clinton, Trump said.

That was a broad overstatement. Comey recommended in July that Clinton not be charged in the case and his letter to Congress on Friday said that it is unknown if the emails now being reviewed are significant.

[Justice warned FBI that Comeys decision wasnt consistent with policy]

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump spoke at a campaign rally in Phoenix, Ariz., on Oct. 29, saying that he believes Clinton promised to reappoint Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch if she is elected president. (The Washington Post)

But the crowd at the Trump rally roared.

Hillary has nobody but herself to blame for her mounting legal difficulties, he said.

Her criminal action was willful, deliberate, intentional and purposeful, he continued. Hillary set up an illegal server for the obvious purpose of shielding her criminal conduct from public disclosure and exposure, he said, knowing full well that her actions put our national security at risk.

Trump floated his own theories, shifting focus away from his own controversies in the hope of scoring a last-minute surge in an race that even his staff admits he has been losing.

He said the only explanation for the FBI move is that very, very serious things must have been found.

[The Clinton email probe: Questions and answers]

Trump stuck closely to a theme that has held resonance throughout the long presidential campaign -- the idea that the nations political system is corrupt and weighted toward those who already have power and money.

Heres what happened after the FBI said it would examine newly discovered emails linked to Hillary Clintons tenure as secretary of state. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)

Hillary Clintons corruption is corrosive to the soul of our nation and it must be stopped, he said.

He invoked the history of scandal or controversy attached to Clinton and her husband former President Bill Clinton. Havent we had enough drama with the Clintons? he asked.

As he did earlier in the day in Golden, Colo., Trump congratulated himself for suggesting that former U.S. congressman Anthony Weiners connection to Clinton could trip her up.

I had no idea it was going to be that accurate, he said.

According to two people familiar with the situation, the newly discovered emails were found on a computer seized during an investigation of former U.S. congressman Anthony Weiner. Weiner is separated from his wife, top Clinton aide Huma Abedin.

Before Trump took the stage, Carl Mueller, whose daughter Kayla Mueller, a captive of the Islamic State who was killed in Syria, spoke at the rally in his support.

At one point during Trumps remarks, a man in the back off the crowd tuned toward the press, who were working in a dedicated area at the rear of the venue, and loudly chanted: Jew-S-A!

The crowd also cheered Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose hard-line stance on illegal immigration has made him a folk hero for some and a symbol of racism or intolerance for others, and former Republican governor Jan Brewer.

When Hillarys lips are moving, what is she doing? Brewer called, as the crowd shouted back: Lying!

Amid chants of Lock her up! Brewer went on.

The bombshell that was dropped yesterday -- looks like she was just too reckless even for FBI Director Comey, Brewer said, mispronouncing the name.

Hillary thinks Arizona is in play in November, and Arizona will turn from a red state to a blue state, Brewer said, as the crowd began to boo.

Dont boo, vote! Brewer said, laughing. Its a line also used frequently by Clinton and first lady Michelle Obama.

Democrats see Arizona as an opportunity to expand the map of battleground states this year, owing largely to Trumps high unpopularity with women and Hispanic voters, or at least to force him to spend money and time defending the state. Clinton will campaign in Phoenix on Wednesday.

Earlier Saturday, Clinton demanded answers about what she suggested is a politically motivated renewal of the previously shuttered federal inquiry into her email with just days to go in the presidential election.

Its pretty strange to put something like that out with so little information right before an election, Clinton said as a supportive crowd cheered her on and booed the mention of Comey's name.

Other Democrats went much further, issuing scathing assessments of Comeys motives and timing.

The assault signaled a decision to go fully on offense against Comey and confront the email issue and Republican attacks head on.

The congressional black and Hispanic caucuses organized a news conference to denounce Comey, at least three Democratic senators drafted a letter of complaint Saturday and the Democratic National Committee issued a tartly worded statement.

By releasing a letter within sixty days of the presidential election, Comey broke with long-standing department tradition that is meant to prevent any influence on the electoral process, the DNC statement said.

The letter did not offer enough detail that would allow Americans a full understanding of the development and whether or not it is even significant, which has led to speculation on the part of the media and irresponsible claims by Republican leaders. The FBI must move quickly to release additional clarifying information.

Podesta sent an email message to supporters Saturday night summarizing the development and asking for solidarity  and for donations.

By being vague and obfuscating, Comey opened the door to conspiracy theories, Republican attacks against Hillary and a surge of fundraising, Podesta wrote. There is no evidence of wrongdoing, no charge of wrongdoing and no indication that any of this even involves Hillary.

Polls had begun to tighten even before the FBI development, and it is unclear what effect it will have.

Clinton closed her day with what had been designed as a celebratory concert in Miami featuring supporters Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony. Rain dampened the event, which included no mention of the email development from Clinton or the performers.

Just remember how low our opponents go, we go high, Clinton exclaimed. No matter what they throw as us, we dont back down. Not now, not ever.

[Only 2 points separate Clinton, Trump in latest tracking poll]

In his letter, Comey said, The FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information. Comey said it is unknown if the information may be significant.

In fact its not just strange, its unprecedented and its deeply troubling, Clinton said Saturday. We call on Director Comey to explain everything right away and put it all out on the table.

Jenna Johnson contributed to this report.
Standing in front of someone elses banner, looking out at signs that read Lion Ted and We Love Cruz, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) picked up where he had left off. The election, he said, was about jobs, freedom, and security  just as hed said when he was running for president earlier this year. It was not just about electing Republicans.

If, God forbid, Hillary wins this thing  and I pray that she does not  we desperately need a Republican Senate to check the president, Cruz said Wednesday at the first of three events for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Darryl Glenn of Colorado. If the Republican nominee wins the presidency, we still need a Republican Senate to check the president, because thats the constitutional responsibility of the Senate, whether the president is Democrat or Republican.

Over 22 minutes in Loveland, and 24 more minutes in Denver, Cruz never mentioned Donald Trump, whom he had finally endorsed one month earlier. In between those events, Cruz told The Washington Post that if his party held the Senate, there was long historical precedent for a Supreme Court with fewer justices.

Like other rising stars  House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R)  who were felled or humbled by Trump, the runner-up for the Republican nomination was bidding to be the leader of the opposition. His argument, and the ones made by the candidates he stumped for in Colorado, hinted at how Republicans might pivot from 2016 by changing as little as possible.

Cruzs visit to Colorado was one of three Senate campaign swings he scheduled for October. He hit Nevada for Rep. Joseph J. Heck, who is running for the seat being vacated by Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid; Cruz will campaign for Missouris Sen. Roy Blunt next.

At each stop, Cruz largely echoed the message of all Republicans ducking the Trump tornado, assuring conservatives that the country wanted to elect them. He compared the release of impounded Iranian money, a part of the nuclear deal, to Democrats walking duffel bags of $20 bills to a bank. When one supporters errant elbow turned off the lights in Lovelands Embassy Suites ballroom, he joked that Obamas NSA was censoring conservatives.

We just saw yet another round of massive premium increases in Colorado, Cruz said in Loveland. If your premiums have dropped $2,500 a year, vote for Sen. Michael F. Bennet (D-Colo.). If they havent, and your health insurance premiums have gone up, vote for Darryl Glenn.

Such talkhad voters wondering what the 2016 election might have been like with a non-Trump candidate leading the party. At each public stop, Cruz  who will be just 49 years old during the next presidential election in 2020  spent almost as much time glad-handing and taking photos with supporters as he spent giving his speech.

Its too bad what happened in the primary, said one fan, clutching a copy of the senators memoir.

Life is long, Cruz said.

Like Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), like Mitt Romney  and less auspiciously, like former senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.)  Cruz ran a strong primary campaign that seemed to give him a claim on the next presidential race. According to former spokesman Rick Tyler, Cruzs poorly timed endorsement of Trump, which came months after he refused to back the businessman at the convention and days before the first presidential debate began the nominees polling swoon, put him on the losing end of either side of the argument about a post-Trump GOP.

But Cruz made that endorsement after hearing from grass-roots conservatives in Texas; grass-roots conservatives in Colorado were just as happy that hed evolved.

Im committed to him, said Linda Feather, 75, who worried that a Hillary Clinton presidency would lead to a surge of Syrian refugees into the United States. Im looking for him to run again in four years. I feel deeply that he was the only one who could have beaten Hillary. Mike Pence has strengths and weaknesses, but I see Ted as the most illuminating, most viable person in the movement.

Voters with that same attitude had nominated Glenn, a county commissioner from Colorado Springs who was elevated at the same state convention  packed with conservative activists  that gave Colorados Republican delegates to Cruz.

It was the most biased thing Ive ever seen in politics, said Grady Bouie, 32, a Trump supporter who came to see Cruz in Denver. Absolutely corrupt.

Cruz called Bennet the most vulnerable Democrat in the Senate, but he didnt mention how Glenns nomination sent national Republicans running from the race. In an average of recent polls, Bennet, who won his first term in a squeaker, led Glenn by 15 points. Glenns convention victory and subsequent campaign were reminders that the wing of the party that put up the strongest fight against Trump  Cruzs wing  had electability issues of its own.

Glenn had won the nomination with support from Cruz allies, such as the Senate Conservatives Fund, and with a rousing conservative speech hed later adapt for the Republican National Convention. To Republican delegates, he promised to be an unapologetic Christian conservative, pro-life, Second Amendment. To journalists, he sketched out a possible Senate career that sounded a lot like Cruzs.

Republicans have abrogated their responsibility to lead, Glenn told the Denver Post this summer, so now Republicans are expected to turn to Democrats for leadership, instead of laying out an agenda that Democrats also could agree with.

Bennet, a laconic politician who had never won an election before 2010, has dismantled Glenn much the way Democrats had intended to dismantle Cruz had he become the nominee. Tracker video, and Glenns own interactions with the press, yielded apologetic quotes that were easy to weaponize.

If you want an abortion, dont ask me to pay for it, Glenn said in a 2015 video that Democrats threw back at him in October. Thats a gift from God. There are no exceptions with that.

Glenn raised money  $2.8 million in the last quarter, $600,000 more than Bennet  but seemed to be running in a different universe. Bennets commercials have talked viewers through his battles to save Centers for Disease Control and Prevention facilities and to pass the farm bill. Glenns most striking spot shows the Air Force veteran and former powerlifter sweating through a workout and promising vaguely to change Washington.

But apart from Cruzs visit  and a Friday campaign tour with Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah)  Glenns race had faded from the national discussion. In the rest of his short conversation with reporters, Cruz got no questions about Glenns race. He did get one about Trump  specifically, whether Trump would alienate female voters  and navigated around it.

There have been no shortages of fireworks in this election cycle, and thats been unfortunate, said Cruz. Im doing everything I can, down-ballot, to turn out conservatives.
There was a time when hunters paid good money to hunt animals like antelope and buffalo at Simon Roods wild-game reserve. But on a recent day, Rood watched as one of his staff stared into a tangle of dried-out trees and waited to load his rifle during a training exercise. The quarry was something different.

What do we eradicate? Rood barked.

Poachers! shouted his employee.

Poaching has taken a devastating toll on iconic African wildlife, like the rhinoceros. In the early 20th century, there were about half a million rhinos in the wild internationally; today, there are less than 30,000 across Asia and Africa. The vast majority live in South Africa.

Protecting those animals has become a serious business. Rood decided several years ago to get out of the hunting industry and start a security company aimed at conserving wildlife. Now he uses his land to train anti-poaching guards that his firm, Nkwe Wildlife and Security Services, sends to work at private reserves.

Protected rhinos roam and feed in an enclosed precinct at the Kahya Ndlovu Lodge in Hoedspruit, located in the Limpopo province of South Africa. (Mujahid Safodien/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE VIA GETTY IMAGES)

You cant stop the poaching  thats a pie in the sky. Its about bringing the poaching to acceptable levels, Rood said.

The slaughter has become an emergency for national parks as well as for South Africas private game reserves, where tourists come to stay at luxurious lodges and catch a glimpse of the Big Five: lions, leopards, elephants, buffalo and rhinos.

As of last year, 6,200 rhinos  roughly a third of the countrys rhino population  were living on private reserves, according to the Private Rhino Owners Association (PROA). So far, most of the slain rhinos have been killed in Kruger National Park, the largest game reserve in South Africa. But as the government has ramped up the famous parks security, poachers have started looking elsewhere.

[How the fate of an entire subspecies of rhino was left to one elderly male]

South Africas private security industry already employs nearly 500,000 guards in homes, malls and offices to supplement a police force overwhelmed by high crime. In recent years, the anti-poaching industry has trained hundreds more guards to take on the menace in the countrys game parks.

Were talking about a global criminal syndicate, and its not getting smaller, its getting bigger, says Karl Miller, chairman and chief executive of the GES Group, whose subsidiary in South Africa provides anti-poaching rangers and security personnel to look after 1,600 rhinos across the country. Theyre very well funded, and theyre very heavily armed.

Between 2007 and 2014, the recorded number of rhinos poached in South Africa soared from 13 to 1,215, according to the government. The animals are killed for their horns, which can fetch thousands of dollars per pound on the black market in Asia. In recent years, there has been a spike in demand in Vietnam, where the horns are used in what some locals say are cures for maladies as diverse as cancer and hangovers, as well as in such high-end ornaments as cups and bracelets.

A member of Protracks anti-poaching staff looks at the remains of a poached rhino on a private game reserve in Limpopo province. (Krista Mahr/For The Washington Post)

The South African government has declared rhino poaching to be a national priority crime, and has rolled out a raft of initiatives to combat the problem, including boosting security in national parks and moving rhinos to safer areas. In the first eight months of 2016, more than 400 alleged poachers were arrested, according to the government, compared with 343 arrests in 2013 and 267 in 2012.

Although police investigate poaching crimes that occur on public and private land, landowners largely furnish their own security. Before, we could get away with having a couple of guys, not formally trained, says Pelham Jones, chairman of the rhino owners association. We are all now required to provide armed anti-poaching units.

Albi Modise, a spokesman for the countrys Department of Environmental Affairs, said the security industry plays an important role when it comes to protection of rhino on private game reserves.

Since 2009, South Africas private rhino owners have spent $115 million on security to protect the rhinos, Jones said.

He said that in the past seven years, there have been at least 20 armed attacks by poaching groups on park management or staff. One member of an anti-poaching unit was killed, he said.

[One mans idea for saving rhinos: Airlift them to Australia]

On a private game reserve not far from Kruger, a wooden barricade encloses a small security officers camp, one corner of the fence bashed in by a curious elephant. The reserve pays Protrack Anti-Poaching Unit, another security firm, to provide guards.

When the park guests settle in for sundowners, or cocktails, the anti-poaching units are on high alert, sunset being a popular time for poachers to shoot rhinos and flee the property under the cover of darkness.

A short drive from the guards camp, the remains of a rhino carcass lay near a watering hole, only a few joints of bone and desiccated hide left. In September, Godfrey, a 25-year-old guard, was patrolling the area and came across the rhino after poachers had killed it and hacked off its horn.

When we found it, it was still bleeding, says Godfrey, who uses only one name. We could see a few footprints. They went that way, he says, pointing into the bush and making a whoosh noise. Gone.

What Godfrey would have done had he caught them presents its own complications. Armed anti-poaching units working on private land must be registered with the government, as must their guns. They can legally use weapons on duty, but if they kill a poacher in self-defense, they can be charged with murder, according to security firm owners.

Miller, of GES, said rangers in the private industry sometimes wont aim their weapons at poachers they encounter, for fear of legal repercussions, and will shoot over their heads instead. Although his staff workers are trained to respond to armed poachers, he says, some guards are less prepared, and that can embolden poachers. If its an ill-equipped, small unit, the poachers are going to see the soft spots.

In Protracks headquarters in Hoedspruit, a tourist town in Limpopo province, dozens of blue folders are stacked in the office of Vincent Barkas, the companys founder. Each includes images of a poaching crime scene and rhino autopsy. Barkas says he shares the files with police but that only a handful have led to arrests.

Coordination with police and authorities is improving, Barkas says, but he said he thinks the overall effort to stop rhino poaching remains too disjointed and that, ultimately, its the global trafficking syndicates that have the upper hand.

They call it a rhino war, but we cant fight a war, Barkas says. Weve got labor laws. Weve got to pay overtime. Weve got all these different rules to follow, and the poachers got no rules.

Even though hes making money from his firm, Barkas worries that the escalating fight is further polarizing the country. The people hired by poaching kingpins to go after the animals are often desperately poor. If an anti-poaching guard kills one of those men, that can create animosity toward security companies and the conservation effort in general.

Unfortunately, being South Africans, we are throwing more guns, more weapons at this problem, and were not doing anything about education and awareness, he says. It might be too late for the rhino now.

Read more

The lions of Nairobi National Park are escaping to the suburbs

The largest-ever survey of elephants in Africa reveals startling declines

As the world mourned Cecil the lion, five of Kenyas endangered elephants were slain

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world
South Korean President Park Geun-hye bows after releasing a statement of apology during a news conference at the presidential Blue House in Seoul this week. (Yonhap/Reuters)

South Koreas president is engulfed in a political scandal with plotlines straight out of a soap opera: rumors of secret advisers, nepotism and ill-gotten gains, plus a whiff of sex. Theres even a Korean Rasputin and talk of a mysterious clique called the eight fairies.

Park Geun-hye, South Koreas first female president and daughter of the military dictator who turned the country into an industrial powerhouse, is facing the biggest challenge of her turbulent tenure.

The essence of the scandal is this: It has emerged that Park, notoriously aloof even to her top aides, has been taking private counsel from Choi Soon-sil, a woman shes known for four decades. Despite having no official position and no security clearance, Choi seems to have advised Park on everything from her wardrobe to speeches about the dream of reunification with North Korea.

Calls for her resignation  and even impeachment  are resonating from across the political spectrum, and her approval ratings have dropped to a record low of 17 percent, according to two polls released Friday.

On Friday, Park directed all of her top advisers to resign en masse, with her spokesman saying a reshuffle would take place, the Yonhap news agency reported. Kim Jae-won, senior presidential secretary for political affairs, told a parliamentary session that Parks chief of staff had already stepped down.

Its not clear, however, whether it will be enough.

Park Geun-hyes leadership is on the brink of collapse, said Yoo Chang-sun, a left-leaning political analyst. Shin Yool, a right-leaning professor at Myongji University, called it the biggest crisis since South Korea was founded 70 years ago. The president has lost her ability to function as leader.

[Young South Koreans call their country hell and look for ways out]

Choi is the daughter of the late Choi Tae-min, who was a kind of shaman-fortune teller described in a 2007 cable from the U.S. Embassy in Seoul as a charismatic pastor. Locally, hes seen as a Korean Rasputin who once held sway over Park after her mother was assassinated in 1974.

Rumors are rife that the late pastor had complete control over Parks body and soul during her formative years and that his children accumulated enormous wealth as a result, read the cable, released by WikiLeaks.

Park has strongly denied any improper relationship.

But South Korean media have uncovered evidence that, they claim, shows that Choi Soon-sil wielded undue influence over the president.

JTBC, a television network, said it had found a tablet computer that contained files of speeches the president had yet to give, among other documents. The younger Choi is said to have edited the landmark speech that Park gave in Germany in 2014, laying out her vision for unification with the North. The Hankyoreh newspaper wrote that actual presidential aides were just mice to Chois cat.

She is also rumored to have created a secret group called the eight fairies to advise the president behind the scenes.

TV Chosun, the channel belonging to the Chosun Ilbo newspaper, aired a clip showing Choi overseeing the making of an outfit for Park, raising doubt whether Park made any decision at all without Choi, the paper said.

South Korean media have been full of Photoshopped graphics to illustrate the relationship, including one showing Park as a puppet and Choi Soon-sil pulling her strings.

Meanwhile, investigators are looking into allegations that Choi siphoned off money from two recently established foundations that collected about $70 million from the Federation of Korean Industries, the big business lobby with members including Samsung and Hyundai. Prosecutors raided Chois home in Seoul this week looking for evidence.

[With talk of Ban running for South Korean presidency, his hometown is abuzz]

At the same time, there are allegations that the daughter of Choi Soon-sil was given special treatment when she applied for Ewha Womans University, one of South Koreas top colleges.

Local media have reported that her daughters grades were not good enough, so the rules were changed to give credit to applicants who had won equestrian awards, as she had. The already-embattled president of Ewha resigned this week.

Ironically, this all comes less than a month after Parks administration instituted a wide-ranging new law aimed at cracking down on corruption and influence peddling.

Choi is in Germany with her daughter and is refusing to return to South Korea to answer questions, saying she is having heart problems and cannot fly. But in an interview with the Segye Ilbo, she denied creating the Eight Fairies group, owning the tablet or knowingly receiving classified information. Because I was not a government official, I had no idea that this was confidential, she told the paper.

Park apologized Tuesday for the scandal, saying she had always acted with a pure heart. Then she canceled a planned meeting related to North Korea on Friday so she could consider ways to resolve the nations anxiety and stably run the government, according to a spokesman.

She did, however, attend a ceremony in the southern city of Busan, where university students shouted Park Geun-hye should step down! and Choi Soon-sil must be arrested!

[South Korean president is dealt a setback at the polls, ushering in a stalemate]

South Korea is no stranger to political corruption scandals  almost every president has been tainted by one  but this time feels different to some analysts.

Theres been corruption around the center of power throughout South Korean political history, but they have involved family members or people close to the president, but not the actual president, said Shin of Myongji University.

I can only think of two ways for Park Geun-hye to get out of this situation: She can propose a grand-coalition government or promise to step down after a constitutional amendment [allowing her to cede power] is passed, he said.

Parks five-year term runs until the end of next year.

The Chosun Ilbo, South Koreas largest newspaper and an influential conservative voice, was similarly damning.

This is no ordinary lame-duck phenomenon. This is a complete collapse of a president's ability to run a government, it said in an editorial this week, calling on her to dissolve her government secretariat and appoint a caretaker prime minister.

The only way open to her is to pull out of government and put the public good first, it wrote. Many people are ashamed for her. It is time she was, too.

Seo reported from Seoul.

Read more

In South Koreas president, some see echoes of her repressive father

South Korea was once an economic tiger but seems to have lost its mojo

These North Korean missile launches are adding up to something troubling

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world
Young migrants wait to board a bus leaving for a reception center on Oct. 28, following a massive operation to clear the Jungle migrant camp in Calais, France. (Philippe Huguen/AFP/Getty Images)

This town was never going to surrender without a fight.

Required by the French government to welcome 87 migrants evicted from the sprawling Calais Jungle this week, this rustic hilltop community of ancient stone houses and 1,800 people erupted in outrage. Before the migrants even arrived, protesters had scrawled graffiti on its scenic streets, and the mayor had already submitted his resignation in the name of liberty.

As authorities sent more than 6,000 migrants from Calais to more than 400 welcome centers throughout France, small, quiet towns like Saint-Bauzille-de-Putois have found themselves thrust onto the front lines of Europes ongoing migrant crisis. But in these environments, the flash point becomes intensely intimate, dividing ordinary people over what to make of the black and brown young men who arrive nearly every day.

By the end of the week, nearly all of the Jungles migrants were relocated elsewhere in France in a relatively peaceful operation. But French authorities said 1,500 unaccompanied minors were left behind in reception centers near Calais, many of whom are probably eligible for asylum in Britain. On Saturday, French President Francois Hollande called on British authorities to take their share of these children, an increasingly contentious issue between the two governments.

Across France, some communities have welcomed the newcomers, greeting incoming buses with posters and balloons. Others have not, exhibiting a nativism determined to highlight perceived differences between us and them. Sometimes, that exclusion has taken the form of a vote, as in Forges-les-Bains, where 61 percent of residents rejected welcoming migrants last month. But mostly it has come in the form of violence, as in the welcome centers set on fire in Loubeyrat this week and in Arres earlier this summer. Authorities are still investigating those cases.

Michel Issert, mayor of Saint-Bauzille-de-Putois, France, seen in his office on Oct. 27. Issert submitted his resignation in protest of the governments plan to resettle 87 migrants in the town. (James McAuley/The Washington Post)

[Migrants evicted from miserable Calais camp leave with bittersweet memories]

There has been no fire in Saint-Bauzille-de-Putois, but there has been no welcome, either. The town successfully demanded that the government reduce the number of incoming Calais migrants from 87 to 44. Early Thursday morning, 43 arrived  mostly single men, and mostly from Sudan. Stop Migrants! screamed one graffiti message on a main street in the town center. Migrants! Get out! yelled another, scribbled on a gate.

Nestled on the banks of the Herault River in the heart of the scenic Languedoc region, Saint-Bauzille-de-Putois is a classic French village. The tallest structure in town is the humble church, and its residents are proud of their closeness to the land: fishing in the river, hunting stags in the hills and drinking the local wines. What matters here are roots.

In the words of Michel Issert, 69, the mayor: This is a good place to be born, to live and to die. Many here do all three, living, like Issert, in the same stone house where he was born and his grandfather was born.

Sitting in his office, flanked by the French flag, he pulled out a calculator and explained why he had no choice but to resign over the incoming migrants. The government had assigned 207 migrants to be resettled in the entire Herault region, he said, and 87 of them were to be sent to Saint-Bauzille-de-Putois. His fingers tapped the keys of the calculator, and a number appeared: 42 percent.

This is unjust, illegal, he said, pointing at the figure on the screen, which is higher than the percentage of the towns population in the region. We are in a situation of mathematical inequality. And mathematical inequality, he added, is Republican inequality.

When I tell my co-citizens that we had to take in 40 percent of the migrants from the entire region, they dont understand me, he said. The last liberty of an elected official is to resign, and this is the position of the mayor of Saint-Bauzille. This was my last liberty.

French authorities are moving thousands of migrants and refugees out of the notorious Jungle" camp in Calais. They say its for humanitarian reasons but the fate of the men, women and some 1,300 children remains unclear. (James McAuley, Jason Aldag / The Washington Post)

He said he will remain in office until his resignation is processed.

Issert, trained as a lawyer, showed a poster from the towns campaign to reduce the number of Calais migrants it would have to host: 87 Migrants, Thats Too Much, it read.

Its exactly the same problem with digestion. When its too much, its too much, Issert said, patting his stomach.

On Thursday afternoon, the day of their arrival, pairs of Sudanese migrants from the Jungle wandered down the country road from the welcome center into town. One young man from the Darfur region of Sudan, who would identify himself only as David, said that Saint-Bauzille had not been where he wanted to go. Like thousands of others from Calais, he still hopes to make it to Britain, he said.

We dont know anything about whats going on, anything about it at all, he said, gesturing to the town. We just want our cigarettes.

With two companions, David continued onto the local tabac, passing a cafe terrace where residents sat and stared as the young men passed.

[France buses 1,600 migrants out of notorious Jungle camp in Calais]

At the Cafe de lUnion, Denise Guibal, 78, sipped an afternoon espresso after an English course in town, squinting in the bright afternoon sun. If it was just families, that would be one thing, she said. But its single men  this can be dangerous for women and girls.

Three young women, all sisters, were also sitting on the terrace, taking a break from their shift. Their mother owns the cafe, they said, and they bus tables and run the kitchen. The biggest challenge, they all agreed, had nothing to do with the migrants themselves.

The hardest thing will be the relations between the villagers, said Marine Madar, 19, smoking a cigarette.

Her sister Sandy, 21, agreed: People here can be very racist.

We, for instance, are considered foreigners, because we werent born here and havent lived here for 55 years, Marine said, noting that they had arrived from Paris as children.

But for Madame Guibal, what to do with these newcomers was neither a question of racism nor exclusion. I think, sometimes, that I have a big house and could very easily host someone. But, she paused, it would not be wise  I dont have a network to help them, and besides, theres no work.

Again, the issue was simply a matter of numbers.

Its exactly the same problem in the United States, where people are building a wall to keep out Mexicans, Issert insisted. And why do they do that? Because they cant possibly welcome all the Mexicans who want to come.

Read more:

Russia deploys cultural diplomacy in France

How far right will Nicolas Sarkozy go to become Frances president again?

Britain to begin taking in eligible children from Calais refugee camp

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
By Siraj Qureshi: In a surprising change of stand over the Triple Talaq issue following PM Modi's speeches in Mahoba and Varanasi on this issue, Muslim women of Agra held a protest march against the union government's interference in the Islamic laws and sent a memorandum addressed to the President of India, demanding that the Modi government should be prevented from meddling with the ancient laws of Muslims.

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A large procession of Muslim men and women marched towards the Agra Collectorate from the Muslim-dominated Mantola area and met the District Magistrate who was presented with the memorandum addressed to the President of India.

Also read: PM Modi raising 'triple talaq' issue for political gains: Asaduddin Owaisi



Talking to India Today after the protest march ended, Raziya Begum asked PM Modi to first look inside his home where his own legally wedded wife was living a life of separation. If there had been any injustice in the 1400 years old Islamic law, then the billions of Muslims would not have been living such happy and prosperous lives all over the world.

Also read: Agra Muslims slam Modi government's stand on triple talaq



WILL ONLY OBEY THE LAW OF QURAN

Sagir Fatima Girls Inter College Principal Dr Farhat Bano said that the Central government had no business interfering with the religious laws of Muslims as the Muslims will only obey the law written down in the Holy Quran and no other law of law could be applicable on them despite what the government may say.

Also read: Reforms in Muslim marriage laws is an idea whose time has come



Sultana Qureshi said that India was under Muslim rule for 1,300 years and under British rule for 250 years but no government ever interfered with the Islamic laws and in under 36 months of rule, Modi has started a debate over the validity of Islamic laws, which was intolerable.

Also read: If Islamic nations can regulate triple talaq, why can't India: Ravi Shankar Prasad



She said that it seems that Modi is being influenced by the impending elections in five states including UP, in order to gather as many Hindu votes in his favour as possible. She said that the Muslim women will oppose this interference at all costs and will not allow the Islamic laws to be abrogated in the name of common civil code.



POLITICS OVER TRIPLE TALAQ

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Citing the example of the Shahbano case, she said that the Supreme Court had given a decision in favour of Shahbano at that time, but the Muslims had protested vehemently against this decision. Consequently, the central government at that time had to bring a law overturning the Supreme Court's decision and assured Muslims that the Islamic laws will not be changed by the Court. But PM Modi is trying to do exactly that by challenging the Triple Talaq, merely to feed his electoral politics.

Also read: Banning the abhorrent triple talaq needs no debate



It was probably the first time in the history of Agra, when so many Burqa-clad women descended on the city's streets to protest against the central government. Even foreign tourists watched the spectacle in amazement and snapped pictures of the procession in their cameras.

Also read: Triple talaq case: Muslim activists snub clerics on Uniform Civil Code

WOMEN PRESSURISED

However, several local BJP leaders commented that it was clear that the women were being pressurised by Muslim men and a lot of Muslim men accompanied the march that was organized by the Rashtriya Sarvdaliy Muslim Action Committee and UP Muslim Mahapanchayat, while none of the Muslim women organizations were a part of this march.

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Also read: Muslim leaders fear uniform civil code a ruse to interfere with laws of the community



Haji Jameeluddin, Nadeem Noor, Imran Bakhshi, Haji Mohd. Yunus, S M Kazmi, Syed Irfan Salim, Shareef Kale, Ziyauddin, Sami Aghai, Mohd. Akbar Qureshi and several other prominent Muslim leaders accompanied the protest march.

Also read: Muslim NGO condemns Centre's take on triple talaq, says will defend the 'faith' if challenged



Senior Samajwadi Party leader Mohd. Akbar Qureshi told India Today that Modi was an enemy of Muslims and his slogan 'sabka sath sabka vikas' was a farce. In fact, Modi sought to destroy the culture and religion of Muslims and this attempt to change the Islamic law was a direct attack on Muslims which will not be tolerated.

Also read: Centre opposes triple talaq in Supreme Court, says gender equality not negotiable



--- ENDS ---
Senior Justice Department officials told the FBI that Director James B. Comeys decision to notify Congress about renewing the investigation into Hillary Clintons private email server was not consistent with long-standing practices of the department, according to officials familiar with the discussions.

Director Comey understood our position. He heard it from Justice leadership, said one Justice Department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the high-level conversations. It was conveyed to the FBI, and Comey made an independent decision to alert the Hill. He is operating independently of the Justice Department. And he knows it.

This official added: It is the Justice Departments position that we dont comment on an ongoing investigation. And we dont take steps that will be viewed as influencing an election.

[Read the letter the Justice Department sent to lawmakers]

Comey decided to inform Congress Friday that he would look again into Clintons handling of emails during her time as secretary of state for two main reasons: a sense of obligation to lawmakers and a concern that word of the new email discovery would leak to the media and raise questions of a coverup.

Republicans and Democrats respond as the FBI makes new inquiries related to Hillary Clintons private email server. (Dalton Bennett,Alice Li,Ashleigh Joplin/The Washington Post)

The rationale, officials close to Comeys decision-making described while speaking on the condition of anonymity, prompted the FBI director to release his brief letter to Congress on Friday and upset a presidential race less than two weeks before Election Day. It placed Comey again at the center of a highly partisan argument over whether the nations top law enforcement agency was unfairly influencing the campaign.

In a memo explaining his decision to FBI employees soon after he sent his letter to Congress, Comey said he felt an obligation to do so given that I testified repeatedly in recent months that our investigation was completed.

[Read the letter Comey sent to FBI employees explaining his decision]

Of course, we dont ordinarily tell Congress about ongoing investigations, but here I feel I also think it would be misleading to the American people were we not to supplement the record, Comey wrote to his employees.

The last time Comey found himself in the campaign spotlight was in July, when he announced that he had finished a months-long investigation into whether Clinton mishandled classified information through the use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state. After he did so, the denunciation was loudest from Republican nominee Donald Trump and his supporters, who accused the FBI director of bias in favor of Clintons candidacy. There was also grumbling within FBI ranks, with a largely conservative investigative corps complaining privately that Comey should have tried harder to make a case.

[The Clinton email probe: Questions and answers]

This time the loudest criticism has come from Clinton and her supporters, who said Friday that Comey had provided too little information about the nature of the new line of investigation and allowed Republicans to seize political ground as a result. The inquiry focuses on Clinton emails found on a computer used by former U.S. congressman Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), now under investigation for sending sexually explicit messages to a minor, and top Clinton aide Huma Abedin, who is Weiners wife. The couple have since separated.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton spoke to reporters Oct. 28 in Des Moines about the FBI's new inquiries into the private email server she used as secretary of state. (The Washington Post)

It is extraordinary that we would see something like this just 11 days out from a presidential election, John Podesta, the chairman of Clintons presidential campaign, said in a statement. The Director owes it to the American people to immediately provide the full details of what he is now examining. We are confident this will not produce any conclusions different from the one the FBI reached in July.

Officials familiar with Comeys thinking said the director on Thursday faced a quandary over how to proceed once the emails, which number more than 1,000 and may duplicate some of those already reviewed, were brought to his attention.

Comey had just been briefed by a team of investigators who were seeking access to the emails. The director knew he had to move quickly because the information could leak out.

The next day, Comey informed Congress that he would take additional investigative steps to evaluate the emails after deciding the emails were pertinent to the Clinton email investigation and that the FBI should take steps to obtain and review them.

In July, Comey had testified under oath before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that the FBI was finished investigating the Clinton email matter and that there would be no criminal charges. Comey was asked at the hearing whether he would review any new information the FBI came across.

My first question is this, would you reopen the Clinton investigation if you discovered new information that was both relevant and substantial? Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tex.) asked Comey during the hearing.

Its hard for me to answer in the abstract, Comey replied at the hearing. We would certainly look at any new and substantial information.

In the Friday memo to his employees, Comey acknowledged that the FBI does not yet know the import of the newly discovered emails. Given that we dont know the significance of this newly discovered collection of emails, I dont want to create a misleading impression, Comey wrote.

An official familiar with Comeys thinking said that he felt he had no choice.

What would it look like if the FBI inadvertently came across additional emails that appear to be relevant to the Clinton investigation and not at least inform the Oversight Committee that this occurred? the official said. What would be the criticism then? That the FBI hid it? That the FBI purposely kept this information to themselves?

The official said the decision came down to which choice was not as bad as the others.

Comeys action has been blasted by some former Justice Department officials, Clinton campaign officials and Democratic members of Congress.

Without knowing how many emails are involved, who wrote them, when they were written or their subject matter, its impossible to make any informed judgment on this development, said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who called the release appalling.

However, one thing is clear: Director Comeys announcement played right into the political campaign of Donald Trump, who is already using the letter for political purposes. And all of this just 11 days before the election, Feinstein said.

Matthew Miller, a former Justice Department spokesman in the Obama administration, said the FBI rarely releases information about ongoing criminal investigations and does not release information about federal investigations this close to political elections.

Comeys behavior in this case from the beginning has been designed to protect his reputation for independence no matter the consequences to the public, to people under investigation or to the FBIs own integrity, Miller said.

Miller and other former officials pointed to a 2012 Justice Department memo saying that all employees have the responsibility to enforce the law in a neutral and impartial manner, which is particularly important in an election year.

Miller said he had been involved in cases related to elected officials in which the FBI waited until several days after an election to send subpoenas. They know that if they even send a subpoena, let alone announce an investigation, that might leak and it might become public and it would unfairly influence the election when voters have no way to interpret the information, Miller said.

Nick Ackerman, a former federal prosecutor in New York and an assistant special Watergate prosecutor, said Comey had no business writing to Congress about supposed new emails that neither he nor anyone in the FBI has ever reviewed.

He added: It is not the function of the FBI director to be making public pronouncements about an investigation, never mind about an investigation based on evidence that he acknowledges may not be significant.

In Comeys note to employees, he seemed to anticipate that his decision would be controversial.

In trying to strike that balance, in a brief letter and in the middle of an election season, there is significant risk of being misunderstood, Comey wrote.

Tom Hamburger contributed to this report.

Read more:

Computer seized in Weiner probe prompts FBI to take new steps in Clinton email inquiry

Why Comey was able to defy Justice bosses on Clinton email announcement

FBI agents waited weeks to tell Comey about emails possibly relevant to Clinton probe
Senior Justice Department officials warned the FBI that Director James B. Comeys decision to notify Congress about renewing the investigation into Hillary Clintons private email server was not consistent with long-standing practices of the department, according to officials familiar with the discussions.

FBI officials who work closely with Comey on Thursday contacted attorneys at the Justice Department. Their message: Comey intended to inform lawmakers of newly discovered emails potentially connected to the Clinton email investigation.

Justice officials reminded the FBI of the departments position that we dont comment on an ongoing investigation. And we dont take steps that will be viewed as influencing an election, said one Justice Department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the high-level conversations.

Director Comey understood our position. He heard it from Justice leadership, the official said. It was conveyed to the FBI, and Comey made an independent decision to alert the Hill. He is operating independently of the Justice Department. And he knows it.

Comeys decision less than two weeks before the presidential election has stunned former and current law enforcement officials and rocked the Clinton campaign, which appeared to be coasting to victory. The bureau director said in a memo to FBI employees he felt obligated to update lawmakers after testifying under oath that the investigation into Clintons private email server was complete. And he feared that word of the newly discovered emails  found in the course of a separate investigation into former U.S. congressman Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.)  would leak to the media and suggest a coverup, according to officials familiar with his thinking.

Heres what happened after the FBI said it would examine newly discovered emails linked to Hillary Clintons tenure as secretary of state. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)

FBI officials said Comey and those advising him were well aware of Justice Department policy, but considered it guidance, rather than an ironclad rule, on how to handle such sensitive information so close to an election.

During a vigorous discussion at the FBI among about 10 officials, lawyers and staffers, different options were discussed, said one official with knowledge of the discussion. In the end, Comey felt that the Justice Department guidance about elections did not pertain to this extraordinary situation, the official said.

But the day after Comeys surprise announcement, anger at the FBI director from Democrats had only intensified.

Campaign chairman and longtime Clinton family confidant John D. Podesta said on a call with reporters that Comeys announcement was long on innuendo and short on facts, allowing Republicans to distort and exaggerate its message.

Theres no evidence of wrongdoing, no charge of wrongdoing, no indication that this is even about Hillary, Podesta said.

Comeys decision to ignore the advice of Justice leadership is stunning, said Matt Miller, who served as Justice Department spokesman under then-Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. Jim Comey forgets that he works for the attorney general.

I think he has a lot of regard for his own integrity. And he lets that regard cross lines into self-righteousness, Miller said. He has come to believe that his own ethics are so superior to anyone elses that his judgment can replace existing rules and regulations. That is a dangerous belief for an FBI director to have.

1 of 57 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail View Photos The Democratic presidential nominee hits the road as Election Day nears. 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.

With his letter to lawmakers Friday, Comey managed to unite traditionally polarized partisans in Congress who asked the FBI director to immediately release more information and explain his actions.

On Saturday, four Democratic senators called on Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch and Comey to further explain the letter Comey sent to congressional leaders. Sens. Thomas R. Carper (Del.), Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.), Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) and Benjamin L. Cardin (Md.) asked that Lynch and Comey by Monday provide more details of the investigative steps being taken by the FBI, the number of emails involved and what is being done to determine how many of the emails are the same as ones already reviewed by the FBI.

Just ten days before a presidential election, the American people deserve more disclosure without delay regarding the FBIs most recent announcement, the senators wrote. Anything less would be irresponsible and a disservice to the American people.

Republican lawmakers are likewise interested in greater transparency from the FBI director.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, wrote Comey Friday evening with a similar request.

In line with your commitment to be transparent with Congress and the public, I respectfully request that the FBI provide as much information as possible about these new developments without harming the integrity of its ongoing investigation, Johnson wrote in the letter.

The FBI director is considered a quasi-independent law enforcement official, though the role still falls under the attorney general. The division of duty between the FBI and attorneys at the Justice Department is usually clear. FBI agents investigate cases and will offer recommendations on whether to bring charges. Justice officials ultimately make that call.

But in the case of the Clinton email server investigation, that norm was upended in June after Lynch and former president Bill Clinton met on Lynchs plane in Phoenix, just as the inquiry was in its final stages. Lynch described the meeting as primarily social, but she soon pledged that she would accept the recommendations of the FBI on the Clinton email probe.

That led to Comeys unusual news conference in July, when he announced he had finished an investigation into whether Clinton had mishandled classified information during her tenure as secretary of state. He recommended she not be charged.

DOJ officials said that Lynch and Comey did not have a direct conversation about Comeys decision to inform lawmakers of newly discovered emails.

The emails, which number in the thousands, were found on a computer used by Weiner, now under investigation after allegedly sending sexually explicit messages to a minor, and top Clinton aide Huma Abedin, who is Weiners wife. The two recently separated.

The emails may duplicate some of those already reviewed, and officials still are not sure of their significance. While the FBI had legal authority to search Weiners laptop for evidence related to his case of sexting a minor, it could not seize emails related to the Clinton server case. That would require a separate search warrant or the consent of the people whose emails were gathered.

Comey said that once FBI officials decided to review the newly discovered batch of emails found on the Weiner computer, and examine its significance to the Clinton investigation, the law enforcement activity would soon become public.

How would that look? an official asked. And how do you then explain it? What impact would that have had to hold onto this information for a couple of weeks?

[Read the letter Comey sent to FBI employees explaining his decision]

Michael Vatis, a former senior Justice Department official who is now a partner at Steptoe & Johnson, said Comey was probably trying to be transparent. But transparency is not the foremost value in investigations. Fairness is, he said.

His statement has, quite predictably, been blown out of proportion and twisted into a signifier of some momentous discovery, when in fact, the new emails may turn out to reveal nothing new at all, he said. Thats not fair to Clinton.

A 2012 Justice Department memo sent by Holder during the last presidential race said employees must be particularly sensitive to safeguarding the Departments reputation for fairness, neutrality, and nonpartisanship.

The memo advised that if an employee was faced with a question regarding the timing of charges or overt investigative steps near the time of a primary or general election, the employee should contact the departments public integrity section for further guidance.

An expert on legal ethics, Stephen Gillers of New York University School of Law said he was disturbed by Comeys conduct during this election season.

Comeys July press conference was wrong, and now he has doubled down, Gillers said. The FBIs job is to gather information for and make a recommendation to DOJ lawyers, not to hold press conferences and characterize the evidence. Tolerating that conduct from an FBI director sets a terrible precedent.

Adam Entous, Jenna Johnson and Matt Zapotosky contributed to this report.

Read more:

Computer seized in Weiner probe prompts FBI to take new steps in Clinton email inquiry

FBI Director James B. Comeys must-watch testimony from 2007
Iraqi forces and the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization) deploy toward the village of Ayn Nasir, south of Mosul, on Friday. Iraqs Shiite militias on Saturday said that they had joined the operation to recapture Mosul. (Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images)

Iraqs Shiite militias said Saturday that they had joined the operation to recapture the Islamic State-held city of Mosul, a move that could whip up sectarian and regional tensions in an already complex battle.

Militia leaders said that they launched an offensive toward the town of Tal Afar, about 40 miles west of Mosul, in the early hours of the morning. More than 10,000 fighters are participating, they said.

Containing the role of powerful Shiite militias presents a challenge for Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi as Iraqi troops push toward the largely Sunni city of Mosul in the countrys largest military operation since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. In past battles against the Islamic State, the Iraqi militias have been accused of kidnappings and executions.

After more than two years of Mosul being under the militants rule, the battle is seen as a chance to reset relations between the citys Sunnis and the Shiite-led government, which had plunged so low by 2014 that some of its residents welcomed the militants. How the advancing forces deal with the local population is key to rebuilding trust.

Shiite militia leaders have agreed not to enter Mosul itself for now. But Tal Afar, where the militias are now focused, is itself a dangerous flash point, analysts have said. The town where Sunnis and Shiites once mixed has the potential to be the scene of revenge killings.

1 of 48 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  The battle for Mosul View Photos Iraqi forces launch their most ambitious fight against the Islamic State. Caption Iraqi forces continue their most ambitious fight against the Islamic State. Iraqi Federal police celebrate in West Mosul. Alaa Al-Marjani/Reuters Wait 1 second to continue.

The presence of Iranian-backed militias could also give Turkey, which has repeatedly insisted on a role in the Mosul operation despite furious protestations from Baghdad, an excuse to deepen its involvement, raising the specter of more conflagration.

Turkey has said it has a duty to protect the people of Tal Afar, who are ethnic Turkmen, but it also has a strategic interest in countering Iranian influence in Iraq. It has stationed hundreds of troops near Mosul and trained local Sunni fighters, ignoring Baghdads repeated requests for them to leave.

The Tal Afar issue is a sensitive subject for us, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara on Saturday, adding that he had made Turkeys position clear to all authorities. If Shiite militias extend terror there then our response will certainly be different, he said, without clarifying how.

Any Turkish forces in Iraq will be dealt with as the enemy, said Jawad al-Tleibawi, a spokesman for the Asaib Ahl al-Haq Shiite militia. We already have plans to confront any intervention by them, he said. Tleibawi said Shiite militias also planned to retake Hatra and Baaj, putting them in the vicinity of Kurdish peshmerga forces, who have clashed with them in the past.

[Iraqi troops pause in Mosul push to clear Islamic State defenses, Pentagon says]

Many of Iraqs Shiite militias formed after 2003 to fight U.S. troops, but they have burgeoned since 2014, when they stepped in to fill security gaps as the Iraqi army collapsed in parts of the country.

Due in part to sectarian concerns, the militias have been gradually sidelined during operations to retake largely Sunni urban centers from Islamic State militants, but they have fought on the outskirts of those battles.

When Iraqi forces retook the western city of Fallujah earlier this year, militias were accused by rights groups and local government officials of kidnapping hundreds of men as they fled the city.

This morning the second page of the Mosul operations started, said Ahmed al-Assadi, a spokesman for the umbrella group of mostly Shiite militia forces known as popular mobilization units. He said they were moving toward beloved Tal Afar.

Tal Afar had a sizable minority of Shiites before Islamic State militants captured the town in 2014, and they were forced to flee. Some were later recruited into Shiite militias.

Turkey will take all necessary measures allowed by international law to counter any threat from Shiite militias to Turkmen in Tal Afar, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Wednesday, according to the Anadolu news agency.

Ethnic and sectarian balances must be taken into account in Mosul and Tal Afar, he said.

U.S. diplomats last week failed to broker an agreement between Turkey and Iraq about what role the Turks would play in the offensive.

The Shiite militias will join an already disparate array of forces on the ground, including Kurdish peshmerga, Sunni tribal fighters and Iraqs police and army. Iraqi forces are within four miles of the outskirts of Mosul on the eastern front, commanders have said, while the Iraqi military said Saturday that it had retaken Shura, 25 miles south.

Jets from the U.S.-led coalition have also been backing the offensive for Mosul, though U.S. military officials said they do not provide air support for any groups not under the direct command and control of the Iraqi military.

Assadi said the militia forces were being supported by the Iraqi air force and had advanced 20 miles since they began their assault. They will need to retake a string of villages west of Mosul before reaching Tal Afar.

Tal Afar will be our last target, he said.

Zeynep Karatas contributed from Istanbul.

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Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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Yet another earthquake shook central Italy on the evening of October 26. Two major tremors reading 5.4 and 6.1 on the Richter scale and over a hundred aftershocks affected the entire region of Marche and could also be felt in Rome. Because people were still awake and immediately ran outdoors, the only person who died as a consequence of the earthquake was an elderly man who had a heart attack.

Two months ago, several earthquakes struck the region of Gran Sasso and the villages of Amatrice, Accumoli, Pescara and Arquata. Almost 300 people were killed and over 400 injured. Numerous buildings collapsed and people spent the night in the cold and pouring rain. After Wednesdays earthquake, thousands of people are in need of emergency accommodations, drinking water, toilets, warm clothing and a new home.

Minister President Matteo Renzi (Democratic Party) promised the earthquake victims two months ago that rebuilding has priority. However, even the damage of the earlier earthquakes had not been repaired. For example, seven years after LAquila was hit by an earthquake in 2009, the city centre is still one big construction site, and some of it has simply been left in ruins, empty and abandoned. Most people are still living in improvised housing that is now falling apart as well. Balconies have collapsed and the wind blows through walls and ceilings.

On account of the earthquake, Renzi interrupted his national referendum campaign tour and returned to Rome from Venice. The vote on December 4 could, however, bring about a shakeup of an entirely different kind: a political earthquake with far reaching consequences, not only for Italy, but also for the fate of the EU.

On December 4, Renzis most important reform, the constitutional referendum, will come to a vote. If passed, it would abolish the two-house system of parliament and simplify and accelerate the decision process. The Italian government wants to use the reform to prepare for war and impending class struggles.

The government is following the dictates of finance capital, which demands the introduction of authoritarian forms of rule in order to carry out supposedly necessary reforms against the opposition of the population. Renzi has, for a long time, connected the passing of this reactionary referendum with his personal fate. If the referendum fails, my political career is at an end, he has declared.

However, Renzi cannot be at all certain of the victory of the referendum. His policies in recent years and the attacks of his government on workers, pensioners and youth have enormously intensified social tensions. According to a report published by Caritas Italy on October 7, the number of people in absolute poverty has grown by 1.8 million to a total of 4.6 million in eight years. To an increasing extent, poverty affects not only southern Italy, but also the northern regions. As the report says, it affects the entire society and not just isolated groups.

With his pension reform, his Buona Scuola school reform, his Jobs Act labour reform, he has carried out a sustained attack on basic social rights. For weeks, there have been repeated strikes and protests against the government. In September, package deliverers, truck drivers, railway workers and flight personnel employed by the airline Alitalia went on strike. On September 15, an Egyptian worker was run over and killed by a strike-breaking truck, leading to days of protests by tens of thousands of people.

On Friday, October 21, over a million workers all over Italy took part in strikes organized by the so-called rank-and-file trade unions. This included strikes at Fiat factories, in particular the FCA factory in Pomigliano near Naples.

The rank and file trade unions (COBAS, CUB, USB and others) have taken up these struggles because the traditional trade unions support the labour and market reforms of the Renzi government. Union bureaucrats such as CGIL head Susanna Camusso are in fundamental agreement with Renzi that the Italian economy has to be saved at the expense of workers. The large metal working union FIOM, which belongs to CGIL, expelled all workers who took part in a boycott of the enforced Saturday shifts at Fiat.

It comes as no surprise that tens of thousands of workers are leaving the traditional unions and turning to alternative rank-and-file unions. However, these organizations are dominated by pseudo-left conceptions and their policies do not go beyond a nationalist and trade union perspective. The tense political situation demands an international and revolutionary program, but the rank and file unions close their eyes to this necessity, just like the traditional unions.

Instead, they allow right-wing forces to take the political initiative.

In effect, Lega Nord, the fascists and other right-wing radicals are responsible for a massive mobilization against the referendum. Lega Nord head Matteo Salvini has called for a blockade of several Northern Italian cities, such as Milan and Bologna, supposedly in order to free Italy and to stop immigration. They have also called on the Five Star Movement of Beppe Grillo to take part in the blockade.

Beppe Grillo has called for a no vote in the referendum. Grillo and his Five Star Movement could be the victors if Renzi loses the referendum on December 4. This poses a threat to the very existence of the EU.

Beppe Grillo is the most important EU ally of Nigel Farage of the UK Independence Party (UKIP). Farage was the main proponent of the Brexit movement, which achieved a majority in favour of the United Kingdoms exit from the EU on June 23. Grillo also calls for Italy to quit the EU and the euro.

The victory of the opponents of the referendum could further intensify the crisis of the EU, which is already threatened with a split and conflicts such as the disagreement over refugees and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the EU and Canada. Following the austerity diktats in Greece, Spain and Italy, growing layers of the population see the EU as the main culprit in attacks on wages, jobs and social programs.

However, the Five Star Movement does not attack the EU from the left, from the standpoint of the European working class, but from a right-wing nationalist standpoint. A national solution would make the crisis in Italy even worse. This has already been demonstrated by the deep crisis of the Italian banks, which are on the verge of collapse. The Italian banks have bad loans on their books amounting to over 360 billion.

On October 27, the troubled bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena suspended trading for the third time in a week. Its share prices moved like an extreme temperature curve and the renovation plan, to which the union had agreed, now includes layoffs of 2,600 employees and the closing of 500 branches.

This is why, in order to win support for his referendum, Matteo Renzi is trying to portray himself as a representative of Italian interests in opposition to the EU. In the current struggle over the Italian budget, he has made an ultimatum to the EU commission, demanding that it approve Italys planned deficit. La Repubblica held a prominent interview with Economics Minister Pier Carlo Padoan, in which he warned the EU Commission: If the EU rejects our budget, this would be the beginning of the end.

The 2017 draft budget includes a planned deficit of over 2.3 percent of GDP in the coming year. However, for Italy and other highly indebted EU member states, the EU has only approved a maximum of 2.2 percent, instead of the usual debt ceiling of 3 percent.

However, Renzi insists on passing a more flexible budget, and justifies this with the growing number of refugees from Africa and the enormous expense of rebuilding after the earthquake. On the day of the earthquake, he said on television that, effective immediately, he would only take into account the needs of Italian citizens, but not those of Brussels technocrats.

Renzis promises areas alwaysgrandiose and not to be taken seriously. He has promised a significant increase in pension payments to retirees and wants to increase social welfare by 500 million. This would barely be a drop in the bucket, since even a meagre improvement of conditions for those living in poverty would, according to official numbers, require an immediate expenditure of 2 billion.
Dozens of women have come forward to accuse a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison of sexual assault, prompting his suspension from campus, PEOPLE confirms.

Alec Cook, 20, has been charged with 11 counts of sexual assault and two counts each of strangulation and suffocation and false imprisonment. More charges are expected.

The criminal complaint against Cook  a copy of which was obtained by PEOPLE  states the Edina, Minnesota, native was initially arrested last week after a female college student came forward to accuse him of assault. News of the arrest appeared in local papers and was reported by local news stations, prompting other women to contact investigators.

I saw the news story and was empowered by another girl being able to tell what happened to her, that I thought I could now finally tell, the second woman to come forward told a police detective, according to Cooks criminal complaint.

Then a third woman contacted detectives with allegations she was assaulted by Cook a year ago. Then a fourth and a fifth. Together their accusations described multiple violent sexual assaults  unwanted groping, penetration and physical trauma, including being choked.

One woman described an encounter with him as one of the worst experiences of my life.

Court records show a search of Cooks apartment turned up a black leather book in which he described in detail how he had met several women, with notes on what he liked about each girl and what he wanted to with them.

Some entries included the word kill, according to the criminal complaint.

Cook is being held on $200,000 bail, according to USA Today. He has not entered a plea, according to court records, and his attorney did not respond to PEOPLEs requests for comment.

The initial complainant told police on Oct. 12 that she had known Cook two weeks before he allegedly forced himself on her. The alleged attack occurred in his apartment, according to the complaint, and began when Cook started kissing her forcibly to stop her from talking.

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Despite her insistence they slow down, the complaint alleged that Cook forced his hands down her pants and fondled her genitals. Next, he allegedly pushed her in the shoulder so her back was on the bed. He then pinned her to the bed and began taking off clothes.

Once they were both naked, the woman told police she accepted my fate and gave up a little bit  I realized he was bigger and stronger  I thought maybe I could just wait this out and then get away, according to the complaint.

 Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.

Nearly three hours later, the sex was over. At times, the woman alleged that Cook started choking me by clenching my neck. Her vision started to go from a lack of oxygen, she told police, alleging Cook started slapping her in the face.

The victim said she later learned shed sustained vaginal abrasions and tearing.

Police questioned Cook days later, and, according to the criminal complaint, he told detectives he was uncomfortable discussing his sex life. Deep down, I am sexually insecure, he allegedly told police. It was hard to open myself to her, and it is hard to open myself to you here now.

According to the complaint, Cook allegedly denied the victim ever asked him to stop and couldnt recall choking her, saying, Sometimes I get lost in the heat of the moment.

More Women Come Forward

Beginning on Oct. 21, more women came forward to accuse Cook of sexual assault going back to at least 2015.

The second woman contacted authorities after recognizing Cooks picture in local news reports, according to his criminal complaint. She and the other women described allegedly being fondled, hit, harassed and intimidated by Cook against their will.

One woman told police she believes Cook drugged her drink while the two spent time together in February.

Another woman, who told police she met Cook in her ballroom dancing class, said he allegedly grabbed her breasts and butt as they two danced together after being partnered up. She told police she asked Cook to stop, but it changed nothing.

In yet another encounter, a woman accused Cook of turning violent during consensual sex in August.

He began pressing on the front of her throat with his hand, which she found uncomfortable, the criminal complaint states. She asked him to stop and he did, but within minutes he was allegedly again trying to choke her, she told police.

Before she ended the sex and left his apartment, she alleges Cook started striking her.

Cook, a junior majoring in business, has been suspended and banned from campus, University of Wisconsin officials said in a statement. Friends of his reached by PEOPLE declined to comment, and his family could not immediately be reached.

We were shocked and saddened to learn that several U.W.-Madison students have reported being sexually assaulted by a fellow student, the universitys statement reads.

Sexual violence is unacceptable in our campus and community.
A 23-year-old Texas man who police claim confessed to decapitating his 21-year-old wife and placing her head into their freezer allegedly described the killing as a battle between good and evil as he was being interrogated, PEOPLE confirms.

On Wednesday, a grand jury returned an indictment against 23-year-old Davie Dauzat, who allegedly stabbed Natasha Dauzat to death in August while their young children were in a separate room of their Bellmead, Texas, home.

The indictment charges Davie with a single count: murder for his wifes Aug. 25 death.

He remains in police custody on $500,000 bond.

According to the indictment, police received a call the morning of Aug. 25 from Davies brother, who told investigators he was worried about Davie after speaking with him on the phone. The brother told police Davie made weird statements during the call and asked funny questions.

 Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.

He told police he wasnt sure if his brothers statements were drug-induced or serious.

Police were dispatched to the Dauzat home, but Davie refused to come out, the indictment alleges. Over time, officers were able to talk him into surrendering. Once inside the home, they found the couples children unharmed but drenched in their mothers blood.

The medical examiner ruled Natashas cause of death due to sharp-force injuries, including decapitation, according to the indictment.

Davie allegedly admitted to police that killing his wife was wrong but later defended the move, arguing the slaying was a battle between good and evil, according to the indictment.

Davie allegedly told investigators hed used drugs prior to the slaying, but the indictment doesnt list any substances other than marijuana, which he had smoked with his wife earlier that day.

Joseph Marcee, Davies attorney, did not return calls seeking comment. It is unclear if Davie has entered a plea.




By PTI: New Delhi, Oct 28 (PTI) IDFC Ltd has reported consolidated net profit of Rs 281.79 crore for the second quarter ended September of the current fiscal.

It had reported a net loss of Rs 1,468.83 crore in the July-September quarter of last fiscal 2015-16.

Total income of the group has increased to Rs 2,704.13 crore for the quarter under review, from Rs 2,493.86 crore for the year-ago period, IDFC said in a regulatory filing.

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It said that post the transfer of the financing undertaking of the company to IDFC Bank, which started operations in October last year, it is mainly an investment company with minimal operations.

Accordingly, the results for the quarters ended June 30, 2016, September 30, 2016 and half year ended September 30, 2016 are not comparable with the results for corresponding quarter and half year of previous fiscal, it added.

On standalone basis, companys posted a net profit of Rs 91.07 crore in the second quarter of 2016-17 against a net loss of Rs 1,411.38 crore a year earlier.

Total income is Rs 112.88 crore for the September quarter, 2016 whereas the same was at Rs 2,458.10 crore in the corresponding year ago period, it said further.

IDFC stock closed 2.72 per cent higher at Rs 69.95 on BSE. PTI KPM SA

--- ENDS ---
MUMBAI  Davy Chous French-Cambodian coproduction Diamond Island, earlier a selection at the Cannes Critics Week and winner of the SACD Prize there, has won the Golden Gateway Prize for best film at the international competition at the Mumbai Film Festival that concluded Thursday.

Jury head Miguel Gomes said, The winner of this award goes to a simple but graceful coming-of-age story. It takes place in a new world, but with old-fashioned emotions: love friendship, family, and, of course, class struggle.

Speaking to Variety from Cambodia, Chou said, Its a huge honor. I love the Mumbai festival as I attended it in 2013 with my previous film, Golden Slumbers. I wish I could attend this time also but it just happened to be the same day as the films premiere in Cambodia, where the film belongs. It was an immensely satisfying and humbling moment to be able to share this film with Khmer audiences and the Khmer cast and crew, which put so much heart into the project, while also receiving this kind of surprise commendation from far away, at Indias biggest festival led by a jury for whom I have such immense respect. To hear such kind words from Miguel Gomes about the film gives the award an even more special feeling. This is a beautiful moment for the film, and I want to thank the Mumbai festival and the jury for their choice.

The winner of the Silver Gateway award at the international competition was Ralitza Petrova for Godless (Bulgaria/Denmark/France) while the jury grand prize went to Everything Else (Mexico) by Natalia Almada.

In the India Gold competition Haobam Paban Kumar received the Golden Gateway Award for Lady of the Lake that world premiered at Busan. Satish Babusenan and Santosh Babusenan won the Silver Gateway Award for The Narrow Path while the jury grand prize went to Aicheng Jai Dohutia for The Hidden Corner.

Alankrita Shrivastava won the Oxfam Award for best film on gender equality for Tokyo selection Lipstick Under my Burkha. Konkona Sen Sharma won the best India female filmmaker award for A Death in the Gunj that played Toronto and Busan before opening Mumbai this year.

Story continues

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Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - Twenty-five people were killed, six of them gendarmes, in two days of violence around the town of Bambari in the troubled Central African Republic, the UN force MINUSCA said Saturday.

Six police and four civilians were killed in an ambush by armed men Friday morning, while on Thursday, 15 people died in fighting on the town's outskirts between the former Muslim Seleka militia and Christian vigilante groups known as "anti-balaka" (anti-machete), it said in a statement.

In a further incident, anti-balaka fighters on Friday attacked eight members of MINUSCA as they were heading to Bambari airport, the force said. A seven-year-old child was injured.

The UN force said there had been a "rise in tension in certain regions," citing "confrontation between armed elements of the ex-Seleka and anti-balaka" groups.

It called on the armed groups to end "the cycle of attack and reprisal."

Bambari lies in central CAR, about 250 kilometres (150 miles) northeast of the capital Bangui.

The bloodshed is the latest bout of violence to strike the CAR, a former French colony that is one of the world's poorest countries.

It occurred in the runup to the formal end on Monday of a French military mission, Operation Sangaris, sent to help the UN stabilise the country.

MINUSCA is seeking to support the administration of President Faustin-Archange Touadera, who was elected in February.

The CAR's descent into sectarian bloodshed began after the March 2013 ouster of president Francois Bozize, a Christian, by the mostly Muslim Seleka rebel alliance.

This triggered revenge attacks and a spiral of atrocities between Christian and Muslim groups in which thousands were slaughtered and around a tenth of the population of 4.5 million were displaced.

Earlier this month, 30 people were killed and 57 wounded when Seleka fighters staged an attack in the central town of Kaga Bandoro.

A few days later, 11 people were shot dead in a camp for displaced people in Ngakobo, northeast of Bangui.

On October 24, four civilians were killed when protests against the UN peacekeepers, called by a coalition of civil society groups angered by the rise of armed militias, turned violent.
From ELLE DECOR

If you've ever fantasized about doing something a bit "unconventional" to your kitchen - say, covering the backsplashes in Moroccan tiles or installing a wood-fired pizza oven - you might want to reconsider. Interior designer Nate Berkus, who moonlights as the artistic adviser for LG Studio's high-end line of appliances, warns against investing in upgrades that reflect an overly specific aesthetic. Below, Berkus and real-estate experts share which kitchen renovations increase your home's value-and which you'll live to regret.

Anything with personality, like a chandelier, is a potential waste of money.

WORTHWHILE UPGRADE: HIGH-END APPLIANCES

"The right appliance can make the space feel much more finished and expensive. Plus, they involve almost no construction but change the functionality 100-fold," says Berkus, who recommends going for ranges, refrigerators, cooktops, and other utilitarian devices with stainless steel finishes. The L.A.-based designer encourages homeowners to replace the entire suite of products simultaneously, if possible, which makes for a more cohesive look.

If you're forced to choose just one, "do not skimp on the dishwasher," says Sandra Miller, president of Santa Monica-based real estate agency Engel & Volkers. "It's often the most overlooked appliance in the kitchen."

UNNECESSARY INVESTMENT: STATEMENT LIGHT FIXTURES

"Anything with personality, like a chandelier, is a potential waste of money," says Minette Schwartz of the Schwartz Team at ONE Sotheby's International Realty. Her rationale: More often than not, light fixtures reflect personal taste and can be a major turn-off to a prospective buyer who doesn't share your style sensibility.

WORTHWHILE UPGRADE: NEUTRALS

Photo credit: Courtesy of LG Studios

Introducing a neutral color palette for major surfaces like countertops and flooring might just be your biggest return on investment. "It sounds boring, but taste changes, and neutrals are much more universal," explains Berkus. "You can always transform the feeling of the kitchen through accessories on the countertop, or your glassware, dishware, and paint color-things that can be swapped out easily."

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UNNECESSARY INVESTMENT: ANYTHING TOO TRENDY

One of the biggest mistakes people make when starting a kitchen renovation is getting swept up in the latest design trends, says Berkus. "When you install things like crazy-intricate countertops, multifaceted tile backsplashes, and intensely carved molding, I can guarantee you that six months from now, something else will come along to replace that concept." Miller agrees: "When in doubt, always go with timeless finishes versus the fashionable or trendy."

WORTHWHILE UPGRADE: A CHEF'S KITCHEN

"Everyone loves to mimic the kitchens they see on television cooking shows," says Ida Schwartz of ONE Sotheby's International Realty. "With the increase of foodies and amateur chefs, we've seen that a conversion from an electric stove to a gas stove-in addition to a double-oven-is highly coveted." One solid option for the aesthete-gourmand hyphenate: LG Studio's Stainless Steel Built-In Double Wall Oven. Merging modern form and function, the oven has four convection modes and the kind of sleek, smudge-proof finish which would be welcome in any homebuyer's dream kitchen.

UNNECESSARY INVESTMENT: SUPERFLUOUS EXTRAS

Photo credit: Courtesy of LG Studios

A pizza oven won't do your bottom line any favors. Same goes for the built-in coffeemaker and hibachi grill. "None of these things maximize the value of your home," says Minette Schwartz. She also urges people to think twice before installing a washer/dryer in the kitchen-an idea that seems better in theory than reality, because, as Schwartz explains, "most people don't want to eat where they're washing clothes."

WORTHWHILE UPGRADE: EXPANDING THE SPACE

"A larger kitchen is really what buyers are looking for when they're shopping for a house," says Berkus. He suggests knocking down a wall that separates an adjoining room, or creating the illusion of spaciousness by adding a window. "We live very differently now than how people lived when many of these homes were built, and these days, the kitchen is an all-encompassing space where everybody gathers."

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(PHOTO: Reuters)

By Durrah Hamdan

As the Singapore economy continues to experience a slowdown and undergoes restructuring, a number of companies have announced job cuts or hiring freezes to manage their costs.

The latest to join the ranks was Singapore Press Holdings, which plans to cut up to 10 per cent of its workforce and merge its tabloid publications The New Paper and My Paper.

Is retrenchment the only cost-cutting option available to companies in a slowdown?

According to the Tripartite Guidelines for Managing Excess Manpower, companies should consider ways other than retrenchment before cutting jobs.

In Singapore, these five companies carried out measures other than restructuring to cut costs and save jobs:



1. Redeployment

Pepperl+Fuchs was forced to reduce operating capacity due to a sharp drop in orders.

Initially, the company wanted to retrench 30 workers but after negotiations with the union, it redeployed its excess manpower and cancelled its retrenchment plans.



The company also cut back on other costs such as traveling, electricity and water expenses.



2. Fewer work days



In 2009, Panasonic Refrigeration Devices Singapore held talks with the union to implement cost-cutting measures such as overtime restrictions, a 12-day plant shutdown and voluntary leave clearance.



These measures helped the company to avoid laying off permanent staff.



3. Flexible work schedule and wage system



During the global financial crisis, Energizer saw a 50 per cent drop in production volume over a few months. After discussion with the union, the company reorganised its employees work schedule from a five-day work week to a four-day work week.

For lull periods with fewer orders, staff went home earlier and were paid less. Permanent workers managed to retain their jobs.

4. Send staff for training during downtime



Hoya Magnetics Singapore had to shut down for three months in 2009, which affected 550 employees.



The company partnered with the union and e2i to plan a series of courses to send the staff for training almost every day during the shutdown.



It also provided transport allowance for staff and the governments SPUR initiative covered absentee payroll costs for Singaporeans.



5. Top management taking a pay cut



In 2008, CapitaLand Group CEO Liew Mun Leong took a 20 per cent pay cut in a company-wide exercise that saw pay cuts of between 3 per cent and 20 per cent, with mainly top executives and managers affected.



It was not the first time CapitaLand has cut costs to save jobs this way  the company also cut the pay of their management during the past recessions in 1997 and 2001. No one was laid off then.



Liew said then that retrenchments carry a cost in loyalty dividends and erode managements moral standing. You cannot treat people as dispensable items  in good times we want you; in bad times, we dont want you, he said.



Durrah Hamdan is a workforce analytics consultant with Drake International and is a council member at the Singapore Human Resource Institute.
In a pre-American Film Market deal, Tom Hardy will star as gangster Al Capone in Fonzo with Chronicle director Josh Trank helming from his own script.

The film will be produced by Russell Ackerman and John Schoenfelder for Addictive Pictures alongside Pulp Fiction producer Lawrence Bender.

Fonzo is currently in pre-production and Bloom will commence international sales at AFM, which starts Nov. 2. CAA and WME are handling U.S. rights.

Capone was a bootlegger and brutal gangster who ruled Chicago during Prohibition. The federal government successfully prosecuted him for tax evasion in 1931 and he was convicted and sentenced to 11 years in prison. He was released after eight years and died at the age of 48 in 1947 as dementia rotted his brain and harrowing memories of his violent and brutal origins melt into his waking life.

Fonzo brings together the myth and lore of notorious American Gangster Al Capone, with the undeniable talent of Tom Hardy and Josh Trank, said Blooms Alex Walton. We are thrilled to bring this film to buyers at the AFM. 

The project is the first for Trank following Chronicle. Hardy will next star in Christopher Nolans Dunkirk and Taboo, an eight-part TV series produced by Ridley Scott.

Trank is represented by WME, Management 360 and attorney Mitch Smelkinson. Hardy is repped by CAA and Lindy King at United Agents. The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.

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SANAA (Reuters) - At least 17 civilians were killed in Yemen's southwestern province of Taiz on Saturday by a Saudi-led coalition air strike that struck a house, local officials and residents said. The raid targeted a house in the al-Salw district, the sources said, an area of Taiz where Houthi rebels and government forces backed by the coalition are fighting for control. Taiz is Yemen's third largest city with an estimated pre-war population of 300,000. The Saudi-led coalition has been fighting Houthi rebels and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who hold much of the north of Yemen including the capital Sanaa, since March 2015 to try to restore the internationally recognized President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power. The exiled Hadi on Saturday rejected a U.N. peace proposal to end the turmoil saying the deal would only be a path to more war and destruction. Speaking after meeting U.N. envoy Ismail Ould Cheickh Ahmed in Riyadh, Hadi said the agreement would "reward the rebels and penalize the Yemeni people and legitimacy," according to the government-controlled Saba news agency. According to a copy of the proposal seen by Reuters, the plan would sideline Hadi and set up a government of less divisive figures. The deal would involve removing Hadi's powerful vice president, Ali Mushin al-Ahmar Ahmar from power and Hadi agreeing to become little more than a figurehead after a Houthi withdrawal from the capital Sanaa. Hadi fled the armed advance of the Iranian-allied Houthi movement in March 2015 and has been a guest of neighboring Saudi Arabia ever since. A U.N. Security Council resolution a month later recognized him as the legitimate head of state and called on the Houthis to disarm and quit Yemen's main cities. But the Houthis and their allies in Yemen's army have said he will never return. The conflict in Yemen has killed at least 10,000 people and unleashed one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. (Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari; Writing by Maha El Dahan; editing by Richard Balmforth)
Amber Rose opens up about sexual assault and unfortunately describes too many womens experiences

It is no debate that women have come a long way. More women are going to college, taking the driver seat in their careers, and come Nov.9, America could have its first female president (maybe). But even with all of these big moves, now more than ever, the topic of sexual assault is becoming more prevalent. Leading that conversation is mom, amateur dancer, feminist, movement leader, and makeup ambassador Amber Rose. In her latest interview with Yahoo! Style correspondent Joe Zee, Amber Rose talks about sexual assault and speaks for pretty much every woman. Shes sort of amazing.

If youre unfamiliar with Amber Rose you HAVE to do your research! I became a fan of Amber Rose after she slammed GQ for labeling her as Kanyes ex and Wiz Khalifas baby mama. Since then we have seen so many women speak up and challenge how they are labeled in stories, interviews and in their everyday lives.

This time Rose is speaking up again in regards to Donald Trumps locker room talk

I want him to get in trouble for it because I cannot even count how many times a famous guy touched me inappropriately. Seriously. Imagine this: Donald Trump comes and touches me inappropriately, right? Im a regular ass girl. Do I call 911? Do I get on Twitter and tweet about it? How should I go about letting people know that this guy did it to me and whos actually going to believe me, you know what Im saying? You just try to get over it, and it happens to so many women.

7 Thousand Men and Women showed up to the #amberroseslutwalk yesterday. Use ur Voice and Make Movements A video posted by Amber Rose (@amberrose) on Oct 2, 2016 at 7:09pm PDT

Although people try to demean Amber Rose, it is so important to LISTEN to what she is saying. The conversation around sexual assault is not going to change unless we are more vocal and educate both men and women. In 2016 we should not be dodging calling sexual assault what it is. Also we need to stop making excuses for grown men that are educated enough to know better.

The post Amber Rose opens up about sexual assault and unfortunately describes too many womens experiences appeared first on HelloGiggles.
India has offered to buy fighter jets but only if they are made with a local partner.

By Reuters: India is offering to buy hundreds of fighter planes from foreign manufacturers - as long as the jets are made in India and with a local partner, air force officials say.

A deal for 200 single-engine planes produced in India - which the air force says could rise to 300 as it fully phases out ageing Soviet-era aircraft - could be worth anything from $13-$15 billion, experts say, potentially one of the country's biggest military aircraft deals.

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After a deal to buy high-end Rafale planes from France's Dassault was scaled back to just 36 jets last month, the Indian Air Force is desperately trying to speed up other acquisitions and arrest a fall in operational strength, now a third less than required to face both China and Pakistan.

But Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration wants any further military planes to be built in India with an Indian partner to kickstart a domestic aircraft industry, and end an expensive addiction to imports.

Lockheed Martin said it is interested in setting up a production line for its F-16 plane in India for not just the Indian military, but also for export.

And Sweden's Saab has offered a rival production line for its Gripen aircraft, setting up an early contest for one of the biggest military plane deals in play.

"The immediate shortfall is 200. That would be the minimum we would be looking at," said an air officer briefed on the Make-in-India plans under which a foreign manufacturer will partner local firms to build the aircraft with technology transfer.

Also read: Traders selling Chinese firecrackers under fake 'Made in India' labels to woo customers

India's defence ministry has written to several companies asking if they would be willing to set up an assembly line for single-engine fighter planes in India and the amount of technology transfer that would happen, another government source said.

"We are testing the waters, testing the foreign firms' willingness to move production here and to find out their expectations," the person said.

OPERATIONAL GAPS

India's air force originally planned for 126 Rafale twin-engine fighters from Dassault, but the two sides could not agree on the terms of local production with a state-run Indian firm and settled for 36 planes in a fly-away condition.

Adding to the military's problems is India's three-decade effort to build a single-engine fighter of its own which was meant to be the backbone of the air force. Only two of those Light Combat Aircraft, called Tejas, have been delivered to the air force which has ordered 140 of them.

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The Indian Air Force is down to 32 operational squadrons compared with the 45 it has said are necessary, and in March the vice chief Air Marshal BS Dhanoa told Parliament's defence committee that it didn't have the operational strength to fight a two front war against China and Pakistan.

Also read: Pakistan risks global isolation in purchasing defence tech: Report

JET MAKERS RESPOND

Saab said it was ready to not only produce its frontline Gripen fighter in India, but help build a local aviation industry base.

"We are very experienced in transfer of technology - our way of working involves extensive cooperation with our partners to establish a complete ecosystem, not just an assembly line," said Jan Widerstrm, Chairman and Managing Director, Saab India Technologies.

He confirmed Saab had received the letter from the Indian government seeking a fourth generation fighter. A source close to the company said that while there was no minimum order set in stone for it to lay down a production line, they would expect to build at least 100 planes at the facility.

Lockheed Martin said it had responded to the defence ministry's letter with an offer to transfer the entire production of its F-16 fighter to India.

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"Exclusive F-16 production in India would make India home to the world's only F-16 production facility, a leading exporter of advanced fighter aircraft, and offer Indian industry the opportunity to become an integral part of the world's largest fighter aircraft supply chain," Abhay Paranjape, National Executive for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Business Development in India said in an email.



US TOP SUPPLIER

Lockheed's offer comes on the back of expanding US-India military ties in which Washington has emerged as India's top arms supplier in recent years, ousting old ally Russia.

Earlier this year, Boeing also offered India its twin-engine F/A-18 Hornets, but the level of technology transfer was not clear.

Also read: Army vows revenge as soldier's body is mutilated, another martyred in Kupwara

India has never previously attempted to build a modern aircraft production line, whether military or civilian. State-run Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) has assembled Russian combat jets including the Su-30, but these are under licensed production.

"We have never had control over technology. This represents the most serious attempt to build a domestic base. A full or a near-full tech transfer lays the ground for further development," said retired Indian Air Marshal M Matheswaran, a former adviser at HAL.

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He said the Indian government would be looking at producing at least 200 fighters, and then probably some more, to make up for the decades of delay in modernising the air force.

--- ENDS ---
Baghdad (AFP) - Iraq launched a broad offensive to retake Mosul from the Islamic State group almost two weeks ago. Here is what we know so far about the country's biggest military operation in years:

Which Iraqi forces are involved?

Iraq's Counter-Terrorism Service and Rapid Response Division -- its two most elite special forces units -- are fighting alongside the army, federal and local police and Kurdish regional peshmerga forces.

The Hashed al-Shaabi -- an umbrella organisation for pro-government paramilitary forces that is dominated by Iran-backed Shiite militias but also includes Sunni tribesmen -- largely remained on the sidelines in the early days of the operation but has now also entered the fight.

It is a heterogeneous coalition of sometimes-rival forces that have not all operated together before, but they have been tasked with fighting on different fronts, helping to minimise the potential for problems.

Where are they attacking?

The Mosul operation opened with attacks from the north, east and south, while the western approach to the city -- which is exposed to IS-held areas between it and Syria -- was left open.

Now, the Hashed al-Shaabi have launched an operation aiming to advance from south of Mosul toward the town of Tal Afar -- an IS stronghold located between the city and the Syrian border -- in an effort to cut jihadist supply lines.

How are the jihadists responding?

With brutality, as they have often done before.

The United Nations said it has received credible reports that IS executed more than 250 people in the Mosul area over two days earlier this week, and has also seized tens of thousands of people for use as human shields against advancing Iraqi forces.

The jihadists have repeatedly targeted attacking Iraqi troops with suicide car bombs, as well as employed artillery and small arms fire.

Outside of the Mosul area, IS has launched several diversionary attacks, including one in the Kurdish-held city of Kirkuk that left dozens dead. The jihadists also struck in Rutba in western Iraq, and the Sinjar area in the country's north.

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There have been conflicting reports of IS movements during the battle, pointing to both withdrawals to neighbouring Syria and the deployment of reinforcements to Iraq.

The United States says the battle has taken a heavy toll on IS forces, with up to 900 killed in the first week and a half of the operation.

How are civilians affected?

As Iraqi forces approach, thousands of civilians have been fleeing IS-held areas to escape both jihadist rule and impending fighting.

The International Organisation for Migration said Saturday that 17,520 people have been displaced since the beginning of the operation, but that figure is expected to increase dramatically as Iraqi forces close in on Mosul.

According to the UN, up to a million people could be displaced by the battle for the city -- a major problem given that existing, under-construction and planned camps can only house around half that number.

Displacement is especially difficult for rural farming communities, whose wealth lies in fields and livestock that they cannot take to camps.

The situation for displaced Iraqis will get even more difficult as winter rains and colder weather set in.
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
Fishqeh (Iraq) (AFP) - Abu Ahmed drove all night and half-way across Iraq to bring the meat stew and rice in the back of his pickup truck to fighters on the Mosul front lines.

Seven hours after leaving the Shiite holy city of Najaf in a convoy, he stopped under a road sign saying the northern city of Mosul, the Islamic State group's last major stronghold in Iraq, was 59 kilometres (36 miles) away.

As he unloaded the food from his truck, Abu Ahmed, a white scarf wrapped around his head, said he had come to "bring his support" to the Iraqi forces that have been fighting on Mosul's southern front for two weeks.

The convoys known as "mawakeb" have been relentlessly delivering food, water, juice, tea, clothes and other basic supplies to the fighters battling the jihadists of the Islamic State (IS) group.

"They are heroes who are sacrificing their lives for us, so we are supporting them in whatever way we can, such as by cooking for them," said another member of the convoy, Ryad al-Attabi.

The 42-year-old car dealer left his wife and children in Baghdad to spend a week behind the front lines, serving food to pro-government fighters.

The mawakeb, a religious term that usually describes services volunteered to Shiite pilgrims, have become an informal but effective organisation that forms an integral of the war effort.

In June 2014, the most revered Shiite cleric in the country, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, urged Iraqis to take up arms against IS, which had swept across the Sunni Arab heartland and was threatening Baghdad and Shiite holy cities in the south.

That call for jihad (holy war) saw the emergence of the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation), a mix of volunteers and pre-existing Shiite militias that has played a key role in pushing back the jihadists.

The paramilitary umbrella group has vowed to stay out of Mosul proper but on Saturday opened a new front by pushing toward Tal Afar, a town west of Mosul, with the aim of cutting off the city from Syria.

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The mawakeb are sometimes described as the civilian branch of the Hashed al-Shaabi.

- Food, clothes and cigarettes -

On their vehicles, Sistani's portrait is everywhere. Some of the volunteers have his picture taped to their clothes or the back of their mobile phones.

"Hashed is as much about fighting as it is about serving the fighters," said Abu Ali al-Akiali, who led the day's convoy to Fishqeh, south of Mosul.

He said the massive delivery operation, which never seems to suffer from the same budgetary turbulence that affects the police and the army, was financed entirely by private donations.

"Day and night, these convoys are there for us," said Ali, a 30-year-old who said he joined the Hashed al-Shaabi on the very day Sistani called for mass mobilisation.

The services provided by the mawakeb are not restricted to members of the Hashed al-Shaabi, an organisation dominated by Iran-backed Shiite militias often accused of sectarianism.

Hussein Ali, a 21-year-old deployed with the federal police in Fishqeh just a handful of kilometres (miles) from the first IS positions, had just received a parcel for his unit.

He listed the day's offerings: "Underwear, shoes, scarves, caps and even mobile phone top-up cards."

"We collect things in our neighbourhoods and bring every fighter some cigarettes, clothes and food," said Mohamed Settar, one of Ali's benefactors.

The engineer and father of two left Baghdad in the middle of the night: "Even a few kilometres from the front line, we're not afraid."

All along the road, snaking through desolate villages recently retaken from the jihadists and dotted with charred car bomb carcasses, residents and fighters waved at the mawakeb, chanting religious slogans and shooting in the air as they drove on to their next delivery spot.
The Newly Redesigned Website Offers Visitors a Mobile Responsive & User Friendly Experience

SAN DIEGO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / October 28, 2016 / Bhu Foods, the entity that creates great tasting organic protein bars, is pleased to announce the launch of its fully redesigned, responsive website https://www.bhufoods.com/. The new site features a mobile responsive design, which ensures a hassle free web browsing experience across all smart phones, tablets, and desktops.

The website features information on why you should choose bhu fit bars, the benefits of eating bhu fit bars, the nutritional value associated with bhu fits bars, and more.

"I am very pleased to announce the launch of my new website and the robust information it provides potential customers, other brands, and the media," Says Ms. Katleman, owner of Bhu Foods. "As times change, it's imperative that we change with them, and make nutritional snacks more accessible. Increasingly, savvy consumers are becoming more health conscious and wish to transition away from sugary snacks to superfood, organic alternatives."

Bhu Foods' new website will be updated on a regular basis with new information, blog posts and pictures to ensure the viewer has the best experience possible while browsing from either a desktop computer or mobile phone. Visitors are encouraged to leave reviews on the product pages and engage with us on our social media channels. The full list of protein bars can be found here: https://store.bhufoods.com/collections/bhu-protein-bars.

About Bhu Foods

Here at Bhu Foods, we're shifting the health and consciousness paradigm on the planet by setting the example of what it means to be a conscious company. We do this by offering exceptional, healthy, low sugar, high fiber, clean label, delicious products while exceeding the expectations of our customers, honoring and meeting the needs of our employees and our community, and safeguarding the environment. For more information on the company or its products, please visit https://www.bhufoods.com/.

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Media Contact:

Deva Datta

(619) 855-3992

customerservice@bhufoods.com

https://www.bhufoods.com/

SOURCE: Bhu Foods
Screen Shot 2016-10-28 at 9.52.48 PM

CHICAGO  A lot was expected of Bill Murrays rendition of Take Me Out to the Ballgame during Fridays Game 3 of the World Series.

To no ones surprise, the comedy legend and Chicago native delivered in a completely expected way. With the Cubs trailing 1-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, Murray cut some of the crowds tension by singing the seventh inning stretch like Daffy Duck.

Yes, you read that right.

The performance was anything but desssspicccccaaaable. If it were anyone else, it wouldve been a disaster. In the hands of the man who gave us Carl Spackler and Dr. Peter Venkman, it was gold.

Bill Murray as Daffy Duck singing the Stretch. pic.twitter.com/ZZAqFe0dcg  Cubs Talk (@CSNCubs) October 29, 2016

Murray got things off to a start by saying its the bottom of the 7th, its the last chance to order beer  But we didnt come here to drink beer, we came to win this ballgame.

Murray later walked down the left field concourse as fans cheered and tried to snap his picture.

In his hand? A beer of course.
Family and friends of Sierra Bush gathered together and honored the life of the 18-year-old on Wednesday night after she was found dead on Saturday in Boise County near Idaho City.

Bush  also known to many as Simon  was missing since late September. The cause of death is still under investigation, according to a statement released by the Boise Police Department.

Sierras disappearance has been suspicious from the beginning and this is a tragic discovery for everyone who knows her, Boise Police Sgt. Justin Kendall said in the statement. Every missing persons case is initially investigated as being suspicious and Sierra was not the type to disappear without telling anyone. For weeks, our detectives have been following up on leads and our investigation is ongoing.

Her loved ones congregated at the Boise State Student Union Building where she was a student at Boise State University.

Plenty of people came to pay their respects inside the ballroom that event organizers were adding more chairs right before the event began.

One of my favorite quotes from her is: If I can be as weird as I am, you can be as you as you are,' Samantha McGraw, a friend of Bush, told KTVB, a local news station.

Evan OBeirne, one of Bushs close friends since freshman year of high school, told KTVB that she was a special person in his life.

She helped me become who I am today, OBeirne said. The impact that she had on people  even if you met her for only one second  it was the acceptance that you felt. You didnt have to pretend anymore, it was like, OK this is safe.

Bush was a freshman student at Boise State studying engineering in the Honors College, as well as being involved in a wide range of school activities on campus.

The event held on Wednesday evening was organized by different organizations to give people a place to grieve. Many are still shocked by her death, they told KTVB, but they will carry on her legacy.

Really just spreading her message of loving yourself, being who you want to be, not letting anybody stand in the way of your dreams, McGraw said.

The Boise Police Department is still investigating Bushs death. A GoFundMe page was set up to help her family cover the costs of funeral arrangements.




Hillary Clinton

Democrats and Republicans have issued rare echoes of each other in calling on FBI Director James Comey to quickly release as much information as possible related to his bombshell Friday letter that the bureau had obtained further information related to the investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server.

The shocking revelation led to a wave of panic on the left and a chorus of cheers on the right. But both sides wanted extended information released to either quench those fears or back up their assertions.

It was perhaps the most politically consequential letter Comey could have issued. With just 11 days to go until Election Day, calls for additional information came flying in.

In his letter to congressional leaders, Comey said the team in charge of looking into Clinton's use of a private email server briefed him Thursday on new emails it found "in connection with an unrelated case."

"The FBI cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be significant," Comey wrote, adding, "I cannot predict how long it will take us to complete this additional work."

Officials later said the additional emails uncovered were in connection with an investigation into the sexting scandal surrounding former Rep. Anthony Weiner  the estranged husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin.

The calls for an immediate release of the new information were capped by an on-the-fly press conference convened by Clinton herself Friday evening, during which she insisted the FBI director must release "pertinent" information "immediately."

The American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately, Clinton told reporters before taking questions.

When asked about the connection to the Weiner investigation, she said she had "heard these rumors." But until additional information is released, "we don't know what to believe."

Earlier in the day, Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta  who is caught up in his own email worries, as WikiLeaks continues to dump large quantities of messages hacked from his personal account  called on Comey to "provide the full details of what he is now examining," saying that he "owes it to the American people."

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Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, insisting that there "has always been more froth than fact on this issue," called on Comey to be transparent.

"Director Comey has a responsibility to the public to provide more information than a three-paragraph letter so that the public can base their opinions on facts, not speculation, he said in a Friday evening statement.

And going even further, Democratic National Committee Interim Chair Donna Brazile called Comey's letter "irresponsible."

"The FBI has a solemn obligation to remain neutral in political matters  even the faintest appearance of using the agencys power to influence our election is deeply troubling," she wrote in a statement. "At the very least, Director Comey must immediately address the serious outstanding questions over what, precisely his letter means, and what action or actions his agency plans to take."

James Comey

On the right, meanwhile, the calls themselves for transparency from Comey were nearly identical  although they came from a completely different viewpoint.

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, Republican nominee Donald Trump's running mate, used nearly identical language to Clinton. He tweeted that the FBI should "immediately" release emails "pertinent" to the investigation. Top Trump surrogate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said he agreed with Podesta, tweeting that the "American people deserve to know before they vote."

Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, a top Trump supporter and 2016 GOP presidential candidate, echoed Pence and Gingrich.

And Sen. Ron Johnson, who has not gone out of his way to boost Trump's candidacy, released a lengthier statement.

Johnson, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said it's "in line" with Comey's "commitment" to transparency that he should release "as much information" on the new developments "as possible."

"In particular, there are important questions about the nature and source of these new emails, when and how the FBI learned of them, what investigative steps the FBI is taking to obtain these emails, and the role of the Justice Department in the process," he said in the statement.

He added: "Most importantly, if the FBI determines that any additional classified information has been put at risk of exposure to our enemies, it is vital that the intelligence community take all appropriate steps to mitigate the potential damage to our national security."

NOW WATCH: Trump says 'every poll' shows he won the second debate, but scientific polls suggest he lost





More From Business Insider


Everything about the movie Allied (due out Nov. 23) - from the subject matter to the execution - was done in an old school way, and nothing could be more fitting for this sweeping romantic tale set against the backdrop of World War II.

Starring Brad Pitt (Max Vatan) as an intelligence officer, and Marion Cotillard (Marianne Beausejour) as a French Resistance fighter on a deadly mission, their relationship is challenged by the pressures and allegiances of war. To create the look and feel of the period drama, director Robert Zemeckis shot the film mostly in studio, harkening back to the days of classics like Casablanca. "Bob wanted it shot like a classic film where you create the world, you don't shoot the world," says costume designer Joanna Johnston (who previously worked with Zemeckis on Forrest Gump, Cast Away and Back to the Future).

The challenge with costuming such a high-profile film that's based on a true story is the details. "The 1940s was such a glamorous time period for fashion; I think people intentionally dressed like that during the tumultuous time period just to keep their spirits up," says Johnston who had a little over four months to do the research and spent many hours poring over noir classics such as the aforementioned Casablanca, To Have and Have Not and Now Voyager, as well as studying the style of period favorites like Hedy Lamarr, Katharine Hepburn, Gary Cooper and Charles Boyer.

"I always develop a crush on a period when I'm doing a film and I became seriously obsessed with Barbara Stanwyck and her style," adds Johnston.

Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Since the film was initially shot in studio in London (with later exteriors in Grand Cayman playing the role of Morocco), Johnston didn't have to go far when it came to sourcing. "My first port of all is always the clothes market on Portobello Road. I'll just tell the dealers what time period I'm working with and they'll pull pieces for me."

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Of course, no matter how pristine the condition a garment has been preserved in, it's rare that an authentic piece can be worn by a star; looks are cobbled together from various design inspirations and details, with prints changed and accessories added. "When working on a period piece, it's important to focus on capturing the essence of that period in a way that isn't jarring to the audience and will help transport them into that world," says producer Graham King.

When Johnson found out Pitt was to be the male lead, she immediately hired tailor Michael Sloan (Lincoln and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and got classics clothiers on board like Mackintosh for Pitt's raincoats, as well as century-old English shoemakers Crockett & Jones for his timeless brogues. For the military uniforms, she enlisted the guidance of period expert Andrew Fletcher "because I knew I needed to be on terra firma for that since they have to be extremely accurate, and especially for Brad's role, the uniforms were the anchor point," adds Johnson.

For Cotillard, the options were endless and also created some of the most challenging work. Every piece for the lead actors was custom made and, while invisible to the average movie goer, took weeks of painstaking problem solving. A favorite piece of Cotillard's features a cream blouse with a full skirt and involved custom printing a fabric and then painstaking sewing box pleats to make sure the patterns matched up perfectly.

"You always get a good feel from what the crew say when the actor first walks on set, and this one got a big thumbs up," says Johnston of the outdoor cafe scene in a Moroccan market.

So like Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman over half a century before them, Pitt and Cotillard, take a style that was as revered and copied then as it is now. "Joanna's overall vision for the characters' costumes made the story come alive and the combination of all the elements draws you into the film in a way I've never seen before," adds King. Here's looking at you, kids.

Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
boat drought asia reuters

Investors in Brevan Howard, one of the hedge fund industry's biggest names, are asking for their money back.

Brevan Howard Asset Management has received redemption requests for an additional $2 billion from the firm's flagship fund this year, according to people familiar with the matter.

A Brevan Howard spokesperson declined to comment.

That fund managed about $13.7 billion as of mid-September, according to HSBC. The latest redemption requests would take the fund down to around $11.7 billion, almost half the size it was a year ago.

The Financial Times reported in early October that investors had pulled at least $5 billion this year. The $2 billion figure, which will be returned by year-end, is in addition to that number.

The withdrawals signify a changing tide for Brevan, a titan in the industry that as recently as 2013 managed about $40 billion firmwide. At one point, the flagship fund managed $27 billion, a fund size cofounder Alan Howard recently said was too large.

For one, some of its star talent has left to start their own firms. One of its founding partners, Chris Rokos, left in 2012 and has since launched multi-billion dollar fund Rokos Capital. Ben Melkman, who headed the firm's winning Argentina fund, left earlier this year and is setting up Light Sky Macro in New York.

The redemptions were somewhat expected as Brevan Howard has posted lackluster returns. In June, Business Insider reported that the firm was preparing for a "worst-case scenario" in which its assets would dramatically drop.

Brevan Howard's flagship fund posted a loss of about 2% last year, and is down 3.4% this year through October 28, according to HSBC data.

The Rhode Island State Investment Commission, a pension, voted last week to redeem its investments from Brevan Howard, among other hedge funds.

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The losses have fed speculation that the firm might close shop to become a family office, managing founder Alan Howard's fortune. Howard, however, told the FT earlier this month that he has no plans to do so.

Brevan isn't alone in facing withdrawals. Investors have pulled a net $60 billion from the $3 trillion hedge fund industry this year, according to eVestment.

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A day after an Indian soldier's body was mutilated by terrorists, who escaped back into Pakistani territory, the Indian Army on Saturday destroying four Pakistani posts in Keran sector along the LoC.

By Indo-Asian News Service: A day after an Indian soldier's body was mutilated by terrorists, who escaped back into Pakistani territory under covering fire from Pakistani troops, the Indian Army said on Saturday it had hit back, destroying four Pakistani posts and inflicting "heavy casualties".

The posts were destroyed in a massive fire assault in Keran sector of Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara, said the Army's Northern Command.



Four Pak posts destroyed in massive fire assault in Keran Sector (J&K), heavy casualties inflicted: Army ANI (@ANI_news) October 29, 2016

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"Heavy casualties were inflicted on the other side," it said.

SEPOY MANDEEP SINGH BEHEADED BY TERRORISTS



Sepoy Mandeep Singh, who was killed in the gunfight with the infiltrators on Friday, was beheaded by the terrorists, who fled back to Pakistan-administered Kashmir under covering fire from the Pakistan Army.

The Indian Army had said an "appropriate response" would be given.

This is not the first time Pakistan has mutilated the bodies of Indian soldiers.



MUTILATIONS OF ARMYMEN DURING KARGIL



During the Kargil war in 1999, Captain Saurabh Kalia, Sepoys Arjunram Baswana, Mula Ram Bidiasar, Naresh Singh Sinsinwar, Bhanwar Lal Bagaria and Bhika Ram Mudh of 4 Jat Regiment were captured by Pakistani troops and brutally tortured.

Also read: Army vows revenge as soldier's body is mutilated, another martyred in Kupwara



The soldiers had their ear drums pierced with hot iron rods, eyes punctured and genitals cut off. The autopsy of the bodies also revealed that they were burnt with cigarettes butts. Their limbs were also chopped off, teeth broken and skull fractured during the torture. Even their nose and lips were sliced off.

In another incident, on January 8, 2013, Pakistani soldiers had entered Indian territory in Krishna Ghati sector of the border and killed two Indian soldiers - Lance Naik Hemraj and Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh. Indian officials said both the bodies were mutilated, and Hemraj's body was decapitated.

Just before retiring, former army chief General Bikram Singh, who headed the Indian Army when the incident happened, had said India gave a "befitting reply".

General Dalbir Singh, just after taking over as the Army chief, had then said if a similar incident occurred, the Indian Army's response "would be more than adequate in future".

ARTICLE 4 OF THE THIRD GENEVA CONVENTION



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 or 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 his name, date of birth, rank and service number if applicable.

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Also read: Is Pakistan planning an attack? Security of top ministers, Army chief tightens



Meanwhile, the Congress has slammed the Modi government for the continuous ceasefire violations happening from across the border and asked what is the Government doing about it.

Under Modi govt army conducted strikes & we welcomed it, but now we are continuously witnessing ceasefire violation, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted.



Under Modi govt army conducted strikes & we welcomed it, but now we are continuously witnessing ceasefire violation: Randeep Surjewala, Cong pic.twitter.com/AaXbHHiB8g ANI (@ANI_news) October 29, 2016

--- ENDS ---
Tens of thousands of people packed Taipei's streets on Saturday in Asia's biggest gay pride parade, wearing colourful costumes and carrying rainbow flags as they called on Taiwan's new government to legalise same-sex marriage.

Supporters waved handmade placards with slogans like "How long will tongzhi have to wait?" -- referring to the Chinese term for someone who is gay -- as they circled downtown Taipei.

Some took the opportunity to dress up, donning a variety of outfits including swimsuits, wedding dresses and loincloths usually worn by Japanese sumo wrestlers.

Many of the attendees were hopeful that same-sex marriage would soon become a reality under the pro-gay ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which is in control of parliament for the first time.

"The call for marriage equality feels stronger than last year," said Corinne Chiang, who works in the information technology industry.

"We hope same-sex marriage can be realised as soon as possible so our child can have two legal moms," the 34-year-old said, referring to her family.

Taiwan is one of the region's most forward-thinking societies when it comes to gay rights, but progress on marriage equality has remained stagnant, because of resistance from the Kuomintang (KMT) party, which dominated politics for decades before being unseated by the DPP in May.

As a result, previous attempts to pass a same-sex marriage bill had stalled, but parliament is soon expected to deliberate fresh proposals on the issue.

President Tsai Ing-wen has also openly supported marriage equality and said she would respect any decision reached by parliament.

"Even though my role has changed, my values remain unchanged," she wrote on her official Facebook page Saturday.
On Thursday night, Charlize Theron was honored at the amfAR Inspiration Gala in Los Angeles for her work fighting HIV/AIDS with the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project. But the attention surrounding Therons noble award was muffled by a comment about her weight. In response to a joke that Chelsea Handler cracked, Theron said, Yes, Im very fat right now.

Theron put on upwards of 30 pounds for her latest role as a mother of three in an upcoming comedy, Tully. According to E! News both Theron and Handler were reportedly joking, but was the night of Therons award really the best time to discuss her weight gain?

I think its unfortunate for her and all women, fat or thin, that she was there to accept an award for something important shes doing and the focus was on her weight, Erin Hillard, program director at the University of Notre Dames Body Image and Eating Disorder Lab, told Yahoo Beauty. It sends a message that no matter what good you may be doing in the world, if youre a woman, your physical appearance will always be more important.

Charlize Theron before her 30-pound weight gain. (Photo: Getty)

Charlize Theron before her 30-pound weight gain. (Photo: Getty)

Hillard takes issue with the fact that people around her felt the need to comment on her weight gain at all. And Handler of all people should know that body image is not something to joke about. You shouldnt be telling someone theyre fat, Handler told SheKnows in 2014. Usually if somebodys fat they know it about themselves, so you dont have to alert them to it. I mean, if somebodys overweight, theyre already thinking about it. Handler also opened up about her own body image issues. I mean, people who arent fat think theyre fat  myself included, she said. I have body dysmorphia we all have it.

Story continues

Undermining womens work is a theme in Hollywood. During this years Oscars Awards in February, curvy model Ashley Graham was slammed for comments she made on Kate Winslets curves, on a night that focused on her work. The problem is so prevalent that this year, LOreal launched a red carpet campaign to shift the conversations from womens outward appearances to something #WorthSaying.

We hope that more people can get on board, and start talking about what really matters.

Lets keep in touch! Follow Yahoo Beauty on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.
Donetsk (Ukraine) (AFP) - Valeriya Turbay says she's forgetting how to speak Ukraine's official language as schoolchildren in the bastion of the pro-Russian rebels get fewer lessons after two years of war and an onslaught of Kremlin-inspired instruction.

Ukrainian is the main teaching language in schools across the bulk of the country controlled by pro-Western Kiev since the historic February 2014 ouster of a Russian-backed regime.

But in rebel-held eastern Ukraine -- where most people know both languages but usually speak Russian -- schools now teach just one Ukrainian language and literature lesson per week.

"There is so little Ukrainian spoken that I am literally starting to forget it," says 16-year-old Turbay.

Schools in the region used to teach two to five hours a week of Ukrainian classes.

Now they have doubled the number of Russian language and literature classes since the insurgency began in April 2014.

Ukrainian patriotism is demonised in the east while Russian and separatist ideology is the norm in classrooms full of youngsters caught up in the geopolitical conflict.

"There have been some serious changes to our region," says Donetsk high school student Andrei Trubetsky.

"And so we have seen the Ukrainian language and literature become a kind of political victim," he tells AFP.

Trubetsky comes to school dressed in the same camouflage fatigues as his rebel fighter father and says he is in fact proud of the shift toward Russian in his classroom.

"We have been helped by Russia," Trubetsky says. "They have shipped in some very good school books."

- 'History of the Donbass' -

Moscow brushes off Kiev and its Western allies' charges of backing the insurgents in the conflict, which has claimed nearly 10,000 lives since it broke out more than two years ago following Russia's annexation of Crimea.

Rebel forces, which Kiev estimates number some 40,000, have carved out an unofficial state in the industrial heartland of east Ukraine.

Story continues

Monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said in a September report that "instead of Ukrainian history, these schools teach the history of the Donbass" -- another name for the industrial region.

Regional schools and colleges have swapped old textbooks for ones printed in Russian.

The last official census conducted in Ukraine in 2001 showed that three-quarters of those living in the Donetsk region were Russian speakers.

But the country has since undergone a profound transformation and some recent studies show a more even split in the Donbass.

- Secret Ukrainian lessons -

Teachers of Ukrainian language and literature have to undergo retraining in order to be able to lead classes in Russian and keep their jobs.

But some parents are secretly hiring private tutors who can brush up their children's Ukrainian skills.

The Russian and Ukrainian languages have the same Slavic roots but are different enough that they are not always mutually comprehensible.

A 43-year-old history teacher, who agreed to be identified only as Igor for security reasons, says most of those who ask him to tutor their children in Ukrainian harbour hopes of one day escaping the rebel zones.

"Children have run up against the fact that diplomas (issued by the rebels) are not recognised by higher education colleges outside the Donbass," Igor says.

"So children are looking for tutors who can help them reach Ukraine and its universities.

"And their parents are looking for tutors that can be trusted to keep things private, because they are afraid of retribution from the rebels," Igor says.

Kiev refuses to recognise the separatists' authority and calls the language changes being undertaken there a crime.

In Kiev-run areas of Ukraine, Russian can only be used on an official level if local councils adopt such a measure.
Manila (AFP) - Chinese vessels have left the contested Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, a Philippine official said Saturday, less than a week after President Rodrigo Duterte visited Beijing pledging closer ties.

The firebrand leader used the trip to vaunt his move away from traditional ally the United States in favour of Beijing -- which was previously at loggerheads with Manila over the maritime dispute.

China took control of the Scarborough Shoal, 230 kilometres (140 miles) from the main Philippine island of Luzon, in 2012, driving Filipino fishermen away from the rich fishing ground, sometimes using water cannons.

In a case brought by former president Benigno Aquino, the Philippines won a resounding victory at an international tribunal earlier this year over Beijing's extensive maritime claims in the area, infuriating the Asian giant.

But Duterte has made a point of not flaunting the ruling and President Xi Jingping told the Philippine leader on his recent visit that there was no reason for hostility and difficult topics of discussion "could be shelved temporarily".

"There is no sign of Chinese coastguard vessels in the area. While we do not have any official explanation for this, it sends a positive signal regarding relations," Duterte's spokesman Ernesto Abella told AFP Saturday, referring to the shoal.

"This is a welcome development especially for Filipino fisherfolk."

Duterte had hinted at the possibility of a Chinese withdrawal directly upon his return from Beijing last week, saying: "We'll just wait for a few more days. We might be able to return to Scarborough Shoal."

On Friday, Defence Minister Delfin Lorenzana said: "If the Chinese ships have left then it means our fishermen can resume fishing in the area."

However the foreign affairs department said they had yet to verify that Chinese vessels had left the shoal.

A report by television network GMA7 said fishermen from the northern province of Pangasinan had returned to shore Saturday with "a huge load of big species of fish" caught at Scarborough Shoal.
It's anarchy in the U.S.A.!

Rande Gerber pulled out all the stops for his annual Halloween bash with Casamigos Tequila co-founders George Clooney and Mike Meldman at a private residence in Beverly Hills, California, on Friday. The 54-year-old businessman made the fete a true family affair, as his wife, Cindy Crawford, and their two kids, Kaia, 15, and Presley, 17, all coordinated killer punk rock costumes.

WATCH: Kaia Gerber on When She First Realized She Looks Exactly Like Mom Cindy Crawford

Cindy, 50, donned a bright red T-shirt with a frilly leopard-print tutu and zig-zag printed tights, while her lookalike daughter went all out with a fake septum piercing, bright pink crimped tresses, black winged eyeliner and lipstick, and ripped tights.

Getty Images

Presley also sported bold black eyeliner, completing his ensemble with slicked back hair, plaid pants, a vest, and a T-shirt emblazoned with aliens.

But all eyes were on Rande, who amped up the edge with a spiky blue 'do, red eye makeup, and black skinny jeans.

Getty Images

RELATED: Kate Hudson Preps for Her Annual Halloween Blowout -- See the Snaps!

Inside the party, ET's Brendon Geoffrion caught up with Cindy and Rande, who spilled all on their Sex Pistols-themed costumes.

"I just didn't brush my hair tonight," Cindy joked. "We brought the kids too, so it took us four hours to get all this stuff together."

"I think everyone looks forward to it," Rande said of throwing one of the most highly-anticipated parties of the year. "Everyone's drinking a lot of Casamigos, so once you put some makeup on and kind of be someone else for the night, I think people really let loose and kinda just do their thing."

The adorable couple later took to Instagram to share a few highlights from the night, as well as a few peeks of them getting ready for the festive soiree beforehand. The supermodel even captioned one of the snaps, "Punk family portrait."

Story continues

Punk family portrait. A photo posted by Cindy Crawford (@cindycrawford) on Oct 28, 2016 at 10:28pm PDT

Trick or treat...costume countdown part II  getting ready for #CasamigosHalloween! A photo posted by Cindy Crawford (@cindycrawford) on Oct 28, 2016 at 4:02pm PDT

Friends are ready @casamigos Halloween. Guess who? A photo posted by Rande Gerber (@randegerber) on Oct 28, 2016 at 5:36pm PDT

#FamilyGoals!

WATCH: Heidi Klum Goes All Out In Vampy Jessica Rabbit Costume at Epic Halloween Party

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All the 83 satellites will be put in a single orbit and there will be no switching off and on of the rocket.

The major challenge for the proposed mission is to hold the rocket in the same orbit till all the satellites are ejected. Photo: PTI

By Indo-Asian News Service: Indian space agency ISRO is aiming for a world record by putting into orbit 83 satellites - two Indian and 81 foreign - on a single rocket in early 2017, a top official of Antrix Corporation said.

He said the company's order book stands at Rs 500 crore while negotiations are on for launch order for another Rs 500 crore.

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Also read: GSAT-18 successfully launched, PM Modi congratulates ISRO



"During the first quarter of 2017 we plan to launch a single rocket carrying 83 satellites. Most foreign satellites are nano satellites," Rakesh Sasibhushan, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Antrix Corporation told IANS.

ALL SATELLITES IN SINGLE ORBIT

Antrix Corporation is the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

He said all the 83 satellites will be put in a single orbit and hence there will not be any switching off and on of the rocket.

The major challenge for the proposed mission is to hold the rocket in the same orbit till all the satellites are ejected.

Also read: Another milestone: ISRO to use multiple burn fuel engine to launch satellites in two different orbits



He said ISRO will use its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle XL (PSLV-XL) rocket variant for the record launch.

For ISRO, launch of multiple satellites at one go is not a new thing as it has done it several times in the past.

Also read: ISRO launches longest mission, 8 satellites; 10 things to know



ABOUT THE LAUNCH

According to Sasibhushan, the total weight carried off into space by the PSLV-XL rocket will be around 1,600 kg.

Citing non-disclosure agreements, Sasibhushan declined to name the clients whose satellites ISRO will put into orbit.

He said some satellites belong to clients whose satellites ISRO put into orbit in the past.

Meanwhile, ISRO is conducting high-altitude tests with its own cryogenic engine that is expected to power the heavier rocket Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-Mk III (GSLV Mk III).

The GSLV Mk III has a capacity to carry around four tonnes of load.

The rocket is scheduled to be flown in January 2017.

The GSLV Mk III rocket is expected to save precious foreign exchange for India as it pays to launch heavier satellites through foreign space agencies.

In an interaction, ISRO Chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar said the agency is looking forward to develop four-tonne communication satellites that will give the same output as a six-tonner.

--- ENDS ---

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Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton implored the FBI on Friday evening to release information on its review of newly discovered documents "pertinent" to the probe into her use of a private email server.

The American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately, Clinton told reporters before taking questions.

Earlier in the day, FBI Director James Comey sent a vague letter to congressional leaders notifying them that the bureau was again actively investigating Clintons use of a private server after discovering new documents pertinent to the investigation.

Hillary Clinton: "The American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately" https://t.co/lyTgxeAQlm  CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) October 28, 2016

Clinton said she learned of the news from media reports and had not been contacted by anyone from the FBI.

The Democratic nominee added that she was "confident" the new emails would not change the results of the FBI's initial conclusion. The bureau declined to recommend charges against her in July, and Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the case was closed.

The new emails were said to have surfaced during a federal investigation into former New York Rep. Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of top aide Huma Abedin.

Clinton said she was not sure whether such reports were true.

Weve heard these rumors, she said. We dont know what to believe.

After the conclusion of the news conference, a reporter asked Clinton if she was worried the news could sink her campaign.

The former secretary of state responded with laughter, according to a reporter at the scene.

The FBI's announcement on Friday threw a wrench into an already turbulent presidential campaign with just 11 days before Election Day, coming as Clinton held leads over her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, in national polls and surveys in key battleground states.

Story continues

Natasha Bertrand contributed to this report.

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Daytona Beach (United States) (AFP) - US presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton declared Saturday that the FBI's decision to announce a renewed probe into her use of email just ahead of voting was "unprecedented" and "deeply troubling."

"It's pretty strange to put something like that out with such little information right before an election," the Democratic nominee complained, addressing cheering supporters at a rally in the must-win state of Florida.

Clinton remains the favorite to win the keys to the White House in the November 8 vote, but her momentum was slowed Friday when FBI director James Comey made a shock announcement.

In a letter to congressional committee chairs, the agency chief said agents were investigating a newly discovered batch of emails linked to Clinton, to see if they contained classified material.

A previous FBI probe was declared finished in July, after Comey's agency found no evidence that Clinton had broken any laws through her controversial use of a private email server while secretary of state.

News reports citing FBI sources said the emails were found on a laptop used by Clinton's aide Huma Abedin and her husband Anthony Weiner, who is subject to an unrelated investigation for sending explicit messages to a minor.

But it is not clear whether the emails had any connection to Clinton's work at the State Department, and Comey's statement said only that investigators were studying to see if they are "pertinent" to the server probe.

Clinton's opponent Donald Trump, however, has seized gleefully on the statement, and her Democratic allies have reacted with fury, arguing that Comey had been so vague in his letter that he was feeding unproven conspiracy theories.

"It's not just strange, it's unprecedented," Clinton told the Daytona Beach rally.

"And it is deeply troubling because voters deserve to get full and complete facts. So we've called on Director Comey to explain everything right away, put it all out on the table."
This is an item I wrote last night but was too busy to look over and check this morning, so I didnt post it. Then I was in meetings all day. Im posting it now with a new first paragraph in the wake of todays announcement from FBI director James Comey about re-opening the email investigation into Hillary Clinton. Otherwise I think the main point still stands.

New intro: Are these extra emails that James Comey has found likely to contain a criminal or national-security bombshell that was not in the thousands of emails the FBI has already reviewed? Anything is possible, but my guess is no. Is this announcement, which is so certain to roil the news through this weekend, likely to change the fundamentals in the election and give Trump the edge? Again anything could happen, but again my guess is no.

But apart from anything it ends up telling us about Comey, the episode does illustrate something about candidates in general, and Clintons in particular, and about the process of learning in politics. Follow along with me if you will (now back to pre-Comey version of the post):

Recommended: The Republicans Giving In to Donald Trump

***

Bill Clinton was overall a successful and very popular president. If he had been eligible to run for a third term, he would have won. If his relations with Al Gore were such that Gore would have welcomed his campaign support (as Hillary Clinton now welcomes that of the Obamas), it would probably have made enough differencein New Hampshire, in Tennessee, above all in Floridato have spared the country the recount nightmare and Bush v. Gore and put Gore in office.

I voted for Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996, and would have voted for him again in 2000.

And yet , I will never understand or excuse the recklessness and indiscipline with which he put so much at risk through sexual misbehavior. He risked his presidency (which survived), his successors chances (which did not), his historic legacy, and of course his marriage.

Story continues

When it comes to Bill Clinton, it is possible simultaneously to think, He was very good at what he did. And to ask, Why oh why was he so reckless?

***

Lets apply this logic to Hillary Clinton:

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
Hillary Clinton accused Donald Trump on Saturday of intentionally deceiving voters about the FBIs renewed investigation into her use of a private email server.

Donald Trump is already making up lies about this, she said at a rally in Daytona Beach, Florida. He is doing his best to confuse, mislead, and discourage the American people.

On Friday, FBI Director James Comey announced in a short letter to Congress that new emails related to the agencys investigation into Clinton had been discovered.

Here's video of Clinton's comments in Daytona Beach re: FBI revisiting email probe pic.twitter.com/FhQiJqIWFC  Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) October 29, 2016

Trump said on Saturday the FBIs announcement offered him hope that the law enforcement agency would finally recommend charges be brought against her. The Republican presidential nominee has previously alleged that Clinton violated the law by deleting thousands of emails on a private server she used to conduct official business as secretary of state.

Clinton has denied any wrongdoing and said at Florida's rally that Comeys announcement was perplexing.

Well, if youre like me, you probably have a few questions about it. It is pretty strange  its pretty strange to put something like that, with such little information, right before an election, she said.

Clinton added: In fact, its not just strange, its unprecedented. And its deeply troubling because voters deserve to get full and complete facts. And so we have called on Director Comey to explain everything right away. Put it all on the table.

It was unclear when the FBI would complete its review of the newly found emails or if Comey would provide more information on the new development before the November 8 election.

NOW WATCH: 'CHECK OUT SEX TAPE': Trump goes on raging tweetstorm ripping Miss Universe contestant





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Aden (AFP) - Saudi-led coalition air strikes on rebel-held security buildings in western Yemen have killed at least 60 people, many of them inmates buried under the rubble of a detention centre.

The strikes late Saturday came just hours after other coalition raids hit three residential buildings in the southwest, killing 17 civilians.

The Shiite Huthi rebels on Sunday said a new UN peace plan aimed at ending the country's 19-month-old war was a "basis for discussion" despite "fundamental flaws".

Yemen's President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi on Saturday, however, rejected the proposal aimed at ending fighting between forces loyal to his government and the rebels and their allies.

The war escalated in March 2015 when the coalition launched a military campaign to push back the rebels, after they seized the capital in 2014 and then advanced on other parts of Yemen including the province of Hodeidah.

In the latest deadly strikes in Hodeidah, which the rebels have controlled since late 2014, coalition warplanes hit a rebel-held security compound in the town of Zaidia.

"Sixty people in total were killed and dozens were wounded," a health official said.

Most of the victims were anti-rebel detainees who were being held among 100 inmates in two cells at the detention centre, he said.

It remains unclear why the coalition would hit a detention centre holding anti-rebel inmates.

- 'Lack of medical supplies' -

AFP footage from the site showed the bloodied limbs and bodies of the victims covered in dust and buried under the rubble as sirens wailed nearby.

"We were about to go to sleep when an air strike targeted us," said one wounded man at a hospital in the area.

"We ran away and a second air strike hit us again," he said, as medics rushed around bringing in wounded victims covered in blood.

The rebel-controlled sabanews.net also gave a toll of 60 killed and 38 wounded, adding that "dead bodies are still being retrieved" from under the rubble.

Story continues

Coalition warplanes over the area "are hampering attempts to save the victims and retrieve bodies", sabanews.net reported.

"The number of victims could rise further due to the lack of medical supplies," it said, quoting a medical source who blamed the coalition's "blockade".

A lack of ambulances "has made attempts to transfer critical cases to hospitals in the city of Hodeidah more difficult", the source said.

International aid groups have repeatedly voiced concern over the rising need for aid in Yemen, where malnutrition has increased in the past few months.

Elsewhere on Saturday, strikes killed 17 civilians and completely destroyed three residential buildings in a town southeast of third city Taez, sabanews.net said.

A local official loyal to Hadi's government said the air strikes in the town of Salo had hit three adjacent homes by mistake.

- UN plan 'basis for discussion' -

But the coalition -- which has come under pressure over the high civilian death toll from its bombing campaign -- has so far not commented on either of the attacks.

The conflict has killed nearly 7,000 people, mostly civilians, since March 2015, according to the United Nations, which has been struggling to convince the warring parties to implement a ceasefire and revive a stalled political process.

The rebels -- who are allied with troops who have remained loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh -- on Sunday said the latest UN peace plan was a "basis for discussion" despite "fundamental flaws".

They said the plan by UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed did not include a "total, permanent ceasefire" or foresee lifting the blockade against areas they control.

The contents of the roadmap, which Hadi rejected on Saturday, have not been made public.

But informed sources say it calls for agreement on naming a new vice president after the rebels withdraw from Sanaa and other cities and hand over heavy weapons to a third party.

Hadi would then transfer power to the vice president who would appoint a new prime minister to form a government in which the north and south of Yemen would have equal representation.

The president has slammed the UN proposal as one that "rewards the putschists while punishing the Yemeni people and legitimacy".
Bogota (AFP) - Colombia's government claims progress toward saving a peace deal with FARC rebels, but efforts to open talks with another guerrilla group, the ELN, remain suspended over a hostage dispute.

President Juan Manuel Santos said recently he aimed for a "complete peace" through deals with both groups after half a century of war.

Now he is fighting to salvage the peace effort on two fronts.

An accord with the leftist National Liberation Army (ELN) was meant to crown a historic agreement signed last month with Colombia's biggest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

That was until voters surprised the government by rejecting the FARC accord in an October 2 referendum. Critics said the deal was too soft on the FARC.

Santos won the Nobel Peace Prize this month for his efforts. But he admitted there was still work to be done.

- New FARC deal -

After the referendum, Santos's team went back to the drawing board with FARC negotiators in Havana.

They said Friday they had begun drafting a new deal, taking into account the demands of opponents of the earlier accord.

"The proposals are being discussed carefully. Many of them are being incorporated into the text of a new accord," both sides said in a joint statement.

They said they would resume work next week "with the aim of securing a new definitive accord quickly and efficiently."

Santos said his negotiators, meanwhile, would meet again with their political opponents on Saturday to discuss their demands for the new accord.

"Time is pressing, because the ceasefire we agreed is fragile," he said.

"It is a question of goodwill and taking decisions. This can be achieved in days."

- Hostage setback -

Meanwhile, the peace drive suffered another setback this week.

The government on Thursday postponed the official start of talks with the ELN.

Santos complained the ELN had not yet released a hostage, former congressman Odin Sanchez.

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ELN negotiator Pablo Beltran said the group had agreed to release Sanchez but had not promised to do so before the dialogue is launched.

The talks were to have been formally inaugurated on Thursday with the first proper sessions of negotiations scheduled for November 3.

Analysts said Thursday's postponement was likely just a hiccup.

"It can't be called a failure yet," said Carlos Alfonso Velasquez, a specialist in conflict analysis.

"But it will be if the talks do not start on November 3, and the ELN knows it."

- Deadly violence -

Colombian authorities estimate the ELN currently has 1,500 members.

That makes it smaller than the FARC, which has some 5,765 members.

Analysts said the ELN also has a different approach to peace talks.

The FARC freed its hostages before peace talks and later declared a ceasefire.

In a reminder of the stakes of the peace bid, deadly violence struck after the ELN talks were postponed.

Two truck drivers were killed in the country's northeast in what the military said was a "terrorist act" committed by the ELN.

"The ELN guerrilla group comes strengthened to the negotiations with the government," Colombia's Conflict Analysis Resource Center (CERAC) said in a report this month.

"Over the past three years this group has increased its level of violence."

- Tough negotiations -

Colombia's ideological and territorial conflict broke out in 1964, when the FARC and ELN were formed.

It has drawn in various groups and killed more than 260,000 people, according to Colombian authorities.

"These negotiations will not be easy," said Ariel Avila, an analyst at Colombia's Peace and Reconciliation Foundation.

"Getting them started will be even harder."
FBI Director James Comey was reportedly warned against notifying Congress about a batch of newly discovered emails with potential ties to Hillary Clintons private server.

According to the Washington Post, before issuing the letter to Congress that sent shock waves through the Clinton campaign Friday, Comey consulted senior Justice Department officials who advised him of the DOJs position that we dont comment on an ongoing investigation. And we dont take steps that will be viewed as influencing an election.

Director Comey understood our position, said one official, who spoke to the Post on the condition of anonymity. It was conveyed to the FBI, and Comey made an independent decision to alert the Hill. He is operating independently of the Justice Department. And he knows it.

The practice of avoiding any activity that could be perceived as an attempt to influence the results of an election is a long-held Justice Department tradition that, the the New Yorker reported, became an official practice four years ago thanks to a memo from then-Attorney General Eric Holder.

In the memo, Holder warned that all DOJ employees must be particularly sensitive to safeguarding the Departments reputation for fairness, neutrality, and nonpartisanship when dealing with political cases, and urged anyone who may face questions about the timing of charges or overt investigative steps near the time of a primary or general election to consult the Public Integrity Section of the DOJs Criminal Division.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch also urged Comey to stick to the Departments longstanding practice, according to the New Yorker, and not to take any action that could influence the presidential election which is now just 10 days away.

In a separate letter sent to FBI employees Friday, Comey offered an explanation for his decision to break with DOJ policy and notify Congress about the newly discovered emails, despite the recommendation from Lynch and other senior officials.

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Of course, we dont ordinarily tell Congress about ongoing investigations, but here I feel an obligation to do so given that I testified repeatedly in recent months that our investigation was completed, Comey wrote, referring to the Bureaus previous investigation into Clintons private email server. I also think it would be misleading to the American people were we not to supplement the record.

At the same time, he continued, given that we dont know the significance of this newly discovered collection of emails, I dont want to create a misleading impression. In trying to strike that balance, in a brief letter and in the middle of an election season, there is significant risk of being misunderstood, but I wanted you to hear directly from me about it.

Reports later revealed that the emails in question were discovered on electronic devices belonging to former Congressman Anthony Weiner, whose sexting habits are currently the subject of a separate FBI investigation. Weiner is the estranged husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin,
When FBI Director James Comey wrote his bombshell letter to Congress on Friday about newly discovered emails that were potentially pertinent to the investigation into Hillary Clintons private email server, agents had not been able to review any of the material, because the bureau had not yet gotten a search warrant to read them, three government officials who have been briefed on the probe told Yahoo News.

At the time Comey wrote the letter, he had no idea what was in the content of the emails, one of the officials said, referring to recently discovered emails that were found on the laptop of disgraced ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin. Weiner is under investigation for allegedly sending illicit text messages to a 15-year-old girl.

As of Saturday night, the FBI was still in talks with the Justice Department about obtaining a warrant that would allow agency officials to read any of the newly discovered Abedin emails, and therefore was still in the dark about whether they include any classified material that the bureau has not already seen.

We do not have a warrant, a senior law enforcement official said. Discussions are under way [between the FBI and the Justice Department] as to the best way to move forward.

That Comey and other senior FBI officials were not aware of what was in the emails  and whether they contained any material the FBI had not already obtained  is important because Donald Trumps campaign and Republicans in Congress have suggested that the FBI director would not have written his letter unless he had been made aware of significant new emails that might justify reopening the investigation into the Clinton server.

But a message that Comey wrote to all FBI agents Friday seeking to explain his decision to write the controversial letter strongly hinted that investigators did not not yet have legal authority establishing probable cause to review the content of Abedins emails on Weiners electronic devices.

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In that message, Comey told agents that he had only been briefed on Thursday about the matter and that the recommendation of investigators was with respect to seeking access to emails that have recently been found in an unrelated case.

Comey approved the recommendation to seek judicial access to the material that day, he wrote.

Because those emails appear to be pertinent to our investigation, I agreed that we should take appropriate steps to obtain and review them, he told agents.

FBI Director James Comey prepares to testify on Capitol Hill in December 2015. (Photo: Susan Walsh/AP)

Comeys letter to Congress has subjected the FBI director to withering criticism. Top Justice Department officials were described by a government source as apoplectic over the letter. Senior officials strongly discouraged Comey from sending it, telling FBI officials last week it would violate longstanding department policy against taking actions in the days before an election that might influence the outcome, a U.S official familiar with the matter told Yahoo News. He was acting independently of the guidance given to him, said the U.S. official.

Comey insisted in his message to agents that he felt he had an obligation to inform Congress about the new material because he had previously testified that the bureaus investigation into the Clinton email server was completed. He said it would be misleading to the American people were we not to supplement the record. He added, Given that we dont know the significance of this newly discovered collection of emails, I dont want to create a misleading impression.

The decision to send the letter wasnt easy, said the senior law enforcement official. Comey and top FBI officials debated what course to take once they learned about the discovery on Weiners laptop  said to include thousands of Abedins emails. In the end, the official said, Comey feared that if he chose to move forward and seek access to the emails and didnt immediately alert Congress, the FBIs efforts would leak to the media and the director would be accused of concealing information.

This was the least bad choice, the senior official said.

But Comeys letter to Congress  suggesting that the FBI might now revisit the Clinton email probe  may have been even more misleading, some critics charged Saturday.

This letter is troubling because it is vaguely worded and leaves so many questions unanswered, Sen. Patrick Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and three other Democrats on the panel wrote Comey and Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

It is not clear whether the emails identified by the FBI are even in the custody of the FBI, whether any of the emails have already been reviewed, whether Secretary Clinton sent or received them, or whether they even have any significance to the FBIs previous investigation, the senators wrote.

Hillary Clinton addresses a rally in Des Moines, Iowa. (Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP)

A Yahoo News review of Abedins interview with FBI agents last April  when the Clinton email probe was in full swing  shows that the longtime Clinton aide hinted that there might be relevant material on her husbands personal devices. But agents do not appear to have followed up on the clues.

Abedin, who served as Clintons deputy chief of staff and held a top-secret security clearance, disclosed she had access to four email accounts while working at the State Department.

These accounts, Abedin said, included an official State Department email account, but also an account on Clintons private email server that Abedin used to communicate with Clinton and her top aides, as well as a personal Yahoo account. She used both the Clinton email account and the Yahoo account to routinely forward State Department emails and documents so she could more easily print them, she said. In addition, she told the agents, she had a separate email account that she had previously used to support her husbands political activities.

Abedins interview  conducted by agents at the FBIs Washington field office last April 5  was the first tip-off that the longtime Clinton aide might have circulated official State Department material among her multiple accounts. At one point, agents even confronted Abedin on one apparently sensitive email about U.S. policy towards Pakistan that had been forwarded to her State Department account from an aide to the late Richard Holbrooke, then a special State Department envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Abedin had forwarded the email to her Yahoo account in order to print it, but told agents she was unaware of the classification of the document and stated that she did not make judgments on the classification of material she received. Instead, she relied on the sender to make that assessment and to properly make and transmit the document.

Hillary Clinton speaks with senior aide Huma Abedin aboard her campaign plane. (Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP)

There is no indication from the eight-page FBI report on the interview, however, that the agents ever pressed her on what has now turned into an explosive issue in the final days of the 2016 campaign: Did Weiner have access to any classified government documents on his laptop and iPhone  devices that, he apparently used to exchange sexually charged messages with women he met online, including in one alleged case, an underage teenager in North Carolina?

The fact that FBI agents failed to follow up on this shows that the original probe into the Clinton email server was not thorough and was fatally flawed, said Joseph DiGenova, a former U.S. attorney and independent counsel who has been a strong critic of Comey and the FBI probe. The first thing they should have done was gotten a sworn affidavit about all her accounts and devices, he said, adding that agents should have immediately attempted to obtain the devices, including Weiners.

But it is still far from clear which State Department emails might be on the devices that Weiner had access to. In a separate civil lawsuit brought by a conservative group, Judicial Watch, Abedin gave testimony in June that appeared to differ in some respects from what she told the FBI. Asked in that case about her email accounts, Abedin told Judicial Watch lawyers that she rarely used the personal Yahoo account, and that when she did, she only used it to forward State Department press clips so she could print them.
The DMK has demanded an explanation on why the chief minister did not sign the nomination papers instead.

By Akshaya Nath: As political parties in Tamil Nadu gear up for by-elections in three constituencies on November 19, the questions around Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's health still loom large.

On October 28, three AIADMK candidates filed nomination papers to contest elections in Thanjavur, Aravakurichi and Thiruparankundram Assembly constituencies, with Jayalalithaa's thumb impression instead of her signature.

The thumb impression has been attested by her doctor and got a nod from the Election Commission as well, but the opposition seemed unsure.

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The document was released with a note from her doctor saying, "Jayalalithaa has undergone a tracheotomy and has an inflamed right hand, temporarily unable to affix signature and has used her left hand to give the thumb impression."

The DMK has demanded an explanation on why the chief minister did not sign the nomination papers instead.

Also read: Jayalalithaa is 'progressing' and 'interacting', says hospital



The AIADMK chief has been in hospital for over a month now, being treated for a lung infection and respiratory problems.

Medical bulletins issued by the Apollo Hospital say she is responding well to the treatment.



Watch the video here

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By Roberta Rampton DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) - Heading into the homestretch of the presidential campaign, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton is looking to harness some celebrity star power to help get out the vote and energize volunteers in battleground states. Jennifer Lopez will headline a free concert for Clinton supporters in Miami on Saturday, giving the former secretary of state a chance to connect with the key demographic of millennials she has sometimes struggled to reach - and some visual counter-programming to the latest email controversy to roil her race for the White House. The Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Friday it is investigating more emails as part of a probe into Clinton's use of a private email system - a late-breaking surprise that will likely continue to get extensive media play leading up to the Nov. 8 vote Celebrity-driven events like the concert "can serve as a bit of a distraction" from the controversy, said Eric Kasper, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. "It is a way to kind of take the edge off things because it tends to be more positive," Kasper said. The JLo concert is the first in a series. Next week, Clinton will take the stage with Jay Z in Cleveland, and then with Katy Perry in Philadelphia on Nov. 5. A Harvard University poll this week showed that among likely voters aged 18 to 29, Clinton is leading Republican rival Donald Trump, a celebrity in his own right who starred in the reality television show "The Apprentice." But turnout is a concern. The exceptionally negative tone of this year's race for the White House has soured young Americans on politics, Reuters/Ipsos polling shows. Presidential candidates have long sought to create buzz with help from celebrity pals, said Tevi Troy, who chronicled the strategy in his book "What Jefferson Read, Ike Watched, and Obama Tweeted: 200 Years of Pop Culture in the White House." "Campaigns do it to reach out to people who are not necessarily interested in politics but are interested in pop culture," said Troy, a presidential historian who worked in the George W. Bush White House. The events are like a larger version of a campaign yard sign, a way to show a "groundswell" of support behind a candidate - and a way to appeal to fans of the musicians, said Kasper, who has studied the intersection between pop culture and politics. "It can create a kind of psychological connection that we otherwise might not have when a politician endorses a presidential candidate, for instance," Kasper said. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Leslie Adler)
Riding on a wave of nostalgia, US TV seems to be reviving one by one its former hit shows still loved by fans. Comedy series "Will & Grace," starring Debra Messing and Eric McCormack, could be next on the list.

Could the two friends and New York roommates be set to return to NBC? Discussions are reportedly underway, according to Variety and Tvline, after the cast was reunited last month for a very special episode. Debra Messing, Eric McCormack, Megan Mullally and Sean Hayes all star as their original "Will & Grace" characters in a short (around 10 minutes) video supporting Hillary Clinton's presidential election campaign. Their reunion clip has been viewed more than six million times online and could, it seems, have given everyone ideas.

"Will & Grace" ran from 1998 to 2006 on NBC, following the lives of Will, a gay lawyer, and his friend and roommate Grace, an interior designer, both of whom are looking for love. The series became a cult show and scooped 16 Emmy Awards over its eight seasons. NBC clearly has plenty of reasons to revive it.

Over the last few years, US TV networks have jumped onboard the revival trend in a major way. Netflix has already brought "Arrested Development" and "Full House" back to screens and has a "Gilmore Girls" revival in store for November 25. Fox has brought back "The X-Files" and CBS has just relaunched "MacGyver." The trend looks set to continue into 2017, with new episodes of "Twin Peaks" coming to Showtime. Fox has announced a "Prison Break" revival, while "Knight Rider" and "Star Trek" are both being rebooted on online streaming sites.

Certain other cult series are also the subject of comeback rumors, but with no further details. Will Smith is reportedly trying to relaunch his 1990s sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," modernizing it with new characters. ABC is apparently keen to bring back agent Sydney Bristow, formerly played by Jennifer Garner in the series "Alias."
Reine, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Reaching financial independence before typical retirement age is an increasinglypopular trend.

For Jason and Julie Buckley, retiring last year at age 43 meant relinquishing the stress of the corporate world and jumping into a life of full-time travel.

Shepherded by meticulous spreadsheet estimates and years of tracking their pennies, the British couple retired with about 30,000 (~ $36,800) in cash savings and set a modest retirement budget of 15,000 (~ $18,400) a year, Jason told Business Insider in an email.

The rest of their net worth is invested in rented-out residential property, private pensions, and investments including ETFs and bonds.

For the past 10 months, the Buckleys have been touring Europe and North Africa in their motor home, which enables them to visit expensive countries "for a fraction of the cost."

"We developed a strategy to avoid living off savings. In theory, and in practice so far, our savings will increase over time," Jason said. Currently, the couple lives off of cash flow from investments  rental income, dividends, and interest  as well as advertising and book sales on their travel blog, which they spend just two hours a day maintaining.

If you're aiming to achieve early retirement yourself, Jason says, "Youre most likely going to be swimming against a very strong tide of opinion! If you're infected with an insatiable desire to do it, then be confident you can do it."

They suggest starting with educating yourself financially and putting your plan on paper, tracking spending and cutting all unnecessary costs, and investing.

"As your costs come down, and income from your investments gets re-invested in more investments, at some point you will experience the bewildering and joyful moment when your wealth starts to spiral upwards," Jason said. "At that point your freedom is all but inevitable."

Access a test copy of the Buckleys' spreadsheet to track your own viability for early retirement. Check out their blog Our Tour for more advice, tips, and information on reaching financial independence.

NOW WATCH: Drivers are wasting $2.1 billion on premium gas a year





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Santiago (AFP) - Isabel Allende, daughter of Chile's martyred leader Salvador Allende, said she has decided not to stand for her nation's presidency, just weeks after announcing she was mulling a run.

"After deep reflection, I have decided not to go forward" with a presidential campaign, Allende told the Mediabanco news agency on Friday.

Allende is a senator and the daughter of former president Salvador Allende, who was overthrown by late dictator Augusto Pinochet in a 1973 coup.

Isabel Allende -- the leading name from the left who was considering a presidential run -- is not to be confused with her distant relative of the same name who is a best-selling novelist.

Allende said she will focus her efforts on "ensuring unity within the Socialist Party" her late father founded decades ago, alongside other leftist leaders.

The socialist party was in deep crisis after last week's local elections that gave conservatives with the Chile Vamos group a narrow victory over the ruling coalition of Bachelet's left-leaning New Majority.

General elections in 2017 will pick a successor for Chile's socialist President Michelle Bachelet, at a time when the left here is struggling.

Michelle Bachelet, the nation's first woman president, has been besieged by a corruption scandal involving her son and is struggling to deliver on the reform agenda that got her elected by a landslide in 2013.

She served a first term from 2006 to 2010, and -- constitutionally barred from immediate re-election -- returned in 2014.
Heres the skinny on mens fashion: Skinny ties are on their way out. (Photo: Getty Images)

Trendy guys, take note: Like it or not, neckties are getting wider again. J. Crew said so.

In a footnote on page 86 of its latest catalog, the trendsetting chain quietly announced, We widened our ties by  to keep up with todays changing proportions, signaling the death knell of the skinny tie that its consumers  and an entire culture of fashion-savvy males  have been sporting since at least 2011, according to Newser. But take heed: That doesnt necessarily mean the pendulum is swinging in the other direction entirely, either.

The announcement means that J. Crew will be bumping up its tie widths from 2.5 to 2.75 inches  still slimmer than the typical mainstream tie, which measures between 3 and 3.25 inches, according to an expert interviewed by Bloomberg. Currently, the popular necktie retailer Tie Bar sells skinny ties as slim as 2 inches. As Bloomberg notes, just seven years ago, the companys most popular tie was a broad 3.25 inches wide. But over the course of that time, designers have slimmed down suit silhouettes, and ties have, well, followed suit.

Perhaps J. Crew is taking its cue from the runway, where softened shoulders in the Italian style and a general air of relaxation, as Bloomberg puts it, are upstaging slimmer suits  and proving that the phasing out of skinny fashion has already begun. Or maybe the company is following the consumers lead. Weve definitely seen the change in what the consumers buying, said the CEO of a fashion retailer interviewed by CBS. Were seeing [ties] go wider now, but not as wide as they once were in the 90s.

But its common knowledge that fashion is cyclical, so it should come as little surprise that the reign of skinny silhouettes would come to an end eventually. Just look at the recent evolution of neckties. The Beatles are widely recognized as the pioneers of the modern skinny tie. The Fab Four sent the fat neckties of the 1940s and 50s packing when they touched down in New York City in 1964 sporting svelte black neckties.

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Beatlemania ushered in a new era of music  and neckties. (Photo: Getty)

The skinny-tie trend slowly faded away as the fashion world changed, and by the 1980s, wider ties like those worn by Michael Douglass character Gordon Gekko in Wall Street emerged as the style du jour. The 4-inches-plus neckties that were a staple of the 1980s and 90s menswear are the antithesis of the modern mans style  and the very reason some guys might be freaking out over J. Crews latest sartorial statement.

Indeed, the move is being interpreted as an attempt on J. Crews part to find a happy middle ground and appeal to the largest demographic possible: people who arent beholden to trends but also want to look current. These people are in the middle of fashion, according to Scott Christian, a writer for Esquire, astutely referring to the description of Cary Grant, the late actor and style icon, of his own personal style ethos. Christian calls this demo the meaty part of [J. Crews] wheelhouse.

But, as Christian points out, this doesnt mean that hipsters  or even trend-loving teachers, attorneys, or real estate agents  have to say goodbye to their skinny-tie aesthetic. After all, personal style is just that: personal. As Christian suggests, if skinny fashion is your thing, by all means keep the skinny necktie in your arsenal, and tie it on it proudly.

But if youre somewhere in between and not deeply affected by shifts in fashion trends, youre in the best possible place. Youre like Cary Grant: in the middle of fashion. And thats a great place to be, Christian suggests. If you stay somewhere near the center of the fashion continuum, Youll never be out of style, he says.

Lets keep in touch! Follow Yahoo Beauty on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.
Interested in sitting down for a meal with Leonardo DiCaprio? Now you can, for just 5or roughly $6.08.

Fans can enter for a chance to win a VIP lunch experience with DiCaprio, with donations going towards the new Home restaurant in Edinburgh, Scotland, created by the teams of Social Bite and Maison Bleue. And of course there's a catch: You have to be a U.K. resident to enter.

OK everybody, we have another amazing prize draw that launched today, which we hope you will support. Mr Leo Di... https://t.co/dwKBtKjgJJ Social Bite (@SocialBite_) October 26, 2016

Last year's event from Social Bite drew in more than 400,000 British pounds, with proceeds going towards feeding the homeless.

According to this year's event posting, the company was able to feed the homeless for a full year, with each entry this year providing a meal for a homeless person at Home.

The winner will get a VIP lunch with DiCaprio and Sir Tom Hunter, the chairman of the Scottish Business Awards at which DiCaprio will be speaking this year, as well as an overnight stay for two people at The George Hotel, first class travel within Scotland, and a Champagne and shopping experience.

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By Keith Coffman

DENVER (Reuters) - The DNA analysis that prompted a Colorado prosecutor to exonerate the family of 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey in her 1996 murder was not as clear cut as she portrayed it at the time, a newspaper reported on Friday.

The Boulder Daily Camera, in conjunction with Denver television station KUSA-TV, said the results an outside laboratory conducted on DNA found in the slain girls clothing contained genetic markers from two people.

That conclusion is at apparent odds with statements made by former Boulder prosecutor Mary Lacy when she cited the report to clear the Ramsey family of involvement in the girls murder.

Lacy said in 2008 that the DNA belonged to a single male and there was no innocent explanation for its presence other than it belonged to an unidentified intruder who was the killer.

The beaten and strangled body of JonBenet Ramsey was found in the basement of her parents Boulder, Colo. home on Dec. 26, 1996. No one has been charged with her killing.

The latest disclosure adds another twist to the investigation of the case that has been plagued by missteps including a contaminated crime scene and in-fighting between police and prosecutors.

In 1999, a grand jury voted to indict the girls parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, for child abuse resulting in death, but then-district attorney Alex Hunter declined to prosecute, citing a lack of evidence.

It was unknown that the grand jury voted to indict until 2013, when the Boulder Daily Camera won a legal battle to have the document released.

Lacy did not respond to the Cameras request for comment on the article, and could not be reached by Reuters on Friday.

However, she told ABC News that in clearing the family, she was trying to prevent a horrible travesty of justice.

I was scared to death that despite the fact that there was no evidence, no psychopathy and no motive, the case was a train going down the track and the Ramseys were tied to that track," ABC quoted her as saying.

Story continues

Reached by telephone, John Ramseys lawyer, L. Lin Wood, told Reuters that he has not seen the underlying documents, but said he supports Lacys conclusion that the Ramseys were not involved in the girls murder.

Bob Grant, a former district attorney who served as a consultant to Hunter during the grand jury probe, said the revelation adds further bafflement to the unsolved homicide.

(Reporting by Keith Coffman in Denver; Editing by Dan Whitcomb, Bernard Orr)
Though the study calls the current unrest, which entered its 111th day today, a rural uprising, it says the stone throwing protests spread all around with 2250 incidents of protests, clashes, marches taking place across Kashmir since July 8 soon after the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani.

By Naseer Ganai: A study of Jammu and Kashmir Police about the current protests, which erupted after the killing of the militant commander, Burhan Muzaffer Wani in July, says there is sharp de-escalation in violent incidents and the Valley is moving towards normalcy.

Though the study calls the current unrest, which entered its 111th day today, a rural uprising, it says the stone throwing protests spread all around with 2250 incidents of protests, clashes, marches taking place across Kashmir since July 8 soon after the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani.

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Of 2250, 1566 incidents were reported from the rural areas while around 651 were reported from towns.

ALSO READ: 4 arrested in Sopore for fuelling Kashmir unrest

The study conducted by a senior police official in Kashmir Police chief's office, says, "In the first week of the turmoil each day 180 to 200 incidents of stone throwing were taking place across Kashmir and each day around 40,000 people were involved in these incidents of stone throwing." However, in the last week of October, only ten incidents have taken place, indicating the decline in the clashes between protesters and the police.

From August along with stone-throwing clashes, people would take long pro-freedom and anti-India marches and rallies. In August this year, five to ten rallies were being taken out each day with around 50,000 people participating in such rallies. Now in October one such rally was taken out in a week and with 100 to 200 people participating in it, says the internal study of the police.

MOST INCIDENTS TOOK PLACE ON FRIDAYS



As the protests erupted initially from south Kashmir, the four districts of south Kashmir have seen 725 incidents of violence while in north Kashmir three districts have seen 715 such incidents. In the central Kashmir, 810 incidents have taken place with Srinagar reporting 650 incidents while in Ganderbal district only 78.

"In Srinagar protests and clashes were witnessed from areas which could be described as the rural belt of Srinagar like Parimpora, Tengpora, Nowgam, Narbal etc," the study says.

Most of the violent incidents have taken place on Fridays with July 9 witnessing 201 incidents of violence while as Friday of October 17 saw only one such incident. In the first week after July 8, 470 incidents were reported from across the Valley while in the last week of October the number has gone down to 31 incidents.

The police say around 44 police and government building were burnt in past 100 days and 52 police and government building were damaged. In all these four months 23 schools were also burnt.

ALSO READ: Kashmir: Day after 12 govt employees are sacked for anti-national activities, union threatens protest

Since July 8, 67 militancy-related incidents have taken place in which six police personnel and 35 army men were killed. During the uprising 18 foreign militants were killed and 50 persons have joined the militancy.

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Since July 8 Kashmir has seen prolonged curfew followed by shutdown and strike, calls of which are being given by separatists regularly. Police say around 75 people have been killed including two policemen in past four months while as human rights activists say over 90 civilians including school going kids have been killed in pellets and bullets fired by the government forces. They say over 15000 people have sustained injuries.

The police have arrested over 6000 youths involved in various cases including stone throwing and over 450 political activists and separatist leaders have been booked under preventive detention law called Public Safety Act.

Of 6000, the police study, 4800 have been released on bail. "Tempest is almost nearing an end. We are moving rapidly towards normalcy as there is sharp de-escalation in the violence. We expect peaceful days ahead," says a senior police officer.

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Doctors say women need more education about this breast cancer risk

Breast cancer awareness is on the rise, but doctors say not enough women know what factors put them at risk. Breast density, experts say, is a highly common risk factor many women havent even heard of.

Having dense breasts means having more glandular and fibrous tissue than fatty tissue. Women with dense breasts have a higher risk of breast cancer due to higher estrogen production, genetics, and elevated growth factors, Reuters Health reports  and women at higher risks, including African-American and Ashkenazi Jewish women, especially need this information. Whats more, doctors have a harder time detecting cancer cells in dense breasts, which are less sensitive to mammograms.

Theres a national movement to increase womens awareness of breast density and help them make better healthcare decisions, said Dr. Jennifer Harvey.

Breast cancer illustration

Harvey led the study, asking more than 1,000 randomly selected women (who had recently received mammograms) questions about breast health. Of those asked, 30 percent said they had never heard of breast density.

Only 5 percent correctly answered three questions about breast density, the study claims.

Although health practitioners may say women dont need mammograms every year, we suggest that those with dense breasts really do, Harvey told Reuters. Density not only decreases our ability to see cancer, but also increases the risk of cancer, which makes this message even more important.

The post Doctors say women need more education about this breast cancer risk appeared first on HelloGiggles.


Credit: Getty

Traveling enthusiasts aren't too demure about sharing any part of their adventures. From the Facebook crowd-sourcing posts to the Instagram snapshots of perfect cappuccinos, travelers have found ways to employ social media to disclose every little element of their journey. While existing social media networks might be the best way to trigger jealousy in your followers, they certainly aren't contrived with travelers in mind. With this increase in social media usage also comes an influx of travelers who fall under the unfortunate category of that American tourist.



Thankfully, there are now a surge of social media sites and apps cropping in the webosphere, designed specifically for travelers and their needs. Among them is Travoom, a marketplace for planning, booking, and sharing bucket list adventures with other travel lovers.



InStyle caught up with Travoom's founder, Doug Knittle, to compile a list of his top tips on how to properly exhibit your travels on social media. The urge to document your travels and share with friends is all too real when traveling--for those who don't want to perpetuate all those super annoying stereotypes, check out Knittle's expert advice on how to showcase your perfect adventure.



RELATED: Social Media Etiquette Rules to Follow at Weddings

1. Research, Research, Research: One of the biggest mistakes people make before visiting a new country is forgetting to research before their trip. Make sure you look up the area you're going to be visiting in order to prepare for any number of cultural differences and situations you may encounter. New travel apps make it easy to download any directions you may need so you don't drain your data, or have to use oversized maps which can make you look like a tourist. Also, don't forget to check if where you're going that day is a photo-friendly spot.

2. Embrace Local Culture: Take the time to chat with locals around you! You will learn more from their personal experiences including where to find authentic restaurants and shops that you may not be able to find online. This will give you a chance to have an experience beyond the typical tourist spots. Try switching off your phone or camera for a few hours and spend time enjoying what you see around you--this will make the pictures you end up taking more memorable, and you'll have more meaningful memories not spending your whole trip behind a lens.





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3. Write Things Down: Utilizing social media may be your first impulse for documenting your travels, but keeping a travel journal or sketchbook is a great alternative. You can take notes of all the places you visit during the day so that you have something in writing to accompany all the beautiful photos you've taken. Once you've written out your travel stories and selected your favorite photos, it's time to share them with your friends and family. Sites like Travoom.com can help you organize your travel experiences and share videos and pictures of your trip online to inspire other travelers and provide you with new incredible destinations for your next adventure.

4. Pay Attention: When you do stop to document your travels on social media, be aware of your surroundings. Make sure you aren't blocking other people or posing offensively in your photos, and be mindful when posing of any gestures you make and how they may be interpreted. Countries love sharing their beautiful cities with us and don't mind photos so long as everyone acts respectfully.

5. Pack Light: Lighter is better! Walking around where you're visiting is often tiring enough, no need to drag everything from your typical everyday bag at home. If you are bringing a camera, don't wear it around your neck, especially if you are in places like a museum where they are not welcome. Also, if you are bringing a water bottle, make sure you are being cautious as to where they are and are not welcome.









6. Collect Mementos: Photos are fun, but having a tangible souvenir is an irreplaceable way to remember your trip! These mementos should include small items you can collect from your experiences like museum tickets, postcards, coasters, matchbooks, etc. Use your imagination, but remember lighter is better (so as to not weigh down your luggage). When you get home, these items are fantastic for scrapbooking and can even be arranged into themes like cuisine, popular landmarks, architecture, etc. from all your different travel experiences.

7. Avoid Looking Like "THAT American Tourist": Try not to wear only loud, American-themed clothing--aka leave that #ImWithHer t-shirt at home. Instead, wear clothing that will be comfortable and appropriate for the region that you are visiting and activities you're experiencing. Group t-shirts may seem funny at home, but when you're at your destination, they draw unwanted attention and make your group a target for pickpocketing and the like. (Click here for even more safety tips for traveling abroad). It's important to be aware of any cultural differences in the country you are visiting in order to veer away from anything that might be offensive.
Kinshasa (AFP) - A dozen activists who do not want President Joseph Kabila to remain in power in the Democratic Republic of Congo were arrested Saturday after a sit-in at the African Union headquarters in Kinshasa, an AFP journalist said.

The arrests were the latest sign of rising tensions in the vast central African nation, where the opposition does not want Kabila's grip on power to continue beyond the expiry of his term on December 20.

The arrests occurred despite repeated condemnations from human rights organisations in the fraught nation.

"Arrests were made at the central station and the Bon Marche neighbourhood," police spokesman Ezekiel Mwana Mputu said, referring to the detention of the activists.

Some 30 activists affiliated to the Filimbi movement, whose name means "whistle" in Swahili, chanted slogans calling on Kabila to step down.

Police officers confiscated their banners as they gathered in front of the seat of the AU, braving pouring rain.

"We came to remind the AU that it holds great responsibility in the constitutional coup d'etat that was decided by the (participants in the) dialogue, with its full agreement," protest organiser Carbone Beni Wa Beya said.

"December 19 will be the last day of President Kabila's mandate, in accordance with the constitution," he added.

Shortly afterwards, the activist was detained.

The dissident was referring to an AU-facilitated "national dialogue", which last week reached a deal to keep Kabila in power until 2018 by postponing this year's vote.

The opposition rejected the deal, with the main dissident coalition -- "Rassemblement" (Gathering) -- branding the talks a ploy by Kabila to stay in power beyond the end of his term.

Kabila first took office in 2001, and in 2006 a new constitutional provision limited the presidency to a two-term limit which expires in December.
GaneshaSpeaks

With the cool winds of the autumn and the lush green sugar canes coming straight out of the fields, you can be sure that the long wait is over! That time of the year is here, when we can revel in the spirit of the jubilant Durga Puja! This grand Hindu festival, which is celebrated prominently by Bengalis across the world, is a 4-day long extravaganza, which is celebrated in honour of the powerful mother Goddess. In this article, we bring to you a lowdown of the process of celebration and the specialties of each of these 4 days.



Maha Sashthi

The sixth day of Devi Paksha marks the auspicious beginning of Durga Puja in Bengal. On the Bodhon or first day, Goddess Durga is welcomed on earth along with her family.



Maha Saptami

On the early morning of Maha Saptami, Goddess Durga is worshiped with nine different plants, known as Nabapatrika. These plants fundamentally represent the nine different incarnations of Shakti. The idol is bathed in the Ganges, followed by the chanting of mantras.



Maha Ashtami

This day is the most sacred day of Durga Puja as Maa Durga is believed to enter and awaken the idol when priests perform rituals through the chanting of religious mantras.The devotees start the morning with Pushpanjali. They take holy bath and observe fast before offering Pushpanjali. With fresh flowers in hand, they recite the mantra, offer flowers to the feet of the Goddess.



The main attraction of the day is Kumari Puja. If you want to see the auspicious awakening of Goddess Durga, you have to visit the Belur Math in West Bengal where a young teenaged girl is worshiped by the devotees as the incarnation of Maa Durga.



Evening Aarti is performed with diyas, candles, and incense sticks. In the evening, Sandhi puja is performed at the end of Durga Ashtami and the beginning of Maha Navami. Sandhi Puja is one of the most important rituals during Durga Puja and is considered highly sacred.



Maha Navami

Maha Aarti brings the formal end to religious customs. Cultural festivals and celebrations like music, dance, drama enthrall the audience throughout the night. On Maha Navami, the fast is broken by a major Bhog and Prasad is offered to Goddess Durga and shared amongst devotees.



Vijaya Dashami or Dussehra

Vijayadashami, also known as Dussehra is celebrated in honour of the victory of Lord Rama over Demon Ravana and also the triumph of Goddess Durga over Mahishasura. This day, which is also a declared national holiday, is celebrated with the burning of the idol of Ravan and firecrackers across India.



In Bengal, Goddess Durga bids adieu with Her family. Devotees join hands with dhakis in the precision and the idols are immersed in the water in the evening. Devotees share sweets with each other and celebrate by dancing. The evening is enriched by various cultural programs like art, drama, dance and music.



With Ganeshas Grace,

The GaneshaSpeaks.com Team
Cairo (AFP) - Egypt on Saturday condemned the Saudi head of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation for mocking its President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in comments that provoked outrage among Egyptians.

OIC Secretary General Iyad Madani, a former Saudi minister, had mixed up Sisi's name with that of Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi.

"Mr President Beji Caid al-Sisi. Essebsi sorry. This is a big mistake. I'm sure your fridge has more than water, your excellency," he told the Tunisian leader at a conference.

He was referring to widely derided comments made by Sisi this week in which he claimed that his fridge only had water in it for a decade.

Madani's remark was "a serious encroachment against a founding member state of the organisation and its political leadership," Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said in a statement.

"Such remarks do not conform with the responsibilities and the duties of the organisation's secretary general position, and fundamentally affect his ability to carry out his duties," he added in the statement in English.

Madani, who has headed the 57-member bloc since 2014, has apologised, saying in a statement he meant no "insult to the Egyptian leadership".
Behold, Tesla's solar roof:

Tesla Solar Roof

Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled the solar roof at Universal Studios in Los Angeles on Friday night. Musk has been hyping the solar roof ahead of its shareholder vote for a SolarCity merger that's scheduled for November 17, calling it a "fundamental part of achieving differentiated product strategy."

The solar roofs that Musk showed off were installed on houses on Universal Studio's famous backlot, which recreates a suburban environment. In his presentation, Musk showcases a variety of roofing designs, ranging from traditional to modern a Tuscan tile application, all constructed of glass solar panels that look unlike solar panels have ever looked before.

Musk has already said that it's essential for the roof design to be beautiful, and the designs he touted were that, although it was odd to see a man who has revolutionized the automobile and, in his role as CEO of SpaceX, outlined a plan to colonize Mars slip into futuristic general-contractor mode.

Musk, however, thinks the payoff will be worth it.

"Check out the sweet roof," he joked, speculating on previously unheard-of dialogue in suburban enclaves that will be early adopters of the Tesla design.

"I hope that's the future you want," he said, signing off amid applause and cheers on a lovely evening. At the beginning of his presentation, he stressed that the mission of his companies is to accelerate humanity's exit from the fossil fuel era and to create more sustainable lifestyles.

"There are three key components that can help address climate change and have a positive impact on the world: sustainable energy generation, batteries and electric cars," Tesla said in on its website. "These solutions already exist independently, but when combined, they become even more powerful."

Tesla Solar Rood

Importantly, at the event in LA, Musk highlighted the integration of Tesla's products, which will include SolarCity products when the a merger is complete. The ideal is a house with a Tesla in the garage, a Tesla solar roof on the house, and a Tesla Energy Powerwall storing the juice to power it all.

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On its website, Tesla said:

The Tesla and SolarCity solar roof is a complete roof that is beautiful, durable and brings renewable electricity production to any home or business. When Tesla and SolarCity embarked to design and engineer the solar roof together, the goal was to create the most beautiful and efficient roof ever  one that would make homes look better while reducing the cost of electricity. The solar roof consists of uniquely designed glass tiles that complement the aesthetics of any home, embedded with the highest efficiency photovoltaic cells. It is infinitely customizable for a variety of different home styles, each uniquely engineered so that the photovoltaic cells are invisible. Customers can choose which sections of their roof will contain the hidden solar technology while still having the entire roof look the same. These new roofs will seamlessly and beautifully supply renewable energy to homes, battery storage systems and back into the grid creating savings for owners. When combined with Tesla Powerwall, the solar roof can power an entire home with 100% renewable energy. The solar roof is offered in four beautiful styles  Textured Glass Tile, Slate Glass Tile, Tuscan Glass Tile, and Smooth Glass Tile  to complement a variety of architectural styles.

Musk has said Tesla and Panasonic will produce solar cells at a plant in Buffalo, New York if the SolarCity merger passes. The Buffalo News reported that initial solar production will center around the solar roof product.

Musk also showed off the new version of its at-home battery, Powerwall 2.0, that will sell for $5,500. The first version of Tesla's Powerwall stored 6.4 kWh worth of energy and was priced at $3,500.

The new Powerwall will have twice the storage and twice the energy, Musk said, 14 kWh of energy and 5 kWh of continuous power, but improved to 7 kWh at peak. Translation: it's an incrementally improved battery, just as Tesla's cars have been improved as the years have passed, gaining range and performance.

Tesla received 38,000 pre-orders for the Powerwall, selling out through the first half of 2016. Tesla and its partners have invested about $5 billion to get its giant battery plant, the Gigafactory, to achieve full production by 2017. The Nevada-based factory is expected to build 500,000 batteries a year by the end of the decade once it is fully operational.

Tesla Powerpacks

Musk wrote in a blog post that the two products will help "create a clear picture of how a combined Tesla and SolarCity will make solar and storage as compelling as electric vehicles  an achievement that would advance our mission of accelerating the worlds transition to sustainable energy."

Tesla's proposed merger with SolarCity has taken heat. Tesla has a lot to contend with in 2017 as it ramps up production for the Model 3, and would be adding SolarCity's almost $3 billion in debt to its balance sheet.

SolarCity hasn't had a great year, either. The company is burning through cash, and its shares have plummeted by 45% since the beginning of the year. SolarCity has also cut its marketing costs and laid off members of its sales and marketing team.

Tesla Powerwall

NOW WATCH: Elon Musk just unveiled something that could revolutionize how you power your home





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Parents take out protest rally in Srinagar accusing Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani of spoiling the future of their children by forcing shutdown in the Kashmir Valley.

By India Today Web Desk: As the separatists continue to scuttle the efforts to bring normalcy in the Kashmir Valley, common people staged a protest against Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Saturday.

Large number of parents took out a protest rally in Srinagar against shutdown of schools in Kashmir valley. They said that people want the ongoing hartal to end.

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READ: Kashmir unrest: Hurriyat's customised protest has an exception; Geelani grand-daughter's school not closed

'SCHOOLS MUST OPEN'

"School khulne chahiye. Geelani saab ki poti hai, vo exam de rahi hai. Hamare bacchon ka future kyun kharab kar rahe hain? (Schools must open. Geelani's grand-daughter wrote her exams. Why are they spoiling the future of our kids," asked one of the parents, who staged protest in Srinagar.

The protesters alleged that they were being forced to follow the instructions of the Hurriyat Conference and other separatists. The Valley has been tense for more than 110 days after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8 in an encounter with security forces.

WATCH:





'GEELANI EXPLOITS US'

Hurriyat Conference has refused to give any exemption to education institutions including schools, which were forced to call off exams.

"Geelani saab keeps his family safe and exploits the poor people like us. I fear for my life that is why I have covered my face to talk to you," a parent said.

Protesting parents demand opening of schools in the Valley (Photo: @ANI_news)

READ: PM asks MHA to take initiative to reopen schools in Kashmir

CUSTOMISED SHUTDOWN IN VALLEY

Earlier, it was reported that the DPS, Srinagar, where Geelani's grand-daughter studies conducted the internal exams under tight security in an indoor stadium. The report exposed the double-speak of the Hurriyat led separatist flank.

The protesting parents lamented that separatists customised their protests to suit Hurriyat chairman Geelani's grand-daughter's education. Geelani's grand-daughter appeared for her class 10 internal examination during October 1-5 while other schools were not allowed to run classes or conduct exams.

Parents took to streets in Srinagar against Hurriyat Conference imposed shutdown (Photo: @ANI_news)

READ: After 23rd school burns in Kashmir, J-K government says investigation on

MILITANTS TARGET SCHOOLS

Militants have made schools their special targets in recent weeks. As many as 23 schools were burnt in last three weeks disrupting the education of children in the Valley.

Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said that separatists wanted to snatch books from the hands of children and replace them with stones.

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ALSO READ:

Demands and reminders: Separatists leader Geelani meets Yashwant Sinha with list of concerns





--- ENDS ---
Sub Rosa 3926

Entrepreneurial power couple Michael and Caroline Ventura know better than almost anyone how to be a successful business partner with your significant other.

The two run multiple businesses from a 19th-century, three-story building in Manhattan's West Village, including their joint ventures: Calliope (a home goods store that also offers art classes) as well as And&And (a 2,500-square-foot event space). They also happen to live together in the building.

"It's easier to take stuff to heart when it's your partner that you're either rallying against or with, and that's equal for when something amazing happens, too," Caroline said.

During a recent visit to Calliope, Business Insider heard what Michael and Caroline have learned during their eight years as a married couple and as business partners.

The two stressed, first and foremost, how important it is to practice empathy.

"Making sure we see something from all sides is something we practice as a family, and certainly something we practice as business owners also," Michael said.

Another simple yet powerful takeaway the two have learned is to take a moment to truly listen to your partner's concerns.

"If one of us is having a concern, it's easy to make snap decisions and snap reactions, and we've learned to slow down a minute and think about why a situation is bothering the other person," Caroline said.

And lastly, the old adage "don't go to bed angry" still holds true for these two. "Work it out before you go to bed," said Michael.

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Istanbul (AFP) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday warned Shiite militias in Iraq against attacking Turkmen residents of Tal Afar, a town near the Islamic State group's Mosul bastion.

"If the Hashed al-Shaabi sow terror there, then our response will be different," Erdogan said, in comments carried by the state-run Anadolu news agency, without specifying what measures would be taken.

The Hashed al-Shaabi, a paramilitary umbrella organisation dominated by Iran-backed Shiite militias, launched an operation on Saturday to cut Islamic State-held Mosul off from Syria.

They began pushing toward Tal Afar from the western approach to the city, the only side where ground forces, who have advanced from the north, east and south, are not yet deployed.

Tal Afar was a Shiite-majority town of mostly ethnic Turkmen before Sunni IS extremists overran it in 2014, and its recapture is a main goal of Shiite militia fighters.

The town is also key to IS for linking its Syrian stronghold of Raqa to Mosul, currently the target of a massive military offensive launched by the Iraqi government.

Erdogan assured that Turkey "would not look favourably" on an attack by Shiite militias on Tal Afar.

Since the offensive against Mosul began, Turkey has stated its opposition to the participation of Shiite militias.

The militias have in the past been accused of committing atrocities when entering Sunni-majority towns. They have already said they have no plans to enter Mosul.

Erdogan's veiled warning came two day after his foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, said that Turkey would view an advance on Tal Afar as a threat and was ready to take "adequate measures".

Hundreds of Turkish soldiers are based at the Bashiqa camp in Mosul province in northern Iraq, officially to train Sunni volunteers.
Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - A gospel-singing evangelical bishop with a controversial past is favored to be elected the new mayor of Rio de Janeiro on Sunday.

Various towns and cities across Brazil are holding runoff votes after a first round on October 2 saw the country's former governing party (PT) humiliated.

The municipal polls are a gauge of how Brazil is shifting to the right ahead of presidential elections in 2018.

The most closely-watched race is in Rio, host of last month's Olympic Games.

Its outgoing mayor Eduardo Paes is a member of the center-right PMDB party of Brazil's unpopular President Michel Temer.

Now Marcelo Crivella, 59, from the conservative Brazilian Republican Party (PRB), is expected to win the vote.

A senator and former missionary in Africa, Crivella once wrote that homosexuality was a "terrible evil."

His party is considered the political wing of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, founded by Crivella's billionaire uncle.

Crivella has promised a tough crackdown on violent crime in the troubled metropolis.

Opinion polls have given him a lead of up to 20 points over his leftist rival Marcelo Freixo.

Freixo, 49, of the Socialism and Freedom Party, proposes socially liberal policies.

- Workers' Party down -

The Workers' Party was once a strong force in Brazilian politics, but has fallen low.

Dilma Rousseff lost the presidency in August after being impeached for allegedly fiddling state accounts.

That ended 13 years of PT government in Brazil. Under the PT, Latin America's biggest economy soared before plunging into recession.

Rousseff's predecessor, party founder Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, faces charges linked to a huge corruption probe into state oil firm Petrobras.

In the economic capital Sao Paulo, the PT lost control of city hall outright in the first round on October 2.

Rousseff was replaced by Temer after her impeachment.

Temer is deeply unpopular, according to opinion polls. He is pushing a public spending cap through congress.

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But voters are apparently even more fed up with recession and corruption scandals.

The PMDB won more city halls than any other party in the first round.

- Scandals -

Crivella is eyeing victory despite suffering some shock revelations during the election campaigns.

He was forced to deny a report in Veja magazine on October 22 that he was arrested in 1990 for making armed threats when evicting a family from land owned by his church.

"He simply represents influence and the introduction of religion into politics," said Ivar Hartmann, a law professor at Rio's Getulio Vargas Foundation.

Crivella has risen thanks to "the evangelists' growing indoctrination of middle and lower-class communities," Hartmann said.

Brazil's evangelical movement was seen as one of the drivers of Rousseff's impeachment.

One of the leaders of the process was prominent evangelist Eduardo Cunha, the former speaker of congress.

Cunha has since been arrested for alleged corruption in the Petrobras case.

Authorities have boosted security in Rio and other cities for Sunday's vote.
London (AFP) - Britain's Dan Evans has withdrawn from qualifying for the Paris Masters tournament after his racquets failed to make it to France.

The 26-year-old was set to play Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic in the opening round of qualifying in the French capital on Saturday, but his kit failed to make it across the Channel with him after he flew to France from Birmingham.

"I had to pull out of Paris qs (qualifiers) as my racquet bag never made it to Paris from Birmingham so basically I had a day trip to Paris," British number three Evans said on Twitter.

Evans's absence leaves world number two Andy Murray as the lone British representative in the last tournament of the regular ATP season, with Kyle Edmund ruled out because of a hip injury.

One consolation for Evans, currently 60th in the world, is that he will finish 2016 with the highest end-of-year ranking of his career despite his problems in Paris.
By Liana B. Baker

(Reuters) - InvenSense Inc (INVN.N), a U.S. semiconductor company that makes motion sensors for Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and Samsung Electronics Co , is exploring strategic alternatives, including a possible sale, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.

InvenSense shares jumped as much as 13 percent on the news, and were trading up 61 cents at $7.48 by late afternoon, giving the company a market capitalisation of nearly $700 million.

If it succeeds in selling itself, InvenSense would be the latest company to be swept up by a wave of consolidation in the industry, as makers of chips for smartphones face intense price competition and seek scale.

Smartphone chip maker Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) agreed to buy NXP Semiconductors NV (NXPI.O) for about $38 billion this week, in the biggest-ever deal in the semiconductor industry.

InvenSense, which designs gyroscopes to help smartphones calculate motion, is working with an investment bank to explore its options, the people said. Chinese and Japanese companies are among interested suitors, they added.

There is no certainty that the sale process will result in any deal, the people cautioned.

The sources asked not to be identified because the deliberations are confidential. InvenSense could not be reached for comment.

Northland Capital Markets analyst Tom Sepenzis said in a research note last month that the growth of virtual reality, especially in China, could help InvenSense's prospects.

"InvenSense is certainly well positioned as there are no Chinese companies offering gyroscopes," Sepenzis said.

InvenSense, which competes with STMicroelectronics NV (STM.PA) and Bosch Sensortech, got a boost in August when Pacific Crest Securities upgraded the rating on its stock, arguing the gyroscopes are essential to mobile phones for augmented reality games such as Pokemon Go.

InvenSense's chief executive Behrooz Abdi talked up the Pokemon Go opportunity on the company's last earnings call in July, and said more consumers playing games that involve moving around with their phones would boost demand for its gyroscope products.

(Reporting by Liana B. Baker in New York; Editing by Bernard Orr and Andrew Hay)
f35

WASHINGTON, DC  As tensions mount in the troubled waters of the South China Sea, US might is considered crucial, and a weapon considered well suited for the region is almost ready for deployment: the F-35 Lightning II.

"It will absolutely thrive in that environment," retired Air Force Col. John "JV" Venable told Business Insider.

At a cool $100 million per jet, Lockheed Martin's "jack-of-all-trades" aircraft is America's priciest weapons system, and its development has become one of the most challenged programs in the history of the Department of Defense.

Since its inception, in 2001, the F-35 has experienced setbacks that include faulty ejection seats, software delays, and helmet display issues.

f35

In July 2015, after cost overruns, design modifications, and serious testing, the Marine Corps became the first of the sister-service branches to declare the tri-service fighter ready for war.

A year and change later, the Air Force also declared their version of the fifth generation jet initial operational capability (IOC). Currently the US Navy variant, the F-35C, is slated to reach IOC by February 2019.

"Having three different types of fighters working for you in that environment [South China Sea] is also an extraordinary advantage," Venable, a fighter pilot and former commander of the celebrated Air Force Thunderbirds, told Business Insider.

With rival territorial claims by Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines, Taiwan, and China, the South China Sea  rich in natural resources and crisscrossed by shipping routes  is one of the most militarized areas on the planet.

map south china sea

Currently the US, with the world's largest navy, dominates the region; however, that is poised to change as Beijing dramatically expands its naval capabilities.

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"At some point, China is likely to, in effect, be able to deny the US Navy unimpeded access to parts of the South China Sea," Robert Kaplan, senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security and author of "Asia's Cauldron," wrote.

"The withdrawal of even one US aircraft carrier strike group from the Western Pacific is a game changer."

According to Venable, the F-35, designed to marry stealth and avionics, would thrive in the armed camp that has become the South China Sea.

"The Chinese would be right to fear the United States Air Force, United States Navy, and the United States Marine Corps armed with those jets."

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By Jonathan Allen NEW YORK (Reuters) - Anthony Weiner, the disgraced former U.S. congressman, has emerged as an unexpected figure in the Federal Bureau of Investigation's inquiry into Hillary Clinton's handling of classified government information on a private email server she used while secretary of state. The FBI said on Friday it is examining newly discovered emails related to the server investigation, giving new life to a scandal less than two weeks before Clinton stands as the Democratic candidate in the U.S. presidential election. The FBI called Clinton's handling of government secrets "extremely careless" in July after a year-long investigation, but recommended against criminal charges. FBI agents have now found emails on devices belonging to Huma Abedin, one of Clinton's closest aides, and Weiner, Abedin's estranged husband, according to unnamed law enforcement officials. WHO IS ANTHONY WEINER? A Brooklyn native, Weiner, 52, represented parts of New York City in the U.S. House of Representatives for more than a decade, and his marriage to Abedin was officiated by Bill Clinton, the former U.S. president and Hillary Clinton's husband. Weiner was best known for his fiery speeches and acerbic, combative wit until 2011, when he was forced to step down after he posted a photograph of his crotch on Twitter. He admitted the picture was a private communication made public by mistake, and that he had been exchanging sexually charged pictures and messages with multiple women. WHO IS CARLOS DANGER? After atoning in press interviews for the strain he placed on his marriage with Abedin, Weiner re-entered public life in 2013 as a candidate for mayor of New York City. The city's voters for a while embraced his comeback, and he was atop the public polls when revelations broke he had never shaken his sexting habit. He admitted he had continued to swap messages and pictures with women using the alias Carlos Danger. WHAT DID ABEDIN DO? Abedin, who has worked for Clinton since she was 19, decided against joining her husband at the polling booth on the day of Weiner's loss in the mayoral race, but remained married to him as they raised their young son together. While a diminished Weiner worked as a television commentator, Abedin, who had left the State Department with Clinton in 2013, focused on Clinton's forthcoming presidential campaign, for which she was appointed vice chairwoman. Clinton rarely appears in public without Abedin somewhere nearby. Multilingual, intensely private and with a glamour validated by Vogue magazine photo shoots, Abedin became a star in her own right as Clinton campaigned across the country, obliging countless requests by Clinton supporters to pose for their smartphone cameras. DID WEINER QUIT SEXTING? No, and this year it reached a breaking point. In August, Abedin announced she was separating from Weiner after a newspaper published a picture Weiner sent to a woman of him lounging on his bed in his underwear; Weiner's and Abedin's four-year-old son could be seen at his side. The FBI began investigating after it emerged that one of his sexting partners was 15 years old, a legal minor. The agency seized devices used by both Weiner and Abedin, finding the new email cache soon after. Investigators are looking to see if yet more classified information appears in the new cache. IS DONALD TRUMP CELEBRATING? Yes. Clinton's Republican rival for the presidency has devoted his last few rallies to reveling in the news, a diversion from accusations by multiple women that Trump groped them. Clinton, who remains ahead in public polls, argued on Friday that most voters may have already decided whether or not Clinton's mishandling of classified information in her emails is disqualifying. WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO ABEDIN? Clinton has called Abedin, 40, a surrogate daughter, and the aide was at Clinton's side even after the news broke on Friday. Her loyalty to Clinton is unmistakable in the hundreds of emails of hers that have already been made public. Abedin has spent more than two decades accruing knowledge of Clinton's habits, preferences, scheduling and alliances, and may be viewed as irreplaceable. (Reporting by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Leslie Adler and Mary Milliken)
FBI Director James Comey has come under a hail of criticism from Democrats, Republicans and government officials for his public announcement on Friday that his agency is re-examining Hillary Clintons email investigation 11 days before the election.

Comeys announcement on Friday  little more than a week before the Nov. 8 presidential election  has shaken the race between Clinton and Donald Trump, and potentially boosted Republican chances to hold its majorities in Congress.

Within 24 hours, Clinton and her top aides, as well as top Republicans and government officials are questioning Comeys decision in a politically charged environment ahead of a bitter general election.

The strongest criticism has come from Clinton and her campaign, which is struggling to regain its footing.

Its not just strange, its unprecedented and it is deeply troubling because voters deserve to get the full and complete facts, said Clinton, speaking at a rally in Daytona, Fla., on Saturday afternoon.

He owes the public the full story, or else he shouldnt have cracked open this door to begin with, said Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook.

On Friday, Comey told lawmakers that the FBI had discovered additional emails relevant to the now closed Clinton email investigation, and that the FBI is examining them for classified information. Since then, different and sometimes conflicting reports have appeared about the number of emails in question, how the emails were recovered and whether any of the emails were sent by Clinton.

No one can separate what is true from what is not, because Comey has not been forthcoming with the facts, said Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. What little Comey has told us makes it hard to understand why this step was warranted at all.

Comeys decision to make the announcement publicly came under criticism even before he sent his letter to Congress.

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Senior Justice Department officials warned the Comey that a public announcement to renew the investigation into Clintons emails would break with long-standing practices of the department, according to several news outlets.

Justice officials told Comey that we dont comment on an ongoing investigation. And we dont take steps that will be viewed as influencing an election, one unnamed Justice official told the Washington Post. He is operating independently of the Justice Department. And he knows it.

Theres a long-standing policy of not doing anything that could influence an election, George J. Terwilliger III, a deputy attorney general under the first President George Bush, told the New York Times. Those guidelines exist for a reason. Sometimes that makes for hard decisions. But bypassing them has consequences.

Republican lawmakers demanded more information from the FBI. The letter from Director Comey was unsolicited and, quite honestly, surprising. But its left a lot more questions than answers for both the FBI and Secretary Clinton, Senator Chuck Grassley said in a statement. Congress and the public deserve more context to properly assess what evidence the FBI has discovered and what it plans to do with it.

The fallout from Comeys decision has been accompanied by numerous leaks from FBI officials about the nature of the emails that were discovered. The additional emails were found as part of an unrelated investigation into former Congressman Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of Clinton aide Huma Abedin, according to reports, who allegedly sent lewd photos to a minor.

Comey, a respected law-enforcement veteran who was a registered Republican and served under George W. Bush as Deputy Attorney General before becoming FBI Director under President Obama in 2013, has been criticized before as a result of the Clinton email investigation.

In July, Comey gave a highly unusual press conference explaining his decision not to press charges against Clinton for using a private email server during her time as Secretary of State. Democrats praised Comey at the time for being forthright while some Republicans blasted him, suggesting he was succumbing to pressure from Clinton.

Trump has said for months that Comeys decision not to recommend charges against Clinton was rigged, but on Friday, he exulted.

As you know Ive had plenty of words about the FBI lately, but I give them great credit for having the courage to right this horrible wrong. Justice will prevail, Trump said on Friday.

Clinton, meanwhile, called on the FBI to release the information that it had.

We are 11 days out from perhaps the most important national election in our lifetimes. Voting is already under way in our country, Clinton said. So the American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately. [Comey] himself has said he doesnt know whether emails referenced in his letter are significant or not. Im confident, whatever they are, will not change the conclusion reached in July.
As a Diwali treat to fans, the makers of Khaidi No 150 have released the first look posters from the film. Going by the posters, megastar Chiranjeevi is back!

First look of Khaidi No 150 is out

By India Today Web Desk: Megastar Chiranjeevi, who is currently shooting for his 150th film Khaidi No 150, has been keeping his fans with bated breaths.

While the shooting of the film is progressing rapidly, the makers of the film have released the first look poster from the film as a Diwali treat to the troops of Chiranjeevi.

ALSO READ: Kaashmora movie review- Something about Karthi's film is lost in transition

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ALSO READ: Karthi exclusive interview Part 1- I want to make films I want to watch, not store them in my library

ALSO READ: Karthi on Mani Ratnam's Kaatru Veliyidai- Nice to be back where I began



Chiranjeevi looks dapper in the posters, which is loaded with 100 percent mass.



The team recently shot a song, which is touted to be a fast-paced number featuring Chiranjeevi and Raai Laxmi.

While the Tamil version had no such item number, director VV Vinayak felt it could be added as a special treat to Chiranjeevi's fans.

Interestingly, actor-choreographer Prabhudheva, who is basking in the success of his Devi (L), has been roped in to compose a song for the film.

Khaidi No 150, which is the Telugu remake of Tamil blockbuster Kaththi, has music by Devi Sri Prasad.

Jointly produced by Ram Charan and Lyca Productions, the film is scheduled for a worldwide release on January 13, 2017.

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Felicity Jones wore the most gorgeous black and silver ruffled gown weve ever seen

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts Los Angeles hosted their annual awards ceremony at the Beverly Hilton this past weekend. The star-studded event was sponsored by Jaguar Land Rover and American Airlines, and honored quite a few members of Hollywoods royalty  and one of the many who were celebrated was Felicity Jones!

The talented beauty may have taken home the Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year, but her gorgeous gown definitely stole the show. Felicity kept it classy in her amazing moody attire with jeweled embellishments, showing us all how to perfectly add a little pizazz to a simple gown without overcomplicating the look.

The 33-year-old actress looked stunning in a black and silver ruffled dress!





2016 AMD British Academy Britannia Awards Presented by Jaguar Land Rover And American Airlines - Arrivals

And can we talk about the back of the gown for a second? Ruffles upon ruffles upon more ruffles, and we love every bit of it!

2016 AMD British Academy Britannia Awards Presented by Jaguar Land Rover And American Airlines - Arrivals

Felicity kept her accessories very simple and chic, being careful not to add too much busy-ness to the look.

Very classic and chic with the right amount of spice. Were totally fans of Felicitys overall look. Shes known for rocking the carpet in the most elegant and ageless attire, and this is definitely one of our faves. We cant wait to see what she comes up with next!

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South Korean President Park Geun-Hye is facing calls to resign over allegations she allowed a close personal friend to meddle in state affairs.

The woman at the heart of the scandal is an elusive figure with no government post or security clearance but a reportedly Rasputin-like grip on the president's trust and affections.

Here are five key questions about an ongoing and sometimes bizarre scandal that has gripped the country and severely undermined Park's public stature and ability to govern.

Who is Choi Soon-Sil?

Choi, 60, is daughter of the late Choi Tae-Min, a shadowy religious figure who married six times, had multiple pseudonyms and set up a cult-like group known as the Church of Eternal Life.

Choi Tae-Min befriended a traumatised Park after the 1974 assassination of her mother, who he said had appeared in his dreams asking for his help.

Choi became a key mentor for the young Park, a role that angered a number of key aides to her father, the country's then military ruler Park Chung-Hee.

Park was assassinated in 1979 by his intelligence chief who cited Park's failure to step between Choi and his daughter as one reason for his actions.

Park Geun-Hye also formed a close bond with Choi's daughter Choi Soon-Sil that endured after Choi's death in 1994.

Choi Soon-Sil's ex-husband served as a top aide for Park until her presidential victory in 2012.

What is Choi accused of?

Choi is officially being investigated for using her ties with Park to coerce companies like Samsung to make large donations to two non-profit foundations she set up -- allegedly for her personal benefit.

But the more damaging side to the scandal is that Choi, who has never held any official position, seemingly exerted enormous influence over the president's political policy-making.

Files obtained from Choi's personal computer by broadcaster JTBC TV suggest Choi edited some of Park's key speeches and received confidential documents, including files related to ties with Japan and North Korea.

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Some reports have suggested Choi had her own coterie of aides who advised the president on appointments, policy issues and even on her wardrobe.

Why so much public anger?

The scandal has seen Park's approval ratings plummet to record lows, even after she made a public apology for "causing concern to the people."

It has played into long-standing criticism of Park's aloof decision-making process and her perceived tendency to ignore expert advice and surround herself with loyalists.

And the quasi-religious mystique surrounding Choi has been especially troubling.

Lawmakers, including some in Park's own party, have voiced concern that the president is under the spell of a "religious cult," with Choi acting as some sort of shaman after taking on her father's mantle as a Rasputin-like advisor.

The head of the main opposition Minjoo Party said it was like discovering you were being ruled by a "terrifying theocracy."

There was also widespread anger over accusations that Choi's daughter had received preferential treatment as a student at one of the country's top universities.

Is Park's presidency under threat?

Park, who has just over a year left in office, has apologised but vowed to stay put.

For the moment, the main opposition party has pushed for a special probe but stopped short of calling for Park's impeachment, perhaps, analysts suggest, for fear of triggering a backlash.

But the scandal has severely undermined Park's ability to govern effectively at a time of slowing economic growth, rising unemployment and tensions with North Korea.

A recent poll showed 70 percent of voters wanted the president to resign or be impeached.

What does Choi say?

Choi is currently holed up in Germany, having left South Korea in early September as the first reports of her influence-peddling emerged.

In a newspaper interview, Choi denied any wrongdoing, saying she had only helped Park "out of good faith."

Choi's lawyer says she is well aware of the "gravity" of the situation and is willing to return home to be questioned and punished "if she did anything wrong."
The literary biopic can be a tricky, sometimes even self-defeating, film genre. After all, watching a great writer (or a thespian facsimile thereof) furrow their brow over a typewriter tends to teach us far less about them and their legacy than actually reading their work. The best literary biopics, then, tend to be more selective and less, er, literal  and in this respect, Maria Schraders Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe has the right idea, filleting out a handful of episodes from the eponymous Austrian authors later life to make broader historical and political inquiries. Yet this articulate, formally immaculate portrait proves less compelling in practice than it does in principle: Over-burdened at the outset with extraneous ceremonial detail and starchy speechifying, the film takes a dry, acolytes-only approach before later, more domestically focused chapters raise the body temperature of proceedings. Arthouse audiences closer to home, however, have been receptive to this academic affair, selected as Austrias foreign-language Oscar entry after Germany left it at the shortlist stage.

German actress-turned-filmmaker Schrader (known internationally for roles in In Darkness and Aimee and Jaguar) has perhaps wisely assumed that audiences likely to show up for Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe are already au fait with the celebrated novelist, journalist and playwright, a Jewish pacifist who lived the last eight years of his life in exile from the Nazi regime in his homeland, before committing suicide in 1942. Focusing exclusively on those years, the films dense, talk-heavy screenplay  by Schrader and Jan Schomburg  furnishes viewers with little detail about Zweigs life and career to that point, or even the precise circumstances of his flight from Europe. Those who require further context while gradually glean it from passing remarks and allusions throughout the films five discontinuous sections, which take Zweig (played with dignified reserve by Josef Hader) and his wife Lotte (Aenne Schwarz) through a range of professional and personal encounters in North and South America.

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But Schrader is as fascinated by the international response to Zweig as she is by Zweig himself: Much of the film is spent observing the pomp and ceremony, some of it absurd, that trails his travels. This preoccupation is wryly amusing to a point, though as minutes tick by while watching a complete translation of an address delivered at a literary convention, or a full rendition of Strausss The Blue Danube by a rural Brazilian marching band, Farewell to Europes resistance to conventional dramatic momentum begins to feel a tad perverse.

A few supremely well-staged set-pieces relieve the torpor, none more so than an exactingly composed introductory sequence that plunges the viewer into the rituals of an official banquet held in Zweigs honor by the Brazilian Foreign Ministry. Wolfgang Thalers crisp, controlled camera opens disorientingly on the iridescent spectacle of the dinner tables tropical floral centerpiece  an immediate visual cue that we are far from Zweigs native territory  before zooming out to follow the social whir of the occasion, with its repetitive layering of greetings and gossip, in gliding, stately fashion. That the choreography of these functions is more involving than anything said at them may be partially the point: Zweig himself never looks wholly at ease in this welcoming but alien environment.

If so, however, its an idea the film stresses to a fault. The second and most arduous section sees Zweig as the guest of honor at a PEN (Poets/Essayists/Novelists) International conference in Buenos Aires in 1936, and is thick with formal rhetoric as the rise of Nazism  and the authors enduring but more politically ambivalent belief in a free and unified Europe  is directly discussed. Some subtly implied parallels to contemporary European frictions survive the stodgy verbiage, but the film only really begins to crackle in its fourth (and by far its strongest) chapter, set in 1941, in which Zweig and Lotte visit his more angrily activistic ex-wife Friderike (a sensational, salt-tongued Barbara Sukowa, sorely missed as soon as she leaves the screen) in New York, where she herself has taken refuge from the Nazis. His reluctantly recognized moral obligation to assist his homeland peers in making a similar escape is vigorously argued back and forth, in an exchange that potently reverses and twists the stakes of the refugee crisis debate currently raging across the Continent. (Its among the films subtler virtues that its oblique contemporary resonances never feel entirely calculated.)

This heated (albeit palpably wintry) climax mellows effectively into the more languid, sun-warmed melancholy of the films denouement, depicting Zweigs final days in the mountainous Brazilian idyll of Petropolis. The tranquil perfection of his surroundings, however, cant be squared with the gaping unhappiness he feels at being forever outside of his home  at not belonging in the paradise where he finds himself. As it shifts into a more intimate, conversational register, this frustratingly arrhythmic, sporadically rewarding biopic finally attains a grace befitting its quietly raging subject.

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Volkswagen has unveiled its new seven-seater 2018 Atlas, pitched as the SUV built with the modern American family in mind.

The 2018 Atlas will become the largest Volkswagen sold and assembled in the US, where it will be built in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The SUV can accommodate up to seven adults and their luggage.

Access to the third row has been designed to be within easy reach via an innovative folding seat solution that works even with child seats installed in the second row.

Other features include a full suite of connected services and smartphone platforms such as Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and MirrorLink and driver assistance.

The Atlas comes with two engine options: four-cylinder TSI turbo or the VR6, both with eight-speed automatic transmission.
Calais (France) (AFP) - French authorities Saturday stepped up work to finish demolition of an almost deserted Calais "Jungle" as more than 100 French MPs urged Britain to accept unaccompanied minors who had been living in the squalid migrant camp.

Shortly after 8:00 am (0600 GMT), three huge diggers moved into place on the northern perimeter of the camp, until Tuesday home to 6,000 to 8,000 migrants, to sweep away debris from makeshift dwellings.

Many tents and shacks were ravaged in huge fires which broke out Wednesday at the camp, a stark symbol of Europe's migrant crisis.

Around a dozen riot police trucks were posted at the camp entrance, where skips were in place to take away piles of debris.

Officials aim to complete the clearance by Monday night and on Saturday morning there was little sign of life save for workmen and the police.

In Paris, more than 100 leftwing lawmakers sent a letter to British Home Secretary Amber Rudd, calling on her government to "immediately" take in unaccompanied minors from the Jungle who want to rejoin relatives in the UK.

The letter, a copy of which was sent to AFP by the deputy president of the National Assembly, Sandrine Mazetier, said 1,500 unaccompanied minors had been placed in safety in the provisional reception centre -- a container camp -- in Calais.

"(They) are not seeking any favours: they have the right, in line with current international regulations and British law, to go to Britain.

"Their transfer to Britain is urgent. We ask you to take up your responsibilities and to assume your moral duty in turn by immediately organising their arrival."

- 1,000 children -

Britain has taken in 274 children from the Jungle since mid-October, mostly youngsters with relatives already living in the country.

Britain's Help Refugees charity estimated that as of late Friday there remained over 1,000 unaccompanied children living in the container camp.

Children who had been told they were headed eventually for Britain to join family already there were getting ready on Saturday, hoping to be on their way later in the day.

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Migrants, mainly from Afghanistan, Sudan and Eritrea, flocked to the camp near the northern port of Calais in the hope of making it across the Channel to Britain.

Clare Moseley, founder of British charity Care4Calais, was concerned for those who had left the camp and had dispersed across France.

"We are worried about what happens next -- there will be multitude of small camps where conditions are even worse than in the Jungle," Moseley said.

Many Calais locals fear the Jungle will simply spring back up again once the current clearance operation is over.

Senior regional official Jean-Francois Carenco said Friday more than 2,000 migrants were sleeping on the streets of Paris. But he denied that large numbers had been arriving from Calais over the past few days after slipping through the net.
By Tanseem Haider: It was on the 27th of October that one Javed Salmani, a resident of Khajuri Khas in Delhi, told the police that he received a ransom call that evening informing him of his brother Danish's kidnapping. The unidentified caller from the other side had called from Danish's phone and demanded Rs 50,000 for his release.

During the course of the investigation, police tried to search the accused and victim Danish, but got no clue. Traps were also laid near the Khajuri Khas flyover where the kidnapper had asked to leave the amount. In the evening on October 28, an information was received by Khajuri Khas police through a PCR call that the body of Danish was found lying near a house in C- Block of Khajuri Khas. Danish was rushed to the Jag Pravesh Chander Hospital. The doctor declared him brought dead.



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BLOOD-STAINED CLOTHES RECOVERED



Police solved the case and finally arrested the accused Varun Soni. Cops recovered danda (stick), blood-stained clothes of the accused and a black Karbonn A12 mobile phone belonging to Danish from the site where Danish was found.

During the interrogation, Soni said that he had taken Rs 3,000 from Danish as loan. Danish had been asking Soni to return a total amount of Rs 8,000 along with interest. On October 27, accused Varun Soni called Danish, saying he would return his amount. Soni was actually intending to killing Danish. At around 12.30 in the afternoon when Soni and Danish were together, the former hit the latter with a stick repeatedly on his head, resulting in Danish's death.

At the time of making the call, Soni came to know that the matter had been reported to the police. To get rid of Danish's body, Soni had dropped it from the roof of his house on the street.

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Rome (AFP) - Rome's biggest new building in half a century was inaugurated Saturday, two decades after architects Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas produced their groundbreaking design for the controversial and much-delayed project.

Now that it is finally finished, the husband-and-wife team's "Nuvola" - a glass and steel box containing a cloud-like suspended interior - looks set to join the Colosseum and the Pantheon as one of the Italian capital's architectural landmarks.

Its name is the Italian word for cloud but the white, fibreglass-clad interior structure could also be said to resemble a lung or another internal organ.

Glimpsed from the outside in twilight it can seem strikingly like an ultrasound scan of a unborn baby.

Largely funded by the taxpayer, the new building will serve as a convention centre capable of hosting gatherings of up to 12,000 people.

As such, it is also being talked up as a potential game-changer for Rome's visitor-based economy and EUR, the under-developed business district created by Mussolini on the city's southern edge.

Massimiliano Fuksas described the project as the most frustrating of his career but said he was proud it had been completed as first planned.

"We first thought of it in 1995," the 72-year-old said. "I have been through so many mayors on this project I can't even remember all their names.

"But we have not changed a thing. If you look at the first sketches we did, this is what it looked like."

- Cash constraints -

While recurring financing problems regularly generated doubts as to whether the building would ever be finished, Fuksas also had to deal with bruising claims over the size of his fees and rumour-mill speculation that the design was fundamentally flawed.

He insists claims that he forgot to put any toilets in the first drawings are an urban myth.

The architect does confirm however that his dealings with local officialdom have left him with no faith in the ability of the public authorities in Rome to manage his masterpiece.

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"I wish they would give it to the Germans to run, they'd make it work - the Romans, no!"

Fuksas's won the competition to build the new centre in 2000. But construction did not get underway until 2007 and was repeatedly interrupted due to a combination of red tape and cash constraints.

The building was finally completed thanks to additional funds raised last year by the sell-off of four Mussolini-era public buildings.

How much it finally cost is a disputed issue. Fuksas says it came in at 239 million euros ($260m), below the tender price of 275 million.

Enrico Pazzali, the executive brought in to oversee completion, says the true figure is 353 million euros ($390m) but that he is nonetheless confident the Nuvola will prove a worthwhile use of public funds over time.

The lingering controversy over that issue was underlined when Rome's current mayor, Virginia Raggi, was heckled at the opening ceremony for suggesting the city had to learn from the mistakes and waste associated with the construction of the "exceptional and imposing" building.

- Economic benefits -

The former head of Milan's hugely successful Fiera exhibition centre, Pazzali shrugs off fears that congested, cash-strapped Rome is ill-equipped to cope with an additional influx of visitors.

"Our research suggests that convention visitors generate at least twice as much per head as leisure tourists," he told AFP.

"We have the hotels and the Nuvola has the great advantage that it is close to the airport and it is on the Metropolitan (underground rail network).

"Our estimates are that the economic benefits to the city and the surrounding area could be between 250-350 million euros a year," Pazzali said.

The Nuvola is the biggest architectural project in Rome since the work for the 1960 Olympics.

It l joins a short list of significant contemporary buildings in the city that includes Renzo Piano's auditorium, the late Zaha Hadid's MAXXI museum and the Richard Meier museum built around the Emperor Augustus's altar of peace, the Ara Pacis.

For Fuksas, the construction adds to a list of high-profile projects that includes Shenzhen's airport and Ferrari's headquarters.
Istanbul (AFP) - The families of Turkish activists killed in a 2010 Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship say they will not drop their legal cases despite a deal between Turkey and the Jewish state.

Nine Turks died when Israeli marines stormed the "Mavi Marmara", which was part of an aid flotilla to break a naval blockade of the Gaza Strip. One more died in hospital in 2014.

Ties between Israel and Turkey crumbled after the raid but in June they finally agreed to end the bitter six-year row after months-long secret talks.

Israel had offered an apology over the raid, permission for Turkish aid to reach Gaza through Israeli ports, and a payout of $20 million (18 million euros) to the families of those killed.

Turkish officials confirmed the amount was transferred to the justice ministry account last month.

Under the deal, both sides agreed that individual Israeli citizens or those acting on behalf of the government would not be held liable.

Families of the victims however say they will press on with their legal battle until the alleged perpetrators are brought to justice.

Cigdem Topcuoglu, an academic from southern Adana province, said her husband was killed as the couple embarked on the ship.

"We are certainly not accepting the compensation," she told AFP in Istanbul.

"They will come and kill your husband next to you and say 'take this money, keep your mouth shut and give up on the case'. Would you accept that?"

In total, there were six ships in the flotilla that were boarded in international waters about 130km (80 miles) from the Israeli coast.

- Life sentences sought -

After the deal with Israel, an Istanbul court on October 19 held another hearing in the trial of the four former Israeli military commanders, though it was later adjourned to December 2.

Turkish prosecutors are seeking life sentences for former military chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi, former navy chief Eliezer Marom, former military intelligence head Amos Yadlin and former air force intelligence chief Avishai Levy, who went on trial in absentia in 2012.

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"We have no intention to drop the lawsuits," Topcuoglu said.

Human rights lawyer Rodney Dixon said the criminal case against the accused must go on "at all costs".

"We are strongly supporting the case here in Turkey and our very firm plea to the court has been that they must continue with the case," he said.

"The so-called agreement between Israel and Turkey is not a treaty that is enforceable. It is unlawful under international law, under the convention on human rights and Turkish law."

- 'Lawlessness'-

Families say they were not informed of any details about the deal with Israel and they have not received any money.

Ismail Songur, whose father died in the raid, said: "Nobody from the Turkish government asked our opinion before they struck a deal.

"Unfortunately the Turkish government is becoming a part of the lawlessness carried out by Israel."

"Even if families of the victims accept the money, that would not affect the case," said Gulden Sonmez, one of the lawyers in the trial and also a passenger on the ship.

"That is a criminal suit, not a suit for compensation. The $20 million is an ex gratia payment. It's a donation and cannot be accepted as compensation."

A vocal advocate of the Palestinian cause who regularly lambasts Israeli assaults in Gaza, Turkish President Recep Tayyip in June caught many by surprise when he criticised the 2010 aid mission to Gaza, only a few days after his government reached an accord with Israel.

"Did you ask then-prime minister to deliver humanitarian aid from Turkey?" he said in comments seen as veiled criticism of the Turkish Islamic charity IHH that organised the flotilla.

Bulent Yildirim, head of the IHH, said the legal case would never end.

"Those who believe the case would drop will be disappointed."
Genocea Biosciences Inc. (GNCA) shares saw a handy gain early Friday following the release of mid-stage results from its genital herpes treatment. Specifically, the company presented new 12-month immunogenicity data from the Phase 2a trial of its genital herpes immunotherapy GEN-003.

This analysis showed that GEN-003 immunization results in the development of CD4+ polyfunctional T cells, which indicates that GEN-003 is stimulating a multi-faceted T cell immune response to genital herpes.

The presentation also detailed the strong, antigen-specific antibody responses elicited by GEN-003 for up to 12 months post-dosing, consistent with its sustained effect on viral shedding and clinical disease at the same time point. Data were presented at the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) annual meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana.

ALSO READ: 40 Countries the U.S. Government Doesn't Want You to Visit

This new analysis found that GEN-003 induced polyfunctional T cells post-immunization that peaked at day 8 and persisted through at least day 50. This data could have important implications for the understanding of how the immune system controls genital herpes infections given that polyfunctional T cells have been linked to the control of HIV and other persistent viral infections.

Jessica Baker Flechtner, Ph.D., chief scientific officer at Genocea, commented:

These data provide strong evidence of clear and robust T and B cell immune responses that support the positive 12 month clinical results from the Phase 2a trial, which show that GEN-003 has a significant and durable effect on genital herpes viral shedding and clinical disease for at least 12 months after dosing. We are particularly excited about the data showing the development of polyfunctional T cells, which are considered to deliver a more effective immune response than those T cells which secrete only one mediator. This immunological data once again demonstrates that GEN-003 can have a true biological effect against genital herpes and supports our confidence in its potential to become a cornerstone treatment for this serious disease.

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ALSO READ: Poorest Town in Every State

Shares of Genocea were last seen up more than 2% at $3.69 on Friday, with a consensus analyst price target of $18.00 and a 52-week trading range of $2.56 to $8.07.

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Frankfurt (AFP) - The BASF chemical giant on Saturday said a firefighter injured in an explosion at its plant in western Germany earlier this month had died, pushing the death toll up to four.

"This morning, one of the BASF firefighters who was critically injured in the October 17 explosion ... succumbed to his wounds," BASF said in a statement.

An explosion followed by a fire rocked the chemical giant's plant in Ludwigshafen, where 36,000 people work.

Another seven people were critically injured and 22 others slightly wounded.

BASF employs over 100,000 people around the world and had sales of more than 70 billion euros ($76.77 billion) in 2015.

The firm's worst accidents lie many decades in the past, including a 1921 explosion in a Ludwigshafen ammonia factory that killed 585 people and a 1948 accident on the same site in which 207 were killed and 3,800 injured.
* Says Europe won't accept "foul play" of trade partners

* Gabriel says China on "shopping tour" with list of targets

* Chinese investments in German firms have jumped this year (Adds Gabriel warning China on market economy status)

By Michael Nienaber

BERLIN, Oct 29 (Reuters) - China is strategically buying up key technologies in Germany while protecting its own companies against foreign takeovers with "discriminatory requirements", German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Saturday.

Gabriel, also vice chancellor and leader of Germany's Social Democrats, heads to China next week after having ratcheted up tensions with Beijing by putting the brakes on the latest Chinese takeovers of German technology companies.

In a guest column for Die Welt newspaper, Gabriel urged the European Union to ensure a level playing field and adopt a tougher approach with China.

"Nobody can expect Europe to accept such foul play of trade partners," Gabriel wrote, adding that Germany was one of the most open economies for foreign direct investments.

In China, on the contrary, foreign direct investments by European companies are being hampered and takeovers are only approved under discriminatory requirements, he said.

"But China itself is going on a shopping tour here with a long list of interesting companies - with the clear intention of acquiring strategically important key technologies."

Under German law, the government can block takeovers only if they jeopardise energy security, defence or financial stability.

Gabriel is pushing for a Europe-wide safeguard clause which could stop foreign takeovers of firms whose technology is deemed strategic for the future economic success of the region.

WARNING ON WTO STATUS

The minister said China would not be granted the important status as a market economy under the rules of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) if it did not change course.

"If China wants to get the market economy status, then it also has to act accordingly," Gabriel told Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung in an interview.

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The EU is debating whether to grant China "market economy status" from December, which Beijing says is its right 15 years after joining the WTO.

Market economy status would make it harder for Europe to impose anti-dumping duties on Chinese goods sold at knock-down prices because it would change the method for determining a fair price.

Despite her deputy's tough words, Chancellor Angela Merkel views China as a strategically important partner, not only to do business with but also in foreign policy. It remains one of Germany's most important trading partners and 60 business executives will join Gabriel on his five-day trip.

This year to date, Chinese investors have racked up 47 deals to buy German targets with a total volume of 10.3 billion euros ($11.3 billion), according to Thomson Reuters data, compared with 29 deals worth 263 million euros in the whole of 2015.

Deputy Economy Minister Michael Machnig told the Financial Times that Berlin was worried about takeovers that seemed to be driven by the Chinese government or were about gaining access to German technology.

"We need to have the powers to really investigate deals when it is clear that they are driven by industrial policy or to enable technology transfers," he said. "When necessary, in exceptional cases, maybe even to say we're not going to allow (them)."

Gabriel's visit comes a week after his ministry withdrew approval for Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund (FGC) to buy chip equipment maker Aixtron, citing security concerns.

The government is also scrutinising the sale of Osram's general lighting lamps business Ledvance to a consortium of Chinese buyers.

Gabriel has struck increasingly protectionist tones since Chinese home appliance maker Midea made overtures back in May for robot-maker Kuka - a national champion in Germany's push to hook up machinery to the Internet.

($1 = 0.9107 euros) (Reporting by Michael Nienaber; Editing by Alison Williams and Stephen Powell)
The cast and crew of HBO's Girls just finished filming the HBO series' sixth and final season a month ago, an emotional period that they documented on Instagram, and co-showrunners Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner are still coming to terms with the fact that production has wrapped.

"I would say we're still very confused, disoriented, perplexed, taking a lot of naps, more naps then I ever thought possible," Konner and Dunham told The Hollywood Reporter, finishing each others thoughts, ahead of Thursday night's New York TV Festival panel about the show.

In fact, the only thing keeping them going, they said is Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, of whom they are both ardent supporters.

"All I have to say is, 'Thank God for Hillary Clinton or we would have no drive or motivation at all,' " Konner added of the Girls bosses' emotional state. "She is why we're getting out of bed everyday. Thank God for her for a million reasons but especially for a very selfish reason: We're getting out of bed for Hillary."

While an official trailer for Girls' last season has yet to be released, plenty of paparazzi photos of the cast filming popped up online over the summer, with numerous images showing lead character Hannah Horvath appearing to be pregnant.

Read more: Lena Dunham, Jenni Konner Say Farewell to 'Girls' as Series Wraps Production

When asked if there was more to those images than meets the eye, Dunham and Konner playfully dismissed the pregnancy speculation.

Dunham said, "You know, can't a girl just eat a sandwich?"

"Yeah, as Jennifer Aniston would just say, I had some pasta that day," Konner added, with Dunham concurring.

One person who has seen early cuts of the sixth season is HBO's vp of originals Kathleen McCaffrey, who's worked on the show from the start, and said the ending was "satisfying" and thought-provoking. "In my time now as an executive, I've seen a few shows end, and I'd say that the biggest thing that stands out about this season is that they found, and I knew this was coming, they found a beautiful way to close the story that feels both satisfying and I think leaves it open for the possibility for all of us to wonder what happens to each of them," McCaffrey told THR. "I think it's really well done, well-constructed and beautifully told."

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Later, on the panel moderated by Slate TV critic Willa Paskin, Dunham and Konner said McCaffrey made sure they stayed on track on the final leg of the Girls journey.

"We had a sense of conclusions that we had always imagined for these characters and Jenni and I had conversations really early on and Kat made us really stay faithful," Dunham said.

Read more: 'Girls' Boss on Hannah's Mind-set, Marnie and Shoshanna's Lingering Issues at Season 5's End

Konner added, "I have to say if we started to go off track, because she knew our plan for the last couple of years (it did change a little), but when we did start to veer off track, it would be like, [McCaffrey would call and say,] 'Can we just talk about this scene?' Kat was really the ultimate master and caretaker of the relationships between the girls, which was a very lovely thing."

Indeed, Konner said throughout the show's run McCaffrey has consistently considered the main characters' friendships as she's given notes: "Kat is such a deeply romantic person and so committed to the female friendships on the show so I would say every note she gave us was really informed by that like, 'But what if Marnie's feelings are hurt?'"

"You really were tracking the characters and making sure that they didn't take leaps that - you didn't mind if they were doing something unlikeable - but you wanted to make sure that they were doing things that felt like things that they would do," Dunham added.

The creator and star also said that she and Konner were far tougher on the show than HBO's notes ever were. "Our final season's not edited. We may feel insane. We may have done something horribly wrong," Dunham said of their concerns with the final season.

She also suggested that fans hoping for a final season in which Hannah and Adam (Adam Driver) end up together might be disappointed.

"I have to say when anybody's like, 'Adam is my dream man.' I'm like, 'What hath we wrought?' I love Adam Driver as an actor and I do think that character is really beautiful and complex but no one should be like, 'Hannah and Adam, one true pair, belong together forever.' These people have been abusing the shit out of each other for years," Dunham said of unexpected feedback from viewers. "When people are like, 'I hope Hannah and Adam end up together, they're such a perfect couple,' I worry that I've like glorified the relationships that destroyed me in my early 20s. Not properly projected to you."

Read more: 'Girls' Star Allison Williams on Marnie's Romantic Reunion and Relationship Decision

As might be expected less than two weeks before the 2016 presidential election, some of the panel also focused on another man, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Paskin asked Dunham and Konner which episode of Girls they wished Donald Trump had seen.

"That's an amazing question because I was going to say, weirdly, "One Man's Trash" because I was going to bust open his idea of what a cool guy is and what a 10 is," Dunham said of the controversial episode in which Hannah has a fling with a handsome stranger played by Patrick Wilson. "He's operating with some weird idea about what makes women attracted to men and what makes men attracted to women and how the power balance of the universe works and I just want to f - with his mind."

Konner, meanwhile, doesn't think Trump even deserves to watch Girls. "I literally don't want him to get to see any of Girls. I want him to live in a vacuum," she said, with both her and Dunham adding that there's "no way" the Republican presidential candidate has seen the HBO series.

Looking back over the show, Konner and Dunham also revealed some of their least favorite storylines, with both saying they weren't fond of Hannah's brief foray into writing advertorial copy for GQ in season three.

"We had the most incredible actors but I was slightly bored with an office scene. It felt the most kind of away from Girls," Konner said.

Read more: Peter Scolari on Scoring 'Girls' Only Emmy Nomination After 'Veep's' Peter MacNicol Disqualified

Dunham agreed that she adored the people they cast for those scenes, including J. Crew's Jenna Lyons and Daily Show alum Jessica Williams, but felt that the setting was odd. "It was kind of weird to act in that office all day, it was like. 'Where are we?' It just wasn't the world of the show," she explained. "Doing that story, even if it was part of Hannah's growth and we needed it, it just felt outside of her world."

Dunham also regrets the first season storyline in which Jessa (Jemima Kirke) has revenge sex with her ex. "There's some stuff we did with Jessa in the first season when we were still finding her that was a little too, like she was a little too soulless," Dunham said, referencing the fifth episode of season one in particular. "There was something about that that doesn't ultimately speak to who that character really was and we were finding her and figuring out how to write for someone who was confident but had this dark side. So that's not something I watch with joy." In general, Konner says, looking back, "Unless it's a bottle episode, every story that just had a one-off character feels the least like Girls."

One element of the show that Dunham, Konner and McCaffrey remain overjoyed about is Peter Scolari's guest actor Emmy win for his role as Hannah's recently-out gay dad.

"That was the best thing that ever happened," Dunham told THR of Scolari's award.

Konner added, "It was literally the most heartwarming and incredible thing that ever - he worked so hard and he's been working so hard for so many years and it was a really beautiful thing and an incredibly satisfying moment for all of us. He's also maybe the kindest person who ever existed on the planet and the most well deserving."

Read more: 'Girls': Zosia Mamet on Shoshanna's "New Lease on Life" in Japan, Episode's "F It" Moment

Scolari's win was for the show's only Emmy nomination for its fifth season, and McCaffrey says while she hopes the show gets some awards attention for its final season, she's mostly concerned with whether the fans are happy.

"Sure, I think it would be nice to have one last hurrah in the last season because it is so beautiful," she told THR. "But I think we started out strong and they have continued, in my opinion, to do a consistently high level of storytelling and I think that as long as the audience feels satisfied, we have a great devoted fanbase, and I think as long as they feel happy, we're happy too."
As streaming services continue to grow and dominate not only the music industry, but also tktkt companies like investment banking giant Goldman Sachs Group are thinking of new ways to take advantage of such platforms.

According to Bloomberg, Goldman Sachs is now using Spotify to recruit younger potential employees by running audio messages and banner ads on the streaming service.

"Its a place where talented people from diverse backgrounds come to make a differencefrom building a new app to managing an IPO. Were people who have studied the humanities, science, mathyou name it," the audio ad says. "When you want to make an impact in unexpected ways, think Goldman Sachs."

These ads were placed as a part of Goldman Sachs's new job recruitment strategy. While such companies have oftentimes targeted college students and new graduates, the investment banking company is hoping to "prevent bias" and "attract a more diverse group." Goldman Sachs had also recently used Snapchat for the same reason in the face of competition from Silicon Valley for talented new grads.

"Spotify and Snapchat are unconvential media choices for us," Goldman Sachs global co-head of brand and content strategy Amanda Rubin told Bloomberg. "We're trying to be valuable and help young people understand Goldman."

Last year, Spotify had announced Spotify for Brands's Playlist Targeting, which acts as a form of ad targeting for brands, allowing brands to use listeners' moods to target them with tailored ads. Though this can provide a better experience for users (ads are targeted by one's gender, age, location, etc.), the service also allows brands to find more success in placing such ads.

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Let's say you've received an invitation via email or-more serious yet-via that ancient mode of communication, the post (with stamps and everything). It reads "Please come for dinner, Eight O'Clock, Monday the whatever date of whatever month." I fear that in a world of "text-vites" and meals delivered to your door at the swipe of an app (along with a date via Tinder), this concept resonates only as the title a movie or the lyric of a song your nonagenarian great grandmother loved.

It drives me crazy that nothing happens on time anymore-and I don't just mean when my fellow guests arrive an hour past the time specified on the invitation. I'm also fed up with hosts who don't seem to to have read their own instructions and clearly aren't ready to receive you-or feed you.

So I thought I'd offer a little refresher on what "dinner at 8" really means.

What time are you meant to arrive?

When you are invited to be a guest in someone's home, this is not a reservation at the hottest new restaurant in town so fear not, you shall not be hustled to the table the minute you cross the threshold, or "lose your place" and be sent off unfed if you arrive more than fifteen minutes late. Usually, such dinners are preceded by cocktails lasting from half an hour to an hour. This gives all the guests the chance to arrive, catch their breaths, have a drink, and meet or greet the rest of the party. A polite guest arrives within a half an hour of the stated start time. If you are running late or cannot arrive within the first half hour, warn your hosts in advance. Chances are they'll tell you exactly what time they plan to sit down.

When does dinner actually start?

A note for hosts: cocktails, especially on a week night, shouldn't exceed an hour. Leaving guests standing around at the end of a long day nursing cocktails and nibbling on liliputian canapes (however delicious) only leaves them famished and restless. Unless you live in Barcelona, where a typical dinner starts at ten, get your guests seated and start feeding them within an hour of your stated start time. They will thank you for it and conversation will flourish at the table, instead of being silenced by the sounds of starving guests greedily shoveling mouthfuls of the long awaited meal into their mouths.

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Unless you live in Barcelona, where a typical dinner starts at ten, get your guests seated and start feeding them within an hour of your stated start time.

Do I need to bring something?

Many of us were raised on the principle of "never walk into a home empty handed." This is especially true if you don't know your hosts well. That said, you needn't break the bank-a bouquet of flowers, lovely bottle of wine, or box of chocolates will do the trick. It's a gesture of gratitude, not proof of your net worth.

Does anyone dress for dinner anymore?

If the hosts went to the trouble of sending out invitations, chances are they are expecting a bit more than yoga pants and flip flops. If you are in doubt, phone and ask about the dress code, are the men expected to wear jackets, are the women in business or cocktail attire or both, or are shorts, flip flops and a tube top indeed the order of the day? Your hosts will appreciate your asking and you won't risk being underdressed, or looking like you are trying to upstage them, or worse, just stopping by on your way to the black tie at the opera.

If the hosts went to the trouble of sending out invitations, chances are they are expecting a bit more than yoga pants and flip flops.

Can I bring a date?

In most such cases, the hosts have planned a seated dinner, which means they have carefully balanced the numbers as well as placed people in such a way to make for the most flowing conversation. If the invitation was addressed solely to you (not you and a guest), and your hosts are not your intimate friends of long standing, come alone (do not inquire if you can bring the hottie who came with the home-delivered meal). However, if the hosts are your old friends, phone to ask if it is all right to bring a) your significant other of six months or more or b) your fascinating friend who is visiting from out of town.

I'm always the last to leave. That makes me the party MVP, right?

Wrong. Don't be the last to leave unless the dinner's being thrown by your best friend. In social situations, as in the theater, it's always best to leave your "audience" wanting more.

I'm feeling a little tired at the end of the day. Can I just text them and let them know I won't be making it after all?

I think you know what I'm going to say about this. Somehow, in the age of smart phones, every plan has become contingent, not final until the very moment your friend texts you to say "I'm five minutes away." If you've accepted an invitation, it is rude to cancel less than 24 to 48 hours before unless there is a real crisis or emergency. Your hosts have gone to great pains to open their home and create an opportunity for fun, fellowship, and the exchange of ideas. Canceling because you have a hang nail, a bad hair day, or get a "better offer" is inconsiderate of their efforts and feelings. Be a good "social citizen" and go, or don't accept the invitation in the first place. There's always the option of staying home with your take out to binge watch your favorite show.

Susan Fales-Hill is an author, arts advocate, and host of the New York Public Radio podcast "Icons and Innovators." A member of the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame, she lives in Manhattan with her husband, her teenage daughter, and a labrador/pit bull rescue who has had the grace never to demolish a pair of her shoes. Now that's manners.

Have a question about manners, mores, or style that you'd like answered? Email us here and we'll take it on!

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The teacher was arrested yesterday after the boy's mother filed a complaint against him.

By Revathi Rajeevan: A 56-year-old teacher in Kothamangalam, Ernakulam district of Kochi has been arrested by the police for molesting a 16-year-old boy.

The boy's mother filed a complaint against the teacher. He was produced before a magistrate court yesterday which remanded him in 14-day judicial custody.

The accused teacher, Suresh who teaches at a Jacobite church has been arrested for forcing himself sexually on the boy. He has been charged under the Juvenile Justice Act.

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Also read: Vigilance conducts raids against senior Kerala IAS officer

Before this, Suresh had allegedly made physical advances towards the boy twice, since December 2015.

--- ENDS ---
By Syed Raza Hassan KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) - Gunmen on motorcycles killed at least four people at a religious gathering of Shi'ite Muslims in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, on Saturday, police said, in the latest attack claimed by the Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi's Al Alami faction. The shooting took place in the North Nazimabad neighborhood of the sprawling metropolis of more than 18 million people, where sectarian, ethnic and political violence is common. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi's Al Alami faction, which targets Shi'ites and Pakistan's security forces, killed more than 60 police cadets in the southwestern city of Quetta on Monday in an attack in conjunction with Islamic State. But it said it carried out this attack on its own. "Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Al Alami accepts responsibility for those killed in this attack, and we announce that there is no room for the enemies of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad in Pakistan," said Ali bin Sufyan, the group's spokesperson, in a statement. Provincial police chief Allah Dino Khwaja told reporters men on two motorcycles fired on the gathering. Four people were killed and three others wounded, Nasir Aftab, a senior police officer, said. Violent crime has dropped significantly in Karachi since the launch of a paramilitary operation in the city three years ago, but targeted attacks still occur frequently. Shi'ite Muslims make up about 20 percent of Pakistan's 190 million people, and sectarian attacks against them - including bombings and targeted attacks - have become increasingly common in recent years. Since 2002, more than 2,500 Shi'ite Muslims have been killed in such attacks, according to data gathered by the South Asia Terrorism Portal. At least 23 people have been killed in such attacks this year, it said. (Additional reporting by Saud Mehsud in DERA ISMAIL KHAN; Writing by Asad Hashim; Editing by Alison Williams and Stephen Powell)
Halle Berry is finally in a good place after a difficult split from Olivier Martinez.

I just feel happy, you know? Ive arrived at a really good place once again, thats always good news, she recently told Extra. Down time, dark times, dont last forever  the sun is out again and it feels great.

Nearly one year after she filed for divorce from Martinez, the former couple have continued to spend time together and even go on family vacations with their children.

In a document filed Sept. 1, the L.A. Superior Court court clerk warned the couple that if they dont take any action soon on their divorce filing, it could be dismissed.

Despite rumors of a reconciliation, a source close to the couple tells PEOPLE that Berry and Martinez are not back together. Nothing is happening, no real change, says the source. She definitely has no interest in getting back with Olivier unless his temper and controlling nature change. And theres no indication that either will, so it seems that they will remain separate.

The Oscar winner also opened up to Extra about how she celebrated her 50th birthday. Privately. It was very small. Ive never had a birthday party, so it wasnt a big extravaganza; its not how I do it, she said of her 50th birthday celebration in August. I was with my family, people I loved, it was a really good day. Ive never defined myself by that number, so it was a really good day.

WATCH: Whats Really Going on With Halle Berry and Olivier Martinezs Divorce

As for her kids, Berry told Extra that Nahla, 8, and Maceo, 3 are fantastic. Watching them grow up so fast, Berry said, Time stops for no one, nothing.

On the business side, Berry is starring in the upcoming thriller Kidnap hitting theaters in December. She also recently made a cameo in Kevin Harts new standup movie, Kevin Hart: What Now? I love that man! So much fun, she said of the comedian. So much fun. It was a chance to sort of play with comedy a little bit. Who better to do that with than Kevin Hart, right?


Hillary Clinton on Friday evening called for the FBI to release all the information it has about the additional emails relating to her private email server.

The Democratic nominees request came hours after FBI Director James Comey told lawmakers the FBI is examining newly discovered emails relating to Clintons server to determine whether they contain classified information. With little more than a week before election day, the FBIs announcement could affect the outcome on Nov. 8, providing Republicans with a glimmer of hope amid Donald Trumps slide in the polls, and making Clintons road bumpier.

Clinton said she was sure the newly discovered emails would not change the FBIs conclusion four months ago that she should not face charges.

We are 11 days out from perhaps the most important national election in our lifetimes. Voting is already underway in our country, Clinton said. So the American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately. [Comey] himself has said he doesnt know whether emails referenced in his letter are significant or not. Im confident, whatever they are, will not change the conclusion reached in July.

Clinton joins a chorus of Republicans and Democrats demanding the FBI explain its decision to announce it is reexamining the Democratic nominees emails without providing details. Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, as well as Trump, have also called for more details.

They additional emails were discovered on at least one device confiscated from Huma Abedin and her estranged husband, Weiner, in the investigation into the former congressman, multiple news outlets reported. Weiner is accused of sending lewd images of himself to a minor.

The announcement by the FBI caught the Clinton campaign by surprise. Clinton said she has not had any contact with Comey and did not have any details about the emails.

Weve heard these rumors. We dont know what to believe, Clinton said. They need share whatever facts they claim to have.

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Clinton said she believed voters have already made up their minds about the email controversy, for which the FBI initially closed its investigation in July. Comey said then that there was no precedent for indicting Clinton, and cleared her of illegal wrongdoing.

I think people a long time ago made up their minds about the emails. Thats factored into what people think. And now theyre choosing a president, Clinton said.
We are 11 days out from perhaps the most important election of our lifetimes, Clinton said at a hastily called news conference in Des Moines, Iowa, hours after FBI Director James Comey told lawmakers the bureau was reviewing new evidence related to Clintons use of a private email server while secretary of state. Comey did not provide details, except to say that he did not know if the new emails were significant.

Voting already is underway in our country. The American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately, Clinton said in her first remarks since the news broke this morning, widely covered by TV news networks. The director has said he does not know if the emails referenced in this letter are significant or not, she added.

She said she was confident what ever they are it will not change the conclusion reached in July by the FBI when Comey said the investigation was wrapped. Therefore it is imperative the bureau explain this issue in question, whatever it is, without delay.

When asked what she would say to voters about the new emails, Clinton shot back, People a long time ago made up their minds about the emails. I think thats factored into what people think and now theyre choosing a president.

Clintons campaign was been contacted by the FBI in advance of Comeys letter, or since, Clinton said. The first we knew about is was when the letter sent to Republican members of the House was released.. .We dont know the facts which is why we are calling on the FBI to release all the information is has.

The new emails were discovered after the FBI seized devices belonging to Clintons top aide Huma Abedin, and her estranged husband, Anthony Weiner; the bureau is investigating text messages Weiner allegedly sent to an underage girl.

Clinton ducked a question as to whether she had discussed todays revelation with Abedin, saying only, Weve heard these rumors; we dont know what to believe, and that the reporters guess was as good as hers.

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GOP candidate Donald Trump has been commenting on the Comey news all day, telling supporters this morning, The FBI has just sent a letter to Congress informing them that they have discovered new emails pertaining the former Secretary of State Hillary Clintons investigation. And they are reopening the case into her criminal and illegal conduct that threatens the security of the United States of America.

Perhaps, finally, justice will be done, he said.

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Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump

How much of a game-changer is the report that the FBI is looking into emails linked to an aide to Hillary Clinton, less than two weeks before the election? Its a shocker, based on news reports as well as a sharp drop in Clintons stock on the Iowa Electronic Markets.

The IEM is one of the few places in the U.S. where traders can legally put down real money on the chances that a candidate will be elected president. Its been weighing presidential campaigns  and doing at least as well as traditional polls  since 1988.

The market was set up by the University of Iowas Tippie College of Business as an educational project to study whether market-based mechanisms could anticipate real-world outcomes in realms outside the business world.

Other political prediction markets, ranging from PredictWise to FiveThirtyEight to Bing, have followed in the IEMs footsteps. Those markets, however, generally arent as quick to reflect sudden changes in how traders see the campaign shaping up.

Before today, the IEMs traders were assessing Clintons chances of election at around 90 percent. After the FBI news broke, those chances plunged to around 68 percent. GOP candidate Donald Trumps chances rose correspondingly, from 10 to around 32 percent.

That means a trader who was holding $90 worth of Clinton shares on the IEM saw their value drop to $68, while the same number of Trump shares went from $10 to $32  more than 200 percent appreciation.

For what its worth, less dramatic shifts showed up on the PredictIt and Hypermind markets.

It remains to be seen whether the odds will shift one way or the other by Election Day on Nov. 8. Once the election results are known, trading cease and the IEM clears its accounts. In the hypothetical case were talking about here, the IEM trader who backs the winner would get $100. The losing trader would get zip.

So theres a money-making opportunity here, as long as you make the right choice. The markets may be volatile, but theres a lot at stake  not just for traders and gamblers, but for all of Americas voters.

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Montreuil-Bellay (France) (AFP) - President Francois Hollande acknowledged Saturday France's "broad responsibility" for the internment of thousands of Roma by the World War II Vichy regime and in the early months of the post-war government.

"The day has come, and this truth must be told," Hollande said on the first presidential visit to the main internment camp for Roma, located in Montreuil-Bellay, central France.

"The (French) Republic acknowledges the suffering of travelling people who were interned and admits that it bears broad responsibility," he said.

Roma, also known as gypsies, were brutally persecuted in the Holocaust, in parallel with the systematic murder of Jews. Estimates of how many died vary widely, between 220,000 and half a million.

Between 6,000 and 6,500 Roma were interned in 31 camps in France under the Vichy regime, the government set up in France -- but under de-facto Nazi control -- after France surrendered to Germany in 1940.

The regime fell in the wake of the June 1944 Allied invasion of Normandy and General Charles de Gaulle set up a provisional government.

The biggest of the Roma internment camps was Montreuil-Bellay, where more than 2,000 were confined between November 1941 and January 1945. About a hundred of them died.

The camp was also used to intern a number of homeless people from the city of Nantes. Some Roma remained interned in French camps until 1946.

"Nearly all families of travelling people have at least one relative who passed through Montreuil-Bellay," Hollande said.

"A country, in this case ours, is always bigger for recognising its own history," he said.

- 'We'll never forget' -

Survivors and descendants of the victims were among a crowd of more than 500 people who attended Saturday's ceremonies, held some seven decades after the last interned Roma were freed.

"It was important for us to have this recognition. It affects thousands and thousands" of Roma families, said Fernande Delage, head of the France Liberte Voyage NGO.

Story continues

"It's late, but better late than never," he added.

Lucien Violet, a 69-year-old whose parents were held in Montreuil-Bellay, also attended the ceremony.

"This is the first president to pay homage to travelling people. We feel genuinely moved by his presence," he said.

"Our families have suffered enormously and we will never forget, even though there is forgiveness."

For many, returning to the site of the camp threw up difficult memories.

"It hurts, it really hurts to come back here," admitted another survivor called Henriette Deschelotte.

"We did what we could but we were very unhappy," she said.

- Living in fear -

Sandrine Renaire, who heads the Friends of Montreuil-Bellay gypsy camp (AMCT), said her family were terrified of leaving the nearby town of Saumur for they would be rounded up.

They "never left Saumur out of fear of being caught on the roads and locked up", she said.

"They were deprived of their freedom, which is the worst thing that could have happened to them."

At the site, a commemorative installation has been set up. Created by ceramics artist Armelle Benoit, it consists of a portico of eight columns engraved with the names of the 473 affected families.

At the ceremony, Hollande threw his weight behind parliamentary moves to scrap a 1969 law that defenders of minorities say is discriminatory.

The legislation traces its roots to a 1912 regulation which sought to push Roma to settle down by requiring "nomads" to have special ID cards.

In 1940, the law was changed, ostensibly as a result of the war, requiring travellers to have a fixed address in a move which Hollande said was "the result of distrust fed by ancestral fears, prejudices and ignorance".

Three decades later, it was replaced in 1969 by the requirement for "travelling people" to have a specific set of papers and name a district as their home base -- legislation which the parliament is now likely to repeal.

"It will be, I hope, settled by the parliament so that travelling people no longer have to carry this booklet, so that they can be citizens just like everyone else," Hollande said.
A man in Ukraine has officially changed his name to iPhone 7 after a store offered the latest iPhone to the first five people who do that. Now, his name is 'iPhone 7 Sim'.

By India Today Web Desk:

What about a contest that might make you win a brand new Apple iPhone 7? Condition? You have to change your name to 'iPhone 7'.

A Ukrainian man has officially changed his name to iPhone 7 after an electronics store offered the latest Apple product to the first five people who do that.

The 20-year-old, now named 'iPhone Sim (Seven)' got the prize on Friday. However, he said he might change it back to his original name, Olexander Turin, when he has children in future, according to an Associated Press report.

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The price of phone starts at 850 dollars (Rs 55,000 approximately) in Ukraine, while the name-change costs mere 2 dollars (Rs 150 approximately).

Sim's friends and family were shocked at first but eventually supported the idea.

His sister, Tetyana Panina, said "it was difficult to accept that and hard to believe it's true".

"Each person in this world is looking for a way to express himself. Why not to do that in this way?," she said.



--- ENDS ---
Reykjavik (AFP) - Icelanders voted on Saturday in a snap election that could see the anti-establishment Pirate Party form the next government in the wake of the Panama Papers tax-dodging scandal and lingering anger over the 2008 financial meltdown.

Voters are expected to punish the incumbent coalition after the Panama Papers revealed a global tax evasion scandal that ensnared several senior politicians and forced former prime minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson to resign.

Although the current government of the conservative Independence Party and the centrist Progressive Party survived the scandal, it promised a snap election six months before the end of its term in spring 2017.

"Today, general elections take place because of corruption within the governing parties," the Pirate Party said in a statement.

"The Panama Papers revealed a great number of Icelanders within them, including three ministers in the current government. This is why we vote today," it added.

Prime Minister Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, who is chairman of the Progressive Party, was one of the first people to vote when the polling station opened in the small Icelandic village of Fludir.

Voters defied rain and freezing winds to get to the polling stations which opened at 9:00 am (0900 GMT) in Reykjavik and one hour later in the countryside. The voting ends at 10:00 pm (2200 GMT).

"I'm optimistic. We have found for the last days that a lot of people are coming to us," Johannsson told AFP.

But three separate polls released on the eve of the vote and conducted by the University of Iceland, research company MMR and Gallup, indicated the incumbent conservative coalition government would probably be voted out.

"We're losing support (because of the) big anti-establishment (feeling)," Independence Party MP Birgir Armannsson said.

- Fight against corruption -

Final election results will be released shortly after polling stations close, but because no party is expected to win a majority, Iceland's fate will only be known after post-election coalition negotiations.

Story continues

The latest wave of a global movement against establishment politics could see the Pirate Party become the second largest group in the Icelandic parliament.

"I'm looking for some changes. The system... is not all bad," said Helgi Mar Gunnarsson, a 54-year-old designer, as she cast his vote, adding that decision-making should be more transparent.

The Pirates, who campaign for transparency and the fight

against corruption, could form the nation's second centre-left government since Iceland's independence from Denmark in 1944. The Social Democrats and Greens ruled in a coalition between 2009-2013.

The Pirate Party reached a pre-election agreement with three other leftist and centrist opposition parties, including the Left-Greens, the Social Democrats and the Bright Future Movement, to form a coalition government.

"We think that these parties can cooperate very well... I think it will be a very feasible governmental choice," Katrin Jakobsdottir, leader of the Left-Green movement told AFP.

- 'I want change' -

Iceland, a volcanic island with a population of 332,000, has returned to prosperity since its 2008 financial meltdown.

Gross domestic product (GDP) growth is expected to be above four percent this year thanks to tourism revenues and a recovering financial system.

Still, young people do not trust the nation's traditional political parties.

The crisis eight years ago saw Iceland's three biggest banks and its oversized financial sector collapse, while the country was forced to seek a bailout from the International Monetary Fund.

A string of bankers were jailed, the failed banks were temporarily nationalised and then sold, and foreign investors had to accept write-downs on their debt holdings.

Olafur Hardarson, professor of political science at the University of Iceland, attributed the Pirates' rise in popularity to voters' anger at the 2008 meltdown.

"They have managed to focus on the anti-politics and anti-establishment feelings of a lot of voters (who) have been frustrated in Iceland since the bank crash," Hardarson told AFP.

But several months ago, the Pirates had almost twice the support the latest polls have shown, according to Icelandic newspaper Morgundbladid.

The fall in popularity may have been caused by internal disputes within the party, the paper added.

"The Pirates are in fact a rather loose alliance of people who are mainly united in their opposition to traditional politics and the system," the newspaper said.
IRVINE, CA / ACCESSWIRE / October 28, 2016 / Khang & Khang LLP (the "Firm") announces a class action lawsuit against Pilgrim's Pride Corporation ("Pilgrim's Pride" or the "Company") (PPC). Investors who purchased or otherwise acquired shares between February 21, 2014 and October 6, 2016 inclusive (the "Class Period"), are encouraged to contact the Firm prior to the December 19, 2016 lead plaintiff motion deadline.

If you purchased Pilgrim's Pride shares during the Class Period, please contact Joon M. Khang, Esquire, of Khang & Khang, 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 Pilgrim's Pride made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: the Company systematically colluded with several of its industry peers to fix prices in the market for broiler chickens; that the foregoing conduct constituted a violation of federal antitrust laws; that Pilgrim's Pride's revenues during the class period were the result of illegal conduct; that as a result of the above, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. On October 7, 2016, Pivotal Research downgraded its peer company Tyson Foods, Inc. from "buy" to "sell," due to fears of a class action against Tyson Foods, Pilgrim's Pride other peers over price collusion in the broiler-chicken market. Allegedly, in 2008, Tyson Foods, Pilgrim's Pride, and several other companies conspired by sharing proprietary data and reducing production to support prices. When this information was disclosed, shares of Pilgrim's Pride fell in value, causing investors harm.

If you wish to learn more about this lawsuit, or if you have questions concerning this notice or your rights, please contact Joon M. Khang, a prominent litigator for almost two decades, by telephone: (949) 419-3834, or by e-mail at joon@khanglaw.com.

Story continues

This press release may constitute Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions.

Contacts

Joon M. Khang, Esq.

Telephone: 949-419-3834

Facsimile: 949-225-4474

joon@khanglaw.com

SOURCE: Khang & Khang LLP
* PM Modi's Make-in-India campaign starts up

* Lockheed Martin, Saab keen to build in India

* Indian Air Force desperately short of fighter planes

By Sanjeev Miglani

NEW DELHI, Oct 29 (Reuters) - India is offering to buy hundreds of fighter planes from foreign manufacturers - as long as the jets are made in India and with a local partner, air force officials say.

A deal for 200 single-engine planes produced in India - which the air force says could rise to 300 as it fully phases out ageing Soviet-era aircraft - could be worth anything from $13-$15 billion, experts say, potentially one of the country's biggest military aircraft deals.

After a deal to buy high-end Rafale planes from France's Dassault was scaled back to just 36 jets last month, the Indian Air Force is desperately trying to speed up other acquisitions and arrest a fall in operational strength, now a third less than required to face both China and Pakistan.

But Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration wants any further military planes to be built in India with an Indian partner to kickstart a domestic aircraft industry, and end an expensive addiction to imports.

Lockheed Martin said it is interested in setting up a production line for its F-16 plane in India for not just the Indian military, but also for export.

And Sweden's Saab has offered a rival production line for its Gripen aircraft, setting up an early contest for one of the biggest military plane deals in play.

"The immediate shortfall is 200. That would be the minimum we would be looking at," said an air officer briefed on the Make-in-India plans under which a foreign manufacturer will partner local firms to build the aircraft with technology transfer.

India's defence ministry has written to several companies asking if they would be willing to set up an assembly line for single-engine fighter planes in India and the amount of technology transfer that would happen, another government source said.

"We are testing the waters, testing the foreign firms' willingness to move production here and to find out their expectations," the person said.

Story continues

OPERATIONAL GAPS

India's air force originally planned for 126 Rafale twin-engine fighters from Dassault, but the two sides could not agree on the terms of local production with a state-run Indian firm and settled for 36 planes in a fly-away condition.

Adding to the military's problems is India's three-decade effort to build a single-engine fighter of its own which was meant to be the backbone of the air force. Only two of those Light Combat Aircraft, called Tejas, have been delivered to the air force which has ordered 140 of them.

The Indian Air Force is down to 32 operational squadrons compared with the 45 it has said are necessary, and in March the vice chief Air Marshal B.S. Dhanoa told parliament's defence committee that it didn't have the operational strength to fight a two front war against China and Pakistan.

JET MAKERS RESPOND

Saab said it was ready to not only produce its frontline Gripen fighter in India, but help build a local aviation industry base.

"We are very experienced in transfer of technology - our way of working involves extensive cooperation with our partners to establish a complete ecosystem, not just an assembly line," said Jan Widerstrom, Chairman and Managing Director, Saab India Technologies.

He confirmed Saab had received the letter from the Indian government seeking a fourth generation fighter. A source close to the company said that while there was no minimum order set in stone for it to lay down a production line, they would expect to build at least 100 planes at the facility.

Lockheed Martin said it had responded to the defence ministry's letter with an offer to transfer the entire production of its F-16 fighter to India.

"Exclusive F-16 production in India would make India home to the world's only F-16 production facility, a leading exporter of advanced fighter aircraft, and offer Indian industry the opportunity to become an integral part of the world's largest fighter aircraft supply chain," Abhay Paranjape, National Executive for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Business Development in India said in an email.

U.S. TOP SUPPLIER

Lockheed's offer comes on the back of expanding U.S.-India military ties in which Washington has emerged as India's top arms supplier in recent years, ousting old ally Russia.

Earlier this year Boeing also offered India its twin-engine F/A-18 Hornets, but the level of technology transfer was not clear.

India has never previously attempted to build a modern aircraft production line, whether military or civilian. State-run Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) has assembled Russian combat jets including the Su-30, but these are under licensed production.

"We have never had control over technology. This represents the most serious attempt to build a domestic base. A full or a near-full tech transfer lays the ground for further development," said retired Indian air marshal M. Matheswaran, a former adviser at HAL.

He said the Indian government would be looking at producing at least 200 fighters, and then probably some more, to make up for the decades of delay in modernising the air force.

(Reporting by Sanjeev Miglani, with additional reporting by Tommy Wilkes in NEW DELHI; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)
By Sanjeev Miglani NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India is offering to buy hundreds of fighter planes from foreign manufacturers - as long as the jets are made in India and with a local partner, air force officials say. A deal for 200 single-engine planes produced in India - which the air force says could rise to 300 as it fully phases out aging Soviet-era aircraft - could be worth anything from $13-$15 billion, experts say, potentially one of the country's biggest military aircraft deals. After a deal to buy high-end Rafale planes from France's Dassault was scaled back to just 36 jets last month, the Indian Air Force is desperately trying to speed up other acquisitions and arrest a fall in operational strength, now a third less than required to face both China and Pakistan. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration wants any further military planes to be built in India with an Indian partner to kickstart a domestic aircraft industry, and end an expensive addiction to imports. Lockheed Martin said it is interested in setting up a production line for its F-16 plane in India for not just the Indian military, but also for export. And Sweden's Saab has offered a rival production line for its Gripen aircraft, setting up an early contest for one of the biggest military plane deals in play. "The immediate shortfall is 200. That would be the minimum we would be looking at," said an air officer briefed on the Make-in-India plans under which a foreign manufacturer will partner local firms to build the aircraft with technology transfer. India's defense ministry has written to several companies asking if they would be willing to set up an assembly line for single-engine fighter planes in India and the amount of technology transfer that would happen, another government source said. "We are testing the waters, testing the foreign firms' willingness to move production here and to find out their expectations," the person said. OPERATIONAL GAPS India's air force originally planned for 126 Rafale twin-engine fighters from Dassault, but the two sides could not agree on the terms of local production with a state-run Indian firm and settled for 36 planes in a fly-away condition. Adding to the military's problems is India's three-decade effort to build a single-engine fighter of its own which was meant to be the backbone of the air force. Only two of those Light Combat Aircraft, called Tejas, have been delivered to the air force which has ordered 140 of them. The Indian Air Force is down to 32 operational squadrons compared with the 45 it has said are necessary, and in March the vice chief Air Marshal B.S. Dhanoa told parliament's defense committee that it didn't have the operational strength to fight a two front war against China and Pakistan. JET MAKERS RESPOND Saab said it was ready to not only produce its frontline Gripen fighter in India, but help build a local aviation industry base. "We are very experienced in transfer of technology  our way of working involves extensive cooperation with our partners to establish a complete ecosystem, not just an assembly line," said Jan Widerstrom, Chairman and Managing Director, Saab India Technologies. He confirmed Saab had received the letter from the Indian government seeking a fourth generation fighter. A source close to the company said that while there was no minimum order set in stone for it to lay down a production line, they would expect to build at least 100 planes at the facility. Lockheed Martin said it had responded to the defense ministry's letter with an offer to transfer the entire production of its F-16 fighter to India. "Exclusive F-16 production in India would make India home to the world's only F-16 production facility, a leading exporter of advanced fighter aircraft, and offer Indian industry the opportunity to become an integral part of the world's largest fighter aircraft supply chain," Abhay Paranjape, National Executive for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Business Development in India said in an email. U.S. TOP SUPPLIER Lockheed's offer comes on the back of expanding U.S.-India military ties in which Washington has emerged as India's top arms supplier in recent years, ousting old ally Russia. Earlier this year Boeing also offered India its twin-engine F/A-18 Hornets, but the level of technology transfer was not clear. India has never previously attempted to build a modern aircraft production line, whether military or civilian. State-run Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) has assembled Russian combat jets including the Su-30, but these are under licensed production. "We have never had control over technology. This represents the most serious attempt to build a domestic base. A full or a near-full tech transfer lays the ground for further development," said retired Indian air marshal M. Matheswaran, a former adviser at HAL. He said the Indian government would be looking at producing at least 200 fighters, and then probably some more, to make up for the decades of delay in modernizing the air force. (Reporting by Sanjeev Miglani, with additional reporting by Tommy Wilkes in NEW DELHI; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)
SRINAGAR (Reuters) - The Indian army said it had destroyed four Pakistani military posts on Saturday along its contested border, the latest escalation of tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors. The attack comes a day after India and Pakistan traded accusations that each had killed civilians in cross-border shelling in the Kashmir region, which is claimed in its entirety by both countries but controlled in part by each. "Four Pak posts destroyed in massive fire assault in Keran Sector. Heavy casualties inflicted," the Indian army's Northern Command said in a statement on its Twitter account late on Saturday. The Indian army gave no further details of the assault, but an officer, who asked that his name not be used, confirmed that troops on both sides had been exchanging mortar fire in and around an area known as the Keran sector since Saturday morning. Pakistani military officials were not immediately available for comment on Saturday evening. On Friday, a Pakistani official said three civilians were killed as Indian troops shelled villages along the Line of Control in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Indian officials, meanwhile, said two civilians died when Pakistani shells hit India-administered Kashmir. The Indian army on Friday said in a statement that militants at the border mutilated the body of an Indian soldier they had killed before crossing back into Pakistan. The army had warned that the "act will invite an appropriate response", saying the militants were "supported by covering fire from Pakistan Army posts". Shelling by both sides in the divided and disputed Himalayan regions has been going on since gunmen killed 19 Indian soldiers in September at an army camp in Kashmir, an attack India blamed on Pakistan-based militants. (Reporting by Fayaz Bukhari with additional reporting by Drazen Jorgic in Islamabad; Writing by Aditya Kalra, editing by Tom Lasseter and Richard Balmforth)
By Promit Mukherjee and Aditi Shah

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Three senior group executives at India's Tata Sons have resigned, people close to the matter told Reuters on Saturday, as management woes appeared to deepen at the $100 billion conglomerate following the stunning ouster of its chairman.

The three executives were members of an executive council disbanded after Tata dismissed chairman Cyrus Mistry on Monday. The council, comprising five senior Tata group executives and Mistry, was tasked with creating long-term value for stakeholders and boosting returns on investment.

Those who quit are group human resources chief N.S. Rajan; group business development and public affairs head Madhu Kannan; and group strategy executive Nirmalya Kumar.

Reuters could not reach any of the three for comment. Tata did not respond to an e-mail request for comment on Saturday.

Reuters reported earlier this week that the other two council executives, Mukund Rajan and Harish Bhat, would take on senior level responsibilities within the Tata group.

One person close to Tata said there was no certainty all the positions would be re-filled as the group's structure is likely to change with Mistry's exit. Another person, however, said replacements could be named as early as next week, though there was no management crisis as each Tata company has its own team of public affairs and business development executives.

But some governance experts say the resignations of senior executives risk increasing the sense of uncertainty at Tata.

"In the short term, obviously there'll be some disruption at the group level" said Shriram Subramanian of InGovern, a shareholder advocacy group. "People leaving at senior levels shows there's a lack of confidence between the two sides, and that needs to be reinstated at the earliest to contain any longer-term damage."

MEDIATION

Disagreements between Mistry and his predecessor Ratan Tata, the family patriarch and now stand-in chairman of the 148-year-old conglomerate, have turned a boardroom battle into a damaging public spat fuelled by leaked letters and tit-for-tat accusations.

Story continues

Mistry alleges corporate governance failures and mismanagement at Tata, which has dismissed the allegations as "malicious".

CNBC-TV18 news channel reported on Saturday that Darius Khambatta, a senior lawyer close to both Tata and Mistry, had initiated mediation talks between the two parties. Khambatta told Reuters he was "not mediating between them," but declined to comment on whether he had met Tata and Mistry.

India's financial crime-fighting agency will look into Mistry's allegations about mismanagement at Tata's aviation ventures, another person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

In a leaked letter to the Tata board, Mistry has said he was opposed to Tata's aviation partnerships with Malaysia's AirAsia Bhd (AIRA.KL) and Singapore Airlines (SIAL.SI).

In the case of Air Asia, a forensic investigation had found "fraudulent transactions" of 220 million rupees ($3.29 million) involving "non-existent parties", he alleged.

That prepared the ground for a "probe into the allegation of mismanagement of funds," said an official at the national Enforcement Directorate, on condition of anonymity.

The agency was not immediately available to comment. Tata did not respond to Reuters questions on this matter. An AirAsia India spokeswoman said she had no immediate comment.

India's capital markets regulator is already looking into Mistry's allegations related to violations of corporate governance rules at Tata.

($1 = 66.7709 Indian rupees)

(Additional reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj; Writing by Aditya Kalra; Editing by Ian Geoghegan and Euan Rocha)
By Promit Mukherjee and Aditi Shah

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Three senior group executives at India's Tata Sons have resigned, people close to the matter told Reuters on Saturday, as management woes appeared to deepen at the $100 billion conglomerate following the stunning ouster of its chairman.

The three executives were members of an executive council disbanded after Tata dismissed chairman Cyrus Mistry on Monday. The council, comprising five senior Tata group executives and Mistry, was tasked with creating long-term value for stakeholders and boosting returns on investment.

Those who quit are group human resources chief N.S. Rajan; group business development and public affairs head Madhu Kannan; and group strategy executive Nirmalya Kumar.

Reuters could not reach any of the three for comment. Tata did not respond to an e-mail request for comment on Saturday.

Reuters reported earlier this week that the other two council executives, Mukund Rajan and Harish Bhat, would take on senior level responsibilities within the Tata group.

One person close to Tata said there was no certainty all the positions would be re-filled as the group's structure is likely to change with Mistry's exit. Another person, however, said replacements could be named as early as next week, though there was no management crisis as each Tata company has its own team of public affairs and business development executives.

But some governance experts say the resignations of senior executives risk increasing the sense of uncertainty at Tata.

"In the short term, obviously there'll be some disruption at the group level" said Shriram Subramanian of InGovern, a shareholder advocacy group. "People leaving at senior levels shows there's a lack of confidence between the two sides, and that needs to be reinstated at the earliest to contain any longer-term damage."

MEDIATION

Disagreements between Mistry and his predecessor Ratan Tata, the family patriarch and now stand-in chairman of the 148-year-old conglomerate, have turned a boardroom battle into a damaging public spat fueled by leaked letters and tit-for-tat accusations.

Story continues

Mistry alleges corporate governance failures and mismanagement at Tata, which has dismissed the allegations as "malicious".

CNBC-TV18 news channel reported on Saturday that Darius Khambatta, a senior lawyer close to both Tata and Mistry, had initiated mediation talks between the two parties. Khambatta told Reuters he was "not mediating between them," but declined to comment on whether he had met Tata and Mistry.

India's financial crime-fighting agency will look into Mistry's allegations about mismanagement at Tata's aviation ventures, another person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

In a leaked letter to the Tata board, Mistry has said he was opposed to Tata's aviation partnerships with Malaysia's AirAsia Bhd and Singapore Airlines.

In the case of Air Asia, a forensic investigation had found "fraudulent transactions" of 220 million rupees ($3.29 million) involving "non-existent parties", he alleged.

That prepared the ground for a "probe into the allegation of mismanagement of funds," said an official at the national Enforcement Directorate, on condition of anonymity.

The agency was not immediately available to comment. Tata did not respond to Reuters questions on this matter. An AirAsia India spokeswoman said she had no immediate comment.

India's capital markets regulator is already looking into Mistry's allegations related to violations of corporate governance rules at Tata.

(Additional reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj; Writing by Aditya Kalra; Editing by Ian Geoghegan and Euan Rocha)
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A coalition of Iranian-backed Iraqi Shi'ite militia plans to cross the border into Syria to fight alongside President Bashar al-Assad after "clearing" Islamic State militants from Iraq, a militia spokesman said on Saturday. Iraqi Shi'ite militiamen are already fighting on Assad's side in the country's civil war, and the coalition is currently participating in an Iraqi government offensive to recapture the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State. The announcement by the coalition, known as Hashid Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization, would formalize its involvement in Syria. "After clearing all our land from these terrorist gangs, we are fully ready to go to any place that contains a threat to Iraqi national security," Ahmed al-Asadi, a spokesman for the Shi'ite coalition, told a news conference in Baghdad. (Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed)
Qayyarah (Iraq) (AFP) - Iraqi forces said Sunday that they recaptured a series of villages surrounding jihadist-held Mosul as the operation to retake the city from the Islamic State group neared its third week.

Tens of thousands of Iraqi troops and Kurdish peshmerga fighters have been advancing on Mosul from the north, east and south after the launch on October 17 of a vast offensive to retake IS's last stronghold in the country.

After standing largely on the sidelines in the first days of the assault, forces from the Hashed al-Shaabi -- a paramilitary umbrella organisation dominated by Iran-backed Shiite militias -- began a push on Saturday towards the west of Mosul.

The ultimate aim is the recapture of Tal Afar, a town west of the city, and the severing of jihadist supply lines between Mosul and Syria.

In a series of statements on Sunday, the Hashed's media office announced it had retaken at least four villages southwest of Mosul.

Al-Imraini, one of the recaptured villages, is 45 kilometres (27 miles) from Tal Afar, according to the media office.

The drive toward Tal Afar could bring the fighting perilously close to the ancient city of Hatra, a UNESCO world heritage site, and the ruins of Nimrud -- two archaeological sites that have previously been vandalised by IS.

Forces from Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region also announced gains on Sunday, saying that they had recaptured six villages north and east of Mosul.

- Concerns over militias -

Kurdish units are effectively operating on the opposite side of Mosul from the Shiite militiamen, with whom relations are tense.

The involvement of Shiite militias in the Mosul operation has been a source of contention, though the Hashed's top commanders insist they do not plan to enter the largely Sunni city.

Iraqi Kurds and Sunni Arab politicians have opposed their involvement, as has Turkey which has a military presence east of Mosul despite repeated demands by Baghdad for the forces to be withdrawn.

Story continues

Relations between the Hashed and the US-led coalition fighting IS are also tense, but the paramilitaries enjoy widespread support among members of Iraq's Shiite majority.

The Hashed has been a key force in Iraq's campaign to retake areas seized by IS in mid-2014, when the jihadists took control of large parts of Syria and Iraq and declared a cross-border "caliphate".

But the paramilitaries have been repeatedly accused of human rights violations during the war against IS, including summary killings, kidnappings and destruction of property.

Tal Afar was a Shiite-majority town of mostly ethnic Turkmens before the Sunni extremists of IS overran it in 2014, and its recapture is a main goal of Shiite militia forces.

In Qaraqosh, a Christian town east of Mosul that was recaptured from IS a few days before, a handful of the faithful gathered in a burnt out church on Sunday for the first mass held there in two years.

The bell tower was damaged, statues decapitated and missals strewn across the nave floor, which is still covered in soot from the fire the jihadists lit when they retreated.

- First mass after exile -

But some of the crosses have already been replaced and a new icon was laid on the main altar, where armed Christian militiamen took turns to light candles.

"After two years and three months in exile, I just celebrated the Eucharist in the cathedral of the Immaculate Conception the Islamic State wanted to destroy," said Yohanna Petros Mouche, the Syriac Catholic Archbishop of Mosul who led the mass.

The US-led coalition -- which has been assisting federal forces and Kurdish peshmerga with air strikes, training and advisers for two years -- said Friday that Iraqi forces were observing a pause in the two-week-old offensive.

In Bartalla, a Christian town just east of Mosul, army and counter-terrorism forces were consolidating their positions, unloading cases of weapons from trucks and organising ammunition stocks.

More than 17,600 people have fled their homes toward government-held areas since the Mosul operation began, the International Organization for Migration said on Sunday.

Numbers are expected to soar as Iraqi forces close in on the city, which is home to more than a million people.

The UN says there have been credible reports of IS carrying out mass executions in the city and seizing tens of thousands of people for use as human shields.

It cited reports indicating IS has forcibly taken civilians into Mosul, killing those who resist or who were previously members of Iraqi security forces.

It said more than 250 people were executed in just two days earlier this week.
The blast occurred at aroud 7.30 AM in a narrow lane at Gandhi Avenue beside an automobile spare outlet.

By Press Trust of India: Unidentified attackers today set off a medium-intensity Improvised Explosive Device (IED) at Gandhi Avenue, the main commercial hub of Imphal, police said.

Though it damaged glass panes of some buildings, there was no casualty, the police said.

The blast occurred at around 7.30 AM in a narrow lane at Gandhi Avenue beside an automobile spare outlet.

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By Ahmed Rasheed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iranian-backed Iraqi Shi'ite paramilitary groups said they started an offensive on Saturday against Islamic State positions west of Mosul, assisting in a campaign to take back the city. The operation will target Tal Afar, an Islamic State-held area close to Turkey where a sizeable ethnic Turkmen population lives, which could cause concern in Ankara. Earlier announcements by the militias, collectively known as Hashid Shaabi or Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), on advancing toward Mosul have drawn warnings from human rights groups concerned about sectarian violence in the mainly Sunni province. Shi'ites make up a majority in Iraq but Sunnis are predominant in the north and the west. The PMF said it had started moving early on Saturday toward Tal Afar from positions south of Mosul, Islamic State's last major city stronghold in Iraq. "The wounded city of Tal Afar (is among) the cities to be liberated," said a statement on the PMF's website. The PMF officially reports to the Shi'ite-led government of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi who on Oct. 17 announced the start of an offensive targeting Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, with the backing of a U.S-led coalition. The PMF was formed in 2014 to help push back Islamic State's sweeping advance through northern and western provinces. Amnesty International says that in previous campaigns, the Shi'ite militias have committed "serious human rights violations, including war crimes" against civilians fleeing Islamic State-held territory. The U.N in July said it had a list of more than 640 Sunni Muslim men and boys reportedly abducted by a Shiite militia in Falluja, a former militant stronghold west of Baghdad, and a list of about 50 others who were summarily executed or tortured to death. The government and the PMF say a limited number of violations have occurred and that they were investigated but they deny that abuses were widespread and systematic. (Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed; writing by Maher Chmaytelli; editing by Jason Neely)
By Michael Georgy NEAR BASHIQA, Iraq (Reuters) - After two years of ruthless Islamic State rule, Ahmed finally decided to make a run for it, past some of the group's snipers in his village in northern Iraq. He is relieved that the bullets they fired at him, and at anyone else attempting to flee, missed. But life is still fraught with risks and hardship. Ahmed had to leave his elderly parents behind when he sought refuge in a small makeshift base for Kurdish peshmerga fighters, who are vulnerable to attacks by suicide bombers in vehicles. "After Islamic State took over our village there were no jobs. My father ran out of money. He and my mother stayed behind to watch over the car," said Ahmed. "We can't afford to buy a new one." Iraqi troops and Kurdish fighters have cleared dozens of villages as they press towards the city of Mosul for an offensive against the Islamic State's last main stronghold in the country. The momentum has encouraged Iraqis like Ahmed to take a risk, despite warnings from the world's most feared and violent Islamist militant group that anyone who attempts to flee their self-proclaimed caliphate will be shot dead. They are slowly emerging from villages and towns with accounts of Islamic State's ferocity in imposing their ultra-hardline interpretation of Islam. Sitting beside a plastic plate and picking at some rice and chick peas, Ahmed spoke slowly, exhausted and wondering what would become of relatives who had to stay behind. "When Daesh arrived two years ago we all thought they would be here for a couple of weeks because the Iraqi army would remove them," said Ahmed, who asked that only his first name be used to avoid reprisals against his loved ones. Daesh is an Arabic acronym used by opponents of Islamic State to describe the group. The Iraqi army collapsed in the face of a lighting Islamic State sweep through northern Iraq in 2014. The group seized Mosul - Iraq's second largest city -- and then swallowed up villages like Abu Jarbouh, where Ahmed's parents still live in fear of militants who control every aspect of life, from beard sizes to a ban on cigarettes and alcohol. The whole family were virtually hostages in their own home for two years, afraid that even walking down the street in their own neighborhood could invite the wrath of the jihadists. "We left the home once a month to go to Mosul to get some food and other supplies," said Ahmed, who gave up his education after he heard what the group was doing in schools. "Word got back to me that they were actually teaching young men how to behead people and shoot them." Moments after he spoke an air strike was launched against Islamic State targets in a village held by the group about 1.5 km (one mile) away. A thick cloud of smoke rose up. Kurdish fighters said that two children who ran away from that area towards the base were shot dead by the Sunni militants this week. Jihadists also tried to carry out suicide bombings against the base and clashes often erupt at night. Kurdish fighters say Islamic State snipers are positioned in buildings across fields in the distance. The Kurds man positions beneath dirt berms at the base, located between two villages held by Islamic State. Kurdish fighters occasionally test their machine guns, rattling refugees who have blank stares, sitting on dirt and gravel wondering whether they will ever be able to return home. The United Nations has warned that Islamic State could try to take thousands of people as hostages and human shields during the Mosul offensive. As a military truck that will transport the displaced to a camp arrived, Ahmed and a few relatives, along with young children, slowly climbed on it. "I never thought we would escape Daesh," said Ahmed, holding a worn plastic bag with his meagre belongings. "God has showed us mercy." (Editing by Stephen Powell)
Apple CEO Tim Cook: REUTERS/Toru Hanai

By Jesse Felder, Yahoo Finance Contributor

Apple (AAPL) reported earnings this week and the latest numbers have some some pounding the table bullish. For example, heres Forbes from an article titled Why Apple Is Very Undervalued:

Apple still trades at 13x earnings. The S&P 500 trades at 16x. Apple trades at 13x next years projected earnings. The S&P 500 trades at 16.5x. Clearly its undervalued compared to the broader market. What about Apples monster cash position? Apple has even more cash nowa record $237 billion. If we excluded the cash from the valuation, Apple trades at 8.6x earnings. Though not an apples to apples (pun), and just for a reference point, that valuation would group Apple with the likes of these S&P 500 components that trade 8x earnings: Dow Chemical, Prudential Financial, Bed Bath & Beyond, a Norwegian chemical company (LBY), and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Its safe to say no one is debating whether or not Hewlett Packard is at the pinnacle of its business. Yet, if we strip out the cash in Apple, AAPL shares are trading at an HPE valuation.

There are a few things that are problematic with this analysis. First of all, the S&P actually trades at 25 times trailing earnings not 16. I assume the author is using operating not net earnings in arriving at 16x. So an apples to apples comparison (please excuse the pun) makes Apple look even cheaper relative to the broad market. But Ive never found this to be a terribly valuable way to determine whether a stock is cheap or not.

The other problem with this analysis is that if you want to back out Apples cash you also have to consider all of the debt the company has piled up in recent years. In fact, as MarketWatch reports today, Apple actually added more debt to their balance sheet than cash last quarter. The $237 billion in cash is not nearly so impressive when you consider the company is now on the hook for $87 billion in debt. Net cash then is only $150 billion. I agree that factoring in a companys net cash or net debt gives you a better picture of their overall financial valuation but looking at just the cash and not the debt is deceiving.

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Subtracting the net cash out of Apples $620 billion market cap yields an enterprise value of $470 billion. Still, to compare this number to earnings is also deceiving when the company earns more than a billion dollars per year simply in interest income. Yes, that might be a trivial amount for a company of Apples size but we should still be diligent about comparing apples to apples. Backing out the interest income, Apple earned $44 billion last year. It currently trades at an enterprise value roughly 10.7x that number, not 8 as the Forbes author would have you believe.

Again, 11x might look cheap relative to the 25x the broad stock market trades at but I find little utility in this approach. In fact, Apple has traded at a discount to the broad market for years now and investors might want to try to understand why it has been persistently undervalued. Apple trades at $115 per share today. It first hit this level almost two years ago. That was the last time I wrote about the stock, revealing why I was selling it. I first bought the stock in early 2013 because I thought it was cheap back then. At the time, I wrote:

The current market capitalization is $422 billion (938 million shares times $453 per share). Back out the cash of $137 billion [Apple had no debt at the time] and you get an enterprise value of $285 billion. That amounts to a mere 6 times the companys free cash flow over the past twelve months. In other words, investors get a 16.6% free cash flow return on their investment at the current share price. Whats more, Apple, on an enterprise value to EBITDA measure, is now cheaper than the likes of Microsoft and Radio Shack. Even when you dont back out the cash in its bank accounts the stock currently trades at its cheapest valuation at any time over the past decade. Over that time, Apples stock price has typically found a bottom near 10 times gross cash flow. In 2011, it bottomed at 8.5 times cash flow before running 75% higher over the next 12 months. Today, it trades at 7.5 times cash flow. Any way you slice it thats damn cheap and for one of the most admired brands/most profitable companies in history.

I like to compare a companys valuation to its own history and to its peers in determining whether its cheap or not. In early 2013, it was cheap by both standards but lets update these numbers to see if its still true today. Apples enterprise value today is nearly 9x its free cash flow, versus 6x back in early 2013. And if you look at any number of other valuation measures, the stock currently trades right in line with its own 5-year averages. Based on its own history, then, the stock is not cheap; its just in line with average.

The real thing investors need to consider, though, with Apple is the fact that sales back in 2013 were still growing very fast. The stock traded 6x free cash flow while sales were still growing 18% year-over-year. Furthermore, Apple hadnt even begun to sell iPhones in China yet so it still had a huge growth opportunity in front of it. Today, the stock trades 9x FCF and sales are falling nearly 8% year-over-year. Operating income is falling at an even faster 15% clip. Furthermore, there is no layup growth opportunity out there like there was back then that I can see.

Sure, Apple is spending very heavily on research and development that may pay off in the future. As an investor, though, this is very difficult to value (and this might have been why the greatest value investor of all time recently sold out of his position).

Can Apple come up with another product as popular and as profitable as the iPhone? Or is the company just a one-hit-wonder? Personally, I think this is an open question. And investors are free to gamble on this outcome but thats not really investing, is it?

Related:

It Pays To Think Different About Apples Stock Price
CAIRO (Reuters) - A follower of Islamic State was responsible for an attack last week on a Kenyan police officer outside a U.S. embassy in Nairobi, the group's Amaq news agency said on Saturday. A knife-wielding man whom police described as a criminal was shot dead outside the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi last Thursday after he attacked and injured a Kenyan police officer. "The person who carried out the stabbing of a guard outside the American embassy in Nairobi last Thursday was a soldier of Islamic State responding to calls to target coalition countries," Amaq said. Kenya's police spokesman said at the time the motive was unclear and an investigation was launched. The spokesman could not immediately be reached on Saturday. Islamic State previously claimed an attack in Kenya in September by three women who were shot dead after they tricked their way into a police station in Mombasa and tried to torch the building, according to police. The police in Kenya have also previously said they had detained sympathizers with the group. But experts say it is not clear how close the connection is between groups and individuals proclaiming allegiance to the Islamist group and the Islamic State organization in its Middle East heartland of Syria and Iraq, where it is increasingly pressure from regional and international forces. (Reporting by Omar Fahmy; Additional reporting by Edmund Blair in Nairobi; Writing by Eric Knecht; Editing by Alison Williams)
By Gavin Jones ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi told thousands of party supporters gathered in central Rome on Saturday to step up their campaign in favor of a referendum on constitutional reform that could decide his political future. With five weeks to go to the Dec. 4. referendum on his plan to reduce the role of the Senate and cut the powers of regional governments, Renzi is campaigning furiously to try to turn around opinion polls that suggest he may lose the vote. "This is a choice between the future and the past," the 41-year-old premier told flag-waving members of his center-left Democratic Party (PD) at a rally in Piazza del Popolo. "It is a chance for Italy to look at the future with a little bit more hope." Renzi is appearing daily in television and radio interviews to try to rally support for the referendum, but with all the opposition parties, as well as a minority of his own PD lined up against the reform, he faces a tough task. All but one of 26 opinion polls published this month has put the "no" camp ahead, with a lead ranging from one to nine percentage points. Renzi asked his followers to set aside one evening a week to organize "a dinner, or a pizza, or a coffee" with wavering voters to win them over to the reform, warning that if it is rejected Italy will be "taken back a generation." He said the PD would be stepping up its campaign in coming weeks, with more canvassing on the streets and telephone text messages to voters. Renzi also appealed to PD traditionalists, including two of its former leaders, who have refused to back the reform and criticize him for moving the party to the right and for what they say is an authoritarian leadership style. "It's time to end our internal divisions and quarrels," he told the crowd. Earlier this year, Renzi repeatedly vowed to resign and quit politics if he lost the referendum, but over the last two months he has declined to confirm the pledge, saying debate over his own future deflected attention from the merits of the reform. At the same time, he has sharply raised the pitch of his rhetoric in criticizing the European Union's fiscal rules which many Italians blame for their chronically stagnant economy. He returned to the theme in Saturday's rally, saying he would continue to battle against "useless European rules." He also ramped up the tone of a spat with Hungary's right-wing leader Viktor Orban, saying Orban should "wash his mouth out before speaking about Italy." This week Renzi said Hungary should have its EU funding cut if it refuses to take in a fair quota of migrants, to which Orban replied that Renzi was "nervous" over Italy's public finance problems and the migrants arriving on its shores. (Reporting By Gavin Jones; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
Celebrating 100 years of setting technical standards for film and TV, the Society of Motion Pictures and Television Engineers gave itself a rousing birthday bash Friday night at the Dolby Ballroom at the Hollywood and Highland Center.

Actor, presenter, and Broadway star John OHurley, perhaps best known for playing J. Peterman on Seinfeld, energetically hosted the evening. Visuals displaying TV color bars and lyrics laced with phrases like CGI and high frame rates brought down the house  a feat possible only with an audience of scientists and engineers.

Douglas Trumbull, the visual effects artist who pioneered the look of Stanley Kubricks 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Ridley Scotts Blade Runner (1982), received the Progress Medal, SMPTEs highest honor, acknowledging his work in effects, stereoscopic 3D, and high-frame-rate cinema, including his current work to enable stereoscopic 3D with his 120-frames-per-second Magi system.

Actor Billy Zane and multiple Oscar winning vfx expert Richard Edlund introduced Trumbull, who said he remains most proud of his contribution to 2001; expressed deep disappointment over the industrys non-acceptance in the 1990s of his Showscan system, which projected 70mm film at 60 frames per second; and encouraged the technical community to continue on the path of developing better images.

Visual effects guru Joe Letteri flew in from New Zealand, wheres hes in pre-production on three Avatar sequels, to introduce director and deep-sea-diving pioneer James Cameron. The virtual production systems that Cameron developed with Avatar underpin the way many films are made today, Letteri said.

This is a pinch-me moment, said Cameron in accepting SMPTEs honorary membership. Only half-joking, he added, Im doing the movies to pay for the diving Once youve made your film and you put your name on it as a director, after that youre just negotiating your price.

And acknowledging his inner geekdom, he told the assembled engineers that amidst all the glamour of Hollywood, the connecting bond is engineering. You guys are my peeps  by the way there are too many guys and not enough gals  [and] there there would be no art in this highly technical art form of ours without engineers.

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Cameron pushed for higher resolution, higher frame rates, brighter 3D projection, and, ultimately, glasses-free 3D. When you see how far weve come, its dazzling, its magic.

(Pictured above: James Cameron)

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Jennifer Lawrence has proved, once again, why shes a red carpet style staple. The actress looked stunning in a curve hugging gown at the British Academy Britannia Awards at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles on Friday.

Lawrence, 26, donned a blush colored dress from Elie Saabs Spring/Summer 2017 collection, and cinched in her waist with a light pink belt.

Though the Oscar winner did not attend the event with boyfriend Darren Aronofsky, she was in fashionable company. Samuel L. Jackson and Ricky Gervais were also guests in addition to leading ladies Jodie Foster, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Felicity Jones, all of whom wore Burberry.

Lawrence and Aronofsky, 47, worked together on an untitled film over the summer. Theyve been hanging out and are casually dating, a Lawrence pal previously told PEOPLE.

In August, the couple were first spotted dining in New York City, and then they stepped out again for an intimate dinner with her close friends at the Commissary restaurant at The Line Hotel in L.A. on Oct. 21.
Jennifer Lawrence wore the most stunning blush gown on the red carpet, and were fangirling out of control

When youre attending the British Academy Britannia Awards, you want to look your very best. And, it looks like Jennifer Lawrence definitely got the memo. Lawrence stunned the red carpet in a blush gown, and were all in envy over how this dress was more or less made for her.

The dress in question is from Elie Saabs Spring/Summer 2017 collection, and is the perfect mix of sexy and dreamy. The Britannia Awards, held in Los Angeles, are quite the event  known as the highest honor given out by BAFTA Los Angeles, they celebrate art made both in the United States and United Kingdom. Hearing that, no wonder why Lawrence was invited!

Here are just a few pictures of JLaw looking glam.

And, heres a closer look at the front.

Heres a better look at the full gown.

Shes just absolutely breathtaking! Seriously, wed rock this dress everywhere if we had the chance.

Lawrence attended the event without rumored boyfriend, director Darren Aronofsky. Aronofsky directed Black Swan, is currently working on a film called Mother, which features Lawrence in a lead role. Were guessing that thats probably how they formed a connection.

As for Lawrence, shes had a busy yet low-key year (compared to recent years!) In May, you probably saw her reprise her role as Mystique in X-Men: Apocalypse, and recently, she just wrapped up the film Passengers, with Chris Pratt, which is due out in late December.

We have a feeling that Jennifer Lawrence will rock a ton of red carpets in 2017!

The post Jennifer Lawrence wore the most stunning blush gown on the red carpet, and were fangirling out of control appeared first on HelloGiggles.
Jerusalem (AFP) - Preservation experts have opened for the first time in at least two centuries what Christians believe is Jesus's tomb inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

Some of the historic work was witnessed by AFP photographer Gali Tibbon who captured images of the site believed to contain the rock upon which Jesus was laid in around 33 AD as it was uncovered as part of ongoing restoration at the site.

A marble slab covering the site, among the holiest in Christianity, was pulled back for three days as part of both restoration work and archaeological analysis, experts on the scene told AFP.

It was the first time the marble had been removed since at least 1810, when the last restoration work took place following a fire, and possibly earlier, said Father Samuel Aghoyan, the church's Armenian superior.

A painting of Jesus can be seen in the narrow area above where the marble slab was removed.

Debris and material was found beneath the marble and was being further studied, Aghoyan said.

"It is moving in a sense, something we've been talking about so many centuries," Aghoyan told AFP.

National Geographic has been documenting the restoration work which is being carried out by a team of Greek specialists.

It reported that "the exposure of the burial bed is giving researchers an unprecedented opportunity to study the original surface of what is considered the most sacred site in Christianity".

- Major restoration project -

"My knees are shaking a little bit," Fred Hiebert, an archaeologist-in-residence at the National Geographic Society, said in a video on the magazine's website during the work at the shrine.

A shrine was built in the 19th century over the site of the cave where Jesus is believed to have been buried before his resurrection, and it is visited by throngs of tourists and pilgrims each day.

Earlier this year, a major restoration project began on the site, surrounded by a structure called an edicule and located at the centre of the church in Jerusalem's Old City, underneath its dome.

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The project required the agreement of the various Christian denominations that share the church, which also contains the area where Jesus is believed to have been crucified and his body anointed.

The restoration project is expected to be completed around March 2017, in time for Easter, and the site has remained open to visitors for nearly the entire time, although the ornate edicule has been surrounded by scaffolding.

Its marble slabs have weakened over the years, caused in part by the thousands of people who visit daily.

The shrine is being painstakingly dismantled and rebuilt, the Custody of the Holy Land, which oversees Roman Catholic properties in the area, has said previously.

Broken or fragile parts are to be replaced while marble slabs that can be preserved will be cleaned, and the structure supporting them will be reinforced.

The work is being funded by the three main Christian denominations of the Holy Sepulchre -- Greek Orthodox, Franciscans and Armenians -- and by public and private contributions.
Joe Biden ruled out the possibility of becoming secretary of state should Hillary Clinton win the presidency on Friday after reports that hed been considered for the job.

Ill do anything I can if Hillarys elected to help her, but I dont want to remain in the administration, he told KBJR, a local news station in Minnesota, according to CNN, adding I have no intention of staying involved. I have a lot of things to do, but Ill help her if I can in any way I can.

Neither Clinton nor her aides have reached out to Biden to discuss the possibility of him taking the position.

RELATED VIDEO: Hillary Clinton Through the Decades

The Clinton campaign did not return PEOPLEs request for comment, but campaign advisers have said that potential secretary of states is not being discussed in the campaign, according to CNN.

Biden has been campaigning for Clinton along with former President Bill Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. This is the first time he or his aides have heard of his name being mentioned as secretary of state.

While Clintons campaign have not made comment, the Democratic presidential nominee has been firm on focusing on the campaign and winning the election.




Days after the September 18 Uri attack in which 19 Indian army soldiers were killed, the higher echelons of government went into a huddle. Military retaliation was among the options discussed by the cabinet committee on security. This was when the forces revealed to the government the critical voids in its ammunition reserves.

The army was deficient in four to five critical items of ammunition. These included armour piercing fin stabilised discarding sabot (APFSDS) ammunition fired by its T-72 and T-90 main battle tanks for which it held just one day of war wastage reserves (WWR). Ammunition needed to meet war requirements during an operation is termed WWR. The IAF's Su-30 fighter jets and Mi-35 gunships also did not have ammunition. The revelations galvanised the political leadership into action. Bureaucratic channels were bypassed and emergency powers delegated to the vice-chiefs of the army and air force to push purchases. The MoD under defence minister Manohar Parrikar decided to fast-track imports.

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So, in late September, the MoD sent out empowered committees comprising a senior bureaucrat, an armed forces representative and a member of the defence finance wing with wishlists. The committees went to ammunition suppliers in Russia and Israel with indents for buying several million dollars worth of ammunition. The wishlists include rockets and gun ammunition for Mi-35 helicopter gunships and Su-30 fighter jets, 155 mm ammunition for the Bofors howitzers, and 125 mm APFSDS ammunition for the tank fleet.

The urgency was evident in the indents-the MoD was willing to buy up existing stocks as well as off production lines. Factories were asked to identify time-frames of possible delivery, from 'immediate', within 'one month', 'two months' and 'three months'. Army officials confirmed that several contracts had been finalised and deliveries of ammunition had begun. The value of the contracts is estimated to be close to Rs 5,000 crore, just for ammunition. "The purchases are easily the largest fast-track procurements since Operation Parakram in 2001," says one official.

Fast-track purchases bypass the regular defence procurement procedure (DPP), a tedious process which takes 5-8 years. Fast-track procedures (FTP) telescope the regular acquisition process, which takes up to a decade, into just nine months.

FTP was first introduced in the 2002 DPP manual which guides India's military buying. The 2016 manual extended FTP to apply to items "where undue/unforeseen delay... seem to be adversely impacting the capacity and preparedness of the regular and special forces".

The special forces which conducted surgical strikes across the LoC on September 29, have especially come in for attention. Requirements for limited quantities of assault rifles, thermal imagers, light machine guns and rocket launchers (see box: The Quick Draw) have been put in for them. Procurements like those for imported anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM) for the weaponised variants of the Dhruv advanced light helicopter are also being fast-tracked. Through FTPs, senior army officials say, they plan to push up war stocks to cater to 10 days of intense war fighting, eventually building up to 14 days worth of stock. No one is talking war just yet. Not even in the currently tense security situation following the surgical strikes. Restocking, the military says, gives it the flexibility, endurance and confidence in logistics for its operational plans should a contingency arise. "It increases the number of options available to us," one general says. The army hopes to make good its shortfalls within the next three months. "War endurance for the stipulated period is necessary to deal with all possible operational contingencies and especially for creating military conditions, through strategic offensive manoeuvres that ultimately contribute to the realisation of political ends," says former army chief General Bikram Singh.

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WHY THE SHORTAGES?

The MoD's notoriously inefficient procurement process is to blame for acquisition delays. It takes the ministry at least seven years to buy new weapon systems. The army, which has found itself unable to acquire even basic items like assault rifles, ballistic helmets and bulletproof jackets for its troops, also shares some of the blame. Ammunition purchases are on the slow track. In May last year, a CAG report tabled in Parliament put the army's WWR stocks at less than half the mandate calling for 40 days intense fighting. The WWR concept, first approved by the government in April 1979, stipulated a national stockpile of ammunition required to fight a battle for a 30-day intense period and another 30 days at the normal rate. The WWR scales were revised in October 2010 to cater for 40 days 'intense fighting'.

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A 2015 report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on ammunition management covered the years between 2008 and 2013. An ammunition roadmap drawn up by the Indian army in 2012 for building up stock to 50 per cent by March 2015 and 100 per cent by 2019 failed. Stocking even at the minimum acceptable risk level (MARL) of 20 days was not ensured. Nearly 74 per cent of ammunition (125 out of 170 types) reserves were below MARL levels as of March 2013. This had seriously impacted the operational preparedness of the army because the void had grown from 15 per cent in 2009 to 50 per cent by March 2013. High caliber ammunition-used by the 155 mm Bofors artillery guns-made up nearly 84 per cent of the shortage in the five-year period.

Senior army officials, however, say stocking 40-day WWR scales is simply unrealistic. "We have neither the storage capacity nor the land to store such vast ammunition stocks," says a senior army officer. This possibly explains why the armed forces, with their current round of purchases, are only pushing to meet a requirement of stocks for the minimum 14 days of intense war fighting.

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The CAG report attributed the reasons for the failure to build the 40 days 'intense fighting' WWR to budgetary constraints and also to inadequate production capacity within the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB). The OFB has repeatedly failed to meet targets despite the fact that 10 of its 41 factories are exclusively devoted to producing ammunition and explosives. One reason frequently cited by the OFB for delays is that they are never given adequate time to procure raw material and streamline production. Even this excuse has been exposed now. The MoD placed a five-year order for ammunition to the OFB in January 2010 but it could meet just over 70 per cent of the army's requirements.

Another major reason for the low ammo stocks is slow imports. The CAG report found that no ammunition procurement took place for nine items of ammunition identified for import between 2008 and 2013. The reasons ranged from a single vendor situation, complexities in transfer of technology, delay in finalisation of qualitative requirements to delays in finalising import contracts. Still more worrisome is the fact that the fast-track purchases have been anything but. Sometimes, they take as long as purchases through the regular procurement route. Fast-track purchases contracted during the Kargil war, arrived long after the conflict had ended. This continued even during Operation Parakram in 2001-'02. A 2006 CAG report noted how fast-track purchases which were to have come in 12 months arrived only after four years. If the MoD has learnt anything from the past, the current round could be different.







Follow the writer on Twitter @SandeepUnnithan

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Joe Biden said he shouldnt comment on disgraced politican Anthony Weiner, but he certainly did.

The vice president sat down with Michael Smerconish and talked about Hillary Clintons latest email scandal  and shared his not-so-loving attitude toward Weiner.

Id be remiss if I didnt note that if she had released all the emails from the get-go we wouldnt be having this conversation, Smerconish told Biden on his CNN show on Saturday.

Biden agreed, and replied, Well, thats true. But I dont know where these emails came from.

Smerconish responded, Apparently Anthony Weiner, referring to the The New York Times report that said the FBI seized electronic devices belonging to top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her estranged husband, Weiner. The former New York representative is being investigated after allegedly sending illicit text messages to a 15-year-old girl in North Carolina.

Oh, God. Anthony Weiner, Biden said. I should not comment on Anthony Weiner. Im not a big fan. And I wasnt before he got in trouble, so I shouldnt comment on Anthony Weiner.

This is the latest scandal surrounding Weiner, who was also caught sexting in both 2011 and 2013. For more information on his sexting saga, check out this timeline.

And while Biden ruled out the prospect of becoming Hillary Clintons future Secretary of State, he recently provided some other candid commentary on Clintons opponent, Republican candidate Donald Trump.

RELATED VIDEO: Joe Biden Wishes He Could Take Donald Trump Behind the Gym

The vice president criticized the business moguls 2005 comments about groping women at a campaign event for Clinton last Friday in Pennsylvania, and said that reporters often ask him whether he wishes he could debate Trump. Biden said, No, I wish we were in high school. I could take him behind the gym. Thats what I wish.

Biden later walked back the comments, clarifying, If I were in high school  I want to make it clear I understand what assault is. Im not in high school. If I were in high school.




The draft of a letter John Lennon wrote to Queen Elizabeth II to say he was returning a medal in protest was found inside a used record sleeve in a mans attic.

The man who discovered the letter bought the record along with a collection at a used-item sale for 10 ($12). Now, the letter found inside is valued at about 60,000 ($73,000), CNN reports.

Lennon in the letter writes to the Queen to explain in serious and sarcastic terms why he is returning his Member of the British Empire (MBE) medal, awarded to him and the rest of the Beatles in 1965.

Your Majesty, I am returning this MBE in protest against Britains involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam and against Cold Turkey slipping down the charts, Lennon wrote, signing the letter John Lennon of Bag, in reference to his and Yoko Onos bagism campaign, which aimed to satirize stereotypes and prejudice.

The anonymous owner of the letter brought the draft to a special memorabilia day at The Beatles Story exhibition in Liverpool on Wednesday. Music memorabilia expert Darren Julien told CNN that Lennon likely never sent the draft because his signature was smudged.

If youre writing to The Queen, you want the letter to look pretty perfect, you dont want the ink to be smudged, Julien said. This suggests that he wrote a second version of the letter, which was the one that was actually sent to The Queen.

[CNN]
A federal judge has dismissed former stuntwoman Leslie Hoffmans lawsuit against the SAG Pension Plan, saying its decision to strip her of her occupational disability pension  and force her to repay $123,827 in SAG benefits  was neither arbitrary nor capricious and was based on reasonable evidence.

Hoffman said she plans to appeal, though she expects to go broke and lose her house long before an appeal is ever heard.

U.S. District Court Judge Manuel Real noted that his decision (read it here) to dismiss her case earlier this month was based in part on the fact that the Plan had revoked Hoffmans benefits because it relied on (Hoffmans) various Internet profiles indicating that she had been employed in movies and shows as a stunt coordinator during the time she claimed to be totally disabled.

Once one of Hollywoods top stuntwomen, and the first to serve on the boards of directors of both SAG and AFTRA, Hoffman says a series of job-related injuries and concussions over her long career made it impossible for her to continue working.

In 2004, the SAG Plan gave her a disability pension for depression, but not for any lasting injuries she may have received from her stunt work. In 2009, she applied to convert her SAG disability pension into an occupational disability pension in order to receive the additional benefit of SAG health coverage. She was denied and filed a lawsuit to get the health benefits. Her suit was dismissed, only to see it reinstated by the appellate court after it found that she had not been given a fair hearing.

Hoffman worked as a stunt actress in motion pictures, but ceased work  because of a variety of physical injuries, the appellate court ruled in 2014. In 2003, Hoffman was admitted for psychiatric treatment on two occasions and ultimately diagnosed with severe major depression. In 2004, the Social Security Administration awarded Hoffman disability benefits due to her depression. As a result, Hoffman became eligible for and eventually obtained a disability pension under the Plan. Five years later, Hoffman submitted an application to convert her disability pension to an occupational disability pension in order to receive the additional benefit of health coverage.

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In order to qualify for an occupational disability benefit, however, she had to show she suffered from a total disability that occurred in the course of employment covered by the Plan. To support her claim, Hoffman presented the Plan with a Social Security report that described her back injury as severe and degenerative  evidence she says showed that her disability was not only emotional but physical and that it had been caused by years of stunt work.

In 2010, the Plan consulted with a doctor, who, without examining her, determined she indeed was disabled under the Plan  but only on the basis of mental illness and not because of a work-related injury. Hoffman appealed to the Plans Benefits Committee, which, according to the appellate court, denied her appeal without consulting with a second medical professional.

Notably, the appeals court ruled, the district court acknowledged that the Plan erred in failing to obtain a second medical opinion in assessing her administrative appeal in violation of Employee Retirement Income Security Act regulations.

The Plan then brought in more doctors to review her medical records  though none actually examined her  and found she was not totally disabled.

One of her own doctors, however, said she suffered from traumatic brain injury. Dr. J. Michael Uszler, an expert in the field, concluded that Hoffman had sustained the injury most commonly clinically associated with head injury.

Dr. Jeffrey Salberg, who shed been seeing for years, agreed. In 2011 he wrote that she remains disabled due to post concussive syndrome as a result of multiple head injuries sustained as a result of her employment of being a stuntwoman. She has had ongoing symptoms of the condition since I first began caring for her in 1998, and they have failed to improve after evaluation and treatment by specialists. In 2012, he diagnosed Hoffman with traumatic brain injury and severe back, neck, knee and shoulder injuries  due to continuous traumas throughout her stunt career.

That finding was confirmed by Dr. Daniel Amen, the famed head injury doctor. After reviewing SPECT scans of her brain in 2012, he wrote that a brain injury pattern is seen on scans and recommended that she avoid any behaviors that further increase the risk a brain injury.

The judge, however, sided with the Plan.This Court has reviewed the administrative record and is satisfied that at least five of the independent, unrelated medical professionals were of the opinion that (Hoffman) was not totally disabled as defined by the Plan, he ruled.

Given her history of mental and physical health issues, however, its doubtful any company would hire her or that any insurer would bond her for such work. Even so, the SAG Plan  and now the judge  think shes ready to return to work as a Hollywood stunt coordinator and that the lives of cast and crew will be perfectly safe in her hands.

And because shes been deemed to have been fully capable of coordinating dangerous stunts all this time that shed been receiving disability payments, the Plan wants her to return all the benefits shes received  plus interest.

In June 2015, the Plan sent her a letter saying it wants her to return the $123,827 shed received in benefits because it became aware that you have been holding yourself out as available to work as a stunt coordinator and have been engaged on certain projects as a stunt coordinator during the course of your claimed disability.

The only proof they offered of this, however, were smudged printouts from her website  and from listings on her IMDb page theyd circled as evidence  that show that shed been, or had been holding herself out as, a stunt coordinator while receiving SAG disability payments.

In fact, those Internet profiles the Plan and the judge site as evidence show nothing of the kind. Even a cursory review of the Plans own evidence against her shows that Frances Dee, the star of one of those projects  a short film called Far as the Eye Can See  had died in March 2004. Thats three months before Hoffmans first SAG disability hearing  indisputable proof that the work had been completed before she began receiving her pension. And had they bothered to read the letter written by the films director, Roy McDonald, and the supporting documentation he sent Hoffmans attorney, they would have seen that although it had been released in 2006, it had been shot in 1999, five full years before she began collecting SAG disability.

McDonald said he is shocked that the Plan would use his small film to take away Hoffmans disability pension. I thought that everyone in Hollywood knows that release dates are not the same as the dates films are shot, he told Deadline. This is a shame. She worked hard, tried to do the right thing, and this is what she gets.

Two of the other projects cited as evidence by the Plan and the judge were Star Trek fan videos for which Hoffman received no pay. One of them, called Star Trek: New Voyages  and misidentified on IMDb as a TV series  was filmed near her parents home in New York, where she stayed while visiting the set. It was not a job, and it was anything but work.

Hoffman, who in her heyday had performed stunts in numerous episodes of real Star Trek TV sequels  Voyager and Deep Space Nine  was a welcome guest for the Trekkies making the fan webisodes. She didnt work and she wasnt paid. None of us were. She came and played with us on her own dime, the fan videos art director, James Lowe, told Deadline. She even paid her own air fare. I dont know where they came up with the idea that she worked.

The other Internet evidence was an IMDb entry that lists Hoffman as the fight coordinator for a 12-minute USC student film titled Dead Ballerina, which was written, directed, produced, edited and cast by the same person, who also did the all the cinematography, production design and sound mixing. And again she received no pay. They also relied on a posting on Hoffmans own site in which she described herself as a stunt coordinator on another short Star Trek fan webisode  Starship Farragut  for which she again received no pay.

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Former SAG Board Member Leslie Hoffman's Toughest Stunt: Getting Her Union Benefits
A Los Angeles judge has refused Carrie Fishers motion to be removed from a wrongful death suit brought by the parent of a recovering addict who once lived in her guest house, and later died of a heroin overdose while living at another residence that served as a sober living home.

Judge Laura Matz wrote that Fisher had failed to show that she cannot be found responsible, as a matter of law, for the conduct of Warren Boyd, who operates intervention services and a rehab network. Boyd was co-executive producer of the 2008-09 series The Cleaner, in which a former addict helps others come clean.

In September of 2010, one of his clients, Amy Breliant, died of a heroin overdose at a home belonging to Jacob Schmidt, who is alleged to be one of Boyds joint venture business partners.

Breliants mother, Gianna, sued Boyd, Schmidt, Fisher, and others, including claims of wrongful death.

Gianna Breliant claimed in her lawsuit that Fisher had liability in the case because she provided her guest house to her daughter in return for a share of Boyds profit or revenue, equal to $10,000 a week in payments. Her lawsuit claims that Amy Breliant was assigned to the guest house for rehabilitation as part of Boyds narcotics treatment program. That is at the heart of Breliants claim that Fisher was engaged in a business relationship with Boyd.

An attorney for Fisher, Vicki Greco, did not immediately return a request for comment.

Breliants attorney, Stephen G. Larson of Larson OBrien LLP, said in a statement, We are pleased with the Courts decision ordering Carrie Fisher to stand trial, and we look forward to our day in court and obtaining justice for Amy Breliant.

As explained in our court documents, Warren Boyd used Carrie Fishers celebrity status to lend credibility to advance his corrupt drug rehabilitation program. We believe the evidence will show this was nothing short of his greed-driven fraud scheme designed to make money and keep clients hooked on deadly drugs, resulting in Amys tragic death.

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Boyd has denied the claims in court documents.

Gianna Breliants lawsuit claims that Boyd was paid $222,000 for intervention services, but that her daughter died of a drug overdose as a result of inadequate supervision, treatment, and care while in his care and custody.

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If you haven't booked your Thanksgiving trip yet, don't worry. According to Hopper, an app that predicts fares based on real-time and historical data, you won't pay much more if you've put off booking until October.

But dont wait much longer: After Halloween, fares start going up by $1.50 a day on average. Ten days before departure, they go up $6 per day on average.

When it comes to Christmas and New Years, now is also the time to look into booking your travel. For every day closer to Christmas, according to Hopper, prices are expected to go up by $1.50 on average. But prices can also swing widely depending upon your destination and the time you pick. Moral of the story: now is the best time to book.

What if you are simply looking for the most affordable fare possible? If you can, travel on the holiday itself: Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Day are usually quiet at the airport, and you breeze through security.

What to Avoid

There are certain days that are notoriously the worst when it comes to holiday travel. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, try to avoid travel the Wednesday before, and the Sunday afterthese are the busiest days of the year, and the most expensive when it comes to airline fares.

For Christmas and New Years, it depends upon the day of the week that the holidays fall. This year, the holidays fall on a Sundayand according to Cheapair.com, which has the best and worst days for travel mapped out on a calendar, December 26 (a Monday) and January 2 (also a Monday) are expected to be the most expensive. Try to avoid those days if you can.

Travelers should also try not to fly later in the day, when air traffic delays are more likely. The earliest flights of the day (think 6 a.m.) are often less expensiveand the first flights out are more likely to get to their destination on time.

Look Online

Hopper is one of the best tools out there in terms of fare predictions. Users simply enter their dates and destination, and the app will send notifications on whether or not you should keep waiting to book. For example, on a round-trip flight from New York City to Providenciales in the Turks & Caicos, from December 22-30, Hopper is saying its best to waitflights are likely to drop as low as $545 (for a savings of $96).

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Google Flights is an excellent resource, too. Not only can you compare flights, but you can also look at a whole monthly calendar to see which days are the cheapest to fly to your destination (those days are noted in green text). A tip box may also pop up, noting that you can save money by switching to a different airport, or by flying on a different day. And Google has also added a new feature where they may send an alert or tip letting you know if your trip is about to get more expensive.

When it comes to getting to and from the airport, Uber now allows you to a schedule a ride, thanks to a new feature on the app. Available in major domestic markets such as New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Miami, Nashville, and San Diego, the ride schedule feature is great for holiday travelers who want to book their transportation with a swipe and a tap.

Where to Stay

When it comes to booking your hotels for the Christmas holidays, heres a surprising tip: it actually pays to wait. According to a recent study by TripAdvisor, hotel prices in the United States remain fairly steady in the United States from March until November, when rates start to drop. By Thanksgiving week, theyve dropped an average of 21%so if you can break away from the dinner table to book your Christmas hotel, do so.

Another thing to think about is looking outside the traditional hotel market. Consider a great resource like bedandbreakast.com, or renting someones apartment and home through Airbnb. Many people are traveling for the holidays, so this is a great time to look into those types of accommodations.

Also,don't forget extended-stay hotels. Places such as the Roost in Philadelphia or Hollywood Proper Residences in Los Angeles often accommodate business travelerswho arent traveling for the holidays. So you may be able to get an even greater deal.

Bargain Destinations

Not surprisingly, cities can offer some of the best value for holiday travelers. These are destinations with big hotels that have a lot of inventory to fill. According to Expedia, Las Vegas, New York City, and Orlando are among the most affordable places to visit for the holidays this year. The holiday season for Vegas, in particular, sees the city's lowest rates all yearso you can stay in luxury properties like the Bellagio and the Wynn.

Also according to Trip Advisor, primetime city markets including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and Austin also offer low prices during the month of December.

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Khartoum (AFP) - Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta began a two-day visit to Sudan on Saturday, just days after Khartoum issued a call to all African countries to withdraw from the International Criminal Court.

Sudan has urged African members to quit the Hague-based ICC which it said was a "new colonial tool" against African leaders, after South Africa announced its decision to withdraw last week.

Kenyatta, who was himself investigated by the ICC over deadly 2007-2008 post-election violence, was welcomed at Khartoum airport by his counterpart Omar al-Bashir, who is also wanted by the ICC on war crimes charges related to the conflict in Darfur.

The ICC was dealt a blow last week when South Africa announced its intention to withdraw.

Burundi had already declared its intention to withdraw, and earlier this week Gambia became the latest African nation to follow their lead.

The ICC, created in 2002, is often accused of bias against Africa and has struggled with a lack of cooperation, including from the United States, which has signed the court's treaty but never ratified it.

Of the 10 ICC investigations since 2002, nine have been into African countries and one into Georgia -- and most ICC cases have been referred to the court by African governments themselves.

Pretoria's decision followed a dispute last year when South Africa faced international condemnation for not arresting Bashir when he visited for an African Union summit.

Kenyatta and Bashir are expected to discuss Kenya's possible withdrawal from the ICC, Sudanese officials said.

"President Kenyatta's visit comes at an important time," Sudan's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Kamal Ismail told reporters at Khartoum airport.

Asked specifically about Kenya's possible withdrawal from the ICC, Kamal replied: "This is an issue for Kenya. When it decides to withdraw is something that Kenya will decide."

The ICC faced a severe setback in late 2014 when prosecutors dropped a crimes against humanity case against Kenyatta for his alleged involvement in post-election violence in the east African country.

Bashir is wanted by the ICC for war crimes and genocide related to the conflict in Darfur, which has left at least 300,000 people dead, according to the United Nations.


Credit: Splash News

Second time's the charm, right?

Kourtney Kardashian hit up Kanye West's Saint Pablo Tour for the second time Thursday night, attending the third of his five scheduled Los Angeles show dates. Kardashian brought the heat in a very Kim Kardashian West-esque outfit, pairing an XXL Metallica T-shirt with cobalt blue velvet thigh-high boots with a trendy block heel. The lifestyle queen even DIY'd the oversize shirt, with the back of the tee cut out and replaced with a sexy-lace up embellishment. She finished off the ensemble with some luscious extensions, wearing her long brown locks up in a high ponytail, and donning a more fresh-faced eye makeup look than usual, with a nude lip.

SHOP THE TREND:



Credit: Courtesy

Rock 'n Roll T-shirt, $60; shopbop.com.



Credit: Courtesy

Blue thigh-high boots, $254; asos.com.

Kim Kardashian West was spotted at a few of the L.A. shows this week, supporting her husband, even during what we know has been a difficult time for her, after being robbed at gunpoint during Paris Fashion Week.

WATCH: 14 of Kourtney Kardashian's Favorite Healthy Foods

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RELATED: Halloween Queen Kourtney Kardashian Shares How to Shop Her Favorite Baby Costumes

We have a feeling that this won't be the last Saint Pablo show Kourtney attends, with West set to play at the Forum in Inglewood twice more next week, after a single show stop in Las Vegas.
Beirut (AFP) - Lebanon's parliament is set to end more than two years of stalemate on Monday by electing ex-general Michel Aoun as president, but the vote is unlikely to heal deep political divisions.

Aoun, a Christian former army chief, is allied with the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah movement whose forces are fighting in Syria alongside President Bashar al-Assad's government.

But his election has been made possible by the surprise endorsement of former prime minister Saad Hariri, a fierce opponent of Syria's government and head of a bloc that is Hezbollah's key rival and has received regional support from Saudi Arabia.

So, while a deal has been made on the country's next president, analysts say Lebanon's key political blocs still disagree on almost everything else.

Aoun is expected to nominate Hariri to return as prime minister, but with little consensus in the political landscape, the process of forming a government is likely to be long and arduous.

"Aoun's election is not a magic wand," said Sahar Atrache, a researcher at the International Crisis Group think tank.

"Certainly the presidential vacancy will end, but it doesn't solve the political crisis, or the stagnant political institutions or the major divisions over domestic and foreign issues, particularly the war in Syria," she told AFP.

- 'No common ground' -

Under a power-sharing agreement, Lebanon's presidency is reserved for a Maronite Christian while the prime minister is a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of parliament is a Shiite Muslim.

The presidency has been vacant since May 2014 when Michel Sleiman's mandate expired.

Since then, parliament has held 45 failed sessions to elect a successor, each time failing to make quorum.

Each session was boycotted by the 20 members of Aoun's parliamentary bloc who insisted he be elected, with Hezbollah also keeping its 13 members away as a show of support.

Monday's session is expected to involve two votes, with Aoun unlikely to win the two-thirds majority necessary to avoid a second round.

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The additional round only requires him to win a 50 percent plus one majority, which now looks assured.

The vote is set to end a void that has been seen as a reflection of a broader malaise: a divided polity with government institutions that have been impotent in the face of challenges including a garbage collection crisis.

The economy meanwhile has struggled with regional and domestic instability and already strained resources have been tested by an influx of more than a million Syrian refugees.

"Given what we know from history and the profiles of the personalities that have come together and the overall political climate, nothing guarantees any progress from filling the vacancy," said Carol Sharabati, a political science professor at the Jesuit University in Beirut.

"We're looking at an alliance of interest, in which each party has their demands. Aoun wants the presidency at any cost, and Hariri wants to rebuild his crumbling political bloc," added Sharabati.

"Will the personal agendas of each party allow them to build a common, long-term strategy, given that their alliance is not formed on common ground?"

- 'Can't expect miracles' -

Atrache said the agreement could not be described as a "political alliance," and said it would "prove difficult to maintain because they don't agree on how to share power."

The track record of recent years does not bode well: the last government led by Hariri, between 2009 and 2011, was hamstrung by tensions with Hezbollah's bloc which eventually brought it down.

And after going into self-imposed exile, Hariri's influence has waned domestically even as his personal finances have taken a hit because key backer Saudi Arabia is no longer willing to pump aid into Lebanon to shore up its influence.

Last time Hariri formed a government, it took five months, and the incumbent, Tamam Salam, spent 10 months crafting a national unity cabinet, which has nonetheless proved largely impotent.

"We can't rule out the possibility that we'll have a president, a prime minister without a government and a suspended parliament" until the next legislative election, Sharabati said.

Parliament has twice extended its mandate without holding elections because of disagreements over a new electoral law, with the next vote scheduled for mid-2017.

Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, who opposes Aoun's election, has already said he expects the formation of a new government to take five to six months.

But even if a government is formed, it will be full of "contradictions, and the question is whether it will be able, even partially, to restore institutions and put them back on track," said Atrache.

"We can't expect miracles."
The Delhi High Court asked the Centre to consider developing a facial recognition system to curb the menace of minor children going missing in the national Capital.

HC suggested this after the Delhi Police informed that they were uploading photos of missing children but that it was difficult to match them with those housed at various institutions.

By Mail Today: A facial recognition software will soon be a reality to trace missing children.

The government has told the Delhi High Court that the process to identify a service provider to work with the National Informatics Centre (NIC) to develop the software is underway.

Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sunita Gupta have asked the authorities to develop a system by which information and details of missing children can be matched with those found and recovered.

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It asked the Centre to consider developing a facial recognition system to curb the menace of minor children going missing in the national Capital.

The Bench said that the details of missing children, who are found and housed in different institutions, can be matched from such a system.

WHAT IS STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE? HOW WILL KIDS BE RECOGNISED?

The court gave the suggestions after the Delhi Police informed that they were uploading photographs of children who have gone missing, but it was difficult to match them with those housed at various institutions.

The court is hearing a couple of petitions dealing with two missing minor children, one of whom is yet to be traced.

The Centre also told the court that its model Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), meant to trace missing children, has been revised in view of the latest changes in the Juvenile Justice (JJ) (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015. The SOP is meant to trace missing children and train and sensitise police officers to handle such cases as well as prevent trafficking, child labour, abduction and exploitation.

In July this year the Bench had asked the Centre to revise its SOP, in view of the change in the JJ Act. It took note of the new sections in the Act which was notified in January, making it mandatory for reporting to authorities if a child is found separated from his or her guardian.

As per section 32 of the Act, any individual or police officer or nursing home or hospital or maternity home that finds a child, who appears or claims to be abandoned or lost, has to report to the Childline Services or the nearest police station or a Child Welfare Committee within 24 hours.

Failure to do so may land the person or the officer concerned with up to six months of jail. The Bench had earlier expressed displeasure on increasing number of missing children her, saying it was akin to terrorism.

Also Read:

Process to develop facial recognition software on: Govt to HC



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Due to air October 30 on the National Geographic Channel, the film "Before the Flood" will also be available to stream online free of charge for one week on various digital platforms. The aim is to raise awareness about climate change -- the theme of this documentary produced by Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese -- by getting as many people as possible to watch the film.

The makers of "Before the Flood" hope to get their documentary seen by as many global citizens as possible. The film has already been released in US movie theaters in New York and Los Angeles, presented at various film festivals -- including Toronto -- and screened at the United Nations and the White House. The documentary will now be shown October 30 on the National Geographic Channel in 171 countries and in 45 languages.

To ensure it reaches the biggest possible audience, the film will also be available to stream free online from October 30 to November 5. For one week, web users will be able to access the documentary on multiple platforms, including the National Geographic website, Natgeotv.com, and its application, available for Android, iPhone, iPad, and on Apple TV, PlayStation, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. The film will also be available on iTunes, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon and Google Play.

Featuring archive footage of dramatic scenes laying bare the current state of Planet Earth, the documentary highlights the problems linked to climate change and explores potential solutions to combat global warming. Leonardo DiCaprio, who is a committed environmental activist, traveled to the four corners of the Earth to make the film, interviewing a host of scientists and politicians. Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, John Kerry, Ban Ki-Moon and even Pope Francis agreed to meet the actor to be interviewed on this critical issue. The Hollywood star hopes to get as many people as possible to watch the film, particularly Americans, who go the polls to elect a new president on November 8.

French filmmaker Yann Arthus-Bertrand previously carried out a similar broadcast event in 2009 with "Home." Produced by Luc Besson, the documentary -- which also alerts viewers to the damage and consequences of climate change -- was the first film to open on the same day in 181 countries and across platforms.

Check out the trailer for "Before the Flood": www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9xFFyUOpXo
A British man discovered a smudged letter from John Lennon to Queen Elizabeth II tucked away in a record sleeve in his attic. While the man bought the record for about 10 (approximately $12), an expert valued it at about 60,000, or $73,000.

Music memorabilia expert Darren Julien said he believes the letter was a draft of a note that Lennon sent to the Queen in 1969, explaining why he was returning a Member of the British Empire (MBE) award, the BBC reported.

My theory is that John Lennon never sent this draft because of the smeared ink, Julien told the BBC. If you're writing to the Queen, you want the letter to look pretty perfect, you don't want the ink to be smudged.

The MBE is given for a notable contribution in some sphere of British society, and Lennon stated in the letter that he was returning it for (mostly) political reasons.

I am returning this MBE in protest against Britain's involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam and against Cold Turkey slipping down the charts, reads the short letter signed John Lennon of Bag.

Lennon released the song Cold Turkey the same year, and it appears he blamed Her Majesty the Queen for its dip in popularity.

Bagism was a protest term coined by Lennon and his partner Yoko Ono that indicated a movement to break down stereotypes and cultural norms, according to CNN.

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Highly influential U.S. comics writer, artist and film director Frank Miller is the creator of the Dark Knight Batman comics series, and also Sin City, and 300, among others. He spoke to Variety at the largest geek meet in Europe, Lucca Comics & Games, about his European idol, Hugo Pratt, where he would take the Batman movie franchise if he had his way, and his plans to explore Supermans Jewish origins.

First off, were in this medieval town at a pretty unique event. So I wanted to ask you about your relationship with Lucca Comics. As I understand it youve been here before, quite some time ago.

When I first came here, I believe it was 1985, it was much earlier in my career. Id just done my book Ronin, which had not been that well received in the United States. I had studied European and Asian comics from New York, buying them at the Forbidden Planet shop. But coming here and getting close to it, and meeting artists like Milo Manara and so many of the others including an idol of mine, Hugo Pratt, was just a great journey. I was really getting a full experience of the European album for the first time.

Have European comics been an influence on your work?

Yes, talking to the artists gave me a sense of a different intent to their stories. American comics are so super charged to keep your attention at all times. But to see an approach that took a more leisurely pace, and a more fun one, was refreshing. On top of that I discovered the European point of view was that comic books worked for adults. They were also for kids, of course. Actually they were for kids, but you could get away with them being also for adults. So for me it was an inspiration.

Speaking of Hugo Pratt, I noticed that at a recent Suicide Squad premiere you were wearing a T-shirt with Pratts Corto Maltese character, the romantic sailor, on it.

I was studying Corto Maltese before it got translated, strictly for the brush work, which greatly informed how I did Sin City. The brevity of it goes all the way back to Milton Caniff. But Pratt had his own edge that I found fascinating and like nothing else Id ever seen. I wanted to learn from it and integrate it.

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Your work is very influential all over the world; you re-invented Batman with the groundbreaking Batman: The Dark Knight Returns book in 1986, which influenced every Batman movie ever since. If you had your way, where would you take the Batman movie franchise today?

My dream would be to make it much smaller. To lose the toys and to focus more on the mission, and to use the city a great deal more. Because hes got a loving relationship with the city hes protecting. And unlike Superman his connection to crime is intimate; it has been ever since his parents were murdered. And he defeats criminals with his hands. So it would be a different take. But it will never be in my hands, because it would not be a good place to make toys from. There wouldnt be a line of toys.

Is this how you approached it with Darren Aronofsky on the Batman movie project that Warner Bros never made?

That screenplay was based on my book Batman: Year One, and yeah it was much more down to earth. In it a fair amount of time is spent before he became Batman, and when he went out and fought crime he really screwed it up a bunch of times before he got it right. So it was 90-minute origins story.

Have you seen the movie Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice?

Yes.

And what did you think?

Ill just say: Thanks. What can I say?  he laughs  no, actually Ill withdraw that; Ill say: Youre welcome!

Youve mentioned a new 300 project. Is that a movie project?

No. Ive heard rumors of another 300 sequel, Im not a part of that. Im working on a book thats going to be much more mystical than 300. Its the story of the journey of Xerxes [the fourth king of kings of the Persian Achaemenid dynasty.] Its really an excuse to travel and to go to the library and start studying the culture.

Do you have anything cooking in the movie sphere?

Nothing in progress, no.

Recently at New York Comic Con you said Donald Trump would make a great comic book character, which sounded like you were going to do a book on him. Are you working on a Trump book?

I write about bigger subjects.

There is a bigger subject Ive read you are going to tackle: an origins of Superman story exploring Supermans Jewish roots. Can you tell me more?

Yes. Its something I want to do. Ive only discussed this briefly with DC; its not a work in progress. But there is no denying what the actual origins of Superman are. Theyve been clouded over through the years. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster [who created Superman in 1933] must have been aware that they created him during a time of rampant anti-Semitism. All this was timed in the shadow of a war being waged by the worst anti-Semite the world has ever seen. So I would just like to bring it back home.

How so?

When you tell a superhero story you tell it in broad strokes. You dont sneak you message in. I would love to see the visuals of Superman facing a Panzer tank and the emotional release of him smashing a place like [the] Buchenwald [concentration camp].

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Lupe Fiasco inserted himself into Kid Cudi and Drake's beef on Friday (Oct. 28), making it clear he has no sympathy Cudi even if he is checked in to rehab.

"Can somebody please send me a meme/pic of a duck in a barbershop getting a fade..thanx in advance," Lupe posted to Twitter before posting a picture of Drake laughing.

And though Fiasco took some head for entering into the beef, the Chicago emcee admitted he was being "childish and petty" but insisted Cudi deserved it. He also called Cudi a "disrespectful clown" and questioned what Cudi was even doing responding to Drake's diss on "Two Birds, One Stone" while in to rehab.

Fiasco and Cudi's beef spans back to 2014 when Cudi called out Fiasco for offering fans personalized verses for $500 a pop. Since, the two have been at odds.

------...Can somebody please send me a meme/pic of a duck in a barbershop getting a fade..thanx in advance ----

- Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco) October 28, 2016

pic.twitter.com/J9HjRKkQ4J

- Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco) October 28, 2016

pic.twitter.com/Jb1EOiDj0P

- Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco) October 28, 2016

It's childish and it's petty. But he deserves all of it & more. https://t.co/5D37oY0W0B

- Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco) October 28, 2016

Cuz security gonna break that up & it's not gonna happen. Security wasn't gonna stop ours hahaha https://t.co/KD9kttazTN

- Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco) October 28, 2016

He a disrespectful clown tho Leticia....he can't help himself but still... https://t.co/RSirvHBC8g

- Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco) October 28, 2016

Man fuck that nigga..what part of "rehab" is calling people pussies and asking for fades?! Rehab is checking your own problems not this shit https://t.co/ZUa0uYq8DA

- Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco) October 28, 2016

But as "childish and petty" as Cudi was being, he also said he would forgive Cudi if he just apologized.

Yup...water under the bridge. https://t.co/vvkSEIR9qK

- Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco) October 28, 2016
By Mustafa Shaikh: Faulty Diwali decorations took a man's life in Mumbai on Saturday. Three people suffered electric shock while standing at a bus stop at Bhoiwada at around midnight.

All three were rushed to KEM hospital. While Hitesh Ashar (32) was declared dead, Uday Jethe (35) and Mehul Ashar (30) were discharged after primary treatment.

According to the police, the incident took place after a live wire from the decoration made by the owner of Millennium Bar and Restaurant came in contact with the bus stop.

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A case has been registered at Bhoiwada police Station against Hotel owner Nagraj Shetty. He was later arrested by the police.

Also read:

Telangana: Teacher electrocuted, 4 students injured while fixing flag pole for Independence Day



--- ENDS ---
The businessman, Narasimha Bhogavalli, who is originally from Hyderabad, was arrested by the FBI and charged with an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) impersonation scam.

By Ashish Pandey: A 50-year-old Indian origin businessman in Irving, Texas was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for allegedly duping a number of US citizens by swindling $300 million deposited by them for paying taxes.

The businessman, Narasimha Bhogavalli, who is originally from Hyderabad, was arrested by the FBI and charged with an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) impersonation scam.

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Narasimha Bhogavalli allegedly transferred the defrauded money to India.

MODUS OPERANDI

The victims, spread across the United State were contacted by the accused, who posed as an IRS agent and threatened them with arrest and prosecution.

Bhogavalli then coerced the victims to deposit money orders and at times cash, into his and few other conspirators bank accounts.



FRAUD DETAIL

As per the FBI, between November 5, 2014 and February 2, 2015, approximately 242 deposits of cash and money orders totalling approximately $1,661,247, which included at least 2,250 separate money orders totalling $1,493,848 were made in one of the Bank of America accounts.

During the two-week period, approximately between January 16, 2015 and January 30, 2015, at least 60 money orders, totalling $37,957 were deposited into the other Bank of America account.

Between November 4, 2014 and February 5, 2015, at least 128 money orders, totalling $96,716 were deposited into the Citibank account.

PUNISHMENT

The maximum statutory penalty for the offense is 10-years in a federal prison and a $250,000 fine for the crime committed.

Narasimha Rao Bhogavalli, who is settled in Dallas, is the founder of Tekdynamics firm and IT entrepreneur. He had quit his job at IBM in 2004 to set up his own company in Dallas.

--- ENDS ---
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian police released the chairman of democracy group Bersih on bail on Saturday, after detaining her for more than two hours for questioning, just weeks before a big protest rally planned against Prime Minister Najib Razak. The group said Maria Chin Abdullah was arrested in the Borneo state of Sabah for distributing flyers promoting the group's upcoming rally in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur on November 19. The Sabah police declined to comment. The rally, called Bersih 5, is organized to call for the resignation of Najib to facilitate a probe into a scandal involving 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a state fund set up by the prime minister. More than 200,000 people turned out in Kuala Lumpur last August for a similar rally organized by Bersih, demanding the resignation of Najib. (Reporting by Liz Lee; Editing by Stephen Powell)
A man reportedly fleeing the Islamic State-held town Bashiqa with a group of children paused to remove his jacket and pull up his shirt to show waiting soldiers that he was unarmed, as seen in this Rudaw video.

Rudaw, which has been covering the offensive against the city of Mosul since October 17, published live video of renewed airstrikes in the area on October 29 and reported an increased number of displaced families from Mosul and its surrounding villages.

Unicef has warned that up to one million people may be forced to flee their homes during the offensive. Credit: Facebook/Rudaw English
Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fstory%2fthumbnail%2f26180%2fd79037d09c85413f96bad6aee4b2169c

Martha Stewart isn't just serving delightful fall treats this Halloween. She's also serving looks.

Stewart headed to a Halloween party Friday night dressed in a festive, bloody nurse outfit  reportedly based on painter Richard Prince's "Park Avenue Nurse."

SEE ALSO: 50 last-minute Halloween costumes

A photo posted by Martha Stewart (@marthastewart48) on Oct 28, 2016 at 5:46pm PDT

It is spooky. It is a little gory. It is glorious.

A photo posted by Martha Stewart (@marthastewart48) on Oct 28, 2016 at 5:47pm PDT

No word on whether Martha's best friend Snoop Dogg attended the same event.

BONUS: The quintessential Halloween party checklist
Witty police officers came up with a creative way to save the life of a fawn who fell into a well. They used a swing to get him out and set him free.

By India Today Web Desk:

Sheriff's deputies in Utah came up with a creative way to free a fawn from a basement window well.

Summit County Sheriff's Detective Kacey Bates says the mule deer fawn fell into the 7-feet window well early Thursday morning.

Gathering his wits quickly, one officer went to a swing set and unhooked it at the home near Kamas, about 40 miles (65 km approximately) east of Salt Lake City.

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Body cam video showed the deputies managing to loop the swing seat under its belly and hoist the approximately 100-pound (45 kg approximately) creature out of the well.

Watch the rescue video here:

Deputies in Utah got creative to help a fawn desperate to get out of a 7-foot-deep window well https://t.co/L4slK09r14 pic.twitter.com/9IqPZjHuVS AP West Region (@APWestRegion) October 28, 2016

The deer was uninjured and bounded off into the darkness immediately after he was rescued.





--- ENDS ---
Moscow (AFP) - Hundreds of people braved the late autumnal cold in Moscow on Saturday to remember victims of the Stalin era, reading out names of people murdered at the height of the Terror.

Some 200 people congregated opposite the former headquarters of Joseph Stalin's secret service, home to the FSB and its KGB predecessor, for a ceremony organised by the Memorial NGO in memory of victims killed in the peak of Soviet repression.

"Jiganin, Ivan Georgievich, 59, roads and waterways employer, shot dead on December 31, 1937; Eromenko, Grigori Mitrofanovich, 22, worker, shot dead March 16, 1938; Gerassimov Nikolai Grigorievich, 33, PE teacher, shot dead April 13, 1937..."

Just three names on a long list underscoring the apparent arbitrary nature of those selected for the firing squad.

Victims, ranging from teenagers to pensioners, came from all walks of life. Some were Russians, others Jews, Tatars, Poles.

Some were soldiers, others civilians. Victims were anything from priests or nuns, to simple workers, engineers, bakers, civil servants or tram drivers.

Some emotional participants added their own personal tributes to Saturday's proceedings.

"And my father, shot in 1938," said one.

"My grandfather, starved to death in a camp," added another.

"I have come to honour the memory of all these victims of terror," said Nikolai Borissov, a 36-year-old restaurateur.

"Several members of my family were shot and my grandmother spent years in a gulag."

Historians estimate about a million people perished in Stalin's Terror or Great Purge in the mid-1930s of around 20 million who died under his three-decade rule before his death in 1953.

Saturday's ceremony came ahead of Sunday's Day of Remembrance for victims of political repression which former president Boris Yeltsin set up in 1991, though the Russian authorities are not officially commemorating the date.

- Wreathes for the victims -

Story continues

Some 20 diplomats from the United States, Europe and Canada attended Saturday's gathering to place wreathes on a rock memorial set in a Moscow park near Red Square from Solovki in Russia's far North, the site of one of the first gulags.

Stalin's grave is barely a stone's throw away at a necropolis outside the Kremlin walls.

Dozens of towns were meanwhile holding masses to mark the Stalin era victims.

Commemorating victims of repression remains controversial to the point of being deemed unpatriotic 25 years after the Soviet Union's demise as Russia today witnesses increased rehabilitation of Stalin and nostalgia for his era.

That nostalgia finds expression in calendars bearing his likeness while recent years have seen statues erected to him in several cities, notably last June by the Military Historical Society under Vladimir Medinski, the culture minister.

In contrast, earlier this month, authorities declared Memorial, a leading civil rights group founded by dissident and Nobel peace prize laureate Andrei Sakharov in 1989, a "foreign agent."

Dozens of other groups have had the same label attached under recent legislation which government opponents have criticised as a crackdown on civil society.
From Seventeen

When it comes to Kylie Lip Kit colors, they're all next-level gorge. But if pressed, most of us will admit to having one true fave - whether you're drawn to the soft girly flush of Koko K or the rich vampiness of Kourt K.

How popular is your preferred KLK color in your area? Seventeen.com tapped the power of Google Trends to find out, analyzing queries from all of 2016 to to pinpoint the most-searched shade in each of the 50 states.

The results were interesting: Of 21 Kylie Lip Kit shades currently available, seven were strong enough to take the top spot in at least one state. Wearability seems to be a major factor: Exposed and Candy K, two neutral pinks, were neck and neck in nationwide popularity. (Sorry, Dead of Knight.) Still, three states apparently are brave enough to rock Kourt K on the regular. Good on you New Mexico, Arkansas and Delaware.

Check out the map below to see what shade is your state's go-to!

Photo credit: Dana Tepper

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From Seventeen

Let's get one thing straight: every flavor of Frappuccino is hands-down delicious. But some happen to be just a teeny tiny bit more beloved than others. Seventeen.com tapped the power of Google Trends to find out, analyzing queries from 2016 to to pinpoint the most-searched flavor in each of the 50 states (plus the District of Columbia).

Caramel reigned supreme in 27 states, Mocha was the favorite in 18 states, and 3 states each favored Coffee and Vanilla. If you expected a regional split, with certain flavors dominating different areas of the country, you'd be wrong. The results are all over the map - literally.

Check out the map below to see which flavor your state searches for most often!

Photo credit: Dana Tepper

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Hannah Orenstein is a writer at Seventeen.com. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

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Australia is home to Hugh Jackman, the world's oldest orangutan and, more than likely, your next dessert obsession.

The land down under has the Midas touch when it comes to all things sweet, gooey and Instagram worthy.

A photo posted by Tara Milk Tea  (@taramilktea) on Sep 16, 2016 at 3:29am PDT

SEE ALSO: Awesome customisable Kit Kat pop-up comes to Australia

Australia is, after all, home to the Nutella kebab. The OG crazy milkshake started there. It's the country with the chocolate bar resume and Aussies are willing to do almost anything to get their hands on their favorite cookies.

Victoria Jones, founder and director of the food influencer network agency The Insiders tells Mashable, "I've learned that Australians aren't tied to a set way of doing things, which makes us more creative when it comes to cooking and experimenting with flavors. We lack the traditional food cultures of countries such as Spain and Italy so we love fusing dishes from different cultures to create something truly unique."

Lorraine Elliott of Not Quite Nigella fame agrees and believes there is also a social aspect to Australian dining that makes the country's trends spread quickly and vastly.

"Instagram is huge here and people make real effort to style their food," Elliott said. "It's very easy to make food a social experience, especially in larger capital cities that have a lot of restaurant variety and our weather is really good all year round so we always seem to be going out with friends and socializing."

Culinary freedom, mostly mild winters and a seemingly insatiable sweet tooth seem to be the winning combination to Instagram dessert fame.

A photo posted by Lorraine Elliott (@notquitenigella) on Oct 28, 2016 at 4:25am PDT

Here are a some trends sugar fiends worldwide can count on being exported from the land down under, sooner than later.

1. Haute couture cookies

A photo posted by Tara Milk Tea  (@taramilktea) on Sep 1, 2016 at 12:24am PDT

Donuts that cost more than a candlelit dinner for two might come back in vogue, but they will have tough competition from beautiful cookies. The fancy cookie is decked out with special toppings, iced with elaborate galaxy designs filled with everything from ganache to ice cream.

Story continues

A photo posted by Michael Shen  (@imstillhungry_) on Oct 14, 2016 at 5:38pm PDT

2. Grown up popsicles

A photo posted by Lorraine Elliott (@notquitenigella) on Oct 6, 2016 at 8:30pm PDT

This stuff isn't going to turn your tongue neon green and might not even have refined sugar in it. Think tea infused pops, seasonal fruit and maybe a touch of alcohol for a truly adult treat. It's the perfect way to remember our warm weather all December while Aussies are basking in their winter heat.

A photo posted by Sneh Roy (@cookrepublic) on Oct 8, 2016 at 1:36am PDT

3. Pancakes and waffles

A photo posted by Erina (@eliseaki) on Sep 18, 2016 at 1:19am PDT

These tasty morning carbs are all over popular Australian food-focused Instagram accounts. They get out-of-the-box and over-the-top treatments (edible flowers, anyone?) and it's enough to make you fantasize about your own "top-your-own-waffle" brunch restaurant.

A photo posted by Johnny Bhalla (@dessertified) on Oct 25, 2016 at 11:32pm PDT

4. Artisanal cotton candy

A photo posted by Fluffe  Nathan (@fluffegram) on Oct 14, 2016 at 1:20am PDT

This beautiful spun sugar ("floss" as it's often called outside the US) has already made its way to the UK and shows no sign of slowing down. It can be used in everything from children's parties to cocktails and you're in luck if you're dairy or gluten free, because (oftentimes  always check with the purveyor) so is this dessert.

A photo posted by BreakfastinSydney (@breakfastinsydney) on Oct 27, 2016 at 3:32am PDT

5. Lightbulb milkshakes

A photo posted by Michael Shen  (@imstillhungry_) on Oct 19, 2016 at 11:14pm PDT

We aren't quite cool enough to understand this trend, but it's cute, memorable and contains that dairy, sweet goodness.

oh my god lightbulb milkshake

i'll take twenty  Jenny Gernale (@uptowncitybitch) October 2, 2016

If you can't make a trip down under, you can still expect to see these treats come your way. Not included: masterful tips to keep your top pants button from bursting open.
Brussels (AFP) - Belgium on Saturday officially signed the landmark EU-Canada trade accord after a drama that saw Belgian regions threaten to torpedo years of negotiations.

"Nothing is simple in Belgium but few things are impossible," tweeted Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders after signing the pact on behalf of his country.

EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malstrom, who negotiated the deal, attended the signing with Belgium the last of the 28 EU countries to approve the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

On Sunday, the European Union and Canada will formally sign the trade accord at a summit in Brussels.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hailed the deal as "a good sign in an uncertain world" in a phone call with EU president Donald Tusk on Friday, an EU source said.

CETA will remove 99 percent of customs duties between the two sides, linking the single EU market of 500 million people with the world's 10th largest economy.

Sunday's summit will begin at 0930 GMT, with the agreement due to be signed at 1100 GMT, Tusk's spokesman Preben Aamann said on Twitter.

Just days ago, CETA -- the most ambitious deal ever negotiated by the EU -- had been left hanging by a thread due to protests from Belgium's Wallonia region and other French-speaking communities over its potentially harmful effect on local interests.

Trudeau had been due to arrive in Brussels on Thursday to sign the deal but his trip had to be called off, with leaders including Tusk warning that the debacle was further damaging EU credibility following Britain's shock vote to leave the bloc.

After hitting deadlock in talks with Walloon leaders last week, an emotional Canadian Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland dismissed Brussels as "incapable" of achieving an international agreement.

- 'Not a comma changed' -

Paul Magnette, head of the southern, French-speaking Wallonia region, had fought for regional farming interests and guarantees against international investors forcing governments to change laws against the wishes of the people.

Story continues

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel has said the fraught talks with Wallonia that were finally resolved on Thursday "did not change a comma" in the deal, but Magnette says he received assurances from the federal government of strengthened social and environmental protection.

"CETA amended, CETA corrected -- that is fairer than the former CETA and offers more guarantees," Magnette said.

The EU was cleared to sign the pact shortly after Wallonia's parliament voted to approve the deal, along with that of the Brussels-Capital region and the Federation Wallonia-Brussels.

Once signed by the EU and Canada on Sunday, the trade pact will go into effect on a provisional basis, pending full member state ratification -- a process that could take years.

Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia, which currently holds the EU presidency, hailed the delayed approval of the deal as "a milestone in the EU's trade policy".

"It has the potential to set the way forward for future trade deals," he said.

Hinging on CETA's outcome are complex EU trade negotiations with other countries, including an even bigger and more controversial proposed deal with the United States known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

Wallonia has already warned it would never accept a trade deal that does not have same guarantees as those in the new CETA.

"From now on, we can draw the lesson: with CETA improved, TTIP is dead and buried", Magnette said.
The Pakistani spies arrested by the Delhi Crime branch allegedly used the perceived political clout to get access to sensitive documents and important places. One of the arrested spies have various pictures with senior BJP political leaders on social media.

Photo of Sohaib Nagaur with Manohar Parrikar which he posted on social media. Mail Today could not independently verify the authenticity of the pictures, but cops say Sohaib used them to impress his way into important places.

By Shashank Shekhar, Arvind Ojha: Sohaib Nagaur was a bit of a social butterfly and social media regular.

After the police arrested the visa agent from Rajasthan for allegedly passing on Indian military secrets to Pakistan, officers found a slew of photographs he posted on Facebook where he shares the frame with top politicians, including Union ministers Manohar Parrikar and Harsh Vardhan as well as BJP MP Udit Raj.

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The authenticity of the pictures is yet to be established.



The development comes days after the Centre expelled a Pakistani diplomat based in Delhi who allegedly ran a spy ring that collected sensitive information about Indian security operations along the border.



Also Read | Pakistan spy game busted: Women, money used to lure Indian officers, Pak high commission staff involved



Also Read | Pakistan spy racket: 2 Indians arrested, embassy staff asked to leave India

SPIES USED PERCEIVED POLITICAL CLOUT TO GET ACCESS TO SENSITIVE DOCUMENTS

The arrests of Sohaib and Farhat, the former personal assistant of Samajwadi Party Rajya Sabha MP Munabbar Saleem, has raised concerns as both were close to the corridors of power.

Cops have found that they used their perceived political clout to get access to important places and sensitive documents.

Saleem sacked Farhat who was held for supplying secret papers to Pakistan high commission official Mehmood Akhtar. Akhtar has since returned to his home country after India declared him persona non grata.

Also Read | SP MP Munawwar Saleem's personal assistant arrested on espionage charge

Sources say Sohaib had years of experience in procuring Pakistani visas for people in Rajasthan due to which he came in touch with ISI sleuths at the Pakistan embassy in Delhi and eventually turned to espionage. Apart from posting pictures with BJP leaders, he claimed to be an active member of the party's minority wing in Rajasthan.

Delhi Police's crime branch extracted the photographs and is also trying to verify their authenticity apart from trying to probe his links with people in power at the Centre and Rajasthan.

"It cannot be denied that Sohaib might have used his connections to get access to important locations. We have got several pictures with senior leaders and are verifying when and where he met them," a senior officer connected to the case told Mail Today.



Also Read | Another Pakistani spy working for ISI arrested in Rajasthan

IMPORTANT DOCS RELATED TO EXTERNAL AFFAIRS, DEFENCE WERE WITH ONE ACCUSED

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Farhat's name cropped up during the questioning of Akhtar who was detained on October 27.

A senior officer said Farhat too was well connected and had given "important documents" related to external affairs, defence and shipping ministries for almost two and half years to Akhtar.

"He used to charge Rs 2 lakh for the job. He has provided annual reports of several ministries in advance before they became public," the officer said.

Farhat first came into contact with the ISI through a Pakistan high commission official codenamed "NK" in 1998 when he went to the embassy for visa. NK cultivated him and asked him to provide annual reports of the science and technology, water resources and civil aviation ministries.

NK died in 2000 but before that Farhat was handed over to a certain "Rana Sagheer", who later introduced him to "IP Shamshed". He was given specific amounts of money per meeting for handing over documents.

Saleem said Farhat was appointed his PA after due verification by three different agencies including the Delhi Police.

"When Farhat approached me a year ago, I had sent communications to Parliament and the government for verification. I would like to say that the police and other agencies which gave him a clean chit should be held accountable," said Saleem.

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Also Read:

46 arrested since 2013: Timeline of Pakistan's spy game in India

Exclusive: Crime Branch probing role of two mysterious women in ISI spy ring



--- ENDS ---
This Immigrant Doctor Is Reimagining Health in the American City

When the Department of Justice announced that it would phase out its contracts with private prison companies in August, advocates were hopeful that the move would send a strong signal to the states, where more than 91,000 inmates are housed in private prisons. That remains to be seen, but another arm of the federal government is doubling down on its ties to the facilities, where years of reporting, research, and advocacy work have uncovered rampant abuse, insufficient health care, and unsafe conditions.

Just two months after the decision to end the Bureau of Prisons relationship with corrections giants The GEO Group and Correction Corporation of America, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is quietly negotiating to reopen two of the very facilities the Justice Department severed ties with. Following the DOJs announcement, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson ordered an internal subcommittee to review the departments use of private immigration facilities. That review wont be complete until Nov. 30. Meanwhile, ICE is renewing its contract with a privately run prison in Texas.

Carl Takei, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Unions National Prison Project, told TakePart he believes ICE is going to continue its relationship with private prisons, and even sign new contracts, regardless of what the review finds. The Department of Justices decision is clearly not influencing ICEs thinking on detention facilities.

The move to contract with CCA to detain immigrants at its prisons in Youngstown, Ohio, and Cibola County, New Mexico, comes as the Department of Homeland Security encounters a $136 million budget deficit and the number of immigrants crossing into the U.S. at the southern border climbs, The Wall Street Journal reported. The increasing number of Haitian migrants in particular has contributed to the agencys rising detention rate, which Takei said is the highest the U.S. has ever seen. ICE projects that by the end of October, 42,000 immigrants will be in its custody, The Wall Street Journal said.

Story continues

In a statement to TakePart, ICE press secretary Jennifer Elzea said the agency can neither confirm nor discuss ongoing contract negotiations until a contract is signed. Jonathan Burns, Corrections Corporation of Americas public affairs director, also declined to comment on or confirm the contracts.

But Tony Boyd, Cibola County Manager, confirmed Thursday to The Nation that the contract with ICE is in the works, and I think it will happen any day now. The company has talked to us about it to get our supportwe would support that because itll keep the jobs here.

CCA has posted openings for corrections jobs in Milan, New Mexico, where Cibola County Correctional Center is, along with numerous openings in Youngstown. Youngstown is home to the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center, which lost its contract with the Bureau of Prisons last December, before the Department of Justice issued its directive.

In October, ICE renewed a contract with CCA to continue use of its South Texas Family Residential Center, a detention center that since 2014 has primarily been used to detain a growing population of Central American mothers and children. As the number of migrants entering the U.S. continues to rise, a senior ICE official indicated to The Wall Street Journal, established quality standards for detention facilities may be temporarily disregarded, and scrambling for new spaces to house immigrants could result in a disregard of Prison Rape Elimination Act standards.

ICE has manufactured this need for additional private prisons, Christina Fialho, executive director of Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement, told TakePart. ICE is creating an illusion that private facilities are necessary so that the subcommittee has an excuse not to follow in the footsteps of the Justice Department.

Fialho told TakePart that instead of privatized detention centers, ICE should use community-based alternatives to detention programs that are cheaper and more humane. The ACLU has recommended that the agency significantly reduce the number of people it houses by ceasing to detain asylum seekers and families, instead focusing detention resources on immigrants recently convicted of serious crimes.

Take the Pledge: Dont Be Silent: Take the Pledge to Be an Ally for Racial Justice

Related stories on TakePart:





 Activists to Feds: Closing Private Prisons Wont Help Most Inmates

 Detaining Trans Women in Private Facility Wont Keep Them Safe, Advocates Say

 Will States Follow Feds Lead on Private Prisons?

Original article from TakePart
Vienna (AFP) - OPEC officials held talks with Russia and other non-cartel members Saturday in Vienna to debate how to implement a plan aimed at cutting oil output to reduce a global supply glut and bolster prices.

"The recovery process has taken far too long and we cannot risk delaying the adjustment any further," said Sanusi Barkindo, the secretary general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, in his opening remarks.

"Therefore, we should be calling for maximum commitment from all OPEC and non-OPEC countries in this regard and we should expect no less as this is our commitment, not only to our member countries but to the global community."

Moscow's delegation declined to comment before the meeting. But OPEC and Russia -- the world's top oil producer along with Saudi Arabia -- have held several meetings recently to tighten cooperation to ease price volatility.

"There is an acute and urgent need to speed up the rebalancing," Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said during a recent Vienna visit.

Other non-OPEC members attending the technical committee meeting were delegations from Brazil, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Oman and Azerbaijan.

"We will discuss the recognised positions of countries, first of all the OPEC countries," Azerbaijan's Energy Minister Natig Aliyev told reporters in Vienna.

He added that some measures needed "to be taken to stabilise the market".

On Friday, OPEC-only members, led by oil kingpin Saudi Arabia, had already met to try and hammer out details of the plan ahead of a summit late next month.

Participants' opinions from the weekend gathering "will be included in a report to be considered by ministers" at the November 30 meeting, OPEC said.

- Obstacles remain -

In a surprise move, the cartel in September agreed a deal to trim production by up to 750,000 barrels per day to between 32.5 and 33 millions per day.

The announcement of the first such move since 2008 sent prices surging.

Story continues

Production has outpaced demand over the past two years, with the resulting supply glut hammering prices from highs of more than $100 a barrel in June 2014 to near 13-year lows below $30 in February this year.

Prices are currently hovering around $50 a barrel, still too low for oil revenue-dependent nations.

But obstacles remain to the new accord as some OPEC members refuse to decrease their output.

Iran, Saudi Arabia's bitter geopolitical rival, was exempted from the cuts as it is still ramping up production depleted by years of crippling Western economic sanctions lifted only in January.

Meanwhile, Iraq also recently said it should not participate in the deal because it is waging a war against the Islamic State group.

Some analysts say Baghdad's position risks derailing implementation of the OPEC agreement.
Jerusalem (AFP) - A Palestinian attacked Israeli troops with his car and then with a knife in the occupied West Bank before being shot and seriously wounded, the army said on Saturday.

The attack happened late on Friday near the Jewish settlement of Ofra, northeast of the city of Ramallah, an army statement said.

The assailant attempted to run over soldiers with his car, prompting them to open fire. He then got out of the vehicle brandishing a knife and troops fired again, seriously wounding him, the statement said.

There has been a spate of car-ramming and knife attacks in Israel and the Palestinian territories, most of them in the West Bank or annexed east Jerusalem.

Analysts say Palestinian frustration with the Israeli occupation and settlement-building in the West Bank, comatose peace efforts and their own fractured leadership have fed the unrest.

Israel says incitement by Palestinian leaders and media is a leading cause.

Human rights groups have accused Israeli security forces of using excessive and often lethal force in tackling the violence, most of which has been carried out by lone-wolf assailants, many of them young.

Internal reviews by the army of two fatal shootings of attackers earlier this month found that the use of deadly force could have been avoided, public radio reported on Tuesday.

Since October last year, the violence has claimed the lives of 235 Palestinians, 36 Israelis, two Americans, a Jordanian, an Eritrean and a Sudanese, according to an AFP count.
Patagonia - the sustainable outdoor-clothing company founded by environmentalist Yvon Chouinard in 1973 - is shutting its doors on Nov. 8.

The retailer is closing its stores on Election Day to encourage Americans to head to the polls and prioritize environmental issues on the ballot. The move is part of Patagonia's ongoing Vote Our Planet initiative, a national campaign urging Americans to vote to protect the environment.

"During a time of catastrophic environmental crisis, when America needs strong leadership to confront the fundamental threat of climate change, voter turnout threatens to reach historic lows as people are turned off by the ugliness of politics," said Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario in a statement.

Read more: Style Notes: The Honest Co. Looks Abroad; Reformation Collaborates with Patagonia

"As a business, we have a unique ability to take a stand and choose to prioritize the health of the planet over profit, and I think it's important we take that opportunity when it truly matters. We want to do everything possible to empower citizens to make their voices heard and elect candidates up and down the ballot who will protect our planet."

Since the company's Vote Our Planet movement launched in September, Patagonia has been releasing videos about local communities devastated by environmental issues (as seen on its Instagram account) and has launched a website containing significant voter-education resources.

Known for its commitment to the environment, Patagonia dropped one of its wool suppliers, Argentina-based farm Ovis 21, following a graphic PETA report that eventually led the company to make its own independent investigation into that matter last year.

For more info, visit patagonia.com/vote-our-planet.

"Government doesn't move unless it's pushed." So go #vote! We are closing all of our retail stores, the headquarters, distribution center and customer service operations on Election Day, November 8th to encourage our employees and you to #VoteOurPlanet. Click the link in our profile to find out more.

A video posted by Patagonia (@patagonia) on Oct 28, 2016 at 7:28am PDT
SECOND UPDATE, Wednesday afternoon: The war may be over but both sides are speaking in secret code over a dispute that has injected some unexpected drama into the early Broadway season:

A JOINT STATEMENT FROM ARS NOVA AND THE GREAT COMET: Ars Nova and the producers of The Great Comet deeply regret that a contractual dispute became public, and are pleased to share that the matter has now been resolved, privately, and will continue to work to achieve success for The Great Comet on Broadway.

Asked to clarify this non-statement and confirm that the language The Ars Nova production of had been restored to the shows Playbill, as well as that a cast recording session had been rescheduled so as not to conflict with Ars Novas fund-raising gala, both sides said there would be no further comment. Matt Ross, a spokesman for the Broadway production, did confirm that the show has not changed its name, as the non-statement suggested, but that it remains Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet Of 1812.

Reached by telephone, Richard A. Roth, who represented Ars Nova in the negotiations, confirmed that its been settled amicably along the lines of the lead producers offer on Monday to add the credit to the Playbill title page in exchange for ending two actions Ars Nova had brought against them, one in New York State Supreme Court and the other before the American Arbitration Association. Case dismissed, pop the Champagne.

UPDATE Monday morning: The board of Ars Nova met Tuesday morning to consider an offer late Monday from Howard and Janet Kagan and Paula Marie Black, the lead Broadway producers of Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet Of 1812, to add the language The Ars Nova production of to the shows Playbill title page. The condition they set was that the non-profit company agree to drop litigation against them. The statement Howards side released last night was a TOTAL surprise to us, Ars Nova managing director Renee Blinkwolt told Deadline. We met this morning and are in ongoing conversations. Those conversations are likely to include the timing of a session to record the shows cast album, which had been set to coincide with the groups December 5 annual gala, a move regarded by the company as retaliation by the producers for making an issue of the billing.

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SATURDAY: A skirmish over above-the-title billing in a new Broadway shows Playbill erupted into all-out war this weekend, as the non-profit theater that developed one of the most acclaimed musicals of recent seasons filed two lawsuits against the commercial producer who has brought the show, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet Of 1812 to, aptly, the Imperial Theatre.

A sprawling and often ingenious mashup of rock opera, immersive soap opera and New Wave dinner theater, the show is based on a section from the Leo Tolstoy classic War And Peace. It has begun previews and features a major pop music recording star, Josh Groban, in one of the title roles (he was not associated with any of the developmental productions). The legal maneuverings arent expected to delay the November 14 official opening.

The lead Broadway producer, Howard Kagan, said Friday that the legal actions surprised him because he believed that discussions to resolve the billing dispute were ongoing. But earlier today Richard A. Roth, the lawyer representing Ars Nova, the highly regarded off-Broadway group that commissioned the musical, accused the producers of bringing the talks to an impasse. If [Kagan] believes that is negotiation, then we have different definitions of the word.

If [Kagan] believes that is negotiation, then we have different definitions of the word, Ars Nova lawyer Richard A. Roth

On Friday, Roth filed two claims on behalf of the group against Kagan (who, with his wife Janet, is the shows lead Broadway producer): One, with the American Arbitration Association, accuses the production company of breach of contract; and another, in New York State Supreme Court, asserts that Kagan interfered with a contract and breached their fiduciary duty.

At issue are the words The Ars Nova production of. The leaders of Ars Nova, a mostly off-the-radar non-profit making its Broadway debut, insist they have a signed agreement with the Kagans to use those words above the title of the show in the Playbill. Instead, according to Renee Blinkwolt, managing director of the company, which operates on an annual budget of $1.4 million, Ars Nova is lumped with all of the shows producers, the majority of whom are investors who had little or nothing to do with the creation and development of the show.

Although there are plentiful examples of both types of billing when a show developed at a non-profit theater moves to Broadway, a comparison could be drawn with last years Tony Award winner for best play, Stephen Karams The Humans. The show was commissioned by the Roundabout Theatre Company, which presented its world premiere. Commercial producer Scott Rudin optioned the play before the reviews came out, and when it moved to Broadway, it had this billing in Playbill:

Such billing can be crucial to a non-profit company when raising money to support its work. While everyone in Hollywood knows about Upright Citizens Brigade, Second City and The Public Theater, Jon Steingart, an Ars Nova co-founder and board member told Deadline, few outside New York have even heard of Ars Nova, even though our alumni are among the most impactful in the industry.

The dispute has been made especially bitter because Howard Kagan was, until a few weeks go, a longtime financial backer and board member of the company. Thats the key reason for the breach of fiduciary responsibility aspect of the suit against him. When the dispute first erupted earlier this month, he resigned from the Ars Nova board.

On Friday, Blinkwolt and artistic director Jason Eagan announced the suits in a statement released to the press. In condensed version, it said:

In 2011, Ars Nova commissioned Dave Malloy to create Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, an ambitious idea that would quickly become the largest project Ars Nova had ever supported at the timeA concept was born and refined over numerous developmental steps, leading to the Ars Nova world premiere in October 2012. The production was an instant sensation. Producer Howard Kagan took an interest in extending the life of the showHe expressed his great interest in preserving the successful concept, design and staging of the Ars Nova production rather than shifting the show into a more traditional proscenium staging If you were to remove the contributions of any one partner along the way, we couldnt be in previews on Broadway today. And yet with no explanation, the proper recognition of our contribution has been taken away. We believe that the show currently on Broadway started at Ars Nova[T]he show that started at Ars Nova is extremely valuable to Ars Novas past, present and future, and is communicated to the tens of thousands of people seeing The Great Comet on Broadway each week only through our title page billing. With seemingly no other alternatives to seek remedy for this lost value, our Board voted unanimously last night to file suit for breach of contract to compel the commercial producers of The Great Comet to honor their contractual obligation to bill the show as The Ars Nova Production Of. We are devastated that it has come to this, but steadfast in our belief that the billing we are owed is both valuable, and deserved.

Responding Friday with their own statement, the producers said they were surprised to hear about the law suits. We and our representatives have been speaking to Ars Nova for the past week about our ongoing dispute over billing, and together we have made great progress toward resolving this matter and we expect to continue to do soOur understanding is that we are still in discussions. We continue to work toward a swift resolution of this matter for the sake of everyone involved in the show, and we hope that those discussions can continue privately.

But Ars Novas lawyer said those attempts at reconciliation had hit a wall.

My client believed they had agreed with Mr. Kagans representatives on the material terms of a final settlement on Wednesday evening, Richard Roth told Deadline today. But on Thursday morning, Mr. Kagan apparently went back on this handshake deal, although no explanation or counter was provided to my client. His representatives then requested the conversation be turned over to respective lawyers. On Thursday afternoon, I presented the material terms again, with a request for confirmation that they were once again agreed to by the end of the day. Having still not heard anything on Friday morning, we gave the Kagan camp a noon deadline, letting them know that we would have to move forward if they did not provide a substantive response. He received our deadline and ignored it. By yesterday afternoon we still had not heard from Mr. Kagan. If he believes that is negotiation, then we have different definitions of the word.

Ars Nova already has produced another much-talked about show this season, Underground Railroad Game, which has been extended several times in the wake of rave notices and full houses, where tickets are generally $15 at its West 54th Street theater.

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Josh Groban Will Make His Broadway Debut In 'Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet Of 1812'

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GaneshaSpeaks

India and Pakistan  the two countries which have been at loggerheads from long, are now again facing intensified peace-crisis because of increased tension along the border. There have been problems on the LoC from a long time, with problems mostly being triggered from the other side of the border; continuous infiltration of terrorists, constant violation of the ceasefire by the Pakistani troops and such other misadventures, especially along the International Border (IB) in the Jammu and Kashmir region have never let peace prevail. Things took a really ugly turn after the Uri attack, conducted by the Pakistan based terror outfit JeM, in which 19 of the valiant Indian soldiers were martyred. This time, in a deviation from its usual peaceful and diplomatic stance, India responded with a high-precision military strike and gave a real befitting response, which various national as well as international leaders commended. But, the situation doesnt seem to get better anytime soon, instead greater tensions loom large. How will things shape up in the near future? Lets explore in this astrological analysis.



The planets indicate something more intense than the Kargil episode between November 2016 and January 2017  says Ganesha.



India-Pakistan And The Astrological Picture:



The basis for analysis:

For getting a deeper idea of the situation between the two countries, Ganesha have thoroughly analysed the Foundation Charts of both Independent India and Pakistan.



The role of Mars  the cosmic Commander-in-Chief:

In his analysis, Ganesha notes that India is currently under the influence of Moon Mahadasha and Mars Antardasha. In Indias Foundation Chart, Mars happens to be the Lord of the 7th house  the House of war. So, the transit of Mars will have a lot of say in the proceedings till the end of February 2017. Mars  the planet of aggression, also happens to be the representative of the armed forces and matters pertaining to defence affairs. This planets transit through the fiery Sign  Sagittarius, indicates the aggravation of matters and increase in tension to a greater extent. Mars is currently passing through the 8th House of Indias Foundation Chart and aspecting the natal Mars in the 2nd House. Thus, the Mars factor will continue to escalate tension between both the countries. Are tensions escalating between you and your spouse too? Then find solutions to rediscover the magic in your bond with our hand-written Marriage Ask A Question.



Emphasised influence of Mars indicates turbulence, unrest and aggression taking center stage between the arch rivals.



Matters may get worse:

The conjunction of Mars and Ketu in Aquarius will pose greater threats and indicates more dangerous situations. The period between 21st November, 2016, and 10th January, 2017, will be extremely sensitive and crucial for both the countries. There will be immense pressure on internal and external security forces due to increased terrorist activities and threats. This may also lead to serious clashes along/across the border and even the Kargil War like situations, or even something more serious than that cannot be ruled out. The overall planetary picture looks ominous and it indicates an extremely sensitive picture. Even natural calamities may cause problems. Are you worried about some matters pertaining to your career? Then get expert guidance and effective solutions in our personalised report  Career Ask A Question.



The hostile Dasha sequence in Pakistans Chart will not let logic prevail in its mind.



Expect more misadventures from Pakistans side:

Speaking of the planetary configurations in Pakistans case, the country is currently under the influence of Venus Mahadasha and Rahu Antardasha. The Venus-Rahu-Ketu Dasha sequence will be extremely critical. Also, the transiting Mars is aspecting the Ascendant Lord Mars and Moon both. It indicates fiery and unrestrained reactions from Pakistans leaders and the Army. A misadventure from Pakistan can not be ruled out particularly between 21st November, 2016, and 28th January, 2017.



Battle-ready mindset of the rivals  the precursor of war:

So, the forthcoming period till the end of January 2017, will remain extremely tense and combat-readiness from both the sides may lead to a serious confrontation between the neighbours.



With Ganeshas Grace,

Tanmay K. Thakar

The GaneshaSpeaks.com Team
In an interview on SiriusXMs Sway in the Morning show, President Barack Obama named Chance the Rapper and Kendrick Lamar as two of his favorite rappers, but stressed that Jay Z is still the undisputed king of the genre.

I think the young guys, Kendrick and Chance, are doing amazing work. I love Drake and the girls love Drake, so hes commercially just doing great, and unbelievably talented, Obama said. Jay Zs still the king. I mean hes got a track record. Same with Kanye so theres a lot of talent out there, but when I look at whos breaking new ground, Kendrick and Chance, those guys are doing just amazing work.

The President also revealed that he is family friends with Chance the Rapper and that he has known the rapper since he was knee-high to a mic stand.

We already knew a decent amount about the Presidents music tastes after he shared two summer-themed playlists on Spotify back in August, the same month in which First Lady Michelle Obama discussed the power of pop culture with Variety. The daytime tracks included Jay Zs So Ambitious, featuring Pharrell Williams, while the nighttime one spotlighted Chance the Rappers Acid Rain.

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Allegations that Myanmar soldiers are killing, raping and torturing villagers in Rakhine, a restive region that is home to the persecuted Muslim Rohingya, must be independently investigated, rights groups said.

Northern Rakhine has been under a military lockdown since an attack on border guards three weeks ago left nine policeman dead.

The government has blamed the raids on Rohingya militants and a search for the culprits has seen more than 30 people killed and dozens arrested, according to official reports.

Stories of grave abuse by security officers -- including sexual violence, summary executions and the torching of villages -- have spiralled on social media but are difficult to verify with the army barring rights groups and journalists from the remote region bordering Bangladesh.

On Friday Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch joined calls for an impartial investigation into the allegations, which the UN has called "alarming and unacceptable".

"If Myanmar's security forces are not involved in any human rights violations as the authorities claim, then they should have no trouble granting independent observers access," said Rafendi Djamin, Amnesty's Southeast Asia and Pacific director.

Writing on Facebook Friday, government spokesman Zaw Htay dismissed an article in the Myanmar Times that described reports of a "mass rape" in a Rohingya village on October 19.

"There was information that some attackers were kept in that village. So security was taken very seriously and (the search team) was very careful about being safe and would not think to rape up to 5 women," he wrote.

The government says the October 9 border raids were carried out by hundreds of Rohingya fighters linked to Taliban-trained Islamists.

If true, it would mark a troubling development in a religiously-split region where the stateless Rohingya have languished under years of repression but so far shown little interest in jihadist ideology.

Story continues

Rakhine has sizzled with tension ever since waves of communal violence in 2012 killed more than 100 and pushed tens of thousands of people, mostly Rohingya, into destitute displacement camps.

Many in Buddhist-majority Myanmar insist the Rohingya are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and viscerally oppose any moves to grant them citizenship.

The recent upsurge in violence deepens and complicates a conflict that already posed a top challenge to a new civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, who has disappointed rights groups by not coming out in stronger support of the Rohingya.
Pakistan Army started heavy shelling on the International Border in Hiranagar sector and RS Pura in Jammu and Kashmir today.

By Indo-Asian News Service: Pakistani troopers on Saturday started heavy shelling targeting civilians and Border Security Force (BSF) facilities on the International Border in Hiranagar sector and RS Pura in Jammu and Kashmir, police said.

"Around 6 am, the Pakistan Rangers resorted to heavy mortar shelling and automatic gunfire. The BSF has started retaliating effectively," the police said.

"Shelling and firing exchanges are still going on in both these sectors."

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Heavy exchange of fire was also reported between Indian and Pakistan Army at LoC in Keran sector of Kupwara district.

Also read: Army vows revenge as soldier's body is mutilated, another martyred in Kupwara

On Friday, heavy shelling and firing exchanges took place in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts and on the Line of Control (LoC) in Mendhar and Machil sectors.



INFILTRATION FOILED



Two soldiers were killed in Machil sector where the army foiled an infiltration bid. One terrorist was also killed in this operation.

The Army said the militants had mutilated the soldier's body before withdrawing into the Pakistan side of the LoC.

Meanwhile, MoS PMO Jitendra Singh is visiting the International Border area, near Hiranaga in Jammu today, to take stock of the situation.

On way to International Border area, Rajpura near Hiranaga #Jammu; Dr Jitendra Singh (@DrJitendraSingh) October 29, 2016

--- ENDS ---
Hillary Clinton may still be ahead in most national polls, but at least one expert remains convinced that Donald Trump will be our next president.

American University Professor Allen J. Lichtman, who has accurately predicted the winner of every presidential election since 1984, first forecast a victory for the GOP nominee during an interview with the Washington Post last month. Granted, this was before the release of the now-infamous Access Hollywood tape, followed by mounting allegations of sexual misconduct, which Trump has attempted to counter with claims that the election is rigged and that the media is conspiring against him. Meanwhile, the tense presidential debates concluded with the suggestion from Trump that he might not accept the outcome of the election if he is not the winner.

Despite all this, however, Lichtman has not wavered from his prediction.

By the narrowest of possible margins, the keys still point to a Trump victory, he told the Post this week.

As Lichtman noted in this latest interview, he is not a psychic, nor does he look into a crystal ball. Rather, his projections are based on a unique system that relies on 13 True/False questions, or keys, to evaluate the strength of the incumbent party.

An answer of True on these True/False questions always favors the reelection of the party in power, Lichtman explained. And if six or more of the 13 keys are False, the party in power, the party holding the White House, is the predicted loser  any six or more.

Until last month, he said, the Democratic Party only had five keys against it. The final key that led Lichtman to make his prediction that Trump will win was the third-party key, and that is based on an assessment that you would expect the third-party candidate, in this case the Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson, to get 5 percent or more of the vote.

While severe and unprecedented, Lichtman said that the problems created for Trump by the Access Hollywood tape and subsequent sexual assault claims did not ultimately change any of the keys.

Story continues

Still, he provided two major qualifications to his projection, noting that Im not a hedger, and Ive never qualified before, in 30 years of predictions.

The first qualification is that, according to Lichtmans system, it takes six keys to count the party in power out, and they have exactly six keys, one of which requires that at least 5 percent of the popular vote go to Gary Johnson.

He could slip below that, which would shift the prediction, Lichtman said.

The other qualification is Trump himself.

We have never seen someone who is broadly regarded as a history-shattering, precedent-making, dangerous candidate who could change the patterns of history that have prevailed since the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, Lichtman said.

Though his system, which was developed by studying every presidential election between 1960 and 1980, has proven to be a reliable indicator of election outcomes for the past 20 years, Lichtman admitted that this election has the potential to shatter the normal boundaries of American politics and reset everythingincluding, perhaps, reset the keys to the White House.
With earnings season in full gear, 24/7 Wall St. has been considering where we stand now. The election is just over a week away, and there will be another three or four weeks worth of earnings reports that the market has to digest before the formal tally can be measured.

Credit Suisse has issued its preliminary earnings season report card for the third quarter of 2016. This had an October 26 cut-off date, so it was before Thursday and Friday's key earnings reports. It was also before the strong gross domestic product (GDP) report, although the GDP report itself does not tally up the corporate earnings as much. Still, it would seem like you could have a strong GDP without strong earnings.

ALSO READ: 40 Countries the U.S. Government Doesn't Want You to Visit

Credit Suisse noted that 41% of large caps, 30% of mid-caps, and 20% small caps have now reported earnings. They showed that 79% of S&P 500 large caps, 71% of mid-caps and 68% of small caps have beat consensus earnings estimates. On revenues, 60% of S&P 500 large caps, 50% of mid-caps and 54% of small caps have beat consensus revenue estimates.

For S&P 500 large caps, earnings beats are still up from last quarter and are near the 2014 highs. They saw the revenue beats for S&P 500 companies have come in a bit over the past week, but they are still well above last quarter's beat rate.

Here is a sector by sector breakdown that was offered in Credit Suisse's report:

The Financials sector (now ex-REITs) has been a bright spot so far this reporting season. Some 56% of large cap Financials and 47% of small cap Financials had reported 3Q16 results. EPS and sales beats have been very strong this reporting season for the sector, both relative to other sectors and relative to last quarter ... showing further signs of recovery for Banks, Diversified Financials and Insurance.

Semiconductors -- Semiconductor revisions appear to be rolling over after hitting their historical highs.

Pharma/Biotech -- have also deteriorated, as our indicator has weakened meaningfully.

Retail -- revisions have been choppy recently, but an uptrend is still technically in place.

Food & Staples Retail -- our indicator may be bottoming.

Story continues

Credit Suisse signaled that guidance trends are still weak relative to history. The report said:

ALSO READ: The Most Democratic County in Every State

So far guidance trends have been weak this quarter among small and large caps. For both small and large caps, guidance trends are down from last quarter and below their long-term average. For small caps specifically, guidance trends are also just below their 2012/2013 lows. Note that our data provider is tracking if a company raised or lowered previously announced expectations, it is not comparing issued guidance to consensus estimates. We are measuring the percent of guidance raised (number of raised guidance announcements over number of raised plus lowered), including announcements made between October 1st and October 26th.

24/7 Wall St. also received a live scorecard for earnings per share growth in the third quarter. This was provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

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From ELLE

Selling all your worldly possessions and packing it in for a nomadic existence can sound mighty tempting when you're stuck in a cramped office space, staring at an antiseptic wall and aching for the touch of sunlight on your skin. For most of us, it's a passing daydream, a pretty thought before getting right back to the grind. TJ Lee-formerly of San Francisco before becoming a citizen of the world-actually made it happen, handing over most of what she owned to the highest bidder and booking a trip out of town (she's traveled to 13 countries this year, including Iceland, China, Uruguay, and Bolivia). She's documenting it all on her YouTube channel with the sort of wide-eyed authenticity that's reminiscent of the very best early Real World confessionals. Intrigued with the woman and the journey, we tracked her down across the globe and asked for her story.

Photo credit: Courtesy of TJ Lee

On deciding to take the leap:

"I'd always wanted to travel the world, but the idea of becoming nomadic didn't occur to me until a year and a half into my first full-time job. My good friend Valerie had talked about 'digital nomads' and moving to Thailand to live and work. The next thing you know, she did it, and there I was still sitting at my office desk calculating my available PTO hours and thinking about how long until my next vacation.

Facebook must've tracked my new obsession because on top of my feed was an article about a program called Remote Year: travel with 75 professionals to 12 cities and spend one month in each. This was in August. I immediately emailed the program, and after a week and one interview, I was in. The excitement didn't last, though, because my company spent two months debating whether it was okay for me to travel and work for them at the same time. The answer? 'Sorry, too much liability.'

After that call, I cried; an hour later, I put up a status that my apartment was available for a year's rent. A week later the person I'd sold my car to came to pick it up. I hosted a huge closet sale to get rid of everything I owned, and all the leftovers I stuffed into bags that were either donated or trashed. By the end of November I was eating good-bye cupcakes on my last day of work-my flight out of the States was that night."

Story continues

Photo credit: Courtesy of TJ Lee

On making sure it's financially possible:

"Financial stability was the number one-concern for me, but luckily I've always loved saving. At 18 I began a savings fund for travel and rainy days, so that was helpful. I learned how to automate my finances, too. Ramit Sethi's book I Will Teach You to Be Rich did a fantastic job of helping me streamline my income so I could save and invest while pay off debt and monthly expenses-it helped me put 20 to 30 percent of every paycheck I earned into my travel fund.

Photo credit: Courtesy of TJ Lee

I also did extensive research into how much it costs to travel for a year. It roughly breaks down to $12,000 for budget travelers, $24,000 for average travelers, and $50,000 for extravagant travelers. Based on those numbers I figured out how much I would need to save per week in order to have enough for a full year if I decided to make the jump."

On unexpected curveballs:

"Health has been a huge issue for me. South America gave me so many stomachaches and unwanted hours spent on the toilet, and traveling between time zones really stressed out my body. I wish I would have developed better eating habits and at-home workout routines before coming on the trip.

When you're digesting new things constantly, you can forget to refocus. Five months in I was thinking, Who am I? You forget you're changing so much and that your goals and desires are changing too. I've started to set weekly check-ins with myself.

I also struggled with setting too high of expectations for myself. I had so many goals and wishes for the trip, and we always overestimate the number of things we can accomplish in a year. We forget how life throws crap in your way too. Three months into my trip I received news that my best friend, who had been missing for a year, was found, but no longer in this world. I was a zombie in the weeks after that, unable to work or feel. Because I'd had so much planned for those months I felt frustrated I wasn't able to accomplish it all, but I just needed to heal."

Photo credit: Courtesy of TJ Lee

On figuring out what to pack:

"I looked at all the countries I was traveling to and what the weather would be like when I was there. It was mostly summer year-round with bits of rain, so I decided on lighter clothing like easy dresses and separates that could create a variety of outfits. Wrinkle-free fabrics like polyester and poly blends were smart too. Before I had my moving sale, I read Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and followed that method. I purged about 10 bags of stuff, so when I had my sale, I was just selling pieces I loved that made me happy. The few things I kept were simple and minimal.

Accessories need to be comfortable and efficient: I use coconut oil as a conditioner, moisturizer, and cooking alternative. Safety accessories are also vital for me, not because the world is frighteningly dangerous, but because accidents can happen all the time. Having things like a whistle to help others locate you or a flashlight at night help ease nerves."

Photo credit: Courtesy of TJ Lee

On the biggest challenges and rewards:

"Dealing with my mental health has been the biggest challenge. A trip like this is literally life-changing. I'm now a freelance photographer and videographer instead of a full-time marketing professional, and I don't know when my next project will come. The successes I achieved in my previous life no longer apply, and I'm starting from zero. That professional transition combined with the craziness that comes with moving and traveling has thrown me into a tornado of emotions at times.

Traveling is a test. Everything from dealing with getting your stuff lost or stolen to not losing it when the toilet is clogged on a 16-hour bus ride. But if you pass each hurdle you're rewarded with unbelievable scenery like the salt flats of Bolivia and the castles of Prague; you're greeted by hippie bread-makers from Uruguay and giggling kids in the countryside of Taiwan. You're taught that love and human kindness exists in all people in all parts of the world. I've seen how small I am compared to the massiveness of the universe and am consistently reminded to be grateful, humble, and to give back to the world what it has given to me."

Photo credit: Courtesy of TJ Lee

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Credit: Callahan/ACE/INFphoto.com

Rachel Weisz is ready to take on autumn in New York City ... giving us fall style goals while she's at it.

Now that temps are dropping in the Big Apple, the actress made sure to bundle up as she stepped out for a day on the town Thursday, rocking a cozy, tan wrap that she draped around her body like a blanket.

The Light Between Oceans star didn't stop there to keep warm, though. She also rocked black boots, skinny denim jeans, and a blue skull cap to brace the cold, and shielded her eyes with a pair of black shades. To complete her ensemble, Weisz toted a brown oversized bag on her shoulder.

RELATED: Rachel Weisz Is All Buttoned Up in Her Latest Street Style Look

In spite of the chilly weather, Weisz was all smiles, flashing her pearly whites as she made her way down a sidewalk. This is just the latest time she has shown off her street style game in N.Y.C. The fashionista, who rocks both casual and glam looks with ease while she's out and about, has also been known to step out in chic dresses in the Big Apple as well.

Back in August, Weisz made a statement in a long-sleeved black dress complete with silver buttons running from collar to hem that she paired with silver peep-toe pumps.
Madrid (AFP) - Spain's conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy won back power Saturday, at the age of 61, after a war of attrition against younger rivals who under-estimated his resistance after 35 years in politics.

Just like in 2005 when he emerged from a helicopter crash with just a broken finger, Rajoy survived an unprecedented political crisis that left Spain without a fully-functioning government for 10 months.

In power since 2011, his Popular Party (PP) lost its absolute majority in inconclusive December 2015 elections even though it came first. Since then Rajoy had headed up a caretaker government as no party managed to form a viable coalition.

He made use of that time to vaunt Spain's return to growth under his watch, after the country came close to economic collapse, and warned against a return to power for the Socialists, whom he links to the crisis's darkest days.

- 'Uncharismatic' but discerning -

During his 2011-2015 mandate, Rajoy was nicknamed "the plasma prime minister" after he conducted press conferences via video screen to avoid sensitive questions on issues such as the corruption afflicting his party.

"The headline could be: 300 days later, the boring plasma prime minister knocks out the three young emerging leaders who had come to eat him alive," said Anton Losada, politics professor at the University of Santiago de Compostela.

Faced with three young rivals -- Socialist chief Pedro Sanchez, 44, the 38-year-old leader of far-left Podemos Pablo Iglesias, and centrist Ciudadanos head Albert Rivera, 36 -- he slammed them as "amateurs."

Playing on fears of change as Spain emerged from the crisis, his party came first in December polls and did even better in repeat elections in June, just days after Britain voted to leave the European Union.

"It's obvious that he is an uncharismatic leader but he has perfect control of time and incredible knowledge of the decision-making process," said Narciso Michavila, an expert in electoral analysis who has advised Rajoy.

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He saw "very clearly" that the rivalry between Iglesias and Sanchez would stop them from forming a left-wing government and "he left everyone fight it out," he added.

Then last weekend, the Socialists -- divided and under pressure -- ousted Sanchez and opted to let Rajoy rule at the head of a minority government by abstaining in Saturday's parliamentary confidence vote.

Born in 1955 in Santiago de Compostela in the conservative, northwestern Galicia region, Rajoy is the eldest son of a provincial court president.

Trained as a lawyer, Rajoy turned to politics at a young age, joining the Popular Alliance, the party founded by ministers of former dictator Francisco Franco which later became the PP.

He later became the right-hand man of Jose Maria Aznar, who was Spanish leader from 1996 to 2004, serving in several ministerial posts.

As spokesman for the government in the later years of Aznar's leadership, Rajoy shielded him from criticism over his handling of the 2002 Prestige tanker spill or Spain's participation in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Aznar appointed him as his successor, but Rajoy went on to lose two general elections to the Socialists before voters finally handed him the premiership in 2011 as Spain suffered the ravages of the crisis.

- Minority government -

In a rare television chat on his personal life before the December elections, Rajoy said he never had many girlfriends, although he eventually married in his early forties and has two sons.

In politics, he has been described as a "rigid" and even "uncompromising" prime minister by people close to Sanchez and leaders in Catalonia, Spain's wealthy northeastern region where an independence movement has gathered pace since Rajoy came to power.

But as he looks for support for his minority government -- the PP only has 137 parliamentary seats out of 350 -- Rajoy has promised "dialogue" with his rivals.

Still, he appears unwilling to modify the course of his economic policies marked by sweeping spending cuts -- the reason why upstart Podemos, born in 2014 out of vociferous anti-austerity protests, rose as quickly as it did.
Aleppo (Syria) (AFP) - Car bombs and rocket fire shook Aleppo Saturday as rebels battled to break a suffocating siege by the Syrian regime, accused by Washington of using starvation as a "weapon of war".

The offensive, launched Friday, aims to break through a three-month encirclement of the battered city's eastern districts, where more than 250,000 people live without access to food or humanitarian aid.

"In just a few days, we will open the way for our besieged brothers," rebel commander Abu Mustafa told AFP from the frontline district of Dahiyet al-Assad, on the southwestern outskirts of Aleppo.

Fighting and air strikes pounded nearly all of Aleppo's western outskirts, with the most intense clashes reported in the districts of Al-Zahraa and Dahiyet al-Assad.

Yasser al-Youssef of the Noureddin al-Zinki rebel faction said opposition fighters opened a new front in Al-Zahraa on Saturday with a massive car bombing.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said rebels and allied jihadists have unleashed a barrage of rocket fire and at least 10 car bombs since their assault began.

The Britain-based group said two days of fighting have killed at least 30 regime forces and allied fighters as well as 26 Syrian rebels, but it did not give a toll for foreign militants battling alongside the opposition.

At least 21 civilians, including two children, have been killed in rebel bombardment since Friday morning.

Syrian state news agency SANA said rockets fired by opposition groups on Saturday wounded six people including a child in two regime-held districts.

- Most 'intense' clashes -

The offensive has seen more than 1,500 rebels from the provinces of Aleppo and nearby Idlib amass along a front stretching for 15 kilometres (nine miles) down the city's western edges.

Their aim is to work their way east through a sprawling military complex, then to the district of Al-Hamdaniyeh to break through government lines.

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Fighting on Saturday was so fierce around Al-Zahraa and Dahiyet al-Assad that the explosions and gunfire could be heard across Aleppo's eastern half, AFP's correspondent there said.

"There have not been clashes this intense in Al-Zahraa since 2012," when opposition fighters seized Aleppo's east, said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

He said pro-government forces launched a counter-attack on Saturday and managed to recapture several positions in Dahiyet al-Assad, where rebels had scored a major advance.

An AFP correspondent who visited the district saw deserted streets and extensive damage to buildings battered by air strikes and artillery fire.

Syria's second city, Aleppo has been devastated by some of the heaviest fighting of the country's five-year civil war that began with anti-government protests and has since killed more than 300,000 people.

Much of the once-bustling economic hub has been reduced to rubble by air and artillery bombardment, including barrel bombs -- crude unguided explosive devices that cause indiscriminate damage.

Last week, Russia implemented a three-day "humanitarian truce" intended to allow civilians and surrendering rebels to leave the east, but few did so.

- Russian bombing halt holds -

Russia, whose intervention in September 2015 with air strikes in support of President Bashar al-Assad's forces was seen as a game-changer, says it has not bombed Aleppo since October 18.

The Observatory said Saturday that Russian raids have been battering Aleppo's western battlefronts, but confirmed the halt to Moscow's aerial bombing of the city itself was holding.

The Russian military said Friday it had asked President Vladimir Putin for authorisation to resume the raids.

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin "considers it inappropriate at the current moment", adding that the president thought it necessary to "continue the humanitarian pause" in Aleppo.

The United States on Friday accused the regime of using starvation as a weapon of war -- a war crime under the Geneva Conventions.

Rejecting Kremlin claims that attacks on Aleppo have stopped, a US official told AFP that "the regime has rejected UN requests to deliver aid to eastern Aleppo -- using starvation as a weapon of war".

Aleppo's front line runs through the heart of the city, dividing rebels in the east from government troops in the west.

It lies at the crossroads of key transport routes, making it a strategic prize for both sides and a potential bargaining chip for both opposition and regime forces if UN-brokered peace talks are resumed.
Mumbai ATS has registered a case in this matter and a person has been detained.

By Saurabh Vaktania: Mumbai ATS and Crime Branch officials on Thursday conducted search operation at an abandoned structure in Manor area of Palghar district on Mumbai-Ahmadabad highway number 8.

Mumbai ATS has registered a case in this matter and a person has been detained.

According to top ATS sources, it was an IB alert to Maharashtra top cop on which Mumbai ATS began working.

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The place where ATS found explosives is close to Arabian sea.

Maharashtra is on high alert following the incident.

Also read:

Explosives seized at Palghar raise security concerns for Tarapur atomic plant



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BELGRADE (Reuters) - Police said they moved Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and his family to "a safe location" on Saturday after uncovering a weapons cache including a rocket-propelled grenade launcher near his parents' home which he regularly visits. The weapons, which also included hand grenades and rifle ammunition, were found in bushes in the neighborhood of Jajinci, near a crossroads where Vucic's motorcade normally slows down when taking him to his parents' home, Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic told reporters. Vucic's parents, Angelina and Andjelko, reside in the house in Jajinci. Vucic and his own family live in downtown Belgrade though Stefanovic made it clear he had been moved elsewhere since the weapons were found. The discovery, which followed a tipoff police said, exacerbates an already tense atmosphere in the region, which is bearing the brunt of Europe's migrant crisis and where rival Balkan countries routinely swop allegations of interference in each other's domestic affairs. "The Prime Minister is now safe, as well as his family ... it is worrying that weapons were in the place where his motorcade has to slow down to almost 10 km (six miles) per hour," Stefanovic said. Serbia's military intelligence agency (VOA) is responsible for the security of the prime minister, while members of Cobras, an elite army unit, serve as his personal bodyguards. Stefanovic declined to say where Vucic was when the weapons were uncovered. "This is confidential ... in any case he is at a safe location now." No arrests have yet been made in connection with the incident, which comes five days after authorities detained a number of people over a suspected plot to sway the outcome of Montenegro's Oct. 16 election and after several mafia-style assassinations among criminal groups in Belgrade. "The key to the safety (of the prime minister) will be to do intelligence work so we can find out ... who has such intentions and and to do everything we can to prevent that," Stefanovic said. Security around Serbian prime ministers and top officials was tightened after the 2003 assassination of Zoran Djindjic, the first pro-Western head of the government after the ouster of former strongman Slobodan Milosevic in 2000. In a statement, Ivica Dacic, Serbia's foreign minister and the head of the co-ruling Socialist Party said that many people opposed Vucic and his policies. "They will always find a Serb hand to do their dirty work for them, therefore investigations ... must be completed and the operators and masterminds arrested," Dacic said. Serbia is awash with hundreds of thousands of illegal weapons, including assault rifles, anti-tank weapons and explosive ordnance that remained in the private hands after the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s, many of such arms are now in the hands of criminal groups. (Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Thomas Escritt and Richard Balmforth)
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / June 2, 2017 / Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Puma Biotechnology, Inc. ("Puma" or the "Company") (PBYI) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court, Central District of California, and docketed under 17-cv-03455, is on behalf of a class consisting of investors who purchased or otherwise acquired Puma securities, seeking to recover compensable damages caused by defendants' violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

If you are a shareholder who purchased Puma securities between February 29, 2016 and May 4, 2017, both dates inclusive, you have until July 7, 2017 to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll free, ext. 9980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and number of shares purchased.

[Click here to join this class action]

Puma Biotechnology, Inc. is a development-stage pharmaceutical company that is primarily focused on acquiring and developing drug products. At all relevant times, Puma's primary focus has been the development of the drug PB272 ("neratinib"). Neratinib was initially developed by the pharmaceutical companies Wyeth and Pfizer Inc. ("Pfizer"), and Puma acquired the rights to license the drug in 2011.

Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company's business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) the Company did not anticipate that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's ("FDA") would ultimately approve neratinib for the treatment of breast cancer; (ii) as such, Puma had overstated the drug's approval prospects and/or commercial viability; and (iii) as a result, Puma's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

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On May 4, 2017, post-market, Puma disclosed the resignation of Dr. Robert Charnas, the Company's Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, citing "health reasons." Dr. Charnas' resignation will be effective as of May 15, 2017, nine days before the FDA scheduled review of Puma's breast cancer drug neratinib on May 24. On this news, Puma's share price fell $5.85, or 16.01%, to close at $30.70 on May 5, 2017.

On May 5, 2017, Fox Business published an online article entitled "Why Puma Biotechnology Shares are Crashing 18.2% Today."

The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Florida, and Los Angeles, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com

SOURCE: Pomerantz LLP
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / October 28, 2016 / Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against AECOM ("AECOM" or the "Company") (ACM) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court, Central District of California, and docketed under 16-cv-06605, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons or entities who purchased or otherwise acquired AECOM securities between February 11, 2015 and August 15, 2016 both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"). This class action seeks to recover damages against Defendants for alleged violations of the federal securities laws under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act").

If you are a shareholder who purchased AECOM securities during the Class Period, you have until October 31, 2016 to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll free, ext. 9980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and number of shares purchased.

[Click here to join this class action]

AECOM together with its subsidiaries, engages in designing, building, financing, and operating infrastructure assets worldwide. The Company operates through three segments: Design and Consulting Services (DCS), Construction Services (CS), and Management Services (MS). The DCS segment provides planning, consulting, architectural and engineering design, program management, and construction management services for industrial, commercial, institutional, and government clients, such as transportation, facilities, environmental, and energy/power markets. The CS segment offers building construction and energy, as well as infrastructure and industrial construction services. The MS segment provides program and facilities management and maintenance, training, logistics, consulting, technical assistance, and systems integration and information technology services primarily for agencies of the U.S. government and other national governments.

On October 17, 2014, AECOM announced that the Company had finalized its acquisition of URS Corp. ("URS" and the "URS Acquisition").

The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company's business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) AECOM engaged in fraudulent and deceptive business practices (ii) AECOM lacked effective internal controls over financial reporting; (iii) AECOM overstated the benefits of the URS Acquisition; (iv) AECOM overstated the Company's free cash flow per share; and (v) as a result of the foregoing, AECOM's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On August 16, 2016, Spruce Point Capital Management published a report on AECOM (the "Spruce Point Report"), stating that "after a careful forensic financial and accounting analysis of AECOM's recent financial results and condition, we believe that AECOM's stock is worth approximately 33% - 45% less than its current price." Among other issues, the Spruce Point Report cited AECOM management's "misaligned incentive structure," pursuant to which the Company's "CEO's $18 million compensation in 2015 [was] heavily tied to its aggressive interpretation of its Free Cash Flow per share," and asserted that the Company had misrepresented the costs and benefits of the URS Acquisition.

On this news, AECOM stock fell $1.65, or 4.7%, to close at $33.44 on August 16, 2016, damaging investors.

The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Florida, and Los Angeles, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com

SOURCE: Pomerantz LLP
By Stephen Kalin and Ahmed Rasheed AL-SHURA, Iraq/BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Shi'ite militias launched an offensive toward the west of Mosul on Saturday, an operation that will tighten the noose around Islamic State's Iraq stronghold but has alarmed Turkey and could inflame tensions in the mainly Sunni area. The battle for Mosul is expected to be the biggest in the 13 years of turmoil unleashed in Iraq by the 2003 U.S.-led invasion which toppled former president Saddam Hussein, a Sunni Muslim, and brought Iraq's majority Shi'ite Muslims to power. A spokesman for the Shi'ite militias, known as the Hashid Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) forces, said thousands of fighters "started operations this morning to clean up the hotbeds of Daesh (Islamic State) in the western parts of Mosul". The city is by far the largest held by the ultra-hardline Sunni Islamic State and its loss would mark their effective defeat in Iraq, two years after their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a cross-border caliphate in parts of Iraq and neighboring Syria from the pulpit of a Mosul mosque. The Shi'ite militias aim to capture villages west of Mosul and reach the town of Tal Afar, about 55 km (35 miles) from the city, the Hashid spokesman said. Their goal is to cut off any option of retreat by Islamic State insurgents into neighboring Syria or any reinforcement for their defense of Mosul. But their deployment close to the border with neighboring Turkey prompted a warning from President Tayyip Erdogan, who said Ankara aims to reinforce its troops on the frontier and threatened a "different response" for the militias if they "unleash terror" in Tal Afar. Turkish troops have been training Sunni tribal combatants at an Iraqi camp northeast of Mosul, but a spokesman for the Shi'ite militias said earlier on Saturday the Turks were in no position to obstruct their advance. The Iran-backed and battle-hardened paramilitaries bring additional firepower to the nearly two-week-old campaign to recapture Iraq's second largest city from the jihadist group. Iraqi soldiers and security forces and Kurdish peshmerga fighters, backed by a U.S.-led air coalition and thousands of Western military personnel, have been advancing in the last 13 days on the southern, eastern and northeastern fronts around Mosul, which remains home to 1.5 million people. POTENTIAL EXODUS The United Nations has warned of a possible humanitarian crisis and a potential refugee exodus from Mosul. Villagers from outlying areas around Mosul have told Reuters that women and children were being forced to walk as human shields alongside retreating Islamic State fighters as they withdrew into the city this week. Iraqi and Western military sources say there had been debate about whether or not to seal off Mosul's western flank. Leaving it open would have offered Islamic State a chance to retreat, potentially sparing residents from a devastating, inner-city fight to the finish. Some civilians fleeing Mosul have used the roads to the west to escape to Qamishli, in Kurdish-controlled northern Syria. Others, from villages just outside Mosul, have exploited the chaos to flee in the other direction. "Some people fled the other day so we took a chance. Daesh fired two bullets at us but they missed and we made it," said Ahmed Raad, 20, from the village of Abu Jarbuaa northeast of Mosul, who had found refuge at a peshmerga base. The International Organisation for Migration said on Saturday 17,520 people have been displaced so far during the Mosul operation - excluding thousands of people forced back into the city by Islamic State. Nearly two weeks into the Mosul campaign, troops advancing along the Tigris river valley south of Mosul are still much further from the city than Kurdish peshmerga fighters and an elite army unit advancing from the east. Thirty km (20 miles) south of Mosul, Iraqi rapid response forces entered the Sunni town of al-Shura on Saturday, once a significant base for Islamic State where the jihadists enjoyed strong support. An intelligence officer said that most of the Islamic State insurgents appeared to have pulled back north towards Mosul, leaving just a small number to try to slow the advancing security forces. AIR STRIKES Captain Abbas Shakir, speaking at the western edge of the town, said Islamic State fighters had built up defenses in the east and the south. "The enemy was surprised by our entrance from the west ... They dropped their weapons and fled," he said. Shakir told Reuters that security forces had taken the center of al-Shura and raised the Iraqi flag, killing 50 to 60 Islamic State insurgents. The remaining jihadists were firing from the eastern edge of the town, and security forces responded with artillery fire and air strikes. An Iraqi military statement later said al-Shura was under full control of the security forces. It also said the Shi'ite militias had captured a dozen small villages west of al-Shura, around 60 km (40 miles) southeast of their target, Tal Afar. Saturday's announcement by the Shi'ite militias added another force to the coalition of fighters seeking to crush Islamic State in Iraq, but will also raise concerns about the role the Popular Mobilisation fighters will play. Targeting the Islamic State-held town of Tal Afar, close to Turkey and home to a sizeable ethnic Turkmen population with historic and cultural ties to Turkey, will alarm Ankara. But many of the Tal Afar Turkmens are also Shi'ites, and its location on the road west to Syria gives it strategic importance to the Iranian-backed militias who have supported President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's five-year civil war. Erdogan, speaking to reporters in Ankara, said Turkey considered Tal Afar to be an entirely Turkmen town, half Sunni and half Shi'ite. "If Hashid Shaabi would unleash terror (there), our response would definitely be different." Hashid spokesman Ahmed al-Assadi said the Popular Mobilisation forces, who have already fought in support of Assad in Syria, would cross the border into Syria to support him again once they had "cleared" Islamic State from their own country. The Popular Mobilisation force, formed in 2014 to help push back Islamic State's sweeping advance, officially report to Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi's Shi'ite-led government, but has very close links to Iran. Human rights groups have warned of possible sectarian violence if the Shi'ite paramilitaries seize areas where Sunni Muslims form a majority, which is the case in much of northern and western Iraq. Amnesty International says that in previous campaigns, they committed "serious human rights violations, including war crimes" against civilians fleeing Islamic State-held territory. The government and the Popular Mobilisation forces say a limited number of violations occurred and were investigated, but they deny abuses were widespread and systematic. (Additional reporting by Michael Georgy near BASHIQA, Iraq, and Orhan Coskun in Ankara; Writing by Dominic Evans; editing by Mark Heinrich)
3% (Netflix) 3% (Netflix)

Every month, well tell you about new television shows to hit terrestrial and cable channels, as well as streaming sites in Singapore!

Well also highlight shows that youve got to be home (or on your phone) to catch every month.

Overview of November shows

Its a relatively quiet month with niche shows like Crown and quirky programmes like Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo that might just pique your interest if you give them a try.

Theres the usual slate of Korean dramas coming up, with Romantic Doctor, Teacher Kim popping up on two platforms.





Romantic Doctor, Teacher Kim

ONE (Singtel TV Ch 513/604, Starhub TV Ch 124/820/8230), 8 Nov, Wednesdays and Thursdays 8.10 pm

Viu, 8 Nov

Boo Yong Joo is a surgical prodigy nicknamed Hands of God in recognition of his impeccable skills, who abruptly quits his job and disappears one day. He resurfaces after some time at a small provincial hospital where he is now known as Teacher Kim, and where he mentors two younger doctors. Under Teacher Kims guidance, the two doctors will learn what it means to be true doctors!

The title pretty much gives away the premise of the show. The titular doctor specialises in medicine, teaches medicine to two younger doctors, falls in love or has some romantic entanglements with his students, and is known as Teacher Kim to the both of them.

It probably also means that hes hiding his identity and theyll discover what a legend they have on their hands, and since there are two younger doctors, we can look forward to a love triangle at some point.

And its so anticipated that its on both ONE and Viu! I think that says a lot about the anticipated popularity of the show.

If he learnt magic, then this series could potentially become a hit movie





Girl in the Box on Lifetime (Starhub Channel 514) (16 Nov, Wednesday 9.00 pm)

Based on a chilling true story, Girl in the Box is a dark psychological drama. In the spring of 1977, 22-year-old Colleen Stan is hitchhiking to California when she accepts a ride from a young married couple, Cameron and Janice Hooker. But Cameron is obsessed with S&M and bondage, and hes chosen Colleen to fulfill his fantasy of owning a slave.

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Kidnapped at knifepoint, Colleen will spend the next seven years imprisoned for up to 23 hours a day in a coffin-size box beneath the Hookers bed. When not incarcerated, she works as the Hookers slave and child-minder as she is drawn into a bizarre and complex world of obsession and fantasy.

Its a horrible premise to begin with, but it also tells you so much about Colleens captors and her own situation. Its got shades of claustrophobia infused into it, and theres even a hint of Stockholm syndrome in this film. Pretty dark for a telemovie, and its a welcome change for made-for-TV films to explore such controversial stories.





Rent-a-Rescue on GEM (Singtel TV Ch 519) (Rent-a-Rescue (29 Nov, Mondays and Tuesdays, 9.00 pm)

Help is but a phone call away! The debt-laden Yugo is at his wits end when a mysterious man offers him work as a multi-purpose rescue rental man. His job is to accede to every request from his clients, ranging from simple errands to locating missing persons. As he meets and solves the problems of many desperate clients, Yugo will come to find himself unwittingly becoming the towns hero!

This light-hearted comedy looks like the exact sort of quirky series that Japanese media are known for. Its got a hero whos willing to do whatever it takes to solve his issue, who rises to prominence thanks to his work ethic. Then theres the actual situation and work he has to do, which sounds like a lot of wacky mishaps waiting to happen. In an age where almost every drama is a serious examination of love and morality, its fun to see one that dispenses with all that, doesnt take itself too seriously, and just has fun with its characters.





Suria

PICIT (9 Nov, Wednesday 9.30 pm)





ONE (Singtel TV Ch 513/604, StarHub TV Ch 124/820/823)

Romantic Doctor, Teacher Kim (8 Nov, Wednesdays and Thursdays 8.10 pm)





GEM (Singtel TV Ch 519)

Pretty Proofreader (23 Nov, Wednesdays and Thursdays 9.00 pm)



Rent-a-Rescue (29 Nov, Mondays and Tuesdays, 9.00 pm)





Animax (Singtel TV Ch 342, StarHub TV Ch 532)

The Seven Deadly Sins -Signs of Holy War- (28 Nov, Mondays and Tuesdays 10.00 pm)

Hello!! KINMOZA! (8 Nov, Mondays and Tuesdays, 8.00 pm)





cHK (Singtel TV Ch 510)

The Mystic Nine (7 Nov, Mondays to Fridays 10.00 pm)





Lifetime (Starhub Channel 514)

Killer Coach (movie) (2 Nov, Wednesday 9.00 pm)

Indiscretion (movie) (9 Nov, Wednesday 9.00 pm)

Girl in the Box (movie) (16 Nov, Wednesday 9.00 pm)

The Wrong Child (movie) (23 Nov, Wednesday 9.00 pm)

The Inherited (movie) (30 Nov, Wednesday 9.00 pm)





Viu

Entourage Korea (4 Nov)

Romantic Doctor, Teacher Kim (8 Nov)

Father, I Take Care of You (13 Nov)

Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo (17 Nov)





Netflix

The Expanse (3 Nov)

The Crown (4 Nov)

The Ivory Game (4 Nov)

World of Winx (4 Nov)

Beat Bugs (second season) (8 Nov)

True Memoirs of an International Assassin (movie) (11 Nov)

Roman Empire: Reign of Empire (11 Nov)

Lovesick (second season) (11 Nov)

Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life (25 Nov)

3% (25 Nov)





Marcus Goh is a Singapore television scriptwriter. Hes also a Transformers enthusiast and avid pop culture scholar. He Tweets/Instagrams at Optimarcus and writes at marcusgohmarcusgoh.com. The views expressed are his own.






Under Project Cheetah, the Indian Air Force is planning to upgrade and equip its Israeli-made UAVs with missiles which will be able to carry out surgical strikes without risking the lives of soldiers.

The Air Force is working to equip its fleet of UAVs with missile capability.

By Ajit Kumar Dubey: After using Special Forces troops to attack and destroy terrorist launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, India is now planning to add combat drones to its fleet which can do the same job without risking soldiers' lives.

The Indian Air Force is working to upgrade and equip its fleet of Israeli-made Searcher and Heron Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) with missiles under a top secret and classified programme code named 'Project Cheetah'.

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For the ambitious plan, which is expected to cost almost more than Rs 10,000 crores, the Air Force is looking to join hands with the Israel defence major Israeli Aircraft Industry (IAI).

"Under the project, we are planning to equip our Searchers and Herons with advance snooping capabilities and missiles which can target terrorists and their hideouts both within India and if required, across the borders," a senior IAF source told Mail Today.

Also Read | Surgical strikes in PoK: How Indian para commandos killed 50 terrorists, hit 7 camps Also Read | Avenging Uri: How India conducted surgical strikes in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir

UAVs WILL HAVE SNOOPING CAPABILITIES, AND THE ABILITY TO STRIKE

Former IAF vice chief air marshal RK Sharma said ideally when the UAVs can see targets with their surveillance and snooping payloads, they should also have the capability to strike rather than having to deploy other aircraft or assets to do that job.

"If you have such a capability in form of drones, you can take down terrorist targets both within and across the borders," the former vice chief stated.

With such a capability in its fold, in future scenario if the Army units inform about any particular launch pad of terrorists getting active, the IAF can deploy its armed drones to unleash a silent punishment to terrorists from 30,000 feet over the ground.

After silently hovering over PoK over suspected launch pads for some time gathering accurate intelligence the drones can launch an attack and return to the base causing greater damage than what the troops can do.

"The precision guided missiles would also help in specific elimination of desired targets and there would be none or minimum collateral damage in such operations," the IAF officer explained.

Also Read | Manohar Parrikar clears purchase of 145 M777 howitzers worth Rs 4500 crore from US

DRONES CAN BE PUT TO USE TO LOCATE TERRORISTS

Officers said the drones can also be put to use in case a terrorist hideout is located in higher reaches in Kashmir where missiles can be safely fired to destroy them without any fear of causing any injury to the civilians.

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For turning their surveillances drones into killer vehicles, the IAF has taken a cue from the United States. For the Americans, drones are the weapons of choice for taking out terrorist leaders or destroying their safe houses.

The Americans regularly smoke out terrorists using their MQ-1 Predators and GlobalHawk as it has killed several more than 2,500 terrorist leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan alone during its war on terror in these countries.

India, so far, has not used air power in anti-terrorist operations in Jammu and Kashmir or Northeast to take out terrorists as a policy to not to be seen being too tough within own areas.

India recently used helicopter gunships to eliminate terrorists who had entered the Pathankot air base but that was within a military station and not in civilian locality. Unlike India, Pakistan uses its American AH1 Cobra gunships extensively against even suspected civilians as can be seen in its Operation Zarb-e-Azb in Taliban and Baloch areas within its own country.



Also Read | Moscow assures India of support in its efforts to isolate Pakistan

THE UPGRADES TO PRESENT DRONES TO WORK IN INDIA'S FAVOUR

At the moment, the IAF flies the Israeli-made Searcher II and Heron UAVs for reconnaissance and snooping purposes.

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"With the upgrade in snooping capabilities, the forces on ground would also be able to get pin-point intelligence about hideouts in areas where men have to be involved in operations," an IAF source revealed.

The upgrades would also enable the IAF ground station handlers to operate these aircraft from far-off distances and control them through satellite communication system.

The project has been in the works for quite some time and government is also thinking of involving Indian agencies, including the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, to use their expertise in the programme.

Also Read:

India likely to reconsider acquiring M777 ultra light howitzers with US

India, Russia ink deal to jointly produce 200 Kamov 226T helicopters; all you need to know



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Madrid (AFP) - Spain turns the page on a 10-month political crisis Saturday as lawmakers ready to vote the conservatives back in power, although at the head of a government with unprecedented opposition.

Aided by divisions among his rivals, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is widely expected to win a crunch parliamentary confidence vote which will see him officially re-appointed as Spanish leader.

At the same time, protesters unhappy about corruption and sweeping spending cuts during Rajoy's first term are set to take to the streets, fearing his new government will be more of the same.

In a sign of things to come, party leaders in this week's pre-vote parliamentary debate came out fighting, criticising Rajoy and each other just as they did for 10 months as the country went through two inconclusive elections.

This unstable period saw Spain go from jubilant hope after December 2015 polls ended the two-party system, as millions voted for two upstart parties, to disillusion following repeat polls in June that yielded similar inconclusive results.

Rajoy's Popular Party (PP) won both elections but without enough seats to rule alone, and as no political grouping was able to agree on a viable coalition, Spain looked set for unprecedented third elections in less than a year.

This all changed last weekend when the Socialists swallowed a bitter pill and decided to abstain in Saturday's confidence vote to avoid more elections -- a move that came after weeks of in-fighting that saw their chief Pedro Sanchez ousted.

But this gives Rajoy, the official prime ministerial candidate, enough traction to see him through the vote.

- 'Turbulent' term -

Unlike when he came came to power in 2011 with an absolute majority, however, Rajoy's party will only have 137 seats out of 350 in parliament and will face huge opposition, forcing him to negotiate every law.

"Rajoy, a king without a kingdom," online daily El Espanol summed up in an editorial.

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First on his list will be to approve a 2017 budget under EU pressure, with Brussels saying Spain needs to implement at least five billion euros ($5.5 billion) in spending cuts to reduce the deficit.

But this is likely to face stiff opposition in parliament and on the street, and already Rajoy's rivals have pledged to vote against it.

During this week's debate, the Socialists and far-left Podemos -- now the country's third political force -- vowed not to go easy on him.

Rajoy, meanwhile, called on the opposition to let him govern effectively, pointing to the return to growth and drop in unemployment under his watch after a devastating crisis, and the necessity to keep this going.

Political analyst Pablo Simon said there was "no doubt" his term in office would be the most "turbulent" ever in Spain and could prompt Rajoy to call early elections if he keeps hitting brick walls.

But he predicted Rajoy may not have quite as hard a ride as expected.

The Socialists, for one, will need time to rebuild in the opposition and will not want early elections, knowing they would fare badly after their very public breakdown.

The PP also has a majority in the Senate, and may be able to form pacts with smaller parties in the lower house to see laws through, Simon added.
* Rajoy set for second term, but heading weak government

* Rajoy will seek to outmanoeuvre divided left

* Budget deficit, Catalan independence challenges

* Socialist opposition deeply divided over supporting Rajoy (Recasts with result of confidence vote)

By Inmaculada Sanz and Sarah White

MADRID, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Spain ended 10 months of political gridlock on Saturday when lawmakers agreed to grant conservative leader Mariano Rajoy a second term as prime minister.

After two inconclusive elections and fruitless attempts at coalition-building between bickering parties, Rajoy will now form the first fully-functioning government since December, albeit with the weakest mandate in Spain's modern history.

Without a majority in Spain's fragmented parliament, Rajoy's administration will have to negotiate pacts with opponents if it wants to see out its four-year term and pass laws, starting with a new budget plan for next year.

"We've survived more than 300 days with an acting government but we will not survive a government that cannot govern because it lacks support or faces too many obstacles," Rajoy told lawmakers, urging them to safeguard Spain's economic recovery. "I'm not asking for the moon."

Rajoy's rivals have so far not guaranteed him any form of political stability, though the threat of another snap election, which his People's Party (PP) would likely win once again, may afford him some reprieve.

After governing as caretaker prime minister since December, Rajoy won a parliamentary confidence vote on Saturday after dozens of lawmakers from his long-standing Socialist opponents lifted their veto on his second term and abstained.

He said he would name a new cabinet on Thursday.

The confidence vote marked a personal triumph for 61-year-old Rajoy and confirmed his reputation as a political survivor.

After winning an election in 2011, he imposed deep spending cuts to tackle a soaring deficit as Spain endured a deep recession and unemployment rocketed to nearly 27 percent. Rajoy's PP was also tainted by a series of corruption scandals.

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Voters punished the party even as the economy later recovered, stripping it of its absolute majority. But it still won the most votes in elections last December and in June, and Rajoy resisted calls from rival parties to step aside.

STRUGGLE WITH THE OPPOSITION

Rajoy struck a conciliatory tone this week, offering to work with opponents on issues like pension and education reform, and opening the door to further dialogue with Catalonia, a northeastern region in the grip of a strong independence drive.

But many in Spain are sceptical of what the government can achieve, with just 137 seats in the 350-strong parliament.

"There's no consensus to reach any broad agreement between everyone and I can see this situation getting worse," said Begona Herrero, 65, a property agent in Madrid.

Rajoy, who may need to pass fresh spending cuts to meet deficit targets set by Brussels next year, will be able to count on support on some issues from the liberal Ciudadanos or "Citizens" party, which came fourth in June elections.

But others - including the second-placed Socialists and anti-austerity Podemos ("We Can"), the third-biggest party in parliament - have said they will fight Rajoy's policies and will not approve his budgets.

Several thousand people marched in protest against a new Rajoy government in the capital on Saturday.

"Rajoy is going to keep making cuts to education, healthcare and eroding workers' rights like he did when he was last in power," said Angel Guillen, 40, who works in the Madrid local government.

A DIVIDED LEFT

Rajoy will attempt to outmanoeuvre a divided and distracted left-wing.

The Socialists, in power for half of the past four decades, were torn apart over their leaders' decision to allow Rajoy to govern. They now face a challenge from Podemos to lead the opposition.

Former Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez, ousted in early October over his refusal to enable a Rajoy government, quit his seat in parliament rather than abstain in the confidence vote, and 15 other Socialist lawmakers broke with the party line and opposed Rajoy's re-election.

Sanchez suggested he could try and run for the party leadership again in upcoming primaries.

"I completely disagree with the decision to enable Mariano Rajoy to govern," a tearful Sanchez told a news conference earlier on Saturday.

"From Monday onwards I'm going to get into my car and go all over Spain to listen to those that are not being listened to." ($1 = 0.9142 euros) (Additional reporting and writing by Adrian Croft, Maria Vega Paul and Angus Berwick, Editing by Mark Bendeich and Richard Balmforth)
MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish conservative leader Mariano Rajoy won a parliamentary vote to be prime minister on Saturday, ending 10 months of political gridlock that had left the country without a fully-functioning government. Rajoy's center-right People's Party is set to form a minority government, after gaining support from the smaller Ciudadanos ("Citizens") party and the tacit backing of many Socialist lawmakers who abstained in the confidence vote. Rajoy needed to win a simply majority in parliament to cement his return to power. He got 170 "yes" votes while 111 lawmakers voted against him and 68 legislators abstained. (Reporting by Sarah White; Editing by Adrian Croft)
A stuntman working on the Shooter TV reboot says Tom Sizemore was drunk when he hit him with a vehicle on set, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Steve De Castro says he was working on location at the Agua Dulce Airport in Santa Clarita, Calif., on July 6 when Sizemore became intoxicated knowing he would operate a motor vehicle. Attorney Lawrence Grassini argues Sizemore's actions were willful, vile and done in conscious disregard for safety - warranting exemplary damages.

De Castro says he doesn't yet know the extent of his injuries, but he's suing the actor - along with Viacom, Paramount and others - for a host of claims including negligence, battery, assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The stuntman claims producers ratified Sizemore's actions by not terminating him after the crash.

Sizemore joined the USA show in May and, in July, was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence - less than two weeks after the crash happened.

Producers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The full complaint is below.
Supreme Court will hear transgender bathroom case and it could change everything

When it comes to transgender equality, there are some hopeful steps being taken by the government. Most recently, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to hear a transgender bathroom case, so there might be a federal precedent sooner than most people thought. Thats some good news. The case is that of Gavin Grimm, a 17-year-old trans student and the Virginia public school district over which bathroom hed be allowed to use.

Coming out can be incredibly difficult, but bravely, Gavin Grimm came out as transgender after his freshman year of high school. That took a lot of guts. But then things got more complicated.

The principal of Gloucester High School had initially allowed him to use the mens room but just months into his sophomore year, a few of the parents of other students heard that a girl was using the boys bathroom and were concerned that this would create discomfort for the other children. The school board quickly reversed their decision and mandated that students use the restroom that corresponds to their biological genders. The board added that students with gender identity issues would be allowed to use private bathrooms.

sigh

Back in August, the Supreme Court blocked Grimms victory at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit from taking effect while it considered the school boards petition. If the high court had turned down the case, Grimm would have won boys bathroom rights immediately.

I was disappointed but not discouraged, Grimm said while speaking with USA Today. Im looking forward to using my platform  so that hopefully in the future, no other kids are going to have to go through this.

The Supreme Court will hear from Gavin Grimm, a trans student denied use of student bathroom: https://t.co/KWHYy7WZfd #StandwithGavin  Janet Mock (@janetmock) October 28, 2016

If the court rules in his favor, it would put bathroom laws being passed in other states, like North Carolinas HB2, into question. And it would mean that the country officially recognizes transgender individuals rights to use the bathroom that corresponds to their gender. In recent aThe Washington Post op-ed, Gavin said:

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We are not perverse. We are not broken. We are not sick. We are not freaks. We cannot change who we are. Our gender identities are as innate as anyone elses. I hope the justices of the Supreme Court can see me and the rest of the transgender community for who we arejust peopleand rule accordingly.

We hope so too, Gavin. The case is likely to be heard by April and decided by late June.

The post Supreme Court will hear transgender bathroom case and it could change everything appeared first on HelloGiggles.
Ex-Soviet republic Tajikistan on Saturday marked the start of construction of a controversial $4 billion Rogun hydroelectric dam conceived in the Soviet era, the presidential press service said.

The high-profile ceremony was held in Rogun some 100 kilometres from the capital Dushanbe and saw veteran President Emomali Rakhmon spend an hour-and-a-half behind the wheel of a bulldozer pushing soil to block the Vakhsh river.

According to his press service Rakhmon, 64, "poured gravel onto the bed of the (redirected) River Vakhsh, marking the beginning of construction of the Rogun hydroelectric plant vital for the people of Tajikistan."

Speaking at the ceremony Rakhmon called the start of construction "the achievement of the year."

He also promised states in the region worried about the project that Tajikistan would "never leave its neighbours without water."

The dam, initially conceived by Moscow in the 1970s, has been severely criticised by Uzbekistan.

Saturday's ceremony came a day after most of Tajikistan was plunged into darkness for several hours following an accident at the Nurek hydropower plant that supplies the bulk of the country's electricity.

In July, Tajikistan announced that Italian company Salini Impregilo had won a $3.9 billion contract to build the Rogun dam, which at 335 metres (1,099 feet) would be the world's tallest.

Downstream neighbour Uzbekistan strongly opposed the Rogun project under late president Islam Karimov, who feared its impact on Uzbek agriculture.

Karimov's likely successor Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who became interim president after the autocrat's funeral in September, also publicly criticised the project earlier this year.

In addition to helping the country achieve energy independence -- planned shutoffs affect many parts of the country during the winter -- Tajikistan believes Rogun will transform the country into a regional hub for electricity exports.

Tajikistan is a key node in the US-backed CASA-1000 project that aims to increase supplies of electricity from the region to South Asian countries Afghanistan and Pakistan.
DUSHANBE (Reuters) - Tajikistan on Saturday diverted the flow of a major river to start building the world's tallest dam and the main element of the Rogun hydroelectric power plant, a $3.9 billion project which Dushanbe hopes will secure its energy independence. The Central Asian nation which borders Afghanistan lacks hydrocarbon resources and relies heavily on hydroelectric power, although its neighbors downstream complain that this disrupts their traditional agricultural works. President Imomali Rakhmon's office said in a statement he attended Saturday's ceremony at which explosions were used to block the main riverbed of the Vakhsh river, paving way for the construction of a 335-metre dam for which Italy's Salini Impregilo this year won a $3.9 billion contract. Uzbekistan, another former Soviet republic and Central Asia's most populous nation of 30 million, has repeatedly urged Tajikistan not to build Rogun. In order to power the hydro plants, Tajikistan needs to accumulate water during the summer -- when it is needed downstream for irrigation -- and then release it in the winter, causing spring floods downstream. Highlighting the poor state of Tajikistan's existing energy infrastructure, mostly built in the Soviet era, a malfunction at the country's biggest power plant, Nurek, left most of the country in complete darkness for several hours late on Friday. The outage also affected production at Tajikistan Aluminium Company, one of the country's main hard currency earners, the firm said on Saturday without disclosing any details. In a speech broadcast by state television on Saturday, Rakhmon said upgrades at the Nurek power plant would require $700 million. The new power plant, Rogun, will start providing electric power in late 2018, Rakhmon said. (Reporting by Nazarali Pirnazarov; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Stephen Powell)
By India Today Web Desk: Ranveer Singh and Deepika's relationship has been the topic of discussion for innumerable gossip columns. Rumours were abuzz that the couple were going through a rough patch in their relationships and were even planning to call it quits. Some reports suggested that the bone of contention was Shahid Kapoor.

ALSO READ: Is Shahid Kapoor the reason why Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh are fighting?



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While the status of Ranveer and Deepika's relationship has kept us guessing, a new report in Filmfare suggests that all is well between the couple. Apparently, the couple was spotted entering Dippy's building on Tuesday. The two happily walked hand in hand to the lift and really seemed to be enjoying each other's company.

We hope this news is true and the couple have indeed reconciled!

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DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - Tanzania's president on Saturday ordered the security forces to go after top criminals financing organized networks behind elephant poaching, saying no one was "untouchable". The East African nation, home to the famous Serengeti which is packed with wildlife and Africa's highest mountain Kilimanjaro, relies on revenues from tourism and safaris but has been blighted by poachers chasing ivory to sell mostly in Asia. Since coming to power in 2015, President John Magufuli has promised root out corruption and mismanagement. "I am behind you ... arrest all those involved in this illicit trade, no one should be spared regardless of his position, age, religion ... or popularity," Magufuli said in a statement. "Go after all of them ... so that we protect our elephants from being slaughtered." Magufuli issued the directive after visiting the Natural Resources and Tourism Ministry in Tanzania's commercial capital Dar es Salaam, where he saw 50 tusks seized from poachers. "This is unacceptable," he said during an inspection of the haul. "We cannot allow our natural resources to be lost because of the greed of a few people." Magufuli said he would continue to support the work of Tanzania's National and Transnational Serious Crimes Investigation Unit (NTSCIU) to fight elephant poaching. Poaching has risen in recent years across sub-Saharan Africa, where well-armed criminal gangs have killed elephants for tusks and rhinos for horns that are often shipped to Asia for use in ornaments and medicines. In Tanzania, the elephant population shrank from 110,000 in 2009 to around 43,000 in 2014, according to a census last year, with conservationists blaming "industrial-scale" poaching. There are also far fewer rhinos and they are endangered. The NTSCIU anti-poaching team is comprised of officials from the Tanzania Intelligence and Security Service, police, army, immigration, judiciary and the national wildlife service. The team is credited with the arrest of more than 870 poachers and illegal ivory traders and the seizure of over 300 firearms over the past few years. In October last year, prosecutors charged prominent Chinese businesswoman Yang Feng Glan, 66, dubbed the "Ivory Queen", with running a network that smuggled tusks from 350 elephants after she was arrested by members of the NTSCIU. She denies this. Magufuli on Saturday sacked the police director of criminal investigation, Diwani Athumani, without giving a reason. A police source said the president was not satisfied with progress in the fight against crime, including ivory smuggling. (Reporting by Fumbuka Ng'wanakilala; Editing by Edmund Blair and Alison Williams)
By Aditi Shah and Tommy Wilkes

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - As family patriarch Ratan Tata takes back the controls at his Indian conglomerate after a boardroom coup this week, one sector is cheering his, albeit interim, return: the group's airline ventures, both lagging competitors in India's cutthroat market.

Industry executives and analysts say they expect loss-making Vistara and AirAsia India, both part-owned by Tata, to enjoy fresh cash and expansion plans as low fuel prices and Indian government policy drive a boom in air travel.

"Now he's back, we'll see him taking aggressive steps," said Mark D Martin, chief executive at Martin Consulting, adding this could include growing other ventures such as Taj Air, a charter company also owned by the Tata group.

Vistara and AirAsia India declined to comment.

Tata Sons, the parent controlling Tata's listed businesses, has said Ratan Tata's return from retirement is temporary, and denied the move would mean any extra focus on the airlines - other than for business reasons. "Both businesses are completely focused on enhancing their market positions," a spokesman said.

But analysts say the move will have a longer-term impact, with the family reasserting its influence in day-to-day operations.

Tata agreed to invest an estimated $60 million into the two airlines when they launched, mostly into Vistara.

The two airlines have a combined India market share of around 5 percent - dwarfed by more established carriers like InterGlobe Aviation's budget airline IndiGo.

AT ODDS

The Tata family has a long history with aviation.

Ratan Tata's predecessor was India's first qualified pilot, and Tata's first airline was later nationalised as state carrier Air India. Ratan Tata, insiders said, fulfilled a long-held dream when he pulled the group back into the aviation sector in 2013.

Ousted chairman Cyrus Mistry, who replaced Tata in 2012, was less keen, however.

In a leaked letter to the Tata board earlier this week, Mistry said he had opposed Tata's 2013 partnership with Malaysia's AirAsia Bhd to launch AirAsia India.

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More than a year later, Tata started a second airline, Vistara, in partnership with Singapore Airlines.

"Tata Sons took a considered view that it makes business sense to take part in India's civil aviation industry," a spokesman for Tata Sons said.

Mistry's blistering letter portrayed Ratan Tata, 78, as a man who cast aside his advice and bulldozed through major decisions. Mistry considered the airlines to be proof that he had his hands tied as chairman, illustrating just how Tata still pulled the strings even after retiring.

"It is on his advice that the Tata Sons board has increased the capital infusion in the (aviation) sector at multiple levels of the initial commitment," Mistry wrote.

Tata has not detailed its most recent capital infusion, but media reports have said it increased its stake in AirAsia India over time to 49 percent from 30 percent for an undisclosed sum.

In Vistara, 51 percent-owned by Tata, media reported last month Tata approved injecting an additional $37 million alongside Singapore Airlines, which would bring the total equity by the joint-owners to around $150 million.

EMOTIONAL TIES

Whoever's in charge, turning a profit in India's competitive environment will be tough. Analysts say two years is too short: budget airlines could take up to five years and full service carriers up to seven years to be profitable.

Vistara has already had to revise its strategy, which initially sought to target business travellers, and AirAsia India has seen several senior management changes since it launched in 2014, and experts have queried its strategy.

Airline analysts and consultants said they expect Tata to strengthen the group's market foothold, for example, by expanding its partnership with Metro Jets, a provider of business aviation services including charters and maintenance.

"For Ratan Tata, it's an emotional issue," said Harsh Vardhan, head of Starair Consulting. "The Tatas think they pioneered aviation in the country, and again have a role to play."

(Reporting by Aditi Shah and Tommy Wilkes; Editing by Clara Ferreira-Marques and Ian Geoghegan)
Bangkok (AFP) - Thousands of Thais streamed into the gates of Bangkok's Grand Palace on Saturday as the public was granted its first chance to enter the throne hall where the body of late King Bhumibol Adulyadej is lying in state.

Bhumibol, who died aged 88 two weeks ago, was adored by many of his subjects and seen as an anchor of stability in a kingdom rocked by political turmoil.

His passing has thrust the country into a year of official mourning, with many Thais wearing only black and white since his death and TV channels devoting hours of airtime to footage from his 70-year reign.

For the past two weeks crowds have massed outside the Grand Palace, a compound of shimmering temples and pavilions in Bangkok's old quarter, to pay tribute before a portrait of the late monarch.

But Saturday was the first time the public has been allowed to enter the ornate throne hall where his body is lying in a coffin, out of sight, near a gilded urn.

"I have been waiting here since 1:00 am," said Saman Daoruang, an 84-year-old sitting in a massive queue that snaked around a large field outside the palace.

Like many in the crowd, Saman camped out under a tent on the grassy parade grounds, having arrived in Bangkok by train from northern Nakhon Sawan province.

"But I wasn't able to sleep because I was so thrilled and proud to come here," he told AFP, clutching several portraits of the monarch.

An initial plan to limit visitors to 10,000 per day was dropped Saturday after crowds swelled to 100,000, according to a monitoring centre outside the palace.

However Sansern Kaewkamnerd, a government spokesman, urged people "not to rush to come in the early days" as the throne hall would be open for "a long time".

Thailand's arch-royalist military government, which came to power in a 2014 coup, has encouraged mass displays of devotion for the late king and arranged a flurry of free bus, train and boat rides to move mourners to the capital.

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It has also stepped up its enforcement of lese majeste -- a law that punishes criticism of the monarchy with up to 15 years in prison per infringement.

All media based in Thailand must self-censor to avoid falling foul of the law.

The legislation has also severely curbed public discussion about the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, who has yet to attract the same level of devotion as his father.

In a move that surprised many and veered from tradition, the 64-year-old asked to delay his proclamation as king in order to grieve with the nation, according the junta.

The government has not provided a clear timeline for when he will formally ascend the throne.
By Scott Malone

(Reuters) - Officials in Florida and Virginia filed voter fraud charges against three people in apparently unrelated cases on Friday, just 11 days before American voters cast ballots in the hotly contested presidential race.

The charges targeted a Florida woman and a Virginia man accused of filing bogus voter registration forms and a Florida woman alleged to have tampered with absentee ballots she was opening at the Miami-Dade Elections Department.

In the Iowa capital of Des Moines, county election officials referred three cases of suspected voter fraud to police earlier this week, leading to one arrest on Thursday, police said.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has charged in recent weeks that the election will be rigged in favor of Democrat Hillary Clinton, though he has shown no proof for these claims and many Republicans have called them unfounded.

Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle in Florida said that 74-year-old Gladys Coego had been working as an absentee ballot opener when a supervisor allegedly saw her changing ballots that had been left blank to support a mayoral candidate. Prosecutors said that Coego admitted to marking the ballots and was charged with two felony counts of marking or designating the ballot of another.

"The integrity of the electoral process is intact because our procedures work," said Christina White, the county's election supervisor, in a statement.

Tomika Curgil, 33, was charged with five felony counts of submitting false voter registration information for allegedly handing in forms filled out by fictitious voters while working on a voter-registration drive for a medical marijuana advocacy group.

A Virginia man was also charged with submitting falsified forms while working for a voter-registration campaign, state prosecutors said.

Vafalay Massaquoi, 30, was arraigned on two felony counts of forging a public record and two counts of voter registration fraud.

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"There is no allegation that any illegal vote was actually cast in this case," said Virginia Commonwealth's Attorney Bryan Porter. "Furthermore, since the fraudulent applications involved fictitious people, had the fraud not been uncovered, the risk of actual fraudulent votes being cast was low."

Neither Coego, Curgil nor Massaquoi could be reached for immediate comment.

Police in Des Moines on Thursday arrested a woman who was accused of voting twice - casting early-voting ballots at two locations - in one of three cases of suspected voter fraud reported by the Polk County Auditor's Office.

Police did not disclose the political affiliation of the woman, identified as Terri Lynn Rote, 55, but the Des Moines Register newspaper reported she was a registered Republican.

A man in Texas, where early voting started on Monday, was arrested on Monday on charges of electioneering and loitering near a polling place, public records show.

The man, Brett Mauthe, had been charged for showing up to vote in a Trump hat and T-shirt with the phrase "basket of deplorables," a reference to a comment Clinton made disparaging her rivals' supporters, election officials told media.

(Additional reporting by Jonathan Herskovitz in Austin, Texas, and Letitia Stein in Tampa, Florida; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Nick Macfie)
DIYARBAKIR (Reuters) - A Turkish court banned the co-leader of Turkey's pro-Kurdish opposition from traveling abroad as part of a court case in which she has been accused of being a member of an armed terrorist group, Hurriyet daily reported on Saturday. Figen Yuksekdag, co-chair of Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), is facing jail time up to 15 years over comments she made last year in the southeastern border town of Suruc. The prosecutor of the case requested the ban. HDP described the court's decision to bar Yuksekdag from foreign travel as 'political and arbitrary', saying in a statement that it will make a formal appeal for its overturn. The move comes days after the co-mayors of Diyarbakir, the largest city in the southeast, were detained as part of a security crackdown. Turkey's largely Kurdish southeast has been rocked by violence following the collapse of a ceasefire between the state and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) last year. President Tayyip Erdogan has accused the HDP of being a political extension of the outlawed PKK and repeatedly called for the prosecution of its members. He has also said the removal of elected officials and civil servants accused of links to the PKK was a vital part of the battle against it. Several other HDP lawmakers including co-chair Selahattin Demirtas are also being prosecuted, largely over terrorism charges, after the parliament earlier this year lifted the immunity of HDP deputies, along with the immunity of MPs from other parties. Meanwhile three Turkish soldiers were killed and five others were wounded by mortar fire from PKK militants near the southeastern town of Cukurca, security sources said. Soldiers who were on an operation in Cukurca in Hakkari province bordering Iraq and Iraq returned the fire, sources said. Operations were under way to hunt down the militants. The autonomy-seeking PKK took up arms in 1984, and more than 40,000 people have died in the conflict. It is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. (Reporting by Seyhmus Cakan and Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Jason Neely and Stephen Powell)
* Three execs from Mistry's advisory council resign - sources

* Senior lawyer denies mediating talks between Mistry, Tata

* Financial crime-fighting agency to probe aviation allegations (Recasts with resignations, updates throughout)

By Promit Mukherjee and Aditi Shah

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Three senior group executives at India's Tata Sons have resigned, people close to the matter told Reuters on Saturday, as management woes appeared to deepen at the $100 billion conglomerate following the stunning ouster of its chairman.

The three executives were members of an executive council disbanded after Tata dismissed chairman Cyrus Mistry on Monday. The council, comprising five senior Tata group executives and Mistry, was tasked with creating long-term value for stakeholders and boosting returns on investment.

Those who quit are group human resources chief N.S. Rajan; group business development and public affairs head Madhu Kannan; and group strategy executive Nirmalya Kumar.

Reuters could not reach any of the three for comment. Tata did not respond to an e-mail request for comment on Saturday.

Reuters reported earlier this week that the other two council executives, Mukund Rajan and Harish Bhat, would take on senior level responsibilities within the Tata group.

One person close to Tata said there was no certainty all the positions would be re-filled as the group's structure is likely to change with Mistry's exit. Another person, however, said replacements could be named as early as next week, though there was no management crisis as each Tata company has its own team of public affairs and business development executives.

But some governance experts say the resignations of senior executives risk increasing the sense of uncertainty at Tata.

"In the short term, obviously there'll be some disruption at the group level" said Shriram Subramanian of InGovern, a shareholder advocacy group. "People leaving at senior levels shows there's a lack of confidence between the two sides, and that needs to be reinstated at the earliest to contain any longer-term damage."

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MEDIATION

Disagreements between Mistry and his predecessor Ratan Tata, the family patriarch and now stand-in chairman of the 148-year-old conglomerate, have turned a boardroom battle into a damaging public spat fuelled by leaked letters and tit-for-tat accusations.

Mistry alleges corporate governance failures and mismanagement at Tata, which has dismissed the allegations as "malicious".

CNBC-TV18 news channel reported on Saturday that Darius Khambatta, a senior lawyer close to both Tata and Mistry, had initiated mediation talks between the two parties. Khambatta told Reuters he was "not mediating between them," but declined to comment on whether he had met Tata and Mistry.

India's financial crime-fighting agency will look into Mistry's allegations about mismanagement at Tata's aviation ventures, another person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

In a leaked letter to the Tata board, Mistry has said he was opposed to Tata's aviation partnerships with Malaysia's AirAsia Bhd and Singapore Airlines.

In the case of Air Asia, a forensic investigation had found "fraudulent transactions" of 220 million rupees ($3.29 million) involving "non-existent parties", he alleged.

That prepared the ground for a "probe into the allegation of mismanagement of funds," said an official at the national Enforcement Directorate, on condition of anonymity.

The agency was not immediately available to comment. Tata did not respond to Reuters questions on this matter. An AirAsia India spokeswoman said she had no immediate comment.

India's capital markets regulator is already looking into Mistry's allegations related to violations of corporate governance rules at Tata.

($1 = 66.7709 Indian rupees) (Additional reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj; Writing by Aditya Kalra; Editing by Ian Geoghegan and Euan Rocha)
Tina Fey doesn't think Jimmy Fallon deserved all that backlash for his "soft" Donald Trump interview.

"This election is so, so ugly, it's not business as usual. I really felt for Jimmy when people were so angry," she said of the Tonight Show host (and her former Saturday Night Live colleague) during her Produced By: New York conversation, held Saturday at the Time Warner Center. "It's not Jimmy who peed in that punch bowl, it's not Jimmy who created this horrible world that we're currently living in."

Read more: Critic's Notebook: Jimmy Fallon Helps Donald Trump Play Nice on 'The Tonight Show'

Fey said that because of the stressful political moment, people are probably experiencing "election-related weight gain, I feel like that's gonna be a thing. 'I gained eight pounds between the two debates!'" She added that she occasionally stops by SNL to check on their takes: "I've become their worst nightmare, calling up on Friday nights and saying, 'So, what do you got?'"

Fey also recalled how she was puzzled when Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), a former comic and SNL writer and performer, publicly slammed an SNL sketch she penned about Arizona Sen. John McCain. "I thought, 'You're not wrong, but you do know my phone number. You wanna tell me or Larry King?'" she said. She later shrugged off contributing to his political campaign and "When he won, I texted him, 'I knew you could do it without my four thousand dollars.' To his credit, he texted back to me, 'F - you.'"

Throughout the conversation, Fey explained that being a producer doesn't require talent, but a strong work ethic, effective communication skills, and the ability to "understand what you're asking people to do while also protecting the original writing." It's not for everyone: "I know really talented people who are just a mess because they don't want to do any of the boring parts."

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Read more: Tina Fey to Be Honored at THR Women in Entertainment Breakfast; Megyn Kelly to Deliver Opening Remarks

The Hollywood Reporter rounded up the seven things Fey revealed about being a film producer, running Netflix's Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and not pursuing directing.

She learned producing basics early.

Fey took internships in every theater department while in college, and was taught to take ownership of her ideas while in Chicago's Second City improv group, where "if you needed a prop, you had to bring it." Even more so, writers "are overindulged at Saturday Night Live," as they produce their sketch from start to finish. "You're encouraged to weigh in constantly, you sit next to Lorne Michaels at the dress rehearsal and you are to answer for anything that's screwed up in it. Most of the time, you're 22 [years old]," she explained. SNL also taught her how to make things happen quickly: "When I've been in movies, they say, 'We can't get that in time.' Really? You can't get that in four weeks? I know a guy who can get me that in seven hours.  I know a guy who made a copy of Melania Trump's wedding dress in two days."

Michaels remains her example of an effective showrunner.

As a showrunner, "you give your life over to it completely.  I don't understand how people have three or four shows on the air. Where are you? I should try to meet Shonda Rhimes or read her book," Fey joked. She looks up to Michaels and his SNL environment, one free of yelling and panic. "Going into live TV with so many parts and a celebrity host, there's an incredible calm to him in the middle of that," she said, even if it's in the middle of a broadcast. "He stretches time and space to make the decision. That sense of calm, that freaking out does not benefit anyone.  He's said before, 'The show doesn't go on because it's ready, the show goes on because it's 11:30 p.m.' You do the best you can."

Read more: Critic's Picks: Tina Fey Films Ranked Worst to Best

She doesn't know her Netflix numbers.

Though Fey loves working with Netflix on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, especially because she can make longer episodes, she said she doesn't know the series' viewership. "Would I like to have the numbers? Of course," said Fey. "Because I keep wondering, five years from now, when you go to renegotiate, you don't know what you have. I think somebody more money-oriented than me will be at the head of that, but I'm very curious to see. If you could get a regular hit on network, like a real hit, that slot machine really pays off - [or so] I'm told. I don't know Chuck Lorre personally."

She isn't fond of marketing.

"Oh, God," Fey began on the topic of marketing. "Lorne and I did Mean Girls, and we had a meeting about the posters," she recalled, noting that she was surprised that the department's first round of ideas wasn't good. "You go into this process thinking, 'All those people are gonna help me,' and it's actually so often the opposite, that you're just trying to keep them from f - ing it up. You think that this is the passive part, but it's the hardest, most vigilant you have to be."

She's still learning about making movies.

"I'm still very much a novice as a producer in the feature world," Fey admitted of her experience with Sisters and Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. She's still confused about parts of the film industry: "[In TV], they're just beginning to understand they're not beholden to those [ratings] numbers, as opposed to movies' opening-night weekend.  We had a table read for Mean Girls where they had just gotten bad news about another movie, like Lara Croft [Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life] wasn't tracking, and the table read was very dour."

Read more: Tina Fey to Be Honored at THR Women in Entertainment Breakfast; Megyn Kelly to Deliver Opening Remarks

She prioritizes protecting the writing.

Sisters left room for on-set improv, but only because Fey trusts a handful of people like Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph to do so. Generally, "someone worked on this script for two years," she said. "I'm always really suspect of any actor who comes in and the first thing they want to do is change the script.  We've really thought about it a lot by the time it gets to you."

She really has no interest in directing.

Fey wanted to become a producer in order "to have a say in how things are made," as an actor and a writer. "If you write a script and you're not a producer, they can take it away from you and change it as much as they want. They can give it to someone who has no idea what you were intending to do and they'll pay them twice as much as you and spend to rewrite it, and they will," she said. "As a TV writer-producer, I just stay on the floor and annoy the director and just hover.  Why would I direct? Then I'd have to learn about lenses and stuff. I just sit here with a full plate of food and mutter."
Rocky Yadav surrendered in the Gaya civil court today over killing class 12 student, Aditya Sachdeva on May 7.

By Indo-Asian News Service: Murder accused Rakesh Ranjan alias Rocky Yadav on Saturday surrendered in a Bihar court over killing a class 12 student, police said.

"Rocky, who arrived in Patna from Delhi on Saturday morning, surrendered in the Gaya civil court," a district police official said. Rocky's parents were also present in the court. A district official in Gaya said Rocky was absconding soon after the Supreme Court cancelled his bail on Friday.

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Rocky has been sent to judicial custody for 14 days.



Rocky's mother Manorma Devi, suspended Janata Dal-United MLC told a police team that visited her house to arrest her son following the Supreme Court cancelled his bail, that he will surrender in the court soon.

Also read: Bihar MLA strips half naked to demand construction of road, sends kurta to Gadkari, pyjama to Nitish

Rocky is accused of fatally shooting student Aditya Sachdeva after his's Swift car overtook Rocky's Land Rover on May 7. Rocky was arrested on May 11 but released later on bail.



CHARGESHEET AGAINST ROCKY



Blocking implemenation of the Patna High Court's October 19 order that granted bail to Rocky, an apex court bench of Justice SA Bobde and Justice Ashok Bhushan observed, "The chargesheet has already been filed in the case and this may go against you."

The chargesheet has named Rocky and another man as co-accused in the murder case.

Also read: RLD chief to attend Samajwadi Party's foundation day celebrations

Seeking cancellation of Rocky's bail, the Bihar government's petition contended that "he has shot dead a young boy on the highway because he could not tolerate a small Swift car overtaking his big and imported Land Rover."

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Eight years and a Trump after she kickstarted Saturday Night Lives political approach with her Sarah Palin impression, Tina Fey marvels at how gentle those days now seem. It was like an ice cream social, she said about the political scene and those who mocked it in the era before her old 30 Rock castmate Alec Baldwin reddened his face for the Donald Trump sketches that have reinvigorated the long-running series yet again.

Fey, a featured speaker at todays Produced By New York conference, was interviewed by her Sisters producer John Lyons. Though the intended topic was her Triple Threat duties as a producer, actress and writer, Fey inevitably made her way to the Palin days of SNL.

Giving credit to then-head writer Seth Meyers and costar Amy Poehler (Hillary in the pre-Kate McKinnon days), Fey said that, believe it or not, her gang never took political sides. We spent so much time and care on making sure everything was a fair hit, she said. We never, ever went into it thinking, We gotta protect Obama or We gotta make (the Republicans) look bad. Audiences can smell when a sketch is tipped.

Fey said the intensely angry mood of this election season has even impacted the comedy scene, pointing to the flack her old Weekend Update partner Jimmy Fallon took for handling Trump (and his hair) with kid gloves. This election is so, so ugly, its not business as usual. I really felt for Jimmy when people were so angry. Its not Jimmy who peed in the punchbowl. Its not Jimmy who created this horrible world were living in.

Currently producing Netflixs Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt  and, as a writer, in development with husband Jeff Richmond and a secret director for a Broadway musical version of Mean Girls  Fey said shes become the kind of ex-SNL star that bedeviled her during her tenure at 30 Rock (the building, not the series). Ive become their worst nightmare  calling up on Friday nights and saying, So, what do you got?

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In other words, shes become Minnesota Senator Al Franken. Fey remembered that after shed written an SNL sketch about John McCain, comic-turned-politician Franken publicly criticized the skit. I thought, Youre not wrong, but you do know my phone number, right? You wanna tell me or Larry King? You knew the phone number when you submitted a sketch.

Years later, when Franken hit her up for a political contribution, Fey saw her chance for revenge. Franken won his Senate seat, but without Feys help. I texted him and said, I knew you could do it without my $4,000. To which the Senator Al Franken, to his credit, texted back: F*ck You.

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Tina Fey has a message for aspiring comedy writers and creative execs: Get yourselves to an improv theater.

In a wide-ranging Q&A Saturday at the Producers Guilds Produced By NY conference, Fey suggested that comedy writers and development executives would do well to grab a mic in order to get a real feel for the world of comedy.

Fey credited her background in theater and her time doing improv with Chicagos Second City troupe for giving her the foundation that has allowed her to succeed as a writer, actor and producer. The most important advice that she gives to aspiring writers is to take the plunge on stage, even if they have no interest in acting.

Even if you never want to do it, you should go to (Upright Citizens Brigade) and get on stage to get an understanding what youre asking people to do, Fey said. Later in the conversation with producer John Lyons (who worked with Fey on 2015s Sisters), she added that the same advice goes for comedy development executives: It wouldnt kill you to experience the white-hot torture of improv, she said.

Fey spoke at length about her experience learning the ropes of producing from Lorne Michaels as a Saturday Night Live writer and actor. She shared her observations on the creative process in TV as compared to film. She talked about having to unlearn the rules of broadcast TV (in the binge-watching era, characters dont have to repeat their names as often) in making Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt for Netflix. And she was candid about the limits of what shes willing to do on screen, even for a laugh.

I feel like Amy Poehler and I are the absolute end of the generation (of comedians) who dont want to screw on camera, Fey said. It picks up with Kristen Wiig, who is hilarious at it. Citing Wiigs sex scene in the 2011 comedy Bridesmaids, Fey asserted: I could not do it.

In talking about Kimmy Schmidt, Fey praised the creative working environment at Netflix. The biggest boon is having a running time for episodes of anywhere from 24 to 41 minutes (anything over 41 means actors have to be paid at the hourlong series rate). But she also raised a big question about the lack of information that producers receive about viewership statistics. As much as she felt beaten down at times by the modest ratings for 30 Rock during its 2006-2013 run on NBC, she would like to know the numbers for Kimmy Schmidt.

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Five years from now when you go in to renegotiate, you dont know what you have, she said. Somebody who is more money-oriented than me will be at the head of (addressing) that.

Fey reflected on the craziness of the 2016 presidential race and marveled that her much-loved impersonation of former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin for SNL first landed more than eight years ago.

And we thought that was tense, she said of the 2008 election. Now it seems like an ice cream social. It was so genteel.

In developing the Palin sketches and other political material, Fey emphasized that SNL writers never go into it with a partisan agenda other than for the comedy to ring true to the personalities involved.

When the first Palin sketches were written, We spent so much time thinking What is a fair hit? Was it unnecessarily aggressive? she said. We never went into it thinking We have to protect Obama. 

Whats more, she said, People can smell it when a sketch comes in and its tipped. It only works if people feel like its true, if we can put our finger on something that people are already feeling.

Fey noted that her heart went out to Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon, her former SNL co-star, for the criticism he took last month for his interview with Republican nominee Donald Trump. Fallon was slammed for not hitting Trump on controversial positions but Fey thinks the outrage was misplaced. Its not Jimmy who peed in that punchbowl, she said.

Fey shared an experience from her early days as an SNL writer when Al Franken, the Democratic senator from Minnesota and an SNL alum himself, publicly criticized a sketch that Fey wrote about Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. She acknowledged that the sketch was insensitive about McCains military experience but she was not amused that Franken went public without calling her first.

I was like, youre not wrong, but you know the phone number, she recalled. Do you want to call me or Larry King? Years later, when Franken was in a tough re-election race, he reached out to Fey for a campaign contribution. She didnt write that check but she did have a message for him after he prevailed.

I texted him, I knew you could do it without my $4,000. To which Senator Franken, to his credit, texted me back F you.'

Other highlights from the conversation:

Feys first outing as a producer outside of Lorne Michaels direct tutelage was humbling: Sitting in my first production meeting on episode 102 of 30 Rock there were 40 people at the table asking question after question. I looked over at (partner) Robert Carlock and he was just shell shocked. I thought Oh were going to answer this many questions every week for seven years,' she recalled.

The biggest lesson Fey learned from Michaels? The importance of maintaining a sense of calm. Freaking out does not benefit anyone, she said.

Fey was asked to contrast the level of drama behind the scenes in TV vs. film. Somehow the TV system seems less broken in a lot of ways.  Theres less panicky-driven notes. Less worry about How will it play in China?' she said. She recalled doing a table read for 2004s Mean Girls on the day that the studio received bad feedback on a cut for the second Lara Croft Tomb Raider movie. All of a sudden the notes from the table read were very dour, she joked.

As much as Fey loves improv, she doesnt think it works too well in features. And the only people she trusts to pull it off well even in small doses are Poehler and Maya Rudolph.

Fey and her husband, composer Jeff Richmond, are working away on a Broadway adaptation of Mean Girls. The project has recently attached a secret director, she teased.

Fey noted that Donald Glover, the multihyphenate who is riding high as the creator and star of FXs Atlanta, came to the 30 Rock writers room through NBCs diversity talent development program. Shes a big fan of Atlanta.

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At least 11 people from a minority Christian community in Pakistan's central Punjab province died after consuming toxic liquor, police said Saturday.

Three other people who consumed the alcohol at a party on Friday night in Jhelum district, some 126 kilometres (78 miles) east of the capital Islamabad, are in hospital in critical condition, police said.

"The dead bodies of 11 victims have been handed over to their relatives after completing the postmortem, the condition of the three others is still critical," Asif Nawaz, a senior police official in Jhelum told AFP.

Nawaz said most of the victims were young and from same Christian neighbourhood.

"They drank locally-made poisonous liquor while partying late Friday," he added.

Police are looking to arrest the suspected supplier of the poisoned alcohol, whose brother was reportedly among the dead.

The public sale of alcohol is banned in conservative Muslim Pakistan but some people make moonshine at home.
By Steve Holland CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump shifted quickly on Friday to take advantage of a new twist in Democrat Hillary Clinton's long-running email saga, seeking a much-needed boost in the campaign's waning days. The FBI's disclosure that it is investigating more emails as part of a probe into Clinton's use of a private email server gave fresh energy to Trump. At rallies in New Hampshire, Maine and Iowa, Trump hit hard on his message that Clinton is a corrupt leader who cannot be trusted and he pulled back a bit on his charge that the political system is rigged against him. Trump called the new development part of "the biggest political scandal since Watergate," the 1970s scandal that forced the resignation of Republican President Richard Nixon. Trump abruptly changed his tune after repeatedly attacking FBI Director James Comey in the last three months for not indicting Clinton for her handling of classified information while U.S. secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. "As you know, I've had plenty of words about the FBI lately, but I give them great credit for having the courage to right this horrible wrong. Justice will prevail," Trump said in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Trump has spent weeks railing about a "rigged system," accusing the Clinton campaign of coordinating attacks on him with the U.S. news media after a 2005 video surfaced of him boasting about groping women. "It might not be as rigged as I thought," Trump told a crowd in Manchester, New Hampshire. By Cedar Rapids, however, he was still criticizing "the corrupt political class" and calling the news media dishonest. At each stop, Trump's supporters cheered loudly and chanted "lock her up" when the New York businessman talked about Clinton's new headache, a sign that his boosters see the importance of some good news for his campaign with 10 days left until the Nov. 8 election. Trump noted that he is competitive in opinion polls nationally and in some states where the election is likely to be decided, but admitted he has got some distance to go. The new disclosures, he said, might help him. "We have gaps but we are really moving and I just wanted to say that because I dont know whats going to happen now," he said. (Reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Nick Macfie)
Istanbul (AFP) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday said his government would ask parliament to consider reintroducing the death penalty as a punishment for the plotters behind the July coup bid.

"Our government will take this (proposal on capital punishment) to parliament. I am convinced that parliament will approve it, and when it comes back to me, I will ratify it," Erdogan said at an inauguration ceremony in Ankara.

"Soon, soon, don't worry. It's happening soon, God willing," he said, as crowds chanted: "We want the death penalty!"

Capital punishment was abolished in Turkey in 2004 as the nation sought accession to the European Union.

After the failed bid to unseat Erdogan on July 15, the leader had threatened to bring the death penalty back for the coup plotters, stunning EU leaders.

Relations between Brussels and Ankara have been strained since Turkey responded to the coup by launching a relentless crackdown against alleged plotters in state institutions, amid calls from the EU to act within the rule of law.

Tens of thousands of staff within the military, judiciary, civil service and education have been dismissed or detained in a crackdown.

On Saturday, Erdogan scoffed at the West's warnings on the reintroduction of the death penalty.

"The West says this, the West says that. Excuse me, but what counts is not what the West says. What counts is what my people say," he said, during a ceremony to inaugurate a high-speed train station in the Turkish capital.

Ankara accuses Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen who lives in exile in the US of masterminding the attempt to oust Erdogan -- a claim he denies.

"What are you doing in Pennsylvania, Go on, come here! Why don't you come home?" Erdogan added.

Erdogan's government has also repeatedly called on the US to extradite Gulen.

In the event of him not being extradited, "nothing would ever be the same again" in US-Turkish relations, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag warned on Saturday, according to a report by the Anadolu news agency.

The prospect of the death penalty's reintroduction has stunned the EU, which makes the abolition of capital punishment an unnegotiable condition for joining the bloc.
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey was aiming to reinforce its troops deployments in its Iraqi border town of Silopi and that it would have a "different response" for Shi'ite militia groups if they cause terror in the Iraqi city of Tal Afar. Iranian-backed Iraqi Shi'ite paramilitary groups have said they have started an offensive against Islamic State positions west of Mosul, which will target Tal Afar. Speaking to reporters at a reception marking Republic Day in Ankara, Erdogan said the information he received had not confirmed such movement. He gave no details on the numbers of reinforcements, or what the different response would be. Ankara has repeatedly warned that it would take measures if there is an attack on the city, which has a sizeable ethnic Turkmen population, as part of a wider U.S.-led offensive to retake Iraqi city of Mosul from Islamic State. (Reporting by Orhan Coskun; Writing by Humeyra Pamuk)
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A deputy leader and lawmaker from Turkey's main opposition party was shot in the leg in the western province of Aydin by an unidentified assailant, broadcaster Haberturk reported on Saturday. Bulent Tezcan from Republican Peoples' Party (CHP) was attacked at a restaurant in his electoral constituency, Haberturk said. He was taken to a hospital in the province but his injuries were not life threatening. The motives of the gunman was not immediately clear but witnesses at the scene told Turkish broadcasters that after firing at Tezcan, the assailant chanted and fled. Police have identified him and are working to capture him. The attack comes two months after the convoy of Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of CHP, came under an attack by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group. Kilicdaroglu had escaped unharmed while three soldiers were injured in an exchange of fire. (Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Alison Williams)
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Two suicide bombers killed at least eight people on Saturday in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, the heart of a seven-year-old insurgency by Islamist Boko Haram militants, the military said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the attacks bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram which has been trying to set up an Islamic state in the northeast, killing thousands and displacing more than 2 million people. In one attack a woman who blew herself up at 0600 GMT (2 a.m. ET) in front of the Bakasi camp for displaced persons on Maiduguri's outskirts, killing five men and wounding 11 women, the army said in a statement. At about the same time another female suicide bomber blew herself up while trying to enter a fuel depot of state oil firm NNPC, killing three persons, the army said. Residents saw bodies being carried into an ambulance by government emergency services. 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 neighboring countries, has recaptured most of the territory. The group still stages suicide bombings in the northeast, as well as in neighboring Niger and Cameroon. (Reporting by Lanre Ola, Ahmed Kingimi and Kolawole Adewale; writing by Chijioke Ohuocha and Ulf Laessing; editing by Mark Heinrich and Jason Neely)
Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Two suicide bombings rocked Nigeria's northeast city of Maiduguri on Saturday, killing at least nine people and injuring scores of others, emergency services said.

One explosion happened outside a gas station, while the other was near the Bakassi camp for internally displaced persons (IDP), underscoring the continued threat from Boko Haram jihadists who are suspected of being behind the attacks.

"Two suicide bombers riding in motorised rickshaws this morning detonated their explosives 10 minutes apart, with one of them targeting the Bakassi IDP camp on the outskirts of the city," Mohammed Kanar, spokesman for Nigeria Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), said.

"One of the bombers tried to enter the Bakassi IDP camp but the explosives detonated at the gates, killing four people," Kanar said.

"The explosives on the other one detonated minutes later as he rode with two other people towards the (Bakassi) IDP camp near the fuel depot."

Following the blast, one of the yellow rickshaws burst apart in half, while the ground was littered with metal shards.

"Nine persons lost their lives with twenty-four persons injured and evacuated to various hospitals," NEMA said in a statement posted on Twitter.

Boko Haram has devastated northeast Nigeria in its quest to create an Islamist state, killing over 20,000 people and displacing 2.6 million from their homes.

Since taking up arms against the Nigerian government in 2009, Boko Haram has disrupted trade routes and farms.

Now nearly 50,000 children are facing death by starvation if they dont get food and almost 250,000 more are severely malnourished in Borno state, according to UNICEF.

Nigeria is facing the worst humanitarian crisis on the African continent, Peter Lundberg, acting United Nations Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator, warned last week.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has led a successful offensive against the insurgents since coming into office last year, but Boko Haram is still capable of carrying out deadly attacks.

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In October, Boko Haram attacked a town near Chibok, where in 2014 it kidnapped over 200 schoolgirls, drawing global attention to the insurgency.

Later this month, the jihadists claimed that they killed 20 soldiers in "fierce clashes" in the Ghashghar area of northeastern Nigeria.

The violence is spilling into neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, with Niger early in October declaring two days of national mourning after 22 soldiers were killed in an attack blamed on the jihadists against a camp sheltering almost 4,000 refugees.
By PTI: Gaya, Oct 29 (PTI) Rakesh Ranjan alias Rocky Yadav, who allegedly shot dead a Class XII student for overtaking his SUV here, today surrendered in a local court a day after the Supreme Court stayed the Patna High Court order granting him bail in the case.

Rocky, son of suspended JD(U) MLC Manorama Devi and Bindi Yadav, was granted bail by the High Court on October 19 last in Gaya road rage case which was challenged by the state govenrment in the apex court.

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Rocky surrendered in the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADJ)-(IX) Suresh Prasad Mishra who sent him to jail.

He gave himself up before the court after remaining in hiding since yesterday after the Supreme Court order.

"I have immense faith in the judiciary. The allegations levelled against me are baseless and concocted.... I have full faith in the court," he told reporters in the court premises while being taken to the jail by police.

His mother and suspended JD(U) MLC Manorama Devi too expressed her full faith in the judiciary.

Rocky had allegedly shot dead a Class XII student Aditya Sachdeva for overtaking his car on May 7, 2016. PTI COR AR SNS PR RT

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By Michael Martina BEIJING (Reuters) - China's imports of North Korean coal run counter to global sanctions, a senior U.S. official said on Saturday, adding that a U.S. missile system deployed in South Korea should "motivate" Beijing to pressure Pyongyang over its nuclear program. North Korea's exports of coal to China provide a lifeline for the country and are also seen by the United States as a crucial area where Beijing has leverage over its neighbor, which has carried out a series of missile and nuclear tests in defiance of international sanctions. China announced in April that it would ban North Korean coal imports to comply with U.N. sanctions, though it made exemptions for deliveries intended for "livelihood purposes". Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken told journalists that China had reversed the burden of proof put forward under U.N. Security Council resolution 2270 adopted in March in response to a North Korean nuclear test. "The plain language of 2270 makes it very clear that the export of coal, or the importation of coal if you are China, is prohibited unless you can demonstrate that the transaction in question goes to the livelihood of the North Korean people," Blinken said in Beijing after visits to Japan and South Korea. "The Chinese have reversed the presumption and their approach has been that the trade in coal is allowed unless you can demonstrate that it is going to the weapons program. But that's not what 2270 says," he said. Coal is particularly important to the economic health of North Korea because it is one of its only sources of hard currency. China imported $1 billion worth of North Korean coal in 2015, according to Chinese customs data. Beijing fears strengthening sanctions could lead to collapse in North Korea, sending a flood of refugees across the border into China, and it also believes the United States and South Korea share responsibility for growing tensions in the region. North Korea's fourth nuclear test in January was followed by a satellite launch, a string of tests of various missiles, and its fifth and largest nuclear test in September. China has repeatedly expressed anger at the United States and South Korea for their decision to deploy the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system in the South to counter threats from North Korea. Beijing worries that the system's powerful radar will compromise China's security. Blinken said THAAD "was the latest but not the last defensive step" that the U.S. would take if the North Korean nuclear threat persists, and that hopefully it would "motivate China to work with us to change the conduct of the North Korean regime". (Reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Nick Macfie)
UFC bantamweight Guido Cannetti has been removed from next week's UFC Fight Night card slated for Mexico City.

Cannetti hadbeen slated to face Marco Beltran at The Ultimate Fighter Latin America 3 Finale on Nov. 5, but was pulled from the fight due to a potential anti-doping violation. The potential violation stems from an Oct. 5 out-of-competition drug test.

USADA has provisionally suspended Cannetti based on the potential anti-doping violation. UFC officials issued a statement on Cannetti's suspension on Saturday.

TRENDING > Fabricio Werdum Claims Sponsorship Protest Cost Him His UFC Broadcasting Job

Cannetti posted on Instagram on Saturday, denying that he took any sort of banned substance.

Today, they informed me that I will not fight because there is a banned substance in the analysis I did. I swear I did not take anything with a banned substance, said Cannetti.

I am very sad not to be able to fight. Until today, I'm training, gave my maximum in every workout. I was away from my family for nothing. I spent the money I did not have to train and now I do not fight. I swear by my family, I did not take any prohibited substance.

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Former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum has been relieved of his broadcasting duties following a recent protest on social media. UFC officials on Saturday confirmed Werdum's Friday revelation.

Werdum has long served as an analyst and commentator on the UFCs Spanish-language broadcasts. Company officials relieved him of his broadcast duties due to his recent protest against the UFCs apparel sponsorship deal with Reebok.

TRENDING > Georges St-Pierres UFC Return Seems Imminent

Werdum recently posted a photo of himself on social media wearing a UFC fighter uniform. Instead of the usual Reebok logo, however, the image had been altered to display the universally recognized Nike swoosh. He did so in a protest of the apparel deal, which forces fighters to wear the Reebok gear and not display other sponsors, a move which he and many others have said cost the fighters varying degrees of sponsorship income.

That didn't sit well with company officials, who told MMAWeekly.com, Due to Fabricio Werdum's recent comments directed at a valued UFC partner, we will no longer utilize Werdum in a broadcast role on UFC Network in Latin America. While we respect an athletes right to voice his opinion, we deem the manner in which Werdum chose to do so unacceptable.

On Friday, Werdum explained that his protest was due to the significant amount of sponsorship income that fighters were forced to forego because the UFC-Reebok apparel deal limits how fighters represent their other sponsors during official fight week events.

Werdum is slated to rematch Cain Velasquez at UFC 207 on Dec. 30 in Las Vegas. That bout is not in jeopardy.

This decision has no bearing on his ability to compete in his next scheduled bout on Dec. 30, said UFC officials.

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Um, Prince Harry just spray painted an elephant (but its okay!)

There is immense pressure on famous people to remain wholesome and conflict-free in the public eye. And no celebrity knows this to be true quite like the royal family. Prince Harry was caught spray painting an elephant recently  but before you sharpen your pitchforks and start composing those emails to PETA, know that it was for a good cause!

For three weeks this summer, Prince Harry was on the ground and in the air in Malawi, working with a conservation NGO called African Parks. They manage protected areas and national parks on behalf of governments. Englands favorite Prince was working on an initiative called 500 Elephants  a relocation of 500 elephants to the Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve.

Prince Harry said: "Marking one of the young males so that he is easily identifiable when the family group is released back into the bush and we can keep them together. The spray paint disappears after a few days." (Photo 4/5) @africanparksnetwork A photo posted by Kensington Palace (@kensingtonroyal) on Oct 28, 2016 at 3:13am PDT

All 500 elephants had to be herded 350 kilometers across Malawi to their new home. Prince Harry shared a short film explaining his involvement in the project, as well as a series of Instagram posts with detailed captions.

Some of the elephants were very cooperative with the operation, moving along as asked. Others were not as accommodating.

Prince Harry said: "Lawrence Munro and I met in South Africa last year and have been in contact since. We got him to give a fantastic brief to the Ranger students at Kruger on their graduation. This year he is working with African Parks as their operations manager in Liwonde. He's one of the best." (Photo 2/5) @africanparksnetwork A photo posted by Kensington Palace (@kensingtonroyal) on Oct 28, 2016 at 3:11am PDT

Prince Harry pointed out in one of this posts that it was usually the male elephants who refused to budge. They needed to be encouraged and sometimes tranquilized in order to get where they needed to be.

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Besides spray painting elephants, Prince Harry also helped with monitoring their breathing by fixing various radio collars until each creature was in the appropriate location. He also helped anesthetize the elephants  meaning administering a tranquilizer.

Prince Harry took this photograph and said: "'Kester Vickery from Conservation Solutions trying to get this Bull Elephant to lie down! 262 elephants were moved from Liwonde National Park and it was always the bulls (males) that needed a little extra to stop them. They are all now living happily in their new home in Nkhotakota Reserve, where there is more space for them to breed." (Photo 5/5) Prince Harry A photo posted by Kensington Palace (@kensingtonroyal) on Oct 28, 2016 at 3:14am PDT

Long gone are the days that Prince Harry partied in Vegas  instead, he has been splashing across the front pages because of his charity work. Each new endeavor he undertakes makes Prince Harry that much more eligible to steal our hearts. He is still not married, so there might be hope for those ladies out there looking for a royal husband!

The post Um, Prince Harry just spray painted an elephant (but its okay!) appeared first on HelloGiggles.


Credit: Courtesy

When it comes to planning a creative marriage proposal some people would go to great lengths, and apparently depths, to make sure their engagement is as memorable as possible. Take Jennifer Don, for example.

She turned her long distance relationship into inspiration for a uber original proposal by asking her boyfriend, Matt, to marry her in the middle of the two continental plates that divide them. It doesn't get more symbollic than that, right?!

Here's how she pulled it off. Jennifer and Matt were supposed to meet in Iceland for what he thought was just a birthday celebration. Their plans included a dive in Thingvellir National Park where the North American and Eurasian continents meet underwater. Oh, and speaking of water--the temperature in Silfra, the rift where they dove, is between 35 and 39 degrees Fahrenheit year round because of the nearby glacier.

RELATED: This Beautiful Engagement in Prague Took 2 Years to Plan--And HE Said Yes



Credit: Courtesy

So when Matt took the plunge into the freezing cold water, he had no idea that Jennifer had arranged for a whole romantic setup underwater, heart-shaped baloons and all. She even got him a ring that was hidden in a seashell.

Naturally, speaking is not really something you can do when you are several feet below the sea surface, so she used written signs to propose to him. And guess what? He said gestured "yes."

Watch how this dreamy underwater engagement unfolded below:

We wonder if they will go for a nautical theme at their wedding. Congrats, Matt and Jennifer!
Washington (AFP) - The United States ordered the relatives of staff members in its consulate in Istanbul to leave the country Saturday, warning that "extremist groups" are targeting American citizens for attack.

The order was announced in the second travel warning that the State Department issued for Americans in Turkey in less than a week, reflecting US concerns about "increased threats from terrorist groups."

The decision to evacuate the families of staff was made "based on security information indicating extremist groups are continuing aggressive efforts to attack US citizens in areas of Istanbul where they reside or frequent."

On Monday, the State Department had advised US citizens to "carefully consider the need to travel to Turkey at this time." There is also a long-standing warning against travel to the southeast of the country.

"Foreign and US tourists have been explicitly targeted by international and indigenous terrorist organizations in Turkey," both recent travel warnings said.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government has placed Turkey under a state of emergency in the wake on a July 15 coup attempt by disaffected military officers that triggered a crackdown on suspected dissidents.

Even before the failed but bloody putsch, Turkey was already fighting a renewed insurgency by Kurdish separatists and dealing with the fallout of the war in neighboring Syria, including attacks by the Islamic State group.

In recent months there have been bomb attacks blamed on various groups in Turkish cities, and tensions are running high as Erdogan purges his government of alleged supporters of exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen.

Turkish media have also been stoking anti-American sentiment, accusing Washington of harboring Gulen in Pennsylvania while he allegedly plots the overthrow of Erdogan's government.

The United States has agreed to study an extradition request for the preacher, who denies any link to the coup, but has warned it must meet American "evidentiary standards."
Washington (AFP) - The United States accused the Syrian regime Friday of using "starvation as a weapon of war" -- a war crime under the Geneva Conventions -- stepping up the rhetoric against Bashar al-Assad and his Russian backers.

Rejecting the Kremlin claims that attacks on Aleppo have stopped, a US official told AFP "the regime has rejected UN requests to deliver aid to Eastern Aleppo -- using starvation as a weapon of war."

The language mirrors the Geneva Conventions' prohibition against starving civilians "as a method of warfare."

Aleppo's quarter of a million residents have been besieged and bombarded for months, prompting international outcry.

Washington is currently weighing further sanctions against Syria and a push for justice at the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

Officials hope that Russian President Vladimir Putin may rethink his country's participation in a war that has seen chemical weapons and barrel bombs used against civilians, if Russia is seen as an international pariah.

Earlier Friday Russia failed to win re-election to the UN Human Rights Commission, a serious diplomatic blow.

"We are taking steps, whether its ramping up public pressure or other forms of pressure," a second senior Obama administration official told AFP.

"We are still looking at the whole arsenal of tools to make them feel the weight of international criticism, not saying that in and of itself is going to work."

"But we have some indication that they don't want to be viewed -- the Russians in particular -- as being guilty of war crimes."

"We've also spoken about forms of international accountability when it comes to Russian and regime actions."

The Kremlin said Friday that Putin did not think it was time to resume air strikes on Aleppo after the defense ministry requested that a moratorium on bombing be lifted.

Syrian rebels launched a major assault Friday aimed at linking opposition-held districts with the outside world.

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But a US official gave the Kremlin's claim short shrift.

"Despite Russia's claims, attacks by the regime and its backers have continued in Aleppo," the official said.

"We continue to look at Russia's actions not their words to determine if Russia is meeting their claims about their military intervention on behalf of the Assad regime."
By Julia Symmes Cobb CARTAGENA, Colombia (Reuters) - Venezuela's fast-escalating political crisis and Colombia's stuttering peace process dominated discussions at the Ibero-American Summit on Saturday, despite an official agenda about youth, entrepreneurship and education. Amid a swing to the political right around the region, Peru President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski led calls for heads of state not to ignore Venezuela's troubles. Venezuela's socialist government is facing an escalation of opposition protests after electoral authorities suspended a referendum on President Nicolas Maduro's rule that could have led to his departure from office. "The neighboring country is suffering a tremendous economic crisis and also a crisis of political rights and also I would say human rights," Kuczynski, a former investment banker, told the leaders in the Colombian coastal city of Cartagena. "There's no eagerness to interfere in what happens in other countries," he said. "But there is eagerness to insure all Latin Americans progress and not regress." Maduro's popularity has plummeted during a deep economic crisis. Maduro was not in attendance at the summit. Heads of state and officials from around Latin America, as well as Portugal and Spain, were set to release a statement later on Saturday. Argentina's foreign minister, Susana Malcorra, applauded a recent announcement that the Vatican will mediate talks between the Venezuelan opposition and the government. Venezuela's strife "occupies us and worries us," she said. Venezuela, despite having the world's largest oil reserves, is mired in a prolonged recession, with many people skipping meals due to food shortages and soaring prices. Critics say Maduro, 53, has kept a grip on power by side-lining the legislature, arresting opponents and squashing the referendum. He says foes are seeking to topple him illegally. Colombia, meanwhile, is scrambling to save a hard-won peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. The deal, hammered out over almost four years of difficult negotiations, was narrowly rejected in a plebiscite vote this month. The regional leaders met at the same conference center where the deal was signed in September. President Juan Manuel Santos has met with the opposition to hear their concerns, and government negotiators are modifying the accord with FARC leadership in Cuba. "Peace for Colombia will be a reality," Santos said in opening remarks at the conference. "We will not betray the hopes of Colombians or the international community." Leaders at the summit have repeatedly expressed support for the peace process. The 52-year war has killed nearly a quarter of a million people. (Additional reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta in Cartagena, Deisy Buitrago in Caracas and Caroline Stauffer in Buenos Aires; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Leslie Adler)
In a secret ballot by the 193-member U.N. General Assembly, Hungary received 144 votes, followed by Croatia with 114 votes and Russia with 112 votes.

By Reuters: Russia failed to win re-election to the United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday, beaten out by Hungary and Croatia, following lobbying by rights groups against Moscow's candidacy because of its military support for the Syrian government.

A CLOSE VOTE

In a secret ballot by the 193-member U.N. General Assembly, Hungary received 144 votes, followed by Croatia with 114 votes and Russia with 112 votes. Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Moscow had faced good competition.

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"It was a very close vote," Churkin told reporters. "Croatia, Hungary - they are fortunate because of their size they are not as exposed to the winds of international diplomacy; Russia is quite exposed."

"We have been there a number of years, I'm sure next time we're going to get in," he said.

Russian air power has been backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces in the country's nearly six-year war. A recent offensive to capture eastern Aleppo - the rebel-held half of Syria's largest city - has sparked international outrage.

WHAT HAPPENED

Russia's three-year term on the 47-member Geneva-based Human Rights Council will finish on Dec. 31. It had been competing for a second three-year term. Council members cannot serve more than two consecutive terms.

"U.N. member states have sent a strong message to the Kremlin about its support for a regime that has perpetrated so much atrocity in Syria," said Louis Charbonneau, U.N. director at Human Rights Watch.

The United States, Egypt, Rwanda, Tunisia, Iraq and Japan were elected to the body, while Saudi Arabia, China, South Africa and Britain won a second terms. Their candidacies were uncontested but needed to win a majority vote. In the other competitive slate, Cuba and Brazil beat out Guatemala.

"The re-election of China, Cuba and Saudi Arabia - regimes which systematically violate the human rights of their citizens - casts a shadow upon the reputation of the United Nations," said U.N. Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer."

A Saudi Arabia-led military campaign in Yemen has been criticized for killing civilians. U.N. sanctions monitors have accused the Saudi-led coalition, Houthi rebels and Yemen government troops of violating international humanitarian and human rights laws.

--- ENDS ---
An Army veteran who suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder is suing American Airlines after she said she was barred from bringing her service dog on a flight.

Lisa McCombs was trying to return home to Gulfport, Miss., on a regional American Airlines flight with her Labrador retriever named Jake on Oct. 25, 2015, but got stuck in Manhattan, Kans., for two days because airline agents would not let her board the flight.

According to a federal lawsuit filed in Mississippi on Monday, the agents verbally assaulted McCombs, who demanded she tell them about her disability and explain how her service dog helps in a way that implied she was falsifying her claim, the Washington Post reports. The suit states an airline agent approached McCombs while she was waiting and asked in a condescending tone, Ummm, are you going to fly with that?'

McCombs, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan before being honorably discharged in 2009 as a captain, relies on her dog to curb the anxiety and panic from PTSD. According to the suit,2 Jake was wearing his service vest and was properly documented at the time of the flight.

I have PTSD, look at me, Im an anxious mess! McCombs replied to the agents questioning, according to the suit, which alleged negligence, breach of contract and violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Hes my service dog! I dont understand why Im being treated like this!

The suit asks American Airlines to compensate McCombs for her airline tickets, legal fees and medical treatment. McCombs is also pursuing damages from American and Envoy Air, its regional subsidiary, for reckless disregard of her rights.

Matt Miller, a spokesman for American Airlines, told the Post that Jim Palmersheim, a senior manager of Military and Veterans Programs for American Airlines, later called McCombs to say how embarrassed the company was about the matter.

The process for traveling with a service animal on American is in line with applicable federal regulation, Miller said. We will not be able to comment on the allegations in the lawsuit, since this matter is pending litigation.
You will want to go to Karli Kloss Airbnb immediately

Not that she needs a handout, but a handout is exactly what she got. Karli Klosss $10 million Airbnb is a completely luxurious mansion and were in love with it. Really, we need to go to there immediately. And the craziest/most exciting part (for her, anyway) is that she stayed there for FREE.

Kloss decided to skip the hotel stay to take up residence in a swanky Beverly Hills mansion, and its very clear that she made herself right at home. Because hellloooo, wouldnt you?

The super model has been in Los Angeles shooting her new Netflix show, Bill Nye Saves the World and needed a place to crash apparently.

Kloss showed off her temporary digs in a couple of Instagram posts, and she obviously had the best, most relaxing stay.

Its probably hard NOT to enjoy yourself at a $10 million dollar home that isnt yours.

Thanks @airbnb for the complimentary LA home away from home , she captioned the video taken in front of the gorgeous pool.

A video posted by Karlie Kloss (@karliekloss) on Oct 26, 2016 at 9:02am PDT

Yeah, that pool doesnt look terrible at all.

California dreaming 

A photo posted by Karlie Kloss (@karliekloss) on Oct 28, 2016 at 4:11pm PDT

Heres the exterior of the gorgeous modern home:

We didnt realize homes needed lobbies, but apparently $10 million homes do:

Yeah, we could def spend large amounts of time in this living room:

Holy kitchen:

And heres the master bedroom that were going to pretend is ours to keep:

karlie9

Hey Airbnb  anytime you feel like giving away a free stay at a $10 million home (or lets be real  a $1 million home), just let us know. We got you.

The post You will want to go to Karli Kloss Airbnb immediately appeared first on HelloGiggles.
Bill Murray kept his promise Friday night when he graced the crowd attending Game 3 of the World Series with his rendition of the classic "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."

Murray, who is a staunch fan of the Chicago Cubs, crashed the White House Briefing Room last week to confirm that the Cubs would defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers and make it to the World Series.

The Cubs then confirmed days after that Murray would be singing at the World Series.

The SNL veteran's performance during the seventh-inning stretch garnered reactions on Twitter from fans who witnessed Murray's vocal skills firsthand.

Read more: Bill Murray Accepts Mark Twain Prize for American Humor After Gentle Roast

The Cleveland Indians would go on to beat the Cubs 1-0 in the first World Series game at Wrigley Field since 1945.

Watch the video below.
A watchdog group says the state is not doing enough to let every eligible voter exercise their right to vote. As hundreds of thousands of Maryland residents casted ballots over the first two days of early voting, some worry that an estimated 2,000 eligible voters are being disenfranchised. A Baltimore City voting watchdog group filed a complaint in Circuit Court saying the state has no plan to allow people either awaiting trial in jail or serving time for a misdemeanor the opportunity to either register or cast a vote. Earlier this year, the state restored voting rights to people in those categories.
Why too much social media usage is making teens sleep-deprived

Staying plugged in until the moment you hit the hay is unhealthy for everyone, but one age group is especially impacted: teenagers. Researchers in Australia report that too much social media usage is making teens sleep-deprived for several important reasons.

Teens require more sleep than adults  approximately 8 to 10 hours compared to the 7 to 8 hours needed by most adults. So, they miss out on much-needed shut-eye while browsing Instagram and Facebook into the wee hours. Furthermore, teenagers, more likely than adults, feel pressured to not miss out on anything  so theyll sacrifice sleep in favor of staying connected with their friends through social media.

According to sleep physician Dr. Chris Seton, this combination creates a perfect storm. The screens not only take away sleep because they take up time, but they make kids more wakeful, and the more wakeful they are, the more activity they do, so its a vicious cycle, he explained, as reported by ABC Australia.

And the problem is only getting worse  complaints of inadequate sleep among 18 to 24-year-olds have increased rapidly over the past six years. Sixty percent of people in this age range are sleep deprived, and theres evidence that its increased the risk of behavioral problems among teens and young adults.

girlsocialmedia

Our physical and mental health is dependent on getting sufficient sleep  so, although teens are the most impacted age group, we could all take a lesson from this study and make a conscious effort to disengage from social media at night. Our bodies and minds will be eternally grateful.

The post Why too much social media usage is making teens sleep-deprived appeared first on HelloGiggles.
A woman drew big crowds this week when she took up the task of defending Donald Trump's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The unidentified woman was shown in a video arguing with onlookers, defiant in her goal to keep nearby revelers at bay in order to prevent a repeat of what transpired earlier this week.

On Tuesday, James Lambert Otis was arrested by Los Angeles police on suspicion of felony vandalism. Otis allegedly used a pickax to demolish the presidential nominee's star located along Hollywood Boulevard, causing extensive damage.

Read more: Donald Trump Suggests He Might Sue NBC Over 'Access Hollywood' Recording

The woman in the videos below was shown defending the star, sitting nearby with signs that show her support for Trump. The signs read "Trump: Keepin it real" and "Obama threw our black ass under the bus. He owes the Clintons. Flip this script."

Several passersby began arguing with her and with others, eventually attacking her and throwing her signs on the ground.

See the videos below.
By PTI: From Yoshita Singh

United Nations, Oct 29 (PTI) Russia, facing allegations of war crimes in relation to its policies in Syria, lost its seat on the UN Human Rights Council as the UN General Assembly voted to elect 14 members to the Geneva-based organ.

The 193-member General Assembly yesterday elected 14 nations by secret ballot to serve on the Human Rights Council, the United Nations body responsible for the promotion and protection of all human rights around the globe.

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Brazil, China, Croatia, Cuba, Egypt, Hungary, Iraq, Japan, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Tunisia, United Kingdom and the United States were elected for three-year terms beginning January 1,2017. India is a member of the 47-member human rights body and its term will expire in 2017.

Russia was seeking re-election to the human rights body, competing with Hungary, Croatia and Bulgaria for two seats in the Eastern European bloc. Russia was edged out in a close vote, getting 112 votes, just two shy of the 114 that Croatia polled, Hungary got 144 votes.

In Russias loss, leading human rights organizations saw a strong message to Moscow condemning its policies in Syria.

"In rejecting Russias bid for re-election to the Human Rights Council, UN member states have sent a strong message to the Kremlin about its support for a regime that has perpetrated so much atrocity in Syria," UN director at Human Rights Watch (HRW) Louis Charbonneau said in a statement.

Geneva-based human rights organization UN Watch described Russia?s ouster from the Human Rights Council as a "positive outcome" of the election.

UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer said the "non-election of Russia shows that the nations of the world can reject gross abusers if they so choose."

Moscow has faced severe international criticism for allying with the Syrian government, carrying out airstrikes to support the Syrian armed forces that have indiscriminately killed and wounded countless civilians.

Over 200,000 people are believed to have died in the Syrian conflict during the last five years.

China, Cuba, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and the UK were seeking re-election to the Council as their terms were set to expire in December this year.

HRW had strongly opposed the candidacy of Saudi Arabia, criticising its "widespread unlawful attacks" on civilians in Yemen.

Charbonneau said that Saudi Arabia, which was re-elected without competition, "doesnt belong on the council in light of its indiscriminate attacks on civilians in Yemen. Well be keeping all members? rights records under the microscope while they?re on the council."

UN Watch said the re-election of China, Cuba and Saudi Arabia, "regimes which systematically violate the human rights of their citizens, casts a shadow upon the reputation of the United Nations."

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Neuer said the worlds highest human rights body was now dominated by a "majority of 53 per cent which are non-democracies".

"The UNs election of Saudi Arabia as a world judge on human rights is like a town picking a pyromaniac to be the fire chief," said Neuer. PTI YAS ZH

--- ENDS ---
A woman had to sue this airline company over her service dog

Millions of Americans suffer from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in any given year and most of them are veterans of war. To help with the symptoms, many with PTSD have a service dog, but you might be surprised at how tough it is to travel with one. Service animals are recognized as working animals and are categorically seen as different than pets and they have specific privileges that allow them to properly service their owner. But decorated Army veteran Lisa McCombs had a bad experience and was forced to sue American Airlines over her service dog, which was barred from a flight.

McCombs adorable service dog Jake was called into question in Manhattan, Kansas, and it came as a surprise, since shes flown with him numerous times in the past. But despite providing the necessary documentation and required service vest for Jake, American Airlines agents would not let Jake fly with her. According to her lawsuit, McCombs alleges that the agents harassed and humiliated her publicly.

Her lawsuit also says that she was emotionally crushed and humiliated by the conduct of [the] agents, who discriminated against her because of her disability and publicly shamed her.

Former Army Capt. Lisa McCombs tried to take her service dog, Jake, on a flight home. The airline said no, she says: https://t.co/JPpjwINKtD pic.twitter.com/drbBLF8gMy  Sun Herald (@sunherald) October 26, 2016

According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), service animals are allowed on airplanes. Its policy states,

Service animals are not pets. They are working animals that assist persons with disabilities. There is no limit to the number of service animals that can be on any flight. Service animals do not need any health certificates to travel and they do not need to be confined in a container or cage.

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While the National Center for PTSD has not yet determined whether service dogs actually treat PTSD, Service Dogs for America notes that service dogs are trained to notice symptoms like anxiety and interrupt them, refocusing their owner. Trained or not, puppy love always helps, even in the worst of times. For someone with PTSD, a service dog can be essential.

According to McCombs suit, American Airlines did apologize for the hassle. McCombs alleges that Jim Palmersheim, a senior manager of Military and Veterans Programs for American Airlines, called her after the incident to apologize on behalf of the company. Palmersheim admitted that the agents didnt do the right thing, in addition to offering her international, first class tickets. Apologies are nice, but not being able to travel with ones service dog is more than an inconvenience.

According to The Washington Post, McCombs, enlisted in the Army in 2005 and was honorably discharged in 2009 after tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. She etired with the rank of a captain and has a handful of service awards like the Afghanistan Campaign Medal with Campaign Star, the NATO Afghanistan Service Medal, and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.

Regardless of McCombs honorable service, her lawsuit shows that PTSD is still often stigmatized in the public eye, even though it seriously impacts millions of people and their loved ones. Hopefully service dogs like Jake will be allowed to board without question in the future.

The post A woman had to sue this airline company over her service dog appeared first on HelloGiggles.
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Clinton campaign urges FBI to detail new developments in email case

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla./GOLDEN, Colo. - Democrat Hillary Clinton's top aides lash out at FBI Director James Comey for igniting a new controversy over a long-running private email investigation less than two weeks before the presidential election, saying there was no evidence of wrongdoing and accusing him of spreading "innuendo." (USA-ELECTION/ (UPDATE 1, PIX), by Roberta Rampton and Steve Holland, moved, 619 words)

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Shi'ite militias launch offensive to seal off western Mosul

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Spain ends impasse as Rajoy wins backing to head government

MADRID - Spain ends 10 months of political gridlock when lawmakers agree to grant conservative leader Mariano Rajoy a second term as prime minister. (SPAIN-POLITICS/ (UPDATE 2, PIX, TV), by Inmaculada Sanz and Sarah White, moved, 682 words)

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Tribe vows to fight North Dakota pipeline through winter

Native American leaders vow to protest through the winter against a North Dakota oil pipeline they say threatens water resources and sacred lands and are weighing lawsuits over police treatment of arrested protesters. (USA-PIPELINE/ (PIX, TV), moved, 491 words)

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American Airlines plane engine flung debris in rare, risky failure

Investigators scour Chicago's O'Hare International Airport after an engine caught fire on an American Airlines plane attempting to take off on Friday, as a source said a detached engine part had hit a nearby building, something the design should have prevented. (CHICAGO-AIRPLANE/ENGINE), by Alwyn Scott and Tim Hepher, moved, 520 words)

AMERICAS

Venezuela crisis, Colombia peace dominate Latin American summit

CARTAGENA, Colombia - Venezuela's fast-escalating political crisis and Colombia's stuttering peace process dominated discussions at the Ibero-American Summit despite an official agenda about youth, entrepreneurship and education. (LATINAMERICA-SUMMIT/ (UPDATE 1, PIX, TV), by Julia Symmes Cobb, moved, 404 words)

EU, Canada to sign trade pact after Belgians strike key deal

BRUSSELS - Canada and the European Union will sign a landmark free trade deal on Sunday after a series of key votes in Belgian regional assemblies ended opposition that had threatened to destroy the entire agreement. (EU-CANADA/TRADE (UPDATE 4), by Robert-Jan Bartunek, 475 words)

EUROPE

Italy PM Renzi tells party to step up referendum campaign

ROME - Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi tells thousands of party supporters gathered in central Rome to step up their campaign in favour of a referendum on constitutional reform that could decide his political future. (ITALY-RENZI/REFERENDUM (TV, PIX), by Gavin Jones, moved, 473 words)

Icelandic voters to choose between Pirates and establishment

REYKJAVIK - Icelanders vote in a parliamentary election with polls showing the opposition led by the anti-establishment Pirate Party could topple the ruling centre-right coalition. (ICELAND-ELECTION/ (UPDATE 2, PIX, TV), expect by 2300 GMT, by Zoe Robert and Stine Jacobsen, 550 words)

Serbian police move PM to "safe" place after weapons' cache find

BELGRADE - Police say they moved Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and his family to "a safe location" after uncovering a weapons cache including a rocket-propelled grenade launcher near his parents' home which he regularly visits. (SERBIA-PRIMEMINISTER/ (UPDATE 2), moved, 455 words)

Hollande: UK must share responsibility for Calais minors

DOUE-LA-FONTAINE, France - French President Francois Hollande says he has spoken with British Prime Minister Theresa May to convey the message that Britain should take its share of responsibility for minors from the dismantled "Jungle" migrant camp of Calais. (EUROPE-MIGRANTS/FRANCE-BRITAIN (UPDATE 1, PIX, TV), moved, 410 words)

AFRICA

Islamic State claims responsibility for attack outside U.S. embassy in Nairobi

CAIRO - A follower of Islamic State was responsible for an attack last week on a Kenyan police officer outside a U.S. embassy in Nairobi, the group's Amaq news agency said. (KENYA-USA/ISLAMICSTATE (UPDATE 1), moved, 216 words)

Clashes in Central African Republic town leave 25 dead

BANGUI - Clashes between militia groups in the Central African Republic have killed 25 people including six gendarmes caught in an ambush, the U.N. peacekeeping mission to the country says. (CENTRALAFRICA-VIOLENCE/ (UPDATE 1), moved, 180 words)

Tanzanian president tells security forces to pursue wildlife poachers

DAR ES SALAAM - Tanzania's president orders security forces to go after top criminals financing organised networks behind elephant poaching, saying no one was "untouchable". (TANZANIA-WILDLIFE/), moved, 400 words)

ASIA

Pakistan minister removed over media leak that angered army

ISLAMABAD - Pakistani Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid has been removed from office over a newspaper leak that sparked a rift between the army and the government earlier this month, the prime minister's office says. (PAKISTAN-GOVERNMENT (UPDATE 1), by Asad Hashim and Sheree Sardar, moved, 415 words)

Thousands protest in S.Korea, demand president quit over scandal

SEOUL - Thousands of South Koreans rally in Seoul demanding the resignation of President Park Geun-hye as a crisis deepens over allegations a friend exerted inappropriate influence over her and interfered in state affairs. (SOUTHKOREA-POLITICS/ (UPDATE 1, PIX, TV), by Jack Kim, moved, 500 words)

Late Thai king's funeral urn shown to public for first time

BANGKOK - Thais flock to Bangkok's glittering Grand Palace after the palace puts the funeral urn of late King Bhumibol Adulyadej on public display for the first time. (THAILAND-KING/ (PICTURES, TV), moved, 400 words)
Aden (AFP) - Yemen's president rejected a UN peace proposal for his war-battered country, as air strikes by his Saudi-led coalition allies killed at least 47 rebels, inmates, and civilians.

Forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government have been locked since 2014 in deadly battles with Iran-backed Shiite Huthi rebels who overran the capital Sanaa late that year.

The conflict escalated in March 2015 when Saudi Arabia launched a military campaign to push back the rebels.

The war has left nearly 7,000 people dead, mostly civilians, according to the United Nations which had been struggling to convince the warring parties to implement a ceasefire and revive a stalled political process.

The latest peace proposal submitted by UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed was rejected by Hadi who even refused to receive it as he met the mediator in Riyadh.

While the government has shifted its temporary headquarters to second-city Aden, Hadi resides in Riyadh with most senior officials.

The contents of the roadmap which the envoy already presented to the rebels on Tuesday have not been made public.

But informed sources say it calls for agreement on naming a new vice president after the rebels withdraw from Sanaa and other cities and hand over heavy weapons to a third party.

Hadi would then transfer power to the vice president who would appoint a new prime minister to form a government in which the north and south of Yemen would have equal representation.

- 'Door to more suffering' -

A statement on the government's sabanew.net quoted Hadi as saying the roadmap "only opens a door towards more suffering and war and is not a map for peace".

It cited Hadi as saying the plan "rewards the putschists while punishing the Yemeni people and legitimacy".

It was unclear how Hadi's Arab backers would react to his refusal, especially after a key coalition member, the United Arab Emirates, hailed the proposal on Thursday as a "political solution for the Yemeni crisis".

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Saudi Arabia has not commented on the UN envoy's latest proposal and the rebels have yet to respond.

Warring parties in Yemen are under mounting international pressure to end the conflict that has left the already-impoverished country grappling with increasing cases of malnutrition and a spread of disease.

The coalition, for its part, is under pressure over for the high civilian death toll from its bombing campaign.

On Saturday, four air strikes hit three residential buildings killing 17 people and wounding seven others in the battleground town of Salo, southeast of third-city Taez, according to rebel-controlled media.

A local Yemeni official loyal to the government said the coalition air strikes had hit three adjacent homes by mistake.

"All those in the houses were killed," he told AFP, adding that a child and seven women were among the dead.

Hours later, fresh air strikes on a rebel-held security building in Yemen's west killed at least 30 prisoners and insurgents, military officials said.

The two air strikes destroyed the building in Zaidia, north of the port city of Hodeidah.

The building houses a prison holding more than 40 inmates, most of them opponents of the Huthi rebels controlling the area, a military source close to the insurgents told AFP.

A number of rebels inside the building at the time were also killed in the attack, the source added.

Residents confirmed the attacks and medics gave the same toll without being able to immediately give a number for the wounded.

It was not yet clear why the coalition targeted the building holding anti-rebel inmates.

There was no immediate comment from the coalition on both attacks.

- Central bank bombing foiled -

Further south in second city Aden, the temporary seat of government, guards on Saturday thwarted a suicide attack on the central bank, opening fire on the bomber's vehicle and blowing it up before it reached the building, a security official said.

The bank has been based in Aden since Hadi last month ordered its relocation from Sanaa, accusing the rebels of running down Yemen's foreign reserves.

Five guards were wounded when the bomber's vehicle blew up around 30 metres (yards) from the bank building, the security official told AFP.

The bank's relocation has been a major blow to the rebels, forcing them to halt salary payments to state employees in the large areas of the country they control.

A UN report released in August found that the rebels and their allies were diverting about $100 million a month from the central bank, and that its foreign reserves had dwindled to $1.3 billion from about $4 billion in November 2014.
From Good Housekeeping

On February 10, 1993, Richard Hoagland called his wife, Linda Iseler, and told her he was feeling sick. He said he was heading to the emergency room, but insisted Iseler didn't need to come with him. He was never seen again - until 23 years later, when he emerged alive, safe, and with a completely new family, according to ABC News.

Hoagland had left everything at home in Indiana, from his coat to his toothbrush to even his passport. He left behind a wife and two sons, only 9 and 6 years old. Police found his car at the airport, but there was no record of a man named Richard Hoagland taking any flight. The last anyone heard from him is when he sent his sons a birthday card, with a message to "mind your mother."

"He devastated us. He left us with nothing, absolutely nothing. I was very broken," Iseler said. They had to give up their house and cars and rely on help from family. Hoagland was pronounced dead after 10 years, and Iseler ended up getting remarried.

But this year, Hoagland was found. It turns out that he went to Florida and stole the identity of a man named Terry Symansky, who was killed in 1991. He even got married to another woman and had a child, with his new wife, Mary, none the wiser. But here's the craziest part: Hoagland (now Symansky) ended up getting caught when the actual Terry Symansky's nephew looked up the family tree and realized that the man he knew had died had gotten married several years later, and even had a pilot's license.

Hoagland was arrested in July for fraudulent use of personal identification, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Police think that he pulled off the scheme because when he fled to Florida, he briefly lived with the real Symansky's father in Florida. He then found Terry's death certificate, used it to get a birth certificate, and used that to get a driver's license.

His new family was shocked. "Obviously their 20 years of marriage [was] shattered," detective Anthony Cardillo said. "The son came down. He was shocked. It was still his father. It's his blood, but that Symansky name is not his. The emotions they were feeling [were] between anger and sadness and the wonder of why."

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So why did he pull off the identity theft? According to the Indianapolis Star, Iseler had told police that he embezzled from his boss and was likely on the run from the law. But Hoagland said the reason was more personal: Iseler, who was his second wife, wanted a divorce, and he didn't think he could go through with a divorce again. He is now in jail awaiting trial, and has pleaded not guilty. Authorities were looking into various other accusations against him, too, so more charges may be ahead.

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NASA discovered pumpkin stars just in time for Halloween

Using observations from NASAs Kepler and Swift missions, astronomers have discovered pumpkin stars  because the universe is clearly as excited about Halloween as we are. Specifically, NASA missions have harvested a passel of pumpkin stars that spin so incredibly fast, theyve been flattened into shapes that look like actual pumpkins.

But chances are, you wont be able to carve faces into or make pie out of these pumpkins.

For four years, NASA monitored a huge patch of the sky, specifically looking for brightness changes caused by exoplanets passing in front of their host stars. Because the Kepler field of view has been intricately studied, researchers used NASAs Swift to search for X-ray sources Kepler may have seen.

Astronomers ended up finding what they were looking for and it exceeded their own expectations.

The rare, pumpkin-like stars produce intense X-ray emissions at more than 100 times the peak levels astronomers have seen from the sun.

These 18 stars rotate in just a few days on average, while the sun takes nearly a month, said Steve Howell, a senior research scientist at NASAs Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. The rapid rotation amplifies the same kind of activity we see on the sun, such as sunspots and solar flares, and essentially sends it into overdrive.

The most extreme-spinning pumpkin star is the KSw 71, which is 10 times the suns size and spins four times faster (the sun being on a once-ever- 25-days rotation). Because of this, it produces 4,000 times the suns peak X-ray emission.

As for the pumpkin shape, it could be the result of close binary systems where two sun-like stars orbit faster as they grow closer, eventually merge together, and form the pumpkin star, according to NASA.

The transition might take 100 million years, which obviously sounds like a crazy amount of time. But 100 million years is a relatively brief phase in a stars life.

The Swift study also found 93 X-ray objects  half being active galaxies and the rest being various types of X-ray emitting stars.

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Check out NASAs video for more cosmic info:

All of this basically means that we are tiny, you guys. Teeny tiny specs on a rotating axis. And the universe is full of complex wonders that are ever-changing.

The post NASA discovered pumpkin stars just in time for Halloween appeared first on HelloGiggles.
Apple demoed plenty of apps during its MacBook Pro even on Thursday, all ready to support the exciting new Touch Bar touchscreen that will offer users a handy selection of contextual shortcuts right under the screen.

One of the companies thats ready to support Apples new computing experience is one of its biggest rivals. Even if Microsoft just announced a bunch of products that compete directly against the new MacBooks and the other Macs, the company is still ready to support customers that want to spend north of $1,800 on a Touch Bar Mac.

DONT MISS: The iPhone 7 has an exciting new feature that Apple is keeping secret

Apple confirmed that Microsofts Office suite will be Touch Bar-friendly, and even showed images of Office app adapted for Touch Bar use during the keynote.

But Microsoft also came out with a blog post on the matter, highlighting some of the Touch Bar features its adding to its productivity apps.

In Word, a Word Focus Mode hides all the on-screen ribbons and commands so that you can focus on your work. The Touch Bar will display the shortcuts you may need while you work.

microsoft-office-word-macbook-pro-touch-bar

In PowerPoint, the Touch Bar shortcuts will let you manipulate graphic elements in presentations.

microsoft-office-powerpoint-macbook-pro-touch-bar

In Excel, typing an equals sign into a cell will trigger a Touch Bar action: the most recently used functions will appear.

microsoft-office-excel-macbook-pro-touch-bar

In Outlook, the Touch Bar will feature the latest commands, documents and calendar events.

microsoft-office-outlook-macbook-pro-touch-bar

Its not clear when the new Touch Bar features of Microsoft Office for Mac will be available, but theyll probably arrive in time for the laptops launch.

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See the original version of this article on BGR.com
A day ahead of Diwali, Rahul Mukerjea on Saturday posted on social media that he was missing Sheena Bora and blamed her mother Indrani Mukerjea for her murder.

By Vidya : In the 2012 Sheena Bora murder case, the one person who was left shattered was Rahul Mukerjea. He lost the love of his life, his fianc with whom he had plans to live happily. During the course of the investigation, the investigating agency also arrested his father and former television head honcho Peter mukerjea for conspiring with his wife and her ex-husband to get rid of Sheena. Sheena was killed on April 24, 2012 by her own mother Indrani Mukerjea, who never thought of her as a daughter.

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On Saturday, with the Diwali festivities around, Rahul suddenly seems to have become emotional, putting out personal pictures of him and Sheena on social media and saying "Missing you this Diwali". Pictures show the couple smiling and attending functions and holidaying in their happy times. His brother Rabin is among those who has liked a picture of the two together. Although the relationship between the two came to a horrifying end, it's these sweet moments with which Rahul will now have to live by.



RAHUL WAS LOSING HIS MIND TRYING TO TRACE SHEENA



With Sheena's sudden disappearance, Rahul's life seemed to have come to a standstill. He was losing his head trying to trace her whereabouts. His father and his current wife Indrani Mukerjea were telling him to forget about Sheena, something that only made him more suspicious while he still could not get in touch with her even as they told him stories about how Sheena had left him for a better guy.

Also read: Sheena Bora: Indrani kept Peter Mukerjea posted about murder plot, says CBI chargesheet

After almost four years of Sheena's murder, Rahul knows what happened to her, but that also equally left him shattered. CBI's chargesheet details about how Peter and Indrani did not approve of their relationship and the girl's coherent demand to the point of blackmail was unnerving Indrani. For that, she came all the way to Mumbai from England and strangulated her. Indrani got her body disposed off in the jungles of Raigadh and it was only the DNA samples that established that the remains were indeed Sheena's.

CBI has reiterated time and again that Peter was equally involved in the murder, but Rahul has all along denied that claim. He even started tweeting with a hashtag #peterdidntknow putting the entire blame on Indrani for the murder.

NONE IN MY FAMILY KILLED SHEENA

He said, "Evidence shows #PeterMukerjea didn't know what had happened to #SheenaBora. Where is the integrity in the "Justice" system? #peterdidntknow. No member of my family could ever consider violence or killing as a means to resolve any issue. This is Indrani's level of thinking only. Indrani has lied to everyone."



Also read: Sheena Bora murder: Why CBI believes that it has ample proof against Peter Mukerjea



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She lied to Sheena and tricked her into meeting, lied to Mekhail, her parents, to me, lied to Pa, to boss, to landlords, etc etc. Just so many lies.. quite unbelievable!! And so sad.

In the coming month, trial against Rahul's father and the other two will begin with the framing of charges. Rahul does not turn up in courts these days as he used to when his father was first arrested, but it does seem like he is keeping a tab on everything that happens and will staunchly stand by him even if CBI puts him in the witness box during the trial.

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By Sushant Mehta: Cast: Ajay Devgn, Erika Kaar, Abigail Eames, Girish Karnad, Sayyesha

Director: Ajay Devgn

Rating: (1.5/5)

Ajay Devgn's Shivaay is an outdated, predictable, contrived, convoluted film. Devgn is portrayed somewhat as the human reincarnation of Lord Shiva. He lives in the Himalayas, sprints down the icy peaks without any safety equipment; in fact, he also flies from one mountain to the other. The first half of the first half is also like a promotional campaign for smoking up, with Devgn inseparable from his chillum. What, is that some trait of Shiva? He puffs and puffs, and says Har Har Mahadev, all of which is absolutely appalling considering all the anti-smoking campaigns doing the rounds. So Devgn is a mountaineer, a mountain guide, who on an expedition, falls in love with one of his trekking enthusiasts, Olga from Bulgaria.

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ALSO READ: Ajay Devgn tries hard but fails to save Shivaay

ALSO READ: Shivaay makers to take legal action against Kamaal R Khan



ALSO READ: Shivaay is high on action, low on emotions

Devgn rescues Olga from an avalanche while delivering some really really cheesy one-liners. He gets her into a tent, the tent is then miraculously suspended between two mountain peaks at 20,000 feet, and Devgn takes full advantage of the situation by making love to Olga right there, in that near-death situation.

Anyway. The love story blooms, Olga is pregnant but she wants to go back to Bulgaria, Devgn wants the child since 'uske aage peechhe koi nahi hai'. So Olga leaves for Bulgaria after Gaura is born. Fast forward, and Gaura is 8.

Gaura now wants to go to Bulgaria to meet her mother. The story shifts from the Himalayas to Bulgaria, an additional child trafficking angle is introduced. The film is all over the place. Ajay is a good actor and the supporting cast also performs well, but there is no script here. Apparently the budget of Shivaay is more than Rs 100 crore, and while it definitely looks like a big-budget film with the exhilarating action sequences and world class cinematography, Ajay should have invested in the script before investing so much in the locations and stunts.

I would like to transport Sandeep Srivastav and Robin Bhatt, the writers of Shivaay, to a mountain peak in the Himalayas for exactly 2 hours and 52 minutes. Trust me, gentlemen. Each passing minute will seem like an hour, a day, a month... exactly how I felt while watching this neverending film there was a climax, an anti-climax, a final climax, an end and then some more ... 2 hours and 52 minutes of torture.

This film is like a '90s Ajay Devgn film, with cliched one-liners and painful dialogues. The fact that Devgn invested almost two years in making this film proves that he really believed in the script, which is a big surprise because he is known for his hard-hitting, offbeat films. Even his commercial blockbusters are very well planned.

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The Army in a statement has said that the act will invite an appropriate response.

By India Today Web Desk: After the body of an Indian soldier, killed in a gunfight in Jammu and Kashmir, was found mutilated, the Army has said that an "appropriate response" will be given.

The soldier was killed on Friday evening, by terrorists who fled back to Pakistani-administered Kashmir, under supporting fire cover by Pakistan Army. The army said a gunfight took place close to the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir's Machhil sector, in which one soldier and a terrorist were killed.

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"In a despicable act, the terrorists mutilated the body of the Indian army soldier before fleeing into PoK. This barbarism is a true reflection which pervades official and non-official organisations across the border. This act will invite an appropriate response," Army said.

LATEST UPDATE



As per the latest reports, one BSF jawan has been martyred in Machil sector during ceasefire violation by Pakistan in Kupwara. The martyred soldier has been identified as Nitin Subhash who hailed from Maharashtra.



Also read: Exclusive: How India hit back after Pakistan's multiple ceasefire violations along LoC



PAKISTAN SUFFERS HEAVY DAMAGE



The attack came hours after the Border Security Force said 15 Pakistani soldiers had been killed in retaliatory firing by Indian troops after ceasefire violation along the international border in Jammu and Kashmir.

The BSF's retaliatory firing has inflicted heavy casualties on the Pakistani Rangers and damaged the neighbourhoods of Sialkot and Shakargarh across the border, images obtained exclusively by India Today reveal. According to top BSF sources, the Pakistani border guards have now been seeking immediate army support.

Pak did something similar in Kargil. Unfortunate we didn't rake this issue at UN- PKSehgal,Defence exp of terrorist mutilate soldier's body pic.twitter.com/Ue7ZkU8TN3; ANI (@ANI_news) October 29, 2016

Meanwhile, India has intensified the vigil along the borders over secret inputs that the Pakistani army was attempting to infiltrate terrorists around Diwali.

Also read: 15 Pakistan Rangers killed in retaliatory firing by Indian forces



The Army has briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar and NSA chief Ajit Doval on Kupwara attack.



Meanwhile, Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit has been summoned by Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar over the attack.

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By PTI: Bhubaneswar, Oct 28 (PTI) A court here today granted conditional bail to Sum Hospital owner Manoj Ranjan Nayak and medical superintendent Pushparaj Samantasinghar, who were arrested following a fire tragedy at the medical facility which claimed 26 lives.

While granting bail, Khurda Additional District Court-II Judge Shyam Sundar Das asked both Nayak and Samantasinghar to furnish a bail bond of Rs one lakh and two sureties each and asked them to cooperate in the investigation, refrain from tampering evidence and appear at the police station as and when required by the investigating agency.

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The duo was among five persons arrested in the aftermath of the fire incident.

Nayak was arrested on October 20 while Samantasinghar was taken into custody on October 18.

All five arrested have been booked under sections 304, 308, 285 and 34 of the IPC. The case was registered on an FIR filed by the Fire Services Department for laxity in fire safety measures.

Earlier, the Commissionerate Police had secured a two-day remand for Nayak to interrogate him.

Meanwhile, the police have issued summons to Saswati Das and Arati Nayak, trustee members of Sikshya O Anusandhan Charitable Trust that runs Sum Hospital, to appear before them.

The Odisha government has ordered an inquiry into the fire incident by the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC) under the Commission of Enquiry Act of 1952. PTI AAM DKB RC PS

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The wife of a BSF jawan, who lost his life in the firing by Pakistani forces, has called for a decisive action to ensure that ceasefire violations stop.

Wife of martyr Mandeep Singh, who lost his life in firing by Pakistani forces in Machil sector (Photo: @ANI_news).

By India Today Web Desk: With seven jawans having been martyred on the international border and LoC in the latest escalation of ceasefire violation, a martyr's wife made an appeal to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday.

Wife of soldier Mandeep Singh, whose body was taken to his native place at Kurukshetra in Haryana, appealed to the PM to take a decisive action against Pakistan.

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"Nivedan sarkaar se hai ki ya toh samjha do Pakistan ko; samjhe toh thik, warna khatam kar do. Kam se kam roz-roz Diwali kaali nhi hogi sabhi ki (I request to the government either tell Pakistan to behave; if it does not listen then wipe it out. At least we will not have a black Diwali everyday)," Martyr's wife said after her husband's body reached Kurukshetra.

Kurukshetra: Family of soldier Mandeep Singh mourn his death (Photo: @ANI_news)

Paying tribute to the soldiers, who lost their lives in the line of duty, she said, "I salute the valour and sacrifice of all jawans. My husband was really brave."

Mandeep Singh died in an encounter near LoC in Machil sector in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir. Family and relatives mourned the death of their soldier son.

SON PAYS TRIBUTE

In Bihar son of BSF jawan Jitendra Singh paid tribute to his father in Raxual as last rites were performed on Saturday. BSF head constable Jitendra Singh lost his life in firing by Pakistan in RS Pura sector on the international border.

The son of martyr Jitendr Singh paid tribute to his father in Raxaul, Bihar on Saturday (Photo: @ANI_news)



Bihar Govt announced Rs 11 lakh compensation to family of Jitendra Singh.



#WATCH Son of BSF jawan Jitendra K Singh (who lost his life during ceasefire violation in RS Pura) pays his tribute to his father in Raxual pic.twitter.com/6ceqEJjrtf ANI (@ANI_news) October 29, 2016

ANOTHER JAWAN MARTYRED

A BSF jawan was killed on Saturday during ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops in Macchil sector along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. He was not hit in Pakistani firing rather he lost his life due malfunctioning of his weapon.

"BSF constable Nitin Subhash was firing a long range weapon. Unfortunately round blasted in chamber itself giving a recoil, which hit him in shoulder. He was given treatment but he complained of breathlessness and by 11:30 he succumbed to his injuries," BSF IG (Kashmir) Vikash Chandra said.

28-year-old Constable Koli Nitin Subhash, hailing from Sangli in Maharashtra, had joined BSF in 2008 and is survived by his wife and two sons aged four years and two years.

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ALSO READ:

Army vows revenge as soldier's body is mutilated, another martyred in Kupwara





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Outlets that maintain focus on Israeli matters, such as Bridges for Peace, have emphasized provisions in that resolution that condemn the Islamic Republics Holocaust denial. That report also points out that amendments were added to address human rights violations and Irans support for the Assad regime in Syria, after members of the European Parliament criticized the relatively uncritical language of the original draft. However, there was also reportedly resistance to this pressure in some areas, as amendments specifically calling for the release of political prisoners and an end to torture were defeated.

Meanwhile, Iranian news outlets like Tasnim News Agency conveyed Iranian officials rejection of the critical amendments that did make their way into the resolution. Ignoring the defeated amendments, those reports suggested that the final language of the document was unfair to Iran and reflected unspecified political motives. The Tasnim report off-handedly mentions that Iran embraced the aspects of the resolution that defined areas of cooperation with Iran in all fields, but it focused primarily on the criticisms levied against the resolution by Iranian judiciary chief Javad Larijani.

In a statement, Larijani accused the European Union member states of lacking the competence to instruct Iran on the correction of human rights violations. He also suggested that the West was maintaining a double standard in its focus on Irans abuses. This same attitude was reflected in a report by the Indo-Asian News Service, which quoted Irans Foreign Ministry spokesperson Bahram Qassemi as similarly rejecting Western pressure on human rights. That report, however, primarily emphasized the prospects for cooperation outlined in the European Parliaments resolution  prospects that it says were welcomed by Iran.

Qassemi further remarks seemed to embrace the idea of expanded contact between the two sides, but also to suggest that that contact would be used by Iran in an effort to diminish human rights criticisms without addressing the abuses they highlight. Iran is ready to explain about Islams views on human rights under a peaceful atmosphere and through talks, he said. It attempts to interact with others to bring the two sides views closer to each other.

This reflects an Iranian approach to human rights issues that has been highlighted in the past by human rights organizations and political groups opposed to the Iranian regime. Iranian Foreign Ministry and Judiciary officials, as well as the countrys domestic human rights monitor, have frequently accused the international community of trying to impose a Western view of human rights on the Islamic Republic. Such appeals to cultural relativism have been used to dismiss criticism of some human rights issues on which there are defined international standards, such as the reservation of the death penalty for perpetrators of the most serious crimes and for persons who were over the age of majority at the time of their offenses.

Iran regularly ranks as having the highest rate of executions per capita, largely as a result of its execution of non-violent drug offenders. It is also one of the only nations in the world that continues to carry out executions of minor offenders. Some of the latter type of cases have been reviewed in recent months by the Iranian Supreme Court, apparently in response to international pressure. But the death sentences have been consistently upheld via decisions that affirm their legality under Iranian law, thereby rejecting the international standard.

Although these sorts of moves help to keep alive the international criticism that constituted one aspect of this weeks European Parliament resolution, they have had no obvious impact on the level of international interest in doing business with state-linked entities in the Islamic Republic. The resolution itself reflects the ongoing pursuit of expanded trade ties, and Iranian officials have variously boasted of the progress that the country is seeing in its own pursuit of foreign investment.

CNBC recently interviewed Ahmad Jamali, the Iranian director general for foreign investment, about the source of foreign investment and the effects of linger economic sanctions. Iranian officials have repeatedly accused the US of violating the spirit of last years nuclear agreement by maintaining those non-nuclear sanctions and thus making reintegration into the international financial system more difficult. But in spite of this, Jamali claimed that the majority of foreign investor interest is coming from Europe, with Asian countries taking second place.

Signs of investor interest are even coming from the European countries that traditionally take a leading role in criticism of the Iranian regimes behavior. In fact, while Bridges for Peace emphasizes that Germany has insisted that the Islamic Republic recognize the state of Israel as a precondition for normalized relations, Irans media suggests that economic relations between Germany and Iran have already gone beyond normalization.

German exports to Iran have reportedly increased by 25 percent, when comparing the first seven months of the current Iranian year to the same period last year. The 1.27 billion dollars worth of exports represent the largest such figure out of all European countries, and the fifth largest overall.

Meanwhile, there are signs that the United Kingdom is making efforts to keep pace with the German expansion in trade with Iran. The Financial Tribune reported on Thursday that the UK had removed Irans Bank Saderat from its sanctions list, thereby potentially freeing up more trade between the countries. The financial institution in question handles an average of 42 million transactions per month and its newly de-sanctioned status reflects a broader European Union project to remove sanctions on such institutions after the third month of October.

Of course, such agreements exert no force upon the United States government, major factions of which are strict in their criticism of the Iranian regime and persistent in their insistence upon keeping sanctions in force. Yet, notwithstanding the critical aspects of the European Parliaments resolution, various European entities are attempting to pressure the US to remove its own sanctions on Iranian financial institutions, in order to make it easier for European businesses and banks to do business with the US and the Islamic Republic at the same time.

As one example of this trend, The Guardian reported on Thursday that the former British ambassador to Iran, Sir Richard Dalton has roughly emulated Irans taking points about the nuclear agreement, saying that the West risks breaching it if it does not help to give Iran full access to the international financial system.

But even opposing factions of the US government seem to agree that Daltons criticisms are unfounded. The Obama administration has praised its own compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action by saying that it had gone beyond the requirements of the deal in the interest of encouraging Western investment in Iran. At the same time, the Republican-led US Congress has criticized the White House for going too far with the implementation of the JCPOA, not merely lifting sanctions and permitting investment but actively encouraging Europeans to do business with a regime that continues to sponsor terrorism and carry out human rights violations.

Although the European Parliaments resolution seems to acknowledge these criticisms, it does not seem to share US lawmakers concerns that increased economic contact with Iran will facilitate more of the same behaviors and increase the reach of Irans influence. But the recovery of the Iranian oil economy has already been linked to Irans worsening confrontations with its adversaries in the broader Middle East.

Reuters reported on Thursday that Irans oil exports were actually expected to fall to a four-month low in November. But the anticipated figures still represent an increase to 156 percent of last Novembers exports, a situation that Reuters describes as a post sanctions bonanza. While the coming months relative lull will not reverse that trend, it may very well allow Iran to continue working against the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, of which it is a member.

In April, the Iran regime had already greatly expanded its oil production but resolved to avoid cooperation with OPEC over output levels until its domestic production had surpassed self-described pre-sanctions levels. Since then, Irans self-reported growth figures have slowed so as to represent ongoing enrichment of the Iranian oil economy, but without exceeding its standards for non-cooperation with other oil exporters.
Harsh critics of last years Iran nuclear agreement, which suspends many of those sanctions, have put forward plans to expand the period of enforcement or to add additional sanctions related to Irans support for terrorism or its human rights abuses. These sorts of additional provisions could be expected to be viewed by Iran as violations of the agreement and thus as potential reasons for its cancellation. But Iranian officials have previously indicated that they would view any sanctions efforts in this same light. This presumably includes a clean reauthorization of the ISA, or even the proposal put forward by some supporters of the nuclear agreement to shrink the period of reauthorization to eight years.

Because of the implicit risk of a reactionary response from the Islamic Republic, the Obama administration has voiced opposition to the reauthorization, claiming that the US already has sufficient resources in place to penalize Iran for violations of the nuclear agreement, regardless of whether the ISA has been reauthorized. However, this is one area of Iran policy in which there is reportedly widespread agreement between congressional Republicans and Democrats. Thus, Reuters indicates that a clean reauthorization is expected to pass the House quick easily, although the Senate vote is more difficult to predict.

Regardless of the precise outcome of the reauthorization, the debate over the ISA demonstrates the ongoing discord between different factions of the US government over the future of Iran policy. And as the US approaches the presidential elections scheduled for November 8, there are serious questions about which faction will prevail under a new presidential administration, whether it be Republican or Democrat.

On Thursday, two news reports gave very different impressions of the prospective future of US policy toward Iran. On one hand, the UKs Guardian newspaper suggested that even if Republican candidate Donald Trump were to win election, it is unlikely that he would be able to seriously undermine the nuclear agreement, much less tear it up as he has occasionally promised to do. But that claim is based on a premise with which not all political analysts agree: that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action is too obviously a good agreement for US, regional and world security to risk abandoning.

On the other hand, an article in Bloomberg expressed a much more critical view of the JCPOA but also indicated that the Hillary Clinton campaign may privately hold views about Iran policy that are not substantially more permissive than those of her Republican rival. At least two of Clintons prominent advisors, former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell and the campaigns top national security advisor Jake Sullivan, have advocated for a more aggressive policy than that of the current Democratic presidency of Barack Obama.

Specifically, Morell has expressed interest in expanding economic sanctions on Irans behaviors outside of the nuclear sphere. He has also indicated that a Clinton administration should return to direct leadership in the Middle East in order to reassure traditionally Sunni allies and traditional adversaries to Iran. Both these positions were expressed by Sullivan as well, when he was quoted as saying, We need to be raising the costs to Iran for its destabilizing behavior and we need to be raising the confidence of our Sunni partners.

But even if the shift to a more aggressive Iran policy is a foregone conclusion regardless of the outcome of the election, critics of the Obama administration may still question whether that shift will take place in time to constrain the expansion of Iranian influence in the Middle East and the world. Agence-France Presse reported on Thursday that Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif was set to meet with his Syrian and Russian counterparts, both collectively and individually, in order to discuss their future cooperation in the fight against ISIL militants and anti-Assad rebel groups in Syria. Such meetings arguably reflect tightening alliances among Assads supporters and growing prospects for the emergence of an anti-Western bloc centered around Iran.

Such meetings come at a crucial time, as major offensives are underway against depleted rebel forces in Aleppo, Syria, and against the ISIL stronghold at Mosul, Iraq. A video report by Al Jazeera suggested on Thursday that the battle for Mosul would be vital to Irans political reach throughout the region, and that the underlying cooperation between the Iranian and Iraqi governments reflects the blurring of the lines between the two countries. For strict opponents of the Iranian regime, that trend threatens to eliminate Western and Arab influence from a crucially important region of the Middle East, replacing it with Iranian foreign activities that have been left unconstrained by the current US administration.
[October 28, 2016] OTC Markets Group Welcomes Violin Memory to OTCQX

NEW YORK, Oct. 28, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM), operator of financial markets for 10,000 U.S. and global securities, today announced Violin Memory, Inc. (OTCQX: VMEM), a company that designs and distributes data storage hardware and software, has qualified to trade on the OTCQX Best Market. Violin Memory previously traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Violin Memory begins trading today on OTCQX under the symbol "VMEM." U.S. investors can find current financial disclosure and Real-Time Level 2 quotes for the company on www.otcmarkets.com. "Trading on OTCQX will allow Violin Memory to continue to provide an efficient and transparent public trading market for its investors," said Jason Paltrowitz, Executive Vice President of Corporate Services at OTC Markets Group. "We are pleased to welcome the company to the OTCQX market and look forward to supporting its growth." "Violin Memory created the all flash storage array market ten years ago and is transitioning to a full suite of flash storage software solutions to complement the company's full range of scalable hardware to meet the ever increasing storage demands of Fortune 1000 companies," said Ebrahim Abbasi, Chief Operating Officer of Violin Memory. "Violin's products are uniquely suited to meet the needs of enteprise private and hybrid cloud environments. Trading on OTCQX will allow our investors to have a public trading outlet."



About Violin Memory, Inc.

Violin Memory, the disruptive innovator in All Flash Arrays, is revolutionizing how businesses operate by enabling storage technology to Be Instrumental to their company by changing the SLAs and capabilities of private, hybrid and public cloud environments. The Flash Storage Platform, powered by Concerto OS, a fully integrated storage operating system, is the industry leader in the combination of every significant category measured in all flash arrays: low latency, affordability, density, scalability and performance. With tightly integrated data services, the Violin Flash Storage Platform provides a unique combination of data protection, business continuity, and data reduction services onto a flexible, uniquely scalable solution called Scale Smart, delivering significant CAPEX and OPEX savings. Founded in 2005, Violin Memory is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. For more information, visit www.violin-memory.com. About OTC Markets Group Inc.

OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM) operates the OTCQX Best Market, the OTCQB Venture Market, and the Pink Open Market for 10,000 U.S. and global securities. Through OTC Link ATS, we connect a diverse network of broker-dealers that provide liquidity and execution services. We enable investors to easily trade through the broker of their choice and empower companies to improve the quality of information available for investors. To learn more about how we create better informed and more efficient markets, visit www.otcmarkets.com OTC Link ATS is operated by OTC Link LLC, member FINRA/SIPC and SEC regulated ATS. Subscribe to the OTC Markets RSS Feed Media Contact: OTC Markets Group Inc., +1 (212) 896-4428, [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110118/MM31963LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/otc-markets-group-welcomes-violin-memory-to-otcqx-300353528.html SOURCE OTC Markets Group Inc.

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CHARLESTON -- Schools in Coles County, again, are hoping for an alternate revenue source to pull from through the sales tax referendum on the ballot this year.

For a third time now, a referendum will be on the ballot that, if passed, would include Coles County among 39 other counties that imposed a 1-percent sales tax exclusively for school facilities purposes made possible by the County School Facility Occupation Tax.

The past two times the referendum was up for a vote in the county, it was turned down.

However, unlike those previous attempts that were placed on primary election ballots, this will be the first time the referendum will be proposed on the general election ballot in the county, which historically has a much larger voter turnout.

The referendum would allow schools the ability to pull from another revenue source of which they had not been able to pull from before.

According to state statute, the money from the 1-percent tax could only be used for the acquisition, development, construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, improvement, financing, architectural planning, and installation of capital facilities consisting of buildings, structures, and durable equipment and for the acquisition and improvement of real property and interest in real property required, or expected to be required, in connection with the capital facilities.

The revenue could also be used to pay off bonds or other obligations issued. School facility purposes would also include fire prevention, safety, energy conservation, accessibility, school security, and specified repair purposes set forth in the school code.

The money received from the tax would be dispersed based on student enrollment. According to the school districts, Mattoon schools would get an estimated $2.5 million in sales tax revenue annually; Charleston schools, an estimated $2.05 million; and Oakland schools, an estimated $118,252.

However, if passed, the school districts will get a little less than that in the first year enacted. The sales tax would not go into effect until July 1, the start of the state fiscal year, and would be a roughly four-month lag until the schools start seeing money trickle in Larry Lilly, Mattoon superintendent, said.

Because it will be pooling money from sales taxes, approximately 30 percent of the funding would come from visitors outside the county, Lilly said.

The bulk of the contention against the referendum comes from a worry that it is connected to increased property taxes.

While the Coles Citizens for Progress Committee, a group opposing the tax, declined to comment on the referendum, Les Combs, who is involved in the organization, said that once the referendum is passed, the school districts will have unlimited access to jack up property taxes by issuing bonds without a referendum.

Combs and the opposition group has cited an Illinois Association of School Boards journal entry dated in the summer of 2008 to support their claim.

Once a sales tax question is passed in the county and the schools learn how much revenue it will generate, the district can sell alternate revenue bonds or 'double-barreled" bonds,' " the journal states.

A double-barreled bond provides the school districts and other taxing bodies the ability to pull from another revenue source, namely property taxes, should the intended revenue source not meet the needs of the bond payment. In these cases, the choice to dip into property taxes would not require a referendum.

According to state statute, though, these powers to the school districts are already in place.

State Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, confirmed this in a letter to constituents last week. He said the statute does not alter the legal authority school districts already have regarding the issuance of bonds.

Concern has also arisen over the potential for the schools to levy or ask for above Property Tax Extension Law Limit, which caps the increase in spending a taxing district can ask for.

State Rep. Reggie Phillips, R-Charleston, said on his website that PTELL is a hard tax cap on the ability of future property tax extension.

A new debt issuance will not break the cap unless there is specific language in the PTELL tax cap law exempting this cash flow and authorizing that this cap be broken, he said. There is no such language that enumerates the County School Facility Occupation Tax, and its cash flows, in the current PTELL law.

However, double-barreled bonds are not included in PTELL extension limits, according to the Department of Revenue. This is already a part of state statutes, though, and the sales tax referendum would not change that.

According to state statute, the county board, after the referendum, can place another referendum on the ballot calling for the tax to be discontinued or reduced.

However, there are exceptions to this ability to do so. The county can't discontinue the sales tax if a school district is already using the revenue to repay bonds.

Combs said whether or not the referendum was tied to double-barreled bonds, which is the crux of his opposition to the tax, he still would not vote for the bill largely because of the potential impact to the area with additional taxes.

The addition would be attached to the current 6.75 percent sales tax rate on general merchandise in the county, which would be an approximately 14.8 percent increase in the sales tax.

According to the Illinois Department of Revenue, exemptions from the sales tax includes tangible personal property that is titled or registered with a state agency including most vehicles, groceries aside from alcoholic beverages, soft drinks, and food which has been prepared for immediate consumption and prescription and non-prescription medicines, drugs, medical appliances and insulin, urine testing materials, syringes, and needles used by diabetics.

Most equipment used by farmers is also tax exempt. Mary Cox, Coles County Farm Bureau manager, said items essential to agricultural production is exempt from the sales tax. However, common items bought in large quantities by farmers, for example, fencing material and building material are not exempt from the tax.

Combs said farmers buy big ticket items aside from the essential farm equipment that an additional 1-percent tax could make a difference on.

Kirk Swenson of Citizens for Coles County Schools, a support group for the tax, said he wants the control of revenue in the local schools instead of in state legislature's hands through general state aid, which has historically been less than promised by the state.

From a citizen standpoint, I get local control and accountability for my school board and my superintendent, he said.
To Our Communities:

For three years, a diverse group of Christians has met weekly in Arthur to pray.

We are praying for revival in our communities in Central Illinois, for renewed and refreshed hearts for the people of God, for those who have turned their hearts away from God, and for those who have not yet trusted in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

In 2 Chronicles 7:14, God shares a powerful promise to all generations. If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

We are calling multitudes of people to prayin every community across Central Illinois, for Gods Spirit to move upon our communities. Pray in your homes, churches, businesses, and schools; join together with fellow students or co-workers or invite neighbors to your home to pray. Wherever life has you, please pray!

1 Thessalonians 5:17 encourages us, Pray without ceasing

We believe God is not finished with America. He has a plan for each of us. But as 2 Chronicles 7:14 reminds us, we have some things to do.

Lets start with prayer. Prayer strengthens families, communities, states, and nations. God moves when people pray. And yes, He will forgive our sin and heal our land.

Many Americans are feeling overwhelmed by the spiritual battles and cultural war we are fighting. But keep praying and rememberGod is in control, loves us, and He holds our future. He has already won the victory over sin, death and the devil through Jesus Christs death on Calvary and resurrection on Easter morning.

Mike Rutledge, Arthur

Larry Rocke, Tuscola

Al Rennert, Lovington

Loyd Gingerich, Arthur

Dave Allen, Arthur
Do you know a local hero? Do you know someone who has gone above and beyond to support a local nonprofit with their time, talent, and treasure?

The East Central Illinois Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) invites you to show your gratitude to your hero by nominating that individual, group, or organization for an award to be presented on National Philanthropy Day, January 27, 2017.

National Philanthropy Day is an annual celebration hosted by AFP chapters throughout the United States and Canada to recognize the many good things that nonprofits provide in our respective communities and to celebrate the volunteers and supporters that help make it happen.

Nominations will be accepted until November 10 via www.afpeci.org.

Members of the community are welcome to register to attend the celebration at the National Philanthropy Day banquet on January 27. Visit www.afpeci.org to learn more.

We look forward to celebrating local heroes!

Jacqueline S. Joines, CFRE

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR COLLEGE ADVANCEMENT

Lake Land College, Mattoon
CHADRON -- Tom Brewer, who is challenging Sen. Al Davis in the Legislature's vast 43rd District, resigned from the board of a Montana-based nonprofit following an investigation by the state's attorney general.

A report issued following the investigation said Brewer and Jeffrey Bolton, another member of the Heroes and Horse Inc. board, reached an agreement this summer to resign as directors.

After reviewing 500 pages of documents and interviewing those involved, the Attorney Generals office concluded that the directors breached their duty of care by failing to maintain records as required by law and the organizations own bylaws.

As a result, it is impossible to determine the composition of the board with certainty, or the officers of the corporation. The few records that were prepared oftentimes fail to indicate the presence of a quorum," the report says. "As a result, it is impossible to determine whether the reported action was, in fact, lawfully adopted by the corporation.

Further, on many occasions, the appropriate corporate officer failed to timely notify the directors of future meetings in accordance with H&H bylaws. Finally, the board failed to provide proper oversight of the preparation of various documents for filing with the Montana Secretary of State and with the Internal Revenue Service.

The organization was incorporated in 2014 and Brewer is listed as a director/treasurer. In later documents, he is listed as president of the board.

The report shows that minutes for several meetings were either not kept or were incomplete, which the Attorney Generals Office said goes beyond technical violations of the law.

A footnote in the report indicates that Brewer often initiated telephone conference calls, for which there was no notice and no agenda. The AGs office was told votes were taken during these phone calls, but was also told they were simply administrative discussions, not board meetings.

There were allegations from another member of the board and a financial supporter that Brewer and Bolton were keeping the executive director of the organization out of loop by not informing him of meetings.

In May, both men signed an agreement to resign from the board, and $140,000 of the groups assets were to be transferred to a new nonprofit organized by Brewer and Bolton.

Deputy Attorney General Edwin Eck said last week that the money has not yet been transferred, as the two men have to provide proof that they have established a nonprofit corporation. Brewer and Bolton, as well as the organizations executive director, Micah Fink, also agreed to nondisclosure and nondisparagement clauses.
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The legislative committee tracking the Department of Correctional Services zeroed in Friday on the programming inmates receive to prepare them for a successful return to their communities.

The committee and its attorney Steve Lathrop spent the morning questioning Mike Rothwell, deputy director for programming. By noon, some senators expressed frustration they still didn't know specifics about the need for programming, or the numbers of staff and funding to provide it.

Committee members started looking into available programming for inmates, both inside and outside prisons, a year ago, said Chairwoman Patty Pansing Brooks. Information is still vague.

"We want to know specifics," she said. "How many prisoners are waiting for what classes, or at least tell us how many are getting the classes, then we can do the subtraction and know how many aren't."

Friday was the last scheduled meeting for the interim panel with Director Scott Frakes and other Corrections officials to discuss issues facing the department.

Pansing Brooks asked for a report by January on who's getting programming, what types of programming and how many programs they are getting. That may or may not happen.

One-third of inmates are past their parole eligibility dates and waiting on programming, Lathrop said.

"That's a troubling statistic," he said.

The violence reduction program, for example, appears to have about 140 inmates waiting to get into the program, which lasts nine to 12 months and at the Nebraska State Penitentiary has a capacity for 12 inmates. In the 2016 fiscal year, 16 inmates successfully completed the program.

Other programs and the numbers of inmates who completed them in FY 2016 are: Anger management, 109; domestic violence, 16; aggression replacement therapy, 19; residential substance abuse, 481; non-residential substance abuse, 677; moral reconation (moral reasoning) therapy, 265.

The department has more than 200 vacant positions to fill, including 130 protective services workers.

Corrections started a new assessment process July 5 at the Diagnostic and Evaluation Center, and 120 staff have been trained to do the assessments alongside other duties.

The goal is to do assessments, which include recommendations for programming, within 30 days. That has already backed up to 40 days because of staffing shortages, Lathrop said.

Frakes talked to the committee in the afternoon and said getting the people and programs in place was a moving, progressing process.

"If this was a healthy, robust prison system, I'd be ashamed to sit here and say that we're not doing more, we're not moving quicker and we haven't achieved some of these things," Frakes said.

But it's not a healthy, robust correctional system, he said.

"It's filled with really good staff, and a bunch of men and women that need help and the opportunities to change so they can get out and not come back," he said. "We're moving in right directions to get us there."

Corrections has a lot of resources waiting to be used. It's a matter of doing the things it'll take to use them, Frakes said.

"When we've fully utilized all of those, if it's determined there's still more need, I'll have my hand out and I'll be able to identify what the need is," he said.

Pansing Brooks said one problem was the state now needs large amounts of revenue to pay for something that has been kicked down the road for so many years that the department is doing crisis management.

It's not fair to Frakes, she said, but if the state continues to put this off to cut taxes and spend in other places, the problems of overcrowding, understaffing, lack of programming and mental health treatment won't be addressed.

The goal here is to rehabilitate and prepare inmates so that they don't come back, she said.

"It's so discouraging because nobody wants to bite the bullet and pay for it," she said.
Dr. Ernie Goss, professor of economics at Creighton University, is frustrated with death penalty proponents' constant challenge of his study on the cost of capital punishment in Nebraska.

So on Friday, he issued a challenge of his own. Goss wants Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson, who has attacked the study, to appear with him at a public forum to debate it.

It appears Peterson is turning down the invitation.

Goss sent a letter to Peterson Friday saying there have been repeated misstatements, half truths, and misrepresentations from the Attorney General's office about the cost analysis. It showed Nebraska spends an average of $14.6 million annually to keep the death penalty, beyond what life imprisonment costs the state.

"The economic impact of the death penalty is an important component of the death penalty discussion, and voters deserve to have the real and whole truth," Goss said.

He asked that Peterson and he come together to each present their research on the cost so voters could analyze the data and decide for themselves the economic impact of Nebraskas death penalty.

Peterson replied in a news release that he is confident in Nebraskans ability to determine the facts when they vote on the death penalty in November.

He said he has provided information from actual Nebraska cases and the information is available on the attorney general's website: http://ago.nebraska.gov/media/news/view/101182/nebraska-facts-about-nebraskas-death-penalty.

Nebraskans will vote on Nov. 8 whether to retain a law (LB268) passed in 2015 that repealed the death penalty, or repeal that law.
Peace and justice activist the Rev. Traci Blackmon will address racial justice in a time of racial tension in America at Thursdays Otis Young Lecture Series on Ethics and Religion.

The free lecture begins at 7 p.m. at First-Plymouth Congregational Church, 2000 D St.

Blackmon also will speak at 1:30 p.m. Thursday at Doane Universitys Perry Campus Center in Crete.

Blackmon is the acting executive minister of Justice & Witness Ministries for the United Church of Christ and is the pastor of Christ the King United Church of Christ in Florissant, Missouri.

A featured voice by many regional, national and international media outlets and a frequent contributor to print publications, Blackmons communal leadership and work in the aftermath of the killing of Michael Brown, Jr. in Ferguson, Missouri, gained her national and international recognition and audiences from the White House to the Vatican.

She was appointed to the Ferguson Commission by Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and co-chaired the Municipal Governance and Court Reform workgroup.

This year, Blackmon was appointed to the Presidents Advisory Council on Faith-Based Neighborhood Partnerships for the White House.

Blackmon's early and consistent response to racial tensions exposed after the killing of Brown earned her numerous awards and recognitions, including the White House Presidents Volunteer Service Award, 2015 Ebony Magazine Power 100 award, and NAACPs Rosa Parks Award.

For more information on presentation, call 402-476-7565 or go to firstplymouth.org.
News cameras could become a common sight in courtrooms across the state starting as early as March if the Nebraska Supreme Court approves a rule change now up for comment.

At a meeting of a Bench-Media Committee of judges, attorneys and the press in LaVista this week, Justice Jeff Funke said judges and attorneys have been working on the issue since May 2015.

This year, the conversation expanded to include journalists.

"I'm excited," Funke said. "I think we're getting there."

While the Supreme Court live streams video of oral arguments, the courtroom in the Capitol has been one of few in the state to allow cameras, either still or video.

But that has been changing -- slowly. At this point, judges in seven of 12 judicial districts -- including all Lancaster County Court judges and District Judge Robert Otte -- have given the OK for expanded media coverage in their courtrooms.

Funke said Tuesday that a March 1 start date will allow time to address comments sent to the Clerk of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals by Nov. 15 and time to educate judges, court staff and media.

Attorney Shawn Renner, who advises print and broadcast journalists on free speech and open meeting issues, said he sees progress, but like any new process, there are going to be growing pains.

The idea is to figure out how the system will work before a high-profile case comes up, he said.

Sarpy County Court Judge Todd Hutton suggested how-to videos for reporters.

He said there couldn't be a more stark contrast between the old rule, adopted in 1992, which said there shall be no broadcasting, televising, recording or photographing in courtrooms and the immediate area unless approved, and the proposed rule, which says expanded media coverage shall be permitted in county and district courtrooms in Nebraska, with limited exceptions.

But at the end of the two-hour meeting, Supreme Court Chief Justice Mike Heavican reminded the group they are not really pioneers.

Other states, including neighboring Iowa, have had cameras in courtrooms for years.

"This will work," Heavican said.

And it will be a positive thing for the court and everyone involved, he said.
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Donald Trump delivered a speech in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, that he should have given much earlier in the campaign, minus the usual threats against women who have accused him of sexual assault.

The speech, which was probably written for him because "deep" and "thinker" are likely not the first two words that spring to mind when you hear the name Trump, set out an agenda for what he promises to do should he be elected president.

Trump's promises were divided into three sections. The first action, he said, would "clean up the corruption and special interest collusion in Washington, D.C."

He'd start by proposing a constitutional amendment to limit congressional terms. One can safely predict that isn't going to happen because in order for a constitutional amendment to be considered for ratification by the states, it must first pass Congress. Most members are not about to limit their own power and position.

Trump would impose a hiring freeze on all federal employees, reducing the workforce through attrition. The military, public safety and public health would be the exceptions. That's possible.

For every new federal regulation, Trump would ask that two existing federal regulations be eliminated. That might work if Trump could persuade Congress that the regulations he wishes to eliminate were in fact failures.

Trump wants to institute a five-year ban on White House and congressional officials becoming lobbyists after they leave government service and also proposes a lifetime ban on White House officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government. He also favors a complete ban on foreign lobbyists raising money for American elections. These proposals also might work, but will require public pressure on Congress to achieve.

Trump also proposed "seven actions to protect American workers." These include his familiar promise to renegotiate NAFTA, or withdraw from it. As for the Trans Pacific Partnership, he would pull out completely with no renegotiation.

China would be declared a currency manipulator, which it is, but has Trump considered the response from Beijing, which holds an enormous amount of American debt?

Trump wants to list restrictions on energy-producing entities and finish the Keystone pipeline, which has been blocked by the Obama administration despite numerous studies showing there would be little or no environmental impact.

Trump would also cancel billions in payments to U.S. climate change programs and use the money to fix America's water and environmental infrastructure. Good. Polls show climate change is not high on the list of public concerns and many believe the "science" to be manipulated, even bogus.

On national security, Trump promised to "cancel every unconstitutional executive action, memorandum and order issued by President Obama." Why not? Obama did the same with many of George W. Bush's executive orders.

Trump again promised to name judges to federal benches, including the Supreme Court, "who will uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States."

He would cancel all funding to sanctuary cities where illegal aliens are being sheltered. And Trump would capture and deport illegal aliens who commit crimes and cancel the visas of countries that refuse to take them back. That would be popular and difficult for Democrats to oppose. He again pledged "extreme vetting" of people from countries where terrorism is a major export.

There's more, including tax cuts for corporations to create jobs and bring back companies and their tax dollars from overseas, as well as school choice to help especially poor children escape failing schools.

Like them, or not, these are substantive ideas. Is it too late for voters to digest them and possibly for those undecided, or against Trump, to swing toward him and away from the big government promises of Hillary Clinton? We'll know in less than two weeks.
Nebraska Secretary of State John Gale was right to pull public service announcements that were scheduled to air on the death penalty referendum.

The radio ads were aimed at a real problem, but they were the wrong solution.

The problem is the confusing language that appears on the ballot. To reiterate, votes who support the death penalty will vote to repeal. Voters who oppose the death penalty will vote to retain the law passed by the Legislature, which replaces the death penalty with a sentence of life in prison.

The radio ads tried to oversimply the situation, and the end result was that they were misleading. The announcements made it sound as though the choice was solely to keep or abolish the death penalty without reference to the fact that the law in question replaced the death penalty with life in prison.

There is no doubt that its important that voters know that, under the law, criminals convicted of the most heinous murders will never be allowed back into society, and that public safety is protected.

As Darold Bauer, campaign manager of Retain a Just Nebraska said, that information is critical.

Decades of research has shown that voters opinion of the death penalty changes drastically based on whether or not the assurance of life imprisonment exists, he said.

Its also shown by the fact that the issue comes up repeatedly in debates on the referendum.

Death penalty proponents have disingenuously made the claim that there is no such thing as life in prison without parole because a judge can always commute a life sentence.

Heres what retired District Judge Ronald Reagan had to say in May.

I want to make sure theres no legal confusion. Life imprisonment means life in prison, no chance of parole. Anything else is legal posturing and has no grounding in the legal realities.

Reagan knows the subject as well as any legal expert and better than most. As a judge, he sentenced sadistic serial killer John Joubert to death. Joubert died in the electric chair in 1996.

If the argument being spread by death penalty advocates had validity, it would be just as true to say that there can be no such thing as the death penalty in Nebraska because a judge could always commute the sentence.

Reagans words are worth repeating: Let me be perfectly clear about what happens when someone is sentenced to life in prison. They die in prison.

Thats the information that was omitted from the public service announcements and Gale rightly took them off the air before they misled voters.
An attorney for the wronged individuals has asked Gage County to deliver $28.1 million dollars awarded by a federal jury. The county has appealed. The trial judge refused to stay collection. Last year the county's total tax revenue was only $9 million dollars. The county is considering bankruptcy, a first for any Nebraska county.

A Petition for State Surety was sent to Gov. Ricketts Sept. 24. It detailed reasons for the governor to budget sufficient funds to pay the Beatrice 6 jury award, legal fees and costs, which, totaled, are likely to exceed $33 million dollars.

On Oct. 12, residents asked the Gage County Board to also ask Gov. Ricketts to funding and to obtain a legal opinion from the county attorney, who can consult with Attorney General Peterson, regarding the legal responsibility the state has for the actions of the sheriff's deputies. Upon request, the attorney general has the duty to advise the county attorney, and the governor, on matters of public revenue ("Beatrice 6 seeking county payment," Oct. 13). The board took no action.

Six individuals spent over a combined 75 years in prison for a crime committed by another. A major factor in the convictions was the death penalty, a penalty authorized by state law.

Gage County property owners presently face possible passage of a $369 million bond requested by Southeast Community College and a $35 million bond for a Beatrice pre-K-5 school. Beatrice itself may require an additional $30 million over the next five years.

Voters deserve to know the governor's intentions regarding state funding of the Beatrice 6 obligations before voting on the bonds and the death penalty questions.

Don Schuller, chairman, Gage County Democrats, Wymore
I'm writing in response to the Oct. 18 article on the plans for the VA ("VA Campus work to start").

I am a Vietnam veteran who believes what they printed in the Journal Star, which read, "This is a sacred campus for the veterans of this community who went to the outpatient clinic on the campus."

I believe it is almost a crime that officials in the VA seem not to give a hoot about what our veterans want.

They could start building the clinic now and the whole project could be done in three years. Instead, we have to wait a year or possibly two years for their decision.

To the VA officials, heed the desire of our war veterans and build the clinic on the VA campus.

Roger Dinges, Wahoo
America is an ideal worked toward. Our birth, in the Declaration of Independence, alludes to  their duty  for their future  This unsurpassed methodology was codified in the Constitution, telling us to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity  In 2016, I fear for our past with Donald Trumps campaign.

Read our founding documents. I worry Trump can only provide rule the colonists fled, rule we fought world wars to prevent. He would provide security, but not for all. If we accept leadership needing force to maintain power, we would experience the cause for the Declaration again.

A vote is a duty to America. If Americas future goes bad, it is our fault. I supported Bernie Sanders and will vote for Hillary Clinton. I think if you cant carry out an execution in 10 years you ought to free the felon, and lean toward the death penalty for future capital crimes. I think Republicans in Nebraska and America who stand for principles, quickly should form a Republicans for Hillary Movement.

Hillary may win, likely with more votes than polling has predicted. If 80 percent of Republicans vote for Hillary, they can rightfully say, "Madam President your mandate came from us." Imagine the president being able to work with and for both parties and both parties wanting just that from the president.

Herbert Abrams, Lincoln
I was speaking with my brother, a veteran and a retired game warden, about how disappointing both candidates for president were. He said, "Yes, it gives democracy a black eye, but you still have to work through the choices and make the best decision." To do less is an affront to every man, woman and child who has sacrificed their health or lives for our country. My sister said she had noticed how Donald Trump's children seem to be educated thinkers and respectful to him and to each other. I noticed that too, even before Hillary Clinton mentioned how she respected the good job he'd done with his children, when she was asked to say something good about him.
Almost anyone who has undertaken a building or remodeling project appreciates that problems and cost overruns will come up along the way, but almost no one can fathom the problems, delays and extra expense involved in building Nebraskas first state capitol in Lincoln.

No sooner than the Capital Commission had chosen the village of Lancaster as Nebraskas capital in the summer of 1867 and changed its name to Lincoln, problems arose. Advertisements were placed in newspapers in Omaha, Plattsmouth and Nebraska City for an architect and later a contractor, but it became immediately obvious when no one applied that architects and contractors were already too busy or just ignored the request.

A subsequent ad in the Chicago Tribune brought only one architects plan for a building not to exceed $40,000 in cost. James Morris, an Englishman, was called a fifth rate architect  who could obtain no work in that city, but being the only applicant, his plan was accepted.

Joseph Ward, also an Englishman living in Chicago, was likewise the only applicant for contractor. When his bid was accepted, the contract called for a $49,000 building. His actual contract was not to be executed until November 1868, but because the Commission was eager to have the building completed and ready for the legislative session which would convene on the first Thursday of 1869, Ward immediately hired 13 Chicago stonemasons, as none were available in Nebraska.

Ward paid their fare to Omaha, but they then had to re-cross the river, take a train in Iowa to a point opposite Nebraska City, ferry back to Nebraska, then hire a wagon for their tools while they walked to Lincoln, stopping near Unadilla for one night on the way. In Lincoln they stopped at the Pioneer House Hotel and learned there was no stone on hand, hence no work. Three days later Ward finally arrived and told them the state would pay them the promised $4.50 per day -- work or no work.

Sandstone was quarried at various points within Lancaster County but no prescribed limestone facing proved available, so stone quarried at Holmesville was substituted. This meant shipping stone over 40 miles, which the editor of the Omaha Republican said was positively ugly  fatally lacking in strength. When teamsters hired to move the stone to Lincoln refused to cross a Salt Creek bridge which they felt was unsafe, Ward had to rebuild it as well as some roads -- another unforeseen expense.

Much of the lumber for the capitol was supplied by Valentine Brothers, located on the southeast corner of 11th and N streets, and by Monell & Larkey, whose yard was on the northwest corner of 11th and O. So much lumber was needed it had to be imported, mostly from Iowa, crossing the Missouri River 6 miles above Nebraska City. Teams of farmers and freighters hauled loads of goods to the river, and returned to Lincoln loaded with wood in caravans or lumber trains.

A dispute between Morris and Ward raged, reaching a head about June 1, which resulted in some of the stonecutters returning to Chicago and Ward threatening to quit the project entirely. The disagreement boiled down to whether the interior walls should be of brick or stone. The architect, who was pushing to be named both architect and contractor, insisted brick was specified, but the contract clearly stipulated if brick could be had, otherwise stone. There being no brickyards in Lincoln a handshake ensued and work continued.

Next, Ward asked for payment for his stonemasons and to buy doors and sash. There being no money at hand in the treasury, money was ultimately advanced from a sinking fund pending more lot sales. The $2,600 check then had to be cashed by a bank officer after the First National Bank of Omaha had closed for the day so Ward could catch the Chicago train from Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Funds again ran short a few weeks later, and Sweet & Brock Bank in Lincoln would not bend having already advanced $2,000 to Ward. Ultimately, Otoe Countys treasurer came to the rescue.

By August 1868, the walls were mostly completed, and the following month a portion of the roof had been installed. On Dec. 3, 1868, the governor announced the hall of representatives, senate chamber, library and vestibule had been completed and the capitol would indeed be ready for the 1869 legislature.

The ultimate cost of the building, not to exceed $40,000, was $75,817.59.

Ward went on to build the extant Kennard House, Gov. David Butlers house and the State Lunatic Asylum, though he also figured heavily in Butlers later impeachment and removal from office. Morris seemingly simply disappeared.

The capitol and asylum were both short-lived and had structural problems, at least in some small measure credited to the material and construction decencies. The current capitol, completed in 1932, was considered to be one of the 10 best built buildings in the world when it was completed.
RACINE  Curt Johnson, the Johnson family heir who made news headlines in recent years for criminal charges, is now divorced.

Johnsons divorce from Tracie Stier-Johnson was finalized last month in Racine County Circuit Court.

The divorce petition was filed jointly on April 20, stating that the marriage was irretrievably broken. Johnson, 61, son of the late Sam Johnson of SC Johnson, and Stier-Johnson, 47, were married May 5, 2001. It was a second marriage for both.

Johnson, a Caledonia resident according to the divorce judgment, had been chairman of the former Johnson Wax Professional which became JohnsonDiversey, then Diversey, then part of Sealed Air Corp. through acquisition. The company is largely gone from Racine County now.

In the divorce petition, Stier-Johnson listed her occupation as homemaker and asked for alimony, child support, property division and acceptance of an agreement filed in North Carolina regarding custody of the children and visitation. The petition states that she and Johnson had a written prenuptial agreement.

According to the divorce petition, Johnson and Stier-Johnson lived together with their children at one point for almost seven months, from late December 2014 to mid-July 2015, in Huntersville, N.C. That was after Johnsons four-month stay in jail, from June to October of 2014.

The divorce petition listed the couple as owning the following real estate: a home in Cornelius, N.C.; Johnsons Caledonia home; another home in North Carolina; a beach house in Isle of Palms, S.C.; and two lots in Views at Cranberry in North Carolina.

The divorce judgment mentions only Johnsons Caledonia address and Stier-Johnsons Cornelius, N.C., address.

The judgment does not indicate whether Stier-Johnson kept her married name.

The portions of the divorce file that are publicly available do not give terms of the settlement.

Johnson was charged in 2011 in Racine County Circuit Court with sexual assault of a child. Johnson later pleaded guilty to two amended charges: fourth-degree sexual assault of a child and disorderly conduct, both misdemeanors. He was sentenced to four months in jail and had to pay a $6,000 fine.

The divorce attorneys for Johnson and Stier-Johnson declined offers to comment.
RACINE COUNTY  Neighborhood block watches are one of the most effective crime prevention tools available to residents in a neighborhood. A block watch is a simple program of neighbors watching out for each other.

It is designed to enlist the active participation of neighborhood residents in cooperation with law enforcement to reduce crime and improve the quality of life in their neighborhoods. When a community organizes a Block Watch, they are telling criminals who are looking for prospective victims to look elsewhere.

With the support of Racine Neighborhood Watch, Block Watches are not difficult to form or maintain. It takes one neighbor to assist with the initial start up Block Watch meeting. That first meeting lasts about an hour and features representatives from Racine Neighborhood Watch, law enforcement and other possible guests.

Neighbors are provided basic safety and crime prevention materials, given information about how, when and where to report problems and encouraged to get to know their neighbors.

For more information about Racine Neighborhood Watch and its programs, go to www.racinenw.com, call 262-637-5711 or email susan@racinenw.com.
RACINE  An 18-year-old Racine man accused this spring of starting a fire at a vacant home at 1123 Geneva St. pleaded no contest on Friday to felony arson.

Alexander J. Rodriguez, of the 5600 block of Byrd Avenue, was charged on March 28 with arson of a building, a class C felony punishable by up to 25 years in prison.

After pleading no contest, Racine County Circuit Court Judge Faye Flancher found him guilty of the crime.

The fire broke out at about 2:40 p.m. on March 25, and caused an estimated $20,000 in damage to the vacant home.

No one was injured in the incident.

Police credited a successful neighborhood canvass, which produced video evidence, for the swift arrest of Rodriguez and his alleged conspirator, Ryan E Makela.

Rodriguezs criminal complaint details that a neighbor had video surveillance showing Rodriguez and another person entering the residence and staying inside for 14 minutes, leaving about 5 minutes before the fire was reported.

Both Rodriguez and Makela said they were in the house smoking and dropped their smoking materials before leaving. But fire officials reportedly found no smoking materials at the fires point of origin. They instead found a notebook and other materials that they determined were intentionally lit, causing the house to burn, the complaint states.

Makela was initially charged with arson as well, but the 16-year-old Racine resident pleaded guilty earlier this month to three misdemeanors in connection with the crime: criminal damage to property, disorderly conduct and criminal trespass to property. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Nov. 4.

Rodriguez has a sentencing hearing scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 23
RACINE  Four members of a group called People First asked state Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, on Friday for help in extending city bus hours, especially on weekdays.

People First is the 12-member local chapter, funded by a grant, of an organization run by and for people with developmental disabilities. Its purpose is to advocate for themselves and others like them, explained Alison Henry, the advisor for People First, as well as program manager for The Arc of Racine County, an organization for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Four members of People First met with Wanggaard at Wilsons Coffee & Tea, 3306 Washington Ave., on Friday morning. Racine Mayor John Dickert, who happened to be at Wilsons for another purpose, joined the conversation for a while.

The biggest issue, the group and Henry said, is the shortage of buses running late enough to serve second-shift workers. All but one member of People First work independently, she said, at places including both area Walmart stores, Larsens Bakery in West Racine and elsewhere. Members also use buses for social reasons, medical and dental appointments and the like.

The city had to cut back on bus routes this year, Henry said, which affects both second-shift workers and those who face longer waits between buses.

Dickert said every time the state cuts its support for public transportation the effect is magnified: Every dollar the state provides is matched by one city dollar and three federal dollars. So a $200,000 state cut is really a $1 million cut to the Belle Urban System.

Dickert acknowledged the current bus routes do not cover the entire second-shift time frame.

Henry told Dickert that one People First member was let go from her job due to a lack of transportation.

Wanggaard told the group that the Legislature will be working on transportation issues in the next legislative cycle. Later, he said he wants to either have an on-call bus or be able to extend the buses to midnight to cover the second shift.
RACINE  Ron Johnson and Russ Feingold are about the same age, hail from Wisconsin and have U.S. Senate experience.

Thats about where the similarities end, as the two bring contrasting backgrounds and ideologies to their U.S. Senate rematch this fall. Whatever happens on Nov. 8, the winner will enter the Senate with a far different vision than his opponent on how to make things better for Wisconsin residents.

In interviews with The Journal Times, Johnson, R-Wis., trumpeted his work on issues big and small. He noted his chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee as well as local efforts  helping parents bring their adopted children home from the Congo, or matching unemployed Milwaukee workers with jobs, for example.

Feingold, meanwhile, portrayed Johnson as a partisan senator whose views are out of touch with most Wisconsinites, which he said was borne out during travels around the state talking to residents and business owners.

Its the economy

Johnson, 61, of Oshkosh, is the former chief executive of plastics company Pacur. He believes less government intervention would lead to economic growth and increase wages. He calls for reducing regulations, reforming the tax system and utilizing natural resources to keep energy prices low.

I know what business people are thinking when they risk their capital, Johnson said. I know the decisions theyre making. I know how hard business is and I know how much harder the federal government makes it.

Feingold, 63, of Middleton, served as U.S. senator from 1993-2011 and was in the state Senate for 10 years before that. He has pushed for a variety of measures, such as upping the minimum wage to $15, to increase consumer spending and help businesses.

My record in the past, and positions Ive taken on everything from minimum wage, to paid family leave, to prescription medicines, to student loans, to Social Security  on all those issues, I have a strong connection with working, middle-income families, Feingold said. And Senator Johnsons on the wrong side of every single one of those issues, from the point of view of the majority of the people in Wisconsin.

Another sharp contrast that has come into focus in recent days: the Affordable Care Act.

Feingold, who voted for the law, praised the measure for reducing the number of uninsured people but also pushed for changes, including putting controls on deductibles, offering a public option and eliminating the Cadillac tax that imposes a charge on high-cost employer health plans.

Johnson ripped the Affordable Care Act as a disaster and called for a free-market solution, which he said would allow for more choices for consumers and would not lead to the sharp premium increases seen under Obamacare.

Bitter attacks

The latest Marquette University Law School poll, released Oct. 12, showed Feingold with 46 percent support among likely voters compared to Johnsons 44 percent. The final Marquette poll  which has historically matched well with the election results  comes out Wednesday.

Money has flowed in as both sides try to retain or recapture the seat in one of the top Senate battlegrounds in the country, helping fuel the oftentimes-bitter attacks between the two.

Johnson labels Feingold a hypocrite for taking more money from outside Wisconsin and benefiting from third-party groups  things he resisted while making campaign finance reform his signature issue as senator. He has also criticized the Progressives United political action committee Feingold set up after he left office, saying it did little but serve Feingolds own interests.

Feingold shrugged off the criticism, arguing the PAC boosted progressive candidates and causes as it was intended. He also noted outside groups have disproportionately favored Johnson, with nearly $9 million spent helping Johnson compared to $1.4 million helping Feingold, according to an analysis from the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

The historically divisive presidential campaign, of course, has also factored in the race, with the impact yet to be determined.

Democrats and Feingolds campaign have consistently linked Johnson with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who in the Marquette poll trailed by a larger margin in Wisconsin than Johnson. Johnson has said he will vote for Trump but has often put distance between himself and the controversial candidate.

Theres no way that Ron Johnson would hire Donald Trump at his plastics company, Feingold said. And so hes willing to make him president?

Johnson has returned fire on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, calling her out for corruption and lies. But he pledged to work with whomever is elected president.

No matter who is president, Ill hold them accountable, Johnson said. What Ill do is the just the way I conduct myself in business and as chairman: Ill concentrate on areas of agreement. Ill work with anybody to try and solve these enormous challenges.
RACINE  Over 2,500 Racine Parental Choice Program students have enrolled in 19 different private schools, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, a more than 400-student increase from last year.

For the majority of private schools in the voucher program, voucher students make up more than half of the total school enrollment.

John Paul II Academy, a Catholic school located at 2023 Northwestern Ave., has more than 150 voucher students, which is more than 76 percent of the total enrollment, said Principal Gloria Schumacher.

The financial rewards of the program have helped sustain the school, Schumacher said. Choice gives us the funds that we need to teach the children.

The increase of the family income level, Schumacher said, has allowed for more families to exercise the option of vouchers.

The criteria to become choice has changed over the years, its become more for a middle-income family, Schumacher said. Parents of the choice program are incredibly grateful for the program.

To be eligible for the voucher, students must live within the boundaries of the Racine Unified School District and be within 300 percent of the federal poverty level for income, roughly $73,400 for a family of four or $80,400 for a student whose parents or legal guardians are married.

Bruce Varick, principal of Our Lady of Grace Academy a Catholic school at 1425 Grove Ave., said voucher schools are audited by the state three times over the course of the year.

I think a reasonable level of accountability for all schools is important, Varick said.

Varick also said the money from vouchers provide the funds necessary for things like technology in the classroom, which would be difficult to fund without it.

We dont receive as much money per pupil as the public schools, Varick said. But its allowed us to provide (children) a quality education for parents who (seek) that.

Wisconsin Lutheran School, 734 Villa St., began accepting voucher students in 2011.

I think when our parents are able to choose which schools to put their child in, it makes for a better learning experience, Wisconsin Lutheran School Principal Paul Patterson said. We have really been able to allow people who couldnt afford a religious education for their middle school (students) to have that option. Tuition wont be something that keeps them from having an education like that.

Unified costs

To pay for the voucher students, the Racine Unified School District has budgeted a $8.78 million voucher levy as part of its total tax levy for the 2016-17 school year, although the state provides some aid to help offset costs.

The district also spends about $1 million busing the voucher students; this year the district is budgeted to spend an additional $156,000 for the new state Special Needs Scholarship Program, which allows children with disabilities to use vouchers.

Today, families have many educational choices. Our work is to ensure that we are providing many excellent options that attract and retain our students, said Stacy Tapp, Racine Unifieds chief of communication and community engagement. I would encourage families to come check out our schools. We have tremendous progress underway and more to come.

The district this year opened three new schools, including the expansion of Gifford School into a K-8 facility, Tapp said. The district also launched the Academies of Racine at Case, Horlick and Park high schools, she said.

We are now focused on transforming our middle schools to ensure every one of our middle schools provides an excellent educational choice for Racine families, Tapp said. We are also expanding REAL School and moving it to the Sportsplex as we build a robust partnership with Gateway.
As'ad's Bio

As'ad AbuKhalil, born March 16, 1960. From Tyre, Lebanon, grew up in Beirut. Received his BA and MA from American University of Beirut in pol sc. Came to US in 1983 and received his PhD in comparative government from Georgetown University. Taught at Tufts University, Georgetown University, George Washington University, Colorado College, and Randolph-Macon Woman's College. Served as a Scholar-in-Residence at Middle East Institute in Washington DC. He served as free-lance Middle East consultant for NBC News and ABC News, an experience that only served to increase his disdain for maintream US media. He is now professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus. His favorite food is fried eggplants.
Wisconsin conservation groups are again asking federal regulators to force the state Department of Natural Resources to get tougher on polluters.

A petition filed this week asks the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reject changes the state is poised to make to an air emissions permit for a frac sand mining company.

The permit would allow emissions of very small particles that are a serious health hazard when inhaled, said Sarah Geers, an attorney for Midwest Environmental Advocates, a public interest law firm in Madison.

Under a new policy, the state Department of Natural Resources has proposed about a half-dozen air pollution permits that fail to properly control the particles despite previous objections by conservation groups and a 2015 letter from the EPA making it clear that DNR guidelines would wrongly exempt polluters from legal limitations, Geers said.

The DNR is ignoring the presence and cumulative impacts of fine particulate matter from facilities including frac sand mines under its new policy, Geers said in a statement. Despite repeated objections by the EPA and groups like MEA, the DNR is ignoring its responsibilities to protect our air under federal law.

DNR spokesman Andrew Savagian said the departments air permitting staff wasnt aware of the petition, which calls on the EPA to object to a revised permit to allow expansion of production at Superior Silica Sands in Barron County.

The Superior Silica permit proposed by the DNR would allow the company to expand production without estimating, monitoring or controlling the small particles, Geers said.

If the EPA objects, the DNR would be required to rewrite the permit with different limits on particles.

The EPA recently completed a four-day review of DNR files in Madison as part of a broader investigation of Wisconsins enforcement of the Clean Water Act in response to an MEA petition.

The water program probe could result in Wisconsin losing its authority to administer water pollution laws. However, in most cases states make changes to avoid losing control of those programs.

In 2002, conservation groups petitioned the EPA about persistent flaws in Wisconsins air pollution program that could have led to withdrawal of authority to administer the Clean Air Act, but the Legislature acted in 2005 to restore staffing that fixed the problems.

The petition on small-particle emissions is focused on a permitting practice the EPA warned the DNR about last year.

In an Aug. 25, 2015, letter to Kristin Hart, a manager in the DNR air quality management bureau, the EPA was blunt in its assessment of policy guidelines the department was writing for particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers  referred to by the abbreviation PM2.5.

The guidelines were flawed because they falsely asserted that machine processes such as crush and grinding dont produce the particles, EPA Chicago Region Air Permitting Chief Genevieve Damico said in the letter.

Overall, EPA does not believe that a broad statement that mechanical processes do not emit PM2.5 is accurate or appropriate, Damico said. EPA believes that such an assumption may cause WDNR to issue permits that are inconsistent with its State Implementation Plan. ... EPA urges WDNR to revise this guidance.

The Ho-Chunk Nation and the Wisconsin chapter of the Sierra Club joined Midwest Environmental Advocates in filing the petition.

Ho-Chunk Nation vice president Darren Brinegar said in a statement that the petition was needed to keep the public, the environment and natural habitats safe.

The Ho-Chunk Nation is in favor of complying with the EPA standards, Brinegar said.
Lisa Hansens daughter, a 19-year-old freshman at UW-Madison, had a sore throat and was achy and tired when she went home to the Milwaukee area the first weekend in October.

On Monday, Oct. 3, back in Madison, she was rushed to UnityPoint Health-Meriter, where she was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis and fought for her life.

It was the most horrible vision, Hansen said. Shes sitting up, her eyes are really big, her mouth is crooked like (shes having) a stroke and her hands are opened up and really stiff. Shes grabbing her head and trying to pull the IVs out. Shes thrashing and kicking.  She couldnt focus. She couldnt recognize me.

Hansens daughter, who has mostly recovered, had the first of three cases of meningococcal disease reported on campus this month, Hansen said Friday.

Hector Jimenez said his sister, an 18-year-old freshman at UW-Madison, has the third case, which was announced this week. She became ill Tuesday, and on Friday she remained in intensive care at Meriter, said Jimenez, of Madison.

Its slow progress, he said.

Hansen and Jimenez declined to name their family members, and UW-Madison hasnt released the names of the cases. Hansens daughter and Jimenezs sister live in separate residence halls on campus.

Meningococcal disease, which is rare but can be deadly, most often causes meningitis, an inflammation of the lining surrounding the brain and spinal cord. The bacterial disease is spread through oral or nasal secretions.

All three cases are serogroup B, which isnt covered by widely used vaccines. A new vaccine covers serogroup B, however, and UW-Madison has held free clinics to immunize students with that vaccine.

More clinics will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday and noon to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Southeast Recreational Facility on campus.

As of Friday, more than 15,000 students had received the vaccine, or more than half of the undergraduate population for which it is recommended, said Dr. Sarah Van Orman, executive director of University Health Services.

With the random nature of it, and the fact that we cant predict it, its so important that when we have these situations on a campus that everybody get vaccinated, Van Orman said.

In addition, she said, Dont share things that touch your lips.

Hansen said her daughter promptly received steroids and antibiotics at Meriter, which considerably improved her condition within a day. She stayed at the hospital for a week and resumed classes last week, though she remains fatigued and has trouble understanding what she is reading.

Hansen credits Meredith Leigh, mother of Henry Mackaman, a 21-year-old UW-Madison student who died from serogroup B meningitis in 2013, with urging doctors to better recognize and treat the disease.

Leigh filed a complaint with the state against two Meriter doctors, saying they didnt do enough tests or treat her son quickly enough. The Wisconsin Medical Examining Board took no action against the doctors.

(Mackamans) whole case helped (my daughter) live, Hansen said. She is one of the lucky survivors.

Hansen said the second meningococcal disease case on campus this month is a UW-Madison sophomore who went to Meriter on Oct. 5. That student and Hansens daughter didnt know one another before meeting at the hospital, Hansen said.

Jimenez said his sister had a fever, body aches and stiffness when she went to Meriters ER early Tuesday morning. After blood tests and a spinal tap were negative for meningococcal disease, doctors sent her home, he said.

After a few hours at home, she returned to Meriters ER Tuesday afternoon, unresponsive, with marks on her face and a rash on her legs, Jimenez said. She tested positive.

Jimenez said Meriter shouldnt have sent her home Tuesday morning, given that shes a UW-Madison student and had symptoms of meningitis. I feel like they dropped the ball, he said.

Meriter spokeswoman Leah Huibregtse said she couldnt discuss specifics of the case, citing a federal privacy law.

The decision to admit a patient or discharge to home is based on the patients condition and extensive lab tests, Huibregtse said in a statement. Patients who are released home are given instruction to return should their symptoms persist.
Bardiya locals unite to conserve declining dolphin population

As the number of Gangetic River Dolphins (Platanista gangetica gangetica) continue to decline in the country, the local communities have come forward to raise awareness in protecting this endangered species in Bardiya district.
Clinton rallies with Mrs. Obama as Trump alleges corruption

Aiming to deliver a knockout blow to Donald Trump's staggering presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton turned to popular first lady Michelle Obama to rally voters in North Carolina.
Govt initiates process to open consulate in Vizag

The government has initiated the process of opening a consul generals office in Visakhapatman to facilitate Nepali traders importing or exporting goods via the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
High on Art

From the worlds most dangerous airstrip in Lukla to the beautiful Namche Bazaar, from pristine lakes to picturesque valleys, from stunning waterfalls to iconic sublime white peaks, the Everest region is full of surprises.
IB plans allow non-life insurers to sell cardamom insurance policies

The Insurance Board (IB) plans to allow non-life insurance companies to sell cardamom insurance policies in a bid to provide protection to cultivators growing the cash crop, the insurance sector regulator said.
India says Mukherjees visit to strengthen ties

India on Friday said the forthcoming state visit of Indian President Pranab Mukherjee to Kathmandu aims to strengthen the age-old relations with Nepal.
Dan Crawford | October 29, 2016 9:25 am



by

Mike Kimel

Economic Outcomes of Immigrants v. Their Stay at Home Counterparts: What the Data Shows

In this post, I will test whether people from countries with relatively poor economies also tend to do poorly when they relocate to the United States. As an example, GDP per capita for Haiti is much lower than GDP per capita for Hong Kong. Does the available data also say Haitian immigrants to the US generate lower income per capita than immigrants from Hong Kong? In general, as we will see below, the answer is yes.

Data used in this post comes from two sources. The first is GDP per capita, by country, obtained from the World Bank. The post also uses information obtained from the Census Departments 2014 American Community Survey. In particular, the post uses the 2014 per capita income of immigrants to the US by nation of origin. It also uses the percentage of the immigrants from a given country that have arrived in the US prior to the year 2000. That data is kind of unwieldy to find, but the starting point is here. To be clear, immigrants in this source are foreign born, which is to say first generation only. Only immigrants alive at the time of the survey are included.

There are 72 countries for which there is data on per capita income for that countrys immigrants to the US (from the Census) and for which 2014 GDP per capita is available (from the World Bank). The graph below shows per capita income for those immigrants along the X axis, and GDP per capita along the Y axis.

Figure 1

The correlation is 0.7, which is fairly high. That is to say, in general, the poorer a country is, the worse its immigrants fare in the US. This is because on aggregate the skills and culture of people living in poor countries do not command a high price on the world market. Such a combination of skills and culture will also not command a high price in a large open economy like the US. (Yes, there are exceptions. Some will be covered in later posts.)



But does the problem solve itself? Do immigrants from poor countries who are in the US long enough abandon less successful cultures, develop new skills, and start performing more like natives and less like their stay-at-home former compatriots? Or is something akin to a water seeking its own level effect? If so, we would expect that after the shock of immigration wears off, immigrants from country X converge back for better or worse to the same levels of performance we see in country X.

It turns out we can answer that question too. The Census data provides breakdowns for the percentage of the immigrants from each country who arrived before the year 2000. (Arrivals between 2000 and 2009, and from 2010 to 2014 are also provided but are generally not used in in this post.) The third quartile for arrived before the year 2000 is 68.3%. That is, for a quarter of the countries in the sample, 68.3% or more of its (living) immigrants to the US arrived before the year 2000. For example, fully 89.5% of live immigrants from Greece, and 74.9% of live immigrants from Cambodia arrived in the US before the year 2000. (Interestingly but not surprisingly, the UK is not in this longest-established quartile in large part because immigration from the UK ramped up heavily in recent years.)

Heres what the graph looks like for groups of living immigrants with the longest tenure in the US:

Figure 2

The correlation between how well the native country does, and how well its immigrants do in the US rises to 0.84 when only the top quartile of most established immigrant groups is used. From this, it would appear that skillsets and cultures not only survive the move to the US, but in general, they may barely change among first generation immigrants. And since parents income is often a strong predictor (if not determinant) of a childs income, it would seem that the effect can continue for generations. What my old econometrics professor used to call casual empiricism also appears to bear this out, at least for those who arent shocked by the results.

I would also note one extremely important implication  different groups can have wildly different outcomes without it being the result of racism, discrimination, or randomness .

I will have a few more posts using this data set, as it may provide some insights into the questions I am ultimately interested in answering, namely:

1. What are the factors that contribute to success or failure in a given group?

2. Can we weight the scale toward success, and if so, how?

3. What are the implications of situations in which traits that bias toward failure are resistant to change?

4. With each of the above, how do we avoid trampling on the rights of individuals?

In closing  as always, if you want my data, drop me a line at my first name (mike) dot my last name (kimel  thats with one m, not two) at gmail dot com. Occasionally I get data requests six or seven years after a post. While I always try to comply with these requests, I reserve the right to change computers, have them stolen, or to drop dead if too much time has elapsed between this writing and a request for data occurs.
Infernal chase

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NRA aid panel meet to raise recovery funds

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Putting Madhes back on the map

During his rousing speech at the Parliament this week, Health Minister Gagan Thapa tried to allay the fears of those wary that the impeachment motion against the suspended CIAA chief Lokman Singh Karki would once again break the unity among parties and sideline the constitutional amendment process by asking MPs to introspect on whether the house was indeed ever united. He went on to propose that the impeachment proceedings, rather than distract, would offer the opportunity to bring about a new form of unity; that the motion would not affect the constitutional amendment process.
Special security plan for Indian President's visit

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Two killed in truck plunge in Dhankuta

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Tika R Pradhan is a senior political correspondent for the Post, covering politics, parliament, judiciary and social affairs. Pradhan joined the Post in 2016 after working at The Himalayan Times for more than a decade.
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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 ...

Natasha Bertrand Biography  Is She Married? Who Is the Husband & What Is Her Age? Natasha Bertrand is not just a young prominent journalist but a first-rate investigative reporter. With her natural beauty and smile, Natashas sharp, insightful political commentary also makes her a thorough reporter. Her sound political perspective and coverage in the country have made her a force to be reckoned with in the profession. Renowned for her ...

What Happened to Shane Kilcher? His Injury Update, Net Worth and More Shane Kilcher is well-known thanks to the Discovery Channel series Alaska: The Last Frontier. It is a show that documents the daily lives of the extended Kilcher family, people who live without plumbing or modern heating. The episodes follow their routines as they rely on hunting and farming for their nutritional needs as well as ...

Is Stephanie Gosk Gay or Lesbian, Who is the Wife or Partner  Jenna Wolfe? In August 2013, NBCs Today viewers were greeted with two shocking news. Today weekend anchor, Jenna Wolfe, announced that she was as a lesbian, introducing her partner as NBC News correspondent Stephanie Gosk, and said the two are expecting their first child. A long time has passed since then and certainly, a lot of things ...

Nikki Mudarris  Bio and Net Worth: 5 Interesting Facts You Need to Know Nikki Mudarris, also known as Miss Nikki Baby, is a reality television star, model and fashionista. Shes best known for VH1s reality TV series Love & Hip-Hop: Hollywood. Her entrepreneurial skills enable her to create and run a successful lingerie line Nude by Nikki. Not only that, but Nikki has also successfully run the Las ...

5 Interesting Things You Need To Know About Kelly Nash Ever heard of the lady who gained national prominence for taking a selfie with a dangerous ball just a few inches away from hitting her? Its no other person than Kelly Nash, an American sports broadcaster currently working as host of The Rundown show which airs on MLB Network every weekday at 2 pm ET. ...

Understanding The Height of Fame John Oliver Achieved With The Daily Show and How He Met His Wife Without knowledge of who he is and his exemplary career, John Oliver cuts an unassuming figure of a regular man but he is one of the most influential personalities in America, especially on television. Since he began his career in 1998, he has been a loud and unapologetic agent of change, using his wit and ...

Why Did Big Chief Leave Street Outlaws, Where Is He Now And Why Did He Divorce His Wife? Justin Shearer, otherwise known by his professional name Big Chief is a famous street racer and television personality. He is famously known for being one of the main characters on the racing reality television series, Street Outlaws. Justin, who had been a significant part of the show since its premiere in 2013, appeared in a ...

Who is Josina Anderson of ESPN? Her Husband and Family Facts There has been a gradual paradigm shift in the world of sports which has today produced the likes of Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka, and other female athletes that are pulling great feats in different sporting fields. Their achievements have also been followed by the emergence of female sports journalists such as Jillian Mele, Eboni Williams, ...

Is Brittany Wagner Married, Who Is The Husband, How Old Is She? Brittany Wagner has been an inspiration to a lot of sports youngster. She has won the hearts of many athletic students with her role as a life coach and an academic counselor. She is well groomed in her career and has worked over a decade for The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and The National ...

Tati Westbrook Bio  Age, Husband & Net Worth With five videos dished out every week, alongside running her own brand, beauty guru, and YouTube superstar Tati Westbrook has proved to the world that theres utterly no impossibility or limit to whatever one is passionate about. Tati is best known for being the owner and manager of the worlds most-viewed beauty and lifestyle YouTube channel, ...

Cathy Areus Long Road to Becoming a Freelance Journalist and What to Know About Her Kids An American freelance journalist, news analyst, and author, Cathy Areu has built a lasting reputation for herself on cable television. Popular for her skillful and sassy presentation of professional views on varying topics including cultural and feminist issues, Cathy is an inspiration to many women across the globe. In addition to being a journalist, she ...

Tucker Carlsons Love Story With Wife Susan Andrews, their Children and Net Worth Today On the TV screens, Tucker Carlson is that fiery fellow who passionately dishes out his conservative and often controversial views on issues of national importance. Such brazenness has fetched him many enemies, especially on the left-wing, but it has also helped him cement a reputation as one of the foremost broadcast journalists in America. His ...

Paige Wyatts Net Worth, Boyfriend and Where She Is Now Paige Wyatt became popular after the Wyatt family began running the reality television show, American Guns. The Wyatt family comprises Rich Wyatt (father), Renee Wyatt (mother), Paige and Kurt Wyatt (children). Rich Wyatt originally ran a gun shop, the Gunsmoke Guns in Wheat Ridge, Colorado which is outside of Denver. The business which he ran together ...

The Progression of Howard Sterns Career As A Media Personality And Why He Divorced His First Wife Howard Stern is a legendary American radio host, who has also done some notable work as an actor, producer, author, as well as photographer. The radio personality achieved worldwide fame as a result of his self-titled radio program, The Howard Stern Show. As a professional radio personality, he has worked in different radio stations. Since 2006, ...

Lisa Joyners Biography  Ethnicity, Net Worth and Other Key Facts Lisa Joyner is an American Journalist, TV talk show host, and actress. Some of her well-known works are her correspondences for the Los Angeles based TV KCBS, inFANity show, Find My Family Show including her film and television appearances in Brimstone, American Sweetheart, The Bold and The Beautiful among others. Lisas passion for reconnecting people with their biological families ...

Amanda Balionis Rise Through the Ranks of Sportscasting and the Identity of Her Boyfriend Amanda Balionis is an American sportscaster currently working as a golf broadcaster for CBS Sports. Among so many of her works in the field of sports reporting, Amandas PGA Tour coverage seems to be the most popular so far. She covered the Super Bowl working with CBS Sports social media team in Atlanta, where she ...

Dissecting Charles Paynes Sexual Allegations, Its After Effects and More About His Wife Charles Payne had a respectable career as an analyst on Wall Street before he made the transition to television and became a contributor and later a host on Fox. In that time, his expertise has come under scrutiny, and he has been at the center of at least one major controversy. The major controversy in question ...

Erik Asla And Tryra Banks Split: Everything You Need To Know Tyra Banks and Erik Asla have called it quits! The couple, who began dating in 2013 and have a son named York Banks Asla, has decided to end what everybody taught was the perfect relationship. Neither person has come out to give a reason for the breakup, but what is obvious right now is that ...

What to Note About Dr Terry Dubrows Qualifications, TV Works and Marriage to Heather Kent In the realm of people that we expect to see regularly on our screens, medical doctors are closer to the bottom of the list. Aside from the fact that their work has little correlation with TV, they are presumably too busy to pursue life as TV personalities. Yet, a few of them have usurped this ...

Jessica Goch  Bio: 5 Things You Didnt Know About Ninjas Wife Jessica Goch is the Schofield-born American Social Media Influencer who has worked as a model but is now better known as a host and interviewer of prominent Electronic sports celebrities at popular gaming events/tournaments. The screen queen also serves as the manager of her famous husband Ninja aka Tyler Blevins whose exploits on Twitch and Fortnite has ...

CNNs Chris Cuomo Biography  Wife, Family & Net worth Chris Cuomo needs no elaborate introduction as he has starred graced many prominent Television cable networks and his voice has been heard through acknowledged radio shows. He is a television journalist and Lawyer who has previously worked for ABC News as Chief law and justice correspondent as well as a co-anchor on 20/20. If you still ...

Neil deGrasse Tyson  Family, Religion & Net Worth Neil deGrasse Tyson is a distinguished American astrophysicist and author who has been able to achieve so much after falling in love with astronomy at the age of 9. He has since attended and become an alumnus of prestigious universities such as Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia, and also recorded numerous achievements in his field of ...

Is Simon Cowell Gay? Does He Have A Wife or Girlfriend and Why is He Famous? Simon Cowell is a well-known talent show judge, TV producer, entrepreneur and one of the most popular TV personalities that Britain has ever produced. In conjunction with his company, Syco, Cowell is the brain behind hugely successful talent hunt shows such as The X-Factor UK, The X-Factor US, Britains Got Talent, Americas Got Talent and ...

Everything To Know About Joanna Gaines Life With Chip Gaines, Their Business Pursuits and Kids Joanna Gaines and her husband Chip Gaines became celebrities after their television show Fixer Upper began airing back in 2013. The show which was about home renovation and decoration ran for about 6 seasons with a total of 79 episodes before the couple bade farewell to it in April 2018. Apart from their appearances on ...

Who Is Larry The Cable Guy? What To Know About His Wife And Net Worth Larry the Cable Guy is a self-professed country kid renowned for his trademark Southern accent and sensational catchphrase Git-R-Done! The famous comedian who talks about anything under the sun has gone on to become one of the most memorable characters in comedy history. Join us in unearthing lesser-known facts about the former on-air-personality, standup comedy superstar, movie ...

Who Is Patrick Starr, What Is His Net Worth and Gender? The make-up industry over the years has grown to become a billion dollar industry not just because there are probably more women wearing make-up but because a whole lot of men, especially the young ones, have become bold enough to wear it unlike before. A few of these men, like Patrick Starr, have even gone ...

How Did Chris Jansing Become a Senior Correspondent at MSNBC and Who Is Her Husband? An award-winning American television news reporter and journalist, Chris Jansing has succeeded in carving a spectacular niche for herself in the field of TV journalism. Outstanding for not just her excellence in journalism, Chris is also cherished for her incredibly gorgeous looks post 60! For close to four decades, Jansing has continued to soar in her ...

Jaclyn Glenn Biography  Age, Height & Ex-Boyfriend American Youtuber, Jaclyn Glenn, rose to prominence through her self-titled YouTube channel Jaclyn Glenn. She has remained an acclaimed atheist and continues to air her views on hot issues from politics, religion, animal rights, to atheism. During the heated 2016 US Presidential elections, Glenn featured in Hump Trump: Official Donald Trump Song. Her parallel acting career ...

Is Pat Sajak Married to a Wife or is He Gay With a Partner? Pat Sajak is one of the most popular TV game show hosts in America. He commenced his career as a radio disk jockey as well as a TV weatherman before being tapped to host Wheel of Fortune, the longest-running syndicated game show in the United States. Sajak has hosted the popular game show from 1983 ...

Nayyera Haqs Bio  What To Know About Her Husband, Parents And Family Nayyera Haq can take anyone on political debates as well as discussions on social issues affecting many. Her ability to masterfully deliver her stance on every issue or political debate has made her a regular face in morning and evening news media platforms. This is not a common feat especially for someone from her kind ...

Inside Guy Fieris Family With Wife, Kids and Sister Who Died of Cancer Over the years we have seen men dominate the kitchen and churn out amazing delicacies from it. Some do it way better than their female counterparts and one of such men is Guy Ramsay Fieri  an American TV host, celebrity chef, restaurant owner, bestselling author of four culinary books, and game show host. His ...

Meet Phil Mudd of CNN  The Former CIA and FBI Exec, Is He Married, Who Is The Wife? When it comes to discussing issues surrounding terrorism, American Counterterrorism and National Security Expert, Phil Mudd, occupies a globally significant position. He has voiced his interest in the fight against terrorism and insecurity on many popular media platforms, both print and broadcast, such as CNN, BBC, CBS, MSNBC, al-Jazeera, ABC, NBC, Fox, The New York Times, ...

Jim Hoffer: Biography, Wife  Mika Brzezinski, Children and Net Worth Jim Hoffer is an Emmy Award-winning journalist who works as an investigative reporter for Eyewitness News, New York City. In his over two decades of investigative journalism, Hoffer has been at the front lines of several crucial stories from the 9/11 attack to the crash of American Flight 587 to the 2003 Blackout. On top of ...

The Ups and Downs of Erin Mcpikes Journalism Career and Other Facts About Her Personal Life Erin McPike is a journalist working for the Independent Journal Review (IJR) as a White House Correspondent but she gained widespread recognition for her coverage of general news. Whether its breaking news or some mainstream story, McPike has a reputation of baring the facts. As a journalist, her work as a White House Correspondent for Independent ...

Bert Kreischer Is Married To LeeAnn Kreischer With 2 Kids  Meet His Family Those familiar with Bert Kreischer mainly have the image of a large-bellied party man whose college life inspired the National Lampoon film, Van Wilder. It is an image that one would not naturally associate with a wholesome family. The standup comedian still maintains his wild party animal image on stage. But, back at home, he is ...

How Brendan Greene Became a Game Designer to Look Out For and Facts About His Failed Marriage The name Brendan Greene may not easily ring a bell in the larger society but for gaming enthusiasts, he is considered a god and this is because of his invention of the video game, Player Unknowns Battlegrounds, also called PUBG. Based on the popular last-man-standing/battle royale concept, Greenes creation has taken the gaming world by ...

WFAAs Sonia Azad Bio  Does The Reporter Have A Husband Or Boyfriend? Emmy Award-winning journalist and Health & Wellness reporter Sonia Azad is on the news segment News 8 Daybreak for the television station WFAA-TV in Dallas, Texas, a channel which she joined in October of 2015. Besides her time on the news, Azad is also a marathon runner and a certified yoga instructor. She has covered major news ...

This Is Everything You Should Know About Caroline Heldman, Her Career Portfolio and Other Facts Love it or hate it, there is no escaping the fact that feminism has come to stay in our world. The movement has continued to garner momentum over the years and this is due to the sustained push by several women, and even men, including the likes of Caroline Heldman. A Professor of Politics at ...

Understanding The Enigma That Is Gavin McInnes, The Controversies He Has Stirred and All About His Wife Gavin McInnes is a polemical English-born writer and TV personality, who is best known for his racist and fascist ideologies, as well as his co-ownership of Vice Media and Vice Magazine. He is also an actor a
East African states have been challenged to embrace modern technology for faster transformation.

The call was made at the closure of an ICT cluster meeting held in Kampala.

The meeting that was aimed at to reviewing progress of the member states as far as the ICT sector is concerned brought together ICT ministers from the region including Rwanda, Kenya and south Sudan.

Ugandas minister for ICT and Information Frank Tumwebaze says they agreed to cooperate as members of the northern corridor in order to harmonise their various policy frameworks.

Partner states also agreed on developing a mobile money transfer system in collaboration with their respective central banks to enable easy transactions across the countries
Sheriff investigating absentee ballots for military sent to home of GOP lawmaker

Rep Janel Brandtjen says she alerted law enforcement after receiving three absentee ballots for three different women named Holly.
Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Areas of patchy fog early. Morning clouds will give way to afternoon sunshine. High 63F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A clear sky. Areas of patchy fog developing. Low near 40F. Winds light and variable.
ANGOLA  With the fall air officially here, Mayor Richard Hickman along with Cameron Memorial Community Hospital awarded John Williamson with the Mayors Beautification Award.

Williamson was awarded this honor for his outstanding work on his property at 904 Bluffview Drive.

Williamson built the house on Bluffview Drive in the late 1980s, and lived there for five years until he moved to a home on Clear Lake.

I sold the house in the early 1990s and two families have lived in the home since that time, said Williamson. The landscaping really grew out of control.

Four years ago, Williamson bought the house back and decided to restore the house to its former glory.

Over the course of two years, Williamson removed several shrubs and trees that had grown past the doors and windows; the house was completely OVERSET FOLLOWS: obstructed.

There were thistles about two feet tall in the backyard that I had to dig out just so I could see the yard, said Williamson.

Not only has he worked to update the outside of the house, he is working hard on the inside as well.

The purpose of the Mayors Beautification Award is to promote and recognize the efforts of city residents who beautify their landscapes and the exterior of their properties. The award is sponsored by Cameron Memorial Community Hospital as part of its commitment to promote wellness and a high quality of community life.

The public is invited to nominate themselves or another residence deserving of some positive recognition. Nominations must be located within the Angola city limits and the area nominated must be visible from the public right of way. Nomination forms are available on the City of Angolas website at angolain.org or on Cameron Hospitals website at cameronmch.com. Nominees should meet the following criteria:

 Neatness and maintenance of property and other structures;

 Maintenance of planting areas, landscape and all visible yard; and,

 Absence of debris.

Eligible properties include: single-family, duplex or multi-family homes and the residence need not be owner-occupied.

Similar awards are also offered to residents of Fremont. For more information on the award, contact Angola Planner, Vivian Likes at 665-7465.
LOS ANGELES (TNS)  Erin Olivera waited weeks for doctors to tell her why her youngest son was paralyzed.

Ten-month-old Lucian had started crawling oddly  his left leg dragging behind his right  and soon was unable to lift his head, following Erin only with his eyes.

She took him to a hospital in Los Angeles, but doctors there didnt know how to treat what they saw.

Lucians legs felt soft as jelly and he couldnt move them. His breathing became rapid. The left side of his smile drooped as his muscles weakened.

Physicians ran test after test, and Erin began spending her nights on a hospital room couch. After Lucian fell asleep, during her only minutes alone between working and visiting her three other kids, she cried.

A terrifying reality was taking hold: Doctors wouldnt be able to give her a diagnosis for her paralyzed child.

How can I make a decision for him when I dont even know whats wrong? she said. What can I do to help him?

So one morning in July of 2012, Erin lifted Lucian out of his hospital bed, his body limp and heavy. She rested his cheek on her shoulder, the way he liked to be held since hed become weak.

Erin returned home to Ventura County with a child she thought might never learn to walk.

In the years since, hundreds of children across the country have shown up at hospitals unable to move their arms or legs. Dozens of kids have become paralyzed in the past few months alone.

They suffer from a mysterious illness that continues to alarm and puzzle scientists. This kind of sudden and devastating paralysis hasnt been widespread since the days of polio. Lucian, one of the diseases earliest victims, set off a hunt among doctors to discover its cause.

A dramatic change

Before Lucian got sick, he liked to sit on the floor in the kitchen of his home in Moorpark, his small hands pressed against the glass door to the backyard as he tried to stand. Hed roll around, babbling at the dogs outside.

The child Erin brought home from the hospital didnt have enough strength to crawl and couldnt always sit up on his own.

On his first birthday, three weeks after he came home, Erin and her husband, Israel, propped Lucian up with pillows in a high chair. He giggled as he smeared red frosting on his bare chest and in his blonde hair.

After the kids went to bed in the evenings, Erin and Israel would whisper about Lou-Lou, as they called him. When Erin was pregnant, the couple had decided Lucian would be their last child. They wanted to save money, perhaps take a family vacation. Erin would focus on graduating from nursing school.

Now the future felt upended by questions about their youngest son  whether hed ever be able to drive a car, get married, have kids.

They took him to more doctors, but that failed to bring a diagnosis, let alone a treatment.

Through months of physical therapy, Lucian eventually regained strength in most of his limbs, but still couldnt move his left leg at all. When he crawled, it dragged behind.

Desperate, Erin resorted to endless internet searches looking for clues about her sons condition.

Then one day, she came across an article online about a dozen paralyzed kids. She immediately thought of Lucian.

The article mentioned Dr. Keith Van Haren, a Stanford University child neurologist who had diagnosed many of the other cases.

She called him.

Elusive diagnosis

Around the time Lucian first got sick in 2012, Van Haren was flummoxed by a young girl whod just shown up at his clinic at Stanford.

The 3-year-old had been at home recovering from a bad cold when she suddenly couldnt move her arm. Weeks later, it still hung from her body like dead weight, flopping wildly when she walked.

The paralysis struck Van Haren as unusual.

Doctors had been treating her for an autoimmune disease, as if her body were wrongly attacking its own cells. But if that were the case, her arm wouldnt be so limp nor would the paralysis be so limited to one spot; Van Haren would expect other parts of her body also to be somewhat weak.

This, Van Haren thought, looked more like the most infamous cause of paralysis: polio. But it was eradicated so long ago in the United States that most doctors here have never seen a case.

We know about it through history books, said Van Haren, then just two years out of training.

The girl had been vaccinated against polio. Van Haren didnt know what to tell her parents.

When he contacted Californias health department about the odd case, he learned that scientists there had already developed a hunch.

A handful of physicians had seen patients with similar symptoms and asked Dr. Carol Glaser to test them for polio.

I thought, Well thats crazy. We dont have polio here, said Glaser, then head of the encephalitis and special investigations section at the California Department of Public Health.

Glaser quickly determined the patients werent suffering from polio. She also tested for pathogens that can sometimes cause such paralysis, including West Nile virus. All negative.

Then she decided to check for other viruses in the same family as poliovirus, known as enterovirus. And in some of the paralyzed patients, she found a possible culprit: enterovirus D-68.

Enterovirus D-68 was incredibly rare, almost never seen after it was first discovered in 1962 in four California children who had pneumonia. Though a cousin of poliovirus, it was only supposed to cause a runny nose and cough.

Van Haren had never heard of it.

Glaser asked Van Haren to consult for the health department, and together they watched for more paralysis cases. Their findings were preliminary, but what if they were accurate? What if there were an outbreak?

Treatment, but no cure

In the middle of the night, Erin sped past crop fields and cattle ranches on the 5 Freeway, headed north to Stanford. Israel sat next to her in the passenger seat, Lucian asleep in the back.

Erin had found some peace from visiting a polio survivors group at a senior center. The survivors, who reminded her of Lucian, told her theyd lived full, happy lives. Dont limit us, theyd said.

Still, Erin showed up for a 10 a.m. appointment with Van Haren hoping for a chance of full recovery.

It was 2014, two years since Van Haren first treated the young girl with the paralyzed arm.

By now Van Haren, who himself had small children, had grown accustomed to identifying the unique paralysis and relaying the tragic verdict.

One, two, three or four limbs paralyzed. Sudden onset. No cognitive changes.

Lucian fit the bill.

Within minutes, Van Haren delivered the diagnosis: poliolike paralysis likely caused by enterovirus D-68.

Erins nose turned red like it does when she tears up.

Van Haren told her there were other children like Lucian, and that doctors were learning more about the disease every day.

He said Lucian should continue physical therapy, but there was no cure. Chances were Lucian would never move his left leg.

As they headed back home, Erin, who was driving, waited for Lucian to fall asleep in the backseat. Then she started to cry.

A growing problem

After Erin and Israel returned home with Lucians diagnosis, the mystery paralysis began to spread.

In late summer of 2014, enterovirus D-68 started sending kids struggling to breathe to emergency rooms around the country. News reports called it a rare, cold-causing virus, a danger to children with asthma.

But then an 11-year-old boy in Texas with a seemingly normal fever lost the ability to walk and move his right arm.

A 17-year-old girl in California experienced severe neck pain at her birthday party and ended up in the hospital, paralyzed from the neck down.

In Oregon, a 13-year-old boys diaphragm stopped working, so he needed a ventilator to breathe. He was completely paralyzed, able only to wiggle his toes and his right hand.

Whatever was happening to these children was pretty much, literally, exactly, what polio did, said Dr. Jean-Baptiste Le Pichon, a child neurologist who treated four such patients in 2014 at Childrens Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo.

Glaser watched from California as the numbers of paralyzed kids grew. She became horrified that her theory about enterovirus D-68 might be correct.

That October, Van Haren spoke at a national meeting of child neurologists. He asked 300 specialists how many of them had seen these kinds of paralysis cases in the past few months.

More than half the hands in the room went up, he recalled.

Doctors coined a name for the phenomenon: acute flaccid myelitis. Acute flaccid for the sudden and total paralysis and myelitis for an injury to part of the spinal cord involved in muscle movement, called the gray matter.

Between August 2014 and January 2015, 120 children in 34 states were diagnosed with acute flaccid myelitis, according to federal health officials. The median patient age was 7.

Making changes

Holding the red handles of his walker, Lucian, 5, jumped up and down and told his brother Nikolas to put on his shoes faster. Kids shout, skee balls thump, arcade games cha-ching.

The boys stood on either side of Erin, pulling at her skirt as she talked to the cashier at Chuck E. Cheeses. We need tokens! We need tokens! they chanted.

A year apart in age, Nikolas and Lucian share the same round, bright eyes and blondish hair. Sometimes they try to pass for twins.

Four years after being hospitalized, Lucian wears braces on both legs  the one on his left leg decorated with Spider-Man designs, the right with skulls. When he uses his wheeled walker, he steps with his right leg, pulling his left behind him. His left leg is still completely paralyzed.

Israel stopped working so he could take care of Lucian. Erin often works 64 hours a week as a hospital psychiatric nurse so the couple can pay their bills.

Erin and Israel abandoned their 10-year plan, as well as dreams of buying their oldest son a car when he turned 16, or a vacation home. Their priorities have instead become much more short-sighted.

Over the summer, the biggest one was kindergarten.

They knew Lucian would do fine academically, he often seemed precociously intuitive and observant.

But would he use a walker or a wheelchair? Would he be in special needs classes? Would they be able to potty-train him on time? Would he need an aide in the classroom? And the most agonizing: would he fit in?

Hope it doesnt get worse

Between June and August this year, another 30 kids nationwide became paralyzed, and scientists still dont know why.

Dr. Manisha Patel, who heads the acute flaccid myelitis team for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the agency is concerned by the increase and its resemblance to 2014. Experts think case numbers for September and October will be even higher.

But theres not much public health officials can do because the paralyzed children officially remain a medical mystery.

Many suspect enterovirus D-68  which gave hundreds of people a severe cold in 2014  also caused the paralysis outbreak that year. Some of the paralyzed kids had enterovirus D-68 in their system, and researchers have found that injecting mice with enterovirus D-68 paralyzes them.

But to confirm the link, doctors need to find enterovirus D-68 in the paralyzed childrens cerebrospinal fluid, to show that the virus traveled to the spinal cord and created the injury there  which they havent yet.

For now, experts say that enterovirus D-68 isnt enough of a threat to make a vaccine and that many people now have immunity to the virus from the 2014 outbreak. Plus, it will probably mutate again, rendering a vaccine that protects against the current strain useless.

You kind of hold your breath and hope it doesnt get worse, Van Haren said.

Making a path forward

Lucian had been too excited about his first day of kindergarten to eat his Cheerios in the morning, instead unzipping his backpack and removing folders and papers.

But walking from the minivan to the school  a taxing process of pulling his left leg with the right, today with the added weight of his bag and lunchbox  had tired him by 8 a.m.

In his new classroom, Lucian sat cross-legged at the edge of a colorful rug, his walker to his left. When his teacher took attendance, he turned around to grin at Israel, sitting in the back.

Israel got permission from the school to stay with Lucian on his first day, unsure if the boy would be able to manage on his own. When Erin left an hour prior, Lucian called after her, his eyes wide with panic.

Lucians teacher, Taylor Severn, began to teach the class a game: the kids dance to music and freeze when she shakes a tambourine.

Im going to stand up with my walker, Lucian announced to the class.

The song started and Lucian gripped the handles of his walker, happily shaking his body and kicking his legs. He froze. He danced.

When Severn turned off the music, the students plopped to the floor.

Lucian pushed his walker back. He bent over and put his palms on the rug to slowly lower himself. He pulled his left leg over the right so he was sitting cross-legged. He clasped his hands together and fixed his eyes on his teacher.

At 10 a.m. recess, Israel decided to go home earlier than hed planned, since Lucian seemed to be doing OK.

He watched his son pull a toy out of a bin on the yard, extending his arm as he tried to land a tethered ball into a cup. Kids around him hula-hooped and took turns on tricycles.

A boy asked Lucian about his walker, and he pointed to his left leg and sheepishly explained that his sister fell on it when they were playing.

Israel walked over to Lucian, who was now at a lunch table eating a rice krispie treat.

He kissed his son and headed to his car.

Lucian, talking to the girl across from him, didnt turn around to watch him leave.
The La Crosse League of Womens Voters thanks the dedicated special registration deputies and organizations who helped register 1,300 citizens to vote in this years elections.

Special thanks and recognition is extended to Teri Lehrke, La Crosse city clerk, and Ginny Dankmeyer, La Crosse County clerk, and their teams, who trained, updated, and arranged registration events.

Thank you also to La Crosse County Aging and Disabilities Resource Center, La Crosse County Housing Authority, La Crosse Public Library, the Human Rights Commission, La Crosse African American Mutual Association Network, 7 Rivers LGBTQ Connection, Southside Neighborhood Center, UGETconnected, the Climate Change Organization and Mobile Meals.

Logan and Central high schools, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, Western Technical College and Viterbo University have been amazing partners in getting out the vote.

Finally, thank you to the La Crosse Leagues Voter Services team. This dedicated group was responsible for close to 60 registration and education events since last November.
MADISON  Six years ago Ron Johnson came out of nowhere to beat three-term U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, a Republican victory that chipped away at the Democratic majority before the GOP took control in 2014.

Now Democrats are looking to Wisconsin, and Feingold yet again, in the hopes that a rematch victory will help them regain the majority.

Democrats, and Feingold, have reasons to be confident. Polls have consistently shown Feingold ahead in the race and Republicans traditionally fare worse in Wisconsin in presidential years because turnout favors Democrats.

But in a year when Donald Trumps presidential run has shaken up expectations, Johnsons team argues against reading too much into the data. They insist the race is heading in their direction in the final days, saying their voter outreach effort will be part of the difference maker on Election Day.

No one will outhustle Ron and this team, his campaign manager said in a memo to supporters on Oct. 23. Rons been underestimated before, and smart observers would be wise not to do so again.

But Feingold was all smiles and brimming with confidence when he cast his ballot just over two weeks before the election, saying that Johnsons decision to label him as a phony showed the incumbent was becoming desperate.

In an Associated Press interview, Feingold said his pitch to undecided voters is that hes on the side of middle income and working families on the key issues.

Its real clear Im the candidate whos likely to vote with middle income working families, on everything from minimum wage to family leave to prescription medicine to student loans, Feingold said.

Johnson argues that Feingold is an out-of-touch career politician who wants nothing more than to return to Washington where he served as a senator for 18 years.

Every type of plan that Senator Feingold has is going to grow government and when we grow government, just like night follows day, governments going to demand more of your hard-earned money, going to take more of your freedom, Johnson told AP. I actually want to limit government to those enumerated powers and I want to make sure that Wisconsinites keep more of their heard-earned money.

Johnson has emphasized his experience creating jobs and building the Oshkosh plastics manufacturing company Pacur before winning election to the Senate, saying that real-life experience sets him apart from Feingold. Johnson said in one of the debates that I am the working man.

I know what its like to be a hard-working person, Johnson told AP. Im not sure Senator Feingold really understands that.

Johnson casts himself as a truth-teller, someone who will talk about serious issues facing the country, like the national debt, that other politicians avoid. Hes also played up his softer side, touting a project he spearheads that connects inner-city Milwaukee workers to jobs in Sheboygan and his helping a couple adopt a child from the Congo.

In one campaign ad featuring Johnson dodging a stream of pee while changing his grandsons diaper, his wife and children talk about how hes just the person needed to clean up the mess in Washington. Johnsons campaign also tweeted a video of Johnson slamming a beer to celebrate his endorsement by the Tavern League of Wisconsin.

Feingold has tried to turn Johnsons business background against him, painting him as an out-of-touch millionaire who accepted $10 million in deferred compensation before leaving the company to join the Senate.

Both Johnson and Feingold are battling the tides of history.

Due in part to the larger Democratic turnout, no Republican has been elected senator in Wisconsin in a presidential year since 1980. But just as daunting for Feingold, no former senator has won a rematch against the person who defeated them since 1934. And former senators have only won election to return to the Senate twice in the past 60 years.

Millions of dollars in advertising, both from the candidates and outside groups, has poured into the state. Political action committees have spent six times as much to help Johnson over Feingold: $8.9 million to $1.4 million, based on a tally by the Center for Responsive Politics.

The two candidates combined have spent more than $28 million on the race.

Johnson has tried to portray Feingold as no longer the same candidate who cast himself as an independent maverick when he first ran for Senate in 1992. In that race, Feingold ran a quirky campaign promising to take on vested interests in Washington and accept the majority of his donations from people in Wisconsin, not deep-pocketed outsiders.

Feingold has broken that pledge and has taken about 70 percent of his donations from people living outside the state. He defends the move, saying the campaign finance laws have changed so dramatically since 1992, and since passage of 2002 McCain-Feingold law that bears his name, that he has to play by the rules as they stand today.

The presidential race has also loomed large.

Feingold repeatedly called on Johnson to join other Republicans in revoking his support for Trump. Johnson refused. Likewise, Feingold has stood by his description of Hillary Clinton as honest and trustworthy, even though Wisconsin polls have consistently shown voters dont see her that way.

But Feingold has also emphasized his independence, sticking by his vote against the Patriot Act following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He was the only senator to oppose it.

I didnt do what the Democrats wanted me to do on it or Republicans, Feingold said. I did what Wisconsinites want, to do your job and actually look at the legislation and decide whether it could be better and it definitely needed to be improved.

Johnson has pledged not to seek a third term should he win.

I will be the calmest guy on my election night because I win either way, Johnson said in a line often used throughout the campaign and repeated in a radio interview two weeks before the election. I either go back to my life that I love that I miss, or I can fight again and go back to Washington.

Libertarian Phil Anderson is also on the ballot.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 29, ARMENPRESS. The Ministry of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies told Armenpress all state and interstate highways are passable in Armenia.

On October 29, at 11:00, it is raining in several provinces of Armenia.

Drivers are advised to use only winter tires.
As the 2016 White House race unfolded, the Facebook home of one of Princeton Universitys best-known scholars was packed with cries for help.

The battle lines were clear. Religious conservatives wanted to know whether they had to choose between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Was picking the lesser of two evils still evil? Was it morally wrong to refuse to choose?

Robert P. George made his own convictions clear.

If you truth bomb Trump but go silent on Clinton, shame on you, wrote George, an outspoken Catholic and distinguished professor of jurisprudence at Princeton. If you truth bomb Clinton but go silent on Trump, shame on you. Whole truth! In another salvo, he added: A ghastly choice for Catholics and others: One will taint and bring disgrace on our moral values. The other will wage unrelenting war on them.

With Election Day drawing near, George finally republished a note from June, pleading for charity in these arguments.

Friends, we are in a terrible fix here. And it is putting some of us at each others throats. It must not be permitted to do that. Donald Trump is dreadful. Hillary Clinton is horrible. One called for the killing of the innocent family members of terrorists. The other promises to protect the killing of unborn babies up to the point of birth, he wrote.

For some of us, it just isnt obvious which of these two scoundrels would do greater harm in the long run, he argued. Whatever happens, those who believe in limited government, constitutional fidelity and the rule of law, flourishing institutions of civil society, traditional principles of morality, and the like are going to have profoundly important work to do. And we will need to do it together.

Yes, Republicans face what many are predicting will be a civil war between Trump insurgents and the party establishment, said George in an interview. Its also hard to know what will happen to the religious right after some of its elders backed the New York billionaire to the bitter end, no matter how lurid the evidence of his wild past.

What really matters is what happens to people in traditional faiths, including activists who never fit into old organizations led, in most cases, by evangelical Protestants, he said. Do the math. It will be hard for the Washington, D.C., establishment to completely ignore conservative Catholics, Orthodox Jews, Southern Baptists, Eastern Orthodox Christians, traditional Muslims, Pentecostal Christians and others if they form coalitions on key issues.

Its not too late to make a serious effort to combine religious groups into some kind of effort to defend religious liberty, said George, former chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. The faithful are not going to flee to monasteries and abandon public life. ... If the Republican Party falls apart, then they will look for some other vehicle in the future, perhaps another political party that emerges out of the wreckage of this election. It has happened before.

While its easy to focus on White House executive orders and U.S. Supreme Court decisions, George acknowledged that religious believers face new challenges. For starters, its clear that leaders of some major corporations  think Google, Apple, Microsoft and others  have decided to back the evolving doctrines of sexual liberation over the convictions of those defending centuries of religious teachings and traditions.

It will be hard to push back against the Chamber of Commerce, especially in debates among Republicans. However, religious leaders will, at the very least, need to plead with corporate elites to remain neutral on issues affecting religious freedom, he said.

That may sound idealistic. However, its important to learn from the past  even the recent past. George noted, for example, that Trump successfully attacked Republican orthodoxy on trade and corporate issues, but then claimed he had abandoned his history of support for abortion rights.

Think back to the years after Roe v. Wade, when it appeared there was no way religious conservatives could win on abortion in battles with corporate interests and the Republican Party donor class, he said. Who won those debates inside the GOP? ... This time, Trump knew he couldnt challenge what the Republican platform says on abortion and on religious liberty. He didnt even try. Thats important.
Criminal charges are pending against a La Crosse man who fled from authorities in a stolen car at high speeds from central La Crosse to eastern Monroe County.

Cameron Baker, 29, stole a work van from Bobs Lock and Safe, 926 La Crosse St., about 8:15 a.m., according to La Crosse police and the Wisconsin State Patrol.

Baker fled from police up to 60 mph on La Crosse Street to 24th Street, where he struck an unoccupied parked car. A shift commander stopped the pursuit.

Baker continued through Roellig Park and sped north on Highway 16 to Interstate 90 eastbound, according to police.

State troopers deployed spike strips at mile marker 10, and Baker speed east on the interstate up to 85 mph before stopping 27 miles later in the median after driving over a second set of spike strips. No one was injured.

Authorities stopped all lanes of travel while arresting Baker, who was wearing a leg cast.

Baker faces charges of operating a motor vehicle without the owners consent, fleeing police and hit-and-run of an unattended vehicle.
Jenny Parker spoke of youngsters in Uganda who hadnt yet learned English but still knew three English utterances: Rotary, Tomah, and Jesses mom.

Parker related the story before a packed ballroom Friday at Cranberry Country Lodge for the fifth annual Wine into Water event sponsored by Tomah Rotary Club. The project honors Parkers son, Jesse Parker, who died in a 2009 auto crash at the age of 17. Jesse had expressed a desire to work on clean water projects as an adult.

I get to say my sons name, and it means something, Jenny Parker said.

Even before Fridays fundraiser, Wine into Water had raised enough funds to provide clean water for over 56,000 people in Uganda. Jenny Parker showed a three-minute slideshow that featured the faces of children who are no longer getting water from polluted rivers, ponds or puddles.

They can tell the story much better than I ever could, she said.

The wine portion involved tastings of wines from four different continents. Tania Dechant said there were wines to suit every pallet  red and white, dry and sweet, and some with earthy and smoky notes. She rarely had an idle moment while filling glasses.

You can kind of feel out which ones people like, Dechant said. They seem to like the chardonnay ... my favorite is the Moscato.

Dechant, who works in the business office at Ground Round, was part of the crew from Ground Round that prepared the food. She and other Ground Round employees were up at 6:30 a.m. Friday and worked through the day to prepare various hors doeuvres and finger food served by members of the Tomah High School show choir.

There are a lot of people who make this happen, Dechant said. Its an awesome event. Its amazing how the community comes together for this.

A relatively little amount of money can go a long way to provide clean water in Uganda. Robert Holmes of Timberwood Bank and Pete Reichardt of F&M Bank announced that their institutions were donating $5,000 each. The combined $10,000 is enough to construct one well that serves 2,000 people.

Thats 2,000 people who get fresh, clean water, Reichardt said.

Husband and wife Jennifer Livingston and Mike Thompson, both news anchors for WKBT-TV in La Crosse, returned to the event. Theyve become deeply involved in the Uganda project and established a friendship with the Parker family. The couple asked Jenny and Brad Parker to serve as godparents of the couples newborn son, Jack Michael.

We knew that the people we wanted to shape (Jack Micheals) life are the remarkable people who shaped Jesses life, Livingston said.

Jenny Parker thanked the audience for helping to keep her sons memory alive.

You drilled wells and honored children who are no longer here but are deeply loved, she said. I thank you for sharing that love. Love never dies.
VIROQUA  Alicia Leinberger considers funding for rural schools the most over-arching issue she would like to address if she is elected to represent the 96th Assembly District in the Wisconsin Legislature.

Leinberger, 48, who owns Ethos Renewable Energy, a business she founded in 2013 in Viroqua, is trying to end Republican State Rep. Lee Nerisons string at five terms in the Nov. 8 election.

Schools are grappling with a diminishing quality of education and a devaluing of teachers, said Leinberger, a single mother with two school-age daughters.

I am completely against using public money for private vouchers, which could catapult into a much larger problem, she said. Thats the direction its going.

Describing the argument for vouchers to help low-income people who want their children to attend private schools as a crock, Leinberger said, vouchers subsidize people who are well off and already sending their children to private schools.

She advocates creating more charter schools within the public system for those who want specialized approaches.

Restoring teachers image requires releasing them from the bondage of teaching to tests and increasing parental involvement in schools, said Leinberger, whose parents were public school teachers.

Former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson pledged at least two-thirds of funding for K-12 schools, but the rate has been cut to less than half.

Per-pupil funds are going to private schools, she said, adding, If were sincere about how much we love our children and to help them succeed in the future, education should be funded at at least two-thirds.

Leinberger, who describes herself as a fiscal conservative, also cites road funding as a key issue, saying, Borrowing for something as essential as roads is irresponsible.

Low fuel prices have created an atmosphere in which raising gas taxes is a logical step to place the burden on people using the roads, and passing through, too, she said.

Regarding funding for the University of Wisconsin System, she said, Freezing tuition is a sham that doesnt help college students with their debt load. Its not a question of how much money, but the allocation.

Leinberger questioned the emphasis on sports, which she said are great, but schools dont need them. Its like a perk for the weekend.

Fiscal accountability is necessary to control the states budget, she said.

The problem isnt that we dont have enough money but in the way it is spent, she said. We have the WEDC (Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.), which is unaccountable in leaking money.

Railway safety is another concern, she said, noting, Folks who live along the railroads are quite alarmed about the potential for increasing numbers of derailments.

The railroads say they will fix them, but they dont, even though traffic is increasing, she said.

Private interests such as frac sand ventures and oil interests such as Koch Industries contribute to the deterioration of rail beds, tracks and, especially, weakened bridges, she said.

Leinberger contends that Nerisons votes follow the pattern of Republican Gov. Scott Walker 99 percent of the time, even though our district voted to recall Walker.

The 1994 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in conservation biology spent three years in the Peace Corps in Central America.

She advocated the Fair Trade Coffee movement throughout the Midwest and worked for fair milk prices for small dairy farmers in Plain, Wis.

I believe that family scale agriculture is the life-blood of rural communities and the best way to create healthy economies, she says.
With the Nov. 8 election less than two weeks away, a forum was hosted at the LaGrange Town Hall Wednesday for the candidates of the 70th Assembly District.

Democratic candidate Mark Holbrook of Wisconsin Rapids and Republican incumbent Nancy VanderMeer of Tomah were invited, but Holbrook was the only one to attend.

Kate Schanhofer organized the event.

I feel very strongly that its important for the health of democracy to have open, respectful conversations about issues, she said. Candidates should make themselves available to hear concerns of the people they seek to represent.

Holbrook and Vandermeer have met previously at other forums. Holbrook said they only met twice and VanderMeer says the total is three.

Holbrook said they met during a Wisconsin Public Radio forum for the Route 51 program hosted by Glen Moberg and at the Monroe County Retired Teachers Association.

VanderMeer cited a third meeting at the Portage County Business Association. Holbrook, VanderMeer said, wasnt there in person but utilized Skype to respond.

Holbrook said he doesnt believe he and VanderMeer have shared the same stage enough times.

I dont think she does well in a public forum, he said. Its frustrating when all these different groups are trying to put together forums to ask questions and get responses of candidates when she doesnt appear ... a number of them were well in advance and gave us over a month to clear our schedules.

Holbrook believes he makes himself more available to the public.

Any time anyone has called and asked me to appear in front of a group  or the media, I have been totally available, he said.

VanderMeer said she believes she and Holbrook have met a sufficient number of times and that she has made herself available to voters and the media  speaking at events by herself and going door-to-door.

I have tried very hard to attend as many events (and to speak at) town association meetings that Im asked to attend  I try very hard to make myself available, she said. Ive been through the district, going door-to-door  many of the (residents) said it was the first time anyone from the government has come to visit them and they were pleased with that, and I was pleased to get to go to the rural areas.

Schanhofer said more town hall events should happen.

Its not party-based, its problem/solution based, she said. Maybe we could get more done if we just listened to each others ideas and discussed solutions in this manner.

Voters also have a responsibility to attend and ask questions, Schanhofer said.

Thats how informed decisions are made, she said.

The LaGrange event went well, Schanhofer said, even though few people attended. It lasted about two hours.

Since both candidates could not attend, I didnt print up flyers or anything, she said.

The Tomah Journal was notified two days before the event and was unable to send a reporter.

The only way it could have been better would be to have both candidates attend, Schanhofer said. I hope to do this again, maybe in the spring. I think it would be helpful to have our representatives come back to a town hall setting to tell us what they have been doing  and for them to find out whats going on at the town level as a result of their actions (or inactions).

Multiple viewpoints were expressed at the forum, Schanhofer said.

It was about seven people plus one candidate, all with different views on a host of issues, she said. Although questions were asked and Mr. Holbrook did most of the talking, it really felt like a group discussion. Mr. Holbrook took questions but he also asked us questions as well. So, despite having differences in opinions, there was nothing negative said the entire night. Its times like that that give me hope.

Candidates should make themselves available to hear concerns of the people they seek to represent.Kate Schanhofer, organzier of LaGrange forum
TOMAH  The VA Medical Center in Tomah and the Veterans Assistance Foundation have dueling versions of what led to the VAs 90-day termination notice of the lease for part of a building the foundation uses to house 40 to 50 homeless veterans.

The foundation, headquartered in downtown Tomah, pays the VA $17,000 a month to lease space in Building 407 as part of its mission to provide transitional housing and other services, said VAF president Chris Hanson.

Safety and other concerns that could endanger other veterans being treated on the centers sprawling campus prompted the termination notice on the sharing agreement, effective Jan. 13, 2007, VA spokesman Matthew Gowan said Thursday.

Acting Tomah VA Medical Center director Victoria Brahm said in a statement issued Thursday, The request is not to close the program but to move it off of the hospital campus.

The safety and well-being of our veterans is of the utmost concern, she said. Unfortunately, the Veterans Assistance Foundation has failed significantly in their responsibility to take care of the veterans in their care.

The VAFs lack of response to the multiple problems that have occurred in their program and their lack of effort to resolve long-term issues is unacceptable, Brahm added.

Issues included a refusal to provide 24/7 security, the absence of required clinical staff and inappropriate use of the VAF space, she said.

The medical center has halted referrals to the VAF until it deems the program safe, she said.

VA police responded to more than 30 incidents, ranging from suicide attempts to accidental overdoses to other criminal violations of varying degrees, Gowan said.

Death investigation

The Tomah Police Department is still investigating the death of a 54-year-old woman in the facility.

The police department received a request on Sept. 26 from the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General to help in a death investigation that had begun the previous day, according to a statement from Tomah police chief Mark Nicholson.

Upon initial investigation, a cause of death could not be determined, Nicholson said. In an attempt to determine the cause of death, an autopsy was ordered and has been performed by the UW Hospital Pathology Department in Madison.

The autopsy results are pending the return of toxicology reports, according to the statement, which stated that the Monroe County Joint Investigative Task Force and the VAs inspector generals office are assisting in the investigation.

The fact that the VAF program is on federal property imposes restrictions, such as banning of alcohol, Gowan said. But some VAF residents had brought alcohol into their quarters, which also is forbidden because some VA patients are being treated for alcohol and drug addiction, he said.

Hanson, a U.S. Navy Reserve lieutenant and public affairs officer who is serving in Afghanistan, acknowledged during a phone interview that there have been a number of police calls.

Many residents in the VAF program are suffering from mental illness and substance abuse, he said.

The residents we have out there have the more difficult issues, Hanson said. Thats part of the nature of the program. We dont give up on anybody.

Hanson indicated a fraying relationship with the medical center, noting, Weve always been treated as a nuisance more than anything. The relationship has really chilled the last few months.

The whole thing is very disheartening, especially that the VA had not notified him, he said. Ive had no contact from the VA.

Gowan said the VAF had been notified repeatedly.

Hanson said if the VAF cant find another location and loses its grant funding, local veterans could be forced out of the Tomah area to find housing.

The termination action will not affect the VAFs project in downtown Tomah, which includes a resale shop, coffee house and housing for several veterans, he said.

Hanson also hinted at possible ulterior motives, saying, The VA has plans for that space. Theyve had plans for that space for a long time.

Even when the VAF program moves off the campus, the medical center will continue to provide clinical programs participants need, Gowan said.

Our staff are assessing each VAF residents individual situation to ensure that veterans are being offered needed programs and services, Brahm said. It is our hope that the VAF will work cooperatively with us to ensure our veterans can receive appropriate VA assistance and resources that will help in their transition.

The dispute has attracted the attention of members of Congress.

U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, D-La Crosse, met with Brahm Thursday, issuing a statement later that he urged her to ensure that the affected veterans have access to housing and the care and treatment they need.

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., sent Brahm a letter asking for more information, adding, While it is important to allow for a thorough independent investigation into the recent death, the VA also must ensure that the veterans who currently rely on the VAF program are not adversely affected by this decision.

Veterans would not be shoved out into the cold, Gowan said, adding that the Tomah VA has requested 30 additional housing vouchers in case they are needed and clinical services also will continue.

Despite their conflict, VA and VAF representatives were working under the same roof Thursday during a Homeless Veterans Stand Down at Logistics Health Inc. in La Crosse.

Thats what you do to serve veterans, Gowan said.

The VAF, an independent nonprofit agency, operates with its own fundraising, as well as reimbursement from the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for its transitional housing programs in Tomah and several other sites, as well as a variety of other services, including vocational training, PTSD referrals, case management and counseling for sobriety, life skills and anger management, among others.

The VAF has received millions in state and federal money since it was founded in 1994.

It was ranked as the 26th-worst charity in the nation, based on fundraising cost-expenditure ratio in a 2013 investigation by the national Center for Investigative Reporting and the Tampa Bay Times in Florida.

According to that report, the foundation raises about $2.5 million a year, with about half of that going toward temporary housing and job training programs for struggling veterans.

The VAF gets nearly half its revenue through a federal government grant. It paid for-profit solicitation companies $11 million during the previous decade, according to the investigation.

For at least the past 10 years, the foundation has signed contracts with telemarketers allowing the companies to keep 90 cents of every dollar raised, according to that report.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 29, ARMENPRESS. While on a working visit to the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, the Armenian delegation led by Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Eduard Sharmazanov visited the frontline and met the soldiers on October 29, the Speakers press office told Armenpress.

The delegation included also MPs Gagik Melikyan and Karen Botoyan.

Today we were once again convinced that our borders are firm due to the unity of our soldiers, army and the entire Armenian people. In recent days by treacherously violating the ceasefire regime Azerbaijan made sabotage attempt at two directions, however, it failed. Any attempt by that country to damage the negotiation process must be strictly condemned and receive targeted assessments by the international community. Azerbaijans insidious policy is doomed to failure since the Armenian soldier stands firm in his land and defends the Motherland, the Deputy Speaker said.
MADISON, Wis. (AP)  A University of Wisconsin-Madison student already accused of sexually assaulting a woman in his apartment this month has been charged with sexually assaulting four other women since early 2015.

Alec Cook, 20, of Edina, Minnesota, now faces seven counts of second-degree sexual assault, three counts of third-degree sexual assault, two counts of strangulation, two counts of false imprisonment and one count of fourth-degree sexual assault.

The complaint prosecutors filed Thursday accuses Cook of assaults dating back to March 2015. Prosecutors said one of the women was assaulted multiple times during a ballroom dancing class she was attending with Cook this past spring. Cooks other accusers are: a woman he met at a party in March 2015; a woman he met in a human sexuality class in February; and a woman he met during a psychology class experiment in August.

Cook was charged last week with sexually assaulting a woman in his apartment the night of Oct. 12 after the two had studied together.

Media reports of those charges have driven dozens of women to report to police their encounters with Cook. Officers searching Cooks apartment found a black book listing women hed met and documenting his sexual desires and including the word kill without explanation, authorities said.

Dane County Circuit Court Commissioner Brian Asmus set Cooks bail at $200,000 cash during a brief hearing Thursday. Cook made no statement at the hearing.

His attorneys, Jessa Nicholson and Chris Van Wagner, told reporters after the proceeding that they believe the ballroom assaults never happened, noting the complaint didnt cite any witnesses. The rest of the encounters, they said, were consensual. Van Wagner showed reporters a page from Cooks book with the word Killed? written at the top and said its unclear what it means.

He said Cook has been vilified on social media but the prosecutions case is just dust. Women are coming forward because theyve seen social media postings about Cook and have become frightened, he said.

Hes been painted as the face of evil, Van Wagner said. Thats wrong.

According to the complaint, the accuser from the Oct. 12 incident says she went to his apartment after studying with him at a campus library. She said he assaulted her for 2  hours, maintaining what she described as a death grip on her arm or body.

Cook told police the woman never told him to stop, according to the complaint.

Another woman came forward two days after charges were filed in that case. She said she met Cook at her friends birthday party in March 2015. Two weeks later she visited his apartment, where he began kissing her forcefully, then sexually assaulted her.

The same day that Cook was charged with the Oct. 12 assault, two other women reported being assaulted by him.

One woman told police she was in a ballroom dance class with Cook during the spring 2016 semester. She accused him of repeatedly touching her breasts and buttocks while they were dancing despite her telling him to stop. The touching occurred 15 to 20 times over the semester, she said.

The class instructor told investigators she got an email from the woman saying she was uncomfortable with how Cook touched her. The instructor responded by speaking to the class about appropriate contact during dances. She said no other students complained about Cook.

Another woman told police that she met Cook during a human sexuality class and began dating him in January, the complaint said. She said he assaulted her at his apartment in February. She told police at one point she told Cook OK, lets just have sex but she believes she said that to make herself feel as if the assault was consensual, the complaint said.

Another woman told police on Monday that she met Cook during a psychology class experiment. They had consensual sex at his apartment in August, the woman said, during which he tried to choke her. After taking a break to smoke marijuana, Cook tried to have sex with her again, this time slapping her and leaving bruises.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 29, ARMENPRESS. Nuran Davulchyan, who arrived in Armenia from Turkey to take part in the 6th international exhibition of JUNWEX Yerevan show jewellery and watches, started working as a silversmith at the age of 13. He continues the work of his father Arto Davulchyan who started working from 1954.

All these works are exclusively hand-made, and we have brought several samples. Every year we are taking part in this exhibition, we are working in order to present good works here. We want it to be useful for Armenia, we think of it first. It is already 33 years I am working as a silversmith, and within the years we have started to send our works to other countries as well, we receive orders from Italy, US, Germany, Switzerland, but it is a little hard to bring silvers to Armenia, last year we brought little more with us, but we faced many difficulties, Nuran Davulchyan told Armenpress.

He is presenting tableware products made of silver such as salt-cellars, plates, candlesticks and etc. He said that there is a big demand especially in Istanbul.

People are coming from other cities to do shopping in our store. You know, several years ago the Armenian masters were doing this work together with the jewellery, but now Armenians are very few working in this sphere, we have total of 99 silversmiths in our city who are working in different parts of tableware. It is impossible for one master to prepare one work. 4 Armenian masters currently are working on us, we wanted that only Armenians work with us, he said.

He said it is very difficult to learn and made silver tableware by hand.

He added that it is better to start learning at the age of 12-13 rather than 20.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 29, ARMENPRESS. Militants sharply intensified shelling the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, leaving 15 civilians killed and over 150 wounded within last 24 hours, the Russian center for Syrian reconciliation at the Hmeimim airbase said on Saturday, Sputnik News reported.

In the last 24 hours a total of 15 civilians were killed, more than 150 sustained wounds of varying severity. Those are primarily fragment wounds of legs, hands and stomach, the reconciliation center said. More than 100 shells are said to have been fired during the last 24 hours.

A total of eight districts of Aleppo came under fire. Militants are using gas bottles rigged with explosives, makeshift mines and unguided shells. Militants are targeting schools, hospitals and social facilities.

My children died  a son and a daughter aged 15 and 20. When the mine exploded, they embraced each other out of fear and died together, a crying woman said. The central hospital of Aleppo is overcrowded. All operating theaters are occupied; there are no places in intensive care units. But doctors say that the hospital has enough medicines and is ready to help all injured people.

The shell hit our house, the house burned, everything is destroyed. The explosion ripped my sons legs off and now I do not know where he is  Terrorists are using something powerful, something like rockets, but nevertheless we will win and get rid of them soon, an old man with a blooded face said.

The militants also shelled a primary school in Aleppo leaving three pupils dead and nine more injured.

Syria has been in a state of civil war since 2011, with government forces fighting the Syrian opposition groups striving to overthrow President Bashar Assad.






November

Tue 01: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Durham. 7:00pm. Free (to reserve a table phone 0191 386 5556).

Tue 01: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 02: Vieux Carre Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Wed 02: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolucion de Cuba, Newcastle. 6:00pm.

Wed 02: Darlington Big Band @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Wed 02: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.

Wed 02: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 03: Vieux Carre Jazzmen @ The Holystone, North Tyneside. 1:00pm.

Thu 03: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free admission (donations).

Thu 03: Paul Skerritt Duo @ Tomahawk Steakhouse, High St., Yarm. 8:00pm. Paul Skerritt & James Harrison residency.

Thu 03: Tees Hot Club @ Dormans Club, Middlesbrough. Guests: Kevin Eland (trumpet); Dave Archbold (keys); Adrian Beadnall (bass guitar); Dan Johnson (sax). 9:00pm.

Fri 04: Mike Durham's International Classic Jazz Party @ Village Hotel, North Tyneside. 12 noon. SOLD OUT!

Fri 04: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Fri 04: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. 5.00.

Fri 04: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.

Fri 04: Zoe Gilby Trio @ The Vault, Hexham. 7:30pm.

Fri 04: Paul Donnelly Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.

Fri 04: Twelve Pound Daddies @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free (donations). Blind Pig Blues Club.

Sat 05: Mike Durham's International Classic Jazz Party @ Village Hotel, North Tyneside. 12 noon. SOLD OUT!

Sat 05: Waves Festival @ Sunderland. All day event, various venues, line-up inc. Ishmael Ensemble & Yaatri.

Sat 05: Red Stripe Band @ St Augustines Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. 10.00.

Sat 05: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Bradley Johnston - Playing from within. 25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.

Sat 05: Jazz Voice showcase @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Admission: 3.00. Hosted by Chris Robinson.

Sat 05: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm.

Sun 06: Mike Durham's International Classic Jazz Party @ Village Hotel, North Tyneside. 12 noon. SOLD OUT!

Sun 06: Vieux Carre Hot 4 @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay. 12 noon.

Sun 06: Smokin Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.

Sun 06: Foundry Jazz Ensemble @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.

Sun 06: Jo Harrop & Jamie McCredie @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. 10.00. adv.

Mon 07: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Mon 07: John Garner & John Pope @ Little Buildings, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Tue 08: Harry Keeble & Andy Champion @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:30pm.
A jury in the northwestern state of Oregon has acquitted seven people involved in the armed occupation of a national wildlife refuge.

After the decision on Thursday, a lawyer for the leader of the group Ammon Bundy demanded the release of his client immediately. He also repeatedly yelled at the judge. U.S. marshals seized lawyer Marcus Mumford and used a stun gun on him several times. The lawyer was then arrested.

U.S. District Judge Anna Brown said she could not release Bundy because he still faces charges in the state of Nevada. The charges involved an armed incident on the property of his father Cliven Bundy two years ago.

The jury in the city of Portland found Bundy, his brother Ryan Bundy and five others not guilty of preventing federal workers from doing their jobs. The incident took place at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, about 500 kilometers southeast of Portland.

Lawyers for the seven said it was a surprise victory for the defense.

The U.S attorney in Oregon defended the decision to bring charges against the seven people. He said, "We strongly believe that this case needed to be brought before a court, publicly tried, and decided by a jury."

Ammon Bundy and his followers began their occupation of the refuge by force on January 2. They were protesting prison sentences given to Dwight and Steven Hammond, two local ranchers found guilty of setting fires. They demanded that the government free the father and son and give control of public lands to local officials.

The refuge takeover earned sympathizers from around the West.

The Bundys and others involved in the occupation were arrested outside the refuge in late January.

The incident ended with police shooting and killing Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, an occupation spokesman.

Federal prosecutors took two weeks to present their case, finishing with a display of more than 30 guns taken after the standoff.

Some people protested that the armed occupation was preventing others from using the land. Kieran Suckling is executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity. He called the acquittals disturbing.

He said the Bundy family and their followers were acting dangerously. He worries the decision will give other people confidence to use violence and intimidation for similar movements.

Im Dorothy Gundy.

This story was originally written for VOANews.com. Phil Dierking adapted this report for Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor.

Who do you think should control public lands? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

acquit  v. to decide that someone is not guilty of a crime

disturbing  adj. to be worrying or upsetting

occupation  n. the activity of living in or using a particular place

prosecutor  n. a lawyer who represents the side in a court case that accuses a person of a crime and who tries to prove that the person is guilty

refuge  n. a place that provides shelter or protection

stun gun  n. a gun that produces an electric shock which makes someone unconscious or stops someone from moving
This week on our national parks journey, we head to the southeastern state of Kentucky. Here you will find rolling hills and thick green forests.

But beneath the land is a strange and silent underground world. One early explorer described it as grand, gloomy and peculiar.

Welcome to Mammoth Cave National Park!

Mammoth Cave is the longest known cave system in the world. It is two times as large as the worlds second-biggest cave system. Its size helped give it its name. Mammoth as an adjective means extremely large.

Mammoth Cave National Park is in Kentuckys Green River valley. The park covers over 20,000 hectares. It protects the river valley and hilly land, as well as the vast underground cave system.

The U.S. Congress formed Mammoth Cave National Park in 1941. Forty years later, it was named a World Heritage Site. And in 1990, it became a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve site.

Researchers and explorers have mapped than 600 kilometers of passageways in Mammoth Cave. And scientists continue to explore it.

Water formed the cave over millions of years. Other than the Green River, few sources of water exist above ground. That is because water seeps quickly into the earth. Soil made of broken-down limestone absorbs the water. It has created a vast and complex system of chambers and passageways.

A delicate and unique ecosystem exists inside the cave. More than 100 kinds of animals live in Mammoth Cave. Some of them live their whole lives in total darkness. Cave shrimp and many other kinds of eyeless, colorless species can be found.

Mammoth Cave was once home to about 10 million bats. They included species like Indiana bats, big brown bats, little brown bats and the eastern small-footed bat. Now, they number in the thousands.

Humans first entered Mammoth Cave about 4,000 years ago. They discovered uses for minerals inside the cave. Researchers describe them as primitive miners. Humans explored Mammoth Cave for nearly 2,000 years. Then, their exploration appears to have ended.

The caves would not be explored again until the end of the 1700s.

Many stories name John Houchins for re-discovering the cave. They say he was hunting in the area when he came upon a black bear. The bear was close to the entrance of the cave. Houchins shot the bear, but he failed to kill it. The bear ran, and Houchins followed. It led him into the cave. Experts do not agree on the exact year of Houchins discovery, and some people question the story entirely.

Slaves played many important roles at Mammoth Cave during the 1800s. During the War of 1812, slaves mined the cave for a mineral called saltpeter. It was used to produce ammunition used during battle.

And in 1816, slaves began guiding visitors on cave tours. At the time, the cave was still privately owned.

One of the greatest early explorers of the cave was a slave named Stephen Bishop. He arrived at Mammoth Cave in 1838, when he was a teenager. He learned the tour paths from white guides.

But Bishop wanted to push beyond the caves toured areas. He set off to explore parts of the caves no human had ever seen. Bishop and a companion sought to cross an area called the Bottomless Pit. Its unknown darkness had stopped people from trying to go beyond it.

But fear and darkness did not stop Bishop. The areas he discovered beyond Bottomless Pit are still open to visitors today. Bishop started naming different areas of the cave he discovered -- Fat Mans Misery, Cleaveland Avenue, and Mammoth Dome, among others. He was also the first to discover a river running through the cave.

Bishop created a map of Mammoth Cave in the early 1840s. It included 16 kilometers of passageways. Most of the passages had been discovered or explored by Bishop himself. His map remained in use for more than 40 years.

Bishop gained his freedom in 1856, but he died the next year at the age of 37. His grave lies within Mammoth Cave National Park.

It was Bishop who described Mammoth Cave as grand, gloomy and peculiar.

For national park visitors who venture into the cave today, Bishops description remains true. About 500,000 people tour the cave each year. They are among the more than two million visitors to the park itself.

Mammoth National Park offers campsites for those who want to sleep under the stars. There is also a hotel in the park. And there are plenty of activities outside of the cave. People ride horses on the more than 100 kilometers of park trails. They also fish and boat in the parks rivers.

But the main draw of Mammoth Cave National Park remains the dark mystery of an underground world, with so much more to discover.

I'm Caty Weaver.

And Im Ashley Thompson.

Ashley Thompson wrote this story with materials from the National Park Service. Caty Weaver was the editor.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

gloomy - adj. somewhat dark

peculiar - adj. not usual or normal

mammoth - adj. very large

vast - adj. very great in size, amount, or extent

seep - v. to flow or pass slowly through small openings in something

primitive - adj. of, belonging to, or seeming to come from an early time in the very ancient past

venture - v. to go somewhere that is unknown, dangerous, etc.
Theodore Roosevelt Island is small and peaceful. It sits in the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. The island is a tree-filled memorial to Americas 26th president. It includes several trails and a huge statue of Theodore Teddy Roosevelt. The island is one of more than 400 sites within the U.S. National Park Service.

On most days, local people visit the island to escape city life. They walk or run its forested paths. Tourists also visit the island to see the memorial that honors Teddy Roosevelt, known as the "conservationist" president. They often take photos of themselves with the statue.

But, on a recent Monday morning, more than 40 people from 28 countries arrived at the island for a different reason. Instead of exploring, they recited an oath of allegiance. Instead of just taking pictures of the Roosevelt memorial, they sat in its shadow, holding American flags.

On that morning, they became citizens of the United States.

"I'd also like to thank the National Park Service for hosting us here at Theodore Roosevelt Island"

That is Sarah Taylor. She is the Washington district director of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS. It is celebrating the National Park Services 100th anniversary this year by holding citizenship ceremonies in national park sites across the country. The agency has already done more than the 100 ceremonies it had planned.

In August, for example, 15 people became American citizens at the Grand Canyon. In September, 37 people gained their citizenship at Yellowstone National Park.

The naturalization ceremony at Theodore Roosevelt Island was the 13th such event in the Washington, D.C. area this year.

Alexcy Romero is superintendent of the George Washington Memorial Parkway. The National Park Service protects this historic road and the scenic area around it. Romero spoke at the ceremony. It was his first time attending a naturalization ceremony.

"This ceremony is really very fitting, having it in a national park, our national parks: people know them as their natural beauties, those scenic views, that are breathtaking, but we also have incredible sights that tell the American story. These naturalization ceremonies are a good piece - integrating their citizenship with our national parks, where they can learn and understand our democracy and how we came to be who we are today."

The ceremonies mark the end of an immigrants effort to gain citizenship. But they also mark a new beginning.

The naturalization process

"Naturalization" is the legal act of becoming a citizen. In general, a person can become a naturalized American citizen if they are over the age of 18 and if they have lived in the U.S. for five years, without leaving the country for more than 30 months.

The naturalization process has several steps. A person must first take a test in English on American civics. They must also prove they are of good character. To do that, two American citizens must verify that the nominee will be a good and loyal citizen of the United States.

The process also includes completing paperwork and interviews.

The final step is to take an oath of allegiance to the country at an official naturalization ceremony.

At Theodore Roosevelt Island, Sarah Taylor with USCIS led the crowd in the oath of allegiance.

"and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God. Congratulations, you are Americas newest citizens!

During the last 10 years, more than 6.6 million people have become naturalized American citizens. Last year, more than 700,000 people gained their citizenship.

Those who became naturalized citizens at Theodore Roosevelt Island came from 28 countries, including Vietnam, Turkey, Pakistan, Venezuela and the Philippines.

For some, the path to citizenship was a long one. Moid Ali works at a bank in northern Virginia. He is originally from Pakistan.

"I came here in January 2012. And, my wife is a U.S. citizen. So I moved here with her."

Ali called his path to citizenship a "rigorous process."

"It's been a rigorous process, as far as like six or seven years back. So, multiple documentations and interviews, getting my Green Card, and applying for the citizenship."

After the ceremony, he felt relieved.

"I'm relaxed. Excited. Definitely an overwhelming experience, you know, being a part of the whole ceremony."

Aaron Gaza said he wanted to become a citizen to serve the nation in the U.S. Navy. He came to America from the Philippines three years ago. He joined the Navy in January.

"To become a U.S. citizen for me is very important, to be able to do my job in the Navy, in the U.S. Navy."

Gaza was chosen to lead the rest of the group in the pledge of allegiance.

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God..."

Zainab Bangura left her native Sierra Leone to continue her education in America. She arrived five years ago.

There was a certain time in my country when we had the civil war and rebels were all over. And education-wise was like, going down the drain, we dont have enough infrastructure. And like, coming to America, I see this as an opportunity to expand and further my education.

Bangura said becoming a U.S. citizen was an easy process for her.

It was pretty much smooth for me. I went through it, I registered, and it was exciting. It takes like three months.

Bangura and other newly naturalized citizens now have all the liberties and rights of a full American citizen. The only real limit she faces? She cannot become the president or vice president of the United States.

But she and other naturalized citizens will play a part in electing the countrys next leader.

New citizens and new voters

The citizenship ceremony at Theodore Roosevelt Island took place on the final day to register to vote in nearby Virginia. New citizens who live in the state lined up at a small tent near the site of the ceremony. Workers there helped them register.

For Maria Sifontes, the ability to vote [in the upcoming U.S. elections] was a major reason why she wanted to become a citizen this year. Sifontes is from Venezuela. She came to the U.S. in 2007 to study English. She stayed in the country to study criminal justice. Sifontes now works in the Washington area as a lawyer.

I decided to become a citizen because I really wanted to vote this year. I feel that we need to be more involved in the democracy of the country. We work hard, and I think its fair enough to participate and that our voice can be heard.

Park Superintendent Alexcy Romero said he was honored to watch 42 new Americans gain their citizenship.

Just sitting there watching their expressions as they were being sworn in, wondering what was going on through their mind and  the struggles to get to this point, the struggles of leaving their country and to become an American citizen. Its just moving. It was just one of those events that I was honored to share it with them.

I'm Ashley Thompson.

And I'm Caty Weaver.

Ashley Thompson wrote this story. Caty Weaver was the editor.

Now it's your turn. What do you think of the naturalization ceremony in a national park? Does your country have such public citizenship ceremonies? Write to us in the Comments section or on our Facebook page.

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Words in This Story

breathtaking - adj. very exciting

incredible - adj. extremely good, great, or large

civics - n. the study of the rights and duties of citizens and of how government works

character - n. the way someone thinks, feels, and behaves : someone's personality

verify - v. to prove, show, find out, or state that (something) is true or correct

rigorous - adj. very strict and demanding

relieved - adj. feeling relaxed and happy because something difficult has been stopped, avoided, or made easier

relaxed - adj. calm and free from stress, worry, or anxiety

overwhelming - adj. very strong in emotion

down the train - expression. spoiled or wasted

smooth - adj. happening or done without any problems

tent - n. a portable shelter that is used outdoors, is made of cloth (such as canvas or nylon), and is held up with poles and ropes

register - v. to put your name on an official list (to be able to vote)
The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation has announced it is reopening an investigation of Hillary Clintons use of a private email server.

FBI chief James Comey made the announcement Friday, less than two weeks before the presidential election.

The investigation concerns the Democratic presidential candidates handling of email while she served as secretary of state.

Comey sent a letter to several Republican congressional leaders. It said the agency has learned of emails that appear to be important to the investigation. He said investigators will examine them to learn if they have secret information in them and if they are important to the agencys investigation.

Comey said he could not predict how long it will take to complete the investigation.

Clinton led the State Department during the first term of President Barack Obama. A State Department official told VOA that nobody knew this was coming.

Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan called the development long overdue.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump told supporters Friday that he was happy about the news. He said he is glad the FBI will, in his words, right the horrible mistake it made in ending an earlier investigation into the emails.

The FBI began an investigation into the emails in 2015. In July, the agency said there was no reason to charge Clinton. But Comey did say Clinton and her aides were, in his words, extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.

Im Kelly Jean Kelly.

VOANews.com reported this story from Washington. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted it for Learning English. Mario Ritter and Caty Weaver were the editors.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or visit our Facebook page.

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server  n. the main computer in a network which provides files and services that are used by the other computers
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YEREVAN, OCTOBER 29, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) has participated in the discussions dedicated to the security of Christians in the Middle East in White House, ANCA told Armenpress.

The Administration was represented by Special Assistant to President Obama Melissa Rogers, State Department Special Advisor for Religious Minorities Knox Thames, and senior officials of the National Security Council.

ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian took part in the briefing

Among the consensus priorities of the visiting delegation were protecting Christian and other at-risk populations from ongoing armed attacks, supporting refugees and internally displaced persons, closing gaps in the delivery of international humanitarian aid to highly vulnerable groups, standing up sustainable and secure safe havens for persecuted minorities, including in the form of a Nineveh Plains Province, and, more broadly, ensuring that ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity contributes to the future stability and prosperity of the region.

The ANCA has long advocated for Armenia as a safe sanctuary and secure long-term home for Armenians and other Christians and oppressed groups fleeing violence in the Middle East.

Armenia  which has already taken in over twenty thousand refugees fleeing violence in the Middle East  can, with materially increased U.S. and international support, serve as a safe haven and secure long-term home for the regions Christians, Yazidis, and other at-risk minority populations, Hamparian said.
LEXINGTON, Neb.  Following afternoon prayers Saturday, members of the Islamic Center of Lexington donned bright t-shirts and vests, distributed trash bags and rubber gloves, and dispersed throughout the downtown area picking up litter.

The t-shirts and vests were emblazoned with the words Keep Lexington Clean on the front, with the Centers name written on the back. The high-visibility colors were appropriate, as members of the Islamic Center said one of the goals of the litter-sweep was to demonstrate to other residents of Lexington that they take pride in their town too.

We are members of the community, one man said through a translator. We must not rely on other people to pick up the trash. We have to do it as well.

Center member Naji Abdi said picking up litter fits with Islamic religious beliefs, as well.

As Muslims, we have an obligation to keep a clean environment, he said. The Prophet Muhammad said that removing something harmful from the path others walk, maintaining a clean environment, is an action of charity.

The Islamic Center is also planning a food drive during the month of November. They will collect cereals, canned goods, and other non-perishable food items to benefit the local food pantry, members said.

Most of us are working, and can provide for ourselves and our family, one man said through an interpreter. There are some people who cant work, and we are obligated to help them.
It is often asserted that the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 proved that HWA was right and he really did see the future.

This of course is nonsense. Herbert W. Armstrong said that Christ would return within twenty years in his book Mystery of the Ages. (PCG has since deleted those words so someone in there knows HWA spoke nonsense.) How convenient for them to forget this.

Also Herbert W. Armstrong never said the Soviet Union would collapse. He thought it would survive intact until a few years after Christ's return. It shows how biased some many in the COGs are that they never seem to notice this. This inconvenient truth is just tossed into the memory hole.

It is true that HWA said that some Eastern European states would break away from Moscow's orbit and join the European Empire he said would arise at any moment. But he never talked of the Soviet Union collapsing. He did not teach that. Also he portrayed the rise of the European Empire to be far quicker then what has actually happened. In Mystery of the Ages Christ was supposed to return by 2005 at the most.

So assertions that the fall of the Berlin Wall somehow prove that HWA was right is just complete nonsense spread by people who, for whatever reason, are still in denial that HWA was a false prophet who merely talked out of his own "human reasoning".
Changes in Floridas death penalty rules are putting major cases in limbo, cases like the high profile Patrick Evans murder trial.

Evans' retrial supposed to start October 31

Previous Florida death penalty rules ruled unconstitutional

Legislature must rewrite death penalty rules in next session

Evans, a former Jabil executive, was supposed to have a retrial in a double murder case this upcoming Monday but with the new rules in place that trial wont happen at least not any time soon.



We asked criminal defense attorney Kelly McCabe, who isnt involved but is familiar with the case, to explain why a stay was granted in Evans death penalty case, and how the new death penalty rules affected that decision.



It used to be, prior to January of this year, it used to be majority rule. So seven to five and the person could still, the judge could still give him death, McCabe said. Then it was rewritten and after the Hurst decision, in January I believe, and then it was a 10 to 2 vote and you could still get death. But now with the Perry decision it has to be unanimous. So all 12 jurors must vote death before the judge would be able to impose death.



McCabe said this decision is a win for the defense, but its not the end of the road by a long shot.



It could take months," said McCabe. "It could be rather quick. Theres no real telling.



Evans was convicted in 2011 in the 2008 double murder of his estranged wife, Elizabeth Evans, and her boyfriend, Gerald Taylor. Its a crime prosecutors said was heard on a 911 call.



The State Supreme Court, however, granted a new trial because there were several errors in the first one. One of those errors, according to the ruling, was allowing a detective to testify that the voice heard on the 911 call was, in fact, Evans.



With this new ruling, Evans and his attorneys will just have to wait and see what happens. but McCabe says this decision is bigger than the former executives case.



It will be interesting to see, because the law cant be rewritten until the legislature does it next year, so what is going to happen in this interim period is basically what this stay is about, she said. Can you move forward on these cases or not? Because they demanded speedy trial, but with a stay that tolls that time period.
Stumping on Florida State University's campus Friday, Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine urged students to vote early for the Clinton-Kaine ticket.

Several hundred attend rally with Kaine

Kaine: "Florida is checkmate."

Clinton-Kaine campaign very concerned about young voter turnout

He pointed out to the crowd of several hundred students out to hear him speak that youth turnout over the next week will help the campaign decide whether to allocate additional resources to Florida in the final few days before the Nov. 8 election.



"We like what we see, but we take nothing for granted," Kaine said, alluding to the fact that Democrats have fought Republicans to a virtual draw in returned mail-in ballots. Four years ago, the GOP had amassed a five-point advantage in mail-in returns, as the early voting period began.



"When you get to the homestretch, last 10 or 11 days, we like to make our decisions based on real data, so if you early vote, you enable the folks who are working in Leon County or Dade County or Broward or wherever to know, hey, this is how this race is looking, and this is where we need to go and what we need to do in the last few days to win," Kaine said.



A senator from and former governor of Virginia, Kaine chaired the Democratic National Committee from 2009-2011, a role that strengthened his grasp of electoral analytics.



While he didn't mention the concern among some Clinton campaign staffers that youth turnout could pale in comparison to 2008 and 2012, his presence on a college campus in a pivotal swing state just 11 days before Election Day underscored the stakes.



"Florida is checkmate," Kaine declared. "Did you guys know you were that important? I mean, we say about Florida, why don't you change your name already from the "Sunshine State" to the 'Really Close Election State'?"



For months, Hillary Clinton has struggled to win the allegiance of young voters who supported her primary opponent, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Despite Sanders' endorsement of Clinton after a primary season marked by the same type of populist fervor that swept through the GOP, many of his supporters have eschewed the thought of voting for Clinton.



Given polls showing a dead heat between Clinton and Donald Trump in Florida - a state Trump almost certainly has to win to preserve his long-shot path to the White House - some of Clinton's young supporters say the 'Never Hillary' wing of the Democratic Party is reevaluating its stance as the campaign nears its end.



"I think, just, with both of them, like, interacting with each other, it's so different than what we've seen, in my opinion," said Samantha Fuchs, a Florida State freshman who came to hear Kaine speak. "And I just think people are responding to it."



If they are, however, it remains hard to tell, not least for the data-driven Kaine.



"Those of us who aren't Floridians, we just kind of feel like you're toying with us every election," Kaine quipped. "You've just got to keep it really suspenseful."
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 29, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan on October 29 paid a working visit to Lori Province, press service of the Presidential administration told Armenpress.

The President attended the opening ceremony of the Technology Center of Vanadzor. The Armenian Government assisted in implementing the construction project of the Center together the Enterprise Incubator Foundation.

The project aims establishing a center equipped with contemporary knowledge-based and innovative infrastructures, attracting foreign investors, training highly qualified technology specialists, as well as providing business support to start-up companies and independent entrepreneurs of Lori province.

Serzh Sargsyan toured the Center, got acquainted with the conditions, the opportunities, the ongoing projects and development prospects.

The representatives of the Center presented the President the educational laboratories of information technologies and engineering sectors already operating in the Center, the joint working area created for the start-up teams, the laboratory equipped with modern metallurgical equipment, which they said will enable to develop prototyping, testing and creating new products and finding solutions in the engineering sector which will boost the development of innovations in Armenia.

They also reported the President that business support and advisory services were provided to at least 150 teams, companies, inventors and individual entrepreneurs during the activity of the Center. It is planned to create at least 150 direct and 1000 indirect jobs with 300.000 AMD average monthly salary, at least 500 specialists will be prepared and trained annually, at least 50 teams and companies will receive assistance.

After ending the tour President Sargsyan planted a fir tree in the yard of the Center.

The Presidents visit to Lori Province continues.
Mumbai: Amid apprehensions that Taiwan-based tech giant Foxconn may shy away from its proposed $5 billion investment in Maharashtra, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday said the company is "not going anywhere" and hoped issues raised by it will be resolved soon.

"Foxconn had issues pertaining to the Central government. The company wants its manufacturing costs here to match those in China," he said while speaking to reporters at his residence 'Varsha' in Mumbai.

The world's largest electronics contract manufacturer plans to set up manufacturing units in India, which boasts of the world's second-largest base of mobile phone users, to mitigate rising labour costs in China and also lower

manufacturing cost of iPhones.

Fadnavis said the company, which counts Apple, Xiaomi, Blackberry and Amazon among its clients, had laid down certain conditions, which were being examined by the Centre.

"I met officials from Foxconn a month back and they assured me their issues with the Centre would be solved soon.

Once that happens, they will immediately start their work," Fadnavis said.

"It is true the project has got delayed but I can assure Foxconn is not going anywhere," he said.

The state government's widely publicised MoU with the iPhone maker appeared to be in trouble after a senior official from the Industries Department said production has not taken off as the company was "yet to find customers" here.

"They (Foxconn officials) say they haven't found customers yet and have thus not started their manufacturing plant. We don't think this is disappointing as we would like to give them some more time before coming to a decision," Apurva Chandra, Principal Secretary (Industries), had said.

Fadnavis had earlier said the MoU with Foxconn will create direct employment for 50,000 people.

Opposition Congress had used the delay in implementing the Foxconn MoU to criticise Fadnavis. The party had asked the Chief Minister to clear the air on the big-ticket project and said the delay exposed his "tall claims" about investment and employment generation in Maharashtra.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 29, ARMENPRESS. By the initiative of Nazarbek Youth Union of the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party presentation of the book entitled Armenia: Soul of one nation by Henry Cuny (French Ambassador to Armenia 2002-2006) was held in Paris on October 28, press service of the Party told Armenpress.

In his speech the former Ambassador talked about the millennium-old Armenian history and culture, expressed his respect and connection to Armenia which contributed to publishing the book.

Speaking about the April four-day war Henry Cuny said the Azerbaijani leadership, being a dictator and not elected by the citizens of that country, does everything to maintain the tension in the border. The former Ambassador said only the military operations will be able to extend the power of Azerbaijans dictator.

Chairman of Social Democrat Hunchakian Party Armenia department Narek Galstyan expressed gratitude to Henry Cuny for such initiative and the book, as well as he attached importance to the Ambassadors contribution to the Armenian-French friendly relations.

Narek Galstyan said the military operations were still underway when Nazarbek Youth Union representatives visited Nagorno Karabakh. He awarded the Youth Union with Great Murad medal.
Mumbai: In a significant revelation in the wake of the Central Bureau of Investigation questioning the senior IPS officer Rakesh Maria in the Sheena Bora murder case, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday said the former Mumbai police commissioner had stated that the media baron Peter Mukerjea was not guilty.

Maria was shunted out as Mumbai police chief last year in the middle of Sheena murder probe which he was supervising personally. It was speculated that the government was not happy that he was taking so much interest in the case.

CBI later took over the case and arrested Peter Mukerjea.

According to the charge sheets filed in the case, Peter's wife Indrani Mukerjea, her former spouse Sanjeev Khanna and her ex-driver Shyamvar Rai strangled Sheena, her daughter from another relationship, in April 2012.

All three were arrested by police; Peter was arrested by CBI later.

"During a police briefing, Maria came to us and said Peter is not guilty. And now we find CBI has made him an accused. CBI is investigating on the lines that Peter is part of the conspiracy," Fadnavis, who handles the home portfolio himself, said.

"It is something to think about as to how a police officer who was deeply involved in the case thought this way," Fadnavis said, speaking to reporters at his official residence 'Varsha' in Mumbai on Saturday.

CBI earlier this week questioned Maria, now Maharashtra's Director General (Home Guards); Deven Bharti, Joint Commissioner (Law and Order); and Satya Narayan Choudhary, Deputy Commissioner of Police, because they were part of the initial probe team.
Urban areas and metros have lured thousands who give up their rural livelihoods due to low agricultural returns or growing divisions in family land holdings in order to seek greener pastures in concrete jungles. Given the spurt in migration, managing dynamics of the cities and urban spaces is undoubtedly a multi-thronged challenge to counter.

When we read names of our cities in smart cities list, what we should really think about is  are our cities really smartly built? Can cities, which witness population influx, rising levels of pollution, haphazard encroachments on a daily basis, endure it any further? Environmental concerns, as seen so far, have taken a back seat in the name of development. Buildings that are being so rapidly erected today are, however, not energy-efficient. Are people aware of the concept of green buildings? Theres indeed awareness but its not enough.

Green buildings efficiently use basic resources like energy, water, and electricity reducing water wastage and pollution. These buildings are developed considering the building layout for adequate solar orientation and proper ventilation which in turn reduces the heat intake and maximises the glare-free daylight. They are also efficient in treating waste water.

Cities, by their very nature, are energy intensive i.e. they need more supply of electricity, water, and land. Besides, the changing lifestyles that allow people to splurge  shopping in malls, living in high-rises with spas, swimming pools, gyms, etc.  definitely shoots up the requirements of essential resources like water and electricity. This explains why builders are always tempted to construct buildings with larger Floor Space Index (FSI), especially in the metros?

However, the question is: Can our cities or urban spaces afford buildings which are constructed without the due understanding of its carrying capacities and available resources? No, they definitely cant.

For instance, the seven lakes, which have been providing water to Mumbai for over decades, have become redundant today because the city  with a total land area of 603 sq.km and a population density of 30,900 per sq.km  is no longer capable of carrying the growing population and meet even the basic requirements. What happens in such situations is crucial ecosystems like wetlands, cultivable lands etc., which supply basic necessities like food and water to the city, are reclaimed. How much of these resources will be available to feed our city in coming decades? Does this mean that the cities will then have to look for their own resources? These are some of the questions, which the civic authorities should ponder on before these basic resources run dry.

How unplanned urban spaces and migration affect cities

According to World Bank, nearly 6.2 billion people  70 percent of the worlds total population  would be living in cities by 2050. If the recent statistics of the Planning Commission are to be believed, a staggering 377 million Indians are currently living in towns and cities and within 20-25 years, another 300 million people will follow suit.

The economic census of Maharashtra says that the agricultural establishment in Mumbai has seen a decline by 58 percent whereas the non-agricultural establishment has increased by 33 percent. In a city like Delhi, the average decadal population growth since 1951 has been 45.8 percent, where migration accounted for more than 23 percent of the total increase in population. Its the same story with other metros like Bengaluru, Chennai, and Gurugram.

An uncontrolled built environment, (simply put: the haphazard spurt of city slums and encroachments), acts as a parasite surviving on the already threatened resources. Take the example of Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) in Mumbai. According to the state governments action plan 2014-2023, over three million people are staying on the outskirts of SGNP. The encroachment, which began in the 1970s in the protected areas, has only been increasing with no definite control mechanisms in place. The report states that 200 hectares of reserved forest lands of SGNP have been encroached by about 61,000 families. This has destroyed the parks biodiversity to an extent that it has caused some critical environmental damages. Unfortunately, we have no mechanisms in place to reverse these damages which are very much required to protect the parks space from further shrinking.

Furthermore, the provisional data of Population Census 2011 shows how Mumbai has seen a significant jump in the population from 59,70,575 to 1,24,78,447 over the span of 40 years.

So, questions like  how are these migrants settling themselves; what makes them chose a place for settlement; who monitors and regulates their settlements  will demand a prudent response from the state governments. Such unplanned and sporadic settlements may soon make us run out of all crucial resources and prove us completely unsustainable.

While the global literature is showing increasing evidence of global warming, losing out on such eco-sensitive areas, like national parks, wetlands and so on, may only aggravate the damage caused to the citys microclimate.

Climate change and urban disasters

Its now common knowledge that the problem of climate change is staring in the face of the cities as well as the state governments. It will only compound the complexities of urban dynamics. According to IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) AR5 (Assessment Report 5) Synthesis Report, climate change will increase risks like heat stress, storms and extreme precipitation, inland and coastal flooding, landslides, air pollution, drought, water scarcity, the rise in the sea-level and storm surges in the cities. According to the Twelfth Five Year Plan, India loses up to 2 percent of its GDP due to natural disasters of which floods and high winds account for 60 percent.

The nature of our built environments or urban spaces shaping our future cities also determines our vulnerability to disasters. The civic authorities will have to bear some major economic implications if the city encounters extreme rainfall events like flash flooding which could do serious damage to the citys infrastructure during any ongoing developmental project

Over the past two-three years, Indian cities have also experienced erratic heavy flooding followed by urban mobility disruptions like slowing down of the railways and traffic congestion. In 2013, cities in the state of Uttarakhand, and Mumbai and Kolkata witnessed extreme floods; in 2014, it was Chennai and Srinagar. Flood situations are only expected to increase given the increase in the watertight surfaces owing to rapid concretisation.

This will, in turn, affect the groundwater table recharging by throwing litres of fresh rain water down the drains. So while we talk of utilisation of resources, their management is an equally important issue.

As per the MMR ESR (Mumbai Metropolitan Regions Environmental Status Report) by TERI, the number of very heavy rainy days saw a jump of 27 percent from 19 (recorded in 1971- 80) to 26 (recorded in 2001-10). Similarly, there was an increase in the moderate, rather heavy, heavy, very heavy categories of rainy days; while the very light and light rainy days saw a comparative decrease. This clearly indicates the climatic variations over the MMR.

Urban Heat Island Effect

Concrete surfaces, which form more than 60 percent of the surface materials in urban areas today, tend to retain heat more than their surrounding rural areas due to higher reflective surfaces. The increase in temperatures further triggers the overall temperatures making urban areas as the island of heat, where the temperatures are 2-3 degrees higher than the peripheral areas. This is called as Urban Heat Island Effect. This further increases the demand for cooling systems like air conditioners eventually escalating the energy consumption and use of greenhouse gases like hydrofluorocarbons adding to the climate change.

Thus, protection of natural resources like water bodies, wetlands, salt pans, and mangroves play a significant role as they have the capacity to absorb such climatic shocks; failing which the cities would be washed away in no time. Here's where green buildings come into the picture as they are more sustainable and can help in retaining vital resources. It's never too late in bringing green buildings in policy making.

The author is an Associate Fellow with Sustainable Habitat Division of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), Navi Mumbai

Note: This is first of the two-part series. The second part would explain the need for green buildings in urban landscapes and solutions.
Washington: The Supreme Court will take up transgender rights for the first time in the case of a Virginia school board that wants to prevent a transgender teenager from using the boys' bathroom at his high school.

The justices said on Friday they will hear the appeal from the Gloucester County school board sometime next year. The high court's order means that student Gavin Grimm will not be able to use the boys' bathroom in the meantime.

The court could use the case to resolve similar disputes across the country, said Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. "Obviously, for transgender people, the stakes of this case are incredibly high. Whatever the court rules in Grimm may ensure that transgender people are accepted and included as equal members of our society, or it may relegate them to outsiders for decades to come," Minter said.

A lower court had ordered the school board to accommodate Grimm, but the justices in August put that order on hold while they considered whether to hear the appeal.

Grimm, a 17-year-old high school senior, was born female but identifies as male. He was allowed to use the boys' restroom at his high school for several weeks in 2014. But after some parents complained, the school board adopted a policy requiring students to use either the restroom that corresponds with their biological gender or a private, single-stall restroom. Grimm is backed by the Obama administration in his argument that the policy violates Title IX, a federal law that bars sex discrimination in schools.

"I never thought that my restroom use would ever turn into any kind of national debate," Grimm said in a statement issued after the court announced it will hear his case. "The only thing I ever asked for was the right to be treated like everyone else. While I'm disappointed that I will have to spend my final school year being singled out and treated differently from every other guy, I will do everything I can to make sure that other transgender students don't have to go through the same experience."

Gloucester County school board chairman Troy Andersen praised the court for agreeing to hear what he called a difficult case. "The board looks forward to explaining to the Court that its restroom and locker room policy carefully balances the interests of all students and parents in the Gloucester County school system," Andersen said.

The education department says transgender students should be allowed to use restrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identities. Among the issues in the case is whether the department's guidance should have the force of law.

Similar lawsuits are pending around the country. The Obama administration has sued North Carolina over a state law aimed at restricting transgender students to bathrooms that correspond to their biological genders.

A federal judge in Texas has sided with Texas and 12 other states in issuing a nationwide hold on the administration's directive to public schools, issued in May. The directive tells schools to allow transgender students to use the bathroom and locker room consistent with their gender identity.

The case probably will be heard in the winter, and it is by no means certain that there will be a ninth justice to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February. Senate Republicans have refused to act on Judge Merrick Garland's nomination to the high court. A tie vote would be a victory for Grimm, who won in the lower courts but would leave the issue unresolved nationally.

The Supreme Court split 5 to 3 in August to put the court order in Grimm's case on hold. At the time, Justice Stephen Breyer said he was providing a fifth vote to go along with the four more conservative justices to "preserve the status quo" until the court decided whether to weigh in. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented.

Grimm had urged the court not to take up his case.

The school board asked the court to settle the matter now. It said that allowing Grimm to use the boys' restroom raises privacy concerns and may cause some parents to pull their children out of school.

The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond sided with Grimm in April, saying the federal judge who previously dismissed Grimm's Title IX discrimination claim ignored the Education Department's guidance on bathroom use.

The appeals court reinstated Grimm's Title IX claim and sent it back to the district court for further consideration. The judge then issued the order in favor of Grimm.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 29, ARMENPRESS. New medical center will be established in the city of Vanadzor, Lori Province, Armenpress reports.

The works on providing the medical center with medical equipment are carried out by Tashir charitable foundation.

The construction works were launched in November, 2013. The works are at the completion stage.

President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan , while on a working visit to Lori Province, got acquainted with the works of the center.

Healthcare Minister Levon Altunyan said Vanadzor is going to have a modern medical complex with 190 beds soon.

The complex will be an upgraded modern center with all its infrastructures. The professional potential will be provided both with the training of the existing employees and involving new specialists. We will work on ensuring the flow of patients from the bordering regions of Georgia to the center, the Minister said.

As a result of the modernization of the Vanadzor medical center the access to medical services will be significantly improved. The quality and the effectiveness of the medical assistance will also be improved.

It is planned to make over 6.6 billion AMD investment in the medical center within the framework of the project.

The Minister informed that the construction works of the entire complex will be completed within a year.




New Delhi: On Saturday, Rahul Gandhi questioned Modi government's resolve to work for soldiers' welfare, asking the Prime Minister to first implement the 'one rank, one pension' scheme in a meaningful way and redress their pay anomalies and other grievances.

The Congress Vice President wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he was saddened at the decisions of the government taken in the last few weeks "which are far from reassuring the soldiers and has caused them pain instead".

Steps should be taken to send a message to soldiers on Diwali expressing "our gratitude both in words and in deed", Rahul said in his letter to the Prime Minister who has launched a campaign through which people can send their Diwali greetings and messages to soldiers guarding the nation's frontiers to boost their morale.

The PM will celebrate this Diwali with ITBP personnel at one of the remotest border posts in Uttarakhand.

"Just days after our soldiers conducted the surgical strikes, the disability pension system was converted to a new slab system, that in many instances drastically reduces the pension received by these brave men in case of a disability," the Congress leader said.

"OROP must be implemented in a meaningful way to satisfy ex-servicemen and the anomalies in the 7th Pay Commission must be addressed at the earliest, because soldiers should not have to struggle to claim what is surely due to them on behalf of a grateful nation," Rahul said, claiming that some decision of the government have "adversely affect the morale of our armed forces".

The Prime Minister had earlier accused Congress of not taking the OROP issue seriously by earmarking a paltry sum of Rs 500 crore for it.

Rahul said, "As a responsible democracy we must make sure that the brave soldiers who put their lives on the line for each one of us, feel the love, support and gratitude of 125 crore people."

"I therefore urge you Prime Minister to ensure that our soldiers get their due whether it is regarding compensation, disability pension, or parity with civil employees," he said.

Rahul said that the roll out of 7th Pay Commission continues to keep the defence forces at a disadvantage and further exacerbates the disparity between them and civil employees.

"As we celebrate Diwali, and rejoice in the victory of light over darkness, let us send this message to our soldiers that our gratitude is expressed both in words and in deed. This is the very least we owe to those who give up their today to secure our tomorrow," the letter further said.
New Delhi: Sanitation will be an election issue in upcoming polls as people living in cities and towns will vote for those who vouch for hygiene and such a political implication will help in effective implementation of Centre's ambitious 'Swachh Bharat Mission', Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu has said.

The Urban Development Minister also exuded confidence that the NDA government will achieve all the stated objectives of the flagship programme, including making India open defecation free (ODF) by 2019.

"Sanitation is becoming an issue with the people. As we go along, it will become a political and even election issue. Citizens in urban areas will vote for those who ensure hygiene.

"I am sure political parties who know how to garner votes will factor this in their calculations. These political implications will drive the success of this important mission," Naidu told PTI in an interview.

Interestingly, the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP), an NDA constituent, earlier this week had announced formation of 'Swachh Abhiyan Samiti' within the party to push the agenda of the programme, which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi two years ago.

Modi had given a clarion call to make the Clean India campaign a mass movement.

Naidu stressed that behavior change towards using toilets and dumping waste in garbage bins is "key" to the mission's success.

To a question, Naidu sought to allay apprehension that the government may miss the deadline of achieving the goal of making India ODF, saying the stated objectives of the Mission will "surely" be attained.

He said the Centre has managed to attain 35 per cent of the target of constructing individual household toilets during 40 per cent of the mission period, suggesting that implementation of the programme is on-track.

Buttressing his claim, Naidu said 22.97 lakh individual household toilets have been built in urban areas since the mission's launch as against the stated target of constructing 66.42 lakh toilets.

He said Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh have already declared themselves as ODF in urban areas, while Kerala is going to make such announcement "very soon".

Naidu said that a total of 405 cities and towns have been declared by respective states as ODF. Nearly as many will be declared ODF by March next year, he added.

"During the first year of this mission, progress was slow but picked up momentum over the last one year. This was primarily on account of growing awareness among people about sanitation and spirit of competition among the states and urban local bodies further to ranking of cities based on sanitation levels," Naidu said.

The Minister observed that managing solid waste generated in country's urban areas was a "bigger challenge" and spoke about the government's focus on 'door-to-door' collection of refuse, its transportation and scientific processing to tackle the problem.

He said the government has plans afoot to manage 65 million of tonnes of solid waste generated in cities and towns and convert it into 50 lakh tonnes of compost and 400 MW of energy annually.

"To encourage these waste-to-wealth projects, the government has come out with policy initiatives like extending market assistance of Rs 1,500 per each tonne of compost produced and purchase of power generated from solid waste by the DISCOMS has been made mandatory," said the Minister.

He said, "Attitudes are changing certainly with rising awareness about sanitation and the implications of poor hygiene. These efforts need to be changed into a jan andolan as called for by the Prime Minister."
New York: Tod "Doc" Mishler spent years rambling across the country on horseback in a white cowboy hat, staying with strangers and telling curious reporters that he was on a mission to raise awareness about child hunger.

Now he has a new mission: Trying to get his two horses back after officials in New York City accused him of neglecting the animals.

The 80-year-old, Bible-quoting horseman recently filed a legal claim demanding $50 million from the city for the horses, which were seized in June after Mishler rode one across the Outerbridge Crossing while pulling along the second one. The bridge connects Staten Island to New Jersey.

Mishler was initially given tickets for blocking traffic and trespassing, but after veterinarians from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals examined the horses, he was arrested and charged with two counts of animal cruelty. The veterinarians said the horses were malnourished, dehydrated and had open saddle sores.

The case is still pending, but Mishler, currently staying at a ranch near Richmond, Virginia, isn't waiting for the criminal case to wrap up. He insists the animals were fine and he's done nothing wrong.

"My horses have been illegally seized," he said.

Mishler says his equestrian adventures started in 2002 in Choteau, Montana, after he was diagnosed with colon cancer and survived. Facing possible death inspired him to launch a new, more spiritual life, he said.

Mishler said he sold all his possessions and set out for what he calls the "biblical wilderness." He likens his own travels to the wanderings of Jesus. Along the way, people have provided food and shelter for him and his horses, plus access to email and Facebook.

Last year in Tennessee, Mishler suffered a heart attack. A family took him in while he recovered.

In California, where he rode across the Golden Gate Bridge three years ago, a woman with more than 40 horses hosted him, dubbing him "The Messenger from Montana."

"I never know where I'm going to get my next meal, but each day is a miracle," says Mishler, who also has undergone heart and hip replacement surgery, and suffered a broken pelvis.

For all his supporters  about 5,000 on his Facebook page  he has fervent detractors.

Members of a Facebook group called "Stop Doc Mishler" describe him as a homeless man who has for years abused the animals that took him around and must be stopped from riding.

The group includes several fellow horse owners who had gotten to know Mishler in his travels and put him up for a time, only to subsequently sever ties over concerns about whether he was caring for his animals properly.

In 2011, in Madison, Wisconsin, he was charged with animal neglect when his horses appeared dehydrated and underfed. The charges were eventually dropped after he agreed to care for the animals.

He is due back in New York on 9 January for another court appearance in his new neglect case. In the meantime, his horses have been cared for by the ASPCA.

Mishler said he decided to file a legal claim with the city after meeting his attorney, Richard Luthmann, by chance last summer at a diner near the Staten Island courthouse. The attorney took on Mishler's cases pro bono.

The notice of claim, the first step in suing, also names the local district attorney, city police and the parks department.

Mishler said people simply don't get his mission.

"My journey is to get people to understand that there are hungry children in the world, and we have the money to feed every starving child," he told The Associated Press, speaking by phone.

If he ultimately gets back on the trail, he may have to persuade a judge first that he can feed his own horses.
WASHINGTON U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Friday he is not interested in serving under Democrat Hillary Clinton if she is elected president."I'll do anything I can if Hillary's elected to help her, but I don't want to remain in the administration," Biden said in an interview with NBC's KBJR affiliate in Duluth, Minnesota.On Thursday, Politico reported that Clinton's campaign was considering Biden for secretary of state if she wins the Nov. 8 election.

(Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan: A teenager pleaded guilty on Friday to the murder of two people and wounding seven others in a mass shooting at a high school in a remote aboriginal community in western Canada earlier this year.

The 18-year-old, whose name was not released under Canada's Youth Criminal Justice Act, also admitted to killing two brothers in a nearby home in northern Saskatchewan.

The teenager entered guilty pleas to first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of two teachers at his school in La Loche, Saskatchewan and to second-degree murder in the deaths of two teenage brothers in the remote Dene community on 22 January.

Provincial court Judge Janet McIvor said the courts still need to determine if he should be sentenced as a youth or an adult. The maximum youth sentence for first-degree murder is 10 years in custody and an adult receives an automatic life sentence.

"I don't need to tell everyone these charges are very serious, very tragic  tragic for everyone involved in that region," said McIvor.

Mass shootings are rare in Canada, which has stricter gun laws than the United States, and this was Canada's worst mass shooting at a high school or elementary school. It is the country's worst school shooting since the Ecole Polytechnique university massacre in Montreal in 1989, in which 15 people including the shooter died and another 14 were wounded.

On 22 January, police responded to panicked calls from staff and students. Police said the shooter was inside the school for about eight minutes. The building's main doors had been blasted with holes. Some students fled; others hid in fear.

Marie Janvier, 21, was killed as she ran to get help. She had graduated from the same school two years earlier and it was her first year working there as an aide. Teacher Adam Wood of Uxbridge, Ontario, had also just started his job at the beginning of the school year. The 35-year-old was shot and died of his wounds in a hospital.

Shortly after the shooting, officers were called to another crime scene in a nearby home where two brothers, Drayden Fontaine, 13, and Dayne Fontaine, 17, were found dead.

At the time of the shooting, the teen's friends described him as the black sheep of his family and a victim of bullying at school. One person said the teen was often teased about his large ears.
By Chris Kahn

| NEW YORK

NEW YORK Democrat Hillary Clinton's lead over Republican rival Donald Trump widened to 6 percentage points in the latest Reuters/Ipsos U.S. presidential tracking poll, released on Friday, showing Trump losing support among women.The Oct. 21-27 opinion poll shows 42 percent of people who either voted already or expect to vote in the Nov. 8 election support Clinton, versus 36 percent for Trump. Clinton's lead a week ago was 4 points.The polling preceded Friday's announcement the Federal Bureau of Investigation was again investigating how Clinton managed classified information while secretary of state.A businessman seeking his first elected office, Trump has consistently trailed Clinton in the poll. His level of support has remained below 40 percent among all likely voters since the beginning of September.Clinton leads Trump by 10 points among likely women voters, up from a 4-point lead the previous week. Clinton has led Trump among women the last two months, though the size of her advantage has varied widely from 1 point to 11 points.

In a 2005 video that emerged this month, Trump could be heard bragging in vulgar terms about groping and kissing women. A dozen women have since publicly accused him of making unwanted sexual advances. Trump denies the allegations.Trump still has an edge among white women, a key source of strength for Republicans. Trump leads Clinton by 2 points with this group, down from a 12-point lead the previous week.Women tend to lean Democratic, but Reuters/Ipsos polling this month shows a majority of women have an unfavourable view of the former U.S. secretary of state and believe she is not honest and truthful.

Clinton also led Trump by 6 points in a separate Reuters/Ipsos poll that included alternative party candidates. Both polls, conducted online in English in all 50 states, included 1,627 American adults who were considered to be likely voters from their voting history, registration status and stated intention to vote.

That sample included 965 likely women voters and 776 likely white women voters. Individual responses were adjusted to reflect the overall U.S. population. The poll has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points for the total sample and 4 percentage points for the women voters.The RealClearPolitics website, which tracks most major polls, shows Clinton leading Trump by an average of 5 percentage points. (Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Howard Goller)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
United Nations: A UN General Assembly committee has adopted a resolution to launch negotiations next year on a new treaty outlawing nuclear weapons, even as India abstained saying it is not convinced the move can lead to a comprehensive instrument on nuclear disarmament.

The General Assembly's First Committee, which deals with disarmament and international security, adopted the draft resolution yesterday on nuclear disarmament negotiations.

Through the resolution, the General Assembly would reiterate that the universal objective of taking forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations remains the

achievement and maintenance of a world without nuclear weapons.

The resolution emphasises the importance of addressing issues related to nuclear weapons in a comprehensive, inclusive, interactive and constructive manner, for the

advancement of multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations.

It also decided to convene in 2017 a United Nations conference to negotiate a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total

elimination.

The resolution was adopted with 123 votes in favour, 38 against and 16 abstentions.

Permanent Representative of India to the Conference on Disarmament DB Venkatesh Varma said India has been "constrained" to abstain on the resolution and it is "not convinced" that the proposed conference in 2017 "can address the longstanding expectation of the international community for a comprehensive instrument on nuclear disarmament.

He said continued dialogue and consultation is necessary to bridge the current divides on nuclear disarmament which remain "deep and substantive".

"India attaches the highest priority to nuclear disarmament and shares with the co-sponsors the widely felt frustration that the international community has not been able to take forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations. We also share the deep concern about the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons," Varma said in the explanation of vote.

He said India did not participate in the open-ended working group which met in Geneva during 2016 and so it reserves its position on its report and the recommendations.

"India has supported the commencement of negotiations in the Conference on Disarmament on a Comprehensive Nuclear Weapons Convention, which in addition to prohibition and elimination also includes verification. International verification would be essential to the global elimination of nuclear weapons, just as it has been in the case of the Chemical Weapons Convention. Progress on nuclear disarmament in the CD should remain an international priority," he said.

India has asserted that there is no question of it joining the Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear weapon State.
CARACAS Venezuela's top court on Friday ruled that President Nicolas Maduro is indeed Venezuelan, responding to years of opposition speculation that the socialist leader was in fact born in neighbouring Colombia and has dual citizenship. "The incontrovertible evidence demonstrates with absolute certainty that the aforementioned Venezuelan head of state was born in Caracas," said the Supreme Court ruling, which also assured Maduro has no other nationality. The court did not say what evidence it reviewed.Opposition leaders have demanded that Maduro show a birth certificate, and have noted discrepancies between different statements by public officials regarding where he was born.

Some have sought to remove him from office on the grounds that a second nationality would not allow him to hold the presidency. That effort has never advanced because opposition activists have been unable to obtain his birth certificate.The issue surfaced this week during a largely symbolic political trial of Maduro being carried out by the opposition-led National Assembly, which has accused him of violating democratic principles.

"The president has been repeatedly asked to show his birth certificate to put an end to conjecture about his dual citizenship and until now he has not done so," said National Assembly President Henry Ramos on Thursday.

Maduro, who over 20 years rose from a bus driver and union leader to foreign minister and then president, dismisses such claims as a smear campaign against him. (Reporting by Deisy Buitrago; Writing by Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Bernard Orr)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
MADRID Spanish conservative leader Mariano Rajoy won a parliamentary vote to be prime minister on Saturday, ending 10 months of political gridlock that had left the country without a fully-functioning government.Rajoy's centre-right People's Party is set to form a minority government, after gaining support from the smaller Ciudadanos ("Citizens") party and the tacit backing of many Socialist lawmakers who abstained in the confidence vote.

Rajoy needed to win a simply majority in parliament to cement his return to power. He got 170 "yes" votes while 111 lawmakers voted against him and 68 legislators abstained.

(Reporting by Sarah White; Editing by Adrian Croft)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 29, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan on October 29 visited the 6th International Jewelry and Watch Exhibition JUNWEX YEREVAN SHOW-2016 in the Meridian expo center, press service of the Government told Armenpress.

The exhibition center is located in the free economic jewelry zone, where businessmen are granted tax and customs privileges.

This year 80 companies from 14 countries are taking part in the exhibition.

The PM toured the exhibition pavilions, got acquainted with the jewelry, was interested in the activities of companies, the consumption and export volumes of the production, as well as the development projects.

The PM welcomed the participation of both local and foreign companies in the exhibition and attached importance to initiating and implementing practical business projects.

Karen Karapetyan assured that the Government is ready to assist in establishing a production in Armenia, training specialists and creating jobs, increasing the production volume, expanding the market and boosting the further development of the sector.

If you have tax privileges here, if it is more beneficial for you to run a business here, what is the problem? Come, establish production in Armenia: you will teach the people, will benefit and make profit, the PM said. He instructed the Minister of Economic Development and Investments Suren Karayan to actively cooperate with the jewelry companies.

The exhibition is organized by the Armenian Jewelers Association under the auspices of the Armenian President and through the Governments assistance. The exhibition aims to support the jewelry development, to deepen the international cooperation in the sector, to make exchange of experience, as well as bring new ideas and carry out projects.
Washington: Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who is leading in almost all major national polls with a considerable margin, has asked her supporters not to get complacent as her Republican rival Donald Trump can still win the 8 November general elections.

"I know that we've got to keep our foot on the gas. Donald Trump says he can still win, and you know, he's right. Anything can happen in an election," Clinton told her supporters at Cedar Rapids in Iowa, soon after the FBI said that it has re-opened the case against her email gate.

The former secretary of state, however, did not comment directly on this, even as she slammed Trump for his rhetoric.

"His strategy is to get women to stay home, get young people to stay home, get people of color to stay home. It's all part of his scorched Earth campaign. The last refuge of a bankrupt candidate. And it goes against everything we stand for in America," she said.

People of the country, she asserted, would not let that happen. "Now how we will do that, by voting, by showing up with the biggest turn out in history. More women voting, more young people voting, more people of color voting. More Americans of every kind voting for a good, positive, unified vision of the future," she said.

Referring to the three debates she had with Trump, Clinton said she stood next to him for four and half hours during those three debates.

"I think that proves once and for all I have the stamina to be president and Commander-in-Chief. And I have to tell you, he was always saying something that I was finding oh boy, unacceptable," she said.

"I kept reminding myself - people say, 'well, how did you keep your composure?' Well, I practiced that a lot. I had my team and the young man playing Trump for me just insult me up and down. It was exhausting. I spent hours being insulted by my team and my friends and boy did it to prepare me to stand there with the insulter known as Donald Trump," she said.

"And so, I kept thinking to myself, those  wonderful line that Michelle Obama delivered in our convention when she gave her speech, 'when they go low, we go high'. Now Donald Trump has gone low, but in that last debate he said something that was truly horrifying," Clinton alleged.

"He refused to say that he would respect the results of this election. I know. It, it, it has never been done before. Nobody, you go back and look at debates and speeches, nobody running for president representing one of our two major parties has ever said that," she said.

"When you question the very institutions of our democracy going back to the founding of our country, you are attacking democracy. Now, we have seen Donald Trump attack so many different kinds of Americans. He's attacked African-Americans and Latinos and immigrants and Muslims and POWs and, of course, women and people with disabilities, right. But now, his final target seems to be democracy itself," she alleged.

"We have got to be vigilant about this. This is not something to be made right of, because there have been too many times in world history where somebody gets elected and the last election that...so have to not only stand up for whoever our candidates are, we have to stand up for the process of electing them,," she said.
Officials in Florida and Virginia filed voter fraud charges against three people in apparently unrelated cases on Friday, just 11 days before American voters cast ballots in the hotly contested presidential race.

The charges targeted a Florida woman and a Virginia man accused of filing bogus voter registration forms and a Florida woman alleged to have tampered with absentee ballots she was opening at the Miami-Dade Elections Department.

In the Iowa capital of Des Moines, county election officials referred three cases of suspected voter fraud to police earlier this week, leading to one arrest on Thursday, police said.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has charged in recent weeks that the election will be rigged in favor of Democrat Hillary Clinton, though he has shown no proof for these claims and many Republicans have called them unfounded.

Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle in Florida said that 74-year-old Gladys Coego had been working as an absentee ballot opener when a supervisor allegedly saw her changing ballots that had been left blank to support a mayoral candidate. Prosecutors said that Coego admitted to marking the ballots and was charged with two felony counts of marking or designating the ballot of another.

"The integrity of the electoral process is intact because our procedures work," said Christina White, the county's election supervisor, in a statement.

Tomika Curgil, 33, was charged with five felony counts of submitting false voter registration information for allegedly handing in forms filled out by fictitious voters while working on a voter-registration drive for a medical marijuana advocacy group.

A Virginia man was also charged with submitting falsified forms while working for a voter-registration campaign, state prosecutors said.

Vafalay Massaquoi, 30, was arraigned on two felony counts of forging a public record and two counts of voter registration fraud.

"There is no allegation that any illegal vote was actually cast in this case," said Virginia Commonwealth's Attorney Bryan Porter. "Furthermore, since the fraudulent applications involved fictitious people, had the fraud not been uncovered, the risk of actual fraudulent votes being cast was low."

Neither Coego, Curgil nor Massaquoi could be reached for immediate comment.

Police in Des Moines on Thursday arrested a woman who was accused of voting twice - casting early-voting ballots at two locations - in one of three cases of suspected voter fraud reported by the Polk County Auditor's Office.

Police did not disclose the political affiliation of the woman, identified as Terri Lynn Rote, 55, but the Des Moines Register newspaper reported she was a registered Republican.

A man in Texas, where early voting started on Monday, was arrested on Monday on charges of electioneering and loitering near a polling place, public records show.

The man, Brett Mauthe, had been charged for showing up to vote in a Trump hat and T-shirt with the phrase "basket of deplorables," a reference to a comment Clinton made disparaging her rivals' supporters, election officials told media.
New York: For more than a year, Hillary Clinton has been a reluctant participant in the email controversy that has dogged her campaign, responding defensively to inquiries  and often only when there's a political imperative to do so.

On Friday, the imperative was clear.

The email issue flared up unexpectedly just over a week from Election Day, threatening Clinton's lead over Republican Donald Trump. The FBI announced it was looking into whether there was classified information on a device belonging to Anthony Weiner, the disgraced ex-congressman who is separated from longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin.

Clinton stepped in swiftly, holding a brief, hastily arranged news conference in a high school choir room in Des Moines, Iowa. She challenged FBI Director James Comey to release the full details of the new investigation, citing the crucial phase of the White House race.

"We are 11 days out from perhaps the most important national election of our lifetimes. Voting is already underway in our country," Clinton said. "So the American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately. The director himself has said he doesn't know whether the emails referenced in his letter are significant or not."

Clinton said neither she nor her advisers had been contacted by the FBI about the new inquiry.

The news arrived with Clinton holding a solid advantage in the presidential race. Early voting has been underway for weeks, and she has a steady lead in preference polls, both nationally and in key battleground states.

The development all but ensures that, even should she win the White House, the Democrat and several of her closest aides would celebrate a victory under a cloud of investigation.

Trump leapt on the FBI's disclosure, accusing Clinton of corruption "on a scale we have never seen before."

"We must not let her take her criminal scheme into the Oval Office," Trump said during a rally in New Hampshire.

Clinton's campaign was enraged by Comey's decision to disclose the existence of the fresh investigation in a vaguely worded letter to several congressional leaders. It wasn't until hours later that word emerged that the source of the new emails was Weiner, who is under investigation for sending sexually explicit text messages to a teenage girl.

"It is extraordinary that we would see something like this just 11 days out from a presidential election," said John Podesta, Clinton's campaign chairman.

Congressional Republicans have already promised years of investigations into Clinton's private email system. And that's only one of the email-related controversies facing her in the campaign's closing days. The tens of thousands of confidential emails from Clinton campaign insiders that were hacked  her campaign blames Russia  and then released by WikiLeaks have provided a steady stream of questions about her policy positions, personnel choices and ties with her husband's sprawling charitable network and post-presidential pursuits.

In his Friday letter to congressional leaders, Comey wrote only that new emails have emerged, prompting the agency to "take appropriate investigative steps" to review the information that may be pertinent to its previously closed investigation into Clinton private email system.

The FBI ended that investigation in July without filing charges, although Comey said at the time that Clinton and her aides had been "extremely careless" in using the system for communications about government business.

The agency, which did not respond to questions about Comey's letter and did not lay out a timeline for the review, is also investigating the recent hacks of Podesta's emails.

The swirling controversies have clouded what had looked to be a strong finish for Clinton's campaign. Moments before the FBI inquiry became public, her campaign announced plans to hold a rally in Arizona, a traditionally red state put in play by Trump's deep unpopularity among minority voters, Mormons and business leaders.

To the frustration of many in his party, Trump has struggled to consistently drive an attack against Clinton, often turning to personal denunciations of private citizens he feels have wronged him, like the Gold Star family of Capt Humayun Khan, a Muslim-American soldier killed in action.

But he quickly pounced on the email news, seeing an opportunity to press the argument he's long tried to make against Clinton: that she thinks she's above the law and that she put US security at risk by using her personal email.

After weeks of declaring the race "rigged" in favor of his opponent, he declared Friday he has "great respect" for the FBI and the Justice Department, now that they are "willing to have the courage to right the horrible mistake that they made" in concluding the investigation earlier.

As Clinton wrapped up her short comments to reporters Friday, she was asked whether she thought the new investigation would sink her campaign.

She walked away, responding only with a hearty laugh.
Miracles self-study course offered

TWIN FALLS  The public is invited to take a spiritual awakening self-study course that invites participants to change their perceptions. A Course in Miracles is an opportunity to view ourselves and others from a window of love rather than fear. Miracles are a change in perception and are the natural outcome of choosing love.

Please visit the Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship at 10:30 a.m. Sunday at the Vendor Blender and Event Center, 588 Addison Ave. W. in Twin Falls to learn more about this study course and to listen to Collete Hoglunds Awakening to Love, the Essence of our Being.

Unitarian Universalism honors the differing paths we each travel. Our congregations are places where we celebrate, support, and challenge one another as we continue on our spiritual journeys. Unitarian Universalists covenant to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person; justice, equality and compassion in human relations; and acceptance of one another

Newcomers of all religious paths or none at all are always welcome. We are handicapped accessible. Please park in the rear of the building. Child care is available. Information: 208-734-9161.

Burley Methodist Women schedule Harvest Dinner and Bazaar

BURLEY  The Burley United Methodist Women will hold its annual Harvest Dinner and Bazaar from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday at 450 E. 27th St. in Burley. Doors open at 4:30 p.m. The meal is pork loin roast and desserts. Cost is $7 for adults and $4 for children ages 4 through 12. Children 3 and younger are admitted for free.

First Baptist Church hosts Happy Harvest Festival

TWIN FALLS  First Baptist Church will hold its 13th annual Happy Harvest Festival from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday at 910 Shoshone St. E. The festival will include a free hot dog and chili dinner, games, prizes, music, crafts and treats. Admission per family is one bag of candy and one small toy to fit in a shoe box gift. Information: 208-733-2936.

Buhl Calvary Assembly hosts Harvest Festival Monday

BUHL  The 2016 Harvest Festival is from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday at Buhl Calvary Assembly of God, 110 Fruitland Ave. in Buhl. There will be a free hot dog roast, candy, hay rides, kids games, crafts and door prizes. Information: 208-934-7250.

Public invited to Operation Christmas Child packing party

TWIN FALLS  An Operation Christmas Child packing party will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 5 at the First Baptist Church Fellowship Hall, 910 Shoshone St. E. The public is invited to join the group to help fill more than 1,000 shoe box gifts to send to children around the world for Christmas. A free lunch will be provided for those participating. Information: 208-358-0991.

United Methodist annual turkey dinner

WENDELL  The Wendell United Methodist Church will hold its annual turkey dinner with all the trimmings from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 6 at 175 E. Main St. A free-will offering will be accepted. For more information, call Ken and Mary Lou Ruby at 208-536-6583 or Margaret Presnell at 208-536-5751.

Moms in Prayer schedules meeting

TWIN FALLS  Moms in Prayer will hold a meet-and-greet from 10 a.m. to noon Nov. 5 at First Baptist Church, 910 Shoshone St. E., and from 2 to 3 p.m. Nov. 5 at Twin Beans Coffee, 144 Main Ave. S. This meeting is for mothers, grandmothers, aunts and any woman desiring to pray for children and schools. Join to to learn how to team up with other women to help carry the heavy burdens we have for our children. For more information, call Kathy Stockdale at 208-944-4224.

Our Savior Lutheran holds Holiday Festival

TWIN FALLS  Our Savior Lutheran Church will hold its annual Holiday Festival featuring handmade gifts from area crafters and artisans from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Nov. 5 at 464 Carriage Lane N. in Twin Falls. The Festival will also include a raffle for a handmade quilt and a fundraising raffle sponsored by Episcopal Church of the Ascension, with proceeds to benefit Neighbors In Need. Admission is $1 or non-perishable food items to benefit those in need.

Deadline nears for holiday steamed puddings

TWIN FALLS  The deadline for ordering holiday steamed puddings from Ascension Episcopal Church is before noon Nov. 4. Call 208-733-1248 to order carrot or plum puddings. The puddings cost $10 each and they serve eight generously. Puddings will be available for pick-up on Nov. 12 and 13.

Worship services on Sunday will be held at 8 and 10 a.m. Child care is available from 9 a.m. until 11:15 a.m. Ascension Cafe, the adult discussion group, will meet from 9:10 to 10 a.m., discussing the scriptural readings of the day. A fellowship coffee hour is held after the 10 a.m. service. On Wednesdays, Knit-Us-Together, the handwork group, meets from 1 to 3 p.m. All are welcome for worship, study and fellowship at Ascension.

Ascension Episcopal Church is handicapped accessible and at 371 Eastland Drive N., Twin Falls. More information, go to episcopaltwinfalls.org or call 208-733-1248.

To submit information about church events and news. Contact Matt Gooch at mgooch@magicvalley.com. Deadline is 5 p.m. Wednesday for publication on the Saturday religion page. Please insert Church News in the email subject line.
If there was ever a time for the men of Gods holy Church to rise up and lead, today is the day. Gone is the lazy approach of letting things just happen. The Church is in deep need of godly men to be active in their churches for the pursuit of the Kingdom. This is not to say women are left out. Both men and women need to use their spiritual gifts for the sake of Christs Church. But in my observation, the women, for the most part, are engaged. Sadly, the men often sit on the sidelines cheering them on. I have no agenda here but to encourage and stir you to godliness. I serve in a church where men are taking an active approach to the things of godliness. However, my concern is for the Church as a whole. Men, are you engaged in the most important, eternal work that the Lord has given you: His Kingdom? Are you active? Are you leading your homes? Are you taking a stand for Christ? These are great questions to ask your heart. So take this as it is, either an encouragement or a rebuke, knowing that today is a time to act like men.

1 Corinthians 16:13 is a short exhortation that we must have as our focus in this world that is going crazy. It says, Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. The book of 1 Corinthians is a corrective letter. It is a letter sent by the Apostle Paul to the Church at Corinth for its betterment. It comes with great correction and encouragement regarding how believers are to function in the Lords Church. Understanding that background, when we come to this verse, it speaks to the laziness of the men of the church. Paul goes after their hearts, giving them some exhortations. Notice what he says: Be on the alert. On the alert means to pay close attention; the near context of this verse is speaking to their spiritual lives. Men of the Church need to pay attention  close attention  to their pursuit of Christ. They need to examine how they are growing in the Word of God and in their personal holiness (sanctification). I dont think I have to explain to you why that is case. This world is hell bent, and from the Churchs perspective, we need men standing for the truth. The church at Corinth had a host of problems related to spiritual immaturity and misunderstanding, as well as tolerance of sin. Throughout the letter, Paul has dealt with these issues specifically: arrogance of those in leadership positions (whom he labels spiritually immature), factions within the church (which caused arguments and strife and not only weakened the church, but threatened to destroy it), disorganization in worship services, Christians suing other Christians in civil court, tolerance of a member living openly in sexual sin, drunkenness at fellowship meals, pride in spiritual giftedness and misuse of spiritual gifts, etc. Now he is reminding them to be on watch and guard their spiritual lives. I think it would be safe to say that their lack of spiritual watchfulness was the foundation of the Corinthian churchs sinful condition. Men, we must not be asleep at the wheel of Gods truth. So much is at stake.

Next, he exhorts them (and us) to stand firm in the faith. This means to stand fast, to persevere, not to deviate in their faith or trust in the Lord. In the context, Paul is telling the Christians in Corinth to stand firm in the truth that has been revealed to them, stand firm in all that Christ is and all He represents, the faith which was once for all delivered (Jude 3) to the church. Like the Corinthians, we live in a culture which regards truth as relative. Our society balks at the concept of objective, unyielding spiritual truth. The same environment existed in the Corinthian culture, and the Corinthian Christians brought that attitude into the church itself. They wanted their spiritual truths to be acceptable in society; they believed pagan religious ideas around them had some validity. They argued among themselves which Christian leaders ideas were the best and developed factions within the church. If we are to be the witnesses God wants us to be, and if we are to have the relationship with God that He wants for us, then we must follow Pauls admonition to stand firm in the faith.

Third, Paul tells the men of Corinth to act like men or be men of courage. God wants us, in the midst of our spiritual watchfulness and our commitment to stand firm in the truth of the faith, to act courageously as Christians. You men understand that we hold to a message of truth that the world doesnt like. Yet it is this truth which must be proclaimed to evangelize the lost. Paul is telling them that they know the truth, and now they must live the truth courageously. This is consistent with his earlier instruction not to be children in their thinking, but to be mature (14:20). Spiritual maturity demands courageous application of the truth, unwavering support of what we know is spiritually true and the standards that are true, and bold opposition to what we know is false.

Finally, Paul says, be strong. Literally in the Greek, this means, be strengthened. This exhortation is in the passive voice, as opposed to the first three admonitions, which are imperatives. When Paul tells his readers to be on guard, to stand firm, and to be people of courage, he is instructing them to do something. When he tells them to be strong, however, he is referring to a willingness to allow God to strengthen themit is something God does to them and for them, not something they can do for themselves. This is a key point. We must allow the Holy Spirit and His truth to strengthen us for the battle we encounter. Not only that, but we must submit to the strengthening power and work of our Savior. In Pauls letter to the Ephesians, he states it more completely: Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might (Eph 6:10). This is not something we do ourselves, but something God does to us. It requires a heart of submission, a heart of devotion to the Lord. We submit, and He fulfills His promise to strengthen us. What is the strength He gives us? In the context, it is the strength to stand firm in spiritual knowledge and truth and to courageously apply that truth in our lives. Our part is to be on guard, to recognize and know what is spiritually right and wrong, and to act with courage. Gods part is to strengthen us, and He does that faithfully.

Men of the Church of the risen Lord, this is our call. This is our pursuit. Prayerfully commit these things to the Lord. Be engaged in studying the Scriptures and live like Christ. Your churches and your families will be blessed. One more thing: Verse 14 says, Let all that you do be done in love. That is your heart attitude. No two-by-four hitting. Do all this in the love that has been poured out on you by the Lord Jesus. Now, get to work for His glory and His Church and act like men!
TWIN FALLS  The building at 135 Main Ave. E. has seen a lot. In its past lives Native Skin Tanning, owned by Jim Wagenman, was a jewelry store, a boarding house and a bordello. And each owner had his own tastes.

But now, the citys Historic Preservation Commission wants to weigh in on changes to buildings in some areas of the city to ensure their historic character is maintained.

Im for historical development, Wagenman said at an open house Wednesday. Im also for property rights.

He remodeled the upper floor of his building with painting and resurfacing, and he replaced the old windows and roof. Wagenman lives in the apartment upstairs.

I didnt change the structure of the building, he said.

The commission has developed a set of design guidelines it will present to City Council in the hopes the rules will be added to city code. The new code would affect exterior building improvements made in Twin Falls downtown historic and city park historic districts. During the building permit process, the commission would review design plans and make a recommendation to City Council.

But these are just guidelines, Historic Preservation Commission chairwoman Nancy Taylor said  and a business owner can always appeal the commissions decision.

Were not telling people what to do with their businesses, Taylor said. Were encouraging people to maintain the historic integrity of the building.

During Wednesdays open house business and building owners in the affected districts came to learn more about the guidelines and offer input.

My concerns are that the Historical Society and the National Parks would infringe on private property rights, Wagenman said.

Historic districts are created through a nomination process with the State Historic Preservation Office, Historic Preservation Planner Pete LOrange said. The National Park Service reviews and approves them for listing in the National Register of Historic Places based on the original town plat, historical significance to the community and the historical buildings that still exist.

The Twin Falls Historical Preservation Commission has had guidelines in place for the warehouse historical district for years.

The design guidelines, as drafted, set forth whats generally appropriate and generally not appropriate to do with buildings in these districts. The guidelines address things like doors, windows, street signs, lighting and parking.

There can be exceptions to some buildings.

According to the guidelines prepared by McKibben and Cooper Architects, contributing structures like the Orpheum Theatre, have a high degree of integrity, with few alterations to the historic fabric. Buildings like this were noted in the National Register of Historic Places at the time the historic district was created.

A non-contributing structure, like Poindexters Costume & Novelty Shop, has been altered to compromise its integrity and historical character or is outside the period of historical significance.

If the guidelines are codified, Taylor said, the commission will try to keep all new construction within the character of the district.

Especially with downtown redevelopment coming up, we need to keep a very close eye with whats going on down there, she said. If you have a building that was built in 1904, you want to restore it in the realm of that era or year in which it was built.

Tax credits are available for historic rehabilitation of a building, through the National Park Service, LOrange said. These can have values up to 20 percent of qualifying rehabilitation expenses, which can include electrical and plumbing.

The downtown historic district includes both sides of Main Avenue between Fairfield and Shoshone streets, as well as several of the surrounding blocks.

The city park historic district contains buildings surrounding Twin Falls City Park.

Its to try to preserve our history and to keep the buildings as originally historic as possible, commission member Debbie Lattin said.

Some residents have expressed frustration about the demolition of the historic Rogerson Hotel, Taylor said. Although design guidelines were not in place for the district yet, the city consulted the Historic Preservation Commission before deciding to tear it down.

The Rogerson, Taylor said, had been remodeled several times under no guidelines and was not safe. Furthermore, the commission determined a downtown commons area to be of better use to the public.

Not everything can be saved, and not everything should be saved, Taylor said. Its an interesting position to be in.
TWIN FALLS  Free health screenings, free flu shots for the first 200 people and low-cost blood work will be available from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the 11th Annual Magic Valley Health Fair.

The free event is presented by Times-News and co-sponsored by St. Lukes Magic Valley, Miracle Ear, Wright Physical Therapy, Select Health and South Central Public Health District.

For the first time this year, the health fair will be at the College of Southern Idaho gymnasium. A shuttle will be available to transport those needing a ride from the parking lot to the gymnasium.

More than 75 vendors are expected to be in attendance, including Wellness Tree Community Clinic, which is offering 200 free flu shots.

There will also be free blood pressure checks, carpal tunnel and arthritis screenings, spinal screenings, ear wax screenings, gait and balance assessments, skin cancer screenings, dental and oral screenings and more.

The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality will also be testing well water for nitrates.

There will also be low-cost blood and laboratory work available  but some tests like glucose, lipid panel and CMP require 12 hours of fasting.

At last years event there were over 900 blood tests performed, said Michelle Campbell, events director for the Times-News

This event is for everyone, Campbell said. There will also be booths for Halloween safety for kids and car-seat checks.

Spanish interpreters will be available for those who need them, and outside the gymnasium, attendees will be able to tour first-responder emergency vehicles.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 29, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan on October 29 held a meeting with the Board President of the Armenian Assembly of America (AAA) Carolyn Mugar and Co-Chairman of the AAA Board of Trustees Anthony Barsamian, press service of the Government told Armenpress.

Member of AAA Board of Trustees Raffi Kasarjian and AAA Regional Director Arpi Vartanian were present at the meeting.

The PM welcomed and attached importance to pro-Armenian activity of the Assembly which is directed towards strengthening Armenia-Diaspora ties, as well as deepening the Armenian-American relations.

The AAA representatives congratulated Karen Karapetyan on his appointment and assured that the Assembly will continue the active work for the benefit of Armenias further development and implementation of pan-Armenian projects.

PM Karapetyan said the Governments todays program is planning to carry out rapid reforms by involving the entire potential of the Armenian people. He considered priority issues the promotion of investments, improvement of business environment, as well as the projects aimed at raising the education level in the rural communities.

Highlighting the role of Armenia-Diaspora ties on the development of economic sectors the PM stated: It is necessary to establish new bilateral economic relations, and the Government is ready to take the action of boosting investments in Armenia, working with international investors to prove that it is safe, secure, and simply beneficial to run a business and make investments in Armenia. We want to see the Diasporas participation in Armenias economic life more active and purposeful, we want you to take part in our projects through not only charitable and investment initiatives, but also bringing new culture of government.

Other issues related to Armenia-Diaspora ties, as well as the cooperation projects between Armenia and the Assembly were discussed at the meeting.
The email revelations over the past couple of weeks confirm what left and right have long known about Bill and Hillary Clinton: They blur and erase the lines between personal enrichment and public service at every turn. The Atlantics Russell Berman writes: For Hillary Clintons campaign, the publication of the [Doug] Band memo is yet another WikiLeaks-induced headache, as it provides even more detail into the unsavory-if-not-illegal intersection of interests at the heart of her familys philanthropic work. Berman continues:

Mostly, it just doesnt look good. (And thanks to Donald Trumps endless antics, it probably wont stop her from winning the election.) Both Clintons have vigorously defended the charitable work they have done over the last 16 years, and while that work may be admirable, the WikiLeaks hack has exposed that the former presidents philanthropy, his personal enrichment, and the business interests of perhaps his closest aide were too closely tied.

The Clinton foundation certainly has performed good works, but plenty of foundations do good without becoming a slush fund or, as Kimberley A. Strassel dubbed it, an unregistered super PAC.

Were any other Republican opposing Hillary Clinton (i.e. someone not named Donald Trump), all of this could well have prevented her election. Given the GOPs monumental stupidity in selecting someone more unfit for office than she is, Hillary Clinton will nevertheless win. The concern should be that once again the Clinton duo will have learned the wrong lesson, namely that they can get away with just about anything. This is no small matter for Hillary Clinton, who will need to govern and fend off to the extent possible GOP inquests (justified and not) into her and Bill Clintons financial chicanery.

If her closest advisers and high-ranking Democrats really have her interests at heart, they will recommend a number of steps to prevent the Clinton sludge from oozing into the White House:

1. Shut down the foundation or spin it off in its entirety to a respected, independent figure. That means all the Clintons must avoid soliciting and speaking for the successor, exercising any management or advisory role or meeting with any representatives of the foundation.

2. My Washington Post colleague Ruth Marcus smartly suggests that Bill Clinton have no role in the administration. Agreed, and beyond that, Hillary Clinton should explicitly make Chelsea Clinton the first lady. Its not required that the job go to a spouse and, in fact, non-spouses have filled the spot for previous presidents. (According to the National First Ladies Library Blog, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren and Chester Arthur were the four Presidents who assumed office as widowers. Jeffersons daughter Martha Randolph, Jacksons niece and daughter-in-law Emily Donelson and Sarah Jackson, Van Burens daughter Angelica Van Buren, and Arthurs sister Molly McElroy served for varying lengths for them. . . . [Grover] Clevelands sister Rose Elizabeth served as his First Lady until he married fifteen months into his administration.)

3. Donors to the foundation should be excluded from positions in the administration. But so many wouldnt be allowed to serve! Some have given to the Clintons for decades! Thats right, and going cold turkey on crony appointments can assure the American people that all those donations were not thinly disguised bribes to secure administration posts.

4. All communications have to be conducted on government phones and email servers. Enough said. (We suspect that use of email is going to decrease significantly anyway.)

5. Clinton would be wise to set up a respected, neutral figure as a chief ethics officer. Conservative lawyer Ted Olson, former undersecretary of Treasury Stuart Levey (who did a commendable job on Iran sanctions), Ben Bernanke or someone else of their stature should be given the job and report solely to the president.

6. All inspector general spots at the various departments and agencies should be promptly filled and funded.

7. Clinton should seed her administration with some respected Republicans and put them in meaningful spots, including White House counsel, attorney general, etc.

8. The Clinton administration should commit to speeding up the Freedom of Information Act process and agree in advance to waive all but the most essential privileges as grounds for withholding documents. With regard to Congress, the White House should explicitly waive executive privilege for White House officials testimony and records production.

All of this may seem extreme and cumbersome, even an interference with the legitimate powers of the president. So be it. Unless Clinton goes above and beyond what other presidents have done, shell spend her term under fire for Clinton Inc. issues. She may still have to battle it out with Republican oversight committees, but it would do her a world of good to start out on the side of the angels.
Today, a solemn ceremony of opening a cross-stone-monument in the Talish village, Martakert region, in memory of the Sisian regimen freedom-fighters perished during the Four Day April War took place.

October 29, 2016, 18:50 Solemn ceremony of opening a cross-stone-monument take place in the Talish village. PHOTOS

STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 29, ARTSAKHPRESS: "Artsakhpress" reports that the cross-stone-monument is in memory of the Sisian regimen freedom-fighters, which was erected at the initiative of the regimen commander Ashot Minasyan. Although for the security reasons, residents do not live permanently in the village, but many people had gathered on the occasion of the event.

President Bako Sahakyan also partook at the solemn ceremony of opening a cross-stone-monument.In his speech President Sahakyan noted that at this moment everybody was full of various emotions; on one hand we feel sorrow and sadness remembering our friends and relatives, on the other hand we are proud to have such hero warriors who defended the native country and people showing bravery and selflessness, for whom serving to the Motherland is most important mission in the life. The Head of the State underlined that residents of Syunik and Sisian, in particular, had always had an active participation in the defense of the Motherland and in this respect the Artsakh Liberation War was not an exception during which they struggled against the enemy bringing their inestimable contribution to carving our glorious victories.

In an interview with Artsakhpress, the author of the cross-stone-monument Varazdat Hambardzumyan said that sword-crosses on the monument symbolize Sisian regimen freedom-fighters.

"The cross, as we know, is the symbol of Christianity. But when the country is in danger, our cross must become a sword to be able to defend our faith and homeland, "he said.

The Head of Talish community Vilen Petrosyan noted that after April events, the installation of cross stone in Talish has great advice.

"Participating in such events we feel great pain and sorrow; it is connected with the loss of our comrades.

I believe that this stone monument, together with other sanctuaries in Talish, will revive the life in Talish, and our community should survive, restoring its glory, he said.

Grisha Mirzoyan, Sisian freedom fighter who today was awarded with a certificate by Ministry of Defense for bravery during April events, told us that since the beginning of the 90s he took part in Artsakh war, and during April events he was in Talish with Sisian freedom fighters.

"Azerbaijanis didnt change, the same cowardly soldiers, whom we saw in the 90s. Foreign mercenaries fought for them. If they were so confident, why they needed mercenaries? And I can say that our guys, for sure, are stronger and more brave than we were, as in 90s we had less serious military experience, there was no regular supply, and today we have a completely different picture, he said.

NKR National Assembly chairman Ashot Ghoulyan, Armenian National Assembly deputy chairman Eduard Sharmazanov, other officials, representatives from Armenia and the Diaspora partook at the event.
King Mohammed VI, who wound up Thursday a state visit to Tanzania and who is currently on a private visit to the Tanzanian archipelago of Zanzibar, performed the Friday prayer at the Ashura mosque in Zanzibar and donated 10,000 copies of the Koran to the authorities in charge of the management of religious affairs there.

The Tanzanian archipelago of Zanzibar, located in the Indian Ocean, hosts a large Muslim community of Arab, African and Indian origin.

In his Friday sermon, the Imam said the local Muslim community of Zanzibar is honored by the visit of the Commander of the Faithful, King Mohammed VI, underlining the strong and deep ties binding all Muslims thanks to their religion of peace, tolerance and brotherhood.

The Imam stressed the importance of the cooperation agreements signed between Morocco and Tanzania during the Sovereigns official visit and underlined that these socioeconomic partnership accords will have positive impacts on all Tanzanians.

In his Friday sermon, he also thanked the Moroccan Monarch for his decision to build a mosque in the Tanzanian capital, Dar es Salaam. Dubbed the Mohammed VI Mosque, this religious project will be built over a 7,400 m2 plot and will accommodate more than 5,000 worshipers. The mosque will also include a library, a conference room, a cultural center and other facilities.

The Royal initiative came in response to the request made by Mufti Abubakr Zubair Ben Ali, Head of the Muslims National Council of Tanzania, who expressed need for this mosque in the city of Dar es Salaam.

Morocco has built many mosques in Africa, providing training, leadership and education to African Muslim clerics and students on Islams humanistic values and making significant contributions to local African Muslim communities in this 21st century where respect for pluralism and diversity is becoming more and more important.

The North African Kingdom set up few months ago a Foundation for African Ulemas to enable them maintain contact, enhance dialogue and exchange experiences.

Based in Fez, this Foundation is part Moroccos religious training program for imams and sustained efforts to counter Islamic radicalization.

In March 2015, King Mohammed VI dedicated a leading Institute that provides training to hundreds of imams of various nationalities, mainly from Africa and also from Europe.

The Rabat-based center educates Imams to the precepts of a tolerant and non-violent form of Islam based on Maliki rite and teaches them how to fight extremism and religious radicalization through sound argumentation and dialogue.

Morocco has been providing, for many years if not for centuries, training to foreign Islamic scholars and imams, mainly from sub-Saharan Africa, in order to disseminate an Islam of the middle path doctrine, a vision of religion based on tolerance, intercultural dialogue and respect of other faiths.
@amysherman1

Donald Trump, the candidate who claims that there is "large scale voter fraud" in the United States, has only a small fraction of the poll watchers that will be dispatched by the Hillary Clinton campaign for early voting in Miami-Dade County.

A list of registered poll watchers from the Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections shows that the county has 875 approved poll watchers for election day -- the vast majority, 685, for Hillary Clinton. Trump will have 53.

Poll watchers, who must be registered with the elections office, can stand within voting areas to monitor elections on behalf of campaigns.

Here are the numbers for poll watchers for additional campaigns in Miami-Dade:

Republican Party of Miami-Dade County: 82

Sen. Marco Rubio: 23

U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo: 14

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez: 11

The remainder, which have between one and five poll watchers, are state house candidate John Couriel, the Libertarian Party and People for Stronger Neighborhoods.

Trump claimed that we have "large scale voter fraud" -- a claim that PolitiFact ruled Pants on Fire. Incidents of voter fraud are rare and often not large enough to influence a national election. Voter fraud of a much more localized scale -- such as in Miami-Dade -- does occasionally happen.

On Friday, two women were arrested in Miami-Dade for voter fraud. Law enforcement officials said that one woman marked ballots for mayoral candidate Raquel Regalado while another woman unlawfully filled out voter registration forms for United for Care, a political committee backing the medical marijuana amendment.

(This post has been updated to reflect that the numbers are for early voting sites.)